#i really believe that the kind of shops and store the city has tells a lot about the city

[serenhoshi]

𝐇𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐣𝐨𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐨𝐲𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝

I’m sorry I haven’t posted in a while! I was working for my finals, and now that I’m done I can post again! 

Here is the beginning of the “Ateez as your boyfriend” series, I haven’t done all the members of seventeen yet, but I’m working on it as well, it’ll come very soon!

So, Kim Hongjoong!

based on his mbti, the man is a lover of love

he is a hopeless romantic, and has a crush 24/7

he loves having a crush, daydreaming a bit about the person that attracted him

it kind of frees him from his busy everyday life

it inspires him for some of his lyrics as well?? (like i know ateez songs are about rebellion and stuff but i’m sure that this man right here has many romantic and cheesy songs about his ex-lover(s) or/and crushes)

anyways, so as I said, he has a crush on basically anyone

he never truly expects anything, like no relationship whatsoever, he really just enjoys the feeling of liking someone

so when he has a crush one you, he doesn’t expect much from it

maybe he saw you at a museum or in a shop or whatever

and he double-checked you like “oh- oh, they look great” (in his head ofc)

and maybe he liked your vibe, your outfit, whatever

he ended up giving you quick looks during your whole visit (if it’s a museum), like a shy kid

he knows he won’t see you again anyway because of his work, and [insert city name] is a big city, so he makes sure he memorizes you well

it really sounds weird but like

he WILL write about you, so he needs to remember details to talk about in his lyrics

As soon as he got home, he started writing his song, it was very quick lmao

so when he was done, he was satisfied and could go back to his work

until he saw you again, at the agency

his eyes opened wide and his jaw almost fell to the floor

he was clearly confused so he played it cool and ignored you as if he never knew you in the first place

like “damn, that not how it always goes”

but turns out you had to work together, because you were in charge of the production of some music videos, so you had to meet with the members to talk about the aesthetic and the mood of the songs, and what to tell in the video

the members quickly saw that hongjoong was acting weirdly around you

like during a meeting, anytime you looked at him he would look away from you, anytime he spoke up his ears would turn red because he knew you were watching him

so they mocked him lmao

and he threatened them back

but they’re ateez, they don’t really care, so they continued

until it got to you

you heard the members being like “hongjoong-hyung have you seen y/n’s haircut today? oh i’m sure you have right?”

“remember when he drew them?? in a cartoon-ish way, it looked cute tho”

“yeah, i want you to draw me too!- why not? is it because they’re your crush and i’m not??”

you were very confused and curious at the same time

so one time your curiosity took over, and you called hongjoong after a meeting with the members (ofc they mocked him when they heard you call him lmao)

you blutly asked if there was someting going on, because you heard stuff from the members, and you needed to know if you had done something wrong, or is they were mocking you for something. not even once considering he could actually like you

he would giggle shyly, hiding his face with his hand

and then he was fully honest with you

he said in a suprisingly confident way, that he hoped something would develop between the two of you, because he really appreciates you

and he asked you on a date btw

i know right

he couldn’t believe it either

the date went very well, you went to the cinema and then ate at the convenience store bcs you were hungry

it was very fun! and both of you started to get attached to each other

you got close very fast, you saw each other a lot at dates, your appartment, or his recording studio

you would just mess around a lot, laugh, eat, sleep, whatever

at some point he just HAD to tell you how much he loved you

you were both in his studio, you had drank a bit, hongjoong more than you, to give himself a bit of courage

he played the song he made after meeting you for the first time

the silence was pressuring to him, while you listened attentively to the song

then you looked at him, confused at what it meant (not really understanding that it was about you)

so he told you

his confession was a bit clumsy, he wanted to do well but he was too stressed, so stressed that he stuttered a lot

but it was also very sincere, his eyes did not leave you, the light reflecting in them made them look so bright and passionate that your heart started speeding up

when he finally said “i love you”, you smiled, and giggled like a child

his eyes were still on you, and you felt your ears burn and redden

you told him that you loved him too, in a quieter voice, shy to let the three words out

he smiled widely, he heard what you said, but he just had to tease you a bit

so he came closer, his face inches away from yours

“what did you say?” 

so you said it again, with a tiny pout on your lips

and he kissed you right after

Now, let’s see how the pirate king is as a boyfriend :D

i’m sure that even though he keeps showing his hate for physical touch on TV, he actually loves it

but only with you :)

when he gets home from work he comes to you and kisses you on the forehead, a hand holding your waist or caressing your back

will get grumpy if you don’t accept taking a bath with him >:(

while watching tv he either holds your hand or puts it on your thigh

same when he drives

loves spending special evenings or afternoons with you

like you both going shopping, taking pictures and enjoying the city

or discovering the new pet cafe <3

maybe an evening customizing some of your clothes, sat on the floor of the living room, with some 2000s songs playing in the back

or you dyeing his hair !

you also cook together at least 2 to 3 times a week

because you’re both bad at cooking but you want to get better

at first it was chaotic, now it’s better

having hongjoong as a boyfriend also means being a new parent for ateez

some of the members (like wooyoung and mingi) will call you mom as a joke

when they come to the appartment (randomly most of the time), you’ll have to handle them with your boyfriend, as much as you can

but hongjoong’s patience is so low you end up handling them yourself while he tries to beat up yunho in the back

hongjoong really has no patience, in your relationship its better

but he still gets angry easily

luckily, he doesn’t give you the silent treatment, he directly confronts you about what he thinks and what made him upset

very jealous, protective, and a bit possessive as well

at first it annoyed you a lot, so you told him and now he controls himself better

but he still always has a hand around your waist during social events, just so people know that you’re taken

i think that hongjoong “weak” side would be how shy he is when it comes to compliment you

he shows support through actions, he encourages anything you do in life and makes sure you know how proud he is of you

but its always hard for him to put it into words

when you’re not here he can describe you with the most loving words, and praise you as if you were a goddess (which you are for him)

but once you’re there he just giggles and smiles like a child

if you get prepared for an important event for example, and you arrive with a gorgeous outfit, beautifully done hair and all that

he’ll stop moving (maybe even breathing) for a while, his cheeks as red as cherries

and then he’ll hug you lovingly, maybe kiss you if you don’t have lipstick on 

it is very rare for him to put it into words

maybe if you get married he’ll finally praise you while you’re here, in front of him? ;)

anyways we’re done here :)

smutty part below!

I don’t think hongjoong ever had sex before you

or if he did it was with some one night stands he doesn’t remember

but still he was quite shy during your first time

he wouldn’t dare look at you at first, both because he thinks his face would go fully red, and because he doesn’t want to make you uncomfortable

he still touches you a lot, a bit awkwardly at first because it wasn’t the same with no clothes on anymore :’)

might stare a bit even though he tries to control himself so you don’t feel too oppressed lmao

moans a lot, he can’t stay quiet, even when you’re just making out

no matter what position you’re in, he likes having a hand in your hair, caressing it as if praising you for whatever you were both doing

he talks quite a lot too

saying how he feels, asking you questions to make sure you’re okay, it’s like he says each and every thoughts that goes in his mind

“woah,, again please”

“do you like it that way? should i go on?”

“moan again for me honey”

“you can’t keep your hands to yourself, huh?” 

ofc he has to be a tease when he feels the most confident

i feel like he’s a switch, but still more on the dominant side

like he goes sub mode when you ask him to, but the rest of the time hes dominant

prefers doing it in bed, in your shared bedroom

maybe sometimes in the living room or in the bathroom, but never out of the appartment, even for a quickie

(so making him horny outside of home is very fun to watch, because he cannot do anything on the spot, and just glares at you while hiding his bulge as much as he can)

even tho he is a dom, i think he likes it when you ride him

he loves watching you on top of him

but still orders you around with his hands on your hips, his fingers tracing on your stretch marks

overall he has a great stamina, he could go for 2 rounds easily, maybe 3 sometimes :)

#hongjoong #hongjoong imagines #hongjoong x reader #hongjoong smut #hongjoong fluff #ateez #ateez imagines #ateez fanfic #ateez x reader #ateez drabbles #wooyoung #mingi #yunho #yeosang #seonghwa #choi san #jongho #kpop imagines #kpop reactions #kim hongjoong

[brittle-doughie]

When the Jingle Bells Rock (Christmas Special)

A combination of my own idea and a ask by an anon! Merry Christmas, folks!

You had collected all that you needed from the shop as you placed the christmas lights in your cart as you made your way to the front, the sounds of jolly music playing in the speakers within the store. You sigh in content as you sway your head side as you nod to the music, moving your cart to the front of the store to pay for them before heading out to your vehicle.

You had packed everything up and was getting ready to drive off when…

“La di dum…La di da…~”

The sound of someone singing behind you! You turn your head to see the cookie singing right as you closed your trunk to see it was Carol Cookie!

“The time of year spent with family🎵 Time spent where everyone is happy!🎵”

You smiled and clapped to Carol’s singing and playing, bringing a smile to her face as she giggled.

“The occasion that brings everyone together🎵 Wonderful memories that last forever..!🎵”

You did agree with her lyrics with a chuckle, it is a nice time in the year to spend it with those you care about and the family that you have. Though your voice kind of trailed off from that last part.

Something that Carol took notice of.

“Is something wrong? You do have cookies you wish to spend the time of year with, right? I can come over to spend it with you!”

You gave her an awkward chuckle before reassuring her that you’ll have a splendid holiday this year, no need to worry about it! You’ve got it! You fist pumped into the air to really show your enthusiasm!

“Well…..I’ll believe you, Y/N. Have a great holiday! La di da~ La di dum~”

Carol walked away as she continued to strum her instrument as she sung along. You waved her bye as you got into your car and drove home. Once you got on the road, you let out the sigh that you’ve been holding throughout the exchange earlier. You will admit that you weren’t…entirely honest with Carol, but you didn’t want to bother her with your problems. Especially during this of year where every cookie has someone to go spend the holiday with, and you didn’t want to ruin that.

You didn’t want to ruin that for anyone.

———————————————————————

You stopped at a light at a plaza center where you saw a sort of marching parade going on, various cookies with instruments and holiday themed outfits were making a spectacle of themselves as the cookies around them gathered and clapped for them. You will admit that it was a pretty nice event going on that really brought the festive cheer to the cookies of the city, and what surprised you is the fact you can recognize two little cookies in the march, dressed up like winter guards. It was the Chess Choco Cookies!

They caught sight of you as they both waved at you, Pawn White much more energetically then Pawn Black. You waved back in return, but you did have to pay attention to the light in case it turned green! You can tell they wanted to run on over to speak up a storm with you, but their current parade kinda has them occupied at the moment.

“Y/N Cookie! Hello, Y/N Cookie.”

Pawn White tried to head on over to you real quick but was stopped by Pawn Black. Pawn Black too wanted to come over as well, but they still had a parade to do, which makes Pawn White pout but relented.

The two doing their best to hide their disappointment for such unfortunate timing.

“Oh but I want to go to Y/N Cookie! We have a parade, we can’t go to Y/N Cookie.”

Pawn White ultimately relented but waves again at you, promising to see you again later, the two wanted another match at chess with you after all, to which Pawn Black nodded to.

“We’ll see you later, Y/N! We will see you later, Y/N. Happy holidays.”

You chuckled to yourself as you called out to take them up up on that chess offer as the light turned green and you drove away from the plaza center snd continued on your way home.

———————————————————————

You had stopped at a station to refill your car, once you were done, you were about to hop right back into your vehicle…when you felt like there was a presence close by. You could feel the stare they gave you as you quickly turned to that direction, but saw no one..when you felt two hands cover your eyes.

“Hello, my dearest jewel~”

Yep, this pretty much clued you in that this cookie was none other then Rougefort Cookie.

“I couldn’t let the holidays go by without giving my precious jewel a present that suits them~”

Rougefort then handed you a small gift box that you collected, still taken aback a bit from their sudden appearance, but thanked for the present. Pondering…you asked if Rougefort had someone they spend the holidays with.

“Oh..? Are you implying what I think you are~?”

Rougefort got closer to you as you backed away appropriately.

“You do not have a cookie to spend the holidays with? If so…I wouldn’t mind spending it with you, my jewel~ I wouldn’t mind at all~

You shook your hands in front of you as you assured them that it was okay, they should spend the holidays with cookies he cares about more!

“But…I care about you the most, my jewel~ Among the countless I’ve seen, you shine the most~ Please…I insist~”

They got incredibly closer as you continued to try to assure them that you were okay! Your back hit your vehicle as Rougefort got in your face.

“There is no escaping my grasp, my dearest jewel-“

“HEY!”

Before he was stopped by a passerby. You swore you saw his eye twitch a little in hidden irritation as he moved back.

“What a shame. Oh well, I’ll get you later, my jewel~ Happy holidays~”

Rougefort leaped onto the station roof and was out of sight fast. You took a deep breath as you let your face cool, Rougefort nearly had you cornered there!

But…a part of you wondered how it would be if you accepted their company…but they probably had better things to do on this day. Yeah…

———————————————————————

You made a quick pitstop to the toy shop to pick up a few toys. Christmas was a time of giving and the countless toys the shop offered had plenty of potential joy to be had to the young cookie it will go to! Opening the door alerted the owner who was stocking the toys on shelves, Butterbear Cookie!

“Ah, Y/N Cookie! It’s a joy to see you here, my friend. Have you come to buy toys?”

You answered yes to his question. After a little back and forth, he went around and grabbed a couple of toys and placed them into boxes for you.

“That’s quite the list there, Y/N Cookie! Eggnog would really appreciate the work you’re doing for the young cookies around.”

You assured Butterbear that it was nothing, it was Christmas soon! So the time of giving just comes to you pretty hard.

The conversation alerted another cookie that was in the shop to the front, who immediately brightened up upon seeing you!

“Y/N Cookie!”

Lollipop Cookie hurried past the counter and hugged your waist as you chuckled.

“What brings you here? Have you come to get toys?”

“That’s right! Y/N Cookie approached me with a gift list for a number of cookies on it!

“Oh! I know a couple of cookies on there! I can show you which gifts they’ll really like!”

Lollipop asked, with how giddy she was, you couldn’t say no.

“Heh heh! Come on, I know just the right ones!”

As you two picked out the gifts, you took a good look at some of them...and reflected on how the cookies getting them likely have fellow cookies to spend the holiday with, rejoicing and having good times with one another…makes you wonder if you’ll ever have a true holiday experience someday…

It looks like your longing look attracted Lollipop’s attention, she looked at you worried.

“Y/N Cookie, are you ok? You’ve been staring at that teddy bear for a while..”

You shook your head after coming back to reality and reassure Lollipop that you were just stuck in your thoughts for a moment, it was all good!

“It’s ok, Y/N Cookie! You can tell me what you’re thinking!”

You politely turned her down again.

She doesn’t budge.

Now Butterbear’s attention was peaked too as he head over to you two.

“Is everything alright?”

“Something is troubling Y/N Cookie and they’re not answering me…”

Lollipop looked sadly as Butterbear looked at you with worry too. He placed a reassuring hand on your shoulder.

“Y/N Cookie, if something is the matter, you can tell me. Even as a secret, it will be safe with me.”

You wanted to tell them the issue..but you couldn’t…you didn’t want to burden them..

You simply sunk your head down a bit and shook your head. Lollipop only felt more bad as Butterbear had a solemn look to him.

“I see. Well, I hope whatever is troubling you doesn’t for long.”

The rest of the time was spent in silence as you and Lollipop picked out the rest of the gifts as you payed for them and began to leave.

Lollipop wanted to reach out to you, to try and get you to tell her what’s wrong, if there was anything she can do, but didn’t want to overstep any boundaries as she watched you get in your vehicle and leave.

“Don’t worry, young cookie. It couldn’t be now, but when the time is right for them, they’ll speak what’s on their mind…”

———————————————————————

You finally made it home as you brought your stuff in. You started to decorate the tree, hang up your lights, activated your fireplace, and prepared the food that you were planning to eat…alone.

You took a gander at the letter on your counter, your parents were away on a holiday of their own, but they do give their best wishes and gifts to you. You mentally wished them to have fun on their trip as you continued organizing the sole cookie festivity.

Christmas was a time that should be spent with those you care for the most and you didn’t want to get in the way of that. It did feel..lonesome, but if it meant other cookies got to spend time with their loved ones, then so be it.

You vegged out on the sofa as you watched television, eating your mashed potatoes. You did have to deliver the gifts soon, so you kept the timer on your clock. But in the meantime..

Merry Christmas to lonely ol’ you.

…

…

…

…

But then the silence was interrupted when a knock came at your door. You perked up immediately and wandered over to your door as you opened it.

Blackberry and Onion Cookie?

“I see that you have your decorations ready. I’ll get to work on preparing for the guests.”

She took Onion by the hand and came inside, you were still processing the fact that she just allowed herself in. You didn’t have any problems with that, but..

You tried reassuring her that it was all okay, didn’t she have cookies to spend the holiday with?

“I have Onion to spend it with, but I started to think about you….and who you’d spend this time of year with. It would pain me to see you alone during this day, so I’ve decided I wanted to spend it with you..”

“You shouldn’t be alone, Y/N…sob…sob”

But-

The door rung again, stopping your train of thought.

“Ah, that must be more guests.”

Blackberry opened the door and revealed more cookies waiting at the door.

“Aha! So it was a lonely holiday you were suffering from!”

“We’re here, Y/N! Let’s play! We should play, Y/N.”

“Did you really think I’d allow you to spend the holiday alone, my jewel~”

“Y/N..we would’ve understood! I would like to spend the holiday with you!”

“The young cookie is right, my friend. The holidays are to be spent with cookies you care for, and that includes you.”

There was already a bunch of cookies making their way in, it made your head spin. The incoming crushing hug surprised you.

“Haha! It’s good to see you again, Y/N Cookie! A good eye for festive lights I can see!”

“Woah..your home is packed, Y/N! There’s so many cookies here!”

Brave?! When did you get here-

“We made it! Y/N Cookie, care for a cup of cocoa!”

“Allow me to play for you, Y/N.”

You were in awe of just how many cookies chose to instead come to your house to celebrate then their own.

Yes, you had even let in Kumiho Cookie, who saw this as a win in her book. Maybe one day…

“Oh I’m so happy to spend the holiday with you, darling~”

There was some cookies you hadn’t met before that also came by, you were more wary about them at first. Rambutan had brought in a pal of hers, Mangosteen Cookie.

There was something about that cookie that felt odd…but you couldn’t place your finger on it. The way Mangosteen looked you with interest and fixation did raise the nonexistent hairs on your neck.

Affogato had invited some of his followers to the party too. That little scuffle at the Dark Cacao Kingdom didn’t leave time for introductions, so these disciples were eager to meet the cookie Affogato had talked so much about. You were everything he had ever talked about. Your home was pretty cozy too, cuddle them on your sofa please-

———————————————————————

You did your best to keep the home under control, you served your food to the cookies who took the time to give their compliments to it.

Any mistletoe attempts were halted. Croissant was against it..

Pomegranate didn’t kindly to any of those goody two-shoes cookies trying to get chummy with you. She was holding back the urge to lay a curse on them.

Black Pearl was holding back on her end to drown all the competition in one go. But for you, she’ll allow them to live another day..

You decorated Caramel Arrow’s hair with a lovely flower, making her red in the face. The other Cacao members did get a bit envious of her.

…

As you relaxed on the sofa, cookies on your sides chatting with you as you gazed upon the room full of cookies, having a great time.

You looked down into your cup of cocoa, seeing your reflection in it…

Your eyes…were you crying? Perhaps you were…

You felt stupid, of course with cookies like these folks, you weren’t ever going to spend the holidays alone, never ever…

Maybe…you prefer it that way…

Until you were crowded by the young cookies when it was time to hand out gifts lol.

Fin.

#cookie run #cookie run ovenbreak #cookie run kingdom #cookie run kingdom x reader #cookie run ovenbreak x reader #fanfic #cr x reader #crk x reader #cookie run x you #cookie run x reader #carol cookie #chess choco cookie #rougefort cookie #butterbear cookie #lollipop cookie #blackberry cookie #onion cookie #cookie npc x reader #hollyberry cookie #mangosteen cookie #gingerbrave #mint choco cookie #cocoa cookie

[beezusvreeland]

dear reader - chapter 3

summary: Miguel took the reader’s love and friendship for granted. Something he learns reading her column, when it’s too late…Or is it?

ship: miguel o'hara x f!reader // matt murdock x reader

______________________________________________________________

Chapter 3

Two weeks passed, but it might as well be an entire lifetime. Edinburgh suited you very well. The cold early mornings that turned into very nice afternoons and ended with you making sure the heater was on for the night. You woke up at the dorms provided by the school, made yourself a nice Earl Grey tea, got ready and walked your way to class. 

You picked a different path every day, but there was no denying that walking by Victoria Street in the Grassmarket area was your favorite way to get to university. It was just so charming: bright colored walls, cobblestones and unique shops. You had even read somewhere that it was the inspiration for Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter books. There really was something magical about that city.

A couple of mornings a week, you had a writing workshop titled “The Self and Others: translating feelings into words”, which you couldn’t even believe was a real thing. There were a few familiar faces in the class, but you were drawn to Jessica Drew, the girl you met on your first day, and a younger kid who she took under her wings called Miles Morales. The three of you would always sit next to each other. It was kind of nice.

The workshop was led by professor Otto Octavious, whose passion for writing was infectious. So much so, that your peers affectionately called him “the last romantic” behind his back. 

“Today is a beautiful day to increase your word count”, the teacher joked, making the class erupt in laughter. “Usually we start the day with a discussion, but I’d like to do something a little different today.”

“Always keeping us in our toes, huh, professor?”, Miles teased.

“You know it, mr. Morales”, professor Octavious said, a smile on his face. “Most of you have been writing for a long time, so you probably have already learned about one of the biggest challenges a non fiction writer faces: most times, what happens in real life is so unbelievable, it doesn’t translate well to the page.”

The professor gets up from his chair and writes the name “Dani Shapiro” on the chalkboard. “That’s the name of one of the most prolific non fiction writers today. She has a quote about our craft that I always carry near my heart: ‘Writers are outsiders. Even when we seem like insiders, we’re outsiders. We have to be. Our noses pressed to the glass, we notice everything. We mull and interpret. We store away clues, details that may be useful to us later’.”

The room was quiet, except for professor Octavius’ voice. You could tell, even without looking to your classmates, that what he read had resonated with all of them. It was a perfect description of a sentiment you always had, but were never able to describe. You just thought there was something wrong with you. But there wasn’t. And you were not alone. 

“Let that sink in for a moment”, the teacher smiled. He knew exactly how the students felt the quote deeply. “Today I’d like for us to do something different. For the next hour, I want you to write about a detail you kept to yourself for a long time. The idea is to describe it and explore the reason you shelved it into your minds for so long. It can be about anything, as long as it is meaningful to you and that you allow yourselves to dive into your own vulnerabilities.” 

After the hour passed, you and your peers would share what you wrote with the rest and discuss it.

You opened a new document on your laptop, taking a deep breath. Obviously you had a whole storage of small details inside your head. But you felt uneasy, something you kept shoving to the side slowly creeping back to you. Or rather, someone. 

As if reading your mind, a notification appeared in the corner of your screen. A new email from no one other than Miguel O’Hara. 

Hey there, how are you? How is Scotland treating you? I hope you are drinking as many pints and visiting as many castles as you can. Congrats about the scholarship, by the way. It’s a big deal and you deserve it. I’m sorry about the whole dinner thing, I really fucked up and haven’t been a good friend to you. I’m sorry about that too. I don’t expect you to forgive me, but if you do, I promise I will do better. 

Anyways, enjoy your time there as much as possible — Hobie and Pav have been complaining that you haven’t sent them pictures so far, thought you should know. 

Miguel

PS: Do you remember my roommate from college I told you about? Peter B. He’s back in town and just the other day showed me an interview you did with Mary Jane Watson. It turned out really good. You always ask very thoughtful questions. 

And just like that, the Miguel area of your heart exploded again.

***

Dear reader,

Just the other day I was talking with my girlfriends about the romantic gestures in books, TV and movies that made us create insane expectations about love. The impromptu declarations, the running in the airport, the showing up unannounced — any decent human being knows you have to at least send the other person a text saying you are coming by. 

I have always been more drawn to the caring gestures and the acts of service. Maybe because that is my own love language. There is a scene in Say Anything… (1989) where Lloyd is walking Diane, the girl he has loved throughout high school, home after a party. They are talking and he is paying so much attention to what she has to say. All of the sudden, Lloyds stops her. There were pieces of glass in her way on the floor. He kicks them to the side and keeps walking, as if it was nothing, just the way things are supposed to be. It gets me everytime. 

I love to bring my friends coffee or even bake them food when they are having really intense weeks at work, helping them out with some errand or impossible shore. Sometimes I feel really silly about it. Especially when it comes to the guy . I know I shouldn’t, but when it comes to him, I feel insane. 

I feel insane because I always have his favorite ice cream in my freezer and the drinks he likes in the refrigerator. In my love drunk brain, these can be excuses to ask him to come up to my apartment, to have him stay more, even if it is just for a few minutes. This is not a tip, by the way. If anything, it is a warning: seeing the person you love enjoying their favorite dessert can make you lose your mind. Be aware.

Once I planned a Fast and Furious marathon. But only from the 5th movie on, when things get out of hand and the franchise becomes something else entirely. It was a way to spend a rainy sunday with snacks and drinking games. I spent saturday cleaning the apartment and buying everything the two of us would need. Imagine my face when some of our other friends showed up as well, because he had invited them. And I love all my friends, but only wanted to spend time with him.

There is also another fictional gesture that has been stuck in my head since I was a pre teen. Before the show, the Gossip Girl books were a huge deal, and I read almost all of them. Each chapter was told from a different character's perspective and Blair’s were my favorite. When she is mourning her relationship with Nate, who was in love with Serena, Blair remembers what they had gone through together. Once, wanting to impress him, she sewed a heart pin inside the sleeve of a sweater she gifted him for a special occasion. It was a way to show him that he literally had her heart under sleeve. It was such a simple and meaningful gesture. Except Nate never noticed. Not while they were together, at least. Isn’t that always the way?

Maybe we were supposed to focus some of that energy on ourselves. The hours of disappointment for the retribution that never happens won’t come back to us. 

I wish I had a more uplifting message today, but this is all I could manage. I hope you understand. 

Meet you here next week. And remember: never take advice from someone who’s falling apart.

Love, 

The writer

***

Miguel felt anxious about your lack of response to his email. He kept trying to reason it in his mind: you were probably really busy…or you were still mad at him. He was sure the fact it took him so long to write to you didn’t help. But the constant checking of his emails and all social media and waiting for a life sign from you was exhausting. Is that what addiction felt like?

Miguel tried to distract himself by taking more workloads and secretly reading your columns. It was fascinating getting to know that side of you, and he wondered why it was so new to him. You were more reserved, of course, but never failed to be there or show interest in his life. He couldn’t remember the last conversation you had that wasn’t about him and his work. It felt horrible knowing that maybe there was a lot you wanted to talk about and he never gave you space to or asked questions about you. Miguel asked himself when he had become that person, or if he had always been that way. And what he could do to make things better, because an apology didn’t seem like enough. 

He took a break from his spreadsheets to check his email inbox and social media. Nothing. So he went back to Bliss ’ archive and read another one of your older columns, the one where you wrote about romantic gestures. That last part had him so confused, he decided to ask for help. Miguel was that desperate.

“Lyla”, he called on his office phone.

“Yes, boss.”

“What is Gossip Girl?”

Lyla remained silent. Miguel was about to call the thing of, saying it was a joke, when she answered, her excited and teasing tone coming through:

“Why do you ask?”

“It’s classified.”

Lyla chuckled. She had noticed her boss had been acting weird lately, but couldn’t quite point her finger at why. 

“Is it for an Alchemax project?”, the assistant tried to keep her language professional. 

“It’s for…a personal one”, Miguel regretted everything, his eyes closed in embarrassment, even though Lyla was in another room.

“Okay…What exactly do you want to know about Gossip Girl?”

“Who are these people, Blair, Nate and Serena? What’s the story?”

She laughed. He should’ve known his assistant would have too much fun with it.

“Lyla…”, Miguel complained.

“Okay okay, sorry, boss, it’s just these are names I never thought I’d hear you say.”

“Just tell me the story.”

“It’s a big one, actually. The show has six seasons.”

“Does Blair end up with Nate?”

“Hell no”, Lyla scoffed. “She marries Chuck.”

“Who the hell is Chuck?”

“Nate’s best friend who, in his own twisted way, actually gave a shit about her.”

______________________________________________________________

<< chapter 2

>> chapter 4

all chapters

______________________________________________________________

dear reader playlist

#dear reader fanfic #miguel o'hara fic #matt murdock fic #miguel o'hara x reader #matt murdock x reader #miguel o'hara #matt murdock #unrequited love #second chance romance #Spotify

[starsarefire824]

What kind of prompts do you want? Bc the first thing I thought of off the top of my head was byler going grocery shopping together. Domestic stuff makes my heart cry.

It's not my go to sweet anon, but I think I can do that ;)

___________________________________________________________

"Wait," Mike says, grabbing the carton of milk out of Will's hand. Will blinks, his brows creasing in confusion.

"What?" he asks. "We need milk, don't we?"

Mike stares at the carton Will has chosen. It's labeled with red lettering with a stamp of a picturesque farm across the front.

Whole milk.

Mike shrugs. "I mean----yeah. But-----" he raises an eyebrow. "Whole milk?"

Will huffs and rolls his yes. "Yes. Whole milk? What milk did you want?"

Mike shifts on his feet and pulls at the waist of his pants. "Well, I mean----we always drank skim at our house."

Now, Will's mouth opens up a little. Offended. "Skim?!" he asks, scandalized. "Who actually drinks skim milk? You might as well drink water."

Mike shivers a little. It's cold next to the cooler in his ratty white tshirt. It's 1 am on a random, humid Tuesday night. They had classes all day and finals for the rest of the week before Summer break and it's the first time they've grocery shopped together now that Mike has been spending ninety percent of his time at Will's apartment he shares with Max and Lucas.

Mike quite likes the grocery store at night. It's how he always has grocery shopped, even before him and Will had figured their shit out. They've escaped the oppressive heat of the city for an hour and it's delightfully quiet. There's just a handful of customers and one lonely clerk with her head in a book at the check out line. Will's wearing a plain tshirt and his old Levi's his mom bought him from the thrift store senior year. He's cut them into shorts and there's a hole at the bottom of the back pocket where he keeps his wallet. They are a little too tight and a little too short, and Mike thinks he probably needs to give up this pipe dream that he can fit in his clothes that he's brought from Hawkins much longer. See, he's broader now. Grown. A little in height, but mostly in shoulders and thighs and....well, that isn't really the point Mike's trying to make right now.

The point is, his childhood best friend/ very new boyfriend/ basically roommate is trying to convince him to buy the wrong milk. The point is that Will has already tried to convince him that Oreos are better than Chips Ahoy, that turkey is better than ham, that coffee is better than tea, and that mint chocolate chip is better than vanilla.

And now, they are a half hour into grocery shopping and Mike is actually reconsidering their entire friendship.

Who is this person? And why did Mike never know any of these things about his best friend? Was he really not paying that much attention?

He frowns as paintings and veiled "I love yous" and fights in the rain flutter across his mind.

Okay. So maybe he hadn't been the most observant person in the world.

But this is insane.

"Skim milk is better," Mike tells him insistently.

Will's normally pretty top lip turns up in barely veiled disgust.

"Miiike---- you can’t really believe that?" He steals the carton out of his hand and rolls his eyes. "It’s so-----bland."

"It's healthier!" he protests loudly, making a face.

An old woman inspecting eggs across the way looks up at them curiously.

Will scoffs, his hazel eyes briefly darting towards the old woman as he notices her. He leans in a little closer. He whispers, "Skim milk is not healthier Mike!"

"Yes. It. Is----" Mike counters, leaning in so close he notices how Will's hair curls at it's end from the damp and smells his rain-soaked scented soap. "My mom----"

"You're Mom has no idea what she's talking about!" Will exclaims. "She literally told me over Spring break that I should try a cottage cheese diet."

Mike opens and closes his mouth as his brain catches up with Will's words. He stutters.

"Wait, what?" he asks befuddled. "Cottage cheese? Why on Earth would you ever go on a diet?"

"I have no idea Mike! I'm just saying I don't think your mom is like----the best person to be basing our grocery choices off of."

Mike crosses his arms over his body stubbornly, his turn to roll his eyes. "Yeah well," he parries. "You're mom makes mashed potatoes out of a box."

Will's eyes widen and he immediately shoves Mike's chest in offense. "Hey! I like those 99 cent mashed potatoes! Not all of us are made of money Mike."

Mike glowers. "But they're so......" He scrunches his nose. They're soo--- runny."

Will frowns at him, pursing his lips as his eyes widen in shock.

Mike's heart drops into his stomach. Oh shit. He's really done it now. He flinches when Will motions to put the whole milk back in the cooler. He studies Will's face as he glances at him out of the corner of his eye, bracing himself for a lip quiver or an angry huff. Will was always sensitive when it came to his mom. Well, Will was sensitive in general. And he's been through a lot.

Mike reaches out to offer him a comforting nudge. I didn't mean anything by it, he thinks.

But Will continues his efforts putting the whole milk back. He sets it neatly on the shelf where they found it and then grabs another milk, clad in blue writing and picturesque farm stamp complete with a weather vein and a stately rooster.

2 %.

Mike sucks in a surprised breath when Will glances at him through his eyelashes, his hazel gaze bright and amused in the harsh white light of the grocery store. "Here," he says, smiling playfully as he shoves the milk at Mike's chest to put in their basket he has slung over one arm.

"How about a compromise?" he asks teasingly, his eyes more alive than Mike's seen them in a very long time.

Mike smiles, nodding at him as he swallows nervously. Fuck, he's totally gone for this boy isn't he? It truly is amazing how it had taken him that long to figure it out.

"So---" Will announces lightly, bouncing a little as he steps toward the bread aisle. "What if we made turkey melts for dinner tonight with Lucas and Max while we watch Say Anything."

Mike stops mid-step. "Uhmm, it'll be ham--- and really Will? Another John Cusack movie???"

Will blushes slightly at that and it takes all of Mike's energy to keep from grabbing his face and really giving him something to blush about.

"What?! I like John Cusack!" he shrieks, his shoulders going to his ears in embarrassment.

Mike grins at him. "I know you do."

That makes Will blush an even deeper crimson and Mike's stomach flutters happily. He peeks around before hooking his finger through Will's belt loop and tugging gently then peers down at him softly. "I don't really care. I'll watch John Cusack with you whenever you want. Why don't we go get the cheese and then get out of here. We need cheddar."

Will's watching Mike's mouth, his tongue softly gliding over his bottom lip in anticipation. It makes the heat in Mike's belly bloom and damn it all, if they couldn't just be home already. But then....just as Mike leans in to sneak just a taste of his lips against a wall of bread, Will pulls away from him, his eyebrows creasing together harshly. He looks up at Mike with a look of complete exasperation and disbelief.

"Cheddar???"

#byler #byler fanfic #justmyname #stranger things #will byers #mike wheeler #byler ask #writing prompt

[mysteryshoptls]

SSR Ace Trappola Broomquet Birthday Personal Story: Part 3

"Happy Birthday"

(Part 1) (Part 2) Part 3

[Heartslabyul Dorm – Birthday Party Venue]

Epel: Okay, here's the last question.

Epel: "How do you spend your days off?"

Epel: I'm also pretty curious. What do you do on the weekends, Ace-kun?

Ace: I'm not doing nothing fancy or whatever.

Ace: When I stay in the dorm, I'm usually playing a game, or reading comics that I borrowed off a guy in my class.

Ace: But it's pretty boring to just stay in my room, so sometimes I head down to the town at the foothills.

Ace: Like the other day, I left early so I could get there around noon, and I was able to kill time until evening, basically.

Epel: So, what did you do there?

Ace: I mean, I just kinda wandered around. I guess you could say I was shopping?

Ace: Oh yeah, I remember, something super lucky happened then!

Ace: I got my hands on this limited-edition hoodie from my absolute favorite brand, even though it had originally sold out immediately on their online shop.

Ace: 'Cause we're in a remote location, I guess not many people would come here to buy it. So basically, I got super lucky.

Ace: Sage's Island's got a ton of stores that're more geared towards us students, so it's super fun to just wander around.

Ace: But, compared to an actual city, there's not much merch coming in all the time, so sometimes it feels like it's pretty lacking, though.

Epel: Eh, you think that's lacking!? And here I was all impressed by all the different stores we got here!

Ace: You're seriously impressed by that little town…? Dude, just what kind of place were you living before coming here?

Epel: Even if you ask me that… No, we're interviewing you right now, not me. So, what other stuff did you do other than shopping?

Ace: Hmm… I guess other than that, I just grabbed a hamburger for lunch.

Ace: There's a chain restaurant here on the island that also has a place back home I used to go all the time. When I saw their sign, I just had a sudden craving.

Ace: Oh but, even though it was the same dish, the sauce had just the slightest difference in flavors. I wonder if that's something that depends on the region we're in?

Ace: Now I definitely want to try out some of the other dishes there. Oh yeah, why don't you come with me next time?

Epel: Yeah, I'd love to! I don't think I'd be able to tell the difference in the sauce flavors, though…

Ace: You wouldn't be able to tell the difference? Oh, are you not that interested in exploring flavors of food, Epel?

Epel: Ahaha, that's not what I mean. Back in the village I'm from, we didn't have a restaurant where we could eat hamburgers.

Epel: I've only eaten them a few times when we actually traveled out of the village by car, so I don't really remember how the sauces tasted.

Ace: What? Seriously? I can't believe you guys don't have that chain restaurant that's basically everywhere…

Ace: Wow, that's shocking… But that makes sense now. That's why you're impressed by that small town.

Ace: But hey, that in itself is another reason why it'd be worthwhile to take you. I'll recommend to you all my favorite dishes.

Epel: Great job, Ace-kun. The interview's over now.

Ace: So now, I gotta fly on the Birthday Road with my broomstick, right?

Epel: Yep. Here you go, this is the broom that was prepared for you.

Ace: Woooah!? Wow, the brush end looks like a bouquet!

Epel: There's so many red flowers, it's super gorgeous. I bet when you go and fly with this, you'll really stand out.

Epel: You better do your best to not do anything that looks uncool, Ace-kun, heh.

Ace: I ain't gonna let anyone see me screw up! I'm usually pretty good at stuff when it's crunch time.

Ace: Hup, alright… Okay then, time to make my grand entrance!

(Part 1) (Part 2) Part 3

#twisted wonderland #twst #ace trappola #epel felmier #twst ace #twst epel #twst translation #twst birthday

[channel4sims-cc]

TS4: KOKORO ISLAND - Tartosa Objects Override

Sul sul ^^

Japan has some really beautiful scenary: the cyberpunk/futuristic big cities like Tokyo, the countryside with farms and mountains, the traditional places like Kyoto and the coastal area with beaches and a more tropical vibe, like Okinawa :)

I absolutely love all these kinds of aesthetics, and I believe you do too :)

I really wanted to have a Japanese coastal world, that's why I created this mod.

Tartosa is probably the most, or one of the most, beautiful worlds we have on TS4 at the moment. I didn't want to modify it at all, but it was the only place that could match the project's concept.

Anyway, I'll explain the changes and the download instructions down below :)

You can check how it looks on THIS VIDEO :)

If by any chance you want to download the Sims that appear on the video, they will be on my gallery. ID: channel4sims ^^

ABOUT THIS MOD:

- It's not a World replacement, but an objects override. I replaced a few items of Tartosa to give a "Japanese vibe".

- How I made this: I chose an object that was used just once and edited it.

For example, this wall sign appeared just once. So I edited the mesh and added 3 more objects on it (picture). I made 1 object become 4 objects (picture). It was really difficult to know where to position everything and where they would be in the world. I made infinite tests 😅 But it ended up working ^^

- The things I could edit were a little limited and the neighborhood would become too laggy/heavy to load.

CHANGES/REALLY IMPORTANT:

- As said above, some objects of the world were replaced. Unlucky they mostly decorative only (for example: the vending machine near the robot).

- The food stall employees' uniforms were also edited.

- The food stall at the square is still a flower shop. Only the visual was changed to match the japanese world concept.

- The pastry shop was conterved into a ramen store, but it also works normally (with the cakes).

But to the "order food" option I added a lot of japanese food and drinks you can buy :)

- Tartosa still works normally, with all the wedding options. I just added some japanese elements and visuals.

- I did not change Tartosa's icons/images in the World's menu. But I did change the name to Kokoro Island. In portuguese it will appear as "Ilha Kokoro" and in Spanish "Isla Kokoro". The name won't be changed for past gameplays, but once you start a new game/save the new name will show up :)

- Once you remove this MOD from your game's folder, Tartosa will go back to normal :) Important: the gameplays you start with this mod installed will keep the name "Kokoro Island", even if you delete the mod.

- The lots and families of Tartosa were also not edited. I recommend you to change all lots to japanese houses/community ones, so they will add up to the city's visuals :)

IDEAS:

- Would anyone be interested in a more pastel/wooden recolor of the buildings? I kept most of them in their original colors.

- You can tell me if something is not working properly :)

DOWNLOAD:

- There will be three zip files below to be downloaded:

* "channel4sims - kokoro island - tartosa objects override": with the override objects.

* "channel4sims - kokoro island - tartosa flower stall override": with the replacement of the flower stall -> japanese stall. Maybe you want to keep the original flower stall as it is, that's why I decided to post it separately.

* "channel4sims - kokoro island - tartosa name override": with the file that replaces "Tartosa" name to "Kokoro Island".

- Download all files, or just the ones you want :)

- Important: Don't put the files inside more than two folders, or they won't work.

Example: *Mods/Tartosa replacements: (two folders) CORRECT.

*Mods/Replacements/Tartosa: (three folders) INCORRECT/won't work.

I hope you'll enjoy this a lot!

Happy Simming ^^

*-* DOWNLOAD (early access/free on December 1st, 2022) *-*

#s4cc #ts4cc #sims4cc #sims 4 cc #cc #custom content #mod #download #s4mm #maxis match #maxismatch #world replacement #ts4japan #mods #overrides #channel4sims

[sagemonsters]

@atlasthefallen has a blind date with...

Imara the Gnoll

Imara is a happy gnoll (a bipedal and intelligent spotted hyena) who loves the African metal scene. She dresses from head to toe in black leather and lace adorned with silver spikes and chains. She wears a lot of silver jewelry and has dyed some of her fur black as well.

Imara is dedicated to metal, and is always excited to go to concerts and music festivals. She can talk about her favorite bands for hours on end, and loves discovering new music. She’s always down to talk about music with you, and is starting to build a vinyl collection while hunting down the perfect turntable.

Imara is an incredibly cheerful person, and isn’t nearly as angry as her music taste would lead anyone to believe. She always has a hug and a few words of encouragement at the ready. She tends to look on the bright side of things and expects the best out of people, which some folks mistake for childishness—to their downfall!

She’s a carnivore first and foremost, and her powerful jaws can crunch through bone when need be. She won’t hesitate to defend you from any threat, and doesn’t allow bigotry of any kind to pass unchallenged. 

Thanks to her thorough immersion in the metal scene, Imara is a bit of an outlier in her pack, but her large extended family supports her interests and is always ready to back her up if things go south. Once you’re introduced, the family is eager to welcome you into the fold for however long you’re a friend or partner of Imara’s, and is always happy to dispense advice or aid if you need such things.

Imara is very feminine and loves makeup and jewelry. Her tastes tend toward the macabre, although she identifies more as a metalhead than a goth. Her wardrobe is 99% black, and she watches a lot of makeup tutorial videos on YouTube. She’s always happy to loan you articles of clothing and help you with buying and/or putting on makeup.

“Okay, so you don’t have Desecrated Deeds to Decease,” the gnoll said, leaning her leather-clad elbow on the glass countertop. “What about Intellectual Metamorphosis by Wrust?”

“Rust like iron?” the salesclerk asked.

The gnoll huffed and reached over to grab a pad of sticky notes from next to the ancient-looking computer monitor in front of the cashier. She scribbled something on it and showed it to him.

“Oh, I see,” the cashier said as he looked. “That’s a Botswana-based group, right? I don’t think we carry anything from Africa.”

“And you call this place a record shop,” the gnoll grumbled. Her black, pierced lips peeled away from her fangs in a grimace of frustration. “Can you order the vinyl from your supplier so that I can pick it up?”

“Uh, let me talk to my manager…” the cashier said, and fled through a door in the back of the shop. The gnoll looked over her shoulder at you, her kohl-lined eyes softening and her grimace turning more embarrassed than frustrated. “I’m sorry this is taking so long,” she said. “I know you’ve got your own stuff to buy; I wasn’t expecting this much hassle.”

You smiled back at her. “No worries. I’ve been here a lot; their catalog system is from the Triassic and takes forever to look anything up. I’ve been in your position plenty of times, and with longer lines behind me! It’s cool.”

The gnoll let out a burst of cackling laughter. “It’s a relief to hear that,” she admitted. “I hate making people wait when they’re in a hurry. Who’re you?”

You told her your name, and the gnoll nodded as she looked at the stack of records in your arms. “Nice picks there,” she said appreciatively, and grinned. “Say, is African music really that exotic to people around here? I want to get my vinyl from local indie record stores, but so far nobody in this city has carried the stuff I want.”

You shrugged. “I suppose it depends on what you’re looking for? Tell me what in particular you like, and I’ll see if I can help you find it.”

The gnoll’s eyes lit up. “Really? That’s real sweet of you. I’m a big metal fan, if you couldn’t tell, and my name’s Imara. I try to find music that’s kinda, you know, off the beaten track. I think you’ve got pretty good taste, so let’s swap phone numbers, yeah?” 

“Awesome!” you said, and shifted the stack of records into the crook of your arm so that you could pull out your phone.

see here if you'd like your own blind date with a monster!

#monster romance #monster lover #terato #x reader #gender neutral reader #monster x human #monster girlfriend #sage's monster matches #reader insert #gnoll

[rebeccasteventaylor]

Bless me, for I am going into my indepth, rambling analytic rewatch of Episode 6..:

Rather nice to see Gabriel being Aziraphale’s assistant as he very competently sets up a trap, explains things to Nina and Maggie and faces down Shax. It’s rather sexy.

Shop is full of electric candles and fire extinguishers. I don’t know if this is down to Crowley or Aziraphale but between them they’re doing everything to make sure this bookshop never burns again.

Considering how traumatic Crowley’s last visit to heaven was, he’s enjoying this rather too much!

You go Maggie! Argue with the demon! That you don’t seem that surprised about for some reason…

Maggie had brothers? Not has? Had? Past tense?

Aziraphale is very good at this coolly heroic thing. It’s very sexy. I wish Crowley could see this.

Did Aziraphale, by opening that portal, make it possible for the Metatron to come to Earth?

Muriel is so lonely. No wonder she’s imprinted on Aziraphale and Crowley.

So Crowley, when an Angel, was high enough to get access to confidential records. What else did he learn? When Aziraphale told him about the 6000 year thing, did he go and look?

There’s so much pain on Aziraphale’s face when he talks about the book shop fire. But he wasn’t there when it happened, so all that pain comes from his memory of Crowley’s pain when telling him. Imagine a late night conversation when it’s all over. And Aziraphale asks exactly what happened to the bookshop. And Crowley tells him everything - including running into a burning bookshop to find Aziraphale. And the next morning the shop is full of electric candles and fire extinguishers (sorry, quick digression into fanfic thoughts there)

Aziraphale doesn’t really seem bothered about being described as Crowley’s emotional support Angel. But the irony of Gabriel/Jim being puzzled by Shax shaming Aziraphale over eating and sushi when the last person to do that was Gabriel.

Well now it makes sense that Gabriel is quite happy to be cast down to hell.

Aw, Crowley giving Muriel a little companionable shoulder punch!

Isn’t that halo thing from the film script?

What damage did Aziraphale do to himself when he removed the halo?

Crowley just assumes that Muriel is coming back with him. He has to invite Saraqael specifically.

Ok, in Gabriel’s box is stored two lost Shakespeare plays (Goldiggers 1589 and Robin Hoode) mentioned in the novel Good Omens. Also some kind of loan agreement in 1913 with the postmaster of New Cumnock, or rather his late estate. New Cumnock is a town in Scotland and there really was a postmaster called John Gibson. I’ve no idea why Aziraphale has a loan agreement with his estate though.

The fly going into Gabriel’s eye is disgusting.

So it seems the whole Ineffable Bureaucracy thing does start in canon as it started in fanon - the little conversation about how difficult Aziraphale and Crowley just made their jobs at the airfield.

The more Gabriel talks to Beelzebub, the less of a dickhead he is. And he didn’t know what music was until Beelzebub told him.

The songs on the jukebox are Mull of Kintyre, Dignity from Deacon Blue, Daddy’s Gone by Glasvegas, Letter from America by the Proclaimers, Shang a Lang by Bay City Rollers, News from Heaven by Runrig and Obladi Oblada. The film in the background is Spirit of St Louis. The song chosen (before it changes) is Letter from America - where Warlock is now, i presume.

Right, if you be been following my ‘S3 is based on Powell/Pressburger film A Matter of Life and Death’ theory, there’s more proof here - in The Resurrections pub in their last meeting, there are ‘Pressburger’ advertisements on the wall all around.

Oh god, Gabriel’s face when he sees Beelzebub - such love. (I can’t believe we got canon Ineffable Bureaucracy!)

Gabriel and Beelzebub finding something that mattered more than choosing sides, in Aziraphale’s bookshop, in front of Aziraphale! And he grasps Crowley’s shoulder and yet in ten minutes he’s talking about sides again and WHAT THE HELL DID THE METATRON DO TO HIM.

Oh, Crowley grinning at his Angel taking charge.

Muriel has been absorbed in a book all this time. She hasn’t noticed a things

Oh, the way Aziraphale looks at Crowley when he mentions Alpha Centauri. There’s guilt there.

Aziraphale watching Beelzebub and Gabriel in love and clearly thinking that angels and demons can be in love, and then looking lovingly at Crowley and if Crowley had kissed him then he would have melted into his arms.

Aziraphale resits the Metratron at first. I’m not sure if there’s anything in the coffee but buying it for him is an act of kindness. It’s classic coercive control - when they expect cruelty, lead with kindness. I bet Nina’s Lindsay was just like that at first.

And the Metatron glares at Crowley as the one person who could possibly break his control of Aziraphale.

Oh, Crowley planning is time and breakfast at the Ritz.

Crowley given Muriel Crow Road and tidying up the bookshop and the romantic music is playing and he’s expecting a happy ending to all this!

Oh. Nina calls Maggie Angel! And it’s Nina and Maggie pointing out that Aziraphale and Crowley don’t ever talk about they really think.

Aziraphale acts excited but deep in his heart of hearts he knows Crowley won’t like this.

The Metatron is recruiting Aziraphale because he knows if he left Aziraphale on Earth with Crowley they’d fight whatever plans he has. And he tempts Aziraphale with the one thing that would work - redemption for Crowley. He’d never have to see Crowley dragged down to hell for punishment. He’d never have to see the angels erase Crowley from the book of life. The Metatron is offering the one thing Aziraphale wants - Crowley’s safety. Even if it costs Aziraphale everything.

And Aziraphale still cannot get rid of the idea that Heaven is the good guys. He didn’t see Gabriel’s trial. He didn’t see his own trial. He hasn’t seen all the things Crowley has, and what he did see, they’ve convinced him is his own fault, not theres. Think about those people who keep going back to an abusive home, because they think home is where they should be and if it’s wrong, it’s their fault, not home’s.

I can’t bear Crowley’s crying! It breaks my heart.

‘Nothing lasts forever’ I bet thats what the Metatron said to Aziraphale. This all feels like the abusive family dragging him back with the ‘it’ll be different this time’ and ‘we’ll listen to you this time’ and ‘you don’t want to break up the family do you?’ line. Poor, abused Aziraphale. He was so close to getting away.

‘No nightingales’ No happy ending. No ‘us’.

Aziraphale does sink into the kiss for a moment. There’s a moment where he grasps Crowley. Crowley almost breaks the Metatron’s programming.

But that ‘I forgive you’ is nasty. He spits it out as if Crowley is vile. I don’t think Aziraphale means it; but he’s so torn between the life he thought he wanted and the life with Crowley and he’s taking it out on the only person he’s allowed to be angry with - Crowley.

You know the fact that there is a kiss, that Crowley wanted to kiss and Aziraphale responded for a moment, makes me think we’ll get a more loving, gentler kiss inS3

Aziraphale touching the lips still tingling with Crowley’s kiss, taking in the last touch from him, and then deciding that’s it,he’s made his choice and if Crowley has rejected him, he’ll go back to heaven where they want him and be a good Angel. (I still can’t believe we got a kiss)

‘Anything you need to take with you’ and he looks out of the window to Crowley.

The Bentley plays ‘A Nightingale Sang’ because the Bentley ships and wants to remind Crowley he loves Aziraphale. There can be nightingales again.

The closer Aziraphale gets to heaven the less human he is, the more like the other angels he is.

Fuck me me that’s heartbreaking

#good omens #good omens 2 #good omens 2 spoilers

[karlenandgail]

3

Another gentleman arrives, but what he has to say will change everything...

“Come, Prince Karlen.  I do believe we might have something to discuss.”  Jean Pierre gestured to the front door of the store.  

It had been the response that Karlen had hoped for, but he had not really expected it.  He had expected Jean Pierre to tell him that, once more, he was too late to the city and that the female he searched was unknown.  A bloom of hope started to bloom within Karlen’s bosom, bringing his heart to life for the first time in those long centuries since he had first found his Sophia.  He knew that she was in danger, so if he could help this man and his friends to save her, then he would call forth the entire Uffernian army if he had to.

As they stepped into the shop, Karlen was met with the scent of dust and age.  It was clear that the fine items around them had age and not all of them were from the realm that they were currently in. It brought to his mind questions of exactly who and what Jean Pierre was, and who the other members of “The Triad” were. He was not afraid, but as they moved further through the dimly lit store, there were more questions that occurred to him.  They could wait till after he found out what was known about Sophia.

Jean Pierre, for his part, could have mysted straight to Imperium with Karlen.  Before he took him anywhere near Anna or anyone else, let alone into the realm ruled by the Horseman of Death, he wanted to make sure that the male in front of him was exactly as he had presented himself to be.  Jean Pierre had already ascertained that Karlen was a demon, but he had been alive long enough to know that did not necessarily mean that he was deceptive.  It only meant that they were most oft self serving before anything else.

“Please, sit,” Jean Pierre gestured to an elegantly carved table with four chairs surrounding it. “I will start more coffee and summon my husband and fellow Triad member, Armaund.  I believe it is best for us both to speak with you.”  Setting his cup on the table, he made his way over towards where the coffee pot was on an elegant mahogany sideboard.  He was still absorbing that not only was Karlen a real being, but he was now sitting in his shop only days after his “Sophia” had left the Earthly Realm. Complicating matters, or maybe not, he was a Prince.  No one could say New Orleans was a dull city.

“So, you know Sophia?  You know where she is?”  Karlen was trying to contain himself as Jean Pierre poured the coffee and brought over a delicate but ample bone china cup, along with a cream and sugar set that matched, on a fine silver tray.  “I’m sorry to sound demanding, it is just I have been searching for so long.”  The Prince apologized, his cheeks pinkening realizing his manners were abysmal in that moment as he then busied himself doctoring the strong brew that smelled of dark roast and roasted chicory root.

“Answers, you shall have, dear Prince.  First, I shall summon my husband.” There was a kind smile on Jean Pierre’s face before he turned from where Karlen was trying to hide his mortification at total abandonment of his normal manners, and headed to his office at the back of the store where he could ask Armaund to myst.  He was sure that he too would find this situation most intriguing.  Abriella and Anna would need to be advised most expediently once the true nature of their visitor was ascertained.

By the time that Karlen had regained his composure, Jean Pierre was returning to the front of the shop with his husband.  The Prince couldn’t help but notice that the two gentlemen certainly complemented one another well, and it was clear that they had been a couple for more than a few centuries.  There was an ease of movement and anticipation of one another’s gestures that only comes from more than one lifetime together.  After his earlier bouts of over eagerness, Karlen waited this time for his host to speak.

“Prince Karlen, this is my husband, Armaund.” Jean Pierre introduced the two men.  Karlen immediately came to his feet, bowing slightly to Armaund before extending his hand. “Tis a pleasure, Your Majesty.” Armaund was a bit flustered that the Prince had beaten him to the bow, but it seemed the prince was a tad nervous, as his husband had indicated over the phone.  As he took Karlen’s hand and shook it heartily, he could tell that the Prince was a tempest of emotions, but hope and excitement were foremost amongst them.  It was clear that there were no nefarious motivations.

 “Likewise, Armaund.  Jean Pierre tells me that the two of you may know something of my Sophia.  I have been on a three century hunt to find her.  It seems someone or something is keeping her hidden.  I fear greatly for her safety.”  There was a pleading in his eyes as they alternated between the two immortal males before him, a desperation in his voice, an almost tremor in his entire being. 

“Please sit,” Armaund unknowingly echoed the gentle command of his husband from earlier.  A hesitant glance was thrown at Jean Pierre as Karlen did so.  Surely this must be a trick or some kind of illusion.  Could a Prince of another realm be the one that they had heard so much regarding?  “Now, do tell me about your Sophia.  I may know of someone who does fit this description, however I am reticent to divulge information lightly.”  Armaund sat facing Karlen, taking the coffee offered him as well, if for no other reason than needing something to keep his hands busy at the moment.

“Of course, I understand.  You do not know me, and I am not of your world.” Karlen inclined his head towards the other male, obviously nervous, but also maintaining his regal bearing.  Jean Pierre leaned up against the sideboard, observing everything keenly. “I am the Royal Prince of the Realm of Uffern, second in line to the throne of my brother King Kellen Cythraul.  In addition to being a shadow demon, I am a walker of dreams.  Normally I control whose dreams I walk in, but three centuries ago I walked into the dreams of one of your world, not of my choosing.  It happened more and more often, and a relationship began. I have discovered that she is able to slip time, but I do not believe that she was doing so of her free will.” 

Armaund’s eyes cut to Jean Pierre and back so fast that a human would not have perceived it, however Karlen was no human and he did.  It was enough to keep him talking, listing out the many adventures they had embarked on over the years in their dreams.  Of the true love and bond that had formed between them, of her loss of memory every time that she was taken to a new place, and finally he got to the description of her.  As he described not only her physical appearance but her personality, he once more caught something humans would have missed: minute changes in the expression of Armaund.  The Grigori male before him knew this woman, his Sophia.  For Karlen, for the first time in three centuries of searching, hoping, and praying to the deities of Uffern, he had hope that he would get to see the woman who had long ago captured his heart, this time outside of a dream.

When he had finished speaking, Karlen sat back in the chair he was in but did not take his eyes off of Armaund.  He could feel Jean Pierre’s eyes on him.  Their weight was almost palpable, but it did not make him uncomfortable.  Somehow in this city, on this planet, in this realm, he had found two people who knew his Sophia.  There was nothing that they could do to cause him to shrivel now.

“There is only one problem, she is no longer here.  And not just here as in New Orleans, she is no longer of this Earth.” Armaund stated in a flat affect. Karlen felt his entire world implode.

#the imperium chronicles #writeblr #my writing #my ocs #new chapter #new writing #fiction #fantasy #dark fantasy #chapter 3 #novel writing #web of lives #original content #original character #original fantasy #original fiction #original story #original writing #original post #karlen #jean pierre #armaund #new orleans #antique shop #first meetings #sophia #redhead #demon #grigori #prince

[sakura-rpblog]

@despairforme​ answered:

Okay, this was really fucking weird. Nnoitra usually had a GOOD sense of direction. It was one of the only things he was good at. Not only that, but he knew the layout of this city well. He had lived here for many years, so you figured he’d know his way around by now. And yet - he was lost. He and Sakura were both lost. Nnoitra rubbed the back of his head, uncharacteristically showing signs of doubt. He had never gotten lost before, so this... Was a first.

     ❝ I’m PRETTY SURE ‘da market should be here somewhere. ❞ Despite him and Sakura not getting along too well ( they had definitely had their heated discussions ) - they were still hanging out. Nnoitra had mentioned to her that he loved to eat insects. He would get them from pet-stores, mostly, but there was a food market on the edge of the city, and a stall there SOMETIMES sold crickets. Nnoitra was bringing Sakura with him because she was sort-of a doctor. Nnoitra had heard that insects were healthy foods, and he was going to show Sakura that they weren’t just healthy - they were tasty! So that she could start recommending insects as part of the diet for the fighters at the club. Was this all a way to MAYBE actually get the club to BUY insects FOR HIM? Yeah, absolutely. It was a far-fetched idea, but Nnoitra wasn’t going to give up on the chance to get a snack. And, in any case, going to this market would give him the chance to just buy some. He wouldn’t have minded going by himself, but... Mah, company was better. Kept him from getting too gloomy. ❝ Weird. ❞ He was still rubbing the back of his head. ❝ I ain’t never gotten lost before. ❞

“ Are you sure you know your way around here? “ it is hard to hide the smugness on her face, sensing Nnoitra’s confusion after turning left and right far too many times but still, unable to spot the shop he has been telling her nonstop over the past weeks. 

She’s tired / feet starting to ache;  taking extra shifts at the fight club is hard. But she will not miss the chance to give him a taste of his own medicine in the form of a shit-eating smirk, her payback for his never-ending reasoning on why men are superior in everything, including their impeccable sense of direction. Or, why men do not need to ask for directions ( or need maps ) unlike women.

“ There is always a first time to everything, “ her face now appears nonchalant, eyes drawn to a handmade teacup adorned with petals but Sakura is still internally celebrating! It is petty to feel good about the situation. Getting lost and wasting time going round in circles is no joke! But maybe, she can savour this feeling for a few more seconds, seeing how he can be so wrong over something he believes in.

But on the other hand, she wants him to find this shop -- she loves adding powdered crickets to her protein smoothie!

“ Are you sure they are allowed to sell that kind of stuff here? I mean, this market is pretty posh, isn’t it? “

#sjafhajkfha #i just can imagine him #based on our other thread #enumerating ALL reasons why men do not ask for directions XD #and saku just rolls her eyes lmao #thanks for answering! <3 #despairforme #v modern

[appetite4savage]

Separate Ways (Joe Elliott)

-

request from my bestie @thiswatch-lepparddef-werehi 🫶🏻 friends to lovers with slang era joe!

-

Joe’s POV - August, 1977 - Sheffield

“I got accepted into an American university. My flight leaves in the morning.” Y/N explained.

Y/N has been my best friend since we were kids. Our mothers were best friends and then the tradition just carried on with us. Now, she’s leaving me.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I can feel the tears start to well up in my eyes.

“Because…. because it hurt too bad.” She looks at the floor. “I don’t know how I’m going to handle being in a different country than you.”

“You can’t go.”

“I have to.”

-

Joe’s POV - August 1996 - San Diego, CA

The Slang tour has been one of my favorite yet. We’ve been playing at venues that we probably wouldn’t have in the past, like frat houses and universities. Tonight we’re playing at San Diego State University.

Something feels familiar about this area but I can’t quite put my finger on it. Just deja vu from traveling around the world, I guess.

Just to kill time I decide to walk around the city. I stumble upon a music shop in the heart of it. The bell hanging above the door rings as I walk inside. A female voice calls from the back that she’ll be out in a minute. The voice also sounds familiar but I just shake it off.

Just as I’m browsing through the microphone stands, the woman comes out from the back. We make eye contact and she stops dead in her tracks.

“Joe?”

It clicks in my brain who is speaking to me right now. Y/N. I tried so hard to forget about her that I think it actually worked.

“Y/N… hello.” I scratch the back of my head nervously.

“What are you doing here?”

“The band has a gig at the university tonight.”

“Oh… my alma mater. I had no idea. I must have missed that announcement.” She says.

“It’s been a while, Y/N. 19-“

“19 years. I know.” She smiles. Oh that smile. That I could never forget.

“Why don’t you drop by the show tonight?” I blurt out.

“Uh, I don’t know… I have to do some work here in the shop…”

“Come on, stop by! I can leave some tickets for you in will call.”

“Alright. Sure.” She nods.

-

“Y/N? Really?” Sav asks, pouring himself a drink.

“She was just right there in a random music store I stumbled upon.”

“Sounds like fate, if you ask me.” Sav smirks.

I glare at him.

“Don’t look at me like that. We all know you were infatuated with her.” He raised an eyebrow.

“That was a million years ago. She left, remember.”

“I seem to remember her mailing you letters and giving you her number from university and you never responding.” He sips his drink.

“It would have never worked. We were going our separate ways. She lives here in San Diego now. On a different continent.” I roll my eyes at Sav’s meddling in my personal life. I need to stop telling him everything.

“Whatever you say.”

-

Y/N’s POV

I can’t believe that after 19 years, Joe Elliott of all people walks into MY music shop.

He never explained to me why he suddenly just forgot I existed after I left for university. Sure, I should have told him sooner, but he was my best friend. I thought he would have understood. I wrote him and made sure he had my updated numbers but he never called or wrote back.

Now I have to just attend his concert like nothing happened?

I take a deep breath as I walk through the doors after picking up the ticket and backstage pass he left for me. I make my way to the backstage area, trying to find where I’m supposed to go. Suddenly I bump into another body.

“Sorry about tha- Y/N!” I’m suddenly engulfed in a hug. I’m met with sparkly blue eyes upon pulling away.

“Sav. I missed your bear hugs.” I laugh.

“You know, just because Joe acts like a toddler doesn’t mean you had to cut the rest of us off.” He shrugs his shoulders.

“I’m sorry. Life kind of got crazy over here.”

He puts a hand on my arm. “It’s okay. Joe’s in his dressing room.” He points at a door. “It’s good to see you, Y/N.” He says, walking away.

I sigh again and knock on the door. A deep voice tells me to come in.

His eyes widen upon my entry, as if he didn’t expect me to actually show up.

“Y/N… you came! Good. Have a seat.” He pats the couch beside him.

I sit down beside him.

“Are you okay?” He asks.

“I’m fine… I, uh. Just was thinking.”

“About what?”

I guess it’s now or never. “Why didn’t you ever call?”

He looks away from me, putting his head in his hands.

“Because I was an 18-year-old idiot. I thought we wouldn’t be able to keep up with each other on separate continents. I’m sorry.”

“Joe, I would have done anything for you.”

“I know. I wish I could go back and have a do-over. I- I loved you.”

It takes a moment for his words to sink in.

“You what?”

“I loved you, Y/N. I still love you. I always have. I was just too scared to ruin what we had but apparently I did that anyway.” He starts to tear up.

“I feel the same way. I never stopped thinking about you. You made it hard to do that when you got famous, you asshole.” I laugh.

“You do?” He wipes his eyes, and I nod.

Suddenly he comes forward towards me, kissing me. After all these years, it feels right.

“I’ve wanted to do that our whole life.” He chuckles. He’s holding my hand as a knock sounds and Sav enters the room.

He looks down at our interlocked hands and smiles. “It took you long enough.”

#def leppard #joe elliott #def leppard fan fiction #appetite4savage writes

[iphigeniacomplex]

How does one get into the local punk scene?

Like if I lived in Montréal for example how do I find the local scene

so sorry for the late-ish reply! this is a really good question, and i've been sitting on it for a while trying to figure out what all i want to say. necessary disclaimer is that despite my love for punk music i'm not myself a punk---i don't personally interact to a great extent with any kind of local music scene due to my autism. when i went to see bikini kill i had to take two days minus school to recover from the overstimulation. plus i'm under the legal drinking age & don't have a fake id (a lot of shows in my country are at alcoholic venues), so that's the perspective i'm coming at you from. i do not claim to be an expert, all of this is observation-based, mainly drawing from my experience looking into my local drag scene. anyone who has more of an experience than i do, feel free to rb with comments!

1. pay attention to flyers

there are a few places i frequent (some record stores, used bookstores, comic and game stores, and a couple coffee shops) that people tend to put flyers up in, so if you're looking for how to find the local scene paying attention to flyers is like my #1 suggestion. i see a ton around the city just hanging around on poles, too. if you're doing more of an underground show, there's a limited amount of ways to get the word out, and flyers are the most tried-and-true of those. (plus, once you go to your first venue, there will probably be flyers there for future shows, so it keeps on giving.)

2. the internet is your friend

i know montréal was a hypothetical, but just by googling "montreal punk scene" i'm already getting recommendations for venues and local bands. most of these aren't super contemporary, but i trust your research capabilities. if there's a band in your city that plays the kind of music you're aiming to get into (punk, in this case) and they're available on social media, follow them. you'll get updates on where they're playing next, as well as other bands who may be doing a show nearby, since most local artists support each other. same with venues! word-of-mouth is obviously ideal, but in a situation in which you don't know anyone, social media & message boards are the next best thing. i don't personally use bandsintown, but i know some people who do, so that's probably worth looking into as well.

3. go to shows

even if it's someone you don't know. especially if it's someone you don't know. if it's a bigger band, pay attention to openers, too. at least in my city punk shows are pretty cheap, so even if you don't end up liking the bands that play, you'll get an opportunity to meet people who can tell you more. this is some advice i've learned from being involved in local horror communities, which is a different vibe, but still: when you're offered an opportunity, take it! a splatterpunk writer recently offered to mentor me, and even though i don't primarily read splatter, you better believe i'm taking that shit, you know? a foot in the door goes a long way.

4. keep yourself safe

especially if you're underage. especially if you're visibly a member of a vulnerable group. this isn't punk-specific, this is life-specific. there are going to be assholes, and no amount of no-true-scotsmaning is going to make there not be assholes. there is no scene you will ever enter, music or otherwise, that is going to be 100% safe, so get acquainted with the specifics. in general, don't get swayed by posts on here that say punks are like inherently safer people. don't get loose with safety just because you're excited to be there. use common sense and protect yourself. people who are actually in the scene will have better specifics on this, listen to them.

thank you for the question! i hope this was helpful! if i got anything wrong, please correct me. <3

#love letters #love being sent asks tysm!!

[viir-tanadhal]

it's been a few weeks since your PSB concert! How has it been, like, every now and then remembering "whoa i was there!" and listening to songs on your phone and going "hey they played this live!" Have you found pictures & videos online that reminded you of something that you forgot happened? Pls pls pls tell us about the concert, idc if "that happened a while ago get over it" i would love to hear it!!! They're your favorites

thanks for asking david!!!

putting under read more because i have a lot to say

well first of all I'll say my sense of time has totally gotten messed up since the concert (I can't believe it's already been over 2 weeks since the concert, September went by so slowly and now October is going so FAST)

firstly I'll say the drive to Minneapolis and the hotel and the weather was fantastic! it was my second time going to Minneapolis and my mom's first time. we got there early a couple hours before the doors opened for the show so we could walk around and not worry about getting to the city on time or the hotel room not being ready, traffic, etc. so we stopped by a record store and then walked to the minneapolis institute of art which turned out to be a good idea because while we were there I GOT A NOTIFICATION THAT PSB HAD POSTED A PHOTO THAT THEY WERE THERE TOO!!! We probably totally missed them by an hour or so but I'm still thinking about how wild it could have been if I had actually seen Neil there in-person. I wouldn't have said anything to him but it just would’ve been surreal you know? So that's going to always be a very memorable part of the trip for me and my mom and I took a photo in the place where he had in the institute (I’m not sure if it was him and Chris or if he was with their programmer Pete but if it had been Neil and Chris it would have been even more like. yeah ok cool yup.)

As for the concert, this was my first ever concert, so I don't really have anything to compare it to. The Armory was a really cool venue and since pet shop boys were first and my mom and I were general admission I wanted to be close to the stage but not too close it'd be hard to take photos of the whole stage set up. Having to stand around for 2 hours before the performance actually started was a bit tiresome but it was worth it getting a good spot.

As for the actual performances. I went in knowing of course psb's set list and how the whole thing looks and what parts i wanted to take photos and videos of. But it was a really different experience watching videos and looking at pictures online and actually experiencing it live. Neil sounded fantastic - his voice was perfect right from the start on Suburbia, and the screen rising to reveal them as the music swelled and built was one of the most exciting moments of my life. It was also interesting watching Chris in real life too. Neil has commented on how Chris exudes this kind of "coolness" because of how he concentrates on playing and reading the sheet music on his monitor and I definitely understood what he meant from seeing it in person. It was also fun being able to distinctly hear what bits Chris was playing live and watching him play.

The thing about Neil that I sometimes make fun of is he can be a little awkward or look funny with how he does his choreographed hand gestures but I really didn't think that at all while watching him. Everything was really smooth and they both had such an aura of confidence just standing on stage alone for the first bit of their performance. I don't know how to really describe it but there's a clear sense of artistry and purpose in them standing together on stage that it doesn't look boring or stale but like a live performance piece. And even when Neil starts moving around and playing up being a showman and performer to the audience, he has this cool confidence and fluidity to his movements that's incredibly engaging.

I also love their live band!!! Afrika, Clare, and Simon add a ton of energy and vibrancy to the staging and I really like that because of the shiny fringe of their outfits, it makes them playing their instruments in the back part of the visual spectacle.

Which, I have to say, Tom Scutt has done a phenomenal job with the design of this tour. I was curious about how this tour would look because since 2006 they’ve worked with the designer Es Devlin for all of their tours. I do like her designs and it’s not as if she recycled the same ideas or concepts for the previous tours but I did look forward to seeing how someone new would tackle visually conveying the songs. Plus, Es has already had to design many of the songs on this tour previously, so having someone whose never had to design or come up with a visual look for a particular song before I think was a good idea to at least introduce a new perspective and look on the songs.

I think the main thing, seeing as the set and setlist is a condensed version of their Dreamworld/Greatest Hits tour, is having to grapple with nostalgia and legacy. It would have been easy just to rely on the nostalgia factor and reuse previous looks or visuals or ideas for the songs to cash in on the nostalgic look of those songs. And they do that to an extent but in such a way that repurposes it and makes something new. For example, for a few of the songs, the back visual projection is the music video for that song, but it’s edited and redone in such a way that you recognize it’s the music video but it’s still an entirely new video art piece (the most obvious of these was Rent and West End Girls from what I recall). So while elements of the main performance draw on previous looks and some callbacks, it was still something new.

In terms of the live versions of the songs on this tour, there wasn’t too many that were exactly new mixes of the songs, but there were notable changes. On Rent, for the version on Actually, Neil sings it much higher and on the line “When you’re lying next to me” he goes up a note mid-way through the phrase. However, and he started this with the 2006 version of Rent he sings on the Concrete live album and that they did on their Fundamental tour, he keeps the line on one note throughout the same way it is for Liza Minnelli’s cover/version of Rent. And I really much prefer that change so i’m so happy it’s that way for this tour. Plus the way he sang “I’m your puppet / I love it” was soooooooooooooooo GOOD.

Love Comes Quickly is also pretty changed - it’s pretty similar to the Super Tour version of LCQ but injected with more atmosphere and ambience and oomph to it, it sounds gorgeous, AND THE STAGING OF IT WITH NEIL WALKING SLOWLY ACROSS IN FRONT OF THE GRADIENT OF THE SCREEN WITH BLUES AND PINKS AND PURPLES AND YELLOWS OMG. definitely definitely one of my favorite parts of the whole show omg it’s outstanding. It’s a Sin sounded amazing live, I was genuinely shocked by how utterly amazing Dreamland sounded live as well, definitely was like an elevated version of the studio version. 

Another part I really liked was that at various points, Chris’ voice segues songs. So for example, I know at certain parts he says the lyrics of Suburbia, Decide, Paninaro, and Go West. I thought that was a great way to include his voice into the performance and draws on iconic moments where he does spoken bits in songs.

It was also fun to watch him during Vocal - he was bouncing all over the place and clearly was enjoying himself and playing the song. Given that Neil has commented that he wrote the lyrics for Vocal in a way that he knows Chris likes, it was nice to see Chris clearly loving the song :)

The highlight of course really is the encore. This is where they focus in on the nostalgia but they don’t do it cheaply or lazily. Neil comes on in a long black coat reminiscent of the one he wears in the West End Girls video - it isn’t an exact replica, it has a much different style and fit, but it gives a modern twist on the timelessness and iconic aesthetic of that original Stephen Linard coat he wore. The same goes for Chris - he comes out in his classic look with the Boy hat, gray hoodie, and black leather jacket, but all are distinctly modern and contemporary takes on his West End Girls Top of the Pops look. I just love the visual implications of them returning to that iconic look of theirs with the song but showing how it fits so easily into a modern visual landscape of fashion and aesthetic with the dichotomy of posh and rough. 

For West End Girls, the screen comes back down as the stage hands wheel back out the giant street lamps. I’ve failed to mention up to this point how cool of a prop they are. A lot of early PSB has a film noir kind of feel to the songs, especially WEG, and they love to channel an urban aesthetic and soundscape within their songs, and I think the street lamps are a good iconographic and physical and visual manifestation of that. Before Neil and Chris come on stage, the screen is largely dark, but the start of a modified version of the start of West End Girls along with Shep Pettibone’s remix of it comes on, drawing out excitement as the screen flashes with white symbols and photos and eventually Neil and Chris’ faces respectively in time with the drum beats and the rising STRINGSSSS. it gave me literal goosebumps and even rewatching a video of it still gives me them - it’s so amazingly done it’s SOOOO !!!! I like how the screen is segmented into rectangles to resemble in my opinion that 80s look of several televisions stacked together where each screen assembles a whole picture.so you get that effect of at times all of them combine together to create a whole picture across the whole screen but also you have different parts and one screen has one bit of a photo that’s disconnected from the rest, etc. I also like the intercuts of footage from the West End Girls music video and various other elements such as a neon sign saying “Sex Shop”, various other shop signs, and footage of people on the street. It all assembles that feeling of the song of it happening as a person walks down a seedy part of London in the West End in the early 80s at night hearing snippets of various conversations (it all reminds me as well of Soft Cell’s Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret album cover aesthetic that PSB were inspired by).

And then it all ends on Being Boring. my favorite song by them and probably ultimately my favorite song of all time. The back projection displays a never-ending street illuminated by seemingly an infinite amount of street lamps that aligns with the ones Neil and Chris stand under. it’s incredibly moving combined with the meaning of the song being about those who have passed and are no longer with us, especially with how it directly is about the impact of the AIDS crisis and Neil losing his best friend and then many others he knew because of it. but i also like that while the song is sad, there is still a hopeful ring to it that even though they are gone, you can still look back fondly on them and the memories you have with them, and that they were friends you could rely on, which hits harder by ending their performance on Neil singing “We were always hoping that / looking back / you could always rely on a friend”. it’s an emotional ending but a good one.

I don’t have any previous PSB concerts i’ve been to to compare this to but personally I thought it was fantastic and so glad I got to see it live.

Highlights for PSB were Suburbia, Rent, Left to My Own Devices, Love Comes Quickly, It’s a Sin, West End Girls, and Being Boring.

The only bits I feel that less people were engaged with were when they did I Don’t Know What You Want But I Can’t Give It Anymore, Losing My Mind, and Dreamland, but mainly because i feel people didn’t know them as well. I loved them all though, I just think that IDK could have been a bit better as it kind of lacked the strings it has that really elevates it, but another fan I spoke to said they might have dropped them so it flowed better into So Hard, which makes sense, but it kind of brought the song down a peg.

Also I absolutely am sad that because they had to condense the Dreamworld setlist, I didn’t get to hear Single-Bilingual, Jealousy, Drunk, or Monkey Business live :(

OK. now for bonus new order ramblings sldkfjadf

New Order have been changing up their setlist across the various dates and I didn’t watch too many videos ahead of seeing them so I went in a lot more blind than for PSB. during the intermission my mom and i went to get drinks so we were further back when we saw New Order so I couldn’t see the stage as well as PSB while watching them. Still though New Order were incredible too - it was a great contrast with Pet Shop Boys as they had a much more conventional rock show set up to their staging as they had everyone one stage and playing instruments and there weren’t any costume changes or theatricality like PSB had. However, that just speaks to how New Order are and how they perform and it’s interesting seeing how they perform songs that foundationally come from the same inspirations of electronic dance music as PSB, just from a different angle. Regret was a great opener and I’d heard Bernard sometimes needed to get through a few songs for his voice to really warm up but I thought he sounded great right away! Obviously Bernard isn’t the best singer in the world and fumbles a little but it didn’t take away at all from the experience and I expected it so i wasn’t disappointed or anything like that.

New Order had a great energy and their setlist really was full-on. As I said, Regret was great and so was Age of Consent. Another difference with New Order and their set up was that they had LASERS. and they REALLY used them. The lasers were used to sync up with musical bits in the songs and i thought they were used really well visually and I noticed it a lot with Your Silent Face and it was cool to hear Bernard playing the melodica live. The visuals of the beach for Your Silent Face too were really beautiful and scenic. Their projections were much more a mixture of scenic and graphic design based in comparison to PSB’s.

I’m so glad we got the setlist where they played sub-culture as i really like it and it sounded great live! Bizarre Love Triangle was also amazing and I’m also glad they played plastic because it’s my favorite from their last album music complete and it was also really good live as well. 

Hearing Blue Monday live as an Experience. The way all of the elements come together and then that bass line and the synth line come in and the Kraftwerk sample....... oh my god it was phenomenal. They really do deserve to be proud of how good Blue Monday is and it absolutely sounds like what the best-selling 12 inch record of all time would sound like. I also liked near the end when Bernard shuffles over to Gillian and plays on the keyboard and kind of butts her out of the way to play - it was funny and very much them.

my only issue with new order’s performance was true faith. Everything else sounded great but i still thought maybe it was the acoustics that messed up the song and not the mixing because honestly true faith didn’t really sound like..... true faith. it lacked the distinct elements of it that make it stand out and sounded muddied in comparison to the other songs. I genuinely did not realize it was true faith until i really listened to the lyrics bernard was singing so that wasn’t good. that was the only song that I felt wasn’t as good as the others, which is a shame because it was a big hit, and i love true faith.

For the Joy Division encore, they played Decades first at mine. I’m not as familiar with Decades so I can’t really speak on the song all that much but i did like the video and photos they had inserted of Ian Curtis during it. And then of course they end on Love Will Tear Us Apart. Bernard sang Ian’s lyrics really well and you can tell they still love their JD songs and want to do them justice playing them live. The bass and synth on LWTUA were particularly amazing and those are the most distinctive and best parts of the song imo so i’m glad that they sounded just perfect live.

For New Order, they definitely emphasized the bass in their mixing for the songs, and it was loud and heavy and great, especially as the acoustics in the venue were really good i thought. it wasn’t too oppressive but just enough to show off.

Highlights for NO were Regret, Age of Consent, Your Silent Face, Sub-Culture, BLT, Plastic, Blue Monday, Temptation, and Love Will Tear Us Apart

Overall both were really good and I’m so glad I got to see them both live and for my first ever concert!!! It’s definitely a memory I will always cherish, I just wish the night hadn’t gone by so fast. But I’m happy with all the photos I got and videos and the T-shirt I bought and my mom thought it was great too.

Also unrelated but the lemonade I had during intermission was the best lemonade I’ve ever had so that’s a bonus

#THIS IS SO LONG DAVID IM SO SORRY LMAOOOOOO #i had a lot to say #a lot of thoughts you might say #can you tell i love psb sooooooooooooo much

[booksandwords]

Window Shopping by Tessa Bailey

Read time: 1 Day Rating: 5/5 Stars

The Quote: "Being dishonest is not me. You're right. But it's not you, either. I don't think it ever was. We're going to meet somewhere in the middle tonight and find out who we could be What that could feel like." — Aiden Cook

Warnings: discrimination (criminal record)

It is easy to see why Window Dressing is as popular as it is. It's insta-attraction, grump/sunshine, workplace romance all wrapped up in pretty and sparkly Christmas wrapping. This takes the grump/sunshine dynamic and gender swaps it, 90% of the time when I read the grump/sunshine dynamic the female character is the sunshine and the grump is the male. In this case, 25-year-old Stella Schmidt, a recently released convict and prospective window dresser is the grump. The sunshine is 32-year-old Aiden Cook, general manager of Vivant, a New York department store. The whole story (epilogue excepted) takes place over less than a week. Honestly, it is an effective way to tell the story. Better yet, at 240ish pages and written in a way that makes this pick-up put-downable, and possibly a great seasonal read.

I adore Stella and Aiden, their dichotomy gives me joy. Good lord Aiden himself has a serious dichotomy, there is nothing two-dimensional about him. But he occasionally gives me whiplash, I get the feeling he does that to Stella too. It is the best kind of whiplash though. "I let the bow tie fool me, didn't I? When he told me he could be downright rough, I didn't fully comprehend his meaning. Or maybe I thought he was exaggerating. He wasn't. This man just yanked up my skirt in public, touched my body like he'd been studying it his whole life and growled at me. Possessive things, jealous things that should turn me off but oh lord, they don't." (Stella). This quote is a perfect demonstration of it, and he does this a lot. Aiden is the epitome of the Southern gentlemen when we meet him, raised in Tennesee by a sassy af woman. I really like his mind and his attitude towards people. He is a perfect balance to Stella.

As a man of conscience and principle Aiden is something Stella aspires to be and feels she doesn't deserve. These feelings are kind of where the primary conflict comes from in their relationship. "I will not start making major decisions when I've only been out of prison for a single month. I'm not letting him make any bad decisions. Look at the way he charged downstairs and rescued me, carrying me upstairs like Prince Charming. But I'm not a princess. Not the kind of girl who ends up with Aiden Cook." (Stella). Stella is a strong and fierce woman. It takes us quite some time in the scheme of the story to find out what Stella was convicted for, though we do find out early on it was a four-year sentence. It is up to the reader to understand Stella's conviction and judge her for themselves, she does claim responsibility for her actions. Just be aware there is a moment where there Stella is discriminated against for her felony past, it is spiteful and awful. I really like her. She has a strong backbone, is just trying to turn her life around and is happy to be swept off her feet by the right man. Unbeknownst to her Aiden is definitely the right man.

Have a dump of quotes and thoughts.

There is a beautiful quote about Christmas magic in the second paragraph. Stella is a non-believer but it is written in such a way that Tessa Baily isn't those who do believe in the special time of year.

I scan the immediate area for maimed penguins or some other sign that I've gone around the bend. All is well. As normal as New York City can be, which is to say there are three people fighting over one cab, the strains of a saxophone emanate mysteriously from the ether and a sparkly pink wig lies forgotten in the gutter. Nothing that would be considered unusual, though. I'm not hallucinating, why has this man stopped to tell me a story about his relatives? I'm not what one would refer to as approachable. In fact, I'm fluent in Fuck Off. Hopefully he speaks it, too. Or at least knows how to read body language. — This is Stella after Aiden tells his first of many Aunt Edna stories, a highlight of the novel. I really like this as a description of New York City. And yeah Aiden is completely ignorant of or unwilling to read body language. It's honestly kinda funny. (Stella)

"I'm curious what you make of all this." "You're referring to Penguin Chernobyl?" — Anyone who has seen a quote from this book has likely seen this quote. But it is really funny. And it repeats later on. (Aiden and Stella)

"It's going to be a good day." On the other side of the office, assistant fingers pause in the act of typing out God knows what at two hundred miles an hour. "Nand what exactly is your basis for that theory?" asks Leland over the top of his wire-rim glasses. "It's Monday and it's snowing." "Both of those things are the sign of a clean slate. It's like we've got a fresh spiral notebook from the drugstore and this time we're going to use good handwriting all the way through. Not just on the first page." — If you want an example of Aiden's perfect optimism at all times, this is possibly my fave quote for that. I like his wonderful play-off with his assistant Leland. (Aiden and Leland)

The red dress in the window display is stunning. When Tessa Stella is right she's right, women are unlikely to buy that sort of beauty for themselves. But damn sometimes a woman needs that dress.

"You don't get locked up somewhere for four years and leave without a few soul scrapes." — I adore this quote it is just a wonderful way to comfort someone who has ended up with claustrophobia due to incarceration. (Aiden)

"They want it room temp. Last time they wanted it freezing." "Maybe we should have the water blessed by a priest and burn the demons out of them." Leland suggests. "St. Patrick's is only a few blocks away. I could be back in no time." — 'They' are the devil incarnate board of directors, Aiden's father, grandmother and cousin. I adore Leland, he is said to have the disposition of a cranky senior citizen and the pessimism of Eeyore. I want to know more about Leland. There is more going on in that head of his. This quote isn't Leland's highlight but it's close. He has a stunning moment later on that I won't spoil for readers. (Linda and Leland)

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words are just a representation of the speaker's inside—not me. And not you. — Edna is possibly my favourite character in the book. She makes me laugh, the woman has had A life. Aiden loves to tell stories about Aunt Edna, they are funny and kinda quirky. Just making the reader and Stella smile. I love this line so much though. (Aunt Edna, quoted by Aiden)

Sitting with people I half-know, drinking, letting myself slip into a slightly numb state where I don't overthink every word out of my mouth. The vibe is completely different, however, we're not trying to decide how we're going to top the previous night or what wild stunt we can get away with. That lack of peer pressure is more intoxicating than the alcohol. Is this what adulthood feels like? I could get used to it. — There is something to be said for recognising this difference. The difference between teen drinking and adult drinking. Or maybe it's more drinking to get drunk and social drinking. (Stella)

"It's nice not to be in a rush with this window. I can take my time with Norma." "Excuse me," Jordyn says. "You named the mannequin?" "Oh, she has a whole persona. She's thirty-nine. A single, career-driven lady who is about to make partner at her firm. But with one month to go until she turns forty, she realizes how little self-care there is in her life. When was the last time she pampered herself? Never, that's when. And she isn't planning on it now. There is work to be done." I reach down to brush the fine edge of Norma's bangs. " — She has some good friends, though. College roommates. And they know her better than she knows herself. They see she's only doing for others. All she gives herself is pressure. So they give her the gift of rediscovering her physical beauty with a smoky eye kit from Chanel and the 24k Gald Mask from Peter Thomas Roth."I know this is a super long quote, almost needlessly long but I appreciate the idea of personification of inanimate objects to create a bond. With a persona, and a backstory the story flows easier too. While Norma belongs to the second window Stella works on her first window has something of a story too. She knows who she wants to sell to, that is essentially what all this boils down to. It is a great point to include in a fiction piece. (Stella and Jordyn)

"I swear. Roll your eyes one more time. I never loved that clown like I love your crabby ass. But we lived in the same house and you hadn't spoken to me in nine months. Nine. Not a bless you or a how's it hanging." There's a grunt in the background. "I'm crazy about you. But I'll still carve out your eyeballs." Grunt. This one more affectionate. — This is Edna, her husband Hank and their all-but son Aiden. The whole conversation this comes from, which includes Aiden saying Edna would love Stella, is just fantastic. (Aiden, spoken is Aunt Edna)

🍿In honour of Leland. I was right there with him. 🔥

I love the cover choice. The import of it isn't truly understood until right at the very end. Essentially it isn't as simple as seems.

#window shopping #tessa bailey #holiday reads #book review #ktreviews #read 2022 #booklr #tw discrimination

[the-firebird69]

We believe our son is correct that the sequence is and daughter that is they are in Tunis and they're there shortly and they don't think people see him in there looking for stuff namely a tunnel and they found out that the thing was there before Luke and it was there before Trump and if he has a huge facility then he probably knows about it and that's probably why he's got a matrix there and this statement starts a war and there is an image and people see it and have scanned his right on top of it with a matrix a big one and tell me after it's been fighting it so they're going to be out there all day and then Kessler gats hit. probably gets hit. And at some point they get hit in the house and as soon as thinking he doesn't know I didn't watch the movie and he doesn't know when Luke Skywalker sees that and who's at the house and we do and he returned later after they were hit and he went inside he wept a little thought he was going to get hit he saw it move off. So we found one and he said something and the guy said I know I'm trying to get it to him so again I left and he was trying and he managed to and Luke didn't bother but really you said it if you can't get it to him you're not going to and he managed to so he had a warning at that point he would be healing and stuff it's kind of confusing and I think I'm right I think that tomorrow happens and the sunset shows the death Star and tomorrow they have the incident and he goes berserk and then Trump hits castle at night so he has to recover first and we think he goes to cloud City too first thinks he set him up. Looks up and says to him you're mine anyways and they're fighting and I've always been fighting but not like that and he's telling him he's a jerk you can say it I can't help it you're my face. Cuz your rent is fine leave me alone so I'm the one paying it God damn it so he laughs it says the contract ooh that was a contract on me Luke because yeah it's a little thing he says to Luke is so downstairs he lies you see let's hope nobody figures that stupid s*** out what happens on the floating cloud city stays on the cloud city the steal your methane. So they're fighting so the other kind of laughing he goes first just get out of here and so Luke leaves now he falls on the thing he thought he was gone.

So we're going to work with Luke Skywalker himself and trying to get Obi-Wan Kenobi to okay to make energy protein bar named chewy that's got Chewbacca on it and some people might think stupid s*** about it and Hera ran a pilot this morning, and she's laughing he's thinking does he really know what this is... We're all laughing cuz he says that to her and, she made a pilot and they want like tons of it and it's actually got carbs and protein and vitamins and not sugar not bad sugar it's got fruit it's made with nuts and things as well and so people want that really bad it's got some chocolate not much and they want it real bad and they want this thing. Introducing it in a sports stores and some of the grocery stores and a whole bunch of other types of shops and we're going to try and sell it and you might have some people going cosplay and it's going to be weird cuz they're going to know it's us and they're going to sell it and they're going to seek out Chewbacca but the fight over it and he's okay so he wants chewy to get a commercial going before he fights Vader is going to hand him half of Chewbacca bar it might call it Chewbacca bar which is better because there's always something called chewy. And John remillard is saying it sounds familiar. And it's starting to come funny to Ernesto who is not stopping laughing right now. We put it out there and they said it's so nutritious that we can't stand it and people going to buy it by the truckload and they're starting to buy it now and so we are going to hire probably girls to set up distributorships and they want to and they are starting it now and there's some temperature requirements it should be held at about 69°. And they're going to do that it's a little cool but it's not too cool you shouldn't freeze the bars or refrigerate them and they have to be sold pretty quick and they said no problem and they're going out to parties now to sell it and I want to make a part of like Star wars but also like alpha flight it's really about Chewbacca so we need to send some Chewbacca with them. And they're saying they don't want to but Chewbacca wants to go help sell and it's really in costume it's cosplay and it's exciting and it's really a bill and will and a bunch of them so they want to do that and a lot of them are pretty bulky right now so a whole bunch of people will see it in the water so we made tons of it and we think it's tons of it. And it's coming from Wonka and it's a subsidiary.

Thor Freya

Hey send the above part well a little I was in it but really this is awesome I went ahead and did this this morning and I came up with tons and tons of ideas no but I did do this and it is going to work and this is an awesome bar idea to have carbs in it and he says it's vitamin b vitamin and iron balanced and it will get you going it has protein in it too and vitamins and minerals and fruit and it will hydrate you too salt and some preservatives and it's about 30 g of protein which is not very high because you don't want to have too much and that's small amount but it does have like 1,000 calories or something but real calories and it's heavy it weighs like a pound not a half pound. It's a pound and if you have too much you can share it with someone but really you guys need to eat all the time and caring it is a pain but you carry all this other junk and you have to combine it and it's true and he wants to do this like mountaineering thing and show that you can eat just that and we don't recommend it but it can be done so we're going to hiring for that. You say he wants to find us some stuff so my husband shows like this image of us like right below him and him walking by and have no clue and he didn't like throughout our entire childhood.

Hera haha Zues okay it's me again it's so funny I have to say it again and really he doesn't want to do the peanut butter cuz it's going to make him more acidic so it's good I mean approved but really it's kind of mean about it but he says we're blocking it and all the stuff what we say is you just kind of stupid Hera

This nutrition bar is an awesome idea and we're going ahead with it. You've never seen so much interest in our lives in the Bavarian beer hall is over the top everybody says it kind of like looks like your locality and it's a really beer Hall and they do have ones throughout Scandinavia that are of different peoples mostly white people but no they have an Asian one and African one and people see it in Bavaria and our son is donating to the country in the area cuz he's using the idea and it's part of the betterment program and father and mother thank him and Germans and Scandinavians and more and then see his work they're full of life again. They build a lot of facilities out of this particular block type look they want these double pyramids now went to set up a local plant my son says let's get back into the church business then we'll set up more of my churches and it's a Norwegian kju Church that reflects what we used to have in the past and we used a special stone and they might be when in each one somewhere and tons of people that look at it scan it and check and go there and it's to collect donations and I'm going to try and get our son some money I'm going to suck money away for our daughter too Hera and for my people and we do have a way of doing that and making it work and this is a blessing but he doesn't require much he says and nor does she that I will invest for them and it's going to be great because this is a perfect idea and we're bringing the churches back and I'm the leader now and he said I'm going to be in the same position because doesn't want my position I was trying to run to something else looking forward to retirement now I'm starting to be bothered but not really I've been doing it for so long I know what he's saying he's going to come in and he's going to say his peace and he'll be the leader and he's telling everybody what to do but is really going to tell me what to do in front of people at all that's true never really does it's like Charlie's Angels and I'm Charlie and he's a hidden guy it's really fun everyone so we're going to have a lot of fun this is going to work. We're going to have a lot of fun today and it looks like the elephants are mistreated but that's just how they live the cages could be cleaned a little bit better and recommending like an automatic Duluth system when they're not in there and just washes all that's poop out and stuff and they need to bathe then they did do it in the past they have it up there and they need someone to fix it so we're trying to send someone down to donate some money and he says we need a crew and says what crew are you it looks like a clone and it might be and so we said we'll come down and fix it and say said hello it taking I said probably 2 hours is it okay so we went down and we're doing it and he's trying to grab us and he's trying to find the elephants and we fixed it up and we cleaned it up and we left and it's taken care of the elephants and the guys go what the f*** did you do and he said nothing tried to fire him so he fired them it was not many and it's not as fault you have to keep the elephants alive and they kind of jerks so lots of the stuff came off them they're very happy and pleased and they had a great time figuring out what was going on and how they're treating him and they're fixing their stuff and they had some good times

What a day we had a wonderful time we got a lot of stuff done and came up with some products and Chewbacca bar is out there and it looks like a little bit like bark and tons of people screaming it it looks like bark or Chewbacca and we got to eat that and they're eating it and it's like this is great it really tastes nice

Thor Freya

You're making that cathedral so we have to take a look at it

Hera

I'm going to let him brush

Olympus

[brooklyn2015project]

plot synopsis

For the first post on this blog I will be giving a plot synopsis of Brooklyn, released in 2015. It was directed by John Crowley, and based off of the 2009 book of the same name, won the 2009 Costa Novel Award, and was long listed for the Man Booker Prize that year as well.

The film starts with Eilis, played by Saoirse Ronan, living and working in a small Irish town called Enniscorthy, in the year 1951. She lives with her mom and older sister Rose. She works at a small shop with a woman named Mrs. Kelly, who is very strict, and often unkind to customers. Eilis loves her family, and her hometown, but knows she has to leave to go to America if she ever wants to achieve something, or make a name for herself. Rose arranges for Eilis to move to New York City with the help of a Catholic priest named Father Flood, who is Irish, but has already immigrated to the United States.

While on the boat trip to New York, Eilis becomes sea sick, until her bunkmate Georgina helps her settle in for the journey, and gives her tips on how to handle the immigration officers they will encounter once they arrive. When she arrives in Brooklyn, Eilis moves into a boarding house run by Mrs Kehoe, a fellow Irish immigrant, and struggles to get along with the other Irish girls who also live there. Eilis starts a job as a shop girl at a luxury department store, but is struggling due to homesickness.

Eilis often goes to Irish dances at the community center, but struggles to make connections, until one night she meets an Irish plumber named Tony Fiorello, who she slowly falls in love with. Her relationship with Tony, the night-classes she takes on book-keeping (the same job her sister Rose has in Ireland) at her community college, and understanding more about American culture, Eilis starts to feel more and more at home in Brooklyn.

This is until the shocking news from Father Flood, Rose has died unexpectedly, and Eilis must return to Ireland for her funeral. Tony explains the life he sees for Eilis and himself in the future, and insists that the two of them get married before she leaves to go to Ireland for a month. She is hesitant but agrees, and the two decide not to tell anyone in their family until they believe the time is right. At the courthouse, Tony chats with an Irish couple, who have relatives in Enniscorthy, but Eilis doesn't have a chance to talk to them before she and Tony are being called away to perform the marriage ceremony.

When she arrives back in Ireland, Eilis is much happier than she was in her childhood. She fulfills her sister's vacant book-keeping job, has fun with her friends, and surprisingly develops a more-than-platonic relationship with a friend of her sister, Jim Farrell. His parents have recently died, and left him with a large house and a pub to run. At first Eilis does not like him, but as they spend more time together it's clear that they have chemistry and could be happy together. He asks Eilis to stay in Ireland so they can be together, and she is conflicted, as she does not yet know what kind of life she pictures for herself. Is New York or Enniscorthy her real home? Eilis' mom strongly wants her to stay in Ireland, her life could be so much easier if she stayed in her small town, but Eilis's mom doesn't know about her marriage to Tony. Tony has been writing to Eilis but she hasn't written back due to being too scared to talk about everything she has been getting up to. It's clear that Eilis doesn't really fit in in Ireland, as she fits in more with the American aesthetic and city life.

It is at a meeting with her old boss Mrs. Kelly, who confronts Eilis about her secret marriage, having heard the gossip from the relatives of the Irish couple from the court house. After Mrs. Kelly berates her about keeping secrets from the town, and being married to an Italian man, Eilis proudly proclaims that her name is Eilis Fiorello. She tells her mother all about Tony, and her life in New York. Her mother seems disappointed, but allows Eilis to get on the first boat back to New York.

On the boat, Eilis is now filling the role of Georgina for another young Irish girl who is immigrating to live and make a life in Brooklyn, same as Eilis did. The final shot of the film is Eilis reuniting with Tony, in Brooklyn, her home.