#I highly doubt I’ll reach that lol

[sleepybean427]

I just decided to randomly check how many followers I have and it’s crazy to me how 66 people wanna see the silly little posts I make. I love all my fellow beans

[erosiism]

OBLIVION | YANDERE CROWN PRINCE X M!READER

prompt: very lazy (oblivious) reader x yandere crown prince who basically does everything for him. reader is clueless about his friends disappearing around him, historical setting where MC is a pampered son of a noble family 

character(s): yandere crown prince, lazy!reader

warnings(s): mild violence, yandere themes. still considered rather fluffy and sfw

note(s): male reader, second person, present tense, as far as this goes this guy is too green to be really called a yandere lol. his possessive and violence tendencies are not to be glorified regardless, loose use of magic, not beta read 

Your biggest enemy is hard work, and your favorite hobby is sleeping. You can’t help it—you are spoiled, no doubt about that, and because you got lucky enough to be born into a prestigious family who dotes on you. Your social life is almost non-existent, but ever since you were young, your friend has stuck next to you. 

Your friend, who happens to be a crown prince.

People say he’s scary. You doubt that highly—is His Highness Cassian not the one who has brought you sweet treats from young? Is he not the one who littered your skin with tiny kisses because he likes showing affection? Is he not the one who allows you to laze around or nap? Rumors tend to be untrue, and you feel almost sorry towards the prince for having to deal with that.

(“I heard that if you mess with him, His Highness has the ability to kill! Haven’t you heard the disappearances lately?”)

You asked the crown prince questions regarding the rumors. All you got was a surprised, flippant reply: kill? That’s ridiculous, [Name]. I haven’t even mastered my mana skills yet.

So you don’t trust the rumors. It makes sense for people to be jealous, after all: he’s the crown prince. He has objectively good looks, and he’s an amalgamation of everything someone would covet: wealth, prestige, brilliance, and skill.

“You slept in class again?” A voice tears you out of your thoughts. You’re lounging on the bench in the school garden, and your legs are propped up on the sides. Your bag is thrown loosely to the ground. Inwardly you wish you had the physical capability to be agile enough to scale up a tree—because god, the place up there looked amazing—but unfortunately, you didn’t.

You face him. Cassia raises an eyebrow, and his fingers reach out gingerly to touch your cheek gently. You don’t recoil. It’s become normal.

“I can see words imprinted on your face. How long did you sleep? Or rather, how long was your class?”

It takes a few moments for you to process the prince’s words, before you squint your eyes. There’s a red smear on his cheek that seems hastily wiped off. It’s not too obvious, not to others, anyways, but you’re so used to Cassian's face looking normal that you immediately notice it.

“What’s that red thing on your face?” You ignore the question. You know that he can guess the answer.

“…Red thing?” Cassian immediately narrows his eyes, pausing. His fingers leave your face and go to his own. It looks like blood; which is odd, and definitely not possible.

“Is that…” you mull it over for a second. It can’t be blood. Or lipstick.

Cassian, though having received multiple marriage proposals, didn’t seem to be settling down any time soon. 

Strange, it doesn’t even seem like he likes women. So the only plausible thing is—

“—were you drinking tomato soup earlier?”

Cassian blinks his eyes, before a look of realization dawns on his face. And if you see correctly, there’s almost the tiniest hint of relief. Cassian’s lips tug up into a smile—he laughs, the prince laughs, the sound bright and mirthful and irrevocably fond. Your parents have teased you once about the prince nursing a crush on you. But this is how he has treated you for as long as you can remember.

“Tomato?”

“Looks like a tomato,” You furrow your eyebrows. “Hey, do they serve tomato soup in the academy? I really want tomato soup. It’s easy to drink, and…”

“I’ll get you some later,” Cassian says affectionately. He ruffles your hair, and you relax. “Don’t worry too much, alright?”

You shrug loosely. “Alright.”

.

.

[ before ]

He stares at the dead body on the ground. There aren’t a lot of rumors of you, but your laziness is well known. Some see it fondly, almost endearingly, but there are the rare few who view you with disdain because of your apparent lack of diligence.

Caspian doesn’t like that. He’s fine with rumors of his own—but of you? But of sweet, innocent, lovely you? He loathes it.

“Stop talking,” he smiles. “…You can do that, can’t you? After all, you’re already dead.”

A head lolls about and blood drips off a blade.

What, Cassian thinks with that sweet softness he has reserved for you, smiling gently, should I get for [Name] today?

shitpost since i had this lying around. lowkey cringe

[little-diable]

Because the rain keeps falling – Tommy Shelby (smut)

This story is very dear to me, I don't know why, but it feels awfully personal. Please like and reblog if you enjoyed reading this, your comments keep us writers motivated! Enjoy my loves. xxx

Summary: It's April 23rd, time for (y/n)'s yearly visit. But this year it'll be the last visit, giving the two of them one last chance to search the love they foster for one another.

Warnings: 18+, smut, piv, melancholic vibe, I don’t want to give too much away lol

Pairing: Tommy Shelby x fem!reader (1.6k words)

He had his eyes focused on his documents, rereading the typed lines for the fifth time that night. Tommy’s head was hurting, pounding as if he had forced two bottles of liquor down his system only hours ago. Not even the smell of his cigarettes managed to distract him from the uneasiness clinging to him. 

A sigh clawed through Tommy as he placed his glasses down to let his head roll back. His eyes fluttered close, inhaling and exhaling a few deep breaths like he had been taught years ago, swallowed by darkness whenever he had to move beneath the ground. 

“Evening, Tommy.” His eyes shot open, body thrown into a fight or flight reaction as the unfamiliar voice wrapped itself around him. A voice so unfamiliar, it instantly snapped into place as his eyes found her piercing ones. She was leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed in front of her chest, lips pulled into the breathtaking smile he hadn’t seen in exactly twelve months. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t want to frighten you, how impolite of me to just barge in.” Her dark boots met the ground, covered in mud and soil. Slowly she moved towards Tommy, only to plop down in the chair placed in front of his desk. “Can I?” 

“Of course, here.” He reached a cigarette out for (y/n) to take, rising to his feet to light it for her. His bright eyes didn’t stray from hers once, watching her every move to try and figure out what her next words would sound like. 

“It’s April the 23rd.” (Y/n)’s words left a pregnant pause, seconds Tommy used to study her, the dirty fingers that were covered in the same soil as her boots, the holes in her trousers that exposed parts of her legs, and the knitted sweater she had worn the last time he had seen her. And yet she was as breathtakingly beautiful as she always had been.

“I must have forgotten. I’m sorry, how foolish of me, eh?” A laugh rumbled through Tommy, a sound that managed to grow her smile, paired with a soft shake of her head. Smoke kept leaving her nostrils, wrapping (y/n) in a blue cloud that only made her eyes appear more dangerous, adding that twinkle he’d see late at night when his thoughts start to wander. 

“Forgotten? I highly doubt that, Mister Shelby.” (Y/n) stubbed out her cigarette before she rose to her feet, rounding his desk to plop down on the expensive wood. She cupped his cheek with her fingers, letting him inhale her scent, the mixture of rain, soil, and incense. His eyes fluttered close as she stroked his lips with her thumb, smiling down at the man who seemed to instantly relax at her touch. 

“This is the last time we can do this, Tommy. He is focused on me lately, I can’t risk anything, for both our sakes.” His low hum left her chuckling, a sound that turned into a laugh as Tommy pulled her into his lap without a warning, lips finding (y/n)'s before a reply could claw its way through Tommy. 

Their lips moved in sync, hands finding one another’s body to search the closeness both had been aching for since her last visit. Her cold fingers undid the buttons of his vest, desperate to expose his body to her wandering eyes, a sight she had longed for. Tommy was just as impatient, momentarily breaking from the kiss to tug her sweater over her head. 

“You’re the most beautiful sight I’ll ever be fortunate enough to marvel at.” He mumbled the words against her lips, letting his hands move up her naked upper body, cupping her breasts. (Y/n) arched herself into his touch, while grinding her core against his hardening cock, desperate to feel him beneath her. 

“You were always good with words, weren’t you?” Her teasing words were stuck in her throat as Tommy rose to his feet, holding onto (y/n) before plopping her down on his desk. Tommy towered over her as if he was the one guiding her every movement, the guiding hand she’d reach for in the depth of the night, the last Hallelujah rolling off her tongue. 

“If tonight is all I have left of you, I want to taste you, remember you for as long as I’ll get the chance to.” He pulled her torn trousers down her legs, letting his warm mouth find her aching cunt without another spoken word leaving him. (Y/n) choked on his name, letting her dirty fingers tug on his hair as Tommy brushed his tongue through her slit. 

“Fuck, I almost forgot how good you’re at this.” Breathy chuckles left her as Tommy ate her out, pushing her closer towards the edge within seconds. Two of his fingers were pushed into her tightness, spreading her walls as his tongue kept brushing against her pulsing bundle, high on her taste. (Y/n) was everything his body was aching for, longing for her the second she left his side, promising to return the next year, and the following, all up until this very day. 

“I need you inside of me, fuck me, please.” Their eyes met, his full of love and lust, hers full of longing and sadness. Slowly, Tommy pulled away, only to free his twitching cock from his dark suit trousers. He reached for her throat to tug her closer, lips finding hers again while he pushed into her tightness, groaning at the feeling of her wrapped around him. 

For a moment, neither of them dared to move, clinging to one another like lost ships sailing through uneasy waters, knowing they could only trust one another. Tommy held her as if she was the treasure keeping his heart safe, locked away from all the pain he had to face; and (y/n) held him as if he was the soul she had been searching for all this time. 

Only slowly did he begin to move, fucking her on the table like a lover would fuck his significant other beneath a starry sky, fuelled by unspoken promises. Their bodies searched one another’s closeness, letting her walls flutter around his cock, wordlessly begging him to add more speed to his thrusts. 

Even though both wanted to drag out this moment, knowing that it was the last time they could hold on like this, their bodies were desperate for their highs. Soon enough, they would cum in unison, letting go of one another’s name like a prayer spoken in a moment of need and loss. A moment of loss they’d soon enough live through, letting their hands drop as their eyes met for the last time.

“It’s an old story, a story I never believed in. But now I do,” her whispers rang in his ears as he pressed his lips to her throat, sucking on her cold skin to try and leave his mark on her body. “I love you, Tommy Shelby.”

His eyes met hers, momentarily allowing his pace to falter to wipe away the one single tear managing to leave her sad eyes. He kissed her to distract her from her pain, a distraction she needed to give in, to choke on his name as her high wrecked through her. Tommy kept fucking (y/n), searching his own release with his lips still pressed against hers. 

Their bodies stayed connected as he came, imprinting himself on her walls as if this could change the outcome of this very situation. It was a foolish thought, a thought both clung to as he pulled away, careful not to hurt her. 

No words were spoken as they redressed, not daring to let their gazes meet while doing so. Only as Tommy sat down in his chair, reaching for another cigarette to let a few deep exhales pass his lips, did they dare to lift their eyes. She cupped his cheek with sorrow swimming in her pupils. 

“What will happen? Will you come and pick me up?” It was nothing but a whisper, and yet his words sounded like screams to her, burning through her body. (Y/n) matched the deep exhales leaving him, leaning back against his desk to properly study him. He had aged since the first time they had met, deep beneath the ground, and yet he looked even more handsome than all those years ago. 

“I will. Can you promise me not to make it any harder on us?” (Y/n) took his cigarette from his lips to take a drag herself, staring down at Tommy as he nodded his head. It had been their deal for years, adding another year to the list while he promised that when the day would come, he wouldn’t fight it. “Good. There is only so much parting from you I can endure, all I ask of you is to make this last voyage bearable for us both.” 

“Dying with you by my side will be an honour, (y/n).” With one last kiss pressed to his lips, (y/n) left his office. Her dirty fingers reached into her pocket, pulling out the old, leather-bound booklet to cross out Tommy’s name like she had done for the past years, only to add it to another page. Another year she granted him to live, one last year to be on this earth before she’d guide him towards the cemetery, to dig out his grave with her hands buried in soil, and her boots stuck in the muddy ground.

Because the rain keeps falling whenever she guides another soul away from this world. 

[ijwrsmff]

I really hope requests are still open, I adore Mihawk and I love when he’s portrayed as secretly caring, especially when he’s loving towards his wife in the stories that have him and AFAB reader.

I’m sadly sick with what I think is Covid and just trying to imagine how Mihawk would be like if he were to try to care for a sick wife that he loves. (Not necessarily with Covid lol) but with the aches and pains and having to rest and eat and drink healthy but her not wanting to be bedridden.

He is just. So husband material. And I hope you start to feel better soon ;-; sometimes when I'm sick, I like a nice little sick reader story with characters I love so I feel you XD Hopefully this helps a little bit ^~^

Word Count: 1,144

Of course you were sick. What wonderful timing. Mihawk was due to return today, after a week of traveling to hunt a notorious pirate. You were sure it was no big deal, he was the best swordsman in the world. It wasn’t hard for you to worry about him, but you trusted him. You knew the second the both of you got together, you would get married and he would burn the world to keep you safe. 

However he couldn’t exactly protect you from your own sickness. You don’t even know how you got it! Zoro and Perona weren’t even on the island, doing their own thing. You highly doubted those monkeys he trained were close enough to you in order to get you sick. No, this was just some freak occurrence, to get horribly sick the day your husband came home. Which was just your luck. You missed him so much, but you couldn’t be around him, knowing you’d probably get him sick too. 

When you heard him enter the front door, you tried to get up out of bed but your legs collapsed without even taking a few full steps. He heard it, always being perceptive and you heard his footsteps speed up until he had barged into your shared room. “Darling? Are you alright?” He took in your appearance, seeing the bags under your eyes and how much you shook in place from your position on the floor. 

“I see…you’re sick. I can call a doctor to come as soon as possible, until then I’ll make you food to help and-” He leaned down towards you, but you covered your mouth as you coughed. “What…are you doing?” He went to pick you up but you feebly moved his hand away from you. 

“You’ll get sick too!” Your eyes would have been wide with worry, but you could barely keep them open. “You can’t…you can’t get sick…” The words took what seemed like forever to get out, and you couldn’t catch your breath hardly at all. “You have work to do…I…I can’t…” You nearly collapsed on the floor, but he of course caught you. 

He gave you a reassuring smile, “I’ll nurse you back to health as much as I can.” Mihawk picked you up, and you didn’t have the strength to fight him. “If you think something like a sickness can prevent me from working, you haven’t much faith in me, do you?” He chuckled, as he made the joke that caused you to laugh quietly too.

“I’m…I’m sorry…I feel so weak…letting it get to me…” You muttered as he placed you back down on the bed. It was so cold…you were already bundled up, but reached for the covers anyway. He raised an eyebrow at that, and put the thinnest of the blankets over you as he placed a hand to your forehead. 

“And I’m also sorry, love. You have quite the fever, try not to overheat yourself.

I know it feels cold, but wearing such heavy clothes along with the large comforter would only agitate the fever more.” He rubbed your shoulders and you winced. Everything was just so sore. Mihawk was always so gentle with you, but especially in this moment. It wasn’t the first time you got sick, but this seemed worse than a lot of other times you had been through. “Don’t worry, in sickness and in health, remember?” 

He smiled, and when he went to walk away your arm reached out to try and stop him. “It’s alright, I’m just getting a rag to put on your forehead.” He held that hand that reached out to him, and placed a kiss on the top of it. The action always made you smile, and you could feel your eyes closing knowing he was there to help you. 

Like he said, he returned quickly with the soaked rag. He placed it carefully on you, and went back to rubbing your neck and shoulders. It was quiet, but not awkward. Serene almost, with only your occasional coughs to break the silence. His hands weren’t soft, but calloused from years of training and fighting. Even still, just because it was his hands, it still felt blissful to have them run up and down your sore body to try and ease some of the pains. 

“I’m sorry…I just feel so weak…” You muttered, eyes still closed. Though you sighed, partially because of the pains but also because of how safe you felt with his hands trying to alleviate the aches along your body. “I don’t…wanna stay in bed…” You tried to get up, but you were of course stopped as he carefully held you back down. 

“No need to apologize. You might be physically weak now, your brain is strong. Although a bit foggy.” He chuckled and ran his fingers along your scalp, in a soothing manner. “Even if you were weak…I want you to trust me as you always do. Let me be your strength. If you need anything, I’ll be right here to help you.” His eyes were adoring, and though your eyes were closed you could feel that warm smile from him, “If you need water, food, a massage, get out of bed, I can help you. You won’t be walking, but I can carry you where you wish to go.” 

“Thank you…I love you…so much…” You tried to open your eyes, but they closed again almost immediately. “Try not…to get sick…” It made him smile how much you cared. Though he couldn’t care less if he got sick. Especially if it meant him helping you to feel better when you were. You did try to open your eyes when you felt his hands leave you, only to return a few seconds later from beside you. 

“Getting sick would be worth it, if I can make you feel better for even a second.” He chuckled, and wrapped his arms around you. “I can help you feel warmer. But no big blanket.” He cradled you to his side and rubbed your arms and stomach. “I’ll be here by your side until you’re back to full health.” His touch was smooth, and soft. Anything to help you. 

You laughed, and muttered “Cheesy bastard.” Before falling asleep in his arms. He would always help, and be there for anything you needed. He could be halfway across the world, and still be next to you in a moment if you needed him to. You would always be his main priority, sick or healthy. It warmed his heart, to be there when you were sick. He knew you could be stubborn, and not follow a single doctor’s order if you didn’t want to. But regardless, he would make sure you were safe. 

Safe now, forever, and always. Anything for his dearest wife, that he loved more than anyone else in the world. 

[wutheringmights]

please please please explain how the bullshit military death cult in Fourth Wing is unsustainable. I need more Iron Flame slander in my life lol

I may have chosen the wrong phrasing last night. It’s less about the sustainability of the magical dragon country’s military college, and more about how much Yarros’s tendency to use specific numbers riles me up. Very specifically, a graphic at the beginning of Iron Flame. 

(Note: I only got a little bit over 200 pages into Iron Flame before I had to return it to the library; if there is an universe rebuttal to any of this, I may not have reached it yet; I also do not have the book in front of my to double check specific numbers, but luckily Yarros’s Specific Numbers have rustled my jimmies so much that I have been spamming my group chats about them so I inevitably wrote them all down.)

The graphic in question is this:

It illustrates the structure of the titular Fourth Wing. As you can see, it is made out of 3 sections that are then divided into 3 squads. You will notice two important notes on this graphic:

Each squad contains 15-20 people

Each of the four wings that make up the dragon rider cadets in the military academy has the same layout

With this information, I should be able to more or less calculate the number of dragon riders attending the military academy. 

In theory, the fourth wing has 8 people in leadership positions, and 136 to 180 squad members. That’s a total of 144 to 188 people in the fourth wing. 

If the fourth wing is identical to the other three wings, that means that there are anywhere from 576 to 752 dragon rider cadets across three grade levels. That’s already a pretty small number, but this is an exclusive military program. It’s not an unreasonable.

Except it’s actually impossible for there to be 576 to 752 dragon rider cadets. Why do I know that? Because Yarros already gave us a Specific Number.

Let’s rewind. In Fourth Wing, it’s established that you cannot advance beyond your first year unless you bond with a dragon. If you do not bond with a dragon, you repeat the year until you either bond or die trying. There are also only a select few dragons who are willing to bond each year. 

Yarros, of course, told us specifically how many dragons were willing to bond not only for that current freshman class, but for the two years previous:

1st year: 100 dragons*

2nd year: 137 dragons

3rd year: 163 dragons

(*actually, it was 101 but two dragons, in a super special unprecedented move, bonded with the same person; I’m trying to count the cadets, not the dragons so this really does not matter)

That means that there are around 400 dragon rider cadets, which is way less than what the info graphic implied. You can argue that the missing 176 cadets are those who did not bond with any dragons, but I highly doubt they would make much of a difference. Why? Because dragon rider cadets keep dying. 

I kept track of how many people were dying in Fourth Wing. By the end of that book, there were less than 80 bonded cadets still alive. Yarros then contradicted herself in Iron Flame by stating that there were 89 cadets in the second year. This isn’t because a bunch of cadets suddenly bonded with dragons and advanced a year; that only happens in a one a year ceremony. Yarros is just bad with numbers, which shows how silly I am for going to this much trouble trying to prove her wrong.

All that’s to say that I’ll split the difference and say that 85 cadets were still alive at the end of the first year. That means that there is a 15% death rate between bonding with a dragon and getting to the end of the first year. 

That means that by the time each class ended their first year, this about how many dragon rider cadets there should be:

1st year 85 cadets

2nd year: 117 cadets

3rd year: 139 cadets

That’s 341 people across all four wings. That means each wing has about 85 people. 

But wait! People die beyond their first year. There’s an ever decreasing number of cadets each year. If we assume that 15% death rate is consistent each year, that means that by graduation day, each year has: 

1st year: 85 cadets

2nd year: 100 cadets

3rd year: 102 cadets

That’s 287 cadets across all four wings, or 71 people a wing. I need not remind you how that is far below our predicted 144 to 188 per a wing. 

And I haven’t even mentioned that not every dragon available to bond even bonds. So those starting numbers are already the best case scenario where every possible dragon selects a cadet. Our actual class numbers are probably 10 to 20 people smaller, and that’s before the numerous deaths. 

When I started Fourth Wing, I inferred that the incoming freshman class started with about 700 people. (Each of the freshman dorm floors hold 156 people; there are at least three but it makes more sense for there to be a floor for each wing. Sixty-seven freshman died on the parapets. That’s a total of 691 freshmen, which I rounded up to 700.) 

Xaden (terrible name) has a speech where he claims that 1/2 of the incoming class will die by the end of the first year, 1/3 by the second, and 1/3 by the third. He’s probably just trying to scare the newbies, but let’s take him at his word anyway. 

According to his estimation, by the time the freshman class graduation, 172 people should still be alive. That’s a 21% survival rate, according to Xaden. That is somehow less severe than what is actually happening in the books.

There's never a point in time in the story where we acknowledge that the class sizes are this small. Everyone is dying, and there always seems to be more nameless faces than not. Yet, as all evidence suggests, there's not even enough people in the entire dragon rider curriculum to fill up a movie theater.

Ultimately, the numbers don’t really matter. What matters is that this fantasy military system is wildly inefficient. I understand on a trope-level why it has to be deadly. New Adult, the gangly older sister of YA, loves a good deadly game of wits and wile. Yarros was commissioned to write a romantasy story, and by god she was going to write the most marketable one possible. But you would also assume that Rebecca “second generation army brat who loves military heroes and has been blissfully married to her for over twenty years” would have a better understanding of how the military works. 

On the most basic of levels, you win a war by having the most people still alive at the end. Everyone knows this. It’s not that hard. It’s in the best interest of the brass to keep your soldiers alive. When that best interest gets screwed over, it’s usually because of economic issues (like being able to afford the supplies needed to keep your troops alive), or prejudice (soldiers from persecuted demographics being less worthy of better food/ammo/missions, under qualified officials earning their jobs via privilege, etc.). 

That is in itself another gross simplification. My point is that there’s no good reason why you would kill your own troops before they can even reach the battlefield. That’s a waste of resources! I don’t care if the dragons demand a blood sacrifice, or whatever. A practical military leadership would find some way to reroute failed rider cadets to a different career track before they needlessly died in training. The training can be as dangerous as you want, but for world building sake, be practical about how wars work. At least acknowledge that the military’s favorite canon fodder aren’t soldiers, but foreign civilians. 

Believe it or not, but I actually don’t really care that the worldbuilding is nonsense. Can I write a needlessly long essay about how the numbers don’t add up? Sure, but who cares? It’s just bad in a normal way. I’m more than happy to let other people harp on it. 

What is interesting is the way that Yarros views the morality of the military. It’s one thing for something to be pro-military. It’s another when your book’s thesis comes down to “it’s morally wrong for the big, powerful, totally not American, country  to not provide military intervention to smaller, poorer foreign countries that are being viciously attacked by a seemingly unbeatable, dehumanized enemy.” Yarros doesn’t even try to cover it up; Xaden makes a giant, righteous speech about how they have a moral duty to protect citizens, to actually quote the book, “beyond our borders.”

As I said when I first read this: what the fuck? 

Rebecca “second generation army brat who loves military heroes and has been blissfully married to hers for over twenty years” Yarros claims she is writing a series about the dangers of censorship. See how callous we are for letting other people die, and then covering it up? Yet, she mindlessly reproduces that idealized justification we’ve been fed for decades. Yarros, it’s never about helping civilians. I know you’re a biased army wife, but you know about the oil and the military industrial complex. You know America is not the good guy. 

Moreso, the in-book movement to wage a war “beyond our borders” is labeled as a rebellion. According to this series, it’s counterculture to want military intervention overseas. Yes, Yarros is writing the world’s most marketable book. In a post Hunger Games society, there must be a little rebellion sprinkled in there. But to frame the desire to fight a war as any form of counterculture is downright insidious. 

Fourth Wing is a book that looks you in the eye and tells you that the government is lying to you-- the war beyond our borders is necessary, that if we do not send the army to fight our inhuman enemies, they will hurt not only our poorer, less fortunate allies but also our homeland. War is a morale imperative.

I haven’t finished Iron Flame yet. Perhaps this rant is premature. Maybe the series turns itself around. But as one can imagine, I don’t trust Rebecca “second generation army brat who loves military heroes and has been blissfully married to hers for over twenty years” Yarros to have thought it through all the way. Just a gut feeling. Who can say? If I am wrong, I would be more than happy to eat my words, though. I would love to be wrong. 

Me being wrong means that the most compelling reasons why Fourth Wing is bad really is the bad worldbuilding, prose, romance, characters, action, lore, smut, dialogue, editing, and everything else. There’s already a hundred big brained book reviewers who are making a video essay career off of telling you that in five hours or less. I respect the hustle. Personally, I never want to hear about this series again unless it’s about how Yarros built her blockbuster book series on conservative ideals of militarism and foreign policy, and then had the audacity to tell you that’s what it means to be a rebel. 

[iveseenstrangerthings]

beer fear - Steve Harrington imagine

summary: Steve takes a very drunk reader home from a party. Steve and reader are just friends, but reader is falling in love with Steve.... written the morning after the night before.

warnings: mentions of drinking (unable to recall drinking episode) and hangovers

word count: 1k (very short so is this still an imagine??? too long for a drabble so I’ll just stick with imagine lol)

                                                 ✦    ✦    ✦    ✦

A sudden hot flash of pain spreads across your forehead as your eyes peel open, adjusting to the early morning light that floods your room. Your curtains are wide open, and your mouth is like cotton. To clear the dryness, you move your tongue back over the roof of your mouth a few times, forcing saliva around your mouth.

You’d spent last night at party and drank way too much. You’re not a big drinker, at all, but the people you spent last night with weren’t exactly great influencers. So here you are the next morning, having only been awake for 30 seconds, and already feeling painfully sorry for yourself. 

Your body stays cocooned underneath your duvet, you have no idea how you got home or when you got home. With the realisation that you can’t recall any details of the previous night, a hot flush of nausea rushes through you and you have to sit up. However, you sit up way too quickly, and it causes the pounding in your head to intensify. You don’t hear Steve enter your bedroom as you sit with your head in between your fingers, slowly massaging your forehead.

“Oh hey, you’re awake.” His voice is gentle, but you look up with a start, not expecting to see anyone this morning, especially Steve. You dread to think what you look like; you’re most definitely sporting a solid pair of racoon eyes since you highly doubt your makeup was removed.

“Steve?” You look at him quizzically as he carries a fresh glass of water to your bed side with two pills. Do your eyes deceive you or is he really in your room right now? “What, when did you- how-” You point to the glass, then back to Steve, then back to yourself, struggling to form a coherent sentence. He straightens the duvet to make sure your legs aren’t underneath, then plants himself down on the edge of your bed. “How did I get home?” You question dumbfoundedly. You hate feeling like this and vouch to yourself to never let it happen again.

“Robin called me.” He admits, looking slightly sheepish. He’s never seen you like this before, and you feel deeply ashamed. He wasn’t even at the party, that shows how bad you must’ve been. “I came to pick you up, so I brought you home. I didn’t know where any of your stuff was to you know, take off your makeup or anything.” That confirms your racoon eye suspicions. “And I didn’t wanna change your clothes or anything, with the state you were in.” He half laughs, then his face quickly returns sullen and serious. “I hope you don’t mind but I stayed over.” 

“Did we...?” You point to the empty side of the bed and then back to Steve, he’s going to need to fill in all the blanks for you.

At his realisation of what you mean, his eyes go wide, and he shakes his head furiously, “Oh God, no!! No. Absolutely not. I did sleep on the floor though, just at the bottom of your bed.” He sighs heavily and rubs his eyes as he points behind with his thumb, he doesn’t seem to have had much sleep. “I was petrified you’d puke in your sleep, so I wanted to be nearby.” You grimace and your stomach churns at the thought. “You didn’t, though.” He quickly adds, knowing you get anxious about that sort of stuff. 

With the return of your cotton mouth, you reach over and gulp down half the glass of water. The sudden addition of liquid to your stomach makes it lurch and you breathe deeply through the nauseous feeling, massaging your wrists. You close your eyes and breathe in deeper, letting the silence settle over the pair of you like a thick blanket. You still feel him, slightly weighing down the bed, and it comforts you knowing he’s here. 

After a few moments, and your nausea, have passed you open your eyes to see Steve looking over at you. When your eyes suddenly meet, he turns his gaze away, almost embarrassed that he was caught staring. “I’m so sorry.” Your voice is weak and quiet. 

He looks back at you now, brows furrowed, “Hey, what for?” His arm stretches out and he rests his hand where he can feel your leg.

“I probably spoilt your evening, spoilt whatever lovely plans you had for last night.” 

He laughs slightly and shrugs his shoulders, “I didn’t have any plans. Besides, you’re cute when you’re drunk.” 

You feel for a minute you’re still drunk. Cute? He’d never described you as cute. You can’t muster up a witty remark or even attempt to question the word, so you let it slide. “I owe you one, big time.” Leisurely, your mouth pulls into a smile, and you look over at Steve, who gradually pulls his hand back then pats them onto his knees. Feelings of gratitude and admiration fill you as you realise how kind he’d been to you. To bring you home safely, look after you, watch over you... He hardly slept a wink last night. Any stir or noise from you caused him to jump up and come to your side, ensuring you were okay. Which, of course, you were. He’d just tuck you back in and make sure you looked relatively comfortable before returning to his little pile of blankets and pillows on your floor. 

“I’m sure you’ll find a way to repay me.” He smiles back at you warmly, his eyes looking tired and sleepy. 

“I’m gonna shower. I feel gross.” As you start to sit up further, Steve steps up and away from the bed. 

He nods and starts to walk towards your bedroom door, “Do you want breakfast? I can make it for when you’re out of the shower?” He wrings his hands nervously, which he never usually does around you. Maybe it’s a tiredness thing. 

You nod gratefully, “I’d love that.” 

Steve leaves you to it to gather your things for the shower as he goes off to start breakfast. The fact Steve’s done all this for you only makes that deep feeling of admiration and love grow bigger inside of you. You think of how comforting, how reassuring it is, knowing he’s so close to you. As you shower, you’re left hoping that the two of you waking up together and having breakfast will be a delightful recurrence. Only under less hungover circumstances.

[bluerosesonata]

I played and finished Slay the Princess last night while I was puppy sitting. I had such a great time. She’s my scary wife now.

Spoilers + more detailed thoughts below the cut, but without spoilers:

[points at devs] haha horror podcast fans

I’ve always loved Nicole Goodnight from her first appearances on Nosleep. she did so excellent as the Princess.

Very impressive scope, even with the very definitive ending I got, I came away from the game feeling like there were still paths I hadn’t seen.

Just as a general tone setter, I love the opening card/disclaimer that ends with “This Is A Love Story.”

GREAT visual style and art. I’ll get into this in my breakdown below, but with my amateur eye I love how they took a non-traditional approach to way the images/characters are displayed in a renpy game

INCREDIBLE music.

Hard to avoid Disco Elysium comparisons with the aspects of the Self mechanic, which I’m sure is either a received as a high compliment or is a source of annoyance for the devs, lol

Highly recommend it for OELVN fans, horror fans, and lesbians.

First and foremost, I’m genuinely very impressed at the amount of variety to the paths.

On my first playthrough, I got on a loop where I kept the princess locked up, and then she came upstairs and killed me. The next loop, The Paranoid showed up, and when we went into the basement, it was all spooky and distorted. In this one, we had some great banter with The Princess before I ultimately decided to slay her, and trapped me in the basement by warping reality and removing the stairs, forcing me to kill myself to escape that loop. The Cold showed up in chapter 3, and I think that was when I tried to leave the woods.

In subsequent loops, even when choosing all the choices I made to the best of my memory, I couldn’t recreate that first loop at all. It really speaks to the scope of the game in an impressive way.

The first vessel I managed to provide was The Tower. (It was the outcome of being mauled on your first encounter with her, then perceiving her as a dominating, inevitable force.) After discovering my new objective, the endings I saw were The Prisoner (It’s the ending where you just wait for the cell to rot away around you), The Razor (GOATED route, I will be calling her ‘Knife Wife,’), The Damsel, and ended with The Adversary (devil horns), before reaching Awakening.

These are the only routes I can talk about, but I’m certain there were at least 2 I missed/didn’t get to see. It’s an EXTREMELY impressive scope, and fully voiced, to boot, so my hat is off to the devs on that front.

(The next few paragraphs are about the voice acting, if you want my story thoughts, I made a small heading for that bc my VA thoughts got a bit out of hand lol)

Voice Acting

While I’m on the subject of the game being fully voiced: Nicole’s voice acting really shines here, and it’s absolutely essential to making this game what it was. I think a version of this game without it would be very Good, but not nearly as Haunting. The sheer variety of reads on certain lines based on how you first approach the princess is incredibly impressive, as well. (Again— scope!!!)

As far as the narrator VO goes, i can’t deny that Jonathan did a great job, and with his history of being the main narrator for The Magnus Archives, he was a good fit for the tone and audience of the game. I would even posit that, even if there were other people who were considered in the early phases of development, the cross-promotional potential of drawing in even a small section of an audience already primed for cosmic, reality-altering horror via TMA was a very smart business decision, and I applaud them for it. That being said, I think one unintended side effect of his casting may be that people familiar with his TMA character (a…semi-reliable narrator) might immediately come in primed with doubts about the Narrator. They seem to have anticipated this, though, and included skeptical and suspicious dialogue choices with him right off the bat in the first chapter, which is fun.

(A brief aside: If it seems like I am being very measured with my thoughts on the Narrator, it is not because I have anything negative to say about his performance. I am being measured simply because the narrative devices the game employs makes it impossible to not draw comparisons to Big Hitters like The Stanley Parable and Disco Elysium— both incredible games that I personally would be both delighted and terrified to be brought up when discussing a game I created or a role I was playing.

These games did not Create the idea of “a narrator you interact with and who is sometimes rude to you” or “multiple voices with distinct Traits butting in on your current predicament,” but both games are incredibly prolific in how implemented those devices and the vocal performances involved….so it is not a fair comparison.)

Story Thoughts

The subtitle for this section could also be “Faron ranks how hot they find all of the versions of The Princess.” jk.

I am not going to do summaries here I’m just going to assume most people reading this have played the game.

But let’s start again with the sentence at the beginning of the game: “This is a love story.”

Not long ago, there was a big discussion on tumblr about the statement that horror is “about love”, (it might have even been spurred on by TMA, lol) and that lead to a lot of justified (but not always kind) posts from my fellow horror fans being annoyed by that take. I’ll spare you a rehash of all of that. But it is exactly Because of that discourse (and my general gothic preferences) that I like the choice to open with this a whole lot. The phrase “This is a love story,” written in bold, at the end of a disclaimer saying ‘there are no wrong choices, just different paths,’ has an immense power to it. It is a mic drop way to open up a story, as a way to prime the audience to be open to the Princess as more than a monster, and creates the anticipation for a greater relationship to be uncovered between the protagonist and the princess.

It could also be that the phrase hit my brain in a weird way because of Fata Morgana. I don’t think The House in Fata Morgana had a similar line in the actual game— but my roommate who handed me Fata Morgana very specifically told me, “it is a horror game, and it is a tragedy, but at its core, It Is a Love Story.” And that’s always stuck with me. (I digress.)

A Brief Address to Loops and the Popularity of the Looping Narrative

I could sit here all day and talk to you guys about looping metanarrative structure and the different approaches to it, but you’ve probably all played a VN with that before. (If you haven’t, and this is your first time encountering something like this and it blew your mind…Go play Zero Escape: 999. Run, don’t walk.)

I believe very strongly that reviews should be about what a game Is, and how well it accomplished what it aims to be, not about what you wish the game was. But it is an even stronger opinion of mine that loop narratives, especially in visual novels, can sometimes get too bogged down in the details of “why am i in a time loop.”

I am extremely glad that this game (mostly) avoided this, bc it offers an opportunity to say something about the subgenre as a whole.

At the end of the day, looping narratives mainly exist as a metanarrative device in VNs to acknowledge and offer a reason why your character’s behavior (and/or your choices) change. It’s an easy way to create ludonarrative harmony, and to inject some extra drama with little extra effort.

But BECAUSE it’s easy, it can also feel Extremely Overused, and starts to become an expectation.

I won’t go on a soapbox about it, especially because I feel like this game handled it very well, and the looping, metanarrative aspect is suited to the themes and character subject matter of Beings Who Are Concepts, even if they Why doesn’t really satisfy. At the end of the day, this is a love story, and the why matters less than the feelings involved.

Specific Path Thoughts

All versions of the Princess are incredibly strong concepts, and the game is structured in a way that I very much would enjoy seeing how different people’s first loops influence their opinions on her. It’s got IMMENSE “streamability” in that regard.

Someone that encountered The Damsel version of the princess first would have an INCREDIBLY different experience than someone who encountered the Adversary first, which ties very neatly into the subject of the greater love story and can also generate some great post-play discussion.

I think, undoubtedly, the Aspects of the princess that made the biggest impressions on me were The Adversary (demon wife) and The Razor (Knife Wife). Part of this is due to the sheer length of their paths, as both of them take 3+ loops (correct me if I’m wrong) to reach the conclusion of their sections, whereas The Damsel, The Tower, and The Prisoner all only took 2. (See the next section for more on that). Thinking about it, every path was similar in the amount of sheer resources created for them (illustrations, animation), but these two create the illusion of having more than the others simply due to being the longest action sequences and loops in the game.

The Razor has an OUTSTANDING design, and the sequence to slay her would have been an incredible finale in its own right, as we get introduced to EVERY Aspect of ourselves as we die over and over again, even shoving the narrator out of the way so we can just jump to the cabin and fight her again, and the PC reasoning that “if there’s enough of Me, I might be able to overcome her”. For this reason, and because of the big knife skeleton body, I think that the Razor path is more Fun than the Adversary’s.

Flavor-wise, however, I feel like The Adversary is a much stronger character and narrative thread. A princess who doesn’t want to escape— she just wants a good fight. She wants you at your best, and she won’t have any less. That’s exactly the sort of character dynamic that really gets me going. I love single-minded women, and I love a main character who meets them on their level of crazy.

Both of these paths involve the Aspects of Self “The Hunted” and “The Stubborn,” and they are the aspects of the PC that by FAR have the most color to them (besides the lover, who is more of a buffoon.) I think they were my favorites.

That being said, I adored how exhausted the Narrator got during the Damsel path, and I thought there was a very quiet, profound power in the Prisoner version of the Princess. She had an austere, quiet pride to her, tinged with an undeniable sorrow.

I really do appreciate the variety of ways they provide for one to approach your dialogues with the Shifting Mound after every loop. They really create a lot of space for the player to decide how they feel about her. Even if it sort of bothered me that every time there was a choice to tell her you would slay her once it was all over, I appreciate the option being there. (And, again- the sheer amount of dialogue!! Sheesh!)

Lastly, the finale. It was incredible, going through all of the forms, reliving all of the choices you made. But this is the part that the amount of options started to detract from my experience.

Again- I love that they left a lot of space for people to decide how they feel. I like the amount of responses provided, and I get the impression they don’t change the final choice in any way, just the dialogue she says to get to it.

But it bothered me that there was an option to just…opt out of seeing every vessel, either by submitting to her or by killing her. I can’t see a world where anyone playing a finale like this would WANT to cut the big final movement short. It seems silly.

The payoff was worth it, though. It was a beautiful end and one that definitely will stick with me.

(And Obviously I decided to take her hand and remain endless with her! How could I not!)

Mechanical Musings

Note: I am a dabbler in Ren’Py, but I have been a dabbler for over a decade, and I went to college for game design. (You’re allowed to laugh) I’m not GOOD at programming, and I forget the class names for basically everything unless I’m looking at it.

All of this is all to say I am PURELY speculating on how certain parts of the game were accomplished.

UI/Display/Visuals

The choice to omit a typical text box was an objectively correct one for this game, in no small part to how they decided to do the visuals on this game. It kept the game looking clean and drew the eye to the stunning visuals. The right aligned prompt box similarly aided in that respect, and I think that being forced to scroll down to resist during certain tense sequences was a great touch. Makes me wonder if there’s a timed element on those responses.

The choice to eschew using typical talk sprites (outside of The Long Quiet scenes, the sequence with The Damsel, i thiiiiink the confrontation in the basement maze, and the finale) in favor of using scenes/displayed images really aided in the storybook vibes, and the animated loops they had on those images gave the pencil work an amazing kinetic energy for the scenes where the princess is just standing or sitting still. (For the uninitiated- It’s incredibly simple to program animation loops using static images in RPY, but I’m not clear if that the most memory-efficient way to do so; I’m going to assume they did this though)

The menu Ui is what gives it away as Renpy to me, but you know, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, lol.

I’m sort of surprised there wasn’t anything like a scene viewer or gallery that unlocked at the end, but I guess that might sort of be immersion breaking.

Gameplay

Just from my hobbyist eye, I can tell there’s a looooott of dialogue flags in this one, where they track previous things you’ve said in the scene. There is absolutely a variable for “Princess hostility,” just based on the fact there’s several like reads of her answering the questions you can ask in chapter one, but since I only did a single run where I didn’t pick up the knife in chapter 1, I can’t be sure if it’s points based or binary “has knife = true.”

My guessssss about how the Aspects are inherited is that it might be a point based system combined with a flag indicating how you died; this would explain how I inherited “the paranoid” in ch2 my first run, but never after that.

I can say with almost complete certainty from the way it completely locked me out of deciding to leave the princess locked up after my choice to leave the woods that there is a true/false variable tracker for each path that stores if you’ve reached the Long Quiet or not, bc no matter what I did I could NOT do that again. Either that or there’s a flag where the narrator will lock you downstairs after seeing that screen once.

There’s also probably some variables tied to your appearance changing in the mirror, but i would need to double check achievements to be sure that text isn’t just set to appear after X vessels being provided.

There’s also a distinct possibility there are different “pools” for the princess’ aspects to be pulled from after each “level” of ascension; this would set it up so that it’s impossible for you to end with an event that is only 1 loop long, and it would be easier to assure story pacing that way.

(Ex: “If Vessels < 2, use Event_Pool_A, Else use Event_Pool_B”, where pool A contains vessels that use less than 2 loops to complete)

All in all, if I ever got the chance to crack the hood open on this, I would. I highly recommend it.

[throwawayasoiafaccount]

honestly, the more i think about it the more certain i become that winds of winter and specifically the kings landing plot/vale/gc plot will significantly parallel the dance of the dragons (mainly the end of the dance).

others have already made great metas on this lol

i think cersei’s downfall will resemble alicent’s. im sad but certain that both tommen and myrcella will be killed (maybe paralleling aegon and rhaenys deaths?). i’m kind of hoping the sand snakes will go through character development and not choose revenge… but i kind of doubt it. i’m sure that cersei will definitely break down even further tho. that’ll be interesting and horrifying to read.

tommen will certainly die first, leading to myrcella being crowned. i think it’s likely that tommen is killed by the sand snakes, but i think myrcella will be killed during the fall of kings landing to (f)aegon. i wonder if the sand snakes try protecting her and fail?

i highly doubt that dorne is going to join (f)aegon. i think arianne will see the truth and will be able to successfully maneuver her way back to dorne. (tho i think she’ll have a run in with aurane which would be cool to read). however, (f)aegon will think that arianne is on his side. i’m worried that lady lance wont leave with the dornish party tho…

anyways, after the fall of kings landing cersei will likely be locked up as she won’t be considered a threat. but this won’t be enough to stop the crazy that will be childless cersei.

the high sparrow will certainly support (f)aegon.

i’m 50/50 on whether margaery marries again. i am worried that margaery will get jaehaera’d :/. i think it’s certain that she’ll be held hostage tho. what if she goes the helaena route… yikes… that’s a sad thought.

at this point in time i think the starks will hold winterfell once again and the freys will have be destroyed. the tullys will probably hold the riverlands again.

euron will be causing absolute havoc in the reach.

i think the vale plot in winds will resemble what happens during the dance. harry and robin will both probably die, so i think littlefinger, who’d be in trouble at that point, would try to gain power through sansa. so i think the knights of the vale will make their way to kings landing with sansa with the intent of making her queen.

this is where the tourney at ashford theory comes into play. though jonsas have it completely wrong, as (f)aegon will be the one taking the place of prince valarr. i’m a bit iffy about sansa marrying (f)aegon due to sansa’s marriage to tyrion… but it could be annulled i suppose? but would the high sparrow do that? i think it’s possible.

i wonder what will happen to trystane and the sand snakes tho? i do think that the sand snakes are savvy enough to be able to escape on their own but trystane worries me :(. and he’s gonna be devastated by myrcellas death.

anyways if the plot does move in this direction then i totally expect to read many littlefinger vs varys showdowns.

this will definitely be a false dawn tho. euron will likely be making his way to kings landing and i’m fairly certain that he will sit on the iron throne at some point. bet this is when cersei is able to rise again.

i’ll admit that this prediction for winds has many holes in it. i may be misremembering some stuff as well and i likely haven’t considered all variables either, so take everything i just stated as a vague prediction.

some questions i’m asking myself rn lol: would the tyrell army go down that easily (or maybe varys friends in the reach will help the golden company win the battle?)? will sweet robin really die :(? baelish won’t be able to try and take back the north bc the starks will hold it once again, and going north would mean definitely giving up his hold over sansa… so wouldn’t trying to make sansa the new queen make more sense? since he’d still be able to isolate her and she’d likely need to depend on him? but wouldn’t going to kings landing again be dangerous for him? well if his and varys interests line up then maybe not… but would the knights of the vale follow him? i guess if both harry and robin died then they’d be totally lost too…

[xentari94]

So… I’ve been thinking about this more lately, and a YouTube comment I read earlier got me wondering…

This commenter was expressing how they think we’ll take Cayde’s body to the portal and that will somehow do something to bring him back. Something about dead energy… idk it was really confusing to be honest. But hey you never know. But I’ll be real honest, idk what to think about the veil. I know at this point I don’t trust it. If that’s even where Cayde is at… guess it remains to be seen.

But what it got me to thinking about was the Forsaken cover art.

So I joined in 2019, missed all the Mara visits and all that. And true, some things I still don’t even know what they are.

Like this for example…

Can anyone tell me what that is in the sky? I’ve always automatically assumed it had something to do with or is the entrance to the ascendant plane. But idk.

It’s visible in the cover art too. Now I’m sure many, many people have gone over this a million times and then some but-

If that’s supposed to be us carrying Cayde, clearly we’re on the Shore but where exactly? That’s not the Prison. Looks more like the High Plains area to me. But why would Bungie put us right there, I very highly doubt we walked all over the Shore with Cayde in between his death and funeral cutscenes.

Also I’d like to point out some minor details I’ve noticed. And by minor details I mean one singular detail that peaks my curiosity.

In the last stand cutscene, Cayde gets that armor pad covering his left shoulder ripped off, not completely, but looks as if it’s barely hanging on.

Yet in the cover art it’s fixed?

In fact it doesn’t even look like it’s been damaged at all. And that’s a big wtf moment for me because unless Bungie just copy pasted a pre-Forsaken Cayde and made him look dead for the cover art, or if our guardian had the time somewhere before reaching the tower to immediately know how to fix a piece of armor we’ve never messed with before, it would lead me to assume even further that the cover art is foreshadowing something. And not us getting revenge.

Because if the shoulder thing on Cayde’s armor was fixed, that would mean we’re carrying him after we’ve already been back to the Tower to have his armor repaired or again, we somehow fixed it ourselves. Because I’m also assuming it would have been repaired to the best ability along with the rest of his armor before he was buried out of respect. And making a note of him still having his cloak on. It easily could have been put back on him. And now with Amanda gone, I don’t know if Cayde’s cloak is just going to be left where it is or moved.

So to get to where I’m going with this… I’m a 15th wish theorist, everyone who knows me knows I am lol Is the cover art us taking Cayde to the ascendant realm? To go to Riven? Maybe this is after we’ve seen Cayde wherever he is in the teaser. Maybe we have Sundance with us.

Maybe I’m going too damn deep into this but- after the general sadness the cover art brought me, during the time it was too difficult for me to even look at… it just seems… odd now. How instead of taking his body to the portal, perhaps we take him to where our last wish can be granted.

“This one you shall cherish.”

[xhudgenssistersconfessions]

hey y'all so i read the hsm chapters on disney high haha so y'all don’t have to! honestly… it’s nothing crazy at all. For anyone who’s curious, I wanted to post the only other main Zanessa bit. I don’t know how to insert an image so I’ll just copy the text so you guys can read it and then i’ll put in my two cents at the end.

So basically the HSM stuff is in two chapters and the Zanessa stuff is a bit in both. The second chapter is basically verbatim from that teen vogue article but for the first chapter here are the deets:

One night, during the two weeks of intense dance rehearsals at the start of production, members of the various posses gathered in Klapow’s hotel room for a rare wild night of intermingling as the Bacardi Razz and Cherry 7UP on ice flowed. The chemistry that Zac and Vanessa had at their final audition had continued to escalate during rehearsals. Vanessa was, by now, head over heels. But Zac had a girlfriend back home, and he had thus far not entertained his co-star’s advances.

“Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?” Zac asked Klapow, as he pulled the choreographer out into the hallway. “I don’t know what to do, man. Vanessa is super into me, and I have feelings for her, too. I don’t want to do the wrong thing with my girlfriend. But I also don’t want to shut Vanessa down and ruin the chemistry in the movie.”

Klapow encouraged Zac to explore things with Vanessa. They were so young, and what happened in Utah would probably stay in Utah. If Zac’s other relationship wasn’t that serious, he should just end things with his girlfriend and test the waters here, Klapow advised.

When the two guys went back into the hotel room, the part vibes had devolved into melodrama. Vanessa was in tears, crying in the locked bathroom with Ashley. It seemed as if the tipping point of her unrequited love had been reached. Corbin tried to console her from the other room until Zac knocked on the bathroom door, and Ashley left the two of them to talk alone.

“I remember the moment that Vanessa and Zac were talking in the bathroom, and then they came out holding hands,” Lucas said. “I mean, it was so high school. It was like, ‘He broke up with his girlfriend and we’re together now.”

From that day on, Klapow said, “Zanessa was born.”

My thoughts:

“He had not entertained co-star’s advances” is CRAAAAZY. Lol. They make her seem like this predator like DAMN. It really was not like that in my opinion. There’s so much evidence that they were both attracted to one another. Do you guys remember there was an interview with Zac’s friend back home and Zac gushing about Vanessa to him and being like she’s amazing and then the dude meeting her and approving. I think it was Booboo something? I dunno. But to pose this as a one sided unrequited love thing on her part or a PR thing is NUTS. I can’t believe they’re still trying to push that angle. Like 5 years of a relationship (and 2 of those years were post HSM) of a PR thing makes NO sense. Also, yeah, he may have had a gf at home but I highly doubt Zac would be like aww my costar likes me let me date her cause I feel bad?? Also I highly doubt he said “I don’t want to ruin the chemistry in the movie.” Maybe he felt that way in general like getting into a relationship with a costar and was just expressing his concerns but yeah I think they twisted Chucky’s words on that part. I still feel uncomforatble with Lucas kinda being like they were so high school and dramatic and basically she was a victim with the “poor girl” thing. Like… hmmm…I dunno. There are quotes from Corbin in the book about random stuff and he never mentioned any of this. Nor does Kenny. Which says a lot.

On the flip side, I do think there was pressure that if their relationship failed the movie might fail (as Vanessa said in that podcast once when kenny was so concerned) and while i’m sure there was emotions on set (because they were teens duh!) I don’t think they stayed together for the sake of the movie… I think they had their down moments like every couple does which is then 100x exaggerated as a teen because of hormones lol and childhood stardom but other than that they were okay. I mean - if ALL anyone has to say after all these years is that they were a bit emotional at times and can recount one major fight on set…. that’s pretty incredible since 99% of their stories are about them being cute and super in love with one another.

Either way, take everything this book says with a grain of salt. Remember, journalists ALWAYS want a juicy back story. Literally the promotional article for this book is all about this Zanessa “fight” but I just love how at the end of the day they were like nope there’s nothing to tell here but good luck trying. We stan our unproblematic king and queen. :)

[awaitingfall]

07.22.24

136.4

Crazy how it only took me 3 days to gain back the same amount of weight that took me 2 weeks to lose 😮‍💨 I really shouldn’t have smoked yesterday cuz I instantly got the munchies and started eating too late into the afternoon. I also ate almost an entire package of Tate’s cookies on our picnic we went on yesterday, AND my bf talked me into getting gelato on Saturday and we both ate too much of that 😭 I gotta be better on my period. I even told myself I’d regret all these choices when the day to finally weigh again came, but then I told myself “it’s the last day before I start my routine again, I deserve a treat” 🥲 I wish I had thought harder about the consequences.

So now my goal for this week is to get back to 133, and then if that goal is reached, my next goal will be 131 by the end of next week. AND THEN HOPEFULLY by the end of August/beginning of September I’ll be somewhere in the mid-120’s 🤞🏻

I had called out sick from work this past Thursday and the other girls ended up having to leave early anyways because there wasn’t enough work to do, I’m hoping there will be something for us to do today. OH! Speaking of work, I went to the mall on Friday with my mom to help her pick out a new pair of glasses and I mentioned to the girl that was helping us that I used to be the lab tech at the other glasses place in the mall and she offered me part-time work there cuz she ended up being the sales manager. I thought at first she was just saying that to be nice, but then she said it again as we were leaving. So that’s really cool I have a back up/side gig option if I feel like money is getting a little tight. I do miss working closer to home, but if I quit my current job that I really wanted to get back, then I’d only be working part-time and that definitely wouldn’t be enough money coming in. Maybe I can see about working part-time in the winter? Friday-Sunday, especially since I don’t do anything on the weekends in the winter time. I’ll just hustle a little to save up for a house and a trip to Japan (finally) 😌

My bf and I have been considering moving to Japan temporarily, especially with the way the US been actin’ up lately. He at least has some sort of an in, though, cuz the company he works for is a Sake brewery with their main headquarters in Japan, so he could tell them he’s interested in working for the main brewery and spending time there and they’d probably send him in a heartbeat. They like that shit. One of their requirements for the job was to be interested in Japan and Japanese culture. So they’d probably be so excited to hear that one of the American employees wants to experience life over there. Only thing is, idk if they’d also send me. I highly doubt it, so I’d have to come up with my own visa. I could get a student visa. I’ve been trying to learn Japanese since 2016 when I took elementary Japanese in college, but it’s been a struggle trying to self study since then. I know basics, but the speaking part is difficult for me because I have no one to practice with so I stutter and take way too long to think of the sentences before I try to speak. Just doesn’t flow naturally. So studying in Japan would be a great opportunity to get better. Only problem is I wouldn’t be bringing in any money 🥲 so idk. Plus we have our cat that we need to consider cuz I also don’t want to put her under so much stress traveling so far and long like that. Plus they have that animal quarantine and all her documents have to be sent over super far in advance. So yeah, it’s just a lot to take care of. It wouldn’t be as stressful if we didn’t have her, but our life wouldn’t be the same without her so I’m, grateful for my Chichi baby 🥹💕

(I can hear my bf playing one of those YouTube live Coffee shop jazz videos upstairs while he’s drinking his morning coffee lol he used to make fun of me for playing that as background noise in the morning, but he’s come to enjoy it now)

Okay! Today will be a great day! I already started on the right path by waking up at 5, then meditating, exercising, showering, and journaling. Now I’ve gotta feed my cat, feed myself, and get ready for a good day at work 😤

[tastybluesprite]

Lair fun

I just finished watching the 2014 and 2016 live action films!!! Although there were some faults I noticed, I really loved how they perfectly captured the turtle bros dynamic. I found myself enjoying their brotherly banters and silly arguments lol. I started writing this last night and just finished it this morning. If there’s any mistakes I apologize as I have not fully did an edit read through yet.

It wasn’t too often the turtles got a day off from hero work. They had just recently defeated Kraang and closed the portal that would’ve led to the end of the world if not for them. So you could say they were pretty wiped out from saving the day. Not to mention getting the key to the city.

April O’Neil found herself visiting them in the sewers a lot. She enjoyed hanging out with them when she or they weren’t busy. As of current, she was in the lair, on a random bean bag chair doing some work on her laptop for her new news reporting job.

“MIKEY YOU TOOK MY PIZZA SLICE!!!” Raph shouted angrily from the kitchen. Mikey giggled sheepishly, “Sorry… got hungry…” he said with a mischievous grin. “Ohh I’ll show YOU hungry!” Raph declared as he lunged for the orange clad. Mikey squealed and bursted into loud laughter as Raph began digging into his sides.

April grinned at the scene before her. “I didn’t know mutant turtles could be ticklish.” She said with a look of amusement.

“Oh you’d be surprised what mutant turtles could be.” Raph said casually as if he wasn’t currently murdering his younger brother.

“How about you?” She asked with a smirk, “Are you?”

Before Raph could even say anything Leo interjected. “Don’t let him fool you April. I’ve destroyed him in tickle fights religiously when we were kids. I highly doubt now would be any different.”

If Raph wasn’t so determined to inflict revenge on Mikey, he oughta have started an attack on Leo. “Oh yeah… sure… and you aren’t ticklish at all!” He said with sarcasm. Leo smirked “I didn’t say I wasn’t. Unlike you, I’m not afraid to admit it.”

“What about Donnie?” She asked. Leo grinned at the question, “he’d probably rather die than admit it, but he’s actually the most ticklish out of all of us. Which is saying a lot considering that Mikey can’t last more than 5 minutes in his worst spots.”

Just then Donatello walked in, having just been in his lab working on something. “Hey… what did I mi-” He was cut off by the sight of Mikey still being wrecked.

“RAHAHAPH OHOHOKAHAY I GEHEHET IHIT IHIM SOHOHREHEHY!!!” Mikey screamed, finally tapping out.

Raph smirked in triumph as he finally got off the now tired out turtle.

Donnie looked like he wanted to leave the room, but then April had a funny idea.

“GET HIM!” She shouted to Raph, pointing at Donnie. Raph and Donnie made eye contact for only a few seconds, but in that few seconds a silent conversation occurred. Donnie’s eyes pleaded “no!” to Raph, while Raphs eyes mischievously told him “hell yeah…”

With a squeak of fear, Donnie bolted the room. Raph, of course, followed close behind. But Raphs stamina was a lot better than the less as athletic (and more intelligent) turtle. Raph was eventually able to reach out and grabbed him. He carried Donnie back to the main area of the lair, with Donnie kicking and waving his arms wildly as if it might help him escape. He pinned him firmly to the floor, leaving the purple bandana turtle to writhe and squirm under his weight (which, to be honest, was almost impossible).

“R-Raph we can talk about this…” Donnie begged desperately. “No can do Donnie. Aprils orders.” Raph informed him.

He started poking at his sides and Donnie exploded into giggles that April had never heard from him before.

“Rahahahph wahahait!!!” Donnie protested desperately, trying to shake off the fingers, but of course failing to do so. “Wow you’re hardly even touching him.” April said with a laugh. “Oh just wait and see what happens when I do.” Raph grinned. He started to wiggle into his armpits and Donnie couldn’t suppress his reactions anymore. “RAHAHAHPH NOHOHOHO!!” He tried pulling his arms down but Raphs grip was too strong.

“Is that his worst spot?” April asked, taking note of how strongly he was reacting. Leo smirked, “Not even close. Raph..?” Leo looked to Raph and Raph returned it with a grin, “yes sir.”

Before Donnie knew what was happening, Raph grabbed his foot and stood up so that his leg was elevated away from the rest of his body. He then began scribbling all three of his fingers rapidly over his entire foot.

Donnie exploded with some of the loudest laughter April ever heard from… well anyone if she was being honest.

Donnie just squirmed and writhed in desperation to get his foot out of his older brothers grip. The sensation was lighting up his whole foot’s nervous system. He couldn’t even think straight to try and escape as the sensations were overriding his entire brain. Soon his body pretty much gave up and he lay there limply and took it. “Wow he really is the most ticklish…” April said in awe as she watched him, limp on the floor and laughing uncontrollably.

When Raph saw he had given up he took pity on his younger brother, gave his foot one last poked, and let him go. Donnie scrambled away when he saw the hot head finally stopped, trying to catch his breath.

Donnie stayed in his lab for a long time after that.

[tahyal]

Hello, so happy to see you back 💜

I just wanted to have some advice. My sisters keep planning things in front of me without ever inviting me. They are even planning a trip in few months, and didn’t even bother asking me if I was interested going with them. It just feels really odd. I feel like I’ve reached a point where I highly doubt if I’ll even bother with them once I move out.

Hi!

Sorry about that, sounds really frustrating..

My advice will be very generic lol because I don’t know the details of your situation, have you tried straight up communicating this to them?

[shadowed-dancer]

Thoughts on Episode 127 (S6 E14)

Corrupt commissions, unwavering Uraraka, and public panic. Let’s talk about it

As always, spoilers for the episode. Manga spoilers where I talk about the OP but the actual episode review is fine. I labeled them

The OP and ED (manga spoilers)

The mini break is over and we’re back with a new OP!

I’ll be honest, my hopes for this op were very low. I’m not a big fan of the upcoming arc (if you’ve been reading these little weeks reviews I’ve complained about it before lol) and I couldn’t imagine them doing anything that impressive given the arc mostly revolves around Deku

So when I saw the OP I was… honestly really torn

On the one hand, it’s very well made. The animation is really smooth, the glitching title is fun, the dark comic aesthetic is a gorgeous contrast to the fun comic vibe of the first cour, and I ADORE the sequence of little Tenko falling out of ShigarAFO and Deku reaching out to him

There were also TWO shots of Lady Nagant. I love her so much

Oh and the way the very first sequence was a reference to that panel from chapter 306! So cool!

However, this OP is very different and will definitely take some getting used to. It felt a little slow to me and I feel it doesn’t have as recognizable of a tune as the others. While this might be because I’m not familiar with it yet, I didn’t feel that with any of the other OPs. However, I will say that the song fits the vibe of the arc very well and it is a good, nice sounding song

While I liked the way class A featured (to an extent), I felt Uraraka had way too much screen time. This is coming from someone who likes Uraraka too. I know she has a big moment this arc but JEEZ it felt a little heavy handed. Was she actually THAT prominent in the arc? Maybe I blocked half that fight from my memory because I honestly don’t remember her doing much besides saying like one thing to Deku at Kamino and then the scene with the megaphone

I also feel like the visuals didn’t always go well with the song. Specifically the part where the title was glitching and just… kept being on screen. IMO it felt like it was there a little too long

I also found it a touch weird how much of this op focused on class A. The Class A confrontation is literally the end of the arc and yet it takes up the entire opening! What about the hospital epilogue? What about the other battles Deku fights (they put Nagant but the others?!) What about the OFA users? Despite being a Deku-heavy arc there were a bunch of things they could have snuck in, and I find it odd that they decided so much emphasis would go to the literal end of the arc

Then again, it’s not surprising at all because I saw the op that was shared between EA and MVA and yeah, someone at the studio likes giving the kids the spotlight

That being said, the inclusion of class A brings me hope that we may get some added scenes of the aftermath, which is personally what I’d like to see added. Specifically, I’d love to see what life at the UA shelter was like.

Based on this op, I have a feeling the season will end either with Deku being accepted back into the school OR (my personal guess) the Deku bath chapter. There was no sign of Star and Stripe, so it’s incredibly unlikely we will see her this season

As for the ED, we have a return to form with the running-Deku stuff lol. It’s not super creative, but it’s charming. I like the reminder of how far we’ve come

It’s also cool how all the background pictures are these iconic scenes but through Deku’s pov. Really neat twist on familiar imagery

Not much else to say. It’s cute but certainly nothing to gush over

Also, I highly doubt we will get any changes to the ed like we did last cour. It was awesome, but this one feels like a little concise story, and I can’t see them cutting into it and ruining that progression from past to future. I’d be pleasantly surprised if I was wrong though

As for the episode itself (no manga spoilers)

When I saw that the only promotional materials for this episode ONLY featured stuff from chapter 296, all sorts of alarm bells were blaring off in my mind

I was not looking forward to The Hellish Todoroki Family 2.0 (aka an episode that adapted 1 chapter and padded its runtime with flashbacks instead of literally anything else)

Anyways lol yeah guess what happened again

New rule: episodes must never have the word “hellish” in their titles because clearly that is the cause of all this /j

Very concerned about the fact that there’s a chapter called “the Hellish Todoroki Family 2” lol

Ok technically the Re-Destro scene comes from 298, whereas most of this chapter is 296, but my point still stands. You can’t look at this episode and call it the pinnacle of good pacing. For all intents and purposes, this episode adapted 1 chapter

That said, there were some good parts about this episode

I liked that they added a scene of Re-Destro explaining how the HPSC offered him a deal. In the manga it cuts straight to the aftermath and explains the context afterwards, so it’s nice to actually see it

I don’t know if it was just the subtitles though, but I didn’t like how he called Destro his father. Enough discussion has taken place that manga readers are fairly certain Destro is his ancestor, not direct father (since that would mess up the timeline), so now we get to deal with… whatever this brings up. Whatever. I’m choosing to ignore it

Despite not wanting a flashback, I liked the switch between how matter-of-factly Deku was explaining the report vs the hard cut to the chaotic aftermath. The switch in tone was really cool, and you really felt the panic in that moment

I also think they handled the flashback quite well with the narration. It’s the best way they could do a recap given the fact that most people wouldn’t want to watch it

I also LOVE how they added scenes in the aftermath. I loved seeing Uraraka running around every which way in a desperate attempt to help, only to catch sight of that one hero totally overwhelmed

We also got to see more reactions to Midnight, which was very nice. I’m glad they didn’t leave that as a silent panel

Oh and I loved how they added the fact that heroes denied the students being there. Absolutely fascinating. See, this is what I mean when I say I want to see them expand on what life was like after the war. If the rest of the season keeps this up, I’ll be quite happy

That said, I’m very curious why they felt the need to make this chapter its own episode. While there’s no clear “stopping point” for the season, I can’t wrap my head around why they’d decide to pace it like this since there’s plenty of plot coming up. Season 5’s excuse was (probably) to fit MVA into as few episode as possible and to therefore stretch the EA arc, but I have no idea what their goal is regarding this change. What are they trying to adjust for? Why are they stretching this? I’m curious if we will be able to see their logic by the end of the season (maybe they'll turn the entire villain hunt arc into only 5 episodes lol. Can't say I'd complain)

Like I said, I do hope they add some more scenes of aftermath going forwards, since I feel that was lacking in the manga. Again though, I can’t imagine adding a scene here and there would require an episode like this to make it work

Either way, the non-flashback stuff was adapted well. I look forward to next week!

[deadlifeboats]

Hello best E, how was ur day today?

Hey bestie, it was ok!! How was yours, my love?

[starsofmilos]

Dungeon Master (Eddie Munson x reader)

Request: I know it’s a cheesy concept lol but I would love some thing with Eddie teaching the reader how to play DND

You got it!! Requests for Eddie Munson are officially open!! 

Masterlist

Warnings: cursing, mentions of drug use, fluff, mentions of sex

“So you wanna ask him but you’re too nervous?” Robin asked in disbelief.

You nodded, “I just wanna spend more time with him and thought what better way than to learn the game he likes so much. I could join the club too! Only if he’d be okay with that. I also don’t wanna come off as the clingy girlfriend.”

“Trust me I think Eddie would love if you asked him to teach you.”

“You think so?..”

“I do. If not ask one of the other guys.” You hummed.

“Maybe I’ll ask Gareth and if he says no then I’ll ask Eddie.” Robin nodded.

“Alright see you later. Steve’s waiting for me outside.”

You smiled waving her off. “Bye Robin.”

You yelped feeling arms around your waist lifting you off the ground. “Hello.”

Eddie grinned turning you around to face him, “You ready to go?” 

“Just about. I gotta ask Gareth for a favor real quick.” 

“What do you gotta ask Gareth about?” He asked confused.

“For a favor!” You smiled kissing his cheek before waving to Gareth running to him. Eddie raised an eyebrow a bit suspicious following behind you.

He made it only to hear the last of the conversation. “So you’ll do it really?” 

Gareth nodded, “Yeah I don’t mind. Why can’t you ask Eddie though?”

“Because I don’t really wanna bother him with it. Plus what if he thinks it’s weird.”

“I highly doubt he’ll think it’s weird.” You hummed as Gareth’s eyes widened seeing Eddie behind you.

You shrugged bidding him a goodbye smiling as you saw Eddie. “Hey I’m ready to go.”

“So today is Friday do you wanna spend the night at mine?”

“I would, but I’m meeting up with Gareth tomorrow!” You buckled in as Eddie hummed once more.

“Can I ask why?”

“I told you-”

“Yeah I know you asked him for a favor.” He smiled a bit bitterly.

“Eddie are you okay?”

“Yeah yeah I’m fine.” You sighed reaching for his hand while he drove. 

“I’m sorry I really would love to spend the night I just wanna make sure I can make it to Gareth’s on time.” Eddie sighed nodding.

“I know I’m just wondering why you can’t ask me. You know I said I’d help you with anything. So come on let me help.” 

“It’s embarrassing..”

“Nothing about you is embarrassing.”

“You won’t find it weird?”

“Have you really looked at who you’re dating?”

You laughed leaning over to kiss his cheek. “I have and I’m very pleased to see it everyday.”

“Wow it? You bruise me.” You rolled your eyes as he grinned pulling over.

“Now come on tell me.” He turned to face you giving you another reassuring smile.

“I wanna learn how to play DND...” You mumbled out nervously.

“What?” He heard you. He just wanted to make sure he got it right and to him it was cute seeing you so flustered.

“I wanna learn how to play DND.”

“That’s it?”

You nodded feeling embarrassed, “Hun I can teach you that. I’m literally the Dungeon Master.”

He laughed a bit as you pouted. “I wanted to learn so I could spend more time with you..”

Eddie grinned leaning over to kiss you, “I’ll tell Gareth he doesn’t gotta worry about it. I’ll teach you pretty thing. But just because you’re cute doesn’t mean this will be easy for you.”

You nodded, “I was hoping it wouldn’t. You’ll teach me then?”

“Of course and maybe if you’re up for it. You can join the club..”

“That’s kinda what I was shooting for. I wanted to spend more time with you and thought this would be fun plus I know how much you love this game-”

Eddie kissed you again silencing you. “You need to stop being so fucking cute.”

You laughed as he started his van driving you away. 

Later that night, Eddie grabbed his things going over all of the pieces. You nodded writing down everything he was explaining to make your own study guide of sorts.

“So I usually make the campaigns, but we should start on your character sheet. What were you thinking?”

You hummed giving it a small thought as Eddie leaned over your shoulder staring at your notes. 

“You writing this all down?”

“Yeah don’t wanna forget anything. I’m taking this all seriously. Don’t wanna disappoint and if I’m gonna play with all of you I gotta make sure I become strong enough to survive one of your campaigns.” He smiled kissing your cheek.

“You truly are a honorable person.” 

“Hmm..honorable..I wanna be a warrior.”

“What?” Eddie looked a bit stunned but also wasn’t that surprised. His girl would wanna be a cool knight.

“Yeah i wanna be a warrior! Like a cool swordsmen! A knight!” Eddie grinned.

“Okay Y/N the knight.” You nodded with a wide smile writing it down. Eddie wrapped his arm around your shoulder staring at you in awe.

He never would’ve thought he’d meet someone who’d willing learn something he’s passionate about all because you wanna spend time with him.

You were gonna be a killer knight.

“Yup. Y/N the knight and the Dungeon Master.” He laughed a bit moving you on his lap. You squirmed moving away as he gripped you tightly.

“Stop distracting me! I will not allow you to treat a knight this way!” You squealed as he tossed you on your back hovering above you.

“Yeah you don’t scare me knight. We still have a lot to go over. You keep distracting me though.”

You sighed pouting up at him, “Me distracting you! You can’t keep your hands off of me! Promise if I join you won’t treat me differently?”

Eddie nodded, “Yes that is an automatic promise babe.”

“Good dungeon master. Don’t want you giving me special treatment.”

“Yeah I’ll treat you just as I treat the rest of my fellow club.”

“Alright good now let me up so we could go over more stuff.”

“Or we could make out a bit and then finish going over stuff with you.”

“Haha nice try. Making out always leads to more.” Eddie kissed you running his hands up to your waist. 

“I mean I don’t make it lead to more it’s usually you-”

“No! Don’t give me that!” You laughed a bit in shock at his words. “You end up sticking your hand up my shirt perv.”

“You love me being a pervert.”

“I do, but I really do wanna learn if you really want I can go to Gareth to learn-”

“No. You won’t learn from anyone but me.” 

“You jealous Munson?”

“Psh me? Nah I just think if you’re gonna learn from anyone might as well be the Dungeon Master.” You saw right through him smirking a bit.

“Okay then let me up so you could teach me.”

“Fine.” He groaned sitting up. 

“I will make sure my girl is the best knight there ever was.”

“Thank you. I’m totally gonna beat your campaign with everyone else once i get this all down.” 

“Yeah you will sweetheart.” He smiled as you went back to writing down your character outline.