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spongebob-connoisseur · 3 years

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Got any Spongebob hot takes? About a season, episode, character, etc?

You know, I'm pretty stuck on this. This has been sitting in my inbox for so long. Its so hard to remember these on the spot. I only remember when I'm talking about other stuff lol brainz werk in mysterious ways lol

But I'll still try!

- slappy is the best thing to ever exist.

- Squidabeth is the best thing to ever exist.

Okay before this turns into a brainrot list. Here's the actual hot takes!

-Nerd spongebob is superior sponge. I know later seasons focus more on him being more babyish/childish. But ehh I miss his more nerdier personality.

- I'm okay with the spinoffs. I get so tired always having to clarify on the spinoffs all the time. Jeez do your own research, I ain't magic or working inside with Nick (I wish) I'm tired. I have my concerns and issues otherwise but like if you want to watch it then do it. If you don't then just don't.

- man why did it take so long for Sandy to interact with the other female characters? Why did it take so long for any of the characters to interact? Its random but I was thinking about this a while ago. I get the show is Spongebob Squarepants. Everything is from his POV. But a lot of the female characters could use a little more development. I want an episode focused on Mrs. Puff outside of boating school. She's into metal. She's already cool. Pls let her become a rock star pls. Or just another Sandy/Karen episode because they're so cute together. Its so weird to think about all of them only begun to interact recently.

- I really want them to bring back Pearl being gifted at math!! So much story potential. I'll be honest, I don't like whenever shows got that stereotypical teenage girl character™ no reason but they get a little annoying if you leave it like that. Pearl was apparently supposed to be more apart of the main cast but didn't get used so often. Come on!! I wanna see her hang out with Squidina!! I really like Squidina.

- there's no such thing as a bad episode with The Flying Dutchman. Never. Even the worst ones are still amusing.

- Dutchy probably doesn't pay child support. I just wanted to say that xD

- there is no way Squishwart is heterosexual

- shows timeline is

- first episode any episode where Perch is orange, any episode where Perch is purple, 2nd movie, 1st movie.

Not a complete time line but ya kno. There's two timelines tho! Same as the first but kamp koral takes place in the beginning, then the patrick show. Then we start at the first episode. Then after that, the 3rd movie takes place between the 2nd and 1st movie.

Hope I didn't lost ya there.

- oh yeah! Perch's skin color probably changed with age. Some fishes change color with maturity! I headcanon orange being earlier, and purple being later.

I know you might point out the fish in Ripped Pants. He doesn't look much like Perch. Looks a lot older so I'm just gonna headcanon that it's Perch's dad.

- Kamp koral was kinda boring. The better episodes are when they focus on side characters or new characters. Idk its just not interesting when they focus it on the main cast. Excluding the one where Squidward and Patrick gets lost in the woods together. That was cute. Though my favorite episode is either the one with young Perch or the night cabin.

- season 1 is elite. It's my favorite season of all time. I could go on and on about what I love about this season but everything about it feels so wholesome yo.

- my favorite season amongst the modern era is probably 10? I know that's fan favorite of the modern era. I'd also say season 12 too. Which is an unpopular season due to the expressions but I find myself revisiting season 12 often. Its weird but fun to go back to every so often.

- a lot of spongebob has been ragged on unfairly. I know I always come for the middle seasons but even they are over hated. Its amusing tho how the middle seasons were so hated in the previous years. Nowadays they get more love because the kids who grew up with them has grown to appreciate them. Now its the modern seasons that get a lot of hate. Often times for just being different.

- ehh classic elites kinda ruin the show for me. I wouldn't say this is a be all end all. I still like the classic era and of course nothing can replace how witty and funny it was. But geez these people take it so seriously that it just sucks the fun out of it. Its fun to express your love for spongebob online but they always gotta rag on it and insult people who don't hate everything that came out after the movie. Its ironic considering I used to be a classic elitist. Every so often when I see them raging online, I'm like "jeez was that me?" It gets so exhausting to hate on the show. I also think its a little weird how they've martyred Hillenburg while also acting like the gods of justice by sending death threats to his colleagues and friends. Ehh they get pretty invasive at times. Its kinda uncomfortable.

- on that note. I also find it annoying how people are like "oh kids today will never know how good spongebob was!" Like the classic era doesn't constantly rerun on tv to this day. Jeez I was too young to even remember the classic era when it first began airing. Yet the classic era was what was on tv most of the time. Its like how adults assume kids don't know what vhs tapes/CDs are just because it isn't as popular as it used to. They don't magically disappear the moment something new comes out.

You know that reminds me, when I was a teen, I used to purposely act like I didn't know what some stuff were just to make adults feel like they're out of touch. "Facebook? what is that?" "Britney Spears? Never heard of her" it's so funny.

- Ngl I keep rewatching the Patrick show just to feel something

- mr. Krab's cheapiness went so out of control. Mans due for a spinoff just to rework his character so he can become tolerable again.

- from reading the spongeBob pitchbible and the mussel beach episode. My only thoughts were "spongebob has two hands, one for Sandy, one for Larry"

- the best episodes of Patrick is when he's being sweetly stupid. He's dumb but he knows and loves his friends. That's like the baseline for Patrick. He'd be terribly hurt if he upset them and he cares about them to the end of the earth. If you make patrick a jerk because he's stupid then you've failed to understand him.

- oh also, I'm pretty sure Bunny and Cecil are Pat's adoptive parents. Pat said in Home Sweet Pineapple that his parents kicked him out. I imagine when he did get kicked out, he wasn't prepared so he probably got adopted by the closest Sea Star family around. Thus the Patrick show was born! I already do find Pat's parents questionable. Like letting their daughter get lost like that, or mental training with a bell that managed to even have spongebob say they screwed Patrick up. Bunny and Cecil seem like healthier parents for pat. Plus he got another sister :)

- another thing, ehh Spongebob's parents and family in general are either questionable to outright awful. Man his uncle sherm really kicked out his own son??? captain blue couldn't listen to spange when he desperately needed help? Also spongebob's parents neither taking him seriously and seem to have their own issues too.

- on the note of poor family figures. I'm certain Mr. Krabs father Victor Krabs abandoned his family. Mr krabs grew up dirt poor with only his mother supporting him. I also assume Mr. Krab's other family is also kinda sucky since he didn't really introduce any of them to Pearl. Probably for a reason. Though his mom in the comics seems to have known about Pearl. She's probably the only krab in the family he really cares about.

- Sandy and Karen SHOULD get together. I don't make the rules 😤 😤

- patchy is good. I don't get why is he so hated. I also really like potty :)

- the 2nd movie is a comfort movie for me.

- they really brought the best music for the ScaredyPants episode. Also I find it kinda funny how they found such a hyper specific band for the show. The Ghastly Ones. A horror surf rock band. It fits too well and I like them enough to listen to their other songs just because.

- Ngl its satisfying when spongebob gets angry/frustrated. You dont see those emotions in him. Its either extreme joy or extreme sadness. It adds an interesting bit of nuance to his character.

And that's it! Or at least the only ones I can think of on the spot so uhh. Here ya go!

#Ask #spongebob #spongebob squarepants #sb #spongebon squarepants #the spongebob connoisseur #spongebob meme

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4x4girl · 2 years

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I hate that I feel this song right now. Just how he sings it 😔

I don’t understand why he treats me the way he does now vs when we first started dating.. and I say that like we’ve been together for year, when the reality is it’s only just been a year. We just had our “anniversary” which included me asking if we were going to go to dinner and we went to Red Robin.. I’m not complaining about it in terms of fancy or cost. I’m complaining about how he put zero thought into it. I asked about dinner. I was the only one offering suggestions on where to eat. There was no contribution other then paying for the bill. Which I feel has come to be a deal I unknowingly made. He pays the mortgage and utilities, the big stuff he pays for. Granted he also makes well over what I make. Even though we both work 40hrs. His does have potential for a lot of overtime. And will work it if given the opportunity. But it seems that just because he makes more then me that EVERYTHING else falls on my shoulders. Taking care of our 4 dogs. (His mom does watch them during the day, and has helped care for them too mind you.) but the dogs, cooking, cleaning. And I will say I do love her, his mom is A LOT to deal with. She lives with us as she has fibromyalgia and diabetes. She’s on a fixed tight income and there’s no way she could afford anything and survive monthly. So she lives with us. Occupies 80% of the house. Eats like the pickiest 5yr old alive. And is petty AF. But either way. Basically what I’m saying is he’s lazy. And it’s effecting me in a big way. He doesn’t put the effort in to anything lastly our relationship. Bottom line I feel like I’m doing most of the work in the house and the relationship, just because he makes more money. It’s not a relationship. It’s a more like an employer and employee. Maaaaan idk…. I’m high af. And for sure in my feelings right now. But I don’t have many friends I can talk to about this. So I just have me and occasionally I’ll see my mom. My sister and nieces. But that’s not often. I changed my job in the company I’m working for and am now a manager. Part of that job is to be there at 4am or 3am. So I wake up an hr before to get ready and get there. I fucking hate mornings 😑 I’m a natural night owl. I just have so much more energy when I’m on a night schedule. Going to bed at 2am instead of waking up at 2am. But I changed it for him. Now with his new job we have no idea what his hrs will be. So who knows if I made this drastic change for nothing or not yet…

I just feel so discouraged lately. I’ve tried talking to him and telling him how I feel and I think he hears me for about 1/4 of it. But it seems I’m less and less important by the day. He doesn’t need me. But it also doesn’t seem like he wants me. To me… that’s worse. But I’ll have happy moments. Where I remember what it felt like before. Or when we were in Montana and it was just us. Just enjoying each other’s company and seeing new and beautiful things. Experiences that are once in a lifetime. I loved that man so hard. But what he is lately is so far from the other that I don’t know if this is a phase, if there’s something he’s not sharing with me, or if he’s just falling out of love with me and doesn’t know how to tell me.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t reminisce the time I was living in Montana, the ranch, victor, living in a camper just me and the dogs. Just LIVING my life, and loving it so fucking much!! It breaks my heart every time I think about it to be honest. I miss the passion and connection I had with victor. It was effortless and made me feel like I was someone to be treasured and loved. I thought that’s what you’re supposed to feel with your partner. If they’re the one. Or is it more a comfortable partnership? I don’t know what a healthy relationship looks like as I had zero to model growing up. All I know is after Montana, after Montana Cowboy…I changed. I stand up for myself. I speak my mind. I love harder. I work hard. I always am trying to be a better person. I put in as much of myself as I can in to whatever I am doing, with passion and excitement! I don’t think Anthony sees that about me. If he does, he doesn’t value it as much as he should. Plus it’s something I want both of us to do! To strive to be the best versions of ourselves and support one another however we can. I want someone who actually WANTS to know how my day was, not just asking because they feel obligated. That’s what I feel like, an obligation. Or someone to make him dinner.

I want to make this relationship work. More then anything. But I can’t be the only one. If he’s not willing to do the actual work it takes to be in a healthy relationship it’s going to take communicating, understanding, compromise, love and desire. I’m giving all that. But he road blocks me when I try to communicate any of my feelings it seems. And when I do get out some of my feelings he instantly says “I don’t wanna hear it cause it’s just gonna be how I’m not doing some bullshit, or I need to do something” and it’s the most dismissive response and hurts every time. Like he doesn’t care about me and my happiness in the relationship at all. I know if my partner is upset I’m going to want to help them not be upset. However that looks for them. Weather it’s talking or space. He sees me crying and then listens a little bit better. But all I feel like is he’s laying there thinking, “when will she get over this. I have video games or football or my phone waiting.” Or he will fall asleep. I come last. I don’t come first. That’s something I always told myself I wasn’t going to allow to happen anymore. Reasons I didn’t want to date people with kids. (Not because I don’t love kids, I do!) because I didn’t want to be a second priority. I also wouldn’t want to be the first over the kids if I was with someone that had kids because to me kids come first. Period. 😓

I just know something needs to change soon. Cause otherwise I’m just wasting my time as well as his. I don’t want to keep someone from the life their meant to live. And I don’t want my time to be used up until it’s too late for me to do things like have a baby. Start a family. Live in Montana. Two things I don’t ever want to give up. Swore I never would for another man either.

Man, this post is too long. And I’ve gone back and forth on weather I wanted to post it. I don’t need a bunch of opinions on my relationship. I just needed somewhere to vent. Maybe look for some support or advice on how I can help things in my relationship and life. Cause duck if I know what I’m doing!

Also reminder… stoned this whole time, so ignore the terrible writing and spelling errors.

#Spotify #me #personal #Anthony #relationship #struggle #idk what to do #communication #self awareness #new music

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katnissmellarkkk · 3 years

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Gravity

Hi! Okay, so here’s chapter two of my growing back together story, inspired by the prompt “I won’t hurt you” @rosegardeninwinter sent me. I also posted this fic on AO3 under the title Gravity (like the Sara Bareilles song), if that’s where you prefer to read. And here’s a link to chapter one of this fic if you wanna read and haven’t yet.

Also I know I said in my first author’s note that there will be three chapters, but there might be a bit more.... we love an over-writer, right? 🤷🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️

I don’t know if you’re “supposed” to post every part of a multi chapter fic on here? Or just post the link to it on AO3? But for now I posted it in its entirety on here 😊.

Anyways, hope you like it! And thanks to anyone who reads! 💖💖💖

A couple months later.

We slide back after that. I don't know if that night-the night he had a nightmare that I died and we slept locked in each other's embrace-moved too quickly for Peeta or if he thought he was protecting me from him, but when morning light came, he was gone from the bed.

I didn't see him again until the following evening, helping Haymitch feed his rambunctious geese in the yard. He didn't speak to me for four more days after that, and when he did, it was to ask what kind of bread I wanted him to bring for lunch the next day.

I pretended to his face that it didn't hurt. That waking up in a cold, empty bed, in a house he all but abandoned until I had evacuated, that sleeping in his arms and awaking so abruptly alone, didn't hurt. I did what I had taught myself to do as a child and I turned my features into an indifferent mask, shutting off all access to my emotions. Destroying any possibility of anyone witnessing my vulnerabilities.

But I knew deep down, it did hurt. It hurt badly.

I didn't speak to him directly the first week he showed up for lunch and to work on the memory book again. I got by fine without addressing him directly, as Haymitch somehow sensed the bubbling tension between us and stayed sober just enough to remain alert for all our shared meals. He helped with the memory book, helped by adding in a snarky comment here or there to reel our focuses onto him instead of each other.

I wanted to say thank you but I never knew how. I doubt Haymitch needs me to verbalize it anyway. One night, as he follows behind Peeta to leave, his hand grazes my shoulder and gives it a squeeze and I know he's much more aware of the dynamic between his old tributes than he leads on.

But weeks after the night in question, the night that set Peeta and my friendship back months, we receive a telegraph from Effie. A telegraph that shakes the small amount of stability we've managed to build in the time since the war.

Apparently President Paylor has decided to move forward with arena destruction, an idea mentioned a few times by Plutarch on Caesar's talk show. An idea I didn't take seriously until now.

Paylor has decided to build a memorial for each of the arenas, for each year the games ever took place, to immortalize our history, so Panem can never forget how cruel and inhumane things once were. But first, she wants to eliminate the actual Hunger Games arenas, once and for all, before putting the memorials in their place.

My initial thought, months ago when Delly showed me Plutarch and Caesar discussing the idea, was that this would takes years to happen.

I was, once again, so clearly wrong. The plans have been expedited and the order in which each arena will be decimated has been swiftly decided.

All that alone doesn't sound terrible. I'd like to see those death pits crushed, burned, torn down, eradicated, or all of the above, by any means necessary. Only downside, initially, is that this will extend me—and Peeta and potentially all the other victors—remaining in the forefront of the public's mind.

Since the war, all I've ever wanted was for everyone in the country to forget who I am. I don't want to be known anymore. I just want to be left alone, to a quiet and peaceful and relatively simple life, without anyone ever recognizing me again. Without anyone thinking of me as the girl on fire, as the Mockingjay, as the sixteen-year-old who volunteered for a sister who was doomed to death anyway.

But, of course, there's a catch. There's always a catch.

Plutarch thinks it would be great to have the living victors be there—televised—in the Capitol and see the arenas before they're bulldozed.

Even with this dreadful proposition, I thought I had time to think of a way out of it. When Effie first sent the telegraph, I thought that I would have years before having to worry about going back to the places where my nightmares started.

Well, some of my nightmares, that is.

After all, it takes time to destroy something as large and as vast as an arena-excluding the way I destroyed the one in the Quell, that is. I figured-I rationalized, really-that by the time they got to number Seventy-Four, I would have a solid excuse to get out of attending.

I guess though they wished to start with the big years and the first decade of the Hunger Games wasn't very eventful, apparently—lucky them—so the first arena they wish to bid farewell to is the one from the second Quarter Quell. The Fiftieth Hunger Games. The one that was so strikingly beautiful and almost entirely poisonous.

The year Haymitch Abernathy, from the lowly District Twelve, won.

And being also from Twelve, my presence, along with Peeta's, suddenly became of the utmost importance as well.

At first, I still try to opt out of the event. Even after Effie chastises me over the phone, like not a day has passed since she was my escort, and even after my mother claims in her letter that it could be cathartic for me, I do not relent.

Delly and Thom and a few of the others in the community, like Kanon who runs the candy shop two stores away from the bakery, and Greta, who helps with the dusting and mopping all over town, try to say that it could be good for me. Greasy Sae claims it can't be worse than actually living through the games, and I silently appreciate her much more blatant statement than the comforting platitudes others try to provide me.

But it all falls on deaf ears in the end.

Because the only person I truly listen to is Peeta. Even bitter and wounded, the only person I really hear is him.

Unfortunately, as irritating as it is sometimes, his voice will always reach me when others can't.

But we don't ever have an actual conversation about it. Five days after Effie calls to announce the news, to tell me unequivocally that my presence is requested, Peeta sways me to go with just a look.

He comes over later than usual and brings extra bread and pastries to go with the deer meat I hunted. We feast silently, the air between us still incredibly awkward, when, without warning, our old mentor comes crashing through the door unceremoniously.

I don't know how much alcohol he consumed, but it's enough to knock even someone with Haymitch's tolerance off his feet.

By the end of the hour, the older man is practically beating his head into the wall of my dining room, screaming the names of dead children and about force fields and axes. And from across the kitchen table, Peeta touches my arm—the first time he's voluntarily touched me in weeks—and my eyes meet his, blue pouring into gray, and silently he begs me to go for the goodbye ceremony to Haymitch's arena.

And I give in. Not just for him. But also, in large part, to repay the caustic, miserable drunk that kept us alive. To support the unpredictable, temperamental man that I do consider my family somehow.

The ceremony is set to take place weeks later and the time does little to alleviate my anxiety. Peeta and me still don't speak much, but come time for lunch or dinner, there he is, in my house like clockwork.

When I point out, a few days before we're due at the train station, that there's a very realistic possibility that the Capitol won't let me go to the ceremony, Peeta casually says, "I already cleared that with Effie and Plutarch."

I shoot him a look of surprise. "You did?"

Shrugging nonchalantly before turning back to the rabbit on his plate, he murmurs quietly, "Thought it'd give you one less thing to worry about."

The ceremony is nothing like I expect. Somehow I figured there would be an obnoxiously large television crew, loud speakers, prepared speeches on written cards, awkward directions and crowds upon crowds of people surrounding us, asking pointed questions, shooting invasive stares and pressing for reactions to their nosy accusations. I expected those accusations to be directed at me and Peeta especially.

Instead, there's none of those things. There's no crowd at all, it's just us victors. Just Enobaria, Johanna, Annie, the three of us from Twelve and Beetee—who I still can't make myself so much as look at, reminded of my sister's absence and his role in it every time we so much as stand in five feet vicinity of each other.

The camera crew consists of Mitchell, Pollux and Cressida, along with two unfamiliar, but seemingly non-threatening faces. There's no directions, no prompting, not close ups or reshoots.

All that happens is Paylor makes a statement that the crew films, stating that the arenas will be destroyed one by one, and in the place of each there will be an individual memorial made, as we victors stand in an unorganized, crooked line that will surely make Effie cringe when she sees the footage on television later.

It's almost peaceful, I think to myself in surprise, as I look around at the location. The sky is a stunning cobalt, even more brilliant in person than in the video Peeta and I watched on the train so long ago. The meadow looks like the grass is fresh, like it was just watered yesterday. The mountain is so breathtaking I have to physically tear my eyes away from it and even the woods look rather cozy. Or maybe that part is just me.

There's also arraignments of flowers, just like in the footage we watched, that spill every which way, filling our noses with soothing, floral scents. It feels unnatural to say about a place set up for murder, but with the deadly poisons lurking at every turn eviscerated, I almost can find this arena truly beautiful.

Of course though, it's not my arena.

It's Haymitch's and he looks like he's about to be sick. He's white-knuckled it for a few days without any sort of drink—to my, Peeta's and, even Effie's, visible shock—and I can see plainly now that he's absolutely regretting it. His eyes are hallow and wild at the same time and I can see his shaking palms beneath the sleeves of his jacket as he stares out at the source of his every nightmare for the last quarter century.

It shocks me that he didn't find a way out of this. Actually, it shocks me still that these ceremonies are even possible.

I never knew they kept arenas after the games were over each year. I never realized they kept all seventy-four death pits, haunted by child sacrifice, the way you keep old vases on a shelf.

At this point though, it's just another thing to add onto the growing list of horrific and unthinkable issues that the Capitol doesn't even grasp. Keeping the haunted graveyards of children as souvenirs shouldn't sit right with anyone, I don't care how you're raised.

I tell myself to not be so quick to judge, as I can't know who I'd be if I had been born in the Capitol instead of the districts. Still, the idea of condoning the things they have without remorse or shame seems unthinkable.

I'm torn out of my thoughts when Cressida speaks. "Is there anything you'd like to say, Haymitch, before we finish filming?"

Once again, catching me off-guard entirely—he's full of all sorts of surprises evidently—Haymitch clears his throat and looks down at his leather boots before speaking. "Ardor. Garnett. Dolan. Silver. Ryker. Artemis. Slayte. Pistol. Lex. Mac. Lumen. Gig. Brook. Aqua. Mary. Ripley. Lyme. Watt. Rocky. Gio. Belle. Raven. Kia. Mecko. Barker. Jack. Holly. Briar. Essie. Stitch. Coco. Paul. Mira. Miller. Coop. Harvey. Butch. Cutter. Bea. Skinna. Basil. Sunny. Rip. Spring. Oaker. Terra. Maysilee." He lists off the names in a way that is so matter-of-fact that it would almost be robotic if it weren't for the hoarseness in his tone that grows stronger with every name he utters. He hesitates for only a moment before adding, "Corentine. Alannah. Alastar."

There's a long stretch of silence, where no one speaks, no one blinks, no one even breathes. We all know instinctively who these people are—I know solely from Maysilee Donner's name being called—but we still wait until Haymitch speaks again, to confirm our assumption.

"Those are the names of all the people this arena killed." His eyes grow glassy and his brow furrows in anger as he fights desperately to repress his emotions, and suddenly I have the strangest urge to hug my mentor, to make him feel better like he tried to do for me once when Peeta was stuck in the Capitol and I was distraught. But I know it wouldn't be appreciated or wanted, and quite honestly I'm glad for that, because I don't even know what to say.

The last three names Haymitch said stick in my head for some reason I can't explain other than an odd gut feeling. But then he speaks again, an in a voice growing gruffer by the second, he says right into the camera, "that's every single person who was killed because of the second Quarter Quell."

And, like I should have known all along, it hits me the last three names are the names of his family who were murdered to punish him for the stunt with the forcefield.

The last three names are the murders of the last people he loved. Until me and Peeta came along.

As if his thoughts matched mine, Haymitch suddenly shakes his head and his eyes widen again as he stares past all the rest of us, as he continues to take in the exact place in which life as he knew it, twenty-six years ago, was altered forever.

His reaction is more understandable and genuine than I imagined he would ever allow it to be, especially on camera, and I want to say something but me and him both aren't good at saying anything, and I find myself looking to Peeta, hoping he'd know what to do.

Peeta doesn't meet my gaze though. He's solely focused on our mentor and just when he opens his mouth to speak, the older man to suddenly shake his head in our general direction and clears his throat.

"I'm done. Tell Plutarch I'm done with this crap. Just hurry up and bulldoze this place so I can go back to Twelve," is all he says to Cressida as he storms off, but his voice is rough and caustic once again, and I can only hope he recovers from this event soon enough.

Somehow, witnessing Haymitch relive his games, even through the shield he so obviously puts up to the outside world, triggers me though. For some reason, I feel my eyes begin to water as I look around at the meadow, at the mountain, at the golden cornucopia, and wonder how anyone could build a place where kids would eventually go to die? How could anyone have ever been so inhumane? How could a country just accept it? How did we live for so long with the Hunger Games overtaking our lives and still remained complicit? I don't understand. The more time passes, the more days I'm separated from the war and from the old world and the old way of life, I just can't comprehend anymore how we ever lived in a place so horrific.

I feel my eyes spill over and I'm grateful that Cressida has stopped filming already, because if Plutarch saw any tears on film, he would make certain it ended up on television.

I wipe my tears with the heel of my hand, trying to go about it as subtly as I can, hoping no one else notices. For the most part, I'm golden. Enobaria is already exiting, with Beetee following not far behind. Jo's back is to me while she speaks to Annie, though as per usual, she seems to be irritated.

Of course, it's too much to ask for everyone to remain oblivious to my waterworks. Even as I rid myself of them before they become widely noticeable, I feel Peeta's eyes train on me and know, despite the distance between us for the last few weeks, he isn't going to ignore my upset.

To my surprise though, he doesn't speak. He doesn't utter a single syllable.

Instead, I feel his large, warm palm slip into mine and squeeze tightly, lacing our fingers together, in a way we have done thousands of times before. Like two puzzle pieces coming together to complete a picture, like two indivisible teammates that will fight against anything that is thrown their way, like two halves of a whole finally finding each other, his hand grasps mine with a vengeance and I know I won't be the one who let's go.

He's still holding my hand when we board the train, hours later.

A couple weeks later.

"Yes, Mrs. Greenstead, I will get the chocolate nut loaf and a platter of the cranberry cookies wrapped up for you... Yes, it will be ready by the time you arrive... No, I promise they won't be cold," Peeta assures through the bakery telephone—a new addition that Thom and his wife thought was necessary to run a proper bakery. So necessary they bought it for Peeta as an opening gift.

It's not that the gesture wasn't nice or that Peeta didn't deeply appreciate it. I personally saw that he did, wholeheartedly.

But seeing it on the wall every day was just another reminder to me of my own personal vendetta against the integration between the Capitol's way of life and the districts'.

The only place telephones used to exist, outside of the Capitol limits, was the houses in Victor's Villiage, and if I'm being honest, I wish it would have stayed that way.

Maybe I'm being selfish, as I happen to still reside inside a house that once belonged to the said village, therefore I already had experienced this luxury prior to the new world. But I just can't make myself break the association between the items that had recently become readily available for all and the horror that was the Capitol.

Still though, the change was inescapable Telephones, cameras, heating pads, curling irons, quick bake ovens, cars and so many other items, were all growing in popularly across each district. Not that I was able to see a lot of these changes personally. But letters from Annie and my mom, and the occasional—unprompted and yet still begrudged—call from Jo, all kept me informed. Sometimes more informed than I wished to be.

Maybe I would feel entirely different if these inventions were brand new to me. But they aren't. I'd seen and used every one of them before. Their novelty had always been lost on me, perhaps because my only experience them was while inside the Capitol, surrounded by tacky colors and strong rose scents and itchy materials, headed for a death match, my life and the lives of those I cared always at great risk.

Of course, the new item in the bakery did make some things easier. Days like today are a perfect example.

Harvest Day is only one day away and everyone is coming in for their breads and their desserts. Peeta says it was always one of the most popular days, for as long as he can remember. Only difference is, before the war only Peacekeepers and town folks could afford to purchase anything. And generally, most citizens who even did come in, could only purchase a limited amount of items.

Not now. I don't know where everyone in Twelve was coming up with the money or if Peeta's prices are just a drastic drop from that of his mother's, but today, I swear I've seen every citizen in town inside the bakery.

Makes me glad that the portrait of me is hanging in the back, where no one else can see it. As pretty as it may be, as talented as Peeta is, I don't want a giant version of me displayed for all to see.

"Here you are," I politely say, handing two loaves of warm bread to a man who must be new to Twelve, as I've never seen him before. I'm debating on asking if he moved here recently when he passes a bill to me over the top of the pastry display.

"Thank you, hon." He smiles at me, looking at me a little too closely for my liking, as he swiftly walks out the door. His exit is met with the arrival of Val, a boy Peeta and I went to school with, who definitely was more Peeta's crowd than mine.

Val is a regular customer at the bakery, having always genuinely liked the Mellark family. His parents owned a small carpentry shop four spaces down from the bakery, and even with both them dead, he and his two sisters rebuilt the store, taking over their parents' legacy.

Peeta though is more focused on me now than Val's order. "Give me a second," he calls to his old friend, a little less polite than he had been all morning. "Katniss, what's wrong?" He asks urgently, seeing the look in my eyes.

I shake my head and push away the anxiety threatening to close in on me. "Nothing, just..." I hesitate, not even wanting to say it. Peeta's gaze refuses to lessen though and I sigh before finally mumbling, "That guy. He creeped me out. The way he was looking at me so closely..."

Peeta's hand touches my arm for a brief moment before pulling it away, making it obvious that he regrets the small act of even so much as touching me. But his words are still calming and they relax me a little. "He's gone now, Katniss. And if he scares you, I won't let him come back, okay? There's nothing anyone can do to you or me anymore. We're safe."

I nod, knowing the words like the back of my hand at this point, as it's the same mantra we always repeat to each other, every time one of us begins to panic or flail. But still, I open my mouth to refuse his offer. I don't want Peeta to turn away any sort of business. Not with the unpredictability and uncertainty this new world still rests on. We never know if the bakery will sell anything tomorrow or if all sort of income will soon dry up.

And we're the lucky ones, financially speaking, who were rich before the war and allowed—in a generous declaration by President Paylor—to keep the entirety of our money after. I don't have to imagine the anxiety others in the country must be in, knowing the curse of poverty all too well. I wouldn't wish that feeling on anyone.

"I don't want you to turn away people," I say quietly. "Not on my account. You need business to keep this place afloat."

"I have plenty of money, Katniss," he reminds me, a little darker than I expect. "And I'd rather you feel safe than own a popular shop."

His words unexpectedly touch me, unexpectedly cut right down to the depth of my bones, exposing my soft underbelly. I'm about to do something stupid, like touch his hand, when Val makes his presence known again. "Your shop is already the most popular in the district," he points out, not even a little ashamed for having listened to our conversation. "And besides, why don't you just look at the guy's name? Maybe you can look him up, see if he's alright or not."

Peeta gets a glint in his eye. "That's a good idea, Val, thank you." As he moves towards the register to, I can only suppose, look for the man's receipt with his name and signature, he gestures to his school friend. "Katniss can get your order."

I shoot him a glare, only half kidding. I did come to help out, here and there, today but I did not intend to be an actual expected employee. For free, no less.

Instead of saying anything though, I just grab Val his three cinnamon rolls, his two snack cakes, four bagels, white chocolate donut and a loaf with raisins and cranberries.

Val, like Delly Cartwright, was always one of the few people in Twelve who had a few pounds to spare.

Peeta has a type of friend.

"Found it," Peeta now calls, bringing over a slip of paper to where I'm handing Val his three bags of treats. "His name was Rod Catamaran."

Me and Val, for the first time perhaps, exchange a look between us. "That's an odd name for Twelve."

"I've never even heard that name before."

"He may not even be from Twelve, guys," Peeta says.

I roll my eyes. "Because a bombed out district is really a tourist attraction."

"Hey, none of that," Thom calls as he walks through the front door of the bakery, with Kanon Bagley on his heels. "We've rebuilt this place beautifully and negativity is not appreciated here."

"Yeah, Katniss," Peeta chimes in, teasing me. I'm about to kick him in his only real leg, as we're the only two behind the counter and no one else will see, when Kanon speaks up.

"Can I buy a couple of pastries?"

"Of course," Peeta says kindly, walking around me to personally grab the two items Kanon requests.

Kanon is new to Twelve. One of the few new additions this place gained after all that went down. He's a large man in his early twenties, with dark skin and dark hair and eyes to match. But the only times I've ever interacted with him, he's quiet as a mouse, his eyes a little forlorn at all times and he offers more discounts then he should at the candy shop he recently opened next to the bakery.

He's from District Eleven originally and it takes no real critical thinking to realize he had a hard life, even before the war.

I'm far too familiar with the look of scars etched across the eyes. So is Peeta.

That's why, when Kanon looks down at the money in his hand and realizes he doesn't have enough to afford both pastries, Peeta immediately brushes it off. "That's okay, they're on the house," he instantly promises, handing the small bag over to Kanon with a gentle smile.

"No, I don't want to take it without-"

"I made way too much," Peeta insists, lying outright to make it appear Kanon would be doing him a favor. I know he didn't make too much, because we've been flying through everything today and keeping the ovens hot in case more is needed.

Still though, I back up the fib. "He did. We've been wondering all day how we were gonna sell enough stuff so we don't have to feed the leftovers to Haymitch's geese."

Kanon glances between us shyly, before taking the bag from Peeta's hand and slipping the few dollars he does have into his pocket again. "Thank you," he says softly and turns to leave.

Thom pats Kanon on the back as he passes him, before turning to follow. When the other man isn't looking, he turns back to us subtly and mouths, "thank you."

I wanted to tell him not to thank me. I only watched Peeta make this food, I didn't assist by any stretch of the imagination. I didn't own the bakery or do anything with the money or finances. It was not my choice to give things away for free.

But I'm far too focused on the boy in front of me to say any of that. The boy with the bread, the boy who isn't really a boy anymore. The boy who just gave away food for no reward at all, even on the most demanding and strenuous day all year for his business. The boy who just showed Kanon Bagley the same kindness I begged someone-anyone-to show me at eleven-years-old and not one single person did.

Except for him. He did for me all those years ago what he did for Kanon just now, and I suddenly have the most inexplicable, irrepressible urge to kiss Peeta right then and there, in the middle of the bakery.

I don't, however, and it's for once not because I lost my courage. It's because the door swings open again, just as Val exits right behind Kanon and Thom.

It's the same man from earlier. "Hi," Peeta greets, this time not at all sweet. Clearly recognizing the man as the one who made me nervous before. "Can I help you?"

"Yes," the man affirms, his tone brighter than you'd expect given our chilly reception. And our blatant wariness for anyone new. "I forgot to get a pecan butter cake before?"

There is a beat where me and Peeta exchange a look, before I awkwardly move towards the display case and begin to pack up his item. Peeta waits for me to decide to help the man before starting to ring him up.

"That was a nice thing you both just did," the man says as he patiently watches me fold the white waxy paper over his pastry. "For that guy."

"You were watching?" Is the only thing that comes out of my mouth.

"Only for a moment," he explains, his tone still friendly. Either he doesn't know how to read people at all or he's the most even keeled person in Panem.

Because I know I'm being rude, to a man who maybe doesn't even deserve it, I force myself to say one thing conversational. "This is my mom's favorite dessert," I offer, gesturing to his cake.

The man raises his eyebrows in an act that looks almost feigned. "Really?"

I instantly regret trying to be even slightly pleasant. Even his mannerisms seem fake. I'm contemplating if I should say anything else or go hide in the back room with the warm ovens and my portrait, when Peeta presses a button and the register dings.

He's about to say the total when the strange man shakes his head and hands to me directly an unfamiliar bill over the display case. "Have a nice day, you two," he calls, grabbing his cake and swiftly walking out.

It's not until he's gone, not until I have a moment to process the second weird encounter with the odd person, that I even glance down at the crisp bill he handed me.

It's a bill with a larger number on the back than I've ever personally seen before. I knew these kinds of dollars existed—I'm sure I could have gotten plenty after my first games—but I'd never seen one in the flesh.

Peeta sees my reaction. "What is it?" His voice sounds alarmed and he's stepping closer to me, but all I can do is gasp out his name.

"Peeta, look." I hold up the bill and point to the number on the back.

His eyes widen too, taking in the amount with a dizzy smile. Of both relief that nothing's wrong and excitement at the digit.

"Do you think it was a mistake?" I ask suddenly, looking over my shoulder towards the window, wondering if we should track the man down and give him his money back, before he evaporates into thin air.

"No?" Peeta shakes his head, the wheels in his mind turning quicker than mine. His face turns to that of elation, as the large bill takes some pressure off the bakery's sales. "No, he said he saw us give Kanon a break. He was giving us something in return."

I'm about to say something else, I don't even know what, but it all flies out of my head when Peeta suddenly wraps his arms around my waist and swiftly pulls me into his embrace.

My entire body goes into lockdown and hypervigilance at the same time. I can't move an inch but it feels like every nerve in my body is abruptly tingling and on fire.

My sweater lifts up slightly and his bare arms graze my lower back, eliciting a shiver to run involuntarily down my spine as his face buries into my hair.

I wrap my arms around his neck after a beat when I can make myself move again, and I feel him smile against my skin. I'm so glad at that moment he's holding me up, because if he wasn't supporting my weight I'd probably crash to the floor, unable to even feel my legs beneath me.

And, as a rush of heat shoots out from the place where Peeta's lips brush my collarbone, I suddenly feel only gratitude, not irritation, at the strange Rod Catamaran.

Four days later.

The world surrounding me is green. Green and brown and fire-bitten and scorched. Every which way I spin, there's embers soaring from that direction too, waiting to lick me with their burning flames, ready to decimate me once and for all.

But through the smoke and haze, I still can see between the trees two blonde braids. I still can see a small figure standing on the other side of the fire. I still can see her shirt that's come untucked in the back, creating a duck tail that I desperately want to fix.

Just as I notice her, she whirls around to face me, her blue eyes big and bright and terrified. "Katniss!" She screams, the same way she did the last day she was alive. "Katniss, help! They're coming!"

I don't know who's coming or what's happening or where we even are, but all I feel is relief somehow. Relief that she's here, that I'm in her presence again, that she's almost within my reach. Instinctively I call out, "Prim!" Just so I can finally get a response to the name I've been shouting into oblivion for almost a year now.

"Katniss, help me!" She cries again and then looks over her shoulder. She's not talking about the fire between us, as it doesn't seem too intent on heading towards her.

I don't know what's coming or who she's afraid of, but my instincts now go into overdrive. My body suddenly snaps into alert and I whip my head around, to see if I can find an opening in the fire closing in on me, if I can find a way to get to the sister I lost what feels like only yesterday, if I can find a way to save her this time.

There's no gap in the fire though. It's crowded around me, front, back and side to side. The more seconds that pass by, the closer the fire folds into my proximity, and I have to brace myself before making a split-second decision.

But it's not really a decision at all. Prim needs me and I cannot fail her. I have to save her this time.

I take a bold step directly into the fire, with every intention of running through it somehow. Of running past the wild embers, scorching myself no doubt, but still making it over to my distressed, frightened little sister. But it doesn't work like I expect.

But really, does anything?

These flames are nothing like the fires I've encountered before. And I've been around more fire in my life than anyone ever should.

No, these flames don't burn me. They don't hurt me or put me through agony or singe me to pieces. They don't melt off my makeshift coat of skin and they don't further decimate it either.

Instead the fire feels like almost nothing. Like something almost itchy, something almost irritating, something almost painful. Something that make me want to squirm and scream and escape all at the same time.

Which is real ironic considering what else it seems these flames do.

They seem to hold me into place. The second I'm in their hold, instead of the horrific pain I thought I'd be in, I'm trapped in a series of almost nothing.

I'm not in excruciating pain physically, but seeing my sister standing ten feet from me, and not being able to move any closer, not being able to protect her from whatever she's terrified of, is worse than any amount of injury this fire could have inflicted.

"Katniss!" Prim screams now, her voice only growing in its frantic nature. "Help! Why won't you come help me?"

I try to scream, try to tell her I want to but I can't move. But it turns out that these flames also paralyze vocal muscles.

"Peeta's dying!" Prim yelps out, looking behind her again, her hands beginning to shake in a way she almost never let them in life. She always tried to keep it together, to remain calm and rational in a crisis.

Her words elicit something entirely new inside of me though. "Peeta?" I yell in confusion, my voice suddenly no longer paralyzed.

"They're killing him! Katniss, please, why won't you come here? We need you!" Prim is close to hysterical now and frankly, so am I.

"I'm trying! I just," I move my hands down my body, trying to push the flames away as they rises up to my chest, trying to just break free from these fiery chains once and for all. "The fire, Prim! I can't get out of the fire."

Prim's voice drops then, loses all source of fear, every ounce of panic. Loses any semblance of emotion. "Katniss, there is no fire," she states blankly, her eyes looking directly at the embers covering my stomach and legs. "There's nothing there."

I just look at her for a moment, completely speechless. Her words are inconceivable, her eyes are haunted now, her facial expression is unrecognizable. Even her voice doesn't sound like hers anymore.

Before I can comprehend what's happening, in the distance a gunshot goes off.

Prim delicately glances over her shoulder now, her blue eyes cold as ice. "He's dead," she informs clinically, before sighing deeply, her tone almost disappointed. "And so am I."

I don't know what happens next or how it occurs, but I fly upwards in my bed with such a start, I give myself whiplash.

I hear a loud screeching noise hanging in the air, a hoarse trepidation that almost makes me feel better. I don't know why but someone else screaming in the middle of the night gives me hope, as sick as that may be.

Only it's not someone else, I realize, as my throat burns raw. I realize with startling clarity that I'm the only making all the noise. I'm the one shaking so tremendously. I'm the one who is sobbing.

"Shhh," a voice whispers against the darkness, and I flail involuntarily at the shock. "Sorry, sorry," Peeta instantly apologizes, his hands gripping my arms with a little too much intensity, trying to still my shaking. "It's okay, Katniss, you were just having a nightmare."

His words do precious little to calm me down though. "She was there," I cry, the image, the feeling, of Prim standing only ten feet from me and not being able to reach her too painful for me to unsee.

"Who was there?" He asks tenderly, his hand coming up to cup my cheek. "Katniss, breathe."

I don't even bother listening to his advise. I haven't exhaled since I was eleven. "Prim was there. She was begging me to save her and then I couldn't, I was trapped but-but," I cut myself off, unable to form coherent words and thoughts any longer.

Peeta gets the gist though. "Come here," he whispers and pulls me into his arms, like he used to on the train, when my nightmares woke us both three times a night. "I'm so sorry, Katniss," he says softly now, and rubs my back in a way that elicits goosebumps. His way of trying to soothe my shaking. "I'm sorry you had to see that."

"You died too," I blurt out then. I don't even know why I feel inclined to tell him.

"What?"

"I was stuck and I couldn't speak and then Prim said you were going to die and I got scared enough that I could talk again and I thought-I thought," I stumble breathlessly, my tears pouring out against his shoulder now.

I feel his lips touch my cheek and I'm too upset to revel in the feeling of blood rushing there. "It was just a nightmare," he promises.

But my sentiment is unfinished. "I thought I could break free, that I could-"

"Katniss," he halts, still holding me in his embrace, rocking me slightly. "It wasn't real. I promise you, it wasn't real."

Those words, the words so often said to him by me, ring a bell that I didn't want to ring. It snaps me back into reality abruptly and without warning, I feel like my chest is going to collapse.

Because this means Prim wasn't really there, that she still is as dead as she was yesterday, that I still watched her explode into pieces all over the bombsite in the Capitol.

I still failed to protect her.

Peeta pulls back slightly then and rests his forehead against mine. "It's okay, Katniss," he says again, trying to calm my trembles by rubbing my arms up and down.

"How are you in my house?" I realize, with an intense sudden clarity. "How are you here? Are you real or am I still-"

He quickly puts me out of my misery. "You gave me a key, remember? A long time ago? We gave each other keys to our houses."

Oh. Right. I forgot all about that when he had his nightmare, didn't I?

Good thing he's an idiot who keeps his door unlocked at night.

He's explaining further before I can think to ask. "I heard you having a nightmare from my house. That's why I rushed over here."

I'm caught between embarrassment and gratitude. "Sorry, I really don't know what brought it on."

"Hey," he quietly reprimands, lifting my chin now to meet eye contact. "Don't apologize. No one understands nightmares like me."

I nod, accepting his words, though still a little uncomfortable with screaming for all the district to hear at two in the morning.

Then again, our entire neighborhood is Haymitch and the two of us, and our mentor was drinking like a fish last night so really, the only person who could have heard me is already sitting directly in my eye line.

To punctuate his words, when I don't respond verbally, he lifts my hand up and brings it to his lips tenderly.

And I don't know what comes over me or why. I don't know if it's because we've been growing closer again lately or if I just haven't felt his arms around me since days ago in the bakery and I miss the feel of it desperately, but I find myself abruptly throwing my body around his before I can talk myself out of it.

He catches me easily, like he anticipated my reaction and sways me for a long moment, until my breathing begins to even itself out.

"Will you stay?" I rasp into his neck, as I feel his hand tangles in my matted locks.

"Always."

#everlark #thg #the hunger games #everlark fic #fanfic #prompt #everlark fanfic #fanfiction #growing back together #userreese #i think thats what you meant when you said to tag you????#gravity ♥️ 🌅 🥖

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kazoo5480 · 3 years

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Almost finished! 30 chapters down, a few more to go. Thanks to those of you who wrote awesome notes, and who provide inspiration to us newbies every day with your lovely tales!

Chapter 1 Arrivals

Prologue – September 1943, New York City

25-year-old Killian Jones steps down the ramp off the Algernon straight from Belfast. He has $40 to his name, the clothes on his back. Having lost his brother in an accident, his mother to illness, and abandonment of his father when he was 7, Killian made a choice to leave his homeland and make his way to America. America was currently engaged in World War II, with no family left, he decides that a fresh start in a new land and a new line of work away from the IRA is just what he needs after the arrests and massacres taking place back in Ireland.

Gun running and violence is not a life he wants any longer, nor is a life in prison, or death. He is hopeful that despite his heritage, he will be able to settle into a new life, away from the massacre left behind on the emerald isle. Finding honest work is harder than he expected, even in a city this large.

Waiting in those long lines with all those other expats, hoping to find honest work and nothing. He goes every day for two weeks but quickly realizes that no one wants to hire an Irishman or give him a fair shake. But he believes you make your own destiny and believes in hard work and determination.

He hears the other men talking, that security and lounges, the US Army, and driving taxis are just about the only people hiring anyone right now if you aren’t American.

Killian has no interest in joining Americas crusade, so he finds a gig working the doors and security a little dingy nightclub at first, but slowly descends into the more glamorous nightclubs and lounges.

Word spreads quickly to his newest employer, Louis Lepke, who owns the Riobamba- one of Manhattan’s most posh nightclubs that Killian was once part of the IRA and has a hell of a left hook. Lepke, one of the most dangerous mob bosses in New York at that time sees potential in Killian, thinks that his past IRA ties could be beneficial to their enterprise, and he offers him a better paying job running pickups and drop offs of packages that Killian doesn’t open and doesn’t want to open.

While the money is nothing to turn your nose up at, Killian continues this path, socking away the cash and crafting an entirely new persona for himself while making his own contingency plans to disappear for a quieter life someplace near the sea, perhaps finding peace and burying his demons for good at last.

Killian will never forget the day he was able to move out of the vermin infested room he had been renting in a boarding house on the lower east side, and into a three-room apartment of his own for $80 a month near Washington Square Park. Not cheap by any means, but it’s a second-floor walkup, with a fireplace, and wide windows that overlook the street.

Lepke pays him three hundred a month right now, but he always earns tips from both ends of pickup and delivery, and that extra cash is always appreciated.

He will never forget the first suit he purchases, or his first pair of new shoes in god knows how many years. He knows with his new employment, he needs to look the part, so he only is careful in his wardrobe choices, dark colors that won’t show dirt easily, well-tailored shirts, wingtips in black and white, and two hats that he sees the other men wearing.

He manages to pry a floorboard in the back of his new closet loose, securing the hole with a thin layer of wood, ensuring nothing would fall through or be lost to the ageing building, and he uses this as home for his cash and very little valuables. He has no furniture to speak of, except a mattress on the floor with linens, but he knows soon enough he will have money to furnish his new home.

For now, he is only willing to spend money on rent, and groceries, he saves every dollar that he earns after his necessities are purchased.

What he does not expect is meeting Emma Swan, an enchanting blonde lounge singer at the Riobamba. Frank Sinatra even plays there on occasion, so the joint was always packed. But amongst all those entertainers, is Emma. With the voice of an angel, the body of a bloody goddess, and a fire in her green eyes.

He knows that from the moment he saw her dancing and singing across that smoke filled room, that he was going to have her no matter the cost. Tonight, her golden curls pinned back on one side with a glittering clip, wrapped in a floor length sequin dress cut scandalously low in the front, even for the nightclub scene at that point in time.

She is easily the most beautiful woman he has ever seen, and he wonders if she works for Lepke as well, a personal relationship perhaps, and the thought of any man touching her at all has him see red when those thoughts flit through his mind. He always hopes divine intervention is on his side to catch a glimpse of her during her sets, whether picking up or dropping off to his boss.

Occasionally he just sits in the back nursing a rum while he watches her, gliding around the small stage, dressed like sex personified, singing in that angelic voice of hers, enchanting the entire room.

She sings songs of love and happiness, sometimes she covers popular music of other entertainers, but he sees the sadness and demons lingering behind those emerald eyes, the glittering dresses and gorgeous gold curls. He wants to know more, scale those walls he can spot a mile high surrounding her.

On more than one occasion he is thankful for the low lighting of the club and his dark suits to hide the evidence of his rock-hard arousal that she stirs up every damn time he lays eyes on her. Green eyes that sparkle in the low lighting, locking on his blue. She sees him and he sees her, never exchanging words, just eye locks and then he is off.

In a rare occasion that Killian indulges the other members of his crew in playing craps, he casually asks about Emma to one of the kinder men, Bill Starkey, a slightly older married man, who handles the books for the clubs that Lepke owns.

“What of that lounge singer Starkey, she is a sight for sore eyes if I may say so myself”, Killian mentions with a smile. The older man looks him over for a second, and replies “She is a quite a dame, isn’t she? Voice of a siren an everything, but she is not to be trifled with - She keeps to herself, is a bloody fantastic piece of entertainment, draws the crowds in, but she does not mess with our crew. Many of ours have learned that the hard way he says with a laugh, Tough as brass that one is, so don’t bother with her”, and the man went back to the game.

When Starkey bids goodnight, leaving the younger men to their games, another crew member that Killian has somewhat befriended named Victor Whale leans over, exhaling a cloud of smoke. “If its Emma you’ve set your sightings on, you are not as slick as you think ya git, my girl Ruby mentioned that she caught you watching her shows on occasion, but Emma doesn’t date anyone around here, if she does date, it isn’t anyone related to our line of work”.

Bidding goodnight to Killian and the few stragglers still playing, he stands and Killian notices Ruby Lucas in her coat waiting by the door with a smile on her face. Whale takes her hand and pulls them out the door. Killian feels a pang of jealousy at their obvious companionship but pushes the thought away.

Ruby Lucas, the costume coordinator for the club, is a gorgeous specimen of her own right with long chocolate locks, hazel eyes, and legs for days. She has worked in the club a long time, and if anyone knows Emma, its Ruby. Killian decides that perhaps he shall inquire to Ms. Lucas about Swan but tucks the thought away for another time.

He has gained enough information about her for one night, he will have to just be patient. If Ruby has noticed him watching Emma, he would bet the few dollars left in his lightened pocket tonight that she has told Swan about him, and that is something he is not quite sure he knows how to feel about.

He wonders what Ruby would tell Emma, since she was obviously very much with Whale, she must know more about their conducted business, but appears to know when to keep her mouth shut. Maybe, the tides will be in his favor since he tends to keep a low profile in his job. The bosses like him because he is discreet and is known not to be messed with.

Emma sees him alright, black suits, navy wool suits, tuxedoes at parties, custom made shirts, and she would bet her last dollar that those cufflinks he always wears are actual sterling silver.

He has slicked back inky hair, tousled in just the right places, a permanent five o’ clock shadow, and forget me not blue eyes that haunt her for days every single time she catches a glimpse of him staring right back at her.

She notices the way he carries himself, so confident, dangerous, and definitely a hustler. He must be connected somehow, and Emma does not want that complication in her simple life.

He looks at her sometimes like he would devour her like a man on death row, and she being his last meal. She cannot get mixed up with someone like him, she has survived this long without someone, and the last time she allowed someone into her heart it nearly broke her in two.

Her friend Ruby has casually mentioned him, his name is Killian Jones, he works with her boyfriend Victor, but she does not know exactly what his role is. Ruby giggles as she talks about how handsome Killian is, and notes that he always throws her a generous tip, never ogling her or being disrespectful like some of the other crew who think that any woman in the club is dumb enough to roll in the sack with them.

Ruby has been with her boyfriend for a few years from what she mentions, having been together since before Victor’s job with Lepke’s crew, whatever that may be. Ruby is also one of the few people that makes Emma smile genuinely and lifts her spirits. Emma considers the brunette one of her very few real friends.

One night after her set is done, Emma enters her dressing room, and slips out of her dress, carefully hanging it inside the garment bag, and lights a cigarette, swallowing a sip of her Manhattan. Her roommate Mary Margaret is getting better and better with her sewing skills, her emerald green gown tonight is delicate, covered in sequins and green feathers float around the hem of her dress, she admires the gown once more before zipping the bag.

Standing in her silk stockings and garters, she begins removing her jewelry and realizes suddenly that she is not alone. Sitting in a low chair in the back corner of the dressing room is Killian fucking Jones. She grabs for her silk robe, tying it quickly- trying to regain some of her modesty. Watching her with those blue eyes, fingers crossed under his chin while he leans forward, elbows on his knees.

"Don't stop on my account love, I simply wanted to introduce myself, and I thank the bloody gods that I was granted enough luck to watch your private show just now. He smirked at her, running is tongue over his bottom lip, and she wanted to punch that smirk off his smug face, even if her heart beat faster in her chest and not from anxiety.

“Emma breathe,” she internally chastises herself. Her brain reconnects, she stamps out her cigarette, and she manages to spit out “listen pal, I don't know who the hell you think you are, but I am not that type of woman. Go buy one down the street if you need to get your rocks off but get the hell out.”

He stood up, adjusting his trousers by the belt, which she noticed were fitting awfully tight, the evidence of his arousal clear but now covered as he buttoned his coat up.

He spoke, his voice a lilting Irish accent, “I apologize lass, I simply wanted to introduce myself and give you these in person,” he held out a large bouquet of creamy white roses tipped in pale pink, tied with a black silk ribbon.

“You are a vision, both on and off the stage Swan, and I simply was hoping to make your acquaintance as we seem to catch each other’s eye from time to time. I thought perhaps my interest was reciprocated, but clearly it is not, and I shan't bother you again”.

Emma did not know what to say, still shocked, her red painted mouth in a grim line. She caught his cologne as he made his exit, carefully avoiding touching her in any way. He smelled of wood and spice, and definitely rum.

Right as he was crossing the threshold to exit, Emma made a rash decision, and grabbed his hand, locked eyes with him and said, “Don't ever do that again, thank you for the flowers, but I am not interested.”

“They're nothing compared to you Emma, but I do apologize again”, and with that parting line Killian quietly exited, making sure to close the door fully behind him.

Emma locked the handle, ensuring no one else would interrupt her. She cleaned most of her face off and pulled on her burgundy wool dress and matching coat, gathered her things, and her flowers hailing a cab home.

Tagging a few who might be interested! @wefoundloveunderthelight @itsfabianadocarmo @purplehawkcaptain @the-lady-of-misthaven @the-captains-ayebrows @thesschesthair @myfearless-love @kmomof4 @jonesfandomfanatic @hookedpirate @xhookswenchx @let-it-raines @letmedieahooker @captainswanouat @captainswoon @cathloves @laschatzi @timeless-love-story @asluve @ao3feed-cs @ahookerandproud @ineffablecolors @the-darkdragonfly @donteattheappleshook @kymbersmith-90 @elizabeethan @the-darkdragonfly @tnlph @the-captains-ayebrows @captainswoon @captainswanouat @captain-swan-coffee @jrob64 @whimsicallyenchantedrose @captainirishstubble @onceuponadaily @resident-of-storybrooke @greenlef777 Let me know if you want to be added or removed!

#once upon a time #captain swan #killian jones #emma swan

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thepasswordis1234 · 3 years

Text

TIME FOR A EUROVISION REVIEW 2021

My top 10 (based on their videoclips and vocals):

1. Iceland

2. Portugal

3. Germany

4. Sweden

5. Israel

6. Italy

7. Switzerland

8. Norway

9. The Netherlands

10. France

youtube

Wanna hear my specific comments? Read more below!

note : I am just a fan of Eurovision, no hate towards any of the songs, cuz it’s great to have them on this beautiful show!

5. Israel : sounds familiar already, has the potential to become a hit, still feels like Dua Lipa tho

Croatia : not sure, sounds heavy, the Croatian part is a bit late in the song but it is an edge

Greece : she’s only 18 years old, typical powerballad, hopefully she will hit those notes when performing live, still interesting

6. Italy : good set of guitars, something different than the other Eurovision stuff PLUS it is sung in Italian, hats off

Azerbaijan : instantly made me think about Netta - Toy (winner of 2018), also had the same height of voice, meh

Georgia : some calm melodies in between all that yelling, little too sweet for my liking but quite all right

Malta : Lizzo, is that you? weird saxophone thing, doesn’t really fit, but it’s okay for the rest

Bulgaria : Lily Allen??? It’s a good song, but I’m not sure whether she will deliver live - it makes or breaks a song. ALSO Malta and Bulgaria both had the ‘let’s show pictures of my youth’-card, hmm

4. Sweden : it gave me goosebumps, so it must mean something, it’s a good voice

1. Iceland : I love how funky it is, Dadi is so cool, plus the band is just his family and his mates, it’s great, I want a sweater too

North-Macedonia : Disney powerballad much? I don’t really understand what he sings (bad pronunciation), beautiful melody, no need for words

Latvia : I turned down the sound of my computer, it was a bit much, also she isn’t wearing pants, why? Also why does she sound so mad?

Poland : very sleek, but does he think he is Robin Thicke or something? Always those sunglasses, where are your eyes? Didn’t do anything for me

United Kingdom : he has a good voice and the song is quite cool too, not the ‘normal’ weird UK vibes

Estonia : I had time to check the comments, I think that says enough

7. Switzerland : cool song, could be really powerful live, if he hits all the notes

Russia : meh

Denmark : the outfit is a no from me, it fits him awkwardly, seems like a cheaper version of Olly Alexander (Years&Years) PLUS I don’t think he will hit his notes live (sorrynotsorry)

Austria : one of the two songs called ‘Amen’, I was able to fill in the gaps when he was adding weight to his sentences, so a bit predictable, but it had a nice undertone of organ there

Australia : Feels like Florence + The Machine merged into one person, surely people like the song, but I’m not a fan of it

Spain : he won’t make it to the final

Ukraine : weird voice and I don’t think this will be in the final either, the high tones hurt my ear a bit

Cyprus : feels like Sia? Also the clip seems material for an epileptic attack (oof harsh), don’t think this will make it

2. Portugal : Disney vibes are back, like their winner Salvador Sobral did in 2017. Voice sounds like James Morrison in every good way PLUS it is a good song

San Marino : why are the on a turning diamond shape? why? meh

Serbia : quite interesting that it is in their own language, but I’m not too sure if they will make it to the final

9. The Netherlands : different than anything else, not bothering me in the slightest

Moldova : looks like a wannabe Britney Spears, that’s a pity, also the song is a no from me sorry

Romania : she needs to cut her bangs, had a good message but yeah I don’t think that will give her a spot in the final

Belgium : like the comments said, Lana del Rey or Muse could do a very interesting cover of this, it’s different and I think this will be cool in the final

Albania : also sung in their own language in a typical powerballad-y way, not sure how this will do

Slovenia : the other ‘Amen’-song, there will be some definite rivalry between these cuz they sound similar, close call

Ireland : it’s an okay song, but not sure how this is the same country that won Eurovision 7 times already

3. Germany : weird clip but so nice and happy and cheer-up-y, the singer looks like PewDiePie, so that’s funny too, I watched the whole clip, so I liked it

Finland : it’s the metal/rock scene from Finland again that we are used to (remember the 2006 winners from Finland?)

8. Norway : oh I love the outfit and cool song, could be used in a John Green film adaptation / Love Victor segment, also he resembles Drew Starkey (Rafe in Outer Banks)

Czech Republic : indifferent about it, but I don’t think this will be in the final

10. France : lovely voice and beautiful clip I just kept watching, could be used in a film drama

Lithuania : oh I don’t think he will go to the final, the height of the notes and the pressure of being on stage will kill him internally PLUS the song is called Discoteque, I want disco tunes man, but kudos for wearing those heels

#eurovision #esc #esc2021 #eurovision 2021 #review #iceland #portugal #germany #sweden #israel #italy #switzerland #norway #the netherlands #france #top 10

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hotchley · 3 years

Note

🐨 I feel like I’m overusing your asks, but you did give me an emoji and that’s more power than I should be trusted with.

A) your enjoyment of “kid” as a nickname is a MOOD! I have a coach who calls me “kid” or “kiddo” sometimes and I’m always like “yes! I am young! There is still so much LIFE to be lived!”

B) YES SEAVER IS SO PRETTY! She was young and pretty and had what could have been a cool background story; if they’d developed her better (also if misogyny wasn’t a thing) she could have been an awesome character. I don’t get why people can love JJ and hate Ashley.

C) Can I cash in on the honorary older sister thing? I have a karate evaluation coming up and it’s a BIG one (if I pass I’m on track to get my black belt within a year). And the band I’m in at my church is recording songs for the month and I was assigned a very difficult, extremely high song to lead vocals for. Plus school is, well, school. I know you’re still trying to figure out the whole ‘balance’ thing too, but if you have any words of wisdom? I also decided it would be a good week to update my inspirational quote wall, so if you have any inspirational/motivational song lyrics, TV/book/movie quotes, famous quotes, etc, that I should put up, that would be much obliged.

I hope you’re doing alright, too, with school and writing and everything. You’ve been writing SO MUCH and it’s been SO GOOD! I just read ‘do they even know?’ and OH MY GOSH!!!!!

Please don’t feel like you’re overusing, I love getting asks!! Sometimes it takes me forever to answer them (especially if they’re suggestions for things) but I do love them!

A) I KNOW!! There’s something so comforting about being perceived as young. I’m like: Yes. I am a child. I am under eighteen, and there is no need for me to grow up just yet.

B) ISN’T SHE??? Literally, if more than thirty seconds had been spent on her character, she would’ve been amazing. In fact, the problem with a lot of the female characters, like Strauss and Haley, was misogyny. They all had potential to be really strong, but also vulnerable but NOPE. People always say that Seaver was just JJ’s stupid replacement but like, put stuff with the network aside, and she really wasn’t... JJ was a liaison at that time. Ashley was a student at the FBI Academy...

C) I think I’ve gotten better with the balance thing this week. Slightly. What I did was, I set a timer for an hour and a half because that’s the longest I can work for without losing concentration, and then I took a ten/fifteen minute break. I also made a list of things I wanted to do each day so I didn’t get too overwhelmed and knew what needed to get done. SO: do not overwhelm yourself. Do not try and get everything done at once. Break it down into things that you find manageable. Maybe create some structure. And let yourself have breaks in which you do something fun. Give yourself rewards for each small task you do!!

But please, under no circumstances, do you use food as a reward. I know people are like: Oh let yourself have a piece of chocolate or something sweet as a treat but don’t do it. If you’re hungry and that’s what you want, just pause and get it or else you’ll fall into unhealthy patterns. Trust me, because when I was in year 10/year 11 I would do that and I started to notice that I was accidentally neglecting eating properly because I would go: Well I can’t eat that till I do this. And luckily, I kicked the habit early, but it was still a bad move.

And for your board... every quote in my bullet journal is kinda sad or dramatic, but here are some nice ones that I like from my list of things i want to hand letter at some point:

“How rare and beautiful it is to even exist”- Saturn, Sleeping At Last

“With every broken bone, I swear I lived”- I Lived, One Republic

“Long story short, I survived”- long story short, Taylor Swift

“To love or have loved, that is enough.”- Victor Hugo, Les Mis

“Find a place inside where there’s joy, and the joy will burn out the pain,”- Joseph Campbell (or Penelope Garcia’s favourite author)

“Humans were remarkable things.”- Me! From my novel, the heartbreaker’s handbook (which you can read on wattpad hehe)

If I think of any more, I will share!!

#🐨 anon

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zodiyack · 4 years

Text

Trust Me

Requested by Anon: Can I make a request for a fic? I have this Idea where the reader was one of Bruce Wayne’s adopted teenagers but she hates Bruce so she runs away. She and Roman fall in love so she asks him to torture Bruce for her.

Pairing: Roman Sionis x Wayne!reader

Warnings: Mention of running away, torture/murder mention, fluff, swearing, suggestive word, random story that I’ll try to improve sometime

Key: Y/f/n = Your friend’s name

Note: I started out this story, thinking I knew what I was doing- but it turns out starting a story, sleeping, and then continuing the story just messes up your thought process- Also title doesn’t make sense, but yeeee

Taglist: @stardancerluv @matth1w

Masterlist

Trust was not her greatest quality. In fact, she didn’t have much of it. Her adopted father was one of the reasons it shattered so quickly. When she was just fourteen, she cared for and loved the kids in the Wayne house, she loved Bruce Wayne, looked up to him just as a child would to their parent.

But the happy reality didn’t last long. It wasn’t so much of a reality as it was a dream. She discovered it on her own. At the age of seventeen. The batcave, her father’s secrets. What would happen to those kids if he died? A lot. What would happen to those kids if someone figured out his real identity? A lot.

That, sadly, was not the only problem. Sure, the children’s life could potentially one day be in danger, but the fact that he hid it and lashed out at Y/n for finding out was the final straw. He never apologized. She gave him an entire month but the silent treatment and the dirty looks finished it for her. If he was gonna act that way, she could to.

Over the next month, she grew to hate him. Her blood boiled at the thought of him. How he was willing to put the children’s life on the line and how he was so rude and ignorant to Y/n. She had enough and finally, she ran away.

Now, many years later, she was twenty-four and working at a place that was half bar half cafe. The easiest job she could get, plus she started working after she ran away. They hired her in the cafe side until she turned twenty-one, which allowed her to work in both parts.

Her shift was over and some friends she made at the job asked her if she wanted to go have some fun, to which she responded, yes. So they went.

Y/n’s friend spoke strongly about some place called The Black Mask, so of course that’s where they went. The doors opened and a woman on stage stopped singing.

“Fuck-” They just intruded on a rehearsal.

“We’re so sorry, we thought it was open. My bad, I told them about this place and I was really eager to s-”

A man stepped forward and smiled, opening his arms as a welcoming. “No, no worries, it’s quite alright. We are open, just letting her try some new songs while the company is still pretty low. No one has been interrupted, so feel free to stay.” His eyes scanned the group, spotting Y/n. “You- what’s your name?”

“I’m Y/n uh...L/n. And you are?”

“The owner. Roman Sionis. Have you not heard of me?” He walked over to her and grabbed her hand, lifting it and kissing it softly. She blushed and shook her head, averting her gaze from his intense and lustful eye contact. “Ah, how unfortunate. Would you care to sit with me?”

“Sure...can they come too?”

“Ehh...I suppose. But it’s you I’m interested in.” He grabbed her hand and led her up to his spot, sitting down and grabbing his drink. Roman didn’t know why, but she just grabbed his attention. Right of the bat, he wanted to know everything about her. He craved her.

The night went well, and they exchanged numbers. She kept returning, sometimes with and and sometimes without her friends. Roman was this mysterious man who made her go wild. He made her heart skip a beat. She had no clue to why or how, until her friend said the one thing she never thought of.

“You idiot, you’re in love with him! And if you used your fucking eyes, you’d see he’s in love with you too!”

Over some time, she took her friend’s words to heart and confronted him at the club. She’d been there many times, too many to count, so she shouldn’t have been this nervous to talk to Roman. But she was. As she walked over to him and sat next to him, as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder, as he looked into her eyes...she swore she had butterflies, no, not butterflies, but giants. Giants in her stomach.

“Well well well, what do we have here?” Roman squeezed her shoulder and chuckled. He was poking at her distance, the way she didn’t speak as much and the way she zoned out often. She just seemed...absent.

“R-Roman. I need to talk to you...alone.”

Zsasz “Whatever you have to say to him, you can say in front of m-”

“Leave us, Victor. Take them with you too.” Victor halted, hesitating as if waiting for Roman to crack up into laughter and say he was kidding. It wasn’t the best choice, knowing Roman. “I said go!”

Victor and the men Roman was referencing scrambled up and left as quick as they could, leaving Y/n and Roman by themselves. He let out a heavy sigh of annoyance and turned to face Y/n better. He lifted her hand and kissed it softly.

“Roman...I don’t want this to change our relationship, ya know, since we’ve already become great friends...but...”

He pushed some of her hair behind her ear, smiling at her shyness. “Whatever seems to be the problem?”

“Roman. I think I’m in love with you.”

The man stopped and took a second. His face contorted a couple times, showing that he was in thought. He mumbled some stuff under his breath and then smiled. “I’m glad to know you feel the same way L/n. But the question is, do you think, or do you know?”

“I- ...I know. I know I’m in love with you.”

No response came from him until he leaned forward quickly and smashed his lips into hers. Y/n could’ve sworn she felt fireworks, and unknown to her, Roman had the same feeling. She stayed by him that night, discussing what was going to happen.

Months passed, the couple grew closer. She ended up quitting her job and moving in with him after some time. It wasn’t rushed, and Roman didn’t force her, she took her time and Roman was pleased. Y/n learned about his secret side later on, and he was the one who told her.

Just the mere fact that he chose to tell her rather than keeping it a secret, made her smile and filled her heart like she was falling even more in love with him. However, it also reminded her of someone. Roman, just as he noticed her distance before she confessed, noticed her sadness, no matter how well it was hidden. He tried everything to get her to speak, only proving successful when she gave into her pain.

“It isn’t completely true, that my last name is L/n.”

“It isn’t? Have you been married?”

“No...I was a Wayne for some time... I believe 4 years to be exact...”

Roman paused, confused and a bit jealous. “A Wayne? You were involved with Bruce Wayne?”

“No! God no! He...he adopted me when I was fourteen. Took me in, all that stuff...sadly, he only did one thing. Made my trust become my worst quality. I ran away. I couldn’t handle all of the trust that had been broken.”

Roman didn’t know what to say. Normally, he would go out and murder the person who caused his Y/n pain, but seeing as she was still hurting in that second, something needed to be done to comfort her. “W-what can I do?”

She cuddled into his side and sobbed quietly. “You k-know what you can do? What you can do, is what you do for your job. Torture him. Torture the fuck out of him so he can see what a fucking ass he is! Maybe then, he’d actually speak to me like I’m a fucking human.” Y/n sobbed even harder into his shoulder when she finished her rant. Hearing how much Bruce had pained her made Roman want to do exactly what Y/n asked...and more.

He planned it all out. Called over a group to kidnap Bruce and set up his idea of having Y/n get some revenge. He talked to her about it, and he told her that she didn’t have to if she didn’t want to, but this idea was one of the best she’d ever heard.

So there. There Bruce Wayne was, hanging upside down and looking as confused as ever. The confusion intensified when he saw Y/n and Roman walking over to him. A man ripped the tape off his mouth.

“Y/n? Is that really you? What happened? I thought you died-”

“Tut tut tut. You don’t get to speak to her. You lied to her, hurt her, broke her trust, and when she ran away, did you send anyone to look for her?” Bruce stayed silent. Roman’s breathing started to grow heavy, “I asked you a question! Did you fucking look for her!?”

“No.”

“And why not?!”

“Because I... I don’t know.”

Roman walked around Bruce. He stopped in front of him and crouched. “Look at you, so helpless. How do you think Y/n felt when you ignored her?”

“Y/n...I didn’t mean it. I was a bad parent, please, come back home. I’m sorry.” Bruce ignored Roman and moved his head to the side slightly. Roman rolled his eyes and moved in front of his view again.

“You’re sorry? Look at her! You hurt her! You broke one of the most important things to her! Do you know what that is!? Huh!? Tell me, what do you think you broke in her?”

Bruce opened his mouth to speak, but closed it. He closed his eyes and sighed. He didn’t know, and he didn’t think he would ever know. All he knew about the topic, was that he hurt Y/n a lot. He hurt her to the point where she ran away, and when he didn’t look for her, it hurt her even more.

Roman grunted angerly and punched Bruce in the nose. Y/n smiled and walked up behind her lover, crouching down with him and kissing his cheek. She looked back at Bruce and clenched her jaw, the hatred and memories finding their way to her brain just by looking at him.

“You broke my trust. Wayne. You brutally smashed it into a million pieces. So, my amazing boyfriend, who actually gives two shits about me, is going to be um...well returning the favor, but to whatever limbs or parts of your body he desires. Now, with that said, goodbye, father.”

She turned and walked away. Once she was out of the room, Roman turned back to Bruce and smiled. “Oh boy, we’re gonna have a lot of fun, aren’t we, Mr. Wayne?” He aimed his fist and swung.

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unwiltingblossom · 4 years

Text

The Karaoke Date (MLQC, MC x All, oneshot)

The MC sings for each of the men. The same song, each one with their own response to it.

AN: Specifically this version. It’s recommended to listen to it whilst reading it, like any fic using a song.

The other night dear, as I lay sleeping I dreamed I held you in my arms But when I awoke, dear, I was mistaken So I hung my head and I cried

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine You make me happy when skies are gray You'll never know dear, how much I love you Please don't take my sunshine away

She'd gotten a little ahead of herself, running across the jet to the karaoke machine when she'd spotted it, but they had an 18 hour flight left, and she had too much energy in her to try to watch any movies. She didn't know most of the songs, or if she did the lyrics were in languages she couldn't read. It was a happy coincidence, then, that one of her favorites was an option.

Although she hadn't expected Victor to participate, the music immediately caught his attention and his gaze turned from the papers he was reading up to her. His expression was as predictably exasperated, and by the end of the second verse, he scoffed lightly and shook his head. "...How childish."

In the musical lull, she couldn't help frowning a bit, blush creeping on her face. Thinking about it more...maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. "S-sorry, I'll just--"

"No." Her hand stopped, hovering over the power button on the machine. There was something strange in his voice. A softness she couldn't quite pin down. "If you're going to start singing, you might as well finish the song."

I'll always love you and make you happy If you will only say the same But if you leave me and love another You'll regret it all some day

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine You make me happy when skies are gray You'll never know dear, how much I love you Please don't take my sunshine away

If his laughter weren't so sweet and infectious she might have lost confidence in her 'genius' idea to invite Kiro, musical idol, to go to a private karaoke bar with her. Of course Kiro shared the same sense of humor as her, though, and he'd lit up brilliantly at the idea of going in disguise and the two of them singing karaoke with each other.

She'd decided to go first...mostly because if he started, she'd probably be too insecure about her own singing voice to follow up. While she didn't fool herself about her singing ability, her company kept rapt attention to her, sitting forward in his seat, blue eyes shining in the dim lighting of the room while she sang.

By the second refrain, though, he suddenly jumped up from the couch. It startled her a little, before she saw him reach for the second mic. His face shone in a fascinated sort of glee as he walked up next to her, before giving her a conspiratorial wink - as if there were more than just the two of them there. "Let's make it a duet, okay?"

Before she could protest, he broke into the next verse, voice as clear and beautiful as crystal.

You told me once, dear, you really loved me And no one else could come between But now you've left me and love another You have shattered all of my dreams

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine You make me happy when skies are gray You'll never know dear, how much I love you Please don't take my sunshine away

Gavin sat quietly in his seat. He'd looked awkward since she started singing, but she couldn't really blame him. Normally, she'd have gone to one of her employees or coworkers about potential programming ideas like this, but she'd just been too sheepish. It didn't feel right calling on Kiro to help her with a little song like this, but she just couldn't help feeling that a specific scene in the television show she was working on would only be complete with this song.

Poor Gavin. She'd caught him on the street, and before he'd been able to come up with any excuses to escape, she'd sat him down and made him her test audience. At least she knew he wouldn't make fun of her too hard if her voice wasn't up to it, but she also trusted him to be honest enough to tell her if it was good enough for the spot. If it wasn't, she'd just have to find someone to pay for it on short notice.

He made it almost entirely through the song before he abruptly stood. His head was turned away from her, face obscured by the relative darkness of the room and the angle. Which wasn't a good sign.

"...Is it that bad...?"

Strong arms wrapped around her, before she really knew what was happening, she felt Gavin's face against her neck, and she was almost sure his skin felt wet against hers. "...Sorry."

"Huh?" She frowned in confusion, reaching up to gently pat his back. Could it be...she was secretly so good at singing that she could move someone to tears?

Well...even if that were the case...the hugging felt pretty nice anyway. So her arms curled around him after a few more moments of hesitation, and let herself sink into the reassuring warmth of his arms.

In all my dreams, dear, you seem to leave me When I awake my poor heart pains So when you come back and make me happy I'll forgive you dear, I'll take all the blame

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine You make me happy when skies are gray You'll never know dear, how much I love you Please don't take my sunshine away

He hadn't moved. At all. She'd felt pretty self-conscious doing it to begin with, but he'd looked so distracted and upset with whatever it was that had caught his attention that she couldn't think of anything else but to sing a song. Her voice wasn't the best, she knew, and the only song that came to mind was pretty simple...but she'd seen so many people cheer up when Kiro sang to them - herself included - that she couldn't help wanting to try.

It did work to get his attention on her, but aside from his gaze immediately fixing on her instead of some middle distance problem he'd been fussing over, he hadn't moved. The apartment was still dark, the sun just recently set and neither of them having turned lights on. His face was only lit by the computer screen across the room, casting much of it in heavy shadows while she sang the little song, and those eyes of his were inscrutable, shimmering with something she couldn't identify at all, and intensely focused.

When she finally trailed off, she tilted her head a little and offered him an encouraging smile, expectant. He stayed silent, simply watching her.

Although he had a tendency to know exactly what she was thinking or what she meant to do, she couldn't help the urge to go ahead and try to explain herself anyway. His hand came up to gently touch her cheek before she could, the sudden contact effectively silencing her.

"You..." He always spoke softly, a sort of quietness to his voice that suggested nothing could be so urgent that one needed to raise their voice to get their point across, but now he spoke in little more than a whisper. Like he worried someone else might overhear them, despite it being only the two of them in the dark apartment. "won't sing that song for anyone else."

She couldn't quite read his tone. Was he asking her a question? Or making a request? She couldn't tell, and the darkness of the room made it harder for her to tell than even his tone. All that was clear was that he clearly expected some kind of response. So she smiled up at him and laid one of her hands over the cool fingers on her cheek.

"I wouldn't."

#mlqc #love x producer #mlqc lucien #mlqc victor #mlqc kiro #mlqc gavin #mlqc fic #ooc

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ograndebatata · 4 years

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Thoughts on ‘The Lightning Warrior’

Well... I’m well aware that I don’t usually do these episode reviews of sorts... but I’ve been looking forward to this episode for an awfully long time, and ultimately enjoyed it enough that I felt I should share my thoughts here.

Disclaimer: Any thoughts presented below are purely my own opinion. Some of those opinions will be drawn from scenes that take place in series, or my own personal interpretations on what may or may not have gone on behind the scenes, but they are still only my opinions.

Also, one part of this review will delve into VERY DARK elements and implications, so if you’d rather not see them, please, DO NOT click the read more.

I apologize about it, but... well... it’s just related to a conclusion I came to regarding the episode, and I didn’t want to lie about my thoughts on this matter.

I’m sorry.

With that said, here they come.

First of all, in general terms, I just simply loved the episode. Seriously, it was great. I simply loved seeing Victor and Carla again, and I found that the whole plot point of them needing to help Elena was a logical path to take, and was executed really well. There were funny moments, Victor and Carla recognized their own wrongs, we got more fun characters to add to the EverRealm’s universe, and we got to see believable positive developments in their dynamics with Elena.

Granted, some might say that Elena went a bit too far with her aggressiveness towards them, but as much as I am a fan of Victor and Carla, I don’t fault her for being so suspicious, given everything they did to her in the past. And Elena herself admitted that she was wrong, so that’s a plus.

Also, their song? Absolutely precious.

And the squad pose in the ending scene? Looks epic.

Now... breaking things down a bit more into some specific subcategories...

THE GREAT

- The partial return to way back when

Well... as I said earlier on, I simply loved seeing Victor and Carla return. I will admit, they didn’t exactly become my favorite characters from their first appearance, but I slowly grew to care more for them as time went on. Then Snow Place Like Home came out with that wonderful display of their bond and my feels for them suddenly got a huge boost, which only grew in the following episodes with them both. They all came to a head in The Magic Within, where Victor was petrified and Carla was left completely alone for the first time in her life and, I won’t lie, I genuinely got afraid they would be leaving the series that way, Victor petrified and forgotten, and Carla left to rot in the dungeon.

I understand that they both were villains for a long time, but they just never seemed cruel enough to deserve such a fate, and even if they had been... well... some things are too bad to happen to anyone.

Fortunately, this wasn’t the case here. We got to see them return. We got to see them be together again. We got to see more of their bond, which is just beyond pure and precious, We got to see them singing a wonderful song together about better times. We got to see them actually showcasing the change in their ways. And we got to see them receive a second chance and making good use of it.

The stand-out elements would have to be Victor’s reminsicing about the past and the way he and Carla were willing to help with Ash... but really, every last bit of it was wonderful.

- Close parallels and steps to a new chance

While I went on about Victor and Carla’s development, I liked how we got to see more of this from Elena’s end. As harsh as she may have been at points (not unjustifiably so) and how it took her time to accept that Victor and Carla were being sincere in their attempt at changing, she still shows her empathy when joining into Victor and Carla’s song, and conveys how she can relate to them by longing for a time when things were simpler.

Yes, she still took time to fully give it, but given what they did to her, it’s understandable she’d be resistant to it. I do think there’s one point where she went too far, which I’ll further discuss down below, but at least she showed once more she’s willing to realize the error of her own ways. Which is one of the great things about her.

- A hero and former villains duet

I’m not kidding here. Way Back When seriously already made its way into my top favorites. Like, between the sweet music and lyrics, the sheer longing for the simpler times that Victor and Carla - and later Elena - all share, getting to see younger!Victor with child!Carla in those flashbacks... seriously, I just found it great.

- A shockingly hilarious title character.

Ixlan was priceless. That’s all I can say.

That over-the-top deadpan and stoic personality, that brutal honesty, the way she thinks with her fists... well, it just makes for a combination that I found hilarious.

That said, beyond the humor, I liked how she has actual depth to her, most notably when she can see past first impressions and comes to admit Elena is a good leader, and her dedication to protecting the place where her home used to be.

- Monstro’s Maruvian counterpart

The Moyaku was yet another great. I liked her design - while seemingly being a shout-out to Monstro, she was distinctive enough in her own right, and had a really interesting design. I liked the way it and the general adventure with her reminded me of Pinocchio and the escape he and Geppetto made from Monstro (down to the sneezing) while still being its own thing, and it certainly was a relief to see that the Moyaku seems to have much less of a temper and can admit defeat.

I also liked the way escaping her insides involved both a throwback to the cooking scene and Elena putting her trust in Victor and Carla.

- Naomi’s character development

It was a subtle thing, but I liked how Naomi, like Elena, actually proved she can change her mindset and actually learn to give people a chance.

Also, she was hilarious in that scene involving the dish Victor and Carla cooked.

That’s all.

THE TROUBLESOME

- The pseudo-corpse that stayed there

Well... to give another disclaimer here, I’m NOT one of those people who believes Elena is a heartless monster, or that she’s somehow on the path to becoming evil.

That said, I did find it problematic how she moved Victor to the dungeon, and to top it off, how she seemed to have no intention of ever depetrifying him until Quita Moz said it would take malvagos to break the spell entrapping Ixlan.

I’m not trying to deny that Victor was a villain, and I’m not trying to deny that he endangered Elena. It’s just... there are limits, and leaving Victor petrified and in the dungeon crosses two.

For one, the fact that Carla basically had to deal with seeing what might as well be her father’s corpse every day for who knew how long. Granted, it’s not actually a corpse, but still, when you think about it, it’s beyond disturbing. The only way I could accept her having done that is if Carla somehow asked for him to be there. Because otherwise, even if Elena wanted to move him out of the garden to keep the statue safer, she looks like she has a big enough palace to put him somewhere else. I mean, we even see she even had spare dungeon cells. Honestly, this is just... well, problematic. Especially because Elena said she’d deal with Carla later way back in The Magic Within... and yet, if this episode is anything to go by, she wouldn’t have done anything about this whole situation if she hadn’t needed Victor and Carla.

It just... It just doesn’t look good, I feel.

For another... well... at the risk of sounding dark... there’s the fact that, in this universe, petrification can be seen as potentially worse than death.

If this sounds like it doesn’t make sense, let me explain why I have this opinon. We know that an afterlife exists in this universe. We know that people move on there when they die. And we know that people who get petrified have no awareness of anything until they get depetrified, which was visible with Fiero in Rise of the Sorceress and Victor in this very episode. So, if Victor had stayed petrified, he would have been separated from Carla for all eternity. At least Elena will get to reunite with her parents when she dies, if not before then. If Victor hadn’t been depetrified, Carla would never have seen him again.

Again, I’m not saying Elena is a monster who was deliberately torturing Carla with that. She possibly - even likely - may not have thought this through. But still.. I just can’t help but see it as problematic.

- Isolation is not a joke

Well... this one is something may just resonate too personally a bit too much, but I will confess I didn’t like the way Elena just automatically sent Victor and Carla off to Soledad Island, and how Carla just joked about it, on two fronts.

First, after the overwhelming isolation she appears to have endured, I’m not sure it’s in-character for her to make that kind of joke.

Second, after what happened in recent months, and to a degree is still going on today, I got to experience first-hand what even much less severe social isolation can do.

I will cut this one quite a lot of slack, because the episode was made before the Coronavirus Pandemic became a thing, and this is still a show for children, but still... it feels genuinely off to see isolation played for laughs so much when I know from personal experience how even less severe one can be damaging. And it similarly feels the same way when looking back at certain characters’ previous fates, like the Chiki-Chiki in The Last Laugh.

Hopefully later shows will learn from this. I do understand why they would want to keep a measure of ‘downplayed realistic elements’ for the sake of storytelling, but still, I hope they learn this lesson from this era.

THE DIVISIVE

- Changes in magic brand

Well... again, I will partially admit I may be biased here, especially given the path I took in my fanfic AU... but honestly, looking at actual canon, I think that Victor and Carla ceasing to be malvagos was not a good idea.

First of all, the episode just showed how useful it was to have malvagos on the good side. Without that, Ixlan would presumably have stayed imprisoned for eternity. It doesn’t make sense to throw that way, especially because now there will be no one to undo Ash’s evil spells if she uses something comparable to what trapped Ixlan.

Second... we never actually get to see a proper reason that would justify them wanting to learn good magic. Despite there being a few differences, malvago and wizard magic seem to largely overlap. And there was no in-universe reference or explanation that being a malvago by itself is somehow psychologically damaging. Victor and Carla had their personalities stay the same even though they were malvagos for around a year, so there’s no sign of it ‘bringing about issues’.

Third... well... this is just my general opinion, but I confess I’m one of those who just thinks it would be more ‘narratively interesting’ and would ‘further set them apart’ if Victor and Carla had stayed malvagos (whether they wanted to change back or not) and ended up learning to use dark magic for better purposes - which well, this very episode proved it can be done, even if only in rare circunstances. And again, for the most part, dark and light magic seems to overalp.

But this is just me.

THE CONCLUSION

A great episode. It had a few ‘iffier’ spots, but overall, it was still a great episode. If all the episodes that will still come are as good as this one, the series will have a great ending indeed.

#elena of avalor #spoilers #the lightning warrior #tw: darkness #tw: disturbing content

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littlekiara96 · 4 years

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AU no one asked for (SWSH)

Headcanons for a Ballet School!AU for Sword and Shield characters.

Because I can and no one will stop me MWA HA HA

Some bits may be ooc, I didn’t want this to be angst but fluff and wholesome material.

I hope you enjoy, and if so, please reblog and share the wholesomeness, or even add your own ideas ! ^^

Staff

- Chairman Rose is now Headmaster Rose of the Rose Ballet School. He always encourages the students to do their best in competition, but without hurting themselves. He wants his school to be recognized as the best in the world, but he cares. A lot.

- When Rose watches his students dance during competitions or do their annual ballet for friends and families at the school, he always ends up crying like a proud uncle/father.

- Teachers are: Opal and Magnolia, both former star ballerinas. They were rivals in their young days, but now they sip tea together whenever possible.

- Opal mostly takes care of the younger pupils, whilst Magnolia teaches the pas-de-deux to the older ones.

- Oleana is also a teacher. She’s the one who actually shows how to do the most difficult positions, and gives night lessons on demand for those who think they need more exercising.

- Kabu teaches the male dancers. He sometimes gives small speeches about how one must respect their partner and take care of them.

- He sounds almost too romantic for the boys and they’re all slightly flustered and awkward by the end of it every time.

- The four of them are strict but kind, each in their own ways.

- Melony is the one in charge of making the costumes. Once in a while, her son Gordie comes to help her.

- They do bicker about designs, but they always end up with beautiful garments for everyone.

- Milo takes care of everything happening in backstage, be it the decors, the lights, the music, everything.

- The staff members helping him are a mix of Yell grunts and League staff. They’re like a little found-family of their own.

Older students

- Leon is the best dancer of the school. He is strong enough to hold his partners up in the air and his form and technique are top-tier, whether he dances adagio or allegro. Thus, he more than often gets the main role.

- His rival in the allegro is Raihan. He’s the best at holding his partners, but his solo movements are far more dynamic, almost brute-ish.

- He loves doing the bad guy’s part, though, so he doesn’t mind his rivalry with Leon.

- Surprisingly enough, Piers is also a great dancer. Although he can’t hold his partner up for much time, his body is very flexible and he’s the best at doing cambrés. He prefers the slow adagios over anything.

- Need someone for a sad, nostalgic solo? Leave it to him.

- But don’t tell Piers he’s got fans besides his younger sister. He would blue-screen.

- Nessa and Sonia are best friends. They applied together at the school years ago when they were still kids.

- They both dance beautifully, but Nessa is more of a solo dancer whereas Sonia loves doing pas-de-deux with anyone.

Younger students

- Hop and Bede are rivals, obviously.

- Hop wants to be as great as his big bro, but he’s scared he’ll never be good enough when doing pas-de-deux.

- Leon keeps encouraging him and saying he sees improvement in his form and technique each time he sees Hop dance.

- Bede having the “prince charming flare” (Opal’s words) doesn’t help Hop with his self-confidence, though.

- But Bede isn’t perfect either, and he much rathers having the stage all to himself than having to share it with a partner.

- He loves being the flamboyant villain against prince Hop. But he won’t ever admit it.

- Marnie is talented. She’s graceful and calm, even when alone on stage.

- But ohh boii is she a nervous wreck when backstage.

- She doesn’t show it at all, but it just radiates from her. And it stops once the lights are on her.

- Piers is so proud.

- Allister and Bea are the youngest recruits.

- Bea needs to learn how to smile more when dancing, but she’s getting there.

- All the girls keep encouraging her and saying she already has a beautiful dance style of her own.

- Allister is so shy.

- Although he was able to warm up to everyone in the school, he just can’t stand the idea of dancing on stage with people watching him.

- Rose had the idea of giving him small roles who could use masks on stage. Hence why Allister often ends up being the villain’s right-hand man, who is either Bede or Raihan.

Gloria/Victor/Protag/OC/Reader

- Gloria and Victor would be part of the younger students, anyway.

- Any OC or self-insert could be part of either group, according to their age.

- You can work from there to make any ship interaction you wish to see.

Bonus (potential ship interactions, non-exhaustive list)

- Once or twice a month, the teachers get together with all of the students, and everyone spends the day training however and with whomever they want.

- Every staff member is also invited to watch, and also give ballet a try, just for fun and laughs.

- Sonia’s Yamper is running everywhere like the happiest puppy ever, being petted and getting scratches by absolutely everyone.

- These “special lessons” are also the best occasions to dance with your lowkey crush.

- If Hop has a crush on someone, you bet Leon will tease him about it. Even more so if he sees Hop and his crush dancing together.

- But if Leon has a crush, Hop will retaliate.

- Bede will be a tsundere to his crush. As will Marnie, potentially.

- Raihan and Milo are complimenting Piers in a corner. Piers is a blushing mess.

- If Pier’s crush comes then and compliments him in any way, about any thing, he will die.

- Raihan will totally ask his crush for a dance. A friendly dance between friends.

- Bede and Raihan start a rivalry over who’s the best villain.

- When they ask Allister, he just plays with his mask and says they’re both great and he admires them, because they’re so flamboyant on stage.

- Hence Bede getting slightly flustered and both kids getting bear-hugged by a proud and happy Raihan.

- Kabu and Oleana give a bonus lesson on the pas-de-deux with a demo. Everyone claps in genuine admiration at their expertise.

- Kabu then announces the special pas-de-deux lesson that will now occure.

- The young boys have to help the older girls reach as low as possible while doing one of the most iconic poses of the Nutcracker without falling. The young girls get lifted into the air by the older boys.

- Now imagine who gets flustered by doing the exercise with whom.

- I mean, obviously all of the kids are being kind of shy at this point, moreso if it’s their first time helping or being helped by the older students.

- But have an example with Postwickshipping : Hop is helping Sonia, when Gloria comes and says “I want to do that with Hop, too...” with a small pout. And Hop almost lets Sonia fall. Or he does. Whatever rocks your boat.

- Want an example with some Piers x Reader ? Alright ; Piers is lifting Marnie up, both smiling because yay, nice siblings interaction is nice, while you approach and look at them with a small smile. Piers lets Marnie down, cue to you sighing and then saying “You’re so lucky you have such a strong, kind and beautiful big brother, Marnie”. Marnie smirks, because she knows what you’re doing, but Piers... he just becomes red.

- After the annual show for friends and families, all of the school members gather and have a wholesome afterparty. Any participant who wishes to may come up with a little choreography (or any kind of performance) and show it to everyone.

- Nessa and Sonia do a pas-de-deux together, with a choreography based on the concept of Yin and Yang. It’s so beautiful you could cry.

- Piers and Marnie sing a peaceful song they wrote together. He also plays the acoustic guitar as accompaniment.

- Bede chants poetry on Opal’s request.

- Hop and Leon rap together. It may be a song specifically done to ask someone out.

- Who am I kidding. Any of the performances could be used to ask someone out.

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storiansmane · 5 years

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Grantaire’s Modernized Rant

This is a rewrite of one of Grantaire’s drunken speeches from Les Misérables, in Chapter IV of Book Four–Les Amis de L’ABC, which has been modernized not only into current speech but also do to with current issues. I put quite a bit of effort into it, so enjoy!

~~<><><>~~

Grantaire, extremely drunk, had started ranting at the top of his lungs from the corner of the pub which he had taken over with his volume, shouting: "I'm bored!! I need alcohol, life fucking SUCKS!! It's all so POINTLESS and cheap and short and definitely hates me!! People always talk about wanting happiness, but I mean, how selfish and vain is that!? Hell, it was once said that "all is vanity", and I agree, even if that might not even be a real quote! If you have nothing else, at least you can think about how great you are! People use it to make everything seem so much more important than it is. A kitchen is a 'laboratory', a boxer is a 'pugilist', a doctor is an 'apothecary', even bugs have super extra Latin names!! It can be some good and some bad, I guess. The good is stupid, the verbal and mental equivalent of a participation award. 'You're alive, congratulations!!' The bad becomes too much and people can't stand to be around you. I'm annoyed with one and exhausted with the other. People don't take anything seriously anymore, entitlement leads to making a mockery and a joke of everything! Rich people complain about paying high taxes, happy people write songs about depression and loss and heartache; anything can be 'memed', no matter how serious! Go, then, and enjoy your quote-unquote 'edgy' humor! No one has any respect or integrity anymore. People in relationships cheat on each other, fights over stupid politics ruin friendships, it is our own fault that people die by their own hand! It's too bad I'm stupid, or I'd quote all kinds of ancient wisdom and facts and evidence to prove my point, but I don't know anything. I've always been too much of a smart-ass; when I was put in the most prestigious schools and classes, all I did was fuck around. What's the point of putting so much importance into those things, anyway? Being part of them doesn't make one person any better than another. So even if I'm stupid but privileged, I am fundamentally the same as an intelligent but unfortunate person. It's so fucked, everyone wants to be perfect and have all the best qualities. Every one of those good qualities can be made into bad ones by perspective! Frugality is underneath just greediness, generosity is just attention-seeking in disguise; bravery is an excuse to brag and the pious are also the bigoted. So which are we SUPPOSED to say and understand? Do we applaud the victor or the loser, the Allies or the Nazi's? You'd prefer the victor, right? Great, then I suppose we'll all applaud the corrupt officer who was VICTORIOUS over the unarmed teenager, as well! There's your positivity, but also insanity. That officer did what he did because of human prejudice, just as the Protestant burned the Pagan at the stake because of his prejudice against that which was different. History repeats itself, especially the grimmest generalities. The battle at Palmito Ranch mirrors the battle at Yorktown, the internment of Japanese-Americans inspires the imprisonment of immigrants. I don't see the cause for celebration of victory. You're arrogant for winning and weak for losing. Can nothing be one thing without also exhibiting traits of the other? I'm so done with the human race in general. You expect me to 'help people in need'; what people, then? Should I feed the hungry? What about the homeless, then? Which is more deserving of my help? It's a debate which could go on forever, senseless from the beginning! Our politicians are the reincarnations of the tyrannical emperors of the past, taken straight from our history textbooks. What does one have to do, anyway, to be considered important enough to make it into one of those books? I brush my teeth every day, but I can guarantee you that I'll never learn about the inventor of the toothbrush in my history class. No, instead I'll learn about some of the most horrible men who've ever lived and have done nothing to affect my life. And why? To avoid the repetition of history? Regardless of man's actions, such an outcome seems inevitable in every sense. Not to buy into stereotypes, but the liberal young hopefuls who put so much stock into these dated ideas will find themselves just as stuck. I mention stereotypes with the utmost authority, of course! They make up everything we think about our society on a daily basis! Your clothing, your speech, your actions, and your whereabouts decide for you what kind of person you must be to a thousand strangers a day, easily. Even those who claim to be non-judgemental, their opinions are affected by such stereotypes even if they deny it. Such assumptions are what our society functions on. And it can be beneficial in some situations, of course! A first-impression can warn one of a dangerous person, one to be cautious of, absolutely! It can give one a whole host of necessary information for dealing with a person in a social situation, yes, but can also cause one to miss out on a potentially vital opportunity which now will never be known. And the only thing which MOST PEOPLE will care about is, oh no, FOMO!! Yet this behavior and thinking will never change, no matter a person's intent to block it. It is human nature. You who claim not to judge books by their covers, might you be the uninformed while you claim your superiority to the cautious? And now that you consider that, SURPRISE, what I have just suggested is yet ANOTHER assumption! Even one made about yourself is one which makes you question what you know about your opinions, further proving my point. So what really is different between you and he who judges others by first visual or interactive impression all the same? Dammit, people, I'm telling you!! NOTHING IS DIFFERENT!! The whole human race has an eternal, genetic superiority complex and proves it every day! The other races of the earth are considered lesser races simply because we have taken over what is theirs and made it our own. I do not claim to be immune to such judgment and arrogance! I can acknowledge my faults, that I rely heavily on appearances when I need to! So why not crucify me now!? Where is my judge, jury, executioner!? Oh, so it is you, Louison. Hey, didn't see you there." So Grantaire, far drunker now (if that's possible), caught the girl as she passed just trying to bus the tables, and turned his ridiculous and never-ending rant on her. Bossuet leaned over and tried to clamp a hand over Grantaire's mouth to shut him up, but this started Grantaire off on an even worse rant: "Ugh, GET OFF ME! You're not gonna shut me up or calm me down, not while I'm speaking the truth to the masses, to anyone who will be smart enough to listen! I'm fine, you don't need to do that. I'm just sad. What do you want me to say? Humans are horrible, they just completely suck. Butterflies are great, but humans are failures. God fucked up with this one. You want to see something really screwed up, there's nothing more so than your average joe on the street. Like me. I'm depressed and a hypochondriac and I'm pissed for no reason and I'm sleepy and I'm bored and I'm exhausted and I'm STUPID! FUCK IT ALL!" "Then shut up, please!!" Bossuet tried again to silence him, as he'd been in the middle of trying to have a conversation about work with his friend, in the background as Grantaire threw his tantrum.

#Les Miserables #original writing #Victor Hugo #Grantaire #Les Amis de l'abc #incorrect quotes #Bossuet #ranting #drunk ranting #this was probably pointless and a waste of my time but I had fun doing it #velvet inkspills

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smokeybrandreviews · 4 years

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Smokey brand Movie Reviews: Anger Issues

First proper movie of the year, and it’s Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn. Look, the DCEU is a dumpster fire, so much so that the WB has basically given up on it. They’ve started doing stand alone films as a way to recuperate their image and it’s kind of working. Shazam was fun as f*ck and Joker is rightfully getting so much buzz, it’s ridiculous. Even Aquaman was decent once it was released from the grimdark Snyder vision. Birds of Prey is not that. It is, at it’s core, a DCEU film. This thing might as well be called Suicide Squad but with chicks. It’s that ridiculous. But is it as bad as that? Let’s get into it.

The Great

The very best thing about this movie is f*cking Huntress. Bro, i LOVED Helena Bertinelli in this movie! Mary Elizabeth Winstead owned this part, one hundred percent! She was the MVP of this whole goddamn sh*t show but she sure as f*ck ain’t get MVP minutes! Huntress is in this thing for a grand total of ten minutes, man. It might be more, it might be less, but it definitely ain’t enough because she has NO time to shine! What little she gets, though, she kills! Talk about burying the lead, man. I understand that certain cuts needed to made in order to give the top-biller in Harley the god shots, but f*ck, dude. You can’t tease me with so much awesome and then just snatch it all away! F*ck you for that, movie. F*ck You!

The Good

This thing was cast incredibly well. I was on the fence with some of the announcements during development, but it came together nicely. There aren’t many weak performances and, overall, you can tell that everyone was having fun. There’s a lot of great chemistry among this group and i can see myself giving a proper BoP sequel a chance.

Margot Robbie is Harley Quinn. She embodies this chick like Ryan Reynolds embodies Deadpool, for the most part. She was my first pick going into SKWAD and it felt right seeing her in those hot pants. There were some issues i had with that character, mostly the vanishing accent, but she’s gotten much better since then an that growth shows here. It’s unfortunate that her character doesn’t grow in this two hour run time, especially considering how much time Harley gets onscreen.

Jurnee Smollet-Bell is probably the best Dinah Lance we’re going to get for a while. he was surprisingly adept at the part, even if everyone is butt-hurt that she was race-bent. Her Canary Cry was absolute sh*t but that was more the effects fault. Them sh*ts is cheap! Jurnee did a fantastic job as Black Canary and i wasn’t even mad she wasn’t rocking the fishnets while doing it. She kicks high.

Rosie Perez was an interesting choice for Renee Montoya but i knew she could be fantastic in the role if they gave her room to breathe. Perez could have brought that Puerto Rican heat to the role, and she did a few times, but not enough to make an impression. Again, that’s because this ain’t a Birds of Prey vehicle so all of the Birds had to kind of curtail their time in the camera, and overall character development, in order to make sure Harley got her face time with the audience. It’s kind of f*cked up and makes the movie less for it.

Black Mask was a goddamn spectacle! He’s smarmy, and arrogant, and flamboyant, and campy, and generally just brilliant. He’s one of the best villains of the DCEU, which ain’t saying much, but i can say just SO much about Ewan McGregor’s performance as Roman Sionis. His mask is stupid though. And he’s definitely Black Mask in name only. Still, for what this version is, McGregor delivers. If you’re curious what a closer interpretation of the comic character can be, check out Batman: Under The Red Hood. That’s a far more accurate representation of what Sidonis is supposed to be but I’m not mad what we got here.

Chris Messina as Victor Zsasz is okay. In the book, he’s out of his mine and ludicrously violent. Like, textbook psychopath crazy. In this, he’s still pretty f*cking nuts but he’s also wildly jealous and crazy possessive? I think that’s because of the insinuated relationship between he and Black Mask but you gotta read real heavy into that relationship to even broach that subject. Like, I‘m reaching with that statement but, for the most part, Messina does an admirable job of bringing this character to life.

The action scenes, outside of the awesome that is Huntress, is the real draw of this movie. Harley’s story is cliche and the Birds don’t get much time to develop so they’re kind of inconsequential but the action is superb. It’s, legit, John Wick levels of awesome most of the time. There is a lot of buzz about that jailhouse scene and it’s totally worth all the talk. That motherf*cker was spectacular!

The art direction is pretty amazing in here. This looks like how i think SKWAD wanted to look, but couldn’t because of Snyder grimdark nonsense. Like, if that trailer house had full reign to actually film that movie, BoP is what we might have gotten and it is a much better look for the type of movie these things are. Certain sets, like the funhouse and Sinonis’ club were awesome and the little flairs for characters were on point. The confetti beanbags were absolutely genius!

I would be remiss if i didn’t mention the costumes. Harley had a ton of costume changes, so much so a character mentions it in the middle of a fight, but i wasn’t mad. They all reflect her character and Margot Robbie is a helluva a Barbie to play dress-up with but so was Black Mask apparently. He had almost as many costume changes as Quinn and they were all amazing. I liked what they had Canary in, even if it wasn’t comic accurate and i absolutely adored what Huntress rocked in the beginning. All in all, pretty legit costuming, i must say.

Another one where the sound design is worth mentioning. The direction didn’t elevate this assblast of a movie but the sound design sure as sh*t did. There are a ton of punctuating songs and effects that give otherwise flaccid scenes, that extra Viagra boost to get them rock hard! It’s amazing what music can do for anything really. Throw a dope ass soundtrack behind constipation and you have a serenade that eases things up to drop that deuce. I say that because that’s how it feels watching this goddamn movie.

The Meh

Ella Jay Basco is probably the weakest part of this movie. She does an admirable job as Cassandra Cain for being so young but there are certain instance where you can tell this is her first big gig. She isn’t terrible by any means, there aren’t any terrible performances at all in this thing, but she was easily the weakest of the lot.

The liberties taken with the characters in this movie are interesting. I’m curious as to see where this version of Gotham can go and what these particular interpretations of such iconic Bat-Characters can go. I don’t think they are great as a direct representations, f*cking Cassandra Cain is a particular sore spot for me because i adore her in the books, but i can give her chance. I can give all of these characters a chance. I rather adored this version of Huntress. Ma might be my favorite one! Well, almost. I’m pretty partial to Helena Wayne but i digress. While i don’t particularly care for how these awesome women are represented in this flick, i can see the potential. There is a unique vision here that is worth seeing through.

The writing is so-so. I can’t say it’s bad because there is a lot of good in there, tons of interesting ideas, but the execution is real poor. Most of these scenes feel like, on paper, they were dope as f*ck. On screen, though? Just underwhelming. It’s like they couldn’t translate what they wanted or needed to film for one reason or another. I feel like that might have more to do with the direction, I’m getting to that, but the core of a flick is the writing. If you’re script ain’t on point, you’re movie can’t be and i can see how dull them pages were to begin with.

The direction in this thing is mediocre. Cathy Yan did a “meh” job with this thing. A lot of that might have been due to the script but a great director can elevate straight schlock. Look at James Cameron. Avatar is an ass of a film that rips of f*cking Ferngully but his vision got it Oscars and the number one, highest grossing, spot on the all-time list until Endgame murdered that sh*t. Yan did not elevate this schlock. They had to go back to reshoots and have Chad Stahleski touch up some stuff. Like, the best parts of this thing, the action scenes, weren’t even directed by Yan. I mean, they were at first, but this thing got screened by the execs ad all of that sh*t was tossed out. Stahleski made them things pop! No telling what else he touched up, or f*cked up, on his way out.

The Bad

This is not a Birds of Prey movie. This is a Harley Quinn vehicle with a Birds of Prey cameo. I can see what they wanted to do with this thing, backdoor origin story for one of Batman’s strongest supplementary teams, but with no Barbara Gordon as Oracle, it feels hollow. Especially considering that the Birds, themselves, have next to no screen time. I get that Harley is the money maker but this should have been a Gotham City Sirens film.

The continuity of this sh*t is dubious. It takes place in the old DCEU. It’s legit a sequel to Suicide Squad. Harley references that sh*t twice. I don’t know what that means going forward, but this Gotham ain’t that Gotham at all. It’s weird to see because you spend a good amount of time within the GCPD and no Bullock or Gordon; The latter of which we’ve seen already. It’s awkward the way WB has decided to play fast and loose with what sticks and what doesn’t. Joker is a stand alone and so is Shazam. The Batman is going to be a stand alone or it’s own franchise. Aquaman and Wondy are still in the DCEU continuity but i don’t know how long they will be, especially considering Wonder Woman’s solos are all prequels that have no ties to that Snyder depression exercise. It’s nothing to just pluck her out and add her to a much better executed cinematic universe. With Flashpoint all but confirmed, It feels like none of this matters. This one, for sure, doesn’t.

The plot is still stupid. The McGuffin is better since the reshoots because dick pics? Really? But the writing is still stupid. The whole center of the conflict is ridiculous and the resolution is just blergh.

The only thing worse than the plot is the pacing. This motherf*cker drags! There are entire scenes where nothing f*cking happens and it’s stupid. Most of the time, it’s the scenes with Harley. Her arc is just so f*cking pedestrian. It’s well acted, i said as much above, but it’s SO dumb and i kind of hate it.

This movie really hates dudes. Like, i get it, right? Respect. Recognition. Women deserve all of everything. Equality, feminism, yadda-yadda. I get it. There are ways to execute that perspective which are good. A decent writer would convey that by actually writing decent scenes, not just turning all of the men in the film into juvenile caricatures of chauvinism. I personally don’t care, I’m not a neckbeard typing with one hand while breathing heavily on my monitor in my ma’s basement, but i had to mention it because everyone is mentioning it and they have a point. This is glorified misandry at it’s finest but, you know, patriarchy or whatever. I don’t care. It didn’t take me out of the movie, the sh*tty plot did that, but it was interesting to see in person. It’s hard to justify this bullsh*t when Atomic Blonde exists.

So the gay-baiting. Like, really, dude? If you’re going to do it, go all the way. I read somewhere that Black Mask was supposed to have a homosexual relationship with Victor Zsasz but nah. None of that is expressed in any capacity. There might have been a line referencing it, maybe, but that could have been in regards to the violent outburst in the club the night before. Ambiguous because you gotta sell this thing in China! Renee Montoya is legit gay in the books and, other than a passing line early on, it never comes up again. I think that might be because of the distinct lack of characterization for literally all the Birds in their own f*cking movie, but still. That’s massive part of her character and no one talks about it. No one talks about any of the LBGTQ bullsh*t they pushed in the promotion.

All of this controversy does this flick a disservice. It doesn’t deserve all the hate it’s getting and it definitely doesn’t deserve all of the praise. This is not some super “GRRRL power”, kickass, gay-loving, action flick. It’s a mediocre break-up story that happens to have some interesting action set pieces but, ultimately, is inconsequential in the greater scheme of things. This is the Ant-Man of the DCEU. I spoke about this at length a few days ago and the nonsense that I was afraid was going to happen, is happening. No one wants to sh*t on this flick because of “Muh representation”. It’s a female lead, female directed, piece of sh*t. It is. But it’s a fun piece of sh*t and easily the best, of the worst, of the DCEU but it’s still a piece of sh*t. It’s not changing cinema, it’s not some great step forward in representation, and it’s not doing women in the industry a great service. It’s a quirky, violent, nonsense of a movie and should be judged as such. Again, Atomic Blonde is a much better example of ho to “GRRRL power” your way in the box office. Go watch that instead.

The ending to this thing feels rushed and super anticlimactic. I felt bad about it. Seriously. The way this movie resolves, after everything that took place, is just whack, man. It leaves you wanting, especially after how charismatic Black Mask turned out to be more than that, there’s no resolution. No one grows. Everyone is exactly where they were at the start of this f*cking thing. Like, what was the f*cking point? I can tell they wanted me to think that these chicks had grown into something more but did they really? Did we really see any growth out of any one of them not name Harley? Hell, even Harley is still the same motherf*cker! Like, for real, dude? Someone read that script and thought, “Okey-Dokey, this is good enough!” I just wanted to punch this movie in it’s face when it was over. Like, f*ck you, movie.

The Verdict

Birds of Prey is a bad movie. It’s gorgeous to look at, the costumes are amazing, and most of the performances are super strong. However, the plot is stupid, the pacing is on drugs, and the best parts of this flick get, like, no screen time to breathe. The Birds are guest stars in what, very obviously, is not their movie. This really should have been called “Harley Quinn and The Tiniest Bit of an Origin Story For The Birds of Prey” because that’s what it is. Technically, this should have been Gotham City Sirens to begin with but i ranted about that before. Margot Robbie is bad at picking movies to produce and she definitely produced this one. Got her unfortunate and inexperienced fingerprints all over it. Kind of doesn’t matter what should have been, though, this is what we got and this is a sh*t time, for sure. But, it can be fun at times. There is about as much to like as there is to hate especially if you’re open to being blue-balled when it counts. If that sounds like a party to you, check this thing out. If not, you can pass on it. That’s how meaningless this thing feels.

#Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn #Birds of Prey #Harley Quinn #DC

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rkkyungsoo · 5 years

Text

‹ ace of hearts. ›

MGA5EP07 Performance Solo: All Night (0:30 - 4:21) & LUV (0:00 - 3:58)

With: @rksuwoong, @rkheejin, @ericxrk & coaches @rkella, @rkcheri & @rkwon

Honorary mention: @hyojinrk

Finale.

This was the final stretch and they were crowned the victors of the semi-finals. Joy flooded his chest as he turned towards Suwoong first, his smile so bright that it almost looked out of place on his usually stoic features. He hugged Hyojin - it was a slightly awkward hug because Kyungsoo was still learning how to embrace properly. For one glorious moment, the entire Royal team was perfectly content, basking in their victory, nearly forgetting that they too, must lose someone even though they were the winners.

When Hyojin’s name was called, Kyungsoo’s face visibly fell. Their arms dropped from each other, slowly. Hyojin was trying to not let his disappointment show, but Kyungsoo knew how much it must have hurt. He wanted to say something, but in the end got tongue tied and instead, held silence. Some of the others swept Hyojin away to comfort him, leaving Kyungsoo alone to think about...everything.

They were so close, just one step away from that grand finish line. This was what everyone was chasing after since day one - the thing that they shed endless sweat and potentially tears over. So now that Kyungsoo was actually close, why did he suddenly feel...scared?

Hyojin’s phone number was saved as the seventh friendly contact in his cell as they waved each other goodbye. Kyungsoo had so much on his mind that he barely heard Suwoong’s enthusiastic chatter on their way home. They needed not one song but two for the next week. This also meant two sets of choreo and different ambience for each. They had to select the songs, learn how to sing them, how to dance to them, what they wanted for stage setting and decide the outfits they’ll wear. This task alone would be difficult to accomplish and the Royal team had an additional challenge - they had to defend their crown. Their performances this week would surely be compared to Shangri-La and their only choice was to raise the bars.

There was no way Kyungsoo would want people to accuse his team of resting on their laurels.

Friday came and the coaches greeted them with enthusiasm. Coach Cheri brought them a delicious looking ice cream to celebrate their win. Kyungsoo walked forward absently to claim his portion, his mind still full of song choices when Cheri seemingly stumbled and dropped the cake. He stared, arms still outstretched as if he wanted to help save the cake even though he knew it would not be possible. The other contestants reacted similarly and that made the coaches burst out laughing. They produced the real cake and this one the contestants happily devoured as they discussed song choices. Hyojin, of course, was facetimed and Kyungsoo shook his head at Suwoong as his cousin attempted to feed the cake to their lost teammate through the screen.

One thing was for sure, the coaches got them good with that prank and this meant war.

...But it was a war they’d have to fight later because there were more pressing matters at hand.

Realistically speaking, there was no way they could choose two songs with difficult choreo and expect to be able to learn them in a week. All Night was chosen for their Royal themed song and Luv by She’z was selected by their Sphere theme. It was a difficult decision for the Sphere song and initially they put forward Please Don’t be Sad and Humph since they were both charismatic and had lovely vocals. One of the coaches pitched the idea of doing a girl group song, which Heejin latched onto since she haven’t gotten a chance to truly show off her feminine charms.

Suwoong and Kyungsoo looked at each other, both being terrible with girl groups they were of little help for the song selection. Thankfully, Coach Cheri reminded them of the girl group She’z, which was under Sphere. After going through their songs, the group opted for the very adorable LUV. The song had a simple choreo but good singing parts and lots of opportunity to show off their charisma.

Yeah, it was not Kyungsoo’s song at all because he wasn’t cute. Other people kept on telling him otherwise but Kyungsoo knew himself best, okay?

Anyway, he didn’t have a lot of time to have an internal debate about whether or not he had any aegyo to give because it was time to start working on their first song. Coach Ella, after watching the All Night dance, told them it was a song that required core muscles for getting off the floor without using hands and strong glutes for doing that open legged squat. As the result, working out became part of their routine. To make sure they were able to do the sexy squat during the chorus, the four Royal team contestants lined up against the wall and squatted. At some point, Coach Cheri even suggested they should practice harmonization while doing the squats. It must be a funny sight, Kyungsoo thought, to see four people exercising and sweating like pigs while singing so prettily.

The squats pretty much became part of their life that week and they found themselves squatting while eating, talking and even arguing. He didn’t have much conflict with Suwoong this week - it was as if they got it all out of their system already. Since it was the same people in the room, Kyungsoo was visibly chattier and more friendly this week compared to the last.

On Saturday, Kyungsoo presented the Royal team with handmade knee pads, courtesy of Mama Do. They had a dance move in All Night where they have to spin around on their knees, that part, while beautiful, can be pretty hard on their joints. After just trying the move out on Friday, Kyungsoo already knew they had to find some sort of protective measure or risk having bruises all over. If they wanted to stay on this career path, they’ll need their legs after Saturday. So, Mama Do decided to step in and help. The pads, lightweight and soft, were perfect to cushion their knees without hindering their movement. Everyone seemed appreciative and Kyungsoo texted his mom to let her know, she was overjoyed of course. Later, Suwoong the extra king sent her a whole video about how much he loved her and how she was the best person in the world. Mama Do nearly cried and Kyungsoo gave Suwoong the side eye the entire time.

On that same Saturday morning, the Royal contestants initiated their first prank retaliation against their coaches. Kyungsoo and Suwoong, since they were the first to arrive, conspired to jump scare the coaches. Kyungsoo was not in agreement at first because...this was so frigging childish. Still, when they heard footsteps coming and Suwoong stage whispered too loudly for him to hide, he did as requested. It was only Heejin, however, and the girl clearly heard Suwoong’s voice because she was well prepared for a scare. Tugging her behind the door with the two of them, they waited for their next victim, who turned out to be poor Eric. With Eric joining the line up (after a loud shriek), finally, they were able to give the Luxe girls the scare of the century when they arrived.

Kyungsoo was amused, until he realized that they actually scared the idols with Cheri actually shouting out GET AWAY, DEMON and Ella looking like she was ready to pass out. Feeling slightly guilty for having accepted this ridiculous prank idea, Kyungsoo walked over to Ella’s side and rubbed her back soothingly, only to get lightly punched on the arm by the woman. He gave her a sheepish look of apology, which turned into a soft smile when he realized he was forgiven.

They spent the rest of the day practising All Night choreo and went through LUV a few times too just to see where they can spice things up. By the time Sunday arrived, all of the contestants were able to gracefully rise from the ground handsfree. Their squat was looking fine, but Kyungsoo had a feeling they might need to start resting those muscles in between too - can’t walk up the stage sore, can they?

On Sunday, Kyungsoo sneaked out during lunch time for his own project. To make himself more comfortable with the crowd, he decided to do a quick street performance at a nearby park. Unfortunately, he did not notice little Eric was tailing him until it was too late. To make matters worse, Heejin and Suwoong who volunteered to go get the outfits this week, ended up catching the tail end of his performance too. Kyungsoo felt so flustered that he wanted to dig a hole and bury himself, but there was still much of the day left and his embarrassment streak had only begun.

“It’s a gift! You can’t refuse my gift!!” Suwoong waved the pastel yellow top in front of Kyungsoo’s face insistently. Since Sphere’s colour was yellow, they’d agreed to pick an outfit for LUV based on that. Kyungsoo knew he was going to be in something cutesy, but he didn’t expect Suwoong’s attempt in making him into a lemon icing cupcake.

“Uh-uh.” Kyungsoo shook his head as he took a step back from the top, as if somehow it was contaminated and even being in its proximity was dangerous. The top itself was yellow with long, white neck tie. Suwoong had purchased him a matching yellow hat (which reminded Kyungsoo unpleasantly of the hats Japanese elementary school kids wear) and sneakers too, for ‘added cuteness’.

“I am going to look like fucking pikachu,” he wanted to say, but managed to say the sentence without the swear word because he remembered the camera was watching. When Suwoong refused to back down and pressed the shirt closer to his body, Kyungsoo turned around and ran. That was a mistake because what did annoying older cousins do when they see the object of their endless desire to irritate run? They chase, that’s right. Suwoong ended up chasing Kyungsoo around the practice room before tackling him to the ground just outside of the practice room. Distant noises of protest can be heard and someone - probably Heejin - slowly shut the door behind the cousins for the sake of protecting the audience. Fifteen minutes later, Suwoong was the first to return to the studio. He was beaming and the reason was obvious as a very disgruntled Kyungsoo trailed in behind him, in that overly adorable outfit.

He wanted to die.

Monday started out early, much more so than the great su-ritto wanted. Since their argument last week, Kyungsoo had eased up in the mornings and started picking up Suwoong at 7 am instead of 5. Monday morning, however, he appeared at 5 again. While packing the blanket burrito into the back of his car, he explained to Suwoong that it was because he had to leave a bit earlier that night. He had dinner plans with Hyo and the two of them ate over at his place. Hyojin set up everything needed for a delicious bbq dinner and the two of them did a short vlog together singing JJ project. It was a spontaneous vlog that literally involved a laptop balanced precariously on a large salad bowl. Hyojin whipped out his guitar and Kyungsoo sang while carefully cooking the meat to perfection. The two of them took turns singing and eating. Kyungsoo made sure Hyo had lettuce wraps rolled to the shape for optimal human consumption every time he was ready to take a bite.

Their ex-teammate gave him a bag of snacks to bring in on Tuesday morning, including little sticky notes of encouragement for all of them. Kyungsoo laid the snacks out to the side of the practice room, so they could help themselves when they needed an energy boost. This week was less stressful mentally but physically, Kyungsoo was really feeling it. His abs (hidden under a thin (?) layer of fat) hurt and his ass was sore from all the squats. Almost every night, he passed out without listening to an audio book as he had to in the past. There were no dreams, only blissful oblivion.

On Wednesday, a second prank idea was proposed, this one intending not to scare the coaches but to lighten up the mood after these long days of practice. Eric initially protested when he heard there was a second prank coming but after hearing the idea, the other agreed. So, when the coaches showed up for Wednesday, they were greeted by the announcement of a song change idea. Kyungsoo and Heejin stood in the centre of the room and sang, with very serious expression, the soulful melody of the infamous PPAP. Then, Eric and Suwoong joined them and started dancing enthusiastically. Half way through they all started laughing because it was difficult to keep a straight face. The coaches smiled too, Kyungsoo saw them, just before Coach Ella (who was still pretending to be unamused) demanded for them to get back to practice.

On Thursday they were pulled in for a surprise interview and on Friday, the fun atmosphere they worked carefully to build over the week was all but vanished. Everyone seemed quieter, more thoughtful because they knew the performance day was tomorrow. This was going to change their lives, one way or another. Last minute tips were shared, such as how to find the recording cameras and look at them properly. Coach Won had a lot of thoughts on that, having been taught by someone himself and was excited to share. Eric insisted on a group hug after the final practice before bursting into tears because he never expected to make it this far and was so happy to have been chosen to represent Royal. Kyungsoo petted the teenager’s head soothingly, the same way he did to his cat when it was in a fussy mood. “Don’t cry ah,” he chided quietly, cutting in with his cool voice before other people could join in on the waterworks. It was a thing, you see, to start crying once you see someone else doing it.

“Seriously, we are going to perform in front of 3000 people tomorrow, not getting beheaded in front of them. I never understood the tears of joy thing so come on, give me a smile.” He grabbed hold of Eric’s face and squished their youngest teammate’s cheeks until the other whined for him to stop.

And then it was Saturday. The stage was larger, prettier and had better lighting than ever. Kyungsoo sat between Suwoong and Eric, poker face neatly disguising the nervousness he felt with each passing performance. Everyone did quite well, he thought, and came such a long way. He clapped and cheered earnestly for each of them, though he did think some of them were a little too ambitious with their song selections. The Royal team only picked two songs and did not do any sort of mash up, but Kyungsoo still thought they had a decent chance at victory. Flashiness, you see, didn’t always mean better. Often times, it could mean messier.

“Hello everyone, we are Royal Flush!” They declared and introduced themselves according to their card. Kyungsoo was the ace of hearts, Suwoong was the king of hearts, Heejin was their queen of hearts and their baby Eric was the jack. Why hearts? The audience will have to wait and see because that was a hint to their second song.

The stage was beautifully decorated with potted plants sprinkled with iridescent powder. Fresh flower arrangements hung from the ceiling, accompanied by realistic looking tree vines and a sweet floral scent. The screens at the side of the stage were inky blue, some displaying trees and plants as well to complete the picture they were attempting to paint - that enchanting garden, made mysterious by the night and over seen only by the stars and the moon...until you found it.

Blue light gave the stage a calming vibe as music played. One by one, the contestants of Royal laid down, their features softened by the clever angle of the lighting and appearing absolutely angelic in their outfits of white. Suwoong rose as the others fell, his arm graceful as it moved through the air. The music gave them their cue and the light dip of Suwoong’s hand was part of the prompt. The contestants propped themselves into a sitting position with their backs towards the audience.

Kyungsoo was the first to show his face as he spun around onto his knees, opening the song soft and dreamy.

왜 또 쳐다봐 cellular phone 결코 신경 안 쓰는 척 이런 나 참 우스워 너의 전활 기다리는 밤

As he rose and walked towards the right side of the stage, the other contestants stood up one by one as if they’ve been awakened, using that hands free movement they worked their core muscles so hard to achieve. Suwoong took the centre of the stage after him, followed by Heejin. Kyungsoo had the last line before chorus, which he smoothly delivered, glad that they had decided to cut out the jump spin to make things easier for the vocalists.

I can't wait, I can't wait, I can't wait

Heejin opened the chorus and Suwoong followed behind. Kyungsoo wheeled himself into the centre and dropped on one knee, waiting for his part.

졸린 듯이 나른나른 나른하게 스며 살짝 야릇야릇 야릇하게

He was first centre to do the squat that they’ve been practising all week. It wasn’t the easiest movement in the world considering they had to drop it quite low and get right back up. The key was to look classy and smooth giving that move, even though they were spreading their legs and letting their hand sweep across their crotch region almost immediately after. It was all about the hint with these sort of performances, a vague promise that will keep the audience watching and wanting. Kyungsoo brushed his thumb across his lips before dropping back down to let Suwoong who was behind him sing the next set of lines.

Eric came in with the rap, making small gestures with his hands to show they were attentive to the details. The rap started out slow and built up to a faster rate before Heejin returned to take centre stage with her powerful voice. Suwoong followed her before it was Kyungsoo’s line again.

졸린 듯이 나른나른 나른하게 스며 살짝 야릇야릇 야릇하게 눈 감으면 그려지는 니 모습이 좋아 지금

Their next rap part was shorter, but very charming. The rest of them were on the ground, scooting back as Eric shuffled forward, their movements synchronized just as they had been in Shangri-La, moving as one.

Heejin stood, giving her beautiful high note before she is abruptly pulled into Suwoong’s arms, who, with a rather seductive look, whispered such a good night. Suwoong fangirls, how are we doing?

Kyungsoo’s part came immediately after. He dropped to his knees as he sang, smile unfaltering as he shrugged his jacket off of his left shoulder as if by accident. In the original choreography, the dancer pulled down the jacket with his hand, but Kyungsoo thought it would be more enticing if he made it look like an accident even though everyone should know it wasn’t. He asked Coach Ella to help him practice this move and trust me, even something as simple as shrugging off a jacket took a lot of effort. So Kyungsoo fans, you better be happy because oppa’s really trying here.

내 온 맘이 두근두근 두근 하게 해 놓고 넌 새근새근 새근 하게

Suwoong sang the next part with Heejin’s voice in the background.

Then, all four of them jumped as they sang one last time! White and iridescent confetti shot into the sky, fluttering over them like flower petals.

어서 내게 전화해

Kyungsoo swept his thumb across his lips again, letting confetti flakes fall and linger in between his dark strands of hair.

Let's call in, let's call in Let's call in, let's call in

Suwoong was singing call me all night in the background throughout Kyungsoo’s part and Heejin brought the song to a close. Kyungsoo laid down on the ground for their final pose, his elbow propped and his hand under his chin. Suwoong and Eric sat back-to-back against each other while Heejin was left standing. As the last of the confetti flakes fell to the ground, their first performance of the night ended. It was not yet time for a round of celebratory pats on the back, for they had another battle incoming.

After another round of performances, this time with their second concept, it was once again, team Royal’s turn. When they appeared once again on the stage, they were unrecognizable. Having traded in their princely (or in Heejin’s case, queenly) white attire for pastel cuteness, Kyungsoo thought he actually heard a few cheers of pleasant surprise in the audience. They chose yellow because Sphere’s company colour was that. According to their coaches, Sphere favoured either the energetic/peppy or the youthful/shy vibe and they ended up picking the latter.

“Hello, Royal Flush back again to bring you our second performance.” And then Suwoong did a mini speech on how the song was supposed to represent their love for the audience. The song, LUV, was also why they chose to introduce themselves as the Royal Flush of the suit Hearts earlier because...yeah, you get it. Love, hearts, they go hand-in-hand.

Realistically speaking, there was no way they could learn two challenging choreos in the span of a week. Just because they had to choose something easier dance wise, however, didn’t mean they couldn’t still make it good. This was a lighthearted song to end the night of performances, aimed to bring up the nostalgia factor and make everyone feel warm and fuzzy inside.

The stage dimmed and individual spotlights illuminated their forms as they posed along to the music. The stage brightened and yellow light paused according to the beat as they walked into the centre of the stage, positioning themselves for the beginning of their song.

The song was opened by Heejin, who looked really cute in her yellow skirt and white tennis shoes. Kyungsoo had the line after her:

이제는 가끔 생각나는 그때 L.O.V.E LUV 시간을 되돌릴 수는 없나요

At first he was worried about having to act over the top cute. A closer look at the original dance by She’z revealed, however, that none of them had those exaggerated fake expressions he was expecting. So for this performance, he just thought about things that made him happy. Remember the...you know, two and a half people that he ever loved and all that. If anything, he played into his awkward shy nature a little, trying to be the cute guy everyone kept on telling him he was.

The L.O.V.E part had a very easy but memorable hand movement part, which they fully intended to use later in the performance.

Eric got to sing for this song and the audience, used to Royal team’s little rapper, was in for a treat. Heejin supported Eric with her vocals in the background before handing the next set of lines to Suwoong.

너와 나 두렵지가 않던 그 시간 서로 손을 잡을 때면 Yeah

Ay, this song. Too damn cute. When was the last time Kyungsoo actually tried to hold someone’s hands? Probably never. If one of his exes asked him to recall the most wonderful moments during their relationship, he’d probably end up spewing some nsfw content that would not help the situation.

They were in the chorus again and the same iconic dance was repeated, Kyungsoo searched for the camera using tips coach Won provided before and put on his...erm, cutesy expression.

이제는 가끔 생각나는 그때 L.O.V.E LUV 시간을 되돌릴 수는 없나요

The last time they rolled into the chorus, they did something special. “Do it with us!” They shouted in unison as they danced. This part they actually had to practice because they wanted to sound uniform, not scattered.

이제는 가끔 생각나는 그때 L.O.V.E LUV 시간을 되돌릴 수는 없나요

By this point, even if the audience didn’t know the song from their past, they’ve hopefully been shown it enough times to copy the movement. Kyungsoo turned his eyes towards the ceos as if encouraging them to do it. Come on, his stare intensified on So Jiseob’s face. He knew the man was stoic and all but we are your team, give us some support. Next hopeful look went to Baek Jiyoung because this was a Sphere song so surely she knew it well. This would be a great opportunity to celebrate her senior artists but would she do it?

Whether or not the CEOs actually raised their arms in the end, Kyungsoo didn’t know because he was back to following the choreo and ending their song. All four of the contestants sang the last line together before striking their ending pose, which was forming a heart between the four of them. Suwoong and Kyungsoo were on the ground while Heejin and Eric remained standing because they were the shorter duo. They smiled, arms outstretched, giving the audience the big heart as a sign of their love, just as mentioned earlier.

Now it was truly over. Kyungsoo looked at the stage one last time as everyone was summoned back for the results. He wondered if he’ll ever get to perform like this again. The MGAs, while stressful at times, certainly gave him an experience that he would never forget.

#wc; 4280 #rkmga5 #rkmga5finale #last episode baby thanks for supporting ksoo's mga journey muah #click time for distribution

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