#— what they’re accusing her of???????? go off ig

[pepstarvanmoon]

I hope this doesn’t come off as me nitpicking Milkvan interactions, but these lines just come off as odd to me.

In the show, leading up to the store scene, nothing Mike says or does regarding Max comes off as particularly jealous to me.

He gets upset with Max for taking El to the mall (not Max giving him a segway into complimenting her new style (which he does later), and he just gets mad at her instead lmao.)

He spends the beginning of the following episode pitying himself with Lucas enabling it.

“What did I do wrong?” - LIED, plain and simple. He acknowledged that before they went to the mall! El gave him a chance to explain yourself and he DIDN’T. Teenagers, man.

“Then I should be with my species more” - I guess implies spending more time with Max and her having no desire to get back with him. Mike is pissed about the spying (rightfully, imo), and obviously frustrated that him explaining himself didn’t lead to El forgiving him.

Max and El spending too much time in the bathroom, “they’re conspiring against me” - confused as to how he reached this conclusion given what we’ve seen. It’s like he just HAS to say something about it, nevermind El getting her shit tossed last episode. Listen to Will and worry about something else.

Bro is lowkey more mad about being single (and therefore ambiguously straight in Mike logic) than about El and Max being friends.

When he admits that he was jealous and wanted El “all to himself,” it sounds more like an excuse than an explanation.

We know what jealousy looks like in Stranger Things.

If anything, this “jealousy” is more closely aligned to how Dustin described Lucas’ jealousy of Mike and El’s relationship in season one.

I even tried to make an argument for Mike wanting El to himself minus the jealousy, but throughout the season it kinda fell flat.

Showing up late to movie nights (more than once) to hang out with El longer.

Ditching Dustin (the day of his return) and the others to spend more time together before El’s '4PM curfew' (a lie, ofc)

Maybe switch “conspiring” for excluding? Then you could argue he felt left out, like he’s not the closest to El anymore. However, the responses to his “conspiring” accusations were 100% negative.

(This could also play into how he felt getting stuck in the back of the car with Will, but that ventures outside the point of this post)

None of these are considered good things if Dustin, Lucas, and Will’s annoyance are considered, and Max going from “it’s romantic” to high-fiving El after she dumps Mike… yeah.

You can certainly say he’s frustrated. He’s never been in a relationship and therefore has never been broken up with, but Mike explains it like the reason he’s acting irrationally is because he’s 'never felt like this before'? But besides the whole ’Nana’ thing, that’s not really true?

Stupid stuff being 1) lying about his Nana being sick, 2) claiming girls are a different species.

Angry, sure. Jealous? Wanting her to yourself? Don’t make me laugh.

It’s all a bit hypocritical to me, too. So El can’t have ONE day out with Max, but Mike can run off with the rest of their friends while she’s stuck in Hopper’s cabin. Okay.

And, in this specific case, I don’t really buy the “she’s hiding from the government” excuse because it clearly wasn’t that big of a deal for El to have gone out that day. Mike’s concerns were brushed off, and there were no scenes with Hopper reinforcing that (we had our fill in S2 ig).

(I personally think they didn’t want any interruptions to that Elmax scene because it demonstrates how little El knows herself, and being cooped up by Hopper and Mike, though it’s sweet that they want to protect her, isn’t helping her developmental growth.)

Like damn if you really feel that strongly about it, you all could’ve had a movie night in the cabin, but Mike can’t balance his relationship and his friendships, and STILL can’t now!

Well, at least you got that part right.

(Post pretty much ends here. Rest of it is me rambling)

All of this relationship bullshit skydives out of Mike’s mind when Will gets upset btw. UNTIL he mentions girls, then Mike gets defensive.

That whole part of the rain fight gets to me, like Mike truly believes that this is a staple part of his life, getting a girlfriend and abandoning his interests. He can’t date El and play DnD, and if he’s dumped, his priority becomes getting her back instead of reflecting on what happened.

He proves he didn’t have a firm grasp on the situation when he victimizes himself, and when he actually admits to lying it doesn’t matter at that point. El already knows and DOESN’T CARE.

He’s really not confident. Lucas got a one-on-one, mirroring Mike and El’s, scene with Will to apologize, because the relationship drama is no longer important to him in that moment.

(I didn’t think Lumax broke up, but Will said in ep 3 that they both got dumped? Lucas seemed a lot less bothered, and by the time they got to the hospital scene they seemed fine lol. Lumax ‘breakups’ aren’t really taken as seriously anyway with the whole “five times” thing)

Funny how both apologies go unacknowledged because what’s done is done. They don’t care anymore (for Will, I don’t believe that for a second but yk) and there are bigger things to focus on.

It's brought back up in the hospital, but MIKE is the one who doesn’t care that much until El uses her powers on the vending machine as an “olive branch" (in Lucas' opinion, anyway).

I feel like there’s a lot to say about Mike and taking initiative versus when he has to be told to do something, but more on that another time.

[whats-it-mean]

Mahiru’s sign to stop flirting with every single person who enters her line of sight ☆

Mikoto/john x Reader (they’re jealous)

A/N - This is for a friend, so reader is down bad !! as they should be!! mikoto is hot!! this one is suggestive ig, its got making out (s c a n d e l o u s) but nothing explicit. somebody give Es a pay raise.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Despite her romantic tendencies, you enjoyed passing free time with Mahiru. She never made you feel uncomfortable, and ever since her injuries from her judgement, you’d been walking with her from time to time. Mahiru liked taking walks, but ever since the judgement came, she hated doing so alone- After Kotoko’s attacks, nobody was the same. Everyone was on edge. Even Es.

Today was no exception to your newfound tradition of accompanying her throughout the prison hallways- you were happy to do so with her, and she seemed much more cheerful when she had someone to go with. In your mind, it wasn’t odd at all if she linked arms with you- she was injured, so it was all perfectly normal for her to need a bit of help walking. And you were never bothered by her absentminded flirting- it was in her nature as a hopeless romantic. 

You knew she harbored no feelings for you, since she spent half her time rambling to you about her wonderful boyfriend. That part did concern you, but you decided it’d be best to leave that up to Es to mention. You were fine with it if she hugged you before going back to her cell, or even if she gave you a goodnight kiss on the cheek- it was all completely platonic. Mahiru was grateful for your friendship and your understanding of that fact, but the one thing you failed to realize was how it might look to others.

And lord knows your incapability to notice how a certain person was taking it would get you in all sorts of shit.

“Goodnight, Mappi!” You said, not hesitating to return the gesture when she stood on her toes to hug you. She smiled as she gave you her typical goodnight wishes, reminding you to drink water as she gave her a kiss on the cheek and then hurried back off to her cell. It really didn’t mean anything to you, as you turned on your heel and started absentmindedly strolling back to your own cell- Until, of course, you heard the familiar sound of your cell door creaking open.

You snapped your head up as you heard shuffling fabric, but the dim lighting in your cell didn’t do much to help your god-awful eyesight in figuring out who the fuck was in your cell this late at night. You were already sitting on the low-quality mattress of your cell, just staring dumbfounded in the general direction of the door as you felt a bit of fear settle into your body.

“H…ello……?”

Your voice was quiet as you spoke, slightly afraid- it was past curfew by now, and if Es found someone in your room, they’d get some sort of penalty. Which sucked, because you were actually really chill with every other prisoner and would much prefer to not have any issues.

Your thoughts were interrupted when you heard a voice that was undoubtedly Mikoto’s, as he inched closer and sat down on your bed. “Sweetheart.” His voice was colder than usual, like we was upset, although you were unsure as to why. “C’mere.”

Although you hesitated for a moment, you inched closer to the end of your bed, close enough to him where you could see his face a bit better. He had an almost confused expression on his face, like he couldn’t quite sort his emotions. He glanced at you, eyes softening once they fell on your face.

“What’s the deal with you and Mappi-chan-….?” He asked slowly, staring at you without ever letting his gaze falter. He sounded confused, and maybe a bit upset, but was careful as not to seem accusing.

“Mappi-..? She’s my friend, just like all the other prisoners here..? You know that….?” You ran through what had happened that day in your head, trying to figure out what he was talking about- absentmindedly lifting a hand to your cheek to where Mahiru had given you an innocent little kiss, which was really a terrible decision. The moment you did so, that was all it took for Mikoto to… change.

He narrowed his eyes at you, which made you feel things you probably shouldn’t have in that moment, but you shoved those thoughts away as fast as you could.

“That’s not what it seemed like.” His voice was noticeably deeper, and sounded gravelly as he spoke, his tone of voice changing dramatically. He reached forward, grabbing your hand to bring it away from where your fingers where still gently tracing the spot Mahiru had kissed you.

Suddenly, everything caught up to you.

You felt your face flush a deep shade of violent red as he stared down at you, some emotion in his eyes you couldn’t quite get a good grip on when he was staring at you so intently like that. He didn’t say anything, just watched you as your breath and heart rate started picking up.

“You… know you’re mine, right..?” He asked, voice low as he spoke. You nodded shakily, not really being able to say anything.

Talking to Mikoto was one thing. But talking to… him? You knew he was different right now, and whenever he was like this, the tension got almost suffocatingly high.

“Then I should be the only one to kiss you.” He huffed, almost sounding pouty.

You breathed out a barely audible “That makes sense.” as your eyes started to wander, now barely able to control the rapid speed at which your heart was beating.

He stared at you as the room fell back into silence for a moment, just… watching you. Watching the way you got fidgety under his gaze, watched the way you took quick breaths, watched the way your eyes darted from place to place through the room, meeting his every now and then before darting away again in your rush of jumbled emotions.

Well, there was no turning back now, right?

After making his decision, he wasted no time in placing his hand firmly on the back of your neck, which sent your eyes straight back to him as he leaned in. His lips were soft, although they pressed against yours with unimagined fervor as he pulled you closer.

You felt your arms wrap around his neck as you gave in to the way he kissed you, almost greedily, one arm settling around your waist to support you. His eyes fluttered shut as he continued needily pressing himself against you, letting out some sort of muffled sound through the kiss. The moment your lips parted, you feel his tongue darting out, and your mind went entirely blank. All you could do in the moment was tighten your grip around him, him doing the same while he pushed you up against the wall. You could barely breathe with him against you like this, but you were still trying to pull him closer as your blush intensified so much it was a wonder it didn’t burn you.

He pulled away for just a moment, only long enough to breathe out the word ‘mine’ before leaning back in. His hand on your neck slowly moved up to your hair, ruffling through it in a way that was almost calming.

You weren’t quite sure how far this would go with the way he was holding onto you, but all your racing thoughts were cut short as you felt a flashlight, bright against your face.

“Hey, it’s past curfe—-“

A long silence, omitting the slight panting that came from the man who was now just hovering over you.

“God fucking damnit.” Annoyance was evident in Es’s voice as he simply glared at you. “You would think that in prison people would be able to control themselves, but noooo. Fucking hate this job.”

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

[gelukart]

Hazbin Hotel/Legally Blonde Crossover Au! :0

I don’t even know if anybody else will see the vision/ comparison but I was obsessed with the LB musical when I was younger and Charlie just reminds me so much of Elle woods maybe it the stubborn optimism or just how both are so supportive of people around them and trying to help others idk but I just thought it would work so well (also they’re both blonde lmao )

My idea of how everyone would fit into this AU:

Okay so Charlie, for the reasons previously mentioned, is Elle woods. I thought of Adam and Lute being the Warren and Vivian roles but like… Charlie and Adam where not not dating. Idk what the specific reason would be for Charlie to go to law school just that Adam inspires it by not taking Charlie seriously, and then once they get to law school Lute is like basically her bully and standing with Adam (whether Adam and Lute are involved romantically is up to personal interpretation ig). Emmett’s role would be split up between two characters with the romantic interest part taken by Vaggie and the mentoring being taken by Husk but both are supportive of Charlie in helping her reach her law-er-ing goals. Alastor would be professor Callahan (probably with out the SA like in the original musical :’)) but yeah like blood in the water is very alastor in that “I’m gonna mentor you but manipulate at the same time” way. This is also why I thought it’d make sense for Husk to play a part in the Emmett role, since Emmett is kind of stuck to Callahan but is believes in Elle’s ability (which I think Husk does too towards the end of season 1 which is nice).

As for the big Wyndham trial it would basically be The Vees V. Angel Dust. Angel is the defendant (Brook Wyndham) who is accused of murdering Valentino (Hayworth Wyndham) but won’t give any information or alibi and won’t take a plea deal. I think it would make more sense but maybe be less impactful if Husk got him to confess he was innocent as opposed to Charlie (idk maybe both Husk and Charlie get him to say smth idk???) I think it would be funny tho if Angel wishes he did but is innocent and pissy about it for a bit.

Velvette maybe stands in as the pool boy but maybe instead of hinting at an affair like in the original it’s more having to do with Angel’s contract with Val and trying to work for Velvette but turns out it a baseless allegation and Velvette don’t not give af about Angel just tryna take shit off of Vox.

Speaking of! Lastly Vox would be the role of Chutney, and it would ultimately be revealed he killed Val thinking it was Angel. (The reason for tryna kill him is probably smth petty idk)

There are a lot of character I couldn’t think of concrete roles for but this was just a silly idea I had last night while listening to ready for this (like bruhhhh Charlie is so Elle woods especially the beginning) idk I hope it make sense somewhat or at the very least someone else finds it funny lol

[mack-timelines]

Phantom's Arcade au - (renamed arcade au)

(post not friendly for mobile users)

Welcome to the info drop UvU (unfinished artwork lol) Its order has been flipped due to the info being long and some people just want the au info in general, so for those who really want to read it efficiently: Phantom Funhouse Main 3 Background info Story Progression

For those who won't read the long thing, here's netflix type summary ig:

Sam, Max and Darla were normally enjoying the arcade the boys worked at until…Darla starts to wonder the mystery behind the ghostly arcade machine. As they dig deeper into Phantom's Funhouse, what will they find? will they ever be the same?

STORY PROGRESSION

Geek became very curious about the Phantom Arcade machine and started an investigation into it. She asks Sam and Max to help her with it, at first, they kept denying her because of the fearing of losing their job. Max also got curious too, so Sam didn’t have a choice but to agree. It started out with them hearing a bit of information about it, to getting too actual play the game at the right time and then Halloween is where they got to play it. They found it remarkable and the most fun they ever had. None of them have ever heard of the game and that’s where it all made it sense. Yeah, arcades where very popular back then, but why would this amusement arcade be THIS popular. They all wanted to know more, they’ve tried searching the game, any game similar to its format or appeal but nothing. Geek began to suspect the boss is hiding something or there is some evil motive to this addictive game. Sam and Max said they’ll start snooping around for her (mostly Max tho, small fast lol-). Max accidentally slept at work and was stuck in the mall, so he called Sam to come get him. They both got stuck there lol. At the same time, they were trying to figure out a way out, Phantom was there. They stayed hidden to not get in trouble. Phantom was chatting with Daniel about stuff they’ve never heard before, they were confused asf they started to think they’re from a different planet. Phantom told Daniel that he’ll see him at home then went into his office. As they saw him walked off, a bright light came from the office and the boys couldn’t hear Phantom anymore. Sam went to check inside, and he was gone. Both were so freaking confused and left as fast as they could out of the mall (Daniel was their way out lol). The next time they saw Geek they were frantically trying to tell her everything they see the other night; she was also confused.

When the boys had their break, them and Geek rushed to question Daniel. Daniel wasn’t budging even when they threaten to send the deranged lagomorph on him. Max was accusing him and his dad to be aliens, Dan couldn’t help but laugh, and Max was about to jump this man. Sam stopped him and asked where does him and his father live, Daniel told them freely, but he slipped up. After they search the address and no result was found, he was either lying but he said it which such confidence they began to start questioning what was really going on in that arcade. With more snooping they finally caught Phantom in the act of time travelling back home. Max busted in the room like HA WE CAUGHT YOU PUNK, Sam and Geek facepalming themselves-. It startled Phantom which caused him to press something he shouldn’t have in the elevator. It was off its safe procedure which prevents from causing a similar explosion which killed Phantom. Phantom shouted at them to get out, he couldn’t stop the explosion. Geek heard him over the electricity and sparks going on and told the boys they should get out of here. They were already on that lol-. They couldn’t make it all the way out, so the explosion got them. Daniel heard it and was trying to play it off as a little problem with electricity and made everyone get out of the arcade. Once they woke up, they were phantoms themselves. Sam was panicking, Geek panicking in silence wondering how the hell does this work and it took a while for Max to realize. When he did, he panicked a bit then was like this is cool. They all thought they were dead, but Daniel explained to them that they’re not. (They basically became Danny phantom pfft-). They couldn’t go home looking like horror movie ghost so when Phantom returned, he taught them how to turn back.

Phantom made a deal with them if they kept this a secret, he would teach them everything on how to live life as a phantom now. As much as Max would spill so much, they all agreed to the deal. In the end, Sam and Max worked at the Arcade until Phantom taught them everything. Geek had to move; she had all the training though; then everyone went their separate ways.

(the universe plays out with how they are now, expect Darla is an adult working with Mama Bosco and Sam & Max dealt with cases easier due to their Phantom powers~.)

MAIN 3 BACKGROUND INFO

Darla met the boys was because of Sam. So how geek met them is like, Sam was fixing one of the arcade machines and Darla noticed it and came up to him to say he’s doing something wrong. He doesn’t like kids trying to be smarter than him or a smart a$$. So, Sam was not having it with listening to a kid, so like he jokingly made geek do it herself and she fixed it no problem. Sam was a bit speechless and had to admit she was smart. He asked for her name, and everything pretty much went great after that. She also made one of the games there. Sam asked her to come again so he can introduce her to Max and boom friendship lol-. Max and Darla clicked due to their love for novels and a videogame they both love (respectfully for different reasons lol). Sam and Darla with smart banter, her and Max with childish/literacy banter.

Sam accidentally fell for Max with how affectionate he is. Max is obviously to this, and Sam doesn’t really want him to know anyway because he’s his childhood best friend. Unfortunately, it’s kind of useless due to his unexplained hatred for Max’s favourite game. Max has a crush on the main character/character you play in the game Dogman Adventures (made up game lol). It basically a buff, shirt-less, gun-shotting German shepherd and boy oh boy how Sam is jealous pfft-. Darla noticed and now teases Sam about it which he hates but he can’t hurt a kid on the job.

The nickname Geek is pretty self-explanatory. Sam only calls Darla Geek or The Geek while Max calls her by her actual name and The Geek as a form of teasing.

They can only hangout at the mall and arcade because no mother is leaving their young daughter alone with older teenage boys. No matter how “harmless” they are (lol) or smart how Geek is, her mother isn’t ok with it. Their personality is kind of the same ig lol

Nerd Sam, very talkative, will mostly be seen with a cap (sam and hats bro) he has a little sister (cartoon show ref), optimistic, hardworking only chaos driven because of Max, DND player def and tries to make max not get fired.

"Badboy" Max, talkative, cocky to taller younger kids, can be seen with heart glasses any color, doesnt mind working there but cant take it seriously, loves dogman with a passion pfft- and loves Fantasy novels.

The Geek Darla, doesnt talk as much as the boys or cant get a chance to-, Basically the 😒 face lol- seems more cheerier because of the boys, very intelligent high vocabulary, loves tech has pouch with little gadgets she's made and loves mystery novels.

PHANTOM FUNHOUSE

Phantom Funhouse is the amusement arcade where Sam and Max works at, with the afternoon shift because they’re still in school. From 3:45-6:00pm on Wednesdays to Fridays they come to work. It's in a mall, near the boys’ school, they gotta rush home to get ready lol.

Phantom or G. Navarro is the owner and boss of Phantoms Funhouse and is the whole mystery behind the place. Phantom died while experiencing with time travel in the future, but due to the blast he became a phantom or semi-permeable-. The reason he started an arcade in the past/80s-90s was for nostalgia and to give the kids a new experience with games. He missed the old days and he always loved arcades. He hired the boys because they seem very social, Sam’s smartness and kids around kids seemed sensible right. He time travels with something simliar to the Elevator from the games (Remember the mariachi band?). His son Daniel is basically the boss because his dad only shows up when it’s phantom arcade time lol-. He is not a ghost like his father.

There’s a phantom arcade machine which is the place attention grabber or sales point. An arcade game from the future. It’s there but it’s not real, well not yet. Phantom only puts it out at random times of the year or in VIP for Halloween. When you play it, you’re not allowed to give details on the game, just tell your experience, time playing and loving it. This makes people more curious and excited for a chance to play it, so they keep coming back.

[thelonesomequeen]

Seriously, they actually believe that calling his wife an escort and harassing him and they’re friends and family is actually helping him. They think they know more about him then he does. They even claimed they are trying to save his career 🤭//

and they continually blame it all on Chris because he brought her into their world. They never take any responsibility for their actions. It’s always it’s Chris’s fault.

Yep Chris has made them behave like they do and because they have this version of what AB is like in their heads they think it’s ok to body shame and name call her and not only her but just about anyone connected to either of them. The false accusations they started and others believe them. How many times have you seen her described as an escort and that other word with absolutely no evidence its true.

I can’t imagine what kind of DMs they have received.

The fact they can’t walk away shows just how obsessed they all are and you have to laugh at their excuses as to why they are still here. “I just want to see how it ends”, “I just here for the fun” etc

And everytime someone has a different opinion to them they are immediately labelled as a plant or someone from their team. Every time something happens it a plant or planned. God if you believe them AB spends all day on tumblr/IG/LSA.🙄

They are so predictable with their actions. It funny to watch

And they really think they know what Chris and co are doing all the time.

The most hilarious thing is they going on how they are not private and yet here we are not knowing anything about their lives. Now and then there’s but we see of her with friends or a sighting (which is always labeled as fake if it’s a him with her unless there’s pictures and even then they are called photoshopped or not them or old)

They go on about the thousands of articles about the wedding but again no real details of the event and we don’t even know if the whole NDA thing is actually true. I mean the articles can’t even agree on the location in MA and I think that’s the way Chris wants it. He has closed off from the public it’s so obvious and a small bit of that is because of the ‘crazy but we’re not crazy fans. If I saw like I did the other day someone wishing my partner would die I certainly would turn away from the public/fandom. The so called fandom/hate accounts have only themselves to blame.

[wilburzgutz-inactive]

literally open twt ONE time and it’s:

- people shitting on schlatt fans

- people shitting on minx

[sassyfrassboss]

I don’t know what the RF is up to but with the amount of soft power they hold, they could easily shut Harry and Meghan down. I was shocked today to see tweets from SS of Meghan holding monthly meetings with young people from the Commonwealth. I mean, how is the palace just standing by in this day and age of SM manipulation?! Their motto of keeping their heads down & carrying on is archaic. It needs to change to a certain degree. They should even start suing for defamation. Why not? I know H&M employ a bot army on Twitter to run their PR. Yesterday when her episode launched she trended with about 6000 tweets at its peak & then the trend disappeared & was hijacked by the authentic liar & narcissistic ##. I hope the D&D new coms guy from NBC is paying attention to ALL these details & coming up with a master plan. Media is now all about who pays. It’s no longer what it used to be & it’s worse in the USA where liberal media journalists get smothered for speaking truth to black women like MM lest they get accused of racism. Thankfully, Twitter is not representative of real life but it is the weapon they’re using to attack & destroy & launch a movement of some type. The goal is clearly to undermine the monarchy & they’re persistent. In the podcast she urges her fans to use a hashtag to help spread her message on IG. Only 60 of those were posted to IG. She can’t easily manipulate IG as well as they do Twitter. Much as they pretend to have no SM, they’re both very much present on all SM platforms, incognito & helping to rally the “army.” Going by the recent social-political trends that I’ve brought great nations havoc, it all started in small corners of the web & then grew into a tsunami with SM. I am not one to laugh off M&H. Times change & it is very apparent they’re disrupters by choice & are trying to garner support, paid or not. They’re enough insanely wealthy people who hate the monarchy. When TQ dies, Charles will be on shaky ground. They will persist further. MM is not Fergie. She is another Trump in the making. If William wants to grow & strengthen the monarchy for George & his great grandchildren, he’s going to have to play very hard ball. Going by first name basis to look normal to the public will not cut it. Nobody wants a casual monarchy, no matter what the critics say. The pomp & circumstance matters a lot. The most progressive countries in the world are monarchies. Culture & tradition remain at the core of every society. Diluting it now will only erode it going forward.

@the-empress-7 has three plans for the BRF to shut her down. One is to take away his Councilor of State, I think the other is to take away their commonwealth ties.

Meghan has done her best to undermine the BRF at every turn. I 100% agree that she and her followers did their best to ruin the Caribbean Tour for the Cambs.

[the-pjo-analyst]

Chapter 8 - We Capture a Flag

Theme of the day: Hidden motives

The most mild chapter title so far lolol.

Let’s start with Percy’s hidden motive: bringing his mother back from the underworld. At this point, Percy assumes that his mom died in the Minotaur attack and based on his mythological knowledge, knows that spirits can be brought back from the dead by going to the underworld and physically getting them back to the land of the living. I haven’t really touched on Percy’s grief, but we also only get small moments on it: his brief grieving after he wakes up in the Big House (when he’s like the whole world should be black and cold nothing should look beautiful 😭), his small toast to her with a blue drink, even his whole plan to go to the underworld is likely denial or bargaining. Tbh Percy hasn’t been given a lot of time to really process Sally’s apparent death since he’s been going from one thing to the next in the few days after it happened. But I think since he found a small ray of hope like... an hour after waking up at camp, he grabbed onto that and isn’t letting go anytime soon. What else is a child supposed to do after losing their parent? He’s certainly not given the guidance he’d need as someone who’s recently experienced that kind of loss either.

Compared to Percy or the other characters with hidden motives, Annabeth’s isn’t that extreme lol. After capture the flag, Percy finds out that Annabeth put him on border patrol to draw Clarisse’s attention, knowing she’d go after him bc of her hurt pride. And it went all according to keikaku. This might be far off, but I’ve been wondering if Annabeth had inklings that Percy is specifically a child of Poseidon? When she has that confirmation, she doesn’t really finish her thought of “I didn’t want...” so maybe it’s possible? Like “I didn’t want it to be true that you’re Poseidon’s kid, I assumed it would be Zeus bc he’s already has a strike. Having one god of the Big Three break the pact is bad enough” kind of thing? Could be another reason to put Percy on border patrol since it’s by the creek and she could possibly test out her theory? Again this might be a bit of a stretch 😂

Speaking of Poseidon, claiming Percy at the moment he did just screams hidden motives. Or maybe it’s a secret’s out might as well lol. Imagine Poseidon just chilling in his underwater palace and being like whelp the jig is up ig ahaha. But anyway, I think this was addressed later in the book? That Poseidon is accused of using Percy as a tool? Like he chose that moment instead of anytime earlier because he needed Percy to go on the quest for the master bolt. Maybe it’s a bit of both options lol.

While not revealed yet, Luke also has hidden motives as an agent of Kronos. So far the only indication that something is amiss is Chiron stating that someone from camp summoned the hellhound, when they’re not supposed to be in the camp’s forest. I can remember if he did anything else besides the obvious stealing of a certain lightning bolt and shadow helm and blaming it on Percy lmao. I’ve already talked a little about Luke’s reasons for being Kronos’s agent in my previous chapter post and I don’t have that much to add to it probably until the last chapter lol. So I’ll hold off on it.

Shout out to the characters without hidden motives like Grover who really wants to be a searcher! Clarisse who just wants to beat up Percy 😂 All the campers who only wanted to have a good game of capture the flag and have their side win without all this hellhound-Big Three-child-claiming nonsense haha. Also Annabeth because her main goal rn is going on a quest.

Small things:

Luke being a good mentor makes me go hnnnnngggg

GROVER’S SHADE AT ZEUS THAT HAVING AFFAIRS IS HIS JOB NOT HERA’S SJDFHSDFJ

Oh dear Percy’s already feeling inferior of Thalia and she’s a tree rn

Previous: Chapter 7 - My Dinner Goes Up in Smoke

Next: Chapter 9 - I Am Offered a Quest

[jechristine]

I think the person saying the only thing keeping Sam Levinsons career afloat is nepotism and that he’s a problem for HBO is so interesting. I don’t think HBO would have given him another show if he was that big of a problem. I don’t think Zendaya or Sydney would be publicly praising him if he were a problem. Judd Apatow (Maude’s dad) recently did an interview praising the show AND Sam saying he doesn’t understand how he does it all. I don’t know that a dad would be praising his daughters boss publicly if he was such a problem (also let’s not forget that Euphoria was not Maudes first time working with Sam).

Let’s also talk about how Sam’s wife Ashley is his producing partner. They recently produced X, M&M, she produces Euphoria too, she produced Pieces of a Woman with Vanessa Kirby, which scored Kirby a Oscar nomination. She won a producing award with Z, was part of THR’s producing round table. I can’t imagine she would be on set and allow her husband and producing partner to have bad behavior. I think a lot of the discourse about Sam tbh is false narratives created by viewers/ fans who, rightfully so, weren’t thrilled about Euphoria S2. Sydney Sweeney said Sam was the best director she’s worked with and that his set is the safest she’s felt doing topless/ intimate scenes and her words were spun like she had to put Sam in his place for wanting her to be nude. Even Barbie had nice words for him and his work at the FYC event. Proving that it was probably just a creative disagreement, which is v common in Hollywood. Look at what’s happening with Fast & Furious….

I don’t think people have to like him/his work. I just think it’s bizarre that people have painted this man as a villain or a problem for HBO when that just doesn’t seem to be the case. I also don’t think HBO would GRANT the hiatus on The Idol for them to rework the end and then allow Sam to direct if he was such a big problem.

Well, I’m no Sam Levinson stan. True, I don’t think he’s a problem for HBO because, like I said, he got them ratings and buzz and may do so again in another show. As for him reworking The Idol—I don’t think we have many facts about what’s going on there, and it could be run-of-the-mill. I think Sam’s privilege combined with his past Euphoria success (which itself can never be extricated from his privilege) probably does get him a bit of extra leverage. Still, I wouldn’t call him a “villain” as I think he’s probably a complicated person like anyone with some good qualities.

I do think he showed himself in S2 to be a bad writer and sort of a pretentious, mastubatory director. I do think there’s enough evidence to suggest he may be at times unprofessional and disrespectful, even creepy, of his cast & crew’s bodies and time, probably with some notable exceptions like Zendaya (although I’m thinking of her birthday IG stories when she was waiting to take off for Venice, and I’m…wondering to what extent she’s 100% an exception).

I absolutely think Sydney and Barbie would lie through their teeth to publically praise Sam and their HBO experience, especially when trying to walk back…problematic overshares/leaks. They are not very established in their careers, and even rumors that they’re difficult to work with would end those careers immediately. I’m pretty nervous for Barbie, actually.

As for Judd Apatow—I think he’s a proud dad as he should be. I’ve enjoyed lots of his work, but he’s shown himself to be kind of up his own ass this year, so maybe not the most reliable narrator. Sam’s wife co-producing does not persuade me one way or another since I don’t know anything about her. (I don’t think Sam is being accused of assault or sexual harassment, exactly, is he?)

I think Zendaya has affection for Sam and she’s obviously grateful for her entire Rue experience for the reasons I mentioned. I didn’t see a full-throated defense of Sam in response to the many 2022 criticisms, however, but maybe I missed it. What I did hear between the lines, so to speak, was Zendaya sort of shifting to thinking of herself as more of Sam’s equal this time around, getting him to rewrite Rue’s story and other plot elements. Good for her.

[waynedunlaptheorgandonor]

watched s11ep1

i will provide you with a quick review before i disappear back into the ether of twd avoidance

lots of spoilers under the cut. also i wrote way too much and i worked all night and haven’t slept so i didn’t bother to reread literally any of it, so it might be completely nonsensical, tho if you don’t expect that from me by this point idk whose blog you’ve been reading

enjoy:

hokay, first off, i’ll start by saying that i enjoyed it more than i expected to. i’ve been avoiding any sort of discussion about stuff, but my google algorithm is so fucked at this point that i still get recommended articles and stuff every now and then, so i was already pretty aware of what i was walking into, and was expecting it to be eh, but actually i prob enjoyed it more than i enjoyed the finale

(don’t get too excited tho, the finale was rly boring lmfao)

anyway

episode starts off with a tense scouting mission

it takes .005 seconds into the episode for caryl to exchange a look of longing, establishing that they are still having weird conflict and are both too fucking stubborn to do anything about it even tho they hate it desperately

i imagine that will continue for a while

rosita, kelly, carol, maggie, what’s her face with the bad hair, and lydia (i think that’s everyone?) lower down to some army bunker or something, where a bunch of walkers are taking a snooze, and the girls are very respectful of walker naptime, and do their best not to wake them up

obviously they eventually wake up, but i’ll get to that in a sec

as they’re tiptoeing through the walker tulips, there’s this split second where carol spots a machine gun, and looks at maggie with a face like, “can i plzzzz, i am mad horny for that machine gun,” but maggie tells her no. (i 110% expected her to defy orders and accidentally wake up all the walkers, but she actually behaved herself for once. well. mostly)

never fear, tho, after the girl gang collects a bunch of MREs they go back to wait for the dudes waiting up top to pull them up, and bc men ruin everything, one of the ropes break, and daryl catches it before it falls, but then a slow motion drop of blood falls on a walker’s face, and just like that, walker naptime is over, and carol uses her bow and arrow for two seconds before she is like “fuck this” and whips out the machine gun

yes, she is super hot using it

yes, daryl watches her do it

anyway, all the other girls get rescued, and carol is about to be pulled up, but bc she is a #girlboss, she first makes a beeline for one more crate full of MREs. daryl covers her while she gets the loot, and when she gets back up top they have another charged moment as carol hands him back his knife

just fuck already, jfc

titles!

cut to alexandria where everything is still not smilestimes

BUT, we do get to see uncle daryl run and hug rj and judith (and dog), and FUCKING HERSHEL JR, LIGHT OF MY LIFE is also there

istg, they could not have casted a better child, i a d o r e him

oh, and some friends of maggie’s show up too, idk

cut to a staff meeting where everyone is like, whomp whomp, we’re all gonna starve to death unless we figure out something quick

cue maggie going, “oh, i know where food is, but it requires me to tell you my tragic backstory, in case anyone didn’t watch my bottle episode”

she tells her dramatic backstory about all her friends getting slaughtered by the reapers for no apparent reason, and then she’s like “anyway, let’s go back there!”

no one thinks it’s a great idea, but a group of people decide to go anyway, including daryl and gabriel. rosita is super pissed that gabriel is going, and carol doesn’t go, probably partly bc it’s a shitty fucking idea, and also bc they have to keep caryl apart bc otherwise they’ll fix their problems ahead of schedule and they won’t be able to drag out the needless angst

daryl looks kind of annoyed that carol doesn’t volunteer to go 

bitch, i thought you wanted her to stop putting herself in the line of fire! make up your damn mind!

moving on

cut to a thunderstorm, where, if you look closely, you’ll notice daryl is wearing the STUPIDEST hat i’ve ever seen. just get an umbrella, jfc

for some reason negan is with them, bc ig he knows his way around washington dc, and no one in six years has bothered to figure out how to get around the city and/or get a map, and he is like “hey guys, maybe we shouldn’t try to walk in this fucking hurricane,” and everyone is like “FUCK YOU NEGAN, YOU’RE NOT THE BOSS OF US!!!” 

this will be a common occurrence 

but eventually daryl is even like “actually, it’s rly unpleasant out here, and my hat is mad stupid, can we go inside plz?”

so they go inside an old metro station, which is actually a rly cool cinematic choice. i rly like the idea, and they executed it rly well

speaking of executions

there are some fucking RULL CREEPY walkers. idk why they bothered me so badly, but they were what they at first assumed were corpses wrapped up in tarps, but turns out none of them had been properly put down, so they go through killing these rotted bodies that had supposedly been there since The Fall, and it’s very gross and cool

this entire time, btw, negan is like “hey, i know i’m a shitty person, but i have some rational arguments about why we shouldn’t be doing this right now,” and everyone is like, “FUCK YOU NEGAN, YOU’RE NOT THE BOSS OF US!!!” and he’s just like “god fucking damnit”

(i forgot to mention that at one point, when they’re headed into the metro station, negan is trying to warn ppl of the potential danger, and everyone is ignoring him, and he tries to talk to daryl, and daryl is like “fuck you, you think we’re BUDDIES?” and negan is like “oh, ok, so you’re gonna be like that too? fanfreakingtastic” and it’s very funny)

anyway. a fat monster zombie escapes its tarp at one point, and tries to eat some npc, and negan saves him, again is like “hey, anyone else realize that this is a FUCKING BAD PLAN?”, and everyone is like “we don’t care, you’re still shitty and we’re not listening to you, and you don’t actually care about random npc i would literally not be able to pick out in a lineup bc his face is so generic, you’re not the boss of us!!!”

it’s at this point that negan finally is like, “why am i even here? bc i know how to get around washington dc? do none of you have a map?” and i was like, “right?! that’s what i said!” 

it’s then revealed that maggie only brought negan along to murder him under the guise of “oops, he got hurt in the line of duty, it wasn’t my fault,” and daryl has this look on his face that says, “i seriously need to stop hanging out with lethal women bent on revenge bc it’s gonna give me high blood pressure,” and maggie has a badass moment where she points a gun she has for some reason at negan and is like “i have like, one shred of human compassion left inside of me, and if you keep pushing me i will fucking kill you without a second thought, so shut the hell up”

(in her defense, negan had just dropped glenn’s name to purposely antagonize her, which was rude as hell)

(for the record, i’m completely on maggie’s side here, but negan still is right that trapping themselves in a metro station is a bad call)

anyway, moving away from that briefly

i think this jump cut happens sooner, i don’t actually remember, but whatever who cares, point is, we get to the part of the show that actually matters, and that’s anything involving my love, juanita “princess” sanchez

and also eugene, yumiko, and ezekiel

they are being asked increasingly invasive questions by commonwealth ppl, some of which i wish they actually would of answered (what do they use to wipe their asses with?? surely toilet paper has long since become extinct)

zeke, who is so much more tolerable as a character now that he’s not larping as a king, has this incredibly weird and sort of sexually charged moment with a dude in an orange stormtrooper costume, where he’s like, “i bet you were an asshole cop back before The Fall, you stupid fascist, #fuckthepolice, mb literally? idk, this moment has a lot of pent up aggression that could easily translate to hate sex, it might just be the intense eye contact, but w/e, let’s just move along,” and then he has a coughing fit to remind the audience that he’s currently dying of cancer, and orange stormtrooper is like “lolz, loser, drink some water you dumb piece of shit”

cut to the wholesome foursome sitting at a picnic table in a guarded courtyard eating gruel, and yumkio, who finally has a personality, and princess are like “hey, this place fucking sucks, can we leave?” and zeke is like, “yeah, i met this orange stormtrooper who i think might be dtf and/or murder, so we should probably bounce”

but eugene is like, “but i want some hot stephanie ass, and also some bullshit excuse about how mb commonewealth will save alexandria” which, they left before things went super downhill, right? idr. it was after hilltop fell, but they don’t know alexandria got fucked either, if i recall? w/e, not important

two seconds after he says this, they talk to some people who are like “we’ve been here for four months, or maybe it’s been nine, i don’t actually remember, i’ve stopped processing the passage of time,” and the wholesome foursome takes this as a bad sign, tho that’s just the life i’ve lived as a night worker during a pandemic, so i was like #mood

but then they watch some guy get dragged away screaming to get “reprocessed” and eugene is like “ok, nvm, let’s bounce”

(my theory on what “reprocessing” is, is that they’re stuck in a room and have to watch hours and hours of customer service training videos on vhs from the 90s)

i definitely got my jump cut scenes mixed up bc i think the negan accusing maggie of a murder plot thing happened in between this scene and then the next commonwealth scene, but w/e, i’ll just finish what happens in the commonwealth arch

the wholesome foursome are trying to hatch a plan to escape, except princess, my love, is distracted watching some stormtroopers flirt, and the other three are like “wtf, dude, how can you even tell any of them apart?” and princess then tells them every stormtroopers backstory bc she is brilliant and pays rly close attention to shit, and the other three are like, “this is useful information, thank you for being an insane person”

their plan involves yumiko and eugene dressing up as stormtroopers and leading princess and zeke out of the place, which works fine actually, except on their way out they come across the Depressing Wall of Probably Mostly Dead Missing Loved Ones

they’re about to leave, when princess is like, “wait, yumiko, you’re on here, that’s weird huh?”

sure enough, yumiko  is on the wall, with a note from ig her sister 

the scene ends with yumiko going, “guys...i can’t leave...i have tragic backstory to unveil”

tragic backstory to be continued ig

back in murder metro town, npc and some other npc have stolen all the supplies, there’s a train blocking the track, and a horde of walkers are coming towards them, so things are not going fantastic

they horde is too big to take down, so they start to climb on top of the train car to get away

but dog runs away!

and daryl, being every pet owner ever, is like “gotta go get my dog, guys, try not to get killed while i’m gone, c u soon!” and he ducks under the train and disappears

#priorities

the episode ends with maggie climbing up the train car but getting grabbed by a walker and dangling off the edge, and negan is there and they have a lion king moment where maggie is like, “scar! help me!” and negan is like “long live the king, bitch” and walks away into the shadows, leaving maggie to a potential death

which, while i know isn’t actually going to happen, would be a really fucking funny move on the writers’ part

like, “look, lauren’s back! and now she’s dead, bet you didn’t expect that!”

anyway

my assumption is negan will actually end up helping her up or something, continuing his ambiguous morality bullshit that actually isn’t ambiguous bc he BEAT GLENN TO DEATH WITH A FUCKING BAT WRAPPED IN BARBED WIRE IN FRONT OF HIS PREGNANT WIFE

the maggie/negan arch is kind of dumb, but whatevs, i’ll tolerate it, as long as my boy glenn gets justice in the end

anyway, cue credits!

final assessment: good episode. i’m much more interested in commonwealth than the reapers, tho i am hoping that daryl’s personality-less ex turns out to be a monster killing machine with no conscience, that’ll be fun. princess is a gift from god. hershel jr needs his own tv show. needs more carol (and caryl)

the end! going back into my walking dead free chamber! see you next episode!

-diz

[radiantmists]

i feel like this is gonna be an unpopular opinion but i sometimes see people talk about grizzop as a sort of paragon of logic and morality and it always bugs me.

bc like. yes, i love grizzop. and i think it’s clear that he is very much trying to be good, and he’s very committed to doing what he sees as the right thing. 

but the same are true for azu and hamid and plenty of characters, and i don’t think he’s any better at moral reasoning than most of the rest of the party. i think the impression that he is comes from his unshakeable confidence and his mastery of what I’ve started to think of as catholic logic. 

(this is fairly stream of consciousness and i’m not gonna tag it bc it’s not gonna be entirely coherent or especially well argued, i’m just getting some thoughts down. but my understanding is that sometimes untagged stuff shows up in search, plus ig i have followers, so feel free to reply and discuss this, i’d actually love that. but not much i say here is stuff i’m super confident about so... please don’t get too offended by my wrongness. just tell me why you feel im wrong without aggression, or move on.)

the first bit is the confidence. we don’t ever see grizzop have a moral crisis in the way that most of the other characters do. I can’t think of a time that he’s appeared to look back on something he’s done and wonder if it was wrong; the closest that occurs to me is when he regretted shooting the guy’s legs off in the cairo bar, but tbh i think that was more of a judgement error where he expected to hurt the person much less than he did. we don’t see him question things like flooding the orc town near damascus or dragging sasha into the politics of ancient rome when she didn’t want to be, and honestly, i think this lack is mostly to do with how short a time he was with the party.

most of the arcs he were present for were focused on hamid and sasha’s growth. where he played respectively the accuser and the protector, both roles that made him look good because they cast him as the arbiter of who was right. 

i think hamid, especially, bought into this in the cairo arc, because i think hamid is very consciously in the process of recalibrating his moral compass at the time and he has a marked tendency to do so based on the people he admires-- and the loudest voice in the room. hamid really doesn’t like people he admires having a problem with him, and he already felt that he wasn’t necessarily a good person, so he was very open to seeing grizzop or azu as the authority on whether he could be good, and since grizzop pushed where azu prevaricated, grizzop was the one who got the final say.

but in the same arc, you can see sasha and azu starting to question grizzop’s moral compass; sasha notices how legalistic grizzop’s judgement is, and that it really ought to condemn her too, while azu takes issue with how brutal grizzop’s methods are (see punching wilde). but neither of them are willing to press the issue with him at that point, and so he’s never really confronted with something that contradicts him.

and notably, grizzop’s confidence comes from the obvious source: he believes that artemis is inviolably good, and he knows she approves of what he’s doing because his powers still work. but there’s an arrogance here, too, a very strong belief in his own moral superiority with the slightest confirmation; look at rome, where he refuses to listen to azu and ed’s assertions that there’s something wrong with the gods there, because he was able to bull through to artemis the one time he tried, so obviously he must just be a better paladin of a better god, right?

grizzop has very strong beliefs and opinions, and he takes whatever route works best to fulfill them-- both in terms of actions, and in terms of logic. take his decision to forgive/endorse hamid near the end of the cairo arc: by his own assertions, people should experience consequences for their actions, and we know he knows what manslaughter is because he brings it up when hamid first starts talking about accidental murder. but where saleh and carter belong in jail because they’re ~bad~, hamid is allowed to continue on because he’s ‘trying to be better’, never mind that that  was hamid’s whole argument about why saleh didn’t deserve to go to jail. plus, saleh’s one goal when he thought he’d killed someone was to resurrect them, which imo makes a lot more sense as a redemptive gesture than going around killing entirely unrelated people. the rules are different because grizzop likes hamid (and probably a bit because ben didn’t want to break the party, but shhh).

this twisting of the logic to fit what you’re trying to prove is what i mean by ‘catholic logic’ (i’m catholic dont @ me); it sounds really good if you don’t think about it too hard, but in fact it’s generally post-facto rationalizations for decisions that have already been made.

grizzop is very enthusiastic about poking holes in other people’s moral reasoning, as we see with apophis, but i think his issue is that he’s got a blind spot when he looks at himself and his own decisions. in grizzop’s world, grizzop is right as long as artemis is still with him and everything else comes after.

now i’m personally of  the opinion that alex doesn’t bother/want to engage with the idea that gods take away powers, post-poseidon nonsense, which if true i sympathize with; doing so is either going to lead to the sort of inscrutability zolf had a meltdown over, or put a player in the weird position of making their character do what alex has decided their god would require or having to entirely reinvent the character without those divine powers.

on another meta level, my understanding is that grizzop  was designed to be very resistant to doubt because of ben’s difficulties playing zolf, so i think he might have been nearly as resistant to growth on that front as bertie was in general, because believing unshakeably that he’s right is a core element of his character. 

but i think if grizzop had lived longer, alex absolutely would have done some hammering at that absolute conviction. that might have come in the form of vesseek and the fact that grizzop is apparently an absentee father; even if he is sending home money, i can’t imagine that not being something that gets mined for angst. 

i also think he would have eventually come into a similar sort of conflict with azu, sasha, or cel (whoever was there) that zolf is in right now, where he absolutely believes that whatever killing he’s committed/intending to commit is not only right but a moral imperative, and they disagree. 

now whatever side you fall on in the barrett debate, i think grizzop ought to be a lot less willing than zolf to say ‘i’m not gonna go through you lot to do it’, not because i’m convinced grizzop would be hugely more willing to physically fight the rest of the team over it, we know that despite his practicality he seems to overlook some ‘’’wobbles’’’ in people he already cares about,  but because zolf is capable of giving up on something in a way that grizzop just isn’t. i dont know how that would play out; chances are, it would get interrupted by a fight, but. who knows.

[renegadewangs]

Van Zieks - the Examination, part 4

Warnings: SPOILERS for The Great Ace Attorney: Chronicles. Additional warning for racist sentiments uttered by fictional characters (and screencaps to show these sentiments).

Disclaimer: (see  Part 1 for the more detailed disclaimer.) - These posts are not meant to be taken as fact. Everything I’m outlining stems from my own views and experiences. If you believe that I’ve missed or misinterpreted something, please let me know so I can edit the post accordingly. -The purpose of these posts is an analysis, nothing more. Please do not come into these posts expecting me to either defend Barok van Zieks from haters, nor expecting me to encourage the hatred. - I’m using the Western release of The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles for these posts, but may refer to the original Japanese dialogue of Dai Gyakuten Saiban if needed to compare what’s said. This also means I’m using the localized names and localized romanization of the names to stay consistent. -It doesn’t matter one bit to me whether you like Barok van Zieks or dislike him. However, I will ask that everyone who comments refrains from attacking real, actual people.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

It’s time to take a close look at Episode 2 of the second game, The Memoirs of the Clouded Kokoro!

Episode 2-2: The Memoirs of the Clouded Kokoro

Remember how in the last episode we vaguely got Barok on our side near the end of the trial by proving Mrs. Garrideb was actually involved in the crime? … Yeah. Forget that progress. It's being undone. Case 2-2 is the first case of the second game which features Barok, which unfortunately means he needs to be 'reintroduced' to the audience and it takes him back several steps in his growth. It makes sense, I suppose, it would've been weird starting a new game with him already being lightly on Ryu's side. Even so, it's a bit insulting how this case acts as if the chronologically previous one accomplished nothing.

So anyway, this case flashbacks to something which supposedly happened right after the first game's fourth case. The day after Soseki's acquittal, even. Turns out, Soseki awoke to find one of the other tenants in his building dead and asked Ryu for help, but (S)Holmes tagged along. Gregson is at the crime scene, keeping an eye on the place and on Soseki in particular since he's suspicious. (Sure, Gregson. Sure. Has nothing to do with the Reaper's curse, probably.) After some investigation with (S)Holmes, Gregson has enough evidence to actually arrest Soseki, which definitely feels like a step backwards. A bit later, it turns out the victim is Not Actually Dead Yet. Again! The Great Ace Attorney really enjoys throwing us for a loop by pretending we're in for another murder case.

Anyway, during the course of the investigation, I found two mentions of Van Zieks. The first is when you investigate the broken glasses and bottles in the victim's room. Susato is immediately reminded of Lord van Zieks.

And when examining Garrideb's old army uniform, Susato points out it might suit Lord van Zieks.

Haha, as if his usual outfit isn't ostentatious enough already. So we learn that Susato doesn't have a very high opinion of him at all, and I should hope it's not still related to that time he called detective novels pathetic. It's fun of them to refer to him in an investigation that he's not involved in in any way, especially when they don't know yet that he's the prosecution again.

Speaking to Soseki in the gaol, we're once again told that he's had a dreadful time in England so far. He sees foreigners everywhere and he's sure they're all laughing at him. He's been so on edge the past year that he's moved 'more times than he can remember'. So once again, we're reminded that racial prejudice in 1900s England is a focal point of this game's story. Once the conversation is over, Gregson appears to let the gang know that the victim has regained consciousness and is accusing Soseki of poisoning him. We're going to trial for an attempted murder charge, y'all!

The next day, in the defendant's lobby, Susato comes bursting in with the dreadful news that Barok van Zieks has once again taken on the prosecution. It's definitely safe to assume now that either Ryu or Soseki is the reason he's taking on these not-really-murder trials when he normally wouldn't. As I mentioned before, this is his reintroduction in the second game and so the game feels compelled to remind the player of what went down in case 1-4:

He sure did! The game also once again reminds us what the Reaper's Curse entails, and that perhaps that's the reason why Soseki is on trial yet again. He's doomed, perhaps. Susato also informs us that (S)Holmes is running late, just as he was two days ago, and Ryu thinks that's a good thing because if the Great Detective were there, Ryu might come to rely on his help.

… I suppose? He already relies on Susato for help and I feel like that would warrant far more 'preying' from Van Zieks than relying on a male, adult British detective for help. Though knowing (S)Holmes, he'd end up stealing the show and taking the words from Ryu's mouth, but that doesn't seem to be what Ryu's worried about here. I suppose the main point to take away from this remark is that Ryu wants to do as much as he can by himself. He wants to appear strong in front of Van Zieks to avoid presenting an easy target, and I think this might actually be the first time we see a sentiment like that from him. Is he afraid of Van Zieks? Does he actually care about the man's opinion? Anyway, he swears to show Van Zieks what a Japanese lawyer can do.

Inside the courtroom, Van Zieks does the usual prosecutor spiel about how the defense needs to be ready for defeat. Ryu thinks to himself that Van Zieks has a particular animosity towards Japanese people for some reason.

Good thing we got a second game in the series, eh? So because the defendant was on trial only two days ago, the same jurors were chosen where possible. The only juror not returning is Mrs. Garrideb, who's too busy being in prison. Her spot is now taken by a very fancy lady we later learn to be the wife of the Altamont Gas Company's owner. She may as well be the CEO herself with how she's acting, though. Anyway, Van Zieks addresses the jurors directly.

“However, the innocent verdict afforded to this eccentric Nipponese before... has had dire consequences. Did the accused repent for his wrongdoing in that affair? Far from it. Instead, he used his freedom to perpetrate a most blood-curdling crime!”

Van Zieks makes record time by taking off his cloak immediately after this line. He's gone straight into overdrive. The witnesses summoned this time are Inspector Gregson and... Soseki? It's very irregular for the defendant to be testifying, especially this early in the trial and especially by the prosecution's request. I can't really make much of it. It feels like the only reason Soseki is testifying is for this joke:

Also found when examining the testimony is a remark from Van Zieks that I honestly found shocking in how ferocious and scummy it is.

Unnecessary, that remark. It didn't need to exist at all in my opinion. So after Ryu shatters the testimony and scatters Gregson's fish 'n chips, Van Zieks calmly pours himself a glass of wine. I have to be honest, by now whenever he does this I'm left wondering what he'll do next. Will he crush the chalice? Will he throw it? Will he actually take a sip? The versatility of the action and unpredictable nature of Van Zieks add a bit of suspense. Turns out, his mind wandered during the testimony.

And then he ends up crushing the glass in his hand anyway. Alas, poor chalice. We knew it. So after a bit of debating back and forth about whether Shamspeare drank the supposedly-poisoned-tea after Soseki left the room, Van Zieks suddenly falls silent. We get three different, consecutive frames of him going “......” and when the judge asks what's wrong, he says this:

Supersonic hearing, this one. That is, unless the carriage entered the courthouse and literally pulled up in the hallway outside the room? Haven't we learned our lesson from the last time a carriage was driven into the Old Bailey?! So Shamspeare was apparently subpoenaed by the prosecution and has shown up to testify (with his doctor's permission). Bad news for us, since he's the one accusing Soseki in the first place. There's also a second witness to support Shamspeare's insistence there were no other visitors to the room and therefore only Soseki could have poisoned him. After that testimony is over, Van Zieks gets his wish and all the jurors vote guilty.

Van Zieks really seems to think that Soseki is a terrible person deserving of justice, huh? He was right there during the previous trial, saw Ryu prove without a shadow of a doubt that Soseki was innocent and still insists that justice will be done “this time”. Calm the heck down man, you're the one who sided with us when Mrs. Garrideb needed to testify, remember? And here comes another example of the game pretending the previous trials didn't leave an impact; when the Summation Examination is brought up, it's with disdain and this remark:

Bro, we used the Summation Examination successfully like five times already. Sit your butt down and watch the show. The jurors once again give prejudiced reasons for their decisions:

And unfortunately, instead of changing their minds by proving Soseki is a morally upstanding, innocent citizen, Ryu instead gets through this Summation Examination by basically proving Shamspeare is a worse person than Soseki. That's... not the direction you should be taking here, narrative. After convincing four of the jurors that Shamspeare is a fishy liar, Van Zieks flings another chalice of wine in frustration. The judge still thinks he could technically pass a ruling on the trial, since the new information didn't exactly disprove that Soseki is the culprit, but the jurors have been influenced so thoroughly that they can't let this new info go ignored. Testimony from the Altamont Company is allowed! Van Zieks thinks it's a waste of time, of course, and if this were reality it would be. Since it's an Ace Attorney game, we know Shamspeare's gas thievery is bound to somehow be related to the incident. Van Zieks flings yet another chalice after hearing the testimony (how many has it been already? Five?) and very shortly after, he tosses the entire bottle over his shoulder. Susato points out that he seems to be in a violent mood. I feel like someone must've pissed in his oatmeal that morning, because I've got no real explanation for why his character regressed this badly in the course of what chronologically was only two days.

Van Zieks flings two more chalices as the testimony progresses to prove that Shamspeare made fake coins to fool the gas meter. At the end of it all, he supposedly 'throws his hand up in despair and happened to catch his hallowed bottle along the way', flinging yet another one of those into the gallery. I'm starting to feel very bad for the people seated behind him now. Is the game overdoing these quirky animations to compensate for his regressed attitude? Because I'm not sure it's working... Van Zieks continues to insist that the situation hasn't changed and only Soseki could have poisoned the victim, so he calls for immediate adjucation. The game gives Ryu the option to either object or wait and see, and I have to be honest, this gave me pause. After what happened with the penalties in case 1-4, I was sure Van Zieks might dish out more punishment for waiting and seeing. Turns out, he doesn't. Ryu points out that Shamspeare likely used the tea to make these fake frozen coins of his, meaning there's still tea left at the scene of the crime which can be tested for poison.

Head in my hands right now. Again, I get it, they basically had to reintroduce Van Zieks to newcomers of the game (however few there might've been) so they had to regress him a bit, but I really don't like this. He honestly felt like he'd grown at the end of 1-4 and the game's not only undone it, it feels like they've made him even more of a scumbag. This line and this gesture honestly doesn’t quite correspond with the character established in the previous game. Anyway, court adjourned till the next day so the police can test the tea for poison.

During the investigation segment, we get a conversation that I'd quite honestly forgotten even exists. Turns out, (S)Holmes and Van Zieks are acquainted! ...or are they? (S)Holmes says he 'must pass the time of day with Mr. Reaper again, as it's been too long' and when asked whether they're acquainted, (S)Holmes replies that there isn't a person in the world who doesn't know his name, expertly dodging the question. Naturally, a new conversation topic opens up about it, so we can still attempt to needle more details out of him.

He explains the history of the Reaper's curse a bit more. Previous defendants found not-guilty would 'disappear from the capital' by falling under a passing carriage, drowning in the Thames, succumbing to a sudden fever... Etc. Susato points out that if those rumors are true, then surely the obvious conclusion would be that they were killed by Van Zieks's own hand. (S)Holmes points out that's impossible, since Van Zieks was already investigated on the matter before and for every single incident, he had a solid alibi. (This... doesn't disprove Van Zieks had anything to do with it, but okay (S)Holmes. Sure.) (S)Holmes also rubs it in yet again that Van Zieks retired from the courts five years ago and didn't return until the day Naruhodo arrived. I honestly don't know why they keep bringing that 5 year hiatus up in every single case, because as far as I can recall it was never fully explained or relevant.

I love how “foul smell” is wedged in-between those two topics as if it's also related. Anyway the conversation continues when Ryu brings up that Van Zieks seems to have a particular disdain for Japanese people. Susato demands to know whether (S)Holmes knows a bit more about it and while he's silent at first, he relents and tells us a tale (which will apparently be forgotten by Ryu and Susato in case 1-5). Van Zieks “chose to enter the legal profession ten years ago, but before that time, the man's closest companion hailed from the empire of Japan”. Which is a wording that baffles me, because it implies that Van Zieks chose to enter the legal profession at the same moment that Japanese person betrayed him, which we know is not the case. He was already in training to be a prosecutor before that, otherwise how could he possibly have prosecuted the Professor trial? Ryu is shocked and asks to know more, but (S)Holmes says the veil on the events from the past will be lifted soon enough. I'll get back to the implications of what this means for Van Zieks's backstory when we hit this exact same reveal in case 1-5.

Van Zieks is mentioned very little in the rest of the investigation segments. We only learn that he tasked Gregson with finding new clues, much to Gregson's dismay, as there isn't much to be found. The Inspector does immediately leap at new information when we uncover it, which implies he's eager to either please Van Zieks or avoid being scolded by him. I'm assuming the latter, but it's also possible Gregson feels guilty over the whole Reaper thing and Klint's autopsy, and is now compensating by working his hardest to fulfill Van Zieks's requests.

At the very end of the investigation, when evening falls, (S)Holmes reminds us that “it'll be hard to escape the grip of our friend, Mr. Reaper”. The next day, in the defendant's lobby just before the trial begins, Ryu thinks to himself that he doesn't believe in the legend of the Reaper any more than he believes in the convict's curse Soseki keeps mentioning. What's interesting here is that Ryu isn't dreading the confrontation anymore. After the McGilded trial he seemed genuinely intimidated by the concept of going up against Van Zieks (not because of the racism but because of what happened to his first defendant), but now he's not so hesitant anymore. He's beginning to see that Van Zieks can be defeated, that the Reaper thing is nonsense and that protecting his client is a fight worth fighting.

Into the courtroom we go for day 2 of the trial! When the judge asks about the results of the tea test, Van Zieks is silent for a moment. He pours himself a glass of wine, asking for a moment to “savour a liquid of a more sanguine hue”, then refers to Gregson for the full report. Gregson confirms no poison was found in the tea remains, but the prosecution wouldn't be the prosecution (and the game would be pretty boring) if they didn't have a backup plan. When Ryu proclaims Soseki is innocent, Van Zieks accuses him of jumping to conclusions, “a typical Nipponese reaction”. It's also a typical prosecution reaction to be hypocritical, no surprises here. He throws his chalice (first one of the day) and summons Shamspeare back to the stand to testify about how Soseki's unpoisoned and undrank cup of tea had been used to make the ice coins.

There's some lines here that I thought I might as well include:

“Yet on occasion, tedium distracts me and I pour more times than I intended until the bottle is dry.”

You know, it occurs to me that this drink is pretty much confirmed to be wine. He's very extra when talking about it himself, but he had his silly little wine analogies in the previous case and Susato referred to his glasses as “wine glasses”. And you would think it's obvious that it's wine, but we know Ace Attorney's long history with 'grape juice'. Either way, this dialogue leaves a pretty harsh implication that Van Zieks drinks alcohol simply to distract himself from troublesome moods. Sure, he says “tedium”, but this is a stoic prosecutor in the year 1900. They referred to depression as “melancholia” back then, and since he doesn't appear to have any friends, I expect he experiences “tedium” quite often outside the courtroom. He apparently set a rule for himself not to fill his glass more than seven times during a trial which, in turn, implies he's aware any more would cause problems. All of this is moot, of course, since 80% of the wine he pours for himself ends up on the floor between shards of glass. Still, though... Zieks, are you okay?

I don't think he is, because he pulls a very dirty trick here. Ryu proves Soseki drank all his tea and therefore it couldn't possibly have been used, so Van Zieks insinuates to Shamspeare that perhaps he misremembered using the tea from Soseki's cup and instead used tea still left in the teapot. An excuse Shamspeare happily takes, of course. Not gonna lie, I got angry, not because it's a dirty trick but because it's inconsistent. This is the very same character who all but dragged Mrs. Garrideb down from the juror bench to testify when it became clear she likely threw a knife out the window. And now he's feeding slippery excuses to a man who's very clearly lying about all sorts of things? What??? And remember this incident, because I'm going to be referring back to it later.

He crushes another chalice, removes his cloak and continues to insist that we should believe this thieving liar at the witness stand. The jurors for some reason buy the baloney served to them on a tinfoil platter and even twist Ryu's sentiments around, with some bloke going as far as to interpret the situation as 'the lawyer lad believes anyone who steals gas deserves to be poisoned'. Summation Examination gets very funky this time around, with the outcome being that Shamspeare probably blew the gas pipes (s-snerk) and the poison was laced on the pipe.

Van Zieks pours himself a glass of wine and pretty much immediately flings it, saying these are all empty assertions without a shred of proof. When Ryu presents the picture with the skin prints, Van Zieks once again breaks the rule of the prosecution staying silent during Summation Examination to point out that skin prints cannot be used as evidence, since that method is not recognized by the court (yet). Aaand he crushes yet another chalice in his hand.

Susato claims it was never meant to be used as official evidence, it was only a tool to demonstrate a new possibility to the jury. Jumping through some loopholes here, we are, since the picture is clearly in our Court Record as evidence. But, well, the prosecution cheats too so what's the harm? Some jurors vote not-guilty, but there's still one more that needs convincing on order to keep the trial going. Ryu says he has a witness who's already testified that the pipe-blowing incident did indeed occur that night, as Soseki stated the other day before the court that his stove went out in the dead of night. (Hang on, is this why the narrative made him testify alongside Gregson?) With that the majority of the jury votes not-guilty and the trial has to continue, but Van Zieks is extra rattled now. (Another bottle goes soaring.)

He once again reminds the court that skin prints aren't admissible evidence and therefore, there is no real proof Shamspeare put his mouth to the pipes (ghghhh I'm sorry this is such a silly thing to have to type out). Ryu asks for an investigative team to test the mouth of the gas pipe for poison, but since it would've evaporated by now, that's a no-go. Also, Van Zieks says that “what appears to be simple is my Nipponese friend's mind” and that's a scumbag point. Ryu attempts to turn the trial around by claiming that Shamspeare attempted to kill Soseki, making the defendant the victim, but Van Zieks ain't having it. The aggrieved being the accused is an interesting notion, but doesn't change what actually happened. In fact, if anything, it establishes a motive for Soseki to lay a trap for Shamspeare. Because who else could have known about the gas pipe trickery and put the poison there, right? Why, the true culprit, of course.

Our man Van Zieks really doesn't like (S)Holmes, huh? A tidbit which the games will never bother to explain! Either way, Ryu raises the name of Olive Green, the victim of the previous case. And I gotta say, I do genuinely like the way they integrated these two Clouded Kokoro cases together. The chronology of everything that went down is very fun to decipher, but long story short, Olive Green was at Briar Road the day she was stabbed for a reason and knows more about the 'convict curse' Soseki and Garrideb kept mentioning, so let's drag her into court! Van Zieks agrees to subpoena Miss Green in order to 'see his Nipponese friend's farce through to its conclusion'.

So during intermission some more evidence is handed to Ryu and when trial resumes, Van Zieks continues to be his usual self.

“The prosecution has tried to extend every courtesy to this amateur newcomer from dubious Eastern shores.”

Ryu sweats bullets as he meekly thanks Van Zieks “(for his backhanded consideration)”, but once again the judge is the one to call Van Zieks out on his attitude.

Amazing. It's so refreshing to see a judge who actually disagrees with the prosecution's haughty attitude problems and acknowledges it has no place in a courtroom. Nothing against Udgey, because we all love Udgey (and his Canadian brother), but this man actually grows and learns. So Olive Green takes the stand alongside Shamspeare (maybe not the best idea since Ryu just accused her of trying to murder this man) for dual testimony. When Green brings up what a dreadful ordeal the knife to her back was, Van Zieks says this:

Hang on, empathy? He's giving her advice? This reeks of humanization! Green seems taken aback and thanks him for his words, so the sentiment was genuinely accepted. This in itself is a very nice scene to see in action, similar to Van Zieks allowing Roly Beate to keep his job. Unfortunately, Van Zieks's character is in a wild rollercoaster of moral inconsistency during this particular case which sours the experience somewhat. Case in point:

YOOOU hypocrite! This actively angered me, because at the very start of this same trial day he was personally feeding lies to Shamspeare. Now he's warning Green not to lie? It gets even worse a bit later on when Green gets cornered about stealing the note, she asks him whether it could all be some sort of misunderstanding, and he says:

ACTIVELY FEEDING SHAMSPEARE A LIE. THE VERY SAME DAY. I'm all for prosecutors using dirty tactics. It helps to juxtapose them further to the honest defense attorney we play as. However, it needs to be consistent. Either a prosecutor condones a witness's lies to help their case, or they feel that they're above it. The third, most used option is for them to start off condoning it, only to learn that truth takes priority over victory. This sloppy back-and-forth morality that Van Zieks has going on here is insanely frustrating, so it's no wonder some players end up disliking him. It honestly feels as if they rewrote this case so many times, they screwed up the exact growth trajectory Van Zieks has.

Anyway, it seems Van Zieks is suddenly fully on our side now to help Ryu prove that Green was in Shamspeare's room and laced the gas pipe with poison. And I mean help help. When the judge points out that if Green had laced the pipe the very same day she was stabbed, the attempted murder would have happened six days ago. Van Zieks is the one to say “Perhaps not, My Lord” and explain Briar Road was full of police at that time. At this point, Van Zieks and Ryu (and also Susato) actively start to take turns to explain the proper chronology of events. So the defense and the prosecution are in perfect sync right now, working together to explain the whodunnit. This is the ideal outcome to any trial, usually not seen until the last case of the game, so it's curious that this dynamic abruptly shows itself in a case like this. Van Zieks does still have one moment of gaslighting when he claims Ryu may have inhaled some dubious gas, causing his judgment to be clouded, since there's no motive behind Shamspeare's attempts on his fellow lodgers. A matter that's very easily resolved, of course. Once the name of Selden is brought up, Van Zieks continues our little game of back-and-forth-truth-reveal until (S)Holmes shows his face.

“Your usual haunts are the filthy backstreets of the capital, are they not?”

To which (S)Holmes replies that it's been too long, and Van Zieks's complexion has worsened since last they met. Alright, so Van Zieks and (S)Holmes definitely have met in person before, some undetermined amount of time ago. You'd think that going by (S)Holmes's friendly attitude they might've even been friends once, but our great detective is like that towards everyone. This is evidenced by an earlier encounter with Gregson where (S)Holmes insists they're friends and Gregson says that they're not friends, to which (S)Holmes quietly agrees. So really, this little exchange tells us nothing about the history between the great detective and the Reaper.

Some shenaniganry, a breakdown and admittance to guilt later, the court is finally ready to deem Soseki innocent. Van Zieks once again has some interesting lines here:

“And one I certainly didn't envisage walking... with you.”

Considering he attempted to trip us up for most of this walk up until the very last stretch, I don't like this remark very much. It feels very unearned. This is another one of those things that would've been more suitable in the last case of the game, but instead it's being crammed into a messy mid-game moment with the pretense that Van Zieks learned a lesson about being our ally.

In the defendant's lobby, the game basically gives the exact same dialogue as at the end of the original Clouded Kokoro case; that Soseki is returning to Japan and hopes to pen his own literature there, with the rest of the cast pointing out that the Reaper's Curse must factor into his decision to some degree. So we're still holding onto that question of whether Soseki will escape an untimely death or not. Anyone who's already played the last case of the first game will know the answer, of course.

So to summarize... I genuinely didn't enjoy Van Zieks's portrayal in this case. It really feels as if something went horribly wrong and they got some notes mixed up about where his character was already headed in the previous game. It's a crying shame. There was a lot of potential for a case set between 1-4 and 1-5, but they really dropped the ball when it comes to consistency and I've no doubt that it reflected badly on people's opinions of him. Though I think when we return to the first game for The Unspeakable Story, everything will right itself out again to some degree. Stay tuned!

[shinjaeha]

ipytm ep 4 (thoughts + spoilers)

it’s weird that before ipytm aired, the LAST thing i would have wanted is for teh and oh-aew to break up, but then we got to this ep and it was basically the only thing that i wanted. i just felt so relieved by the end of this ep...their relationship was getting more and more draining for the both of them (and to watch), and it was particularly hard to watch oh-aew excuse teh time and time again bc he wanted to hold onto what they had for as long as possible (and that perseverance was far more than teh deserved tbh).

i thought that this ep was going to be harder to watch than ep 3, but it really wasn’t (at least for me)? maybe it’s bc the last ep made me feel SO much that by the time i got to this one, i felt less beaten down by all the emotions. i was able to just kind of go along with the flow more bc i already knew how everyone was feeling in this (and how this was likely going to play out). the only person my heart really went out to in this was oh-aew, and that was to be expected.

either way, not a proper analysis, just my thoughts as i rewatch this ep again so let’s go.

so already this ep starts off different from the previous eps bc we’re actually continuing straight on from the previous ep so no time skip!! then again, after the end of last ep, i’m not sure how they would have been able to pull of a time skip here when we know that this is where the brunt of the drama is gonna come from.

teh’s walking aimlessly around his drama classroom as jai packs away his things. this lingering and loitering is such typical teh behaviour. it reminds me very specifically of that time he and tarn fought in her garden and he was torn between leaving or staying with her. there’s always conflict in all of his own actions...like he’s always moving but staying in the same place at the same time. he never changes, which is the big issue with his development in this. stagnant, while everyone else around him changes.

he calls oh-aew, who tells him they can’t meet up for dinner bc he’s busy...and then we see oh-aew in his car, rightfully confused over everything that he just saw (and trying not to jump to conclusions over it). i get that from oh-aew’s perspective, he’s trying to reason with himself that it’s all just acting. it just hurts that we all know the truth :/

they’re really SUCH different characters. teh will jump to conclusions over oh-aew playing around with his friends in an ig story, and oh-aew will straight up see both teh and jai kissing and STILL try to calmly assess the situation before straight up accusing teh of anything. that level-headedness really just shows how much more mature oh-aew really is when it comes to handling his emotions (which we know has always been the case, but it’s so much clearer in ipytm bc you can really compare and contrast the differences in how they handle these big situations/misunderstandings).

oh-aew’s on the phone with q about his concerns, and q advises him to actually talk to teh about what happened outright, but oh-aew doesn’t feel like he can bc he wants to suss the situation out more first. i also think it’s bc, like i said in my ep 2 post (i think?), he has this tendency to walk on eggshells around teh...like he’s always afraid of setting him off (which is really not a great sign for a healthy relationship). and if anything, that just shows how badly the communication between them has continued to deteriorate throughout the series.

i actually COMPLETELY forgot about the logbook until oh-aew mentioned it again, and then had my “oh, OF COURSE” moment bc why else would the logbook have been so significant to the plot...but also :(((

oh-aew is sooooo calm about this...i guess i should have expected it since that’s also pretty consistent in terms of his personality, but it’s also a very ‘calm before the storm’ sort of a moment. like even when i was watching this the first time, i knew it was only a matter of time before he wouldn’t be able to hold it in anymore (and he shouldn’t have to given everything teh’s put him through lbr). 

i used to feel so happy and giddy when i saw the two of them together, but now i’m just super uncomfortable and tired seeing them together like this...i hate that. when teh comes back to oh-aew’s place and moves in close to cuddle and kiss him, i can FEEL that discomfort that oh-aew’s experiencing around him now too. once you’ve broken that trust, it’s extremely hard to gain it back again no matter how much you love the other person. it’s difficult for that affection to seem genuine anymore (regardless of whether it is or isn’t).

oh-aew having to read teh’s thoughts about how he feels like he’s falling out of love with him bc of all his changes are bad enough...but having to read both teh and jai’s flirty back and forth exchanges like the logbook is a record of their blossoming relationship as they talk about oh-aew behind his back like this?? oof. makes it all the worse. i did not ask for this, nor do i want it ugh.

it’s the next day and teh’s loitering outside the classroom (again) bc jai’s inside and he doesn’t know how to approach him after what transpired the day before. as usual, he’s just way too in his head about everything and it bleeds out in all his actions bc he really is awful when it comes to holding his feelings in. it’s funny bc all of these traits of his are things that i used to LOVE about teh, but it’s interesting to me how they can tip over into being irritating now once your perception of a character has been skewed.

no surprise here but he can’t keep his eyes off of jai...

one thing i want to add here is that i just kind of wish i had more of a connection to jai as a character too?? like, i sort of get the pull from teh’s perspective for all the reasons i stated in my ep 3 post...but i also wish there was more substance to his character for me to latch onto from an audience perspective. jai doesn’t really leave me with any impression...so i genuinely don’t care about him or his relationship with teh at all?? but at the same time, i guess his purpose in the story is to be teh’s big hurdle...and the consequences to his actions. and maybe his character is just supposed to be all about his dreams/work bc it shows how superficial the relationship and connection between the two of them is?? it would have been nice if he had been more fleshed out in general though, so he felt more like a character instead of just an obstacle in the plot to push them both apart.

anyway, teh’s still feeling to restless to concentrate, so jai makes him do some more exercises to get into the right headspace only for oh-aew to show up with the posters from the play that he meant to deliver yesterday.

regardless of who’s actually majoring in acting, the way oh-aew acts with the both of them really shows how he is a MUCH better actor than teh is in everyday life. then again, he was also always much better at going with the flow and controlling his emotions.

oh-aew asks to stay to watch the workshop, which sends teh into even more of an distracted, emotional mess than before, so naturally he ends up not being able to do the scene and jai has to go talk him through it once again. he tells teh to use the feelings he had for him yesterday to act out the scene...and even though oh-aew might not be able to hear them, he’s saying that literally all RIGHT in front of oh-aew which...yikes :/// then he sits back down right next to oh-aew like it’s nothing.

and of course teh’s finally able to do the scene now by imagining it’s jai in front of him...

ngl i would have liked oh-aew to have gone to talk about what happened with teh first, but i also get why it’s prob easier for him to confront jai about it before that. it gives me ‘spouse confronting the mistress/lover of their husband’ vibes though. what makes me furious about this scene is the way that jai gaslights oh-aew about what he saw. he claims that it was all acting and that’s just his ‘directing style’ which...if you have to kiss your actors/manipulate them into feeling things for you in order to get them into the right headspace of their character then i’m not sure if directing is the career for you js...i hate how he’s all “are you going to be this paranoid when he has to kiss his co-stars” about it too. making oh-aew question things when what he and teh did was very clearly not the same as that. when jai already KNOWS that teh and oh-aew’s relationship is rocky from the logbook, so he's manipulating teh for his play AND oh-aew into double guessing what he saw and whether it was real or not.

oh-aew’s “do you love me?” :(((((((( genuinely, the worst part about this whole ep is just how sad oh-aew is for the whole thing. i miss his smile. and it hurts to see him exhausted and hurt like this the most bc he’s been such a sweetheart all though both itsay and ipytm. what i really love about oh-aew is that he always gives teh a chance to explain himself. he doesn’t immediately get angry or storm off, he actually gives teh the room to tell him the truth. it’s just that teh chooses to lie to oh-aew again and again. honestly, the irony of teh being all “if you have something on your mind, tell me” when he never takes his own advice would almost be funny if it wasn’t just really, really sad.

the fact that fang and akin don’t even have an actual kiss scene in the play makes what teh and jai did even WORSE tbh. and then when teh says he won’t see jai after the play anymore, it's not the fix all to their relationship that he seems to think it is bc if he’s already straying from oh-aew bc of jai, then it’s only a matter of time before he strays again bc of someone else.

it’s hard to want them to be together anymore bc everything teh says feels disingenuous when we know the truth and what’s actually going on on his end. all it does is just make you hope that oh-aew finally sees the light (it’s like everything is already doomed and we’re just waiting for the climax...the big explosion).

OH-AEW’S SHIRT. A FASHION ICON.

tbh every time teh and jai have a scene together i find myself rolling my eyes bc they just give me nothing. and i’ve given up all my energy into making sure that oh-aew is cared for at all costs at this point. i wish i cared about them more, but they’re both so singularly focussed on this one goal that it feels stale somehow. that lack of substance again.

oh-aew is so genuinely proud of teh when he sees him on stage (and again backstage when he gets scouted) ;;; but then teh basically smacks him in the face yet again, immediately asking around for where jai is. he already KNOWS how oh-aew’s not happy about the kiss (and he told him he would stop seeing him after the play too), so the complete lack of self-awareness and understanding is kind of astounding. but mostly just super disrespectful to oh-aew. he can’t even take the time to be excited with his boyfriend before wondering where jai is so he can tell him the big news.

they’re at the post-play party now and teh is so distracted that he can’t keep his eyes off of jai (what’s new). oh-aew notices of course, but he tries his best to let it slide for now and it’s really hard to watch tbh. teh is just SO obvious about it that he can’t even be bothered to pretend like he’s happy that oh-aew’s there too. as with everything else, he’s so single-mindedly focussed on jai, like he can only pay attention to one thing at a time. it was sweet when oh-aew was the focus of his affections, but now it just makes him look inconstant. it happened before with tarn, but that was understandable bc he was young and still discovering himself. to see it even now that he’s older though?? it’s like there’s been no development, and his feelings can still shift so easily even after being in a long term relationship with someone that he was so in love with at one point?? i know that kind of thing does happen irl, but i can’t feel the same way about it anymore.

the plum wine tasted sweet the first time he drank it with jai, but now it’s bitter, just like how his relationship with jai sours in this scene. when teh called jai “my fang” and then you see the look on jai’s face...we all knew this was coming. all of us, except maybe teh. truthfully, i don’t even feel a little bit bad for teh here. he was really naive, and although jai did manipulate his feelings, he did this to himself as well. all his actions and how he chose to respond to jai were of his own accord. like he apparently didn’t learn in itsay, there are always consequences for your actions. there’s some poetic justice in teh falling for someone who only cares about his own dream and used teh to achieve it though...bc if anyone would understand how and why someone could do that to another person, it’s teh. it’s also kind of satisfying bc jai used teh in the same way that teh used oh-aew in their ep 3 sex scene. there’s something apt in that.

still think jai’s directing style sucks though...is he gonna do that with all his actors that can’t get into character??

if teh couldn’t concentrate before, it’s even worse now that jai’s rejected him, and oh-aew can see through it as clear as day. the tension keeps mounting as they’re both called up to do a karaoke duet together. i’m literally SO SAD that they’re singing ‘black sea’ in this scene bc it’s prob my fave of all the osts that bkpp have released so far, but this scene is also the hardest one for me to watch (at least the mv is cute and the exact opposite of this scene??)...

i actually haven’t cried all through ipytm so far, but this scene. THIS SCENE DID IT FOR ME. when teh’s eyes go to jai AGAIN and the music starts fading out as they’re singing, only for everything to build up and stop and for the shot to swing back to oh-aew’s crying face?????? the silence was so effective and HEARTBREAKING, i couldn’t help but cry. he held strong for so long, put up with SO MUCH bc he loved teh and wanted to keep giving him chances...it’s been building up inside him for far too long, so it’s no wonder that he finally cracked 😭 oh-aew’s been understandably sad this whole ep, but actually seeing him finally break down over it is just really, really fucking hard to watch, but also very needed. this whole ep felt like one long wait until the inevitable break up, and i’m just glad that oh-aew realised that enough was enough. he wasn’t going to keep loving and waiting around for teh to put in the effort/show him he loved him back anymore. i’ve loved teh/oh-aew’s relationship since first stumbling upon itsay, so it feels ridiculous to me that i’m cheering on their break up now, but after everything that’s happened in ipytm, it feels gratifying. they really need a break from one another (it gives oh-aew a chance to reset and move on from teh, and it teaches teh a lesson, that he’ll hopefully retain this time, to not take what he has in front of him for granted).

when teh picks up oh-aew’s flowers after their fight and there are no more sunflowers there?? dang :((( and then jai leaves him standing there too. he’s really lost everyone now and he only has himself to blame.

teh going to q’s house to see oh-aew wearing the itsay ep 4 break up shirt?? yeah, if there ever was an omen for how things were going to go, it would be that. in one of the documentary eps, i think p’meen said that the way teh keeps wearing his old itsay shirts shows that he’s still stuck in the past, esp when comparison with oh-aew in this scene who’s wearing something different. like he’s changing and adapting to the situation in a way that teh never does up to this point...and yeah, true :(

bless, q. he’s such a great friend ;;; he doesn’t want oh-aew to be hurt anymore than he already is, but he recognises that the both of them need proper closure. to officially end their relationship

it’s difficult to feel for teh here when he makes you wonder what would have happened if jai had accepted his confession. he wants to get back with oh-aew now, but is it bc he really loves him?? or is he just comfortable and used to being with oh-aew now (so he wants that security back)?? esp now that he’s realised he’s lost everyone else around him by pushing them all away. he wants to hold onto oh-aew as always, only now oh-aew’s realised that that’s not enough.

“maybe i’m not the one that you’ve been looking for since the beginning” that fucking stings. as soon as oh-aew realised that he had feelings for teh in itsay, he was always so focussed in his love...to think that to teh, oh-aew might have just been a passing fancy, ESP after everything they already went through in itsay...that’s rough in every sense of the word. but he’s absolutely right...if teh’s love was so easy to sway in the first place, then how can he be assured that it won’t happen again. that he won’t up and leave the moment he gets distracted by someone new next time. i’m really just glad that oh-aew recognises this and is looking out for himself here.

when teh says that he never thought about breaking up with oh-aew at all, it makes me wonder what did he expect from jai then?? did he want to continue seeing jai behind oh-aew’s back (which would have been a thousand times worse). what was his game plan there????? at least if he even had brief thoughts about breaking up with oh-aew bc of jai, it would be somewhat more understandable. it really isn’t the romantic reasoning that he thinks it is.

if breaking up means that oh-aew isn’t going to be constantly hurt by teh time and time again, then count me in :(((((((((((( he’s already given you SO many chances teh, and you keep breaking his heart.

oh-aew basically telling teh to fuck off and that he doesn’t want to see his face again has me feeling this strange mix of sadness and relief. their relationship has been so taxing to watch that it really makes me feel like i finally have some space to breathe now that they finally broke up with one another.

there’s something kind of clinical about this break up, so it didn’t really have me crying (prob bc it was a long time coming), but i’m really proud of bkpp here bc they acted their hearts out in this scene (and series in general). regardless of how we’ve all been feeling about their characters and relationship in ipytm, they’ve done a great job with what they were given...truly such wonderful actors. that scene where teh’s crying and staring right at oh-aew TRYING to get him to look at him, and oh-aew just refuses to so much as even glance in his direction...it’s so powerful. teh’s eyes couldn’t stay on him whatsoever during the post-play party, but now they can’t stay away from him. only he’s lost oh-aew’s gaze this time. like he’s no longer worth oh-aew’s time and effort anymore.

but he’s only seeing part of the story since oh-aew still looks back at him as soon as teh leaves and can’t see him anymore (and of course he does bc he’s still in love with him...but he can’t let teh see that. can’t let teh have anymore of him when he’s already given up so much of himself for teh).

their crying scenes are a lot more subtle than they were in itsay (esp on billkin’s part omg), but they’re older now too so that makes sense, and this scene in particular is just really well done imo. i love that they let the scene linger, and make us sit with both their feelings. teh has to sit there and come to terms with the fact that he’s well and truly lost oh-aew this time around. and oh-aew’s grieving the end of the relationship that he tried with everything he had in him to hold onto. the problem is that it’d never work out if he was the only one holding on, and he finally recognises that now.

teh’s moping in bed, back in his dorm now messaging oh-aew (who’s not reading any of his messages). we finally get to see teh’s roommate (mek) again!!!!!!!!! we just had to wait until nearly the end of the series. i love that he’s always opening boxes whenever we see him 😂

in the meantime, teh opening the box oh-aew’s mailed back to him with all his things...ouch. the final nail in the coffin.

mek has only been in this scene for one minute, and he’s already in my top 3 fave ipytm characters!! love how blunt he is, and the fact that he challenges teh, and doesn’t just let him walk over him. we barely know him, but he already pinpoints that teh’s prob sad due to a break up. the fact that teh didn’t even notice that his own roommate was going through the same thing last semester highlights how selfish and caught up in himself he gets at times.

i feel like this is the only scene where i feel even the slightest bit bad for teh here...and it’s prob bc he’s at his most candid. he knows and admits he was the one that fucked everything up. regardless of how terrible he’s been lately, everyone needs support. he’s pushed so many people away that yeah, maybe he kind of deserves what he’s getting in a way, but this is where having a friend is the most important. when you’re at your lowest. and despite everything, everyone deserves to have someone there for them at times like this.

i didn’t even think about how in itsay, the high school gang were all really oh-aew’s friends from school :/ and that his only real friend (not connected to oh-aew) was tarn. he really does have a lot of trouble making friends that aren’t related to his faculty/don’t have similar personality traits to him. oh-aew was the only one that truly stood out tbh. but it’s great that mek is different from all of teh’s other friends too bc if there’s one thing he needs, it’s a different perspective. and to actually have a friend that isn’t just his friend bc they have similar aspirations.

teh's got a call from the casting agency who wants him to audition for a role hmmm.

we’re back at oh-aew’s place, and his friends are all over to make him feel better :’) so basically everything that teh doesn’t have rn. i’m so happy that he has such a great support network here. it’s so great that they’re all here to back him up, and that he knows that he has all of them here with him during this time.

i noticed that oh-aew’s wearing his itsay ep 4 break up shirt here too...but now it seems more like it’s bc he’s looking back on this time, rather than he’s stuck. like he’s wearing it one last time to symbolise him mourning the end of his relationship with teh.

the talisman :(((((((( idk how that was only like 3 eps ago bc it feels like it’s been a lifetime since ep 1 when they were still so cute and loved up together...

and then when he lies in bed and can’t stop imagining teh there with him. i’m so done with seeing oh-aew sad. i hate it the most. but seeing all his friends hug and comfort him as he cries was prob the most heartwarming scene of this whole ep ;;;

now we’re back with teh and he’s finally gotten the part after all those auditions he’s been through (and the company wants to sign him on top of that), but they want him to get rid of all the photos he has of oh-aew on his ig since he’ll need to hide their relationship if he ever gets famous. this is prob a very common thing that up and coming actors have to do, so i sort of wish we got to see more of teh trying to reconcile his relationship with oh-aew and the public eye...but we see that it’s all over for them now as oh-aew vows to forget teh, and teh (seemingly?) deletes the photos on his ig featuring oh-aew.

so this was the penultimate ep, and just like in itsay, it’s where the climax of the series happens. now that they’ve broken up, it looks like there’ll be a time skip to the future when they’re both in their respective careers and meet up again. before ipytm, i really thought that this was going to end with the two of them falling back in love again, but so much has happened since that idk if that’s the best resolution anymore?? like i mentioned earlier, it’s just really hard to trust teh after everything he’s put oh-aew through. if there was a slower build/longer time frame, and more eps to space everything out, then maybe that could have worked better (like teh’s character development would have been paced out better so we could see him changing more clearly), but bc we basically only have one ep left to see all of that character growth, it makes it harder to believe that, if teh’s grown at all since this ep and the next, he’s learnt his lesson and will stick to that growth without reverting back to his old ways again.

though the ep 5 teaser is interesting to me bc it does kind of show how, now that teh’s made it, he has all he ever dreamt about as a child...but obviously still feels empty bc the dream itself is hollow when he has no one around to share it with. basically, teh finally realising that sometimes your dreams aren’t enough bc if you’re constantly chasing something, then how do you ever have time to enjoy what’s right in front of you? i think he’ll understand that by the end of this. i just don’t know whether it’ll end with the both of them together in the end too. again, i’m conflicted on what i want for them in the end, but that’ll all be down to the writing and development in the final ep so i guess we’ll just have to see how everything plays out bc i was wrong with most of my predictions this series anyway...

all in all, i do think the break up was a def a good thing in the long run for whatever ends up happening between them in the next ep though. they really needed to learn not to be so dependant on one another (and esp in teh’s case, that has has to live in the moment, and that change is okay bc sometimes it just means you’re growing up).

i thought i’d be sadder that ipytm is coming to an end, but honestly, i’m kind of just glad that it’ll be wrapping up at this point bc it’s been a tough one for me to watch. not bad, but just really exhausting. i always end up needing to watch something lighter after an ep just to lift my spirits a little. if i’m going to miss anything though, it’s def going to be seeing bkpp act together bc their chemistry has been impeccable since the start (and their acting has only improved since itsay) so i really hope that this won’t be their last project together.

[obeymeplz]

one of those days ll mammon x gn reader

LISTEN guys... I’ve peeled through every single fanfic and one shot of my boy boy that I can find.

I’m done, finished, kaput. And I need content. So I decided to make my own.

2k words, ft. Belphie my salty homie

Warnings: mean(ish) mammon (because I’m a hoe for angst, highly implicative of smut...?, cussing...?

Enjoy ig ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ sorry if I suck LOL

It was one of those days, and it all began when you dropped your plate of pickled pancakes (it’s an acquired Devildom taste) all over your crisp, white shoes. Beel involuntarily frowned at the waste of food, while the other demon boys snickered at your inherent clumsiness, Lucifer merely rolling his eyes before excusing himself from the table. But someone was missing that morning.

From that moment on, you knew nothing would be going your way.

Your bad luck followed you to second period, where you received a colossal “F” on your scrying test, and then to lunch where Satan and Asmo had to pull you out of a fight with a succubus who had thought it her business to label you a “suck up whore”. This was a name you were used to; from the moment you arrived, every demon and unthinkable hoard in the Devildom believed you to be sleeping with every brother in the House of Lamentation, playing through all of them with zero consequences. Despite the utter falsity of these accusations, they hurt no less every time you had to hear them.

And to top today’s cake with a juicy red cherry, the one single person who could make all your worries melt away with just a smile had been nowhere in your sights all day. Mammon was indeed the sunshine you needed on this dreary afternoon, with his dumb tinted glasses and cocky remarks, yet endearing eyes and wondrous grin.

Staring out the window of an empty chem room, waiting for someone to be available to walk you home, you realized that it was an odd day - such a new world you’d been thrown into, yet so quickly you had familiarized yourself with your new “normal”; and now that normal wasn’t there. There were certain things you knew, day in and day out.

The sun will (sort of) rise.

The sun will (kind of) set.

You live in Hell.

Mammon will always be there.

These things you counted on to be true, because if they weren’t, you weren’t entirely certain how you’d keep your sanity intact.

“For a human who’s supposed to be completely inferior to our kind, you sure do seem to think a lot”.

Belphie.

“Gee, Belphie, you know, “you sure do” have a way with words. Thank you! I just feel so much better”, you scoffed a retort as you swung your legs over the ledge of the window to face the cow-haired boy, clearly having just woken from sleeping through 7th period. He only smirked at you.

“I heard you need a warm body to walk next to, and I figured I could use the company. Home?”

You smiled smally as he helped you to your feet. “Yeah, home sounds nice”.

He reciprocated the smile.

“So, what really has you down in the dumps?”

You shrugged as you tried to formulate a thought that might make sense to him.

“Well… I guess I-”, you had to cut off mid sentence, because something familiar began to tickle your ears — a laugh, one you’d been aching to hear all day.

“Belphie, is that… is that Mammon? Where has he been all day?”, you were asking the question, but your legs were already moving you out the door away from the answer. He replied, but you could only piece together bits as you got further away from him, following the voice of the snow-haired boy instead. Argument, Mammon left, crashed with friends, all night, definitely in trouble. That’s what you processed.

“Mammon-” you rounded the corner, but halted in your tracks, backing behind it when you came near face-to-face with a group of demons much taller and much stronger than you, energies darker than the ones you were used to being surrounded by.

He hadn’t heard you.

“Bro, that was a riot. You gotta swing with us more often my man”.

“Ya know Lucifer wouldn’t even think ‘bout lettin’ me ride with you guys on the day-to-day. ‘Sides, I got things to do”.

“You mean a human to babysit?”, your breath caught in your throat. You heard Mammon scoff.

“No! I do what I want. They’re cool.”

Your heart pounded into your throat (but that’s something you’d never let him know). You were just friends, and you weren’t sure if you’d ever be more. Sure, he was terrible at hiding how much he cared about you, and sure, he was ridiculously possessive over you, but he’s also the Avatar of Greed, so how much of that is him needing you versus his sin needing you? The way you saw it, neither of those things amounted to relationship-worthy love.

The conversation was droning on, and you’d almost forgotten you were listening.

“So, you fuckin that then or what?”

Your head snapped back into full awareness, the tone of your feelings completely changing every second, anxiously awaiting your favorite demon’s reply. Why were you so nervous? He wouldn’t lie about you, he wouldn’t slander your name — not with what people already thought of you because you lived in a giant house with 7 painfully-attractive, desire-filled, and experienced, rulers of Hell.

“Yeah, the rumors true?”

Mammon’s voice came next at a grumble.

He stuttered it.

You almost didn’t catch it.

You must not have.

“Y-yeah. No, I mean absolutely. I mean, how could a human even turn down The Great Mammon? They couldn’t, and they don’t.”

You must not have heard it — but you did, and you almost wished you hadn’t

Before your thoughts could catch up with your limbs, you found yourself rounding the corner yet again. “Yeah, how could they not, Mammon?”, your voice cracking at the end, despite all your efforts to come across smooth and level-headed.

“MC..”, Mammon’s mouth instantly hung open, his chill facade easily melting away. He looked almost identical to a lost puppy within moments.

“Oh you can bet, Mammon fucks me every single night — no feelings involved, because that’s just the kind of big man he is. He’s even fucking me RIGHT NOW. Right, Mon?”, you seethed his nickname through your teeth. Tears were starting to puddle at the lids of your eyes, threatening to expose just how much you really cared for him, and just how unspeakably broken you felt in that moment.

“M-MC. Pl- please don’t —“, he was already approaching you, pushing past the group of boys. You turned on your heel, catching the watching eyes of Belphie at the end of the hall. You ran for him until you were in reach to yank on his arm, pulling him behind you, as fast and as far away from that school, and Mammon, as possible.

“MC!”

Mammon will always be there.

Mammon would not always be there. This was a new truth you heartbrokenly added to your list.

———————————————————-

Your room was icily cold, numbingly so.

You always kept it like that when you were sad, hoping maybe some of the lack of feeling in your body would translate to your heart.

Hoping you wouldn’t feel so shattered.

You trusted him. And he broke it. He broke you.

These are obvious statements, but as you laid solemnly tucked under a heap of blankets, you couldn’t help but run them, and the scene from today, over and over again through your brain.

Maybe you were overreacting?

Mammon had always been the brother, despite his tsundere attitude, who protected you. He never lost his cool with you, and he never treated you poorly. Maybe he made a few callous remarks here and there, but they were gentle underneath, and just his own way of showing you a glimpse of the angel wings he’d lost a long time ago.

Mammon had become your home.

“MC?”

The voice was muffled through the door, but it was undoubtedly him. You weren’t sure if you were shocked, happy, angry, or assured that he had come, but either way, you wouldn’t dare leave your covers to open the locked door. Not yet.

“MC. Please. Open the door. I-I just wanna talk to ya…”

You didn’t budge.

“I will kick this down, ya know”. You were both quiet until you heard some shuffling outside. Your eyes went wide, ready for a foot to come flying through shards of your door. You scrambled to your feet, stumbling over to the rusted knob.

You cracked it open.

“Please don’t. I don’t want to sleep in Beel’s room another week because my room needs renovating for the millionth time.”

Mammon smiled shyly at you, apologetically more than anything.

“Can I.. ya know, come in?”

You pulled out of the way, making just enough room for the tall, lean demon to slip through the crack in your door.

The moment he stepped in, he was engulfed in darkness, nothing but dim threads of moonlight that seeped in through your curtains to highlight the sharp features of his face and body. He’d shed his jacket since earlier, leaving him in his fitted black tee and jeans.

So beautiful.

You mentally slapped yourself for even thinking about it.

You were mad at him.

“So. Please talk. I’m exhausted and wasn’t planning on even looking at you tonight.” You were curt. But you had to be, or else you wouldn’t be able to hold anything back, whether that be anger, or adoration.

He looked taken back — hurt — too. He glanced at your bed and the candy wrappers strewn about the floor. Mammon wasn’t too bright, but he knew enough to know when someone had been crying for well over an hour.

On a normal occasion, he would’ve thrown himself onto your sheets, rolling until he found a comfortable position to scroll his D.D.D. and poke at you for hours.

But tonight, he awkwardly crossed his arms and shuffled his feet, clearly unsure of what to say first — or at all, for that matter.

“I-“

You raised a tired eye, cueing him to spit whatever excuse he could possibly say out.

“I get a bad rep sometimes.”

What?

“For liking ya.. Hanging with ya.”

If this was an apology, it was the worst one you’d ever heard in your life.

“Oh? Sorry. I didn’t mean to be a burden to your bravado. Let me continue to take myself out of the picture.” You pointed at the door for him to leave, ready to break down the moment he walked through.

“No! That- that’s not what I meant.” He made eye contact for a mere moment, silently begging for you to see his sincerity.

“Is anything ever what you mean, Mammon?” The use of his full name in a mix with that tone clearly set him back, but he shook it off hurriedly.

“Yes! I mean, I don’t care. Usually. I’d-I’d just had a rough day with Luci. Rough life, more like, and I was tired of feelin’ like shit ‘bout myself. Nazriel’s question jus’ threw me off. I-I wanted to seem cool, so I said what I knew would make me, and-“

“And you’re a piece of shit for it”.

You weren’t wrong. And he knew that.

“... and I’m a piece of shit for it.”

There was a pause before he hesitantly continued.

“I wound up bein’ exactly what I was tryin’ not to be. Scummy.”

He raised his eyes to meet yours, blue hues morphing into gold flecks like waves crashing on the beach. Your breath hitched and caught in your throat, only now realizing that the whole time you’d been arguing, you’d both been slowly edging together. Now, you were dangerously close.

“You aren’t scummy, Mammon…”, you began to tenderly look at him.

“Yeah.. I am. But that’s just me, I guess. I can’t mind it.”

He took one step, leaving you toe to toe. Though one of the shorter of the boys, he still towered over you.

“I jus’ can’t be scummy to you.”

You tilted your head, heart and body language softening as he spoke.

“I shouldn’t be, and I don’ wanna be”.

His hands cautiously made their way to your shoulders, and you shuddered at the feeling that made its way through your bones.

“Mammon?”

“Yeah?”

“That apology shouldn’t have worked.”

He chuckled, “you’re right.”

You smiled, a true smile. The first one all day. And what came next, you knew probably shouldn’t. But you also didn’t really care.

“Mammon?”

He hummed in response, and you stood as high as you could on your tip-toes to kiss his cheek. His face deeply rouged the moment your lips met his hot skin.

His eyes were wide as you lowered yourself down, leaving a hand lingering on his arm.

In that moment, his aura shifted, and everything was suspensefully still. Within seconds, his arms wrapped you in a crushing hug, his breath heavy and warm behind your ear.

You sunk your weight into his, relishing the relief from the chill of your room, as you snaked your arms behind his back.

You weren’t entirely sure how long you stood like that, but you knew it must’ve been a while, because his grip was starting to affect your breathing.

“Mon- air”,

He lightened up and pulled back from you.

“S-sorry!”

Your lips turned up at the sight of his cute embarrassment. He scowled at you, knowing what you were thinking, but slowly started to laugh.

He leaned his forehead against yours, the sudden proximity causing you to let out a slight squeak.

“Ya drive me nuts, ya know?”

You searched his eyes, trying to make sure he was saying what you really thought he was.

This was a bad idea. For so many reasons.

But truthfully, neither of you gave two shits.

So he ghosted his lips over yours, his left fang biting his bottom, waiting for the sign to move — the sign that you wanted him, the sign that he would be enough.

The second you tilted your nose to the side of his, he crashed his mouth into yours.

From all the “first kisses” with your “first man” that you’d imagined, this was like none of them.

It was so

so much better.

It was fast, it was hard, but it wasn’t rough. It wasn’t brutal. It wasn’t empty. It was a cataclysm of feelings — pent up tension, pent up love.

As he dragged his mouth over yours, he hooked his hands under your legs, lifting you to wrap around him in one, swift movement. Then, he was on the move, backing himself toward your bed until the back of his knees met the mattress, and he collapsed, pulling your legs to straddle his lap. You hadn’t disconnected from his lips the entire time, still fervently needing more of him. You knew he felt the same. The demon of greed would most certainly never have enough of you. He tasted sweet and smelled strongly of an expensive cologne you knew he probably couldn’t actually afford. One of his hands stayed splayed on the top of your thigh, while the other worked to bring you even closer to him (if that was possible), pressing underneath your shirt to the skin on your back, two fingers edging their way into the beltline of your shorts.

He was careful not to take himself too far, to not lose control, and you could tell, so you worked your tongue past his lips. He sucked in a breath as the complete access to your mouth made room for him to deepen his greed for you. Slipping his tongue to meet yours, he nipped at your bottom lip, working his entire mouth in a blissful harmony.

He pulled back, heaving air, seeping desire from every muscle, just enough to speak to you,

“MC… I-I can’t… I can’t handle this... well... for much longer. I don’ know what I’m gonna do to ya…”, he began to pepper wet kisses down your neck, unable to keep himself off you long enough to even hear your reply.

You weren’t sure what else you were expecting, or if you were expecting anything else at all.

You were making out with a demon, after all.

You moved a hand to rake your nails through his frosty hair, and he leaned into the palm of your touch.

“It’s okay. I want you. All of you...”, it was only a whisper, but you were afraid if you spoke too loud, you’d snap the moment in half.

He did nothing but growl before reattaching his lips to yours, bringing his slender fingers to tug up at the hem of your shirt.

“I’m gonna do my best not to hurt ya…” he mumbled on your lips. You simply nodded, running your hands against his abs. He shivered at the contact, before helping you remove his own shirt.

Somewhere in the midst of him sliding on top of you, and the complete sight of the demon boy you had always longed for filling your soul, you heard the faintest of three words. You almost tricked yourself into believing they never entered the air, that they’d never left his lips.

But they were impossible to ignore.

“I love you”.

The sun will (sort of) rise.

The sun will (kind of) set.

You live in Hell, with 7 boys you dearly love,

but one holds you in the palm of his hand.

Mammon will always be there.

That night, he proved that truth to you over, and over again.

fin.

[tequiladimples]

I hope this doesn't come off as rude, but I saw that you dislike when collision is branded het cause you're not het, but no one's talking about you personally? like for me, I really like collision but I can understand the criticism in a way and that isn't an attack on you (or an attack at all lol). again hope I'm not rude but idk it seems unnecessary to get upset, it's better to take it as constructive criticism

sigh i don't think ur rude but it simply isn't constructive.

look i’ll talk abt this one more time n then i Beg we can put it to rest! (this is gna be a lot of word vomit but if i'm elaborative now i hope i won't have to talk abt this ever again)

i’m deeply insecure abt many aspects of collision. i don’t really keep that a secret. i also know some ppl don't like fantasy, some ppl don't like the kinds of dynamics i like, some ppl don't vibe with my style of writing (hell, i barely vibe with my style of writing). those things are fine. i can't control that and i don't take that personally. the reason why this is the one critique i do take personally is because it genuinely presumes wrongful, harmful things about me and my values, especially when i've made deliberate efforts to avoid writing the exact flavor of fic they're accusing me of having written. just because people don’t mean for what they say to reflect back on me, doesn’t stop it from doing so.

the thing about calling something a “het fic” is that the term brings along certain connotations which i don’t stand by at all and feel deeply uncomfortable and distraught to possibly have created. i’ve gone over this godforsaken story again and again just to be absolutely sure i didn’t actually do so. when people say “het fic” they generally don’t mean “boy meets girl and they fall in love”, they mean “super rude and mean boy meets uptight virtuous girl and makes her fall in dependence with him through manipulation and treating her like shit until she behaves how he wants.” and that is straight up not the fic i wrote. i’m not stupid. i know the dynamic i went with is widely and easily misused and there’s a lot of fiction depicting really bad, uneven, unhealthy relationships through it. i knew this going in, and i’ve tried persistently to avoid making those same mistakes. 

skipping over the fact that they’re both boys (bc duh)--harry doesn't exhibit any real manipulative power over louis. collision harry is a grumpy, fruity little nerd who happened upon a really unfortunate lot in life and managed to trick himself into believing he's evil for like half a second of the story and his resolves crumble like a danish pastry the moment he receives his first hug. he's kind of aloof and arrogant, and understandably hardened from his past, but he's not bad. he's just lost. that's the basis of his character arc. now on the other hand, louis has harry wrapped around his finger starting like chapter 4. harry’s the one who opens up emotionally first, harry’s the one desperately seeking louis’ approval and caring about his opinion, harry’s the one who makes himself vulnerable continuously throughout the entire story. the only time louis makes himself vulnerable on a comparable scale is during the smut scenes, and even then, harry is gentle and attentive and puts louis first. louis is less experienced than harry in that area, but he isn't scared or intimidated by harry, and he has full reigns of the progression and nature of their relationship as a whole. that’s kind of how it needs to go with tough x soft dynamics for the power balance to not feel uneven, and i wrote the story accordingly. if you then happen to still be so blindly determined to associate soft/small with weakness (and thereby uh, womanhood ig) that you still felt like louis had an inferior position to harry solely because he is indeed soft/small, that sounds quite frankly like a you problem.

now, the whole point of louis’ character is that he’s underestimated. sure, he’s naive and self-centered and sheltered from the real world--that’s the basis of his character arc. those things all change. but louis isn’t ever weak. like idk who apparently needs to hear this but you can be small and simultaneously not be a pushover. the two aren’t mutually exclusive. there isn’t a single time louis takes shit in this story, especially not from harry; he gives back as good as he gets every time. oh! and then he literally saves the entire universe and the execution of that whole thing was his idea alone. i tried really hard to underline how strong-willed and full of grit he is to contrast what others think of him. if you think he’s portrayed as a meek and frail damsel, you missed the point. once again, i feel like we circle back to this misconception of louis being kind of naive and physically small = louis being inferior = louis being female. just do some soul searching.

(i could also get into the fact that for a bunch of people who don’t know these boys personally (no matter how much we like to think we do), this fandom is weirdly opinionated about characterization. especially regarding sexual stuff. i know creating a version for ourselves of who we think these boys are based on things we recognize in ourselves or things we find endearing is part of the comfort with loving them. but that doesn’t really equate to actually knowing them, and besides, this is fan fiction; no one’s opting to write a biography, anyway. being experimental and explorative and putting different aspects of their personalities in different lightings is what makes fic fun. if someone’s writing harmful or one-dimensional characters, that’s one thing, and preferences is again whatever floats your boat. but the “out of character” argument feels mostly really strange to me. this is a bit of a tangent, though.)

lastly, the thing is that i will and i do take it personally if someone insinuates that a character--a gay character--that i, a lesbian, construed is a secret vessel for expressing heterosexual attraction. if someone calls louis a “self-insert”, that does reflect back on me. and to elaborate on that--i don’t particularly love to bring it up, but it's quite disheartening to pour personal PTSD experiences into a character and rly put effort into doing it right and justice and underline growth and healing, just to find out people disregard all that completely in favor of declaring that my self-projection lies in the attraction to a man--which is to say, the one thing i couldn’t possibly feel more estranged from. it's so incredibly tactless. i feel thoroughly whiny at this point but how is that not supposed to make me a little sad?

anyway. none of this is to say that you can’t dislike or critique collision. you can. sometimes ppl don’t like things. but i hope i’m clear about where i’m coming from with my discomfort now. people’s preferences and dislikes are indeed not mine to be hurt by, but these things are. this definitely got unnecessarily long and i probably look like i take myself unbearably seriously (i promise i don’t), so i’m sorry. but at least i've said everything now, and if i encounter this sort of rhetoric in the future, i have something to redirect people to. also anon, none of this is directly pointed at you, i know you mean well. take care <3

[naw-naw-honeyimgood]

ChengQing (lmao never realized that was their fucking ship name)

so pros of (Jiang Cheng/Wen Qing):

one of the few possible het ships available to mdzs fans like there are all of five named female characters and this is the only one not in an established het pairing. and like sure ive seen yanli w/ someone else a couple times but you CANT put her with JIANG CHENG and i cant say ive ever seen mianmian in a serious relationship in fics with anyone besides either her canon hubby or a chick (usually yanli, wen qing herself, or even sometimes both lmao).

it’s basically written itself in cql!! he has a very obv and clear crush on her, even gives her a comb and offers to help her! she seems interested but the way the storyline went it was simply not meant to be :’(

you get to pair off jiang cheng!! ngl once u finish mdzs its kinda sad for everyone not wangxian (in their generation/above) cuz theyre the only one that get a happy ending. Everyone else is forever alone / depressed / bitter or a combination thereof. so it’s nice to see jiang cheng getting a happy ending!

he... gets... kids...? like ngl as a childless person that is happy to stay that way thats not exactly a pro in my eyes but you might look at his relationship w/ jin ling and say “he’s a great father! he deserves to be a father!” which okay good news! wen qing can bear children!

Now. Cons. 

for one thing the fact that you have a lack of options doesnt exactly mean every possible het pairing can have good chemistry even if you change circumstances enough. there comes to a point where certain pairings can only be really viable if one or both of them are ooc.

lets be honest im willing to bet that AT LEAST 80% of the reason cql introduced this ship was because they were not allowed to make the wangxian pair explicitly Together (and i dont even mean anything specifically sexual), and they needed SOME SORT of romance to feature in the story. xuanli doesnt count because theyre an established background ship,  the jiang parents dont count as romance, we aint talkin about the villain relationships, and lbr, mianmian already had a lot more signif in cql than mdzs. so it makes sense that they took the arguably most important male chara besides wangxian and made him have a crush on the most important female character that wasnt his SISTER. 

what im trying to say is that cql pulled that pairing out of a hat. if you look at canon at ALL i highly doubt there would ever have been feelings, just as there never were. we dont quite know the age dif but we know that wen qing was the older sister and wen ning might have been a bit younger? than the boys? cannot quite remember but we dont know if she was only a year or two older or if it was like. mingjue and huaisang. we dont know! and i canNOT see jiang cheng going for an older chick. also their personalities would clash So Much. she has older sis vibes and not the gentle kind like yanli. she snaps at wen ning’s mumbling and stuff a good couple times- you think she’d tolerate jiang cheng’s emotional immaturity? hah. 

this also kinda segues into my main point of: as depressing as it is that jiang cheng is forever alone unless you pair him off... he would honestly put whoever you pair him off with through hell. he’s not nice. so many jiang cheng stans like to argue that he’s a traumatized kid that was raised to channel his emotions through anger (and raises bitterness under his skin like an ugly puppy) but inside he has a heart of gold, and they’re... not exactly wrong! i mean- literally every younger chara is traumatized in some way. but... that doesn’t really... excuse the shit he’s pulled? as much as jiang cheng stans like to forget: jin guangyao was RIGHT when he said that jiang cheng’s insecurities got wei ying killed. his CLOSEST ALLY. 

tying back to wen qing we have their actual CANON interactions (or lack thereof). wen qing didn’t exactly protect wei ying and jiang cheng out of the goodness of her heart when lotus pier fell: she was protecting wen ning (her BROTHER) from the repercussions of his own actions by saving wei ying (and Jiang Cheng ig idk he was just there bUT YOUNG MASTER WEI-)

not QUITE sure why she agreed to doing the golden core transfer (maybe scientific curiousity? i mean she had an unproven medical theory and here was a volunteer) but it def wasnt For Jiang Cheng.

and then the next time she saw him? do you guys remember the next time she saw him? it’ was when jiang cheng came up to the burial mounds to kill wen ning’s corpse and tell wei ying to turn over the wens. 

KEEP IN MIND that jiang cheng KNOWS wen ning and qing SAVED HIS FUCKING ASS after lotus pier (not How but he KNOWS THIS) and yet he still tells wei ying to hand them over.

he makes wei ying choose between what amounts to the cultivation world and his morals. 

that does not a good healthy relationship make. also again their personalities would clash like so bad. i love wen qing way more but you have to admit her personality is super similar to madame yu’s. and we already agreed that jiang cheng was traumatized as a kid. im not saying fengmian didnt have a hand in it but you gotta admit a good amount was madam yu and her insecurites and accusations she piled on her son. and you wanna pair him up romantically with someone who won’t take his shit and smile? will call him out? HAH.

im not saying this because i think jiang cheng should be with a softer personalitied (guy) like lan xichen or wen ning or huaisang because god knows those pairings have their own issues. im just saying that in canon-verse all i can ship whole-heartedly is jiang cheng / therapy, but since there is not therapy in canon-verse, or even if there WAS then there’s no way he’d admit to needing it, then yeah he can stay single for all his bitter life. better that than making jiang parent relationship 2.0 like fuck.

(this of course means that in modern aus where he DOES get therapy i am Open)

also real quick but jiang cheng was NOT a good parent to jin ling and i will not take constructive criticism like sure he was better than the jiang parents and the lan parents but that is SUCH a low fuckin bar and it’s a fact that in chapter 9 jin ling literally thinks “if I can’t slice off her head with this blow, I will die here- death it is then!!” (taken gratefully from the exiled rebels scanlation) and that is NOT a healthy-minded child.

the only healthy minded children is like. jingyi. and probably sizhui. although i am not here for the way the lan sect raise children but sometimes you have to take what you can get.

also i want you to look me in the eye and tell me that wen qing could and would do anything besides throw down with someone that so much as looked at her brother wrong

because jiang cheng apparently decided to lay the blame for jin zixuan’s death at wen ning’s feet (which is incredibly ironic considering he blames wei ying for yanli’s death??? like i feel like he could stand to use his brain cells a bit more??) and repeatedly tried to kill him.