#I'm debating because while I don't need too there are some songs that would really well with a couple of scenes I have planned

[hamliet]

Hazbin Hotel Has Better Theology Than Most Modern "Christian" Stories

As a Christian who was raised in a fundie cult and escaped to now have a far healthier and vital faith, I genuinely really like this show. The songs are bops. The characters are well crafted and interesting, and likable too. The art design is bizarre but appealing.

And, as a theology nerd who studied theology as part leaving said cult and also has since gotten papers published in theology, I'm actually fairly impressed by the show's handling of theology.

No, I'm not expecting the story to preach or even like, be explicitly Christian in a lot of ways. But it's taking a lot of the really beautiful aspects of Christian theology and re-contextualizing them in a way designed to provoke thought: by juxtaposing them with the antithesis of what you would think, by making demons heroes. In my opinion, this makes the beauty shine brighter.

Yeah, yeah, it's designed to be offensive and obscene in a lot of ways. Yet, it's never (thus far) mean-spirited. On the contrary, it seems to have a big, beating heart at its core that is perhaps best embodied by Charlie Morningstar, its protagonist and the daughter of Lucifer and Lilith.

Critique of the Church, with Caveats

The story works best with an interpretation that heaven isn't actually heaven or God (who has been conspicuously absent), but instead as a critique of the church. Specifically, the evangelical American church, and specifically, white evangelicals. (Same as She-Ra's premise, actually).

God's absence therefore makes sense, because while Christians do believe God is present as a living reality among us, we also can't like, see him physically now. So, God being not even mentioned in HH makes it seem more like a mortal reality rather than an immortal one. Honestly I kinda hope God doesn't appear in the story, not only because I think it could cross some lines (which is admittedly personal), but also because I don't see that the story really needs it.

Adam in particular reminds me of every "theobro" on Twitter (I'm not calling it what you want me to, El*n). Basically a dudebro coopting his supposed salvation to flex in an often misogynistic way, who doesn't realize that he has absolutely no love in him and therefore is actually a worse human being than everyone he condemns on the regular.

(Which is kind of why I'm expecting Adam to wake up in hell next season...)

Think red hats. And Mark Driscoll. And, I have a list of pastors. Sigh. They advocate for how "simple" Christianity is, except they themselves make it ridiculously complicated and don't even examine what they suppose is "simple" if it requires them to take the planks out of their own eyes. "Shallow" is a better description of what they actually preach.

But what sends people to hell or heaven anyways?

Eschatology and Atonement Theory

Hazbin Hotel combines a lot of theories, throwing not only the idea of a physical hell (albeit mixed with Dante's idea of what hell is the Inferno, but to be fair a lot of the church has adopted that idea too) but the idea of annihilation, which HH calls "extermination."

See, in Christianity, there's a lot of debate about hell. Like, since 2000 years ago. The reason is because a lot of Bible verses seem to indicate hell, but others indicate the eventual redemption and salvation of absolutely everything in the universe, so you have Christian universalism tracing itself back just as long. But, setting aside universalism, people who do believe in hell tend to fall into one of two camps:

Physical hell, aka suffering for eternity, or annihilation: the idea that souls that aren't saved end up annihilated, or snuffed from existence. HH combines both of them, wherein everyone lives in hell but then every so often heaven "exterminates" a certain number of sinners.

And then you also have Catholic purgatory, which is also adapted in HH in that... for most Christians, physical hell doesn't offer the ability to redeem yourself. Chance over, you're dead. But, Catholic Christianity, which draws on ideas of praying for the dead, has the idea that people can improve themselves or be prayed out of it and into heaven. This seems to be somewhat similar to the idea of Charlie's hotel, in that sinners can improve, redeem themselves, and rise to heaven.

And, I mean, it's already kinda worked. Sir Pentious acted out Jesus' words: Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13).

But anyways, the branch of theology that deals with the afterlife is eschatology. And Hazbin Hotel takes on a related form of theology as well, a type of theology I've only seen covered in stories once before (The House in Fata Morgana): atonement theory.

Atonement theory is something I remember well from my theology 101 class, as in I remember sitting with a friend and her turning to me and being like, "okay, so we know Jesus' death and resurrection give us eternal life, but we have no idea how or why?" To which the answer was "basically, yeah."

Most of the white, American evangelical church is very "penal substitutionary atonement," but the reality is that this theory has only been popular for the past few hundred years. It's also, imo, somewhat scripturally unsound. But there are a lot of other theories, and sometimes the theories overlap. Here's a fairly decent summary. (I'm in general a believer in Christus Victor.)

So how does atonement theory tie into Hazbin Hotel? Well, essentially the scene where Charlie and Vaggie are debating with Emily, Sera, Adam, Lute, and others in heaven is them going over various atonement theories and realizing that they actually know nothing at all. How does one get to heaven? How is one saved? They don't know.

Sera criticizing Emily for asking questions was also very relatable, and I feel for Sera. She's genuinely scared but the truth will set you free, Sera. John 8:32. Anyways, the point is like... the angels are an organized religion, an evangelical church, that preaches about simplicity but mistakes shallowness for simplicity and discourages depth and discovery.

Anyways, the whole crux of theological study and atonement theories is that they should promote humility. We don't know for certain on this side of the curtain. That's okay. So what do we have to guide us?

Love. After all, God is love (1 John 4:8).

Charlie is Jesus

"Why would you endanger your immortal life for these sinners?" 

Adam, the absolute worst, says the above to Charlie in the finale.

I mean... look. That's literally the premise of Christianity. That the immortal son of God comes down to earth, lives with sinners, loves us, and dies to save us. However that happens. Charlie even responds:

"They're my family!"

In other words, she loves them. Yeah, sure, they're destined for extermination, but they are going to be exterminated over her dead body.

In a lot of branches of Christianity, and even in some creeds--though I'm going to give into my pet peeves here and state that it is NOT Scriptural and relies on the faulty assumption that God is bound by time, when I think God exists outside of it--state that Jesus descended into hell after his death and took all the souls of people who were saved prior to his coming to earth to heaven. Again, I think that's small-minded at best. But, the idea that Charlie is working among them to bring them to heaven is pretty reminiscent of this idea. And I don't hate it lol.

Charlie sees worth inherent in everyone, and no matter what they've done, thinks there's a future for them. Honestly we need people like her on this earth.

Angel Dust

Angel Dust is clearly my favorite character. Bite back your shock, I know (I have a type). But his name is also a fascinating multi-layered pun.

Angel is clearly foreshadowing his endgame. Let's be real, we all know Angel is ending up as an angel. And "angeldust" is of course a name for PCP, and considering Angel's drug habits, yeah.

But, dust also has another meaning to it. See, when Adam was created in Genesis 2:7, the words in Hebrew are "apar min ha'adamah," which is translated literally as "dust of the ground." So the dust is what creates Adam, literally "ground."

In other words, I very much expect Angel Dust to end up being foiled with Adam even more so. Adam might be the first man, but Angel is the first sinner working towards redemption. And let's be real, for all Angel's flaws, he's already a better person than Adam. And if there's any hope for Adam (not that I particularly care if there is but) it'd be through realizing that he and Angel aren't actually different after all. Conversely (and not necessarily mutually exclusively), Angel might serve as a more symbolic "adam" in that he becomes the person all sinners look to for hope. Which, y'know, since "the last Adam" is also a Scriptural term for Jesus...

And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. (1 Corinthians 15:45).

I fully expect Angel's arc, alongside Charlie's, to bring life and redemption for everyone around them. Maybe, maybe even the dramatic "all" of Colossians 1:20 (which means, literally, all, everything, everywhere, in the entire universe).

Closing Thoughts

But honestly, regardless of how the story ends--besides that it will presumably end happily because HH is at its core feel-good despite being profane--season one at least has got good theology. Why? Because it's digging into the questions that theology is concerned with. It's digging into the ideas of human nature, of what it means to be a good person, of what it means to redeem oneself, of affirming how precious each individual human soul is.

It doesn't offer cheap answers, and it specifically calls out the white American evangelical church for how it purports to be simple but actually just confuses people and punishes them for things they can't help, that creates more stumbling blocks than it does shine a light. And it does it in a way that is scandalous. Offensive to many religious people.

But, y'know, Jesus was pretty scandalous too.

So I really love the story so far because it emphasizes what I find so beautiful about my religion, and criticizes the parts that have also hurt me. I don't think it's remotely aiming to be a Christian allegory or anything like that, and I don't at all think anyone has to be religious to enjoy it or gain the core message of it, but I do think that it's doing a hell of a lot more good in the world message-wise than most evangelical movies of the past 30 years.

[thatfreshi]

Appreciate the Astarion works!!! 💙💙💙

If you'd like another request, what about Tav gifting him something that allows him to see his reflection? Idk some kinda spell/amulet/potion? They're already to the point where he feeds from them or in a relationship and he's just beyond touched/ shocked they would do something for him like this? (Bc we know he's not ever had the most kindness shown to him)

he's been living rent free in my head and I just want to give him everything his undead lil heart desires.

Recommended Song: Mirrorball - Taylor Swift

(I just started listening to her music and holy shit this song is so them!!!)

It's late, the perfect time of day for the two of you. You and Astarion and out in your backyard, putting out some new furniture that he haggled for today. It's hard to say no to that smile, you would know. As you move nice chairs around debating where you should put them, you get into a playful argument.

"I know you're like, the house decorator, but gods why can't we put it in this corner?"

"Because darling, it'll ruin the feng shui. We should put the chairs here instead, and keep the plants over here."

You roll your eyes.

"I bet you don't even know what feng shui means."

"I don't, but it sure sounds fancy doesn't it?"

You giggle.

"What, I'm laughable because I don't know one tiny phrase? I bet there are plenty of words you don't know."

"Well, I don't know them, so I'm not worried about them."

You saunter over to him, throwing your arms up around his shoulders, and the two of you stare at each other for a moment.

"You know our anniversary is tomorrow right?"

"How could I forget my sweet?"

"I don't know, maybe the way you forgot what feng shui means."

"Okay, ouch. But yes of course, I have wondrous plans for the two of us."

"Okay but you can't have that good of plans because I really need to make sure you don't one-up this."

You walk back into the house for a brief moment, grabbing a scroll out of your bag.

"When I walked away while we were at the market, because I said I got tired of hearing you argue with that old lady? Well, I found this."

You hold the scroll out, and he gently grabs it out of your hands.

"I tried to get Gale to teach me, but you know I'm not very magically inclined so..."

He unrolls the scroll, reading the scrawled writing.

"This is-"

You cut him off in excitement.

"Mirror image! I thought maybe you could use it to make a reflection of yourself."

He stares at the scroll in shock.

"How much did you pay for this?"

"None of your damn business."

You grin at him, knowing all too well that you paid that guy way too much.

"This is very sweet my dear, I... I don't know what to say."

"Well you don't have to say anything, try it!"

After reading for a moment, he goes to cast the spell. He says a few words that go right over your head, and suddenly there were three more Astarions in your backyard.

"Gods!"

Astarion's cry of shock echoed through, all four of him? You're not quite sure how this works. After getting his bearings, Astarion looks around at his three reflections.

"Wow, this is certainly... wow."

You're so excited, you can finally show him all the little details you like about him, he gets to see how gorgeous he is, the list goes on and on.

"Okay, I have to do something funny, because I NEED you to see your little laugh lines. Hm..."

He furrows his brow at you, wondering what you're planning. And then you tickle his sides, causing an eruption of laughter.

"Quick, look!"

As he's still smiling, he catches a glimpse of one of the reflections, the little crow's feet he gets when he laughs.

"Oh, that was so important you had to attack me? If anything they make me look old."

"Well... you are kinda old."

He playfully pushes your shoulder. After the two of you quiet your laughter, he stands staring at one of the reflections, taking it all in. The eyes, the hair, trying to remember what he used to look like.

"What do you think?"

"I think... I think it's fitting."

He snarls to look at his fangs. Astarion has never seen just how menacing he can be, why people listen to him when he's threatening. You don't see anything scary though. Maybe you used to, long long ago. But now, he's just Astarion. That's all he has to be.

"This red really is quite bright."

He says, commenting on his eyes.

"Yeah, they're nice though. Piercing."

"At least my hair looks as good as I think it does. All my efforts haven't been wasted."

And just as fast as they came, the reflections vanish, fading out of existence. It's just the two of you again.

"Damn, I thought it would last a little longer."

You frown a little, wondering if it was really worth it. Astarion catches your glance, realizing your doubt. He tilts your chin up and cups your face in his hand.

"Even if it was short, it was a wondrous gift darling. I appreciate it, truly. Besides, now I know what kind of handsome devil you've ended up with."

"Yeah, trust me, I know."

You wrap yourselves up in each other, locking lips, somehow sharing your gratitude for each other in kisses. He gets a little handsy, and you jokingly whisper to him.

"Should've done this with the reflections."

He laughs quietly.

"Oh hush."

You end the evening tangled up in each other, and he seems to be more sure of himself than usual. Turns out seeing yourself after two hundred years can do something for the ego. Maybe one day, you'll find a more permanent soluton, but for now, one little scroll is enough. He's enough. You're both enough, as long as you have each other.

[dyns33]

Flufftober 2024 - 24 Dream of the Endless

It was perfectly natural for mortals to dream that they were someone else. That was also the purpose of dreams, to allow beings to escape from the "real" world for a moment, to forget their sorrows, their worries, but also to find the inspiration needed to try to improve their daily lives when they woke up.

This was embodied by great decisions, as well as wonderful creations, novels, films, songs, plays. Once again, men played roles, to entertain others while conveying an important message.

Despite this, Morpheus did not fully understand the principle of Halloween.

He could not make sense of this celebration, which had changed a lot over the centuries.

No one seemed to learn a moral lesson by dressing up as a monster. No one wanted to become a monster. There was nothing fun in comparing yourself to these poor creatures, or in scaring children without the goal of teaching them something.

Next to him, Y/N didn't seem to understand his incomprehension.

"It's just for fun. I know you're very serious and goth, but unlike some of your siblings, I'm sure you know the definition of that word."

"It seems like there are several definitions, otherwise I would laugh at Desire and Despair's pranks."

"That's different, their pranks are cruel. But don't you see what's funny about Halloween at all ?"

"Not really."

Knowing his stubborn side, Y/N didn't insist, simply shrugging her shoulders. She wouldn't have been against celebrating it with him, but it didn't matter if they didn't do anything that night. In any case, the king of dreams was too busy for this kind of thing. It was already a miracle that he found time for her in his schedule.

She should have been wary, because it wasn't normal for Dream to give up on a debate so easily. Not only did he have the right not to understand, but Y/N had to agree with him.

The nightmare didn't last long. Y/N wondered if she had screamed as loudly in her bed as in her dream she found herself facing this huge, dark monster trying to catch her. She had never been so scared in her entire life.

"Happy Halloween." the thing said, grabbing her in its hand.

"… Morpheus ?!"

"Yes. I still don't see the funny side. Can you explain it to me ?"

"… It's not funny ! Put me down and take back your normal form !"

"My 'normal' form as you say cannot be understood by mere mortals, what you see is just…"

"You know very well what I meant !"

Dream put her back on the ground and resumed his usual appearance, with his little pout. He was still waiting for an answer though.

After all, he had dressed up as a monster, and he had made a sort of farce at her, exactly as Halloween tradition required. It was obvious that Y/N had not wanted to laugh.

"There is a huge difference between dressing up and literally turning into a monster. People know that it is fake, that there is no risk, that is why it is funny."

"We are in a dream, and I will never hurt you. There was no risk."

"Dream…" Y/N sighed as she approached to caress his shoulders. "What if you came to the waking world so I could show you ? Hmm ?"

"… As long as I am with you, it will definitely be fun."

Next to Y/N who was wearing her best bunny costume, Morpheus continued to claim that he didn't really understand the point in seeing children running around in the street and adults playing pranks on each other.

But he smiled the whole time, never letting go of her hand, so he must have had a good time. And he seemed to enjoy her costume too, even if he showed it more with his hands than with words later.

[firefly--bright]

ur probably kinda sick of writing for th b99 au but can I request some fluff hcs pleeeeaaaseee I need something to balance out the angst

IM NOT SICK OF IT detective kirstein brainrot

- it's become like a tradition for the two of you to spend your dinner time together. it could be a really simple meal, sometimes some boring takeout but it would do, considering that almost the whole day was spent apart. soft music would be playing in the background while jean washed and cut the veggies, you'd boil some stock and get started on the noodles, you saying "she ramen on my soup till I noodle-" "she ramen on my noodle till I soup." "right, sorry, my bad." "yeah. get it right." and sometimes Connie crashes and then soon enough sasha and marco are also there and you're watching those terrible horror movies with cheap jumpscares. jean is a fucking crybaby about it you cannot convince me otherwise

- he's sitting beside you on the couch and Connies making fun of the ghost, sasha remarks on how bad she must smell which starts a whole debate between her and marco about if the outfit that people had on when they died was the same outfit that they'd have to spend their death days with, and jean is fully immersed in the movie, clutching a pillow and you try not to laugh at how he shifts closer to you. "it's fucking freezing in here." he says. "are u sure you're not just scared and want my protection?" "I'm. a grown man I don't know what you're talking about- FUCK." the last bit of his sentence was interrupted because the main character saw two glowing eyes in the corner or smth. grown man my ass. he holds you extra snuggly while falling asleep that night

- which is crazy considering his profession but it's so personal to me actually

- anyway, going back to the last post - he gets so pouty and clingy when he gets an unserious injury. like imagine he gets a cut on his thigh because he scraped it against a railing while chasing someone and he's exaggerating the story SO MUCH. "yeah and so I did a BACKFLIP-" "oh you can do those?" his chest puffs up, "yeah. duh. i can do a lot of things. and then I chased him down this alleyway and there was this grandma in one of the windows that saw me handcuff him and cheered for me." "I'm the grandma." you said, to which he replies, "yeah I like older women anyway." "WOW."

- he's arguing with eren on the job ALL THE TIME. back to when you two met, eren was looking around your appartment Just In Case and jean was SUPPOSED to be asking you relevant questions like "where were you yesterday morning?" to which you answered "I was in my room, getting ready for the day." "oh? I'm sure you looked great-" "oh." "i mean, like, I'm sure - like, you look great right now too. i mean, you. yeah. you're 👍" "thank you, detective." and eren has to butt in, "sorry, my partner usually just mouths off without thinking- "I do NOT." "thats why we call him hors-" "KILL YOURSELF YOU FUCKING BIRD."

great introduction, jean. he's kind of surprised that you even acknowledged him, IN PUBLIC CAUGHT IN 4K because he was so sure he blew it (he kinda did but it was really amusing and you kinda just wanted to talk to him because seeing him flustered was really funny and cute)

also!! bonus texts ;)

:D

(final hc - he listens to the most cuntiest songs while solving stuff. like he's filing paperwork while listening to 360 by Charli xcx)

[shenlis-spear]

THE LEGEND OF SHEN LI 与凤行, 2024

⇢ starring: zhao liying, lin gengxin

If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more. (I'm talking about The Legend of Shen Li)

Let me preface this by saying I'm biased. And it's been a million years since I tried to put my thoughts into writing so this is gonna be all over the place and long-winded. And probably wouldn't make any sense. So here it goes.

I really enjoyed The Legend of Shen Li. Do I love it? With all my charred heart. Do I think it's the best drama this year? It's still April. It's hard to say. Are Shen Li and Xing Zhi the best power couple? This shouldn't even be a debate.

Honestly, I didn't even plan to chase this drama while it's ongoing because I binge watching drama is what I enjoy best. However, I was bored. And The Legend of Shen Li's trailer looked interesting. And my heart still needs healing from the mess of an ending that is Princess Agents. I needed closure. So I started watching the drama, and boy oh boy did it drag me down one hell of a roller coaster ride of emotions every single night. (No, I'm not complaining.)

However, before I talk about the things that I really loved about the drama, I have some things to say about the stuff that kind of irked me. Because no drama is perfect (unless it's Nirvana in Fire).

So let me get started on the things that I feel like the drama could've done better.

Musical scoring - the OST's? Chef's kiss. However, they way they're putting music on the scenes are a hit and miss. Most of the time it just distracts me from the scene and I just get bored with the mv-ish scene. I wish cdramas especially custom ones would stop this. I don't need 5 mins of the leads staring at each other in all angles accompanied by a really nice song. I'm here to watch a drama. Although, I kinda did get used to it in the latter episodes (specifically ep35-38) because I definitely needed a minute or two to process the emotions.

The progression of the story - One thing. I'm confused. Not to the point that "I don't understand the plot confusing" but still confusing nonetheless. There was no consistency in the scenes and the dialogues. (Ex fishing village). There was no flow. I feel like someone messed up the storyboard and when they edited the scenes they were also confused. Or maybe this is the issue of the translation of the dialogue? I don't even know. Still, I definitely think this part could've been done better.

The internal monologues - sigh when I said the thing I love most in dramas are their dialogues I don't mean what's happening in The Legend of Shen Li. The characters just talk (or think?) too damn much I can't keep up. They're supposed to be the characters whom their actions should tell the story but the way they're narrating the whole plot to me is just so jarring. Am I watching a drama or listening to an audiobook? Sometimes I can't tell. I wish they'd tone it down but it just got worse with the later episodes.

The camera - this is just me being nitpicky but there are some random camera angles especially the spinning ones that probably is supposed to make the scene dramatic but all it did was make me wanna vomit.

This is not in any way, shape, or form hating on the drama because I genuinely enjoyed it. I've deluded myself into waiting for a Princess Agents S2 but I got a better deal and had Zhao Liying and Lin Gengxin to reunite in a new project which is better in my opinion because Princess Agents is a hot mess. There was really no saving that one.

So moving on to the things I like! But like, where do I even start?

First of all, Zhao Liying and Lin Gengxin. Chemistry so good, they had to be casted in another drama. Everything about them was just so perfect for the drama and the role. Could not ask for a more perfect casting than them. The 7 year wait was almost worth it.

The WOMEN! - so much room for improvement regarding the characters but I loved that the women were not treated as damsels who always needed saving. I have to say 5 1/2 braincells were working throughout the drama, 2 from Shen Li, 1 from You Lan, 1 from Jin Niang Zi and 1 from Shen Mu Yue (1/2 from Xing Zhi because he's too unbothered if it's not related to Shen Li).

Shen Li - might not be the best female character in cdramaland but I think she can hold her own place. She's stubborn, a bit reckless but she's loyal and righteous. She's a strong woman without being a stereotypical cold and ruthless strong woman. Shen Li is a strong woman at the same time also a mad woman in love. She does not have to be one or the other. The more I write this the more I'm falling in love with her character. You just don't find a character like her. She is Shen Li. A capable general. A strong leader. An empathetic comrade. A respectful student. A woman in love. She is not just one of them but all of them.

Lin Gengxin is pretty believable playing as an ancient god. He has that air around him that screams your highness. He played the lofty and aloof Xing Zhi to perfection.

And what can I even say about Zhao Liying? As always miss ma'am played Shen Li perfectly. Whimsical, stubborn, in love and devasted in love, you can feel all those emotions just watching her eyes.

It has angst but not too much that we as viewers would spend multiple episodes pulling out hair of frustration about the misunderstandings and accidental killings. (Not a shade to any specific drama but just to the xanxia genre in general). It has the perfect balance of angst, romance and comedy. You laugh, cry and giggle all in one episode. The comic relief scenes are naturally funny and doesn't feel forced. Zhao Liying and Lin Gengxin's comedic timing are 👌.

The conflict was handled maturely and the confession was direct but still heart fluttering. Throughout the drama, they both got their heads perfectly placed on their shoulders.

The last episode! Let us talk about the last episode because when has a drama provided that kind of fan service just making one whole episode of shenanigans and fluff. After going through the angst, the reward that is the last episode is just too good and definitely worth all the tears.

Also, can we talk about Dong Jie's guest role? I know miss ma'am is good but when I tell you I cried for a minute because of her story arc? Just hands up and mic drop. So so good!

Now that all of these are out of my system, hopefully I can move on to the next obsession, whatever that may be. I'll still probably watch episode 39 on a daily basis though. It's just too enjoyable and it makes my day. Will probably, revisit this "review" in the future and update it because I'm aware that at this point it's not making a lot of sense.

RATING: 9/10 REWATCH VALUE: 10/10 definitely would watch again! ACTING: 10/10 CATEGORY: GUILTY PLEASURE

[mar3ggiata]

professional help, c24. Christmas.

simon riley x original character.

trigger warnings: violence, sexual assault, mentions of rape, trauma, sexual themes, swearing, use of alcohol and drugs.

song to listen to when reading this: La sera dei miracoli, Lucio Dalla.

abstract: It's Christmas. it's Alba, I'm better now. I know you weren't expecting all that sweetness last chapter hu? brace yourselves, this one is even worse (literally nothing happens). anyway, I'm a fucking chef.

It was December 24th. She spent all day cooking and cleaning. It was surreal, she had come to life again to be the perfect housewife. She woke up at seven, took Jinx out, who was very happy to see her run with him and play fetch in the park. She cleaned her apartment, she did the laundry, swept the floors. She turned on the humidifier, put in lavender essential oil inside (yes, she really liked lavender). She proceeded to start cooking after lunch, she did dessert first. She made a simple chocolate cake that didn't require an extensive preparation and didn't need to rest. It was meant to have a fragrant external crust and be softer inside. She put on some music, she was singing along, she had her whole fridge restocked with fresh ingredients for Christmas dinner. She was a whole different person. It was probably too much food for two people. Two people as in her and Simon. He did, unbelievable I know, agree to Christmas dinner at her house in the end. 'Sure, okay', he had said, probably too embarrassed to say no in that moment. He had nowhere to go anyways… She asked him if he was allergic to anything, she was gonna make sure to add it to her shopping list. He said strawberries. She told him to bring wine, white wine. Goes with fish, cause yes, she was gonna cook fish. In Italy they don't eat meat the day before Christmas, a religious deal. She was going to have a fish based menu, it sounded fancy and she wanted to impress him. It was the first time she had ever had anyone over at her apartment. Salvo didn't count cause he was practically her brother and they usually had instant ramen together. She wanted to make a good impression, she hosted quite a few big dinners when she was in uni, hundreds with Salvo, and when she visited his family in San Francisco she always helped setting the table all pretty and cooking with his mom. She prepped two large cod fillets by marinating them with a few herbs and lemon. She checked on the cake, trying not to have Jinx jump inside the oven to eat it. She was almost anxious to have Simon over, not because of the fact he was who he was, but mainly for the cooking, and the menu and her apartment which was small and not too great…

He showed up exactly at eight, the time they had agreed upon. He had a bottle of wine in one hand, a box of chocolates in the other. Cause what the fuck are you supposed to bring for a Christmas dinner? Let alone, Christmas dinner at her house, them two together. He couldn't show up empty handed… Or maybe he could, he wasn't sure, he wasn't used to this. He debated on cancelling on her, he thought about it all week. He didn't have her phone number and he didn't want to ask Price, it would have sounded suspicious. He had to stop showing up at her workplace, so that was a no. Showing up at her house just to tell her that he wasn't going to that stupid Christmas dinner was gonna be even weirder. She had asked him in the worst timing possible, she had been crying and nearly got killed, he didn't feel like upsetting her further. And he had to come up with an excuse as well, one that wasn't that he hated Christmas for reasons he couldn't tell her. Last time he celebrated was so long ago he didn't even remember, he usually spent it at base, or drinking alone until he fell asleep. He sometimes went back to Manchester, though he stopped for a while. It was a time of sadness, a time of sorrow and deep anger. He didn't want to talk, he didn't want to eat, he wanted to be alone in his grief. He got the stupid chocolates cause he wanted to be polite, and he used to bring chocolates to his nephew back in the day when he went to see him… The only thing that kept him from cancelling was the fact that she was alone as well, for Christmas. He felt like he could endure an awkward dinner, so she wouldn't be alone. He felt out of place, he walked away from base like he was sneaking out. And he kinda hated himself for it, he was sure many men would have been be thrilled to be invited to dinner by someone like Alba. He didn't look the part. He wasn't made for that, and he wasn't going to change.

When she opened the door he knew he was doomed. The house smelled heavenly, there was music playing, the lamps were giving the living room a fait and tender orange aura. She was standing there, smiling. She had her hair up tied with a hair clip, she was wearing a black t-shirt and sweats. She was dressed to spend a night in, but still looked extremely put together. She looked gorgeous, that is. At her feet, Jinx was trying to get out the door and whining for attention. She said hi and let him step in. She was thanking him for the wine and telling him to put the jacket on the sofa. When he noticed the table he understood how much of a mistake going there was. She was fucking too much, she was unbelievable. What the actual fuck did I get myself into…

There were two tablecloths on the kitchen isle, a cotton one and a paper one, the ones you can throw away after use. She had drawn on the white paper with a black sharpie. She had drawn two plate shapes, two round shapes where the wine glasses stood and wrote 'Simon' on the side. He stood petrified looking at his name in that beautiful cursive handwriting, the letters majestically floating just above the plate shape. 'Alba' was written in the same handwriting on the other side of the isle. Simon and Alba. He didn't belong there�� 'I saw it on Instagram', she said, circling him and getting to the fridge. 'The drawings', she added once she noticed he was still standing in the middle of the living room. He managed to swallow the lump in his throat and put down the wine and chocolate. 'Oh, thanks, these look nice.' She took the box and inspected the flavours list. She would tell him later that dessert was covered… She gave him a bottle opener while she got the appetisers from the fridge. 'So this is hummus I made, and this is a ricotta cheese spread with basil and honey', she set two plates on the counter in front of him. She had two types of tortilla chips in a little bowl, and in another plate, cucumber and carrots to dip in the whatever she had made. She set everything in front of him and finally stopped to properly look at him for a second. He looked incredibly lost. He looked small, he clearly was out of his comfort zone. He looked out of place, behind him was her small home library and her paintings on the wall, he looked like a fish out of water. She let her sight linger on the features that weren't covered by the black mask. His messy hair, his forehead, his cheekbones. His nose looked more crooked than usual, his eyes a mixture of frightened and surprised. For a second she thought the drawing was too much, or maybe the food was too fancy for him. She quickly changed her mind, the hummus was fucking amazing and homemade, what more did he want uh? Plus, she had pasta and fish to serve, it's not like he would starve…

'Sit down.' It was an order, but her voice was too soft to sound intimidating. Jinx had immediately started bothering him, trying to get him to give him some food. 'You can take off your mask, I'll turn around.' He looked at her turn to the stove, getting a pan and removing something from it, then he heard the sizzling of onion or garlic or something like that? She was moving like a professional, chopping stuff and stirring what looked like spaghetti… He didn't know how to feel, it was like he stepped into another reality. The smell of fish and rosemary, the faint music, her. She had turned around so he could eat. It was considerate of her, no? He tried the hummus, which was very nice and spicy. The other dip was fresh and aromatic, a good balance of sweet and sour, he was impressed. 'You're not gonna eat?' She didn't turn around. 'Yeah later, this is just appetisers.' He nodded even though she couldn't see him. She took the lead of the conversation. 'What wine did you get?' He quickly grabbed the bottle and started opening it, so he could keep himself busy. 'Hum… chardonnay?' he said. 'Good choice.' He wanted to tell her it was probably a cheap bottle. He realised he should have gotten a better one. He should have gotten more chocolates and maybe something else, he wasn't at her level. She strained the pasta. He asked her if Jinx could have a chip, she said only a small piece. 'Can I turn around?'

Now, he really didn't expect she would ask. He didn't really eat around people, when he drank in public settings like a pub, he kept his mask on his nose or made sure to have it on most of the time. She already saw half of his face when they ate that burger together. He thought about it for what felt like hours, deep down he wanted to be normal, he wanted to feel at ease and just relax for a second, she had even asked him permission... He put his mask back on and told her to turn around. When she did, she placed a pan on the table. 'Calabrese', she said. 'It's from a region in the south of Italy, I had a roommate that was from there.' She served him a good portion of spaghetti, topping them with the sauce that was at the bottom of the pan. 'Melted anchovies, chilli pepper, tomatoes…', she grabbed a small bowl, '…toasted breadcrumbs and basil, which are optional but recommended.' She raised her eyes to look at him, in sitting quietly on the small stool with is shoulders curved foreword. 'I can go eat on the sofa if you want, it's not a problem.' She wanted him to trust her really bad. The fact that he had that fame of unbreakable soldier with a hard past intrigued her, she wanted to know him and she felt like she had the power to do so. She was polite, she was respectful of his boundaries, she was understanding and would not push him. She wanted him to feel alright in her presence.

He felt that from the way she was talking to him. He felt dizzy and uncomfortable, she was putting him in a position of complete control over the situation, she was giving him a choice and offering to keep his face concealed, his identity protected. Protected from what, he wasn't at war, fucking hell. He was with the girl he had thought about at night, truth be told. He was with Alba who he had talked to before, in situations in which he went to see her because he craved her presence. He was with her right that second. She had cooked all that just for him, she let him into her house, him specifically and only him, her fucking dog was licking his shoe right that second.

'No you can stay', he slowly peeled off his mask and put it aside.

'There's your name written on the table.'

notes: nice… pasta recipe soon?? also December 24 and it's chapter 24, guys I'm a witch.

notes: i hope you liked the' first hug' moment in the last chapter and this kinda first moment alone together. a reminder, these two have a enemies to colleagues to major enemies to lovers kinda trope sooooo... I don't know, we'll see what happens I guess, I have a few more chapters written down and then it's season two. we'll just have to wait and see eheheheh. love y'all.

taglist:

@ghostlythots @sweetfemmefatal @natxpat @chavarriakeren647 @ravenmoore14 @farther-than-pleiades @internallyscreamings @hwromi @atoxicrat @cuti3maddi3 @deafeningkittenblaze @its-celeste @serene-hills @lexidoll12 @poohkie90 @lunatiquess

@warmedbythebody @katzykat @iristhemuse @azkza @keiraslayz @abbyandermine @jennyjencakes @dest-nai @corset-briefs @nutze-kekse @ilytsukiw @b3anspr0ut

@pondsblog @missyouzoe @fallenkitten @bigauthorrascalturkey @bethtay @angelynn-nicole @starluv @stargirlisworld @giyuuslittleslut @impossiblecupcakelight

@rkrivees-blog @ghosts-hoe @kam1snotverysmart @gauky76 @freyjaaasstuff @spicyspicyliving @scottpilgrimvsmyfists @courtney0-0 @shinchanboi @darling006 @my-therapist-hates-me

[witchofthesouls]

I wish to ramble about human/cybertronian and sparks/sparking.

Humans obviously have no sparks of their own, but I imagine a deeply in love cybertronian may naturally “open up” to attempt a spark merge regardless (that’s gotta be an awkward conversation later). Maybe even on purpose if there is enough love and trust, and want them to touch or even kiss their spark chambers.

Alternatively, humans DO produce very faint electrical pulses. Maybe cybertronians can “feel” their human partners souls like this, albeit very faintly.

Oh-ho! A very romantic or philosophically-inclined mecha would think that way, especially since humans don't have a literal spark in their chests.

But the general consensus leans more that humans have a really primitive form of EM field interaction compared to a Cybertronian. Yes, humans do have electromagnetic fields. However, their bodies/song is too damn chaotic to properly anchor or mimic, but a mecha can definitely "speak" with a human in that way of non-verbal language. Think of it as a mix of gut reaction, first impression, and "reading a room." Some humans are better than others. Some are complete bricks. But practice will make it easier to understand certain cues.

While I think it's hilarious that a Cybertronian could accidentally open their chassis as they're getting down, I'm willing to bet that doesn't happen. I say that because it's their literal embodiment of their essence. Humans still debate about the existence of a soul, but Cybertronians have a truth grounded in their own physicality, soooo-

Unless a Cybertronian was mentally/emotionally/medically compromised, it's going to be a serious talk between partners because it's a really vulnerable form of intimacy. Unlike how Cybertronian's ability to control their field, a spark is inherently honest.

But could you imagine the byplay of light and shadow with an open spark chamber? The way tendrils would wrap around fingers, kiss palms, seek out wrists, and splay over skin in a lazy, searching motion to teek out their biochemistry? The feeling of heated metal, vibrations, and a searing brightness of swirling, eddying colors as it tries, very well, to mimic your own heart? (I'm pretty sure a human would need a visor to protect their eyes, but damn, absolutely worth it!)

[themoonandtheprincess]

More Chase/Kaz headcanons

•Kaz is very much into alternative music, albeit more popular bands like Fall Out Boy and Rise Against. Spike is into it too but leaning more metalcore and screamo.

°It freaks Adam the fuck out when he goes down to the lab and finds Spike jamming out to some Ice Nine Kills while training.

°Although Adam and Kaz do find it funny because in "Communion of the Cursed" one of their lyrics is literally "Get on your knees and prove your worth."

°Speaking of Spike, Chase learns to control him a lot better when they're older so he doesn't come out as much anymore, but that leaves the times Spike does come out into full blown tantrums.

°Chase would never admit it out loud but that part of him does need attention too and really only comes out when Spike doesn't feel like he's getting enough.

°Kaz has learned that the only way to get through to Spike is to talk calmly to him and as he would to Chase. Which he just sees Spike as a part of his boyfriend, no different.

•Adam is big into country music but he's not elitist about it. In fact, he would love the "This ain't Texas" Beyoncé song.

•There isn't an Elite Force for long. Mighty Med eventually gets rebuilt and Kaz realizes he can't save the heroes if he's being one.

°It might stem from insecurity about not being sure he can 100 percent control his powers or that he's just more comfortable doing the background work.

°Either way, it's all a group decision to split the Elite Force, although Skylar with join Bree on missions sometimes.

°Kaz would be lying if he didn't admit he missed being a part of a team, but being part of Mighty Med soon became a team to him and even a family.

•Somehow, I'm not sure how, they are connected to the Henry Danger universe.

•Kaz "proposed" to Chase with a RingPop like all cringe babygays.

•Their actual wedding had A-list superheroes and company owners, much to Chase chagrin who wanted a small wedding.

•But Kaz made it up to him by flying him across the city and to the Bionic Island.

°Which, it was the thought that counts because Chase is terrified of heights.

•So I don't know if this is obvious, buy the Davenport kids aren't robots. They're humans just with bionic abilities. So I'm guessing in the way I'm seeing things their chips are sorta like a prosthetic if that make sense. I don't know. Feel free to correct me.

°If we're going by that sense of logic, then having bionic chips for super speed or what have you would become more common in the future, albeit for rich people.

°It definitely would make Chase insecure that there are more bionic people but also feel more welcomed into the world then standing on the outside. As for Adam and Bree too.

°But these newer bionics have upgraded systems and overall better functioning for them. They don't glitch as often, rarely with this new tech rolling out, and it embrasses all three of them when they glitch in public because of how old their chips are getting.

°Speaking of glitching, although Kaz isn't an engineer, anytime any one of the glitches he will take them back to the mansion to help Davenport and combine engineering with his medical knowledge. And as they get older it only gets worse.

°Once on a mission, all three of them simultaneously glitched and Kaz could hear it on his radio to them. He immediately called an ambulance to Mighty Med. Although Skylar yelled at him for not just flying over there.

•Kaz is CONVINCED Tony Stark once came in for his reactor messing up.

•When they're in their early 20's, Kaz shoots up taller than Chase to around Adam's height but he likes to joke he's secretly Elastic-Man and be any height he wants.

•Kaz refuses to take a side on the DC/Marvel debate although he will talk for HOURS about how the MCU is deteriorating.

•Skylar and Bree have some pretty sick cosplays of Vision and Wanda though while Kaz goes as Captain America and Chase goes as Bucky Barnes.

°Leo goes as Loki and tries to convince Adam to go as Thor but he goes as Groot instead. And of course, Donald goes a millionaire Playboy Tony Stark.

•Kaz is, of course, everyone's personal heater but he can not stand any of the eighty blankets Chase keeps around him to sleep.

°So they made a deal, only, like, two blankets but to keep them on Chase's side, that way Kaz can still be his personal heater.

•Kaz hates summer but he loves the pool... just not what it does to his powers. (Not to mention it takes an hour or two to come back.)

•Once, to piss Kaz off on his birthday, Chase individually wrapped each page of a comic book.

°But it was better than the time he used actual comic book pages as wrapping paper.

•Chase and Adam have autism while Kaz has ADHD.

•All three of the Davenkids can NOT sleep in darkness. Probably because they grew up sleeping in capsule, but neither can Kaz or Skylar. Kaz because obviously his powers are fire ability and it would scare him shitless if he woke up randomly in the middle of the night and couldn't summon a flame. And Skylar because it's just how she grew up on her planet.

°Chase figured out a way he wouldn't need to sleep in his capsule anymore but still sometimes does one for familiarity, two for when he's mad at Kaz.

•Also, all Davenkids have done animal therapy at least once (including Leo) and actually got it integrated into Mighty Med. That's how most of the superheroes ended up with their animal sidekicks.

•As he gets older Kaz accepts he's not going to be on the frontlines as a superhero but begins to get comfortable with that as he becomes more concerned with being a doctor.

•Kaz sometimes gets full on Will Solace from Percy Jackson mode. "Doctor's orders" and literally having to drag Chase away from his projects to go to sleep.

Let me know if you guys want more of these!

[stabs-cake-with-salieris-dagger]

Recently I've made some interesting and surprising findings about mor that seem lesser known in the fandom (or maybe I just don't dig deep enough) Also I accidentally hit ctrl z while almost finishing up the post that I spent the past hour or so typing and it deleted most of what I've typed......... with tears I retyped everything again SIGH (resulting in me not proofreading any of this) 1. So I remember seeing somewhere that says mor has both Mozart and Salieri's compositions, which I thought it was false because it's all Mozart as far as I know. Until one day I actually looked at the credit a bit closer and found this:

This is the music that plays before victime de ma victoire. Mozart wrote fortepiano variations at 17 years old of Salieri's aria, so they really just used Mozart's version of Salieri's piece from one of his most popular operas???? It made me kind of mad but also this felt like a meta commentary considering it's associated with victime de ma victoire scene. It's a self aware song where Salieri is regretting, trying to come to terms of what he's done, and 'predicting' his failure. It serves as a commentary of the whole Mozart and Salieri matter beyond the scope of the show and ends in "J'ai perdu pour l'Histoire (I lost for history)." In this case it does feel like Salieri is being pushed aside in one of the worst possible ways, and I really wish some of his music could have made their ways into the musical properly. 2. I found a Playbill article talking about mor being in the middle of being adapted into English for Broadway in 2012...... which honestly I'm really glad it failed because I don't have faith that it'd be good. There's already the example of tdv, and the way they talk about it just doesn't seem... great, such as “bring shape and focus to the musical for American audiences” and "When the French write musicals, a lot of their songs are written like pop singles placed contiguous to each other, while on Broadway, it's necessary to have a storyline and a semblance of relationship.” Pop French musical isn't everyone's cup of tea and that's of course normal but the way it sounds like they're going to really Americanize it and rewrite it majorly and by storyline and relationship I take they mean needing musical motifs, reprises, and such. Just makes me feel they should just write a whole new musical?? And maybe it's just me but the tone sounds a little patronizing too? Though I do wish they could have released the cd and dvd in North America just because I'm Canadain lol Also curious if there was a time staging mor in Quebec would have been viable. 3. I spend too much of my time watching mor clips, but I've somehow never looked at performances pre proshot until recently. There were a few changes in the ~2 month (if my memory serves) between premiere and first proshot made to vivre a en crever that surprised me. First 2 screenshots from this video, and the rest from this one.

First of all, no handshake at on se reverra???? It's giving 2 bros chilling in the hot tub 5 feet apart cuz they're not gay

This is a little hard to see but Salieri is kneeling beside the wall as Mozart departs and it had me screaming ;; I know Laurent did kneel but I didn't know it was a thing in the French tour. This video gives a sliiiightly clearer silhouette of him kneeling but he's also blocked by Cavalieri.

Constanze running up to grab Mozart and refuse to let him go really had me by surprise and it's so heart breaking ;;;; I've been debating whether I like this better or the one that they ended up using where she just reaches out to him from the bed, because it kind of changes the tone of the scene.

Anyway thanks for reading if you've gotten this far. There's so many analysis posts I'd like to do but I simply don't have the energy to.... but if anyone wants to talk about analysis I'm more than happy to ramble lol

[foundationsofdecay]

TDH x Sleep Token #2

Vital Vessels Vindicate is another song from The Dear Hunter that I think resonates a lot with some of Sleep Token's imagery and thematic elements, and not just because of the name of the track.

This post is heavily localized in terms of the lyrics I'm looking at, so while as always I do recommend it, this post will read fine whether you've listened to it or not.

I'm just going to focus on one chunk of lyrics this time, which is the extension of the final chorus, leading into the outro.

We fall beneath the sea of dreams And fail to breathe, until we resurface We fall beneath the sea of dreams And fail to breathe, until we awaken again

So... lots to unpack here. Let's talk about Vessel, death, and choking underwater.

We can see, right off the bat, how this mirrors some of the themes brought up time and time again in Sleep Token's first(!) trilogy of albums, most notably with TPWBYT but we can find this echoed in the other albums as well. Drawing from TPWBYT to start, consider these lines from the very first song on the album, Atlantic:

So flood me like Atlantic, bandage up the trenches, anything to get me to sleep [...] Don't wake me, Don't wake me, Don't wake me up

There can be some debate whether Vessel wants to go sleep or to Sleep, but in either case, yes, it's not just that he is being dragged under like he's being unwillingly swept out and down by a deceptive and powerful current. He wanted this, from the start. He begs to stay asleep, flooded and frozen but in a manner that is its own cold embrace. Whether you consider the trenches to be a metaphor for self-inflicted injuries, or look at it from a lore perspective, it's exactly this. Bandage up the trenches, I don't care, trap me underneath or keep me from falling deeper but just let me be, just let me sleep. I don't want to be here anymore.

Fallen into this sea of dreams, and even as it keeps him from caring to his body's most basic needs, he would rather "crumble like a temple" and "[break] into fractions" than ever wake up. Sleep is the one comfort he has, these dreams are the only thing that he can find any solace or joy in and he'd do anything to have it.

This, in and of itself, is like a self-directed death threat, to those around him trying to wake him up, but he'd "rather be six feet under than be lonely". What is death, really, in the face of these desires? Why would he ever choose to resurface and breathe again? After all, according to High Water, he's confident that he can "hold [his] breath forever". In this, we also have an alternate possibility; if Vessel were to simply hold his breath forever, perhaps he would be able to live forever, sustained by dreams and thus Sleep Itself. Death would be irrelevant, in that scenario, or at least it would feel that way. Effectively, though, they would be one and the same.

Here's the thing, though... even if he thinks he can, he doesn't hold his breath forever. This is depicted in Take Me Back To Eden:

We dive through crystal waters Perfect oceans But no one told me not to breathe And now the weightlessness recedes

There's an abrupt shift, here. He's taken too early of a breath, and perhaps this was a mistake on his part, but the dream is over now. The illusion of this endless embrace with Sleep has been thoroughly shattered. Now, he must decide if he is going to keep falling further and let the ocean swallow him whole, or if he will try to resurface and take a true breath of air, instead of inhaling this salt-loaded sea water where it will permeate his lungs and his stomach, so deeply entrenched that nothing can wash it out entirely. In fact, he's already taken one breath underwater, possibly several, by the time he does resurface (if you believe that he did at all). It's already begun.

There is, however, a glimmer of hope in all of this. In Rain, Vessel understands that situation, he finally can see the damage that was done both to and by him, and he desperately wants to be washed clean. The salt on his hands aren't the half of it, and he seems to realize that now. The remnants of this time aren't just on him, it's inside of him, practically part of his very being at this point, just as entwined with him as he is with Sleep.

It's true that he's been ordered to remain awake for the foreseeable future, that what happened in Atlantic can never happen again, but that's nothing compared to this. He can leave the sea, can leave that situation behind him, but the remnants and their effects still cling to him and continue to harm him.

He's tipping his head back, not just spreading his arms out but opening his mouth wide to drink it all in. Asking to be cleansed with pleasure, not just on the surface level of his skin, but completely saturated. This, he's saying, is what will truly heal him.

[iheartmomochi]

giving the dearvo characters akb48 A-sides

Some of these might not exactly fit the vibe of the vocalists’ band style because akb is an idol group. This is very self indulgent as i just love idols and need to relate idols to all my other interests. I’m also a fairly new akb fan which is why i limited this to just a-sides! All the lyrics I use are taken directly from studio48

reodo -> ハート・エレキ | heart ereki (33rd single)

When passionate blood / Pounds through my body / My feelings go crazy / Can I gather them / In one finger? / If you notice / That you're loved / Let me know the truth!

For some reason I had the hardest time deciding what song to give reodo. Heart electric is definitely the slowest paced /least intense song on this list. Don’t really have much to say other than just listen to the song and imagine reo singing it.

joshua -> 10年桜 | 10nen zakura (11th single)

Somewhere the cherry blossom petals / Dance lightly in the wind / As someone flaps their wings / And heads out on their own / I want to be able to protect you even more

oldest akb single and most idol-IDOL-sounding song on this is list (especially the opening and last verse). the chorus is a good mix of longing while still being powerful, which i think his voice would suit really well! also i’m sure someone out there can look at these lyrics and imagine a slowburn childhood-friends-to-lovers.

I was incredibly tempted to give romance irane to joshua but i decided against it mainly because of the lyrics of it. but i think the actual song would work for him.

judah - river (14th single)

Inside your heart too / A river is flowing / So painful, a river of trial / Maybe it doesn't go smoothly, even so / Sometimes you're almost drown, even so / It's OK to repeat again

originally i was debating between giving judah river or koi tsun jatta but after thinking it over, i think river is a better fit! river is such a unique song. it’s starts off with a chant before the instrumental hits riding off the intensity of the opening but the chorus is so heartfelt. i think this song is just the perfect amount of intensity for judah!

2you - 根も葉もRumor | Ne mo ha mo Rumor (58th single)

Rumor Rumor Rumor Oh / Make up a rumor / I'll accept it / I'm sure you'll get it one day / The future, the past, all will become a rumor

i'm not gonna act like i'm that familiar with yu's personality but even with my limited knowledge, i really feel like this song fits! just like what i wrote for reo, just listen to the song and imagine yu singing it and you’ll see what i mean.

momochi - 元カレです | moto kare desu (59th single)

I know that I am self centered / Even if I think about an "If" / The wish will be vain in the end / Maybe I am still in love with you even now / What's wrong with me

moto kare desu is a song from the perspective of an ex boyfriend who sees his ex girlfriend with a new guy. the main reason i picked this song for him is because of the meaning… i want to hear momochi sing lines like “it doesn't matter who the hell he is / If you are happy enough with someone else beside me.” The stage outfits would also look really nice on him In My Opinion.

A’ - UZA (28th single)

You should display love your own way / You don't have to consider the other person / It's okay to love the way you think you should love / And if you're lucky, you might be loved in return

Uza is a more edm-like song with a cool use of autotune throughout the song! the meaning behind the song is also…interesting. i don’t think the lyrics are entirely applicable to atan but this song would go very nice with his voice and fits his style imo. and like all the other songs i was really having a hard time picking between uza and no way man. the lyrics of no way man definitely feel more suited for atan since it’s an uplifting song and not a song about… well i’ll let these lyrics speak for themselves. “I don't care if you're my girlfriend or not / Every time I think of morals I black out”

i really love akb so let me do a quick plug. koi tsun jatta is the a-side of the latest akb single, the full single will come out july 17! it’s sato airi’s first time centering a senbatsu! one of my favorite akb members will be center for one of the b-sides on the single (Surechigau Shunkan)! please check it out if you are interested!

[inkbutterflyuniverse]

I discovered Mermaids Magic on Netflix (because it was recommended to me, I had no idea this existed before that). Keep in mind that at the moment I'm writing this, I only saw three episodes! (And there might be some light spoilers about these episodes in this post).

The first thing that came to my mind when I saw the extract that Netflix uses as a trailer was "It looks like the Winx". So I wasn't very surprised when I saw that it was by the Rainbow and Iginio Straffi.

The thing that made me think of the Winx was the way they were transforming, with the song. It immediately reminded me that!

So I began watching and I like it. I like the main girls designs, especially Merlinda's hair. I love that it's curly, and how it goes all over her face sometimes (like in episode 3, when they were going down in the basement, they went on her face). Nerissa's design is also really cool, and I love Sasha's colors! (Though I'm not a big fan of a face... I don't really know why...)

But these girls don't look like they are 16. And honestly, no one does. They all seem too short and to "kid" to be sixteen. I really thought they were something like twelve when I saw that "teaser". Maybe it's the big eyes and the rond face, but I wouldn't have guessed their age correctly if I had too.

Now, about other characters: I don't like the design of Alex? That's his name? Merlinda not-so-boyfriend, the guy at the portal. He really looks older than the girls and his nose is really big.

I like Celia and Tyler, they are cool, they have a nice design and I like their dynamic with the girls! Even if Celia is supposed to be the brain and Tyler the muscle, I like that Tyler is not dumb like we can sometimes see in kid shows. He seems to take seriously what the girls are going through, and I appreciate that he's not doing jokes on it, like Rory of Unicorn Academy would.

Now, about the other characters: Fred seems cool, I hope to see him more, as the tech guy! I like Chris, the big jock guy, I wonder if he likes Celia, but he seems nice, he just needs to distance his "friends"!

Now, about Fred's family: oh no who would have thought that his dad was a villain? Not me at all! We first saw the luxurious car, then a man with a costume saying that the building in front of them was his. They insisted that it was the most eco-friendly business, so we all know that when people say that, it's most likely not true in kids shows.

The storyline seems okay so far, I don't really have anything to say! Merlinda being the princess and main character doesn't seem to take more place than her friends, so I hope it will continue like this! We don't need another main character syndrome. Everyone needs to shine!

I like that Celia and Tyler are trying to help the girls. They don't let them do everything alone because "it's their quest/responsibility" or "you don't have powers".

I'm intrigued by the mother storyline, but I kinda wants her to be totally dead? Like, in the Winx, Bloom was like "my parents" for three whole season, then we got a movie to save them. Okay, why not. But then season 5 also made Daphné come back and it wasn't necessary. I liked her role in the sixth season as a teacher, but there wasn't any reason to made her come back. Especially while Musa wasn't allowed to bring her mom back by the Sirenix wish. But that's a debate for another post if needed xD

Well, I think that's all I needed to say. I will go back to the show, and share my thoughts when I watched more episodes!

[ceph-the-ghost-writer]

Magic System Inspiration Tag

The rules are simple: list the inspiration(s) for your WIP's magic system and, if you want, go into detail.

Tagged by @rosellemoon! Another innovative and interesting game to circulate. Had to really think about this one, and I'm still not sure I have any clear answers. Let's give it a go anyway.

Tagging @lividdreamz @blind-the-winds @vacantgodling @theimperiumchronicles @thatndginger @pluttskutt and leaving an open tag for anyone who might want to share.

Bits of culture/history: This is obvious maybe, but characters often build a practice around their backgrounds, or symbols, actions, and words that have significance to them, incorporating those into whatever methods they use to wield magic. Whether these things have objective power outside that context is besides the point (though that doesn't stop some characters from debating it). It's what it says about the one using it, especially the how and why.

Magic irl?: Some of the magic I write about is flashy, and its effects are evident. Other spells/workings can be extremely subtle, though. So subtle, in fact, that there's doubt whether they did anything at all. Was it just the power of suggestion? Someone seeing connections between unrelated events? Are results the end all be all, or does the true magic happen on other levels? Does it even matter really? These are concepts I like to tinker with sometimes. (The movie A Dark Song captures this pretty well, I think.)

D&D: While "magic" is a difficult concept to pin down, there are some broad categories people (mostly humans) divide it into. This is vaguely inspired by playing Dungeons & Dragons, along with other TTRPGs.

Witchcraft: A wide category that contains any traditions or practices that rely on working through "external" means: objects/materials, incantations, extensive knowledge of plants/animals/minerals/etc., or pacts/relationships with spirits and other non-human entities. Can encompass anyone from the local midwife to an Order of the Golden Dawn-style ritual magician. Despite its versatile applications and pool of practitioners, anything under this header is often seen as "lower". Supposedly because anyone could do it, or, more likely, because it benefits "higher" practitioners to create arbitrary divisions.

Sorcery: Wielded by people who have an innate power, usually over classical elements (earth, air, etc.), thanks to a piece of a dead god being embedded in their souls. More common on Arasind (high fantasy world) than Earth...for now. The cultures and nations of Arasind have various institutions and methods of honing the skills of sorcerers, mostly for military application. Within the Coven, all sorcerers are pressured to become enforcers or bounty hunters. Basically, if you can shoot lightning from your fingers or something, the people in charge desperately want you to do so on their behalf. Or...you simply become a person in charge. This is what's considered "higher" magic by some characters. Don't look too hard at the fact that something largely destructive and wielded by a few individuals born to it is considered superior. Probably means nothing.

Psychic powers: These are pretty rare, though most people will have a flash or two during their lifetime. Many who deal with them on a regular basis would agree they're often more trouble than they're worth. Well, except for psychic vampires and mind worms, who can do a lot more impressive, scary things with their skill sets.

Creature talents: These are magical skills that come naturally to non-humans (e.g. fey glamour, bloodborn hypnosis).

Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis and Patternmaster, The Neverending Story by Ende, as well as Le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea: I think about these works a lot. There's no detailed rules to the magic/supernatural elements in them (at least that I know of), but none are needed. Magic or the fantastical isn't there to solve the characters' problems, or tie the plot up with a neat little bow. The fantasy stories I like best aren't escapes. They invite me to look at myself and the world around me in a different way. I can only hope my own writing reflects little glimmers of that feeling here and there.

[austerlitzborodinoleipzig]

Favorite Programs of 2023/2024 - Women's SP

I'm debating calling it a good year. There's actually a lot of programs on that list but would i call them masterpieces ? Not really, at least not all of them. While all these programs are good they're not groundbreaking. I feel like most of the field spent the season honing in their particular brand, or aesthetic, not doing that much of exploring with some exceptions.

Honorable mentions

Clare Seo (Simple Gifts) - NOT a Quaker song, thank you very much but a Shaker song (it's another Christian sect tho). I like it very much. I like the music, and Clare has gorgeous posture and musicality. It's very much Americana but I found it fresh.

Mao Shimada (Americano) - costume is the cutest thing. It's chock full of delightful moments and transitions. Looses points because the step sequence has imho too much of two-foot skating and stop-and-pause moments, but that's a recurring problem with Kaitlyn Weaver's choreo.

Seoyeong Wi (Pride and Prejudice) - perfect packaging for a young debuting skater and I'm surprised it's not picked more often.

Rino Matsuike (One Day I'll Fly Away) - One day Rino will choose music that is not a warhorse. Meanwhile I'll enjoy arguably the best skating skills of the field.

9th - Yu-Feng Tsai - Copycat, by Billie Eilish, choreo by Jun-Fei Ren

Arguably the best choreo in the junior field. Fun. Sassy. Unlike anything else seen this season. Okay, yes it was Billie Eilish but it was a song that's not usually picked, it was fresh and it was good.

8th - Niina Petrokina - Run, by Marvin Brooks, choreo by Mark Pillay

I liked her previous SP better, and I'm not that fond of the music but Niina wins this by sheer commitment to the performance. One of the skaters where the whole body is involved, especially during the step sequence. That's what the GOE bullets are supposed to reward.

7th - Young You - Otono Porteno, by Astor Piazzolla, choreo by Tom Dickson.

The attitude, the sass, the steps, THAT SPLIT JUMP. She did the right thing bringing it back.

6th - Haein Lee - Seirenes, by Christopher Tin, choreo by Lori Nichols and Carolina Kostner

First rule we should live by after this season : whenever Carolina and Lori are involved, they strike gold. Happened to Yuma, happened to Haein. Seirenes is eerie, moody and a very good vehicle for Haein. She had us worried for a moment but did the right thing bringing it back.

5th - Jia Shin - Fascination, by Fermo Marchetti, choreo by David Wilson

I never really got Jia until this season. This is I think her first program that made me go : "okay. I see now why other fans are obsessed with her skating. I get it". If you asked me, I would stop giving Jia twee instrumental pieces and moody ballads and give her waltzes, more classical pieces. Jia has the musicality to keep up those kinds of tempi. She has the lines to express that kind of music. She has the flow to match the rythm. The transitions in and out of her 2A ? Stuff dreams are made of.

With Fascination, I love the music, I love Jia in it, I love watching her hitting those notes, I love her inside edge Ina Bauer during her step sequence... I'm a new fan.

4th - Hana Yoshida - Koo Koo Fun, by Lazer Disk, choreo by Kaitlyn Weaver

I'm fascinated with the way Hana picks her programs because her choices are immaculate. For two seasons straight, down to her gala programs, Hana has picked bangers after bangers. Koo Koo Fun is outside the box, funny, stands out musically, the choreo is quirky...

Doesn't make it straight to the top because every time she skated to it, I found Hana a little bit too stiff for the vibe the program requires. She needs to skate with more abandon and fun and that will only come with experience. Her mind is already there, her body needs to follow.

3rd - Yelim Kim - Ladies in Lavender, by Nigel Hess, choreo by Jeffrey Buttle

I don't remember who on this website said that Yelim's skating makes them believe in a better world, but I do agree. There's something healing in her skating. Right now there's no skater in the field that can match the elegance and quiet dignity of Yelim's skating.

2nd - Loena Hendrickx - I'm Ninalu, by Mors Avraham, choreo by Adam Solya

Loena at her very best and when she's on she pisses everywhere on the stage. I honestly don't get the complaints about doing too much party programs. As long as she serves it as hard as she does, she can take us to the club anytime she wants. I don't care about versatility if a skater has found a niche they do extremely well.

1st - Kaori Sakamoto - Baby God Bless You, by Shinya Kyozuka, choreo by Jeffrey Buttle

Forget what i just said. Kaori wins it but virtue of trying and succeeding in bringing in a new style. The concept is cute. Skating to the string version is the superior choice, as the music is more climatic than with the piano version. And the step sequence shows how above the field Kaori is right now.

[autisticempathydaemon]

Have never done anything like this before but I wanted to participate because why not!

Hope I'm doing this right- this is for the RedactedAudio Match-up :)

1 - Ok so I have 2 song fixations, first one is "Used to the Darkness" by Des Rocs and the other is "Morning Coffee" by Chevy and Nalba

For Used to the Darkness the specific verse is the chorus, it's a bit long for tumblr but I'll give my reasoning. I've always loved this kind of rock because it reminds me of the 90s rebellion kind of era and this verse strikes me as 'society has forced me down by its standards and is leaving me in the dust because I've "made a mistake", but I'm going to fight because my life hasn't started yet and I'm too young to simply give up'. Every time I hear that chorus it gives me a second wind of sorts and reminds me to just keep going, to keep being stubborn and to keep being me unapologetically.

For Morning Coffee there is no specific line because I resonate with the whole song lol. I'm a very big coffee addict, like I need coffee or tea every day to make it feel right. The reason being is that it's a small comfort treat to help me feel better especially when some days just aren't the best and I need a pick me up to feel better, even if it's a little bit. I listen to this every morning on my commute and every afternoon on the way back home, it's such a big comfort song that I keep on repeat.

2 - 6! (subtype sp) 3 - I love a good video essay! My favourite ones are a bit niche but I especially love SovietWomble's essay about "The Forest" because it's a deep dive critique and explanation of what happens when lore is added to a game post-release and why it's so important to develop it as a whole rather than doing it in bits as it can be the difference of an amazing or completely underwhelming experience. As someone who writes for fun and loves to play games soley for the lore sometimes, I found it useful to develop and hone my skills in world-building and making my stories more coherent. Also because he did a face reveal at the end BUT THAT'S BESIDES THE POINT!

4 - Gosh I haven't talked about my imaginary friend in a bit, her face evades me but I remember she would always help me sleep or play with me when no one else did (so everyday basically). She always wore a yellow dress and had her hair up in pigtails. I never gave her a name because she never needed one, I just called her 'friend', I miss her

5 - Put on a redacted audio vid and fall asleep to that lmfao (usually a david vid)

6 - I honestly don't know what I'd change my name to, sometimes I just wish I didn't really have a name because my self identity fluctuates so much

7 - Favourite redacted audio, hm, tbh any of David's audios. I find myself always returning to one of his videos but I think I like his camping one the most, I cry every time but hearing the stories makes my heart so full and like I genuinely want to comfort him.

8 - Huxley maybe? I love his pairing with Damien but I've never really liked or gotten into his story much, might just be a me thing- but hey he's gay so that's fun

9 - RWBY! Specifically volumes 1-3 because they're so iconic, love the entire series though, I quote it a lot to myself.

10 - Guy, he's as much as a dumbass and gremlin as I am and I THRIVE off of the chaotic energy so much. Plus he can make me pizza while we hang out so that's fun!

11 - Memes, I will start quoting memes. Either that or "Which character would win in xyz situation? A or B?" 12 - 7-11 hot chocolate but instead of milk I put a latte in it

13 - Karu's "How To Train Your Dragon" orchestra cover playlist 14 - smutty audios... idk I just find it fun to scour for a good audio on reddit lmfao

15 - I'm very argumentative and will debate anyone on any topic (I've been a debater for years), but I'm also very much a people pleaser because I like to give people gifts and do acts of service. Uh- does a plushie addiction count as something that'll tell you who I am? I like dnd and Critical Role

Thank you!

Ooh, I love you; you gave me so much information to work with! There were a good amount of possibilities I was working with, but if you’re an argumentative Six, who else can I pair you with but Avior?

You’re both similar in a lot of ways- a love of debate, prone to Acts of Service, Type Sixes who are loyal, thoughtful, and reliable. It’s these similarities but also the differences that make me think you’d be compatible. Avior and his sarcastic, sharp nature would be good at keeping your people-pleasing chaos in check. Your love of storytelling and narratives would be new and so refreshing to him as he’s never put so much thought into fantasy and fiction. He learns to accept your gifts graciously because he wants you to be happy even though he’s not used to it.

Your life together would be so fun; you’d make his life so fun. Avior does not understand your plushie collection, but he tolerates it and comes to terms with their watching eyes every day because he loves you. He also doesn’t understand any of your memes either; he pretends he thinks they’re insipid and pointless, but he actually thinks they and you are cute and silly when you quote them. Also, you’re totally coffee/tea addicts together, and you’ve got the best stocked caffeine cupboards in all of Dahlia.

Song:

Just tea for two and two for tea/ Me for you and you for me alone/ Nobody near us/ To see us or hear us/ No friends or relations/ On weekend vacations/ We won't have it known, dear/ That we own a telephone (oh, I hate telephones) (yeah, me too)

I couldn’t help it; you gave me a coffee song, so I had to give you a tea song in return! I also like it for you, because it’s cute, it’s sweet, it’s singable. It’s not just about tea but love and being together, having tea side by side for the rest of your lives. It’s the kind of song you could sing at Avior, and he’d have to try really hard to not be charmed.

Runner-Ups:

If you’re a DnD fan, I’ve got to give you Lasko as a runner-up; my brain would not allow otherwise! The two of you could write together and be so cute. Asher is your other contender because you’re similar in a lot of ways that would be really fun but more in a platonic, best friend way than romantic like Avior.

note: thank you so much for waiting~! I hope you like your match-up!

Read this post and send me an ask if you’d like a match-up of your own! 💌