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#i wonder what a camera would see if it were designed by a shrimp.
dustofbrokenheart · 3 years
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The Covenant: Top Anon
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Pogue Parry x Reader
Word Count: 2,288
Summary: You have a loyal follower who comments on every post under your food blog. Just who is your favorite follower and why is the new grocery boy kinda cute too?
It was a new year and the start of a new you. Well, that is, a you who was trying new things.
In the past, you always made resolutions, but that spirit ran out before the month of January was even done. But after the particularly rough time of the past year, you swore that this time would be different, that you would make a serious effort to do something new.
It was that determination that led your current situation—your kitchen countertops were covered with ingredients and cooking utensils, your cell phone resting on a near by tripod for filming purposes.
The goal for this year was to try running a blog, and since you were a bit of a foodie, it made a lot of sense to center the blog around cooking and food. The idea came to you quickly; the hard part was deciding on a name, which took a while.
Eventually, you settled on The Foodiest. Naming was not one of your strong suits, but it was enough to get the point clearly across to potential viewers.
Choosing the layout design was on the same level of easy as deciding and didn’t take more than a day or two to implement on your site. Thank goodness for the existence of pre-made layout templates that saved you the effort of having to code everything yourself.  
With of the work on that end finished, the day had finally come for you to actually cook something to post about. Seeing as how January was a cold, winter month, you chose to make mashed sweet potatoes. Not only was it one of your favorite winter side dishes, it wasn’t hard to make either, giving you the confidence that even if your writing was lackluster, at least the food would look good.
Most of the blogs you were familiar with used a combination of text and photos for readers to follow along with, but you were going to try video in place of images. You sometimes struggled to copy based on what was shown in the photo, especially when you first started cooking, so you hoped video would make it easier on budding chefs who came across your content.
Luckily, the video would be sped up and lapsed for the final post to spare people from having to watch the monotonous parts in full length.
Hands on your hips, you surveyed everything one last time to make sure it was all ready. With a satisfied nod you reached forward to tap the large, red record button on the phone.  
You debated whether or not to talk while filming but decided against it. You were nervous enough posting to the blog without having the added stress of talking.
Everything happened in its regular order: you started by peeling and chopping the potatoes, a basic step, but you took your time doing it, paranoid as ever that you would cut yourself with the knife. Next you boiled the bright orange chunks in a pot of water; then put them in a mixing bowl once they were cooked. And finally used an electric mixer to blend it all nice and smooth, adding in milk, brown sugar, and cinnamon.  
Swiping your pointer finger through the finished product, you hummed with delight at the delicious, sweet taste. You pulled out a presentable bowl from the cupboard and spooned some orange fluff into it for the final reveal. Reaching blindly towards the far end of the counter you grabbed a bag of pecans to top off the mashed sweet potatoes. You scrutinized it and added more pecans for good measure.
Doing something in front of a camera was very different than doing the same thing on a normal day. Tension leeched out of your shoulders and you exhaled loudly with your head leaned back. A sense of pride warmed your chest, especially as you returned your gaze to the picturesque bowl. It looked great and tasted even better.
There was a large portion of leftovers because the recipes you used were collected from family and meant to feed small armies of people. You did your best to eat what you could and made plans sharing the rest with friends and coworkers later.
A few days after you published the post, you decided to check the stats on your account dashboard to see what the public response to it was, if there was any at all. Google analytics was useful for counting the total number of views it received while the blog site itself tracked the likes and… a comment?
Initial shock gave way to a bolt of excitement that had your fingers tingling with energy. You clicked to read it, wondering what it may say. Fingers crossed it was something good, whether it came in the form of a compliment or some constructive criticism.
Anonymous: wow good job
The chair creaked as you sat back slowly. You didn’t know how to read that, there wasn’t a whole lot to go on. Wow good job, said sarcastically? Wow good job, said excitedly? It didn’t help that the commenter didn’t believe in using punctuation either. And since it was submitted anonymously, there was no easy way to track down who sent it.
But maybe you were being too paranoid about it. You decided to take it as a compliment and cracked your fingers before firing off a response.
Foodiest: Thanks anon! I had a lot of fun with this dish. Hope you tune in for the next one :)
Anonymous never followed up with that particular exchange but they commented on every post without fail for the next two months.
Anonymous: nevr had white chili before it was good
Anonymous: the stuffed pepper were good
Anonymous: good call with the shrimp
Of course, all of the messages were sent as anonymous, so there was no 100% guarantee that it was the same person, but your gut feeling told you that it was. Who else had no respect for grammar rules and religiously used ‘good’ as their only descriptor?
You grew to expect, and enjoy, the weekly comment left by anon and made sure to leave a nice response in return. It was hard not to feel a connection to someone who took the time to try your recipes and leave a nice message. If only you could figure out who it was or at least have a name for them besides anonymous.
Foodiest: I’m glad you liked the recipe! My gramma swore by mayo when making grilled cheese. Thanks for always liking my stuff, if you ever want to talk more feel free to message me!
There. Maybe that would make them feel comfortable to give you their name you thought as you powered down your laptop for the night.
You spent the next couple of days leading up to the new post planning on what recipe to cook. Yep. Definitely not hoping for more information about anon.
For this newest post you decided to make some Indian curry, one of your favorites. Even long after you finished cooking, taping, and cleaning, the potent scent of spices was still heavy in the air, like aromatic nirvana that had your mouth watering even with a full stomach.
You tried your best not to refresh the post every few minutes to see if anon commented but it was tough. It turned out that you didn’t have to wait long as they left a comment within twenty minutes.
Anonymous: havent cooked this yet but looks good. Never really had indian before so have to go buy the stufff first – po
Anon finally gave up a name! You let out a happy noise and read it again. Po… short and to the point, just like all of the previous responses had led you to think about them. There was no time to waste, you hurried to write back, initial typos all over the place as the words out-paced your fingers.
Foodiest: Hi Po! It’s nice to have a name to put with your words. I would recommend going to an Asian Market for the spices, they’re more likely to carry them. Let me know how it goes for you :)
Since that conversation, Po and you chatted frequently about the weekly recipe choice, whether or not it looked good and if Po had plans to make it themselves, which they often did. Po seemed to like all types of food; vegetarian, meats, drinks, desserts, even ethnic dishes from places as far off as Bolivia and Morocco.
And the longer you two talked, the more frequent the messaging became. Whereas in the beginning Po would only submit a compliment that you would follow up with a ‘thank you’, it had turned into lengthy back and forths that took up a majority of the comment section for each post. More followers joined as the months went by and you hoped that they weren’t intimidated by your blatant favoritism but it was just so easy to talk with Po. If you were being honest with yourself though, it wasn’t only that it was easy… you genuinely liked talking to them.
Every time you made a new post it was difficult to not refresh the page every few minutes to see if they had left a message. And when they did, it was like a shot of electricity straight into the system where your heart would jolt and your face would flood with heat. You were hesitant to say it was a crush given that you didn’t know what they actually looked like and the computer screen barrier made it so you were content to define it as friendship.
Pushing those thoughts aside, you grabbed your wallet and keys while putting on shoes so you could make a quick run to the store. You had big plans to make some buffalo chicken wings for the blog this week and you needed to stop by the store to pick up some ingredients that you didn’t have, namely Frank’s Original Red for the buffalo sauce and blue cheese for the dip. Being an adult and responsible for your own grocery shopping was a chore at times. 
Luckily, Winter had thawed out into Spring so there was no need for you to warm up or car or scrape your windows. You just hopped in and drove the four blocks it took to get to the store. The plan was to cross the stuff for the wings off of your list first and then browse around for some good snacks to tide you over for the next week or so. Things were going according to plan until you saw him.
A tall boy wearing an employee apron stood in front of the cracker section, his jaw line and soft looking long hair catching your eye. Then he reached up to the tallest shelf to restock some boxes his arms flexing slightly to show off his heavy biceps and his shirt rode up, exposing deep cut ridges in his lower abdomen. To put it simply, you were starstruck.
He finished with the boxes he had in-hand and went to grab more from the cart at his side when you noticed your blatant ogling. Rather than confront you about it he merely smiled and moved out of the way so that you could get to the brand that you wanted. Choking from embarrassment, you kept your head down and threw a box of Goldfish into your shopping cart, speeding to get out of the aisle and his presence.
The store was a small local business and you frequented enough to know most of the workers there but you didn’t recognize this one, meaning that he must be new. What a way to make a first impression on him. Clearly your constitution was no match for his rugged, good looks. Then he was polite enough not to comment on you objectifying him which somehow made you feel even worse about it.
You decided to end the shopping trip almost immediately knowing that you were too spooked to continue shopping lest you run into him again.
You rolled the shopping cart into an open check-out lane and started putting your things on the conveyor for the cashier to scan. It just so happened that you knew the cashier—she was a middle-aged lady who’d been at the store for nearly two years. “Hi, Y/N. Find everything you needed?”
“Hey, Eva. Yes, I did.” You tried to steady yourself. Eva had a notoriously sharp eye and wouldn’t hesitate to question you if you looked off.
She left you alone today, engaging in normal chit chat, until she had trouble scanning the bottle of Frank’s hot sauce. Eva frowned when it didn’t want to scan and tried again but the bottle slipped from her hands and the neck of it shattered. Eva cursed and huffed, hurrying to throw the bottle into the trash before more leaked onto the register.
“I am so sorry, hun! I’ll get you another.”
“It was an accident,” you assured. “I can get it myself—"
“Not a problem,” she assured you with a wink. She pulled a walkie from her hip and spoke into it. “Hey, bring me a bottle of Frank’s Original Red Hot Sauce. Quick.”
You barely had time to don your awkward smile as she talked about how her neighbor’s dog kept pooping in her yard when the guy from the cracker aisle walked up behind Eva and handed a bottle of hot sauce to her. She took it and patted his back to get him to move forward.
“Thanks, hun. Y/N this is the new grocery boy—”
“Pogue,” he interrupted. “My name is Pogue.”
_______________
Another fic where they know each other but don’t know that they do. This time featuring Pogue and his fandom accepted interest in food. I picture him to have bad messaging skills — his fingers struggle with those tiny phone buttons. 
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ok ok prompts!!! so, I would be Delighted by some more qinxiyao family fic (deleted scenes or things you might have wanted to include in the big bang fic but didn't get to?), or, alternately, anything in the modern tcgf au? anything at all; they're all so excellent <3
both of these are such excellent prompts I started working on both of them, but the modern au got finished first! I’ll probably both a) do a lot of edits on this and b) do the qinxiyao family fic in a week or so, but here this is for now. Also, for those not in James and my brains, this is a very small part of a very large AU! Small note, all characters appearing in this fic are trans; however, He Xuan is still very much an egg and so they are referred to throughout the fic as “he/him,” although SQX at least is aware of this and wondering when to bring it up with her. She is, however, unaware that “Ming Yi” is a stolen identity and He Xuan is actually the eco-terrorist who’s been blowing up her brother’s fish hatcheries. It’s a long story. 
If Xie Lian was being honest, he didn't much like the internet. It was so bright and everything moved too fast. People used a bewildering array of slang and images. It was surprisingly difficult to avoid spending hours reading upsetting news stories. People spent days arguing about pornography. 
Also, his phone didn't really connect to WiFi very well. Even by the loosest definitions of the word, he hardly counted as a netizen.
People were usually shocked when he told them this, though, because Xie Lian's best friend was one of China's most popular beauty influencers.
Xie Lian's face appeared on her Weibo with some regularity. She talked about him often. He'd gone viral three separate times on Douyin, entirely accidentally. 
What Shi Qingxuan was most famous for, however, was makeup tutorials. He had never actually appeared in one of these, but, since there were very few people in the world capable of saying no to a very determined Shi Qingxuan, this was about to change. He was used to being in her charmingly decorated little apartment but not quite used to becoming a decorated thing himself. He'd even put on one of the outfits Hua Cheng had designed and sewn for him, based on some of his old dance costumes and a few frantic weeks of historical research, and kept swishing the skirts around his legs.
Shi Qingxuan started setting up, chattering away to Xie Lian as she did. "You need anything before we start? Bathroom, water, a snack? I edit my videos pretty heavily, so we can always take a break, but it’s good to be comfy." 
"No, I'm fine," Xie Lian said, and then had to close his eyes when she clicked on the ring light.
He fiddled with the makeup compacts laid out on the table.
Shi Qingxuan adjusted her light, scootched Xie Lian’s chair a little to the left and a little back, and then fiddled with the camera. It was quite the involved operation, Xie Lian thought; he knew a lot went into making videos, but he hadn’t realized it took this much effort before the camera was even on. Shi Qingxuan had done his makeup before, of course, but mostly just for fun, or something she could take a picture of and post on Weibo. It had been so long since he'd been filmed.
He watched Shi Qingxuan press record on her camera and then sit back and flash it a smile, putting on her Influencer Face. She squeezed his hand under the table.
“Hi everyone, welcome to Feng Shi!” she said, chirpy. “I’m Shi Qingxuan, and today we’re doing xianxia makeup with my good friend, Xie Lian. Now, for this look, we’re going to need…”
When Xie Lian was little, the makeup artists for his dance troupe had known he took about twice as long as anyone else did to get his makeup done. He was the darling of the company, though, so this was tolerated with fondness.
He didn't like the way the foundation felt on his face when it dried. His eyes watered when they put on eyeliner. He liked to spin his chair from side to side. 
He'd had much worse things on his face than paint since then, and had learned how to be still.
Shi Qingxuan patted his hand cheerfully as she pulled out the setting powder. 
"You're always one of my favorite models," she said. "You're so photogenic and so patient!"
"Thank you," Xie Lian said, and held still while she brushed it in his face.
Ruoye, probably noticing the warmth, slithered out of Xie Lian's robes and curled up on top of his head so she could get the full blast of heat from the ring light. She flickered out her tongue to scent Shi Qingxuan when she leaned in with a liquid eyeliner pen.
Shi Qingxuan made little kissy sounds at her, which only confirmed Xie Lian's certainty that he had good taste in friends. Most people were startled by Ruoye originally, but how they responded to her after Xie Lian introduced them was a good litmus test.
Ruoye settled in, and Xie Lian reached up a finger to stroke her scales. 
He was feeling good, content and warm, happy to sit still. Then the apartment door clicked open, and Xie Lian stiffened.
"Ming-xiong? Is that you?" Shi Qingxuan called.
Ming Yi mumbled something back and shuffled into the room, buried deep in his black hoodie. As always, Xie Lian's first thought upon seeing him was wondering how he could see through all that hair.
The hoodie had a fish skeleton painted on it that he recognized instantly as one of Hua Cheng's drawings; it made Xie Lian smile, thinking of how insistent San Lang was that they absolutely weren't friends, no way, there was no particular reason he would make custom hoodies for Ming Yi. The fish were a coincidence. He’d even made Ming Yi custom salmon breakup boots while proclaiming it meant nothing. 
Xie Lian, wearing an elaborate hanfu Hua Cheng had designed, sewn, and embroidered himself, even making him a period-appropriate duduo to flatten his chest, absolutely did not buy any of these excuses. Hua Cheng covered people he cared about with his art. 
Ming Yi grunted a greeting and wandered off, probably to raid the fridge. Shi Qingxuan winked at Xie Lian.
“I’ll edit most of this out,” she said, conspiratorial, “But my viewers love Ming-xiong. Especially when he’s out of focus in the background. They’ve made memes. I haven’t told them anything about him. It’s good to keep a little mystery! It keeps people watching.”
Xie Lian, having no real idea what she was talking about, smiled and suppressed his instinct to nod. Shi Qingxuan began painting a flower on his forehead with red pigment.
Finally, Shi Qingxuan gently removed Ruoye from Xie Lian’s head and shoulders and settled a wig cap over his hair, then the wig she’d pre-prepared. A few bobby pins, a few tucks, and then she stepped back, grinning.
“Ta-dah! How do you like it, taizi dianxia?”
“It’s beautiful,” Xie Lian said, honestly.
“We’ll end the video here, I think,” she said, “But I’ll get some posed photos of you to edit in here if that’s alright. Oh, tilt your head back and forth a little? Good. Smile at the camera!”
Shi Qingxuan fluttered her fingers at the camera in a wave; Xie Lian waved too, a few seconds later. As she leaned forward to click off the camera he straightened his legs out to try and loosen them up. His knees made terrible crunching sounds as they stretched. 
“You can take a little break if you want,” Shi Qingxuan said. “I’ll set up the area where we’ll take photos, but I’ll try to make it quick. You’re a darling for sitting through all this, you know?"
She was already bustling around again. She seemed to have an endless fountain of energy; Xie Lian found it admirable. He laid flat on his back on her bed, careful to not get makeup on her sheets or wrinkle his clothes. Ming Yi sat next to him, eating shrimp chips. He put a few directly into Xie Lian's mouth, feeding him like a little bird, and Xie Lian felt warm. Like Hua Cheng, it could be hard to know when Ming Yi liked you, but there were ways to tell.
He let Shi Qingxuan pose him until she was satisfied with the numbers of pictures she’d taken, trying very hard not to feel like the chuunibyou teenager he’d once been. He felt himself mostly immune to embarrassment at this point, but he supposed there were always exceptions.
Eventually, they cleaned up, although Xie Lian had promised Hua Cheng to show off the full look, so he didn’t get changed or clean his face. 
“I’ll buy dinner,” Shi Qingxuan said. “We deserve it. You too, Ming-xiong!”
She herded them both out of the apartment and down the street to a small noodles stall. They all ordered (in He Xuan’s case, three bowls) and Xie Lian was fumbling for his phone when he heard Shi Qingxuan cheerfully tell the clerk to put it all on the same ticket. She tapped her phone to pay for it all before Xie Lian could protest.
A few people asked Xie Lian for pictures as they ate. He posed obligingly, hoping he hadn't spilled any sauce on his clothes while eating. When he was done, he packed up his leftovers, let Shi Qingxuan nag him into calling a Didi instead of trying to walk home, and bid both her and Ming Yi farewell. Ruoye, who had spent most of the time they were eating in Xie Lian's backpack, made a brief appearance too like she wanted to say goodbye as well.
Xie Lian clicked his own apartment door closed quietly and tiptoed over to slide his leftovers into the refrigerator. Down the hall, a light shone out from underneath Hua Cheng's studio door.
There was an old picture of the two of them on the fridge; it was them in a hospital pediatric ward group room. Xie Lian, age fifteen, was beaming at the camera, his "FIGHT! JUVENILE SLE" shirt a bright red and his pants an immaculate white. Next to him, Hua Cheng, his right eye patched with patterned tape, bald and tiny, stared up at him with devotion. 
Ruoye bonked her head gently on the freezer door. Xie Lian pulled out one of her mice and slid her gently into her tank before giving her the treat; she was swallowing the mouse as he left the kitchen.
Hua Cheng turned to him as Xie Lian opened the door to his studio. His eye got wide, and his face looked like it did sometimes when he looked at Xie Lian, like he was seeing something holy. He slid his headphones off his ears.
Xie Lian did a little twirl for him, letting him see the way the fabric moved, and then tilted his face up for a kiss when Hua Cheng came over to him.
“Gege, you look beautiful,” he said.
“San Lang,” said Xie Lian. “It’s all you and Qingxuan. I’ll get her to send you the pictures later.”
Hua Cheng kissed the top of his head. He was dressed down, in a soft shirt and pants, not wearing his prosthetic eye. Xie Lian leaned his head into Hua Cheng’s chest.
“Gege seems tired,” Hua Cheng said. “Would you like to get ready for bed? Do you need dinner or your medicine? I can help you take all that off.”
“San Lang, you’re working,” Xie Lian said. “I already ate, so I think I’d like to sleep. But you don’t have to help.”
"Gege is more important than commissions," Hua Cheng said, and Xie Lian let him bundle him off to bed.
post about prompts! 
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linnlarsnhansn · 5 years
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Julie Andem interview in Swedish newspaper
Svenska dagbladet - The skam creator about the secrets behind the success
Julie Andem’s teen drama Skam is celebrating success from China to Argentina. Now she’s telling SvD exclusively about the working method that laid the foundation for the world success.
Many describe their first meeting with Skam as a chock. What you thought would be an ordinary Norwegian tv show about a bunch of high schoolers was something different from everything you had seen before.
Maybe it can best be described with a feeling that it was real. Like a documentary filmed with a hidden camera on the young main characters’ school yard and parties, in their bedrooms, text conversations and deepest thoughts.
Before Skam there had been a common truth that tv shows about 16 year olds were not cool, cliche and not believable. So how had the script writer and director Julie Andem succeeded with creating something so real?
The question didn’t get an answer, because Julie Andem didn’t want to speak to the press. It was known the she had done thorough interviews with teenagers in preparation for the show and she seemed like a researcher rather than a typical narcissistic director. Since then Skam has become known all over the world, but Julie Andem still keeps herself quite secret. She has thus far said no to Skavlan and during the four years that has passes since Skam first aired in Norway she has only allowed herself to be interview by a few newspapers, including The New Yorker. When Svenska Dagbladet meets her it’s the first ever interview with Swedish media.
We have set up a meeting at the legendary Hotel Bristol in Oslo. I’m not really satisfied with the meeting point and had imagined that we would sit at a ”cool in an Oslo way” student café. Maybe close to Hartvig Nissen Videregående skole, where the show is set. This looks more like a fancy city hotel - beautiful, but characterasied by its audience. The guests could all be William’s grandparents, you can almost smell the wealth originating from the oil.
But it turns out to be a true Julie Andem spot. She has lived here, and not only a night, but during a long period of time. It was when the triple work with writing the script, directing and finishing cutting the episodes shut down everything that could be called everyday life. With working days from seven in the morning to one at night and also a water leakage in the apartment there was no more reasonable solution that checking in at a hotel.
The script that she partly wrote right here are now released as four books, one for each season. Julie Andem has not yet seen the Swedish version and wonders how Norwegian sociolect can be translated to other languages. But in Sweden we have already taken in the skam slang - the only thing that’s a bit tricky to translate is ”russebussen”.
[cut out passage where the writer talks about the russebuss and the Swedish equivalent]
”When I talk about Skam abroad, for example in South America where the show has become really big, I always get to a point where I have to explain ”russebuss”. It’s absurd to tell that 20-25 students rent or buy a bus, set it up with all the right equipment and drive around in it for a month, drunk. And the Norwegian society allows that, right before exams” Julie Andem notes and can’t help but laugh at it.
[cut out passage about the other versions of skam and what the writer thinks of the script books]
In the script there are comments directed to different people in the team, suggestions for at which parents you could film a scene and ideas for clothes. That much of herself Julie Andem has never shown before: it’s almost like you get to know her.
But on the other side of the table in the dining hall at Hotel Bristol where we are now eating a shrimp sandwich each she says straight aways that she wants to separate her public persona from her private live. Julie Andem can say that she has a brother, a sister and two bonus sisters, but doesn’t want to mention her parents. And when I ask her about her own time in high school she answers by telling about her russebuss.
”I was on a girls bus with 25 girls. We were very split when we were going to name the bus. The name is crucial, because it gives the identity for the whole bus. One half of us wanted to be called ”Red Hot Chilli Babes” and the other voted for ”The Amateurs”. Because we were very funny, but nobody took any responsibility and we had no control at all”.
You had no Vilde?
”No, there was no Vilde. Luckily it ended up being ” The Amatuers”. But the russebuss-culture has radically changed since I was russ 2001. Now it’s mental how much money they use.
Julie Andem grew up in the west part of Oslo, the fanciest part of the city. She describes her time in school as pretty boring. She didn’t go to Nissen, which is a highly respected high school, where the Norwegian princesses Astrid and Ragnhild has gone. Talking about royals, the crown princess Mette-Marit is a big fan of Skam and has gotten the scripts with a dedication from Julie Andem - and her son is seen on the show.
”I wanted to go to Nissen, but I didn’t have good enough grades, so I had to take the second best, Ullern Vidergående. It’s a typical west side school, which means there was quite a few Williams. Most of my friends wanted to work with economy or become lawyers or paralegals.
So Skam is your dream about how it would have been if you got in to Nissen?
”Haha, yes, you can see it like that.”
Who were you? Are you Noora?
”No, I’m all of them - and non of them. I see myself in all of them, even William, that Sweden hates.”
I firmly say that it’s not true that Sweden hates William, but Julie Andem says that the criticism against the character came from all the Scandinavian countries after the same episode, but it was a lot harsher in Sweden than I Norway and Denmark. And she knows the countries well, because she has had a Swedish boyfriend and lived in Denmark. After high school she moved to Jylland [part of Denmark] where she studied for a year at Den Skandinaviske Designhøjskole.
”It was amazing, because there I got lots of funny friends from Stockholm, Malmö and Copenhagen that I still have. It was like coming home when I realized that not everywhere in the world is like Oslo West. I had a friend that already then was vegan, a strong feminist and refused to shave her legs and armpits. And me, coming from the West side just thought ”WOW”” says Julie Andem and emphasis it with a mixture of fear and excitement.
So she is also a little bit of Noora?
”Yes, absolutely!”
Julie Andem was planning on becoming a graphic designer and continued to study at Westerdals Reklameskole in Oslo (now called Christiania Høyskole), ”It’s like Beckmans in Sweden”. There she studied to become an art director - and thus does not have any education for working on tv. But when Julie Andem got an internship at a tv production she started to write ”instead of just making posters”. 2008 she got a job at NRK’s children’s sector, that just had come up with the new concept ”Sara” - a video diary with a twelve year old girl.
”Everything was fiction, she was an actor and the script was written, but it was presented in a vlog format, like it was real. It wasn’t my idea and I got in as an assistant, but I also got to write the script. After that we created a concept called ”MIA”. Then there was ”Jenter” which went on for ten seasons, was a big success in the ages 10-12 and won an Emmy 2017. The show also had viewers  that were up to 15 years old and that’s why NRK asked if it was possible to make a similar concept for 16 year olds. That was how ”Skam” came about.
NRK used the method NABC (needs/approach/benefit/competition) that builds on finding a need in the target group and poof solve it with a tv show. That’s why Julie Andem had one question in her mind when she did her three our long deep interviews: What does a 16 year old need?
”The most clear thing was that those who are young now has been subjected to pressure from all directions in life. They need to preform in school, during after school activities, on social media and in relation to future careers - it’s pressure from 360 degrees.
More than when you were young? ”Yes, definitely. That’s why the question was if it’s possible to make a tv show that takes away some of that pressure. The conclusion was to give the viewers some Self-deprecating humor as a tool to ease the pressure by laughing at it. We also wanted to teach them to see how human communication mechanisms work. If you are 16 and your boyfriend breaks up it feels like everything about you is wrong, but maybe it has nothing to do with you. We wanted to teach young people to confront the fear and build confidence, to stand for something and not run for others.”
[passage about the nine original characters]
”I knew what I wanted with the nine, but as an example I didn’t know there would be a party in season 3. Eva was going to learn to become independent and put away the shame she was carrying, while Noora needs to learn to let people in.
It sounds like you are very logical when you write, almost like it’s mathematics?
”Yes”
Was that way of working something you had learnt or does it have to do with your personality?
”Both. It’s hard to tell exactly what it is, but I thought ”Jenter”, ”MIA” and ”Sara” were fun to work with because it was something new. We succeeded with getting close to the target group and the interaction between us an the viewers were extremely fascinating. I studied closely what works and doesn’t - and why. Why we would get bad feedback on this video, but not on that and what can we learn from that? That I have a strong fascination for that way of telling stories and has been doing it for almost ten years made me good at it. Many has asked how I could create such a big success despite it being my first tv production, but it didn’t happen over night. I have worked with this for a long time.”
[passage about how the skam concept works and how big it became in the different Scandinavian counties]
”I don’t think it’s healthy to be totally caught up in a tv show, at least not for a longer period of time. But I think those who does that has reasons for it.”
Where do you draw the line?
”Haha, it’s hard to know where it should be drawn. But it’s not all bad, because in the communities that has been created around Skam people have found friends for life. They take care of each other and that’s amazing. So it’s hard for me to dislike it and I also didn’t understand people would get sooo caught up in it.
When did you discover that? When did things start to happen?
It was probably most clear in season two when Noora is waiting for William to reply to an important text. I was told that people sat and refreshed the page again and again to se if William had replied and no one could work.”
In this unbearable wait the hashtag #williammåsvare was created and a phone company made a commercial that said that if William had used their company he would have replied by now. Then a food store said they had ”waiting fish cakes”. Julie Andem let Skam reply to that with Noora throwing tandrum at Eskild because he has eaten her fish cakes and she yells ”JEG TRENGER FISKEKAKER NÅ!”. The interaction with the audience was the foundation of the idea.
How close to filming did you write the script?
”At best two weeks in advance and at worse two hours before filming. I wrote and directed and was editing parallel with constantly having to come up with new scenes. It was at that point I checked in here” says Julie Andem and points vaguely towards the hotel, where we are trying to talk over a pianist that’s now holding a concert right by out table. The strict waiter doesn’t think a interview is a good enough reason to change tables.
But even if you didn’t have the script finished there must have been a main storyline?
Yes, but the storyline changed. It was like a ”it has to be like this, but I will know better after the third episode.”
How has the translating of Skam to other language gone? Did you interfere with the translated versions?
”No, but I have meet those who are making the shows and often talk to the Italian director. He is very dedicated and has a lot of questions. It has been enjoyable.”
The American version ”Skam Austin” you have directed yourself. How was that?
”Super fun, but very different. In Norway we were five on the team - sound, camera, two assistants and me. In Austin there were 50-70 people on set. If you want to get young amateurs to dare to be vulnerable you have to create a safe environment and that doesn’t work with so many adults there. My photographer and me worked a lot with creating a bubble and push everybody else as far away as possible.
Did you adapt the script to the American audience?
”You have seen a lot of high school shows, so I was looking for something that you hadn’t already seen. But there weren’t much to discover - it’s exactly like in all tv shows. The coolest guy at a high school in Texas plays American football, that’s just how it is. We have seen that football team hundreds of times, but we didn’t want to make something up that didn’t exist. It was still new because the themes were new to them.”
I try to direct the conversation towards how the attention around Skam has changed Julie Andem as a human being and first she says she hasn’t had time to think about it.
”But I’m a quite easily embarrassed person and I’ve had to work on that, because a lot of people get in touch with me. Complete strangers dump their whole life story on me and I’ve had to practice receiving it. I got a letter from a 70 years old Swedish man who wrote that season 3 had given him a new life and that he wished he had got to experience that in his youth. I feel thankful to have taken part of that story, but sometimes I have to shut it out. Many stories are so sad that they make me too touched, too upset.”
You are a little strict too, right? ”Yes, if I know what I want and why I’m very clear. I don’t know how much you know about producing drama, but we filmed two episodes in three days and then there’s not really much time to stop and think about what you feel. And I’m pretty strong-willed.”
Julie Andem talks about a scene in the first season where the girls are walking up a hill on their way for a party while ”Dick in the Air” by Peaches is playing.
”That scene becomes fantastic with the sexualizing song, but I was told that we had to remove it because of something with the copyright. It is rarely I show that kind of emotions at work, but I was so upset and angry that I sat by my desk and cried. Then I took the phone and called everybody I know that works with music. I found someone who said they knew Peaches’ manager and then somebody came and said ’We’ve found a solution’. Two years later I was at a club in LA where Peaches were going to sing. I said to somebody that I dig her, so afterwards I got to meet her and told her about the scene and that I used her song. She said: ’I have seen then scene and I love it’ and I screamed back ’I KNEW IT!’”
The music is really fundamental in Skam. Is it based on your own interest in music or did you get help?
I’ve never thought that I have such a big interest in music. Many of my friends have very specific taste in music and I’ve liked everything. But yes, it’s fundamental and often I have written in and listened to the music while writing the scenes.
Had you found out what 16 year olds today listens to?
”Yes, absolutely, but teens today have Spotify, so they listen to everything. I got references from so many music genres that I realized that you could use pretty much anything. But I was important that the song they dance to at a party was a hit at that moment.”
The values that exist in Skam, pro feminism and against racism and homophobia, is pretty Scandinavian. How have they worked in countries like France and Italy?
”I don’t know, but Skam has spread all over the world and has big groups of fans in Argentina, Brazil, Japan and China. Skam is growing in China as we speak” she says and looks pretty cheeky.
”It seems like there are more people in this world that has use of Scandinavian values.”
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tisfan · 6 years
Text
One Hand Washes the Other
Title of Piece: One Hand Washes the Other Also on A03 Square filled: A4 - WTF Warning: unrepentant fluff, weird coping mechanisms, first date Pairing: Tony Stark/Bucky Barnes Summary: Bucky doesn’t always eat with the team. It takes Tony a while to figure out why. Created for @tonystarkbingo
Barnes didn’t always join the team for dinner. Tony didn’t always notice when he wasn’t there. At first, it was because maybe Tony was there; they weren’t exactly on friendly terms. But as time went on, and Tony was a rational, reasonable person, the enmity faded. Grew into something like grudging respect, and then grudging admiration. And then, because it was Tony, it might have turned into something like a reluctant crush.
Tony didn’t like to admit that he liked someone; it hadn’t usually worked out well for him. Case in point: Pepper Potts was back on the West Coast again, and sometimes missing her was like an extra hole in his chest, and he was beginning to believe that his emotional make-up was something very swiss-cheese in composition, and he didn’t need any more random aches and pains, thank you very much.
So, Tony tried not to notice when Barnes wasn’t around.
It’s not like Tony showed up to every single one of them, either.
To keep people from fighting about food, team dinners were two different protocols; ordering takeout was on a semi-random, preference oriented schedule. Which was to say, everyone entered in their personal favorites and Friday would select what people were getting for dinner. Which meant pizza was regular, as well as Chinese take away. Burgers.
The other protocol was the cooking roster, because some of the team liked to cook, and others on the team liked to sit down to a home cooked meal. Bruce, for instance, made the words best baby back ribs and absolutely would not tell anyone his secret, even swearing the AIs to secrecy and Friday diligently kept her word (traitor) and refused to allow Tony to access the kitchen camera. Not that Tony could cook, most of the time, but it was the principle of the thing.
But eventually, Tony noticed a pattern, because it was Tony.
The first night they’d done cheeseburgers, Barnes had eaten his portion with a knife and fork. Okay, weird, but a lot of Europeans did that, too, and Barnes had spent a lot of time in Europe. Tony, who drank a lot of his meals (sometimes they were smoothies and sometimes they were booze, and who asked you anyway?) didn’t comment, but Clint did.
And Barnes stopped showing up on burger nights.
He’d never showed up for pizza.
Barnes showed up for chicken one night, but he’d backed up and left in somewhat of a hurry when he saw the containers and realized it was fried chicken, not baked. Clint had waved a drumstick at him, trying to tempt him, but Barnes didn’t even look back.
Tony couldn’t help but notice a pattern after a while.
Barnes never showed up -- or left quickly if he did show up -- when the meal was something eaten by hand. Spaghetti nights, he was as deft with a fork and spoon to twirl pasta against as anyone. He ate epic amounts of steak and potatoes. Raw oysters disappeared like crazy, and sushi was a big hit, but peel-and-eat shrimp or crab legs were right out.
The guy wouldn’t eat popcorn on movie nights, either.
Well, Tony knew all about weird hangups that manifested in odd behavior, and he wasn’t going to call the guy out. Maybe it was some sort of shame-thing about the metal arm, even tho Shuri’s design was top notch, really quite elegant. Or something weird about the way it clicked when he moved it, but… well, it wasn’t Tony’s business, was it?
It wasn’t until one particularly bad bout of engineering fuge where Tony hadn’t slept in days, but had to stagger out of the workshop because he was out of coffee downstairs, and staring at the fabricator wasn’t going to make it run any faster that he actually saw Barnes.
Alone.
[more below the cut]
Sitting in front of the television, watching some late night, black and white, movie marathon and eating out of a bowl.
At first, Tony thought he had some of the left-over noodles -- there were always Chinese noodles of some sort or other in the fridge -- because the bowl was small, he was holding it under his chin, and he was wielding a pair of chopsticks with his left hand. The ridiculous mock up lightsaber kind that Tony had bought from Think Geek, because it was cool, and also because he was a little jealous that he hadn’t thought of it first.
Barnes didn’t take his eyes off the television, dipped the chopsticks into his bowl, and something crunched.
Not like a bamboo shoot, or a water chestnut, either, but…
“Are you eating Cheetos with chopsticks?” Tony couldn’t help but burst out. “Barnes, what the fuck?”
Barnes scrambled to put the bowl down; the chopsticks disappeared like a magician’s trick. “What? I was jus’ watching a movie, can’t always sleep--”
“No, no, that’s fine,” Tony said, waving that away. He knew quite a lot about not being able to sleep. “Can I just ask why?”
“Why what? Why can’t I sleep?” Barnes’s wide-eyed innocent look was both very good and damned endearing, but he wasn’t fooling Tony.
“Why do you eat like that, it’s so--”
“Weird. Creepy. Fucked up. I know.” Barnes heaved a sigh and by the time he was done, he looked somehow smaller and more fragile than Tony had ever seen him. This man, the one in front of him, blushing uncomfortably and fidgeting, that was a man that Tony could call Bucky. Not the cold-blooded killer, or the reluctant Avenger. He rubbed thoughtfully at the palm of his metal hand with the thumb from his right.
“Hey, I don’t let people hand me shit,” Tony said. “I am the last person to give you grief about weird coping mechanisms, I’m just wondering why.”
“Did you know that your computer keyboard has twenty thousand times more germs than a toilet seat?”
That seemed like a non-sequitur if Tony ever head one. Also, pointless. Supersoldiers didn’t get sick.
“There might be a reason I use hard light and projected imagery instead of something as quaint as a mouse and keyboard system,” Tony said. Also, projected imagery was a lot cooler than a clunky board.
Barnes spread his metal fingers to their max extension, all the little plates opening up to allow for the movement. Gold and black, it was gorgeous, and Tony wanted to touch it, poke at it, because, well, he generally had a boner for engineering, even if it wasn’t his own.
“Dust gets caught up in here,” Barnes said. “An’ other stuff.”
Blood, Tony read between the lines.
“There’s no cleaning features? That just seems like a failure in--”
“It was a little easier with th’ old one because there wasn’t a lot on th’ way of actual sensitivity. Used to brush it out with compressed air, but that shit is cold, and this hand can detect temperature extremes,” Barnes shuddered. “There’s coating on the circuits, that makes it waterproof, so like, I c’n wash my hands and stuff. But it’s disturbin’ as hell to wash my hands and see… grease an’ crumbs drippin’ out. Put m’ hand in th’ sewer a few weeks back, durin’ that fight with th’ Wrecking Crew. Took me almost forty minutes t’ wash all the muck an’ grime and other people’s shit out of it.”
“Well, that’s a disturbing image, yes, I can imagine,” Tony said.
“I jus’... don’t like to touch my food with it. And I’m left-handed, so eatin’ right handed is awkward.”
“So, you don’t eat things that you can’t use utensils for,” Tony said.
Barnes’ chopsticks appeared again and he hefted a cheeto and crunched it. “Saw this on one of them videos on YouTube, some girl showin’ how to eat without messing up your makeup, or getting chip dust all over your fingers.”
“Sounds like a good plan,” Tony said, and his mind was already whirring, because that’s what his brain did. Problems existed in order to be solved. Bucky’s chopsticks would work well for small things; chips and french fries and popcorn, but what about pizza? Cheeseburgers?
For that matter, what about raw sewage? No one should have to put up with that inside their bodies, even if Barnes couldn’t get sick, hadn’t he already gotten the short end of the stick with the unwilling body modifications?
“It works, at least,” Barnes said. He crunched another cheeto with pleasure.
Tony got a second bowl out of the cabinet, and snagged a pair of chopsticks. “Mind if I have some?”
“You pay for the groceries,” Barnes pointed out, but he poured out a serving of cheetos for Tony.
“Thanks.”
“What’s this?”
“Add-on,” Tony said, handing over the little disk. “It’s a-- well, consider it a deflector dish. I didn’t get a test audience on the branding, but since it’s only for people with high tech prosthetics, I don’t expect they’ll care what it’s called. Here, it goes on the back of the hand, here--” Tony picked up Barnes’ metal hand without really thinking about it, and the man froze. Tony was standing much closer than he usually did, and when Barnes glanced up at him, they were practically close enough to kiss.
“Right? Then what?” Barnes asked, not pulling back, and his blue eyes went deep and liquid.
“Well, I was studying the princess’s specs, and your arm still has an unreasonable amount of circuit heat, thus the plate mechanism, in addition to flexibility and strength, provides the cooling. So, we can’t quite do without it, yet, but she and I are doing a little collaboration, maybe make Steve Austin Mark III a little less clunky…” Tony said. “But for now… here, come here, and put your hand in this.”
There were not words for the look Barnes gave him, as Tony led him over to a bucket of slime.
“Go on, test it out.”
“I’m gonna make you clean all this shit out,” Barnes threatened.
Tony gave him a smile. “Deal. Put your hand in there, Buckybear.”
Barnes grumbled, but pushed his fingertips into the slime, which hastily shifted and pushed away.
“What th’ fuck?” Barnes -- no, Bucky’s -- eyes lit up, and the smile on his face was beyond joy. Wonder, amazement.
“It’s not very strong, but it extends about an eighth of a millimeter past the plates. Consider it a sort of electrostatic… skin. Works just like our skin,” Tony said. “Keeps all the dirt out, and…”
Bucky swirled his fingers in the slime. “I… can feel that. I can feel it. Not just pressure, not… I can feel that, Tony.”
“Yep, sunshine, that was the plan,” Tony said. He nodded to a cloth on the side of the bucket. “You’ll still have to wash it off, but--”
Bucky wiped his hand free, and then, before Tony was quite aware of what Bucky planned, those metal fingers were stroking down the side of Tony’s skin.
He told himself the tingles that it raised was nothing more than an effect of the electrostatic shield. He was lying, because he’d already tested it, several times, and he knew that there was no way any normal human would detect anything different about Bucky’s arm. That it would just feel like metal, smooth and supple.
“Tony, I can…” Bucky’s eyes filled and a tear spilled down one cheek.
“Yeah.”
“Why?” Bucky pulled his fingers back, rubbed them against his shirt, then held them out again, marveling. “Why-- thank you, but why?”
“Well, mostly, because out of all of us, you deserve to be able to eat a cheeseburger in peace.”
“Thank you,” Bucky said again, and he cupped the side of Tony’s face, as if still enchanted by the way Tony’s cheek felt under his palm.
“You’re welcome,” Tony said.
“Uh, can… will you join me, for a cheeseburger?” Bucky asked. And Tony might not have thought anything of it, except at the very end of the word, Bucky winked.
“Are… you asking me on a date?”
“If I said yes, will you say yes?”
“It’s a date, then,” Tony said.
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calliecat93 · 5 years
Text
RWBY V6 CH5 Review: The Coming Storm
It's been roughly about a month now since Volume 6 started... and ho boy, has this volume has not held back it's punches whatsoever. Within the span of four chapters we got a train wreck, long awaited questions answered, Cinder plotting her vengeance, and Salem reminding us why she is scary as Hell. We've been put through the wringer these past for weeks, and now with Chapter 5 upon us, we are all wondering how this can get anymore intense. Well delving into the horror genre seems to be a pretty good way! What do I mean? Well lets find out!
Overview
Before we check on our heroes though, lets check in on Cinder The good news for her is that Lil' Miss Malachite has gotten the information that she wanted. She informs the Fall Maiden of the good guys heading for Argus, which causes Cinder to conclude that they're heading for Atlas next. She starts to head off... until Lil' Miss refers to her by name. As it turns out, Cinder was quite the interesting figure. So much so that it brought the information broker double the business. How you may ask? Well the camera cuts to above where we see a figure standing on a  beam... and carrying with her a familiar looking parasol That's right my friends, after three volumes and a ton of teasing, Neo has made her return.
Neo wastes no time, attacking Cinder and the two villainesses begin to rumble. It's a pretty awesome hand-to-hand fight too, all as a chilling new Jeff and Casey tune plays. Did I mention that I really want the soundtrack? Between this, Lionized, Miracle, and the opening this soundtrack is gong to be morbidly awesome. Lil' Miss, while clearly enjoying the show, eventually tells the two girls to take their rumble outside. It's at this point that Cinder discovers that the Neo that she's been fighting is one of her illusions... so yeah, Neo can now cast longer, more lifelike illusions. Be afraid people. Be very afraid. But it isn't long before Cinder causes the real Neo to step forward.
Now normally, Neo has a confident, pretty cocky demeanor like her former boss, which her previous illusion also demonstrated. But here? Her clothes are slightly tattered, her expression is serious and vengeful, and most notably she is now wearing a very familiar looking hat. It takes Cinder no time to realize what the deal is: Neo wants to kill her as revenge for Torchwick's death. As they fight however, Cinder points out that they both have the same goal, which is to get revenge on Little Red Ruby. Cinder finally goes into Maiden mode, causing Neo to stop in fear, ad the Fall Maiden convinces her to knock it off and that they can work together to make Ruby pay. Neo agrees to talk... well she can't really talk, which I guess we now have conformation that Neo is indeed a mute. But you get what I mean.
Back with Team RWBY, the storm is growing worst as Ruby is confused by the state of Brunswick Farms. Most places that she's seen that were abandoned were either destroyed or unfinished, but this place is fine. The group breaks into what I assume is the mayor's house and everyone scatters to look around and find supplies. Ruby's attention goes to some portraits, showing a rather happy bunch of people. Blake goes to check on her... when the two hear Weiss scream. The gang goes to find her and Yang in a state of horror... because they just found the corpses of the home owners still int heir beds. WELL... THAT WAS SOMETHING.
A little later, Qrow confirms that all of the town is dead int he same manner. Weiss understandably doesn't want to stay there, but with the storm they have no choice. Qrow goes to see if he can find anything that can transport them out, ordering the others to go nowhere alone. Blake and Yang go to see if they can find anything in the other buildings as Ruby and Weiss look around to see if they can find any food. That leaves Oscar with Maria, who tells him to keep the fire going as she looks for a bedtime story. Did I mention that I love Abuelita Maria? Because Dear God do I love her.
Blake and Yang end up in some kind of barn/shed and look around, also wondering what it could have been that killed everyone. It's pretty clear that Yang is not handling any of the recent events well and Blake is concerned, but the blonde merely says that she's tired and wants to get out of this place. She finds a wagon that looks large enough to hold everyone, but any possible relief is killed when she has a flashback to Adam. She tells Blake of how she still flashes back to that night, her hand trembling as she asks the cat girl if she believes that Adam is still out there. Blake doesn't know, especially since despite knowing that the WF will reject him for his cowardice, he'll likely force his way anyways. She would know after all, he would use force and fear to make her feel beneath him and right into his control. But still, Blake tries to comfort Yang by assuring her that she isn't going anywhere and will be there for her. It seems to help Yang... until Blake says that if Adam comes back, she'll protect her. Yang doesn't take that comment well, heading back while saying that they'll hook the wagon to Bumblebee later. And somewhere, the Bumblebee shippers aren't sure if they should cheer, cry, or both.
Back with Ruby and Weiss, they find what looks like a bar. Ruby isn't happy with this, especially considering Qrow's current mental state, but brushes it aside as she heads for a pantry. Weiss however starts to ask Ruby if they're still heading for Atlas, much to Ruby's confusion. Weiss brings up that Salem can't be killed, so what's the point of going there now? Well that's what she claims anyways. I think that we all know the real reason why she doesn't want to go back. Ruby is clearly upset about this, but Weiss takes it back and just says that she's tired and hates this place... remember this for the review. They find more alcohol and a chained up wine cellar... and some canned shrimp flavored beans! Ugh... why would anyone make those? They take the food and leave and the episode ends with one of the cellar doors opening up...
Review
If anyone was hoping that things would get more cheery.. well sorry, you're going to be waiting awhile! Man, this episode was tense. Heck,t hat's what they should have named it! Tense: The Episode. I'm not complaining though cause man, this chapter was great! The drama continues to keep us at the edge of our sets, we got some payoffs, and plenty of nightmare fuel! Thanks for the Day 5/Until Dawn crossover CRWBY! I'll be having nightmares for weeks now!
So lets talk about the villains first! Neo is back... and I really don't care. I know that Neo is a fan favorite, and it totally baffles me as to why. Her design is cute and all, but... she hasn't done anything. I mean she's.. what? Fought Yang, broke Roman out of prison, and fought Ruby before getting Mary Poppins'd off the airship. That's it. We know nothing about her as a character and her scenes are very minor. She existed to be Roman's flunky because Monty came up with a cool design at the last possible moment. Otherwise, she could have been written out and it would have changed nothing about the series. I need more than a cool character design to care about a character, hence why I wasn't upset when Sienna got killed off, so I really wasn't all that excited to have her show up again,
That being said... this CAN turn out to be a good thing. Because with Torchwick dead, it gives Neo motivation as a character. She clearly cared about her boss and now that he's gone, all that she's left with is the desire for revenge against those who got him killed in the first place. With Cinder now wanted, it made sense to go after her first, plus it was Cinder's planning that got Torchwick put into that situation to begin with. Honestly Torchwick's death may be what allows Neo to get the character that I feel that she is lacking and while I don't expect her partnership with Cinder to stick for long, it'll be interesting to see how she operates now that she has the chance to get back at Ruby.
As for the scene itself, I loved it! The fight scene was great. Fast-paced, but not over bloated. Just a really cool hand-to-hand fight with both Cinder and Neo using their abilities to their advantage. Cinder is still a bitch, but she's showing more of the more smug persona that we're familiar with while actually being logical with her convincing Neo to work with her rather than against her. Considering her current situation and lack of any backup until she redeems herself, it makes sense for Cinder to go this route, even if her mind is still mainly on making Ruby suffer. But hey, she's not screwing up any per-conceived plans to do it this time! Oh, and Lil' Miss Malachite continues to be a delight. I freakin' love this woman.
Now onto our heroes... and boy do I worry for them. God the entire sequence from them breaking into the house to finding the bodies... it was tense. Something felt so off. Poor Weiss just seems traumatized after, and I can't blame her. I'd be traumatized too. So what was it that killed an entire town? Well I think it's pretty clearly a Grimm, but we'll go more into that in a little bit. For now, lets talk about the partner scenes.
Yang and Blake's scene just... made me sad. On the one hand, I freakin' love Blank. She's gone form my least favorite Team RWBY member and not even in my Top 5 to now being a serious contender for my second favorite alongside Weiss. Throughout this chapter, she is supportive and concerned for her teammates. She goes to see what Ruby's thinking about as she stares at the photos, gives Weiss a blanket while she's clearly still reeling from her morbid discovery, and she is trying so hard to be supportive and friendly with Yang. She tries to give Yang the chance to talk about what's bothering her, opens up about how small Adam made her feel, and tries to assure Yang that she's not going anywhere and won't let her get hurt again. It really shows how much that Blake has grown since Volume 4, an I am loving every second of it.
Sadly, Yang isn't doing that great. The recent events, from Adam to everything with her mom to the new revelations to now, have clearly weighed her down. She's downcast, bitter, and frustrated. Her PTSD is still haunting her as she still has flashback and despite being willing to face her fears, those fears still haunt her. And sadly just when it looks like Blake's making a breakthrough, Yang gets upset because Blake said that she'd protect her. It's a very sweet comment, but to Yang it make her feel like she's weak an incapable. She's supposed to be the one protecting people, not the other way around. She hates feeling weak and afraid, so while Blake's comment was nothing but well intentioned, to the blonde it felt like an insult and only reinforced all the negativity brewing inside her. Clearly she needs to let it out and she and Blake need to sort everything out, then she can start to do better. Hopefully, this arc will allow that.
Onto the Ruby and Weiss pair and... man, poor Weiss. The girl is badly shaken from finding the corpses, even as she tries to keep some kind of positive attitude after. But it's clear that both the recent events and the fear of going back to Atlas are haunting her. She's afraid to go home since it means facing her father again and the threat of once more being locked away. No one would want to go back to the place where thy were kept prisoner. But she's also concerned with the recent revelations. Salem can't be killed. Even if they lock away the Relic, all it'll do is slow her down. There seems to be no point, and Weiss is considering calling it quits even if only briefly. It shows how bad of a state shes in emotionally on top of everything else, and I really worry for her.
Then of course there's Ruby. I think that this is the most serious that we've seen her in a good while. She's very much in leader mode, and after how baldy she got the shaft last volume, this is very good to see. She's concerned about the state of the town and trying to piece it together. She tries to comfort Weiss by looking for food. When she finds the bar, she want sot immediately seal it up out of concern that Qrow will get overly drunk. Clearly a lot is weighing on Ruby, yet she still displays a helpful, positive attitude. She's really trying, and it really makes me concerned for her. IDK if all that she's holding in is going to break in this volume, but with how the other three seem ready to break, this might be the right time to do it. I do think that Ruby may have to save them all though, if my current theory about the Grimm is right.
So you may remember that both Weiss and Yang being tired, Yang even showing signs of being delirious. I don't think that's just general dialogue. Remember, they were the two who found the bodies. Bodies that were tucked in bed alongside the rest of the town. It seems that whatever the Grimm is, one that I assume the town locked up until now, it killed them in their sleep There are many different ways to interpret this, but my current thought is that this is some kind of dream walker Grimm. Think of it like Freddy Kruger form Nightmare on Elm Street. Someone who haunts and tortures you in your dreams, to the point that you end up dead in the real world. And this Grimm may cause people to feel tired in order to lull them into it' trap, hence why the entire town ended up dead.
If I had to guess, Weiss, Yang, and Qrow are going to end up asleep and end up victims of the Grimm. Maybe Blake too, but who can say? IDK about Oscar either though I think that Maria will be fine. This will probably means that while everyone is trying to fight through their nightmares. Ruby may have to go into the cellar to find and kill the Grimm, which would lead to the scene in the opening. Heck, for all I know all of them will end up in the nightmares and maybe Ruby's the first to break through or something. I'm not sure. For all I know, I'm talking completely out of my ass. What I do know however is no matter what this Grimm may be or whatever is coming next, with this episode's title being 'The Coming Storm' it's NOT gonna be pretty.
Final Thoughts
Like last week, this episode had me uncomfortable throughout, but in different ways. I am seriously worried about everyone and whatever it is that's about to happen to them. No one is in a good place right now, and that's probably about to reach a breaking point. But hey, we got a cool fight scene and a new song! That was nice of them! But yeah, really enjoyed this episode! It has plenty of character development and plenty of setup for next week. So tune in then as Nightmare Fuel Theater proudly presents RWBY: Day 5 Until Dawn!
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makesyoubrave · 6 years
Note
Janis/ Regina- college roommates
This also kinda fills a prompt I got for Janis taking care of a sick Regina. 
Read on Ao3 here. 
[I didn't think there was a world in which they were like "yo let's be roommates" but I also couldn't bring myself to write something where it happened by chance so suspend your disbelief just a touch for that part.]
Regina George thinks that all her luck ran out a long time ago.
To backtrack; her senior year of high school had been quite the experience. No longer the top of the social food chain, permanently damaged from the bus incident, and becoming a new person. Suddenly she limped instead of strutted, smiled instead of sneered, and honestly cared about her friends and their lives. Weird.
She’d even become friends with Damian and more-than-civil with Janis. But when Janis comes running into school one day, waving a piece of paper above her head, and shouting that she got a full-ride to the Rhode Island School of Design, Regina pales.
Everyone hugs her and congratulated her and Regina plasters on a smile and is genuine when she tells Janis she’s really proud of her and her face softens at Janis’ big grin.
Then Karen pipes up “isn’t that where you’re going to school, Regina?”
Regina pinks. Regina had applied early action to RISD and got in, but she was waiting to see if she’d gotten into SCAD or one of the other schools she’d applied to. RISD was her first choice but if one of the other school’s was going to offer her a bigger scholarship…
She’d decided about a week ago that she wanted RISD and she’d been talking the decision through with her parents. They’d agreed and she had told Karen (Michigan University) and Gretchen (Northwestern). She hadn’t wanted to tell Damian, Janis or Cady, because none of them had decided on a school or heard back from all their applications. But now it was out in the open.
“Yeah, um it is.”
Janis stares at her. “You’re going to RISD?”
“Yeah.”
Janis grins. “Damn, this is going to be wild.”
•••
Damian (who’s going to NYU) is the one who convinces them to room together. They’re both slightly intoxicated; drinking wine and watching romcoms just the three of them (Gretchen and Karen are at some party that Regina had declined an invitation to (which had honestly shocked them all), Cady and Aaron on a date) and he convinces them that it’ll be better if the two of them room together than it would be to try and get along with strangers. Plus, he argues, they’re friends now.
They sign up and apply and pick a room. When they wake up in the morning they regret it but it’s too late now so they’re stuck.
•••
Move in day is a little rough. The Sarkisian’s and the George’s haven’t interacted in years, but their parents are polite to one another. Janis and Regina worked it out so Regina would set up her side of the room in the morning and Janis would do hers in the afternoon.
When Janis and her parents arrive, Janis breathes out a sigh of relief. Regina’s side of the room is definitely pinker then Janis would ever allow her room to be, but it’s mostly white and gold with just a soft pink rug and dusty pink bedding. She’s put up fairy lights and some polaroids and she’s covered her desk surface in fake-marble adhesive panels. It’s very Regina.
Janis’ side of the room is a lot less black then Regina would have expected. When all is said and done Janis has put up a big black and white tapestry with gold tassels around it on the wall and her bedding may be black but most of the rest of her stuff is either a light teal or white. All in all it kind of works. When Janis’ parents leave to go move the car, Regina taps Janis on the shoulder and hands her a pillow. It’s black and gold and it says “I’m cooler than you” on it. Janis stares at her. (She puts it in pride of place on her bed)
Their dorm is small, though, and they refuse to make their beds bunk beds. Regina lofts her bed and sticks her dresser, storage bins, and desk under it. Janis keeps her bed at hip height and puts her desk at the head of the bed and her dresser slides underneath. Regina brought the coffee maker (some fancy thing that makes lattes and cappuccinos) and a tv that they put against the windows. Janis brought the fridge, two beanbags, and a fan.
By the end of the day, they’re all unpacked and ready for what orientation will bring. Janis calls Damian and Regina insists on talking to him; it warms Janis’ heart. By the end of the week, they’ve both made a few friends but they’re not afraid to admit they’re glad they came with someone they already knew.
•••
That's not to say that they always get along. Sometimes things get a little heated.
They fight. They scream. They don’t talk for days. And then, whoever was wrong (it’s usually Regina but not always) will buy the other dinner or cookies, or they’ll come home for class and the entire dorm will be completely cleaned.  
One time, after a particularly bad fight, Janis comes back from class and there’s chocolate mousse from that place they went to with Regina’s mom when she visited a month ago that made Janis blush when she had to choke back a moan. The chocolate mousse is ridiculously expensive and amazingly decadent and the restaurant isn’t very close so Janis’ is touched. Next to it is a sing rose. Janis double takes. It’s white and blue and black? which confuses Janis so she gets closer. She realizes it’s made of blown glass.
Janis is touched and wonders what poor kid Regina had to pay off or intimidate into making it.
It’s not until 11 pm when Regina is working at her desk and Janis is watching Netflix in bed when she remembers that Regina’s in a blown glass elective. The only light in the room is from Janis’ computer and Regina’s desk lamp. Janis stares at her.
Janis fakes having to pee and calls Damian. He rolls his eyes and tells Janis to calm down but as soon as he hangs up he squeals and freaks out to his roommate.
•••
It’s the beginning of October and Janis comes home from class, completely covered in paint and Regina’s trashed the room. She’s apparently getting ready for some party. It’s a Friday night and even after all these years when Janis opens the door and sees Regina in her skin-tight jeans and a low-cut crop top with a pink jacket she has to blink a bunch of times as her brain sort-of short-circuits.
As soon as Regina sees Janis just staring and standing in the door she rolls her eyes.
"I'll pick it all up as soon as I finish getting ready.”
Janis doesn’t necessarily believe her but she just shrugs and leaps onto her bed. She can wait to get settled in for the night until Regina leaves for her party.
She’s sprawled out on her bed when she realizes Regina’s been staring at her. She pops one eye open and looks up to see Regina with a glint in her eye. Reflexively she bolts up.
“I don’t know what you’re about to say, but the answer is already no!.”
“Janis…”
“No! No! NO!”
“Will you calm down?” Regina rolls her eyes and Janis stops (but only because she wants to).
“I just wanted to know if you wanted to come to this party tonight…”
Janis’ jaw drops. “Why would I want to come to one of your dumb parties?”
Regina looks taken aback. “Firstly, the parties I go to aren’t even the weird wild ones. Secondly, you sit in here every-fucking Friday, I think getting out would be good for you. Find somebody hot, drink a little, let your hair down.” Janis just rolls her eyes, but she’s also chewing on her bottom lip, which Regina knows means she’s thinking about it. “And lastly, I thought we were friends now?”
Janis starts and whips her head towards Regina. She looks her in the eye and see’s sincerity. It makes her feel kinda bad.
“I don’t really know what to wear.”
Regina’s grin is feral.
•••
Janis shows up to the party in pretty much what she always wears but Regina’s “refined it” as she said.
Instead of her big heavy jacket, she put Janis in one of her own lighter-weight and better-fitting black leather jackets. Janis is loathe to admit that she actually really likes it. Regina grins and tells her to keep it. Janis stares at her. (“You know I’ll probably just paint it and shit…” “If I wasn’t ok with that why would I have offered you keep it? I think your jackets are cool, they could just fit you better.”) Janis stares at her more.
When Janis goes to do her makeup, Regina slaps the eyeliner out of her hand and sits Janis down at Regina’s desk. She spins the chair around so Janis is facing her and giggles softly (“I’ve always wanted to do your makeup”) Janis stares at her.
When she spins Janis back around Janis is kinda pissed. Pissed because she doesn’t hate it. She’s wearing a lot less eyeliner than usual, but her eyeshadow is dark and blended really well and gives her that dramatic look without being as heavy. Regina grins and spins her back around, refusing to let Janis put on her regular lipstick and instead presents a purple-nude. Janis hates that she likes that too.
Regina insists on taking a picture of her (Janis flips off the camera) and sends it to the North Shore Squad group chat.
Cady calls them because she’s laughing so hard; tell’s Janis she finally got made over by the plastics. Janis hangs up on her and Regina cackles.
Gretchen sends a long paragraph gushing over how nice Janis’ bone-structure. She sends a picture of something for them to try next time and although Regina rolls her eyes Janis see’s the smile she’s trying to hide.
Karen sends about a million emojis that mostly encompass the hearts and a bunch of thumbs up but she’s thrown some fried shrimp and some dogs in there for reasons no one can try to guess.
Damian face-times them in the middle of a skin-care routine and gushes with Regina over how great Janis looks. Janis groans and stomps around in the background, but she pays very close attention to what they’re saying about her hair and the way the eyeshadow softens her “gorgeous” eyes.  
•••
Janis’ biggest fear is that when they get to the party Regina will just desert her, but she’s also resigned herself to that fact and decided she’s just gonna say fuck it. Maybe she’ll meet someone hot or someone interesting. Or both.
She’s shocked when the door to the house party opens and Regina grabs her hand and leads her through the crowd. Janis is pissed to say almost everyone at this party is hot. Some in the Regina-duh way and others in their own “I’m confident in the way I am but also have really pretty eyes” kinda way.
Regina drags her to the kitchen.
“You don’t like, have to drink or anything, and they don’t usually let like the gross pervs in, but don’t like…” she looks at Janis seriously, “don’t lose track of your drink. And if you do, get a fucking new one.”
Janis hasn’t been to a lot of big parties like this but she’s not a stranger to alcohol. She’s expecting Regina to give her something sweet and fruity and gross but when she asks for a drink and Regina hands her a solo cup, it’s an old-fashioned and Janis grins. Regina winks, grabs her hand again, and pulls her back into the other room.
They stand around and lots of people come up to Regina. Some of them Regina greets warmly and introduces to Janis. Others elicit a brush off. This one dude, Mark, comes up and Regina makes eye contact with Janis and rolls her eyes and sighs before greeting him. Regina isn’t as much of a bitch as she used to be, but she barely speaks to Mark, keeping her attention on Janis and he gets the hint.
“He was the nude model for one of our figure drawing lessons and he thinks he’s the fucking shit.” She sips her drink, “he’s really not.”
Janis snorts.
When their drinks are empty Regina grabs her hand, leads her back into the kitchen where she gets rid of their cups and offers Janis a shot. Janis grins and they down some vodka before the song changes and Regina kind-of-squeals. She grabs Janis by the hand and runs to the dance-floor.
Before Janis can finish thinking that this whole Regina-holding-her-hand thing is like a lot, Regina’s all up in her space dancing. Janis doesn’t really care what people think of her, hasn’t for years, but that doesn’t mean she’s completely comfortable in this situation. Regina ducks her head to make eye-contact with Janis and her eyes and her smile are warm when she leans in. Janis just stares. Regina’s mouth is incredibly close to Janis’ ear when she chuckles “Don’t worry, just don’t think about it.”
Janis is a weirdo. She knows that she owns it. But when she starts dancing in her own way she expects Regina to roll her eyes and tell her to stop or to try something different. But Regina just throws her head back laughing and dances with her. It’s kind-of intoxicating.
They’re like three songs in when a big buff dude comes up behind Regina and starts dancing against her. She stiffens, turns around, and sets him with a glare that could crumble someone much bigger and stronger than him. So he puts his hands up and backs off.
They go through about five more guys until it seems that everyone understands she’s not interested. But then out of the corner of Janis’ eye, she see’s a tall, thin, muscular brunette in a button up, shiny silver shoes and a leather jacket start making her way through the crowd. Janis tries to give her warning eyes, not wanting this girl to face the humiliation of Regina, but when she starts dancing with Regina the blonde stiffens as she has with all the guys, looks over her shoulder and then she grins. She swivels her head back to Janis and makes direct eye contact as she leans back into the girl. Janis just stares.
•••
Janis needs a break and she starts to head off the dance floor. Regina looks a little put-out but goes to follow her. Janis turns around and smiles honestly “No worries, I’m just gonna get some water and take a break, I’ll be right over there.” Regina grins at her and grabs her hand and leans in so Janis can hear her. “Call me if you need anything.”
Janis thinks that’s sweet and smiles but answers back, “I’m ok Regina, enjoy your night.”
•••
Janis ends up hitting it off with this girl named Felicity who’s an animation major and tall, lithe, and has short, strawberry-blonde hair. When Felicity leaves at 2 am she slips Janis her number.
Janis turns around and scopes out the crowd for Regina. She finds her in a very dark corner, being pushed into the wall by the girl she was dancing with before. The girl must be going at Regina’s neck with some fervor because Regina’s eyes are glassed over when she makes eye contact with Janis across the room. Janis gestures to her phone and then waves a goodnight.
Regina pulls away from the girl, Jessie, and pulls out her phone.
*Janis 2:13AM: Mica from my intro class is gonna walk home with me.*Janis 2:13AM: Stay safe and don’t walk home alone.*Janis 2:14AM: Also, if you bring her back to our place I will literally murder you. *Janis 2:14AM: *kissy face emoji*
Regina laughs really hard.
•••
They don’t talk about it, Janis figures that they’re past it all enough to not have to make a big deal out of Regina apparently being into girls, but the more she gets to now Jessie, the more it bugs her. She calls Damian to tell him and it takes him approximately twenty minutes to calm down.
“I STAN ONE QUEEN” he shouts into the phone before he hangs up. Janis is glad that Regina and Damian are friends but she feels a little betrayed. He calls her the next evening and apologizes and helps her work her lasting feelings about it all.
•••
Jessie and Regina are fuck-buddies and they don’t last for long. But once Jessie happens it’s like Regina’s settled into it and suddenly there’s a parade of people.
Regina’s usually really good about not bringing them back to their dorm but sometimes Janis comes home from the studio really late and finds a silk scarf on their door (Regina refuses to use socks) and she has to crash with one of her other friends. It doesn’t happen often enough for Janis to truly have any grounds to complain, but over time she gets home and see’s that goddamn red scarf on her door her blood boils.
One time, Regina forgets the scarf. Or maybe it’s that her and her newest conquest just got home, because Janis opens the door and Regina’s pushed up against the supports of her bed, pressed incredibly close to a girl that Janis recognizes from one of her classes - Frankie, Janis thinks - and Frankie’s hands are in Regina’s back pockets, and Regina’s moaning and her top is on the ground and she’s wearing a white floral bra and Janis stares, mouth open for a few seconds before she slams the door and bolts.
She comes home the next evening and Regina’s not there, but the room is clean and Janis’ usual order from their favorite Chinese place is on her bed, still warm.
•••
Regina might have a lot of girls but that isn’t to say Janis is living like an old maid. By the time their first year is over and it’s time for them to go home for summer break, Janis has been on plenty of dates, dated a girl named Quinn for most of second semester and even dated that dude from her intro class for about a month before she realized he was seeing a girl from his portraiture class at the same time.
When she tells Regina why they broke up, Regina stands up from her desk, looks Janis dead in the eye and Janis stares as Regina slowly transform into Junior-Year-Regina. Her jaw sets, her mouth purses, her eyes go hard, her posture becomes impossibly straighter and she sucks on her front teeth and puts her hands on her hips.
It makes Janis feel a lot of things.
Janis slides off her bed and panicked-ly waves in Regina’s face.
“Hey, hey, no-no-no. We’re not going back there ok!?”
Regina’s face softens at Janis’ panicked look and she takes a step forward and pats Janis on the cheek.
“I”ll be back in an hour, call Damian and clear some space on your bed.” Janis looks skeptical. “What kinda ice-cream do you want?” Janis stares and then grins.
Regina struts out of the room.
•••
She comes back a little over an hour later and she looks smug. She toes off her shoes and grabs the pint of ice cream out of the bag she’s carrying. She grabs two spoons and climbs into Janis’ bed. Janis shoots her a questioning look.
“Stop worrying and eat your ice cream.”
Janis decides to listen.
•••
She sees Mica the next day and he looks sheepish and small in a way he never has before. He apologizes honestly and profusely but Janis just smirks and walks away. Let him stew for a little, she thinks.
A week later she asks Regina what she did and Regina says all she did was tell the girl from the portraiture class what he did. Janis stares at her and Regina rolls her eyes. “I may have also got all up in his face and told him if he ever did it again that I’d castrate him.” Regina shrugs nonchalantly and Janis bursts into laughter. When she finally calms down, wiping her eyes she thinks that maybe she should talk to Regina about how that’s not a really cool thing to threaten someone, but then she thinks about how it might actually make Mica think about the consequences of his actions and she just smiles at a very smug Regina.
•••
They go home for summer break and, unlike winter break when Regina flew directly to Florida, they drive together. Regina drives most of the way and Janis puts her feet on the dashboard and although it looks like it physically pains her, Regina says nothing. Janis buys them lunch and then offers to drive the second half. Regina sits primly in the passenger seat until Janis flicks her and tells her to stop being a brat. Maybe to prove a point or maybe for a different reason, Regina stares at Janis as she puts both her feet on the dash and reclines her seat back.
Regina will never admit that Janis is the one who wins because she actually really enjoys relaxing. She likes to pretend it doesn’t exist, but the lasting pain from the bus really gets to her sometimes. So far she’s been able to hide it pretty well from Janis but she’s unsure how much longer that will last for.
•••
They hang out over break, of course, the North Shore Squad does a lot together, catching up and hanging out. But every night Regina looks around her big room and feels scared and sad and alone. Janis does too.
It’s the day after Fourth of July when all of Janis’ family had been in her house the night before and the house is so quiet and she cracks and she finds herself calling Regina.
“Janis? Is everything ok?”
“Yeah, it’s just…” she chuckles awkwardly, “it’s really quiet here.”
Regina’s brain gives her a million ways to make fun of that but she’s too soft now, she thinks because she just says; “Yeah, same… I miss you.”
Janis is silent and Regina balks. “I mean I miss having someone in the room, I got so used to it and it’s like… wow now I’m all alone and it’s just really foreign, like-“
Janis interrupts her. “I miss you too, Regina.”
They fall asleep with the line still connected, though they don’t say anything else, just content to know that someone is kind-of there.
•••
When it comes time to pick where they’re living the next year Janis decides there’s no way in hell she’s living in a dorm again. She thinks it’s going to be really weird not living with Regina until Regina texts her and straight-up asks if she wants to live with her again. Janis probably wouldn’t admit it but she appreciate’s Regina’s straight-forwardness. Apparently, Regina’s found a little two bedroom town-house really close to campus. Janis grins and agrees.
Their new house is gorgeous (at least in their eyes) and it’s really nice to have their own rooms, though they still spend plenty of time together. However, Regina’s escapades seem to have tripled. And having her own room means Regina brings more girls back to the house. They’re never really loud enough for Janis to hear them (what with the bathroom in-between their rooms) but when Janis comes home and see’s a foreign pair of shoes on the mat, she usually spends the night with one of her friends, a feeling deep in the pit of her stomach.
Janis has made friends with the people from that first party and when they throw another one in November, Janis and Regina get ready for another one very similar to the first time, but it’s colder now and fall so Janis insists upon wearing flannel. Regina concedes that but has to wrestle a beanie from Janis’ hands.
Regina ends up leaving at like 11 pm with some leggy brunette in a backward baseball cap and Janis is fuming. A fucking baseball cap? Janis finds the nearest eligible person (tries to not process that the girl is blonde and athletic and wearing pink shoes), pushes the girl against the wall and kisses the snot out of her. Ten minutes later, Janis leaves with her. She just walks the girl home and then she fumes some more.  
The fuming lasts for two days until she comes back from class early and notices Regina’s home. She’s supposed to be in class so Janis walks towards her room, sees the door open and then enters to see Regina lying in bed, crying.
“Regina! What’s wrong?”
Regina seems to short-circuit. She’s silent for a little too long. “Nothing, nothing I’m fine.” She goes to sit up, and Janis thinks her face might crack with the severity with which it is scrunched up in pain. She manages to swing her legs over the edge of the bed, and sit up before she can’t make it any farther.
Janis just stares at her.
Regina deflates. “I couldn’t get out of bed this morning. I tried and my legs buckled and it took me an hour to get myself back up into bed.”
Janis’ eyes are huge and she looks confused. Then her face softens.
“It’s from the bus, isn’t it?”
Regina starts crying again. “It just happens sometimes, the residual effects of it and all that, sometimes my body just can’t keep going.”
Janis steps in-between Regina’s legs and hugs her. She pulls Regina farther off the bed a little so that she can properly hug her and tries not to think about it. She holds her really tight but tries not to put too much pressure into it at the same time. After a few seconds, Regina hugs her back and Janis holds her as Regina cries and cries. After a few minutes Regina seems to not be able to hold herself sitting anymore and Janis helps her lie back down, runs to her room and digs under her bed to get the heating pad she keeps there and plugs it in. She tucks it under Regina’s back and grabs a towel and wets it in the bathroom, coming back and wiping Regina’s face down, tear-stained and blotchy.
She stares at Regina, with her eyes closed laying there in obviously a lot of pain and something inside Janis breaks. She climbs into bed with Regina and Regina curls into her and Janis holds her as she cries herself to sleep.
As soon as she thinks Regina is out enough, Janis slips out of her grasp, slips out into the hall and calls Damian.
••���
Once she admits to Damian that she has feelings for Regina, everything gets harder. Once Regina recovers from her bout of pain she’s back on top of her game and Janis can’t stand watching her flirt with, hold hands with or make out with this slew of girls. More and more come back to the house.
Regina and her still hang-out a lot. They do their homework together. They sit in Janis’ bed and watch TV when they don’t feel like going out. Regina comes to Janis’ art presentations and Janis looks over Regina’s compositions.
Two weeks before winter break Regina comes home and tells Janis that she’s absolutely in love with her sculpture class and she thinks she’s either going to get a dual-degree in that and fashion, or she’s going to completely change her major. Once they get back, and over the course of the first two months, Janis see’s Regina’s life change as she delves into her passion. She has much more enthusiasm for her school work and besides that, all the working with her hands is giving Regina’s already toned arms (that girl is up at 6 three days a week and in the gym) even more tone.
The fourth time Janis finds herself staring at them she realizes something’s gotta give soon.
•••
That day comes sooner than Janis thinks it’s going to. They’re at a party and Janis and Regina are on the dance-floor. Janis is just the far side of buzzed but Regina hasn’t really been drinking. With every party, Janis gets more and more comfortable with the scene and the bass is pounding at this party. Regina grabs Janis’ hands, nothing out of the ordinary, but then suddenly Regina’s spinning around and placing Janis’ hands on her hips. She backs up into Janis and flips her hair all to one side, smirking back at Janis. Janis just stares at her but then she smirks too and pulls Regina closer.
A song and a half later and Janis realizes what’s happening and kind-of bolts. She uses the excuse that she needs to use the bathroom and splashes cold water on her face. It sobers her and makes her realize she’s ready to go for what she wants. She heads back to the dance-floor with vigor but when she enters the room and makes eye-contact with Regina, Janis has been replaced by some girl with auburn hair and a jean jacket. Janis just stares.
Regina is looking right in her eye but she’s dancing with the girl with the auburn hair. Janis can’t stand the sight of it, so she bolts.
It’s mid-March and it’s still cold and Janis forgot her coat but she can’t even care. She doesn’t even feel the cold. She’s probably five steps from the front door when it slams behind her and she hears someone running up behind her.
“Janis!” It’s Regina so Janis steels herself and turns around.
Regina is holding Janis’ jacket. She hands it to Janis. Regina herself didn’t bring a coat, she often doesn’t. Regina’s eyes are open and she’s shivering in the cold. Janis hates her soft gay heart. She sighs and steps forward and slings her jacket over Regina’s shoulders. Regina sort-of buries into it and smiles up at Janis. Janis stares at her and then realizes how close they are. She goes to take a step backward but Regina grabs her by the elbows and pulls her even closer. Regina isn’t smiling anymore, she looks a bit exasperated.
“Janis, what do you want?”
Janis just stares at her.
“Because people aren’t mind-readers. And I might be awesome and better than most people, but I did not gain that particular power.” Regina looks so earnest. “So you have to tell me what you want.”
Janis stares into Regina’s blue eyes, shining in the darkness and she shakes her head at herself.
She grabs Regina, sliding her left hand to Regina’s jaw and the right to the spot where Regina’s neck and head meet and pulls her towards her. She pulls Regina off-balance and Regina steadies herself by putting her hands on Janis’ hip bones. They’re inches apart and Janis growls out; “I want you”. She waits just long enough to see Regina start to smile before she presses their lips together.
As soon as their lips touch, Regina pulls her in until they’re pressed flush against each other. Janis tries not to be overwhelmed, but Regina from a distance was intoxicating, and now… Janis isn’t sure if she’ll ever come down from this particular high.
The kiss deepens and Regina moans and Janis pulls her even closer and then Regina growls and digs her fingers into Janis’ back and Janis grabs at her own jacket around Regina’s shoulders and backs the blonde into the telephone pole a few feet away and presses into her.
Regina pulls back after a moment and looks Janis in the eyes.
“I was wondering how long it was going to take for that to work.” She’s smirking and she’s got all the attitude she retained that Janis secretly loves but all the softness she’s gained that makes Janis melt. But her words shock Janis. Janis stares at her.
“I’ve been wanting you to do that for months.”
“But you just said… you have to go for what you want.”
“Janis, a little more than two years ago I was the girl who ruined your entire life. I could see in your eyes what you wanted, but you needed to realize it for yourself and then make the choice to trust me.” Regina seems… nervous. “And I realize that this could have been a heat-of-the-moment decision and while it will kill me to give you up now I’ve had a taste of what could be,” here she grins and pulls Janis closer to her, but then she stops and pulls back, “I need you to be sure that this is really what you want, because I know it might seem like my ‘schtick’ but I’m not planning on being casual with you Ja-“
Janis shuts her up by dragging her back into a kiss. She pulls Regina to her and slides her hands down to her ass and presses Regina against her. Regina wraps her arms around Janis’ neck; Janis’ jacket slips off of Regina’s shoulders but neither of them notices. Regina threads her fingers through Janis’ hair and slips her leg in-between Janis’.
She pulls back just enough to whisper her demand into Janis’ ear. “Take me home, Janis. Take me home now.”
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emilyemcnabb · 5 years
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Jillian and Jonathan’s wedding at Saint-Gaudens
At Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site, in a pocket garden hidden amongst hedges, Jillian and Jonathan’s wedding stirred every feeling of wonder and magic of A Midsummer’s Night Dream. Planned by Scarlet Begonias Customized Events, the day was elegant and ethereal, yet pastoral and organic. Jillian’s bouquet by Spring Ledge Farm included florals native to the nearby fields and forest, a nod to the New England charm that exuded from every moment of the day. Even the greenery seemed to grow and intertwine through the reception tent creating an extension of the surrounding landscape. Lucky for us, the couple enlisted the skills of Ashley Helen Photography to capture the beauty of their day in these stunning images.
What made the wedding special and unique?
Because we had so many guests coming from out of town, we wanted to present the best of what rural New England has to offer. We chose outdoor venues with views of the mountains, at a sculpture garden and a private home designed by local artists Augustus Saint-Gaudens and Charles Platt, and held our rehearsal dinner at Simon Pearce, a local glass-blowing factory. My husband and I are United Methodists and we asked a pastor from a nearby church to perform the ceremony, so our faith was incorporated even though the wedding itself was held outside in a secular venue. In keeping with the theme of an evening wedding surrounded by forest, the motif was “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” with lots of trailing greenery, fairy lights, and long flowing bridesmaid gowns.
I wanted to bring the forest into the tent as much as possible, so for the centerpieces I chose tall branching greenery decorated with delicate fairy lights. Our outstanding wedding planner found more than a hundred dirty antique brass candlesticks for rent and polished them up to a soft gold that perfectly matched the flatware. They were all mismatched, which added a bit of whimsy.
All of our florals were grown and arranged by Spring Ledge Farm. I chose a cascading bridal bouquet with white flowers and smaller pink-blossomed bouquets for the bridesmaids. My father and fiancé wore white flowers in their boutonnieres, to match me, whereas my father-in-law and the groomsmen had pink rosebuds. One of my favorite decor items was the pre-planted decorative pots; Spring Ledge designed and grew the pots for us, then delivered them to rent out the weekend of the wedding. We used them to cover up the tent pegs. They were all different; my favorite was the one with a tiny Japanese maple growing in it.
Tell us about the gown and where/how you found it!
I knew from the outset I wanted a gown with simple lines and fabric. When you walk into a bridal store and say you want no lace, tulle, rhinestones, or ruffles, that really narrows your choices down! However, I fell in love with the illusion back on my Justin Alexander gown, so I had to backtrack on my opinions about sparkly embroidery. Because the cathedral-length-plus train of the gown made such a statement, the rest of the dress’s simple lines didn’t seem too plain, and the deep v neckline and exposed back added an air of sophistication and subtle sexiness. Between the sparkly back and the length of the train, I didn’t want to overdo my accessories, so I wore only a pair of silver crystal drop earrings from BHLDN and a sapphire bracelet my sister had designed for me – four stones to represent the members of our family as my “something blue.” Badgley Mischka heels with a spangle of rhinestones on the back (and heel protectors to keep me from sinking in the grass) completed the look. We wanted to preserve the formality of the occasion despite the outdoor setting, which is why we chose a black tie dress code. My husband wore a tailored tuxedo from Jos A Bank and subtly textured shirt from Bonobos. He and all his groomsmen kept to the traditional black bow ties for the event.
What were some touches added to make the wedding personal? 
Aside from having the wedding in my (the bride’s) hometown, my favorite and most personal touches were sleeping in my childhood bed and getting ready in the same house I grew up in. It made the moment when we all bundled into the shuttle to go to the wedding all the more poignant. We brought in my husband’s family tradition of using his grandfather’s Naval Academy saber to cut our wedding cake. It’s been used to cut three generations of Shonerd wedding cakes, and even though his grandfather passed away several years previously, I was glad to be part of his legacy in that way on the day I married into the family.
What was the most memorable part of the day? 
My sister gave me the excellent idea of doing “first looks” with my bridesmaids and my dad before driving to the ceremony. She and my mom ushered the bridesmaids and Dad out of the house, got me into my dress, and then I walked around the house for the surprise. Only one of the bridesmaids had seen pictures of my final dress choice, and their reactions to the final effect made for great pictures! The reveal moment with my dad was very sweet. I pinned on his boutonniere and I’ve never seen him look so proud.
My husband and I agree on our favorite “wedding day hack” – after we were done with bride and groom portraits after the ceremony, when everyone else was at cocktail hour, we sneaked into the tent to share a drink and some appetizers together in a quiet moment as newlyweds. It gave us a chance to see all the decor in its pristine glory and try the delicious southwest egg rolls and coconut shrimp from chef Doug Langevin that we’d carefully picked out months before!
Tell us how you met and became engaged.
We met via Match.com just after New Years in 2015. I immediately liked his smile and the fact that he’d visit his grandma after work to help fix her computer. He (apparently) liked the fact that my profile specified that any interested parties would have to know the difference between “their, they’re, and there.” We met for coffee and had so much to talk about that we stayed until the shop closed. Two and a half years later, Jon proposed while we were staying at Ballyseede Castle in Ireland. After a day of travel and last-minute sightseeing (I had insisted on an impromptu day trip to the Cliffs of Moher that threatened to ruin his plans!), he suggested we take a picture in the castle garden before going in to dinner. As soon as we reached the gazebo, he went down on one knee, and the photographers that he’d booked got every stage of my total shock on camera! My favorite line from his memorized proposal speech was “you are the one I’ve prayed for my whole life.” I couldn’t have designed a more personal, romantic proposal if I’d done it myself.
Photographer: Ashley Helen Photography // Wedding Planner: Scarlet Begonias Customized Events; Owner Meg Tenney // Florist: Spring Ledge Farm // Ceremony Venue: Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site // Reception Venue: Private Estate // Gown Designer: Justin Alexander // Bridal Shop: Vivid Bridal Boutique // Cake: MC Confections // Live Band: Wellfeet // Makeup Artist: Candace Kennedy // Hair Stylist: Vanessa’s Salon; Jaclyn Fortin // Tuxes: Jos. A Bank
  The post Jillian and Jonathan’s wedding at Saint-Gaudens appeared first on Grey Likes Weddings | Wedding Fashion & Inspiration | Best Wedding Blog.
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davidaolson · 6 years
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I close my eyes, only for a moment, and the moment’s gone All my dreams pass before my eyes, a curiosity Dust in the wind All they are is dust in the wind…
Street Food Fit for a Queen or Two US Travelers
Mussels & Clams
At the San Pedro port, there is a Hispanic Mujer, a street vendor who makes out of this world chicken or pork with a healthy serving of arroz y frijoles. Her English is not great so she has bilingual helpers to ease transactions. She sets up her stand beneath a blue, Tyvek tarp. We stumbled upon her by accident (is there really such a thing as accidents or is the universe conspiring to give us what we need?) upon arrival last Thursday. We purchased three meals, two chicken one pork, with mine liberally doused in a locally sourced, habañero based hot sauce.
The first thing we did when arriving at our Inn was to devour the meals. Deliciso! Maravilloso! Our tasted buds danced a Pasa Doble and a Cha Cha. It was a memory, a slowly fading memory we savored for three whole days. It was a taste photograph we were determined to reimage when we arrived back at San Pedro from Caye Caulker. Our stomachs grumbled, our mouths salivated the entire thirty-minute ferry ride.
To our great dismay, and I still tear up over the tragedy, La Señora had no chicken, no rice, no beans. There was a festival going on, a three-day celebration of Carnival, and we were in day two. Because of reduced demand for her food, she only making beef or pork burritos. Dejected, we purchased a couple of beef burritos that would fill our bellies but not delight our tongues.  “Pollo mañana”, she told us, chicken tomorrow. We designed the entire next day to ensure we could brighten up the tasted images our palates were slowly forgetting.
To pass the time, we rented a golf cart, the most popular transportation source on the island followed closely by biking and walking and went to ‘Secret Beach’ which turned out to be not so secret. The seven-mile ride to us a half hour because the streets, if you can call them streets are rugged. Speed is not an option unless you want to destroy the car and/or get dumped on your head.
We spent a couple of hours snorkeling at Secret Beach and drinking the water from three coconuts. Haven’t had them since our last trip to the Philippines and had forgotten how tasty they were. We thought maybe we should eat barbecue chicken at the beach but the vendor was closing up when we arrived. They stop cooking at 3:3o pm. This, I took, as an omen that we were supposed to eat at La Mujers.
We returned to Cocotal for a quick clothing change then shot into town and the very slow maximum speed of 30 mph. Golf carts either don’t go very fast or they are throttled down to protect the tourists. In town, we had to fight the bumper to bumper Carnival traffic and the many closed roads keeping vehicles from the main square, the exact location of our pollo o cerdo con arroz y frijoles.
We found parking a couple of blocks away, after circling the city once to find parking, then fast walked our way to La Santa’s stand beneath the blue tent. Our hunger had elevated her from woman to saint in our eyes. Our plan was to purchase three chicken meals and one pork meal for this evening and for lunch the following day, our second to last day in Belize. Heaven, we’re in heaven.
Same old song, just a drop of water in an endless sea All we do crumbles to the ground though we refuse to see Dust in the wind All we are is dust in the wind Oh, ho, ho…
George Bernard Shaw once said, “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” I think you can see where I am going with this. This mis-communique was that she would have the entire meal. It was still Carnival, the last day of the festival. She was still only serving burritos. She had chicken and beef but only for burritos.
Mañana we were told again, mañana she would have chicken and rice and beans. Well, tomorrow was Valentine’s day and we had reservations at the excellent Ajit Bistro, a short walk from our hotel, and a table beneath palm trees overlooking the Caribbean sea. This time mañana translated to nunca, never.
We purchased two each of chicken and beef burritos and went home to eat them accompanied by a bottle of white wine. Oh, they were also out of hot sauce so mine were decidedly bland. That taste image of the first night is a yellowing photograph slowly fading to monochrome.
Restaurants – 2 Winners, 1 Meh
We ate three excellent dinners at two local restaurants, all served up mouthwatering meals. Two were at Ajit Bistro. The Bistro is a short 5-minute walk along the beach South of our Hotel. The beaches are common territories and must be kept free for passage. I love that it doesn’t allow the rich or the big hotels to hoard or make passage difficult. We heard good reviews about Ajit last year but the one day we had the opportunity to go, did not play out. Ajit is closed on Tuesdays.
Our second meal there was for Valentine’s Day. Upon booking the trip, we originally planned on returning Wednesday but decided to extend when we realized we could spend V-Day in Belize. Mara, the camp dog, followed us to the restaurant, sat with us while we ate, then escorted us home. It is one of her many endearments. While at the restaurant, she did roam a bit and visit other guests. We ate fresh snapper, bacon wrapped shrimp, lobster, and succulent coconut pie made from local coconuts. Highly recommended.
Rain was a repeat from last year. It is an open-air restaurant on the top of a roof with a great view of the sunset. We were here last year but failed to bring a camera. We made sure to make a reservation this year at the best table for a setting sun view during our meal. We appetized on clams and mussels.  Wonderful! As was the crusted grouper and the wine. Highly recommended.
Then there was Ak’bol. Last year we had a couple of decent breakfasts. This year…meh!  We ordered our food, eggs with bacon. When it finally arrived our plates had sausage no bacon.
“We ordered bacon.” “Ya, we didn’t have any bacon. The boss is out at the store getting some so I gave you sausage instead. It’s really good sausage.”
And it was really good sausage but we should have been given the option before it was served. Que será, será.
Satiated on Fish, Wine, Wife on VDay
Wine and Bacon Wapped Shrimp
Fresh Snapper Mostly Gone
Fresh Lobster Mostly Gone
Ak’bol Cafe Sign
Sunset From Rain Restaurant
Mussels & Clams
Cruster Grouper
VDay Sunset with Pelicans
Sunset in Paradise on VDay
Coming to Terms with Monkey
Now, don’t hang on, nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky It slips away Dust in the wind Everything is dust in the wind… 
You may have noticed, Monkey does not, until now, make an appearance in this last offering. As much as I would like to shut Monkey up for a few years, that is not possible. Nor is it likely to be good for me. Much of my writing comes from looking back and thinking forward, about Wacha did? and Wacha gonna do? as Monkey frequently babbles.
Monkey helps create the tension between balanced and future balanced on a fulcrum of my preferred desire to exist solely in the present. It is out of this tension that my ability to write creatively bubbles up into my consciousness and spill onto paper. The tension is a necessary component without which I would not write to reconcile all three states of mind. Monkey, as obnoxious as he can be, is a linchpin without which the entire system falls apart. Without Monkey, I would be incomplete. I guess we will be remaining partners going forward. Though, there are many times I still want to slap the Monkey.
Flying Away
Sitting in the Plane
View from the Plane
I wish that I could fly Into the sky So very high Just like a dragonfly I’d fly above the trees Over the seas in all degrees To anywhere I please…
Dust in the Wind and Monkey Truce: A Week in Belize, Part 5 I close my eyes, only for a moment, and the moment's gone All my dreams pass before my eyes, a curiosity…
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isakthedragon · 6 years
Text
Super Sonic Thieves Chapter 6
Chapter 6 - Thieves Vs. Spies Vs. Robots
Intro Cutscene:
Sly: “Well, thieving around with Otto was fun, but he had to get back to the ‘war effort’ eventually, which meant it was time to move on. I took a quick look at the Thievius Raccoonus and it looks as though we are moving forward in time again, to go see my grandpa, Bruce O’Coop, who is one of the less known members of the family. I don’t remember much about him, but I do have a vague memory of him of someone telling me he actually worked for the US government once. And according to the Thievius Raccoonus, that was true, he was their spy who infiltrates groups suspected of being communists. Heh, how appropriate a thief does a spies work. :P And Bruce would go on to steal from confirmed Soviet Union spies. But it seems an investigation he went on lead to him disappearing. Something about that doesn’t sound right, Coopers don’t disappear that easily.. Looks like we’re off to visit America to find him.”
Sly Cooper and the Gang in…
*A view of a ‘50s computer monitor is shown and ones and zeros appear into they form a picture of the title card ‘Thieves Vs. Spies Vs. Robot’ .*
-----
Hub Layout:
Setting: Undisclosed southeastern state’s swamp (New Orleans, Louisiana)
Gang Hideout: An empty, abandoned home outside of the city.
Surroundings: The safe house sits near to the river and ‘houseboats’ float up and down the river. On the other side of the bank sits an abandoned mansion to the east. North leads into the city of New Orleans, but it oddly seems quiet... West of the safe house is a swampy region, supposedly untouched by civilization, save for any voodoo practitioner. And to the south is a long road, separating the river and swamp.
Enemies:
Policeman Pawn: Pawns in police uniforms that’ll fire their pistols at you if they spot you. Drops 9 rings.
Army Pawn: Pawns in military fatigues that carry machine guns. Bet you can figure out what they’ll do with them. Drops 11 rings.
G-Man Pawn: A dapper pawn in the government black suit that carries around a briefcase. Get their attention and they’ll drop them on the ground, bringing up a turret gun that shoots bullets at you. Drops 13 rings.
Ruski Pawn: *Russian accent* He’s your standard spy pawn from the EGB. Very dangerous, as they can control nearby terminals to fire machine guns hiding in walls, trees, etc. They are invincible (unless you sneak attack them first. :P ). Drops 15 rings.
Treasures: (None. Sly isn't around long enough to warrant it. Besides, more treasure was used in the last Chapter. Also the reason why there are no Sly guards about.)
From Pedestals:
200 Year Old Gumbo Pot: No booby trap, but Bruce is needed to open the cage it’s in with his cane. Worth 1000 coins and 500 rings. On a pedestal near the entrance to the city.
Golden Mardi Gras Mask: Fall damage booby trap. Worth 1250 coins and 625 rings. Hiding on a roof of a building in the city.
Silver Tiara: Bomb booby trap, 1:30 minute timer. Worth 1500 coins and 750 rings. Hiding on a building in the city.
Voodoo Necklace: Not booby trapped per se, it will raise spirits to attack you as long as you hold it. Worth 2000 coins and 1000 rings. Hiding on a pedestal in the swamp.
The coins have a design of shrimp and gumbo on them.
Secret Clockwork Sighting: Hiding among the trees in the deep swamp.
-----Jobs-----
Recon on the Bayou
Take recon of New Orleans
Bentley: “Alright guys, you know the drill by now. Get some recon photos of the area so we know what we’re dealing with.”
Sly: “Understood buddy.”
Vector: “It’s a good thing you chose me to go with you. I can swim in the river and swamp so you don’t have to.”
Sly: “Really now? Thanks… Say, Vector, does New Orleans seem a bit different to you?”
Vector: “We don’t exactly have a New Orleans, we do have a similar place that does Mardi Gras… but I sense what you mean… it feels… quiet. Definitely not the right atmosphere, and it’s not the swamp behind us.”
Sly: “Yeah… well, we better not keep Bentley waiting, let’s go.”
*The player takes Sly and Vector to the river first, to take a recon photo of the houseboats and abandoned mansion.*
*Once done*
Sly: “Hmmm… there’s something odd about them, but I can’t put my finger on it.”
Vector: “I have to admit those houseboats look suspicious, floating only around that mansion… Protection perhaps?”
Sly: “Maybe… aw well, move on.”
*The player now heads off to the city. Once there.*
Sly: “I knew this place was too quiet. No one is here.”
Vector: “Seems Metal Sonic has taken over. Look!” *He points to a nearby billboard which has an animated Metal Sonic, which goes into a terrifying face to scare people.*
Sly: “Hmm…”
*The player takes recon of the billboard and the transmitters in town.*
Sly: “Why does he need transmitters?”
Vector: “I’m not sure… I think we better move on.”
*The player then moves on to the swamp. In there…*
Sly: “I see Eggman has made the swamp his place of business.”
Vector: “Yeah. Hey, look at that gate.”
*The camera turns to a huge gate blocking access to going deeper in the swamp.*
Sly: “I see there is no way in… the gate is too large for us to break.”
Vector: “Yeah, and I can’t swim under it. We better return to Bentley.”
Sly: “Yeah”
JOB COMPLETE
-----
Bentley: “Is this really all the recon you could get?”
Sly nods. “Sorry. There just wasn’t a lot to work with.”
Bentley: “Hmmm… what do we do next then…”
*Just then, as you could call luck, Bentley’s computer starts going off, warning of a hacker trying to hack his computer for information.*
Bentley: “What the? Who the heck is hacking my computer?”
Sonic: “Is it Eggman?! Or Metal Sonic?!”
Bentley: “I’m not sure. I’m gonna have to fight them off.”
-----
A Hacker’s Desperate Plea
Beat the Unknown hacker
Find the hacker
*The player is sent straight into a hacking game, right into a battle against the unknown hacker. This hacker is kind of tough, sporting a huge AI ship. Whoever it is must be a part of the FBI, since the main part of the ship has the FBI insignia. The player has their work cut out to cut the guy down to size, but fighting smartly will make sure you win.*
*Once defeated...*
Bentley: “AHA! Success! I know where he is! He’s in the city! Let’s go! Sly, with me!”
Sly: “Do you think we should use the van?”
Bentley: “No. I think I may have spooked the guy. We have to get there fast, but silently. Come on, let’s go.”
*The player now has a set time limit to run into the city and make it to the waypoint set out to the coordinates of the hacker.*
*Once there...*
Sly: “Looks like we are just in time. He’s just leaving now.” *A turtle comes out of the building.* “Hey, he reminds me…”
Bentley: “Of me? I’m with you there. I wonder if he might be my grandfather… I don’t exactly remember him but this guy brings up the feeling, especially with the way he hacked. It seemed like mine.”
Sly: “Well, all we can do is ask him about who he is. I guess I’ll go first.”
*Sly goes and stops the turtle in his tracks.*
Sly: “Where are we going in such a hurry?”
The turtle jumps and hides in his shell in fear until he sees the raccoon feet. “Damn it, Cooper! You scared me! Where the heck have you been? I’ve been left dealing with this case alone.”
Sly stands in confusion. “Uh… whatever you’re talking about… all I know is that you have hacked my friend’s computer, and you’re going to tell me why.”
The Turtle: “Huh? Your friend? Wait… are you even Bruce?”
Sly: “You first. Why did you hack us?”
The Turtle: “Well, you make yourself obvious when you’re the only other computer signal in the area.”
Sly thinks and says: “... Fair enough. Bentley, come out.”
*Bentley comes out from the nearby shadows.* “Considering his bad eyesight, I think it’s him.”
The Turtle: “Who? What?!”
Sly: “Well, I’m not Bruce, I’m Sly, his future grandson, and this is Bentley, your future grandson.”
The Turtle: “Bentley? Hey, that’s my name too, though I like Ben better.”
Bentley: “I think we better continue this at the safehouse.”
Sly: “Agreed.”
JOB COMPLETE
-----
Sly: “Once we returned to the safehouse and told him we’re from the future and helping the Cooper line, Ben told us everything.”
Ben: “I guess… if you guys are truly from the future and want to help… I’ll spill… Bruce and I were sent here to New Orleans by FBI orders to investigate Communist rumors spreading in town. Unfortunately… it’s much worse than we thought and makes me wish it were Russians. There’s these metallic… things just roaming around the city, scaring everyone away. And they seem to be controlled by an even scarier being with large spines!”
Sly: “Sonic and the others confirmed that he was talking about the Egg Pawns and Metal Sonic.”
Ben: “I think he’s connected to Bruce’s disappearance… I see you guys went to the swamp, from your photos… he went there to check out those things… but he hasn’t returned… I think your Metal Sonic guy grabbed him…”
Sly: “It was pretty clear… we had to go and find Bruce. If Metal Sonic is as bad as they say he is… well, it might be better to act now.”
-----
Bentley: “Alright. Ben, Tails, and I have thought on this, and are pretty certain on one thing: We need to rescue Bruce from Metal Sonic’s grasp. Of course, we know this is tough. Metal Sonic is definitely not like the last of Eggman’s lackeys. Metal Sonic is a very smart android, pretty much the supercomputers of supercomputers. Even Bruce didn’t have a chance.  Hopefully though, our combined genius can beat that. Sly, you and Vector should go back to the swamp, in search of Bruce.”
Sly: “Got it.”
Vector: “Alright.”
Bentley: “And if you see anything interesting, recon it and we’ll deal with it after getting Bruce. Now let’s go.”
-----
Swamptastic Voyage
Take recon of the deeper swamp
Find Bruce
*Sly and Vector sees the gate from earlier has been busted open by some force, breaking them off their hinges.*
Vector: “Wow… that gate was destroyed like it was nothing! Well, I guess that means we can head on deeper.”
Sly: “Yeah, but we better be careful. It could be dangerous in there.”
*The player heads on deeper, and find themselves passing by big machines that are draining energy from the swamp and New Orleans.*
Vector: “I wonder what Eggman is sucking up?”
Sly: “If I had to guess from past experience, he might be taking in supernatural energy. Swamps like these have tons of that energy.”
Vector: “Guess we should get some recon of them for Bentley.”
*The player takes recon of the 4 collectors as they head deeper into the swamp. Soon, they find themselves at the mouth of a cave.*
Vector: “This seems to be the only place we can go… think Bruce is in there?”
Sly: “I think so… only thing we can do is check.”
*The player enters and finds plenty of platforms and modern laser traps that make traversing the cave really difficult. Making it past rewards you with finding a very scared Bruce.*
Bruce: “Hoo, boy, you’ve really done it now, Bruce. Got caught by an angry android and now getting stuck in this cave. How elite I am.” *He hears Vector and Sly coming* “Aha! What monster dares to attack the mighty hacker Bruce, brave and strong!?!”
Vector appears. “Hey, Sly, it’s Bruce.”
Bruce: “AH! A CROC! DON’T EAT ME!!” *He curls up and hides his face behind his tail, waiting for the moment of being eaten.*
Sly appears. “Bruce, we’re here to rescue you.”
Bruce: “Huh?” *He moves his tail to see Sly and Vector smiling happily* “You are not going to eat me? You a friendly?”
Sly: “Well, my croc friend is. And I am as well, Bruce.”
Bruce smiles, then remembers his FBI training. “Hey… wait a minute, how do you know my name?”
Sly: “Well… we did find your friend Ben in the city, alone.”
Bruce: “Oh, my! Ben! Thank goodness you rescued him! It’s scary out there!”
Sly: “And… since I think I have to say in good conscious… I’m your future grandson. I came back in time with my friends to rescue you.”
Bruce thinks and says: “Hmmm… future grandson? I oddly believe that… heh, us Coopers are a mystic bunch. I mean, take me. I’m a hacker of 50’s computers!”
Sly: “Heh, Bentley’s going to like you. Come on, let’s get out of here.”
*The player leads the trio out of the cave and into the swamp again.*
Bruce: “Ah, the beautiful sky! How I missed it.”
Vector: “It does look pretty actually. That cave wasn’t as tough as it looked.”
Sly: “Yeah… almost too easy… almost no problems getting him out… Was it-”
*A dark and sinister, mechanical voice breaks the darkness.* “A TRAP? THAT IS CORRECT, SLY COOPER!”
*Metal Sonic, looking very dark among other things swoops out of the dark underbrush and grabs Sly.*
Sly struggles to break free. “Hey! Let me go!”
Metal Sonic: “RESISTANCE IS FUTILE! EGGMAN’S ORDERS ARE TO EXAMINE YOU.” *He flies up into the air, out of Vector and Bruce’s reach.* “AND DON’T THINK ABOUT FOLLOWING ME, YOU ARE TOO WEAK TO DEFEAT ME.” *He flies off to the east.*
Bruce: “Ah! It’s that scary fiend!!”
Vector: “And he took Sly! We got to tell the others!”
JOB COMPLETE
-----
Murray: “Sly’s gone?”
Carmelita: “So easily?”
Vector: “Yeah. He grabbed him and flew him away.”
Sonic: “He does do that sometimes, he’s got the determination.”
Amy mutters: “I know that…”
Bruce: “I’ve lost my future grandson!” *He cries a bit, but then changes to anger.* “No… I’m going to get him back! I think I know where he is!”
Bentley: “That’s good! You and Vector can go and save him! Meanwhile, Silver and Murray, you should destroy those supernatural energy collectors, so we can weaken Metal Sonic.”
Murray and Silver: “Got it!”
Bentley: “Next is to stop the transmissions of Metal Sonic in New Orleans.”
Ben: “I think I can stop them, though I think I’ll need you and Rouge’s help to protect me.”
Rouge: “Sure thing.”
Bentley: “And finally, I think those houseboats should be destroyed. Ben and Bruce seem to think they are filled with guns, and I agree with them.”
Tails: “Leave that to me! I’ll shoot them down with the RC Tornado.”
Charmy: ♪ “Can I help?! I want to see some action!” ♫
Tails: “Of course, Charmy.”
Bentley: “Alright guys, let's move. We need to seize the chance now.”
-----
The Monster Mash
Destroy the supernatural energy collectors
*Murray and Silver look at the first supernatural energy collector.*
Silver: “These supernatural energy collectors are huge! I wonder how we can destroy them…”
Murray: “Easy! We just throw big things at it!”
Silver: “True… Well, we better get smashing.”
*The player has Silver and Murray grab or telekinesis various big rocks, machines, and other object at the large collector. Some pawns will come in as you’re destroying the machine, but it shouldn’t be too hard. Destroying the machine makes it explode, releasing the energy back to the swamp.*
Murray: “YES! Explosions are always good!”
Silver: “Well, we got three more big explosions to have. Ready for more?”
Murray: “Always!”
*The player moves on to the other collectors, blowing them up too.*
*Once done.*
Murray: “We’re done! No more evil collecting for Eggman!”
Silver: “That was fun! Let’s return to the safehouse.”
JOB COMPLETE
-----
Party Crashers
Turn off all of the transmitters
*The player walks Ben, Bentley, and Rouge over to a transmitter.*
Bentley: “I believe this may be one of them.” *He sees a computer terminal, but it looks old.* “It’s a dinosaur!”
Ben: “For you perhaps, grandson, but not for me. I’ll handle them. Just provide me some cover.”
Bentley: “Of course, granddad! Come on, Rouge, let’s watch for Pawns.”
Rouge: “Heh, let’s hope for some action.”
Ben: “Prepared to be hacked, computer. Don’t worry, it won’t hurt a bit…”
*The player enters a black and white version of the hacking minigames from before, in order to turn off the transmitter. Once it’s off.*
Ben: “Did it! I’m moving on!”
*Ben moves on to the next transmitter, while Bentley and Rouge fight off Egg Pawns.*
*This is done 5 more times for the other transmitters, protecting Ben and hacking the computer.*
*Once all the transmitters are hacked, the mission is complete.*
Ben: “That’s the last transmitter, and goodbye, Metal Sonic.” *The nearby billboards go back to normal, along with all the others.*
Bentley: “It looks like things are returning back to their normal state. We better get back to the safehouse.”
JOB COMPLETE
-----
Smashing Down the River
Deactivate and destroy the houseboats
*Tails and Charmy arrive at the river’s edge to see something unexpected.*
Charmy: ♪ “WHOA! Look at that! Those houseboats have guns on them now! They’re gunboats!” ♫
Tails: “I would assume what they were before was standby mode, so as to not arouse suspicion. And it just made our mission a whole lot tougher. I can sink the boats, but those guns look like they’ll tear the RC Tornado to shreds.”
Charmy: ♪ “Oh! I can go fly on the boats and look for a deactivation switch! I’m an agile bee!”  ♫
Tails: “Alright, just be careful. Shut one off and then I’ll blast it down. We’ll do that to all 3 of them.”
*The player takes control of Charmy first, making him fly over to one of the gunships, avoiding gunfire. Once on, they search for the button and have Charmy push it down. The guns will disappear, which gives Tails 2 minutes to break the ships. Thankfully, they’re paddle boats, so completely breaking the paddle will make it start to sink.*
*The player returns to Charmy, to get to the next ship. These actions are repeated two more times to the other ships so they sink too.*
Charmy: ♪ “HOORAY! We did it! Those ships are sunk! That was so much fun!” ♫
Tails nods. “It was. Let’s go tell the others.”
JOB COMPLETE
-----
Going Incognito
Find Sly
Rescue Sly
*Bruce and Vector stand in front of the abandoned mansion.*
Bruce: “It was a foggy memory, but I’m pretty certain I was held up in this building before I found myself in the swamp cave.”
Vector: “It looks like it’s been abandoned before he got started here, good for a base of operations. I wonder how we are going to get in. Metal Sonic seems to have installed a computer to open it.”
Bruce: “Heh, don’t worry, I got it. You could say my hacking skills are… futuristic…”
*The player makes Bruce pull out his cane, and point it at the computer. A hacking game starts, and completing it opens the door.*
Vector is speechless: “Uh… where have I seen that before…”
Bruce: “It’s a Sonic Cane, able to hack any mechanical lock, in this case, this computer! Why hack computers with my mind when I can just stick my cane into them? Hah!”
Vector: “Right… ahem, well, let’s head in.”
*They enter and the doors shut behind them. The lights in the house flicker on, showing what can only be called a horror-themed house.*
Bruce: “Uh-oh.”
Vector: “Figured the place would be hard to navigate, but this is the most scary of hard.”
Bruce: “As I said before, never fear! I got this. Let’s move quick.”
*The player has to make their way through the house, solving puzzles with horror-themed object before the room can kill them. There’s the living room, where you have to move the furniture back where they belong before the ceiling spikes crush you; the kitchen, where you fight some pawns off as the fridge and oven throw ice and fire at you; the dining room, with razor-sharp plates being thrown around; the lounge area, with an attacking, chained couch that lunges at you; and the bedrooms on the second floor. They have computers in each room that Bruce has to hack while Vector fights off more Egg Pawns. Hacking them all opens up the last room, the master bedroom, where Metal Sonic and Sly are.*
*Inside, they see Metal Sonic looming over Sly on the table, reading his body with his scanning eyes. He is about finished when he notices the duo. He grabs Sly and smashes through the wall, as Sly and Vector follow.*
*The player chases after him across the grass, river, and then road as they try to keep up, avoiding the lasers he is shooting from his back. Keep on dodging them until they end up at the safehouse.*
*Metal Sonic drops Sly off and disappears in a dark flash. Vector and Bruce grab Sly and take him inside.*
JOB COMPLETE
-----
Sonic: “Are you alright, Sly? I’m surprised he didn’t hurt you at all, considering how much he hates us.”
Sly: “Other than the brush to my pride, I’m alright.”
Carmelita: “He got lucky, you know. No one captures you and gets away with it.”
Sly: “Thanks for the reassurance, Carm… someone sounds jealous.” *A slap is heard and he yells in pain.*
Bentley: “Alright, we have to deal with Metal Sonic now. I think we did a good job so far.”
Metal Sonic appears on the computer screen. “THAT’S WHAT YOU THINK, YOU LOW IQED TURTLE!”
Bentley: “WHAT THE?! How did you-”
Metal Sonic: “YOUR COMPUTER? CHILD’S PLAY. IT SEEMS EVEN THE FUTURE CAN’T BEAT ME.”
Sly: “You won’t get away with this!”
Metal Sonic: “BUT I HAVE! EVERYTHING YOU’VE DONE IS NEGLIGIBLE TO OUR PLANS! iN FACT, I’M FEELING GOOD. WHY DON’T YOU COME HERE TO THE CITY AND ‘TRY’ TO BEAT ME, NOT THAT YOU WILL!!!” *He laughs and his hacking seems to disappear.*
Bentley: “How dare he violate my computer!”
Murray: “I think it’s time we introduce some FISTS into his program.”
Carmelita: “No… let me fight him… He doesn’t get to capture this ringtail like it was nothing…”
Sonic: “Let me fight him too. Our rivalry has been going on forever, and I think he still might trip up if I taunt him.”
Carmelita: “Fine, but stay out of my shots.”
Sonic: “No problem there.”
Tails: “The only thing that worries me is his strange supernatural powers… He seems stronger, and it might stop Sonic and Carmelita from harming him.”
Bentley: “I thought so too. I did look at those transmitters a bit, and I think we can reverse them to make them suck up supernatural energy, weakening Metal Sonic. It’s just the matter of getting him close to them.”
Bruce: “I think we can do that. I have a hunch that android can change directions with those traffic lights.”
Ben: “We can hack the traffic system, perhaps telling his brain to go down the green lit streets.”
Bentley: “Alright, just lead them to a transmitter we get working in reverse and we’re good to go.”
Knuckles: “Let’s get him!”
All: “YEAH!”
-----
Operation Hedgehog Capture
Drain Metal Sonic of his powers and defeat him
*Carmelita and Sonic arrive in town, and Metal Sonic appears from a dark mass.*
Metal Sonic: “SO IT’S MY ARCHENEMY AND MY CAPTOR’S GIRLFRIEND, HMMM?”
Sonic: “We’re going to defeat you, Metal Sonic! I always do!”
Carmelita: “Eat shock pistol, Android!”
Metal Sonic: “RESPONSE: EAT PLASMA, VIXEN!”
*The player goes into a battle against Metal Sonic, but the fight is futile. He is encased in a supernatural energy barrier, and nothing can damage him. After about a minute…*
Carmelita: “Damn… he’s too strong for my shots, Sonic.”
Sonic: “And he’s flying too high for me, but I doubt homing attacks can damage him either right now.”
Metal Sonic: “FOOLS! IF YOU ARE DONE MAKING A MOCKERY OF YOURSELVES, I HAVE OTHER PLANS.” *He starts to fly down a street.*
Sonic: “We need to keep up with him!”
Carmelita notices a nearby police car that has its keys in the ignition. She hops in and turns it on, and beckons for Sonic to enter the passenger side.. “Get in, Sonic, time for a police chase!”
Sonic: “Alright, cool!” *He gets in and Carmelita speeds off after Metal Sonic.*
*We change our view to the safehouse, where Ben, Bentley, Tails and Bruce have succeeded in hacking the city to their whim.*
Bentley: “Yes! We have got complete control over the transmitters and traffic lights!”
Ben: “Alright, grandson! Now you and Tails deal with the draining transmitters. Bruce and I will change the traffic lights.”
Tails: “Got it!”
*We enter a virtual map of New Orleans. There is a symbol of Metal Sonic and a symbol for Sonic and Carmelita that follow the streets. Any street intersection can be chosen, where there is an option to change the lights so the green will be on the other directions of the intersection. On the side is a meter of Metal Sonic’s supernatural energy. The goal is to drain away all of Metal Sonic’s energy by making him fly by a working transmitter. Once he flies by a working one, he loses a ⅙ of his energy then destroys the transmitter so it can’t be used again. Do this for all 6 transmitters to move on to the fight. Do note that with the more energy he loses, it will get a bit harder to get him to pass by a transmitter.*
*Once he is completely drained, we return to Metal Sonic and Sonic and Carmelita.*
Metal Sonic lands as his supernatural shell disappears. “I SEE YOUR FRIENDS HAVE DRAINED ME. NO MATTER, I CAN STILL BEAT YOU.”
Sonic: “Bring it on, you useless hunk of metal!”
Carmelita: “Let’s see how much shock you can take.”
Metal Sonic: “I WILL DEFEAT YOU, AND EGGMAN WILL SUCCEED!”
*Now it is time for the player to fight Metal Sonic and defeat him. His offence includes firing laser from his spines that spread backwards, firing plasma blasts from his hands (like Carmelita’s shock pistol), firing a larger chest laser that he can move around, and firing a huge ball of plasma when he’s desperate. The fight is mostly of Carmelita firing her shock pistol at Metal Sonic until Metal Sonic is annoyed enough to fire off his huge ball of plasma. It absorbs Carmelita’s shock shots, so Sonic needs to run up and attack Metal so he hurts himself with the plasma ball. Then the duo can wail on the short-circuited hedgehog until he gets back up again. Do this as many times as needed until he is defeated.*
Metal Sonic: “... I MAY BE DEFEATED… BUT EGGMAN WILL SUCCEED… THE EGGMAN EMPIRE IS COMING… ARE YOU READY FOR IT?!”
-----
Outro Cutscene:
Sly: “It was a hard fought battle for Sonic and Carmelita, but they had stopped the rampaging Metal Sonic. It was a little weird to explain to our grandparents that he couldn’t go to the FBI, but had to go to Sonic’s world, but once they knew they had their own government agency (GUN), they happily let him go. They said they’ll note in their reports that they quashed the rumors and there seems to be nothing more. Afterwards, we did spend a little time with our grandparents. They were quite a fun bunch to say the least. I see why me, Bentley, and the others had the chance to meet up. I wonder where our adventures will take us next…”
Next Time: It’s time to get anime in Heian Japan.
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atkmagazine · 7 years
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Lunar New Year Hot Pot event at Galleria
Recently, I attended a hot pot event at Galleria supermarket to celebrate the Lunar New Year (Happy Lunar New Year everyone). I’ve been to other Lunar New Year celebrations or events over the years but this one was unique in that the attendees got to watch as three different hot pots from different culinary traditions were prepared, follow the instructions of the host chef to make the hot pots, and of course, we all got to taste each hot pot.
Chef Sang Kim explaining about hot pot traditions
In addition to the hot pot demonstration, host Chef Sang Kim – an award-winning author, chef, and restaurateur – took us all on a culinary story-telling journey. He spoke about the traditions, history, and rituals for each counties’ version of hot pot that were featured. As fun as it was to learn how to make each dish – and oddly, while I’ve eaten each with friends, I’ve never cooked any of them at home – it was the stories and mini-history lessons shared during the event that really elevated made it fun for me. Chef Sang Kim did a fabulous job of keeping everyone engaged while not only educating us, but also cooking and explaining to everyone how to cook the dishes. Talk about multi-tasking! Kudos to him.
It wasn’t the first food event I’ve been to that Chef Sang Kim, and I definitely recommend attending one if you have the chance, but I found the combination of cultures at Galleria’s Lunar New Year hot pot event fascinating.It was neat seeing three different, yet connected, cultures juxtaposed through their version of hot pot: Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.
So what hot pots did we learn about/eat?
The Chinese Yin-Yang hot pot is almost ready
Chinese – Yin-Yang Hot Pot
This was the first of the hot pots that we had at the event and as suggested in the name, it had two different sides or broths. One of the soup bases was a seafood broth, while the other was a spicy Szechuan base – both in one pot divided in two by design. Various meat, seafood and veggies went into the broths including sliced lamb, sliced beef rib eye, shrimp, fish ball, bean curd, tofu, napa cabbage, watercress, enoki, mushrooms and potatoes. I wish I had have recorded the order Chef Sang Kim put them in but basically, you put them in according to how fast they cook but always thinking about if the ingredients would change the flavour of the hot pot if they were left in too long (if I remember correctly).
The various ingredients we could use to make our dipping sauce
With this hot pot, we also had the chance to make our own dipping sauce from various ingredients as once the delicious stuff is cooked, it’s scooped out into dishes and then dipped into your individual sauce. It’s also common to add more broth to the pot as you’re cooking the stuff you put in.
The Japanese Sukiyaki hot pot
Japanese – Sukiyaki
I’m more familiar with the Japanese hot pot shabu shabu so it was fun seeing how sukiyaki is made. This hot pot had a sweet soy base to which sliced beef, clam, scallop, napa cabbage, watercress, onion, enoki mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, tofu and yam noodles were added. No dipping sauce is used but the broth imparts a slightly sweet flavour to the ingredients added which is nice.
The Army Stew, the Korean hot pot looks yummy
Korean – Army Stew (부대찌개, budaejjigae)
This is one hot pot I’ve eaten many times as it’s often a “throw whatever into the pot” kind of hot pot, or at least that’s how it was originally described to me. The name comes from the fact that many of the ingredients in it aren’t traditional and came to Korea with the American army after the Korean War. Ingredients like spam, hot dogs, and processed cheese (totally not traditional) are added along with tofu, king mushrooms, kimchi, rice cake, green onions, and of course, instant noodles. The soup base is a spicy gochujang (spicy red pepper paste) broth.
Regardless of the country of origin, all the hot pots were delicious and would be fun to share with friends and family, and perfect for winter. Plus it was fun making them ourselves at the event as it added an interactive element and encouraged participants to talk to each other.
It was a very interactive event as we got to make our shared hot pots after watching Chef Sang Kim
Final Thoughts
Huge thanks to Galleria Supermarket for not only inviting me to fun (and tasty) event but also for the amazing tote filled with products from sponsors Lee Kum Kee and Anchor’s Bay. And thanks to Chef Sang Kim for being an amazingly entertaining and informative host. It was a well-organized event that not only featured delicious food and interesting storytelling, but also encouraged interaction among the attendees which is always fun. And it left me with a desire to make my own hot pot at home. Thanks to the wonderful tote I left the event with, I can (and will).
Have you ever had hot pot? Which is your favourite?
It was a very interactive event as we got to make our shared hot pots after watching Chef Sang Kim
Adding to the fun was making our own hot pots to share
Yay! Time to eat
The Japanese Sukiyaki hot pot
Chef Sang Kim is showing us how to make the hot pots
The Army Stew, the Korean hot pot looks yummy
The various ingredients we could use to make our dipping sauce
The generous tote filled with sponsor products
Chef Sang Kim explaining about hot pot traditions
So many ingredients to put in
The Japanese sukiyaki broth
The Chinese Yin-Yang hot pot is almost ready
Adding the ingredients to the sukiyaki
Cooking the Army Stew
The three hot pots I sampled – all were delicious
Happy Lunar New Year!
Welcoming one of Galleria’s own
The Korean broth before the gochujang is added
The Chinese Yin-Yang broths
The veggies are in
Making the hot pot
Time to add the cheese?
Lunar New Year Hot Pot event at Galleria
You know it’s a media event when you see so many phones & cameras
Happy Lunar New Year with Hot Pots at Galleria Recently, I attended a hot pot event at Galleria supermarket to celebrate the Lunar New Year (Happy Lunar New Year everyone).
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