#I really want another cat. like in general. because cats are great

[running-in-the-dark]

I'm seriously considering getting a third cat (and naming her Parker)

[whencartoonsruletheworld]

funniest disney history facts i can think of atm

literally EVERYBODY thought the lion king was gonna flop and pocahontas would be their greatest movie ever made. people begged to ditch lion king and work on pocahontas.

the reason robin hood ends so abruptly is that there was an actual ending planned and storyboarded but the crew spent too long arguing about everyone’s fursonas to finish animating it

madam mim was way less comedic in the original book but because her character was too similar to maleficent (who was in their latest film at the time), the sword and the stone crew decided to differentiate her by making her fucking hilarious

when making a goofy movie, jeffrey katzenberg (studio chairman at the time) told bill farmer to give goofy “a normal voice.” farmer, who had been voicing goofy for eight years at that point, including in the goof troop show that a goofy movie was a sequel to, was very confused. after making an attempt they decided to scrap that note completely.

as of march 2023, farmer is still voicing goofy, and tony anselmo has been voicing donald since 1986. the 2017 reboot of ducktales, which was slated as “wanting to do for donald what goofy movie did for goofy,” featured both actors as those characters; they had also been doing the voices for the original ducktales and goof troop/goofy movie. all the times goofy and donald interact in the 2017 ducktales however, donald was voiced by guest star don cheadle as a joke

current voice of mickey mouse bret iwan has stated that he has attempted to play kingdom hearts and did not do well

disneyland’s current world of color halloween overlay features a plot that is basically “the disney villains simultaneously adopt a goth kid” and i love it

people will make jokes about “well math says that the beast would’ve been 11 when he was cursed” well that was actually the original intent, but a flashback scene of baby beast was scrapped because he looked “too much like eddie munster”

when disney sent a representative to pixar to check on toy story production, she was like “this is all great! what style of music are you thinking” and they were like “for what” “for the songs” “we uh. we weren’t gonna have. any songs” and she went dead silent and then went “i have to make a call” and left the room

saludos amigos and the three caballeros were made as ww2 propaganda. the government commissioned disney to make movies to make latin america like them so that they wouldnt side with the nazis and provide them an in to invade, and latin america really liked donald duck so

saludos amigos was apparently the first time many usamericans realized that latin american people were like. people. film historian alfred charles richard jr said that the film “did more to cement a community of interest between peoples of the americas in a few months than the state department had in fifty years”

while latin america generally liked both films, chilean cartoonist rené rios boettiger fucking hated the chilean segment of saludos amigos, seeing the main character of pedro the plane as a weakass bitch, so in response he created condorito, the most popular comic character in all of latin america

disney wanted to adapt ts eliot’s old possum’s book of practical cats. his widow adamantly refused, and then sold the rights to andrew lloyd webber bc he wanted to make it sexy and she said “tom would’ve liked that”

in case you haven’t seen the defunctland, walt disney wanted epcot to be a futuristic utopia where he was basically the dictator. then he died so they just made it another theme park

speaking of defunctland the first defunctland video was on disneyworld’s alien attraction and please watch it. please it’s so funny

after the huge failure of the black cauldron disney was going to shut down its animation department. the department tried to convince them to keep them alive by showing them the one scene they had finished for the next movie– the mouse burlesque from the great mouse detective. it worked

the only attraction the black cauldron ever got was in tokyo disneyland where they put a tour under cinderella’s castle where everyone had to escape the disney villains trying to kill them, only to end at the horned king and the cauldron, who would try to sacrifice them to satan. this tour was popular but was closed in the early 2000s as the tunnels didn’t fit earthquake regulations and i want it in disneyworld so bad

walt disney once referred to his unionizing workers, led by goofy’s creator art babbitt, as “commie sons of bitches,” and i want a mickey build-a-bear that calls me a commie son-of-a-bitch whenever i squeeze its paw

[followthebluebell]

hello! I was scrolling through your blog (delightful) and found the post about Beef and his whiskers position, and I'm ashamed to say that in all my near-thirty years of being around cats and thinking I understand them pretty well I never thought to pay attention to the 'circle shape'. could you please expound a bit on what to look for when it comes to whiskers position and how to interpret it? Beef is an absolute sweetheart but looking at a brachy cat as an example makes it a bit hard for me to generalize. thank you!

Thank you! And also thank you for your patience--- I wanted to give some really good examples and have been scouring my blog for the best circle whisker cats I could find.

Picture heavy post under this.

so this is the cat grimace scale. It's a sort of way to visually see if a cat is in pain/distress, and it gives a simplified view of the things I'm going to discuss. It's important to recognize that whisker shape/position is just ONE piece of communication and doesn't tell the whole story. A lot of this is also based on CONTEXT as well.

When you're looking at a cat face, here are the things you really want to pay attention to:

Ear position—Ears facing forward, ears slightly pulled apart, or ears flattened and rotated outward.

Orbital tightening—Eyes opened, eyes partially opened, or eyes squinted.

Muzzle tension—Muzzle relaxed (round), muzzle mildly tense, or muzzle tense (elliptical).

Whisker position—Whiskers loose and curved, whiskers slightly curved or straight, or whiskers straight and moving forward.

Head position—Head above the shoulder line, head aligned with the shoulder line, or head below the shoulder line or tilted.

Calypso's huge whiskers give a REALLY good visual on the 'circle shape' to look for. You can see her whiskers are pushed forward and are loose and curved. She's feeling playful and engaged! She really wants to know what I'm up to and what's in my hand (spoiler alert, it was treats)

Compare that to this later picture, taken after she heard a dog bark nearby:

Her muzzle is tighter. Her whiskers are pulled back a bit, and are straight. Her ears are set differently as well, one pulled back a bit. She's concerned, but not terribly worried about this strange sound.

You can also compare it to this handsome lad:

Again, his whiskers are fairly straight. They aren't pulled back as far, but he's still very tense. He was extremely tense and upset that I took his water dish away from him (because it needed to be cleaned and changed).

Milo is another great example of excited whiskers. They're pushed forward and curved, forming a sort of circle. Like Calypso, he's interested in what I'm doing and feeling playful. He was very interested in the toy I was throwing for him.

Gumdrop is a good example of a more relaxed whisker position. She's curious, but not feeling playful. Her whiskers are held very loosely rather than being pushed forward. Her tail nub is up, indicating friendliness and confidence.

[raggedytiger]

ragatha/agatha and pomni/penny human hcs!

(r)agatha:

is an english teacher!

yes she still loves horses. she used to ride them, & she loves old western movies.

owns cowboy hat and boots.

analytical and loves long & winding conversations.

has a very happy cat named sandwich.

patches her own clothes, doesn't have kids but if she did she would embroider their names into their belongings.

she still plays cello, she loves music in general, probably sings like an angel.

can't do any mathematics.

can drive, but like a lunatic. somehow has never had an accident though, so it's fine.

probably has a cute little baby blue/yellow car now, but definitely had a beat up offroader truck at some point that got put to good use. or maybe she still does, i'm not the boss.

total lesbian, a bit of a heartbreaker but not intentionally (women just keep falling for her)

goes to town/neighbourhood/community meetings. likely is/was in a knitting circle

absurd number of quilts in her home

pomni/penny:

is an accountant as we know, and cannot cook for shit as we know.

no pets she can barely take herself for walks. is more similar to a cat, but had a dog growing up. would love a collie or a dalmatian probably.

would name the dog something stupid like Thermometer Johnson.

she can drive, but nervously.

really quick thinker, like impressively, unless she's under HUGE amounts of stress. is literally always thinking at 100mph.

no sense of interior decor or personal style. all practical, kind of butch. really does kill a suit.

very much lesbian but not fully to terms with it. probably had short-lived relationships with men in which she was 'content' but didn't really care for it. seeing agatha as agatha for the first time was probably a crazy punch to her little gay heart. not to mention the cowboy gear.

autistic

watches 90s anime to wind down

listens to every single genre of music. passes a lot of time with headphones in, slowly making her way thru the entire world's discography

owns no band merch or anything though she just listens

can't sleep without a fan on, thunderstorm 12hr audio, blackout curtains, weighted blanket, water nearby

does not sleep a lot

both of them (going to call them pomni and ragatha for convenience):

didn't immediately recognise one another. i havent got an exact idea of how they reunited after getting out, but there were tears.

bonded in a very rare and unique way - they got to revel in the newfound joys of real life again. they got to eat delicious food, go on long, unobstructed walks in the real sun, be warmed by it, chew on ice cubes and shiver at the pain, listen to each other's heartbeats, listen to real music, read real books, smell soaps and flowers and sauces. they went to the supermarket together and read all the labels, and bought one of each type of fruit to try between them, and smelled all the candles, and touched all the blankets. spent a lot of time holding hands and kissing and i'm sorry to say, probably having sex, because holy shit, i'm real, you're real, we're real

now live together in ragatha's apartment, after pomni moved out of her small and confusingly-furnished flat.

both of them feel inadequate from time to time. this is resolved by a stern-but-loving talking-to.

sandwich likes pomni very much. pomni doesn't really get cats, but loves sandwich a great deal, and enjoys letting her sleep on her lap.

ragatha is very pleased to see her girls getting along.

ragatha cooks, pomni chops the veg. she often doesn't fuck it up

pomni cleans a lot as a 'thank you for letting me live here, i love you'. she's very much acts of service, ragatha is words & physical touch <3

they watch a lot of movies together. depending on how long they've been stuck, they might have culture to catch up on

ragatha wants to have a house with a garden one day. pomni starts germinating seeds from their fruit & veg like a weird science experiment. ragatha is delighted when she is presented with a baby tomato plant.

clothes are shared. ragatha's are bigger, but most of pomni's are ill-fitting anyway so it can go both ways. ragatha likes to dress pomni up in different outfits and have her do a little fashion show. pomni pretends not to savour the confidence boost.

pomni starts sleeping more

[the-s1lly-corner]

May we get some general dating headcanons with Ticci Toby Masky and Hoodie please :)?

Dating the proxies

I'm more than sure that I've written these hcs for masky and hoodie before like way back when this blog was first made but ykw imma make new ones.. or not, idk I'm not rereading my old posts LMAO

Characters: Masky, Hoodie, and Toby

Notes: reader is GN

CWs: None

Masky

Semi verbal- he talks every now and then but like hoodie hes more of a listener than anything

Hovers around you when hes home, let's you ramble about what you've been up to because theres no way in hell hes going to tell you what hes done- at least overtime he learns to give you a headsup before he vanishes

It's almost like having a cat tbh...

Very defensive about the mask, he'll pull it up when hes ready..

Actually wait he really is like a cat because it's best to let him seek out touch and affection- he does lean into it if you show signs, though..

Acts of service and quality time, he may be absent for a few days at a time every now and then but he does try to make up for it

Jealous, but not as much as toby- VERY possessive though.. it's almost like a 6th sense when you're in danger or when someone tries to make moves on you.. he almost just.. spawns/hj

Hoodie

Gentle and sweet with you, but very firm when setting boundaries and honors them

More of a listener than a talker, however he does engage in conversations via sign

Speaking of, he's more than willing to teach you so you can better communicate with him instead of having to rely off of writing

Loooves stealing a kiss from you before he has to head out to do something, you usually only ever see the lower half of his face though

Compared to masky hes more likely to take the mask off, though

Very warm! Great for snuggling up to him when its colder out!

Very physically affectionate, loves holding you.. will linger or graze his hands on you as he passes by.. also acts of service- that's another thing he does to show his love!

The least jealous out of the three

Toby

You're definitely his first partner. The nature of his work doesnt exactly leave him much room to interact with many people, and before that he didnt have that large of a social circle

I bring this up to stress that he is very new to this, this is a learning experience for him and.. actually all things considered hes not doing that bad!

He can be a bit of an asshole every now and then, but ultimately hes so hyper focused to make sure you feel comfortable and happy around him, subconsciously he doesnt want you to feel like how he did when he was surrounded by the people in his old life

Very clingy, but he does his best to try to mind your personal space and boundaries, as well as this he tends to be jealous- overtime you do get him to talk about it rather than react or isolate

Hes soft for you, absolutely spoils you and anything ever happened to you he would scorch the earth if it meant making it right

Let's you borrow his jackets, sometimes to his detriment due to not being able to appropriately gauge how cold it is out- though hes naturally a physically cold person in general..

[iskratempestmadness]

What would the Baki men do with easily distracted s/o? Like, when the Baki men could be talking about something and their s/o instead gets up and start chasing a cat before stopping to look at a bunch of butterflies or something like that?

Baki:

• just uh?!?!

• he feels a little awkward, even though he understands that the problem is not with him

• You make him doubt that he is a good storyteller. Like, are you even interested or not?

• will talk to you about it. Well, it's obviously not great.

• tries to attract your attention in every possible way during the conversation.

• But his patience is not eternal. So sometimes, when you get distracted while he's telling another story, he can stop telling it and sit with pouting lips, because "Hey, aren't you interested at all?! I'm actually trying, I'm crucifying here... "

• later you'll have to apologize to him and use all your concentration for this

• gradually, he will understand how to attract your attention during a conversation and learn how to use it.

Hanayama:

• he talks so little, do you want him to be silent in principle? ...

• it hurts him, he is so little social, he tries to communicate with you and be interesting to you, but you can't just concentrate on what he tells you

• but later he will see how it happens and when you communicate with your friends or with Chiharu

• So he'll just accept that this is your "highlight," so to speak, and try to live with it.

• but he found a use for it! In the company, he focuses on you. If a person starts telling a story, then you can easily tell if it's interesting or not. You are a filter of unnecessary information for him.

• he will probably retell conversations, stories, gossip that he heard in the company of your ( more than your) friends. It will certainly be a test for him, but it will also pump him up great in terms of conversation.

Katsumi:

• ...

• difficult

• he needs attention in principle, especially when he tells something... And you...

• for a while, he may think that you are mocking him. He tells you something about karate and somewhere in the middle of the story he realizes that you have already been distracted by a butterfly ...

• and it annoys him. God, you had the task of just listening and you didn't do it!

• probably his irritation will begin to decrease as soon as he realizes that you communicate with everyone like that.

• probably discuss it with you. After all, it's not normal that you're constantly distracted, and it's okay if you get distracted with him, but if you get distracted in a situation where there may be consequences for you?

• Even though he is still a little annoyed, he will try to control you. Especially when you find yourself in a company. Like, "Yes, yes, yes, it's very interesting! What do you think about it? "So he's deliberately putting you in awkward situations.

• and it helps!

Jack:

• mmmm

• he is tolerant in this regard, but not without surprise

• he can understand that talking to him can be boring, like it's normal for him

• but he is surprised that you are just as inattentive in communicating with others.

• most likely, he will just accept it. He understands that people are different and the fact that you are distracted is just your peculiarity.

• also tells you the conversations that take place in the company. But somewhat more generally, because he doesn't really listen to it either.

• he will find topics that will be of interest to you and will often use them to give you information. Like "... this is a new fact that scientists have discovered about dolphins. And I was also asked to tell you that the T-shirt you need will arrive in a week. "That's about it.

• also probably consults with a specialist regarding you (probably with Kureha) and applies his advice on you.

Retsu:

• also very tolerant

• But unlike Jack, he sometimes gets annoyed about it.

• "How can you be so inconsiderate! It's disrespectful and irresponsible! You're not a child! " Retsu's thoughts of the year, instead of listening to him, you stared at a cluster of bugs.

• And he will try many methods to make you less distracted. He will consult with Kureha about this.

• will probably also put you in awkward situations. " ... It's funny! What do you say? " He says, turning his head in your direction, knowing that you have been looking at the fish in the aquarium for about 5 minutes. Oh, how used he was to that expression. A mixture of surprise and confusion, followed by condemnation and mild irritation.

• "I'm sorry, honey, but it was necessary" His thoughts in almost every similar situation.

• He tries to be patient. Truth. But sometimes it's just beyond his strength.

• But eventually he'll wean you off it... He really hopes so...

Shibukawa:

• ...

• YES, HE'S A FUCKING WIZARD!!!

• In absolutely any situation when you start to get distracted and he understands it... literally a second... And you're already listening to him.

• as if on click. No matter how much you are attracted to a bug or sparrows, eventually your attention will focus on it.

• How can this be explained? Easy. Experience. This person has lived for a sufficient number of years and has seen a lot of people, so he knows how to interest certain personalities.

• probably suffered from it before. So this may also be the answer.

• However, the fact remains, he knows how to make you listen.

• BUT... Still, there is a but... And it lies in the fact that you can and listen to him, but you don't listen to others. Like, in a conversation with friends, there is a very small chance that you are attentive and this bothers him.

• and he learned how to deal with it... He's trying to learn.

• DEFINITELY making fun of you about it

• For example, he can tell you that while you were distracted by the caterpillar during a conversation with your friend, he told you that he bought his sister a car, although in fact your friend barely raised money for a hoodie for his sister. Something like that.

Yujiro:

• Don't test his patience

• you just don't have to do it

• We all know how this will end

• but you did it anyway

• while he was telling you about how to choose the right whiskey, you looked at the frog (where did it come from?...) ...

• And what happened was expected.

• He didn't use force on you, he just scolded you, but that was enough

• But now you're listening to him carefully.

• but not everyone else. As before, you ignore half of the conversation with your friends.

• and he doesn't like it. I'll say more, it annoys him. Of course, who would like to retell a story for another person.

• besides, he doesn't listen either...

• it seems to me that he won't do anything about it, despite his irritation. Like he understands you. For him, too, a lot of people are boring and dialogue with them is clearly worse than watching butterflies fly.

[anominous-user]

Double Indemnity, Veritas Ratio and Aventurine

This was originally a part of my compilation post as a short analysis on the Double Indemnity references, linking to this great thread by Manya on Twitter. However, I've recently watched the movie and found that the parallels run much deeper than just the mission name and the light cone itself, plus as the short synopsis I've read online. Since there isn't really an in-depth attempt at an analysis on the film in relation to the way Aventurine and Ratio present themselves throughout Penacony, I thought I'd take a stab at doing just that. I will also be bringing up things from Manya's thread as well as another thread that has some extra points.

Disclaimer that I... don't do analyses very often. Or write, in general — I'm someone who likes to illustrate their thoughts (in the artistic sense) more than write. There's just something about these two that makes me want to rip into them so badly, so here we are. If there's anything you'd like to add or correct me on, feel free to let me know in the replies or reblogs, or asks. This ended up being a rather extensive deep dive into the movie and its influences on the pairing, so please keep that in mind when pressing Read More.

There are two distinct layers on display in Ratio and Aventurine's relationship throughout Penacony, which are references to the two most important relationships in the movie — where they act like they hate/don’t know each other, and where they trust each other.

SPOILER WARNING for the entire movie, by the way. You can watch the film for free here on archive.org, as well as follow along with the screenplay here. I will also be taking dialogue and such from the screenplay, and cite quotes from the original novel in its own dedicated section. SPOILER WARNING for the Cat Among Pigeons Trailblaze mission, as well.

CONTENT WARNING FOR MENTIONS OF SUICIDE. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

To start, Double Indemnity (1944) is a film noir by Billy Wilder (and co-written by Raymond Chandler) based on the novel of the same name by James M. Cain (1927). There are stark differences between the movie adaptation and the original novel which I will get into later on in this post, albeit in a smaller section, as this analysis is mainly focused on the movie adaptation. I will talk about the basics (summaries for the movie and the game, specifically the Penacony mission in tandem with Ratio and Aventurine) before diving into the character and scene parallels, among other things.

—

[THE NAME]

The term "double indemnity" is a clause in which if there’s a case of accidental death of a statistically rare variety, the insurance company has to pay out multiple of the original amount. This excludes deaths by murder, suicide, gross negligence, and natural causes.

The part of the mission in Cat Among Pigeons where Ratio and Aventurine meet with Sunday is named after the movie. And before we get further into things, let's get this part out of the way: The Chinese name used in the mission is the CN title of the movie, so there's no liberties taken with the localization — this makes it clear that it’s a nod to the movie and not localization doing its own thing like with the mission name for Heaven Is A Place On Earth (EN) / This Side of Paradise (人间天堂) (CN).

—

[SUMMARY OF THE 1944 MOVIE]

Here I summarised the important parts that will eventually be relevant in the analysis related to the game.

Insurance salesman Walter Neff, wounded from a gunshot, enters his office and confesses his crime on a dictaphone to his boss Barton Keyes, the claims manager. Much earlier, he had met Phyllis Dietrichson, the wife of Mr. Dietrichson and former nurse. Neff had initially wanted to meet Mr. Dietrichson because of car insurance. Phyllis claims her husband is mean to her and that his life insurance goes to his daughter Lola. With Neff seduced by Phyllis, they eventually brew up a scheme to murder Mr. Dietrichson in such a way that they activate the "double indemnity" clause, and the plan goes off almost perfectly. Initially, the death is labeled a suicide by the president of the company, Norton. 

Keyes finds the whole situation suspicious, and starts to suspect Phyllis may have had an accomplice. The label on the death goes from accidental, to suicide, to then murder. When it’s ruled that the husband had no idea of the accidental policy, the company refuses to pay. Neff befriends Phyllis’ stepdaughter Lola, and after finding out Phyllis may have played a part in the death of her father’s previous wife, Neff begins to fear for Lola and himself, as the life insurance would go all towards her, not Phyllis.

After the plan begins to unravel as a witness is found, it comes out that Lola’s boyfriend Nino Zachette has been visiting Phyllis every night after the murder. Neff goes to confront Phyllis, intending to kill her. Phyllis has her own plans, and ends up shooting him, but is unable to fire any more shots once she realises she did love him. Neff kills her in two shots. Soon after telling Zachette not to go inside the house, Neff drives to his office to record the confession. When Keyes arrives, Neff tells him he will go to Mexico, but he collapses before he could get out of the building.

—

[THE PENACONY MISSION TIMELINE]

I won’t be summarising the entirety of Aventurine and Ratio’s endeavours from the beginning of their relationship to their final conversation in Heaven Is A Place On Earth the same way as I summarised the plot of the movie, so I will instead present a timeline. Bolded parts means they are important and have clear parallels, and texts that are in [brackets] and italics stand for the names of either the light cone, or the mission names.

[Final Victor] Their first meeting. Ratio’s ideals are turned on its head as he finally meets his match.

Several missions happen in-between their first encounter and the Penacony project. They come to grow so close and trusting with each other that they can guess, understand each other’s thoughts, way of thinking and minds even in high stakes missions. Enough to pull off the Prisoner’s Dilemma (Aventurine’s E1) and Stag Hunt Game (Aventurine’s E6) and come out on top.

Aventurine turns towards Ratio for assisting him in the Penacony project. Ratio's involvement in the project is implied to be done without the knowledge of Jade, Topaz, and the IPC in general, as he was only sent to Penacony to represent the Intelligentsia Guild, and the two other Stonehearts never mention Ratio.

Aventurine and Ratio cook up the plan to deceive Sunday before ever setting foot on Penacony. Aventurine does not tell Ratio the entirety of his plan.

Aventurine convinces Topaz and Jade to trust him with their Cornerstones. Aventurine also breaks his own Cornerstone and hides it along with the jade within a bag of gift money.

[The Youth Who Chase Dreams] They enter Penacony in the Reverie Hotel. Aventurine is taken to the side by Sunday and has all his valuables taken, which includes the gift money that contains the broken aventurine stone, the jade, and the case containing the topaz.

Aventurine and Ratio speak in a “private” room about how Aventurine messed up the plan. After faking an argument to the all-seeing eyes of Sunday, Ratio leaves in a huff.

Ratio, wearing his alabaster head, is seen around Golden Hour in the (Dusk) Auction House by March 7th.

[Double Indemnity] Ratio meets up with Sunday and “exposes” Aventurine to him. Sunday buys his “betrayal”, and is now in possession of the topaz and jade. Note that this is in truth Ratio betraying Sunday all along.

Ratio meets up with Aventurine again at the bar. Ratio tells Aventurine Sunday wants to see him again.

They go to Dewlight Pavilion and solve a bunch of puzzles to prove their worth to Sunday.

They meet up with Sunday. Sunday forces Aventurine to tell the truth using his Harmony powers. Ratio cannot watch on. It ends with Aventurine taking the gift money with his Cornerstone.

[Heaven Is A Place On Earth] They are in Golden Hour. Ratio tries to pry Aventurine about his plan, but Aventurine reins him in to stop breaking character. Ratio gives him the Mundanite’s Insight before leaving. This is their final conversation before Aventurine’s grandest death.

Now how exactly does the word “double indemnity” relate to their mission in-game? What is their payout? For the IPC, this would be Penacony itself — Aventurine, as the IPC ambassador, handing in the Jade Cornerstone as well as orchestrating a huge show for everybody to witness his death, means the IPC have a reason to reclaim the former prison frontier. As for Ratio, his payout would be information on Penacony’s Stellaron, although whether or not this was actually something he sought out is debatable. And Aventurine? It’s highly implied that he seeks an audience with Diamond, and breaking the Aventurine Cornerstone is a one way trip to getting into hot water with Diamond. With Aventurine’s self-destructive behaviour, however, it would also make sense to say that death would be his potential payout, had he taken that path in the realm of IX.

Compared to the movie, the timeline happens in reverse and opposite in some aspects. I will get into it later. As for the intended parallels, these are pretty clear and cut:

Veritas Ratio - Walter Neff

Aventurine - Phyllis Dietrichson

Sunday - Mr. Dietrichson

There is one other character who I feel also is represented in Ratio, but I won’t bring them up until later down the line.

For the sake of this analysis, I won’t be exploring Sunday’s parallel to Mr. Dietrichson, as there isn’t much on Dietrichson’s character in the first place in both the movie and the novel. He just kind of exists to be a bastard that is killed off at the halfway point. Plus, the analysis is specifically hyper focused on the other two.

—

[SO, WHAT’S THE PLAN?]

To make things less confusing in the long run whenever I mention the words “scheme” and “plan”, I will be going through the details of Phyllis and Neff’s scheme, and Aventurine and Ratio’s plan respectively. Anything that happens after either pair separate from another isn’t going to be included. Written in a way for the plans to have gone perfectly with no outside problems.

Phyllis and Neff —> Mr. Dietrichson

Goal: Activate the double indemnity clause by killing Mr. Dietrichson and making it look like a freak train accident

Payout: Twice or more of the face value of the life insurance ($100,000)

Main Actor: Walter Neff    |    Accomplice: Phyllis Dietrichson

During the entire time until the payout, Phyllis and Neff have to make sure to any outsiders that they look like complete strangers instead of lovers in an affair.

Step-by-step:

Neff convinces Mr. Dietrichson to sign the policy with the clause without him suspecting foul play, preferably with a third party to act as an alibi. This is done discreetly, making Mr. Dietrichson not read the policy closely and being told to just sign.

Neff and Phyllis talk to each other about small details through the phone (specified to be never at Phyllis’ own house and never when Neff was in his office) and in the marketplace only, to make their meetings look accidental. They shouldn’t be seen nor tracked together, after all.

Phyllis asks Mr. Dietrichson to take the train. She will be the one driving him to the train station.

On the night of the murder, after making sure his alibi is airtight, Neff sneaks into their residence and hides in their car in the second row seating, behind the front row passenger seat. He wears the same colour of clothes as Mr. Dietrichson.

Phyllis and Mr. Dietrichson get inside the car — Phyllis in the driver’s seat and Mr. Dietrichson in the passenger seat. Phyllis drives. On the way to the train station, she makes a detour into an alley. She honks the horn three times.

After the third honk, Neff breaks Mr. Dietrichson’s neck. The body is then hidden in the second row seating under a rug.

They drive to the train station. Phyllis helps Neff, now posing as Mr. Dietrichson, onto the train. The train leaves the station.

Neff makes it to the observation platform of the parlour car and drops onto the train tracks when nobody else is there.

Phyllis is at the dump beside the tracks. She makes the car blink twice as a signal.

The two drag Mr. Dietrichson’s corpse onto the tracks.

They leave.

When Phyllis eventually gets questioned by the insurance company, she pretends she has no idea what they are talking about and eventually storms off.

Phyllis and Neff continue to lay low until the insurance company pays out.

Profit!

Actual Result: The actual murder plan goes almost smoothly, with a bonus of Mr. Dietrichson having broken a leg. But with him not filing a claim for the broken leg, a witness at the observation platform, and Zachette visiting Phyllis every night after the murder, Keyes works out the murder scheme on his own, but pins the blame on Phyllis and Zachette, not Neff.

Now for Aventurine and Ratio. You can skip this section if you understand how deep their act goes, but to those who need a refresher, here’s a thorough explanation:

Aventurine and Ratio —> Sunday

Goal: Collect the aventurine stone without Sunday knowing, ruin the dream (and create the grandest death)

Payout: Penacony for the IPC, information on the Stellaron for Ratio, a meeting with Diamond / death for Aventurine

Main Actor: Aventurine    |    Accomplice: Veritas Ratio

From the moment they step onto Penacony, they are under Sunday’s ever present and watchful eyes. “Privacy” is a foreign word to The Family. They have to act like they don’t like each other’s company the entire time and feed Sunday information through indirect means so that the eventual “betrayal” by Ratio seems truthful to Sunday. Despite what it looks like, they are closer than one would ever think, and Ratio would never sell out a person purely for information.

Step-by-step:

After Sunday takes away the bag of gift money and box, Aventurine and Ratio talk in a room in the Reverie Hotel.

Aventurine establishes the Cornerstones’ importance, and how he lost the gift money and the case containing the Cornerstones to Sunday. Ratio turns to leave, saying “some idiot ruined everything”, meaning the Cornerstones were vital to their plan. (Note that Ratio is not wearing his alabaster head while saying it to said “idiot”.)

Aventurine then proceeds to downplay the importance of the Cornerstones, stating they are “nothing more than a few rocks” and “who cares if they are gone”. This lets Sunday know that something suspicious may be going on for him to act like it’s nothing, and the mention of multiple stones, and leaves him to look up what a Cornerstone is to the Ten Stonehearts of the IPC.

Ratio points out his absurd choice of outfit, mentioning the Attini Peacock and their song.

Ratio implies that without the aventurine stone, he is useless to the IPC. He also establishes that Aventurine is from Sigonia(-IV), and points out the mark on his neck. To Sunday, this means that Aventurine is shackled to the IPC, and how Aventurine may possibly go through extreme lengths to get the stone back, because a death sentence always looms above him.

Aventurine claims Ratio had done his homework on his background, which can be taken that this is their very first time working together. (It isn’t, and it only takes one look to know that Aventurine is an Avgin because of his unique eyes, so this comment does not make sense even in a “sincere” way, a running theme for the interaction.)

Ratio mentions how the true goal is to reclaim Penacony for the IPC, establishing their ulterior motive for attending the banquet.

Ratio asks if Aventurine went to pre-school in Sigonia after saying trust was reliant on cooperation. Aventurine mentions how he didn’t go to school and how he doesn’t have any parents. He even brings up how friends are weapons of the Avgins. This tells Sunday that the Avgins supposedly are good at manipulation and potentially sees Ratio possibly betraying Aventurine due to his carelessness with his “friends”. Sunday would also then research about the Avgins in general (and research about Sigonia-IV comes straight from the Intelligentsia Guild.)

Ratio goes to Dewlight Pavilion in Sunday’s Mansion and exposes a part of Aventurine’s “plan”. When being handed the suitcase, Ratio opens it up due to his apparent high status in the IPC. He tells Sunday that the Cornerstone in the suitcase is a topaz, not an aventurine, and that the real aventurine stone is in the bag of gift money. This is a double betrayal — on Aventurine (who knows) and Sunday (who doesn’t). Note that while Ratio is not officially an IPC member in name — the Intelligentsia Guild (which is run by the IPC head of the Technology Department Yabuli) frequently collaborates with the IPC. Either Aventurine had given him access to the box, or Ratio’s status in general is ambiguous enough for Sunday not to question him further. He then explains parts of Aventurine’s gamble to Sunday in order to sell the betrayal. Note that Ratio does not ever mention Aventurine’s race to Sunday.

Ratio brings Aventurine to Sunday. Aventurine offers help in the investigation of Robin's death, requesting the gift money and the box in return.

Sunday objects to the trade offer. Aventurine then asks for just the bag. A classic car insurance sales tactic. Sunday then interrogates Aventurine, and uses everything Ratio and Aventurine brought up in the Reverie Hotel conversation and their interactions in the Mansion, as well as aspects that Ratio had brought up to Sunday himself.

Aventurine feigns defeat and ignorance enough so that Sunday willingly lets him go with the gift bag. After all is said and done, Aventurine leaves with the gift money, where the Aventurine Cornerstone is stored all along.

Ratio and Aventurine continue to pretend they dislike each other until they go their separate ways for their respective goals and plans. Aventurine would go on to orchestrate his own demise at the hands of Acheron, and Ratio… lurks in the shadows like the owl he is.

Profit!

Actual Result: The plan goes perfectly, even with minor hiccups like Ratio coming close to breaking character several times and Aventurine being sentenced to execution by Sunday.

This is how Sunday uses the information he gathered against Aventurine:

• Sunday going on a tirade about the way Aventurine dresses and how he’s not one to take risks — Ratio’s comment about Aventurine’s outfit being peacock-esque and how he’s “short of a feather or two”. • “Do you own a Cornerstone?” — Ratio talked about the aventurine stone. • “Did you hand over the Cornerstone to The Family when you entered Penacony?” — Aventurine mentioned the box containing the Cornerstones. • “Does the Cornerstone you handed over to The Family belong to you?” — Aventurine specifically pluralized the word Cornerstone and “a bunch of rocks” when talking to Ratio. • “Is your Cornerstone in this room right now?” — The box in the room supposedly contained Aventurine’s own cornerstone, when Aventurine mentioned multiple stones. • “Are you an Avgin from Sigonia?” —Aventurine mentioned that he’s an Avgin, and Ratio brought up Sigonia. • “Do the Avgins have any ability to read, control, and manipulate one’s own or another’s minds?” — Aventurine’s comment on how friends are weapons, as well as Sunday’s own research on the Avgins, leading him to find out about the negative stereotypes associated with them. • “Do you love your family more than yourself?” — His lost parents. “All the Avgins were killed in a massacre. Am I right?” — Based on Sunday’s research into his background. • “Are you your clan’s sole survivor?” — Same as the last point. “Do you hate and wish to destroy this world with your own hands?” — Ratio mentioned the IPC’s goal to regain Penacony, and Aventurine’s whole shtick is “all or nothing”. • “Can you swear that at this very moment, the aventurine stone is safe and sound in this box?” — Repeat.

As seen here, both duos have convoluted plans that involve the deception of one or more parties while also pretending that the relationship between each other isn’t as close as in reality. Unless you knew both of them personally and their histories, there was no way you could tell that they have something else going on. 

On to the next point: Comparing Aventurine and Ratio with Phyllis and Neff.

—

[NEFF & PHYLLIS — RATIO & AVENTURINE]

With the short summaries of the movie and the mission out of the way, let’s look at Phyllis and Neff as characters and how Aventurine and Ratio are similar or opposite to them.

Starting off with Aventurine and Phyllis. Here is where they are the most similar:

Phyllis is blonde and described as a provocative woman. Aventurine is also a blond and eyes Ratio provocatively in the Final Victor light cone.

Phyllis was put under surveillance after Keyes starts figuring out that the so-called accidental death/suicide may have been a murder after all. Similarly, Aventurine was watched by Sunday the entire time in Penacony.

Phyllis never tells Neff how she's seeing another man on the side to possibly kill him too (as well as how she was responsible for the death of her husband‘s previous wife). Aventurine also didn't tell Ratio the entirety of his plan of his own death.

Phyllis puts on a somewhat helpless act at first but is incredibly capable of making things go her way, having everything seemingly wrapped around her finger. Aventurine — even when putting on a facade that masks his true motives — always comes out at the top.

Now the differences between Aventurine and Phyllis:

Phyllis does not care about her family and has no issue with killing her husband, his previous wife, and possibly her daughter Lola. Opposite of that, Aventurine is a family man… with no family left, as well as feeling an insane level of survivor’s guilt.

Really, Phyllis just… does not care at all about anyone but herself and the money. Aventurine, while he uses every trick in the book to get out on top, does care about the way Jade and Topaz had entrusted him with their Cornerstones, in spite of the stones being worth their lives. 

Phyllis also uses other people to her advantage to get what she wants, often behind other people's backs, with the way she treats Neff and Zachette. Aventurine does as well (what with him making deals with the Trailblazer while also making a deal with Black Swan that involves the Trailblazer). The difference here is Phyllis uses her allure deliberately to seduce men while Aventurine simply uses others as pawns while also allowing others to do the same to himself.

Phyllis makes no attempt at compromising the policy when questioned by Norton. Aventurine ends up compromising by only taking the gift money (which is exactly what he needs).

The wig that Barbara Stanwyck (the actress of Phyllis) wore was chosen to make her look as “sleazy” as possible, make her look insincere and a fraud, a manipulator. A sort of cheapness. Aventurine’s flashy peacock-esque outfit can be sort of seen as something similar, except the outfit isn’t cheap.

Moving on to Ratio’s similarities to Neff… There isn’t much to extrapolate here as Ratio is more of a side character in the grand scheme of Penacony, however this is what I’ve figured out.

Neff has dark hair. Ratio has dark purple hair.

Neff almost never refers to Phyllis by her name when speaking with her, only as “baby”. The few times he refers to her as Phyllis or Mrs. Dietrichson is during their first conversations and when he has to act like he doesn’t know her. Ratio never calls Aventurine by his name when he’s around him — only as “gambler”, sometimes “damned” or “dear” (EN-only) gambler. Only in the Aventurine's Keeping Up With Star Rail episode does Ratio repeatedly say his name, and yet he still calls him by monikers like “gambler” or, bafflingly, a “system of chaos devoid of logic”.

Both Neff and Ratio committed two betrayals: Neff on Mr. Dietrichson and Keyes, and Ratio on Sunday and Aventurine. With the former cases it was to reach the end of the trolley line, and with the latter it was on a man who had put his trust in him.

As for the differences…

Neff is described as someone who’s not smart by his peers. Ratio is someone who is repeatedly idolised and put on a pedestal by other people.

Neff is excellent at pretending to not know nor care for Phyllis whenever he speaks about her with Keyes or when he and she are in a place that could land them in hot water (the office, the mansion when there are witnesses). His acting is on the same level as Phyllis. With Ratio it’s… complicated. While he does pull off the hater act well, he straight up isn’t great at pretending not to care about Aventurine’s wellbeing.

Instead of getting his gunshot wound treated in the hospital like a normal person, Neff makes the absolutely brilliant decision of driving to his office and talking to a dictaphone for hours. Needless to say, this is something a medical doctor like Ratio would never do.

Now here's the thing. Though it's very easy to just look at Phyllis and Neff in the movie and go "okay, Aventurine is Phyllis and Ratio is Neff — end of story" and leave it at that, I find that they both take from the two leads in different ways. Let me explain. Beginning with Aventurine and Neff…

Neff is the one who hatches the plan and encourages Phyllis to go through and claim the double indemnity clause in the first place. He is also the key player of his own risky plan, having to fake being the husband to enter the train as well as fake the death. Aventurine puts himself at great risk just by being in Sunday’s presence, and hoping that Sunday wouldn’t figure out that the green stone he had uncovered wasn’t the aventurine stone.

Adding onto the last point, Neff had fantasised about pulling off the perfect murder for a long time — the catalyst was simply him meeting Phyllis. Aventurine presumably sought out Ratio alone for his plan against Sunday.

Neff makes a roulette wheel analogy and talks about a pile of blue and yellow poker chips (the latter in the script only). I don‘t even have to explain why this is relevant here. (Aventurine’s Ultimate features a roulette wheel and the motif is on his belt, thigh strap, and back, too. And of course, Aventurine is all about his chips.)

Neff has certain ways to hide when he’s nervous, which include hiding his hands in his pockets when they were shaking, putting on glasses so people couldn’t see his eyes. Aventurine hides his left hand behind his back when he’s nervous: Future Aventurine says that "they don't know the other hand is below the table, clutching [his] chips for dear life", and in multiple occasions such as the Final Victor LC, his character trailer, and even in his boss form in the overworld you can see that Aventurine hides his left hand behind his back. And he is also seen with his glasses on sometimes.

Neff says a bunch of stuff to make sure that Phyllis acts her part and does not act out of character (i.e. during their interactions at the market), like how Aventurine repeatedly tries to get Ratio back on track from his subpar acting.

Neff is always one step ahead of the game, and the only reason the plan blows up in his face is due to outside forces that he could not have foreseen (a witness, Keyes figuring out the plan, the broken leg). Aventurine meanwhile plays 5D chess and even with the odds against him, he uses everything he can to come out on the top (i. e. getting Acheron to kill him in the dream).

Even after coming home on the night of the murder, Neff still felt that everything could have gone wrong. Aventurine, with his blessed luck, occasionally wavers and fears everything could go wrong whenever he takes a gamble.

Neff was not put under surveillance by Keyes due to him being extensive with his alibi. After witnessing Robin’s death with eyewitnesses at the scene, the Family had accepted Aventurine’s alibi, though he would be under watch from the Bloodhounds according to Ratio.

Neff talks about the entire murder scheme to the dictaphone. Aventurine during Cat Among Pigeons also retells his plan, albeit in a more convoluted manner, what with his future self and all.

Continuing with Ratio and Phyllis, even with their personalities and motivations being quite different, they do have a few commonalities.

Phyllis was a nurse. Ratio is a medical doctor.

Her name is Greek of origin. Veritas Ratio, though his name is Latin, has Greco-Roman influences throughout his entire character.

The very first scene Phyllis appears in has her wearing a bath towel around her torso. Ratio loves to take baths to clear his mind.

Phyllis was instructed by Neff to be at the market every morning at eleven buying things. Ratio is seen in an auction house with his alabaster head on so no one could recognize him.

Phyllis mostly acts as an accomplice to the scheme, being the one to convince her husband to take the train instead. She is also generally seen only when Neff is involved. Ratio plays the same role as well, only really appearing in the story in relation to Aventurine as well as being the accomplice in Aventurine’s own death. Even him standing in the auction house randomly can be explained by the theory that he and Aventurine had attempted to destabilise Penacony’s economy through a pump and dump scheme.

With these pointers out of the way, let’s take a closer look at select scenes from the film and their relation to the mission and the pair. 

—

[THE PHONE CALL — THE REVERIE HOTEL]

Before the murder, there is a scene with a phone call between Phyllis and Neff discussing the plan while Keyes is in the same room as Neff. Neff has to make sure that Keyes doesn’t think of anything of the phone call, so he acts like he’s calling a “Margie”, and says a bunch of stuff that sounds innocent out of context (“Can’t I call you back, ‘Margie’?” “What color did you pick out?” “Navy blue. I like that fine”), but are actually hinting at the real plan all along (the suit that Mr. Dietrichson wears.)

In a roundabout way, the conversation between Ratio and Aventurine in the Reverie Hotel can be seen as the opposite of that scene — with the two talking about their supposed plan out loud on Penacony ground, a place where the Family (and in turn, Sunday) has eyes everywhere. Despite being in a “private” room, they still act like they hate each other while airing out details that really do not make sense to air out if they really did meet the first time in Penacony (which they didn’t — they’ve been on several missions beforehand). It’s almost like they want a secret third person to know what they were doing, instead of trying to be hushed up about it. The TVs in the room that Sunday can look through based on Inherently Unjust Destiny — A Moment Among The Stars, the Bloodhound statue that disappears upon being inspected, the owl clock on the left which side eyes Ratio and Aventurine, all point to that Sunday is watching their every move, listening to every word.

Rewinding back to before the phone call, in one of the encounters at the marketplace where they “accidentally” run into each other, Phyllis talks about how the trip was off. How her husband wouldn’t get on the train, which was vital for their plan, because of a broken leg. All this, while pretending to be strangers by the passersby. You could say that the part where Ratio almost leaves because Aventurine had “ruined the plan” is the opposite of this, as the husband breaking his leg was something they couldn’t account for, while Aventurine “being short of a few feathers” was entirely part of the plan.

—

[QUESTIONING PHYLLIS — THE INTERROGATION]

This section is going to be a little longer as I will cover two scenes in the movie in a more detailed manner — Mr. Dietrichson signing the policy, and Phyllis being questioned — and how they are represented in the Sunday-Aventurine interrogation and the prior conversation between Ratio and Sunday in multitudes of ways.

Going about their plan, Neff has to make sure that Mr. Dietrichson signs the policy with the double indemnity clause without him knowing the details, all the while having Phyllis (and Lola) in the same room. He and Phyllis have to pretend that they don’t know each other, and that this is just the standard accidental insurance process, instead of signing what would be his downfall. To sell it, he gets Mr. Dietrichson to sign two “copies” of the form, except with Mr. Dietrichson’s second signature, he’s duped into signing the accident insurance policy with the respective clause.

You can tie this to how Ratio goes to Sunday in order to “expose” the lie that the suitcase didn’t actually contain the Aventurine Cornerstone, as well as there being more than one Cornerstone involved in the scheme. Ratio must make sure that Sunday truly believes that he dislikes Aventurine’s company, while also making sure that Sunday doesn’t figure out the actual aventurine stone is broken and hidden in the gift bag. The scheme turns out to be successful, as Sunday retrieves the two Cornerstones, but not the aventurine stone, and truly does think that the green stone he has in his possession is the aventurine.

This whole scene with Sunday is also reminiscent of the interrogation scene in the middle of the movie, where Phyllis was questioned by the boss (Norton) who was deducing that Mr. Dietrichson's death was a suicide, not accidental death. Neff, Phyllis, Keyes and Norton were all in the same room, and Neff and Phyllis had to act like they never knew the other. Phyllis acts like she knows nothing about what Norton insinuates about her husband and eventually, Phyllis explodes in anger and storms out the room, even slamming the door. Her act is very believable to any outsider.

Now back to the Ratio and Sunday conversation. One glaring difference between the movie and here is that his acting isn’t great compared to either Phyllis nor Neff. It never was throughout the Penacony mission. He even comes very close to breaking character several times, and is even defending Aventurine in a somewhat aggressive manner during his one-on-one conversation with Sunday, as in he literally tells Sunday to see a shrink. It’s very different from the way he was acting in Herta Space Station — like Ratio cares about Aventurine too much to keep his hands off.

It's also worth pointing out that Neff doesn't speak a word when Phyllis was being interrogated. Similarly, Ratio is silent throughout the entire scene with Sunday and Aventurine, with his only “line” being a “hm”. When Aventurine calls him a wretch to his face, all he does is look to the side. In fact, he can only look at Aventurine when the other isn’t staring back. Almost like him uttering a single word would give them away. Or his acting is terrible when it has to do with Aventurine, as he has no issue doing the same thing in Crown of the Mundane and Divine (Mundane Troubles).

So, Sunday finds out about the Cornerstones and reveals them to Aventurine, and reasons that he cannot give them back to him because Aventurine had lied. Note that in that same scene, Aventurine attempted to use the two murders that had occurred beforehand against Sunday to retrieve his own cornerstone. Similarly, when it was revealed that Mr. Dietrichson did not know about the accident policy and that the so-called “accidental death” was not, in fact, accidental, the insurance company refused to pay out the money.

Unlike the movie, this was all planned, however. The double-crossing by Ratio, the gift money being the only thing required for Aventurine’s real plan. All of it was an act of betrayal against Sunday, in the same manner as the meticulous planning as Mr. Dietrichson’s murder — To sign the policy, get him to take the train, kill him on the way, and to have Neff pose as the husband on the train until the time is right to get off and lay the body on the tracks. A key difference is that they could not have expected their scheme to be busted wide open due to forces outside of their control, while Ratio and Aventurine went straight down the line for the both of them no matter what.

From here on out, we can conclude that the way Ratio and Aventurine present themselves in Penacony to onlookers is in line with Neff and Phyllis.

—

[“GOODBYE, BABY” — FINAL VICTOR]

And now for the (in)famous light cone, Final Victor. The thing that truly kickstarted the Ratio and Aventurine ship in the fanbase, and the partnership between the two in general. It’s a direct reference to the final confrontation between Neff and Phyllis in the movie.

I’ll fire through all the similarities between the two scenes.

During the respective scenes, Aventurine and Phyllis both outsmart their partner one way or the other: Aventurine with his one-sided game of Russian Roulette, and Phyllis hiding her gun underneath the cushions until Neff turned away.

The guns are owned by Phyllis and Aventurine, not Neff and Ratio.

Phyllis couldn’t bring herself to fire any more shots after she realised she truly did love Neff. Ratio could do nothing but watch as Aventurine did what he did — he couldn’t even pull away if the LC animation is anything to go by him struggling as Aventurine firmly keeps the gun to his chest.

Neff says he doesn’t buy (believe) that Phyllis loved him. She then goes “I’m not asking you to buy […]”. The LC description has Aventurine ask Ratio “You don’t believe me?”, while in the LC animation Ratio straight up says “You expect me to believe you?” and Aventurine answering “Why not, doctor/professor?”

The visual composition of the LC and the scene are nearly identical, from the lighting to the posing to the way Aventurine looks at Ratio — Aventurine and Ratio are even wearing different outfits to fit the scene better. The background in the LC is also like the blinders in the movie, just horizontal.

In the shot where Phyllis’ face is more visible, the way she looks at Neff is strikingly like the way provocatively looks at Ratio. Even their eyes have a visible shine — Phyllis’ eyes brightly shining the moment she realised she really fell in love with Neff, and Aventurine having just a little light return to his eyes in that specific moment.

And now the differences!

Neff holds the gun in his right hand. Aventurine makes Ratio hold his gun in his left.

Neff is the one who takes the gun from Phyllis‘ hand. Aventurine is the one who places the gun in Ratio’s hand and fires it.

Three gunshots are fired. In the movie, Phyllis shoots the first shot and Neff the second and third. Aventurine unloads the gun and leaves only one bullet for this game of Russian Roulette. He pulls the trigger three times, but they all turn out to be blanks.

Phyllis does not break her façade of not smiling until the very last moment where she gets shot. Aventurine is smiling the entire time according to the light cone description, whilst in the animation, it’s only when he guides the gun to his chest that he puts it on.

So, you know how Neff meets Phyllis and it all goes off the rails from there. The way Neff goes from a decent guy to willingly involve himself in a murder scheme, having his morals corrupted by Phyllis. His world having been turned upside down the moment he lays eyes on Phyllis in that first meeting. Doesn’t that sound like something that happened with the Final Victor LC? Ratio, a man all about logic and rationality — a scholar with eight PhDs to his name — all of that is flipped on its head the moment Aventurine pulls out his gun in their first meeting and forces Ratio to play a game of Russian roulette with him. Aventurine casually gambles using his own life like it’s nothing and seemingly without fear (barring his hidden left hand). All or nothing — and yet Aventurine comes out alive after three blanks. Poetic, considering there’s a consumable in the game called “All or Nothing” which features a broken chess piece and a poker chip bound together by a tie. The poker chip obviously represents the gambler, but the chess piece specifically stands for Ratio because he plays chess in his character trailer, his Keeping Up With Star Rail episode and his introduction is centred around him playing chess with himself. Plus, the design of the chess piece has golden accents, similar to his own chess set. In the end, Aventurine will always be the final victor.

Furthermore, Neff had deduced that Phyllis wanted to kill her husband and initially wanted no part in it, but in a subsequent visit it was his own idea that they trigger the double indemnity clause for more money. As the movie progresses though, he starts to have his doubts (thanks in part to him befriending Lola) and makes the move to kill Phyllis when everything starts to come to light. It’s strikingly similar to how Ratio initially wanted no part in whatever Aventurine had in mind when they first met, but in the subsequent missions where they were paired up, he willingly goes along with Aventurine's risky plans, and they come to trust each other. Enough so that Aventurine and Ratio can go to Penacony all on their own and put on an act, knowing that nobody in the IPC other than them can enter the Dreamscape. The mutual respect grew over time, instead of burning passionately before quickly fizzling out like in the movie.

Basically, in one scene, three shots (blanks) start a relationship, and in the other, it ends a relationship. In the anan magazine interview with Aventurine, he says himself that “form[ing] an alliance with just one bullet” with Ratio was one of his personal achievements. The moment itself was so impactful for both parties that it was immortalised and turned into a light cone.

—

[THE ENDING — GOLDEN HOUR]

The ending of Double Indemnity that made it into the final cut has Neff continue his confession on the dictaphone until he realised that he wasn’t alone in the room. Keyes had come inside at some point, but none had said a thing, only listening to a dead man speak of his crime. When Neff sees Keyes, they talk for a moment, Neff says he plans on fleeing to Mexico. Keyes does not think he will make it. He tries to leave, only to collapse at the front of the elevator, Keyes following just behind him. Neff attempts to light a cigar but is too weak to do so, so Keyes does it for him.

Parts of the ending can still be attributed to the interrogation scene between Sunday and Aventurine, so I’ll make this quick before moving on to the conversation in Heaven Is A Place On Earth, Ratio and Aventurine’s final conversation together. Once Sunday mentions how quickly Aventurine gave up the suitcase, he inflicts the Harmony’s consecration on him, which forces Aventurine to confess everything that Sunday asks of. In a way, it’s the opposite of what happens in the movie — where Neff willingly tells the truth about the murder to his coworker. Aventurine does not like Sunday, and Neff is close to Keyes. Ratio also does not speak, similarly to how Keyes didn’t speak and stood silently off to the side.

Post-interrogation in Golden Hour, Ratio worriedly prods at Aventurine and asks him about his plan. He then gives him the Mundanite’s Insight with the Doctor’s Advice inside when Aventurine tells him to leave. Throughout Heaven Is A Place On Earth, Aventurine gets weaker and his head starts to buzz, until he falls to the ground before he can hand in the final gems. Similarly, Neff progressively grows weaker as he records his confession. Keyes says he’s going to call a doctor and Neff says he’s planning to go to Mexico. And when Neff collapses near the elevator, they talk one final time and Keyes lights Neff’s cigar as the other was too weak to do so himself.

—

[OPPOSITE TIMELINES AND DEVELOPMENTS]

Remember how I said the way certain events happen in the movie and the game are mostly opposite and reverse of one another? 

The Final Victor LC is the first meeting of Ratio and Aventurine, and Neff killing Phyllis is their final meeting.

Between that first and last meeting between Phyllis and Neff’s whirlwind romance, their relationship becomes strained which ultimately leads to Neff not trusting whatever Phyllis has to say at the end point of the movie. As for Ratio and Aventurine, the exact opposite had happened, to the point where Ratio trusts Aventurine enough to go along with his plans even if they went against his own ideals. The basis of the mission involved Veritas Ratio, whose full name includes the Latin word for “truth”, lying the entire time on Penacony.

Aventurine is sentenced to the gallows by Sunday after his unwilling interrogation. The movie starts and ends with Neff willingly confessing everything to Keyes.

It bears repeating, but I have to make it so clear that the trust between Ratio and Aventurine runs incredibly deep. Being able to predict what your partner says and thinks and plans in a mission as critical as the Penacony project is not something first-time co-workers can pull off flawlessly. All the while having to put on masks that prevent you from speaking sincerely towards one another lest you rat yourselves out. You have no way of contacting outside reinforcements from within Penacony, as the rest of the IPC are barred from entering. To be able to play everybody for fools while said fools believe you yourselves have handed your case on a silver platter requires a lot — trust, knowledge of the other, past experience, and so on. With Phyllis and Neff, the trust they had had been snuffed out when Neff grew closer to Lola and found out what kind of person Phyllis truly was on the inside. Phyllis did not trust nor love Neff enough and was going behind his back to meet with Zachette to possibly take Neff and Lola out. And the whole reason Neff wanted to perpetrate the murder was due to him being initially taken by Phyllis' appearance, which single handedly got the ball rolling on the crime.

Now then, how come trust is one of the defining aspects of Aventurine and Ratio’s relationship, when Phyllis and Neff’s trust eventually lead to both their deaths at the hands of the other? Sure, this can be explained away with the opposite theory, but there’s one other relationship involving Neff which I haven’t brought up in excruciating detail yet. The other side of Ratio and Aventurine’s relationship.

—

[NEFF & KEYES — AVENTURINE & RATIO]

Here is where it gets more interesting — while Phyllis and Neff are at the centre point of the movie, there is another character to whom Neff has a close relationship with — Keyes. It’s also the only relationship with no pretences, at least, until the whole murder thing happened and Neff had to hide his involvement from Keyes. Watching the movie, I couldn't help but feel there was something more to the two than meets the eye. I knew that queer readings of the film existed, but I didn't think too much of them until now. And though Aventurine and Ratio parallel Phyllis and Neff respectively, the fact that they also have traits of their opposite means that it wouldn’t be completely out of the question if parts of their relationship were also influenced by Keyes and Neff on a deeper and personal level. Let me explain.

Keyes and Neff were intimate friends for eleven years and have shown mutual respect and trust towards one another. They understood each other on a level not seen with Phyllis and Neff. Even after hearing Neff confess his crimes through the dictaphone (and eventually standing in the same room while Neff confessed), he still cared for the other man, and stayed with him when Neff collapsed at the front door. The only reason Keyes hadn’t deduced that it was Neff who was behind the murder was because he had his absolute trust in him. Keyes is also Neff’s boss, and they are always seen exchanging playful banter when they are on screen together. Neff even says the words “I love you, too” twice in the movie — first at the beginning and second at the end, as the final line. There’s also the persistent theme of Neff lighting Keyes’ cigarettes (which happens in every scene where they are face-to-face), except in the end where it’s Keyes who lights Neff’s.

Doesn’t that sound familiar? Mutual respect, caring too much about the other person, the immense amount of trust… Ratio says he’s even the manager of the Penacony project (which may or may not be a lie), and despite their banter being laced with them acting as “enemies”, you can tell that in Dewlight Pavilion pre-Sunday confrontation that Aventurine genuinely likes Ratio’s company and believes him to be a reliable person. From the way he acts carefree in his words to the thoughts in his head, as seen in the mission descriptions for Double Indemnity. Their interactions in that specific mission are possibly the closest thing to their normal way of speaking that we get to see on Penacony.

Not to mention, this is the way Neff describes Keyes. He even says (not in the script) “you never fooled me with your song and dance, not for a second.” Apart from the line about the cigar ashes, doesn’t this ring a bell to a certain doctor? “Jerk” with a heart of gold?

After solving the puzzle with the statues, Ratio jokingly offers Aventurine to join the Genius Society. Aventurine then goes "Really? I thought you’ve given up on that already", and then Ratio says it was, in fact, a joke. Solving the puzzle through brute force has Ratio telling Aventurine that the Council of Mundanites (which Ratio himself is a part of) should consider him a member. In the movie, where the scene with the phone call with Neff and Phyllis reiterating details of their plan happens, Keyes actually offered Neff a better job (specifically a desk job, as Keyes’ assistant). The two pairs saw the other as smart, equals, and were invested in each other’s careers one way or another.

Because of all this, the character parallels for this side of the relationship are as follows:

Aventurine - Walter Neff

Veritas Ratio - Barton Keyes

With the way I’ve talked about how Aventurine and Ratio take from both leads in terms, it does fit to say that Aventurine is Neff, and Ratio is Keyes in this layer of their relationship. Since we’re on the topic of Keyes, let me also go through some similarities with him and Ratio specifically.

Keyes says the words “dimwitted amateurs” in his first on-screen conversation with Neff. You can’t have Dr. Ratio without him talking about idiocy in some way.

Keyes almost only appears in the movie in relation to Neff, and barring a single interaction in Neff’s house, is also only seen in the office. Same with Phyllis, Ratio also only ever appears regarding Aventurine.

Keyes genuinely wanted the best for Neff, even offering to celebrate with him when he thought the case truly had been busted wide open by forces when Zachette entered the picture. You could say the same for Ratio, as he hoped that Aventurine wouldn’t dwell on the past according to his response on Aventurine’s Interview, as well as telling him to “stay alive/live on (CN)” and wishing him the best of luck in his Doctor’s Advice note.

Whether or not you believe that there was more going on with Neff and Keyes is up to you, but what matters is that the two were very close. Just like Ratio and Aventurine.

—

[THE ORIGINAL FILM ENDING]

Something that I hadn’t seen brought up is the original ending of Double Indemnity, where Neff is executed in a gas chamber while Keyes watches on, shocked, and afterwards leaves somberly. The ending was taken out because they were worried about the Hays Code, but I felt it was important to bring it up, because in a way, you can kind of see the Sunday interrogation scene as Sunday sending Aventurine to his death in seventeen system hours. And Ratio doesn’t speak at all in that scene, and Keyes doesn’t either according to the script.

Another thing that’s noteworthy is that Wilder himself said “the story was about the two guys” in Conversations with Wilder. The two guys in question are Keyes and Neff.

—

[THE NOVEL]

With the original film ending covered, now it is time to bring up the novel by James M. Cain. I bought the book just to read about the differences between the adaptation and the original source material, and to list a few more similarities and opposites I could gather. For this section alone, due to the changes in the (last) names of certain characters, I will be referring to Walter Huff (Neff in the movie) as Walter, and Mr. Dietrichson as Nirdlinger. The plot is pretty much the same as the movie’s apart from a couple of changes so there isn’t a need to recount everything.

From my two read-throughs of the novel, these are the following passages that stood out to me the most. Starting with Aventurine:

Walter, as a top businessman of the company, knows how to sway a deal and to get what he truly wants with what the other gives him. Aventurine is the same, reliant on his intuition, experience and whatever information he has on the table to claim the win. Him luring out Sparkle in Heaven Is A Place On Earth and his conversation with Acheron in the Nihility is indicative of that.

• "But you sell as many people as I do, you don't go by what they say. You feel it, how the deal is going. And after a while I knew this woman didn't care anything about the Automobile Club. Maybe the husband did, but she didn't. There was something else, and this was nothing but a stall. I figured it would be some kind of a proposition to split the commission, maybe so she could get a ten-spot out of it without the husband knowing. There's plenty of that going on. And I was just wondering what I would say to her." 

Phyllis, like in the movie, had been hiding her true intentions of talking to Walter in their first conversations, always saying things that she didn’t actually mean. In a similar vein, Aventurine consistently says stuff but almost never truly means any of it, which is all part of his façade.

• "And I could feel it again, that she wasn't saying what she meant. It was the same as it was the first afternoon I met her, that there was something else, besides what she was telling me. And I couldn't shake it off, that I had to call it on her."

When discussing the murder plan with Phyllis, Walter makes this comment, kind of like how Aventurine seems to operate in a way where he has a plan, but is ready to improvise and think fast when needed.

• "And then it's one of those things where you've got to watch for your chance, and you can't plan it in advance, and know where you're going to come out to the last decimal point."

Remember the roulette wheel line from the movie? In the novel, the gambling metaphor that Walter makes about the insurance business goes on for two paragraphs, mentioning a gambling wheel, stack of chips, a place with a big casino and the little ivory ball, even about a bet on the table. Walter also talks about how he thinks of tricks at night after being in the business for so long, and how he could game the system. Needless to say, insanely reminiscent of Aventurine.

• "You think I’m nuts? All right, maybe I am. But you spend fifteen years in the business I’m in, and maybe a little better than that, it’s the friend of the widow, the orphan, and the needy in time of trouble? It’s not. It’s the biggest gambling wheel in the world. It don’t look like it, but it is, from the way they figure the percentage on the oo to the look on their face when they cash your chips. You bet that your house will burn down, they bet it won’t, that’s all. What fools you is that you didn’t want your house to burn down when you made the bet, and so you forget it’s a bet. To them, a bet is a bet, and a hedge bet don’t look any different than any other bet. But there comes a time, maybe, when you do want your house to burn down, when the money is worth more than the house. And right there is where the trouble starts." • "Alright, I’m an agent. I’m a croupier in that game. I know all their tricks, I lie awake thinking up tricks, so I’ll be ready for them when they come at me. And then one night I think up a trick, and get to thinking I could crook the wheel myself if I could only put a plant out there to put down my bet." • "I had seen so many houses burned down, so many cars wrecked, so many corpses with blue holes in their temples, so many awful things that people had pulled to crook the wheel, that that stuff didn’t seem real to me anymore. If you don’t understand that, go to Monte Carlo or some other place where there’s a big casino, sit at a table, and watch the face of the man that spins the little ivory ball. After you’ve watched it a while, ask yourself how much he would care if you went out and plugged yourself in the head. His eyes might drop when he heard the shot, but it wouldn’t be from the worry whether you lived or died. It would be to make sure you didn’t leave a bet on the table, that he would have to cash for your estate. No, he wouldn’t care."

Returning home from the murder, Walter attempted to pray, but was unable to do it. Some time passed and after speaking to Phyllis, he prayed. Aventurine presumably hadn’t done the prayer ever since the day of the massacre, and the first time he does it again, he does it with his child self.

• "I went to the dining room and took a drink. I took another drink. I started mumbling to myself, trying to get so I could talk. I had to have something to mumble. I thought of the Lord's Prayer. I mumbled that, a couple of times. I tried to mumble it another time, and couldn't remember how it went." • "That night I did something I hadn’t done in years. I prayed."

Phyllis in the book is much more inclined towards death than her movie version, even thinking of herself as a personification of death. She’s killed ten other people (including infants) prior to the events of the novel. Something to keep in mind as Aventurine had mentioned several times that he attempted to kill himself in the dream, plus his leadup to his “grandest death”. Just like Phyllis, he’s even killed at least a few people before, though the circumstances of that were less on his own volition and more so for the sake of his survival (i.e. the death game in the maze involving the 34 other slaves where he was the winner and another time where he murdered his own master). Instead of Phyllis playing the active role of Death towards everybody else, Aventurine himself dances with Death with every gamble, every time his luck comes into play. Danse Macabre.

• "But there’s something in me, I don’t know what. Maybe I’m crazy. But there’s something in me that loves Death. I think of myself as Death, sometimes." • "Walter, The time has come. For me to meet my bridegroom [Death]. The only one I ever loved."

Moving on to Ratio:

Walter says several times that it’s hard to get along with Keyes, and how he says nice things after getting you all worked up. A hard-headed man to get along with, but damn good at his job. Sound like someone familiar?

• "That would be like Keyes, that even when he wanted to say something nice to you, he had to make you sore first."  • "It makes your head ache to be around him, but he’s the best claim man on the Coast, and he was the one I was afraid of."

Keyes sees Walter as smarter than half the fools in the company. Ratio can only stand the company of Aventurine in regards to the IPC.

• "Walter, I'm not beefing with you. I know you said he ought to be investigated. I've got your memo right here on my desk. That's what I wanted to tell you. If other departments of this company would show half the sense that you show—" • "Oh, he confessed. He's taking a plea tomorrow morning, and that ends it. But my point is, that if you, just by looking at that man, could have your suspicions, why couldn't they—! Oh well, what's the use? I just wanted you to know it."

After going on a rant about the H.S. Nirdlinger case (Phyllis’ husband) and how Norton is doing a horrible job, he ends it by saying that it’s sheer stupidity. “Supreme idiocy”, anybody?

• "You can’t take many body blows like this and last. Holy smoke. Fifty thousand bucks, and all from dumbness. Just sheer, willful, stupidity!"

Phyllis’ former occupation as a nurse is more elaborated on, including her specialization — pulmonary diseases. One of Ratio’s crowning achievements is curing lithogenesis, the “King of Diseases”.

• "She’s one of the best nurses in the city of Los Angeles. […] She’s a nurse, and she specialized in pulmonary diseases. She would know the time of crisis, almost to a minute, as well as any doctor would."

As for the murder scheme, they talk about it a lot more explicitly in the novel. Specifically, Walter mentions how a single person cannot get away with it and that it requires more people to be involved. How everything is known to the party committing the crime, but not the victim. And most importantly: Audacity.

"Say, this is a beauty, if I do say it myself. I didn't spend all this time in the business for nothing, did I? Listen, he knows all about this policy, and yet he don't know a thing about it. He applies for it, in writing, and yet he don't apply for it. He pays me for it with his own check, and yet he don't pay me. He has an accident happen to him and yet he don't have an accident happen to him. He gets on the train, and yet he don't get on it."

"The first is, help. One person can't get away with it, that is unless they're going to admit it and plead the unwritten law or something. It takes more than one. The second is, the time, the place, the way, all known in advance—to us, but not him. The third is, audacity. That's the one that all amateur murderers forget. They know the first two, sometimes, but that third, only a professional knows. There comes a time in any murder when the only thing that can see you through is audacity, and I can't tell you why."

"And if we want to get away with it, we've got to do it the way they do it, […]" "Be bold?" "Be bold. It's the only way."

"I still don't know—what we're going to do." "You'll know. You'll know in plenty of time."

"We were right up with it, the moment of audacity that has to be be part of any successful murder."

It fits the situation that Aventurine and Ratio find themselves in extremely well: For the first point— Aventurine would not be able to get away with simply airing out details by himself, as that would immediately cast suspicion on him. Having another person accompany him who not only isn’t really a part of the IPC in name (as the IPC and The Family have a strenuous relationship) but would probably be able to get closer to Sunday because of that means they can simply bounce off each other without risking as much suspicion with a one-man army. Which is exactly what Ratio and Aventurine do in the conversations they have on Penacony. Secondly — they knew how Sunday operates: as a control freak, he leaves no stone unturned, which is how he became Head of the Oak Family, so their acting required them to give off the impression that a. they hated each other, b. Ratio would go against Aventurine’s wishes and expose him in return for knowledge, c. there were only the two Cornerstones that were hidden. This would give Sunday the illusion of control, and lead to Sunday to lower his guard long enough for Aventurine to take the gift money in the end. The pair knew this in advance, but not Sunday. And thirdly — the plan hinged on a high-level of risk. From breaking the Aventurine Cornerstone, to hoping that Sunday wouldn’t find it in the gift bag, to not telling Ratio what the true plan is (meaning Ratio had to figure it out on his own later on), to Sunday even buying Ratio’s story, it was practically the only way they could go about it. “Charming audacity”, indeed.

An interesting aspect about the novel is that the ending of the novel is divergent from the movie’s final cut and the original ending: Phyllis and Walter commit suicide during a ferry ride to Mexico. The main reason this was changed for the movie was because of the Hays Code, and they wouldn’t allow a double suicide to be screened without reprecussions for criminals. There’s also a bunch of other aspects that differentiate the novel from the movie (no narration-confession as the confession happens in a hospital, less characterization for Keyes and instead a bigger focus on Lola and her boyfriend, the focus on the murderous aspect of Walter and Phyllis’ relationship instead of actual romance, Walter falling in love with Lola (with an unfortunately large age gap attached), etc.)

As for the ending, this wouldn’t even be the first romance media reference related to Aventurine and Ratio where both the leads die, with the other being The Happy Prince and San Junipero (in relation to the EN-only Heaven Is A Place On Earth reference), which I normally would chalk up as a coincidence, though with the opposite line-of-thought I have going on here (and the fact that it’s three out of four media references where the couple die at the end…), I think it’s reasonable to say that Ratio and Aventurine will get that happy ending. Subverting expectations, hopefully.

—

[THE HAYS CODE — LGBT CENSORSHIP IN CHINA]

I’ve brought up the Hays code twice now in the previous two sections, but I haven’t actually explained what exactly it entails.

The Hays Code (also known as the Motion Picture Production Code) is a set of rules and guidelines imposed on all American films from around 1934 to 1968, intended to make films less scandalous, morally acceptable and more “safe” for the general audiences. Some of the “Don’ts” and “Be Carefuls” include but are not limited to…

(Don’t) Pointed profanity

(Don’t) Inference of sex perversion (which includes homosexuality)

(Don’t) Nudity

(Be Careful) Sympathy for criminals

(Be Careful) Use of firearms

(Be Careful) Man and woman in bed together

What does this have to do with a Chinese gacha game released in 2023? If you know a little bit about miHoYo’s past, you would know that pre-censorship laws being upheld to a much stronger and stricter degree, they had no problem showcasing their gay couples in Guns Girl Z (Honkai Gakuen 2/GGZ) and Honkai Impact 3rd, with the main three being Bronya/Seele, Kiana/Mei (admittedly the latter one is a more recent example, from 2023), and Sakura/Kallen. Ever since the Bronya and Seele kiss, censorship in regards to LGBT content ramped up, causing the kiss to be removed on the CN side, and they had to lay low with the way they present two same-sex characters who are meant to be together. They can’t explicitly say that two female or male characters are romantically involved, but they can lace their dynamics with references for those “in the know” — Subtext. Just enough to imply something more but not too much that they get censored to hell and back.

So what I’m getting at is this: The trouble that Double Indemnity had to go through in order to be made while also keeping the dialogue of Phyllis and Neff as flirtatious as they could under the Hays Code among other things is quite similar to the way Ratio and Aventurine are presented as of now. We never see them interact outside of Penacony (at least up until 2.2, when this post was drafted), so we can only infer those interactions specifically until they actually talk without the fear of being found out by Sunday. But, there’s still some small moments scattered here and there, such as when Aventurine goes near Ratio in the Dewlight Pavilion Sandpit, he exclaims that “the view here is breathtaking” (he can only see Ratio’s chest from that distance) and that Ratio could “easily squash [him] with just a pinch”. Ratio then goes “If that is your wish, I will do so without a moment’s hesitation.” Not to mention the (in)famous “Doctor, you’re huge!” quote.

It’s not a coincidence that Ratio and Aventurine have three explicit references to romance media (Double Indemnity, Spellbound, Oscar Wilde’s The Happy Prince), possibly even four if you take the EN-only Heaven Is A Place On Earth as a reference to Black Mirror’s San Junipero. It’s not a coincidence that the storylines or characters of said references parallel the pairing, from surface-level to deep cuts. It’s not a coincidence that the CN voice actors were asked to “tone it down” by the voice director when it came to their chemistry. It’s not a coincidence that Aventurine has only flirted with (three) men throughout Penacony, even referring to a Bloodhound NPC as a “hunk of a man” inside his thoughts, all the while ignoring Himeko and Robin when it came to their looks — women who are known across the cosmos with a myriad of adoring fans. There are so many other so-called “coincidences” related to the two that you could make an iceberg just based on versions 2.0-2.2 as well as content miHoYo themselves have put out on social media. They absolutely knew what they were doing, and were trying to get their point across through subtle means — the extent they went to with the Double Indemnity reference while also keeping it under wraps from a “surface” level point of view is proof of this — the implications are there if you take the time to look for them, and are simply hard to ignore or deny once you do find them.

—

[CONCLUSION]

This was supposed to be short considering the other analyses I’ve seen were also pretty short in comparison, but I couldn’t get the movie out of my head and ended up getting carried away in the brainrot. I hope you could follow along with my line of thinking, even with the absurd length of this post, and the thirty-image limit. I tried to supplement context with some links to videos and wiki pages among other sources wherever I can to get around it.

I will end it with this though — the love in the movie turned out to be fake and a farce, going off track from what was a passionate romance in the beginning because of the murder scheme. Meanwhile, the whole reason why Ratio and Aventurine can pull off whatever they want is because of their immense trust in one another. What was initially shown to be distrust in the Final Victor LC grew into something more, for Ratio, someone who would have never put faith into mere chance and probability before this, put his trust in Aventurine, of all people.

TL;DR — (I get it, it’s over ten thousand words.)

Not only is the relationship between Neff and Phyllis represented in the deception and acting side of Ratio and Aventurine, but the real and trusting side is shown in Neff and Keyes. They have a fascinating, multi-layered dynamic that is extremely fun to pick apart once you realise what’s going on underneath the bickering and “hatred” they display.

Many thanks to Manya again for making the original thread on the movie. I wouldn’t be here comparing the game and movie myself if it weren’t for that.

By the way, I really do believe that Shaoji totally watched this movie at least once and really wanted that Double Indemnity AU for his OCs. I know exactly how it feels.

—

Other points I'd like to mention that didn't fit anywhere else in the main analysis and/or don’t hold much significance, have nothing to do with the Penacony mission, or may even be considered reaching (...if some of the other points weren’t). Just some potentially interesting side bits.

Phyllis honks three times to signal Neff to go for the kill. That, and the three gunshots in the confrontation. Aventurine is all about the number three.

The height difference Aventurine and Ratio have going on is close to Phyllis and Neff’s.

Phyllis had killed her husband’s previous wife and went on to marry Mr. Dietrichson, pretty much taking the wife’s place. Aventurine killed his previous master, and had taken certain attributes from him like his wristwatch and the rings on his hand and the “all or nothing” mantra.

When calling Ratio a wretch (bastard), Aventurine smiles for a moment. This is exclusive to the EN, KR and JP voiceovers, as in CN, he does not smile at all. (Most definitely a quirk from the AI they use for lip syncing, but the smile is something that’s been pointed out quite a few times so I thought I’d mention it here.)

Sunday specifically says in the CN version that he knew of Aventurine's plans the moment Aventurine left the mansion, meaning that he realized he had been played the fool the moment Ratio and Aventurine talked in Golden Hour

In the description for the "All or Nothing" consumable, teenage Aventurine says this specific line: "Temptation is a virtue for mortals, whereas hesitation proves to be a fatal flaw for gamblers." According to Ratio, this is Aventurine's motto - he says as such in Aventurine's Keeping Up With Star Rail episode. Note that in the anan interview he explicitly says he does not have a motto, and yet Ratio in the video says otherwise. They definitely have to know each other for a while for Ratio to even know this.

A big reason why Neff even pulled off the murder scheme in the first place was because he wanted to see if his good friend Keyes could figure it out, the Mundane Troubles Trailblaze Continuance showcases Ratio attempting to teach the Herta Space Station researches a lesson to not trust the Genius society as much as they did.

In Keyes’ first scene he’s exposing a worker for writing a policy on his truck that he claimed had burnt down on its own, when he was the one who burnt it down. Ratio gets into an Ace Attorney-style argument with the Trailblazer in Mundane Troubles.

Neff talks repeatedly about how it won’t be sloppy. Nothing weak. And how it’ll be perfect to Phyllis, and how she’s going to do it and he’s going to help her. Doing it right — “straight down the line”. Beautifully ironic, considering what happens in the movie, and even more ironic as Ratio and Aventurine’s scheme went exactly the way they wanted to in the end. Straight down the line.

[turtlesandfrogs]

Ok, now I'm really concerned that how to prevent rats isn't common knowledge like I thought it was. So, to anyone whose parents/guardians/adults didn't teach you, here's the basics of prevention*:

Rats, like you, need three things: food, water, and shelter. If they don't get these things, they don't bother sticking around. Access to food is probably the biggest draw, and the one you can do the most about.

Rats eat the same foods you do, and the same food that most pets eat. You don't want them to have access to this food, so:

Don't leave dirty dishes laying around, the smell will attract rats. Don't put leave dirty dishes in your bed room, or under the couch, or in your car, or whatever. Dishwashers are great, but if you don't have a functional one, and you're low on energy/executive function, at a minimum cover your dirty dishes with soapy water instead of leaving them out. Rats can't eat soapy food.

Work to minimize food waste, because the smell of tasty food in your compost or garbage will attract rats.

Don't put food scraps in your indoor garbage unless your garbage can is rat proof. Take it outside asap, to a rat-proof bin.

When composting, if you're composting food that would be attractive to rats (grains, fats/oils, dairy, meat) it's best to: bury the food down in the center of the pile, try out bokashi composting, or have a rat-proof composter. Generally people do tell you not to compost dairy and meat, but I do know that some people do it anyway.

Keep your grains & legumes in rodent proof-containers. Glass jars, metal trash cans, etc.

If you have dogs, put their food away at night. If you have birds or other animals that eat a seed-based diet, then it pays to make their food/enclosures inaccessible to rats as well. Cats are rat deterrents so leaving dry food out for them is probably the one exception.

Clean up spilled foods immediately.

If you have fruit trees (like those apple trees everyone has that were planted 3 or more decades ago) and notice that something besides a deer is eating them, it's really best to pick all the fruit. You probably can't eat it all, so giving it away is a good option. Compost the rotten/icky ones fallowing the advice above, or dig a hole and do some trench composting.

Rats also need water, which is another reason to make sure you don't have any leaks anywhere, and to not leave beverages out in open containers.

Beyond that, thoroughly looking around your house, inside and out, to make sure there's no access points. Vents can be covered with wire mesh, holes the size of a dime need to be patched (because mice exist, too). Keep vegetation clear from around the base of your house, and make sure there's no trees or shrubs growing close enough to your house that a rat could make the leap to your roof. Keep an eye out for tunnels near your house's foundation, because they will tunnel underneath.

Also, while I'm at it, for the love of your house's structural integrity, DO NOT store wood piles against your house. Termites people!!!

And yes, there's a reason why cats are such a common pet. Not only do they hunt rats, the very smell of a cat is enough to deter rats. Do not just get a cat for rat prevention though, only get a cat if you're going to provide it a good home and are able to take on the additional care tasks without over extending yourself. Getting a housemate that comes with a cat is a great alternative to getting your own cat (and I'm only halfway joking).

*because prevention is much easier and much less terrible than dealing with an infestation. Prevention is so, so, so much easier than getting rid of them, particularly because once they're there, they'll start eating other things that wouldn't have been enough by themselves to draw them in.

[moonchild9350]

Movie Night with Stray Kids

Summary: My thoughts on movie nights with the boys!

Pairing: OT8 idol Stray Kids x reader

Word Count: 1.4k

Genre: fluff, suggestive

Warnings: implied sex for some scenarios, otherwise nothing else!

Note: Thought this would be cute and fun hehe May have run a little overboard with some but it was just so fun to write. I hope you like it :)

Likes, reblogs, and comments welcomed as always!

My General Masterlist

Please do not copy, translate, modify, use, or repost this work elsewhere without my permission. ©moonchild9350 (2024)

Bangchan Chan loves movie nights, I mean he gets so excited having them with Stay. However, he loves having movie night with you too. He adores seeing how excited you get while you pick out a movie you can both watch. He reminds you no horror movies as you browse through the options, as he's not fond of them. Ultimately Chan wants to watch a romance movie as he’s secretly a hopeless romantic. He’ll pick out all your favorite snacks since he knows you get major munchies when watching movies and your favorite drinks too. He will snuggle up with you, pulling the blanket up, making sure you’re nice and comfortable. At first he’s busy watching you and your reactions throughout the movie but then he actually gets into the movie, his eyes glued to the screen. He even lets out a few tears as the main characters kiss which you find so sweet. You’ll tease him about it later, but for the moment, you’ll wipe his tears away and snuggle closer in order to comfort him.

Lee Know Now Minho will watch a movie with you, whether or not he leaves you along during it is another story. I’m convinced that between him and the cats, you’ll miss many of the scenes of the movie. He doesn’t mean to distract you, but he wants to show you that funny meme he found on insta before he forgets or he wants to show you these cute matching sweaters he wants to get for the cats. He enjoys these movie dates with you, as he gets to spend time with the love of his life. Of course, you don’t mind that he keeps your attention away from the movie, as you find it cute when he gets excited about things. You do however, end up finishing the movie, Minho catching the end of it. Naturally he has no clue what’s going on so he’ll insist on watching it again…this time with no distractions he promises.

Changbin Movie night with Changbin is serious business. He lets you pick out the movie, some comedy film he’s been wanting to see. You’ll help him prepare the snacks and let’s be honest a full course meal, which you have no problem with. Who doesn’t love food with a movie? You’ll gather the blankets, forgoing the pillows. As Binnie reminds you, you have a pillow right here, aka his chest or belly, and who are you to complain. He’ll make sure everything is set up properly and then press play, as you both start to make your way through the food. Changbin is one hundred percent focused on the movie, because the moment he gets distracted it’s over. He’ll have to start the movie over again. You’ll be lying on his tummy/lap, blankets snug around you, your head bouncing up and down as he laughs at the scene on screen since you picked out a comedy. This in turn makes you laugh, a smile constantly on your face throughout the movie. By the end, both of your faces hurt from the constant laughter, both of you in great moods as Binnie takes your face in his hands and places a wet kiss on your lips.

Hyunjin If you suggest a movie night with Hyunjin, he’ll be excited, probably more excited than you. He knows just the movie to watch and pulls it up instantly. You agree with his choice, the movie seeming cute. He’ll suggest watching it in his bed so he can pull you into his arms while you watch the movie. The movie turns out to be really good, and he jokes that of course it is, he picked it out. You chuckled at that, teasing him that not everything he does is a good idea or choice, reminding him of some examples within the last few weeks. He’ll just laugh, pull you closer and agree pressing a kiss on your forehead as he turns his attention back to the movie. Halfway through, you’ll drift off to sleep. You can’t help it, your eyes fighting to stay open, but it feels too good as Hyunjin runs his hands gently through your hair. He’ll notice you fell asleep as you’re never this quiet during a movie. He doesn’t mind though, he’ll just continue playing with your hair and finish watching the film. He’ll make sure to fill you in once you wake up.

Han If you suggest a movie night with Jisung, he’s definitely down. I believe he’ll want to watch a marvel movie, one he’s seen before, but it’s just so good he wants to watch it again. You agree because it’s funny to watch him during the movie as he quotes some of the lines. He’ll try to get up to act out a scene, but you’ll pull him back to the couch, not wanting him to get hurt, like the last time you watched a marvel movie (this takes lots of convincing, in which you won in the end). As the movie goes on, he snuggles closer, his energy slowly waning. He’ll look at you with his big boba eyes and then pull your face to his, pressing sweet kisses to your lips, cheeks, jaw, neck, sucking and nipping at the skin. You try to remind him of the movie, but he’s distracted now and whines how he needs you and that you can watch the movie later. It's not like you haven't seen it before anyway right? He continues to pepper you with kisses and running his hands up and down your side eventually bringing the whole Netflix and chill to life, which is totally find in your book.

Felix We know Felix hates horror movies and how he basically is nonfunctional around anything horror related. One day he'll suggest he’s ready to face his fears. After all, you’ll be by his side and he can do anything if you’re there. You’re a little skeptical, but he begs you to watch a horror movie with him. You agree, not being able to deny that cute face as he pouts at you. He grabs some snacks and blankets and cuddles into you. You make sure one last time that he really wants to do this and he says yes. You press play and the movie starts. It all begins well, Felix is watching intently, shoveling popcorn in his mouth. You’re loving the movie so far as well, as horror themed concepts do not scare you much. However, as a scene with the character coming face to face with the ghosts in the house plays on the screen, Felix shirks, popcorn flying everywhere (what’s left of it) and he immediately buries his face into your side. You’re startled, not expecting the sudden outburst, but immediately pause the movie to check on your boyfriend. He’s shivering at your side, as he whimpers. You reassure him everything is ok and the movie is off, cradling him into your side. Eventually, he calms down and sighs, disappointed he couldn’t face his fears. There’s always next time you reassure him with a smile, which he returns.

Seungmin I think movie night with Seungmin would actually be pretty chill. He’ll let you lay with him, all nice and warm under the blankets. He’ll comment every now and then on a scene in the movie but stays quiet so as not to disturb you. What you love the most is how he’ll softly sing the songs as they play, since you’re watching a musical. His soft voice floats through the room, causing you to feel completely calm. You think his voice sounds better than the actors and actresses anyway. You’ll tell him so at one point, and he’ll just blush, denying your statement. It’s a moment of rare peace between you two during movie nights. He’s not teasing you or trying to cheat (as he does at game night). You’re both just enjoying quality time with each other.

I.N.

Jeongin loves movie nights with you. You like to take control in prepping for the night. You make the snacks as this man cannot cook for his life. You’ll make a cozy area on the couch, filled with tons of blankets. Movie night is not all on you however. Jeongin will pick the movie as he’s good at judging what will be a good movie or not. He knows what both of you like and picks an action movie. After settling in, he’ll pull you into his lap, covering both of you with the warmest blanket , before pressing start. Throughout the movie though, I think he would be a menace, teasing you with kisses on your neck and shoulders, pushing your shirt to the side. You’ll try to focus on the movie, but it’s hard to do so when Innie pulls you even closer to him, as he becomes more handsy as he rubs your thighs. Needless to say, you both will have to rewatch the movie later as you both become distracted.

Taglist: @jehhskz @jeonginsleftcheek @thesilvernight0wl @armystay89 @palindrome969 @slut4hee @ivydoesit23 @amarecerasus

[bonefall]

Bonus Moonpaw

So like I got carried away when I got to FlipBay Moonpaw in my little hypokit sketches, because I realized that BB!Bayshine's family trait could resemble a phantom of the opera mask.

And then it hit me harder. BB!Flipclaw's great x3 grandfather is Redtail, who was the brother of Spottedleaf. I can bring her bones and blight theme back.

I don't know if it will be final or not, BUT, I ended up sketching a couple of Moonpaws with Spotty's old death theme. They look RAD in any case, so I HAVE to share them even if I don't use them

My first take make half of her face orange, that one right in the center there. I like it a lot, but decided to try and stick to canon by making sure half of her face is black.

The blight spots actually came from me realizing that she has some Ferncloud in her thanks to the BB Family Tree rework (great grandmother), so I tried to put some rosettes on her. Then realized that it looked like good ol' Spotty so I leaned into it.

If I do take another stab at this one, I might try to not do the blight-thing and instead try to channel more Phantom of the Opera. For some reason that just stuck to my brain REALLY hard.

I know general fandom consensus is hoping she's kind of distant and strange, but honestly I'm really hoping she's a bit of a brat who insists upon her destiny.

Manifesting Villain Moonpaw. I want her to insist the moonpool must be saved, and then when there's an inevitable multi-chapter argument about making the plot move she just completely snaps and drowns their ass in the once sacred sludgewater.

If these demands are not met, a disaster beyond your imagination will occur!

If Moonpaw ends up as Firekin in BB because of my family tree reworks, it would be SICK AS HELL for her to be the first straightup VILLAINOUS member of her bloodline.

AND to bring back sweet Spotty's theme for such a character? Man. It would be so cooool

But, hey, even if she's not a villain, it would be nice to see such a metal theme come back. A cat born so special that she is both reviled and revered, death and decay expressed on both halves of her body.

I'll probably try making the spots easier to draw with a second pass. I just slapped them around randomly because these are sketches.

[httpsryu]

muse? pt. 5

pairing: kang haerin x fem newjeans!reader

summary: getting a new member way long after debut and before a comeback isn't really the best idea to haerin

category: enemies-to-lovers (?), kpop idol au

genre: slow burn, angst, and fluff

warnings: a bit frustrating and A LOT of jealousy

a/n: i appreciate all the love muse has gotten so far! tysm everyone :)

It has been a week of you being a member of NewJeans.

All of you finally finished with the concept photoshoots for the comeback along with the re-designing of the albums and completing new photo-cards as well.

While the days are hectic with everything, you feel happy with the newfound idea of being on a team. A team where the members are very inviting and warming to you. Well...all except for that grouchy roommate of yours.

You recall only exchanging a single word to her, especially after that accidental kiss. To your surprise, Haerin kind of seems like she opened up to you. (JUST A TEENY TINY BIT!) However, you don't pay much attention to her.

Practice today was going smoother than expected, especially because of the fact that no one has been in this room since that day you messed up. Everyone was so occupied with the concept shots and re-recording everything that no one had time to practice.

Much to Haerin's surprise, she might have to admit that you're actually not as bad as you made yourself seem. Of course, Haerin believes you still joining the team is a 'setting NewJeans up for failure' thing but she gives some sort of props to you, she guesses. 

However, looking at the reflection of you through the practice room's mirrors and seeing the look of determination in your eyes, the feline-like female understands why SM was so determined to cast you. The way your eyes speaks for itself, it looks quite too good for a 4th generation idol. 

"Alright! We'll take a quick half an hour break before countering Cool With You." The dance instructor informs the girls before turning over to you. "Impressed at how fast you're keeping up, great job, Y/N!" 

Your eyes lit up, a smile that is so perfect for your face appears on your pretty pink lips. "Thank you, unnie." 

Haerin bores her eyes a little too much, lingering on your features. Her lips are parted in concentration at the way you simply move; bowing at the instructor and letting out another smile before brushing your hand through your hair. She was going to stare a bit harder too but she notices the youngest with a teasing smirk on her face from her peripheral view. 

Immediately, her pupils pull away from you and lock to the ground in hopes of Hyein not catching onto anything. She hopes that she wasn't too obvious of staring at you. 

"I'll be back." The instructor leaves the practice room, the door shutting behind her. 

Everyone started doing their own thing the second the door shut. Minji and Hanni are bickering again over some issue while stretching their arms. Hyein makes her way to her bag to grab a quick snack to avoid passing out while Danielle leaves the room to get her water bottle refilled. 

Haerin picks up her phone from the couch, resting leisurely on the soft cushion to interact with 'Bunnies'. However, she takes a quick sneaky glance over at you. You stare at your reflection in the mirrors of the room, she doesn't look past the discontented expression of yours. 

Something in the cat-eyed female feels her own heart feeling quite bitter at the way you look unpleased at your own self. And she wants to reach out to you and ask if you're alright; however, Haerin doesn't want to be distract herself with anything at this critical moment right now. 

No one else seemed to ask if she was alright with adding you to the lineup last minute, so why should she ask if you're okay? 

Is that so wrong of her? 

"Is everything alright?" Minji walks over to you, concern painting over her eyes as she look at you. 

Haerin bites down on her jaw, wondering why Minji couldn't have continued arguing with Hanni. She looks down at her phone, not caring anymore. 

"I'm just worried." You tried to smile it off, however, being the oldest, Minji knows something is bothering you.

What could it be?

"Are you not feeling well?" The oldest brings the back of hand to your forehead, her eyes are down-turnt as her eyes worryingly fixed at you.

Looking at Minji, you feel your heart warming up from having a considerate leader of the team. Something you never experienced at your previous company. You feel happy for once.

Minji breath hitches at the eye contact from you. The way your eyes seem to shine a bit brighter, even in the dark room has the older nervous. She feels her ears going red and her mind is flooded by the sounds of her heartbeat that wants to jump out of her chest.

"I'm fine, unnie." You laugh a bit to lighten up the sudden concern from her. "I guess I'm just worried the fans won't like the change. I'm not too sure really."

Haerin doesn't care, yet, her eyes aren't on her phone like she wanted to. Instead, they're glancing over at you and Minji through the mirror of the room. Why does she seem to care so much about Minji touching you? Why does she care about who you talk to?

Most of all, why does Haerin want to talk to you more?

"Y/N-shi, you're a really beautiful person. Inside and out. From my eyes, you're so hardworking and you deserve to be on this team. After all, you were specially picked." The oldest gently smiles as she lightly boops your nose (she couldn't help it.)

Minji pulls out a lollipop from the pockets of her sweatpants, handing it to you with a soft adoring look in her eyes. You let out a small giggle, taking the piece of candy from her.

Haerin's eyes glower down at the physical touch, letting out a quiet scoff as she rips her eyes away from the sight. A sour taste is forming in her mouth and she despises it. After all, she's unconcerned about you. Right?

"Scoot over." Hyein towers over the cat-eyed, her bag of chips in one hand while the other is constantly moving between the bag and her mouth.

Haerin stares at the younger with a stoic face.

"You're scooting or...?"

Letting out a grumble in frustration, the raven-haired girl puts her legs down and scoots towards the wall for Hyein to sit besides her.

"So, I saw you looking at Y/N unnie earlier."

Oh fuck.

Haerin knew Hyein was going to bring it up someday, just not now. Especially when you're literally a few meters away from them.

"No, I wasn't." Haerin lies, hoping and praying that Hyein will believe her.

The youngest stares at the cat-eyed, confused. "Hmm..yes you were."

"Why would I?" Getting a bit defensive now, Haerin puts her phone away as her mind scrambles to find more lies to get out of this investigation from the youngest of the group. "You know we don't get along so why would I look at her?"

Popping a chip into her mouth, Hyein shrugs. "Maybe cause you realize she's actually not bad and is really good at this."

"Like I said, I don't care about her." Haerin's voice is stern now, upset at what Hyein is trying to get out of her.

"You can lie to yourself but you cannot lie to me."

Whatever.

"Unnie, can you show me how you do that popping trick?" Hyein jumps up from the couch, rushing over to you.

You divert your eyes away from Minji and Hanni, paying attention to the youngest. In the process, you make eye contact with Haerin who only looks away while she rubs the back of her neck and letting out a cough afterwards.

"Of course!"

Oh, screw Hyein. She did that on purpose. For you to look over in this direction.

And screw Haerin's slight excitement at the way your eyes landed on her for the first time today.

Finally exiting HYBE's building, everyone lets out noises of excitement. The night breeze feels very cooling across your face, especially after countless of practicing for Cool With You. You shut your eyes for a couple of seconds, reminiscing about the air of your hometown.

"Move, you're in the way." A voice causes you to immediately open your eyes, ruining your 'main character moment'.

Turning to the person besides you, you cross your arms with a scowl. "Let me get some fresh air."

"Well, you're in my way." Haerin retorts back, placing her hands in the pockets of her zip-up to fend for something. "And it's getting windy."

Rolling your eyes and letting out a small tsk at the other's words, you can only look at the view outside again. The night sky looks very calming today, with the streets all lit up ready for some people to have their nighttime adventure.

"The night is my favorite time of the day." You softly smile, looking at how the moon is glowing with a few stars. "It's so pretty."

Haerin can only stare at the view beside her, her eyes focuses on how your natural face seems to look pretty. She would admit that if there was a definition for beauty; you would be the first contender.

"I overheard you talking to Minji unnie earlier." She looks away, not wanting to look at your decently overwhelming eyes. "While I'm personally not a fan of you for joining the team, I think 'Bunnies' would like you."

You can't help but let out a gasp at the other's sudden words and kindness. Suddenly feeling a frenzy of a stomachache at what your teammate just said, you let out a small sigh.

"Why do you not like me joining the team, Haerin?"

The cat-eyed diverts her attention back to you at the way you called out her name.

That was the first time either of you acknowledged one another by name.

"I don't like changes, Y/N." She can only defend her reasoning, pulling out a lollipop and staring down at it. "Do you see this candy I just pulled out, it was never there but all of a sudden, it's in my pocket. That's the type of change I dislike."

What in the world is this girl talking about?

You furrow your brows, looking down at the strawberry-flavored candy in her hand.

"Here, you can have it." She hands it to you.

You don't even know whether you'd want to take it from her. "Hmm, keep it. Get used to the change, you'll like it soon."

"You think I will?" She responds back, her voice sounding cold yet unsure.

Letting out a small hum in response, you smile over at her. "It takes time, I understand."

Haerin and you stare at each other in silence.

"What are they doing out there?" Hanni squints her eyes from the car's window.

Hyein can only shake her head while she too stares at the view from the car. "Haerin is so stupid."

"I don't want them to get sick, omg." Minji stresses, head in her hands.

Ripping your eyes away from the sudden moment between you two, you cannot help but to let out an awkward laugh. Motioning with your hands at the van. "Let's go, I think the others are waiting for us."

Haerin nods at you.

"What are they doing over there?" Hanni squints, looking out from the window of the van.

Minji stresses, placing her head into her hands. "I don't want them to get sick omg."

"Oh they're coming!" Hyein sits up, moving her things away and placing them onto her lap. "I want to sit by Y/N unnie!"

Hanni disagrees, turning away at god speed from the front to look over at the youngest. "No way! It's my turn!"

"You've always sat next to her! My turn! Plus, you chose that front seat."

Danielle stares at the tantrums from both of them, thinking of a solution. "Let's make it simple and have her sit next to me for today."

"She's always welcome to sit next to me." The oldest proposes. "I can always move to the back."

Hanni purses her lips in an upset manner, lowering her eyes at the unofficial leader. "Bro, you're going to make a move on her."

"Bro? What?"

The Vietnamese crosses her arm, squinting her eyes at the one besides her. "You heard me."

"Sorry we took long out there." Haerin opens the door, scanning the van and is met with an unsure atmosphere. "What happened?"

The youngest lets out a laugh at how the oldest members are arguing over something small again. "Minji unnie and Hanni unnie were fighting over who Y/N sits next to."

"Me?" You peek your head in from the outside, earning a gasp from Danielle at how cute you just looked.

Haerin rolls her eyes at how Minji and Hanni just automatically assumes you're some sort of property once it comes to the seating arrangement in the van. After all, at the end of the day, they're all going to leave in the same way so why does it matter where and who Y/N sits.

"You two need to stop fighting over the same thing." Haerin can only mutter to the two OLDEST members acting like immature toddlers, stepping into the van to bee-line her way towards the back of the van where Danielle is sitting.

You let out a smile while scanning where to sit. Ultimately deciding to sit between Haerin and Hyein.

"Thanks a lot, you scared her." Minji mumbles with her teeth gritted at Hanni.

The female with the bangs scoff before pointing at herself. "Me? More like you."

"Whatever, Pham."

"Suck my toes, Kim."

Finally, with everyone seated, the manager takes off for the night to end.

Haerin can only let out another thousandth sigh at how they were acting. There's too many things going on in the world than to fight over sitting next to someone (like controlling the small excitement she felt when you chose to sit next to her).

As the ride is a bit bumpy, your thigh accidentally touches the cat-eyed female's thigh as well. Feeling shy all of sudden from the physical touch, you scoot a bit closer to Hyein. This leaves Haerin a bit confused and fazed at why you didn't want to sit next to her.

But whatever, right?

"Haha, unnie likes me more than you." Hyein sticks her tongue out at Haerin, who only stares back with a blank.

"That's not true, haha~" You say. "I just wanted to give her some room."

Everyone sits near each other, huddled around the computer after the manager sent a file of all the concept photos for each album. Gasps and squeals at how each individual photo turned out while Minji scrolls through the photos.

"Hanni unnie looks so cute in these polaroids." Hyein compliments, looking at how tiny the older is.

The Vietnamese giggles, waving her hand off. "Oh stopp~"

Haerin has to admit, she liked that there was more water concept ones compared to the previous ones proposed earlier before you were added to the lineup.

"I loved the way your hair was done in these." You too compliment the Australian.

At the compliment coming from you, Hanni suddenly feels shy. Letting out a small and quiet "thank you" to you.

Minji whips her head to look over at her best friend with an unsure expression, confused as to why the Vietnamese is acting all "coquette".

"Oh! Look at Haerin's photos." Danielle proudly admires how her best friend is charming, she starts complimenting the hair, outfit, makeup and pose but stops once seeing the paired photos that Haerin took with you.

The feline-like furrows her brows at how the paired photos turned out. They look pleasing with the scenery of the tree and sun in the background. The simple picnic theme with both girls wearing light colors to balance one another.

Continuing to scroll, Minji pauses upon the photo where Haerin accidentally kisses your cheek.

"This looks so good! With the butterfly adding a touch to it." Hyein excitedly sits up, her eyes sending a teasing look over to Haerin.

"We do look cute here." You nod in agreement, trying to ignore the way your heart is beating and all of sudden you feel the need to grab a glass of water from how hot it is in the living room.

Hanni rolls her eyes, crossing her arms at the mere fact she wasn't paired up with you. "It's cute and all but Y/N and I would've been cuter."

"Too bad." Haerin replies, sticking her tongue out at the older. "Where's the one where I fixed her hair? She looked cute during it."

Cute?

You have a funny feeling at the way your cheeks are starting to warm up. "Let me go get a glass of water real quick."

You need to get out of being in the same room as her.

"OOO, this one looks super good." Minji hums, satisfied with the way these looks. Especially with the fact that you and Haerin don't get along but somehow, the photos make it look otherwise.

Haerin throws out a delighted smile at how your eyes looked in the picture taken. Admiring the view points of you, from your eyes to your lips. And maybe, just maybe Haerin can admit what Hanni and the others mean by you being real.

Meanwhile, you're pacing back and forth in the kitchen.

There's no way you feel nervous around your very mean roommate, right? RIGHT?

Yeah, it can't be.

Kang Haerin and her mean comments. Kang Haerin and her cute smile. Kang Haerin and her boba eyes. WAIT-...

This is bad...

prev part

june 16, 2024; publishing date

AHHH FINALLY UPDATED MUSE!! tysm for all being patient .^.

taglist: @xszn , @airice , @nnewjeansstuff , @xeiinpain , @jiwoneric , @brocoliisscared , @ilamara , @linnnsworld , @gayforalll, @lorsstar1st , @haechansbbg, @dhdhdjjf , @hyejin67 , @mushroom-main, @ilovekimminji , @justme-idle , @kyuusberry , @masuowo , @iraa567 , @shycreationdreamland , @idunnofr , @imahybridicannotbekilled , @twicesserafim, @awkwardtoafault, @olives-on-pizza, @misclsims, @lailac13, @gtfoiydlyj 

[pedritomosquito]

All Choked Up (Ch 1)

MINORS DNI

Summary: You're shooting a fight scene with Pedro that involves choking--you know where this is going.

Pairing: Pedro Pascal x Actress!Reader

Word count: ~4.1k

Content: SMUT, Minors DNI Blog, thigh riding, choking, handy, general steaminess

You had been called in for more shooting after working for a month on The Last of Us as various clickers. You were going to be doing another fight scene, but this time as your normal human self. Wardrobe had just finished with you and one of the PA’s was escorting you to set to be approved by Craig and Jeremy. It looked like they were in between takes of a scene with Joel and Ellie. Pedro and Bella were both sitting on set pieces, laughing and sipping at water. 

Craig and Jeremy are crowded around a monitor with several other producers watching the latest take. The PA introduces you and suddenly all of them turn around, examining you. Craig greets you.

“Great to see you again! Thank you for joining us.”

You have to hold in a laugh, because ‘thank you for joining us’? As if you wouldn’t have thrown yourself into fucking LA traffic to be here?

“Thank you for having me,” you smile instead.

At the sound of your voice, you see Pedro perk up out of the corner of your eye. You pretend not to notice his gaze.

“This looks great,” Craig approves. “Can I see it without the scarf?”

The PA unties your neck gaiter.

“Yes, perfect,” He nods. “Thank you Jennifer,” He dismisses the PA and sends you on your way, “See you on set!” 

Interesting costuming detail for Craig to be so particular about, but whatever. The PA starts to usher you back towards the wardrobe department.

You hear Bella call your name and you turn, giving them a happy wave. Pedro gives you a wave too. 

“Tomorrow–You, me?”” You playfully point between him and yourself, “we’re squarin’ up!”

“No way!” Pedro replies, looking dare you say excited to hear the news that you’d be working together.

“See you at rehearsal!” You call as you slip out the door.

—--

The next day you have stunt choreography for the fight scene in the evening. You dress in a cute matching Lululemon knock off set and report to the rehearsal studio on the lot. The three stunt coordinators are there to greet you and you stretch out until Pedro arrives.

He’s in a tight workout t-shirt and gray sweatpants. Not the gray sweatpants dear LORD.

“Look what the cat dragged in,” one of the coordinators teases, “And ten minutes late, no less!”

“Fuck off, Phillip,” Pedro laughs as he approached, “I’m old and I’m tired.”

“That’s your excuse every day,” You prod.

“Well it’s true every day,” Pedro complains. 

“Ready to beat the shit out of each other?” You smirk.

His laugh makes your stomach flip flop.

“Absolutely.”

The stunt coordinators demonstrate the choreography first and you have to make sure your jaw doesn’t hit the floor.

Your character stands yielding a prop knife and his character rushes at you, grabbing your arms. You struggle like that for a beat before the knife gets knocked out of your hands. He keeps his grip on one of your arms as he punches you across the face, then shoves you back up against the wall. Both of his hands come up to your neck and you fight against him until you pass out and he drops you on the floor.

You have always been on your best behavior around Pedro. The poor guy has women thirsting after him at every turn and you don’t want to add to his suffering. You have your own private thoughts about him–many of them not PG rated. But you are there to do a job, to be a professional. You never really allow yourself to entertain any of those thoughts beyond simple fantasy.

But he is about to choke you against a wall.

That alone has you entertaining several new thoughts.

“Alright, how do you guys feel about that?” Phillip asks.

Pedro just nods with a small “great.” He does this stuff pretty much every day so you’re sure none of it phases him.

Phillip looks to you and you must be a bit too wide eyed.

“You look a little uncomfortable,” Phillip notes kindly, inviting you to speak.

Pedro’s concerned expression knocks the wind out of you.

“No, no,” You assure them, “It just looks amazing and I’m hoping I wasn’t padding my resume when I said I had stage combat experience.” You give a little giggle to sell it and god bless being an actor because they all buy it.

“No worries, you definitely got this,” Phillip assures you.

Phillip had not been lying–you pick up the sequence just fine. When it comes time to run the fight with Pedro, you are feeling confident about the choreography but not much else. You mark through it, slowly going through each motion to practice. 

You’re pretty sure you black out when he slides his hands under your chin. He is slow and careful and he barely even makes contact with your throat but just the idea, the notion that he could so easily, makes your insides scream.

He eyes you closely making sure you are okay. You feel safe. Somehow that makes it even worse. 

You go through some notes and run it one more time slowly before kicking it up to full speed. 

The intensity of doing it in real time causes an adrenaline storm. Pedro’s hands are all over you, all power and tight gripped. You desperately hold it together so you won't forget what you’re doing.

The way your back hits the padded wall forces the air from your lungs. Before you can even get a breath in, Pedro’s inches away from your face, hands around your neck. Heat spreads across your cheeks all the way down to your chest. You are sure the shock is written all over your face and you swear Pedro’s eyebrows furrow just a fraction. You take the moment of embarrassment as a good cue to drop to the floor out of his grip. 

“That looked great!” Phillip approves, “How did that feel?”

You nearly choke on your spit at the question. 

“Good,” you manage to squeak. 

You catch Pedro side eyeing you and force yourself to look anywhere else. You bend over and fiddle with your shoelace out of sheer desperation to hide your face. 

“Yeah,” Pedro echoes, “Good.”

You can hear the smile in his voice and want to leap out the window. 

“Alright, let’s go full out this time,” Phillip says, “Add the acting, the drama, I want it all. Let’s take it from the line before so we can get the timing down.”

You and Pedro square up, getting into position.

“I’m not going down easy,” You play with a quirked eyebrow.

“Bring it,” He challenges.

You both slip into character and you raise your knife.

—-

“Great work, guys!” Phillip chimes, “See you on set tomorrow.”

“You drive here?” Pedro’s voice appears next to you. 

“Yep,” You reply, adjusting your bag on your shoulder and pushing open the door. The cool night air glides a chill down your arms. 

“Let me walk you to your car,” He offers, “ I just need to grab my stuff.”

“Oh, okay, yeah, that’d be—that’d be great,” You stumble over the words with a smile. 

It’s a short walk to his trailer

“What’s been your favorite project you’ve worked on?” He asks. 

“I always thought it couldn’t get any better than Mandalorian but honestly I think this show might be my new favorite.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, everything on this show feels so… real. Mando was all soundstages and green screens. Last of Us really feels like we’ve been dropped into an apocalypse,” You explain before cautiously adding, “And I’ve gotten to work with you a lot more.”

“You like working with me, huh?” Pedro asks as he playfully bumps his shoulder into yours, the shadow of a teasing tone in his voice. 

You can’t find words for a moment, pausing with your mouth parted. You might as well put all your cards on the table. “Yes,” you finally reply with a small laugh, “I do.” 

You can safely toe the boundary of friendship here. You figure he wouldn’t read into it if he wasn’t interested.

Wait. Are you interested? Oh fuck. Of course you’re interested.

Pedro pauses for a fraction of a moment as you arrive at the trailer, looking at you. Before you can say anything, he pulls open the door and holds it for you. You climb inside and he brushes past you as he enters.

“When you showed up here on set,” He says, “I was really happy to see you again.” He sits down on the cream colored loveseat. 

So he isn’t just ‘grabbing his stuff’ after all, you guess.

You join him, trying to remember how to sit like a normal human being.

“I thought you were lying when you said you remembered me,” you reply honestly. 

“God no,” Pedro chuckles. His gaze on you intensifies, flitting down your body for a moment, his voice dropping a bit lower. “Couldn’t forget you if I tried, sweetheart.”

You suck in a quiet breath. Your mind begins to swim in the suddenly thickening air. How has he managed to make himself so clear in just a single uttered sentence?

He seems to search your face. You realize he’s looking for reciprocation . This isn’t the time to toe the limit at all–it’s the time to cross the line entirely. 

The line between colleagues is drawn for good reason, you try to remind yourself. But all logic dissolves in the simmering heat of how he watches you from the other end of the couch. 

Fuck the line. What line? Never heard of one. 

You switch on a new part of yourself, cocking your head.

“You aren’t too forgettable yourself,” You reply with a soft smirk, making sure to regard every inch of him. 

That is all it takes from him to start closing the gap between you, stopping just inches away. He reaches out and slides your bag off your shoulder in slow motion. You stay frozen as it thuds to the floor. The way his eyes never leave you makes your breathing pick up. 

“You can leave right now, I won’t hold it against you,” He says quietly, “We can go back to before and I will never try this again.”

You can’t imagine a worse fate. You shake your head desperately. 

“Tell me you want this,” he says, eyes glued to yours.

“I want you ,” You whisper.

His lips easily find yours as you feel a hand lace into your hair and another around your waist. The softness of his lips makes you forget to set yourself into motion, too busy melting into it. You finally remember to reach for him, placing a hand on his chest and the other on the side of his neck. You splay your fingers over his bare skin, brushing a thumb against the stubble on his jaw.

His fingers graze over your scalp as he gently grips a handful of your hair. It makes your jaw fall open and he takes the opportunity to lick into your mouth. You grab a fistful of his shirt to pull him closer. 

His hand travels up the center of your chest, curving over your collarbone and back down your side. 

He is either being a tease or far too respectful. 

You take his wrist and guide him to the bottom hem of your tank top, sliding his hand underneath until his fingers come to the elastic of your sports bra. You pull the spandex up out of the way. 

His fingertips skate lightly over the bare skin before he cups you, rolling your nipple between his fingers. 

You whine against his mouth, arching into his touch. Your head tips back and he kisses down your neck before returning to your mouth. His lips become more insistent, the pressure of his hands roaming your body more firm. You shift to pull your leg up under you on the couch, needing to get closer to him. He untangles his hand from your hair and does you one better, reaching down, grabbing your ass and pulling you into his lap until he has you hovering over him, his knee between yours. 

You pull off your tank top and your sports bra. 

“Fucking gorgeous,” Pedro murmurs breathlessly as he attaches his mouth to your nipple.

“Fuck,” The word punches out of you and your hands fly into his hair. His mouth is all heat, tongue working in circles and flicks. You imagine his face between your legs doing the same and you shudder at the mere thought.

He grabs your hips and speaks against the skin of your chest.

“Sit.” 

He pulls you down firmly onto his thigh. 

“Good girl.”

A gasp helplessly escapes your lips and he has you all figured out. He fails to suppress a smirk and you have half the mind to admonish him, but any attempt is interrupted by his mouth returning to your tit.  

He guides your hips to grind against him. The feeling of your wet leggings sliding over his sweatpants drags against your clit just right. You whimper against his temple. He tugs your hips forward again as he flexes his thigh into you and your whimper becomes open mouthed, a moan buried in his hair.

Your hips start to roll on their own accord, chasing down the friction.

“That’s it,” He says softly, licking up your chest, “Make yourself feel good, pretty girl.”

You let out a stilted sigh, dropping your head and sucking the skin beneath his jaw. You reach your hand down and press over the crotch of his sweats. You inhale sharply when you feel him already hard underneath your palm.

“You know how hard it was to control myself, hm?” He questions, voice strained as he pushes himself up against your hand, “Keeping everyone from seeing how much I loved having you pinned up against that wall?”

“ God , that was good acting,” you moan.

“Yours needs some work,” he taunts, “‘Could see it all over your face, querida. Bet you were wet for me, weren’t you?”

“Whole time,” you nod desperately. 

He drags his fingers up your chest and wraps his hand around your throat. 

“Oh fuck,” tumbles from your mouth. 

“This what you wanted, sweetheart? My hand wrapped around your throat like this?”

“Yes,” you whimper. “Fuck, keep talking,” you beg, moving faster in his lap. 

“You like the sound of my voice, huh?” He prods, “Like it when I tell you how good you are while you fuck yourself on my thigh?”

You only nod with a whine, reaching under his waistband and taking his cock in your hand. You nearly whine again when you feel how thick he is. 

“Fuck,” he groans, his hand tightening just a bit around your throat. 

The squeak he receives from you in response is equal parts innocent and filthy. 

He uses his free hand to shove his pants and boxers down his hips, exposing his cock in your fist. 

You pump him slowly, watching the precum leak from his slit. You release him, pausing your own movement to dip your hand into your panties. You slide two fingers into yourself, gathering your wetness, and return to his length.

“Jesus Christ,” he swears, his words trapped in the back of his throat as you wrap your slick hand around him. His hand tightens on your neck and he thrusts up into your hand, jolting you back into your own rhythm. 

Your free hand is slipped under the neckline of his shirt, placed on his chest to steady yourself. The skin there is firm and radiating heat. You can feel his heart beating as fast as yours against your palm.

“You gonna cum like this?” He asks, “Such a needy girl, making a mess on my thigh?”

“Yes, fuck, yes, god yes,” you babble. You’d say yes to practically anything he could ask of you right now, anything to stay in this moment.

Every word he speaks, every shift in his touch drives your fist around him faster.

“ Fuck you feel so good,” He says through gritted teeth, hand now trailing down your throat, curling his fingers to skim his nails over your delicate skin, “Doing so good for me.”

“Please, please, Pedro–” you blindly plead.

He squeezes his hand, tightening the grip on your neck. It’s hardly enough to affect your breathing, but it fuels the tension growing in your hips all the same. Your motions begin to stutter.

“That’s it, querida,” He hums, “That’s it.” 

“I’m gonna–” your stutter, “I’m gonna cum.”

He presses the pad of his thumb against your clit and every bit of air deserts your lungs.

“I’ve got you. Cum for me.”

Pure heat sparks and sets you ablaze, flames rolling down your body as you cum, cries forced from you.  

“ Good girl , there it is. That’s a good girl,” He grinds out the words, pushing himself harder up into your fist. “Fuck, that’s it, fuck ,” A strangled noise catches in his throat, stripes of white painting your hand and his shirt as you ride out your high.

You lean forward to collapse against him, pressing your head to his shoulder, and you both try to catch your breath. He wraps his arms around you, fingers absently tracing over you back.

“Thank you,” you sigh.

“ Thank you ?” He nearly giggles, “Jesus Christ, all I did was sit here!”

“Then you’re welcome,” you breathe, “Like, very, incredibly, definitely welcome literally any time.”

His laughter bounces against your chest. 

“Don’t go making offers that are too good to be true, now,” he warns, and you can feel his grin against the side of your neck, “I can’t take the heartbreak.”

So you’re not the only one who wants this to be more than a one time thing. Fuck yeah. 

“Any. Time.” You repeat, whispering in his ear. 

——-

Coco is setting up her station next to Stephanie and Jess for the afternoon. The hair and make up department is an integral part of The Last of Us because of the extensive clicker-fication process. Coco always jokes with Pedro that she has the easiest job out of everyone–make a man, who is already gorgeous, gorgeous. Not much to do there, just upkeep on Pedro’s gray hair and ensuring he’s grimy enough for an apocalypse. 

You walk into the room bundled in a scarf and find Jess’s chair, greeting her. You had never met before and you were a little nervous. Coco, on the other hand, you’d talked to a few times. 

“Okay, so, I might have screwed up a little ,” You admit to Jess, immediately piquing the curiosity of the women around you. You were about to make Jess’s job a bit harder. 

“Oh?” Jess says. 

“So, um, I get uh–strangled, in the scene we’re shooting today so there’s going to be a lot of focus on… my neck…” You preface hesitantly.

Coco whirls around.

“You didn’t,” She gasps, scandalized.

You grimace apologetically as you unwrap your scarf.

“I did.”

There’s no way they could possibly know that Pedro put the hickey blooming dark purple on your throat unless they’re mind readers, but still. You’re paranoid that somehow everyone will know what you did last night with Pedro. 

Could see it all over your face, querida.

“You have girl bossed too close to the sun,” Coco shakes her head while Jess and Stephanie giggle.

You cover your face with your hands.

“Don’t worry about it,” Jess laughs, “You’re hardly the first actor to need some hickey cover up. Happens all the time–we’ll get you fixed up.”

Jess does an excellent job as promised and your neck looks pristine.

You thank her endlessly and slip out the door to go to wardrobe.

Just a moment later, Pedro speeds into hair and make-up, greeting Coco and plopping down in her chair.

“I need a bruise covered up,” he says simply. 

“How’d you hurt yourself this time, old man?” Coco asks.

“Uh, it’s not exactly that kind of bruise,” he replies sheepishly. He pulls down the turtle neck he’s wearing, revealing the hickeys he’s sporting up his neck. 

Coco, Stephanie and Jess all exchange a look. Stephanie is desperately trying to suppress a smirk and Jess has to turn away to contain herself. 

You and Pedro are none the wiser that you’re totally busted. 

“ Pedro ,” Coco scolds him playfully. 

“I know, I know,” he sighs. 

“Pass me that concealer, Jess?” Coco asks, “We’d better get started. This might take a while since someone decided to sell his body last night.”

“Oh shut up,” Pedro waved her off with a bashful chuckle, “Vete a la chingada.”

“Pedge, I’m immune to your spanish insults. I don’t speak Spanish.”

“Allow me to translate: fuck. off.”

“Never.”

—————-

You're sitting on the sidelines of the set, absently going over your script and blocking. 

“Hello you,” a low voice rings next to you. 

A smile climbs onto your lips and you keep your attention on the pages. 

“Fancy meeting you here,” you chime.

“Come here often?” 

You giggle, finally looking up at him, but your breath is stolen. God , he looked so good as Joel. 

“Querida, your face,” he chuckles, “we talked about this.”

You pause for a moment and realize what he’s implying. You must be blushing. Or drooling. 

“I have no idea how I have an acting career,” you murmur.  

He’s laughing and you can’t help but be reminded of a ray of light. He’s like a bright beam, reflected and refracted into a spectrum of color, streaking boldly across a sunlit room. Maybe you didn’t understand how someone could be ‘beaming’ until now.   

He looks like he almost starts to reach out to touch you, maybe tuck a stray hair behind your ear or place a hand on your waist, but he aborts the movement. 

Phillip approaches you and you break from your trance. 

“Hey guys!” He greets, “how about a quick dry run fight before shooting?”

“Sounds good,” Pedro nods as you agree. 

Someone from the props department appears with your fake knife and you thank them. 

You do a slow motion run through, making sure the spacing and blocking is perfected for the set pieces around you. 

The full speed run is just as intense as the first time you had tried it the night before. You’re panting on the floor by the end, and Pedro extends a hand to help you to your feet. You look up at him from underneath the fan of your lashes and he stares down at you all the same.

“Alright you definitely have the choreography down!” Phillip sings his praises and declares you both ready for filming. 

“We’re going to start shooting in just a minute here,” Craig informs the room. 

Jess is there, coming over to touch up your make up one last time and the guy from props reappears, returning the discarded knife back to you.

“You and Pedro have us sharing the good setting powder,” Jess laughs to herself, taking some onto her brush before Coco steals the container with a smile as she passes by.

It hits you all at once.

You left hickeys all over Pedro last night, didn’t you? You look over and see Coco brushing the powder over the side of his throat.

“ Jess, ” Your eyes are blown wide.

She pauses, regarding you with confusion for a moment until the realization appears on her face.

“Oh! Don’t worry, we’ll never tell. Makeup artists take an oath of secrecy,” She explains. “ However ,” She adds, “I am living vicariously through you. Just full transparency.”

“Fair,” you reply a bit distantly, still watching Pedro.

—-

Coco goes over to Pedro and starts on her final touch ups.

“You know,” she says quietly after a moment, “The weirdest thing happened earlier.”

“Yeah?” Pedro asks, suspicious of her playful tone.

“Yeah,” she replies, “A minute before you came in asking us to cover up your hickeys, your scene partner came in needing the same thing.”

“That is… quite a coincidence…” He agreed slowly.

“I’m glad one of us had sexcapades last night,” she assured him, “all I did was watch tv.”

“Please never say ‘sexcapade’ ever again,” Pedro muttered.

“Look, if you’re going for subtlety–tone it down,” She advises, “You look like you’re about to jump each other’s bones, not kill each other.”

“Fuck, it’s that obvious?” He asks.

She just replies with raised eyebrows and a smirk. “But–hey,” she says sincerely, “Good for you, Pedge. You deserve it.”

“Stop–” He swats her away with an embarrassed smile, “Making me blush. Joel doesn’t blush.”

“Go get ‘em tiger,” She pats him on the back before leaving.

A/N: Tell me what you liked most! I wanna know what my beloved slutty lil readers enjoy!

Chapter 2

[lessbienlesbian]

mizu x reader headcanons

ok this is gonna be a combination of a modern au and then also vaguely period accurate headcanons. i haven’t written in ages, so my apologies if this isn’t very good.

she requires very frequent reassurance because of how awful her past relationship was but is not great at asking for it

it takes her a long time to open up to people

if you are consistently kind and helpful to her she will accept the benefits of what you offer, but remain wary of your character/integrity/her ability to trust you for an extended period of time

basically what i’m saying is that my girl has some major trust issues

she’s at peace whenever she is in the water and is somehow very good at both sinking and floating

she enjoys teasing and banter, and takes pride in how easy it is for her to mess with you and make you flustered

she is very blunt and honest

she is surprisingly soft and gentle with you

she cannot cook to save her life, but she will gladly prep all of the ingredients for you and clean up after the meal

she has very quick instincts and struggles to let her guard down because of this

she’s super protective over her friends and you and would literally cut a bitch if they wronged you

she hypes you up and encourages you when you’re really angry and ranting about things

taking care of herself is definitely not her strongest suit, so you try to help her remember basic self care activities by giving her gentle reminders

her nose and cheeks get really pink and flushed in the cold or when she’s flustered or embarrassed

you offer to spar with her despite your complete lack of experience because you want to engage with the thing that she is most passionate about. she’s very hesitant at first because of the whole deal with mikio (i hate that motherfucker), but once you have reassured her that things won’t end the same way she relents and agrees to spar. for some reason, your first move is to go in with a headbutt and she can’t help but laugh at the grunt you let out when she easily stops you with a single palm to your forehead. as time passes she teaches you some actual techniques, but you never get anywhere close to her skill level. (not that you’re complaining though, being pinned beneath mizu while she gazes upon you with a look of pure glee is certainly not the worst position to be in).

she is very confident in her skills and abilities, but lacks confidence in her appearance and other areas so you make a point to compliment her frequently

you both take care of each other as best as you can

in the present day she would be really into video games, decorative ironworking, basketball, iado (or another sword based form of martial arts), and going to the gym

ok this might be strangely specific, but i think she would have a similar relationship with cats as she has with horses. she’s very catlike in her demeanor and general nature and i think she would find it rewarding to earn the trust of a similarly skittish and “wild” animal

okayyy that’s all i hope y’all enjoyed these. i left out the horny stuff but if y’all wanna see that then uhh like this post and i’ll write some nsfw headcanons.

[kohabielnin]

General Relationships

To celebrate my birthday today (February 5th), I thought I'd share some General Relationships with my favorite characters, I just put those that don't have a general relationship or bf

To be honest, I had forgotten that the Cheshire Cat has one, but as I only remembered it when I was finished, I decided that it would remain

Morningstar/Ithaqua

• As a king, he is a bit busy and sometimes forgets to pay attention to you,

• For me, there are few things he doesn't know how to do,

• Another who is cute when he wants to be, but to the public he is an evil sadist,

• You are still the only person who has seen his gentle and loving side,

• A complete little love in private,

• He is very afraid of losing you, even if you say you won't leave him

Moonlight Gentleman/Joseph Desaulnier

• He often acts like a dog,

• He loves to caress his ears and especially if you massage them, you can be sure that you will have a puppy with a wagging head,

• Exorcist to this day has not said his opinion due to the relationship you have with Moonlight,

• This dog man, just hearing his name makes his tail wag,

• He tries to hide the fact that his tail is wagging in your presence because he thinks it's embarrassing, even if you say it's cute,

• To be honest, I would like to have a Moonlight of my own because he's so cute, but I have to settle for his skin

Exorcist/Aesop Carl

• I have some controversial opinions regarding him,

• He could go from calm to cold in seconds,

• Moonlight really likes your relationship for some reason he never said,

• As an Exorcist, he sometimes comes home very late,

• He's not much for physical contact, but he enjoys stroking your hair,

• You, him and Moonlight watch the sunset every day together

Phoenix/Aesop Carl

• This man is cute and shy because of his fear of being hunted,

• Likes to watch the stars with you,

• In my opinion, he and the Cheshire Cat are the cutest, right after Victor Specter,

• He tries not to be so cute, but he just can't,

• He really likes sweets and his food,

• A great, gentle and kind companion who won't leave your side unless you ask

Cheshire Cat/Naib Subedar

• He's cute, without a shadow of a doubt the cutest after Phoenix, or even before,

• Purrs while you stroke his hair,

• Even though he is half feline, he doesn't have much freshness to eat,

• Don't think you can pet his tail, he will still bite and scratch you if you do that, he doesn't like having his tail touched,

• He likes to sleep on your lap or on top of a tree like a cat,

• The only thing he doesn't like is you changing your tone of voice when calling him, after all he doesn't like feeling like a pet

Luca Balsa

• To this day he wonders why you chose him,

• Already made a kitten robot for you,

• He doesn't really know how to be affectionate, but the important thing is that he tries,

• He's a bit annoying because of his low self-esteem,

• Alva never stops thanking you for taking care of Luca,

• He's a little jealous and doesn't like seeing you around Kevin

Edgar Valden

• He is annoying, very annoying, doesn't like anything and complains about almost everything,

• The only thing he openly says he likes is painting with you, but only also,

• He's a real tsundere,

• When he wants to, he is kind and leaves his arrogance aside, but only if you two are alone,

• He likes having you sitting on his lap,

• You may have accidentally become his muse

Matthias Czenin

• His attitude has always been a little shy and almost everything scares him, not that you can blame him,

• You two already tried to get rid of Louis, but it didn't end very well, unfortunately,

• He loves your company and feels calm in your presence,

• Louis seems to have a strange attachment to you, honestly, this scary doll,

• Please try to get rid of this doll, he is completely scary...

• Sometimes, just sometimes Louis lets you two have your privacy, but just as he disappears, he appears

[theninthdoor]

pac || yes or no, and a message from Spirit

☁️ think of a question you need a Yes/No answer for, take 3 deep breaths and pick one of the piles below! this should give you a general idea of what the energy surrounding this matter is + what Spirit wants you to know and/or do. ☁️ take only what resonates and leave the rest! if you feel like the pile you've initially picked doesn't really apply to the situation you're thinking of, it's OK to pick another one. ☁️ remember that this is all for entertainment purposes and that free will still exists. don't feel pressured to do anything you don't want to or to make a pile/answer fit you situation, ok? ☁️ enjoy, my friends!

🍀 pile 1 || cards: five of pentacles, seven of cups rx, balance, magic.

Your answer, my dear pile 1, is No. Spirit wants you to know that there is something much better for you out there, and that you shouldn't keep yourself stuck to only this option (or the very few you've been considering). I can feel your sadness and frustration, but please trust that your Spirit Team is doing their best to help you navigate through & overcome this period, alright? Don't rush into a decision just because you want to get this over with. As soon as this moment of transition is over, you might realize that what you thought you wanted, isn't all that great after all; or, alternatively, that you were willing to settle for something that isn't in alignment with your greatest good and/or true desires. It might also happen that, if you give it time, Spirit could give you the green light to pursue this option - that's only for a few of you, though. For the majority, I see that this really isn't the best bet anyway.

[extra confirmation that this might be your pile (doesn't have to apply): a white cat; Kat/Cat/Catherine/Katherine/Catarina; white socks and ballerina shoes; 29; dark blue walls; just painted or got your nails done by someone else; Andre/Andrew/Andres; low temperatures; slavic countries; pisces.]

🍀 pile 2 || cards: king of wands, page of pentacles, illumination, growth.

Goodness… this pile has such a strong and assertive energy, that there is no way you guys are still doubting yourselves! It's a clear Yes, my sweet pile 2. You already know what to do, where to go, what to leave behind and what to take with you on the journey ahead. You've seen the light already, and chances are that you are have already made some moves towards your goal, so just keep going! Don't be impulsive, though; always make sure to stay grounded and realistic. If you haven't made any moves, however, someone else might've OR the Universe has been preparing the stage for this to happen. You might soon realize that things just seem to be falling into place all around, and you're all of a sudden full with good luck. Finally, I feel like some of you might also need to hear this: stay informed! Do all of the research you think is necessary, and stay up date with all of the new details/updates regarding this matter.

[extra confirmation that this might be your pile (doesn't have to apply): 1st year as a college student; taking the subway every day now; swimming as a hobby; dark green hoodie; Jen/Jennifer/Jerome; G initial; Grace or "with grace"; 19; a item of jewelry that you never take off, likely a necklace; Church; eating your meals in a rush or on the go; soccer/football.]

🍀 pile 3 || cards: ace of wands rx, eight of pentacles rx, love, flow.

Not yet. Something needs to be done or finished before you get that much desired green light from Spirit. If you felt pulled towards Pile 1 as well, feel free to check that out, by the way! - for some, those messages may also apply. Your energy isn't heavy, even though I still get a big sense of frustration here. Now, after struggling so much with this reality, you know that you are either not ready for such a change OR to receive this "thing" and be able to handle it. I feel like you guys have been doing a lot of inner-work lately, and have been putting a lot of effort into matters of self-worth, self-confidence, and so on; and this realization may have come from that. My dear pile 3, you are on the right path, alright? You just need to stay focused on yourself for now, so you can later receive all of the blessings you have been waiting & praying for.

[extra confirmation that this might be your pile (doesn't have to apply): fidgeting with your fingers 24/7; daily warm, soft hugs from a family member or best friend; 29, again; 00; white bomber jacket; always making sure you have your gloves with you; a spike in humidity; geography or biology; lab coats; lost and/or got a new transit pass, passport or ID; significant earth placements.]

🍀 pile 4 || cards: eight of pentacles, the lovers, fear, abundance.

Some of you may have had to leave people, or even home, behind to pursue a dream, or may be considering it (and, by the way, it doesn't have to be literal or physical). You're afraid that you'll be alone and/or that those you're leaving behind will not miss you. However, Spirit wants you to know that none of that is true, and that things will turn out much better than you could've ever expected. You have big plans for your life but also a big heart; and instead of having these two parts of yourself work together as they should, they are fighting against each other. Sometimes, in order to achieve something major, we must make some sacrifices, you know, pile 4? And that might sound scary, yes, but when you are living through it, you'll see that it actually isn't. We make sacrifices every day without even realizing it… for example, when we sacrifice an extra hour of sleep to spend some more time texting that special someone; or when we sacrifice our precious feet just to show off our new favorite, yet insanely painful, pair of shoes. If you're on the other end of it, however, and you're the one being "left behind", make sure to use this time to work on your goals instead of focusing all of your energy on how much you miss that something or someone. So, your answer is neither a Yes nor a No, because I feel like most of you guys are wording your question wrong?? Just know that this is a time for you to prosper, my dear pile 4, and that you should move forward with your goals.

[extra confirmation that this might be your pile (doesn't have to apply): spending a lot of time alone, sitting in the parking lot; your car's a mess; fidgeting with your earrings or rings; rubbing your eye until it hurts; Sanders/Sandra/Salome/Soumaya; north african countries; south east asian countries; stuffed teddy bear; 57; dad's or grandpa's birthday.]

decks used || Tarot of the New Vision & Prism Oracle

(Disclaimer: Based on current energies. All is alleged and for entertainment purposes only.)

[hexologh]

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𝗜𝗡𝗡𝗢𝗖𝗘𝗡𝗧 𝗕𝗬 𝗗𝗔𝗬,

𝗗𝗢𝗠𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗡𝗧 𝗕𝗬 𝗡𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧.

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AZURE, MONKEY KING, MACAQUE AND NE'ZHA FINDING OUT THAT YOU ARENT REALLY THAT INNOCENT!?

MADE BY: HEXOLOGH

AZURE

Azure was totally caught off guard by your dirtiness... Wait, I mean your impressive level of confidence! I mean, seriously, just take a good look at yourself! You had this innocent facade going on, but deep down, you unleashed a dominant aura that sent shivers down his spine.

Will and want you to pound him into the ground, fuck him until he's holding onto you for dear life.. woah.. slow down satan.. 😟

Dang, whenever you playfully laid your hand on his thigh, it was like an electric shock racing down Azure's spine. But hey, it wasn't fear that got him all worked up, oh no! It was pure, unadulterated excitement.

He willingly signed up for the 'No Walking Challenge' because, with you around It's gonna be a wild ride and Azure is ready to embrace the thrill!

Imagine edging him. he'd definitely let you do it, But also imagine tying his wrists together and doing it back. he finds it hard to hold back..

And Legs? Pfft, overrated! Azure would put on a brave face, claiming he could handle anything.

But when the heat turned up, he'd be a sobbing mess, begging you to stop (not that he really meant it, wink wink).

And let's not forget his poor brothers! Azure would concoct the wildest excuses to skip out on missions, but it seems like his excuse generator is in desperate need of a reboot.

Time to find some fresh alibis, my friend!So, check it out, Azure lion, the ultimate definition of lowkey, was just, like, mad quiet at the diner table, you feel me? But he took it up a notch, like he was on stealth mode or something.

And, yo, imagine this—there he was, straight-up whimpering as your hands did their magic. It was a total mood, for real! I mean, it was so hilarious, like you couldn't help but ROFL at how completely and utterly pathetic he was in that moment. It's like next-level comedy gold.

"Hng, mhn~....ngh..!" Azure murmured as you gazed at him, raising a hand and placing it on your cheek while your other hand did the work.

"What's wrong?" you questioned, tilting your head back and your eyes shone.

"Cat got your tongue?"

SUN WUKONG

Oh, let's dive into the Monkey King's struggles!

I mean, this guy is the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, for crying out loud! He's all about power and not taking any nonsense.

But, hey, when you cast your gaze upon him, Like, he's low-key simping so hard, it's hilarious! Who would've thought the mighty Monkey King could be reduced to a puddle of mush? Love makes us all do crazy things, doesn't it?

Monkey King, surprisingly enough, finds pleasure in your roughness, reveling in the intensity and passion it brings. Equally, he adores the tenderness and warmth you show him, finding solace and security in your gentle touch.

It's a beautiful balance that makes him feel safe and cherished in your arms... As you demolished his insides ❤️

Bro like fuck him until his insides are the shape of your strap/dick or whatever.

Oh, let's spill the tea on the Monkey King! Here's the deal: He despises having to beg and bow down to you, or so he claims.

But guess what? Secretly, deep in the depths of his mischievous heart, he absolutely adores it! It's like he's caught in a love-hate battle, but the truth is, he's head over heels for the thrill of submitting to your power.

"o-Oh!... fu-fucK...ngh!" Sun Wukong moaned and groaned, he could almost feel tears rolling down his face, loving the way your fingers went deep within him.

"Look at how pathetic you are," you say as he flushed in embarrassment, his eyes closing shut and turned his head away.

Sun Wukong gasped before letting out another moan as your other hand seized his chin with force.

"Keep your gaze on the mirror."

MACAQUE

When he found out, oh... Brace yourself for Macaque's wild desires! This guy thrives on rough play, even going as far as enjoying being stepped on.

But let's not forget his mischievous side! Picture this: you're in the midst of work, and Macaque is right there, incessantly poking your head, like an annoying but lovable sidekick.

He's a handful, that's for sure, HE IS SO ANNOYING 😭

Like, "mommy issues?", "Daddy issues?" NO, HE IS THE ISSUE 👹😠

But alas you love him, CUZ YOUR A SIMP, But me too bbg 🖐️☺️

He's laying on the ground, his hips stuttering pathetically as he whines, gripping at your leg and pleading with you to keep walking on him, to release this overpowering need to cum.

Macaque, the lovable troublemaker with a heart full of love! Despite his antics, he adores you with every fiber of his being and isn't shy about showing it.

But here's the twist: when you unleash your power and reveal your true strength, it catches him off guard.

Well, he probably should have seen it coming! I mean, it's you we're talking about—the unstoppable force that commands attention wherever you go.

But like I mean, Slay queen/king 💅Get ready for Macaque's wide-eyed surprise, mixed with pure admiration, as you unleash your might upon the world!

And Slowly breaking him? He loved it, fucking him so good that every time he's in your presence for the next several days, his mind instantly returns to that day, his dick throbs at the sheer sight of you.

"haha.." you chuckled.

"Hah.. Hng! S-ShIt!" Macaque moaned aloud as your hands stroked his cock as the other hand pinched his nipples as tears roll down his cheek.

"Awh, did I hurt your feelings?"

NE'ZHA

HUH? WHERE DID THIS COME FROM!? WHO ARE YOU!? BRING HIM BACK HIS LOVER! 😠

My guy thought he had it all figured out, expecting to be the dominant force in the relationship. But, nope! UNO REVERSE BITCH! his expectations shattered when you swooped in and stole his spotlight! Though.. not that he minds being pushed down on the bed harshly as you literally rearrange his guts.

Ne'zha is the type that loves to try different and dirty things. so don't be surprised if one day he asks you to choke the living life out of him, like there he is officer, The horny 😧

Has a preference for being praised over being degraded, childhood trauma am I right? This man is 100000000000% a good boy <3

Tbh he would jack off right infront of you if you commanded him too, slut of the month, right here.

He'll never forget that day when he was talking to a maiden who seemed.. really interested in him.. more like his body.. I mean this guy probably wears things that are real tight, YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE IS TIGH-- Okay I'll stop 😔

Anyways, He could practically feel your eyes glaring at him, and that's when he knew, he's so fucked, EVERYONE POINT AND LAUGH 😂

"Come on.. you can take more, right? You aren't the third lotus prince for nothing.." you murmured as your fingers gently wrinkled Ne'zha's chest up to down, as the vibrator in his ass works it's magic ✨

"C-CanT- No.. Hng, Can't anymore.. nghh!~" Nezha could feel the ropes tighten on his exposed skin, you frowned as you put a finger under his chin, forcing him look up at you, his weeping eyes looking at your disappointed ones.

"How utterly pathetic you are.."