#(on that note I asked about the climax earlier but does this play even show what happened in the Sinner's Pit? When does it end?)

[fluffypurpleglitterdemon]

"The two protagonists seemed overly familiar with each other" Xie Lian! We were all there for the Banyue arc!

[min-jpg]

pretty boy

Characters: Sub!Childe, Sub!Xiao x Dom GN!reader (separately)

Genre: smut/NSFW, costume play, cussing, begging, spanking, thigh riding, choking, mirror play, degradation (TW: mean asf to Childe and blood included)

Note: writing smut is so different from reading HAHSHFKFE;; since I'm still inexperienced, I decided to experiment with 2 of my favorite boys first. Enjoy!

Now playing: TENDER - Erode

---

Childe dressed in a bunny girl suit.

The upper half of his body bent over, his chest heaving on the bed. Childe's arms were bound behind him, shackled together with a handcuff.

Sitting beside him, you sneered at the sight. "Sticking your ass up like a whore. Waiting for someone to fuck you senseless?" Without warning, you swung your arm in wide motion and connected with his ass to spank him. Childe's body jolted from the impact, erupting a heavy moan as well. His bottom half shivering, as if he was wagging his cute little bunny tail that was attached to the costume.

"You liked that? Looking like a bitch in a heat." Smacking him numerous times earned more lewd noises from him.

Childe's breathing labored as he glanced at you. He beseeched with his gaze, waiting in anticipation. He rubbed his thighs together in a hasty manner to augment friction between his pantyhose and erected manhood. "M-more."

You smirked at the bewitched state he got himself into just by your spanks. Feigning a dull expression, "More? Why don't you do something about it yourself?"

Childe gradually stood up, his desperation burgeoning every second. With an ungainly movement, he mounted himself on your thigh. As his length came in contact with your lap, Childe let out another cry.

"I didn't even touch you, slut." You chuckled as you observed him straddling on your thigh. Though, his advance was far from being graceful since he had his hands restrained. You still considered it adorable of him to take the initiative.

Like a rabbit in their heat cycle, Childe rubbed his dick against your skin. His hips bounced back and forth, each stroke bestowing surges of pleasure throughout his body. Mouth agape, Childe does not shy away when it comes to expressing his moans.

You felt chills traversing down your spine as you watch him fuck your lap, his thighs clamping onto yours as if clinging onto dear life. There was something so exhilarating about seeing Childe so fixated on one of your mere body parts. He was eagerly using your thigh as an object to appease his sexual urges.

As his limbs grew restless, Childe lost his balance with nothing to grab. To secure him in place, you rested your hands on the sides of his waist.

You pressed down, causing his cock to burrow further into your skin. Startled by the development in pleasure, his head flew back as he groaned, back arching. Childe maintained his pace as he vigorously grinds against your lap. You assaulted his bared neck with a relentless bite, welcoming every vibration palpitating through his throat coming from his lascivious moans.

Blood trickled down from where you nibbled him, tasting iron in your mouth. Your chest reverberated a dark chuckle when you pulled away to relish the mark you left on the body that tacitly belonged to you.

Tracing the mark with your thumb, Childe eventually lowered his head. Those lustful eyes met yours. You shot back a glare, "Did I ask you to look at me?" Grabbing a fistful of his hair, you forcefully tugged his head back, drawing an alarming yelp from him. "Keep that little head of yours concentrated on grinding, hmm?"

"Y-yes... I'm sorry. Please forgive me." Childe gasped out. You ignored his pleas and resumed to persistently gnawing his neck at various spots.

As you covered his pale neck with bruises, Childe's pitch grew higher. The urgency in his vehement thrusts motioned he was approaching orgasm, "Gonna come!"

Your fingers laced around his neck, "Who said you could?" Tightening your grip, Childe began to choke as his air passage was slowly shrinking.

As his eyes rolled back, Childe continuously beg in between his weeps, "Please let me come! I want to come, so badly! Please, I've been a good boy."

"You're such a dirty whore for me." You grasped a steady grip on his ass and fondled with it, "Hurry up, before I change my mind."

Childe humped harshly against your skin, "Thank you, thank you so much." Even you could feel the severe abrasion forming on your thigh from his efforts.

Achieving orgasm, a puddle formed in between his legs which finally caused him to slow down. His essence oozed under the costume. Childe collapsed forward, forehead resting on your shoulder as he panted, sweat dripping down. He carried on with perpetual murmuring words of gratitude, as if in a trance.

"You dirty, pretty thing."

Xiao dressed in a maid outfit.

His attractive slim neck was embellished with a jade green ribbon that coordinated with the highlight on his hair. Standing in front of a full-length mirror, Xiao shyly concealed his gaze by peering down. He kept his hands occupied by fiddling with the frills from the dress.

You stood beside Xiao as you admired how fitting he looked in that costume, "Lift the dress up." Your voice firm. It was an order, not a request.

Xiao quietly complied with your words, picking up the one side of the hem.

"Do it properly." Your tone grew stern, making Xiao whimper silently to himself and pulled up the dress completely to expose what lies under.

You hummed pleasantly, "So you even wore lace underwear? What a slut." Shuddering him to the core with your mild degradation, it manifested a tent beneath the white underwear.

A frigid breeze made its way through the aperture in his thighs that were exposed, causing Xiao to squeeze them shut. The weights on his legs that wore knee-high stockings shifted from one to another. You leisurely walked behind him, resting your chest on his back.

Your arms snaked around him, enough to make Xiao aroused as he felt sparks from your sensual touch. Burying your head in his shoulder, you immersed yourself in his scent. Your breath tickled his skin, inflicting lust in Xiao even further.

"You're so pretty, such a good boy for me." Muttering praises to make up for your mean bearings earlier, your hands explored his heated body in the process. Viewing the mirror, a damp spot surfaced on his underwear. It was a living exhibit of how turned on he was. Reaching the bottom where his member lies, you slipped your hand into the underwear, earning a yelp from Xiao.

Your fingers danced on his already wet tip, an attempt to provoke him further. Your touch was intentionally brief, never staying too long. His tip never failed to twitch cutely to seize your attention. Xiao desperately thrusts his hips forward, seeking to engage with your hand.

"Impatient? Then beg for it." You whispered into his ear, watching him succumb to your handlings. Raising his head by tilting his chin with your other hand, Xiao's shriveled pupils met your eyes through the reflection of the mirror. His flushed face was accompanied by eyes brimming with tears threatening to spill out.

"P-please... please make me feel good. Please, please, please!" Chant of pleas cascaded from Xiao's lips, his voice quivering. It was almost impossible to resist consuming him whole right on the spot.

"So cute..." You kissed his hair. Seeing how hard he tried, you ought to show some leniency. "Keep holding the dress up for me." Pulling down his underwear, you instantly switched the gear. You worked on stroking his length in a calculated rhythm. Xiao gasped as his knees buckled and his entire body convulsed. You felt his cock pulsating around your palm, signifying how much he craved and depended on your touch alone to send him to his climax.

Xiao mewled and leaned forward. His trembling legs could no longer support him. You took note of this and hoisted him up with a tight embrace around his waist, meanwhile hastening your pace around his stimulated cock. You made sure to also rub the head with your thumb once in awhile.

Succeeding sweet moans coming from Xiao saturated the room as he fits in your name in between, "I'm going, to.. c-come." He formed incoherent sentences in the nigh of his sexual gratification. Xiao instinctively grabbed your arm and let go of the hem. Distressed to hold onto something as pleasure throbbed throughout his body, his nails dug into your skin.

"Going to come for me like a good boy?" You kissed the nape of his neck. He nodded fervently, hips once again jerking forward as he shot strings of cum, permitting one final deep moan in the process. The white substance splattered against the mirror. His moan transitioned to series of pants as he drooled, body slumping, and eventually went numb.

"Look at how beautiful you are."

[sofreddie]

Scent From Above 5

Summary: Jensen finally gets what he wants.

Characters: Alpha!Jensen x Omega!Fan Reader

ABO BINGO: Marking

Warnings: A/B/O Dynamics, Heat, Smut (Unprotected Sex, Mating, Knotting, Claiming/Marking, Breeding Kink), Dirty Talk

Word Count: 1,633

A/N: So this was only supposed to be five parts. But uh…there ended up being a double-dosing of smut (you're welcome). It also allowed me to squeeze in another @spnabobingo square - Marking - which, duh 🙄, why didn't I think of that before?! Anyway, so there will now be one additional part which will finish up the whole story.

PART 4

"Yours, Alpha," she breathed out, holding his gaze, letting him know she was ready, her skin electrified from his touch, her core throbbing for his attention.

"Yours," he responded, before diving in for an all-consuming kiss.

He guided her back until her calves hit the bed and she plopped down in a seated position. She looked up at him, stood before her in all his glory before her eyes traveled to the engorged cock that stood erect before her. She subconsciously licked her lips. Jensen chuckled as he wrapped one hand tightly around the base.

"You wanna suck my cock, pretty Omega?" he chuckled darkly, brushing the hair tenderly out of her face before tangling his fingers in the hair at the back of her head, "Open up," he commanded as he brought the tip to her lips.

She willingly obeyed, letting her Omega instincts take charge and placing her trust in Jensen. She opened her mouth and he slowly fed her his length until he was hitting the back of her throat. She hummed happily, hollowing her cheeks. He groaned, his hand tightening in her hair as he began pumping his hips along with her bobbing.

He was so wound up, and she was so fucking eager. He was so close to coming. He pulled her off of him with a pop and she immediately pouted.

"I wanted your cum," she whined.

"You'll get it," he promised, moving her up the bed to lay on the pillows. He kissed up her thighs, his hands framing her mound, "Gonna fill this sweet, little pussy, Omega," he took a deep breath of her scent and she blushed, enthralled and slightly embarrassed, "Claim you inside and out."

His tongue peeked out to taste her and she lost all coherent thought. He swirled his tongue around her nub, before flicking over it just once. He dragged his tongue down through her folds with a groan before diving deep inside her. He twisted his tongue, feeling her walls and tasting her slick. It was like her scent but concentrated. With fingers and tongue and unmatched enthusiasm, Jensen quickly brought her over the edge, wringing every bit of pleasure he could from her body as she thrashed and moaned.

While she caught her breath he crawled up her body, leaving warm, wet kisses in his wake and readorning her with his hickeys and love bites. When he reached her neck he settled his body against hers with a sigh.

He breathed deeply of her again. He dreamt of her scent. He clung to her shirt, desperately trying to wring every bit of scent he could from it. He nearly found himself in tears as its loss, affecting him in ways he'd never imagined.

He pulled back and focused his eyes on hers. She smiled warmly at him, her hands caressing him, her fingertips dipping into curves and lines with a worshipful touch.

He shifted his hips, dragging his cock along her folds before catching at her entrance. He locked eyes with her once more, cupping her face as he slowly slid home. Her mouth hung open in a silent gasp as he filled her.

She missed the feel of him inside her. She had played their weekend together over and over again in her mind. But her memories had let her down because he felt even more incredible than before, she was sure of it.

"So good," he moaned, gently kissing her neck where his hickey once lay. His favorite spot. His chosen spot, since that first night. He moved slow, their eyes locked as they simply felt and reconnected.

He wanted to take his time, to draw out every moment of their coupling. But she was still weak, her body desperate. He wanted to be a good Alpha and take care of her. She whined, clinging to him, needing more.

"I got you, Baby," he pecked her lips, turning her to her stomach and lifting her hips. She quickly and eagerly moved into presentation. He groaned at the sight, before hearing her whimper once more. The same heartbreaking sound she had made when he found her on the floor.

"I got you, Omega," he soothed her again as he took up his place behind her. He wrapped his arms around her, kissing her spine, before adjusting his hips and sliding home in one, smooth stroke.

She submitted to him completely and the Alpha rewarded her with the harsh and dominating pace her body craved. His eyes rolled into the back of his head, his hands planted firmly on her hips, keeping her in place and giving him leverage.

He groaned as he looked down where they connected, seeing his shaft glistening from her slick. Her pussy clutched at him hungrily, sucking him in deeper on every thrust.

"Jay, please," she begged, almost sobbing, "Please, want your knot, want your claim."

He snarled and fucker her harder, "What was that Omega?"

"Alpha!" she corrected herself, so close to the edge, "Alpha please."

Jensen brushed her hair away from her neck, licking over his chosen spot.

"Gonna claim you," he gave a final warning, "Gonna breed you Omega."

She gasped and moaned as her climax crashed over her, his words as impactful as his brutal mating. As her walls clenched tight around his throbbing shaft, he bit hard into her neck. His knot swelled rapidly, locking them tightly together as his cum flooded her womb.

He bit down harder, his hips still erratically thrusting as he rode out the waves. He was lightheaded and swimming with euphoria as he finally fulfilled the bond his body was craving.

They both slumped forward onto the bed, Jensen's body covering hers like a blanket, but she clearly didn't mind. She was practically purring beneath him as he carefully cleaned his mark, lapping at the wounds. He was attentive, careful, and thorough.

By the time he was satisfied with his work, she had fallen asleep. He chuckled, before rolling them on their sides. His knot tugged slightly as he spooned her. He breathed deeply of her once more, already finding notes of her scent changing, adapting to include his claim, his essence.

He knew she'd need him again, and soon. But with their coupling complete, she was safe. She was his.

Jensen smiled at Y/N as he finished washing the dishes. When she woke, Jensen made her shower and now was making her eat and hydrate. She whined cutely. But he knew there was more to taking care of her than just fucking her through her heat.

He was determined to show her that he was a good Alpha. That he meant his claim and stood by their bond. That he wanted her completely. He had been anxiously thinking about it since he woke.

"I want you to claim me too," he said once she was finished.

Her eyes went wide as she processed.

"What?"

"I want you to know that I'm yours as much as you are mine," he explained, pulling her into his arms, "Whenever you have doubts, I want you to see your mark and know that it's real and I'm yours."

"B-but…most Alphas don't-"

"I'm not most Alphas," he stated firmly, kissing her possessively. She melted into him and he scooped her into his arms, her legs wrapping around his waist. He carried her to the couch and sat down with her in his lap.

"This is familiar," she chuckled, blushing profusely.

"Should have claimed you then," he breathed out, dragging his nose along her hairline as he breathed her in, "Then we never would've been apart. Your heat never would've got so bad," his voice shook as he remembered how scared he was.

She cupped his face in her hands, her eyes studying his own before she kissed him tenderly. She held his gaze as she slipped his cock from his boxer briefs. Using her other hand, she slid her panties to the side before sinking down on his length.

"Y/N," he moaned as his hands clutched her sides. His head rolled to lay against the back of the couch as he adjusted his hips, "You take charge," he told her with a smirk, submitting to her will. He needed her to understand they were partners, equals, mates.

He never failed to empower her. To make her feel greater than she did before, sexier, more confident. She couldn't believe her luck in having Jensen as an Alpha. She was quickly becoming addicted to the way he looked at her with stars and adoration in his eyes. It was the same way she looked at him.

It didn't take long for them to climb to that high together once more, their bodies quickly learning each other and adapting. Her eyes locked onto his exposed neck, his words from earlier echoing in her ears in time with the pumping of her blood.

Her eyes flashed to his, barely open slits as he succumbed to the pleasure. He nodded at her, tilting his head a little more and using his other hand to gently guide her by the back of the head, encouraging her mark.

She kissed the skin reverently before parting her lips, biting down and breaking into the skin as they both fell over the edge. Jensen hissed, his hips stuttering and knot popping before he gave into his own urges, renewing his claim.

"Does it hurt?" Y/N asked after they cleaned the marks. Her eyes were glued to her claim.

"No," he promised, pecking her lips and pulling her flush against him as they waited for his knot to go down. He'd wear her mark proudly. It wasn't conventional, but he didn't care in the slightest what anyone might think. She was his, and he was hers.

PART 6 (Final)

Forevers:

@sis-tafics

@lyarr24

@calaofnoldor

@hobby27

@spnbaby-67

@fangirlxwritesx67

RPF:

@smoothdogsgirl

JENSEN TAGS:

@akshi8278

@jerkbitchidjitassbutt

@slamminmine

@deanjensenficsandart

@woodworthti666

@charred-angelwings

@deandreamernp

@laycblack

[eurydicees]

at the whisper of a violin

summary: momiji gives one last violin performance, just for the two of them, in which he bares his soul. a story in which tohru doesn’t understand, until she does. 

prompt: momiru for @eroshiyda ! i hope you enjoy <3 

pairings: momiji sohma/tohru honda

words: 1495

warnings: none

note: here is a spotify link to the violin piece, “none but the lonely heart” by tchaikovsky, that i listened to on a loop while writing this :) 

“Tohru!” 

Tohru turns away from the stove, catching just the sound of Momiji’s voice as he pauses at the front door to tug off his shoes. It takes only a moment before he comes into the kitchen, a bright smile on his face. 

Tohru grins at him. “Hello—” 

“Before I chicken out,” Momiji cuts in, “I promised that I would give you a private concert.” 

Tohru blinks. “Oh, Momiji, you didn’t really have to—” 

“I wanted to!” Momiji interrupts again. The excitement is bleeding into nervousness which bleeds into his voice, into the slight shake of his hands, into the grin at his lips. He hoists the violin case in his hands up, just showing that he has it. “Come on, take a break from cooking. You work too hard, Tohru.” 

Tohru glances between him and the vegetables that she had been cutting on the counter. Slices of carrots and scallions are resting in piles at the cutting board, the knife still in her hands. The miso soup in progress is simmering on the stove. “I suppose this can wait a few minutes.” 

“Great!” Momiji grins, grabbing her hand. 

He pulls her out of the kitchen and towards the table, Tohru following him with a yelp. She sits down at the table, legs folded underneath her. Momiji stands across the table from her— he sets down the violin case and pulls out the violin. 

“I got all prepared earlier,” he says, putting the violin to his shoulder. “I didn’t want to have to warm up while you were watching.” 

Tohru smiles at him, something warm coming to her cheeks. He’s more considerate than people give him credit for, she thinks. There’s something about the brightness of his smile and the energy that’s constantly running through his veins and coming out in bursts of laughter and movement that makes him seem childish, that makes him seem like he’s less than he is. Seeing him here, holding the violin, in his element, Tohru thinks that maybe she’s beginning to see through all of that. 

“What are you going to play?” she asks, rubbing her palms against her knees. 

She’s sweating from standing over the heat of the stove, and she can feel a kind of nervousness rising up in his throat. She can’t place why it comes, but Tohru has always had a good sense for people, and she can’t shake the feeling that Momiji is saying something with this performance that he can’t say out loud. 

Last time that they had talked, Momiji had said that he was going to quit playing violin, but he had promised her a concert, just between the two of them. Tohru is, with a sudden and acute awareness, terrified that this is going to be the last time that he plays violin. She doesn’t know what to do with that, with this gift— if she’s the last person to hear him play, play for real, that means he’s given up on his dream of a concert just for his family. 

She can’t let that happen. 

For the hundredth time that week, Tohru promises herself that she’s going to find a way to break the curse. This isn’t going to be Momiji’s last concert. His mother hasn’t heard him play, not yet. 

“Wish Upon A Star,” Momiji says, smiling, “just like you asked for. I’ve been practicing all week.” 

“You learned it so quickly,” Tohru says, more of a breath than a sentence. 

He shrugs, the violin hitting his chin. “I wanted to do this for you. As a thank you.” 

“A thank you for what?” she asks, frowning. 

“For being my friend,” he says, a soft smile on his face. It’s sad, though, and she can’t quite figure out why. “Are you ready?” 

Tohru nods wordlessly, and Momiji begins to play. 

She doesn’t know that she’s crying until she feels the tears drip from her cheeks to her clasped hands. She didn’t know, before this, how much music can move a person. How much it can say. 

Even in such a simple song, Tohru can hear the talent that rests in Momiji’s fingertips, she can feel the longing in the notes— the wishing for something that you can never have, the aching desire to hold it in your hands and the coldness in your palms where you know it will never lay. She can hear every emotion that she’s ever felt poured into each note.

Momiji closes his eyes while he plays, swaying back and forth slightly, his hands moving deftly across the instrument— fingers pressing down at the strings, wrist at a sharp angle, the bow of the violin falling across the strings as if it were the wind brushing through the trees. He gets lost in the music, lost in each dip and trill. 

Tohru watches with wide eyes, feeling the tears falling from her face as Momiji brings the song to its climax. He picks up speed, the bow moving quickly, his fingers flying across the strings until she can’t differentiate between ring and pinky. She watches him as he stands there, his stance strong, rooted into the ground with a kind of force that she doesn’t understand— like he’s scared that the music will give him wings and let him fly above the house and up to the sun. Like he’s afraid of the flight of sound. 

The music spills out from the violin in a kind of heartbreak, in a kind of longing, in a kind of wanting. There are no words for this, Tohru thinks. There is only sheet music. There is only song. 

She can’t put all of her thoughts together as she listens, can't string together a coherent sentence. She loses herself to the music. She lets herself fall into it, swimming among the notes, letting all of the feeling spill out of her chest and into the violin. She feels the tears falling faster, and she loses her breath as Momiji curls out one last note. 

It’s filled to the brim with longing and wanting and words that can never be said out loud.

The two of them let that last note hang in the air for a moment, let it disappear into the wind. Momiji keeps his eyes closed for that second, just drinking in the sudden silence. 

When Tohru finally brings herself to clap, Momiji opens his eyes. He turns to her with a sad smile. 

“You’re crying,” he says softly. 

Tohru wipes at her cheeks with her shirt sleeve, trying to clean herself of all sadness. She feels drained, in a way, like the song had taken everything out of her. “It was beautiful.” 

“Thank you,” he murmurs. He places the violin carefully in the case again, exhaling slowly. “I can’t continue my lessons anymore, but I’m glad I got to perform for you.” 

Tohru swallows. “Thank you, Momiji.” 

“Anytime, Tohru,” he says quietly. He chews at his lip for a moment before sitting down across from her. He busies himself with loosening the violin bow, with setting it away, with carefully strapping the violin into its case, with everything he can do but look at her. “Do you understand?” 

“What do you mean?” 

“What I’m saying.” Momiji takes a breath. “Tohru, do you know that I love you?” 

Tohru stares at him. Her cheeks are still wet. There’s a new kind of longing in the air, a new kind of song. “What?” 

Momiji doesn’t look at her, just closes the violin case and takes a breath. “You don’t have to say anything. But I’m glad you liked the song.” 

“I loved it,” Tohru says softly. 

Momiji stands up. He’s gotten taller; when did that happen? When did his eyes get so sad? “I’ll see you later, okay?” 

Tohru nods as Momiji takes his violin case and starts to leave the room. Just as he passes her, she grabs his wrist, her arm hitting the violin case. She winces at the bump, but doesn’t cry out. She just stares at the space where he had been standing, holding onto him. Momiji stills. 

“I loved it,” Tohru repeats, and Momiji makes a startled noise. “Do you understand?” 

Momiji is quiet, and Tohru takes a breath. She says, “Will you play for me again, eventually?” 

“Whatever you want,” Momiji says, his voice choked. “I’ll play whatever you want.” 

Tohru lets go of his wrist, standing up. She looks at him, searching his eyes for something, for some kind of question, some kind of answer. Carefully, she brushes a curl of hair away from his eyes. “There’s a new Mogeta movie in theatres.” 

“I’m free tomorrow,” Momiji breathes, voice catching on a new brightness, a new music. 

His eyes meet hers, and she smiles at him. She can still hear the song in her head, she can still feel the tears drying at her cheeks, she can still taste the sound of the violin in his words. “I’ll see you then.”

[oakensherwood]

Okay, let’s talk about Maid Marian. Let’s really talk about Marian. So often I see her character disparaged as a damsel in distress without agency of her own, but that is honestly so far from the truth. In fact, Maid Marian is considered to be one of the earliest examples of the “strong, independent woman” character archetype. Not only is it untrue to call her a damsel in distress, it’s also unfair.

As with many stories, Robin Hood is a story filled with men. I love it, but there’s no denying it’s a story filled with men. As the only prominent female character in a story that has been retold for close to 1000 years, centuries of ideas about femininity have been funneled into this singular character. Among the array of male characters, we see many ways to be masculine: smart, witty, artistic, strong, brave, charitable, loyal, both fighters and lovers. All of the characters have been adapted through the years, but Marian can still be distinguished as the only canonically present female character in the main cast.

Other women we traditionally see include Alan’s bride, the Prioress of Kirklees Abbey who murders Robin, Marian’s serving woman, and a few queens. Various contemporary novels, films, and TV representations have added women to the cast to even it out, but Marian is still the only primary female cast member. As such, centuries of what it can mean to be a woman have been reflected through her.

Let’s take a look at what exactly that has looked like through the years.

One of the things I love best about Robin Hood as a legend is that it is constantly evolving and changing for the needs of the audience. Across centuries and decades it has been changed to suit the ideas of the day. Even the oldest extant documentation of Robin Hood is not considered the “original version” because there is no way of really knowing when or how these stories started, or how long it took for them to be written down. 

So, just as there isn’t a standardized Robin Hood, there isn’t a standardized Maid Marian. We know that she was added later in the Robin Hood tradition, during the 15th century as part of May Day celebrations, and quickly became a common character in future iterations of the Robin Hood story. Her origins are still murky at best, and it’s impossible to pinpoint the very first time she was introduced. 

Her many origins include a shepherdess named Clorinda from Child Ballad 149, an unrelated Marian character in 15th century May Day games who happens to also have a lover named Robin, and a historically based woman named Matilda Fitzwalter appears in Anthony Munday’s “Huntingdon” plays from the 15th century. Furthest from our understanding of Marian is a play titled Robin Hood and the Friar, very merry and full of pastime, proper to be played in May Games. In this play we find Marian as a “trull” a.k.a. prostitute, employed by Friar Tuck. A far cry from how we know both Marian and Friar Tuck today. So far, she’s a working woman, a noblewoman, a romantic interest, and a prostitute. 

The best known and most enduring of these early variations is Child Ballad 150 (you can read it in full here). In this ballad, we see Marian dress as a boy, and go into the forest fully armed, to seek out her lover, Robin Hood. When she finds him and does not recognize him, they begin to fight and Marian handily beats him in their sword fight. Robin immediately asks her to join the Merry Men, they recognize each other, and return to camp for feasting and a “happily ever after” full of adventures. 

- Child Ballad 150

“With quiver and bow, sword, buckler and all,

Thus armed was Marian most bold.”

This ballad is reminiscent of introductory stories of the Merry Men -- Robin meets a stranger, they fight, the stranger wins, and Robin offers them a place in his band. 

We can clearly see in Child Ballad 150 that Marian was considered Robin’s equal and a regular member of the group from early on her individual tradition. Other parts of her early tradition survive as well -- she’s a romantic partner for Robin, and a noblewoman.

As we progress forward in Robin Hood traditions, we continue to see the story change. Notable changes occur during the Victorian period, when general interest in Robin Hood stories was revived thanks to the publication of Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe (1819) and Howard Pyle’s The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood (1883). Marian does not appear in Ivanhoe and is mentioned only once in Pyle’s book, and is effectively written out of the story entirely. 

Despite this, we see other novels and stories released as Robin Hood grows in popularity, and here is where we begin to see the idea of a damsel in distress begin to gain traction. As is true in every retelling of Robin Hood, the story changed to suit its audience and to suit the ideas of contemporary society and intended audience. 

Victorian literature is full of interesting and lesser known works of Robin Hood, as a result of a Victorian obsession with medievalism and with Robin Hood. Maid Marian and Robin Hood: A Romance of Old Sherwood (1892) by J.E. Muddock features a very distressed Marian who does need rescued and has very little agency. Other Victorian works take a similar tone and cast Marian as a damsel, but this is not the narrative that ultimately survives this period of Robin Hood resurgence. 

Thomas Love Peacock published a novella simply titled Maid Marian (1822). Interesting to note, because Robin only appears briefly as a supporting character in Ivanhoe, this is actually the first true Robin Hood novel as a story by itself. Here we see an active, and independent Marian, evocative of Child Ballad 150.

‘Well, father,’ added Matilda, ‘I must go into the woods.’

‘Must you?’ said the Baron, ‘I say you must not.’

‘But I am going,’ said Matilda.

‘But I will have up the drawbridge,’ said the baron.

‘But I will swim the moat,’ said Matilda.

‘But I will secure the gates,’ said the baron.

‘But I will leap from the battlement,’ said Matilda.

‘But I will lock you in an upper chamber,’ said the baron.

‘But I will shred the tapestry,’ said Matilda, ‘and let myself down.’

- Thomas Love Peacock, Maid Marian (1822)

Matilda does indeed go to the woods, takes on the name Maid Marian, and rules the forest with Robin Hood. Other Victorian works take a similar approach to Marian and show her as involved and capable including Maid Marian, or the Forest Queen (1849) by Joaquim Stocqueler, which follows a more traditional Robin Hood storyline filled with adventures and danger.

Later classic works include an active Marian as a member of the outlaw band, as well. Roger Lancelyn Green (1956), Charles E. Vivian (1927), and Paul Creswick (1917) all write a Marian who speaks for herself and works with the outlaws, often dressed as a man. 

Hollywood enters the scene of Robin Hood retellings as early as 1908, but the oldest surviving Robin Hood film is Douglas Fairbanks’ Robin Hood (1922). This silent movie, groundbreaking in budget and sets, features Marian (played by Enid Bennet) as a strong character who holds her own throughout the film. After this, we see another groundbreaking film, The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland. This film is widely thought to be the gold standard of Robin Hood films, and I am definitely in that camp. Marian has more agency in this movie, and the lovely Olivia plays a rather coy noblewoman. While we don’t see her taking up a sword in this film, we see her developing the plan that ultimately rescues Robin from the hangman’s noose, successfully warning Robin and his men of Prince John’s plans, and standing her ground while on trial and defending her ideals. Yes, she is rescued from prison in the climax of the movie, but she also plays a vital role in rescuing Robin earlier in the story.

Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) begins with a woman of action, but at the end sees Marian rather helplessly forced into a marriage and moments away from being sexually assaulted when Robin literally catapults himself through the window to save her. 20 years later in Robin Hood (2010) Cate Blanchett’s Marian is fully capable in combat and is shown to be a responsible and dedicated lady of Loxley, working the fields and caring for her home.

Meanwhile in a contemporary TV adaptation, Marian is depicted as a Robin Hood figure herself, known as the Nightwatchman. (2006, BBC’s Robin Hood) Although the writers later did a disservice by (unpopularly) killing her character as a season finale, Marian was still depicted as competent and in charge of her own choices and actions, and in fact rescues herself from an unwanted marriage. 

Contemporary Robin Hood literature also features an active Marian. Jennifer Roberson’s Lady of the Forest (1995) and Lady of Sherwood (1999) present Marian as a noblewoman who, over the course of the text, takes control of her own story in her capacity as a member of gentry, Lauren Johnson’s The Arrow of Sherwood (2013) sees an incredibly historically inclined retelling of the Robin Hood story, and includes a dedicated and politically savvy Marian. She doesn’t run into the forest, but makes a real difference through her smart decisions and political manipulation. Robin McKinely’s The Outlaws of Sherwood features Marian as an excellent archer, better than Robin, and she easily slips in and out of the outlaw camp as needed, is skilled in woodscraft, and is a valued and substantial member of the outlaw group. Honestly, I think it would be difficult to find a literary retelling that doesn’t include an active Marian character. 

So where do our ideas of Marian as a damsel in distress ultimately come from? I have a few theories.

First, we see the archetype of damsels in distress throughout other fairy tales and folklore, so it’s tempting to assume that Marian is the same and portray her as such, and there are examples of her character playing that role either in whole, or for part of the narrative.

There are unfair assumptions made about medieval women in general, that ignore the powerful positions women could hold, and the amazing things that women did during this period. When people picture medieval women, they are often embroidering tapestries, being forced into unwanted marriages, being beaten by their husbands, and dying in childbirth. There is truth in stereotypes, but there’s also room for deeper understanding of the historical context, and a wider story to be told that includes women standing up for themselves and exercising their own strength and skills. (It’s not good feminism to overwrite real women’s history.)  

We see this stereotype most often in movies and TV adaptations, which are highly visible and memorable, cementing ideas about the Robin Hood legend (and Marian) in the general psyche. 

Children’s picture books, perhaps one of the first introductions a person might have to Robin Hood, tend to play out the story like a traditional fairy tale and Marian is again likely found in an upper tower, calling for help. 

Some find it demeaning for Marian to ever require saving, or to be saved by anyone other than herself. I feel differently about this. People rely on other people, and it’s not inherently weak to ask for support from someone, especially from a romantic partner. The story of Robin Hood is good fun, but it’s also full of danger and peril. It’s not surprising that various characters need to be rescued by friends and lovers throughout various tales. Robin Hood, Little John, Will Stutely, Sir Richard of the Lea, Alan A Dale’s bride, and yes, Maid Marian. All of these characters have stories where they require smart and daring rescues, and they’re exciting stories! Because Alan’s bride and Marian are women, this does not exempt them from the support of their male friends. They deserve to have someone watching their back. I am not offended by Marian needing help; it’s not only human, it’s a staple for a multitude of characters in Robin Hood lore.

As with much of media, Marian is the single female in what’s otherwise mostly a boys’ club. She has been the single point of reference in this story for women for centuries. I find that incredible. She was my favorite character as a child because she was the only woman, the only person I could potentially see myself in. With a global story such as Robin Hood, that’s not an insignificant role. No matter what her part may be in any given retelling, there are pieces of women from centuries long past and not so distant. I find that fascinating, worth respecting, and that’s why she’s my favorite character to this day.

tldr: Drink your respect Maid Marian juice.

[kodzukenscorner]

Sakusa, Ushijima, Bokuto, and Akaashi’s S/O singing Into the Unknown

anastasiasthings asked: Can I request Sakusa, Ushijima, Bokuto, and Akaashi s/o randomly singing into the unknown and hit its perfectly? 😂😂❤️

a/n: asdfhjk i’m gonna kms-- i wrote this whole thing out on mobile and hit ‘save draft’ and tumblr rlly said “oopsie, something went wrong” and deleted the WHOLE THING so yea i wrote this twice lol

wc: 1,526

✶   ✶   ✶   ✶   ✶

Sakusa

You’re used to Sakusa being out a lot, he’s usually at practice so you have learned to let go when he’s not around

Honestly, you’re usually cleaning the place because Sakusa loves to come home to a clean home

So you have an entire playlist dedicated to when you need to tidy up

It’s full of songs that you like to sing and dance to so you can have fun while you’re doing your chores

And Disney songs are PERFECT for that

You had made Saksua watch a couple Disney movies with you but that was never really his thing so he didn’t pay much attention

You gushed about how excited you were for Frozen II and when you saw it together you were immediately obsessed with Into the Unknown

But Sakusa seemed...indifferent

Either way, it was easily your favorite song in your playlist and you always sang along to it

While you were busy cleaning you didn’t hear the door opening, Sakusa coming home earlier than usual to try and spend some more time with you since he had been so busy lately

He heard you in the kitchen and headed over there to greet you

Instead he saw and heard you belting out the climax of Into the Unknown while mopping

He was about to laugh at how cute you were but you actually hit the note very well and he was shocked

When the song ended you turned to continue mopping and saw your boyfriend in the doorway watching you

You removed your earbuds and sheepishly smiled at him

“I didn’t know you were coming home so early!”

“I didn’t know you could sing Into the Unknown that well”

You perked up at that

“You remember the song?”

“Of course I do, you loved the movie so much how could I forget”

You didn’t realize how much attention he paid to you and the things you liked

It was his way of saying he loved and cared about you since he didn’t say it much

And that made your heart swell

You dropped the mop and jumped into his arms, he was surprised but caught you nonetheless 

“I love you Omi”

You leaned in to kiss him and when you pulled away you leaned your forehead on his

“I love you too” He whispered

Now it was your turn to be shocked

Ushijima

It is very hard to surprise this man, seriously you’ve never even seen him raise his eyebrows in surprise before

You made it your personal mission to try and get a reaction out of him

You tried everything: hiding somewhere and then jumping out to scare him, spicy foods, even taking him out to karaoke to try and get him to laugh

But it was mostly you, Tendo, and Semi singing while Ushijima just watched you all

Nothing fazes this man!

You wanted to take him out to karaoke more often because you love singing along to your favorite songs but he didn’t seem to really enjoy it

So you just made do with playing instrumental versions of songs at home and singing along to them there

One day you were making dinner for the both of you and Ushijima had gone out to get you some missing ingredients

In the background you had some songs playing and Into the Unknown came on

You loved singing this song but whenever your boyfriend or other people were around you got self conscious about how your voice sounded

But this time you knew you were alone so you decided to really let go

When the song hit the chorus you flawlessly hit the difficult notes like they were nothing

Honestly, you were more focused on cooking

The door opened after that and you quickly ceased your singing to greet your boyfriend

He came next to you and put the plastic bag down and you could see from the corner of your eye that he was staring at you

You looked at him and he had this strange look in his eye that you couldn’t quite place

“Is something wrong Toshi?”

“I didn’t know you could sing so well”

You froze

“Huh?? You heard me??”

“The walls aren’t very thick”

You could’ve died from embarrassment but you were more focused on the quizzical look on his face 

“Why are you staring at me like that?”

“I’m just surprised”

Wait

WHAT??

This is what he looks like when he’s surprised???

You were so giddy from knowing you finally surprised and got a reaction out of him that you completely forgot the embarrassment you were feeling only a moment ago

When he saw you beaming with excitement he couldn’t help but flash a rare smile back at you

“We should go to karaoke more often”

Bokuto

Oh this baby boy LOVES to sing random songs with you all the time

Whenever the two of you are just spending time together, doing your own thing, one of you is usually playing some music

It never takes long before Bokuto starts singing along softly and then it quickly builds to him scream-singing every lyric

His energy is so contagious that you can’t help but sing along with him

Although you definitely aren’t able to match his volume and he is usually the one to steal the show

Not that you mind at all

Today was no different, you both were focused on your own thing when Into the Unknown suddenly came on

Bokuto always loves singing along to Disney songs because he liked to act out the scenes when he does

So as soon as the song started, he was up on his feet singing and walking around like he was Elsa

His voice quickly grew louder and it was getting harder for you to contain your giggles 

He was moving and jumping around so much that he had to stop and catch his breath right in the middle of the song

You picked up where he left off and sang the difficult notes in the chorus with ease

You started singing the next part of the song but stopped when you realized your voice was the only one you heard

You looked over to see Bokuto staring at you with big eyes

“Kou? What’s wrong? Still out of breath?”

Suddenly he tackled you down into a bear hug

“BAAAABE!!! YOU DIDN’T TELL ME YOU HAD THE VOICE OF AN ANGEL”

Bokuto was busy peppering your face with kisses and all you could do was laugh and try and break out of his iron grip

Bokuto finally took a break from kissing you to look at you with his puppy dog eyes

“I’m sorry I never noticed before, don’t be mad!”

You placed a light kiss on his nose

“Of course I’m not mad”

He flashed his signature smile and pulled you to your feet

He continued playing more songs but this time he let you shine

And he was heart eyes the entire time he listened to you sing

Akaashi

So Akaashi is a more laid back person

Honestly speaking, most of the music he listens to is instrumental or lo-fi stuff because it helps him concentrate 

But he knows you like to listen to more upbeat stuff

Sometimes when you two are working together he can hear you softly singing along to some songs and it really makes his heart flutter 

He thrives on those moments but you always seem to notice that he’s listening to you so you quickly stop out of embarrassment

But one place you always feel free to sing your heart out is in the shower

Usually the bathroom door is enough to block out most sounds so Akaashi can only hear bits and pieces of you singing no matter how hard he tries

Because god he loves your voice 

Once he came home and heard the shower running so he obviously knew you were in there

The closer he got to the bathroom, the louder and more clear your voice got

Then he noticed that you didn’t close the door all the way

He nearly jumped out of sheer joy!!

This meant he could hear your beautiful voice clearly for once

He sat on the ground next to the bathroom and listened to you sing and hum along to random songs

Then you started singing Into the Unknown

He’d only ever heard you hum along to this one so he was on the edge of his seat

When you hit those notes perfectly his heart melted right on the spot

He was so happy he stayed right where he was until you came out of the shower in nothing but a towel

You squealed in surprise when you saw Akaashi sitting on the floor with the most serene smile on his face

“Keiji! When did you get here? And why are you sitting on the floor??”

He stood up and turned towards you, pulling you flush against him as you clung to your towel 

“You sound so beautiful when you’re singing, you have no reason to be shy”

And before you could stutter out a response he already claimed your lips with his

[c-is-for-circinate]

I'd love to hear more of your thoughts about why P5R didn't quite land for you. I had the same reaction to it, but I've never quite been able to properly articulate why the last section fell so flat.

God okay so I've tried several times to answer this, and it seems like the answer is 'I still have way too many feelings, personally, to say this in anything less than thirty pages and fifteen hours of work', because Persona 5 the original is a game I loved a lot and care about a great deal. And most of the reasons I disliked Royal feel, in my head, like a list of ways it broke some of the things I liked best about P5--which means explaining them feels like I need to explain everything I loved about the original game, which is a book in itself, complete with referents to P3, P4, Jungian psychology, the Joseph Campbell mytharc, and fuck all even knows what. And that is too much.

But today I realized that I could instead describe it from an angle of, Persona 5 Strikers succeeds really well at doing the thing I think Royal was trying to do but failed at. And that I think I can talk about in a reasonable amount of wordspace, hopefully, behind this cut because I have at least one friend who hasn't played Royal yet.

Note for reblogs/comments: I HAVE NOT FINISHED STRIKERS YET. I got through the jail that pretended to be the final jail and have not yet gone into the obviously inevitable 'ohshit wait, you mean there's something more than simple human machinations behind all of this?' dungeon. (I got stuck on a really frustrating side quest, put the game down, and then dived into Hades to avoid throwing the Switch across the room for a while--and anyone around this blog lately knows how THAT'S been going.) Please no spoilers past Okinawa!

So, one of the many, many things I really appreciated about Persona 5 was its straightforward and unashamed attitude towards abusers and their acts of violence. Because, while yes P5 is a story about the use of power and control to make others suffer, it fundamentally isn't about those abusers themselves. It's about their victims, those that survive their crimes. And this shows up repeatedly over the course of the game.

We do not give a shit why Kamoshida wanted to beat and rape his students. We really don't. Kamoshida does not deserve our attention one moment longer than it takes to make him stop. Because, ultimately, that's the goal of P5, start to end. We don't know for sure if what we're doing is fair, if it's justice, if it's questionable. What we know is that people are being hurt, badly, actively, right now this second. What we know is that victims are suffering. What we know is that we, personally, us-the-protag and us the Phantom Thieves at large, are in danger. And in those circumstances, we don't care about the abuser's side any more. We don't. We don't have the space or time or capacity to care, because that is not the point.

The point is to help the weak. To save the people who need saving, right here and now. To give others the courage to stand up on their own behalf. We're not even out to change society, not really--that's a byproduct. We are reactions. We are triage. We are important.

There's something so empowering and validating about that as a theme, y'know? In a media landscape so full of "sympathetic villains", the idea that, you know, maybe sometimes you don't have to break yourself to show compassion that might possibly heal the bad guy--that sometimes you can just make the bad guy stop hurting people--feels both refreshing and satisfying. I really appreciate it as a message! I liked it a lot!

And yes, there's nuance to that theme, and the game is not without compassion. We save Futaba, because 'make the bad guy stop hurting people', in that case, means 'make this person stop hurting herself'. We give Sae a path forwards, help her fix her own heart. Yet it's worth pointing out that in both of those cases, while we were very glad to do those things, to save those people, we also went into both of those palaces for extremely practical reasons to begin with. We needed Futaba's help. We needed Sae's help. The fact that we chose to talk Sae into a change of heart rather than simply stealing her treasure, while ultimately a very good thing for her, was absolutely a practical choice predicated on the need for her palace to still exist to save our life. And yes, we wanted to save her, for Makoto's sake--yes, we wanted desperately to save Futaba. But Sae and Futaba let themselves be helped, too, and that doesn't change the overarching themes of the story itself.

Akechi (and to some extent Okumura) would not let himself be helped. Akechi's another interesting nuance to this theme, because of all our villains, we do learn the most about what drove him to the cruelties and crimes he's committed. He's at that intersection of victim and villain, and we want to help him, as a victim--but we also know that stopping him as a villain is more important. We'd like to save him from himself if we could, because we save people from their sources of trauma, it's what we do. We regret being unable to do so. But in the end, what matters to the story is not that Akechi refused to be saved--it's that Shido and Yaldabaoth need to be stopped, for the sakes of everyone else they're hurting now and may continue to hurt in the future.

The thing is, there's space and maybe even a need for a corollary discussion of those places where victim and villain intersect. It's an interesting, pertinent, and related topic. Strikers made an entire video game about it, a really good video game. It's centered in the idea that, yes, these people need to be stopped, and we will make stopping them our priority--but they're not going after us, and that gives us some space to sympathize. Even for Konoe, who specifically targets the Phantom Thieves--compare him to Shido, who actively destroyed the lives of both Joker and Futaba, who ordered Haru's father's death, who's the entire reason the team is still dealing with the trauma of Akechi's everything. Of course the game can be sympathetic to Konoe where it can't with Shido. There's enough distance to do that.

But right--Strikers is a separate game. It's a separate conversation. It's, "last time, we talked about that, so now let's take it one step further." And that's good writing. (It's something Persona has done before, too, also really well! Persona 3 is about terrible, occasionally-suicidal depression and grief. P4 is about how you can still be hurting and need some help and therapy even if things seem ok. Related ideas, but separate conversations that need to be separate in order to be respectful and do justice to either one. P5, as a follow-up to P4, is a conversation about how, ok, changing yourself is great and all, but sometimes the problem is other people so how do you deal with that? Again, still related! Still pertinent! Still alluded to in P4, with Adachi's whole thing--but it wasn't the time or place to base a quarter of the game around it.)

So one of Royal's biggest issues, to me, is that it tries to tack on this whole new angle for discussion onto a game that was originally about something else.

Adding Maruki's palace--adding it at the end, which by narrative laws suggests that it's the true point that everything else should be building up to--suddenly adds in about a hundred new dimensions at once. It wants us to engage with "what in this abuser/manipulator's life led him to act this way?" for basically the first time all game (we'll get to Akechi later). It wants us to engage with, "if the manipulator has a really good reason or good intentions, does that mean we should forgive them?" It requires us to reflect on, "what is the difference between control and cruelty?" It asks, "okay, but if people could be controlled into being happy, would that be okay?" (Which, based on the game so far, is actually a wild out-there hypothetical! Literally not a single thing we've seen in the game suggests that could ever happen. Even the people who think being controlled is safer and easier are miserable under it. Control that's able to lead to actual happiness is completely out of left field in the context of everything we've encountered all game so far.)

That's too much! We don't have time to unpack all that! We only have an eighth of the game left! Not to mention we are also being asked to bring back questions we put to bed much earlier in the game about the morality of our own actions, in a wholely unsatisfying way. Maruki attempts to justify his mass brainwashing because "it's the same as what you're doing", and we know it isn't, but the game didn't need Maruki calling it out in order for us to get that. We already faced that question when we started changing hearts, and again several times throughout the game, and again when we found our targets in Yaldabaoth's cells. The fact that we change hearts does not mean we think "changing hearts is fine and kind and should be done to everyone, actually." Changing hearts has been firmly established in this game as an act of violence, acceptable only because it prevents further systemic violence against innocents that we must prevent. The moral question has never once been about whether it's ok to change the hearts of the innocent, only about how far it's ethical to go against individuals who are actively hurting other people. Saying "you punched that guy to keep him from shooting a child, so punching people is good and I will save the world by punching everyone!" is confusing! and weird! and not actually at all helpful to the question of, how much violence is it acceptable to use to protect others! So presenting the question that way just falls really flat.

(And right, I love Strikers, because Strikers has time to unpack all that. Strikers can give us a main bad guy who wants to control the whole world for everybody's own good, because Strikers has earned that thematic climax. It has given us sympathetic bad guys who started out wanting to control the world to protect themselves and ended up going too far. It's given us Mariko Hyodo, who wanted to control the world to protect other people and went too far. It's given us a long-running thread about police, the desire to serve, and the abuse of power that can lead to. And since we are actively trying to care for the people whose hearts we're changing in Strikers, we can open the door to questions about using changes-of-heart and that level of control to make other people happy. We can even get a satisfying conclusion out of that discussion, because we have space to characterize the difference--Konoe thinks that changing peoples' hearts means confining them, but the Phantom Thieves think it means setting them free. We have seen enough sympathetic villains that we as an audience have had the space to figure out how we feel about that, and to understand the game's perspective of "stop them AND save them, if we can possibly do both." And that message STILL rests firmly on Persona 5's message of "it is Good to do what you have to do to stop an abuser so long as you don't catch innocent people in your crossfire.")

It's worth noting that the general problem of 'asking way too many new questions and then not answering them' also applies to how Royal treats its characters, too. P5 did have unanswered questions left at the end! The biggest one, and we all knew this, was Akechi, and what actually happened to him, and how we should feel about him, and how he felt about us. That was ripe for exploring in our bonus semester, and to Royal's credit they did in fact try to bring it up, but by god did they fuck up doing it.

Akechi's probable death in the boiler room was absolutely the biggest dangling mystery of the game. It was an off-screen apparent death of a key antagonist, so all of the narrative rules we know suggested that he might still be alive and would probably come back if the story went on for long enough. So when Royal brings him back on Christmas Eve, hey, great! Question answered. Except that the situation is immediately too good to be true, and immediately leads to another mystery, which leads to a flat suspicion that something must be wrong. We spend several hours of gameplay getting sly hints that, oooh, maybe he's not really alive after all, before it's finally confirmed by Maruki: yup, he really died, if we end the illusion we'll kill him too. Okay, at least we know now. Akechi is alive right now and he's going to be dead if we do this, and that doesn't make a ton of sense because every other undead person disappeared when the person who wished for them realized they were fake but at this point we'll take it. So we take down Maruki, and okay, Akechi really is dead! Probably! We're fairly sure! Aside from our lingering doubts!

And then we catch a glimpse of maybe-probably-could be him through the train window, and I just want to throw something, because come on.

Look, it is just a fact of storytelling: the more times you make an audience ask 'wait, is this character dead or aren't they?', the less they will care, until three or four reversals later you will be hard pressed to find anybody who gives a shit. Royal does this like four different times, and every iteration comes with even less certainty than the last. By the end, we somehow know even less than we did when we started! Did Akechi survive the boiler room to begin with and Maruki just didn't know? Or was Maruki lying to try and manipulate us further? Or was he actually dead and then his strength of will when Maruki's reality dissolved was enough to let him survive after all? Is that even actually him out the train window?

Where is he going! What is he doing! How did any of this happen! What is going on! We all had these questions about Akechi at the end of the original P5, and the kicker is that Royal pretends like it's going to answer them only to go LOL JK NO. It's frustrating and it's dissatisfying and it annoys me.

The one Akechi question that Royal doesn't even bother to ask, though, let alone leave ambiguous, is how does the protagonist feel about him? The entire emotional weight of the third semester rests on the protagonist caring about Akechi, Sumire, and Maruki. Maruki's the person we're supposed to sympathize with even as we try to stop him. Sumire's the person we're trying to save from herself. And Akechi is our bait--is, we are told, the one thing our protagonist wished for enough to actualize it in this world himself. Akechi's the final lure to accept Maruki's deal. Akechi's survival is meant to be tempting.

For firm Akechi fans, this probably worked out fine--the game wanted to insist that the protagonist cared for Akechi the same way the player did. For those of us who're a little more ambivalent, though (or for the many and valid people who hated him), this is a super sour note. Look, one of the Persona series' strengths is the way it lets players choose to put their time and emotional investment into an array of different characters, so the main story still has weight even if there's a couple you don't care about that much. It has always done this. The one exception, from P3 all the way through P4 to here and now, is Nanako Dojima, and by god she earned that distinction. I have never met a person who played Persona 4 who didn't love Nanako. Nanako is a neglected six-year-old child who is brave and strong enough to take care of herself and all of the housework but who still tries not to cry when her dad abandons her again and lights up like the sun when we spare her even the tiniest bit of time and attention. It is impossible not to care for Nanako. Goro Akechi is not Nanako.

And yet third semester Royal doesn't make sense if your protagonist doesn't feel linked to Akechi. The one question, out of all the brand new questions Royal throws out there, that it decides to answer all by itself--and it's how you as a player and your protagonist ought to feel about an extremely complex and controversial character. What the fuck, Royal. What the fuck.

In conclusion, I'll leave you with this. I played the original Persona 5 in March and April of 2017, as an American, a few months after the 2016 election and into the term of our then president. It felt painfully timely. A quick calendar google early on indicated that the game's 20XX was almost certainly 2016, and the closer our plot got to the in-game November leadup to an election destined to be dominated by a foul and charming man full of corruption and buoyed up by his own cult of personality, the more I wanted to laugh/cry. It felt timely. It felt important. It felt right.

I went through Royal (in LP form on youtube, not having a platform to play it on) in summer of 2020, with a hook full of face masks by my front door and protests about racial tension and local policing that occasionally turned into not-quite-riots close enough to hear at night if I opened the windows of my apartment. The parts of the game that I remembered felt as prescient and meaningful as ever, if not even more so. The new parts felt baffling. Every single evil in the game felt utterly, painfully real, from the opening moments of police brutality to the idea of a country led by a guy who probably would use his secret illegitimate teenage son as a magical assassin if the opportunity presented itself and he thought he could get away with it. Yaldabaoth as the cumulative despair of an entire population who just wanted somebody to take over and make things be okay--yes, yes, god, in summer of 2020? With streets full of people refusing to wear masks and streets full of people desperate for change? Of course. Of course that holy grail of safety should be enticing. Of course it should be terrifying.

And then Maruki. Maruki, who was just so far outside the scope of anything I could relate to the rest of the game or my own life. Because every single other villain in the rest of Persona is real. From the petty pandering principal to the human-trafficking mob boss. The corrupt politicians and the manmade god of cultural desire for stability. And this game was trying to tell me that the very biggest threat of all of them, the thing that was worse than the collective force of all society agreeing to let this happen because succumbing was easier than fighting back--that the very biggest threat of all was that the world could be taken over by some random nobody's misguided attempts to help?

No. Fuck no. I don't buy it. Because god, yes, I have seen the pain and damage done on a tiny and personal and very real level by the tight-fisted control of someone trying to help, it never looked like this. Not some ascended god of a bad therapist. All the threats to the world, and that's the one I'm supposed to take seriously? This one man is more of a threat than the fundamental human willingness to be controlled?

Sorry, but no. Not for me. Not in this game. Not in this real-life cyberpunk dystopian apocalypse.

[timextoxhajima]

Playlist Feels

*SHORT SERIES

Part 3: Love Somebody

Member: lee fucking juyeon AGAIN

Genre: fucking aggressive smut/angst/romance cause inspiration hates me and only comes when everybody is fucking sleeping

Links to other parts:

I Never Wanna See You Again

Frustrated (light smut) 

Love Somebody (light smut)

~

“that’s up to your own interpretation.”

you couldn’t decide what catalysed your hunger to have him both physically and emotionally: the static that hung in the way his eyes were stuck on you, or that you were both stark naked. 

you smirk to yourself, well aware that obscene thoughts were flying around in that mind of his. there was no reason for you to hold back now that he was yours, so you thought: why not?

“so show me.”

juyeon’s eyes changed with a blink, like you just flipped a switch. 

the need to have him swallows you whole, and despite the traces of fear you harboured from the lack of knowledge of what he could do to you, there was nothing that could convince you that you didn’t want this. 

juyeon attacks your lips, his arms wrapping around your waist so tightly that he closes every gap between the two of you. you feel your curves press against his like puzzle pieces, and the lavender-scented water only alleviates all your senses. 

he grabs your jaw harshly, his thumb and middle finger pressing into your cheeks as he turns your head away, giving himself access to your neck. you smile, completely filled with bliss as a mixture of moans and laughter escape your throat. his sucking on your neck leaves red and purple marks, and his hands have found your chest. 

you let him fondle you like you were his doll, and for a moment you wish you weren’t human so you could let him manhandle you without any repercussions. 

but knowing him, he’d probably start snapping himself back to reality every now and then that he could still hurt you if he wasn’t careful.

your fingers caress the muscles on his back as his lips travel from your collarbone to your chest, his tongue finding your tip and sucking on them like he hadn’t just had dinner. 

you don’t realise how much of a mess you were until you feel his manhood against your core. you violently jerk upon the contact, and he pulls away, tilting his head upwards so his eyes were basically eating you out from beneath you. 

how were you topping but he was still in control of everything?

without warning, he digs his fingers into your hips and shoves you downwards, one hand keeping his manhood aligned with your entrance. you let out an inhumane noise you didn’t know you were capable of producing, and he licks his lips lustfully without making any noise on his own. 

he wasn’t moving, so you assume he was just letting you get used to him while he continues leaving marks on your skin. 

your neck, your collarbones, your chest and even the space in between... not an inch where his mouth could reach was spared. 

already a mewling mess, your nails were digging into the flesh of his back, possibly creating bright, pink lines on his damp skin. 

“juyeon,” you felt your breath hitch in your throat, feeling the water lap against the spot where the both of you were one. “please-- move.”

he doesn’t respond for a few seconds, pulling away and admiring a new bruise he’s created on your chest. he looks up at you through his wet hair that was sticking to his forehead again, and the look of lust sends chills down your spine like you were just hit by a gush of cold wind.

“whoever said i was going to listen to you?” 

your eyes widen, but it doesn’t last. his fingers find your sensitive nub underwater and begins applying pressure on it in circles. your arms tighten around his neck as you lean forward, pressing your forehead into his shoulder. the action closes the space for him to play with you, so he aggressively grips your ass and lifts you up, leaving just the tip of himself inside you, only to drop you back down. 

the sensation shoots bolts up your torso and down your legs into your feet, and you let out a cry of ecstasy when you realise you started a game there was no way you could’ve won. 

he wraps your arms around his neck tightly and makes sure your legs were hooked properly around his hips before lifting you out of the tub. the water gushes down off skin as he steps out of the tub, and he sits you on the marble surface with a mirror perpendicular to it. 

you think he was going to turn you around and destroy you against the mirror, but you realise the full-body mirror directly opposite the both of you. 

he wasn’t going to fuck you against the mirror, he wanted to you see him do it. 

he finds your hands and interlocks his fingers with yours and pins them against the mirror by your head. you let out soft laughs that sounded like pure pleasure as he dips his nose into your neck again, continuing his masterpiece on your skin. 

you feel your walls stretching with every small move he made, even if it was nowhere near your womanhood, and it was driving you crazy. 

not only could you hold him the way you wanted to, he wasn’t even moving.

you arch your back off the mirror, the shape of your waist printed on the surface in the form of water vapour when he finds your sweet spot on your neck. 

“oh my-- fuck-- please--” you whine, starting to feel your core throb with need. 

“begging now, are we?” he whispers into your skin, tongue finding yours before hungrily tasting every corner of your mouth. 

you were about to protest against him being selfish, but he pulls out enough to leave only his tip inside you, before harshly slamming his pelvis against yours. 

but he does it once, and then you pick up on his game. 

“oh god, juyeon-- don’t do this.”

you hear him chuckle under his breath, which was so calm and regulated compared to yours. 

“you wanted me to show you what you aren’t ready for, and you asked for it, sweetheart.”

you grit your teeth in frustration, never knowing that you were capable of feeling so deprived in your life. you tilt your head upwards, pressing the crown of your head against the mirror behind you as you subtly try to shift your hips to meet his.

but he collects both your wrists and holds them above your head now with only one of his hands, and his free arm holds your hip down to prevent you from moving. 

you made a noise that resembled a growl, and it clearly turned him on because he finds your nub again, drawing circles that had the bare minimum amount of pressure.

“this is so-- fucking unfair--” you bite your tongue, ashamed that you’ve been completely destroyed when he’s barely even done anything. 

“all you need to do is say one word,” he leans into your ear and bites on your skin, goosebumps exploding all over your body. 

“i’m not going to move if you don’t say it. and right now...” his voice was so low and dark, you wonder for a moment if this was the same person you knew from earlier that day. “you don’t look like you can take it anymore.”

you cry out in frustration, hands balling into his fists and your small attempt to break free from his hold fails miserably. 

“please, just move.”

he pulls out and bucks his hips harshly against yours, the impact causing your breath to stop in your throat and your eyes roll backwards. 

you’ve lost all your pride by now, so resigning to your fate wasn’t too difficult to do, though it meant losing completely. 

the pleads spill out of your mouth like a broken radio, and his hands were now on your hips, holding you down so you don’t shift away from him. your eyes look ahead and you see his back view slamming into you mercilessly in the reflection. the heat between the both of you was fogging up the mirror you were leaning against, and you were starting to see nothing but white while you feel the rope in your stomach get tighter and tighter. 

“shi-- oh, fuck-- i’m gonna--” your scream from your climax was muffled as he shoves his tongue in between your lips. you feel your entire body go into a spasm while he continues thrusting into you, helping you ride out your climax. 

he pulls away from your abused mouth and pulls out, shooting his load all over your stomach. your eyes run down his hair that was wet with both sweat, to his chest and toned stomach, and you couldn’t help but blurt out,

“why are you so hot?”

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

you jerk awake, another one of those falling sensations hitting you while you were asleep. the light pouring into the room from the familiar glass panel windows blinds you momentarily. 

you try to sit up, only to realise the aching sensation in your core, and you suddenly remember that you’ve lost every bit of pride you had left in you, in the worst possible way it could happen. 

you turn over, looking at the large, but empty bed you were in. the silk blanket was tangled in your legs, and you note that you were in an extremely large pullover with boxers that were a little loose on your hips. 

your arm stretches out to the side, wondering where he was when the door of the room swings open, and you see him fitted in another set of office wear you don’t think you’ve ever seen him in. 

maroon blazer with black button down was a new combination.

but wait--

“oh, good god, what time is it?” you sit up in an instant, but the ache between your legs contorting your face into an ugly mess. juyeon straps an expensive-looking watch to his wrist and leans on the bed with his arms supporting him, pecking you on the cheek.

“it’s 7.45, and don’t worry, i’ve already told your manager you’re taking the day off,” he pulls open a door of the wardrobe in the corner of the room you don’t even notice and checks himself in the mirror. he looks at you through the reflection, and a smile spreads across his lips before he closes it. 

“or maybe a few days off.”

what--

you look down at yourself, looking through the gap of the collar rim and under the pullover. you weren’t wearing a bra, so noticing all the bruises on your skin wasn’t a difficult feat.

“oh good god...”

“i’m gonna go, and if you want to work on the case, you can use the computer in my office right down the hall. just ask any of the staff and they’ll show you,” he checks his hair in the reflection off the glass windows, hand already holding onto his suitcase. “breakfast is ready in the dining hall and if you need anything, just ask the staff. if they’ve got no clue what you’re talking about, then you can call me.”

he walks over to you, offering you a soft kiss on your forehead, and walks away with a bright smile on his face. 

you hear the door of the room shut, and sigh to yourself, unable to forget the events that unfolded in the last few weeks. 

“jesus,” you mumble to yourself, pressing your chin and lips into your palm and fingers. “i’m fucking playing with fire.”

Part 5: Stigma

[drshebloggo]

how to make WW84 a stronger movie

As sort of requested, here’s a beefed-up version of the list of notes I made watching WW84 because I was getting cranky with the execution of this movie and couldn’t help but jot down ideas. I WANTED to love this thing but the script was not selling its ideas to best effect.

For me, I think there were a few challenges inherent in the movie they wanted to make. BUT with a few different choices here and there in the way the story was told, it would’ve improved its impact without sacrificing what they were going for with tone and characters. 

CHALLENGE #1: this movie is set SO far in the future from the events of the first film. 65 years have passed, and Diana is still just gliding somberly through her life and that makes me SAD. All her friends are dead! She’s on her own and cursed with immortality!! She lives in an ‘80s decor sadness chamber surrounded by photos and memories of people she’ll never see again!!!

And yet the film gave us no real textual information about that. They did the laziest thing possible, which was pan the camera around a million photos on mantles and told us NOTHING. Literally WHAT has Diana done for the past, say, THIRTY YEARS since her Earth Friends all died without her??? Has she literally made NO OTHER friends? She’s still sad about Steve 65 years later and nothing else has progressed?

This lack of specificity leaves Diana fading in the lead role of her own movie despite the fact that there’s TONS of material there that they just... ignored. For me, she read flat, which bummed me out majorly. Her best stuff was with Steve because that actually MEANS something. But it’s all she’s got in this film. They didn’t bother filling in any other information about her life. 

FIX IT: literally just make Barbara already friends with Diana at the beginning. Not only does it make Diana more interesting, it reduces the sheer amount of exposition that the film piles on in the first 45 minutes. This also means you can bring Steve back sooner than the 45 minute mark, which would help grease the wheels in the first third of the movie. And it also means that Diana losing Barbara to inhumanity would actually have a greater impact on Diana beyond “oh my kooky new friend turned into an evil cat; this is vexing.”

CHALLENGE #2: the tone is WILDLY different than the tone of the first. They went from WWI trench warfare to shopping malls and fanny packs. It’s a HUGE tone shift, and it takes some getting used to. But there are good things to it; namely it provides great comedy for Steve, who is a definite bright spot in the movie. 

Overall I’m on board with doing a superhero movie that pivots away from grit and darkness and toward camp and comedy, and it’s cool to do something new rather than reiterate the same tone from the first film. But I think they could’ve done more to sell the tone shift. 

There are HIJINKS inherent in the premise that I’m guessing were fairly unilaterally unexpected. There’s a vaguely historical magic WISHING STONE and three buffoons each made a wish and turned shit upside down. I myself wish that Maxwell and Barbara and Diana were rendered in triplicate, as equal collaborators in this batshittery. I don’t think you’re watering down Diana’s role as lead (no more than giving her no other emotions to play than sadness) by doing so, and it even works nicely to own the idea that Max and Barbara are on equal narrative ground as Diana.

As far as the villainy goes, Max is more recognizably a Bad Guy, but Barbara is NOT, and it’s fascinating to show at least Diana and Barbara working together but slowly falling apart as shit goes SIDEWAYS. Hijinks can be zany and also meaningful! What if a villain is just a friend who wants something different than you and you have to come to terms with that and stop them from doing dumb shit? There’s an element of screwball to this premise and I wanted them to lean in more. This would also give Diana more to do than cry and fight.

FIX IT: show Barbara getting her powers using the same tropes of other superheroes getting their powers and figuring them out. Play it like she’s Peter Parker finding out she’s Spider-man. Hell, do a montage with all three of them using/abusing their powers: Barbara beating the shit out of things, Maxwell manipulating people, Steve and Diana making the fuck out and enjoying the shit out of it. These are the joys of wish fulfillment! 

AND, if they had set up the rules of the artifact beforehand (see Challenge #3), then the audience would know they were watching very happy people who are going to have their LIVES RUINED SOON. And that is good storytelling. (Maybe this is oversimplified, but honestly half of good storytelling is just making the audience feel two opposite emotions at the same time. The other half is dramatic irony, which would also apply to this trio montage.)

CHALLENGE #3: What the hell are the rules of this magic wishing artifact anyways??? The audience should know them before the characters do. The way this movie doled out information was bananas. They waited right before they were going to the tell the audience something to show us what they were about to tell us. Just show us earlier and tell the characters later!!! That way WE’LL already know because we’ve seen it, and THEY’RE not saddled with expositional dialogue to make sure the audience follows the idea.

FIX IT: For the love of humanity, nix the opening sequence with the horse race and make it about the damn stone!! Rip off Lord of the Rings and tell the history of the innocent but dangerous thing. Rip off Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and animate something about how it gives wishes at a cost. Hell, let Connie Nielsen and Robin Wright(’s unbelievably ripped arms) tell young Diana the story so they can still hang out and be a part of the film! Throw in some lore about the gods, just to remind us where Diana comes from and her belief system, and we’re good to go.

While you’re at it, toss in the whole point of the film into the moral that Diana’s moms impart to her at a young age. It’s not a spoiler. We don’t wonder if 1984 Diana will do the right thing. She does not need to LEARN this moral. She already knows the moral, but she still has to make the hard choice to let Steve go and of course it doesn’t come easy.

In summary: that horse race had little to do with the rest of the movie and it’s wasted story space, especially for setting up the entire magical premise that the movie hinges on, let alone the actual message of the film.

CHALLENGE #4: Do we care about Maxwell and his kiddo enough to rest the entire movie’s resolution on it? Ehhhh. The glimpses into young Max’s abuse is another example of showing information RIGHTBEFORE it’s important, rather than setting it up earlier to pay off later. It’s a far weaker choice.

FIX IT: Age up Alistair. If he’s a teen or preeteen, then the stakes feel higher because it seems more monumental to undo the trauma of neglect at that age. Much like in his business pursuits, the clock is ticking and Max is running out of opportunities for success in all realms of his life.

Maybe show Maxwell trying to reason with Alistair earlier in the movie, saying that he’s a good dad because he’s not as bad a dad as his own father. It shows us how he justifies his behavior, gives us the information that he had an abusive dad, and gives an actual interaction between father and son other than “daddy you’re not here” and “shhh son here’s a pony.”

Possible other fix-it which connects to other fixes: what if Barbara actually renounces her wish before Max does? It should be more painful to the audience to lose Barbara to her wish because we’ve technically LIKED her at one point. She means something to Diana, and so she means something to us. Honestly, the audience has rooted for her independent of Diana! The scene where she realizes she’s not powerless against her harasser but then completely loses herself in violence against him? One of the movie’s best. It’s pretty dissatisfying that she just goes completely off the deep end and then nothing with her is resolved after the wishes are broken.

But, with the way the movie is set up, the big emotional climax is the scene of Diana getting through to Max/the entire planet, so it’s hard to undo that and give it to Barbara instead, considering that it won’t wrap up the plot. But geez, do SOMETHING with Barbara that’s based in actual emotions. Don’t hinge your entire movie’s emotional resolve on a father-son relationship that’s two-dimensional and doesn’t have anything to do with the main character! You had emotional investment in Barbara; use it!!

At the very least, have Diana get through to Barbara in some way, either before Maxwell renounces or after, and maybe even intercut it with Max and his kid. 

CHALLENGE #5: I experience great existential malaise at watching a mylar balloon drift off into the ether. Was there no better visual for the final moments of the film? Asking for myself, and also the planet. (This one is mostly a joke... but seriously, you guys, the PLANET.)

[adobe-outdesign]

There are too many yellow bears in this series.

Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/the_black_box

Transcript under the cut.

So in Part 1, I mentioned how it was weird that I talked about the identity of the Brother and then skipped directly to the box. So let’s remedy that and talk about the identity of…

[Who is Golden Freddy?]

Sike.

No but seriously, we do need to discuss Golden Freddy before we discuss the Brother’s identity. Trust me, I’m going somewhere with this.

So Withered Golden Freddy is super easy - he’s the fifth child. We literally see this in Give Gifts. Some people think the fifth child is Cassidy, I personally think it’s Michael Brooks because his name aligns with the night guard’s names on the tombstones, it does not matter, all we need to know is that he’s the fifth child. Enjoy that, it was the only easy part of this theory.

Side note: Shadow Freddy seems to merely be a different form of Golden Freddy. In TTO, Shadow Freddy leads Charlie’s friends to her, and Michael, IE Golden Freddy, is the only one who has a reason to do that as he was her friend. And in canon, Shadow Freddy likely doesn’t show up for the fifth child in FNAF 3 not because he isn’t possessing something, but because said child is Shadow Freddy.

Continuing on, Fredbear - the one with the purple accessories - is likely Sammy, which I went over in the last video. This includes Nightmare Fredbear, the yellow bear in Happiest Day, Fredbear in UCN, etc. He’s also Nightmare, who is to Nightmare Fredbear what Shadow Freddy is to Golden Freddy; the instigator of bad events and the eventual outcome of death. Note that just as Fredbear has different colored accessories compared to Golden Freddy, Nightmare has different colored accessories compared to Shadow Freddy. They’re parallels, but they’re not the same.

But then we get to FNAF 1 Golden Freddy, and FNAF 1 Golden Freddy is… weird.

The most obvious answer would be that he’s the fifth child, but that doesn’t line up with what we established in the last video - the fifth child should no longer actively be haunting the place by FNAF 1, same as the other kids. Even if you want to argue that theory is wrong, there are some other things that don’t make sense; for example, FNAF 2 Golden Freddy is hyper-aggressive while FNAF 1 Golden Freddy is barely around. Likewise, FNAF 1 Golden Freddy seems to be purely a hallucination as you can’t adjust his AI, while Withered Golden Freddy is a physical suit you can tamper with.

FNAF 1 Golden Freddy also has a connection to both bites - both in the 1987 Easter Egg and the fact that he looks exactly like Fredbear as shown in UCN. Plus the poster that summons him occasionally switches to one of Freddy casually tearing off his own frontal lobe, and Stage 01 shows him giving cake to kid with a Foxy mask. The fifth child has nothing to do with either bite, so these connections do not make sense.

The second option would be that he’s Sammy, as he might be the other main 5 animatronics, but that… doesn’t quite add up. First, that would mean that in FNAF 3 he gave cake to… himself, seeing as all the pieces are him. Secondly, he wasn’t around in 1987 so that Easter Egg makes no sense, unless the general connection to a bite is enough for him. Thirdly, there is no Nightmare equivalent in this game (or Shadow Freddy, for that matter). And finally, the big one - if Scott intended Sammy to be Golden Freddy, then he would’ve left FNAF 4 Fredbear’s accessories black. The switch to purple is to differentiate the two, which doesn’t make sense if they’re one in the same.

But you know what’s really strange about FNAF 1 Golden Freddy aside from, like, everything? The IT’S ME hallucinations are connected to him… and him alone. No matter what the game, spinoff, or sequel, FNAF 1 Golden Freddy and FNAF 1 Golden Freddy alone makes these hallucinations.

Because of this, I feel like in order to solve who FNAF 1 Golden Freddy is, we need to solve the IT’S ME hallucinations first. And in order to do that, we have to go back to when they started appearing, which is not in FNAF 1 as you might expect, but in FNAF 2. The FNAF 2 cutscenes show the FNAF 1 location and, as far as we know, are the earliest instances of these hallucinations.

First, we see Freddy’s “error” message, which is later replaced with the “IT’S ME” line. This is why I believe these cutscenes are the origin of the phrase, as it starts showing up only after the first night. It also shows up before and after Golden Freddy appears, so it doesn’t appear to be tied to him here.

The other reason I believe this to be the origin is the hallucinations that accompany the IT’S ME message, one of which is an eyeless Bonnie - which appears in the Night 3 cutscene. And the other image? Consider how the animatronics behave towards you here - Bonnie and Chica eventually turn away, while the Puppet follows you. This matches the FNAF 2 gameplay when you put on the mask - Bonnie and Chica are fooled by it while the Puppet is not.

I’ll be honest, I never liked that puppet thing. It’s always…thinking, and it can go anywhere. I don’t think the Freddy mask will fool it.

Combine this with the strange blurred look and the fact that this is labeled as “dream” in the files, and it’s likely this isn’t reality, nor is this literally Freddy. Rather, we’re playing as someone picturing themselves as Freddy - which is why we see the Freddy with human eyes. These images accompany the IT’S ME hallucination because this is where said hallucination started.

Now, remember our requirements for the Brother earlier. They must be someone who worked in the FNAF 1 location, and we know that they worked in more than one Freddy’s as well. We also know that this person is not Michael Afton.

We know that whoever we play as in these cutscenes knows how the animatronics behave in 2, and this cutscene takes place in 1′s location. This indicates the player character moved from the FNAF 2 location to the FNAF 1 location, which fits the requirements for the Brother. This indicates that the person creating the IT’S ME hallucinations is the Brother - which in turns means that the Brother has to be FNAF 1 Golden Freddy.

But what else can we learn about him? Well for starters, we also see the Puppet, the one who gives life, right before the cutscenes stop on Night 4, despite the main gameplay continuing for several more nights. We see the Golden Freddy suit right before that, so that might be the suit that the player character is possessing - note that he does not have pupils yet like in FNAF 1. This indicates that the Brother died and was given life in the FNAF 1 location, further narrowing our requirements. And the Freddy with human eyes hallucination looks suspiciously like someone who was stuffed into a Freddy suit. See where I’m going with this?

Our final piece of evidence that links this all together is that Golden Freddy has a connection to both ‘87 and ‘83, yet is not Sammy. You see, when people ask “who did the Bite of ‘87?”, they’re asking the wrong question. Which animatronic did the Bite matters very little. What we need to know is who caused the Bite. The animatronics, including Fredbear himself, ask “was it me?” in the teasers, indicating the IT’S ME might be a response to this question. It’s not the animatronic that matters - it’s the person.

Phone Guy worked in the FNAF 2 location, and knows how the animatronics worked. He moved to the FNAF 1 location and recorded his phone calls before being stuffed into a suit on Night 4, the same number of nights the FNAF 2 cutscenes run for. And Phone Guy… is the one who tells Jeremy to wear his uniform and stick close the animatronics, after it was established they weren’t acting right around adults. In FNAF 1, after Phone Guy’s death, the first instance of Golden Freddy we can confirm… happens to land on the anniversary date of the Bite of ‘87.

Phone Guy caused the Bite of ‘87… and the Bite of ‘83. Phone Guy is the Brother.

[Why Phone Guy Being the Brother Makes Sense, Actually]

It may sound crazy at first, but Phone Guy being the Brother and FNAF 1 Golden Freddy is what suddenly makes this seemingly almost random series of events come together into a coherent story. So, without further adieu, let’s summarize the plot of FNAF.

We start with William kidnapping and killing Charlie. This then traumatized Sammy, which in turn caused his older brother to bully him and eventually kill him by accident. Wracked with guilt, the brother took the plushies that Sammy possessed and tried to stitch them together into one, then locked them into a box and tried to repress his memories of the incident.

William then kidnapped the Brother, leading to the events of FNAF 4 with Sammy trying to kill him. The Brother eventually escapes but never opens the box and faces the truth, instead eventually picking up a job at Freddy’s. Five kids are killed at that location and possess the pre-Withereds. William kills another five for their remnant in 2 before being moved to the day shift. The Brother, now known as Phone Guy, accidentally causes another Bite to happen. This and the murders drive him to take up the night shift. William, meanwhile, is killed by the kids and sealed away, and the original five rest while Sammy takes their place.

Phone Guy works there for years before Sammy finally succeeds in killing him near the anniversary of the Bite of ‘87. He then becomes FNAF 1 Golden Freddy, who’s basically a representation of his guilt over the Bite - keep in mind that he never did open the box, which Scott described as “fitting”. The FNAF 1 location eventually shuts down, Fazbear’s Fright opens, and Sammy and Charlie are both freed. Some, uh, stuff happens with Michael, and eventually the other five kids are put to rest as well and William is killed off for good.

Rising action, climax, resolution, ect. - FNAF suddenly has a plot, with all of the proper elements and everything. Scott's “four games, one story” hint suddenly makes a lot more sense, doesn’t it?

Oh, and if the general plot of “Guy works five nights at a pizzeria before his younger sibling, possessing multiple animatronics, kills him and turns him into an empty suit” sounds familiar… well, that’s because it’s the plot of Sister Location. Back during TSE’s release Scott said the books were an AU because the original plotline just had too much stuff in it to write any more stories, but then turned around and released SL and FFPS. I think he realized that by just paralleling the same narrative but switching the focus from the Emilys to the Aftons, he could create a lot more stories.

So, okay. All of that makes sense from a story perspective, but what about a theory perspective? What evidence is there to support Phone Guy being both Golden Freddy and the Brother? Well, there’s… a lot, actually. So much so, in fact, that we’re going to speedrun it.

“Well, I think that’s it. Uh, you should be golden.”

Also, the numbers you’re punching in are the hex code of William’s “Save them” sprite backwards, which might be a nod to the “Phone Guy is the killer” theory. It was still popular at the time, so the number being backwards might indicate it was wrong - because Phone Guy isn’t William, he’s Golden Freddy

“Um, I actually worked in that office before you. I’m finishing up my last week now as a matter of fact.”

While I have heard some evidence against the idea of Phone Guy being the Brother, most of it seems inconsequential. Here’s a quick run-down:

Phone Guy sounds too old to be the Brother - Scott’s not a professional voice actor, and he never intended there to be more games after 1 upon release. Also, Phone Guy’s voice actually does get lower in pitch over time (compare his voice in FNAF 3 vs FNAF 1). If this was a professional voice actor Scott chose out later in the series this would be valid, but as is it’s a bit too nitpicky in my opinion.

Phone Guy is too old to be the Brother - Assuming Phone Guy started working in Freddy’s in ‘85, then that puts him at two years after the Bite. If he was 16 at the time of the bite, he’d be 18 in ‘85, old enough to get the job. Even if he was 14 plenty of jobs will hire 16 year olds depending on the state’s labor laws.

His line about Fredbear’s in 2 doesn’t make sense - The “previous owner” he mentions is probably not Henry, who would be his father if he was the Brother, but rather William. Keep in mind this is after the murders, so I don’t know why they’d be contacting Henry at this point. Some people also think that the location of the Bite of ‘83 was Fredbear’s, making it weird that the Brother wouldn’t be 100% sure of its name, but the token in Help Wanted confirms that that location was the first Freddy’s.

So yeah, that’s quite a bit of evidence. But in addition to everything else, I’d also like to discuss this theory relative to UCN.

[How This Ties Back Into Ultimate Custom Night]

You see, UCN has two major theories going for it: One is Willhell, one is Mikehell, and one is my personal favorite, the Theoriest’s Hell.

[Please Stand By]

One is Willhell and the other is Mikehell. The problem with both of these theories however is that neither of them… work, or at least work as well as we would all like them to. Let’s recap:

Willhell is the more solid of the two, as it makes more logical sense and more of the dialogue fits Will better than Michael. However, it is not without a few problems.

The biggest issue is Malhare’s appearance in FFPS, as it’s a bit hard for William to show up after UCN if he’s supposed to be in Hell. There are also a few other things; for example, the Puppet claims she doesn’t hate him which is a bit odd. Not to mention the emphasis on “the one”, which seems weird considering WIlliam has killed multiple kids. Fredbear can also insta-kill you and Golden Freddy shows up at the end of the game, so there’s some sort of significance to those two characters and the Bite here, which also doesn’t tie back to Will.

Mikehell fixes this by claiming Michael is the Brother; thus, “the one” is the Bitten Child and the connections to the Bite suddenly have an explanation. However, this theory has holes of its own - namely, that FFPS kind of sort of directly states that Michael isn’t going to Hell.

For most of you, I believe there is peace, and perhaps more, waiting for you after the smoke clears. Although for one of you, the darkest pit of hell has opened to swallow you whole, so don’t keep the devil waiting, old friend.

If “one of you” refers to William and there’s peace waiting for the others, than that means that Michael is going to be at peace after FFPS, which doesn’t make sense for Scott to have brought attention to if he’s the protag of UCN.

This one also doesn’t make sense from a character standpoint. Even if Michael was the Brother - and I already went over why I think he’s not in the first part - he already more than repented for his sins by dying while freeing Elizabeth.

And finally, the “leave the demons to his demons” scene also doesn’t make much sense here - Michael killed his brother accidentally, so “demon” is too harsh. He could be the Freddy sprite and the text is referring to Will, but… why would he be Freddy, aside from that being the sprite in OMC’s original appearance?

So with neither of these theories working perfectly, I’d like to suggest a third option: Brotherhell. Basically it’s the same thing as Mikehell, but without the Mike.

This immediately fixes most of the issues with Mikehell. The Brother never opened the box from 4 or really even came to terms with what he did, so him being punished makes sense in this context. “The One” is Sammy, who 4 already proved to be very vengeful towards his brother. This would explain why Fredbear can insta-kill you, as he and The One are the same.

The Puppet saying she doesn’t fear him anymore, but also doesn’t hate him? Assuming he used to scare Charlie like he did Sammy, he would indeed not scare her anymore without her truly hating him. And the scene with OMC? The Brother is Freddy in that scene because he became Golden Freddy when he died. And that’s why you see Golden Freddy at the end - he’s not only the player character, but a representation of the Brother’s guilt as well. Note that while the Bitten Child passed on in 3 and the original 5 and Elizabeth passed on in FFPS, no one ever actually freed the Brother.

The only snag I can think of with this interpretation is Orville’s one line:

He tried to release you. He tried to release us. But I’m not going to let that happen. I will hold you here. I will keep you here. No matter how many times they burn us. (They burn us).

However, one could argue this refers to the fire in FNAF 3, rather than the one in FFPS. Henry (the player character in 3) tried to burn everything and release the Brother, Sammy and Charlie. Whether or not this works is a bit ambiguous, but it at least has less problems regardless than Willhell or Mikehell.

[So is any of this right?]

Now that we’ve finally covered the entire lore - or at least the most confusing bits - it’s time to ask the important questions, like “was any of that even correct”? And the answer is… I dunno. No, really. I could’ve been wrong from the start and Michael is the Brother and none of this meant anything and I just wasted nearly an hour of your time talking about all of this. And given that Scott seems sort of, uh, completely terrified of fan backlash, we probably won’t be getting any definitive answers anytime soon.

However, if nothing else, I hope this theory serves as an interpretation of FNAF that makes for a good story. Instead of this confusing mish-mash of seemingly random events and people, we’re left with a simple story about a small child trying to get revenge on his older brother, who’s still grappling with coming to terms with what he did. It’s creepy, it’s poignant, it’s sad, and it is Five Nights at Freddy’s.

[IT’S ME Jumpscare - Weird Al over Credits]

[nervousmendes]

Drunken Haze | Shawn Mendes

Shawn x reader (smut)

a/n: this was a failed attempt at writing smut for the first time. (it's very mild, mostly just sexual tension and making out) do check out more of my work on my masterlist right here

summary: Shawn sees the reader at a bar and makes a move.

warnings: mild smut (making out) and very little swearing

Cez does his fair share of research when it comes to choosing a bar to spend the night at, and when you're in Paris (yes, with a French accent) it's totally worth it. Brian walked in first, Shawn and Cez not far behind. "Man I'm so getting shit-faced in here." he sighed as the three of them observed the fancy lights, furniture and wall hangings, taking in the scent of alcohol and cigerettes suspended in in the warm air of the closed space. Cez being the only bright one in the three, quickly spotted an empty booth in the lounge but Shawn's eyes fell straight on a blond haired women, her black dress hugging her hips so well and her toned legs crossed one over the other while she tipped her head back, letting the expensive wine in the glass she was holding flow into her system.

There was something about her that intrigued him. Maybe it was the confidence she radiated, the way she sat with her back poised, the way her silky hair flowed down her shoulders or maybe it had something to do with how her skin glowed in the dim lighting. He felt the urge to approach her, like she pulled him towards her. And it was as if his legs knew what his heart wanted when they started making calculated steps towards the bar counter that she was facing. His thoughts went every which way trying to figure out what to say as he took the stool exactly beside her's, completely ignoring the five (or more) empty stools on his other side.

"Hey." He internally patted himself on the back for sounding a lot more confident than he actually was.

"Do I know you?" Her face broke into a polite smile, and her thick french accent dripped with the words she spoke out of her red stained lips.

"Maybe?"

Too cocky.

"You don't give me a businessman vibe." She said looking at him from head to toe. Looking. She saw the black denim that covered his toned legs, his satin, white shirt that hugged his broad shoulders and the little scar on his cheek that gave his soft facial features a more rugged look. Shawn watched her keenly. His hand went to his hair, fingers pushing a stray curl out of his eye.

"What makes you think I'm a businessman?" He turned in his stool and rested his arm on the bar counter to make her shift her vision from his face to his forearm that flexed under the thin fabric.

"They're usually the cocky ones." He was searching for what to say slightly taken aback by the fact that someone found him cocky, considering that no one has ever called him that before, not in a bad way. He wasn't offended, just surprised. In fact he liked that the whole 'be confident' thing was working.

"But you seem nice, I'll give you that." She chuckled while twirling the empty wine glass in her small hand.

"Will you let me buy you your next drink?"

She considered it, and almost nodded yes for affirmation but then her brows drew in an L shape. "I think I've already had too much to drink." She was mentally trying to count how many times the bartender filled her glass with Chartreuse.

"So why don't you tell me your name, mysterious, handsome, American man?" She said leaning close to him. The already deep cut neck line of her dress plunged down even further, dangerously low, making Shawn draw in a sharp breath through his mouth.

"I love mysterious and handsome, but I'm actually Canadian." He narrowed his eyes at her with a smirk and she couldn't help but smile.

"And nice to meet you, I'm Shawn. Et toi?"

"I can tell you skipped your french classes often back in school." She broke into a chuckle, making Shawn grin right back at her, his face very close to hers.

"You know nothing about me, but I'm afraid this one's true." He whispered, his minty breath fanning her face. She laughed again while placing her hand on Shawn's toned bicep that was rested on the countertop.

"You're funny." Her gaze burned into him.

"I wasn't even trying." Liar.

"I'm guessing that's a lie." They never broke eye contact.

"For someone that guesses a lot, you're pretty accurate."

"You know nothing about me." She said just like he did a minute ago, her lips almost grazing his making sure to not touch them. What a tease.

"How about," the tips of his calloused fingers went to her bare shoulder, "I start with knowing what those pretty lips of yours taste like?" and stroked the soft, supple skin on her arm, leaving a trail of goosebumps behind.

"That's a good start." She inched closer.

"So is that a yes?"

Instead of giving him an answer, she touched his lips with hers, hands going to either side of his neck. He covered her mouth with his, tasting the expensive alcohol she had been drinking all night. He nudged closer to get a better angle, his large hands taking purchase on her waist. Their tongues danced with each other's, deepening the kiss. He moaned under his breath when she licked the roof of his mouth, and he used that as an opportunity to suck on her lower lip. Her nails scratched his scalp, tangling her fingers in his long, soft curls and she quickly figured how much he liked it from the way he kissed her harder in response to tugging his hair. She broke the kiss for air, he assumed but then when he pulled her in again, she opened her mouth to speak.

"I live only ten minutes away, let's get out of here." She was breathing heavily. He nodded and gave her a quick kiss on the lips before getting off the stool and helping her down shortly after. He left a quick text to Brian asking them to carry on with whatever they were upto and rolled his eyes at Brian's response telling him to "not bust that nut too quick". They got in an Uber and sat beside each other, lips red and swollen, breath heavy, and their thoughts everywhere. They didn't say a word to each other. They didn't know what to say but they were both trying to reach out for some sort of connection. She cleared her throat in an attempt to gather the right words before she spoke. Her eyes were set on her hands that played with the hem of her dress.

"Is now a good time to tell you.." He looked up at her, signalling for her to go on. She gulped, "that I actually know who you are, and I acted like I didn't because I didn't want you think of me as someone who would see you as an object just because you're a celebrity." She made air quotes on the word 'celebrity', like it was such a weird thing to say, a word that gives a human, with a little fame they never knew was coming their way, the title of an object.

"That is the best decision you ever made. If I knew you knew I'm sure I wouldn't even have made a move. You have no idea how glad I am that you did that."

She finally dropped the hem of her dress and looked back at him through her long eyelashes. That was it, there was no holding back anymore. Shawn's lips crashed into hers and she kissed his mouth back with that much force, curling her fingers into the collar of his shirt. His one hand went around her waist, palm flat against the small of her back, and the other was tangled in her beautiful, blond locks.

Their lips didn't leave other's even while unlocking the door, and just like you see in the movies, they kissed their way into her bedroom until Shawn's legs hit the cot and his butt landed on the soft spring mattress of her bed. She kicked off her heels and threw one leg to his other side, her knees on either side of his legs, straddling him. His hands slid down from her waist to fill his palms with the flesh of her toned bum. He cooed as he kneaded them with every movement she made sitting right on top his hard-on that strained his tight denims. Shawn drew his lips away from her mouth to leave wet kisses down her jawline and along the expanse of her throat. He attached his lips to the spot under her ear and sucked on the skin there, causing a shivering moan to tumble down her plump lips. He explored her neck and her chest with his hungry lips, tasting the lavender flavour of the soap she lathered on herself earlier that evening. Somewhere along kissing and a lot of exploring later, all the clothing they helped each other get rid of were scattered on the floor, sweat covered bodies moulding and crashing to give each other the climax they longed for.

(I cannot write smut for shit so I cut the crap out and got to the point.)

She woke up to the warmth of the sun shining on her golden skin through the half drawn blinds, feeling a mild headache from all that she had to drink the previous night. That's when she remembered him. She jutted her head out of her pillow to see that his clothes weren't on the floor anymore. She shifted under the sheets to find an empty bed beside her and a post it note neatly placed in the centre, exactly where he slept. She took it in her hand, squinting until she could read what it said.

Sorry, I left without saying goodbye. I'm playing a show today and I have to be there early. Last night was really fun. x

- S.M

Her lips formed a shy smile and her cheeks were tinged a shade of red as she recollected the events of last night. She folded the piece of paper in her hand contemplating whether she had to throw it or save it. She looked down at it one more time, and that's when she noticed that something was written on the other side. She turned the post-it around, to find a phone number written on it and under it he'd written, "maybe I'm glad I didn't say goodbye".

She laughed to herself, carefully placing the paper in her journal, already excited by the idea of seeing him again. She met Shawn less than twenty four hours ago and hardly knew anything about him, but there something about him that drew her in, made her want to get to know him better and of course feel that pretty mouth of his between her legs once again.

_______________________________________________

I'm thinking maybe I'll do a part 2 to this so let me know what you think. Hope you liked this one. Reply to this or leave me a message if you want to get added to my taglist!!

[movienotesbyzawmer]

April 12: Rocky III

(previous notes: Rocky II)

Because now that Rocky has done the unthinkable and become The Champ, we want to see him tackle the next challenge… win AGAIN.

I remember seeing this in the theater with my buddy. I don't know if I liked it. I'm pretty sure I found Mr. T to be as charismatic and as terrifying as they wanted. I'm pretty sure when I bought the ticket I hesitated and asked the cashier, "hey, wait, we get to see him do some variation on the triumphant steps jogging moment, right? Otherwise never mind I'll go see Poltergeist again". If I'm paying good money for boxing sequels, I want to be assured that the formula has not been altered.

Okay let's go.

Once again, this is Un Film De Sylvester Stallone.

Slight variation on the fanfare with the title, now there's a close-up of the Important Belt Buckle Of Punchsport.

Then we see the climax of the previous movie, maybe edited slightly for time. But not very noticeably different.

That segues immediately to a montage of Rocky doing many successful beatup games, scored by the enormous pop hit "Eye of the Tiger". I suspect this isn't the last we'll hear of this number.

The montage morphs into a different story, one starring Mr. T! He's watching Rocky win stuff and he is not pleased. He can also fist-game, it seems. But the montage makes it clear that it is our hero Rocky who is the star of commercial endorsements and marriage love.

I mock but this visionary filmmaker has indeed opened this movie with energetically cinematic choices.

0:8:40 - Arcade games! Paulie goes to an arcade and it is like the arcades I went to when this movie was out and I see games that I played! But Paulie doesn't like the Rocky pinball machine. It seems he is a sore brother-in-law.

Rocky is now very dashing. Paulie is drunk and whiny about how Rocky is such a big shot now, but he has a point about how prettied up he has become.

Later that night Rocky and Adrian are in their bed and it has a rich person headboard. The director, also visibly present in front of the camera, clearly instructed the production designer to create a bed that would reflect the elite level of financial flexibility that the protagonist has reached.

So apparently Rocky has gotten himself into the strange situation where he has to do a charity boxing match against a wrestler played by the increasingly famous Hulk Hogan. I had forgotten that Hulk Hogan is in this movie. Mr. T is watching this match and he looks intensely the same way he only ever does.

Whoa Hulk Hogan is way taller than Sylvester Stallone. Is that allowed? The rules have changed! And this whole thing is not boxing it is wrestling and it is that silliness instead of boxing. This is a long scene that is the same as a typical Wrestlemania thing, all manufactured drama made to seem like fighting and true menace, but at the end we see that they are just professional coworkers and we have all learned a valuable lesson haven't we.

At a statue-unveiling, Rocky announces that he is maybe retiring. MAYBE. But then Mr. T shows up talking smack, and ladies and gentlemen we have ourselves an end-of-Act-One.

As Act Two begins, we have a scene that was an A+ homework assignment for the screenwriting teacher of Rocky III's screenwriter, who you will recall is the craftsman Sylvester Stallone. Burgess Meredith is like "I quit! I won't help you with this fight! Mr. T is too hard to beat!" But then they talk it out to advance past that scripted complication. And now Rocky and Mr. T are training for their fight in their separate worlds.

Speaking of worlds, in the World Of Rocky, the famous theme that was introduced in the score of the first movie is actually known to the characters in this movie as Rocky music. They play it for him publicly to celebrate their pride in his violence accomplishments.

Apollo Creed appears to be retired, but he is a commentator at this Rocky/T fight.

0:40:00 - They're about to do the fight, but Mr. T is so The Way He Is that the wants to fight on the way TO the fight. That results in some tumult that makes BM have health problems. It was vague what happened, it seemed like BM was shoved aside by all the mad/scared/fighting people, so then he has a conversation with Rocky in a back room where he's like, don't stop the fight even though I am suddenly vaguely frail. He sort of clutches his chest like maybe there's a heart attack but just one of those everyday ones. I have those every time I click send on a work email. My friends should not be discouraged from championship fisticuffs when that happens.

This is the first Rocky movie to be made after Raging Bull came out, and I detect some influence in the boxing footage, like with close-ups of Mr. T.

Rocky loses that fight pretty quickly, and maybe the problem is that he didn't do a pre-victory steps jog. But the movie is telling us that BM is dying on a table in the back room and that's the real problem.

BM dies and SS has done some pretty ambitious cry-acting. Then the funeral is in one of those indoor above-ground file-cabinet-style cemeteries, which is not the normal cinematic choice so nice job there.

I can already tell that we're going to have another thirty minutes of a bummed-out Rocky to fill out Act Two before it starts to look like the setup for a fulfilling climax can begin. It's what I would have told him to write if he were my student at the third-rate community college where I'm a part-time screenwriting teacher in this scenario.

Apollo Creed has shown up to try to pep-talk Rocky, and he keeps saying "eye of the tiger" because of marketing departments. But also, he is a more mature person than in the first two movies. Even though it's a character shift, I do kind of buy it. It seems like another side of the character we knew slightly.

0:59:00 - Another scene beginning with dialogue that sounds like it was improvised by people who don't know what real life is like. "Come on you're going to be late to the airport!" "Maybe you should have packed another sweater" "no in California it's not too cold". AHA THEY ARE GOING ON A TRIP TO CALIFORNIA I AM ON TO YOU ROCKY III

When they go to Los Angeles and show us people on the street and the people have been told to look and act super different so that the audience will be like, wow California is different, then, well, we are at this part of Rocky III did you know.

Although there was my earlier expectation that we were going to have a prolonged funereal story arc, but what's happened is that Apollo is invested in training Rocky so they're showing us that side of Apollo, and that's interesting. But also it's the template of "Rocky is training and he doesn't look like he's going to get there, but then inspiration will hit and he will look like he is going to get there". S. Stallone, noted filmmaker, is using montages and flashbacks to show how recent bad news moments for Rocky are haunting him. It is working.

Adrian performs a pep talk monologue for Rocky. I don't understand her point. It's like a box of those refrigerator poetry magnets jumbled up together and spoken as movie script lines. I guess the gist is "don't give up" and he starts to think maybe he shouldn't give up. Then it's a new training montage, and it's got the classic "running far now" Rocky theme so we know it's going well. The twist on the classic cheering-atop-stairs cadence is it's Rocky and Apollo on the beach, and Rocky is a little faster than Apollo and that is great news for them both.

Now we're right before the final fight, and we heard Mr. T tell a reporter that he "pity the fool". I didn't hear the rest of what he said, I was just so happy to hear him say "pity the fool".

Oh but shortly after that he is asked what his prediction is, and he looks at the camera, OUR camera, at US, and says "PAIN". Submitted without comment.

That face-to-face moment right before the fight starts, Mr. T says "imma bust you UP" and Rocky says "go for it". Advanced Scripted Dialogue with Professor Stallone.

The final fight happens, and it's mostly the same as how the other ones went except without a montage summarizing a whole bunch of rounds. I think this whole fight ended in three rounds. But it ends with the exact same music that I'm getting sick of….

BUT! There is a follow-up scene this time! It's some other day later on and Apollo and Rocky are just palling around at the gym. And THEN the movie ends. I feel that the producers must have implored Stallone, artisan that he is, to just end the movie on that climactic moment right after the fight ends, just like the other movies, but he said NO. That is not ENOUGH for a SYLVESTER STALLONE FILM. We will have an additional scene with INCONSEQUENTIAL BANTER. It will last OVER ONE MINUTE. And here we are. Rocky III: it's like Raging Bull, but better!!

I think Talia Shire is the only female actor with any lines in this movie.

One thing that's very much worth saying about this movie is that there is WAY more actual boxing in this movie. The other ones had almost no scenes where there were live boxing matches, but this one had lots. Plus that wrestling one! And as I observed, the directing style with this one also had a newfound sense of visual pop. But the story seems like it changed not at all from how it was described in the first studio board room meeting where jackass producers blurted out what Rocky III might be like.

(next: Rocky IV)

[cyanidesouffle]

Me nitpicking Imagine me

CW: Dub-con. If you read the book you know what I’m going to point out.

I didn't go into this book with high expectations. What I did want was more Anderson and Warner angst. Because I am a sucker for that stuff. And you do get that, so I can say I'm way happier with Imagine me than Ignite me.

That is not to say that Imagine me doesn't have it's issues. This is mainly going to be a long list of me nitpicking stuff.

Fundamental things I want to get out of the way:

So before I even begin talking about Imagine me I just want to say: I think it would have been way better if the last novella had been from James's POV. James being kidnapped, Adam giving himself up to protect him, being told he is Warner's brother. I think that would have made a great few chapters compared to Kenji sulking and pining after Nazeera. Reveal me just confirmed my headcanon that Adam and James were still in Sector 45. But it feels like nothing in Reveal me sticks. Kenji having bad side effects after being drugged? It doesn't last for longer than two chapters. Anderson being back in sector 45? Yeah, he goes back to Oceania after crashing the Sanctuary. Reveal me is (imo) better than Shadow me, but I think we all can agree than neither of them are as good as Destroy me. Adding James to the male POVs would have been a cool change. Get to know him better. Give Adam one last chance at being appreciated by the fandom.

Now to Imagine me. I think it's WAY too similar to Defy me, plotwise. Think about it: Juliette is stuck in Oceania, except she's now hanging out with Anderson instead of Evie. Kenji and Nazeera, and now Warner, have to go get her back. They do and kill some Supreme Commanders on the way. The end. It feels very… lazy for the final book in a series.

"Big" plot points I keep questioning:

I'm going to say it again: Anderson going to Sector 45 to Sanctuary and back to Oceania again. I guess he wanted to go pick up Adam and James, but it seemed like such a big deal at the end of Reveal me; it sounded like the final showdown was taking place in sector 45. But nope. He goes back to Oceania again. It just felt pointless to tease us like that.

Can't we be real? In every scene between Anderson and Juliette I was expecting him to tell her to take her clothes off. And then rape her. Robo Juliette probably wouldn't have seen it as rape; but it would be rape. Especially when she woke up IN HIS BEDROOM! (Am I a pervert for anticipating it? Probably. (And now there’s at least one fic about it so yeah, not just me))

On that note: Anderson's drawer containing either his whip, or a BDSM kit. Or both I guess. You can't change my mind :9

And I also thought it was funny when he wasn't into Juliette finding him attractive.

The supreme kids not being utilized, again. I thought it was weird how they were shoehorned into Restore me. Then I thought it was strange that only Nazeera showed up in Defy me. Stephan, Haider and Nazeera team up with the gang in Imagine me, which is an improvement. But the south American twins and Lena? They were just there. In tanks (which is never explained!). Let them distract the parents or something. Anything!

The supposed climax of the book. Robo Juliette is defeated/turned back to normal immediately. Warner talks to her. Then they hug. Done. Predictable. Boring.

How are we supposed to take Robo Juliette seriously when everything is undone like *snaps* that?

Hunger games spoiler I guess:

I can't help but compare it to Mockingjay, Peeta tried to kill Katniss, what was it?, three times? And he's not perfectly turned back to normal at the end. They continue to have issues. But they fight through it, because they love each other. You, as the reader, understand how much they love each other. The reader understands how much work they are putting in, and you appreciate it.

End of Hunger games spoiler

My suggestion is that there would have been a confrontation earlier, and they fail to bring her back. Maybe Juliette could have killed someone, I suggest Castle, and everyone would be way more freaked out. Here they would talk about maybe having to kill Juliette. Then we would have a larger confrontation at the end, where Warner actually managed to snap her out of it. I would have been able to appreciate the effort they put in more that way.

Medium things:

Mafi making Kenji influenced by stuff but not really. Kenji is said to be super drugged at the beginning of Imagine me. Then it goes away. Why did she make him unconscious because of drug side effects? To make him unable to talk to Juliette? Then he's tipsy. Half an hour later Anderson attacks. Kenji is supposedly STILL TIPSY when he's running around the battlefield. Can you tell he's tipsy during the battle? Not until it's already over. Why did Madi make Kenji drunk? So he would have an easier time to talk to Nazeera? But then he doesn't really? Why put these status effects on Kenji when they don't do anything?!

My friend suggested that: I think the tea was supposed to be played as a joke. My response to that is: Does Mafi think making your friends intoxicated with laced tea without their consent is funny? That's not funny. Ever.

Kenji not making a Tangle reference when Warner's asks Anderson to let him take Juliette's place. #WarnerIsBestRapunzel.

On that note: Can Anderson make up his mind about whether he wants to kill Aaron or not? In Defy me he was ready to let Warner know about operation synthesis, but Ibrahim stopped him. But he seems to have given that up completely by Imagine me.

My friend pointed out it might be to underline how erratic he is. But I'm like: Why spend the time making Anderson more human with his tattoo, childhood trauma and protecting Juliette, and NOT have him try to get Warner back one last time? "Juliette, hit him I'm the back of the head. Kill the other one."

((Maybe it's that I've written too many fics with Anderson acting like an actual father…))

Or he wanted Aaron to be killed by Juliette, the one he's in love with, because it would fulfill the whole "Feelings will kill you", lesson Anderson has going on. Yeah, that would make sense now that I think about it...

The scorpion girl didn't contribute to anything. It was pointless drama and killing. Kenji is the one to kill her, but again it doesn't last. Kenji doesn't walk around thinking about how awful he is for killing someone. He just brushed it off and continues with going to rescue Juliette.

I like how people don't know whether to call her Juliette or Ella.

I like how Nouria gets a lot of screen time.

Now to Things probably only I care about:

We never find out the name of Adam's mom.

Seeing no interactions between James and Anderson. Again, I would have loved a novella from James' POV.

Seeing no interactions between Anderson and Adam. I'm more upset about this one. I wasn't that surprised to be honest that Adam made a deal with Anderson. I was pleasantly surprised because I actually had a fic idea about it a while back. After the flashback with Adam in the aviary I had a tiny whimey hope that Adam would turn out to be a bad guy (because if Anderson can come back from the dead then anything is possible). I thought Adam was the reason they have all the blue thingie magingies, cuz Adam's blue and Adam turn off people's powers. He wasn't evil though. Instead he just laid on a table. I was right about his powers being used to kill Anderson though, so I guess that's nice.

And it's also nice that Mafi remembered to explain Adam's tattoo.

I wanted to know what Anderson's tattoo was. Wild guess is that it's just a shape reminiscent of a whip.

I like Warner's ring being back. I thought it would have been really sweet if he had used it as an engagement ring, but at least it's here.

No one cares about Delalieu. Kenji mentions him by name once. Once. Warner doesn't even mention him in the epilogue. DELALIEU WOULD HAVE LOVED TO BE ON THAT WEDDING! *cries*

[bsd-fyodor94]

could i req a dazai scenario where fem!reader is usually happy and joking around with the ada team but when dazai’s talking to her or he’s in the same place as her, she’s quite nervous & shy around him cos she has big fat crush on him so he confront her abt her behaviour?

Euphoria and Bewilderment

Osamu Dazai

He thought it was odd, to be quite honest. She’d laugh and joke around with anyone, except him. When she spoke to him, it was in a quiet, gentle tone. That same smile that would brighten anyone’s day would never be used to brighten his.

It hadn’t always been like this. When she first joined the agency she was outgoing towards everyone, including him. Only in the past few months had she suddenly seemed to forget to smile or joke with him.

It didn’t take long, however, for Dazai to understand. He knew the reason, very well at that. It had only occurred to him after he saw her blush when he complimented her new earrings, saying they brought out her beautiful eyes.

He’d never seen someone flush so quickly. He’d compliment countless women, even asked them to commit a double suicide with him, but none had ever once turned red–only denying him satisfaction in silence or a passive-aggressive way.

It wasn’t until that day–that fateful day–that he had decided to devise a plan, or ‘Plan Romance’ as he called it. A simple plan, but a plan that hasn’t been officially been put into action until today.

No time had stuck a better time than now. Dazai’s arms behind his head as he strolled through the busy Yokohama streets. His temporary partner walked next to him, his hands laced together behind his back, never once giving him the joy of seeing her bright eyes.

They had been tasked with delivering an apology letter and gifts to an innocent man who had accidentally been injured during a case. The letter rests in Dazai’s coat pocket. He’d be the one to give the letter to the man since he was the one who had accidentally hit the man with a car.

Kunikida hadn’t let Dazai five feet from a car or car keys every since that incident. (First name) had to go with Dazai because she was the one to let Dazai drive, not knowing he was a horrendous driver. They’d have to pick up the gift basket on the way.

The flower shop was a small one, but housed many different shapes, sizes and colors of floral. “W-We’re here to pick up a gift basket. From the A-Armed Detective Agency.” Dazai noted her stutters, it happened a lot when he was around.

“One moment please.” The florist smiled and left the register to retrieve the basket from behind a yellow painted door.

The silence was painful, to say the least. Dazai didn’t make any remarks and also hadn’t asked the florist–a pretty young lady–to commit a double suicide yet. (First name) only played with a bracelet that was locked around her wrist.

It had felt like hours before the florist brought the basket out–but it had only been a few minutes. The basket was decorated with two bouquets of colorful flowers and a teddy bear in the middle. The bear held a baggie of cookies that were store bought but nothing short of delicious.

“Here you are! Have a nice day.” Dazai smiled and (First name) thanked the florist. The talkative streets outside the shop made the awkward silence between the two a little more bearable..

However, ‘Plan Romance’ was about to reach its climax. Dazai looked over towards the girl struggling to carry the heavy basket in her delicate hands. He promptly grabbed the basket from her, receiving a slightly stunned look in return. “Care to tell me why you don’t smile at me anymore?” He asked.

‘Plan Romance’ was to be as forward as possible, to get the answers as quick as possible. “W-What do you mean?” (First name) replied with a stuttered question.

“Well, for a few months now you haven’t been acting the same towards me as with everyone else.” Dazai sighed. “If you don’t like me, you can say it, you know.”

“Wait! That’s not it at all!” (First name) quickly denied. “I-I don’t–”

Dazai dramatically slapped the back of his hand to his forehead and shut his eyes. “I can’t believe you hate me, (First name)!” He cried out, resulting in some strange looks from passing civilians. “After all we’ve been through–you can’t even look at me anymore!” He continued, ignoring her pleas, crying out about the ‘hate’ she felt.

“No–! I don’t hate you, Dazai!” Her teeth clenched in frustration and embarrassment. “I like you, not hate you!”

Her face erupted with red and she covered her mouth with her hand at the realization of her words. Dazai smirked, and threw an arm around her shoulder, continuing to carry the basket in the other hand. “See, that’s all you had to say. Not so hard, right?”

(First name) let out a squeak of confusion. “W-Wait, what?”

“Well, you see…” Dazai begun, “It wasn’t that hard to tell you liked me. I could have confronted you about it a lot sooner, but I wanted to wait to see if you’d tell me first.”

“So–you knew the whole time… that I liked you?” Dazai nodded, a wide smile on his face. “What does this mean then?”

Dazai lifted up the basket to show her. “Let’s finish the mission first.”

After delivering the gift basket and apology letter to the injured man, as well as getting yelled at by said man, Dazai and (First name) began their trek back to the agency.

“Are you going to answer my question now?” (First name) quietly asked as she twirled the bracelet around her wrist in nervousness.

Dazai looked towards her, fake confusion on his face, “What question?”

Her lips pursed, a light blush once again costing her cheeks. “The one I asked earlier. You know my feelings towards you now, so… what will happen between us?”

Dazai smiled. “Can’t you tell we’re taking a different route back to the agency. I’m taking you out to dinner.” His plan was working, all that needed to be avoided was a singular phone call.

“But, I didn’t bring my purse with me. And didn’t you say you lost your wallet in the river again?”

“I did,” Dazai pulled out a credit card from his back pocket. “Which is why I borrowed Kuni–” Dazai’s phone had started to ring, the caller ID saying ‘Kunikida’.

(First name) laughed, finally showing Dazai that smile he had been waiting to see for too long now. “I think he wants his card back, Dazai.”

“I guess we’ll have to wait until pay day.” Dazai sighed with a shrug. However, he was content, and couldn’t stop the corner of his lips from tugging upwards. He had gotten to see the smile that brought light to his life, and scored a date with a beautiful young lady.

I hope this fit what you had in mind. Have a wonderful day!

[clockworkouroboros]

Hi guys, ready for some more crazy The Amazing Devil nonsense? Because I sure am! Basically, a while ago (like a week after The Horror and the Wild came out) I made a post comparing Wild Blue Yonder and That Unwanted Animal, because they’re basically a song about the same couple on the same night, but from wildly different perspectives. I still wholeheartedly believe that — there are just too many things that match up (I don’t think I even got all the connections in that post) — but I’m here to add a new thought: Battle Cries also fits in with this.

It’s not quite as on-the-nose, and I didn’t notice it right away because Battle Cries is full of references to other songs, both musically (the end of all things motif) thematically (Rockrose and the Thistle) and lyrically (catch references to almost every song on the album somewhere in there). It’s a masterpiece, and I still don’t understand how Joey and Madeleine did it. Anyway. So I noticed the connections to WBY and TUA, but I didn’t read anything into it, since there are references to other songs in Battle Cries.

But I’ve been thinking about it, and it really seems like it’s about the same couple, on the same night as Wild Blue Yonder and That Unwanted Animal. So this post is me going through Battle Cries and finding/pointing out as many references as I can.

I’m going to start with Madeleine’s part: she begins, “I’m at the brink, don’t laugh/at those winks I’ve masked/who’ll save you when you fall?” Now, I’ve thought of this as a direct reference to That Unwanted Animal for well over a month. I mean, consider: “well hello, my hollow Holofernes,’ I wink but you don’t get the joke” in TUA. Not only are these the only two mentions of winking in the whole album, but both also reference jokes/laughter at the same time.

I also want to point out “who’ll save you when you fall” with TUA, because the climax of That Unwanted Animal is “hold the hand of the god-child, they said as he falls from the sky, be good to me I beg of him,” which also fits with this. She saves him when he falls, and it destroys her. (That’s one possible interpretation, and one that fits with this post.)

“Who wins this war? You’ve a knack/for applause from the back of the stalls but you lack/the conviction to look at me straight/and say yes” are Madeleine’s next lines in Battle Cries, and I really can’t figure out how a lot of it would tie into WBY or TUA, except for the last part. “You lack the conviction to look at me straight and say yes,” which ties into Battle Cries later with “don’t lie with your eyes, you know I despise that look.” It also fits into TUA with “don’t you hear that scratching/I ask your eyes” and Joey’s “I’ve got something in my eye” in WBY. In all of this, she’s looking for confirmation of something in his eyes, and he can’t deliver that.

I’m skipping over “don’t be uncouth, be a man, don’t lie with your eyes you know I despise that look” because I already covered it in the last paragraph, and the next section doesn’t really have any direct parallels to either song, and that’s the end of the first verse!

Obviously “these plates they smash like waves/place your smile in mine” is a direct callback to TUA (“these plates they smash like waves/place your hand in mine”) although it does seem to be more of a relationship sort of thing, rather than a “hold the hand of the god-child” thing in this. (I personally think “Place your smile in mine” is supposed to mean a kiss.)

Also, not to read too much into something (I say, reading too much into everything TAD-related) but “these lines aren’t wrinkles, dear heart” reminds me very much of “I’ve got knuckleburn from typing all these lines into your chest.” I already have a theory that all mentions of lines in this song are intended to be read both as lines on skin (“these lines aren’t wrinkles” sort of thing) and as lines like in a play (“come on love, please don’t start, sing your notes play your part”.)

Also, an interesting thing to note: Madeleine never sings the “it’s applause” part of “that creaking you hear in my bones is not pain, it’s applause,” she just stops at pain. Which I think ties into this somehow, but this post is going to be long enough without me getting into that. So I’m just throwing it out there as something for y’all to consider. Feel free to add onto this with your own ideas if you so desire!

Madeleine’s part in verse 2 again seems to refer to TUA/WBY. I mean, even the “we were gods” (and Joey’s “we were kids” response) goes hand in hand (ha) with the God-Child. They (or even just Joey) were gods and children at the same time. (Alternatively, this could be Joey refuting Madeleine’s point: “we were gods,” she says, and he replies with a sad, nostalgic smile, “no, we were kids,” but I prefer the other reading because the gods theory is very near and dear to my heart.)

The “come at me, you blaggards” section has a lot of things that interest me, but they’re in Joey’s part, so I’m skipping over it for now, and instead going on to “I’m not a drunkard, a daughter, a creature, God knows how you dragged us both into the darkness that grows.”

This section screams TUA especially to me. The drunkard part references earlier in Battle Cries (plus other references to drinking, like in Marbles or FW?), and the daughter part references (directly contradicting) THatW, but “a preacher” is interesting, because in TUA, Madeleine refers to herself as a priest. (“I’m the paper cut that kills you and the priest that you ignored”.) I’ve mentioned elsewhere (probably not on Tumblr, mostly I spew my bs on Discord) that this section is Madeleine directly refuting claims about her from earlier songs on the album, and this is notable because this is the only claim that she makes about herself that she contradicts. But that’s beside the point. “You dragged us both into the darkness that grows” is also interesting within this reading (although I have a lot of thoughts about this line just in general, but I’m trying to stay on focus a little bit), because it really fits with the “‘be good to me I beg of him,’ ‘No, no, not I’” at the end of TUA. Like I said earlier, she saves him, and it (he) destroys her.

(Notice also how Madeleine’s character blames Joey, while Joey sings “we sunk into water no creature can know,” not distributing blame to either party.)

Next is the biggest WBY/TUA section of this entire song: Madeleine sings “I won’t leave without a fight,” while Joey sings “I won’t let you turn our last night into this.” This is a breakup, their last night together, just like in WBY (“one last time, love, come and rip my clothes off”). And Madeleine’s picking the fight, while Joey doesn’t want a bad ending. It perfectly fits the narrative that both WBY and TUA have already created. (Also: “I’m gonna binge watch a box set, drink wine, reminisce” with “the wine stains hide the tears” earlier?)

To move onto Joey’s part, obviously his lines are more lighthearted, hopeful, all of that. In verse one, he seems to be looking back at the night: check out his “the wind feels so warm on the back of my neck, as I walk with the sun hand-in-hand from the wreck, some fictions we took to mean fate, believe me I know.” The wreck goes well with the storm and wind that keeps being mentioned in TUA, plus TUA’s “I make shipwrecks out of my dress and the door below us splinters.” This is afterwards. The sun has come out after the storm. “The wrinkles and bricks” bit that he sings first also goes well with this, especially the “fictions we took to mean fate.” Compare it with Madeleine’s “every brick you hurled I’ll use to build this world” in WBY.

Also, not to bring back a theme, but truth and eyes are both mentioned in Joey’s part, except he’s not accusing Madeleine of lying. “Tell the truth to me love, does my hair look as nice as it did when you once tied it up in your eyes?” Just something I thought was worth mentioning.

Joey’s part in verse 2 similarly complements Madeleine’s. “With you I could summon the gods and the stars, make them dance out the plays that we wrote from the heart, and we’d laugh at the ghosts of our fears.” I’m going to draw from both this and the “come at me, you blaggards” section because, as I mentioned earlier, I have a lot of thoughts about this.

What I really have focused on is the “wielding words” aspect of this section. (“Wielding words against make-believe wizards and tanks” which again, refers back to “some fictions we took to mean fate” but that’s not important right now.) Words as weapons/something to be feared pops up multiple times in this album, and notably, it shows up in all three songs I’m talking about. “Those words we flung for fear of sound” in WBY, “you turn the telly on to drown out your fear and make the bed up silent on the floor so no one will hear us” in TUA both have this idea of words/sound being something to fear. (Consider also THatW’s “you’re the words that I promise I don’t mean”.) However, Joey considers these a fiction at this point: “we laugh at the ghosts of our fears.”

The next section is “but we sunk into water no creature can know, you dragged us along to watch all of your shows, our devils broke rank and out of the depths came an army,” which. Hoo boy. Sinking into water fits with the shipwreck/storm idea of That Unwanted Animal, and the idea of an army coming out of those depths against them works well with all the things they’re afraid might be out there in WBY. (wolves, demons, robot vampire, i dunno!)

Joey’s “I won’t let you turn our last night into this” fits well with the idea of Madeleine coming in and turning the situation into what happens in TUA. And the last verse of the song seems to be an actual ending to this story. While both WBY and TUA end before the night does — WBY with “I’ll bruise you” and TUA with the god-child refusing to be good to her, another parallel, I think — Battle Cries ends with a proper resolution to the situation. It’s the one part of Battle Cries that doesn’t fit with the other two songs, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t an extension of those songs.

I know this isn’t everything but this post has gotten really, really long so if you want extra thoughts about this, feel free to send an ask my way! And as always, if you have thoughts of your own, I love seeing people add on to these posts.

TLDR: the songs Wild Blue Yonder, That Unwanted Animal, and Battle Cries are all songs about the same couple on the same night. Battle Cries is only different in that it gives a conclusion to the story.

[watching-pictures-move]

Put On Your Raincoats #6 | Corruption (Watkins, 1983)

This review contains mild spoilers.

"I believe in business. I believe in honouring my contracts. I believe without honour, all business becomes quite useless." Jamie Gillis says this as he looks out the window of a skyscraper. In this building, in this room, some kind of deal is going down. Sinister figures sit around the table as they inform Gillis of his negotiating position, disabusing him of any illusions about having any leverage over the transaction. The specifics of this deal never are told, but a certain dread hangs over the negotiations. Next we see George Payne enter a different building, one whose interior seems both sparse and lined with junk. There’s a woman behind a desk, played by Samantha Fox. He approaches and asks who she is. “I’m the woman behind the desk.” Not very helpful. He informs her that he’s here to pick up something. He proceeds to go through three rooms, each presented as some kind of test, the objective of which is unclear. The first: “Could you rely on yourself?” The second: “There’s always a trade-off.” The third: “Will you renounce love?” The details of what transpires in these rooms can be deduced pretty easily (in short: fucking, sometimes with oneself), only that they are presented with a coldness that undermines any eroticism their explicitness might inspire. As the tests end, Payne seemingly gets what he was looking for, a nondescript briefcase, but there’s no indication of relief.

Gillis returns home with his girlfriend Tiffany Clark, looking to unwind after his meeting, but the sense of unease doesn’t lift. Their relationship is assessed in brutal directness. Like his dealing in the office, it’s a transaction and not much more.

"It's only business." "There's that." "That and business don't mix." "Who says they have to? But a man does have certain obligations."

Even in the bedroom Gillis can’t shake the sense that his debt is coming due. He spies on Kelly Nichols in a private moment, his girlfriend’s sister and perhaps the only character not caught in this sinister web. Gillis goes to his half-brother Bobby Astyr for help, and we meet him staring lasciviously at a stripper who gyrates robotically in a suffocatingly smoky bar (which Astyr refers to as his “humble sewer”). Turns out Payne double-crossed him and disappeared, but Astyr isn’t too happy to help, his cheerful demeanour barely masking the venom between the two of them. Still, he obliges, and takes Gillis to that same building we last saw Payne in. He urges a reluctant Gillis to look through a series of three peepholes, reminding Gillis of his position. ("I don't have to do anything." "Gotta meet certain obligations.") The first: a sexy shower scene, pretty routine stuff. The second: a BDSM scene, but underneath the gimp’s mask...Gillis? What’s going on? The third: is that a corpse? Is that Payne? And is he wearing clown makeup? “Open this fucking door!”

Gillis tries to get some straight answers, but Payne, like Clark, like Astyr, reminds of his situation, insisting on a thank you (”for the sleazy show you put on?”) Gillis pleads: “I spent a lifetime getting what's mine, nothing more, nothing less.” Payne counters, laughing eerily: “Down here, it's the same as up there, or haven't you figured that out yet?” Gillis, seeing no other options, asks Astyr to clean up his mess. In the film’s climax, Gillis tries to distract himself by visiting his mistress Vanessa Del Rio, while Astyr handles the situation, but even this is futile. "I don't know what to do, they changed the rules on me." "The rules never change, only the people playing the game.” Like Gillis, we are never able to lose ourselves in this scene either, as the film foregrounds the awful fate of Nichols, the one innocent in the movie, and the brutal directness with which Astyr takes care of business. When all is seemingly over and Gillis once again has possession of what’s supposed to be his, we get one last, chilling reminder of his situation. Astyr called. “ He wanted to know what it felt like being his partner.” Freeze frame. Ominous music. Chilling laughter. End of movie.

To the extent that I can read a deeper meaning into Corruption, it strikes me as an expression of Roger Watkins’ uneasy feelings about filmmaking. (Such feelings were also evident in his best known film, Last House on Dead End Street, although the approach differs here.) There’s no denying that there are certain commercial demands one is forced to meet when making films at his budgets and in this genre, and every step of the movie reminds the hero of those “certain obligations.” Whatever deal Gillis has struck could be read as Faustian through implication, his co-stars (Astyr in particular) seen as demonic, and his arc viewed as a descent into hell. Watkins also was apparently not too fond of making pornography, and having been unsatisfied with sex scenes  in earlier efforts like My Name is Lisa (likely because they might actually have been conventionally enjoyable), where he delegated their shooting to producer Dave Darby, he took over the reins here and produced something closer to his vision: cold, passionless, made in contempt of the idea that someone could possibly find this all arousing. But the movie has a power beyond that reading, thanks to its tremendous sense of mood, approaching almost horror, but having replaced the kills with graphic sex. (I realize for much of the above I’ve merely recounted the film’s events, but a lot of the effect comes from the precise tone it strikes.) The dialogue is elliptical and recursive, and the interiors defined by strong yet alienating colours, creating an effect not unlike the Black Lodge sequences in Twin Peaks. The cinematography by Larry Revene, shooting on Agfa film (apparently the first time the stock was used in the U.S.), captures the proceedings in the chilliest, eeriest light. The soundtrack adds to this icy veneer, cold synths set to a foreboding beat, with the mournful violins of a street view montage catching us off guard with their relative warmth. The actors almost uniformly hit the notes of unease required for their parts with great precision, Astyr and Del Rio in particular subverting any amiability they may have shown in other roles. If there is a weak link, I don’t think the film establishes the poignancy of the Nichols character sufficiently (a masturbation scene with a tender soundtrack is all we get before things go south for her), but a dearth of humanity is not entirely a weakness here, all things considered. Corruption is a film of tremendous bad vibes.