#Eh Mar falls for characters

[wingsofhcpe]

that sadness that hits when you read a book you expected to be 5 stars and in the end it's just. Not.

[dark-and-kawaii]

Together We Can Build A Snowman

⋆｡˚୨୧˚｡⋆ — Summary: Choso smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck, a habit of his you found adorable. He remembered this scene in a movie you both had just watched the other night, and as he watched the main characters confess their love, Choso couldn't help but imagine the two of you in their place.

Content: Fluff

The crisp winter air kissed your rosy cheeks as you struggled to shape the powdery snow into perfect spheres. With each attempt, you could feel your frustration grow… like a delicate snowflake melting under the warmth of your annoyance. The balls of snow you had formed looked more like sad lumps, mocking your efforts with their imperfect forms.

Stomping your foot in a fit of cute annoyance, your pout accentuated the adorable crinkle of your nose. The bottom snowball of your “creation” seemed to have contracted some strange snow pox, its poor surface marred by bumps... The middle ball, god the middle ball, anyone would scratch their head in bewilderment at how you managed to make it look so unproportionate. And the top ball, oh the top ball, it was but a mere speck that was desperately clinging to the middle ball, the thing looked like it would fall off any second.

Your snowman, the product of your labor, seemed to look at you, pleading for a merciful end to its torment… With an eyebrow arched, you turned away from your miserable snowman, only to be met with a breathtaking sight that stole the very air from your lungs.

There, like a vision from a story book, from a winter wonderland, stood the most beautiful, perfectly shaped snowman you had ever laid eyes on. Its curves were flawless, its proportions divine, and you knew in that moment that the artist responsible for such a masterpiece could be none other than your beloved Choso.

As if summoned by the mere thought of his name, Choso appeared from behind his snowy masterpiece, his gaze meeting yours with a warmth that rivaled the summer sun you missed.

“Ch-Choso!!! Wow! It-“

“You did a good job,” he exclaimed, flashing you a toothy grin, that crooked dopey smile you adored so much as he approached, “I wish I could sculpt like that…” Choso's voice held a tinge of awe, and as he glanced back at his own creation, a frown tugged at the corners of his lips? “I don't think mine came out as good though.”

“Eh?…” In that moment, you felt your heart melt like fresh snowflakes on your tongue. Choso's pure, innocent disappointment tugged at your heartstrings, and you found yourself thinking, 'Awh baby, you are too precious.'

“What are you talking about Choso?” you huffed, your breath forming delicate clouds in the frosty air? “Yours looks like it came out of a movie! You did a really good job, especially since this is your first time…”

Choso noticed the way your voice trailed off, and he couldn't help but notice the way you stared at his snowman, the way you admired his artistic craftsmanship. He noticed the way your eyes seemed to sparkle with a twinkle of excitement, and he felt the tips of his ears heat up as he heard the praise in your voice… And he even noticed how your cheeks seemed to flush, like a cherry blossom blooming in the spring.

Choso noticed everything about you, every subtle movement, every tiny gesture, and each and every word.

He even noticed the way your gaze shifted towards him, and the way your lips quirked into a knowing smile as you watched his eyes roam over you before you bit at your bottom lip.

He was the most attentive man in the world, and he always made sure to pay attention to the details, the things that made you, you.

It was just one of the many things you loved about him.

Choso smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck, a habit of his you found adorable. He remembered this scene in a movie you both had just watched the other night, and as he watched the main characters confess their love, Choso couldn't help but imagine the two of you in their place.

'I want to make this a happy memory…,’ he thought.

Pointing beyond the two of you, Choso’s eyes stared off into distance, “(Y/N), look at that one over there.”

But when you followed his gaze and his gloved finger there was nothing to be seen.

“Hmm? There’s nothing there, Cho-“

Before you could even finish your sentence, Choso's arms encircled your waist, and with a playful grin, he pulled you into a nearby snow pile with him. The powdery flakes enveloped you both, and as you found yourself nestled against Choso's chest, you realized that the warmth of his embrace was far better than a roaring fireplace.

He leaned forward, and his breath tickled the shell of your ear, the sensation causing a shiver to run down your spine, “There was a pretty big snowflake headed our way, and I wanted to protect you from it.”

Choso pulled back to get a better view of your face, and he was greeted with the most breathtaking sight.

You, lying against him, snowflakes resting atop your hair and eyelashes, a warm flush dusting the apples of your cheeks. You, staring at him with a tenderness that made his heart ache. You, looking absolutely ethereal in the pale light of the afternoon sun.

'Beautiful.' was all Choso could think.

But what he didn't realize was that he had spoken his thoughts aloud, his voice soft, barely above a whisper... And as you felt him lean forward, his lips capturing yours in a gentle caress, you couldn't help but think,

'I could stay here with him, forever.'

And so the two of you stayed there, in that snow pile, basking in the warmth of your shared embrace, as the falling snow blanketed the two of you with its crystalline splendor.

[ivory-lamps]

A02: Night Office

Characters: Daniel & Yodaka Location: Hama Summary: The protagonist visits the bar Daniel frequents. They enter and find a cheerful bartender and the bar owner deep asleep… Proofreader: Shay

ㅤ

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ📍 Location: Ten Nights’ Dreams Bar

Momiji / Kaede: Hm…?

(There’s… a flower on the ground?)

(Did it fall from someone’s bouquet? It’s beautiful… and it’s still fresh. I wonder what sort of flower it is.)

Daniel: Heey, Manager. What’re you doin’ in the middle of the road?

Momiji / Kaede: Sorry, I found something on the ground.

Daniel: Oh… a flower, eh? Didn’t think there’d be people dropping delicate stuff like this.

So, what’re you gonna do with that?

Momiji / Kaede: It’ll wilt if I leave it on the ground, so for now, I’d like to give it some water, though.

Daniel: That’s perfect, then.

Momiji / Kaede: What do you mean?

Daniel: Come on, let’s go in.

Daniel: Hey, hey.

Momiji / Kaede: (“Ten Nights’ Dream”... This bar has really nice vibes. It’s quiet and calming.)

(I get the feeling that they’ve taken a lot of care in picking out the furnishings. I wonder if they chose them all based on the era? Oh.)

(There are flowers arranged in the vases…)

Chou un: Welcome. Two customers have entered.

Employee: Oh, sorry. We haven’t opened yet~

Hm? Oh, it’s you, Hiroshi.

Daniel: Yo.

Momiji / Kaede: (Hmm… Daniel-san mentioned he’s on good terms with the owner here, but I guess it’s because he’s a regular?)

(And is this friendly and good-looking man the owner?)

Daniel: I was told I could come earlier next time, so here I am – I came before you opened.

Employee: Huh? That’s not what that means. I’m here being a bartender so I can meet some sexy gals. So, tell me, who’s gonna be happy seeing some middle-aged man with big pecs?

Daniel: That’s my line. You always move me somewhere else when female customers walk through the door. I wouldn’t mind shouting your nasty fetishes at the top of my lungs, you know?

Daniel & Employee: Hmph.

Employee: Anyway, here’s your starter – a tequila boom boom!

Daniel: You’re givin’ me a shot right from the get-go?

Employee: It’s all yours! I could even give you the whole bottle if you want to drink straight from that!

Momiji / Kaede: (They look like they’re pretty close…)

Chief, we’re still clocked in!

Daniel: Huh~? There’s a law that says you can drink during overtime, right?

Momiji / Kaede: That law doesn’t exist.

Employee: Aha! Hey, who’s this?

Momiji / Kaede: I’m Hamasaki. Pay me no mind.

🍁 Male protagonist (Kaede) route 🍁

Daniel: Pay me no mind? Man, you’re the one person I shouldn’t have brought to a bar.

Employee: This guy’s no fun~... I can’t believe you brought a guy over~...

Kaede: Is being a guy a bad thing?

Employee: It’s fine… customers are still customers, no matter the gender. I was just thinking how I don’t want any more scruffy and dirty things.

Kaede: (Is that the image I give off…?)

🍂 Female protagonist (Momiji) route 🍂

Employee: Hey, we’ve met each other on Mars before, haven’t we?

Momiji: Excuse me?

Employee: Nah, it’s fine. It’s all in the past. Let’s have a proper encounter on Earth this time.

Daniel: I don’t mind if you flirt, but don’t forget she works under me.

Employee: …Tsk. Your chaperone here is a bit big on the muscle side.

Employee: Hey, we’ve met each other on Mars before, haven’t we?

Momiji / Kaede: Excuse me?

Employee: Nah, it’s fine. It’s all in the past. Let’s have a proper encounter on Earth this time.

Daniel: I don’t mind if you flirt, but don’t forget they work under me.

Employee: …Tsk. Your chaperone here is a bit big on the muscle side.

Daniel: Oh, I forgot to mention but this guy’s–

Yun Yun: I’m Yun Yun. Nice to meetcha.

Daniel: Yun…? Okay? You’re going with that? Not that I mind.

Momiji / Kaede: Y–Yun Yun…-san. It’s a pleasure to meet you.

Yun Yun: The pleasure’s all mine~

Daniel: By the way, where’s the owner?

Momiji / Kaede: Oh. You’re not the owner?

Yun Yun: Oh, no. Don’t lump me in with Yodaka-san. The owner’s the one lying over there.

Bar owner?: …… ……

Momiji / Kaede: (I didn’t even notice there was someone sleeping on the sofa…)

Daniel: Time to get to work, Manager. Mission No.1: “Wake ‘em up”.

Momiji / Kaede: Huh? What? You’d be the better option since you’re already acquainted with him, right?

Daniel: I’m gonna enjoy this glass as I wait. See ya.

Momiji / Kaede: ……

(Well, it’s just waking him up, so it should be fine.)

Bar owner: ……

Momiji / Kaede: (He’s sound asleep… I wonder if he’ll wake if I just shake his shoulder a bit.)

Um, please excuse me.

Bar owner: …… ……

Momiji / Kaede: (He’s saying something… in his sleep?)

(I can’t really hear it. I’ll get a bit closer…)

Bar owner: …More…

Open your mouth… Don’t let it… spill…

Momiji / Kaede: !?

P–Please wake up, Mr. Bar Owner! I have a feeling it’s a bad idea to say any more…!

Bar owner: Do it… better…

…Oh, I didn’t realise… you’ve gotten… so used… to it…

Momiji / Kaede: Whaa!

Yun Yun: Oh, they’re back.

Momiji / Kaede: Sorry, I didn’t manage to wake him up since he looked like he was having a really nice dream.

Daniel: What sorta dream was it for you to go red as a tomato?

Momiji / Kaede: I’m not red. It’s because of the lighting.

Yun Yun: Hiroshi~ Don’t bully your junior so much~

Momiji / Kaede: I completely agree.

Yun Yun: Ahaha! …So, what about Flower Laundry?

Daniel: We’ve got some business with the worker there. DIdn’t get to meet ‘em, though.

Yun Yun: Flower Laundry… that’s the florist slash laundromat that handles both of those lines of work, right? They must have a lotta deliveries to do, so if you don’t get your timing right, you probably won’t ever get to meet him.

Momiji / Kaede: (I guess that’s true… Actually, just earlier…)

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ📍 Location: Flower Laundry – flashback

Sonia: Welcome.

Momiji / Kaede: (Wow, what a cute pet robot. It’s not rare for a shop to have a pet robot to help out and look after the shop while the owner’s gone.)

(But I wish our company could get one, too… Oh, but Shumai might get jealous.)

Is Nagi Hachinoya in?

Sonia: Nagi-san is currently out on a delivery. He said he would do the deliveries for both the flowers and laundry side of things.

Also, Nagi-san is a bit of a trouble magnet, so I’ve been told not to disclose when he’ll be back. My apologies.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ📍 Location: Ten Nights’ Dreams Bar

Bar owner: Why did you go to his store?

Momiji / Kaede: Huh!? Ah!? Whaa…!

Bar owner: Oh, I took you by surprise.

Momiji / Kaede: I–It’s because you suddenly whispered in my ear…!

Daniel: You better watch out – he’s the walking “Libido Switch man”. Pretty famous ‘round these parts.

Momiji / Kaede: L–Libi…?

Bar owner: Well, I haven’t heard that in a while.

Momiji / Kaede: That doesn’t add up seeing as you were mumbling about that stuff in your sleep…

Bar owner: In my sleep? I had a dream where my friend and I were eating a popsicle… It was orange and pineapple flavoured.

Momiji / Kaede: (Anyone would get the wrong idea with the words he said…!)

Yun Yun: Mornin’.

Bar owner: Mm, good morning. Chou un.

Chou un: Present.

Bar owner: Play some music that will be perfect for tonight.

Chou un: …Certainly. I shall play the playlist that’s based on “old memories”.

Momiji / Kaede: (The pet robot has a function to play music, huh… There’s a faint light emitting from the lantern – how pretty.)

Bar owner: What’s this?

Momiji / Kaede: Hm?

Bar owner: Would you like to place it in this vase? It looks like it wants some water.

Momiji / Kaede: Oh, you’re talking about this flower…?

Bar owner: That’s right. It must feel so lonely all by itself. It’s drooping a little.

Momiji / Kaede: Thank you. I was thinking of getting some water for it but I forgot I was still gripping it in my hand.

Excuse me, then. I’ll place the flower inside.

Bar owner: ……

Momiji / Kaede: Um…

Bar owner: …………

Momiji / Kaede: (H–He’s just staring at me. I wonder why.)

Bar owner: Have we met before?

🍁 Male protagonist (Kaede) route 🍁

Kaede: No, I’m pretty sure this is our first meeting…!

Bar owner: Really?

Kaede: Probably… uhh… your face is kind of close.

Bar owner: That’s because it is.

🍂 Female protagonist (Momiji) route 🍂

Momiji: (His face is so close…!)

No, I’m pretty sure this is our first meeting…!

Bar owner: Really? Those eyes… I remember them.

Yun Yun: Hey, I already used that line.

Bar owner: Oh, well.

By the way, have you ordered yet?

Yun Yun: They haven’t.

Daniel: Oh, sorry. I completely forgot.

Manager, I’ll treat ya so pick somethin’ to drink. Yodaka’s cocktails are great.

Momiji / Kaede: You hardly ever treat anyone. I’m really interested but we’re still working, and that means no alcohol.

Bar owner: How about a mocktail, then?

Momiji / Kaede: A mocktail?

Bar owner: It’s a non-alcoholic cocktail. Just wait a moment.

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[chatte-noire]

tho8ghts on darrow and lysanders ☆stagenames☆

darrow is MORNING STAR

lysander is LIGHT BRINGER

those warsonas are also 2 aliases of LUCIFER. eh lucifer morningstar, lucifer the lightbringer etc etc.

so what kind of parallel does this create?

darrow and lysander as... two sides of the same coin ( ?

.. different incarnations of the devil? they sure are war criming enough for that symbolism

.. their fall from grace? tbh darrow crawled out of the gutter more iconically and more often. lysander just had his desert moment thats not lucifer fall from heaven-material but lets wait for red god (and hope he stays in the gutter(

.. their corruption from angel to devil? both started pretty innocently and had a character arc that turned pretty dark at one point

... their hubris? (/superbia, pride) lucifer wanted to be god, both darrow and lyly have some pretty strong hubris ngl lysander "I'm the slave shepherd" lune and darrow "the kingdom of death has only one king" of lykos both strong contenders and yes light resistance bringer is more delusional but reaper had 10yrs war experience and still sailed on mercury

... kings of hell? darrow has some pretty strong hellfire aesthetic going on with being raised under the earth, literally being a helldiver, lots of red vibes (mars & his colour), themes of heat/pain etc etc. lysander burning the garter, surviving the ladon and claiming eidmi also has a growing king of hell vibe.

..rebirth? darrow from red to gold to morningstar, lysander from lune to nobody to lightbringer?

many possibilitiesss.

PREDICTIONSs!!!: what can this symbolism mean for red God?

Venus will play a central role, main battle will be there - cause venus is the morning star aka light bringer aka lucifer

lysander will have his fall from heaven but wont reemerge cause he has no friends parallel to golden son/morningstar arc

hubris will be a theme like come on the book is called red god?? darrow will be torn between his unlocked wise path and his need for speed

[haus-mom]

1, 10, 20, 30 and 40! And 9!

aaaa thank you mar!!!! you better believe i'll ask you back! though when this gets posted the questions will already be on your askbox but anyway

who is/are your comfort character(s)?

AUGH I HAVE. A LOT ACTUALLY but if i had to choose a few hmmmmm

first there's ninten!!! yes that's actually his name. or ken. he's named ken in the novel. any mother/earthbound character would fit but i'm specially attached to ninten because Back Then he used to get characterized as this super silly guy with millions of penguin plushies in his room and he's just. he's a cool dude! his first and only quote in the entire game is at the end, when the adventure is over, he just plops into his bed and falls asleep mid sentence. the penguin thing is kinda canon btw. he loves penguins <3

then there's neku from twewy!!! i'm trying to go chronologically or i'll get irrevocably lost. met him through kingdom hearts and seeing as his game was on the ds i was like "eh why not" (<- this later led to a life changing experience)

he's such an idiot and i actually hate him a lot <3 (affectionate. like, really affectionate) he's the definition of a closed off edgelord but he grows so much and learns so much and dhsbhdabhjhjbhj

there's another reason why he's here though!!! twewy is played with both screens on the ds, neku being on the lower and his game partner on the upper. but i absolutely sucked at keeping track of both screens so my brother would control the partner so when i see him i smile remembering everytime my brother and i almost broke my ds in half trying to beat sho <3 it was christmas too! yay!

the fun part about being a fan of this game is that the only official art that came up when i looked him up were a super close up of his face and a spoiler. so i had to go into the game files and get this pic myself.

anyway.

this is yuuichi mizuoka from re:kinder, he's the last character someone would consider a comfort character, and he basically invented being a princess with a disorder (sort of. heart did it first)

this is also the little guy who went around biting people (like chibita!) and telling you why he's a comfort character would both be extremely spoilery and extremly sad, because i already showed you his introduction and he's just. he's a murder baby, what else do you need? the things that this li'l fella has both gone through and done are unspeakable. he's unfixable. he's also 8 years old.

honestly every parun character (that. that i know of (?) is a comfort character in the sense that if i see them i get all happy and [FLAPS HANDS]

some more than others, like, i can highlight tokimeki, gote, ramu, and if you show me a picture of handa i will actually do the 🥺face irl. does that make topema from henderland no daibouken a comfort character? wait, she actually kinda is, isn't she?

i have some more but this ask would never get actually answered if i listed them all, have the ones from my formative years (11-13 y/o, everyone's formative years, right?) honorable mentions are the second year trio from inago, kasane teto, ryuunosuke naruhodou, minori hanasato, sora kingdomhearts (that's his actual name), takane enomoto... see, this is why we go chronological, otherwise we get confused and forget characters </3

9. which do you prefer, hot coffee or cold coffee?

neither, actually, i don't like coffee and caffeine makes me sleepy, so i normally don't drink any... i don't like tea either, so i'm team third option: chocomilk :D!

10. would you slaughter the rich?

not realistically, because i'm hilariously weak (physically), but i'd gladly watch others slaughter the rich! i'd feel bad doing nothing so i can offer emotional support! i can even dress as a cheerleader. or the cheer squad from osu tatakae ouendan. hell yeah.

20. do you say soda or pop?

les digo FANTA y COCACOLA porque creo que aparte de "bebidas gaseosas" no tenemos ninguna palabra así cortita para definirla, así que en españa (no sé si en alguna parte de latinoamérica tenéis alguna) siempre les decimos como las marcas. creo que rebloggeé hace poco un post sobre marcas teniendo que ceder derechos porque la gente empieza a decirle a los productos como las marcas y me resulta hilarante

when speaking in english i say soda because, despite my (british) teacher's best efforts, i was raised by american youtubers and that cannot be undone. pop is a hilarious word to me because it is what it is. it goes "pop!" when you open it, so it's called pop!

30. is there dishes in your room?

there were two (2) dishes in my room when you sent this ask, but i decided to be a responsible adult and wash them before having dinner. there's a cup here though. from dinner. because i don't feel like leaving it in the sink just yet.

40. did you have any snacks today?

uhhhh, do chewable fruit candies count? when it's exam season i usually have a bag of snacks nearby because the sugar does wonder to my concentration ✨ might be placebo, might be me doing better because i get to have A Little Treat, who knows

(these candies have the flavour written in portuguese, i think, and i was so confused like 'what the fuck is a mirtilo 😭'

cuando vi el limón, que pues, es literalmente limão, quedé como así

[popculturebuffet]

It's Not The Years It's the Mileage: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Comissioned by WeirdKev27)

Welcome back folks to "It's Not the Years, It's the Mileage", my long look at the Indiana Jones Franchise. And we've come, a bit belatedly thanks to my recent move throwing my schedule out of wack, to our penultimate chapter, what was until just a week ago the final film in the franchise.. and the one most fans like to ignore when their not shaking their fists at it..

So going into this one was a bit loaded to say the least. I thankfully still had mostly fresh eyes: i remembered this one a bit better thanks to having seen it theatrically with my dad and his friend Don, a really neat guy who really loved star wars and who we also saw the Star Wars Prequels with. As a teen.. I thought it was eh, but I also wasn't that invested in the franchise. So the question is as an adult who now genuinely loves this franchise after two great movies and a mess so far, how will Crystal Skull hit me now? The answer, as always is under the cut.

Saucer Men from Mars

Naturally Indy's 4 starts in the 90's. Last Crusade really felt like the end of the road: The Indy films were now a trilogy, Speilberg wanted to move on, and while Harrison Ford wasn't convinced that more coudln't happen, he also saw the writing on the wall. George Lucas though WANTED to keep it going and during the early 90's tried to convince both men to do a film: Indiana Jones and the Saucer Men from Mars

You know I thought Indiana Jones and the Monkey King was going to be the most bonkers draft to a potetial indy film I heard of on this journey. Given it involved human chess, cyborg nazis, and Sun Wukong, I had every reason to. But friends thanks to this article at den of geek , I can tell you.. saucer men is somehow WEIRDER.

So the film follows Indy as he tries to marry someone we just meet, has a wedding with every prevoius supporting character present including both of his exes, gets left at the alter , and then has drinks with Marion and Willie. Oh and it turns out his bride to be was called away to investigate A FLYING SAUCER.

Yeah... the film has Indy having to solve an ancient puzzle before invading aliens torch the earth. Oh and he also has to deal with cold war paranoia, the russians, and DEATH RAYS THAT MELT PLANES OUT OF THE SKY. Did.. did professor farnsworth write this? It also all apparently takes place in one small town which fits the astethic Lucas was going for but REALLY dosen't fit indy at all. indy is about globetrotting.. this is just

Also Indy gets abducted in a drive in. Yeah this film really sounds more like an invasion film that Lucas just plopped indy into than an actual indy film.

SHOCKINGLY Speilberg wanted nothing to do with this: After doing Schinlders List he decided he was done with Blockbusters for a while, only returning to them for Minority Report and ironically, War of the Worlds, but both had a thinky sci fi undercurrent where as this is just stuff blowing up. As for harrison ford

So Lucas instead focused on the star wars prequels, and the matter was tabled for a while, though he kept having the film rewrote each time, piece by piece replacing itself. Eventually Speilberg and Ford wer ein just the right position Lucas needed...

And the film shockingly went off without a ton of hitches despite a near endless script cycle. a few cast subtstitions, some extra cgi and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull happened pretty easily.

And this might come as a shock given it's modern presentation, it certainly did to me.. but the film was WELL recevied at the time. Many a critic, including Roger Ebert, loved it, and it made money hand over fist. Fan response at it's most vitrolic was a resounding..

Not liking the hoakiness but not really getting the hate the star wars prequels got till later.

So the question is where do I fall in this debate? Is it okay or a true disaster? One that salted the earth so the franchise would never grow again?

Yeah honestly Crystal Skull is just.. mediocre. It's not OFFENSIVELY bad, but it feels like two legends half assing it. So because of this film being uniquely half assed and having such a rep, i'm going to break it down into diffrent parts than usual: The three biggest complaints people have with the film, Then what I thought about it beyond those. Of Ancient Aliens, Nuked Fridges and Mutt Williams: So yeah when you tend to hear complaints about the film, the three things that get brought up the most are the nuking of the fridge, using aliens, and Mutt Williams. So i'm going to go ahead and get out front of these. Nuking the Fridge: For those not as familiar, which I suspect is almost none of you but humor me, early in the film while fighting the russians, Indy accidently ends up in a nuclear test site and hides in a lead lined fridge to survivied, getting blown clean. He should be dead but isn't. And I... love this sequence. Is indy surviving this implausable? Entirely. Should he have been blown clear for this to at all work? Fuck no. But is it a beautifully shot, tense and fun sequence? Absolutely. The reveal of the manequins got me as a teen and as an adult, knowing the town was fake, I spoted how .. artifical it looked and loved the suspense as I waited for Indy to find out and even knowing how he'd survive this, the tension is awesome. IT's a classic indy ploy. And look this is a series where Shiva killed one antagonist and the Judeo Christian god killed the rest and let a knight live forever. It's okay to have a small bit of bollocks and frankly Indy's survived stuff that should kill him anyway, this is just the first time it was made painfully obvious he's indy-structable. I get not liking it, it is over the top.. but I fucking love it. The Aliens are more of a mixed bag. Now the alien itself we see.. is awesome: the way it arrives by having the skulls assembled with it slowly shifting into the statues, it's intimidating apperance, and the way it fries the big bad's brain in the same way she tortured Indy earlier, a look of contempt on it's face as if to say "You wanted our knowledge CHOKE ON IT". I also really don't have an issue WITH aliens being involved. Is it a tad more sci fi than fantasy? Yup. But honestly pulp adventure is the kind of genre you can take anywhere. While Scrooge McDuck mostly found lost cities he did visit the moon, aliens, and fantasy creatures, and Lucas made the right call in having the aliens be extra dimensional instead: instead of a ship it's more of a teleporter. It being aliens in itself isn't the problem The problem.. is the execution. Looking back on previous indy macguffins and forward to Archemedies Dial, each one has a reason why it exists: The Arc was made to hold the commandments and has the power of god because it's construction was ordained by him and it was hidden because no one should have this power. THe stones were in a place of worship before being pilfiried, fitting for a dieties power. And the grail was hidden because it could ONLY be used in that spot, similar to how in the arthurian stories, which I looked up, the grail had to be kept near the fisher king to heal his father. Here the aliens skulls are spread world wide, beam information into people, and summon the aliens themselves because...

I don't need to know WHY the arc can melt nazis or the stones can shoot lightning, but I need to know WHY the crystal skulls are what they are. You could say "to get the temple back".. but then WHY did they leave it there? Why were they worshipped? I'm fine with going with the flow and filling in the cracks myself if the storys good enough.. but the mystery here just isn't. Lucas and Speilberg REALLY coast on the idea "aliens isn't that neat", without building up the intrigue from before. The exposition here is just boring. It's just indy talking, saying really nothing, instead of building up a compelling mystery as to WHY these things are here and what the skulls ultimately mean. IT's the films fatal flaw: I often don't care about this adventure beyond Indy and his family... because the story dosen't seem to care. It's scattered around the world because "Well that's what these pictures do" instead of for intresting and well thoguht out reasons. If you want a globetrotting adventure.. you have to have a reason to trot the globe otherwise you just make me wish for the next set peice and that's NOT what these films should be. The non set peice stuff is there to build character, build the mystery and give us a second to calm down. It's just.. boring. Even temple for all it's issue iwth it's downtime scenes, didn't make me wish to turn the film off.

Finally we have Mutt who again is a mixed bag... but mostly a good one. For the first half of the film.. Mutt is actually a great character. He's a greaser sure, and the fact he says Daddy-O later physically hurts, but he's also shown as a troubled kid who has daddy issues, runs away from his problems and is passionate about what he does. He's indy himself, years younger, simply lacking his passion for discovery, somethign Mutt finds along the way allegedlys. And look.. as a person Shia Lebouf sucks. He truly sucks and he's an absuive monster. But I have to admit through gritted teeth he's a good actor, with Transformers being more bad direction and a script that called for him to SCREAM LOUDLY AT THINGS HAPPENING.. ALL THE THINGS ALL THE SCREAMING. He was a good choice for the part and plays off ford well. Sure the Tarzan thing was stupid, and Shia LeBouf was RIGHT to call it stupid no matter what Speilberg thought. No really Stephen took it personally and said "There's a time to speak and there's a time to shut up and eat"

Dude, oscar award winning film changing dude... sometimes ... it's okay to say something in a film you were in was bad TWO YEARS after it came out. Because it was. You admitted Temple of Doom was bad and should feel bad. How did this bother you?

Mutt isn't a terrible character the issue is more the film.. forgets to really finish his arc. He's mad at indy when he finds out even though he really.. shoudln't be? Indy had no idea he existed? , but this.. never gets resolved. He just accepts it because the movies over, picks up his hat and thankfully never puts it on. Mutt COULD have worked.. but the film just forgets to give a shit about him once his mom shows up and aliens are a comin. He's sadly wasted potetial and luckily the next film finds a way to make up for it with a whole new sidekick reminding indy of his past mistakes. Speaking of character

A Weakness of Character

In my Temple of Doom review I pointed out how it's lack of character arc was one of it's biggest weaknesses: By resetting indy to where he was before raiders, there was no where to really take him. Crystal Skull has the oppositie problem: Now set a few decades later, with an older Indy in a world he dosen't understand the film keeps him ... largely the same. We get some intresting seeds of a man out of time early on: The Goverment, originally indy's steadfast allies, are now in full red scare mode and instantly question Indy for simply having been friends with a traitor to the soviets without considering Indy didn't know, nearly costing him is job. He served in the army, worked hard, did all the things he thought were right.. and now he's getting spat on for stuff not his fault. So what does the film do with this?

Yeah after our hero leaves on his quest with Mutt and gets trailed by the KGB.. NOTHING comes of this. It has no impact on the plot. And that's the real issue... the movie brings up intresting character arcs for Indy and dosen't pay them off in any meaningful way. We get the knowledge he left Marion at the alter and has commitment issues.. and he uh marries her at the end and their married all the way to dial of destiny. That's it. He clamps down hard on wanting Mutt to go back to college and trying to be a dad.. and er.. he's a dad now I guess? The film starts up intresting ideas but can't finish a goddamn one. IT's what holds the film back: it STARTS really strong but then falls apart. Marion at least is awesome as ever and bringing her back was a top notch choice. Karen Allen is as good as ever, and feels like she's still fleshing Marion out and she plays off Indy and Mutt perfectly. My only regret is she really.. dosen't have much to do in the plot. She's held hostage, gets free, teams up with the rest of the heroes and.. really dosen't add anything. It's a far fall from last time. And that's the REAL problem with the crystal skull. Don't get me wrong, I get why the big three issues I tackled are such a big deal... but this is the subtle death that kills the film. Lucas and Speilberg and writer David Koepp, who wrote freaking Spider-Man and thus should knwo better, just didn't care to finish anything.

It's more apparent in the villians. Kate Blanchett is an awesome actress, as much as I didn't like Tar she does a phenominal job there and was amazing fun as Hela in Thor Ragnarok, but all she's given to be as Irina Spalko is a very sterotpical cold war russian bad guy. There's not substance to her and unlike with Toht there isn't any.. cold looming menace. It was much more personal with the Nazis and I fully respect Speilberg, after portraying them at their deadliest seriousness in schindlers list, for not using them again. This is personal to him for damn obvious reasons. But it was shown with Molla Ram he could make an intimdating villian outside the nazis. Here it's just a cartoon caracture. Irinia comes off like a bad 60's era iron man villian wanting to CRUSH AMERICA AND THE CAPTALISTS instead of the very real dread of a nation ran by dogma and under an unflinching uncaring leader, the stuff we deal with NOW with Russia as they continue to invade an inncoent country.

There's also Mac, Indy's friend who just loves money... and that's it. That's his character. He loves money and sold out to the reds to get it. He's a complete waste of breath and space and should've died int he prologue. I do not care fo rhim. There's also Ox. While John Rhys Davies tries his best... he's just diet Henry Sr. And that's not hyperbole: they wanted him to replace connery, he refused so we're just given this guy we're told is important who mostly goes around half brain dead till he gets his mind back at the end. Crystal Skull.. just has weak character. There was no care or depth put in. Even Thot as horrbile as he is had the thought of being a simple for just how purely monsterous the Nazi's were. Ther'es juts NOTHING here and it makes the film a slog. If your not going to finish any arc or give me a bad guy to actually want see taken down, why do I care?

Odds and Ends: So yeah ONCE AGAIN an Indy film does a racisim. You'd think after last Crusade reduced it to Sallah, who I begrudgingly accept at this point, they WOULDN'T go back to this well. You'd think 19 years later and after they already turned down one idea for the third Indy film for being too racist they wouldn't instead...

Yeah there's a weird martial arts cult of indegnious peoples depicted as savages. So .. THAT happened and i'm less lenient. Again they had 19 YEARS to learn this shit wasn't okay. Granted anyone familiar with episode 1 can tell Lucas really had learned nothing. But given Speilberg had done MULTIPLE films heavily tackling prejudice, slavery, and genocide at this point, you'd THINK he'd know better. YOU'D THINK. YOU'D. THINK. It's not as in your face as Temple but it's still very much beneath them. I have nothing but contempt for this choice and for them going with it and learning NOTHING about being culturally senstive after 19 years.

There's also a lot of CGI in this film. It wasn't intended and the practical effects, as before are good.. but the CGI here has aged like mayo topped with a fresh egg and dumped on the sidewalk and left in the hot unforgiving sun for 19 years. The Jungle Chase is paticuarlly bad: while they coudln't find a clear cut jungle to use, they'd of been better off.. doing somethign else. The actual stuntwork is good.

The Motorcycle Set piece is great and should feel great. And overall the goofy tone of the film is one I don't mind: I don't mind it being ab it more over the top outside of it's racist bullshit, and it's more over the top moments remind me of the good in temple of doom and help catapult me out of the dry rest of the film.

So overall.. Crystal Skull.. is

It has the potetial to be a good film, but dosen't care to actually use it. It's not a GOOD film.. but it's also just not bad enough for me to truly hate it. The good parts help keep it above that as does Karen Allen. It's a bad indiana jones film and a very bleh adventure film.. but it's just not this "RUINED THE FRANCHISE FOREVER" .. thing people desribe it as. If it was to you, I totally get it and could see that, but for me it's just a mediocre disapointing sequel. I've had plenty of those and plenty of worse disapointments sequel wise. Maybe the fact we got a much better one makes it impossible for me to really care. I deeply love indy now, I love this franchise and this is a bloch.. but it dosen't erase the two great films before this or the highs temple had amid the extreme lows. And with the power of time and nostalgia.. it didn't stop someone else from taking one last crack at it. Next Time: We put this retrospective in a box to be examined by Top Men as I look at the final Indiana Jones film, which is still in theaters: Dial of Destiny. Is it good, bad, mediocre? find out with me next time.

[canmom]

L'Aventure de Canmom à Annecy - Vendredi 1: Short Films 5

Olá from Portugal! I am recovered from travelling, and it's time to finish my Annecy writeups...

Friday I ended up waking up pretty late, all those late screenings catching up with me. I spent a while writing up Thursday in my hotel before realising that my computer clock was still on UK time. This meant I missed another chance to fruitlessly queue for Mars Express, I missed the new film Toldi by Marcel Jankovics, and I even missed Graduation Films 1 which contained the eventual winner of the category. So, rip. 仕方がない。。。

I got into Annecy just in time to catch the next block of short films. I elected to go to block 5 at Pathé because afterwards I could scoot into Bonlieu for Tunnel to Summer. More on that in a bit lol. Let's cover short films 5!

We begin with La saison pourpre by Clémence Bouchereau from France. This one was really neat. It's traditional animation in pencil, depicting a group of people, mostly children, who live naked in the roots of a mangrove. It made great use of partial drawings, just enough to recognise you're looking a character's arm or legs or cunt or whatever, depicting the tense interactions as the nameless characters hunt, play, and find themselves threatened by a storm. The sound design is also really strong. I feel like the nudity works for this film, although I could understand having qualms. The characters' eyes are just dots, and their expressions opaque, but the context and the way the interactions are framed expresses plenty of tension and emotion. I can only guess what motivated this film, but it ended up being really absorbing.

Ce qui bouge est vivant by Noémie Marsily from Belgium was kinda eh to me. A woman's voiceover narrates an existential crisis as we get a series of disconnected images, most of which I struggle to remember now (don't do your writeups four days later lol).

D'une peinture... à l'autre was better than I expected. By this point I saw quite a few films that used a rough oil-painting like effect and a lot of them don't use it very well, but here the paintings - which depict a camera flying around through a painted world establishing (I assume) a context for the two paintings it's about, was solid.

I don't know that I really picked up on the implied contrast between the two paintings, which both depict a reclining naked white woman and a Black woman in two different poses, but I looked them up while writing this post. The first is Olympia by Édouard Manet. Here, the white woman is looking directly at the 'camera' position, and the Black woman is clearly framed as a servant; apparently this painting caused controversy at its time, partly for many symbols that suggest the white woman is a sex worker, partly because she is recognisably a well-known model at the time. The second painting is Le Blanche et la Noire by Félix Vallotton, a response to Olympia; here the Black woman is chilling on the bedside smoking a cigarette instead of trying to present flowers, regarding the sleeping woman on the bed - apparently to suggest the two women are lovers, since this pose would usually be assigned to a man. The animation in the second half progresses in a different direction (right to left rather than left to right) and reframes the scenes from the first half.

I was not familiar with either of these paintings so all I could really do in the moment was appreciate the animation. But tbh I'm kind of glad they didn't put a context card up front because that would make it feel painfully didactic. I wouldn't mind seeing this film again with more of an idea what it's getting at.

Carne de Dios directed by Patricio Plaza, animated in Mexico and Argentina, was one of the strongest entries in this set. It depicts a priest during the colonial period; at the outset he encounters an indigenous girl running through the field with some mushrooms, which he knocks out of her hand and crushes. But, he falls ill, and finds himself in a church, where an older indigenous healer is preparing to treat him with the same mushrooms. From this point on the film goes full psychedelia; the priest dreams of the statue of Jesus on the cross turns into a giant, who devours him. Inside the guts he finds himself sucking on kaiju!Jesus's nipples and getting fisted by a giant kaiju finger (don't ask why kaiju!Jesus is inside his own stomach). It's strongly presented with traditional animation so if you enjoy ridiculous psychosexual imagery it's a fun one.

The next morning, the priest wakes up after his bad(?) mushroom trip terrified to find the healer seemingly dead; he flees from the area.

The imagery of the priest's dream is interesting, for poking at the weird sort of sex obsession-revulsion in Christianity; it's also better for the film that the priest didn't really Learn A Valuable Lesson or anything. The animation was extremely cool, and I'm definitely immensely curious to see what this team does next.

Love Me True by Inés Sedan from France depicts a woman who gets into online dating, and becomes infatuated with a man who mostly wants to take her to group sex and has very little use for her otherwise. She has a bad time; eventually she turns to other men who treat her as poorly. It's another one that uses rough paint textures and relatively limited animation, set to a voiceover narration. I think I'm coming to feel that voiceovers are a technique that is tricky to use effectively. If they're redundant with the animation, the animation should be allowed to speak for itself.

27 by Flóra Anna Buda depicts... I think it's a daydream? But essentially a girl in a cramped family situation (her brother catches her masturbating and teases her about it cosntantly) standing at the window and then going out to have a lot of sex. It's got a highly abstracted style where everyone is big old shapes. By this point I was definitely starting to think of short films 5 as the porn block lmao.

Tongue by Yoshida Kaho flashes by in just two minutes. With a very stylised approach to drawing that's basically what they call "corporate memphis", it shows a woman who bites out tiresome mens' tongues and stores them in a box. For feminism, you know. I think it could have stood to be hornier with it, like make the tongue biting really juicy. But that would weaken the metaphor lol.

The final film was Eeva directed by Morten Tšinakov and Lucija Mrzljak from Estonia and Croatia. I needed to scoot out of the theatre early to make sure I could get into Tunnel to Summer, so I didn't see this film. I think it actually got an award so that might have been a mistake if it was really good! The description of it is...

It's pouring down with rain at the funeral. There's a lot of crying, too much wine, several woodpeckers and a couple of dreams that fill in the gaps.

...so make your own guesses as to what kind of film it was.

So, solid collection with a couple of really strong ones. From this point on the day was all anime...

[caitchercatlady]

Ranking Asian Dramas of 2024: Spring

Welcome to part two of the Asian Dramas of 2024 series. This post will focus on shows that I finished to completion in the spring season. Let's reintroduce ourselves to the ranking system.

Where’s the Replay Button?

They Got the Bag

Good For What it Was

Wanted to like but it has eh?

Why did I even Finish this?

And let's move onto the dramas, shall we? (Note: I did add a few shows that I watched recently that I missed from the winter post, so please forgive my inconsistency here.)

Soulful Encounters (Premiered Jan 31; Why Did I Even Watch This?)

Not to sound sarcastic, but I have a feeling that this show was supposed to be about…something, but the show completely forgot what. Who are these characters again?

Deep Night (Premiered Mar 7; Wanted to like but it has eh?)

I was so close in putting this show in the why did I even finish this tier because that was the question I asked myself with each new episode I clicked on. I did start this show when it first aired, but I put it on hold for a while because I really couldn’t stand Khemtid’s personality and brattiness. I grew to fall in love with Shogun Paramee right when I first saw him because he’s adorable as hell, but Khemtid is such a poorly written character that it drives me up the wall. Furthermore, this story is supposed to show a different side to the Thai sex industry, but all it does is put it in a 50 Shades of Grey light, which only makes me feel really gross as a person who agrees that people in sex work deserve all equal rights. How Khemtid treats Wela like his personal toy all because his mom owns the Deep Night Club is disturbing to me. Wela should’ve stood up to him more instead of falling in love with him after the first three episodes. And then for Khemtid to pull the hypocrite card on his own mother proves that whoever wrote Khemtid in his way had absolutely no idea what they were doing. The acrobatics were pretty impressive (I’m not gonna lie) and whenever Shogun was in a suit, I melted like the dickens.

Secrets of the Shadow Sect (Premiered Mar 12; Where’s the Replay Button?)

While I would say this series deserved to be less and longer episodes considering how well the events of each episode go together, this was a solid concrete series that had a plot and stayed with it until the very end. It also helped me find my ultimate Chinese actor crush, Lin Ze Hui. Seriously, he puts every other historical fantasy male lead to shame with how handsome he looks. The best part of the series other than the romance is definitely the soundtrack. It’s theme songs have been stuck in my head for almost a month since the series started, and both of them are just as glorious as the first listens. My only wish was that the ending was more concrete, but I guess that’s the curse of short series, huh?

One Day in Shimokitazawa (Premiered Mar 17; Why did I Finish This?)

This short movie wasn’t bad. It was pretty chill, which might have been the point, but the plot of the whole Ghost Record thing doesn’t really go anywhere. From what I’ve researched, I can’t tell if this was an original drama or based off of something else, but I wish this drama had more plot or something.

Jazz for Two (Premiered Mar 26; Why did I Finish This?)

I came into this because it was a BL and I needed more Korean BLs in my complete list. I continued watching this for Hangyeom because HE IS THE GOODEST BOI! The show overall was not as interesting as I wished it was. Taeyi and Seheon were just not that interesting, and each episode is full of those obvious romance tropes that stopped being funny or shocking decades ago.

Among the Cloud (Premiered April 3; Why Did I Even Finish This?)

I know why I did. Because it’s short. Out of all the short Thai GL I’ve watched, Irene is the most annoying FL I’ve ever met. I know it’s done on purpose, but I’m supposed to think that’s cute? I can’t even. I don’t blame Tia for not liking her at first at all. In fact, it should’ve stayed that way.

Memory in the Letter (Premiered April 6; Wanted to Like, but it has eh?)

Start of the series was very strong, but they lost me in the last two episodes.

Gray Shelter (Premiered April 11; They Got the Bag)

Now THIS is how you make real drama. Raw real drama. It’s a BL that’s less on the romance and more about how the two manage to survive in their god awful circumstances. It sent shivers up my spine every episode.

Under the Gun (Premiered April 12; They Got the Bag)

I really wished that this drama was longer because this read like an adorable yet dramatic romance manga. I wanted to see more about the gambling and I wanted to see more interactions with the main couple to see how the end would’ve panned out. However, for what it is, it is still a highly recommended drama to watch. The acting is fire. The cinematography is high quality. The story is still well written regardless of length.

JK to Roppozensho (Premiered April 19; They Got the Bag)

Ace Attorney except it’s a female teenaged genius lawyer who focuses less on winning the case and more about serving justice for those in need. This drama is mostly episodic in term of story structure, there is an overarching personal story in which our main character, Miyabi, is also trying to learn about what happened to her mother years ago when she disappeared. As a character, yes, Miyabi is immature but she’s also a teenager, so of course, she’s going to jump into cases in one specific mindset, but it’s thanks to her lawyer grandfather and her mentor’s teachings that Miyabi learns to see the case from all angles in order to find the truth. This show feels like a modern and less actiony Sukuban Deka, but the cases are so interesting to watch that I was invested from beginning to end.

Walk With You (Premiered April 23; Wanted to like, but it has eh?)

The story is average (I started not to like it anymore towards the end), but not bad, but whoever did the audio and music mixing for this show, I hope their life is miserable as mine was having to up and down my volume.

Shinsengumi: When I Bloom With You (Premiered April 25; Wanted to like but it has eh?)

I found the original manga, which was written by the legendary Osamu Tezuka and published in 1963. Shinsengumi is about revenge and how that applies to fighting against corruption during the end of the Edo and start of the Meiji Restoration eras of Japan. The manga is only five chapters long, so it doesn’t really show much, so when I started watching this drama, I was surprised how bromancy and borderline gay the characters were made out to be. I know this drama added a lot of things in order to make the 20 episode run time make sense, but that’s where the problem kinda lies. The show presents a lot of material, but the story barely exists until the second half when we finally get a Mulan-style we’re off to fight now arc. Unlike Mulan, this show’s battle arc feels less inspiring than the extremely short manga. I wanted to like this for the character interactions, but even when I do like them, they feel out of place for a war-torn Tokyo.

Wandee Goodday (Premiered May 4; Where’s the Replay Button?)

Wandee and Yak are my second favorite gay couple this year compared to Yuichiro and Hajime. For a fake dating/friends with benefits thing going on, they seem to be too in love, and they are just so goddamn adorable around each other.

Design You Beside Me (Premiered May 5; Good for What it Was)

If you’re in for the cozy part of a GL drama, this is definitely for you. The stakes are not that high, and for a short drama, it’s a nice change of pace. If plot is what you’re looking for, you’re not going to find that here.

The Story of Suzhou (Premiered May 23; Good for What it Was)

Had this story only been about Yiran making fans for people, I would’ve been completely satisfied. Xiaofeng was completely useless. To give it credit, I love how each episode has a differently filmed intro. The sites of China are gorgeous! I also love how you actually watch the how the fans are made process. Not only do you get to see beautiful designs, but you also learn the history of why the designs exist

My Moo My Boo (Premiered May 29; Good for What it Was)

Episode 6 could’ve used some audio mixing improvement because you shouldn’t be able to hear the wind unless it’s necessary, too, and in this case, it wasn’t. Otherwise, the GL was cute and cozy. Pretty typical.

[halforc-mercenary]

Type: handsome warrior types

The young woman peered up from under her hood and a frown drew a long line between her thick, bushy eyebrows. The theme of the question made her cheeks burn as if the blood beneath had turned into lava and the words were stuck into her throat like a thick clot. 

It seemed to need hours until the young woman would eventually reculantly pressed a few words out between painfully clenched jaws: “…I never…had a big opinion of handsomness…”

Poxscars are as breutiful as dimples when you are in Love. Alone the sentences was enough to turn her face as black as ink, her pale eyes standing out like bright jewels. 

[bbbambam]

hello bambam :>

do you have any favourite ships from people you follow? like people's selfship and all? i see them on my dash and smile when i see them, so i was wondering if you had any that made your heart warm too! take care lovely

Oh hello to you too dear anon ! ❣︎ And oohhhh yes I have ! <3 Tbh I kinda love everyone’s selfship ! But I’m gonna choose only a few I could think of here (but remember that I love all of your selfships ! And they are all my fav ! 🥺💗) Also I can totally understand that ! Seeing others selfship make my heart warm too !! And awie — pls take care as well ! ♥️

My fav’s ship + random thought I had ab. it ♥︎ :

@quirrrky — tetsurei (kuroo x rei) : This one’s… Are you kidding me ?? They’re practically soulmates like she always got him in her matchup or quizzes, their mbti even clicked ! They’re meant to be — yeah, I shipped this two v. much ♥︎ I also have the thought of kuroo teasing you non stop, trying to get you mad and flustered, and then apologize to you by giving you kisses & cuddles — oooooo

@madeofsaltiness — dabisey (dabi x sey ?? I’m sorry but I have no idea ab. your ship name T^T) : Yeah I know I once give sero to you. But I’m just so terrible at matchmaking and that I completely forgot ab. lov at that time whoops — nvm let’s not talk ab. it, anyway after I got to know you better, learn your type and stuff — I now shipped you w. dabi my bby シ A random thought I had ab. you two… dabi would hugged you tight when you fall asleep (maybe due to his bad past or something— so he’s kinda want to make sure that you’re safe :D), kissed the top of your head while mumbling a good night (??) Lol I somehow got this thought out of nowhere bahahaha ! 😂

@moon-mars-ikemen — mars x fat gum (I’m so sorry 😭🙏) : You both will be such a v. cute couple ! You are such a sweetheart & fat gum is one of the best boi ever uwu. I lowkey have the cute thought about you two going to the local market looking for some delicious food for a date asdfghjkl —

@koushisbutterfly — anasuga (anastasia x sugawara) : Yeah, they’re perfect for each other. Although I love suga too but they’re just so perfect for each other 😔👏 I bet suga must be dying to hear you play the piano (might eavesdrop too if you don’t let him — lmao imagine him putting his ear against the door just to hear you playing, and then got caught by the door slammed against his face bc you’re gonna go the bathroom bahahahaha !! 😂) bc you’re just so talented and have such an amazing person. 💕

@just-pepperbean, @joykamado , @yui-san0 — the triple tanjirou’s stan, I love them all v. much :> And I’m sure this precious bby boy will be whipped for you three too bc ya’ll are just so kind and sweet, and it’ll be v. adorable, too !! >w<

@samu-sorbet — faesamu (fae x osamu) : eh… I’m so sorry but I just couldn’t ignore the urge to include you, fae ! I wanna tell you that I love this ship so much ! It’s so so cute ahhhhh — trope I wanna give you two ; strangers to lovers. Samu met you in one of the local ice cream’s shop, you could practically sense that someone’s eyes were glued to you even when you don’t turn around. After a while you confronted him since he’s been making you uncomfortable, he then apologized profusely and offer to walk you home, what a cute lil love story huhu —

@maipxilia — maitsuki (maia x bakugou) : there’s one trope I wanna give to you both, and that’s opposite attract. You are so caring & sweet and bakugou is a tough on the outside (soft on the inside but there’s no way he’ll let anybody see that side of him, well *cough cough* you is an exception, of course *cough cough*) He’ll def look away from you to hide his blush when you’re being too cute ! Which is almost all the time but that’s just — ugh — >////<

@tooru-luvs — ahh zizi, I remember that you said once that you simp for nanami. If I’m not remember wrong, and I often had this random thought when I think ab. you & him… imagine nanami sometimes become distracted bc he’s been thinking of you <3 He know he should focus on work more, but he just can’t, and ended up come over to your house to confess his feelings to you that night bc he can’t just keep it anymore. Wow —

@kitacharm — nat ! my fav’s ship for you could be no one else but kita. Yeah yeah ya’ll fit each other so much and I can practically see kita simping hard for you but have no idea how to convey or say his feelings nor did he know how to come and talk to you hahahaha. Might also try to throw some flirty jokes — as he’s been advised by the twins & the team. but end up failing miserably and embarrassed himself, bby boy face would be so red & suna would take a quick pic of it and secretly send it in the team’s secret group chat whoops —

@animated-moon — ooh yes, moonten (moon x tendou) & @shirari — riri x shirabu, I’m kinda surprised (but in a good way, I’m excited too, actually —) at first that you both simp for character that came from shiratorizawa. Bc there’s not a lot of ppl (or at least for the ppl I’ve met before) who love character that came from shiratorizawa, they’re so underrated T^T. But overall I think you will be such a lovely couple ! (moon x tendou & riri x shirabu)

Riri — I think shirabu will silently ask (beg) to see your artwork bc they’re all so beautiful !! By giving you the looks that only you will understand. With his face shaded in light pink ofc, he’s too embarrassed to say it out loud but he really wants to see them ! (Both you and I know that he’s v. stubborn and not in the million years will he even try to voice his feelings *sigh* :<)

Moon — Awie, you & tendou will def practice volleyball w. each other !! And you both will go to each other’s game to cheer one another !! And it’ll be so cute asdfghjkl — tendou’s eyes would go soft, and he would also grin and winked at you when his eyes landed on you <33

@mysterystarz — keinova (akaashi x nova) ofc, could not think of anybody else ! I shipped you two v. much !! I have a feeling that bokuto would encourage (nah pressed) akaashi into confessing to you, being such a fantastic friend he is. And akaashi’s face would heat up & get flustered everytime bokuto bring this up ! >w< “Bokuto-san ! I told you to keep quiet ! She might hear you !” Ooh ooh lal laaaaaa~

Okay okay, enough — I might turn this into a short scenarios, might. Stress on that part, might. I’m not sure but I’ve been lacked in inspiration lately… nvm, anyway pls take care and have a great day everyone !! Remember ya’all are v. amazing & important !! I luv u so much for just the way you are !! ♡´･ᴗ･`♡

- With love, BamBam 🦢🌙

[lazysublimeengineer]

i tasted life

Title: i tasted life

Summary: He could say thousands of words laced in silky threads of affection and sweet encouragement. But he wasn’t made that way. Words were not his forte.

Character/s: Ryuuguugi "Draken" Ken, Hanagaki "Takemitchy" Takemichi, Kawaragi Senju

I tasted life

- Emily Dickinson

His jet-black jacket glistened sharply under the moonlight as they traversed back to their residences after that meeting with the Brahman. Takemichi was uncharacteristically silent as he stared straight ahead on the road. The normally bubbly and boisterous blond was reticent as he walked beside Draken who had his hands in both of his pockets. Takemichi was still processing the earlier events that had happened at that meeting which frankly looked like an underground fighting ground that reminded him of that unsanctioned street fighting led by Kiyomasa during their middle school years.

After the official announcement made by Senju about him now being a member of the Brahman, that’s when it finally hit him. He really was risking everything on the line including his life again to make Mikey’s future great and peaceful along with them. Nevertheless, Takemichi didn’t feel any anxiety or doubt within himself. He felt that he was doing the right thing and everything was falling into the right pieces.

Nevertheless, he couldn’t shake off the nagging feeling that wanted to crawl outside of his being.

“Oi. Takemitchy.”

Draken’s familiar deep and baritone voice jolted him out of his thoughts and looked up at him. Those sharp yet concerned obsidian irises were trained on him as if trying to decipher his innermost feelings and thoughts with that single gaze alone.

A warm feeling started to creep inside his chest and Takemichi resisted the urge to smile like an idiot in front of him.

“Yeah Draken-kun?” Takemichi gazed back at him curiously.

“You okay there? I can almost hear your loud, running thoughts you know.” He commented noncommittally but there was a tinge of concern beneath his nonchalant tone.

It made Takemichi chuckled slightly, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. “Ah, sorry about that Draken-kun. I got lost in my head again. Sometimes.” He smiled sheepishly at him.

It made Draken paused and just stared at Takemichi’s figure who was now walking past him. But the blond had noticed that he stopped walking and turned back to him.

“Draken-kun?”

Draken didn’t know what kind of face he was making but Takemichi looked at him with his tender, blue eyes that were devoid of malice and were just watching in genuine predilection and goodwill.

It made something inside of him break. He could say thousands of words laced in silky threads of affection and sweet encouragement. But he wasn’t made that way. Words were not his forte.

But what he lacked in words made up for the simplicity of his actions and for him that was enough.

He walked quietly towards Takemichi and stopped right in front of him. Before the other could react, his arms enveloped him in a firm yet gentle hug.

“You’re wearing that kind of face once again Takemitchy. For once, I gotta tell you to stop looking like that cause you’re not alone in this fight. Not anymore. We’ll save and bring Mikey back together. Understood?” His whisper was a gentle caress around Takemichi’s being that promised a brighter future and a dazzling ray of hope.

However, why did it feel different for Takemichi?

Why did it feel like a veil of a passing bell under the gloomy skies hung around them?

“Yeah…” Takemichi choked out a response, trying to swallow back his tears but his eyes glistened slowly. He could only return back his hug tightly as if he was afraid to let him go.

Takemichi couldn’t afford to break down and cry now even if he was on the verge of wailing like a lost kid. He promised himself that he wouldn’t lose his resolve and would just keep on fighting to make things better for all of them. Although he felt like his entire being was drowning away in quicksand, just being in Draken’s arms and firm grip seemed like a strong foundation that he can lean on.

“Thank you Draken-kun…” He whispered back and the other could only hug him back tighter in response.

“No. Thank you Takemitchy. For saving me and everyone. I’ll make sure that this will be your last mission for us.”

Takemichi’s heart quavered loudly inside his chest at his response and he wasn’t sure if it’s a good or a bad thing.

Takemichi inserted his keys into the keyhole of the front door of his house and turned on the knob. After his brief but lingering moment of respite with Draken on the road, exhaustion finally crept inside of him. All he wanted to do was to fall back on his bed and sleep the night away since he knew that he had to be prepared for the next day to come. He went inside and turned on the lights, flooding the living room with a brilliant spark of the white light.

The silence was deafening inside his house but it was nothing new.

He got used to living alone and greeting no one since his parents were busy with their own careers and lives to pay attention to him anyway.

The numbness inside his heart was growing but he chose to ignore it and just headed straight to his room upstairs when he paused all of a sudden, blinking a few times when he heard a noise.

A shiver ran down Takemichi’s spine before he steeled himself and continued making his way upstairs cautiously.

As he got nearer, he could hear someone singing. It’s like a song being played. Was the radio on?

A long, long time ago

I can still remember how that music

Used to make me smile

And I knew if I had my chance

That I could make those people dance

And maybe they'd be happy for a while

It was a smooth voice of a male singing an English song that Takemichi knew nothing about. But the tone of the song had a funny yet melancholic vibe to him for some strange reason.

He was now standing in front of his doorstep to his room.

But February made me shiver

With every paper I'd deliver

Bad news on the doorstep

I couldn't take one more step

I can't remember if I cried

When I read about his widowed bride

Something touched me deep inside

The day the music died

Takemichi swallowed thickly. His heart was hammering wildly inside his chest as his hand reached out to turn the knob of the door to open it and what greeted his line of sight made him froze and mind blanked out for a second.

So, bye-bye, Miss American Pie

Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry

And them good ol' boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye

Singin', "This'll be the day that I die

This'll be the day that I die"

In front of him was a phonograph, playing a vinyl.

And a blond male sitting in a chair with his wide eyes open and his mouth dripping with blood that went through his shirt and painted it a dark shade of crimson.

It was him.

He screamed and shot up from the bed all of a sudden. Takemichi looked around. He’s inside his own room and in his pajamas. There’s no phonograph that sounded like a death knell.

And there’s no dead doppelganger in front of him.

He was awakened from his nightmare which was dressed like a daydream.

“Hanagaki!” Senju hollered at him when he successfully tackled her on the ground and shielded her away from the bullets that the masked man shot in front of them.

“Are you alright Senju?” He asked worriedly.

“Eh?” Senju could only look up at him, still taken aback by what he did.

“I can’t let you die.” Takemichi said determinedly, staring at her intently which made the other gawk at him in silence, a slight blush marring her cheeks.

“Die Hanagaki!” The masked man screamed at them and shot at them again with his gun.

Takemichi could only close his eyes tightly as he waited for the bullets to land on his body.

But it never came.

“You good Takemitchy?” Draken drawled out as he glanced at him before approaching the masked men who grew fearful of him and dropped their guns, running away.

It made Takemichi opened his eyes and stared at Draken with wide eyes.

“Thank you so much Draken-kun…” There was gratefulness behind his voice.

Draken smiled wryly before he kicked the gun away. “They got the nerve to attack with such dangerous weapons.”

After Takemichi made sure that Senju’s completely okay, he went towards Draken’s spot and quickly leaned closer to his ear to whisper something.

“Let’s keep us it between us, but… Just now, I was able to foresee the future.”

It made Draken’s eyes wide for a fraction of a second.

“In that future, I saw Senju protecting me. I’ve prevented that outcome.” Takemichi continued to whisper seriously to him.

Meanwhile, Senju was looking at both of them with a curious yet perplexed expression on her face.

“What are you guys whispering about?” She asked.

“It’s all thanks to you Draken-kun. We’ve successfully changed one future!”

“Is that so…” Draken had a wistful smile on his face afterward. “Then I’m glad.”

“Hey, I think we gotta go! We’ll be in trouble if someone gets here!” Senju cut off their whisperings towards each other with a worried reminder.

Takemichi immediately sprang into action. “Ah, you’re right!”

They’re both running now when Takemichi noticed that Draken was just standing there and not doing anything.

“Draken-kun?” He paused and called out hesitantly.

His back was still turned to him when Draken spoke his words. “Takemichi… Please tell this to Mikey…”

“Huh?”

“Don’t cause too much trouble…”

“What are you talking about?! You tell him yourse-.”

He stopped midsentence when Draken crumpled down to the ground like a ragdoll.

Takemichi felt like a cold bucket of water was spilled on him as his eyes grew wide as saucers and stood frozen for a moment.

“I’ve done all I can do.” Draken murmured with a peaceful smile on his lips as his eyes watched dazedly on the raindrops that pelted on his body.

I started singin', bye-bye, Miss American Pie

Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry

Them good ol' boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye

Singin', "This'll be the day that I die

This'll be the day that I die"

(A/N: The day I own these characters is the day that my fanfic is the bestselling novel on the market which will never happen. Inspired by the events from chapter 221 of the manga. Senju lived. Mikey finally appeared. But at what cost? Also, I was listening to the song American Pie by Don Mclean when I was writing this fic and it fits since behind that upbeat yet lazy tone of the singer, the lyrics and the message of the song are quite tragic. Which honestly fits into the latest chapter of the manga. Lastly, where the hell is Wakasa? He only appeared for 2 chapters and I missed him already. I need to see him in the next chapter to free me from the angsty land of the latest chapter. Reviews are entertaining. So, let me hear them from you.)

[chiwhorei]

who prays for the headsman?

paring: k. kyoutani x fem!reader

genre: angst, smut, 18+ minors dni

word count: 3.2k

warnings: size kink, crying, oral (f. receiving), major character death, pseudo-incest, stepcest, violence (not a gorey depiction), stabbing, a mention of blood, medieval beheading, angst okay this is sad you have been warned

a/n: Hello! HQHQ monthly collab time, sinners! I’m super excited to share this with you all, it was truly a work of love. All of the other amazing fantasy collab pieces can be found here!

hymns: murder song (5, 4, 3, 2, 1) - AURORA, the judge - twenty one pilots

“The girl’s mother and I are to be wed with haste,” Kyoutani Kentarou’s father pats his small head, smoothing down the blond locks, “Be sure to make y/n feel comfortable. She isn’t your blood, but she’s your family now, son.”

From the moment his father brought you and your mother home, still wrapped in thick mourning veils and tears, his cross to bare was you.

You needed barely an introduction before melting into the comfort of Kentarou. Wrapping your small hands around his middle and burying your face against his neck. Your stiff black dress crinkles against him. The contact was a magnetic, instantaneous spell. Like moth meeting flame, and Kyoutani would burn for it until the next lifetime. The bubbling, itching hellfire marring his tanned skin for two decades.

It’s easier to see the resulting moments in pieces. Shiny, silver blade raised high and gleaming in the light, a sharp swipe of the weapon through the stale air, and finally a thump of weight against the ground below. Still, quiet, and absolute. There’s no escaping the headman’s blade.

The virgin light of dawn rouses Kyoutani from a fitful night of sleep, he stretches his arm out to find your form and only catches the empty shell of blankets you’ve left behind. You’re always awake to greet the cresting rays of light as if they need your permission before ascending to greet the rest of the townspeople. You are the end and beginning of each day.

He finds you sat by the stone fireplace, nightdress hanging off of your shoulders and shawl wrapped tightly to keep the winter’s air at bay. You’ve always preferred the springtime. Even so, the smile that turns at the ends of your lips warms his body like the pouring of melted honey. He basks in you for a moment from afar, as close as he ever feels worthy of being.

“How did you sleep?” Your hand reaches out as he moves farther into the cottage’s main room, touching the warmth of his bare chest. Kyoutani pulls you into him, pressing a kiss to your temple and folding your head against the crook of his neck. Your question goes unanswered, as you both already know: there’s never much rest gifted to the headsman.

A tall wisteria tree sits just outside of town. It’s branches are long and decaying. No flowers bloom on a tree the gods have forgotten. But that doesn't deter you from airy footsteps carrying you to it’s base.

“There’s nothing you can do, y/n,” Kyoutani presses, reaching his arms out to ensure you don’t fall, “there’s no fixing rotten roots.”

You scoff, bunching up your skirt at the ends and kneeling at the large trunk.

Where you bound forward without care, your Kentarou is always there to catch you. As you stoop down by the lifeless tree, his stern eyes narrow. You lay your hands against the rough bark, rubbing upwards and back down. All you need is the notion of life. Your eyes shut in concentration, fingers dancing along the coarse texture. It’s there, deep inside, waiting for you to tug at and rouse back to life. You can see it just behind your eyelids, purples and long flora hanging down, surrounding you in it’s beauty.

“H-how did you do that, y/n?” Kyoutani is cemented in shock behind you, where naked, ghoulish limbs once sat are now filled with swaying, violet life.

“I dunno, I get a tingling feeling in my hands. Here,” You pull him down to sit on the ground, pressing your palms to his cheeks. Your touch is like balm on a wound, he closes his eyes and leans in further. His forehead presses against your own. Your hands cradle the sides of his face, thumbs tracing over the soft skin in soothing patterns.

This is wrong, even as a boy no taller than prairie grass; he knows how wrong this feeling is.

“Do you feel it, Kenta?”

Kyoutani’s job isn’t to decide a person's fate, but the blood still soaks his hands all the same. His walk home is always to the beat of heavy, warning footsteps. His figure is looming, shrouded in thick leather and chain medal. The faulted axe hangs by his side, gripped tightly and weighed down with the heavy smell of iron. He counts his sins every night, prays for absolution but still scrubs the blood of strangers off of his arms and wraps you up in them.

“You fucking bastard,” a strangers voice sounds behind Kyoutani like a siren. He hears the rustling of critics followed by the feeling of a stone thrown against his back.

“You murdered my brother. He was a good man and you killed him.” Kyoutani sighs deeply, he knows the blame will fall on him with every swing his blade makes, so any retort is swallowed. There’s never much reason to quabble, as word travels in a small town like water through a sieve.

“I know who you are, Kyoutani Kentarou. Your father was a good man, and your sweet little sister grew up to be quite the-” All reason shatters under Kyoutani’s boot in an instant, feet carrying him in his hecklers’ direction. His clenched fist meeting the man’s eye socket with deadly force, vision blurring and reason fleeting. He shouldn’t be handing out home brewed justice, but there’s no rationale exercised when your name passes through a strangers mouth.

Kyoutani is a strong man, but fighting three against one would be a losing battle no matter what. No matter how noble his intent is, a sharp knife to the stomach is impossible to ignore. The stranger twists the dagger, bringing his face to Kyouatani’s ear.

“Say hi to your dear ole’ dad for me, eh?”

He hears the man’s snide voice against the pounding in his head. He feels cold and far away, falling down a tunnel with no bottom.

“They’ll be coming for you, y/n,” Your lover's voice lilts against your back, but you don’t turn to meet his eyes just yet. Your hands busy themselves against the familiar grooves of bark. The wisteria’s flowers create a sanctuary from the cruelty of the outside world. It’s a sanctuary, but this spot is one of original sin. The first brush of lips sealed fate years ago that will be actualized by daybreak.

“I know, Kenta-” Your soft voice usually calms the blonde man in front of you, but under the plague of circumstance, your words are sharp spikes against his heart.

“Why did you do it then? How could you be so careless? The mark of a witch means only one thing.” Kyoutani’s stern voice cuts you off, holding you in place, “You never think about the consequences of your reckless heart. Look at me, woman.” His body towers over you, broad chest against your back. His hand finds your jaw, pulling it harshly to force eye contact. Darkened brown eyes fall upon your watery ones and his angry facade shatters like pottery in the small space between your two bodies. You sniffle in his hold, fat tears run down your cheeks as you stutter a response.

“I couldn’t let you die, you’re the only family I have left. I- I love you, Kenta.” A sob rips through you, the declaration isn’t a new one, but it’s context is uniquely heartbreaking. Kyoutani pulls you into him immediately, wrapping strong, scarred arms around your shoulders. You cling to him, a piece of history repeating itself as it likes to do, wrapped in each other and the royal purples of wisteria.

Your lips quiver an inch away from his, stained with salty tears. Kyoutani feels the warmth of plush skin dangled in front of him, there’s an urgency rushing through him where he’s usually hesitant. There isn’t much more time. Without consulting the angel on his right shoulder, two large hands cup your face and pull your lips against his own.

Your cries are muffled by the sloppy pull of your own tongue into Kyoutani’s mouth. As his traces over yours with a chorus of nips and licks, his hands fall to your waist to bunch up the fabric against your hips. The action causes your body to press flush to his crotch.

“We have one more night together, Kenta. Please.” Your words don’t need much appraisal, you could ask Kyoutani to pull the skies down with his bare hands and he would tear the blankets off of any gods above without a second thought. One more night.

Kyoutani unwraps himself from around your form to sit down on the spongy grass below. The terrain is soft and forgiving despite its location in the dense forest. He watches you above him, angelically outlined in the soft moonlight. The personification of virtue and goodness glimmering off of you like an aura. The purest beauty to ever exist, and he’s at the helm of it’s destruction.

The sound of your dress pooling at your feet pulls him from mulling over his past transgressions. His eyes follow a line up from said garment to where your bare cunt is nestled between hip bones. His gaze climbs farther, lacerating the memory of every dip and curve so they scar against his heart. He needs to remember everything.

You join him on the soft grass, knees swung on either side of his large thighs. His hands find your hips again, pressing into the flesh as you begin to rock lightly against him. Your movement is disastrous to his resolve, the tension in his body delivers harsh oval bruises against the skin of your ass.

“I love you. I love you. I love you.” Your confessions are accented by kisses against Kyoutani’s cheeks and lips. Your soul, your heart, your everything are each other’s; and tonight is the final assemblage.

Kyoutani’s touch is like scarlet fever against your body, burning in its journey to grope any flesh he could reach. His fingers have to cement this feeling into his fingerprints, after tonight only the phantom pains of you will remain.

“You feel so good Kenta. S-So right.” Your mewls rattle around against his skull, as one palm comes down to meet your heated pussy. The most morally abject sin he’s committed- even counting the heads that roll by his feat every day- is you. But still; he can’t argue the morality of your body writhing naked above him when his cock is already straining angrily against the leather of his pants. His fingers trace down from the hip bone to where your puffy lips sit. It’s amazing how sweet, how soft you are. Where Kyoutani is calloused and harsh, you are smooth and silken. Perfection. Depravity.

As one thick finger proads against your hole, your hips buck with new resolve. You crave more than just fleeting touches and stolen glances. You want him to let go completely, something he’s only done a handful of times. You need him to.

“I’m not made of ceramic Kyoutani. You treat me like a child, but I’m stronger than you seem to believe.” You use your family name for punctuation, but the sentence comes out melted on the edges when he sticks another digit in to join the first.

“Don’t you think I know that, y/n. Fuck. You’re the strongest person I’ve ever known,” a resounding slap meets your ass, jolting you farther against his fingers, “but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t protect you. That’s my job, damnit.” His thumb finds your swollen clit with ease even within his flustered state and presses down, “I failed you.”

You don’t trust your own voice to answer, you know nothing you could say would ease his heart. All you can do is push forward in hopes that one night can make up for the life he’ll have to live without you. Your hands move down to loosen his suffocating pants, wobbly knees digging against the ground as he eases the leather down his legs.

Your hand grabs a hold of his hard cock, stroking from his thick base to reddened tip. The touch is familiar. Something that wracks him with guilt but fills his soul with warmth. It’s always been your touch. Similar to the sparks rendered from striking flint, your touch lights up his every nerve

Kentarou’s fingers move back to work you open for him, your head falls back, causing the fat of your tits to bounce against his chest. His other rough hand comes up to palm your breasts, pinching your hardened nipple and pulling down. You cry out in pleasure at the attention, senses overwhelmed by your lover’s ministrations.

“Please, please do something.” Your voice is desperate against the shell of his ear, pleading for more. More of Kentarou, and naively, for more time.

With a swift, practiced movement, the blonde moves you to lay against the grass. He removes the blood-stained shirt from his chest and kicks off his pants. His body eclipses yours, shielding you from view. You’re surrounded by him, the heady scent of sweat, the sound of the racing heart against his ribcage like a trapped songbird. It’s all Kyoutani, it always has been; your home, your confessional, the safest reprieve and your most vile secret.

Kyoutani’s cock is freed from its confines to slap deftly against his stomach. Your mouth tries to swallow as if filled with dried tea leaves, his size isn’t always the most accommodating. Even so, you lift up on one elbow to curl your fingers around his shaft and groan once again when your pointer finger and thumb don’t meet. Kyoutani opens his mouth to speak but you answer before the words fall.

“Don’t be gentle, Kentarou, ” your dwarfed hand tugs him towards you, creating a dizzying pressure, “I can take it.”

There’s no room for argument in your words, so he dips down to kiss your lips once again. “Let me taste you, y/n. Just one more time.” His eyes hold flames but regard you as softly as possible. You nod in agreement. His lips running down from your neck to your hips, you feel the chapped skin against your own. With each peck, a path of tears follow in tandem. His shaky cries are hidden behind the moans being pulled from your lungs. You don’t acknowledge it, for doing so would just make the wracking pain even worse.

There’s no use speaking of your combined suffering, it’s already dug it’s blade into Kyoutani’s vertebrae.

Once his mouth reaches your wet pussy, there’s nothing left of his conscious. Where guilt usually lies, madness replaces. The first swipe of his tongue is painfully slow, he has to savor this taste, your taste. Your soft, swollen lips are the gods’ manna and he’s been given one last chance to indulge. Kyoutani’s tongue finds your clit and flicks upward, just the way that’s always made you squeal. You’re coating his chin in slick, and nothing else will ever quench his thirst like this again. He could stay in between your legs for the next century, but rips himself away from your dripping cunt.

Your mouth is captured in his again, tongue and cheeks coated in your own arousal. The feeling distracting you from the reddened tip prodding at your tight hole. You suck in a sharp breath as you’re worked open. Every vein and ridge tugs against your snug walls. It hurts, it always does, but there’s nothing that’s ever felt better either. You bite his collarbone in a feeble attempt to keep quiet, nails cresting small shapes against his back as he slides farther and farther in.

“My pretty girl, so perfect for me.” Kyoutani’s hips meet your ass, giving you a moment to acclimate. You’re pulled taut around him, cock dragging against you as he pulls back. He remembers your previous words. I can take it.

His hips slam against you with ferocity. Every expanse of fat on you bounces. Thighs, tits, ass- all moving with the pace he sets. His cock is begging for release with every union of his tip to your cervix. A litany of cries and pleas fill the surrounding air, lilting around to bounce against the drooping flowers.

“Please Kenta, I’m- I’m going to.” Your sentence breaks off at the end but he puts them back together. He coos you, “I know, little one. Let go for me.” He presses two fingers against your clit once more to rub tight circles.

Your toes curl against the grass below you, body locking up as the blood running through your veins is replaced with gooey syrup. Years of tension and shame pull tightly against your body and snap in an instant.

Kyoutani can’t hold off his own orgasm any longer, not with the vice grip you have on him.

Not with the sound of the constable's horses drawing closer to the old wisteria tree.

It’s easier to see the resulting moments in pieces.

Kyoutani’s blade is sharpened meticulously. “A dull axe is worlds more painful.” Even as his heart is being torn from under his breast bone, webs of muscle and tendon snapping like sewing floss the closer he walks to your kneeling form, he remembers his father’s words.

The ringing in his ear drowns out the sound of your sentence being passed, it’s better he doesn't hear the official crimes you are posed with, lest he swings his weapon against the priest instead. He wants to reach out, to untie you and run away, to find a new world. A world where he hears the pattering of little footsteps and sees chubby hands clinging against your apron. A world where he wakes up to your wrinkled cheeks and graying hair.

Shiny, silver blade raised high and gleaming in the light, a sharp swipe of the weapon through the stale air, and finally a thump of weight against the ground below. Still, quiet, and absolute.

There’s no escaping the headman’s blade.

The wisteria tree is the beginning and end. Long, purple flowers sealing fate. Kyoutani pulls reluctant feet to the tree's base, his forehead pressing against the bark. He turns around and slides down to sit against the trunk. His hands roam against the texture of the grass beneath him. He remembers the spindly branches and decaying wood from years ago when he closes his eyes, he remembers your hands clawing back it’s life from the lowest level of hell.

When his eyes open again, they are met with yours. Soft, beautiful, and achingly familiar. You smile, lips turning upwards and teeth peaking out slightly. Your hand reaches out to cup his face, a dull crackle of warmth reaches his skin where forest fires use to smolder. It’s not the same, but it’s you. He knows it’s you somehow. Whether it be a cruel trick from the gods or his brain succumbing to madness. It’s still you. Your warmth is surrounding him again, and it feels almost right.

“Do you feel it, Kenta?” Your voice is warped and echoes like a hollow drum, he can’t help the tears falling in thick streams. It’s you. He reaches out to touch you, but his hands remain empty and cold. You disappear in a second, your face vanishing from where he swore he could almost feel your lips against his own.

You leave him once again and take the bright flowers of wisteria with you.

all writing is dymphnasprose’s original content, please do not repost or modify. do no read my content as asmr.©️

[pridepoisoned]

[ooc. Long time no blog! I finally got the opportunity to finish Legends Arceus over this past weekend, and here are some of my thoughts (on the game and what it means for my RP.) Spoilers ahoy, obviously!]

The game

This.

Seriously, I can’t put this game down. In my opinion, this is best Pokemon game in a LONG time simply because of how fresh it is and how many things have changed within the formula. It’s Pokemon Breath of the Wild, but BOTW is a fantastic game so I FULLY support this new direction for the series. I honestly can’t see myself going back to the “way things were.” Everything is so streamlined here and it’s something I really appreciate as a massive Pokefan (they started the text speed on “fast,” people! They’re listening!)

Even the plot was surprisingly compelling, with a twist that I (somehow) didn’t see coming. Seriously, I don’t know how I avoided that spoiler with everything that’s been happening here. I could talk more about how I felt about Giratina’s portrayal but eh. This is getting long already. 

My few gripes with the game concern how wide open some areas were--some places felt really, really empty and I found the thorough research tasks to be a little repetitive. I don’t care so much about the graphics, and I think it’s pretty commendable that Game Freak was able to do all of this given the now yearly expectation for a mainline title or remake. Seriously well done--in the future, I hope that they can expand and polish the visuals surrounding the innovative core mechanics of this game.

My friends all laughed at me for getting hyped as this game’s release grew closer and closer...but lately they’ve all been playing it nonstop. Who’s laughing now, eh?   

RPing

Because of Legends, I haven’t been here or on many of my blogs as much recently. I hate to admit this because I know it sounds kind of petty, but here’s my other gripe: I cannot believe how neither Barry nor Jupiter (the two Sinnohan muses I play) received any attention in the game, not even a cameo!! I mean, Melli could maybe be considered Jupiter’s “ancestral double,” but I dunno. I know it’s not a big deal, but Mars, Saturn and Charon got theirs--where the heck is Jup? And don’t get me started on this game’s inexcusable Barry deficiency. He better be in some DLC. Please.  

So, yeah, with those two characters being excluded, I don’t feel especially compelled to give them ancestor verses right now (since their status might change in the future) and I don’t think my future-minded portrayals of Jup or Eris would fit very well in a Hisuian world anyways, but maybe I could change my mind if I think of the right angle. 

Understandably, the dash is filled with overwhelming amounts of Hisuian muse/content as of late (which I fully support, we got good food with these games and I love reading everyone’s verses, new canon characters and OCs!!) I also want to try writing some PLA stuff and I want to interact with the Hisuian characters on my dash (now that I can), I’m just having such difficulty imagining Jup fitting into Hisui, which is tragic because her MODERN muse is still fresh on my mind. >< 

If anyone is getting an informal PLA verse, it’ll be Barry, no ancestor. Just Barry, falling out of a portal like Ingo, with similar memory loss symptoms. Until he gets the rep he deserves, I want to play Barry just trying his goddamn best to brighten up a brave new world. I will always get behind that idea. He’s coming. 

[phynali]

Dean’s Body as a Punching Bag

Ever since I made this post about Sam and (his lack of) bodily autonomy (as well as the follow-up post that carries the theme through the other 10 seasons), I’ve been trying to determine what the corollary for Dean is. Re-watching 5x01 made it jump out at me in a huge way:

The bodies of the people that Dean loves are consistently used in a way that hurts/harms Dean and metes out violence against him. And it is specifically his loved ones’ bodies themselves, not shapeshifters or lookalikes or Leviathan either. It is the people he loves’ hands and fists and weapons.

(I need a snappier way to word that, but bear with me).

Where Sam’s bodily autonomy violations occur before he’s born, and are seen as early as the pilot with Azazel in his room and with the Woman in White, Dean’s analogous theme doesn’t sneak in until the mid-season finale with Asylum.

In this episode, Sam gets infected with a sort of ghost-possession/ghost-sickness (another example of a violation of his bodily autonomy) and his internal anger becomes external, focused on Dean. Sam attacks Dean violently, and Dean goes so far as to hand over a (thankfully unloaded) gun and in this altered state, Sam actually tries to shoot him. 

Ouch. The person Dean loves and most wants to protect had his body violated and used against Dean. This theme is going to carry us through the next, eh, 10 or so seasons, with some tail-end examples even after that. 

In Season 1 we have Asylum mid-season, and we have the finale in which John is possessed by Azazel and hurts Dean most grievously, almost kills him. In Season 2, Sam is possessed by Meg and shoots Dean (in the arm). In Season 3, we had a writers’ strike and a season cut short so I can’t think of any examples there (but lots of other shit to unpack for another day).

The in Season 4, we have Sex and Violence, which is super interesting. While Dean is the one targeted by the siren and therefore the one whose body is used against his brother to hurt him, the actual violence doesn’t start until Sam is also infected. Sam’s body is violated by being held at knifepoint by his brother and his mouth forced open to accept the siren’s venom, but then it’s a fist-fight, a showdown. Both brothers’ bodies being used to hurt the other, but getting to that point required Sam’s body to similarly be ready to be used against Dean.

Season 5 is literally bookended by instances of this happening. First, true to the idea that Dean sees Bobby as family, Bobby becomes possessed by a demon and he violently attacks Dean. And then Swan Song, most famous example by a huge margin, Sam is possessed by Lucifer and is fist-fighting Dean, destroying his face and killing him with his fists, and it is his overwhelming love for Dean that allows him to overcome this possession and save the world.

The theme is carried forward for a few more seasons, pretty much until that narrative turning point in Season 10 that I mentioned in my post about Sam. In Season 6, soulless!Sam allows Dean to be hurt by a monster, harming him by proxy. In season 7, Sam is hallucinating and almost shoots Dean. In season 8, Cass is programmed by Naomi to kill Dean, and in the episode Goodbye Stranger beats him to a pulp before overcoming this programming. In season 9, when Gadreel reveals himself and takes over Sam’s body and kills Kevin, he also attacks Dean. 

Skipping Season 10 for a hot sec (more on that below), Lucifer also later possesses Cass in Season 11 and harms both Sam and Dean. In Season 12, we get brainwashed Mary attacking her sons (and overcoming possession thanks to Dean). And possibly examples from S13-15 that I’m missing (Garth being affected by Michael? Cass being affected by Rowena’s spell? Both Sam and Dean were affected by the Witch from Wizard of Oz, right? I honestly can’t recall the late seasons near so well). But regardless we see the theme play out in the final 5 seasons, just less and a bit different than it had prior. 

-

Now, let’s unpack the S10 shift a bit, and why it changes things for this theme of Dean’s.

In S9, Dean takes on the Mark of Cain under the weight of guilt and self-loathing from having violated Sam’s bodily autonomy by tricking him into being possessed by an angel (and forcibly having him possessed by a demon to then fix that angelic possession). In this instance, Dean is willfully taking on something that alters his own body, and the narrative between he and Sam is flipped. Now Dean is the one with something ‘evil’ marring his body and impacting it outside his control, and now Sam is the one who is ignoring Dean’s protests and autonomy in order to save him from this thing, consequences be damned.

That 2.5 season role-reversal arc was huge for how it changed Sam’s storyline for the final 5 seasons, and similarly huge for how it impacts Dean’s.

Dean is now the one whose body is being used as a weapon against those he loves most, and he is the one suffering that loss of autonomy and control over himself. He is sick with bloodlust, is turned into a demon, is drawn to the First Blade, and is not in full control of himself. When the Darkness is unleashed and Dean suffers the emotional consequences of feeling tied to and drawn to this monster (woman? celestial being? godlike person?) against his will. 

The Mark/Darkness narrative shows us that Dean’s body might belong to him, but it too can be corrupted against his will. Dean learns that he won’t always be able to choose, learns what it means not to have control over his own body. That while he puts his family as his duty above all else, while he would sacrifice literally everything (his body, his soul, the entire universe) for his little brother, the opposite might also be true, even if Dean doesn’t want it to be. 

(And I said elsewhere that I fundamentally believe this narrative role-reversal was a consequence of him overstepping his ownership over Sam by tricking him into taking Gadreel. Their positions are swapped because they have to be, because narratively it becomes necessary for Dean to know what this loss of autonomy feels like, and for Sam to override his brother’s choices, or else they may never find a sense of equilibrium again).

By the time this Mark/Darkness narrative wraps up, Dean is fundamentally, irrevocably changed. Where in Season 5 it was completely unthinkable that he would agree to be a vessel for Michael, it is in the finale of Season 13, just two seasons after the Darkness storyline wraps up, that we see him take Michael into himself as a snap, in-the-moment decision. What was previously unthinkable is now canon. 

Because Dean is now different. Because his core of protecting Sam is the same, but his theme of how others' bodies are used against him has now upended itself, and he now has had his body used against others.

In my post about Sam, I said that in the end for the final seasons, the narrative has shifted from Dean owning Sam’s body to Sam also owning his own, and them acknowledging that they are in this together as a result of Season 10. I believe that happens with Dean as well, owing to this reversal. Sam has now taken some ownership over Dean’s body by getting rid of the Mark, and Dean has relinquished some of his tight-fisted control over himself. 

So Sam is sharing ownership over his body with Dean (in the vein of “I can’t pretend you won’t do whatever you can to keep me alive, even if I don’t want it, but we’re in this together” and “if we die we do that together too”), and Dean is also sharing ownership over his body with Sam (in the vein of “I’m no longer convinced you’re going to abandon me, so the things that I will do to keep you by my side will be met equal between us” and “when it comes to keeping you safe, it’s my autonomy I will give up first, not yours”). 

-

But what does this particular form of bodily-violence-from-family say about Dean from a thematic standpoint?

In my post about Sam, I talked about how the themes of possession (ghost and demon) and demon blood are inherently about bodily autonomy and free will. 

For Dean, thinking through this theme of his loved ones being used to hurt him, I’m torn trying to find the way to word it, but I feel that it has to do with his themes of self-effacement as love, as protection and duty. It’s about being willing to suffer anything (even to the point of death) to protect his family, the ones he loves most. Family is the end-all-be-all to Dean, and protecting his family (most especially his little brother) is the core and heart of his character. It is a duty and a responsibility and a calling and a purpose. 

To remix a quote from the film Legend, Dean’s devotion to his brother (and to a lesser extent, to everyone else he calls family) is how he measures himself. There’s no single word for it, as it’s a mix of protection as love, as an instinct, but also as a fundamental duty, an identity. His internal compass.

So Dean’s narrative invokes free will in a very different way than Sam’s. Dean always had and has free will. He had the will to sell his soul, the will to refuse Michael. He has autonomy over his body and he has choice, so much so that he makes choices over and over for Sam. Instead, Dean’s struggles with autonomy of self as related to his constant effacement (to the point of complete ego-destruction and physical loss of self) for the people he loves. He will die, sell his soul, let himself be beat to a pulp, and anything more that the situation calls for, so long as it means protecting or not harming his loved ones.

The original Swan Song end is a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions, in the style of Greek tragedy. Sam’s struggle for autonomy, and the moment he claims that autonomy for himself, he falls into the Pit for eternity. Dean’s original intended Swan Song ending is analogous: a struggle to exist as more than his duty to his family, and right after he accepts that Sam is allowed to choose Lucifer and death for himself while Dean may continue on living, he then chooses to fall into the Pit after his brother so they could be together (in Hell, in the Cage) eternally.

Both of them have these absolute tragic flaws and in the first Kripke-era arc, tragic sacrificial ends. Sam’s relating to will and autonomy, Dean’s relating to love, family and protection/duty. Both of them belonging to themselves and to each other.

-

-

A few extra things about this theme worth noting:

1. the people who love Dean are always in an altered state when they harm him, whether it be possession, brain-washing, siren venom, soulless, etc etc, which I think goes to show in some ways how this love as a given to people who will never deliberately harm him.

2. in a huge proportion of these instances, Dean is saved by the person who loves him reclaiming themselves over and above their altered state. John overcomes Azazel’s possession (arguably, I would say, deliberately from Azazel, but let’s not quibble). Bobby stabs himself in the stomach to save Dean. Cass overcomes Naomi’s brainwashing. Sam overcomes the literal Devil possessing him. Mary overcomes some brainwashing (I think?). Etc. So Dean's love as sacrifice is rewarded?

3. Sam’s body is the most frequently used to harm Dean.

[sethrine-writes]

Daughter of a Devil, Ch. 29

Main Characters:  Father!Dante & Daughter!Reader

Words:  794

Warnings:  Bittersweet (but mostly sweet)

Story Summary:  Being a parent wasn’t easy, nor was there such thing as being perfect at it. Good news for Dante, seeing as how he doesn’t have the slightest idea in hell what to do with a child. Sometimes, he was certain that fighting off a horde of demons was a far better match than keeping up with his own daughter. Well, at least he wasn’t going down without a fight.

A/N:  We’re nearly at the end! This chapter completes the Nero arch in a, hopefully, satisfying way. Next chapter will be the last chapter that I wrote up nearly a full 10 years ago...goodness! Hope you guys enjoy!

------

Chapter 29 - Never Goodbye (19 yrs.)

You stared out over the horizon, the sun’s rays reflecting golden hues off the ocean’s shimmering surface. It was a beautiful end to such a hectic mission, one that, despite all the hardships, was a rather exciting adventure.

In the end, you had watched the demon that Sanctus had become fall by Nero’s hands. It was this final showdown that had allowed Nero the chance to make peace with his demonic side, something you knew he had to do and glad he was capable of doing.

You were thankful that all had ended well. The city of Fortuna was now safe once again; well, safe until the next high-and-mighty entity decided to take over with its scourge of demon minions, that is.

You turned away from the scenery to watch the exchange happening between Nero and your father. Nero was attempting to return the sword, Yamato, to Dante, something you had fully expected to happen in the end. Despite the rocky road to their odd understanding of each other, Nero was nothing short of an honest guy, and even his misplaced hate for Dante in the beginning wasn’t going to hinder him in being the kind soul he was.

What you did not expect, however, was Dante giving the sword back to Nero with little hesitance. You followed the action with confused eyes, catching your father’s gaze for only a moment before he pulled his focus back on an equally confused Nero.

“This sword needs someone to watch over it, someone who can handle the power behind it. It means quite a bit to me, kid. I trust you’ll take good care of it. I figured that’s the only kind of gift worth giving.”

Dante turned away and began walking in your direction, a subtle meeting of the eyes between the two of you causing your own to widen in realization.

At first, you hadn’t been sure, but now the hidden implication was all too clear. You looked up at a still confused Nero watching your father’s retreating form.

Of course, it was so obvious now! All the ties to this place, to Sparda, to Yamato, to Nero himself…it all made complete sense. And leave it to your father to keep things so low profile that even you had been hard to catch on.

A smile graced your lips as a small flurry of tears threatened to form in your eyes. What a small, strange world you found yourself in.

“Hey, Dante! Will we ever meet up again?” Nero questioned aloud, sounding almost hopeful.

Your father never turned around to answer, instead choosing to respond with a wave of two of his fingers. He passed you up with a small smirk.

“Don’t take too long, squirt.”

Your smile turned into the slightest smirk of your own as you moved forward until you stood right before Nero, the half-devil having met you halfway.

“Well, it was quite the adventure, wasn’t it? Looks like you got something good out of it, too,” you began, referring to the sword now in Nero’s possession. He chuckled, though a sad smile was well-placed on his lips.

“I guess this is good-bye, then?”

Your smile only brightened as you shook your head. “No, it’s never goodbye. Think of it as another adventure in the making.”

“It won’t be the same without you. Or your father, for that matter.”

Another round of chuckles ensued, this time followed by happier smiles on both your parts. You reached forward and placed your hand on Nero’s shoulder.

“You’ll be seeing us around, I'm sure. After all this, we’re practically family.”

You turned away and followed the same path your father had, turning your head over your shoulder to give your final goodbye.

“See you soon, Nero.”

---

“Why didn’t you tell me, Dad?” you questioned while you looked out over the sea as the boat steadily moved along, the ocean breeze feeling nice against your skin.

“I didn’t have to tell you when you already knew. Well, maybe not in that little head of yours, but your heart knew. Besides, no need to waste small talk on things like that when there were bigger fish to fry.”

“Ah, so wasting your time around the city when you could have easily put a stop to everything the first day we arrived was time well spent, then?”

“Exactly!”

You could practically feel your palm itching, you wanted to hit him upside the head so bad!

“You do know that Lady is going to kill you when we get back, right?”

Dante’s smile deflated somewhat, enough that you nearly laughed at the daunting expression marring his features.

“Eh, at least the job got done.”

A sigh escaped you, long and freeing.

“Yeah, at least the job got done.”

[officialleotolstoy]

Oh Nikolai Brainrot We’re Really In It Now, aka Nikolai playlist annotations!

This is objectively the worst playlist I have because Nikolai is the character I’ve given the least critical thought to (sorry king) and it’s sort of an elaborate joke. Sorry Nikolai stans I’m doing my best to care about him now

Roll Call - The Neighbourhood

“Put you in the field with a gun to shoot and kill ‘em all, just play your part little soldier”

Initially it was just on here for the soldier vibes, but there’s a quote about him falling back into the mechanics of soldier life after he loses the money to Dolokhov as almost a comfort (I put it below), and the lyrics remind me of that.

“We’re told to die - and we die...Our business is to do our duty, to cut and slash, not to think, that’s all.” (Thank u for the quote Lucy)

Mars - Sleeping At Last

“We were full of life, we could barely hold it in, we were amateurs at war, strangers to suffering”

This reminds me so much of Nikolai’s first experience going off to war. He’s so naive and so scared and waaaay out of his depth.

Boys - Lizzo

“I like...boys”

He does.

Resistance - Muse

Something something forbidden love. Gay people. Also the importance placed on love as something central to the singer’s being...Nikolai’s insistence on marrying for love because to do otherwise feels like a betrayal of himself...hm.

The Nights - Avicii

I can’t isolate one lyric but the whole vibe of this song is a father telling his son to enjoy his youth and live it as best as he can, and it reminds me of Ilya sort of enabling Nikolai’s behavior in Volume 2 by constantly giving him money and not holding him accountable for much.

Rich Kids - Bea Miller

“Everything’s funny when you’re young with money and Mommy and Daddy’ll pay the way”

Nikolai IS the rich kid in this situation. This song is also on Dolokhov’s playlist because I could easily see Dolokhov saying all this mockingly about Nikolai.

Royal - Waterparks

“I wish I was royal but I’m not”

Alright this one is about the Tsar simping, and it’s only because of that one lyric. There are a disproportionate amount of songs about Tsar simping on here.

Sweet Home Alabama - Lynyrd Skynyrd

Cousinhood is a dangerous neighborhood, eh ;)

Holding Out For A Hero - Bonnie Tyler

“I can feel his approach like a fire in my blood”

Ok this one is also about the Tsar, but also about Nikolai’s general tendency to fall in love with half of his commanding officers.

Old Friend - Mitski

I can’t really explain why but this song gives me the vibes of that scene where he sees Boris again after a while off in the army? I know it’s supposed to be a love song but in my head it’s like. I used to know you and we’ve changed now but I still think of you which I think fits.

Doing This - Spies Are Forever

There isn’t a good lyric to pull for this but this entire song is just Comphet: The Musical and I really think it fits for Nikolai and his female love interests shdjsndnwnnd

Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) by ABBA

This one’s sort of just vibes but it’s so deeply associated with him in my brain I can’t take it off. He wants a man what can I tell ya

Undisclosed Desires - Muse

“I want to satisfy the undisclosed desires in your heart”

Oh hi Dolokhov! We’re going off the rails of canon here but I don’t have enough songs to make a Nikolai/Dolokhov playlist and somehow the concept of those two having a Thing has wormed it’s way into my mind. Anyway this song fits because it’s like. Attraction you can’t necessarily openly express/acknowledge even to yourself and it also gives off creepy energy. Like one person in this relationship has more knowledge/power over the other, which would be Dolokhov in this situation. Also the “show me how it’s done” fits my personal idea that his Thing with Dolokhov was the first time Nikolai was like oh hey wait I can have Things with men. This is a thing I can do.

A Complicated Song - Weird Al Yankovic

The middle verse of this song is a guy dating his cousin what more do you want from me? I told you guys this playlist was the worst.

Apologize - OneRepublic

“It’s too late to apologize”

This has post-card game energy. It doesn’t have to be romantic with regards to Dolokhov, the important part is the vibes of “I trusted you and liked you and you betrayed me”. Although the song does imply that the betrayer tried to apologize, which I don’t think Dolokhov would ever do.

Paparazzi - Lady Gaga

“I’m your biggest fan, I’ll follow you until you love me”

It’s just him @ the Tsar. Don’t expect anything better from me at this point

Obsessed With You - The Orion Experience

“My friends they just don’t understand, they can’t see my point of view, they say it’s gotten out of hand and I’m obsessed with you”

Here’s another Tsar song for you are you sick of it yet. That lyric specifically reminds me of the part where Denisov’s like aawww he fell in love with the Tsar cause there are no women for him to fall in love with haha and Nikolai’s like NO YOU GUYS DON’T GET IT THIS FEELING IS SO SPECIAL-

Run Boy Run - Woodkid

“Run boy run! They’re trying to catch you”

Lol remember when he just threw his gun at the French and started running away? Yeah that’s this part

I stole Land Of All and The Fall from another playlist, full disclosure, but The Fall is a Dolokhov/Nikolai song

Turning Out Pt. ii - AJR

“You said you’d love me, is that what I loved?”

Sonya and Nikolai hours! You literally can’t convince me that they were in love. Nikolai loved the idea of being loved by Sonya more than he loved her, and neither of them like the opposite gender anyway <3 I don’t care what Tolstoy said incest is bad and I’m fixing it in my head. Also the lyric “I think I probably wasn’t in love with you/I think I probably loved the idea of you” fits so well.

Mama - My Chemical Romance

“What the war did to my legs and to my tongue, you should have raised a baby girl, I should have been a better son”

I saw that bit in a uquiz lyrics question and went OH NIKOLAI ROSTOV ENERGY! And just added it to the playlist.

Hospital Beds - Florence + The Machine

Honestly this song just has war vibes. It also reminds me of that scene where he visits the hospital to try to find Denisov and is like WAAAAHHHHH EVERYTHING SUCKS!