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pluviophile-bookworm · 3 years

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HSMTMTS 2x10: New and a bit alarming... ok, very alarming

I don't even know at this point if I'm more nervous or excited for this episode. I've done my waiting and, well, whatever lies ahead, good or bad, or a little bit of both, I just can't wait anymore, even though I haven't been so scared to press play since... well, since last week. Guess I should just go for it, then:

Ooh, shady Seb doing the recap! We love to see it. Like, seriously, I'm anxious about the Seblos fight, but shady Seb is kind of my new favourite Seb.

I just... Ashlyn's acting is top tier. Emotional connection to the material? Superb! Chemistry with her co-lead... well, he'd have to be co-leading for any chemistry to be possible. I love Ricky, and I feel for him with all he's been through, but he's just not lead material right now. And it shows. Especially next to Ashlyn, who is killing it!

Miss Jenn is on the verge of a bloody mental breakdown and I just... wish I could do something to make things better. She reminds me of my mum when a deadline approaches for her to submit an article, and I just feel for her right now. Gosh, I'm feeling for everybody today. My empathy seems to be at its peak and I might just burst from all these emotions this episode is making me feel even before the 5-minute mark.

Ok, but Miss Jenn being stressed means Carlos is stressed for two, which means... this is a really bad time for him and Seb to have personal problems. My heart just can't handle it.

Wow... I never thought I'd see the day! The two leads are actually talking to each other! This is a mid-July miracle!

Why does everyone keep pretending their HSM was good? It was a flaming hot mess! A child could see that.

Miss Jenn needs a lot of work on her 'gracious face'. I, like Carlos, have quite some notes. Only mine aren't exactly, how do you say... verbally formulated quite yet.

Did Carlos just refer to Miss Jenn as 'mother'? Because yes.

I've been in a couple of local theatre productions in my day, but none of them had actual physical sets — we relied on the audience's imagination quite a lot — so I wouldn't know what a good set is made of... but even I can tell that plywood and Elmer's glue = not good.

Kourtney is a multi-tasking icon and we love her. I feel like I don't say this enough, but she deserves all the love.

Ooh, shady Seb is... well, shady! 'Quit school and get a job at the pizza shop?' — I mean, you don't see Reddy or Kourtney (or Howie, for that matter) quitting school in order to work at the Slices! Those kids juggle it all and, as someone who's never had to balance school and a job all at once, they have my deepest admiration.

Still, I think they should have thought about 'inventing' something re: transformation earlier than this point. The personal drama has taken up too much of their time.

Why does everyone keep inviting people over to Ashlyn's? I mean, it's not like I've ever heard her complain, but the girl needs some rest! And her house is not a public space.

Oh, so they're making this into a contest? I mean, I have never been a fan of competition, but to each their own. And Redlyn are hosting! This is going to be so beautiful! (You know, unless the boys try to sleep — see my post from yesterday about Reddy's background noise machine)

'I'm not worried. But North High should be!' Ooh, I love this look on Ashlyn! See, there's a lead to take notes from! And Ricky should be the first to do so. Take notes about what a lead acts like, I mean.

Oooooh, Big Red claps back! We love to see it. Although, you know, it stems from the fact that he's nervous about coming up with a solution to the transformation problem. 'I get bossy around the power tools' — Yes, sweetie, and I love that look on you. Maybe you should be around power tools more often, if that helps.

Ughhh, look what the cat brought in! Lily (I wish I knew her last name so I could refer to her by it exclusively, but we'll have to make do). I hate that girl. She reminds me quite exactly of the girl who bullied me in seventh grade to the point where I wished I'd die before having to deal with her at school again. She and Lily both bring out my aggressive side, and I hate that about them.

Ricky — 'so good at being a leading man'? I don't know what Lily is playing at here, but Ricky has not shown himself to be a very good leading man this season. He has the potential to be, but he has not fulfilled it by this point. Sure, he supports his friends and they support him, but that's basic decency. Not yet good leadership. No hate on Ricky, just the truth.

'I vaguely remember him' — please tell me this is setup for Ricky leading Lily on and then slamming the door in her face with the truth. The way I see it, he's been given a chance here. A chance to be the supportive, protective best friend Big Red deserves. I just... have a lot of ideas about this and I don't want it to end badly instead.

'I'm just not well-liked here, and I don't know what to do' — well, of course you aren't well-liked, you little— (ok, ok, calm down, breathe, 10, 9, 8...) whatever. I mean, she hasn't even considered basic decency, as it seems. Must be a new concept to her.

'Don't start with me, Carlos!' Wow. As much as I hate it that my two faves' only interaction in so long is so hostile, I kind of like this side of Big Red. I wonder what other sides of himself he's been hiding.

Listen, I don't like Seb being patronised and babied, but... 'Chip, this is your mother speaking: go call your mother!' made me laugh so hard. They're leaning into the on-stage family dynamic and I live for it.

EJ's idea of using old skateboards for the spinning contraption is... a brilliant callback to the fact that Ricky and Big Red were first characterised as skateboarders... you know, before diving headfirst into the theatre thing. And it feels like it might actually work.

Miss Jenn's excitement at seeing Mr Mazzara ('Benjamin!!!') is perhaps only topped by the fact that he was halfway home, got a text from her and instantly went back to the school. I mean, these two have something that's really big.

Miss Jenn referring to the kids as 'my children', combined with Carlos calling her 'mother' earlier just warms my heart so much! Those guys really are family. I live for it.

Ok, but... as clear as it is that the Wildcats are very far behind NH in terms of budget, rehearsal time and who knows what else, I hate seeing Miss Jenn resigned to them losing. I want to see her have faith in them, talk about how they will win, and, in her own words, 'trust the process'. I mean, I guess it's good that, as a teacher, she wants to prepare her kids for a possible defeat (and I mean really possible if they don't step up their game immediately, especially some of them * cough* Ricky *cough *), but a team that goes out to the field expecting to lose has a very minimal chance of winning.

Despite everything I've been saying again and again about Nini lately, the fact that she just delivered a very different 'No, Seb' has just redeemed her. See, this one wasn't dismissive or patronising — this was like, 'no, Seb, don't put yourself down' and I love that spin on the catchphrase I'd grown to hate. See, many things can be redeemed. And some simply cannot. * cough* Devil's spawn Lily *cough *. Also, Seb being self-conscious about the fact that Carlos 'doesn't have many options' at East Hight is the perfect setup for In a Heartbeat — meaning they will either have a chance to talk about their issue, or they have a telepathic connection, in which case, what kind of soulmate stuff is that?

'You're my sister; he's my cousin' — yeah, Ash, putting it like that makes it sound a lot weirder than it should, but I do get what you're trying to say. This is not a drill! Ashlyn is a Portwell shipper (heck, maybe even the captain of that ship) — but I feel like we already knew that.

'Why'd I never hear about this?' — and there it goes. Within the same scene, Nini was redeemed and then made aggravating again. What does she care if Gina thought Ricky sent her chocolates? He didn't. Because he and Gina can't be anything but very good friends. And I feel like good friends is what Gina needs. Maybe that's why I wanted EJ to be that for her initially (or it was because I'm aroace and don't tend to notice romantic attraction between fictional characters — or real people for that matter — unless it's explicitly stated to be there). But I've been on board of the majestic S.S. Portwell for a few weeks now and it's finally about to set sail.

Yeah, Nini, get a root beer, calm the heck down and get over it!

'Your other clockwise!' — Why does this even need to be said? How many 'clockwise's are there? I absolutely understand why Big Red gets the way he gets around power tools. I'd be on edge too, if the people I was trying to work with didn't know what way clockwise is. Still, I feel like by the time I'm 30, nobody younger than me would have a reason to know what way clockwise is, and I don't know if I feel bad or neutral about it.

Oh, so there's no telepathy involved in Seblos' problem resolution — it's been Redlyn's good communication all along. I might have known.

Ooh, Portwell is being discussed on both sides! PORTWELL NATION HOW WE FEELING

Nini? Why is everything about Nini? There's no way everything is about Nini. In all seriousness, though, EJ's worries about letting the next girl go seem valid in regards to Gina, given that she explicitly stated (though not within earshot of EJ or anyone who could have tipped him off) that she needs someone who will show up and stay. But they'll figure it out. They'll find a way. I know it. They will, or I will riot, and I know I won't be alone in that.

Ooh, Howie is giving Kourtney the original blueprints! Looks like Reddy isn't the only one who has a spy on the inside.

Ahhh, Ricky! Not 'Let You Go' again. I haven't cried to it in three days and I was not ready to break that streak. But... wait, this is where Carlos approaches Ricky to ask him for help with writing a song for Seb, isn't it? I am definitely ready for this.

Oh, is it... is it Ricky who suggests Carlos write a song for Seb? Now that is what a good leading man looks like.

'I'm adjusting to being called bro' — me too, Carlito, me too. But... this scene must have been so emotional for Josh, given that he hadn't come out yet. I remember him crying during The Climb and... all I'm saying is I want Ricky to come out at some point, too.

Oh gosh oh gosh oh gosh... they were just talking about love languages and that's when Carlos shows up? Cinematic. Wait, there's Portwell too? This is what dreams are made of.

My oh my oh my! Risotto! For real this time. I might have just teared up. (Full disclosure: I did.) I've only had Portwell for about three weeks, but if anything happens to them, I will... you know how the meme goes. [side note: Wait, when I said 'for real this time', I was not expecting EJ would say it, much less word for word. Am I... writing this show now? It's usually my dad who predicts people's lines in TV shows]

'Not that I know of'... excuse me while I hyperventilate! These two are literal soulmates. They might share a brain, too, for all that I know. Portwell nation you ok guys?

I love that Ricky helped Carlos out with this song and is supporting him through it, but... I just might have preferred for him not to be there. I kind of need Seblos to have this moment to themselves. But, you know, with the way they feel about each other it might as well be like they're alone in the universe, let alone the room.

Ok, but Frankie's voice... brings out feelings in me that I didn't know I was capable of. Make of that what you will. Also, I'm not sobbing my eyes out, you are.

Ahhh Reddy my sunshine my sweet boy I love you but why did you have to cut Seblos' moment short? They were going to kiss, I know it. Oh well, they probably will, later on. Off-screen probably, but who cares? Not everything is for us to see. At least Carlos and Ricky had a moment there... Carlos calling Ricky 'bro' made me more emotional than I expected. It's like Miss Jenn says in s1: 'They're best bros, and that's a sacred thing... for reasons I will never understand'.

Ricky's acting sounds like a cat about to spit up a hairball, and it's so funny... in a scene that is supposed to be arguably the most dramatic of the entire play, that is not a good thing.

Oh my, oh my... you did not! You did not just end the episode with Ricky taking a fall from who knows how high. I was not ready. This episode was entirely too much for me. I will need 10 to 15 business days to recover from this, and we all know there aren't that many. But in the meantime you'll find me obsessively listening to In a Heartbeat for hours on end. Seriously, this episode is too much.

#hsmtmts #hsmtmts s2 #ricky bowen #nini salazar-roberts #gina porter #ej caswell #ashlyn caswell #ashlyn moon caswell #big red redonovich #carlos rodriguez #seb matthew-smith #kourtney greene #hsmtmts miss jenn #hsmtmts mr mazzara #jnk #seblos #portwell #redlyn #jenzara

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finnicks · 3 years

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elejah for the ship ask

Of course, my answer is that I don’t ship it. 😝

What made you ship it? Their chemistry in season 2. That’s literally why. I just remember seeing Elijah and Elena on screen together, specifically in 2x19, and thinking “Shit, this is great chemistry.” Whenever I want to rewatch Elejah scenes, this is the episode I go to. I feel like this episode is Elejah at its best. Elena is so hungry for information and Elijah’s more than willing to drip-feed it to her. Elijah’s so hungry for her to be honest with him and come back to him—and she does, because honesty is Elena’s core character trait (she is not compassionate), especially when 1) information is on the line and 2) she can benefit from keeping her word. (Also, Elena is not a horrible person despite me seemingly claiming she is by stating those two points. Elena is emotionally intelligent.)

I feel like Elijah really challenges Elena intellectually. My favourite iteration of Elena is when she manipulates people to get information so she can get ahead. To me, that’s her power—and her greatest strength. And I feel like Elijah, while being old, is someone who can be manipulated because of the fact that he has a history with her ancestors and the fact that he is someone who I personally view needs to save damsels. I also feel like Elijah is easy to manipulate simply because he does have good intentions and trusts people.

I like the power play and the imbalance, and how Elena, despite being human, is actually the one with power in their relationship. She has just as much power as he does. (I personally believe she has intellectual and emotional power, plus being an identical duplicate of the ancestors he has fallen in love with who have defined Elijah as a man, while Elijah has intellectual and physical power.)

What are your favorite things about the ship? Everything I said above. I feel like Elijah is so emotionally stunted and out of touch with his emotions to the point where Elena is someone who can bring those emotions forward, be empathetic to his own issues (i.e. his trust issues, his difficult relationship with his siblings, and even the toxic relationship he has with his siblings), and also challenge him to stop being so stoic and unemotional. I feel like Elena is so physically stunted because she’s human that he encourages her to use her wits rather than her physicality. Their first meeting is literally Elena manipulating him and using the power she has (her emotional and intellectual power) over him. I really like the fact that Elena wasn’t afraid to play her ace despite not knowing how he’d react, which was knowing where Katherine was and the moonstone.

I don’t particularly like them when Elena is a vampire because Elijah is emotionally involved with my girl, Katherine, at that point in Elena’s life (which I have So Many Opinions About), and I feel like Elena becoming a vampire not only loses Elena’s agency and fire as a character, but the narrative went all out in making her a 2.0. and poor copy of Katherine. Human Elena has fight and bite in her, and I feel like she’s Elena at her best. She knows the best way to manipulate Elijah is to not pretend to be Katherine. She knows she just has to be herself.

And because I’ve spoken a lot about manipulation in their relationship, I really like how mature Elijah is. I feel like Elijah/Elena is very similar to Stefan/Elena where Elijah will honour Elena’s decisions (as long as she articulates her intentions to him as he’s paranoid (and sometimes not justifiably) and someone with immense trust issues) and Elena has great compassion for him. I feel like Elijah/Elena is Elena at her best as a woman; she’s very mature in that dynamic. She’s unafraid while Elijah, a control freak, begins to allow himself to trust someone else’s word for a change.

I also enjoy the fact that Elena is happy to see Elijah in season 3 even though I highly disregard anything beyond season 2 for them because Elena was not emotionally intelligent (this girl should understand the nuances of her relationship and have known the cost of losing Elijah’s trust was not worth siding with Esther, who she doesn’t fucking know because she didn’t do her goddamn research! #NotMyElenaGilbert). Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship? This is how I see Elijah’s character: he is someone who falls in love with the idea of women who are damsels. Elijah has a hero complex. It’s very obvious to me when it comes to Hayley/Elijah (more so in their relationship) and Katherine/Elijah (especially his resentment towards her), and it’s even prevalent in Elena/Elijah. I don’t think Elijah has a healthy relationship with love (or relationships). I’ve gone on meta rambles about this on my Tumblr before, but simply put: Klaus has always needed Elijah to be in that hero role when they were younger and dealing with Mikael, and Elijah found purpose and identity in being Klaus’ protector. He still goes out of his way to protect Klaus, even when he’s at heads with him. Elijah falls for women who need to be saved because he needs to be the saviour, and Elena is one of those people who needs to be saved.

I also personally feel like the ship cannot exist outside of Katherine/Elijah (and even Tatia/Elijah). Similar to her relationships with the Salvatores, the shadow of Katherine looms heavily over them. Elena is Elijah’s third chance with his first love, Tatia. Elena is also Elijah’s chance at rescuing Katerina (who saved herself, something that he believes is punishable because she didn’t allow him to be her hero). Elena needs saving because, as a human, she is physically the weakest on the board (...even as a vampire, which I ignore because, again, #NotMyElenaGilbert).

I do believe that there is a level of projection on Elijah’s part on Elena where he needs to save the doppelganger. He couldn’t save Tatia and, to him, he couldn’t save Katerina. I believe his relationship with Elena will always contain that shadow. (No relationship truly can be rid of it if they have a relationship with one of her ancestors tbh.) I personally find this fascinating because it requires a deconstruction of Elijah as a person where he stops seeing Elena as a comparison to Tatia and Katerina and merely sees her as herself, which would take a long time and him getting to know who Elena is. The fact that in 2x19 he expected her to be like Katerina who ran away and rightfully didn’t trust him (and even like Tatia, even though she left him because, you know, he killed her) is a very obvious tell to me that he is projecting Katerina onto Elena. He’s surprised she keeps her word and comes back. That’s Katerina Projection right there. Initially, he does not see Elena as Elena.

Elena does lose her identity at times with Elijah because of his projection of Tatia and Katerina onto her. I personally love it because I feel like that after season 2, season 3 should’ve been a deconstruction of who Elena Gilbert is (and also praising her for being a Gilbert, since fandom seems to like the “You have the Petrova fire” line which, imo, is wrongfully lauded as this great line when, in reality, it actually takes away all of Elena’s agency. I have a rant about that one for another day). Being a Gilbert is Elena’s identity, a proud identity and one that should be celebrated and cherished, and we never deconstruct it. It would’ve been fascinating to deconstruct it with Elijah who knows both Tatia and Katerina. I think he, like Stefan, would’ve given Elena that space to go through those personal motions (after a lot of self-work on his end as he’s more damaged than Stefan and isn’t as compassionate and giving as Stefan).

Elena will never have a healthy relationship with any man who knew or was in love with Tatia or Katerina. I love that shit. (I personally don’t believe fandom understands or acknowledges that Elena wasn’t initially courted for Elena but she was courted because of Katherine. It adds a fucked up element to all of her relationships. Embrace it!)

ship ask game

#tvd #elejah #my opinions #ship ask game #fandom meme #elena gilbert #elijah mikaelson #my meta #i need to be given a word limit #vorpalmuchness #emma tag

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jungshookz · 4 years

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I would love a uni!yoongi & y/n drabble💓💜

🌿pairing; min yoongi x reader

🌿genre; uni!yoongi, university!au, fluffy fluffy fluff!!!!!!! uni!yoongi owns my heart and my whole ASS

🌿wordcount; 2.8k

🌿what to expect; “and another fun fact! the mistletoe plant actually contains toxic amines, and eating its berries can cause vomiting and stomach pain.”

🌿note; outraGEOUS that a mistletoe emoji has yet to exist!!!! unfortunately i wasn’t able to do a 12 drabbles of christmas this year due to finals but i hope this drabble makes up for it :-) if i’m a little rusty it’s only because this is the first drabble i’ve written in a while,..,,. hopefully i’ll have another drabble up before christmas!!! happy reading :^)

»»————-　✼　————-««

if yoongi had a dollar for every time he wanted to scream at you for being denser than a block of tofu he would most definitely be a billionaire

he’s had this thought time and time again but he really doesn’t understand how someone so smart can be so dumb at the same time

he could be holding up a flashing neon sign pointing to him that said ‘i 100% like you and am giving you the green light to ask me out so all you have to do is ask!’ and you would still be like .,.,.y’all hear sumn?

anyways he doesn’t have time to think about when you’re finally going to make a move because it’s that time of the semester ladies and gents

yep

it’s finals season

now, traditionally, the way yoongi handles finals season is that he kind of just goes with the flow

as in he goes to the library and studies for two hours and decides that that’s enough time and dedication he’s putting into a particular class so he pretty much deserves the rest of the day off

and this technique has worked ever since his first year in uni so he’s stuck with it ever since

as long as he doesn’t flunk out of anything he’s fine!!!

but since getting to know you yoongi has adopted new techniques into his studying routine that doesn’t just include skimming over poorly taken notes from class for 5 minutes and then scrolling through instagram for 45 minutes and then taking a 2 hour nap

no no

now he has highlighted notes

now he has insanely detailed google docs

now he has flash cards

and not just flash cards

colour coordinated flash cards

crazy, isn’t it???

this is probably your guys’ fifth study session together and yoongi doesn’t want to toot his own horn or anything but he thinks he’s going to absolutely nail this chemistry final

he can tell anyone about the main types of chemical reactions without blinking

that’s how confident he is about his knowledge

and he knoWs it’s all because of you which most certainly doesn’t help him suppress his attraction towards you

how can he noT be attracted to the person who’s bumping up his GPA??

but yes

yoongi is confident and he feels like he doesn’t need to go over what synthesis reactions are for the tenth time in a row

(also he forget a stack of flash cards at home that u reminded him three times to bring with him today to which he responded with ‘i’m NOT going to forget them just relax’ and he’s hoping u forgot about them because you don’t play around when it comes to flash cards)

he wants this study session to be a little more lax

a little more chill

a little less conversation and a little more ACTION (but not in,.,. not in a pervy way or anything)

yoongi decided to bring a little special something just to make things a little more interesting aND to celebrate the holidays!!

he’s being festive!!

he even taped strips of jingle bells to the edges of his skateboard :-)

“okay, hydrogen bonds.” you flip your notebook onto its front before whipping around and letting out a breath “hydrogen forms hydrogen bonds with three elements. hydrogen is fun. hydrogen is fOn. hydrogen forms hydrogen bonds with fluorine, oxygen, and nitrogen.”

…yeah that sounds right

you turn back around and flip over your notebook before quickly searching for your notes

yes!!!! you got it!!!! hydrogen is FON!!!! hyDRoGEN iS FON!!!!!

“up top, y/l/n!” you grin widely before giving yourself a high five

niCE

“just when i thought you couldn’t get any weirder.” you jump three feet into the air when you hear yoongi speak up and you let out a breath before placing a hand on your chest

“yoongi!” you clear your throat and lean back against the table a little bit

you’re just going to play it off as if you didn’t just tell yourself to give yourself a high five

“what, uh, what took you so long?”

yoongi raises a brow before checking the time on his phone “i’m three minutes early.”

you turn back a little to look at the time on your laptop

huh

would you look at that

yoongi is early

and of course you’re here before scheduled because of who you are as a person

“…well, what are you doing just standing there? let’s get to work!!” you clap your hands together before looking at yoongi expectantly and gesturing for him to take a seat

“just so that you’re aware, i’m pretty sure i know more about the different types of chemical reactions than you.”

you raise a brow before crossing your arms

that is certainly a vEry bold statement because you could talk about the different types of chemical reaction for hours and hours on end

“oh, really?” you scoff playfully as you turn to wipe down the whiteboard

you’ve been tutoring yoongi for the past couple of weeks without expecting anything in return

honestly it’s just fun to ramble on and on about something that you’re confident about aNd it’s fun to see the panic in his eyes when you ask him a question about what you just talked about

and!!!! teaching someone else about the thing that you have to review yourself is actually a pretty effective studying strategy

you tried the practice test the other night and you got 98% so it’s safe to say you’re going to make this final exam your biTCH-

“yep.” yoongi sighs and leans back against his chair “in fact, i bet you that i’ll get every single one of your questions right this session.”

“what happens if you don’t?”

“if i get even one question wrong, i will… play one of your dumb studying games.”

your eyes widen in excitement

“charades for chemists??” (an exciting upgrade from the original version of charades)

((u have to try to act out a reaction))

((it’s a lot more exciting than it sounds))

“but if i get every single one of your questions right, you’ll have to play one of my games.”

“…what kind of game?”

“you’ll just have to find out, won’t you?” yoongi smiles sweetly “it’s nothing like your dumb charades game, i can tell you that.”

you narrow your eyes suspiciously and yoongi shrugs

there’s no way he’d be able to get all of your questions right

obviously it’d be great if he got all of them right because that means these tutoring sessions are actually working but then again it’s yoongi

yoongi who uses pipettes to squeeze tiny spurts of air in your face just because ‘it’s fun!!’

yoongi who has the balls to juggle glass beakers in the middle of a lab in front of the professor

it’s yoongi

of course the idiotic things he does in class doesn’t exactly correlate to his intelligence

he actually did pretty well on the last lab report

“you have three seconds to decide if you wanna do this or not otherwise the offer’s off the table.” yoongi waves a hand in front of your face and you straighten up a little before sticking your hand out for him to shake

“alright, min yoongi. game on.”

the corner of yoongi’s mouth twitches in a devilish smile

honey, you’ve got a big storm coming.

you flip your notebook open to the page where you have a bunch of practice questions written down and you skim the list

alright

you’ll throw yoongi a bone

“we’ll start off easy. what’s the difference between exothermic and endothermic reaction-“

“endothermic takes in energy - for example, ice melting - and exothermic gives off heat - for example, lighting a match.” yoongi answers without blinking

…

okay

that answer was word for word what you have written down in your notes

you should probably reconsider the whole throwing a bone thing

if anything u should probably take a couple bones away from yoongi

your competitive streak immediately kicks in once you realise the score board is 1-0 and you’re on the 0 end

“what does synthesis gas consist of?” you raise a brow

“before i answer that - you forgot to add a tally under my name.” yoongi points to the whiteboard and you kiss your teeth before whipping around and begrudgingly drawing a tally on the scoreboard “good girl.”

(you’ll never admit to him that hearing him call you that made your stomach do a little flip)

“answer the question.”

“synthesis gas is a fuel gas mixture consisting of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide. it intermediates in creating synthetic natural gas and for producing ammonia or methanol.”

.,,.,.and that’s 2-0 to yoongi

what in the hELL is going on

u know what

it’s fine!

it’s fine

maybe he’s just having a lucky day

all he has to do is screw up once

“-due to the conjugation double bond character in alkyl halide.” the fact that yoongi’s inspecting his nails as he answers your final question is oddly vERy irritating

you can’t believe it

yoongi got all 10 of your veRy tricky questions right

you should be proud because it’s because of you that he knows that he’s talking about but at the same time you didn’t think you were doing thAt great of a job at teaching him!!!!

but you’re looking at the scoreboard and it’s 10-0

there are 0 tallies under your name!!! ZERO!!! under youR NAME!!!

and now you have to play yOOngi’s dumb game instead of charades for chemists

if anything it’s his loss

“i told you you have to close your eyes to play my game.” yoongi reaches over to shut your notebook after he catches you glancing at it (to make sure he actually got the answers right and you didn’t misread anything) for the fifth time in two minutes

you have to accept defeat whether you like it or not

you let out a sigh before crossing your arms and shutting your eyes “what are the rules of this game? how does one win?”

“i’m going to show you something-“ you hear yoongi unzip his backpack “and you have to identify what it is and tell me what its purpose is within 30 seconds.”

huh

sounds easy enough

“so i win just by doing that?” your brows furrow and you resist the urge to open your eyes

“i guess you could say that.” you hear yoongi’s footsteps against the carpet and you freeze when you feel him standing right in front of you

“alright, open your eyes.” you immediately open them and-

“so, tell me, y/n-” yoongi lets out a sigh before glancing up at the mistletoe that he’s holding up in between the two of you “what do we have here?”

you swallow thickly and keep your eyes glued on the mistletoe

u know what that is

and u know what its purpose is

you could easily win this game right here and now so u don’t know what’s stopping you

you can feel yoongi staring at you and you know that if you make eye contact with him right now you will definitely combuST into flames

“that’s, um, well, i’m not a, uh, i’m not a botanist or anything, but that is a… that’s mistletoe.” you clear your throat “that is… mistletoe.”

“uh-huh. and, remind me again - isn’t mistletoe particularly special this time of the year?” yoongi hums and takes a step closer to you

you jump a little when you feel the bottom of the whiteboard dig into the small of your back

the little metal tray holding the whiteboard markers clatters a marker plops to the ground but you’ll deal with that later

because now it’s time to do what you do best

D E F L E C T

“mistletoe are actually hemiparasitic plants in which they kinda just suck water and nutrients from their host tress. did you know that?”

yoongi resists the urge to roll his eyes

he knows exactly what you’re doing (out of nervous habit) but for your sake he’ll play along

“oh yeah?”

“yep. and another fun fact! the mistletoe plant actually contains toxic amines, and eating its berries can cause vomiting and stomach pain.”

“…didn’t you say you weren’t a botanist-”

“-but if we’re talking about its relevance to the christmas holidays, then… well, traditionally, people, um, people… kiss underneath them.” you finish quietly and your eyes instinctively flicker down to yoongi’s pouty lips

“i like you a lot, y/n.” yoongi breathes out and you feel your heart hiccup

your cheeks flush and you feel the heat rushing up to your ears

o god

a couple seconds of silence goes by and you wonder if yoongi can hear your heart pounding in your chest

“if you don’t feel the same way, i-“

“i like you too.” you murmur shyly and yoongi lets out what sounds like a breath of relief

before he gets the chance to roAST you for taking so long to finally admit it to him, you’re pushing your lips against his in a gentle kiss with your hand pressed against his cheek

it takes yoongi a second to register that you initiated a kiss with him but once his brain catches up to his body, he starts kissing you back

a smile tugs at his mouth when you take a step closer to him and he automatically loops an arm around your waist before carelessly tossing the mistletoe aside

yoongi tilts his head as he deepens the kiss and the quiet ‘fuck’ he lets out when you nip at his bottom lip almost immediately makes you lightheaded

it’s when you’re reminded that literally anyone passing by the room would be able to see you through the glass door that you drag yourself away (reluctantly) and yoongi unintentionally lets out a whine

“so did i win?” your cheeks are still rosy and your heart is still racing but you’re trying to play it off as if you’re totally cool about kissing yoongi and that you’re totally cool about the mutual attraction between the two of you but that fact that you’re kinda bouncing on the balls of your feet like an excited child is probably not helping your case

and yoongi’s smiling so widely his cheeks are starting to hurt but it’s totally worth it

:-) !!!!

“you won but i’m still marking you down for killing the mood by talking about vomiting and stomach pain.”

help me help you make your wishes come tru (aka send me a request)

drabble tag

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stereksecretsanta · 3 years

Text

Merry Christmas, everchanginginks

For @everchanginginks. I hope you enjoy this gift!

Read On AO3

*****

Just down the hall from the quiet studying of history students in Room 17-B lies classroom 17-A which, contrasting its quieter neighbor, is filled with sugar-fueled enthusiasm as adolescent students gleefully tear into their candy atom diagrams. Only after getting the go ahead from their awesome chemistry teacher wearing a colorful periodic table tie over a blue dress shirt with rolled up sleeves, of course.

Said awesome teacher places the end of a blue raspberry sour punch straw in the corner of his mouth and chews with an unabashed grin. As he’s halfway through the straw the bell rings and he breaks into his parting spiel for his students, the straw sticking from the corner of his mouth like a cowboy.

“Okay class, please make sure to turn your worksheets into the tray on your way out and please take your candy diagrams with you. You’re not gonna break my heart if you don’t eat them, I just don’t want next period to deal with this period’s mess. Tonight’s homework is on the board and on the syllabus, and don’t forget to submit your vote for Teacher of the Year during lunch if you have not already. Have a good rest of your day everyone, and as always come to me with any questions...and that means any ."

Scattered responses of “Okay” and “Thanks Mr. Stilinski” and “Bye” fill the room as the students start to file out the classroom.

“You’re about as subtle as a brick to the teeth.” Says a mildly amused female voice from over his shoulder.

Stiles finishes the candy and turns around to look exasperatedly at the strawberry blonde speaker sitting behind his desk, "And you’re underestimating how important this is. My reclaiming of the throne is in danger!"

"Uh huh..." MIT grad and certified genius Lydia Martin nods in mock understanding as she sips from her floral patterned ceramic travel coffee cup.

"Thanks again for agreeing to come in and lecture for my AP Chem students on such short notice by the way.” Stiles scratches at the tousled mess on his head and offers the open package of sour punch straws from his desk, “You are a literal God send."

She grimaces and waves the proffered sugary confection away, "For someone in the sciences, your improper use of the word 'literal' is rather concerning. Perhaps your throne is in more danger than previously thought."

“Don’t say that, you’re gonna jinx it!” He reaches over and raps his knuckles against his wooden desk three times while speaking a mile a minute, “I need to win, I can’t have mister ‘look at me bringing my history and polisci students on the coolest field trips in the history of this school because I can somehow pull strings to make these trips a reality despite there being like no funding--seriously how does he do it--and my students adore me even though I constantly look like I probably lure people into the woods with my beautiful eyes and murder them in my free time’ beat me at my own game, again !”

He huffs at the end of his tirade and looks to Lydia for understanding, but she avoids his gaze and poorly suppresses snickers under her breath.

“C’mon it’s not that funny. I know he can ‘smolder’ his way into the heart of even the most introverted student,” Stiles gesticulates with each emphasis, “but I have charm , I’m approachable , I understand these students. I love my job and I do everything in my ability to give these students every opportunity they deserve . If that’s not ‘Teacher of the Year’ material, then I don’t know what is.”

Stiles stops, taps his chin thoughtfully and sighs, “Though I totally understand that the title is purely for bragging rights, and it ultimately comes down to just continuing to be the best teacher I can be. Derek is a great teacher that also deserves the title and I can respect that, but gosh darn does he get my competitive side riled up.”

“Uh huh…” Lydia hums and taps her fingers against her cup as she pointedly looks past Stiles, “Mr. Stilinski, I do believe there’s someone that needs your help?”

“Oh!” Stiles quickly straightens himself and his tie, and turns around with a wide grin, “What can I do for--YOU!” Stiles quickly twists his expression into a frown and throws a finger up accusingly after registering who was darkening his doorway.

Standing in the doorway with a glare that could send a lesser man running for the hills is the previously mentioned competitor and last year’s winner for ‘Teacher of the Year’, mister ‘coolest history teacher’ Derek Hale in all his annoyingly gorgeous, stubbly, glory. He side-eyes Stiles’ organized chaos in the chemistry lab from behind thick framed hipster looking glasses and grimaces, “Am I interrupting something?”

Stiles grits his teeth, he can practically feel the judgement over his classroom’s state radiating off of the (not even tenured!) history teacher and no amount of soft looking cable knit sweaters could lessen that blow. “As a matter of fact--”

“No, you’re not interrupting anything at all Derek.” Lydia places a hand on Stiles’ shoulder as she walks past him, “I was just about to go say hi to Kira.”

Derek moves aside to let Lydia pass, she turns to smile at Stiles from the doorway, “I’ll come back by 6th period for your second AP Chem class. I think I’ll also grab some lunch from Whole Foods.”

“Uh...Bye?” Stiles weakly waves at Lydia’s parting back. He refocuses his attention on the offending history teacher and crosses his arms across his chest petulantly, “Alrighty, what d’ya need Mr. Hale?”

With a roll of his eyes, Derek holds up a handful of papers, steps forward, and emphatically places them in Stiles' inbox, “Your mail. I know your TA usually grabs it for you, but he’s out sick today. And I was already in the mailroom.”

“Whoa, wait wait, how do you know that my TA is out sick today, have you been stalking my classes? Are you trying to find a way to one up me? Steal some of my stellar teaching techniques because you know that you’ll lose otherwise?” Stiles narrows his eyes as his lowers voice into a conspiratorial tone while leaning forward to scrutinize Derek’s expression, “What’s your game here Mr. Hale ?”

Derek hazel eyes widen incredulously as he scoffs, “I don't need to stalk your classes, Liam's one of my students too. And please remind me, what did I do to make you so hostile again?”

“Playing dumb isn’t cute. You know full well what you did.” Stiles pokes at Derek’s chest and--oh that’s a soft sweater--puffs his own out, “But no matter what, I’m going to take what’s rightfully mine .”

His competitor’s face reddens in anger and Stiles feels a thrum of excitement at his ability to break Derek’s usual expression of ‘sourpuss lumberjack murderer’. A sly grin works its way across Stiles’ face as he shrugs coyly, “What can I say, I’m a man who knows what he wants.”

Stiles’ wrist is suddenly grabbed by a warm, slightly calloused palm--there may be something to that murderer in the woods theory--and wrenched away from the soft sweater. “And what would that be, Stiles?” Derek growls--who the hell growls --while leaning in way too close for comfort.

“What would that be? Um...I want to win? Obviously?” Stiles splutters as his face reddens, offended that Derek would suggest that there would be anything else . “I’m gonna own you, Derek. I’m gonna own you so hard, you won’t know what hit you.”

“How about you take me to dinner first, before you ‘own’ me?” Derek says matter-of-factly.

“Uh no, how about you take me to dinner to celebrate my overwhelming victory over your grumpy ass? Doesn’t that make a little more sense than going to dinner before either of us win?” Stiles rolls his eyes, laughing at Derek’s lack of logic. But his laughter sputters out and he stills once his brain processes what just happened. “Wait… wait wait… was that some sort of sad attempt at asking me out in the most backwards, reverse engineered manner possible?”

Stiles looks Derek in the eyes, who nods patiently, as if Stiles was one of their students that needs tutoring.

“Oh my God. Oh my GOD !” Stiles backs away and into his desk, voice rising in panic, “What even? What’s happening here? Are you trying to throw me off my game? Cause that’s a dirty tactic, even for you. Because there’s no way someone like you would legitimately ask out someone like me . That just doesn’t make sense. You’re like a sexy lumberjack murderer historian, and I’m like a young Bill Nye. I'm in the sciences , and you're in the humanities . And you don’t even like me. You haven’t liked me since your first day!”

“Hold on.” Derek holds his palms up defensively, “What are you talking about? You were the one glaring at me like there was no tomorrow.”

Stiles inspects Derek’s expression for any sign of deception, seeing none he sighs. “Fine, I guess it was just so unimportant to mister bigshot Hale to remember measly Mr. Stilinski. Do you remember moving into your classroom?”

He nods, urging Stiles to continue.

“So I didn’t know that the new teacher was moving in that day , so when I saw a big package outside of your soon to be classroom, I assumed that it was my delivery of graduated cylinders that was dropped off to the wrong room since it was early in the morning and people make mistakes sometimes, y’know?” Stiles gives Derek no opportunity to say anything and continues at full speed. “I went over and got ready to take the package, only to have you open the door and give me the scariest look in my entire life . Do you remember what you said to me, Derek?”

“You said,” Stiles changes his voice to imitate Derek’s, “‘That is my private property. If you value your time at this school, you will leave it alone. If I see this behavior again I will bring it up with Principal Yukimura’. So, yeah! Something about that kinda exchange can make a guy think you hate them!”

Derek groans and pinches the bridge of his nose, “Oh my God...You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Oh, so you do remember? Or did you conveniently forget threatening me?” Stiles grabs another sour punch straw and chews it angrily, “Because I sure as hell didn’t!”

“Stiles…” Derek laughs breathily, “I thought you were a student . I wasn’t wearing my glasses and it was dark . Oh my god . I thought the first time we met was in the teachers' lounge, and by that point I already unknowingly made a terrible first impression on you. No wonder you looked at me with such hatred. Oh my goodness.”

“...oh.”

“Yeah, oh…”

Stiles chews the straw thoughtfully and rocks on the balls of his feet. “So… about that backwards dinner invitation…”

“Yeah?” Derek perks up slightly, looking almost adorable , though Stiles would never say that outloud.

“How about whoever wins ‘Teacher of the Year’ gets treated to dinner, hm?” Stiles holds out a hand for a handshake.

With a goofy grin revealing adorable (there’s that word again!) bunny teeth that brighten up Derek’s entire face, much better than the usual murderous look, he enthusiastically takes Stiles hand and shakes it.

“Deal.”

Epilogue

“I still can’t believe it!”

“I know.” Derek hums as he reaches over to refill Stiles’ glass.

“Honestly, who saw this coming?”

“Certainly not me,” Derek swirls some pasta around his fork and fondly watches Stiles throw back the wine as if it was jungle juice rather than a nice glass of Chardonnay.

Stiles’ honey-brown eyes glimmer with the same kind of mischievous enthusiasm that Derek remembered seeing for the first time at the first assembly of the school year. He gave some sort of spiel about the importance of working together and not being afraid to ask for help, which ended with a demonstration of elephant toothpaste. Derek is embarrassed to say how much he grew to admire the gawky chemistry teacher after that assembly.

“I absolutely kicked your ass dude.” Stiles leans across the table to grab the dessert menu. “Since it’s your treat, I think I’ll indulge in some dessert.” He worries his bottom lip, which makes Derek have to cough and turn his attention away.

“Don’t call me dude.” Derek weakly responds.

“Ooh, this one is topped with bourbon vanilla bean chantilly cream, which is basically bougie whipped cream. How do you feel about bread pudding by the way?” Stiles looks up from the menu through his eyelashes--and there is no way he doesn’t know how he looks--and flutters them exaggeratedly. “Or are you too sour over losing to wittle ol’ me?”

Derek snorts and reaches over to clasp Stiles’ free hand, “On the contrary, I’d be happy to lose to you again.”

Stiles returns the gesture and leans forward, eyes glimmering, his face mere inches away from Derek’s, “Promise?”

Derek is suddenly very glad that they are sitting because he can feel himself go weak in the knees. He nods thoughtfully, “Yeah, I promise.” And leans forward to close the gap.

Their first kiss tastes like garlic bread, which is a little unconventional, but Derek wouldn’t have it any other way.

#everchanginginks #stereksanta20 #*fic20 #*gifts20

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bloodfromthethorn · 3 years

Text

Accident

Matty, usually, loves her job, but there are some days where she can't help but feel she just isn't being paid enough for it.

Part eleven of the July of Whump 2021 prompt challenge.

Also on AO3.

For all its covert operations, thanks to the think tank cover, The Phoenix was still technically classified as a regular place of business. That meant a lot of things, like paying property taxes and having to report earnings to the state, but by far one of the most mundane outcomes was the need for an Accident Book. In theory, any time someone employed by The Phoenix was injured while at work they had to write a short report detailing the accident for the book, and every year or so, The Phoenix would have to submit their anonymised incident reports to the local council.

Of course, this posed something of a problem for a government agency trying to stay off the radar; even with identifying information taken out, someone was probably going to take note if a seemingly mundane think tank reported 18 gunshot wounds over the course of a single year.

The workaround, therefore, had been that any injuries acquired outside of the building – like, say, when agents were out on missions – didn’t go into the book, and instead it was filled with the much more minor things that occurred in the relative safety of the Phoenix. There were still a couple of things that had to be omitted, like Bozer getting stabbed, but mostly, the plan seemed to work out okay. With a whole block of science labs taking up a considerable chunk of the building, there were more than enough burned fingertips and electric shocks that weren’t suspicious to fill a passably convincing report.

That being said, Matty wasn’t entirely sure how she was supposed to play this one off as a standard workplace mishap.

“Okay, okay, stop. I’m going to need you to run this by me again. Start at the beginning.”

“Well, like I said, we had Sparky up on the table-”

“At the beginning, Bozer,” she cut in, shooting her two agents a firm look. Boze’s natural charisma was, as ever, unhindered by her glare, while Mac did his usual trick of falling back on his army training and acquired a blank expression to let any yelling wash right over him. Jack did the same whenever he was genuinely in trouble and it drove Matty crazy any time it happened.

“We were working on separate projects,” Mac explained in a much more level tone than Boze had managed. To be fair, that might have had something to do with the gauze wrapped tightly around his forehead. “I’m still trying to troubleshoot that luminogen work for the dev team – you know, the glowstick stuff?”

She nodded.

“Right. And Bozer-”

“I was trying to fix a glitch in Sparky’s programming.”

“You were trying to make him call you sir,” Mac put in with a snort. He sobered as soon as he caught Matty’s hard stare. “But, uh, yeah. We were both just in the lab doing our own thing. Then Boze called me over to take a look at something-”

“I needed a spare part of hands to rewire the circuit board while I updated the code, and you know how much Mac hates someone else messing up his wiring.”

“I wasn’t working on anything volatile, so I dropped what I was doing and went to help. All of my stuff should have been completely fine where it was.”

Matty eyed him critically. He didn’t look like he was lying, but then it was a little hard to tell how much of that was down to the concussion and the bruises swelling on the left side of his face. “But it wasn’t,” she concluded.

“One of the other lab techs came through when I was focused on Sparky,” he explained with a wince. “She didn’t know that I still had things running and she noticed that my nitrogen line was still live, so she shut it off.”

“Don’t we have standard practices in place so that doesn’t happen?”

“Yes, but she’s only been with us two weeks. She didn’t know any better.”

“Mhmm.”

“Honestly Matty, it’s not her fault. I shouldn’t have left an active reaction unattended without sticking a red form up. That’s the standard practice that’s supposed to stop this thing from happening.”

“But you didn’t fill in the form.”

“I didn’t think I’d be gone long and I was still in the same room. Besides, the team usually knows not to mess with anything I’m working on, whether I’ve put up a form or not.” He went to rub at his face, then aborted the attempt when his fingers brushed over the gauze, wincing. Bozer and Matty were both watching him carefully, but he didn’t start keeling over so it would have to be good enough.

Matty sighed heavily. Playing the blame game wasn’t going to get them anywhere; she just needed to know what happened. “Okay then. You and Boze were over with Sparky and a lab tech shut off a nitrogen valve. Then what?”

“Well, nothing, for a little while. I was using the nitrogen to keep the reaction system anoxic, so everything was already sealed. Even without the nitrogen feed, it should have been fine to just sit there until I came back to it. Only, it turns out that when you combine the fluorescent polymer our dev team synthesised with NMP – the solvent I was using – it drops a proton and turns acidic.” He rolled his eyes as he said it, as if judging his own mistake like either Matty or Bozer had any concept of how predictable the problem could have been, then regretted it as it sent him dizzy again.

“Let me guess,” Matty said to give him a moment to recover, “The acid burned through a seal?”

“A rubber bung I was using to act as an injection port,” he confirmed grimly. “The seal failed and oxygen got in.”

“And the polymer is pyrophoric,” she finished for him. When he shot her a startled look, she shrugged. “I do read the reports I get sent Blondie. The spontaneous fire problem was one of the things they wanted you to take a look at, right?”

“Yeah. I hadn’t got to that part though.”

“Evidently.”

Boze jumped in to spare Mac the effort of defending himself. Now that the actual chemistry stuff was out the way, he knew the rest of the story. “While all this was happening, we were having a few problems with Sparky. The code was disagreeing with his logic boards, and it was making him fritz out pretty badly. He nearly took Mac’s fingers off when he sat up without warning.”

“And scared the hell out of us both,” Mac agreed.

“Yeah. Thank god Jack wasn’t in the room. We’d still be trying to get him down from the rafters.”

Matty cleared her throat and the pair of them snapped back to attention. Well, as at attention as Mac could reasonably be sitting up on one of the examination tables in the med bay.

With a cowed look, Bozer continued. “We were trying to work out what had happened, so we got Sparky going through a few movements. Because we weren’t finished, we didn’t bother getting him down off the table, so when he stood up completely…”

“He was a nine foot tall, eight hundred pound accident waiting to happen,” Mac finished. He gave a single shoulder shrug when Matty raised an eyebrow at him. “What? Even I’m willing to admit this whole thing was stupid.”

She’d more or less pieced together the rest of the story by now, but she still felt she should hear it for herself. Proper protocol and all that. “Alright. Then what?”

“We were trying to get Sparky back down when the reaction system blew,” Mac said. “We were far enough away that we weren’t at risk of burns, but Boze got a facefull of dye and Sparky got knocked off the table.”

“And onto you.”

He grimaced faintly, casting an offended eye at the sling supporting what had recently been a very dislocated shoulder. The expression did nothing to soften the bruises scattered across his face. “Yeah.”

Beside him, a slightly discoloured Boze swayed to knock their uninjured shoulders together. “Sorry, man,” he said, not for the first time. “Can’t help but think this is my fault.”

“It wasn’t. My reaction, my boom. Besides, you’re the one who’s going to be glowing in the dark for the next two weeks.”

“Yeah, and I’m sure the ladies will love it. You’re the one with the busted up arm.”

“It’s nothing, really. My shoulder pops out all the time.”

“You say that like it’s comforting and I gotta tell you man, it really ain’t.”

Matty’s gaze flicked between them. As much of a mess as Mac was, and despite the fact that Bozer was a lot more green than he had been when he’d arrived at work that morning, they’d both been signed off by medical with minor injuries. In theory, it was exactly the sort of thing that should go in her accident report, and yet she had a sneaking suspicion this particular story was going to raise a lot more questions than she was really willing to answer. It was funny – Mac had a habit of bringing that feeling out in her.

“Okay,” she said. “Okay. I think I’ve got the picture. I’m not even going to pretend I understand how you managed to configure such a comedy of errors, but I trust that you’ve both learned how to avoid this problem in future?”

Like two boys caught doing something they shouldn’t, they both nodded quickly in unison. She couldn’t quite bite back her smile. “Alright then. Bozer, you’re cleared to work for the rest of the day should you wish to. Mac, you’re off rotation entirely until that concussion clears up, then it’s light duty to let your shoulder heal. I’ve called Jack to come pick you up.”

That certainly got his attention. “You called Jack? It’s his day off!”

“I’m well aware. But you can’t drive with that arm and as your nominated next of kin, he’s left standing orders to be informed every time you get injured. He should be here any minute.”

Bozer was snickering to himself, while Mac’s expression had folded into something between desolate and sheepish. Matty had had a hell of time getting Jack to calm down and listen when she’d first called to tell him Mac was in medical and evidently Mac had some idea of the helicopter parenting about to rain down on his head. Maybe that would be the thing to actually make him realise the seriousness of his own actions.

“Great,” he muttered sarcastically, just as Matty heard the door to medical swing open so forcefully it cracked against the wall. With a dry smile, she stood back and waited to see the fireworks.

#MacGyver #angus macgyver #wilt bozer #matty webber #fanfiction #fanfic #my fanfic #whump of july 2021

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aion-rsa · 3 years

Text

Bridesmaids Ten Years on: “It Should Not Have Been Subversive”

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

“From the producer of Superbad, Knocked Up and The 40-Year-Old Virgin” headlines the 2011 poster for Bridesmaids. It might as well have continued “comes a comedy starring… women!” While the producer in question, Judd Apatow, had nearly created his own subgenre of modern coming-of-age comedies featuring male friendships (regardless of the age his characters were ‘coming of’), a credible, genuinely funny, ensemble laugher starring all women was virtually unheard of. Or at least so it seemed at the time. Quotes on other posters included proclamations like, “Chick flicks don’t have to suck!” (Movieline) and “Better Than The Hangover!” (Cosmopolitan).

Ten years on, it seems both like yesterday when the film came out and also a whole era away: a time when women headlining a comedy movie was somehow strange, “chick flicks” were accepted to be a lesser form of cinema, and The Hangover was considered the pinnacle of hilarity. From a script written by Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig (who also stars), featuring a wedding where romance is in no way the focus of the movie, and starring a host of funny women, a smattering of gross-out humor, and some of the most honest and empathetic depictions of female friendship around, Bridesmaids was a beacon. And it shines just as strong today.

A week ahead of Bridesmaids’ 10th birthday (its original U.S. release was May 13, 2011), Den of Geek is chatting with director Paul Feig via Zoom. Feig is in Belfast and into week four of his fantasy adaptation The School for Good and Evil (based on the book). When we tell him we can’t quite believe it’s been 10 years he laughs, “You can’t? Imagine how I feel!”

While the movie itself remains fresh, funny, and sweet, that it was considered quite so daring just 10 years ago is a bit of a shock now. Certainly Feig never considered the movie to be subversive at the time.

“But everybody kept talking to us like it was!” he says. “It just made me mad because the whole subversive thing was, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s a movie starring women.’ And it was like, ‘Really?’ It was 2009 or 2010 at the time we were making it. It was like ‘Wow, if this is subversive, that’s kind of a sad indictment of the industry that we’re in.’ It was annoyingly subversive. It should not have been subversive. It should just have been a funny comedy starring funny people.”

He’s right of course. The fact is the movie was a benchmark. Feig explains that female writer friends who were pitching ideas for female casts at the time Bridesmaids was being made were all told across the board, “We have to wait and see how Bridesmaids does.” That is a whole lot of pressure for one movie—the idea that Feig’s comedy would influence the cinematic landscape for an entire gender. But the reality is, it did.

Feig is demure when we bring up how much the movie changed the film world, but he concedes that it did help to prove to studio execs that female-led films can make money.

“I’d been told in the years running up to that, when I would be pitching female-led projects, ‘Oh no, you can’t, because men won’t go see it. Internationally, it won’t work. Blah, blah, blah.’ All these rules, rules, rules, and you just start to go like, ‘Well, so we’re just going to accept those rules? So women can never have their own projects?’

“We were able to at least show them, ‘Look, if you do it, and it works, then audiences will show up. And not just female audiences. Men will show up.’ I think our movie benefited from the fact that women would bring their significant others to the film, whether they wanted to go or not, and then they could tell their friends, ‘Hey, you should see that. It’s really funny.’”

It worked. Bridesmaids was a massive success, both critically and commercially, grossing over $288 million worldwide (it’s the highest grossing Apatow movie to date) and bagging two Oscar nominations.

Bridesmaids isn’t the first female ensemble comedy, but it’s undeniable that it was a 21st century game-changer. Without it we may not have had movies like Pitch Perfect and its two sequels (if you think that film isn’t influenced by Bridesmaids, check out the poster), Bad Moms, Ocean’s Eight, Girls’ Trip, Feig’s own Ghostbusters reboot, Rough Night, as well as Melissa McCarthy vehicles Identity Thief, The Heat, Spy, Tammy, and The Boss.

Not every one of those projects is gold and nor should they have to be. The fact that they are allowed to exist and stand or fall on their own merits is crucial. It’s the equivalent of the idea that women in various forms of employment automatically have to be that much better than their male counterparts. Women should have the right to create and star in terrible comedies just as much as men…

Though she was relatively famous before Bridesmaids—perhaps most recognizable for her TV roles including as Sookie St. James in Gilmore Girls—it was Bridesmaids that truly pushed Melissa McCarthy into the mainstream. Nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as sister of the groom Megan in Bridesmaids, since then McCarthy’s become one of the highest paid actresses in the world.

It’s quite astonishing, then, that Feig didn’t actually know who she was before he met her at a table read.

“I had never met her before in my life,” he laughs. “We brought her in for an audition because she was friends with Kristen and Annie, and we were having trouble casting that role. Then she just blew me away. And I can’t believe to this day that I did not know she existed until the moment I saw her because she’d been working a lot before that.”

Feig’s first encounter with the script and McCarthy was at a table read back in 2007. Feig says he was in the middle of post-production on an “unsuccessful Christmas movie” called Unaccompanied Minors, which featured Wiig, when Apatow called up.

“He said ‘I know you like to work with female characters, so you should come and see this.’” Feig recalls. “I remember just going like, ‘Oh my God, we can have an amazing vehicle for the funniest women we can find.”

It wasn’t until three years later though that the project finally came to fruition. Feig says all the basic structure of the script was there but with some differences to the detail. The airplane scene wasn’t originally in the movie, and the women made it to Vegas. The character of Officer Rhodes (played by Chris O’Dowd) was a little different. And the infamous dress shop scene, where the group gets explosively ill after Wiig’s Annie takes them for a meal at a cheap restaurant was, according to Feig, “a little more of a competition about Helen [Rose Byrne] wanting an expensive dress and Annie trying to steer towards a cheap dress.”

The dress shop scene in the finished film has become notorious with food poisoning landing in full force during a bridal fitting, McCarthy’s Megan straddling a sink, and Maya Rudolph’s bride-to-be Lillian forced to relieve herself in the middle of the road wearing a wedding dress. Yep, not only is Bridesmaids a film about women, it’s a film where women have violent diarrhea, a massive taboo, even still. Feig recalls it was a delicate balance to make sure it was character driven and not just gross.

“When we first came up with the idea and pitched it to Kristen, she was a little nervous, but rightly so. I mean, honestly, with Judd and I, two guys suddenly going, ‘Hey, let’s do this,’ it could have been terrible,” Feig says.

“We like to have these outrageous scenes that stick with you, but they can’t be outrageous just because, ‘Hey, let’s just have something, everybody shits and farts all over the place.’ That’s not funny to us. What’s funny to us is the idea of she’s competing with somebody who has more money. She has no money. She’s going to try to compete by taking them to a shitty restaurant and saying it’s a good restaurant. And it’s going to blow up in her face. How does it blow up in her face?

“The funny thing is she’s not going to admit in front of her nemesis that this blew up in her face. And so now the comedy is like, ‘We’re just going to throw so much evidence at you that you’ve screwed up.’ The comedy’s going to be like, ‘I’m fine. They’re fine. Nothing’s wrong. I’m not sweating. I’m not about to die.’ And that’s why it’s funny. Then that allows us to go like, ‘And now let’s just have the evidence be hilarious and go crazy with it.’”

So much of what works so brilliantly about the movie is the chemistry between all of the cast. Wiig and Rudolph were already best friends in real life, and the rest of the cast, who all came from the world of improv, had either worked together or at least seen each other’s work.

“The great thing about comedy people, in improv especially, is they’re not lone wolves,” Feig explains. “They live and die by the interaction they have with the people they’re working with. So you don’t get a situation where somebody is a diva or trying to be like, ‘Oh, they’re stealing my jokes.’ They want to make each other as funny as they can while they also make themselves as funny as they can. So it was just a wonderful, supportive set. I mean, we had so much fun. There were never any moments of anything other than just laughing and having a great time.”

Though most of the cast was recognizable, to a U.S. audience at least, from TV shows like SNL, since Bridesmaids their careers have boomed. As well as McCarthy’s enormous success, Wiig has most recently starred as a main character in Wonder Woman 1984 (with a chance she might return for another installment); Ellie Kemper is now best known as The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmit; Wendi McLendon-Covey is the star of The Goldbergs; and Maya Rudolph seems to be in everything—we loved her as the Judge in The Good Place, among other things.

Pre-Bridesmaids Australian actress Rose Byrne was probably best known for serious roles in movies like Sunshine, 28 Weeks Later and Troy, and while her character, Helen, is something of the straight woman of the gang, she’s had plenty of opportunities to exercise her comedy chops since, with movies including Neighbors, Instant Family, and Like a Boss.

Though the antagonism between Annie and Helen and the effect it has on Annie’s friendship with Lillian is the central tension of the plot, it was always important to Wiig and Feig not to turn Helen into the villain of the piece.

“Helen doesn’t really do anything terrible,” Feig explains. “I always said, we have to face this from Helen’s point-of-view, which is: Helen meets Lillian. Lillian’s this awesome, smart person. And she then meets her friend who she’s heard all these weird stories about and the friend is kind of a mess. And so to her, she goes like, ‘That’s kind of a toxic friend. I’m going to, in a very lovely way, try to steer Lillian away from this bad influence in her life and towards better things, because I think she can go better places.’ So from Helen’s point-of-view, everything that Annie is doing is terrible because Annie’s trying so hard.”

It means that Bridesmaids very clearly avoids the trope that women aren’t able to get along, and Feig and Wiig pointedly wanted to avoid any sense of it being a catfight.

“We like to redeem people at the end,” Feig says. “It’s really sweet to redeem Helen and go, no, she’s just this needy person who has a husband who was never home. And she’s trying. She clearly has no self-confidence whatsoever, no self-esteem and so she’s just trying to buy it. So it just makes everybody redeemable and lovely at the end.”

Feig says he’s always been fascinated by female friendships and says he’s mostly friends with women. It’s another reason it was always important to him that despite being a “wedding movie” that Bridesmaids kept the relationships between the women at the heart.

Says Feig, “I don’t consider this a romantic comedy, even with the Chris O’Dowd love story. To me, that’s just a prize at the end that Annie gets when she works herself out with her friend. But that’s what drew me to it. If you look at my other movies, I’m just obsessed with the idea of female friendship and exploring it on screen, because I just find it to be one of the most interesting and fun and sweet relationships in my life that I’ve experienced.”

It’s this authenticity that helps Bridesmaids still ring so true a decade on. Though a comedy about women, written by two really funny women, which isn’t a romance and contains farts and shits shouldn’t be subversive, it was definitely a trailblazer. And Feig concedes that it’s helped with “getting over that stupid hurdle of ‘chick flick.’”

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“I despise that term because it’s just a way for guys to dismiss movies starring the opposite sex,” he says. “Hollywood is not an altruistic town. They’re not going to do stuff just to do the right thing. It has to make money. We were at least able to show: look, you can actually make money and do the right thing.”

Bridesmaids is now exclusively streaming on Peacock.

The post Bridesmaids Ten Years on: “It Should Not Have Been Subversive” appeared first on Den of Geek.

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jojiship · 4 years

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Studio Ghibli Films: Ranking & Thoughts

I have been binging Studio Ghibli (and other anime films) since May. I saw a lot of people in Youtube rank them and I decided to do it as well. While I don’t have a camera to record myself, I decided to post my ranking of its films. First of all, I want to say that this is quite a subjective ranking and it’s personal. These are my opinions and of course, everyone can have opinions of their own. Second of all, I think all of these films have their good sides, but there are ones that I enjoyed and there are ones I didn’t enjoy. Either way, I recommend people to watch all of these films. You won’t regret watching most of them.

This post ranks the films from the 22nd to 16th. Obviously, there will be spoilers ahead, so you’ve been warned.

22. My Neighbors The Yamadas (1999) - I watched it a few hours ago and I found myself getting bored with it (which is rare because I don’t get bored with films. I can’t count how many times I’ve sat through Titanic). While I found some parts funny, I just wanted it to end. I’m not a big fan of its animation and while the family is charming, it didn’t pull me in like some family dynamics do. However, the last scene with the umbrellas and Japanese version Que Sera playing was quite enjoyable. Definitely the best part of the film was that.

21. Tales From Earthsea (2006) – When you watch fantasy films, you expect a lot from them. You expect magic, awesome fight scenes, worldbuilding and many other things. You expect to be entranced by the world, but I didn’t get entranced at all. I found the film lackluster and boring. None of the characters appealed to me. I truly didn’t get the dark side Arren plot to be honest. I was waiting it to be explained, but nah. The other characters weren’t that interesting as well. You would expect the climax of this film to be fantastic and mind-blowing, but it was disappointing to say the least. A lot of things were left unexplained and I wished they had dug deeper to the magic system etc. Lord Cob was a villain that I have seen too many times and frankly, I found him to be a snooze fest. Sparrowhawk mentioned the Balance being restored, but it never seemed like the balance was lost. Nothing seemed to be in the line and I didn’t find the loss of balance to be threatening. The best thing in the film was the animation. It was truly captivating and sometimes, I forgot all about what was going on because I was admiring it. The animation is a reason why it’s higher than My Neighbors The Yamadas. While reading the Wikipedia page, I learned that the film adaption included four books of the series and I guess that was the big mistake Studio Ghibli made.

20. Pom Poko (1994) – I hate to rank another Takahata film this low because I truly love him as a director, but Pom Poko wasn’t it for me. I did enjoy the premise of it and there were moments I found endearing and interesting, but I just found it to drag a bit as it progressed. I didn’t really care about raccoons as characters as much as I wanted to. Seeing them learn how to transform and carry out their plans was interesting. However, it started to become a bit too much. I thought that the pacing was a bit off sometimes. There were moments when I was truly shocked like when the raccoons caused the death of three people and injured two others. I didn’t expect them to show that, but Studio Ghibli has the tendency to show that the world isn’t black and white. While the raccoons had a reason to fight, I liked that they showed they could go too far as well. I liked the end scene and the message of the film overall. It truly showed what the film was all about.

19. Ocean Waves (1993) - I was surprised when I saw that this film was only one hour and twelve minutes as Studio Ghibli can be over two hours long. This film needed to be longer because it was quite flat. While I do appreciate the realistic take of it, it didn’t sit right with me. There were too many things missing in this film like character development, chemistry, even the plot wasn’t that good. Taku wasn’t that good of a lead in my opinion, but there were moments when I enjoyed him. Rikako was truly annoying and underdeveloped. I usually come to a female character’s defense because they tend to be hated way too much, but I didn’t like Rikako at all. I understand that she was going through a hard time, but her behaviour was truly horrible at times. While some might get annoyed with her actions toward the boys (I was too), her attitude with the class was the one that annoyed me the most. I personally love collectiveness and teamwork in our society, her self-centeredness and individualism didn’t sit right with me. She was unapologetic of her behavior and I get why no one was really friends with her. Yutaka wasn’t that interesting as well, but he was alright. I have to say the most developed relationship was between Yutaka and Taku (no wonder some call this film accidental gay), but even their relationship fell flat. Also, when I saw some people calling Taku slapping Rikako as equality, I screamed internally. Why do some people only care about equality when it comes to violence?

18. From Up On Poppy Hill (2011) - As soon as this film started, I started to enjoy it. Umi was a good character, she was interesting to see. She was running a boarding house at such a young age. I love her relationship with her family, especially with her parents. She was your average high school student and I liked that. The romance started good too, I like the scene where he jumps in the water and she helps him. The scenes in the club house are amazing as well and so are the other scenes between the couple. I loved how they all came together for a common goal and they succeeded in that goal. Seeing people work together as a collective is what I live for. Now, you might wonder why this film is ranked this low since I loved a big chunk of it. Well, it’s the twist that never actually is a twist. Like I get romantic films having conflicts, but incest, really? Of all the things, you chose incest. While at the end, they weren’t related, it did leave a sour taste. I couldn’t get over it, especially when the two of them said that they didn’t care that they might be siblings and they still had feelings for each other. It reminded me too much of Game of Thrones. That’s the reason why it’s ranked so low.

17. The Cat Returns (2002) - I remember this film to be one of the first Studio Ghibli films I’ve watched. I’m pretty sure that it was the second one I’ve ever watched. As a kid, I thought this film was amazing. I thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. When I rewatched it, I was let down. It’s not a bad film, I just had raised standards of it and it didn’t even touch those standards. I didn’t hate Haru, but I didn’t like her that much either. There were moments where she got on my nerves. Sometimes, she made the situation worse for herself. Her crush on Baron was weird and it will always be. Baron was alright. He was enjoyable, but I didn’t fan over him as much as I expected to. Somehow, I would have liked if they did some sort of prequel to the Whisper of the Heart. Showing how Baron and his wife were made, but also showing the love story of Shiro’s (Seiji’s grandfather) and Louise. Muta, however, was the true MVP of this movie. I enjoyed every minute that Muta was on the screen. He was truly the most enjoyable character. The scene in the labyrinth has to be one of my favourite scenes. It was funny and enjoyable. The only reason this is ranked higher than From Up on Poppy Hill is because of nostalgia.

16. Nausicaä Of The Valley Of The Wind (1984) –This film isn’t technically a Studio Ghibli film, but I decided to do it because it was made by Miyazaki who wrote the manga of it. Plus, I think it fits the Studio Ghibli film. Before watching this film, I expected it to be on my top ten. To my surprise and disappointment, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I wanted to. Maybe it’s because I’m still getting used with dystopian fiction works, but I don’t think I enjoy them as much as I want to. I liked that it was all about how people ruined our planet and how future generations had to suffer through it. For a film created in 1984, it speaks a lot to present day. This just proves that the talk about environment has always been there even though so many people say it had become popular nowadays. When it came to the film, I enjoyed the premise and the story. I just didn’t care about the characters, the only character I enjoyed watching was Nausicaä herself, the others didn’t really get my attention. I guess I was just too focused on Nausicaä who was such a good protagonist. When she ends up being the savior, I was smiling like an idiot. I definitely predicted it, but I loved every second of that scene. The last scene of the film restored hope in me as it meant to do.

#studio ghibli #my neighbors the yamadas #tales from earthsea #pom poko #ocean waves #from up on poppy hill #the cat returns #nausicaä of the valley wind #hayao miyazaki #isao takahata #films #rankings

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wezzaner · 5 years

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Evie’s and Doug’s relationship develops the best, Pt. 3.2: The Movie

I feel like I keep postponing this. I find it hard to analyze a movie where the only consistency shown is a birthday cake. I love it, but like, I kinda strongly dislike it as well. Anyway…

For part 3.2 to make more sense to you, check out the previous parts here:

Pt.1: https://wezzaner.tumblr.com/post/186775140063/evies-and-dougs-relationship-develops-the-best

Pt.2: https://wezzaner.tumblr.com/post/186827407103/evies-and-dougs-relationship-develops-the-best

Pt.3.1: https://wezzaner.tumblr.com/post/186971661403/evies-and-dougs-relationship-develops-the-best

Now that this is out of the way, fair warning, this is going to be long...

As noticed in pt. 2, there was no character analysis for Evie and Doug. That is because in my timeline (that I will fight to the death to prove), it’s been only 3-4 months between D2 and D3, so I thought I can do it in one go. Let’s see how Evie and Doug changed, yeah?

Evie:

Wow. Talk about character development done absolutely right. I have been silently observing the fandom for four years and I have yet to come across anyone who even slightly dislikes Evie. A huge part of that is attributed to Sofia Carson, I have no doubt about that. This woman will go places.

As far as development, Evie was such a complex character from the start. Far more complex than any of the other VKs, not including Carlos whose abuse history remained strictly in the books and was only hinted at in the movies in two lines across the board. The Evie we got in D2 and D3 came a long way from D1 Evie.

Evie had a reputation of being a complete vain flirt, a selfish heart-breaker who wouldn’t hesitate to use her looks to get what she wanted. Somehow, she remains sort of shy, reserved and not always speaking her mind. That’s probably due to her, Jay and Carlos being accustomed to blindly follow Mal.

She was brought up entitled by her mother, to marry a prince for the social status and riches. She was bred to be a perfect trophy wife, the fairest of them all, with the concept of beauty trumps personality and smarts embedded deep into her brain.

But somehow, somehow, she ends up being a well-mannered, smart girl who is practically good at everything except being true to herself. She, along with Carlos, end up being the sensitive, level-headed ones, not the ones to lash out unless super necessary and probably regarded as the easiest VKs to be around. They’re also the two mature ones, no matter what Mal likes to think.

Throughout the first movie, Evie shows her good heart, her fashion and style and finally, her longing to be an Auradon girl. Her longing to get away from the isle, explore who she is and who she really wants to be.

For Evie, Doug wasn’t why she chose good. And I love that. Doug standing up to her marked the time she started being hesitant about the plan to steal the wand and his passivity during the events of family day reignited her determination. He wasn’t her purpose; he wasn’t her motive, but he was a catalyst.

Her supporter and helper. A believer.

Next time we saw Evie, she had evolved so much already in so little time. She was more comfortable with who she became, more in tune. She was shown to be outspoken, confident, calm and collected. She was very open and had chemistry with everyone she interacted with. Also, following Mal blindly became a thing of the past, Evie down right scolded her at some point.

On the isle, she stepped into the role of the leader effortlessly, I personally always thought that Jay would be the second in command. She was dominant, calm under pressure and fluidly returned to be a support to Mal once she was found. And she was content being s support. Her actions spoke louder than any words, portraying her as the fiercely loyal sister anyone would dream to have. Loyal to the point where she would give up her life in Auradon, complete with a boyfriend and a booming business.

Let’s not mistake her loyalty to Mal, someone she regards as family, to her being indifferent to Doug. Family comes first, Evie’s future family will be lucky to have her. Speaking of Doug, Evie knows the guy, their slow and steady relationship proves to be suitable for them. She oh-so-easily defused his frantic confrontation, caused by a problem that was arguably created by her family. By Mal having an identity crisis and fleeing, she unknowingly forced the rest to go after her. Then Carlos and Jay, people who Doug became friends with, lied straight to his face.

Her good heart was once again evident in her being inspired by Dizzy and proposing the idea of bringing more VKs from the isle.

It is worth noting that she also gave up practicing magic (her mother practiced black magic, she had powers) and donated her magic mirror to the museum.

Finally, in the third movie, Evie is basically the ultimate good. A selfless protector in every sense of the word. She kept asking Carlos if he was okay, brought the Smee kid back inside the limo during Hades’s “attack” and constantly had Celia protectively behind her.

The one time she wasn’t protective of someone, she was stepping up into the leader’s shoe when Uma and Mal kept going at each other during the confrontation with the suits of armor. And when she casually directed everyone on what to do when Mal was, briefly, an old hag.

She was the moderator, trying to constantly rally everyone together, breaking up fights and getting everyone to get along. She was successful too, with her ice breaker activity. You can see Hary starting to respond, she got through to the unhinged maniac. And later, Gil carried on her game with Jay, she got through to him as well.

And of course, Evie still had the VKs on the isle on the forefront of her mind. They were still priority, the incident with Hades never swayed her.

The most prominent trait of Evie that is glaringly obvious through D2 and D3 is her selflessness. A direct opposite to her in D1. A trait she obviously picked up from Doug, he inspired her.

Now Doug:

Doug has come a long way as well, though it’s very subtle. He started out as an insecure, somewhat shy kid. He is a son to a sidekick, and he was embracing that and had no problem with it. He was friends with practically everyone, closest to Ben though. However, being friends with royals and heroes had added tremendously to his insecurities, making him see himself as less.

But among all the AKs, Doug always came off as the most welcoming and least reluctant when dealing with the VKs. He was selfless, going out of his way to stand up for Evie with no ulterior motive, since he had already somewhat been rejected by her at that point.

In the second movie, Doug was even more comfortable around the VKs. He became friends with all of them now and trusted them. That was why he was hurt and sent into a frenzy when Jay and Carlos lied to him. He considered them friends. His insecurities came rushing back, seeing himself as not worthy of Evie and that was why he thought she might be seeing someone else. He also saw himself as unworthy of the friendship with Jay and Carlos, also Mal with association, when they lied straight to his face.

In D3, Doug’s insecurities were almost gone at that point. He became close to Jay, Carlos, Jane, Mal and even closer to Ben. He was protective of Jane when Auradonians freaked out during Hades’s incident. He was so laid back in almost all of the scenes.

When he woke up from the sleeping spell, he was conversing with Gil, a new VK he just met. The only possible background information Doug has on Gil was that Gil kidnapped Ben, the King Ben, and fought the core four on the isle. And there he was just standing casually engrossed in conversation with him. Also, towards the end, he was hanging out with Evie, Uma and Harry. And was later dancing with Uma and Harry as well, no Evie in sight.

That leads me to believe that Doug is one of the most accepting people in the Descendants franchise, along with Lonnie. And somewhat Ben, he was apprehensive when he saw Gil and Harry but for good reason. That is why I will be using this part of my analysis to not only go over all the Doug/Evie relationship moments, but will leave you with some of his platonic interactions as well.

Moving on, scenes breakdown:

The first Evie and Doug interaction happens off-screen. We only get a snippet of it behind the scenes, where we see Evie holding onto Doug and leading the band to the front of the welcoming committee. We never know what they are talking about, only one sentence of the conversation.

Again, what Evie says actually plays well into their relationship, its history and dynamic. Doug had her back since the moment they met. As I said, he is her supporter, he believes in her. I had hoped this would be included in the behind the scenes, deleted scenes or even the bloopers videos but we never got it.

Then they are standing with the crowd, waiting for Ben and Mal to show up. Doug, being Ben’s best best friend and future best man, plays a rearranged version of the song Ben sang to Mal to declare his love for her. Best friend goals, everybody.

Also, squad goals! Look at that support!

After the music died and as Ben proposes, Evie is clearly seen standing with her hands interlocking over Doug’s shoulder, leaning into him as they await Mal’s response.

They separate as the squad congratulate each other. And Doug and Carlos hug twice, solidifying themselves in my mind as very close friends and marking the first sign of Doug’s character progress. Also, vindication to my theory that the reason for D2’s confrontation was more than just Evie’s disappearance and that it was fueled by Carlos and Jay lying to him. He’s more than just Evie’s boyfriend or an acquaintance to them, he’s a very close friend now.

Evie’s and Doug’s attention goes back to the newly engaged couple as they stare, dare I say longingly, at what Mal and Ben have together and where they are now. And this conversation takes place.

Doug starts the conversation with a little joking jab at his and Evie’s own relationship. You can see how Evie picked up on his subtle comparison and how eager she is to blurt the words, the words almost flying out of her mouth, like she can’t hold them in anymore.

Now Doug’s response… There are a lot of ways to interpret that. My personal favorite is that Doug understood what she was trying to say. Here’s how: I have already established time and time again that of all the couples in the franchise, Evie and Doug have more reasons to take things slow than anyone else. For a brief recap, they both come from the same story, meaning that their parents were direct enemies. His father and uncles killed her mother. Add to that Evie being a past flirt and a heart breaker, Doug’s personal insecurities and the fact that Evie didn’t know what love is until she made it to Auradon and boom, you’re there.

Knowing Doug’s selfless and caring nature, I’m willing to bet money he had already come to terms with his feelings for Evie a while ago, perhaps even during the first movie. But knowing her history, their history, he chose to be patient and considerate. He chose to hold his tongue and not say anything, so he wouldn’t be pressuring Evie into anything she wasn’t ready for.

To me, his hopeful look as he waits for Evie to finish her words and then his “me too” afterwards is him subtly telling her that he loves her as well. He read into what she tried to say and saw her history and insecurities coming back and chose again to not pressure her, but to try to subtly reassure her.

They share a look, a nod and they both look away.

It just wasn’t their time yet.

Their brief awkward moment gets cut short when Ben and Mal join the group. Mal runs to her sister and Ben flies towards his bachelor party group, stating the obvious because he is a cinnamon roll and gets swamped into a group hug by all his best friends.

As Mal steps up to her future parents in law, Doug and Jay can be seen hugging in the background. Also bonus Ben/Evie on the right, they lock hands briefly as they pass by each other. Because why not, their friendship in D2 was one of the moments in the franchise.

Further proving that Doug’s a big part of the group, he joins in as they mock Mal and her soon to be acquired status. He could be seen further left throughout the scene. Jane is there too; behind Carlos and she also joins in the shenanigans.

Originally, I was planning to end the proposal scene with this gif of Evie turning around to wave at her boyfriend before leaving.

But then I found this.

This is during the Hades incident when Fairy God Mother is trying to maintain order and failing miserably. Doug is obviously very protective of Jane, keeping her close during the chaos. He only leaves her when he hands her over to one of the guards, who is sure to keep her safe, then he turns around and tries to direct the herd of panicking people. That was very protective and sweet of him, and also not the only moment he shares with Jane.

After that, Doug is only mentioned once until they’re back at Evie’s starter castle. The one Doug helped her find and purchase.

Irrelevant but like, poor Jay!

Anyway, next time we see Doug, it’s way after the halfway mark of the movie. And he’s sound asleep. Which brings up the question, what was Doug doing in Evie’s place anyway? I highly doubt that Doug is all moved in, that goes against his and Evie’s… mental agreement to take things slow. My educated assumption would be that Doug went to Evie’s starter castle so they could all go together to Jane’s birthday party, found them all suiting up to go to the isle and was asked to stay with Dizzy and the Smee twins. That would fit with Evie’s protective nature, which pushes her into asking her trusted and responsible boyfriend to take care of the VKs she’d be leaving behind.

So, poor Doug is sound asleep and there are two ways to wake him up. Either ending Audrey’s reign of terror or… a true love’s kiss. Before breaking down the scene, let’s take a minute to appreciate how it all comes back full circle to the two of them. Queen Grimhilde spelled Snow White and she had to be woken up by a true love’s kiss and now, Audrey spelled Doug and Evie has to wake him up with a true love’s kiss. Also, in true Descendants tradition, the gender role reversal is not lost on me. Another flip of the fairy tales, if you will.

I have noticed a few people going on about how Audrey is cursing everyone to sleep and, meanwhile, Evie is wasting time singing to a sleeping body. Well… She had time to kill.

They had two hours to search Auradon Prep and head back to Evie’s place. Not sure how long it took for Evie and Mal to search the school while Uma was going through Audrey’s Diary, but I am assuming not too long? I mean, chronologically, Evie was serenading cursed-Doug before (or during) the guys actually encountering Ben. So yeah, she had time.

Now onto the actual scene:

For starters, Evie loses her wits. For a minute, she loses her mature, smart personality and is reduced to the teenager she actually is. She is completely clueless, momentarily forgetting the fact that a sleeping spell has been cast all over Auradon and attempts to shake him awake.

It takes Uma’s snark pointing out that he’s spelled to bring her back to reality, and Mal has to defend Evie, letting Uma know she’s emotionally involved, and that her sense of judgement is currently kind of compromised. Now, considering how many times Evie was in situations where she showed brilliant emotional intelligence, it goes to show how deep her feelings are for Doug. During family day, during the coronation, leading the crew into the isle pre-running into Mal, when Ben was king-napped, the confrontation at Uma’s ship, cotillion, old hag Mal, the bikes being taken and when the suites of armors ganged up on the VKs, Evie never lost her cool. But when it came to him, she just lost it.

Uma says that Evie should be able to wake him up and you could see Evie slowly registering what she means. Her worry about her boyfriend’s current situation is even more accentuated with the worry that she now has to test their love. She has to face the one thing she has been actively dodging for months. Her reaction has Uma spelling out what Evie has to do for her, true love’s kiss.

And that’s when Evie admits that she and Doug have yet to say their “I love you”s, sending Uma rolling her eyes. And Mal in the back smirks and raises an eyebrow slightly at Uma’s back as if to say “welcome to my world”, a hint that this is not the first time Mal has been involved in a conversation with Evie about her feelings for Doug and her postponing the inevitable. Which is something Mal did before for he own set of reasons and regretted, she didn’t want Evie to make the same mistake. She almost lost Ben then, she didn’t want that for Evie. That explains her later frustration throughout the music number.

Mal almost looks smug, like yeah, Evie will have to do it now!

Then the song… there’s no doubt that almost every lyric is perfect for the couple, their relationship dynamic and their personalities as well. It goes back and forth between Evie reassuring herself and her going on about how good Doug is for her. And Mal’s and Uma’s reactions to Evie unfolding is indeed one of the best things that has happened in this movie. Actually, in all three movies.

Don't freak out, it's okay 'Cause true love can save the day And I think we feel the same But I don't know

Evie starts off by trying to reassure herself that she will be able to wake him up with a true love’s kiss, knowing that deep down, below all the uncertainties she’s feeling because of their history, she knows she loves Doug and that he loves her back. Unfortunately, her nervousness gets the best of her and she reluctantly starts stalling. However, her stalling technique is actually helping because she basically lives through their entire relationship, trying to prove to herself that Doug really does love her as well. And her nervousness is 100% valid because Doug isn’t Evie’s family like Mal, Carlos and Jay are, he isn’t a member of her inner circle, he can choose to leave at any point. It’s not the same as when Evie told Mal that she loves her or her constantly dotting over Carlos’s wellbeing. This is different for Evie.

When we met, it was sweet He was oh-so into me Seems like things are meant to be But I don't know

Like I said, Evie is reliving her relationship, especially the parts that had her falling for him, slowly but surely, starting with their first meeting. Doug was awe-struck by her beauty that he was left speechless for a second before gathering his wits to nervously stutter through the classes the VKs were signed into before their arrival. Again, the role reversal is evident. Doug started out as the nervous one and Evie has always oozed confidence, she’s not the kind to lose her cool but now things are different and she’s the one freaking out. Again, she tries to reassure herself that they are meant to be.

Mal’s and Uma’s reactions to this verse are very appropriate. Mal approaches first, her eagerness to see Evie finally admit what they both knew all along evident all over her face. She’s excited for her best friend, who is finally admitting her feelings, and perhaps finally fully recovering from what the Evil Queen used to drill into her head. All the talk about having to marry a prince, about Snow White and the Dwarves being enemies, about having to be a royal and having a castle, about how she looks and how she could always be better. Mal sees Evie’s love declaration for Doug as her recovery journey ending.

Uma is whole different story, approaching a second late but faster. Uma is intrigued and her interest is peaking. That’s simply because this is the first time Uma sees anyone so in love and gushing over their significant other. During D2, Mal’s true love speech had more to do with her insecurities and fear regarding Ben and the pressures of being the King’s girlfriend… Auradon-washing (is that making any sense?) her, acknowledging that Ben knows her and loves her for who she is. But there’s Evie singing about how Doug is good for her and she barely questions her love for him during the song. Considering that dating on the isle is unheard of, let alone people being in love. She’s curious to hear the story behind Evie’s change to who she is, a person she envied for being selected for the Auradon program instead of her. Perhaps she is even thinking of the possibilities and opportunities Auradon will open to her and the other VKs once they’re freed. Hope of being safe enough to be in love like Evie is, of being self-made like Evie, of owning a home like Evie’s and being loved like Evie is.

I might even go as far as say, she prefers having Evie’s worries about being loved and in love to her own worries about surviving the day.

Does he love me? Or does he love me not? Do I love him? And is it strong enough?

It’s worth nothing that Evie questions Doug’s feelings for her countless times throughout the song. But she only questions her own twice, this being the first one. The other is also in the pre-chorus. And it’s not about her love for him as much as it is about the strength of that love.

One kiss, one kiss It all comes down to this One kiss, one kiss Ohh

Focusing once again on Mal and Uma, Mal is evidently more invested in the whole deal while Uma is starting to lose interest. That is still true to who they are, because Mal has experienced this situation before while Uma has not. Mal wants Evie to have her own proof that she’s loved and that she’s worthy, like she had with Ben in D2. And while Uma wants to feel what Evie is feeling, she’s not as emotionally forward as Evie is. She doesn’t like to be seen as sensitive, or compassionate, or vulnerable or in love.

One kiss, one kiss This moment could be it I, I, I wanna know So here I go

Again, Mal’s too eager and she can’t really hide it when Evie tries to gather courage to attempt to kiss Doug the first time. And Uma’s interest is renewed again, her face lighting up like a kid swimming in gifts on Christmas.

As Evie avoids facing her demons the first time, Mal is frustrated while Uma is downright disbelieving. Again, playing well into their characters. Mal being Evie’s ear to vent to is frustrated that Evie deflects the opportunity to finally make sure of her feelings for Doug and his for her. While Uma, a very confrontational person by nature, is confused over Evie stalling. She wants to get this over with, like she always does.

Keep it cool, keep it calm Think he's loved me all along But maybe I got it wrong So I don't know

Again, Evie is reassuring herself that Doug has loved her from the start. But again, true to her character’s conflict with the idea of love, she keeps doubting her own words.

Then in the next lines she goes on how supportive he has been to her since they met. Her doubts shine through in this verse when she makes it known that it’s all about how she doesn’t think she deserves him.

He's so good, got my back But maybe I'm just too bad Could we be a perfect match? Now, I don't know

Mal’s and Uma’s reactions to this part is one of my favorites. Mal is ecstatic that Evie found someone who loves her so much and has her back so blindly. Uma’s reaction is more controlled and more subtle, it is recognition. She sees it now, why Evie loves Doug, how Doug shows he’s in love with Evie, Evie’s own insecurities and why Mal supports the couple whole heartedly. She’s starting to get it. Maybe even support it.

Does he love me? Or does he love me not? Do I love him? And is it strong enough?

The second time Evie questions Doug’s love for her. And that’s it.

One kiss, one kiss It all comes down to this One kiss, one kiss Ohh One kiss, one kiss This moment could be it I, I, I wanna know So here I go

Yeah, here I go

Finally, Mal and Uma are about done. They frustratingly encourage Evie to go for it already, neither of them is exactly known for patience. They are so impatient that Evie is still taking her sweet sweet time and leave. I’ll also go as far as say that Mal and Uma bonded over Evie’s love trouble more than they have bonded in the entire movie so far.

I feel my heartbeat beating saying, "It's gonna work" But if I'm dream-dream-dreaming, this is gonna hurt Either I will or I won't What if I do and he don't? Is he my Romeo? Oh, there's only one, one way to really know

Up until the line about Doug being Evie’s Romeo, we were good. More than good, actually. Evie is hyping herself up, following her gut feeling while still acknowledging that this would hurt like hell if it doesn’t work out. Which is another sign she’s sure of her own feelings and questioning Doug’s, playing well into her character flaws and self-consciousness.

But that Romeo line…

Here’s the thing, I am legit torn when it comes to that line. The only reason they could have used Romeo as an example, would be the family feud. You know, Montague vs. Capulet and Evil Queen vs. Snow White and the dwarves. Other than this little call-back, this line makes zero sense, the parallels stop there.

Let’s clear this up, if you ever hear Romeo and Juliet mentioned in a positive, happy light, know that whoever wrote the song, script or whatever it is, is not… fully aware… of the story. Romeo and Juliet were not a love story, it was never meant to be. Their love at first sight wasn’t even love, it was lust. They were both seeking escapism, Romeo was trying to get over a woman (Rosaline) who didn’t love him back, and Juliet, who is 14, was trying to avoid marrying this guy (Paris) who her parents where preparing her for, pretty much. To say that they fell in love at the first sight is not right, it was lusting after each other at best.

And that’s not even considering the tragic ending of the story. So, Romeo and Juliet were a tragedy start to end.

Again, I get why the line was used, but I would have done without it.

Moving on from the number, Evie finally kisses the guy and gets it over with. She is just so soft and tender with him, caressing his face then letting her hand sneak down to his chest. Can I be him for minute?

When Doug snores, Evie FREAKS. Just look at her face. For a second there, her only constant outside of her family is not a constant anymore. The one stable thing she had is not as stable as she originally though. When that turns out to be Doug being a little shit, her initial reaction is to smack him and be mad about it. But her pout slowly relaxes into a relieved, small smile and it is everything.

Cruel cruel prank from Doug, but again, he’s a joker. It’s one of the few things the movies actually told about his character, so that’s fine. If Evie can forgive him then so can I. I would have strangled him for a bit first, though.

And I assume Evie and Doug talk about the whole true love thing somewhere off screen, since they spend together the time it takes for Uma to eat cake twice (once with Dizzy and once with Mal when they sort of make up) and the guys to find Ben, de-beast him and bring him back. So yeah, probably they talk things through like the mature couple they have proved to be, maybe sharing a few kisses and so. Oh, and catching up, Evie absolutely fills him in on everything that has been going on the past few hours.

Then Audrey traps everybody inside, breaking their couple time and bringing them back to reality. When Uma helps Mal and they’re freed, Evie looks off screen towards Doug, gives him a big smile and a nod. Like, See? I did that! I got them working together! See my handy work and be proud!

Of course, whether Evie is the reason for them getting over their conflict or not is irrelevant. She tried. But the point is, she looks at him, showing him the result of what she has been working towards.

Again, one thing I have noticed was that, other than the fact that Doug is talking to Gil when Ben interrupts to send Doug, Jane and Gil to find Fairy God Mother, Uma and Evie wave Doug goodbye. You can clearly see Gil looking the other way a few beats before Uma and Evie raise their hands in sync. It wasn’t for Gil, oh no, it wasn’t for Gil.

So, Uma likes Doug, you can’t change my mind. And I don’t know about you, but Queen Uma’s opinions are clearly superior and to be trusted. I could end this here and be done with it and I’ll be satisfied.

But there’s more.

Engagement Party time!!

To kick things off, Doug is hanging out with Evie and Jay, you know, as he is part of the group. For some reason, even Jane and Carlos aren’t together and Chad looking around aimlessly and not being a part of anything is definitely me at a party. Chad in general is a mood on his own.

During Mal’s speech, when she makes it known that Hades is her father, everyone looks around in confusion. Except Evie, Carlos, Doug and Jay. Jay moves slightly but I think it’s more of the shock about Mal going public than the information itself. Everybody else looks confused, even Jane and Audrey.

Knowing that Jane, Chad and Doug were absent when Mal told about Hades the first time, when Audrey was comatose, and assuming that Audrey didn’t catch onto why Hades was there to help wake her up, it’s expected that all four of them would be clueless at this point.

But Doug isn’t. He knows. Evie definitely either let it slip sometime before and made him promise not to tell anyone or she told him sometime between their true love kiss and the party. Since Evie is a secret keeper herself, I’d assume that this piece of information was given to Doug as part of the run down after the kiss or after Audrey was rescued.

So yeah, Evie trusts him as blindly as he trusts her.

Anyway, Mal goes blah blah blah barrier down blah blah blah they sing the final number and Harry pulls the sleazy move of all sleazy moves. He literally hits on four different people in, like, one minute. He asks if Mal is taken, attempts to give Evie the eyes, tries to kiss Uma then lets himself be pulled away by Audrey.

Harry asks if Mal’s is taken and Doug’s dancing ceases and he steps forward. I don’t think Doug thought that Harry would move onto Evie next, he barely knows him, and he hasn’t seen Harry making a move on anyone before. Doug definitely steps forward to interfere and stop Harry’s advances on his best friend’s fiancé. However, Evie shots Harry down so Harry tries to make eyes at her but Doug shots him down instantly.

Harry legit looks at Doug sort of in deflated disappointment and is elbowed by Uma for two reasons, one being the fact that Uma has witnessed Evie waking Doug up with a true love’s kiss and two, Uma’s own feelings for Harry. Obviously. She acknowledges that she had shot him down before but now everything is different, it is safe now for her to let herself be in love.

So yeah, Evie laugh, grabs Doug and leaves after the grumpy and pouty Uma.

Also, the following gif means that Doug is to Evie what Harry is to Uma. I’ll just leave it at that.

And that concludes all the Evie/Doug story in the three movies. I guess it kind of proves my point that you have to read between the lines and look hard in every shot to gather what is going on with every character and pairing. To be honest, I get why some people might say that Evie deserves better than Doug because he’s not good looking enough or not interesting enough or whatever. Again, Doug was never meant to be viewed as good looking or classically handsome from the start. He is the son of a sidekick after all. And him not being interesting enough, it’s just the movie prioritizing the moving the story forward over developing already existing characters. Making him anything but what he was in the final cuts of the movies undoes all the character development Evie had, which is garbage.

I guess my point is, it is not about deserving. It’s never about deserving when it comes to love. It’s about loving your partner unconditionally, helping them rid of their flaws, treating them the best way you can, being their support system and believer. That is why Evie and Doug are one of the best-developed couples.

A few things I felt like going over:

1- The movies have severely underused all the characters, we can all agree on that, but none more than Doug. The AKs especially, after the first movie they were all but accessories, not even amounting to supporting characters. Lonnie was actually the only one who got no good story arc in the first movie, which is why she had her own in the second and that’s that.

2- “Doug has no contribution in D3″ Well... I am not entirely sure how to break this to you, but none of the AKs did. Chad did absolutely nothing as Audrey’s sidekick except be a comic relief.

Jane’s contribution was turning Beast-Ben into semiBeast-Ben. Which could have been achieved through ending Audrey’s reign of terror, or the guys holding down Ben while Mal true-love’s-kisses the spell out of him. So... Jane’s contribution, while is smart, is pointless. And when she is sent to find her mother, she does find her on the steps to the museum that holds her wand. And Jane doesn’t even think about carrying on the plan her mother obviously had in mind.

And this is Ben’s contribution. He took them to the Audrey’s lair, which she had already abandoned at this point. So Ben’s story in D3 is proposal, Beastie Boi, beard-and-fanged-up, Uber driver, Stone Boi, nervous pacing and finally, engagement party. With a side of being surprised all the time.

3- Doug receives so much hate with absolutely no good reason. I have already gone over the character, but let’s stop a second at his looks and wardrobe. And like, I didn’t want to go there, but I kind of have to, it wasn’t just about the hair. Some people are ripping him apart, completely ghosting over the fact that Zachary Gibson is a real human being, who has been struggling with his mental health and is finally getting better and feeling comfortable in his own skin. So, just relax. I am not trying to call out anyone or even shit on any ships, they can all coexist, it is what fanfiction if for. But ripping into the guy like that is unacceptable.

4- I have seen people going on about Doug’s wardrobe and how it is boring, but have you seen the movie? Because Doug’s outfit is on level compared to the AKs’ guys outfits to Jane’s birthday, and none of the AKs’ outfits come even close to what the VKs are rocking. Here’s what everyone are wearing to Jane’s birthday for reference:

Then here’s Doug’s:

He’s literally wearing the same exact outfit as Chad but with his own colors, both are average and boring compared to the girls’ dresses or the VKs’ outfits. Can’t we agree that Chad and Doug were cheated and move on?

Rant done, I promise.

I’d normally see you off with gifs of Evie and Doug, but I also thought I’d include gifs and images of Doug interacting with everyone. Because he’s one of the few characters that actually does interact with almost every important character on screen.

And with these, I rest my many cases:

As for his interactions with the rest of the core4 and the AKs:

And, my favorites, his interactions with the sea3:

This is the start of a beautiful friendship:

183 notes · View notes

weartirondad · 5 years

Text

Sorry (Is All That You Can Say)

Prompt “Bullying”: A case of bullying goes too far and Peter ends up in a hospital (not self-harm related, there is a real accident). He is unconscious so his friends visit and Tony and May try to get a clear picture of what happened but everyone has a different side ( @irondadgroupie)

FF.net I ao3

Ned

Oh man. Today really wasn’t his day.

It had started with a surprise chemistry quiz in first period and while Ned was anything but stupid, Chemistry really wasn’t his best subject and to get good grades he actually had to put effort in. Unlike some chemistry-genius-superhero he knew who had finished with ten minutes to spare.

Peter had aced the quiz, of course, and while he did try to look contrite during lunch it just wasn’t the same when he wasn’t as miserable as Ned felt. There seemed to be something else on his best friend’s mind all day that kept him from tapping into his empathy all the way to really get Ned’s distress.

Usually he would’ve asked but as it was, he was sulking about his own shitty day. He was allowed to those, right?

After lunch they had gym which, you know, just made everything worse in general because it was gym. There was no rope climbing today but the joy over the announcement quickly dissipated the second their teacher got out the basketballs.

Now that was just great.

Running around was not his thing. Least of all while having to dribble a stupid orange ball that he could swear had a mind of its own. And catching. Also not one of his talents. Or throwing for that matter. Why did this day have to rub everything he wasn’t good at in? Shouldn’t shit like that be evenly spread between a couple of days, if not months? Was fate really that cruel?

(Yes, maybe he was being a little dramatic.)

But gym was almost over and after that he could finally put an end to the horrible, awful, depressing portion of this day and move on to better and brighter things. Like math homework.

While Ned squatted down to get his water bottle he mindlessly rubbed his upper arm that had taken a hit from a stray basketball earlier in the game. Great, that was going to be another bruise. He was just preparing to take a sip when he heard a loud crash and then a few seconds of complete, terrifying silence.

Frowning he turned around to see what the ensuing commotion was about.

A crowd had started to form right next to their playing field on the other side of the hall. He could make out Emily yelling for the teacher who was already hurrying over towards them. Some other girls were squatting down next to whoever must have fallen and even MJ looked slightly worried and kind of angry which were more emotions than she usually showed anyone.

That was his first hint that something was wrong.

Instinctually Ned tried to make out Peter in the crowd, expecting his friend to be on the side lines as long as he wasn’t actively needed.

Even before the spider bite crowds of screaming people had tended to get to him and Ned was worried about him slipping into another sensory-overload-induced-anxiety attack. He only got more worried when he couldn’t find him anywhere.

Pushing himself back up, the sweat dripping from his forehead to the floor almost making him slip in the process, he started running towards his classmates. His sneakers squeaked hitting the linoleum floor, his heart that hadn’t yet calmed down from the game earlier was now threatening to jump out of his chest and his lungs were screaming but he didn’t pay his body any mind because the longer he went without getting a visual on his stupid best friend the more anxious he got.

Surely Peter wouldn’t… No, he was a superhero! He wouldn’t just collapse in gym class. That was a thing that could’ve happened to pre-bite Peter who always forgot his inhaler. The scrawny teenager that could barely finish the first lapse and refused to hand in his doctor’s note so he wouldn’t have to. It would not happen to this crazy enhanced version of his best friend who jumped from skyscrapers and did back flips for shits and giggles.

No way.

He pushed past Flash and his idiot friends, only noting in passing that the boy seemed a lot more subdued than he had before. Maybe someone tripping in gym could get even an asshole like Flash to shut up for once in his life.

Once he got to the heart of the commotion, though, the thought completely slipped his mind because there, on the floor, lay his idiot best friend. Unnervingly unmoving, eyes closed and with blood slowly leaking from the brown mob of curls.

Holy crap.

“What the hell happened?”

He didn’t really hear the answer to the question, too preoccupied with his unconscious friend. He only gave himself five seconds to internally freak out before he dropped down next to him and started shaking him, trying to get him to wake up. Without success.

Okay, Ned. Think, think, thin –

Mister Stark!

Mister Stark always made Peter call him when he was hurt. Surely Iron-Man would be able to help, right?

His left hand was resting on Peter’s chest as gently as possible while he started flailing his right to the side. “Get me Peter’s phone. Right now,” he yelled at whoever was standing closest to him.

He could do this. He just had to call Mister Stark and the man would know what to do. He would get Peter to wake back up. He would get the best doctors to help Peter. Everything was going to be okay.

Everything was going to be okay.

It had to be.

“How’s he doing?”

Her voice sounded foreign in her own ears. Too quiet, too unsure in the empty hall that led to the school’s emergency room. She had disliked hospitals ever since visiting her grandma after a surgery and this part of the building looked enough like one to make the hairs on the back of her neck stand up and a shiver run down her spine even though she wasn’t really cold. That didn’t stop the chilly feeling in her bones, though.

She tried not to show how uncomfortable she was as she plopped down on one of the seats, leaving another empty between her and Ned who was still in his gym clothes that were clinging to his sweaty skin.

The boy looked up from where he had been staring at his fidgeting hands and tried to send her something akin to a smile. It was more of a grimace than anything else but she could appreciate that he tried to put her at ease.

“He’s going to be okay. The paramedics are prepping him for transport.” He sighed and suddenly looked lost, where his exuberant nature usually filled every room he was in. He was a lot like Peter in that way but with a pure lightness that came from not having experienced any personal tragedies yet. Hesitantly she reached out to give his shoulder what she hoped was a reassuring squeeze before awkwardly letting her hand drop back down to her lap.

Ned looked thankful regardless.

“Mister Stark wanted to get him transferred to the Tower but the emergency doctor said it’s safer to bring him to a hospital with a department for neurosurgery. Just in case,” he trailed off with another sigh. “They don’t know what’s going on inside his head yet but since he hit it somehow they’re suspecting a contusion. Which isn’t too bad at least from what I googled. They’ll be running a CT scan when they’re at the hospital and Mister Stark promised to call as soon as there are any news.”

“He’s going to be okay,” she tried sounding optimistic, something she didn’t usually put much effort into, “I’m guessing Stark won’t let him be anything else. He’s gonna get the best doctors money can buy.”

She realized with a start that she wasn’t even mad about some billionaire having access to better medical care right then. She had watched said billionaire rush into the building, clad in a three piece suit that probably matched the important meeting he had been called out of, his usually flawlessly styled hair a mess and he had looked as worried as she felt. If not more.

There had been a sort of fire in his eyes that she hadn’t believed him capable of. Something fierce and unconditionally loving. He had made no pretense that he would do anything to make this better and that made her like him just a wee bit more.

“Yeah,” Ned agreed, not picking up on her inner musings about the man both him and Petr idolized more than she thought people should be idolized. “Helen Cho is already on her way from California.”

The way he said it, like it was no big deal that one of the most renown medical doctors in the world had just dropped everything to fly out to New York to look after a random teenager was nothing unheard of, made her pause. Even if said teenager was Tony Stark’s mentee.

She frowned. “Does she do that often?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. Mister Stark goes a little over board sometimes,” he told her, corners of his lips twitching upwards ever so slightly. “He made her come here to treat Peter when he had the flu last month. But I think she likes him or she wouldn’t be doing it. That reminds me-”

Michelle cocked her head to the side when he stopped midsentence, encouraging him to keep going.

“Uh, Mister Stark and the paramedics asked me what happened and I realized that I – I didn’t even know.” His voice dropped down to a whisper. “I was on the other side of the gym and I only got there when he was already unconscious and –“

“Flash tripped him,” she interrupted his rambling, flinching inwardly at how detached it sounded when she felt anything but.

Suddenly there was a surge of anger in her chest, pushing her worry to the side as she sat up straighter. Anger was easier to focus on than concern. She hated being the scared and helpless girl it turned her into. “He held out his leg on purpose when Peter was getting off the field and collecting the last balls to help clean up and he could see that he wasn’t looking so, like the asshole he is, he tripped him.”

“Figures,” Ned sighed again.

She really hated how often he made that sound. It sounded too much like he was okay with this, as if that’s just a thing that happened and he couldn’t do anything about it.

“Why aren’t you angry?” she all but snapped, “That piece of … Flash keeps bullying the two of you and you’re never doing anything about it! You just let it happen! And now Peter’s unconscious because that – that asshole tripped him on purpose. How are you not livid?”

Her heart was thumping uncomfortably loudly in her chest when she met Ned’s gaze that had snapped up some time during her rant. She didn’t know what she had expected but it hadn’t been the flash of indignation in his eyes and the grim line his mouth was set in.

“You want to know why I’m not angry?” he repeated incredulously, voice slow and quiet and so very different from what she was used to from Ned Leeds.

A part of her realized then that she had stepped out of line. They weren’t friends after all. She didn’t do friends.

“I’m going out of my mind with worry for my best friend,” he told her steadily but his voice started rising, “I’m scared shitless that it might be real bad and of course I’m angry. I’m angry whenever Flash starts bullying Peter. I hate that there’s nothing he ever does about it but I’ve known Peter long enough to know that he prefers it this way.”

“Wha –“

“No,” he cut her off with a wave of his hand and, jumping to his feet, he started pacing in the narrow hallway. “He prefers being Flash’s favorite victim because that way he doesn’t go looking for someone else. And of course that’s messed up but try telling the idiot that. There’s nothing I can do to change his mind. You know what I can do, though?”

It sounded like a rhetorical question so she didn’t answer even when he kept glaring at her.

“I can be his friend and pick him up when Flash’s teasing does get to him. I can be his best friend and spend time with him and make sure he knows that that’s just one bully talking and that he’s none of the things getting thrown in his face. And that’s hard and it’s an unfair world and it makes me so mad but he deserves to have someone in his corner. So I do that, every day. Because he’s my best friend and I love this stupid self-sacrificing idiot. But you don’t get to lecture me about not being angry enough when he’s hurt because you do none of that.”

Ned seemed to inflate after his outburst, continuing with a soft and tired voice and she felt hot red shame creep into her cheeks.

“You might not be bullying him like Flash does but you aren’t nice to us either. You call us losers and barely glance at us and I know you consider us friends and it’s your warped up way of showing you care but sometimes he just needs someone to be nice who genuinely cares for him. Like today, he was already having a bad day and I didn’t.. I didn’t ask him about it. Maybe he would’ve seen it coming if I had helped him before.”

“It’s not your fault,” she whispered, anger vanished only leaving shame and regret that filled her whole being. Ned was right. “I’m sorry.”

He smiled softly, a small raise of the corner of his lips, eyes open and gentle and not condemning like she felt they should be. “You don’t have to apologize. Just… think about it, will you? He doesn’t blame you, you know. And I’m just… I’m really glad he has Mister Stark in his corner now, too.”

And that – that Tony Stark, the man she made out to be the Anti-Christ more often than not, the spoiled billionaire, the poster child of emotionally constipated had gotten his head out of his ass before she had to openly care about Peter Parker – that stung.

“I’m glad he has him, too.”

Tony

There were two opposing parts battling for dominance in Tony’s body at the moment.

The one that had been there all his life, hectic and jittery and unable to stand still when it counted. It had his entire being screaming to pace in the small hospital room, to release the tension by doing something, anything at all. He felt like every fiber, every cell, was moving on a speed so high they were effectively vibrating, making his hands shake and heart flutter when he didn’t comply with the motion.

The other part was currently winning.

This part was a new, barely-there, still opening bud but for how young it was, it was all-encompassing and inevitable. It made his muscles cramp with the need to comfort and protect and it wouldn’t let him move even an inch from where he was standing at the top of the bed in the intensive care unit of some Midtown hospital that held his single most prized possession. His fingers were itching to run through the messy curls but he wouldn’t relent, too scared to jostle any of the devices currently attached to the kid.

The kid - Peter, his Peter - looked impossibly small in the large bed surrounded by beeping machines, countless IV stands and devices Tony wasn’t completely sure what they were supposed to do but also didn’t care about.

Much like Tony he was still, too.

Unnaturally still for an enhanced teenager that could talk for hours on end without missing a beat, who would make Tony lose his mind with his hyper nature that had him almost topple from whatever he was sitting on every other day and who went slinging through New York in his free time.

So he made do, yielding to the ever-growing parental instincts in his chest, and rested his hand on his kid’s arm, thumb brushing over the warm skin in an effort to soothe him even though he knew there were so many drugs running through his system that the touch would most likely not even register.

Waiting in hospital rooms with nothing to do, no way to fix a thing, never did get easier he had come to realize. There was always an internal struggle of whether to be mad or relieved, devastated or thankful, glum or hopeful.

A timid knock on the door made him snap out of his spinning thoughts, mind quickly running through possible intruders – friend or foe – and coming to a standstill when a teenager that wasn’t Ned poked his head past the door. The unfamiliar boy’s eyes went wide and hadn’t he been so emotionally drained, Tony would’ve scoffed at the ridiculousness of the scene. As it was he just squeezed Peters hand more tightly in a wordless promise, a silent vow to protect.

“Can I help you?”

“I, uh, I’m sorry, I, uh, didn’t, uh, didn’t mean to- to intrude, sir,” the boy stammered, hand curling around the door so tightly his knuckles were turning white. “I was just, uh, but, I mean.. I’m just gonna… gonna go, sir.”

“Wait.” Tony stopped him before the kid could turn around and flee the scene. Something seemed to be on that boy’s mind and it seemed important enough to make the trip to the hospital, find out the kid’s room number and muster up the courage to come see him when they evidently weren’t close friends. “Are you here to see Peter?”

“Ye- yes,” came the reply, almost a whisper before he suddenly seemed to be reminded of something, straightened his back and cleared his throat. “Yes, sir.”

It reminded Tony so much of himself at that age, with Howard’s voice always in his head telling him to stand tall, speak clearly, act strong and demand respect, that he had to mentally take a step back from the scene and the onslaught of memories of being constantly afraid to focus on the boy at hand.

This was new, too, embracing the innate empathy that had been buried deeply by an ingrained need to deflect. He tried not to dwell on how natural it felt, how satisfyingly fulfilling, and instead decided to blame it completely on the unconscious teenager whose heartrate gave him a calming beat to focus on.

“Come on in, then. What’s your name?” he asked him, the hand that wasn’t holding on to his kid running through his own hair in a futile attempt to sort it. Paired with a crinkled suit and deep lines of worry marring his face this was admittedly not his best look.

There had been moments in his life when he would’ve cared about his appearance in a public hospital but his priorities had shifted drastically since then. Sometimes it felt that everything had shifted until a teenager from Queens had become the new axis of his world. The one thing everything else was circling around. The sun of his galaxy.

“Eugene, sir. Eugene Thompson.”

Tony watched closely as he shut the door behind very carefully before turning around to face the bed. He seemed unsure of himself, hands tugging on designer sleeves, eyes darting all over the room, never resting anywhere for too long, always avoiding to look at either of the other men.

Something in his tired brain had peeked up at the name but it took him an embarrassingly long moment to match the boy’s unease and name with a fitting story. He started clenching his hands to fists involuntarily, anger roaring in his chest, before his new instinct took over and he forcefully relaxed his grip on Peter.

Peter was his priority.

“You’re Flash, aren’t you? You’re the one who put him here.”

“I –“ For a moment the offender seemed at a loss for words, caught, and he was looking like he was about to bolt through the door but then, in the time it took Tony to blink, his entire demeanor changed. Flash met his gaze, shoulders hunched, wide eyes turning glassy and hands falling to his sides unmoving. “Yes, sir. It’s my fault he’s here and I wanted to say that I’m sorry. I never meant to actually hurt him, I–“

“But you did, didn’t you?” Tony interrupted, protectiveness flaring up in his chest and making way for the anger he had been trying to breathe through. This boy, this child was the reason his kid had to be pumped to the rim with anesthesia so they could drill a hole into his skull to monitor his intracranial pressure. And he was right here. Right in front of Tony and he wasn’t fighting back.

“What did you think would happen when you tripped someone? That they start flying and end the grandiose routine with a bow to a round of applause?” he spat, vision turning red and dark and gruesome. “Tell me, Flash, what did you think would happen? What were you hoping to achieve?”

The boy flinched at the harsh words but didn’t back away in the slightest, just hung his head and murmured another apology, taking it all in.

And, dammit, Tony knew he deserved to be called out and by god he wanted to be the one to do it because he had hurt Peter. There was something in the way he stood, though, that made him stop in his tracks. It put his anger on hold, something like recognition making the blood rush in his head.

That boy looked like he had expected the harsh words and while he had flinched when Tony had raised his voice at first, he had adapted quickly and hadn’t even tried to move away. The only sign of self-defense were his arms that twitched at his side as if they were itching to cover his face.

Suddenly Tony was incredibly tired. His head was spinning, he felt dizzy and guilty and broken down to the very core.

“Flash,” he tried more calmly this time, rubbing a hand over the scar on his chest and trying to swallow past the distaste the name elicited in his mouth and beckoning him closer to the bed. When he followed suit, he watched him settle his gaze on Peter’s skinny frame, eyes roaming the various monitors before settling on the pale face.

“Tell me what you see,” he prompted the teenager whose gaze snapped up, brows furrowed. He looked even more confused now that Tony wasn’t yelling anymore and Tony the worst thing about that was that he understood.

All of the sudden he ached for the reassuring contact of Peter curled into his side, breathing and happy and alive, to keep the demons from entering his mind but tried to push it away, had to push it away.

“I, uh,” Flash swallowed, “I see Pe – Peter Parker in a hospital bed and I see that it’s my fault, sir.” The last part was barely more than a whisper, guilt heavy on his tongue.

Tony nodded, not meeting Flash’s searching gaze in favor of watching Peter. “Do you know what I see?”

“No, sir.”

He looked up then, trying to convey how much he meant every word, keeping his gaze open and not threatening. “I see the strongest kid I’ve ever met.” Quite literally, he didn’t say though the thought made his lips twitch. “I see a genius-level smart kid, well on his way to surpass me one of these days. I see a kid who is always smiling, who doesn’t have a mean bone in his body and who cares so damn much about everyone around him. I see a kid who has seen more than a kid his age should have and who has lost more than you can imagine but who refuses to become a cynical asshole because of it.”

Not like I did. He’s already so much better than I could ever be.

He squeezed Peter’s hand, breath hitching when he didn’t squeeze back.

“Did you know he told me about you?”

“No, sir.” There was a flash of fear in the boy’s eyes then and while it satisfied a very feral part of Tony he also despised being the one to put it there. He had made a vow many years ago to never install that kind of fear in a child.

“He didn’t want to, either. I had to tickle it out of him when he got home an hour late after detention sporting a bruise because he supposedly got into a fight. Do you know what he told me?”

“N- no, sir.” Tony watched his whole body turn rigid, observed how his gaze never wavered from his and how his hands tremble. Despite himself, he tried to shoot him a reassuring smile.

“He told me you were having a rough time and how your mum was close to tears the last time she picked you up and how you were holding your shoulder funny. He stopped me from taking a suit, blast your house and tell you exactly what I think of people shoving my kid into lockers,” he told him, trying to keep his voice even and without a trace of malice.

“Tha- I’m not sure what –“

He decided to give the fidgety teenager a moment to sort his thoughts and took the time to brush a few loose curls from his own teenager’s forehead. The motion was familiar, calming and it gave him the strength to press on.

“The thing is,” he sighed, hand still resting on Peter’s forehead as if he was trying to summon the boy’s goodness, “I understand shitty family. I get scary fathers and crying mums,” he swallowed hard and met Flash’s gaze again. “I know weird bruises you can’t explain away.”

“I – I don’t – I’m not –”

“Yeah, neither am I,” Tony scoffed before softening his gaze and trying to school his voice into a stern but kind tone. “What I’m trying to say - and believe me I’m bad at this and would rather be doing anything else - is that while I get why you are acting out, I want you to know that I won’t let this happen ever again. I will not let you keep tormenting my kid because you’re having a tough life. I will not stand by and let you ruin his days and land him in hospitals, are we understood?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good.”

They stood quietly together for a while, the atmosphere in the room while not exactly comfortable wasn’t dripping with fear and anger anymore. It was calm, peaceful. Like the sea after a storm.

To Tony’s surprise it was Flash who broke the silence. “I thought he saw me and – and I thought he saw me putting out my leg for him to trip over. I- I thought he’d just, stumble and drop the balls I- I never wanted – I’m so sorry, Mister Stark.”

The older man nodded, the sigh he let out feeling like every piece of resentment he had carried for decades on his chest. “I appreciate that but it’s not me you should apologize to.”

“I know but,” there was a heavy pause, “I’m scared.”

“I know,” he replied because he did, “but you don’t have to be. Not of him. As much as I hate how gullible he is sometimes, if you apologize to Peter he will forgive you, no questions asked. And if you start being a decent human being you might even find a friend in him. I think you could need good people in your life, and Peter is the best.”

“Thank you, sir,” Flash whispered, “For- for your words and, uh, for not blasting my house.”

Tony looked up and grinned. “You’re welcome but don’t do it again or I still might.”

Peter

When Peter woke up it took him a lot longer than it normally would to realize that this wasn’t the setting he usually woke up in.

His head was angled in a way that when he did manage to pry his clotty eye lids open the first thing he saw was his mentor. Blinking he tried to clear his view of the man who hadn’t yet realized his charge was awake and whose gaze was fixated on a spot to Peter’s right with a heavy hand resting on the boy’s arm.

Mindful of the buzzing in his head he tried a smile. “Hi T’ny.”

“Kid?” The heavy hand tightened around his arm before loosening and rubbing a calloused thumb over his skin. A silent welcome back.

“Oh baby.” A soothing voice on his left and a delicate touch of a familiar hand. Aunt May. Her voice alone eased his headache tremendously

“Dude!” It sounded a little breathless, a little forced- cheerful and impossibly relieved. His heart warmed at hearing his best friend’s voice and he was about to reply when he picked up two other voices.

“Peter?”

He blinked again, moving his head as slowly as possible to make out the people they belonged to, grateful when May’s hand found his forehead and her cool fingers started running through his hair.

MJ and Flash were standing at the foot of his bed, both looking confusingly contrite and his brain was too tired, too fuzzy to come up with a good enough explanation as to why but he figured since they were the ones at his hospital bed he was entitled to ask.

“Whataya doin’ here?”

It wasn’t that he was scared of them, uncomfortable was probably a better word or self-conscious maybe, but he was tired, he was hurting and he really, childishly just didn’t want to deal with any of that right now.

He had his family on his side, though. Tony to his left, May to his right with Ned next to her. They were shielding him, literally and metaphorically, from anything that might be thrown his way and he felt himself somewhat relax once that thought had settled in.

His classmates seemed to have come to the same conclusion and for a change they were the ones who looked self-conscious when they exchanged a look. (Since when did MJ exchange a look with Flash? Maybe this was a fever dream.)

“We wanted to apologize,” they said in unison again and hadn’t he been so sure that his aunt’s and mentor’s touch were real he would’ve bet on this being a fantasy. Not just because they were so in tune but also… since when did they apologize? What were they apologizing for?

Almost as if they’d read his mind, they continued.

“I haven’t been very nice to you.” MJ said, fidgeting with the sketch book in her hands “I see you as a friend and I realized that I shouldn’t treat my friends like that so… I’m sorry.” She paused, meeting Peter’s gaze and he smiled again, about to tell her that it’s okay when she plowed ahead, taking a step forward as she pulled a page from her sketch book and gave it to him.

It was a picture of Ned and him during lunch time. They were both laughing, bend over their respective meals with a juice box sitting between them. “Nerds are cool” was written down in neat handwriting in the center.

“And I’m sorry, too.”

Before he had the chance to react to the nice gesture, Flash took over, voice rushed.

“For.. for everything,” the words caught in his throat, “For landing you here and for being an asshole and making you miserable for no reason. I’m – I’m gonna stop doing that, I promise.” With that he stuck out his hand which Peter, completely taken aback, took and shook.

“It’s okay, guys,” he tried with a crooked voice that hurt his throat, “Apologies accepted and… thank you.”

He frowned then, a thought occurring to him and he turned his head to look at his mentor.

“Was Doctor Strange here?”

At that Tony barked out a laugh, his eyes twinkling with mirth and gentleness when his hand replaced his aunt’s to ruffle his hair. “No, for once our strange friend had nothing to do with this.”

So not a different dimension then.

He wouldn’t rule out the fever dream quite yet but for the time being he was content and tired enough to just take what they said at face value. He would probably worry about it some other time. Right now he was surrounded by his family and not-enemies-might-be-friends and that was good enough for him.

#irondad #iron dad #irondad fic #iron dad fic #tony stark #peter parker #michelle jones #ned leeds #flash thompson #bullying #1k followers celebration #josis fic #sorry (is all that you can say)

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gotatext · 5 years

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claws my way out of the dirt like the goblin i am ..... hello thots, its nora, once again bringing you a revamped version of a muse i played yonks ago n some of u may have even written against... here is her pinterest.....

this is margaret greta, she’s a whole can of trauma spaghetti plastered over with a toothy grin and a lot of dad jokes. the only reason she’s in gifford really is bcos shes been put there as part of a witness protection program cos lots of police r monitoring livingstone so its deemed relatively safe.... haha... anyway she changes major all the time. she started off doing fine art but since then she’s done modules in architecture, film, bio-chemistry and is now dabbling in medicine.

CIS-FEMALE — ever hear people say GRETA O’DRISCOLL looks a lot like DIANA SILVERS? I think SHE is about 21, so it doesn’t really work. The MEDICINE major is a SOPHOMORE that is from DEADWOOD, SOUTH DAKOTA. They can be +CHARMING, but they can also be -EVASIVE. I think GEE might be SHEEP. They are living in YATES. ( nora. 23. gmt. she/her )

this bitch is the most restless creature u ever seen. before she came to livingstone, she’d lived in 8 different cities in 3 years.

was adopted as an infant. had two foster moms and two older sisters so always surrounded by women. lived in a boarding house, very much like the one in 20th century women, with lodgers coming in and out all the time, mostly artsy young women because her gay moms were both high school teachers trying to set up their own arts collective. one of her moms left when she was 4, n she doesn’t really remember her.

while living with entirely women made her super into catlin moran and the guilty feminist, as a teenager she often let boys walk all over her bc she just craved male attention jst bcos she’d never really experienced it. saw it as something aspirational, like sitting in the back of chad’s second-hand truck while he drove you to macdonalds and offered you and his five friends with identical haircuts weed was the height of being cool to greta, she wanted to be their dream girl, even if it meant compromising her beliefs

bubbly bitch but also massive snake. metaphorically and literally, always shedding her skin. loyal to few, ruled by none, out for herself, babey!! every place she goes, she becomes a new character, someone who’s a figment of her imagination, as if each city is repertory theatre and she’s a character actress, so as a result som ppl think she’s called rita, some ppl know her as margot, she just flicks through identities like nobodies business.

goes through phases of being intensely feminist and tweeting “men are trash i don’t need them” before flipping into being lonely and needy n wanting male attention again. tends to gravitate towards men who are just pieces of shit tbh like her friends are always like hun.... pick a nice boy..... but no.... she’ll go for the boxer with several arrest records for gbh or the small-town drug dealer just trying to hook her onto pills for a little extra cash, or the reformed sinner who thinks he’s being protective by reading all her texts and always knowing where she is..... n she always finds a way to spin it so that they Just Care About Her and aren’t a p.o.s

left school at 18 n didn’t go to uni, moved in w her boyfriend of the time instead, but soon got bored, n then went backpacking around the states making money in the casinos by being a shot girl (yeehaw) and trying to make it as a mysterious 1920s widow with a smoky voice, a dark secret n a heart of gold, looking for love in the big city. all she found was producers and acting agents who’d promise her stardom n actually just fuck her in a motel n then ignore her calls.

TW domestic violence, TW gun, her watershed moment came when she met luke in sioux falls while she was playing bass for a country n blues band. he was a few years older and had a car, and they kind of went from seeing each other to being that super intense couple who are just necking all the time.

they got engaged like 3 months after they met n rented a flat together, much to her family’s annoyance but she was 19 so there wasn’t much they could do. their relationship was super super intense though, often really heightened and when they fought it could become quite violent, but she’d pass it off as just him being really passionate.

one of their fights got really heated and greta threatened him with the gun he kept in the glove box of his vauxhall corsa, but the safety was off and she accidentally shot him. she pleaded self defence in the trial n cos of the amount of times she’d been hospitalised for various concussions n things like ‘fallling down the stairs’ the police were like yea... pretty watertight evidence that he was a bastard who [chicago voice] had it coming..... also this happened in 2017, he was mixed race and greta is white so naturally the police totally took her side. she’s now under witness protection, rehoused in livingstone as a sports-scholarship student, due to the amount of police involvement in the area, it would mean should one of luke’s family members try to track her down, she’d be relatively safe

massive sports fanatic. plays tennis. on the cheer team. was a track superstar in her high school. honestly just that sporty bitch, you’ll see her doing lines at a party at half four and then on your way to your 9am lecture you see her running across the park like a fresh fucking daisy who is this bitch

pretty easy to get along with (provided you don’t anger, provoke or question her too much) because she WANTS your character to be enthralled by her and will do whatever it takes to win them over. she wants everyone to love her

is That Girl who always knows where the parties are, and is always there, on the sofa, talking about institutionalised racism and trying to coerce you into a game of beer pong that she’ll definitely win. doesn’t really have one solid group of friends, just kind of on good terms with everyone and social butterflies about

has changed her major so many times. decision? who is she. currently studying medicine, but doesn’t rlly enjoy it. she’s very unmotivated and lazy and probably wouldn’t ahve bothered going to uni if she hadn’t been placed in one by a witness protection program. will probably change on to history or gender studies soon n just make up the extra credits by volunteering

massive feminist. low key quite scared of powerful men bcos of her ex. wants to start a female only lesbian commune bc she misses her childhood in a south dakota boarding house and has endless support for women. honestly annoyed that she is attracted to men, would so be 100% gay if it was a choice. cuffs her jeans and can’t drive. is That bisexual. skateboards. wears backwards caps. i hate her

plays bass guitar, has a teal green fender and it is her BABY. it’s covered in stickers about saving the planet and ending fracking and going vegan. she’s in an all-female punk band w agnes (n mayb jade i think) n they play gigs every now n then in grotty club basements full of druggy sweaty college kids

PERSONALITY: easy-going, sociable, observant, blunt, amiable, nihilistic, self-serving, laid back, independent, unmotivated, charming, lazy, impulsive, alluring. ESTP and a leo

LIKES: art, music, john wayne movies, black mirror, philosophy, cowboy chic culture, DC comics, arcade games, candyfloss, deep red lipstick, marijuana, dogs, karaoke, Kate Moss, late-night strolls, zip-lining, chemistry, suspenders, cigarettes, herbal tea, gallows humour, cold coffee, long showers, brown eyes, tchaikovsky, dr. seuss, boiler house DJ sets, magnolias, decorative lamps, worn-out furniture, twangy electric guitars.

DISLIKES: bananas, coffee, Woody Allen, mental mathematics, children, Trump, institutionalised misogyny, the imaginary future, french literature, Wes Anderson films, spoken word poetry, the general mentality of cheerleading squads (despite being on one)

aesthetics:

a bubble of pink gum on chapped lips, mom jeans, a beaten up pair of adidas, denim jackets, strawberry laces, knee-highs, chapped lips, peeling sticky plasters, split knuckles, bruises you try to cover with concealer, stick and poke tattoos, hot coffee, sleep caught in your eyes on a lazy afternoon, kissing girls, cigarette smoke shrouding you like a veil, alien conspiracy theories and sci-fi paperbacks, doc martens with fraying laces, the red string of a thong peaking out purposely from jeans, leonine arch of your back and that stellar smile that says ‘you have no idea who you’re dealing with’, a rucksack permanently packed for the move, a streak of red across your lips, roller blades, cut knees, not eating your greens, smiling with a mouthful of blood, and piercing your own ears with a safety pin when your mom wouldn’t take you, kate moss posters lining the walls of a teenage bedroom, his name scrawled in rage across the pages of a diary, thumb holes poked through the cuffs of your sleeves, a tennis racket you punched through in a fit of temper, feet pounding the earth until your soles bleed crimson, sleeping in a cherry lip balm and scrunchies to keep the wild locks from your eyes.

wanted plots: since greta literally can’t differentiate between romantic and platonic love, she’s got off with so many of her mates, so i want awkward friendships where they nearly dated, or exes that have now just turned into weird friendships, and girls from the cheer team who she’s like, weirdly intimate with like the shower together but its not a Thing cos the other girls straight, and I want like, fellow medicine students who are like?? how is this bitch still passing?? i swear she goes out every night?? she works part time at a fast food restaurant, i want a mate that just goes and sits in there talking to her until her manager gets angry. ppl she did a few modules with before changing course and somehow sort of remaining in touch with, like she did a few art modules, a bit of film, n some architecture before switching to medicine, though she’ll probs switch course again soon. ppl who she runs track with. someone she’s trying to make a zine with. here’s a list of plots on her old blog if u want any of them w her.

would love plots of any type, throw them all at me please, i cnt wait to interact w all of u. like this if u want me to message you about connections / plots! xo

full biography if u can be bothered

trigger warnings: drugs, domestic abuse, gun.

you never meant for it to happen. you’d heard the stories, of girls who let their man walk all over them, and thought to yourself “i’ll never be one of those girls…” the kind that eat low-fat yoghurt and drink slim fast to shred a few extra pounds because he said she was getting round in the tummy, or the ones who spent their evenings tied to a kitchen sink drinking wine while him and the boys played poker, wishing god, if only I could get out of here. not you, not you raised by strong women, four bright shining beacons. single mother with her hard-as-nails attitude and her stony glares, elder sisters (twins) one ginger, one blonde, one doctor, one lawyer, both determined to take a bullet to the brain and a hammer to the patriarchy before they let a man touch them without asking. you were always so inferior, so insecure and small, like a bird (like a sparrow) with blonde plaits down your back sucking tropicana whilst your busom buds sucked dick, their lips permanently ripe with stories of their sexual exploits, fake tan and glittered nails whilst you sat in the unbroken egg of virginity wondering what it was like to be loved. one day you found out.

lily milligan’s parents gone and a free house for the night, bottles of ouzo and tequila swiped from your mother’s liquor cabinet thinking she wouldn’t know (she always knew) your legs, hardened from pep squad, slut dropping on a kitchen table because the boys thought it would be fun to get the quiet girl drunk. you’d never had a sip before that night. band t-shirts, denim shorts and the split soles of rotten converse that you refuse to let go of, you still clutched with both hands to your youth, but in a tube top now (borrowed from alice carmichael who had a sister in college) and a short tennis skirt, your feet not in trainers but in thigh-high boots. uncomfy as hell but lily said you needed to look sexy. you didn’t know if you wanted to be sexy. you didn’t know what kind of girl you were, if you were even a girl at all. but robbie looked at you like he knew exactly who you were, like he knew you better than you knew yourself, and his lips had the pink cupid’s bow of a movie star, and his hair was dark locks, curling like a mane. his hands were soft, and suddenly on your waist, and after three more shots his lips were on yours and his name was the only sound in your head and on your lips as you lost it in lily’s college sister’s bedroom beneath the glare of a T-Pain poster. you bled for what seemed like hours, his hand still in yours, kissing on the sofa as truth tellers and dare devils continued to spin a bottle of unprecedented youth. you thought it was love. robbie was the one. he loved you, you knew it, how else could someone be so soft? but soon he grew bored, scrunched up your paper heart and set it alight. then came the tears, the hatred, the ‘fuck robbie, in fact, fuck all boys.’ and that you did.

you were known for being easy. any boy could be yours for a night, as long as he promised to love you for those few short breaths and pants before you cried yourself to sleep. you felt poisoned, but poisonous as well, as if by ensnaring these young boys you were gaining power over them, and not the other way around. soon it started to work. they’d want more, but you’d deny them it, sick of sucking off silly schoolboys, they’d call you a tease, a vixen. maybe you were, but you couldn’t help but want older men. you got the history teacher first time, him bending you over his desk to sneak a hand up your tennis skirt as the after-school clubs carried on next door, unawares. love didn’t exist, not for you. it was nothing but a game for pretty young girls to play, bubble gum in their canines and a hand tugging at the hem of their cheer skirt.

there was so much anger inside of your small body, ‘beware of boys and their hook-like words’. hockey helped. there was something formidable about the feeling of a stick like a weapon in your hands and the thwack it made against thighs in the heat of a scrum - “slipped, sorry!” - you’d utter with a snakeskin smile, millicent quinn knowing that you’d hit her on purpose because she shagged robbie at that party last week. she couldn’t prove it, cobbled acne on her forehead turning green with disgust. ben came into your life like a car crash. two years your senior, with a baseball jacket and shoulders like a god. he became your personal hero. on the pitch, he was lethal. together, you could bring anyone to their ruin. each day after last period he’d be waiting in his car. you’d leap into his arms like a girl-half starved, love me, love me, love me, your heated kisses the envy of every junior girl. he was yours for three blissful years, utterly yours, and you were his, his star-spangled girl, and he was your knight - you were both the same, playing games, always difficult to predict. it was a shock to all when he proposed, high-school sweethearts find love in south dakota.

the engagement was a bittersweet affair; three months – you barely out of your gingham print skirts and into a graduation gown, him, a surly quarterback towering above your sisters, cigarette at his lips and a scowl like a fart in a lift. they hated him. so did you. but you were eighteen and in love, and he fitted the cookie cutter mould. everyone wanted him, and you had him. you had him and you were happy, happy, happy, and he loved you. he said he’d give you the world, anything you wanted hand-picked and given to you. instead, he gave you a jack russell terrier and a flat you couldn’t swing a cat in, wallpaper peeling like the rotten bits inside of you, the bits that only he knew. and you got tireder and tireder of the sad excuse of a life he’d picked out for you, him out doing god knows what to pay the bills, and you dancing on tables to pave your way to stardom, and this was love, this was real, until the shine wore off and your fresh-faced, dimple-cheeked cheerleader facade faded and the ugliness started to reveal itself, the whining, the petulance, the sharp-tempered cruelty, the mind games, the need to always win, win, win. he was dull, he was boring, he was nothing like the boy the girls had said he was and no chiselled six pack could hide his lack of anything remotely interesting, your patience wearing thin until it snapped like rubber, a rucksack on your back, running shoes on your feet and the joint bank account emptied into your eighth grade birthday wallet.

you built your small fortunes working the casinos of sioux falls, a crimson dress and an attitude to match. bookish archie with his little dipper freckles was fun for a month, before he became just as dull and dreary as the rest. a three hour bus and you were in minneapolis, bright eyed and bushy tailed, fresh meat ready for the pickings. a hostel here, a friendly co-worker’s sofa there as you made what you could by taking off your clothes and shaking your ass like you were back in pep squad, doing what you did best. you met your fair share of creeps, and soon it was back on the road to escape a wide-eyed stalker and a restless itch for more. milwaukee, chicago, you made the roads your own. log cabins and lodgings, and the occasional motel, a beaten up pick up truck purchased at a scrap merchants – you got a few miles out of it before it bit the dust, and when you finally set it alight after nights spent lounging across the driver’s seat, a parka tucked over you as a duvet, you were sad to see it go. you’re nomadic by fault, never attaching to place, people or things, creating a new personality in every place you go like a character actress; each town is a different repertory theatre, and you’re the star. a compulsive liar, you even fib about your own name, to some you’re ellen, nineteen, bookish, a law student who likes smoking and cosmos. to someone else you’re rita, you’re twenty five and look young for your age, like smoking, comics and fucking in public places.

in the bright lights of michigan, you found charlie, sweet charlie, too good for you, though you let him spoil you while he thought you were the small town girl of his dreams. next came abigail, who was fun until the jealously kicked in, and then luke, gorgeous luke, dangerous, exciting, who despite his temper, despite the fights, despite bruises down your spine and your teeth marks on his arms, loved you with the strength of a wild fire. there was destruction in your wishbones, a savageness from the field, from the pitch and now somehow in his arms, you were godly. he was cruel, he was careless, and he refused to fall at your feet like so many other boys had, which only you made you want him all the more. you were rage incarnate. you hated him so fiercely you thought you might kill him, so he played the only card you wouldn’t predict; proposed.

the house you shared was a backstreet flat in detroit, you making your name as a downtown singer while he footed the bill with pills. they had a drug for anything these days, to dull the senses, to pick them up, to drive you to insanity or pull you out of the madness hole. the two of you lived like criminals on the run (you never told him that you were, living out your days as the enigma he wanted you to be), you with your voice like caramel and fishnet legs. you were his and his alone until his hand was at your throat and the gun was in your hands screaming at him to stop, stop, stop, until a bullet stoppered his brain, crimson staining linoleum as you cast yourself out like lucifer. self defence was decreed the moment they saw your violet neck, black tears and headlight eyes and mind screaming red, red, red like the pom-poms you shook so willingly in school and the insides of his skull. you were gone, and “you” was born, renamed “greta”, boxed, shipped-out, and next-day delivered to livingstone where under witness protection you were a student, blank slate, fresh-faced in a place where no one knew your name, doing what you always did and starting again.

#livingintro #this is such a long boi....... waht the fuck.... u dont need to read the bio the summary notes are long enough fuking hell

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janerowdy · 5 years

Text

Ramblegons

Who doesn’t love hexagons? I know I do. Can’t get enough of them. However, comma, what about making hexagons? It wouldn’t be a problem if I knew where any of protractors were, but I can’t seem to find them. I want it to be equal lengths on all sides. I guess I could use sin() & cos() to figure it out the long way, but I really want to find my protractors. Now that I can’t find them, I need to have them. I know there’s at least one ruler in my desk drawer, maybe what I seek can be found in its dark depths.

With a sigh of regret, I open it and being excavating its contents, placing everything on top of my desk in the harsh light of day. Several rulers, index cards, old medication vials, and... calculators. Not one, but FOUR calculators. Of course there’s two of the classic blue & white TI-30XS MultiViews, the calculator that got me through all of chemistry, physics, calculus, & most of my other classes. I got a second one because I misplaced mine and couldn’t find it for several days, but, you know, I really needed it. I do not regret the purchase. Next is a black on black TI-36X Pro, very similar layout to my two multiviews, but it’s annoyingly different. Some of the more commonly used keys have changed places. I got that one when I went into linear algebra. I needed something with a bit more oomph, something that could handle matrices. Finally, that takes us to the behemoth that is a TI-84 Plus, and to be honest, I don’t know where it came from. I can’t even look at what’s going on inside it because it uses batteries only, and they’re long since dead. Did I get this one for matrices? Did I steal it? Who knows!

Well, the protractors weren’t in the desk, so maybe they’re in my box-of-random-crap. I dug through that thing for at least 30 minutes. I found a lot of great stuff, too. Tokens and cards from various board games, and old wallet with $70 inside (booyah!), pictures, notebooks, some CDs, a can opener, you know, all that good stuff. I also found some blank d6s that I had completely forgotten about. Time to get my dremel and paint supplies, I’ve been kicking around an idea that required custom dice. Hmm, I wonder, I bet I could also get custom d8s and d12s and what not. It’s been a while since I got to make something with my hands. Typing is great and all, but sometimes I just need the tactile sensation of things. That’s part of the reason I love board games so much. You’re there, and you’re connected to what you’re doing. I really don’t care about computer games anymore, been a long time since I did. I have fidget cubes and spinners, and knick-knacks, and doodads, and... just... stuff. I have them all because I need to be able to feel something solid.

I searched the apartment high and low, leaving messes in my wake like a tornado. I knew this would happen, it’s what always happens. So I cleaned up the box-of-random-crap, and I cleaned up my desk, and I cleaned up elsewhere around the apartment, and then I really didn’t feel like making the hexagons after all that. I just felt deflated, defeated. I know they’re somewhere around here, but I’ll never find them. So, I gave up, and went to youtube, like I too often do. Thought about playing a game of some sort, even though I’d feel disconnected. I quit. I filed that idea away in the “someday” cabinet.

Then I remembered exactly where they were, and when I opened the top drawer of my toolbox, there’s like five of them there to greet me. Apparently, I’d actually put something away in its proper place. I know, I’m just as shocked as you are. Time to make me some hexagons!

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fyrapartnersearch · 5 years

Text

And your next line is...

Strike a pose!

Hello, the name is Aylo and I am a dedicated on and off role-player with a tendency of writing original stories in the hope that one day, my own vision gets pushed out into the world. But that dream is still a far away concept as most of my works are still in the making. Since I am still on summer break, I’ve got some time at my hands that I’m interested to fill it with some juicy writing.   Roleplaying is one of my greatest hobbies on the side! I enjoy it greatly as it gives you the opportunity to build a world and gripping plot with a partner. Also, a little about me before dive into it. You must be at least 18+ of age when you want to start original roleplay with me, just to be upfront and honest with you. I am in my twenties, thus I have no quarrel, or rather much prefer, mature adult themes. I accept anyone, but they have to be willing to fill some of these categories mentioned down below. What I expect is a decent (if not, very good) grasp on grammar, the ability and will to write creatively and shoulder half of the plotting and responsibility as well as the passion for roleplaying. Of course this should be seen as a fun way of passing the time and inspiring one’s muse, but I really like to invest… I wish for my partner to take equal initiative.  

 This request is a bit of an unusual one as I am targeting a fandom that you may have or have not heard about.  Currently I am on the hunt for someone who would like to start a JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure themed RP with me! Yes, as odd as it sounds, but the series had captured my heart in the most bizarre way (I couldn’t resist, apologies) and I simply fell in love with this odd, quirky world of JoJo. I started binging the series a year ago but now, I really became invested and grew to crave for an experience in writing it with a partner!

Regarding which era of the JoJo’s we could take this, I am fairly open, though I have yet to watch Part 5.   Since the world of JoJo is so vastly open and brimming with possibility, there’s no exact limit. Unless of course, the characters are overpowered, then we might have a problem. However I’ve rarely encountered cases, so I wouldn’t worry that much about it. I have a strong penchant for including original characters and ideas that can be added to the pre-existing plot. Also very happy to expand on the given worlds and open to AU’s. Okay so I am a really big nerd when it comes to the supernatural, mysterious, urban myth and fantasy. Love combining those given elements with organised crime, complex characters, cataclysmic events and dark schemes that all unravels as time goes on. JoJo is a perfect breeding ground for it all.

    Which JoJo is the best JoJo?

  In my opinion, I love all of them <3

Just to be frank here!  I am going to list all of the parts I am open and willing to do, down below:

JoJo: Phantom Blood (Part 1) 

JoJo: Battle Tendency (Part 2) 

JoJo: Stardust Crusaders (Part 3) 

JoJo: Diamond is Unbreakable (Part 4)

Now I know there are seasons of the series that I’ve yet to read and watch, but there is so much of the world already, I am perfectly content with focusing the story on those four!    Writing: 3rd person perspective. My writing is wide-ranging and flexible, which means that frequently, word count will go up 1000+ per reply - though it highly depends on the given situation and partner. Quality over quantity as they say - but why not both? I love detail in description, and I am actively seeking someone of the same infamy. My partner should have a basic grasp on grammar, punctuation and somewhat of an interest in knowledgeable writing. I also double! (preferably, but we can always discuss whether it makes sense for our roleplay our not.)

 What it entails: 

Alright, so you are writing with some of mature age. I have 11 years of writing experience when it comes to the game. This will be a fair warning that this request is not for the faint of heart. There will be violence, swearing, gore, intimate scenes, uncomfortable subjects, drama, conflict and other dark themes included within the story. I have few limits but I will respect the boundaries of my partner, so do not shy away from telling me. Just so you know, I won’t fade to black or skip out on the nitty gritty. Go big or go home. Interests: My line of interests are very dynamic when it comes to genres. I love conceiving my own lore inside a stories, be it an original or a pre-existing story. Gothic fantasy among others are one of my favourites. I am not opposed to tapping into some science fiction, action, romance, crime, action or thriller genres, in fact I encourage it. Inspirations for me are Lovecraft, Hellsing, Blade, Underworld, etc. As for the fandom inspired RPs, I am more than willing to bend some rules and be a little indulgent. World building and sharing the burden: You should be active and help me shape the world around our characters. Even if we discuss many things during and before the roleplay, how we wish for things to play out and take its course, I am always happy to be surprised with a secret of my partner’s character I didn’t know before. You don’t need to lay out all your cards on the table… keep it a little mysterious and suspenseful. Just enough so we can work with the ideas, but not completely kill off the suspense. Characters: I write canon as well as OC characters. Faceclaims, GIFs, drawings, mood boards or just a plain physical description is absolutely sufficient. Whatever floats your boat when it comes to visualising your character and their backstory, I’m on board. Characters should be written as opulent, flawed, unique, talented, heroic, villainous, spiteful, angry, and everything in-between figures. In other words, don’t be scared of making them ‘human’, even when they are non-human. Romance: Openly play and accept characters of both genders, preferable m x f pairings, but I am open to m x m and f x f relationships as well. I have more experience with m x f relationships, so I might be more adept with this one. If the chemistry of two characters compel me, I will ship them no matter what! When it comes to sexual scenarios and intimacy (intercourse, foreplay, all that jazz). I encourage erotism, but always in a tasteful, sensual manner (that goes for romance as well). The passion must be felt through the screen, even if it’s just a mere description of someone’s deep train of thought. Content: Drama, violence, implication of sexual content, metamorphosis, symbolism, action, romance, pretty much everything is a-okay. I am unbothered by certain subjects that may or may not be uncomfortable for the general public. Roleplays are fictional stories and we best keep viewing them as such. If there are things you are uncomfortable with, name them and I shall respect those boundaries. But don’t be surprised when suddenly one of our characters bites the dust, or gets tortured. It may be difficult to write and read, but it is all part of the story and furthering the plot. My roleplays imply and involve brutality, mayhem, psychological and physical torture among other things. But I also greatly endorse beauty, serenity and placid moments, scenes or characters. I love it when it comes full circle… everyone- and everything has a beautiful and hideous side. Both should be embraced like Yin and Yang. Communication and friendship: OOC-chat friendly! I love meeting new people and making friends and as we all know, communication is key. Plus it strengthens the compatibility between us. Communication is the alpha and the omega. If there is anything that bothers you, or if you think you are left out in some way (be it a mistake on my part or if we’re both at fault here), don’t be frightened to tell me. Really, it won’t be taken personally since I know that we all slip up every now and then. We’re only human after all. It is also completely sufficient if you only type out a few messages per week. I am super chill about it. It doesn’t bother me re-writing a scene to fit the narrative more. If there are mistakes, they can be corrected - just to get that out there. We can always exchange opinions and see what would benefit the story most. I will also voice my opinion should something arise that could be bothersome. Partnership: An active roleplayer is wanted without a doubt. Can’t do the thinking for two now. Let’s row this boat together Limits: Subject matters I avoid are pedophilia, bestiality, necrophilia, vore, scat, furries and various other bizarre fetishes. Also no one-liners or text-talk messages. The sentences have to be cohesive, coherent and decently structured.    I live in CET central Europe. My response rate varies throughout the weeks, depending on my schedule.  If I should hit a hiatus, I will let you know as soon as possible. I understand when you are busy as well and won’t be able to respond, though I highly appreciate if my partner does disappear without notification. At least give me a heads up on what’s going on so I can adjust and put the roleplay on hold if needed!  Mediums I roleplay on are email and google-docs. I also have Discord in case for OOC chat, but I rather much prefer email at first because Discord can be somewhat messy from time to time.  I prefer if my partner messages me first on email, giving me a brief description of themselves, their cravings as well as ideas. That way I can see if we’re compatible and if it bears any potential.   Message me here:

EMAIL: [email protected] Hope to hear from you soon! Lots of love!    

Sincerely yours, Aylo

#independent roleplay #oc rp #multiple paragraph #para #long term #email #tumblr #aou rp #submission

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joie-university-rp · 5 years

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Dear, LINK JONES,

It is with great pleasure we invite you admission to Joie University! Welcome to the Thunderclap family!

–

Congratulations, MEG! Please be sure to check the New Members’ Checklistand send in your character’s account within 24 hours from now. We cannot wait to see all that you will bring to this roleplay! We love you already!

OOC INFORMATION:

Name/Alias; preferred pronouns: Meg, she/her

Age, Timezone: 27, EST

Activity, short explanation: I work a full time job (36 hours a week, Mon-Fri) but I can usually get online at least one hour a day after work and sometimes before work and on the weekends, I have no life so I can be on quite a bit.

Ships: /Chemistry

Anti-Ships: /No Chemistry

Triggers: RFP

Preferred photo for Character’s ID (please give a link): https://www.essence.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/images/2015/09/25/gettyimages-480406134_master.jpg

Anything else: Just that I thank you for reading my application!

IC INFORMATION:

Full Name (First, Middle, Last): Lincoln “Link” Richard Jones

FC: Michael B. Jordan

Age/Year at University: 26, Junior (3rd Year)

Birth date: September 22nd, 1992

Hometown (please be sure to check the hometowns listed for characters your muse is related to!): Baltimore, MD

Gender/Pronouns: CISmale - He/him

Sexuality: Bisexual

Major(s): Business Studies

Minor(s) [optional]: N/A

Housing request (remember, only the president of a Greek Organization is required to live at a Greek House to be in it!): Off-campus apartment - preferably quad or triple

Extracurricular: Basketball (Captain)

Greek Life Affiliation [optional] (Please be sure to specify any executive board positions [i.e. president, pledge educator, etc.] or if your character is not yet a member, but plans to rush): N/A

CHARACTER PROFILE:

For most of his young life, Link has only dreamed of one thing - to become the next big NBA star. He had big shoes to fill - both figuratively and literally - but he was determined to be the best. His father had made sure to support his dream, but to an extent - he saw his son’s interest and decided to use that as a carrot to get what he wanted, so as long as his son maintained great grades, he’d be able to continue with the pipe dream that was basketball.

Of course, as he got older, he became more and more focused on the game. He would practice early in the morning before any of his teammates got there, and long after his teammates left the gym, and though he wasn’t the tallest of his teammates… he made up for it with more heart. And he used his size to his advantage, becoming a quick and nimble point guard that could make his way through the towering trees that were the forwards with practiced ease.

With the combination of his great grades - he had a 3.9 GPA - and his athletic success, Link managed to get the attention of a lot of universities that wanted him to play for their team, but ultimately he decided to go with the University of Kentucky. They offered him a scholarship to play with them, and knowing that they had great success in getting even freshmen recruited to the NBA… he was quick to sign with them. And his father… well, his father was glad that he was going to college.

But that changed after he signed to play for the Golden State Warriors just after the post-season his freshman year. Fumed by the fact that his son was more interested in putting his childish dreams ahead of his practical future, he disowned him - just as he had disowned his daughter - and left him with nothing. But he didn’t need anything, really. He was going to be a great basketball player, and he planned on becoming one of the best - with a name that would ring in infamy like Michael Jordan, Shaquille O'Neal and Magic Johnson.

Playing for the Warriors was great, and he was even instrumental in getting his team to win the NBA championships in 2015 and 2017… but that all changed after he wound up getting a freak injury during an early scrimmage. As he had come down from a jump shot, he had landed on his foot wrong and his leg wound up snapping in half as it bowed underneath him. After surgery, his doctors pressed concerns that he wouldn’t be able to play anymore and his team wound up paying out his contract early, doubtful that he’d be able to return.

Needing to get better, Link decided to finish his college education and persue a degree, choosing Joie because of his family - both his younger sister and his cousins attended the school - and because he knew it would be a safe place, away from the stress of the press that California had, so he could recuperate in peace. It’s been a year since he’s attended the school, and now that he’s in his third year, he’s ready to show the world that he’s able to play again - this will be his first year back on the court since his faithful injury, but because of how well he showed up in practice over the summer and because of his past career, he was already named Captain.

One thing people don’t know, however, is that to help keep himself healthy, Link has taken up boxing to help strengthen his leg and work on his agility and feet-work. And the more that he takes to the ring, the more he realizes he likes boxing and he begins to wonder if maybe, just maybe, he should hang up the sneakers and trade it in for a pair of boxing gloves.

STUDENT CENSUS SURVEY: (Please answer the following questions IN CHARACTER. Responses can be as long or short as you see fit!)

What made you want to attend Joie University? Honestly? My baby sister is here. We kind of lost some time over the past few years and I want to make it up to her. Besides… as her big brother, it’s my job to look after her.

What are at least 3 positive or neutral and at least 3 negative traits that you believe you possess? Shit, what don’t I possess? Nah, I’m kidding… But I’d say I’m ambitious, athletic - though anyone that knows me knows that that’s a fact - and I’m confident. Some bad qualities? I’m stubborn as hell, though it’s a Jones trait so don’t go blaming me… blame my Pops on that one…. I’m also restless and I guess I can be resentful too.

Which of your traits do you value most? My athleticism… Without it I wouldn’t have got to where I am today… All jokes aside, I value my ambition. ‘Cause without ambition, I really wouldn’t have gotten here. You can have all the talent in the world, but if you aren’t ambitious enough to put your foot down and make some use out of it? What’s the good of all that talent?

How can that trait benefit the University (or its student body) as a whole? Well, I don’t know about you, but usually ambition is good - especially for a university. If you get students that are ambitious, you have a higher rate of graduation… and that ambition may rub off on other students as they may decide to try and keep up with others, thus creating even more ambitious students which in turn increases the rate of graduation among the college.

What do you hope to gain from your experience at JU? My pro career back, a better relationship with my sister, and I guess some long-lasting friendships with people that see me as more than the former Warrior? And yeah, okay, maybe it’d be nice to find a boyfriend or girlfriend, too, but right now… I’m gonna fly solo.

What is a quote or song lyric that describes you? “Intelligence without ambition is like a bird without wings.” - Salvador Dali

#Accepted

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drsallygrissom · 6 years

Text

Why We Love ars PARADOXICA

Back in 2016, the fandom made a list of 43 reasons why we love ars PARADOXICA in honor of the 73rd anniversary of Dr. Sally Grissom’s first audio diary on October 29, 1943. When I learned that the podcast was going to end after its third season, I decided to pull together another list that was double the length of the first.

However, the fandom was so passionate that we blew past our goal, and reached triple the length of the original list!

Without further ado, here are the 129 of the reasons why we love ars PARADOXICA:

Helen Partridge, my beautiful, beautiful wife

I just love Kristen’s laugh and it never fails to make me smile.

Mischa’s outros! “Brought to you by the internet:”

The TimeSwimmers episode. That whole thing was a masterpiece

Sally and Nikhil's friendship

Petra, my sassy troubled daughter

The effort that went into making such a truly unique and ambitious take on time travel-based fiction

Sally, my favorite disaster ace

All of the characters are just so beautifully flawed in their own ways and are so well depicted it’s hard to pick a favorite

Every episode makes me feel SO MANY EMOTIONS

The sound effects are just so well done that I feel like I’m right there with the characters

The subtle yet mind blowing foreshadowing

The way it endlessly inspires me to create fan content

The decryption team, who I don't understand yet love to watch unravel codes

The ability to make us both love and hate a character at the same time as much as we do Esther Roberts.

Jack Wyatt

The sass, and in general wonderful interactions with the fan base on social media.

The schoolyard brawl!

Very obviously not being afraid to have fun with ads/sponsored content.

Actually making me want to listen to the version with ads even though I'm a patron

Buttsticks…

Plasticity

The outro music is simple but so, so good

Lemon drops and Limestone

My curiosity about what Esther wrote in the letter

Golden boi and his devils lettuce

With three episodes left it felt like there was so much story left to be told and such little time to tell it

The generosity to keep us entertained between seasons

The subtle symbolism of Esther's mind being represented with card games

The heart-wrenching ups and downs of Esther and Bridget's relationship

Esther and Sally’s lesbian/aroace solidarity

Bridget, my mom

Sally's #relatable ace anxieties and Nikhil's comforting response

The super cool theme song by Mischa "i do not play piano" Stanton which they apparently HEARD IN A DREAM?!

The found footage pieces between scenes

The amount of detail put into it, and being able to notice new things on each relisten

Easter eggs like QDAM

Seemingly infinite pop culture references

The commitment to posting a transcript for each episode

The GOLDEN BOY smokes the devil’s lettuce?!

The Super LUminal Recursive Processor

All of the machine code names really

Mischa’s wonderful sound design that makes me feel like I’m actually in the location the episode takes place at and made me realize how wonderful podcasts could truly be.

Sally Grissom. The wonderful disaster ace and the first ace rep I ever found.

The sound design of the show, especially the tapes adding to world building, all those clunky sounds.

Sally Grissom, ‘I wonder what would happen if I...’, Mad scientist.

This show has the most complex, humanistic portrayal of aromanticism I’ve ever experienced

I appreciate the aP creators’ dedication to nuanced portrayal of and discussion about violence

All of Curses, of fucking course

Keeping the humanity of people who do bad thing while not trying to justify them

Their commitment to “all killer, no filler”

Reminding me that science is cool, dammit!

Petra is a lovely and nuanced, complex character that I adore with my whole heart and soul.

[BLUE BLUE 09 13 18 15 26 08 04 12 20 24 05 18 14 09 17 04 05 12 01 05 The weather in Tulsa today is: Drought. At the tone, the time will be: 5400 hours]

The creators are so so fantastic and fun! I love that they interact with fans.

Sally is the disaster stoner physicist we all need in our lives. also she’s relatable as hell

The show is not afraid to tackle issues like race, gender, or sexuality and it doesn’t overstep its bounds.

The codes are so fun (even if I don’t understand all of them)!

I love how excited scientists get when they’ve discovered something-it feels like real scientists I know

How Bridget criticizes Sally for making puns under pressure even though she does exactly the same thing

The way characters interact with one another, and grow, and learn, and develop is so fascinating and beautiful.

Plasticity might have been the first podcast episode to make me cry.

I love Sally “I only know anecdotal biology and chemistry” Grissom and how her science knowledge actually makes sense??

As a huge huge physics nerd and aspiring computer scientist, I love love love the way Sally talks about science! It’s like Kristen DiMercurio is narrating my inner monologue!

The thrill of trying to keep up with the diverging timelines

☭S̶͜͞ ̀͜҉̀͢Í͠ ̸̸͟҉X̵͘͢ ̢T̷̶͞ ̢̨͟Y̧̛͘ ̨͟͢ ̴̨͜҉S̷̶͢ ̴͝Í͢͟ ҉̢̛͝X̕͝͝☭

The consideration and dedication shown in not only writing an aro-spec ace character, but addressing issues and worries often faced by people in that community.

The mind-boggling task of trying to piece together everything that’s happening when for all we know every scene could be from a different, rewritten version of the timeline.

Anthony Partridge, the most melodramatic math nerd to ever play Tetris in a bubble outside of time.

The optimism of the show and ultimate faith it shows in both science and humanity, despite all the characters’ failings.

Sally giggling over meeting her future self both times that it happens

Sally’s book (and her attempts at pronouncing NaNoWriMo).

Maggie Elbourne, because as much as I love all my the more morally ambiguous scientists it’s nice to see one who actually stood up to ODAR’s shenanigans almost as soon as she figured out what was up.

Everything about the road trip.

TimeSwimmers was already mentioned but specifically TIME DOLPHIN RYAN LOCHTE

Characters that grow and change and learn

The 77s getting name dropped in Plasticity, way before we knew who they were

Sally calling out the English language for being problematic (“oh, you mean like morally upstanding?”)

“The weather in Tulsa today is: uhh I dunno”.

It has been quite possibly the most human exploration of time travel I’ve ever seen/heard.

Reaching a happy ending I couldn't even imagine

The weather in Tulsa is: sppoookyyy

The ever changing ways the codes were presented in season 3. Giving the feeling that the anchorites were both on the run and broadcasting these messages from different points in time.

Sally’s ace representation is the best I’ve ever seen and it makes me feel so #valid.

The sound design and detail in the writing make me feel like I’m truly immersed in the story, and it feels so authentic. Are you sure you don’t secretly have a timepiece?

The characters are people I CARE about and wanted to cry over during work all the time because they’re all wonderful and I love them.

The integration of the different storylines into Sally’s, especially Petra’s, is amazing.

Petra’s characterization was really well done, and it made me really care about her, even as she was trying to more or less destroy the world.

Out-of-date pop culture references that fit seamlessly into the dialogue despite being from literally a different time period and most of the characters having no idea what it meant. They just added an extra level of hilarious.

You may not actually know a single thing about tachyon fields and gluon walls (are they even real?) but you could definitely convince me that you know exactly what you’re talking about (or at least that Sally Grissom does).

The enDING WAS JUST REALLY WELL DONE AND I LOVE A GOOD CIRCULAR ENDING AND IT MADE ME GENUINELY GO TO THE BATHROOM DURING WORK TO CRY BECAUSE IT WAS JUST BEAUTIFUL.

The fact that the whole show is wrapped up by the revelation that the entire show is actually Nikhil and Mateo curling up with board games and snacks trying to form a story out of these tapes, patching together timelines to make it all cohesive, it just feels very right.

This story fits the medium so well, and so the fact that we don’t learn that Whickman has an EYEPATCH is absolutely wild but also wonderful because as soon as I heard that I knew that that was how it belonged, like of course he has an eyepatch, that’s a very Chet thing to have.

The ending was so perfectly, painfully beautiful. It was the ending we needed but never would have imagined.

Petra’s and Sally’s relationship being so complex and real.

Nikhil and Mateo using the archive to create the framing device for the whole podcast.

The sound the timepiece makes.

The final destruction of the timepiece.

Putting time travel in a Cold War setting makes perfect sense, and they go together like peanut butter and chocolate.

Did anyone mention Helen Partridge as a character? How beautifully she was set up and the fact that she pursued her own her life, and also, how BEAUTIFULLY Susanna Kavee can sing? Because damn.

I just. Really love this show. And everyone involved. So much.

The child characters were really well done-both the actors and the writing felt real.

To me, the show feels a bit like one of those camp friendship bracelets everyone used to make, with all these colors and threads--all of the timelines, woven together, messy but beautiful.

TEETRIS

Grissom’s Gizmo Gals!

Mateo’s non-stop flirting, even in the worst of situations

Sally “It’s Dr Grissom”ed HERSELF.

The way both the story and the characters reflect a complex view on the world with people making horrible decisions and horrible things happening to them, and yet always maintaining a positive outlook, offering the possibility of change and improvement.

The top-notch voice acting from everyone involved, helping to create the wonderful characters we all love.

Sally finger-gunning her way out of a conversation with a pun about a friend almost killing her.

All the minisodes!!

Any time Bridget, Nikhil or Lou acts like they want to adopt Petra

The series ending with two characters who had been at odds coming together

The characterization of the different Petras, because they all seem like different people even though in fact they are not (and Sylvia deciding she doesn't want to follow the legacy of Petras)

How Kristen can play 2 of the same character and make them sound different (how does she do that???)

Anthony’s will to save everyone, sacrificing himself, when the world didn't do anything good for him…

... and the constant struggle to save his friends (like when he was literally the only one aware of the Anchorites and the way their plan could have ended)

The way the show can go from time travel shenanigans to heartfelt character moments is a real testament to the talent of the writing team.

The Vegas episode, which I listened to after the finale and cried, because they were so happy and naive and everything wasn’t messy and bad and complicated.

The way gun violence is handled by the creators with respect and care

The way PTSD and mental health is handled (through Sally) is beautiful and respectful.

Partridge being named after a bird and living out his life in a cage. YOU GUYS ARE MEAN

Susanna Kavee’s absolutely amazing singing and Tau Zaman’s lyrics are an absolutely combination.

The ceaseless, unwavering commitment to puns

I love how important their friendships are to the characters (well, most of them anyways).

Sally’s conversation with Nikhil in season 3 reflects a lot of common anxieties of aromantic people, and his understanding responses

The entirety of the trial episode, which just really sort of showed the full extent of how terrible the Red Scare was by putting Esther, a Jewish woman, through it, and just shows you how defamed people in that time were.

In so many of the fictional and non-fictional representations of history, marginalized people have diminished, distorted, and stereotypical roles-but not in ars PARADOXICA. Thank you for making so many people feel seen.

All the amazing writers who started it all. 💜

Here are the signatures of some of the fans who contributed:

Signatures

Lindsay (ioniluna/drsallygrissom)

Khanan Abayev

SJ (your friendly neighborhood slauthor)

Dave (mondas-mania)

Noah (kindadisappointed)

Sana (i-am-delta-s)

Tina (espressonist)

Meaghan (lafgl)

Katherine (Rubywolfsbane)

Artimis (jp-blindperson/ap-blindperson)

Luke (martianboyy)

Ellie (joan-and-jane-and-esther-roberts/shewrites)

Bridge (cornerandchair)

Lem (aceparadoxica)

Esme (starsparadoxica)

Glory (mercutiglo)

Carly (guardianbob)

Emese (mse)

Ben (Q)

Special thanks to the ars PARADOXICA discord for being so helpful! From the time it was just a dozen people with a spork in a shoebox, this community was a shining star that helped me through tough times. Thank you for your silliness, cleverness, and support.

Brought to you by the internet: It’s weird! It’s fun! It loves you very, very much!

#ars paradoxica #aP creators #surprise!

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