#this is another christmas gift that i completed in february

[shroomoss]

Portrait of a friend's sona.

#sona #this is another christmas gift that i completed in february #half orc #mixed orc #orc #still plenty more but now ive posted the ones i actually did

[ladykailitha]

Royal Pain: Epilogue

I know I said I would hold off posting until the Christmas story was completed, but this one literally had one chapter left and it felt rude to make you wait for it.

Happy boys!

Pt 1 Pt 2 Pt 3 Pt 4 Pt 5 Pt 6 Pt 7 Pt 8 Pt 9 Pt 10 Pt 11 Pt 12 Pt 13 Pt 14 Pt 15 Pt 16 Pt 17 Pt 18 Pt 19 Pt 20 Pt 21 Meta Pt 22 Pt 23 Pt 24|Pt 25|Pt 26|Pt 27|Pt 28

****

Six months later:

They were having a holiday plus everyone celebrating something awesome party.

It was held at Steve and Eddie’s new house. Steve had decided to move out the apartment and buy a house now that the business was so successful. And on their six month anniversary, Steve asked Eddie to move in with him.

It had two studios. A music one for Eddie, where he could write songs and the boys could practice so that they no longer had to rent out that garage.

The second one was for Steve to get his art degree. He was still running Royal Pain, but wanted to learn new styles and techniques that would help him become a better tattoo artist.

Chrissy, Robin, and Vickie had also moved into together, but into a bigger apartment that had three rooms so that they could all have their own space, but still remain a committed polycule.

Argyle and Chrissy were both full time tattoo artists, leaving time for Steve to go back to school.

Robin was going back to school, too. To become a translator.

Eden and Argyle were still a couple and expecting their first child in the summer.

Nancy and Jonathan remained broken up, with Nancy in therapy and Jonathan dating a friend of Miranda’s.

Jeff and Miranda were getting married in February, the reception to be held at the Nightmare Holes.

Mike and Will were official now, too and were in talks to move in together. They were trying to decide to move to Will’s apartment, Mike’s, or a find another apartment all together. One that was both their space.

Erica had moved to New York to be with Max and Lucas. But all of them were in town for the party. Having planned it around when the Knicks would be in town.

Hopper was loving Eden as his apprentice, hers almost being up. He was eyeing the first of the year to promote her.

Brian came out as ace and that Cecil was his platonic life partner and had been for the last couple of years.

Gareth and Gethin were still sharing the apartment, but they were still single. Gethin was always looking for the next Mrs Hughes, but Gareth was content to find out more about himself before diving into a relationship.

Dustin and Suzie were also expecting, but they had just found earlier that week.

The Binghams were so excited that two of their daughters were pregnant and were planning to come up in the summer to help with Eden’s baby and help Suzie get ready for hers.

They were all gathered around in the kitchen with a package that Murray had sent over that morning.

“Come on, Ed,” Wayne said softly. “Open ‘er up.”

Eddie nodded and tore the brown paper off the gift. He let out a choked out sob.

Steve put his arm around Eddie’s shoulder.

“Oh sunshine,” Steve breathed. “Show everyone.”

Eddie nodded and lifted it over his head so everyone could see.

There in a black frame and nestled in a white background was a gold record for their song, Pretty Boy Under Bright Lights. The first love song Eddie ever wrote for Steve. And it had just sold its five hundred thousand copy.

They all started cheering.

Steve kissed Eddie’s cheek fiercely. “See? I knew you could do it on your terms, Eds. You are a rockstar now.”

Tears ran down his cheeks nodding his head. Then he was surrounded by his band. They were hugging him and cheering.

Sometimes it really does work out for everyone. Even if didn’t happen the way they thought it would.

Eddie thought back to that day so long ago when Max had called him to let him know that she was leaving. He never thought that losing a tattoo artist would change his life forever.

Later that night, he pulled her aside.

“I owe you big time, Red,” he said, wrapping his arm around her.

Max grinned. “Hell yeah you do.”

“Anything you want, you’ve got,” Eddie promised. “My left kidney. My first child.”

She laughed. “When you two get married, I want to do matching tattoos on both of you.”

Eddie blinked. “Deal!”

Steve wandered over just then. “What’s a deal?”

Max grinned up at him. “Eddie just promised me that I get to do wedding tats when you two get married.”

Steve looked at Eddie and then back to Max. “Yeah, that’s fair.”

Max nodded once. “Damn straight it is.”

“Oh, honey,” Eddie teased. “There ain’t nothing straight about this relationship.”

She smacked his arm.

But Eddie just giggled.

“Come on,” Max said. “I want to see it.”

Eddie rolled his eyes. “You saw it on my Insta.”

“It’s not the same and you know it,” she growled. “I want to see Steve’s masterpiece.”

Steve blushed. “Come on, Max...”

Eddie looked at his blush and then turned to Max. “Fine. But here and not out there where everyone can gawk.”

“Well, duh,” she said. “That’s why I asked now.”

Eddie took off his shirt and turned around.

“Oh shit,’ she hissed. “It’s even better than the pictures give it credit. Steve, this is incredible. There’s no way I could have done something like that.”

Steve ducked his head. “I really really like how it turned out.”

Eddie put his shirt back on. “Yeah. Me too. I just don’t like showing it off, because it’s so personal. Between me and Steve.”

Max nodded. “Yeah. Absolutely. Thanks for showing me.”

Eddie nodded back and wrapped his arms around, Steve. “Thanks for everything, Red.”

She waved them off. All she had done was leave. But they didn’t see it that way. So yeah, they owed everything to Max, for choosing to live her life on her own terms.

“Before we go back to the party,” Steve said. “I wanted to give you another present before we got to the main one later.”

Eddie’s shoulder sagged. “Babe you didn’t have to do that.”

“I wanted to,” Steve said scratching his cheek. “In fact it was something I’ve been meaning to give to you for a long time.”

He pulled out a brightly wrapped package the size of baseball.

“This isn’t a baseball, is it?” Eddie asked playfully.

Steve laughed. “No. It’s not that.”

Eddie removed the wrapping paper to find a small black velvet box. He opened it slowly.

“Babe, you can’t give this to me,” he begged. “This is the only thing you have left of your grandpa.”

Steve took it out and slid it on Eddie’s middle finger on his right hand. It fit perfectly. “I’ve been wanting you to have it since you gave me your lucky guitar pick. I wanted to give you something that was on the same level of importance to me that this was for you.” He tapped the pick gently that was under his shirt.

“It’s not–you’re not–”

Steve shook his head. “I will propose. Just not yet and not with that. You’ll get a ring on your left hand, sunshine. Make no mistake.”

Eddie nodded. “I love you, babe.”

“Steven Courtney Alexander Harrington you better not be making out in there!”

Eddie and Steve laughed and kissed deeply, then they walked back to the party, arms wrapped around each other.

“Right names, wrong order,” Eddie teased as they rejoined the group.

Robin blinked. “Wait, really?”

Steve nodded.

“I can’t believe you told him before you told me!” Robin hissed. “I was here first!”

“But I liked watching you guess,” he said laughing. Then he turned to the rest of the crowd. “Who told?”

Robin wiggled her shoulders smugly. “No one told me. I looked up your grandparents. They’re both pretty famous, after all.”

Steve sighed. “Again which of you told her to look it up?”

Robin’s jaw dropped and Vickie’s hand slowly went up.

“Traitor!” Robin said in mock outrage.

Eddie leaned down to see that Steve was pouting about her learning his middle name.

“Don’t worry about it, babe,” he said kissing Steve’s cheek. “We can make her guess my middle name.”

Steve immediately brightened up. “Oohhh. Yeah, okay. It’ll take her years to guess yours!”

“It’s Wayne,” Robin said confidently.

Wayne snorted from the corner. “You really think my deadbeat brother would name his son after me, the responsible one?”

She frowned.

Steve turned to Eddie gleefully. “You’re right, sunshine. Best game ever.”

Robin started shouting out names and it wasn’t even Eddie correcting her. It was Jeff, and Miranda, and Gareth, and Brian and everyone else who knew Eddie’s middle name.

And of course Steve knew it too, but he liked watching their friends and family laugh and try to guess. Because the truth was, Eddie didn’t have a middle name. Robin could guess forever and never get it right.

Steve curled up against Eddie’s side and sighed happily. It was his best year yet. And as long as he had Eddie by his side, they would all be great years to come.

END

****

Tag List: @spectrum-spectre @estrellami-1 @zerokrox-blog @artiststarme @swimmingbirdrunningrock @gregre369 @pyrohonk ​@bookworm0690 @chaosgremlinmunson @goodolefashionedloverboi @chaoticlovingdreamer @maya-custodios-dionach @messrs-weasley @val-from-lawrence @plyerice27 @thedragonsaunt @sapphirecobalt-1 @a-little-unsteddie @i-must-potato @danili666 @carlyv @rozzieroos @wonderland-girl143-blog @itsall-taken @justforthedead89 @emly03 @aizawa-emma @yikes-a-bee @redfreckledwolf @thesuninyaface @bookbinderbitch @archermightbegay @littlewildflowerkitten @scheodingers-muppet @hallucinatedjosten @ellietheasexylibrarian @anne-bennett-cosplayer @cinnamon-mushroomabomination @bestwifehaver @xxfiction-is-my-realityxx @oldwitcheshat @nightmareglitter @tinyplanet95 @novelnovella @jonesn4coffee @slowandsteddie @awkwardgravity1 @steaddie-on

#my writing #stranger things #steddie #ladykailtiha writes #tattoo artist steve #complete

[cellythefloshie]

;; What My World Spins Around

Dedicated to @ladylooch for @wyattjohnston 's winter fic exchange 2k24

Summary: Christmas day sparks a series of unexpected gifts that lead you and Timo to face a question the two of you had been avoiding since his trade to the New Jersey Devils almost a whole year ago. What will your future hold, and will you be spending it together?

Tropes & TW: Brother's Teammate, Exes To Lovers, Friends with Benefits to Lovers, "we were on a break", gift giving, reader wears glasses, trade angst, - there is no smut in this fic - Injured Timo - written as if he will remain on IR until mid/late February.

Word Count: 4k+

A/N:  I was getting a little worried as the January days have been passing like falling dominos! But alas! My 2k24 Winter Fic Exchange entry is complete! A huge thank you to @wyattjohnston for organising the event and being so supportive when I ended up in your messages feeling like I was never going to be able to write a proper story again after months of not really writing because of my new job. And another huge thank you to @matthewtkachuk for letting me jump into their messages for the same reasons, and when I needed a little help to gain my confidence with Timo. I very much appreciate it! Now, for my lovely recipient, @ladylooch ! Thank you for giving me an opportunity to explore a player that I have only really admired from a far! It was so much fun doing the research and uncovering his career through the NHL in the last 7 seasons! I hope that I was able to touch on all the things you love about Timo and expected from this fic every time I dropped into your anons to ask questions. Enjoy!

There was only a single moment of calm on Christmas morning, and it could only come after gifts had been opened and breakfast had been eaten, and you intended to take advantage of it. The children could be heard in the family room, preoccupied with one of the many toys they had been spoiled with from their parents, Santa, and naturally, yourself. Being the fun live-in aunt came with a cost, not that you minded. You loved your family and your matching Christmas pajamas that would be plastered all over your family’s Instagram page for the coming weeks. And with the children distracted, you used your rare moment alone to enjoy your own gifts. 

Curled up in an armchair by the tree, you held your new book in your hands, your fingers holding each side carefully as you did your best not to crease the binding of the paperback romance novel. You had only been sitting there thirty minutes at most, but you were a quarter of the way done when you heard a pair of footsteps shuffle into the room. You didn’t have to look up to know who they belonged to. You had been hearing them her entire life. The slow, heavy step of slipper clad feet over hard wood could only belong to your brother. 

You had half expected him to be sleeping in front of the television with a Christmas movie playing on repeat for the kids already, but you could hear him shuffling around the Christmas tree just over your shoulder. The scratch of his slipper was harsh against your ears. 

“Making all that noise, you better be taking that tree down–” you finally spoke when the noise was becoming too much, all without looking up from the pages of your book. 

The tree never came down until after the new year, but in your mind, there was no other excuse he could have for making so much noise. 

“There’s still a present back here for you,” he claimed, and you peaked over the edge of the pages. 

“What is it?”

“Don’t know, but it’s not from me,” he told you, and his hand came into view in front of you. 

In it, he held a deep red envelope with your name written across it in an elegant cursive. It was unlike any you had seen before. It wasn’t your brother’s hand, or your sister in laws. Nor was it your mothers. The unfamiliarity of each letter left your brows to furrow as you placed your book down in your lap and took it from your brother’s hand. 

You opened it slowly, careful not to rip the pretty envelope as you pulled out what looked like a basic Christmas card. It was only when you opened it that you realized the magnitude of the gift: dinner reservations at your favorite restaurant in San Jose. 

It was the one restaurant where you spent every special occasion. Your birthday, anniversaries, celebrating your brother’s milestones, had all been spent there at the same table since your brother had been traded to San Jose almost a decade ago. But it was also a restaurant you had been avoiding since your own boyfriend had been traded from the team - giving you very little to celebrate as the status of their relationship had been called into question when he left. 

Were you single? You wouldn’t say so. 

Were you taken? You didn’t know the answer to that question either. 

You hadn’t broken up, but you were on a break. 

It was easier, or so that was what you both claimed, when there was a whole country between them. Timo was on the East Coast playing with the New Jersey Devils now, and you were on the West helping your sister-in-law raise her two children while your brother was busy in net for the San Jose Barracuda and the San Jose Sharks on the rare occasion. 

You could have gone with him, but that was a reality you chose to ignore. You couldn’t justify going to Jersey with him, not even when he asked. Your entire life was in San Jose, and uprooting it for someone who struggled to commit until your brother had found out you were sneaking around together, and hadn’t even thought about proposing in the five years you were officially together. 

Seeing the reservation sent memories of Timo flooding through your mind, your stomach feeling as if it were suddenly tied into knots as you looked up at your brother with a sad smile. 

“This isn’t from you?” You asked slowly, your voice on the verge of breaking. 

His large shoulders shrugged. “Not from us, but you should go. I don’t think you’ll regret it.”

***

Your dinner reservation wasn’t until the new year after the chaos of gift giving and family events were over. That also meant the restaurant scene was quieter. There was no waiting in line just to tell the hostess you had a reservation while they were turning others away on a thirty minutes or more waitlist. It also brought a certain peace. One that was laced with the gentle melody of classical restaurant music, the gentle clink of cutlery against fine china, and the subtle sound of wine being poured into your glass as you eyed up the menu you practically had memorized. 

“I didn’t order any wine,” you spoke, your gaze rising from the menu as one hand left the leather cover to push your glasses back up the bridge of your nose. 

The server didn’t stop his pour until he was satisfied with the fullness of the deep red wine in the glass. He then offered you a soft smile and displayed the label of the bottle to you. The wine was your favorite. The same one you had ordered every time you had dined in their establishment - which, in reality, was only two or three times a year. There was no way they would have remembered.

Lowering your menu further to place it down on the tabletop, you turned in your seat. You looked one way, and then the next looking for a familiar face. Your brother. Your sister-in-law. Timo. Anyone. But the surrounding faces in the restaurant were those of strangers, and the seat across from you at the table remained empty. You were alone, and would spend the remainder of your evening alone, too. 

Through the three courses of an appetizer, main course and dessert, you enjoyed it alone. The wine, and your favorite dishes, should have been enough to keep you distracted, but your mind found no peace as you stared at the glass of red wine. It became closer and closer to empty with each sip, but it couldn’t answer the question that haunted you in the back of your mind. 

Who had gone out of their way to make this reservation for you? 

Your questions were only fueled further when the bill was delivered to the table. You reached into the depths of your purse and pulled out your wallet, but you were met by the same smile he had when you had questioned the wine. The bill had  already been paid for. 

***

Dinner was just the first gift of many that you would receive in the month of January. The second came in the mail one day – the date one you couldn’t quite remember. It was a package among junk mail, its stiff cardboard box sandwiched between color flyers. You hadn’t expected a delivery, so you were going to leave it resting on the table for your brother, or his wife, but with a clumsy step you had walked into the table. It sent the flyers fluttering to the floor and your name became all too clear on the shipping label. 

You carried it with you up to the privacy of your bedroom before you opened it. The shock of the gift sending it to fall from your lap to lay open on the bed. Inside, a book. But not just any book, your favorite book. A special edition, signed by the author. 

Pushing up from your bed, you rushed down the hallway to the children’s room where your sister-in-law was with the kids. Their laughter was a pleasant sound to your ears, coaxing a smile as the question slipped from your lips without a proper announcement that you had come home, “that book that was on the table downstairs, that from you?”

She looked up from the children with a smile, her hair falling into her face before she could push it back with a single hand. “No, that wasn’t us,” she said, her smile knowing. She knew just who had sent you the book, but she wasn’t about to tell you. 

The next gift came on Valentine's Day. You were at the part-time job you balanced with helping with the child care of your brother’s kids. It was there you received a bouquet of flowers, your favorite flowers. They came with no card. It came with teases of having a secret admirer from your colleague, your brother when she arrived home, and the children. But now, you had an idea of who had been sending you all the gifts, but had yet to receive any confirmation. 

All your speculations were put to rest when you received one final gift box on the 20th of February. It was a large black box with a teal ribbon that sprawled halfway across the dinner table. You stared at it for a long moment, your hands sweating as they came together to nervously rub at each other. Teeth bit at your lower lip, and your lungs struggled to take a single breath as you reached out and tugged at a single strand of ribbon that made up the bow. It fell so fluidly away from the box it almost left you in awe as it draped over the table top but your eyes could only fixate on it for so long before your hands were lifting off the top of the box revealing bright red tissue paper inside. 

It was a harsh contrast from the cool hues of the teal to the heat of the red tissue paper - or maybe that was just the raise in her body temperature as you stood at the head of the table as you finally realized who had been sending you all the gifts since the holiday season. The box was stuffed with New Jersey Devils' merchandise. Everything from hats to t-shirts, to pucks and photographs. The box was filled with everything shot of a hockey stick and a set of hockey equipment – but what it did have was a hockey jersey. Black and red, and gorgeous with a 96 on the back and on the sleeves. And across the back, the name of your admirer, your boyfriend, your ex-boyfriend, whatever it was. Meier. 

You lifted it out of the box slowly, sighing as beneath it another gift came into view. A single ticket to the game against the San Jose Sharks in seven days. He wanted you to go, but could you? You had both been apart for so long already that the closure it would give you would do more harm than good. It left you to wonder that maybe it would just be easier to move on–

***

The San Jose Sharks had become a team that struggled to fill their seats beyond an 80% capacity most nights. They were falling back into a rebuild with fan favorites and rookies alike, getting traded away for draft picks to bolster the Sharks' future. But it came with a cost. Fan loyalty wavered, their faith in management wore thin. But on February 27th when Timo Meier returned to SAP Center, the fans followed. His name was on the backs of many and slid off the tongue of all. Some cursed him for leaving, others were excited to welcome him back if only for one night, and you were lost, silent among them. 

You walked with your head down, the large New Jersey Devils jersey hanging off your shoulders as you wound your way through the crowd to get to your seat. It was high up in the area, but not so high that you felt like you were in the ceiling. You could see the ice, but from down there, you were sure Timo wouldn’t be able to see you. The thought left you nervous. 

Going to the game had been a tough decision, but the thought of going and there being an empty seat left you felt guilty. Your attendance wasn’t a hard set decision on what your course of action with Timo would be. You could attend and decide that it was over - or it could reach the end of the game and you could decide that you wanted to try again. Or Maybe, he had decided it all for you. You could decide you wanted him, but the gifts had been a thank you for putting up with him, and a goodbye. At least then, after you were done crying, you might make a couple of bucks after selling it on eBay. 

You sat in your seat with your stomach in your throat, your eyes fell on your phone one minute, and then the next. Every second felt like hours, but then time seemed to freeze as the players flooded the ice to warm up. You held your breath, reading the backs of every single player that took to the ice until the parade from the tunnel was over. You sat there for a moment, your hands curled into fists in your lap and your nails pressing into your palms. Timo wasn’t among them. He wasn’t skating in circles, shooting a puck on the net, or talking up the trainer. He wasn’t on the ice at all. 

You stood up slowly, your eyes squinting as if you had just happened to miss him. You pressed up on your toes even, giving yourself an extra inch to see him, and yet, you still could not see him. 

In a breath from your lips, you cursed so quietly that even your own ears couldn’t hear it. He invited you all the way down there, to what? Not even play? You huffed out an exaggerated breath as you stepped back so that your legs were pressed into the seat of your chair. One hand reached back to lower it for you to sit, but before you could, you felt the warmth of a large hand on your shoulder. 

Turning in place, you saw the back wall first, the number of the section in bold a few seats away, but above you, as you tilted your head back, you saw the edge of one suite. Reaching past it was a single arm clad in a suit you knew could only belong to one person. 

“Timo,” his name was a whisper on your lips as your gaze found his. 

You were breathless as you stared at him. You had almost forgotten just what shade of blue his eyes were. Not too blue that they looked cold or harsh. They were soft and bright but had an almost gray tone, like the sky as a storm rolled in. Your lip quivered as you took in the color, as if you were seeing them for the first time. And if they hadn’t been enough to captivate you so fully you had forgotten about the tens of thousands of fans that gathered for the hockey game, Timo also wore that soft smile of his that had always left you smitten with him. 

“You made it,” he spoke as he leaned over the edge just to get a little closer to you. 

“I wasn’t going to miss this,” you told him with a smile, “but I thought you’d be out there.”

Your head cocked as you pointed back over your shoulder with a thumb towards the ice where his teammates were warming up from the game. 

Timo shrugged in response, his smile wavering and his eyes shifting away from yours for a moment. He was disappointed that much was clear. Had he been expecting you to be keeping tabs on him? “Been on IR since December-”

That’s right! You remembered seeing that headline circulating your social media pages months ago. You had even skimmed one article for the reason - a mid-body injury - and you had assumed that he had healed up and been back in the roster by now. But you were wrong. 

Worst of all, you just should have called. Or texted. Anything. You should have reached out, wished him well. You should have made sure that he was okay. Maybe then the two of you could have figured out just what was going on between the two of you. Yet, you stood before him not knowing his intent, or your own, but happy to see him. 

“That’s right, but then why fly all the way out here?”

“Or you,” he said your name with a smile as he pulled back just enough to find his seat. He was just behind you, just slightly elevated. When he sat all the way back, you couldn’t see him, but as the light went dim, Timo leaned forward, keeping his arm reaching out just enough that his hand could rest on your shoulder for the duration of the game. You could feel the warmth of his touch on your shoulder throughout the night, it only left you when Timo had gotten up throughout the game – including when he stood and waved to the crowd after they played a tribute to his time on the team high above on the screens.

It was a tribute that left you in tears. 

Image by image, one video clip after the next, you were forced through the years you spent with Timo. You weren’t in a single shot, no one else in the arena knew you existed - but you could fill the gaps between each game, between each milestone because you were there for every single one. You were just sneaking around when he took his rookie lap, but you were his girlfriend by the time he scored 5 goals in two periods and everything in between - right until the trade when you felt more like an ex-girlfriend than his partner. Yet, even after so much time apart, you loved him. You could feel it then and there as you sat surrounded by people who applauded him. You could feel it from your head to the very tips of your toes. 

You wanted nothing more to turn around in place and yell it at him. To proclaim it there as the crowd roared along with the game, yet you watched in silence, and welcomed the warmth of Timo’s touch again as he settled to watch the rest of the game with you. 

The two of you remained there long after the game was over and the stands were left empty. You stared down at the empty ice, his hand giving your shoulder a careful squeeze before he spoke out, “get your ass up here.”

“They aren’t waiting for you-”

“We’re in town for the night. I can get a car back to the hotel… com’on, I should be able to help you up,” Timo assured, his arm training outstretched to you as you stood. 

You took his offer carefully, your one hand collapsing with his as the other gripped at the edge of the suite. With his help, you climbed up and over the side, before you settled in the hold of his embrace. 

“I’ve been wanting to do that all night,” he whispered into your hair, and your grip on him grew a little tighter. “I’ve missed you.”

You choked back a sob, “I’ve missed you too. So much.” More than you had realized, “but you like New Jersey?”

“Love it,” he sighed, “but-”

“But?” you asked weakly. 

“You aren’t there,” you felt his entire body rise and fall in a heavy sigh, and then came the cold of the arena to creep up on you as he pulled away. But he didn’t go far. He moved just far enough away to dip a hand into his pocket. Then, he offered you one final gift. 

Timo dropped a square velvet box down into your palm. It was small, but it felt like the weight of the world in your hands as your neck snapped back to look up at him. 

“Don’t worry,” he half chuckled, “I'm not proposing, but it is a promise.”

Lifting your hand up, you pushed open the box and let your eyes all on a dainty gold ring with a large ruby accompanying an equally beautiful diamond that glimmered in the light. 

“We were still so young when we first met, you remember?” He asked slowly, one hand finding your hip to draw you back in while the other found your cheek and stroked your hair from your face. 

You nodded, your eyes still fixated on the ring. 

“We still had so much growing up to do, and we did a lot of that together. Two kids screwing around, and even as things got more serious, it didn’t feel like much more than that,” but he didn’t need to tell you that. What he had felt, were the very things you had been feeling, but while you were scared he had been feeling trapped and was using the trade to get away from you, you had been hoping it would have finally been enough to commit to you. 

Almost a year later, you were finally getting your answer. 

“But it should have been. I should have proposed. Two, maybe three years in. Before the trade happened. So long ago,” he said your name like it was a curse, his eyes staring up at the ceiling, trying to hide the emotion that crept up on him as he spoke. “I owed you so much more, and I’ve wasted so much of our time growing up. But I needed it. I needed that time to realize what I had, what I had lost - what I can’t afford to lose, and it’s you. It’s always been you."

“I understand that after all this time, it's too late. That you’ve moved on - or maybe you haven’t, but you want to. You don’t have to say yes, because after what I’ve done I’d be surprised if you’d even say yes to a date with me but not promising to you was the greatest regret I’ve ever had and I’d like to try and make that right, if you’d let me.”

You stared at the ring for a long time in silence. Your eyes flickered from one glimmering gemstone to the other. It was flashy for a promise ring. Expensive. One you would wear on her right finger and not her left  - because the offer required no thought. You were going to accept. 

You loved Timo, and it was clear that he loved you, too. 

“As much as I would love to see you grovel,” you grinned a little too wide as you held out your right hand. It was bare, waiting. 

“There will be so much more time for that.” His words were a playful promise as he reached out for the ring and slid it down into its place on your finger. It was perfect. 

Tears burned as they built up in your eyes at the feeling of the ring around your finger. It was one you would have to get used to, but felt right. This was the way it was meant to be. You and Timo, and you hated how long it took for you both to reach that conclusion, but you were grateful you were finally there. Pressing up onto your toes, you threw your arms around Timo. You welcomed the strength of his arms around your body, and then you welcomed his kiss. Your stomach became giddy with butterflies as if it were the very first time and you smiled, knowing it wouldn’t be the last.

#timo meier #time meier fanfic #hockey rpf #hockey imagines #nhl imagine #nhl rpf #timo meier x reader #timo meier x reader insert #hockey romance #the winter fic exchange 2k24

[bryan360]

No “On This Day” posting I’ll be focusing today.

Also….

‼️(NO COPYING OR PLAGIARIZING FROM ME AND ONE OF MY CLOSEST FRIEND’S WORK! THAT INCLUDES OUR CHARACTERS, DESIGNS, STUFF, ETC. IMPOSTERS AND SEXBOTS ARE NOT WELCOME TO FOLLOW MY BLOG WHATSOEVER! 😡 That will be all….I mean it.)‼️

2024 Review - Seagate 2TB Portable Drive (Third/Final - Storing game(s))

It’s been a long time coming; not to mention through scheduling at the program all weekdays I’d been in. Nevertheless, I’m finally coming back to this topic for the final time. After that the second half of installing with my gaming console is done, I’m now be storing/moving one of my games from its internal storage; which I’d already got it at early January this year.

⬆️ (From January. 6th, 2024; 3:04 to 6:24 P.M)

The first one is I’d finally gotten to installed Forza Horizon 5; the same game from last year’s Christmas gift for my Xbox One system. You can thank our friend @carmenramcat of ever giving me for Christmas by surprise. Link Here

I haven’t boosted this racing game yet; not until after getting my own potable hard drive in early January 2024. There are plenty of games in it as well, but that’s gonna wait after the final part of this topic review.

So anyways, I’d managed to move this to my portable hard drive which had lot of storage needed. Just how long it will take after installing? Well from checking in actual time (via screenshots information) about 3:04 to 6:24 P.M., it’s 3 hours, 20 minutes, and 33 seconds when calculated by using calculator.net website. Wow. Sure it would make sense due to how big this racing game will be, but taking three hours or less was a bit long. Still, nothing bad happens once it’s done for my portable drive. At least I’m grateful that I’d finally got this game downloaded after months later. The transfer progress should’ve speed things up though. That being said, I can’t wait to dive in unless for further planning to share soon. Or if I haven’t gotten through FH3 progress as of yet. I’d appreciate for having my portable drive with me that I’m willing to transfer other games more. 👍

Update: So I haven’t downloaded just one FH5 updated patch just yet. Not until back in Sunday this week that I got it as well. Now it took me about from 1:52 to 2:23 P.M.; or 31 minutes and 5 seconds shorter. Not bad that didn’t take this long. I won’t be surprised that there will more updated patches for FH5 to check out, just in case.

(Back in March. 24th, 2024) (just after transferring other games that I’d save since February 3rd, 2024)

Now to get into with my other games I’ve previously transfer for my portable hard drive. During the same date of January 6th, I did the second time with 👊💥MultiVersus; a free to play fighting platform made by Player First Games. It took about few minutes than I did with my Forza Horizon 5 game within three hours or less. And then afterwards til February 3rd at 6:20 to 6:53 P.M., I got with two previous Forza Horizon titles, Rare Replay included two Banjo-Kazooie titles, Cuphead, Kingdom Hearts 3, and PAC-MAN Museum+. Talk about plenty of some along the way. Thought looks like it takes minutes for almost all games included this time. That’s good to see that it happened, right?

So anyways as I’d going back to its storage devices setting, my portable drive is about 16.1% within 1.5 TB free spaces. It’s not full enough as of yet. Though who knows if there’s plenty room to pick which I’m going for sooner or later. Other than that, I also pointed out for its internal storage had few games in it. It’ll be for another time to save, I promise.

My Experience/Overall Thoughts: ⬇️

Storing/transferring FH5 (Forza Horizon 5) (plus other games) with my external hard drive was an interesting progress to get through. It depends how many games to transferring within minutes/hours before completion. All in all, I couldn’t done it without my first portable drive that I’d wanted for my gaming console. It won’t be a matter of time before I can get a new one in the near future, but not right now. I’m happy of having a portable drive I’ll be taking care of. 🙂 If you’re curious or interested to get one of those, then it’s available on Amazon.com. It normally cost about $70, so hopefully that you still have your savings left. Link Here

See ya guys until my upcoming topics are coming soon. 👋

Tagged: @murumokirby360 @carmenramcat @alexander1301 @rafacaz4lisam2k4 @paektu

[cchsunday]

In Defense of Jerry Lewis — by Mark Simpson for Out Magazine, 2009

Forget hair whorls, genomes, amniotic fluid, older brothers, domineering mothers, or disco. I can reveal with absolute certainty the cause of my homosexuality in just two words. Jerry. Lewis. As a kid in the 1970s, I watched reruns of his movies—especially the ones from the early 50s with his on-screen boyfriend Dean Martin—with a level of breathless excitement that nothing else came close to until I discovered buggery in the 1980s. Films like Money From Home (1953), where he pins Martin to the bed wearing a pair of polka-dot shorts campier than Christmas in West Hollywood, and Sailor Beware (1952), where he is pricked by several burly Navy medics wielding ever-bigger needles until he squirts liquid in all directions and faints, made me the man I am today.

In February, after a lifetime of being ignored by a cross-armed Academy Awards committee that never gave him so much as a nomination when he was making movies, Lewis finally got an Oscar. But not for his charming films with Dean Martin or his solo classics such as The Disorderly Orderly—in which, memorably, he happily Hoovers with the appliance plugged up his own ass—but for his fund-raising for muscular dystrophy. Its a charity Oscar in every sense. Lewis is 83 and has been unwell for some time. The Hollywood gays, though, are Not Happy. They have a Hoover up their ass about Lewis. Some tried to block his Oscar because this ill old man, born in 1926, almost used the word faggot last year after hosting a 12-hour telethon. In effect, the gays are running down the street screaming Ma-a-a! Likewise, because he isn’t gay himself and because his nerdy, sissy persona has been deemed exploitative.

Lewis has been almost completely spurned by queer studies, when really he should have his own department. Certainly, though, his films should be set texts. But it was in his anarchic, early-50s TV shows with Martin that the 20-something Lewis was at his queerest and giddiest. Their heads were so close together in those tiny 50s cathode-ray tubes—gazing into each others eyes, rubbing noses, occasionally stealing kisses or licking each others neck to shrieks of scandalized pleasure from the audience. They were a prime-time study in same-sex love. And they were adored for it—literally chased down the street by crowds of screaming women and not a few men.

Their very first TV show opens with our boys arriving at a posh ball, full of Waspy straight couples being announced: Mr. and Mrs. Charles Cordney! Mr. and Mrs. Walter Christiandom! And then: Mr. Dean Martin and Mr. Jerry Lewis! The Dago and the Jew same-sex couple. Setting the tone for their series, Lewis promptly trashes the place. The Martin and Lewis partnership was queer punk rock before even rock n roll had been invented. It trashed normality right in the living rooms of 1950s America, courtesy of Colgate. No wonder they’ve almost been forgotten. They should never have existed. True, the explicitness of their pairing depended on the official innocence of the times and perhaps a nostalgia for buddydom in postwar America, which allowed the audience to enjoy the outrageous queerness of what was going on without having to think too much about it. Literally, to laugh it off. But official innocence is a mischievous comedians gift horse.

A skit depicting the (fictional) meeting of Martin and Lewis—or Ethel and Shirley, as they called each other—climaxes with them being trapped in the closet together: pushed together mouth to mouth, crotch to crotch. In another skit our boys end up sharing a bed with Burt Lancaster, playing an escaped homicidal maniac. Boy, Dean, these one-night stands are moider! says Lewis. Moider was exactly what they got away with. In a skit set in prison, Jerry’s bunk collapses on Martin below. What are you doing? asks Martin. I felt lonesome, replies Lewis.

Lewis’ on-screen queerness may have been just a phase, but what a phase! It was so unruly, so indefinable, so crazy, so ticklish, so exhilarating that gays—and probably most people today—don’t really know what to do with it. It’s a bit scary, really. But that—in addition to the fact that it’s still piss-your-pants funny—is precisely what is so great about it. [And] why I still think Jerry Lewis is at least as much fun as sodomy.

#<- photo source #a gay icon from hell: jerry lewis #jer #out magazine #article #2009

[inklings-challenge]

2022 Inklings Christmas Challenge: Official Announcement

The Event

The Inklings Christmas Challenge invites writers to create a science fiction or fantasy story within the Christian worldview set at Christmastime. The story can involve the Christmas we know or a Christmas-like celebration within another world, but must evoke the season in some way.

The Guidelines

Since the holiday season is a busy time of year, this challenge is meant to be low-stress and very casual. The only guidelines are as follows:

Writers can create a story in any science fiction or fantasy genre of their choice. You may use the original Inklings Challenge categories as inspiration, or choose a completely different subgenre. Stories can be set in completely new worlds or set within the world of an author's other works.

There is no maximum or minimum word count, but to avoid putting pressure on writers in an already busy holiday season, writers are encouraged to try for very short stories.

No sign-up is required. Writers who finish a story for the Christmas Challenge should simply tag @inklings-challenge within the body of the post and tag it as #inklingschallenge, and it will be reblogged to the main Inklings Challenge blog.

Completed stories can be posted on a tumblr blog any time before the deadline of January 6th, 2023. If you don’t finish by the deadline, you are welcome to share whatever you’ve completed by January 6th. You can also post the completed story after the deadline has passed. However, because of the seasonal nature of the challenge, any stories posted after February 2nd, 2023 will not be shared on the main challenge blog.

The Imagery

The Christmas Challenge provides a list of Christmas imagery that writers may choose to incorporate into their stories. This imagery (unlike the main Challenge) is optional. Writers who prefer a little more structure or want a bit of extra challenge may incorporate one or more of the images into their story, but it is not required.

Light

Song

Gift

Journey

Child

Stable

King

Any questions, comments, or concerns can be directed to the @inklings-challenge​ blog, and I will do my best to address them.

That’s the Inklings Christmas Challenge! Now go forth and create!

#inklingschristmaschallenge #inklingschallenge

[dragonprincess18]

Happy Birthday

It’s funny, how you forget what it’s like to be a child once you’re not one anymore.

Once you turn six, you lose the understanding of what it’s like to be five, because you don’t realize how much can change in a year.

It was strange, basically being punted back to practically the start, that I hardly noticed the differences even from my past life as time rolled on.

After all, I’d always been a more sedentary sort of person who enjoyed reading and watching television in my free time, but that was a rarer sort of luxury in this new life.

I was always running after Kid, trying to stop her from picking a fight with the other kids or helping her gather parts for whatever she was building, or training in my Eevee form, or, once I had a better sense of balance, sparring with Kid and Killer in my human form.

By the end of every day, I was flopping onto a futon already fast asleep and cuddling up to Kid, who only grumbled a little before throwing an arm over me, and Killer too, once she felt comfortable intruding.

Was it any wonder I only noticed a year had gone by because of my birthday?

========================================================================

My old birthday had been in January, roughly a month after Christmas.

I stopped caring too much about it as I got older, since it was often forgotten in the aftermath of the holiday season and being hurt by the lack of acknowledgement wasn’t exactly productive, but I made a point of remembering Kid’s and Killer’s, which fittingly were January 10th and February 2nd.

We didn’t have much, but I saved money from running errands for older ladies and store owners to get Kid a vaguely-familiar dagger and Killer a nice set of cooking knives, which they both appreciated even if Kid had to be all grumpy about it.

Honestly, I completely forgot about my new birthday, more focused on preparing myself for a future that was likely to be pretty dangerous, if everything I remembered about One Piece was accurate.

So when I woke up that morning to Killer making pancakes, I was mostly confused.

“About time.” Kid huffed, and I couldn’t help but squeak when she lifted me off the futon and right into a rickety chair at the table. “Here.”

She shoved the whole stack of pancakes, filled with chocolate chips and covered in syrup, in front of me, and even knowing I’d end up with the world’s worst stomachache eating it all, my mouth was watering.

Anything sweet was few and far between, and my sweet tooth seemed to have followed me across universes.

“Breathe.” Killer teased, bringing another stack over for Kid that had bacon pieces. “It’s not going anywhere.”

“But it’s so good…” I mumbled around a mouthful of fluffy pancake and chocolate, glad that being young meant I could be at least a little rude.

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

Coming up for air, I took a moment to consider such an extravagant breakfast and eyed both Kid and Killer.

“...Did you guys kill someone and forget to hide the body?”

“Tori!” Killer scolded, but Kid just choked on a cackle and smacked herself in the chest to breathe through her laughter.

“What? You made pancakes, and Kid didn’t eat mine!”

“Don’t you remember what day it is?” She prodded, sounding very tired of us already, and I paused with the next forkful midair.

“Uh…Halloween?”

“Your birthday, genius.” Kid answered, kicking my chair hard enough I had to grab the table to rebalance. “You’re five now, congrats for not dying. Here.”

Dropping my forkful of syrupy goodness to catch the package she shoved at me, I peeled back the coarse paper to reveal a set of sharp-edged shuriken and kunai, the metal different shades of gray like an oil spill.

The thought of being a ninja sent a buzz under my skin, cheeks starting to hurt, and Kid nearly toppled back off her chair when I dropped her very dangerous gift to hug her instead.

“Fuck-Jeez, don’t get all mushy on me, punk!”

“Let her be happy, Kid.” Killer chided, and I twisted around to see she also had a package for me. “Happy birthday.”

My sister grumbled when I plopped down on her lap to accept the gift, ripping the paper to reveal a comic book, and my heart stopped at the cover.

“Seemed appropriate.”

I could have cried.

In that familiar stylized logo was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the designs and art style just like the old show I used to watch as a child in my old world…

“O-Oi, what’re you crying for?!”

“Shouting isn’t going to make her stop crying, Kid.”

#one piece #canon au #pokemon au #genderswap au #eustass kid #killer #killer one piece #self-insert #eustass tori

[softbobamilktae]

It's Not Easy to Keep a Christmas Secret

Pairing: Jin x OC

Genre: fluff

Word count: 5.8k

Warnings: mentions of pregnancy

Summary: Ashley thinks that announcing her pregnancy on Christmas is a great gift idea, but the trouble comes in when she tries to keep the secret from Jin….

This is the sequel to Snow is Falling Outside, But I’m Falling for You

A/N: @jinnie-forthe-winnie here ya go! Have fun!

Christmas was a special time of year to Ashley.  Every year, it reminded her of how she and Jin had met.  His younger brother, Tae, had convinced her to come to Christmas with him under the illusion that Tae’s parents had been hounding him and he’d needed a date.  Turns out, he’d really just wanted to introduce Ashley to Jin in hopes that they’d hit it off.  Not at all romantic, but it was a very funny story to tell.  As long as Tae wasn’t around, that was.  It inflated his ego too much to hear the story retold.

It had been four years since that Christmas.  Since then, Tae had gotten married to his long-time love Amber, and Jin and Ashley had also tied the knot.  Tae had moved back home to live near his family while Jin had joined Ashley in her hometown.  And, of course, Tae and Amber had welcomed their little daughter, Kiara, into the world the previous year.

In short, a lot had happened since that Christmas.  This year would be the best of them all, though, in Ashley’s opinion.  She and Jin were headed to see his family for the holiday, and she had quite the gift to give this year.  Her only hope was that she could make it to Christmas without anyone discovering it.  She’d been hiding it for three weeks already, and she had another five days to go.  Would Jin figure it out before Christmas?  She sure hoped not.

Her predicament had all started three weeks ago when that little test with two red lines had informed her of something she’d dreamt about experiencing for years: she was pregnant.

The news had elated her.  She’d wanted to tell Jin immediately, but every opportunity she’d been offered had been interrupted.  She’d accepted it as her fate to wait to tell him until Christmas, which, of course, was not that big of a deal.  It had only been two weeks away by the time she’d given up on telling him.

The only thing was…how did she go about announcing it?  She still didn’t have any idea by the time they arrived in town.  Time was ticking.

Amber’s pregnancy announcement had been anything but grand.  It had been a text in mid-February, right after Valentine’s Day.  “We’re expecting a baby in September!”  It had been fine, but it was Christmas…so Ashley needed to do something grander.

She wasn’t sure why she couldn’t come up with any ideas, but her brain was completely blank.  If it had been a few months ago, she’d probably had plenty of ideas, but now that it was actually happening, she had none.  Naturally, this only meant one thing: she’d have to consult the internet.  Except the internet didn’t have any ideas that actually seemed good.  Most of the suggestions were to get a flat lay.  Whatever that was.  Get a gold flat lay, get a blue flat lay, get a silver flat lay.  Ashley had no idea what that was, and she didn’t care to know.  She’d simply be doing her own brainstorming, it seemed.

Her first obstacle was presented to her the second night they were there.  Jin’s father, as always, had taken everyone to a party, and that meant…alcohol.  The highest of the highs on the pregnancy no-no list, and also the highest of the highs on the things Ashley generally consumed at these parties.  How on earth was she going to dodge the questions she’d surely get?

“Hey, remember the first time we came to one of these parties together?” Jin asked, nudging her as they stood in the middle of the way-too-big foyer.

Ashley laughed. “Yeah, we drank cider…and then we left to go ice skating.”

He chuckled. “Maybe we should do that again.  Let me see if I can find some cider.”

That issue had clearly remedied itself this time.  She’d been sure to smell that cider before taking a sip of it, though.  She couldn’t take any chances.

“Should we sneak out and go ice skating?” Jin suggested.

Normally, Ashley would’ve said yes right then and there, but she’d been feeling rather tired lately, and she didn’t really want to give any hints to Jin.  On the other hand…he would probably find it odd if she refused.

“Let’s do it!”

※ ❅ ※ ❅ ※

Ashley wasn’t much better at ice skating than she had been four years ago.  She’d been ice skating a max of around ten times in her entire life, and maybe two of those times had been in the past four years, so she still resembled a fawn as she slipped and slid around the ice rink.  Thankfully, this one was nearly empty.  She wasn’t likely to bowl down a couple kindergarteners.

“Whoa!” Jin exclaimed as he caught her arms to keep her from sliding even further. “Still not great at this, huh?”

She rolled her eyes, accepting his hands as an anchor nonetheless. “Oh, shush.”

He chuckled. “Why should I?  You know you love my teasing!”

She shook her head. “Who told you that?”

“I told myself.”

“You shouldn’t trust him.  He’s not a reliable source?”

Jin pouted. “Hey!”

She grinned. “This place isn’t too different than it was four years ago.”

“Is it not?  I thought they got a new scoreboard.”

Ashley spun around to see what he was talking about, and it was enough to make her lose her balance.  Jin reached down just in time to catch her before her bottom hit the ice, but she was already startled at that point.  He pulled her up against his chest.

“Ash…you ok?”

She still wasn’t standing fully on her feet, so she actually had to look up to make eye contact with him.

“I…I’m ok.”

He furrowed his brows. “You sure?  You look a bit woozy.  Let’s go sit down for a moment.”

After she’d righted herself with the help of his strong arms, he pulled her off the rink and sat her down.  He swept a few strands of hair out of her face before making eye contact with her.  Ashley had to admit that that fall had skyrocketed how lethargic she felt.  She wanted to lean over and fall asleep right then and there, but she was determined to keep a straight face so as to not tip Jin off to how tired she felt.

“What?” she asked after a few moments.

“I don’t know…you just seem a bit tired.  You sure you’re ok?  We can go home now if you’d like.”

Ashley figured she must’ve been a terrible actor.  How had he seen straight through her so quickly?

She waved her hand dismissively. “No, we can keep going.  The fall just shook me up a bit.”

He seemed to let it go then, but he insisted on keeping a tight hold on her after they got back on the ice.

Ashley waited for what seemed to her to be a decent amount of time before telling Jin she wanted to go home.  She could only guess that she’d been right in guessing what was a decent amount of time, because he didn’t seem to think anything of it as she unlaced her skates.

※ ❅ ※ ❅ ※

The next morning presented a whole new challenge.  Jin’s mom had made eggs for breakfast.  Normally, this wouldn’t have been an issue for Ashley, but oh boy it was bothering her today.  She had to step out of the kitchen to stop herself from gagging.  As far as she could tell, no one else was having this reaction, so she could only guess that it was some symptom caused by pregnancy.  The only question was…how was she going to get out of this?  It seemed rude to downright refuse to eat, and saying she wasn’t hungry would definitely ring alarm bells in Jin’s head, so what was she to do?

“Hey,” Jin slung his arm over Ashley’s shoulders as he exited the kitchen. “Mom said she doesn’t have enough eggs to feed all of us, so do you want to go get breakfast?”

Ashley was sure she could hear angels singing.  Yes.  Yes, anywhere but near scrambled eggs.

She tried to keep her elation off her face as she replied. “Sure!  That sounds great!” Had that sounded natural enough?

The two of them sat at breakfast twenty minutes later, and Ashley made sure neither of them ordered eggs.  She wasn’t sure what about the smell of them had made her feel so sick, but she was sure she wouldn’t be eating breakfast if she so much as saw another one.

She and Jin had both ordered pancakes, although she wasn’t sure how many of them she could actually stomach.  The smell of eggs was still lingering in her sinuses and making her slight nauseated.

“It’s kind of nice to get away for a little while,” Jin laughed. “I forgot how…busy everyone seems at Christmastime.” He groaned after shoving a bite of pancake in his mouth. “Did you hear Dad say that three of his glasses got broken at a party last week?  He told me he’s never hosting a Christmas party again.  Which, obviously, is a complete lie.”

Ashley was glad that Jin was lost in his own world at that moment in time, because she could smell eggs again, and she was about to puke.

“I’m gonna go to the bathroom.  I’ll be right back.”

Jin smiled at her. “Oh, ok.  Don’t fall in while you’re in there.”

Usually, she would’ve laughed at that comment, but right now she was feeling too sick to find anything funny.  She ran off to the bathroom.

Thankfully, the feeling subsided after she’d stood in the bathroom for a few minutes, but she really didn’t want to go back out there.  Was there anywhere they could go that wouldn’t have cooked eggs?

She was hitting the point where she just wanted to tell Jin.  Everything was just starting to feel off, and she wanted Jin’s support…and his help.  But it would ruin the surprise.  Did it really matter anymore, though?  She still had no idea how to announce it anyways, so maybe she should tell Jin today and ask him for help.

She headed back to the table when she felt like she could stomach food again.

“Are you ok?” Jin asked when she sat down.

“Hmm?” she feigned innocence. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know.  You’ve just seemed a bit off since we got here.  Tired, maybe?”

She shook her head. “I’m ok.”

He raised an eyebrow, but once again, he didn’t push it.  She was doing a really bad job at hiding all of this.  Her husband knew her too well.

By the end of breakfast, Ashley had only eaten one pancake.  She hoped it was enough to satisfy any suspicions Jin had, but she really couldn’t stomach any more food at the moment.  It felt strange, though.  This wasn’t how she remembered morning sickness being described, and she couldn’t recall Amber even having it when she’d been pregnant.

Ashley felt unsettled when they got back in the car.  Jin was giving her a look that told her he knew something was off, and it was making her want to just tell him right then and there.

“What is it?” she asked.

He rubbed his chin. “I don’t know…I don’t want to seem pushy if nothing’s wrong, you just…don’t seem like you’re feeling great.”

She blew out a breath.  Maybe she could settle for a half-truth. “I’ve been feeling a bit nauseous this morning…it’s not too bad, though.”

He frowned. “Oh, Ash, why didn’t you tell me?”

“You took me out for breakfast.  I didn’t want to make you feel bad.”

“Do you think you’re sick?  Or is it something else?”

She shrugged. “I’m not sure.”

He hummed, reaching over to pat her thigh. “Promise me you’ll tell me if you feel sick again?  Is that why you ran off to the bathroom earlier?”

She nodded.

The car was silent for a few moments, the only noise accompanying them being the wind that was kicking the snowflakes around outside.

“Hey, you remember that time we had a snowman building contest?”

“You mean the one where you threw snow down my back?” Ashley asked.

He nodded, a wry grin on his face. “That’s the one.”

“How could I not remember?  I can still feel that snow.” She glanced at him. “Maybe I’ll get you back for that this year.”

He gasped. “You wouldn’t.”

“Oh, I would.”

He squinted at her. “I won’t believe it until I see it.”

※ ❅ ※ ❅ ※

The exhaustion that had been bearable the previous night was nearly knocking her out this afternoon as she helped decorate Jin’s parents’ house.  They were having a few extended family members over for dinner, and as always, the house had to be in perfect Christmas condition.

“Do you need a nap?” Jin asked, resting his hands on her shoulders.

Even though she was at eye level with him, she felt small in that moment.  She was so tired, and she wanted nothing more than to collapse into his arms in that moment.  She stared at him for a few moments, considering her answer to that question.

Jin didn’t give her the opportunity to answer, though. “How about we go lay down for a few minutes?”

Once the two of them were laid in bed, Jin spooning Ashley, she realized that she was even more exhausted than she’d initially thought.

“Are you falling asleep already?” he chuckled.

“Hmm…how’d you know?”

“You’re getting heavier on my arm.  That always happens when you’re falling asleep.”

“Ah.”

She didn’t even know what to say to that.  He was too attentive for her to keep this secret for much longer.  She rested her arm on top of his over her abdomen.

“I’m tired,” she admitted.

“I assumed as much.” He was smiling against her shoulder. “Take a nap.  We can leave the decorating to Tae and Amber.”

That didn’t seem very fair to them, but she was too exhausted to argue with him at that moment in time. “Ok.”

“Still don’t know why you’re feeling bad?” he murmured as he nudged his nose against her ear.  He wiggled his hand out from under her arm and reached up to rest his hand against her cheek. “You don’t have a fever.”

She hummed, too tired to give him an actual response.

“You don’t usually get this tired, even during the winter.”

“Mhm….”

“Ah, I’ve got it.  Mom’s cooking is so good it’s putting you into a food coma.”

She giggled softly. “Yeah.”

“Yeah?  I solved the mystery?  Awesome!  Detective Jin to the rescue!”

His chattering was having a sedating effect on her today even though it generally kept her awake.  Though really, she wanted nothing more than to melt right into the mattress and fall asleep.  She was already doing that even now.

“We should really go shopping tomorrow,” he muttered.

“Hmm?”

“For Christmas presents.  We didn’t buy anything at home for anyone.”

“Ah.” Yes, she kept forgetting about that. “I had an idea.  Just needed to put it together.”

“Oh, really?  Care to enlighten me?”

“Mm…no.”

He sighed. “Oh, come on!  Why not?”

“Because it includes your present.”

“Well, that’s no fun.  I want to know now.”

“Christmas is in three days.  You can wait.”

She could feel him pouting against her shoulder. “That’s not fair.”

“Why not?”

“Becaaauuuse…I want to know.”

She reached back and poked him in the side. “Stop whining.  You’ll find out soon enough.”

He laughed. “Hey, I thought you were tired.”

“I am.  Your whining didn’t change that.”

“Maybe you should sleep so you’re feeling well when my aunt and uncle get here.”

Her eyes fluttered shut. “Mkay, I can do that.”

※ ❅ ※ ❅ ※

Jin convinced her to join him for shopping the next day.  The mall was completely packed, and Ashley wasn’t sure she wanted to wander away from Jin.  She needed to if she was going to find what she was looking for, but she would probably lose him if they split up.

At least she’d finally found an idea.  She’d remembered something she’d seen once where the couple gifted everyone gifts to represent their new role.  Aunt, Uncle, Grandma, Grandpa.  It was smart, easy, and something she could do in one day.  And, most of all, it was cute.  It was an actual gift rather than just an announcement, which she liked.  She thought of it as a kind of souvenir to remember the day.

“How about we split up?” she suggested against her better judgement.

“Split up?” he groaned. “Why?  So you can make a little secret?”

“You know it.  I can’t let you know what your gift is before I give it to you.” She nudged his arm. “You ask that like you’re gonna tell me what my present is before tomorrow!”

“You’re not any fun.  Let me guess – you’re going to buy me another baking pan.”

She gasped in mock outrage. “Hey!  You weren’t supposed to guess that!”

He grinned wickedly. “I knew it!  I’m so good at guessing!”

She smacked his arm. “We’ll meet at the entrance in two hours, ok?”

Ashley hadn’t realized how ridiculously hard it would be to find what she was looking for.  She knew she should’ve planned this way ahead, but she’d had absolutely zero ideas until this morning.  She could only pray that she’d find something before she had to meet up with Jin.  If not, she’d have to come up with something else entirely before tomorrow morning, and she was sure that would not be happening.

She weaved through the stores trying to find anything that could work.  Eventually, she came across a onesie decorating kit.  It wasn’t what she’d been hoping for, but it would work, so she bought it.

It was two stores later where she found something that slightly matched what she’d been looking for.  She’d found some mugs.  Best Grandpa, Best Grandma, Best Aunt, Best Uncle.  But nothing that had dad on it.  Odd.  She’d just have to keep looking for something that she could give to Jin.

She was near giving up by the time the two-hour mark was approaching.  What on earth was she going to give Jin?  She was dragging her feet through the store when something caught her eye.  It was a shirt that read Best Dad in the Galaxy.  A cheesy Star Wars reference, that was for sure.  But it made her laugh, and she was sure it would have Jin laughing too once he’d gotten over the initial shock of the news.

So, after a surprisingly successful shopping spree, she met Jin back at the front of the mall.

“What on earth did you buy?” he asked with a laugh when he saw all the bags she was carrying.

“I’m not telling you!  You’ll find out tomorrow.”

He sighed heavily. “Fine…I’ll wait.  You found everything you needed, though?”

She shrugged. “I didn’t find anything for Kiki, but that’s it.”

“That’s ok.” He held up a bag. “Everything in here is just for her.”

Ashley’s eyes widened. “Man, you don’t even spoil me that much!”

He snorted. “Come on, it’s her first Christmas where I can actually buy her toys.  Let me spoil her a little bit.”

“I wouldn’t say that you’re just spoiling her a little bit, but okay….”

As the two of them stacked their bags in the back of the car, Jin sighed. “We really need to stop waiting so late to do our shopping.  I feel like we do this every year.”

“In our defense, we did host last year, so we were definitely busy doing other things.”

“That’s true.  Still, we could at least do some shopping on Black Friday.”

She patted his shoulder. “We can do that next year if it makes you happy.”

Ashley ended up borrowing some wrapping paper from Jin’s mom.  She hadn’t had the thought to buy any until hours after they’d gotten back from the store, so she had no other choice.  She was honestly just glad that she only had today and tomorrow to keep the secret now.  She could tell Jin was starting to get suspicious, and she wanted to tell him before he figured it out.  If she just survived today and tomorrow, she’d be fine.  She just needed to not get tired or nauseated.

※ ❅ ※ ❅ ※

Ashley discovered a new smell that made her nauseous the next morning.  Coffee.  It was a rarity in Jin’s parents’ house, but someone was making it this morning.  Ashley stepped outside onto the porch the second she was out of the hallway.  And for some reason, Amber followed her.

“Hey there!  I haven’t seen much of you since the night you got here,” Amber laughed.

Ashley smiled, which was easier to do now that she wasn’t being assaulted by the scent of coffee. “Yeah…Jin and I have gone out quite a bit, I guess,” she laughed.

Amber nodded. “I mean, I can’t blame you.  It’s the season to go out and have fun.”

“Yep….”

It was silent for a few moments before Amber picked the conversation up again.

“I wanted to ask you if you’re feeling all right.  You’ve just seemed a bit tired recently.”

“Oh?” Ashley laughed dryly. “Yeah, I’m just not used to this much activity, I guess.  I’m not twenty-two anymore.”

Amber nodded. “True.  I feel like I’ve aged five years since having Kiki.  She’s so active, and I can’t keep up with her half the time!”

“Isn’t that what Tae’s for?” Ashley asked.

“Uh, yeah, it looks like it.  He’ll chase her around for hours!  I don’t know where he gets the energy!”

Ashley shrugged. “He’s always been full of unexplainable energy.”

Amber giggled. “He’s a lot more energetic than he used to be.” She nudged Ashley’s arm. “What about Jin?”

“Jin?  I’m not sure I’d say he’s energetic, but we don’t have a little kid yet.  He mostly plays video games when he’s home.”

“Well, maybe that’ll change soon.  You want a kid eventually, right?”

“Of course.”

Ashley was just hoping that Amber wasn’t onto her yet.  Out of everyone here, she was the most likely to realize Ashley was pregnant.  She’d been pregnant not too long ago, so surely, she’d recognize the symptoms.

“We probably should go back inside.  It’s pretty cold out here,” Amber laughed.

“I’ll be in in a few minutes.”

※ ❅ ※ ❅ ※

Christmas Eve didn’t get much better.  The smell of coffee lingered in the house for the rest of the day, and Ashley spent the majority of that time at least slightly nauseous.  The problem really came when they started their celebration that night, though.  Jin’s mom had bought wine, and Ashley wasn’t sure how she was going to avoid questions if she didn’t drink any of it.  Jin and Tae both knew her all too well to not ask questions if she didn’t drink alcohol tonight, and she couldn’t think of a single excuse at this moment in time.

So…what was she going to do?

Simple.  She was going to try and avoid questioning by playing with her niece.

“Kiki, which one’s your favorite?” Ashley held up two of the toddler’s stuffed animals.

“Giaff,” Kiki replied, promptly taking the stuffed giraffe from her.  Then she stood up and waddled off.

“Hey!  Kiki, come back here!”

Kiara seemed to think it was funny to make her aunt chase her around the house, because she bolted straight down the hall as soon as those words came out of Ashley’s mouth.

“Come back here, you silly!” Ashley exclaimed.

Kiki had completely disappeared, though, and three of the bedroom doors had been left open.  She checked the empty bedroom first.  It was silent and nearly empty but for a bed and a nightstand.  Ashley walked around the bed.  No Kiara.  She knelt down and checked under the bed just for good measure.

Next, she checked her and Jin’s room.  It was the closest room to the beginning of the hallway, so maybe she’d wandered in there.

“Kiki?”

A little giggle came from behind the bed.  Ashley snuck around the bed.

“I hear you, Kiki.  Where are you?”

She rounded the bed to find Kiara squatted on the floor hugging her giraffe.  She giggled when she saw Ashley.

“Hey…it’s not funny to run away from your aunt, Kiki.”

The toddler seemed to think otherwise though, letting out another giggle as Ashley picked her up.

“We need to stay in the living room, Kiki,” Ashley informed her as she shut all the bedroom doors. “We’re not allowed to come back here alone, ok?”

Kiara just giggled at her.  Ashley mimicked her, giggling as she tickled Kiara’s stomach.  The little girl squealed.

“You’re just like your dad, aren’t you?  Very silly.  I didn’t tell you it was time to play hide and seek!”

Kiara reached up and placed her hand over Ashley’s mouth, and Ashley gasped in mock offense.  This only induced more giggles from the fifteen-month-old she was holding.

“Who taught you to do this?  Was it your dad?  I need to have a talk with him,” Ashley mumbled under Kiara’s hand.

“Ah Dada,” Kiara replied.

“It was Dada?  I knew it!  This is exactly the kind of thing he’d do!”

Kiara giggled. “Dada.”

“Should we go see him?”

The little girl wiggled against her hip, all the while not moving her hand off Ashley’s mouth.

“All right, let’s go do that.”

Ashley found Tae in the kitchen when she went searching for him, and Kiki was wiggling even more when she saw him.  She took her hand off Ashley’s mouth so she could lean towards him.

“Dada!”

Tae turned to her and gasped. “Kiki!”

She held her hands out toward him, dropping her giraffe in the process.

He lifted his hands up. “You want to come to Dada?”

“Dada!” she squeaked again.”

“That’s a yes,” he laughed as he took her from Ashley’s arms.  He rubbed her stomach. “What, are you not having fun with Auntie Ashley?”

Kiara set her hand against his mouth, and he bit down on it with his lips.  She giggled.

“Mm, Kiki tastes good,” Tae mumbled around her hand.

Kiara was letting out a belly laugh after that, bringing her other hand up to smack his cheek.  He gasped, his mouth falling open.

“Kiki!”

“Dada,” she laughed.

“I’m gonna have to get you now!” he exclaimed before tickling her.

“Ahhhhhh!”

“Ok, what do we say to Auntie Ashley for playing with you?” Tae asked.

“Sae ‘oo!” Kiara exclaimed, the pronunciation of the two words completely butchered.

“You’re welcome, Kiki!” Ashley laughed. “If you want to play more, you can come find me.”

Kiara clapped her hands.  Then she gasped. “Dada!  Giaff?”

“Oh?  Is your giraffe missing?”

Ashley bent down to pick it up off the ground. “Here it is, Kiki!”

Kiara clapped her hands. “Giaff!”

※ ❅ ※ ❅ ※

Strangely, playing with her niece actually had distracted everyone from asking questions for the rest of the night.  She’d done it.  She’d made it through Christmas Eve without anyone suspecting her.  She brushed her teeth happily that night as she anticipated the following morning.  It was actually going to be a surprise!  She’d succeeded!

“Hey, Ash, I’ve got a question,” Jin announced as he walked into the bathroom.

“Hmm?”

“Are you pregnant?”

She spun around to stare at him with wide eyes. “What?”

“Well, I mean…I don’t know.  I was just thinking about it.  You’ve been kinda tired recently, and breakfast was making you look sick at least two days this week.” He shrugged. “You’ve also drank no alcohol while we’ve been here, which is pretty odd for you.”

She stared at him, dumbfounded.  Did she tell him now or stall for the morning?

“Why are you just asking now?” she laughed nervously.

He paused. “I don’t know.  I just didn’t want to ask you if it was just a day or two, but it’s been quite a few now.”

She cringed internally.  So he’d been thinking about this for a while now, then?

She set her toothbrush down and wandered into their bedroom.  Once she’d found his gift in the pile of presents, she headed back to the bathroom and handed it to him.

“How about you open this now?”

He glanced down at the gift in her hands before looking back up at her, a confused look settling on his features.  She nudged the gift towards him, prompting him to take it.

“Is this my gift?”

She nodded. “The one you’re opening here, at least.  You know I have more at home for you.”

He took it from her before cautiously popping the tape off of it.  His brows furrowed when he pulled out a shirt.

“Look at what the front of it says.”

He shook the shirt out so that it unfolded, a grin overtaking his face when he read what it said.

“Best Dad in the Galaxy?  Really?”

She smiled, embarrassed. “There weren’t a lot of options, ok?  I had no idea how to announce it until yesterday!”

He chuckled. “So you are pregnant?”

She nodded. “I’m honestly surprised it wasn’t super obvious.  I’ve felt really off while we’ve been here, and I’m not sure I was doing that great of a job at hiding it.”

“Well, it is the season for untimely sicknesses, so I’m sure if anyone did notice, they just assumed you were little under the weather.  Like I did at first.”

She smiled sheepishly. “So, I guess this was good timing, then?”

“When did you find out?”

She grimaced. “Almost four weeks ago now.”

“Really?” he asked, shocked.

“Yeah.  I was going to tell you a while ago…but every time I tried, the moment didn’t work out, so I gave up and decided I’d tell everyone at Christmas!”

He laughed in disbelief. “So…you’re like eight weeks pregnant, then?”

She nodded. “Just about.”

He pulled her into a kiss, leaving her a little breathless when he pulled away.

“We’re gonna have a baby.”

She giggled. “We are.  We’ll have a baby in July.”

He smiled.  Then he frowned. “Hey, why didn’t you tell me on my birthday?”

She winced. “I was going to…but.  We were out with the guys, and then both of us were tired by the time the night was over…it just didn’t feel right.”

“I suppose I can understand that.  That’s how I felt about proposing.  The time just never felt right.”

“I guess both of us are a little silly.  Neither of these things panned out for us, did they?”

“I mean, we’re married and expecting a baby, so something panned out.  Maybe just not the way it could’ve.”

Her next laugh very quickly became a yawn.

Jin chuckled. “Should we head to bed now?”

“Please.  Kiara tired me out this evening.”

The two of them were cuddled up in bed a few minutes later, Ashley’s head laid on Jin’s chest. 

“I’m kind of glad that you figured it out, honestly,” she admitted.

“Really?” he asked with a chuckle.

“Yeah.  I wanted to tell you before I told everyone else, but I didn’t know how to bring it up.”

“Well I’m glad I asked, then.  You haven’t started brainstorming names without me, right?”

“Nope.  Got any ideas?”

“Seokjin Jr.”

She groaned. “Of course you’d say that.”

He laughed. “Ok, what would you name them?”

She hummed. “Maybe Luna.  Or Oliver.”

“Those are cute.”

“You like them?”

He nodded. “I do.” Then he went silent.

She tapped his chest. “Can we go to bed?  I want to be up for Christmas tomorrow.”

He chuckled. “Sure.  We can do that.” He rubbed her back. “See you in the morning.  I love you.”

“Love you too.”

※ ❅ ※ ❅ ※

The next morning is when Ashley discovered that Tae was passing his Christmas morning shenanigans down to his daughter.  It was only eight am when the toddler came waddling into the bedroom.  Tae and Amber were already over, apparently.

“A-tie.  Unca.  Wakey!” she was tugging the comforter off the bed as she tried to climb it.

Ashley rolled over. “Who sent you, you little squeak?”

“Dada,” Kiki replied with a giggle.

“Of course.” Ashley tugged the little girl up onto the bed. “It’s not nice to wake people up, you know.”

Kiki giggled again.

“All right, I guess it’s time to wake up,” Jin sighed. “Your Dada’s silly, Kiki, you know that?”

“Dada silly.”

“That’s right,” Jin nodded.

The three of them headed out to the living room a few moments later.

“Good job, Kiki!  You did it!” Tae exclaimed.

Kiki giggled and clapped her hands together.

“I think you shouldn’t be using your daughter against us, Tae,” Jin commented.

“I don’t see why not.  Isn’t it better than me waking you up, anyways?”

Jin rolled his eyes.

“All right, I want everyone to open the gifts from us first,” Ashley announced a few minutes later when everyone was seated in the living room. “It’s sort of a group gift, so you all need to open them at the same time.”

It wasn’t a minute later that they were all ripping open their gifts, and Amber gasped. “You’re pregnant!  I knew it!”

“Seriously?” Ashley asked. “How?”

Amber laughed. “I don’t know…the way you were acting just reminded me of how I acted when we weren’t telling people I was pregnant with Kiki.  Lucky guess, I suppose?”

“Hey, Kiki, you know what this means,” Tae patted her stomach. “You’re gonna have a cousin next summer!”

“Coosin?” Kiki asked.

“That’s right!”

Kiki clapped her hands together. “Yay!  Coosin!”

※ ❅ ※ ❅ ※

Jin and Ashley sat on the porch that evening, swinging.  It was snowing gently outside, but the moon could be clearly seen from where they were sitting.

“Just think, next year we’re going to have a little baby with us,” Jin laughed.

Ashley grinned. “You’re right, we will.  Christmas will never be the same!”

“Has any Christmas been the same?”

She shook her head. “Not really.  I mean, we spent one Christmas here, and then we spent the next one with my family, and the year after that we went on a cruise, and last year we had it at our house, and Kiki joined us for the first time, and now we’re here again.”

Jin laughed. “With that pattern, it sounds like we’re due for a cruise again next year.”

“Not with a five-month-old, we aren’t!”

“Hey, it could be fun!”

“Nope,” Ashley shook her head. “It’s not happening.”

Jin snapped his fingers. “It was worth a shot.”

She laughed. “Was this a good Christmas gift?”

“It was a great Christmas gift.  The best one, I daresay.”

“Maybe I’ll give it to you again next year.”

“Ok, let’s not get ahead of ourselves-”

She smiled and leaned over to kiss him. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Find the Christmas Masterlist here

A/N: I had SO MUCH FUN writing this. Honestly, it went by a lot faster than I expected. I was going to post it in early December...but...that did not happen, clearly

It would be greatly appreciated if you reblogged the story if you liked it!

Taglist: @jiminie-and-his-pinky-finger @thornedswan @fly-you-dam-fools @aianloveseven @kookstempo @armys-dna

#jin one shot #jin x oc #jin imagine #jin fanfic #jin scenario #jin x reader #bts jin #jin #jin fluff #seokjin x oc #seokjin x reader #seokjin oneshot #seokjin scenarios #seokjin fluff #bangtan seokjin #Seokjin #seokjin imagine #kim seokjin #seokjin fic #bts x reader #bts x oc #bts scenarios #bts fanfic #bts fluff #bts one shot #bts #bts fic #bts imagines

[pennywaltzy]

Fanfic asks for the new year -- 2, 3, 7, 9, 11

2. Will you participate in any fandom exchanges or fic challenges, etc? I will definitely be running another regular round of @wipbigbang this year (and I'm probably going to do art again for the unclaimed fics and actually stay on top of it this time...whether I try finishing any of my WIPs is another matter) and I am currently running the International Fanworks Day Mini-Bang at the aforementioned big bang. I may do a fic for that as well, since it's really laid back.

I will also be finishing up the five prompts I got in December for @mollyappreciationweek at some point in the early half of the year (and I'll be running a February week-long round for Valentine's Day/Galentine's Day/Singles Awareness Day as well as another prompt-a-thon in December), and if you do Christmas In July again I'll take prompts. I may do the Spook Me Ficathon instead of Fictober...not sure. But I do plan on doing Spook Me this year after missing the sign-ups the last few years. And if I get enough participants, I'll do another round of @sherlollysecretsanta and make mod gfts as well (which reminds me...got to email participants in this round about the fic covers).

3. Do you anticipate writing for a new fandom this year? Which one? I do! One of the WIPs I'm bouncing around finishing for WIPBB is the Knives Out Cablanca fic you are letting me finish, and I've never written Knives Out before. As for all mine fics? It's not entirely new, but I tossed out a Marvel's What If...? fix-it idea for Peggy/1602!Steve which I might write, which will be my first time writing specifically for that show.

7. Will you change anything about the way you interact with other writers? I'm going to try and read more fic written by people other than @dreaminonao3 (I have a backlog of @sobeautifullyobsessed's fic that I'm going to read when I have a good chunk of time to donate to reading some of her long WIPs, and I have a ton of bookmarked fics across a bunch of different fandoms on my Firefox account), and make damn sure I comment and comment often. I'm also going to try and reblog more fic recs over on @mousedetective, where I have a bigger audience.

9. Short term goals… what do you hope to complete this week or in January? Since I finally seem to be over my food poisoning, this week I hope to do the mod gifts for Sherlolly Secret Santa and write at least one or two things for @greenskyoverme, including the newest chapter of "What Stork Brings." As for January? I want to get as much art done for the 2023 round of WIPBB that I owe as I can. I also want to write something new for my birthday on the 23rd, since I'm not expecting a whole lot this year.

11. Would you like to try any new fanfic genres or tropes this year? Not really? There isn't much I haven't tried at least once in the 25 1/2 years I've been writing fic.

Now, new ships, on the other hand? That I'm game for...

#answering asks! #fanfiction #fanfic #my stuff #strangelock221b

[kokialyrics]

Hello everyone, and thank you for checking out this blog despite the long hiatus. My sincere apologies for the lack of updates.

I have always intended to keep every entry on this blog lyrics-only, but I’m making one exception now to update you on the current status.

I am not abandoning this side blog, however, I am currently not able to translate more lyrics due to various circumstances. I do have a small backlog, but I haven’t gotten back to it, and updating the blog as I have done before is a lot of work. I am still considering to redo this blog completely (of course without deleting previous entries), but I’m unsure what the best course of action is here. Suggestions are very welcome!

I unfortunately got locked out of editing the pages in the menu, so I cannot update the full song list or discography pages right now. So, in order to reply to requests I have gotten so far:

from 16 - I have translated this song before, but I'm not happy with the result. I will redo this once I can.

octopus -secret mission- - I have attempted to translate this, but the amount of lyrics is very short and I am very unsure if I understood them properly. I will give it another try once I'm able to.

a gift - there are no official lyrics for this song, so I cannot translate it. The same goes for multiple other songs. I have included the list below of songs that have no official lyrics, or are already in English and thus won't need a translation.

Updated list of songs that are untranslatable, either due to no official lyrics or already being in English (last updated February 26, 2023):

a gift × Alice in Wonderland × Amazing Grace × Ancient A.I (feat. KOKIA) × Ave Maria × Black is the color × Blue skies × Bridge over troubled water × Bye bye blackbird × Chim Chim Cher-ee× Christmas Medley × Close To You × Credits (feat. KOKIA) × CURRENT × Currents × Demon's Souls × DESPERADO × E3 2015 Debut Trailer × Edelweiss × Epilogue × Everytime We Say Goodbye × Fever × Firelink Shrine × Gematria × Hajimaru yo ~ikimono no ongakukai~ × Hallelujah × Hana ni nare × Happy Birthday to You × Hoshikuzu no vocalise × I'l be home for Christmas × Isn't this a lovely day × It came upon the midnight clear × It's Only A Paper Moon × Lost Home × L-O-V-E × Love me tender × Lullaby Birdland × Lydia~Fairy Dance × Make Sense × Moon river × Moonlight in Vermont × MOONLIGHT SHADOW × Noel no theme ~saigo no tabi~ × One note samba × Over the rainbow × Prologue × Prologue "Remember me" × Ready to rock n'roll × Return to Slumber × Scarborough Fair × Secret Betrayal × Seirei no mai ~Dance of the spirit × Smile × Someday My Prince Will Come × Song of pocchong ~shizuku no uta × Strike Suit Zero Main theme (feat. KOKIA) × Teo torriatte (Let us cling together) × The frim fram sauce × The long and winding road × The rule of the universe × The Water is Wide × Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star × Unity (feat. KOKIA) × Waltz for Debby × Watching from Above × We three kings of Orient are × What a wonderful world × Why do I sing? × with music × Yes I know ×

#KOKIA

[ladyazulina]

A Writeblr Introduction Attempt

[En Español]

Hello everyone, I’m Lady Azulina 💙 Just Azu around these parts. I have been thinking about doing an introduction since I started diving into the Writeblr community who knows how long ago—certainly not me. But I wasn’t able to decide where to start. I still don’t know, but I believe that even the smallest attempt can be a great step, so here we go—I mean, I. Here I go. I really want to make this space something safe for me. For me to vent. For me to share. For me to be me even when I don’t know how to be me. I tried Instagram. I tried Twitter. Now I’m consciously trying Tumblr. Let’s see how this goes.

2-1: My pronouns are she / her. I’m also cis. And as far as I know, I’m hetero, but I haven’t had the opportunity to test my sexuality, so I can’t be totally sure. Why I’m telling all of it? I don’t even know! Don’t mind me.

2: The sun has gone around twenty-four times since I was born. I’m from winter. Like, an-early-Christmas-gift type. By five days only. I was supposed to be born in February, but I think I didn’t want to celebrate my birthday with the rest of the family. So it was Christmas. Sadly.

2+1: I'm legally a Sagittarius, but heartily I don't know where I fit. Sagittarius sun, Capricorn moon, and Aquarius rising.

2x2: I LOVE personality tests. For the majority of my life, I was INFP-T, but the last result says I am ISFP-T. My Enneagram type is a solid 4, a light 9. My color personal test is serulian (#9bb7d4).

2x2+1: I started writing when I was eleven.

2x2+2: I think I have a record of every writing in all these years (goddess, it will be twelve years soon).

2x2+2+1: I’m a love fanatic, even when I don’t wanna be. I’m a hopeless romantic, people. I write romance even without knowing that I’m writing romance. How the heck? I do not understand either.

2x2x2: In the same way, everything with the correct amount of romance can amuse me. And it doesn’t even have to be romantic.

2x2x2+1: I’m also a creature of fiction. Each word that comes out of my fingers is fiction. Be wary, I’m talking here about my writing, I can turn my life into a work of fiction, but it is not! Sadly.

2x2x2+2: On the topic of fiction, excepting a few self-insert (usually coming out in form of micro-stories), all I write and have ever written is absolutely and totally… fiction. Gezh, believe me, I was also looking for another completely unsuspecting word to get you all there, but I went b l a n k. You all know about it, don’t you?

12-1: I'm a fantasy-setup type of girl. I think I decided that with my very first novel, full of fantasy creatures. Though I haven't been writing there for a while, it's still one of my primary genres. I also like paranormal stuff, not in a very big matter, but its participation is still appreciated.

12: I love mysteries, and I think I’m trying to write one, but I do not try to solve them. My head wouldn’t forgive me if I try to push it so hard. On the same topic, I enjoy detective series.

12+1: I found my hidden love for (writing) action scenes thanks to a specific character. I'm still trying my ways because I don't get to write with her as much as I would like.

12+2: Other than the ones I've already mentioned, I'm pretty bad at identifying genres or tropes, so I won't be doing that. If you recognize any in my writings, please point them out to me! That way I can add them to the tags and so on.

12+2+1: For a while, I was roleplaying in forums, so I think I can say I have fics from Digimon, Pokemon, Sword Art Online, and My Hero Academia. Needless to say, I'm trying to turn all their stories into original ones; I can talk about them whenever.

12+2+2: I always create characters in pairs because I don’t want them to feel lonely like I do, though it doesn’t mean they’re romantic pairs.

12+2+2+1: I’m pretty in love with the blue color, hence my name, its lighter tones especially.

12+2+2+2: My real-real name is also a blue color! I think I’m unbiased from birth.

20-1: I’m a Caribbean Latin lady, my first language is Spanish. I would love the second one to be Sign Language, but I think it really is English.

20: I started studying (in college) Maths, but it didn’t work. I shifted to English, but it’s not working either.

20+1: My alter ego is an editor, proofreader, and writing coach, I can serve as the mediator, and as a way of trying her services as a beta reader.

22: I think it’s already obvious, but my favorite number is 2. The 02, 20, and 22 also work. 12 just because it’s my birthday month, but it also has a 2!

Project Masterlist.

#writerblr #writing community #writers on tumblr #writing #writeblr intro #writerscommunity #writeblr #writers #writerscorner #writblr #writeblr connect #writers of tumblr #i'm okay being tagged in #tag games #i will participate in the ones that sparkle something in me #mimi wip #linney

[heliphantie]

Happy 1st anniversary of Encanto!

Sample of several Brunos drawn during October. Tag yourself, as they say.

Under ‘read more’ – small selection of art through the year + some ramblings:

Back in the middle of 2021, I’ve got interested by couple of things about it: implication that Disney – or animation in general - does something inspired by Gabriel García Márquez, and also being Latino-inspired Disney musical movie, which I wanted to see since listening to “Snuff Out The Light” from what became “Emperor’s New Groove”. Wasn’t expecting a lot, neither, to be honest, got in result, except some surprising consequences. I admire a lot of work, classic and more contemporary, by Disney animation and its creatives, even if nothing in last decade or so impressed me on the level Golden Age, Renaissance, or even early 00s production did.

To be fair, in the end I only stay intrigued by its concept and production art more than by actual movie, and it’s realistically more than I would expect. That, and fact Disney happened to create character catering specifically to me in a lot of aspects, which is unfathomable (but it’s a talk for other time).

I would like to collect all my thoughts about the movie to make thorough writing on it, but it calls for motivation and time dedicated to it. In one or another form, I still consider to do it sometime, not necessarily in consecutive form…

What is significant to me, it has triggered my long-tarred decision to resume drawing, which I had on hold for literal years. For now, beside of continued efforts in building skills, I feel almost obligated to put on paper (or digital canvas) all ideas thinking about the movie sparked (and I’m not even over a quarter of it currently).

I’d like to do one another big thing for its first anniversary before the end of year, but being on low energy and not wanting to rush through it, I hope I finish it to Christmas. Anyway, there is some of my work of that year which, out of all artistic attempts, I find satisfactory, considering my current level.

Sort of digest of the (not complete, given I started in April) year of art, dedicated mostly to one subject.

Julieta Gets All Kisses Returned (April 2022)

One of very first, early pictures. In fact, I drew it in pencil on very first day, April 1, along with couple of other small doodles. Idea for it was also quite old, from February, and it was supposed to be birthday-related, before official birthdays were revealed, and it turned I have to wait for half of year😊 Or draw it regardless, because it still worked out of that context and was small and simple enough for first steps. With all its simplicity, it *could* have been better, but I’m even fond of its roughness. There are some drawings I realize liking only for having low expectations for it, but as time goes, they look crappy to me, but not this one. (May be fun to re-make it too next year, to look at progress/improvement, assuming I’ll reach any.)

Teenage Bruno (April 2022)

This one I did in pencil on the *second* day. Piece of wisdom to myself: comics, even short ones, are trickier than regular drawing. It’s consisted of small frames, but you have to figure out composition and make character designs in each panel consistent. It takes twice time to make everything right and without a hurry.

Whole thing barely fits into any context of canon, I just imagined young Bruno interacting with children similar to Mirabel, and this conversation sprang to mind. I had to come with context to support it (Bruno had his gift kept in relative secret til late adolescence), but in general, main connection with my personal headcanon is just that he always was more resilient and lighthearted than given credit for.

On this note, I’ve had intention of exploring my headcanon about characters and Bruno in particular via mini-comics (lot of it had comic scenarios in its roots), and there’s bunch of scripts for it lying not processed into work yet, and as I said, I’m going to finish them because I don’t want for this spurt of inspiration to go to waste, even if it takes time.

On the comic itself, I also like how it turned, given all imperfections. Having to figure look of younger Bruno was fun, and it had some amusing by-products as well I’ll show other time😊 People online seem liking it, too, maybe because it has some narrative. And, frankly, I ought to make narrative things more often.

WDTAB Reenacted (April-May 2022)

Another fun early idea, WDTAB musical number with only Mirabel and Bruno. Two challenges: full-body figures in dynamic poses and drawing with references (without tracing, purely from eye), putting some spin on it. Curious realization: no matter how I try to keep body proportions accurate, all people I draw look like hobbits… except Bruno who does look like hobbit by design already.

My favorite is middle-bottom fragment, dynamic pose construed from scratch.

Bruno & Toni (July-August 2022, fragment of mini-comic)

It’s just this, a fragment of another (rare) mini-comic, but somehow in the end of it, I unexpectedly liked this one panel enough to single it out. I still struggle conveying emotions and mood of characters, but this one turned fortunately in that regard. It’s “sparking joy”, to use meme-speak.

Dolores (August 2022)

I wasn’t exactly determined to draw something to every official character birthday, only when I had idea in mind and it happened to align with date, but since May I was going (almost) steady providing something to each, small or bigger, like that one. It was first full-page picture with background and multiple elements, I wasn’t sure I’d finish it on time, but I managed to, and for most of it, I like the result. It’s not always that vision of thing is clear from beginning and gets exact realization, it’s interesting to see what I get in the end. Layers of background and decorative elements are all over place, it’s accidentally looking like sort of collage, but popping up quite vividly. It got some attention on Twitter, and frankly, I’m pleasantly surprised with it, the work paid off.

Also, how I pointed while presenting it for first time, I was inspired by production art and lines from script depicting Dolores as “weird cousin”, and to lesser extent by fan song “Turn It Down”. When someone mentioned she looks Tim Burton-esque, I was glad I nailed that association.

For further note, Dolores and Pepa are two characters with very attractive color design, I like every opportunity of drawing them.

Bunch of small things drawn during September-October – see samples in header image of post and under ‘encanto fanart’ tag in the blog by yourself, they’re all recent.

Despite smaller goals, I feel like it’s biggest improvement of the year: slowly getting expressions, shadow and lighting rendering, figuring out consistent personal style for characters, etc. I may get slowed down for now (and it affects my work), but I realize there’s long way ahead, and it’s encouraging to see I already have progressed a bit. Fanart is legit good starting point for working toward artistic aspirations, both fun and productive.

So, this post turned into one about personal achievements rather than one about the movie, but in the end, it’s all thanks to inspiration it gave me, so my felicitations to it!

#encanto #disney #encanto fanart #disney fanart #la familia madrigal #phantieart

[sweetswesf]

Check In

What I Did

Cleaned

Shopped for a new pair of jeans

Sent some friends some Christmas gifts

Led my professional black software engineering group last minute after the original leader couldn't make it

Online shopped for some Carhartt overalls

Reread an old journal...it happened to be a retelling of one of the hardest moments in my relationship with my mom that I think about often

Got invited to ride down to LA by a person I thought didn't want anything to do with me...she may just be using me, but, hey, whatever, I benefit from this situation too...

What I Learned

A lot of people care for me

Don't wait...tomorrow is not promised

But also...wait on God...

Don't be so quick to write people off

Don't be so quick to give people so much information

Feeling

A lot of days recently I have been feeling lonely despite the outpouring of support and check ins I've been receiving...I really want a romantic love...a friend asked if I was talking to anyone, and since about February of this year, I've had NO ONE that I was talking to in a sort of flirty stage

I know God has something great for me

Impatient...impatient for love, friendship, a new job, my family situation to get better, the scale to go down, to move...I constantly have to remind myself, "just wait..."

Bad that I doubted some folks...

Kinda paranoid, NGL, but I need to remind myself God's at the helm

Sad I've got looks from so many companies, some of which I really want to be at...and I am just not prepared...despite me working really hard...

Reading old posts I made made me really sad...I repress so many bad memories that, reading it back, made me feel a bit better about taking this time away to heal...it was so long that I had to stop reading...so much stuff I willfully forgot the minor details of but never forgot the major events and how they made and still make me feel

Kind of tired and that I need a helper...I

Shopping & internet are distractions

Nervous...I think of my gym crush a lot, but that's only because I'm more desperate for male attention right now, and he's the ONLY consistent one that I see every day...I've got a feeling that he may be curious about me but I've been wrong before and I don't want to be wrong this time because truthfully, I don't think he's who I should be with...not sure if it is lust, loneliness, or if it would actually be good to explore a relationship with him...it's times like these where I need to just go with my gut and listen more in my prayers about it

Hearing that another colleague has already done about 40 algorithms and I have only done a fraction of that, made me feel like I've been wasting time, but I have been making progress...I do need to make a little more though...time goes by fast

Glad that I waited on God and didn't go down to LA, because now I've got a trip out...and I bought the 2nd plane ticket by accident, but I guess it wasn't an accident, because now I'm going down and will use it on the way back up!

Takeaways

I should read the resources my therapist recommended

I want to stop dwelling on the past

I'm going to switch up my study schedule and focus more on algos

I'm not sure if I'm ready to stop being so hard on myself...I don't know if I am or not...

How I Got Myself Out of a Rut

Cooked for myself and ate the food that I had in my fridge, not the pizza I knew I really wasn't going to like after a few bites or food from elsewhere

Prayed

Finally decorated my Christmas tree

Goals Completed

Found a therapist

Stopped listening to people worried about their own circumstances and remembering God works on his own time and that I am in no rush...

Got back on the ball

Being kinder to myself and stopping guilting myself if my energy isn't always on 100%

Goals After Today

Strengthen my relationship with God

Understand the main concepts I need to from Interview Cake, AlgoExpert, etc. in 6 months, NOT less than 3

Drop my body fat percentage to Marion Jones, Michaela Cole, or Jade Cargill levels

Consistently fight urge to fill up my time with social media/YouTube

Fully forgive my family & build a great relationship with them

Be more confident & faithful

250 steps/hour & 10k steps/daily consistently

Drink more than 64oz a day consistently

Go on a date with a guy I actually like who actually likes me too

Learn more about my gym crush & get him to ask for my number

Get a house similar to that one in Spain

Update my personal app

#Youtube #tech #software engineering #software engineer #check in #black in tech #black in the bay #san francisco #silicon valley #engineer #python #black women in tech #women in tech #startup #layoff #100 days of python #100 days of code #programming #coding #pytest #systems engineer #LA #lizzo #christmas #christmas tree

[catchabiifyoucan]

February 9, 2024

After the long travel from DC to Nigeria and traveling by the plane to the car, I am finally home.

I was beyond exhausted from lacking sleep, taking public transportation, watching too much Netflix series and getting lost into time zone difference.

From one continent to another continent. From one country to another country. From one “world/culture” to another “world/culture”.

Arriving my siblings’ residence finally caught up into the reality that I am in Nigeria. No longer dreaming. I am actually here again after five years.

I went upstairs to the third floor- a unit of four bedrooms, three bathrooms, kitchen, dining room, living room where I will be staying with my siblings and nieces.

My other sister I just flew in Nigeria with her baby a few days ago from America and didn’t know I was coming. She had no clue at all. I sneaked in and surprised her. She was completely lost and in shock. She couldn’t believe that I came. She was like what? You have been lying to me. that was a really good surprise! My sister B did a good job keeping a secret even though she hates surprises. It was really hard for her to keep a secret because she didn’t want to be suspicious for acting funny or telling white lies.

And nope my mom has no idea that I am coming. She thought I was home with my family in DC. She would be on clouds 9 and very happy having all of her four children here celebrating her 70th birthday. Can’t want to surprise and see her in a few days.

Hugged my five nieces, sister I and brother in law. The first thing I wanted to do was taking a hot shower. I felt good and clean. And then I sat down for a nice meal. My first Nigerian meal in long time. It hits home. It’s like I was being electrocuted or awake after a good Nigeria fix!

After eating my meal, I went through my suitcases and too out gifts that I brought for my sister and nieces. Late Christmas, early/ late birthday gifts or whatever the reason is. I am usually a giving person. I just can’t came here with nothing. You know the saying, sharing is caring. Giving is caring too.

I was exhausted and missing my family. I struggled to stay up late because I was six hours ahead of my family. It was only 10 pm here but it was 4 pm there. That was when my girls got home from school but not my boys. I called and chatted with my girls and partner for a little but not my boys. I wanted to see my boys too, so I set an alarm to wake myself up at 1 am to see them. I didn’t wake up or see them because I was too tired. And I didn’t want them being more sad when they saw me.

Wow what an adventurous day!

Nighty night!

[crowdvscritic]

round up // NOVEMBER 23 + DECEMBER 23 + JANUARY 24: CROWD vs. CRITIC vs. CHRISTMAS!

November and December push me to the limit—how many movies can I fit in before the end of the calendar year? In 2023 (plus a few bonus days), the answer was more than 130 new releases. And who wants to skip all of their favorite Christmas movies? Because I extend my holiday viewing into January, I fit in almost 90 this year, adding a few more to my all-time must-watch list. Once the Oscar noms were announced, I was already back to my usual shenanigans and had watched my 400th unique movie on Turner Classic Movies. Whether these statistics are cool or pathetic (erm, don’t tell me), I’m grateful for the slowness of Dump-uary and the depth that comes with thinking about the same Oscar-nominated films for several weeks. (Too bad we need to revisit Melissa Villaseñor’s Oscars snub song from SNL.)

To help sum up these three packed months, I’m resurrecting Crowd vs. Critic vs. Christmas: five crowd-pleasers, five critic picks, and five Christmas treats. Who says you can’t make these holiday recommendations part of your February entertainment?

Holiday Crowd-Pleasers

1. SNL Round Up

Studio 8H is making up for lost time after those strikes: 

“Question Quest” (4906 with Emma Stone)

“Beep Beep” (4907 with Adam Driver) - #SoMidwest

“Weekend Update: Chloe Fineman’s Save the Last Dance Holiday Gift” (4907)

“Tiny A** Bag” (4907)

“Christmas Awards Cold Open” (4908 with Kate McKinnon)

"North Pole News: Killer Whale Attack” (4908)

“ABBA Christmas” (4908)

“Yankee Swap” (4908)

“Please Don't Destroy - Roast” (4910 with Dakota Johnson) - As one who still has yet to understand the appeal of the PDD guys, this resonated with me

“The Barry Gibb Talk Show: 2024 Election” (4910)

“Weekend Update: A Guy Named Ethan on the 2024 Oscars Snubs” (4910) - I am...probably only a few years away from turning into Ethan?

2. Triple Feature - Big City Crime Thrillers: No Way Out (1987) + Cop Land (1997) + Widows (2018)

The stars aligned on all of these! In No Way Out (Crowd: 9/10 // Critic: 8/10), Kevin Costner is assigned to investigate the murder of his secret lover (Sean Young) in Washington D.C. The twist? The person who assigned him the case was also her lover, Secretary of Defense Gene Hackman. In Cop Land (9/10 // 7.5/10), Sylvester Stallone sheriffs a New Jersey town that houses a corrupt batch of New York City cops (including Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta, and Robert Patrick) that Robert De Niro is investigating. In Widows (8.5/10 // 8.5/10), Viola Davis, Elizabeth Debicki, Cynthia Erivo, and Michelle Rodriguez are completing the heist that killed their husbands (including Liam Neeson) in a corrupt Chicago run by Robert Duvall, Colin Farrell, Brian Tyree Henry, and Daniel Kaluuya. All are twisty, gritty, and thrilling.

3. Godzilla Minus One (2023)

Oh no, there goes Tokyo—but at least it’s going to a spectacle as fun and well-crafted as this one. Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 7/10

4. Double Feature - ‘90s Matt Damon Dramas: School Ties (1992) + The Rainmaker (1997)

Because Matt Damon has always been good! Though he’s not always been the good guy: In School Ties (Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 8.5/10), Brendan Fraser must hide his Jewish identity to survive at a prep school in the ‘50s, and bullies like Damon are who he’s most afraid of. In The Rainmaker (9/10 // 8.5/10), Damon is the good guy as a baby-faced lawyer who wants to protect Claire Danes, Teresa Wright, and Mary Kay Place from villains like slick lawyer Jon Voight. Here’s hoping Damon has another coming-of-age movie (as a teacher) and legal thriller in his future.

5. The Jerk (1979)

Not every moment of this movie would fly if made today, but Steve Martin’s episodic adventures in his first journey away from home gave me some of my biggest laughs in months. Crowd: 9.5/10 // Critic: 8/10

More Holiday Crowd-Pleasers: Three Men and a Little Lady (1990) reminds us how much fun it is to let three charismatic movie stars (Ted Danson, Steve Guttenberg, and Tom Selleck) cook // The Mrs. Doubtfire National Tour is fluffy fun // Maggie Moore(s) (2023) is a true crime story that makes me wish Tina Fey and Jon Hamm could become the new Myrna Loy and William Powell // Quiz Lady (2023) lets Will Ferrell live out his Alex Trebek dreams // John Mulaney in Concert Tour is making me count down till his next special is released to get memes about his grandfather, his bus driver, and his son // Reacher Season 2 is the perfect action show to watch with my dad // I’m not sure if Man of the Year (2006) was prescient about the future of politics or if it just understood human nature well enough to anticipate the populist movement and election fraud conversations we’re having today, but this Robin-Williams-as-Jon-Stewart comedy is underrated // The real-world implications of V for Vendetta (2005) are…confusing, but this literary-inspired adventure is still thrilling // Desperado (1995) is an over-the-top, shoot-'em-up Western

Holiday Critic Picks

1. The Best of 2023

2023: a year of products, greed, put-upon employees, and artificial intelligence—and not just in the actors’ and writers’ strikes! It was also a great year for movies, which is why I couldn’t narrow down my list to just 10. Read my top 10 picks for 2023 movies, as well as 28 honorable mentions at ZekeFilm, and then check out the accompanying list on Letterboxd.

I also dug deeper into some of the films mentioned in my Best of 2023 in these reviews:

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes - ZekeFilm review

Maestro - ZekeFilm review

Priscilla -  ZekeFilm review, KMOV review, Do You Like Apples discussion, updated Letterboxd Sofia Coppola rankings

2. Double Feature - New Baseball Documentaries: It Ain’t Over (2022) + The League (2023)

I am not a Yankees fan, so who would have guessed that the Yogi Berra documentary It Ain’t Over (Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 8.5/10) would make me cry? And my baseball history knowledge always has room for improvement, so The League (8/10 // 9/10) is a phenomenal fix to many of my blind spots. Both are now inducted in my Baseball Movie Hall of Fame.

3. Triple Billing - Come From Away + Tina: The Tina Turner Musical + Funny Girl National Tours

Looking for a true story turned into an excellent musical? Try Come From Away, which captures the chaos of flights rerouted on 9/11 with the pathos you expect (and the comedy you don’t). Or try Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, which is one of the best—if not the best—jukebox musical I’ve seen because the songs are integrated into the story instead of just as a musical revue of a a well-known career. Or catch Funny Girl, which captures comedienne Fanny Brice’s life with the help of a powerhouse singer channeling Barbra Streisand’s powers. Better yet, I recommend not skipping any of them when they come to town if you can swing it.

4. Happiness Falls by Angie Kim (2023)

What do you do when your dad goes missing in the middle of a global pandemic and the only one who was with him when he disappeared is your non-verbal brother? That’s the central mystery of Angie Kim’s latest novel. Instead of an edge-of-your-seat-thriller, it’s a story that propels us forward with the questions that plague its characters.

5. Hollywood Victory: The Movies, Stars, and Stories of World War II by Christian Blauvelt (2021)

The Turner Classic Movies Library has yet to miss. Hollywood Victory doesn’t just provide an in-depth overview of Hollywood from 1933 to 1945. It’s an exploration of Hollywood’s inextricable relationship with American politics, its contributions that helped the Allies win the war, and a unusual but informative lens of movies and the war itself. It’s also a long set of additions to my watchlist—of the 260+ films referenced, I’ve only seen a quarter. Thank goodness for TCM and a DVR with unlimited space!

More Holiday Critic Picks: American Symphony, Chevalier, Fallen Leaves, Freud’s Last Session, and Master Gardener were all films in consideration for my Best of 2023 // Wes Anderson’s Roald Dahl short film adaptations Poison, The Rat Catcher, The Swan, and The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (2023) are bite-sized, beautifully manicured delights // Debbie Reynolds paves the way the way for Kathy Bates’s Titanic role with her charismatic starring piece in the musical The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964) // Barbara Stanwyck is wonderful as always in the melodrama All I Desire (1953) // Hail the Conquering Hero (1944) is filled with some of Preston Sturges’s most fun mixups and hijinks

Holiday Treats

1. Ken The EP by Ryan Gosling and Mark Ronson

I don’t care if these are barely Christmas songs—let’s give Ryan Gosling seasonal updates of “I’m Just Ken” for all of 2024!

2. Mixed Nuts (1994)

Hot take: Steve Martin has not been in enough rom-coms. A kookier—but nonetheless delightful—brand of Nora Ephron stars Martin and Rita Wilson as co-workers at a crisis hotline who are clearly meant for each other. If only they—and Madeline Kahn, Juliette Lewis, Adam Sandler, Liev Schreiber, and Garry Shandling— could get out of their own way. Crowd: 7.5/10 // Critic: 6.5/10  

3. Fitzwilly (1967)

Christmas Ocean’s Eleven! Dick Van Dyke is as charming as ever and the vibes are as ‘60s as ever as he tries to pull off a heist at Gimbels on Christmas Eve. Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 8/10

4. Metropolitan (1990)

Before Chris Eigeman was Jason Stiles on Gilmore Girls, he was essentially playing the same character in Whit Stillman’s comedy riff on The Great Gatsby. A young, bougie group is attempting to survive debutante season (also the Christmas season), debating the pros and cons of wealth and falling in and out of romance. Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 9/10

5. The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (1944)

Hollywood Victory informed me I’m not the only who can’t believe this was allowed to play for audiences in 1944! Betty Hutton marries a soldier on a whim, but the next morning she can’t remember which one. Her BFF with an unrequited crush (Eddie Bracken) is the only one who can help her figure out who her husband—and the father of her child—is before the scandal gets out and destroys her reputation. Because this is a Preston Sturges feature, it’s actually a hilarious quest. Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 9/10

More Christmas Treats: Klaus (2019) is a hidden gem on Netflix // Okay, the ick factor in Susan Slept Here (1954) is real, but Dick Powell and Debbie Reynolds are just so darn charming! // 8-Bit Christmas (2021) is a better-than-it-needed-to-be update of A Christmas Story featuring a Nintendo instead of a BB gun // How did I never see Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) all the way through before this year? Once I realized I’d missed some scenes in my umpteen cable watches over the years, it shot up on my John Hughes rankings // Pocketful of Miracles (1961) is a delightful Cinderella tale that proves Bette Davis always had it 

Also this Holiday Season…

I reviewed even more new movies, including Next Goal Wins (ZekeFilm), The Marvels (KMOV), and the new Mean Girls musical (ZekeFilm)

The St. Louis Film Critics Association nominated and voted on our Best of 2023 films. You can see every winner and every film we nominated on Letterboxd, and you can read my summary of how I voted here on Crowd vs. Critic. Keep scrolling if you’re on the home page to my last post, or read it here.

Photo credits: Funny Girl, Happiness Falls, Hollywood Victory. All others IMDb.com. 

#Round Up #SNL #Saturday Night Live #Cop Land #Widows #No Way Out (1987) #Godzilla Minus One #Mixed Nuts #Fitzwilly #Ken The EP #Ryan Gosling #Mark Ronson #Metropolitan #The Miracle of Morgan's Creek #The Jerk #Happiness Falls by Angie Kim #Angie Kim #Happiness Falls #The Rainmaker #School Ties #Come From Away #Tina: The Tina Turner Musical #Funny Girl #The League #It Ain't Over #Hollywood Victory: The Movies Stars and Stories of World War II #Christian Blauvelt

[roger-spirit]

Christmas with the roger pirates

IT'S CHRISTMAS

merry christmas to everyone and happy holidays and i don't know what else to wish good so enjoy!

it's so hard to find a gif of them😔

-it's a complete mess

-everyone is partying and eating, even though it's not midnight yet;

-but they take Christmas VERY seriously;

-first of December the ship is already all decorated, because Roger made everybody spend the whole 30th decorating the ship;

-they have a huge Christmas tree in the middle of the dining hall with presents at the foot of it;

-the whole December they run away from fighting because they don't want to mess up the tree and the decorations with blood of enemies, it would be unpleasant;

-they spend the whole morning and afternoon of the 24th getting ready;

-IT'S A VERY IMPORTANT DAY;

-even Roger gets ready (he doesn't change much, he just changes into something more festive than his normal attire);

-as I said, it's a mess;

-in a corner Gaban and Oden are drunk and having an arm wrestling competition;

-Shanks and Buggy start the betting circle and of course everyone joins in;

-When midnight comes it is time to open the presents, but only after the Secret Santa;

-It is incredibly messy (especially since Rayleigh is threatening everyone to be quiet);

-of course who starts first is Roger (he is the captain, he should go first);

-but before he actually starts, he makes a speech;

-he says how nice it is to have everyone there and that he is really happy to be able to sail with his family, that now this was all he could ever want in the world;

-it's a completely cute and new long speech, because he ALWAYS makes a new speech that leaves everyone in tears;

-then he hands each person a miniature bottle with some sand and water in it, he says that the sand and water comes from every island they have visited so far;

"Our memories in a small bottle, suitable for a pirate, right?"

-everyone is crying even harder;

-turning to the subject, nobody wins anything nice at the Secret Santa;

-it's a bunch of silly, useless stuff;

-but nobody cares because they're just having fun;

-THEN comes the time for the real presents after 3 hours of Secret Santa;

-and this time everyone actually gets what they wanted;

-EVERYONE brags about the gift they won and gave;

"I WON A NEW, BEAUTIFUL, INCREDIBLE, MAGINIFICENT GUN HOLSTER"

"AND I GAVE YOU THIS HOLSTER, I AM AMAZING I KNOW"

-at 6am on the 25th, everyone is still awake, Roger says he should go after Newgate or Garp because they are fun and he wants to spend Christmas with them too;

-no matter who they meet first, there is another party and more drinking and more drunken pirates (and more tears because Roger loves to make emotional speeches);

-they don't take down the decorations until February 2, just because;

#gol d roger #gol d roger headcanons #one piece x reader #one piece imagine #one piece headcanons #roger pirates #dark king rayleigh #silvers rayleigh #oden one piece #gaban one piece