#I promise this is a selling point the intros are so good

[cheetee]

I wrote this as an opening for another fic which I wound up scrapping, because the reason I wrote it as an intro no longer applies to the story, and it kind of just interrupted the flow otherwise. Now it's just a fluffy oneshot about Bruno and a three-year-old Mirabel. 🌸

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

Bad Vision

There was a knock on Bruno's door.

That was surprising. Nobody really visited Bruno - not without an appointment, anyway, since nobody liked to surprise-visit the local domesday prophet. He worried his mother wanted something - would she have knocked? - when the door uneasily opened and revealed Mirabel, the doorknob barely reaching her chin.

"Tío Bruno!" she said happily, as though seeing him in his own home was a surprise.

Mirabel was turning four. She was easily the star of the family, and certainly the apple of her grandmother's eye. She was, even at the age of three, talkative and doggedly helpful. Everybody in town loved her - intelligent for her age, cute as pie, and toddling after them happily, saying: "What's that?" and, "You're really good at selling things" and, "I want to do that when I grow up." Alma took her interest in people as a sure sign that she'd grow up selfless and dedicated; Bruno, on the other hand, observed that Mirabel was good at relating to adults because she wasn't good at relating to other kids. He had a suspicion she'd grow up to be socially awkward, although Alma would probably disapprove.

"Hello?" he said, as she hugged his knees like she hadn't seen him at least a few days ago. "What are you doing here, Mirabel?"

Bruno hadn't asked the kids not to talk to him, but evidently someone had, because his sobrinos never really came in here. And, indeed, he never left. Mirabel had forgotten about him and was admiring the patterns on his walls.

"I need a vision," she said happily.

Bruno's chest tightened a little. "W-who told you that?"

Not his mother. Please not his mother. He'd always been afraid she'd demand to know Mirabel's Gift in advance. Couldn't he watch Mirabel grow up in real time like everybody else?

Mirabel seemed unbothered. "Camilo did."

Oh. That was less worrying. If it was Camilo then it was probably about that night's dinner. Bruno let out a sigh of relief.

"What do you need a vision about, mija?" he asked.

"I can't read."

Bruno suppressed a smile. "But you're only three, Mirabel, you'll learn to read when you're older."

He went to stand next to her as she stared up at the murals. She took his hand and began to swing it gently.

"No," she insisted, "I can't read."

He was puzzled. "I... promise you will learn to read eventually. I'm sure you'll be great at it."

Mirabel took on the patient cadence of her mother explaining something complicated. "But I need a vision from you, or I won't be able to do it."

Bruno scratched his head.

"Would you like me to teach you to read?" he said eventually. "We wouldn't have to use a vision. We could just... use a book."

Mirabel brightened up. "Okay!" she said. "Did you draw this picture?"

She pointed up at the mural on the wall. Bruno chuckled.

"No, I didn't. Casita did."

"I think it's pretty."

Bruno was heartened to hear that; Pepa constantly called his room's decor 'creepy'. "I think so too."

"Can I touch it?"

She had apparently forgotten about learning to read. Bruno picked her up under the arms, surprised to find she was much heavier than he'd remembered, and grunted as he held her up to see the wall. She reached out a hand, beaming, and ran it along the lines. Then she giggled.

"I'm tall," she said.

"You'll probably be this tall when you're older," Bruno told her, the wisened words of a man whose sisters were both taller than him. "Then you'll be able to touch the carvings by yourself."

"I'm four tomorrow!" she declared.

"Tomorrow?" Oh no, it was tomorrow. He had no idea where the time had gone. "I-Is that right? What are you going to get for your birthday?"

"A vision," she said happily.

"I don't think," he began, then sighed. "What about a book? A book with nice pictures like these."

"Yeah!"

He perched her on his hip, and she wrapped her arms around him as he took her to see the next mural. She was, admittedly, a little heavy for this process, but it wasn't like he was getting much exercise otherwise.

"When I can write, I'm going to write a book," she said.

"A book about what?"

"You and me and Luisa and Isabela," explained Mirabel, "And Casita."

"Me? In the book?"

"Yes," said Mirabel firmly, "You'll be in the book, making things."

"What kinds of things?"

"Nice pictures on walls, like these."

Bruno chuckled and shook his head. "Yeah, alright."

Bruno's door swung open again. Bruno found himself freezing, as though he'd been caught doing something wrong; it was only Camilo, though, the other little sobrino, striding in like he owned the place.

"Why are you here?" he demanded.

"So I can read," said Mirabel, "Tío Bruno says he can teach me."

"No he can't," said Camilo, "You can't read."

Mirabel's lip wobbled. Bruno wished his problems were as simple and Mirabel and Camilo's.

"Tío Bruno can give me a vision," said Mirabel, "Then I'll be able to read."

"It's his fault!" shouted Camilo. "Tío Agustín says you can't learn to read because you have bad vision!"

Bruno burst into laughter. By the looks both Mirabel and Camilo were looking at him, they didn't get it at all.

"Mirabel," he said, "For your birthday, why don't we get you a pair of glasses, like your dad's? Then we could fix your vision."

Mirabel cheered up immediately at this. She put her fingers to her face and made a glasses shape. "Like Pa's?"

"Yes, like those! They could be your special birthday glasses. How would that be?"

Mirabel smiled brightly.

"I want glasses too!" Camilo cried, tugging the end of Bruno's ruana.

Bruno suppressed a bark of laughter. "I give people bad visions, Camilo, not bad vision! And anyway, your birthday's already done!"

"I want orange glasses!" Camilo was practically ripping the ends off the ruana. Bruno had to tug them out of his hands.

"I want my glasses to be green," said Mirabel happily, "Like Tío Bruno."

"Like Tío Bruno, huh?" said Bruno, grinning.

Mirabel took Bruno's hand, and Camilo, seeing that he was being left out, took the other.

"We have to tell Pa!" said Mirabel.

"You have to make it happen!" insisted Camilo.

Bruno chuckled and - for once in his life - let the kids pull him out of his room. He had to admit, they were a lot of fun. He could get used to this.

[asofterhibou]

I make no promises of how many of these I will do, but in honor of the Great Magicians Rewatch, here's a part one of a recap of The Magicians season one, episode one, "Unauthorized Magic", for anyone who didn't have time to rewatch but wants a refresher. Notes about spoilers and warnings below the cut.

Spoilers: for season one obviously and also probably future seasons, as I'm not going to hold back commenting on future episodes.

Warnings: The Magicians has so many warnings, friends. So many. I would ask you to please google the warnings for this show if it's at all an issue, but general series warnings: graphic violence, graphic sexual assault, child abuse, heavy themes of depression and suicide, suicide committed on screen at one point, themes of drug and alcohol abuse, graphic animal death.

We begin in New York City in 2015, on a busy city street. A door opens in one of the graffitied buildings and reveals, impossibly, a sunny green lawn on the other side. A man walks through; he's Henry Fogg, Dean of Brakebills University, and he sits on a bench and has a cryptic conversation with a woman named Eliza.

She's late, he says, which in context is very funny. She drops a dead moth on his newspaper and tells him, "It's happening."

"They're not even at Brakebills yet," Fogg says, and she tells him to get 'them' there, and hope they get a little something under their belts before 'he' finds them.

They argue about how much control is possible over the situation, and whose responsibility it is, Eliza saying that Fogg has to train them, because they know nothing, especially 'him'.

"I will do what I can," Fogg says, and Eliza gives him a pocket-watch, tucking it into his jacket pocket.

"You still have an eye on our boy, don't you?" Eliza asks, and Fogg says yes, before admitting the answer is "not exactly."

"Why not? Where is he?"

Cut to: the Statue of Liberty, and a sign saying 'Midtown Mental Health Clinic', and then to a spinning coin on a table, and a finger reaches out to stop it in place - finally, our boy, Quentin Coldwater, hoodie-clad and rolling the quarter across his knuckles before using sleight of hand to make it disappear, as the opening notes of MGMT's 'Pretend' start up, and yeah, it's an excellent fucking intro.

"Wow, nice trick," the psychiatrist sitting across the table from him says, and Quentin looks at her and makes the quarter appear again in his hands.

"I'm sure you're a hit at parties," she says, and Quentin grimace-smiles in a way that says about a million words.

Cut to the party in Julia's loft that night, full of people dancing - and Quentin sitting in a beanbag chair with a red plastic cup in his hands and staring pathetically at the ass of the girl dancing in front of him. She catches him staring and leaves, Quentin hiding his face behind the cup, and we get a back and forth between Quentin being godawful at parties and the conversation earlier that day with the psychiatrist where he tries to convince her that he is totally good to sign himself out of the clinic and leave, despite having signed himself in saying that he couldn't eat or get out of bed, felt like he didn't belong anywhere and was the most useless person who ever lived. (shout-out to Quentin telling someone at the party that the Danish version of a film is better because "the Danish people have a dark soul," iconic, unforgettable) Quentin tells the psychiatrist that when you're a kid you have notions about what life is and what it could be - but eventually you have to let all that go, and that's what he's doing. "It's part of growing up. Selling the comic book collection and getting serious."

At the party, Julia tries to gesture Quentin over to where she and James are sitting, but he retreats.

The psychiatrist asks him what he's doing after graduation, and Quentin tells her he has a grad school interview for Yale on Tuesday. When she says she would recommend further treatment, Quentin says quickly that he's never threatened to hurt himself or anyone else, so she can't make him stay, his confidence slipping slightly at the end with a "Can you?"

Back at the party, Quentin’s hiding in his room reading a book, his meds on the nightstand, his room filled with books and memorabilia of Fillory and Further, a fantasy series. The book he’s reading is Fillory and Further Book One, The World in the Walls, it’s got a old-fashioned cover with a picture of a grandfather clock with rams’ heads carved into the top. We get Quentin’s voiceover giving a summary of the book: the Chatwin siblings Martin, Rupert and Jane had been sent to the countryside, and the three of them enter into the doorway of the grandfather clock and emerge into a forest filled with trees with clocks inside them, a fountain and a castle in the background: the magical land of Fillory.

Julia comes to find Quentin in his room, and tries to talk to him about the girl whose ass he was ogling earlier, because she was wearing a unicorn t-shirt and so clearly is into fantasy, which speaks to a certain level of desperation of Julia’s part here I think. She comes to sit next to him on the bed, Quentin defends his party-reading by saying he’s getting a last look at the first edition before selling it on eBay. Julia scootches down next to him, shoulder to shoulder, says she was calling him all weekend, her voice getting quiet. “Where were you?” Quentin lies and says he was at his dad’s. Julia leans over to kiss his cheek just as her boyfriend James comes in, who fakes shock and then leaps onto the bed yelling “Threesome!” (I love how hard they go at foreshadowing the actual threesome, it’s so important to like, the themes, guys.)

It’s the day of Quentin’s grad interview and Julia’s walking him there, both of them in their wool-coat dark academia best, talking about how Quentin shouldn’t stress at all, “It’s only the alumni interview. It’s only Yale.” “Right, lesser Ivy.” Quentin says Julia doesn't have to come in with him, she smooths his hair and tells him to tighten his shit, their whole relationship in a nutshell.

They go into the house for the alumni interview, there’s no one answering their calls but there is an extremely familiar grandfather clock. And then Julia screams, because there’s also a dead body sprawled in the chair in the corner.

The paramedics are wheeling the body away, and one of the paramedics is Eliza. She hands Quentin a manila envelope before Quentin and Julia leave, saying that she thinks the dead alumni guy had left it for Quentin.

Out in the street, Quentin opens the envelope and finds a handwritten manuscript titled Fillory and Further Book Six, dated 1952. Quentin starts losing his shit in excitement - there are only five Fillory books but there have been rumors of a sixth, Julia is much less enthused. (I get that this has to lead up to the fight they’re about to have, but getting randomly handed a Fillory manuscript from the dead alumni guy’s house actually is pretty weird, so it’s a little strange Julia’s so blase about it) Julia finally tells him he has to stop: “You can’t run away hard enough, can you? What happened to giving up on the Fillory crap?” And then they have an ‘old-friends-with-years-of-built-up-issues’ fight; Quentin’s side - Julia uses to like Fillory, Julia in fact got him into Fillory, it was their thing, Julia’s side, I liked it (I loved it, she says), and it was silly nerdy bullshit that got us through high school, but -; Quentin: “it never seemed to bother you until right around the second you met James.”

Julia stops, then brings out the big guns too - she knows he was at the mental hospital this weekend, not at his dad’s, and that he feels the same as he did the last time. “Life is starting, for real,” Julia says. “You’re good at so much stuff, pick something. Please. Start living your life,” and like, she’s not completely wrong, but it’s not helpful, and Quentin’s not having it. And she has to leave to go meet James, of course. “I love you. Call me, okay?” and Quentin says nothing as she walks away. (also the first time you hear what I think of as ‘the sad magicians theme’ which rips at my heart every damn time. someone please tell me the real name of this music)

Quentin walks alone down the street with his manuscript, a page blows away from it and he chases it down an alleyway.

Julia goes into a building and gets in an elevator.

Quentin chases his lost paper into a gated wintry garden, and Julia’s elevator is going down to the parking garage instead of up.

Quentin pushes his way through the tall bushes at the back of the garden - and emerges into sunlight, onto a large green field with imposing college campus like buildings all around him.

Julia’s elevator opens into a bright hallway with a sign saying ‘To Exam’. Julia walks down the hallway and we see Quentin outside her building walking in parallel with her: wherever they are, it’s the same place.

Quentin walks across the field to Eliot, who’s stretched out smoking a cigarette on the large stone sign that says “BRAKEBILLS”. Eliot pulls a card out of his pocket, checks the name, and asks, “Quentin Coldwater?” like it’s the most ridiculous thing he’s ever heard. He then gives Quentin a once-over, tells him he’s late, and to follow him. Quentin’s freaking out, Eliot tells him he’s at Brakebills University in upstate New York and has been offered a preliminary exam for entrance to the grad program; and also points out that it doesn't do much good to ask your suspected hallucinations if they're hallucinations.

Quentin and Eliot get to the exam room, and we get a good first look at Penny who’s also at the exam, and Penny’s amazing biceps, thank you for that. Quentin and Julia start to work on the exam, a paper booklet whose questions move and change. Julia tries to ask a question and is refused.

As they go up to the front to pass in the finished exam, Quentin and Julia see each other and hug. Quentin’s relieved that Julia’s here and seeing what he’s seeing, since he just started new meds and was worried none of this was real.

In the next room for the final exam, Julia is alone except the examiner sitting across from her, who says first that they suspected she has nascent magical abilities - Julia smiles and starts to say, “I used to think that -” (a moment for me to cry over baby Julia who thought she had magic and then clearly put that aside with the rest of her childish things) and then the examiner tells her actually she failed the written exam and he’s there to send her home. Julia immediately starts to protest, says the test was crazy, “don’t you want students who make actual inquiry instead of just accepting like sheep?” The examiner gives her a look, and she reins in it, puts on the charm instead, says she can’t go to Yale if she knows this place exists. The examiner says essentially no worries, because she’s not going to remember this place exists. He gets up to sanitize his hands, and Julia takes off one of her rings and scratches it hard up the inside of her right arm, drawing a long line of blood.

In Quentin’s final exam room, there’s a panel of judges with Fogg sitting in the middle. “Quentin,” Fogg says, “let’s see some magic.” He places a pack of cards on the table.

Quentin starts to do card tricks, Fogg asks for real magic. Quentin drops cards on the floor, picks them up as Fogg gets up from his seat and starts to circle him. Fogg asks if Quentin wants to go back to his old life (“that pointless, miasmic march to death”), back to feeling alone and wrong. “No.” “Then quit dicking around.” “Stop it.” “And do some goddamn magic!”

“I said stop it,” Quentin yells, and does some goddamn magic, the cards in his hands flying into the air and then hanging in place, before spinning into shapes that turn into a castle made of cards on the judges’ table. “Holy shit, I’m doing this,” Quentin says. (Notable: the card castle is Whitespire, the castle in Fillory with the spinning towers; and the shadow of the cards flying through the air looks creepily similar to the shadow of the cloud of moths that we’ll see later) Quentin passes out in a dead faint on the floor and the castle collapses.

Quentin’s walking in a dark forest, looking at a clock tree: Fillory. When he goes to touch the clock, the young girl sitting in the tree warns him that time magic is difficult, “you’ll just make it worse.” It’s Jane Chatwin from the Fillory books, and she appears next to Quentin on the ground to tell him that it won’t stop the Beast from coming. “You’re in the school, he’s going to find you. You’re the one he wants.” She tells him to look down - he’s standing on a stone path. If you stay on the garden path, the Beast will kill you, she says, kill everyone. Step off the path, or -

There’s a growling sound, a blast of wind and a glowing blue moth flying directly at Quentin’s face - and he sits up in bed, waking up from his dream.

End of part one.

[bluberimufim]

Incorrect Quotes tag

AAAAAAA I've always wanted to do this!!! Thank you @writeblr-of-my-own for the tag!!!!

From my main WIP, "Black and White" (intro here)

Diedrich: Here are two pictures. One of the is your office, and the other is a garbage dump.

Johann: *points at one of the pictures* That is the garbage dump.

Diedrich: THEY'RE BOTH YOUR OFFICE!

----

Darius: Live fast, die young, leave behind a sexy corpse! That’s what I always say!

Literally everyone but mostly Diedrich: You should say something else.

----

Markov: Name a more iconic duo than my crippling fear of abandonment and my anxiety. I’ll wait.

Darius: You and me!

Markov: *tearing up* Ok.

----

Diedrich: Am I going too far?

Johann: No, no, no. You went too far about 30 years ago. Now you're going to hell.

----

Reyna: Good morning!

August, the day after Reyna accused him of murder and outed him as gay to the whole circus all in the span of 10 minutes: Is it? Is it really??

----

Markov, after getting fired: You played me!

Diedrich: Like the cheap kazoo you are!

----

Darius: Remember when you dared me to sell my soul in exchange for magic powers?

Diedrich: No, I said "Darius, don't sell your soul for magic powers" and you said "Don't tell me what to do" and sold your soul.

(I promise I'm working on a character introduction so you can get context but for now now pls enjoy)

I'm tagging @sm-writes-chaos and @liv-is because their hypothetical incorrect WIP quotes sound like they'd be a blast!

[philcoulsonismyhero]

Continuing with the Karate Kid/Cobra Kai PacRim AU nonsense (part 1 here, part 2 here), time for the show events! I’ve only got as far as the end of s1 so far, but I will eventually continue through the rest of the show.

(Note: in order for the timeline to match up, in this ‘verse the Kaiju War lasted a lot longer, and is still ongoing nearly 40 years after the first kaiju attack.)

Here’s the bullet point version from my notes, because I’m not typing all this out again:

The kaiju war is still ongoing, Daniel has made a name for himself as an engineer (possibly even owns a company with Amanda selling jaeger parts to the PPDC) and has a happy family, but Mr Miyagi died some years ago and he's still very much grieving him

Sam is old enough to start pilot training, but unsure if that's what she wants to do with her life

Johnny is working as a handyman, and Miguel and his mother move in across the courtyard

There's a kaiju attack, and the kaiju gets into the city proper for the first time in the kids' lifetimes when it smashes through the coastal wall and jaegers are only deployed at that point as a last resort

Miguel is out running errands when it happens, and Johnny ends up protecting him and getting him to safety and then back to his mother, revealing along the way that once upon a time he was a pilot

Miguel convinces Carmen to let him enlist as a pilot, and Johnny gets his shit together and applies as an instructor, promising extra training to Miguel 

Daniel, still working in the same shatterdome and with his name all over the recent generation of jaegers, is delighted to see Johnny again and shows him the restoration project at work on Kreese's old Jaeger, Cobra Kai, which is turning it into a training rig. He's like 'listen, I know you have bad memories about the whole thing, but look, the machine that was part of that is finally being used for good again' 

Johnny is still pissed about the wall thing, and seeing the old Jaeger makes him think about the strike first approach and decide screw it, someone needs to shake things up around here and get people proactive again, they've all become too comfortable just reacting to the kaiju

So he starts a secret after hours training program for the pilot candidates, based around the Cobra Kai approach (either named after the jaeger, or the jaeger was named after the style, I’m undecided)

Miguel is his first student, but it slowly gains popularity with the other kids

Daniel finds out what he's doing and flips, trying to get him shut down or even fired, but the shatterdome commander listens to Johnny's reasoning and agrees with him, allowing him to make Cobra Kai a legitimate combat training track at the academy 

Meanwhile, Robby is also in the picture. He's been stealing from the shatterdome with his shady friends, and that's how he finds out his dad is working there and is close with Miguel

So, as revenge, he gets a job with Daniel, who realises this is an angry teen in need of a mentor and starts looking out for him

Daniel has been finding his way back to Miyagi-do karate in an attempt to find his balance again, and he ends up training Robby in it too, eventually encouraging him to apply for pilot candidacy

Miguel is only in the first stage of applicancy, which means he's being trained but might not be taken on as a pilot because there are limited slots in the program proper. There's a series of exams and a combat tournament that'll whittle down the candidates. Not everyone who takes part in those exams has to have gone through official intro training, as long as they can prove they're qualified, which is how Robby gets his slot after unofficially training with Daniel

So Johnny is training Miguel and a bunch of other kids (including Eli and Aisha) as an official instructor and Daniel is unofficially training Robby, and various back and forth sniping at each other ensues

Cousin Louie eventually ends up wrecking Johnny's car in revenge for something Johnny did, and Johnny tries to provoke a fight with Daniel, which is deescalated by Amanda and leads to Daniel agreeing to fix the car

Johnny refuses to just leave his car with him, so they end up crankily hanging out while Daniel works on it, and then inevitably working on it together and getting along better than they'd like to admit as they actually learn things about each other (Drift compatibility indicators happen while they're working together, but neither of them is paying attention to that, probably deliberately) 

Eventually, a few drinks in to toasting a job well done, they end up drunkenly agreeing to a sparring match, but of course this is interrupted by the Robby reveal

Things get tense again until the week of the exams and the tournament. Robby has put himself up for candidacy, but neither of the dads know until he steps out onto the mat for the tournament 

Daniel is still pissed at him, but he can't help stepping up to coach and they patch things up

It comes down to Robby vs Miguel, although it's a points thing rather than a contest with a winner so really they're just trying to prove themselves vs win the match. At least, Robby is - Miguel has been taught by Johnny that winning is the thing so he fights dirty and injures Robby

Johnny has his Oh Shit moment about realising what he's turning these kids into

Both boys make it into pilot school proper 

Daniel applies as a combat instructor to act as a counterbalance to Johnny

Kreese then shows up again, somehow, trying to finagle his way in to teaching with Johnny on the downlow despite being dismissed from the programme all those years ago

And cue s2, which I still need to figure out

I really love this AU, it’s far too much fun

[thejulesmoreton]

- was that JULES MORETON i saw by the lighthouse today? i heard that the TWENTY EIGHT year old who has been in nightrest for EIGHT YEARS and works  as a BARTENDER has a reputation of being CONFIDENT, but also CLOSED OFF. they reside in LOW POINT & people in town usually associate them with CHERRY FLAVOURED JUULS, TRINKETS IN THEIR HAIR, AND SLY SMIRKS FROM ACROSS THE BAR. let’s hope the killer doesn’t go after them next. 

intro tws: harassment, immigration

Jules was born and raised in London, UK. She had a good life, raised by not just her parents but the whole community around her. Her Dad worked in finance and Mom as a teacher and they were both super involved in liberal politics. On weekends she was brought along to protests and rallies, speaking up for not only her community but all who were marginalised and left on their own. She stuck with this as she grew older, campaigning for multiple charities and it was in doing this that she built a love for travel. These were her passions in life, activism and travel, but unfortunately she never really got the grades at school to really go into politics or academia or anything like that. So, she dropped out of school at 16 and went full-time with the charity she was working for. During this time, her Dad became a leading figure for a leftist political movement and their family was always in the news. The tabloid press would follow them around, snap pics through windows, chase them in the streets. It was never to cover their side of the story - always to discredit her Dad, always to smear them. Two years of that really turns something magical into a horror film.

The pressure became too much, her Dad wouldn’t compromise, Mother wouldn’t accept the new way of life, and when she was 19 her once loving parents decided to get a divorce. Jules also saw what happened when you flew too close to the activist sun, the harassment that comes with trying to do good. She decided she, like her Mother, couldn’t handle all of that. So, she took an opportunity to come to the US figuring that it would be easier to keep doing good charity work but also fly under the radar here. She worked in NYC for a year, but eventually she couldn’t afford to do it anymore so she moved out of the city to Salem, hoping to get more in touch with her spiritual side here. Originally, this move was supposed to just be a year or so to build some money up and go travel the world. But, that was 8 years ago now and she’s still not moved on. One thing after another keeps her here, whether its a relationship or trauma or promises, she just can’t seem to get away. So, for now, she continues working behind bars and running odd jobs here and there some of them legal some of them... Absolutely not. In fact, part of the reason she can’t move away is because of those ‘odd jobs’ - one bad decision to dip into the pot she was supposed to sell and she’s tied by blackmail to the dealer. But, no one knows about that, at least, not that she knows of...

Jules’ is a pretty open character all in all, she’s very flirty, curious, up for a good time so she should be quite easy to plot with. I’m open to any suggestions and happy to rewrite parts of this to match timelines/plots! 

[iamprchung]

Dancing in the Moonlight 8/?

How in the world could I not post a new chapter of this story on Friday 13th?

Synopsis:

Mulder and Scully’s investigation takes odd turns as they uncover a hidden path linking a series of brutal attacks to the exclusive community. While Mulder heads into the heart of the mayor's domain, Scully is left wondering if accepting the mayor’s hospitality comes at a cost. As for all those missed calls from Skinner, who else has complained now?

Notes:

I swear this is a Skinner/Scully fic. I know it really doesn’t seem like it considering that we’re eight parts into it at this point… but it really is… I promise. Trust me, I’m as frustrated and disillusioned as the rest of you at this point.

That said… fun retro stuff going on in this story that’s required research. Cell phones back in the day were crappy and unreliable, regardless if you worked for the government or not. But what great plot devices, right?

Oh yeah, and you’re probably wondering what the hell is going on with the intro… Good, keep wondering. It’s going to be fun and wild.

Dancing in the Moonlight 8/? - A Well-Worn Path

By PR Chung

Albuquerque, New Mexico AVF Transport Trucking Depot

Chuy Perez stepped back after a final check of the truck, satisfied it was ready for their next load—the last delivery. Clean, running smooth, and locked up tight. In this area, especially at this depot, he thought looking around, nobody could be too careful. Rigs being stolen weren’t unheard of.

With the end of the line so close, they couldn’t take any chances.

He checked the door once more before turning. “Safe and sound, Ar—” His words trailed off as he noticed his partner already halfway across the depot lot, heading toward the office trailer. “Damn, he’s fast.”

Chuy hurried to catch up, calling, “Hey, hey, Arlo, hold up, man.”

Arlo Gutierrez didn’t break his stride, moving with the same steady confidence, his focus on the office and their next job—the last job.

“Arlo,” Chuy panted, finally catching up, “I was thinking, when we get to Boise—”

“Salt Lake City,” Arlo corrected, his tone firm but calm.

“Right, right,” Chuy adjusted his ballcap, “I keep mixing those up—Idaho, Iowa…”

“Salt Lake City, Utah,” Arlo repeated, emphasizing each word as he removed his driving gloves with precision.

“Utah, yeah,” Chuy said quickly. “So, I was thinking, you know, Salt Lake City doesn’t have really good Mexican food. We could get one of those food trucks and sell authentic Mexican food.”

Arlo paused, turning the idea over in his mind. “A food truck…” he said thoughtfully. “And a custom car shop? We’re going to run both?”

“Uh, yeah, you know, the truck could be for the down times at the shop.”

“There won’t be any down time, Chuy.” Arlo assured, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, nearly hidden beneath a thick, dark, well-manicured mustache. “Not in our shop.”

As Chuy and Arlo stepped into the depot office, the dry heat outside seemed almost preferable to the oppressive stillness within. Just like this last delivery, they were caught between two worlds—one they knew, and one they were about to leave behind.

The office was a claustrophobic cave of stale cigarette smoke and burnt coffee, where the air seemed to cling to your skin, sticky and suffocating. The hum of the struggling air conditioner was a distant whisper against the oppressive heat. The man behind the cluttered desk looked up, his gaze settling on Arlo.

“How can I help you guys?”

Arlo smiled broadly. “AC Hot Shot,” he announced, carefully pushing his gloves into the front pocket of his dark denim jeans, the heavy starched crease barely shifting. “We’re here for the delivery to Aspen.”

---------------------------- xXx-------------------------------

The Rio Grande Trail was a scenic multi use path stretched along the Roaring Fork River and meandered through groves of cotton wood and golden aspen trees, then deepening into rockier terrain, hills and heavy woods.

It was here, just off Perry's Prowl spur of the trail, where Shannon Mitchell was torn from his bike before dawn on an August morning. His body had been located just after dusk the next day, up the hill, within the brush where he’d been dragged. The location of his body, hidden within the low brush had been what convinced Sheriff Lopez that it had been a mountain lion attack.

Kessler got everyone checked in with the park’s department office, apprising the superintendent that they’d be visiting the site, an area only recently reopened to the public. Taking the service road to the site allowed them to bypass the throngs of visitors using the trails and lessen their hike and the picturesque views.

“Are these the trails you were tracking the motor bikes on earlier today?” Scully’s brow furrowed as she scanned their surroundings.

Less groomed and tended, the foliage lining the road was overgrown and crowding the maintenance equipment and vehicles parked up and down the roadside, while piles of gravel, mulch, and debris dotted available open spaces.

“Pretty close, actually,” Kessler answered her, taking a map from the SUV that he spread open across the hood. “We’re here,” he pointed out on the map as Mulder and Scully gather to watch. “This is the area, just a bit further into the trail, is where they’ve been having all the illegal motorized vehicle activity.”

“Is all of this the same trails system?” Mulder asked, gesturing at the twisting series of pathways on the map.

“It is,” Kessler answered, reaching back into the vehicle to retrieve his handheld radio and secure it on his belt. “Over forty-two miles. We bypassed the paved section and a majority of the visitor traffic, but out this way, it gets more rugged, less hospitable for the casual vacationer with a camera.”

“Are trail cams in place in any of these areas?”

The man shook his head, answering Mulder. “Very few. Their bulk and the film not holding up in weather makes mass use too expensive.”

Scully traced one of the trails on the map. “Is that the Silver Ridge?”

Kessler glanced at where she pointed and beamed. “It is. You have a great sense of geography.”

She nodded uncomfortably and gave a thin smile in acknowledgment of his flattery.

“A spur of this trail runs to the resort,” Mulder observed, leaning in for a closer look.

Kessler nodded. “The trails connect to many of the area resorts and neighborhoods.”

“A regular predator highway,” Mulder remarked.

“Predators don’t generally use trails,” Goodman interjected. “Except at night or during low traffic times when it's the path of least resistance. They prefer the edges, avoiding human noise and scent.”

Mulder turned toward him. “Only coming out when they’re… provoked?”

“Takes a lot to provoke an animal,” Goodman replied. “They will defend their offspring, hunt when hungry, or act out of pure survival instinct. But they’ll run from a threat more often than not.”

“How far to the site?” Scully asked, eager to get moving.

Taking her cue, Kessler motioned toward the incline along the roadside. “Right this way.”

The group began their ascent, the thickening woods gradually swallowing them up. As they moved, the conversations started to drift apart like echoes in the forest.

Kessler pulled the two-way radio off his belt, holding it up for Scully to see. “If you ever need to reach me and the phones aren’t working, use this—frequency…”

A few paces ahead, Goodman quickened his step to catch up with Mulder. “Tell me something, Agent Mulder, in all seriousness—werewolves or dogmen?”

Mulder glanced at him with a chuckle. “What, like which one would win in a fight?”

“There’s a difference between them?”

“There’s a difference,” Mulder paused, savoring the moment before he continued. “Werewolves are cursed humans, historically documented for centuries. Over seven feet tall, with massive teeth and claws, and glowing red eyes. The dogman, though, is more human-like and a newer entry in cryptozoology. One of its notable features is one blue eye, the other amber or sometimes emerald.”

“Like a mixed-breed dog or cat,” Goodman mused.

“Or a glam rocker from the seventies.”

Goodman frowned, puzzled. “Excuse me?”

“David Bowie had the same condition—heterochromia.”

“David Bowie’s a werewolf?”

“No,” Mulder chuckled, “it’s dogmen have been described with similar eyes.”

“So, Bowie’s a dogman…?”

Mulder’s laughter faded as the trees closed in around them, the conversation trailing off into the deepening woods.

---------------------------- xXx-------------------------------

“…literary scholars have often explored the sexual connotations of the Little Red Riding Hood tale,” Mulder said, seamlessly picking up where they’d left off. Goodman, now thoroughly invested, nodded along. “Interpretations range from the innocence of puberty to more romantic fancies, and… darker concepts.”

“And here I thought it was just a cautionary tale about listening to your elders,” Kessler muttered, casting a glance at Scully. His patience was wearing thin.

Mulder and Goodman’s conversation had been trailing them since the Mitchell site, during the ride, and now all the way up to the Steinman camp area.

“…the original tale—where the grandmother and Little Red Riding Hood outwit and defeat the wolf—got twisted into an allegory about female passivity and obedience.”

“They made them less badass,” Goodman observed, shaking his head in disapproval.

“Way to ruin a perfectly good fairytale,” Scully added, her tone flat, as she pulled her trilling cell from her jacket pocket. “Scully,” she answered, and waited. “Hello…?”

Receiving no answer, she pulled the phone from her ear, seeing the call had cut off… lingering on the display screen the call contact name: ‘SKINNER.’

“…great,” she sighed, her thoughts inventorying the possible reasons for him calling again. Who else had been offended, spooked, or concerned? Had Joseph Raven called the bureau in defense of the entire Ute Nation?

“Important?” Kessler asked, taking notice of her irritation.

“Possibly” she half-explained, distracted by the concern that there had been additional complaints. Looking at the phone, she was amazed to see she had bars. “Why have I got a signal out here?”

“Better coverage,” Kessler explained, “The towers are better the nearer you get to the pricier homes around here, and we’re getting pretty close to some of them.”

“The cellular customer you’re trying to reach is unavailable,” a recorded voice answered Scully’s attempt to return Skinner’s call.

She put her phone back in her pocket, dejected. “Great.”

As they approached Alice Steinman’s attack site—a mile away from that of Mitchell’s, nestled near a wooded camping area—nature had begun reclaiming the ground, erasing the final traces of the violence. The ground rubbed bare of grass by a long history of tents and foot traffic, a weathered wooden picnic table positioned on a chipped and cracked concrete slab, all showing few signs of recent use. And like the Mitchell site, it held little new information, only the significance of its proximity to the other attacks.

Kessler settled his backpack on the picnic table, its surface a testament to years of late-night gatherings. As he retrieved the map and began to lay it out, Scully scanned the table noting the initials carved in uneven hearts, crude drawings, dates in no particular order from the 80’s to just a few weeks ago— a chaotic mosaic marking a moment in time when the table was the center of someone's world, even if only for a night. In Alice Steinman’s case, her last night.

“Alice Steinman had reportedly been visiting her ex-boyfriend at the Sonder Hill rehabilitation facility, how far is that from here?” Scully asked.

Kessler traced a finger along the map, “That’s a good way from here, at least five miles. Seems like a long way for her to walk that night.”

“The distance by foot isn’t impossible, but seems improbable,” Scully considered.

“Maybe she got a ride,” Goodman suggested.

“No one’s come forward with that information in the Sheriff’s investigation.”

“If someone was the last person to see her alive, how likely are they to volunteer that information?” Goodman questioned.

“There shouldn’t be any reason not to unless they had something to hide,” Scully countered.

“I don’t think Alice Steinman was walking all the way from Sonder Hill to the camp site,” Mulder commented as he pulled back low hanging tree limbs.

Pushing aside the low branches, a well-worn path was exposed. It climbed up a slight incline, growing more clearly defined as it dropped out of view down the other side of the hill. “Is this part of the trails system?”

Kessler stepped up beside him, Scully and Goodman joining to view the path. “No, this is a route of less resistance through to this area.”

Mulder studied the path for a moment, his brow pinching. "But from where?" Without waiting for an answer, he started following the path.

His pace quickened as the path narrowed, the incline steepening ahead. The thickening trees and low-hanging branches swiped at him as he pressed forward, his focus sharpening on the rise that hid whatever lay beyond. Behind him, the others followed, but Mulder barely noticed as he surged ahead. The sounds of their footfalls and rustling foliage faded as the distance between them grew.

Mulder reached the top of the path and froze. Below, nestled in the forest’s grasp, stood a walled community, its pristine rooftops and manicured lawns a jarring contrast to the wildness around him. The path he’d followed snaked down toward the gated entrance, a hidden route leading straight into the heart of this secluded enclave.

He stood there for a moment, absorbing the implications. This path, hidden and forgotten, had led directly to the heart of privilege, cutting through the rough edges of the world outside its walls.

Behind him, he heard the others approaching, their pace hurried as they struggled to catch up. Scully’s voice called out, slightly breathless, “Mulder, what is it?”

“This path—” He gestured, his voice lowering as if the trees themselves were listening. “It’s a connection, straight to that gated community.”

Kessler and Goodman joined the agents, looking out at the community below the rise where they stood.

“Windspire Estates,” Kessler declared. “High-security and high-dollar. Very exclusive, and just happens to be where Mayor Gunderson calls home.”

Mulder turned from Kessler, looking at the community below, his thoughts churning on the implications of this discovery.

As he began to take a step forward on the path, his intention clear to follow it down to the estates, Scully placed a hand on his arm, stopping him.

“Mulder, I know you want to go down there,” she said, her voice carrying that familiar edge of concern. She’d seen that look in his eyes before—the one that meant he was about to dive headfirst into something, damn the consequences. “But I think we should wait, take the mayor up on his invitation.”

---------------------------- xXx-------------------------------

“So, the mushroom says to the bartender, ‘Why not? I’m a fungi.’” Goodman finished his joke, his boisterous laugh filling the air as the Department of Fish and Game SUV approached the entrance of the Silver Ridge Resort, every eye drawn to it. “What,” Goodman asked, his laugh dwindling as he looked around, realizing no one else was sharing his cheer.

“Not big mushroom fans, Jake.” Mulder proclaimed; his attention focused on the stares they were drawing from front entrance area of the resort.

“Well, well,” Kessler chuckled, fully aware of the spectacle they were making. “Fish and game shows up and they all think there’s a critter problem.”

A particularly anxious valet was waving at the vehicle hastily, motioning for Kessler to veer hard to the left, and far from the main entrance.

“All right, this guy is having an aneurism,” Kessler grumbled as he obeyed the valet and pulled over to let the agents out.

“Thanks for the tour, gentlemen,” Scully sighed, climbing out of the SUV.

“Wait—” Kessler called out and held up a large manila envelope. “Scene photos, Agent Scully.”

“Thanks again,” Scully said as Goodman passed the envelope to her through the open window.

“Hey, check back in with us after your visit with Gunderson.” Kessler requested, his attention on the valet now urgently motioning for him to leave now that his passengers were clear.

“Let’s hope your new buddy the mayor keeps his word.” Goodman added as the SUV started away.

Indeed, did they still have rooms here in the resort, Scully and Mulder exchanged glances, wondering—and at what price. Was this stroke of luck, a clever distraction, or a calculated move on the mayor’s part? They knew that accepting his generous hospitality might cast a shadow over the case’s integrity, especially if it turned out the mayor had any involvement in the case.

“I’m still not convinced he’s actually taking care of this,” Scully murmured.

“Maybe Gunderson’s idea of ‘taking care of it’ is sticking us with the bill,” Mulder smirked as they stepped into the lobby. The cozy surroundings—the hum of conversations, the crackling fireplace—seemed too perfect, adding to the lingering sense of uncertainty between them.

Before they could dwell further on the implications, Leslie, the desk clerk who had so efficiently checked them in earlier that day, approached them midway across the lobby, her smile a bit brighter, her tone more cordial.

“Agents Mulder and Scully! What a pleasure to have you back,” she greeted, her voice warm and vibrant. “I’ve been informed that you’ll be extending your stay with us. Everything’s been arranged.”

Scully exchanged a brief glance with Mulder, her skepticism softening. Leslie’s energy and professionalism were impossible to ignore. “So… it’s all been taken care of?”

“Oh, absolutely!” Leslie beamed. “Your rooms are just the way you left them. And a driver and car are at your service whenever you’re ready—just ask the concierge to call them around. However, time is of the essence. The mayor has suggested your arrival by four this afternoon.” She checked her wristwatch briefly, tapping its face lightly. “And it’s now three-forty-eight.”

“Uh,” Mulder chuckled, “Sounds like we shouldn’t keep him waiting after all this generosity.” He glanced down at himself, noting the smears of dirt on his jeans and mud on his biking boots. “I should probably change though…”

“Oh, certainly not,” Leslie said with a lilt, her smile deepening, “you look very rugged.”

Purposefully inspecting the envelope in her hand, Scully pursed her mouth struggling against a smirk that threatened a full out laugh.

“Uh…” Mulder hesitated, at a loss for words for once.

“If there’s anything extra you need...” Leslie said, and glanced at Mulder, her smile deepening, “just let me know.”

As she turned to leave, Scully cleared her throat, casting a sideways glance at Mulder. “Looks like the mayor’s not the only one being charitable around here.”

Mulder grinned. “Scully, is that jealousy I hear?”

“Keep dreaming, Mulder,” she quipped. “You go see the mayor; I’m staying here.”

“Spa day?”

“I wish,” Scully moaned. “I’m going to do some research on our ‘benefactor’ and note my report while things are still fresh.” She checked her phone and frowned. “Another missed call from Skinner.”

“I don’t have any missed calls,” Mulder mocked offense as he checked his phone.

Scully’s lips curled. “Is that jealousy I hear in your tone, Mulder?”

“No, not since you two started going steady.” He baited her, holding his cell up with a grin on his lips. “Oh wait—turns out he did call me. Twice. Guess I’m more popular than I thought.”

Scully whined at him, “Mulder—”

“The mayor is waiting,” he declared turning toward the concierge kiosk, “Find out what you can, and make sure to call me if you think I’m in danger of becoming a werewolf…”

Scully twisted her mouth, watching Mulder stride away. “Monster boy…” she muttered turning toward the elevator.

---------------------------- xXx-------------------------------

Continued… and continued, and continued…

There’s a definite pattern here…

[wanderersrest]

Mazinger Z Preview: The Introduction is the Most Important Part

Spoilers for, amusingly enough, Mobile Fighter G Gundam. Also I forgot how quickly the shots between Domon and Shining Gundam flash. So keep that in mind if you have something like epilepsy.

This is going to be a "short" preview of my upcoming post on the Mazinger Z franchise. And all I really want to highlight is that how a series introduces a giant robot is important. Take for example...

Shin Getter One in Getter Robo Armageddon

Shin Getter One's introduction highlights the fact that Shin Getter does not care about Musashi and Benkei's well-being, which indicates that it is currently unknown if it is a friend or a foe. This is amplified by the fact that it is shown fighting an invader seconds later. More importantly, we get a glimpse of how brutal Shin Getter One is as a machine not only in how it fights Getter 3, but how it ruthlessly and bloodily it tears apart the invader. For another powerful giant robot introduction, let's take a look at...

God Gundam vs Shining Gundam in Mobile Fighter G Gundam

G Gundam does a pretty good job using the introduction of the main character's Gundams to highlight a contrast in how he has changed as a person.

With the Shining Gundam's first appearance, it's landing pod crashes violently in Rome. And the suit-up sequence for the Shining Gundam is iconic: Domon's suit-up sequence is a violent affair, which really showcases that this is a man filled to the brim with nothing but anger.

Once he upgrades to the God Gundam though, things change. Even God Gundam's very first appearance is different from how Shining's intro. Whereas the latter is this explosive and destructive affair, the former's very first appearance harkens back to Michelangelo's Pieta as it carries the now-destroyed Shining Gundam in its arms. Even Domon's transformation sequence for the God Gundam is more peaceful, which makes sense as far as characterization goes since Domon has, at this point, learned how to reign in his emotions.

It's not just G Gundam that does this, by the way. You'd be surprised to note that Gun X Sword does this as well. Van's Original Seven Armor Dann of Thursday is treated as this otherworldly and almost angelic Armor that descends from the skies.

Meanwhile, Ray Lundgren, the Gun to Van's Sword, summons his Armor Volkein by having it rise from under the Earth. Fittingly enough, Volkein also has more of a chthonic and lived-in look to it as well to contrast it with the more ethereal and almost alien-looking Dann.

Music is (also) the Key to Victory!!

Another key factor in a mecha's introduction is the soundtrack. A soundtrack, while not necessarily being the only factor in what makes a mecha's introduction, can almost certainly elevate it's introduction. You see this with the aforementioned Dann of Thursday, but there are two examples that stand out in my mind that aren't Dann: The King of Braves GaoGaiGar, whose final fusion sequence is paired with the theme of the same name...

...and The Big O, where the titular mecha's theme is complimented by the soundtrack Sure Promise.

In both cases, the soundtracks mentioned help to really sell the idea that a powerful and heroic machine has appeared. Both robots use these themes really well when it comes to selling the fictions behind their machines. Sure Promise helps to sell the image of Big O as this massive, monstrous, and destructive savior whose every movements shake the very earth itself.

Meanwhile, Final Fusion sells us on the idea that GaoGaiGar isn't just a hero. He is the hero. The King of Braves is finally here, and by god is he going to save the day.

So... What's the Point, Me? What Does This Have to Do With Mazinger Z?

Well, I really made this post more because I couldn't fit all of this in with the Mazinger Z post I'm working on. But Mazinger Z, and specifically Mazinger Edition Z/Shin Mazinger Z, was the series that taught me that a mecha's first introduction is of vital importance. To bring in one last example before I sign off, think about how the Death Star is introduced in the original Star Wars.

The first time we're introduced to the Empire's greatest weapon, the very first thing we are shown it can do is destroy a planet (to the horror of a captive Princess Leia, it was her home planet of Alderaan specifically). The introduction of this moon-sized battle station helps to clue us in on how evil the Empire (represented in the original film by Grand Moff Tarkin): they built the Death Star as the ultimate deterrence against anyone who tries to pick a fight against them. It's a battle station that is not only armed to with a planet-destroying laser but also houses a whole armada of TIE Fighters, landing shuttles, and Lord knows how many storm troopers. The Death Star blowing up Alderaan wasn't just by chance; it served to explicitly show to both Leia and the audience that the Empire would be more than willing to use the laser if anyone stood up against them.

As for Mazinger Z... you'll have to wait and see. However, if you've read An Abbreviated History of Mecha, you've probably seen the introduction that I'm hinting at.

[captainmdhridoyhossain-blog]

[ad_1] I think we all probably know that this is the painting of the mona lisa well it's a picture of the painting of the mona lisa and this is probably the most famous painting of all time painted by probably the most famous painter of all time leonardo da vinci now something you Probably don't know because i just found this out myself but we can legally and ethically steal this picture of the mona lisa sell it and make money and i know that sounds like way too good to be true but i promise you this is 100 real and legit and in this video i'm Gonna explain why it's actually real and why it works how we can actually do this the right way and make money and i'm going to be showing you how to do all of that completely step by step so if you want to learn about that and see how you Can make money completely for free from home with doing very little work make sure to watch this entire video and with that being said let's get started what's going on thomas garrett's here and like i said in the intro i'm going to show you how we can use famous pictures or Pictures of famous paintings and sell them online and make money completely legally and ethically now the first question you probably have is like how do you do that or you might be like oh you're lying you can't just take pictures online and sell them and that's True kind of right like for example we couldn't go to google and take pictures of wonder woman or the hulk or spider-man and just upload them and sell them online right like if we click on this image here you can see right here this poster art copyright is believed to Belong to the distributor of the film warner brothers obviously right however copyright doesn't last forever you may not know this but it only lasts for 70 years after the artist passes away okay and then at that point it goes into what's called the public domain and its copyright has expired and the public Domain means literally there is zero copyright you can use it completely free you can sell it you can edit it you can do whatever you want with it and that's legal and ethical but before we actually start selling these images online i have to show you how to find more than just a Mona lisa on the public domain so there's really i mean there's plenty of ways but i'd say there's three of the the best ways and number one is wikipedia number two is raw pixel and number three is free dash images.com and me personally i feel like raw pixel Puts it together in the easiest way to browse so that's what we're going to use in this video but the other two options are great and feel free to use those if you'd like but once you're on rawpixel.com you literally just go right here to public domain and then they sort it in Different categories by like all public domain or like the name of the artist so like vincent van gogh right like he's probably the only other artist i know their name of but he has a ton of great paintings so you could just click here literally as you can see right here it's public Domain free cc0 image that's copyright zero like there's zero copyright so it's in the public domain so you don't have to pay or anything you can literally just free download and then just make sure to create your free account i'm going to sign into mine quick and i'll Be right back all right so after you're logged in or after you create your account you just hit free download and then you get your image right here okay so this is literally a famous vincent van gogh painting right here all right pretty dope but now to actually sell This painting or picture there's two ways to do it okay so the first way is on etsy the second way is on redbubble okay so i think etsy's great i personally just don't have any experience with etsy all right if you want to use etsy you can do it but for This video we're going to be using redbubble specifically so basically create your free account for this as well and then once you're signed in you go right to your little

profile right here and you hit add new work so right here you go upload new work you're gonna Go to your downloads right here and then we have our vincent van gogh painting and while it's downloading or uploading we could title it so we could do uh what's it called let's take the actual image name right here vincent van gogh's starry night let's just literally take The title all right like you don't have to make it complicated and then just paste that in you could probably take out the famous landscape painting and then you could do like updated 2021 hd image or something like that just to give them another reason to get it and Then for the tags you'd probably want to do vincent van gogh famous painting you separate them by commas like it said um i don't know starry night over the rhone fine art okay so that's good for the description what i would suggest personally is going and looking at other Pieces of this art on redbubble and seeing what other people are writing and then just kind of using that as like inspiration and writing your own so i'm just gonna say this is vincent van gogh's i'll just copy and paste that right there but the important part is it Prints it on all of these different things like clothing and all these different things some of them are going to be enabled some are going to be disabled i personally would disable most of them i mean you can keep whatever enabled that you want like some of these Look good and people might order them but the most important one is down here i'll show you it's right here prints cards and posters because if you hit edit right here and you click the second box that's where you can get the framed art and the canvases and that's what People are most likely to purchase when it's a painting like this you know what i mean because that just makes the most sense i'm not saying people wouldn't order the other stuff but just know that that's gonna be the main thing so then if you took any off of here like if you Didn't want cards or the metal print whatever you want just make sure you apply the changes and i personally would keep the markup what they have it at or you could try and undercut people by lowering it a little bit but i wouldn't raise it too much okay and just in case You're wondering like how do you actually get that money for that markup basically when someone purchases one of these from your shop which you'll see in a second redbubble prints your image on whatever is purchased ships it out for you and they give you a cut of the Profit okay so it's a really simple business model it's called print on demand so i just wanted to clear that up if you were confused at all about that but then once you've got all that set you just scroll down to the bottom of the page for media right here you can Select up to two right so it's a digital art and photography and then default product in your shop optimize so they choose it who can view your work you want it public and is this mature condit content no it's not okay so i have the rights to sell this product and then Save work and then you just gotta wait for this to process and then this is the page it goes to once it's all done processing you can click view right here and it will take you to all the different products that you now have for that design and if you just literally Click on one this is the product page that redbubble uses okay so you can add it to cart and that's how you can actually sell it through redbubble and again if you look at how many different options you have here it's kind of a lot so that's why i was saying i would Probably take most of them off like i said these are the main ones the canvas the art those are the ones that look super dope but when it comes to actually making money from redbubble the best part is you can literally just upload the designs and you can start making Sales because if we go to similar web right here it's a chrome extension they get 30 million monthly visitors

to their website okay people browsing and wanting to purchase designs just like this but there are a couple things you can do to really multiply the amount of money You're making the first way would be creating like an instagram account or a pinterest account and really creating content around whatever type of art you're uploading to redbubble and directing those people to your product pages for that specific design but that's really a more longer term play And definitely takes some more work so an easier way in my opinion would be to do one or both of these next two things first you can take this image that we uploaded and you can change it a little bit whether that means change the colors or if you're really good at like Photoshop and it was like a different drawing or 3d image you could like move the arms around or make it if it's like a skeleton for example or a person you could have them in a different position that's different from all the other ones because again this is public domain you Can edit these however you want but the easier way of those two i'll show you it'll take like 30 seconds okay so this is a free website called canva if you don't have an account you can create a free account but literally if we go to Create a design and you want to hit edit photo right here and you want to upload this one and it might be too big because this is yeah so this is too big in size so what you would do is you want to just take the next size down right here so It's less pixels basically which is not a problem at all so now if we use the new image create design edit photo this one should work and it's working okay so just hit edit photo and literally all you got to do is click on the image and hit edit image so there's A couple things you can do you can use filters and you can literally like look at that how much it changes you know what i mean there's some pretty cool filters like that one's dope right you can double click on it too and raise the Intensity if you want by the way or what you can do is you can go back and go to none right so that's what it looks like without it you go back you can adjust the brightness and contrast on its own so if you want it brighter a little more Contrast a little more saturation right or again you can put those all back to zero then you can do the photogenic right and kind of do it like that that just completely changes the image into something completely new and it takes 30 seconds literally okay so then you would Just download the image as a png download and then you would upload it to redbubble like that and the second way is something you could combined with this like i said and it's super simple but it's just going to google and typing in art added to public domain in 2021 or Maybe you want to do 2022 and really try and be the very first person to upload something but even stuff added in 2021 there's not going to be as many people who have added stuff like that to redbubble and etsy but if you look up mona lisa on redbubble and etsy there's Going to be hundreds or maybe thousands of people using that whereas if you go right here maybe the cover illustration of the great gatsby is something that there won't be a lot of but that's something maybe a lot of people want you know what i mean so definitely just do Some research on new stuff being added to public domain because being early or first on something can really make you a lot of money but at the end of the day all of these strategies they're really focused on earning small commissions or small profit from print on demand and There's nothing wrong with that this is a good way to earn some extra money on the side but something that can earn you a full-time income and has been able to provide me with income like i've never seen in my life and allowed me to quit My job and truly just have freedom in my life is with affiliate marketing but more specifically with high ticket affiliate marketing and if you want

to learn more about that you can click the first link down below in the description that's my number one recommendation and that's the one program that changed my Life but if that's your first time ever hearing about affiliate marketing or even high ticket affiliate marketing i have a video right here you can watch where i go much more in depth i talk about the program and all of that so i highly suggest checking that video out And that's all i got see on the next video [ad_2] #Copy #Pictures #Money #FREE #Selling #LEGALLY For More Interesting Article Visit : https://mycyberbase.com/

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Week 32 Transcript

Video

Intro

Extra extra, read all about it! Welcome to the Empire’s Recap, and today we will be going over the chaos and drama of our (somewhat) respected rulers!

This week Sausage takes the stage as the star of the show, and I'm sure we all know how that goes…

Sausage

News from Sanctuary shows reports of new spores sprouting around Sunny, courtesy of some strange inter-dimensional magic from Pearl’s side of the universe. Sausage doesn't mind, because it's not something that he has to clean up, unlike the sculk splattered around Sanctuary.

The sculk clean up mission leads Sausage to the map room, which is a bit outdated at this point!

Magic updates the map and an issue comes forth - a very Sausage issue. He’s running out of space to build! An expansion is on the way.

After he cleans up, he checks out the newly-encased Hermitopia, where he's confronted by an angry Sheriff. He's found guilty of selling custom weapons in the black market - he was just doing his arms dealer arc! It's totally fineeeee…

[JIMMY] Anyway, anyway, you’re coming with me!

[SAUSAGE] Yeah?

[JIMMY] You’re going to jail, bud!

[SAUSAGE] I’m going to jail?! What am I going to jail for? I’ve been a good boy!

[JIMMY] No, you’ve been—Sausage, alright, let’s not pander round the facts. You’ve been selling stuff—

[SAUSAGE STUTTERS]

[JIMMY, POINTEDLY] In the market—

[SAUSAGE STUTTERS] Uhm!

[JIMMY] Down under here!

[SAUSAGE] I don’t know what you’re talking about there is no market, pshhh

[JIMMY] Sausage—

[SAUSAGE] You’re crazy, this man’s crazy.

[JIMMY] Sausage, I’ve already exposed it. Its down there, I saw your stuff, Scott basically threw you straight under the bus.

[SAUSAGE] I can’t believe this.

[NARRATOR] The Sheriff is willing to let him off if he does community service - that is, help him build the extension to Tumble Town. Sausage isn’t confident in his ability to survive jail so he quickly agrees.

[JIMMY] You know, I’ve been building little hotel buildings, for people to come stay a night at Tumble Town.

[SAUSAGE] Ok?

[JIMMY] Maybe you could build one for me, and we’ll let this… go under the rug.

[SAUSAGE] Ok, ok, that sounds good! ‘Cause you know what, I’ve never been to jail before and I don’t think I’ll last two minutes in jail, y’know. Maybe with the handcuffs I might handle that ok, but I don’t know about behind bars.

[JIMMY] I don’t have any handcuffs. No handcuffs. Zero.

[SAUSAGE] Scott told me about some handcuffs, I don’t know…

[JIMMY STUTTERS] No—don’t listen to him.

[NARRATOR] Sausage builds, and turns this new Tumble Town project into a legal weapons shop/vacation home. His Tia Maria sews him a new outfit to get into the mood. It's a banger outfit, complete with a gun.

…Is it a good idea to give Sausage a gun?

He has crossbows already, and checking in on the underground market reveals one of them was actually sold! He doesn’t exactly shut down the operation, given that he starts selling them more legally in Tumble Town - they're cheaper this time!

He's gotta take inspiration for his builds from somewhere though, right? It turns out he built it in another life, so just to make sure he can, Sausage uses the Staff to teleport himself into that reality. It's for science, he promises! Bubbles doesn’t seem to be pleased, however, when she catches him hanging out in the wrong dimension. Oops?

Outro

And with that, join us next week for more chaos and shenanigans! Thank you for watching, liking, and subscribing, and thanks to everyone helping with the project, check them all out below!

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Halloween 2022 - Day 7 - Dracula’s Daughter (1936)

Dracula’s Daughter should hook up with the Son of Frankenstein, imagine the kids!

I was a little neglectful to the classic Monsters last year, going with the KARLOFF/Lugosi ‘Invisible Ray’ from the Golden age, with a little Frankenstein 94 thrown in but not nothing from the Universal Classic Monsters era. I had wrapped up my journeys through the Frankenstein Legacy Collection back in 2020 so now it’s time to break out the Dracula one. This promises to be a much shorter affair since I’ve obviously already covered Dracula along with the latter half of the box set in House of Frankenstein, House of Dracula and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. These box sets really are kind of redundant in that sense, I own those movies times each between the different sets. Theoretically I could sell all those sets and put the money towards the more comprehensive Universal set that has 30 movies in it but that thing is over £100, not to mention it’s probably out of print at this point and therefore likely goes for even more. They’re doing 4K releases for some of the Monsters too, another round is due out next week apparently including the Claude Reigns Phantom and Bride of Frankenstein. I know I probably said the same about the original blu-ray releases but how much are you really gaining from seeing these in 4K?

Shall we do our yearly check in on the Dark Universe before we start proper? We might as well as there’s not much to update on, Renfield is due out next year but otherwise I think the only other things vaguely on the horizon are The Invisible Woman and a possible sequel to The Invisible Man from 2020. I keep forgetting that Nic Cage is playing Dracula in that Renfield movie so that has the potential to be fun.

As for Dracula’s Daughter, talk about your sequels that don’t skip a beat, this thing picks up right after the original with the police walking into Dracula’s castle to find a dead Renfield at the foot of the stairs and Van Helsing pretty much walking out dusting his hands off as a job well done. The guy doesn’t even deny putting a stake through Dracula’s heart, pleading the Bob Marley defence of denying one murder by admitting to another one.

And from there we get this weird sort of dual story play out where we have Van Helsing facing murder charges on the one hand and, on the other, the sudden appearance of a glamourous European woman who has a keen interest in the late Count’s body. There seems to be a lot of talk about lesbian imagery with this character but I don’t really see it. Maybe it’s just something I don’t notice but maybe because they were so under represented for so long they just started to try and find that representation. Or maybe because of legal or moral limitations in place at these times, people just suspect there’s a lot more subtext going on where writers/directors were trying to mask their true intentions enough to not make it obvious but were still putting it out there.

Like there’s scenes where the eponymous Dracula’s Daughter will skulk around the darkened streets of London looking for her next prey, which has been compared to her prowling for sex. Or how she enlists a young lady to come model for her, only to feed on her. Maybe a female vampire is going to prefer picking young women because, if they have to suck the blood of their victims to help maintain their youthful good looks, wouldn’t it make sense to target other young attractive women? And also, women are going to be much more likely to trust random women approaching them in the street rather than some random guy.

The intro to the movie does have what seems to be a classic Universal trope of making the policemen into bumbling idiots, with this one guy in particular looking shocked and dumbfounded by everything that’s going on with this all this talk about vampires. You wanna talk about sub-text, what was Universals agenda against the police to always portray them in this way? I thought our generation harboured a lot of anti police sentiments but these guys were trailblazers in the field. Though this is nothing near on the same level as that near catatonic guy in The Invisible Man.

Drac’s little girl is out to try and cure her own vampirism and even tries to enlist psychiatrist, Dr Jeffrey Garth to help, a man who is also serving to help Van Helsing’s criminal defence so there’s a link between the two sides of the story. Luckily she doesn’t come across nearly as moping or annoying as Larry Talbot in the Wolfman movies.

Dr Garth and his assistant, Janet, have this playful banter throughout the movie, it never seems to be a romantic relationship between the two but there does appear to be a hint of jealousy on Janet’s part when she takes objection to this woman coming into Garth’s life, going so far to prank call him when he visits the Countess. This just results in him getting someone to prank call her back every half hour throughout the night to ensure she doesn’t get any sleep. Very childish behaviour from what is meant to be a very well respected doctor.

I remember this coming up in The Thing from Another World as well, just this fast talking back and forth between characters that seems to come up a lot in movies of that time but just strikes me as odd when it comes up in horror movies. It throws off the tone a bit but I suppose on the other hand you could argue that it normalises things and that perhaps enhances the horror for it to happen in a scenario that is so unsuspecting.

Overall, the movie is okay but nothing amazing. Dracula isn’t even one of my favourites but this is a step down from that, you still have Edward Van Sloan as Van Helsing but you really do miss those big performances from the likes of Lugosi and Dwight Frye. The Countess does manage to sneak in the classic ‘I never drink wine’ line but it comes across a little half hearted.

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DoMA stats

There's this really cool podcast I adore called Deck of Many Aces. It's an actual play podcast whose cast are all somewhere on the aro and/or ace spectra, set in a fantasy world undergoing an industrial revolution. (Also each PC's past, present and future has been determined by a card drawn from the Deck of Many Things, but that doesn't come up much.) One of DoMA's selling points is its very long, chaotic, banter-filled introductions, and because my love language is statistics I've compiled some fun facts about those intros!

Length

The average DoMA episode is 15.3% introduction

The longest introduction (as a percentage of the video) is that of episode 18, Out of the Closet, which is a whopping 24.9% introduction. The shortest is episode 2, Trouble in Tepmet, which is 7.4% introduction.

The last time an episode was less than 10% introduction was episode 25, Law and Disorder. The last time before that was episode 8, Snowglobes and Secrets.

Running Jokes

Each episode, the DM Ellie gives a different backronym for DM as part of her introduction, of the form Demisexual ______. As of today, the 1st of September 2022, they have yet to repeat a backronym. The longest backronym so far is Demisexual Man-I'm glad-to-be-back (Episode 14, At First I Was Afraid), and the shortest is Demisexual Mug (Episode 12, The Fig Tree).

Episode 6, "I've Got Five Temporary Hit Points and Nothing To Lose", saw the players suggest various possibilities for the backronym as Ellie struggled to think of one, including Mother, Montague and Moo. Although Ellie claimed in Episode 16, Murder in the Clockwork City, that Mother was used, in fact the backronym settled on was Masochist.

In each episode, the players will interrupt Ellie's spiel by all saying 'bwam!' (This is much funnier than I'm making it sound, I promise). Over the course of the 44 episodes released so far, the bwams have taken a total of 2 minutes and 51 seconds.

Katie is occasionally mocked for always introducing their character as a "wizard who can fly". However, in the 36 main storyline episodes released so far, she has only done this 7 times.

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Spamton Character Analysis/Discussion

Gonna post my thoughts on spamton and his character since I saw talk about it! I love this guy so ill present everything I know and what I think is going on with him

I enjoy writing a lot, but I am an amatuer so please forgive my structure haha. 

I wrote this addressing all sorts of thoughts and questions. If anyone has anything to say please do! 

Spamtons introduction I think his introduction is a pretty good starting point for him He pops out of his dumpster and gives his introduction AND then notices kris and addresses them Spamton gives me the animatronic giving its dance number to an empty auditorium vibe He gave his little intro before being aware anyone was watching him He has a certain way of acting and it seems there's some things he can't help Like his introduction and his quirks

Spamton absolutely is aware hes scamming people, but I think he feels that there's no other option. Other characters have mentioned him asking for their help to get into the mansion, and the addisons pretend he doesn't exist. He comes across as a sort of person no one is willing to help, so he has to resort to lying to get what he wants. Which for his current goals, i don't blame anyone for not. I say he knows bc in pacifist Neo he apologizes for the scams and promises to do better. Personally I think this is exactly where people get his softer interpretations. Spamton seems to know his scams are wrong and wants to do better and actually be a friend, but the universe or whatever is tormenting him just won't let him have it. 

Is Spamton being Controlled? I would say, yes. To what degree? I'm not sure! I do not know where he got the idea to put himself into Neo. Did the voice tell him? Did he figure it out? Did he not put himself in before because he wasn't that desperate yet? Whatever the case, I believe the pursuit of Neo was his own sort of. I think whoever gave him forbidden knowledge/is controlling him knew what would happen but he convinced himself it was the solution to everything. I think, that whatever is controlling spamton is more in his thoughts and what he can say. The very telling shop dialouge where he seems to "break character" and beg someone for forgiveness strongly hints that hes not just talking about freedom in an existential way, but more of an actual way (edited) Spamton is desperate. He says so to us. His dialog and flavor texts also hint at this. He says very clearly "[help]", NOTHINGS WRONG NOTHINGS  WRONG NOTHINGS WRONG., the it burns dialouge, the soft cry for help in the shop Lots of things in his dialouge plainly show someone who needs and wants help but. Its Spamton. He doesn't know what will help him and he believes he has to scam to get any help. All he has is Neo as his one last hope.  I personally don't think he's bad for "scamming" us either. We go along with it willingly. Kris maybe doesn't, but we do.  I see Spamton as a very flowey/chara like character. He needs help, but he doesn't know what he needs. He thinks Neo will solve all his problems (like flowey with the human souls and wanting to "play" forever). Thing is, spamton never needed any soul to realize what he was doing was wrong. He knew, he just didn't think there was any other way.  Spamton is sentimental and deep down just wants friendship imo. He talks about being a big shot being his end goal, but at the end of pacifist, all he's happy about is being free and living for himself and his friends. In snowgrave he talks about muttering his "lost friends" names at the bottom of a dumpster. He very clearly misses his friends. But he has been abandoned. His friends even clearly stated it was them that left first. I don’t know why they did not reconnect with him afterwards. There is lots we do not see with spamton. He could have estranged them even further, or perhaps he avoided them on purpose because he was ashamed. He misses them and wishes to see them still though. This again is where I think people get his softer interpretations. He is a scammer, but honestly. Hes the embodiment of spam email. He can't help being who he is. He's like Edward scissorhands. He cuts everyone he loves because of who he is, regardless of how he feels. 

He’s a very difficult character to parse! Characters that are embodiments of actual concepts also having their own personalities is difficult. It’s like the whole nature and nurture thing, how much of their actions is purely them and how much is it because of who they are? (Not forgiving any actions here lol, i just find it very sad and interesting how spamton is literally something people hate in the real world and how what he is influences his “life”)

Alright next thought: Spamton hates himself Now this is a weird one huh? The guy that plasters his face on everything and sends mini versions of himself to fight hates himself? Not as unlikely as one would think! Snowgrave is very telling on this one. His whole speech is basically to himself. Talking about his abandonment and how he is pathetic and how he makes himself sick. He calls himself (and the player) a worm. Everything he says to kris in that speech is projection at himself. Even in pacifist Neo fight we see some of his self hate. He is absolutely elated at the idea of not being a "long nosed doll" anymore. Spamton very much doesn't like himself or his body. He stinks because he lives in a dumpster and he hates it so much he punches it likely leaving a dent. Personally I think everything has his face on things bc the only thing he has left is himself. It's the only thing he can "sell". And like mettaton he probably used to sell things with his face on them  all the time. Its like his introduction, its just part of who he is. He probably just rolls with it bc he probably tries to see himself as a temporarily embarrassed big shot. His face will be worth millions again!! Just you wait!!! (....) 

Snowgrave Spamton Since we mentioned snowgrave, im gonna say yeah, I dont think spamton is evil. If flowey ultimately isn't evil, then he isn't either. Just like flowey, our actions influence him. In pacifist, spamton desperately jumps at the chance of us helping him get to Neo. We can totally just ignore him and complete the story without him with no punishment for that. In snowgrave however, when he sees us murdering everyone he has to change up his tactics. Of course he knows that if he fought us he would be frozen. So he's gonna help us. He's an opportunist 100%. Hes not the main villian at all in snowgrave. We are lol. We murder everyone. He helps, but its us who goes the whole way. He is still wrong for giving us the ring though and he even comments on that. I do think its strange that both he and the pink addison conveniently had rings that helped Noelle get stronger specifically. They almost feel intentionally placed, like someone gave them those items for snowgrave. Perhaps we will see more on that in future chapters.  I do think its very funny that spamton counts taking over the mansion as becoming a big shot. He also seems fine with the wires in snowgrave. I do wonder if snowgrave Spamton is more "controlled" to be honest, but thats much more in conjecture than fact lol. To have more information on that we would have to just see in later chapters and see if a pattern emerges.

Anyways, I do think spamton is the ultimate opportunist. He will do what he can to get a leg up. He doesn't care how he does it. In snowgrave you prove to him that the way he's going about things is right. In Pacifist spamton comes to the conclusion that he was wrong because of your actions. He falls, but he is able to be lucid enough to not be self serving and gives himself up as an item to you. For someone as self serving as spamton to sacrifice himself is a big character moment imo. As gut wrenching as it is. I can see why people want to help him at that point. Post Neo spamton is the spamton that would most be receptive to help and friendship. I think lots of people struggle with pre neo spamton because it's hard to showcase his self serving nature. He's very selfish! He hates himself, but he wants to love himself again. Everything is about him in his world. Hes extremely funny in that way :y He is also aware that he has to sell himself. He knows that he has to be interesting so people will let him scam them. So thats just doubling back to why its always about him haha. Hes 100% a mettaton analog. Its all about him darling! (But secretly, all he really wants is his friends and life back) ((with sick neo wings lol))  Who is Mike? I have seen the Mike is the Voice/Gaster theory and you could interpret it as that yeah! You could totally say that. Personally, I think Mike was Spamtons camera guy for his commercials. Either that or a TV tycoon. Id say Mike will probably be like burgerpants/alphys to spamton Like, a mix of them together I imagine spamton would boss Mike around a lot like, GET THIS SHOT, or NO YOURE DOING IT WRONG But he genuinely considered Mike as a friend, until he was abandoned or stabbed in the back by him (edited) Acid theory Again, this is a maybe! Queens acid DOES shrink and spamton does have dialog you could connect it to (help! It burns! Please!)

You could argue this is a mis interpretation as in the Japanese dialog that line is more about staring into a bright light (the sun probably), if im remembering correctly. The implications of this with the English lines though make me wonder if spamton willingly became this way or if his mind was broken because of what he saw. Considering the dialouge involving that is begging for it to stop.

Spamton and religion Spamton discusses heaven, having communion with the divine and angels a lot. A personal note, but i find this to be one of my favorite parts of him. It’s very interesting Very strange that an inanimate object is aware of the divine, yeah? Spamton is very hung up on the idea of angels. His magic resembles them and his neo form resembles an angel as well. Spamton also prays and talks about having a communion with the divine. He seems to think that the Neo will save him and it has a connection to the divine (the light world?) (Personally I think heaven is our world, and he thought Neo would get him higher than the game, like how flowey thinks the human souls will help him) Thats why I think he just rolls with whatever the player does. I think he's aware kris is being controlled. He sees whatever they do as sort of divine. If he believes kris is being piloted by the angel. He does mention angel a lot in snowgrave, he could be referring to Noelle, or he could be talking to us. Or maybe he thinks all of it is kris. Spamton might just be projecting onto kris and just happens to be right on the money in his assumption that kris is also a puppet. 

Personally, I think spamton is the strongest darkner we've met so far! If you encounter neo, the computer closest to the spam email junk bin (spamton is the whole bin), will blue screen. It does not do that if you dont encounter Neo. Spamton really was strong enough to influence the reality above his own and cause a physical change. What that means in the future, im unsure! We will have to see the other bosses in later chapters

Spamtons appearance In the poster he looks much different He looks more like an addison there, and in the fangamer merch we see that he didn't look like a puppet at all during his big shot era. 

(You could argue the fangamer merch isnt canon, but they did base it off the poster from the wall, which doesn’t look like puppet spamton at all, so I am going to say, it is probably close enough to canon to count)

There are so many questions revolving this How did that happen? Who did that to him? Was it self inflicted? Why a puppet? Some people have brought up the acid theory but instead of shrinking spamton dies and possesses a doll/mannequin. For me, that would explain why mad dummy is a part of Neos theme along with mettatons. I do find it deeply interesting how an electronic being can be a ghost however. Its very...."living" to be able to have a ghost. That implies having a soul. The idea makes me sad though lol. Makes the addison procession after the Neo fight much more like a funeral than it already is.

Pre big shot and big shot Personally I think spamton before everything was just like. A regular dude. He had friends, he did his best, he had big dreams. He just, like his friends said, was very unlucky. He never sold anything and once he got his big break it all crashed down on him leading him to become a broken and homeless man living in a dumpster. Big shot spamton I think he was very much like Mettaton in this era. Everything was about him, everything he sold had his face on it. He was probably very full of himself, but like mettaton, he probably missed his friends a lot. But with him, no one checked up on him or called until it was too late. I really dont like the addisons lol. In undertale, Mettaton has napstablook who calls him to let him know how they feel. With spamton, none of them tried to connect with him, and even afterwards they pretended he didn't exist. Despite how they treated him, he STILL thought of them and wished to see them!!! I honestly think the addisons, any of them, if they had been in the same position as him would have come out even worse. Spamton still thought about his friends, and they only showed up when he was dead. (Hes not dead in the dealmakers, but) Its very brutal abandonment and I can understand spamtons bitterness when he insists he and kris need no one. I will be fair and say, there is probably history we are missing, but from just their own admissions, the addisons aren’t very good friends imo. 

Overall I think spamton is very selfish and opportunistic but he is also strangely sentimental and caring. He is a very beautifully multi faceted character who not only makes black and gray decisions all the time, he makes white ones too. I think everyone that interprets him as a sleazeball is correct and everyone that interprets him as a sad lonely guy who needs a friend is also correct. Both of them are spamton.

Spamton and Mettaton A discussion on his character and his relations to mettaton Spamton i absolutely believe is a mettaton analog He wants to be in a new body, he was an entertainer, he has friends who he is now estranged from all like mettaton Id say spamton even personality wise is very close to mettaton Id say both of them are morally grey, absolutely so before they meet the human (pacifist) You might be wondering why im saying mettaton is gray as well, well there's a good reason In one of the neutral endings, mettaton becomes ruler and he straight up has dissenters to his rule killed or jailed And he is quite verbally abusive to burgerpants Hes not a perfect angel at all, but that makes him fun I bring up mettatons wrongs in the neutral route bc I believe ultimately its our decisions that change how both characters look at life.

We are a force of the universe, we literally shape the rules. We either show that kindness and patience can win out, or that in this world its kill or be killed. Both characters understand and operate by the latter to a degree. With mettaton he is completely fine with dangerous things on his show (even tho its all just for show) and being a despot dictator when he finds himself in that position.He’s only the friendly robot host in pacifist/less murdery neutral routes.

Spamton seems to believe that he can only get what he wants by scamming. He thinks that nothing is given for free or done out of the kindness of one's heart. After all, we are helping him because he promised us the sought after [hyperlink blocked]. He understands hes scamming, but to him, its just the way the world works. When we go snowgrave we show to spamton that he was right to think that he can only rely on himself and he should only be trying to uplift himself. He sides with us simply because he can see money to be made! He sees us as a way to get to his goal, so there is absolutely no character growth for him in snowgrave. I could argue he slides even further down, bc in his final speech its mostly just a hate filled breakdown directed at himself.

In pacifist, we show spamton that its not all about scamming others. Even though he fell hard from the last string being cut, he seems to still believe what he said. He knows he can't be free, but he's going to do the self less thing and help someone else despite his wish to be free. Thats very big character growth for him. I would say pre neo and post neo spamton are almost entirely different characters to us. Same as how enemy and friend undyne are different. Pre Neo, spamton is very manic, always focused on himself. Hes always saying nows your chance, but he obviously means nows MY chance. All of his deals benefit him. He very clearly wants help, but he has no idea how to get it without manipulating others. He just doesn't see anyone engaging with him unless he has something for them to "win".

Post Neo spamton i would say realized that he doesn't have to scam people. Before he fell he was going to turn over a whole new leaf. And I think he genuinely meant it, because after he crashed down and it turns out he wasn't free after all, he still offered himself to help save someone else. Despite wanting to pursue his freedom, the lesson that not everything has to be a deal stuck with him. So him giving himself up, no deals attached, was his big character growth moment. Hes also still a silly guy, as shown when the pocket is full. I very deeply hope he comes out of the pocket someday. I imagine he would still be very silly, but also a bit more reserved. He would probably make very little or just more honest deals. They may still be just him selling garbage, but he wouldn't be making them to manipulate others into making him god.

[astaroth1357]

Demon Brothers Getting Possessive at the Club

… I can explain. Or, well, no I can't. But this exists now anyway so enjoy?

Warnings: Possessive Behavior, Yandere-ish, Violence

Intro: The MC and their favorite demon were just trying to have a fun night out at The Fall. The lights were going, the music was blaring, and the two of them were by the bar but there was a problem. Their demon noticed a sketchy creep who'd been eyeing their human all night long… and that simply won't do. So when their human left to use the bathroom…

It was time to take care of the problem.

Lucifer

Though Lucifer was usually less than into the club scene, the MC wanted a change of pace from their usual dates and he did so want to make them happy… At first, he thought he'd just be dealing with the loud noise and crowded atmosphere but then he noticed something else…

A demon had been following them through most of the night, always keeping his distance but staring at the MC far too much for his liking…

This put Lucifer in a bit of an odd position. He didn't exactly want to leave the club because the MC didn't look tired yet, but he also didn't like seeing that cretin following them around…

Yet, of course, it also rubbed his pride the wrong way to go tell him to stop directly. Lucifer would never admit to feeling bothered by some pitiful lesser demon… Never.

But by the time the MC left him to use the restroom, he was at his wit's end. He could see the man had taken a seat at the other end of the bar just to watch them and he was growing irritated… So he had to devise a new strategy.

It's unusual for demons to walk around in their true forms. It's not that it's frowned upon or anything, it's just that it's normally something reserved for big events… or for displays of dominance and control.

So when Lucifer slipped into his demon form in the middle of The Fall, it turned quite a few heads. Truthfully, there was only one head in particular that he wanted his way, and once he got it, he stared the guy down…

It was a taste of the lowlife's own medicine, but so much worse coming from him… The feel of Lucifer's bloody-onyx eyes and chillingly cold smile from across the bar could have made even the strongest men run for the hills…

Needless to say, the demon didn't last very long under the eldest brother's gaze. In fact, he wilted almost immediately before slinking away as quickly as he could… 

A guy not even able to stomach the firstborn's stare? Truly a pathetic coward if Lucifer ever saw one.

He was totally back to normal by the time the MC returned and went back to dancing with them like nothing ever happened… Though his human couldn't help but notice the crowd kept their distance from them for the rest of the night... 

Eh, Hell is just weird sometimes isn't it?

Mammon

Look, Mammon had been trying to have some fun the whole night and for the most part he'd been succeeding except for one thing…

He could sense that asshole still hadn't left them alone. He'd just hover near him and his MC like a hellhound stalking prey… It was annoying. It was creepy…

And it was reeeaaallly getting on his nerves.

When the MC left for the restroom, he was leaning back against the bar scanning the room for their abhorrent admirer while using the tint of his sunglasses to hide his eyes.

It didn't take him long to see the gross fuck sitting alone at a table. Who knew what he was planning... following them home? Taking candid shots of MC? Either way, he wanted to sock him in the jaw…

But, of course, Mammon knew he had to play it just a little smoother than that to stay in the club.

Mammon sauntered over to the man's table and invited himself to sit, kicking his feet up to look casual but knocking his boots against the surface so roughly it made the guy jump... Pathetic.

"Oi, so I've seen ya lookin at my human… Real work of art, eh?" He flashed the guy a fanged grin and watched him sweat for a second before cutting off any answer.

"-'course they are. Don't need to tell me. But I gotta say, you're really ticking me off, bud… We're just tryin to enjoy ourselves but I keep seeing your ugly mug wherever we're at."

He pulled his legs back from the table and reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out a deck of playing cards.

"Tell ya what, I'm feelin oddly generous so let's play a game. You and me. If ya win, I'll let ya have a night with'em…" He fought the urge to punch the guy when he saw his eyes light up, "but if I win…"

Mammon put the deck on the table then leaned in real close, "I'll flay your skin off and gild ya skeleton in the 4th circle myself… Gold skulls are selling like hotcakes right now." He put every bit of malice he could into the threat, even barring his increasingly sharpening fangs.

The guy must of had a good head on him because he paled immediately before getting up and running from the table. If there's one thing everybody knows about Mammon, it's never play cards with him if he can make even a single Grimm… Chances are, you're gonna lose.

When the MC came back, Mammon flagged them down to their new table and pulled them onto his lap for a little chat before getting more drinks. They're his human. His.

Leviathan

Of course Levi noticed this creep the second that they walked in. He's Envy. He had been hyper-vigilant of all the attention the MC had been receiving since their first step inside. But this guy was… persistent.

He'd been tailing them all night, always finding spots with good vantage points, which of course was sketch as hell but...

Honestly? Levi just didn't like him looking at them. Not at all. In fact, he'd hazard to say he truly hated this complete stranger for how much real estate his eyes were taking up of his precious MC… What gave him the right??

By the time the MC had to use the restroom, he was sitting at the bar seriously contemplating whether or not to just carry them home… He didn't like night clubs anyway, but they seemed to be having fun and they always looked so cute while dancing…

No. He couldn't just take them home. But once they left, he had a much better idea.

It was easy for Levi to slip away from the bar. The asshole was leaned back against a nearby wall and pretty much pulled his phone out the second the MC was out of sight. From there, Levi only had to do what he did best, blend into the background, until he was right next to the guy...

He didn't say anything. He didn't give him any warning or threat. No, no he was far too ticked to be that charitable…

The only indication the man got of how royally he fucked up was the searing pain of Levi's fangs digging into his shoulder, the thirdborn's gloved hand muffling his screams until the venom took hold of his prey.

The last thing that man ever saw, propped up and paralyzed against the wall, was the MC coming back to their docile otaku, who now pulled them into his arms… still shooting the occasional smirk in his victim's direction.

And the last thing he ever heard was the same word his killer whispered to him after his throat became too tight to scream… "Mine."

Satan

This always seemed to happen whenever he took the MC places… They could be walking together in the park and he'd still see lesser demon eyes following them around...

Frankly, it did piss him off to a degree. He knew they never asked to be stared at like a piece of meat, but if he'd go on a rampage every time it happened then they'd never have a quiet date again. So he learned to put up with it… to an extent.

The demon that had been following them that night was really testing his notoriously short patience...

He had tried several tactics to shake the guy as they were dancing but he'd always come right back. He even got more handsy than normal to show, "Hey, this one is mine!" but that had gotten him equally dismal results… It was bordering the line of disrespect now.

He did his best to keep up a friendly face while the MC was with him, but they must have noticed he'd gotten tense. They told him to try and relax a bit before they left for the bathroom…

Oh, he was going to relax alright.

The second they were out of sight, Satan's smile broke into a glare he leveled right at the offending scumbag's table. Of course, seeing the MC had left put the guy's attention elsewhere, but that was his funeral.

Satan knew his time was limited, so he skipped the pleasantries and marched right over to him, slamming his foot down onto the edge of the table with such force it threatened to tip it over then grabbed him by the neck.

"Back. OFF."

It really didn't take much, his reputation preceded him. He felt the guy's pulse skyrocket between his fingers before he let him go.

It was hard not to get a little satisfaction when watching the worthless creep scramble away from him like his life depended on it (as it very much did). He almost considered giving chase just to amp up the fun, but the MC returned sooner than he expected…

A pair of arms around his waist and lips against his cheek were enough to evaporate his anger right then… but it didn't settle his sudden need to mark them in the slightest.

Ultimately, the real question was whether he could wait until they got home to show the world that they were his or if they needed to find somewhere… quieter. No promises, MC.

Asmodeus 

Asmo had dealt with his fair share of admirers, the stalking kind included. Fortunately, dealing with them had always been relatively easy for him (he is a ruler of Hell after all) but one targeting his beloved human…? That was far less acceptable in his eyes.

He caught sight of the beady eyes of the creep while he was dancing with the MC. At first, he thought the guy was looking at him (who wouldn't?) but then he followed his eyeline right to his lovely human companion…

Though he couldn't exactly blame him for staring, he and MC made a fantastic looking pair, he definitely couldn't sit idly by either. People like this are usually bad news and he refused to let any harm come to his MC…!

He was as tactful as ever, though. He liked The Fall and would rather not be banned from returning… He waited patiently for the MC to go to the bathroom before making his way over to the creep, his perfect smile still sitting on his face.

"Excuse me, cutie." He waited for the stalker's eyes to leave his phone and settle on Asmo's own. "Ah, there you are! Good. I had a question for you, I think… oh no, I must have forgotten it! Silly me."

Though he could see the demon was growing annoyed, Asmo stalled for just a few moments longer… just long enough for his bewitching charm to set into his victim's mind.

"Ah! Now I remember. Do you like dogs?" He smiled in satisfaction to see the creeper's head nod slowly. "Oh good! Because I know a very hungry dog right now… Cerberus is his name and I don't think he's had a meal today. Would you be a doll and go feed him for me? He lives in the cave behind the House of Lamentation. You can't miss him."

The demon's head nodded slowly yet again as he rose from his chair and walked out of the club quietly. Quick, painless, and with no messy cleanup!

Well… none that Cerberus wouldn't clean up for him anyway. Asmo returned to the bar with a newly giddy grin on his face... His MC wouldn't be seeing that man ever again~!

Beelzebub 

Beel is very patient. Beel is very kind. Beel is very forgiving. Beel is… really not about this right now...

Unlike his brothers, Beel's easygoing nature made him less quick to pick up on the lingering glances that the MC gets from others. Even when he does notice, he can usually let it slide if looking is all they do (he's the only one who can touch after all).

But even he couldn't miss how wolfishly that demon was staring at them… It made him uncomfortable and the guy just refused to leave them alone…

By the time the MC left Beel at the bar to use the restroom, he was on a level of irritated usually only reserved for when someone denied him food… It was like that jerk had taken a cheese grater to his patience and it was wearing thin…

As much as he knew he could deck him, he didn't want to get them kicked out… The MC was having such a good time, despite the creep's ogling, so he used a different approach…

Being so high up in Hell had its perks and one was that anywhere in town that offered food also had a secret menu… A Beelzebub Only menu (as a precaution so that he wouldn't wreck the place whenever he stopped by). Anything on his menu always had huge portions and The Fall was no exception.

The bartender didn't seem too surprised when he ordered a Drakon Leg, but he was very surprised when he asked to get the full bone too… Not with the meat on it. Just the bone.

Fun Fact: the bones of Drakons are supremely thick and strong enough to be used as clubs.

Even More Fun Fact: it takes an incredible amount of force to snap these bones…

...which Beel did without breaking a sweat… and maintaining eye contact with the creep The. Entire. Time. The sound of the bone snapping in two was almost as deafening as a gunshot and he didn't even flinch.

The demon went running out of the club with his tail between his legs and quickly got swapped out for the MC running back, worried about what made such a loud noise…

Of course, by that time Beel had the bone thrown away and was chowing down on the meat like nothing ever happened so they dropped the subject soon enough...

He may not be as open about when he claims someone as the rest of his family but that's because when push comes to shove, who in their right mind would want to challenge Beel anyway...?

Belphegor 

Nope. Nope. Nope nope nope, he's not having this. Not one bit.

Belphie lacks a lot of the good-natured patience of his twin... Chances are if there's something happening and he's not stopping it, it's just because putting up with it is the path of least resistance…

But there are always exceptions and those are usually reserved for the MC.

Strangers trying to get close or even imagining themselves being with MC really makes his blood boil… He knew them the most. He loved them the most. On just what grounds did some random moron think he could take his place?? Wishful thinking? Keep dreaming, buddy.

So, of course, he wasn't happy when he noticed some asshole staring at the MC like Beel does when he sees a havoc roast...

He kept his poker face up while he was with the MC, but he was devising a plan to take care of him the entire time… One he finally got the chance to enact once the MC went to the bathroom.

He's even better at going unnoticed than Levi, so sneaking his way over to the asshole was a piece of cake. He didn't notice until Belphie casually draped his arm around the guy's neck, hanging his clawed hand dangerously close to the scumbag's heart...

"Having a good time…?"

He could feel a shallow swallow against his arm as he began to slowly apply pressure to his trachea.

"I bet you were… and I was too until I saw you following us… Care to explain yourself?"

"I-I uh-Gah!" 

The guy's voice gets cut off by Belphie's arm getting even tighter, the sharp tips of his claws drumming directly over the man's thundering heart.

"Ugh, that's what you actually sound like? Never mind, it's not worth knowing…" His fingers stopped drumming and slowly began to dig into his skin...

"I'm only going to say this once… If I ever see you tailing my human again, you won't be needing this-" his claws drilled a little deeper into his chest, "-anymore. Am I clear?"

The demon's head nodded as much as his strangled throat would allow and Belphie finally retracted his claws, wiping the blood off on the guy's shirt before letting him go. He fell forward onto all fours before attempting to scramble away as fast as he could...

Belphie watched him go with disinterest on his face, but satisfaction in his heart. Yet another threat to his human dealt with… And they could go back to enjoying their evening together. Alone. Just where his human belonged...

[sepublic]

Escaping Expulsion!

           LUMITY! LUMITY DEVELOPMENT! LUZ REALIZING HER CRUSH!!!!

           Amity calling her MY Luz… Amity and Luz back-to-back! Playing tricks together that’s so ADORABLE!

           There’s so much to this episode, I… I…!

           Gus! His growth spurt will take a lot getting used to, it’s like watching your favorite kids grow up… At this point he may as well go back to Augustus! And Perry, I love seeing more of him!

           WILLOW’S DADS! They’re GOOD parents I tell you, they talk a lot about grounding or whatever, but then IMMEDIATELY drop their jobs for Willow’s sake!? To home-school her, to have fun! GOOD PARENTS! And the Glasses Dad, he’s a really chill dude, sees Willow going behind the back and is like “I won’t tell!” Nice. VERY nice…!

           BUMP! Not only do we get confirmation that he’s in the Abomination Coven, BUT HE’S A SWEETIE! He’s an utter sweetheart! This really all adds to my headcanon that he felt bad about what happened with Eda, and I bet he was being reminded a LOT of that when he had to get rid of Luz, Willow, and Gus… At least with Eda she more or less left of her own volition, but these kids WANT to come back! I love this principal and his layers… Also Frewin’s tail moving?

           I agree with Alador, and I find it hilarious that he doesn’t seem to understand Frewin that much either… Or he does but he’s still curious! Al IS interesting like Odalia said… Not exactly a good parent, but he is a man of his word! Also WOW he looks like an utter mess, nothing like the prim and proper noble we all expected! I guess Alador from Amity’s flashback was in dress clothes for Amity’s birthday and all that… But yeah he IS fascinating as Dana said! I guess he is the inventor as some people suspected…

           His whole demeanor matches his brief depiction in YBOS pretty well; Looking like he’s mostly just kind of THERE, just kind of chilling for the ride. Has his head in the clouds and focuses on the inventions, on the technical know-how, on carrying out the orders and seeing them through, while Odalia is the leader who instructs things- Just as we suspected! I can already see the neurodivergent Alador headcanons… If Amity is autistic, does she get it from him?

           ODALIA… Ugh. I mean, she’s about as rancid as we all expected, but it’s interesting that she DOES listen to Alador, so there is still that respect there! But JEEZ, she’s an attempted child murderer?! Goes back on her word!? I have to wonder if Alador was the original Blight actually, and Odalia was the one who married in; That, or Alador just has actual integrity and acts as like… The second voice who helps rein in Odalia and remind her of things every now and then. Interesting… But yeah, I loathe her!

           Of course, back to Al- He may not necessarily be so great himself. He does seem to prefer the easy path, the path of least resistance; He adapts to Amity standing up to him and Odalia by instead considering how she could replace the current Abomination Head one day… Which makes sense, that’s HIS expertise, and daughter takes after father! And Odalia really is an Oracle as we thought… Oracle magic for spying, makes sense, but that necklace…

           UGH… Remember when we all liked that necklace! How we thought it was SO CUTE? How Amity wore it at first in Adventures in the Elements… But then she rarely wore her casual outfit? WELL NOW WE KNOW… Here’s hoping the intro changes to remove the necklace, but WOW I was genuinely feeling sick in my stomach when I saw that!

           And Odalia and Alador are even WORSE, because they’re literally arms-manufacturers! Do I even need to explain why that’s awful? But I’m really having a lot of fun with the idea of Abominations as robotics; I’d considered the idea of Abominations melding with Automatons, and the show just confirms and validates that! I love this show… I have to wonder if we’ll see Amity and the Abomination Head interact more? And I like how Abominations is basically shape-shifting and form-changing, but applied to a magical goop that Abomination Witches can control…

           Belos and the Golden Guard! More worldbuilding- Of course Belos is monopolizing and taking things into his own control, he’s expanding his influence! And of course, as Golden Guard pointed out- Not only does he want soldiers –glad we’ll see more of these Abomination things in practice- but also… He doesn’t want anyone raising a private army against him; Which again fits with how Belos operates! 

          But the way Odalia and Alador look at one another… WERE they intending to raise a private army? Or were they always open to selling out to the highest bidder- With their desire to install Amity as the new Abomination Head, we might see them ally with a rebellion, but for their OWN purposes… With how their audience and customer base was cloaked, they may have been unknowingly selling to people with a vested interest and stake in taking down Belos!

           EDA AND LILITH! This show once again confirms my read on glyphs; Not containing magic, but more commanding the magic around them! Lilith is SO smart, figuring out how it works… And YES, I love delving into the mechanics! How glyphs are about COMMUNICATION with the Isles, that calls back to Adventures in the Elements! I wonder then if Belos can communicate with the isles too, possibly through glyphs…

           But we get more insight into their dynamic! Eda was always that talented kid, so she could always breeze the basics and get right into experimentation! It was good for critical thinking, but as we see, she can be really hyperactive and impatient… And of course, this frustrates Lilith, who is very stoic and rule-bound! God she was adorable this episode, how she clearly wants validation… She really is the embodiment of “My child is fine!” “Your child was a pleasure to have in class.” Couldn’t get validation from Gwen, so Lilith went to teachers…

           AND JEEZ, no wonder Belos’ approval meant so much to her! Maybe like Marcy and Andrias from Amphibia, Lilith kind of latched onto Belos as a potential found family figure for her… But as we know, she still had her own desires and wants because she IS a person and not a mindless drone.

           BUT YES, I love the show delving into how Lilith and Eda work as different people! Lilith is by-the-book, and Eda recognizing that Lilith’s methods have value, because Eda is really out of her own element here. I love seeing Eda experiment with glyphs, just the way they experiment with glyphs- I’m glad it’s not just Luz! Also it’s interesting… The show seems to imply that there really are only four glyphs in existence; Light, Ice, Fire, and Plant! That’s a shame because I’d have liked to see more glyphs in the future, just a few more…

           BUT YEAH, this hearkens back to that shot of Luz combining Glyphs in the trailer, and I’ve always hoped that mashing Glyphs can unlock more complex spells! I love this kind of worldbuilding where basic elements are combined in certain ways to yield more specific things, it’s making my worldbuilding brain buzz happily! And I love Luz just freely giving out stars… Lilith is SUCH an Elsa, and her friendship with Hooty is adorable! And here’s hoping that Eda uses that messed-up spell anyway, against enemies…

           Overall this was an AMAZING EPISODE, so strong! Luz isn’t dense, like Alador she’s just distracted… Oh dang, maybe my Luz and Alador parallels idea wasn’t so far off? BUT YES this show promises and delivers through on these characters! I do wish we got to see more of Willow’s thought process about Odalia and Alador interrupting her life again, but with how the episode is already jam-packed with glyph lore AND Luz’s own thing, and I can see why they had to leave it out- 

          But give her some more spotlight, please! I wouldn’t be surprised if some things had to be cut out thanks to Disney downsizing the show… Also again, it’s interesting that based on what this episode implied; The Plant Coven is the ONLY Coven to have such a close basis in nature. If there are only four glyphs in nature, theoretically there should only be four main covens…

           Belos, your system is beginning to look even MORE sketchy now! And dang, the revelations, the lore, the reveals… Not much of Emira and Edric alas, but what we got was short and sweet, and I love how they felt the need to be nice but also sneak in a prank, but Amity just sees them! And also CAT ABOMINATION, the fanart came through! 

          And Amity just immediately recognizing her girlfriend’s work to figure out Luz was there, I love it so much! Overall, an AMAZING episode that blew my expectations out of the water! Now after this we have Echoes of the Past, which promises even MORE in regards to King! I love that these characters are getting a lot of focus now.

           Also it just occurred to me, but yeah- Edric’s occasional air-headed moments, Emira being a bit more bossy and strict… As we all speculated, they get it from their respective parents!

           (Also Hop Pop cameo I see you TOH crew.)

[renegaedarchived]

hi sexys it is i, gemma ( s/h, 21+ ), bringing u the fuckboy ur mother warned u ab, park jaehyun!! he’s a fallen national soccer player who escaped to maehwa after a match fixing scandal ( all true teehee ) bc he’s sick of the bad press n dirty looks from ppl in seoul 😘 as always, u can find more info of him under the cut ( j a caution that it is the length of an essay or ten.. .. . . ) but pls LIKE this post to plot! im also available on d*scord so lmk if u want it!!

( s/n: im also the mun for rue @blvelagoon​​ ( intro inc ) so if u wanna plot w her pls lmk!! )

aries sun / gemini moon / leo rising

if u recognise him no u don’t

only child of some nondescript middle class family n honestly he was cruising thru life w little complaints!! up until the age of 4 when his parents get into a fatal car crash courtesy of some drunk truck driver, n suddenly the police is dropping his ass off @ his grandma’s home in rural chuncheon,, cursed to livin life Below the poverty line

was a v loud n rambunctious kid growing up so living w his grandma was a huge change of pace bc she had a speech disability,, but more than that she raised him in a very Asian Grandma way aka smacking him w a sandal when he was misbehaving but other than that she didn’t communicate or outwardly show him love all too much,, like he knows she loves him but uhhh emotional constipation yk

fun fact grandma made do by selling nuts @ the wet market and the way he bonded w her was by helping her crack n pack those nuts every evening!!

he was also a rlly bad kid like,, alw caught stealing,, alw caught in places he Definitely shouldn’t be,, F student on good days : ) n ig at some point when his grandma has to pick him up from the police station for the nth time, he begins to feel Real guilty for everything he’s puttin her thru like the poor woman does not deserve this shit

so he's resolved to making a change!! promises himself that he’s gonna get both him n his grandma outta this poverty!! n yes he sucks w education but jaehyun’s strongest talent is that he’s hella good at soccer!! he alw played w the neighbourhood kids at some paddy field, but he got on the team when he was in middle n high school and he’s alw been the Star Student

gets scouted for fc seoul outta high school!! he goes off quickly to do his military service then comes back n has been playing for the national team ever since!!

anw the downfall starts when he gets a,, rlly bad injury in one of the games, n jaehyun being the man he is refuses to rest and keeps pushing n he Really damages it for good,, has to get knee surgery and he’s out of the game for 6 months yikes ( recovers from surgery ~beginning of 2021 )

when he gets back he never quite gets back to his former glory 😩✋ he starts playing again but he gets injured So Easily and there’s talk of fc seoul wanting to sell / drop him bc even tho he has gr8 skills, he gets injured too often rip

starts panicking n Dreading that him and his grandma are gna go back to his life of poverty if he loses soccer, bc he literally has No Other Talent

around the same time he catches wind of some of the soccer players contemplating match fixing,, basically what it means is people usually bet on the outcome of the game, and the players anonymously bet against their own team and sabotage the game so they get a huge payout

knowing that his career in soccer is prob coming to an end, out of his desperation he starts doin the same thing oop ,, this goes on for a year until him and the other soccer players get found out mid 2022 ( so like last month teehee ) and a Huge Scandal breaks out

all of them get dropped from the team obv and banned from playing soccer, jaehyun included 😩✋ n there’s people in seoul literally spitting on him when he’s walking past the street like tf

anw the leo rising in him is rlly Not Dealing Well w all this hate n one panicked night, decides to look up places to run to where people don’t know his name 😩 during his search he finds out ab the secluded maehwa mansion that recently opened up, so he packs his bags n the rest is history!!

he moved in like literally yesterday n the plan is to j wait out the scandal until it dies down, then Maybe he can go back to seoul or chuncheon to have a,, Normal life w the insane earnings he got from a) bein a soccer player n b) the match fixing hoho

personality-wise he’s hella loud n p rough around the edges from all that Locker Room Talk,, also has a resting bitch face n has been told that he gives off the vibe like he alw has smth better to do oop

hella emotionally constipated due to his upbringing n has a lotta toxic masculinity so uhm,, it’s alm like the only emotion he’s allowed to show is Anger so that’s literally the only emotion u see from him other than bein rlly loud

impt thing to note is it honestly,, doesn’t take v long to realise he has some sort of anger issues,, like it could b the way he’s sensitive ab certain things ( banter involving insults is one way to grind his gears fr ) but also he swears like a sailor so that may also b misconstrued as him bein Upsetti

thx to his injury, he can often be seen walking w a limp espc on colder days ( don’t ask me why )

if u got this far u must plot w me!!!! here r some piss poor ideas 2 get us started teehee

top of the list is some bros,, pls,, he’s good for havin a fun time but uh don’t rely on him if u want advice his advice is literally life-changing like in a life-ruining way

he j moved into maehwa ystd n he’s mad at the stain on his floor bc how can he go from a life of luxury to This,, prob tryna clean it angrily atm so pls help a brother out

id love for him to have some past connections!! i see a lotta athletes hoho yall hit him up im sure yall met somewhere somehOW idk im not an athlete

he often goes to the closest convenience store to grab a beer,, someone join him on his nightly routine hehe

picture this: u know ab the match fixing scandal n gasp!! is that park jaehyun the coverboy of the nation’s most hated men in 2022??? talk to him ab it i dare u 

rom wise jaehyun is uh,, that serial dater bc i think he genuinely craves love in a way he never got when he was a kid, but then he’s also that Shady ass boyfriend so that said im keen to explore exes / past flings!! all his prev romances were toxic asf so if u need a villainous ex in ur story, he’s ya man!!

also ive written hella toxic relos w this old muse so as a mun im tryna get him to turn over a new leaf 😘 that said present romances r also on the table teehee ( this tiktok is literally him as a bf, he is truly ur manipulate mansplain gaslighter malewife all rolled into one what a Treat ) callin all ‘i can fix him’ queens here’s ur chance xo 🤡

[halfyourheart]

alice bestie hi !! I saw u rb sabrina n now I want to know your favourite songs of emails I can't send (if u may wish to share them <3)

hi myle hi bestie <3 !

pls let it be known that this was way harder than I anticipated?? this is pure vibes and what are currently my favourites. I am so bad at definitive rankings (except for the last one because I am a hater apparently)??? on the other hand, I spent way too much time on this and went back and forth a bajillion times. It's a conundrum, so without further ado, enter at your own risk <3

emails i can’t send

I fell in love with this song when she first posted it on tiktok (i think)??? before the album was announced. and I loved it even more when it got released. just the twist of it being about her dad (or just a dad - but yeah)!! and that connecting with what people have been calling her “home wrecker” and “slut”. As an intro, I think it ties the whole album together really well and emphasises the message(/email (didn’t mean to do that)) that she’s trying to send so I crown thee number one.

2. already over

i love love love the sound this song; it’s so fun. the pacing. the chorus, the “I say i’m done but i’m still confused” just hits me every time. a controversial opinion because this is possibly my one friend's least favourite song. ALSO the end “i like my bed but it likes you too”??? kills me. personifying something so love-driven (bed!) just hiTS. i just have the most fun with this song :D

3. tornado warnings

lying to your therapist to convince yourself something is true was a little bit too relatable lol. "I'll drive you home you drive me crazy" then combined with "I'll call you out You call me "baby"" no I can't handle it.

4. bad for business

the concept as a whole is something I find really interesting and relatable. sadness selling? you’re only worth something when you’re writing/drawing/painting about the saddest/lowest points of your life. Or getting inspiration from those points. It’s just something I struggle with a lot because I always feel like I create best when I’m at some of my lowest points (definitely my brain lying to me but we move). So like what’s the point of happiness if it’s not benefitting me in a ‘productive’ way? and then I argue with myself because??? there is so much wrong with that train of thinking especially since I LOVE people simply being happy? and I love art centred around that. a simple domestic fic or a painting that’s just two people chilling in the kitchen with tea? that’s my shIT. and that is the shit! just vibing and enjoying yourself is the goal! I’m likely reading too much into it and forming a personal attachment to it so I don’t want to put it low. what the song touches on is something I am so fascinated with and deal with a lot :)

5. Vicious

One of the first songs I gravitated towards upon first listening to the album. “everyone thinks you’re an angel but shit I would probably use different wording” mmmMmMm. the distortion leading up to “I was only the next one to take your love songs as a promise” and that whole section just scratches my brain so nicely. there’s something so cathartic about borderline sing-screaming :D

6. Read your Mind

a very fun-paced song. “you’re not my friend and baby you never were”. Is this higher up because she says baby? maybe so. Ms Carpenter, please call me baby, respectfully. bUT also it’s a really interesting take on a lack of communication because you'd expect it to sound slower. that contrast gets me in a good way. I am a sucker for juxtaposition yUM.

This where the list gets a little bit dicey because I went back on forth with these rankings a LOT.

7. Nonsense

no, but I do love this song??? why are you here bestie?? it’s so fun and the riffs 🥺 the ad-libs 🥺 “bleh-blah-bleh” 🥺 Shakespeare who? “I had to jump the octave *proceeds to jump the octave*??? SHOCK HORROR GASP

8. how many things

the start is so funny “you used a fork once it turns out forks are fucking everywhere” sksksksks comedic genius I swear. and then back into the emotional whiplash with “I, I wonder how many things you think about before you get to me” as someone who romanticises past relationships (platonic and romantic) ahah this song mmmmmmm it hurts. “remember when you left once? that never made much sense to me.” wrecked me. wrecked ME. and "your corner in my mind is well established"????

9. decode

form imitating lyrics gets me so hard. “the gaps and the silence” with the pause? yeah that hit me over the head and stole my money and I'm totally cool with that. once again, Shakespeare who??? this song is so underrated. "being myself did that emasculate you"?????????????? Over-analysing (also the way she sings over-analysing ashdajdgahd) things is sort of my MO.

10. because i liked a boy

���I’m a home wrecker I’m a slut” “dating boys with exes no I wouldn’t recommend it” mmmMmm YuM but then tying back to emails i can’t send? an emotional whiplash honestly but also a very fun song to listen to. (I don't know how this song ended up here but I have just changed things three times so we are not touching it).

11. bet u wanna

i know I'm the worst. why is this in the bottom three? This song is hot I won't deny (the baseeeee), but I simply do not vibe with it as much as the others at this point in time. Maybe that'll change one day but for now, she sits here.

12. skinny dipping

shoutout oat milk! This is so low because we heard it so long ago I think? I did read that it's so awkward because it's imitating the conversation she's having with her ex and I do love that.

13. fast times

I have never liked fast times ¯\_(��)_/¯ I don't even really have a specific reason why?? the music video is great but I just don't gravitate towards this song.

I really do love this album and this was so hard and it will likely change at a whim (except for you fast times 👀 *insert luke saying I’m heartless with those*) but this is definitely some of her best, if not her best, writing to date imo (sue me you will always be famous to ME), so that makes sense.

The only part of this that was easy was the top three and the bottom three. The middle can and will change at any time. 6-10?? they switched constantly aH.

What's your ranking? <3