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vasito-de-leche · 9 months

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I love how you write, your interpretations of characters are my favorite. If you're okay with it, may I ask for romantic headcanons of Horropedia (Reverse 1999) x Reader? I would love to know what he is like when he's developing a crush, how he confronts his feelings when he realized them, what he's like when in a romantic relationship, etc. Thank you very much!

;R1999 HORROPEDIA - Relationship Headcanons

Compilation of headcanons about Horropedia in a romantic relationship.

awe! i'm glad you like my stuff! and thank you for the lovely words and request, cause i've been itching to write for horropedia <3

i got a liiiiittle carried away with this one, hope that's alright!

Horropedia as a character is fascinating because at a surface level he's a mess and a walking stereotype - a "nerdy nerd" with a very specific hyperfixation on the horror genre, the tall guy with glasses who explains the plot and does his own thing regardless of how others view him, the first one to die in a movie solely because he's perceived as cringe etc, etc.

And yet, his medium is "logic" - he, better than anyone, understands the nonsensical laws that make up the concept of horror, he sees the patterns and the reason why some things are done this way instead of that way. Through logic, pattern recognition and analysis, Horropedia can pretty much understand anything and work his way around any problem, no matter how unorthodox his solutions may be.

In a sense, I'd compare Horropedia to Pavia. Both are characters who are subject to the stereotypes and images others assign to them - but whereas Pavia both fights and plays into all of these roles, Horropedia just brushes it off and continues doing his own thing, being genuine and unapologetically himself.

When it comes to romance, it's easy to assume Horropedia has no interest in it - they're two different genres that don't go together most of the time. It's also easy to assume that he would be a troublesome partner, due to the laser focus attention he gives to his interests. And the latter is partially true: his lackluster love life is entirely because romance hasn't entered his radar, at least not enough to pull his attention away from his one true love.

But I think this is where the aspect of "logic" comes into play. All Horropedia needs is that spark, to find something to truly become invested in when it comes to romance - once he finds it, he'll dedicate the same amount of attention to detail and care as the horror movies he loves so much.

On the subject of Horropedia developing a crush.

Similar to Click, Horropedia would need some time to start noticing the signs of a crush - the difference is that Horropedia is a little quicker when it comes to realizing he's fallen for someone. His forte is horror movies, but he still knows a thing or two when it comes to other genres.

When he cannot rationalize his behaviour around you in a way that makes sense to his current fixation or situation, that's when he knows. And given how straightforward (to the point of bordering on obliviously rude) Horropedia can be, I'd say he'd also be the type to address this crush right away. Now that there's this brand new thing in his life, he'd like to understand it better - to dissect and study the way romance is potrayed, explore how it feels and just analyze it to hell and back. Basically, he wants to know the rules, to figure out how to best proceed.

Of course, he wouldn't dream of confronting you directly, only an amateur would do such a thing. Instead, he asks his friends and pretty much anyone within his general vicinity. He wants to understand romance from every angle, to hear about it from all sorts of people until he feels like he knows enough to start forming his own opinions.

His questions are all theoretical situations that begin rather innocent, innocuous. What does the hero of a romcom do to get the romantic interest? Does it follow a three act structure? And should the third act climax start with a confession or the breakup?

Overtime, they become a little more specific. To the point where his closest friends might suspect something is up, until Horropedia finds himself asking about your interests so that he can figure out the perfect gift for you. Just in case. He finds himself watching romcoms and making extensive research and charts and essays into the genres.

The funniest thing to me is that Horropedia would be extremely casual about this whole ordeal, this crush makes him extremely intrigued in the concept of romance (an oddity for someone so themed around horror), he finds himself staring at you from across the room (this is the third time he's walked into a door because of it) and so on and so forth. But he's so chill about it.

When confronted about his crush - should Blonney or anyone else decide to tease him a little by prodding - Horropedia has no problem blurting out that he has, indeed, fallen for someone. But he'll take your name to the grave, not out of shame or embarrassment but because "he doesn't want to spoil the plot, as obvious as it might be".

On the subject of Horropedia confronting his feelings and some more insight into his mentality.

I'd say there is this small possibility of Horropedia feeling disheartened if he begins to neglect his real passion for the sake of his feelings - it's that sort of guilt and shock one gets when they realize they've forgotten their wallet the moment they're meant to pay for dinner, or when they realize they've forgotten to turn off the oven.

Horror is a huge part of his life and who he is as a person - literally look at the name he's chosen for himself - and given how heavily coded he is to be neurodivergent, I can understand this aspect of him. The feeling like one must choose between two things they enjoy, and all the other things that might come with hyperfixation, both positive and negative.

This is the biggest obstacle for Horropedia when it comes to finally taking the first steps into forming a relationship with you or confessing - the irrational thought that by doing so, he's prioritizing you and romance over horror, something that he holds very dear. One of his stories gives some insight about Horropedia's relationship with horror and how it's something he shared with (and possibly was started by) his grandfather.

I feel like he'll grow a little distant, as a way to set some boundaries for himself or draw a line between his identity and his feelings for you, separate the two so that he doesn't have to feel guilty for giving one more attention than the other. Maybe he simply stops bringing up films around you, because "you're probably not that interested anyway". Masking, he's masking.

But overall, I can see Horropedia being capable enough to get out of this mindset by himself - or with a little help from someone else. Either way, he simply loops back to realizing the obvious: you two were friends, before he realized his feelings for you. You were fine with the whole Horropedia Experience. You liked him for who he was. And he liked you just as you were.

Horropedia is the one who confesses first, the one who asks you out. 100%. And it's so unnecessarily dramatic.

I DO think that Horropedia would make sure to be the one who confesses, just so he can put everything that he's learned about romance into play. And he delivers the most award worthy performance. It would be all about redirection, an unexpected reveal - his skills and animations are also all about fake outs and misleading the audience, after all.

In my head, there's this whole scene about Horropedia asking everyone to help him out confess to you, and everyone is so excited for it - but then he just asks them to fuel this slow rift that formed between you and him, to act vague, distant and mysterious should you ask Blonney or Tooth Fairy about him. Again, unorthodox and weird, but he's cooking. This is all done with the intention of forcing a confrontation between the two of you, just so he can pour his heart out right there - it's all or nothing.

Again, I want to insist that Horropedia, despite being a logical man, still makes as many aspects of his life revolve around the things that he loves and is interested in - he likes films, he likes you. And while romance is not his preferred genre, he still wants to explore all there is about it all thanks to you.

That alone should tell you how much you mean to him. Even if his methods aren't the "proper" way, you know he's putting his whole heart into this. It's all over the top, there's fake rain, etc etc. Of course, your reaction to this is up to you!

If you're mad at him for such convoluted plan, he'll sit there and allow you to scold him to your heart's content - he's used to it as one of the many troublemakers that the Foundation failed to raise as model students. If you laugh at him because of how ridiculous this guy can be sometimes, he'll laugh along, trying to get you to tell him what he could've been done better to get a third act reconciliation. And if you start crying, jump into his arms and play along then he'll be over the moon, trying every single impactful one-liner from every romcom he's watched in the past few weeks.

On the subject of Horropedia and how he acts when he's in a relationship.

Dating Horropedia is pretty easy, because you're dating your best friend. However, it is very easy to misunderstand Horropedia's way of showing affection - those who are more on the insecure side or less receptive to his subtleties may feel like there's been absolutely no shift in the dynamic, that he's treating you the same way he'd treat Tooth Fairy or Vertin.

This is far from the truth! Once Horropedia finally settles into the relationship, he grows very comfortable and allows himself to just exist around you - which isn't saying much since he doesn't mask as much around friends, but it's all about the subtle things!

I like to think Horropedia is very particular about space, as in he makes a point not to invade people's spaces if possible and he'd rather remain in his little bubble. But when it comes to you, he's very casual with physical touch. He's not as cuddly and touchy as characters like, let's say, Matilda, Jessica or Pavia, but being able to rest his head on your shoulder means a lot to him, or just have you lean on him when sitting together. This is pushed to the limit when you two pull all-nighters, binging all of your favorite movies.

He's on cloud nine when you pay attention to his ramblings and makes sure to listen when you ramble to him as well. More than often, he'll do his own little research into the topics you like, just so you have someone to properly discuss things with! Horropedia more than anyone knows what it's like to be brushed aside for being too much or too weird, to have no one listen. Despite his confidence, he has had days of feeling like he keeps on talking to a wall, so he doesn't want you to ever feel like that.

It's all about sharing interests and recommending things that you may like, keeping up with the latest events and so on and so forth, having looong discussions at night about whatever topic you two are extremely invested in.

If these discussions get a little heated and end up as arguments, expect Horropedia to insist on arguing because he's just stubborn like that - it'll take him time to realize that he might've hurt your feelings, or that he might've be hurting too, but he'll come around eventually to talk it out.

Overall, dating Horropedia would be fun because he's full of surprises and excitement, but he's also considerate in his own way.

#reverse 1999 #reverse: 1999 #r1999 #reverse 1999 x reader #reverse 1999 headcanons #reverse 1999 horropedia #horropedia #hes autistic guys hesl iterally so fucking autistic im itching to write an analysis on him bc his quotes give so much. insight into #how the foundation treats arcanists AND their potential ableism BUT LIKE. HES SO AUTISTIC HES JUST LIKE ALL OF US FR

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slxsherr · 1 year

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Feeling Like I Never Should

read part II here

pairing: kirby reed x fem!reader x charlie walker

summary: kirby is your best friend, which is why she knows you and charlie will never get together without a little outside help.

wc: 3077

warnings: fem!reader, inexperienced!reader, inexperienced!charlie, dom!kirby(?), cursing/swearing, descriptions of alcohol & alcohol consumption, oral sex (f! receiving), fingering, unprotected sex (p in v), squirting, creampie, virginity loss

a/n: this is kinda very kirby centered but for good reason

Kirby is your best friend, and as your best friend she knows exactly when you need a push. Especially when it comes to Charlie. She loved to make the two of you squirm, to tease, to torment, until you were both a mess.

You like Charlie, maybe more than a friend should, but his obvious feelings for Kirby have stopped you from ever pursuing him as anything more than a friend. But Kirby knows something you don’t, that no matter how much she heckles or taunts Charlie, no one makes him squirm like you do.

His logic isn’t half bad, feign interest in her so that you don’t suspect his feelings for you, but one thing the dweeb never considered is that you might reciprocate his feelings. It’d be cute how oblivious the two of you are if it wasn’t so pathetic. Both of you pining over the other, too afraid to make a move.

“What are you doing tonight?” Kirby asks you, shutting your locker abruptly and startling you.

“Please stop doing that,” you groan, ever the unexpecting victim of Kirby’s jumpscares.

“You know I can’t,” Kirby says, disregarding your request. “So, any special Friday night plans?”

“I’m alone again this weekend, so probably just takeout and—” you begin to say, but Kirby interrupts you.

“And a rager?” She suggests jokingly.

“No,” you shoot down her idea quickly, even if she wasn’t being serious. “Charlie wants to come over to plan Stab-A-Thon and my sister left behind some werewolf trilogy so we’re probably gonna watch that,” you answer, bracing yourself for Kirby’s response.

“Sounds like a hot date,” she says sarcastically, reveling in your involuntary embarrassed reactions.

“Shut up. Why are you asking?” You say, changing the subject.

“Because Jill, Olivia, and I are going to a party and I thought I’d extend an invitation, but you have plans. So, invitation withdrawn,” she answers, a teasing lilt in her voice.

“You’re just gonna end up watching guys fawn over Olivia and Jill spend the entire time on the couch with Trevor,” you tell her, knowing that inevitably she will show up at your house sometime after two in the morning, drunk off her ass and complaining about how lame the party was.

“At least there’ll be some free booze. See you later!” Kirby says before walking away.

It doesn’t take long for you and Charlie to plan Stab-A-Thon for the third year in a row, sharing Chinese takeout while going over location, equipment, and all the other small details of the club’s most notorious event. Pretty soon you’re both sprawled over your couch, dissecting the first movie that your sister described as a feminist cult classic, your legs resting comfortably over Charlie’s lap.

“Honey! I’m home!” Kirby yells, interrupting the second movie, letting herself in with a copy of your house key that you gave her freshman year. “And I’m really drunk!”

“Is that Kirby?” Charlie asks when you pause the movie, confused.

“Yeah, I guess she decided to bail on the party early,” you say, getting up to bring her to the den.

“Ugh, you were right,” Kirby says when you meet her at your front door, struggling to take off her shoes. “Olivia left with some guy and Jill barely let go of Trevor’s arm. But I got this!” She says, kicking off her shoes and holding up a bottle of tequila.

“I don’t think you need anymore of that, come on, I’ll get you some water,” you say, leading her to the living room.

“Charlie! How’s the werewolf trilogy?” You hear Kirby ask while you go to the kitchen to get her water.

“Basically a high-budget snuff film,” you catch the end of Charlie’s thoughts on the movie when you come back with a water bottle for Kirby.

“Ooh, will it be brought up at the next club meeting?” Kirby asks, pulling your back to her chest when you join them on the couch, resting her chin over your shoulder.

“Maybe,” Charlie says, taking a swig of the tequila Kirby must have given him while you were in the kitchen.

“Drink some water, you need to sober up,” you tell Kirby, twisting in her hold to raise the now open water bottle to her lips.

“And you need to loosen up,” Kirby says, drinking the water reluctantly.

“Only if you drink some water,” you say, handing her the plastic bottle.

“That’s my girl!” She cheers, drinking more water while you turn back around to face Charlie.

Your fingers brush against Charlie’s when you take the tequila from him, lifting the heavy bottle to drink the unpleasant clear liquid. It burns as it goes down your throat, settling hot in your stomach, the heat seeping throughout your body. Your face scrunches at the bitter taste, and you already know Kirby’s gonna have something to say about that.

“Aw, do you need a chaser?” She teases, wrapping her arms around your waist, empty water bottle dropped to the floor.

“Something tells me you didn’t bring any,” you rasp, relinquishing the bottle back to Charlie.

“It’s not so bad,” Charlie says after taking another drink.

“I’ve had better,” you say, nursing the bottle, keeping it away from Kirby as she playfully bites your shoulder.

Without mixers, it’s not long before half the bottle is gone and you and Charlie are about equal to Kirby’s somewhat less intoxicated state. The movie is long forgotten, frozen at the end of the first act. The three of you are squished at one end of the couch, you’re slumped against Kirby, legs thrown over Charlie’s lap, listening to Kirby’s drunken rundown of the party she left and how she stole the bottle.

“Hold on, I gotta pee,” she says, pushing you off of her to run to the bathroom.

“Sorry,” you say, hearing Charlie groan when you’re shoved onto his lap.

“No, you’re fine,” he says, hoping you don’t realize the hard situation he’s in.

“I don’t think we’re gonna finish the trilogy tonight,” you giggle, laying back where Kirby was seated.

“Definitely not,” he says, hands nervously resting over your thighs.

“I’m back!” Kirby announces her return, and you sit up to let her return to her spot.

“That was fast,” you say, shifting halfway on Charlie’s lap, too distracted by Kirby to notice him throwing his head back, his hands just barely gripping your skin.

“God, you’re such a tease,” she says, pulling you off of his lap and towards her once she’s sat.

“What do you mean?” You ask, relaxing into her hold.

“Look what you’re doing to him,” she says, redirecting your focus to Charlie. “He’s pitching a tent just from you crawling over him like a little minx.”

“That’s not—” he tries to deny it, face flushing from being called out, but Kirby cuts him off.

“Are you gonna help him out with his problem or not?” She asks you, both you and Charlie shocked by her words.

“D-Do you want me to help you?” You ask him, head fuzzy from the night’s turn of events.

“Yes,” Charlie answers, and as soon as the word leaves his lips Kirby is pushing you onto his lap.

Your thighs straddle his hips, your hands finding purchase on his shoulders from being moved so abruptly. Looking between them, you’re unsure of what to do, but as your best friend, Kirby already knows of your lack of experience. She moves closer to the two of you, cupping your cheek and turning your head to face her. Leaning in, she presses her lips to yours, kissing you wantonly. You return the kiss, albeit a bit sloppily, lips parting when her tongue swipes at your bottom lip, licking into your mouth. She pulls away soon after, not wanting you to forget about Charlie.

“Kiss him like that,” she instructs you, turning your head back to face him.

You lean in, goosebumps rising across your skin as a shiver tingles down your spine from his intent gaze, pupils dilated from lust and alcohol. Pressing your lips to his, you copy Kirby’s movements the best you can, kissing him sensuously. He kisses you back hungrily, as if he wished to devour you. When your tongue swipes at his bottom lip, he parts his lips just as you did for Kirby, and follows your lead as your tongue meets his. The makeout is messy, both of you new to the act, and Kirby takes the opportunity to move Charlie’s hands to your hips from where they rested on your thighs.

“Move her however you like,” she whispers in his ear, giving him the go-ahead to grind you on his crotch.

Charlie’s hands move your hips slowly, his own hips bucking up to meet yours as you whine into his mouth. He’s not quiet either, low moans escaping him at the lewd acts unfolding. Your nails scratch at the fabric of his flannel, supporting yourself with his shoulders as heat pools in your core. Despite the layers between the two of you, the friction is just enough for a wet patch to appear in your panties.

“Alright, calm down, greedy boy,” Kirby says, pulling you away from the kiss by your shoulders. “Wouldn’t want you finishing before the main event,” she teases, having heard the desperation in his voice as the two of you began to get lost in pleasure.

“Be nice,” you tell her, the words slipping out without thought.

“You want me to be nice?” She asks, her mouth stretching into a devious smile. “Come here,” she says, scooting to the edge of the couch, back to the armrest, where she sat when she first arrived.

You make your way towards her, letting her flip you around to face Charlie when you get close, your back to her chest like before. Her fingers play with the hem of your top, soft lips brushing against your skin as she leans forward, whispering in your ear to lift your arms. You do as she says, arms rising above your head, and she pulls up your top, exposing you to Charlie. He’s watching attentively, you can feel his stare hardening when your bra comes into view, fabric lifting over your head and being thrown to the side.

“Come closer, Charlie,” Kirby says, and he doesn’t need to be told twice, moving closer to the two of you, slotting himself between your legs. “Isn’t she pretty?” Kirby asks, fondling you over your bra, and your breath hitches from her actions.

“Yes, she’s very pretty,” he says, voice low and airy.

“Do you wanna play with her tits?” Kirby asks, pulling the cups of your bra down to expose your breasts. “Go ahead,” she says, when Charlie only responds with a nod.

His hands are surprisingly cold, a shock to your overheated skin. Kirby undoes your bra, sliding the straps down your shoulders and stripping you of the last garment on your upper body before placing her hands on top of Charlie’s. She guides his hands to be less gentle, and you watch through hooded lids as he lowers his head to your chest.

His tongue flicks over your pert nipples, testing for your reaction, continuing when he hears your soft whines. Kirby pulls his hair back, giving you a better view as he mouths at your tits, licking and sucking your hardened buds, skin shining from his spit. She pulls him away from you harshly by his hair, holding him in place.

“If you wanna get your dick wet, you need to prep her,” Kirby says, letting go of him. “Take these off for her,” she instructs, snapping the waistband of your shorts and panties against you.

You lift your hips so that he can pull your bottoms off, and he accidentally pulls you closer to him, your head sliding down to rest against Kirby’s stomach. She doesn’t say anything, watching him push your legs up to slide the last of your clothes off. You’ve got your thighs pressed together tightly, feeling vulnerable being the only one naked, but Kirby doesn’t allow that for long. She forces your legs apart, giving Charlie a clear view of your wet cunt.

“This,” she says, one hand trailing down to spread your folds with two fingers. “Is her clit, play with it right and you both get a prize,” she continues, rubbing tight circles on the bud, making you mewl as your hips buck for more. “Be patient,” Kirby warns you, pulling her fingers away to hold your hips down, ignoring the whimper you let out from the loss of friction.

Charlie’s fingers replace Kirby’s, messy circles leaving you breathless as you moan quietly. Eyes screwed shut in pleasure, you don’t see him moving down until his mouth meets your core. He licks a broad stripe from your hole to your clit, sucking the bud experimentally between his lips. You’re left keening from his actions, Kirby’s hands keeping your thighs from shutting around his head and hips rolling for more.

“Good boy,” Kirby coos from behind you, watching Charlie eat your pussy like a man starved. What he lacks in experience, he makes up for in enthusiasm. “Now stretch her hole with your fingers,” Kirby instructs, ignoring your hands gripping the wrist of her hand holding your hips down.

Charlie slides a finger in tentatively, stroking your walls gently. You’re a whiny mess, begging for more, sweet voice echoing through the room. He slips another finger in, your tight walls sucking him in greedily. His thick fingers prod deep inside you, massaging a spot that has your stomach twisting in pleasure.

“Charlie,” you moan his name, breathing heavy as he fucks you open with his fingers, face flushing in embarrassment when you hear your pussy squelching lewdly.

“Is he making you feel good?” Kirby asks, and you nod quickly, thighs trembling as she holds your legs open. “Is he doing a good job?” She asks, enjoying the way you struggle to muster even a non-verbal response as you do your best to nod. “No, use your words, hon. Tell him how good he’s making you feel, how good of a job he’s doing,” she says, watching your glossy eyes meet Charlie’s.

“Feels so good, Charlie,” you say between ragged breaths, mewling when he thrusts his fingers harder. “You’re doing such a good job!” You cry, ears ringing and gripping Kirby’s arm tighter as you begin to teeter over the edge.

“Stop,” Kirby says, and you whine at the empty feeling when Charlie pulls his fingers out, your orgasm ruined. “Shh, don’t worry, love. You’ll get to come,” she reassures you, massaging your thighs. “Take your clothes off, Charlie,” she instructs him, and he wastes no time stripping.

“I don’t have a condom,” he says, down to his boxers, slowly moving back to where he was between your legs.

“You don’t need one, you’re both virgins and she’s on the pill,” Kirby says, pushing him to sit back to cushion, moving you onto his lap.

Your thighs shake when you straddle him this time, nothing separating the two of you now. His dick is pretty, pale with a pink, almost red, tip, shiny from leaking pre. He’s got a protruding vein on the underside, you lick your lips wishing you could trace it instead, a trimmed dark patch of curls trailing up.

“Spit,” Kirby says, interrupting your thoughts, holding your hand up to your mouth. “Good girl,” she praises you when you let your saliva dribble into the palm of your hand. “You’re lucky,” Kirby says to you, wrapping your hand around Charlie’s dick. “To have such a pretty cock as your first,” she finishes, pumping your fist leisurely around him.

The sight of Charlie is sinful, almost pornographic moans slipping past kiss-swollen lips. His hair is a little messy from Kirby’s rough handling, blue eyes glistening as he watches Kirby move your hand around him, hips desperately meeting yours for more. But Kirby reminds him who’s in charge, hand holding him in place just as she did you before stopping your movements altogether.

“Now sit,” Kirby says, pulling your hips up and lining him up with your entrance.

Charlie’s hands hold onto your hips as you sink further down, thick head stretching your hole as you lower. It’s not as painful as so many of your friends had said when they told you about their first time, moreso uncomfortable as his shaft stretches you wider than his fingers prepared you for. Your mouth is open in a silent cry, gravity forcing you further down and it feels like you’re being split apart.

“Are you okay?” Charlie asks when you’re fully seated, hands kneading your hips comfortingly.

“Yeah,” you answer, getting used to the full feeling, gaze shifting to Kirby’s, a question in your eyes.

“Ride him,” Kirby says, hands on top of Charlie’s, guiding you up and down his cock.

Your hands find themselves on his shoulders, stabilizing yourself as you’re bounced on his lap. You moan wantonly as the two of you move together, pleasure zinging through your bodies each time your hips slam down. Kirby removes her hands from Charlie’s, one instead softly tracing across your lower back as you lose yourself, trembling as he thrusts up to meet your movements.

A string of expletives leave his mouth, a whispered groan as he no doubt nears his release. It’s cute, Kirby thinks, how desperate the two of you are to finish. You hide your face in the space where his neck meets his shoulder, hands tugging at his hair as your hips struggle to keep up with his punishing pace, moaning incoherently into his skin.

But Kirby can’t have that, so she sneaks a hand between your bodies, rubbing frantic circles on your clit. Your whole body tenses up, taut like a string, biting into Charlie’s shoulder to muffle your wail as your release sprays against his stomach and thighs. He fucks you through it, despite your walls tightening to push him out, hips jerking as he pulls you down one last time, coming inside you.

Kirby is your best friend, but even in her drunken state she can recognize that maybe that’s not a good enough excuse for what she did tonight. Driving you into Charlie’s arms just because she doesn’t have the balls to admit she’s in love with you is somehow worse than Charlie’s misdirection strategy. But that’s a problem for hungover Kirby, she thinks.

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cellarspider · 7 months

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The Prometheus rant, Part 0/30

⛬ | (Index) | (Next)

I have promised a dissection of the movie Prometheus. It begins.

So, to summarize, and give you a taste of what we're in for.

I am a geneticist with a background in history, including some undergraduate archaeological field work. I'm deeply interested in linguistics as a hobby. Prometheus manages to be stupid in every one of these fields.

But I absolutely love H.R. Giger aesthetic, the cinematography is beautiful, and whoever did the editing was absolutely solid because the movie consistently cuts slow scenes at moments when the cuts feel just slightly jarring. It’s a very subtle way to maintain tension.

The soundtrack holds the intended tone well, the practical effects are numerous and impressive, and even though their story completely undermines it, they got an actual academic linguist to work with them on the language stuff: the guy actually has a speaking role in the film, as a virtual tutor of a reconstructed language he taught to one of the actors.

And on top of all that, there's at least one scene in the movie which is just unbelievably tense and well-executed body horror. It’s the scene everybody mentions as a highlight when they talk about the movie. So, it's a successful movie in so many ways.

But.

The writing does not back this up. There are stretches that are fine, even elevated by some of the performances. But you can feel the movie shift any time a scene has plot relevance, or a character is supposed to do their job.

Unlike Alien, where the main cast making dumb decisions is believable because they're a bunch of space cargo haulers and maintenance people who are not supposed to have any relevant expertise for the situation they find themselves in, Prometheus' characters are supposed to be scientists, doctors, and the best a trillionaire could buy for a mission that he expected would

make first contact between technologically modern humans and a race of aliens that had visited Earth thousands of years ago

convince said aliens to give him the secret to eternal youth, because he's an old rich asshole

so when things start going wrong, I felt less like "oh no these poor bastards don't know what the fuck they're getting into" and more like "THAT'S WHAT YOU GET FOR CONTAMINATING AN ALIEN ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE YOU BASTARDS"

this approximately culminates in a scene where the last surviving alien on the planet is woken from two thousand years of emergency stasis, gets talked at in something very much like Proto-Indo-European by Michael Fassbender at the behest of the old rich asshole, while a woman screams in English in the background. The alien proceeds to rip Fassbender's head off and beats the old man to death with it, which is just the funniest goddamn thing

That’s the TL;DR. Yes, really.

The actual rant will start next time. Well. Part One of the rant. This is going to be a multi-parter, because I want anyone who follows me on this journey to understand how the movie builds up into such a mess, and get some actual science out of this.

⛬ | (Index) | (Next)

#Prometheus 2012 #Abandon all hope ye who enter here #but bring some popcorn

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miss-oranje-disco-dancer · 9 months

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injections, inspections, detections, erections

pairing: leon kennedy/ashley graham

cw: smut, daddy kink, first time, medical stuff (needles mentioned)

summary: ...and no protection leon is a perv and he takes ashley's virginity, but it's 100% consensual (he just has very dirty thoughts about her...and they come true)

wc: 4.8k

ao3 link

It’s wrong. Leon knows this for a fact. If he believed in hell, he’d have his route there planned. He’s stuck in a catch-22 where he knows he’ll either have to give into his depraved mind and rub one out to the thought of Ashley in that tiny little schoolgirl skirt or pray that his dick goes soft eventually. He’s starting to think he might get a blood clot in his cock or it’ll get so hard it breaks off. Maybe there’d be a sexy nurse at the hospital to fix him up. Doesn’t sound so bad. He’s imagining some blonde girl, Ashley-esque and ingenue. Can’t get her off his mind.

He should be happy to get some time off from work, but what is he supposed to do with the free time other than jerk off? And he swears he’s seen every video on the internet that’s even mildly erotic and decides the most interesting thing he can do is to clean up the mess he’s made of his apartment in the past couple of days. That’s when he finds the photo shoved into some pocket of whatever gear he was wearing in Spain. When he came home, he’d just dropped it in the doorway, immediately heading over to the couch to lay face down and get zero sleep.

Now he’s holding the photo of Ashley, the one her dad handed him. Her daddy. Daddy. Daddy. Daddy. Ashley calling him daddy. The thought makes his tip leak. Leon’s been holding off like a good little soldier for too long. But now, his right hand is covered in as much saliva as he can conjure up and his left is sweaty, gripping the photo. He’s almost proud of his aim when he watches cum paint her face. Not her real face, my god, that’d be fucking fantastic.

Leon realizes the real mistake of this, which is that this is the only photo he has of her and now it’s covered in jizz. The guilt sinks in when he semi-successfully wipes the cum off the photo and he can see her face more clearly. He doesn’t want to degrade her like that. He remembers looking into her father’s eyes and shaking his hand, promising to save her when he was given this photo. The one he’s now desecrated, or baptized depending on how you look at it. Leon doesn’t know. He’s never been to church.

It’s wrong. At least from some angles. But, then again, President Graham surely owes him something in return for saving his precious little girl. Aren’t you supposed to get virgins in heaven if you’re good? He’s not good, but is one too much to ask for, god? He’s been good, he swears, mostly good. And, really, she doesn’t need to be a virgin, but the thought of it really sweetens the deal.

President Graham said he’d do anything for Leon - that was before he’d actually gone and gotten Ashley, but hey maybe Leon could ask a little favor of him now. Anything? Really? How about your daughter’s virginity? If that’s still available. Let her call me daddy for the night.

Maybe he could bring it up as a joke and see if it goes over well. It’s wrong, though, so he doesn’t do it.

Inevitably, he sees Ashley again when the lab brings them both in - for testing or for questioning or who the fuck knows what. Whatever it is, it’s under the guise of “making sure they’re safe”, but Leon’s not so bright-eyed about this whole saving the world thing the DSO pretends to do. They couldn’t be bothered to go see the plaga for themselves, so they’ve got the next best thing: Leon and Ashley, their little dissectables.

The scientists don’t rip them open, but they’re sure as hell invasive. Drink this, lie down on the table, let us look into your insides with our fancy x-ray machine. The only thing Leon can think about is the fact that Ashley’s naked in the other room. At least, presumably, since he’s naked in this one. It’d be a nice thought if he had more covering him than a hospital gown and the medical staff wasn’t playing around with him like a Ken doll. Well, Ken, unlike Leon, doesn’t have anything to show down there. You know what they say , Leon thinks, if you’ve got it, flaunt it . He’s got nothing to be ashamed of in that department. In fact, he thinks he catches one of his nurses staring for a little bit longer than is medically necessary. It’s okay with him, though.

They take saliva samples, hair samples, piss samples, blood samples. Leon considers the possibility that they’d ask for a fucking semen sample next, which wouldn’t be that hard for him to provide. But they don’t. He gets a knock on the door after his blood sample is done.

“Sir? Are you decent?”

You tell me, Doc. Am I?

“Yep, you can come in.”

“This may sound a little bit unorthodox-”

Fuck, it’s the semen sample, isn’t it?

“But your friend is nervous about getting her blood drawn, and she agreed to let us take the sample if you came in and held her hand.”

Aw, little baby girl needs a big strong man to comfort her.

“Okay,” he says, trying to avoid feeling a little bit excited at the prospect of her needing him.

Ashley perks up a bit when Leon comes in. She looks like she’d been crying.

“Hey, Ash. You okay?”

“I just don’t like needles.”

As instructed, Leon walks over to hold her hand.

“It’s okay,” he says, “you’re a big girl. You can do this.”

You’re my good girl, he thinks as he strokes the back of her hand.

“All done,” he says when the doctor removes the needle, “you did a good job.”

He’s just being a good friend – a good man - so it shouldn’t feel the way it does, but when Ashley looks all shy about it, the words just feel different.

“Can we go now?” Leon’s getting real impatient with the whole thing because he hasn’t eaten or jerked off in the past few hours.

“Actually, we’re going to have you both stay overnight.”

“What? Coulda told me that earlier, don’t ya think? Not like I bring my toothbrush everywhere.”

“We have toothbrushes and pajamas for both of you.”

They can spend money on pajamas, but can’t give him a raise. Bullshit.

“No,” Ashley whines, “I need my blanket.”

“We have blankets,” the doctor ensures.

“No, it’s a special blanket, and my teddy bear.”

She’s too precious. Leon wants to feel sorry for, but he can’t stop thinking about how perfectly she fits into all his fantasies. Leon wonders what the teddy bear would think about what he’d do to her in her bedroom if given the chance. Would Ashley’s little girl toys wanna watch him fuck her brains out?

Ashley ends up calling her father to ask him to bring her things, “Daddy, please?” Leon hears her say.

Fucking hell. Daddy, please? That’s just cruel. Leon’s rock hard now and hoping they ask for a semen sample, but they don’t.

Ashley’s dad can’t come, at least that’s what he says on the phone, which makes her cry. Leon wonders if that’s the truth or if he’s just letting her down easy. He doesn't have too much faith in government officials these days. If Leon was her daddy, he’d treat her better than that.

Normally, Leon would be tired and reluctant to help. He’s got his own shit to deal with. But, now, Ashley’s face is buried in his chest and he’s rubbing her back. Is this what paternal instinct feels like? Is this what it feels like to be a dad, to be a daddy?

The doctors give them the option for separate rooms, but Ashley says she doesn’t want to be alone. It makes sense, really, since they’ve barely been back for a week - Ashley’s probably dealing with the same shit Leon did in ‘98 which never fully went away.

They must really wanna examine her - not in the way Leon does - because they give into her request to let them share a room, once Leon agrees, of course. For better or worse, it’s two beds in one room.

It’s kinda fucked, in Leon’s opinion, that they tell Ashley they’re gonna take more blood from her during their little stay. Surely, that won’t keep her from sleeping at night.

Leon tries to sleep. As he suspected, it doesn’t work for multiple reasons. One, he’s painfully hard, and two, Ashley’s squirming around in her bed, which squeaks when she moves.

“You okay over there?” he says, which is just the polite way of saying, ‘ please shut up, so I can sleep’ .

“No,” she turns to him, “I can’t sleep.”

“Try harder.”

“I can’t. I’m too scared.”

“Scared of what? No one’s gonna hurt you. And if they tried, I’m right here. I’m on the side closest to the door, so they’d have to go through me first.”

“I don’t want them to take more blood.”

He sighs. “I know, Ash, but you got through it last time. You can do it again.”

“Will you hold my hand again?”

“If it’ll help.”

“Yeah,” she mumbles.

There’s silence for a moment and Leon’s hoping she’s finally passed out but then her little voice pipes up across the room again.

“Leon?”

“Yes?” he says, trying not to sound irritated.

“Will you talk to me? I can’t sleep and I need something else to think about. Besides all this stuff.”

“What do you want me to talk to you about?”

“How about we play truth or dare without the dare?”

“So just ‘truth’?"

“Yeah. I mean, we could play with ‘dare’ as an option too, but I don’t want us to do anything crazy and get in trouble, you know?”

“Fair point.”

Leon doesn’t actually give that much of a fuck about getting in trouble; he’s really just hesitant to get up because he’s sporting an obvious hard-on.

“So, I’ll go first, I guess,” Ashley says, “How old were you when you lost your virginity?”

“Um,” Leon hesitates, “straight out the gate with that one…”

“Sorry. I just thought, you know, the nature of the game is to tell secrets and stuff, so it seemed like a good question to ask.”

“Yeah, it’s fine. It’s not an interesting story, but to answer your question, I was 16 when it happened.”

“Cool.”

“Mhm. So, now it’s my turn to ask you?”

“Yeah.”

“Same question.”

“You can’t ask the same question.”

“Who says I can’t ask the same question?”

“That’s how truth or dare works. You can’t just go around asking the same questions.”

“It sounds like you’re just avoiding the question. C’mon, I answered, so now it’s your turn.”

Ashley doesn’t meet Leon’s eyes, and he knows what she’s gonna say before she says it.

“I haven’t yet.”

“You’re a virgin?”

“Don’t make fun of me.”

“Why do you assume I’d make fun of you? It’s not a big deal.”

Yeah, in fact, it’s hot as fuck, Ashley.

“You don’t think so? I’m always worried that guys won’t like me because I haven’t gone all the way yet.”

“No, guys won’t mind it. Trust me.”

“I guess it’s my turn to ask you again… I’ll continue on the same subject - what’s your number, you know, like that kind of number?”

“The number of people I’ve slept with?” he asks though he knows that’s what she means. “Um, 7? I think.”

“Oh.”

“What? Did you expect it to be higher or lower?”

“I don’t know, really.”

“Okay… I guess I can’t ask you the same question this time. What have you done? Since you haven’t had sex, have you done other stuff?”

“Yeah, sorta. Just like, mostly, hand stuff or whatever, and I mean, I did some mouth… stuff to a guy once.”

“He didn’t reciprocate?”

“No.”

You got on your knees for him and put your pretty lips around his cock and he didn’t give you anything in return? That’s practically a sin. Is that what the whole ‘treat thy neighbor’ thing means? If you want your cock sucked, you should learn to eat pussy?“Really?” Leon asks, “Did you bite him or something? Were you really bad at it?”

“No, he… liked it… based on his reaction.”

Bet he did, Ash. I can only imagine.

“He should’ve done something in return then.”

“He said going down on a girl was gross.”

“He’s an idiot, then.”

“Huh? Are you saying it’s not gross?”

“Not at all. Complete opposite.”

“You like doing that?”

“Yeah, why? Is that surprising?”

Leon could eat pussy for breakfast, lunch and dinner and be a happy man. He’s never really understood how other men don’t like it.

“I-I don’t know. I guess I hadn’t considered a guy being into that type of thing. If only I could find a guy like you.”

“What do you mean ‘a guy like me’? I’m right here.”

“Huh?”

“I said, if you want a guy like me, you have me, right here.”

“But that doesn’t - you don’t like me. Wait, do you like me?”

“Uh, yeah?”

“Oh. Wow. You rejected me before, you know, when we were leaving the island, so I thought…”

“I rejected you? I rejected your job offer.”

“I wasn’t offering you a job. I was trying to flirt with you.”

“Oh.”

“It’s my turn now. Truth or dare,” Ashley says, sounding a helluva lot more excited about this game than she was a few seconds prior.

“Truth.”

“No, you’re supposed to choose dare.”

“You shouldn’t have given me the option, then.”

“C’mon please,” she begs, and Leon can’t help the places his filthy mind goes. Ashley, begging for him on her knees, he can see it.

“Fine. What’s your dare?”

“Kiss me.”

“Come here.”

Ashley looks nervous, but she obliges. It was her idea anyway.

“Should I-?”

“Get up here? Yeah, just climb up.”

He sees her hesitate. It is a bit awkward, admittedly. The bed isn’t made for more than one person.

“You won’t hurt me,” he assures her.

“Okay.”

Ashley climbs into his bed and Leon sits up a bit, pulling her properly into his lap. She lets him move her around like he’s playing with a doll, and it only makes him more excited.

“What are you waiting for?,” he says, “You gave me the dare and now it seems like you’re the one chickening out.”

She’s clearly thinking about opening her mouth to say something, but she takes a deep breath and leans in for the kiss. Leon has one hand on her cheek and the other on her waist, toeing the line between touching her tits and touching her ass. He doesn’t want to scare her away, but he also can’t decide which he wants to cop a feel of first.

Ashley’s clearly into the kiss. She’s the one pressing her tongue into Leon’s mouth in fact, but her hands don’t know where to go and it’s cute. Cute little virgin Ashley’s gonna have to get taught by her daddy.

Leon breaks away and says, “You can touch me, you know.”

“Where?”

“Anywhere you want.”

There’s an unexpected flicker of mischief behind her eyes and he can tell exactly what she’s thinking about doing with her perfect little hands. She starts pawing at his shirt first, though. Good choice. Good girl.

“I’ll make you a deal,” he says, “I’ll take this off if you take that off.”

“Deal.”

Leon sighs in delight when he sees that Ashley’s not wearing a bra. Just as he suspected.

“Beautiful,” he mumbles, which causes her to cover them up.

“Ah-ah,” he says, gently removing her hands, “that’s against the rules.”

And now he’s practically already touching them, so he runs with it, barely brushing across her nipples at first. It still gets a reaction out of her.

He chuckles, making her shy away. “Why’re you nervous?” “I’m not nervous. I just feel- I don’t wanna act weird.”

“Act weird? By enjoying yourself?”

“I guess. I just don’t wanna make weird noises or, I don’t know, embarrass myself.”

“You’re not gonna embarrass yourself. Don’t worry.”

Leon’s honestly more worried that he’ll embarrass himself by cumming in his pants.

Leon’s got one of her tits in each hand again, thumbs gliding over them. If she weren’t so nervous, he'd have one in his mouth already. It’s cute to see how she shivers after almost nothing.

“Do you wanna lie down for me?” he asks, voice all sweet even though his thoughts are anything but.

“Are we going to do it?”

“Have sex? Not yet, and not at all if you don’t want to. I was going to do something else… for you.”

He hopes she gets the picture, and it takes her brain a second to process, but she does.

“Oh, okay. We’ll switch places then?”

He nods and flips her over.

“Whoa!”

“Shh… We don’t wanna get in trouble, right?”

She nods.

“So you’re gonna be quiet, right?”

“I’ll try.”

“Ashley, I’m gonna need you to be a good girl and stay quiet if I’m gonna do this.” “A good girl?” her eyes glimmer when she asks. She likes it. He was so right about her.

“You wanna be a good girl for me, right?” Leon wants her to call him daddy so badly, but he can’t risk fucking this up. He prays she’ll say it somehow, maybe by accident.

“Mhm,” Ashley hums, relaxing a bit into the mattress.

Leon wants to suck on her tits so badly he almost can’t help himself, but he needs to get his face between her legs before she has time to be embarrassed again. He has to do this right. Maybe if he does, he can do it again. He makes his way down her stomach with open-mouthed kisses. Once his mouth meets the waistband of her pajama pants, he looks up at her.

“Mind if I take these off?”

“Okay,” she mumbles.

He slides them down and tosses them over to her bed across the room. Ashley’s panties are adorable, not sexy, but cute , and that makes him far more aroused.

“Sorry. I didn’t really prepare. I would’ve worn something nicer if I’d known.”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” he scoffs, breath tickling her skin.

“What?”

“These,” he says, running his hands over the fabric, “are so hot you have no idea. I’m just sad I’m gonna have to take them off. Bet you look good under them, too, though.”

He really is sad. He wants to fuck her with her panties on, wants to cum all over them so she has something to remember him by.

“It’s nothing special. I wouldn’t get too excited.”

Leon doesn’t respond. Instead, he kisses her clit through the thin cotton that covers it, and she whines. He decides he’s done wasting time and takes them off.

Leon marvels at the sight of her, “God,” he groans, not even thinking.

“What?” Ashley panics and covers herself. “What’s wrong? Is it ugly?”

“Mm-mm. So goddamn gorgeous, can’t believe someone would pass up the opportunity to taste this.”

Leon’s words coax Ashley’s hands away from her core, so he’s able to spread her legs wider this time. He can already see how wet he’s made her and he can’t help but be proud. She said she didn’t prepare, but she did a nice job trimming down there. It’s not entirely shaved off, but it’s not like Leon gives a fuck. Even if she had a full bush, he’d still go right ahead. It’d be a little inconvenient that way though - getting hair in his mouth would make the process a little less smooth, but Leon’s not picky.

Before he gets his first taste, Leon gently rubs his thumbs over her thighs and her outer folds, eventually bringing one so close to her clit, but not right on it. He brings his mouth closer, so his warm breath fans over it, giving her just enough to make her beg.

“Please,” she says, voice cracking, sounds like she’d cry if he doesn’t do it.

“Please what, baby?”

She can say anything and he’ll do it, but Leon’s not one to pass up the opportunity here. He’s gonna give her the chance to say it, to say what he really, really wants.

Her voice quivers when she says it, but he sees that she’s got stars in her eyes when he looks up at her.

“Please daddy?”

He’ll do anything for her at this point. He’ll go down on her, he’ll fuck her, he’ll withdraw every penny he has from the bank and hand it to her if she asks him like that.

“Good girl,” he says before his mouth meets her skin. His tongue touches her clit and the noise she makes is obscene.

Leon pulls away because he has to - they can’t get in trouble. Really, he doesn’t give a fuck if anyone sees him going down on her, he’d proudly show her off, but if they get caught, he’s probably not going to be allowed to continue. Unless that one nurse would be into a menage a trois situation. She gave him a slutty sort of vibe. He’s not gonna push his luck though.

“Baby girl, remember what daddy said? You gotta be quiet while I do this to you.”

“Sorry, daddy.”

“No sorries, baby. Just don’t wanna have to stop if we get caught.”

She mumbles something incoherent, but regardless Leon’s mouth is back on her cunt, sloppily making out with it. She’s already soaking his face, and she hasn’t even cum yet. He can feel it in the way her thighs tremble that she’s close, though.

“I’m gonna… I’m gonna…” she says before she releases into his mouth.

He doesn’t need a warning, he groans into her core when she cums and he’d be embarrassed if he thought she was in any state of mind to notice. With the way her pussy’s spasming, he doubts she’s conscious of anything.

She practically kicks him away because she’s so oversensitive. He doesn’t tease her because he’s not trying to be mean to her tonight. Maybe some other time if she asks him in that cute little voice. He lifts his head and swipes a thumb over his lips, sucking her juices off his finger while he looks into her eyes.

“I can’t believe you just did that,” she says, still breathless.

“Did you like it?” He smiles at her.

“God yes.” She throws her head back and wiggles around in excitement. Adorable.

“I’m glad.” Leon kisses her on the cheek as a goodnight.

He doesn’t expect her to want to continue.

“Now your turn,” she says.

“No, not tonight. Tonight’s your turn.”

“But, but,” she pouts and he’s already melting. If she’s smart she’ll use the ‘d’ word again and get whatever she wants from him.

“But what, sweetheart?”

“I wanna do it…”

“Do what?”

“You know what I mean.”

“If you want something, you’ve gotta use your words.”

Ashley huffs, and breaks her innocent persona to say, “I want you to fuck me, Leon.” Leon blinks. Wow. Even if they’re not playing ‘daddy’ and ‘baby girl’, he never expected to hear Ashley say that. He considers chiding her, but decides against it. He asked her to tell him and she did. Fair play, Ash.

“You sure?” He says, but he’s already spreading her legs again.

“I’m sure.”

Leon sticks two fingers into Ashley. She’s wet enough that they slide in nice and easy despite her natural tightness. Leon sits up, ready to free himself from his pajama pants finally. When Leon’s cock arrives at the scene, Ashley’s gawking at it in the same way he imagines he ogled her tits.

“What?” He asks, though he’s able to guess what she’ll say. He’s heard it before from other girls.

“It’s big.”

“Yeah?”

“Do you think it’ll fit?”

“Don’t worry ‘bout it. We’ll just try our best.”

Ashley’s a strong girl, but he’s never seen such a look of determination on her face. It’s adorable, really. Cuter when Leon sticks the tip in and Ashley’s face scrunches up as she struggles to adjust to his size.

“You’re doin’ so well for me, baby. It’s almost there,” he whispers into her ear.

Leon struggles not to let out what he would deem a whorish moan. He doesn’t wanna break the facade that he’s in charge, even though she absolutely has him wrapped around her finger. Not for long, though. Leon, with the help of his practiced agility, is able to get Ashley into his lap. He wants to hold her close like this. It’s like she can read his mind, the way she muffles her cries by burying her face in his shoulder. He rubs her back and whispers into her ear about how much of a good girl she is.

Leon feels her pussy pulse around him, so he fucks her deeper, slower, too. He wants to savor the moment in case it’s all he gets. He tries to focus, wants to remember this for later when he’s jerking off to it, because he will jerk off to it. Maybe he’ll figure out how to convince her to send him a selfie, so he can cum on her face again.

He can’t see her face when she cums, but he can feel her tears and hear her muffled sobs. In that moment it doesn’t matter how fucked up it might be, the thought of her crying from him fucking her is enough to push Leon over the edge. He realizes he shouldn’t have cum inside her a little too late. He apologizes, but it’s real half-assed because he barely regrets it. He’ll buy her Plan-B in the morning. Maybe they have an on-site pharmacy. He should tip whoever cleans this place since he knows the sheets are disgusting.

Leon cleans Ashley up because he doesn’t want any of the staff to find the evidence if they examine her naked body again. Though Leon likes the thought of the nurse - the slutty one - seeing his cum dripping out of her pussy, he doesn’t want her to be embarrassed. He’ll probably jerk off to the thought of the nurse finding out. He imagines she’d get jealous and beg for him to do the same for her.

Ashley wants to sleep in Leon’s bed, and he agrees to let her under the condition that they’ll put clothes on. If they fall asleep naked, he’ll wake up hard. He has to help her put on pajamas because her legs shake. Poor baby. He’s almost sorry he fucked her that hard on the first time. Hopefully she’s not sore. He cuddles her to sleep and it’s not out of obligation or pity. Leon’s might be filthy, but he has emotions too, and once his dick is finally soft, they come to the forefront. Daddies like to hug their baby girls too. Leon thinks cuddling is manly as long as he gets to be big spoon.

The lady who made them stay overnight wakes them up and finds them in bed together. Leon tells her that Ashley got scared and makes sure to emphasize that she couldn’t sleep because they made her nervous when they told her she’d have to get more blood drawn. He tries to lay it on thick, make her feel a little guilty because he does feel bad for Ashley. As much as Leon wants to resist letting himself care on a personal level about anyone, he cares a lot about Ashley. It’s stupid. She was supposed to be a mission objective, someone he was supposed to protect temporarily, but now he wants to protect her forever.

He holds her hand when she gets her blood drawn the next day and kisses her on the cheek in front of the nurse because he’s proud of his little girl and doesn’t care what others think. It makes Ashley blush, but he knows she likes it.

When they’re finally done with their stint at the medical facility, Leon’s actually kind of upset. But Ashley puts her number in his phone with a heart next to her name and texts him when she gets home safe.

He’s pretty sure she’ll be receptive when he asks her to hang out again, maybe even go on a real date. He’s hoping that Ashley can sweet talk her dad into letting him get some more time off because now he’s got something - or someone - to do in his free time. President Graham’s got Leon by the balls and now he’s pussy-whipped over Ashley. Like father, like daughter. Father, not daddy. The president’s just her father, Leon is Ashley’s daddy.

#leon s kennedy #leon kennedy smut #leshley #eagleone #leon x ashley #fics #miss oranje fics

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punkeccentricenigma · 1 year

Note

headcanons with the rise boys and a reader who is in med school! Graduated high school early and is training to be a doctor! Romantic or platonic, your pick

Rise!Boys with Reader who is in Med School

Relationship status: platonic

Reader prounouns: They/Them

TW: Mention of slicing the frog, Some grammatical errors because english is not my first language.

Author's note: Just so you know, I am not familiar with medicine at the college level, only what I had in high school biology, so I tried to write these headcanons as neutrally as possible. And all in all, even if I learn anything now, it is only in the field of physiotherapy because my friend is going to such studies this year, so sorry if it's not what you wanted, but still, enjoy!

Leonardo

◇I won't lie, I'm sure this guy admires you.

◇Not everyone gets a chance to get into such a school!

◇But knowing his personality, he'll probably tease you a lot, calling you a 'nerd.'

◇It usually doesn't cross the line, BUT if Leonardo goes too far with his teasing, especially when you're tired after classes, you often threaten to perform a dissection on him like a frog.

◇And when he arrogantly waved it off at first, you and Donnie pulled a prank on him with that theme.

◇Everything was recorded as he lay pinned to the table, and you stood over him with a scalpel.

◇Leo thinks you're very diligent, hardworking, and disciplined, which also means mentally exhausted.

◇Such a school demands a lot, so expect that during study sessions in your cozy home, that idiotic turtle will come and drag you to the hidden city to relax.

◇I'm sure he'll try to make you laugh often using elaborate medical jokes he found on the internet.

◇Sometimes he also feels a bit jealous. He has some basic knowledge when he has to patch himself or his brothers up, but deep down, he would also like to go to such a medical school to enhance his skills. But you see the whole situation.

◇But don't worry! In your free time, you'll give him a bit of education with the knowledge you've acquired so far.

◇Even if he tries to hide it, he's a bit overwhelmed by the vast amount of knowledge and skills you possess.

◇But despite that, he's proud of you for taking on the challenge and fulfilling your dreams! Or at least you're on the right path to doing so.

Raphael

◇The proudest big bro! You got into that school?? Amazing!

◇Your number one supporter!

◇Raphael truly appreciates your intelligence, hard work, and determination. He never imagined himself getting into a medical school, not only because of the whole situation but also because his knowledge absolutely doesn't go in the same direction as yours. But that his friend managed it? Nice!

◇He admires your selfless need to help other people. He's keeping his green fingers crossed for you to achieve that dream medical title!

◇I'm sure he suggested some ‘experiments’ on himself for you to practice a topic from lectures. In the end, you hit him on the head for such an absurd idea. You didn't intend to do that! That's Donatello's role! Besides, mixed human DNA with turtle DNA would probably mess with your mind more than help.

◇Although their biology sometimes interested you.

◇When he notices you're tired and stressed from all the medical material, he'll gladly take you to their living room, and under a warm blanket, you'll have a Lou Jitsu movie marathon (where you'll eventually fall asleep, lmao) or play a bandana takeover with his brothers, all tricks allowed for your amusement!

◇Hey, don't complain about his support. Many times, you've helped him when he was stressed about being the leader before Leo or after the Kraang invasion. That's all he can do!

◇Sometimes he was confused and a bit unhappy when you started explaining various medical terms or tools to him. Raph is simple; give him a lighter version of all that.

◇Sometimes he wasn't happy that you declined meetings because of studying or lectures. Hey! He also needs attention sometimes D:

Donatello

◇Donnie is really proud of you, even if he doesn't express it in words every day.

◇But as a reward for your hard work, he'll fine-tune the devices you use for practice or build something helpful.

◇He appreciates your genuine interest in understanding difficult concepts and your ability for critical thinking. You don't even know how much he needed someone like you in his life, looking at his family.

◇Despite your enthusiasm and intelligence, he thinks you might overly stress about grades and perfectionism, which in the long run can lead to stress and burnout. So, he often forces you to take a break in his lab, sipping mint-flavored coffee.

◇It's also his small revenge for taking him away from his work on new inventions when he hasn't slept for two days in a row, lmao.

◇But if it's not spending time with him, the guy will go through all your material at the moment to make cheat sheets with the most important information.

◇You pose an intellectual challenge for him and keep him on his toes, but he always enjoys discussing and exploring different perspectives on a topic with you, even though he leans more towards technological knowledge than biological.

◇However, despite his intelligence, Donnie in those moments can be a bit 'know-it-all' and doesn't always consider the opinions or feelings of other people, or even the actual facts.

Michelangelo

◇You won't convince me he wouldn't be initially confused; I mean, he's the least interested in medical topics.

◇But as soon as you start explaining, he'll immediately admit that he's impressed and that he's really proud of you!

◇He'll always mention how much he appreciates your determination to achieve your dreams!

◇Personally, I have a headcanon that Mikey wants to become one of the most recognizable artists, so he roughly knows how frustrating it is when something doesn't work out.

◇In a way, I think Mikey sees you as his role model, so feel proud to be compared to Lou Jitsu :D

◇Mikey sometimes worries a lot about your mental health after lectures. So, expect many long conversations about self-care.

◇Being the youngest of the brothers, he got a lot of attention, so he'll often be jealous of how much time you spend at school and with human friends rather than with him. He knows it's immature behavior, but he can't help it!

#rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rottmnt #rise donnie x reader #rise mikey x reader #rise raph x reader #rise leo x reader #rottmnt x y/n #teenage mutant ninja turtles #rottmnt x you #rottmnt x reader #Med school #headcanons

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blood-starved-beast · 7 months

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I do not ship it but I admit upon learning that the whole "Gehrman being a creep" is a translation fumble made let out a sigh in relief. Cause honestly, "old guy creeping on younger student/girl" is very much overdone and well, out of all the Fucked Up things Bloodborne has done at least this bullet was dodged.

I do think what we actually get then, regarding Maria and Gehrman is a thousand times more interesting. Instead of being some old creeper, what actually is something of a potentially toxic one-sided co-dependent mentor/student relationship. Because while it isn't creepy it doesn't mean it has to be healthy. And ngl, making a facsimile doll of your suicided student does mean you care a lot about the student in question, even to an unhealthy degree.

I do not think, however, that this is necessarily a surrogate parental relationship. I've mentioned it before, that I headcanon that Maria's cadaver became the object of Gehrman's obsession - that is, he dissected it and from those notes he created the Doll, and from those notes the Church found the way to deal with the "Cainhurst problem." Gehrman wanted to know why he went wrong with Maria as much as trying to make a memorial of her, maybe one that removed the faults that led to Maria's demise, one befitting the cultural standards of the time - what a typical Cainhurst girl should act like. That was unsatisfactory though, and the Doll was tossed aside cause no matter what, that "good girl" was never the giant mess that is Maria.

Regardless, I do think there is a sense of possession in that, an overreach in Gehrman's part. Grind her bones down, save a piece of her femur, but still you are violating her corpse just like you did Kos, how does it feel Maria to become the object of your torment?? And she's still very much dead.

I do think the fandom should focus more on the toxic part of their relationship. I believe there were likely some boundaries crossed with them - not romantic - but something definitely wrong cause there's no way a relationship between two messed up killers is anything but wrong.

#lady maria of the astral clocktower #gehrman the first hunter #Bloodborne #speculation #d headcanons #do I think maria would make a doll had the positions been reversed?#probably not but I imagine she'd do something Fucked Up maybe

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buckybarnesss · 1 year

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“Scott’s awareness of the Stiles and Derek thing is interesting to dissect” hi yes please do!

I find him a bit hard to read when it comes to this tbh. Scott seems aware that Something is going on throughout season 3. He always seems shocked to realize that they get along better, even though Scott is usually faster at trusting people than Stiles. (I wouldn’t be surprised if Derek/Scott’s issues early on are the source of this bewilderment.)

I genuinely can’t tell if/when Scott might have realized that their bond was more than platonic. Like he has so much “right in front of my salad?” energy that he must have noticed Stiles’s attraction at the very least, right? Was it Derek’s leaving in the s4 finale that made Scott realize that Stiles’s feelings were actually romantic? He seems very aware in s5 that Derek is a Sore Spot for Stiles.

Jeffrey-boy seems to have taken the whole “show, don’t tell” thing a little too literally here.

the thing about scott is he's really, really good at denial. especially self-denial. combining his world class levels of denial he also has multiple hang up about derek that he has a hard time letting go of and he has a specific way he perceives stiles (which is part of the mess in s5).

like he sees but he's also stuffing his fingers in his ears about it because derek and stiles being derek-n-stiles doesn't line up with what he expects from either of them.

scott also has the dubious privilege of being there from the beginning. it was just the three of them at the start of this whole fiasco.

there's hints but scott doesn't really get to see the big stiles and derek development in season 1so while he seems to kind of pick up on stiles possibly being attracted to derek because i mean look at this.

he's mostly seeing stiles being annoyed and angry but he isn't necessarily reading the deeper reasons for it because he's not privy to it.

than season 3 happens.

things shift in s3 when he realizes that he and stiles are not at all on the same page about derek. stiles has been spending time with derek outside of his knowledge for months and they're friendly.

Top 10 Anime Betrayals in Tattoo.

and than his reaction to derek and stiles messing around in the next episode. peter's entirely unsurprised and amused by this which just hints at stiles getting derek to be playful isn't new to him but for scott this is Huge. This is world altering for scott.

stiles becoming friendly with derek is one of the reasons scott's perception and trust of derek begins to shift into moving past his anger and resentment that was present in s1 and 2.

i know people say scott doesn't trust stiles and that's a whole thing to unpack and i'd have to rewatch 5a to parse it entirely but scott does trust stiles. while stiles is often right he also as often doesn't have the proof to back up his intuition in the moment.

scott is also way more scared that stiles isn't himself after the nogitune. he can see stiles spiraling and after derek leaves stiles becomes even more paranoid and irritable. almost as if stiles lost an anchor. which scott just went through himself with allison's death.

at the end of s4 this look is layered

he's terrified of losing stiles the same way stiles is afraid of losing him. it creates a weird feedback loop where that very thing happens because of their fears are exploited by theo. stiles and scott are so scared to lose each other and depend on seeing each other a particular way because of the roles they've assigned themselves they don't communicate properly.

stiles and scott are incredibly dysfunctional kids from different kinds of broken homes. it's important to remember that when dissecting their friendship.

the benefit of a doubt scene in season 5 says scott fucking noticed because his starting overture at trying to convince stiles about giving theo the benefit of a doubt is derek.

(theo is a hybrid peter-derek which is funny but he's also a dark mirror of stiles in a lot of ways. it's partly why scott is drawn to him.)

it's a calculated move on scott's part to bring up derek to appeal to stiles's emotions over his logic but he also is aware that he needs to tread fucking lightly here. the subject of derek is a double edged sword.

also scott witnessed derek's whole ass everything in 3B even if he was distracted. he knew derek would help look for stiles and protect him without a question.

i think scott figured out there was something going on in 3A and by 5A he knew it was something stiles was incredibly fucked up over but he wasn't the one that could fix it.

#my blog #thoughts on teen wolf #teen wolf #scott mccall #sterek #otp: you need me to survive #i know very well i am in a minority in liking scott mccall a lot while shipping sterek #the narrative doesn't always let scott acknowledge his issues because jeff davis is fucking weird #i forgot to add the s4 look

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stuffnonsenseandotherthings · 8 months

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January Drama Wrap Up

January was a month of ups and downs (and some very big let downs) but over all I enjoyed what I watched. I tried out a new country's dramas and discovered some classics at the same time and I've built myself a pretty solid Currently Watching List to take me into February.

📊 The Stats

Total Dramas: 12

Currently Watching: 3

Completed: 4

Dropped: 2

On Hold: 3

My To Watch List: 60

🎭 The Dramas

🤼💰 Like Flowers in the Sand - Currently Watching

Like Flowers in the Sand is going to be another one of those k-dramas I am never going to be able to explain to my non k-drama watching friends without sounding like I've lost the plot a little.

"It's a small town drama about a minor league ssireum team and a wrestler who's been in a years long slump. There's also an investigation into a murder linked to match-fixing but that's kind of a side plot and it's linked to the wrestler's childhood friend who's reappeared incognito after disappearing mysteriously many years ago ... I promise it's good!"

It's probably not the drama for everyone but as someone who has historically loved sports centered k-dramas and who loved When Camilla Blooms this drama ticks so many of my boxes. I'm very excited to watch the complex relationships and politics of small town life be put under a microscope and dissected and I can already tell I'm going to love how morally grey all the characters are.

It also doesn't hurt that the ML is the biggest himbo to ever ever himbo and I love him and his empty brain to bits.

Prediction: I become a ssireum fan.

🕹️💌 Love For Love's Sake - Currently Watching

I've been staying away from K-BL these past few months because I've been struggling with their short run time but Love for Love' Sake lured me back in like a moth to the flame and I have no regrets.

Is Love For Love's Sake Perfect? No, there are definitely some pacing issues that are leaving me feeling very temporally confused about how quickly or slowly events are unfolding and the lower than average k-drama budget does show at certain points but, do you what?

I don't care.

I wholeheartedly love this drama and it's going to have to mess up its last 2 episodes Last Twilight style to change that.

The relationship between the main couple? Adorable. The openly gay leader of the school delinquents? We stan. The oddball friendship group forming because they're all slightly crushing on the ML? Sign me up! The addition of a glitch in the game that's starting to mess everything up? Horrifying and I love it.

Prediction: A new favourite K-BL is born and it's all thanks to this mf

🩺😭 Doctor Slump - Currently Watching

I'm watching this because it's on my Plan To Watch list and Netflix started playing the trailer after I'd finished watching an episode of The Way of the Househusband.

I won't lie, this is definitely the drama, out of all the dramas I'm currently watching, that I'm least certain I'll finish but, at the same time, I was pleasantly surprised by the first two episodes. Yes, it does do that typical comedy k-drama thing of mixing ridiculous over the top laughs with some incredibly difficult topics (because who doesn't want to be laughing hysterically one minute and then doing some deep self-reflection the next?) but so far the balance and the boundaries between the two moods has been relatively well struck and only time will tell if it manages to stay that way.

I appreciate tackling the topic of burn out and depression in a country that still champions overwork and mental fortitude above all else and I'm interested to see where it goes with that part of its arc. The "being framed for murder" I am a little less certain about, but it has definitely added a layer of intrigue to a story that would otherwise be relatively mundane and by the books.

As I said, time will tell if I continue to enjoy Doctor Slump but I'd say my only quibble with the drama so far is that I'm not sure "accused of (and potentially framed for) murder" and "suffering from depression due to burn out and work place abuse" quite fit what is normally meant by the word slump.

Prediction: Maybe I won't drop this half way through like I thought I would.

👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨🎥 BL Drama no Shuen ni Narimashita - Completed

My first Japanese BL ever and it was a good one. Yes, it was 3 episodes long, but it used its runtime perfectly. All of the main characters felt properly fleshed out (and the side characters were caricature enough that you only really needed one scene to know who they were and what they stood for), the pacing was great (it couldn't afford to drag but it didn't speed through scenes either), and it found the right balance between BL shenanigans and forrays into deeper messages. This was exactly what I needed at the time and, for someone who doesn't normally like mini-dramas that much, I enjoyed myself immensely.

Verdict: 8/10, I also want a life-size cardboard cutout of Aoyanagi to cuddle and hide behind when I open the door.

✒️💕 Cherry Magic, Japan - Completed

I'm planning to buy the manga.

I plan to watch the film next month (I never watch films).

I may have even checked out the fanfic scene in a bout of withdrawal.

Anyway, what I mean to say is that I get the hype, I really really do. This drama is fantastic.

Cherry Magic is one of those classics that you watch as a newbie and go "oh yeah I get why everyone is obsessed with this". The premise is novel and well executed, the characters are oh so easy to love, the main romance is so incredibly shippable, and the friendships are just as endearing.

I personally love the role Adachi's mind reading plays in shaping his relationship with Kurosawa and how the way it's handled means the audience feels what Adachi is feeling right alongside him. How can you not be charmed by the inner monologue of someone so sweetly and respectfully head over heels for you? But at the same time just because you're charmed, does that mean you like them back or is it just because you can see them at their most vulnerable? And what about once you're in the relationship? Do you give up the thing you know made it possible? Or do you pull back so you can't mess up once the crutch you rely on is gone?

There was so much quiet nuance to Adachi's and Kurosawa's relationship to each other and those around them and, when I one day sit down for a rewatch, I'm looking forward to unpicking them all.

Verdict: 8.5/10, Adachi and Kurosawa are going to be one of those couples that's impossible to leave behind. This is going to stick with me for a while, and once it's unstuck I'll just watch it again.

📸🌦️ Welcome to Samdal-Ri - Completed

I know some people thought the premise of Welcome to Sandal-Ri was unrealistic but, personally, I found it hard not to draw parallels between what happened to Cho Sam Dal in the drama and what happened to Kim Seon Ho in real life. Yes, the situations may differ somewhat (Sam Dal faces false accusations of work-place bullying by an employee while Seon Ho was accused of coercing his girlfriend into getting an abortion) but there were enough similarities (the media frenzy and the sheer intensity of the backlash, the scandals happening just as their careers peaked, the gradual revelation of what actually transpired) that I would be very surprised if there was no link at all.

For that alone, Welcome To Samdal-Ri had my attention from the get go. If this story were from a Western perspective, I would certainly have been much more wary of a story tackling false accusations (looking at you Euphoria) but from a Korean perspective, where celebrity culture is far more intense and volatile and in which false accusations have happened before and cancel culture can indeed end a career for even minor infractions (like dating), I wanted to see how it would be handled.

Ultimately I was satisfied, not wowed, not disappointed, satisfied. The show didn't dig that deep into the subject (personally I would have appreciated Sam Dal's case juxtaposed against another case in which the accusations turned out to be true) but it handled it deftly enough and felt "case-by-case" enough that I didn't feel as though it inadvertently gave off the message of "not believe anyone bringing accusations against celebrities".

Other than my own personal interest in the premise, Welcome to Sandal-Ri did a good job of holding my interest. In terms of overall vibe, it felt like a mix between (perhaps unsurprisingly) Hometown Cha Cha Cha (the idyllic small-town community filled with friends and loveable elders) and Our Beloved Summer (childhood lovers unfairly broken up but still pining for each other after years apart). The pacing was good, the characters loveable (I am now in love with Cho Hae In), and each episode felt like sinking into a warm bath for an hour.

Verdict: 8/10, it tackled an interesting topic while providing its audience with plenty of comfort and heart. It could have done without the love triangle though, just saying.

📃👩‍❤️‍👩 Out of Breath - Completed

I don't have too much to say about Out of Breath given it was 3 episodes long and less than an hour run time in total but I'm glad I watched it. Firstly, because it was nice to watch a (rare) Korean GL and secondly, because it managed to fit a lot into its short run time. Two break ups, a love triangle/unrequited love, cute dates, commentary on living queer in Korea, commentary on being out in Korea.... This show really had it all.

It was short, it was sweet, and it had a lot to say. I can't say I'd watch it again in a hurry, but I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a realistic portrayal of queer (and specifically) lesbian life in Korea.

Verdict: 7.5/10, it unpacked a lot in a short amount of time, the couple was extra cute too.

🫂💕 Cherry Magic Thailand - On Hold

I realised very early on into watching Cherry Magic Thailand that I'd probably get a lot more out of it if I watched the original first. I'm not normally someone who says watching the OG is necessary to watch the adaptation (in fact I normally rebel against that idea with a whole lot of passion) but in this case it became very clear that without watching Cherry Magic Japan first, I was missing important reference points and comparisons that were pretty key to understanding and appreciating that plot fully.

Anyway, I've now watched and loved Cherry Magic Japan so Cherry Magic Thailand is back on the menu, I just want to give myself enough time away that when I go back to it, it's with completely new eyes (and I'm excited for when that moment comes).

Verdict: On Hold until I can give it a proper fresh start.

🩺🍲 Cooking Crush - On Hold

I watched this at completely the wrong time. I struggle with rom-com dramas at the best of times but by now I should know that I absolutely should not try to watch one when I am going through a period of high stress.

I am not kind to rom-coms when I am stressed, even the ones I might otherwise enjoyed.

As it is, I initially dropped Cooking Crush because I was struggling to stay focussed enough to finish an episode and the characters were grating on me. Looking back, part of me thinks that my lack of focus and general irritability may have had less to do with the drama itself and much more to do with the fact I could barely focus on anything during that time period and that I had barely any spoons left to give people in my actual life, let alone fictional ones.

So...

Anyway, Cooking Crush has continued to come across my dash in gif, meme, and analysis form and I've realised that I actually really like what I'm seeing, enough so that I've moved it out of the "dropped" pile and into my "on hold" list so as to give it a second shot in the not so distant future (something that doesn't normally happen).

I genuinely think I might like this drama, I just need to make sure I'm in the right mindset for it first to give it a fair shot 💪

Verdict: On Hold until my next holiday.

🐍🦅 The Sign - On Hold

On paper The Sign sounds like it's right up my street, after all what's not to love about star-crossed lovers doomed by the threads of fate and history to lose each other?

But that's the thing, "on paper". In real life The Sign is well, messy and a bit too cop-heavy for my liking. Sure there are some great moments, Billy and Babe's chemistry is on fire, and it may have one of the best and most artistic sex scenes ever to grace the BL screens of the world but sexy times does not a good show make and I've found myself torn about whether or not I should keep going or just give up at this point.

To help me decide I've taken the "on paper" part of The Sign very literally and bought the book to read. If I like the book (the translation is a bit choppy but I can overlook that if the story is good) then I'll finish the show, if I don't then into the land of the dropped it goes.

Verdict: On Hold until I've actually experienced it on paper.

🌄🖕 Last Twilight - Dropped (episode 10)

I won't lie, this is the second time (the first time being Only Friends) that I've ended up being grateful my busy schedule got in the way of my drama watching because wow this show really took a tumble at the last hurdle. There was so much Last Twilight could have done, so many societal boundaries it could have crossed and reshaped and re-imagined but instead it went with... well a literal "fix it fic" ending that fixed nothing but instead broke all it had built up beyond repair.

I'm not going to go into detail about how Last Twilight let nearly every single one of its principal characters down, about how Mhok was never allowed screen time to process his own emotional trauma, about how the show briefly touched upon and then completely glossed over the very different social and financial circumstances of the both couples and the effects this would have on their experience of the world, of how there was so much ableist messaging around both the treatment of Dad's character which was always lurking under the surface but which only really came to light alongside the ending..... All I'm going to say is that, up until episode 9, Last Twilight had a choice about what messages it wanted it's audiences to come away with at the end, and it picked the wrong fucking ones.

It could have been a challenge to the ableist and classist mainstream norm so often portrayed in the media, instead it perpetuated harmful and hurtful rhetoric and stereotypes against the very people it claimed to champion.

Maybe one day I'll watch it again, but only because I want to properly break down what went so wrong.

Recommended reads by people who expressed it better than me:

This Discussion under "Last Twilight, episode 12: final reflections" by @waitmyturtles

"Last Twilight: Ep 12" by @wen-kexing-apologist

"Last Twilight Episode 12" by @lurkingshan

This post by @simplemindedmockingjay

Verdict: Dropped for betraying it's audience and those it claimed to champion.

👨‍⚕️⏳ Triage - Dropped (episode 10)

This one hurts me.

This one well and truly hurts me.

Because, the thing is, I loved so much about this show. It does so much right and up until episode 10 I was preparing to rank it among my favourite BLs of all time; the plot was fast moving and carried you from episode to episode in a whirlwind of anticipation, the romance (although minor compared to most other BLs) was highly shippable, the characters had depth and flaws and strengths that made you root for them, and the time loop plot device was doing things that were genuinely new and innovative.

I was hooked.

And then everything I loved just disappeared.

I don't know what possessed the creators of this show to completely change the universe of the drama for the last 2 episodes, maybe they thought the old one was getting stale (it wasn't).

All I can say is I absolutely hated the new turn of events.

Familiar characters with entirely new personalities and character arcs who I was apparently expected to root for (I don't know who they are anymore), time travel rules thrown out of the window because the plot demanded it be so (I'm sorry but the notebook time travels now? And a kiss will bring back memories?), the entire premise of the show just dropped and never even properly answered (why did Tin need to save Tol????? What about his heart murmur????)....

No.

Just no.

I'm out.

Verdict: Dropped for becoming a completely different drama in the last 2 episodes

⭐ The Awards

I fell in love with a lot of people and things this month so let's talk about them

☺️ Smile That Could Launch A Thousand Ships

Yuuichi Kurosawa (and his actor Keita Machida) is, quite frankly, a ridiculously gorgeous man in the most normal of circumstances but his smile takes it to a whole new level.

Truly a sight that could light up a room (and the whole building the room was in), this smile is filled with such genuine happiness and love that it's hard not to smile right back just as brightly, whether you be a hapless audience member beaming at your computer screen or a flustered Adachi trying desperately to hold on to your heart.

What I also love about this smile is that it only comes out when Kurosawa is properly, over the moon happy. He's got other smiles for other occasions and they're all very pretty but this one? This one sits above them all and makes them pale in comparison.

🩷 Biggest Crush

I have a type and that type is Cho Mina (and quite possibly Kang Mi Na, I clearly need to work through her filmography for... science). But seriously, this woman is STUNNING and is made all the more so by her dedication to her daughter and her refusal to let society pressure her into being ashamed of being a young single mum. She's strong, she's kind, she's independent, she's beautiful both inside and out. I don't care if she got the least screen time out of all the sisters, she stole the whole show for me and I am smitten.

📃 Line That Hit Me Like A Freight Train

"I'm used to pretending to be normal"

"pretending to be normal"

I'm going to be forever grateful to Cherry Magic for giving me positive and thoughtful Ace rep in Fujisaki, for showing her happy and confident and unbothered by society's expectations that she should one day couple up and settle down, for giving voice to the Ace experience of "pretending to be normal" in simple line that holds so much meaning and so many layers.

I know it's not canon, but in my head Fujisaki does tell Adachi out loud one day, and she gets her response of "is that so".

🛌 Plot Device That Made Me Sit Up and Go "Yes"

I may have ended up dropping Triage but credit where credit is due, it did do a lot of things right and one of those things was its ideas around time loops/ time travel. The idea that where you fall asleep at the end of the time loop directly affects how far back you travel back in time for the start of the loop?

Genius.

Why haven't I seen this done before??? It's such a clever way to provide the loop-character with the agency they need to actually make changes without breaking the established rules of the time loop and it allows for each iteration of the loop to be significantly different depending on how early or how late the changes to the timeline are made.

It literally solves almost all of my usual issues with time loop narratives.

It was genuinely intriguing watching Tin try to work out where he needed to fall asleep in order to go back as far as he needed and it was such a shame that, as the show neared its end, that aspect of the time loop experience just sort of fell away.

I want more time loop ideas like this and I want them now.

🌄 Scene That Took My Breath Away

Last Twilight may have ended by taking this scene and its significance and flushing it down the toilet but you know what, the author is dead and I killed him. I'm taking this scene back.

Day wanting his last experience with his quickly disappearing sight to be a homage to the book that helped him come to terms with his disability and see the world anew, his description of the sunset he could see in his mind's eye that is far more brilliant and beautiful than reality could ever dream to be, his clear moment of realisation that yes, he could live without his sight and not only could he live without it, he could well and truly thrive, the last thing he sees being Mhok's face as the ultimate declaration of love....

The last twilight in episode 9 could have been a truly special moment and, taken in isolation, it still is. It's just such a shame that such a beautiful depiction of growth and healing and self-love and self-acceptance was ultimately papered over with an ending that didn't fit it at all, one that erased the positive and affirming messages this scene held.

#January wrap up #like flowers in sand #love for loves sake #doctor slump #cherry magic #i became the main role of a bl drama #out of breath #welcome to samdalri #cooking crush #the sign #cherry magic th #triage #last twilight #thai bl #kdrama #j bl

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madgal404 · 3 months

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I suspect that the main reason why he was kept in jail as a child was to shield him from those nosy scientists, who would surely have done some unpleasant things to him. As an adult, though? The scientists would be afraid to mess with him, honestly, for the same reasons that the batillion of cops drop their weapons in the movie when Megz orders them to "Drop 'em!" He's got all these weapons and no one really knows what they are capable of, and damn if he will back down from a fight. I suspect that at some point he's kicked some serious ass in battles with the police just because he could, with or without high-tech weaponry, and they've figured the best course is not to antagonize him but let Mets deal with him. In my head-canon, and in at least one fanfic I've read(sorry if I forgot who wrote it, so don't take it personally), the government would be more interested in cultivating a working partnership with the super-genius inventor so he can develop ultra high-tech weapons for THEM. In other words, Megamind's creative genius would be of far greater benefit to the Powers-That-Be if he was alive than whatever they'd learn from physically dissecting HIM, which I suspect would probably be very disappointing from a biological perspective. Other than his more highly-developed brain, I doubt they'd find anything worth writing home about if they did that. I don't even think his DNA shows anything earth-shattering(no pun intended) or out-of-the-ordinary as compared to human DNA, otherwise there probably would be at least a bit more interest in him from the scientific community, since surely Megz's DNA is on file in CODIS given his extensive criminal rapsheet. I also agree about the disease thing; either Megamind is not succeptible to human diseases at all, OR his immune system is just like ours, and he gets the same illnesses we do, reacts the same way, and gets over them the same way. Prisons are excellent places for diseases like influenza to get a good foothold, with all those people kept inside in close proximity to one another, after all. More than once our state prison has had to close its doors to all outside visitors due to severe outbreaks of flu inside its walls, so if Megamind was likely to become more seriously ill from exposure to something like the cold or flu than we normally are, he'd never have survived his childhood in the prison. He definitely would have been exposed to a lot of nasty "bugs" while there. He also would have HAD to have received routine vaccinations while a child to get into the school, since Federal law requires any child entering a public or private school to have had certain vaccinations. If he was overly prone to catching human diseases and dying from them, the vaccines would have killed him, since they are usually made from weakened strains of the very diseases they're meant to immunize against.

Thanks to: pitbulllady on livejornal

#Megamind #livejournal #Theory #Fans

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inkblackorchid · 1 year

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I watched this duel again yesterday and I honestly wish I had any sort of fresh take or unusual perspective on it, but I think the truth is that I just don't. This duel is three things for me:

Proof of concept for a very intriguing larger narrative (whose execution sadly doesn't land all the way for me)

The introduction of a character who has several interesting key aspects to them (and who could have, perhaps, been handled a bit better)

Emblematic of all the issues I have with the WRGP arc's writing.

As I said, I don't think I have any truly revolutionary things to say about this duel, but I feel like getting my thoughts out, so expect a fairly non-structured, stream-of-consciousness post below. There are multiple things here that bother me and I finally want to dissect them. Feel free to follow along if you also like examining stuff like this in more detail than it perhaps needs to be examined in. And I really mean examine them in unnecessary detail. Be warned, this post could count as a dissertation in terms of length. But I'm passionate and like analysing things, so no attempt to control its length was made.

So, I won't mince words here. The Team New World duel is absolutely where several major aspects of the time-travel-Iliaster plot completely fall apart for me. I want to make it clear that this isn't the fault of Aporia's character writing or what this duel is building up to, though. Nor do I think that the concept of a secret shadow organisation using time travel to influence world events is too out there. Lbr, this is yugioh. The time-travelling-cyborg-shadow-organisation is absolutely not the culprit of why I think some things don't work here. (And by here I mean specifically the WRGP arc.) Moreover, I'll be the first to admit that the finale this duel builds up to, with everything from the Ark Cradle beginning its descent to Yusei's final duel with Z-ONE, is stellar. So there are several things that do work here—but I think that may be exactly the reason why the other things piss me off all the more.

So what are the "other things", then?

Well, simply put, a lot of this arc's supposed setup and worldbuilding falls apart as soon as you start asking a few simple questions, first and foremost "why". And again, I will likely not be treading new ground here, but this just irks me to no end. However, so this post doesn't devolve entirely into unproductive whining about a part of the show I wish had been better than it was, I'll be doing another thing here: Trying to provide solutions for the things that irk me as I go along. As a kind of thought exercise, and because it's not hate motivating me here, merely extreme frustration about an arc that feels like it was fumbled like a hot potato. So, let's start digging through this mess.

The elephant in the room.

This whole arc (and in fact even the pre-WRGP arc before it) hinges on the concept of antagonists using monsters that can absorb synchro monsters, which is treated as such a monumental problem that we see Yusei, our protagonist, in downright anguish about it not one, but several times. Like, this eats at him.

(Pictured: A troubled boy brooding about his synchro summoning issues.)

And look, I know everyone and their mother has brought this up at this point, but this is already the first bit that falls apart under the weight of the question "why". Why is Yusei so hung up on the fact that duelling against Meklords means using synchro monsters becomes pretty risky? Why is this enough of a problem to supposedly drive the plot for a not insignificant stretch of episodes? Now, I know Yusei uses mainly synchro monsters as his heavy hitters, and I have seen someone bring up the fact before that even irl, completely altering the strategy of your entire deck is a pain in the ass, to say the least. And I do want to admit that this is a valid argument. If Yusei genuinely had to change his whole deck to accommodate the new circumstances, that would be a Herculean task, to say the least. However. While I can see the merit of that argument, I have to raise two counterpoints: One—who said he had to permanently change the entire structure of his deck? The show never gives us reason to believe that anyone other than the cyborgs will suddenly jump out of the woodwork and also use an anti-synchro strategy, and it doesn't show us anyone else who uses a strategy like that, either. And two—note the framing of this issue. The show never suggests that Yusei needs a new deck, or that all his old tricks are completely invalid now. It harps on and on about how he needs a new strategy, yes. But is that the same thing? In my opinion, nothing really demands that Yusei needs to restructure his deck completely. If anything, he only needs to keep in mind that this is now a possibility when duelling people, and thus start keeping a backup plan. And unfortunately, he kind of does, which is where I need to address the Dragon Knight Draco-Equiste-shaped elephant in the room, because it sadly undermines that sensible argument something fierce.

(Yeah, remember this thing? Because I do and sometimes wish I didn't just so I wouldn't have to get frustrated about it all over again.)

Listen. We're all not stupid. Even before the Team Unicorn match, the vast majority of people watching 5Ds would have been aware that tribute summoning, ritual summoning, and fusion summoning are very much methods to get around the dreaded synchro-killers that already exist in the card game and don't require any supernatural shenanigans to be acquired. But speaking only for myself for a moment, I was still at least a little bit willing to suspend my disbelief and accept that not being able to synchro summon would be a categorical impossibility for our beloved motorcycle family before this scene. Except, then Draco-Equiste comes out. And naturally, you're left to wonder "ah, so this is the solution to the synchro problem, then"? But no. No, it very much isn't. Because unfortunately, this is the one and only time Draco-Equiste even shows up. Immediately before and after this duel, this card is treated as though it never existed. Even though this thing could have posed a serious threat to the Meklords, what with being able to absorb the effect of a dragon synchro monster in the graveyard and being able to bounce back effect damage. (Can you imagine how differently the Team New World duel might have proceeded if Yusei had summoned this again?)

So, of course, we're left with the question: Why the fuck was this even here? And on the surface, the answer is super simple: To sell copies of Dragon Knight Draco-Equiste, naturally. But narratively? Narratively, this card's appearance is a disaster. It's a miscalculation of such insane proportions I can hardly find the words for it. Because it proves the assumption many viewers, especially TCG players, would have had from the start: Fusion, ritual, and tribute summoning are still a thing and would definitely work against Meklords. To say this takes the wind out of the sails of the central problem of "oh no, what are we going to do without synchro summoning" would be an understatement. And that's without addressing the fact that the actual "solution" the show provides against the Meklords, as cool as Shooting Star Dragon and Red Nova Dragon are, is, on paper, ludicrous: In a bind because your synchro monster gets absorbed? Just synchro summon harder! And I just. Please. We can agree that this is silly, right? Even if they're very cool dragons and I definitely appreciate them, this is almost looney tunes logic.

Swinging around to a more productive discussion, could they have done their "uh oh, synchro summoning is now impossible"-bit in a better, more coherent and less silly way? Probably, but depending on how they might have handled it, they would have probably needed to sacrifice some other things. The issue here is the thematic element. Synchro summoning is hated, and thus punished, by the emperors of Iliaster because to them, it's a symbol of humanity's greed and subsequent destruction. And originally, the show ends up vindicating its use despite their warnings about the destroyed future in a sort of awkward "with great power comes great responsibility"-way. As in, synchro summoning still has the potential to ruin humanity by the end of the show, but Yusei and the others "earn" their right to use it anyway because they and humanity as a whole learn the lesson not to overdo it. Supposedly. The metaphor is, frankly, a bit wonky, which might be another problem in and of itself. But what's relevant here is that any attempt to fix this conundrum would thus have to keep the thematic element intact. To do that, our protagonists would therefore have to rely on synchro summoning at the start of the arc, as they did before, and would also have to rely on it by the end of the arc (again). The in between is, I think, where more interesting things could have been done with the concept, though—moreover, it's where I think the plothole of "hey why doesn't anyone tribute/fusion/ritual summon" could have been addressed. Say the gang learns that synchro summoning might now get dangerous and actually tries to shift gears. Say they do try out fusion, ritual, and tribute monsters to account for that—only to run into an in-universe meta wall and realise that sure, these monsters might not get absorbed by Meklords, but their effects and strength can't keep up with the synchros their opponents use, or that they're flat out too cumbersome to summon! It could have been as simple as showing scenes where trying to get tribute fodder onto the field or play a fusion or ritual spell card would have been too slow, too inefficient in a duel. They could have also gone an even simpler route and flat out made it so that Meklords could have absorbed any extra deck monster. Would this have made them stupidly overpowered? Sure. But wasn't that kind of the point, anyway? The Meklords were supposed to be a nigh insurmountable obstacle that ultimately required discovering not one, but two new, unique ways to synchro summon—and even then, the solutions still weren't perfect because Shooting Star and Red Nova can still get absorbed under especially tricky circumstances. So I doubt making them that much more powerful would have mattered. (And they had to be heavily adjusted for the irl TCG as is, so there's not really a need to factor in that concern, either.) Finally, and I admit this pains me a little to say, I think that any version of the synchro dilemma that wanted to make sense should have flat out removed Draco-Equiste. The card does nothing except open plotholes, and especially if we want to keep the themes intact without opening the can of worms that is alternative forms of summoning possibly being a better solution than Accel Synchro or Burning Soul, its presence just becomes a hindrance. Sorry, Dragon Knight Draco-Equiste.

So much for the synchro dilemma, then. But unfortunately, this is not the last aspect of the worldbuilding surrounding the three emperors of Iliaster and especially their Meklords that's built on a shaky foundation, to say the least. Onto the next one.

2. The Meklord genocide and the many questions it asks (and never answers).

I'm gonna roll several points into one here because they're all related to the Meklord genocide—that being the supposedly unavoidable catastrophe in the future where Aporia received all his trauma from. And I want to preface this with two statements, one good and one bad. Firstly, Aporia and the way his backstory gets exposed, quickly getting us intimately acquainted with the utter devastation of the Meklord genocide, is extremely compelling. You really get a sense of the terror at play and it gives him a perfect, understandable motivation for wanting to avert that future at all costs, even if human lives have to be sacrificed along the way.

(Ahhh, the lovely smell of childhood trauma in the making.)

Secondly... The Meklord genocide makes zero sense, and it has everything to do with the fact that once again, several major aspects of it buckle under the weight of a few simple questions. But let me roll that back first and examine what those major aspects, which the Team New World duel introduces us to, are.

Number one: I went back and checked, and this is the first time in the series that we are introduced to the concept of synchro summoning resonating with Moment reactors. Previously, the reactor itself, through the concept of planetary particles, and, by extension, the Moment energy itself was only implied to be something like a perpetuum mobile, infinitely producing its own energy.

Number two: Now, we have heard of Moment rotating backwards and exploding in the show before. But there are two new things here, one being that the Iliaster trio explains that in this instance, it caused a chain reaction, and that, for some reason, all the Moment reactors began exploding one after the other. The other, more crucial part being that they claim the Moment reactors responded to people's hearts. This ties in with another small thing introduced much earlier, where Bruno/Antinomy explains that Clear Mind, Yusei's accel synchro technique, is a way of "controlling Moment". Both link the reactor and its energy, which are pillars of 5Ds' worldbuilding, to human emotions. And I already need to say this here: This doesn't make lick of sense. But more on that later.

Number three: We don't get an outright explanation for this in this duel, as in, it's not stated verbally, but right after Moment supposedly "responds to people's hearts", the Meklords show up, heavily implying that the reactor, for some reason, summoned a robot army to destroy humanity.

Now, I'm going to give you the quick-fire round of questions these three concepts immediately sparked in my mind when I saw these scenes, because I think that will illustrate just fine why I have such a problem with all this: Since when is synchro summoning linked to Moment and how? If humanity already knew through the Zero Reverse incident, which is the foundation for 5Ds' canon, that Moment reactors could spin too fast, gain a negative rotation, and subsequently explode, why on earth did nobody think to install safeguards against that? Why are the Moment reactor and its energy linked to people's hearts now? How does that even work? And how is a human supposed to "control" a sodding energy reactor that was implied to stay in perpetual motion through a set of gears, which famously know how to read hearts, through achieving a clear mind? And why, oh why did the reactor—independently of its human creators, apparently—have a killer robot army at its disposal to let loose on humanity when it grew sick of their shit?

This plot has so many holes, it may as well be a net instead. And you know what the worst part is? The show answers none of the questions above. Moreover, the implications behind the concepts introduced for the sake of setting up the Meklord genocide are buckwild, to say the least. Let me run with this real quick to highlight the absurdity here.

Taking the idea that an energy reactor can respond to people's hearts and summon an on-demand murder robot army of apocalyptic proportions when humans around it grow too evil at face value honestly makes me wonder how the Moment reactor in NDC hasn't exploded five times over since its creation. You mean to tell me that between Goodwin's Iliaster goons, the Arcadia Movement, the corrupt security forces, and all the duel gangs in Satellite, there weren't enough evil people there to make the reactor go crazy? Plus, all of these people were already synchro summoning as if their life depended on it! Synchro summoning is basically ubiquitous from the moment the show starts, to the point where it's more unusual to see a duellist who doesn't synchro summon than one who does. But somehow, that wasn't enough to affect the reactor yet? Or is the implication here supposed to be that the part where the man-made machine meant to produce limitless energy can suddenly see into people's hearts was added later into the reactor's development? That humans for some reason decided, "yeah, that's what our new energy source needs! A way to shame and punish us with violence on an unimaginable scale for our transgressions!" And that's without addressing the robot army. Who built these things? And who decided it was a good idea to put them at the disposal of the very reactor itself? Do you mean to tell me some team of utterly cracked up scientists decided that the best entity to put in charge of the robot army that was constructed for some reason was the reactor system supplying the world with energy, "computers can't be blinded by human error and would thus never deploy this army for selfish reasons"-style? (Honestly, I almost wish that had been the idea here, but I'm absolutely certain it wasn't.)

I can already hear two major criticisms to the above, purposefuly hyperbolic extrapolation in the back of my head here. Allow me to talk about them for a moment.

One—"Okay, so the WRGP arc has plotholes. Didn't the dark signers arc have those too, though? It's not like they explained everything about all that stuff."

You're right! It did! As much as I love the dark signers arc, it hardly has the most tightly-written worldbuilding of all time, either. There are lots of things, some small (why was Rudger/Roman somehow a signer and a dark signer at the same time), some not so small (why on earth did Rex' plan to summon the king of the underworld and remake the world seemingly hinge on one of the signers failing to seal their tower, which he could have never guaranteed in a million years) that the DS arc never properly takes the time to explain. But even so, the dark signers arc doesn't fall apart under questions such as "why" and "how" nearly as easily as the WRGP arc for a reason that is as simple as it is stupid: The DS arc has a much less ambitious premise, and though its antagonists are cool, they don't actually pose a greater, moral dilemma. Think about it. The premise of the DS arc is a run-of-the-mill prophecy thing. You've got your chosen heroes, your destined enemies, and a battle for the world using supernatural shenanigans. And a lot of questions of "why" or "how" are relatively quick to be brushed aside with "magic" (or rather, Crimson Dragon/Earthbound Immortal shenanigans). Moreover, the dark signers themselves, while having interesting stories relating to the heroes on a personal level, are still, fundamentally, pure evil. They're not fighting to prevent a devastating, apocalyptic future, they just deadass want to get revenge and destroy the world. And all the more complicated, major themes the arc has (class discrimination, police brutality, how societal alienation can lead teenagers to join cults, poverty, etc.) are actually not really tied in with the Earthbound Immortals, instead happening on the sidelines or only being tangentially related to the dark signers (such as when Kiryu becomes a dark signer through the abuse suffered in prison). The only major theme that ties in with the dark signers is destiny VS. freedom of choice, which also gets resolved in the battle with Rex Goodwin. (Interestingly enough, all the more complicated themes on the side were also dropped after this arc, but that's a rant for another time...) Perhaps the arc still has some inconsistencies here and there, but largely, it stays fully coherent. Thus, the DS arc makes it way easier to suspend one's disbelief, making the unexplained parts seem much less egregious.

Two—"Calm down, this show was made for twelve year-old Japanese boys. They don't need to explain any of this."

If you honestly think children don't deserve well-made entertainment whose concepts and worldbuilding can hold up to scrutiny, I have nothing to discuss with you. Sure, children will swallow some concepts much easier and will suspend their disbelief much longer and more artfully than any adult on average, but that doesn't mean "kids are dumb anyway so why bother putting as much effort into worldbuilding for their shows as for adult shows" is the hot take you think it is. I am fully congnisant of the target audience for this show—that doesn't make me any less convinced that said target audience deserved a show where things made sense while they were watching it and where things could still make sense if they decided to rewatch it years later. Because, you know, that's what I think a good show should be able to do.

And with that, I can come back to the WRGP arc and an issue that ties in with both things I just addressed: The WRGP arc's actual story premise, buried beneath the well-known, equally beloved and beloathed tournament arc format, is a lot more ambitious than the DS arc and has several, fairly heavy, core themes that it sets up and tries to resolve by the end, among them: learning how to cooperate as a team (during the WRGP) and learning how to be independent (by the end of the show), destiny VS. forging your own path (round two), and, most importantly, taking responsibility and fighting for one's future. That last one especially is not only a good topic to address in a show specifically made for 5Ds' target audience, it is also represented by both Team 5Ds and Team New World in-story. Spicier yet, both teams are actually fighting for the same thing. Team New World, having seen the supposedly unavoidable, tragic future and thus decided to take action against it, is fighting for a future that doesn't have to be marred by such tragedy, by whatever means necessary. And Team 5Ds, young, hopeful, and trusting in their connection to one another and humanity as a whole, is fighting for a better future because they believe that tragedy can be avoided. The future these two teams want is almost the same—the only, crucial difference is that Team New World has embraced the use of drastic measures to bring that future about, while Team 5Ds hasn't. To Team New World, the future presents something like a trolley problem, if you will: They think doing nothing will lead to that inevitable tragedy and erase humanity, whereas sacrificing New Domino City in the present will still kill people, but preserve humanity in the long run. And they have firmly decided pull the lever and set the course so the trolley runs over just one person instead of many. Team 5Ds, meanwhile, isn't even thinking about the lever, instead insisting there has to be another way, and that even thinking about getting anyone killed for this is stupid. The whole conflict is, on paper, wonderfully compelling, because you can see where both sides are coming from. Sure, Team New World's members still act like absolute dickheads in true yugioh-tournament-opponent fashion, but ultimately, their goals make sense. Viewers can put themselves in their shoes and perhaps think that, faced with a horrible dilemma like theirs, they would make the same, awful choice to set the course and cause suffering now to avoid greater suffering later. For the greater good.

Unfortunately, the questions I listed above undermine all this somewhat, because as good as these antagonists are on a character level, it's incredibly easy to poke holes into their backstory and especially the circumstances surrounding the horrible, distant future they want to avoid so desperately—which, in turn, undermines that terrible future somewhat, because this is a narrative that demands weight (in my opinion). But if the supposed threat at the end, the terrible thing even our protagonists briefly aren't sure they'll be able to avoid, begins falling apart at the seams in terms of logic when you think about it for more than two minutes, where is that weight supposed to come from? There is also another question to be answered here that I need to discuss so I can touch on a central aspect that hampers the plot in this arc somewhat later:

Why are they so convinced that horrible, destroyed future is utterly unavoidable?

I want you to really think about this question, with me. Canon... never really gives us any direct proof that they're justified in being this certain. However, that doesn't mean we don't get an answer, per se, though the answer is a bit vague.

The implications here are... something, to say the least. First, as our basis, we have to assume that every "correction" Iliaster has made has been to avoid humanity's destruction in the future. Because frankly, that's all we get as far as Jose, Placido, and Luciano's definition of the "correct path" goes. Then there's the second bit. Apparently, they've been merrily "repairing" history for a good while already, yet, for some reason, they always get the same outcome: The Meklord genocide. This, in turn, has led them to take more and more drsatic measures to try and avoid it. And I want to point out the very obvious, mind-boggling implication that comes with this: Apparently, after every "correction" they made, these three have either let history run its course to see where it ends up this time, or have quickly zipped over to their own time to check whether things were still shit. Meaning Iliaster's whole deal of fixing history to make sure the Meklord genocide never occurs has been a very, very long run of trial and error. (I want you to think of all the possible "fixes" this could have included for a moment. We know from BBT that killing Pegasus was one of the ideas they had, for example. Did they also try to kill the presumed Industrial Illusions employee who came up with synchro monsters? Did they try to kill Yusei's dad so Moment would never be invented? Could they not have tried to simply inhibit the creation of the robot army, then? Or made sure someone installed some bloody safeguards on the reactors, as Yusei later does in-canon, which somehow works when he does it? The list goes on.) Now, we know that in canon, their newest idea is that the future can be fixed if they just destroy New Domino City altogether.

Here, the questions begin again (you may sense a running theme): If Moment is already invented and internationally known, why would destroying its place of invention do anything? If synchro summons are already a thing, doesn't that mean destroying NDC would only slow the catastrophe down, at best? And most importantly: Why are these guys so utterly convinced that this "repair", of all the ones they've already done, will save their future? How can they know that this particular plan will work when they've supposedly already tried everything?

(There is, of course, the tragic possibility to consider that perhaps, they know that there's no guarantee this will work. They've tried everything, after all. So maybe they know this won't fix things, either. But we know that Aporia, like Paradox, like Antinomy, and like Z-ONE is, somewhere at the bottom of his despairing heart, still desperate for a shimmer of hope. And maybe, just maybe, he has reached such a point of desperation that he'll watch an entire city getting destroyed if it has even the faintest chance of succeeding. But unfortunately, this is purely speculative—the show never states this, and so, I can only leave it in the realm of fan interpretation.)

The show never answers this question, either, instead relying on the audience to suspend their disbelief some more and assume that Iliaster has put in the work and is 100% certain that the future can and will absolutely end in disaster unless they destroy NDC now. It almost acts like they have some sort of supernatural foresight; they know things nobody else in the show's world does, and due to this (and their non-human status) they label themselves as superior to the "foolish humans", who, without their guiding hands, will only bring about the apocalypse. But their superiority and the internal consistency of their actions is already wobbling under the weight of all the half-assed worldbuilding I mentioned above, which is an extra big problem due to another, major difference between the WRGP and the DS arc: While the DS arc stylised itself as a sort of funky genre mix between cyberpunk dystopia and urban fantasy (in a very broad sense, given that ancient Inca gods are very much real and their prophecies come to fruition in the modern day, yet we are not presented with any sort of magic outside of the conflict with the dark signers), the WRGP arc, aside from its tournament format, stylises itself much more as science fiction. The antagonists are no longer ancient, evil shadow gods, they're cyborgs from a destroyed future. Their motivation isn't as simple as wanting to destroy the world, either! In fact, they want to save the future! And they don't pose a threat to our antagonists through shadow duels in rings of fire and giant, magical monsters that sacrifice human souls to be summoned. No, they have advanced technology like high-tech robots that cut our protagonists off from one of their go-to tactical options, and they send out duel robot armies, and they travel through time by means of sophisticated wormhole-technology.

...But do they?

Now, I said I don't just want to complain here, I also want to provide solutions—and I intend to stick to that. But first, because these two things are so intrinsically tied together, let me address the final aspect that puts Team New World as antagonists and the WRGP arc on such shaky ground from a writing perspective.

3. Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey, magic-science cyborg nonsense.

So, I've talked about the strongly differing methods the Iliaster trio uses in comparison to the dark signers. Sci-fi is the name of the game now, so we've got robots, cyborgs, advanced tech and... time travel. But amidst all this, you may have noticed something. Even though our plot is supposedly decided by futuristic tech now, the magical/occult element that was there in the first half of the show doesn't actually get dropped. Why? Because it can't be. Because the signers, our protagonists, are defined by their status as a group of magical chosen ones, hand-picked by an ancient Incan deity. Regardless of what the writers of the show wanted here (and my personal guess, based on hearsay and what I've read on forums, is that they wanted to hardcore-pivot to sci-fi because they hoped it would engage audiences more), this was an element they couldn't erase. (Or, well, technically, they could. The signers do lose their marks at the end of the show, after all. But perhaps they thought doing that earlier was too risky.) So genre-wise, we've got a bit of a situation here. From the pre-WRGP arc on, 5Ds is more of a sci-fi show, yet, we've still got all this occult stuff wandering around that can't be cut out of the narrative and still influences it because it's too intrinsically tied to our main actors not to. And you might have noticed that this actually doesn't just extend to the signers. As in, they're not the only ones where sci-fi and magic elements mix. This happens for the Iliaster trio, too. Placido gets a sword that can randomly cut a hole in space-time (and it's never explained how). The Meklords can cause real damage in duels even though they're supposedly not supernatural. Moment reactors can suddenly read people's hearts. Not one, but multiple cyborgs get a magical girl transformation where they change clothes and runners, or even combine from three people into one. And for some reason, the Crimson Dragon, even though its "own", central enemies, the dark signers, are already defeated, doesn't take its marks away from our heroes until after the cyborgs are taken care of, suggesting that the ancient, magical entity recognises the robots from the future as a supernatural threat of some sort. None of this is presented with any sort of attempt to get it to make sense, yet, we're supposed to believe it isn't magic, because we're all about robots and time travel now.

(Insert the magical girl transformation song of your choice.)

And I want to make one thing clear: I'm not saying this weird genre-mix couldn't have worked. In fact, I think it's hilarious and low-key brilliant even in the wonky state we got. Sure, let's make the antagonists robots from the future while keeping our protagonists the agents of an ancient Incan god on the mortal plane! If nothing else, you absolutely can't argue the idea wasn't original.

However, even with all the love I have for the show, I can't help but feel like there's an issue here, and the only way I could put it into words would be genre dissonance. We are supposedly in a sci-fi show now, yet the central antagonists, who are also the fundamental reason for this genre shift, seemingly can't decide whether they're actually using technology or magic for their schemes. And this becomes a problem insofar as that seemingly no effort to meaningfully fuse the fantastical elements with the pseudo-scientific ones is made, yet at the same time, they aren't properly separated, either. Specifically the latter might be harming the show even more than the former. Let me explain what I mean.

I'm no stranger to the fact that sci-fi sometimes likes to use technology that's supposed to be so advanced that to an outsider, it begins looking indistinguishable from magic. And in all fairness, that is probably what the 5Ds writers were gunning for. What hampers this a little, though, is that we're just coming from an arc that had actual magic in it, which leads to the allegedly scientific elements sending some mixed messages. Especially because they're never explained. And I'm not saying we needed super hardcore, internally fully consistent sci-fi worldbuilding here. Frankly, with all the weird nonsense 5Ds has already mostly handwaved by the start of the pre-WRGP arc, that would have been absurd. But I think a few explanations here and there, hell, even just the occasional off-handed remark, could have done a world of good for this arc, and especially for the Meklord dilemma and the setup of the ruined future. I don't need a whole breakdown on how exactly a reactor knows about the greed in people's hearts, but a remark somewhere on the side about how, for example, the particles that are the central player in that reactor also happen to be copious within the human heart (which would be impossible to prove, but ignore that) would have been nice. And I don't need a full breakdown of how the robot army was built; a throwaway remark that humanity created it as weapons in their supposedly endless, petty wars could have been cool, though.

My point is, fundamentally, that unlike the occult nonsense, which can skirt by on prophecies and simple, black-and-white, good VS evil stuff, the sci-fi elements feel like they demand a surface-level justification for their existence, at least. A surface-level justification they didn't get. And this is without addressing the much, much bigger problem that may actually be the root cause of most, if not all the things I've listed above so far: The time travel.

I don't think it's any sort of new, groundbreaking opinion to say that time travel is a notoriously finicky worldbuilding element that many writers, regardless of medium and/or skill, have already massively shot themselves in the foot with. And unfortunately, I feel like this has happened in 5Ds, too. Specifically because the time travel has seemingly absolutely no limits. The Iliaster trio (and even Paradox) can seemingly be everywhere they want, in any time period, and do whatever they want/deem necessary. Worse yet, the time travel is actively shown to have massive consequences more than once. And I think it's under the weight of this massive, utterly uncontrollable element that the plot really begins to collapse. Because frankly, with the implications we're given, things just really don't look good in a universe where limitless time travel can be used! Let me circle back to two questions from above to really emphasise this: Why are these guys so utterly convinced that this "repair", of all the ones they've already done, will save their future? How can they know that this particular plan will work when they've supposedly already tried everything? In a universe with limitless time travel, these questions become an absolute mess to deal with. And the real problem is that canon never even entertains the idea of answering them. Sure, you can begin to fill in the gaps for yourself if you feel like it. Maybe it's not that all the previous "repairs" Iliaster did truly didn't work, maybe they brought about even worse futures and that was the reason why they were discarded. Or maybe there's a hidden in-universe rule that people from the future who go back to the past actually don't have the power to change anything, as in, no matter what they change, it will never affect their present, because their actions will always loop back around to causing the same things they already know. But there. Precisely there is the problem. I'm not getting this from canon, I'm making it up from scratch. And sure, all stories have gaps—that's where a lot of fanfiction lives, after all. But when you reach the point where you have so many gaps that the audience can no longer suspend its disbelief over these gaps, that's when there's a problem. And the WRGP arc, for all that its antagonists are extremely compelling, pose genuine, moral dilemmas, and for all that it resolves in one of the best arcs of 5Ds, has precisely this problem for me. The worldbuilding is stretched too thin, and my suspension of disbelief breaks and leaves me wondering why so many good themes have to be buried in an arc that is this frustrating to watch sometimes.

*deep breath*

Okay. So now I've aired all my grievances and laid out all the problems that make me shake my fists in frustration at this arc, at the Meklords, and at the Team New World duel. What about the productive part, then, you might ask. I did say I wanted to provide solutions, as far as I can, anyway. How would I try to solve this mess?

Well, honestly, I think the solution here, at least to me, would be fairly basic: More consistency. Make it make sense. The genre mashup can stay exactly the way it is, but maybe tone down the magic on the cyborgs a bit. Make them actual cyborgs. Even if their tech is justified through bullshit, at least justify it. Why does Placido have a reality-splitting sword? Oh, it's actually the Moment Express wormhole technology in miniature. Why can Moment reactors see into people's hearts? Well, duh, they contain the same, special particles as human hearts. Why is there an army of robots in the future to begin with? Humans built it. For war. Like they did so much else. And why did the reactor use it against them? Because it was just responding to their own negativity. Their own, constant desire for strife and petty conflicts amongst one another made them actually turn the weapons against themselves (or rather, against the people they personally didn't like, which ends up being everyone when everyone has a grudge against someone) through the reactor. (The show almost does this one, but not quite.) How do the three emperors of Iliaster know destroying NDC, specifically, will fix the future? They don't! They're doing this on trial and error, and more importantly—and I think this would work best if it was introduced purposefully late—they can't actually save the future by changing the past, because they're not from the past. They just don't actually know that this is a rule of time travel.

None of these fixes would have to be big, episode-spanning things. Off-handed remarks would have been enough. But I think just that could have saved many points from becoming the plotholes they did.

And with that, I think I'll finally leave you be, I've rambled quite enough. To anyone who has made it all the way to the end, I can only give a sincere, heartfelt thank you. I realise this is a LOT of words. Moreover, I'd like to leave you with one more statement: Though I can absolutely understand if this post comes off as me getting on a soapbox and cupping my hands around my mouth before yelling, it's not meant to be. I absolutely invite discussion about the the handling of, the themes behind, and all the arguments I gave regarding the Meklord worldbuilding and the Team New World duel. So, feel every bit as free as I did to yell about this. This post encourages yelling.

#yugioh 5ds #ygo 5ds #5ds #yugioh meta #Team New World #Aporia (5Ds)#meklords #orchid rambles #I just realised this post reads like a whole-ass youtube video essay #shows what I've been watching recently #anyway this isn't getting any more coherent than this #I have too many thoughts to be able to stay coherent at this point #so just take it

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moon-upright · 6 months

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Julian personality styles brainrot. . .

so i was taking personality tests on behalf of julian devorak, as one does, and i thought this was actually kind of interesting.

disclaimer: while i believe this is pretty true to julian as a character, it's probably at least a little biased because i did answer based on how -> I <- see him, so it might not align with your opinion.

**also, any terms used in this are NOT talking about or diagnosing any disorder, just used as ways to describe a personality. this is a for fun test and isn't meant to be taken very seriously. (i.e., scoring "histrionic" does NOT mean this is a representation of hpd). ok? ok.

the results i got (or the results that Julian got) were "Multiple Personality Styles," which basically means i either pressed "agree" too much or he has more than one equally prominent personality style. tied for first, as you can see in the image, are "histrionic" and "depressive". the idea that these two personality styles are expressed equally in julian is lowk funny to me, but also makes perfect sense. those two go hand in hand when it comes to his personality.

histrionic is defined as "overly theatrical or melodramatic in character or style"

depressive personality is related to traits that include (but are not limited to) nonassertiveness, gloominess, self-criticism, low self-esteem, guilt, and anxiety. depressive and histrionic seem to contradict a bit, but julian is a PTSD-ridden, depressed, flamboyant bisexual theater kid who loves people. that's a lot. and if anyone would have two strong personality styles concurrently, it's him.

his next highest is "masochistic" which is, well. yeah.

3rd place is hypomanic, hypomania being considered a milder version of mania (elevated mood or energy, overactivity, etc). this makes sense once again, since we know he can be restless and energetic, has consistent difficulty with sleep, and even worked so hard during the plague that he apparently didn't even notice his apprentice (potentially his love interest, depending on your interpretation), getting sick.

im not going to discuss everything on here, but i do want to define the 0% ones. Sadistic means hurting others and enjoying it, Narcissistic is inflated sense of pride (and a sensitive ego), Negativistic is opposing what other people say and do, and Schizoid is characterized with aloofness and being solitary. for all of these, - for the reason that julian is very sociable, selfless, and doesn't want to hurt a fly - 0% is the right level in my eyes.

so long story short. i just wanted to share these silly personality test results. it makes me understand why valdemar wanted to dissect julian's brain so much (though i will never support that). this was kind of a mess but really im just brainrotting and i don't post that often so 😭

here's the link for the quiz if you want to take it for yourself or even try to see if your Julian results match with mine !

#julian devorak #the arcana game #the arcana headcanons #character personalities #the brainrot is real

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fabdante · 6 months

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How do you think reboot Dante would feel about how DMC5 ended? Do you think it would make him try and reach out to his brother more? What do you think him meeting OG Dante, Vergil, and Nero would be like? (Side note: I think reboot Dante and Nico would get along. That woman doesn't take shit from anyone, and I think she'd have a FIELD DAY with his angel and demon powers and shapeshifting Rebellion and all the differences therein. Also, I'd love to see what she could do with Kablooey. Just because I fucking love that weapon, I would love to see what she could do with that design.)

Ok, this is going to get long so bare with me a moment asdfghj I promise I am getting to a point. I have a lot of thoughts adfghjk

TLDR: I think reboot Dante would have a lot of feelings about DMC5s ending and I do think at the end of the day it might bring him a little closer to working on that relationship with Vergil! But also there is so much going on with those two and I'm now going to spend a lot of time dissecting them under the cut

Before I answer the big question though, I'll talk about what I think Dante'd think of the preboot gang!

Preboot Dante: I think they'd get along. They're really similar people to me just at different life stages, you know? And I think as a result preboot Dante understands him. I also think they'd like similar music though preboot's way more into it and reboot Dante would love messing with him (Reboot Dante, Nirvana fan: oh that's a band :) i thought it was a t-shirt brand. Preboot Dante, og Nirvana fan from the 90s, two seconds from strangling him)

Preboot Vergil: I think reboot Dante would...I don't know the word for it, like I guess? That preboot Vergil is far more upfront then his Vergil asdfghj. Preboot Vergil doesn't really lie and manipulate he just sort of is straight up about what he's about and that's probably refreshing. I can not see them interacting for long, preboot Vergil I don't think would like him all that much and reboot Dante would not know what to say to him. (That said if he did upset preboot Dante with silly grunge jokes, that might amuse Vergil)

Nero: I think these two could be buds! They're similar in age and everything. I could see them being friends. Especially since Nico and Nero get along, I just think him and reboot Dante could get along

(Side note, I think Nico and reboot Dante would get along swimmingly! I definitely agree she'd find the angel/demon thing very interesting and they could talk about weapons and shit all day, it'd be so fun!!)

Ok, now onto the big question. What would reboot Dante think about the DMC5 ending. In which I meander a lot and ramble about the twins, their dynamics, and eventually answer the question asdfghj (all under the cut)

The reboot twins have a really interesting relationship to me.

The preboot twins have more of this begrudging acceptance of one another. Like this very 'no matter what that is my brother even if I hate him'. And I think, particularly in Dante's case where he had to live with this guilt of thinking he killed his brother only to find out that he didn't and he has this second chance to mend this relationship, that it makes Dante a lot more willing to in turn attempt to mend that relationship.

Which is not to say that I don't think the reboot twins care about each other. They are brothers and they do, before the end of the game at least, seem to want to have some sort of relationship. But it's a different dynamic.

The two Dantes to me are very similar people, nearly the same guy, just at different points of his life. Where as the Vergil's to me are very different people. While they both seek power in one way or another they're just...Very Different.

The reboot twins to me have always had this sort of tension between them that the preboot ones lack. I mean, the center of the DMC story regardless of being preboot or reboot is this family drama of the Spardas so I'm not trying to say they entirely lack that tension. But there's a very different dynamic going on with the reboot twins to me.

The main difference I think is the fact the reboot twins did not have memories of each other for the bulk of their lives and thus developed very separately. Where as preboot Dante in DMC3 knows his brother and has this past with him and there's some trust there, some need to trust there...reboot Dante kinda...doesn't have that. He gets his memory back, yeah, but he doesn't know Vergil. He knows an 7 year old version of his brother that he no longer is and there's tension in knowing that and the push and pull of wanting to know this person, knowing you on some level do know this person but also knowing that you kind of...don't know this guy. You haven't been there for all these years. This is your brother and you love him but he's a stranger.

And I don't know if reboot Dante exactly...likes what he see's with Vergil. I'm going to be borrowing a little from concepts from this post I made about reboot Dante being smarter then we all give him credit for.

There's also the different ideologies of the reboot twins. Not that preboot Dante and Vergil don't have different opinions on things. They obviously do since Vergil justifies leveling cities in attempts to gain power he feels like he's lacked his whole life and Dante thinks that's kinda messed up. But the reboot, especially in the definitive edition with that added cutscene, puts it more as a point of contention between the brothers. Vergil justifies everything he has done in the reboot because he thinks his plan is the most important thing, because he signed up for that and Dante, who didn't sign up for that, does not remotely agree (I touch on this somewhere in the middle of this really long post of Kat and Vergil things). Which, again, not different from the preboot twins. Dante believes his humanity is important and shuns the demon, thus forth believing in the inherent importance of humans and that their continued safety and existence is important. Vergil believes that his human side is weak and that humanity is expendable as a result of this and his quest for power.

However the difference between twin sets here is I don't exactly think preboot Vergil thinks he's doing any greater good? It's just that people need to die for him to get what he wants and he's indifferent to that suffering. Reboot Vergil on the other hand seems to firmly believe it is his destiny to free man kind and that what he is doing is right and justified (assumption coming from how in Vergil's downfall he tries to justify his actions to hallow Kat but also some cut dialogue that extrapolates upon things he says in game). There's also a sense of playfulness to them in the preboot that the reboot kind of lacks but that's less important I guess right now.

Reboot Dante doesn't exactly seem to trust Vergil. He seems to want to try for the sake of the fact they're brothers and they are all they have left but, again, reboot Dante isn't a very trusting person and he seems to decide very quickly that reboot Vergil is not trustworthy. He seems to spend a lot of the game in this push and pull. I argue a lot of his anger at the end of the game is the fact that Vergil broke that tentative trust and Dante saw it coming the moment he met him.

I also imagine in the aftermath of Vergil leaving (and nearly killing him), Dante probably has a lot of opinions on whatever the situation was with Vergil and Kat and her inevitable reaction to the fact Vergil is gone.

That all said, I do think at the end of the day reboot Dante does want his brother back. Vergil is his only blood family and he does seem to care about him. Even if they don't agree on much. I think also part of this is definitely from Kat, who seems to believe Vergil is worth saving and wants him alive (and still with both of them). So I don't think its incorrect to say that Dante does want to try to mend the relationship (that said I do think reboot Dante wants to do that on his terms, not Vergils)

I think if he were to see the end of DMC5 then and see the preboot twins getting along and joking and fighting together so easily that it'd cause a few things. Probably some jealousy that his brother and him did not so easily just...fall back into place like that. But also the hope that they could get along. Like if they can do it, maybe he can.

But I do think it'll take a lot of work, Vergil did burn a lot of bridges at the end there and even if Dante is willing, Vergil needs to put in the bulk of the work to earn a place back in Dante and Kats lives.

#ask #fab talks #fabtalks #sorry i got carried away asdfghj #i think a lot about the reboot dante and reboot vergil brother relationship #to be fair i just think a lot about the reboot perhaps too much perhaps more then normal or healthy i rambled a lot asdfghj #dmc reboot #fab talks meta #this goes in that tag i think

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