#i wanted to give him a cow themed outfit at first but then i realized this is supposed to be a winning prize not a punishment lmao xD | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

lady-divine-writes · 4 years

Text

Good Omens - I Was Given Four Rules to Follow ... I Broke Every One: Chapter 1/3 (Rated PG13)

Summary: When Warlock Dowling is summoned to the old South Downs cottage of Aziraphale and Crowley to help clean out their attic, presumably after their deaths, he is given four rules to follow.

... He breaks every single one.

Notes: For @silver-colour

Written for the @tricketyboo2020 prompt "Creepypasta format story (like a found footage or witness statement kind of thing)" by silver-colour. It is a mild reworking of an older fanfic of mine, but that goes tongue in cheek with the ending of this story sort of. XD I would put this between Spooky Level 2 and 3, with 3 being "major and minor character death, disturbing images or concepts, major dark themes, major violence, etc." But there's only minor mentions of blood/body horror. But the whole undead thing is a trigger for some people and I lean into that imagery a bit. I wanted this to be a sort of leveled up Goosebumps tale. Tl;dr proceed with caution <3

Chapter 1

I am going to die.

I’m going to die, I’m going to die, I’m going to die.

I have to keep repeating it because I have to come to grips with it.

I am going to die.

Not in sixty years.

More like sixty minutes.

Oh, Amanda. I am sorry.

If you ever hear this … I never meant for this to happen.

My name is Warlock Dowling and I am 34 years-old. Devoted son and husband, I’ve spent over a decade working towards achieving my dream of following in my father’s footsteps and entering politics one day.

It’s a dream I don’t think I’ll be seeing through to the end.

I am telling you this because after reading what I’ve just read … and hearing what I’ve just heard … I am not certain I’m going to make it through the night.

I broke the rules.

There were four. Only four. And I broke them.

I didn’t break them by accident. I absolutely did it on purpose. I’m not suicidal or anything, but you only live once - am I right?

For the record, I don’t regret a single thing.

…

That’s not entirely true.

I’ll regret dying before morning if that’s the way things play out.

Today happens to be October 31st - Halloween night. I’d been tasked with clearing out the attic above a cottage in The South Downs which once belonged to a pair of old family friends. Technically, they were ex-employees of my parents from back when I was young, but I thought of them as surrogates. They practically raised me, educated me, taught me everything I know about coping in this cruel, pathetic world.

I held them in the highest regard.

They were the only people in my life who treated me as if I could become more than what I had been born into, that fate had something else in store for me. Because of them, I met the best friends a boy could ever have.

I will forever be grateful for that.

Cleaning out this attic was the least I could do to repay them, but to be honest, I don’t know who summoned me here. I assumed it was the executor of their estate, but now I’m not so sure. Looking over the letter in my hands, there is no legible signature. And the gold embossed emblem at the top that I took for granted as belonging to some upscale legal firm is, on closer inspection, gibberish - a mess of fleur-de-lis underscored by Latin words that roughly translate to “the cows shall rise”.

Ludicrous, right?

How did I miss that?

But more ludicrous - and confusing - are the rules.

I had been given rules about cleaning this attic.

The first rule on the list was to touch only what I could see. Under no circumstances was I to open any of the boxes or chests.

So, naturally, I opened every single one.

The second rule was not to put anything on. Fine by me. The only clothes up here are old lady outfits and a pair of white satin shoes.

But …

There was an awesome vintage leather jacket hanging on a dressmaker’s dummy in the corner and … well … it had my name written all over it! I had to try it on, see if it fit.

And it does.

Rule number three - keep to my torch. Don’t light any candles.

Nuh-uh! It’s Halloween! And torches are lame. So on the candles went. Jeez, there are a lot of them. Enough to burn down the whole place if I’m not careful. It actually seems like they’ve multiplied since I’ve been up here.

I won’t lie - it’s unsettling.

But according to the list, rule number four is the most important:

Don’t read any books I find. And definitely not out loud.

The first thing I saw when I entered the attic was a stack of leather-bound books. I scoffed at the sight of them, piled up to my chin, right inside the entryway. Isn’t that a bit like putting a huge bowl of candy front and center on your dining room table in the middle of dinner with a huge sign saying, “Do not eat?” If the most important rule about going into the attic is, “Don’t read anything!” why not put all the books on a high shelf?

Or the moon?

I’m not a book lover. I read hundreds of pages a day for work. I definitely don’t do it for fun. So this shouldn’t have been a hard one for me to follow.

But they looked like diaries.

And diaries hold secrets.

That made them a different matter all together.

I couldn’t resist.

But once I opened the top one, I knew I’d made a mistake.

These weren’t just any diaries.

They were the diaries of my two friends - Aziraphale and Crowley.

There had always been something odd about those two. I didn’t believe for a second that they were a proper nanny or gardener, not even when I was a young, impressionable child. But they were funny - a distraction from the dull as dishwater life of an attache’s son.

Yes, I was a spoiled little rich kid with everything I could ever ask for handed to me and, on top of that, diplomatic immunity.

Woe was me.

I realize how much of a douche whining about that makes me sound.

My life was still dull.

I was still lonely.

I never knew for sure what happened to them after they left us. I made assumptions - erroneous assumptions. I thought they lived happily ever after at least.

Now I know … that wasn’t the case.

I’m recording this in the hopes that someone will find it, so that you might know the true story of what happened to them …

… and why you might not be hearing from me again.

***

The Diary of Aziraphale Fell - Reluctant Widower

January 14th-

“Please, sir,” the decrepit woman hissed, but not unkindly. She came about her speech impediment by a mixture of symptoms - her thick accent coupled with her indeterminable old age caused her to talk that way. “Please, reconsider this decision.”

I glared at her regardless. I knew my eyes were bloodshot; my hair a mass of tangled, wayward strands; my lips quivered from constant, unrelenting crying.

“You said you had it!” I screamed, bypassing her arguments. “You said you would sell it to me! Wh---why else would I come here!?”

“You need to understand,” the woman implored, opening her hands in a pleading gesture. She fixed me with one clear blue eye, the other eye clouded – a useless, milky white lump of tissue bulging inside its socket, “what you ask for … it is unnatural.”

“But your granddaughter said it was a done deal!” I persisted, shooting a steely glare at the simpering young woman who ducked behind her grandmother to hide from my volatile stare. I wasn’t about to leave without the item I came for. At this point, I was willing to tear the place apart and everything inside - including the two of them - to get it.

They must have sensed that.

Even as the woman continued to defy me, she looked slightly more afraid than she had a minute ago.

“My granddaughter is foolish!” The woman directed the comment over her shoulder to the girl cowering there. “But she means well. We need the money. She was thinking with her head and not her heart.”

“I can pay you twice what you’re asking!” I reached into my back pocket for my wallet. “Three times! I’ll give you whatever you want!”

The girl, intrigued by my proposal, peeked over her grandmother’s shoulder, but the woman turned and barked sharply at her in a language I could not understand.

That was when I began to think I might be in danger.

I’d spent my entire life studying languages, so hearing one I didn’t comprehend, not even an inch, sent a shiver down my spine.

“Mr. Fell …” The old woman reached out, I presumed to comfort me, and took my shaking hand in hers “… your husband is dead. And I am more sorry than I can ever express at your loss. You carry your love for him like a beacon. I see it in your eyes. It shines from every part of you. With him gone, it is up to you to carry it. It will never fade as long as you remember him.”

Those were, without a doubt, the kindest words anyone had said to me since my husband passed. I crumbled, new tears falling hot down my cheeks. But regardless of her sympathy, sincere though it might be, I refused to relent.

I refused!

“I don’t want to remember him!” I whimpered, my anger renewed at the sound of my voice fracturing. “I want him here with me! I need you to help me bring him back!”

The woman sighed in pity but shook her head.

“The effects of life are varied, Mr. Fell. Our fate … it changes every day, with every choice that we make. But the effects of death should remain permanent.”

I flinched at that word as if she’d struck me across the face.

Permanent.

Crowley dead … my husband gone … and nothing for me to look forward to in life but emptiness. We’d had every moment of our lives planned together.

One arsehole drunk driver later and now I was alone.

I literally had no one.

I had lost contact with my mum early in life, never knew my father, didn’t have children of my own. My boss and mentor was an abusive prick who tormented me throughout the span of my career until I found a way out from under his thumb.

Until Crowley helped me discover a life where I didn’t need the man’s guidance or control.

But now I was going to lose him!? The only one who had stuck by me, who defended me, loved me through thick and thin!?

No! That was beyond cruel! And I wasn’t going to roll over and accept it!

I let the sorrow within me curdle, turn sour as I yanked my hand out of the old woman’s grasp.

“Your granddaughter said there are other methods of getting what I want!” I snarled. “Dangerous methods. Methods that might require payment in sacrifice … even blood. And not necessarily my blood. Innocent blood, if you catch my meaning.”

Both women gasped.

Despite the conversation at hand, I smiled.

Good, I thought. We were finally all on the same page.

Up until a few days ago, I never considered violence to be the answer to anything. But I had since come to a crossroads where an exception had made itself clear.

I was prepared to annihilate my humanity to get my husband back.

The old woman snapped her head over her shoulder, scolding her granddaughter in a harsh, guttural voice. The girl, who had started to brave coming out of hiding, shrank down once again.

“Be reasonable,” the woman begged, “please, and think about what you are saying. What you are willing to do.”

“No,” I said, my calm more potent than my anger … or so my husband used to say. “The time for me being reasonable is over. I will get what I want, no matter what the cost. The question is whether or not you will be the one to give it to me.”

The woman looked down at her gnarled hands and sighed a long, exhausted sigh. “Alright, Mr. Fell. I will sell the potion to you at the promised price.”

I stared at her for a moment in shock. I was relieved, of course. I hadn’t thought I would get this far. It frightened me how much I had begun looking forward to throttling her with my bare hands, imagined her neck snapping within my grasp, effortlessly like a twig.

That couldn’t be me though. I wasn’t that kind of person. It was this place - this shop and all of its trinkets, their age and professed magical abilities amplifying my grief, turning every rational thought I had into rage.

I had to get out of here and fast before I did something I might regret.

I opened my wallet with the onset of happier tears and thumbed through the bills, pulling out extra for the joy of getting what I wanted. I handed the money over, but the woman refused to touch it. She waved it away, her granddaughter popping up long enough to grab the money and then scurry off again. The woman reached into the folds of her skirts and retrieved a leather pouch that hung from a thin belt around her waist. From it she fished out a tiny blue bottle with a cork stopper sealing the mouth. She gave it a long, troubled look, then handed it to me.

For the first time, her hand trembled.

“Pour the contents of this bottle into your husband’s mouth, Mr. Fell,” she instructed, “and your husband will return.”

I held the bottle up to the dim candlelight of the musty Soho shop. The blue glass glimmered, a thick liquid inside swaying back and forth, shimmering like sun-tossed sparkles across a dark, foreboding sea.

“There are some rules that go along with that potion,” the woman said, her voice weeding into my head, summoning me back from my momentary trance, “and a few warnings you must heed as well.”

I sighed. I had hoped it would be a simple matter of giving my husband the liquid and living happily ever after, but I knew in my heart that nothing was ever that simple.

“Okay,” I said, slipping the bottle carefully into my pocket and patting over it twice to ensure its safety. “Tell me. What are the rules?”

“First of all, you will give that to your husband, but what will come back …” she paused, swallowed hard “… will not entirely be your husband.”

I nodded. I had expected her to say something along those lines, like a scene straight from an old time-y horror movie.

The woman locked both eyes, one clear and one clouded, on my face as I waited for her to finish her speech, eager to go back home and get on with my life. She realized, with regret, that I had every intention of going through with this, and took on the heavy burden of allowing this to continue.

“Be there to look into his eyes when he wakes,” she said.

I hadn’t dreamed of leaving his side, but since the woman made such a point of it, I asked, “Why?”

“He is being reborn, in a sense. And like other simple-minded creatures, he will imprint on the first person he sees.” She took my hands and squeezed them. “That person needs to be you!”

My gulp was audible, the weight of her words and of my plan suddenly settling within me. They pressed in on me, like that moment when the police came to my door. Their words – “Mr. Fell? I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but … it’s about your husband …” had turned me inside out, left my heart out in the cold.

I felt that cold now.

“Once the potion absorbs into his tissues, it will restart his heart,” she continued. “Then the potion will replicate. It will begin to take the place of his blood. It will make him calm, easier for you to control.”

I nodded again. I wanted to say something, assure the woman that I understood, but she didn’t pause long enough for me to speak. It wouldn’t have mattered. I saw the trepidation in her one, clear eye. I had no clue what to say to make this better.

“It will be a slow process, and you must learn to be a patient man!” She raised her voice, letting go of one hand to waggle an emphatic finger in front of my face. “You will be teaching him, raising him as you would a child. Remember, even if only a small portion of his soul returns, that soul belongs to your husband, and you must love him or this will not work!”

The woman stepped back, out of breath from her outburst, and her granddaughter (whom I had forgotten about) returned, pushing forward an ornate but dusty antique chair to catch her in. I held the woman’s arms gently and helped her into it, feeling strangely protective. The woman sat and waved us both off, not wanting us to make a fuss when she still had more to say.

“But most importantly,” she labored on, barely missing a beat in her speech, “do not let him taste blood.” I knelt down so that she didn’t feel the need to yell for her words to reach me. “He cannot eat meat, but most of all, don’t let him bite you or lick your wounds. Or anyone else’s – human or animal.”

“Will … will I become a zombie? If he does bite me?”

I’m not quite sure why the word ‘zombie’ leapt to my mind. In every interaction I had had with the woman’s granddaughter before tonight, she had been so careful not to use that term. She used other, more romantic euphemisms such as ‘bring back to the land of the living’, ‘re-associate with life’, and the most used - ‘rebirth’. But that’s what he would be, right? When we moved past the flowery vernacular and got right down to it? This potion I had pocketed would turn my husband into the walking dead, - a simple-minded creature that was once deposed from this Earth.

And that meant ‘zombie’.

As if I had nothing more pressing at hand, I suddenly recalled the Walking Dead marathon Crowley had convinced me to watch (against my better judgement). Crowley thought the show was hilarious, but I could barely make it to the middle of the first season. I had started watching with my hands over my eyes, then with my arm locked around Crowley’s, anxiously smacking his shoulder, and finally with most of my body lying over his lap and my face buried in his shirt.

It wasn’t just the gore in the show that skewered me, made me nauseous, unable to breathe. It was the fear and the pain those characters felt, being chased by a relentless enemy that needed no rest, constantly running into people they couldn’t trust, people who were so out for themselves they no longer believed in the sanctity of life, with nowhere to hide, nowhere safe at all, even behind thick, concrete and metal walls.

Watching your loved ones get turned into soulless monsters - still there, but everything about them that you had once loved out of reach.

And this ‘illness’ or whatever these people had - it spared no one. Even children had become zombies. And in the game that was survival for the remaining uninfected, children had become pawns.

Everything about it seemed so horrendous.

And while I suffered through my existential crisis, Crowley laughed at my antics.

I fought not to smile at the sound of his teasing voice.

“Uh … a little squeamish there, are you, angel?”

Angel.

From the first day we met, that’s what he called me.

Oh, what I wouldn’t give to hear him call me that again!

The old woman chuckled, bringing me reluctantly back from my daydream. “No. Not in this case. That’s not the nature of this spell. No, blood will give him back his memories.”

I looked at the woman, bug-eyed, and shook my head. “I … I don’t …”

“It will ignite his brain. He will begin to feel. In many ways, he will become more the man you married than in any other.”

“Wha---?“ I stuttered, baffled as to how that could be a bad thing. If drinking blood could make Crowley more Crowley, I’d set up an IV drip the minute I got home! I would serve him cups of blood with every meal! I’d make donating blood a requirement for entrance into my bookshop! (That one would definitely kill two birds with one stone. In fact, I might consider doing that anyhow.) “And why wouldn’t I want that again?” I asked, trying not to sound like turning my husband into a blood-sipping fiend was the greatest idea in known history.

The old woman smiled, but it wasn’t fond. It was shrewd, as if she could read every one of my thoughts.

And she didn’t approve.

“Once he has his memories back, he will start to crave it. Soon, drinking blood won’t be enough for him. It won’t work as well. It won’t keep the memories as fresh. He will have to go further, do more. He will become a killer.”

My face must have gone as green as I felt because the woman laughed again, this time with a touch of wickedness. A killer? My Crowley? My sweet, kind, compassionate Crowley?

Okay, maybe I was going too far with the endearments. He’d been a bit of a bastard, after all. Which was why I could picture Crowley becoming a full-fledged bad boy. With that leather jacket he wore like a second skin and his gleaming classic car, he’d been well on his way.

But a killer? No.

Then again, I was willing to become one myself a second ago, so maybe I wasn’t in the best position to judge.

“You are playing with the laws of nature, Mr. Fell,” she said, patting me on the cheek. “You are responsible not only for your own life, but for the lives of those around you.” The woman leaned in close, those eyes – one alive, one dead - more menacing than when I had walked into the shop; her face no longer that of a frail old woman but of a powerful witch.

This time, it was my turn to feel afraid.

“So don’t fuck it up.”

#good omens #good omens fanfiction #ineffable husbands #tricketyboo2020 #crowley x aziraphale #aziraphale x crowley #aziraphale #Crowley

42 notes · View notes

lizzybeth1986 · 5 years

Text

Quick Thoughts on TRH Book 1 Chapter 6

• It's YEEHAW time everyone!

• And also raise a middle finger to logic as we see the MC wear something that she should have probably lent to the Platinum MC for a country performance, rather than for farm work.

• There's also the bit where she randomly takes a pregnancy test coz she feels nauseous (yes I know. It's plot related and is probably done to show a false negative. But you need to time these things, MC! The best time to look for a double line is closer to the time you're supposed to be having your period, if your period is regular).

• Screenshot Credits:

Hana: @pixieferry

Drake: @thefirstcourtesan

Maxwell: The Abhirio YouTube channel.

• These are the tags you can block if you don't want to see these posts: #long post, #trh quick thoughts, #trh qts, #trh qt reblogs.

• Drake has an AUNT? Please don't give me any more family members, I'm done dealing with the ones he already has.

• I'm wondering if Leona exists so that PB can do some serious retconning on Bianca's behalf. After all, when she appeared in the Drake playthroughs of Book 3, there wasn't much of a positive reception for her - with some players even saying that the MC should have a few choice words to say to her - and for good reason.

• Title: Home, Home on the Range

So whatever little knowledge I do have about a place like Texas is from films and pop culture, so this might not be new information to you but it is to me! 😁 So I'm probably going to be a gazillion times more excited about sharing it than you guys might be to read it! Bear with me for a sec.

From what I'm reading, "Home, Home on the Range" seems to a western folk song that's so popular it's considered an unofficial anthem in that region. Its origin was from a poem called "My Western Home" from a Kansas native called Dr Brewster M Highly, in 1872 (it was even made Kansas' state song in 1945?). The lyrics are very...Drake:

Where the air is so pure, and the zephyrs so free,

The breezes so balmy and light,

That I would not exchange my home on the range,

For all of the cities so bright.

Mostly a very idyllic, glorified portrait of country life. You find similar sentiments in Drake's diamond scene this chapter.

• Alternative Title: We Just Needed An Excuse to Use the BSC Soundtrack Twice.

• So we meet Bianca, Drake's mother, this chapter. If you married him this is the second time you're seeing her, and if you married anyone else this is the first time and you have no clue who she is until Drake introduces her to you. She also mentions in the Drake playthrough that this is not the kind of welcome she was hoping to give her son and daughter-in-law.

• We also meet Leona, Bianca's older sister and Drake's aunt. She's extremely unimpressed with this group of nobles and largely seems to blame the nobility in general for whisking away her younger sister, leaving her alone to manage the ranch?

• She pretends not to listen much to Cordonian news while talking to Liam, but seems to have the time to keep up with Cordonian gossip while talking to us - and luckily you can call her out on it too.

• She seems the type that likes a rebellious Duchess/Queen, going by her responses to the more sarcastic options from the MC.

Hmm. This scene does two things: one, it establishes that the ranch is facing financial problems, in terms of money and staffing, and two, it possibly may build up to why Bianca had to return to the States. Both I think might become important points in the coming chapters.

• Bianca seems intent on not letting her children know anything about the fraught situation at her ranch, but Leona is having none of it. You either do your work and do it well, or she will put you through your paces. Which is exactly what is happening with Bertrand now.

• The whole theme of "we need to get pregnant, and fast" returns with the presence of Savannah, who greets us with a very excited, sociable Bartie in tow. You can choose to either pick him up and pay attention to him, ask Savannah to figure out what he wants, or ignore him completely. Whatever you choose, the topic of you becoming a mother will come up (either she comments on how you're a natural, or she will tell you that you'll eventually be able to read your own baby's signals). Savannah now joins a long, long line of people who will talk to us as if we're already pregnant (her fiancé will join this list in a couple minutes too, don't worry).

• Speaking of parents, the sole dad of the (extended) group - Bertrand - is nowhere to be found. Bianca is all praise, Leona is Unimpressed™, and Maxwell is shocked that the guy who swore never to touch fowl again after witnessing a flooded peacock enclosure is now chasing chickens. The group overall can't believe it.

• Bertrand is, in fact, chasing chickens.

• So here's the other issue that will come up. Having eventually convinced Savannah that he is serious about her and Bartie, he now wants to win the approval of the family. Bianca is more than ready to accept him, Leona is...Unimpressed™.

• This sets stage for Problem 3 of the Goings On at The Walker Ranch: Bertrand is desperate for approval and Leona seems pretty set on not giving him that. So I'm pretty sure getting her to realize that Savannah's fiancé means business and there is actually something for her to respect about him - if not love - is pretty much one of the loose ends we will have to tie up in the course of the Texas chapters.

• Savannah's laid out some clothes for everyone, so everyone gets a 'country' look and a cowboy hat.

• Like always, the outfit options come with different reactions based on the LI you're romancing:

Liam's looks nice I think, Hana is pretty (I haven't the foggiest idea of what would on a ranch so I wouldn't know how feasible - or not - these two outfits would be), Maxwell looks like he's dressed for the ranch AND for winter and Drake looks okay (like...there's a theme or something with his outfits, like he needs to have a LOT of a particular colour. Denim on denim, brown shirt brown hat).

• While Liam and Esther collectively swoon over each other, Savannah is all shocked and like "you both know we're still here, right?". Uh huh, you had no problem fangirling over Bertrand's "stern but sexy eyebrows" in public but suddenly me flirting a little with my husband is too much for you 😑

A little too much??? Listen, Esther has worn a hat that looked like it swallowed a hundred smaller hats on the way and cried in JOY at the sight. She has COMFORTED a widowed grieving Queen Mother and STARED DOWN Hana's awful parents, all with that honking big hat obscuring her face. How does a tiny puny cowboy hat with a bracelet thingy around it even compare??

• In the kitchen, Bertrand continues his woeful attempts to make conversation with Leona by revealing just how little he knows about running a ranch. Leona is Unimpressed™ (Betrand: How are the crops? Leona: We have cattle 😑. Bertrand: Who...ate the crops? Leona: 😑😑😑)

• Leona's like the adult version of the Unimpressed Sikh Child in Bollywood Hogwarts:

• We get darkly roasted coffee to help us gear up for the day's work at the ranch, and it's quite...the mouthfull. If you succeed in drinking it, you get high on coffee, and if you react to the strong taste, Leona makes a smart-alec comment about how "her highness must have wanted a chilled latte" (I forget which drink she mentioned but something similar) or something. Wish there was an option to tell her "Bertrand didn't tell me about the stick up your ass" (callback! From which book? Guess!)

• You feel slightly nauseous on the way, which is a bit of a set up to the end of the chapter.

• We split up into teams. Liam and Maxwell help with getting the hay for the horses, Hana and Drake help with sorting the tack.

Liam is a quick learner (and learns stuff just by observing), Maxwell is confused between the interests of horses and dogs, Drake is even more confused at Hana's speed, and PB has forgotten that Hana has actually ridden actual horses and would actually have at least a working idea of what actual tack with an actual horse would look like. Sure she may not have MADE tack for those horses, but you can miss me with that "imaginary horse friends" bullshit.

• See Team TRR, this is what happens when you focus on nothing else but Hana's skills. Even you fail to keep track.

• We feed the chickens (and I can see what I think are shades of Hana's upbringing in the way she says "wait your turn! one at a time!"...with chickens).

• ...there was a "no royal pets" policy in the palace that Liam waived?? No wonder we could get a corgi and Penelope could bring her poodles to court as soon as Liam became King!

• Re: Liam talking about having stuffed animals rather than pets and stating that he and Hana were on the same boat. Et tu, Liam? HOW MANY TIMES DOES HANA HAVE TO TELL YOU GUYS SHE NEVER HAD TOYS.

• I'm imagining poor young Maxwell realizing that peacocks don't like hugs and now I'm sad ☹️

• So the set up to the group scene is that none of these characters have truly experienced the joy of cuddling cute pets. It's not much even by way of a group scene, just a cute scene where the MC can direct Tiny the little calf to cuddle all these sad sad people (pushed into embroidery lessons and diplomacy sessions as children!) and cure Bertrand of his cow-suspicion (cowspicion?). The more pets you have with you the cuter it is, coz the two corgis go about acquainting themselves with everyone - the cat, the cows, everybody.

• ROE REFERENCE! We see Jess and Blake spearheading a successful business as caterers and wedding planners (did Jess take coaching from Chaz's sister-in-law Carmen? 😁) and they leave it vague (as expected, since Jess' romantic relationship with Blake is determinant - as is the possibility that Liam and Jess could be related by marriage if the RoE MC chose Leo lol) whether they're romantically involved or not, but at least this way I know they're happy with their jobs!

• Apparently they'd catered at enough disaster weddings that they decided they could do a better job

• I have two questions:

1. Did Leo ever recommend Carmen? I'm guessing not since based on whether the RoE MC married him or not, he'd probably feel more comfortable recommending family/friends than someone who - in a different playthrough - probably never really met him.

2. Why is Liam helping Bertrand and Savannah with contacts for their wedding when we ended up doing most of the searching and finding ourselves?? 🧐

• BertVannah seem to want a mix of local and Cordonian traditions: Savannah wants to recapture her parents' wedding by riding a horse down the aisle, and Bertrand asks Liam to officiate, as a royal. Maxwell and Hana will be in charge of entertainment and decorations...and the MC should not move a muscle because Bertrand has already decreed us pregnant.

• Savannah's ex Chuck is a buff ginger, and an already insecure Bertrand is made even more insecure at the sight of him. Another on the list of things PB expects us to fix in the Walker Ranch. Drake owes me both in cash, fancy hats and a lifetime supply of free smoked BBQ ribs after all this. The kind of shit a pregnant royal is expected to do...

• Time for Drake diamond scene - which is a mostly fluffy scene that takes place close to a river nearby which has a great view of the sunrise and sunset, and a ride atop a kayak.

• Here's the important stuff you can get from this scene:

- Drake knows how to build stuff (we knew this already, but here Drake talks specifically about how he and Savannah would build rafts)

- Drake sucks at taking compliments, but Drake stans who saw their MC's intro to TRH already knew that 🤭

- You get to flex your paddling muscles. Drake is...Impressed™

- Lovely sunshine

- A cute story about how Drake and Savannah had a canonball contest at this river, and happy memories of his Dad being just their dad for once, not dad + King Guard

- Drake gets to talk about the mark his father left on him, and how carefree he used to be before Jackson's death

- You can revive the cannonball contest with Drake before you head back to the estate, and if you're married you share a passionate kiss. The writers went to great lengths to describe how passionate the kiss wasqqq

If you're married to Drake, this spot is described as 'romantic' and 'private', the MC makes a joke about being the "First Mate" of Drake's heart, the usual variations. Drake also mentions that he hopes to emulate his father's way of parenting once he himself becomes a father. I'm also guessing the story of how his father and mother used to visit this lake before they had children would have an implied added importance to a married Drake trying for a child.

Funny how the assassination attempt on Liam always ends up revolving more around what it did to Drake than what it did to Liam. Both in the original Book 2 Italian Restaurant Scene where it was first referenced, and here (Drake's restaurant scene is also the only scene that highlights how that particular attack affected Liam - if you don't buy this scene, the attacks are mentioned in a more offhand way by Constantine when we confront him, and Liam still doesn't have a word to say). Stop. What happened to Liam happened to him. Stop making it all about Drake.

• Also why does Drake keep insisting the MC helped him find Savannah? She didn't. He spotted the envelope. He saw the address. He deduced where in Paris it was and tried to check it out. The only help we could provide was convincing him to stay and listen to her, and even that was optional.

• The MC wakes up wondering if she's going to feel nauseous, which then leads to the realization that it could be morning sickness. That's the most random race to use a pregnancy test I've seen.

• The result is negative, and the LI wakes up to the MC telling them about the result of the pregnancy test. The reactions to the news are identical. They follow roughly this template:

I can headcanon that Hana is actually feeling and understanding the MC's pain when she says "that's not silly at all", but I won't. I refuse to do the heavy work for the writers.

• In any case, there are some guests, and only Hana seems to know who they are.

• My face as it goes from seeing Kiara, Olivia, Penelope and Madeleine (yes, in that order):

• Sooo it looks like this week we're going to have a clash of the country and the courtly. Uh oh. I don't see this ending very well...unless there's a deus ex machina coming our way.

• General Thoughts:

- This chapter is filler, as expected, but it's the kind of filler meant to set up the major problems in that place. And there's plenty hinted at in this chapter alone: solving the financial troubles of the ranch, the clash of cultures that will come with the court ladies being guests, winning over Leona, learning about Drake's and also Bianca's past, Bertrand's insecurities. It's going to take a couple chapters to untangle all that!

- My guess is that the MC is possibly pregnant, but got a false negative (esp if she's nowhere near her expected time for her period), and will probably find out during Bertrand and Savannah's wedding? IDK. Most people I know will wait to see if they get their periods first (I did that too, waited a couple days after the expected day just to be sure), because that's when your hCG levels are high enough to show in your urine sample. That was a waste of a perfectly good pregnancy test, MC!

- The variations are very few, besides the scene where they all get new outfits and references to the MC and her spouse by different people including Blake and Jess. Perhaps there may be an LI scene coming soon.

- I mentioned earlier that Leona may be there as a way for the writing team to retcon Bianca's departure, since in the original series all we are told us was that she "was...struggling" after Jackson's death and left for the States at some point, leaving her children behind. Not a lot of people were very happy about this and though she was portrayed as a positive character in Book 3 (Drake's playthrough), it wasn't convincing enough. Leona is possibly there as a way to soften the audience to Bianca, and perhaps to get us a plausible reason for her leaving without her children. I'm not sure what could justify not taking them along, but okay.

- So Drake in his scene tells us that they came to the ranch as kids, but there is that matter of Savannah having been there long enough at some point to have had a boyfriend. I'm wondering if she spent some time on the ranch while Drake had gone to college.

- Also...if that's what happened, why was France even an option for her to bring up Bartie if she'd been in touch with her mother. Why did France, a place where she had very few contacts or living experience, win out over a place she was familiar with and where she had family?

- Leona's very Drake-like...but with an actual job that she's probably good at.

- Leona's also going to be Unimpressed™ for the most of her time in this book, with her probably becoming a little more impressed towards the end. Told you she'd be The Unimpressed Sikh Child (if you still have trouble with this meme, it's a character from a Bollywood film about a magical school called Aabra Ka Dabra. Here's some additional context from desi comedians and former Pretentious Movie Reviewers Kanan Gill and Biswa Kalyan Rath to illustrate why Unimpressed Sikh Child is so awesome:)

"Stop trying to impress people. Impress people with how unimpressed you are." If that isn't what Leona is doing. One wry expression and that's all it takes for all of Cordonia's royalty and nobility to fall over each other to prove themselves to her.

- Leona is an ass but you've got to respect the way she plays that game.

- I hope the writers don't forget that Kiara and Savannah were...yknow...good friends. Given how badly she was treated in Book 3 (and the narrative treated her really, really badly. Like I'm pretty sure some of you might have no idea just how badly she's been treated), I have serious doubts.

- Will we get a Hana or Maxwell diamond scene next? A good one or mostly just fluff? Let's see.

- Will we get another flashback scene? Maybe. It's possible. Bianca would remember something.

- One thing I do know for sure is that there is going to be more of Perfect Angel Savannah and Bumbling Bertrand. I'm not looking forward to it.

• Next: I'll be doing TRR Book 1's QT for Chapter 6 as well! Hopefully it will be ready by Friday. As for this series...until next week, folks!

#long post #the royal heir #trh quick thoughts #trh qts #king liam #hana lee #maxwell beaumont #drake walker #texas walker ranch

47 notes · View notes

seungmin-jpeg · 6 years

Text

Stray Kids on Tumblr // Jeongin

Chan // Woojin // Minho // Changbin // Hyunjin // Jisung // Felix // Seungmin // Jeongin //

To pure for tumblr

To to to pure

Honestly he’d never have a tumblr

Hed be all over instagram tho

But for the sake of this

I'll make it work lol

Has a very cute blog

Lots of puppies

Honestly just a lot of soft baby animals in general

Like little sloths rolling around

Cute foxes jumping around in fields

He’d reblog show recs

For you know

All that free time he has right

I feel like he’d be well aware of the kpop fans on tumblr

So honestly he wasn't that surprised when he started to see stray kids stuff pop up everywhere

But he was surprised to see that he himself was getting lots of attention among fans

Sure he gets lots of attention from his members

But he didnt think he’d get a lot from fans???

Man he was wrong

He’d totally be that blog that reblogs a bunch of fanart

Like all kinds of fanart

All the fanart in the whole fanbase of stray kids

Always includes cute little tags

Gushing over how beautiful the artwork is

Always has to be super careful to not use personal pronouns

Because that would be a disaster

He’s smart enough to know being on social media

Especially tumblr

Was not the smartest idea buttttttt...

Anyways

Has a lot of pastels in his theme

Put a decent amount of effort into his mobile theme

Still has the default desktop theme tho

Is the actual definition of the Soft Tumblr Stan

He reblogged one of your fanarts once

And you were just doing the usual checking of the reblogs to see if anyone tagged anything

Because reading tags on your art is the best thing

And this blog bean-worm had the cutest tags

You were like what kind of url is bean-worm but aye whatever

You ended up checking out more of his blog

And there were cute little baby animals everywhere

And pretty fanart

So you ended up following this bean-worm blog

And just cause you could

And no stranger has ever left such nice tags on any of your pieces

You messaged him

And thanked him for all the nice things he said about your art

And how it made your day

Jeongins all fluttery now

Because first of all this is the first message from someone whos not one of those bots

And the message was so nice his heart might actually melt.

So of course he response

And thus starts the purest of friendships

So pure it’s whiter than the whitest white on earth

Does that make sense what

Anyways

Ngl

It doesn’t take to long for you to realize its jeongin

Jeongin really just threw caution to the wind when he started messaging you

Sure jyp had warned them all about this

And he’d heard about the stories with day6

But yolo am i right

So the two of you talk for a long time

Like a year

Conversation drops every now and then

Naturally cause jeongin is busy

You never really go out of your way to let him know you know its him

But he’s not dumb

So he has a little bit of an idea that you know

So then it becomes an odd “we both know” elephant in the room

But that doesn't effect the friendship

Um so yah time’s past since you first started talking

And stray kids has already announced they’re going on a world tour

You flip shit because already holy cow

But of course you’re like rip wallet im going nothing's holding me back

You were out to get the best ticket

And man did you get a good ticket

Vip boiiiiiii

Youre going to meet stray kids irl

Hi touch, group photo the whole deal

You’re going to meet jeongin

Omg you’re going to met him

At this point it was like meeting a mutual for the first time

So you shakily get on tumblr

Still trying to recover from the fact you lost a few of your lives buying the ticket

And you shoot jeongin a message

Just something like

“I got a vip ticket to see stray kids”

And now jeongin is looking down at his phone in the practice room

Because oh god he’s going to meet you

Should he tell you who he is

I mean you already knew

He knew that

But should he really say it straight out

He ends up replying with a simple “i’ll get to meet you then!”

And just to confirm your ever growing suspicion you mention you never told him which city you’ll be at

And he’s just kinda “oh, ill be at all of them”

And you laugh and say “thought so”

So jeongins identity has been confirmed

Without him risking that much

Because how would someone convince anyone that’s him from those screenshots

Especially with the url bean-worm wow

That would be a stretch

The day of the concert slowly arrives

You watch the videos from other concerts flood your social media

And try your hardest to avoid spoilers

When it gets even closer

You send a picture of the outfit you’ll be wearing to jeongin

So he can spot you easier

Of course you wont need any help finding him

Its all the emotions the day of the concert as you wait in line

Firstly its a freakin stray kids concert

Second you got the best ticket

Third you’re legit going to go through hi touch with all the members holy crap

And fourth you're finally going to be able to meet your lovely friend and mutual jeongin

You had the time of your life during the concert

Had a great spot with a great view

Tons of friendly people around you

Just really having the time of your life

The concert ended and then it was hitouch time

Your heart couldn’t have been any louder as the set up for everything

You hung out with the others fans

Waiting while the boys got themselves together

When they finally came back out

You could tell jeongin was searching for you

Part of you wanted to stand up and make yourself known

The other part of you wanted to hide behind the nearest person and never let him see you

So inteast you just stayed put

Not too noticeable

But not hidden

Nothing

And no one

Can escape jeongin’s hawk eyes

He found you real quick

And couldn’t help but smile a tiny bit when he saw you

He’d finally found you

And damn you looked just as perfect as he had imagined you to be

Actually you looked even better

All he knew was that it was going to take a miracle for him to keep himself together when you finally got closer

His first hitouch had been super nerveraking

But this wasn’t his first hitouch

No he had done so many at this point

But it was like three times the nervousness he had felt during his first hitouch

He didnt know what to do with himself

The line started to move forward

And you fell in place somewhere near the back

Too nervous to really try and get up in front

But also wanting to hold out the moment just a little longer

Slowly you got closer and closer

And of course jeongin was at the very end of the line

At this point youre just like

God please dont let my hand get all sweaty

Youre like seconds away from blacking out because so many emotions at once

Finally its ur turn

And your panicking

Because simply meeting skz is enough to shut all your organs down

Ur gushing from witnessing chan and his curly hair in person

And talk about real luck getting to see minho in pastel pink hair

And then at the very end

You see jeongins bright smile

Now braces free

All your nervousness melts away when you see him

And its all replaced with pure joy

Youre not really sure what to say

So you just say “good job”

And stare really intensely into his eyes

Because yes

And he kinda gives your hand a little squeeze as you pass by

And your heart just flips

Like damn boys about to kill you

By the time you finally got back from the venue and settled down in bed

You look down at your phone and see a message from him

And ur like wtf rest my dude you just did a whole concert

But when you open the message you just

Uwu

Because it read “you’re even pretty then i had imagined”

Now youre dead

And you send back a cheeky response to jeongin which means hes on uwu overload too

And its a good night all around

And you can tell its only going to get better

56 notes · View notes

thelastspeecher · 6 years

Note

Spy au, Stan and Fidds are undercover and got swept into trick-or-treating wit the other neighborhood kids

14. Trick-or-treating

Thank you for giving me an excuse to write Stangie taking de-aged Ford and Fidds trick-or-treating during the White Picket Fence mission. It was so lovely and so cute to write.

Send me a number for a fall-themed prompt!

There wasa knock on Fiddleford’s door. Fiddlefordpaused fighting with his clothes.

“Comein,” he said, his voice muffled by the fabric his head was stuck in. The door opened. Fiddleford heard a small chuckle. Someone carefully fixed his outfit. His view now unobscured, Fiddleford looked athis rescuer. It was Stan.

“Youknow, you coulda asked for help,” Stan said. Fiddleford sighed.

“I know.”

“Here.” Stan handed Fiddleford a basket shaped like ajack-o-lantern. “Angie and Ford arewaiting downstairs.”

“Okay.” Fiddleford flipped up the hood of hisdinosaur costume. Stan grinned. “Please don’t make any comments ‘bout howcute I am.”

“Fine. I won’t.”

“Good. Let’s go.” Fiddleford and Stan went downstairs, Fiddleford stumbling a couple timesin his unwieldy costume. He could hearStan making small noises of amusement. “Stop.”

“I’m notsaying anything. And it’s damndifficult, by the way. You’re reallycute.” Fiddleford stopped on the laststep. He turned to scowl at Stan. “You’re not helping your case.” Stan looked away for a moment, a dreamy lookin his eyes. “Wonder if my kid ‘ll be ascute as you.”

“Stanley.”

“Yeah. He will.”

“Youdon’t know the sex yet.”

“I got afeeling about it,” Stan said confidently. Fiddleford stifled another sigh as he and Stan headed towards the livingroom. Both Stan and Angie had beenstruggling to deal with the news that Angie was pregnant while undercover. Fiddleford and Ford agreed that this mostrecent reaction – subdued excitement – was better than the initial reaction ofpanic. Even if it meant that Ford andFiddleford were the frequent subjects of unsubtle glances and comments abouttheir cuteness.

In theliving room, Angie was fussing with Ford’s hair. She was dressed in a classic witch’s costume,complete with a broom on the ground next to her. Her costume was clearly meant to go withStan’s wizard one – long robes, a pointed hat, and staff. In contrast, Ford was dressed up as anastronaut, as his cover, Nicky Young, wanted to be one when he grew up. Ford finally slapped Angie’s hands away.

“Stop. This costume comes with a helmet. No one will be able to see my hair.”

“He’s gota point, Ang,” Stan said. “And anyways,it’s impossible to do anything with the Pines family hair.” He got that faraway look again. “Stan Jr.’s gonna have a hell of a time withit,” he said softly.

“Wearen’t namin’ our son that,” Angie said briskly. She looked over at Fiddleford with asmile. “HQ found some darn cute outfitsfer the two of ya. A lil dinosaur and alil astronaut.”

“Do wereally have to do this?” Fiddleford asked. He winced, realizing that his question had accidentally come out as awhine. Stan gave him an affectionatenoogie.

“Yep. Gotta keep up the cover.”

“If Clarkdidn’t invite himself to come with us, we could have stayed home,” Fordmuttered. “And even though he did invitehimself, you two could have put a stop to it.”

“That’snot something that Laura and Conner Young would do,” Angie said. She licked her thumb and rubbed it on Ford’scheek. Ford let out a squeak and jumpedbackwards.

“Hey!”

“There wasa smudge,” Angie said. Ford glared ather.

“Youdidn’t have to lick me to clean itoff!”

“Sorry. Instinct.” Angie smiled apologetically at Ford. The doorbell rang. “That must beClark. Nicky, why don’t you let yourfriend in?” She dropped her accentmidway through the sentence and referred to Ford with his cover name. The message was clear.

It’s showtime.

-----

Stanwhistled a merry tune to himself as he strolled down the street. It had been a long time since he’d lost gonetrick-or-treating (he could remember going a few times in high school, to stickit to Filbrick, who had claimed teenagers were too old to gotrick-or-treating). He’d been worried hemight not enjoy himself, given that he was both working and wouldn’t get anyfree candy for wandering around in the cold. But surprisingly, he was having a good time. Clark ran ahead, dragging Ford with him.

“Come on,Nicky, the best house is right up here!” Clark enthused as he pulled Fordaway. Ford looked back at Stan with ahelpless expression.

“Stickclose, boys!” Stan called. Clark slowedhis pace slightly. Stan looked down atFiddleford, who, to maintain both their covers, was holding tightly to hishand. “Are you having fun, Ryan?”

“Yeah,”Fiddleford said in a small voice. Stanlooked away, biting back a comment about how adorable Fiddleford was in theslightly-too-large dinosaur costume. Being around Ford and Fiddleford while they were children only fueledhis excitement over his as-of-yet unborn child. In his mind, he pictured a young boy about Fiddleford’s current age,with the Pines family mop of brown hair and Angie’s laugh. Someone grabbed his free hand and interlacedtheir fingers with his. Stan lookedover. He smiled.

“Hey,Laura.”

“Hey,yourself,” Angie said sweetly. Sheleaned her head against his shoulder. Her witch’s hat tickled Stan’s chin. “Looks like this is something we’ll be doing for a while, huh?”

“Yeah.” Stan kissed the top of her head. “Following around kids dressed up likecowboys and astronauts. Yelling at themto slow down and not leave our sight. Teachingthem how to properly egg a house.”

“Mm-hmm.”

“They’llhave better costumes, of course.”

“Duh,”Angie scoffed. Clark rushed back tothem, Ford following more slowly, reluctance evident on his face. “Did you get spooked by something?” Angieasked in a teasing tone.

“Pfft,no,” Clark said. “I just remembered thatthis wasn’t the place with the best house. The best house is the next street over, and we have to get there before they run out of candy. That’s why I’m hurrying.”

“Ah. I see.”

“Youdidn’t get candy from the house you thought was the good one,” Stan said. “What’s with that? You even rang the bell and everything.”

“Thehouse I thought was the good one is actually the worst one,” Clark explained. “They only hand out weird old people candy.” He got a panicked look. “Not that there’s anything wrong with oldpeople! Just…the candy’s not good.” Angie and Stan exchanged an amused look.

“Apparentlywe’re old now,” Stan remarked.

“You’renot old. You’re a silver fox,” Angiesaid flirtily. Stan kissed her.

“Gross,”Ford and Clark said together. Clarkgrinned at Ford.

“Whatkind of candy does that house have?” Fiddleford piped up.

“Oh, ithas the best candy! Reese’s cups,full-size Snickers and Twix, a bunch of Nerds flavors. Seriously, you’ll love it,” Clark gushed.

“No, thenot good house,” Fiddleford said.

“What? Why do you wanna know that?”

“Justcurious.”

“Oh. Okay.” Clark’s voice shifted from unbridled excitement to the carefully politetone reserved for younger siblings of friends. “Well, like I said, it’s got old people candy. The stuff no one likes. Butterscotch, those weird caramels, this brandof, like, molasses flavored something? It gets stuck in your teeth and you taste molasses for days.” Angie looked over at Fiddleford, a smallsmile on her face.

“You meanOld Sass’s Hard Molasses?” Fiddleford asked eagerly. Stan looked at him. Fiddleford was more animated than Stan hadseen him in days. He was nearlyvibrating with excitement. Clark frownedat Fiddleford.

“Uh,yeah. That’s what it’s called. How do you know that?”

“It’s myfavorite!”

“Really? Why?”

“I just-I really like it,” Fiddleford mumbled. He seemed cowed by Clark’s reaction. Stan let go of Fiddleford’s hand and noogied him.

“Hey, youdon’t need a reason for a candy to be your favorite,” Stan said. “Your mom’s favorite Halloween candy ispopcorn balls. That’s not even candy!”

“Agree todisagree,” Angie muttered.

“Come on,kiddo, let’s go right up to that door and get you some of that molasses candy,okay? Your mom can take Clark and yourbrother to the ‘good house’ in the meantime.”

“Meet up atthe ice cream place on Slough Avenue?” Angie asked. “They’re selling a special Halloween sundaetoday.”

“Soundsgreat, sweetie,” Stan said, nuzzling Angie. He took a hold of Fiddleford’s hand again. “Say bye, Ryan.”

“Bye,”Fiddleford mumbled. Angie kissed the topof his head, waved, and then walked away, Ford and Clark following herclosely. Once they were gone, Fiddlefordsighed. “Stan, we don’t actually have togo to that house. I know you were justacting like the overprotective father-”

“Fiddlesticks,shut your tiny mouth, okay?” Stan hissed. Fiddleford stopped talking. “We’regonna go to that house and get you that shitty candy you like for some reason. When Clark said they were handing it out, youlooked happy for the first time in a week.” Fiddleford remained silent. “Thisjob sometimes sucks, and I know firsthand that being a kid again especiallysucks. There aren’t a lot ofupsides. Getting your favorite candy forfree? That’s a hell of an upside. So we’re gonna do that. Got it?”

“Got it,”Fiddleford said. He was still quiet, butthe happy note to his voice had returned.

“Good. Now, let’s get you that molasses whatever.”

“Old Sass’sHard Molasses.”

“Yeah. That.”

#(just to be clear I don't need any more prompts)#(I'm just including the link so that people can find the post)#but yeah this was so MUCH fun to write!#Ford dressed as an astronaut and Fidds dressed as a DINOSAUR. what's not to like?#Spy AU #Stangie #Fiddleford McGucket #Angie McGucket #Stanley Pines #Stanford Pines #ficlet #my writing #writing meme #ask #nour386

11 notes · View notes

sleepymarmot · 6 years

Text

COUNTER/Weight liveblog, part 3

Finale +post-mortem

Am I glad to return to the political big picture! It's such a relief that the finale is in this format! Hopefully it won't devolve into another “fighting a giant robot” scene.

Oh, so the Chime are leading the faction game now! Somehow I completely missed the point of the two previous scenes that indicated Aria becoming the new leader of the Righteous Vanguard – I was very surprised and then 10 minutes later went “Oh that's what it was, time to go back and relisten”

Pronoun update: Austin consistently uses “they”, Art consistently uses “he”. End my suffering…

The sheer comedic impact of seven Makos, Larry and Lazer Ted all in a room together has healed my soul immediately. Can we end on this image so nothing bad happens

I'm so proud of Orth!! “I'm sorry, which one are you?” lmao

Oooh the relationship drama~ But how come Jacqui didn't know Jill was alive? Actually, now that I think of it, back then it was clearly said that Jacqui knows Jillian is back and is sad because Jillian doesn't remember her. This show's retcons…

Look I know shit must hit the fan pretty soon but for now this finale is just. So relaxing. I'm having a lot of fun listening to these squabbles. (The only exception were Mako and Orth – boys, stop fighting, why!)

That Cass & Aria scene was cool but please don't give me world leader old friends sneaking away for secret stress relief sparring sessions when I'm not supposed to start shipping them

Oh hell yeah, I was hoping that since Jacqui went with Jillian, Aria would go with Ibex. (Not very relevant here, but Ibex is from Kesh like Maryland, right? If so, there must be fanart of young Ibex and Maryland in 19th century outfits?)

Stop cryptically saying oh Sokrates isn't here, oh they aren't using their candidate name, like what's up with them?! Are they doing well? I'm worried!

Oh Orth wants to dance with Ibex huh *eyes emoji* Rematch! Rematch!

“I'll take anything” “Anything?” My mind, of course, autocompletes “Then perish”

THIS WAS A LOT and I need to take a couple of minutes to start breathing normally again. Also there just has to be a lovingly drawn fanart adaptation of this entire scene (in, like, fukcing Leyendecker style), come on fandom please say someone has done it

Jacq/Jill continuing with the heartbreaking scenes, I see

Mako doesn't like dancing now…… holy shit this is the most upsetting ball ever… (The cynical part of me must say that it's only Austin who talks about this connection, Keith doesn't and still sounds way less emotional about the whole thing than the others assume Mako to be)

I amend my previous statement, I also need fanart with snapshots of every dance: Orth firmly taking Ibex's hand and receiving a surprised but approving look, Jillian throwing her head back in laughter and Jacqui watching with a pained smile, sullen Mako leaning on a wall cross-armed and looking for an opportunity to slip away, Cass dropping his one-liner with a completely dispassionate face.

Wow Ibex is really getting ready for death. Sounds as if he knows the exact date.

HOLY SHIT THE DIVINES' ORIGIN STORY!!! FINALLY!!! I'm surprised they were all created by the same person…

I'm relieved Mako and Orth are on good terms again!

I love the new Aria as this competent politician who does a lot of swordfighting and dealing with old flames

Have I mentioned I really love the game they're playing? It almost synthesizes the best parts of the game they played previously – as if it was written just for this finale. It's so great how this show and specifically this campaign go through so many games, showing the universe and the characters from different angles, instead of having them be defined by only one game system and its limitations and quirks.

That's some real good mech if it can function for 80,000 years, Divines' body or not!

Okay, I fucking knew Liberty and Discovery would split up at some point (which is what I meant above by my expectations for AuDy's fate), but why is Liberty attacking Ibex?

Mako's robots!!! :DDD Now that's the real finale shit!

I CAN'T BELIEVE Keith missed Tower's brief appearance of all things. It's like a fucking scene from the show on the level of dramatic irony. They were truly not meant to be, even the universe in real life is saying that. Do you ever get rejected so badly that the guy you like runs away from you at the prom, and then lets you fall into a deadly portal with the rest of your planet, and then you get brainwashed, and then you are killed by an ally of that guy, and the person playing him doesn't even witness that?!

I thought Orth was going to challenge Kobus about Liberty…

“I have Liberty contained” *winces*

Every time it is asked what is Mako wearing I just mentally pull out the popcorn

“I welcome anyone to tell Cass that AuDy is a non-person”

Let me restate how much I'm loving how the scenes that in any other show would be minor fluff or short summaries in an epilogue are a legit fully rendered part of the finale

Sokrates & Orth reunion please!!

Aw Ted! It never occured to me that this comic relief character has, in fact, lost his entire planet and almost everyone he knows.

…I think I like Apokine Cass more than Chime Cass

That's a big lore dump holy cow! I'm glad Apostolosians are ex-humans after all, but I wonder how they turned into fish people

So what happened to the idea of Mako hacking Grace?

They just… went and straight up murdered two Divines… If it had happened early in the show I'd probably cheer, and no tears were shed for Grace, but Liberty… Just take a third of another player character and drive it into a sun…

Of course. I knew Sokrates is the kind of character who dies nobly in a grand finale.

I've spent all this time wondering how the piece of Voice in Mako doesn't get infected by Rigor, and it seems to finally happen and Larry seems to die repairing it, but what about all other Makos, aren't they in danger too?

This is way too easy so far, just sacrifice NPCs one by one to win.

This whole time I was assuming Mako saved as many clones as he could, not just his own… If he gets another turn I bet it's submit or die :/

Hello I'm crying over Lazer Ted! Choices in the campaign sound futile now: who cares which guy Mako saved – they both died anyway! All named NPCs did!

Except for Jacqui. Congratulations, the NPC Who Lived! (I mistyped “loved” at first, which is also relevant. And yes, I cried here too.)

How the hell would falling into a sun kill Rigor if it was previously not killed by a bomb that destroys hundreds of suns?

Poor Cass… Not only sacrificing yourself in such a difficult way, but to have a final conversation only just to learn that your friend, a passionate revolutionary further empowered by Righteousness, has deserted… The sheer contempt and disappointment he pours in just three words “Ibex told you”...

Welp. Mako's fate was not tragic like I feared! Good news I guess, but it's still kind of sad. And I think the saddest part is that Mako himself doesn't realize. Because it can just sound like the natural continuation of his character growth – after he had to learn to be the responsible one first in contrast to Larry and then to the other Makos. But it's not that, or not just that, and it's kind of chilling to hear that he never knows it, and never knows peace.

Executive Joie, oh my… It's so strange and cool how Aria somehow continues the legacy of Jace and Ibex at once.

The race is over. It's so strange that now there are no consequences to fear or spoilers to avoid.

I didn't like the final battle as much as the rest of the finale – I hoped for a more clever solution than just throwing bodies at the enemy (but I guess the intro warned me lol…). Especially since these bodies had very unequal impact – I'm not going to care about Diego Rose or Chet Wise or Orth's newly-created lieutenants or as much as I care about Jacqui -- so it felt unfair towards players/characters who had more important or likeable chracters in their faction. I'm opposed on principle to making the big confrontation feel important and emotional just by killing off characters (hi, J. K. Rowling and Russo brothers), I think it's cheap and emotionally manipulative, but in this case the emotional manipulation doesn't even work so it’s doubly disappointing.

If someone's reading this, you can see that what I expected or wanted from the story was not what it gave me, and that was frustrating or disappointing at times. But nevertheless, it was a wild ride.

I've slept on it and it still fucks me up that out of the Chime only Aria gets a genuinely happy ending! Cass is fucking dead, Liberty is dead while AuDy becomes a ghost, and Mako loses everyone and is lonely for the rest of his life!

It's so strange to listen to the opening theme in the post-mortem and think that this is the second-to-last time. (Relistens don't count, it's not the same thing.) By the way, I love that theme – it sounds like a half song with the words on the tip of my tongue, like space, or like city at night. Really atmospheric.

I love how everyone continues to be into that moment where Aria has the opportunity to kill Cass lol (I am too)

Yeah, thanks for reminding me about that coin toss moment for Kobus in the finale, that was so sudden and shocking I was completely losing it for the long few seconds it lasted

I'm glad someone asked whether Jack knew the Big Spoiler in advance – he was so calm about it in the following episodes that I started wondering

Oh so it wasn't my imagination that the players needed the comic relief of the Lazer Ted episode no less than the characters

After a sad talk about Mako's dead friends, Andi, cheerfully: “I love to kill and I love to hurt and I never regretted anything I ever did! :D” which won the least surprising comment of the hour award lol. Honestly, after that one scene with Diego I started to get a bit nervous whenever Andi announced they had an idea… C/w was fun because I now realize the cinnamon roll Aubrey was actually them playing against type.

I love that someone asked about Mako's first kiss and/or Orth's fandom life!!

Keith's answer is sad, though… He “had literally never considered Mako even being capable of kissing someone, like it wasn't something on the table” and that was unexpected to me. I'd mentioned several times that he sounded reluctant to play up the romance, but I was assuming it was the player's preference, not an innate trait of the character whose attraction to someone was a part of his character creation. How do I interpret it? Mako is aro? Mako never had a chance to properly grow emotionally because his youth was fake and for the rest of his life, all emotional connections were sabotaged by Rigour's shadow, and also literally all his potential love interests died? Ugh, I just keep making myself more and more upset.

Holy shit I forgot about Art asking if there's an old Apostolosian mech on September by any chance lmao

Cene always knew?! Holy shit w h a t

It's nice to hear Ali talk about her growth in confidence as a player because she's definitely kind of an inspiration – for years I've thought tabletop roleplaying is too intense and I'll never do it, but when I finally tried out it was not so scary, so maybe there's hope for me too!

The concept that the real challenge of the final battle was that the easier it would be to defeat Rigor, the worse shape would the world be afterwards sounds much better than what that battle actually felt like to me. Instead of paying for victory with the health of society and their faction's political power, in the actual gameplay they paid with NPCs from their circle and that was it; the political consequences came later and sounded entirely unrelated. Maybe if they had to go against their faction's goals or sacrifice its assets – e.g. “use Minerva's Rigor-tech mechs in exchange for the promise to leave them alone afterwards” instead of “sacrifice all Mako clones”… Aria had something similar with Weight, but it was the price of Jacqui's life, not the price of a victorious battle against Rigour.

It's very cool to learn where the sound effects in the theme come from! And god, every line as its own take? My head hurts just imagining that…

Austin getting distracted by the idea of fucking Rigor was hilarious, but I never, ever want to hear the word “daddy” in this context! What's with these jokes this season, ew, please stop.

Excuse me, Ali wanted to kiss Ibex as who exactly, Jace or Aria? Both options are equally crazy!

See, “You wanna say ‘Oh he was just doing what was necessary, he was just doing the thing that's good in the end’, and yeah that's him working on you” is exactly why he reminds me of Dukat! Literally the same mind game on the viewers/listeners!

Why is the link broken, I want to see AuDy in Titanfall!

Listening to team “Fuck Ibex!” and team “Fuck Ibex ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)” yell at each other is very entertaining

“Nobody on the Kingdom Come is cishet” is a nice sentiment but I'm kind of confused by which definition of cis Cass is not. Have I missed something about them changing pronouns in-universe? Just because English doesn't have exact analogies for the Apostolosian pronouns doesn't mean everyone who uses them isn't following their own society's conventions. And now Austin also's saying “We never wanted to say these pronouns are equivalent to gender” which is, a, not true, and b, sends the whole problem back to square one – because if that's not the Apostolosian gender then what is? This! Is! A! Mess!

#friends at the table #blah blah blah

5 notes · View notes

margarittet · 6 years

Text

“Tombstone” (1993): cowboys and gay subtext

Disclaimer: I wrote this text long time ago, when we first heard the title of the episode, and we knew perfectly nothing about the plot - I just somehow never got to posting it. Back then I never DREAMED that we will be getting Cas and Dean roleplaying Texas rangers, and running around in cowboy hats. (What a time to be alive!) Anyway, I hope this little rant about how “Tombstone” (1993) is relevant to tomorrow’s episode will still be fun to read.

Disclaimer 2: I do not equal effeminate/weak bodied/flamboyant = gay, just different from the surroundings in the context of this movie. At the same time, the movie uses cheap stereotypes to characterize their characters in subtext. It is 1990s, and this is not good, but it happened back then.

File it under the “Things I do because of my “Supernatural” obsession”: I watch and read stuff I hadn’t expected to before I started watching the show - you know, like a 1993 western telling the story of the legendary gunman Wyatt Earp and his two brothers, hunting and killing some Old West gang of outlaws in a frontier town.

Nevertheless, I did watch it, and now I will write about it because I am painfully aware that episode 13x06 is called “Tombstone”, that it has a western theme, and that it’s an episode by the writer who gave us “Stuck in the Middle with You” (12x12). It is therefore quite possible that the source material is relevant to the final product - plus with Tarantino being a western buff, it all connects nicely.

I will not speculate about the actual episode since we have almost nothing to go on at the moment - besides a few pictures from which we can gather a couple of facts:

The boys are most probably in Dodge City at some point (we saw pictures from the set saying “Dodge City” on one of the buildings). The city is about 3,5 hour drive from Lebanon - where the bunker is - and it was here Wyatt Earp was the sheriff before he moved to Tombstone. It also is “the cowboy capital of the US” because of it being the main city on the old “cattle trail”, famous for its cow markets and for its gunfights. We saw Dodge City on the show once before when Krissy’s dad was attacked in “Adventures in Babysitting”, but otherwise this is the first time we visit it,

We also know that at some point we will visit a cowboy-themed motel.

[While all of this gives us no story hints whatsoever, I think it’s safe to assume that the keywords for the episode are “cowboys” and “western”. Since Davy Perez’ most noteworthy episode last year was Tarantino themed, I am not remotely surprised this season for him is “westerns” (he is also bringing us the train heist episode later this season - yes, please.)]

I can, however, present the movie “Tombstone” that may or may not have something to do with the final episode (we’ll see). As I am aware that not everyone is as dedicated (read: bored and obsessed) as me to check out every pop culture reference on the show, I decided to share my newly aquired wisdom with the class.

Ok, so the story. The movie tells a (rather idealized) version of the shootout that occured in the frontier town of Tombstone, Arizona, between Wyatt, Virgil and Morgan Earp (plus their friend, Doc Holliday) and the gang of outlaws who called themselves “the Cowboys” - known as the gunfight at OK Corral. I will talk just about the movie here (since the historical truth is a little different, and a compare-and-contrast historical analysis is not what we need right now).

So, Wyatt Earp got famous being the marshall of Dodge City, while also being a pacifist and trying to avoid starting conflicts as much as possible. Tombstone was supposed to be his retirement - he wanted to settle down, finally having his family around, and earn some money for a comfortable and silent life. He came to Tombstone together with his two brothers and their wives; upon arrival, he found out that his best friend, Doc Holliday, also ended up in the town, searching for his luck and trying to cure his TB - an illness that will later kill him at the age of 35.

We meet Wyatt Earp when he has people closest to his heart right around him, and is very content with his life. He is also very adamant to leave the past and the fame behind, and start a completely new chapter in Arizona. The Earp brothers find out very quickly, however, that Tombstone is very far from the sleepy abode the name might suggest. The town is full of colourful characters - gamblers, gunslingers, preachers, prostitutes, outlaws etc. And of course there is a conflict boiling just below the surface.

Unwillingly, one by one the Earp party is pulled back into being the law officers again, and into the bloody frontier war.

SPOILERS AHEAD (you know, if you wanna watch the movie yourself)

So many themes here that remind me of SPN!

We have a duty bound man who meets a maverick and outgoing woman. She offers him excitement and adventures, and of course he falls for her, but doesn’t let himself have what he wants because of his mission, his situation (he was married at the time), and the need to act honourably. He is, however, perfectly aware of his feelings and that a part of this behaviour is fear of following his heart because he had never done this before in his life;

It takes a death of his closest friend to realize life is too short, and he should go for what he wants, which he does;

Before this, however, he follows the murder of one of his brothers by going on a shooting spree, and killing every bad guy he can find until they all are eradicated,

There is also so much gay subtext between two of the characters that the movie is always mentioned when “gay westerns before Brokeback Mountain” are discussed.

“Tombstone” as a lesson in gay subtext:

It is never mentioned in the movie that Billy Zane and Jason Priestley’s characters are gay. Yet, it is so obvious from the way they are portrayed that even people who are not used to reading subtext are perfectly aware the two characters are most probably lovers.

The characterization

The first thing we notice is the look of the characters. The two man are both dressed in a way that differenciates them from the enviroment around them - Billy Zane’s Fabian is completely different from the masculine world of the Old West, with his soft hair, boyish good looks, clean shaven face, and elaborate outfits.

Jason Priestley’s Billy is more in accordance with the tough world of Tombstone - he is the deputy sheriff after all, and can be tough when needed - but still, in his time off he is portrayed as soft, effeminate, especially while contrasted with the criminals he usually runs with. His outfit is not too different from everyone else’s, but he is the only person to wear a bowtie (everyone else wears neckties or bandanas) and spectacles. He is portrayed as a slightly weaker and more vulnerable person.

Exposition in relation to other characters

The two characters sexuality is shown, not talked about, especially through the kind of interractions they have with other people.

We meet Fabian when he steps out of a carriage, all confident, flamboyant, well-groomed and witty. His person awakens the reaction in the manly-men of the West, which is shown by Morgan Earp asking the local sheriff “What kind of town is this?” (at which point Wyatt shushes him, as if he said something offensive).

To hammer the point home, Fabian is an actor who travels with a gorgeous woman, but obviously has no sexual interest in her - they are best buddies who ogle the Earps together, and comment on their attractiveness.

As for Billy, we meet him when he arrives at the theatre to see the actors’ performance, and right away he is shown bullied by the Cowboys. The quips obviously refer to his sexuality (“Hey, sister boy, gimme some!”). He doesn’t try to shoot them down, just tries to avoid being touched. Quickly he is “saved” by the leader of the gang, and seated beside him. Shortly afterwards the camera shows us the difference between the Cowboys and the deputy sheriff’s approach to Fabian onstage (mocking vs in awe).

Later, during a blink-and-you-miss-it moment, Billy grabs Fabian in the saloon, and cordially invites him to his table. This is the last time we see the two men together, alive.

Fast forward to the end of the movie: Billy is riding around with the Cowboys while Wyatt Earp runs around, shooting everything he can find. The outlaws stop a carriage and find the actress and Fabian in the back: the actor is dead, shot by the Cowboys. Everything here happens completely beside the dialogue and the rest of the scene. Billy watches dead Fabian while the actress holds her dead friend, and angrily discusses the war with the leader of the gang.

(Just for your viewing pleasure, I created THIS GIFSET of the scene)

It is never said out loud that Bily and Fabian are lovers. It is still pretty damn obvious. It is perfectly clear from the way they are presented, their interactions with other characters, and the (very limited) onscreen interactions with each other.

“Tombstone” is a cowboy movie that takes a step towards the actual reality of the Wild West, and makes it almost textual. Homosexuality was a natural part of the cowboy lifestyle - it was after all a society full of men, where the men to women ratio was around 8:1. Everyone had needs, not everyone had money, and love and sexual encounters between men were as common as in any other, similar enviroment. There is a reason why the uber-masculine cowboy stereotype is one of the main figures in American gay iconology - think everything from “Midnight Cowboy” to The Village People and “Brokeback Mountain”.

Why Davy Perez chose to call his episode after the kettle-market town in Arizona, but also after the movie with such a strong gay subtext?

WE MAY NEVER KNOW!

#spn vs tombstone #spn 13x06 speculation #pop culture references #gay subtext #destiel #spn season western romcom 13 #yeehaw

471 notes · View notes

sawsomeghosts · 7 years

Text

BEETELJUICE REWATCH LIVEBLOG

I love the opening to the movie. Just that dark version of Day-O.

Adam, put the spider down. No. Bad. Spiders are creepy.

It’s so strange looking at Alec Baldwin then and looking at him now on like SNL or Match Game.

Adam and Barbara deserved so much better. They were so in love <33</small>

I wouldn’t mind leaving in a small town like Winter River. Everything is all city city city and if you are a small town like that, builders come in to destroy it all and make it a tourist town and comercial. It suuuuucks.

Oh, doggy. Look what you’ve gone and done ;_;

“The handbook for the recently diseased...” “Deceased.” LMAO.

“If this were heaven there wouldn’t be dust everywhere.”

More under the cut

I just realized they had cows right next door to them. So does that mean that they took care of them??? OMG can Lydia take care of them??? Pff Delia probably made sure no sort of farm (or farm smell) was around them.

I am Charles. Just...yay a nice, wholesome house.

“You’re finally going to be able to cook a descent meal.” LMAO. Yeah, no strange shrimp monster meals.

LYDIA MY QUEEN.

Can I just color my hair black and become her. No, I’ve worked too hard to be this blonde.

Delia’s sculptures look like a first grader made it during art class. They suck. Sorry first graders.

Otho come through a door like a normal person.

When Delia licks Charles’s nose...*cringes*

When Adam points out that they are ghosts and looks so excited...yaaaas you’re ghosts scare everyone to death please and thanks. Have fun :D

“I WILL GO INSANE AND I WILL TAKE YOU WITH ME.” JESUS CHRIST. High maintenance much?

As soon as I saw that attic door slam shut I would call Zak Bagans immediately.

I love the Sandworms. It’s just so creative to me. I mean anything Tim Burton thing I admire so much. He’s an A+ genius.

Lyds wearing a funeral-like veil to dinner. Literally me. I wear my hood of angst ™ to dinner sometimes lmao.

Charles is so carefree. We should all strive to be Charles Deetz.

Another look I would love to imitate from Lydia - her black dress and large black hat, dark circles under her eyes that make her look dead. Ay it’s me! No but honestly I am jealous of the Lydia Deetz look. Why can’t I get away with it???

Poor Charles. Trying to have a cup of tea and the sculpture from hell comes crashing through the kitchen window...and traps Delia again the house. “This is my art and it is dangerous. You think that I want to die like this?” Bah ha ha.

A mom who matches outfits with her daughter should not be giving my queen an odd look about her choice of outfit.

That Betelguese commercial is EVERYTHING.

Seriously though Michael Keaton OWNED this role. It would not be the same without him if they really do go through with making a sequel which I have mixed feelings about. If you’re going to do a sequel don’t half ass it. Make it everything and more that it should be thirty years later or whatever. Which is why I’m glad they didn’t go through with Beetlejuice Goes To Hawaii. The title alone...just rings of corniness.

The red sweater that Charles is wearing when he is bird watching matches the apron-thingy that Delia is wearing when she is making dinner for the dinner guests coming later on in the movie.

I absolutely love the dead receptionist with the fairy wings. I would love to be her for Halloween. I would also love to be Lydia for Halloween but I’d have to find a black wig. Black everything really, but it could be done. Beetlejuice would be a great costume as well tbh.

The janitor who told Barbara and Adam “That’s the lost soul’s room...” actually died before the movie came out. I looked it up cause I thought I recognized him lol. But anyways when it shows the lost souls room it reminds me of Halloweentown...or something from Disney Channel Halloween movies.

I remember seeing a Zagnut bar at Cracker Barrel and showing it to my mom and quoting Beetlejuice then lol. I didn’t buy it though incase you’re wondering.

Charles is so dismissive of his daughter and it makes me so sad. I mean, he assumes that’s her wearing the sheet over her head like a ghost. All he’s worried about is peace and quiet and pointing out that Delia is going to be mad for cutting holes in her designer sheets.

Lydia’s room is everything.

Lydia meeting the Maitland’s is also everything. She was not scared by them at all.

Look, we all know that they should not have said Beetlejuice’s name, but at the same time they were stuck and desperate so I get it, ya know?

Also it looks so satisfying digging up the fake grass and dirt to dig him up lol.

Y’all I want the hat Beetlejuice is wearing that says his name on it. Someone gift it to me. Please.

His makeup is fantastic. I mean please tell me they got some kind of award for that. Now I have to look it up. YUP. Academy award for Best Makeup. They won Best Horror Film and Best Make-up at the 1988 Saturn Awards.

There it is. Lydia’s combed back puffy hair at the dinner scene. I WANTS IT. I have also tried it but my hair is way too long (and blonde). *sad face*

“KIDS. YOU KNOW I LOVE THEM.” Delia, I wish you did show how much you could care and love and listen to Lydia.

DAYLIGHT COME AND ME WAN GO HOME

I love how they go from “Oh this is weird what is happening” to just embracing that they are oddly possessed and dancing lol.

Some kind of shrimp hand monster grabs my face...I’m out of there, on my phone with Zak Bagans, byeee Maitland’s. You won. I’m out. Enjoy your house.

“If you insist of frightening people, do it with your sculptures.” PFF. WORD.

I just love Beetlejuice’s laugh.

“Now let’s turn on the juice and see what shakes loose.”

I remember when I was a kid and I turned on this movie the first scene I saw was the snake scene and it scared the hell out of me. I don’t like snakes to begin with. Absolutely fear and despise. So seeing that as a kid I was terrified and put off. But then I watched the movie later on and was cool XD

But hey...that’s how you scare a family out of their house.

I love how Otho thinks he is an expert in everything. Hair styling, home decor...bringing forth the dead.

That would be crazy. Spirits turning old all of the sudden. Poor Barbara and Adam. See what ya did there, Otho? Ya done fucked up.

When Barbara’s foot starts curling in omg I get chills.

“They’re already dead, they can’t feel a thing.” UM LOOK AT THEM.

Desperation calls for BEETLEJUICE! BEETLEJUICE! BEETLEJUICE!

Lydia’s face when he says he has to get married like ewwww who would wanna marry you. LMAO I love it. Also the fact she’s like fourteen here and he’s like “yeah lemme marry that” pervert town over here. But what does he care? He’s dead.

“It’s showtime!”

A dude pops up in my house with an entrance like Beetlejuice’s...I run. I don’t stay and laugh and cheer. I’d be creeped out. Again...my name is Zak Bagans...Also the fact that nobody warned them that they were about to be shot through the ceiling by BJ...like RUDE.

“What have we got here tonights, kids?” LOVE how he said that.

Otho sneaking out...come on man. And putting him in that God awful suit was everything. There’s your haunting, Otho.

“Mom...Dad...” BEETLENO.

He’s combing his hair back trying to look fancy the way Ledger’s Joker did. Well, he did his with a knife BUT STILL. Still crazy either way.

Their wedding outfits are the best. Like why can’t my sister and I do this for Halloween. She will not cooperate with any of my ideas. She can be BJ in his fancy red tux and I will be my queen Lydia in red. There, done. I WANT IT.

“Nobody says the B word!”

Damn Beetlejuice on the ready every time someone tries to say his name.

When you gotta tap dance around someone’s mouth to get them to be quiet. We’ve all been there, right?

“Beetlejuice!” “Eeeeeee!”

I love the way Barbara turns around and the look she gives when she hears the Sandworm.

How did Adam drive a fake car...what am I saying, look what kind of music this is.

BARBARA FOR THE WIN.

Seriously why can’t my sis, mom, and I do a Beetlejuice theme for Halloween. How can I get them on board?

When you have two sets of parents. One alive, one dead. This is the life.

In the original script for the movie the Deetz family actually moved back to New York but Lydia remained in Connecticut to live with Barbara and Adam, and the house was known as this really creepy haunted house nobody came to cause of how weird it was and active even from the outside.

Lydia not so dead looking anymore but somewhat normal. Well, she can’t wear a veil to school, now can she? CAN SHE?

If I got to float with ghosts and dance to music every time I got good grades on tests in school I wouldn’t have left after freshman to homeschool myself. Just kidding I could stay home and chill with ghosts any time I wanted whilst homeschooling myself.

BJ feeling up that girl’s leg and her hitting him from the other side of him lmao

“YO, THERE GOES ELVIS! YO! KING!”

“I gotta do a shoot for GQ in an hour and a half.”

How would you not notice someone swapping numbers like that? I’d sprinkle shrinking dust on his head, too.

“ROCK YOUR BODY, CHILD!”

#👻 WE DIDN'T NEED A STORY. WE DIDN'T NEED A REAL WORLD. — OUT OF CHARACTER

1 note · View note

soitg03s-blog · 7 years

Text

Today is my Dad’s birthday and it’s occurred to me, this time in recovery I haven’t really dealt with his death. I cannot wrap my head around the fact he’s gone. How do we come to understand half of us is gone? I’ve always toyed with the idea that I would one day be an orphan. I tried to never feel bad for myself, because I thought, even as a child, if nothing else this pain fosters a growth that nothing could replicate. I used to be mad at my father, resentful, we were so close; that same dry humor, that same nervous tap of the foot when that addict brain was working,. And that habit was long before I ever took a drug. I loved my Dad, for loving my mother and I the way he did, for introducing me to Alice in Chains, Tool, Nirvana; my parents both had spectacular taste in music. Today the memories flood into me, like the levy has broken. I wish I could talk to him, don’t worry Daddy, come as you are. You were just down in a hole. Overthinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind…

The thunder roared, and lightning struck across the sky illuminating the yard of what the kids in the neighborhood called the creepy cat lady’s house across the street, Donna. I would always hear my mother talking about this woman on the phone, in the kindest capacity. Donna had watched the slow death of her husband and two of her children. I find so much relativity with this woman now, watching the decline of my parent’s health my whole life. “And I need to watch things die, from a good safe distance. I live while the whole world dies…” I remember going to help pull weeds in her yard and I didn’t know as a kid how awesome this lady was. She had tapestries of the Grateful Dead and coffee mugs that said, Drop Acid not Bombs. Donna and I had much in common.

Charlotte in the 90’s had the craziest thunderstorms. Anyone who wants to argue with Al Gore about global warming, well let’s see, the difference in weather patterns in Charlotte alone is a testament of its proof. Oh yes, and the melting polar ice caps, this is a conversation for another time. Such a hot topic, isn’t it? I remember jumping when the wind was so fierce it caused our screen door to bang, scaring the dogs and I both. I think we both ran with our tails tucked behind our legs. Like all addicts, my Father had such an intense capacity to love and hence had such an intense ability to feel. What did my Dad do with these feelings, like all of us, he ran from it. I believe, too, with his tail tucked behind him. I remember when the thunderstorms were bad enough; I would run and hide in the closet, taking with me my most valued items in life at the time. A landscape Polaroid camera, a black and white Marble notebook, and yes I wrote all the time even then. I always felt like I had a voice in my head that needed to get out, she had something to say, even if my young, meek self could not utter the words at that moment.

Sometimes Dad would get in the closet with me, easing my anxiety of what I believed to be the soon to come tornado. I was convinced a cow would fly through our living room; I think Twister had a profound impact on me. I’ve always been fascinated by weather patterns. It’s funny, and I use this word charitably with my dark sense of humor, because one time when my dad got into the hall closet with me, he too was scared of the thunderstorm. As my Dad rushed me into the closet, I noticed he didn’t quite look the same, his pupils were huge, he was so sweaty, a little frantic, constantly peeking out the window, right before he finally shut the door behind us. And as the thunder ensued, we sat in that closet together and my Dad was convinced it was someone banging on our door, who knows, the feds, a drug dealer looking for that money he constantly owed, whatever it was had him spooked. I had to say, Dad, “It’s okay, it’s just thunder.” And in this moment, I believe I began my fearless attitude towards most things in life. I would be my father’s rock, no problem. He was too busy checking the carpet for crack rocks to be mine. This would not be the last time I would have to reassure my father everything was okay, switch roles just for a moment. I remember sitting next to his hospital bed, a decade later, uncertain if he would wake up and telling him that I wasn’t angry anymore. It’s strange to think about because this is someone who I ate dinner with every night, someone who picked out every school outfit I had in my class pictures and then poof, as quick as a strike of lightening. He was gone.

I understand my Dad more these days, in retrospect, because getting my feelings back in recovery has been both a blessing and a curse. In life I tend to see the negative when it comes to my own life, you know low expectations, never let down. It was different with my Dad; I guess I’ve always kind of given him a pass on things. It’s okay I only got a birthday card or Christmas card on these days, only this year. I believe becoming an addict was my destiny, it has taught me things I cannot read in a book. No, I certainly didn’t grow up thinking, Gee golly, I’d love to be a heroin addict one day, but alas here we are. I tend to be so critical, likely because I don’t want just anyone to see the bleeding heart on my sleeve. I think about my life and realizing I’m an addict and I see all the signs of the storm to come now. I see the compulsive and obsessive behavior, the constant need for perfection, so you wouldn’t see what was truly swirling beneath the surface. I see the winds building and I see the clashing of hot and cold. I realize now all along, I have been trying to tame a tornado inside of me. I guess I always saw it coming and the forecast kept getting more and more accurate for what I feared I would become. And once the storm built, it was all I could do to keep it from tearing apart everything I owned, every part of who I was. My Mother always told me for that addict to really click on for someone as resolute as I was in life; it just took the exact combination of things happening. Mom called it the perfect storm. It wasn’t just one issue, it wasn’t a moral failing, it was predisposition, and it was my own exposure as I dabbled and lived recklessly. And in the end, with the relapses, it was a damn choice and I don’t ever want to be told any differently. I remember my Mom telling me my father once told her, “I hope she’s not, you know like me.” It’s okay Dad, you may have given me a genetic predisposition but you only gave what was given to you, you also gave me wicked high cheek bones and the ability to keep a straight face at any moment, taught me the ways of nature, and what it’s like to practice patience. And I’ll never hold against you what you couldn’t help.

I imagine my father and I running in a field. Its storming out and I can’t quite see him through the winds and heavy rain. I am calling for him and I hear his voice, but the thunder, it crackles too loudly. I know he wanted to get me to safety, but how could he? The storm he was caught in, the same one I am in now, it’s at times too much to bear. It’s like that common theme in psychology, you first have to give yourself oxygen while the plane free falls because if the care taker has no oxygen, how can they save the child? I forgive you Dad, I know you were just trying to catch your breath, all the running, you were just looking for shelter and in active addiction the storm is relentless. The lightening brightens the sky and for brief moments in my life I see him, images in my head of him flickering past, and just in the moment, I catch my breath to say hello and he was gone again. But mainly I am standing, no shoes on, socks sopping around in the dirt. No need for me to have shoes on Dad, because well, I’m already walking a mile in yours. I wish he was still here so I could say, “Hey Dad, I made it out of the storm.” Sometimes in recovery I have to ground myself, where are your feet, Kris? And I look down and I realize my feet are dry, my socks are clean and the forecast looks brighter every day.

Dedicated to you Dad, may you be at peace.

Thunderstorms and Daddy Issues Today is my Dad’s birthday and it’s occurred to me, this time in recovery I haven’t really dealt with his death.

#addiction #Death #Drugs #heroin #heroin recovery #Insanity #memories #moments #parents #RIP #Thunderstorms #Writing

19 notes · View notes

toastnekohime · 6 years

Text

By The Pulse Of A Heartbeat

Part five of a 2018 Camp NaNoWriMo Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Elementshipping novel. Based on rp’s between myself ( @getyouraoion ) and my amazing, precious Twin’s Jaden ( @kiibx ), By The Pulse Of A Heartbeat tells the story of how Aoi and Jaden met at Duel Academy and formed their incredibly tight friendship, eventually falling into a relationship, and how they handle the various threats thrown at them over their three years of schooling.

There are currently no triggers, but should any arise, they will be tagged.

STILL IN PROGRESS. Please forgive any typos you may find~

Tagging @starisia, as this wouldn’t exist without my wonderful Twin <3

Summary:

Duel Academy is the place to be, the dream school for many kids. Be it through intense studying, duel prep schools, scholarships, or being rich enough to buy their way in, most kids have had their sights set on it for a long time, knowing it to be the perfect place to start towards a career as a professional duelist. Someone has to Dethrone Yugi and take the title of King of Games, and everyone wants a shot!

Except that is, for Aoi Sakazaki.

Falling in love with Duel Monsters when her father bought her several cards in her childhood, she makes the choice to try her hand at the entrance exams, despite having no idea what she wants to do with her life… And just barely squeaks her way in. Her poor exams scores, combined with even poorer grades, land her a solid spot in the Academy’s Slifer Red dorm - The lowest of the low, where students are almost expected to drop out if they don’t advance to Ra Yellow or Obelisk Blue, first.

The rank comes with the rest of the school looking down on them, as well as the worst lodging the furthest distance from the main campus and fewest privileges compared to the other dorms. But it also brings a surprise friend in fellow Slifer student Jaden Yuki, who seems to have absolutely no problem with the hand they’ve been dealt.

It’s not long before Aoi and Jaden find themselves caught up in a whirlwind of an adventure, dealing with exams, classes, ‘evil’ teachers, and somehow still finding enough time to explore the island they now call home. But living on Academy Island isn’t all fun and games; shortly after their schooling begins, things around their home begin to change, and rarely for the better.

Neither friend has any idea what lies in wait for them in the next three years… But is it an adventure they’ll be able to tackle together, or will it end their time at the school - and them - before it’s even begun?

It’s time to put their skills where their mouths are and find out!

It took a day longer than she'd expected to finish her new uniform, but by the third day of classes, she'd swapped out her red skirt for the more familiar comfort of capris, blazer cut into a comfortable vest over a lighter shirt. As nice as her boots had been, it felt so much better to be out of those heels and into a different, flatter pair of calf-high boots. And though the outfit had gotten some stares and mumbles, it, thankfully, hadn't yet gotten her in trouble.

And yet, it wasn't worry of possible trouble that had Aoi outside her room the morning of their first saturday on the island, but the need for air and peace. Her room still stunk of the perfume Mia had used the night before... For such a petite girl, she wore an awful lot of perfume – Enough to drown a cow, never mind the slender teen. It wouldn't have been so bad if the scent was lighter, kinder to the nose, but a heavy dose of lilac and 'sunshine' definitely didn't help.

At least being outside helped ease the headache, the slight breeze coming off the sea more than refreshing. And it was quiet, to boot. Why was it a dorm with so few people still managed to be so loud? Music helped, although there was only so much it could do when the noise tried to drown it out in return.

Birds and waves crashing into the cliff behind the dorm was better for the time being, though she had to admit, she still missed her music—

Wait… That made no sense. Why was it so quiet?

“Last one there's a rotten fish!”

Pushing off the railing, Aoi tilted her head... Just to press herself back against it half a second later with a squeak of surprise, just barely avoiding a collision with a red blur that wasn't so lucky, stumbling over its own boots before finally catching itself. “Hey- Watch where y' go-”

“Hey sorry, I-”

Both comments came to a screeching halt, green-blue meeting long since familiar honey brown. She'd known he had a room on the second floor, but not that it was so close, or that he was even in it as often as it seemed he was... And for that matter, she couldn't even begin to remember where her voice had gone, or why she'd even stopped in the first place. “Y' couldda run m' over.”

Jaden gave a sheepish chuckle in return, scratching the back of his head. “Yeah, sorry 'bout that. Didn't think there was anyone out here. Aren't ya usually in your room?”

“I'm n' sure how y' know that, b' n' today. Smells like a flower exploded.”

“...Flowers can explode?”

“Sniff m' door an' tell m', 'cause I'm pretty sure it's a scracth n' sniff card.”

To her surprise, the brunette laughed, relaxing as quickly as he'd barreled out of his room. Just hearing him laugh helped her relax as well, but the second he actually did step closer and jokingly scratch at the door, she'd taken an even larger step of her own back and away from him – and that was all it took to make him pause and give her a look like she'd just grown another head. “...Did I step on you or somethin'?”

“...N'. Jus'...” Just what? How did she explain she was uncomfortable with strangers? Or even more so with guys, and that he fell into both categories? The better question, though, was why she felt like she could tell him, shooting Syrus a glance as he finally joined them on the balcony. Maybe it was the fact he was still leaning over and inches from sniffing her door, or the dozens of times in the last few days they'd run into each other...

Whatever it was, it was enough to make her shake her head and tug at the tie of one of her pigtails. “I ah... Don't d' good with strangers. Or guys. Or any combination of 'em,”, she finally admitted, watching his confusion turn into a broad grin. Like always, his bright and sunny outlook seemed to make things easier, tugging slowing until she could finally bring her hands down and shove them into her pockets. “Sorry.”

“Hey, I'm not a stranger, I'm a Jaden! Jaden Yuki.”

“...Aoi Sakazaki.”

“See? No strangers here! We're goin' to check out the surf shop on the beach. Up for coming with?”

On one hand, she wanted to tell him no. Despite the introductions, he was still, technically, a stranger, and she had little interest in being any closer.

And yet on the other, there was something about his grin she couldn't say no to. His cheer was infectious, bringing back her smile in just seconds. It had to be better than sitting by a scratch and sniff door she swore was absorbing every bit of the perfume smell as it was, right? “I'm... N' sure...”

This time it was Syrus who smiled, slipping past her – careful not to get too close, something she'd later have to thank him for – and Jaden both for the steps. “It's gonna be an adventure! There's supposed to be a nice beach and the tide's out!”

“S' we could find some crabs?” The words were out before she could stop them, and by the time she realized she was even moving, she was halfway down the staircase, Jaden laughing behind her with his hands behind his head. “I haven't seen any yet. Have y'?”

“Heard frogs,” the brunette chirped, chuckling at the snort he got in reply as he came up to walk beside her, Syrus leading the trio towards the beach. “Nah. We've been all over, but haven't seen crabs yet. Why, you like crabs?”

“Jay... Girls don't like crabs...”

Aoi shook her head, though she knew Syrus couldn't see it or her smile for trying to derail the conversation, lest it get uncomfortable. “Small ones're cute, b' n' my favorites. That's pigs.”

The blunette tripped over his feet, Jaden slapping a hand over his mouth to try and hide the sputters before he broke down laughing. Was it really so surprising she'd like pigs? “Look here, they're cute an' like t' b' pet.”

“That's dogs, Aoi.”

“Pigs t'! Back home we've got a petting zoo with a big potbellied pig. He loves it when people pat him on th' head. Hair kindda reminds m' of another student's, t'...” She had to bite her tongue before Chazz's name came out. In the last few days, she'd run into the Obelisk four or five more times, each meeting falling into nothing but pure insults and sarcasm flung at one another. She'd come to find it fun, even, getting the chance to be as creative as possible while he kept coming back with the reminder she was nothing more than a 'Slifer Slacker'.

But if either of the boys wanted to ask, they made no indication of it, Jaden even catching her attention again with the most nonchalant shrug. “They're not bad. You don't play a pig deck, do ya? Though I bet that'd be somethin' to watch. A farm duel!”

Her next snort quickly turned into a laugh, winning her a look of surprise from both boys. Maybe these boys weren't so bad after all...? “Mm-mm. N' pig decks. I've got... Don't even have a theme, n' that I think 'bout it. Jus' m' favorite an' some backup.”

“Sounds like something fun to duel with! Hey, wanna see how your favorite is against my heroes?” he questioned, surprise quickly fading back into a smile, as always. She wasn't sure there was a second he could be anything but a ball of sunshine – And had they met for real at the exams, she was sure his cheeriness would've driven her crazy. Probably.

But even that wasn't enough to make her agree, head shaking as they followed the well-worn path towards the other side of the island. So he played a hero deck... “N' way, Jaden. Y' would cream m' in a second. I barely made it through th' entrance exams, an' definitely n' interested in getting' beat jus' yet.”

He seemed to take the rejection well, though she didn't miss the glimmer of disappointment in his eyes, hidden behind his usual grin. He was the kid who beat Dr. Crowler, famous among the school for that feat, or so she'd heard; why would she want to let Eria stretch her legs if all that awaited her was a hero punch to the face? And why did she feel the urge to say yes anyway when she knew he'd win in a single turn against her deck?

The brunette rolled his shoulders, the disappointment gone so fast she wondered if she'd imagined it. Either the idea of adventuring around the beach was enough to bring him back from it, or the sunlight was playing tricks on her... Whatever it was, she couldn't stop her own smile from pulling at her lips. “Maybe after I d' some tweakin'...?”

“Now you're talking my language! Need any help with it?”

“Considerin' I wouldn't know where t' start.... B' y' don't hafta.”

“Nah, it's totally fine. What's in your deck now?”

Her footsteps slowed, reaching behind her to flip open the case on her belt and pull her deck free. No more than half a second later, Jaden stopped with her, neither noticing Syrus continuing ahead without them. “Like I said, m' favorite,” she explained, passing the stack of cards to him as they came to a stop. “Eria th' Water Charmer an' Familiar-Possesed Eria. B' th' rest is jus' backup.”

And by the way he practically became the sun while he flipped through them, she could only imagine the plans he had in mind. “You've got a Luster Dragon in here? I've never seen one in person-! And there's an Aussa... Interested in help?”

“Y' really don't hafta-”

“Nope, I don't. But I want to. What's a friend for, right?”

Friend. They'd met all of possibly half an hour ago, and he already saw her a friend. Despite the fact she shouldn't have been surprised, she was, feeling her cheeks flush a bit. Again, if he noticed he didn't make any mention of it, rearranging her cards with Eria on top. “...Y' jus' met m'. How.. How can y' call m' a friend s' easily?”

“What, you need to know people forever to be friends?” His tone was light, lined with the barest hints of laughter. And when he gently took her hand, pressing her deck back into her palm, she couldn't find any reason to jump away from him. The defensive shell usually present whenever she was around others had melted off, leaving her to watch him run ahead a moment later, stop, and wave at her. “C'mon! Sy's already gone ahead!”

He had a point. What harm would there be in trusting him? He'd not given her a reason to keep her distance – yet, anyway – and even offered help... Her urge to keep away from him physically seemed to have fled, too, especially with how she was running ahead with a laugh to nudge his side. “Last one there's a rotten Mystic Tomato?”

Any surprise he'd had in her touch melted into a wicked grin, waiting for her to slide her deck into its case before replying. “More like does the others' homework for a day- and I'm gonna win that bet!” And in a flash he was off, Aoi giving a whine before following suit, quickly blowing past a startled Syrus. “Cheater!”

“Gotta keep up!”

“I plan on it!” she called back, barely three steps behind him with a laugh. Maybe having a friend in the boy wouldn't be so bad- Though she'd have to get used to his excitement, her gaze drifting to the ground under his feet. Jaden Yuki... Oh, how wrong she'd been at the exams. There was nothing weak about him- though he was easy to lose track of, raven ducking under a branch as their race hit the forest.

“Still back there?”

“Trust m', I'm gonna keep up with y' if it's th' last thing I d'!”

#By The Pulse Of A Heartbeat #starisia #kiibx #blackthvnder #Elementshipping #Part Five #Aoi and Jay finally meet for real <3 #I swear they're dorks agh #Precious butts XD #And a massive thank you to masqueradeandalice for helping with this part's proofing TwT <3 I owe you #<3 <3 <3 <3

0 notes

pineapplekeith · 6 years

Text

House Cat - Pt. 8

Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender

Pairing: Klance

Universe: Modern Earth/Fantasy

Rating: T (language/sensitive material)

Word Count: 3K+

Part: [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ] [ 7 ] [ 8 ] [ 9 ]

Summary: Werecats are hard to find outside of lab facilities now-a-days and Lance has had a suspicion that a small stray that comes by his house now and then is one when he noticed a new face around town around the same time. / Modern AU setting with werecats for fun and seriousness now and then. Klance heavy with Garrison Trio and maybe some more ships making an appearance later on.

A/N: So far, this has been well liked on AO3 and FF so I decided to post the full parts on here. Links to AO3 and FF are on my story blog @kal-i-ka-stories

“Don’t argue! We are having a movie marathon whether you like it or not!” Lance argued back, very determined with his mission. “I would be a bad friend if I let tonight end with you not seeing at least Jaws!”

“Are you insane? It’s the middle of the night! I’m not going to your place this late.” Keith argued back, pointing out how crazy the plan was.

“Yes, you are! Now come on!” Lance demanded again, refusing to back down on the plan.

..::::..::::..::::..

The night was still and the only thing that brought a bit of life to the streets were the lamps that dotted the roads and walkways. Lance’s home street was dim with very little lights coming from the homes with a few still having their porch lights on or a window would dot every other building. Lance’s home was completely dark like most of his neighbors. The toys that his twin siblings would usually leave in the yard became invisible in the front gate’s shadow and turned the whole yard into a big mine field of unknowns. The front porch light was turned off, which made sense since everyone that lived there was accounted for when Lance’s parents last checked, but the inconvenience made unlocking the front door a tedious job.

Right as Lance was able to get his house key into the door, a loud ‘moo’ sound called out from behind him and echoed through the street. He snapped his head around and looked behind him and at the stray he brought home. “Will you be quiet?”

Keith looked up at Lance, his stance stiff and defensive after the shock of hearing the toy he stepped on make a noise. “It’s not my fault you never clean your yard!” Keith snapped in a hushed tone. “Why are we going this way anyway? Can’t we just use your window?”

“Because one: the window only unlocks on the inside, and two: thanks to complaints about the cat colony in the ally, they cleared the trash and boxes back there so there’s no way we could climb through without one of us going through the front anyway.” Lance explained, getting irritated with Keith’s complaining. “Now be quiet. If we wake up my parents we’re both dead.”

“Can’t I just go home? I didn’t want to come here in the first place!”

“Then why are you here?” Lance asked with a smirk as he slowly started to open the front door.

“Because you wouldn’t let go of my arm and literally dragged me here!”

Lance quickly shushed Keith once the door was opened enough to walk through. “Come on,” said as he started to walk inside. “Oh, but grab Kaltenecker first and bring it with you.”

Keith raised an eyebrow. “Grab what?”

“Kaltenecker. The toy cow you stepped on. It’s Lilly-Bean’s favorite and she’ll get really upset if she sees that she left it outside in the morning.”

Keith rolled his eyes at Lance’s explanation and quickly snatched the plush cow up from the ground, making it ‘moo’ loudly again.

Lance harshly hushed Keith. “Don’t squeeze it,” he snapped.

“This is stupid,” Keith snapped. “I want to go home!”

“Well, you can’t. Now come on.” Lance then walked down the steps and grabbed Keith’s arm and pulled him in the house.

Once inside, Keith was taken aback at how Lance’s home looked. He had only seen the inside of Lance’s room, but never ventured out when visiting. Just staring into the cozy and inviting living room made Keith’s apartment look cold and empty. The room was about the same size of his apartment, but it was like a completely different would with all the family photos on the walls and lived-in nature of the room. The vast differences Keith continued to spot made him more and more uncomfortable with his surroundings that he unconsciously backed himself in a corner near the door.

“My mom’s a big movie person,” Lance explained quietly as he walked over to his family’s entertainment center to look through his mother’s massive collection. “It started out as my dad just getting her all the movies they saw together on their dates, but now she has such a big collection that we rarely watch actual television. We even have duplicates of some of the movies on VHS and DVD so we can keep watching them.” Lance dug through the layers of movies till he finally found what he was looking for. “Here it is,” he cheered as he held up the shark themed thriller from the 1970’s. “Now just to decide whether if I should grab the sequels or something else.”

Keith wasn’t paying attention to what Lance was rambling on about. He kept scanning the foreign looking room, getting more and more defensive as the surrounding continued to overstimulate him. He soon focused on a family portrait that was hanging near him in the foyer. It was a massive family photo of Lance with his entire family. It was hard to tell who was who in the photo with there being so many people. The only people Keith could recognize in the photo besides Lance were his younger siblings because in the photo there were two toddlers in matching outfits. From what he could remember from Lance’s talks, the twins were the youngest in the massive family and they were a bit older now than what they are in the photo. A family photo seemed foreign to Keith. The only kind of photos that were taken of him growing up were ones taken at the lab for his records to document his examinations and growth. He’s never seen a picture with so many smiling faces before and found it a bit uncomforting.

“Hey Keith, you ok?” Lance asked, snapping Keith out of his discomfort.

Keith looked over at Lance and then down at the stack of movies in his hands. “I thought you were only going to make me watch one?”

Lance smiled. “No way man! This is going to be a marathon remember?” He then took the stuff cow out from Keith’s hand and walked over to put it on the couch. “Come on.” Lance walked back and grabbed Keith’s arm and dragged him back to his room.

Lance’s room hadn’t changed much since the last time Keith was in there. His bed was unmade like usual, his desk was disheveled, and there were some clothes on the floor. Once inside, Lance went to work to set up the movie night. He dug out his laptop from his bookbag and tried to cleanup some areas of his room. Keith stayed by the door, not really knowing what to do since this was the first time he was in Lance’s room as a human. He felt more comfortable with being there when he was a cat because he could do what he wanted, but now that he’s there in his human form, his actions are a bit more restricted.

“You want to sit on the bed or the floor?” Lance asked once he was done waking up his computer.

“What?”

“Do you want to sit on the floor and watch the movie, or sit on the bed?” Lance asked again, trying to figure out whether he should put his laptop on the floor or leave it on his desk.

“With what happened last time, I think the floor is the better option.” Keith answered, still staying next to the door.

Lance looked at him confused but then quickly realized what he meant. “Oh! Yeah, right,” he agreed with a slight blush of embarrassment on his face when he remember the last time Keith was in his room. Lance then put his laptop on the floor, giving enough space for the two of them sit down in front of it and watch the movie. He then took the pillows and comforter off his bed and put them on the floor along with an extra blanket he grabbed from his closet. “We’ll start with Jaws like I promised. I grabbed the sequels too in case you wanted to see more but I also grabbed some of my favorite movies if thrillers turn out to not be your thing. My mom has all kinds of genres so if you end not liking anything we can always grab more.”

“Can’t I just watch the one and leave?” Keith asked, not wanting to spend a whole night questioning something he knew nothing about.

“No way! This is your first movie marathon! We’re going all out and finding your kink!”

“My what?”

“Your kink. You know, something you’re interested in? We’re going to find yours for the kind of movies you’ll like. Everyone has one so you should too.” Lance explained as he finished setting everything up. He then sat down in front of his laptop and inserted the DVD into the drive. “Now turn off the lights and come sit down.”

Keith rolled his eyes, but willingly complied. After turning the lights off, he walked over and sat next to Lance, keeping the same amount of distance from him as he did when they were sitting on the shore. He looked at the computer screen and wasn’t really impressed with the short clips of the movie that the menu was playing.

This is going to be a long night. Keith thought to himself.

..::::..::::..::::..

“Yeah you heard him! Slow ahead,” Brody yelled at Hooper before he started to throw chum over the edge of the boat. “Slow ahead,” he mumbled to himself out of frustration, “I can go slow ahead! C’mon down and chum some of this shit!”

Behind him, the water started to swell and breaking the surface for a moment a massive great white shark chomped at the bloody chum in the water.

Catching the giant monster’s final moments, Brody jumped up and stared at the water before he slowly started to walk backwards toward the boat’s cabin. Still reeling from what he saw, he slowed himself once he reached the cabin and scanned the rest of the water through the windows. “You’re gonna need a bigger boat,” he muttered out to Quint.

“This scared you?” Keith asked as the action picked up in the movie, not really understanding how an obviously fake shark would be scary.

“Well, obviously not now, but when you’re seven and have assholes for brothers this is scary! I couldn’t go to a beach for like a year because of that thing.” Lance admitted as he continued to watch the movie.

The two teens have relaxed a bit more throughout the movie. Lance had wrapped himself up with his comforter while Keith leaned back against one of the pillows and had taken off his red jacket.

“But how are you not scared or freaking out right now? I thought this was your first movie?!” Lance asked, completely disappointed with Keith’s next-to-nothing reactions to the film.

Keith shrugged his shoulders. “I may have never seen a movie before, but that doesn’t compare to what I’ve already experienced. I may have been isolated growing up, but I didn’t live under a rock.”

Lance pouted, growing frustrated with how nothing he does phases Keith.

“But this is pretty interesting,” Keith admitted after a moment of silence to watch to movie more. “I’ve always wondered what it would be like to go on one of the fishing boats now and then. Working in a shop where most of the customers are old salts, I hear a lot of interesting stories of when they would go out on the water and work.”

“So you’ve never been on a boat before? No offense, but I would’ve thought you hated water.” Lance said, a bit surprised by Keith’s curiosity with the ocean.

“No, why would I?”

“Because of that whole cats hate water thing,” Lance explained. “I think it’s because it messes with their whiskers or something? But anyway, you’re part cat, so shouldn’t you hate water or something because of that?”

Keith looked at Lance for a bit, completely confused on where his logic came from. “Just because I’m a werecat doesn’t mean I am a cat.” Keith was growing a bit frustrated with Lance’s assumptions. Lance was the first person that would ask him questions about how he lived the way he did. Keith had always lived with people who were the same as him or understood what he was for most of his life. After breaking out of the lab, he was left alone and felt sort of free with being able to forget that part of his life. But Lance ruined that for him now and then with his questioning. He knew that the questions came from a good place, but it was a bit much for him sometimes. Even when some of Lance’s questions made it seem like he still thought of him as a cat and not as a person.

Lance could sense Keith’s slight irritation in his response. “Sorry.” He then turned to continue to watch the movie, sinking a bit in his blanket. Lance always had a bad habit of asking too many questions when he gets excited about something – and learning more about Keith was something he was excited about. He had never met a werecat in person before. Lance had only heard about them in school and wondered if animals he saw in zoos were ones in hiding. But now he’s in a position where he’s sitting in his room and watching an old movie with a real werecat. Questions kept bouncing in his head since he found out about Keith’s secret, but he learned very quickly that talking about himself was something that he didn’t like doing. When Keith finally opened up when they were on the beach, Lance thought he had finally broken down his wall and was able to learn more. But now, he seemed to have taken a huge step backwards.

Lance sat silently, letting the movie continue through different scenes as he thought about what to say. “You know, my Pops knows someone with a boat and I know how to work it,” Lance started, breaking the silence between them. After thinking about their past conversations, he realized that Keith liked being treated as a normal person. He probably would never admit it, but it seemed to relax him to a point that he would talk to Lance, whether he was arguing with him or just having a small conversation. In the end, it seemed to make him as comfortable as he would let himself be.

Keith looked over at Lance confused. He was becoming more interested in the movie as it played out and forgot what exactly they talked about last.

Lance looked over and saw his confusion. “You said you would like to go out on the water sometime. If you want, I can ask him if we can borrow it for a day next week or whenever and go out on the water. My friends can join us too, if you’re ok with that. If not, it can just be the two of us.”

Keith looked at Lance for a bit, remembering what he said earlier about being envious of the customers from the shop. “I’ll think about it,” he said as he turned back to watch the movie.

Lance turned back to the movie as well. That wasn’t a no. He thought to himself, feeling a bit happier than how he felt before.

A/N: Want to keep reading? Jump over to my [ AO3 ] or [ FF ] page and continue the fun with 3 more chapters!

#house cat fic #klance fic #kieth kogane #lance mcclain #voltron legendary defender #voltron #vld #my story #mine

0 notes

chefbstrikesagain · 7 years

Text

MY PARENTS IN MALAYSIA

I feel like a shell of the human I used to be after a marathon of a week with my parents. Desperate for some sort of routine and 2 years of sleep I'm slowly adjusting back to life without them. What I didn't realize was how exhausting entertaining for a week would be. Explaining and translating a new language, ordering food, figuring out suitable accommodations, talking about my future, and so so so much driving are just the beginning of the trip. However, that being said, it was such a fun time showing them around my home for the last 8 months in the country that i've grown to know and love despite its abundance of geckos and lack of western toilets. I'll give you an idea of what our days looked like but remember, this are only a small glimpse into what actually happened. Documenting cultural exchange, moments of appreciation for life back home, or a new developed sense of understanding are all things hard to explain in words so you'll have to ask my parents about it!

DAY 1: The date was August 31 and it was brutally sunny and humid, yet again, in good ole' Malaysia. I made my way to the airport feeling oddly nervous to see my parents after the last 8 months of being apart. Fortunately, the airport in the city is fairly small (with only 2 terminals) which makes it really easy to park and pick people up at their gates like you see in movies! I had a 50/50 shot of getting the right gate and was unfortunately waiting at the wrong one. After just 10 short minutes I bee bopped to the other gate and there they were! Luggage in tow and surprisingly looking great. I imagined them in a rough state after their 18 hours of travel but I think the adrenaline took over and they seemed ready to explore a new country on the other side of the world. We loaded up the bags in the car and my dad went to get in (but opened the wrong door) I think they forgot about driving on the opposite side of the road here- and they marvelled at the Nissan Almera. Just kidding, but they were surprised how much room the car had for having a sewing machine for an engine. We made our way out of the parking lot to the hotel which was just a short 15 min drive.

We listened to Malaysian radio on the way back from the airport and took the scenic route along the waterfront. Malaysian and Sabah flags flew proudly everywhere as the day they flew in was 'Merdeka Day' aka Freedom day which lasts for one month in Malaysia. I told them to keep their expectations low for this vacation, as on their last vacation, they were in 3 giant cities in Spain. This was definitely going to be a more rugged, change of pace than walking around Park Guell in Spain with a glass of wine. We changed in the hotel room into our bathing suits and made our way down to the pool. Mom and Dad were surprised at how nice the Hotel was... We stayed at the Hyatt in Kota Kinabalu and it was one of the only 5 star hotels in the area. At the pool we played catch up and Dan Moore started yelling about drinks. About an hour in, my parents realized how strong the equatorial sun really is as they were both burned. It's not like going to the beach in New England where you can stay all day no problem. We left the pool, showered, and got ready to grab an early dinner. We went to El Centro, one of my favorite places, for pizza and margaritas. Afterwards, we headed to a rooftop to watch the sunset sink down into the South China Sea. Dmoore was falling asleep in his chair watching the sunset and he ended up sleeping at 7:30pm.

Day 2: We woke up really early on day 2, mostly due to the fact that dmoore was up and impatiently bopping around the room. I wanted to take them to my favourite curry restaurant for traditional food- but realized everything in town was closed! It was second raya or Eid which meant that it was a public holiday and everyone was at home celebrating with family. We walked to the waterfront where dmoore leaped across a storm drain gap (approx. 3 feet) where his legs gave out from underneath him. He coined the nickname DJ reckless for the rest of the trip and certainly lived up to the name with the hospital trip...something I'll get to later. We walked back to the hotel for breakfast where we had an incredible buffet full of noodles and even some western food. Mom and dad both tried mee hoon soup with vegetables and dad also had nasi lemak- the national dish of Malaysia. We changed into our bathing suits and booked island tours off the coast of Kota Kinabalu. It was another great day for island hopping and we spent about 4 hours total on 2 separate islands. We stood in the water, which was pretty much empty, as all the Korean and Chinese tourists were staying to stay out of the sun to stay pale and beautiful. After a few hours of lounging we grabbed lunch and took the boat back to our hotel. We changed quickly and I took mom and Dad to the City Mosque.

The mosque is a giant floating structure that overlooks the ocean. It's coloured with cobalt blue tiles and is entirely white- definitely a sight for sore eyes. In order for my mom to enter, she had to cover completely, which meant renting a tundong (Malay word for Hijab). Check out the pictures- she certainly rocked the outfit! We didn't spend too much time at the mosque as prayer was happening soon so we left and headed towards the mall. We grabbed sushi for dinner which was incredible. I force-fed mom and made her try the smallest bite of sushi which she openly protested but in the end I think she liked it.... My dad was shocked at the cost of the whole dinner which came out to be 12USD or 4USD per person. In the US, that much sushi would have easily been $60. This was a theme for the rest of the trip. Every meal was converted and my parents faces would light up when they realized they spent 4USD to feed the three of us as well as 1 of my friends.

Later that night, my mom and I explored the hotel and found the hidden gym and then grabbed drinks while DJ reckless had a business call to make at 8:30. Joey joined us for drinks around 10:30 and we stayed up until midnight which was late for them.

Day 3: We checked out of the hotel around 9:30am and made the 3 hour drive up to The Tip of Borneo where we would stay for 2 nights. We listened to a bunch of podcasts and made easy conversation about things we passed along the way including cows, stray dogs, and why the gas stations were always so full. When we finally reached our destination, called 9 Huts on a Hill, we pulled in and were surrounded by geese, chickens, and bamboo huts. The cutest little woman greeted us at check-in and had us sit down while she offered us some water. Mom broke out into a laughing attack from trying to take in everything (chickens and bamboo huts) and had to put her sunglasses on to conceal her tears. It looked like she was having a nervous breakdown. I understand because it was definitely a downgrade from the 5 star hotel but the accommodations turned out way better than the first impression.

The huts were pretty much open air concept as the front wall could be broken down. There was a queen sized bed with a mosquito net over the top and an A/C unit and fan to keep you cool at night. Each hut had its own bathroom and shower which was a huge plus (not a squatty potty) so Cathy was happy. After settling in we ate dinner and explored the complex. We were on a big hill right above the ocean, complete with a giant yoga platform, a kitchen, and a 'chill zone' that had a bunch of hammocks to hangout in. We dragged a fan out from a room and drank beers and finished a bottle of wine while watching the sunset. Pretty great first night. We turned in around 10pm for some much needed rest in our comfortable beds.

Day 4: We woke early (around 7:30) no surprise there...and headed into town for our first Malay breakfast!!! I ordered mom and dad roti tulur (egg bread with curry) and tea tarik which is tea mixed with condensed milk. They loved it so much they each ordered 2 glasses of tea. They were also pleasantly surprised with the roti they had for breakfast. We paid (3 USD) for breakfast and made our way to my friend Robbie's beach at the secret place. We spent the whole day drinking at Robbies in the water and marvelling at the beauty and just how untouched the land was. I'll let them describe to you how amazing this place was because I talk about it all the time- but ask them!

We grabbed dinner again at the curry house after we showered and said goodbye to Robbie and his family. We finished the second bottle of wine that night under the yoga platform where it monsooned shortly after sunset for the rest of the night. Definitely a recipe for a great nights sleep which we needed to prepare for the marathon days we were going to have in Ranau and the rest of the trip.

Day 5: We checked out of 9 huts and made the dangerous drive from the Tip of Borneo to my small town in Ranau. It's dangerous because we were driving up and down mountains, some roads were non-existent, and landslides were everywhere. The signs said the hills were on average 16% grade either going up or down - if that means anything to you. Despite the dangerous drive it made for incredible views. You could see so far and just how mountainous the area I live in really is. We arrived to my house around 2pm where 40 of my students greeted my Mom and Dad! They were so excited to meet them and of course, take selfies. After about 5 hours of small talk and pictures, we left the open house with two of my students and grabbed some food in town at restaurant Muslim. We talked about ghost stories, possessions, and how the street I live on is haunted- just normal dinner conversation. We dropped off the students around 9:30pm and headed back to my street where we parted ways for 9 hours until the next morning when we had school.

Day 6: If you've made it this far into the blog post, congratulations! I'm exhausted and distracted just from writing this so if you're still reading one thing is sure- you definitely don't have ADD! Wahooo. Anyways, Tuesday morning, day 6, was probably the craziest day my parents had while in Malaysia and they were such troopers the entire time. We woke up around 7am to get to school by 8 which was my first class. My class is with form 1 and 2 girls (ages 12/13) and who all live at the school. They don't have good English at all so we usually do some sort of art as a medium to communicate with one another. My parents brought sidewalk chalk to school and we drew the city of Boston's skyline. This was a great medium and the art turned out beautiful. My mom even had some of the girls lay down on the ground holding hands and she traced them all. She told them that when I was little she would trace me and I would colour in my body with clothes and hair and a face. Dmoore wasn’t as approachable and some of the girls told me in Malay that he’s so serious. It’s tough to communicate with young children when you don’t know the language. Their shyness can be misinterpreted as disinterest, which is usually the farthest thing from what they actually want. After saying goodbye, we had class with 4 Bersih- which is one of my favourite classes. These students are older and already have a good foundation in English which means I can teach more intricate lessons that go deeper than colors or numbers. I split the class up into 4 groups and gave them all category titles. Seasons, Food, Sports, and Slang all having to do with Boston. The students then had to interview my parents to get the necessary information and do a short, creative presentation on what they learned. They all did a great job and some of the presentations were hilarious - especially the Boston Slang.

After school, we left and grabbed lunch before our paragliding session! I convinced them both to jump off a mountain which I never thought would happen....After paragliding we went to a fish farm where you stick your feet in a river and a bunch of fish swim over and supposedly suck the dead skin off of your feet. Mom was freaking out the whole time and barely put one toe in the water. Afterwards, we grabbed dinner at the Sabah Tea plantation where we overlooked vast green tea fields and Asian mountains. Mom and Dad ordered more Tea Tarik and achieved a new level of sugar high before we had to leave for our next event. After a dinner of butter chicken and vegetables we made our way back to our house to shower and get ready for drinks out on the town. We had about an hour to relax before I picked them up and made our way to the 'Kolam'. In the middle of the jungle there is a fish pond place where you can order lots of food and drinks. My parents were shocked that there was any sort of habitable life that far in the jungle and not one mosquito. They were able to try Lihing, which is the local traditional rice wine, and they seemed to really like it. Doreen got them a cake that said ‘Welcome to Ranau Mr. and Mrs. Moore’ which was really nice of her. After eating some quick we decided that we should leave as the drinking was really starting to go downhill.

Day 7: After waking up tired and hungover we made our way to school for the last day. My first class on Wednesday’s is arguably the best class of the week with the special needs students. They always get so excited to see me and just all around have great energy. My parents had a warm welcome by the Teachers and worked with a small group of students on practicing the letters ‘I’ and the letter ‘S’. While working with the students the teachers were setting up for a small breakfast in the kitchen. They had coffee and small finger food, known as quey, for my parents to try. It was so nice of them to organize this- I had no idea they were going to do that! After making small talk about our trip and what life was like in America we said our thank yous and goodbyes. We left class and then headed to my next class with form 4 amanah which we were a little late for. The students are all crazy, in the best way possible, and I talked with them before about teaching my parents a traditional dance that we do in Sabah called the Sumazau. The students moved the desks and led my parents to the center of the dance floor where they instructed them how to dance while I blasted the music. I got some great videos on my go-pro and will be sure to post some pictures. We left that class after giving out some chocolate coins, and headed to a form 6 class who are all pre-university and about 18 years old. This class was harder to plan for as they are less willing to be really outgoing, so we did a lesson on Malaysia where they taught my parents about the major Holidays observed. This class sort of dragged on and I could tell my parents were getting tired so we ended class early and with a giant selfie.

After school, we grabbed a quick lunch of martabak sayur and headed to the famous Poring Hot Springs. We enjoyed a butterfly garden, tree-top canopy walkways, and a short hike to a 50 foot waterfall! Poring was great but it was such a hot and humid day we were just ready to relax. We headed home and I got to nap for 2 hours before Doreen asked us to dinner. When we showed up to dinner I just expected Doreen and maybe her husband to be there. I was not prepared for 10 teachers including the principal to show up. There was a big buffet and mom couldn’t stop talking about the pumpkin soup. All in all, Doreen really pulled out all of the stops while they were here- I really appreciate everything she did. Shortly after dinner, when all of the muslims left, we drove to a bar down the street with Ravi, Rose, Zeddy, and the three of us started drinking Tiger. Ravi kept ordering set after set and him and my dad were really getting along. Two kindred spirits for sure. After making a deal with Ravi that we could leave when all the beers were done, and no more sets to be ordered, we escaped and said our goodbyes to everyone as that was the last time my parents would see them. We laughed on the drive home about how funny the night was and were all looking forward to sleeping in the next morning.

Day 8: Dan Moore woke up super early, no surprise there, and was itching for me to connect my phone to his so he could browse the internet. With tired eyes and an attitude, I quickly connected our phones and closed my eyes for another much needed hour of sleep. We woke up and headed to the sports complex where we got ready to rent ATV’s. The paths the guide was taking us on were super overgrown, bumpy, and on the side of a mountain. All of these factors made it really hard to control the ATV. Dmoore was driving like an absolute savage and the guide and I kept exchanging worried looks when he would slam the gas instead of the break and narrowly avoided hitting one of us. Inevitably, something went wrong and we found ourselves in the emergency room for DJ reckless. In hindsight, it’s all really funny now but at the time I was nervous how this was going to impact our plans - especially if his ankle was broken! The hospital did an x-ray and said they didn’t think it was broken… but they would need an MRI to be sure about any other injuries. We asked for crutches and they told us that they were ‘finished’ no more crutches left.

We left Ranau with DJ reckless in the backseat and headed towards Kota Belud for a Proboscis river monkey tour and to grab lunch with my friends Janna and Kelsey. We found crutches at a Pharmacy in their town which really saved the day and made dmoore much more mobile and less hoppy. We ate lunch on a lake about a 10 minute drive from the ocean where we talked about the future, my parents trip, and the elephant in the room - dmoore’s swollen ankle. After lunch we went to my friend Jessi’s house where she lives with a Malay family and had tea and quey while we waited to go on the river monkey tour. We boarded a small boat and set off down a muddy river surrounded by jungle on all sides. We saw a giant monitor lizard, mud crabs, and the monkeys! It was hard to see the monkeys because they were so far but it was great to see them in the wild and in their natural habitat vs. a Zoo. The tour was really cool but I was really looking forward to firefly tour which we had to cancel because it was getting late and would be hard to fit dinner in with Claire later on. After saying goodbye to Jessi we grabbed a quick dinner with Claire before continuing the trek on into the city. We arrived at our hotel and we got ice for DJ recklesses ankle and gave into our craving for Western food and ordered pizza hut. Mom and Dad were so happy to be back in a clean, air-conditioned hotel room, while I was trying to live up the last few days before going back to reality (dirty water and fried rice). Mom and I went souvenir shopping and then we all turned in early that night.

Day 9: The last dayyyyy. We were able to sleep in until 9! We gathered our tired and sore bodies and headed to the hotel breakfast. The buffet overlooked the ocean and you could see all the small ferry boats shuttling people from island island to island like scurrying ants. We took extra coffee and tea from the buffet and brought it to the rooftop where we sat in the shade and tried to digest everything we’ve done over the last week. This inevitably led to DJ reckless ordering a healthy drink (coconut and cucumber juice) with a twist - just add vodka. We spent pretty much the whole day at the rooftop pool in and out of the water and shade ordering food and drinks. Dan and Cathy needed to get as much sun as possible as this is ‘it’ until next summer. Live music began around 7pm and was this awesome band doing covers of really mellow music- Maroon 5, The Carpenters, etc to give you the vibe. With an ocean breeze ruffling our hair, drinks in hand, and soft music in the background I knew we did good and was so happy everyone made it through the week alive. We definitely had some close calls with DJ reckless but nonetheless, a great time. Mom had been craving frozen yogurt all day and used our drunkenness to get us down to the first floor of the hotel where the mall connected to the hotel. Dmoore and I ordered tea in the piano lounge where a performer was just wrapping up playing. I waited until he was well out of earshot and began to play- it had been over a year! We ended with a really choppy version of Billy Joel’s piano man while dmoore was on vocals singing into his frozen yogurt like a microphone.

Overall, the week long trip felt like an eternity but also I blinked and then it was over. I feel so grateful that Mom and Dad flew all the way across the world to see me. It really validates my whole experience here and I know when I go home I can talk about it and someone will understand what I mean, or be able to relate past ‘oh that sounds cool’. I have really made a home for myself here and integrated myself into the community and it will not be easy to leave- especially with my students. I am also so happy they were able to come with open minds and hearts and experience a Muslim country in a time where it is unsafe to practice Islam in America. I hope they can help be a voice for the misunderstood and an ally against discrimination where it has become so normalised in the media to highlight a minority for their issues. Malaysia has become apart of me over this past year and I’m so happy the people that are closest to me are able to understand how this country and culture has shaped me.

0 notes