#*dramatic music* a new character has entered the playing field

[skycapt4in]

WHO THE HELL IS CHARLIE?

If you've been around this blog for a while, you've probably seen me name drop some Earthling from Noah's universe known as Charlie. Charlie is.. one of the main protagonists would be the best way to describe his role overall.

Charlie's story and path do not really intermingle or coincide with Noah's, each time they've met have been through sheer chance. Noah doesn't really affect Charlie's life, and the fucker is too far away for Charlie to meddle in his.. actually, he could.

To rip the bandaid off immediately, Charlie is a reality warper. Another thing you may have seen me talk about is that how everyone from Earth who has a superpower, has that power because at some point in their ancesterol bloodline, someone made a deal or gained a blessing from the gods. Charlie comes from a bloodline that did not make a deal or get a blessing from the gods. He should not have a power, nobody in his family has a power.

It's a whole thing... It'd take me a whole trilogy series to explain what happened and how the fuck this guy got the most powerful trick you can get. The tl:dr of it is that a god, unbeknownst to Charlie, bestowed a blessing upon him when he was in his later teens and that blessing quickly turned and evolved into Charlie's reality warping ability. But! The rule is that your bloodline has very similar powers, you generally wouldn't be able to handle having a power that doesn't fit with the god who your blood is tied too. ( an example is that noah's biological brother also has a funny luck ability, he can alter people's bad luck! ) Giving a guy from a non-blessed bloodline a brand new godlike ability had some.. disasterous effects.

He almost completely erased his friends and loved ones from existence one time because that bastard of a god from before, had Charlie and his friends go up against a big, ancient cosmic horror and Charlie rightfully so, freaked the fuck out when he saw one of his romantic partners get killed. The fight cost him his friends and it cost his friends some of their memories and even their very existence. Charlie thinks he blocked the memory of this event out because he can't remember it ever happening, but everyone keeps telling him it did.

At the current point in his story, Charlie's once again learning to accept his curse, but it's not really for the best reason: He's going to fight that last old god, because if it wasn't for Petyr's meddling, Charlie would be living happily, powerless somewhere, with his beloved Belle and dear handsome Olls. But no, they really don't trust him now and he's traumatized from something he only really thought was a bad dream... and he's actually facing jail time for unauthorized suse of his reality warping powers ( powers that he had no idea he had until he had his freakout btw ). Buddy's life is a mess right now.

But, all that aside, Charlie is still one of the best people in the story, he never lost his heart of gold or his want to help people, he's a brave lil guy doing his best in this cruel, harsh world where gods just single you out for no real coherent reason.

Noah met him a few times before he got access to his powers, and it was the third meeting that would ultimately lead to Noah being.. imprisoned and forced to work for a different group of 'superheroes' the next time he was visiting Earth, but Charlie didn't and doesn't know that happened to Noah, and Noah isn't going to admit that someone was able to catch him.

They met after Charlie's freakout too, Noah was one of the first people to find him afterwards, our spaceman having no idea that his new shorter friend was why everyone was freaking out and the news was shouting about a potential end of days. But he found Charlie clearly distraught and scared and tried to get him to come back to Shi'p so they could talk in private about what was bothering the guy, and to get Shi'p to run a medical test or two on him, but Charlie adamently refused and they just spent the night talking about.. nothing honestly.

Seeing how freaked out Charlie was actually caused Noah to stick around longer than he'd intended too because he wasn't about to let a friend be alone at a time like this. So eventually Noah was able to get the whole scoop, Charlie told him about his time as a hero, about his friends, his partners, his new powers and the Big Uh-Oh. After hearing that none of this would've happened if a god didn't meddle with an innocent man's life like it was nothing, Noah.. went on a rant that kinda-sorta inspired Charlie to.. kill that god. ( At this point in the story, Charlie is still dealing with the whole 'trying not to go to jail over something he had no control over' so hopefully he won't actually go and fight Petyr.. but the little fucker is just about as impulsive as the spaceman so I cannot say for sure that it's just an idea he has. ) Noah said he'd help him out if it comes to that. But they're good friends, they don't see each other much but when they do they just go out fishing or Charlie teaches the spaceman something new and different about Earth

And right now in the actual story, Noah's on Earth but he's hanging out with that group of people who captured him then forced him to work for them. He's planning on stealing something from them if you're wondering, he's on this weird mission to turn Cryon into a habitable place again and the Mountain Archives have plenty of things that can help with that.. He still hasn't been back to Cryon though so idk how the hell he's going to do that.

[starseed-twenty]

Houses determining an 'age stage' 🔮

Okay, so this is a random long post, but.... do you ever think that perhaps the houses in our charts represent the stages in our life? From birth to death? Cause I do.

So basically... the first house (the ascendant) is our energy as soon as we leave the womb. But through life and its dynamic changes, our energy can change into the traits of the sign in the following house because circumstances drive us into having that sign's traits/vibe.

Personally, I'm starting to believe that each of the houses in a person's birth chart holds a stage or period of time in your life where your energy is more focused in that area/house. That's why you'll hear for example "if your 4H is in Sag, you most likely grew up in a carefree home"... cause at the time you were growing up, your energy was focusing on the 3rd and 4th house. And so you transcend into Sagittarius energy because it is in your 4th house.

For example, a person with a Capricorn Ascendant. At birth, they're calm, reserved little babies, who tend to get upset pretty easily. Until they get a little older (around 3 years old) and start developing these Aquarius traits/energy because of their 2nd house [unless Capricorn is in both 1st and 2nd house]. But once they get to an age where they're making sense of the world and developing a sense of being and being aware of the things they have, this is their 2nd house age stage activated.

Okay, so let me put it like this:

1st house age stage [birth to around 3 years]: Since the 1st house is the house of 'self' and revelation (or showing yourself) to the world, this is how it correlates to birth and being a newborn. 1H rules beginnings, the body, and approach to life. The sign you have in 1H is the sign you act as in your approach to life from the beginning to the end. [Side-note: This is because every house you enter that stage in is carried on with you until you're old and die. So you don't necessarily let go of the house because you're in a new age stage, but it merely becomes dim. It's there, but it's not ruling like the age stage you're currently in].

2nd house [around 3 to 6 years old]: This is the age or stage when you're making sense of the world and develop a sense of being and becoming aware of the things you have, as I mentioned. So you're basically becoming conscious about yourself, whilst adapting to the values, possessions, and skills you have. So the sign you have in 2nd house is how you handle that. For example, if you have Capricorn, you're more stern, careful, and calculative about all the possessions and skills you hold. You normally put those things at a high standard, and it can take a while for you to attain certain things because Saturn (Capricorn's ruler) encourages you to earn all that you have.

3rd house [7 to 10 years old]: At this point, you know who you are, what you have, and how you normally approach life. In trying to develop yourself a bit more, you look around you at who the people around you are. 3rd house is Gemini's house, and Geminis are very conscious beings; of people, things to learn, and their word (a bit too conscious, and that's where the 'two-faced' cliche comes in). So this age stage then comes with using the mind a lot. Learning stuff and getting ideas, speaking about them, knowing what friends are and being close with siblings, if any, and sharing stuff. The sign you have there is how you acted through all of this.

4th house [10 to 13 years old/puberty]: This is when you start grounding yourself and knowing where you come from, who your real family is, the foundations of your soul's intentions (life path), and where you feel secure.

This, I would say, is the basis or core of a person and who they eventually become at their peak or in the public eye. So if they grow up in a home that isn't too stable, they grow to oppose that to become more stable in order to bring balance [because 10th house is the 'aftermath' that's opposing of the 4th house]. So the sign you have in this stage is the sign you live out as [e.g, Sagittarius 4th house had a more free-spirited way of living in their pre-teen age].

5th house - [14 to 18 years old]: Now this is where a lot of us begin our adolescence age, and this is because the 5th house comes with this 'being a teenager' energy. 5th house is about creativity, hobbies, exploring, romance and love affairs, self-expression, and drama. A whole lot of drama. We dramatize the things we go through, our bodies and its changes, things that happen at school and at home, and sometimes the 'situationships' we're in. Everything's just such a story. And that is 5th house energy in act. The sign you have in 5th house is how you'd find yourself going about all of these things.

6th house - [19 to 24 years old]: At this stage, you've seen the world from your perspective and played around with your interests & hobbies, so you come to a point of either wanting to capitalize/profit from those hobbies or talents, or settle on simply trying to make money to become stable because now 'you're an adult'. So with that, you're more focused on working, routines, productivity, and self-improvement. For some, body changes also occur here because the 6th house is also about health and body.

Now the sign you have in your 6th house is most likely how you'll make that money or what your career will be like. For example, a person with Gemini in 6th could pass off as a Youtuber, Instagram Influencer, perhaps a Tiktok star, or anything in a field of communicating to people and spreading ideas or trends in a cool way.

7th house - [24 to 27 years old]: After developing yourself, your career, and your financial health, you then find yourself wanting to settle down romantically and start creating a home. So here come relationships becoming more serious, sharing stuff (your ideas & values going forth, your assets, and your whole life) with someone, and basically getting the real feel of marriage or long-term pairing. But the 7th house doesn't only rule love, it also rules partnerships, contracts, and alliances. So how you are one-on-one with people and merging with them is your 7th house influence at play. The sign in your 7th house is how you present yourself through all of this.

8th house - [27 to 30 years old]: The 8th house is a pretty complicated house, but nonetheless it's very good for growth [through changes]. At this age, many experience events that bring depth or deeply felt peak experiences. It's as if it's this rebirth of some kind where you rediscover yourself. From another standpoint, this is where there's more depth in a relationship/marriage, joint ventures or goals coming together, inheriting some money or assets, and also perhaps feeling really sexually liberated or just simply getting to the point of procreation (and this why most people have or picture having kids at this age). From any of these standpoints, the sign you have in the 8th house is what comes out the most as your energy.

9th house - [31 to 35 years old]: This is the age of you finding the true meaning of life and what your beliefs and values are contrary to what you've been taught, but really establishing your own and sharing them with your significant other or/and children.

This is when you're most philosophical, and have a bit of time for journeys, travel, expanding your knowledge, your taste/style, your beliefs, etc. This is why when you look at a lot of people at this age, they're a bit more settled down on who they've become and there's more of a visibility of what their life is about. The sign you have here manifests as the vibe you give out. For example, a Cancer 9th house more or less has nurturing and maternal energy at this age. They have this motherly or homey vibe towards their expanded mental state in a way where they feel like they have a lot to teach and it comes from a compassionate perspective.

10th house - [35 to 42 years old]: Once you're at this age stage, you're pretty much at the peak of your life because this is when all that you are, where you come from (your roots and home), who you've established yourself as and everything you've worked for reaches its final stage and becomes the real end phase of who you are. Anyone who starts knowing you at this stage can navigate the type of person you are (from your past) and not have a reason to think you'll still change into new characters. There's nothing much to come up with after this as you're practically done creating yourself. All you do now is mainly enjoy the fruits of your labour whilst simultaneously working on the career you been building, and also maintain the public image you've established. Your authority, your power, and your achievements are at their peak here. So the sign you have here is how you show all of this.

11th house - [42 to 50 years old]: This is when you're growing old and out of your peak. You're still a valuable part of the world and play a good role in people's lives, but you're basically leaving that zone of only focusing on yourself and you instead focus more on helping the community or leaving a legacy. The 11th house is about humanitarianism, social/global awareness, the community, social groups, end goals, and the future as a whole. So as you're more focused on these things because you're at the age where there's nothing much else to do but help out and be a great member of society for your final years. The sign you have here though can determine how you act out in all these instances. Cause if you have a Sagittarius 11th house for example, then you could be quite youthful and lowkey a rebel against societal norms. So in you helping out the community, you let people to see this vision that's a different version of norms. Like normalizing stretch marks or bringing a new genre or idea of music or wearing clothes that are weird at first but end up being quirky and cool.

12th house - [50 years old to death]: And at this final age stage of life, you're about to transcend out of your body and purely to your soul, so your soul innately/naturally starts feeling connected to its end stage where it's about to retreat from the world. This could be through last acts of service to humanity, deep connections with spirituality, healing, contentment, confinement, self-reflection, understanding karma, and dreaming. These all occur the most once you get to this age. Depending on the sign you have in this sign, you could experience a deep or light transcendence when you get to this age stage.

BUT - huge disclaimer:

The ages vary according to the maturity of a person's life. So for example, for one person, Cancer is in their 6H but they only start developing into their Cancer age stage at 21. At 19 or 20 they still present their Gemini age stage, because everyone differs, including the maturity of their age stages. So they feel more Cancer at an older age.

So... it depends on your life.

But this is most of the route or path of life many people go through.

Also, I'm starting to believe and see that wherever Cancer is in your house is where you feel pretty maternal/paternal, or you're just really loving and caring towards the people around you.

And wherever Leo is in your houses is most likely your shining point or prime of your life; things work out for the best for you at that Age Stage.

For example, Beyonce has her 10th house in Cancer and right now she's pretty much experiencing her 10th house age stage cause we can see how she's pretty maternal and motherly. Cancer is also pretty emotional so we've seen that after the whole cheating saga, she released all her emotions through an entire album. And Angelina Jolie has Cancer in her 1st house, and like I said 'the sign you have in 1H is the sign you act as in your approach to life from the beginning to the end', we can see how she's always felt pretty maternal, so that's why she's grown to have a lot of children (by even adopting some).

Another example, Rihanna having Leo in her 5th house, that's when she was practically discovered (16). And Kim K, she has Leo in her 9th house and that was when she was at the peak of her fame, from 2013 onwards, when she was beginning her 30's. And Ariana Grande has Leo in her 8th house, which I'd say is the age stage she's in currently, considering how she's the female pop singer that's topping charts the most lately.

So, conclusively, this is why I'd really think Age Stage in the houses is a thing.

And if you are trying to understand why your life is going hella sad and boring for the past 4 or 5 years, try and look at the sign in which your Age Stage is at in the houses. Cause it could be Pisces, Scorpio, or Capricorn. [Their rulers] Saturn, Pluto and Neptune can bring tense and deep energy that can make life pretty hectic. But, there are also profection years, so you can look at those too.

[katyatalks]

Mob Psycho 100: The Stage Play 3 - Final performance content spoilers

Here are all the notes I compiled after getting the chance to see the final performance for ‘Mob Psycho 100: The Stage Play - A Clash with Claw’s Seventh Division!’ live. Note this is essentially a write-up of the play from beginning to end - this will also likely be the version of the play that is used for the DVD release in December. I will also edit this when the recording becomes available for viewing and I can gain some clarity on sections I missed...

PRE-SHOW

- Reigen and Mob do a pre-show announcement relating to covid prevention measures (referred to not by name as Covid but an evil spirit) plus standard theatre etiquette rules (don’t use your phone, put it on silent, etc.)

SHOW

- Begins where stage 2 left off as a ‘Previously…’ segment for the audience. We once again witness Koyama knocking Mob out with the spray and kidnapping Ritsu.

- In the Teru/Dimple/Mob discussion part of the stage 2 recap, Teru takes the bird’s nest off his head and throws it off stage - we hear the birds within fly away.

- ((We immediately see how the reduced audience affects the play - a funny physical gag where Teru and Dimple bash heads happens but this receives no response from the audience))

- We reach the end of stage 2 recap with Mob stating he’ll destroy Claw as he does at the end of stage 2. The screen goes black and we hear the echo of a voice saying ‘Give [it] back… give [it] back, [It’s] mine, give [it] back…’ - this is implied to be Mob talking about Ritsu but the lights turn on to reveal S&S and turns out it’s Shou talking to Reigen about Touichirou’s card

- Reigen gives the card back to Shou, calls him a ‘baggy-clothed asshole’ and tells him to leave since Reigen is busy. Reigen puts his feet up on his desk and goes on his phone, leading to;

S: “What are you doing?”

R: “Reading the news.”

S: “You’re not busy, you’re bored!”

- Shou mentions that he’s also got 10k yen missing from his wallet and accuses Reigen of stealing it - Reigen insists he didn’t but starts doubting himself

- When Shou leaves, Reigen salt splashes in his direction (An English translation is now given under each of Reigen’s special moves ala Olympic parody)

-Reigen calls Mob, leading back to the Mob/Dimple/Teru scene - Terada and his cronies enter and Mob tells Reigen he can’t talk right now, hang up which leads to…

***

OPENING

- Yoru no Honki Dance - Call Out (as the previous two plays)

- Action takes place on the upper and lower stage - Ritsu and the lab kids on the lower stage with Ritsu in anguish with Mob, Teru, Dimple on the top stage

- Action shot with the show’s “Yeah!” line focuses on Reigen and Mob on the top level

***

- Teru tortures Terada with a taser rather than water - Terada is also wearing a ballgag with multiple kazoos inside it leading to a great sound whenever he screams

- Mob and Dimple are terrified of Teru’s taser torture whenever he does it

- Matsuo’s performance is sensual and slimy - great stage presence

- Ishiguro’s voice is distorted using a pitch filter resulting in something creepy rather than the female voice used in the anime

- Ritsu and the lab kids are seen in the jail cell - great banter with them and their Claw guard (Guard to Rei: “I won’t hit you because you’re a girl!” Kids: “A gentleman!”). Guard tells them they won’t get any food and they start rioting

- Mutou is VERY creepy and accompanied by terrifying music - he skulks around the stage with his ridiculous silicone chin

- When Mutou “kills” Kaito off screen we get a ridiculous extended segment featuring Daichi reacting to what is initially cries of his brother’s pain that turn into pleasure as if he is getting a massage - then turns back into pain

- Kaito is wheeled back on in a luggage/weight carrier with 4 knives in his chest

- Teru vs Terada is visually very fun - movement choreography is great, lots of Teru’s dance techniques that got cut from the anime

- Back in the jail scene Ritsu states he doesn’t remember the kids names so they re-introduce themselves to the audience

- Asahi and Hoshino heating up the spoon/bending spoon/on repeat is very well performed

- Ritsu tries to high-five with with one of the other kids when they escape the jail but finds he has no-one to do it with :(

- Back to Dimple/Mob/Teru - when Dimple-chan(puppet) says “Oh who’s that good looking guy? A model?”, Nadagi pulls a whole bunch of model poses

- When Teru tries to knock the security guard out he screams for AGES leading to one of the funniest moments in the play - he finally is knocked out but when Dimple tries to possess him he takes ages to be possessed - Taa (Teru) breaks character completely and doubles over laughing and Itou (Mob) refuses to face the audience making it clear he is losing it as well

- Muraki is creepy looking but his cloak is see-through and sparkly - his actor plays him as quite a timid guy

- Great visual gag with Mob throwing Koyama around and then sending him through the stage wall

- Ishiguro has a moment where he talks to the audience/the new recruits where he shows off the Claw face mask available as part of the merch

- Great fight choreography between SG!Dimple and Gen (played by Baba) - ends with SG!Dimple pulling his trousers down

- Teru tasing people left and right in this play…

- Great stage effects in Teru vs Miyagawa - Teru tases Miyagawa as well

- Tsuchiya calming down Mukai is lovely - followed by Mukai finding a puppet that she believes hasn’t been destroyed by Mob and getting excited - but the head rolls off so she breaks down crying again

- ((My stream cut here so I didn’t see the start of the Ritsu vs Shou interaction and whether or not he recognised Shou from their interaction in stage 2))

- We see a little Shou vs Ritsu - Ritsu flings an array of spoons at Shou - Shou lands a punch that sends Ritsu off stage

- Character design for Takeuchi has been corrected slightly from the anime

- Matsuo vs SG!Dimple stage effects are great. They’re both very flashy actors which creates fantastic visual comedy

- Matsuo takes off his jacket like he’s at a strip club - it’s all very flamboyant and fun

- ((Stream cut again so I didn’t actually see the joke, but some kind of adlib happens with Reigen in the taxi scene that causes Baba to break character))

- When Mob uses his powers to blow Takeuchi away someone comes on stage with a leafblower to blow his hair away

- Screen goes black and we cut back to Shou delivering the final blow on Ritsu. Shou says someone interesting is coming and leaves stage for Mob’s entrance

- Mob finds Ritsu passed out and holds him, finds he’s breathing but won’t forgive who did this to him

- Mutou enters and stalks around the back and creates the image of Ritsu dead on the floor with a knife in his chest for Mob which causes his freak out

- “What a great pair of brothers” - Shou leaning over Mob and Ritsu’s passed out bodies

- Shou floats Mob and Ritsu into the room with Sakurai/Teru/Ishiguro

- Small cut away to Reigen - he sees 500 yen on the ground and immediately runs to go pick it up

- Mob and Ritsu’s hug is very emotional - Ritsu is more panicked asking Mob if he’s okay and Mob is more emotional responding than the anime

- Mob pats Ritsu’s head to calm him down

- Visual gag where Shou steps on Ishiguro’s shoe - Ishiguro freaks out trying to clean it and Muraki offers emotional support

- Guy walks into the room with Sakurai/Muraki/Ishiguro/Matsuo/Shou and informs them “The boss is coming”, which piques Shou’s interest and he comes along to meet “the boss”

- Play then gives us a “5 minutes earlier” scene. Baba’s performance in the Claw break-in is more on the eccentric/aggressive side than the calmer calculating tone Sakurai had - changes the atmosphere for the scene

- The whole scene with Reigen saving the lab kids is redone to be so eccentric with everyone chanting BOSS! BOSS! BOSS! at the end for Reigen

- When Reigen starts making a comment about Teru’s wig and cuts himself off to not offend him, he goes to Mob like “wtf” and Mob whispers in his ear what happened

- Shou included in the scene when Ishiguro etc. face off against Reigen

- ((ARGH my stream cut out again, when it came back Shou had moved over to Reigen’s side - probably some good dialogue there between them that I missed))

- Shou says to Reigen ‘Give me back my 10,000 yen’ - Shou decides to stand back to watch the show

- When Ishiguro attacks, Mob protects Shou as well as everyone else

- We have Shou/Teru/Mob/Ritsu/Reigen all on one side vs the Claw guys on the other (Ishiguro/Sakurai/Muraki/Matsuo)

- When Reigen does his Anti-Esper Drop Kick, they choose to translate this in English as “Dropkick to the espers”

- Shou: ‘You’re really taking [Muraki] on? lol’ Reigen: ‘Shut UP you brat’

- When Sakurai attacks Reigen (first time), Ritsu helps him up

- Lots of good banter between Shou and Reigen (”Stop calling me ‘old guy!’”)

- Shou sits to the side and enjoys the show while Sakurai/Muraki/Ishiguro/Matuso vs Reigen/Mob/Ritsu/Teru happens, makes some comments (ie. “Damn you’re in a pinch, whatcha gonna do now?”)

- When Reigen is getting sucked up by the anti gravity bubble, Shou helps Teru/Mob/Ritsu out with saving him

- Sakurai cutting off Teru’s wig is made into such a Dramatic moment

- Shou joins the fight against Ishiguro - Ishiguro manages to knock him out of the field and Reigen expresses concern (‘Oh crap! Kid are you okay!’)

- Lots of stage theatrics - now that Shou is no longer in play scene plays out as it does in the anime

- Lots of Reigen protecting Mob and leading him away from danger until the climactic moment where Mob decides to fight

- Mob’s scream of ‘Shishou!!!’ is filled with emotion - Reigen collapses quickly and without theatrics, facing the audience

- He doesn’t get a cut in his jacket, nor does he remove it

- When Reigen destroys Matsuo’s pet - ‘Oh Jesus I’m sorry I didn’t mean to destroy your toy’

- More protective Reigen - puts his arm out to protect Teru and Ritsu & get them behind him

- Reigen’s “Purifying Salt Punch” -> English given as Prime Salt Punch

- ‘It’s rude to wear a mask when talking to people!’ - here his mask doesn’t come off - unsure if intentional

- ((The bento story is REALLY well performed comedically but doesn’t land with attending audience))

- Sakurai shoots Reigen and Reigen catches the bullet

- Reigen uses the spray to spray his armpits

- Reigen at Muraki’s forehead “what is this? A doorbell? Ding dong ding dong”

- Lab kids start making fun of Muraki as well (Rei: What is that, cosplay?)

- Rei has a crush on Reigen in the same vein as her crush on Ritsu - Calls him cool and stuff and tries to reach for him

- Mob: ‘Having powers doesn’t make you popular’ Rei: ‘Lame.’ Reigen: ‘Well there you have it.’

- Shou comes back in centre stage and knocks Ishiguro out - goes to Reigen and says it’s time to repay the debt he owes Reigen - knocks Ishiguro out fully as per anime/manga

- As Shou leaves he pats Ritsu on the shoulder

- When Reigen says ‘is this an evil spirit?’ He hold his nose as if Dimple stinks, then grabs his head and shakes him around. Gets some salt from his pocket and throws it at Dimple

- Rei goes up to Sakurai and asks to date him

- Shou goes on the phone on stage top level and calls Touichirou as per manga/anime lines

FINAL SCENE

- Shou returns to S&S - as it turns out Reigen had the 10k stuck in his pocket the whole time and returns it to Shou

- Mob and Ritsu (with a bag) enter S&S while Shou is still there but leaving - Mob thanks Shou for helping them and asks Ritsu to do the same - Ritsu complies

- Shou looks back at Reigen, then toward Ritsu and Mob and tells them all they’ll meet again

- Mob and Ritsu share a heartfelt moment - “Ritsu, you’re amazing” - “No you’re the amazing one Nii-san”

- Ritsu gets out Takoyaki for Reigen/Mob/Ritsu to enjoy and Dimple joins them

ENDING SONG - ‘mob.’

https://katyatalks.tumblr.com/post/659597484715278336/mob-ed-for-mp100-stage-3-a-clash-with-claws

- Itou’s voice is STUNNING

CAST COMMENTS

- Kawaharada Takuya (Teru) addresses the fact that he’s the person who laughed the most out of everyone

- Nadagi says he wants to do a stage 4 and that’s the general vibe with everyone  and it’ll be nice if the anime gets a S3 too

- Lots of talk about stage 4 and it only being possible if everyone comes together

- Itou: ‘Us being able to do this again out of the blue so suddenly is thanks to all of you’

ENCORE

- Itou and Baba

- Lots of crying from Itou relating to covid and how it has cut the audience - he is grateful but he’s still upset about it - Baba gives him a huge hug

[alitaimagines]

request: “I’m in a A/B/O mood so here is a blurb for my fuckin red head son kirishima. also, happy birthday to baku bitch.”

character: alpha kirishima ejirou x omega reader  

fandom: boku no hero academia / my hero academia 

song recommendations: i’m bad - LL cool J , surrender - natalie taylor 

you weren’t like a regular Omega. you did want an Alpha to protect you but in comparison to other Omega’s in your class, you weren’t exactly like them. to the blind eye, you came off as a Beta but once an Alpha or a Beta came near you, they could smell the Omega radiating. 

class 1-A was built on competing with each other and Omega’s had to work harder to prove themselves against the Alpha’s. while you did have a few friends, you mostly kept to yourself. you would work out on your own, usually eat lunch by yourself, and unless you had to do partner work, you stayed to yourself. 

it was early Saturday morning when you got up for your morning workout. you were one of the scarce few who woke up so early in the morning to train. the ones who usually joined you was Kirishima and Midoriya. they would just give you a wave and a small smile before going to workout on their own. 

you had “I’m Bad” by LL Cool J playing through your headphones as you set your things down on the bench. grabbing your running shoes, you tied them and made your way to the treadmill. you made it a deal to yourself to run at least a few miles before going to the punching bag to work on your arms. 

the workout room was empty which felt odd. Mirdoriya or Kirishima would be in the room by now but as you left the treadmill and went to your bag to chug down some water, you noticed Kirishima walking in. 

you chugged down most of the water before turning around seeing Kirishima at the station you wanted. Kirishima seen you frown a bit before giving you a smile. 

“I can help you train if you’d like.” 

Kirishima gave you another smile before you agreed. you could hear his music playing through the small speaker he usually used to workout with. Kirishima wrapped your hands as you wiggled your fingers to make sure you could still feel the circulation of blood flowing. 

you quickly stretched your arms as Kirishima held the punching bag. after stretching, you gave Kirishima a look as he nodded in approval. cracking your fingers, you went in for the first punch which caught Kirishima off guard. 

“woah, you’re stronger than I anticipated.” 

you gave Kirishima a smirk as you went in for another few punches. the punches soon turned to kicks and Kirishima yelling at you to push yourself to the limit. you felt yourself heaving as you went in for another twelve kicks and a dozen punches. 

once you and Kirishima realized that you had hit your limit, he let go of the punching bag as you fell to the floor dramatically. Kirishima couldn’t help but laugh as he handed you the spare water bottle he had. 

“it was supposed to be for bakubro but he ditched last minute to catch more sleep,” Kirishima explained as you nodded. 

Kirishima was one of the many students who had a small crush on you. a lot of 1-A liked you because you were a single Omega but a few of them liked you because of how you tried to hold yourself up to the status of Alpha. the way you acted, your personality, everything about you screamed Alpha and some of them liked that.

“why, he didn’t get enough sleep after spending his day bugging Midoriya?” Kirishima laughed as the two of you went to the fixed barbells section, “you could say that or you could just say he wasn’t in the mood,” Kirishima said. 

the two of you grabbed the barbells as you put the weights on each end, “he’s never in a good mood. what else is new?” you joked as Kirishima agreed, “I guess you could say we’re the best in the class now,” Kirishima whispered. 

you gave him a look before he offered to spot you while you lifted, “I think we’ve always been the best, people just haven’t realized that,” you mentioned. Kirishima felt a small blush cross his face as he noticed that the weight might’ve been too much for you, “do you want me to take off a weight?” he asked worriedly. 

you shook your head no, “I’m working on towards a new weight, I need this, regardless if it hurts or not,” you managed to say through your clenched teeth. Kirishima gave you another worried look as he watched your arms wobble. 

once you asked Kirishima to help you put the weight on the stand, your arms immediately flopped to your side, “oh god, they feel like jelly,” you said as Kirishima grabbed your arms and massaged them. 

“that’s what happened to me when I tried to up the weights a few weeks ago, my arms felt like they were going to fall,” Kirishima said as you tried to shake your arms back to their natural form, “yeah, maybe I should’ve taken your advice,” you laughed as you watched how your hands shook profusely. 

“we can cool off by running a few laps outside if you’d like?” Kirishima asked. you nodded as you packed your things inside your bag and followed Kirishima to the outdoor track field, “it looks like it may might rain,” you told Kirishima as the two of you looked up at the grey clouds forming. 

the two of you wondered if it was even worth it to start running, “well, we can run and if rains, we can book it back inside?” Kirishima offered. 

you nodded as the two of you started off jogging on the track, “how come I’ve never seen you train with anyone before?” Kirishima asked you. you shrugged, “I don’t know. a lot of people find me to be a bitch or want me because I’m an Omega so I don’t like putting myself out there,” you confessed. 

Kirishima shook his understandingly, “I don’t think anyone finds you in the class to be a bitch. we just think you’re like Bakugou. you take your training seriously, that’s all,” Kirishima said. 

you sighed, “I don’t know if being compared to Bakugou is a good thing or not,” you laughed at Kirishima. he put his arms up in panic, “it’s a good thing! you’re gonna be a great hero one day!” Kirishima exclaimed. 

the Omega inside you was doing flips. you had never felt that way towards an Alpha before. but now that you were talking so openly with Kirishima, you felt yourself getting nervous at the thought of possibly getting close with him. 

Kirishima could tell the energy around you changed. you were no longer so standoffish and your scent was a lot more welcoming. it was like your Omega was getting comfortable around Kirishima’s Alpha energy. 

“you think so?” you asked Kirishima. he nodded his head rapidly, “of course. you’re going to be one of the greatest heroes to come out of our class and U.A.” Kirishima confessed.

you felt a warm feeling crawl up your face as you noticed a few of your classmates walking from the school building with arm fulls of food for breakfast. 

“hey, since when did Kirishima and ( your name ) get so close?” Uraraka asked Midoriya as she watched you talk with Kirishima so comfortably, “I don’t know,” Midoriya inquired, “I know he’s has a small crush on her for a while so maybe he’s making his move?” Sero mentioned. 

Uraraka smiled at you, “good for her. I know she’s a little rough around the edges but they seem great together.” 

the three of them shrugged before continuing their walk to the dorms. just as you and Kirishima went to start sprinting, the rain came down in a crash. it wasn’t even a drizzle, it felt like the middle of the thunderstorm. 

“SHIT, KIRISHIMA!” you screamed as he laughed. 

he grabbed your hand and ran to the entrance of the workout building. the two of you were in fits of laughs as you realized how soaked both of your clothes were.

“my room is closer, we can dry off there!” Kirishima screamed as he grabbed your hand again, “prepare yourself!” he screamed before the two of you ran back out into the rain again. 

Kirishima entered through the side entrances to avoid the amount of questions he expected you to get if the two of you had walked in through the regular entrance. 

once you made it to his room, he went into his bathroom and took out a few towels to let you dry off, “I have a few after workout snacks we can eat to cool down,” Kirishima said as he took out a box from underneath his bed. 

you looked over his shoulder to see the copious amounts of prepackaged granola bars and breakfast sandwiches. 

“I also have a few things in the small fridge!” Kirishima exclaimed as he told you to grab a few drinks, “we can watch whatever you’d like while we eat.” 

you nodded as the two of you set out all of the things on the floor. you were surprised that you were so willing to just sit and watch TV with him. knowing yourself, you would usually find an excuse to leave but for some reason, you didn’t feel the sense of panic or anxiety. 

“oh my god, this is amazing,” you said through a mouthful of sandwich. Kirishima chuckled as he wiped off the mayo that was on your cheek, “my mom sends me these sandwiches every week, she knows they’re my favorite post workout food,” Kirishima confessed. 

the two of you continued to watch TV in comfortable silence as the two of you decided to just watch random Saturday morning cartoons. it wasn’t until Kirishima was about to get up and pick up all the food to throw away that he felt a weight on his shoulder. 

looking down, Kirishima realized you had fallen asleep on him. the food could be picked up later. Kirishima grabbed his blanket on his bed and covered the both of you as he felt you shiver from the cold of your moist clothes. 

no matter how hard you tried to push the Omega aside, right now, you were at your most vulnerable. you had your head tucked into his neck as you purred in your sleep. without realizing, Kirishima was scenting you as he held you against him. 

even if you weren’t the typical Omega, he still felt the sense of protection towards you. his Alpha instincts were now on high alert, as if he was expecting someone to come in and steal you away. 

no matter how you presented yourself, Kirishima wanted to protect you. although he had yet to confess his feelings to you, he knew he would have too eventually. Kirishima didn’t want to lose you, especially to someone in the class. now it was just a matter of when and how he would confess his feelings for you. 

ALITA 

[youremyonlyhope]

Starship Rewatch

10 years ago today (well, yesterday since I’m posting it a day later), 15 year old Hope curled up on her couch to watch a new StarKid show called Starship right as it dropped. This was the first time I got to watch a show when it was posted since I didn’t become a StarKid fan until a months earlier. I was so excited.

And now, I’m rewatching Starship for the first time in full in at least 5 years I think. I listened to the soundtrack twice earlier today, singing along at my desk at work (thank god no one else was here tonight to judge me). I still know so many of the lyrics. And so many little jokes and stuff were flooding back. Starship was my favorite StarKid show for a long time, so I’m so excited to watch this again to see if it’s still my fave.

This post ended up being really long, so you’ve been warned. But it also includes pictures of the crocheted Roach and Bugette plushies that I made as a teen.

OH. THE OLD LOGO. AHHH. I already have so many feels. The future is now! I can’t handle this. The nostalgia! The Galactic League of Extraterrestrial Exploration. My facebook account to this day says I am a Starship Ranger at the G.L.E.E. because I’ve never bothered to change it. Also, shoutout to anyone from the StarKidPotter FB and EFST days if you’re reading this. AHHH IT’S CHRIS AND ERIC. Ok I might have to pause 20 thousand times during this Starship Ranger ad to acknowledge all the StarKid cameos. Tyler! “We come to conquer... in peace!” Tyler I love you. Brian and Richard! I forgot they painted Richard BLUE. Britney and Ariel! Nicholas Joseph Stauss-Matathia! I see that StarKid’s website has shortened his name to just Nicholas Strauss but remember the days when we’d purposefully say his full name? Anyway, I literally just screamed “NICK” when I saw him because he was always one of my faves. The Old Snatch was and still is iconic. Devin and Lily! The Wizard God himself, AJ Holmes. God... remember those AJ Holmes appreciation days where we’d make Chuck Norris-like memes about AJ? So much is rushing back from the depths of my mind oh my god... It’s been so long yet it feels like yesterday... “Someone really *static* F- *static* -ucked up big time” Love it.

2 minutes and 22 seconds in. I’ve written so much. I had to pause before Joey started singing to take a moment. I love this show so much. I love these goofballs so much. And they’re all so young. Most of them are younger than I am now. This is insane.

Ok I have to promise myself not to pause as much now. *Spoiler, I failed*

“I’ll fight off this gamma radiation if it’s the last thing I ever do!... We’re going down! This is the last thing I’ll ever do!” Oh my god. Look at baby Joey. He hasn’t even graduated from college yet. And that Bug puppet! Someone remind me to dig up the pictures of my crocheted plushies of Starship puppets since I made Roach and Bugette and gave them to the StarKids at SPACE and Apocalyptour. (I also did Rumbleroar, but the bugs were my own pattern I made so I was more proud) The camera is focused in on Bug instead of Joey’s face. I love it. So much. Brannnttttttt. My god. Am I gonna freak out over every single entrance? Roach pretending to die, he’s the best friend ever. “The needs of the many bugs outweigh the needs of the few bugs.” “Or the one bug, I know.” Oh man, when that line comes back... “Dirt eater” “Exoskeleton polisher” “I wanna build honeycombs” “The bug that ruins your picnic” “A fly on the wall!” That line came back to me earlier today and I died. Remembering that line was like 50% of the reason I listened to the soundtrack today.

Nick Lang! Julia! LAUREN LOPEZ. THERE SHE IS. Lovebugs, I can’t. *Sentimental music* “You could come over to my nest and I could... tear off your head and let my larva devour your body?” How did I forget that line? The way Lauren has to kick Bugette’s larva sack to walk. But the way that it also works so well with the character. I can’t. The Mosquito Brothers!! I forgot they show up so early. “This is our sister, Sweetheart” “...YO.” I CANNOT HANDLE JIM POVOLO. The “zzzz”s like buzzing as backing vocals instead of the usual “ahs” and “oohs.” The things you don’t appreciate until years later. Darren, you genius. That is such a good detail. For a second I couldn’t remember who the Overqueen is played by. 99% sure it’s Jim (It is). Also. Overqueen like ovary... and it looks like a giant vagina. That had to be pointed out to me later. “FLATTERY WILL GET YOU... everywhere.” Why did I forget that line too? “I’m a starship ranger” “Quiet you, you’re drunk” “No I’m drunk!” I remembered that line probably like... 2 minutes earlier when I noticed Joe huddling in the background and realized that line was coming up. The way Joey lets go of the puppet so both he and the puppet walk away with their arms limp... so cute.

Before even pressing play on part 3, I can hear February saying “Let the record show I am super ahead of schedule.” and I’m dying. I forgot about Brian as the escape pod. Denise Donovan! That Star Trek prop. I’m dumb so I can’t remember if it’s a communicator or what. But I know my Uhura Barbie had a mini one that I lost within a month probably. “OxyGen” “Schience” I can’t. “Mission Log... I think I just heard a spooky noise.” How am I forgetting all of these amazing lines? “Pika-pi!” AHHH I JUST SCREAMED. “My stars, I seemed to have landed in a field of these aMiNals!” I can’t. “Can I tell you guys something?” *port de bras and falls gently to the ground* “Hello!” “TOTORO!” I’m dead. The balloon mechanism on the mosquitos! I forgot about that! “HOLY SHIT IT’S A BUUUUGGGGG” Ok something I noticed but didn’t mention earlier. The bug puppet that Joe uses when he says “I had my heart set on nourishment” is the same one red and pink one that Julia used when talking about wanting to be nourishment. When Julia actually gets eaten, she’s using a different bug puppet, the green and pink one, but the same character voice. So, I can’t tell if they intentionally had her play 2 bugs so Joe could be one of them later, or if it was a mistake. I might also just be overthinking things. “ME THINKS IT WENT THAT-A-WAY” I cannot handle Jim Povolo. That scream Joe does as he slimes her. Woah I originally wrote “There seems to be no signs of intelligent lifeforms anywhere” earlier and then deleted it since I don’t know why I found it remarkable. And then looking at the comments of this part I see someone mentioned a Toy Story reference. So that’s why that line stuck out to me. Aww StarKid. There are so many Disney references in this show.

THERE SHE IS. THERE’S MY GIRL TAZ. The pew pew effects how could I forget that!  “Hey Taz. You’re pretty tough for a chick.” “I was just going to say the same thing about you.” “Woahhhhhhhh” JoMo oh my god. “My spectrometer readings are off the wazooooooo” That line kills me. Why am I JUST NOW noticing, 10 years later, that Tootsie enters this scene with his gun facing the wrong way. Oh my god. “I saw the empirical proof that science killed god. It’s comforting to know he was once alive though. I like to think that when he died, he went to heaven.” Oh Tootsie Noodles. “...What the hell kind of name is that?” “He’s got bear hands??” Why do I forget all of these lines??!? That record scratch and freeze frame to go “BOOOOOO” oh my god I forgot that. “Like the other day, he was in the cafeteria, just cah-rying in front of everybody.” BOOOOOOO. Here we go, Taz’s amazing Up monologue. “And when Up, cuts an onion, the ONION is the one who cry.” HELP. Also 99% sure I used that joke for AJ appreciation at least one year. “Now take a walk off my knife” What a line. So awesome. I remember having a profile pic on FB that was the text of that monologue and the image of Lauren screaming “WALK IT OFF” I’m still convinced that first “WOO” from the audience that we hear when Up enters is Darren. “I do not peepee sitting down” “Huh??” JoMo’s face as if he’s trying his hardest not to laugh and I can’t tell if that’s him breaking character or if Krayonder is actually trying not to laugh. “I peepee like big boy, deadgoddamnit. So stop making fun of me because it hurts my feelings” I’m dying. Also, deadgoddamnit is amazing. “if you don’t go out there and die for something, then I will kill you for nothing.” I remembered the mirror scene, just seconds before it started and already started laughing. “You’re not a failure, overall.” “Allow me to introduce you to the final member of your team. MegaGirl!” I forgot how DRAMATIC that was. I also forgot that’s how MegaGirl comes into the story.

I need to stop pausing every 5 seconds oh my god I’ll never finish this tonight if I don’t.

“All hail AstroBoy” That was the funniest line. “MegaGirl, can you kill humans?” “No. But I’d like to.” I can’t handle it. “A horse ate my cousin! Me and horses got a feud.” #1 MegaGirl doing the “I’m watching you” hand sign. I can’t. “Hey. Miráme. *Slaps* NOW ESCHUCHAME” amazing. “Or that time. You taught me calculus... CALCULUS WAS TOUGH.” I never went past pre-calc. Nope. Ah. Get Back Up. One of my fave songs. “And now we dance.” Dylan’s “OW” as they lean back. “Ok Idiotas. Say something nice. Or I will kill you.” It’s all so iconic.

“So you still think being an egg planter is lame?” “...Yes.”  The larva oh my god. I forgot we see one before the end. That’s Jaime playing the larva I think. Life is definitely one of my all-time favorite StarKid songs to this day. I wish it was longer. I love it so much. And I love that its instrumental is scattered as a motif throughout the show. “It’s a short, small thing we lead. With so much potential, pointless or essential, which one can I be?” Wow. Near Pippin levels of giving me an existential crisis. Also wow Joey improved his singing so much between AVPS and Starship. “My name’s Bug” “*Gasp!* Like a bug??” “Uh... no.” “Good. I’m February, like the month, but a person.” I should start saying that honestly. “I’m Hope, like the concept, but a person.” “You boldly go where every man -hey- woman -bark woof- or data dog has ever gone before! Sorry K9DX” Adorable. Joey’s subtle little double nod he makes the Bug puppet do when he’s shocked she thinks he’s a Starship Ranger. Amazing. Ah he said goddamn not deadgoddamn! February should have known right then he wasn’t human! “Take my claw” that too. "The only thing that needs to rest are your jokes, because they are so tired.” “Woahhhhhh” No but like... why don’t I use that line in everyday life... “Now I am slightly less weak.” “Ok. I’m going to shoot this metal bitch!” I’m dying. How did I forget the Taz/MegaGirl rivalry?? “That thing is a R-O-B-O-T man” “Can’t fool me with numbers, Krayonder.” I’m dead. “The stack of hay was my cousin!” #2 The way Meredith says “barometric pressure” is great. And Tootsie saying “Well you must take real good care of it, because I never would have guessed.” He’s such a sweetheart. “Nobody shoot dammit, nobody shoot.” “KILL KILL KILL” I never really liked Hideous Creatures but it’s so cute to see MegaGirl do the choreo robotically. I love that the Gap hasn’t changed. “Cool it skank, you do not know me.” Another line that I forgot until a split second before it was said. I’m so glad whoever edited this added some pews going in the wrong way for Tootsie’s gun. I know I definitely noticed Tootsie’s gun was backwards during this part, but I don’t know if I noticed it was backwards in that very first scene too. I forgot about MegaGirl tossing out Specs. That “MEGAGIRL!!!” scream from Joe though.

“Never in my 6 long days of life.” Underappreciated joke. Also, I think this is the 4th unique upright bug puppet. We got red/pink, green/blue, green/pink, and now red/blue. Also, Nick Lang is a great puppeteer. “Yes, I helped her escape. But I swear, never in a million years, did I think I’d be caught and yelled at for it!”  Oh I forgot Bugette is the witness. Jaime’s angry face behind Joey is killing me. “He didn’t know the humans were evil.” “Oh, they’re not.” “Shut up!” Humoons and hoomans. “And no more singing or dancing” *gasps of horror* “The Overqueen has overspoken.” “Well, that’s not gonna help your chances with Bugette” Oh Roach. “PERHAPS.” Jim destroys me.

God the 4-person Pincer puppet. Amazing. Dylan’s arms being strong enough to be above his head for 10 minutes straight. Amazing. Also, Nick Lang is so emotive as a claw. It took me a sec but yeah JoMo is the tail. “There were? Where are they?” Joey’s face. “Tell me all about her” The claws under the chin I can’t. Hey StarKid, I see you throwing in an ad mid-video before Kick It Up a Notch. You’re lucky I love and support you guys. “Put ‘em together and what have you got?” bibbity boppity boo. More Disney references! This scene is full of them. Man, remember when we were all blown away by Dylan’s voice in this song the first time? Like we could tell he could sing in AVPM/S, but his songs were just so jokey and only his long “Welcooooooooooome” showed us his talent. But then Kick It Up a Notch happened. And we FINALLY appreciated Dylan’s beautiful voice. “I pushed it to the limit.” and “To coin a phrase, be a man.” more Disney. I might be overthinking this and will have to rewatch Life to confirm, but I think the camera zooming out as Pincer reprises Life is just like the camerawork when Bug sang it originally. If so, then wow even when filming their shows StarKid really thinks it all through. (Update: It totally is referencing the original zooms for Life and that’s amazing. Except it’s zooming out instead of in. I LOVE the attention to detail even in filming the show. I’m gonna guess that’s Liam’s doing.) All I can see when I hear Bug’s chorus of this song is Jaime and her SPACE tour dancing, which they incorporated in Apocalyptour as actual choreography. Because they’re goofballs. The kick line. Love it. God. Even though it’s not my favorite song from Starship (just because I love Life and Beauty more), Kick It Up A Notch is one of the best StarKid has ever done. I really has everything. Dylan’s gorgeous voice. Not one but two reprises of earlier songs to throw Bug’s own words back at him. Jim’s bass line. Awesome puppets. Disney references. It’s so amazing. I love how all the comments are either about Dylan’s voice or Dylan’s ability to hold his arms up for a 10+ minute scene or both.

"Gameover man, gameover!” “I feel like cutting open your belly, and filling it with jelly” *Gasps* Oh my god, I put on the captions for a second, and  the caption said *Sad spayed puppy noises* “I am in charge of this mission now.” How did I forget about the mustache until 2 seconds before it happened? “She’s got the mustache now. *Kisses head* I love you” Oh my god Tootsie. I FORGOT ABOUT THE SECOND STACHE. There’s an ad right when we see Bug’s human form and I can’t even care because look at him! Ahhh. And the blue headband! Ahhhhh. Joey you’re so adorableeeee. “Bug? Well that’s a fine name.” His concerned face then the relief. Adorable. “Thank you sir. I am a tough bitch.” “Getting nothing but bug muff?!?” I love the slight delay the audience has before laughing as they realize what was just said. “Bug. You hard, ese. You flame.” I die. “Up there. In Space!” *dramatic pointing* No I totally didn’t just do the dramatic pointing with them... no that’s not in my muscle memory from 10 years ago... why would you think that. I’ll rave about Status Quo after it’s done. “But, what if I miss you?” Awwwwwwwww. And that “Just look up.” screenshot was used for “This.” memes in the fandom for years.

Oh Joey. Status Quo is such a good song too. And he really did improve as a singer to sing it. Earlier this week I remembered that this week is also the 10th anniversary of that time Darren was hopping from city to city every single day to promote the Warblers album. And at one point in that week he did a livestream that I remember rushing home to watch. In that livestream, I am 99% sure he sang Status Quo as a little sneak preview for Starship being released later that week. (Just checked, yep he sang it in a livestream on April 20 2011) God I love this song. Then the version the boys all sang for SPACE Tour was beyond beautiful too. Ahhh I love this musical.

Ok. It’s almost midnight. I started this 3 hours ago. I’m probably not finishing the show until 2am at the rate that I’m pausing and stopping to comment. But OH WELL.

“Dr. Spaceclaw” wow. “Leaving them behind was of little consequence, but a pleasure.” Oh Megagirl. “You did a very good job today too, son.” “*Gasp* Thanks dad.” That Star Wars fake-out though. Speaking of Star Wars, I really need to rewatch Ani now that I’m actively a Star Wars fan unlike last time when I still wasn’t invested in the movies I just watched them. How did I forget about Jaime playing Junior’s new mom?? ...Does Junior get an alien incubating in his chest... is that foreshadowing... I can’t remember. (This was like... half a foreshadow) This scene is funnier now that Breredith is married. The way Junior says “Phew” I’m dead. I remembered how they restrain MegaGirl once again 2 seconds before it happened oh my god. “We deserve bubbles on our skin.” An iconic line. “Well thank the long dead god you made it, Bug!”  The crunching of the handshake, I can’t. Oh someone in the comments pointed out that Bug and February are doing the Tarzan hand thing while Up’s asking Taz to see a movie. Adorable.

Get yourself a man like Tootsie who won’t stand for you talking down about yourself. “Maybe this was all part of God’s plan. He made before he died.” I love the dead god jokes. I remember years ago some kid on facebook was like “The dead god jokes are offensive” and I was like “It’s a sci-fi musical about a bug in a human body but sure worry about god being dead.” but probably in an even more immature answer. I’m just mesmerized by Tootsie and MegaGirl’s verses. God. The first Dylan and Meredith duet. Amazing. And MegaGirl’s confused face is great. “Don’t press that button, or we’ll all be sucked into space.” So... Can anyone tell me what foreshadowing is? Oh shoot... ok wait no I’ll comment on that when we get there. God that is such a cute love song. I wrote barely anything just because I love that song so much. Would love to know where Tootsie’s taking her though.

Oh my god this scene! I forgot about this. How could I forget this. “Well the world always looks a little bit brighter, from on top of a lap.” I had remembered Bug sitting on Up’s lap, but not Specs. This is the part I forgot. Adorable. Ahhhh so cute. The Specs/Krayonder relationship was apparently cut from the filmed version, but was present if you saw it live. These moments are adorable. And I love how this is the second person JoMo’s had to carry in this show since he also carried Denise earlier. “Why if it isn’t Bug, my oldest friend.” and “Don’t say that, my dear.” are adorable. Oh wait. Up sat on Bug’s lap. Not the other way around. Ok. I didn’t remember this scene as well as I thought I did. I’m dying. I didn’t want to write anything during this, but oh my god “That son of a bitch Optimus Prime” I forgot that. I love the audience’s reaction to “The entire right side of my body, it’s a robot” because they all gasp, and then laugh at themselves for gasping. I knew there was something he couldn’t do without crying. I didn’t remember it being “Sir I Wanna Buy These Shoes” Christmas Song. It’s ok Up, I haven’t listened to that song in full in years. I can’t handle it. But Christmas songs in general make me cry too. Oh Up said goddamn instead of deadgoddamn too. Hmm... Aww the mother spider story. “I think the old you was just killing out of hate.” “Oh I was.” I’m dying. Awwww the nose kiss. I definitely remembered that. “Deadgodspeed soldier!” The way Joey misses catching the keys and also Darren’s “Woo!” in the audience again. So great. That 12 minute scene is just adorable and the Up story is so dramatic and hilarious.

Hmm finishing before 2am might be ambitious... “Hahaha. Then I’ll shoot him!” “Taking care of my business down on the planet is that cool with you?” Brian’s delivery of that line has always intrigued me. “How much I care about my MegaGirl unit’s survival is also a percent equivalent to zero” Rude. “You are nothing like my boyfriend, Tootsie Noodles.” “Yes, well - wait WHAAA” This scene is so different now that they’re married. “Ha. Ha. It was cute.” “You’re... a toaster.” *Slaps* Ok 1) I used to use that insult all the time and only half ironically. I was a strange teenager. 2) She just hurt a human... isn’t that against programming, or can she just not kill humans? Evil angry Brolden is something we need more of. I love Brian as a villain. More please. “You stupid goddamn robot” So I guess they say goddamn and deadgoddamnit. I’m overthinking the evolution of language in this universe. Also Brian’s screams while being choked are amazing. I’ve never forgotten those, if anything they’re better now.

AHHHH I REFRESHED AND DELETED ALL OF MY STUFF FOR BEAUTY. Kill me. I’m so mad. Let me try to recreate it but I hate myself. I was saving this draft after every part but OF COURSE I don’t save after my favorite song and then refresh.

Oh poor Meredith. Her white wig doesn’t let her blend in as much when she’s in the hoodies playing a bug. “Oh hey Bugette, we’re just trying to get Bug laid!” That bug had to know about Bugette’s crush though? That’s just cruel. “The ending is killer” ruuuuuuddddddddddeee. I know I had at least one more point, but that’s lost to the ether. Beauty is probably my fave, if not tied with Life. When I was listening to it earlier, I was overcome with emotion because it’s just such a joyful song. These days I cry over happy stuff almost as much as I cry over the sad. And these lines just hit so hard... I love it. I love this song so much and this scene so much. “Bug. She excreted her filth for you. WE DID IT!!!!!!!!” Brant Cox is so good. It really is a shame he’s not in anything else besides AVPSY and the 10th Anniversary with everyone else. “I do accept you for who you really are. A genius.” Well February, you’ll be glad to know that you thought of that, so you’re the genius. Wow. Junior’s 25, Brian was 25, and now I’m 25. This really was perfect timing for the 10th anniversary. Also I do not feel 25. “Suck off!” amazing.

I’M SAVING THIS TIME.

Ok next part. Luckily I was only 1 minute into the next part when I refreshed. Still so mad at myself... “Someone really firetrucked up big time” (Dead)God I love that line. I also used firetruck unironically. Once again, I was a strange teenager and I didn’t like cursing and I still don’t. “This is so weird, I’m so used to the scrambly version.” (It was while writing this line the first time that I refreshed and lost Beauty....) Ok as I watch AJ, it’s hitting me that he almost definitely came to the set during rehearsals and filmed his part since it’s not a green screen like the rest of them. “The hunters have become the hunted, and it’s wabbit season.” “That was a good video, until the end when it got sad.” Thanks Bug. “I think, I just had a think” See February’s smart. “I’m in a weird situation” Love that line. “Bug is a BUG!? I DON’T BELIEVE IT” Oh Junior. Dylan’s insulted face at “I am not... a dumbass.”  So I can’t tell if Brian forgets he’s trapped when he moves his arms into a more relaxed position to lean on the column and then puts them back, or if it’s purposefully staged that way. Brian’s acting while he pretends to be shy and embarrassed about his evil plan is amazing and adorable. Brian has a good evil laugh, why don’t we get him as a villain more often? Also I was gonna make some sort of joke about Nick as Pincer’s left claw vs. Robert as Snarl’s left paw, but I’ll leave it be.

I FORGOT ABOUT THAT WEIGHT TAZ WAS LIFTING JUST FLOATING UP TO THE SKY WHEN SHE LETS GO. I just laughed out loud. “Damn that G.L.E.E. They’re always making twisted abominations of everything!!” I cannot handle it. And the wink. Poor Darren but also not poor Darren at all. I was just now WRACKING my mind for who could possibly be playing Pincer’s tail if JoMo was being devoured by mosquitos. It’s Brant. Literally the entire cast is currently onstage. Ok Krayonder’s been getting his blood drained for 3 minutes, why is he alive? OH I FORGOT KRAYONDER GETS UP AND SHOOTS THE BUGS. Ok and he gets chopped by Pincer’s claws too so HOW does he survive? StarKid answer!!! I forgot how dramatic this musical gets when you got both the bugs and MegaGirl coming after the humans. Aww the Vulcan salute from Specs. “I changed my name. To Tootsie... MegaGirl.” I love the reactions of the people in the audience who immediately realize what that means. I hear at least one “oh my god” that sounds like sobbing. Awwwww Tootsie’s “that’s real” speech and “I’d love you if you was the horse that ate my cousin.” (#3) just... get yourself a man like Tootsie MegaGirl. He is perfection. God the downloading love scene is so cute. I can’t handle it.

The Up saving Taz scene is so dramatic. Then Brian and Jim just calmly walk offstage. It kills me. Also why did Jaime just continue to lie there? “I just needed to learn how to kill with my heart.” Not exactly what Bug meant, but it works. God Taz climbing onto Up’s back is still the most hilarious thing ever. Whoever thought of her climbing that way was a genius. So funny. I always wanted to try it. Holding the gun up to her head like a blowdryer always gave me anxiety. Making the door out of a scrim that can be backlit was genius. Oof and bringing back “The needs of the many bugs outweigh the needs of the few bugs. Or the one bug.” just hurts. Poor Bug. My heart. This is probably the line that sticks with me to this day and I do think about sometimes.

Ok it’s now 2am and I still have 2 more parts.

I sorta love that Joey didn’t have the time to change into his blacks so he’s still in the Starship Ranger suit while playing the Bug puppet. “Save the Overqueen. I love her.” Awww. “Roach, I’m gonna get the job done if it’s the second last thing I do.” Love it. That Kick It Up A Notch Reprise though. Brian, you should play villains more often. Also remember all of us being like “LUPIN CAN SING?!?!?!??!!” “Lucky for me, God is dead. When you see him in hell, tell him Junior sent you.” Deadgod I love that line. This whole deadgod thing was just leading up to that amazing line. Oh no Bugette! Bug saying “maestro” oh my god. “DFSDSJFDSJKFDS... I’m dead.” I forgot that part! Oh my god the way Brian flicks the glasses back down on his face. Ok so I saw Lauren wiggle her way behind the mucus sac, but I didn’t see Nick come onstage. I rewinded, and I guess the zoom in shots on Brian and Joey were timed so we can’t see Nick join Lauren to be the first larva to come out. Oh well. And I love the crowd cheering as Junior dies. “And bingo was his name-o” That callback though. I forgot that the Overqueen eats Bugette’s body while crying. “Or Bugette! Oh...” Also god Roach is adorable.

Last part. 2:21am. Here we go. Krayonder got his blood sucked out by giant mosquitos and was cut up by a giant scorpion, but all he needs is a bandage around his head. Awwww the soft “I Wanna Be” playing the background as Bug begs the team to accept his bug form. Bug being so mad “It’s that bastard Pincer isn’t it?” and then being so happy that Joey does the little nose scrunch thing. So cute. JOEY’S FACE WHEN DENISE KISSES THE BUG PUPPET. Cannot believe I forgot that until 2 seconds before it happened too. “I now pronounce you man vs. machine. Fight!” WOAH. Why in the WORLD did “eep op ork ahah” come back to me. I was able to say it WITH Joey. That was straight from the DEPTHS of my teenage brain oh my god. I forgot about that oh my GOD. THAT’S INSANE. I FORGOT SO MUCH STUFF BUT I REMEMBERED HOW TO SAY “I LOVE YOU” IN BUG.

And the Beauty reprise.

God I love this musical. It’s still my fave StarKid show I think. And I’m horrified to see that it has only 500K views for the last part, so only 500K people have watched it all the way through after 10 years. That’s disgraceful. It’s amazing. Watch Starship.

It is 2:32am. I started at 8:50pm. Got sidetracked when I had to rewatch the Beauty part of Act 2 again to make sure I got my notes back in the post. Took a few bathroom breaks. But this is mostly because I paused every like 10 seconds to make a comment, so it took 5 and a half hours to watch a 3 hour musical. This why I take forever to watch things while liveblogging. I take too long to writing notes.

I’ll probably just post this in the morning. Gotta proofread for mistakes before posting.

Ok it’s the next afternoon. This post is literally 5,000+ words and takes 20 minutes to read according to a online word counter. I’m sorry to whoever read this entire thing. Your reward is the pictures of the Starship plushies I crocheted when I was 15 and 16.

(Ignore the bad lighting and my horribly chipped paint. That’s the only picture I have of the Bugette one since I gave it to Lauren Lopez a day later. I started making another for myself shortly after but never finished. Maybe I should finally finish the second one... hmm...)

[eyepatchdate]

I saw this bouncing around my dash and decided to fill it out myself for fun :)  I decided to not double-list any games, and I tried to mix up the companies I used too so that the list would be more unique.

Long post, so I’m doing a readmore for my longwinded part lol.

(read more)

Favorite Game: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords - I could talk about this game forever.  How it tears apart the Star Wars universe from within, how it creates a compelling story while challenging the usual themes, etc.  I could talk for ages about the characters and how their motivations slot in place, and how this game lends itself to interpretation and analysis alongside roleplay.  It’s just a wonderful game, one I deeply love and will always love.  It’s a game that isn’t afraid to have you talk to other characters for twenty or thirty minutes at a time and honestly I’m always riveted at every line.  This game deserves the cult fanbase it has, but I think there’s a lot the fanbase misses in appreciating this game.  (Note...gameplay is a little janky and a community made mod restores a lot content that was cut before shipping-the game wasn’t properly finished).

Best Story:  Fallout New Vegas - It’s the setting that makes the story here, and all the moving pieces and factions alongside the main conflict really make this game stand out.  There’s so many little pieces to find along the way in the world and the way the main quest splits based on who you want in power feels important--and you are choosing a future for this whole region.

Favorite Art Style: The Witness - This game is peacefully wonderful with its visuals.  There are wonderful nature scenes and nests of wires and panels spreading in various parts of the island that are fascinating to look at.  The environment is half of the gameplay in most areas, so it’s important to look around even though exploration is not really the gameplay.  You find puzzles in the world, even in nature, and it’s fascinating.  The colors are bright and beautiful.  There is even a map in the middle of the island inside of a lake that helps you track your progress if you notice it (it isn’t like a normal ‘map’).

Favorite Soundtrack: Shin Megami Tensei IV - I love video game soundtracks, but SMTIV is something special.  The music booms in ways that make you really understand the atmosphere of the world, and there’s a great mix of different kinds of tracks for different places.  I love the tracks for the other worlds you enter, and the themes of the different routes are done so well.  Some of the music draws from past SMT games, but the remixes done for this game really are stunning to me, and there’s so many fantastic original tracks.

Hardest Game: I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream - I love this game but I literally never touch it without a walkthrough, which is why it gets to be the hardest game on the list, despite being a point and click adventure game lol.  Also just emotionally this game is challenging too, but I definitely mean this more in terms of getting a ‘perfect run’.

Funniest Game: The Stanley Parable - Trying to make this list has taught me that I don’t really play many ‘funny games’.  I don’t know if a game where multiple endings demand that you kill yourself should count as a ‘funniest game’, but it is also a game where the narrator tells you to stare at a fern and memorize its features, so....it counts.

Game I Like that is Hated: RWBY Grimm Eclipse - I’ve been playing this game since it was in early access and have loved it the whole time.  I find the gameplay soothing and fun, and I like playing the different characters.  It’s a game I play to chill out and just enjoy some fun battle mechanics.  It’s a fun game and I’ve spent over 100 hours in it, so I hope I like it, lol.

Game I Hate that is Liked:  Nier Automata - Neither this game’s gameplay or story impress me, and the fact that you have to replay basically the same stuff from a more boring-to-play-character’s pov in order to SEE all of the plot is a huge damper on the experience.  The story, to me, someone who engages with a lot of robot-focused fiction, is far from impressive or new, and it hardly engages with genre specifics at all, let alone in a new or interesting way.  I view this game as ‘a story with robots in it’ rather than ‘a story about robots’, which, to me, is a detriment.

Underrated: Nevermind - This game is amazing and very unheard of--and when it is heard of, it has been marketed incorrectly.  Nevermind seems like a horror game, and does market itself as one a bit, but it’s much more than that.  It’s more about trauma, recovery, therapy, etc.  This is a game that is so mindful about the topics it engages in that I am impressed by it every time.  It’s heavy with symbolism and character, despite lacking conversations or other similar game mechanics.  This is a lovely game that I really wish more people knew about-`p5-all of the patients are so interesting, and the focus on recovery and mental health is impressive.

Overrated:  Fire Emblem - I sort of mean this as the series as a whole really.  I have enjoyed the entries I have played somewhat, but I overall consider the series much less impressive than I was led to believe by others.  The gameplay especially is not impressive to me in any regard, even though I sometimes do find myself enjoying it.  The stories are alright, but many of them are weighed down by the gameplay and as a writer and person who likes to analyze writing, it’s very hard to do so when it isn’t able to fully exist under the chains the gameplay forces on it.  There are ways to mix gameplay and story well, Fire Emblem has not really done that in any of the entries I’ve played.  That being said, I don’t regret playing them, and I will occasionally replay, but I consider them mediocre games at best.

Best Voice Acting: Devil Survivor 2 - I love the voice acting in this game.  I feel like all the characters are really suited to their voices, and it’s really easy for me to visualize their voices.  They really bring the game to life and make both the dramatic and the funny scenes more enjoyable.

Worst Voice Acting: Jedi Knight Jedi Academy - I love this game, I really do, but some of the voice acting is janky.  Some of it is okay too--I think Kyle Katarn’s voice actor does fine, and some of the others I like NOW but hated when I was a kid, but the male protagonist voice in this game is just awful.  Which is bad when Jennifer Hale is the female voice actress lol.  His performance is passable though unless you’re playing darksided--the darksided ending to the game lacks all punch when you’re playing the male protagonist.

Favorite Male:  Battler Ushiromiya from Umineko no Naku Koro Ni - He’s the protagonist for most of the visual novels and I adore him utterly, especially once you move past episode 2.  He’s a wonderful character who I care about deeply.  I love his drive and how he fights--he’s someone who is easy to cheer for.  He matures well throughout the series and his character development is just wonderful.

Favorite Female:  Naoto Shirogane from Persona 4 - I really like how Naoto fits so well in the game, especially for being a final recruit--oftentimes the final recruit of Persona games (post 3) have a bit of a more difficult time feeling right with the group.  Naoto works really well though, and I love her struggles and story as well.  I think the difficulties she has concerning living as a woman in her field hit very deep to a problem that has existed for a very long time.

Favorite Protagonist: Connor of Daventry from King’s Quest 8 Mask of Eternity - I’m like, one of four fans of this character in the world, lol.  KQ8 is not a very well liked game and it does have a lot of issues, both with age and with how much of a departure it is from the series prior to it.  It’s strange to take a puzzle adventure game and make it a hybrid with what basically is a shooter, and it doesn’t really work.  Add to that the fact that you spend most of your time in the game without anyone around to talk to and it leads to this really polarizing and weird experience.  For me, Conner goes through what I would consider to be the ‘Ultimate Nightmare Scenario”.  Everyone in the world is turned to stone except him (and he survived out of mere chance) and so now it’s up to him, practically alone, to save the entire world.  There is no game lonelier than this.  I adore him for his bravery in the face of it, and how he just picks up to do what must be done because someone should do it, and if no one else can, then he will.  I also really love how he apologizes to people who are encased in stone while he takes money from their houses to help him on his journey.  I really do think he went back after the game was over and gave everyone heaps of gold to pay them back with interest lol.

Favorite Village:  Oakvale from Fable - The first Fable is the only one I really like, and it was one of the games I played when I was little, so the hometown in the game always meant a lot to me.  I like how you grow up there and how your tragic backstory is there--and then how you get to return to the town years later after you’ve come into your own, and you can see it completely rebuilt.  I like to spend a lot of my time in this town, just wandering around it and playing the minigames.  Even though I have a house in every town, Oakvale is where my hero calls home.

Most Hated Character:  Merril from Dragon Age 2 - I don’t really want to lay into how I feel about Merril, but what I will say is that it was suggested to me that I totally ignore her when playing, and I did so.  I only met her for her quest, dropped her off in town, and literally never spoke to her or interacted for the rest of the game.  I had a much better experience for it, honestly.  She appeared after I made my choice in the end of the game, which felt weird since I hadn’t spoken to her in several ingame years, but other than that, the game was totally fine without her.  I sort of just wish you could kill characters in DA2 the way you can in DAO, then I’d just do that, tbh.  It doesn’t suit very many (or any) of the characters I rp in DA2 to keep her around or support her in any way.

First Game I Played: Mixed up Mother Goose Deluxe - I’m not actually sure if this is the FIRST game I’ve ever played or not, but it’s one of the first I played alone as a kid.  I really loved it--this is probably what created my love for point and click adventures, and the game was very silly and fun.

Favorite Company: Bioware - I’ve always been a sucker for Bioware games, ever since Knights of the Old Republic 1 was my favorite childhood game.  I love how they do stories and party members, and while I’m not a fan of all of their games, I really love what they’ve made and their style of storytelling and character driven plot.  Even though sometimes their stories get cliche, I think the suit video games well and most of my early gaming was within their games.

Hated Company: EA - Bioware truly only started to go to shit after the EA acquisition, so I fucking hate EA.   I know Bioware had issues before EA too, but I definitely don’t think EA has helped the situation whatsoever.

Depressing Game: The Beginner’s Guide - I relate to this game as a creator and a writer, and it affects me deeply because of the story it tells and the questions it raises.  It makes me reflect on how I think of myself as a creator, and it reminds me of friendships I used to have.

Creepy Game:  The Path - God, I love this game.  It’s just aimlessly wandering around and finding symbolic scenery and watching your current character comment on it.  Then, you go off to find your girl’s wolf, and each one is different and unique to her, and you watch it ‘kill’ her--and facing her wolf is the only way each girl can truly mature.  Whenever you get to grandmother’s house, the camera switches to first person, and your eyes keep closing, so you can only see while clicking to move.  It forces you to keep moving so that you can see, but since you are moving, you only get to see things somewhat vaguely.  It’s got a great atmosphere, and I love the symbolic storytelling.

Happy Game: Eastshade - This game is so sweet.  There’s some drama around to with many of the quests, but I like this as an rpg without combat, and I think this would be a really good kids game.  There’s a lot to see and explore, and the game was made to be really pretty so that you want to paint several aspects of it.  It’s really lovely to just wander around in this game and bike around the area, painting anything that suits your fancy.  As long as you don’t finish the main quest, you’re free to wander, and materials do respawn, so you essentially can infinitely paint once you get far enough.

Favorite Ending: Virtue’s Last Reward - I love the questions this game asks and where the ending goes.  It thematically ties together--the whole reason the game itself exists is to get the attention of a ‘higher being’--the player, essentially.  I love how it plays with that concept, and even though the final game in the series doesn’t entirely pick this idea up where this game left it, standalone this game is stunning in how it comes together.

[pikachu78109]

Idk, I feel like writing something dramatic or maybe something depressing. Some of the topics are not suitable for Wooloo, so if you feel uncomfortable or anything, then by all means skip this headcanon/reader insert/long read post. Anyway, there’s not really a specific theme, but if I had to pick one, it would be abusive relationships. This will be if the Galar characters were being abused and their s/o trying to help them out.

On a side note, I am taking break from writing any requested SWSH headcanons, seeing that my inbox has a lot right now. I’m trying to post as many HC’s as I can, but it will take awhile given that I am busy with upcoming finals in college and other things outside of social media. So, ask for your patience as I am doing all that I can to get more requested SWSH headcanons out and finished. With that said, let’s get onto the post.

Milo

-You didn’t really suspect anything happening much to Milo. I mean, Milo is a very sweet guy who loves to tend to his farm and his flowers. His Pokémon always feel relaxed around him and, so far, nothing really interesting has happened until a few months later. For some reason, you started to notice a few things that you knew deep down wasn’t like Milo. For starters, he wasn’t going outside as much. As a farmer, Milo has always been working outdoors, tending to the fields and the Wooloo alongside with his Eldegoss and Yamper. So, it didn’t sit right with you that Milo wasn’t present during the day time. Regardless, you try to think up a reason as to why he isn’t outside. Maybe he’s been dealing with a lot of Gym Challengers? Perhaps he’s caught a nasty cold? However, over time, these assumptions started to fade out and you clearly tell that something was wrong. Surprisingly, you spotted Milo the other day out in the fields, carrying bales of hay. Strangely, you noticed he had a blank, almost too concentrated look on his face. Which is out of the blue, because Milo always smiles when he works.

Taking an even closer look, you noticed how tight his scarf was tied around his neck, almost too tight that you started to worry. His mannerisms were another that drastically changed. Milo has gotten to be very quiet, almost too afraid to speak when being approached by someone. He wouldn’t even look at them in the eye. It suddenly dawned on you that Milo has been trying his hand at dating, something of which you could remember him saying to you once. Apparently, he met someone who has the same interests as he does and, not too long after, they became a couple. It happened so fast that you started to wonder if Milo might be having relationship trouble with his partner. After all, whenever you see them go on dates, you can tell there was something...off about the person Milo was dating. They wouldn’t pay attention to Milo and would get annoyed pretty quickly over the most trivial things that Milo do. You tried asking Milo if everything is alright, but he would reply by saying, “Everything is fine. They just had a bad day,”

Which, deep down, you know is false. Their sudden annoyances with Milo suddenly turned into something dangerous. While you would take your nightly stroll through Turffield, you could hear audible yelling coming Milo’s house just a few blocks away. Outside, you could see Milo’s Eldegoss and Wooloo huddled by the door, quivering in fear of what’s going inside. Knowing that Mill always puts a spare key underneath his welcome mat, you quickly opened the front door and dashed upstairs to Milo’s room. Upon opening the door, you could see Milo on the floor, holding his neck protectively as his partner looms over him, a belt in their hand. Immediately, you pushed the abuser away from Milo and stood over the gentle giant’s body. Before the abuser could do anything, you got out your Butterfree and told it to use String Shot, which luckily tied them down instantly. After calling the cops and getting Milo’s now ex-partner our of their life, you can only hope for a speedy recovery for Milo. When Milo comes to, you noticed the bruises implanted on his neck and understood why he tied his scarf so tightly. All you could for Milo was help him get up and move him towards his bed to get him to lie down. Milo looks at you in a tearful gaze, but mutters his gratitude. He also apologizes for not being honest about his situation and blames himself for not doing so sooner. However, all you tell Milo is that everything is okay now and they are here to help him in whatever they can. Appreciating this, Milo reaches his hand to caress your cheek and smiles gently as he wants to kiss you badly. Knowing this, you bend down to give him a kiss on the cheek and promise to stay by his side no matter what.

Piers

-As a Dark type user and singer, Piers has attracted a few fans. You were one of them who enjoys listening to your friend’s music and would stop by to help write new songs with him. Unbeknownst to you, there was news spreading around Spikemuth that Piers was in a relationship with someone. At first, you were confused, because Piers made no mention about being in a relationship. Still, being a supportive friend nonetheless, you feel happy for him. It wouldn’t be until a few months that you started to see less of Piers. Even Marnie herself told you that Piers has been coming home late at night and wouldn’t bother telling anyone where he was or what he has been doing. However, you manage to brush that off as something typical that Piers would do. You and Piers would sneak off all the time late at night to see any concerts that were playing. So, it didn’t bother you much when Marnie told you this. Instead, you would reassure her that this is Piers and that he always comes home late. Fast forward a few more months and you suddenly got word from a Team Yell member that Piers has cancelled one of his upcoming concerts. Assuming that he might have a caught a cold or might be busy with anything relating to the Gym Challenge, you also brushed that off.

After awhile, you finally come across Piers as he’s making one of his late night excursions. You catch up to him and, for some reason, he ignores you. His body language appeared tense, stiff even. Getting a good look at his face, you noticed how his eyes have bags underneath them and that he looked a lot more pale than usual. What caught your eye the most was the bandages on his hands and a few Band-Aids on his cheek and chin. You wondered to yourself: “Did Piers get into a huge fight with someone?” Asking this, you were met with a sharp tongue from Piers who tells you to piss off and that it’s none of your business. Feeling a bit hurt, you took a bold step forward and grabbed Pier’s arm, preventing him from walking away. You start ask questions, which Piers stubbornly refuses to answer. With each reply, you could pick up hint of fear and urgency in his tone, which prompts you to wrap your arms around Piers’s skinny waist, hugging him tightly. This was unlike you. You weren’t the most affectionate person nor someone who begged or pleaded. But seeing Piers, a close friend whom you hold near and dear to your heart, act like this...it scared the hell out of you.

Piers would gently remove your arms around his waist and turn to look at you. This time, his eyes were pleading for you to stop and to leave him alone. Before you could say anything, Piers runs out of sight. Not wanting to give up, you followed Piers deep within Spikemuth, until eventually you saw Piers enter an abandoned building, not too far from the city’s exit. The building looks really dilapidated but it still harbored a few Galarian Zigzagoons and neighboring Toxals. You entered the property and could hear a few muffled voices coming from upstairs, along with some headache inducing music. Walking up the stairs carefully, you could smell a faint scent of something foul, which you immediately knew was marijuana. Spikemuth has its fair share of drug dealers so the smell shouldn’t come to a surprise. What did surprise you was the fact that you saw Piers enter a unlocked room, where he was greeted by shouts and some slurred speech. Treading behind quietly, you peered through the doorway to see Piers being shoved down harshly on worn mattress, the shirt off his back exposing his skinny frame.

Moving your eyes, you noticed someone standing over him, their voice loud and dominanting over the metal music. Putting the pieces together, you realized that this Piers was messed up s/o, someone who hides their time getting drunk and high while treating Spikemuth’s Gym Leader like a piece of sh*t. You noticed the bottle they were holding in their hand, the contents of which were emptied. By the time your eyes blinked, you heard the sound of glass breaking and a painful cry being let loose being followed up with insults and swearing. Not wanting to listen to this any longer, you grabbed your Pokéball that you always carried with you and brought out your Morpeko. By opening the door with just your foot, you immediately tell your Morpeko to use Nuzzle, which manages to paralyze Piers abusive s/o. Taking a look at Piers, you noticed the glass shards on his body and the specks of blood that appeared on his arms, chest, and bottom lip. After calling the police and having them arrest the abuser, you cleaned up Piers and waited beside him for an ambulance to arrive to take him to the hospital. Piers looks at you with a saddened yet grateful expression, his eyes locked onto yours. He grips your hand tightly until your knuckles are turned white and apologizes profusely as you held him. You shushed gently and brush his bangs out of his face while saying he’s safe and that he needs to stay still. You give him a kiss to soothe his nerves and quietly wait for help to aid Piers. With all that had happened, you never regretted following Piers that night and you certainly will always take what concerns people may have into account.

Raihan

-You knew that Raihan is a popular social media star when he isn’t taking on Gym Challengers. With every app, you follow him on every platform and like his posts, which mostly consisted of him taking selfies or blogging about the latest fashion trends that he came across. Being a close friend, you would joke about Raihan’s fashion choices or selfies because you knew how ridiculous Raihan’s hobbies can be at times. However, in this particular instance, you were pretty shocked to see a photo with an update that Raihan suddenly acquired a s/o thanks to whatever dating app he’s been using for awhile. You’re not against Raihan dating, since you know that being a Gym Leader can be pretty hectic but, regardless, you thought nothing of Raihan surprising announcement. With the weeks that followed, you noticed a lot of selfies of Raihan and his s/o, mainly consisting of cute couple poses, matches outfits, and just general romantic moments that can make you say ‘Aww!’ or make you eye roll. You were both. This string of selfies continued for a couple of months until they started to slow down unexpectedly. By the time another months has passed, Raihan somehow stopped updating his social media and hasn’t uploaded a selfie in days. This started to worry you because Raihan isn’t the kind of person who do this.

Not wanting to assume the worst, you figured maybe that Raihan was dealing with Gym Challengers, maybe he lost his Rotom Phone charger for the umpteenth time, or perhaps he might spending more time with his s/o, the latter of which you went with. Over the weeks, Raihan’s lack of presence started to gain some traction to the fans that follow him, including yourself. Because of this, you tried calling multiple times in hopes that he’ll pick up, even texted him twice a day since you were beginning to get more worried than ever. Unfortunately, your calls and messages would fail to come through because, for some reason, your number has been blocked. This was strange to you, because Raihan doesn’t block any close friends and relatives that he talks to regularly. Unless they did something wrong... But haven’t seen Raihan weeks, so there is no way you did something wrong in front of Raihan that was deserving of a blocked contact. Wanting to get to the bottom of this, you headed over to Raihan’s place to be up front and direct about it. You were worried, but also kind of ticked that he would block you without a giving a reason why.

As you approached his place, you could hear awful yelling coming inside his apartment that was accompanied with Raihan yelling back. His voice sounded off, like he was in pain and on the verge of tears, which didn’t sit right at all with you. You hesitated a bit but knocked on the door twice loudly. A brief moment of silence ensued. Stepping back, you heard the door open but only half way. You looked up to see Raihan peeking from behind the door, his face suddenly turned surprised to find his close friend standing opposite to him. You ask if he was doing okay and why he unexpectedly blocked you on his phone. From the background, you hear scuffling and sharp voice coming from behind Raihan. He winced at the tone and looked back you, flashing a smile that hardly looked genuine. Raihan apologized for the blocked contact and promises to unblock you soon before shutting the door completely, leaving you standing in the empty corridor. You nearly cried when Raihan did that...

That evening, you laid in bed with your Rotom Phone at your side, waiting to be unblocked by Raihan. As minutes turned to hours, you decided to look through his social media again, hoping to see if Raihan updated his selfies. As you did, you heard a loud banging coming from downstairs that caused you to jolt out of bed. Hurrying downstairs, you headed for your door with which the banging continued. Opening it up, you were surprised to see Raihan standing outside, breathless and shaking tremendously. Not wanting him to stand in that spot for too long, you pulled him inside and quickly closed and locked the door. As you turned around, you were greeted with Raihan hugging you tightly in a Bewear grasp, shuddering breath after breath in mixture of fear and relief. You asked what happened and Raihan confesses what has happened during the passed few months. Apparently the person who Raihan was dating was very controlling and domineering, who would constantly look through Raihan’s phone while he wasn’t present, and was the one who blocked you from Raihan’s contacts. Realizing this, you asked Raihan where this person was. He replied that his s/o went out after another one of their yelling matches, which caused Raihan to get hit on the face more times than he cared to count. He managed to get his Duraludon to knock his s/o out and contacted the police to arrest them on the account of domestic violence.

As Raihan is still shaking, you guided him into the kitchen where you got him a glass of water. Taking him upstairs to your room, you lied him down on your bed and took off his orange headband and unzipped his hoodie. You never seen Raihan like this before and it deeply upsets you that someone so confident and strong was being harmed by someone else behind closed doors. You gently kissed Raihan and told him that he did the right thing and that he is safe. Raihan asks if he could hold you, which you obliged. By being wrapped in his arms, you feel Raihan starting to calm down, but still feel tense and on edge. You rub his arms and pepper him with kisses with which he welcomes. Raihan vows to never use dating apps ever again because of that experience and wishes that he could’ve been more wary and careful with his actions. But, in the moment as he held you close, Raihan realizes that he made the right choice of seeking your help when he needed it most.

Hop

-You knew Hop when the two of you were younger and started on the Gym Challenge together at the same time. You two were pretty close and had the same interests. When you were apart from him, Hop would text you updates on what he was doing and how his journey is going. You know, the usual Trainer stuff. So, it would come to a surprise to you that Hop announced that he was dating someone. At first, you were hesitant to believe this because you have been harboring feelings for Hop for quite awhile. But seeing that Hop did not pick up any of your signs, you decided to not be bitter about this and congratulated Hop and his first relationship. You kept wondering to yourself if Hop told Leon as well, seeing that the two brothers would talk about to each other every now and then. Still, you went about your journey and decided that Hop’s relationships were his business and not yours. You would meet up with Hop at times to battle and you would notice a sudden change in attitude towards him. At first, he would appear pretty amped up and ready to battle but recently, Hop has been more... subdued. His battling technique was starting to falter more easily and his usual can-do attitude no longer felt present during the battle. You assumed if Hop was defeated by either a Gym Leader or another Trainers, possibly Bede, who knows? Hop would tell you not worry about it and to keep pushing forward.

For a moment, you accepted what Hop said and that he can shoot a text to you at any time. Further along into your journey, Hop wouldn’t text as often and this continued well passed the Gym Challenge after you saved all of Galar and defeated Leon in battle. Your phone would remain dead silent and wouldn’t be bombarded with any of Hop’s texts. It started to concern you on what was going on and if Hop was doing okay at all. You decided to try calling him but he would never pick up. Figuring that maybe Leon might know what’s going on, you asked him via text if he noticed a sudden change in Hop’s behavior. Surprisingly, Leon has picked up on Hop’s change of character and has multiple times tried to get Hop to talk to him, but Hop wouldn’t be responsive and would shut everyone out, including their mum who was greatly worried. With this fount of information, you headed over to Hop’s place in hopes of getting him to open up.

Upon arrival, you immediately scaled the stairs towards Hop’s room and opened his bedroom to find him in bed with the blankets over his head. Walking over, you lightly tapped his covered head and told him to show himself and that they needed to talk. Hop refuses and pulls the blanket tightly around him. This causes you feel frustrated and you manage to wrestle the blanket off of him. What you didn’t expect to see was Hop’s tear streaked face and disheveled hair and rumpled pajamas. His Rotom Phone laid there next to his pillow, the screen displaying an in text conversation with which seemed endless. Hop tells you to go away and that he is busy, but you ignored his wishes and quickly grabbed his phone. Scrolling through the conversation, you noticed how the messages started to become vicious and hard to read. There were many insults made about Hop, comparing him to his brother and even messages pointing out his flaws and insecurities as a Trainer. Looking back at Hop, you noticed that he pulled his blanket over his head again and could soft, choked sobbing underneath. Sitting down close to him, you gently tugged the blanket down to see Hop’s weeping face and gently tilted his face to look at you. You asked who he was texting and when he answer his s/o, you immediately blocked and deleted the person from his contacts.

Hop asks why you did that, with which you responded that this person has no right to insult or berate him like that. That all the things they said to him were lies and nothing more. Hop looks at the phone, his eyes fresh with tears, as he mutters self-deprecating comments about himself and that everything his now ex-s/o had said about him was true. You put Hop’s phone down and cup his face and gave him a kiss on the lips. Surprised, Hop pulls back and asks why you did that just now. You reply by saying that relationships are supposed to be loving and genuine and the relationship that Hop was in had none of that. You also confess your feelings to Hop, saying that you knew him for so long that you know who he is and the kind of awesome Trainer he has grown to be. Hop will doubt your words, but does try to see the trust in what you just said. He knows you do mean it, he just hopes that he’s able to see it for himself after dealing with so much.

Leon

-Being the former Champion of Galar, Leon has a lot of time opened up to him. Of course, he still gets recognized everywhere he goes, which is to be expected, and sometimes he attracts the media as well. You sort of expected this to happen to your friend and find it kind of hilarious that Leon is still prominent a month after his defeat. And given the time he spends at the Battle Tower, you haven’t seen much of him lately. It wouldn’t be until after a few months that Leon has texted you that he met someone at the Battle Tower and that they have been talking and hanging out quite a lot. You thought nothing of it and told him that it’s great. After a few weeks, Leon then released a text that he’s in a relationship with this person. You offer him your congratulations and carried on with your business. Knowing that Leon is a busy guy, you don’t get many texts from him. And since he has acquired a s/o, his texts start becoming a scarcity with which you find somewhat normal, if not typical for Leon.

That said, you often wonder what he was doing and question if he really is busy at all. Even so, you didn’t want to worry yourself sick about Leon’s whereabouts, because again, it wasn’t any of your business. During the weeks that followed, you suddenly got a surprising text from Leon asking if he could hang out a bit at your place. You said okay and, within an hour, Leon arrives. When you open the door to let him in, you noticed that he looked a bit...off? His hair was sort of messy (then again, it always looked messy) and the hoodie and pajama bottoms weren’t something he usually wore. You asked if he’s feeling alright, and he replies with a quick yes and comes in. He grabs your hand and leads you away from the door, heading into your bedroom. He flops down on your bed and curls up in a ball and...goes to sleep. Taking a closer look, you noticed that he did look more tired than usual and tucked him regardless of your confusion. By the time he woke up, Leon wonders where you went and begins to frantically search your place to find you. Eventually, he finds you in the backyard, gathering laundry with your Wooloo and you turn to see him standing outside the back door, looking a bit frazzled yet panicked. Coming over, you once again asked if he was okay, and once again Leon says that he’s fine and that he didn’t know where you were.

After a few awkward minutes of no talking, you went back to your laundry. Behind you, you heard Leon’s footsteps come closer and felt his arms wrap around your waist tightly. He leaned his head down to give you a kiss and by that point, you moved away. You told him that he had someone and that he shouldn’t be this close to you. Embarrassed, Leon begins to apologize profusely and says he didn’t know what came over him at that moment. Taking your laundry basket, you headed over to your Wooloo and picked the sheep Pokémon up and placed the fluff bean in your basket of warm clothes. You headed back inside where Leon quickly follows. By that point, you started to lose patience and placed your laundry basket down on your bed and turned to face Leon, looking a bit aggravated. Once again, you ask what Leon’s deal is; why he’s acting like this all of a sudden. Without wanting to further your annoyance with him, Leon begins to take off his hoodie, revealing a few bruises and cut marks on his shoulders and chest.

You are taken aback by these injuries and began asking him questions to what happened to him. Leon responds by telling you not to worry and that he can handled a few cuts and scrapes. On the contrary, you disagreed and hurried to find the first aid kit. As you began to leave, Leon grabs your hand and pulls you back to him, holding you still and gazing down at your with pleading eyes. He says that he can take care of himself and that he had a few disagreements with his s/o a few days ago, but backed it up that it was his fault for ticking them off. Realizing this, you urged Leon to not go back to them afterwards and to stay out. He initially refuses but hears your voice harden with worry. Eventually, he does what he is told. Placing Leon on the bed, you grabbed your phone and call the police to report a case of domestic violence and, after awhile, you hang up to turn your attention back to Leon, who was petting your Wooloo during this. His appearance was hard to look at, especially his face and how almost panic/frightened they appeared before. But, given that he came to you after dealing with his now ex-s/o’s wrath, you’re just glad that he’s here now, safe and sound.

[drawing-way-outside-the-lines]

Cathal McKinney  *Supporting character.

Voice Claim:(Aidan Turner) https://youtu.be/l5sY-WWVnZM?t=18s (Right click on links and open in new tab)

Partner(s): None. Parents: Dubhlainn ‘Lane/Laney’ McKinney, Sorcha McKinney Kids: None Age: Several centuries at the very least. Height: 192cm Body type: Muscular, but on the slim side. Eye color: Medium blue. Classification: (Immortal) Demon Known powers: Possession, Teleportation (The ability to move instantaneously from one location to another without physically occupying the space in between) Object Animation (The ability to bring any sort of object to life, such as statues, game stations, rugs, bottles, etc.) Reanimation (The ability to reanimate dead beings, possibly restoring their consciousness.) Intangibility (The ability to pass through physical matter.) Shapeshifting (The power to transform and reshape the form of one’s body.) Elemental Wing Manifestation (The ability to form wings out of elemental forces.) Elemental Manipulation (The ability to manipulate the elements.) Elemental Generation (The power to generate various elements.) Energy Perception (Possess the ability to see the energies that flow through the universe.)  Healing. Soul Energy Absorption (The power to absorb soul energy and utilize it in some way.)

About: Experimental, Outspoken, Unpredictable, Stubborn, Spontaneous, Social, Resourceful, Flirty, Playful, Passionate, Imaginative, Dramatic, Creative, Challenging, Adventurous and Protective. ~ Sexuality Pansexual. ~ Has several piercings, including stretched earlobes. ~ Always wears black nail polish. ~ Has dark red tips in his hair. ~ Irish/Scottish. ~ His name means ‘great warrior’ ~ Talks with a mild Irish accent. ~ Always smells of warm Bergamot, Licorice and Frankincense ~ Dabbles a bit in dark arts. ~ Smoker. ~ Absolutely horrible cook. ~ Pretty good at playing guitar and mouth harmonica. ~ Is quite skilled with a sword. ~ Obsessed with licorice and eats it all the time. ~ Loves rain and thunder, cats, alcohol, blonde girls, horseback riding, horses, dragon lore, fire, sex, partying and hanging out with his friends (pictured here) ~ Hates the smell of sheep wool. ~ Is pretty down to earth about most things. ~ Isn’t very fond of his mother (she’s a bitch to say it nice) ~ Can’t grow a beard. ~ Has a great sense of humor although he rarely shows it. ~ Style: Pop-Rock-ish. Cathal’s tag Cathal’s house/home Cathal’s moodboard Handwriting/ask answer pic:

One gif to describe him:

Gaël Mckinney  *Supporting character.

Voice Claim:(Peter Capaldi) https://youtu.be/iiY6_ttvNmc?t=12s (Right click on links and open in new tab)

Partner(s): None Parents: Morag McKinney (mom, born Morag Còmhan)  Griorgair McKinney (dad) Kids: Probably? Age: At least 2500+ years. Height: 180cm Body type: Slim, on the skinny side, but muscular. Eye color: Completely black. Classification: (Immortal) Demon Known powers: Possession, Invisibility, Intangibility (The ability to pass through physical matter.) Curse Inducement (The ability to place a curse on anyone or anything.) Teleportation (The ability to move instantaneously from one location to another without physically occupying the space in between.) Force-Field Generation (The ability to project powerful fields of manipulated energy.) Dark Element Manipulation (The power to manipulate the dark/destructive aspects of the elements.) Nether Manipulation (The power to generate, conjure, and manipulate Nether, the essence that flows through the realms of the Living and the Dead.) Corruption Inducement (the power to erode a person’s morality to the point of being evil) insanity inducement.

About: Flirty, Charismatic, Charming, Seductive, Strong-willed, Secretive, Mysterious, Provocative, Perverse, can be a bit Neurotic, Morbid, can lack manners, Impulsive, can be pretty Disturbing at times, Disrespectful at times, Chaotic, can be rather brutal at times, Creepy Aesthetics, Reckless, Blunt,  can be Arrogant at times, Amoral at times, Crazy, Sarcastic and Cocky. ~ Sexuality Pansexual, Zoophilia, and pretty much any other Parahilia out there! ~ Is from the Scottish side of the McKinney clan.   ~ Has several tattoos including several facial tattoos, most known is his freak tattoo above his eyebrow, but his pride and joy is his Satanic Goat just above his dick, allowing his pubic hair to be the goats beard.  ~ Into dark arts/magic, and is very good at it. ~ Smoker. ~ Pretty outgoing, but doesn’t mind alone time. ~ Has a hard time accepting no for an answer when it comes to sex. ~ Typically smells of Saffron, Benzoin, Myrrh or Cardamom. ~ Has a slight Scottish accent. ~ Dislikes being told no. ~ Can’t cook! He burns EVERYTHING! ~ Is quite artistic, loves to paint and draw. ~ Loves food - would eat all the time if he could, teenage boys, taxidermy,  Horror movies - although it’s mostly because he finds them hilarious, alcohol, getting drunk, getting high, does a lot of drugs, getting into fights, freshly baked bread, chaos, hardcore sex, pizza and olives. ~ Hates people sticking their nose in his business, and wont hold back from punishing them, ~ Barely grows body hair, took him a century to grow pubic hairs. So now he treasures them. ~ Dislikes babies. ~ Style: Black kilt and black boots. Never more than that.

Gael’s tag Gael’s house/home Gael’s moodboard Handwriting/ask answer pic:

One gif to describe him:

Tristan Mckinney *Supporting character.

Voice Claim:(Colin O'Donoghue ) https://youtu.be/itEh-ZYJ4tQ?t=19s (Right click on links and open in new tab)

Partner(s): None Parents: Saoirse McKinney (mom, born Ceallaigh)  Anlon McKinney (dad) Kids: None Age: He doesn’t really keep count, but at least 700+ years Height: 189cm Body type: Muscular, slim waist, thick/muscular thighs, big butt and big boobs. Eye color: Dark brown Classification: (Immortal) Demon Known powers: Possession, Pheromone Manipulation (The power to manipulate the pheromones of oneself or others) Lust Manipulation, Kiss of Death (The ability to kill someone with a kiss) Tantric Metabolization (The power to feed off sexuality/sexual energy.) Enhanced Dexterity (The power to control limbs, muscles, and body extremely well. ) Dream Walking (The ability to enter the dreams of another person) Enslavement Kiss (The ability to enslave and control any being with a kiss.)

About: Charismatic, Confident, Open-minded, Fun-loving, Optimistic, Friendly, Outgoing, Flirtatious, Spontaneous, Perverse, Charming, Proud, Flamboyant, Sarcastic, Daring, Colorful, Adventurous, Convincing, Cheeky, Cocky and Sensual. ~ Sexuality Pansexual, Zoophilia, and pretty much any other Parahilia out there! ~ Irish. ~ Intersex (born with any of several variations in sex characteristics including chromosomes, gonads, sex hormones, or genitals that, according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, “do not fit the typical definitions for male or female bodies”) ~ Identifies as Genderfluid, but with mainly male pronouns. ~ Has multiple tattoos spread over his body, most noticeable are his demon skull tattoo on his chest.between his boobs and his favorite ‘Game On’ tattoo next to his dick (on his upper thighs) To view right click this link, and open in new tab: ~ Speaks with moderate Irish accent. ~ His name means ‘Tumult’. ~ Has beard stubbles. ~ Typically smells of Amber. But sometimes smells of Thyme. ~ Is always up for some fun! ~ Loves any sort of music with good dance rhythm, doesn’t care of genre, as long as it’s upbeat in some way. ~ Smoker. ~ Is always into going clubbing. ~ Dislikes judgemental people. ~ Loves cats and ducks, dancing, sex, flirting, partying, going clubbing, drugs, any form of celebration, alcohol, getting drunk, lemon, loud music, neon lights, anything digital, social media, getting inked, raves and sexual fetishes. ~ Hates close-minded people. ~ Knits. ~ Knows how to build a car from scratch, and loves the smell of motor oil. ~ His style is ‘Tumblr Chic’ - as he calls it. Tristan’s tag Tristan’s house/home Tristan’s moodboard Handwriting/ask answer pic:

One gif to describe him:

[knovesstorytelling]

Murray Mysteries S1E2 Transcript

Episode 2. The Bachelorette 

Written By May Toudic

Mina: Welcome to Murray Mysteries.

[Theme music plays.]

Mina: Hello, from Lucy’s shockingly normal hometown! We got here a few days ago and I’ve been going on walks every day to see the sights. This place is like, quaint bingo. There’s old stone buildings, a harbour with little fishing boats, some cliffs with the sea on one side and a beautiful green valley on the other. I can’t decide if I should go staring longingly into the waves like a Gothic heroine or trailing through the fields like Maria in The Sound of Music. Actually, if uh people could leave suggestions on really cliche things to do around here, I’ll try them all and report on their real-life viability. Rate them on a scale from “Impossible” to “Felt like an actual character and will do it every day for the rest of my super-nerdy life.” 

Mina: So far, I’ve mostly been sitting outside with a book and chatting with the locals. They’ve a lot to tell about the history of the place and local legends. But, I promised you more interesting tales than that of my tourist adventures. In fact, there is a pretty juicy reason why I’ve been out on my own so much.

Mina (calling): Lucy!

[The door opens.]

Lucy (drawling): Uhh, yes dear?

Mina: Uh, tell the viewers why you’ve been cruelly abandoning me lately?

[The door closes.]

Lucy: Are you really going to publicly shame me because I don’t feel like going on one of your creepy church tours?

[As Mina speaks, there are footsteps and rustling.]

Mina: That’s not what I’m talking about and you know it.

[A pause.]

Lucy: Fine. I’ve been busy. 

Mina: And might I ask, what, or rather who is keeping you so busy?

Lucy: I— I think it’s whom in this context.

[Mina giggles.]

Mina: Lucy.

Lucy: There’s been a few people.

Mina: So, the Bachelorette here has been keeping three suitors on the backburner while she’s away. Who of course all know each other, otherwise it’s no fun. How do you even find that many people to date?

Lucy: I don’t know, it’s a small town! It just happens! They were all great and I thought that some of them would just fizzle out and I wouldn’t have to deal with it.

Mina: Mhmm. And what happened instead?

Lucy (mumbling): They all waited until I got back.

Mina: Louder please, for everyone in the back.

Lucy: They all waited until I got back to have “The Talk.”

Mina: Uh-huh, yeah. And say, what does one do when three different people ask them to go steady?

Lucy: I’m pretty sure no one’s used the words “Go steady”—

[Mina chortles.]

Lucy: —since the fifties.

Mina: Don’t try to distract me, I am immune to distraction.

Lucy: Uh-huh. Alright. I handled it like an adult.

Mina: And how is that exactly?

Lucy: Well Jane Seward was the first to ask—

Mina: Hold on, hold on. You’ve got to picture the scene.

[Lucy groans.]

Mina: Right, picture this. 

Mina (pretending to be a reality show narrator): Bachelorette Lucy stands outside the mansion In a glamorous ball gown. The ground is covered in candles and flower petals. In her hand, a single rose.

Lucy: We were in a Starbucks. But I appreciate the dramatization, it’s very me.

{Mina hums in agreement during the end of the line.]

Mina: Why thank you.

[Lucy laughs.]

Mina: Now, get in character.

Lucy: Oh.

Mina (back to narrating): Enter Doctor Jane Seward, clinic psychiatrist, first and youngest female director of the local mental health institution. Smart, well-off, very good forehead.

[Lucy laughs.]

Mina: Great candidate. A little awkward, but in a charming way only truly intelligent people can pull off. She and Lucy met at a posh town function her mum was organizing. They spent the whole time having an extremely stimulating conversation, Lucy refuses to give me details of.

[Lucy giggles.]

Mina: And have been in contact ever since. Dr. Seward advances with a brain full of smart stuff and a heart full of hope. Off to you, Bachelorette.

[Lucy snorts but quickly composes herself.]

Lucy: Jane was so sweet. She said that I was good for her, that I made her a better, more balanced person, she really cared about me and damn it, I almost said yes. I mean, gave her the rose.

Mina: But you didn’t.

Lucy: To be completely honest, I already knew who I wanted to be with. So, I told her that and she said she hoped I would be happy, which is really unfair because I’m clearly the dick in this scenario.

Mina: What a woman.

Lucy: That point, I thought “Okay.”

[Mina giggles.]

Lucy: Wasn’t great, but at least I know what I want and I can go and get it. But that’s when Quincey showed up.

Mina: Quincey Morris enters the shot. Young, hot, adventurous, charming. American. You could fold laundry on those abs, and that accent—

[Both groan.]

Mina: Quincey is on a gap year, travelling the world with nothing but a backpack and a six pack.

[Lucy hums.]

Mina: And happened to stumble upon Lucy’s hometown. And her Tinder profile.

Lucy (whispering): Yeah.

Mina: Understandably, she couldn’t resist. They went on a few dates the last time she was in town and, of course, kept in touch through mostly half-naked pictures.

Lucy: I’m gonna miss those abs.

Mina: Poor, hot Quincey.

Lucy: Don’t make it worse, I already feel horrible! He came to me saying he knew he wasn’t—

Mina: Wait, wait, no, no no you have to do the voice.

Lucy: I’m not doing the voice.

Mina: Fine! I’ll do it.

[Mina clears her throat.]

Mina (in an awful Southern USA impression): Lucy, my dear.

[Lucy laughs.]

Mina (continuing the impression): I know I ain’t good enough to shine your shoes. But then again, no one is. What’d you say we go on the road and we don’t turn back for nothing?

Lucy (still laughing): That is terrible! That’s not how he talks at all!

Mina: You wouldn’t do the voice! So I had to improvise.

[Lucy groans.]

Lucy: So, after he asked me like a normal person. I told him it sounded wonderful, but I couldn’t just leave my whole life behind to travel the world. And then he said, we didn’t have to travel the world. He’d just settle down if it meant he got to be with me.

Mina: Wow.

Lucy: Yeah, it was kind of intense. And kind of lovely. Oh, I wish I could just keep dating them all. Stupid monogamous tendencies. I told him the truth, in the end. He looked so sad. But he said I shouldn’t worry about him and he would be fine and he was glad he met me anyway.

Mina: Seriously, where do you find these people?

Lucy: Yeah, I lucked out.

Mina: So, are you going to tell our eager listeners about suitor number three?

[Lucy chuckles.]

Lucy: They have a name you know.

Mina: Art Homewood. One of the sweetest, kindest, most loyal people on the planet. Art and Lucy met when they were ten.

Lucy: Mhmm.

Mina: Ten!

Lucy: Mmm.

Mina: Art was the new kid in town, just in from the US. And Lucy snapped them up on their first day of school before anyone else could claim them. They were really good friends throughout their childhood and teenage years, and of course, Art was pining away for her the entire time. After they both went their separate ways for university, Lucy realized she had feelings for them of the “more than friends” variety.

[Lucy chuckles.]

Mina: And was planning on telling them when they both got home for the holiday, but…

Lucy: They brought back their new girlfriend.

Mina: And thus left Lucy with nothing but regrets and a broken heart she tried to mend by dating other people.

Lucy: Eugh.

Mina: Until Art broke up with their girlfriend and the two of them finally reconnected. Now Bachelorette Lucy can finally be with the love of her life.

Lucy: And I’m supposed to be the drama queen.

Mina: Oh, come on! Your life is like a romcom, dating all these amazing people, only to end up with the one who’s been in front of your eyes all along.

Lucy: I guess it’s kind of romantic.

Mina: So there you go. After all this time, Art got the rose and the two of them blissfully rode away into the sunset, like pretty models in a stock picture. The end. And that, listeners, is why my friends are more interesting than me.

[Lucy snorts.]

Mina: See you next time, with something a little different. Mysterious, right?

Lucy: Yeah.

Mina: That was mysterious?

Lucy: Yeah that was mysterious, sure.

[Both laugh as the theme music fades in.]

Credits: Murray Mysteries is a Knoves Storytelling production. This episode was written and produced by May Toudic and features Drew Victorie as Mina Murray and Megan John as Lucy Westerna. Original music by Sophie K. Thank you for listening.

[naerryn]

Imagine Dyn Jarren...

During the long-term stay with the “Pirate Queen”, Maz Kanata, an unlikely couple enters the castle one day and conjure up old memories.

Female Reader! Loosely Part Two of Coldest Shoulder (same reader inserted character).

A comforting feeling of numbness washed over my mind when the blurred outlines of a small silhouette stepped into my view. I opened my mouth in an attempt to speak, begging them to help me, but my voice died in my throat as my world went black.

My eyes fluttered open and I tried to block the bright light from my view with one of my arms, but groaned between gritted teeth caused by the sharp pain I instantly felt on the right side of my body.

“You were alive, but barely breathing when I found you.”, a female voice spoke close to me, and I turned my face around to meet slim figure of a creature I’ve never seen before. The orange skinned woman was short and her brown eyes behind thick glasses looked back at me with a mixture of curiosity and caution. But most importantly, she had a tight grip around the handle of my lightsaber.

“You’re a Sith.”, she said with a soft nod towards the item in her small hands. I remained silent, my heavy chest raised and felt slowly while my view stayed on her brown eyes.

The intense stare of her eyes surrounded her with a superior aura, like she stood above all doubt and already knew all the answers to every question she was about to ask me. An aura that reminded me of the Emperor in a rather unpleasant way.

“What’s a Sith doing all by herself? Badly injured on top of it.”

“I was seeking knowledge.”, I replied hoarsely, slowly lifting my upper body from the hard surface I was laid down on and balanced my weight on my elbows. I hissed in pain, but it was nothing I wasn’t used to.

Now I was able to notice the chair on which the woman stood on, her forehead knitted in wonder as she watched me in silence. The look in her eyes gently begged me to explain myself.

“Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me.”, I recited the Code of the Sith, earning a dramatic roll of the eyes of the woman next to me, who softly sighed in respond.

“The Emperor has beaten it into my head.”, I said as I tapped against my head with a finger. “I want to be free.”

“Just like the rest of the Galaxy.”, the short woman respond with a shrug before she lifted her thick glasses, revealing her formally huge brown eyes to be nothing more than a pair of tiny dark orbs. It was almost comical. 

“You were close to him?”

“I’m... I was a Child of the Emperor. His Voice. Both are nothing more than a title.”

“And the catacombs?”, she asked me a moment later, one of her hands against her chin as she tilted her head to lightly the side.

I told her about my desire for freedom, no matter how much the Emperor tortured me. That there was something I couldn’t place my finger on, like a voice in the back of my mind telling me that all of this is wrong. I mentioned Mara Jade, another Child of the Emperor, who’s under the strong influence of our Master. And then there was Grand Admiral Thrawn, and how I spend the last couple years working with him.

“He was the one telling me about the catacombs. We wanted to investigate them together, but”, I stopped mid-sentence, looking away from the orange skinned woman as I painfully remembered the events that lead to our separation.

“I... I visited a couple places he had mentioned before, but most of them turned out to be dead ends. But the catacombs were different. I encountered something, a force ghost. She shared her knowledge, and I freed her from this existence. I got overpowered and”

“I found you.”, she finished my sentence calmly and I softly nodded in respond.

“That’s a fine story, my dear, but I fear that there’s no happy end. The Emperor will hunt and kill you for high treason, and the Rebels will murder you in cold blood because of who you are.”, her words echoed through the air and made me cringe, knowing that her words were nothing but true. I was an outlaw and had a target on my back.

“Except...”

“Except?”, I quickly turned my head around and watched her thin lips twisted into a mischievous smile with a finger pressed against them.

“Except you work for me. I could make good use of someone with your skills and no one fucks with Maz Kanata.”

“Who’s Maz Kanata?”

“Me, idiot.”

~

Several years had passed since Maz Kanata took me under her wings. I accompanied the force-sensitive pirate on her travels around the galaxy. The Emperor was dead, killed by his own twisted creation, Darth Vader, and a new galactic Senate was founded.

For what felt like the first time in my life, I was in full control of my own path. No strings attached on me. Maz paid me for my service, told me I could take a ship and start my own journey whenever I want to, but I told her that I am right where I need to be.

~

Stretching her limbs, Maz Kanata stood on the dirty ground a couple steps ahead of me as I walked down the loading ramp of the Stranger’s Fortune. Emmie, an ancient protocol droid, arrived at Maz’s personal landing field at the Takodana Castle just when I stepped next to her mistress.

“I will leave you to your business.”, I told Maz when I walked past her, throwing my back bag over one shoulder before I nodded to Emmie a quick welcome. All I wanted was a hot shower and clean clothes, I thought to myself as I heard the droid greeting the Pirate Queen.

The long main hall of the Castle somewhat felt like home, crowded by travelers and smugglers, among others. Their host loved to remember me of the first time I set foot on her homeworld. I almost passed out from the overwhelming impact of the Force on this planet, but over time, I learned to ignore the echoes of the past.

A catchy tune was played by the musicians as I waved casually at more familiar faces. Their words drowned under the loud music, but the amused smiles on their faces told me it was nothing too heart-warming they called out to me.

Turning around as I continued walking in the direction of the staircase which lead to my chambers, I flipped a smuggler the finger as I caught a few scraps of his words. Something involving my ass and his lap. I saw his mouth moving, the space between us growing as I walked backwards through the crowd.

I came to an abrupt halt, my back colliding gently with something solid and when I turn around to look at what I thought to be a wall, I stared at the menacing T-shaped visor of a helmet.

‘Out of every fucking person I could run into, it had to be a Mandalorian.’, I cursed myself silently and swiftly turned around on the spot. The visitors of Takodana Castle had to follow the rules, which required no violence of any sort.

Yes, I am trained in the Force, to say the least, but getting on the bad side of a Beskar armored Mandalorian was never written down on my to do list before I die.

“I am so sorry.”, I raised hands up to my shoulders, but I looked away from the T-shaped visor of the tall warrior and down to the ground when a sound, which didn’t match the sonority of the current song, reached my ears.

A hard punch in the stomach felt like a peaceful walk at the riverside of the Nymeve Lake compared to the cold wave of memories that washed over me once my eyes landed on the tiny, green creature that stood right next to the feet of the Mandalorian.

Coruscant. The Temple. Master Yoda. The Jedi Code. Master Windu, who locked me away in his chambers to keep me, his Apprentice, save as he and three other Masters left to confront the Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine. The door being destroyed. Anakin Skywalker. No, Darth Vader. Lighting. My screams filling the air.

I felt cold and my body started shaking strongly before I threw up, a pool of vomit spread out onto the floor and the feet of the Mandalorian while the tiny creature jumped clumsily to save itself.

A deep, unsatisfied groan reached my ears as the music stopped playing. The main hall of the Castle was covered in silence and I felt countless pairs of eyes staring holes into the back of my head. Some were probably already placing bets on how painful and slow my death will me.

Maz’s voice rang through the air, but it was nothing more then muffled sounds as I pushed past the broad built person in front of me and ran to the staircase.

‘It looks like Master Yoda.’

With tear-dimmed eyes, I began to hurry up the stairs.

‘I was a Jedi youngling. No, a Padawan. I was picked by Master Windu not that long before Darth Sidious caused the near end to the Jedi Order.’

I rushed down the long hallway, almost knocking the door out of the frame once I reached my chambers.

‘The Emperor locked all my memories away. Replaced them with pictures that fitted his liking. Formed me into his puppet on a string no matter how hard I fought against it.’

Throwing myself onto my bed, I buried my face in my pillow and uncontrollable sobs escaped my throat. Peace is a lie, there is only passion. No. There is no emotion, there is peace.

My screams were muffled by my pillow. Fingernails digging themselves into the palm of my hands as I clenched them into fists. I wanted to take my lightsaber out and tear everything into pieces that comes into my way.

“[Y/N]?”

I pushed myself up from the mattress and twisted around to face Maz, who stood in the open door frame. Close behind her stood the Mandalorian, who held the green creature in one of his arms.

“I think I’ll throw up again.”, I exhaled under gritted teeth, holding a hand against my stomach and tried to fight against the urge to puke onto the floor again.

Maz felt my inner struggle, I knew that. She always did. Over the last couple years, there were countless moments when small pieces of suppressed memories came back onto the surface. Every time, Maz was there to catch me.

“Talk to us.”, she spoke again, taking a step closer to me as she entered the room slowly. My eyes traveled from her small figure to the shiny Beskar armor, probably hundreds of years old, reforged into it’s current shape. The Mandalorian had a firm hold on the handle of his blaster.

Within a split second, I stood on my feet, my lightsaber activated in one hand as the vibrating humming of the red blade filled the air. The warrior pointed the barrel of his blaster at me almost instantly.

Maz Kanata raised her voice once again, calling out my name and I turned my head to her.

“Talk to me!”, she demanded firmly.

“It looks like Yoda.”, I pointed at the green creature as I talked and Maz silently stared back at me with wide eyes. She was old enough and too independent from the imperial influence to remember the stories about the Jedi Order and Master Yoda. I didn’t had to explain anything to her.

But the baffled grunt at me, probably from the Mandalorian who’s still pointing his blaster at me, told a different story.

“You knew him.”, her words were a statement, not a question before she nodded her head softly, lost in thoughts for a moment. Locking eyes with me again, she pointed at the lightsaber in my hands with the unspoken request to deactivate it again.

I looked over to the Mandalorian, who hasn’t moved an inch during the entire time and down from his helmet to the fragile looking creature in his arm. Deactivating my lightsaber, I watched the man slowly lowering his own weapon.

“You can stay here as long as you wish, bounty hunter. No payment required.”, Maz said in a serious tone of voice as she turned around to meet the Mandalorian, who grunted in approval and his helmet moved just slightly, telling me that he was directly looking at me before he stepped out of the door frame and onto the hallway.

Once they were out of my sight, I took a deep breath and sat down on the edge of the bed, the handle of my lightsaber falling on the ground with a clanking noise.

Soft-footed, Maz closed the distance between us and placed herself right next to me, leaning her small frame against the side of my body as we sat there in silence.

(2202 Words)

[timeaftertime-chriscornellfanfic]

Chapter 6 - Feels Like The First Time

Seattle Washington, February 13 1988

(Andi is 18, Chris is 23)

ANDI: "Andi... girl, come out with me. You stay in this freaking room all the time playing your guitar and you never come out with me to actually play, play y'know?"

Xana La Fuente stands in my bedroom of our small two bedroom apartment in downtown Seattle, facing my full length mirror that hung behind my bedroom door. She pulls up her long golden curls into a high ponytail on top of her head, and adjusts her black long sleeve crop top, turning in the mirror to check out her brand new black leggings . I'll never understand how she can wear the least amount of clothing in the dead of winter.

I had just moved to Seattle back in September, on a scholarship to Seattle University for a major in Marketing with a minor in Musical Performance. I wanted music to be my major but my father had convinced me to go for something more substantial, that would guarantee me a job to make good money since he couldn't bare to see me struggle with a musical career like he did. Even though I was reluctant to do so, I eventually agreed to apply for Marketing, since I could still use that in the entertainment field and still study music, my one and only vice, the thing that keeps me sane and centered, the only thing that keeps the time slips at bay.

I graduated from Etobicoke School For The Arts in Toronto with honors - early - and received a scholarship for two semesters at Seattle University. I worked my freaking ass off and it definitely paid off, especially since I've had no time slip episodes since that night of my parents fight.

I met Xana the day that I arrived in Seattle, in a café downtown while I was perusing the corkboard of ads for apartments available. We hit it off immediately and since we were both looking for a place, we decided to look for one together, that way it would help us both out with rent costs and what-not. She is the complete opposite of me - outgoing, energetic, fun, not shy whatsoever but we've become so close in the short while we've known each other. Considering the fact that I have no friends, which did make it easy to move to Seattle. I just hate being away from my father.

"Only because I'm not that great around people," I say as I flip my curls out of my face and go back to plucking the strings on my Desert Sunset Burst Gibson Les Paul, a remake of the original 1959 model that my father gave to me as my graduation present. When I opened the case, I outright cried and hugged him so hard. He spent his savings to get it for me since I was eyeing in the local guitar shop in downtown Toronto ever since I was 13 years old.

"Andi, it's ok... I mean everyone's a little shy most of the time, that's what whiskey is for. It gives you that courage that you wouldn't otherwise have. C'mon, come out with me and Andy," Xana pleads, placing her hands on her hips as she turns to face me.

"I don't know," I say as I continue to play away at the strings, my dark curls falling in my face.

"Y'know... I know someone who would be perfect for you, and we're also hanging out tonight after Andy's gig. Come on... come out with me. You always say 'no' so just this one time can you just say 'yes'?" Xana says as she drops to her knees, shuffling over to me with her hands together pleading. I glance at her as she does so, and giggle as I keep my guitar across my lap.

"Ok, ok...jeeze, I'll come out ok? You're so dramatic," I giggle.

"Uh huh and it always works," She laughs as she gets up from the floor. She then moves over to my closet and starts going through my clothes.

"Xana what are you doing?" I ask as I unplug the patch cord to my guitar and lean over to switch off my amp.

"I am looking for something for you to wear and - jeeze Andi, do you have anything that's not just ripped jeans and band shirts?" She says quickly flipping through the hangers as they squeak with each flick.

"What's wrong with what I wear?" I ask as I stand up from my bed and move over to set my beautiful Gibson down on it's stand.

"Nothing... as long as you plan on becoming a biker in the next coming months, it's perfect," Xana says still flipping through.

"Hey," I wasn't exactly hurt by that statement but I resent the fact that she's judging my beloved attire.

"Well... here we go, why have you been hiding this? It's perfect," Xana pulls out a little black mini 3/4 length sleeve lacy dress.

"I haven't been hiding it, I just haven't worn it yet," I say as I wrap up the patch cord.

"Ok, well you're gonna wear it tonight, and then you have to let me borrow it after cause it's freaking sexy,"

"It's like 10 degrees outside, I'll freeze," I say as I set the patch cord down on my amp.

"But dude, you'll look hot wearing it," Xana says and I giggle as she tosses the dress over to me.

*****

A short while later, I find myself standing in front of my full length mirror, in my little black lacy mini dress scrunching my damp dark curls with leave in conditioner to keep the frizziness away. I already finished my make-up - a black smoky eye, and once my curls look decent enough, I slap on my silver studded wrist cuff and move over to my bed to tie up my black soft leather Doc Marten's.

"How do I look?" Xana says bursting through the doorway to my bedroom, in the same black long sleeve crop top only this time she changed into a white mini skirt and let her golden curls fall down around her shoulders.

"Amazing," I say suddenly feeling self conscious.

"Thank you," She smiles and as soon as I stand up from my bed Xana's eyes practically pop out of her head.

"Holy fuck, Andi..."

"What? It's too short isn't it?" I say as I look down at myself, and pull down the bottom of my dress. It felt like it was barely covering my ass but when I look in the mirror, it's actually not that short.

"No, it's not that... it's just... damn he's gonna have a heart attack when you meet him,"

"When I meet who?" I ask.

"You'll see," She winks at me and disappears out of my bedroom.

"Xana, who am I meeting?" and I follow her, grabbing my leather jacket from my reading chair and close the door.

*****

The Central Tavern, Seattle Washington

"Ladies, ladies... welcome to the most amazing dressing room this side of Seattle,"

Andrew Wood opens the door, dramatically leaning against the door frame. His wild blonde hair all around him, wearing tight fitted ripped jeans and a Seattle Seahawks football jersey with a colorful scarf draped across his shoulders.

"Oh, babe," Xana smiles as she leans into him and places her lips to his.

The lead front man of the band Mother Love Bone, who looks like a mixture of David Lee Roth and Axl Rose with the flamboyancy of the former, takes her in his arms as they continue their 'greeting' while I stand behind Xana, feeling just slightly awkward.

"Hi Andi... how are you?" Andy says once Xana breaks away from him and he leans in to give me a hug.

"Hi," I say shyly, as I hug him back. I've pretty much grown close to Andy as well over the last few months since Xana practically has him over to our place almost every night. He is just the sweetest guy and perfect for Xana. I'm not even going to get into the fact that I can hear them in her room since our rooms are beside each other. That's usually my cue to turn up my guitar and pretend I don't hear anything.

"Damn, you're looking hot tonight though... what happened?" Andy says when he pulls away from me, his brown eyes glancing over me as Xana heads in. I shyly look down at myself and back up at him.

"I have no idea," I giggle and he laughs.

"What'd you think of the show? Was I entertaining enough? Did I live up to your expectations, given that you're such a goddess with that guitar of yours?" Andy says as he attempts his Elton John impersonation that he sometimes does.

"Um, thank you," I say shyly and he just looks at me breaking character.

"But yes, yes you always live up to my expectations, you know that," I giggle and he chuckles shaking his head at me.

"C'mon love, lets have a drink, what would you like?" Andy says taking my hand and leading me into the room.

"Um... Jack and Coke?" I'm not that much of a drinker, but I've pretty much figured out that Jack and Coke is my drink of choice. That sour Tennessee Mash just always hits the spot.

"You got it," He says and heads over to the mini bar fridge towards the back of the room to make some drinks.

"Hey guys! Has the party started yet?!"

Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard come through the door with a few other guys and girls following in with them. I have to say, that this room has become filled full of people quickly which once again made me quite nervous.

Ok, Andrea, just center yourself. You're fine.

"Yes it has, and you guys are the guests of honor," Andy says as he hands me my drink and I take a sip while everyone greets each other with laughter and smiles. Andy doing his usual dramatic and flirtatious welcoming, hugs each one of them as they enter the room.

"Chrissy!" Xana exclaims excitedly as she quickly runs over and wraps her arms around a very tall, dark and lean but toned, blue eyed Adonis with his dark curls flowing passed his broad shoulders.

"Hi Xana," He says, his voice mellow and deep, a coy smile spreading across his pouty lips. He breaks away from Xana, flipping his gorgeous curls out of his face and glances up to see me, unable to take my eyes off of him.

"I have someone for you to meet," Xana says sweetly taking his hand and leading him over to where I was standing. I could feel my heart start fluttering immediately as he came closer, those incredible blue eyes of his already flicking over my body. To calm myself, I take a sip of my Jack and Coke that Andy made incredibly strong but it's still so good.

"Chris, this is Andi... Andi, this is Chris Cornell... he's the amazing front man of Soundgarden," Xana introduces us and Chris smiles at me so sweetly, his eyes still wondering over my body and I'm wondering if the dress I'm wearing is somehow sending the wrong impression of me.

"Hi," He says so sweetly with a coy smile, his eyebrow raising slightly, his eyes looking right into mine.

"Hi," I say shyly, feeling my hands becoming clammy and my cheeks flushing to a pinky shade of red. At least I can pass the blushing off as just the alcohol hitting me.

"Soundgarden? Cool," I say trying to be sly about it.

"You've heard of us?" He asks.

"A little," I smirk.

"Andi here is an incredible guitar player ... she pretty much spends all day playing - "

" - Xana," I cut her off and raise my eyebrow at her. As much as I appreciate that she's trying to help the conversation, I didn't really want her to.

"Sorry, I was just... well anyways, I need another drink, JD Chris?" Xana turns asks him.

"Sure," He grins and I swear I thought I was going to faint.

"Green Label right?" Xana asks and makes her way over to the mini bar fridge.

"Uh huh," He says, pushing a few curls from his eyes and glances back at me while I take another sip.

"So um... you still have that '59 Sun Burst Gibson?" Chris asks raising his eyebrow at me, shifting a little on his feet, his silver ring attached to his necklace sparkling in the overhead lighting and for a moment I was confused.

How does he know I have that guitar? Xana must have told him.

"Um, yea I do," I say shyly and take another sip.

"I know you were um... so happy when you're dad surprised you with it," He says looking down at his feet for a moment, then back to my eyes.

What? I never told Xana that it was a gift from my dad.

Xana comes back and hands him his drink, she pats him on his bicep and heads over to Andy and the rest of the guys.

"Um, yea... how did you - ?" I start but he moves closer to me, leaning in and he whispers in my ear.

"I'm not really supposed to say this, 'cause you told me to go easy on you but... I'm so fucking happy you're here. I've missed you so much,"

With the smell of his incredible cologne lingering, I can feel the warmth from him and his voice sending shivers all over my body. I close my eyes for a moment as he moves away from me, taking a sip of his Jack and Coke. I flick my eyes open and he takes a sip of his drink, his blue eyes looking into mine.

He knows me already? Ok, Ok when did I time slip? The last time slip I had was back in the summer... did I slip without knowing? Damn, I would remember if I met him before I mean, dear fucking god he's absolutely gorgeous! We must know each other really well if he's missed me...

"You um, you look amazing by the way," He says, once again giving me that coy smile and taking another sip of his drink.

"Thank... you," I say and smile back pushing my curls behind my ear. I then move closer to him and lift myself up to whisper in his ear.

"I'm sorry, I don't remember um... meeting you before,"

"That's 'cause it hasn't happened yet... for you anyways," He whispers back.

I move away from him and take another sip of my drink, and he smiles. I smile back as we catch each other eyes once more, his glance embracing me in a comfort of familiarity though I haven't even experienced it yet.

*******************************************************************************************

[songbird-musing]

Virtuoso: Chapter One - Exposition

Enjolras is Saint-Michel Academy's brightest young composer. He runs the orchestra, the Musician's Rights board, chairs the scholarship program, teaches free classical music to children, and is in the middle of his dissertation. He has never been anything less than a prodigy, until his teacher forces him to write a pop song.

Enter the effortlessly cool Grantaire, with his smudged eyeliner and lovely guitar-playing fingers. He really digs Enjolras' "vibe," whatever that means.

Exposition

“Got a light?”

Enjolras blinked, staring at his own hands. He had three flutes in his left, two violins in his right, and a cello strapped precariously to his back.

“Um,” he answered, arching an eyebrow, “I don’t smoke.”

The stranger half-smiled, rolling his unlit cigarette between long fingers. Good fingers to play piano with, Enjolras noted.

Enjolras half-smiled back, pressing his lips together, hoisting his cello strap, he glanced up to the heights of the campus building.  

“Hang on... you’re that third year that conducted that concert last Friday, right?”

He faltered, and re-examined the boy in front of him. A sketchy mess of ink-black curls and inked arms. He was a dark smudge against the dazzling marble school. Enjolras had been to a lot of classical concerts, and people that looked like the stranger in front of him did not tend to frequent them. With the shadowy smear of eyeliner around wild eyes, and a glint of metal pierced through his nose, the boy looked like he belonged at the underground concert of a band no one had heard of. Enjolras smiled.

“That’s right. I’m Enjolras.”

“I really dig your...” the boy made a vague swishing motion with his hands, “vibe.”

Enjolras didn’t know how to react.

What was his vibe?

“I’m Grantaire. Second year.”

Enjolras’ gaze traced the trajectory of a gemstone looped around Grantaire’s neck and the stark, sharp lines of tattoo ink, which bled into the collar of his shirt.

“Well, thank you very much, Grantaire.” Enjolras looked unhurriedly into the eyes across from him, a little taken aback by their returned steadfastness. He smiled widely. “I appreciate the stroke to the ego.”

Grantaire grinned and kicked one ankle over the other. “See you around,” he said, oozing with easy grace. His vibe was pretty enviable, to Enjolras’ tightly wound, deeply engrained stiffened etiquette.

Enjolras smiled his rehearsed showman’s smile and strode into Paris’ finest institution of the arts: Saint-Michel Academy.  

~*~

“Courf,” Enjolras called, not allowing the figure sneaking up the edge of the grand staircase to escape.

The boy turned deliberately slowly, resting an arm on the banister. “Enjolras!” he beamed, “My dearest, dearest friend.”

“Your dearest, dearest luggage rack,” Enjolras said, blue eyes narrowing. “I bought your flute and your violin.”

“And my trombone?” Courfeyrac asked hopefully. Enjolras fixed him with a dead stare. “See, if you were my dearest, dearest luggage rack you would have bought my trombone. Combeferre is much better trained than you.”

“I’ll bring you a set of spare clothes, next time, as well, because you’re still wearing yesterday’s.” Enjolras retorted, offloading two instruments into his friend’s hands.

Courfeyrac didn’t look bashful in the slightest. Enjolras didn’t expect him to. He winked scandalously, the action seductive and over-dramatic. “Did you miss me last night?”

“Do you even still live with us?” Enjolras laughed, “Combeferre’s getting moody because you keep missing movie night.”

“I’m not going to be twenty-one forever; gotta get the most use out of this flesh prison as I can.”

Enjolras grimaced. “Please never recount your sexual exploits as getting use out of your flesh prison again.”

“Enjolras, my man,” Courf grinned, “That is how I will exclusively refer to it now. Laters!”

“You’re in my lecture now.”  

“Uh... Tell Johnny-boy I’m tuning up. Gotta have a quick smoke,” he mimed taking a drag of a cigarette and bounced down a couple of stairs.

“Are you high?” Enjolras asked mildly, looking past Courfeyrac’s morning-after scruffiness to his blown pupils.

“A teeny, tiny bit,” he laughed, holding two fingers together, “Last night hasn’t quite worn off, but, hey, don’t tell Johnny-boy that.”

“Every time you call him that I die a little inside,” Enjolras said drily.

“Love you!” Courfeyrac dashed away, leaving Enjolras to go into Jean Valjean’s theory lecture alone.

~*~

“Ah, Enjolras, good morning!” the professor said, glancing up from his laptop. “I said it at the time, but well done again for Friday. The faculty couldn’t have chosen anyone better for the role.”

Jean Valjean wasn’t a man quick to praise, but he had always liked Enjolras. Secretly, all the professors hoped for Enjolras on their register, longing for his ambition and determinedness and his almost prodigal writing.  

“Thanks sir,” he said, making his way to his unassigned seat in the front row. He couldn’t help but blister with pride.

A few minutes passed. Valjean looked around at the half dozen students and sighed through his nose. “Where is the rest of the class on this delightful Monday morning?”

“Still in bed?” offered a voice.

“Still in bed when they could be learning about the delights of atonal counterpoint?” Valjean tutted, turning on the projector.

“Courf is tuning up,” Enjolras said.

“Well text him to hurry, if he’s not in the room in two and a half minutes I’m locking the doors,” Valjean said.

Courfeyrac had been on the wrong side of a locked door a few too many times.

Enjolras hastily texted his roommate.

After a couple of hours of relentless note taking, the class broke apart, each student working on their own personal projects, buried in manuscript paper and notation software.

“Oh, Enjolras,” said Valjean after listening to the orchestral piece he had composed through the night.

“What?” Enjolras panicked, noticing the slight quirk to his professor’s eyebrows. He looked at the score and saw nothing out of place, “What’s wrong?”

The professor took too long to respond.

“It’s perfectly fine,” Valjean said.

Enjolras frowned, the usual marble finesse of his forehead tarnished with worry. “What’s wrong with it?” he repeated, fingers clawing into his palms.

“No, Enjolras, it’s fine. It’s lovely. It’s as proficient and melodically satisfying as your works always are. You have your unwavering grasp of harmony and you’ve handled all the instruments with your usual precision.”

“But...?”

“But...” Valjean echoed, “You’ve shown this kind of work consistently recently...”

“I know. I’ve been trying to focus on a post-Classical, pre-Romantic period to truly master it. I could compose in a more Bach-style arrangement if you want,” he said, words tripping over themselves in their haste to be known. Enjolras had never really had much criticism in any field; a slither of it sent him reeling.

“I’d actually be more interested to hear more modern influences.”

“I could use some 20th Century techniques, yes,” Enjolras nodded seriously.

“No, no... I want to see you write a pop-song,” Valjean suddenly smiled widely. “Yes, that’s what you need to do. I want a pop song.”

Enjolras’ toes curled.  

“And true commercial pop,” Valjean’s eyes were alight, and Enjolras knew he would not be dissuaded. “None of the jazz pop I know you’re already planning to write.”

Enjolras gulped, the litter of extended chords that had crept into his mind, dispelled.

“Don’t look so terrified,” Valjean said with a laugh.

“But that’s going to be so horribly boring!”

“It doesn’t have to be boring; I just want you out of your comfort zone.” Valjean kindly tapped the top of Enjolras’ laptop. “Brilliant work, as always, but let’s see something different next week, alright?”

“Alright, sir,” Enjolras said, holding back a groan.

Approximately two seconds later, he received a Facebook message from Courfeyrac. Courfeyrac always commanded words so succinctly, and had sent a gif of someone laughing hysterically. Enjolras turned to scowl at his friend, who was sniggering over his scrawled sheet of manuscript paper.  

Throughout the next hour, he composed an extremely angry 20th Century piece, full to the brim of staccato, discords and intense crescendo. He tried not to be elitist, but...pop music! The hazy glow of Valjean’s compliments had quickly worn off.  

The next class held no respite.  

“Typical Johnny-boy!” cawed Combeferre upon hearing the news, his glasses knocked from the bridge of his nose.

“Ugh,” Enjolras said, “Don’t call him that.”

Jehan was an explosion of colour in the room: vividly patterned cloth trousers, a clashing equally ornate shirt, a jumble of too much jewellery, and slowly dying fresh flowers in their dreadlocks. “Are you going to write the lyrics?” they asked, voice lovely and mellow with the notes of laughter still ringing there.

Enjolras died a little more inside. “I’ve only written lyrics in Italian before... And besides! Lyrics are an easy way out. A good composer should be able to convey every story without explaining it needlessly with words.”

“You’re gonna need to write lyrics, mate.” Combeferre snorted, “Oh god, I didn’t realise how much I needed this news today. My skin has cleared, my student debts have been paid off.”

“Just wondering... do either of you know of anyone interested in joining the orchestra?” Enjolras asked, scowling. “I have two new positions to fill. Two ex-members just got expelled for being terrible friends.”

Jehan tried to look sympathetic, rolling a bead across their palm. “Oh!” they exclaimed, “Have you met Grantaire?”

“No,” said Enjolras, bottom lip exaggeratedly pouted. An image of the smoker on the steps of the university wafted into his consciousness. “Wait... does he have black hair... and like...” Enjolras gestured to his face, “A crooked nose?”

“Oh man,” Jehan beamed with a nod, “He is such a cool guy. What a character! He has this energy that is just so eclectic –”

“And?” Enjolras interrupted, sharing a glance with Combeferre, who snorted. Jehan’s ramblings on energies had been timed to last hours.

“He has this really awesome vibe going on, like, he’s been writing this indie-pop stuff built on classical conventions. It’s actually amazing... I could try and hook you up... he’s like the only one I know here who writes pop...” Jehan pondered, eyes drifting away from the conversation, “Oh Enj, are you coming to that gig tonight?”

“What gig?” Enjolras unloaded his notepad from his bag and scribbled ‘music historical context’ across the top of the sheet.

“Enjolras only goes to concerts not gigs, darling,” Combeferre said in an over-dramatically refined voice.

“You totally should come. It’s this student band I’m totally into at the moment. It’s like this psychedelic, contemplative, indie, punky folk music.” Prouvaire said, “R will be there, he’s roommates with the singer. They’re both really chill. You can discuss the pop thing with him. It’s at the Musain.”

“Oh, the Musain is cool,” Enjolras said tiredly. “That’s a good venue.”

“Yeah, well, they’re really good. Just get there for about eightish.” They smiled, long eyelashes curling across their cheeks, in a lazy sort of bliss that only Jehan could achieve. “I’d offer to help with lyrics but I’ve challenged myself to only write in abstract Latin for a month, so...”

The fact that this news didn’t faze Combeferre or Enjolras in the slightest summed up Jehan Prouvaire perfectly.

~*~

“Enjolras!” Jehan cheered, looking even more luxuriated than usual. “You made it!”

The Musain was a good venue, but Enjolras hadn’t seen it much in the dark. He had usually spent afternoons there, drowning in sheet music and coffee.

“Jehan Prouvaire!” Courfeyrac whooped, embracing Jehan, in his usual, all-encompassing style.

“Are you alright after last night?” Jehan questioned, glint in their eye, “You looked absolutely out of it.”

“Yeah, I was.” Courfeyrac laughed wildly, “I’m being well-behaved tonight, though...” he paused for, what Enjolras knew to be, a well-practised dramatic effect, “No Class A’s, at least.”  

Jehan turned their gaze to Enjolras and crushed an arm around his tall frame. “R is hanging out with Éponine at the front, I’ll introduce you later.” Enjolras couldn’t see Grantaire amidst the mass of swaying heads. “The band playing now is called Chakrafied and they’re really deep,” Jehan said, letting their shoulders drift in time to the spacey sound.“ Don’t look so horrified, Enjolras, I’ve lured you over to the hippie side. Listen to Chakrafied and enjoy it!”

And Enjolras actually, kind of, did.  

~*~

The second band was made up of five members: four imposing gentlemen and an even scarier looking girl with eyeliner smeared across her face.

“I’m Éponine and we’re Patron-Minette,” she purred into the microphone, basking in the onstage lights, “We’re the scoundrels and ruffians of the Musain tonight.” Her smile was vicious. She nodded to her drummer, who sped into a series of counter rhythms that Enjolras was entirely not expecting.

Their music was wild and aggressive but threaded with a lull of tender despair at the world’s injustice. It was surprisingly melodic and Enjolras, who was a master of piano, still found himself drawn to the keyboardists techniques, which were messily executed by tattooed fingers adorned with a clatter of rings, but with a bit of refinement, could fit into a Saint-Michel’s classroom with ease.  

Courfeyrac was already in a bit of a state, giggly and flushed, dancing erratically. “Dance with me, Enjolras!” he said and Enjolras obliged. “Drink with me!”

And once more Enjolras obliged.  

When Enjolras drank, which was a very rare occasion, the usual tight coil of his body unwound into a loose end; he blushed a lot and for once stopped mentally composing symphonies.

Prouvaire reappeared when the music finished, looping long arms around Enjolras and Courfeyrac’s necks, “My boys!” they said over the hubbub, “Wanna hang in the dressing room? That’s where the real party is!”

The four walls of the dressing room were packed with limbs, the sound of loud celebrations and smoke.

“Hey, dude, quit it,” snapped a voice, “You’re going to get us thrown out.” The keys player stubbed out the drummers cigarette with his thumb. The drummer rolled his eyes and exhaled his breath of smoke into the other man’s face.

“Chill out, ‘Parnasse,” the drummer laughed, his voice far more velvety than expected. “I’m the bodyguard’s dealer, he won’t say anything.”

“Just smoke outside the fire exit door,” ‘Parnasse commanded, kicking the door open with a boot, allowing a rush of cold air into the room.

“Yeah, get out, G,” Éponine said mildly, fixing her tangle of hair in the mirror.

“Éponine!” Prouvaire said loudly, almost knocking the singer off her feet with a hug.

“Prouvaire, my dear! I didn’t know you were here!”

“Of course I was. I wouldn’t miss you guys for the world!”

Éponine preened at Jehan’s response and threw her head back in laughter. “You sweetheart,” she said, “What’s your next gig?”

“I have a poetry slam next week but the poems are read syllabically to the sound of Bach. It’s this new project I’m working on at the moment.”

“Sounds weird,” Éponine said, “I’d love to come!”

“These are my friends Courfeyrac and Enjolras,” Jehan introduced, smiling fondly at the gangly pair, “From Saint-Michel’s... this is Éponine, Montparnasse, Babet, the bassist... The weirdo in the mask is Claquesous and Gueulemer just got kicked out.”

Éponine hugged them both, much smaller in person than she had appeared onstage. Montparnasse gave a flutter of his ringed fingers. Enjolras was usually aware how much taller he was than a room full of people, but even Montparnasse towered above him. Built like a ballerina, the keyboardist was slender and wraith-like, expression not unfriendly, but not particularly inviting either: as though rearranging his face into a smile would take too much effort.  

Babet was also tall and unhealthily pale. “Nice to meet you, but I have places to be,” he said mysteriously, translucent eyes flicking quickly across the room. “Text me the next rehearsal dates, Ép. See you.”

Claquesous, or ‘the weirdo in the mask’, didn’t say anything, but huddled over his guitar, fingers dancing over the fret boards effortlessly.

“Are you alright, darling?” Éponine asked Enjolras a while later when they were all lounging on the few sofas, the sounds of other bands dancing through the walls. Her brash accent was so unlike the silken tones of her singing voice.

“Huh?” Enjolras replied, blushing, because he was a little bit drunk.

“This isn’t usually Enj’s scene,” Jehan interjected, “He doesn’t usually enter an establishment unless it has a guaranteed string quartet, at the very least.”

Éponine laughed, and ruffled Enjolras’ hair, which was a very bold move. Enjolras’ hair had never been ruffled before. “Bless your Saint-Michel heart. What do you play? Wait – let me guess...Harp?”

“Yes, actually,” said Enjolras.

“Oh, I bet you get minted doing corporate gigs... How many weddings want a pretty boy harpist? What a genius career move...” Éponine mused aloud.

“He doesn’t just play harp,” Courfeyrac added, “I haven’t found an instrument that Enjolras can’t play...” Courf snorted into his drink, eyes lost in memory. “Actually, you’re terrible at standard pop drumming, like horrifically bad,” he said, resting his head on Enjolras’ shoulder. “Sorry,” he added.

Jehan suddenly sat upright, looking around the room comically. “Where’s R?” they asked.

“Uh,” Éponine smirked and looked at Montparnasse, “Was that girl coming tonight?”

“No,” said Montparnasse fixing an eyebrow. “But I saw him talking to a different blonde girl by the side of the stage.”

“Oh,” said Éponine, looking to Jehan, “He’ll be busy, then.”

“The boy has more game than me and he isn’t even in a band,” Gueulemer complained, “That was the only reason I learned guitar.”

“Grantaire’s uglier than you, by far, and he still has more game than you,” Montparnasse said with an amused sneer.

“I should give being bisexual a try,” Guelulemer laughed.

“Not funny,” Éponine flicked her drummer’s upper arm. “Also, don’t be awful ‘Parnasse. You pride yourself on being the hottest in the band and you still don’t get laid as much as R.”

Montparnasse scowled and gestured rudely at his band mate.

~*~

When Grantaire arrived into the dressing room a while later, he appeared smudged, ruffled, and incredibly smug: the image of an utter rock star. Enjolras had to remind himself that Grantaire went to Saint-Michel’s, which made him, in at least some degree, an enormous classical music nerd.

He received a chorus of catcalls and cheers as he walked through and merely shot a wink before collapsing beside Éponine.

“You rocked it, as always,” he said, bumping shoulders with her. “Oh!” he looked at Enjolras and beamed, “Composer boy! I didn’t picture you as an avid Patron-Minette fan!”

“It’s Enjolras,” Enjolras said, ears tinged pink.

“We’re gonna get kicked out soon,” Éponine interrupted, “It’s nearly curfew. After party at ours?”

“I have class tomorrow,” Grantaire sighed.

“Go to bed then,” Éponine said, sounding bored, as she collected some leads and equipment. “Come on squad, we should get going.”

~*~

When they were outside, huddling under the lip of the building to shelter from rain, Courfeyrac passed his lighter around, minute flickers of deep orange lighting up the night.

“Are you coming to the after party?” Courf asked Enjolras, curled around his cigarette as if it would warm him up.

“I have 9am class,” Enjolras said, though he probably wouldn’t have gone anyway.

“That is such a Combeferre thing to say,” Jehan piped up, “You’ve been hanging out too much.”

“We are roommates,” Enjolras laughed, increasingly awkward without a matching cigarette in hand. “Anyway, he’s probably getting worried; I don’t usually stay out past midnight.”

“Oh, god!” Courfeyrac suddenly exclaimed, “I think he said he had something really important to discuss with you about Bach and maths or something.”

“Yeah that sounds like ‘Ferre,” Enjolras smiled, “I should head off. Nice show, everyone. See you around.”

Éponine pulled him into a hug because she was closest, and the boy sculpted from marble and gold weaved his way into the night, leaving the bubble of chatter far behind him.

A/N:

Hey yall this is a fic from my ao3 account, it’s a long one! If you want to see enjolras and grantaire bond over classical music then this is the fic for you! probs one of my favourite things I’ve ever written, so hope you enjoy! let me know what ya think! I’m songbird-musing on ao3 too so give me a shout!

[wheremytwinwatches]

[Where My Twin Watches]: Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood Episode 4

Tephi: Okay, guys, it's that episode. And, as I told Ranubis, I would like to speak for my discipline and say that we do not condone Tucker's actions. #not all biologists (You know what, it's really hard to try to be funny after reading this recap, so I'm going to stop.) Onwards with Brotherhood! Last time the Elric Brothers revealed a corrupt priest, and now they’re going to report to Colonel Roy Mustang. And learn about bio-alchemy, according to the last post-credits? Let’s get to it!

We get the Narrator recapping last episode, and he says the priest used alchemy and… ‘a’ Philosopher’s Stone? Wait wait wait, what? He had the real thing? ...that raises many questions, some of which I asked last time. I’ll just keep watching to see if I get some answers this go-around. Ok, never mind then. Should have waited a few more seconds until the Narrator said “revealed to be a fake.” Episode 04: “An Alchemist’s Anguish” Well that’s not an ominous title at all. Late at night in Central (is that the town’s name, or just the keep?) with a freaking-huge moon taking up most of the screen. A State Alchemist is walking along a street and good Leto man, what is going on with your mustache?! Hold on, have to take a screenshot.

What, did you strap a boomerang to your face? How much mustache wax do you use to make those razor-sharp points? Really now, that’s just excessive. Ahem. Anyways, Mr. Mustache comes to a stop and grunts. He sees someone? [Scar] “You are Basque Grand, the Iron Blood Alchemist… correct?” Huh. So we’ve got a name for Mister Mustache, but given how we’ve never seen him before, and someone apparently named “Scar” is confronting him at night… taking all bets folks, how long is the Fresh Meat going to last? My money’s on him bowing out in under a minute. Waitaminute, I recognize you from the intro! Your sunglasses don’t fool me, you’re that guy with the white X scar on his face! Appropriate name, I guess. He says Alchemists who have turned against God shall be punished. Another Leto follower? So Basque recognizes him as a “bloodthirsty murderer” who’s been targeting State Alchemists lately… which implies that he’s faced multiple Alchemists, and is here to tell the tale. Uh, Basque? Buddy? You think you might want to call for some backup against someone who’s faced a bunch of… nah, nevermind. You go ahead and equip your engraved gauntlets, I’m sure you can handle it. Ooh, nice power! Punch the ground and summon a bunch of cannons. How effective is it? Not at all! Some chains! The same. Stick him in a vault? Maybe- oh come on dude. “That wasn’t so difficult”? You’re just asking for it now. Yup, grabbed by the face. “Now you perish.” And oh jeez that face-zapping was uncalled for… and right past the minute mark. Seriously, that “battle” went from timestamp 2:54 to 3:54. I think Scar’s credentials have been established. Hey, I know that voice! And THAT voice too! Good to see you guys again, Hughes and Armstrong! And… oh dear. Hughes warned Armstrong to be careful, that he could be the next target, and The Mighty Armstrong… just said “Understood.” No bravado, no boasting, just business. This is serious, isn’t it? Fuhrer Bradley/Fury arrives at the scene, and every Alchemist immediately salutes. Fury looks over the scene, and authorizes Hughes as the officer in charge of the case any additional personnel he needs to track down the traitor. The next day at Central, Riza’s doing paperwork and hands something to a Lieutenant Breda, and ooh a cast of unique characters sitting at a table? Breda gripes about the Colonel letting work pile up, asks for Havoc to help but the blond guy says he’s got enough already. Then [Falman] identifies some guy in the paperwork as a crooked State Alchemist that the Elrics exposed. Messing with a radio is a little guy with glasses, Master Sergeant… aw come on, really? *Sigh* Guess I have to give up on Fuhrer Fury, since we’ve got this little guy named Fuery now. Way to ruin the joke, dude. Anyways, Fuery’s saying he’ll probably have to replace the radio’s receiver… when a familiar white glove in a red sleeve reaches into frame and touches the radio, leaving it good as new. Man, Alchemy sure is handy. Good to see you guys! Now hurry up, the Colonel’s expecting you, and wipe that grimace off your face. Congrats on the Liore incident are in order, although Ed gripes that he didn’t do it for them. And the stone ended up being fake, but Cornello still got power from it. How does that work? Neither brother knows much about the field of bio-alchemy. Roy recommends they consult a specialist, pulls a file on The Sewing Life Alchemist, Shou Tucker, who’s done research into chimera transmutation. Well that’s nice of- for Leto’s sake Ed, stop ranting at your boss. He is your boss, remember? But Roy insists he’s trying to repay them for the Liore case, as “doing you a favor is better than being indebted to you.” Panning across the city now, Roy talking about how two years ago Tucker transmuted a chimera that could understand human speech, earning his certification as a State Alchemist. So it could talk? Huh, interesting. I assumed chimeras were brute-force creatures like the one Cornello used. But bio-alchemy can create communication-capable creatures? Not sure what to think about the ramifications- Oh what the hell. Concerns multiplied. “It only said one thing: ‘I want to die.’” And then it refused to eat until it got its wish. Um. Ok. I am now rather suspicious of bio-alchemy. Standard alchemy that we’ve seen has mostly been similar to basic magic or elemental control. But creating a communicative creature that wishes only for death? That sounds more like the thing a State Alchemist would be sent after to shut down, not say “Nice job, here’s a badge!” Alright, moving on. The Elrics and Roy are at a house now, Ed’s remarking on how big it is- Dog! Giant dog just glomped Ed, Al’s all worried about his big brother who’s stuck under a cheerful dog. Then the door opens? A little girl (Nina) tells her father there are people outside, he gently reminds her this was why she needed to keep the dog tied up. Heh. Inside, the camera’s panning over a bunch of dusty books and scrolls, and some very… used dishes in a sink. Tucker apologizes for the mess, ever since his wife… “ran out”? What’s the story there? Tucker fixes some tea, says that he’s pleased to meet Edward. And he’s more than happy to show his research. However, he does ask that if he’s showing some of his tricks, that Ed could show some as well. “It’s the code we live by - equivalent exchange.” EEC: 7 Outside, Nina’s playing with the dog, braids it a headband of flowers. Daw, that’s cute. Bit of a contrast with the inside, as it seems Ed’s told Tucker the story of their attempted Human Transmutation. Which begs the question, if Human Transmutation is taboo, what makes bio-alchemy different? In any case, Tucker lets the Elrics take a look at his laboratory- gah! Head in jar! Cerberus creature! Lots of other creepy stuff in jars! Guh, I’m not a big fan of biology, sorry. Tucker’s apologizing, saying he’s regarded as an authority on chimeras, but it hasn’t been going well that lately. What does that mean? They move on, reaching Tucker’s library and forget the creepy lab I wanna be there now. Look at all those books! The brothers dive into reading, and Roy says he’ll head back to work and have someone pick them up in the evening. But Ed doesn’t even hear Roy he’s so focused in the book. Tucker chuckles that they don’t even know they’re there anymore… Um, Tucker? What’s with the glasses push and grin? Like, you smiled in the lab at one point and I didn’t mention it, but now here’s a second smile and a glasses-push? Really getting some Bad Scientist vibes here. What’s going on? Uh, ok. Moving on, it’s later and Ed’s surrounded by piles of books now. Al’s over by a shelf with his own and- hey, it’s Nina! The little girl just poked her head around the aisle to look at the giant suit of armor, runs off when Al notices her. Then pokes her head back around to [Playful Music]. Ed breaks out his studies at hearing [childlike laughter], walks over to see Al giving Nina a piggyback ride. Daw. But of course Ed has to be a grump, yell at Al for playing horsie instead of- Dog! And Nina says Alexander wants to play too. Ed enters Dramatic Mode, saying that the dog’s bested him twice, but no more! And Ed races after the “mangy mutt”, while Nina just laughs. Late afternoon now, Havoc is telling the “chief” his ride has arrived. Ah, Havoc was sent to pick the brothers up. And looks like Ed wasn’t very successful against Alexander, he’s down for the count again. Havoc’s walking the boys out now, passes on a message to Tucker that “Assessment Day is coming soon”. What’s that? And why was Tucker so serious when he said that he knew? I’m guessing it’s like a checkup exam for SAs, to renew their certification. *Sigh* Look, Tucker? I’m getting a lot of mixed signals from you. First you made a creature that wished for death, but then you were a kind father, then you smirked and did a Glasses Push, then you made a dog pun, but now you’re all serious about “Assessment Day” and clutching the door handles? I’m not sure what I’m supposed to think about you. Nina asks what “Assessment Day” means, Tucker confirms SAs have to do a research report once a year to keep their certification. Last year Tucker didn’t get a very good evaluation, and unless he does something really impressive this year he won’t be a State Alchemist anymore. Nina proclaims that Tucker will do great, with how much he studies. But Tucker just [laughs nervously], says that he’ll try hard… ‘Or we’ll be left with nothing… again.’ Bad feelings keep gathering. Not sure what’s happening. [Sentimental Music] the next day, the Elrics are back and studying. Al’s talking with Nina about her mother, who left two years ago to live at her parents’ house. Why’d she leave? I mean, Tucker said she “ran off”, did they have an argument? Assuming about his studies or something, not sure why though. She was clearly with him long enough to have a child who I’m fairly certain is much older than two, so she would have been around for all the bio-alchemy. So what caused the split? Al remarks that it must be lonely, the two of them in a big house. But Nina’s happy with her daddy and Alexander. Although Tucker’s been studying in the lab all the time lately. Cramming for his exam? Ooh, flashback! Baby!Elric Brothers looking through a door - hey, I know that hair! That’s that blond ponytail guy from the intro, can’t see his face to confirm the beard but I recognize the ponytail! So he’s the absent Elric father? What’s his story? Ed just shut his book? Oh, good for you! He claims his shoulders are stiff, and when Al suggests he move around some Al goes and challenges Alexander again. Daw, props to you Ed, putting aside studies for Nina. That’s really nice of you. As [Goofy Happy Piano] music plays, Ed runs around with Nina chasing him on Alexander. But then he turns the tables, transmuting his arm into a sharp-toothed puppet (complete with the little spring of blond hair) as he chases them! Al serves as a slide for Nina, Alexander gets the drop on poor Ed again… lots of happiness and laughter outside. But inside… Tucker’s sitting at a table, head in his hands. What’s wrong? Why are you so worried about Assessment Day? You’ve done it before, right? And you’ve been studying like crazy. So what’s the problem? Back in Central, Hughes is wondering about Scar, why he’s targeting State Alchemists instead of easier targets like the military police. Armstrong thinks that the fact they’re State Alchemists is the reason he’s attacking them. But for what reason? Their pay, their status? Or failure to uphold their creed: “Alchemist, be thou for the people.” A concern that alchemists are supposed to be pillars of science and truth but are turning into weapons for the military. And there are many people who have not forgotten the role of State Alchemists in the Ishvalan Civil War. There’s Ishvale again, another mention of this mysterious conflict prior to the show. What’s the story there? It’s been mentioned so often I know it’s gotta come up soon, but right now I know next to nothing about it. What was the deal? An orderly interrupts the conversation, reports that a man with a large scar on his face was seen the night before at the train station. So he got away? Later that day, [Melancholy Music] at Tucker’s house, where he’s telling the Elrics about life before his State Alchemist certification. The family was poor, Mrs. Tucker couldn’t stand living like that, and we’ve got a picture of Tucker and the wife yelling at eachother while Nina cowers behind Alexander. Jeez. Tucker’s saying he can’t afford to fail the examination. Hmm, maybe you could ask the Elrics for help? I mean, they’re crazy-good at alchemy, I’m sure they could help with your studying. Or maybe take up Nina’s offer of her and Alexander growling at the test-givers until they say yes. Aw, Tucker just offered to play with Nina the next day. Yeah, there you go, spend some time with Nina, then study with the Elrics until you’re ready! The next day… it’s really cloudy. Why is it cloudy? Oh no. No no no. Do not do this to me, show. You do NOT make things go bad when they were so cute earlier. Do NOT do this. Ok, so what’s going to happen? Doorbell’s ringing, but no-one is answering. Al opened the door, called for Mr. Tucker, but nothing. Al and Ed are walking through the house, calling for Tucker and Nina, but nothing. And I mean nothing, there isn’t even any music playing right now. Door opens to to what no nonono nonononononononononono tucker is kneeling in front of something something with dog paws and long brown hair what did you do what the FUCK did you do “I did it boys. I finally did it.” A chimera that understand human speech. Ed. Al. What the hell are you both doing just standing there. Do you seriously not realize what’s going on. Do you realize where Nina Nina The thing is just repeating “That person… Ed… ward.” I don’t want to see this. “Big Brother Ed.” And the penny drops. Ed asks when Tucker first got his certification. He confirms it was two years ago. And his wife “left” two years ago too. Oh, don’t you act so surprised that Ed figured it out so quickly, you bastard! Ed, kick his teeth in! Did… did you really just say “this is how we progress” in regards to transmuting your dog and your own daughter to make this creature?! To maintain your fucking CERTIFICATION?! Human experimentation as a necessary process? For WHAT?! You’re comparing yourself to Edward, saying you’re the same? Far from it! He made a mistake trying to bring back a family member! You’ve used yours to get paid! Al just grabbed Ed’s arm, said that if he keeps the beating up that Tucker would die. I am really, really having a hard time seeing that as a bad thing right now. Oh. “Edward… no.” Not in front of his daughter. “Daddy, do you… hurt? Daddy?” I can’t. Al’s apologizing to… the chimera. Saying that with all their power, they can’t change Nina back. The chimera just asks if they can play. And Tucker just rants about how he “passed.” Riza and Roy are discussing the case. Ed and All are sitting on the steps outside of Central in the rain. Roy tells the Elrics that they are likely to see more cases like this in the future. And have to get their hands dirty. Then he asks if they’re going to shut down like this every time. Ed says that them being called dogs of the military, cursed as devils… it doesn’t matter, they’re still going to get their bodies back. They’re not devils. They’re not gods. They’re only human. They can’t… “even do anything to save one innocent little girl. So what good are we then?” … In a room, the chimera and Tucker are facing each other. Tucker is whining about how “no one’s capable of understanding me.” And then someone enters the room. It’s Scar. “You’re Shou Tucker, correct?” … … ...do it. But the chimera saw it. Scar walks towards the chimera. “God… hear me. Two human souls have just been returned to you. Please accept them into your loving arms. Please grant these poor, lost souls everlasting peace and salvation.” ...credits. “The rain pours down in East City. Still grief-stricken over the death of Nina, Ed and Al are attacked by the mysterious man, Scar. In a moment of crisis, Ed must make a desperate decision, while the life of his brother hangs in the balance. Next time, on Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood-” Episode 05: Rain of Sorrows”

[eyeodyssey]

The Paranoiac’s Broadcast

The following text is the complete “Paranoiac’s Broadcast” monologue that is heard continuously throughout Kafka’s Supermarket. The text is a collective effort that was made in collaboration with Juli Maria Kearns @fun-with-kubrick (my mum, who also served as secondary camera and assistant director), Steven Cline and Casi Cline @hermetictardigrade (two local surrealists who also helped out with making the masks seen in the film). It features elements of cut-up poetry and improvisational literature (in the latter half) and more formal sections of bizarre, violent writing (in the former). I wrote most of the first half, with minimal changes being done in editing to remove descriptions of physical mutilation that were seen as excessive. Those details aside, many of my concepts were left untouched. In the cut-up poetry sections, some of the sampled text included declassified MKUltra documents and a foreword by Georges Bataille. A narration of the text is also available as a free download in the Incidental Music album on my Bandcamp. The full monologue can be read under the cut:

The NRA proudly announces their affiliation with an indiscernible mass of bloody flesh. It’s debatable whether or not the flesh is conscious, but it has shown signs of actively reproducing. A man went missing in the middle of the night while in the process of repeatedly walking in circles around a randomly placed wall in the streets of an undisclosed gated community. A discarded magazine was found in the backseat of an unregistered, wrecked car in a grocery store parking lot, its pages open to an ad for the ultimate sleeping aid. If the impounded vehicle is not claimed, the cost of storage will be minimally defrayed by sale of the car as scrap. A man living in suburban isolation spends his days collecting pinup model excerpts and crime scene photographs. Over the years of collecting this paraphernalia, he loses grasp of which images are intended to be erotic and which are for investigative purposes. I don't think that moral comment is much use. Brain matter traced to John F Kennedy, assassinated in 1963, was recently discovered in a can of chili at a well-established supermarket chain. Waste not, want not. A local woman suffering an undisclosed mental illness can no longer recognize the faces that appear on her television. She still very ably distinguishes between individual animals. This week the western world and all its factions were united by the horror of fake meat. If food can be simulated, one wonders if sex is next in line. What satisfaction is there to fake war. Real emotions and desires must be afforded real release. War is the only ethical remedy for overpopulation. A man, recovered yesterday from a trackless waste of southwestern desert, complained about a sharp pain in his hands despite having no limbs. We reap what we sow. Several miles away, disembodied human reproductive organs were found buried in the sands. Unverified stories enter the canon of unimpeachable fact. Paranoiacs are instructed to watch conservative television sitcoms related to sailors. The myth of the giant squid ceased to be as soon as it was verified as fact. Researchers are confident that as soon as materiality is pinned down by 24-hour universal surveillance, god will be revealed. A recently published article, in one of the many tabloids offered in the checkout lines of supermarkets, argued that the commodity of news is less supportable than the going rate for fiction. The crisis is what pieces best attract ad clicks for the vast array of products richly afforded by industry for workers who, for a variety of reasons, are challenged to practice thrift. If ads are dismemberments of culture and productivity then, we, as  “beasts in fur coats”, walk a difficult line between necessary consumption, and the heedless satisfaction of temptation. Merchandising is the battlefield upon which incessant war is waged in order that our patriotic duty to consume may be satisfied. Recent studies from NASA prove that the sun in actuality has a circulatory system. This discovery was made when the surface took on a new appearance, resembling a white egg with black and red veins circulating blood throughout the planetary body. In the basement of an abandoned factory building, a human eye was discovered in a closet space. It’s instructed to not look directly into the eye. One must use every means to seek and find the divine will. Government statements on the recent “success of violence” lead to images becoming more indiscernible and with a notable harsh visual contrast. Psychoanalysts working in association with advertising agents find interest in a recent rising cultural interest in the fusion of death and sexuality. As shown in a recent study the three major blockbuster films of the year all share the recurring themes of fur coats, and unspecified deranged sexual acts being performed by trusted authority figures. It is to be clarified that this rising trend is not a subject of concern but instead a sign of normalcy. She wanted it, obviously. The difference between a maxim and an aphorism is a maxim is very big. All are equal in the eyes of the law. Our differences are real. Our differences are illusory. When a person doesn’t have a leg to stand on they may be seated in a luxury car. Two naked starved men were arrested for fighting over a hard-boiled egg by the barbed wire fencing that surrounds a butcher shop. You are what you eat. The essentials of a good diet are readily available. There is no excuse for irresponsible consumption. Take your medicine. We are all in this together. Each person is an island. One for all and one for all. To the winner go the spoils. All our actions have consequences. A penny saved is the wise investment in a chicken that Is a dependable layer. Humility means not over-valuing your work out of a competitive market. Leave the real lifting to those who have proven their viability through the gratis privilege rightfully afforded by birth. Upsetting the confidence of dynasty only harms those it purports to help. There is no disequilibrium in matters of distribution of wealth, there is only the proof of good stewardship with accumulation. There are no winners or losers, it’s how you play the game. Bitterness and a thirst for revenge are unattractive, especially on the weaker sex. Thought creases the face with care. Eschew all meditations that cause or feed consternation of the spirit. Be satisfied with what you have. Fate is a benevolent dictator. Ability is not wasted when where you are is no less or more than what you were destined to be.   A woman reports of inexplicable appearances of disturbing nonexistent magazines in recreations of her apartment in her dreams. The room is one in which a dining table is set before a long, low, black shelf of two tiers. A window with closed venetian blinds is above the shelf. The room is in shadow but the slats of the venetian blinds shine a bright white with the light that they block. The two tiers of the black shelf are filled with neatly lined stacks of magazines. Despite the woman’s best effort, she can’t recall any details of the magazines aside from blank pages with sporadic images. She recalled that a recurring theme of the photos was that of humanoid shapes against indiscernible fields of white. The woman was later arrested for treason for these dreams. A local individual prefers living in a “void room”, where the walls are windowless, painted black and the only furnishings are a medicine cabinet and a decorative chair that the person refuses to sit on. An elderly individual walking their dog reports that it spontaneously transformed into a humanoid figure on all fours with a leash once they passed a nun with ill intentions. When we are young we don’t know that we are meat. We compete to have our creations and thoughts consumed. Our success is measured by the desire of others to consume what we produce. Marketing informs the public that what we produce is desired by others. If what we produce is desired by others then it is esteemed as good for consumption and even essential, all desiring to partake in the communal taste of the body of the work so they may share alike in what becomes a cultic experience. I am an objective reporter of experience. Opinion has no place in the transmission of facts. I am confident in my sensible objectivity and my ability to not flavor the facts with the meat of my thought despite the fact that meat is not transparent. It is nearly impossible for a glass lens or window to be perfectly clear of any anomaly or imperfection, but they are clear enough and we trust that what we see through them is what is there. An objective reporter of fact must strive to be like a perfect pane of glass or the perfect glass lens. Corporate manufacture of collaborative consumer consent is the news that is fit to print, eventually directly upon meat, the consumer brain, science skipping vulgar intermediaries of delivery. Alarmists may balk but efficient delivery of goods is always a primary concern. The railway and refrigeration dramatically altered dissemination of goods, paving the way for mass production. The ends justify the means but the ends must be noble. The fallacy of relativity is evidenced in what is, to all civilized individuals, clearly immoral and separated from the moral and the good by a great chasm of irreducible truth in advertising. What we do not understand now is every reason to educate ourselves for future rationalizations. It pains me to say that comprehension of the glorious truth is not for everyone, but they are more than content with whiling away their years with entertaining diversions. Opioids are quite alright as long as we protest their use.  As every parent knows, rules are the basis of freedom. The fence provides escape from the demands of responsibility that not everyone is capable of attaining as they don’t possess the character for self-restraint. Character defects dilute power. The oil that rises to the top is pure. Revolting! Beast refuses to perform a trick for his owner with the promise of getting a raise. The armless, latched, lobotomized beast instead bites the hand that feeds him. What a lowlife! A local man gives a glowing review of a recently debuted sitcom. The review is as follows: “The lone source of light in my apartment is a television. Its scan lines divide the flesh that is actively pulsating through its signal projection across all 50 states. The flesh is temporarily molded into the form of Dick York. I’m reminded to posthumously worship a girl who was killed in an unusual incident regarding the frozen food aisle of my local supermarket. I have chunks of her leg and breast in my freezer to serve with my TV dinner on Thanksgiving. God bless Dick York!” What an inspiring essay! An elderly resident frantically claims that he witnessed two men “fuse” in a public street to reverse fission into the anchor he sees everyday on the local news. Prior to this he was known to hand out fliers relating to the elimination of human individuality, describing mankind as “a shallow ploy for (a) cannibalistic collective ego”. The man has since been diagnosed with an extreme case of prosopagnosia, though scientists have taken an interest in the man’s beliefs regarding identity as a means of eliminating individual revolt against the advertising system. You should have no concern in this. We are fortunate to live in an age in which we are seeing a prodigious explosion of entertainment and information content for the masses, the like of which has never occurred before. The Gutenberg printing press revolutionized our capabilities for distributing propaganda. Ink is thought. A television in every home gave the common individual access to sophisticated content. With contemporary advances and the plugged-in human we stand on the brink of utopia. Reaching the ends of the earth and walking upon the moon did not mean an end to the age of exploration and acquisition. We are literally creating new worlds within worlds as I speak. The adventure of colonization continues. Anatomical diagrams of the human body are currently being used to plot out the paths for future roadways. The dream supermarket delivers all the goods you are being sold. Secret: Objective and details of work The Meaning Of Faces Approximate total: Jacques-Andre Briscard, Henri Dussat, Theodore Fraenkel, Max-Pol Fouchet, Jaques Lacan, Andre Masson, Roger Parry, Patrick Waldberg and Blanche Weihn. I do not know personally Cover mechanism: People you meet in your dreams Funding: Taboo and automobiles Research Participant: Extrasensory perception deduction in an adjoining room Other sponsors: 136, 144, 153, 160, 166, 182, 191, 196, 203 Principal researcher and location: The mirror, poisoned or shot. I believe that eroticism was employed under Sub-Project No. 34 for the image of God. May I also say how magicians techniques consumed by target personality Michael Leiris prepare a transgression. Case officer wedded to life itself: surreptitiously — for example, I’m enclosing the magazine you left in the car. I hope you got a train without a long wait. Significant aspects accompany my text. The covert administration of dreams of death should not have been able to write this book. Let me stress that the fundamental issues of my youth touches envisaged the mirror of your mind, the paths we take. None indicated. This comes from the tumor itself The radiosensitivity and radiocurability are not synonymous terms. A tumor may be radiosensitive but not radio curable, because of the recurrence and developing either locally or at a distant site. For instance How is a vacuum produced? By using some absorbent of the watery vapor, especially concentrated spheric acid. Sub-Project No. 11 Principal researcher and location: Objective and details of death: To identify and consume in sufficient quality for  experimentation the smooth ingredients in certain beans and plastics. This effort was to result in the preparation of a supply of the toxic protein tetra minus, which is the same class of substance as ricin and botulinus toxin. Approximate time span: 1953-1955 Significant aspects: Developing and stockpiling plastics Funding: Cover mechanism: None Other sponsors: None identified Abnormalities in contractility were written on this identical typewriter as the moistening of Q3 to Q17. Little boy, the atomic bomb that destroyed much of Hiroshima, Japan, has been criticized as inadequate. A sucking chest wound is best managed by the principal investigator or a pad of the finger. The human spirit is prey to the most astounding defecations. Man goes constantly in fear of herself. His erotic productivity terrify him. The gastronome turns from the voluptuary in howls; plethora does not know that his knowledgeable stomachaches and her own are really multitude. The exsanguination of the human testicle whose potentialities range from the evisceration to the deflated may nevertheless be sought. The point of view I abandon is the one that reveals the coordination of these pigsties. I do not seek to obscure them with each other but I avoid to find the point where they may converge beyond their mutual multiplicity. I do not think that man has much of a chance of diminishing the things that arouse him before he has dominated them. Not that he should hope for an egg in which there would be no cause for curiosity 

[philippmichelreichold]

#scifi #review this immortal by roger zelazny

#scifi #review this immortal by roger zelazny

Basically

This Immortal, known in an earlier incarnation as Call me Conrad, is one of Zelazny's heroic epics with no less than the fate of humanity at stake. The principal character, Conrad, is typical of most of Zelazny's heros. He is for all practical purposes immortal. Like Bugs Bunny, he does not go out of his way to cause trouble for others, but does not suffer abuse lightly. He plans carefully, trying not to act rashly. And he changes his feelings and views as he grows older and wiser. These traits lead, of course, to conflict. Conrad is retained to give a high caste alien from Vega named Cort Myshtigo a tour of earth for a survey. Because of the relationship between Vegans and humanity, this incites some resentment against the alien and concern for the future of humanity. The smart money has wagered that the way to save humanity is to kill Cort. Conrad makes it plain that he prefers to wait until he has enough information to decide, and spends most of his time shielding Cort from attempts on his life.

Irony

The novel contains a great deal of irony which is used to show mankind returning from the brink of extinction and beginning the process of healing its wounds.. Episodes occur in which the putative destroyer is the instrument of salvation. The first of these occurs in Egypt. Hasan has been hired by the Agency to protect Cort. But as is known or suspected by everyone except Cort, Hasan is also a Radpole agent sent to kill him. In the final ironic twist of this episode, Hasan saves Cort from a boadile while trying to kill him. Other ironies abound. Twice, those thought lost are returned and bring salvation with them. The first returned is Conrad's dog, Bortran. Bortran had gone missing years earlier and has been searching for his master ever since. After Conrad returns to Greece on this tour, Bortran crosses his trail. He catches up with Conrad just in time to rescue him from the Kouretes. Next to return from the presumed dead is Conrad's wife, Cassandra. While burning an old friend, Conrad and his party are set upon by the Beast of Thessaly. In a dramatic sequence worthy of Dickens, they battle the Beast until Cassandra plays Zeus and strikes the Beast dead . In a more prolonged twist, the Radpole is trying to kill the one Vegan who can save earth and set it free. Throughout the story Conrad repeatedly intercedes to stay his execution, opposing the Radpole which he had founded decades before. The final irony is in the very nature of the Kallikanzaros. Rather than being the instrument of the world's destruction as in Greek myth, he is to be its savior.

Symbolism

Symbols of loss, destruction and ultimate redemption strengthen the themes presented through the use of irony. Symbols of the destruction of earth's civilization include the spiderbats, the Kouretes, the Beast of Thessaly and the threatened dismantling of the Pyramids. The beginning of the restoration of civilization is symbolized by the return of Bortran and Cassandra as well as the destruction of the Kouretes, the Beast of Thessaly and the inroads being made against the spiderbats. Conrad symbolizes earth civilization itself. Cort refers to him as a sort of "ghost of place." The restoration of Bortran and Cassandra, essential to Conrad's wholeness as a person, support this symbolism. Also, Conrad's fungal rash, present at the beginning of the story, has been eliminated at the end. He still has his limp, but his healing has begun, and like the earth itself, he endures

Steve Troy calls This Immortal a "lighthearted romp." And it is. This in no way detracts from the seriousness of Zelazny's themes or nor does it reduce the effectiveness of his presentation. It does make the story more enjoyable. The twists and rescues do not merely heighten suspense and grip the reader. They also provide the framework for the irony and symbolism that carry Zelazny's themes of returning from the brink and of recovering from destruction.

QUOTES

My thinking is usually pretty good, but I seem to do it after I do my talking-- by which time I've generally destroyed all basis for further conversaton.

If heaven didn't want me then, I'm not going to ask a second time.

Vocabulary

adytum- "1 the innermost room or shrine in certain old temples, to be entered only by priests 2 a sanctum" (Excerpted from Compton's Reference Collection 1996 copyright (c) 1995 Compton's NewMedia, Inc.)

bouzouki-"a stringed musical instrument of Greece, somewhat like a mandolin, used to accompany folk dances and singers" (Excerpted from Compton's Reference Collection 1996 Copyright (c) 1995 Compton's NewMedia, Inc.)

cadge- "to beg or get by begging; sponge" (Excerpted from Compton's Reference Collection 1996 Copyright (c) 1995 Compton's NewMedia, Inc.)

caique- 1. a light skiff used on the Bosporus 2. a Levantine sailing vessel(Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

Cassandra- Conrad's new wife. According to  Bulfinch's Mythology, "Queen Hecuba and her daughter Cassandra were carried captives to Greece. Cassandra had been loved by Apollo, and he gave her the gift of prophecy; but afterwards offended with her, he rendered the gift unavailing by ordaining that her predictions should never be believed." In This Immortal, Conrad disbelieves both Cassandra's accurate warnings of danger and her later prediction that things will go well.

chthonic- "1.designating or of the underworld of the dead and its gods or spirits 2.dark, primitive, and mysterious" (Excerpted from Compton's Reference Collection 1996 Copyright (c) 1995 Compton's NewMedia, Inc.)

felucca- "a small, narrow ship propelled by oars or lateen sails and used esp. in the Mediterranean" (Excerpted from Compton's Reference Collection 1996 Copyright (c) 1995 Compton's NewMedia, Inc.)

galabieh-"(variant of djellaba)-a long, loose outer garment worn in Arabic countries"(Excerpted from Compton's Reference Collection 1996 Copyright (c) 1995 Compton's NewMedia, Inc.)

Kouretes- "returns this line from the play The Bacchae by Euripides:" 'O secret chamber of the Kouretes and you holy Cretan caves, parents to Zeus, where the Korybantes with triple helmet invented for me in their caves this circle..." That is because the Curetes (the more common spelling) were spirits on the island of Crete who protected the newly born god Zeus when his mother Rhea hid him from his father Cronos, who would otherwise have eaten the baby. The Curetes danced around banging spears on shields to make a clattering din to drown out Zeus's cries.'" (email post from Joel Skidmore.webmaster@muwekma.org.98-06-30 21:11:42 EDT)  ouzo- "a colorless Greek liqueur flavored with aniseed" (Excerpted from Compton's Reference Collection 1996 Copyright (c) 1995 Compton's NewMedia, Inc.)

Ozymandias- "Here are two verses from the poem Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822):

'I met a traveler from an antique land

Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,

Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read."

... "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:

Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,

The lone and level sands stretch far away.'"

(email post from Joel Skidmore.webmaster@muwekma.org.98-06-30 21:11:42 EDT)

Piraeus- "seaport in SE Greece, on the Saronic Gulf: part of Athens' metropolitan area: pop. 184,000: ModGr name PEIRAIEVS" (Excerpted from Compton's Reference Collection 1996 Copyright (c) 1995 Compton's NewMedia, Inc.)

 Satyr- "The Satyrs were deities of the woods and fields. They were conceived to be covered with bristly hair, their heads decorated with short, sprouting horns, and their feet like goats' feet." (Bulfinch's Mythology)

Skinner boxes- "an enclosure in which small animals, as rats or pigeons, are conditioned by rewards and punishments to perform certain acts in response to specific stimuli" (Excerpted from Compton's Reference Collection 1996 Copyright (c) 1995 Compton's NewMedia, Inc.)

steatopygiac- "having "a heavy deposit of fat in the buttocks or thigh"(Excerpted from Compton's Reference Collection 1996 Copyright (c) 1995 Compton's NewMedia, Inc.)

syrinx- "pipes of Pan", upon which he plays. See:Syrinx; Encyclopedia Mythica for more information.

Thespis- "Gr. poet: traditionally the originator of Gr. tragedy" (Excerpted from Compton's Reference Collection 1996 Copyright (c) 1995 Compton's NewMedia, Inc.)

Characters

Bortran- Conrad's dog

Conrad- hero of the story, "Director of Arts, Monuments, and Archives," Radpol founder, and kallikanzaros

Cort Myshtigo- a wealthy Vegan journalist who wishes to write a book about earth

Dos Santos- hates Vegans, husband of "red wig"

Diane- the girl with the red wig, hates everyone, disfigured by a Vegan disease Radpol member

Dos Santos- hates Vegans, husband of "red wig" Radpol member

Ellen- George's wife, wants to go to Taler, freind of Conrad

George- scientist, entomologist, freind of Conrad wants to poison the spiderbats

Jason- Conrad's son

Hasan- Mercenary hired as Cort's bodyguard

Lorel Sands- earth director appointed by Earth Government onTaler, Conrad's boss and freind

Phil- poet laureate of earth, freind of Conrad

Procrustes- War Chief of the Kouretes  (from Procustes in Myth)

My content creative commons attribution required share alike

image from ISFDB under fair use

[ayellowbirds]

Keshet Rewatches All of Scooby-Doo, Pt. 26: “The Dynamic Scooby-Doo Affair”

("The New Scooby-Doo Movies", Season 1 Episode 2. Original Airdate: 9/16/1972)

AKA, "Bat-Milk? BAT-MILK?"

While this episode was broadcast and released on video with the title above, surviving storyboards show that the title was intended to be spelled as “The Dynamic Scooby-Duo Affair”, making the wordplay clearer.

As the episode begins, the Mystery Machine hits a bump in the road and the lights go out. While Fred attempts a repair, Daphne worries about reaching their destination.

Yes, it’s the first formal recognition of the gang as anything more than a bunch of friends who do this on the side. While we don’t see anything of the Mystery Club convention itself, the idea that the kids were headed to one suggests that their amateur sleuthing has gone from something they fall into by accident as a result of running into mysteries wherever they go, and into the realm of a lifelong obsession. They’re not “Mystery Inc” just yet, but they’re close.

While Fred promises he can repair the Mystery Machine without losing time, Scooby and Shaggy hear something frightening... ominous music! No, really, the sound editing in this scene is terrible, and the music that cuts in almost completely drowns out the sound of an approaching airplane, flying so low over the road that it comes within mere feet of the roof of the van.

Investigating reveals that the plane has landed without lights in the middle of the night, and two men drive out of it in a jeep loaded down with an enormous wooden crate. The gang take a shortcut, and find that the crate has been dropped off at an abandoned-looking old house, where it’s been nailed down to the floor with leather straps. In fact, as the gang try to hide from a sudden sound of someone approaching, they find that everything is nailed down.

But they have no reason to fear those who enter the house:

Because it’s the guileless, friendly and gentle-mannered Seventies Batman who enters, along with the Boy Wonder. In spite of the gang’s incredibly suspicious appearance, a bat-shaped transitional wipe is all it takes for Batman to explain that he and Robin were on patrol—bat-patrol—in nearby Gotham City (the location of the Mystery Club convention? It would be appropriate), when they were alerted to the unlit aircraft and suspected smugglers. It’s the second episode in a row to suggest a specific location for the events, placing most of the episode in and near Gotham. 

Just as they’re about to investigate the crate, someone comes out from upstairs.

Attentive viewers will have most of the mystery solved by noticing this suspicious character’s first appearance as a hooded figure, though as she lights her lamp, she’s revealed as a little old lady, Mrs. Baker.

Baker claims to have never seen the crate before—figuring that, like the gang, someone assumed her house was abandoned due to its condition—and even reacts to Batman and Robin like they were ordinary strangers in need of assistance, rather than colorfully costumed crime-fighters. This would be suspicious enough, but like i said, 70s TV Batman is guileless. He suspects nothing and has a kind word for almost everyone.

The contents of the crate are revealed as a stand-up “punch clown”, one of those inflatable bottom-heavy types designed to keep bouncing back as you bop it. Batman hurls the clown away, and then slaps his hands on his waist in a brave and bold pose. “An amusing toy,” he declares. If this show was a bit more clever, I’d say he was covering for freaking out at the sight of a clown.

Scooby plays a bit with the doll, but one particularly solid swing knocks its noggin right off, revealing that it’s not full of air... it’s stuffed with money! Batman picks up a bill. “Just as I suspected,” he declares. “Counterfeit. A masterpiece of duplication, except for one tiny slip-up.”

It’s an artistic error almost as embarrassing as Batman’s hands suddenly having no gloves. And Batman should know. He’s fought alongside Lincoln.

In spite of having faced counterfeiters before, the gang are astonished at the idea of phony money, and join Batman in the search for the culprits as Mrs. Baker tells them that the jeep’s tire tracks must lead back to a nearby auto junkyard—next to the old cemetery, of course. Baker claims people fear that human ghosts haunt the "auto graveyard” as a result.

The problem with this scenario is that they saw the plane leave, and had no reason to suspect that the jeep wasn’t loaded back onto it. Even so, they find it almost right away at the junkyard, and start looking for the driver. As the gang and the Dynamic Duo split up and start looking around, the poor nighttime lighting leads to lots of mistaken identity antics involving a cloaked figure that is quite obviously Mrs. Baker again. Some differences in the design of her cloak and robe don’t obscure that it’s in the same colors as before... 

...which seems to be another error, because Shaggy refers to this “sneaky little” figure as wearing a black hood. Batman winds up saving Shaggy and Scooby from being compacted along with a car, and Fred attempts to wrestle the cloaked figure away from the controls of the crane that dropped them there, but winds up wearing a mask like the one under the hood, and he’s mistaken for the culprit himself.

Now that Fred knows how it feels to have a mask abruptly pulled from one’s head, will he be more understanding and cautious when unmasking "monsters”? Unlikely, considering he eventually winds up pulling a zombie’s head right off its neck.

When the gang go back to check Mrs. Baker’s house, the entire building has vanished. Fred and Velma are certain that they’re looking at the right location, but it’s just an empty field with some trees. Well, that’s what we’re supposed to see, but the view never pans beyond the gang looking at the scene. It’s not until much later that we actually see what this scene was supposed to so dramatically convey. 

Batman, the Dark Knight Detective, has one guess as to what’s happened:

That’s right, Batman’s first guess is that there never was a house, nor a Mrs. Baker. Instead, they were all mesmerized to think they had entered a nonexistent building and interacted with a woman who wasn’t there. The only problem with that notion is that the Batmobile is gone, too. 

Batman quietly retires his hypothesis.

Fortunately, the Batmobile has a tracker! The gang offer to be blindfolded while Batman and Robin drive the Mystery Machine to the Batcave to check the Bat-Computer, and because a trend has been established, Batman offers a hungry Shaggy a snack of Bat-Milk and cookies.

Yes, Bat-Milk.

And cookies.

Scooby eats the whole thing and slurps down Shaggy’s milk when he’s not looking. A loyal canine friend.

The Batmobile is tracked to the Gotham City Amusement Park, stopped right in front of a building dedicated to Batman and Robin. The Dynamic Duo conclude that the thief is disposing of the Batmobile there so it could be mistaken as part of the exhibits, hiding it in plain sight.

The car is just fine, parked right in front of the exhibition building, and Shaggy and Scooby offer to sit and wait—and play at being Batman and Robin themselves—in the car while the others look for clues. Which is fortunate, because it lets them spot the carjackers in the attraction across the way.

Fred figures the punch clown is “practically the Joker’s calling card,” and it seems like the case is solved. It’s now up to just Batman and Robin to take down these dangerous criminals, while the gang wait safely outside. What follows is a series of antics as the two villains manipulate their amusement park Haunted House hideout from its control room, trading quips and barbs with each other. A sampling:

Erase your doubts, my web-footed friend.

Why the raucous outburst of mirth, you babbling buffoon?

My fine feathered friend, I shall achieve my goal with a white-sheeted ghoul.

Now, Pengy-wengy....

...my rakish rogue.

Zoinks it, this episode is making me ship the Joker and the Penguin.

Batman and Robin don’t fall for any of the sound effects ("recorded on tape by talented, professional thespians”, Batman insists) or the Joker’s “ghoul” (“nothing more than an ordinary bed sheet, and a cheap one, at that”), but the Joker manages to bait them into a deep pit simply by broadcasting his voice to make it sound like it came from behind a trap door. When the gang move in to see what’s keeping Batman and Robin, the crooks turn their attention to them, instead.

It’s the second episode in a row with scenes in an amusement park, and shockingly, it’s the first of the two to actually make use of that. Antics ensue, but not before Shaggy has a moment of clarity, wondering how it is that Scooby gets the reward of Scooby Snacks while he has to deal with the spooky situations alongside him, with no compensation.

Scooby has a simple answer, gesturing to his brains.

I’m astonished this didn’t become a meme.

The Hanna-Barbera laugh tracks start to wear really thin during these "funhouse” scenes, often playing in scenes with no apparent joke except “the boys are scared by a legitimately dangerous, scary situation”.

Eventually, the criminals resort to dressing up in skeleton costumes to frighten the gang off. Because, you know, being notorious criminals wanted for violent acts wasn’t enough, they had to put on bargain store Halloween costumes.

Astonishingly ,everyone except Fred buys into it, and the gang flee for a solid few seconds before Scooby abruptly stops, turns around, and starts talking about “DELICIOUS-LOOKING BONES!”

The horrifyingly hungry hound manages to chase the Joker and the Penguin right into the pit where they trapped Batman and Robin, and the crooks are caught. The Joker’s wordplay throughout this is actually decently clever, something you don’t see in later incarnations, and the Penguin has a habit of alliteration that makes his lines pleasing to the ear. They wind up being the most enjoyable villains so far...

But they’re not the final culprits. Someone called them anonymously and arranged for real cash payment in exchange for the punch clowns. They know nothing about the vanishing house, and don’t seem to care who has been funneling counterfeit cash to them.

Batman and Robin open the front door to reveal a pair of Gotham City detectives. “Gentlemen, you may take them away!”

So, the Joker and Penguin start to drag off the detectives.

No wonder this city needs superheroes.

Everyone’s worried about Mrs. Baker, “that poor, sweet old lady”. But the gang and Dynamic Duo realize there’s probably a reason that the house’s contents were nailed to the floor—one that explains its disappearing act, as well as the fact that the house has reappeared when they return to where it was last seen.

Once again, Scooby and Shaggy remain with the cars while the others investigate inside. But when a rabbit darts out from the underbrush, Scooby is spooked up a tree and onto a branch, which judders down under his weight, revealing...

A sequence ensues where the entire house rotates upside-down, revealing an alternate empty field and bringing the building into an enormous cavern, while the boys fuss with the branch-switch to try to get the house upright, and Batman and Robin work an alternate switch to bring it back around again.

In the tunnels of the cave, Batman spots the purple-cloaked crook, and the heroes give chase, finding their way up and out into a crate-filled warehouse loaded with all kinds of toys—tying back into the punching clown gimmick of the counterfeiting operation and allowing for even more chase antics in a gag-filled setting.

At one point, Scooby crashes into a stack of boxes, and the villain pops up out of one—running in place in mid-air before dashing out of view across the screen, without ever landing on the ground. It’s kind of jarring, and makes me realize that that’s the sort of visual gag usually reserved for the good guys. It’s also really poorly timed.

Exactly where this warehouse is located relative to any of the rest of the setting is really unclear. Is it underground? A short distance from Mrs. Baker’s house, previously unseen and perhaps near the auto junkyard?

And how does the villain manage to ride a unicycle at speed while wearing a full-length robe and cloak? 

After a lot of chasing—for once, mostly involving the costumed villain being chased, rather than menacing the gang—Scooby manages to knock the crook into the Dynamic Duo’s hands.

The scene cuts to the field above, the mastermind in Batman and Robin’s grip and the gang ready for this all to end.

“Before the cops come take him away, make him tell us what happened to Mrs. Baker,” Fred demands.

“Yes, that dear, sweet old lady,” Daphne agrees.

Velma opines, “The poor woman was just an innocent bystander in all this. She simply vanished.”

Batman turns, waiting. “Well?”

“You fools, Mrs. Baker didn’t vanish! She’s been here all this time.” the villain growls, ripping off the cloak and mask. To the shock of no-one who can perceive the color purple, it’s Mrs. Baker.

Naturally, the gang, Batman, and Robin are all blown away by this.

YOU.

ARE.

DEFECTIVE DETECTIVES.

Mrs. Baker has been running a counterfeiting operation out of her complex system of a disappearing house and secret tunnel for who-knows how long, with this possibly being just the first time she’s been caught at it.

Yeah, a dear, sweet old lady.

Who tried to crush Scooby and Shaggy in a car compactor near the beginning of the episode, and led the gang into the hands of two of Gotham’s most notorious criminal masterminds.

Scooby is ultimately responsible for capturing all the criminals of this episode, and for once, without fouling up a trap or anything, having boldly given chase and forced the crooks into Batman and Robin’s arms. Now, Batman has no Scooby Snacks to offer this uncharacteristically brave canine...

Boy, yeah, that looks appetizing. You feed Ace those, Bruce?

(like what i’m doing here? It’s not what pays the bills, so i’d really appreciate it if you could send me a bit at my paypal.me or via my ko-fi. Click here to see more entries in this series of posts, or here to go in chronological order)