#I haven’t actually trialed going off of it for more than a day when I missed a dose on accident

[antiadvil]

Literally lying in bed like wow I should have gotten Antwerp tickets. Girl what do you mean. You live in the American Midwest and if you don’t take 2.5mg of THC every night you start to feel like someone is scraping paint off the inside of your skull. Do not get on a fucking plane

[humbledragon669]

S1E6 – The Very Last Day of the Rest of Their Lives P1 - up to the dissolution of the Horsemen

Well can you believe it? The last episode of the first season! And the first thing I want to make a note of is… the episode title. I really struggle to make sense of it because, linguistically, the only way something can be the very last of the rest of anything, is if it’s the very last of the thing at all. I can sort of make this idea make sense if I look at it from the perspective of the end of episode 5, where Armageddon is starting, and it does very much look like the world is about to end on that particular day, but it feels pretty woolly to me. Neil has been asked about this particular episode title before, but his answer did not help me wrap my head around the concept. In fact, it just made things worse:

Nope. No, I’m sorry, but that makes literally no sense. Anyway, I don’t want to get hung up on the little details... Hey, didja notice how Crowley (aka Aziraphale) greets his trial panel in exactly the same way as he greets Hastur and Ligur in the graveyard?

And that throw away line about getting some houseplants is pretty telling when you remember that  it’s actually Aziraphale delivering that line (oh, spoiler alert there I guess, but I would have thought that anybody reading this far into the labyrinth of my brain wanderings is probably going to have seen this show at least once before). It shows that Aziraphale knows exactly what the inside of Crowley’s flat contains, and that the only thing he would care about enough to actually furnish a space is houseplants. One thing I do question though, is how Aziraphale would know who Hastur and Dagon are. He definitely would have known who Beelzebub is, saw her on the tarmac at the airbase in fact, but those two? I don’t know when he would have come into contact with them before, particularly in their demon forms. Crowley could have given him a description of as many of the named demons as possible I suppose, but it’s a bit thin as a theory goes. But more curious is presence of the montage at this point in the episode.

It’s just short of 7 seconds long, and takes place less than 2 minutes into the episode. It also happens to contain the entire storyline for the episode in reverse. Shots of Aziraphale (Crowley really) tied up in Heaven, Aziraphale and Crowley in the park together, the Bentley and book shop in their respective restored state, Adam with Aziraphale and Crowley complete with wings, Satan breaking through the tarmac – it’s all there. It even comes complete with those fuzzy little lines that you used to see when you were rewinding a video back in the days of VHS (yes, I do actually remember that) to show that we’re watching events in reverse. It’s not like we haven’t seen montages used to represent the passing of time in this show before, but this is the first time it’s been done with parts of the story that we, the audience, haven’t yet seen. It goes by pretty fast so it’s not like you’d be able to work out the plot by watching it in real time, but I think it’s a risky play nonetheless.

Next curious thing in this episode. The music playing from Crowley’s Bentley as he approaches the gates of the airbase is different to what we heard in the previous episode. It’s the same song, but it’s a different section. Not only that, but the music continues playing from inside the car after he closes the door, whereas in the previous episode the slamming of the door cuts the stream of music off abruptly. There is nothing else different about this rendition of the scene from the one at the end of the previous episode as far as I can see but it’s a subtle difference that I find interesting, especially when you consider how many of the beings involved in the events leading up to Armageddon come to have somewhat blurry memories of what happened.

I have to say, the depth of Crowley’s grief at the loss of the Bentley came as something as a surprise to me when I first watched this show.

It’s true, we’ve seen him driving the car a fair amount in this season, and we saw him repairing the dents and other assorted damages following his collision with Anathema in episode 2, we even saw him giving it a pep talk as he willed it through the flames in the previous episode, but he talks about it here almost like a pet.

You were a good car.

But if I was surprised at Crowley’s response to the Bentley’s demise, I was more surprised at Aziraphale’s refusal to allow the demon to grieve purely because he still thinks of himself as “the nice one”. Well, mate, for someone who’s supposed to be inherently “nice”, you aren’t showing an awful lot of compassion here, and towards the being in the whole of existence that means the most to you too. Honestly, there are a lot of times I have been quite forgiving (no pun intended) of the angel’s behaviour because he genuinely believes in his own goodness, but I struggle with this. WHY IS HE BEING SUCH A PRICK? And who said he had to send the soldier anywhere (complete with magical miracle noise, in case you missed it), or harm him in any way? He could just have miracled the gun away, or slid him into unconsciousness like Death and Adam have already done with entire groups of soldiers. Is he just so used to Crowley doing all the footwork in situations like these that he’s lost the ability to think for himself? Or is it that him being “the nice one” is part of their agreed partnership, and that’s the role that the two of them have agreed he will play, not because that’s what he inherently is, but because that’s what makes the most sense and would usually be the most comfortable role play for them? Perhaps it really is the latter, because it’s not too long before we see Crowley make a conscious decision to resume the role that he is being expected to play.

I can’t help but feel like the incoherent noises that Crowley makes are his attempt at trying to ask Aziraphale to deal with this next group of soldiers because he’s not done grieving. I should think he knows he’s pushed his luck on that front a bit too far when his bumbling is greeted with this look from Aziraphale/Madame Tracy:

That is the face of woman/man/angel that is not to be dicked about with. And he knows it, giving himself a pep talk and asserting his position in a way that almost makes it sound like it was his idea in the first place. Almost.

Side note: there are a couple of lines missing from the original script here that I feel very sore that we didn’t get to see:

CROWLEY: Aren’t you going to introduce me to your new body? MADAME TRACY/AZIRAPHALE: Yes. Right. Madame Tracy, this is Crowley. He’s… Well, we’re sort of business associates.

Sad as I am that we didn’t get to see those lines, the tirade of double entendre from Aziraphale telling Shadwell to brandish his weapon so that they can “lick butt” almost makes up for their absence. Watching Crowley’s physical reaction because of his choice of words goes the rest of the way.

It’s interesting that he manages to use this phrase at all, even if it not only looks but sounds as if he’s about to throw up; he couldn’t even bring himself to say the word “Heaven” when he was screaming in the book shop earlier that same day.

Quick note about R.P. Tyler: this really is one strange little individual. He seems to think that a child causing damage to some plants is equivalent to that same child waltzing into a highly classified military air base. Eejit.

We’re taking a quick visit to the soundscape again, inclusive of an Easter egg. I am in no way surprised at the use of a harmonica at the beginning of this scene, particularly given the stage directions provided in the script:

The feeling here is spaghetti western.

I am not of the age that I would remember the original film and scene that this is clearly an homage to (the “Man With a Harmonica” stand-off scene from Once Upon a Time in the West), but I have been to my fair share of Muse concerts (I think I’m in double figures now), listening to the “Man With a Harmonica”, to get the reference. A tribute to the original piece was also used in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, again as a backdrop for a stand-off. I have absolutely no doubt that David Arnold’s treatment of the Omens theme tune in this way was intended as both atmospheric and as a pastiche of a piece of music that is arguably the most well-known of all spaghetti Western soundtracks.

Do you remember how I waffled on about the parallels between the members of The Them and the Horsemen? Well, in case you weren’t sure about that being a thing, or maybe just hadn’t cottoned on yet, this shot should spell it out loud and clear for you:

It’s interesting to see the character development that Aziraphale has gone through since his realisation that Heaven is perhaps not as “Good” as it portrays itself to be when we see him taking control of Shadwell’s gun to kill the Antichrist with, something which he has adamantly declared that he would be unable to do previously.

Crowley’s stance on the other hand appears not to have changed at all – he’s more than happy to support the decision to end the life of an 11-year-old boy in order to save the world, just so long as he’s not the one pulling the trigger. In fact, he not only supports that course of action, he vehemently chastises any doubts in it being the only one available to them. Madame Tracy’s interference with this particular plan of action feels to me like another statement of a recurring theme throughout the show – that the presence of free will is an inherently human quality. On this occasion, we see two non-earthly entities that both believe that there is only one course of action to be taken (i.e. there is no free will) whose actions are disrupted by a human entity who believes that this cannot be the case. What’s interesting to me is that the theoretically weaker of those entities, the human, wins out this little battle, suggesting that the actions taken as a result of free will always be victorious when pitted against actions taken through a lack of choice.

I absolutely adore watching Crowley’s expression when Aziraphale and Madame Tracy are separated. He can barely take his eyes of the angel, except when Madame Tracy announces that the separation made her feel “all tingly”.

That side glance looks almost jealous to me… And what's with the little head dip with the flirty yet smitten (smited? smote?) shoulder squaring…

Oh, that’s right, it’s love. And probably not just a little bit of gratitude and relief that Aziraphale has been returned to him, at least for the moment. There’s even a slow blink at the very end of that clip that looks a bit like he might be trying to keep the tears away. This tiny sequence of body language cues has my heart melting every time I watch this scene, and bearing in mind that David is actually acting in the background of the shot here it speaks volumes to just what an incredible job he’s doing that I don’t watch anything in the foreground – my eyes are firmly fixed on him and his reactions. I’m pretty sad we don’t get to see the moment when Aziraphale goes to join Crowley (this assumption is based on the positioning we see in this shot and the one immediately after Newt tells Anathema he isn’t really a computer engineer) – there is a part of me that screams to see the eye contact and facial expressions involved in that whirlwind of inevitable emotions.

For a show that’s filled with dark comedy, there’s a slightly jarring sense of social delicacy in the dissolution of the Horsemen in that we don’t see any of The Them actually land a “fatal” blow. We see them take up the sword, see them holding that same sword after they impale their respective Horseman, we even see the suggestion of an impact, but we don’t see the brutal imagery of an 11-year-old child thrusting a weapon through the middle of an adult-shaped monster. The speech at the end of this episode is heavy on the subtext of the disappearance of innocence from children as they grow older, and I suspect the desire to maintain the feeling of childlike innocence in each of The Them is the reason we don’t see them committing a very violent act. We’re not only allowed to maintain that image, but it’s strengthened by Adam’s empowerment of each of them to do what needs to be done, and his assertion that the things they’re doing battle against aren’t actually people, but concepts. It makes the whole thing feel like children playing games in the woods, which I think is probably the whole point, and the reason we saw them doing so much of it earlier in the series (and especially in the book – honestly I actually got a bit bored of how much “children playing in the woods” content there was in the original text).

As a side note, and knowing that it has been pondered over by many others before me: how did Aziraphale’s flaming sword become War’s flaming sword?! I remembered to look in the FAQ list for this one, and couldn’t see that it has ever been answered.

Next side note: Dagon says that all of the legions of Hell that are readying for battle were angels before. Does that mean that every demon is a fallen angel? Because that’s a lot of fallen angels (Beelzebub says that there are 10 million of them later on in the episode).

That’s also a pretty big revolution to have taken place “before the Beginning”. Surely if you were in charge of a place where half of your employees took place in an uprising, you’d have to question the validity of your leadership skills? There’s a little kudos going out to the sound editors here too – that effect of Beelzebub’s voice to make it sound like she’s buzzing like the flies she’s lord of is brilliant, mostly because it’s not there all the time, but fades in and out for maximum effect.

I also love the idea that a nuclear holocaust could all be avoided by running the disk defragmenter. It’s actually kind of appropriate, the job of the defragmenter being to rearrange important elements so that they fit together better, eliminating bad clusters as it goes, and all to ensure the hosting system can perform more smoothly. Feels like quite an appropriate analogy of a world gone mad with war.

Bearing in mind that I have been rattling on about parallels between the members of The Them and the Horsemen, there’s something interesting about Death’s parting comment to the group on the tarmac.

I AM CREATION’S SHADOW. YOU CANNOT DESTROY ME. THAT WOULD DESTROY THE WORLD.

If we’re considering that the previously mentioned pairings are mirror images of one another, would this suggest that Adam also cannot be destroyed? Or would it mean that his destruction would result in the creation of something else? Or if we took the words literally, would that make him the product of shadow (“shadow’s creation” instead of “creation’s shadow”). I like this latter idea, given who his father is (at this point anyway), but there’s something to be said for his potential for creation too, especially given his chosen name. I think there’s probably a lot to be said for possibilities for Adam’s character, which I’m planning on exploring in the future so I won’t go into this any further here.

Given the repeated suggestions we’ve seen that death = starlight (I’m paraphrasing for simplicity) in this show, and in other works by the original authors, it’s hardly surprising that Death disappears into a cluster of starts. God even tells us that, although they look like stars, they may be something else entirely, and that they reside within Death itself.

The complete dissolution of the Horsemen feels to me like a good place to stop. As always, questions, comments, discussion: always welcome. See you next time 😊

[angelictearsshapedbytealeaves]

I’ve decided to review the first TGAA case. Because why not. Spoilers ahead if you haven’t played as well^^ as a newcomer to the series.

The first case in my opinion is a great tutorial for the game. Albeit with issues. A lot of good but the flaws it has prevent it from being truly great. Let’s begin with positives:

This game looks beautiful, is it a remastered 3DS game? Yes, but that doesn’t take away how stunning it all looks. The character models are well designed and brimming with personality, not only just that but the animations are spectacular. I have played games with a presumably higher budget and none come to how satisfying and smooth the animation is. I love how when Naruhodo slams his hands onto his desk and he for a second glances at them, it gives off a feeling of anxiety and fear so well. Alongside his eyes darting around the courtroom.

The gameplay is actually quite addictive, it’s a more subdued version of Danganronpa’s trials (have not played those but this is from speculation) yet it also feels very intense and gives me a dopamine rush the moment I point out a contradiction correctly. I even adore the fact you can investigate evidence further and it adds to the experience significantly.

The dialogue in this game is shockingly well translated and is full of charm and wit, Naruhodo, Kazuma, Jezaille and even the witnesses are plenty likable. I especially adore them all as characters and seeing Naruhodo grow more and more confident throughout the trial was so satisfying to see. Even if a dumb moment or two was here, overall it’s still very good quality. I also adore the little callback to Sherlock Holmes lore with Jezaille Brett’s name being a callback to the weapon that injured Dr. Watson in the Anglo-Afghan War (The Jezail) seeing as she killed him in this case. It’s a lovely reference honestly.

The music to this game is second to none, asides the Pursuit theme, my favorite track in this game is “Trial In Disorder”. The string section swelling up and it makes the atmosphere so much more oppressive in the courtroom. Especially as events transpires. This games music should not be at the high level of quality it actually is because the music in this game beats out a lot of soundtracks in games and its for a lawyer visual novel. (Track mentioned appears at end of post.)

Here are my negatives however:

The pacing in this case was so unbelievably slow, I don’t even think it was this long of a case but it felt like I was stuck playing it for two whole days, the amount of blatant in-court BS that happened to make this case go on longer (I get why it happened though, to show off how untouchable she seemingly was.) made it feel so much worse to go through.

Alongside the slow pacing I feel like a lot of the animations made it feel so slow, they’re all very well done and smooth but they also feel too drawn out at times and like the game was spending more time showing off the animations rather than allowing the case to flow by at a marginally better pace.

The entire steak segment and some of the testimonies should have been cut. A bunch of it really was pointless meandering.

Honestly not a bad tutorial. A 7.5/10. The very slow pacing and how stupid certain things were drag it down.

[littlespacereader]

To say I’m obsessed with The Bad Batch and the Clone Wars is an understatement guys…I AM OBSESSED! I live and breathe it!! So please, if any of you guys are fans of the prequels, The Bad Batch, The Clone Wars or of Star Wars in general, SEND ME THOSE REQUESTS!

In other news, I’ve been thinking about Echo and what it would’ve been like for him joining the Bad Batch as a flip (both cg and little). This fic focuses on that Caregiver side of him with Little Crosshair. There will be a Little Echo story coming very soon!

Please enjoy this brain rot story I whipped up! Love you guys!💞💞

Still Right Beside You💙

Caregiver! Echo & Little! Crosshair with Caregiver! Tech and Hunter & Little! Wrecker

Tags-hurt/comfort, discovery, cuddles, hand holding

The dynamic in the batch started to change. It had always been the four of them, Hunter, Tech, Wrecker and Crosshair. But now? Now Echo joined their squad.

Everyone was more than happy to have Echo join, happy to have another clone feel at home in their group of misfits. But what they didn’t realize was how their dynamics would change.

Hunter and Tech are the team’s Caregiver and Crosshair and Wrecker the teams Littles. It’s always been even, two and two. But now with Echo being an added Caregiver and Little. That changed things.

They had a big talk about it, the clones gathering and having dinner together, when Tech brought up the subject.

“Echo, now that you’re a part of this squad I must ask you, I understand you’re classified as a Flip. Do you still wish to be one?”

Echo paused eating his food and really thought about his question. He knew right away Wrecker and Crosshair were the Littles of the group but… ”I haven’t been one in years…I don’t know if I’d be any good anymore.”

“Why don’t we start with your Caregiver side first then work your way up to regressing again, alright?” Hunter suggested.

Echo nods, “Yeah, that would be great actually.”

Before his accident at the Citadel, Echo had been the Caregiver to Fives, his rambunctious Little. It’s been so long since he cared for a Little, he wonder if he still could?

“I was thinking maybe we could do a couple of trial runs. See how you feel after and decide from there.” Hunter suggests.

Wrecker seemed to be excited at the idea of it all. Crosshair, on the other hand, remained hard to read. Keeping his head down, trying not to look at anyone.

“Sounds good to me.” Echo smiles.

A couple of days later they were off their mission and had a day to decompress and relax. As per usual, the two Littles would regress and the two Caregivers would take care of them.

Today, Echo has a shot at it.

Wrecker regressed right away, being a Little with a big kid headspace. He immediately went over to Echo, insisting on playing every game they had on the Marauder.

Echo found himself slipping back into that Caregiver part of himself, a part he was happy to see he still had. He played a board game with Wrecker, helped him with a video game level he was stuck on, and even read a chapter of Wrecker’s favorite book to him.

Crosshair, on the other hand, refused to regress like Wrecker. He begrudgingly sat in his bunk and cleaned his sniper.

Tech and Hunter tried their luck to getting him to relax and regress. But Crosshair is nothing if not stubborn. He refused, keeping a close eye on Echo as he did. It didn’t escape Echo’s eyes that Crosshair was refusing to regress, especially with him around.

Eventually the Hunter and Tech managed to get the Crosshair to regress, but it was only alone with Hunter.

The three Caregivers of the group tried again, two separate times to get Crosshair to regress around Echo, but it appeared the stubborn sniper wasn’t going to do it.

One late night in the cockpit of the Marauder, Echo and Tech got a moment alone to talk. Tech was wrapping up some last minute reports on his datapad while Echo was just staring into space, lost in thought.

“Hunter and I have a plan.” Tech spoke, breaking the silence.

“For the next mission?” Echo sat up.

“For Crosshair.” Tech replied casually.

“Tech…” he sighs, “I don’t think you should bother anymore. He’s made his point. I don’t think he wants me to join in and be another Caregiver to him and that’s perfectly fine.”

Tech goes quiet for a moment, “Is it?”

For some reason…that cut deeper than Echo would like to admit. “It’s not about me.”

“No, It is about you. It’s because you’re a reg Echo.”

Echo felt a piece inside of him start to crumble hearing that. “I figured….”

He knew they did exactly care for regular clones, especially because they had been bullied for years from them. He didn’t blame Crosshair for his hatred of him.

But he didn’t see himself as a reg anymore. He didn’t see himself as the 501st clone trooper he used to be. But he didn’t know exactly know what he saw himself as anymore.

“You see Echo, you’re not just a reg, you’re a ARC trooper. And when Crosshair was the age he was when he regresses, he was obsessed with the ARC Troopers. He would never admit it, but he wanted to be one more than anything.” Sits back and explains as he types away on his datapad.

“He once got lost from us on Kamino around the same age he regresses to. We didn’t find him, but an ARC trooper did and brought him back to us. From the little he’s told me and what I assessed, the trooper was kind to him and it impacted him greatly.” Echo paused for a moment both in shock and just processing the story. He nods his head as if connecting the pieces slowly but surely.

Tech looks up from his datapad before he continues. “He trust you to be a part of this team and to be on missions with us. You’re a defective clone like us, he sees you as one of our own. But when it comes to his regression it’s simply that he’s stubborn and more than anything shy around you.”

Echo sits there, in disbelief. “It’s because I’m an ARC trooper…and he’s…he’s shy?”

“Precisely.”

“So if that’s the case…what’s this plan of Hunter’s and yours?”

“It’s going to begin when we finish this mission and arrive back Kamino…” Tech starts to rambling the plan away. The more he goes on, the more Echo realizes, this could actually work.

~~~

The Batch all sat around their big barracks on Kamino. The mission was over and now they could finally rest and relax the stress away.

Wrecker sat playing with his plush Lula, making an elaborate story for her. Meanwhile Crosshair was trying desperately not to regress, sitting in his bed cleaning his weapons once again.

Echo and Hunter sat together at the table in the center of the room. Echo looked nervous, “Hunter, are you sure this is going to work?”

“No idea. But I know this is the only way to see.” Hunter tries to reassure. He looked at the time and then back to Echo, “Ready?”

Echo nods, “As I’ll ever be.”

Hunter nods before he stands, looking to the two Littles. “After our last mission we need to do a supply run. Wrecker, you, Tech and I will start packing the Marauder for the next mission. Echo you’re in charge. You’ll stay here with Crosshair.”

“What?!” Crosshair chimed in, standing from his bunk.

“Problem Crosshair?” Hunter asked.

“Why am I staying back? Surely Echo can take care of himself.”

“You’re both staying back. We won’t be long.” Hunter said firmly, “That’s an order.”

“Hunter-!”

Before Hunter can reply, all heads turned to Tech as entered the barracks pulling a crate behind him. He pulled it over to Echo bunk and dropped it there. “Here you go Echo, just like you ask.”

Tech didn’t explain more, and Crosshair couldn’t help but steal a glance or two to the new crate.

“What’s that?” Wrecker asked, standing up and walking over to the group.

“That is a crate of Echo’s old belongings.” Tech said, being vague for once. He walked over to the group. “Ready Hunter?”

“Ready.” Hunter looks to Crosshair, “Be good for Echo.”

Crosshair crosses his arms, but there’s a hint of something aside from his stubbornness, a hint of something else…….shyness?

The three go to leave, Hunter patting Echo’s shoulder and giving him another a small smile.

Then it was just the two of them.

The two stand there, staring at the door for a moment as if sinking it all in.

Then they look at each other.

Crosshair keeps his arms crossed as he looks over at Echo. When he meets his eyes, he quickly looks away, going back to his bunk and cleaning his weapons again.

Echo sighs. Looking as the sniper clean his weapons, he could see how he was on the cusp of regressing, how he was barley hanging on. This is his moment with Crosshair and he knew now’s the time to step up.

He walked from the table to his bunk and, more specifically, to the newly dropped off crate infront of it. He took a seat on his bed and started fiddling with the locks.

“Crosshair could you help me-.”

“No.” His replay came quick and immediate. Echo doesn’t need to look up to know Crosshair is probably glaring back.

He starts uncliping the latches on the crate, each one he does loud and deliberate. And with each one, he can see it starts to peak the interest of the sniper.

“Sure you can’t help me with this?” Echo asks again.

Crosshair’s reply comes a bit slower this time, as if thinking about it. But his stubbornness wins over again. “…no.”

Remembers back to Fives, his best friend, fellow arc trooper, and Flip best of all. He remembers when he would regress and be stubborn on occasion. A small smile crests his face at the memory. But with it, he remembers how he managed to break him out of it.

With a big and dramatic *sad sigh* “Okay…guess I’ll have to look at all my old Arc Trooper gear all by myself. And here I thought I could have someone to help me….oh well.” And with that he flipped the last latch and opened the crate.

He pulled the top open and with it, all the memories of his days with the 501st came flooding back to him. First he picks up a holopicture of the team. How young they all looked, how he missed them all so much, especially how he missed Fives.

He put that down, and instead grabbed his old helmet. He looked into the front of it, seeing the damage it sustained during the battle at the Citadel. They never found him or his armor, but they found his helmet.

Guilty plagued him for a moment, thinking back to Fives, what he did without him all those years, thinking he was dead, then what happened to him….

“Is that your helmet?”

Echo jumped, looking over at Crosshair who leaned against the wall next to him. When did he walk over?! But looking into the sniper’s sharp eyes, he could see he was on the track to regressing.

“Yeah, it’s my old helmet. Not much to it is there?” He joked, smiling back to Crosshair.

“Did you create the design on the top of it?” He asked, looking at the blue paint.

“I did. It closely resembles my brother Fives’. Our helmets looked similar.” He pats the bed next to him and scoots over, inviting him over. “Here, come sit.”

Crosshair looked a bit shy at first, trying to hold himself back. But Echo’s smile and reassurance starts to bring him out of his shell. He sits next to him, looking at the helmet in Echo’s hands.

“Here,” he holds his helmets out, “you can hold it.”

Crosshair carefully takes the helmet from him, looking at it in awe. He moves it around, looking at every detail. “What happened to it?”

“There was an explosion at the Citadel. I was trying to protect the soldiers and people in my party but I didn’t realize there was a bomb on the shuttle.” He explains a bit sad.

“Do you remember anything about it?” Crosshair ask softly.

“No. I don’t remember anything after it. I just remember the Citadel and then I remember you guys saving me on Skako Minor. But nothing in between.” Echo explains.

“I…I didn’t believe you were even there, I didn’t believe Rex when he kept saying you were alive……..I’m sorry,” Crosshair looks back up to Echo.

“No apology necessary. I don’t know if I would’ve believed it myself if I was in your shoes.” Echo smiles, patting his shoulder, “But I’m honored to be here, honored to be a part of this squad.”

The two go on to look at the rest of his armor. His original armor got destroyed in his accident at the Citadel but most clones troopers always has a back up set.

He showed Crosshair his gauntlets, his blasters, his kamas, and more. All while Crosshair looked in awe, Echo’s helmet by his side, making comment here and there, asking questions about everything.

The more they looked at things, the more Crosshair started to regress and get closer to Echo. Eventually they were shoulder to shoulder with each other, Crosshair leaning against Echo’s side.

“Alright,” Echo looked back to Crosshair and smiled, “I saved the best for last.”

He lean forward and unwrapped his chest plate. He lifted it up and looked to Crosshair with a smile. The blue hand print on the chest plate and the arc trooper blue pauldrons. It was hard not to recognize the unique design.

Crosshair froze looking at the chest plate. His eyes widened as his hands ghosted along the blue hand print on the front.

He looked back to Echo, a small blush on his face. “It was you…” he said softly, looking at Echo in shock and awe. “You’re the ARC trooper that found me.”

Echo is a generation 1 clone, one of the first clones ever made. Crosshair and the rest of the batch are one of the newer generations.

“I don’t remember a lot of moments of my life before, but I remember you, the small silver haired cadet.” He smiles, wrapping his arm around him. “I saw you in the hallway. And the two of us spend the afternoon trying to find your brothers. Remember? Remember the game we played?”

“We played scout mission.” He says softly, still reeling from the shock of this.

“That’s right, you and I were trying to scout out Kamino as we looked for your brothers.”

Crosshair looked at Echo is utter shock and awe. “I remember that day. I remember ever moment. I…” he starts to blush, “I wanted to be like you.”

“You’re better than I could ever be Crosshair, your shooting skills and abilities are something so beyond any ARC trooper’s capabilities. I couldn’t be more proud of the clone you turned out to be.”

There was a hint of tears in Crosshair’s eyes as he looked back to Echo. He looked as though the wanted to reach out and hug him but was shy to do so.

Echo closed the distance, wrapping his arm and scoop around Crosshair, brining the Little close. Crosshair cuddles close, resting his head against Echo’s shoulder like he did all those cycles ago.

“I’ve got you Crosshair, I’ve got you. I protected you back then, and I’m going to protect you now.” Echo adds softly, a hand rubbing up and down his back.

The two stay like that for a moment. Echo just holding the Little sniper close to him, protecting him, all these years later.

~~~

Two hours later Hunter, Tech and Wrecker walk through the hallways of Kamino, back to their room.

“What’s the percentage that this plan worked?” Hunter asks, holding a regressed Wrecker’s hand as he walked.

“87 percent.” Tech answers back.

“That’s not bad! It’s not zero!” Wrecker enthusiastically exclaims.

“Echo has a very high chance of getting through to Crosshair consider he is the ARC trooper that found him all those years ago.” Tech explains like it’s nothing.

Both Hunter and Wrecker stop, looking at the yellow goggle wearing clone shocked.

“What?!”

“That was Echo?!”

“Well…I thought it was obvious.”

“HOW WAS THAT OBVIOUS TECH?!” Wrecker yells, not out of anger but out of confusion.

“Wrecker, bring it down a notch.” Hunter squeezes his hand.

The three continue, walking down the hallway and then right into their barracks. What they find is an adorable sight. Echo is sound asleep in his bed with Crosshair cuddled on top of his chest.

The Little sniper has one of his chewable necklaces in his mouth and his arm wrapped around Echo’s chest.

The Caregiver slept with his scoop around Crosshair and his hand holding a datapad with some of Echo’s old mission logs.

“THEY LIKE EACH OTHER NOW!” Wrecker yelled, loud and happily.

“Wrecker!”

“Wrecker!”

Thankfully Crosshair didn’t wake up, having been used to Wrecker’s loud voice for cycles. But Echo jumped awake.

Tech took Wrecker off to the other side of the barracks to play, while Hunter walked over to Echo and a sleeping Crosshair.

He smiles at the two before patting Echo’s shoulder, “Welcome to our family Echo.”

After Skako Minor Echo didn’t know where he fit in, what he was anymore. But in this moment he realizes. He may not be the clone he once was, but he was something better now. An ARC trooper and more importantly a Caregiver again. But best of all, he’s right where be belongs, with his family.

[agentnico]

Agatha All Along - season 1 (2024) review

Down down, down the road, down the Witches Road…

Plot: A spell-bound Agatha Harkness regains freedom thanks to a teen's help. Intrigued by his plea, she embarks on the Witches' Road trials to reclaim her powers and discover the teen's motivations.

I’m not going to waffle about my complaints with the current state of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I’ve already rambled on a substantial amount in my previous reviews regarding this subject matter, so let’s leave it at the fact that my opinion and thoughts have not changed. That being said, WandaVision was one of the few enjoyable projects in the post-Endgame MCU era, as it had that original and unique flavour with messing with different television formats, and additionally was interesting in how that show explored the effects of trauma and grief. Naturally due to its success, Disney being Disney and Marvel being Marvel meant a sequel or a spin-off was inevitable. In this case it’s Agatha Harkness, who was played with a lot of funky energy by Kathryn Hahn in WandaVision. As enjoyable as she was, I never considered her to need her own show. I guess really anyone can get their own Disney+ series these days!

Kathryn Hahn is the primary reason to watch Agatha All Along. She’s as enjoyable as ever, cackling and wincing her way through each episode, and it was entertaining to constantly question her moral code, if she’s a villain or if she was turning to the good side. Hahn is great, and I am so glad she’s getting the recognition snd good roles now. As for other cast members, they are okay. Joe Locke as the teen came off a little pretentious, and Patti LuPone was the only witch I actually cared about. Aubrey Plaza as the mysterious Rio ends up being exactly what you expect her to be, and though Plaza nails the sarcasm, it’s nothing you haven’t seen her do before.

In regard to the series’ style, it’s really campy. The trailers in my opinion promised more horror aspects which were not present in the final product, but my main complaint is with the show’s look. It feels cheap. From the costumes to the sets, the whole thing is reminiscent of a CW or SyFy show, and you can tell Disney is probably tightening their budgets following the backlash of recent releases. But with something like Marvel you still expect to see something of visually interesting style, especially as they are sourcing a lot of narratives from comics and graphic novels, which one would assume would inspire more colourful and memorable set pieces. Unfortunately this show doesn’t offer any of that. The best you get is some rip-off witch costumes from other Disney projects, which I felt was more so for Disney to show-off how much Hollywood they own.

As for the narrative, for the most part this show is dull. It’s a very repetitive concept where in every episode our witches take on yet another trial, and though some trials do stand out more than others (episode 7 where a character time-jumps using tarot cards was particularly memorable) as a combined package it meant that catching up every week with a new episode was at times a chore. The other infuriating factor was the endless foreshadowing. This show consistently would bash you over the head with clues of what’s to come, but the clues were so predictable that when the reveals finally did pay-off they were not surprising even remotely. Reminded me a little of that Walk Hard segment where the kid says “ain’t nothing bad gonna happen today” only for him to get spliced in two 5 minutes later.

Superhero fatigue is real everyone! It’s happening! I’m kidding of course, I’m still holding out hope that Marvel and DC will get back to their former glory, but evidently there is still a long ways to go. Agatha All Along didn’t do it for me, however I do admit that Witches Road song is a banger and has been stuck in my head ever since!

Overall score: 4/10

[rose-of-the-grave]

Lean On Me

Pairing: Harry x Hermione

Hey, here's a somewhat angsty fic of Harry being a bit anxious about the third task! This was inspired by this request. As always I'm the author (please don't repost)

Masterlist. Read on Ao3

Warnings: kissing, anxiety, fear of abandonment, established relationship, fluff, Hermione making Harry smile

Word Count: 926

Description: Harry is nervous about the third task but he has his girlfriend by his side. They might be young but they know that they are meant for each other.

Taglist: @sylveryfire, @jake26786

On a random Friday evening Harry was sitting up on the Astronomy Tower, overlooking the Black Lake. After the second trial he was getting nervous. He had managed to avoid death for the past fourteen years of his life but now it looked like his good luck could come to an end. They put an age restriction on the cup for a reason. He never wanted to compete but now he was in it. Tied for first place with Cedric.

Why couldn’t he just get a break from risking his life for once?

“Hey.”

He kept on looking forward, recognizing Hermione’s voice.

“You’re the best.”

“What are you doing up here?”

She took a seat next to him. “I was worried about you. I haven’t seen you since lunch.”

They hadn’t been dating long, only getting together after the first task. Even after knowing him for three and a half years she still felt as if there was a part of himself that he kept hidden and it hurt knowing that. She knew that he loved her and that he trusted her but sometimes she suspected he didn’t want to worry her.

Hermione still remembered the day they realized that they wanted to be more than friends. It had been strained ever since he and Ron stopped hanging out but she had tried to let him know that she was there for him no matter what. After seeing him being chased by the Hungarian Horntail she knew that she had to tell him what she had realized over the summer. Out of everyone that she wrote to over the summer, he was the only one to consistently respond and actually take an interest.

Once they had started dating, he had still been the same boy who she had been friends with. Caring and compassionate. He always showed her how much he loved her, despite others telling her that she was too much at times. Whether it was listening to her ramble on about her most recent book or how he would find little gifts that made her heart melt. Whether it was a new book that she had mentioned once in passing, some treats for Crookshanks, or a heartfelt note, he never failed to make her day a bit better.

Hermione took one of his hands in her own, “Hey, I know you’re worried about the third task but trust me. You will be fine. We can go over some of the spells that are taught in the upper years so you’ll be on an even playing field. I found a book that has tons.”

“Thanks. Right now, I just want to sit here and think.”

“Okay.” She leaned her head down on his shoulder and just sat there next to him, her mere presence calming. His arm snaked around her waist, holding her close to him. They sat there looking out into the distance for a while, comfortable with just staying there together. After a while, her neck was starting to hurt so she pulled away to stretch only for him to make a small noise that almost sounded like a whine.

“I’m right here. I’m not leaving.” She said, looking at him. That was one of the things that she had quickly realized after they started dating. He did not like parting ways, even when it was just for a few minutes. Every time however she would simply try her best to show him that even if she left for a little while she would never actually leave him.

“Trust me, you’re never getting rid of me.”

He hugged her, his head nestling under her chin. She returned his hug, squeezing tightly. When he finally pulled away she ruffled his hair a bit. Smiling, she took him in. With his messy black hair, a smile on his face with his glasses sort of askew. Pulling them off, she turned them around to put them on her face.

She then got a wonderful idea, making various weird faces at him. He started to laugh and the sound of his joy made looking goofy worth it. He was absolutely adorable. From the way he scrunched his nose to the light in his eyes. If there was one thing that she loved doing more than anything it was putting a smile on his face. She knew she couldn’t protect him from everything, that was his burden as the chosen one but she vowed to always protect her Harry. The eleven year old boy who became her best friend and was always by her side. The twelve year old who defended her when others insulted her because she was a muggleborn. The thirteen year old who trusted in her. He may be the boy who lived to the rest of the world but to her he was Harry. Her best friend, her rock, her everything.

She started to laugh as well along with him. Harry leaned in to kiss her, but neither of them could stop laughing. With everything going on it was difficult at times to find something worth laughing about.

“You’re the best.”

She blushed.

“I honestly don’t know what I would do without you Mione. I love you.”

She met his eyes, her own a bit watery. This wasn’t the first time that they had said those words but it always got to her, knowing just how much he meant. Some people, including her parents, were a bit skeptical because they were still so young but she knew that she had found her person

“I love you too.”

[cloudtastrophie]

A little headcannon tidbit based off of chapter 2 of @canarydarity 's ranchers baseball au <3

-----

St. Louis felt infinitely like home. Or, as close to home as Jimmy could get. Coming into the city from the Illinois side of the river made him sick to smell the air of his childhood backyard. To taste the dirt in his mouth as he, once again, lost against Grian at the diamonds. St. Louis was 10 times smaller than grand old New York, New York, but it was 10 times more welcoming. The drivers were calmer, the streets less full, the culture more laid back. It was a lazy city, sticky and slow like molasses in the early summer midwestern heat. 

As the team bus rattled its way across the Eads Bridge, Jimmy felt Joel smack his arm, breaking his gaze away from the lazy flow of the Mississippi. “What in the bloody hell are they building?” Joel muttered, half standing to see over Tango’s shoulders across the isle. Tango looked as if he was about to burst out of the window, he was pressed so hard to the glass. He swiveled his head to look at Jimmy and Joel. 

“You two haven’t heard? It’s been in every paper for weeks!” He was practically vibrating with excitement. 

Jimmy shook his head and stood up taller to see what the fuss was about. By then, the whole team was ‘ooh and ahhing’ at the absolutely massive structure being built, right on the banks of the river. 

“It’s going to be called the Gateway Arch. It’s probably going to be the biggest feat of engineering since the Empire State. Probably better than the Needle out in Seattle is going to be.” Jimmy raised an eyebrow, a hint of a smile on his lips. Since when did Tango have a special interest in engineering?

“I did a few months in an engineering class. Got me hooked, but numbers are easier to understand.” Tango explained, as if he had read Jimmy’s mind. Then he turned back around and continued to peer at the stories-tall cranes slowly moving into place, and the two wide, square beginnings of what would apparently become a feat of engineering. Jimmy didn’t really see the draw, but he leaned across Joel and the isle to Tango anyways.

“We should come back to see it once it’s finished.” Jimmy said, watching the construction site fade behind them. The Cardnial’s stadium appeared behind the looming Old Courthouse. 

“I agree!” Tango replied, beaming. Jimmy didn’t care if he was 100 by the time the Arch was finished. He’d come back and see it with Tango when it was done.

------

hi worm i know you're reading this,,,ok I haven't had the energy (or time) to do any art for the baseball au but the brainrot has been stuck with me for DAYS. so I decided to write a little tidbit of how I imagined the ride into St. Louis for that game against the Cardnials. I have a lot of love for the city I grew up around so I really wanted to do something for it for you :) And if you're interested, here's some of the history I incorparated to make it feel more historically accurate! (i'm a cloested history buff, can you tell)

the st louis gateway arch began construction in 1963 technically, but I'm like 90% sure that there was soo much prep work done on the site before the actual construction, as there is a basement underneath it, and a huge walkway/viewing platform area, as well as the whole thing with the levee right on the Mississippi. I wanted to sort of figure out what that would look like in 1961 when the plans were being laid out. Also, the Arch is a certified national park, it's professional name being "St. Louis Gateway Arch National Park"

The Old Courthouse. UGH its one of my favorite buildings I've ever seen actually. Its so beautiful, and you can, from the road I'm writing them on, see Busch staduim looming behind it. The Courthouse also actually held the first two trials of the Dred Scott case, if you're into that kind of stuff.

The Eads Bridge. Also one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. It is the oldest bridge on the Mississippi and was constructed under the care of Andrew Carnagie. That bad boy is made out of actual authentic Carnagie steel. Sooo history rich. Pretty sure they actually held a parade with elephants once it was done. so that's cool

Oh, and Busch stadium. It wasn't called that way back when! And it looked much, much different than it does now. I'm honestly not sure what it was called in the 60's, but I'm sure most people called it Cardnial's stadium. It was a beautiful and massive stadium back then, and it still is now.

the seattle neetle was being constructed around the same time as the arch as well, which is why i had Tango say something about it LOL

And for funsies, here's a scorecard that I'm sure Tango would've recieved in 1961 from the stadium.

hope you enjoyed my little rant!! And if you made it to the bottom of this and you're not worm, I hope you enjoyed learning a little about st. louis today. :)

[circletrapped]

i haven’t written fanfiction in about a year and a half but the brain worms are winning so here:

Stormy Seas

Elliott/GN!Farmer

2.3k words

Fluff, no actual hurt but there is comfort

Rating: G

Description: Elliott is definitely not afraid of thunder, so there’s absolutely no reason for you to come to his cabin in the middle of the night for the purpose of comforting him. But since you’re already here, he may as well enjoy your company.

///

Crash!

The blinding flash of white light and immediate follow of close thunder jolts you from your sleep. Storms have never particularly bothered you, but the noise interrupted the perfectly fine dream you’d been having. It wasn’t anything particularly unusual or special - you were just taking eggs from your chickens and every time you thought you had finally collected them all, you’d turn around only to find more eggs. You turn over and pull the covers over your head, hoping to muffle the sound of the wind howling and the raindrops clacking incessantly against your windows.

Tick, tick-tick, tic- BANG!

It’s useless. You’re not falling back asleep anytime soon, unless by some divine intervention the storm dies down. You sit up with a sigh, giving a glance around the barely-illuminated room to check for leaks. You can’t help but feel a small amount of triumph at the fact that none of the rain has been able to seep through the roof. You’d been living on your grandfather’s farm for quite some time now, and decided you could at least teach yourself how to do some simple repairs and maintenance to save some money. Profiting from the crops you grow is anything but quick, so every little bit helps. The first time it had rained on the farm the old house was practically flooded, so you took the time to patch the roof yourself. It took quite a bit of trial and error after each storm to get it right, but it looks like the last repairs you made to your roof are holding up well.

Another loud whoosh of wind cuts through the walls of your house and you pull your blankets closer to you to combat the cold. Spring had just begun, but the winter’s chill was stubborn and holding its grasp as tightly as it could. You note that even the empty side of your bed is cold to the touch. It makes you recoil your hand back into the comfort of the heat radiating off your body.

You’d had enough of cold hands during the winter. Since it was far too cold for any worthwhile crops to grow, you’d spent most of your time fishing by the sea. It was brutal, but Willy was a kind man who always gave you a fair price for what you caught and would occasionally share a hot cup of cocoa with you on days when not even your gloves could protect your hands from the bitter chill. It made the beach your favorite place to fish.

That, and the presence of Elliott. You smile to yourself as you remember your first time meeting him.

It was a much warmer day, and you were trying to get the hang of using the rod that Willy had gifted to you as a welcome present. You were ecstatic that something had caught your hook was actually allowing you to reel it in, but the feeling quickly evaporated when a piece of trash emerged from the water. You swore, probably louder than you should have, only to have it met with a small chuckle.

You were ready to swing around and share an obscene gesture with the offender, but stopped in your tracks when you laid eyes on the tall, handsome tree of a man with inexplicably gorgeous long hair.

“At least you caught something. I’d be lucky to hook any sort of junk.”

From that point forward, you made it a point to see him every day. He was easy-going, had the soul of an artist, and took great pride in everything he did. The first time you felt brave enough to flirt with him, the bright blush on his face and the spark in his eye gave away that he was a hopeless romantic. The two of you would spend hours talking to one another on the beach until one rainy day, he wasn’t out there to meet you. You knocked on the door to his cabin and he invited you in with open arms. He told you two things that day that you stored in the back of your mind.

“I’ve never cared for storms like this. I actually feel quite foolish for moving to a house on the beach - the serenity of the water becomes an unbearable battleground in this water. I can never sleep when it rains here, and there’s no way I’d be insane enough to leave the safety of my cabin when it does. I need to watch for leaks and place something to catch the water before it reaches any of my papers.”

And,

“Of course, you’re welcome any time. Though I’d prefer you confine your visits to daylight hours. If my sleep gets interrupted, I tend to be a bit cantankerous.”

After that day, you knew wanted to learn everything about him and be the muse he’d been looking for. And after learning of his affinity for lobster, every single one you caught was gifted to him until the day you handed him a bouquet of flowers with trembling hands. What started as being the most nerve-wracking days of your life became one of the best as he accepted and reciprocated your feelings toward him.

Boom!

The thunder yanks you out of your memories. Poor Elliott, you think, he’s probably tossing and turning with this weather. Or maybe he’s running across his cabin securing his writing from any water that might invade. You look at the clock resting on your bedside table.

1:04 A.M.

He ought to be sleeping at this hour. How could he write or expect to go through the laborious process of styling his hair without getting enough rest?

You brace yourself for a moment in anticipation of the cold before you throw the blanket off yourself as if ripping off a bandage. The chill seeps straight into your bones as you slip on a pair of shoes and pull on a jacket. It offers no protection when you open the door. You hesitate for a moment, wondering if it’s really worth it to walk across the town just to cuddle with your boyfriend. Conjuring the image of his unkempt hair and puppy-dog eyes as he’s struggling to sleep is plenty of motivation.

It’s pitch black outside and the rain isn’t helping, but you could navigate the town in a blindfold at this point - especially the path to the beach. To Elliott’s cabin.

The wind nearly knocks you off your feet a couple times, but you arrive at his doorstep, albeit drenched in rainwater from head to toe. You knock on the door feebly, your hands shaking as they refuse to forgive you for forgetting a pair of gloves.

After a moment, the door opens to the exact sight that was in your mind at the start of your trek.

“For heaven’s sake, get inside!” Elliott gasps, grabbing your ice-cold hand and pulling you across the threshold and quickly shutting the door. His next words bounce between concern and outrage. “You’re soaking! What on Earth possessed you to walk across the town in this weather?! Oh, you’re shivering! What were you thinking? Get out of those wet clothes or you’ll freeze to death! I have some you can borrow. What are you doing here? This is so careless! Are you alright? What were you thinking?”

You hang your coat on a hook at his instruction. While it took the brunt of the rain, the rest of your clothes aren’t exactly dry. Elliott looks up from his dresser and back at you, his brow creasing further and frown deepening.

“All of it,” he demands. You can’t resist.

“Oh, Elliott, I just got here. You’re not even gonna offer me a drink before you get me undressed?”

His furious expression doesn’t change, but a bright blush quickly spreads across his face.

“Are you out of your mind? I ought to cart you off to the clinic this instant to get your brain examined!” He tosses a shirt and a pair of sleep pants to you before turning his back and resuming his fussing in a mutter. “Trudging miles to my cabin in the middle of the night during a thunderstorm and having the gall to immediately flirt with me, you are unbelievable!”

“Sweetheart, I’m joking,” you laugh as you pull off your shirt and replace it with his. You do the same with your bottoms, tugging the strings as tight as they’ll go to make sure they don’t fall off. Despite the muscle you’ve gained from farm work, he’s much taller than you so his clothes hang quite loose. They’re much warmer, though, and they smell like him. You have zero intention of returning them. “Alright, I’m dressed. You can look at me. Even though we’re dating and you could’ve watched me change. I would’ve made a little show out of it for you.”

Elliott doesn’t turn to face you. Your playful smile falls at the thought that he’s actually upset with you.

“Elliott?”

More deafening silence. And rain.

“Elliott, I’m sorry, I just.. I wanted to make sure you were alright. I know you’re afraid of-”

His head whips around and the glare on his face stops you in your tracks.

“I mean, I know you have trouble sleeping when it storms. And sleep is good. I wanted to help you sleep.”

The anger on his face crumbles at last and his shoulders fall as he releases a loud sigh. He walks toward you and brings his hand to your jaw.

“You’re lovely,” he whispers after a beat. “You’re too sweet for your own good. Do you have any idea how much the idea of you getting swept away in the storm scares me? I don’t like to worry about you.”

You let out a small laugh at him. “Swept away? I’m not that small.”

“You know what I mean. I have enough to be strung out over when it storms like this, I don’t want to have another thing to make me pace about.”

You lean forward to give him a quick peck on the lips.

“You know you don’t have to worry about me,” you insist. Elliott pouts at this.

“This is coming from the one who, on multiple occasions, has been found passed out in the mines covered in slime and bat bites? And now you’re galavanting through dangerous thunderstorms? I don’t think I worry about you as much as I ought to.”

You laugh again and take his free hand, slipping out of his grasp and leading him to his bed.

“Well, enough pacing. You need to rest. You know I worry about you not taking care of yourself when you get lost in your writing.”

Elliott gives a half-hearted chuckle as he follows your lead. You release his hand and throw yourself onto the bed. It’s much softer than the one you have at home. The only thing that would make it more comfortable is Elliott. The man is practically a space heater. Before he joins you, he hesitates.

“And for your information, I am not afraid of th-”

Crack!

The yelp escapes him before he can bring his hand to cover his mouth. Combined with the fact that he jumped nearly a foot in the air at the sound didn’t make for a convincing argument. You can’t help the maniacal laughter that escapes you.

“You’re not?” You giggle.

“Enough already,” Elliott huffs as he lays down next to you. You wrap your arm around him and guide his head to bury into your neck. You give him a tight squeeze and he lets out a breath of relief.

“Don’t worry, tough guy,” you coo, “I’ll protect you.”

He grumbles at being patronized but snuggles closer to you. With Elliott in your arms, the racket outside doesn’t sound so bad. It’s almost like music. Even the thunder quiets down, although it still makes Elliott flinch. You almost think he’s actually sleeping until a new sound joins the symphony.

Drip, drip, drip…

“Damn,” Elliott mutters. “I knew it would leak.”

He moves to investigate but you hold him tighter and shush him.

“I’ll take care of it in the morning,” you whisper. “I’ll clean it up for you and help you patch the roof.”

“You can do that?”

“I did it to mine. I figured Robin has her hands full enough, especially after storms like this. I’m happy to.”

“Didn’t know you were a farmer and a handyman.”

“And miner, and fisher, and my cooking is second to none- you’re pretty lucky to have me on your payroll.”

“Payroll? How much is this repair going to cost, then?”

You think for a moment then shuffle so you’re face-to-face with him.

“A thousand kisses.”

“One thousand, eh?”

“Afraid so. Between the materials, the labor, the expediency fee… yup, comes out to a thousand.”

You stare into Elliott’s eyes as you both sit in silence, stupid grins on both your faces.

“You won’t mind if I put down a deposit then?”

“Oh not at all, that’s actually a pretty good ide-” Elliott cuts you off with his lips on yours, peppering short kisses on your mouth, cheeks, and forehead while you giggle from the way his hair is ticking you. He finally comes to rest in the crook of your neck, sprinkling a couple kisses here and there before letting out a contented sigh.

“How’s that? Was that a thousand?”

You hum to feign consideration. “Just about. You can give me the rest if I do a good job tomorrow.”

“That sounds reasonable.”

You plant one last kiss on the crown of his head and feel his arm drape over your side. Thunder crashes outside again, but Elliott doesn’t flinch. You smile to yourself. You don’t doze off until you hear his soft snoring beneath you.

“I love you,” you whisper.

“Love you too, darling,” Elliott mumbles, half-asleep.

[good-beanswrites]

Same Lights, Camera, Sing Your Sins anon here (you know if I'm gonna keep sending anon asks because of ideas, I need a shorter name...) Glad they're getting time to cool off on what happened during the trial. This project is hard on them all QvQ

Okay another thought! While working on the Trial 2 MVs, you think the prisoners get to watch everyone's first MVs? Like, maybe praise how each video looks ("Oh my gosh, Amane you look amazing!"), making comments with Jackalope's artistic choices (Shidou's flower mummy) and how stiff some of the prisoners look ("Fuuta you're walking like a tinman." "Shut up!"), some singing along to songs they've overheard earlier (Kotoko singing Weakness), and...er...shirtless Mikoto ("Amane don't look!"). Idk, this makes their filming for the next MVs sound more fun as they hang out.

Hello again!! omg Thank You for sharing once again, I’m obsessed with that 🥺🥺🥺 That's so wonderful picturing a little movie night... (And yes, feel free to pick a name :D else I will dub thee 🎬 next time given the theme lmao)

Okay so my original idea was that those first videos were actually watched on the down-low. There were a few days of nothing going on while the prisoners debriefed, made plans, and communicated their song ideas to the writers to start working with. (Minor detail but I think they’re cut off from the world still, no internet access though they can exchange a few messages/visits with family). They do, however, get access to the others’ T1 videos on their phones/ facility computers. Everyone gave permission to watch them, but there’s a bit of hesitancy. They haven’t started filming their new videos yet, so no one has gotten a look that deep into anyone else’s hearts. Just because they’re closer in this au doesn’t make them better communicators -- there’s still a lot that’s been left unsaid regarding near-murders and their true selves. So they only watch them in secret out of respect.

Haruka hides under the covers to watch After Pain on loop late into the night (going “she’s just like me fr”). Fuuta doesn’t care much for the others’ songs but tries to decipher the crimes as best as he can. He probably gets one stuck in his head the next few days that he finds really embarrassing. Mahiru gets very emotional over the other lovers, doing a poor job of hiding her sympathy toward Yuno, Shidou, and Kazui in the following days. Kazui is embarrassed to watch Throw Down so often, but Shidou is such a subtle man and it’s nice to see a more open side to him (who admits to lying as well). Amane takes a while to watch them -- they’re videos supporting murder and sin, after all -- but once she convinces herself it’s to help the experiment, she allows herself to enjoy  them. Kotoko does the same as Fuuta but jumps straight into Fandom Mode and starts taking notes and analyzing the others’ videos. She keeps a secret folder on her phone of theories and symbolism and screenshots for reference. 

HOWEVER

You have opened my eyes to Milgram Movie Night 👁️👁️

Everyone realizes they’re going to need to get comfortable with a lot of personal info really quickly, since T2 filming starts in a few days. Rather than Jackalope’s suggestion of undergoing a painful group circle talk, they go with Mikoto’s idea to all sit down to watch the videos together. This keeps the atmosphere up while they watch, allowing for many compliments and encouragement. It also lets the singer defend things in their video if they see fit, though most let it speak for itself. (Fuuta: “ah, back when I was a menace online.” “You’re still like that Fuuta.” “I’m a changed man!” “You got one guilty verdict and nothing’s even happened yet.”)

I love all of those reactions so much ahhhh! Amane getting showered in compliments like she deserves. Honestly, all of them getting showered in complements because it's what they deserve ;-; Playful teasing getting thrown around for everyone. Not even Jackalope is safe from their heckling (see: Throw Down flower person), and he's not even there to defend himself. There’s lots of blushing and eye covering during MeMe. And a singalong aspect!! I don’t know I didn’t think to incorporate that into the fic so far -- there’s nothing quite like heckling your friend onstage by echoing their lines really loud from the wings asdfsdfsd. Mikoto recognizes the video game from Fuuta’s and makes his whole day. Mahiru and Shidou realize they have both flowers and food in common, and get to talking. All at once, everything clicks into place for why Amane hated Shidou him so much.

I'm also realizing Kazui would have a Moment TM while seeing all the prisoners talking so comfortably about their deepest selves and struggles. I don't think he'd break down and open up just yet, but I bet it's be a pretty big change of heart for him to see such honesty/vulnerability...

Plus, most of my original ideas can still stand after the fact! There's no shame in seeing too much personal info about another prisoner, the only shame comes from just how many time the video was looped in private lmao

[awfulronpa]

Awfulronpa Chapter One

Part one

I lied down in my room, staring out to the wall. It’s been three days since our kidnapping, and we’ve been getting friendly. Well, some of us. Others much preferred to be alone. Which is reasonable, i suppose.

We were left to stay on two floors only. The stairs leading up blocked off by some cage. Ironic. We’re trapped in a cage.

I recalled everything that’s been happening. Andi, Swappy, and Melowon have been getting closer. They seem to calm down around each other. Louise and Ebony prefer to stay far away from the group.

Bobby…is a jackass. His ego is bigger than this building. Dorky and Ryuji are fun, i talked to them the most for the time being. Marble and George spent most of their time thinking over the situation. And Ouroboros? He was just causing trouble for the fun of it. Makes sense for the Ultimate Asshole.

I yawned. It’s been a long day, i should get some sleep.

The next day, it was horrifying.

We were all out in the cafeteria, as we agreed. Everyone showed up. Everyone but one.

Finally, Melowon spoke up. "Where’s Andi? I haven’t seem them show up yet.." we all murmured in agreement, no one has seen them.

"Someone should look for them, in case they’re sick." I said as i stood up. "Ill go look for them, you guys should start eating." They nodded, and i went searching.

I checked their room, no one was there. When i was walking back. I smelt something..disgusting. It was coming from the girls restroom. I didn’t want to be gross, but i had to check.

I gently opened the door. I couldn’t see anything yet. But i witnessed Andi’s body slouched over. The more i walked in, i saw it. Andi was drowned in the toilet. On top of that, scratch marks showing visible blood wete on their back.

I shrieked. This was horrible. Someone actually killed?? I thought we all had..SOME humanity!

The rest came running in shortly after, a few other screams made. Then sobbing. "WHAT TH’HELL! THAT’S A KID!" Bobby said. Oh, he has sympathy.

The announcement sound rung out. "Students! All of you report to the gymnasium for a meeting!" Monokumas graining voice was played out.

No way in hell are we- "wait." Dorky said. Huh? "We should listen to him, for now. He clearly holds some power over us." We begrudgingly agree.

We all file in, seeing Monokuma propped on the podium. "I knew one of you guys had it in you! Hah! Took you forever though!"

"Cut the bullshit, what do you want." Ebony hissed.

"Whoa, easy there! You need to prepare for the trial!" Monokuma explained. Trial? What trial?

"Right! Yall’re newbies! You basically need to find out who the killer is! Guess correctly, and they receive a punishment! Guess wrong, and everyone but the killer receives punishment!"

"What type of punishment..?" I asked, terrified for the response.

"Well..execution sounds like a better term for it!" Everyones face goes pale. All of this is too much.

"The trial should start relatively soon! Get sleuthin to find an answer, shmucks!" And with that, the bear was gone once more.

We all got an update on our student handbooks— we learned it was called that —about the information on Andi’s death. Girls restroom. Drowned in a toilet. Now, to look for clues.

Me and Dorky inspected in the bathroom, finding pieces of torn clothing from both Andi and the killer. Along with that, bits of chipped nails were scattered on the floor.

Looking around with Ouroboros, we found utensils missing in the kitchen. Mainly…forks? "Maybe the scratch marks were actually made with forks." He snickered. This isn’t something to laugh about.

Well.. he wasn’t entirely wrong. I saw Ebony and Swap find 2 bloody forks just around the corridor that had the bathroom.

I overheard Ryuji mention that Andi’s room was askew as well, i guess that hints there was retaliation in their room before they inevitably died in the bathroom..

"Alrighty shmucks! Times up! Make your way to the elevator so the trial can start!"

Okay, we gathered enough evidence we could find. Everyone filed in the elevator. As it ascended, we were dead silent. I took a deep breath as i prepared.

The murderer will be revealed, i promise you, Andi.

[elysia-nsimp]

OC introduction: Prince Jonah Cainwell (Twisted Wonderland)

(featuring comet!)

Basics

Jonah (he/him) is the Student Council Vice President (replacing the faceless character from glomas) of Nobel Bell College, based off of Prince Hans from Frozen. He is a cishet man 😒😒 (I’m kidding he’s bi he just doesn’t know it yet), and 18 years old.

Jonah’s around 6’1, so just a tad shorter than Rollo himself. He’s a pretty average build and weight for his height. He’s not super athletic, but he stays in good shape.

So, we don’t really know a lot about NBC’s classes, so I’ll be going off the idea that it has similar classes to NRC’s roster. That being said, Jonah would excel at ancient incantations and curses, as unlikely as it is for those to appear in NBC. He enjoys mythology, and excels at history and art. He’s likely in some kind of business class as well, which he’s also good at. He’s shockingly good at a lot of subjects, but

Hobbies, Talents, Preferences

As stated above, Jonah loves art. He makes glass mobiles and wood carving kits in his free time, and sells them in the markets when he’s not in school. He’s started many small businesses to get money here and there, including a cardboard cheeseburger stall in the school cafeteria because they don’t sell those and apparently people wanted them.

Jonah is known campus-wide for his ability to bend rules to his will through malicious compliance. He has never broken the letter of any law, but he does find workarounds for any rules he doesn’t like or approve of (usually if it’s unjust in his eyes or it’s for the betterment of the student body (this is where the cheeseburger thing came in, the school itself is not allowed to sell them nor are people allowed to sneak off campus to get burgers.))

There’s an on-going joke that Jonah is a boat enthusiast because he mentioned ONE TIME that he thinks boats are a cool way of traveling the soleil. He likes them a NORMAL amount, but all his peers tease him and blow up how much he likes boats. He thinks this is funny, and plays into it with theatrics.

Backstory

Jonah is the youngest of a total 7 siblings so, although a prince, he will never make it to the throne. Jonah doesn’t particularly care about titles, he kind of disregards the Prince title as is, but what he DOES care about is power.

Throughout his childhood, he was very much emotionally neglected due to him basically being backup to the power of 6. This led to his siblings picking on him for most of his life. As soon as he was accepted into Nobel Bell, Jonah packed his stuff and left ASAP.

He’d cut his family off, but he “wants a backup source of income” in case he runs out of money from his little spur-of-the-moment business ideas. That being said, he does not like them at all. None of them.

Due to his not great upbringing, he’s kind of cynical person. He speaks mostly through sarcasm and backhanded compliments, though it’s for the most part just intended to be teasing. Jonah actually is a genuinely nice person… he just… has a power complex.

Actually, that’s why he’s vice SC president. He wants nothing more than to be in power, because he never had that growing up. He does want to rule a kingdom or country or something, but he can settle for a school for now…

Jonah is also a hopeless romantic. He’s been searching for true love’s kiss for years, hoping some beautiful princess will whisk him away from the trials and tribulations of life… one day, he hopes to travel the world with his future partner. Until then, he waits for the door to open. /ref

Unique Magic

I haven’t decided on the incantation yet, but Jonah’s UM is called Frozen Heart and it can create and fix inanimate objects with ice (think Elsa’s ice dress). Jonah specializes in ice magic!

Relationships

Rollo Flamm

Jonah has conflicting feelings about Rollo. On one hand, he considers Rollo a friend and a peer, and someone he respects greatly. On the other hand, MAN is he jealous of Rollo’s position. This ends up coming out as Jonah constantly pushing Rollo’s buttons (see the cheeseburger thing, it pissed Rollo off but he couldn’t do anything because it was barely in the rules) and messing with him for fun.

…he’s also very obviously in love with Rollo but HE DOESNT KNOW HES BI YET anyway you didn’t hear it from me /j

Azul Ashengrotto

They met during glomas. They became fast and frankly terrifying friends. Keep them away from each other they WILL plot and scheme together.

Other Works

Playlist!! https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3HW7AeQ3rzvyrHsqGwXTSA?si=g2hc2RJySEK3BXmUjWIM0g&pi=u-T0kdIKb9T1q0

Media

no he will not wear the hat it messes up his hair :(

[divkazkdovikde]

diary entry, monday, 8th of july 2024

guess who came back from the deepest pits of hell to the world of living

i have no idea when was the last time i stopped to think about and reminiscent on my current daily life, new stuff, what was i up to and shit like that, everything is going so so fast and like 99% of time i have no idea what am i even doing. i’m tired, i’m struggling, i’m getting better and i keep getting up every day and that counts

the hell exams period was? my days pretty much consisted of school-work-sleep (if the derranged fucked up not-routine i was pulling off can be called that) on repeat.

- i started working in a coffee shop (real fancy shit- specialty coffee from the forest, boss is a little fucking arrogant bitch (she’s a joke fr) but colleagues are great tho) (it also made me a coffee snob- my greatest nightmare came true) so i’m living the ultimate college experience now

- when i was not at work i was deep down buried in school stuff, and i also went through this four weeks of school internship during the exams, since i refused to complete it in summer, which made me absolutely exhausted to death (had to wake up really fucking early for it) and the studying couldn’t go any slower.

- so i was sleep deprived, frustrated, annoyed and oversensitive for like two months straight (gay) the only people whose companny i could stomach without worrying about my social battery were my flatmate (we were absolutely in it and dying together, shout out to her for always knowing exactly what am i going through) and our friend from highschool (she’s the best, shout out to her for having all those study dates with me and motivating me to productivity, you’re a real one babe, and the girl walks for mental health after almost every session) (and shout out to star girl for even if so far, still always here (if you’re reading this, thank you, you are the best and i’m very grateful for you)

the end of the exams were rather fiasco-esque but i got through it, thank fucking god

anyway, to the fun stuff, during the semester, i had this little sidequest going on, which was doing pixel graphics for my friend’s game. mind you, i’ve never done pixel graphics before. but it was absolutely a fun thing to learn and do. i didn’t think i would enjoy it as much as i did

i also quite lived the social life, some events i enjoyed more than other, but it was lovely anyway. met some new people, saw some of my favourite people too, family time was there as well

culture wise it was not boring either, galleries, trips with friends, exploring the big city, etc etc, you name it

had my birthday somewhere in between too (broke the “i always cry on my birthday because something always fucks up and that’s why i hate them” curse)(got some of the best gifts ever too, like i’m actually so emotional, the best of them all? the new abnormal (my favourite album ever) vinyl - honestly fuck my flatmate for that, i will never top that gift)

i also kind of stole my mother’s old camera (she wasn’t using it anymore, shame on her, honestly) so i’m currently learning how to work with it

got new tattoos

i became an insane plant mom, i have so much of them now fr. two of my plants died, i really tried to save them tho, rip. and another one’s really sick now and i’m getting desperate, because i have no ideas on how to save her left. but the rest is good well and thriving

i haven’t been able to read much lately, if i finally could find the time for it, there was no energy left, so it was a bit weak on that front. but, i did read something, if i have some czech babes here - srpny, jakub stanjura (trust me, it will ruin you, it’s really good) and i started to rereading the trials of apollo (never finished it in the first time, so that’s what the goal now) and i absolutely stopped reading fanfictions (a tragedy, really, i miss it) and i haven’t played any game in weeks either (miss that too). i’m currently trying to catch up those things, since i have a bit more time sans the school

even though i haven’t got time for much of my hobbies lately, i did manage to develop a new one, it’s an obsession at this point tbh. formula one, guys. actually my brother follows it for quite some time now (we can be talking years probably) and i always was like “yeah, whatever.” but somehow, i don’t even know how, these fucking f1 reels kept showing on my instagram and i was like “wow that’s actually kind of funny and definitely cool” and then “let’s go watch dts, to see what the buzz is about” which i enjoyed at first but started to lowkey hate it, seems like a unnecessary soap opera to me, and so i decided to fuck it and just buy the subscription, so i (and my brother in extension, of-bloody-course) can watch the races and other stuff. and i absolutely live laugh love it

- fun fact: it actually helped me a lot to keep motivated. i had it on the background quite often during studying and the buzz, passion, enthusiasm and the fast shit made me buzzing too and kept me motivated, because it sparked my sport’s soul and you know how it is, once a competitor, always a competitor, “if they can drive those fucking fast cars and go through all that, i can study the fuck out of this shit” so yeah, that was and unexpected but rather great turn of events

(i would also like to apologise to everyone i ghosted and/or took ages replying to, here, my friends, my bachelor thesis leader… little miss girl was having a hard time to keep herself going guys, i’ll get better again, i promise, or i’ll certainly try to)

i’m also learning and trying to cook more, i never was really bad at it, but i also never cooked much, so i would like to improve my skills and experience. it always takes my mind off things and i find it quite therapeutic, so yeah

also my reading goal is waiting for me and i can’t wait to get back to the stack of unfinished/unread books again

i have my summer mostly planned out, going to visit some cool places too, can’t wait

i wish i could say i’m happy but life is still playing chess with me and i’ve always been terrible at chess no matter how many years i went to the chess club. but yeah well, you gotta keep going right? try to look out for yourself, keep fighting and stuff like that huh? i’ll be alright, we all will

summer’s here guys, let’s enjoy the shit out of it, i had enough of survival mode

+ current music obsessions:

- touch tank - quinnie

- so high school - t swift (dunno how that happened, smh, it’s so bad fr, but i’m vibing, let the girl vibe)

- gasoline - måneskin

- bon appétit - katy perry (yep)

- moth to a flame - swedish house mafia, the weeknd

- stargazing - myles smith

- birds of the feather - billie eilish

also my favourite playlists lately here: f1 vibes , summer vibes and sunset vibes

[skylarmoon71]

Timeless Wells (Flash) - Speedster Chapter 18

“A movie night?”

“Yes. It gets a bit boring having a great big mansion. I haven’t had a chance to relax. Neither have you. We should take advantage of the opportunity. “

It doesn’t sound too bad honestly.

“Alright.”

“Great, I‘ll pick you up at nine.”

He looks awfully excited.

“Just so you know I hate horror movies.”

“Noted.”

“I also like comedies and crime.”

“Got it.”

“No hallmark movies.”

“But they are the best!” He protested.

You figured that aspect of your earth in comparison to his stayed the same.

“Too predictable and unrealistic. All of them start the same. Girl meets a guy in a small town, they fall in love and discover they were meant to be. I’d rather watch a bunch of FBI solve a crime.”

“I suppose it was hoping too much to expect you to be up for a romantic comedy.”

“Yes..” You state.

He merely smiles.

“I’ll find a balance between the two.”

That’s what he said.

You were still skeptical. But he looked so excited just at the fact that you accepted his invitation.

Work in the lab is a bit slow. Something that you appreciate. Given all the excitement that you’ve experienced, you’re grateful for the down time.

“You’re going to watch a movie with him?” Avery asks.

You nod.

Evan snorts.

“I think he’s just bored. Typical for rich people.” You laugh at the statement.

“I can’t speak to that. But it might actually be fun. He’s been dealing with a lot. I can’t imagine what it’s like running an entire laboratory. I don’t envy this job.”

Evan nods. “Me either. I’ve always loved technology, but running this place would drive me crazy.”

Avery’s eyes are focused on her lunch and you’re a bit curious. She’s gotten a bit quiet.

“Everything okay Avery?”

She doesn’t respond, not until she feels your eyes on her. Her eyes grow wide and you’re about to question it, but her gaze turns on Evan, determination clear from her expression.

“D-Do you wanna watch a movie tonight!!”

You’re pretty sure the three tables down heard the statement. Evan looks a bit shocked, but he nods slowly.

“Y-Yeah I’d love to..” He mumbles.

“Really?!”

He nods a bit more confidently.

“Realy.”

Her cheeks are flushed and she returns the smile.

“Okay.”

They both looked so foolishly happy and you grinned.

“You guys are so hopeless.”

Evan nudges you playfully and Avery just laughs bashfully.

The rest of the day is very calm.

You grab a few snacks as you head over to Harrison’s place.

He was right about the place being huge.

“Geez, this is massive..”

He chuckles, taking your coat as he guides you inside.

“Make yourself at home, I’ll take these.”

You hand him the items as you move towards the living room.

Everything is pretty much set up.

“Just give me a few minutes.”

He calls.

“Take your time.” You respond, as your eyes look at the movie that he’s chosen.

“Red.”

It’s not one that you’ve seen, but Bruce Willis is in it, so you’re ecstatic.

Harrison walks back in with two bowls of popcorn.

You’ve already made yourself comfortable.

“I take it you’re ready.”

You smile.

“Ready!”

He returns the smile, setting the bowls down. He searches for the remote and when it’s in his hand he sits. He’s a lot closer than you expected and you blush despite yourself, looking ahead.

He starts the movie and you do your best to keep your eyes forward, if nothing but to distract you from his closeness.

~

Harrison nudges you at one point when you begin to doze off. He laughed at your attempt to look casual.

By the time the credits roll around you’re fully asleep.

“I’m sure that wasn’t what you expected.”

He gets no response.

It takes him a moment to realize that you’ve fallen asleep. Your body is leaned against the cushions of the couch. Harrison smiles.

He never thought he would see the day such a relaxed expression would cross your face. So often you’re plagued with fear, doubt or hurt. He knows that you have a lot of scars that still haunt you. He understands. Because he feels all the trials that his counterparts have gone through. All those conflicting emotions. Maybe that’s why it’s so easy for him to help you. Because he’s lived somewhat multiple lives.

He reaches over, brushing the hair that has fallen in front of your face. For a brief moment, his fingers linger right there.

“You’re one of a kind Harrison Wells.”

It plays back in his head, the look you wore. Smile you embraced.

It’s a memory he’ll never let go of.

His fingers drift a bit lower, and when it brushes your lips, his body turns just a little. He swallows, a bit confused about the thought that runs through his head. You shift and it startles him. He means to move back, but you fall right into his shoulder. His body goes a bit stiff. You lean into him further. You mumble something, and sigh almost happily. You take in a deep breath and a smile graces your lips. If he didn’t know any better he would have assumed that you could tell it was him you’re pressed up against.

He takes in your steady breaths in hopes that it will level his heart rate. Your face is so much closer now. He turns his head and your lips are almost calling to him.

“I..shouldn’t..”

It’s wrong to even entertain the thought.

“Harrison..”

It’s words that are uttered from your mouth and his brows furrow.

“(Y/N)..”

He has no idea where it’s even coming from. Unconsciously, he finds himself moving closer.

Harrison gulps, eyelids lowering as you release another soft breath and he closes the distance between the both of you.  

[jail-buddies-au]

I like how you randomly appeared on my fy, checked out your art,read some of your AU and was like "yes,a person of quality.Mhm." *cutely follows*.

You are now obliged to share more of this (/nm) because this Au will now be on my mind for at least a month

“A PERSON OF QUALITY” M CRYIIINGGG SJDJKSSJ THANKS

Im actually just a silly person that didn’t like the ending of their hyperfixation so i said “mm no pass me the pencil”

Haven’t been able to draw much but i do have some loose ideas and info

I find interesting that without the last time travel in canon absolutely EVERYTHING would’ve have gone downhill, like normally in the past time travels takemichi did there was always a good change, something good that happened, like kazutora’s survival in Valhalla vs Toman, that even if the future ended up worse, that change was still something valuable.

In Kanto vs Toman this gets completely erased, there’s literally no way out of a bad ending, three people died with absolutely no recompense, because the future staying exactly the same as bonten TL, Mikey being far away from everyone, but with three more dead people.

Takemichi dies and all turn into this in the matter of a week

That’s kind of what dragged me to think about this, am i being redundant??? Also i felt the necessity of exploring more Mikey’s mental health through the manga, which was heavenly implied and tried to give it a little of closure, which was something that i really wanted.

Now, there IS in fact a last time travel in this AU, but unlike canon, they don’t go back to the beginning beginning. Mikey travels back to this exact moment

I think that the time capsule moment was a very nice point to travel to, idk how to write a coherent paragraph so lemme just do it like this:

- Characters who’s death ate important to other characters development remain dead (shinichiro, baji, emma, izana) THAT ALTHOUGH IT HURTS ME SO MUCH, i didn’t like that everyone suddenly revived

- here is when Mikey starts to get actual fucking help LMAO, like while they were burying the time capsule, Mikey already knew what he was end of being, he literally planned a twelve-year-long su!cide at that moment. So i think that for the final TL to get a happy (as much as it can) ending is taking that plan back and actually start a healing journey with everything that has happened am i overthinking too much?

- ANYWAY, imma be fully transparent, i don’t know when exactly Mikey travels back, I know that he’s the time traveler because of michi giving him the power before dying, and Kazutora is the trigger. But idk if make him travel back the day Kazutora gets released from jail or before (still gonna keep him some good years behind bars tho)

NOW I CAN START WITH SILLY STUFF

- Theres a stray cat that lives in the prison called Arepa, all the prisoners know her

- Kazutora is REALLY well behaved in prison, and he has some privileges bc if that of course, Mikey thinks that’s a lie and that he actually sucked off some guard to have said benefits

-on the other side, Mikey is completely unstable, one day he can be rotting inside his sell not giving a fuck about anyone, and the other he can be fighting to death with another inmate

-he has been in solitary confinement more than once

- Kazutora receives letters from chifuyu every now and then, Mikey received a lot from Sanzu and even one from koko but he never answered, he wants to be forgotten just like in Bonten TL

-Chifuyu testified in Mikey’s trial, he also visited him once, that conversation is very well daydreamed in my head kakdjsksjjs

- There’s a good amount of mental health talk in this AU bc of course that Mikey and Kazutora in the same room was a great idea of me, so if you’re sensitive to that be careful 💙

-right now I’m drawing a little comic about Sanzu and Senju but i just have the sketch for now forgive my sins, and there’s actually a lot of panels and convos i have already like completely finished in my head, like when Mikey travels back? That’s COMPLETELY planned already jajdjsjsj im just slow

That’s all I think???? (It’s totally not but if I remember something ill post it or edit this)

Lemme know your thoughts before i consider myself cringe and delete all this text ISJDJDJSJJSJS

[1moremilgram-enjoyer]

Good luck on the Davi-- wait shit, wrong blog- All jokes aside, now that you've gotten into Milgram I NEED to know your thoughts on either Kotoko or Muu, I don't mind which one honestly can you tell I support women's wrongs

Thanks for the- I mean David who?

I see you have… certainly a taste, in characters. Yeah, I’ll talk about those, though as a warning I still haven’t obsessed over them as much as I have over some of the others, so opinions are subject to change.

CW: Murder, mentions of suicide.

>Muu: Inordinate amounts of silly, I kinda love her and want to see where she goes in Trial 3. I need to know what made her so fucked up. What makes her want to be a “queen bee” so badly, and what That One Girl did to “knock her off her throne.” And I just have to know what she meant in After Pain when she said “I love YOU”, like what’s the deal with that? That’s not even getting into “counterattack as a suicide note”, which seems to imply she knew attacking That One Girl would imply social suicide? At least that’s how I see it. But what made her decide to do it anyways, then? Clearly it wasn’t to regain status if it was “suicide.” Am I just reading the lines wrong?

Like all the other characters, she’s really interesting, especially because she doesn’t even seem to realize how fucked up she really is. It’s wild to see her talk about Haruka, like being idolized to that extent is just normal for her. But it’s also weird, because she lies to Es about not throwing buckets of water on anyone (well, technically she may have just thrown water in bottles or something, but the idea stands), so she clearly knows some of what she’s doing is wrong.

The fact she’s usually paired with Fuuta is also really interesting, but if I start talking about parallels and stuff I am going to end up destroying my brain way more than I can afford to lol.

Anyways, I love her a lot, she’s really intriguing :D

I would have voted her ass guilty every day of trial 2 :D

>Kotoko: One of these days I’m going to have to sit down, really look at Harrow and figure out what the hell is actually going on in her murder(s). How many hoodies can one woman wear? I swear to God, the only character with a more complicated storyline so far is Mikoto “How many people did you guys even kill” Kayano.

Anyways, Kotoko. I feel like I’m repeating myself, but she really is super interesting. Righteous and clearly well-intentioned, but she’s somewhat hypocritical and too prideful to notice. I’m really interested in seeing how she’s going to take getting guiltied this trial, because let’s be honest here, unless her video is the most heartbreaking, sympathetic piece of media ever produced, her ass is not getting forgiven by the fandom after what she pulled post-trial 1. Do you think she can get a worse ratio than Muu did this trial? I could honestly see it if her video doesn’t help her.

I also just really wanna see how her second Voice Drama goes, I want Es to go fucking feral. You know they are fucking pissed at this woman.

I am so excited for Deep Cover, I can tell it’s gonna be real fun.

Anyways, she may not be one of my favorites, but Kotoko is still a really good character and I really wanna see where she goes.

Thanks for the ask, and I hope you’re satisfied with the answer! Take care!

[athetos]

top 5 videogame osts?

Picking just 5 is impossible so I’m going to go off and list as many as I want

Under the cut for obvious long reasons

Chrono trigger (SNES) - listened to this obsessively when I had the DS port (which is still imo the definitive way to play, just ignore the repetitive bonus postgame quests), yasunori mitsuda is a legend (he’s also one of the composers for dungeon meshi!). I cut my teeth learning to read sheet music in bass clef once I switched to bass guitar playing the soundtrack, I have essentially the entire thing transcribed on my ultimate-guitar (username XxThreeCheersxX, keep forgetting to hype my account up here but I’m a top 100 ranked tabber 😅) personal faves are those without the will to live (beautiful tritone bass slide makes me moan), the trial, and frog’s theme.

Castlevania: Harmony of Despair (PS/XBOX) - I have never played but know it’s a mediocre multiplayer game, however the soundtrack is fantastic, great rock and metal remixes of some of the most iconic tunes throughout the franchise. The series over all has some killer songs and composers who love funny time signatures so this is easily a “best of.” Castlevania Judgment, arguably an even worse game, also has a good soundtrack.

Undertale/Deltarune (many) - required to be on this list. Toby fox is phenomenal, so many great and memorable tracks. There is a reason megalovania is everywhere. Not a single bad song to be found, but personally my faves are fight against a killer queen, waterfall, world revolving, and undertale. Undertale especially is so impactful because they use an actual guitar on it and it just hits and makes it much more poignant. Fox is maybe the king of leitmotifs.

Dead Cells (many) - after putting so many hours into the game I only appreciate the soundtrack more and more, plus the option to have 8-bit themes is a treat. I love love the Bank theme and Fractured Shrines especially. Very tense and epic sounding. But the Castlevania dlc is phenomenal in so many ways and the music is no exception, always blows me away they’re doing what Konami wishes they could do in every aspect.

Donkey Kong Country 1 + 2 (SNES) - don’t get me wrong Eveline Fischer’s DKC3 snes soundtrack is pretty damn good but imo it doesn’t hit the peaks of David Wise’s ost. It kills me that the silly monkey platformer has some of the most beautiful and atmospheric music of all time. I’ve watched so many music videos on how he made the music and why it sounds so good… from the ambient and emotional aquatic ambience and bramble blast, to the epic final boss themes, that dark reprise of dk island swing in minecart madness, the jittery and unnerving tree top town, the foreboding welcome to krokodile island, the sweet and dreamy dkc2 ice theme… it has it all. Okay what the hell, I’ll mention wise’s remix of water world/aquatic ambience/(a special surprise) in the gba port of dkc3 (he had to redo the soundtrack for that port from scratch). And yes I’ll even throw in fischer’s best songs from snes dkc3 - her version of treetop tumble is way better and more somber than wise’s, water world is like you’re actually at the bottom of a lake and very moody, and nuts and bolts is a dirty rock song with a groovy bass. Good stuff!!!!

Grant Kirkhope’s stuff (many) - another favorite composer of mine, most famous for doing many rare n64 games like banjo 1 + 2, dk64, goldeneye, plus Mario rabbids 1 + 2 on switch and indie game yooka laylee. I’ve also watched many videos and studied many of his songs, he loves to use tritones and out of place dissonant notes not to make something creepy (well, sometimes creepy) but to make things whimsical and man it really works. Dk64 is my personal fav and seeing him reprise some of the themes for Mario rabbids dk dlc was truly special. I really want to do a write-up about the dk64 soundtrack on my site one day! There’s a lot of Easter eggs I’ve spotted that I haven’t seen many people mention! Highlights are creepy castle (it has the dk arcade start motif hidden!), frantic factory, and gloomy galleon from dk64, and from banjo 1 and 2, I love jinjo village, gruntilda’s lair, and banjo’s house blues.

Final fantasy x - most final fantasy games have good to great soundtracks but x is special to me. It’s my favorite ff game and the music really makes it all the more poignant. Zanarkand’s opening note is enough to make me tear up. The battle theme never grows stale unlike some other ff battle themes, besaid is calming and has the perfect vibes, the trials theme should be repetitive but instead feels very disconcerting and even claustrophobic, and auron’s theme is cool as hell. X-2 also has a good soundtrack, but I don’t think it’s quite as good as here.

Celeste (many) - Lena Raine’s soundtrack is phenomenal and the use of motifs is impeccable. Not a bad song in the entire game. Resurrections is my favorite as it’s a long piece that goes a lot of places and makes you drift along for the ride. The way Madeline and badeline’s motifs diverge is brilliant, matching what’s happening onscreen. I love how hesitant the piano in awake sounds, it makes it so heartfelt. Anxiety is dense and lives up to the title, Little Goth is less hesitant but darker… she just writes such beautiful melodies.

Metroid Prime (gcn) - they originally wanted Autechre, an ambient electronic duo, to do the soundtrack but things fell through for whatever reason so Kenji Yamamoto (who did Super Metroid) stepped up to take his place and god what a good soundtrack. Metroid music is very cool and I’ve made posts about it before, like how Metroid II has one of the most experimental soundtracks and kind of challenges the limits of the system and what can be considered game music, super Metroid has some of the most alien sounding songs thanks to weird time signatures and instrumentation. But Prime is crazy because they had the tech now to deliver Yamamoto’s vision. Magmoor Caverns is everyone’s favorite, remixing norfair, those drums just make me go wild every time. All the area themes are great and alien sounding, it’s a very isolating soundtrack, plus the boss themes and the space pirates and chozo ghosts themes are kind of terrifying in a good way.

Sea of Stars/Messenger (many) - 2 of my fav indie games with some of the most addictive songs. Sea of stars is a prequel so seeing variants of the messenger’s tracks was a true delight. Yasunori mitsuda also assisted with the soundtrack making some unforgettable pieces. I want to learn the majority of it on bass by ear!

Hollow knight (many) - somber piano and grand orchestrated pieces make this game go hard. The mantis lord battle is probably my favorite, it’s so majestic and fearsome and makes them a scary boss. I also appreciate the more ambient tracks around greenpath and city of tears. But the boss themes turn things up when needed to and makes a world feel even more alive, which is impressive.

Silent hill 2 (ps2) - Akira Yamaoka has such a great style to create heavy, melancholic or terrifying songs for the franchise but this game stands out the most to me, Laura’s theme and promise always move me no matter how many times I listen to them, very hurting electric guitars. I need to watch more vids on the games ost.

Legend of Zelda (Nintendo) - for this last one I’m not picking a specific game and getting into details for them all would be hard I’m already losing steam fast. So I’ll list my favs across the franchise. Ocarina of Time’s Gerudo Valley, Hyrule Field, and Lost Woods; Majora’s Mask’s Termina Field, Clock Town, and Stone Tower Temple; link’s Awakening’s Face Shrine; wind Waker’s dragon roost island, outset island and Gohdan’s theme; and tears of the kingdom’s colgera’s theme.