#1. For his genuine appreciation and love towards the fanbase

[saltpepperbeard]

“This is a very popular question, and I want to know this too. David, what, in your opinion, is the worst thing about cats?” [x] (big thanks, @beardedblack​!)

BONUS:

[shihalyfie]

Hi! I love your write-ups! It genuinely helped me appreciate 02 so much more (it was already a favourite of mine but now I know it's more than just nostalgia) That said I want to ask if you can explain why the fanbase likes to glorify Takeru and Hikari so much? As in saying Takeru deserves to be the leader more than Daisuke, or that Takeru and Hikari should have jogressed instead of what we got, or even depicting that the two weren't that close to the new Chosen Children in some fics

Hello! Thank you so much for the kind words! I'm always glad to hear that I've gotten someone to appreciate 02 more. In regards to your question, this is a bit of a multilayered issue that has reasons that vary from benign to insidious (for lack of a better way to put it), so I'm going to go through some of the reasons I can think of.

Firstly, it is true that Takeru and Hikari are in a bit of a special position in that they're the only kids to be both Adventure and 02 kids, and that knowledge/experience gap does inform a bit of their behavior towards the others, especially in the first half of 02. The two did have a tendency to kind of go off and do their own thing without being completely straightforward to the others about what they were doing (most notably in episodes like 13, 17, 22, 24, and 30). On top of that, the series did initially seem to depict Takeru and Hikari as close to each other all the time, and Miyako and Iori were one of the first relationships showcased in the series -- so it's easy to fall into a line of thinking that those should have been the natural Jogress pairs, and that Miyako and Hikari got forced because they're girls and Takeru and Iori are "spares". This especially happens a lot with people who are more casual watchers of 02, because you have to read more between the lines to figure out that Jogress isn’t about pre-existing relationships, but about addressing what the other party needs the most and actively working for it. In actuality, Takeru and Hikari mostly dropped the habit of walking off on the other 02 kids once Iori and Miyako started reaching out to them, but you might not notice this unless you’re counting episodes, and it’s not like they don’t clearly still have a particularly good relationship with each other even after that.

Secondly, in regards to Daisuke, unfortunately, he carries a lot of fanbase stigma because 1) his American English dub characterization singlehandedly ruined him for a lot of people and 2) even that aside, because he’s characterized as someone with a very simple pattern of thinking and simple needs, a lot of the fanbase (possibly even a majority of it) still claims he never got character development or depth whatsoever. (In actuality, I find him to be one of the most multilayered members of the entire cast.) The end result is that a lot of people consider Daisuke to be a reckless idiot who only got the leader position because of shounen character archetype benefits. By this logic, Takeru, who has experience from the previous adventure in 1999 and is more level-headed, should have been the leader instead. In practice, though, the series makes it clear that Daisuke’s forward-thinking attitude is what pushes everyone forward (I would argue that he’s not actually the leader, but in the sense that the 02 group doesn’t really have one), and if you ask me, I personally think having Takeru as the leader in the first half of 02 would have likely ended badly; he may seem level-headed, but he was (usually) non-confrontational and prone to dodging emotionally uncomfortable subjects to the point I feel the position might have overwhelmed him.

Thirdly, a lot of Adventure fans who like Takeru and Hikari often don’t actually like 02 very much. Even if they don’t fully despise it, there’s a certain camp of Adventure diehards that kind of “tolerates” 02 as a weird sequel that’s mainly just useful for seeing more of the Adventure kids (and while most Takeru/Hikari shippers are usually 02 fans, there’s still a group that tolerates 02 as “the series where they became shippable age” and functionally only cares about Adventure in practice). One easy way to tell if someone is in this camp is that if you float to them the idea that Takeru and Hikari are actually closer to the other 02 kids than they are their Adventure seniors, most people who are reasonably invested in both series will at least be willing to consider it, but to that particular set of Adventure diehards that only tolerates 02 in practice, they’ll act like you just said a heathen statement (mostly because you’re threatening the romantic image of the “Adventure eight” in favor of the sequel characters they don’t care for as much). As I said above, it’s already easy to get the idea there’s a mild barrier between the two of them and the rest even just by being a casual viewer, but this camp loves to completely latch onto this and exaggerate it to the point of claiming that they were never that close to the others at all (even though 02 itself blatantly shows otherwise), and that they were tolerating the other four as much as they themselves are tolerating 02.

In regards to that last point, I do think tri. exacerbated the situation as well. I’m willing to believe that the tri. staff didn’t actively intend to make their series be inherently anti-02, but it is true that anti-02 Adventure fans were extremely validated by the franchise treating it like it was ignorable, and also latched onto Takeru and Hikari’s flippant behavior towards the concept of the other four as proof that this was the way it was the whole time. It was really not a fun time to be a 02 fan between 2014 and 2019, because it felt like you were basically being gaslighted into believing 02 didn’t exist the way you remembered it. On the flip side, I’ve spoken to multiple 02 fans who, despite knowing consciously that 02 didn’t portray them that way, still viscerally felt something akin to a backstab at the sight of Takeru and Hikari treating the others like that on screen, and thus couldn’t shake very mixed feelings towards them afterwards. The end result was that this supposed rift started showing up with unusual frequency in fanwork, both from the ends of anti-02 fans making fanwork that portrayed the rift as if it’d always been there, and from 02 fans with mixed feelings on the entire situation putting out work with unusual extra emphasis on the quartet (in a sort of “defiant overcompensation” for their treatment in tri.) in ways that often omitted Takeru and Hikari more often than they would have been otherwise.

Even I have to personally admit that, while I’d rewatched 02 in mid-2020 and confirmed definitively for myself that they were portrayed as close with the others, the fallout from tri. meant I was still personally grappling with an indescribable mixed feeling regarding Takeru and Hikari’s place in the group, one that wasn't fully cleared until the Kizuna drama CD was released later that year (Kizuna itself focused on the quartet for similar obvious “overcompensation” reasons, so it wasn’t until the drama CD that we got an explicit, open portrayal of them as a close six-way group). That drama CD slammed its foot down on the idea that yes, all six of them are close, and this is not up for debate. I've also spoken with someone who was a hardcore Takeru/Daisuke shipper, fell out with the ship after feeling tri. had poisoned it for them, and got really back into it once Kizuna started portraying them normally again. So I’m hoping that this part of the issue can clear up a little with Kizuna and The Beginning, because although I do still see the occasional person insisting that they weren’t/aren’t close, it’s much harder to make that argument when newer material is so obviously showing otherwise.

[crusherthedoctor]

Can you list anything you unironically like in the games (and cartoons and comics) that you don't like?

I won't bother mentioning music, since that goes without saying and is to be expected for a Sonic game... unless you're Chronicles.

Sonic Adventure 2 (mixed gameplay-wise, annoying story-wise) - While I prefer Sonic's SA1 levels for a number of reasons, I still think his and Shadow's gameplay in SA2 is fun on its own merit. I also don't mind the treasure hunting gameplay returning or how big the levels are this time around, since Knuckles and Rouge are still fast and not '06 levels of slow. It's mainly the gimped radar that creates the unfortunate domino effect of making them a problem.

- Introduced Rouge, one of my favourite characters for how playful she is and how she's a lot more nuanced and intelligent than you'd expect.

- Some genuinely good scenes, like Eggman's trap on the A.R.K and Sonic escaping from the G.U.N. helicopter.

- Had some good ideas going for it, like the Pyramid Base and the Biolizard as a scientific monster instead of an ancient one.

- Despite my thoughts on the backstory itself (or rather, its execution), Shadow has enough depth and subtle qualities and occasional unintended hilarity to stand out from the typical dark rival characters you see in media.

- The Last Scene's music in particular is one of my favourite cutscene tracks in the series.

Sonic Heroes (mixed gameplay-wise, loathed story-wise) - The gameplay is fun when you're not being screwed over by repetitive combat, overly long levels and/or ice physics.

- Boasts some of the most consistently Genesis-worthy environments in the 3D games, up there with SA1's and Colours'.

- The in-game dialogue that isn't the same tutorial drivel repeated ad nauseam can be interesting, funny, etc.

- Reintroduced the Chaotix, which provided me with another character I quite like in the form of Vector.

- Bringing Metal Sonic back in full force and front and center in the plot after a long absence (not counting cameos and the like) is a perfectly fine idea. Just... not like this.

Sonic Battle (decent yet repetitive gameplay, mixed story-wise) - Emerl's arc is compelling, and it earns the emotional weight of having to put him down at the end.

- While some characters are iffy (read: Amy), other characters are extremely well-handled. Shadow is probably the prime example.

- Gamma's belly dance healing animation is fucking hilarious.

- When I was young, and the game was first announced, I was really excited about being able to play as Chaos. This proved to be my downfall when it turned out he was arguably one of the worst characters in the game due to being slower than me during the writing process, but I still recall that excitement fondly.

Shadow the Hedgehog (comedy classic) - The sheer amount of legendary stupidity this game has going for it makes it practically impossible to actually hate. It helps that it's not quite as white-knighted on the same level as '06... usually. You know you're in for a unique experience when you hear a gunshot every time you click something in the menu.

- By extension, Black Doom never gained an unironic fanbase like Mephiles/Scourge/Eggman Nega did, which means I'm a lot more willing to take Doom's dumbass brand of villainy in stride. He even has a unique design... a terrible one that rips off Wizeman granted, but alas, even that is a step-up from Fridge Shadow and Bumblebee Eggman.

- Despite being... well, Shadow the Hedgehog, some of the environments would fit right in with any other Sonic game, like with Circus Park, Lava Shelter, and Digital Circuit. Even the Black Comet levels look pretty cool.

- This game understands amnesia better than IDW does.

Sonic '06 (what do you think?) - The obvious one: Shadow's character was handled pretty well, even if it came at the cost of everyone else being a dummy and being forced to interact with Mephiles.

- Like SA2, there are some good moments, like the Last Story ending sequence with Sonic and Elise.

- In the greatest form of irony ever, I like Solaris as a concept and design(s), and its backstory has potential to serve as a parallel with Chaos without being a complete ripoff. Iblis sucks, Mephiles sucks, but I'm fine with Solaris.

- Introduced legendary characters like Sonic Man, Pele the Beloved Dog, Hatsun the Pigeon, and Pacha from The Emperor's New Groove.

The Rivals duology (apathetic outside of Nega-related grumbling) - There were some cool zone ideas in both games that were sadly let down by the restrictive and limiting gameplay. I particularly like Colosseum Highway for thus far being the only full-on Roman level in the series instead of merely having a couple minor hints of Roman, and Meteor Base for the unique scenario of the space station being built into an asteroid. These level concepts and others deserve a second chance IMO. (At least Frontier Canyon got a second chance in the form of Mirage Saloon, amirite?)

- Ifrit has a better design than Iblis. Not saying it's amazing, but the Firebird motif it has going on is a lot more interesting for a fire monster than the Not-Chaos schtick they had with Iblis.

Sonic and the Secret Rings (a very frustrating gaming experience) - Erazor Djinn, A.K.A. Qui-Gon Djinn, A.K.A. Dr. N. Djinn, A.K.A. I'll Take It On The Djinn, A.K.A. Not From The Hairs On My Djinny Djinn Djinn, is one of the best villains not associated with Eggman in the series. He's a Mephiles-type character done right, and there's actual weight and reason to his actions, however sinister or petty.

- I don't have strong opinions either way on Shahra as a character, but the Sonic/Shahra friendship is sweet and well-handled.

- The ending is one of Sonic's greatest moments. The sheer contrast between how ruthlessly he deals with Erazor and how comforting he is towards Shahra speaks volumes... Still gonna make fun of the mountain of handkerchiefs though. (Before anyone lectures me, I understand the significance of it and can even appreciate it from that angle... doesn't mean I'm not allowed to poke fun at it. :P)

- Another game with some redeeming environments. I love the aesthetic of Night Palace, and Sand Oasis looks gorgeous too.

Sonic Chronicles (my personal least favourite game in the series) - Uh...

- Um...

- Er...

- I like Shade's design?

Sonic Unleashed (overrated game and story IMO) - The obvious two: the opening sequence and the Egg Dragoon fight deserve all the praise they get.

- Seeing Eggmanland come to life was an impressive moment to be sure. While part of me does feel it didn't quite measure up to what I had in mind (ironically, the Interstellar Amusement Park ended up being closer to what I had in mind), it still looks badass and works well for what it is. I also don't mind the idea of it being a one-level gauntlet... key word being idea.

- Obviously, the game looks great. Not a fan of the real world focus (real world inspiration is fine, but copy-pasting the real world and shoving loops in it is just unimaginative), but it can't be denied that the environments look good.

- This game pulled off dialogue options a lot better than Chronicles did, since they didn't rely on making Sonic OoC.

Sonic and the Black Knight (just kind of boring all around) - Despite my gripes with the story (Merlina wasn't nearly as fleshed out as her unique anti-villain status deserved, which ends up severely undermining the ambition of the plot in more ways than one, and the other characters go from being useless yes men for King Arthur to being useless yes men for Sonic), I will admit it provides interesting insight into Sonic's character.

- Like '06 and Secret Rings, the ending is very nice... well, aside from Amy being an unreasonable bitch ala Sonic X at the very end.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 (apathetic) - The admittedly few new concepts sprinkled within had promise. They may not have been as fleshed out as they could have been, but level concepts like Sylvania Castle and White Park, bosses like Egg Serpentleaf and the Egg Heart, and story beats like the Death Egg mk.II being powered by Little Planet, all could have been brilliant had they been better executed.

SatAM (apathetic outside of SatAM Robotnik-related grumbling) - I'm not a fan of the environments on the whole due to them looking too bland or samey, but there are some exceptions that look pleasant or interesting, like the Void.

Sonic Underground (apathetic) - The character designs make me feel better about myself.

- Does "large quantities of unintentional meme material" count as a positive?

Sonic X (mostly apathetic outside of Eggman's handling) - Helen was a better human character and audience surrogate in her one focus episode than Chris was throughout his entire runtime.

- Actually, most of the human characters not named Chris were legitimately likable. Including everyone in Chris' own family not named Chris. Hilarious.

- Despite arguably having the most Chris in it, I actually don't mind the first season that much, partly due to slight nostalgia from seeing it on TV when it was new, but mostly because Eggman actually acted like a villain for the most part, and certain other characters weren't quite as flanderized yet. It's season 2 and onwards where things started going off the rails IMO. (Incidentally, Helen's episode was part of season 1...)

The Boom franchise (apathetic) - Along with Chronicles, the games provide yet more proof that just because someone isn't SEGA/Sonic Team, that doesn't mean they're automatically more qualified to handle the series.

- The show had some good episodes here and there, and Tails' characterization was probably the most consistently on-point out of the cast.

- Despite not exactly being favourite portrayals for either character, even I'll admit that many of Knuckles and Eggman's lines in the show on their own were genuinely funny.

Archie Sonic (pre-reboot is mostly terrible, post-reboot is mostly... bland) - Whenever I doubt myself as a writer, I think back to Ken Penders, and suddenly I'm filled with a lot more confidence.

Sonic the Comic (apathetic) - Fleetway isn't a comic I tend to recall much of aside from how much of a loathesome cunt Sonic is, but IIRC, Robotnik's portrayal is pretty good. Different, but good.

IDW Sonic (stop pissing me off, comic) - Putting their handling aside (and being too obviously "inspired" by MGS in the latter's case), Tangle and Whisper are good characters IMO.

- Same goes for Starline, before he was killed off-screen and replaced with Toothpaste Snively.

- Execution aside (noticing a pattern?), the zombot virus was a fine concept on its own and an interesting new scheme for Eggman.

- I get to remind myself that I've never drawn scat edits and posted them publicly on Twitter.

[thirsthourdemon]

Headcanon on their online platforms but mainly on Twitch, onlyfans stuff, patreon, tumblr

Includes: Demon bros + undateablesss

Genre: Crack, Fluff and slight smut

Warnings: NSFW mentions

||Lucifer

-He didn’t have a big online presence because he was active, no no

-He had an online presence cause everyone always sees him on Diavolo s pictures and such so for a time they shared an audience

-One time Diavolo and Barbatos were doing a thing where they read a book aloud for some sort of game

-Diavolo kind of recorded that for a little bit

-ASMR I TELL YOU

-People liked it so much they suggested for “the one with the deep cold voice”, luci, to do asmr on youtube or something

-He doesn’t know what an Onlyfans is however he does have a patreon.

-Diavolo was interested in the idea and discussed it with him

-HE BLEW UP CAUSE EVERYONE WAS FREAKING OUT OVER HOW AMAZING HIS VOICE WAS OF COURSE! 😡

-His fandom consists of either people who are interested in what he reads or...Horny people who get off at how proper and low his voice is

-His profile picture is a picture of him with his head cropped out where he’s fixing his gloves

-Luci isnt like super famous but he has a loyal fanbase that appreciates him a lot also lots of simps with daddy issues

-He was confused as to why someone would ask him to be their father

-He gets the daddy kink but why???

-Last post: A picture MC took where he’s holding a whip cause mammon fucked something up 🙂

||Mammon

-Bold of us to assume he didn’t already have one

-You already know why he’s on here.

-He has random content but he mainly got his audience since he kind of tried modeling thing for a while. It was for a big brand on their new jock type jackets

-Mammon really wanted cash at that time and he got the thing over and done with making him a couple more grims richer

-The photographers told him they could transfer the pictures though! So he just saved his pictures because “Who wouldn’t want a picture of THE mammon?”

-That gave him the idea

-His audience? Whoreknee

-They even accept the fact that his captions for some pictures are “You should be honored you get pictures of me”

-He posts that with a blushing face half of the time HAHAHAHA

-Levi found it and just laughed at the pictures

-Surprisingly enough the pictures were actually well taken because MC was forced into em

-His most popular picture was the one with him was actually a picture that the brothers took of him tucking in what appeared to be goldie on a seperate MINI BED WITH A SMALL TOY LAMP BESIDE IT

-He did a QnA for his followers to celebrate on his instagram

-PFFTT He got so many questions about Goldie

-Was dubbed “Goldie’s Daddy” after that

-Last post: A picture of him wearing the new Luxury brand jacket he got and his keys in front of his car with the caption “Daddy’s going for a ride”

||Leviathan

-I’ve always head canon that Levi knows how to draw digital emotes. Like he just picked it up cause he wanted to make fanart of him in henry together 😔

-Also has a red bubble or an etsy where he sells some prints and stickers of fanart 👀

-He went on twitch since there were so many TSL streamers there who just played games while they discussed theories as well

-Levi is an emote artist and while he draws he sometimes just discusses the theories with his fellow Yucky Otakus

-He’s the type to really interact with everyone even though he barely does that in real life

-Sometimes though when he gets packages that fans sent or ones that he ordered he’d stream unboxing them.

-He hates showing his face? Oh dont worry He’s wearing a facemask and all that

-His fandom is genuinely into him. Like they actually like him as a person but kinda once got into a scandal on gatekeeping

-He took a break for a bit but he kind of said sorry and everyone just forgave him because he isn’t really the type to do drama and it was just that one instance-

-Overall loved by the community due to how chill he is and how invested he is on fan theories

-He has a twitter btw and lemme tell you it’s just threads and threads of discussions

-Whenever he does stream unboxing videos though and he shows his shelves everyone freaks out how he has EVERY FUCKING VOLUME OF EVERY ANIME AND GAME

-People sometimes ask him personal questions and he tries his best to try to answer them but he shows a face where he looks uncomfy

-Everyone just bullies anyone who makes him uncomfy giving his fanbase a very protective reputation

-Last post: “Unboxing fanmail L8er @ 10pm LOL CYA GUYS XD”

||Satan

-He has a tumblr. You cant tell me he doesn’t have one.

-He had tumblr like back in the old day though like when porn was still available here.

-Get this...He’s known all through out the academia blogs. He INVENTED Academia

-Satan has 1 blog and that’s it. It’s his main blog and he just posts pictures of the book cover and does essays, reviews or sometimes he writes the ending he wanted to happen.

-Dont get me wrong he has a patreon but only because people loved getting more exclusive takes of stuff like his book notes on certain pages or sometimes his notes and thoughts on Artistic Erotica

-Probably has a Ko-Fi because he though he needed it after most of the blogs he followed had it

-He thinks it should be “Table of Content” and not “Masterlist” so he uses just that

-Profile picture is him wearing his signature washed out green grandma sweater while he has a book in hand and a cup of earl grey on his table

-People go to him falling in love with his aesthetic and Book reviews but they stay in love with him because he is big on one on one discussions actually

-He goes for one on one voice calls where he just...He talks to you about any book of your choosing

-Fans send him tea but he knows better than to eat something a stranger gives so he makes beel take a taste first sometimes but ultimately scolds the boy when he takes too much

-He wasn’t supposed to have merch but everyone liked the idea of small packages (More like letters) that really do look old and vintage

-He usually only give those to the people who pay for the top tier stuff

-It usually contains 1 type of tea, a letter he wrote for them himself and a bookmark with his name stamped on it

-He got the stamp custom made ❤️

-Last post: (Insert 5k word essay)

This is what I thought of Edgar Allan Poe’s “A cask of Amatillado”

Playlist: (Insert soft classic Music playlist on Spotify)

Tea: Black Currant

||Asmodeus

-ONLY FANS THROUGH AND THROUGH

-Is a brand influencer as well

-The brand ambassador of this pretty well known semi-luxury skin care brand

-His devilgram? Perfectly made by his PR team which is just him and solomon

-Before I move onto the NSFW stuff I want to emphasize how Beautiful his instagram is and his aesthetic

-His aesthetic is romantic/sexual tension/Unparalleled beauty

-Also a make up brand influencer and has his own make up line

-something along the lines of “The Devil’s box of charms 🖤”

-The type to DG live whenever he’s just showing off the make up look he did or the outfit he got

-The house of lamentation may have PR packages stacking up due to how most of them have an online influence but out of 10 boxes 7 of them would be for Asmo

-OKAY NOW ONTO NSFW STUFF

-Lemme tell you this...He has a specific drawer and space in his closet just for the sexy outfits he has.

-The demon’s onlyfans has pictures of him just teasing his audience where he’s wearing a black skintight get up and his bulge is showing

-Nudes are for mid and top tiers

-His fandom loves seeing in stocking and chokers

-“The choker is from etsy and here’s the link to their shop~”

-He doesnt completely show his body but...Him in suggestive clothing gets everyone pre cumming

-His fandom is just filled with simps 😔

-He loves them and blows a kiss towards the camera everytime he ends a live

-Probably has had a scandal or 4

-Posted an Ahegao once and everyone lost it

-Has been the face for Ahegaos ever since

-Belle delphine who?

-Definitely tik tok famous too 😎

-Has memorized all of Doja Cat’s songs

-Last post: “Hope you guys are ready for tonight’s session~ 😈” With a picture of him in an Fuchsia and black themed lingerie set. A collar with a bell on it.

-Bonus: One time Solomon summoned him while he was taking pictures and he was still in his lingerie set. 😛

||Beelzebub

-Was originally inspired by Mukbangs Channels so he did them on youtube too

-You get his Mukbangs on your recommended, You subscribe because of his cute and funny reactions whenever someone in the backgrounds is astounded to how much he’s eating

-Everyone knew beel as a cute guy who just does Mukbangs and loves to eat

-He once did a fridge raid and ended up eating everything in the fridge

-That was THE MOST CHAOTIC VIDEO on his channel cause you can just see luci and MC trying to make him stop

-He eventually got a patreon because mammon told him people will give him more money for food like that and to be honest he made a patreon but mammon takes care of it from time to time

-Oh you knew him as this sweet beautiful boy who just likes eating? hERe HavE sOmE WorKOUt pICs

-His body got everyone thirsty or may I say Starving

-S I M P S everywhere

-His patreon content is just him making small videos eating or pictures of him being all sweaty from the gym 😛💦

-“DADDY BWDONMXMSKC PLEASE FEED US”

-“Eh? You should feed me instead” *opens his mouth*

-Fans send him lots of boxes of weird food to see his reaction sometimes

-Did the fire noodle challenge a bit late but everyone is surprised to how he isn’t giving the reaction like they expected him

-Spice tolerance? Unmatched

-His fandom is either “UwU Beel please eat try this!” Or “Daddy Please FEED US WITH YOUR DELICIOUS THIGHS! 😩🥵💦💦💦”

-He does the service where he sends you his body building pictures except he isn’t sending them, Mammon is.

-Manager Mammon 😎 Gets a half of the profit

-Can I just...BeelProbablyHasnevergottenintoanyscandalbuthasalotofhaterssayingthefansonlylikehimforhishandsomefaceandgreatbodyandnicevoicebutlikewhatiswrongwithlikinghimbecauseofthosethings?Itisntbadtolikethatstuffatall

-Last post: “🍙 Thank you to @(Your Username) for the Onigiri! I finished the whole batch! Please send more food”

||Belphegor

-Sleep Guru

-Im sorry but I cant see him having any other social media aside from tumblr, twitter and Devilgram

-Belphie barely checks his phone but he has tumblr because apparently there’s a thing called the SandMan’s Box Community

-It’s like LootCrate, a subscription service that gives you stuff like Comfy Pillow sheets and tea for better sleeping

-This even gives you something like sleeping masks or ear muffs.

-The community is well...nocturnal

-His ask box is always full of his 100+ mutuals who just discuss stuff with him

-Whenever he actually does try to type online he makes articles about the best sleep positions or stuff like that

-His fandom is just loving mutuals who sleep and take care of each other

-They have a discord server where it just plays soft music to help everyone sleep

-Last post: “Humans aren’t so bad when they’re asleep”

||Luke and Simeon

-He has a big following on twitch where he just bakes sweets in his cute little hat and-

-Clearly you can tell I follow him on twitch

-The type of twitch streamer that no one hates on because why would you? He is literally just baking and cute comments

-Sometimes he streams with Simeon and everyone loves both of them

-When people give money they dont give “money” no no...they call donating headpats

-Luke is just so adorable that everyone just...

-“Angel Lulu’s Protection Squad⭐️”

-He got famous when he...He doesnt want to call it a collab but He made a lot of sweets and gave them to beel so everyone freaked out and thought

-THE SWEET BOY THAT EATS A LOT AND THE ANGELIC CHILD THAT MAKES SWEETS A LOT ARE FRIENDS?!

-He is now pissed that everyone thinks they’re friends 😠

-Basically his fans started making dishes and candy inspired by him

-Sometimes they send it in and Simeon has to confiscate some because

-“Im sorry, guys. You are all really sweet and I know that you mean well but Luke isn’t allowed much sweets yet”

-No one ever EVER lewds luke

-Fortunately Luke’s fandom has the least amount of pedophiles because everyone drives them away the moment they try something

-Whenever luke does fan mail/unboxing videos people just adore how Simeon places a glass of water at the table below the camera and the scissors or cutter he uses is child proof

-Even though Luke is the main person on his account everyone also notices Simeon.

-How couldn’t they? He looked like he wanted to make everyone in the audience live a better life

-Add that with luke’s wholesome baking and BOOM! You are now ready for a better life🌟

-Last post: It’s a picture of Luke shyly showing of his new batch of sun and moon shaped sugar cookies. “Sun and Moon. Tune in later at 3 pm to see how we made these!”

||Solomon

-He barely posts but he helps asmodeus with his stuff

-Too busy with anything else but helps out when things get interesting

-Proposes Ideas for Asmo sometimes when the demon doesn’t know what to wear for a live or a story

-Laughs at Asmo sometimes when he gets into scandals and drama

-Happy cameraman ❤️

-People follow him because 1.) He’s hot 2.) The fans ship him with Asmodeus

-Last Post: “When will you learn 🙂”

||Diavolo

-He is a vlogger~ Not a very active vlogger but a vlogger nonetheless

-He films anything he can but he’s more known on tik tok and devilgram rather than twitch or youtube

-People have been thirsting for him ever since and no one can convince me that they dont just shamelessly call him daddy whenever he goes on live

-Barbatos makes sure however that whenever it isnt appropriate anymore that he would tell diavolo to turn the camera off

-Wranggled Luci into his mess and now everyone knows the face of that one dude who just reads documents

-Everyone lowkey ships them

-Diavolo is the type to take a picture of a big meeting or a retreat out of instinct to just document his life

-He actually didnt know about vloggers before but he just liked the thought of documenting it

-Everyone picks up “Master” vibes as they say from him hehehe

-He doesnt have an Onlyfans or patreon 😔😔😔

-I honestly would have subscribed to his services

-Last post: “Barbatos made a delicious meal for us at the retreat today” Along with a picture of the Beautiful Demon Delicacy Spread in the table.

Taglist: No one yet (Please be part of the taglist for more content like this ☹️ It’s getting really discouraging)

[moldisgoodforyou]

the 5 times jj fake proposed and the 1 time he did for real

warnings: cursing, mentions of sex

wordcount: 2.4k

_

the first time he fake-proposed, he was drunk. when he was drunk, jj felt like he needed to proclaim his feelings to the world. he was ultra-touchy with charlie and liked whispering sweet nothings in her ear, and then liked bragging about her to his friends just as much. they were at beta’s spring formal and they were both at the level of drunkenness (after way too many glasses of champagne) where everything was funny. 

“I’m gonna marry you, charlie.” he promised, catching her lips in a sweet kiss. she laughed, pushing his shoulder. “you’re drunk, silly.” he dropped to one knee in the middle of the dance floor, wearing a goofy grin. “charlie walker, will you marry me?” she rolled her eyes and hauled him up by the arms before too many people could notice. “eventually.” he laughed and grabbed a slim napkin ring from the formal dinner table, slipping it on her finger. it was way too big and fell off almost right away, but she stuck it in her purse anyway. 

the second time, jj had just won his intramural football championship (thanks to charlie’s coaching) and they were celebrating at the bar afterward. he was running high on emotions, had a streak of dirt on his face from a tackle and was a little bruised, but was having the time of his life. on his third trip back from the bar, he found a little silver ring on the ground and pocketed it. his arm was slung around charlie’s shoulders all night, and after the second round of playing thunderstruck, he felt compelled to propose. again.  

“charlie, you know I love you, right?” she reached up and swiped her thumb across his cheek, grinning. “of course I do.” he got down on his knee and fished out the ring from his pocket, smirking up at her. the cocky smile was enough to tell her he wasn’t serious. “maybank -” she warned, but he shook his head to cut her off. “listen, listen! I want to spend the rest of my life with you -” one of his brothers nudged him, wary. “dude, are you really gonna propose like this?” 

charlie laughed, crossing her arms as jj shoved him away. “let me finish, let me finish! will you marry me, charlie?” charlie just sent him an amused smile, shaking her head. jj stood quickly and grabbed her around the waist, swinging her around. “she said yes!” he yelled out, pressing a sloppy kiss to her cheek. she giggled as he slid the ring onto her thumb (the only finger that would fit). “I didn’t say anything!” he nudged his nose against hers, grinning. “shh, pretty girl, do you want free drinks or not?” 

“I hate you.” she responded with a smile, blushing. 

he nipped his teeth at her bottom lip. “come on, don’t talk like that to your fiancé.” 

“oh my god.” 

_

the third time, the two of them were surfing back in the outer banks. they were teasing each other all day, doing stupid shit like dropping in on each other’s wave and yelling flirty things when the other was riding a wave to catch them off balance. (jj even went as far to tackle charlie off her board in the still waters - just for fun.) after a few hours of surfing, they both laid on their backs on their boards out past the waves, arms draped over their eyes to shield them from the sun. 

jj reached out and took her hand, floating her closer. “did you know otters hold hands when they sleep, so they don’t float away from each other?” 

“really? that’s cute.” charlie mused with her eyes shut, about to fall asleep from the rocking of the waves. 

“it’s adorable.” jj agreed. he pulled a piece of kelp from the water and stashed it in the pocket of his board shorts. “would you get married now?” charlie was way too used to his casual talk about the future by now, and didn’t even open her eyes. she squeezed his hand and smirked to herself. “depends, who’s asking?” 

jj didn’t waste a beat to launch himself onto her board, promptly sinking the two of them. “charlie walker!” 

she yelped, sputtering a little as she surfaced. “what was that for?!” 

he splashed a little water toward her. “you know what that was for!” 

she laughed, ducking away. “I couldn’t resist." 

he rested his arms on her board as they treaded water and pulled the string of kelp out from his pocket. “I’m asking. would you marry me?” she eyed the kelp skeptically, then shot the look at him. “j. if that’s your idea of a proposal, you need to do better.” the tips of his ears turned red and he tossed it aside, putting on a smile. “I’m just kidding!” she gave him a short kiss, then nudged him off her board. “come on, one last wave. I’m tired.” 

_

the fourth time, they were on the kiss cam at a south carolina football game. they were visiting for homecoming, one year after graduating, and he had been hinting at getting married more than his usual amount. just the week before, she almost had a heart attack when she found a small velvet box in his drawer, then realized it was just a pair of cufflinks she had given him before. 

she wasn’t sure why she was so nervous about the idea of a proposal, exactly - she loved jj with her whole heart and couldn’t picture herself with anyone else, but the idea of such a big commitment was just...scary. 

the kiss cam panned over toward them and she laughed before leaning over to catch his lips with hers - but he pulled away, getting on one knee. charlie stopped breathing. “jj.” 

he grinned. 

the stadium was dead silent.

charlie looked like she wanted to cry. 

jj nudged her quickly, realizing he fucked up, and mouthed free drinks at her. she exhaled and nodded with a tiny smile and he got up quickly, hugging her tight so she didn’t break down and cry in front of the entire south carolina fanbase. the stadium erupted in cheers and the camera panned away as the game resumed. 

he held her close for a long beat, wincing as she dug her nails into his arm. “I’m going to fucking kill you.” charlie murmured into his ear. he laughed weakly. “too far, huh?” she pulled away from the hug and pressed her hand over her heart, eyes bright and a little teary. he ran his hand through his hair, grimacing. “love you?” he tried. 

she sat and pulled him down to sit with her, resting her head on his shoulder. “you need to knock it off.” he turned and kissed the top of her head, genuinely feeling bad. “I’m sorry, sweetheart, it was stupid.” 

she pulled out her phone and showed him the numerous texts constantly lighting up her screen - especially the ones from her mom and dad. he gulped and charlie had to admit she felt a little satisfaction at him being uncomfortable too. “yeah, have fun explaining that one to my parents.” 

jj had never been more thankful for a fluke south carolina win that day - he was pretty sure that was the only thing that got him out of the doghouse that weekend. 

_

the fifth time, jj and charlie had just returned from a wine tasting tour on their anniversary and the sixth glass of rosé went straight to jj’s head. they were both handsy in the uber on the way home and barely made it through the doorway of their apartment before jj managed to pull charlie’s halter top off. he picked her up as she wrapped her legs around his waist. “can we at least make it to the bedroom?” she giggled as he peppered kisses all over her face. 

he bit her bottom lip playfully and set her on the kitchen counter. “you’re lucky I didn’t take you right then and there at the last winery.” 

“j.” she protested, running her hands through his hair. “bed.”

“patience, pretty girl.” he pulled back slightly to yank his shirt over his head and toss it aside, then resumed kissing her, hard. he trailed a hand up her side, brushing his thumb over her nipple and loving the way she arched her back into his touch. “fuck, j, come on.” she whined, tugging at the waistline of his pants. he swatted at her hand and picked her up again, nipping at her neck as he walked them into the bedroom. 

afterward, he kissed her sweetly, pulling the sheet up over her chest. “happy anniversary, j.” she told him with a smile. 

“I love you so damn much,” he replied with a grin.  

jj rolled over and rummaged around the nightstand for a second, pulling out a black velvet box. charlie shook her head immediately, reaching over and grabbing his wrist. “jj, no.” he paused, glancing at her with a confused expression. “I’m not joking this time -” she shook her head again. “jj, please, not now.” she pleaded. "but I -” she kissed him quickly to shut him up and took the box from him, her heart racing. 

“please.” 

he sighed, resigned, and took the box back to shove it back in the nightstand. “it’s never gonna happen at this rate.” charlie frowned and kissed him soundly. “no, j, just...not like this. I’m ready. but not like this.” that was enough to turn his mood around. “you’re ready? you’re sure?” she smiled a little and nodded. “yes. I promise.” 

_

the last time, they were at their favorite lookout spot in berkeley. they had shared a lot of big moments there (a job promotion, a raise, their first real discussion about future children) and he knew he had one chance to get the moment perfect - since he had fucked up the first five times. he did everything right - called her parents in advance (less for her dad’s blessing, more for the courtesy), told grace beforehand, and had scheduled a photographer to wait in the bushes for the exact moment. 

he was acting strange all day, to the point that charlie thought he was even a little bit mad at her for something she did. 

she should have caught on, given that he got her a gift card to get her nails done a week ago - and her nails were hardly ever polished. but she appreciated the random gesture and got them done anyway, kind of loving the look. she should have caught on when he told her to wear his favorite dress (“you know, the one with the little blue flowers”) for a picnic up on the hill. 

lucky for jj, she was pretty much clueless and went along with it when he pulled on a short-sleeved button down and dress pants, saying he needed to ‘break them in’ - weird, but whatever. 

he slipped the ring in his pocket without the box, afraid the outline would tip her off. as they drove up to their spot with a cooler he packed in the back, he tapped his thumb on the wheel anxiously. “rough day at work, hon?” charlie asked sympathetically. he shook his head. “nah, just...jittery. dunno, must have drank coffee too late at work or something.” she nodded and reached over, squeezing his thigh reassuringly. he flinched away, scared she was going to feel the ring and she furrowed her brow. “jj, what’s up?” 

he laughed, a little high-pitched. “nothing! nothing, just the coffee.” he lied, horribly. “...right.” she replied, dubious. he pulled up to the lookout and grabbed the cooler and blanket from the backseat, stashing the champagne under the car seat before she could see. as they laid out the picnic items, his hands were shaking like hell. charlie took his hands in hers and stepped close, kissing him softly. “you sure it was just the coffee, jj?” 

he took a deep breath, looking around at their surroundings to make sure everything was in order. “sorry, just - I think I forgot something in the car, I’ll be back.” he left her standing there, confused and jogged back to the car. he checked over his pockets for the twelfth time that day, making sure he had the ring, then walked back. she had walked further out to the lookout, a few steps away from the blanket, and he decided to make his move. 

jj walked up behind her then dropped down to one knee, pulling the ring out of his pocket. “charlie -” he started, shaky, and she turned around and immediately slapped a hand over her mouth. “oh my god.” 

“charlie walker, I -” 

“you’re not joking, are you? please don’t say you’re joking.” tears were already welling up in her eyes and he grinned. “will you let me finish?” 

she nodded, smiling ear-to-ear, a hand still pressed to her lips. 

“charlie walker, the last three years loving you have been the best three years of my life and I can’t picture spending the rest of it with anyone but you.” he paused, blinking away what he swore wasn’t tears. “will you marry me?” 

she practically tackled him to the ground in a hug, meeting his lips in a heated kiss. 

he pulled back, laughing. “wait, wait, is that a yes?” 

she nodded, grinning. “yes, god yes!” 

he beamed, shifting her to his lap. “wait, you haven’t even seen the ring!” she laughed, kissing him again. “I don’t even care.” he took her hand and slid the ring on her finger, carefully. she gasped when she saw it, tears welling up again. “oh my god, j, it’s perfect.” he grinned. “yeah? I had a little help from your friends.” 

she admired the ring, then gasped as she realized. “is this my grandmother’s?” he nodded with a proud smile. “she wanted you to have it, since you’re the only granddaughter. I got tipped off that you’d always loved it.” charlie’s bottom lip quivered and he laughed, pulling her into a kiss. “stop crying! this is supposed to be happy!” 

she laughed. “I know, I know! I just...it’s all so perfect, jj. god, I love you.” 

he grinned. “now you’re stuck with me forever, sweetheart.” 

charlie beamed. “I can’t fucking wait.” 

[its-bound-to-get-loud]

Why I believe 5SOS didn’t work as a pop-punk band (+ my opinion on THAT Rolling Stone article)

This title of this post may be an unpopular opinion for a lot of you. But I don’t believe 5SOS worked as a pop-punk band. In this post I will explain exactly why. I hope that even if you don’t agree, you will at least understand my POV. This post is probably gonna have a lot of text. Not a lot of links, videos or pictures involved. I hope it will still be interesting for you. All of this is just my personal opinion, I have no way of proving that this is 100% true. It’s just a careful deduction of things I’ve seen and thought about over the last few months, mixed with some personal opinions. With this post I’m trying to tackle some topics that are being talked about often and showing them in a different light. I’ve put quite a lot of time into writing this, so I’m hoping you will appreciate it. Finally a huge, massive thank you to my friend R for proofreading this, it means a lot to me.

To start things off, I’ve had quite a lot of thoughts about this topic: I don’t think 5SOS truly worked as a pop-punk band. The image didn’t fit them and it wasn’t right for their era. It was a fun sound, I enjoy listening to it, they probably even enjoyed making it. Obviously fans enjoyed it as well. I fully believe that when they first started, pop-punk is what the guys wanted to sound like. It’s the music they listened to, those were the bands they looked up to. When they got signed they had not been a band for a super long time, they were young and barely had any experience in both life and music. I’m not someone with an extensive knowledge of pop-punk groups, but from what I know a lot of these bands were misfits, outcasts. People who didn’t feel like they had a place in society. In some cases from broken homes, with bad childhoods, etc. That’s who they were and it’s what their music was about.

I’d say 5SOS as whole do fit those characteristics. They were from a small town where music wasn’t really a career for most people. So they felt the need to get out of their town and pursue music. Michael dropped out of school for music, Ashton obviously had a very difficult home situation. Calum has mentioned that his family didn’t have a lot of money when he was younger. I’m not sure how the situation was for the others. But besides this, everyone but Ashton came from a stable home, Calum’s parents separated later on. So I can see why the guys related to these pop punk bands put out songs about this. Especially when you’re a teenager you often feel misunderstood by everyone else.

But when 5SOS started they looked more like a boyband than a pop punk band. Their earliest songs were mostly love songs. While the boys might have felt like being a pop punk band, and maybe even considered themselves to be one, I would say they were more of a pop/pop rock band.

In some cases a label can mold an artist or band into a certain image upon signing. But 5SOS had already gathered a following before they were even signed, so molding them into a rougher pop-punk image right upon signing would not have worked, it would not have been organic. They probably didn’t want to alienate the fans they already had, because they were valuable in getting the word out about 5SOS.

Their first manager, Adam Wilkinson, didn’t seem to think 5SOS would work as a pop-punk band as well. Just look at these quotes taken from That infamous 2015 Rolling Stone article (I will not link it, because I despise it, just google if you feel the need to read it).

“While they cannot cross into the realm of pop punk, they can stand on the sidelines and capture the end of that market.”

“They always wanted to be Blink 182 or Good Charlotte, but I’ll be the first to admit I thought that was shooting too far,” says Wilkinson. “We tried to make them a little more pop.”

That last quote is basically what happened. 5SOS ended up connected to One Direction, a huge pop act at the time. A connection that wasn’t as much of a “coincidence” as they wanted to make it look like. Louis was never the one to truly discover 5SOS, this was simply a smart PR decision to connect 5SOS to the 1D fanbase and grow their audience. I highly suggest reading this post that lays out exactly how 5SOS came to get signed and how their connection to 1D began. You will see that there is clear evidence that it didn’t happen like they wanted us to believe.

And let’s be real. Take a look at this early 5SOS picture. Does this look like the next Green Day or All Time Low? They all look like the boy next door, with maybe the exception of Michael. Basically they had the looks of a boyband, and while they never have been a traditional boyband (and certainly aren’t now), they certainly were marketed as one early on. This is a label that still sticks to them to this day.

I fully believe that their team (management/record label) tried to slowly evolve them into a more pop-punk image as they got bigger. They couldn’t ride the 1D train forever and had to stand on their own 2 feet. That’s where we arrive at the Sounds Good Feels Good era. This is a fascinating era for me, because there is a shift. Their looks start changing, suddenly they slowly become rockstars, piercings start happening. The boys are growing up. They are old enough to drink, girls are in the picture, etc. Musically it’s also clear that their sound is changing. The self-titled album is still fairly pop-rock, 1D but a little edgier perhaps. Sounds Good Feels Good is the more pop-punk album. But is it really? Because as most fans will know, the album knows 2 sounds. It has the clear pop-punk bops, such as Money or Safety Pin (to name a few), but there’s also some songs that already predict the sound for Youngblood such as, for example, Waste The Night and Vapor. It’s clear to me that while they probably still enjoyed their pop-punk sound the guys were growing up and were slowly discovering what music their sound as a band should be.

If we’re being honest for a moment. What songs from SGFG really feel the most personal? Sure, She’s Kinda Hot is a bop, but what about Vapor? Vapor is by far my favorite song on the album, it tells me a story, it makes me feel emotion. Now I’m very biased towards SKH, because (unpopular opinion) I don’t like the song much because of the lyrics. But that’s a different story (we may get to that someday). There is nothing wrong with a song that’s a bop, you need those. I could enjoy SKH if it wasn’t for the lyrics. But bops can have meaning too. SKH doesn’t in my opinion. Besides the fact that the guys were growing up and maturing their sound, the music scene just wasn’t very pop-punk or even rock based anymore. It wasn’t a sound that was popular anymore.

I took a look at the billboard charts and pulled some statistics. Friday October 23 was the release date for SGFG. The Top 3 Billboard hot 100 songs that week were

The Weeknd – The Hills

Drake – Hotline Bling

Justin Bieber – What Do You Mean?

The songs/artists closest to 5SOS in sound in the WHOLE Billboard Hot 100 that week were One Direction – Drag Me Down, Fall Out Boy – Uma Thurman and Twenty One Pilots – Stressed Out. That’s 3 songs in a list of 100 songs and you can debate how close the sound of those actually was to the sound of 5SOS at the time.

Taking a look at the Billboard 200 Year-End chart, the #1 is Taylor Swift – 1989. SGFG ended up at #136 (keep in mind that the album was released in October, so close to the end of the year). 5SOS self-titled ended up at #73. The LIVESOS album ranked #176. There’s a few other records that can be considered rock in the list, but barely any pop-punk in the whole chart. The only one to be considered for that title would be Fall Out Boy’s – American Beauty/American Psycho album, which was #15.

Pop-punk or rock in general, wasn’t a popular sound that topped the charts around the time 5SOS got started as a mainstream act. Number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 the week 5SOS released their first ep (Unplugged) was Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen. The real mainstream success of pop-punk was mostly in the late 90’s running all the way through the early 2000’s. This is why I wonder why the label tried to make them into a pop-punk band in the first place. My best guess is that their team relied on the fans to push the success of the band forward after they came off of 1D’s Where We Are tour. They might have tried to create an edgier version of 1D with similar success. Where you create a fan base that is big enough to support the band without the need of casual listeners or fans from different demographics (male, female, old, young, etc.).

I think they relied too much on 1D fans to gravitate towards 5SOS as well, which may have been a mistake. Not all 1D fans actually liked 5SOS, some even actively stayed away from them the more they were pushed under their noses. When I entered the 1D fandom in 2014 most things I saw about 5SOS were negative. 1D fans considered them problematic and didn’t like them. This is partially why I steered away from 5SOS at the time. Besides that, I had enough going on with 1D to keep me occupied. Of course 5SOS’s fan base still grew quite a bit from the 1D exposure, but they never got to the same heights as 1D did. In several interviews the guys have said that they were being called “the biggest band that nobody has ever heard of”.

On a more personal note. As a recent fan, the whole pop-punk image never felt very genuine to me. Which might be because I came into the fandom backwards, starting with CALM and going back to their older material after that (side note: I did listen to the Youngblood album once or twice before). Don’t get me wrong, I love SGFG, I play it regularly. Money is a banger, Hey Everybody!, a bop, Permanent Vacation, love it! But as a fan I like to identify with songs and recognize that the artist is telling something that is personal to them. I don’t get that feeling from some of these songs. 

An example of a song that is emotional, yet (mostly) not personal to the band is Broken Home. It’s a beautiful song, but I generally skip it. 1, because it’s a very sad song and it’s not always something I’m in the mood for. 2, because it’s not a song I relate to on a personal level. And most importantly 3, I don’t see the song relating to 5SOS as people, other than maybe Ashton. An interesting quote about the song, made by their producer John Feldman, is on the genius page for this song.

“Other than Ashton, the three guys have parents who are still together. Ashton has never met his father. Ashton really connected into the theme. “We’re saying something with this song, it’s going to connect with the audience, at least 50% of our audience comes from broken homes. We’re actually taking a stand.” The other guys are loyal and family-driven and sweet, so they were like, “What are our parents going to think about us singing about a broken home when we don’t come from broken homes? How authentic is it?” It was a two-month debate.”

So the guys themselves were already questioning the authenticity of the topic when they were recording it. Ashton connected to the theme of the song, but the others didn’t. It wasn’t something they had experienced. It doesn’t say why the song made it on the album anyway. As stated in the quote, a lot fans can relate to it. I’m sure many fans found comfort in the song, which is a nice thing. The song doesn’t make you relate to the band though. If any of them had written this song from a personal experience it would have connected a lot differently. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing that the song is not personal, it just doesn’t feel very genuine when you know the artist has no relation to the story they are telling.

Moving on to the 2015 Rolling Stone article I have mentioned before. This seems to cause some division among fans. Was it all true or was it made up? My opinion is that it’s a mixture of truth and BS. But a whole lot of it feels taken out context or exaggerated. I have been a fan since March, so I wasn’t around at the time this came out. But since becoming a fan I have watched tons of interviews and clips and have extensively discussed this band with my friend, so I’d like to say I have done my homework and have a good picture of this band. On top of that I’d like to think being a 1D fan sharpened my critical thinking skills and might have helped me see through certain bullshit. I don’t claim to be the person with all the answers, but maybe my thoughts make sense to some people. There might be some context that I’m missing or facts that I haven’t come across, if you feel like there’s a piece of information I’m missing, feel free to let me know.

The way the article starts, it reads like fanfiction. Literally. The extensive description of the surroundings, the time of day, everything. The first time I read it, it made me cringe so hard I had trouble getting through the whole thing. First things first. This interview takes place the day after the AMA’s. Who the fuck scheduled this? Either someone should have prevented them from getting drunk and partying, or they should have scheduled this on another day when these guys were in a better state of mind. That is, assuming things went the way they went as described in the article. Which is something I highly doubt.

The only direct source saying that this article is not genuine is this tweet from Luke. Besides that I have only read secondhand that the band and people surrounding them have spoken up about the inaccuracy of the article.

Some people believe 5SOS could have sued Rolling Stone for slander if this article was really as false as they claim. Now I’m no lawyer, but this is not how things work in the entertainment industry. An article like this has been agreed upon before. The interviewer didn’t just decide to drop by one day. During celebrity interviews there’s always someone from their management or PR team around to make sure they don’t say any stupid shit. Celebrities are a brand, they have an image to protect, albums to sell. If they say things that make them look bad it can cause damage to their good name. Record companies have invested money in artists and they want to see a profit in return. They don’t want to risk losing money, that’s why celebrities have PR teams. RS may have had a reputation for being a very honorable publication, but these days that’s not the case. They are not that far removed from cheap gossip rags such as the Sun or The Daily Mail nowadays. They still get read by a lot of people, which puts them in a position of power. Often when an interview takes place there are certain topics that have been agreed upon before, there are also topics that can be blacklisted if the artist or their team doesn’t want them talked about. For example relationships or family matters. These will also be agreed upon beforehand.

Here is a story about a former journalist for the British tabloid The Daily Star, who has admitted to making up stories and explains how they get away with it.

For arguments sake, let’s say the guys slipped up and showed their “true colors”. With a big publication like this it’s common that their team would have to approve the article before it comes out. If there’s anything in there that was not agreed upon that they don’t like, the article can be edited.

This leaves us a few possibilities.

The article is completely true and their team is shit at their job. They failed to prevent the boys from slipping up about stuff they shouldn’t and did nothing to stop Rolling Stone from publishing.

The article is true and their team just allowed the article to be published for whatever reason.

The article isn’t true, but their team let it happen anyway, possibly because they wanted to move the band away from their boyband image into a more punk-rock image that went with their sound.

My vote goes out to the last one. I think their team wanted to make the boys look more edgy/punk-rock and get rid of their boyband image and this is how they tried to do it. I think parts of the article may be true, but a lot of it is greatly exaggerated and in some cases made up. If my theory is true, it also means 5SOS or their team had no reason to sue Rolling Stone if they wanted to. Because it would mean you have a major publication on your bad side, which means no more future promotional opportunities for the band and/or the label. While Rolling Stone may be trash, it’s a publication that a lot of people read. Therefore it’s a very important connection that you don’t want on your bad side.

If you still think they could have sued Rolling Stone then take a look at some examples from 1D. 1D has been targeted by the British tabloid The Sun for YEARS. They wrote the most awful shit, a lot of it not true. Yet they still had exclusive scoops whenever something important happened. Exclusive meaning, these topics were given to them exclusively for publishing. It was proven that their PR manager is friends with the journalist from The Sun responsible for most of the stuff written. 1D never sued The Sun for those articles, because they most likely were agreed upon by their team beforehand. 1D has never tried suing the Sun over anything, despite what they wrote. This was not 1 article, these were many articles. Especially towards the end of 1D, when it was clear their label was losing 1D, there was a smear campaign in the media to discredit 1D and its members. There was a chance some members were going to sign with a competing label, and that’s something their label didn’t like. Here is a good collection of headlines from that smear campaign. Nobody ever got sued over these articles.

Do you still think 5SOS could have just stood up and sued Rolling Stone? The entertainment business is full of politics. If you don’t play the game you’re out. Also, question yourself. Why does Luke still say the article was twisted and inaccurate 4,5 years later? He has owned up and apologized for past mistakes, yet he keeps insisting the article didn’t tell the truth. He even goes to say that the article “broke and hurt him”. If you believe Luke is still covering his ass for what he said in that article, that essentially would he mean he is emotionally manipulating people by saying the article hurt him. Is that the person you think Luke is?

1 more thing I want to point out. Yes, I am aware of the fact that Calum has a large version of the magazine cover hanging around in his house. I can’t say exactly why. This is my best guess. That cover was still a big thing in their career, despite the article, it is still a Rolling Stone cover. That’s a milestone that not every artist gets to do in their career. Just because he has the cover hanging around doesn’t mean he enjoyed the article that came with it.

This whole post has gotten super long, it may not be the easiest thing to get through. So thank you if you made it till the end. As stated before, this whole thing is mostly just my opinion. But the parts about how PR teams work are a fact. I do not work in the music or entertainment industry, I’m not a lawyer, so I may have gotten some things wrong. If I did, please let me know and I will try to fix it. Feedback is always appreciated.

[ramblingguy54]

Louie’s Eleven: Dewey & Louie Breakdown

Welp, I was expecting Louie’s Eleven to be a mostly Louie and Donald bonding episode, but it being an balancing act between Daisy & Donald/Louie & Dewey’s chemistry was a very welcoming surprise that I greatly enjoyed every bit of! I’ve been waiting for Dewey and Louie to have screen time together for quite awhile, as well as a good number of people in the fanbase from what I’ve seen for those two to interact. Especially since that funny gag in A Nightmare On Killmotor Hill where Louie said his best friend was sleep over Dewey made me very interested in seeing what could be done with them, too. There’s a lot of fun and interesting exchanges to be had when Dewey’s more impulsive nature on improvising clashes against Louie’s more composed and calculating mentality, which this episode delivers on down to the very letter. Louie may have been very humbled by events in Season 2, during his character arc, but he’s still prideful about his skills for crafting elaborate schemes that make him very stubborn about being open to the concept of listening to others at points when the kid wants to do things his own way. Which when you’ve got a character, like Dewey, on board who wants to be apart of something and be heard as an equal you’ve got a recipe for an episode of insightful character exploration between these two kids.

Dewey isn’t one to make it all about himself anymore, like in Season 1 when he kept the search for Della a secret, but he’s still not gonna tolerate getting policed on what he does and doesn’t know by Louie. Dewey’s all about being an entertainer who does things with as much style as possible, regardless of whether others view it as good, while he tries not to let others judgement weigh him down from being himself, but this is his own brother we’re talking about here, which is obvious to see that Dewey’s very bothered by Louie ignoring his ideas for trying to help with the scheme to get The Three Caballeros more noticed by the public at this event. Dewey is the perfect candidate for such a gig like this, where Louie doesn’t realize he’s the trump card underneath his own nose, but he’s too blinded by his own pride in seeing the truth that he’s putting down Dewey’s competence in his abilities to get this job done better in areas he couldn’t hope to accomplish. It honestly made feel very bad for poor Dewey being treated as if he were a nuisance by Louie, even if he wasn’t necessarily acting rude toward him per-say. That moment where Dewey finally confronts Louie about why he’s been ignoring him was so well acted by both their VAs’. You could feel how hurt Dewey was by Louie undermining all his ideas, but Louie was still trying to put him down easy and not be brutally harsh. The only harsh part was Louie calling his idea completely ridiculous that Dewey takes it fairly hard to be told that by someone he deeply cares about. Dewey’s insecurity really showed here about not being seen or heard as an individual. Ben Schwartz nailed that very saddened delivery for Dewey’s character, overall.

Louie’s Eleven’s ongoing theme was all about understanding and being treated as equals when listening to the other. We see it hilariously with Mark Beaks trying to earn his mother’s approval by getting on the IT List, Daisy trying to achieve her dream as a dress designer to be acknowledged for all her hard work, Donald connecting with Daisy due to his own similar experiences in life, and Dewey feeling put to the side at every turn by Louie all come together in a neat bow. Louie gets a serious harsh dose from Emma when she sees right through what he believed to be the perfect scheme, due to her own previous experiences in the entertainment industry of dealing with sneaky people trying to benefit from her success before. However, she didn’t just see through his plan.

She curb stomped Louie’s self-esteem into oblivion. There’s not a doubt in my mind Louie felt exactly like Dewey in this moment when he was getting ignored, except much worse given Emma’s harsh verbal beat down on his scheme. 

Emma totally crushed whatever confidence Louie had about this plan succeeding making him seriously insecure about having faith in his ideas working at all anymore in this scenario. That’s what I loved most of all is getting to see Dewey and Louie’s layers as characters shine here with a situation that pushes Louie outta his comfort zone more, while showing Dewey’s strongest aspects of his character that make it easy to root and empathize with where he’s coming from when he finally gets through to Louie about allowing him to help fix the situation they’ve gotten into currently when Falcon Graves pulls a robbery for Glamour’s phone that Beaks buys off with the highest bid, so he can put himself on top of his mother’s IT List. What I appreciate in this small, but important, moment is seeing the subtle facial exchanges between Louie and Dewey. Louie’s regret is shining through here and Dewey finally happy to be recognized for his own capabilities by his bro is such a moving moment to see these two have. This was the kind of content I hoped to see for them and I adored it.

Much like Beakly and Webby getting screen time together in The Lost Harp Of Mervana, it’s about damn time we got an episode to see Dewey & Louie work off one another with their strengths/weaknesses as characters. It was everything I wanted and more for Dewey & Louie’s dynamic, where I can’t wait to see them working together again in Season 3 because this episode had some powerful underlying drama around them here. Louie and Dewey have both come very far as characters, where neither aren’t selfish as they used to be in those earlier episodes of the series. It makes for interesting exchanges like what happened here in Louie’s Eleven. Louie has seriously matured in how he treats Dewey, where unlike in Season 2 when Louie called the idea of Dewey working for him that he’d be a terrible employee for Louie Inc., he wants to show respect to his brother hearing him out genuinely when Dewey is attempting to help out. The writers are really putting it out there with how much Louie has improved from Season 2′s final episodes and it’s so damn wholesome to observe.

In a nutshell, I can’t praise how much they’ve been showing Louie’s character growth in Season 3 enough and Louie’s Eleven was another big helping of that statement. Not to mention, getting to see Louie spend time with Dewey at long last was so worth the wait, where I’m ecstatic to see them team up more because these two can bring out the best in each other, no question.

What a damn great episode this was.

[findingtheperfectcharacter]

What you are part 1

Posting this one on Tumbles first for no real reason.

Summary: Remus wants to help the Light Sides come up with ideas for a new video. Things go very wrong

Warnings: Unsympathetic Patton, Sympathetic Remus, Sympathetic Deceit, Virgil goes through an arc in part 2 but is questionable here, there's a Daddy joke, dick mention, ass eating mention, but nothing actually sexual happens in the fic, mild gore mention, hanging mention, candy animal death, ask for more warnings, practice self care because this gets bad

Remus was, by his nature, loud. His clothes were loud, his hair was loud, fuck even his steps were loud. Which made trying to sneak past Deceit a futile effort.

Yet still Remus crept into the Darkside living room. Like all parts of Thomas's mind, it was set up like the main living room, but small changes made the differences between the rooms clear. The paint was peeled, each sliver curled inwards like claws. Instead of a painting with abstract circles, there was one with a series of eyes that seemed to follow you around the room. The stairs had caution tape and cones that discouraged entry, the room was bathed in a sinister green light.

And there on the couch sat Deceit, back straight, engrossed in a book about David Hume. All Remus had to do is get to his spot and sink-

"Evening Remus." The snake said without looking up.

"Fuck- I mean Hi Deeeeeee-lightful." The positive nickname made Deceit's nose crinkle slightly, which made Remus feel slightly less on edge.

"Where are you going?" His tone was smooth and casual, he even flipped to the next page of his book, trying to pretend that this was a normal event.

"STRAIGHT TO HELL!" Remus cackled, but it did little to lighten the tensity of the situation if anything the silence that followed made things feel worse. He gripped the edge of his shirt, "This is the exact silence that comes before someone makes just the LOUDEST fart, like the kind you'd want to light a fire under and watch the building burn with cause there's just so much gas-"

"You're going to see them, aren't you?" Deceit's voice held no emotion but Remus could feel it nonetheless. He knew this looked exactly like what happened when Virgil left. The one time he went over, followed by hours of talking about how nice it felt to Finally feel listened to even if they did hate him. He grew a fanbase, the others slowly seemed to get used to his prescence and valued his imput.

He was happy, and they were happy for him.

The last time they saw him was when he ducked out, Deceit had yelled at him about how much Thomas NEEDED him, how much danger he was putting their host in, and for what? To feel more appreciated by THEM?

Virgil had argued back, until Deceit realized he wasn't going to listen to him anymore and left him to get some non-anxiety -filled air and tea for the both of them. The door was gone when he came back.

If the same thing happened with Remus, the only person Deceit would have left was Rage and, while certainly useful and not the worst, they weren't nearly as close.

Remus moved closer to the couch just to drape over it and by proxy Deceit, "Awww, if I didn't know better I'd say you were worried about me Little Dee~ relax, I'm just going over to see if they need help with the next video."

Deceit scoffed, "I'd never miss you. You're an absolute nuscience to everyone." In the corner of his lips though there was a smile and of course Remus noticed and poked his cheek.

"You loooooooooove me~!"

"I have never loved anyone or anything in my life." He deadpanned. Remus howled with laughter at that one he wiped a tear from his eye.

"Ah, that's a good one. Don't worry too much D-cup," he said casually waving his hand, "I'll be back by dinner."

He moved to his spot prepared to sink out, when he heard Deceit say wity more sincerity he thought the side was capable of, "Be careful."

Remus gave a loud, "HA! I don't know the meaning of the word!" Deceit gave a long suffering sign and Remus couldn't help the devilish smile that came to his lips, but the genuine concern in Deceit's eye made his stomach churn with guilt so he added, "But I will." Before sinking out.

"WHADDUP SLUTS?!" He shouted one arm in the air and the other on his hips as he entered in Roman's typical spot. Patton and Virgil were the only ones here, which made sense. Logan doing research on the next video's topic and Roman brain storming and all. Virgil growled at him the minute he stepped in, but stopped when Patton put a hand on his shoulder.

"We promised we'd give him a chance Virge." He said softly.

Virgil shoved his hands in his pocket, "Whatever, if he's staying I'm going."

Remus waved his hand "Alright then, bye bitch."

Virgil blew a raspberry at him and sunk out.

Patton took a deep breath rubbing between his eyes, "Alright Pat Pat, be calm, you can do this." Then, he smiled at Remus as if nothing just happened, "Hi kiddo, it's nice to see you again!"

Remus snorted, "I thought you were against lying Morality," he made his voice high, "Because it's woooooong. "

Patgon cocked his head, "Whaddaya mean? It is nice to see you!"

Remus's smile widened, "Like it's nice to see... THIS," He waved his hand and Patton was greated with the image of a body hanging from the ceiling with their own intestine serving as the rope.

Patton cringed at the image and wrapped his arms against himself, "Do you HAVE to do that?"

Remus shrugged, "It's what I do daddy dearest, emphasis on the DADDY."

Patton groaned, "Dear God, please don't-" he breathed in through his nose, " Alright, it 's okay, you are allowed to be you. "

Remus put his chin in his hands, "Always great to have your permission to be here. "

Patton shook his head, "Let's start from the begining-"

Remus got prepared to restart his musical number when Patton cut him off, "NO!" Patton cleared his throat, "Ha no no no, the begining of this conversation. Did you come here for a reason kiddo?"

Remus blinked, did he? Oh, right! "I was wondering if I could help Roman and Logan with the next episode?" For a split second there was a flicker of pleading in Remus's eyes, he really wanted this, of course he did. He was a part of Creativity after all.

Patton nodded, "Of course! We'd love to have you involved."

Remus shook his head like a flabbergasted cartoon, "bbhihbjgbgjv Whaaaaa? "

Patton laughed, "Oh you~ Dark sides can be so silly! I said we'd love to have you involved as long as you have things that are worth acknowledging." He walked up to Remus , put his hand on his shoulder and looked him in the eye, Rdmus stiffened, the eye contact putting him on edge. He looked away and Patton moved to cup Remus's face in his hand, "Look at me, hey, hey look at me."

He pushed Remus's face to look at him and stroked his head, "I know I messed up before," he sniffled, "I messed up real bad because I didn't understand you. Now, now I do and," he burried his head in Remus's shoulder who shuffled a big, feeling uncomfortable. "I promise I'll never make the same mistake. You were always one of us Remus, and I-I was wrong to think otherwise. "

Remus wished he'd get off of him, he hated how trapped he felt in Patton's arms. He hated how he felt guilty even though he knew it wasn't his fault Patton was crying. "Okay." He said simply. He hated that that was the only thing he could think to say. He was getting a chance to be with the Light sides, to have an open voice in Thomas's mind with seemingly no drawbacks and all he could think to say was, 'okay '?!

Patton wiped his eyes, "Alright, " loud sniff, "Let's go then!"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The light side of the Imagination was just as bright and cheery as Remus remembered it from the split. The sky was a brilliant blue, the trees ranged from as tall as mountains to as small as a pinball. It was rare that you could find two that were exactly the same, some had this cotton candy leaves and candied apples hanging from them, while others seemed normal, until you noticed that they danced gently despite the lack of a breeze. 

Remus took a hold of a licorace vine and watched it wiggle and twist into a hissing red snake in his hands. Patton gave a squeak of fear and backed up; Remus bit off its head, spreading cherry flavored blood and viscera around the area. He gave a small hum, "Not bad, he managed to keep the flavor and considering the grass isn't wilting and he doesn't know I'm here, he's gotten WAY more powerful." 

 He turned towards Patton, mouth covered with the jam, "Want some?" 

Patton quickly shook his head, "No, no I don't. Hey, I have a fun game to play while we're here, it's called, 'don't touch and ruin Roman's beautiful perfect creations!'"

"But I'm not!" He whinned.

Patton pet the top of his head, "I know you're not doing it on purpose sweetie, it's just who you are." He pat his knees, "Just keep your hands right here until we meet up with Roman okay?"

Remus didn't know why this got to him so much, after all he wasn't being silenced, just told not to touch things for now. His hands twitched the entire walk towards Roman, the inability to touch anything around him made the short walk feel like it took ages, but nonetheless they sucessfully made it to Roman's castle. It reminded him of the castle at Disneyland, a tall, bright white beast of a thing made of several towers with red tips.

Remus couldn't help his small smie when he looked slightly to the left over a nearbye hill and saw the castle of The Dragon Witch still standing. She'd been one of his favorites when they were younger, coming up with her schemes and Roman foiling them. His heart ached slightly with nostalgia, unti he felt Patton tug on his arm gently.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Patton said with a cock of his head.

 "I missed this place." Remus's voice was quiet as he soaked in the details of the area. 

Patton put his arm around Remus's shoulder and squeezes it hard enough to make Remus flinch, "Oh you softie!" He chuckles, "Come on, let's go inside." As soon as they reached the archway two half-wolf creature guards stopped them in their tracks, pointig their spears at the pair. Patton showed his crest and they nodded.

"Sir Patton, we of course recognize you, but we cannot allow that," the sword was placed under Remus's chin, "FIEND to enter and hurt our Prince."

Remus pouted, "Awww, is the widdle pwince too scared to fight me head on?"

Patton ignored him, "Good knights we swear we will not attempt to harm the 

More loudly he said, "Stop pretending you're not listening  through your proxies and FIGHT ME you COWARD!" There was a twinkle of mirth in his eyes as the doors to the castle swung open, a shadowy figure stood in the doorway dramatic fog behind him, "You dare call me a coward?" The voice of the shadow was Roman, clear as day. He stepped into the sunlight, sword in hand, "Those are fighting wor -"

Before he could finish, he was tackle hugged by Patton. "Roman!" The Prince in question laughed, "Patton! This sure is a surprise. What are you doing here?"

Patton gave his prettiest smile, "Well, Remus wanted to help you brainstorm a bit for the next video. "

"And you're okay with that?"

"Absolutely! As long as I'm allowed to watch and make sure nothing bad happens this should all go fine. "

Roman looked at Patton for a few moments, mulling it over before nodding and motioning the guards away from Remus. Remus strut to his side, "Well it's about time Prince Boring." 

Roman hit him on the head with the blunt side of his blade, making Remus crumple to the ground surprised at the motion, "That was for when you snuck up behind me on camera. "He leaned down and flicked his nose, "And that was for calling me a coward." 

Remus rubbed his nose, a slightly dazed look on his face, "Ah Rominiature you haven't changed a bit!"

 Roman sighs, "It's a HALF INCH."

Remus bleps, "Still taaaaaaller~!"

Roman rolls his eyes, and starts walking inside, Patton follows behind leaving Remus outside for a while until he finally feels okay enough to join them inside. 

 "So what kind of dicks do your dog creatures have?" Remus asked as soon as he returned to the pair's side. Patton made a choking noise but Roman didn't respond for a while.

"I actually haven't thought about what their species is like in... That way." Roman mused, "It might help my worldbuilding in a round about way." A small red poof of a cloud appeared with thr words, 'How would gender roles work in a society where the amount of children born is at least 3?" 

Remus shrugged, "I was thinking porn but hey. there are millions of ways to take my suggestions! Ohhh, do you think they do bloodsports to stop overpopulation? "A small green cloud apeared too, but was Patton clapped his hands and it vanished. 

"Sorry! I just don't think that's the kind of story we want to write! I mean that's a super dark thing to have in a world with human-dog hybrids and cotton candy trees!" Patton's voice was simple, his reasoning made sense.

"Oh." Remus said quietly, his stomach churned he knew Patton wasn't wrong, of course he wasn't, but everything felt so dizzyingly familiar.

Roman pat him on the back twice and gave the kind of smile that could light up the world, the kind that reminded Remus why Roman kept the role of Prince, "Don't get too mopy about that bother-oh-mine. We were supposed to be brainstorming about the video remember?"

 Remus gave a small smile and nodded, "Of course. Yeah." And so it began , and Remus watched as one by one his concepts were clapped out of existance by Patton. 

'What if Thomas had to deal with not knowing whether he's ready to go to bone town with a partner?' Clapped out because they don't need to talk about 'that kind of thing' when kids could be watching! 'What about an episode where Thomas has to deal with the loss of a loved one, maybe even one he has mixed feelings towards!' Clapped for being too depressing, it'd get everyone down! 'One where Thomas has to debate his own safety after a robbery nearby?' Clapped because it could lead to talking about violence or worse, guns, and Patton doesn't think they should get into that. 'What about-' CLAP 'one where Thomas' CLAP 'Has to' CLAP CLAP CLAP. 

The sound of Patton's claps rang in his ears everything was dimmed and loud at once and felt so bright, with one more clap he couldn't take it anymore and shouted, 'WHAT ABOUT AN EPISODE WHERE THOMAS EATS MY ENTIRE ASS? It'd start with Morality sucking my cock, then Logic would behead him out of jealously and finally Thomas would reveal that the only thing he eved wanted was to eat my ass. OM NOM NOM!" 

There was silence.

His eyes watered with unshed tears, why was everything he did wrong?

Patton smiled, "Well that sure was a creative idea Remus, but I don't think we can accept it. Sorry. Hey Roman?" Roman stopped saying his own ideas for a second and glanced at the pair, "Remus seems pretty upset, I think we're going to head out." 

Roman looked confused for a second then looks at Remus proper, his eyes widened, "How did I not, I was so lost in thought. Oh dear, Remus... I'll join you."

Patton shook his head, "Oh no, I can handle him fine. You just keep creating you handsome lovely prince you!"

Roman glances at his brother one last time, "Is that what you want Remus? " 

Remus couldn't hear him over the incessant pounding of his head. He just clung to the closestthing nearby, which in this case was Patton. Roman took that as a yes and sunk them both out into the commons. 

Remus burst into tears, he felt fragile, a single word could break him. Patton hummed softly rocking him back and fourth, in another time or place Remus would have bitten his fingers as they ran through his hair. "Shhh, it's okay." Patton whispered, "It'll be okay."

Remus managed to get his voice to work and croaked, "Why can't I," his breath hitched, "Why can't I create good things? I want, I want to help-" 

Patton hushed him gently once more, "I know kiddo, I know. But sometimes you can't, because you're just not good enough. I know it hurts, but you can't change what you are and you're the bad part of creativity."

Remus felt strange, every word that Patton said was laced with honey, created to soothe, but nothing he said felt soothing. It made his throat close up and more tears force their way out. Patton kissed the top of his head, "But that's okay, because I love you, even though you are bad. I want you to stay with us, I even have a room prepared when you're ready. "

Remus wished he could argue that Patton didn't love him. A few days ago that would have been easy, but now here he was, offering him a place on the light side, heck maybe he'd even have a voice if he worked harder to cool down his temper and keep his ideas in check, he'd even apologized for how he treated him in the past. "Okay." He said simply. Patton hugged him tightly and led him to his room.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Deceit sat at the dinner table with a plate of steak and salad for himself, a similar p!ate, but with a well done stake to his left (Virgil would always get panicked if his wasn't well done.) And a plate of fried worms to his right (Remus loved the crunch.) It was 7 o clock.

"Are we going to wait for them until midnight or can I eat?" Rage snapped.

Deceit waved his hand in a sign that he could eat and the Orange side did, with a ravenous appetite, but Deceit didn't loose hope that either of them would appear in the night, laughing about how late they are. So he waited.

and waited

and waited.

[lilaclily00]

The Party That Went From Haunted to Worse: A Summerween Tale

Danny hates his life sometimes. And ghost portals. And his little sister. It’s a mistake going anywhere with her.

-_-_-_

I thought this was going to just... never see the light of day like most of my WIPs, but AU!Ghost August (Day 11: Crossover) gave me the drive to actually continue, finish, and post this monstrosity. Thanks for the excuse to put this out to the world!

This is the original post for the OC, and here’s the link to this story on AO3.

There's some Zalgo Text in here, so at the end I’ll have the... translations? Is that the right word? It looks better in AO3, though. :(

Thank you for helping me with this, @goinggoblin!!!

LET’S GOOO

-_-_-_ (I don’t think there’s horizontal lines anymore? Yikes)

Dani—known as Ellie around here—handed over the last of the fake spider-webbing. “There you go, Mabel.”

Mabel cheerfully thanked her from the ladder rungs, then turned back to stick it to the wall. “Now time for the paper stuff!”

“Are you sure it's okay to just...” Danny gestured around at the incomplete decorations strung around the designated party room.

Mabel waved him off over her shoulder, tacking up a cutesy paper skeleton onto the wall with her other hand, then a sheet ghost next to it. “Of course! We invited you!”

Ellie nudged Danny—well, it was much too hard of an elbowing to be classified as a nudge by most people, but not for them. “Lighten up, bro. It's not very often you get to go to parties, right?”

“Yeah. I know.” He knew she didn't mean his popularity—the fact it didn't exist—but that he just didn't have the time or energy for it most of the time. He wouldn't have gone to anything like this if she hadn't dragged him along as an excuse to take a break from ghost hunting.

Back in junior year, she’d sent him letters and photos from one of her longest stops in her travels, a dinky town called Gravity Falls, Oregon. She became good friends with a pair of twins around her age there, and they all stayed in touch afterwards. The twins invited her to hang out plenty since then, but this was the first time she told Danny to come along.

He had a complicated relationship with Halloween, considering the Fright Knight incident and all the kids and even adults that had started dressing up as Phantom (to varying levels of success and cringe). However, he had to admit he was intrigued with the idea of Summerween, especially when it was so far from Amity Park that its ghosts and fanbase would be very unlikely to interfere.

 Even just thinking that, though, made him wonder if he just jinxed himself.

 “Mabel,” they heard her twin call from the residential part of the Mystery Shack, “there's something wrong with the wig!”

 Mabel shook her spiky, blue-haired head, hands on her red-uniformed hips. “No, there isn't! I would know!” She wagged her finger towards the visiting pair. “I'll go help him, so don't go anywhere!” She ran off, nearly tripping over her own costume.

 “They really like to play up the twin thing, huh?” Danny asked his little sister in the silence. Someone had to acknowledge that the party's hosts were dressing up as Thing 1 and Thing 2. (He wasn’t sure what kinds of friends he suspected Ellie would make, but these two were a surprise.)

“At least they don't feel the need to be a walking pun at every opportunity,” she retorted, flipping back her Batman cape dramatically.

“I always am a walking pun. This is my truest self!” Danny gestured to his own costume, a classic zombie attire with green skin and fake blood everywhere.

“Har har.”

He looked over at the little pile of “spooky” images waiting on the top of the ladder, and took his pick of a large paper spider. He glanced back to the doorway where the twins disappeared off to, and quickly floated up to tape it to the ceiling with a grin.

“How are you going to explain how you got that there?” she giggled as he hovered back at her side.

“I won’t,” he replied smugly, touching ground. Just in time, too, as both Dipper and Mabel reappeared, now with their outfits and hair matching.

Mabel chirped, “If you guys help me with these last touches, this place will be perfect just in time for the party!”

Dipper fiddled with his sleeves, giving her a crooked smile. “At your orders, Mabes.”

-_-_-_

Danny was surprised by how many people actually showed up to what he expected to be a relatively small affair. Dipper had informed him that he and his sister lived in California for most of the year; despite that, it seemed the pair were very popular in their second home, Gravity Falls. Mabel introduced him to several of her friends, shouting over the loud pop music booming out the speakers, and he didn’t remember a single name.

Da—Ellie, he kept forgetting to call her that—was familiar with quite a few people, too. She stuck close to her big brother, though, until he ordered her to hang out with her friends instead. He appreciated the sentiment, but he could handle being by himself at a party.

Right?

He tried to dance for a few songs, but it wasn’t feeling natural. He then went to the refreshment tables for a jack-o-lantern cupcake. Maybe he needed to try to socialize after all. Hm, that one redheaded girl Mabel introduced to him seemed cool. He scanned the area for her face—

Wait. 

His eyes narrowed, studying the long white hair halfway across the room. It wasn’t as glowy as usual, but he’d know that hair anywhere. He pocketed the cupcake wrapper and pushed his way through the crowd. Finally, his ghost sense said something as he crossed the dance floor.

"Hey, ghost girl!" he shouted over the music. Her head turned 180 like an owl, pigtails following slightly slower than physics demanded, then she calmly turned the rest of her body to him. Her ever-present blank, wide-eyed stare bored into him, and never strayed, as she easily swerved around the dancing kids toward him. He noticed that she made an effort of walking on the ground rather than floating.

"Hi, zombie," she replied, the slightest smile on her face showing she knew exactly who she was talking to. She was never really scared of him or angry at him. If anything, she seemed to like talking to him. He supposed it was because he was among the closest to her physical age in the Ghost Zone.

He was not going to be friendly, though, and showed it by crossing his arms at her. "What are you doing here?"

She clasped her hands behind her back. "I’d like to ask you that. You hardly ever leave your lair.”

Danny scrunched his eyebrows, then glanced around in case anyone heard her. “Do you mean Amity Park?”

“Yeah.”

He frowned warily. Considering their past interactions, it seemed like a genuinely curious question. She wasn’t the type to use his absence as a chance to cause chaos back home. (If only the other ghosts were the same way.) “I got invited to hang out here for the weekend. And I don’t think it counts as my lair.”

“I think it does,” she replied with the barest of shrugs, still staring at him, unblinking. “I’m here ‘cause a door opened up in the woods right by here," she added. "There was a flyer for this party taped up on a tree. It said there was gonna be cookies."

He scrunched his eyebrows. "You can't even eat human cookies." She finally blinked as that registered, and her gaze broke to look at the ground as she wilted under the weight of her disappointment. Drama queen. "And I know you're planning to scare the kids here, if you haven't already started. C'mon, let's go."

"What?" She flicked her eyes back up to him, igniting a small light in her irises, disrupting her otherwise unglowy appearance. Her entire face slowly, ever so slowly, began to twist clockwise on her head. "It's Summerween!"

He held up a hand; he knew exactly what she was going to argue. "I know it's like Halloween, but it's still the wrong date. We agreed on no mass hauntings outside of October 31st."

Her eyebrows just so slightly scrunched, about the closest she could get to looking angry. "This isn't a very big party."

He had to give her that; it was bigger than he expected, but still only a few dozen, which potentially wasn't enough to count as a mass of people. And everyone here was around their age, which was less worrying than her chasing down little kids just for a laugh. 

Her big, empty eyes were unsettling, yet they nearly pleaded with him. He couldn't stand when she did that. He rubbed the side of his face in defeat, forgetting for a second about his zombie makeup. "Oh, fine! Only in this party. And nothing too scary. Otherwise, you go right into the thermos."

"Sounds good to me," she chirped, mouth curled into a small smile by her ear instead of her chin.

"Oh, do you guys know each other?" Danny glanced over to see the hosts themselves come from behind him. He turned back, tapping his cheek at the ghost. She knew the signal, and covered her face to recover its natural orientation.

"Kind of," he told Dipper.

The ghost girl uncovered her face, and smiled shyly at the twins. "I'm Lily. Nice to meet you." Danny raised his eyebrows at her; this whole time, she had an actual name?

"I'm Mabel! Lily, I love your costume!" Mabel squealed, hands smushing her own face. "You're so cute and creepy and ah!"

"Yeah, you did a great job," Dipper added, quiet admiration on his face as he quickly studied her appearance. Danny guessed he was wondering why the wig and body paint looked so realistic. Mabel did a fantastic job with their own costumes, but it was hard to make poofy, blue wigs not look like wigs. "I'm Dipper, by the way."

"You should totally enter the costume contest!" Mabel added, hands hovering, as if itching to reach out and inspect Lily's dress. "It’s later tonight!"

"Oh, maybe I will," she said, eyes flickering between the twins. They fixed onto Dipper when he had looked back up to her face. After a few seconds of an impromptu staring contest, Dipper turned his eyes away, blinking and glancing at Danny, unsure of himself. 

Mabel seemed to not have noticed, as she continued rambling to Lily, who patiently listened, empty eyes directed back to Mabel and small smile held up.

"She takes Halloween——er, and Summerween costumes very seriously," Danny told Dipper. "Pretty sure she'll try to creep the crap out of everybody here."

"Well, seems like she's actually good at it," the boy admitted with an awkward chuckle. "But hey, that's what this holiday is for, right?"

-_-_-_

Lily was right there, right in plain sight, swaying to the music by herself, but Danny knew she wasn’t as innocent as she looked. Even now, she was beginning her haunting.

It was just little stuff. There were a few small spiders on the fake webs, real ones. The door opened automatically for newcomers. The jack-o-lantern cupcakes, once all smiling, now had one smiling evilly in the center of the platter while the rest wore a fearful frown. She was staring blankly at Dipper at every opportunity.

Danny had fetched his thermos soon after their conversation and clipped it to his belt. He tried to distract himself by talking to people, like the girl that turned out to be named Wendy, and bopping his head to the background beat. Nonetheless, he couldn’t help but keep his eye on her and her effects. Why did his problems from home have to follow him everywhere? Why did he have to jinx himself?

He felt his sister ram into his back. "Danny, I sensed a ghost!"

"Yeah, so did I. It’s the white-haired girl. I worked out a deal with her," he immediately replied, sigh heavy and beyond his years.

Da—Ellie slowly shifted into a suspicious frown. "Wait, what? What kind of deal?"

"She gets to haunt the party for the night, and will peacefully return to the Ghost Zone after." Danny wilted under her glare. "Look, sh-she's even less harmless than the Box Ghost. She's all about the scare factor, doesn't try to hurt anyone—well, maybe makes them lose their sleep if they can't handle horror movies, but still. If I don't compromise here, she'll go for much bigger plans later to spite me. I promise I know what I'm doing!"

"Since when have you known what you're doing?" She shook her head, surely knowing how very offended he was by her comment. "This just doesn't sound like you, bro."

He shrugged exaggeratedly. "She doesn't operate the same way as most ghosts."

“So that made it okay to let loose a prankster ghost on these people?”

“Well, geez, it sounds terrible if you put it like that.”

She shook her head at him again before turning away with a dramatic cape twirl. He suddenly realized she does that at him a lot.

-_-_-_

 Something was off.

 Dipper had made all the necessary precautions for a Summerween party he could think of. He had left anti-magic wards hidden around the house—not unicorn hair strong, but still effective against most of what could possibly threaten a gathering like this. He’d cleared out the trash cans so the gnomes would have no reason to stick around. He locked up Gompers in the attic (he never proved to be dangerous, but that goat was terrifying).

But then when he went to take a break by a cobwebbed corner, he found real spiders on it. A lot of real spiders. The party lights, which were supposed to change color every few seconds, got stuck on red when he passed by them. The doors creaked open ominously when anyone came near them. He went to pour out some fruit punch, and the dispenser screamed when he pressed on it.

Every time he noticed one of these things, he glanced around him and immediately found that ghost girl staring straight at him.

Dipper ran to check the nearest ward, but it was still intact. However, there was something written next to it on the wall, in red.

You think you can keep me out?

Well, that wasn’t good.

The only suspect so far was the girl—Lily, right? Perhaps she wasn’t just dressed up as a ghost after all. But she looked too solid to be a ghost, though he hadn’t seen anyone actually try to touch her yet, and these things that were happening just didn’t have the same MO as the ghosts described in the Journals or those he faced in the past. But what other kinds of supernatural creatures could do things like this? Which ones would?

Mabel poked his shoulder, startling him enough that he bumped against the wall. She didn’t laugh, however, her attention focused on his wig. Eyes narrowed, she slowly said, “Dipper, is there blood in your hair?”

He ripped the wig off his head. Red liquid seeped out of its roots, matting down the poofed hair. He hesitantly touched a finger to it and sniffed. It smelled like copper.

Mabel pulled her own off, and found the same result. Face scrunched up in disgust, she tossed it to him and ran off to the bathroom. He could hear the door creak much louder than normal even from here.

Lily was staring at him, a blank smile on her face.

A part of him chastised himself for coming to conclusions too fast, but what other conclusion was there? And performing an exorcism, if it came to that, wouldn’t hurt something that wasn’t a ghost, right?

Clearly, what he needed to do next was talk to this girl, find out her motives before her little act became big. Just in case, though, he’d need to pull out that new silver mirror first.

-_-_-_

Amity Park and Gravity Falls were not very similar, but Danny realized there was something in common between their townsfolk: they were somewhat clueless. Not that he eavesdropped that much into the different conversations on the edges of the dance floor, but it seemed hardly anyone had noticed the odd tension in the air, the invisible slimy feeling on their skin of the supernatural hiding in their midst. Something coming.

Or, well, that that paper spider he stuck to the ceiling had grown several times its original size and crawled over one of the ceiling lights.

Ellie was consoling Mabel, who stood by the refreshments without her wig on. She glanced over to him a couple times just to glare.

He was trying to not keep his focus on Lily too much for his own sanity, but his eyes didn’t listen to his brain. They kept roaming the crowd to keep track of her. She looked like she wasn’t doing anything, but…

The eyes of the various wall decorations followed him wherever he went. Distant screaming could barely be heard over the music, if he tried to listen, but it came from nowhere. More spiders poured out of abandoned plastic cups. (She really liked that aesthetic, apparently.) 

He only caught her in the act once at the refreshments table: she studied one of the Halloween-colored M&M cookies in her hand and threw it into her mouth. After a second, she pulled it back out, staring at it like it was the cause of all her problems. She disintegrated the cookie she couldn’t eat. When she turned away, all the other cookies had turned into oatmeal raisin.

How evil.

“Hey, Danny?”

He blinked and turned to see Wendy. She quirked her eyebrow at him. “What’s got you making that constipated face?”

He blinked at her even harder and she laughed. He huffed, scratching at his hair. “There’s just weird stuff going on.”

“Oh, yeah,” she agreed, “this party’s totally haunted.”

“Actually—” He had enhanced hearing, and he still wasn’t sure he heard that right. “Yeah, it is. You noticed?”

“Well, it was kinda hard to ignore.” She nodded to herself. “I thought I heard creepy laughing coming from the bathroom and there was nobody there. ‘I’m here’ was written on the mirror in blood, though. Once I came back out, more stuff just kept popping up. There’s definitely a ghost.”

Danny frowned. “And… why aren’t you freaked out?”

“Well, same reason you aren’t. Dipper’s gonna take care of it.”

Alarm bells rang in his head, drowning out that distant screaming. “What do you mean ‘take care of it’?”

She tilted her head quizzically. “Don’t you already know him? This is totally Dipper’s thing, knowing about the supernatural and saving people from it. He already took down ghosts before. He’s probably getting everything ready for an exorcism or something right now.”

Exorcism. Exorcism. His skin crawled at that word. Ellie was friends with a kid that performed exorcisms in his spare time?

He remembered that Lily had been pulling that constant-stare thing on Dipper before. She had stopped at some point, which meant Dipper was out of sight, which meant maybe he really was planning something to get rid of her. Permanently.

Wendy said, “Hey, man, you okay?” just loud enough to bring him back out of his thoughts.

“Yeah, uh, just need to find Dipper,” he muttered, turning away and quickly searching the room for his face. Where was that kid, where was he, where was he—?

He hadn’t noticed that the music had slowly quieted down until Mabel was shouting by the DJ table. “Hey, everybody! We’re gonna start the costume contest in five minutes! Come over here if you wanna be in it!” The lights flickered for a couple seconds. “Oh, that’s new! We’ll get Soos to fix ‘em!”

Okay, there’s Mabel. Where there’s Mabel, there’s likely a Dipper. Or maybe an Ellie. He figured he should probably talk to her, too, even if she’ll give him that look again, wondering how she shared the exact same DNA with his doofus self.

-_-_-_

Mabel watched as the chatter grew louder with her hands on her hips. “There you go, Dipdop, I moved up the contest. The sacrifices I make to my carefully planned schedules for you!” She turned back to the playlist and rose the volume. The song sounded strangely distorted and screechy and demented, causing everyone to cover their ears. She quickly stopped the music. “But I guess you’re right that things are getting out of hand.”

Yes, he was. The freaky little instances seemed to have gotten worse in the few minutes he had spent grabbing the mirror and Journal 3 upstairs. The fastest way to find the ghost: have her come to him.

Grenda and Candy came running up in their matching “party animals” costumes, along with a couple other kids they barely knew. Danny rushed to the table, eyes wide and much more awake than any zombie had the right to be. Dipper opened his mouth, about to turn that into an actual joke, but Danny beat him.

“Do you know anything about ghosts?” The words practically tumbled out of Danny’s mouth.

Dipper raised his eyebrows. “Well, yeah.”

“And how to defeat them?”

“Yeah?”

“What’s your plan?”

Dipper considered Danny’s strangely serious face. Then, he said, “Make her come out, find out her motives and if there’s something we can do to make her leave. Trap her away if she doesn’t want to, and exorcise her as a last resort.”

Danny set his frown grimmer and grimmer as he spoke. The lights flickered. “I think you need to reconsider the severity of this haunting. I can’t let you—”

Click.

The lights all went out, and the room was an inkier black than it should’ve been on a warm summer Oregon night. Large objects screeched as they dragged across the floor, bumping into people. Dipper felt something crawl over his feet, heard the table in front of him slide away. Just over the random yelps and screams of the attendees, a dark laughter rang.

 They flicked back on. The tables, speakers, and party lights were all randomly located throughout the room. The attendees were stunned to silence, taking some seconds before their chatter began anew as they inspected their new surroundings.

 A girl with a white wig (it had to be her real hair) and painted blue skin (she didn’t have skin) slipped through the crowd, glancing between the three with that little smile gracing her face. “Can I join the costume contest?”

 Dipper couldn’t stop himself from setting a glare on her, gripping tighter the silver mirror behind his back. Mabel, who had more tact, plastered a grin on and said, “Of course! I invited you to do it, didn’t I?”

 Lily nodded and quietly took her place by Candy, who was not the only contestant staring at her warily. She ignored them all, eyes unfocused as she fiddled with one of her pigtails.

 Dipper glanced back over to Danny from the corner of his eye. “I think you don’t know what you’re talking about,” he told him quietly. “Just let me do my job.”

“Your job?” Danny hissed in return, far more offended than Dipper expected him to be. “Just let me talk to her—”

“What, do I look like I haven’t done this before?”

Danny tugged at his hair. “Listen to me! You need to change your plan!”

All the paper decorations promptly dropped from the walls, fluttering to the floor, except for the cutesy ghosts.

Mabel shouted over their quiet arguing, “Last call if you want to be in the contest!”

Ellie strode up, determination in her footsteps as she lined up beside Lily.

-_-_-_

Now that the music wasn’t playing, Danny could see people inspecting their surroundings a little more. Now that she wasn’t hidden among the crowd, Danny could see a few of those people second-guess Lily, watching her rock back and forth on her feet with a calculating eye. He wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. If there was anyone else here like Dipper...

He had to give up on talking sense into the kid because the contest was starting. Mabel was doing it by applause, and he couldn’t hear anything else over it.

Mabel wrote down on a notepad (though he had no clue what she’d be writing down), nodding thoughtfully to herself. “Looks like it’s between Count Dracula,” she shouted, gesturing with her pen to a kid in an elaborate vampire costume then to Lily, “and the ghost! One more vote decides the winner!”

The other contestants moved aside, but not too far. Ellie glanced over to Danny as she stepped back a couple feet. She was planning something, he knew it. With how mad she was at him, he had the distinct feeling he should be running for what remained of his life.

Dipper pulled Danny’s arm back as the applause rang again. When it stopped, he spoke in a dangerously low voice. “You said you knew her. You said she would try to scare everyone.”

Danny bit his lip for a second. “I did say something like that, huh?”

Quiet fury grew in Dipper’s eyes. “Well, fine. If you’re not going to do anything—” The rest was drowned out by the applause roaring up again, startled shouts mixed in as the lights flickered again, but Danny could guess, and his heart dropped to his stomach as Dipper turned away without giving him a chance to reply.

“Dracula wins!” Mabel announced, and a cheer rose up once again. “But the rest of you were great, too!”

Ellie stepped back up to Lily when the claps died back down. “Sorry you lost,” she said.

“Oh, it’s okay,” she replied amicably. “It wouldn’t really be fair if I won, anyway. I’m not a̙͈ ͖̩̠̬c̯͔̼t͚̮̗̙u̟͖͕a̻͙ ̼ll͙̙͎y̹ ̬͔̣̻̣w̠e̞̤ͅ ̪̖̦̤͍ͅ ̥ar͙͈i͈̳̰̜n̪̼̮ ͈ ̟̫͍̰͍ͅg̱ͅ ̟ ̦͇͓̻̹͇̼ ̝̯̦ ̹̬̟̱ ̭͈̠͇̟͖ ̗̤̯̮̭ a̬̯̰̦̞̪ͅ ̣̜͖ͅ ̬͚̪̫͎̰ c̫̗ ̜͕͕͇̤ ̤o ̥̮̺s̹̜͕͇t̬̘̮̼ ̗̞̥̣̖̼ ͇ ̣͓̹ u̹͖̙͙͇̠ ̼͉͓̰͙ ̝̯͍͙͍͓ ̭ ̤ ̖̠̠̙͖̮͕ ̜͔͔̮ ̖ ͚̤ͅ ̤ ̪̤̖͓̘͉ͅ ̭̳̜m̦̼̲̫ ̲̫͔̳̮͎ ̖̩̝̙̦͇ ̲̯̠͙̬ ̝ ̠͔̼͈͖ ̰̹ ̘͎̺̗ ̳̠̫̳̻̥ ̥͚̙͈̠͙ ̪̖͎̳̻ ͔͉̰͈̳ ̠ ͇̺̫ ͚̲̻̥͚͎̣ ̖̫̖̭ͅͅ ̩ ̩e͙͍͎̙̺̜.͇͍̩”

Lily’s hair and dress floated, revealing blobs of ectoplasm instead of legs. The lights went out, then returned in a dim, red hue. She was already up in the air, eyes glowing, face twisting. She raised her arms, and objects began to float at her command. Attendees screamed, almost loud enough to not hear the unsettling laughter coming from all sides. A couple of them tried to leave, but the door wouldn’t budge.

“Hey!” Dipper shouted as he ran to her. He was holding a… small mirror? “What do you want, ghost?”

She abruptly turned her head to him, face upside-down. Her voice had a demonic overtone as she replied, “T͍̝o̗͙ͅ ̥m͈a͕̲k̶̼͙̻e̼̟̼ ̳̱y̨o҉͎̹u͔͇̬͟ ̼s̹̙cr͉̦͇̮̭͇͡e̺͓͖̱̤̗a̪͙͓̩̮͟m͢.͎̮̳̱̬̯”

“Come on, there has to be something else,” he insisted, hand gripping the mirror harder. Danny inched his way; that mirror had to be a trap of some kind, and he wasn’t going to let Dipper use it—not when Danny didn’t know if he could get her back out of it.

“I know what you don’t want,” Ellie shouted, holding out a Fenton Thermos. Wait—Danny felt for the thermos on his belt. It was gone. She stole his thermos. How did he not notice until now?!

Lily stared her down, but she didn’t look scared. “Y̘o̺͎͖̱u̖̜̳̭̺ ̸̣̭̥̦͉̙̭s̝͢h̨o͙̞u̠͓̰̙͉l̡͉̠̗̣̥̗d̯̩̮̦̯͎̗’̨v̰̘̹͞e̙͉̘̦̱ ̶̙us̻̩̪͎̝̯e̯̱̜̬̮̝̫d͕͢ ì̟t̗̻̬̯͕̪͘ ̝͉w̹̤̫h̞̼̫̹̘̲͍͢e̖ņ̦̹̬̣̫̱ ̗̟̺y̵̬̤͖͓̖o̰̯̪̟̼̥u̟̩̰̙͢ ̝̖͕̗́h̪̰͝a̖͍̲͉͡d͕̹ ͙͖̬͉͟t̻̗̠͈̝h͚͚̜̖͎̕ͅe̼̰͍ ̰̲̪̥c͏̟̞̝͓̫h̗̤͚̲͔̼a̯͎̳͇͙̝͈n̦̥̜̹͘ͅc̳̭ȩ,” she answered, holding her hand out at Ellie. She began to float off the ground, yelping as she flailed her arms and legs in the air. She lost her grip on the thermos as she suddenly began to spasm, as if fighting off a—no, she couldn’t be.

She stilled, eyes closed, then opened them. They were glowing ecto-green. She was dull and slack-jawed, staring off at nothing.

Danny couldn’t help the dread trickling into his chest. She wasn’t really...?

He stepped towards her, and she... glanced down at him? Oh, she didn’t.

She winked.

She did.

Danny felt a thrill of anger run through him—how could his own clone decide to act possessed and make all of this worse? (When did those two even get to plan this?!) It was clearly working, with how all the partygoers stared at her in horror, looking like they were about to pass out. 

“A̛̫̙̮n͏y̗͇o̩̝͇̫n͖̜̬͇͖͖e̳ ̣̱̙̭͓e̤͚͉͉̮l̢̞̦̟s͎̱͍͍̩e̪̭͘ ͈͡w͖͚̩̹͉͢a͇͔̘ņ͎̟̣̫n͈͉̕a̷̟̝̯̬͚  ̭̱͉̟͔͘p̷̙̬̮̫̲͈̞̼͇̜͇̎̐͊ͨͅ  l̜͖̲̀̇̚  ̼ ̤̄ a͙̻̲̰͂̋ͦ̎͌̏ ̬̘͍ͯ͝   ̙͎͚̊̆̆ͨ̚ ̝̟̎͑͐ͬ́ỵ̶͉͉̳ͨͥ̌͋̓ͅ         ̖͉͓̙ͮ͌̑ͤ̽?̡͎̦̭̩̙̰͎”

Danny was about to dive for the thermos and suck both of them in (Ellie absolutely deserved it too, now), but he saw Dipper holding up the mirror and beginning a chant from a thick book. He had to take care of that first. He tackled the boy to the ground. The mirror slid away, unbroken, and both of them scrambled to get up and grab it first. Danny won, barely, and Dipper tackled him in return.

“Give me that!” Dipper growled, furiously trying to pull the mirror out of Danny’s hands.

Danny elbowed him away. “No, we need to use the thermos!”

“Why?!”

 “Because—” he grunted as Dipper kicked him surprisingly hard— “it’ll work better!”

“And why should I believe you? You don’t care about stopping her!”

 “I never said I didn’t!” Dipper paused his fighting. “I said to change your plan because she doesn’t deserve to be killed or trapped forever, and I already know that!” Danny pushed the other boy off of him and stood up, brushing himself off. “The longer we argue, the more she’ll make everyone pee their pants.”

 “Okay, fine, we’ll use your thermos thing,” Dipper grumbled as he pushed himself back to standing. He sobered as he saw food flying around and Ellie still floating there, gawking into space. “You better be right.”

 “Of course I am.” 

Danny sprinted for the thermos. He turned it on the second his hand touched it. Lily and Ellie apparently heard its mechanical whine, as they both glanced at him, Lily wide-eyed in a different way than usual.

“I̙̻̺’̩͍m͇͔͢ ͅṋ̰̮̦͎͡ͅo̞̤t̩̯̰̖̱͖͖ ͞f͚̜̙͢ǐ̭͉͓͈̅͗ͥͅn̝̯̻͎̣̰̱̅i̮̹͔̲ͨͥ̋̆̕s̓̽ͤ͑̋҉̜͈̱̪h̤͉̫̭͍̒͆̉̈̊̐e̵͈̣͖dͧ͏͎͍̻ ̖͙́̇̒͛ẅ̘̠̤̤̭̒̾͟ḭ̩͈̥̬̅ͪt̰͇̟̹͖͂ͪͪ͋͟ḩ̝̯̖̤͉ͬ́͌—”

He gave her an apologetic look as he pulled the lid off. She let out a chilling, unnatural scream as she was sucked in, the finale to her entire performance. 

Everything that had been floating crashed down, the lights flicked back to their usual white, and the laughing died off. Ellie fell to the floor, rubbing at her head and looking around as if dazed (that little liar).

“Are you okay?” Mabel cried as she ran to Ellie’s side, just as Dipper came up to him and asked, “Are you sure she can’t get out?”

“Yeah,” Danny replied, knocking his knuckles against it. “I’ll let her out in the Ghost Zone.”

“The Ghost Zone?”

He found himself explaining it halfmindedly, the rest of him focused on inspecting the party. It looked like everything really was back to normal, minus the rearranged room and food that fell to the floor.

“That’s amazing!” Dipper’s eyes sparkled, and Danny could finally see what Wendy meant about him wanting to know the supernatural, too. “I have so many questions!”

Danny suddenly suspected he’d be here a long time if those questions started now. “How about you write them down and I’ll tell you about it when the party’s over?”

He was surprised that Dipper agreed so easily, running off to grab Mabel’s pen. With that, he snuck out of the party, thermos in hand.

-_-_-_

Danny took the lid off again, watching as Lily reformed. She stretched her arms over her head with a sigh. He rubbed at his neck. “Sorry about trapping you, I didn’t really have a better choice.”

"That was still really fun!" She giggled, with the biggest smile Danny had ever witnessed her pulling. Her coloring shifted back to how she usually looked in the Ghost Zone, with purple hair, gray-black skin, and her dress bleached from black to bright white. She was officially out of her “scare-mode”, it seemed.

He huffed. "If you tone it down next time, and not include my sister in your schemes, I might not have to resort to it again.” He glanced around. “Well, time for you to go home. Is that portal still open?"

"Perhaps." Lily floated into the forest, and Danny warily followed. 

Only a few minutes passed before they came across a long rip in the air, carved out in front of one of the many trees, shining ecto green like a bleeding wound. One of its neighbor trees wore a sparkly Summerween party flyer.

"See you later, Phantom!” Lily chirped. “Oh, and let Mabel know her cookies were good!" She paused to wave, her grin lingering on her face turned counterclockwise, then flew through. 

Danny watched the portal until it closed; luckily, it only took a minute or two to stitch the fabric of reality back together, leaving no trace. Well, except for his nerves being fried for the night.

He was not looking forward to Ellie’s smug grin. 

It’s a mistake going anywhere with her.

-_-_-_

Zalgo Text:

"I'm not actually wearing a costume."

"To make you scream."

"You should've used it when you had the chance."

"Anyone else wanna play?"

"I'm not finished with—"

[sunkisse-s-blog1]

how skz comfort honey pt II

summary: maknae line found a gloomy honey.

pairing: honey and maknae line.

genre: fluff/angst.

eras: “I am NOT”, “I am WHO”, “I am WHO”, “pre Clé 1: Miroh” and “Clé 1: Miroh”, respectively. 

notes: hey sweethearts, I am so sorry for keeping you guys waiting. but FINALLY!!! so, differently from part 1, I am putting the scenarios in chronological time. I might have disappointed by those “comforts”, but Honey is not someone who cries easily… so I tried to match both her personality with the personalities from the boys in my au (also their relationship). bye

Jeongin and Honey were at school, break time just started and the younger left to buy them sandwiches. Reminding himself that Hwamin only liked tuna or cheese sandwich, and it could never have any sort of greenery. She ended staying in their class, finishing her homework so she could help I.N later. What Hwamin didn’t expect, though, is to someone break the bubble she was involved, a sheepish touch on her shoulder. Usually, no one stayed in class during the break, which was the was the reason the maknaes from Stray Kids always made their very own picnic there. The one who called her was a petite girl, a few inches smaller than Hwamin. She was wearing the school’s long sleeves uniform, but Honey could see the long fingernails pricking her pale skin “Get out of Stray Kids” she demanded with a hoarse voice, accusatory. “You are fat and a whore, how could you think you can approach boys like that?” “W-What?” the pen propped stiffly in her hand dropped, as the gush of words came out from the other girl. “What’s the point of being pretty? We already have Hyunjin, you can’t even dance properly. Also, Jeongin was mine before you appeared” she hissed, moving towards Honey with a frightful look. Hwamin likes to think everyone has their own beauty. Deep inside, even the worst villains you could think might have a charm, something good. But, bright people also have their obscurity. Hwamin never spoke up to anyone unless she was joking around and the very rare times she got mad, she would lock herself in her room, until all those bad intentions were gone. However, a fury boiled in her with the saying of the tiny girl. “I’m sorry. But, firstly… Hyunjin isn’t a beautiful face. He is an immensely talented and kindhearted person. There’s no such thing as a beautiful face in our group, we are all truly capable of everything” she boomed, standing on her feet “Besides, Jeongin isn’t an object and no one owns him. Watch yourself before talking about people you don’t know, even more, if they are my friends… Furthermore-” a thunderous sound came from the class’ door, scaring both girls. “Hwamin” Jeongin wailed, running to Honey and taking her by her arm “Come here” he ran out of the class, the girl following him with struggle, trying to match their steps. They reached the school’s backyard, deepening, even more, their route, as they found a place outside the crowd of students “What was that, Nini? I was in a very one-sided argument, which I was surely winning” babbled the tawny-haired girl, stuffing her chest proudly. However, before she could proceed with her rant about how Jeongin should let her continue the little argument with the one she claimed a petty little girl, she felt a stiff but undoubtedly affectionate hug involving her "Jeonginie? What are you doing?“ her hands travelled to the boy’s back, dearly. “I w-was there the whole time, yet… I couldn’t protect you because I was so scared she might hurt you” he sobbed, snuggling his face against Hwamin “Just like before, I’m was too coward to p-protect you” Rubbing his back tenderly, Hwamin cupped the taller’s face in her hands, squeezing his cheeks “You are not a coward” she shushed him before he could ramble “You are the bravest kid I know, also you have the sweetest heart ever and could never hurt someone’s feelings, that’s why you remain quiet. Moreover, I’m able to protect myself and my boys at the same, I am a hero, aren’t I?” he nodded, glossy eyes and glistening streams of tears. Hwamin wiped off with the back of her sleeve, smooching his forehead gingerly. “I will grow to protect you someday, Minmin” “Mayhaps you will very soon, peanuts” she wrapped strands of his hair around her finger “Can we eat our sandwiches now? I’m starving” “Oh, I dropped them!”

Seungmin was uncomfortable. Counting with the fan standing in front of him, Hwamin was ignored three times in a row. Usually, it didn’t happen in fansigns. But ever since rumours started to appear about her, those unpleasant incidents became quite often. “Pardon me…” Seungmin tried to search for words, the fan looking at him with curiosity “I was wondering why are you skipping Honey?” “Oh” the girl answered nonchalantly, blushing red at his attention to her “I don’t like bullies” something boiled in Seungmin, his ears getting red from the sudden anger “I think…” he tried to maintain his composure “Bullies are the one who spread rumours about those they don’t know. And it’s even worse when you believe them” “Honey is a precious piece of our team. And I would appreciate very much if you start to spread true stories within our fanbase” he continued caustic, the girl now turning into a stuttering mess before leaving, flustered and all.

Later that day, Seungmin found Honey beaming, running around and humming. She used to be always like that, but the rumours got her to become quiet. Seeing her enjoying herself, clicked something in his mind "What about this repulsive behavior?“ he chuckled. "Nothing, it’s just something I found…” Seungmin ruffled her hair, leading the latter to giggles playfully “Don’t let rumours hurt you” “I did not!” “Yeah, yeah…”

Honey was swinging her legs in the air while she played on her phone, but a playful voice took her attention “Honie” she felt an extra weight on her improvised bed (lots of blankets placed on the floor of the waiting room) A filthy rumour started to spread on the internet, claiming that Honey bully the boys, mostly due to her pranks and jokes within the group. She usually talked down with them in variety shows, which was totally approved by the boys, they thought it was so entertaining. But, their new fans usually couldn’t get it as a joke, leading to rumours being spread. They were recommended to ignore, however, the boys could never really let that be. Jisung approached Hwamin gingerly, knowing how much the girl hated others worrying about her. “Hannie” she chirped, clinging onto him instantly “Where are the others?” “They went to the convenience store” he took the girl’s hand with his, caressing it with his thumb “But I told them you want a cheese stick” “Oh, you know me so well, Hanie” she beamed, teasingly. Jisung and Hwamin are known as a comedic duo, two dorks always joking and messing around. But, there are hours when they would just stare at each other, as their own special talk. “You look like a silly donkey” she jeered, joking. “And you are a dwarf rabbit” “That’s not even a thing, besides… You are not that much taller” “I still taller than you” “Congratulations at being the tallest dwarf” she rolled her eyes, punching Jisung slightly. “Yah!” His hands went to the side of her tummy, tickling the girl and pinning her carefully. Honey gasped, trying to get off from his torture “I’m w-warning you, Han Jisung” she stuttered, giggling. “I’m older, you can’t talk to me like that!” Jisung reminded her, although he was laughing just as much as the girl “I like when you are laughing as you mean to” “Uh?” “You are the kindest person I have ever met, Honie” the older squeezed her cheeks until she groaned of annoyance. Although she had a grin adorning her face.

“Hyunjin, can you stay behind Honey? They are saying that some creepy are taking pictures laying on the floor, and Hwamin is wearing a skirt today. Also, I have to take care of Jeonginnie, he isn’t feeling well” Chan whispered to Hyunjin at once, as the others rushed out of the car. Hyunjin nodded, taking his suitcase from their manager as he waited for Honey to get out. Honey had a patterned skirt embracing her figure, the scalding weather leading her to wear more of her little pieces of cloth, as Hyunjin liked to call it. “Hey” she glimpsed at him, sticking out her tongue playfully almost than instantly “Brat” Hyunjin flicked her forehead, waiting for the boys to line up, managers keeping their sides along with bodyguards. There was a huge crowd, both their fans and freaks, the latter just waiting to shoot every step of them. “I have never ever seen so many people in an airport” Honey quavered, trying to look unbothered. She hated those mini events because, although she could interact with their lovely fans, sometimes things went wrong. She never feared ghosts or spooky things, what genuinely makes her panic is pretty much every man with a camera, they all looked like stalkers to her. “Be careful” Hyunjin warned, almost reaching Honey’s hand. But he knew she would probably punch him right on his nose. However, the girl never heard him, and she really wanted to show something to Jisung, who was walking quite far from her "Don’t wanna” she sang in her mischievous tone, running playfully away from him. Then, everything happened like a shot. Flashes caught Honey unwarned and muffled screamings that got clear to her after a while. 

“You are looking like a pig” “Jerk your hips, Honey” “Piggy thighs”

Honey felt an abrupt grip on her arm and before she could slap the soul out of the moron who dared to touch her, she recognized Hyunjin’s voice “I told to stay with me” he seemed pissed off in so many ways that Honey almost apologized “I’ll buy you ice cream if you hold my hand in a not disgusting way" Honey intertwined their pinky fingers, glossy eyes from the sudden overwhelming feeling, not even noticing the taller's face boiling crimson, being both flustered and pissed. He hated when those freaks ended letting Hwamin gloomy. 

"Dummy” “Shortie”.

Nesting herself in a pile of silk blankets, Hwamin could feel as her lips started to bruise, biting them roughly so she could hold her will to burst in tears. It’s had been an awful day. She couldn’t keep herself from reading all the mean comments towards her, even though they became quite unusual nowadays. Perhaps, for hiding her bad feelings deep inside, everything now seemed like a trigger. 

The boys were all gone. Honey recorded her lines before everyone so she could have her own little moment. Promising she would never cry in front of any member, Minho being her only exception.

“Honey?” a soothing voice called her, leading the girl to quickly wipe her tears away. But she still had tousled hair and puffy eyes. Causing Hwamin to hide her face, rubbing herself against the blankets, as she heard a cracking sound “Are you here?” he popped through the door, looking for the switch “Look what I found” his voice was almost a chirping sound, he seemed so bubbly that the girl snuggles herself even more in her duvets. 

“I’m not here” came from a muffled sound. “Yes, you are” he sat on the edge of her bed “What happened?” Then, he heard sobs and his world crashed down. Hwamin was quivering slightly, as he could see by his poor lighted sight “H-Hwamin?” Felix turned the girl around promptly, just to find her puffy eyes filled with plump tears “Tell me what happened!” he could feel his heart pounding against his rib cages violently and he embraced the girl with his arm, stiffly placing her on his lap. “Why are they so mean?” the older didn’t have to hear further, squeezing her even further. “I got you, I’m here, you are safe with me” he whispered, placing a soft smoochie on the top of her head.

[lanceville]

Hello, I really want to get this out of my mind, so I hope I do not bother you, if I bother you please ignore me, ok this will be long. I saw one of your previous answers, where you say that you feel different or with a weird mood, I've also been feeling weird, and I've been thinking about things that really stress me, I'm in a mood so pessimistic and depressing that I come crazy and terrible ideas about many things (part1)

one of those strange thoughts is this: LM and JDS have said (or so I’ve heard correct me if I’m wrong) that they do not want to talk much to avoid surprises about the plot of the following seasons … so I came this horrible thought. if they for example do not want to ruin the surprise about Klance by becoming a canon, Why do they talk so much about them? (part2)

why they give the fans so many hopes and make them believe that they will become canon if they want it to be a “surprise”?. then my pessimistic thoughts lead me to this, the surprise is not klance becoming canon, the surprise will be that another ship either All//ance, K and R or even worse She//ith is the one that will become canon. So if I’m not bothering you I’d appreciate it if you answered this, I’m sorry for bothering you with this stupidity (last part)

it’s alright bro, i gotchu. 

first, it’s true that lm and jds and known to be super secretive about the plot and upcoming events, and they have been vague about lance’s and keith’s relationship until this interview. there are instances were they were talked about them in a romantic context several times too but i’m just gonna focus on this video for now. there are two reasons that they have decided to openly talk about it like that:

1. they were approached specifically by the author of this article to hear out what they think about the “science behind shipping,” since they’re the executive producers of the show with the most popular ship on the internet.

2. they’ve realized it’s necessary to keep avoiding klance at this point. the klance fandom is huge, and no matter how much they try hide who the endgame will be or even sway us a little bit from it, the klance fandom only grows each time. they never expected klance to gain such a huge fanbase so quickly and for the fans to pick up on the hints that easily. it was as if they were still in shock and denial that their endgame surprise has been exposed, but there’s no use denying it at this point. they know we’ll forever believe in the ship, so since everything’s exposed, they don’t see why they can’t engage with the fans about them. if it is really not the endgame ship, they would’ve tried to do more damage control to not break the hopes and fail the expectations of the fans later, but they only spoke positively about klance in that video.

and don’t allow yourself to think that, annonie. i know that it’s really worrying because of how little keith and lance have interacted in the past few seasons, but that does not mean in any way that their relationship has regressed. season six especially was the very definition of intense, and there was barely any time for keith to interact with any of the other paladins besides shiro. keith, especially, was under a lot of pressure, and they were all stressed. but now since everything’s calmed down and keith’s finally back on the team, things will get better. have faith. 

(gonna put the rest under read more bc this has tuned way longer than expected)

and about other ships becoming canon, you can rule that idea out by the process of elimination.

keith/romelle and keith/allura are never gonna happen. you know why?

the endgame is between two main characters (”characters who have been present since the beginning″ aka the paladins). romelle isn’t

keith and allura have only ever interacted in what would seem like (but it isn’t) a romantic fashion in s2, and it was just bc of keith’s heritage. even though it’s kinda disappointing since i’d like to see more of their friendship, they’ve barely interacted with each other outside of missions. there’s no way they’re gonna develop romantic feelings for each other when neither has shown interest in the other.

literally

also dude keith’s clearly not straight. no matter how much you try to convince yourself otherwise, the man isn’t. one look at him is enough to know that.

biggest proof is allura, a gorgeous space princess who everybody swoons over, falling right into his arms and him not even blinking a goddamn eye. his indifferent expression still cackles me tbh.

also, it’s known that the endgame involves lance, so if it’s a ship that does not include lance, then nah it’s not happening.

not gonna even bother with why shiteihaha will never become canon in a bazillion realities because it’s ridiculously clear as to why to those who have at least 2 functional brain cells. don’t even let that idea cross your mind.

this leaves us with all//ance. tbh, it did have a chance of becoming canon up until s5. but dude, after watching s6, i was like “did they just really kill this ship.” all//ance is really cute and sweet, and i wouldn’t have minded it becoming canon since both allura and lance really care about each and i loooooooooove their friendship so goddamn much. but this is the thing. what allura and lance have is friendship. they both were really good friends up until the writers decided to bring lance’s crush back from the bottomless pits for drama’s sake. lance’s crush on allura is so valid man. he truly does like her. but the thing that killed the ship wasn’t this; it was the whole love triangle drama. allura fell in love with lotor and never requited lance’s feelings even when she knew about them, meaning she does not view lance that way, and it’s her right - she can like whoever she wants. the writers said that romance will happen naturally in the show. if allura would ever reciprocate lance’s feelings, she would’ve at least displayed some signs of that at this point. she got to know lance and see some of his greatest moments. she even got to experience what lance dying would feel like, yet she still didn’t develop any romantic feelings towards him. if feelings of loss and grieve didn’t make her realize how important lance is to her romantically, then that’s because there are no romantic feelings present in the first place. it would not make sense at all for her to develop feelings for him later on. she cares deeply about him as a friend, and romantic love is not some upgraded form of friendship love - it’s a totally different type of the same class, and that’s what she feels about him.

it would be utterly cruel and unfair for both if they end up together after the shit that has happened in s6. allura would never find a lotor in lance, and lance would always feel inferior if he gets with allura because he know’s he’s no lotor - that he isn’t who she wants (lance is much better than all the boys in the entire universe and whoever has him is literally the luckiest person ever but this is not the point so moving on). allura’s feelings for lance would not be genuine, which would make allura feel bad because she would never want to make lance feel like a rebound or a second choice. lance, on the other hand, really likes allura, and being the helplessly selfless person he is, would accept to be allura’s rebound while being fully aware of it and accepting his fate as a second choice which, god, would take a heavy fricking toll on his already bad self-esteem issues. seriously man, every time i think about them getting together after s6, their relationship is just full of heartbreak and hurt, and i don’t want either of them to feel like that because they don’t deserve it. even the showrunners admitted that them getting together right after would be a disservice to both of them. i fucking love them both and their friendship so much and i don’t want anything to ruin it.

i wanna also elaborate on another point. if you’ve noticed, allura and lance shared a couple scenes that paralleled klance’s but they’re slightly more romantically-coded (the scene might seem this way but since allura has 0 romantic interest in lance it ain’t, but anyway). the reason i think they included such parallels is to tell the audience that, “if you see those a///rance scenes as romantic, then those previous klance scene were meant to be romantic as well :)” as i mentioned before, the writers were quite surprised we have picked up on klance pretty quickly and early. since they might’ve thought we wouldn’t, they might’ve thought “something” was needed to hint at where they’re planning on taking klance’s relationship, and that “something” is all//ance. but unlike all/urance’s scenes (especially the dying lance moment which resembled the bonding moment) where the romantic interest is one-sided, the similar feelings in klance’s scenes are reciprocated by both parties (bonding!!!! moment!!!!).

now then, guess which ship we’re left with!!!!! yup! it’s klance. i could go on and on and on and on about how they!!! are!!! gonna!!! be!!! canon!!! but i’ve seriously spoken too much (and i cant feel my fingers anymore erfberk) and i don’t even know if you even have read it all the way to end bc ik i’m quite boring when i explain stuff ebjrvkebr but!!! seriously dude. just go rewatch s3. that’s all the confirmation you need of their budding romance. they have some of the most trope-y romantic scenes. and dude, i say all that but, whatever happens, i will forever believe that there’s no better ship in this show than klance. nothing will surpass it. 

edit: gonna just add the petty ask i sent voltron (that i knew they were never gonna answer but i had to send it nonetheless bc i needed to let the salt inside me out somehow lmao) because it’s succinct and summarizes what i said above lmao

[bettsfic]

Whaaaa have u finished s5?????!!!! THOUGHTS???

i mean overall, critically speaking, it was probably one of the best single seasons of any teen tv show i’ve ever watched. like top 10, up there somewhere with buffy s2. the plot was tightly wrought, most things that happened made sense (which is something i’ve learned to let slide with this show), and every character had a reasonable motivation for doing what they were doing. granted, the bar was painfully low after s3 and 4, but i think if i picked up this show at s5 without seeing any of the prior seasons i still would have loved it.

THAT SAID, because i have seen the rest of the series, some of the OOC elements bothered me. i only saw a few glimpses of clarke’s history as the great wanheda (that quick knife to niylah’s throat? NICE). i didn’t like that all of her motivation had been reduced to motherhood when we’ve seen her in the past as a leader and lover and fighter and healer. BUT i also really loved the clexa moments, which didn’t feel cheap at all to me, and made clarke’s relationship with madi much more interesting after several cringey moments of “i’m willing to torture you to protect you.” similarly i didn’t like that abby’s character was reduced to her addiction and that guided everything she did. i like addiction narratives, but only when they’re not a plot device, which this very much was.

conversely, i think bellamy became more complex somehow, and his arc made sense -- he had six years in space to think on shit, and that changes a person. he continues to be probably the only truly trustworthy character on the show (i mean trustworthy to the audience) because his sense of loyalty is consistent and overrides all other traits, and his conflict (like captain america’s) always involves the compromise of his loyalty. in the case of this season, the people he’d spent six years with, or his sister, who is only a shadow of the person she once was. bellamy remains one of my favorite television characters of all time. (also note, i LOVED his fight scenes this season -- i can’t tell if it’s bob or the choreographers but all of them were really beautifully done, and it was a refreshing change of pace to not see him constantly beaten down every other minute. his face was only bloodied in one episode all season!!). 

BELLARKE?? the bellarke moments were so good and so infuriating. as much as i appreciated them, i just kept thinking about what the show would be like if they’d gone canon at different points earlier on, and how that would make their relationship so complex. if they’d been together during praimfaya and bellamy spent six years thinking she was dead. if they had the same ride-or-die loyalty of monty and harper or the passion of murphy and emori, and how much more interesting that would make the show and the characters and -- well, i also firmly believe that any romance arc shouldn’t stretch over 5 seasons, so at this point it’s looking more like a gimmick to keep people watching, and i think if it were really confident in its quality, it wouldn’t need to use slow burn romantic tension to engage its audience. too much build-up ruins the breaking point, ya feel? five seasons is enough.

anyway. raven, sadly, never gets a character arc in order to let her either grow or shrink because, being the engineer, she’s always forced into a function of plot. in every season, her job is to move a machine from point A to B, and her obstacle is always physical torture. it’s a shame because i think lindsay’s performance is so good. i dug zeke’s character and their romance, though, so i hope to see more of that in s6. 

and murphy. wow. for the first time we get an actual internal arc. even if it’s as blunt and heavy-handed as a brick, murphy had no clear-cut external goal, and everything about his growth this season was his internal acceptance of usefulness and heroism. as i type this i’m seeing a pattern, though, because emori, despite having a very interesting potential arc as grounder-turned-engineering-apprentice, was reduced to a function of murphy’s self-realization. i would have liked more development for both characters, because i think they were really close to something epiphanic that never got fully formed and had the potential to advance the moral cornerstones of the story.

ugh, echo. fuck echo. i think the only way she could be redeemed to me is if she showed bellamy the same loyalty she had once shown roan, and bellamy, rather than turning that loyalty romantic, would have dismissed it as being forced and toxic and destructive, so echo would be forced to actually consider herself as an individual rather than a member of a unit. but everything about their relationship was so sloppily done, and i found myself looking away whenever she was on screen. (which is not at all about the performance, which, again, was stellar.)

monty and harper provided a fraction of a wider perspective toward fixing what i think is the ultimate problem of the show, which is that the writing seems grossly unaware of its own moral assumptions. and maybe i’m projecting because i recently got that same feedback from an author i really admire (and he was right) but i may have internalized it so much i see it in other things now. monty and harper provided a much-needed “we don’t have to participate in this, and there are other solutions to be found” pacifist perspective which really helped round-out the season and provided a breath of fresh air to an otherwise exhaustingly dark plot. 

diyoza? stellar. perfect. wonderful. 10/10. a competent, lawful neutral to act as a foil to octavia’s chaotic neutral leadership. i liked that she was pregnant, but i disliked that her motivation and mcreary’s weakness was reduced to their feelings about that pregnancy, so it felt like just a gimmick to manipulate the plot and tip the scales against mcreary. 

kane is always fab, but i’m biased because i think henry ian cusick is the second best actor on the show. i wish he was more coherent as a character. as it stands he’s just kind of silly putty that gets formed into whatever he needs to be. i would be SO HERE for a kane/diyoza/abby triangle (which i would turn into an OT3 immediately). the daddy vibes this season were great. 

one of the most understated characters has always been indra, played by the best actress on the show, adina porter. this season i really adored her relationship with gaia. i don’t think i’ve ever seen a mother/daughter relationship as formal and loving as theirs, and how it seamlessly encompassed their respective love/worship of octavia. they’re a good example of characters how further the plot but also get to be actual characters. idk why it’s so hard for this show to figure out the difference between plot devices and characters but it’s really hit or miss.

aaaaand then there’s octavia. i was pissed earlier in the season that jaha was killed off just for the sake of landing some leadership advice, because i really liked jaha’s character and (like many of the more competent characters who are put into the hands of incompetent writers [see: lexa]) thought he’d been poorly utilized the past 3 seasons. i don’t get why octavia was the leader at all?? like, kane, indra, abby, and jaha were all more qualified, and they were all in the bunker together. i think there was supposed to be some commentary on charisma and loyalty or something but it got lost in the heavy-handed “we do what it takes to survive” and “we pursue violence for peace” rhetoric that oversaturates the entire show because jroth can’t think of anything deeper or more meaningful to say about the complexity of being (and it’s what will probably get the show canceled in the next year or so -- no growth in moral reasoning = no new drama to be found). the only part that really sold me was octavia’s decision to shoot the people who refused to eat, even though i thought it was a dumb premise to begin with, because the flashback was well-placed and the performance was great, and it showed a genuine breaking point between octavia and blodreina. 

if i had written the season, there were a lot of things i would have done differently (we get this ominous shot of the worms that doesn’t amount to anything, and a twist ending that felt cheap even if it was emotionally compelling), but in comparison to the prior seasons, i commended this season on not pulling its punches on the practical details like it’s always done (clarke eating windshield bugs to survive), threading in the consequences and details from all the prior seasons and the show’s own canon (abby using The Blight to motivate octavia into forcing everyone to eat), and overall slowing the fuck down (the entire season leads up to one [1] battle). 

i don’t think the show will ever fully recover from lexa’s death, which decimated its fanbase and lost trust in the writing, but s5 put up a decent mulligan of s4 to wrangle the juvenile moral quandaries the show attempts to assert. if s6 can advance the philosophical implications of its own world, lose the “our people” bullshit jargon, and focus on the fucking characters which is the only reason anyone watches the damn show, then i think it could really be up there with the other cult faves like buffy and star trek and supernatural. 

[phantastus]

Hi, I've been reading your SH related writing all day, and I'm really enjoying it. So thank you for keeping this up and reviving my love for the series. Anyway, I noticed that you seem to be fairly forgiving towards the western games. I am too. SH:H, SH:D, and SH:SM all have their strong suits, or at least some decent ideas. But I just can't find any in Origins. That one just makes me angry. Do you disagree? What do you think SH:O did well, or at least right?

Oh man, well gosh I’m honored! It always makes me happy to know when people find something of value in my ramblings, haha.

Although I consider myself extremely critical of the western games, I AM pretty forgiving compared to a significant portion of the fanbase, it’s true.

I do think that Origins is probably the weakest of them in just about every regard– both storywise and in gameplay. The ways it just kind of tosses continuity out the window drive me nuts. But there are definitely things I like about it even if I think it’s very flawed– for one, it was actually the very first SH game I was exposed to at all, so it introduced me to the concepts of Silent Hill with like zero context for the rest of the series, but got me interested in the first place, haha! But that aside, it still has some strengths that keep me from completely dismissing it.

I’ll try to go into detail a little under a readmore.

1. Travis himself. I think he’s an interesting, unique protagonist– out of the western games, his is the ONLY design that stands out as being significantly different from the rest. Not that he’s a beacon of originality or anything (still a brunette white dude, after all), but he has a very different build + facial features than any of the other protagonists (an accomplishment that Alex and Murphy unfortunately cannot share). He’s pretty much the only one who actually passes a silhouette test.Writing-wise, I also just have a big old soft spot for his character. He’s just this good-hearted trucker who messes up sometimes but tries his best. (And I won’t lie, I flat-out ignore the “whoops he’s evil!” twist in the bad ending because any hints leading to it are completely half-assed and not reflected meaningfully in the actual story at all. The Butcher is stupid and has no impact on the narrative whatsoever and can literally be erased from the game without affecting anything).Also, I can’t not love a man who can carry like fifteen televisions in his pants.

2. Some of the monster designs.In terms of creature design, Origins ranks above Downpour but SIGNIFICANTLY below Homecoming. So it’s definitely not a huge standout when it comes to good monsters (especially since several of them are just ripped directly out of SH2 for no good reason), but there’s a few that I really, REALLY like.For one, I love the Carrions. I think that an animal-loving person in a vehicular-transport-based career who feels really guilty about killing/injuring animals on the road by accident is a FANTASTIC thing to manifest as a monster, and is something that really made Travis stand out as a character.I also really love the Caliban and, to a lesser degree, the Ariels. Those were just some cool concepts that again, were unique and not immediately derivative of monsters from unrelated games. It was neat to see some more of Alessa’s monsters, even if it was a bit of a stretch continuity-wise to have new creatures for her that mysteriously aren’t around in SH1.And you know what, the Remnants were pretty cool too.Basically, there were some good ideas in there even if they kind of deserved to be in a better game, and those somewhat make up for some of the badness to me.

3. EDITED TO ADD: the soundtrackOrigins had some fucking bangers and the ambient/sound effect tracks are just as good as in any of the other games-- Akira Yamaoka is just magical and his music elevates even the crappiest of the western games.Just listen to Shot Down in Flames and tell me it doesn’t freaking slap.

4. Young(er) Dahlia’s designIt’s FUCKING WEIRD but I actually kind of appreciate seeing this visibly-off-kilter-even-though-she’s-not-officially-the-town-weirdo-yet woman seven years before SH1 back when she was slightly more outwardly respectable but honestly still a complete weapons-grade freak.

5. The UFO endingwhat can I even say it’s just perfect

AND THAT’S ABOUT IT. Poor Origins is the red-headed stepchild of the series and there’s not much that’s redeeming about it, but all the stuff above are things that I do genuinely like. SO HOPEFULLY that shed a little light on it for ya! Even if you disagree, I do sincerely understand your frustrations with this one. If I tried to list all the things I DIDN’T like about Origins, this would be a MUCH longer post lol.

[shadowtale92]

Alright we know Makoto is your best girl but can we get your list for your favorite to least favorite of the party in persona 5? I’m curious what you think!

Oh man, calling me out are you? Lol, but this does give me a chance to talk about all the party members though. :D

1. Makoto (obviously)

I went into Persona 5 semi-blind so I had no idea that Makoto was popular in the fanbase. The only thing I associated her with previously was that my friend bet she’d be one of my favorite characters (she was right by the way). I was pretty indifferent with her at first, but after seeing what she had to go through, I kind of saw her as a kindred spirit and my sympathy levels went off the charts for her. After that I just grew to really love her character and seeing her adorably dorky side was probably what won me over in the end.

2. Yusuke

Ma boi… ma boi is a special case since two of my friends literally bet I’d like him, since I have a tendency to fall for the blue haired characters. And being stubborn in my own right, I was intent on not liking him. At first he was just kinda weird and wasn’t really appealing to me…. and then I saw him nibbling on his freaking jagariko sticks and I thought that was the most adorable thing ever and I fell for him after that and accepted all of his eccentricities lolololol.

3. Futaba:

You know how I felt a lot of sympathy for Makoto? Yeah, Futaba basically went 2000% above that with her whole situation. PRECIOUS FREAKING CHILD UGH.

4. Akira/Ren

I personally like his manga name, so I’ll refer to him as such. I probably placed him here because he actually has more of a personality than the other Persona protags (except in the anime so far). But I also really like his overall design and his phantom thief outfit is my personal favorite out of the phantom theives. I’d also have to blame fanfictions for making me like him more since there, writers are able to flesh him out more and seem like an actual character rather than just a self-insert.

5. Ann

I’m pretty neutral with her. I appreciate her at times, but after the Kamoshida arc, she just felt kind of there? I don’t dislike her by any means, but I guess she’s not as interesting to me. That’s just my personal preference though.

6. Ryuji

Kind of like Ann, I liked him in the Kamoshida arc, but afterwards, he felt just too obnoxious with his temper and attention seeking that he just got on my nerves most of the time. I feel like it was mostly the writing’s fault that this happened, especially seeing how inconsistent his character in the main story compared to his confidant. But what really left a bitter taste in my mouth was his fallout with Morgana. He never genuinely apologized to him and I always have issues with characters that don’t apologize.

7. Haru

I don’t have anything against Haru but she just came so late in the game that I didn’t really get a good feel of her character. It honestly felt like she just got shoved into the party randomly and I wish that they could have introduced her better and prior to actually joining. Though fanfics are definitely helping me warm up to her.

8. Morgana

Funnily enough, I never really associated the “you seem tired, you should go to sleep” type of lines with him personally. I mostly saw them as a game mechanic to force you to end the day. However, I think it was mostly his leaving the Phantom Thieves was what made me lose my respect for him. His attitude towards Ryuji was bad enough, but the way he just kind of went off on everyone was pretty terrible. He’s a very interesting character and I do like him more than Teddy, but some of the things that happened left a bad taste in my mouth.

9. Akechi

I honestly never really liked him even before he joined the Phantom Thieves. Through out my previous watch through, he got on my nerves a lot with his high and mighty attitude. And I just never liked his tone. He seems nice on the surface, but he definitely had a pretty sharp tongue. (He also lost points with me by how he brutally put down Makoto that one time)

[allen-messenger]

I already read some of your drables and i think your writting is amazing, keep up the good work ♥. If you're not busy, may I request some headcannons about a MC that has a resting bitch face 24/7 but it's actually veeeery soft? RFA and Saeran please!

Thank you so much anon, you are so lovely. Your supportmeans a lot to me. Also, congratulations for sending me my very first request ♥ I got a bit carried away, so my HC might be a bit long, butI hope you’ll enjoy reading them anyways.

P.S : I’m sorry if the formatting looks awful on the phone app. I tried to make it look better but it appears I’m awful at it.

Kindhearted MC has a “resting bitch face” (RFA + Saeran)

Yoosung★

Simply put, the boy was so damn worried.You seemed so cheerful in the chatroom, so why did you look annoyed now thatyou were finally meeting in real life? Was he the only one who had been lookingforward to seeing the other? Were you disappointed in him? Was hedisappointing? 

Thousands of negative thoughts crossed hishead. Argh, maybe he should have listened to Zen. Maybe he should have workedup instead of staying in front of his computer 24/7, eating Leys chips anddrinking Ponta. Maybe Jaehee’s was right, maybe he was too short, and maybe hisworn-out hoodie was tacky. And… what if you thought he wasn’t wild enough? Hehad no idea how popular men like Zen acted. Should he start calling you “babe”or “lamb”? Should he start bragging about his looks…? Ah, he suddenly feltincredibly gloomy. He didn’t have half of Zen’s looks, so there was no way hecould ever become as attractive as him. And obviously you would bedisappointed, you were going out with him instead of dating a godlike musicalactor!

“Yoosung… Is something wrong? You lookpale.” You asked, worried.

“I’m sorryI’m not good enough, but… I’ll try to become a better man for you! So… so…!” Hepanicked.

“Huh…?What are you talking about?” You were genuinely surprised. His reaction was sosudden you weren’t sure what to answer.

“You don’tlook like you are having fun at all… I knew it, I am too normal… I am not acool career woman, a famous actor, a genius hacker, or a corporate heir, thereis no way you would like me… I… I am not even ranked #1 on LOLOL!”

“No! It’snothing like that at all.” You reassured him. “I’m just nervous, it is ourfirst date after all. Sorry if I made you uncomfortable.”

“I’m theone who should apologize, MC… I must have looked ridiculous, right?”

“Not atall. You are adorable, Yoosung.” You chucked. “You know… Don’t tell the others,but I think you are the cutest member of the RFA.”

All of a sudden, his cheeks felt warm. Hewas sure of it now, you were the supportive, kindhearted MC who had alwaysaccepted his normal, average self. Your words have always felt like they wereimbued of magic to him. Once again, you had managed to make his uneasiness flyaway. This time, it would be his turn to make sure you would have fun.

Jumin Han

For the longest time, the corporate heirdid not even notice your expression. He had zero interest in his employees’ appearanceafter all. The only thing he evaluated them for was their professionalism,their skills, and how useful they were for the company. Although he stronglyappreciated your meticulous work, he did not have a personal interest in you.You were an employee – a really competent one -, and he was a practicalexecutive. That was all there was to it.

However, one day, he overheard negativegossip against you. Some of your coworkers were talking about how contemptuous andarrogant you were, constantly looking down on them. Progressively, they startedstraight up laughing at you, saying someone as condescending as you wouldprobably die alone.

In a single sentence, the corporate heirbrought back peace in the corridor.

“If you have the time to slander your colleague, go back to work. Now.This is your first and last strike. Next time I see youdeteriorate our company’s work environment, I will personally make sure yourdesks are emptied.”

Seeing your coworkers laying low for awhile gave you a surge of relief. Actually, you had been contemplating quittingyour work because of the heavy atmosphere you felt around you. Your gaze mighthave looked harsh, but in truth, you wished you could have got along with yourcoworkers. Although most colleagues acted neutral towards you, a small groupexuded hostility every time you uttered a word. Nevertheless, you had stayedbecause the company worked on interesting projects – also, the pay wasundeniably satisfying.

After this event, Jumin slightly paid moreattention to you. It wasn’t noticeable, but for an instant, he examined yourexpression, trying to find what could have led your peers to think you weredisrespectful towards them, in vain. He just couldn’t understand the reasonbehind their gossip. Your expression did seem to show a bit of disinterest, butyour meticulous reports obviously showed how passionate you were about yourwork. The executive skimmed through the folder you held out to him.

“Your report is satisfying, but I would like you to develop on theeffects our project would have on the environment. Assistant Kang researchedsome data regarding this point, ask her to share the file with you.”

“Understood. Thank you for your time, Mr. Han.”

“Close the door before leaving. While you are here, I’d like to say thatyou can address any complaint you have about your work environment directly tome. You are a valuable asset for our company. It would be a shame if C&Rwere to lose you because of some pests.”

“Thank you, Mr. Han. I will take my leave now.”

For thefirst time, you smiled at work. Jumin Han was said to be a cold, insufferableemployer, but to you, he was just a practical executive who cared about hisworkers in his own way.

Jaehee Kang

The first time you met Jaehee was at oneof Zen’s musicals. You were both seated on the front row, next to each other.The storyline wasn’t that original, but Zen’s acting mostly counterbalanced thescenario’s flaws.

You were completely oblivious to theglances Jaehee threw you during the performance. Usually, the assistant wouldhave been dazed by the spectacle. But today, her curiosity sometimes made herlook away from the actor’s performance. Zen had a solid fanbase by now, andfront row seats tickets for his shows were highly difficult to obtain. Jaeheeknew for a fact that some fans were willing to spend more than 500$ to gettheir hands one of those prized tickets. Because of that, she was bewilderedthe person sitting next to her seemed so dissatisfied in the musical. At times,you even seemed straight up irritated. Even more surprising, you vigorouslyclapped at the end of the musical, giving the staff members a standing ovation.

After a few minutes of contemplation,Jaehee asked you if you had enjoyed the musical.

“Oh, please don’t mind me if I am wrong. You just seemed irritated and…I was just wondering if the show did not suit your taste?

“Ah, no. I… just usually look this way.” Usually, being called out foryour expressions made you upset. However, seeing how Jaehee’s eyes wereshrouded in remorse, you understood that she only meant well. “Thank you forworrying, though. I actually liked the musical, especially the part where the detectivediscovered the culprit’s identity.

Conversing with you, Jaehee realized thatyour cold expression contrasted with your loving nature. Although your eyesseemed to be looking down on others, you were full of admiration for theactors. More importantly, she was grateful you noticed her uneasiness and turnedan awkward conversation between strangers to a passionate debate about Zen’smusicals. She now had no doubt that you were compassionate, and much morecourteous than she was.

ZEN

A while ago, you discovered a websitewhere many Zen’s fans showered him with compliments. At first, you were veryexcited about participating in anonymous conversations about the handsomeactor.

However, when you became his full-fledgedgirlfriend, you had to stop lookingat the forum threads. Messages full of malice towards you were being spammedall day.

“She’s totally in for the fame. Pathetic.”

“She’s dating the most beautiful actor on Earth but she looks so annoyedlol, what a bitch.”

“Hate her. I would definitely give Zenny so much more love lolol ♥”

“Fire her! My love Zen needs a lovingmanager, not some random frigid girl. Guys, let’s make a petition so she getsthe fuck out of here!”

“They’re such a bad match. Seriously,is Zen blind or something? She always looks mad lol.”

“A princeand a bitch faced frog lololol”

Needless to say, you were devastated. Itused to be such a welcoming community, so why did it become that way? And whywould they judge you solely on your appearance? Of course you’ve never beenannoyed by him. At contrary, you loved him. You really did, even if youexpression wasn’t always full of love.

Feeling unworthy of him, you avoided Zen’scalls and only went in the chatroom to talk about the party. After a few days,the actor himself waited in front your doorstep for you to come home.

“Zen…? What are you doing here?”

“Babe… You wouldn’t take my calls, so I came here. I was worried sick.Did something happen?”

He gently wiped the lone tear falling along your cheek.

“Tell your knight everything. Don’t cry, princess. For you, he wouldfight off dragons and witches, so please don’t cry.”

Zen caressed your hair while you told himabout the hate directed towards you. Your sentences were interrupted by manysobs, but he still understood.

“Honey… Don’t mind what they say, please. You are the kindest andmost-loving soul I have ever seen. Those people don’t know who they are talkingabout. How dare they say I am blind? They are the ones who should run to thenearest optician. You are so beautiful you don’t need the princess attire toshine! Your knight will protect you from those dirty mouths, so don’t worry,alright?”

You chucked at Zen’s burst of anger.

“Okay… I love you.”

A week later, your knight in shining armorkept his promise. During an interview, he firmly asked his fans to stopspreading negativity towards you.

 “She is the woman I love, and I can’t bear seeing her hurt because of mycareer. I wish you could see past her expression. If you could, you would seethe golden heart hiding behind it.”

Hisdeclaration was well received by  his fanbase, who created apopular forum where ill-messages against any of his fans, including you, wouldimmediately be deleted.

707

At first, you were a bit reticent aboutjoining the RFA. It was understandable: you were just a good Samaritan whowanted to give back a phone to their rightful owner, and you ended dragged inan association you had never heard about. Watching the CCTV at Rika’s apartment,Seven assumed you seemed annoyed because of the situation you unwillingly endedup in.

As V’s slave, he was the one who gatheredinformation to pressure you into a joining the group. Because of that, he felta bit guilty and tried to cheer you up with silly jokes. He wasn’t sure hisattempts were any successful. Although you wrote he was funny, he could stillsee your irritated expression whenever he looked at the CCTV. Even worse, youreyes were sometimes full of disdain while you chatted with the RFA. He didn’tmention it to anyone, but seeing you warming up to the group members, includinghim, while keeping your scornful glare intimidated him a bit. Did you have badintentions towards the RFA, after all? Should he redo the background check toensure you didn’t have any link to the hacker?

After seeing how much your kind wordsencouraged the members, Seven started to believe your tenderness was real.Witnessing how you pushed every single member forward, the hacker couldn’tdistrust you anymore. His instinct, on which he had sometimes relied on tosurvive, told him there were no lies lurking in the shadow. Placing confidencein V’s decisions, Seven also gradually opened up his heart to you. Actually, itwas hard not to. It wasn’t every day he could find someone who appreciated his oh-so-funnyjokes, after all. Whenever your condescending expression turned into a smilebecause of his jokes, he felt his heart race, just a little tiny bit.

Saeran

When he was a child, the only expressionsSaeran had ever seen were his mother’s fury and his brother’s compassion. Afterhe entered Mint Eye, he stopped looking at people. Even though his eyes laid onthem, he couldn’t really see their faces. His mint-colored irises were meant tofocus on computer screens, not on people. Other believers wouldn’t help himmake his dearest wish come true, but his hacking skills would allow him to havehis revenge on that damn redhead.

Because of that, he had absolutely no ideawhat a “resting bitch face” was like. When he saw your expression, he simplyconcluded you were despising him, and quite rightly. He was the hacker who, insearch for a useful tool, had led you to the trapped apartment, after all.Afterwards, he shot your association’s leader, and was treated like a victim,even though he was the monster. How ridiculous.

However, Saeran couldn’t comprehend whyyou would still visit him every single day without fail. You would silentlyopen a book and read in his company. In truth, he didn’t really dislike your presence.Your visits were peaceful, soothing moments during which he didn’t have to seethe redhead he loathed so much. Contrary to the therapist or to Luciel, youdidn’t expect him to say anything. Other than the faint sound of turning pages,you didn’t make any noise. Yet, he felt uncomfortable you were forced to seehim every day, for a reason of another. If you despised him, why didn’t youstay in the nice, cozy home he’s never had? If you hated him that much, whywouldn’t you stand further from him, like all those stupid nurses? Your oddityraised some concern within him, and he finally asked “Why are you coming here?”.He sounded so bitter, yet so sorrowful. His voice was the voice of anabandoned, broken human being.

“Why… you say…” His question wasunexpected. After carefully weighing your words, you answered “There is noparticular reason. I just thought you would be lonely, alone in this emptyhospital room.”

For a few seconds, the white-haired man searchedfor an answer. However, no words came to his mind, so he stayed silent, andquietly thought that you were similar to his brother after all. Even though hestrongly wanted to resent you, it was so difficult… Your kind nature,contrasting with your expression, made it so hard for him to feel any animositytowards you. So, maybe he would silently enjoy your presence. Just for a littlewhile.

A masterlist can be found here.

[angeltriestoblog]

I watched a couple of movies! (April roundup)

I’m glad to announce that I finally found a way to rave about the movies I’ve watched without boring you all to death, driving myself to the brink of insanity, and damaging my eyesight even more. Instead of giving a comprehensive review on each one, I decided to give you my top picks for every month in an attempt to convince you to watch these life-changing pieces of cinema! Maybe someday I could include some of the worst I’ve seen as well because it's easier (and more fun) to point out the flaws I spot.

So without further ado, here are the creme of the crop for the month of April!

Philadelphia (1993, dir. Jonathan Demme) ★★★★★

This superbly crafted film was one of the first in Hollywood to tackle the issue of HIV/AIDS—and with the right amount of sensitivity—during a time when discrimination against victims was at its most rampant. That fact alone makes it deserving of the praise, recognition, and accolades it has collected over the years. Add to that the remarkable performance of Tom Hanks as Andy Beckett, the lawyer fired from the prestigious firm he works for who enlists the help of Joe Miller (Denzel Washington) to take this matter to court. His dedication to the role is evident not only in his dramatic weight loss but the intensity of the emotions he brings to all of his scenes. Though I know a lot of audiences are concerned that the account is told mainly from Miller’s perspective, I found this aspect crucial to his growth as a character and the movie’s effectivity as a call to empathy and compassion.

Certified Copy (2010, dir. Abbas Kiarostami) ★★★★½

It's so difficult to review this without giving away what makes it different from anything that's ever been made, probably. But then again, even if I dive deep into the plot and provide my theories, I doubt it’ll make sense so I’ll say this. Certified Copy is a mind-bender of an arthouse film disguised as a love story of the Before Sunset variety. It’s a deceivingly linear tale of a French woman known only as “She” (Juliette Binoche) who goes to a book signing and offers to explore the city of Tuscany with the author (William Shimell). His work asserts that the reproduction of a certain thing possesses as much value as the original, so much so that it can even take its place. The extent to which this is true is shown in the many ways their relationship changes in the span of a single afternoon. It’s normal to be frustrated once you’ve finished it. I had a “What the hell?” moment myself and had to rewatch some parts a few more times. But once you realize that the plot is an artifice, like fiction and art itself, that’s when you come to terms with how real it actually is.  

The Farewell (2019, dir. Lulu Wang) ★★★★★

This is practically Wang's two-hour thesis on why grandmothers are the best people on the planet and we don’t deserve them. It's not like I needed an external source to prove it was true but I adored it anyway. This Oscar snub is “based on a true lie”: Nai Nai (Zhao Shuzhen), the matriarch of a Chinese clan, is diagnosed with cancer, and her loved ones go to extreme lengths to keep it a secret from her. I appreciated the accurate depiction of the mess that is the Asian extended family: immigrant parents, their first-generation kids, and the relatives they left behind at the homeland under one roof can only mean endless bickering and picking at old wounds. But in all seriousness, its grasp of human emotions—as seen in the brilliant acting performances and authentic dialogue—reels you in instantly and keeps you emotionally invested and painfully waiting for the heartbreaking (?) conclusion.

Interstellar (2014, dir. Christopher Nolan) ★★★★★

In what is arguably Nolan’s most complex and ambitious work yet, we find Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) in what appears to be a shadow of the Earth we live in right now. After a fateful turn of events, he is tapped by NASA to carry out a mission in search of a habitable world for the human population. Rarely do we see a creative project that aspires to be everything at once and succeeds with flying colors. Interstellar is that gem for me. It pushes the limits of our imagination and tests the very boundaries of science and space while serving as a reminder of what it means to be human. It may clock in at 167 minutes but I think that if the run time had been cut down, it would be impossible to do justice to this multi-faceted story. In fact, with the emotionally resonant performances by the cast as well as the phenomenal score (Hans Zimmer, you are a god) and cinematography, I am honestly willing to see another three hours of extra footage.

Mommy (2014, dir. Xavier Dolan) ★★★★½

This… was a lot. I remember watching this first thing in the morning a couple of weeks ago, and not being able to do anything of importance for the entire day since I was too busy wondering if I’ll ever be suitable for the lifelong commitment that is motherhood. This award-winning, affecting tale revolves around Die Despres (Anne Dorval), a struggling journalist and single mom to Steve (Antoine Olivier Pilon), her hyperactive, abusive son diagnosed with ADHD. Although a law had been passed in Canada which lets cash-strapped parents place their troubled kids in hospitals, she refuses to give him up and takes him under her wing: after all, they’re best at loving even when it’s hard. What unfolds after makes it hard to tell how the whole thing ends, but it’s a visually arresting and thought-provoking experience anyway. Dolan also possesses a strong command of the language of filmmakers: critics agree that its most notable aspect is the fact that it was shot in a 1:1 aspect ratio, which allowed me to assume the position of a next-door neighbor peering through their living room window.

Frances Ha (2012, dir. Noah Baumbach) ★★★★★

Before Greta Gerwig was the director extraordinaire we know her to be, she was Frances Halladay, an aspiring dancer who moves to New York City with her best friend and comes face to face with several, consecutive life crises. Her reality couldn’t be any further removed from mine (as a 19-year-old student on the complete opposite side of the world), but it remains highly relatable. At their core, her problems are rooted in a fear of loneliness and failure—just like the rest of us! Come to think of it, maybe that’s why it’s in black-and-white: to give the movie a sense of timelessness since it tackles themes and issues that remain universal and prevalent across generations. I loved Frances as a protagonist, though she far from perfect: she’s immature and petty and quite frankly, she had no clue what she was doing until the last 15 minutes—just like me! And yet she powered through in the end, which gives me hope that I’ll be able to do the same.

Fight Club (1999, dir. David Fincher) ★★★★½

Believe it or not, despite its straightforward title and predominantly male fanbase, I was completely taken aback when the unnamed narrator (Edward Norton) and Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) started beating each other up in the middle of a parking lot—the very event that led to the establishment of their underground fight club. What initially appears to be a man’s search for a way out of the boring humdrum of his everyday existence evolves into a structural analysis of consumer capitalism and critique of toxic masculinity. There’s a lot of gore and violence but I pulled through thanks to the stunning visuals, unpredictable plot, and Brad Pitt’s beautiful face. Although the twist towards the end wasn’t exactly revolutionary for me because it kind of resembled Primal Fear (1996), it was still a mind-blowing and fitting conclusion to this cult classic.

Pretty Woman (1990, dir. Garry Marshall) ★★★★★

This modern-day Cinderella story about a hooker who falls in love with a wealthy businessman has become problematic for my generation. There are a ton of essays on Letterboxd attempting to start discourse on its ethics, calling it out for its misogynistic undertones, and criticizing it for being unrealistic. I actually saw a review that said it indirectly promotes prostitution as a means to get ahead in life, which could wrongly influence teenage girls. (How stupid do you think we are?) At the end of the day, this is a romantic comedy—and an outstanding one, at that! This probably has the most equal distribution of swoon-worthy scenes and laugh-out-loud moments out of all the romcoms I’ve watched, and we have the lead actors’ insane chemistry and the consistently witty script to thank. Needless to say, Julia Roberts is an absolute delight as Vivian Ward and it’s only fitting that it was this particular role that catapulted her to superstardom. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna rewatch this then proceed to play It Must Have Been Love for another 70 times.

The Fundamentals of Caring (2016, dir. Rob Burnett) ★★★★★

I genuinely think that everything Paul Rudd touches turns to gold. Here, he plays Ben, caretaker to Trevor (Craig Roberts), a sarcastic teen suffering from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Together, they make a spur-of-the-moment decision to take a cross-country road trip to see several roadside attractions and of course, come to terms with their own issues. I admit that my love for this comes with the acute awareness that if I had found it on Netflix at a different time, I wouldn’t have appreciated it as much. It’s fairly predictable, it doesn’t strive towards anything complex or require much reflection on our part but it ties together neatly and satisfyingly in the end—truly a perfect comfort film! The equivalent of the warm, 10-second-long, oxytocin-inducing hug that we all need and can't have right now, given the state of our world!

Edit (05/09/20): I’m currently binge-watching Timothee Chalamet interviews and he just told Stephen Colbert that he had auditioned for this but wasn’t accepted for the job. Imagine him and Paul Rudd together... the visual power that duo would hold... I would miss the point of the movie entirely.

So, that’s it for this month! I’ve actually been spending more time writing lately but I hope I can continue to squeeze in something to watch into my schedule so I can actually be consistent with this series. Till next time! Exciting things up ahead! Wishing you love and light always, and don’t forget to wash your hands, check your privilege and pray for our frontliners!