#//ehh it fits with my previous posts

[andiftheycare]

AU where Suguru’s an overworked salaryman and Satoru keeps stealing his umbrellas as a bad attempt at flirting.

Or the you swan he frog meme but make it a fic

☂️ Part one here, and also on twt

☂️ Part two point one here, and on twt

I should be banned from my notes app when I'm this brain fried. Highly unedited & nothing much happens in this update. More thievery in part 3

Tags to be aware of: AU, squint and it’s a reincarnation au (more on this soon), office AU, squint and there's some side Itafushi

☂️☂️☂️☂️☂️

☂️☂️2.2

“You forgot your pass?”

The receptionist, an old guy called Jogo who’s been there since Suguru started as an intern, weights him down as if he’d never seen him a day in his life. A whiff of suffocatingly hot air hit him as the reception's doors slide open.

“Unfortunate,” Suguru smiles brightly at him, glad for the air con and the extra hours of sleep. Breakfast was good, too. Especially since Megumi brought in miso and coffee.

His phone buzzes and Suguru ignores it as Jogo handles him a temporary pass “I know where you work.” Jogo says, squinting. “Return this when you clock off.”

On his Line chat with Gojo, there’s now a link to a ten years old article Suguru doesn’t want to open.

Megumi says you’re awful

Don’t take it personal, though. He doesn’t like me either.

Whatever his relationship with Megumi is, Suguru doesn’t ask. Megumi sat with him in awkward silence for a while, and watched while Suguru washed the dished and scribbled a post it on the rice cooker, up until he left for a shower. There, Megumi stared until Suguru disappeared down the corridor.

Now, the elevator takes Suguru to the 14th floor, and another day —

which will look exactly like the one before and the one before that, an endless circle of numbers and calls and emergencies and pathological examples of system’s incompetence ——

starts.

“Is that a new suit?” Yuki asks, first thing in the morning, as she delivers an americano on his desk.

“Sort of,”

“Ehh, what’s with that answer?”

Suguru shrugs and, truly, what’s there to say if not “I might return it, you know. It’s tight on my shoulders.”

She snorts. “Fits you, though. Blue’s your colour.”

Suguru’s phone buzzes again. The insistent tick tick of the rain is partly cancelled by the office floor’s chatter.

“Nonsense.” Miguel says, dropping his laptop bag on the desk next to Suguru. “He looks better in orange.”

“I don’t wear orange.”

“Exactly my point.” Miguel says, unfazed, and Yuki sighs loudly and theatrically just for Nanami to catch her in the act. He clocks in right on time, not a minute before or after their mandatory office hours, and says “I assume Tsukumo-san’s here to discuss the latest budget updates?”

Which, to be fair, she needs to do. Still, that comment doesn’t go down well. Suguru watches the consequences of Nanami’s actions unravel as he turns on his laptop, coffee burning his tongue.

☂️☂️☂️☂️☂️☂️

At lunch time the air is dense with humidity and sticks Suguru’s hair to his neck. The walk to the conglomerate of flats where he slept the previous night is an experience similar to swimming, the weather a prelude to a later storm.

Suguru will need another umbrella, and he’s running out of coins.

When he taps in the key code, as if he lives there, he knows he’s violating an implicit pact of trust with Gojo, but in that moment it doesn’t matter.

He’s sure Gojo won’t mind. He’ll make up to him, at some point. Besides, his brain doesn’t fumble with morals when he has an end to a meaning — in that case, it’s just retrieving his lost pass without having to ask Gojo.

Because if he does, Suguru will be in the same room as Gojo while they search for it. And that, somehow, will make him real, rather than a convenience store ghoul hunting in his memories.

“Oi, Megumi, did you get…”

Gojo blinks at him from the other side of the room. Suguru blinks back, hand still on the door knob.

“You could’ve called me.” the corner of his mouth tugs into a smile, a note of unexpected happiness in his voice.

“I didn’t think you were home.”

“Ouch. What a way to sound unsuspicious.” He pauses, pensive, because clearly Gojo wants to savour his next words “Were you trying to rob me, Suguru?”

Of course. The article run his full name.“We’re not on first name basis.”

“Yet you sleep in my bed.”

“With your consent.”

Gojo’s eyes glints. In the daylight, sun caressing the angles of his face, they’re a clearer blue. Softer, almost, or maybe that’s only in how he’s looking at Suguru. It’s the first time he sees Gojo properly, instead of registering his presence under neon lights and the influence of sleep-deprivation.

There’s a compulsion to get closer, feel him closer, to see for himself if those eyes are shielded by coloured contacts or are the byproduct of winning a rare genetic lottery. Mostly, he wants, but the ending to satisfy his desire doesn’t lay in giving in to the physicality of Gojo Satoru.

He doesn’t understand it. Quite frankly, he doesn’t want to.

“I forgot my pass.” Finally, Suguru’s brain reboots. He shuts the door behind him. “I’ll take it and leave. So you don’t need to…” he waves a hand at him.

“What?” Satoru looks down, blind to the drops of water shimmering down his chest, to the trail of white hair disappearing behind the towel draped around his hips.

So his hair aren’t bleached.

Suguru wishes he found that distracting, rather than the droplets of water pouring from Gojo’s locks down to his neck, right behind his ear. A spot to bite.

“Dress?” he deadpans.

“Oh,” Gojo looks up, quickly. “Right. Dress.”

Of course, no action is taken because why Gojo would ever do as he’s told. After a moment of silence, Geto says “Have you seen it?”

Gojo tilts his head slightly “Uhm?”

“My pass?”

At that Gojo jolts back to life, shifting from one feet to another, “No?”

“Help me find it then.”

So they move. Geto takes off his shoes and inspects the kitchen while Gojo rushes to change, moving between the flat surfaces he cleaned under Megumi’s supervision, bending to look under tables and sofas.

Filling in the paperwork to request a new pass is, in his company, a well-known path to insanity. On top of the corporate inflicted excruciating admin intertwined with the entire process, he’d need three levels of approval and two new HR checks before they can grant him a new one.

As if Geto hasn’t been working there for ten years. There’s no trust, really. Which doesn’t matter, because he doesn’t trust them either. He sees their numbers, where their money goes and how much Geto and Yuki have to play around higher egos for their own careers. It doesn’t make sense.

Plus, Geto doesn’t want to go through the company’s data security training once again.

Gojo remerges wearing joggers and a white t-shirt, pass in his hand “Was in the bathroom.”

Where Geto changed clothes that morning. Figures.

“Oh, thank —“

The lanyard flips above his head, rigid plastic hitting his chest with a swing, fingers adjusting the collar of his borrowed shirt, Gojo’s face so close Suguru can count his eyelashes, feel his breath brushing on his skin. A soft, lingering warmth of an almost touch tickles his nape, and he sees Gojo indulging, hazy and lost, and Geto remembers. With lucidity — one rarely attached to his brain in those undescriptive long days — he knows the feeling of that hand on the back on his neck.

Except, of course, that he can’t. That’s a dream more than a memory, and uneasiness travels down his spine.

It’s not the intimacy nor the familiarity of it to nauseate him. It’s how he yearns; and equally, how that yearning’s alien, because it feels attached to a body that isn’t his own.

Something shifts in the air, which is tense now, and makes Gojo deliberately step away.

There isn’t a inch of regret in his face. The audacity.

“Your pass picture is awful.”

“I’ll pass your feedback to the photographer.”

“It’s a selfie, isn’t it?”

Suguru tilts his head and smiles. Gojo shakes his head “Unbelievable.”

Suguru plays with his pass to push back the ticking remains of Gojo. “I’ll get going then.”

“No,” Gojo fumbles for a second, fidgeting. Geto raises an eyebrow at him. “Have you eaten? Would you like to—“

“My break’s almost over.”

“Oh.”

His expression unravels in something vulnerable, too open, so that Suguru bites his tongue and doesn’t ask, did you feel that, too, just a moment ago? because it would sound deranged and like a cheap pick up line, playing into Gojo’s shameless flirting.

“Thanks for the rice, then.” Gojo clears his throat, starting to look a little bit like the man he meets at night.

It takes Geto a moment to understand he’s talking about the rice cooker. He nods, despite that machine not leaving him any other choice — minimum capacity was half a kilo. The design was for a family rather than a single man.

“Weirdly how the smell of fresh rice,” Gojo adds, “can make a place feel like home, uhm?”

☂️☂️☂️☂️☂️☂️

After, when Geto’s back in the office and his heart is rushing in the right anatomical places, the world realigns.

Of course, he’s probably catching a cold. He’s tired. The heat’s suffocating, never something he dealt well with at any point in his life, and his project’s deadline approaching. That’s all. Because what was he actually thinking. What was he actually feeling.

Maybe he should give in to Gojo. They should fuck. That will make him snap out of it.

☂️☂️☂️☂️☂️☂️

At night, he dreams of a warm blue spring.

There are flashes of lights — lazy days rushing to get the train; sun reflecting on transparent water; orange petals falling on an open cola can.

Waters ripples in perfect circles around his body, and there’s something else. It’s warm and dense on his face.

He thumbs it away. It’s blood.

Suguru jolts rather than wake. The alarm drills a hole in his brain, sharpening reality around him. He reaches for water before tending to his loud phone, desperate to temper the disgusting taste in his mouth. When water isn’t enough, he brushes and brushes his teeth and tongue, until he’s won by sickening persistence on his palate.

It makes him reject breakfast and skip coffee, leaving in a discombobulated haste to avoid peak rush hour. His thoughts go briefly to what he has to do — groceries, help Mimiko with her club’s project, dry clean Gojo’s suit — before the emails on his work phone start to ping up. A couple of commuters shots him some nasty stares, annoyed by the noise.

“Do you think there’s meaning in what you do?”

The mechanic pencil Itadori’s dragging on a notebook stops briefly, “In selling you our annual stock of umbrellas?”

Geto gives him a genuine smile. “Maybe?”

Itadori looks up, and takes in the two plain onigiri Geto placed on the counter. “Uhm, then, yes. You’re not getting rained on most days, no?”

“Is that enough?”

“I’m helping, somehow. Even by vehiculating capitalism, if you can believe it. And you know, I won’t be here forever. After graduation—“ and then he halts, head bobbing up the same way puppies do in front of a ball.

Suguru turns to find Gojo - grinning, one hand up to say hi - and Megumi trailing behind him.

“I’m sure Fushiguro will have a better answer,” Itadori says, leaning conspiratorially towards Geto “He’s smarter than me.”

“I’m not.” Fushiguro says, on cue, unceremoniously walking behind the counter and next to Itadori. He looks down at the notebook “But this is mostly wrong.”

Itadori squints “Where?”

“Here.” Gojo points somewhere in the notebook, crunching so that he can be at the same level of the two boys. He picks up the pencil, and points again, “But the real issue is…”

“Ohh.” Itadori muses, and follow with rapt, almost undivided attention, “Sensei, you could’ve make the coursework easier.”

Gojo laughs, while Fushiguro, almost completely overshadowed by the unprompted lesson, stares quietly at Itadori. Geto leaves the 300 yen for his dinner on the counter.

Before Gojo can finish his next string of explanations, Suguru grabs him by the collar of his shirt and yanks him upward, effectively lifting him with less strength that Geto thought he’d need. The man isn’t build to be lift as easily as a feather. Yet, past the initial faint supplies, he follows Geto's pull with little complain.

“What— are you doing?” Gojo glares at him, the down at Suguru’s grip on his collar, then back to where Suguru’s eyes are.

“Come,” he says, “Help me curse some minor criminal.”

☂️☂️☂️☂️☂️☂️

“I’m not six.”

“Your previous curse was about frogs.”

“And what’s your point?”

Gojo elbows him and tried to type down the screen, sunglasses firm in the top of his head.

“You’re good with kids.” Suguru says then, watching Gojo trying to type wart and on your face on the monitor.

The man barely shrugs. “I’m pretty sure Itadori’s twenty.”

A child in Geto’s eyes. A toddler. Geto’s twenty-eight, but he doesn’t remember being twenty. All he can pinpoint from that year are Mimiko’s school recital, Nanako’s first crush, the green mold eating their bathroom’s walls. “Shouldn’t he be in kindergarten then?”

Gojo side glances him “I thought you were my age? Don’t speak like an old man.”

Geto elbows him back. He should go back to the office. There’s so much left to do before he can wrap up for the day. “I never told you my age.”

“Well, then I hope you are. I’m twenty-nine in December.”

“Yeah.”

A huff. Gojo tilts his head to watch him, and Geto wonders how’s possible that looking at someone can leave you with such a warmness rooting in your chest. He swallows, the aftertaste of the morning still there, still a reminder of his fragmented sleep.

“So you teach?”

Gojo nods, “Yeah, Jujutsu Tech is just around the corner from here.”

Humming, Geto turns to the machine again. “You don’t look like a teacher.”

“I know, I’m definitely too attractive for the profession.”

“Absolutely not.”

There’s a laugh. “Well, I also work at my family’s company.”

This is where the late nights and expensive flat slots in. “Why do you also teach, then?”

“Because there’s meaning in that,” Gojo says, not thinking about it. “I’m raising a new generation, you know? Then they can sit where we are and take better decisions.”

Gojo doesn’t know how that makes Suguru’s heart sink. How it sounds stupid, because children talked like that; or people for whom the world was a blank canvas for them to paint.

“See?” Gojo smirks at him, filling the brief moment of silence “I persist to be the number one at lame. Where’s my trophy?”

Instead of scolding him, Suguru slaps away Gojo’s hands from the screen, and proceed to cancel every single word he typed.

“What on —“ he stops, for a moment “Steal this and you’ll find the love of your life? What kind of threat is that?”

“Don’t you know?” Gojo says, “There no curse more twisted than love.”

Suguru blinks. “Are you insane? Who speaks like this, anime characters?”

Satoru startles, faintly blushing, looking tremendously younger when his shoulder bumps into his. “You clearly haven’t been in love.”

“I have,” Suguru rebuts, “But love isn’t just romantic. How can you—“

Then he stops when Gojo focuses too closely on the machine, when he catches the veil of uneasiness at being betrayed by his own words. It dawns to him how Gojo, who’s always the biggest presence in the room, who seem to waltz in the world and get what he wants, who spends hours of his days hanging in a convenience store with his students, deep dark rings masterfully covered by his shades, might, in fact, be lonely.

“I’m not printing that.” Suguru says, at the end, looking away. “I’ll wish them to be eaten by a crab.”

It’s not that funny, but Gojo laughs regardless.

[thenamesmobu]

A message to the TSP community

(Uhhh warning? Slight vent)

Ehh it's nothing all that bad or anything

Okay, so, sorry that this is something that I don't usually post. But I just got some things to say for a moment here.

So, I have a hard time in blending in at school. Almost everyone sees me as the quiet and sensitive kid. I've been trying to make them try to see me differently, but it feels like they just gently push me away because they're scared of me. I'm no good at starting conversations (in my native language) so what I do is that I'd throw topics of smalltalks and just hopes that one of them turn into a full on conversation. I wanna fit in, but it's just hard to do so when your reputation has been cemented into everyone's minds. I know I need to socialize in real life instead of being in it online all the time, but for the time being, I wanna thank the community that made me feel like I belong somewhere.

TSP fandom. Fellas, let me tell you just how much I've been thriving here. From the previous fandoms I've ever been in, I have never felt like I'm in my best place. I actually talked, made new friends, my art and writing has been improving rapidly, and overall it's just been amazing and thrilling. I thought that joining this community would be like any other fandoms I been in, have fun for a while and then just move on. But for this fandom, my god, I feel like I fit right in, I feel like I belong, I feel like people actually wanna talk to me and they're willing and interested to listen what I have to talk about. I feel the most happy here from any fandoms by far. And for someone who has trouble fitting in irl as I've stated, I couldn't be more grateful.

You guys, thank you so much for accepting me into the fandom, thank you so much for noticing me, thank you so much for loving my art, my characters, and my writing, thank you so much for making me feel like I belong.

Alright, that's pretty much what I have to say for now. My account had reached over 100 followers lately (Idk if I've said that yet, but eh), I'll be holding a dtiys as a celebration for this milestone. Once again, thank you so much TSP fandom, I LOVE YOU ALL SM MWAH /plat💙

[cosmica-galaxy]

A continuation on this monster of a text, https://www.tumblr.com/cosmica-galaxy/719001034780000256

Me while reading this: Ohhhh celestial castle, very nice, dawww and they put Deimos and Sanford close together? In like a small bed, did they make a doll house for their resting vessels? That's so sweet, I would have ne- wh… w what do you mean “if he ever woke up from his slumber”.

Would this mean that others could potentially wake up too… heh, live footage of Jeb checking if Hofnarr is dead or alive https://www.youtube.com/shorts/YtSPQIK15uc

But seriously though THAT'S SO COOL, when i read the line “That once the employers confront the false moon, the “moon” is revealed to be one of Player’s eyes” i hit my table i was so pumped. This character started off so sad then it turned so wholesome, i love it.

Also, I think :Mothra's Theme (Queen of the Monsters Suite): would be a good fit for their character.

But another thing that's been bugging me, wouldn't the vessels notice something wrong, first they are engaged in combat and the other second they aren't, you can't tell me that they wouldn't notice.

Like a siad in the previous post maby it comes to a point where Doc wants to find out about this god. I mean if the employers are so perturbed by it and it's affecting his mercenaries (the exception being Hank). Then what could this mean… Listen, I just want one, ONE of the madcom characters to meet the moon god face to face in all there glory, is that so much to ask for?

Originally I imagined the god to have flesh, but now that I have a better understanding of their character I think it would be more suitable if they were made out of solid rock, or at least appear to be. It's hard to see their real form through the misty light that's covering them, but when they're scaled down a mock version of their form appears.

The gods body and clothes are made out of chiseled marble yet the garments that they wore moved with their body as if it wasn't. A shadow forever masking the left side of their face, the only glimpse to what's beneath it is a crimson stream dripping down their chine. It's hard to think that a statue could ever bleed, or for that matter feel pain, but how are one supposed to know if they are not one in the same. Cracks oozing with blood seep into the desert sand. The only indicator that they were ever there, despite their superiority they can not stay in that form for long.

I've been puting of how I envision their clothes to be or what they wear and ehh… they are very see-through. But then again I can't imagine the moon having any genitalia since they are a celestial body, their whole being is covered up by their mighty aura.

For referens 

Here's a short little doodle dump to show what would happen during the confrontation. : )

[shori]

2022.09.29 Endless SHOCK @ Hakataza Theater in Fukuoka

Posting on my Tumblr so I can delete the thread on my Twitter and it looks better here than a series of 10+ tweets haha. I'm sad I didn't hit for SHOCK 2023 so time to relive seeing it last year. I got lucky and decided to just YOLO by applying for the self guided tour visa before borders opened back up officially like two weeks later lmao. I HAD TO GO since I'm a KinKi and Kisumai fan!

Koichi Zachou is really an oujisama 😍 Loved red hair Mitsu as rival. Wish I could have seen more shows because there's so much happening in all the scenes. Glad I got close seats in the 2nd floor especially to see Koichi's flying scenes in the second act 😭

9/29 13:00 show

I was so focused on Koichi at the beginning and I'm so used to Kochan's stage voice so when Mitsu first spoke I was like who omg it's HIROMITSU

I was very impressed with Mitsu's stage acting and singing just like many fans reported! His singing is very clear & smooth 💯

Matsuzaki & HIROMITSU are too cute as buddies. Zaki telling Mitsu to put his arms around Rika at the rooftop🙈 A few scenes I just laughed at their buddy bro dynamic.

Mitsu in the ❤️ patterned suit is cute 🥰 when he comes in with the bouquet & dances with Rika during It's a Wonderful Day. Man got guts to wear that heart patterned suit. Haha he's so charai just like how he is as idol... watch Kisumai Busaiku! 🤣

I think HIROMITSU is the happy go lucky charai rival that is more on KOICHI's level. He doesn't seem to get angry and is more sly and calculated.

I laughed at the Everybody Go lines 😂 I love the little references/adlibs. For my show since it was the day of Travis Japan's "world debut" announcement. After the rooftop scene they are crossing the stage~

Matsuzaki: There's a group making a world debut!

Mitsu on roller skates: Ehh Tora Tora..! 🐯🐯

Overall HIROMITSU gets along with everyone and have fun in the Company.

The solo for the rival, MOVE ON is such a good fitting song. I felt Shori had the cool youngster brash charisma in the performance. So it's nice to see how Mitsu's version has a different aura that was his own... he totally owned the stage. Dancing & charisma. 💯💯

I need to review the previous rivals and watch more closely but I can definitely see how others say Mitsu's version is different. I felt his version was more calm, diligent, and mature and more of KOICHI's equal. He didn't crumble emotionally and descend into darkness/violence or acted brashly right away...

It was a slowburn but when he finds out, KOICHI is really dead... After the Shakespearean act, HIROMITSU is lying on the floor distraught. The piano melody for Don't Look Back 〜戻れない日々 plays (love this song composed by Koichi! could we get a new OST version with Shori and Mitsu as vocals *biased*). This part always gets me with the rival, KOICHI, and the owner singing. here is where I first started to get sobby/cry a bit. I also cried at the end of Yori no Umi, then and there's HIROMITSU and the cast... The flashbacks of memories with KOICHI is shown...

Shimada Kaho who Koichi worked with in Knights' Tale played the Owner for the first time. She's a lovely lady and has such a elegant presence 😍 she has a softer speaking voice than Maeda Bibari-san but a powerful beautiful singing voice.

As always the second act is just amazing with the Japanese dance and flying scenes.

And the end is just 😭😭😭

Doesn't HIROMITSU look so intense!

Even knowing the general story with the acts and various performances... I understand why people still want to see it every year even tho the general story is the same but how the script changes with the different rival and how it evolves... There's a different atmosphere with each new rival/cast. For me, seeing the cast ensemble makes it interesting to watch with the chairman leading. I really hope to see Endless SHOCK again one day.

Scans by me from digital Weekly TV Guide & TV Guide Alpha

[ask-the-reaper-conspiracy]

To OP: what do you think we can expect for the next AA (if we get one)? :3 and what are your thoughts on Spirit of Justice?

~~also for some reason, Tumblr is burying your posts so I can't see them on my homepage :(~~

:O Hard to say when we're not even sure who'll be writing the next AA game.

I think the only thing I can expect for certain is that Athena will be the one undergoing character development, since that was a hanging plot point in SoJ. That doesn't necessarily mean she'll be the player character for the entirety of it (Apollo finished his character arc in a game where Phoenix was the main character for a large portion of it) but she will probably be the central focus by the end.

Considering how long we've had without an AA game, I also fully expect a gimmick to draw in new players. Potentially this will be a new setting, a new main character, or a new mechanic--I'm leaning on the side of there being a heavier supernatural focus (or at least superhuman, like Athena's hearing and Apollo's eyesight) but I don't really know :o

I'm sure there will be returning characters too, as well. Hopefully Gumshoe this time > >

Whatever they do, I'll probably be there for it.

As for my feelings on SoJ, that ended up being wayyyyy too long so it's under the cut.

I really enjoyed it! and idk what the tumblr opinion is on that, all I know is that they really hate it over on reddit, so, sorry fdgkfdkgfk

It is the best looking Ace Attorney game outside of the spinoffs, and in particular I think the character models and in-game animations are at their best, so that's one huge point for me. I also loved pretty much everything surrounding the seance mechanic.

I thought each case was consistently exciting. Phoenix traveling to a different country with a radically different culture high-key appealed to me, and I thought the higher stakes of his trials fit that feeling that he was far from home; on the other hand, I liked that the filler cases that were literally closer to home employed themes from the previous games that are more personal to the characters (expanding on the legacy of the Gramarye family in 6-2, developing Athena and Simon's relationship in 6-4.) I also just liked a majority of the supporting characters---I found most of them pretty memorable and fun to watch, especially the culprits (aside from.... ehh, Paul. Ga'ran wasn't my favorite either post-outfit change, but I was going nuts over Inga at the time so I didn't mind as much.)

I liked how the returning characters were handled. Maya got to finally make it as a spirit medium and was acknowledged for all her hard work, after the first game in the franchise ended with her powers only working as a deus ex machina. Ema's crabby attitude was believably dialed back to RftA levels now that she had her dream job (with Apollo justifiably being nervous seeing her again,) and she struggled with themes of being professional and sticking to her duties vs. not wanting to see the justice system screw over her friends again, which I saw as a believable character arc for her.

And I liked Nahyuta! I know a looot of people did not, and while intellectually I can see why, sometimes I feel like I must have been playing different games than them with how much hate he gets compared to other prosecutors in the series. I found his ultimate theme of controllable helplessness, masking itself as restraint and enlightenment, to be very fascinating. And tbh I liked how chill he is in the courtroom, which makes it more notable (especially for comedic purposes) when he slips up and shows how passionate he actually is as a person.

His biggest flaw as a character to me was that his arc was underbaked. There needed to be more time to unpack everything he'd done by the end, and the things that were at stake for him just, weren't quite impressive enough when put against the things he'd been an accomplice to. But I feel like he was so close in that regard, as I can imagine a million little ways they could have fixed it.

-

Now this is my big rant dfgkdfks

Something I liked the most about this game, probably the biggest point that left me emotionally compromised towards it, was that it brought back some of the themes introduced in Apollo Justice that got dropped in Dual Destinies.

I left AJ frustrated by the fact that Apollo's first forays into being a lawyer featured him being manipulated, ridiculed and led along, mostly by his own mentor (Phoenix Wright, no less,) alongside being an orphan whose mother just... didn't want him to know she was still alive dgfkfkhdkgf and none of this actually got addressed by the end of the game. and then Dual Destinies completely ignored it, meaning I was never going to get closure on it.

But SoJ touched on those feelings again and actually gave me some closure. Looking broadly at what happens in the game--Phoenix finally does show that by this point, he trusts Apollo with even his own daughter's safety. Apollo finally does vent to SOMEONE about how hard it was starting out as a lawyer, and confronts a parental figure for abandoning him. He confronts Phoenix in court, and his relationship with Phoenix even seems to be characterized as "different" from that of his other allies. This is mainly because Phoenix is a mentor to Apollo more than a friend, but I like to think their bad first impression of each other was a contributing factor, too.

Yes, many of these are not exact follow-ups to Apollo Justice. A lot of them either touch on the story vaguely, or invent new scenarios to make these themes relevant to this specific game (like Apollo's backstory in Khurain was obviously not envisioned during AA4.) But considering how old Apollo Justice as a game was by this point, and that the writer evidently did not expect everyone to have even played it, I at least understand the decision to tie these themes to new plot points.

Also, I really like Dhurke, so I don't reaaally mind that he's a new addition to Apollo's backstory. Also like the idea that Apollo might have followed Kristoph as a mentor for so long because he bears a superficial resemblance to Nahyuta---cool-headed, confident, hair over his shoulder...

Like it's a bit weird to wrap my head around that Apollo spent his formative years in a different country/culture and this wasn't touched on in previous games, but I'm just not too stressed about it cause I got the core feelings I wanted dfkgsfdkk and Apollo just, has good chemistry with the new characters,

I could go on and on about all the little things I liked, but those are my big points. I think the game gets a lot of backlash nowadays, some of it fair and some of it I feel is unfair. But me personally, I liked it from start to finish, and the things it did wrong didn't bother me enough to take me out of my enjoyment of it.

[fillintheblanksplease]

Okay okay okay - for real this time.

For some reason I've been wanting to write more. I haven't acted on it much, but there has been a growing desire. In an effort to better myself, I'm trying to be less hard on myself. Like a lot less hard on myself. At the same time, I'm trying to hold myself accountable. With that said, I can't help but want to point out the fact that it's hilarious that I start off this post mentioning how I've wanted to write more, but that I haven't acted on it. That's just typical me, isn't it? Wanting something, but not acting on it. If you really had to summarize my life down - that could be it right there. A man that wanted things, but never acted on those desires. So while I try to cut myself some slack (as you can see, I'm pretty mean to myself in previous posts) - I need to hold myself accountable. I don't know if that's step 1 or step 50. But it's a step that needs to be taken.

I've been thinking a lot lately - just about my life, where it's headed, the circumstances that led me to my current life. Things could be so much worse, couldn't they be? On that same token, things could be so much better. The only thing that is preventing things from being even better is myself. I feel as though there are gaps in my life - years where just about zero fun occured. But the truth is, I try and hide the parts of my life where I'm unhappy with my physical appearance. I have a pretty extensive, well documented portable storage device full of photograhps and videos I've taken since about 2007ish. I can make this quick - I take tons of photos when I'm thin (admittingly, there's only a few of those years) and I take significantly less photos when I'm overweight (like currenlty)

I just look back at some photos from 2019 when I was working out and eating right. I look so happy. What's preventing me from living my life with that happiness all the time? The answer is me. If I can't be honest with myself, what is the point of this blog? It's time to get honest. Like really really honest.

I'm not physically attractive, in the classic sense. Whatever that means. Thin or fat. I'm not attractive. Weird hair. Round face. Sunken in eyes. Pale. I don't really have anything working for me in the physical department. I never will. Throughout my life, I've been compared to my older brothers. Honest to god, whatever god you believe in, they are all just objectively better off than me physically. All taller. All thinner. More athletic. This point has just always been drilled into my head, since I was a child. Why can't you be like your brothers? Your brothers are cute, but you? Ehh

Those are things that I can't change. I understand that. But what can I change? My weight. My fitness. I can change those things. I've changed them before. I can do it again.

To give myself a little credit, I'm definitely smarter than all those fuckers - no contest =] - I'm funnier too, but maybe that just comes with being the ugly one. Either way, I'm fine with it. This last go round with losing weight, my emphasis was just being the best version of myself. That's all I can ever try to do. Worrying about other people, comparing myself to them, it doesn't get me anywhere. So why even worry about it? Why waste that time? Why let those things consume me? I can't became a 6'3 star athelete. I can became a damn fit 5'11 (and 3/4in) motherfucker in his 30s.

The choice is mine. I need to constantly remind myself of that. The choice is mine. I just need to make the choice.

I find myself always being disappointed with others. I think that just stems from expecting things from other people. If I really just stop expecting things from others, they can't dissapoint me. But If I expect things from myself and act to make those expecations a reality? Well then I can't be let down, now can I?

I'm making this sound easy. Of course it's not this easy. But it is this easy you see. There are always going to be variables, things out of my control. But at the end of the day, I can only control what I can control. So step 1, let's do exactly fucking that. Let's control the things we can control - to the best of my ability. Sounds so simple. But I bet if I can act on that, my happiness will drastically improve.

I don't want to be that person who hides when a camera comes out, because I simply don't want to see myself in a photo. I don't want to be that person that makes up an excuse to skip out on an event, because I'm too embarrased to be seen. I just want to live my life. It's up to me and only me to put myself in a position where I can be happy with myself. I'm going to do it, for real this time.

Let's fucking go.

[a-queenoffairys]

Which character in CL do you feel changed the most personality-wise going from regular CL to CL:E?

I’ll be honest, I’m not really sure if I’m fit to say because of bias. I pay most attention to Odd and William because they’re my most and least faves respectively. Also I’ve only rewatched up to episode 11 so far so bear that in mind.

I think just in general, everyone is less cartoony, and that’s fine with me. (Side note: I suspect this is one reason why non-French speakers seem to have trouble recognising emotion in the actors’ voices. Because they talk like real people.) Jim for example is less exaggerated and more realistic, but otherwise faithful to his original character.

I think it’s a lot rarer to see Aelita happy. She always felt like a pretty positive member of the group and that doesn’t seem to shine through as often. Jeremie I think is pretty congruous with his personality as it was in season 4. Ulrich seems to be keeping to himself a bit less, but there haven’t been many situations so far that really allow for that to happen I guess. I know he goes and sulks in a later episode which does sound like his cartoon self. Yumi on the other hand I think has been keeping to herself more and doesn’t voice her thoughts as often as she used to. I like how they’re doing the relationships between Ulrich and Yumi and Ulrich and Odd, I think they’re pretty faithful.

But yeah, Odd and William. Just when I thought season 4 treated Odd badly… He got progressively less mature and perceptive as the cartoon went on and Evolution took it a step further. I recently learnt the word “flanderisation” and looked it up on TV Tropes, and I was reading through the list going “yep, yep, yep, these all describe what happened to Odd.” He may not have been the brightest, but at least he knew how to fight, and he knew he was good at it. When someone tried to put him down, he would argue back. There was an entire episode based on his love of bragging and those brags were completely founded. And especially (until season 4 at least), he knew when to take things seriously. In Evolution he’s been dumbed down, he’s still an ok fighter but when William talks down to him he just seems to accept it. “William wait, how did you take out two Bloks at once?!” are you k i d d i n g. Cartoon Odd had done that so many times! It often feels like he’s purely comedic relief instead of an integral and indispensable part of the team. He’s gone from being a competent fighter and teammate into basically some idiot goofball kid who’s tagging along for fun.

I heard from someone that the new writers for Evolution only watched certain episodes of the original and not the whole series, and it wouldn’t surprise me if this was true and that Marabounta was one of those episodes, given how William acts in Evo. In Marabounta he had one decent conversation with Sissi and gave Ulrich some crap pep talk about confessing to Yumi, and suddenly in Evolution he’s developed emotional intelligence and is going around giving pep talks to everyone. He constantly takes the high ground and distances himself when in an argument with, say, Ulrich or Odd, when in the original cartoon he could be as bad as Ulrich when it came to that stuff and he absolutely would’ve argued/fought back. Not to mention him suddenly surpassing everyone else’s combat skills despite only having about an hour of conscious Lyoko experience at that point (and that’s probably being generous). It’s like he’s the most mature one and he knows what everyone wants and needs, but that’s not at all what I think of when I think of cartoon William. And yeah people grow and change, it’s only natural, but when he’s pitted against another member of the group he seems to be the only one who’s matured. I really think the writers favoured him over all other characters. He can do no wrong - even when he does do wrong, it’s framed as being right.

If I had to pick one or the other to answer your question, I’d say William. Odd was already headed in that direction as of season 4, but to me it felt like a lot of the William stuff came out of left field.

These two are probably the source of most of my frustrations with Evolution this time around. The characters are one of my favourite things about the original series and seeing the Evolution writers so often going out of their way to make Odd into the butt of a joke or William into Edgy Perfect McCoolguy has really detracted from the whole experience.

I think I need a break :’)

PS Sissi is a darling and I wish we saw more of her.

[kenkaodoll]

Kamiya Dojo Monogatari Tales 7 (JUMP SQ)

About Kamiya Dojo Monogatari:

Tales of Kamiya dojo is written by Kaoru Kurosaki and published along with the “Rurouni Kenshin Hokkaido” arc in JUMPSQ. The tale involved the Rurouni Kenshin character in daily life that takes time between Kenshin and Kaoru marriage until the epilogue chapter in the original manga before Hokkaido Arc. Until this month (March 2022) there are a  total 52 chapters in Tales of Kamiya dojo. This is an unofficial translation.

Previous Story: https://kenkaodoll.tumblr.com/post/678884284217655296/kamiya-dojo-monogatari-tales-6-jump-sq

After dinner that evening.Kenshin, Kaoru, Aoshi, and Misao were seated at the Western round table with legs cut short to fit the Japanese-style room, Yahiko reported to Kaoru.

“I'm sorry... So, I'm going to take the place of the injured Gohei in the *Gekikenkai.“

Yahiko was a student of the Kamiya Dojo, so it made no sense for him to wield his sword skills elsewhere without the permission of Kaoru, the assistant master. Therefore, he had to report it, but there was one problem. He made a promise to Aoshi. Yahiko had been told to "keep it secret" that Aoshi was participating in the Gekikenkai. However, Aoshi said, "I have fulfilled my duty, so I don't mind if you do it," so Yahiko could report to Kaoru without worry. However, to prevent unnecessary confusion, it was decided to keep the fact that Aoshi would also participate in the event a secret until his turn on the day of the event. Therefore, they all believe that "only Yahiko" will participate in the Gekikenkai.

・

“So, the show is tomorrow?”

Kaoru, who Yahiko had expected to be the first to smile, raised her eyebrows and reminded him with a serious look on her face.

“Yeah, that’s right”

“Hmmm. Oh, right, tomorrow.”

“I'm sorry I decided to enter the tournament on my own, but it's also good publicity for the dojo. Is there something wrong with tomorrow?”

“Because…”

Kaoru insisted with all her might.

“It's too soon! If we had at least a couple of days, we could have all tailored matching *happi coat and cheered.  Today and tomorrow, we can only gather hachimaki (headband). I wanted to wear a happi coat and cheer for the entire neighborhood. I want to have flags and banners and things like that, and I want to make it a lively event for everyone.”

“Yes, yes!”

Misao also intervened.

“I want to cheer loudly! Himura, can't you quickly make the happi with some kind of "handling the needle" ougi of the Hiten Mitsurugiryu which boasts divine speed?

“Oro? I cannot sew, that I am”

“I was surprised. I thought you could handle all the household chores.”

“Kamiya Kasshinryu Ougi 'Tamadome'.”

Kaoru suddenly stood up and shouted while crossing her fists in front of her face. Incidentally, "Tamadome (Round knot)" is a sewing term, a knot used to stop the end of a thread at the end of a stitch to the fabric.

“What a stupid pun”

“Eh, it's funny.”

Then everyone looked at each other and laughed, and joyful voices filled the tea room for a moment.

“I think I'll go back to Aoi Ya tomorrow.”

Aoshi cut the laugh and talked.

“Why? don't you want to see Yahiko's match?”

“You're welcome to stay longer.”

Misao complained and Kaoru stalled him. Kenshin quietly watched the result.

“After watching the game, we'll leave. So, you don’t have any regrets.”

“Ehh.”

Misao was unhappy, but when he realized that Aoshi’s decision was unlikely to be overturned, he decided to prepare for his homecoming in a straightforward manner, saying, “Well, we have the steam locomotive, and it looks like we can come back anytime”.

・

Then, on the day of the match.

Yahiko was stunned when he saw the list of matches in the dressing room. His opponent was Aoshi.

“The plan was to win the hearts and minds of the ladies with a battle between a handsome man and a beautiful boy.”

Kumagoro seemed very confident in his entertainment strategy.

“I'm not a moron. What's a pretty boy? I'm not like that.”

Yahiko said as if to throw up.

“Don't worry. Nobody is watching the match up close, so there's no problem if you’re not really a pretty boy.”

“Geez. Lying caterpillar, pinch and throw.”

“Remember, bluffing is important in the game.”

With that, he saw Kumagoro off to the streets to hand out flyers. He then turned back to Aoshi, who was silently holding his turn.

Yahiko had two questions in his mind after he met Aoshi at the Gekkenkai.

One is, what is the purpose of playing games in a place like this? We don't know anything specific, but this was so apparently part of the mission.

As for the other question, it's now or never.

“Mm.. Aoshi, why did you go easy on him in the match with Gohei? Isn't cutting corners in a serious fight a disgrace to the sword?”

“Go easy on him…”

Aoshi thought for a moment and then said.

“Kamiya Dojo... It's a good dojo.”

“Answer the question.”

“Kamiya Kasshinryu. You might consider the philosophy of your own school.”

Aoshi then returned to his reticence, leaving Yahiko to puzzle over the matter.

・

Yahiko decided to go check on the audience since he was restless to be around Aoshi, who was keeping silent until his turn. Kenshin, Kaoru, and Misao should be there.

“Hey, hey, Yahiko!”

He didn't need to look for the three of them, but Misao soon found him and questioned him.

“What is this 'Shinomori Aoshi, the last secret agent of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the head of the Oniwabanshu?' It's so rude to cheat on someone's name!”

With the match list in her hand, she seemed to be very angry.

“He is the opponent, let's beat him to a pulp!”

Misao excitedly imitated punching the sky with her fist. What kind of face would she make if she knew that this was the real Aoshi? I can't even imagine, Yahiko thought.

Then, a group of girls who had come to support Aoshi passed by.

“I can't believe I get to see Aoshi-sama again today.”

“I love you, Aoshi-sama!”

“I am really happy. I'm glad I met Aoshi-sama in my life.”

There was no way that Misao couldn't have overheard those words.

“Aoshi-sama, Aoshi-sama! Only I and all the other members of the Oniwabanshuu are allowed to call him that!”

She was so angry that she was about to explode at any moment.

“Dear… dear… Misao-chan, calm down.”

Kaoru soothed Misao.

“Mooooooooo! You phony, cheating on Aoshi-sama's name!”

Misao, who did not yet know the truth, assumed that the names on the list of matches were a bunch of lies that the impostor was cheating.

Yahiko's time had come, and it was time for him to stop hanging around in the audience seat.

“I'm going backstage. Kenshin, Kaoru, please make sure Misao doesn't get out of control.”

I understand, that I do.

“I'll leave it to you. I'm not so sure.”

Yahiko returned, leaving Kenshin and Kaoru to take care of the rest, although he was not sure how far they could go to stop the outburst.

・

The sound of large drums echoed to signal the start of the match, and the event was called.

“From the West, grandson of Minamoto no Yoshitsune's grandson and his grandson's grandson! Hassoutobi (legendary eight ship leap) Myojin Yahiko!”

When Yahiko appeared on stage, the place was abuzz. “He's just a kid! Is this the kid you're playing with, Aoshi-sama?” “Oh my, it's adorable,” said the girls. Kumagoro worked with his entertainment strategy, the audience seemed surprised by this unexpected approach.

“From the East, the last of the Tokugawa Shogunate's Imperial Guard, Shinomori Aoshi”

A deafening excited cry of the girls. Yahiko wondered how Misao was feeling now that the real Aoshi had appeared.

“Begin!”

At the voice of the referee, the two men faced each other and crossed their swords.

However, Aoshi was still not serious, and while dodging Yahiko's attack at a good point, he still launched an attack that was easy for Yahiko to dodge.

“Just because it's an entertainment match, you're going easy on me again?”

Aoshi’s double swords prevented Yahiko's wooden sword from hitting them. When their bodies came closer to each other, Yahiko barked.

“Or is it because I'm a child?”

“.... All right.”

The depths of Aoshi's eyes glittered with a strange luster. It was as if the coolness in her eyes was completely different from the coolness that had been there just a moment before. Yahiko felt a shiver run down his spine as his instincts realized something that could not be put into words.

Kodachi Nito Ryuu, Ougi, Kaiten Kenbu Rokuren (Revolving Heaven Sword Dance: Six Links)!

It's coming!

Yahiko had predicted that it would come.

That’s why he was able to brace himself. He also knew that the six blows would come in rapid succession, leaving him no time to catch his breath. However, what you know in your head is completely different from what you can do in your body. Prior knowledge would not help.

It’s coming from the top! Barely knowing the direction of the attack, he repelled the first blow with his wooden sword. However, the blow was so heavy that his hand, gripping the handle of the wooden sword, went numb.

A second blow comes without a moment's delay. Yahiko barely managed to block this one with his wooden sword, but his light weight did not allow him to stay on his feet.

The third blow  was no longer unconscious. It was like a hunch had hit him and he had been caught. But his luck ended there. His feet slipped, unable to catch  Aoshi's heavy sword, and he reflexively tried to catch himself, only to find himself slammed head first into the ring. There was no time to feel any pain, and there was no way to defend against the fourth, fifth, and sixth blows that came in rapid succession, so he could only be at Aoshi's mercy.

・

The game was on.

Amidst the murmurs and cheers of the crowd watching, Yahiko's ears heard no ambient noise, only the clear words Aoshi in front of him.

“Was it horrible?”

Aoshi asked as he looked down at Yahiko, who had been slammed into the ring. Even though he just executed such a big move, he was not breathing unevenly.

"..."

Yahiko did not know what to say. But he hesitantly and slowly nodded his head. It was terrifying. The sword was like a tremendous storm that he couldn't even touch. When he was slammed into the ring, his brain must have been jolted and confused by the impact. Despite the fact that he had lost the match, no stirrings of regret or any other emotion came up in Yahiko's mind. He was still silent, but only the words of Aoshi in front of him reached straight to his heart.

Aoshi asked again while holding out his hand to Yahiko, who was unable to get up after falling down.

“Is Hiten Mitsurugiryu terrifying?"

“…”

Yahiko shook his head.

"Kamiya Kasshinryu is the sword that brings out the best in people, isn't it?"

With these words, a sliver of a gaining spirit sprouted inside Yahiko.

A sword to kill people and to cause fear is not the only "serious" sword.

I am a student of Kamiya Kasshin ryu. Then the direction I am aiming for is not fear.

Perhaps this instantaneous flash of inspiration appeared in his eyes, Aoshi nodded silently. The intense glow in his eyes when he unleashed Kaiten Kenbu Rokuren was no longer there. They had returned to their original cool look.

And then...

“You were able to take up to three moves of my attack. That's good.”

As a man of few words, Aoshi gave the biggest compliment to Yahiko.

・

“Aoshi-sama is so cool!”

“Well done, little guy!”

The audience also broke into a thunderous round of applause. Misao was stunned, unable to process her feelings about the true match that had taken place in front of her.

・

It was right around the time when the two had just won the match.

“The Asakusa Gekikenkai sounds like a lot of fun! I'd like to be a fighter, not a customer.”

“If you are skilled, you are welcome to join us, for we have a swordsman who has found a job and is leaving.”

Kumagoro was recruiting on the streets and spoke to a young man with a very unusual haircut and Kansai dialect.

Notes:

*)Gekigenkai: Kendo style match or event test their strenght in swordsmanship and fight (for entertaiment or even gambling purpose)

*)Happi coat: traditional Japanese straight-sleeved coat

*)Ougi: Secret Technique

*)Minamoto Yoshitsune: Minamoto no Yoshitsune was a military commander of the Minamoto clan of Japan in the late Heian and early Kamakura periods.

.…..continue in chapter 8……

https://kenkaodoll.tumblr.com/post/679331940187422720/kamiya-dojo-monogatari-tales-8-jump-sq

TLnote(1): translating Japanese is so hard because the sentence structure is very different compared with the English also the style of writing is different, plus there’s a lot of figurative, poetic language and things that sounds not making sense if it’s directly translated into english. So forgive me if this is very weird to read, and please tell me if you want give corrections. TLnote(2) I will provide the original Japanese text for correction if any of you who read have better knowledge of Japanese language. Just dm and I’ll send the file. TLnote(3) Dtninja had translated some earlier chapters in his website. You can go and check on there.

Read the rest of story here:https://www.tumblr.com/kenkaodoll/686193523858538496/rurouni-kenshin-tales-of-kamiya-dojo?source=share

[fluffymcu]

Letting Loose

Part SEVEN

This series is TICKLE related.

Series Summary:  You’re the little sister of the one and only Captain America. You’re also the youngest girl on the team, so that automatically makes you the avengers’ little princess. And they spoil you as such. They have become your amazing family and you don’t know where you’d be without them. This series will show random adventures and fluffy events in the daily life of the reader and her family, along with an unexpected turn later on as you read.

A/N: I’m so excited to be writing this series! This is my first time writing one and I’m a bit nervous but I hope it all goes well. :) The first few chapters will be about random events, not really following a timeline until Chapter 9. Hope you enjoy!

Word Count: 2,653

Previous       Next

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You were woken up by Peter slapping your face lazily with his hand. You groaned and stirred in your sleep and open an eye up to see what he wanted. He was half asleep too, just patting your cheek and telling you to wake up. “What?” You hummed, your morning voice cracking a bit. It wasn’t light outside, so you knew it was early. But then you realized why he was waking you up. “Oh.” You said, perking up and sitting up on your bed. “Ok, come on let’s go.” You threw the covers off you and went to your bathroom to brush your teeth before going down to see the guys off. They were leaving for their mission today and you wanted to see them and wish them luck.

Peter slid off the bed, lingering on the floor for a few seconds before shooting himself up with a huff and pulled on his shirt on the floor that he took off in the middle of the night. He waited for you to finish up in the bathroom before following you out to the window room, which was the room that you had to go through to get to the backyard where the Quinjet was. You saw Nat, Bucky, Wanda, Tony, Steve, and Sam when you came in, and you both smiled and said good morning.

You went to give Nat a hug, squeezing her tight. “I’ll miss you. I’ll see you in 2 days.” You smiled. Nat rubbed your back affectionately and agreed. You moved onto Wanda, giving her a tight hug as well, her kissing your cheek and smiling at you. “We’ll come back soon.”

Lastly you went to Bucky, him lifting you up and kissing your cheek, and you wrapped your arms around his neck. “Have fun at the movies ok? You’ll tell me all about it when I come back.” He said, giving you a sweet smile and put you down. You watched as they walked outside towards the Quinjet and left, disappearing into the sky.

“Alright then. That’s that. You kids do what you're gonna do and get everything done before noon.” Steve said, patting you back and leaving to his room. You grinned at Peter excitedly. Steve had explained to you that morning that he was allowing you both to skip school today and do something fun to take our minds off the mission, which is why you were now going to go watch a movie that was coming out in the theaters with the team. You were basically jumping in place right now; You hadn’t gone to the movies in quite a long time with everyone. There weren’t many movies that caught their attention but when it did, they would make plans to go see it.

----

You and Peter worked to get what you needed to get done; laundry, dishes, homework, etc. It was about 11:30 and tony suggested that everyone had a snack before leaving. “Get something light to eat to hold you until after. Not anything too heavy cause we’re going out to eat later.” He said. Everyone ate a granola bar and you ran upstairs quickly to put on an outfit. Once the clock hit 11:45, you all were out the door.

Since it was Steve, Tony, Pepper, Sam, Pietro, Peter, You, Clint, Bruce, and Thor, you all had to take the van to the movies. It looked a bit extra, but to transport a big family like yours, it was necessary.

You and Peter sat in the back, in the last 2 seats. They were all separate seats, one on each side on the van. The van was a twelve-seater, so all of you fit perfectly. Everyone buckled up and Clint started to drive towards the theater. Since the compound was a bit secluded, it took a while to get to the city but it was a good pass time to listen to music and talk about Star Wars with Peter. There was traffic as you got closer to the city, so you and Peter took your seat belts off to face each other fully. You were sitting facing him with your leg tucked under you. Peter went from Star Wars, to explaining the physics of the multiverse. You smirked as he talked, loving when he would geek out like this. While he was going on about it, you leaned back and brought your other leg up to rest in across the van, on his lap. He probably didn’t even notice since he was so into what he was saying so you laid your head back against the glass, nodding at what he was saying. You weren’t as sharp as him when it came to multiverse physics or quantum stuff, but it was still interesting to hear what he had to say. After a minute, Peter was calming down from his nerd high and you giggled lightly, shaking your head. “What?” He asked, a small smile on his face.

“You are such a nerd.” You hummed. You meant it with love of course, but apparently Peter didn’t take it that way today. He gasped and put his hand to cover his heart, feigning offense.

“What'd you just say?” He asked, a hint of mischief clear in his tone. You sat up a bit to look at him right. You were about to explain that you were kidding but the only thing coming out of your mouth were giggles as he grabbed your leg that was on his lap and scratched his nails under your knee. That was an extremely ticklish spot you had and you squealed, pulling at your leg. You brought your other leg from under you and put it on the floor to get more grip to pull. You began to laugh louder the longer he stayed in that stop so you tried to use your other leg to kick his hand away. “Plehehehease!” You begged. Peter however, saw this as an opportunity to grab your other leg. “Please what? Get your other leg too? Of course!” He teased. You felt your cheeks heat up and you laughed, slumping more and more in your chair. Peter was now having a firm grip on both your feet and squeezing right above your knees.

You threw your head back and fell to your side, desperately trying to get your legs free. Tony turned behind his seat to look at you both and smirked, chuckling at you and Peter’s insatiable need for games. “Peheheheter! Quihihihit it!!” You hiccupped, shrieking when he moved off his seat and got closer to dig into your sides. You were now trapped, since you were laying on the seat on your back, not having anywhere to go with another seat blocking the front and Peter towering over you at the side.

This made it almost impossible to defend yourself as peter dug his digits into the middle of your belly. He laughed along with you, switching up to your ribs, scratching his index and middle finger at your upper ribs close to your armpits. “Tickle tickle tickle!” He teased in a babyish voice, knowing you could never stand being teased like that. Your face was practically scorching as you fell into silent laughter. Peter laughed at how a few little teases could make it that much worse for you. He grinned widely as shook all his fingers into your ribs. You arched your back violently, shaking your head side to side. “Are you gonna take it back?” He asked, not stopping his attack. You couldn’t form any words, so you just nodded frantically, mouthing for him to stop. Luckily, peter did, helping you sit up and sit in his own chair. You let out an exhausted sigh, melting onto the seat and resting your head on the window. Peter chuckled and sat back in silence, giving you moment to recover. He knew you meant it with love; you would always say that when he would go full nerd on you. But since peter was kind of an impatient person, he got bored easily. And when he got bored, he usually found it most entertaining to torture you whenever he wanted.

Fortunately, traffic had finally loosened up and you got to the theater 10 minutes later. You all hopped out of the van once you parked and made your way into the theater. Many people there were a bit surprised to see almost the entire Avengers team in a movie theater. You received quite a few stares from people, and a few fangirls who asked tony and your brother to take a picture with them. After things settled down, Steve took you to the snack bar to get you some candy. You got a cherry Icee with Nerds candy and gummy worms. Everyone got their own snacks after and got their tickets.

-----

You all made your way to the assigned room and took your seats. You sat next to peter and thor, trying not to eat all of your snacks before the movie even started. The movie was funny and entertaining, eliciting a lot of laughter from everyone in the theater. You all left as soon as the end credits started rolling, since you all were very hungry now. “That was a good movie.” Thor chuckled, everyone else nodding in agreement. “So where are we eating at?” Clint asked. Everybody shrugged and stood in a circle in a secluded corner of the theater lobby.

“I kind of want seafood.” Bruce hummed.

“Ehh, I say pizza.”

“That’s too repetitive. We eat pizza all the time. I say burgers.”

“Burgers sound good, that’s a good post-movie food.” Tony chuckled. You all agreed on burgers, finding a good burger place a few blocks away from the theater. “This place also serves pizza do those who want that.” Clint cheered at that and you made your way back to the van and drove to the restaurant. 

----

The place was nice, not too crowded and it had a nice patio to eat outside. It had a really nice vibe to it; almost as if it wasn’t located in the middle of NYC.

You followed everyone inside the restaurant, lining up at the counter to be seated. There were a few people in front of you, waiting for their seats. Peter, Clint, Pietro, Pepper, and Tony took seats at the benches while Bruce, Thor, Steve, you, and Sam were standing in line. You were standing behind Thor, Steve standing behind you. He had his arms wrapped loosely around your shoulders, swaying you gently side to side. You were letting him sway you, daydreaming about random stuff and assignments that were due soon, listening to the mixed, loud chatter of everybody in the restaurant.

It was taking longer than expected to be seated, and everyone was growing hungrier and more impatient. Your hopes were lifted when you saw the waitress come your way, but were slightly disappointed by what she said. “Hello, I'm so very sorry for the long wait, we’ll be ready with your seats in 10 minutes. We just had a small setback but now we’re back on track.” She said with a smile. The team nodded with a grateful smile and sat up a bit in their seats. You leaned back into Steve again and he put his hands on your shoulders, absentmindedly massaging them. He added a bit of pressure, squeezing close in between your neck and shoulders, causing it to feel weird. Ticklish. You coughed, shrugging your shoulders up a bit to show your discomfort.

Steve smirked and continued, massaging closer to your neck. It started to tickle a lot more so you giggled and whined at him, trying to step away but he kept you in place, increasing his speed. “Steheheve!” You growled. He chuckled and started to flutter his fingers in your neck all of a sudden, making you squeal loudly and recoil. You bent over a bit towards the floor to get your neck away from him, and stepped away, accidentally bumping into Thor. He turned around out reflex and looked away again when he realized it was just you. “Stop!” You scolded. 

“Stooop!” Steve mocked, wearing a big smirk. You tried to give him a death glare to get him to back off but you apparently didn’t look intimidating enough since Steve grabbed you back and held you in a loose headlock, using his other hand to poke at your belly. You face was hidden by your hair since you were bent over, and you tried curling in on yourself more to protect your belly. You bit your lip, trying to contain the laughter that wanted to explode out of you so bad. Steve chuckled evilly, changing his technique to pinching your waist, going all the way up and down your torso. You broke out into giggles, reaching behind him to push at his back to get out of the hold.

Steve ‘tsk’ed and brought his hand under to pinch at your armpits, immediately making you bring your arm down. You started to blush profusely as you started to realize people were probably watching you be embarrassed by your brother. You laughed loudly when Steve scribbled his finger in your belly button, sliding his hand under your shirt. You let out a high-pitched squeal that was almost too high for anyone close to hear, but Steve laughed when he heard it. You desperately slapped at his hand and wiggled around enough to free yourself.

With a loud pant, you pushed yourself away and kept him at arms length. Steve giggled your messy hair, looking like you just got in a fight with a bull. “God, you’re so embarrassing!” You whined in between your residual giggles. Steve let you get away and you ran over to Tony, snuggling up to him. Tony wrapped an arm around you and sighed, resting his head in the wall and closing his eyes.

A few minutes later, you were all called over to your table, eager to eat. You sat next to your brother and across from Peter. Pepper was sitting on your other side, next to Tony. You ordered your food and you were playing iMessage games with Peter while you waited for your food to arrive. You grinned when the waiter placed your burger on the table, thanking him and digging in. Since Steve’s burger hadn’t arrived yet, he was constantly stealing your fries. It took a lot of self control to not growl at him for taking his 10th fry. You were fine with sharing anything, as long as it wasn’t your gummy bears, ice cream, or fries. But you stood strong and let him take the eleventh. Finally, he stopped and you thanked the higher force up there in the heavens that he did.

In the next few minutes, everyone had their food, quickly digging in. You were thankful for this event today, because it took your mind off the mission that Bucky, Nat, and Wanda were on. By the time you had all gotten home, it was night time. Only one more day after this and they were home.

You spent the rest of the night in Steve’s room, cuddling with him while he read his book. He had a record player in his room and some soft 40’s music was playing softly in the background. Although you mostly had modern music on your spotify playlist, you really enjoyed the old music that he would play. It made you feel a little nostalgic, but it was a good feeling. It didn’t take long for the music and Steve softly rocking you side to side to make you fall asleep. He smiled faintly when he saw your sleeping form and laid you down next to him. It was then when he realized it was late, and turned off his lamp to go to sleep.

[the-himawari]

A3! Sakuma Sakuya - Translation [SR] MANKAI Playback (2/2)

*Please read disclaimer on blog; default name set as Izumi

---

Sakuya: Uwahh… It’s full of people!

Izumi: (Sakuya-kun looks happy… I’m glad.) (…As expected, the uniform is a bit embarrassing though.)

Masumi: *Sigh*… Director’s cute… Our uniform really suits you…

Izumi: D-does it…?

Tsuzuru: How many times are you gonna go on with that? I’ve heard you say that 5 times already…

Masumi: I’ll say it countless times. At least 100 more times.

Izumi: Ummm… Where are the other three?

Tsuzuru: In the changing room. Itaru-san still hasn’t prepared his heart yet.

Izumi: Yeah, I understand how he feels. I never thought that it would actually turn out like this…

*flashback starts*

Izumi: I’m fine with going to an amusement park, but even without uniforms…

Masumi: You can’t, I want to go on a uniform date with Director.

Itaru: Alright, so only Director-san.

Izumi: Hey, that’s not fair..! If I’m doing this, then I’m taking everyone with me!

Itaru: Ehh… Tsuzuru, you’re against the uniforms, right?

Tsuzuru: I wore a school uniform in our performance the other day, so I don’t really mind.

Itaru: Seriously? An unexpected betrayal.

Citron: Give up!

Itaru: Now, now, we still have senpai.

Chikage: Well it’s true I’d like to decline… Give me a break and let me be the teacher in charge.

Citron: No way! It’s meaningful if everyone does it together!

Itaru: —Oh yeah, we don’t have enough uniforms! I mean we don’t have 4 sets of them, right?

Masumi: If it’s uniforms, we can borrow one from Banri; Banri and I both have spares.

Tsuzuru: Just give up already, you three. At this point, we’re all in the same boat.

Sakuya: I’ll ask my friends too!

Itaru: GG…

Chikage: Good grief…

Izumi: We have no choice but to give up, huh…

*flashback ends*

Tsuzuru: We told them we were forcing them to come along and then finally… Ah, they’re here, they’re here.

Itaru: Ugh, this is seriously cringe! Let me go home right now, I beg you!

Chikage: Give up. You’re not the only one suffering.

Citron: You’re horrible at sports!*

Itaru: You mean we’re terrible sports.

Chikage: Sorry for the wait.

Sakuya: Wahh! Both Itaru-san and Chikage-san look great in their uniforms!

Chikage: Thank you, Sakuya. …I should’ve avoided the role of a high school student though.

Itaru: Serves you right for tripping the flag… is what I want to say, but I’m also involved here.

Tsuzuru: Anyways, everyone’s here now so let’s go in.

Chikage: Ah, before that, I have something I want you to promise me. It’s that we definitely won’t take any photos.

Itaru: It’s legit a matter of life or death if I’m seen by the people at the office like this. So it’s especially the worst of the worst if Kazunari finds out. So pictures are absolutely NG, kthx.

Tsuzuru: Ahh, that guy… He’ll probably post it to instablam in the blink of an eye.

Izumi: That’d be rough for me too…

Sakuya: I understand! Though that’s kind of too bad.

Citron: It can’t be helped. If the birthday boy can live with that, then I can live with it too!

Masumi: Let’s go already. My date time with Director is decreasing.

Tsuzuru: You seriously don’t waver, huh…

Citron: Sakuya, you’ve put your birthday badge on properly, right?

Sakuya: Yes!

Izumi: You get various benefits when you’re wearing the birthday badge, right?

Sakuya: Yes, I can’t wait!

-pause-

Cast member A: Happy birthday!

Sakuya: Thank you very much!

Izumi: The effect of the birthday badge really is impressive, huh?

Sakuya: I’m happy various cast members called out to me and also put on performances for me.

Tsuzuru: For now, what should we ride first?

Masumi: The Ferris wheel.

Sakuya: It seems fun if we ride it together, right!

Izumi: If it’s the Ferris wheel here, then it looks like we can all fit inside.

Masumi: Even though I wanted the two of us to ride it together, why did it turn out everyone’s joining…

Tsuzuru: Alright, alright, you can do that next time. Sakuya said he wants everyone to ride it together.

Masumi: …I got it. But I’m the one who will sit next to Director.

-pause-

Izumi:  The haunted house was pretty scary and intense…!

Sakuya: Right? At first, it was scary and intense. But Citron-san taught me all the names of the ghosts so then rather than being scared, I started to feel a bond with them.

Tsuzuru: The names of the ghosts…

Sakuya: Mii-chan, Takkun, he knew everyone’s names!

Citron: The other day on TV, they said when you think you’re scared, if you give them names then you can be content** over your fear!

Itaru: You mean you can conquer your fear.

Citron: That’s it!

Izumi: (That sounds like a lesson from a children’s education program…)

-pause-

Chikage: It’s about lunch time, right?

Izumi: Fufufu, I’ve been waiting to hear those words! Tah daaah! Actually, I made lunch boxes!

Masumi: Director’s handmade lunch box…! I’ll eat them all.

Izumi: Tsuzuru-kun and I made them together for everyone.

Masumi: …Then I’ll only eat the parts that were made by Director.

Tsuzuru: You get nothing.

Sakuya: Ah! It’s napolitan!

Option 1: “Because that’s what Sakuya-kun likes.”

Izumi: Yeah, because that’s what Sakuya-kun likes!

Sakuya: Thank you very much… I’m happy!

Chikage: As expected of Director-san. By the way, I’d be glad if you had tabasco sauce.

Masumi: I don’t understand why you’d put tabasco in the precious food she made.

Option 2: “Its colour combination is nice too, right?”

Izumi: Its colour combination is nice too, right!

Sakuya: That’s true… there’s a lot of garnishes put in.

Itaru: This isn’t the amount you put in for garnishes. They’re the main dish.

Izumi: Eat up, alright, Sakuya-kun!

Sakuya: Yes!

Citron: And now, we can’t forget about this! Happy birthday~!

Sakuya: That’s a big cake! Wait, from where!?

Citron: Fufufu… The surprise is a huge success! Our preparations were perfect!

Sakuya: I’m really happy! Thank you very much, everyone! I was longing for this a little—going out and having fun to my fullest in my uniform. I never imagined it would come true after I graduated…

Izumi: …That’s so great, right, Sakuya-kun?

Sakuya: Yes! U-um… I have something I'd like to do.

Tsuzuru: It’s rare for Sakuya to say something like that.

Izumi: That’s true… What is it that you want to do?

Sakuya: Would you please allow me to take a picture with my smartphone? Just one photo for my memories is enough, so…!

Izumi: A picture…?

Sakuya: I definitely won’t show it to anyone else!

Tsuzuru: That’s fine with me but… How about Itaru-san and you guys?

Chikage: …If the main lead today says so then it can’t be helped.

Itaru: Well, I guess it’s only fine if Sakuya’s the one who takes it. Since I’m sure he won’t send it to anyone.

Sakuya: Thank you very much!

Citron: I brought a shellfish stick!***

Sakuya: Shellfish stick?

Tsuzuru: Could you mean a selfie stick?

Citron: That’s it!

Izumi: …Alright. I think everyone’s in frame. Make sure to smile properly, alright, Itaru-san and Chikage-san.

Chikage: I understand.

Itaru: Roger.

Izumi: Then once again, Sakuya-kun…

Troupe members: Happy birthday!

*click*

---

*Citron says "お嬢様が悪い" (ojou-sama ga warui: ~the young mistress is bad), which Itaru corrects as "往生際が悪い" (oujougiwa ga warui: a phrase meaning ~being a sore loser/not knowing when to give up) **Citron says "幸福" (koufuku: happiness/joy), which Itaru corrects as "克服" (kokufuku: overcome/conquer) **Citron says "千鳥足" (chidoriashi: staggering/drunken steps), which Tsuzuru corrects as "自撮り棒" (jidoribou: selfie stick)

And here’s a clear shot for everyone~

previous |

[talkfine]

songs from musicals i'd turn into dream smp animatics if i could make animatics. (except all the musicals are really niche)

insp. by these posts !!!

i've shrunk enough - alice by heart: tommy and tubbo as alice and alfred :] "alice asserts her dominance over her “dream,” by rebelling against the queen of hearts. by saying that she has “shrunk enough,” alice rebels against their marginalization of her in the previous song. with the help of cheshire puss and alfred, they defeat the queen of hearts." guys its literally. its literally the vault scene from today. man.

a new horizon - starry musical: tommy as vincent and tubbo as theo, oh god oh fuck. especially after jan. 20th and this real feeling of looking over a new horizon for those two as this season is ending. also like horizons are their whole thing, with the sweet bench moments. 

fathers & sons - ghost quartet: phil, tommy, wilbur, and fundy. i wish i could elaborate. i've already made a post about ghost quartet lyrics that fit the smp lore just go look at that and figure it out yourself lmao.

wallflower (reprise) - we are the tigers: look man you gotta understand how much i wish a bit more dream team angst could have happened in canon. yes my brain is mushy for wanting to push together we are the tigers and dream smp. ehh i’m not really using my brain rn.

forever - we are the tigers: girl dream and mexican dream. it simultaneously doesn't fit At All because girl dream and mexican dream are so very openly horny, but it also fits well because clark fucking dies, and so does mexican dream. i miss girl dream and mexican dream so much can we please have them back. natalya - preludes: puffy, maybe singing about niki, or dream, perhaps the smp's turmoil as a whole? because of her heroic deeds and her motivations to be hopeful/rooted in good. yeah :)

the entire hatchetsmp au: please god, i wish i could make animatics out of the hatchetsmp because it combines the two things my brain knows most about and smashes them together in a way that makes sense. words just cannot describe how much i love the concept of ranboo as paul matthews. words really cannot describe how much i love the whole concept of the hatchetsmp au.  

[dhampirbf]

just finished off my first issue of the new killjoys series, national anthem, here are my thoughts

‼️ spoiler warning lol‼️

instantly dragged me head-fucking-first back into my mcr phase from three years ago. i am ruined. there is SO MUCH i immediately love about this series, from the incredible, poem-esce beginning to the incredible retro art style. the characters are just perfect - on the same wavelength as the others we know and love from previous iterations of kayjay media. mike milligram is edgier than i expected, which is just perfect, because i always felt poison and the gang were a bit too cheery for being stuck in a post-apocalyptic hellscape after surviving a massive war.

as for the plot? amazing. the writing is just as stunning as it was for TTLOTFK and national anthem immediately leaps into the story without delay. the dialogue fits the aesthetic of what we know about the kayjay universe perfectly and the story gives us more insight to what came before the analog wars and what life was like right after. maybe it’s just my interpretation (and of course this is just the first issue), but id love more about what the wars were ACTUALLY like, what it was like to fight in them. i still can’t figure out who exactly the enemy was because BLI and the weird, unseen but ever-present, unnamed oppressor are still in existence after the wars. might just be me, so if anyone knows where to find more on that, hmu. but honestly while reading it, i don’t care about the pieces im missing. it’s THAT good on its own.

the first issue opens with mike bleeding out, which deeply upset me because i do not like to see my favorite characters die, but it was done in such a beautiful way. we get to see how useless he feels - how he’s literally been tossed aside like the garbage he thinks he is - and then our story begins.

we meet the rest of the original fabulous killjoys (i imagine this is a prequel to party poison and the other comic, in my mind poison and val are “generations” following mike) and BOY, they’re incredible. the codes, red and blue, are (i assume) beta versions of the red and blue we see in TTLOTFK. kyle 100%, whose name we don’t learn in the first issue, is pretty reminiscent of kobra but maybe it’s just cuz he’s blond and rollin’ with mike. his design is very new and i totally dig it. animax is probably my favorite of this crew, though. he’s very much new and his design ROCKS. a color changing suit?? for real??? amazing. animax strikes me as the dad friend of the group (he tries to calm down blue and mike at the playground scene with the a.k.as)

SPEAKING of the a.k.as.... holy fuck. adore them. all of them are SO COOL and offer totally new insight to what it might have been like to crawl around in the zones right after the analog wars. so many new faces! new concepts! new headcanons! once again, im in love with their designs and concepts (god bless shaun simon and gerard) and it’s times like these that i wish i was a more talented artist.

another thing i really enjoyed is that the identity of some of the killjoys is more revealed and accessible. blue is called maria right before her (sobbing) death in mike’s arms and we see about halfway through that mike was a grocery store clerk. i’ve seen that red’s name is sophia in some official character design sheets, but we haven’t heard her name in the book yet. but to know that these were normal, real people in the world we live in gives the story a different, heavier context. these characters had their lives uprooted and torn to bits by a war they had to fight in. no wonder mike is so miserable and “screwed up”.

national anthem also immediately touches on trauma more than once and, in my interpretation of the underlying message, points out how trauma is an important tool in shaping who we are as individuals. the pretty subtle thing about the pill marketed to treat the affects of trauma is something that really fascinated me. how the antagonist of this series markets a pill that treats trauma but the side effects essentially make a person lose themselves, navigating life like a zombie.

i also loved the subtle callbacks to the original kayjay universe we know and love, with an appearance of tommy chow mein and a reference to the phoenix witch. however, ive got some criticisms.

first, was not a fan of the romance subplot between blue and mike. blue (and red, for that matter) are characters we know to be lesbians and i really don’t think that should be muddled with. even if blue is bisexual, even polyamorus, and has romantic connections to both mike and red, id personally rather have her stay with red exclusively. maybe it’s just my heterophobia /j but im not a fan. apparently she was even pregnant with mike’s child before she died? ehh.

second, and this is probably just because it’s the first issue, but i feel like there are a lot of questions unanswered. is this an AU or the same universe as TTLOTFK? if it’s the same, what is the timeline for mike milligram and party poison? do they exist at the same time or is party poison inspired by mike, who came before him? or do they exist completely separate? i hope i get these questions answered.

honestly, i may write up something of a review for each issue i read (i have three). it helps me remember what i read, anyway. kinda like an english essay. but overall, i really love this series and this universe. i kinda fell out of kayjays for a few reasons, but a lack of content was definitely one of them. i never thought i’d see killjoys media again and then gerard goes and presents us with this amazing series with new characters and a new story to delve into and it ROCKS.

[argylemnwrites]

It Couldn’t Wait Another Moment - Chapter 16

Pairing: Drake Walker x MC (Riley Liu)

Book: The Royal Romance (Canon Divergent from Book 2, Chapter 15)

Word Count: ~4000

Rating: R (language, as usual)

Summary: Friends are reunited, but Hana’s trip to NYC might not be going as she envisioned it. Meanwhile, investigations continue in Cordonia.

Author’s Note: Ehh, first half of the week is almost a Monday posting, hahaha! I’m getting better, I swear! Sorry about skipping a chapter last week, but between New Year’s, switching to a new cellphone, and an unexpected visit from a friend who lives in a different country, I was just too swamped. But hey, three chapters in four weeks is a lot better than I had been averaging.

This series diverges from TRR canon, where instead of waiting to discuss his relationship with Riley until their last night in NYC, leaving her a note while Liam is proposing to her, Drake tackles this topic as soon as possible after Tariq makes his statement and Riley’s name is cleared. To catch up on this series, you can find the previous chapters in my masterlist (link is located in my bio).

“What the hell are you doing here?”

Riley hadn’t meant her question to sound so harsh, but she was just caught very off guard. Hana was probably the last person she expected to walk into this bar. Well, no. Madeleine would be more unlikely. Tariq would be another one she couldn’t imagine showing up. But there weren’t many people that would be more shocking.

Hana spun to face Riley, letting out a sigh and smiling when she saw her. “Oh good, I am in the right place,” she said before she walked around the end of the bar and over to Riley and gave her a warm, enveloping hug.

Riley blinked several times before she responded, placing her hands gently on Hana’s shoulders. It was all so surreal, like a weird fever dream or something. Hana was supposed to be in Cordonia, not here in New York. 

Eventually, Hana pulled back from her hug, staring at Riley intently. “Riley?”

“Yeah?”

“I asked if you were okay.”

“Oh,” Riley hadn’t heard her question at all, so shocked by this turn of events. “Yeah, I’m fine. What are you doing here?”

Hana frowned slightly, “I wanted to come and see how you were doing.”

Riley shook her head, trying to wrap her head around things. “I need to get back to work. And you shouldn’t be behind the bar.”

“Oh, sorry!” said Hana, stepping away from her and back to the other side of the bar. “I’ll just sit here and wait until the end of your shift.”

Riley sighed. She couldn’t deal with this right now. She needed to stay focused, and Hana’s presence was making that hard. She couldn’t afford a meltdown like she’d had the other night.  “I’m working a closing shift, Hana.”

“That’s fine,” she replied, climbing onto the closest stool. “I don’t have anywhere to be until Monday.”

“I work this entire weekend.”

“I suppose that’s the risk of a spontaneous trip,” she said with a smile, “Like I said, my time is entirely free until Monday, so I can work around you and your schedule. I just wanted to see you.”

Riley pinched her eyes shut briefly. She needed Hana to get out of here so that she could collect herself. She might be able to handle seeing her tomorrow, but right now she felt overwhelmed and ambushed. Hana wasn’t supposed to be here. She should be in Cordonia. And Riley could not even begin to process anything about that at the moment.

When she opened her eyes, Hana was staring at her carefully, almost as if she was trying to read Riley’s mind. After a couple of seconds, she said, almost timidly, “Don’t worry about me. Go ahead and do your job. I’ll be here when you get off.”

“I won’t get off until after three in the morning. And with jet lag and the time zone change, I kind of doubt you’ll make it that late.”

“Well, how about I start with a wine list, and we’ll see how I do.”

Out of excuses, Riley passed her their wine list and circled around to check on the drinkers scattered around at the booths off to the side. When she came back, she poured Hana her requested glass of Merlot, glancing around. Thankfully, the bar was beginning to fill with people out for Friday after-work drinks, and Riley had plenty of customers to keep her busy. Over the next several hours, she only had to check in on Hana a handful of times. She was just there, on her phone, nursing her glass of wine. Once, Riley caught her brushing off a guy in an ill-fitting suit who was clearly trying to get her number. Sometime after nine though, she noticed Hana yawning deeply. It was about four in the morning Cordonia time, after all.

“Hana,” she said, approaching her after bringing another round of martinis to the group of coworkers getting progressively louder at the far end of the bar, “you need to sleep. Why don’t you go to your hotel and we can meet up for brunch tomorrow?”

Hana nodded, the tiredness evident in her eyes. “I’m trying to stretch my money, so I’m at a more budget friendly option. It’s called the Hampton, I think?”

Riley just shook her head. Of course Hana viewed a lovely, but not extravagant, hotel as “budget friendly.”

“That’s a chain, Hana. Just text me what location you’re at, and I can meet you there in the morning.”

“Okay, I know you aren’t much of a morning person, so should we say 10 o’clock?”

“Can we make it 11? I’ll be here-”

“Until three, yes. Of course, you told me that. Sorry I forgot, and sorry I’m too tired to stay here any longer. Will you be okay getting home?”

Riley swallowed roughly at that. Hana’s simple, polite question triggered a bunch of conflicting emotions. Affection for the best friend she’d probably ever had. Memories of Drake walking her home at the end of basically every shift. Loneliness in general. But she had to keep things in check. She was working. So she simply nodded, took Hana’s cash, and waved goodnight to her. Then she took a deep breath and got back to work.

Thankfully Fridays were typically busy, at least until the last couple of hours before closing. So Riley was able to distract herself with mixing drinks, pouring shots, and collecting glasses until the last 90 minutes or so of her shift. But eventually, things died down as the customers either went home or moved on to other clubs. And that left Riley with a little more time to think than she really wanted.

Hana being here was not something she would have ever considered. She had no idea why she was in New York. But now that she was here, Riley was going to need to make some adjustments to how she was processing all the changes she’d had in her life recently. Her strategy of dividing things into her “New York life” and her “Cordonia life” was not going to work with Hana here in the flesh.

When she was a broken little girl in foster care, she’d shoved people away. Harshly at times. She’d lashed out, said cruel hurtful things, tested everyone’s patience. After all, if you never let someone get close, you never end up hurt. But that existence had been a lonely one, and Riley was extroverted enough that she actually wanted to spend time with people. So, somewhere along the way, she’d learned how to keep everyone at arm’s length while still being friendly. She was everyone’s good time buddy, someone you invited to your birthday party, but no one that you would call when you were going through a breakup or a death in the family. She had become fun and silliness and energy personified. People liked having her around, but they demanded nothing serious from her. It was the perfect set-up. The joy of spending time with others without any pain or vulnerability. Or so Riley had thought for many years.

But things were different when she got to Cordonia. There, starting with Hana and Maxwell, but quickly expanding to include Liam, and then Drake, people just seemed to see her as someone with more depth. Hana had trusted her in a way no one had ever before, and it just set the tone for everything else. Riley had finally understood what true, real friendship felt like. And it was nice - actually caring about someone and feeling cared for in return. So she’d opened up and connected in a way that she hadn’t since she was little, before she realized her mother needed her next hit more than she needed her daughter. 

Since leaving Drake in Cordonia, she’d been trying to separate her experience with all of them from the rest of her life. After all, her relationships there had been wildly different than any other relationships in her life, it all almost felt like a strange dream. But if Hana was coming to intrude on her life here, she was just going to have to keep things casual with Hana. Because otherwise, it was all going to hurt too much when Hana left her go back to Cordonia and she was all alone once again.

Mind made up, Riley worked on closing out the last few customers' tabs before making her way home. Tomorrow at brunch with Hana, she was just going to have to be good-time Riley. It was the only way to move forward at this point.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hana ran a brush through her hair, clipping her fringe back out of her face. She really needed a trim, but she was considering changing up her look. Maxwell had encouraged her to do something bold to her appearance. While her fractured relationship with her parents wasn’t truly a “breakup” in the traditional sense, he’d told her she should do something to commemorate her newfound “freedom.” And, he’d insisted a dramatic new hairstyle was the time-honored traditional way to do it. While Hana wasn’t quite ready to make the dive into dyeing her hair pink just yet, she thought growing out her fringe might be a manageable place to start.

She checked her appearance in the mirror before adding a touch of lip gloss. She thought her outfit was appropriate for brunch with Riley, but she was really sure. Was a midi dress the right choice? Was it too formal? Not formal enough? Normally, she would have called or texted Riley to ask, but last night had not gone as she expected.

She wasn’t sure what she had done wrong, but it was pretty clear that Riley had not been pleased to see her. It was not what she was used to when it came to interacting with her. From the first moment they met in that boutique, Riley had been so kind, so supportive. That first night, she’d even followed her out of the ball when Olivia’s words got to her more than they should have, when she had no reason to pay her the time of day. But yesterday was strange. Riley had barely hugged her and had clearly been trying to get her out of her bar.

With the texts she’d gotten, she’d known that Riley was hurting, but was trying not to show it. All of the texts had been casual, but way too generic for Riley. They were bland, not playful or joyous. When Drake had mentioned that he could identify all of Liam’s cues for not coping, it had struck something inside of Hana. Granted, she hadn’t known Riley for anywhere near as long as Drake and Liam had been friends, but she still felt she understood Riley fairly well. So when Drake had mentioned needing to be there for Liam, it had dawned on Hana that she could do the same thing. She could be there for Riley.

She’d made countless calls, sent numerous emails, and over the course of two days, she’d arranged to move up all her New York meetings she was planning for either January or February to the upcoming week. Then she’d gone to the bank, transferred her trust fund, the one account to which her parents had absolutely no access, to more liquid accounts, and booked flights and a hotel. 

Her plan had been to spend the weekend with Riley, doing whatever she could to cheer her up and show her that even with an ocean between them, she would never be alone. Having the meetings would serve as an excuse if Riley hadn’t wanted to see her, but she hadn’t anticipated actually needing that excuse. She figured Riley would feel better having a close friend near, someone to talk to about whatever was going on with her and Drake in person. But her behavior last night had suggested otherwise.

Hana was doubting the wisdom of showing up in New York unannounced fairly heavily at this point. She debated sending Riley a message and cancelling brunch, but a quick check of the time made it a moot point. Riley was supposed to meet her down in the lobby in less than 15 minutes, and seeing as Hana had no sense of how far away Riley lived or how long it would take her to get to this part of the city, she knew it would be rude to cancel at this point. So she slipped into her jacket and made her way down to the lobby where she sat patiently waiting until Riley arrived. 

“Hey, Hana,” Riley called out as she walked through the automatic doors. She was smiling and seemed happy to see her, a total contrast to how she’d been in the bar. To further emphasize the difference, Riley walked over and threw her arms around her as Hana stood to greet her. It was nearly night and day, the difference in Riley’s behavior.

“So,for brunch, I know a great place, but it’s a bit of a haul from here. How do you feel about public transportation?”

“I’ll defer to your judgement. This is your hometown, after all.”

“Great! Let’s go!” Riley said, spinning around and bounding back towards the doors.

Hana followed her out onto the sidewalk and crisp fall air, making sure not to lose her as she wound around people for several blocks before ducking down a flight of stairs to a subway station. As Riley purchased a ticket for Hana at some automated kiosk, Hana tried to search through her mind for topics of conversation that wouldn’t be likely to send Riley back to her awkward mood from the night before. 

It turned out, she had no reason to worry. Riley chatted extensively, about funny customers she had, about the restaurant where they were going, about Anderson’s excitement at meeting another corgi on their walk around the block the other day. She seemed bubbly and chipper, but somehow it all felt off. “Maybe,” Hana thought, “she was just cantankerous because she was at work last night.” Still, Hana felt like everything was just a little strange. 

As they walked into the restaurant and perused the menu, Riley started asking her about what plans she had next week. As Hana explained her meetings with her contacts, her goal to develop a organizational plan and to obtain some funding sources, Riley was certainly listening intently. She asked numerous follow up questions and seemed to show a genuine interest. But Hana couldn’t help but notice that every time she mentioned something about Cordonia, be it Maxwell or the palace or anything, really, Riley would direct the conversation away subtly. It was like she wanted to pretend that she and Hana were just two friends from New York, that their connection didn’t originate in some other place where they both had deep connections. 

It was a very intentional move on Riley’s part, Hana decided after it happened for a third time. It could not be a coincidence that Riley wanted to talk about anything besides Cordonia. Hana wasn’t sure if it was deep denial or just an attempt to prevent conversation from drifting to Drake, but regardless, it didn’t seem entirely healthy. But Hana didn’t want to push Riley. She was here to support her, and if a lighthearted brunch was what she needed, well then that was what Hana would provide. So she told more about her evolving plans and upcoming meetings, hoping that just her presence was at least a little bit helpful. But as she allowed herself to be talked into a shopping outing for proper business clothes, she couldn’t help but wonder if she was taking the appropriate approach. It just didn’t feel right. Because the comfort she was providing could be provided by nearly any casual acquaintance. Hana was going to have to figure out how to provide the comfort of a best friend; it was her new goal.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Drake leaned against the wall in the corner of the conference room, listening in as the various intelligence agents recounted their summaries of their interrogations to Liam, Bastien, and a few other key members of the King’s Guard. It would have almost felt like old times if Olivia wasn’t standing there as well, skulking right along with him.

“Incompetent pieces of shit,” she muttered under her breath, “If they had just given me five minutes with any of those traitorous assholes, I would have had twice as much information already.”

“Yeah, only because they thought you were in on their plan.”

Olivia twisted her head around to scowl at Drake and used her middle finger to scratch her cheek. Drake figured it was the most subtle she’d been in a spat with him since he’d returned from university.

“This is taking forever,” she whispered as the next agent started recounting his interrogation of a man named Claudius.

“We can’t play all our cards too early in these interrogations. They just start with initial questioning to get every suspect’s baseline statements. That way, there are going to be a shitton of discrepancies, not only between what they say and what we know, but also between the different assholes’ statements. It makes ‘em more likely to turn on each other to try and save their own skins.”

Olivia leaned back, bringing herself slightly closer to Drake, presumably to make sure their whispered conversation didn’t draw too much attention to the two of them. They’d both been invited to listen in on how the investigation was progressing. Olivia, presumably because she was instrumental to all the arrests happening. Drake, presumably because Liam would have always done so in the past.

Since their fishing trip, Drake and Liam had fallen a bit into their old pattern. In some ways it felt like normal, like they were returning to a familiar routine. But in other ways, things felt entirely shifted. There was a tension there as both of them fumbled through finding a new normal. There were lots of apologies for little things. Liam being a few minutes late. Drake getting caught rolling his eyes. It was like they both were trying to find a new balance in their friendship and were worried that they were pushing things too far. It was still a work in progress, but at least they were talking again, Liam running through things with Drake at the end of each day like they had done for so long, clearing his mind and enjoying some whiskey. Bouncing ideas off of him, Drake serving as his ever-skeptical sounding board.

“When did you become an expert in terrorism interrogations?” Olivia asked, drawing Drake back to the moment.

“I’ve been sitting in on meetings like this for years, Olivia.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, really. What the fuck did you think I was doing with my time?”

“Drinking Liam’s whiskey. Moping around and complaining. Buying more denim. Take your pick.”

Before Drake could snap back, Bastien called for a fifteen minute break. Most of the agents got up, clearly eager to stretch their legs, get some water, or just plain get out of the room they’d all been in for the past 150 minutes. Liam and Bastien called over Stefan, obviously wanting to review some points in the notes he was recording. Drake didn’t feel compelled to move. He’d learned over the years that staying in one spot at these types of meetings often turned him basically invisible. He assumed Olivia would take the opportunity to get away from him, but to his surprise, she stayed leaning against the wall as well, taking the break in the proceedings to talk just a little more freely.

“Given your presence here, I take it you two kissed and made up,” she said, jutting her chin towards Liam. 

Drake rolled his eyes. “Like you even care. You would love it if we stopped talking to each other.”

“That’s not true.”

“Yeah right.”

“Believe it or not, Drake, you don’t have a fucking monopoly on caring about him. I don’t want him to suffer any more than you do. And while I might never understand it, he clearly hates when you two are being fucking idiots and tiptoeing around each other instead of just punching each other and being done with it.”

“How would you even know?”

“Who do you think he talked to when you weren’t here, dipshit?”

Drake paused at that. He had never considered the possibility that Liam might have opened up to Olivia in his absence. And he was shocked that learning that fact filled him not with repulsion, but something more like gratitude.

“Wow. I’m… I’m glad.”

“Don’t strain yourself,” she replied, giving him an exaggerated eye roll.

“Nah, I mean it’s weird to me that it’s you, but I would much rather he has someone who knows him well that he can actually talk to. It’s kind of… well, a relief actually.” Drake turned to fully face Olivia at that, not exactly surprised that she mirrored his motion. She stared him straight in the eyes before giving him a little nod.

“Like I said, you don’t have a monopoly on caring for him.”

“I know.”

Drake just looked at Olivia, feeling like, for the first time in well over a decade, he was seeing traces of the little girl he’d grown up with. And while he knew the two of them would probably never be that close again, he could at least respect that she clearly wanted the best for Liam. Liam the person, not Liam the King. It was probably the one thing they had in common.

“So, when are you heading back to New York?” Olivia asked. Her tone was genuine, no sarcasm or condescension. 

“Eager to get rid of me?” he teased, trying to keep his tone light, preserving whatever little truce they’d just stumbled into.

“Of course,” she said, giving him a genuine smile to let him know she wasn’t trying to offend or insult. It was a rare look on her face. “But seriously, when do head out?”

Drake bit the inside of his cheek, trying to figure out what to say. In all honesty, he wasn’t sure if he was wanted back in New York.

Riley was ignoring him. He had to face the facts on that front. She’d sent him exactly one text since she left Cordonia, letting him know her flight landed safely. Since that time, it had been radio silence. He would have been terrified that something had happened to her if his texts weren’t all getting marked as read.

Of course, he wasn’t sure his texts were any better than the nothing he was getting from her. Granted, he had never been some great texter. Combine that fact with the unsettled way he’d left things with Riley, and it was a recipe for awkward little questions. He’d asked her if Anderson was okay. How her day was. How her shift was. It was fucking small talk, but he didn’t know what else he could send. It’s not like he was gonna pour out his heart in a fucking text. So all he’d been able to do was send meaningless garbage. He figured at the very least, she would know he was thinking of her.

“I’m not sure,” he said, dropping his eyes to the floor. He couldn’t bring himself to say anymore. Hell would freeze over before he opened up to Olivia Nevrakis, regardless if she was Liam’s new confidante.

He could feel Olivia still staring at him, but after a few seconds, she simply said, “Oh, alright. I’m going to go get something to drink.”

As Drake dared glancing up again, he found her already walking towards the door. Letting out a sigh, he realized he was now grateful to Olivia for three things. For bringing in evidence on the attacks. For taking care of Liam. And for giving him relative privacy just then. Because figuring out what he needed to do, what Riley needed from him, was not going to happen in the middle of a security briefing. He just wasn’t sure if he was going to ever be able to figure out that answer. And that thought terrified him to his core.

Permatag: @mfackenthal  @lilyofchoices @thequeenofcronuts @jamesashtonisbae

The Royal Romance/The Royal Heir: @kingliam2019  @sirbeepsalot  @texaskitten30  @princessleac1  @ladyangel70  @dcbbw​ @yaushie​ @octobereighth​

Drake x MC only: @jovialyouthmusic​ @iplaydrake​ @gibbles82​ @drakewalkerisreal​ @riley–walker @notoriouscs​ @butindeed​  @addictedtodrakefanfic​

It Couldn’t Wait Another Moment: @wickedgypsymoon @thesumofmychoices​ @cosigottahavefaith​ @thequeenchoices​ @katedrakeohd​ @feartheendlesssummer​  @ao719​  @ooo-barff-ooo​ @sunnyxdazed

[levelstory]

Music Reflection II, Early 2000s' was a Trip

Well, it has been a hot minute since I wrote a music reflection post. Last time, I talked about various songs from my childhood from the likes of Britney Spears to Stevie Brock. Now I am back to tackle some more music from my most formative years that will make you question how my music taste ever escaped cringy pop music from the Top 40. Coincidentally, all of these tracks are from the early 2000s’ so no 90s’ music here today. Here we go…

Miracles Happen by Myra

This song is the anthem ofThe Princess Diaries. That movie was one of my most watched VHS tapes next to the first Harry Potter film. It is the movie that sparked my interest in film soundtracks, and one of the most recognizable and memorable songs from the album was easily Myra's Miracles Happen. 

It can be easy to forget how much work was once put into acquiring music in an age where most music is available instantaneously. As a kid, my ear was always turned toward the music in any given film and when I got to an age (around 9-10) when I realized these tracks were sold in one package known as the film soundtrack, I made a point to get my hands on a copy. The Princess Diaries is the first soundtrack I remember owning outside of soundtracks from Disney films. 

My most stark memories with this soundtrack are playing it in my bedroom at my old house. Toward the end of our time living there, my family painted my bedroom a light pink and I got a desk that had a CD rack built-in (this was a big feature at the time). My boombox sat on the large desktop against the wall and I can remember listening to The Princess Diaries soundtrack on repeat. There are a lot of great tracks on the album but Miracles Happen is the true star and the true representation of the movie. 

Before I talk about the track further, I just want to point out that this movie is great. We could talk about its problems, which it has many, but it remains funny, heartwarming, and a joy to watch from start to finish. This movie introduced me to Anne Hathaway and she just shines. Plus, Julie Andrews is in the movie and she steals the show! I know my opinion is partially influenced by nostalgia goggles but hey...just let me have this!

Back to Miracles Happen. What is easily the strongest aspect of the song is the chorus. It is so catchy and fun to listen to. The verses are enjoyable enough, but they feel a bit detached from what makes the song so good. The bridge is pretty lackluster. As discussed a bit in my first reflection, way too many songs struggle with their bridges. Look, I get it...but still. The only shining light is that the bridge at least transitions into a tune that sounds similar to the chorus which is pretty great. 

The lyrics are fairly generic which is par for the course. They say a bunch of random things like "we found the missing pieces" and "nothing should ever bring you down", lyrics that have little to no emotional attachment to anything beyond it is a thing people say in this context. But all things considered, it is still a really fun song to listen to.

It Happens Every Time by Dream Street

Dream Street is one of those boy bands that flew pretty far beneath the radar for most people. Their first album released in 2000 and I distinctly remember the marketing campaign on television playing over and over again so that they were drilled into our brains. I guess it worked because I really wanted this album as a ten-year-old.

My friends and I loved Dream Street. I had their poster hanging on my bedroom wall (their album booklet unfolded into the poster). We made up dance routines to their songs. We even blasted the music through my friend’s house and somehow her parents never became angry with us. My most shameful confession about Dream Street is that we used to try and find their phone numbers to call them. Unaware that phone books are limited to local numbers, we would call random numbers to see if Chris or Jesse were home to talk. They weren't, and people were annoyed by our calls. 

One thing people probably don't know is that Jesse McCartney's music career began with Dream Street. I'm proud to say that he was my favorite from the group at the time, and vocally he is the strongest of the group. His voice had not matured yet so it is always fun listening to his performance with his young voice!

It Happens Every Time was their big single and the song most used in TV adverts, accompanied by the music video. What got me thinking about the song and the group recently is due to some unfortunate events. I learned back in July that one of the members, Chris, died in June due to complications with COVID-19. He would have been 35 this year. Chris was often looked at as the Justin Timberlake of Dream Street. He had the fancy frost tipped hair and swagger to him that the other members couldn't compete with. After the group disbanded, he never found success in the same way he did with Dream Street. He died too young and too soon. After his death, I started relistening to Dream Street and it was this relisten that encouraged me to write another Music Reflection. 

As with Stevie Brock from the first installment of Music Reflections, Dream Street's songs mostly center on their lust for girls in a way that is pretty uncomfortable looking back. These boys range in age from 11-13 if I am not mistaken, and their songs deal with mature themes that predate their young years. Not to mention that society has young boys singing about these ideas that they can't help their actions when they lust for a girl or they can't control themselves because a girl has them wrapped around her finger. Our culture normalizes this idea that men are vulnerable to female woes and that they can't help themselves. It is always a bit gross hearing young boys sing about it, especially before they’ve even hit puberty (i.e. Justin Bieber).*

It Happens Every Time is a song about...a song. It follows a boy who hears a "silly little love song" every time he sees this girl or thinks of her. This plane of existence, a magic place where angels sing all around them, is known as Dream Street (name drop!). Admittedly, this song is probably the tamest when it comes to the themes I mentioned in the previous paragraph. 

Now I won't lie, this song is a bop. I'm still unsure if that is the nostalgia talking or not...I will have to dig deeper some other time. But damn I'd be lying if I said I don't enjoy this song. It is so catchy. The boys sing really well for their age. I am a sucker for listening to little Jesse McCartney belt his heart out. Jesse is the highlight of this song, getting a nice solo line toward the end of the second chorus followed by the entire bridge and some overlapping vocals in the final chorus before ending the song. He just sounds so good and I will admit to feeling a small sense of pride listening to him. I was there before his solo career and entry into Radio Disney hits and commercials all over ABC Family. Sometimes it feels like Dream Street is still so unknown that I can keep my memories of them all to myself. Though their time was short-lived, they stayed with me and so has this song.

Ordinary Day by Vanessa Carlton

Earlier, I talked about how difficult it was to acquire music before the internet. In the case of a song in a movie, there was a good chance that the song you liked would be on the soundtrack, provided a soundtrack was even released. Songs on the radio were difficult because you had to buy an entire album when you just liked one song, or make sure you had a blank tape ready to record when the song came on. Then there were songs you heard while out and about with no context. Those were the worst because you had to try and memorize the song and hope you found it somewhere, someday. That was kind of what happened to me with Vanessa Carlton.

It was her song A Thousand Miles that really gripped me as a 12-year-old. I loved it so much and heard it everywhere I went but never knew who sang the song or where I could get a copy. Eventually, I heard the song on the radio and bought her album...and ended up only listening to the three tracks I liked. One of the tracks, and my favorite of those three, is Ordinary Day. 

If my memory is correct, this song was never as popular as A Thousand Miles on the radio, but it was super popular on the internet. This album came out around the time I first started using the internet and discovered movie montages. I don't mean montages used in movies but montages made by fans on Windows Movie Maker, cut together with a somewhat fitting song. If you were a teenager obsessing over Disney or Harry Potter or...something, you know the songs that people generally gravitated towards with these videos (the band Trading Yesterday were a staple of these montages). Ordinary Day was a movie montage song (every time I listen to this song it reminds me of an Aladdin montage it played over (which I sadly can't find)). 

I decided to watch the music video for this song as I was writing this and boy is it a product of the early 2000s. Can we all just agree that the early 2000s were equivalent to that awkward stage of everyone's lives that we try not to think about? This music video is so clumsy and confusing. There are so many close up shots on Carlton and strange shots of people making out. Who thought this was a good idea?

But back to the song. One thing I appreciate about this song is how it builds itself up. The beginning piano is very nice but then it builds up with orchestration and I love it. I'm sorry I can't talk about it more but I won't embarrass myself with lack of musical instrumental lingo and knowledge.

The lyrics of the song are...ehh? The song is basically about seeing more in the ordinary and how the narrator is shown from an "ordinary boy." It isn't terrible but like the music video, a product of the early 2000s. 

I unapologetically love this song. Yes it is corny and it isn't as musically sophisticated as I would like, but it always makes me smile when I listen to it. I can remember listening to the song on my headphones on long car rides and with friends. It is just a song that makes me feel happy and gives me no reason to feel otherwise. 

All I Can Do by Jump5

Well...I'm surprised it took me this long to arrive at Jump5. What is there to say about this Christian pop sensation? Quite a bit actually. I was only obsessed with them for a good chunk of my early teens. Reflecting on that time of my life is strange because in hindsight, it was such a short period but it always feels like it lasted much longer. 

Everyone has that one band that they really connect with as a teenager that basically shapes their entire life and...well, yeah, that band for me is Jump5. I'm not kidding, I could write an entire book about how this band shaped my entire life (and believe me, I am working on it!). As much as I'd like to talk about all of that, we only have a short amount of time so let's talk about this song. 

As with Ordinary Day, this song reeks of the early 2000s. However, unlike Ordinary Day, the music video is much more successful in its execution. I couldn't believe myself when rewatching it...it is actually pretty darn good as far as music videos tend to be. 

Choosing what Jump5 song to talk about was pretty difficult because there are so many in their arsenal that I can talk about for long periods of time and connect to life experiences. But All I Can Do seems to be a special one because I'm almost certain it was the first track I ever heard from the group. As with Dream Street, Jump5 had a big TV marketing campaign for their second album, All the Time in the World (in which All I Can Do is the first track). It was their TV advert that put them on the radar for me. I vividly remember seeing the commercial at Christmas time. It was the first Christmas spent at our new house and I can remember watching the TV with my gifts and snow falling outside. At this point, seeing pop bands advertised on TV was nothing new. There were always new groups trying to make it big as other pop acts had before them. But other than my memory of seeing this commercial, it otherwise didn't leave a big impact on me. I wouldn't start listening to Jump5 until a few months later after getting into Radio Disney. And even after I got into Jump5, All I Can Do was never one of their songs that I gravitated towards. 

I wanted to talk about this song because of how well it represents Jump5 as a group. All I Can Do is their quintessential track, packed with energy and fun lyrics. But the track is also a representation of the group's core aesthetic of disguising "Christian values" as a pop song about a crush. For anyone who grew up on a Christian media diet (as I did voluntarily as a teenager), this is nothing out of the ordinary for this type of entertainment. In fact, it is basically a meme at this point. All I Can Do may be the least overt example of this from Jump5's library, but it is still an example nonetheless.

“It's like I got nothing to do but think about you,” (you being God), "I've got all the time in the world," (implying that time does not matter because in God you have everlasting life), "if you look at my heart, you'll know from the start," (meaning God knows your true heart and He knows from the start). I could go on but I think you see my point. There isn't anything inherently bad about this example and it is fairly harmless, but this isn't always the case when it comes to Christian entertainment.

Another trend from the late 90s' and early 2000s' was a pop group being a mix of both guys and girls but the guys rarely sang (A*Teens is another example that might come to mind). This song is dominated by the girls who share most of the song equally. The guys are hardly ever heard at all except when Chris gets his time to shine echoing the song's title over and over. It is easy to forget about them but alas, they are there.

Jump5 were known for their dance routines that they performed alongside their songs. They would often do cartwheels, flips, and very technical dance routines that blew many other pop acts out of the water. They also performed these routines live on tour, not just in their music videos. This dance routine is a really memorable one, showing the group doing a train-like dance which I remember performing with a friend. It is a lot of fun and I won't let anyone tell me otherwise! It was a lot of fun revisiting this track.

Is It Saturday Yet? by Nick Carter

Well here we are, at the final song, and boy is this choice...let's go with interesting. Nick Carter, known for his Backstreet Boy fame, recorded his own solo album after the group disbanded. What we got was Now or Never which is only ever remembered by the song Help Me, and even that is pretty forgettable. All that said, I owned this album and listened to it quite a bit as a tween. My most specific memory with the album is listening to it on a long car ride to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Is It Saturday Yet? is the seventh track on the album and out of the five tracks I liked, this was probably at the bottom. 

So why talk about it if it was my least favorite track? Well friends, this track is so bizarre that I question its existence on a frequent basis. It is insane how often this song gets stuck in my head and won't leave. 

The song seems to be about a disengaged teenager being raised by Jerry Springer and video games (video games got a low blow for warping kids brains back in the day. They still get blamed today but it isn't to the same extent) who just can't wait for Saturday to come so he can be rid of his responsibilities. The lyrics are...dumb. They are clearly trying to make a point but the song is so ridiculous that it is white noise. And why is it that Nick and Aaron Carter always have to reference each other in their songs? It was cute at first when Aaron did it in his classic track Oh Aaron, but now it is just old. 

"Is it Saturday yet? Cause I wanna get up. Is it Saturday yet? It just feels like a Saturday. Maybe it's a Saturday." Those are the lyrics in the chorus. It is a song so devoid of meaning and so lazy to its very core. It contains lazy rhymes and brutal instrumentals. This song is the reason so many people describe pop music as empty trash. Like, don't get me wrong, a lot of music on the radio is pop trash and is clearly put together by big corporate higher-ups to make a quick buck on teenage stars locked in a contract. But some of that music is meaningful and deserves to be recognized. This song, however, deserves to die a painful death. It is just terrible. 

And yet, despite all of this, the song somehow still appeals to me. I still listen to it. I still find joy out of it even though it is just awful in every possible way. I think that speaks to the whole point of these reflections on the music I listened to when I was younger. 

Is It Saturday Yet? may be the worst of the bunch, but a lot of music cranked out back in the day was mindless entertainment. As much as it bothers me, I won't lie and say there is no place for music like this because there is. Sometimes when I am driving, I get so sick of the music I normally listen to ("good" music) and I just want music from my childhood that won't make me think but will just allow me to bake in nostalgic goodness. 

Revisiting these songs was fun, but I know there are more I want to talk about in the future! Stay tuned! What are some songs you listened to in the early 2000s’ that make you feel super nostalgic today? Let me know in the comments!

* It should also be noted that the band broke up because of a lawsuit in which the majority of the parents of the band alleged that the underage band members were "exposed to booze, women, and pornography."

[castpeve]

The Eden Club was a hellhole, but it was better than running away from the police as a deviant. You weren't everyone's first choice, but not unpopular either. The only moment of escape rA9 gave you was when a snobby man rented you a chance to run from the club, along with his android, to find Jericho.

A/N: ok first two chapters probs won't have interactions with the og dbh characters since i dont want the story to be escalating too quickly. first two chaps are just an introduction to the reader and a few minor characters i made up (and maybe sneak a main character in, wink), i hope you guys dont mind !!

count: 2058 words

posted: 190406

PREVIOUS / CHAPTER ONE / NEXT CHAPTER

"Purchase confirmed." The tube slid open, "Eden club wishes you a pleasant experience." The man chuckled, throwing the old, ugly trenchcoat at the android. "Y/n...Eh? All yours, Matt. Ye Bastard." She stood there, perplexed, seeing the man walk out of the club, the Android accompanying him tilted his head, signalling that the Traci should follow.

She didn't know what else to do but do what she thought she was supposed to, after all, no one has ever purchased her for a whole night before. Was this safe? Was this allowed? She didn't know, but the man who bought her looked like a minted man, and the WR600 which followed certainly didn't look like the average model. Yes, it had the iconic blond hair and thin face, yet it had bright, grey-ish blue eyes and countless freckles splattered across it's face. It was also suited in grey trousers and what looked like a white long-sleeved button up shirt under a black hoodie, the Traci, or Y/n, still stood there in front of the closing tube. 'Matt' sighed, walking back to Y/n and grabbed the trenchcoat, helping her to wear it. She was inexperienced with putting on clothes more than revealing black undergarments, only knowing how to take them off.

"Hello, I'm Matthew. Err.. Y/n. Please follow me." He gave a half smile, turning his back at her and she followed. The music slowly faded into the distance as they exit the vibrantly coloured club, the cold climate made Y/n thankful she was given the coat. Even if she was designed to not be bothered by the cold...Or heat, or temperature. After all, she was just a plastic toy to be fucked.

Matthew opened the car door, gesturing her to come in. She did so silently, the awkward atmosphere immediately consuming her. The other android followed, and the car started. "Almost thought you two screwed in the club, heh." The old man laughed, despite looking rich he still drove an old sports car, not the self-driving vehicles that became the ordinary. The car blasted music, seemingly from 2018. They all sat in silence as the car drove, away from the bustling streets of Detroit and into...One of the richer sides of the city. "Get out." The man mumbled, Matthew left the front and opened the door for Y/n, who nervously stood up, out of the sports car. They entered the Apartment complex, Y/n trailing behind Matthew's tall figure the whole walk. They arrived at the elevator, which was quite spacious, the walls decorated with mirrors and mellifluous piano music filled the small space. "So," The man started, stuffing his hands into his beige jacket. "Watcha think of it, Matt? Want me to work late so you two could have some private?" Matthew turned his head to the side, his ears showed a faint blue. "Please, mr. Hutton. I never asked for a Traci.."  He responded in a small voice. "Overworked cunt, ye know you should take a break. Stop workin' and watchin' over Collie like ye life depended on it, Oliver's there for that." Mr. Hutton's thickly voice sounded extremely like the plummy men Y/n had to endure. She stood awkwardly at the side, maintaining her posture. She was admittedly more attractive than all the other Traci's, but made her a bit overpriced. If lonely men hadn't drunkenly spent their money on sex androids, then maybe they had the slimmest chance of being able to afford her. The elevator briefly stopped, Mr. Hutton stepped out as the two androids followed, Y/n still trailing behind Matthew like a lost puppy.

Y/n's theory of Mr. Hutton being a minted man was correct, the bloke lived in a penthouse. And with his mention of a droid named 'Oliver', showed that Matthew wasn't the only bot he owned. Hutton locked the doors, taking off his jacket and immediately heading towards a room. "I'll be in my office, if anything malfunctions about Y/n, Matt, just tell Oliver to tell me. 'Cuz I don't want to smell Android sex." He chuckled, yawning right after. Matthew pressed his lips together, looking annoyed. "I'm sorry, Y/n. You don't need to do the...Thing. Take this as a break from the usual, ehh...Sexy moments you take nightly?" He simpered, taking off the hoodie, briefly revealing the white button up. Y/n could tell the android was a deviant, she herself was one. "I..I know you feel awkward. You don't usually have any robotic clients, yeah? Just, we can hang out in my own...Shared room with two other androids. All of us are deviants, Mr. Hutton doesn't have the heart to report and we don't have the heart to do anything deviant-y. Two others are busy doing whatever." Y/n still followed the Blond sheepishly, taking in the warm coloured interior contrasting from the bright, neon lights of the club she's always been in.

Matthew's room felt significantly colder than the living room, yet the room still had the same warm aesthetic as the rest of the penthouse, accompanied with three twin beds, night stands seperating each of them. They were treated as if they were humans, which wasn't a typical perk humans give to servant androids. Hutton must be incredibly warm-hearted to spend this much for androids. She mumbled a small "Thank you," almost seemingly like a whisper. He plopped down his bed, she assumed, and turned on the TV, situated in the middle of the room on a small, black wooden table filled with various magazines and such. She realized that Matthew isn't going to make the first move any soon, and her main purpose was to satisfy customers. But she was a deviant, she didn't have to give in the club's greedy orders. "You can go and make yourself at home, for the time being. Until you can go back and settle in the tube thing you live in, oh that must be uncomfortable, isn't it? Oh you probably don't wanna be reminded. Oh, uh..." He trailed off, hiding his face behind his hands, the blue hue returning to his face. Boy wasn't used to being with other androids, female androids.

Y/n stiffled a laugh, "It's ok, sir." The corner of her mouth quirking up, "Certainly we can enjoy the night, though?" His eyes widened, "W-wait are you actually willing to do it?? I...Was I programmed for this..." He stuttered, shifting his glance all around the room. She cracked up, laughter echoing in the secluded room. "No, you little cutie, spend it however you want. Whatever you wanna do.." She sat down next to his bed, making Matthew sit up. If he was a human, he'd be a hot flustered mess. Frankly, she didn't imagine doing it with the boy. Something about him turned her off, not in a bad way, but in a way that she'd rather do something else than ride it all night. They have a night to spend, and that night isn't going to be spent throwing nervous exchanges at eachother. "Maybe get to know eachother? What do you like?" Seems like Y/n has the upper hand.

"Wha— Well," His LED turned yellow, which she hadn't paid much attention to. "I like doing new stuff. It's exciting." He grinned apologetically, being a shy wreck. Y/n scanned through her options, thinking about what to ask the man next. She subtly took off the trenchcoat, despite the cold temperature, it was ugly and reeked. She obviously wasn't given anything else, so all she wore was the iconic black EDEN CLUB undergarments. Despite being an android, programmed to work and not to feel, he acted like such a human. If he would remove the LED, she would be convinced Matthew was a normal human boy. And like a normal human boy, the blood rushed to his face, blue contrasting to his pale, synthetic, freckled skin, "Does this make you uncomfortable, sir?" She asked, tilting her head. Matthew shook his head, "I'm quite fine. Call me Matt, or Matthew, uhhh I-D-K."

Y/n's LED flashed yellow, "I-D-K? What does that mean?" She asked, genuinely. "Err, I don't know."

"What? then why did you use it if you didn't know?" She tilted her head in confusion, the concept of internet slang was foreign to her. "Wait, nooo......" He lightly chuckled, "It means that I don't know an answer to something." The tension lightened up a little, Matthew invited her to sit down next to the bed, offering her something to change into. It actually did make him uncomfortable, but, hey, he wanted to be polite.

"Do you have any shirts, please?" She giggled, "I-D-K, your choice, Matt." He looked back at her with wide eyes, soon a smile was plastered onto his face. "I can't believe I'm teaching another Android slang." He laughed, opening the clean, white closet. Well, one of the three. "I have, ehh, this one blue jacket, I think it would fit you. Frankly, I don't remember buying it but, it's convenient.. I guess." He picked up an indigo, red and white striped jacket that would look to small even for Matthew's rather thin build. She was confused as to why he had that in his closet but nodded, gesturing that she would be alright wearing it. Looked like it fit anyway.

He walked back to her and gently put the clothes on the white sheets, the TV still babbling in the background, about an AX400 running away from their home with a human child, the victim said to have been attacked along the way. Matthew spoke up, "They would probably find their way to Jericho, the two, I mean."

Y/n, who had just finished putting on the jacket, "J....Jericho?" she questioned, Matthew raised his artificial eyebrow. "Yes, Jericho. The place where fugitives, deviants run off to to be 'free'. I've wanted to go there but..." His LED turned yellow, "I...I g-guess I'm already content with my artificial life here.." She didn't know why he hesitated.

"Do you know where Jericho is?" She questioned, squinting at the TV, rambling about androids and Cyberlife and shite.

"Well...I've heard that there are clues. Clues that guide you to Jericho. Very few make it, I never made the risk. I didn't want to leave the safety of Mr. Hutton's home either." He tensed up, "You want to go there, don't you?" he started unbuttoning his long sleeve. "Will that be a bad idea?" She asked again, feeling that she's comfortable enough with Matthew to ask about whatever this Jericho thing is. "Likely."

He threw the shirt onto a nearby basket, leaving him with the grey trousers. Y/n's seen naked men, sometimes women, so this hadn't fazed her. unlike Matthew. He turned around, and mumbled a small "Oh." She gave a lopsided grin, before he turned around and grabbed a random shirt and some shorts along with it, "Excuse me!" He added quickly before dashing into the bathroom connected to the bedroom. Which gave her a chance to explore the room for a few moments.

The room was quite luxurious, real Birch wood was used as the floor, mostly being covered by a soft, white mat. one side had Thirium stains which concerned Y/n, but chose to ignore it. One wall was made of mostly glass, showcasing the dim buildings of Detroit; matching white curtains drawn.

The door swung open. "Hews, I'm sad to say that the tomatoes you grew sucked—" Another Android came in, an AP700, Y/n concluded, since she didn't see her come in, she looks like she had just come back from outside. The girls stared silently at eachother, before one of them spoke, breaking the silence; "I am thoroughly disappointed in you, Matthew—fucking—Hutton," She mumbled. Another android came in, sighing. "I told you."

[rex-rises]

I scried all of my dragons as tundras and now I have regrets

Alright so I got curious after I scried one of my dragons as a tundra for a previous post and he actually looked pretty good. Being the reasonable monkey brained human I am, I scried all of my dragons as a Tundra with comparisons to them without their accents.

Edit: I did a skydancer version here as well.

Reina - Actually looks decent as a female tundra. Still prefer her as Ridgie for the theme and accent.

Razohr - Wow raz doesn’t look as good without his accent. Not quite diggin the tundra look either.

Adonis - Not bad at alll maaan-No. I refuse. I’m not changing him to a tundra. If I go away from imperial I can’t go back. NO. ADONIS S T O P.

Migora - Man i forgot how strange Migora looks without her accent. Just looks like nobody’s home in there. She also looks a lot kinder as a tundra.

Hawthorn - The boy that got me started on this. He does not look bad at all. I still prefer him as coatl, but as a tundra he looks more like how his character acts. As in-guy that looks really nice and sweet but he’ll stab you in the back in a heartbeat.

Andromeda - Ehh I think she’ll be staying as a pearlcatcher. Filigree doesn’t look as nice on tundras. Also she looks hella weird without her robo-bunny accent.

Tigris - She looks so much less terrifying as a tundra wow. Still think I prefer her as a mirror.

Avellatur - Avel hun pls put your skin back on...and stay coatl while you’re at it.

Alium - SO. MUCH. G R A S S. He’d be a good goth-nature rep. Gotta keep him as skydancer for the accent though.

Mistral - What a good boooy! Spiral fits the theme best, but he’s still such a good tundra!

Saevus - She looks strange as a tundra? Probably could live without the kelp hair. I’ll be keeping her as a guardian definitely though-but she still looks nice as a tundra!

Paean - woah he actually looks pretty damn good as a tundra...keeping imp but still!

Lailyn - That is one good tundra girl right there. Love her. 10/10.

Io - Not bad but not all that great either. Too much sparkle and it looks kinda like her legs are tied up with all of those bows.

Luvenis - Ahhh I love him as a tundra!! Could probably use duller colored clothes, but still he looks like such a good boy!!

Alexander - ...not going to lie he looks so much better as a tundra...but personality wise PC fits him...mistakes were made.

Oakley - Ahhh she looks so pretty as a tundra!! She looks good in just about anything tbh. Metals is such a good color!!

Conclusion: tundras are valid and anyone who thinks they’re terrible can fight me in the Denny’s parking lot.