#And I wanna make a mark on the date here for future reference.

[screwpinecaprice]

Just wanted to repost a cropped version of this.

It's the autumn season so the whim in doing so is appropriate, I'd justify. :P

#I just thought about something and it's corelated to the thoughts I had while drawing this. #And I wanna make a mark on the date here for future reference. #It was really fun drawing in this technique but I would have to have a clearer head while making this or I'd be too antsy to focus. lol #connverse #Connie Maheswaran #Steven Quartz Universe #SU #my shiz #Steven Universe

[pyreo]

deltarune megapost

I wanted to make a Deltarune post about the lore and the things that aren’t  obvious. And once I do that I wanna focus on why Mettaton is incredibly important to this setting

And also why he poses a problem

Why did Toriel and Asgore get divorced?

Without the setting of Undertale, Asgore and Toriel’s marriage still broke up after they had Asriel. There needs to be a reason though. In UT it was Asgore’s ‘worst of both worlds’ decision regarding killing anybody that fell from the human world, including children. We saw how close they were before this happened. Only something deep and serious caused that rift. In Deltarune, what on earth did Asgore do?

What happened to Dess?

Mentioned a handful of times by Noelle, Dess was her older sister and is mentioned In Undertale.... in that Xbox exclusing casino thing. The way Noelle talks about her, the conspicuous way Noelle gets locked out of her big house - it implies Dess is gone or deceased. Berdly recalls a spelling bee when he and Noelle were younger where she, despite being smarter than him, misspelled ‘December’, allowing him to win.

In the two-player spelling puzzle, it also spells out ‘December’ as Noelle recalls the past and her silhouette regresses to a child while she does so. Being distracted by her sister’s disappearance, rather than pure shyness, could account for her misspelling her name on stage, and it clearly left a big psychological mark for her to have this visual regression in the Dark World.

However, there’s a graveyard in Hometown with no Dess. I heard another theory that she has been missing for years, because where each character’s personal room is made by Queen to reflect their tastes via their search results, Noelle has a calendar where every day is December 25th. This could imply that Noelle continually searches the internet for ‘December Holiday’, her sister’s name, to see if there are clues to her disappearance, but of course the only result you would get is the date of Christmas.

Who is the Knight?

It’s now implied to be Kris, who has been forcibly removing the player’s influence to act on their own. By all accounts the Knight is the game’s main antagonist. Spade King and Queen both mention the Knight as someone who influenced their position - they brought Spade King to absolute power, and showed Queen that creation of new worlds was possible.

We’re led to believe that Kris was doing this, because they’ve been acting outside of the player’s control. Eating the entire pie between chapter 1 and 2 might have been a red herring to cover that they also went to the library and used that knife to slash open a dark fountain there.

However. This has issues. How would they even manage to shuffle slowly all the way to the library and get in the computer lab? The Knight is also the one creating the hidden bosses. They talked to Jevil until he realised he was in a game and he lost his mind; they ruined Spamton’s life by elevating him to success and then crushing him. Whatever the Knight is doing seems to be deliberately planned with key players in mind.

Kris opening the fountain at home at the end of ch.2 can be explained in that you just figured out in Cyber World that anyone determined enough can do this, and so, Kris decided to. So a better question might even be...

What does Kris want?

We have no idea. They are capable of removing the SOUL, ‘us’, temporarily, and putting things in motion we cannot influence. But they also keep putting us back in control afterward. This is hinted at right when ch.2 starts, where if you inspect the cage in Kris’s bedroom they threw us into, the description says it’s inescapable. Meaning Kris came back and took us out, willingly.

They allow us to pilot them through the game. Why? Because they cannot live without the SOUL for long for some reason? Because they’re bad at bullet hell? Why did they slash Toriel’s tyres before opening the fountain, making sure nobody could drive away?? Why did they specifically open the door?

You can find out details about Kris through the creepy way you interact with the townsfolk, who think you are Kris. They play the piano at the hospital waiting room - better than you. They used to go to church just to get the special church juice. It’s all normal, relatable things, not like someone who’s trying to plunge the world into darkness. Judging by their search history portrayed in their Queen’s castle room, they really want to see their brother again. However the castle has a room based on Asriel’s search history too, and Kris (not you) closes their eyes and won’t look at it.

What is Ralsei?

His name is an anagram of Asriel. Is he an extension of Asriel? The slightly flirtier dialogue in ch.2 would point to no. Is he an extension of Kris themselves, given the link between Kris’s childhood habit of wearing a headband with red horns on it, to pretend to be a monster like their family?

Ralsei knows exactly where the Dark World in the school is located, and unlike regular Darkners, knows the world is folded up inside the ‘real world’. There’s a certain whiplash to Ralsei telling you to hop out of his reality into yours and go down the hallway to retrieve all the board game items.

How does he jump from one Dark World to another, without assistance? How does he not get petrified like Lancer and Rouxls? Is this a power level thing because he’s a prince or something else? We definitely do not know enough about Ralsei.

He also says this incredibly suspicious thing after you spare Spamton NEO. Susie was also curious but accepts that maybe it ‘didn’t mean anything’, which is a sure tell that these optional bosses do mean something.

Someone is orchestrating what’s happening, opening fountains, manipulating the rulers, and influencing NPCs to become the optional bosses. Why? I suspect Ralsei for both knowing too much, and pretending something doesn’t matter when it clearly does. Until Asriel actually comes home from college I’m going to suspect he’s involved in this too.

How much does Seam know?

Seam on the other hand knows a lot about what’s going on but is openly withholding information while helping you. He’s nihilistic. He says things like:

One day soon... You too, will begin to realize the futility of your actions. Ha ha ha... At that time, feel free to come back here. I'll make you tea... And we can toast... to the end of the world!

Either this ‘end of the world’ is a reference to The Roaring, where opening too many dark fountains dooms the Dark World and the real one... or, I can’t get out of my head the idea that Deltarune takes place in a fake, or weird reconstruction of Undertale where things don’t match up, and eventually it will have to disappear. After all, powers of determination and creating and manipulating universes are Undertale’s basic bread and butter. How can we look at an Alternate Universe containing the characters we already know and not suspect that? Seam also uses Gaster’s key words, ‘darker, yet darker’, seemingly to clue us in that he’s not off track here.

Why haven’t we seen Papyrus?

This is a bright neon flashing ‘something’s not right’ sign. It’s not like Papyrus’s voice actor was too busy or anything. His absence is noticable and for a reason. Nice of Sans to promise we could meet him despite being aware we’re piloting a child’s body around, though, even if he didn’t follow through.

What locations in town could be used for dark fountains in the next 4 chapters?

If the sequence continues, we have chapter 1 in the school games room, chapter 2 in a computer lab, and chapter 3 in front of Kris’s television, where the aesthetic of each setting influences the world, characters, and enemies in the Dark World created there. Future possibilities include the church, the hospital, sans’s grocery store, Noelle’s house, and the closed bunker.

What the hell’s in the closed bunker

This one’s too obvious, honestly. I think it’ll open for no reason in chapter 7 and a little white dog will bounce out and steal one of your key items and nothing else happens.

Why does Asgore have these

Unlike the bunker feeling like a joke teaser, I gotta believe this is foreshadowing something weird. For example, what does opening a dark fountain in here with the seven flowers do? Does it just take you into Undertale?

Each chapter will have a hidden boss with a ‘soul mode’ from Undertale

Chapter 1 let you stay red, but I think each subsequent chapter is going to change your soul mode to one of the seven colours and design the encounter around that. Purple, yellow, green and blue were used in Undertale, leaving the light blue and orange modes yet to be revealed.

How does Spamton emulate Mettaton Neo’s name, body, and incorporate his battle theme, and the ‘Dummy!’ theme, with no actual connection between them ingame?

This is a really fun one that’s explained over in this post here. Swatch is the Dark World creation from the paint program on the library computers, so he’s able to explain that a Lightner made the robot body decaying in the castle basement that way.

Mettaton went to the library and drew his ideal form, Mettaton NEO, in MS Paint, and the Dark World formed that into a puppet body which Spamton was able to hijack temporarily. So by doing that Spamton was able to channel Mettaton’s appearance, attacks, music, and SOUL mode for the fight.

This might mean that the future hidden bosses, each with their own SOUL mode, might be based on the associated character for that mode (Muffet, Undyne, and Sans or Papyrus), and the boss will take on some aspect of them from their world to leech their fight mechanics.

The Problem With Mettaton

We don’t exactly know what Deltarune is about. It’s an alternate universe where the characters from Undertale already live on the surface, have completely normal lives, but diverge from the storyline of Undertale and, crucially, have not lived through the changes Frisk brought to their lives.

Remember how Undertale had a dozen different ending routes depending on who you befriended? The constant reinforcement in Undertale was that your choices mattered. Through Frisk, you chose to bring Alphys closure about her mistakes, you chose to befriend papyrus instead of attacking him, you chose to help Alphys and Undyne realise their feelings for each other and it’s only doing that that leads to the golden ending and escape to the surface.

Deltarune is the opposite, your choices do not matter. The only thing you can do to force the route of the game to change is to force Noelle into a No Mercy run, which is indirect, and also, a total desperation to mess with an otherwise set course. This version of the characters have not been helped by Frisk - Undyne and Alphys are not together, Papyrus has no friends, Asgore cannot get over himself, and they’re clearly the worse for it, but potentially, you COULD still do these things. In fact it’s hinted that you already are.

But there’s Mettaton.

He’s still a ghost and does not leave his house. In Frisk’s world, Gaster deleted himself, promoting Alphys to royal scientist by bluffing with Mettaton, and she then build him his ideal body. In Kris’s world... Alphys is a school teacher. There’s no barrier to break, no reason to experiment on souls, no Flowey mistake, and no body for Mettaton.

It was sad in Ch.1, but now with the Spamton NEO fight in ch.2, it’s unmissable. Mettaton wants that body and he cannot get it. Alphys in this universe is not going to leave her teaching job and suddenly be able to build a robot. Mettaton is just... screwed out of his happy ending and cannot get it.

So what resolution could this have? If it wasn’t for Mettaton I might believe in the vaildity of Deltarune and Hometown. But. How can you doom this character? If Undertale was the only way Mettaton could be befriended, then Undertale is Primary Universe A and Seam is right - the world of Deltarune is doomed as some kind of aberration. It all relies on how this gets explained in the future, but the core mystery of Deltarune is how exactly this universe intersects with Undertale and whether one is an offshoot of the other. How the Dark World links into that is another complication. But even as we get more fun characters and neat stuff in the Dark Worlds, let’s not forget we have absolutely no idea why Undertale’s characters are living here with no mention of underground or why there are no other humans beside Kris.

#undertale #deltarune #welcome to my giant essay post

[dal3ks]

all nighter

pairing: peter parker x female reader

word count: 3.2k

warnings: angst, references to sex, cursing, teasing, oral(receiving), marking, smutttt, both characters are of age! 

a/n: this is the sequel to my fic “the project”! i will link the first part below if you would like to read it! i hope you guys enjoy! 

the project can be read here!

“okay,” your chemistry teacher clasped his hands together, “i know you all are extremely stressed about the final, but it won’t be too bad, i promise. the projects earlier in the semester should help cushion your grade. i can promise you all that it will not be a tough final exam. it is cumulative, but i do have study guides. m.j., would you like to help me pass around the study guides?”

m.j. smiled wryly, “of course.”

biting your lip, your fingers trembled slightly as a study guide was placed on your table. currently, your grade in chemistry was sitting at a solid B. granted, it was an honors course, so the grade was weighted, but nonetheless, you loathed your grade. you felt miserable about it, no matter how much your parents reassured you that it was perfectly okay to have a B. 

you felt a slight flash of gratitude for your parents, as they were very understanding and supportive when it came to your academics. there were some kids in your class who would have gotten their ass chewed if they even had an A-.  

nova, your best friend, was one of those kids. she had an A, and was still reaching for an A+, taking as many extra credit opportunities as she could. she was skimming over the study guide, flipping through the packet and highlighting points. in your head, you knew she didn’t need to study that much. to her, chemistry came easy.

“how are you feeling about the final?” nova turned to you, her eyes displaying her emotion. she was curious, pondering your answer.

“stressed,” you mumbled, averting your eyes away from her gaze.

she frowned, “what are you stressed about?”

“the final,” you mumbled, a wave of embarrassment flooding through you. you felt stupid compared to her.

nova’s eyes softened, “it won’t be too bad, i promise. you have my help, along with peter and ned. m.j. can help you study too.”

at the sound of peter’s name, you glanced over in his direction. he was sitting next to ned, flipping through the study guide as well. you couldn’t help but think about the night the two of you worked on the last project. your mind wandered to how he fucked you, the way his lips felt against your skin. if only your class knew of all of the dirty things that innocent boy said to you.

the current status of the relationship between you and peter was unknown. the last time the both of you hung out was the night you worked on the project. however, the two of you talked constantly. over text, over facetime calls, and at school. one morning before school, peter invited you over for some cuddling, but you had to decline because you were running late.

your phone vibrated on the desk, and you picked it up. it was a text from peter, his name lighting up on the screen. eagerly, you swiped left, reading the message.

peter: study session tonight? it can be at my apartment this time. a little birdy informed me that you may need some help.

“you told peter i needed help, didn’t you?” you glared at nova.

“c’mon,” nova smirked, “who would turn down help from peter parker? maybe he can be your tutor in more ways than just one.”

“shut uppppp,” you whined a little too loudly.

peter turned around, giving you a questioning stare. you just shrugged in response, heat filling your cheeks. he rolled his eyes playfully, then said something to ned. 

you squirmed slightly in your seat, thinking about how good peter’s tongue felt against your pussy. god, you wanted him bad.

the thing was, no one knew about you and peter. not even nova. well, she knew you liked him, but she didn’t know all of the details. you loved that things were lowkey. if they weren’t, you’d get endless torturing from m.j., ned, and nova.

smiling, you typed a response, i’m down. since it’s a friday night, i could probably stay the night. i could just lie and say i was at nova’s. is your aunt in town? or does she have a date with that happy dude?

you set your phone down on your desk, awaiting the brunette’s response. a part of you was proud for being so bold. after all, you just wanted to spend some time with peter. you really liked him, and the feeling seemed to be mutual. another part of you wanted to ask him if there was the possibility of a relationship in the future. and if he wasn’t ready, you’d be patient.

from the sound of it, the boy had a lot on his plate. between school, his stark industry internship, and his aunt may, peter was stressed. a part of you was concerned about him as well. peter missed school in bouts of spontaneity. you’d see him one class, and then the next he would be gone. it was especially concerning when he was gone for days on end. you figured it was something to do with his internship, but you weren’t quite sure.

peter had a lot of secrets, and you wanted to know them all. the biggest secret you wanted to uncover was what his internship at stark industries entailed. why he disappeared so much, why he came back injured, etc. and also, why he never talked about his work. was it all really that confidential? you wondered why such a shy and sweet boy came back with black eyes and scratches all over his arms. it worried you. a lot more than you wanted to admit.

peter: may is out of town. i’m okay with you coming over. does right after school work or do you need some time to pack your stuff? actually.. how about around five? can’t wait to see you qt.

after reading his message, you couldn’t help but smile. he was so cute. so it was decided, you would see peter around five, where you would stay the night at his apartment. excitement rushed through your veins, giving you a slight adrenaline rush.

once school was over, you rushed home. although there was no real reason to rush, you were extremely excited to see peter later that evening. you gave a quick greeting to your parents, then ran upstairs to your room. closing the door, you reached into your closet for your overnight bag.

there were way too many outfit options. yet, you knew peter didn’t care too much about you appearance. he called you beautiful all the time, whether you were in sweats and no makeup, or jeans and just some mascara. peter liked your personality. he liked the traits that made up who you were.

you shoved a pair of sleep shorts into your bag, along with an oversized hoodie. the outfit you had on, leggings and a university of illinois crewneck, would have to do. the crewneck was actually peter’s. he reluctantly gave it to you one morning before class. the fabric no longer carried his scent, which made you sad.

however, you changed into a sexier bra and underwear. you slid into a red lace thong, matching it with a red bralette, which left nothing to the imagination. after getting dressed again, you sprayed on perfume, the same one you used the night peter came over. you brushed your hair, fixed your mascara, and made sure your legs weren’t too prickly. you knew peter didn’t care, though.

as you walked to peter’s apartment some blocks away, you put your earbuds in. since it was the beginning of december, the city was bustling. christmas lights, trees, and santa were plastered everywhere, yet it was beautiful. people passing by you had armloads of bags, which you knew were christmas presents. it started to snow as you walked, the flakes drifting to the pavement in slow motion.

soon, you approached peter’s apartment complex. you trudged up to the building, ringing the buzzer. the door opened automatically, and you messaged peter to let him know you were heading up. after climbing an endless amount of stairs, you were finally at his apartment.

your knock was soft, and the door swung open instantly. there stood peter, clad in a tight fitting black shirt, and grey joggers. your breath hitched in your throat as your eyes took in his fit body. you couldn’t help it, as he just looked so fucking good.

“like what you see?” peter’s voice interrupted your thoughts.

you blinked, registering he noticed your stare, “oh, fuck yeah. oh, i mean, um. yes.”

“i mean, i have no complaints about what i’m seeing either,” he flirted, shooting you a wink.

who was this boy, and where did he come from? how was he suddenly so confident? was this kid a werewolf? these were the questions running through your mind. yet, you liked this side of peter. it only made him a hundred times more attractive.

peter allowed you in, you biting your lip anxiously. it’s not like you were anxious to be with him, you just weren’t sure what to expect tonight. however, the apartment caught your eye.

it was a quaint, cozy space. it just gave off the vibe of coziness and happiness. there were framed pictures of peter covering the walls, along with a variety of awards and accomplishments. peter sat down on the couch in the den, turning on the t.v. you followed, setting your book bag down on the floor.

“i’m going to turn on the office for background noise,” peter stated, “if that’s okay with you.”

you nodded enthusiastically, “that’s okay with me! where do you wanna start? honestly, i have no preference. i need help with all of it.”

“wherever you wanna start,” he pulled out his laptop from his own book bag, setting it on the coffee table, “however, this is strictly studying, (y/n). no funny business.”

his tone was slightly commanding, and you couldn’t help but blush at his statement, “okay, that’s fine with me.”

peter grabbed your face gently, his thumb caressing your cheekbone, “there’s something i have been wanting to tell you for a while.”

“and that is?” you raised a brow.

“can i make you mine? i mean, not like in a property kind of way, but like, uh, i want you to be my girlfriend. i want you to be my girl. i want to start taking you out on dates, along with start showing you off. i know i have left you in the dark for a little while about my feelings, but i promise you that i really really like you,” his eyes met yours, warm with affection. his tone was hopeful, as if he was awaiting your response eagerly.

“i really really like you too,” you murmured, leaning in. peter kissed you, his lips soft. his other hand rested on the back of your neck, pulling you closer to him.

“(y/n),” he pulled away, “we have some studying to do.”

“i know, i know,” you groaned, opening your chemistry textbook.

“i have an idea,” peter announced, “how about i set up a reward system for you?”

“reward system?” you snorted, “i’m not a dog, peter parker.”

“i know,” he huffed, rolling his eyes, “i meant more like i reward you if you get the correct answer.”

“how are you going to reward me?” you scoffed. yet, you could feel your anticipation building. you knew exactly how this was going to work. you just wanted to hear the words come out of peter’s mouth.

“get an answer right and you’ll find out,” he smirked, shooting you a wink.

“let’s get started,” you sucked in a breath, biting your lip.

part of you was also a little nervous to be studying with peter. hell, the kid was so smart, he could solve almost every equation. it intimidated you slightly, but you knew peter would be gentle with you. nova, on the other hand, would call you “dumb” or “stupid.” besides, spending time with him was a bonus as well.

“anything specific you want to start with, princess?” the last word of peter’s question caught your attention, “i am happy to help with you anything you’re confused on.”

“i think we should start with balancing equations,” you replied, pointing to the section in the study guide.

peter grabbed your hand, placing it on his thigh, “okay, what do you need help on?”

“what are you doing?” you asked, your voice faltering slightly. your hand was dangerously close to the imprint on his joggers.

“you’ll find out,” he murmured, his eyes focused on the study guide, “which part don’t you understand about it?”

you swore you could feel your cheeks burning. the sexual tension between the two of you was too much. you wanted nothing more than peter to just rip off your clothes and fuck you right there on the couch. but you wondered what this game was. why he was holding back. you figured he was just as turned on as you were. his jaw was clenched as your hand was still on his upper thigh.

“just the beginning,” you answered. “okay,” peter nodded, scrawling down some notes on your paper, “i am going to write out a problem for you to practice with. don’t worry, i am here to explain anything you don’t understand or grasp. get it right, and you can touch me.”

“what if i don’t get it right?” you bit your lip.

“you don’t get to touch me,” he responded, his eyes meeting yours.

“fair enough,” your replied coolly.

taking your hand off of peter’s thigh, you glanced at the problem he created for you. you started it, realizing how much easier it was with his notes. maybe studying with him wasn’t so bad after all. you got to spend time with him, and get free tutoring.

peter watched as you solved the problem, his eyes following your movements. you asked a few questions, and he gave you encouragement. once you were finished, you showed him your final answer. he took the paper, reading over it.

“well,” he gave you a small smile, “you got it correct.”

his lips crashed into yours, and his tongue licked your bottom lip, begging for entrance. you let him in, and he began to kiss you hungrily.

“fuck chemistry,” peter shook his head, “i need to study you.”

“why didn’t you say so in the first place?” you teased him, giving him soft kisses under his jawline. you continued down his neck, sucking on his skin slightly.

“baby,” he groaned, “if aunt may sees that, you’re never coming over again.” he scooped you into your arms, taking you by surprise.

he carried you into his room, laying you down on the bed, “let me take care of you properly, princess.”

“please,” you begged, yearning for him to touch you. you didn’t realize how badly you wanted it till now.

“take off the hoodie for me then,” peter instructed. in the dim light, his eyes were dark with lust, “i can’t believe you came over in my hoodie thinking i wouldn’t do anything about it.”

you obeyed, slipping the hoodie off your body. once peter saw your bralette, his jaw clenched, “goddamn.”

“what?” you laid back down, anticipating his next move.

“this looks so fucking good on you,” you could tell he was speechless, “that’s what.”

peter kissed you, then began to place wet kisses down your next, and onto your collarbone. his fingers reached towards your back, where he undid the hooks on your bralette. carefully, he took it off, throwing it to the floor. he placed his mouth on your breast, sucking on the skin. a hand dipped into the waistband of your thong, his thumb circling slowly on your clit. as he did so, your moan echoed through the room.

peter knew exactly how to pleasure you, and you loved that about him. even if he was not very experienced, he knew how to make you wet. he knew how to make your moans echo through the room. he knew how to make you cum.

“you’re such a good girl,” he paused, “i love it when you’re loud for me. it’s so hot. i want to taste you.”

“do it then,” the words tumbled out of your mouth.

“as you wish, princess,” peter murmured.

his fingers hooked the fabric on your leggings, and he pulled them down your legs. as he took them off, he placed soft kisses on your thighs. once your leggings were off, he took in your half-naked figure, enjoying the sight of your lace thong.

“do you want this off?” he referred to your thongs.

“yes,” you nodded, “please.”

peter took your thong off, casting it to the floor as well. he parted your thighs, and said no words as he dived into your pussy. his tongue slowly dragged up to your clit, and your fingers laced themselves in his hair. he watched as you moaned his name, enjoying every second of it. his mouth found your clit, sucking slightly.

you could feel how close you were coming to your orgasm, but peter stopped, wiping his chin. you realized how wet you were, as your thighs were slick. the sheets beneath you were soaked slightly as well.

“baby,” peter’s voice was low, “i need you.”

you sat up, your hands reaching for the waistband of his joggers. peter threw off his shirt, watching as you dragged the pants down his thighs. his cock was hard, and you licked the tip, your tongue dragging across it. he moaned, a hand grabbing a fistful of your hair. slowly, you  took his cock into your mouth, your hand at the base, as the other cupped his balls. you could tell that this was driving him crazy. you also needed him bad.

you paused, and without warning, peter flipped you onto your stomach, arching your back. he held your arms back, and took you from the back.

“holy fuck,” you groaned.

“you feel so good,” peter moaned as his cock slammed into you.

as he fucked you senseless, you could feel your orgasm coming. peter must have sensed it, as you felt his thumb on your clit, going in slow, circular motions, “are you going to cum all over my cock like a good girl?”

“i’m gonna-” you began, feeling the tension building up.

“come on princess,” peter instructed, “cum for me.”

you came, feeling pleasure overwhelm you. peter’s cock slid out of you, and you felt him cum on your back.

“stay here,” he instructed, “i’ll be right back baby.” he disappeared, coming back with a warm towel. he cleaned you up, helping you off his bed. once you were off, you changed into your pajamas as he changed the sheets. he changed himself, remaining shirtless as you climbed into the bed with you.

peter pulled you close to him, rubbing your back gently, “i hope you do know that i have full intentions of helping you study later.”

you giggled, “i figured.”

“i’m sorry i can’t help myself when the most beautiful woman in the world is in the same room with me,” he laid a gentle kiss on your cheek.

“i’m so glad i have you,” you smiled.

“me too,” peter sighed happily.

“i have one question though,” you began.

“and what’s that?” he inquired, rolling you over so that he could see you.

“what’s it like to be the friendly neighborhood spider-man?”

what peter forgot to hide was the bright red and blue suit out in the open, hanging next to his closet.

#peter parker #peter parker x reader #peter parker smut #tom holland #tom holland x reader #mcu #mcu imagine #spider-man x reader #spiderman x reader #spider-man #spiderman #spiderman homecoming

[str8aura-no-not-that-one]

THE MANECHAT THEATRE AFTER ACTION REPORT: DAY 3

Turn on the smooth grooves of ELO, Ladies Gentlemen and Fashionable Enbies, because Day 3 has brought coasting and blue skies all around. I have been recently made aware I am, in fact, ‘your girl’-

So let me be the first to say Your Girl’s here to keep you up to date on the now-now.

The word of the day is “The Horror.”

All day long, more times than we can count- and believe me, we’ve been trying, we’ve been fighting a double front against Asmongold and, to a lesser extent, Mizkif. Littleshy put it best himself- we’re an army of 3000 against an army of 100,000, to the point Asmongold even called us ‘The Spartan Army’. I’m sure that’s a historical reference, Rome was never my strong point.

Irregardless, early in the day we came to the hard decision to NOT attempt to retake our spots above the Berserk memorial. They’ve earned that spot- we no longer want that risk of provocation.

After the final expansion of r/place, we elected to revive Dashie in two different places as a brilliant intel war- and let me tell you, the first minutes of the new expansion were a goldmine.

it wasn’t long before our Dashies were discovered, and in the most climactic event of the day, Asmongold offered us an ultimatum- ten minutes to eliminate all ponies from the new canvas, and he would leave us alone for the rest of the game. Mission Control was quickly unanimous in its decision.

War was declared, and we were stamped out in seconds. Our only remaining board presence was a tiny Trans Trixie we had built early, finally capitalizing on our earlier truce with the trans flag.

But as I’m sure you’ve learned, we don’t stay down easily.

Although I’ll admit some of the memes were pretty funny.

Attacks had become part of the zeitgeist, and by now nothing could faze us. It wasn’t long before the streamers cooled off for the day, with vows to come back in the final minutes, and we began building alliances to secure us in the future.

Right now we’re the most secure we’ve ever been, but information is crucial. Attacking streamers can’t possibly stretch their forces thin enough to take out all of our builds at once, but that doesn’t mean we need to give them incentive to. We have several more discrete builds whose locales I’m not revealing, and we hope will be overlooked in the worse case scenario.

To those who wanna help, get in Manechat and prepare for tomorrow’s inevitable slew of raids as we approach the final day- most likely.

And to those who don’t, we’ve already made our mark as the most resilient fandom on the board, right up there with Star Wars and Osu. Any timelapse will prove that. We’re making it to endgame; And nobody’s going to tell us we can’t.

I love you all. I love this community.

#mlp #my posts #oc #manechat #after action report #r/place #rplace #meme

[commander-hanji-zoe]

First I wanna say I really appreciate and love the attention and more in-depth analysis you give to Mike, content for him is severely lacking..I can’t find many blogs that really gives him the time of day. Secondly, in your size kink ask, by ‘bigger’ were you using it in correlation with ‘curvier’(idk if that’s the most appropriate word to use) because that’s what you meant, a curvier girl myself a blurb on him comforting them would totally be the best.

Thank you for this message, and for being so sweet - i’m glad you enjoy my writing! Your message it put so many sweet images in my head because let me tell you Mike would be wonderful at comforting a partner who was struggling with body image/feeling insecure regardless of body type/physical appearance. Like I mentioned in my previous post, I think Mike is someone who falls in love with a person for their mind/heart/personality, of course there has to be a physical attraction there too or it won’t work, but he isn’t shallow. 

When I posted about his s/o being larger in that previous post I meant whether they were taller/bigger built/more muscular/curvy/fat etc. So, yes, thinking of a partner with curves was definitely on my radar. I’m really glad you enjoy my more in depth analysis of him, he’s a character I adore and always feel he doesn’t get enough love. And a lot of the love he gets is based on physical appearance, which I mean, isn’t wrong the guy is drop dead gorgeous and as handsome as they come, but what little we get of him in the manga/anime I feel he’s a very deep character and I try to do him justice with my writing. 

Warnings for the below - goes into issues with body/stretch-marks & low self-esteem/confidence quite a bit. (On that note I have to say this is written from experience) 

You sit on the bed looking at the floor length mirror, more specifically just staring at your reflection. As you study every part of your body you sigh. Whenever you see yourself recently you can’t help but compare yourself to others whose uniforms fit slightly better, the beautiful ones, the pretty ones, the ones that everyone would want to date. Somehow you feel like you just don’t fit in with them and that makes you question whether you fit in at all. When you think of Mike and just how much you love him there’s always something else niggling in your ear.

Mike is drop dead gorgeous. He’s one of the most handsome men in the Scouts, well, the most handsome to you. Incredibly tall, muscular, strong and then there’s you. Telling you how beautiful you are, how much he loves you, how he loves every inch of you - this is how your days start with Mike. 

He isn’t afraid to show it publicly either and often in group situations will kiss you on the cheek or lips, put his arm round you, dance with you if the occasion calls for it and occasionally will rest his hand on your thigh. A hand so big that despite your squishy thighs which you’ve referred to before as small tree trunks (Mike detests it when you do this as it makes him incredibly sad to hear you say bad things about yourself and to demean yourself in that manner). His large hand will squeeze your thigh and remind you of what’s to come when you’re alone. How you love the feeling of his hands on your body, he tells you he cannot get enough and showers you with praise and body worship. And in those moments between the sheets you believe him, you really believe him. You believe you’re beautiful and perfect the way you are, that you’re worthy of a man like him, worthy of love just the same as everyone else.

But sometimes when you’re apart, when the ecstasy of orgasm has worn off and you’ve awoken from a day dream, it can be easy to remember how good it felt or how much you believed his words. 

Now sat on the bed it’s hard to control the tears, you don’t want Mike to see you like this to see you so weak and pathetic. If it really bothered you that much why weren’t you doing anything about it? Then you just feel angry and lazy and start to think that if you really loved Mike why aren’t you getting more in shape for him? By the time you’ve finished judging yourself in the mirror you feel absolutely rotten and wish you hadn’t looked today.

You heard the door open and panic set in as you wiped away your tears, lowered your shirt and jumped off the bed.

There is no hiding from Mike, he knows you far too well. He only has to study you for a moment, to tilt your chin and see the reflection in your eyes, watery like a golden lake for him to give you that sweet melancholy smile.

“My love what’s upset you today?”

There’s no beating round the bush with Mike, you are his number one priority and he says things how he sees them. The sooner you can talk about it, the sooner he will be able to work on a fix for you, that’s the way he sees it.

He sits beside you and when at first you don’t answer and struggle to get the words out, Mike doesn’t push you. No, he sits patiently by your side, arms wrapped round you and strokes your hair.

After a few minutes you sob quietly, he pulls you in a little tighter then presses a firm kiss to your cheek, “Just breathe, we’ve got all the time in the world.”

Another thing you love about Mike is how understanding he is and how he never rushes you to speak or tell him what’s happening. He knows it will come in good time when you’re ready. Just having him by your side is already like a remedy, the smell of his skin, his warm smile, his comforting hands on you.

When you finally tell him what’s been happening he seems almost hurt, hurt that you are hurting so much and that so far he has been unable to reassure you of how beautiful and perfect you are already.

He takes his time with you, kissing your lips slowly and pulling you on top of him. He massages you, strokes your thighs, legs, arms. He kisses all your scars and stretch marks telling you just how beautiful each one is.

He goes down on hands and knees and worships you. Mike, the second strongest soldier who fights for the future of humanity, here in front of you vulnerable, naked and ready to beg, steal, kill….for you. He pulls you into his arms so you can wrap your legs round his waist. He nuzzles into your neck and tells you you’re his star. 

“There is nothing in this world that can compare to your beauty, your wisdom, your charm or your kindness. There is no night, no matter the amount of stars that could come close to the radiance that shines from you when we’re together.”

His words are so sweet that they make you cry again, but this time they are tears of happiness, the tears of someone who has been feeling tired for so long and just wants to fit in. The tears of someone who feels a little bit foolish and wishes they were more ‘normal’ like others.

“And there’s nothing you would change?” You ask sincerely as you look into his eyes - determined to see if there is any hesitation, of course there is none. 

He shakes his head, “Nothing, you are gorgeous as you, you are loved more than anything just as you are.”

“All of it?” You ask as you squeeze the chubby bits on your hips.

He gives a small laugh, “All of it,” as he puts you down on the bed he kisses the bit of flesh you’d been holding. “There’s so much to love, to cuddle, to hold when we make love. All your stretch marks, scars, freckles, I like to join the dots together and turn your body into a night’s sky.”

You frown.

“Don’t you see, your body is covered in constellations, stories formed by a life of love and honour.”

Mike climbs on top of you as you fall into bed, when he kisses you you know it will be a long night where you need nothing but the company of one another. 

#Mike Zakarius #Mike Zacharias #miche zacharias #mike zacharias x reader #snk #snk vets #snk x reader #requests #my writing #cw: body image

[tartagilicious]

[CN] Lucien’s Sunset Date (eng)

this date is amazing ugly sobbing but if this doesn’t post I’m rioting. also, this makes me wanna dance under the stars with lucien while listening to feel good by fromis_9 is that too much to ask, universe?

--

MC: the sweet and sour short ribs, black pepper beef tenderloin, boiled cabbage heart... the meal is almost done!

I checked the recipes on my mobile phone while checking on the dishes in the bento box. Recently, Lucien’s research institute is working on a new project. He stayed in the institute for several days and did not come home.

I studied a few new dishes in my free time, but I never had the opportunity to try them with him. So, I took advantage of the rest of the day to cook and made a bento. Of course, I was also planning to see him out of my own selfishness.

When I happily took a few quick photos of the bento, I marked “Professor Xu’s love bento” on the photos with cute fonts. When I was about to go out, I received a text message and opened it to see that Lucien sent a strange address.

MC: ?

Is this a mistake? I dialed Lucien’s phone doubtfully.

Lucien: Did you receive the address?

MC: Um, where is this?

Lucien: This is where I am now. I guessed that you would come to me for lunch.

MC: ???

MC: How did you know?

Lucien: Because… black pepper beef tenderloin, sweet and sour short ribs, and boiled cabbage heart.

MC: ...Lucien! Are you studying mind reading for your new project at the institute?

His shallow laughter came from the earpiece.

Lucien: The project sounds very interesting, but you seem to forget that my research field is brain science. If you want to know the answer, you can open the photo album now.

I hung up the call, opened my phone’s photo album, and a buffering icon appeared in the middle of the screen. After a few seconds, my photo album automatically updated a piece. I have never seen the picture before.

The photo shows an exclusive courtyard with a wooden log door frame and red brick wall, and a row of old-fashioned labour utensils are displayed at the foot of the wall. In the middle of the yard is a 28-brand bicycle, its style reminiscent of the 1970s.

And under the light of the noon sun, reflected on the wall is the shadow of a person. I recognise it almost at a glance as Lucien.

“Ding” my phone has received a text message.

Lucien: Do you know the answer now?

After Lucien’s reminder, I finally realised. Last week, there was a problem with my phone and I needed to use another cloud account for verification. So, I used Lucien’s account temporarily, but I must have forgotten to log out. In other words, during this period, our mobile phones were using the same cloud account, so the photo album was also in a shared state.

MC: Yeah…

On my way to the private courtyard with the bento box, I blame my own carelessness in my heart, while repeatedly confirming the appearance of the “inventory” inside the box. Lucien must have seen the recipe that I saved in the photo album, not even the photos taken of the box just now have been spared.

I sighed and knocked on my head a little, then I suddenly realised again. If our mobile phones have been synced for more than a week, that means that all the photos I took during that time…

I quickly send a text message to Lucien.

MC: Lucien, have you seen anything else in the album? What photos?

Lucien: For example?

MC: For example, something that impresses you…

Lucien: Are you saying that this subject is my photo?

My fingers flicked subconsciously as Lucien’s reply appeared on the screen.

Lucien: I forgot to say that next time, you can shoot with more integrity, that way I can cooperate with you on more poses.

He really!!

He often took pictures of himself reading books or doing experiments, but he didn’t take any others! This cunning man!

(translator’s note: the original translation refers to him as “a lion man”, basically saying that he’s sly and superior.)

When I arrived at the lane where the courtyard was located, I saw Lucien from a distance standing and waiting for me. I hurriedly raised my hand to him.

MC: Lucien, is your research tricky? Have you set aside the time to eat?

Lucien took the bento in my hand and looked at me with happy but tired eyes.

Lucien: It’s not too tricky. As for having good meals… if the standard is this bento, then i really can’t call any of them good meals.

He took my hand and leads me through the door. When I stand in the courtyard, the sense of precipitation of the years becomes stronger.

MC: How can you be in this place? Is it related to research?

Lucien: Well, this research project will conduct clinical trials here.

MC: This is actually a new research base?

Lucien: To be precise, it’s a temporary research base.

MC: What about the other people of the research institute?

Lucien: The study will officially start tomorrow, and today we gave them the day off.

MC: It turned out to be so, but how could the research base be chosen in a yard with such a sense of age?

Lucien didn’t answer. He took me to sit down at the square table in the courtyard.

Lucien: Based on the understanding of ___, I answered your question, but after that, your curiosity will only grow more questions. So, before this, let’s eat first. I’ll give you a good tour after we eat.

After supervising Lucien eating the lunch, he took me by the hand and walked into the second part of the courtyard. The style of the building is consistent with the courtyard, even more so seeing the rest of the architecture.

The dark grey rough floor exudes a faint smell of cement, and the green leather wall is painted with the four red characters “hard work”. The three classic furniture pieces restore the old texture and the rest of the daily necessities present also exude a strong sense of age.

Lucien: How do you feel?

MC: Although I obviously haven’t experienced this era, it seems as if i’ve really returned to the past.

Lucien: The research team here has spent a lot of time restoring it to seem like the 70s.

MC: I’m even more curious now that you mention it. What kind of research is it that you need to have a venue like this?

Lucien: It’s a study on the healthy brain of the elderly. For people with Alzheimer’s disease, or elderly with hidden risks of clinical depression.

MC: I’ve heard that there’s no effective treatment or medicine for these conditions, is that true?

Lucien: Well, Alzheimer’s disease can be said to be a serious challenge facing modern brain science research. Even this research can only focus on early intervention before illness, while observing the quantity and quality of brain cells.

MC: So, why do you want to restore this place to the 70s specifically?

Lucien: The brain of elderly people is often in a state of stagnation, so the brain will easily degenerate. The most memorable experiences of the elderly staying here are concentrated in the seventies, which is the most meaningful time of their lives.

Lucien: Putting them in a familiar environment to stimulate the brain is the basis of this research project.

MC: use memories to wake up the brain and prevent them from succumbing to sickness… that’s it. It would be nice if more people could know this method.

I looked around, and suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

MC: Lucien! Can I use my camera to record this research? This might attract more investors.

Lucien didn’t speak, he looked at me a little bit more and then smiled. Realising my offer was a bit abrupt, I quickly tried to change the topic.

MC: Though, it doesn’t matter if I can’t shoot. After all, this involves the confidentiality of research. But, if our memories can be recorded, this way, when we’re old, we’ll have more memories to look back on in these cases.

He remained silent, but the smile on his face was deeper.

MC: What happened? Did I say something wrong?

Lucien: No, if you want to shoot, I can ask the patient’s families for their opinions. But, I think they will agree, because what you want to do is also a very meaningful thing.

MC: I thought you would think that my idea was too bad to consider…

Lucien: I’m just happy. It turns out that you’ve already planned so far for our future.

After going through the entire building, Lucien took me to the backyard again. In the centre of the yard was a dense wisteria tree. There was a breeze in this early autumn afternoon, and the sun above also swept away most of the hot temperature.

The backyard shrouded by the wisteria flowers was concealed by a shady and drooping branch, swaying leisurely in the air but looking very comfortable. Obviously, it’s my first time coming here, but I feel a familiar sense of deja vu.

Lucien: What do you think?

MC: It feels weird to say it, but just for a moment, I felt that this scene was familiar.

Lucien followed my line of sight and looked at the branch of wisteria.

Lucien: On a scientific level, you must have visual experience. But I have a more romantic explanation. It may be that our souls snuck out in a dream, and then we met in a yard in the seventies.

He turned to look at me, his dark eyes deep like an exquisite pool of water.

Lucien: Maybe they were there and had a stable and slow life.

His voice is calm and determined, and his words fell to the bottom of my heart.

MC: Lu-Lucien, you’re seriously bluffing to me again…

Lucien didn’t seem to care about my disbelief, the pool in his eyes was still flowing with waves.

Lucien: If you don’t believe it, do you want to try it?

MC: What is there to try?

Lucien: Having a slow dream in the courtyard of the seventies.

MC: Like our souls, spend a lifetime in a dream?

Sure enough, I subconsciously believed Lucien’s words, but the initiator only smiled and nodded.

Lucien: “Life” is a subjective word, and how long a life is, is up to you to feel and decide. So as long as you want, we can spend our “life” here.

Maybe I was moved by Lucien’s romantic theory, or because I haven’t seen him for a long time, but either way, I eagerly agreed to his proposal.

MC: Since we’re going to live a slow life in the seventies today, let’s be more involved!

I took out headphones and my mobile phone and placed them on the stone table in the yard.

MC: I’m asking professor Xu to please confiscate these modern contrabands.

Lucien nodded knowingly, and took out his phone as I did.

Lucien: It seems we have to find something to seal them in the “future”. 

As he said this, he found a wooden box and put all of our electronic products inside of it.

Lucien: Welcome to the seventies, silly girl.

--

The weak autumn sunlight in the room shone crookedly through the window like a painting waiting for us. Though, we don’t have the mind to appreciate it, only focusing on living in the slowed down time.

Lucien seems to have come prepared, and the activities proposed were endless. He taught me how to light a kerosene lamp and took me to try an old fashioned sewing machine. We played with fans leisurely together, and listened to the squeaky Suzhou Pingtan on the radio.

(translator’s note: suzhou pingtan is a traditional musical art in china)

Time seems to have really slowed down for us while we do a lot of things, but the sun outside is still mild and bright. After listening to a pingtan, I eagerly looked at Lucien

MC: Lucien, what should we do next?

Lucien: What do you want to do?

MC: May I decide?

Lucien: Well, I also want to know what you think of this slow life.

MC: Well… I can’t think of my answer at the moment.

Lucien: It’s okay, just let the flow happen. Rather than using your brain to think about what you want, it’s better to leave the feelings to your heart. This deliberate content doesn’t necessarily conform to the meaning of a slow life. What you feel currently is the most important.

MC: Then… can we sit in the sun longer? Is that too plain?

Lucien: I think it’s a good idea.

After getting Lucien’s affirmative answer, I also dreamed of sitting in the sun with him. Only soon, my beautiful fantasy was disillusioned, because we searched the entire yard and found that there was only one recliner.

Lucien and I stood under the wisteria frame in the backyard, looking at the narrow chair in front of us.

MC: Hey… how about you sit down first? We can take turns.

The moment I blurted it out, I felt like I said something silly again. I blushed and was about to fight for myself further, but he reached out and pulled me into his arms. Before I knew what he was going to do, Lucien grabbed the back of my waist and gently closed the distance, our warm breaths instantly intertwined

Before I could speak under his deep eyes, my centre of gravity suddenly fell and I was in a soft embrace. My eyes moved slightly down, and I found that we were sitting on the recliner at the same time. My legs had encircled his body without me knowing when.

The motion startled the recliner, and it shook slightly. I couldn’t find my balance for a while, and I subconsciously hooked onto Lucien’s neck.

MC: Lu-Lucien?

I struggled to stand up, but Lucien released the hands that were fixed on my waist, and I was forced to tighten my arms around his neck. There was a warm breath stagnated in the air between us. The suffocating sensation reminds me of the air above an asphalt road in the summer.

Lucien: It’s boring to be alone in the sun, I think two people would be better.

MC: There’s nothing boring about being in the sun…

Fearing that I would make him uncomfortable, I lightly held on to prevent myself from slumping into him.

Lucien: You can relax, this chair is enough to hold the weight of both of us.

MC: I-I’m very relaxed.

Lucien:  Are you….

I heard his low and dull voice noise in my ears, and I hung my head even more as my face flushed. He stretched out a hand, pressed the knuckle of his right hand against my chin and gently lifted it up.

In the next second, a gentle and light kiss fell on my lips.

I instinctively closed my eyes and could only hear the beating of my heart in my head. Although it was only a soft kiss like a dragonfly’s, time seemed to slow down. When we finally separated again, it was really as if we had spent a lifetime in that moment.

Lucien: I can be sure that you are really relaxed now.

When I blushed and didn’t know how to react, Lucien’s cell phone began ringing in the wooden box. As if I had caught a life-saving straw, I stood up and started to go into the other room, his laughter coming from behind.

MC: Answer your phone, I’ll be in the bathroom!

Lucien: I know, I’ll finish up soon.

When I came out of the bathroom, Lucien’s call was just ending. He saw me coming and waved his phone apologetically.

Lucien: Sorry, ___. There’s a problem with the preparations of the study at the institute, and I need to return to discuss it with the research team.

MC: It’s ok! I’m very satisfied with your company for the whole afternoon.

After returning everything in the yard to its original position, I reluctantly took Lucien’s arm and prepared to leave with him. After spending almost the whole day with Lucien in the private courtyard, I feel a bit reluctant to give him up here. Perhaps seeing through my mood, Lucien stopped walking.

Lucien: Maybe we can slow down our departure?

Following his gaze, my eyes fell on the bicycle in the middle of the yard, the same one from his earlier picture to me.

MC: You mean, we can ride that?

Lucien: It doesn’t matter, I can find someone to send it back tomorrow.

Lucien stepped forward and patted the horizontal bar in front of the bike.

Lucien: It’s just that this time I still feel wrong, so ___ can sit here.

I couldn’t help but think of our experience of cycling in Canada. At that time, I was anxious to ride the bike, my hands and feet shaky.

(translator’s note: this is a reference to Lucien’s Autumn Date, available in EN)

Lucien: Want to revisit it?

Lucien supported the handlebars and body, his slender and powerful arms firmly supported the bicycle. I nodded and looked at his hand that was supporting the seat.

MC: I won’t be as anxious today as I was that time.

After confirming that I was sitting firmly, Lucien stepped on the pedals. He lifted his hand and wrapped me in his arms, a reassuring temperature stemming from my back.

MC: Because, I hope this road can be longer.

A white crescent moon took over the setting early, and the pink-ish purple sunset was like peach-flavoured candy. In the middle of the modern city, Lucien and I looked extremely out of place with our old-fashioned bicycle, and the angle of the sun stretched our shadows very long.

Our two shadows, they slowly inched towards the next day.

#mlqc #mlqc cn #mlqc spoilers #mr love queen’s choice #mlqc lucien #mr love queen’s choice lucien #spoilers #next is most likely kiro’s!

[justamusicpodcast]

Episode 6 out today!

We’re talking about Blues music

Transcript under the cut

Sup, I’m Laura Cousineau and welcome to Just A Music Podcast, where I, Laura Cousineau, tell you about some music history, how it relates to the world around us, and hopefully, introduce you to some new tunes. This show is theoretically for everyone but I will swear and when it comes down to it and sometimes we may need to talk about some sensitive topics so ur weeuns might wanna sit this one out.

And boi unless you’ve had that talk with ur kids about systemic racism you might wanna let them sit this one out because we’re gonna be touching on a bunch of terrible racist shit this week Because we’re gonna be talking about the Blues and various different type of blues musics. I’m actually really excited to talk about it too because blues, as you guys will find out in the future is kinda the basis for a lot of other, what one might consider more modern, genres of American popular musics. So this one’s gonna be important for ur earholes and ur brainholes. Just like last time I will be airing a sensitive content warning for some graphic descriptions of violence and I will put the time stamps in the description for y’all for when that starts and ends. 

First though, I wanna issue an apology for being away so long, I tend to work on this podcast in my free time, and currently I’ve had none of that what so ever. It just so happened that October worked out this year that it was thanksgiving and my birthday and then a bunch of big projects due then Halloween and now I’m working on my fucking thesis proposal, I’m actually recording this episode at 1:35 am on a Saturday night/Sunday morning, so needless to say all this in combination with trying to deal with my depression hasn’t been a cake walk but we’re making it work. I will likely run up against a similar time issue during the first couple weeks of December because that’s when all my final papers are due. After that thought I should have smooth sailing for about a month. I wanted to make sure I had an episode out this week because as I think… well everyone… is aware the American election took place this week and understandably people were stressed as shit about that. So I think we could all use a little music right now. 

Ok so Like all fuckin things we need to know where blues came from. Now blues is actually a lot older than a lot of people are gonna be expecting, like really damn old. Like pretty much everything in academia (and I mean EVERYTHING, at least in the humanities), the dates are contested, but it seems that the blues, or at least what began as the blues, started in and around the 1860s. For those who didn’t listen to last week’s episode on slave songs, spirituals, and gospel, or just those who don’t know their American history too too well, the 1860s marks a very important time for black people, many of which at that time had been enslaved, because in 1865 the thirteenth amendment was amended into the American constitution. For those who aren’t aware, the thirteenth amendment as stated by the national archives of the United States of America reads as such: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."

Now this of course was fantastic news of course! And for some people, this might be where you think oppression in the Americas ends for Black people but you would be incredibly wrong! Because this is the period where we see the start of a phenomenon referred to as sharecropping. Sharecropping or crop sharing as it’s known otherwise is considered part of what we historians sometimes refer to as the Jim Crow economy of the American South after the civil war. But what is Jim crow economy, what did it come from, why is it bad, why is sharecropping bad, how does any of this relate to the blues? Well lucky for u lil turnips imma tell ya.

  Jim Crow culture is something that I imagine most North Americans will have even the most basic knowledge of but for those that don’t the name Jim Crow as applied to economy, laws, and any other part of American culture during these time periods refers to sets of crazy fucking racist laws written and unwritten that kept black people subjugated under the whims of the government as well as their fellow white countrymen. The term Jim crow itself is reference to a song often featured in the supremely racist minstrel shows of the mid to late 1800s and early 1900s referred to as “Jump Jim Crow” in which a white man in black-face sings in a parody centric dialect about the life of a charicaturishly uneducated back-woodsy Black man named, you fuckin guessed it, Jim Crow. The significance of the Crow being that it was a pejorative term for black individuals which can actually dated back to the early mid 1700s. Now I wanna preface the excerpt of it with the fact that I’m uncomfortable listening to this, I understand if others are too. The thing is that acknowledging these uncomfortable things and knowing about them is necessary in order to understand the type of historical impact that they had. “So laura, you must obviously support statues being raised to commemorate things like slavery and secessionism!” Absolutely not. Where statues and monuments exist to praise the efforts of individuals, the listening to and learning about songs in a teaching context like this very podcast are meant to educate. Statues commemorating culture surrounding one of the worst atrocities to have taken place on American soil should never have been erected in the first place let alone celebrated. One is meant to celebrate while the other is to educate because one is a historical primary source that lets us think critically about the history, the other is a tertiary celebration. The purpose of listening to a clip like this is then to educate and understand a piece of actually history, not to replicate and enjoy. The version of the song that I have is sung without the charicaturish accent but uses the original words but with all that in mind here’s a bit of Jump Jim Crow:

In terms of laws I’m sure just about everyone knows separate drinking fountains and schools but this really permeated pretty much every sphere of life for Black peoples especially those in the south. I say especially those in the south but not exclusively those in the south because racial segregation, although not as supported by law but more socially, also existed in the Northern States as well as in Canada. Anecdotally, my mother grew up in a suburb of Cleveland Ohio, she remembers going into Cleveland when she was a kid when Cleveland was still a very racially segregated city, Black peoples lived in, shopped in, and attended schools in certain areas of the city and white people in other’s. My grandmother who was also raised in the area even remembers Black people having separate lunch counters if any at all in some of the larger department stores in the area.

It might also be handy when I mention the south to actually talk about what the south and particularly the deep south is for y’all outside of America. So when we talk about the south we are talking about a geographically bounded area just not the area that one might think of by looking at a map because where you might be thinking like ah just take the country and cut it in half, and the bottom half is the south that wouldn’t be correct. So, from the United States Census Bureau itself the south we’re talking about is Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North and South Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. Now some who live in the surrounding areas such as Kansas might also consider themselves as being from the “south” somewhat culturally but those states previously listed as the official ones. When we talk about the DEEP SOUTH however, that range closes a little more, and that would mainly just include Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, Mississippi, Louisiana, and sometimes Texas and Florida due to their involvement as part of the confederate states of America, meaning states that were on the south side of the civil war. 

Also briefly just so we’re clear, again this is for those people who didn’t receive the best education on Slavery and the Civil War in general but to be clear, the civil war was fought over primarily states rights to use and perpetuate slavery. The common narrative you hear a lot in protests by those on the right, who would like to uphold the institutions set out by their forefathers in the creation of the abominable act, is that the civil war was primarily fought over states rights. What they then so often forget to elaborate is that those rights were perceived as the right to govern themselves independently so that they may still be able to employ slave labour in the operation of their economies and also to expand further westward to continue and be able to use slavery out in those areas as well. 

The reason that we hear about these Jim Crow laws particularly in the South is because where the Northern states and Canada did have (and still continues to have) some violent racist issues, the Jim Crow south was specifically really bad. And I mean fucking abominable. Though Black people were free from being directly owned, society at large and all it’s trappings found new ways to oppress them. This started with Black Codes which were individual state law codes that dictated where Black peoples could move, for how long they could stay, restricted their rights to vote (or made it extremely difficult to vote via poll taxes, literacy tests, etc), as well as where they could work, and in some cases even if their children could be taken away from them on the basis labour needs. So I really can’t drive home the point enough of how much life sucked for Black peoples under Jim Crow laws and economy in the southern states, to call it any less than abominable would seem to understate it in a major way. In the 1880s Jim Crow laws hadn’t started to be rolled into large southern cities yet so many Black peoples were inclined to move into them because life was actually slightly easier for a short while. White people being offended and upset at this, because “how dare a black person just try to live their lives in my good white pure Christian neighborhood,” then fully supported Jim crow laws being rolled out to remove them from areas where white people would normally interact with them. This included but was not limited to, barring them from public parks entirely, having entirely different theaters at one point and then segregated theaters after a while with separate entrances based on your race, restaurants, bus and train stations, water fountains, restrooms, most building entrances in general, elevators, amusement park ticket windows, public schools, phone booths, hospitals, asylums, jails, elderly care homes and even fucking cemeteries. Of course being treated as diseased subhuman parasites is never enough for the racism machine that is the public conscious at this time so there was also a lot of violence both systematic and grassroots that accompanied this era. 

And here’s where I’m going to have to issue a sensitive content warning because I’m about to describe some truly heinous shit in a whole second. So by violence, I mean very public and very culturally accepted violence, similar to what we’re seeing more and more of in the states again. As many will know now in the light of the many many many police shootings of unarmed, unthreatening black people in the states, the police traditionally haven’t been on the side of black citizens. This is due to a number of reasons, for one, on the most basic of levels the police serve to protect the interests of those in power, in our case that means the property and lives of middle to upper class (mostly) white Americans. The natural extension of this is that many police forces in the states, especially in Southern states started out as slave catching forces bringing back runaway enslaved people to their owners. So as time progressed and Black peoples became a “free” population this still meant protecting mainly middle to upper class white people from the “threat” of black people. This was enforced in a number of ways, such as arresting black individuals found breaking these rules, framing black people for crimes committed by others and arresting them for population suppression, and turning a blind eye to the grassroots violence perpetrated by non-black citizens, which very often were white citizens. An example of just straight up police brutality can be found in the case of Isaac Woodard JR. who was viciously beaten by police only hours after being honorably discharged from the fucking military on February 12 1946. The bus driver driving Woodard and some of his fellow soldiers called the police after Woodard asked the bus driver if there might be time for him to use the restroom as they approached a rest stop. When the police arrived, the bus driver accused Woodard of drinking in the back of the bus and he was hauled off, dragged into an alley and beaten with nighsticks. That night he was thrown in the town jail, by morning he had been beaten so severely he was left permanently blind in both eyes. 

And that grassroots violence is just as nasty, really fucking nasty. The violence could be perpetrated for things as small as being in the wrong place at the wrong time, entering a white neighbourhood, “talking back to” the wrong person. Since black men have always been are still to some degree subject to the stereotype that they are all sex incensed monsters, being left alone in a room with a white woman could be enough to incite violence against them. In the Mississippi delta during the season where share cropping debts were settled up, there was a sharp uptick in violence against and killings of black people. If you were white, because let’s be real here some white people definitely were on the side of their oppressed countrymen, you could be hung on the basis of being an N-word lover, which could range from being found to being in a romantic/sexual relationship with a person of colour, to just being fucking friends with them. The violence was often varied too, where kidnapping and hanging someone either with or without brutalizing them first (also known as a lynching) is the form most commonly associated with Jim Crow era violence less extreme but still horrible harassment could perpetuate in any form. Mississippi had the highest amount of lynchings from 1882-1968 with 581. You might think that is a low number but first, similarily to when we were talking about slavery in the last episode, 1 lynching is too fucking many, and secondly these are only the ones that were officially recorded. Since lynchings didn’t always happen in broad daylight and since law enforcement really didn’t care about Black individuals, there were almost certainly more that happened that just never were recorded. Georgia was second with 531, and Texas was third with 493. 79% of lynching happened in the South. So as I said before though, lynching was not the only form though, beatings were also entirely all too common forms of violence perpetrated against blackf people to make them scared and thus more compliant. A good example of this is the case of Emmet Till a 14 year old boy who made the mistake of playfully flirting with a white woman, who was beaten nearly to death, had one of his eyes gouged out, was then shot in the head, and tied to some cotton mill equipment before his body was thrown in a river. This wasn’t even that long ago, the beating happened on the 28th of August 1955. 

THE next parts are also gonna be not great but there wont be anymore descriptions of graphic violence, so I’m calling an end to the sensitive content warning. So the then how does sharecropping play into all this and what does it have to do with the blues (we’re getting there babes I promise.) So as I explained previously, sharecropping was a part of the Jim Crow economic era. It was part of the era of reconstruction meaning the period of rebuilding after the civil war. How it worked was that let’s say for a second, come with me into the theater of the mind for a second, take a seat, close your eyes, take a deep breath, Ok so lets imagine for a second you’re a farmer in the south, the civil war has kinda left you in a spot, if you’re black, you’re starting off without an awful lot, you don’t have any generational wealth you don’t have property likely aside from maybe a relatively small plot of land (but this was uncommon,) you probably didn’t have much if any equipment because that would have been way too expensive, and the land you may have had may have been of shitty quality. So what could you do to earn yourself a living?! Well you would go to a landowner, and ask him rather kindly if you might be able to work the land they lived on in exchange for some of the profits of the crops that you would produce. The landowner would provide you with the tools, seed, housing, land, store credits at local shops in order to subsist offa for food and other supplies and sometimes a mule in order to help you work the land seeing as motorized machinery was still few and far between in the united states at this point. The issue of this system is that how much you receive for you labour, the cut that you actually get from selling crops, that you grew with ur own backbreaking labour, is more or less decided by your landowner. And as I mentioned last episode, those who’ve ever had to rely on the benevolence of a boss for any period of time knows that this shit ain’t gonna cut it. So often you would end up underpaid, underfed, and in a debt hole that lasted as long as you did. If it sounds like legal slavery that’s kinda because it was. You would basically remain in indentured servitude to the landowner for as long as you were a part of this system. Like don’t get me wrong there were people who managed to not be a part of it but it was an incredibly largescale problem. 

It’s important to note that this wasn’t just a black phenomenon either, white tenants of sharecroppers existed and in incredibly large numbers as well. By 1900, 36 percent of all white farmers in Mississippi were either tenant farmers or sharecroppers (by comparison, 85 percent of all black farmers in 1900 did not own the land they farmed). This all sucks for various reasons but like partially because there was this whole other plan proposed that after the war, all the land that had been seized from slave owners would have been divvied up to the newly freed slave populations. It was colloquially known as the 40 acres and a mule plan but yeah unfortunately never happened cause fuckin president Andrew Johnson was like ”WELL AKSHULLY SWEATY I THINK THE LAND SHOULD GO BACK TO SLAVE OWNERS BECAUSE UHHHHHH” AND THEN IT DID AND THEN WE ENDED UP WITH SHARE CROPPING. But anyway that’s sharecropping. And of course I could go onto describe how all of this still affects black people in the united states and how the effects of systematic racism are still being felt generations later but… we’re gonna save that for a different episode. FOR NOW THOUGH, WHY IS THIS ALL IMPORTANT, WHY DID I TAKE ROUGHLY 3000 WORDS TO TELL YOU GUYS ABOUT THE HORRORS OF RECONSTRUCTION ERA SOUTH!? Well because we’re talking about the blues, and what does it mean when you have the blues, it means that you’re sad as hell, given all that I’ve just described to you is it no wonder that the blues emerged as the soundtrack to the lives these people lived?

So then what is blues? Well as I mentioned last time, blues sort of develops out of the field holler/spiritual tradition. A fair amount of field hollers, a type of work song that enslaved peoples would sing in fields while they were doing their work, were about regular ass things for regular ass peoples; this dude stole my girl, im gonna find me a girl to love, life sucks and im gonna sing about it, life doesn’t suck so much but I’m still gonna sing about it. Blues then tended to explore more themes related to the sadder points of those stories but in similar ways and styles. So where did blues come from specifically, what makes it a different genre than a field holler or a spiritual, and that’s a great question so let’s get in it.

Let’s say for a second you went through a real shitty period in your life, you significant other named steve dumped you, your pet armadillo, also named steve, died, ur mom (also coincidentally named steve) has taken away your showering privileges, you’ve forgotten how to speak ur native language and to top it all off you just burnt your gotdamn mac and cheese. You spiral into a deep situational depression that lasts quite a little while. During this time you listen to one album on repeat just over and over again, you know it all inside out and backwards and diagonal, you know every instrumental part by heart, you’ve got the lyrics tattooed on your ass, the whole 9 yards. And then you start working your way out of it, slowly but steadily the days start getting brighter, you move out of your abusive mother’s house, you find a new partner or get comfortable being single, you appropriately morn the loss of ur pet armadillo, hell you even learn to make a better mac and cheese, things aren’t all fixed, and life isn’t breezes and cakes but it is ever so slightly easier than it was before, at least you have ur freedom right? BUT NOW, everytime you listen to one of those songs from that album it mentally brings you back to the way things used to be and it’s not great. Well that’s kinda what happened with blues music but, ya know, infinitely worse. Essentially, black people wanted a new sound to accompany this new life and so they fuckin made it and it’s great.

The similarities of blues to field hollers and spirituals are relatively easy enough to hear if you know where to look which isn’t really surprising given that blues is the evolution of it. For example the basic structure stayed pretty similar, simple rhyming schemes, simple harmonies, melismatic vocal structures in places, and many times the lyrics were often very similar to those forms before them.  But it goes even further than that! Most of the early blues melodies were directly derived from their spiritual predecessors. So for some comparison here’s some songs, first one is gonna be a field holler, next one is gonna be a spiritual, and then the last one is gonna be a blues song mmk? And here we go:

AND ACTUALLY YOU KNOW WHAT WAIT, JUST CAUSE IM FUCKIN, OOO BABE, OK, SO WHEN I WAS RESARCHING THIS FUCKING EPISODE I WAS TRYING TO FIND GOOD AUDIO CLIPS TO USE, AND LEMME TELL YA MAN YOU WOULDN’T THINK SPIRITUALS WOULD FUCKIN EXIST OUTSIDE THE LIBRARY OF FUCKING CONGRESS CAUSE APPARENTLY THEY HAVE A GODDAMN STRANGLEHOLD ON ALL BLACK SPIRITUALS EVER RECORDED BY THE LOMAX’S. The thing is is that fuckin copyright at least in the states is supposed to run out 75 years after the death of the recorder or fucking owner of the rights, which it certainly has been for Alan Fucking Lomax BUT NOOOOOOO, I HAVE TO NEARLY PURCHASE A GODDAMN CD IN ORDER TO GET YOU GUYS A FUCKING ACCURATE REPRESENTATION OF MUSIC THAT CAME OUT LIKE 100 YEARS AGO. To be clear I refuse to buy anything for this podcast other than my recording equipment, but man researching this podcast is big joab hours, god just keeps fuckin testing me. Just slap my ass and call me a pickle, ok, rage is over, time for songs:

These freed populations wanted a new music, a music that fit their current situation better, that didn’t rely on the imagery of the past in order to get across the situation they were in. And so that’s what blues did, it was a new sound for a new era and even more importantly it was a sound entirely their own. Whereas field hollers and various other types of music sung by enslaved peoples were by definition their invention, many of them still borrowed heavily from the dominant cultures of their oppressors, and so in creating blues what they had was something they could 100% call their own. Even if they didn’t own the land they worked/lived on, and had few rights to the crops they sewed and reaped, they did have blues, and that’s something beautiful. 

But when does it become a thing, like when does blues start becoming a thing? And that’s a hard part. Like any cultural phenomenon it’s hard to fuckin say, there’s some accounts that say 1865 like the fuckin second the civil war ended, then there’s some that attribute it to the 1920s. Most of the sources I’ve looked at put it around 1890-1910. It originates unsurprisingly in and around the Mississippi Delta Region and East Texas where you have a lot of farmland and thus a lot of poor folks just trying to scratch out a living for themselves. AND SO THE BLUES BECOMES A THING AND IT’S COOL AS HELL AND IT DEVELOPS IN SO MANY DIFFERENT WAYS! And I’m sorry that I’m not gonna get enough time to do every subgenre of blues, but we’re gonna look at 3 of the big regions or subgenres of blues. 

So blues first of all have all those things that I mentioned before simple rhyming schemes, like ABAB or ABCC, simple harmonies, Call and response is definitely a thing that still happens in this specific style, but then they also have blues notes, for those who missed the last episode, blues notes are notes within a standard scale that are “bent” (or at least that’s how they were initially described.) These notes are lowered by a semitone making the overall colour of the sound a bit darker and more… emotional, sad? Like we ascribe emotions to the way things sound and that might be western centric, I’m actually gonna have to look into it later, but for western listeners we’re gonna read the emotion in these tones as sad. So the notes specifically are lowered the 3rd  5th and 7th degrees of a regular scale. I’m going to play you guys an example of blues scale in just a second but the guy playing the example is using the pentatonic version of the scale meaning only 5 notes of it.

In terms of instruments the most standard you’re going to find in any blues band is at it’s most basic one guitar and a person singing. You could even make an argument that just singing could be blues if you’re using a blues scale but usually there will at least a guitar and one dude singing. The rest of the intstruments are gonna depend on the region you’re playing from. So remember the moaning thing I mentioned last time? The moaning style vocals? Not pioneered by but made popular by a man that went by Blind Lemon Jefferson? This one:

Well he falls under the Mississippi/Texas type of blues which we’re gonna call texasippi. It differs from other types of blues in the united states for a couple reasons but one of them is that moaning style of vocals, in other parts of the country the style where the blues vocals function similarly to other styles of singing, clean and clear, no moaning. Another cool thing that texasippi blues also does is they incorporate a lot of metal into the way they play their guitars. Not like the heavy screamy kind that’s come to be MY fave, but like actual metal objects! How they incorporate this is through the strings of the guitar specifically causing a little extra twangy buzzing when the strings resonate but also a sort of pleasing screech when they’re shifted up and down the strings like this:

but what did they use to make this sound? Well just about anything small enough and metal you could thread between the strings or held against them while playing, this coulda been bottle caps, pocket knives, silverware. Remember, we’re still talking about a type of music that was very much being played by people without very much or no money, so you’re using what you can to make it. Nowadays you can purchase wee cylanders made of glass or metal that go over ur fingers that you press up against the strings to create the desired effect. In addition to this, something that’s pretty regional to the blues in this area is the harmonica. I’m assuming most of you know about the harmonica and have heard it but for those who don’t, the harmonica is a squanky reed instrument that you play with your mouth. I would tell you the physics of how it works but fuck if I ever studied physics. Basically when you blow in it, it vibrates the reed and makes a note depending on the holes you blow into, and when you suck air in it, it makes other sounds! They can be very very large or very very small thus changing how low or high the sound is respectively. They were invented somewhere in the early 1800s in Germany we think and they sound something like this:

How were harmonicas introduced into blues music? Well turns out, much like some of the other instruments we’ll see in a hot minute, harmonicas were often carried by soldiers during the American civil war, even President Abraham Lincoln himself was reported to have carried a harmonica with him in his coat pocket and would play it as he “found it comforting.” Thing about the harmonica was that it was relatively easy to make and it was extremely cheap to buy in comparison to other instruments at the time, even better was that you really didn’t need lessons to figure out how to make it sound good. So during the reconstruction period, as industrialization rapidized in America, and harmonicas became more available, and previous soldiers reminisced about the songs they heard played in their camps during the civil war, more and more people started picking up the harmonica. And so poor southern americans were able to incorporate the instrument into this new music they were developing like this:

Also I would big time recommend just watching the video for that song, dudes just sittin there legit just suckin on his harmonica at some point, that’s what I fucking call dedication bud. The cool part about blues from the texasippi way is then during the great migration, the phenomenon that I mentioned last episode, where black southerners just start heading northwards, is that the blues travels with them too. Just briefly on the great migration, remember all the shitty stuff I discussed earlier, the lack of work, sharecropping, lynching and what have you? That’s why the great migration takes place. Basically black people all around the south are going jesus fucking christ shit sucks let’s get out of here and find somewhere better to be, and so they do, and about 6 MILLION Black Americans head north to where it’s… better. I mean there’s definitely still racism and all sorts of jim crow era laws and practices up north but it is still some degree better than the south. So this great migration is how texasippi blues music then comes to be transplanted into Chicago, and turns into Chicago blues. 

“BUT LAURA” YOU SAY, UR HANDS CLENCHED INTO FISTS AT UR SIDES, “IF TEXASIPPI BLUES IS THE SAME AS THE ONES IN CHICAGO THEN HOW’RE THEY DIFFERENT!?” YOU CRY WITH TEARS FORMING AT THE SIDES OF YOUR EYES. And you’re right b, they are the same so why are they different? Well ya gotta remember that time does funny stuff to music similarly as it does with language and just abut anything else, things change over time, AND, things get invented over time. And time as we’re moving into now is like 30s and 40s era. So in the case of Chicago blues we get the additives of the piano, which has been around for some time but people are now just being able to put into their blues music due to becoming more financially stable, BUT WE ALSO GET THE COOL NEW INVENTION OF THE ELECTRIC GUITAR. Now there is some speculation over the invention of most things throughout history, for example, y’all might be familiar of Thomas Edison not actually inventing the lightbulb and being a bit of a dick about things, so when I talk about inventors of things, unless otherwise stated, please take it with some amount of a grain of salt. So Paul H Tutmarc may have been the first person to invent the first electric guitar when he managed, by some feat of science, which I will not explain because science is for wizards and freeks and while I am both of those I am not at all qualified or able to explain it, but essentially he managed to electrify a Hawaiian guitar! He supposedly invented this sometime in the 1930s. Here’s an example of what that sounds like:

Very Spongebobby… spongeboblike…spongebobesque… so EITHERWAY the electric guitar, as well as the electric bass is invented and so those are then infused into Chicago blues. In some cases you will also get the addition of drums and saxophone, but it is the electrified elements as well as the piano that really characterize the biggest difference between Chicago blues and texasippi blues. Overall, it sounds like this:

Something you also probably heard in there was just the level of intensity, the volume or what I’m gonna call the perceived volume, is louder. Whereas the songs of the texasippi blues is a little softer, quieter, very much just dude and his guitar volume, Chicago blues is gonna sound a little louder and a little more intense at most times. This is due to blues clubs becoming a big thing during this time period. And why shouldn’t they? In diaspora communities, that is communities consisting of people from a similar ethnic or national background, you often get patterns of similar settlement. So in our case, when Black Americans started moving northward, they would often settle in similar communities or move into similar communities based off of their ethnicity. Afterall you wanna be able to live in places where people understand your experience. There’s also the element of racism of course, homeowners associations making it hard for Black folk to move into white neighbourhoods and of course school segregation which didn’t end until the 1954. So while in some cases there was def an element of wanting to feel safe in a community of people who understand you, there’s also a big ol element of racism as there pretty much always is when we talk about anything. Seriously ur gonna be surprised at how far reaching and fucking just convoluted and stupid racism is, especially when we get into like Europeans being racist against other Europeans. So since we have all these people moving up north they need to be entertained, we all need entertainment after-all, but lo and behold! They can’t go to white clubs in a lot of cases because fucking racism (unless you are a performer in which case sometimes you can go to white clubs but only to perform, I’m gonna get more into that when we have our jazz episode.) So we start having blues clubs and because they’re a club and there’s drinking and talking and what not, often these songs tend to be a little louder or more rowdy to compensate. 

On the other end of the country we also have my favorite flavour of blues which is the New Orleans blues. I’m definitely 100 percent biased when I say this but why does everything in New Orleans just sound better? If I had to guess it’s the multiculturalism and thus people bringing in tonnes of different ideas, but it’s hard to quantify awesome so we’re just gonna leave it there. BUT YEAH so we have texasippi blues that travels down the river (cause things rarely travel up a river) and hits New Orleans. But again, if we’re talking about the same style of blues then what makes it different? A lot hunny, a lot. So as we talked about in our last episode there’s a lot of different cultural elements at play in Louisianna culminating in some cool ass musical styles and changes. It’s also absolutely something we’re gonna talk about when we go back and do the Jazz episode cause lord knows New Orleans jazz is just as fuckin hot and dangerous (like serious lemme just go fuckin hangout with you guys down there, that’s all I want, musical tour of louisianna) I will say though that the line between jazz and blues does tend to get a little blurry though when we’re talking about New Orleans Blues so just hold onto ur femurs there yall and strap in. 

So New orleans blues is different from other types of blues again by incorporating horns and piano into the music, most notably this will be the trumpet cause trumpets after the civil war just kinda leached out into the general public and since people got used to them in that capacity they became sorta naturally engrained into the soundscape of the music of the area. “but laura doesn’t Chicago also have horns?!” and ur right man they absolutely do, but there’s even more. So where texasippi blues relies on a rather standard rhythms in most cases, the New Orleans Blues scene takes from some of that different heritage and combines Caribbean inspired or based rhythms. We can find a good example of the inspiration for those rhythms in another genre of music that was popular at the same time, Calypso. Calypso is a genre of music which we will look more in depth in the future but just really generally for now it is popular in the Caribbean as well as certain parts, South America (particularly Venezuela), Mexico, and of course New Orleans during this time. It is usually up-beat and relies a lot on emphasizing the offbeat, and these are all things that we hear being incorporated into New Orleans blues during the time. So when we hear blues from New Orleans, one of the things we can usually use to tell the difference is merely just the upbeat tempo of things and slightly more rhythmically complex manner in which it existed. In fact Blues in New Orleans was so fuckin different it actually started what we know of as R&B or rhythm and blues which sounds like this:

Just a quick detour, I fuckin love like, blues and jazz names. The Man I played just there was Roy Brown but man the names really take off on occasion my personal favorite being Guitar Slim Jr., but we also got Fats domino (sometimes just known as fats, or the fat man), we god fuckin Professor Longhair, we got a dude who just goes by the name sugar boy, like… guys…. What happened to nicknames like that, I wanna walk around and when people see me comin at a distance they just point and go oh lord here comes swamp papa, like, that’s livin man, I dunno what to tell you but that’s absolutely livin. 

Anyhow, what ur gonna notice, or maybe you didn’t notice but I’m gonna tell you and you can go back and notice is that blues, (along with jazz but we’re gonna get to that) as it goes on and evolves starts sounding a lot like early rock and roll music, and that doesn’t happen by coincidence. Also you’re probably noticing that blues at least as far as it goes for the Chicago variety and the New Orleans variety we talked about, sound a hell of a lot like Jazz and again we’ll get more into the specifics later. The thing is when we talk about invention, whether it be music, or physical things, or even sometimes schools of thought and ideas is that things get borrowed and changed and moulded into something else by other people. Hell the phenomenon of something being invented in multiple different places at the same time is so common enough that it even has a name, it’s called multiple discovery. Generally people in North America prefer a more black and white “this thing was developed at this time and this place by this person because definitive reason definitive reason definitive reason.” Because we have this weird sense of individuality and crediting individuals with discovery as opposed to a group or the society itself as maybe it should more rightly be. This means that in our endless want to categorize and systematize and ize all these things, particularly things like music, it gets sorta difficult to discern what is what and why and how. Of course we’ve already seen this with spirituals and gospel, and now we’ve seen it with blues/jazz/and early rock.

I just wanted to bring it up sooner than later because, especially as we move into more modern north American Genres, and honestly genres from various other places throughout the world. I wanted to bring this up now before we go any further in this podcast because as we get into more modern genres and hell maybe even with this episode I imagine I might get some rather angry mail from elitests who will smash their foreheads on the keyboard in absolute blind fuckin dismay and rage accusing me of putting the wrong genre lables on the wrong songs. The thing is though, like most art, or definitions in life, things are salient. Just because music fits one genre doesn’t mean it only fits within that genre, in the case of the Rhythm and Blues song by Roy brown that I played earlier, while it is definitely Rhythm and Blues there’s also gonna be other people who strongly consider that Rock and Roll. And that’s alright! Music doesn’t have to rigidly fit into one genre, we give things genre titles or group things into genres to help more easily understand their histories and identify other things that sound like it! All music is going to have variation, and in the case of rhythm and blues, a style of blues that very much informs early rock, you’re going to have cross roads like that. So instead of getting defensive, maybe take some time to think about how cool it is that music exists on an ever evolving spectrum.

So with that, that’s all for just a music podcast this week, I hope you’ve heard something new, and I hope you’ve heard something that you like. If you haven’t there’s always next time where we’re actually gonna do something a little different. Next time we’re gonna look at the Minstrel show which I’m subtitling right now, “why we don’t wear black face.” In the meantime, though if one of y’all would like to suggest a topic I would love nothing more than to answer your musical questions or talk about topics that interest you guys in music. Feel free to drop me a line at [email protected]

List of Music: Jump Jim Crow - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjIXWRG09Qk

Belton Sutherland's field holler (1978) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CPJwt14d5E&list=PLAyuUbD3Cdhxx__cTlFDrkxxKiYllrYwJ&index=2

Wash Dennis & Charlie Sims - Lead Me To The Rock - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmPqmLovNms&list=PLAyuUbD3Cdhxx__cTlFDrkxxKiYllrYwJ&index=4

Leroy Carr & Scrapper Blackwell - How Long Has That Evening Train Been Gone - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEw0ek2BhJE

Blind Lemon Jefferson – Black Snake Moan - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3yd-c91ww8

Mississippi Fred McDowell - You gotta move - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtlVSedpIRU&feature=emb_logo

Red River Valley -Traditional - Harmonica solo by Kyong H. Lee - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKM4bn4kS-0

Sonny Boy Williamson - Keep it to Yourself - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtRxJDb3vlw

Paul Tutmarc performs - My Tane - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUOms5y6cmI

Buddy Guy - First Time I Met The Blues - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1jruvTBleY

Roy Brown - Mighty Mighty Man - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhp8jMykAVg

Technical Clip I used: PianoPig (on youtube) - Minor Pentatonic vs Blues Scale https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwz0b-At1ys

#music #music podcast #podcast #just a music podcast #music history

[justsimplypretty]

Needy - (n.m.)

Storyline: The reader is officially over Nick being too busy for her lately, so she decides to take matters into her own hands.

Author’s Note: Okay so I got too carried away with this one. Not sure what got into me but I was obviously feeling some type of way. Nick just does it to me what can I say.

Warning: DEFINITE SMUT WARNING

Word count: 2k

It had been the most annoying past few weeks of you and Nick’s relationship. He was constantly busy with meetings, rehearsals, and studio sessions that it left little to no time for you. And after many cancelled plans and rescheduled alone time together, you were starting to become restless and in desperate need of his attention.

You woke up on the living room couch early in the morning after attempting to stay awake until Nick got home from the studio the night before. You had a huge blanket laid across you that you didn’t remember being there before. Meaning Nick had come in late and saw you snuggled up and proceeded to gently wrap you up in the blanket without disturbing you.

You got up from the tiny couch and wrapped the blanket tightly around yourself and set out to find him somewhere in your shared apartment. You were happy to find him in the bedroom, but were immediately met with disappointment once you saw him on the phone. He locked eyes with you as you stood in the doorway and a grin instantly crossed his face.

“Morning angel” Nick whispered, covering the phone mic as he walked toward you. “I’m on a conference call with the guys and some people from the management team but I won’t be long” he continued as he placed a kiss on your forehead. But you knew that phrase all too well. Whenever Nick said something “won’t be long”, it always ended up being longer than anticipated and running up until the time he had to do the next thing planned for the day. Hence, the reason you two had no time together lately.

“You always say that Nick but I need to be with you now” you said whining as you pouted your lips. But Nick continued his conversation as he walked to sit on the bed and proceeded to mouth a simple “just a minute” to you. You had officially had it. Being over constantly getting ignored by your boyfriend, you decided to take matters into your own hands. If he wasn’t going to give you the attention, then you’d just have to demand it yourself.

You dropped the blanket to the floor revealing your red laced thong covered by your oversized t-shirt. You crawled on the bed behind Nick who was sitting at the edge, and began prepping kisses all along his neck. He was mid sentence with his phone conversation when his voice came to halt at the feeling of your lips on his skin.

“Nick, you still there?” you heard Brandon say on the phone. “Yeah yeah I’m here just a quick sec” Nick said proceeding to cover the phone mic.

“Baby, I just said I won’t be long. Give me a second” Nick said in a stern tone. Something about the assertiveness in his voice only made you more turned on and want to continue pushing the limit.

Nick went on with the conversation, discussing future dates and venues for an upcoming concert. You continued your scandalous ways and began moving your hands down Nick’s chest and slowly to his boxers, where you began rubbing him from outside. You could feel he was already hard. You thought maybe it was from the sight of you in his favorite underwear of yours or maybe from the many marks you left on his neck. Either way, you continued moving your hand over his member, palming him ever so slightly.

“Y-yeah the ten-tenth of next month” Nick said stuttering over a couple of words. You took that as a sign that your plan was working and decided to go even further. You got off the bed, went over in between Nick’s legs, and immediately got on your knees. Before Nick could even say anything, you slid his boxers down and took him into your hand. A low groan came out of Nick’s mouth as he looked at you from above. His eyes were filled with both anger and lust. He covered the mic again as he grabbed your wrist and stopped your motions at once.

“You may enjoy teasing me now, but you’re going to regret it if you continue later” Nick said as he let go of your dainty wrist.

“Hm I don’t know Nick... maybe I wanna regret it later” you said as you slowly took the tip of him into your mouth. Nick clenched his jaw, and tried to carry on the conversation. But as you continued to take more and more of him in your mouth, the feeling was too good and he couldn’t control it anymore. He unintentionally let a low “fuck” escape from his mouth.

“You alright over there Nick?” Edwin questioned at the profanity coming from Nick’s line. “Yeah, just dropped something that’s all... just continue” Nick said trying to move the conversation forward. You giggled a little at the excuse Nick had told the boys, causing more sensation to be released onto him.

At this point, he was getting close. Out of breath and extremely in need of release, he was struggling to keep his noises in. But that didn’t stop you. You loved seeing him this way. Helpless and in need of release while still trying to carry on a conversation. Which is why it took you completely by surprise when Nick took himself out of your mouth and looked deep into your eyes.

“Strip. Now.” He said in a strict but silent tone to avoid anyone hearing. His voice was too sexy that you didn’t even care to question why he stopped you or what was to come next. All you wanted to do was listen to him. So you slid your shirt over your body exposing your bare chest and slowly slid the lace down your legs as Nick’s eyes watched your every move, never leaving you.

“Perfect... absolutely perfect” Nick said loud and clear. You couldn’t tell if he was referring to something said on his conference call or to your completely stripped body standing in front of him, but it made you a little more wet both ways. He signaled you towards him with his two fingers and began touching your body. He left kisses all over, causing you to tilt your head back in pleasure. He continued to place his free hand on your hip, as he guided you to sit down to where you were straddling his thigh. Nick held the phone as far away from his ear as possible as he began to whisper into yours.

“Make yourself cum on my thigh baby. I wanna see you struggle. And don’t dare let a single one of those pretty moans escape your mouth. Understood?” Nick said strictly. You gave a quick nod, in desperate need of wanting to feel some type of pleasure on your now sensitive area. Nick moved the phone back to his ear as he began helping you rock your hips.

“Sorry yes I’m still here, just had to quickly take care of something” Nick said continuing his conversation. Something about possibly getting caught by everyone on the phone made you feel more rebellious and turned on, causing you to continue moving faster. The feeling started to take you over, sending pleasure over your whole body as Nick’s eyes, for the second time that morning, watched your every move, never leaving you.

You could tell you were losing control, forgetting Nick was still on the phone and beginning to let out soft moans. Nick’s hand quickly began covering your mouth as he whispered into your ear.

“What did I say princess? Not a word” Nick said looking deep into your lustful eyes. He could sense you were close and weren’t gonna be able to hold it for much longer. “Does my baby want to cum for me? Huh?” Nick said as you eagerly nodded your head, hoping he’d give you permission to do so. But instead he picked you up, and quickly set your back down onto the bed.

“Hey I’m gonna have to put you guys on hold for a second. Something needs my attention is that cool?” Nick said on the phone. “Yeah man go ahead” Brandon said not knowing you were the something that was awaiting Nick’s attention.

Nick quickly put the phone on mute and set it on the nightstand. He got back on the bed to a super whiny you, in need of his touch.

“Nick please baby” you moaned trying to avoid touching yourself. You knew it would only cause Nick to leave you just like this. “Please what?” Nick said hovering over you. “I need to feel you inside of me baby please fuck me” you said being a complete mess under him.

“I don’t know if you deserve it princess after disobeying me earlier” Nick said teasing your entrance with his tip only causing you to go insane.

“I promise I’ll be good for you from now on just please Nick I can’t take it” you said. Nick decided you’d had enough suffering and continued to slowly inch himself into you. Your eyes rolled to the back of your head as you wrapped both hands around his neck, clawing at his back. “f-fuck” is all you could say. Even though you and Nick had done this plenty of times before, you could never get use to how big he was.

“You like that baby? Huh?” Nick said picking up the pace. “I-I love it... f-fuck me” you moaned completely losing feeling in your legs. 

“Gladly” Nick said continuing to go faster and faster. Your screams and the sound of your bodies coming together were completely filling the room. At a time like this, you were definitely grateful for that mute button.

“Fuck I wish you could see how pretty you look falling apart underneath me baby...you’re a mess” Nick said as his strokes became less in sync, hinting he was close. “Tell me who it’s all for? Who that sweet pussy belongs to princess?” Nick continued.

“You baby it’s all for you... p-please can I cum?” you begged not being able to hold it in anymore.

“Not yet baby, hold it in for me understood?” Nick said awaiting your response. But you were in too much pleasure to even form words at this point, causing Nick to give you a slap on the thigh. “Understood?” Nick repeated himself.

“Y-yes daddy” you managed to say with the little energy you had left.

Hearing you call him this only made him go deeper than ever before. It was unexplainable at this point. How good Nick had you feeling. And the fact that there were people one button away from hearing it at all sent you over the edge.

“Fuck baby I’m gonna cum PLEASE” you screamed almost at your climax.

“Look at me and let go baby... open those pretty eyes for me... I wanna see your face when you cum on me” Nick said allowing you release all over him. Your screams continued to fill the room as your legs wrapped tightly around Nick’s waist, bringing him to his climax as well. “Just like that baby... fuck you’re making me cum for you” Nick said as he released.

You were completely out of breath as Nick got off the bed and grabbed a warm towel from the bathroom, gently wiping your sensitive area before picking up the phone.

“Yeah yeah sorry for the wait guys, but you’ll have to figure the rest out without me. I need to give this my attention for a whole lot longer” Nick said looking over at you and smiling.

He quickly hung up the phone before anyone could respond and climbed into bed with you. “You okay baby?” Nick asked like he usually does, always wanting you to be okay after you guys did anything. Though he was wild during sex, he was still a total sweetheart. Always making his girls wellbeing his number one priority. Always.

“Trust me, I’m much better now” you said snuggling into his chest. You spent the rest of the morning in his arms, finally having the alone time you’d been hopelessly craving.

#prettymuch #prettymuch smut #nick mara #zion kuwonu #brandon arreaga #edwin honoret #austin porter #nicksmut #nickmarasmut #nick mara imagines #pmwriting #prettymuch imagines

[nxfelibatae]

pose || jimin x reader [pt.2]

When the opportunity presented itself there was no way you were going to let it go, only 10 days to make a boy fall in love, It must have been easy, but you let yourself be carried away by your feelings, and nobody should risk their heart to the ones who are addicted to play with it. Love disguises itself in many ways and it hurts when you find out it was all a lie.

pairing: fuckboy! jimin x reader!

word count: 8K

genre: Fluff, slight angst, light smut, how to loose a guy in 10 days AU

warnings: Alcohol use, sex references, slow burn, swearing. Everybody it's kinda lying. That's pretty much it.

A / N: inspired by the movie How to loose a guy in 10 days. First work here so please be nice guys :(. It's a two people work.

PART 1  | PART 2  | PART 3

PART 2

Day 11

'Hey, are you okay?' Asked Nayeon

'Yeah, why?' You answered while packing up your stuff.

'The professor called for you 3 times and you didn't answer, you were here but… not exactly.' Nayeon answered with a mocking tone.

Actually, what was going on in your head was the question you were asking yourself since last night, where would you find a guy who would date you? You knew you were pretty and smart, but that wasn't enough for the boys at college, they were looking for something easy, something for one night, and you were not down for that kind of relationship.

You thought that if you were ever going to date someone again, it was going to be for a long term. But you knew you had to let that idea fly away for the sake of the article or at least until you get the job.

'Where do I find a guy who agrees to go out with me for more than a one night stand?' You finally let out with a snort. Nayeon looks at you like as if you were joking.

'There are millions of boys in the world, surely you will find someone perfect to write the article about.' She says.

'You always know what to say Nayeon.' You say while resting one side of your head on her shoulder.

With spring coming soon, you could already feel the warm weather in the air predicting it was going to be a nice one. Spring was your favorite season, mostly because of the cherry blossoms and the fact that you could sit under your favorite tree for hours writing ideas for future projects you hoped you could achieve and all this without the risk of freezing your butt like in winter.

'We should eat outside, it looks like it's not that cold.' You say walking towards the exit that led to the main courtyard.

'Okay, go look for a place to seat and I'll go get us something to eat.' Nayeon left after you nod in agreement.

As you walk down the courtyard looking for a place to seat, you let the wind hit your face confirming your assumptions about the weather. There was a table in the middle next to the fountain, while you settle in, you leave your things on the table and breathe deeply letting in the smell of wet soil, courtesy of the sprinklers that had watered the grass a few minutes before.

Now that you were alone maybe you could think clearly about the article. It was nice outside and maybe ideas would flow better. You open up your bag to search for your journal, only to realize that it's not there.

'Where did I left it?' The panic in your voice was evident, that journal was your life, all your ideas were inside it, all your tasks to be done, your appointments, the ideas for the article… You turned your bag upside down taking out everything that was inside of it just to make sure it was't in there, you needed to find that journal as soon as possible.

'What are you looking for?' Nayeon says with a concerned look in her face while placing the food trays on the table.

'My journal, have you seen it? I can't find it and everything I need is in there. '

Why is this happening to me, what kind of teenager novel is this?

'The one you where using in class?'

'Yeah the one with the… Oh my god! I left it back in the classroom! I have to go back to get it, wait here. ' Nayeon is left looking really confused with a carrot in her mouth as you walk away.

You let your mind cool down a bit before remembering your last class, with so many things on your mind you should have forgotten it in your seat compartment. When you where about to open the door, it opens suddenly, revealing Hyunjae with your journal in hand.

'Oh! There you are, I was about to look for you to give you your little diary. ' Says Hyunjae with a smile that you knew was not sincere.

'Did you read it?' You asked while snatching it away from her.

'A thank you would have been enough,' she notices the suspicion in your face 'I didn't read your pathetic thing.' She rolls her eyes.

'You better not.' You stick the journal to your chest protecting its content 'Thank you… I'll better get going'.

'No problem, that's what co-workers are for, right?' She was wearing that fake smile again, 'I need to go as well, I need to work on my article, have you started yours?'

'Something like that.' You put a weird gesture, more like a pout, letting her know you haven't even started it.

Hyunjae turns her face to the side laughing a little 'I haven't started mine either, I don't even have the topic yet.'

'I have a topic, but I don't really know where to start.'

'You do look kinda stress… do you know what you need?' Asks with a smirk 'A party!'

'What?' You let out in confusion.

'Mark Tuan, do you know him ?,' you look at her still confused, trying to analyze what she's saying, 'He's kinda my friend. Tall guy, handsome, he's from America… he just moved to a new house with some other friends and you know open house party… it's today. ' Hyunjae finish with a hurray movement with her hand.

'Why are you being nice?' You say softly, looking at her like she was a total stranger.

'What do you mean?' She says frowning.

A silence reigns between the two of you for a couple of seconds before Hyunjae talks again.

'Look, it's just a stupid party. If you wanna eat, fine. If you don't, fine too. I was just inviting you because you look like you need a break and it's not like you know the right people to party with… 'Finishes raising one of her eyebrows.

'I don't do parties actually.' You interrupt her. 'And this is really… weird. You've never invited me to something in your life, I think I'll pass. ' You turn your back at her walking back to the courtyard where you left Nayeon. 'See you at the office' you say without turning your head back at her.

Hyunjae doesn't even bother to reply to you before she continues with her path with a smile in her face, heels making noise as she takes every step.

'What the fuck was that?' You think out loud as you continue walking.

When Nayeon sees you with journal in hand she lets out a relief sigh.

'Great! You found it! I thought we would have to deal with all your secrets being exposed with copies pasted all over the halls just like in the movies. Can you imagine? '

You nod as you let yourself fall on the seat next to hers.

'The weirdest thing just happened…' You say looking at her.

'Uh? The journal being there or… '

'No I mean. Hyunjae was there and she handed me my journal and she was… kinda nice? I don't know. She tried talking to me about the article, and then she went “You know you look tired, why don't you come to Mark Tuan's party?” '

'What? What did you said? '

'I sad no, of course. I'm not stupid, she must have an ulterior motive. '

'Are you dumb ?!' Nayeon screams back at you. You jump a little in your seat 'That's the perfect opportunity to fish. We are going. You need to text her and ask her for the address. Mark is pretty popular and his friends are really cute, we could find you a guy in 5 minutes there. '

'What are you talking about? Nayeon, I know no one in that party besides Hyunjae and I don't even trust her to call her a friend. Maybe I can find a guy somewhere else. '

'It'll be fine. I'll come with you, so you'll know me too, okay? I'll even dress you up with cute clothes and all. Besides, I need parting too, I need to get my mind out of that dude. '

'You can't be serious right now, Nayeon. You dated the guy for 7 days. 7 god damn days! ' You let out with frustration.

'Only?!' She says with an offended tone in her voice. 'I already told you it was special while it lasted. It's always about the connection, not the time. ' She takes another carrot and bites it, while taking her phone with her other hand meaning she was mad. You just roll your eyes, you didn't feel like going into that topic again.

'Okay, I'm sorry…' You take the fork that was on the tray and start pinching the food with no appetite.

Was it really a good idea to go to the party? What where the odds of finding a guy in one night? One that actually wants to date and not just to fuck around? You were running out of time, If you wanted to write this article, you would need to find a boy as fast as you could, Nayeon had a point when she said it was the perfect opportunity to fish.

But then there was Hyunjae and her weird way of being nice to you outside the office. You guessed it was a tactic to let your guard down so she could take advantage of you on the whole job competition thing.

You thought about the perks of going and see how well you cope in a place so unknown to you, Nayeon will be there helping you which is good since the article was going to be based in her personality, perhaps it wasn't that far and most of the guys from those parties where completely strangers. If you didn't have luck that night, you could call it off, find another topic and move on with your life and take this as a funny story to talk and laugh about later.

The more you think about it, the more you convince yourself about going, even though it's not really your element or one of your favorite places to be at. You were not going to give up so easily and without fighting,

'Fine.' You say snorting. 'We'll go to this stupid party.'

'Oh, you were still considering not going? I'm already asking my friends for the address, there's no way we're not going 'she smiles back at you with a mischievous look in her eyes.

Am I really here?

Your mind couldn't stop thinking about how easily you convinced yourself about this being a good idea, and how Nayeon convinced you that wearing a top that didn't leave much to imagination was a good idea too. Nayeon was nowhere to be seen and you were standing alone, with a red cup, in a room full of strangers. You could recognize a few of your classmates but you hadn't had big conversations with them, just a little wave here and there in the hallway. Discomfort made its big entrance when two drunk dudes were pushing each other about to start a fight near you.

You ran out of there before the chaos started, heading to the pool looking for Nayeon, calling her was not an option anymore, her phone would go directly to voicemail every time you called her.

You turned to see the crowded house from the outside hopping Nayeon was okay, and just when you were about to go in again, someone grabbed your hand and pulled you out of the little crowd.

You recognized Hyunjae's face seconds later. It was a little dark, but you could still see her pink lipstick and her very short purple dress. She was also holding a red cup in her hand and a tall, dark haired guy was standing next to her.

'Hey! Not passing after all, huh? I'm glad you made it! ' Hyunjae shouted over the music 'This is Mark, the host of the party,' she puts her hand on his chest with a little pat 'Mark this is the friend I've told you about.' extends the same hand towards you finishing the introduction.

'Hi !, I've seen you around school, I heard you are from America as well' he smiles in a way his eyes disappear and lets his teeth show.

'Yeah, I moved here freshman year.' You try not to be rude by avoiding his gauze, but the only thing you could pay attention to was the crowd behind them hoping to see Nayeon in the middle of it.

'Are you looking for someone?' He seems to accomplish something is troubling you.

'I'm actually looking for my friend, I lost her like an hour ago and she's not answering my calls or texts.'

Hyunjae is about to talk, but something, or more like a someone, caught her attention.

Park Jimin.

She saw him standing inside the house with his entourage of two dumb friends, laughing and talking about something. This was her opportunity to talk to him after a very long time. He looked really hot. With that leather jacket and all black outfit, but she wasn't even surprised, because he looks good without even trying.

'Why don't you help her find her friend Mark? I need to talk to someone, I'll catch you later 'said Hyunjae winking at him before leaving.

Hyunjae didn't let either of you say something, she was already heading inside the house to catch her favorite toy.

They were friends with benefits since early junior year when they met at a party hosted by Jimin himself. Ever since, every time one of them felt like having sex they will call each other or at least they used to. Lately the one who made those calls was Hyunjae, usually texting Jimin several times to have a good time but now he was throwing really bad excuses and she was determined to find out why she was being ignored this way.

After she finally passed through the people that was surrounding Jimin, she got to where her prize was.

'Hey Chim Chim!' Screamed with a high pitch voice putting her arms around Jimin's neck while he tried to catch her due the surprise of the girl throwing herself at him. 'Me and my bed have missed you.' Says while making a pout trying to look cute, he just took her arms off of him, making a disgust face. Jimin's response surprised Hyunjae making her angry and making his friends laugh at each other, avoiding meeting her gauze.

'What's your problem Park?' Hyunjae dropped the high pitched tone as she crossed her arms in front of her and posing in a way that showed how angry she was, Jimin nodded to his companions to leave.

'What do you want Hyunjae?' Asked the guy with an irritated voice.

'What do I want? You've been ignoring me for a whole month, what's up with you? '

He looks at her with a smile, ignoring her displeased face. 'I thought that I was delivering the correct message when I ignored your calls and your texts.'

The girl looked at him offended, lifting an eyebrow, still crossed arms and an angry vibe.

'Look I don't want to be rude but you are not giving me another option' Jimin's says as he pulls away from the wall where he was leaning on 'I'm not longer interested in your… sex services. If you don't mind, I'll go find my friends now. ' He smiles for a second and turns trying to leave but Hyunjae stops him by graving his wrist.

'What are you saying? What has gotten in to you? Do you have a girlfriend now or something? ' Jimin turns back facing Hyunjae who has a sarcastic smile in her face.

'Possibly… or maybe I just got bored of you, that's it' Jimin answers.holding her chin.

'Like if you were the type of guy who would sleep with one girl for the rest of his life and respecting the whole fidelity thing' she snaps his hand away from her face. Hyunjae was pissed. This had never happened, she was used to being begged, not the other way around. Jimin was hurting her ego really bad, but she wasn't gonna let him know that, she wouldn't give him that satisfaction.

'What do you know about me? The only thing that you know the best about me is my dick, 'he looks down' and my name, and it sounded great when you screamed it. ' His face gets close to hers while he grabs her wrist and pulls her closer to him. He's teasing her, Hyunjae knows this is the way he fools around, trying to make her ask for more.

Hyunjae could only roll her eyes, she was really irritated by the attitude Jimin was taking.

'Come on baby, don't be mad. It was good while it lasted. What where you expecting? That we will become boyfriend and girlfriend? '

She let a sarcastic laugh after hearing that. 'As if. I know you and your dick like the back of my hand Park Jimin. You're not capable of having a relationship. Hell you're not able to feel love for someone other than yourself. ' She pushed him away a little, almost spitting the words at him, trying to hurt his ego the way he did with hers. He was not going clean after this conversation. Jimin just lets out a giggle.

'Do you even know the concept of romanticism, Jimin?' Hyunjae strikes back with a mischievous smile. 'I mean do you even know what love is ?, and I'm talking about love in all its letters.'

He tenses his jaw after her words and she smiles widely, she was getting to his nerves.

'You know nothing about that…'

'Come on' she interrupts him, putting her arms out of her sides in a mock of boredom at the argument. She places a finger on his chest and comes close to his face, almost brushing her lips against his 'You get tired after the first fuck, what can you possibly know about feeling something other than pleasure?'

Now he's the angry one. Hyunjae can tell by the way he looks at her frowning. She knows giving him the sense of not being capable of getting something it's hurting his ego. Hyunjae feels like she won the battle, so she takes a step back, ready to leave. But then he talks again.

'Fine, I'm gonna prove to you I can be romantic.' His tone is as tense as his jaw. 'Pick a girl. Right here, right now, and I'll date her and I'll make her really fall in love with me, easy. '

Hyunjae is the one that giggles this time. 'Are you sure of what you are getting yourself into, Park?'

'I'm doing this to shut your pretty mouth. Pick one, anyone. It's not gonna be that hard. ' She knew that already, they were talking about Park Jimin, she knows for a fact that half of the girls in college where already in love with him. If this was a bet, she was going to lose easily.

'And what do I get from this? If this is going to be a bet, what is in for me? ' She's trying to make him doubt, make him back off out if it.

'You name it.' He says smiling, giving her a lusty look. As if she was going to let him sleep with her one more time. Not a chance. She thinks

'Fine, I want money. If you lose, you're giving me 1M won. '

‘What the fuck? Do you think I’m a millionaire or something?’ She knows it was a lot money, but it’s her new strategy, maybe with a high amount, he would back up. Why was she digging in more? She was paving the way to a place where she was going to lose for a fact. She was supposed to make him step back, not encourage him to do it. How was she going to let herself out of this? There’s not a single girl in campus that wanted to get rid of a guy like Park Jimin.

She turns her head, trying to find an excuse to leave but before she can think of something, she spots you standing next to Mark and your friend. Something lights up in her head. A memory. Your article, she remembered. You were supposed to find a guy and scare him off in less than 10 days, you were the perfect girl for this bet and as a plus she was going to ruin your article and get the job for herself. Life was just so great sometimes.

'Well, you're so sure about yourself, you don't have to worry about that right?' She is teasing now, tickling him like a sleeping lion to get into it. 'Are you still in, Park?' She smiles.

He doubts and Hyunjae thinks for a moment that Jimin would withdraw from the bet. What a fool she was. 'I'm down, it'll be easy' Jimin finally gives in and reaches out to seal the deal, just as she called it.

'Not too soon honey, there's rules to be set' Hyunjae reaches for a napkin close to them and pulls out a lipstick out of her handbag.

'Do we have a deal, Park?' Hyunjae places her hand in front of Jimin to close the deal.

'Of course we do, the easiest money I will ever win in my life' Jimin doesn't think twice, not even after he reads the short period of time he has to complete the task. So he reaches Hyunjae's hand and closes the deal.

'Great, now.' Hyunjae clapped her hands before putting them against her lips 'Who will be the lucky one?' She begins to see everywhere playing fool of not knowing who she is going to pick from the crowd.

'What about her?' Jimin pointed a tall girl, nice body and pretty face.

'You think I would go easy on you?' Hyunjae asks raising her eyebrow in disbelief. 'You probably know her and she is hot, so… no.'

Jimin laughs and shakes his head in. Maybe now he remembers why he kept going back at her whenever she called, she was funny.

'Uuuhh, what about that girl' she pointed at a girl dancing unconventionally in the middle of the dance floor.

'Are you kidding?' He laughs sarcastically 'I fucked her already and she's literally crazy, I'm not going back at her, no way'

'Though crowd, I see.' She hesitates a moment before returning her gauze to where you are 'Okay, what about her.' Jimin follows her gauze until he sees Mark talking with two girls 'The one with the back cleavage blouse.'

He looks at you, scanning your face. She's pretty and nice body Jimin thinks. You looked naive, this was going to be more easy than he thought. 'Done' Jimin let out big smile which turned into a smirk really quick, he was confident. 'You better prepare that money right now, this would be too easy.'

'Sure it will' Hyunjae said with an evil smile.  

In the other side of the house, you where coping up with the new guy and Nayeon.

Mark was easy to talk to and funny. At some point you about making him the victim for your article, but he was way too nice, you didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable, you actually liked him.

While he helped you looking for Nayeon, who was in line to get into the bathroom with her phone in Do Not Disturb mode at a party full of people for whatever stupid reason, you got to know few things about him. He was from LA and moved to Korea when he was 16 with his family, they lived in Gwangju, but he wanted to go to college in Seoul so he moved and met the guys he's living with at college.

Now you were in the middle of the house, talking to each other with ease. You don't even remember the moment you got rid of your cup, with all the walking you did around the house to find Nayeon, you guessed maybe you left it somewhere around.

'I'm really sorry for scaring you, I truly am' said Nayeon for the 50th time since you've found her.

'It's fine, just, let me know where you're going next time' you dedicate her a smile to let her know you are not mad at her anymore. You placed your hands in the back pockets of your jeans as you talk again. 'Maybe we should get going now, Nay. I'm kinda tired. '

'But we haven't found a guy' she says whispering under her breath so she cannot be heard.

You were not that excited about that topic anymore, she can see it in your face by the way your lips became a thin line.

'Hey, Mark!' A black haired guy approaches from the back of both of you to greet your new friend who was standing next to you. He stretches hands with the stranger and brings Mark close to give him in a semi hug.

'Park Jimin!' Says Mark with a big smile in his face 'Long time no see…'

'Same goes to you, dude. Last time I saw you, you hosted parties back at the dorms. ' He continues talking. You can tell he is handsome, marked jawline, pretty smile and now you could appreciate better the softness of his hair. He also had trouble written all over his good guy attitude. 'And you weren't so good with your social skills, who are your pretty friends?' He says looking at you and Nayeon with a smirk in his face. You don't pay attention to the comment, but Nayeon blushes at the mention of you being pretty.

Mark introduces you, but it doesn't seem to be enough for the guy, so he takes a step in, invading a little too much your personal space. 'I'm Park Jimin' he says. 'Nice yo meet you…' He checks you out without shame, head to toes, scanning every inch of your body right in front of your eyes.

You take a step back, uncomfortable to his sight. 'Nice to meet you too…' you grab Nayeon's arm and you pull her next to you 'We should get going.' You say in urge.

'Oh, are you leaving already?' Asks Jimin, was it ?, with a pout staring back at you.

'Yes.' You answer quickly, but so does Nayeon, contradicting you with a hard 'No'. The guy looks confused now, and you feel the awkwardness flowing in the room.

'Can I talk with you for a second?' Nayeon grabs your arm, dragging you a few meters away from the guys. 'What are you doing?' She says frowning.

'What do you mean?' You are playing fool at her question. You knew where this was heading. She lifts an eyebrow at you, reminding you that she can read you and you're not fooling her. You sigh. 'I want to go home, Nayeon. This whole idea is stupid, I don't even know how to talk to a guy in a no friendly way. Let's just go home, I'll find another topic 'you were not feeling good about this anymore. You felt ridiculous.

'No, we are not going anywhere.' Nayeon grabs both of your shoulders. 'Listen, you haven't even talked to a guy in this party apart from Mark and now this cute guy comes and try to talk to you but you act in a way it would make him run, which is the point of the article, but not this way and not this fast. Give it a try at least. '

'Are you crazy?' Now you were pissed. 'Nayeon, he looks like a total ass, he just wants to get in my pants. I'm not going to pick a guy that just wants sex from me. I was willing to sacrifice my first real kiss with someone for the sake of this article, but not to a fuckboy which I'm sure he is, he smells like it. Do you even know him? ' You throwed one of your arms back at where you left the boys talking.

'Are you kidding? Everyone at college knows him. The fact that you live under a rock doesn't make him less of a good match. Sure he doesn't have the best reputation but… '

'I wonder why.' You crossed your arms while looking at her rolling your eyes.

'Look, just give it a shot. If he doesn't meet your expectations, we can find another guy. Mark has many friends. If we can't find someone else by the time the clock strikes 2:00 AM, then we bail and you can tell me “I told you so” for the rest of my life, okay? '

The idea was tempting, but your mood wasn't the best anymore. You hadn't given anyone a chance, not even the Park Jimin guy who came to you a few minutes ago, and yes, he was handsome, but this wasn't really your element, you didn't know how to flirt with a boy with such experience as him, but again, you haven't even tried. You remembered all the things you did when you let yourself go and gave the unknown a chance, thinking that this might be the exception.

What were you so afraid of? You thought that maybe the idea of ​​finding a new you, that was flirty and sassy perhaps scared you or maybe you were scared by the idea of ​​playing on a field that you had never played in before. But as anything in life, you had to learn, after all, practice makes the master doesn't it?

'Fine, but If I don't find a fucker before that time we are leaving. For good. You're not gonna throw a tantrum at me. AND… 'you raised your voice a little. 'You have to do the dishes the hole week'

'No way, I'm here because of you.' She said smiling.

You smiled back as Nayeon dragged you back with the two boys that where now warmly talking to each other. Jimin was still standing there waiting for you like a good boy, with a commercial smile.

'So, are you guys leaving?' Asked Mark with his hands in his pockets.

'No, I managed to convince miss boring here to stay a little longer.' Nayeon says pointing at you with her thumb.

'Oh that's great!' Now Jimin was the one talking as he looked at you, turning his body a little towards you too. 'Are you thirsty? Do you want a drink? ' He looked thrilled at the idea for some reason.

Something about this guy didn't seem right to you. What is he trying to do? You were not really used to guys talking to you, but you were sure they weren't this smiley and attentive.

'No thank you.' You sinked your hands in the back pockets of your jeans one more time. Nayeon and Mark were talking animatedly, you laughed a little when you see her flip her hair in a flirting way. She will never learn.

'Perhaps you wanna dance?' Asked Jimin one more time.

'Noup.' You maintained your look straight to the floor, avoiding the cold gauze of Jimin's eyes.

Playing though girl? Thought Jimin rolling his eyes. Girls resisting to him were his favorite ones. First they say they won't sleep with him, but end up falling for his charms days later. He just had to act like the “perfect boyfriend” and be careful with his words if he wanted to get in their pants. This one was a new challenge. And Jimin loved challenges almost as much as bets.

The rest of the night follows up like that, you being most of the time quiet and following Mark and Nayeon wherever they went. He seemed like a good guy and despite of him trying to make a move in Nayeon, he kept including you in all his conversations and introducing you to new people all the time, but among all those people he introduced you, nobody captured your attention enough to make a move and get a boy to write on your article about.

What was weird to you is that Jimin didn't leave your side and followed you around through the house like a dog. He was trying really hard to make a conversation and you didn't want to be rude so you answered all the questions he threw at you. How old are you? Which semester are you in? Do we go to the same college? Do we have the same classes? No I'm sure not because I would never miss a beauty like you in one of my classrooms.

You were getting tired of his lame pick up lines. And even tho 'you were trying not to be rude, it was impossible for you to respond to his compliments. Frankly, you were actually flattered and if it weren't for the dim lights in the house, you could tell Jimin would make fun of your red cheeks every time he called you pretty or beautiful which makes you believe he forgot your name because he doesn 't call you by it all night.

You encountered Hyunjae a few times at the party. The last time you saw her, she winked at you while she had her hands around some guy's neck before turning back to kiss him. Little did you know she was actually winking at Jimin, he giggled after seeing her already with some other guy.

The four of you were talking by the pool, everyone holding a red cup except for you even though Jimin offered you a drink more than 20 times that night. Nayeon and Mark were laughing at Jimin's silly jokes. You managed to smile several times, but not really laugh like them, maybe it was the alcohol in their veins or you just didn't understand the jokes. You checked your phone for the millionth time, waiting for it to mark the time to go and also as an excuse to avoid the accusatory look Nayeon was giving to you that screamed “you're not even trying”. There were still a few minutes left to the time both of you set for your luck.

'Are you okay?' Mark asked you noticing your lack of excitement.

'Yeah, you seem like you're not having fun at all…' said Jimin. Of course he was going to talk.

You shook your head before you talked 'I'm just tired. Plus, I don't really like parties' you said shyly.

'Why didn't you say so?' Jimin saw a chance in taking you out of there and he was going to take it. You had closed many doors to him that nigh and he was not wiling to give up on you, he couldn't give up on you, that would mean he was willing to lose a lot of money. 'Do you want to get out of here? We can go grab a bite, if you like? ' He said smiling widely.

You were about to reject him, but Nayeon spoke first. 'Yeah, why don't you go? You said you were hungry before anyways'. You looked at Nayeon, almost screaming “what are you doing?” At her. Jimin was really nice to you the whole time, even though you were not too talktive, but that might be because there wasn't a moment when the two of you were left all alone.  

Dinner couldn't harm, could it? It was just something easy, two grown ups talking and getting to know each other, what could go wrong? And if in any moment you see Jimin wanting to be smart and take advantage of you, you could call it a night, go back home and think of a better idea to write your article on. And if you like it and it works, he could be the perfect victim, you could torture a playboy and teach him a lesson at the end, just to make sure he doesn't play with girls anymore. This could be fun.

It would only take 10 days to write a good article and get a good job, stay in Korea, live better, pay the bills. Suddenly, it doesn't sounds that bad anymore. You take a look at him one more time.

'Fine, sounds nice. Let's go. ' You got up from the bench and waited for Jimin to follow your action.

‘I’m sorry, what?’ Said Nayeon, clueless of what has gotten into you. Perhaps the smell of pot made you a little high.

Jimin on the other hand, was not surprised by your response, he was waiting for a yes in the moment he drooped the question, believing that you tough girl facade wasn't gonna last long since he knew how to talk to girls. He thinks he has you in his hand, it was just a matter of time before you begged for him to love you back. He smiled widely and you catch yourself liking the way he looks when he does.

‘I said fine, let's go. Are you okay by heading back home alone?' You asked her in a rush.

Jimin it's getting up now, standing next to you to you, waiting to get the answer you are looking from Nayeon, who looks too stunned to give you a correct answer, eyes popped up and mouth semi open. Mark answers for her, letting you know that he will make sure she gets home safely. You smile at him and say thank you.

After that, Jimin offers you his hand and you take it, feeling a tickle in your hand when he secures the grip. Jimin guides you off the house, passing through the people who were dancing and the ones far too drunk to even stand still.

When he is heading out, he makes sure Hyunjae sees him holding your hand as you walk pass the door. She looks at him with a smirk and he winks back at her. In his language, he's telling her that he already won, but Hyunjae is far more pleased, she knows what Jimin is getting himself into and she knows that the girl he just walked out with, it's going to be the death of him.

After walking for a couple of minutes he takes out a key. You wait patiently for him to find his car, big was your surprise when you see him get on a motorcycle, you don't know what to say, you've never been on a motorcycle, this whole situation was new to you.

'Are you getting on or not?' Jimin says showing a big smile while passing you a helmet.

'I've never been on a motorcycle before ...' you keep walking slowly.

'At the?' he says with fake surprise in his voice. 'It will be fun. Don't worry, I won't let you fall. I can protect you '

You think about it for a moment and you take the helmet from his hand, what am I doing? Your body begins to feel an adrenaline that has never felt before. Once you put on your helmet, you get on the back of the motorcycle.

'You will have to hold on to me so you don't fall.' You listen to him and put your hands on his shoulders, you hear him laugh. 'You are going to fall that way sweetheart, that's not secure enough. Put them… right here. ' He says while putting your hands around his waist and connecting them in the front just like a hug, you are glad that he can't see you from the front with your bright red cheeks. 'Are you ready?' He looks at you from his shoulder, you nod, afraid that if you talk, your voice would sound like a murmur due to the nervousness that runs in your body

Jimin starts the engine and the sound scares you a little so you stick closer to him, the cold wind touches your face as he drives away. Little by little and street after street, you gain enough confidence to lift your face and close your eyes for a second. Jimin sees you smile from the rearview mirrors making him smile as well.

It doesn't take you long to get to a cafeteria with a 90s style, you were fascinated with the place, it was really pretty, with classic benches, tables and music according to the time.  

'This is my favorite restaurant, it really captures the 90s, their milkshakes are the best.' Jimin says as he helps you get off the motorcycle.

'I will have to check that for myself.' Jimin opens the front door for you like a gentleman, you didn't expect him to do it.

You can see posters of classic artists on the walls when you go through the door that remembered you of the music you heard when you were little. You can recognize a few of them, Britney Spears, The spice girls, Nirvana, Radio Head. Was that Cristina Aguilera?

You were surprised of how many western artists where pasted on the walls. You never imagined a place like this would be so close to you and you never find out about it. It reminded you of America, your home and your life before you moved to Seoul.

He tells you to choose a table and after you take a seat, a waitress quickly arrives at your table with the menus, she's really pretty. You lay your eyes on Jimin while she goes away, for your surprise he was more interested on the menu.

'What do you usually order?' You ask turning the menu pages.

'This would sound too cliché, but a cheese burger with fries and a strawberry milkshake.' He laughs a little and you realize that when he smiles his eyes disappear, it looked very cute.

'Then I'll have the same as you.' you close the menu leaving it aside, Jimin waves to the waitress and orders for both.

Now that you're out of the party, it's easier for you to talk to Jimin, he doesn't seem too bad, maybe you judged him too quickly, he tells you about many of his adventures, and you tell him about your internship , omitting the article you were going to write to get the job.

He takes every chance he has to call you cute names in between. You have to admit that gorgeous, beautiful, baby, or pretty girl were pet names only a guy with very much experience and no sense of good memory would use, but you catch yourself liking it and after he calls you many of them you get used to it and stop blushing every time he calls you by them. Jimin almost regrets you being used to it, he liked the way your cheeks light up in a very cute way.  

He just keeps playing it cool, marching his plan slow and fancy as he always does with girls like you. He asks for your phone politely and smirks after you exchange numbers, Jimin keeps teasing you a little and he makes some comments here and there that are not really appropriate, but to his surprise you play fool to them. Is that or maybe you just don't get them.

In the course of the night, you get to know him better. You know his major, his age, and that he is not from Seoul but that he has the same group of friends since he was a kid back in his hometown. It surprises you how interesting Jimin actually was and with all the talk and silly jokes you lose track of time. You learn that he is actually really funny and he seems to be very interested in you, but you don't let you guard down.

'Oh wow, is it really late, or early?' You ask laughing, the clock shows 4:00 AM, how did that happened? You were surprised due to the fact that the cafeteria was still open at such hours.

'Time flies when you have fun.' He says while leaning back on his seat. 'Let me get the bill and I'll take you home.' Jimin waves to the waitress one more time to ask for the bill.

'Oh please, let me give you money for what I had.' You say searching in your pockets for the money you took before you went to the party.

'Come on, don't play that card on me. Besides, this was a date and it was my idea, so I'll cover it. '

You ignore the fact that he called your little run out of the party a date. Before you can complain he gives back the payed bill to the waitress, he opens the door for you once again as you walk out.

The way to your house was fun thanks to Jimin's jokes that you now understood, during the trip you could also analyze the evening and it was not what you expected, Jimin behaved the best with you, maybe he wasn't as bad as you thought , even so you would have to be attentive to what he did.

Jimin walked you to the door of your apartment even when you told him it wasn't necessary that it was literally 6 feet away from where you were, but he didn't care.

'So, here it is.' You say looking at the white door 'Thank you so much for the food, I'll pay for it next time.' Jimin smiles thinking that he already has you where he wants.

'So, there's going to be a next time huh?' He asks leaning to you.

You start to feel overwhelmed by his proximity making you take a step back.

'Maybe, that depends on you.' You flirt back, this is weird, it's the first time you act like this and you were liking it even more after his eyes sparkle a little with your response, he's been waiting all night for that kind of answers.

'It does?' He leans again 'I can text you later and we'll se about that ...' He gets closer to your lips with every word.

'Maybe I won't answer ...' Jimin curses mentally to the fact that you decide to follow his game just when he leaves you at the door of your house. This is his game, this is what he likes, being contradicted and tested around.

'Won't you really?' Jimin is so close to you lips now that you can almost breath the same air as him. He is inches away from kissing you but when he takes the chance and leans forward to do it, you turn your face, making his lips fall in a cute kiss on the cheek.

You can't really read his expression, you don't know if he is angry, mad or just simply confused because he was about to kiss you and you didn't let him do it. Were you playing with his head?

'We should take things slow, don't you think?' you say as you take his face with one of your hands. He blinks a little and smiles after he nods. A kiss lands on his nose before you open the door to get inside as quick as possible. 'Drive carefully. I'll get you later. ' You disappear inside and slam the door without letting him say goodbye.

You see through the peephole, curious about if he will knock your door again and claim that kiss that he was about to get, and he almost wants to. But you just see the way he smiles funnily and scratches the back of his neck before he heads back to his motorcycle.

Jimin thanks Hyunjae in his way back home because from all the girls at the party she had to pick you, an innocent girl who would be easy to make fall at his feet. Even if she called the bet off, hanging and fooling around with you was going to be one of his favorite activities. He was going to get you, even if it costed him the whole 10 days to do it.

<- PART 1  | PART 3 ->

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[survivormetaverse]

Episode 1 - "I know the game will pick up eventually" ~Shaad

chile lemme not get thrown out for making all these stan twitter bitch references I'M LICHERALLY HARMLESS I DON'T MEAN MOST OF WHAT I SAY DKJFHASJKLDG

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ngl tho i'm kinda shitting myself over these challenges bc i don't wanna get tossed on the first round JKAHFSJKDGHJ my ant eye et tea is through the ROOF

~

oh girl, first impressions? ngl, the gays and girls here seem quite lovely, hopefully they won't have to carry me the entire time LMAO

Okay like the only person I like/talked to is Jodi but she seems like a smart cookie so ima sleep with one eye open. But idk I'm ready to put on my fake ass smile and my fake ass kind words and get through this part. It's interesting with 6 people per tribe like if we lose I don't have that solid "core" yet but theres a chance that it would be me, jodi, amy because we were the first three on and active so idk. the immunity challenge is cool, the hunt challenge is cool too. im not good at timed puzzles, so I don't think I'm gonna go for it but a part of me feels like everyone across the tribes isnt gonna do it becsuse theyre scared so thats a good opportunity to sneak in and play with less people against me? idk idk idk ahhh

🎶Oh my god we're back again🎶 Hey peeps!! :DDD Here I am againnnn, how fun! Tbh I forgot this was today lowkey and Dylan reminded me and I was like oop 😳 also I am so sorry to everyone that I cannot help but sprinkle the fact that we are now dating in all of my first convos bc IM VERY GAY apologies✨ for how often I'm mentioning it I mean 😂 My tribemates seems so cool, Jennifer and Babs are newbies but seem up to the challenge, Jay A and Colin already giving off immaculate vibes✨ Me and Dyl are hosting Ingary in a month and I do have like work and everything so I don't know exaclty how active I'll be in this game/ how far I'll make it but we'll see won't we!!

not me being a leader of whateva

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it's the lack of reading comprehension for me (that was shade directed towards myself)

In the fools tribe !!! Moth is in my tribe which is good because we have played together before. The immunity challenge is divide and conquer! So I believe I will be doing the endurance one. I think I’ll be okay... and the hunt announcement is a good twist !!! I’m not sure if I’ll participate in the first one.. but I’ll probably change my mind. ANYWAYS, I’m ready to kick some ass 

Hey guys it's me Brayden and I am so here. I'm so excited to be playing again and stuff and I have already predicted the future that I'll be the winner. Anyways I was at an award ceremony for like the first 3 hours of the game which is kind of scary bc I feel like I missed alot but I'm trying to talk to people and stuff and see what's going on. I've briefly talked to Jodi, Amy, and Ginnifer (who is so hard to talk to btw I like send her messages trying to start a real conversation and she will just respond being like same or something). Anyways the other 2 people on my tribe are offline rn so ig I missed my chance to talk to them tonight so I'll do that tomorrow. Anyways I signed up to do counting and I'm so excited bc I literally KILLED the counting challenge on Kyoshi Islands so I'm so excited to hopefully kill it again. I also decided to play the hunt challenge even though I only have 3 chances bc I'm hoping alot of people will be scared to use one of their three chances to play in the first round and I can have a better chance of winning it. But I think I'm bad at puzzles. I didn't think it through that hard I think I got excited to play a challenge but whatever I'll probably win the advantage then in a few weeks win the whole game anyways see u later.

SO its the morning after the premiere!! Everyone's settled in!! and I kinda don't know how to feel?? Overall the premiere was kinda quiet, nothing happened worth noting tbh. Everyone on the tribe showed up, so thats good, but i think we're all just feeling each other out at the moment as for the people on my tribe! everyone seems chill but also i can't put my finger on it but SOMEHOW this tribe radiates chaotic energy. I don't know HOW or WHY but I just know it DOES. The way we're interacting in the tribe chat it seems like there's a very wide range of personalities and vibes. They're either gonna complement each other or clash, and I guess we're just gonna have to wait to find out which one!!! here are my quick night 1 first impressions that no one asked for :) Anastasia - she showed up kinda late bc she had life happening, understandable. BUT she kinda just jumped right in and started vibing with everyone!! so I think she's gonna be a strong social player. I talked to her and she seems really funny, I think I might really get close with her if I'm able to talk to her more Babs - IF our tribe does end up being chaotic, it's going to be because of Babs. They're definitely the most talkative and prominent person on the tribe, but I think they might come off as messy to others. they're really funny though!! so again I can see myself wanting to work with them if I can get to know them more. They are the biggest question mark on the tribe for me currently Elle - AH. I LOVE THEM ALREADY. Within minutes of us talking they mentioned Dylan and then I found out that they're DATING and I was SCREECHING. cutest shit i've ever heard. I'm so excited to meet and play with them. Dylan is one of my fave people in the org community so ofc I wanna get to know Elle and connect with them as well!! Jay - I think Jay seems like just a very genuine open person?? Like we talked for quite a while yesterday just about games and he was asking me questions about my experience with them and all that. idk if it's because he sees me as a threat or if its because he just actually wanted to get to know me. He lowkey gives me heterosexual vibes and idk if thats true or not but idk how to bring it up. but I def wanna keep talking to him and getting to know him!! I think he might be someone I can form a genuine friendship with Jennifer - kinda have no opinion so far. I think shes the quietest on the tribe. at least for me I didn't get the chance to hear from her much. kinda gives catfish vibes. kinda gives early boot vibes. idk. we'll see what happens!

Not too much yet tbh. Just finding my footing. People are loving my energy so hopefully they’ll keep me around

So i realized Amy is runner up from the season before mine in another org and so we connected over that... of course we are not going to tell anyone else but we did have that going for us to get started. brayden is only 16 but he told me he loves magic and wanted to learn more about it so i told him id teach him some stuff! dennis and i called and connected well BUT hes kinda playing SUPER hard and wanting to throw challenges already to vote people out.. this has never worked out for anybody!! josh is cool, he works at a grocery store so he's gonna kill the "b" challenge. ginnifer has been the most MIA but i have faith that we'll work together well for the popularity contest. yall know i cant play the reverse flirt game i so badly want to coin, but i do have romance tea for yall tomorrow. stay tuned........

Jay and I talked last night so i guess we're best friends. We decided to make an alliance and try to get Elle in it. But everyone has been pretty inactive besides Jay and Collin. I've only slightly talked to Jessica this whole game and Babs hasn't even said one thing to me and I texted them hi. And apperently Babs has left Jay on opened too so they might just suck at talking right now. Hopefully Babs will talk to me they seem so funny and cool D:

I won endurance 👑!!!! Hopefully the fools tribe wins this!!!! I played against Jennifer and Dennis. I could see myself playing with Dennis down the line if we merge. I haven’t talked to anyone but Moth. So I messaged my whole tribe Introducing myself. Hopefully things work out for me! 

Thoughts after the first 24hrs: https://youtu.be/I62bDSzgf68

You hear something ??? Same. Why is my tribe so quiet 😂😂😂😂 I’m trying to read off the vibes but I see nothing. 

I really love my tribe and the fact that they don’t know I played last season is a good strategy to play on my end

tbh i wish we lost i wanted to go to tribal and vote one of these people out :(

Welp we got second place in the first challenge :| which isn't bad!! But it's not first place 😂😂. But I had a fun day taking pictures so whateverssss. I said I would be chaotic in this game but the opportunity hasn't presented itself yet... Guess we'll have to wait and see✨

I think at this point, my team is shady and won't say anything to me so I am nervous.

The challenges were way harder than I thought. I didn't do well at all and let my tribe down. I feel like I will be the first to get voted out if we have a tribal hearing.

We lost yay. I had a feeling. Hopefully the tribe will keep me around for now since I won endurance.... lhsisowjshwowpwpwheowowhfiwpqpqpjw. Jared thinks we can vote Bri out. Which I’m fine with, I haven’t really talked to her at all. Jared and I are going to message the others and see where everyone’s head is at. Honestly I don’t care who goes home as long as I’m safe. Everyone is quiet which is so annoying. Blahhhhhhhhhh 

Well it’s my 3rd time playing and it’s not off to the best start, no one seems to be talking to anyone. And we lost meaning we are going to tribal council. So fuck- I have no idea what about to happen. I’m just hoping it’s not me or Jess

if i must confess, my strategy is to have a 4-3-2 alliance. i need a 4 to have a majority, but i dont have a 4 yet. within the 4, theres a three person alliance w me jodi and amy, but within that three i believe that the core 2 is myself and jodi. i really dont care who the 4th is. i like having jodi and amy as an alliance because theyre both doing wayy too much which is great for me :) i dont think any of these people have idols but who knows. i would love to throw the next immunity i wanna go to tribal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Looks like we’ve got something good. We’ve got an alliance that’s set to (hopefully) vote out bri due to inactivity. Let’s just pray it works

~

Trying to talk in this tribe is so difficult In both my other seasons I was pretty quiet all the time It is like that x10000 I was hoping to stay under the radar but that doesn’t work if no one talks at all I suppose it depends on if I’m being played or if everyone just doesn’t talk. I think there’s a plan. Let’s hope it goes well 

OKAY SO. Moth, Jared and I have a little alliance going on. We are set on voting out Bri. I just talked to Danny and Shaad and they are down with voting Bri out. I have high hopes that I’ll be safe at tribal. 

Better communication.. in sticking with that fact, our communication in my team could be better and we need to put more effort into what we do, I believe in us!

https://youtu.be/595h7hmL6VY

The start to this game has been a freaking snails pace...it’s unbelievable to me that these people do not want to talk that much, especially when it’s a tribe of 6. Colin and I talk the most, I’ve gotten a decent amount out of Anastasia, and to me it feels like those 2 wants to work with me and I am fine with working with them. Usually in a larger group you want to figure out who you can work with long term and use the first few tribals to establish trust, I may throw that out the window since there’s only 5 other people on this tribe. My strategy needs to be who the hell can get me past these first few votes before a swap happens, and I feel like I can rely on Colin and Anastasia for that. I’d like to pull in Elle, because she’s the one who’s talked to me the most out of her, Babs, and Jennifer. Everyone seems nice, but it would be lovely if people would be more active. 

I’m enjoying the fact our tribe won the first challenge everyone is very nice I love it :)

This round has been pretty smooth sailing. I know the game will pick up eventually but for now, we are just going with the flow as a tribe

https://youtu.be/UZVzZ6d6GRU

~

ok so apparently ginnifer isn't famous. she's just a bit quiet and mysterious. ok with me, just gonna take a while because I'm a loud and outspoken person (and player). amy, dennis and I have an alliance called "fang gang" (it's really just 3 emojis of vampires) and we're going to run the premerge hopefully. I do like brayden a lot, and maybe I'll propose a 3 with him, amy and myself to have a solid 4 control the votes until a swap. round 1 not bad so far!

~~~

Edgics:

Power Rankings:

Phantom

Jodi: I believe Jodi is thriving on this tribe. She is very obviously a social player who picks up on the littlest details. I’m sure she can sniff out a plot if it comes down to it. However, Jodi is the plot. She is the leader of her tribe and is easily the most active person in the game at the moment. So long as she keeps a smile on her face and doesn’t overextend to do something messy, she will find that she will make it safely to merge. Allying with Amy could be dangerous however since Amy has stated she needs to be voted out before a certain date. This means that Jodi needs to socialize with other members of her tribe and get new allies before hers will inevitably be voted out of the game.

Amy: Even though she wants to get voted out, Amy has set herself up perfectly at Jodi’s side. She can take the heat off of herself using Jodi and is able to hide better than others. As always, her UTR game has come out to shine. She hasn’t had anyone call her out and even though Jodi has seen her play she is still able to gain her trust.

Josh: Doing so well in the challenge has earned Josh’s place here. He makes his worth known early and has a great personality as well. This makes him very safe for any early tribal councils as no one is going to want to take him out; they want him on their side. Similar to Amy, he just seems to be using an under the radar social game which he is executing well at the present moment. And, as the star of the challenge, he makes himself safe for future tribals before the swap. However, I do fear that this early impression of competition prowess will come back to haunt him if he makes it to the merge.

Dennis: I would put Dennis higher, but Jodi, his ally, already is suspicious of him. She seems to think of him as a bit of a sneak and, as the tribe leader, her opinions matter the most. It is good that he is able to be Jodi’s ally so she might stray away from voting him out. However, his desire to go to tribal and play the game so early may bite him in the butt later down the line. I can definitely see him being called out for trying to play too hard too fast. At the moment, he remains high because he seems to be decently social and no one except Jodi has sniffed him out.

Brayden: There’s not much to say on Brayden’s game. He doesn’t seem to have any allies, his challenge performance wasn’t as good as others on his tribe, and he is not in any alliances yet. This spells disaster for Brayden if his tribe goes to consecutive tribal councils. Additionally, even though he was one of the few to play in the Hunt, he didn’t win and wasn’t even close to doing so. He even gave up part way through to do the immunity challenge. I would be saving them if I were Brayden, but hindsight is 20/20. If Brayden can squeeze into being the fourth of the Jodi, Amy, Dennis alliance instead of Josh then maybe his game forecast will be better.

Ginnifer: The thing that lands Ginnifer on the bottom is that she said that her tribe could vote her out if they lost the challenge. This primes people to already be willing to get rid of her in this game. Additionally, some people have expressed difficulty with talking to Ginny such as Jodi and Amy. The former still wants to give Ginny a try at being an ally while the latter was ready to vote her out if necessary. Ginny just needs to pick up social steam and outperform in the next comp if she’s going to have longevity in this game.

Fools

Jessica: In lieu of a clear leader, Jessica has stepped up as she started the first alliance on her tribe with Moth and Jared. No doubt, Jessica’s prior relationship with Moth helped facilitate. Additionally, this seems to paint them as the “active” members of this not active tribe. Therefore, it will be very easy for Jessica to dictate votes without getting labelled as a threat since her tribe is not active enough to do so. I can definitely see her leaning on Moth as a crutch, but for now she is the topdog of her tribe. Especially so since she was the only member of her tribe to win a challenge in Divide and Conquer.

Moth: As Jessica’s right-hand person, Moth is a secure spot. It also helped that they have played this game before and is on a not active tribe. This vibes well with Moth’s gameplay style since they aren’t a social powerhouse like Jodi or Colin. Instead, she keeps it more lowkey which makes this tribe in particular a great tribe for her to thrive in.

Jared: While he hasn’t provided a confessional yet, it’s clear he’s positioned himself well with Moth and Jessica. As the topdogs of the tribe, they are key people to get in with. Besides that, he seems to be a little more active than some others, but there’s not much else to say as of right now.

Danny/Shaad: Him and Shaad can trade spots on this ranking because they are playing similar games at the moment. They are both quiet and inactive, yet are not part of the core alliance of this tribe. This could spell danger for them in upcoming tribal councils if they don’t start working on people now. They seem to be safe for now based solely on Bri’s inactivity, but, otherwise, they need to pick up their socio-strategic game before it is too late.

Bri: She seems to be the most likely person to get voted out. She was not online at all for the first two days of the game and has since remained inactive. She is easy pickings for the top 3 of this tribe which really hurts my heart. I know her in real life and she is very sociable and easy to get along with. I have no doubt that in a real life game of Survivor or Big Brother, she would kill the social game.

S.E.E.S.

Colin: Similar to Jodi, Colin is the most social person on his tribe at the moment. However, unlike Jodi, he has not taken a leader position which works to his benefit. Despite being social, Colin has been able to slip under the radar of most people with a lot of them wanting to work with him. Colin is easily going to survive until the swap, but I will caution him from getting too many allies too quickly. This tribe in particular has a wildcard willing to blow things like that up so he needs to be careful.

Elle: Similar to her previous games, Elle plays an extraordinary social game and becomes very well-liked very easily. They have no problem fitting into any situation and I foresee them making it far if they gain the right allies. What puts her at number 2 as opposed to number 1 is that she hasn’t made any strategic comments yet. Instead, she is focusing on a social game which is not a bad thing. Colin has just shown more of his gameplay in these rounds.

Anastasia: Anastasia, despite being late to the premiere, has been able to socialize with key people such as Colin and Jay. Her prior connection with Elle has also sparked an interest in Colin in working with the two of them as an alliance. Overall, her and Elle sort of share the 2 and 3 spot since they are both well-liked, did well in the challenge, and are prime allies for Colin whose word will feel like law if this tribe ever goes to tribal.

Jay: Jay is neither here nor there. He isn’t in the bottom, but he is not calling the shots either. It is good that Colin wants him as his number 1 and that Anastasia likes him. Out of the three outside of this potential Elle, Colin, Anastasia alliance, he seems like he will be most likely to be saved until a swap occurs. His calls with people have certainly been helping with that as people are able to bond more with him through there. His activity could use work, but he doesn’t need to be active if he’s liked.

Babs: With another Jodi comparison, Babs has taken the leadership position of their tribe. However, they are not as social and, in fact, considered a big threat since they are so willing to talk freely and openly in the tribe chat. Their gameplay is going to be Messy, and people have already pointed that out, making them a clear target if this tribe goes to tribal council. Despite that, they aren’t at the bottom since some people, like Colin, have expressed interest in working with that kind of player as a sort of shield. If Babs were to tone it down and be more social with people (another problem with their game), they may be able to crawl up these rankings.

Jennifer: Sadly I have to put another phonetic Jennifer at the bottom. She did the worst in the challenge across her tribe and isn’t active either. For this round, it seems she would be the easy vote if this tribe had gone to tribal. She needs to start being more social and be more of a presence in people’s minds.

#episode #episodes

[athingthatwantsvirginia]

A Patti Smith Envelope

PART THIRTY-FOUR OF THE DO YOU SEE HER FACE? SERIES

Pairing: Jess Mariano x Original Character (Ella Stevens)

Warnings: anxiety about future, plentiful pop culture references

Word Count: 4.1K

Summary: Ella and Jess move into their new apartment.

A newspaper ad circled in red ink had led them to the cozy one-bedroom four blocks over from Truncheon and six blocks from campus. It was only late April, earlier than Ella was expecting for them to find something. But she had finished finals, had booked gigs working at the art camps at the college over the summer. She had a few weeks off to make art, and hopefully help out in Truncheon. After touring the place, it felt right. An excited tightness in her stomach. Jess, too, had squeezed her hand in elation as soon as they walked through the door. The place had built-in bookshelves on the far wall, the bedroom on the other side. Ella didn’t believe in signs, but even she could agree it was as close to perfect as they were going to get.

Luke had offered to help without even being asked. Chris, Matthew, Leo, and Mabel were all participants to different degrees of willingness, and they hardly needed any more bodies. But Luke insisted the minute Jess had told him the moving date over the phone. It was likely he needed some sort of distraction since April had moved to New Mexico anyway. She wasn’t going to be back until the summer. And it seemed neither Luke nor Lorelai had come to their senses about each other yet.

He rolled up to Philadelphia in his truck two hours before they expected him. He claimed moving wasn’t moving if there wasn’t a truck to help out. Packing up all the stuff in the apartment was easier than Ella expected, just as it had been when she moved out of her childhood home. Jess could be cluttered sometimes, but nowhere near the level of Chris, and most of Jess’s belongings consisted of old band t-shirts and marked up books anyway. Ella, likewise, had most of her records stuffed in the back of her car. The dresser fit in Chris’s SUV after a fair amount of squeezing stuff in. The bed was the real challenge. It turned out Luke’s truck wasn’t such a frivolous vehicle, after all.

A drizzle was just beginning to fall from the gray, cloudy sky as they finished moving all the boxes inside. The apartment, on the second floor of some ancient building, was not exactly up to twenty-first century standards. The pipes were old and cobwebs gathered in the corners. A splinter or two jutted out from the worn down wood floors, golden brown under the dim lights. But the bohemian rug and many lamps they’d scouted out from the thrift shop a week earlier were already proving helpful. Boxes, labeled with mostly Jess’s scrawled, cramped handwriting, were stacked high in the corner of the living room, others gathered on the cracked tile of the kitchen counter.

Ella blew the stray hairs away from her eyes, otherwise pulled back in her black bandana. Her bangs were growing longer, and she was just becoming able to fully tuck them behind her ears. Roses of flushed color bloomed on her cheeks, her skin hot and sticky. Chris had already sprawled out on the dark gray couch, Leo on the arm. The couch, too, was secondhand, bought for ten bucks at the ReStore off the interstate.

“You really should be paying us,” Chris huffed, throwing his arm across his eyes.

Ella scoffed from where she was helping Matthew and Mabel unpack the kitchen. There was actually not much to be done, as Jess and Ella were planning on getting most of their supplies in the following days. There were a few mugs, bowls, spoons. “Consider it payback for the amount of times I’ve made you pie.”

“I was under the impression those were ‘no strings attached’ pies,” Matthew chimed in.

“Or, at most, ‘friends with benefits’ pies,” Mabel added.

Ella rolled her eyes. “Fine. I’m taking advantage of all of you. I’m eternally in your debt. But I think we got everything, if you guys wanna get outta here.”

The four of them exchanged glances, eventually coming to a consensus they were exhausted enough to leave and retire to the cold pizza in the fridge at Truncheon. Ella suspected they were excited to have their own rooms for the first night in forever, as Chris had already made work of moving his stuff into Jess and Ella’s old room, before they had even finished moving out. She gave them sweaty hugs and salutes goodbye, finishing with unloading the meager contents of the new fridge.

“Hey, Jess, we’re outta here!” Leo called.

Jess’s head appeared from the doorway to the bedroom. “Good. Better to save yourselves now before World War III breaks out in here.”

From beyond the bedroom door, Luke could be heard grumbling obscenities and fighting with the new bed frame he was struggling to put together.

“See you on the other side, then,” Matthew said, smiling. “Also known as Monday.”

“We’ll see if I make it until then,” Jess shrugged, offering them a small wave. “Thanks, guys.”

“You are not welcome,” Chris grunted, trudging out the door.

Mabel gave Ella one last hug before exiting the apartment, shutting the door softly behind her. A grin broke out on Ella’s face. She and Mabel had gone on more than one lunch together, had even gone shopping once. It was new and Ella was still a bit worried the timid woman would be scared away from a friendship with her, but they were slowly getting to know each other.

As Jess continued grappling with Luke, who went on grappling with the bed frame, Ella finished with their groceries. The kitchenware was more or less unpacked to a decent level. The books were next on her list, followed by the records. Rounding the corner of the counter into the living room, she stopped short of the book boxes.

She put her hands to the hips of her jeans. There were a few water spots on the popcorn ceiling, reminding her of Truncheon. The air smelled cozy, but more of lemon Pledge than anything else. Someone had dusted the built-in bookshelves in the initial flurry of unpacking. During the walk-through of the place, Jess had pointed out the corner next to the couch as the perfect spot for an easel. Looking over it, with familiar furniture moved in, the place seemed more real. Less like a dream for the two of them. The terrace past the small sliding glass door was empty, but she thought maybe they could fit a few chairs. It wasn’t as though the view was spectacular, just a vision of the city street below and the other apartment building opposite. But it was more than enough for two people who had both lived out of their cars for extended periods of time.

An odd sense came over her, one of total novelty. Never before had she had a real say in her home. Her parents lived in the blue house in Stars Hollow before she was born, Lane had moved into her house with Zach and Bryan long before Ella started sleeping on the couch, the apartment above Truncheon had been a simple convenience to everyone involved. But she and Jess had chosen the apartment together. They had admired the cheap price, the proximity to work, the odd seashell tiles in the bathroom. The place seemed to have been built before the contemporary requirements of architectural uniformity. It had a mind of its own inside: a leaky sink and a brick exterior and shag carpet in the bedroom. Not altogether a surprise, considering it was in the artsy housing district near the campus.

“Dammit!” she heard once more from the bedroom.

Heaving a tired but cheerful sigh, she crossed her arms over her Clash t-shirt (borrowed from Jess) and entered the bedroom, to the left of the living room and kitchen, opposite from the tiny bathroom. Luke and Jess were both hunched over the metal frame, trying to hold both the headboard and the footboard up and attach the middle section. Their faces were angry and red, frustration radiating off of them.

“Hey, so, it’s past seven,” she announced, eyebrows raised at their trouble.

Jess jumped slightly, his back to her, at the sound of his voice. The footboard slipped out of his grip.

“Oh, for the love of-” Luke began.

“It’s fine,” Ella interjected calmly, going over and placing a hand on Jess’s upper back. He panted but said nothing as his uncle continued fussing.

“Where did you even get this? There’s no damn instructions!” Luke said, readjusting the hat on his head.

“The discount store,” Jess answered, glaring down at the frame and over at the mattress, which stood leaning against the wall near the dresser. “Not all of us have diner money to fall back on.”

“Anyway,” Ella continued, “I bet we could all use some food. Jess, maybe you could drive Luke down to that place on Birch and get some sandwiches? I can finish with the bed.”

Luke shook his head. “Ella, I don’t think-”

“She probably can,” Jess interrupted dejectedly. “I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s those sculpture classes. But she can fix anything. Not just showerheads and cash registers.”

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Luke said, raising his hands in surrender and leaving the room. He went to grab his coat from the messy pile by the front door.

Ella stifled a laugh. “My god, he’ll never change.”

“Why is he coming with me to get the food?” Jess asked under his breath.

“Because I think he’ll have a stroke if he doesn’t stop with this bed. And he doesn’t know where the place on Birch is. You do,” she explained, giving him a peck on the cheek before going to try her hand at the bed.

Shoulders sagging with fatigue, Jess gave a begrudging nod, then glanced back over his shoulder. “Fine. Hopefully he’ll be less Vesuvius and more Mauna Loa by the time we get back.”

“Not everyday you hear a good volcano metaphor,” she quipped, assessing the middle section of the bedframe and deciding to take it apart altogether.

“I know. Imagine how dull your life would be without me,” Jess shot back, a small smirk tugging at his lips despite his frazzled state. “Turkey?”

She nodded. “You know me too well, James Dean.”

“Agreed,” he said with a teasing laugh.

“Fuck off,” she replied through a chuckle.

Jess’s smirk grew as he turned on his heel to leave. “Love you back, Stevens.”

.   .   .

The windshield wipers of Jess’s rust bucket screeched against the glass as he rolled down Birch Street, away from the sandwich shop. A white paper bag full of subs sat in the passenger seat atop Luke’s lap. In one hand, Luke held a bouquet of deep red tulips. Jess hadn’t remembered the florist shop where Ella had worked the previous summer was right down the road from the sandwich place. He’d stopped in for the bunch of blooms as they waited for their order to be filled. The plastic wrapper around the bouquet crinkled in Luke’s fist as he braced himself, Jess rounding a damp corner.

“I told you we should’ve taken my truck,” Luke grumbled.

Sighing, Jess fought to keep his jaw untensed. “My car’s fine. It’s driven us across the country more than once.”

“Before or after it broke down on the highway and Coop had to have it towed back to Stars Hollow?” Luke asked, his voice tired and strained.

“Not sure. I know for a fact it was after you stole my car, though,” Jess retorted, eyes on the slick roads. He wished the radio was on, but the memories of Luke whining about his album choices were still too recent in his mind.

Heaving a large sigh, Luke gave a shake of his head. “Fine. I give up.”

“Thank you,” Jess muttered.

“You’re welcome,” Luke shot back irritably.

But then he looked over at Jess. His hair was no longer greased, his clothes fit better, his eyes were clearer. Most of the time, his brow was no longer drawn in anger or his face a scowl. Even his posture was different; straighter, brighter, more self-assured. And then he thought of Ella. She looked much the same as she had during her last few weeks at work, with her wide smile and loud laugh. The smiles were more frequent, though, and she seemed so relaxed around her friends. Even around Rory she had sometimes seemed a bit nervous to Luke, as though she were worried over a misstep.

Luke couldn’t contain the small grin on his grizzled face. “I’m really proud of you, Jess.”

Snorting a laugh, Jess spared Luke a quick glance before turning back to the road. They were only a few minutes away from the new home, but Philly traffic was never reliable, even on a Saturday. “Let’s put away the pom-poms for now.”

“I’m just sayin,’” Luke began with a shrug, “got your own company, your own apartment with Ella. You really seem to be doin’ great.”

Jess gave a short, humble nod, but took a long pause before he spoke another word. “Lorelai proposed to you, right?”

Luke’s brow crinkled. “Yeah?”

“But you proposed to Nicole?”

“Yeah.”

Humming under his breath, Jess gave another nod. Red brake lights glowed in the rainy evening darkness. “When did you know...how you wanted to propose?”

“Jess, are you gonna propose to Ella?” Luke asked, eyes going wide and smile growing.

“Never said that,” Jess answered nonchalantly, shaking his head. “Just never really delved into that part of your personal history. Figured I’d ask. Maybe I wanna get to know you better, uncle dearest.”

Rolling his eyes at Jess’s old patterns of behavior, Luke didn’t let his smile waver. He looked down at the bouquet in his hand. “Well, considering it was an impulse cruise ship marriage, not a lot of thought went into it. It just sort of happened. If you’re asking me how to propose to Ella-”

“Which I’m not.”

“-then I’d say she loves you and she’ll say ‘yes’ no matter what. And I’d say that you know her better than anyone in the world, and you shouldn’t...second-guess yourself. Do what feels right.”

“And did an Elvis impersonator marry you two on that cruise?” Jess continued.

Luke bit back another sigh. “No, wiseass. It was a regular minister.”

“Huh,” Jess chirped wryly. “You learn something new everyday.”

.   .   .

Patti Smith spun on the record player as the rain grew stronger outside. Though it was a pain in the ass to unpack the record player, Ella decided it just wouldn’t truly be home without the grace of music on the first night. Luke had left about an hour earlier, though they insisted he could stay over. He said he was nervous enough leaving Lane and Caesar in charge of the diner for one day, and he didn’t want to be late for the morning shift the next day. It made Ella roll her eyes, but eventually she gave up trying to convince him. It wasn’t as though she expected Luke to change his ways. The tulips sat in a mug of water on the kitchen counter, to be placed in something fancier and on something fancier once they actually had a makeshift dining area. For the moment, only the big pieces from the old place and the bed were filling up the small apartment. Ella had to bite her lip to keep from laughing at Luke’s face when he saw she had put the bed together all by herself, finished before they got back with the sandwiches. An expression of extreme frustration had slowly melted into pride. Both were memorable.

Between Jess and Ella, who sat cross-legged on the floor on either side of the coffee table in the living room, was a half-eaten pie. One of the few leftovers from Truncheon they had lugged over to put in the fridge before an actual grocery run. The apple crust was a bit soggy, but the filling was surprisingly good cold. She found herself so wholly content as they sat together: eating pie, listening to records, in the dim lamplight of the first place which was solely theirs. It all struck her with a force she wasn’t expecting. She chuckled to herself as she grabbed another forkful, eating away at the half they had not even bothered to cut but just dug into instead.

“What?” Jess asked through a sweet mouthful, furrowing his brows at her.

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Doesn’t this all seem a little...surreal to you?”

“Does what seem surreal?”

“Just...we have an apartment together. And you own a business. And I only have a year left of grad school. I just...sometimes I can’t believe it’s happening. I can’t believe it turned out the way it did. You don’t feel that?” she asked, lowering her eyes sheepishly.

He cracked a small, crooked smirk. “I don’t know. I always just sort of thought I’d end up where I’d end up. And here I am. With you. Not a bad place to be.”

She rolled her eyes, a blush coloring her cheeks. “I know about your Kerouac philosophy. But just...when you first met me, did you ever think in a million years this is where we’d be now?”

“I didn’t know exactly where we’d be. But, I knew I’d land somewhere. I didn’t know if I’d land with you, but I wanted to. Maybe it’s a little surreal, but it doesn’t surprise me,” he explained, leaning his elbows onto the scratched wooden surface of the table with arms crossed.

Snorting a laugh at his insouciance, Ella finally locked eyes with him again. “It just feels a little too good to be true, I guess. I mean, you go to school your whole life, you work towards something your whole life. Once it happens, once you’re near the end...I just never thought it would actually happen. I don’t know what’s next.”

She tugged at her earring with her right hand. Jess noticed the chipped blue polish on her nails, though they weren’t bitten down. He couldn’t quite decipher her mood. Not that she seemed sad or distant, but he could tell she was having a hard time articulating herself. And he could tell she was letting an old worry creep up on her; she was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

He allowed his smirk to grow into a full smile and dropped his fork into the pie tin. “C’mon, you’re gonna figure it out. You know you are. I’m the directionless one. You’ve always been able to do anything. You’re plan girl.”

Ella gave a mirthful scoff. “You’re not directionless, Jess. And I’m not plan girl. Rory was always plan girl. I was try-to-make-it-to-the-finish-line-without-tripping girl.”

Jess hummed thoughtfully, about to reply. But she spoke again before he had a chance to.

“I thought you had a thing for her, y’know,” she said, taking another bite of pie.

“Who?”

“Rory.”

“Really?” Jess asked, and he couldn’t hide the bewildered amusement in his tone. “When was this?”

She shrugged and narrowed her eyes for a moment in memory. “Just when you first got to Stars Hollow. I mean, you hated Dean, and you like a lot of the same things, and you seemed to get along with her.”

“No. It was pretty much always just you,” Jess said, shaking his head slightly. “Maybe we liked a lot of the same stuff, but...I didn’t ever feel like she...got me like you do.”

“Oh, she didn’t, Kurt Cobain?” she teased, raising her eyebrows. She put her fork down in the tin next to his, her stomach full. Her eyes were beginning to get tired, her body starting to ache from the day of moving. She was glad the bed was put together.

He raised his hands in joking defense. “Hey, I know it sounds cheesy, but it’s true. Remember that night she was tutoring me?”

“The night you crashed her car? Yeah, it rings a bell,” she replied.

“Yes, that one,” Jess continued, smiling sardonically at her. “We were talking about the future. And she kept getting on me about how I had to do better and I had to go to college, just like she did, or else I would have no life.”

The smile which tugged at Ella’s lips was slightly bitter but mostly fond. “Sounds like Rory.”

“Everyone in Stars Hollow thought I was the antichrist. Maybe Rory didn’t, and maybe we were friends, but she definitely wasn’t okay with who I was then. Maybe she thought, with enough Schoolhouse Rock videos, she could get me to shape up,” Jess continued, taking small glances out the sliding glass door as he spoke. He could see a sliver of the city lights past another building on the right side. It was better than the bland brick wall and the dumpster which served as his view from the room in Truncheon.

“Hey, she is an amazing tutor. If there was anyone who could’ve converted you to the Ivy League conveyor belt, it was her,” Ella said.

“Yeah, but you and I both know school was never the way I was supposed to go. It was the way you were supposed to go, but you didn’t try to get me to be anything other than what I was,” he told her, voice light but eyes sincere.

Ella felt her heart skip a beat, but shrugged again. “I don’t know. I definitely tried to get you to ditch those CDs.”

“The exception that proves the rule,” he replied.

“Speaking of, I figured out how I’m gonna organize the books,” she said, tossing a look past his shoulder at the empty shelves.

“How is that a ‘speaking of’?” he asked, a confused smirk coming over his face.

“I’m doing genre, then alphabetical order by author. The way you used to do your CDs when we were in high school,” she explained.

“Oh.” Jess had his eyes trained on her, watching as she undid her bandana and ran her fingers through her mess of blonde hair. He chewed on his bottom lip. Then, after a pause filled only with Patti Smith’s poetry, he blurted out: “Y’know, you were the first person I ever said ‘I love you’ to. The only person.”

Her gaze softened and she nodded. “Me too.”

“No, Stevens, I mean anyone. Not just Nora Ephron kind of love. Not family either,” he said, most insistent, though he did his best to keep his tone nonchalant. As though it were just a run-of-the-mill fact about his past.

She stopped for a moment, brow crinkling. “Your mom never said it to you? Not even hippie dippie Liz?”

“No. We weren’t that kind of family. She wasn’t that kind of mom.”

A crease of concern deepened between her brows. Every time it had come up before, she assumed both of them meant romantic love. Familial was a different beast. But she had to remind herself never to assume with Liz, no matter how she seemed. Jess had arrived when Liz was a binge-drinking nineteen-year-old.

Before her brief interlude in the ‘love doesn’t exist’ frame of mind, before her mother’s death, Ella’s world had been filled with ‘I love you’s. Mostly from her mother, in her soft voice, with her delicate perfume. Some from her grandmother, and even from her father. And after, Lorelai had sometimes said them in passing. Rory, too. The three words, no matter how commonplace they could sound, were important, she knew. Especially when they weren’t uttered, or stopped being uttered.

She opened her mouth to say something, then bit the inside of her cheek and hesitated. Rising from her place, she rounded the corner of the coffee table and went over to him. Jess tilted his head at her in askance, but she only answered him by sitting down in his lap, straddling him as their noses drew only inches apart. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and simply hugged him. For a moment, he sat motionless, his muscles tense. It wasn’t the reaction he’d been expecting, if he’d been expecting one at all. But then, he circled his own arms around her waist. They sat there, breathing slow and clinging to each other, for a long time. Patti Smith droned on around them, enveloping them.

Eventually, she pulled away and ran her fingers affectionately through his hair. He looked up at her, unsure of what to say. Fortunately, she took the lead, gaze unwavering as she spoke in her quiet, husky voice.

“Jess, you’re the fucking best. You’re my favorite person. And you’re gonna be hearing ‘I love you’ every day for the rest of our life,” she assured him, matter-of-fact. “So, I suggest you get used to it.”

“Right back at ya,” he replied after an awestruck pause, just before their lips met.

In spite of the fuss over the bed frame, Jess and Ella ended up spending the night on the worn rug in the living room, nearly naked underneath the first throw blanket they could find in the boxes around them.

#jess mariano #jess #mariano #jess mariano fanfiction #jess mariano x oc fanfiction #jess mariano x original character fanfiction #jess mariano imagine #jess mariano imagines #jess mariano au #gilmore girls fanfiction #gilmore girls oc fanfiction #gilmore girls au #gilmore girls imagines #gilmore girls imagine #luke danes

[mermaidxatxheart]

Bucky the Ninja Hunter {1/?}

Alright you guys. I’m on the struggle bus big time. So, I’ve decided to post this story in (hopefully) three parts, as sort of a beginning, middle, and end. This is for @captain-s-rogers​ and her Psych challenge. I love this show and couldn’t resist the temptation to write for it, especially since I basically speak in psych quotes. My prompt will be the first bold below. I’ve also incorporated other quotes, simply because I couldn’t help myself. Anything I’ve directly taken from the show will be in bold so there’s no confusion. I’ve had fun coming up with this idea and writing this. (To those that have sent me requests, I am still working on them. I’m trying to juggle all my works at once, so just bear with me. I promise I’ll get them out.)

Pairing: No real pairing, just Sam and Bucky being idiotic best friends.

Word Count: 2846

Warnings: swearing, murder, stupidity, ninja movie references (mostly in the future)

Prompt: “How can you just eat when there’s a dead guy lying there?” “What, is that rude? Am I supposed to share?”

Part One

 The office is quiet, no music plays, just the sound of a magazine page turning occasionally. The afternoon light filters in through a big bay window, illuminating two standard desks across from each other. A kitchenette is towards the back, mostly a sink, upper cabinets, counter and a fridge. There’s a lobby space for people waiting, able to be closed off by a door. 

 The big paper ball sails through the air and bounces off the plastic neon orange ring. Bucky scoffs at his best friend’s terrible shot while he, himself, flips through some food magazine. His stomach is rumbling, their take out can’t be delivered fast enough. 

 “Oh, you think you can do better?” Sam taunts. He should know better by now.

 “Of course, I can.” He flips a page about barbecue, trying to ignore his hunger pains. 

 “Put your money where your mouth is.” Sam challenges.

 “No.” Bucky replies, propping his feet up on the corner of his desk. 

 “Because you can’t do it.” 

 “Sam, I could easily make the shot. That’s why I can’t take your money.” Bucky says with a shake of his head.

“Prove it.”

 “Prove it? What are you? Five?” He pushes himself up anyway, determined to show his best friend wrong. He takes the big ball and lines himself up to take the shot. He knows Sam will do something to try and distract him, so he steels his nerves.

 Just as he shoots the ball, Sam drops a thick book on the floor with a loud bang! The ball sails cleanly through the hoop and Bucky doesn’t even flinch.

 “Alright.” Sam changes tactics. “Sudden death. Trivia challenge. Science-” 

 “Philipp Lenard.” Bucky replies confidently.

 “Damn. How do you always do that?” Sam grumbles. 

 “It’s a gift.”

 There’s a knock at the front door and Bucky pumps his fist. “Thank god, I’m starving.” He pulls open the door and accepts the Chinese food. 

 “Finally.” Sam sighs happily. They both dig into their food and Bucky tilts his head, something piquing his interest. 

 “You know, it’s been a while since we’ve worked on a case together.” He says thoughtfully. 

 “Yeah. Wonder when the police are gonna hit rock bottom to need you.” Sam smirks. 

 Bucky reaches into his back pocket and pulls out his confiscated police radio. “How about now?”

 “Does Strange know you have another one of those?”

 “Probably not. Wanna go? This one sounds interesting.”

 “We just got our food.” Sam complains.

 “Dude, they’re in to go containers. We can eat them on the go.” 

 “Just once, Bucky, I wanna be able to sit and eat.” Sam sighs.

 “Next time.” Bucky promises with a lie.

 ***

 The front of the apartment has been cordoned off with police tape, a crowd gathering out front. Two of Bucky’s favorite beat cops are on duty, keeping the crowd from entering: Clint Barton and Scott Lang. 

 “Hey, Bucky.” Clint says, shaking his hand. 

 “Hey, buddy. What’s good? Mind if we go up and offer our help?” He says easily. 

 “I dunno. Strange is in a bad mood.” Scott chimes in.

 “Oh, it’s cool. He won’t even know we were there.” Bucky says, already heading for the door.

 “Well, I guess they could use the extra help.” Scott says with a half shrug.

 “Good man.”

 ***

 Inside the apartment is a mess. Papers strewn about everywhere, books stacked precariously in corners; and that’s just in the entryway. Bucky and Sam edge their way around the mess, Bucky taking note of every little thing he sees. He never knows what’s going to be important later.

 They move through what appears to be a living room, but the only piece of furniture visible is a faded leather couch. Artifacts and knickknacks are covering every visible surface that are plastered with papers. 

 Crime scene unit guys are trying to examine for evidence but there’s so much junk in the way, they’re having a hard time of it. They move into the office where the body is laying on the floor, ready to be moved to the morgue. 

 Ligature marks around his neck, purplish bruises just under his jaw, catch Bucky’s eye. They’re where you would expect a hangman’s noose to land, but there’s red irritation marks below them, covering the man’s throat. 

 Bucky tilts his head, realizing that they form the shape of a hand. He wasn’t hanged, he was strangled. Sam nudges his arm to get him to move out of the way of a crime scene guy and Bucky spots an open planner on the desk. 

 Dates are marked out and planned. Dinner, dentist, several dates blocked out for a trip abroad. He’s just returned the week before. 

 “Can we get out of here? You know how I feel about dead bodies.” Sam mutters.

 “Relax.” Bucky rolls his eyes, taking a bite of his food.

 Sam glares at him. “How can you just eat when there’s a dead guy lying there?” He gestures.

 Bucky looks down, confused. “What, is that rude? Am I supposed to share?” 

 “Oh, what are you two doing here?” A man grumbles loudly behind them. 

 Bucky turns to see the lead homicide detective, Stephen Strange. He breaks into a wide grin at the man who’s scowl gets even bigger. “Detective.” He nods. And then he sees his junior detective behind him. “Y/N, I’ve missed you.” He says cheekily and you roll your eyes at him. One of the officers hands Strange a clipboard with notes on it. 

 Strange reads over the notes as Bucky looks around, seeing little indents in the wall, all the same size, all equally spaced. Strange bumps past him, probably trying to show his dominance, but it’s just rude. So, Bucky doesn’t feel bad about swiping the pages surreptitiously as he passes. Strange doesn’t even notice. 

 The indents are 15cm apart equally, there are 18 sets of them scattered throughout the apartment all exactly the same. That number triggers something in Bucky’s memory, but he’ll have to break into Sam’s apartment later to be sure.

 There’s only a brief mention on the paper about the irritation marks, they don’t put much importance on it. 

 “What have we got, Detective?” Someone asks and Bucky turns to see Chief Tony Stark. 

 “Dead guy is Peter Quill. The apartment is his, Y/N is gonna look into his background when we get back to the station. Looks like a suicide, Chief. You can see the rope burns around his neck, rope was still around the rafter.” Strange says, pointing to the ceiling. He glances down at the clipboard to check the notes only to find them gone. He glances up and yanks them out of Bucky’s hand.

 “I’m sensing that this isn’t a suicide.” Bucky counters. His eyes wander to the artifacts around the room, most are Chinese and Japanese in origin, and most are replicas. The trip he just returned from being to both China and Japan, the marks on the wall. He has an idea.

 “Oh, are you?” Strange asks sarcastically. 

 “Yes.” He turns to Stark. “If I can draw a picture of the killer right now, would that be enough to get us on this case and keep it open?” He asks.

 “Absolutely.” Stark answers.

 “Come on, Chief.” Strange grumbles. 

 Bucky grabs the clipboard out of his hands and starts to draw while Strange argues his suicide angle. Doors locked from the inside, would be impossible to lift such a big guy into the rafters by himself, yada yada yada.

 “Time’s up, Barnes. Whaddaya got?” Stark asks, crossing his arms. 

 “Okay, it’s not pretty, I didn’t have time to work out all the shading, if I had my prismacolor pencils, I could have done a much better job. Sam, you know what I’m talking about.” 

 Sam nods empathetically. 

 “Barnes!” Stark snaps.

 “Our killer is this guy.” He turns the clipboard around to reveal a ninja, only spot of the face visible are the eyes. “This guy right here.” They all look confused and Bucky can’t understand why, everything lines up. “What? Fear not the weapon, but the hand that wields it.”

 Strange chuckles happily as he takes back the clipboard and Stark points to the door for them to leave. Sam is glaring at him as they start to exit the crime scene. 

 “Oh, one more thing.” Bucky starts, turning back around. “He was strangled before being strung up.” He says before dramatically leaving the building. 

 ***

 Sam slams the door behind them and crosses to his desk. Bucky sits down, getting comfortable. 

 “What’s the matter?” Bucky sighs, watching his best friend storm around the office.

 “You almost closed down our agency with that little act of yours, Bucky.” He snaps. 

 Bucky sits up, offended. “Me? You’re the one spending all your extra time at your little side project.”

 Sam raises an eyebrow, hand covering his heart. “You mean my real job? Soon to be my only job?”

 “Sam, don’t be a gooey chocolate chip cookie. I’m gonna be right. Everything lines up. He traveled to Asia, all that art and stuff is Asian. Practically ties him to ninjas already.” Bucky sits back in his chair. “Wait, where are you going?”

 “I have to finish my route. You’re on your own for the rest of the day.” Sam says, grabbing his briefcase and heading for the door.

 “You can’t go now. What if the Chief calls?” Bucky implores. 

 “He won’t. Not after that stunt.” Sam rolls his eyes and then he’s out the door. 

 Bucky waits a solid five minutes, testing to see if his best friend comes back inside. He doesn’t. So, Bucky is on the move. He grabs his lock pick set and mounts his motorcycle, heading for Sam’s apartment. 

 Sam’s apartment is easier to get into than he thought, although Bucky personally believes he should have his own key. Sam doesn’t trust him, but clearly trusts everyone else by leaving a key in a fake rock outside his second floor apartment. 

 He gets inside and starts searching for the box he knows Sam has. He finds it in his study. Why Sam even has a study, Bucky doesn’t know. 

 He pulls off the lid and inside are a dozen different sizes and shapes of throwing stars. He pulls out his tape measure and measures the distances between the points on all the different sizes. One of them matches exactly to the measurement taken from the apartment. 

 Knew it. 

 Now how to tell Strange that? 

 “Barnes, how do you keep getting into my apartment? And why are you here?” Sam sighs from behind him. 

 “Sam, please. A secret key in a rock is far less effective on a second floor balcony. And I needed your throwing stars.”

 Sam scoffs. “They’re called hira shuriken. And they’re not a weapon of ninjas. They’re used by the samurai.”

 “Huh. So Hollywood is wrong. Who would have thought?” Bucky tilts his head and Sam rolls his eyes. 

 “Anyone who’s paid attention. They get most everything wrong.”

 “Okay, mister know it all. Can samurais move like ninjas?”

 “I don’t see why not. They’re both incredibly skilled.” Sam shrugs. 

 “Great. I need to get down to the station.” Bucky takes one last look at the star before turning back to his best friend.

 “And quit breaking into my place.” Sam adds.

 “If you would give me a key, I wouldn’t have to.” 

 ***

 “Strange, I just got the background report on Quill. It’s pretty interesting, but I don’t think you’re gonna like what it means for us.” You say, leaving a voicemail for your senior detective. “I’ll tell you all the details when I see you next.” You say, hanging up.

 You aren’t interested in making that phone call to tell Bucky he might have been right. There’ll be no living with him after this. Sure, he’s a laugh to have around, and it’s always amusing to watch him get under Strange’s skin. That man is so uptight, it’s always funny to see him riled up. And yeah, sure, Bucky flirts with you, always having this way of making you feel so special. But you aren’t sure you can trust any of it. He’s always such a prankster, everything is a joke to him. So, you take it all with a grain of salt. But he’s not so bad, kind of charming even.

 The door to the bullpen flies open and Bucky comes stumbling in, his eyes unfocused as he waves his arms around so he doesn’t walk into anything. Of course, that doesn’t stop him from walking into several officers, a chair, your desk and swiping all your papers on the floor.

 “Barnes!” You complain.

 “Y/N? Y/N! Thank god!” He calls loudly and you roll your eyes. 

 What was that about him being charming? That’s a lie.

 You start picking up your papers. “What do you want, Bucky?”

 “I’m having a vision! I see something from the crime scene, I need paper!” He reaches out, his eyes rolled up towards the ceiling and before he can do any more damage to your desk, you thrust a notepad and pencil in his hand. 

 He starts scribbling on the paper as you get your file in order again. You debate the merit of tripping him while he can’t see, but that would probably border on cruel. 

 You move your file out of his disastrous reach and he slumps against the column near your desk with an anguished moan. He drops the notepad on your desk and you pick it up, looking at the impressive recreation of a throwing star. 

 “What is this?” You ask, showing him. 

 “I’m seeing them thrown around that apartment. That’s what made those puncture marks in the walls.” He says, pushing himself back up. 

 You feel your pulse rising, getting excited before you slump. “Doesn’t matter.” You hand him back the notepad, sitting back down in your chair. 

 “What do you mean is doesn’t matter? There was someone else in that apartment.” He insists. 

 “So far, it’s been ruled a suicide. We have the murder weapon-the rope he hung himself with.” You shake your head. “We know he traveled to China and Japan a lot. He could have gotten one of those hira shuriken in one of his trips and made those holes himself. There’s no proof that there was anyone else in that apartment.” You shrug. “Sorry, Bucky.”

 He stares at you and you remember why you don’t mind him hanging around so much. He cares about these cases. Maybe he cares mostly about being right, or he just can’t hear the word no, but right now he looks so offended. 

 “What about the handprint on his neck?” He asks.

 “The coroner hasn’t turned in his report yet. We’re still waiting. Ultimately, he’ll make the decision if it’s suicide or homicide.” 

 “Alright. I hate waiting, but I guess I can wait. How long do you think? Like, twenty minutes?”

 “Bucky, it takes almost a day. They have to wait for a tox screen, that takes almost eighteen hours itself.”

 “What? That’s outrageous.” 

 “Just go home. If anything turns up, I’m sure we’ll call you.” You say, patting him on the shoulder. His big broad shoulders slump as he nods. 

 “Sure.” He turns to leave, the wind out of his sails a little. 

 A small part of you wants to believe him. He has a nose for these sorts of things, and he always has such conviction. But you just know that one time you’re gonna let your guard down and believe him and it’s gonna blow up in your face. 

 Better to wait for the facts.

 Bucky

 The industrial lights flicker overhead, the grimy mint green tiles making the dim hallway feel cold and unwelcoming. 

 But then, death is never welcomed. 

 Bucky finds the correct door and pushes it open. The overwhelming, nose burning smell of antiseptic hits him and he wrinkles his nose. The least the medical examiner could do is light some candles, maybe spray some febreeze. 

 “Mr. Barnes. What can I do for you this fine day?” He asks from his office doorway.

 “That body they just brought in today,” Bucky starts. 

 “Ah, the suicide.” He nods and moves over to the coolers, pulling out the right one. 

 “I’m sensing there’s more to it. I don’t think it’s a suicide.”

 “Oh? I’m listening.”

 “I’m feeling a hand around his neck. Would there be any way to see that if there aren’t any marks on the skin?” Bucky asks.

 “Oh absolutely. Hit the lights.” He instructs, turning around to get something from his office. 

 Bucky flips the switch and it gets pitch black in the room. But then a blueish glow is coming from behind him. He turns around as the doc shines the light over the neck of the body. 

 “Oh boy, you’re right.” He looks up at Bucky. “Here, hold this.” He thrusts the light wand into his hands and rushes to get his camera. He snaps several photos while directing Bucky where to angle the light. 

 “Holy shit. I would have missed that.” He mutters, looking up at Bucky. “That’s some gift you have, kid.” He says, clapping Bucky on the arm. 

 “So, it’s officially a murder?” Bucky asks. 

 “Officially a murder.” He agrees.

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[malereader-inserts]

Andante, Andante | Ch. X

“They’re sometimes referred to as lightning flowers or skin feathering,” You hummed.

“I can see why,” Peter murmurs before looking into your eyes and dropping his hand, “They’re beautiful.”

Word Count:  1,523

A/n: Ok, so this is probably the last chapter of this mini-series, ten chapters. Um, might do another series in the future.

< Previous

“You know you don’t have to help.”

You looked at him with a raised eyebrow through the bathroom mirror, the past few days Peter had been extremely helpful. There was guilt that wasn’t going away unless he aids you in whatever you needed to be done. Peter had helped you walked through the base, sometimes cooks you your food or even getting up to get you water whilst he’s doing a reading for MIT. 

But, it’s officially the first day that you were alright. That you didn’t need anybody to have a hand on your back and guide you as if you were some cripple. You were brushing your teeth, foam bubbling through your toothy grin as Peter sits on your bed.

Last week of summer. 

Peter is yet to know if you had fallen in love with him, and he was gutted that he was missing out on the carnival date he was planning to take you on because of your injuries and now this stupid gala that Tony is making everyone go. Peter has dressed already, handsome and classy.

“Red really does suit you,” You complimented, referencing his red tie as Peter smiles, “And the suit fits well.”

“Well, Tony got me to go to the tailor, blue suit and red tie,” Peter shrugs, standing up and filling his pockets with his hands.

You were stood at your full-length mirror, as you see from the mirror that Peter was staring at his shoes. You swiftly tug your shirt over your head before fixing your hair.

“Looks good, he made me go and get burgundy as my suit colour,” You answered as Peter chuckles and looks up, before haltering, “What’s up?”

You asked as you paused mid fix of hair as Peter was staring something about you.

“Your back,” He murmurs as you sighed and nodded.

“Hey, some of us don’t get bitten by radioactive spiders like you, Pete, others get a super serum and there’s me - getting hit with lightning,” You shrugged as Peter turns to look at the marking, “It’s Thor’s lightning, I only know about that because other time when someone gets hit with lightning they don’t get electricity as powers.”

“Can I?” Peter asked softly as you slowly nodded.

His hand traced over the marking, he feels you shudder at the touch, no one has ever asked to touch your marks. In fact, you hide them away at best. But, Peter, he was gentle and soft - it made you shiver with anticipation. You looked over your shoulder as you tense, forgetting it was tender skin under the marks, sensitive. 

“They’re sometimes referred to as lightning flowers or skin feathering,” You hummed.

“I can see why,” Peter murmurs before looking into your eyes and dropping his hand, “They’re beautiful.”

You stare into his eyes and forget there is a world out there. Peter had such beautiful brown eyes that you forget most problems, they were pools of chocolate and when the sun hit them it’s like the sun hitting empty whiskey bottles. Brown eyes are just brown eyes until you love someone with brown eyes.

“Erm,” You snapped out of your staring look as you grabbed your white shirt and put it on.

Peter scratches the back of his head, awkwardly trying not to look at you through the mirror as you hastily button up your shirt, “I’ll see you at the gala then.”

You paused, licking your lips as you give him a faint smile and nodded, “See you out there.”

Peter smiles back and leaves your room, unknown to you when Peter had shut the door, he had shut his eyes and smacked the palm of his hand against his head. Leaving frustrated and embarrassed, yet what Peter doesn’t know is that the moment the door had shut you fell back into the bed, staring at the ceiling.

“You’re an idiot, (Y/n),” You told yourself, and that was the truth.

“Have you seen (Y/n)?” Peter asked, looking around for you in the crowd of people. He was yet to see you all suited up, clean and handsome - as if you weren’t already. 

The gala was hosted by yours truly, Tony Stark, but it was about Peter and You. One last celebration before you all go to university. A small gathering between the team would commence after the Gala or when Tony was sick of everyone and justed his team to be around.

“Yeah, I swear I just saw him at the snack table,” Sam informed the teen with a smile, “He looks all dapper, you know, kid.”

“Hmh,” Peter nods, politely, he hadn’t seen it himself but he was sure you looked good since, in his honest opinion, you looked good in everything. 

“Ignore Sam,” Steve says, placing a comforting hand on Peter’s shoulder and turning him slightly so it was just him and Peter in the conversation, “He’s with Tony, he had a few minor details to go through for Tony’s speech.”

“Oh,” Peter asked, his eyebrows knitted, confused but then shrugged it off, “Well thanks.”

“Tony is about to do his speech,” Natasha sang as she comes to Steve’s right, she shoots Peter a look before turning head to find you standing with Bruce and Thor.

Peter looks at the direction of her line of sight before pausing and almost forgetting how to breathe. You stood there with a drink in one hand and your other hand stuffed in your pocket. Your hair slicked back perfectly, Peter knows he shouldn’t stare but he doesn’t know if he’s imagining a spotlight on you right now or if it’s Tony’s dramatic effects until there was a spotlight blinding him.

“Wha-?”

“Come on Pete, up you come!” Tony calls through the mic to Peter to join him on stage with you, who looked mildly amused at Peter’s confusion as you smiled into your chosen beverage.

Peter stumbles his way to the stage, standing on the left of you and the right of Tony, sandwiching himself, confused with the whole ordeal.

“And finally, we want to say congrats to our boys here,” Tony speaks with sincerity, “Our boy Peter doing Chemical Engineering at MIT.”

There was a huge round of applause as Peter smiles, before looking at you. You smile at him, “Congrats again in getting to MIT.” 

“And, our other boy (Y/n), majoring in Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Science at...” Tony pauses as he looks at his hand, it was the first time he had opened it since you had written in his hand what university you were going to, “MIT as well, our boys will be MIT graduates!”

Peter snaps his head towards at you as you beam at him, your smile almost as bright as the beaming spotlight that Tony seems to have focused on the two of you. Tony beckons the two teens off the stage, and just as Peter was going to talk to you, you were quickly out of sight.

He had tried to find you but he and you were getting whisked away by a group of people to send their regards and congrats to your achievement. It was only when Peter got pushed by Tony into you that he managed to catch you. 

“Hey,” You smiled, beaming almost, “so-”

“You’re staying?” Peter asked almost excitedly, “You’re staying in America?”

“Yes?” You tilt your head, “I thought it was obvious? We’re going to the same university.”

“Oh- I, yeah, but, you said Cambridge...” Peter asked, stuttering over his words, fumbling over words he hadn’t prepared beforehand. He was too excited to know that you were staying.

“I was, but there’s also a Cambridge here and that’s where MIT is located,” You nodded slowly as Peter’s lip slowly turned upwards, “Plans changed when a hyperactive teenager came up to me with a deal and started to make me fall in love with him.”

“When?” Peter asked, your eyes wander, you don’t exactly remember when you started to fall for him but you do remember when you realised it.

You never really paid attention to what you were feeling, you liked being happy when Peter turned up. You started smiling more and you opened up more to your team. In fact, you started getting excited to see Peter and making plans with him, it had baffled you. The fact that you were a little longer than you usually do, that you became more amused with his antics and that you were laughing at his horrible jokes.

“I’m entirely sure,” you responded, shrugging your shoulders, “so, Peter Parker,”

Peter smiles brightly, liking the way you say his name as if it belongs there. It sounded right and felt safe for you to use. 

“What’s your plans for us?”

Peter scratched the back of his neck, chuckling lightly, “I hadn’t actually thought this far ahead, really.”

You chuckle, throwing your head back and one of your arm wrapping your abdomen. You shake your head as you looked at Peter, he doesn’t miss the twinkle of amusement and pure adoration for him. 

“Well then, Parker, I guess I owe you a carnival date then?”

Tagged: @locke-writes​ @yesthetrashbin​  @blackirisposts @idwithoutthesuperego @screamingmuffinsunite @fifi550 @vydante @batfam16 @kpopchangedmylifesstuff @chaotictyler @delphicillusion @daeshaunex2 @spideylovin @lewi-black @vances-violets @hey-cigasrette @vaijuiins-shelter @wobbleknocker @awkwardwintersoldier @wanna-plan-world-domination​  

#peter parker #peter parker imagine #peter parker x male!reader #Andante andante #x male reader #Avengers #avengers imagine #avengers x male reader

[ducktracy]

169. egghead rides again (1937)

release date: july 17th, 1937

series: merrie melodies

director: tex avery

starring: mel blanc (egghead), tex avery (red), billy bletcher (clerk, egghead), sons of the pioneers (singers), danny webb (egghead)

tex avery would debut a whopping 3 characters in 1937: daffy, egghead, and elmer. but, with tex, he’s gotta keep it interesting, and the confusion between the last two characters is certainly interesting history. out of confusion or just simplicity (because “egghead” is much less of a mouthful than “prototype elmer fudd”), many fans refer to the proto-fudd as egghead, believing that he later evolved into elmer fudd. that, however, is not true. egghead and elmer are entirely independent characters. egghead has open eyes and USUALLY has hair (here is an exception), and is voiced by danny webb (again, an exception is made here... mostly.) elmer has closed eyes, wears a derby hat, and is voiced by mel blanc for the most part (danny webb voices him in cinderella meets fella, further confusing matters). to save space, i made it so that you can read more about the difference between the two here. interesting history indeed! for even more interesting history, this is irv spence’s first animation credit, and paul smith’s first cartoon in the avery unit, moving over from the freleng unit. spence would depart for MGM in 1938, whereas smith would stay with avery until 1940, where he would head off to walter lantz.

egghead is eager to become a “rootin’, tootin’, shootin’, snootin’, high falutin’, tootin’, shootin’, rootin’, tootin’ cowboy”, much to the bewilderment of his peers. to prove himself worthy, he goes on a dangerous, treacherous quest only the most worthy could conquer: wrangling an innocent little calf.

mel blanc’s over-enthusiastic cries of “YIPEE! WAHOO! GET ALONG, LITTLE DOGGIE, GET ALONG!” paired with irv spence’s loony animation collide to open the cartoon. our hero, the eponymous egghead, bucks back and forth on his trusty (off-screen) steed against a western panorama. that is, until a pan out reveals that our cantankerous cowhand is actually hopping wildly back and forth on a pogo stick, cleverly situated in front of his comically enlarged calendar. a great, classic fake-out, enhanced by mel’s energetic shrieks and spence’s spastic animation.

egghead resides in a boarding house, a space unfit for maintaining his wildest cowboy dreams. all of the commotion reaches the lobby of the boarding house, disturbing the landlord, voiced by billy bletcher. the landlord isn’t at all keen on egghead’s racket and literally throws him to the street--bletcher’s monologue is nothing short of hilarious as he rambles on all the way through, from initially hearing egghead’s noise to throwing him out. “well, dadburn that dadburn noise, dadburnit! i’ll put a stop to that, dadburnit. dadburnit, the dadburn boardin’ house ain’t no dadburn place to play dadburn cowboy! now get out and stay out, dadburnit! ...burnit... n... burnit—i mean, dadburnit!”

as egghead collects himself, his daze is cut short by the book so conveniently sprawled out in front of him, among other belongings. a book of job offerings has conveniently flipped open--fortune seems to smile upon our hero:

some more fun irv spence animation as egghead rips the paper out of the book, his bulbous nose prodding the page as he scans the words, too good to be true. “buck egghead rides again!” our protagonist declares, waving his hat around in celebration.  we receive a brief little montage of egghead traipsing towards the post office, writing the fated address out on the envelope. we don’t see the contents inside the envelope, only animation of egghead walking into the post office and writing on the envelope off-screen--a great way to build suspense. 

what seems to be an original number is yodeled by a group of cowboys in conjunction with a well-executed multi-plane pan (tex has used this technique before--i love to singa comes to mind) of bar-none ranch in wahoo, wyoming. the shot exposing the singing cowboys is structured quite similarly to the shots of the barbershop quartet singing in tex’s directorial debut, gold diggers of ‘49, albeit the animation is slightly more exaggerated, with the necks of the cowboys extending on their held out note. the cowboy strumming the guitar appears to be a caricature of paul smith (though i’d also take this with a grain of salt.) many portions of this cartoon have avery-isms of both past and future shorts--certainly fun to dissect!

great gag setup as the “leader” of the ranch gazes out of his window from inside, traipsing out the door, which is comically fitted to match his wide gait. he alerts his band of singing cowboys to the approach of the pony express--sure enough, the words PONY EXPRESS are emblazoned on some sort of object concealed by an iris. iris in to a horse pulling a trailer, the self-titled pony express, with a triumphant fanfare to boot.

nonstop gags are to be expected in a tex avery cartoon, but that doesn’t make the constant amount of punches any less amusing. the leader declares “c’mon, boys! in ya saddles! let’s ride out and meet the man!” with that, all of the cowboys whoop and holler as they all jump on their horses. they take off... and move about 2 inches forward until they all halt and reach their destination. it’s a gag tried and true used in many cartoons (my favorite usage being in, of course, the great piggy bank robbery), but the execution is just as satisfying here as it is in the others.

the horse comes to a halt, a chipper pony express “rider” emerging from the trailer to hand the boys their envelope before heading off again. as to be expected, it’s none other than egghead’s letter. EXCELLENT gag payoff as we finally see the contents of the envelope after minutes of gut-wrenching suspense: egghead himself flops out of the letter and onto the ground. the matter of factness and sincerity of the entire gag sell the whole thing.

once again, irv spence is at the hand of egghead’s introduction, which can hardly be summed up in greatness: mel blanc, billy bletcher, and danny webb all contribute to his vocals. mel blanc gives the tongue tied, squeaky, daffy-esque voice of “i’m a rootin’, tootin’, shootin’, snootin’, high falutin’, tootin’, shootin’, rootin’, tootin’ cowboy, fella! and i saw your ad, so i came for the job.” billy bletcher’s booming baritone takes over, the juxtaposition absolutely bludgeoning as he belts out “because, because, because, because...!” finally, danny webb takes over for the finale, imitating the squeaky voice of a teenage boy going through puberty--”today, i am a maaaaan”, lampooning the traditional declaration given by young men at their bah mitzvah, marking their introduction to adulthood. this line would be reused in another avery entry, i wanna be a sailor, just a few months later. the gag is topped off by egghead proudly puffing out his chest and struggling to keep his pants on. three great voice actors, great lines, and super fun animation, it’s hard to go wrong! the mel blanc/danny webb elmer/egghead conundrum ensues.

the lead cowboy decides to test egghead and see if he’s a worthy addition, enlisting in his buddy red for help. red (voiced by tex avery himself) squeals “OKAY, BOSS!” in a super high, grating, squeaky voice, a jab at famous western star andy devine, lampooned more than once for his raspy vocals--tedd pierce would also harp on devine with his portrayal of a squeaky voiced pig in friz freleng’s my little buckeroo just a year later.

per the leader’s request, red rolls a cigarette with just his mouth (with a lot of fun, eye-crossing animation provided by irv spence yet again), proudly sticking the cigarette out of his maw, lit and all, giving a self-satisfied grin towards the audience. the lead cowboy demonstrates his love of safety and concern for his friends’ well being as he whips out a pistol, giving it a good twirl before shooting right at the cigarette.

red is unscathed, his cigarette now split in half as a result. “now here, you try, pardner,” the cowboy urges on egghead. egghead gives a polite nod and tip of the hat before reaching for the gun, the weight of the gun bringing egghead falling to the ground beneath its weight. once more, red prepares to roll another cigarette, this time a corn cob pipe (and a button nose) poking out of his mouth in a last minute switcharoo.

morbidly (yet hilariously so), egghead struggles with the gun but manages to fire. predictably, he misses--shooting straight at red. wonderful setup as a floating hat and boots are all we see after the cloud of smoke dissipates. red assures he’s okay by waving a white flag from the recesses of his hat, his whole body dropping out of the hat and running away. his cowboy hat is still suspended in mid-air, and for the cherry on top, he darts on screen for a mere second more to retrieve his hat, a gag borrowed from picador porky. simultaneously predictable yet not, with some wonderfully fluid animation and great timing.

egghead is now the laughing stock of bar-none ranch. the leader, however, is a bit more forgiving, ordering his guffawing cronies to wrangle a calf and see what egghead can “do with it.” next act of redemption is a cruel one: the leader hands egghead a branding iron and instructs the novice to brand the poor little calf. despite the cruel nature of the gag, the audience is already alerted that egghead’s attempts to redeem himself will be laughable and in vain. 

the shot of egghead galloping along with the hot iron is strikingly similar in comparison to porky trotting along with a red-hot horse shoe in the village smithy, both shots awfully foreboding in the “this isn’t going to go well” sense. egghead’s victim, a terrified little calf, attempts to escape the clutches of the cowboys wrangling it, but it seems the calf has been defeated. egghead dives into the crowd, and a puff of smoke obscures the action going on...

once the smoke clears, we see that egghead has branded his fellow cowboys instead, the calf unharmed, trotting away with its tail proudly in the air (in a very similar manner to the bull(s) in picador porky.) the whole concept of attempting to cause harm to an innocent little calf (by someone with a rather squeaky voice) would also be rather prominently featured in the bob clampett classic porky’s last stand, with daffy off on an unsuccessful mission to kill a calf as a last-minute resort for a hamburger.

now, the leader orders egghead to go after the calf. if he gets it, he gets the job. thus launches another tex avery staple gag--egghead hops into a crowd of horses, emerging out of the gaggle on a diminutive little pony instead (with a score of “the merry go round broke down” to boot--carl stalling must have been quite eager to use the composition now that he could.) the same gag would be used in a number of other cartoons, the 1946 tex avery droopy cartoon northwest hounded police coming to mind.

we’re treated with some refreshingly dimensional, rather tashlin-esque dynamics and angles as the calf leaps and bounds over a number of fences, with egghead hot on its trail, screeching another victorious call of “egghead rides again... and again... and again! and another time!” the animation is very well executed and tastefully dynamic. 

momentum of the chase is purposefully broken as both the calf and egghead begrudgingly screech to a halt, obeying the rules of the road as they wait at a stop sign before resuming the chase again. another avery-ism--purposefully stopping in the middle of a chase for a “breather” gag. 

in an attempt to fake-out the clueless cowboy, the calf enlists in the aid of cartoon physics to save its hide (literally) as it crawls beneath a cliff and stands upside down, right on the edge. egghead saunters on past, much to the glee of the little calf. yet, egghead realizes he’s been foiled, and we get some more wonderfully dynamic and cartoony animation as the horse whips around, sending egghead slingshotting around from the background to the foreground, positioned on the horse the entire time. treg brown’s electric guitar twang/slide effect (my favorite!) enhances the gag nicely. 

realizing its pursuers are still coming in hot, the calf slides to the edge of another cliff (this time accompanied by a less suitable violin slide sound effect) before scampering down the edge in a last minute effort to escape. egghead and his trusty steed screech to a halt, peering down over the edge of the cliff. the gags just keep on coming--in more tex avery greatness, the horse takes a rather conveniently situated set of stairs carved into the side of the cliff, its complacent grin and dainty little descent topping off the gag. 

a carl stalling favorite, “in the stirrups”, accompanies the wild goose chase between the calf and egghead as the two run over hill and dale through the beautifully painted landscape. yet another avery-ism—a wide, distance shot of mayhem unfolding on screen. against all odds, egghead manages to herd the terrified, exhausted calf back in its own. it seems egghead actually DOES ride again! he approaches the cornered calf (the same high pitched daffy croon a stark parallel to porky’s last stand), and, once more, a ball of smoke obscures the action unfolding.

instead of a terrified calf wrangled up in a ball, we’re greeted with a cow-tied egghead, with the calf shaking its little fists in the glory. once more, this causes the cowboy cronies to erupt in a uproarious fit of laughter.

with great effort, a heartbroken, dejected egghead manages to produce exactly one (1) tear, reflecting his tremendous heartache. once more, irv spence is responsible for the close-up, a very funny one indeed. those wrinkles are almost scribner-ian.

a dejected egghead trudges past the cowboys, their mocking laughter definitely stinging, even if it’s directed towards someone who is hardly endearing such as egghead himself. thankfully, the all too forgiving leader consoles egghead (offhandedly mocking his diminutive stature in the process), saying that he’s finally in.

to egghead, it’s too good to be true—and a happy ending in an avery cartoon is definitely too good to be true indeed. wonderful animation as the leader swaps egghead’s cowboy hat out for a pith helmet, thrusting a trashcan in his grip. egghead now gets the honors of being the street sweeper (to put it politely), an ending reminiscent of the classic drip-along daffy. the egghead/daffy parallels keep on coming!

tex closes with a final bang: as egghead cries “buck egghead...!”, the whinnying of a horse grounds the chipper street sweeper into reality, reminded of his duties. his exuberance melts into disdain, the triumphant backing score backing down in favor of a mournful violin as our hero grumbles “...sweeps again.” iris out.

this review is full of praises for the gags and the animation in the cartoon, which are both very good. however, with that said, is this the best tex avery entry? not at all. is this a bad entry? not at all. for someone like me who’s endured the bosko, buddy, and even beans eras, this cartoon is like heaven sent—for the average viewer who is more acquainted with tex’s future masterpieces at WB and later MGM, this is definitely a step down from his greatest.

irv spence’s animation shines bright in this cartoon and is certainly the highlight, which is both good and bad. it highlights his work and allows him to make a name for himself, but he also puts the other animators at the avery unit to shame. bob clampett and chuck jones’ absence is certainly felt—virgil ross is another star of the avery unit (though i don’t have the best luck picking him out, at least not in this cartoon), sid sutherland can be difficult to discern, and paul smith’s animation is seldom exciting, and at some points the animation looks rather poor when it isn’t a spence scene. nevertheless, his work is definitely something to look out for.

the gags are amusing, some more predictable than others, but definitely amusing. egghead isn’t a very endearing character—they did a great job of making him obnoxious—but mel’s vocals (and technically billy bletcher’s and danny webb’s) breathe lots of life and vivacity into the character. really, his voice is just daffy duck’s voice of the 30s (though a bit less spitty.) that whole “i am a man” sequence is nothing short of hilarious.

in short, not one of tex’s best, and one that you could both skip or watch. i lean more towards the “give it a watch” side, for the historical significance of egghead’s debut, but also for shining moments such as irv spence’s wild character animation and some of the gags. this cartoon doesn’t have the same energy that previous entries such as porky’s duck hunt (and even uncle tom’s bungalow, all things considered) uphold, but if you’re tex avery, that is one difficult flame to maintain, one that would sometimes burn out. this era of avery cartoons, the flame has certainly calmed down, but it’ll reignite for the 1938-1939 season at least. so, in all, amusing short with bits of greatness to it (and historical significance) that leads me to give it a recommendation.

link!

#lt #looney tunes #egghead rides again #avery #reviews #long post

[swearwolf-writes]

Today Is a Gift - A Monwinn Oneshot

In which Winnie Schott, with his wife, Ayla, and boyfriend, Mon-El, has to deal with the aftermath of New Years Eve

[CROSSPOSTED ON AO3]

----------

The Schott-Ranzz household was a mess.

Their New Year's Eve party had gone well - too well. Mon-El, Winn and Ayla looked wearily at the rubbish scattered here and there, wondering how they were ever going to get everything cleared up.

"I wash, you clean and Mon-El can put Mary to bed?" Winn suggested, looking to his partners.

"Sounds like a plan." Ayla smiled, quickly getting to work. "The faster we get this done, the faster we to get to sleep."

"Which means," Mon-El began, lifting Mary into the air as she giggled loudly, "we gotta put you to bed-"

He was quickly cut off by a loud screech from the small child who promptly jumped away and hid at the mention of her bed. "You have to catch me first!" She ran away laughing, giggling in delight every time Mon-El almost caught her.

"He's really good with her." Ayla smiles, nudging her husband with her arm.

"Yeah" Winn nodded in agreement, watching his boyfriend and daughter play tag, "and she really likes him."

"Why doesn't he take her out for a day? You know, to properly get to know her." At that, Winn sighed and chewed his lower lip.

"He thinks he's overstepping - like, he doesn't want anyone to think he's trying to take your place. I don't know...." Ayla raised her eyebrows at him while putting a few plates in the sink.

"It's the 31st century Winn - poly parents isn't exactly a foreign concept. I think it's something else-" She abruptly cut herself off, mumbling something about the drinks getting her. "Never mind, it's nothing."

"Hey, come on; what's up?" He looked at her with worried eyes.

"I think he's scared of being alone with Mary."

"What d'you mean? He loves Mary."

"But he's only ever here if we are too. I think he worries that she might get hurt or something." Their eyes follow the childish pair running around their lounge as they share a knowing smile.

"I'll talk to him."

"3. 2. 1. Happy new year!" The trio stood outside their house, watching the clocks like everyone else on the street and cheering when the time came. Just as the clocks stuck midnight, Ayla and Mon-El pressed a kiss to each of Winn's cheeks, making them turn a very bright red very quickly. He blushed and grinned brightly, kissing both his partners in return. "I love you guys." He whispered, hugging them both tight.

"We love you too." Mon-El replied, kissing the top of his head as Ayla smiled into his shoulder.

"You see at this point I would say something clever and sexy and mention celebrating but I'm tired as hell so you two have fun - I'm going to bed." Ayla smiled and kissed the pair on cheek, heading off to her room.

"So." Winn began.

"So." Mon-El replied, his hands finding his way to his lover's waist making Winn swat his hands away.

"Serious business first, sexy time later." He smiled, taking one of his hands and leading him to Mon-El's bedroom.

"So what did you wanna talk about?" Mon-El asked curiously, settling himself on his bed as Winn sat beside him.

"Mary."

"Oh I think I know her. Short, cute, has very awesome parents?"

"That's the one." Winn chuckled as his antics. "Ayla and I were wondering if you guys wanted to go on a trip together."

"Like just us-?"

"Yup."

"Nope."

"Okay - can I ask why not?"

"What if she gets hurt on my watch? What if I lose her? I'm not her parent - I don't know what to do in those situations."

"I get that you're scared, believe me, I do. The first time I saw her, I just could not stop crying. I kept thinking, 'I helped make that. That screaming bundle of joy is my little girl.' And then I realised how terrified I was because I was still eating cereal for dinner in my late 20s and I somehow had to raise a child." He let out a slow breath. "Part of me thought, 'Hey if you're always with someone then there'll always be someone who can help if something goes wrong' and then I realised that there's not always going to be someone there to help. That's why superheroes exist - to help when no one else can. When Mary was two, she got excited as she tried to eat all her food at once. She had too much in her mouth and no matter how much I tried she wouldn't let me take it out and then she started choking and at this point I was practically having a heart attack and I kept looking around for Ayla because I didn't know what to do. And then I remembered how to do the Heimlich manoeuvre on babies and she spat it up and threw up all over the table but the point is: I've been where you are and you really don't need to worry because we trust you and so does she. You're our superhero."

Mon-El looked up with teary eyes and a small smile. "Really?"

"Really - she even refers to you as her half-dad." At this Mon-El looked bewildered and incredibly happy, a wide smile spreading across his face. "She said you look after her, you love her and you're dating her dad and therefore you're her half-dad." Mon-El pulled him into a tight hug and buried his face in his neck, breathing in his scent.

"I love you - I never knew what the future was going to bring but I never thought it was going to be family like this. I always thought I was destined to be like my parents-"

"The past is history, the future's a mystery but today is a gift - that's why it's called the present." Winn cut him off. "You are nothing like your parents and I just know your future - our future - is going to be amazing."

"Is that just faith or time-travel?" Mon-El joked, pulling him on to his lap.

"Little bit of both," Winn grinned, wrapping his arms around his shoulders, "it pays to be a time-travelling superhero." Mon-El laughed and pulled his lover down for a deep kiss, Winn breaking away after a minute and kissing along his jaw.

"Was that the serious business then?"

"Mmhmm." Winn mumbled against his throat, lightly sucking marks on to the pale skin.

"Does that make this sexy time then-?" Mon-El cut himself off by biting his lip hard, groaning loudly as Winn rolled his hips against his. "I'll take that as a yes."

#my works #smut adjacent #like leads into and then fades out bcs i cant write that- #winn schott #winn schott jr #mon el #mon-el #ayla ranzz #mary schott #mary schott jr #supergirl #monwinn #oneshot #monwinn oneshot #monwinn fanfic #mon-el fanfic #mon-el oneshot #winn schott fanfic #winn schott oneshot #lgbt #poly

[artnerd1123]

Nettles’ Character Sheet

it’s been 500 years since i did one of these, but! undercut it goes~

Character Chart Character’s full name: Nettles Nimue Willoweep Reason or meaning of name: Nettles comes from the plant! Since nettles sting, I was originally planning on having her be a lot more prickly. She still is kinda pokey now, tbh. “Willoweep” is just “weeping willow” but smashed together. It’s for the Aesthetic™. Nimue refers to the “lady of the lake” in the legend of king arthur, and because I thought it sounded cool. important to note is that she made up her current name herself, for story reasons Character’s nickname: none (aiden calls her various pet names later), though some people might attempt to call her captain willow. it doesn’t end well.  Reason for nickname: she just doesn’t care for nicknames much, (Aiden’s the exception because they’re overly sappy/joke around a lot with each other later) and she used to be a pirate captain- but isn’t anymore  Birth date: March 28th Sexuality: queer  Gender/pronouns: genderfluid, she/her (occasionally they/them)

Physical appearance Age: 37 How old do they appear: probably around that. Maybe a smidge older. Weight: still have no clue how weight works! She’s got plenty of muscle mass tho :V Height: 5’11” Body build: thinner frame but with plenty of muscle. She’s strong as frick, and more like a steel rod than a stick. plenty buff :3 Shape of face: i still don’t know how to answer this question lsdkjfs, but she’s got a longer face w/ a sharpish chin  Eye color: pale green! Glasses or contacts: neither Skin tone: light brown (african american?) + seafarer’s tan on top of it  Distinguishing marks: she’s got so many scars. So many. The most notable ones being “ligature” marks on her right wrist, and a burn on her neck/left shoulder. Predominant features: her hair is p eyecatching for sure Hair color: emerald/leafy green Type of hair: curly coils  Hairstyle: currently has it in dreadlocks (they look a lil vinelike!), parted to the right  Voice: Jess Glynne - Thursday (but can also sound piratey) Overall attractiveness: strong ex-pirate plant lady,,, pretty in a rugged kind of way,,, ough,,,  Physical disabilities: none Usual fashion of dress: pirate, but make it shades of brown/green and a bit less flashy Favorite outfit: dark brown “vest” (actually a dress top she tore the skirt off of) with green accent around front laces, cream off-the-shoulder shirt w/ green accent trim and flowy sleeves, dark brown pants, tan boots w/ straps and gold buckles, large belt w/ gold buckle  Jewelry or accessories: black hoop earrings, an emerald leaf shaped cloak clasp, and a staff made of woven grass (which can turn into a sword)

Personality Good personality traits: generally levelheaded, unafraid to tell people things when needed, determined, patient, ‘do no harm but take no shiz’ mentality, not usually quick to judge, generally easygoing, v dedicated to those she considers family, thinks well under pressure, gives good advice (most of the time), can be p charismatic Bad personality traits: tends not to have much foresight, can come across as aloof, really bad about opening up, keeps too much to herself despite tryna get better abt it, can sometimes overlook traits in favor of just being allies/friends, a lil too willing to get into a fight sometimes, can be too headstrong, lies easily to get out of things Mood character is most often in: contemplative Sense of humor: very dark, likes to playfully tease those she cares about, loves really long jokes, can get a bit crass on occasion Character’s greatest joy in life: currently her forest (teaching journal comes close second some days) Character’s greatest fear: her past coming back to bite her Why? She’s not so much scared of people finding out who she used to be, more uneasy about people using it against her. She doesn’t want people to walk out of her life, but like, if they do, she wouldn’t blame em. She just doesn’t wanna get thrown under the bus for what she did back during pirate days, and accused of being something she isn’t (at least, not anymore.) What single event would most throw this character’s life into complete turmoil? Losing journal, tbh. She already lost everything- including family- once. She’s not willing to walk down that road again. Character is most at ease when: out among her plants, or chillin in a tavern Most ill at ease when: near the ocean in any capacity Enraged when: people threaten her loved ones/home/etc, people hurt others due to prejudice, people cause destruction in her forest Depressed or sad when: thinking of her old crew, ruminating in her memories for too long, near the ocean, an old tree dies Priorities: keeping the forest safe, producing enough lucrative plants/herbs so she has on hand pocket money, making sure journal’s alright/settling in/has the help he needs if she’s not around to give it Life philosophy: everyone gets their comeuppance eventually, but that doesn’t mean you sit back and wait. Go knock some sense into em if they need it. Take care of people worse off than you, too. A bit of help gets people a long way. If granted one wish, it would be: to have turned back in that storm instead of charging on. Why? Half her crew wouldn’t be dead. She could’ve actually retired instead of stepping down due to catastrophic failure. Her familiar would be alive. Y’know, normal reasons. Character’s soft spot: plants, gold, shiny things, kids Is this soft spot obvious to others? Plants, definitely. The other things you’ll notice if you’re around her long enough Greatest strength: making a decision and seeing it through Greatest vulnerability or weakness: absolutely hates/has a really hard time opening up to other people  Biggest regret: rushing headlong into a storm she had no hope of conquering Minor regret: not travelling inland more when she was a pirate (not a huge deal to her, but it woulda been nice) Biggest accomplishment: either successfully maintaining a ship/captain’s title for ten years, or nurturing her forest from a wildfire charred landscape into a thriving woodsy landscape. Minor accomplishment: finding out how to return gold (if she stole it on accident) without being too weird about it Past failures they would be embarrassed to have people know about: she likely has a ton from her early pirating days. Learning to be a pirate wasn’t super easy all the time Why? She likes to think she’s a competent pirate now, don’t bring that stuff up, thank u v much Character’s darkest secret: dark magic has tempted her many, many times. It still does sometimes. And she almost gave in on a few of those occasions. Does anyone else know? No. they won’t, if she has anything to say about it.

Goals Drives and motivations: moving on aka shoving her past in a closet, being able to keep her forest/new loved ones safe, gold Immediate goals: keep up with her trade partners and her “cash gardens,” check the forest for abnormalities, make sure journ doesn’t need anything that day (and help if he do) Long term goals: keep the forest healthy, keep journal on the right track, continue expanding her budding network of plant trading, hopefully make some more actual progress with her issues How the character plans to accomplish these goals: keep up the “forest guardian” role, send letters to journ/visit him, meet more people, and learn to properly open up. And. y’know. Maybe steal some gold here n there as needed. How other characters will be affected: positively for her loved ones/partners! And maybe possibly probably negatively for those she doesn’t like. Perhaps.

Past Hometown: didn’t have a “town.” lived on ships/ports for her whole life till pirating Type of childhood: unstable, tbh. She was the kid of some merchant questors. Thus, she was always travelling around. Not much time to make/maintain friendships, bond with her parents, or do much besides help out. Any goofing off probably got her yelled at. Her headstrong nature meant she didn’t take kindly to that, so she ran away at 15. Pets: none First memory: the sound of waves. It’s something she’ll never forget, no matter what. Most important childhood memory: seeing pirates in the distance during a trade route! Scary, but she was also in awe of em Why: those pirates inspired her runaway swashbuckling plans when she was a teen! They also showed her an alternative to the dull merchant’s way of fulfilling questor urges. Childhood hero: probably some super well known pirate from a legend a book she smuggled onboard Dream job: anything that wasn’t being a merchant (turned into pirate tho) Education: really good at math, reading, keeping records, and reading the ocean. All thanks to her parents/seabound life! She taught herself plant magic rlly early on, and also learned a lot more things pirating (swordfighting, how to manage a crew, which quests are the most profitable, etc) Religion: Finances: parents took care of childhood finances. She was treasure/stolen loot funded until pirating crashed and burned in her late teen/early adult years~

Present Current location: forest outside Journal’s town. It spans many miles. Currently living with: herself :V Pets: none Religion: Occupation: forest guardian, plant merchant, magic mentor Finances: merchant life pays well enough when she needs it. And, like, she still goes and loots places from time to time. Just keep it quiet, m’kay?

Family Mother: Danielle Chamelea Teritip Relationship with her: though she was v busy, her mother always did her best to keep her daugher on track. She’s the one who pushed nettles really hard to learn, and to focus on becoming a better merchant than entertaining other fantasies. Their relationship wasn’t terrible, but nettles never felt her mom’s approval of her personal goals- just the future her mom wanted. Father: Albus Troise Teritip Relationship with him: he was also very busy, but always took the time to teach her little tricks and tips of the trade. He was also sorta pushy about her becoming a merchant. He never even seemed to notice her pulling away to other fantasies. Why would she? After all, your kid’s gotta carry on the family business. What else would she be doing? Siblings: Relationship with them: Spouse: Relationship with them: Children: Relationship with them: Other important family members: if found family counts, which it does, that’ll be journal! Later in the plot, it expands to fit aiden/roo/seraph/ruffy. In her past, her crew would all have been here

Favorites Color: green. Any shade. Surprising, i know Least favorite color: beige. Boring color, no thank u >:V Music: sea shanties!!! Also likes metal, some pop, and has a fondness for violin/flute music Food: a p p l e s. Also fond of any produce she can eat raw. And crabs. Lov the cronch. Literature: prefers oral stories to reading. But like, history is super interesting to her. Form of entertainment: oral storytelling, showing off (or watching someone show off) magic, stupid tavern karaoke Expressions: loves that devilish smirk of “oh no, they’re up to something bad, hold onto your valuables.” also enjoyable is that eyebrow raise of “did you really just do that? Really? That?” with a deadpan face. Peak expressions. Mode of transportation: swinging/parkouring around through the trees via plant magic and vines, like tarzan, except the vines yeet him instead of swinging sometimes Most prized possession: her staff. She’s had it for years, through good and bad, and it’s not going anywhere. May or may not also have a feather in her cloak clasp for… reasons.

Habits Hobbies: gardening, swordfighting, people and/or birdwatching, storytelling, being extra as all frick every so often so people don’t forget u can and will take them the frick out, applepicking Plays a musical instrument? nope! Plays a sport? Does swordfighting count? How they would spend a rainy day: either inside a town building, tavern, or little canopy of leaves in the forest. Depending on the setting, she’ll just have casual conversations or peoplewatch. Or, if she’s in the forest, she’ll entertain herself with vivid storytelling. Sometimes she’ll jus watch whatever crawled into her dry canopy with her. Or bug journal with excessive letters. Anything chill slkdfjs Spending habits: if she can grow/make/wash it herself, she’s not buying. Spends more gold on trips to town restaurants/taverns than anything else, but it’s chill. ‘S not like she has rent to pay :V Smokes: nope Drinks: rum, of course. What kinda pirate do u take her for??? Also wouldn’t mind whiskey. Drinks a lot less now than she used to. Other drugs: nope What do they do too much of? Being a local cryptid What do they do too little of? Opening up to other human beings instead of plants Extremely skilled at: reading a room, cutting to the chase, sword-and-regular-fighting, plant magic, teaching, stealing/pickpocketing, thinking on her feet Extremely unskilled at: planning ahead, knowing when she should really let things be instead of starting smth, letting her loved ones fight their own fights (she’ll try and step in at least once) Nervous tics: going silent, putting a hand over her mouth, staring really hard at nothing, holding her staff close, squeezing anything in hand (usually her staff end) Usual body posture: holds herself loosely but confidently. Has the air of someone who knows what’s going on, and is at ease wherever. Mannerisms: usually blunt, teases those she cares about (unless told not to), makes hand motions when explaining things, speaks in a more “normal” voice most of the time but can occasionally slip into a piratey accent when angry/upset, tends to unconsciously mimic the accents of those around her if she’s in a new setting, likes to sit back and watch until she judges herself to be “familiar” enough with what’s up Peculiarities: the smell of a lotta salt can sometimes upset her, she’s an extrovert but spends most of her time in the woods/outskirts of towns, she’s still very superstitious from her pirate days

Traits Optimist or pessimist? Tends to err on the side of pessimism nowadays Introvert or extrovert? Big extrovert! She’ll spend time just hanging around places people are if she feels too drained, and really loves spending time with those she cares about Daredevil or cautious? Daredevil with an air of caution about her Logical or emotional? Likes to think she’s more logic based, and acts it, but she’s very emotional driven when it comes down to it Disorderly and messy or methodical and neat? Very neat, actually! You wouldn’t know it unless u got her to live inside tho ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Prefers working or relaxing? Mix of both. Enough work so she’s not bored, but enough relaxing so she’s not stressed :V Confident or unsure of themself? Confident for the vast majority of the time. Animal lover? She’s definitely fond of em!!! :D

Self-perception How they feel about themself: eh, she’s alright. It fluctuates some days, but tends to rest firmly in the “I’m fine, and if I’m not, I’ll fix it for tomorrow” realm. If it does fluctuate, she either feels like a traitor/liar, or a cunning bada$$ One word the character would use to describe self: survivor One paragraph description of how the character would describe self: “I’m Nettles, Nettles Willoweep. I’m a thirty seven year old sorceress who likes plants more than people. Well, that’s a lie. But it is easier to deal with foliage sometimes. I used to be a pirate a long time ago. Not so much nowadays, but that’s not to say I won’t bend a few rules in a pinch. I do what I need. After all, who’s gonna miss a few coins here and there? Certainly not the other families I slip em to. But uh, hey, don’t go spreading that around. I’ve got a reputation to upkeep.” “I guess I’m a bit of a benevolent local cryptid? Whatever that means. Journal tells me it’s a good thing, and I’ll believe him for now. I’m certainly doing what I can to take care of people who need it, and I’d give my right arm to help those I’m close to. Yeah, my blood runs a little hot sometimes, but that hasn’t changed my whole life. I just wanna see my plants and people prosper, and maybe get some gold on the side.” “... ah, right, hobbies. Gardening, forest guarding, fighting with swords, birdwatching… lots of stuff. As long as I’m not spending all my time slogging through old wounds, i’ll call it a good day.” What does the character consider their best personality trait? Her dedication What does the character consider their worst personality trait? How easily she brushes off concern What does the character consider their best physical characteristic? Not sure! She likes her body, and has no complaints abt it. Maybe her hair or how limber she still is :V What does the character consider their worst physical characteristic? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ How does the character think others perceive them: she thinks the general public perceives her as shady but mostly benevolent. She thinks her loved ones perceive her as blunt, but caring. Both of these are fair analyses, by her thought. What would the character most like to change about themself: make it so she could forgive herself easier, and admit to others that she needs a hand

Relationships with others Opinion of other people in general: people are easily tricked and dumb. Individuals can be p nice tho. Does the character hide their true opinions and emotions from others? She’s one of those people where, in certain situations, you’re never gonna be sure if she’s being sarcastic/truthful or not. She does it more regularly than she would like, but less so with close friends Person character most hates: i could put some old rival of hers here. Unfortunately, ‘herself’ works better :( Best friend(s): she’s very good friends with several bartenders, but especially the one in journ’s town. She’s hit it off quite nicely with a nomad who passes through every couple weeks or so, too. Journal is also a “best friend,” but like, in a mentee/kid kind of way Love interest(s): aiden, later ;3 Person character goes to for advice: bartender bffs Person character feels responsible for or takes care of: journal journal journal journal jo- Person character feels shy or awkward around: nobody :V Person character openly admires: *insert several pirates/legendary sorcerers/questors/casual hard workers in towns here* Person character secretly admires: eh. Probably aiden for a bit. Wink wonk lskjdfs Most important person in character’s life before story starts: technically journ counts here? But if not, just herself. After story starts: journal for sure

#nettles willoweep #afw #a familiar world #pirate nettles #character description sheet #this took me all evening; but!!! #worth it :D #and now i've got all this in one spot~ #easier to keep track of characterization this way lsdkjfs #anyways; she's a fun gal; even if she's sad sometimes... #nettles i love uuuuuuu #arty writes