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clubdionysus · 2 days

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[BAD DECISION #1] Purple Starfuckers

warnings: alcohol, clubbing

soundtrack: bad decisions - bts, passionfruit - drake, promiscuous - nelly furtado & timbaland

wc: 3.5k

bd total wc: 540k (on-going)

minors dni | AO3 | series masterlist

"Don't think of it as a bad decision. Think of it as a lesson learned. Something to remember for next time."

The way Hoseok looks at you is borderline comical - face all scrunched up, mouth hanging ajar. He's scowling, but it isn't new. He's had a face like a slapped arse all evening. Kinda goes with the territory of a fresh break-up, mind you.

"You don't seriously believe that?" He scoffs, before swallowing his words down with the rum and coke that he's been nursing for the past fifteen minutes. It tastes like shit, and is far too strong - but he's the one who asked for a triple. No one else to blame

The bartender had raised his pierced brow, told Hoseok that he's "not allowed to do that" - but had offered to make him a double and pour a separate shot, instead. "What you do with that shot is up to you," the bartender had shrugged - and so Hoseok had poured it straight on in.

You finish your own drink with a roll of your eyes and shake of your head. "What I believe is that she wasn't 'the one', Hobes. Was a lucky escape, if you ask me. She was fucking vile to me and Danbi."

"You guys just didn't get to know her proper-"

"Hobi, she wore white to Jungmi's wedding," Danbi interrupted. Truthfully, she could not have cared less for how badly Hoseok's ex had treated her - it was when she started behaving badly around other people, embarrassing them in the process, that she started to take offence. If there was one thing Danbi had, it was pride. "WHITE! Who does that?! Poor Jungmi. She's a better woman than me. I'd have fought that bitch on the spot, right in the aisle. Don't care if it's my wedding day, when bitches deserve a slap-"

"Dan," you laugh but try and get her to quiet down, knowing that Hoseok is still reeling from the break-up. As true as her words are, he doesn't need to hear them right now. Turning to Hoseok, you stroke up his shoulder tenderly, with a soft smile on your glossy lips.

You didn't cover yourself head to toe in glitter just to sit in the smoking area of a shitty club all night. There's fun to be had.

"Look, Hobes, it sucks that things ended the way they did -" a screaming match over the price of asparagus in the middle of a supermarket, that was totally an argument about something more than that, but Hoseok is still in denial - "but not everything we lose is a loss. Okay? You've still got us."

Which is admittedly more than he deserves after how much of a shitbag he'd turned into during the relationship. He'd go days, weeks - hell - sometimes months, without getting back to you. You and Dan had been fine - you had each other after all - but it still sucked not having your third musketeer with you.

"Now c'mon," you smile. "Get that drink down you, and get that pretty ass of yours on the floor. We both know you're dying for a good dance."

"I don't feel like it," he groans - but he downs his drink regardless, and is dancing to a noughties classic within five minutes.

You think it's Nelly Furtado - it is - but you're so drunk that you can't really place it. It's the kind of song that everyone knows; the kind of song that gets everyone's hips moving just right. Bodies are hot and sweaty, the clammy dancefloor a pit of sin. To you, though, it feels like heaven at that moment. This is all you've wanted for months. You're holding Danbi's hands, Hoseok between the pair of you, unable to escape and not really wanting to, either. He's smiling, and it's the best thing you've seen all night.

The lights of the club beam down on you, pinks and blues reflecting the satin dress you're wearing. It's short, barely covering your ass, and silver. Picked out especially for a night like this; when attention is welcome, but not necessarily encouraged. You think you look like a trophy. Maybe someone will be lucky enough to win you. Maybe not.

From the bar, Jeon Jeongguk thinks you look like a little disco ball.

He's wiping a tumbler dry, fresh from the glass washer, making most of the lull in customers coming to the bar. There are only three of them behind it, and it always makes Friday shifts feel that little bit more hectic.

Dionysus, a club just on the outskirts of the party district, is always busier on a Saturday, so he prefers Friday shifts. A relatively small club, it has only a single dancefloor and a bar area with a few seats. The back entrance leads to the smoking area, which is where he'd first noticed you coming from with your friends. There's nowhere to hide, really, in a club like this. If you're in Dionysus, everyone knows about it.

Especially the bartenders.

"What do we reckon," Yeonjun, the youngest of the crew, smirks at Jeongguk as he nods towards you and your friends. "They all going home together, or what?"

A little air squeaks through Jeongguk's lips as he purses them, trying to get a read on your little trio. The way you're moving your hips towards the dude in the middle certainly seems a little more than friendly. At least, if a girl he'd never met before was dancing with him like that, he'd take it as a good sign he was getting laid.

What makes it interesting is the fact that there are two of you. You in silver, another girl in black. Both pretty. Both incredibly different, but both captivating nonetheless. Like a pair of shooting stars, he thinks, cracking through the crowd at a vibrancy that could blind. Is a little confused as to how the fuck you aren't being pestered by other guys - doesn't complain though. Makes for a clear line of vision.

It's nights like these which make Jeongguk wish he worked a normal job. He misses out on all the fun always being behind the bar, he thinks. Does also save him from making some bad decisions that he knows would surely haunt him. If anything, he should be thankful.

"Fuck knows," he simply says, closing the glasswasher and whipping the towel over his shoulder. "10,000 won says he's going home alone."

Yeonjun smirks. "You're on."

It's less of a bet for Jeongguk. More of a manifestation. He likes watching you dance. Doesn't like the thought of you dancing with the dude by yourself. Doesn't like the idea of you leaving with him, either. Considers the fact that maybe you're not even interested in dudes, and that it's the girl you're holding hands with who you'll be leaving with instead. He's less intimidated by that - at least your disinterest in him would be preference based - but it's still not his favourite scenario.

It's not like he knows you, nor will he ever know you. He just likes to live in the what-ifs. They're always so much safer. Can't get rejected if you don't put yourself out there.

And so he carries on with work just like he should, serving the next punters who stumble to the bar. He pours them a water with their order, because lord knows they need it, and laughs when someone tries to pay for it thinking it's a vodka lemonade.

"On the house," he shrugs, letting their drunk minds believe it really is a vodka lemonade. Easier that way. Will get them drinking water, at least, even if just for a sip or so before they clock on.

You're laughing, a little out of breath and not entirely steady on your feet, as you head to the bar.

He'd been so busy with the last customers that he didn't even notice until he saw you using the bar to help steady yourself. You aren't looking in his direction, but up at the row of spirits behind him, trying to sus out what you fancy.

Your hair is dark, up in a ponytail with grown-out bangs framing your face. The makeup you've been wearing has faded, melted off from the heat of the club, but the glitter remains. You really do look like a disco ball, he thinks. It makes him smile.

"Hey, sorry," you beam towards him, eyes just as sparkling at the glitter dusted on your collarbones. He raises his brows, expression open, receptive, as he moves closer to the bar. "What's something that can get me fucked up but also tastes delicious?"

Oh, how he loves a challenge. He licks his lips and tilts his head to the side. "What do you qualify as delicious?"

"No passionfruit," you say almost instantly. "So no pornstars." And then you gag a little, to emphasise just how much you hate passionfruit.

"No pornstars, noted," Jeongguk says as he pulls an imaginary pencil from behind his ear and pretends to jot it down on his palm. He looks back up at you, and doesn't bother fighting the way his teeth bite down on his bottom lip - why would he? You're giggling. He likes it. And he also knows you're probably drunk, so won't remember this interaction in the morning.

"Well, I mean, none of the drinking variety," you grin, tongue in cheek. "If you happen to know any of the human variety, send them my way."

He almost chokes on his own spit. The shock in his eyes has you laughing again.

"I'm joking, you idiot."

Although you kind of totally aren't. You haven't been laid in a while. You'll take anything with a pulse who is interested at this point.

"I knew that," he bluffs, and looks back down at his palm as if he's reading again. "Okay, so no pornstars - pornstar martinis. What else?"

"Don't like orange juice."

"Do you like anything?"

You like lots of things. So many things that your brain can't think straight, actually.

You like the way a tattoo is peaking out of his shirt sleeve. You like dancing with your friends. Being drunk. His smile. The way he's joking with you. The knowledge that Hoseok is probably doing the robot as you speak. Sunsets. The chain around the neck of the man in front of you. Those cute tiny straws he puts in some of the cocktails. Him.

But you narrow your eyes, and ignore your brain. "Alcohol."

He narrows his eyes right back. Purses his lips. Looks down at his fake notepad, then back up at you. "I think I have just the thing for you."

Reaching for the plastic cups which you know are reserved for water, you almost look offended. Does he not think you have eyes? Are too drunk to know he's giving you water?

He places it in front of you and smiles, lips together, eyes round - but still challenging you.

"It's water," you tell him, and he nods. No denial.

"Uh-huh. Cleanse your palette first."

"Are we fine dining?"

"We aren't doing anything," he assures you. He's on the clock. "But everything tastes like shit after a smoke, so if you wanna enjoy it, have some water."

Your brows furrow together, head tilting and then you're self-conscious. "Do I smell like smoke?"

You'd doused yourself in perfume and had been chewing on gum to hide it, but apparently not well enough.

Jeongguk shakes his head, realising how much wider your eyes are. You don't seem as confident. You're not smiling anymore.

"No, no," he says quickly and nods toward your clutch, which is propped open on the side of the bar. A packet of cigarettes are sticking out slightly, a lighter tucked into the side. "I just guessed - sorry. I didn't mean to- I mean, no. You don't. Not at all."

You follow his gaze, and find yourself smiling. Small misunderstanding. That's all. But he seems just as panicked as you had been. It's sweet.

"Fine," you elongate your response and let your eyes narrow again, to let him know you're ready to banter again. "I'll drink it - but whatever you're making better be good."

"If you hate it, it's on the house," he says, knowing that you won't hate it. He sets about making your drink as you sip on the water, not really watching him because you're trying to focus on not falling over. Water actually seems like a great idea. You're thankful for it.

When Jeongguk returns to your spot by the bar, he can't stop blinking. The glass of water - an entire pint - is finished. You're smiling, lips a little wet, eyes a little hazy.

"Thirsty," you shrug.

He checks your jaw to make sure it's not grinding, but it's perfectly still. Not a gram of MD - the drug of choice in Dionysus circles - in your system. You just really are thirsty - had been dancing all bloody night. He knows this, but he's naive to how hot it is down there. Hasn't actually been on the dancefloor himself in a while. Always working.

He accepts your defence, and holds up the shot in front of you. It's tiny, and pretty, all purple and shimmery.

Jeongguk smiles. "Purple Starfucker."

The water you've just finished almost comes back up through your system. "Sorry?!"

"Purple Starfucker," Jeongguk simply repeats. "Amaretto, peach schnapps, a little curacao and cranberry juice. Fucking delicious."

You do love all of those. It's the ideal drink for you. You've never had it before, but you know it's gonna be good. He places it down in front of you, but that challenging look is still in your eye.

He laughs a little. Can't figure you out. Has no idea what you're thinking. "What are you waiting for?"

"Nothing," you grin, picking the shot glass up by the rim, raising it with a nod. "To Purple Starfuckers."

Jeongguk nods back. Toys with his lip piercing, the tip of his tongue peeking out ever so slightly before he bites down on his lip. "To Purple Starfuckers."

From his peripherals, Jeongguk can see Yeonjun leaning against the countertop at the back of the bar, watching him with a curious smirk.

Un-fucking-believable, Yeonjun thinks. Reckons Jeongguk is trying to fuck with the bet. Trying to lure Disco Ball away. He doesn't hear the conversation, but he can read your lips - 'Holy shit? That's fucking delicious? How much do I owe you?' - and watches the way Jeongguk shakes his head. Hands too. Shrugs. Bloody git is giving it to you on the house.

10,000 won ain't that much, but Yeonjun doesn't like losing. "Oi, Disco Ball. Get your friends"- he nods towards Hoseok and Danbi. -"We'll make you a round."

He ignores the way Jeongguk's eyes burn into him, knowing that his shit-eating grin is enough to wind Jeongguk up. They love each other really, but in a way you'd love a sibling. Fully capable of hating one another, too.

You glance up to Jeongguk, almost as if you're asking his permission. You kind of are. You trust him. He's been kind. This other bartender? He's a bit louder. Far brasher. And he'd called you Disco Ball? The fuck?

Jeongguk nods. Doesn't want you to leave, but equally knows the only reason you're looking at him like that - eyes all wide and innocent - is 'cause you're drunk. Doubts it would be the same if you were sober. When he comes to think of it, he'd rather you were with your friends. Safer that way. "Hurry. Before we get really busy."

And so you scurry off, running on the balls of your feet to avoid awkward heel mishaps. There's something endearing about it and it's almost enough to distract him from Yeonjun's taunts.

"If he doesn't take her home, I will."

"She's fucked," Jeongguk tells him, voice stern, eyes still on you. Fucking around with punters isn't against the rules, but taking advantage of drunk girls? Yeah, not on his watch. Doesn't matter who it is. He's seen enough creeps and enough girls in tears because of them to know when to step in. "You're going nowhere near her."

"I clock off in an hour," Yeonjun reminds him. Jeongguk the one who's closing the bar tonight. "Plenty of time to play catch up."

Yeonjun - brilliant, blue-haired, and with enough boyish charm to seduce almost anyone - isn't a creep. He looks up to Jeongguk. Respects him. Follows his lead. Would never take advantage of a punter. He just likes winding Jeongguk up a little too much.

Jeongguk ignores him. Doesn't put it past him. While Yeonjun likes to think he has values, Jeongguk knows he's just as horny and desperate as the rest of the fuckers in the bar.

That's not to say Jeongguk is discounting himself from the generalisation - he just actually does have morals. To some degree, at least.

You're on the dancefloor for no more than thirty seconds, dragging Hoseok and Danbi with you to the bar. They complain and moan - "but I love that song!" - though as soon as they're faced with a tray of shots, their moods shoot up. You go to pay Jeongguk, but he shakes his head.

"On the house."

"You're trying to get me drunk," you accuse with a knowing smile.

"You're already drunk," he smiles right back. It's not his goal. It's a fairly quiet night. If anything, this is entertainment. Not like there's much better for him to be doing. Not until his friends drop by later, at least. "I'm just a nice barman."

Part of you wants to protest. He's covered in tattoos - his hands, the ones peaking from his shirt at the wrist and the neck - and has more piercing in his ears than you do. There's a stud in his brow, and a ring on his lip. It's his eyes though, that you think scream danger the most. They're deep and they're dark, and you know better than to trust them.

And yet when he smiles like that, your tummy feels all fuzzy in the same way that your head does.

"Well thank you Mr Nice Barman," you nod and curtsey, because that somehow feels appropriate.

"Jeongguk," he corrects, before knocking his head to the side and nodding towards the dancefloor. "Go enjoy your night, trouble."

Not too much, though, he thinks to himself, but watches as you bounce back to the dancefloor with your friends.

The drinks were a small gesture, but one that he knows will have made a difference to their night. No skin off his back. He likes doing things like this. You're not the first, likely won't be the last - but he spends a lot longer than usual quietly observing you as you get on with your night. Doesn't notice the smile on his face.

Yeonjun does, though. Chooses not to say anything. Knows when to pick his battles.

Does warn him when he sees Jeongguk's friends bundle in through the door, though. "Watch out boss. Same as usual?"

Jeongguk nods, and Yeonjun sets about making a round of drinks for the usual suspects. Three malibu and cokes, one rum and lemonade and four purple starfuckers. Jeongguk'll make those. They're his signature.

"Look what the cat dragged in," he grins towards his friends, all a little worse for wear. Bleary-eyed, they're smiling and joking, having come from dinner - which turned into drinks, and then more drinks and then - fuck it - clubs. Dionysus is always the final stop. They like the atmosphere; like the free drinks even more.

"You know us," Park Jimin grins at him in the sleazy way he so often does, which lets Jeongguk knows he's up to no good. "Where the pussy goes, we surely follow."

"Speak for yourself," Namjoon snorts beside him, a little more sober than the others. Taehyung and Yoongi are engaged in their own conversation - something about the Samsung Lions and baseball strategy that Jeongguk doesn't care much for. "Quiet night?"

"Fairly," Jeongguk nods - which can only mean one thing. Same thing it means every week.

He'd always thought that by the time they hit their mid-twenties, they'd be over this lifestyle by now - but his friends like to make just as many bad decisions as he does.

"Round up boys," Jimin cheers, his voice booming above the bass of whatever noughties classic is on. "Purple Starkfucker time!"

Jeongguk laughs. Shakes his head, rolls his eyes. Unfolds his defensive arms. Glances up to the crowd - but you're lost to the night. Maybe not forever, but for now, at least.

And so he just nods, and cheers along with them.

"Purple Starfucker time."

AO3 | MASTERLIST | NEXT

#by holly #jungkook fanfic #jungkook fanfiction #jungkook angst #jungkook smut #jungkook ff #jk #jungkook x reader #jeongguk fanfic #bangtan #jungkook fluff #bartender!jungkook #non idol au #bts fanfic #jeongguk fic #bad decisions #dappleddaisies

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headfullofpresley · 1 year

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𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬, 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠

This is part three of Good Rockin' Tonight, find part two here.

Pairing: Elvis Presley x reader

Word count: 8,2K

Summary: Elvis can't do the friendship thing anymore- he misses you and wants you back, but when you reject him, he makes a decision that he regrets for years. But haven't the both of you learned that the heart wants what it wants?

Warnings: angst, exes to lovers, some time jumps, strong language, alcohol consumption, smut; semi public, vag penetration, unprotected sex.

A/N: the urge to let this series have an angsty ending is big... 😈

masterlist

The universe worked in strange ways.

Ever since you and Elvis broke up, you had grown closer together. He genuinely considered you his best friend, but this isn’t what he wanted at all. He didn’t want to be your friend after everything you had gone through together – he wanted to be your man.

He wanted to be yours and only yours.

He seemed to be a little more open about his manager to you – he’d hang on the phone to cuss him out to you every time something happened – and although he was still stuck doing horrible movies that lacked the art he wanted to create, he didn’t let his manager or anyone else hold him back from doing what he wanted to do.

He’d often go to Sunset Records, most of the time in the dead of the night, and have Lori open up a studio for him so he could cut some records. Real records, not the movie soundtracks he was unfortunately forced to sing.

You’d accept his invitations of coming down to the studio sometimes as well, because you loved seeing him in his element and being around him – after three years, it didn’t hurt as much anymore – but he understood that it wasn’t always possible for you to be there because you had a life on your own.

He didn’t want to be the reason for you to get fired… again.

You had left your small fashion adventure for what it was and got a job at Pop Weekly, a magazine that catered to music and film only. It didn’t pay as well as Seventeen, but enough for you to live comfortably and move into a bigger apartment where you lived alone because Red and Lori had taken the next step in their relationship and got a place together. They were barely living in it though, since they’d usually be where ever Elvis was.

Elvis couldn’t help but wish you were there too, he wanted you by his side every single day, but he knew you were happy. You were living the life you had always wanted and he loved seeing your face light up every time you spoke of your job.

You were the reason he never declined an interview from Pop Weekly.

Still, the fact that you and him were not actually together as a couple tugged at his heartstrings uncomfortably every time he saw your face or heard your voice.

“This better be good, Presley!” you yelled through the studio as you were let in by Lori. The clock currently read 2 in the morning and since you were still working on an article because you couldn’t sleep, you accepted his invitation for you to come down to the studio. You didn’t want to at first, but he persuaded you, telling you you needed a break from writing before you’d start going cross eyed. You knew he was right. “Or I’ll kick your ass,”

Lori grinned at you, because both of you knew Elvis wasn’t able to hear you from the lobby. As Lori locked the door and turned back to you, noticing the outfit you were sporting, she raised her eyebrows. You looked down at the baby blue colored pajamas you were wearing – a nightie Elvis had gotten you a few years ago, but you decided to wear the matching shorts with it this time to at least cover yourself up a little bit.

“What? It’s in the middle of the night,” you shrugged, swiftly turning around to walk into the studio where Elvis was before she was able to detect the sweet scent of your perfume and sheer shine of gloss on your lips.

Lori shook her head a little with a laugh as she followed you into the studio, making her way over to Red who was sitting in a shivel chair by the panels. The ginger haired man pressed a button, announcing your arrival to Elvis who immediately looked up and made his way to the space you were in with a smile so bright it made his eyes look a little smaller than they actually were.

“There she is, the little workaholic,” he had you in his arms before you could even give him a proper respond other than a laugh, your arms automatically winding around his waist to greet him back with an embrace.

“Says you,” you chuckled as you looked at him when he let go of you, poking his chest. “The man who’s cutting records at 2 in the morning,”

“I’m a goddamn vampire, you know that,” a smirk tugged at his lips and you rolled your eyes, letting him take your hand to guide you to the two seater that was placed against the wall. “Haven’t seen you in this in ages,”

You looked down at the way his fingertips played with the fabric of your nightie that sprawled out around you. As his warm hand came in contact with your bare thigh, you kicked off the flats from your feet and pulled your legs up the couch, giving him the opportunity to place his hand on your knee.

And he took it. Ofcourse he did.

“They’re waiting for you, El,” you told him with a small grin on your face, nodding to the people that were present in the studio, waiting for Elvis to get back behind the mic. “They’re human and humans need sleep, remember?”

He laughed softly at your words, biting his lip as he looked at the musicians in the recording booth. He kind of regretted having you come over, because now that he was seeing you in that nightie and your face bare of make-up, there was no way he could focus on his music anymore.

“I’m gonna send them home,” he said, getting up from the couch. You frowned as you grabbed his arm to stop him, looking up at him. “I wanna spend time with you, honey. It’s been a while since we been alone,”

Your heart did a somersault in your chest. You hadn’t been truly alone with him since the two of you separated because you were always surrounded by his entourage whenever you met and you were never bothered by that. But now that he was looking at you like that with that suggestive little smile, being alone with him was all you wanted.

You had no idea what he was up to, but as he shot you a wink while walking into the recording booth to tell the musicians they could go home, you were pretty sure an innocent conversation to catch up wasn’t anywhere on his mind.

Your suspicion was right. He didn’t send everyone home and asked you to stay back to talk about how your day’s been, and you were far from interested in small talk.

How could you even think about anything when he had you straddling his lap on the couch, his hands running up and down your sides underneath your nightie as his lips were marking your neck.

Maybe this was a bad idea and you had no idea what was going to happen between the two of you after this, but right now you couldn’t get yourself to care. After all these years, he was still able to make you throw all caution to the wind and listen to your body instead to your brain.

Your body had a complete mind of its own, your arms automatically raising for him to take your nightie off and leaving you in just your shorts on top of him. Sitting back against the couch, he looked at you as his hands ran up your stomach to gently cup your breasts in his large palms, his thumbs ghosting over your perked nipples.

God, he missed this. He missed you. He slept with other women after you and him split, but nobody could ever compare to you. The way your body responded so well to him, the way he knew all of your weak spots, what you did and didn’t like… you and him worked well together. Fit perfectly together like a puzzle.

He honestly believed you were made just for him.

“Kiss me,” you told him, running your hands up his arms and to his shoulders to squeeze them lightly. His eyes met yours as he smiled softly, moving his hands from your chest to your back to press you against him. His lips collided with yours harshly, and you were quick to respond to his kiss as he slipped his tongue in between your lips while his hands moved lower to cup your ass and press you even firmer against him than you already were.

Your hands disappeared in his hair, easily messing up the raven locks due to the lack of product in it. The faint taste of cigars and coffee on his tongue had you deepening the kiss, grinding yourself onto him a little faster to create some friction between the two of you – everything about your actions and about him brought back memories to the times when you were together.

Because despite the two of you breaking up and you being happy with the life you were currently living, you still missed him. He had always been good to you, had always treated you well and you had fond memories with the man. That was something nobody could never take away from you, or him.

Foreplay was usually something you and Elvis took your sweet time with, but it had been three years since you had been intimate together. You were too impatient and too turned on, and so was he. You were the only one who was completely naked when he pulled down your pajama shorts and panties but neither of you bothered to remove all of his clothing, only tugging his pants and underwear down to his thighs to let his cock spring free against his lower abdomen.

With his hands gripping onto your hips, he watched as you grabbed ahold of his erection and pumped him in your fist for a little bit before aligning him at your entrance. The sight of his cock disappearing inside of you mixed with the feeling of your warmth squeezing him in tight had him gasping and throwing his head back against the couch. Placing your hands on his shoulders, you kept still for a little bit to get used to the feeling of having him inside of you – you felt so incredibly full and so incredibly aroused that it was hard for you to relax, your muscles contrasting around his length fiercely.

“Shit, baby, slow down,” he choked out, raising his head to look at you. Slipping his arms around your waist, he brought you closer against him and kissed you, causing you to moan in his mouth at the movement. “I ain’t gonna last long if you keep squeezin’ me like that- relax..” he mumbled against your lips and you nodded, laughing softly as you wrapped your arms around his shoulders.

He rubbed your back soothingly and you slowly started to thrust yourself onto him. It was slow and sensual and it had the both of you moaning in the kiss you shared, your fingers tangling in his hair again. As his hands moved back to your hips to guide your movements, you picked up your pace a little and he eventually had to pull back from the kiss to inhale a sharp breath of air, biting his lip as he watched you lean back a little to arch your back, your hands wandering down his arms to grasp onto them for comfort.

“So fuckin’ pretty,” he mumbled, not caring if you heard it or not, as he watched your breasts bounce with the steady rhythm you found. The moans that were rolling off your tongue sounded like music to his ears, like little angels being present and singing just to him. It nearly had him hypnotized.

When he decided to move one hand down in between your thighs and rub your clit with his fingertips, your eyes found his as your nails dug into the fabric of the long sleeved button up he was wearing. “E-Elvis,” you gasped softly, removing your hand from his arm that was currently straining muscles with how fast he was working on your little sensitive nub. “Oh my God, y-yes, don’t stop,” you groaned, your eyes rolling back as you placed both your hands behind you on his knees while fucking yourself onto him even faster.

Your thighs were burning, but you couldn’t get yourself to care – you were so close to that little moment of euphoria that it was impossible for you to slow down or to stop and he sure was hell wasn’t complaining either. The sight of pure pleasure written all over your features was something he had seen so many times that he was positive he was never going to forget it and even right now, he couldn’t keep his eyes off of you.

You looked so beautiful with your hair framing your face perfectly as you looked at him with those needy eyes – God, it was driving him absolutely insane.

So insane that he spoke without thinking.

“Fuck, I love you so much,”

He knew you heard it. He could see it in your eyes. But you barely had time to respond to it as you were taken to ecstasy by your orgasm that hit you like a tidal wave. He didn’t know if he completely fucked up by saying those words or not, but as he reached his own climax, he figured it’d be best not to overthink it.

Not right now.

You moved your arms back to his shoulders as he removed his hand from out between your thighs, gently grabbing your hips as his stuttered upwards a little, releasing himself inside of you with a deep drawn out moan.

You getting up and having him slip out of you to gather your clothes from the floor wasn’t the afterglow he had in mind. Perhaps it wasn’t your intention, but your body language felt off.

Distant.

You were pushing him away.

“I missed that,” he openly admitted. Hell, he already told you he loved you in the heat of the moment, and you had always wanted him to be more open about his feelings – and that was exactly what he was doing right now.

“I bet you got girls lining up at your front door,” you grinned his way, the comment obviously meant to be playful to make the situation you found yourself in feel less awkward.

And perhaps he would’ve laughed at it any other time, but for some reason his chest was tightening with emotions.

“I miss you,”

You looked at him, sitting down on the couch as you were completely dressed. You had to awkwardly press your thighs together to keep his bodily fluids inside of you and while you had been craving a shower a few seconds ago, you couldn’t be bothered to think about that now.

The way he was looking at you so seriously, his hand reaching out to yours after he made himself decent made panic settle in the pit of your stomach.

“Elvis-“

“I miss us, Y/N,” he interrupted you, his fingers lacing together with yours. “I know we weren’t perfect, but who is? I miss.. I miss everything about you. Your laugh, your lame jokes, your perfume on my pillow… your hands..” he looked down at your entertwined hands, giving a soft squeeze as he tried to swallow the lump in his throat, a small smile raising the corners of his mouth. “I miss everything,”

You blinked a few times as you looked down, not wanting him to see the tears that were threatening to spill. Damn you for being so emotional after sex.

Damn you for missing your ex the same way he missed you. And damn you for making this so difficult on yourself.

“I want you back, honey,” he whispered, moving closer to you on the couch to slip his arm around your waist and pull you closer against his side.

“Elvis, I love you,” you told him as you braved yourself to look him in the eye, hoping it wasn’t too obvious that you were close to crying. “But we don’t work together- maybe on paper, yes. But what’s gonna happen if we get back together? Everything will be good and fun in the beginning, but we’ll fall right back into the same cycle. It won’t work- we don’t work together,”

“When are you going to stop pushing me away, Y/N? It’s been three years. It doesn’t have to be like before, we can change. I can change,”

You slowly shook your head, gently pulling your hand out of his. “You can’t ask that of me and I can’t ask that of you- I know you, Elvis. You don’t want to change and I’d never expect you to,”

He watched as you got up from the couch, running your hands through your hair to tug it behind your ears. He couldn’t stop his knee from bouncing frantically, nervously. He couldn’t have you walk away from him anymore, but he also couldn’t keep you in his life.

Not like this.

He wanted more. He needed more.

“Then what.. what are we gonna do? Because I can’t do this anymore,” he told you, nibbling on his lower lip as he kept his eyes on you.

Those words made you nervous.

You couldn’t imagine your life without Elvis in it anymore despite not forming a couple together. You valued the friendship you two had, you weren’t ready to lose it, but you knew deep down inside that you had to let him go.

You wanted and expected different things from each other. Ofcourse, you loved him- more than you had ever loved anyone else, but you were not made to sit at home and wait for him all day. You weren’t made to be away from the person you loved for long periods of time.

So yes, you loved Elvis dearly, but you also loved and respected yourself.

“What do you mean?”

You needed to hear him say it, despite knowing exactly where he was heading with this and knowing that the words would tear you apart.

“I can’t keep being your friend,” the lump in his throat was getting so heavy that he felt as if he was suffocating, but like you had done three years ago, he was putting his own feelings first. He was choosing himself, protecting himself. “Not like this,”

He couldn’t keep lying to himself anymore, nor to you.

“So, the only reason you were my friend was because you thought we’d get back together?”

Yes.

The thought had definitely been on his mind.

“N-no… I don’t know. Jesus, Y/N,” he ran his hands down his face before he got up from the couch and took a step closer to you, though he still made sure there was enough distance between you. “I still love you and every time I see you, my heart fucking breaks because we’re not together. I can’t go on like this any longer- so what are we gonna do?”

You kept quiet, looking at him with tears in your eyes and sorrow in your heart.

“What do you want, Y/N? Because this… t-this ain’t workin’ no more,”

He was all over the place, the animated movements of his hands emphasizing every word he spoke. He was giving you an ultimatum, one that you couldn’t possibly give an answer to with how emotional you were right now.

You needed time to think.

But you could see he wanted an answer and he wanted it now; he was fed up. He couldn’t get you out of his head and staying friends with you and pretending everything was fine wasn’t fair to either of you.

He had to move on, you knew that, but even thinking about never seeing him again made a rush of panic roll through your entire being.

“I don’t know, Elvis- I don’t know what to say,” you said in a hushed tone as you looked down at your hands, twirling one of your rings around on your finger nervously. “All I know is.. that I-I.. I still need you in my life,”

“As friends,” he took it upon himself to finish your sentence, shaking his head a little as he looked at the panels Red had sat at earlier. The tension in the empty studio was thick, uncomfortable.

There was a certain sadness that lingered around you and him.

“I can’t be your friend- it’s too damn hard,”

“El-“

“No, I’m serious, Y/N. I can’t see you anymore- I don’t wanna hear your voice, I don’t wanna talk to you, I don’t even wanna look at you and I sure as hell don’t wanna be your friend,”

Now he was the one being distant, now he was the one pushing you away, and hearing him say these words felt as if someone was ripping your heart right out of your chest.

Your feelings were hurt and your ego was bruised, so much so that you didn’t hear the small crack of his voice. You didn’t hear the hurt in his voice, but as you looked at him and the two of you just stared silently at each other for what felt like forever, you could see it in his eyes.

You could see it in the way his features had hardened, how he eventually tore his gaze away from yours.

“If.. If that’s what you want..”

There was nothing more you wanted than to stop him from making this decision, but what else were you supposed to say?

You knew you couldn’t give him what he wanted.

And you weren’t the type of person who’d get down on their knees and beg and you knew him well enough to know that you wouldn’t be able to stop him from doing something he had his mind set on.

“It’s what I want,” he said, though there could not be one single hint of confidence detected in his voice.

This isn’t what he wanted- far from it. But it needed to be done.

Just as you had done, he needed to put himself first for once, even though it broke him inside.

He regretted the whole thing the second he left the studio, leaving his heart behind in the palm of your hands with hope that you’d eventually glue the pieces back together and bring it back to him.

Your life hadn’t been the same since 1965. Still as passionate as ever about your career, you worked more often than you were at home and when you were home, you’d either be writing or sleeping.

The spacious apartment with a skyline view you had upgraded to was truly breathtaking, but it didn’t feel like a home.

There were no pictures of you and friends on top of the fireplace mantel – other than a picture of you and Lori had taken in the early 60s, it was completely empty – and if a stranger would walk inside of your place, they’d think nobody even lived here at all.

By the time 1969 rolled around, you were miserable.

Other than some awkward run-ins because Lori and Red were still happily together and because the state of California really wasn’t as big as one might think, you had not spoken to Elvis in four years. You couldn’t escape the man though; after his comeback special that was aired last year, Elvis the performer was back and he was more popular than ever, both among his loyal fans that had been there since the beginning and a new crowd.

You couldn’t escape him.

But the thing is, you didn’t want to anymore.

You missed Elvis- every time you were confronted with his face by having to write an article on him or seeing pictures of him plastered around the office, it felt like someone punched a hole through your chest.

You figured this was your karma. He must’ve felt like this on that sweltering summer afternoon in ’62 when you stormed out of Graceland like an absolute maniac.

When you told him you didn’t want to be with him anymore because you didn’t belong in his world- you truly believed you were the biggest idiot on the planet.

Because now you were living in your own world, in a world without the man you loved by your side, and it felt eerily empty.

Meaningless.

What was a promotion even worth when you’d have no one to celebrate it with?

What was having a place to live in worth when you had nobody to come home to?

Red and Lori were stuck in that awkward middle position mutual friends usually lingered in when two of their friends broke up. Whenever Elvis and his guys were in California, Red and Lori would make sure you and Elvis wouldn’t run into each other. They didn’t know how you or Elvis would react and to keep the peace, they did not want to find out.

But Lori was your best friend- she could see you weren’t doing too well. Even though you’d avoid the topic that was Elvis, it was obvious that you missed him and regretted past mistakes.

And Red had been friends with Elvis since they were a couple of young’uns- no matter how good of an actor he was, Red saw right through the other man. He was trying to move on, focus on work and looking for love in other places, but Elvis had never stopped missing nor loving you and Red doubted he ever would.

Done seeing their two closest friends being miserable, the couple took it upon themselves to push you and Elvis back in each others’ direction.

If they wouldn’t, the two of you would simply never see each other again because even though neither of you would ever admit it out loud, you were mutually as stubborn. Not to mention the size of those damned ego’s- Elvis did not want to get rejected again, and the words he spoke last to you still kept you up at night, just as it did him.

“I can’t believe you actually talked me into this,”

The International hotel stood intimidatingly tall in front of you as you got out of Lori’s car, the dry Vegas air surrounding you uncomfortably.

You were supposed to be back in LA, lying to Lori over the phone as you’d tell her you were enjoying your vacation days but she practically kidnapped you to Sin City. The sunkissed blonde that dragged your suitcase out of the trunk of her car knew you well enough to know that you weren’t going to use those vacation days at all and would exhaust yourself with your work.

She was right, because those had been your plans exactly.

But Lori could be very persuasive and convinced you to come to Las Vegas with her. She played her cards well, tugging at your heartstrings when she nearly cried as she told you how much she missed spending time with you and that she was afraid of losing her best friend.

“Oh, relax, Y/N. It’ll be great- you need some time away from LA. One of these days your fingers will fall off with how much you’re writing and typing,” she chuckled, locking up her car as you took your luggage from her. “Besides, it’s been a while since we spend time together. Yay, girls on holiday!”

You raised an eyebrow at her, hoping your voice didn’t come out as nervous as you were actually feeling.

“Girls on holiday in the hotel where my ex is having a month long engagement- yay!”

She rolled her eyes, your sarcasm more clear to her than your nerves, as she hooked her arm through yours to pull you toward the entrance of the hotel. She didn’t comment on it and you could see she was pretending to not have heard you- all smiles and excitement as she pulled you to the check in desk where Red was already waiting for you with a key to your room.

She had tried to lure you to Las Vegas with an excuse first, but your best friend was a terrible liar. Ofcourse you weren’t oblivious to what Elvis was doing in his career so you knew he’d be here, but the truth was; Lori didn’t need to come up with any excuses to get you to come to Nevada.

You had no idea if Elvis even wanted to see you or would even give you the time of the day – you’d like to think he was not going to completely ignore you, he was too kind to do such a thing – but you couldn’t wait to see him.

Despite feeling like your heart was going to drop out of your ass the closer it got to eight o’clock when Elvis would have another show, Red and Lori didn’t need to do much convincing to get you to come with them to the show.

You weren’t leaving Vegas until you spoke to Elvis- or at least, saw him.

By no means was Red West a big name in Hollywood, but he was an actor and a decent one at that.

Maybe not good enough to land a big role among the big stars, but good enough to fool Elvis.

He did not tell his friend that he and Lori got you to come here, or that your room was down the hall from Elvis’ suite, or that you were currently sitting in a booth with Vernon, Lori and some other Memphis Mafia girlfriends slash wives.

He knew once Elvis would know you were here, he’d lose his mind- Red wouldn’t be surprised if the raven haired singer would fire him on the spot, so he wasn’t going to take any risks.

Red was too quick to celebrate his little victory, because even though he had fooled Elvis with his acting, Elvis Presley’s eyes worked just fine.

And those eyes were looking right at you as the owner of them stumbled over the lyrics of the Jailhouse Rock and Don’t Be Cruel medley.

Elvis didn’t know what to do for a second, but he knew how to stay professional- joking with the audience, changing up the lyrics to something silly, laughing at people that were sitting at the very front.

He had everyone eating out of the palm of his hand.

To the audience, it’d look like he was just in a good mood. Excited. A showman.

But you and the others knew the man behind the showman- everyone could see he was steadily growing more nervous, hands shaky, leg bouncing more frantically than usual. As Elvis looked over his shoulder to find Red, the latter quickly disappeared backstage, making his way into the crowd to help Sonny keep an eye on things- and to be removed from the stage as far as he could.

You didn’t want to be the reason for Elvis messing up his set, but you couldn’t look away from him nor could you find the strength within yourself to get up and leave. With the spotlights on him, you could barely make out if the two piece suit he was wearing was black or midnight blue, but either way, he looked absolutely gorgeous.

His hair was longer and his face looked a little older, but as he smiled, you were thrown right back to past.

That mischievous, yet innocent smile.

It had your heart beating fast and your fingertips shaking as you sipped on the third martini of the night a waitress just put in front of you.

You did your best to smile at him every time he looked into your direction, even though you had no idea if he even saw you at all.

You didn’t have much time to ponder on the thought, because as Elvis put away his guitar and spoke into the mic while walking back and forth on the stage, he took your entire table by surprise.

“There’s a little lady present here tonight that I haven’t seen in… ages,” he laughed softly, the sound of it sounding melancholic. “And to be completely honest with everyone here- I never thought I’d see her again, never thought I wanted to,” he mumbled the last sentence in the mic so quick, thickening his accent on purpose, that it was difficult for some people in the audience to understand him clearly.

But you heard every single one of the words that rolled off his tongue, and they had you shifting in your seat, Lori grabbing one of your hands when she noticed you didn’t know where to put them.

“Anyways.. eh.. yeah, me and this person have a lot of history together, so I’d like to dedicate this song to her- this is Memories,”

Lori squeezed your hand so firmly it looked like the song was dedicated to her. You almost laughed at it, but as the melodies of the piano filled with your ears, the lump in your throat prevented you from making any sounds at all.

You sat there with tears in your eyes, lyric after lyric hitting you right in the gut as he was currently singing just to you. He barely interacted with the audience like he usually did during the song, now his eyes were searching for yours through the blinding lights the entire time.

You had no idea what this meant- you had no idea where Elvis’ head was at right now, but you were relieved that he hadn’t told someone to get you out of the audience and far away from him.

You were relieved to know Elvis Presley didn’t hate you like you sometimes worried he did.

Elvis had never performed this fast in his life.

Elvis loved being on stage, putting on a great show for the people that paid money to come see him- he loved his fans, always wanted to make time for them, but now he couldn’t get far away from all of it fast enough.

The lights had barely gone low and the curtain wasn’t even dropped entirely, but he was already gone.

Unfortunately for him, he did not have the privilege to wander about on his own and he couldn’t get very far because he was surrounded by his male companions as soon as he had hopped off the stage.

“Elvis, I’m so sorry. I should’ve told you and-“

Looking at Red, Elvis pulled away from Joe’s side and grabbed his shoulder. “Get me to her- c’mon, man,”

Red widened his eyes a little, not hesitating to nod his head and lead Elvis to through the long backstage hallways and eventually through the kitchen, up to the top floor of the hotel where he had told you and Lori to go.

You were back in your room, pacing a hole in the carpet in front of the floor to ceiling windows. The view of sparkling city lights was gorgeous, but you couldn’t be bothered to look at it.

Not after Red made the phone call from the kitchen when Elvis was signing autographs for the cooks, informing Lori that they were on their way upstairs.

“This is stupid,” you told your best friend who sat on the edge of the bed, her eyes following your every move. “This is a stupid idea. Just because he dedicated a song to me doesn’t mean he wants to see me. In case you forgot, Lori, he told me himself that he didn’t want to see me or talk to me anymore,”

Lori sighed. “That was four years ago, Y/N,” she deadpanned, looking at you. “If he didn’t want to see you, he wouldn’t come up right now. You two have a lot of history, you’ve been through a lot- you can’t keep avoiding each other,”

You knew she was right, but you were too stressed out – and too stubborn – to admit it. So instead, you kept pacing and making up doom scenario’s in your mind, until a loud knock on the door almost gave you a heart attack.

Lori was quick to jump up, striding over to the door to open it for Red and Elvis. You expected all three of them to come back into the room, you had hoped that would be the case, but after some muffled mumbling, Elvis walked in alone.

Turning around, your eyes met his for the first time in four years. Your heart was beating so rapidly, you wouldn’t be surprised if he could hear the sounds of it.

Elvis wasn’t doing much better- he felt as if he was thrown in a dream. He just stood there, nailed to the ground, as he stared at you. Because for at least twenty or thirty seconds that’s all he could do, until something inside of his brain clicked and he snapped out of it- he didn’t hesitate to take two big strides over to you and wrap his arms around you, engulfing your smaller frame in the heat of his embrace.

“God, it’s been a long time, baby,”

You tried to swallow the lump in your throat, the sound of his voice so close to your ear made heat rise from your toes to the top of your head. It felt like his voice had gotten even a little deeper than before, you had no idea if this was true or not, but the melody of it vibrated right through your bones.

You hummed in agreement, clearing your throat a little as he pulled back from the embrace- both of you not wanting to completely let go as his hands were still holding onto your shoulders and your fingers were grasping onto his jacket at his waist.

“You look real good, honey. Real good,” a smile softened his features, his teary eyes just as visible as yours, but you both kept up the facade to not break the dam completely.

“You.. you look amazing, Elvis. You truly do,” you complimented him back, meaning every word of what you said. He looked gorgeous up there on that stage, but now that he was in front of your nose, he was almost ethereal.

Both you and Elvis agreed to the idea of getting a couple of drinks in your system before there would be any conversation of the past. Neither of you had insinuated the dreaded topic, but he could feel it lingering on the horizon just as much as you did.

There was only so much small talk two people could engage in, even with such a history as yours.

“Almost as good as yours,” he chuckled as he looked at the cocktail in his hand, sitting at the round dining table that stood near the window.

Margarita’s. You hadn’t had one in a long time- not because you were working all the time, but because they reminded you of him and your first fight.

“Watch it, Presley,” you teased with a grin as you brought the sugar coated rim of your glass to your lips, taking a small sip.

“I said, almost!” he exclaimed with a deep laugh, putting his glass down. He rubbed his hands together, his eyes focused on the jewelry adorning his slender fingers.

Your laughter gradually died down and a silence fell over the both of you, the sound of you putting your glass down on the marble table nearly deafening. Your mind was racing, the tension making goosebumps lick at your skin. You had so much to say, yet you didn’t know how to properly form a sentence that would make sense.

Elvis took it upon himself to break the silence, raising his head to look at you.

“You know, I haven’t ever stopped thinking ‘bout you,” as you looked back at him and saw a small smile gracing his features, you felt your heart quickening in your chest. “That night at the studio.. the things I said, leavin’ you like that- it’s the biggest regret I got in life,”

He quickly picked up his glass, gulping down a few large sips of his drink. He ignored the taste of liquor tickling at his throat, licking some sugar off his lower lip.

“It’s in the past,” you replied, mentally slapping yourself because the words sounded plain stupid in your head. “I’ve left you once too, remember?”

He chuckled softly at the small grin that tugged at your lips. He appreciated you making light of the situation, and the fact that you didn’t hold a grudge against him for it. If you did, you wouldn’t be here right now- right?

Nodding his head a little, he softly – nervously – tapped one of his rings against the glass that was still in his hand. “What about us?”

He took you slightly by surprise when asking that.

It wasn’t like you came to Vegas just to get back together with your ex- sure, the thought had definitely been on your mind (multiple times), but you had no idea where his head was at and you knew that if the two of you were going to give this another go again, it wasn’t going to be easy.

It was going to be a lot of hard work, but if he was willing to put in the work, so were you.

“Are we still in the past?” he questioned again and you inhaled a sharp breath of air, straightening your shoulders a little against the back of your seat.

“I’d like for us not to be,” you blurted out.

You decided to just be honest and put it out there. You had no idea what the future held in store for you and Elvis, but you were more than willing to find out.

You had never loved anyone like you loved him and you doubted you ever will.

“I missed you,” you quickly added, the few drinks you had during the show and the one you were nursing now giving you enough courage to look him straight in the eye. “We’re polar opposites from each other and that made us messy sometimes. We hurt each other and we say shit we don’t mean, and I’m sure we’ll always be that way but that’s what makes us.. us. I love you, El- I don’t think I ever stopped,”

He almost made you want to take your words back when he just stared at you, for longer than you felt was necessary. You were almost starting to think he was going to completely reject you and tell you sharing a drink after so many years didn’t mean anything, but before you could fall into the claws of the demons in your head Elvis put his glass down and leaned forward to grab your hands.

You looked down as he laced your fingers together, ignoring the small painful squeeze he gave your hands which made his rings press uncomfortably against your knuckles.

“I love you too, Y/N- I always did and I always will,” he told you, softly tugging on your hands which made you get up from your seat. As he softly pulled you toward him, you didn’t fight him on it and sat down onto his lap. He let go of your hands to snake his arms around your waist, smiling at you as you shifted your body a little to look at him and rest your arm around his shoulders. “I don’t care what the future holds for us, all I know is that I want it with you,”

You blinked away some tears, smiling as you nodded. He brought one hand up to your face to cup your cheek, his thumb wiping away a single tear that managed to escape. He gently brought your face closer to his to peck your lips but before he could kiss you properly, you pressed your forehead against his.

“I don’t think my future is in LA anymore,”

He frowned at this, surprised by your words. It made him pull back a little so he could look you in the eye, his hand moving down your shoulder and arm, his hand easily slipping into yours again.

“What are you talkin’ about, baby? Your whole life is in LA- your work-“

“That’s the thing,” you sighed, the thought of your work being your entire life was depressing. The words flew off your tongue before you had properly thought them through, but when the word vomit came out, it felt as if a weight was lifted off your shoulders. “My work.. is my life, and I don’t want to live that anymore. I love how far I managed to come in my career and I love writing, I truly do, but.. it’s just.. not worth it without you there. Or anyone, for that matter- Lori is with you and the guys most of the time which I don’t blame her for, definitely not, but it.. it gets lonely,” your hand had found its way into his hair, running your fingers through it absentmindedly. “In the years we’ve been apart, I realised that no person is meant to live their lives all by themselves and nothing is worth it without love. Besides, I can write in Memphis too, right? Or Vegas? You’re in Vegas a lot these days, aren’t you? Yeah. Yeah! I can get a job here- I bet there’s a lot to write about. I’m pretty sure I saw Nancy Sinatra’s name plastered around the city so that’s definitely a possi-“

He let you ramble on for a little bit, until he realised you weren’t going to zip it on your own accord. Catching you off guard mid sentence, he pressed his lips against yours- it was forceful at first, until he felt you relaxing against his frame.

Parting your lips, you allowed him to take dominance as he let his tongue dance along with yours. Letting go of your hand and wrapping both arms around your waist once more, he embraced you firmly against his chest as he deepened the kiss.

Elvis was a good kisser. He had been in 1956, the years in between and his ways definitely hadn’t changed now. If anything, they had improved.

You weren’t naive to think he had not kissed – or slept – with anyone else in the time you weren’t together, but you did not have time to worry about the matter or let jealousy creep in, because as soon as he gently sucked on your lower lip while pulling back, a soft moan rolled off your tongue.

He looked at you with a grin on his face, stopping you from kissing him again. This was the first time you felt as if you were the younger one in the relationship.

Although the age difference between you wasn’t major, there had been moments where you had felt it. Where you felt as if you were the one making the wise decisions and so forth.

But right now, with the way he had kissed you and his eyes were taking in every detail of your face while his hand was resting on the side of your thigh, you felt his more dominant side coming out to play.

And it wasn't even entirely sexual, it was just the feeling of his aura.

You couldn’t say you entirely disliked it.

“You can write anywhere you like, my girl,” he told you with a sweet smile on his face, his hand coming up to gently tug a lock of hair behind your ear. “As long as you do it with your heart- I don’t want you to be stuck in a place where you’re not happy. I want you to be happy,”

You sighed deeply, almost dreamily and it made him chuckle softly. Gently grabbing his face, you pressed a kiss on his lips and then swung your arms around him, hugging him.

“You make me happy, Elvis. I want to be where you are,”

He smiled to himself. Letting his hand rub your back soothingly, he kissed your bare shoulder.

“Are we gon’ give the future a try?”

You squeezed him in your embrace a little before you pulled back to look at him, smiling.

“I think you should take me out on a date first,”

He raised his eyebrows at the teasing tone on your tongue, letting out a laugh. Nodding his head, he folded his hands together at the small of your back.

“How ‘bout a Sinatra show?”

You grinned as you moved your hands to his cheeks, grabbing his face once more.

“Now you’re talking,” you wiggled your eyebrows, kissing him again. He laughed against your lips softly, making you squeal as he picked you up in his arms and got up from his seat.

Before you could stop him, he had thrown you on your bed, your frame bouncing on the soft mattress a little. Removing some hair out of your face, you looked at him with a laugh.

“I’m guessing I’m getting the Elvis Presley encore first?”

He grinned as he crawled onto the bed, hovering above you by placing his hands on either side of your head.

“You guessed right, princess,” he hummed in your ear as his lips were attached to your neck, teeth grazing the shell of your ear.

The new nickname sent a shiver down your spine and an electrifying tingle in between your thighs.

Unlike in 1960, you didn’t mind feeling small in the presence of Elvis- tonight you reveled in the feeling.

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randomfandomblabdom · 11 months

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I love original scores, so you bet I listened to the Survivor score. Also because Stephen Barton is one of the composers and he worked on my favorite tv series of all time, so I had to lol and I thought I'd share some thoughts:

Mild Disclaimer: I do have some musical training though not much but I've always had an ear for themes and their uses, so that's what I usually focus on.

First of all, Cal's theme might be one of the most versatile themes I've heard in the last couple of years. It is played SO often in both the Fallen Order and Survivor scores but it never gets annoying because it's played in so many different ways. Sometimes it's played so subtly that you don't even know you're hearing it. For those who don't know it, this is one of the clearest instances of his theme in the Survivor score (1:05-1:46). One of the very first things you hear in the game is a variation of part of his theme in a very dark and sinister minor key (0:15-1:45). It's played the second you see him which immediately sets a clear distinction between the Cal shown in Survivor and the Cal from five years prior in Fallen Order where it's typically played in a more heroic yet innocently somber type way but as far as I remember (correct me if I'm wrong), it's never played in a minor key in that score but holy shit, it's minor and darker ALL OVER Survivor and in a way that just gives you that "mom, I'm scared, I wanna go home" type of feeling. Fallen Order Cal's theme has a very naive youthfulness to it whereas Survivor Cal's theme just feels... drained. There's a heavy weight to it that wasn't there before. My man Stephen Barton understood the assignment here.

Just to point it out, the theme that's widely considered to be the main theme of Fallen Order is actually Cordova's theme (1:10) which is an interesting artistic choice in and of itself and yes, it does play when he's introduced in Survivor (0:13-0:35).

Merrin has a theme (1:00-1:20) which I somehow completely missed during my first listen to Fallen Order. Shame on me, I know (yes, this track is from the first game but it's a really clear version of it) and you'd think it'd be some mystical sounding shit but it's actually this really interestingly almost hard and strong melody (1:13-2:04) that can be incredibly soft when it needs to be. It's what plays during her and Cal's first kiss. It's only the first few notes (5:40) but that's sure as hell what it is - those notes are the entire reason I even found her theme cause I was like... Barton sir, what the fuck is playing there??

Also, her theme works as the basis for the action cue that plays during the portal jumping scene right after said-kiss which makes perfect sense considering it's her powers being used and it gets a kickass action rendition as a result (2:08-2:19 and 2:50-3:10).

Cal and Merrin do have a love theme and yes, it's exactly what you think it is. You know that weird-ass Fields of Dusk - Orchestral Version on the soundtrack (actual theme starts at 0:45)? Yeah, that melody does function as a love theme. You hear bits of it throughout the rest of the score as well, most noticeably during the campfire scene (2:35-2:50) and during their second kiss on Jedha (2:30-2:55) where it just pulls out all the damn stops.

I really hope Stephen Barton and Gordy Haab get a chance to compose for other Star Wars projects because they truly have done some great things with these two scores. This might be a hot take but I also think it's the closest a not-John-Williams composer has gotten to a John Williams sound.

#star wars #jedi survivor #jedi survivor spoilers #cal kestis #eno cordova #nightsister merrin #merrical #john williams #stephen barton #gordy haab #original score #mine

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alphabetboyluvr · 10 months

Text

bad decisions | jjk - one

"Look what the cat dragged in," Jungkook grins towards his friends, all a little worse for wear. Bleary-eyed, they're smiling and joking, having come from dinner—which turned into drinks, and then more drinks, and then —"fuck it, fine."— clubs. Dionysus is always the final stop. They like the atmosphere. Like the free drinks even more. "You know us," Jimin grins at him in that sleazy way he so often does, which lets Jungkook know he's up to no good. "Where the pussy goes, we surely follow."

Bad Decision #1 - Purple Starfuckers

warnings: alcohol, clubbing

soundtrack: bad decisions - bts, passionfruit - drake, promiscuous - nelly furtado & timbaland

wc: 3.5k

bd total wc: 370k (on-going)

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"Don't think of it as a bad decision. Think of it as a lesson learned. Something to remember for next time."

"You guys just didn't get to know her proper-"

"Hobi, she wore white to Haeun's wedding," Danbi interrupted. Truthfully, she could not have cared less for how badly Hoseok's ex had treated her - it was when she started behaving badly around other people, embarrassing them in the process, that she started to take offence. If there was one thing Danbi had, it was pride. "WHITE! Who does that?! Poor Mina. She's a better woman than me. I'd have fought that bitch on the spot, right in the aisle. Don't care if it's my wedding day, when bitches deserve a slap-"

You didn't cover yourself head to toe in glitter just to sit in the smoking area of a shitty club all night. There's fun to be had.

"Look, Hobes, it sucks that things ended the way they did"—a screaming match over the price of asparagus in the middle of a supermarket, that was totally an argument about something more than that, but Hoseok is still in denial—"but not everything we lose is a loss. Okay? You've still got us."

Which is admittedly more than he deserves after how much of a shit-bag he'd turned into during the relationship. He'd go days, weeks - hell - sometimes months, without getting back to you. You and Dan had been fine - you had each other after all - but it still sucked not having your third musketeer with you.

"Now c'mon," you smile. "Get that drink down you, and get that pretty ass of yours on the floor. We both know you're dying for a good dance."

"I don't feel like it," he groans - but he downs his drink regardless, and is dancing to a noughties classic within five minutes.

This is all you've wanted for months. You're holding Danbi's hands, Hoseok between the pair of you, unable to escape and not really wanting to, either. He's smiling, and it's the best thing you've seen all night.

From the bar, Jeon Jungkook thinks you look like a little disco ball.

Especially the bartenders.

"What do we reckon," Yeonjun, the youngest of the crew, smirks at Jungkook as he nods towards you and your friends. "They all going home together, or what?"

A little air squeaks through Jungkook's lips as he purses them, trying to get a read on your little trio. The way you're moving your hips towards the dude in the middle certainly seems a little more than friendly. At least, if a girl he'd never met before was dancing with him like that, he'd take it as a good sign he was getting laid.

It's nights like these which make Jungkook wish he worked a normal job. He misses out on all the fun always being behind the bar, he thinks. Does also save him from making some bad decisions that he knows would surely haunt him. If anything, he should be thankful.

"Fuck knows," he simply says, closing the glass-washer and whipping the towel over his shoulder. "10,000 won says he's going home alone."

Yeonjun smirks. "You're on."

It's less of a bet for Jungkook. More of a manifestation. He likes watching you dance. Doesn't like the thought of you dancing with the dude by yourself. Doesn't like the idea of you leaving with him, either. Considers the fact that maybe you're not even interested in dudes, and that it's the girl you're holding hands with who you'll be leaving with instead. He's less intimidated by that - at least your disinterest in him would be preference based - but it's still not his favourite scenario.

It's not like he knows you, nor will he ever know you. He just likes to live in the what-ifs. They're always so much safer. Can't get rejected if you don't put yourself out there.

"On the house," he shrugs, letting their drunk minds believe it really is a vodka lemonade. Easier that way. Will get them drinking water, at least, even if just for a sip or so before they clock on.

You're laughing, a little out of breath and not entirely steady on your feet, as you head to the bar.

Oh, how he loves a challenge. He licks his lips and tilts his head to the side. "What do you qualify as delicious?"

"No passion fruit," you say almost instantly. "So no pornstars." And then you gag a little, to emphasise just how much you hate passion fruit.

"No pornstars, noted," Jungkook says as he pulls an imaginary pencil from behind his ear and pretends to jot it down on his palm. He looks back up at you, and doesn't bother fighting the way his teeth bite down on his bottom lip - why would he? You're giggling. He likes it. And he also knows you're probably drunk, so won't remember this interaction in the morning.

"Well, I mean, none of the drinking variety," you grin, tongue in cheek. "If you happen to know any of the human variety, send them my way."

He almost chokes on his own spit. The shock in his eyes has you laughing again.

"I'm joking, you idiot."

Although you kind of totally aren't. You haven't been laid in a while. You'll take anything with a pulse who is interested at this point.

"I knew that," he bluffs, and looks back down at his palm as if he's reading again. "Okay, so no pornstars - pornstar martinis. What else?"

"Don't like orange juice."

"Do you like anything?"

You like lots of things. So many things that your brain can't think straight, actually.

But you narrow your eyes, and ignore your brain. "Alcohol."

He narrows his eyes right back. Purses his lips. Looks down at his fake notepad, then back up at you. "I think I have just the thing for you."

Reaching for the plastic cups which you know are reserved for water, you almost look offended. Does he not think you have eyes? Are too drunk to know he's giving you water?

He places it in front of you and smiles, lips together, eyes round - but still challenging you.

"It's water," you tell him, and he nods. No denial.

"Uh-huh. Cleanse your palette first."

"Are we fine dining?"

"We aren't doing anything," he assures you. He's on the clock. "But everything tastes like shit after a smoke, so if you wanna enjoy it, have some water."

Your brows furrow together, head tilting and then you're self-conscious. "Do I smell like smoke?"

You'd doused yourself in perfume and had been chewing on gum to hide it, but apparently not well enough.

Jungkook shakes his head, realising how much wider your eyes are. You don't seem as confident. You're not smiling anymore.

You follow his gaze, and find yourself smiling. Small misunderstanding. That's all. But he seems just as panicked as you had been. It's sweet.

"Fine," you elongate your response and let your eyes narrow again, to let him know you're ready to banter again. "I'll drink it - but whatever you're making better be good."

When Jungkook returns to your spot by the bar, he can't stop blinking. The glass of water - an entire pint - is finished. You're smiling, lips a little wet, eyes a little hazy.

"Thirsty," you shrug.

He accepts your defence, and holds up the shot in front of you. It's tiny, and pretty, all purple and shimmery.

Jungkook smiles. "Purple Starfucker."

The water you've just finished almost comes back up through your system. "Sorry?!"

"Purple Starfucker," Jungkook simply repeats. "Amaretto, peach schnapps, a little curacao and cranberry juice. Fucking delicious."

You do love all of those. It's the ideal drink for you. You've never had it before, but you know it's gonna be good. He places it down in front of you, but that challenging look is still in your eye.

He laughs a little. Can't figure you out. Has no idea what you're thinking. "What are you waiting for?"

"Nothing," you grin, picking the shot glass up by the rim and raising it slightly with a nod. "To Purple Starfuckers."

Jungkook nods back. Toys with his lip piercing, the tip of his tongue peaking out ever so slightly before he bites down on his lip. "To Purple Starfuckers."

From his peripherals, Jungkook can see Yeonjun leaning against the countertop at the back of the bar, watching him with a curious smirk.

Un-fucking-believable, Yeonjun thinks. Reckons Jungkook is trying to fuck with the bet. Trying to lure Disco Ball away. He doesn't hear the conversation, but he can read your lips - 'Holy shit? That's fucking delicious? How much do I owe you?' - and watches the way Jungkook shakes his head. Hands too. Shrugs. Bloody git is giving it to you on the house.

10,000 won ain't that much, but Yeonjun doesn't like losing. "Oi, Disco Ball. Get your friends"- he nods towards Hoseok and Danbi. -"We'll make you a round."

He ignores the way Jungkook's eyes burn into him, knowing that his shit-eating grin is enough to wind Jungkook up. They love each other really, but in a way you'd love a sibling. Fully capable of hating one another, too.

You glance up to Jungkook, almost as if you're asking his permission. You kind of are. You trust him. He's been kind. This other bartender? He's a bit louder. Far brasher. And he'd called you Disco Ball? The fuck?

Jungkook nods. Doesn't want you to leave, but equally knows the only reason you're looking at him like that - eyes all wide and innocent - is 'cause you're drunk. Doubts it would be the same if you were sober. When he comes to think of it, he'd rather you were with your friends. Safer that way. "Hurry. Before we get really busy."

And so you scurry off, running on the balls of your feet to avoid awkward heel mishaps. There's something endearing about it and it's almost enough to distract him from Yeonjun's taunts.

"If he doesn't take her home, I will."

"She's fucked," Jungkook tells him, voice stern, eyes still on you. Fucking around with punters isn't against the rules, but taking advantage of drunk girls? Yeah, not on his watch. Doesn't matter who it is. He's seen enough creeps and enough girls in tears because of them to know when to step in. "You're going nowhere near her."

"I clock off in an hour," Yeonjun reminds him. Jungkook's the one who's closing the bar tonight. "Plenty of time to play catch up."

Yeonjun - brilliant, blue-haired, and with enough boyish charm to seduce almost anyone - isn't a creep. He looks up to Jungkook. Respects him. Follows his lead. Would never take advantage of a punter. He just likes winding Jungkook up a little too much.

Jungkook ignores him. Doesn't put it past him. While Yeonjun likes to think he has values, Jungkook knows he's just as horny and desperate as the rest of the fuckers in the bar.

That's not to say Jungkook is discounting himself from the generalisation - he just actually does have morals. To some degree, at least.

"On the house."

"You're trying to get me drunk," you accuse with a knowing smile.

And yet when he smiles like that, your tummy feels all fuzzy in the same way that your head does.

"Well thank you Mr Nice Barman," you nod and curtsey, because that somehow feels appropriate.

"Jungkook," he corrects, before knocking his head to the side and nodding towards the dancefloor. "Go enjoy your night, trouble."

Not too much, though, he thinks to himself, but watches as you bounce back to the dancefloor with your friends.

Yeonjun does, though. Chooses not to say anything. Knows when to pick his battles.

Does warn him when he sees Jungkook's friends bundle in through the door, though. "Watch out boss. Same as usual?"

Jungkook nods, and Yeonjun sets about making a round of drinks for the usual suspects. Three Malibu and cokes, one rum and lemonade and four purple starfuckers. Jungkook'll make those. They're his signature.

Dionysus is always the final stop. They like the atmosphere. Like the free drinks even more.

"You know us," Jimin grins at him in that sleazy way he so often does, which lets Jungkook know he's up to no good. "Where the pussy goes, we surely follow."

"Fairly," Jungkook nods - which can only mean one thing. Same thing it means every week.

He'd always thought that by the time they hit their mid-twenties, they'd be over this lifestyle by now - but his friends like to make just as many bad decisions as he does.

"Round up boys," Jimin cheers, his voice booming above the bass of whatever noughties classic is on. "Purple Starkfucker time!"

Jungkook laughs. Shakes his head, rolls his eyes. Unfolds his defensive arms. Glances up to the crowd - but you're lost to the night. Maybe not forever, but for now, at least.

And so he just nods, and cheers along with them.

"Purple Starfucker time."

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peemanne · 1 month

Text

rgg game osts ranked Yeah.................

LONG ASS POST AHEAD!!!!!! BAH!!!!!!!!!!!

for context awhile back a yakuza discord server i'm in had a music discussion thread open up and we were invited to make simple little tier lists for the game osts to start it off. it was supposed to be just the tier list but i eventually spiraled into a whole ramble. whoops. so i might as well just paste it here with a few additions so the rest of you can see it yippee!!!!!!!!!!!!

will be providing my reasonings and then my highlight tracks. i'm gonna provide convenient youtube links to all the songs mentioned so if you wanna check one of them out feel free to just click the hyperlink

and yes this is ordered in tiers. the personal highlights aren't though

>Yakuza 5 is my personal top 1 OST overall, but it's seriously close. I can't tell you enough how much of a nut I am for this series and its music. Yakuza 5's ost is, in my eyes, the most consistently hard-hitting amongst all of RGG's catalogue. The street fight themes are all amazing, the boss fight themes hit hard and pump you the hell up, and this also has the one of the best B-sides out of all of them, with stuff like Baka Mitai (fun fact, Saejima's is actually considered the original version, Kiryu's "Taxi Driver Edition" actually uses a different key to fit Kuroda's voice), the songs from Haruka's section, and even the jazzy bar themes. 5 hits that perfect balance of quantity and quality, and also happens to fill like half of my workout playlist.

Personal Highlights:

The place where I used to be

Daigo's western theme

Victory Road

and of course The Battle for the Dream

>I am such a sucker for Yakuza 4's music direction. As Tehsnakerer said in his Yakuza 4 video, this is the first truly GREAT soundtrack, and I'd have to agree. The jazzier style of music on showcase here fits this series- and this entry ESPECIALLY- like a glove. This is such a quality collection of sounds. Featuring the best panic themes, the best chase themes, and some iconic street battle themes. 4's direction makes it stand out even more amongst RGG's catalogue, and I couldn't be happier about it. Also, this game gave us Machine Gun Kiss and Pure Love in Kamurocho, which are two of my favorite karaoke tracks in the whole series.

Please bring back Pure Love in Kamurocho for a modern title, RGG. I'm begging you.

Personal Highlights:

Solitude

Receive and Bite You

Infinite Handcuffs

yeah yeah fine For Faith

Why couldn't they use this for the actual cover instead of the weird one we have now like come on this looks so much better

>Is anyone gonna disagree with me when I say Lost Judgment is easily the best out of the more techno-focused soundtracks? They handle it perfectly here, with tracks that grab you by the throat like K.O.G. and Dig In Your Heels, utilizing the electric sound with effortless grace, while still having enough variety throughout to keep it from getting stale. I also found the B-sides here surprisingly strong alongside the main game, with the school stories giving us a nice variety of music to work with. The boxing ones and Toward To The Skyline are what I'd highlight in that selection.

Personal Highlights:

In the Groove

Unwavering Belief / Dig in Your Heels

Final Destination

1811

>Gaiden oh my gah......... Despite the shorter game, I seriously dig the tracks on display here. It's so consistently amazing, and does a great job of servicing both the legacy of Kiryu, and giving us some Good Shit™️ for the newer faces. This is also when I really came to appreciate the cutscene tracks: Wounded Beast is such a kickass track that you'd be forgiven for thinking it plays in an actual fight, and Psycho's Prelude is an amazing hype-up track for an even more amazing boss theme. Also worth mentioning there's like a gajillion coliseum tracks in this one. Have no idea why but y'know I appreciate it. It's cool.

Personal Highlights:

Psycho's Anthem

Deadly Struggle / Fleeting Dream (HAKANAKI YUME)

Bring It On (best street fight track to date i'm not taking notes at this time)

Un altro appassionato

>0 has One-Eyed Assassin so it automatically goes here. The rest of the tracks are decent too ig 🙄 There are a few sort of those "eh whatever cool skip it" tracks in here which hold it back a teeny bit in my eyes, but this is still a really solid collection overall, and also gets props for being Kiwami's soundtrack if it was good. I'm kidding of course but 0 handles it pretty well for the most part. I find 0 is at its best music-wise when they either go all-in with the techno, or shy away from it almost entirely.

Personal Highlights:

Make You Free

Both Receive You remixes (The Subtype and ~Tech Trance Arrange~)

Interplanetary Spark

Reign

>Yakuza 6 has Lots of Lights so it automati I think 6 does a really good job at telling a story through its music. You have tragedy being painted in Fist Law and DESTINY, you have sheer anger and brutality being portrayed in Body and Soul, and you can even find it in the street themes with the feeling of "I am completely done with all of this bullshit" in KAMURO again. I also wanna say this has some of ZENTA's best work, which I really really REALLY appreciate.

Personal Highlights:

Lots of Lights

DESTINY

Bloodstained Philosophy (coolest name for a track i can't lie)

Theory of Beauty

>Judgment immediately does a great job of differentiating itself from the Yakuzas, and it's apparent as soon as you get into the street fight tutorial. The OST does a great job of painting Yagami and the overall bleaker picture of the game. Where some battle themes in the main series feel like a victory lap, JE instead sometimes has you feel like you're on the backfoot. Lambda, Hyenas Wheezing, and Rake Your Inside are all tracks that make you feel like an underdog, and give you that strength to power through what seems like impossible odds. It also has Flower of Chivalry so it aut

Personal Highlights:

Encounter ~ Keihin Alliance

Hyena's Wheezing

Penumbra

Destination

>Like a Dragon (/7) is another heavily techno leaning OST. If you asked me about it a few months ago, I probably would have put this higher. But now with IW out, I've started to see more of 7's OST's flaws. There are few tracks that are either weirdly low-energy, or feel a little generic and mesh together with the rest of the soundtrack, or at worst, both. But 7 still has quite the number of solid tracks, and those that stand out REALLY stand out. Shoutout to one of the most unique long battle tracks in Enter the Tiger.

Personal Highlights:

Brutality

Receive You The Hyperactive

REIWA LABYRINTH

ism

>Yakuza 3 acts as a sort of bridge between the rough, almost grunge-like sound of the PS2 era and the cleaner compositions of later entries. And I think it does both of those styles pretty well! It also starts to experiment with electric sound a little more, while still keeping the heavy guitars 1+2 are known for. The best are obviously composed of the tracks that do both. They even keep the unintelligible English lyrics in some tracks, what's not to love?

Personal Highlights:

Lyricism Without Tears

Clay Doll On The Cradle

Fly

D2A BABY YEAH BEST THEME EVER MADE D2A D2A D2A D2A

(2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

>Atmosphere is a large part of the PS2 era of Yakuza games' identity, and the music is a pretty large part of that. Yakuza 2 has an aggressive, grungy sound that pairs perfectly with the brutality of the game. You'll find some of the most of the most rough sounding songs in RGG's catalogue in here, and it's just so good in a way that isn't really replicated in the more modern entries. Also one of the tracks (Block Head Boy) samples Wu-Tang for some reason and I find that very funny.

Personal Highlights:

Evil Itself

North Menace

Hit & Kill

Outlaw's Lullaby (I still think the Kiwami 2 remix is the better of the two but this one's still SO good please listen to it if you haven't already)

whatcho beautiful ass staring at kaito my king >Kaito Files has like 6 tracks. They're all pretty good tracks, but that's like 6 tracks. Come on. Anyways, it's basically just more LJ music, so uhhhh yeah peak

Personal Highlights (plural would be like all of them)

Blood-Drunk Master Theme

>Kiwami 2. Yeah this one falls into the same trap as 7 does, but with less of those "This is the greatest thing to grace my ears" tracks. It still has some of them, though. The best remixes here are the ones that touch up and make completely sure that what the original has is intact: Lullaby of Outlaws and A Scattered, Eternal Moment are both fantastic in that regard. This also has a decent chunk of completely new tracks, presumably because they couldn't get certain composers back. You have stuff like the amazing triple-part track that plays in the Kamurocho Hills segment, Rebellious Phase which is decent, and the randomly amazing Break Off. Still a crime Evil Itself was snubbed like that smh.

Personal Highlights:

Lullaby of Outlaws

A Scattered, Eternal Moment

Kamuro Hills

Update with Gunfire

(1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

>Unfortunately, like with most aspects, Yakuza 2 does everything the first game did better. Still though, some quality tracks here. Yakuza 1 doesn't have too much to work with, but it still does utilize its few track slots well. From long-standing iconic tracks like Receive You, to Funk Goes On, and even the off B-side tracks like Singin' Bass, there really isn't a miss in here, just moreso a lack of super standout tracks. There's still quite a few to love despite that, of course.

Personal Highlights

son of a gun

Turning Point

Receive You The Prototype

Funk Goes On

>kiwami 1 ost snorkkkkkk mimimimimimimim snorkkkkkk mimim Alright I'm exaggerating, but I still think it's pretty weak in comparison to the rest. There's a lot of tracks that just feel kinda butchered to me? And it's not like the new tracks are particularly standout or anything. The tracks that do work are genuinely really good: Ideal For Violence is uhhhh perfect, Get Over It is a really strong long battle theme, Pray Me ~Revive~ is on par, if not arguably better than the original, and For Whose Sake Kiwami matches the sorrow of the original pretty well. But then you have stuff like Funk Goes On 極 which feels weirdly weak, Receive You the madtype which feels sorely outclassed by like, every single other Majima Receive You, and what would be arguably the strongest track, Receive You Reborn, doesn't even show up outside of Japanese versions. Kiwami isn't all bad, hell, there are some really good standouts here, but it just can't really compare to the rest in my eyes.

Personal Highlights:

Ideal For Violence

Get Over It

Amusing Octagon

Everlasting Spirit

>Infinite Wealth sits in haven't listened enough of solely because I haven't finished the game and thus haven't touched any track past Kooky (UPDATE: now any track past Impregnable Triangle. I'm planning to do the finale by this weekend). By any other metric this would have shot UP. I ADORE this OST. The cutscene tracks, the generic battle themes, the boss themes, the B-sides, they're all so excellent. This inadvertently made 7's OST worse for me because of how much better it handles the techno.

Personal Highlights:

Brutality ~Rebuild~

Impregnable Triangle (Fun fact: this track uses the time signature of 3/4, which is a waltz. I'll let you fill in the blanks for what that means for the theming.)

Kooky

Slugfest (Yamaniacs stay winning what can i say)

ok so uhhh apparently i hit the character limit lmao. didn't even know this site had one. uhhhhhh will continute in a reblog it's just kurohyou and ishin anyways

#rgg #ryu ga gotoku #yakuza #like a dragon #ramblings of the pee-man #video game osts......................

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flymmsy · 3 months

Text

On Repeat Playlist Tag Game

Rules: Shuffle your repeat playlist 10 times and tag 10 people. Tagged by @say-lene! :)

I’m about to be exposed for my terrible taste in music so here goes. To make this more fun for y’all - under each song I will give my Durgetash-flavored assessment, even for songs which absolutely do not fit at all.

Tagging: @defira85 @memaidraws @asteriasfallingstarsandtears @laubritter @neko-rhapsodos @sleepykitty21 @durgeteriormotives @jellymellydraws @abyssalaerlocke (y’all might’ve already been tagged sorry if so!!)

9/10 starting strong. I actually think this fits Durgetash quite well especially with Gortash's built-myself-from-nothing narrative.

7/10 durgetash rating - this is kind of like the song that they both wish they could feel about each other. Like "yea I wanna be the dude who can kiss you all sweet but if we don't rip each other apart in bed Im gonna get lobotomized so"

Oh man I hate that this is here and I'm really not big on Shawn Mendes because he's a little too bubblegum for me but this song is catchy. 8/10 Durgetash rating due to the lyrics - a dark cover of this song would fit durgetash perfectly. Its essentially "I can't believe my murder girlfriend keeps dragging me into the sewers but damn she's hot"

11/10 Durgetash rating. 10/10 for the lyrics and +1 because Enver Gortash loves Panic! At The Disco.

So yea I'm a musical fan and yes this is a durgetash song for me. Let me sell you on the vision first. Durge gets lobotomized and Orin tells Enver and he immediately wants to blow the whole plan to shit because the love of his life is gone but then the whole ass Church of Bane is like nah just like drink her away my guy and so the Banites Party Hard (tm) and Enver is like fine I'll stick with the plan but he's dead inside. 10/10

10000/10 Durgetash rating. My sister Orin says 'Oh she's just being bhaalspawn.' (is this the most embarrassing song that could ever come up? you betcha.)

This is definitely The Vibe for them. 10/10 just Durgetash being nasty. Check yourself for whiplash from the last one.

I wanted to say like 5/10 but "I don't want to keep secrets just to keep you" got me like hmmmm. Also "he looks up grinning like a devil." hmmmmmm. So I'll give it a 9/10 under one condition: default Dragonborn Durge would have to be in the music video for this in a white frilly dress.

This could probably really fit some people's Durges but it doesn't fit my idea of Durge so I'm only gonna give it a 2/10 durgetash rating. However? Orin could rock the shit out of this vibe. 10/10 Orin song.

15/10 Durgetash song. Hot as fuck, could fit both pre and post tadpole. Even mentions a priest. Strong ending.

That's all folks!

#Spotify

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mxlktxa · 9 months

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road trips :)

cw; modern!au, strong language, terrible song references, ellie would probably never listen to these songs but the one of many ellies in my brain do so… yeah, if you dont like ice spice yes you do only for 2 seconds

songs referenced; lets groove by earth, wind & fire, hey ya by outkast, princess diana by ice spice

full rambles/quick reads here!!

♬ lets just get straight to the point, on roadtips theres music which means ellie is in charge of the music which also means if you dont like the song thats playing or she skips a song you like then it sucks to be you

♬ she plays a huge range of music, so thats where youre lucky but the trip always start with a song from the 80s or 90s !!!ALWAYS!!!

“you and this song, good fuckin lord ellie”

“shut the fuck up, you know its a good ass song”

“yes, but its not the only song on earth ellie”

“… lets groove tonight, share this spice of life”

“fuck me”

♬ at any stop either pumping gas (well after pumping gas) or at any drive thru ellie blasts a song that would get you to shake ass (ellie is always recording or watching in amazment) or just screaming lyrics and putting on a ‘performance’, anything to get your hips and/or ass moving

♬ that or shes playing a movie soundtrack, a sappy slow song, or something from a video game its always a surprise/shock

“babe?” ellie had her phone in hand scrolling slowly “how much do you love me?”

“not enough, why?”

ellie smirked, the intro coming on as she was watching you get out of the car and start to jump around all happy

“my baby dont mess around dont mess around because she loves me so and this i know for sure!”

“she loves me”

♬ ellie loves seeing you add your own favorite songs to her just to holler the lyrics, even if the song pisses her off she just loved seeing you all happy and giddy

“turn this shit off”

“callin my phone but they know i dont answer in the hood im like princess diana!”

“jesus christ”

“im thick cause i be eatin oats bitches not takin shit from me but notes!”

“youre so irritating and this is so fuckin bad babe”

“eat me! to her man im the girl of his dreams thinkin bout me when he brushin his teeth!”

♬ at stops where ellie just needs a refresher or wants to just talk because youd been sleeping a refresher she makes sure to park far from everyone else, looking to you with a little smile

“hey pretty girl” ellie brushed the back of her had against your cheek “slept good?”

“mmm. do we still have those fries? or my burger? my mouth is so dry”

“i wonder why,” she placed a napkin at your chin, cleaning up the drool that rested there.

“… wheres my food and where are we?”

♬ once reaching your destination, ellie stops at a little shop buying you both little souvenirs to start off

♬ also snaps a few pictures of you and her surroundings to start the trip but mainly so her photobook always starts off with you or some scenery

“look at this little notebook! its so cute”

“mhm”

“can i get a pen? i want a pen”

“sure thing”

“are you listening to me?” you turned as the flash went off, ellie capturing your pout in the photo, smirking at it

“im always listening. i just like these off guard photos better”

#the last of us #the last of us p2 #tlou #tlou2 #the last of us headcanons #tlou headcanons #headcanon #ellie williams #ellie williams headcanons #ellie williams hcs #ellie the last of us #road trip #this was done with no sleep #so i apologize #𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 ⋆˚✿˖°

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jakethesequel · 5 months

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My Scott Pilgrim Takes Off Review

From a long-long-time Scott Pilgrim fan.

Quick-form style:

PRO: The animation is stellar, does a great job at both adapting and upgrading the original artstyle with a bunch of motion.

PRO: I especially love all the little background references. Not just the ones related to the original comics or whatever either, there's a lot that are just aesthetic references to gamer stuff or Toronto landmarks (Honest "Ed's"!). Does a lot to make it feel more like it's really set in late 2000s/early 2010s Canadiana. I think you could fill a whole wiki just categorizing all the little connections they fit into every episode.

PRO: Truly a once-in-a-lifetime voice cast, I'm actually amazed they got the whole cast of the movie to come back after thirteen years.

PRO: Extremely funny with the jokes, as the comics and the movie both were, but even more concentrated, especially if you're sharp enough to catch all the background details and references.

CON: The main storyline feels rushed. More on that later.

PRO: Both the licensed soundtrack and the original compositions go fucking hard, rivalling the movie's already impressive album.

PRO: A lot of characters who didn't get a ton of development in the comics or movie get extra screen time and are seen in a new light that really fleshes them out as complete personalities where they might have been one-note before.

CON: A lot of the characters who were more important in the comics or movie have underdeveloped arcs in the anime, so they feel half-baked.

PRO: The scene-to-scene dialogue, and the way the characters socialize with each other, often feels fresh and real the way they were in the comics. It's cartoonish, of course, but they talk like long-time friends talk.

CON: Lisa Miller, my favorite tertiary character, was not included. Unforgivable.

Overall? Takes Off was an enjoyable addition to the series. Even with all its glitter, it's not as good as the original comics, but that's a high bar. I would say that Takes Off is equal or even better than the VS The World movie, and that's a good ass movie! The attention to detail and production quality is substantial in both. I personally think that the story in Takes Off had a little more substance, but I think opinions are going to vary strongly on that, and I can easily understand the other side. In any case, if you're new to Scott Pilgrim, Takes Off is a lot of fun, and if you end up liking it, the comics are even better. If you already enjoy Scott Pilgrim, Takes Off is a strong spin-off and worth watching.

Points heavier on spoilers below, and heavier on details as I slowly forget what "point form" means:

PRO: From the start, the first episode is bursting with love for the original series. There are multiple scenes that are shot-for-shot recreations of the comic, and it's a real treat to see the comic panels animated and voiced by the movie cast.

CON: Knive Chau's introduction is kind of brushed over. They basically say "Knives Chau: Scott's 17-year-old fake girlfriend (more on that later)." Except: There's never really more on that later.

PRO: A lot of the first episode's changes are done in a really funny way that fits the vibe. Obviously the Amazon -> Netflix change is just corporate politics, but delivering Netflix DVDs makes it feel like even more of a period piece. And changing Scott's awkward infodump from Puckman to Sonic cartoons - "one guy playing two versions of the same character" - is a cute lampshade hang.

CON: A lot of people are going to be turned off by the show's central twist. Everyone expected this to be an adaptation played straight, since that's what was advertised. It sure as hell shocked me when Scott "died"! I have no doubt some people are gonna have a more intense reaction and feel shitty about the rug-pull.

PRO: However! I came around on it pretty fast myself once I figured out what they were doing. While I would have adored a direct adaptation from the comics, I cannot complain about getting a brand new story by the original creator, and I think the whole AU idea of "what if Scott lost to the Seven Evil Exes" is a really fun one to explore! Regardless of execution, it's a cool concept and I kind of admire the balls of sucessfully pulling a bait-and-switch on such a major production. Managing to keep your main plotline a secret while working for a major production company and hiring box-office-topping actors is no small feat!

PRO: Again, the AU-fanfic-type stuff is a lot of fun. It's great how the League of Evil Exes finally gets to do their whole evil plan, and succeed in killing Ramona's date, then fall apart when they realize this didn't actually get them anywhere.

PRO: Also, while their fight does kind of unfairly nerf Gideon compared to his other appearances, it rocked seeing Matthew Patel clean house. I'm just a sucker for when a weak early enemy managed to usurp power through some bullshit. And of all the Evil Exes, he needed the glow-up the most, he got the least scenes out of any of them.

PRO: METRIC'S BACK!

CON: Even though he comes back to life, the funeral scene has weird vibes. Scott's friends and family reacted more emotionally when the comics did the "extra life" gag, but this is to their knowledge an actual permanent death. Even if she feels responsible, it's jarring that Ramona, who knew Scott for like two days and has an established habit of running from difficult feelings, seems more affected by grief than friends Scott that had known for years like Wallace, Kim, Stephen, even Envy. Hell, Knives was "dating" Scott for longer than Ramona's one-night stand, but she moves on quicker from the death of her fake boyfriend than her comic/movie counterparts do from just a breakup.

PRO: The casket just having spare change in it is a fucking great visual gag.

PRO: KIM PINE YURI???

CON: Kim's backstory and character arc gets shafted, and Scott's backstory loses complexity. More on that later.

PRO: There's less typical-late-2000s-loser type jokes about lesbians, and less catty bodyshaming, which is good. It might have been realistic dialogue at the time but it'd probably feel out of place in a modern production, even a period piece.

PRO: Related, Ramona has less internalized biphobia and doesn't make "experimenting in college" excuses about her sexuality. Some may feel like this simplifies her character, because her treating Roxie like an experiment is an important flaw, but I think it's a positive change. I'd rather her character be a bisexual girl with relationship issues than a comphet girl with relationship issues. The latter just reinforces bi erasure too much for me.

CON: Ramona inexplicably feels more loyal towards missing-presumed-dead Scott who she has had one date with than comic Ramona felt towards comic steady-boyfriend-of-several-months Scott, despite anime!Scott not getting to apologize for two-timing Ramona and Knives like comic!Scott did. I think this oversimplified her character and weakens her arc. More on that later.

CON: There's obviously an issue of balancing plotlines with runtime, but Roxie has a much more involved and interesting role in the story in the comics. She even moves in with Ramona for a while. The drama!

PRO: It's very cute seeing Knives hang out with the Sex Bob-omb crew on her own terms. She does that in the comics too, after she and Scott break up, but it's mostly offscreen unless Scott or Ramona also happen to be in the room. It's also a good addition to have her involved with the music herself rather than just be a fan.

PRO: Dead Kennedys needle drop. Fuck yeah.

PRO: In general, spending time with all of the Evil Exes is a lot of fun and does a lot of work to make them feel like well-rounded, fully realized characters. For me, I think this is the biggest benefit Takes Off brings to the series, and something that genuinely makes re-reading the comics more enjoyable. The Exes' scenes in their books pop more with the added detail to their personality from this anime.

PRO: Each Ex (sans Gideon/Gordon) gets their artstyle-shift backstory with Ramona lifted right from the comics.

CON: Even so, the Exes' appearances aren't totally even. Particularly Roxie, Todd, and Gideon/Gordon. Matthew, Lucas Lee, and the Twins benefit the most from the extra screentime, but every Ex has a few of their bumps shined off. Mostly in their backstories: while I love the flashbacks, they're all a lot less confrontational with Ramona about her own faults than their other appearances would suggest, again simplifying Ramona's story and weakening her arc. In previous appearances, many of the Exes were a lot less "fight Ramona's new BF to win her love back" and a lot more "fight Ramona's new BF because she broke my heart and I want revenge."

PRO: Simon Pegg and Nick Frost guest cameos!! That's how you KNOW it's an Edgar Wright project through and through

PRO: Young Neil becoming a cinephile and an accidental screenwriter is a great storyline, and the ongoing lampshading of adapting existing storylines makes room for a lot of good jokes at the creators' own expense.

PRO: WALLACE WELLS YAOI? Well, that much was more expected. But Todd Ingram/Wallace Wells yaoi? That's new ground!

CON: Again, it's a question of managing runtime and work-hours, but the Envy->Todd<-->Wallace love triangle isn't as interesting as the "taking a full page out of this volume for a relationship chart" love lattice from the comics, though it's still hilarious and a delight to watch. It would be fully in-character for Wallace to steal Envy's boyfriend, but that's nowhere near as juicy as the web of jealousy and desire between Scott+Ramona+Envy+Todd+Lynette+Knives(+Gideon, later on).

PRO: I'm glad they didn't re-cast Kieran Culkin, but I'm also grateful they wrote in a mea culpa about casting straight actors to play gay characters.

CON: Envy herself has very little character in the anime besides being Scott's bitchy famous ex-girlfriend, where the comics paint a much more sympathetic picture. Maybe an issue of Brie Larson being busy with Marvel, but unfortunate all the same. More on that later.

PRO: "Edgar Wrong"

PRO: Narration by Weird Al Yankovic

PRO: They have a lot of fun joking about Scott Pilgrim VS The World thanks to the set-up. I feel like every time there's an in-universe joke about adapting Scott Pilgrim (real life guy) into Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life (movie) it also works as a fourth-wall joke about adapting Scott Pilgrim (graphic novels) into Scott Pilgrim VS The World (movie). If the writing was less tight I think it'd be grating and either feel too meta or too avoidant, but I think they walk that line with talent and make most lines work on both levels. It's nice to see the creators take a good-natured jab at themselves for the issues the real movie ran into adapting a not-yet-finished 6-volume comic into a sub-2-hour super-overbudget studio movie with a professional soundtrack from several major indie rock stars. That joke about the movie not being able to make up its losses didn't come from nowhere, unfortunately, but I'm glad they can laugh about it.

PRO: The Chau/Stills songwriting team is great. They develop their own friendship in the comics, too, but it comes to life way more here. It does see them relegated to more of a comic relief role, rather than their more complicated arcs in the comics, but more on that later.

PRO: Gordon Goose from North Bay Ontario is an inspired choice, as is him friendshipping it up with Lucas Lee after they're both broke, as is especially him hooking up with Julie. I could honestly even see them getting together in the comic or movie versions too, if the story had gone a little differently. They've got great chemistry that I never even considered.

CON?PRO?IDK: Gordon Goose from the anime is an entirely different character from the comic's Gideon Gordon Graves. Some parts could fit: him originally being a loser from North Bay, him hanging out with Julie and Lucas Lee, even the anime-binge depression spiral could fit if events conspired for him to lose everything. Other parts, though, are trickier. I mentioned that he was a far weaker fighter than in other works, but that's minor and idk maybe it's a rock paper scissors thing (Scott is stronger than Matthew, Matthew is stronger than Gideon, Gideon is stronger than Scott). The BIG changes are that he doesn't seem to have any of his evil genius plots going on besides the League of Evil Exes. In the comics, he infected Ramona (and later Scott) with the Glow, a kind of emotional infection that enables and encourages avoidance; and in the movies, he stuck a mind-control chip in Ramona. (Also in the comics he kidnapped and cryogenically froze his 7 ex-girlfriends sans Ramona in a giant machine to "save" them until he could convince them to take him back, because he's a massive fucking asshole.) He did both long before Scott and Ramona met, so it's odd that there's seemingly no counterpart in the anime. It's also super different that after losing his wealth he stops being obsessed with Ramona. Where the other exes might have been more revenge motivated, Gideon was the one who really did want to try and win Ramona back by any means. His main character trait is that he's pretty much incapable of letting go when women reject him. There's echoes of that when Julie talks about his high school years, which I think is a good addition, but it makes it odd that in the final few episodes he's almost entirely uninterested in Scott and Ramona. Maybe that's Julie's influence, but that's a hard sell without actually showing it. (Plus, Julie didn't want Scott and Ramona together either, so almost a shared goal.) All in all, this makes Gordon Goose feel way more divergent from comic/movie Gideon Gordon Graves than any other character is. Still, I'm hesitant to commit to calling this a negative. It's different, but it might have been a difference needed for Takes Off to do what it wanted to do. Part of me wonders whether a Gideon played a tiny bit closer to norm would have been better, but I'm not confident in that, so decide for yourself.

CON: Gideon/Gordon never mentions his fetish for dressing people (Envy in particular) up like dolls.

PRO: While I know time travel plots get tiring, I much prefer it to Scott just being dead, or someone having just kidnapped him regular style.

PRO: The aesthetic for future-Toronto - and especially Old Wallace's sugar daddy's Nintendo mansion - fucking rocks.

PRO: Old Scott's character design, both in his time travel gear and his street clothes, totally nails the "Scott Pilgrim from a Bad Future" assignment. No notes.

PRO: He keeps his X-Men jacket (of course) while literally playing out his own Days of Future Past storyline. You absolutely know he's loving that fact. He wants to be Cable so bad.

PRO: Lots of characters in the future timeline wear masks, and the bus has a little disinfectant machine. These are already kinda staple tropes for dystopian futures, but there's another layer that makes it even better: If you look at the timeline Old Scott lays out, saying that about 13 (or maybe 15) years have passed since Young Scott's era, it seems pretty clear to me that they're referencing the 13-year gap between the movie and final book releasing in 2010, and the anime releasing in 2023. Suggesting that Young Scott is from around 2010, and Old Scott is just from... this year. So it's entirely possible the masks and disinfectant aren't for ANY kind of cool futuristic reason, that's just how alt future Toronto dealt with Covid-19. Personally I find that detail clever and also hilarious, it really got me when I realized.

PRO: Old Scott, subtitle: 37 years old, looking a solid decade older than that. I know red hair can go gray quick but he is not looking great for his age. Which isn't at all surprising considering his lifestyle.

CON: Some people, especially those who were heavily invested in the Scott/Ramona relationship from the comics or movie, are going to be upset over Old Scott and the divorce/separation reveal. I get it. Especially in the comics, they go through a hell of a lot of growth, and learn to genuinely love each other in a way they never had with anyone else. It sucks to see them fall back to their worst habits, Scott turning a breakup into a neurotic attempt to fix anything except his own behavior, and Ramona running away from a relationship with zero communication or closure and creating another resentful ex.

PRO: However, I'm not one of them. I have my gripes with the time-travel plotline in general that I'll get to, but I think Old Scott and Old Ramona going through a separation and a rough patch after several years of marriage is realistic and an interesting place to go. The comic had (still has) the most deeply developed relationship between Scott and Ramona, and left them on the strongest footing possible for their happy ending. Even the comic, though, never really promised them "happy ever after," it just said that they had all the skills they needed to make their relationship work, and left it up to them to traverse that long journey. Now, maybe you disagree with me and you think that comic Scott/Ramona should have been able to handle a rough spot better than anime Old Scott/Old Ramona. Thankfully, the anime gives you an out here: Old Scott's VR photo album has a couple details that show his timeline isn't exactly the comic or the movie storyline, so we can avoid stepping on the toes of existing endings, and explore new possibilities without overwriting your old headcanons. Personally, I think that even with all the growth they've had at the end of the comic, it's believable that Old Scott and Old Ramona could have a big argument that leads to them temporarily separating. Even when you've got good interpersonal skills, big arguments happen, and even when you've worked on them, your gut-reaction coping mechanisms still come up. Whatever the argument was, it's not hard for me to imagine avoidant Old Ramona to put up space between her husband instead of dealing with a stressful argument. It's easy to imagine dumbass Old Scott interpreting their separation as a call for permanent divorce, and no matter the age Ramona Flowers is never the kind of person to proactively call up an ex to resolve a misunderstanding. I think it's a really interesting and juicy narrative choice. If they had really landed the execution with this, I would outright love it and think it was a great addition to their love story.

PRO: DP input for the VR vault which is a giant Game Boy. Sick.

PRO: THE VIRTUAL BOY! (Or "Virtual Guuy")

PRO: For some reason Old Scott bro-ing it up with the Old Katayanagis and making retro throwback music in the garage works really well? Like for some reason I could see it happen even in the comics continuity if they (a) came back to life and (b) did a redemption arc for kidnapping Kim Pine.

PRO: Callback to episode 1's sugar daddy joke, and they genuinely had me wondering if they were going to make Wallace hooking up with Scott on the rebound a thing.

CON: Honesty I think they should have just committed to the (not really that old) Old Man Yaoi! Live a little!

PRO: Silver Fox-y Wallace Wells living up to his destiny of being a rich drunk trophy husband. And aging more gracefully than Scott despite going fully gray.

CON: You've got to wonder where the rest of Scott's friends are. Again, we've got to consider the runtime, and that he's in an unusual life situation, but in the comics when he gets into a similar depressive funk, a lot of his friends and family reach out to him, and he tries to reach out to them. A "17 missed calls from: Stephen Stills" or a "Kim doesn't talk to me anymore" line might have gone a long way to excuse their absence. It's also notable that despite his extremely unsuccessful music venture with the Old Katayanagis, Old Scott seems to still be unemployed, which is an example of his character development being cut short compared to the comics. More on that later.

PRO: Old Ramona's character design is as stellar and on-brand aesthetically as Old Scott's, plus the benefit that Ramona actually knows how to dress cool. Fucking baller.

PRO: Also she looks exactly her age (not given in the show but likely 38). Not surprising given she's got a healthier lifestyle than Scott, but I guarantee her natural hair color has gone completely white by now. You cannot be doing a full bleach and dye job every morning ma'am! Those follicles are stone dead!

PRO: It's incredibly endearing seeing her try to undo Old Scott's time travel plan through giving Young Neil the screenplay, and even more endearing when she calls Scott her one true love. The contradiction between her thinking of Scott as her true love and going through this massive effort to stop his time travel plan, but not being willing to go to Old Wallace's house and actually talk to Old Scott, is great. It's the closest the anime has gotten so far to giving Ramona her original character arc, which really got sidetracked by Young Ramona playing Columbo. More on that later.

PRO: For those who weren't keeping track of the meta Scott Pilgrim story, it now goes: Scott Pilgrim (real guy, old timeline) -> Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life, a memoir by Old Young Neil (memoir) -> Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life (movie script adapted by Old Ramona, credited to Young Neil) + Scott Pilgrim (real guy, young timeline) -> Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life (failed movie and making-of documentary) -> Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Musical (adapted by Stephen Stills and Knives Chao). It's also entirely plausible that all of these versions eventually inspire Old Young Neil to write his memoir and create a bootstrap paradox. Incredible. Plus, the musical part continues the metacommentary by being roughly analogous to the real-life anime!

PRO: Delorean rollerskates, need I say more?! Actually, the choice to use this kind of Back to the Future "one timeline that corrects and adjusts when time travel happens" is really smart. Especially when Old Scott says he doesn't want to send Young Scott back because he seems to always end up marrying and separating from Ramona regardless, or when Old Ramona's script doesn't stop the eventual divorce and Old Scott getting unstable. In this part of the story, it's a great way to show how them trying to literally change the past instead of resolving their current issues will never get them anywhere.

PRO: Old Ramona and Young Ramona failing to synchronize on a vibe for their photo

CON: This is where I started to feel the ending getting rushed. Over the final episode, it felt like all the existing plotlines sped on to a quick resolution to make room for the very sudden AK field and Even Older Scott climax, which itself felt in a hurry to finish.

PRO: Scott apologizing to Knives and taking responsibility for being an asshole creep.

PRO: Knives saying she's glad he's not dead but she's glad that it broke them up. Get his ass, Knives! He's earned it!

CON: While these are super important scenes to include for both Knives' and Scott's character arcs, and I'm super glad they made it in since it'd be weird if they left it unspoken, it does feel unearned. Scott has barely been away a couple of days, and it doesn't seem like either he or Knives have had the time for serious introspection they would need to get to this point. Scott could have been inspired to be better than Old Scott's example, I guess, but he clearly thinks of Old Scott as a different guy and doesn't feel responsible for Old Scott's actions. Even if the memoir/movie/musical/VR robot experience showed him Old Scott apologizing at some point, I don't buy that he's emotionally intelligent enough to internalize doing it himself, and if he did it would still feel unearned because he'd basically be following a walkthrough rather than understanding it himself. And Knives? From her perspective, in a couple of days her inappropriately older fake boyfriend introduced her to his band, cheated on her, and then died. Since then she's been hanging out with his old band rather than any friends her age, and writing a musical about the life of her dead ex. She has not been in a position to realistically process that their relationship was fucked up. Both the apology and Knive's response, though necessary, feel rote rather than genuinely felt.

CON: Likewise, Ramona and Scott being so madly in love when reunited. They've known each other for one and a half dates, 1.75 at most. Scott is slightly ahead because of the VR memories and meeting Old Ramona, but not by much. Now, Scott is honestly the kind of guy to fall headfirst into a romantic fantasy with a woman he's barely met, but Ramona is not, as shown in the anime when she decides to pull back and not have sex on the first date. In the comics they take things pretty slow to accomodate her needs there, not moving in together, not saying "I love you" for a while, taking a break from each other midway through, they go for a couple volumes before she even tells him how old she is. It's super out of character for her to go head over heels like this without hesitation. She has been trying to solve his disappearance for a while, but that hasn't really caused her to get to know him any better. Someone might argue it's because she's seen how their lives play out in Old Ramona's movie, but that has uncomfortable elements of predestination and denying free will that I'd rather not think about. If I was trying to fix this, I'd maybe say that talking with her exes and making peace with them while looking for Scott helped her get over her issues, or that being more impulsive than comic/movie Ramona is actually timeloop-style the reason their future marriage is unstable. But that would all be fanfic, it's not present in the actual text, so I've got to call this one against the anime's favor. In general, the anime tends to take a very love-at-first-sight ("sparks") view on love, which is in opposition to the comics' more mature view of love as an ongoing practice. More on that later, maybe.

PRO: AK (Anti-Kiss) fields taken visually and conceptually straight from Evangelion's AT (Absolute Terror) fields. I'm a sucker for eva! This and a few other references seem to make clear that the creators are gunning for Takes Off to be to Scott Pilgrim as the Rebuilds are to NGE.

CON: I genuinely don't think Old Scott is smart enough to come up with this. I know the Old Katayanagis are said to have designed the nanomachines, but I don't mean the technical side, I mean the strategic side. Scott is pretty stupid, bless him. Old Scott is still not very smart. Scotts Pilgrim are just not the kind of guy to ever consider a Plan B. I just don't buy that Old Scott would ever think to himself "I should have a backup plan in case my first doesn't work," he's too confident and too stupid for that. The AK field feels like a red herring for Gordon Goose going evil again, since it's similar to the Glow and mind-control chip, but it ends up going away without much fanfare. Even Older Scott even admits they would always figure out a way to get rid of it, so it's kind of a lackluster final mystery.

PRO: All of the evil exes showing up the musical but being totally uninterested in fighting Scott is a fun reversal of the norm. Especially the Katayanagi twins being totally fine acting on prophesies of bro-ship from their special little vegan robot oracle.

PRO: Despite being a downgrade from megalomaniacal genuinely evil ultimate villain to greedy but affably evil Saturday-morning-cartoon villain, seeing Gordon Goose get back to sinister plots is a big plus, and "It wouldn't hurt any of us! ...Maybe some cast and crew," is a great line for him. Even when he tells Even Older Scott that he has no interest in what's going on and wants to go back to the play, though it's an unthinkable sentiment from obsessive comic/movie Gideon, the line goes out with enough confidence and disrespectful disinterest that for me it actually makes up for it!

PRO: In general, I love when a show gets an opportunity to bring the whole cast to the event, putting all the personalities on display. Especially a formal event, because then sometimes you get fun new outfit designs! In Takes Off it feels even more special because this isn't just all the characters getting together at Scott Pilgrim the Musical for a last hurrah, it's also metatextually all the creatives from previous Scott Pilgrim projects reuniting against the odds in Scott Pilgrim the Anime for a last hurrah.

P: Speaking of all the characters getting together, there is - by technicality - an appearance by Lisa Miller, one-hit-wonder extraordinaire, in the finale. She's in the crowd of graphic novel characters drawn in to populate the musical's audience, face partially obscured. I do not consider this a proper appearance and will still count the lack of Lisa against the anime. However, in the sprit of fairness, I will offer a partially obscured PRO for this cameo.

PRO: Even Older Scott has clearly given in to the Satsui no Hado! Design elements like the hair, bandana, raggedy gi, wrist wraps, and inexplicable tan all call to mind Akuma and Dark Ryu from Street Fighter. I wonder if the Shoryuken input for Old Scott's vault was intended to tie in to this?

PRO: Even Older Scott acts like Master Roshi even though he's only 47. That's only like, Bulma in Dragon Ball Super years, man! How are you that buff but aged that poorly?

CON: Even Older Scott's plan makes zero sense. You've seen Back to the Future. You can't kill your younger self, dude! Total paradox! You'll cease to exist and therefore can't have killed your past self and therefore your past self should exist blah blah blah.

PRO: Even Older Scott is absolutely stupid enough to have tried it anyway. Especially after 10 years isolation.

PRO: "Even Older Scott VS Everyone" and "The World VS Scott Pilgrim" are nice wordplay, I'm here for it.

CON: The confrontation between Young Scott (and associates) VS Even Older Scott lacks emotional stakes, since it kinda came out of nowhere. There's the AK field, but Even Older Scott says they would figure that out anyway. There's the barebones stakes of Even Older Scott turning everyone into spare change, but nobody really seems to be afraid of that as a threat, and it's confusing what that would even mean with the time loop. Their dialogue suggests kind of a philosophical conflict between Even Older Scott trying to control Young Scott's life, and Young Scott wanting to make his own choices, but that also seems undercut by the time loop: if Young Scott was actually going to make different choices, Even Older Scott wouldn't exist. Maybe this is just the dialogue having some trouble getting the conflict across? They could be going for Even Older Scott futilely trying to change the past, VS Young Scott wanting to have the freedom to make those choices even if it causes him to suffer in the future, "better to have loved and lost" and all that. That's thematically cohesive so I think it was their intention, but I don't think it was communicated well in the fight.

PRO: Nevermind anything else, the fight scene itself is fucking fantastic. Expressive and punchy animation everywhere, banger music, and a chance to show off just about every character's personality as they contribute to the fight! Even some characters who haven't had major animated sequences yet get a shot in the spotlight, and often with a bonus to boot, like Knives finally getting her trademark knives from the comics/movie! We get even more chemistry between the characters when they team up and work together for combo moves, so not only does it give a moment of glory to everyone's individual personality, it gives us a spectacle to the relationships they've built, too. The circumstances surrounding the fight might not make a lot of sense, it's unclear why they're fighting or what they're fighting over, but in HOW the cast fights this whole sequence evokes an astounding amount of character.

PRO: Even Older Ramona. Gets another great design. Actually looks her age, and good for it. Actually looks like Bulma in Dragon Ball Super.

PRO: Even Older Ramona, to her credit, returns her original character arc. She stops running away from the romantic messes she's left behind, and comes back to fix it. A+

CON: I don't buy that Young Ramona has internalized that message enough to mind-meld about it. Ramona after 13 years of marriage and 10 years to think about it, sure. But not Ramona on her third actual date with Scott, 3.25th at best.

PRO: Human Instrumentality Quantum Super Reimona I'm drowning in Evangelion references here

PRO: Super Ramona finalizes Ramona's missing character arc! It might be a bit rushed, but it is a complete character arc. It might have taken her 23 years longer than the comic, but hey, this is a different story working at a different scale. They got there in the end.

CON: Even Older Scott never really gets his character arc. Super Ramona gives him a second chance and reverses his villain arc, but he's really at the same place at 47 that he was at 23, which kinda sucks. But, more on that later.

PRO: Super Ramona's "it's never too late to try and mend what you've broken" ending still leaves open the possibility of a rekindled Scott/Ramona romance, and at the very least implies they stop isolating themselves and develop a healthier, friendlier relationship. As far as I can tell, this fully resolves the timeloop AND gives a relatively happy ending to a complicated romantic relationship, both of which are hard as fuck to write. I salute the writers. Even if Scott and Ramona are destined to have a falling out 13 years down the line, they're also destined to forgive each other after 23, and who knows, maybe they've got a chance to get back together again in after 24. It's a messier narrative than the comics to reach the same basic message, but in it's own special way it's still beautiful.

CON: It does kinda leave Scott and Ramona's non-romantic relationships in the lurch, though, after a decade-long absence. Even Older Wallace deserves a thousand apologies and a foot massage for putting up with these two.

PRO: I love a good "where are they now" sequence! Matthew, Gordon, and Julie settling their differences and sharing the evil plots amongst themselves. Young Neil driving the mario karts on movie sets. Stacey getting some eye candy at the café and resolving Julie's joke from earlier about Luke getting a job there. Good stuff.

PRO: Knives fully joining Sex Bob-omb is a particularly genius choice.

PRO: It's true. As an anglo Canadian, our French does suck. (Our schools can never decide whether to teach us Parisien or Québecois and we end up speaking neither)

CON: Is it bragging if a Netflix show includes a scene of a video rental place shutting down? Feels like... when a cat wants to show off the mouse it killed lol

PRO: Simon Pegg and Nick Frost eating Cornettos. Magnifique.

PRO: Also hey! It's Mobile! Wallace's boyfriend from the comics! He's also psychic! And I guess works for Nintendo also? Damn, he's the total package.

CON: No real representation for Lisa Miller, the world's best D-list failgirl! 0/10

CON: NO STEPHEN STILLS YAOI! I joke, but I do consider it a major flaw that Stephen Stills never gets to come out. The movie got a pass because he hadn't come out in the comics yet, but there's no excuse here. The subtly concealed subplot in the comics of him breaking up with Julie and coming out of the closet in the comics is one of my favorite parts, and in the anime all he gets is an ex-girlfriend with no reference to him coming out at all.

CON: In fact, almost all of the original supporting cast gets this treatment. Scott, Wallace, Stephen, Knives, Kim, Envy. Even arguably Ramona, despite being the new protagonist. While their jokes are fun and it's a treat to see their personalities on screen, their pre-existing character arcs get neutered, disappeared, or straight up reversed. Sure, though I hate to admit it, it makes sense to cut Lisa's character, since she has no reason to show up in the first place if Scott's gone. But the rest of the supporting cast were the heart of the original comics; Their complex development over the books is what made the comics so special in the first place, and it's a heart all adaptations and spinoffs since have mostly lacked. I want to go into more detail on how these characters got done dirty, but I'll save it for another post. I'll link it here if I ever finish it.

PRO: Through the whole show, it's clear everyone loves Scott Pilgrim in all its forms: comics, movie, video game, anime. Bryan Lee O'Malley, Edgar Wright, the entire movie/voice cast, Metric, Anamanaguchi, and now Science SARU clearly have a lot of passion for these characters. There's a ton of work put in to bring this to life that wouldn't happen if they didn't genuinely care for the series. You think Chris Evans isn't getting better offers?

PRO: THE FUCKIN PLUMTREE SONG THAT STARTED IT ALL. FUCK. YES. WHERE MY HALIGONIANS AT

A NOTE IF YOU'VE GOTTEN THIS FAR:

I know I've written a lot about how the anime doesn't compete with the comics, or where it's fallen short, but I want to be clear that I actually really really like the anime. I think it's great! It's clearly a labour of love. It's just a lot easier to write a lot of words analysing parts that fail than parts that succeed. Scott Pilgrim Takes Off succeds at A TON OF THINGS!

I would honestly say that it succeeds far more than the movie, and people love that movie, myself included! It's a cult classic! The Scott Pilgrim graphic novels are just that good that it's hard for spinoffs to match up. If you ask me they're some of the best comics ever made, but I'm long biased by my personal history with them. You can never really be neutral about a high school favorite.

I think "spinoff" there is the right word, despite the show's marketing. It's not an adaptation by any means. It's not a sequel. It's doing its own thing, and it did it really well. If you expected an adaptation, I understand your frustration, it's shit as an adaptation. But I'd encourage you to give it another chance as a spinoff, it has a lot of value to add to the whole Scott Pilgrim experience, just as much as the game, and just as much as the movie.

#scott pilgrim #scott pilgrim takes off #scott pilgrim vs the world #ramona flowers

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thenightling · 8 months

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So Jack Skellington is problematic Now...

Ugh... In my re-embracing of my childhood favorite (Nightmare before Christmas) which turns thirty years old this year, I have had the displeasure of encountering "New" interpretations of the characters. I kind of hate that the Tumblr generation has discovered Nightmare before Christmas.

I'm stumbling across hot take after hot take about what an awful person Jack is and people "Cleverly" pointing out that Jack didn't listen to Sally, that he talked over her, that he does a lot of harm... Yeah, that's kind of the point. He's a f--k up. And he is oblivious. But he's not evil. And he's not abusive.

I even came across one tonight that said he's mentally unstable. No, his emotions are conveyed in a musical with song numbers by a very expressive and eccentric man who likes to play with his own vocal range and emotional expression in song. That's not "emotional instability." That's passion. All of Jack's emotions and reactions are warranted in the story.

One of the earliest hot takes I came across called the movie a "Dumpster Fire." And the person essentially said that Jack needs to be punished and that the mayor should strip him of his Pumpkin King Title. I think they don't realize a king out ranks a mayor, usually, and Jack isn't some beauty pageant winner. He is the king of Halloween. I think this new backlash against the character stems from interpretations that the movie is about cultural appropriation. People thinking Sally is too passive because they're used to "Strong women" actually fighting and kicking ass. But Sally is a strong character. She just doesn't do physical combat. I think we need to veer away from this shallow interpretation of "strong" requiring brute force. Sally is defiant. She questions things. She poisons her creator to escape him on a regular basis. And she even almost got away with freeing Santa Claus (almost at the cost of her own leg). That and a cultural stance of being anti-monarchy. It's kind of depressing seeing this sort of hate toward Jack. I know it's a children's film but it says a lot when people can't forgive the protagonist of a children's film for being oblivious (toward Sally and about taking over Christmas). There are actually people who think Jack will eventually get bored and lose interest in Sally because she's just "another high" for him and think he's a narcissist. If Jack was a true narcissist he would not have rushed to their rescue the way he did. Also The soundtrack album and novelization both tell you that Jack and Sally had "Four or five" children together. Jack never gets bored with her. The thing that Jack was missing the whole time was love- an emotional connection to another on a personal level. That's why he became obsessed with Christmas. He sensed the pure love attached to the holiday. He just didn't realize how close that potential connection- that love actually was. To think Sally is just another high for him is to miss the entire point of Jack's Lament, what the emptiness and longing was inside of Jack, and also ruins the intended sweetness of the ending. Despite what a lot of sequels do today with romances, these two were meant to be a Happily Ever After- without question. The idea was that Jack's obsession with Christmas came from a high, yes, but that high came from sensing the love innate in the holiday itself. That's the longing and emptiness he felt in the song Jack's Lament, the lack of deep interpersonal connection- love. He had fans but he didn't really have someone actually care about him as a person and get to know him or try to.

Jack would probably have other adventures and screw ups. But I don't think he'd get bored with Sally, she is a connection he has with no one else. And that's very important to someone who has experienced profound loneliness.

In regard to Jack's behavior in the movie... "Never attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by stupidity." Jack isn't stupid. But he IS very naive. And he makes horrible mistakes. Once he realizes he has made these mistakes he sets out to make things right. A more adult version of this issue came up when I first got into Neil Gaiman's The Sandman. Someone sent me an anonymous ask on Tumblr that read "Do you acknowledge all the terrible things Morpheus has done or do you ignore them because he's your fave?" He's my favorite partly BECAUSE he's a screw up. I like characters that make terrible mistakes and then attempt to set things right. I like redemption stories. I like character growth.

Has our culture reached some very unsympathetic and rather cruel point that protagonists can't make bad mistakes, can't have faults and failings? They need to be perfect and always do the right thing at all times lest forever be condemned as problematic?! For God's sake, I'm reading rants on why the King of Halloween wanting to do Christmas and not listening to the girl who has a crush on him should result in a beheading. Kids... Calm down. Not everything needs righteous rage.

#Nightmare before Christmas #Tim Burton

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essaysbyciara · 2 years

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It's Been A Long Time | Nebraska Williams x Black!Plus Size Reader [Part 3/?]

SOUNDTRACK | PART ONE | PART TWO

Hi! Part three is here. I don't have much else to say lmao. Taglist is OPEN if you would like to be added. OH! There’s also a soundtrack for the story (peep above). Peace and love

Hotel bars can be hit or miss; you prep yourself every time for watered-down drinks and a loquacious bartender a tad bit too heavy-handed, ignoring your every wave down for a check. Sportscenter blares from the television behind the top-shelf bottles of liquor, reminding you of why you and a damn-near-full bar full of polos and dad-hats adorned with NFL logos are here in the Marriott by the stadium in Indianapolis.

Your date in the shower with your battery-operated boyfriend wasn’t enough. All the things on your body remained tense. You throw on a white crop-top t-shirt, jean jacket, workout tights and limited edition sneakers and take the elevator down to the hotel bar for a strong drink to hopefully knock the edge off. Secretly, had another motive: hotel bars are where hot scoops get caught and the ledes for tomorrow’s newspapers are written. You hope to catch a coach slip out his plans for a draft pick or an agent complain about a player’s performance at the combine. It’s been a quiet few days at the combine and scared money don’t make no money.

“Maker’s neat, please. Double.” You stare down an Instagram timeline barely moving in hopes to see a little red icon pop up on your screen. Despite the plea to yourself to give it up, you couldn’t let go of Nebraska not following you back. You couldn’t believe that he forgot about you but yet you could: It’s been a long time, almost fifteen long years, since you two paraded down the hallways of New Birth High school. Actually, you never waved your pageant hand down those fabled corridors. You hid or tried to, at least. Especially from him. That’s why you think Nebraska doesn’t remember you. What was there to remember?

You snap out of degrading yourself to speculate the other reasons why he hasn’t responded to your request. Maybe he doesn’t use his IG that often to begin with or maybe he’ll follow you in a week or two later when he is actually on the app. Or maybe you’re denying the truth: he’s forgotten about you like it felt when you both roamed the same school.

“Yo, man. She’s toughhhh…” Brasco’s right hand, Derrick, says looking at an IG profile of a woman that’s caught his man’s attention. “You meeting her up here?”

“Yeah, bruh. I shouldn’t be doing it though ‘cus we got an early morning but fuck, look at her.” Brasco’s date was beyond beautiful: deep brown skin, long hair and a face Aphrodite would be jealous of. She hopped into his DMs once she saw his Instagram story training one of the most successful wide receivers in the league. Unbeknownst to Brasco, he would be her ticket to something – or someone – big. He hadn’t been on a date in almost six months – in desperate need of his own ticket being punched – willing to risk morning exhaustion for a late-night sexual excursion.

“Where y’all meeting at?” Derrick continues to scroll through the timeline of Brasco’s paramore.

“Some hotel bar in the city. Fuck, let me check my DMs to see– oh shit.”

“Oh shit what?”

Brasco’s face colors all kinds of intrigue. it’s been a while since he’s seen you. He finally peeped his notifications. “Nah. Someone from high school that I haven’t talked to in a minute followed me. Damn.”

“Damn. It ain’t your stalking-ass ex, is it?” That stalking-ass ex would be Lisa, the girl who snagged Brasco first, failed to be the last and couldn’t let him go. Even through her engagement to another man.

“Nah, nah. It’s this girl that was cool with one of my boys in high school. I ain’t really connected to anyone from that time so I don’t know how she found me.”

“Let me see…” Derrick looks at your Instagram bio. “Bro, she works at SportsNews. She’s probably looking for shit to tweet about since it's Combine week. Block her.”

Usually Brasco – or Derrick, being his de facto business manager – blocks all reporters but you just ain’t any ol’ one of those. You were the first – and last – one to give Nebraska “Brasco” Williams a feature article in any newspaper, a clipping his mother laminated and taped to her refrigerator. It was an interview about his favorite things. You’re also the first person from New Birth to penetrate his self-imposed walls. He’s been running from his high school years ever since his arrest sent him to juvenile detention and then onto the Navy.

But Brasco doesn’t want to block you just yet. He sees your pictures with Sheena, his old best friend Jarell’s girlfriend-now-wife. The twins have “Big J’s” nose. He hadn’t talked to Big J since leaving New Birth, afraid to learn of what the school was saying about him. News of the fight traveled through AIM quicker than a common cold in a kindergarten class. He didn’t want to be judged for a mistake that left a kid with a bloody and broken jaw and him in a Maryland juvenile facility.

Derricks sees Brasco endlessly strolling through your Instagram. “Damn, man. Is there anything good on there I need to know about?”

“Uhhh… nah, nah.” Brasco stumbles through his words as he’s triggered by the friends he left behind. “I’ll take care of it, dude. I’m about to dip; shorty’s at the Marriott by the stadium waiting for me”.

…Grey Goose and a whole lot of hydro

Only describe us as soldier survivors

Stay laced in the best, well-dressed

With finesse in a white tee, lookin' for wifey

Thug girl who fly and talks so nicely

Put her in the coupe so she can feel the nice breeze

We can drive through the city, no doubt

But don't say my car's topless, say the titties is out…

The rain that helped to arrange your ride home from Brasco went from bad to worse, your dream man driving with his hands on ten and two like a good teenage driver should. You sheepishly grin when Brasco put on “Made You Look” by Nas. You did share a favorite, after all. “Aight, where you at off River?” You’ve been sneaking glimpses of Brasco’s strong hands gripping the hell out of the steering wheel, failing to notice him drive past your house.

“You passed it, actually. It’s the house with the green door. On the left.” You and he didn’t talk much in the car. You didn’t want to distract him from the treachery of the road with a torrential downpour following you both to your destination. You also thought there was absolutely nothing for you two to talk about. The differences were that stark.

Nebraska Williams, better known as Brasco, was the star football player for New Birth High School, one of the best programs in the city. Girls were on him like Bow Wow was on 106 & Park: every day, all day. He built a reputation for being a ladies’ man, teetering close to being a “ho” by high school boy standards. “You know he date some girl over at Hillcrest!” “Girl, word is that this chick that go to Stockton pregnant!” Apparently he was doing this as the news of his relationship with Lisa, eventual prom queen and student body president, caused shock and bewilderment throughout the eleventh-grade lunch period. Lisa and Brasco made all the sense in the days of nonsensical rumors and innuendos about Brasco’s whereabouts, even if the baby-by-the-girl-who-went-to-Stockon ended up to be the truth.

You didn’t have much salaciousness to report. You were the newspaper nerd best friend of his best friend’s girlfriend. Boys didn’t check for you except for Blackplanet, your guestbook getting some traffic only to mean absolutely nothing in the real world scheme of things. You weren’t popular enough to have rumors passed around about you and you certainly weren’t having any sex to warrant hearsay about a baby.

“Fuck, let me back up….”

“No, it’s cool. If my Dad sees me get out of a car he doesn’t know, he might flip. I can hop out here. The rain is stopping anyway. I appreciate the ride.”

Maybe Brasco was doing this as a favor to Sheena. They did share the last period of the day together and you figured she must’ve threatened to cut him if he didn’t take you home after the interview. She always accosted him about being a gentleman. Or maybe he picked you up because he wasn’t a dick; he saw you shielding yourself from the monsoon as you waited for your bus to arrive and he figured to be nice. Either way, you knew it wasn’t because he liked you or anything because, in your mind, there’s no way in hell that could ever be the case.

You had no time to enquire as Brasco quickly unlocked the car door to let you out. You not-so-gracefully hop out, grabbing your umbrella from your tartan-printed backpack covered in all types of pins. You refuse to turn around to look at him, fearing you could turn into stone, feeling like mush as your stomach produces more butterflies than a botanical garden. Brasco drives away before he could watch you walk into the door and for you to wave your goodbye. You place your rain-soiled shoes by the door and sigh heavily, staring into the bright light in the vestibule welcoming your arrival home. Before you can commence to daydream about your fifteen minute ride from heaven, your Mom’s voice breaks your concentration, “[Y/N]!! Sheena’s on the phone for you!”

Let the fun times begin.

—

Not-so-fun times are happening at the bar: all you’ve noticed are football staff trailing in and out of the adjacent restaurant. Nothing excites you until you spot the head coach of Philadelphia’s football team sitting with the agent of the best wide receiver prospect in the draft. You reach for your phone to take notes but before you can jot down your scoop, you gasp: Brasco just followed you back.

A decade of unrequited love finally earns a respite. A high school crush that shook you down to the bones, a feign you couldn’t quite comprehend, sends your adult heart into beating in triplets. That cloud of nervousness that covered you as you ducked and dodged Brasco in those school hallways sends you into unwanted perspiration. You chastise yourself for feeling this way not knowing that the man responsible for those feelings is mulling away in the restaurant adjacent to you.

“Can I have a Maker’s neat, please?” Brasco’s nerves wreck him as he waits at a table for his date’s arrival. He seldom drinks but the need to calm down and relax overrides his moral compass. He scans the restaurant for his paramore knowing she’ll be easy to spot in a sea full of white men in sports polos and gym shorts. As the minutes tick away, he checks his Instagram to make sure she hasn't changed looks since the time he updated his feed. He goes back to your page instead, not only feeling compelled to reminisce some more but to get another look at you.

A photo of you wearing a Black mini-dress and strappy heels had Brasco’s antennas up. You long traded in those blue glasses for something more sophisticated but they still framed your face beautifully. Your breasts went from a single letter D to a double. Brasco noticed those first. It took him back to that day at Lisa’s house, the day you showed up in a red bathing suit that led to a scolding like no other. Nerdy [Y/N] had a body on her and as you secretly planned, it caught Brasco’s attention.

He let out a faint “fuck” as you tossed your t-shirt and demin shorts onto the picnic table. He wanted to play those sweet splashy games alongside you but again, boys from his side of town didn’t know how to swim. His left hand twitched when you hopped out of the pool, body drenched in chlorine. That red bathing suit barely held on to your goodness. Brasco hoped for a slip. He was ready to risk it all until your Mom showed up to whisk you away.

Little did he know that he wouldn’t see you – or his friends – ever again. But yet the girl who once re-calibrated his desires sits just mere feet away from him and he doesn’t even know it.

taglist: @ghostfacekill-monger, @blackburnbook, @twistedcharismaaa, @sheabuttahwrites, @keiva1000, @chaneajoyyy

#trevante rhodes x fanfiction #trevante rhodes x reader #it's been a long time #trevante rhodes #nebraska williams

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nahobinobrunestud · 7 months

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Think I'm 60-70% into Fate Hollow Ataraxia according to itd own percentage, I forgot to check one more time, but yeah I still don't have much of a strong opinion on the game or how it compares to other Type-Moon visual novels. It really feels like its own thing of sorts more so than the others if that makes sense? Like it's not particularly unique and it's literally a fandisc but it feels difficult to compare it to the others due to how it's played and structured if that makes sense. Sometimes it feels meh, especially the main story with Bazett and Angra Mainyu, but more often it's pretty good both with its slice of life stuff and the main story with its mystery and whatnot. The soundtrack is also definitely an improvement from Fate Stay Night and feels much more cohesive which would officially put Fate Stay Night at the bottom of Type-Moon visual novel OSTs, lol. I can't judge the H content yet cause I haven't touched it yet and don't really plan to til the main story's done and I'm sure that I have all of them before I start going through them. I don't really fuck hard with Bazett Fraga McRemitz which is the goofiest ass name in a Type-Moon visual novel I've seen yet, bur she's aight and her quasi noble phantasm and to a lesser degree her fighting style is cool. Angra Mainyu is interesting and has more potential to be more so by the end of the story alongside Bazett but he's also just kind og aight, neither of them are diagnosing themselves into my brain or anything. Still haven't seen much of the white haired girl but that'll probably change really soon given recent story events. The plot and themes of the main story in general might just be the least interesting in a Type-Moon visual novel so far but given what Fate Hollow Ataraxia is and the percentage the main story takes compared to all the other stuff makes it so that it doesn't matter too much. Can't wait to finish when I'm less tired.

#reading fha #fha spoilers #fate series

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grineerios · 8 months

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Insomnia won and I got around to writing things down about my Operator and Drifter instead of just letting my thoughts do laps of my brain. So uh. Long-ass backstories, I guess?

I do have memory loss so I'm not entirely sure how canon-compliant this is, but I guess there's no harm with a few tweaks if I had fun doing it lmao

New War/Duviri Paradox/Main Story quests spoilers(?)

(I do not have names for these nerds, but I'll update whenever I figure that bit out. I've debated calling them Sigma (O) and Lavan (D) after railjack parts, but it just doesn't suit them. I guess only time will tell)

Both Operator and Drifter are He/They, and AroAce. I haven't figured out their gender(s) yet, because gender is hard.

THE DRIFTER

Drifter is a very different man when interacting with Duviri and the Operator, versus everyone else. To most of the world, he's a stubborn individual with a streak of having a short temper. His seemingly obsessive need to have some kind of control can easily get on folks' nerves, making him a hard person to work with. Occasionally, though, one can see a small glimmer of the man behind the persona.

When it comes to Duviri, as well as with The Operator and other children, a laid-back, almost jovial man emerges. He has a very strong "what happens, happens" philosophy. When faced with adversity, he mocks it. When faced with hardship, he pushes through with a stiff upper lip. When faced with loss, he waves his hand dismissively.

But this isn't the full truth either.

In reality, The Drifter is an extremely anxious person with a desperate need to protect The Operator, especially after the events of The New War. This manifests as him flip-flopping between letting the Operator do what they want, and needing to control and have a say in everything the Operator does.

When in Duviri, this anxiety manifested slowly over time, starting with the Void's subconscious influence on Duviri. The landscape's shape was the first to change, next the sky turned to Void-like clouds, followed by the fracturing point- the Zariman itself appearing in the sky.

Up until this point, the Drifter was a mere side character in Duviri's story, a manifestation of an unimportant and uneventful life far away from the horrors of 10-0. Primarily, he was a Tammherd, moving flocks across Duviri's verdant islands, even as the Void's influence poked and prodded at the memories he'd repressed.

After the 10-0 appeared in the sky, however...

Everything changed. No longer could he pretend that things were well, that the Void-spirals didn't poke at his mind, that the Void-forsaken ship wasn't real, that Duviri was all he'd ever known.

As his anxiety grew, Dominus Thrax became more and more maniacal, pushing new laws and standards that began crushing at Drifter's soul and personality, hardening him into apathy after being hunted again and again for seemingly infinity.

Long forgotten were the days of falling asleep under the stars, having nothing but a Tamm for a pillow- no, now his days were split between the void-contaminated Zariman and being hunted and executed by Thrax. The songs of Void Angels and the scream of arrows and blades set the soundtrack for his life, replacing the shawzin music he'd formerly enjoyed playing.

No matter how Thrax decided to execute him that day, he'd always wake up, lost in the world foreign to him of the Zariman, a horrifying feeling tugging at his mind as he wandered the halls, confused and lost. But.. he'd always find his way back to Duviri. Through a vent, a door, a mirror, or a broken screen- it didn't matter. He always found his way back into his personal hell away from hell, doomed to live in his damned loop forever.

On one of these loops, before Teshin beats into their thick skull that yes, you can just leave this situation dumbass, while stuck in the Zariman, he was injured by either a void-touched item or a Void Angel. Throughout subsequent spirals, void crystals began to grow from the wound. And it hurt like a bitch. If he'd ever let you look at the wound- or the scar, as it presents itself in the Origin System, you might faintly see the curled spikes, if you squinted, as they're mysteriously mostly invisible when exposed to direct and indirect sunlight. Under artificial light, they're slightly more visible, but the Drifter intentionally wears clothes with baggy sleeves so as not to worry The Operator. Regardless of where he is, undercroft or origin system alike, the crystals feel like it buries itself deeper and deeper into his flesh when he uses transference.

We all know how the story ends. With the help of Teshin, the Drifter finally Gets A Fucking Grip On Things and is able to voluntarily exit and enter Duviri at their leisure. The only real difference is that instead of Lotus' hand granting the Drifter Transference, it's his void injury that allows for weak Transference within the Undercroft. He must make physical contact with a Warframe to transfer into it, even after his Void abilities are strengthened in the New War.

THE BEFORE

Before the void-jump incident, and before Eternalism made the Operator and the Drifter, there was the Before.

The Before was an isolated and distractable child. He didn't do well at school, often losing himself in thought and awe over whatever was outside the nearest window. His parents were botanists and agricultural specialists who helped to tend to and monitor the Zariman's agricultural biomes. Sometimes, much to his parents' frustration, he'd skip school to watch them work. They often would joke that they wished he'd pick a normal activity to skip school over, like Lunaro.

Although he did eventually pick up Lunaro and tried to learn shawzin, he never was far from the agri-zones if he could help it. There was something that pushed away his fears. Besides, if these plants could grow here, then who was to say he couldn't thrive cultivating life in Tau?

Aaaaand then the void jump incident happened.

Of course he wasn't paying attention when it happened. He was wayy too distracted by all the amazing colors in Saturn's rings. Melica's words all sounded like the same stuff he'd hear her say after day. Blah blah blah Entrati this Golden Masters that and who could forget the Seven? Drivel. Meaningless drivel. It mattered a lot to the adults but not to him at all.

The jump hit him like a truck, when the force knocked him out of his seat, and when beautiful Saturn was replaced with the eerie, wispy void. That's when he felt fear nag at him.

In the time before Wally made their deal with him, he somehow managed to get a grip on his emotions and channeled that fear into taking control of the situation, despite shaking the entire time he was checking in on folks. He buried his emotions, focusing on the new drive in his heart, to protect the others. Even if he was a little... Blunt. Or rude. Or aggressive about the whole thing. No matter how hard you try to hide intense emotions, they'll bubble out somehow, and I doubt the Void helped with that very much. But, his practical and stubborn mind kept most of the kids he was with safe- until the Orokin dubbed them Tenno for the Operator, or until he decided to go search for more survivors alone in the Zariman, wandering the vents while the others were found and taken away; Left behind, becoming the Drifter.

I don't think the Drifter ever forgave himself for letting that happen. Even if it was because Wally twisted words.

THE OPERATOR

In the present, the Operator is less angry, and less socially isolated than the Drifter. What they lack in comparison to the Drifter's temper and isolationist tendencies, they make up for in flippancy and spite.

He took well to transference, and his training as a Tenno under the Orokin empire gave him a sense of purpose. He'd protected his kind on board the Zariman, and he'd continue to protect them even now. With the help of his warframe, a Volt, he'd stand by their sides, and ensure everyone made it out alive. They were his Tenno fellows. His Clan.

As time went on though, his faith in the Orokin evaporated, as he saw how little they actually cared about his friends and himself. Vowing to never trust Orokin word again, he relished the Night of Naga Drums, when he finally got to strike back at the Orokin for their foul play.

His distrust of the Orokin carried over from Margulis to the Lotus, instead, looking up to the Dax remaining after the fall of the Orokin empire, knowing that they too had likely been manipulated and used by their Golden Masters.

Even knowing he'd been hurt and exploited by the Orokin, he had (and still has) a hard time seeing himself as anything but an Orokin weapon, the confusion and intensity of which only became more overwhelming after awakening from the Second Dream.

Things only got worse from there, really. His distrust of Lotus burned into outright hatred and he isolated himself from his fellow Tenno, occasionally doing mercenary work for syndicates like the Arbiters of Hexis and Steel Meridian. What purpose the Lotus had offered, he rejected, leaving him with a void in his life. Depression set in, and all he could do was wait for purpose to find him.

THE PRESENT

(My memory is fuzzy on details of The New War, so I'll need to replay it before getting into specifics about what Drifter and Operator were doing at the time. but.)

In the aftermath of the New War, the Operator has brought himself to understand that Lotus too was manipulated by Orokin power. This doesn't completely nullify his feelings, but does certainly mellow them out a bit more, to the point that he willingly participates in Tenno culture once more.

Drifter and Operator are working together, although Drifter insists on doing most Tenno missions, saying that the Operator should "catch up on being a kid" while they have the chance. This of course, does not help the Operator who desperately needs to get out and do things, as they're prone to going stir-crazy if they can't do anything for even short periods of time.

Despite having the transference circuits damaged in the Old War, the Operator almost exclusively uses his Volt, who's probably the closest thing he has to a best friend post-New War.

In the times when he chooses to, or is forced to use transference, the Drifter uses primarily an Oberon, followed closely by a Kullervo and Excalibur Umbra, the latter being an ideal choice as he doesn't require transference to be useful.

TL;DR

My Drifter is typically stoic with a hotheaded streak and a tendency for intimidation as the solution to problems. This, of course, is all fueled by a desperate need to protect people, and keep the Operator above all, safe. He's kind at heart, but it's a side rarely seen by anyone other than children or animals.

My Operator is an immature ball of spite, nigh-dependent on other people for his purpose in life. He shares Drifter's anger and aggression, but it's tempered with a strong sense of justice. He's deeply bonded to his Warframe, and the two are nigh-inseparable. Has an insatiable thirst for action, and is high-energy.

Both of them desperately need therapy and ADHD meds.

#warframe #personal oc lore #grineerios drifter #grineerios operator #all of this Subject To Change (tm) of course #im very sleep deprived i'll fix any glaring lore errors or typos when i wake up #long post

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