#REJECT ROMANCE TURN TO CANNIBALISM

[weirdly-specific-but-ok]

maggot quotes of the day

"They tried to rizz me so I ate them."

-Robin (@robinprinceofchaos), 21/04/2024

[eldritch-nightmare]

do they have deal breakers?

a/n: idk i just thought this would be an interesting thing to write.

synopsis: what are some deal breakers for them? what can they not tolerate?

includes: slenderman, jeff the killer, eyeless jack, laughing jack, jane the killer, nina the killer, the bloody painter, candy pop, the doll maker, jason the toymaker, dr smiley, nurse ann, the puppeteer, clockwork, zalgo, hobo heart, ticci toby, zero, kagekao, nathan the nobody, homicidal liu + sully, tim wright, brian thomas, jay merrick, jessica locke, and alex kralie.

SLENDERMAN doesn't have a lot of deal breakers, to be quite honest. it doesn't have any preferences when it comes to romance. i suppose if it had to pick something, it would say that it would rather avoid dating people with a disdain towards nature. it literally lives in nature, so... it would also probably avoid people who have children in their life, be it a parent or a teacher.

JEFF THE KILLER has a two off the top of his head. firstly, he will never date a Fangirl capital 'F'. if he even gets the slightest inkling that someone might be a fan of his, it's an immediate no and that person very well may lose their life. and secondly, he refuses to date anyone who hates his brother. yeah, he and liu don't get along and liu wants him dead but in his mind, liu is still the most important person in jeff's life. people who commit arson are on thin fucking ice.

EYELESS JACK is fairly lax when it comes to 'deal breakers'. he doesn't have anything he dislikes, and there isn't any type of behavior that he necessarily avoids either. people who aren't fond of cannibalism would be difficult to date, he supposes. he doesn't really like people who may try keeping his as a pet either. and... maybe people who are in cults...

LAUGHING JACK is one sick and twisted bastard so deal breakers are very unlikely. realistically, his partner being around kids should probably be a deal breaker but that's... literally the only way to meet him. he's incredibly complex so he really won't know his own deal breakers until he's like... in the situation, y'know?

JANE THE KILLER has one immediate deal breaker. if you like jeff the killer, she immediately feels immense disdain toward you and she will never even acknowledge your existence, not unless she's forced to. jane richardson is also lesbian, so men are an immediate no.

NINA THE KILLER has one immediate deal breaker as well. if you dislike jeff the killer, she will not get along with you. she and jeff have a love-hate relationship but at the end of the day, he's still her idol and she looks up to him a lot, so.

THE BLOODY PAINTER barely interacts with people to really know if he has any deal breakers. perhaps people who dislike art? though, he can't really fault someone for not seeing the beauty held within the multitudes of art all around the world.

CANDY POP isn't the biggest fan of people he deems to be annoying or boring. now, i know what you're thinking, candy pop literally finds joy in annoying people, so wouldn't he be delighted to have a partner who behaves the same way? absolutely not. he likes to be the one terrorizing people; he does not want to be terrorized.

THE DOLL MAKER is immediately hesitant around older men, so if you are a guy and you're older than him then just know he'll avoid you like the plague. also, due to his pyrophobia, arsonists and people fascinated by fire get an immediate no from him. anyone who may poke fun at the dolls he creates aren't welcome either, and he'll probably end up turning them into a doll.

JASON THE TOYMAKER has one goal only and it is to find 'the one for him' so like... not many deal breakers here. just fall in love with him and never ever reject him and everything will be good! you'll be turned into a wax doll, otherwise, and that's a terrible fate to suffer.

DR SMILEY also rarely interacts with people, though he's not the biggest fan of people who so desperately cling to life and believe that death is something to be afraid of.

NURSE ANN just doesn't like people in general and only has like... three people she enjoys being around so the likelihood of her growing to like someone is small. that being said, something that immediately makes her dislike a person is when they mock her for not speaking often.

THE PUPPETEER has major disdain for people he cannot control. unless he's already grown attached to (ex. emra) or reliant on them (ex. zachary), then disobedience is not something he can tolerate. he's also not the biggest fan of super-duper cheerful people, though that's only because it makes killing them harder.

CLOCKWORK by default cannot stand anyone who reminds her of her past. she wants nothing more than to forget the pain and hell she went through, so to find a person who reminds her of all that trauma? yeah, no, they gotta go.

ZALGO literally hates everything and everyone but on the very slight chance that someone manages to worm their way into the essence of his being, then so long as they don't mind humanity's downfall then they're fine. bonus points if they're good with kids because holy shit he doesn't know how to be a dad. and if they dislike kids then like... that's fine, i guess, but he'll be a bit bitter.

HOBO HEART is fairly hesitant when it comes to love. the one time he fell in love, she threw his heart away. he's hesitant to fall in love again, but he could never fall for anyone who would so willingly leave him behind. he's not the biggest fan of liars either. simply put, he could never love someone who doesn't value their own heart.

TICCI TOBY already keeps people at a distance, but it's an immediate deal breaker when someone starts making fun of him. if someone makes a bad comment about lyra or his mother, then that's also an immediate no. anyone who heavily drinks alcohol is a no. anyone who 'teases' him about his tourette's is a no. anyone who doesn't take his CIPA seriously is a no.

ZERO could never be in a relationship with someone with the mindset of 'i can fix her' because she doesn't need to be fixed. honestly, you should consider yourself lucky that she's somehow managed to grow an attachment to you considering her disregard for everyone around her. do something to make her hate you and you'll regret it.

KAGEKAO is gay, first and foremost, so if you're a woman then it just won't work out. he's fluent in english as well so you don't necessarily have to know japanese, though he'd love for you to learn. people who make comments about his wine habits or tell him to cut back on drinking wine will be disposed of immediately. he also isn't fond of boring people.

NATHAN THE NOBODY tends to believe that most people are in the organization that took away his sister, so by default, it's an immediate no if he comes to believe that someone is in the organization. he can't come to terms with his sister's death, so he'll get rid of anyone who tries to make him see that she's dead.

HOMICIDAL LIU hardly ever gives romance any thought because he's so caught up in his goal of trying to kill jeff that it rarely ever crosses his mind, so deal breakers aren't something he's given much thought. people who aren't fond of arson probably won't like liu, so they're a no. anyone who thinks he should forgive jeff is an immediate no. anyone who is a fangirl of jeff or idolizes him the way nina does is also an immediate no. people who aren't fond of smoking most certainly won't like him so they're also a no. anyone who sees no harm in mocking and bullying other people is a no.

SULLY has deal breakers relatively similar to liu. if you're a jeff groupie then he honestly wants nothing to do with you. if you are a threat to liu in any way shape or form, then he's already planning a way to dispose of you. other than that, he's pretty laid back with this sort of stuff.

TIM WRIGHT has a habit of smoking so people who can't stand the smell of cigarette smoke should probably avoid him. he isn't close to a lot of people so when someone betrays his trust, it really hits him hard so people with a habit of lying are an immediate no.

BRIAN THOMAS is a bros before hoes sorta guy in the sense that if his partner doesn't like his friends then suddenly he doesn't have a partner anymore. he can't date someone who dislikes the people he's closest to, it just doesn't work that way. especially if they dislike tim, like... that's his best friend there, dude.

JAY MERRICK is a gay man so if you are a woman, then... yeah. it won't work. you stand no chance with jay if you don't believe him when he tells you that something is seriously wrong. he doesn't like people who avoid telling him about an issue because it stresses him out a lot so he would rather prefer people who can openly tell him if something is wrong.

JESSICA LOCKE is lesbian, so men simply just do not have a chance with her. she doesn't really have many deal breakers though, to be honest. at least none that come to the top of her head. she'd probably have to experience something to decide whether or not that's a deal breaker for her, y'know?

ALEX KRALIE is like... deeply unhinged in every way possible and will try killing his partner no matter what, so. let's just use the alex before all the operator stuff happened! he can't be with anyone who doesn't support him or his passion project, marble hornets. and in the midst of marble hornets, he will try to kill his partner. there's no avoiding that. he, himself, is a deal breaker, gotta be honest here.

[voxofthevoid]

April Anniversary Final List

I've compiled the 15 fics/ideas you guys picked in response to this post into a detailed list (under the cut). The numbers (51, 43, etc.) are now obsolete because I've added another idea to the list—yes, the total is 94 now, 77 untouched—and plan to keep doing it, which will alter the numbers owing to the way they're organized by ship(s). The doc will stay publicly available (...though I should really go through it and fix all the typos and errors).

Like I said in the OG post, I want to write a scene of approximately 1k for each of these. That's easy enough, usually, but I also want these to be coherent, standalone scenes—connected to the overall fic 'verse, yes, but a self-contained short story nonetheless. And we all know that's not my forte. So, yeah, it's gonna be a hell of a challenge.

These WIPs are not getting struck from my list once I'm done though. I'll be poking at them later, the way I do now—one at a time, until I'm out of the fandom.

Also, the usual disclaimer: If health/IRL fuckery pops up, I'll postpone or cancel the project. Hoping that won't happen, but you never know.

#1. 51 @nearalways

Canonverse pet play featuring a developing relationship, in which Yuuji jokingly says Gojou’s like a puppy and Gojou takes it and runs with it. Yuuji discovers the dubious joys of pet ownership.

#2. 43 @naeldeus

Satoru and her bigass tits single-handedly turn Yuuji from an ass woman into a chest woman, and Satoru’s reaction to Yuuji staring at her tits is to basically smother Yuuji in them in the guise of a hug. It escalates predictably.

#3. 31 @fluffys-nightmare

Yuuji makes a binding vow with the Angel to let her kill him and Sukuna after Gojou’s unsealed, except it doesn’t go as planned and the end result is Yuuji and Sukuna completely merged.

#4. 55 @laughing-sock

A curse user’s failed technique leaves Yuuji with a plush-like replica of Gojou, which Gojou lets him keep. It’s harmless until Yuuji accidentally activates a connection between the doll and Gojou.

#5. 36 (anon)

Sukuna kills the Angel so they can’t unseal Gojou. Teen!Gojou drops into the timeline and retrieves the PR, but they can’t open it. Yuuji has complicated emotional sex with teen!Gojou and spends every spare hour gazing plaintively at the PR. Teen!Gojou is in it mostly for the sex at first, except that doesn’t last.

#6. 45 (anon)

Post-canon where defeating Sukuna still leaves Yuuji with all his loved ones dead. He’s trying to busy himself by helping rebuild society when a new 6E+Limitless user is born, named “Satoru” to honor the last one, and a few years later, the Gojou clan asks for him to be the kid’s bodyguard.

#7. 71 (anon)

Gojou dubcons Megumi in his dorm room while mocking him about his crush on Yuuji, and when Yuuji bursts in after hearing concerning noises, Gojou offers Megumi to him.

#8. 67 @yaoshifollower

Canonverse breakup-makeup AU in a no-Shibuya context, spanning the time from Yuuji’s first year to his early-mid twenties. The sukuita parts are hatesex culminating in cannibalism; goyuu is the endgame.

#9. 03 @lo-55

Gojou tries to seduce Yuuji by rapebaiting him—sleeping on and near him in provocative clothing. Yuuji resists until he doesn’t.

#10. 73 (anon)

Yuuji semi-accidentally seduces Higuruma after their fight in the Culling Games, and during the one-month time skip after Gojou’s unsealed, he manages to semi-accidentally romance both men to the point of inevitable heartache.

#11. 74 @kubo-chan

Pre-canon where Kenjaku pays their favorite child a few in-person visits, finds that Yuuji’s body is rejecting Sukuna’s fingers, and lets their scientific curiosity run a little wilder than usual. Years later, Gojou finds Yuuji while investigating unusual curse activity.

#12. 08 @cunt-recesses

Omegaverse-canonverse alpha/alpha where 20-something Gojou adopts Yuuji, who was being raised by a Sukuna-focused cult.

#13. 50 @zalondra

Omegaverse-canonverse alpha/alpha where becoming Sukuna’s vessel triggers Yuuji’s rut early, a couple of days after he’s accepted into Jujutsu Tech, and since the higher-ups aren’t willing to risk Sukuna’s vessel losing control during that hormonal mess, Gojou volunteers to help him through it.

#14. 42 (anon)

Someone makes the mistake of letting Gojou teach sex-ed to the first-years. It’s a pretty typical class for Nobara and Megumi, but Yuuji's living a different porn scenario every week.

#15. 24 (anon)

Sukuna–Yuuji role reversal where Yuuji’s more interested in his vessel’s teacher than the vessel himself, and Gojou gets too much of a thrill from playing with fire.

[ilikelookingatthings]

Some radiostatic theories

SO I like many who have watched read or come across hazbin hotel have gotten a mini fixation on the character Alistor, a red suspitious always smiling, radio deer cannibal serial killer, and Vox, a TV headed hynosis demon who is persuasive with his grin and is one of the overlords in the v club(including Valentino the moth man who runs a porn studio and Velveete who is a influencer fashion demon).

For me it's the draw of the t.v. killed the radio star vibes. They clearly used to be friends as vox is obsessed with him where Val brought him up to get under his skin, he has a old ripped picture of alistor and he had apparently asked alistor to join them before and was turned down... they clearly had big falling out.

There is alot of fun to play with. Some enjoy the one sided potential drama of vox being in love with alistor and that not being reciprocated because alistor might be somewhere on the acespectrum(not that alistor seems complete aware of that since he had no idea what Rosie meant when she called him a aceinthehole).

most who enjoy the one-sided view call it radiosilence.

Some enjoy the angst that is the pain of losing a friend when you don't return the romantic feelings. And that vox is the one at fault for leaving alistor behind by going with Val and Velveete and letting the chase of what's new creating a rift.

Some enjoy the idea of bitter ex boyfriends.

That the obsession isn't as one-sided as alistor didn't ignore vox's provocation.

Some make it about just romance being tye reason for the fall out...

....but honestly for me they give a kindof mister crabs, plankton energy. They are both in hell so are terrible people to some degree sp it would be a bit boring if the fall out was just about romance...a possible good opportunity to address unrequited love or the spectrum maybe but does feel kindof simple.

Especially considering the potential in rival best friends turn enemy old men have.

Friendship wise its already juicy for angst. Was it a misunderstanding? Lots of built up problems? Drifting apart as friends? A sense of betrayal on both ends?

Some people lean over one being more at fault than the other. A few lean to them both sucking. Some say jt was vix who didn't respect alistor just didn't like him back...others say it was alistor rejecting vox.

I would like to raise the theory that if vox DID have a crush on alistor...vox either didn't know he had it...or vox decided to not adress it because their friendship was more important to him and he could tell alistor didn't like him back romantically and that their fall out was from other issues in their friendship...like potentially love coukd be why vox felt more extremely hurt but I think it would be more interesting if vox's issue wasn't about unreturned feelings.

Like what if vox tried to distract himself to maje sure alistor wouldnt feel uncomfortable to make sure alistor didn't catch on to his crush and hence Valentino steps in who alistor might find worse in general?

And if it really was just a business partnership vox offered where he was just hurt his friend didn't join him on.

Makes me way more curious about their dynamic if their friendship was sincere but issues popped up.

What theories to others have that it might have played out? I'm just saying for someone who says he hates alistor why did he keep the side of the photo that has alistor on it and not himself?

What if alistor was the one with a crush but vox didn't realize is another interesting one since alistor is so pissed he seems to hate TV and other things involved vox despite how new media is interesting and alistor does know how to shoot a commercial and this way he does get vox's attention.

We've also seen alistor have a questionable triebd in mimsy...but did he really tell Mimsy to leave ciz he was upset...or does he care and doesn't want her involved with what he's doing now? And could that echo what he might have done with vox?

Heck it could be possible neither is aware of potential romanic feelings at all. Are in denial. One sided...betrayal because they had unrequited feelings that weren't returned...or feeling betrayed the other had romantic feelings whether they wanted to act on it or not.

Maybe it wasn't about romance and about how they handled friendship? Or just creative differences in how they handled things...competion driving them apart or how hell encouraged your worst self to come out. Heck they both could just have bruised pride somewhere that escalated.

[almacambiondaughterofsaleos]

Mrs Mayberry and martha romance we can start something simple not rush

So mrs Mayberry is excited and happy the imp did their job. Then she come across Martha of course she laugh happily. Then they started having a fight every demon watching it and it went viral. They got money unfortunately the best place they can get is the one they have to share place with each other. So Martha and mrs Mayberry make some agreement won't bother each other which both agree. Martha manage to be reunited with her family while Mrs Mayberry trying to looking for a job. Also she doesn't want to be around Martha for too long. She try her best but not much she can't do then finally got a job in kindergarden school she won't mind teaching hellborn demon children. Now she is a sinner she try to survive. On her way from home she went to cannibal town she come across Rosie, there Rosie talk with other cannibal hellborn about eating a husband. She was about to walk away but she is curious so she line up. She talk with Rosie that she's sinner who killed her husband

Mrs Mayberry : I killed my husband after i found he cheated on me. He doing it on his birthday

Rosie : Oh my what a interesting story

Mrs Mayberry : Not very original kinda cliche i know

Rosie : But still i liked your courage

Mrs Mayberry : So there's a sinner family in here who's cannibal can they join your community?

Rosie : Sure why not can i have the name?

Mrs Mayberry : I only got the wife name her name is Martha but for her husband and her two kids i don't know

Rosie : Ok dear are you interested eating finger or feet or thigh?

Mrs Mayberry : I'm in hell so what i got to lose for i try the finger. Also i do have my preference eating cooked flesh is that ok?

Rosie : Sure usually they like to eat raw but for you sure i can do that

Mrs Mayberry : Thanks for the meal

Rosie : Enjoy your day sweetie

At home

Mrs Mayberry : Martha i want to join your family dinner

Martha : Wow this is rare tell me why you want to eat human flesh?

Mrs Mayberry : I'm curious the taste of it

Martha : Alright then there's no turn back form this

Mrs Mayberry : I'm ready

Martha : Very daring aren't we? Have a slice

Mrs Mayberry : Wow this is really good more than any animal flesh i've eat

Martha : No throwing up no gagging i'm impressed

Mrs Mayberry : I admit i don't want to taste human flesh but hunger and curiosity got the best of me. So i eat it

Martha husband : Oh shit i admired your gut

Boy : Mama i liked her

Girl : Me too

Martha : Me too sweetie

From weeks just from dinner to lunch and breakfast becoming full time meal. Mrs Mayberry and martha started to liked each other. One time when they We're alone Martha try to kiss mrs Mayberry but she rejected

Mrs Mayberry : Martha are you INSANE you have husband and kids?

Martha : For husband we both agree to fuck with different people

Mrs Mayberry : WHAT?

Martha : Yeah

Mrs Mayberry : Ok beside the point you literally cheated on my husband. So it's weird

Martha : I mean your husband is dead and you are no longer together right?

Mrs Mayberry : I mean yes i killed him so i can choose to be with someone else. Ok fine you changed my mind

Martha : See what did i told you

So they making out and boom. Despite mrs Mayberry is a sinner in hell who is cannibal she don't like that children watching porn or footage that contain sexual intercourse even if they do watching that it must be with the supervision from her. Not just sexual but also violence swearing after what she done she have massive regret letting her student watching that traumatic event

Mrs Mayberry : Martha this place is sexual lust center you can't bring kids here

Martha : It's ok after all i and my husband is responsible

Mrs Mayberry : Ok so what this place is not for children. Atleast loo loo land or lu lu land Will be much more better place then this

Martha : Ok how about you take them to loo loo land next time?

Mrs Mayberry : Yeah alright

Nice.

[jokeringcutio]

Halloween Prompt Fills MASTERLIST 2023 [ Reader Inserts ]

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

AN: Follow me for more Reader-Inserts.

Non-Explicit Tales:

Reader accidentally enters Neverland and meets Hook Fandom: Hook / Peter Pan Pairing: Reader x Captain James Hook Rating: Teen Warnings: Halloween Party, Pirates, Kiss.

Reader is an Au Pair trick and treating at the Grabber's door Fandom: The Black Phone 2022 Pairing: Albert Shaw (The Grabber) x Reader (Au Pair from abroad) Rating: Teen Warnings: Au Pair Reader is from Abroad, Mention of Age Gap, Dark Undertones. Overall quite sweet.

Summary: You are an Au Pair stopping at the Grabber’s House. Romantic (with perhaps the tiniest hint of darkness underneath).

Reader meets Thomas Sharpe at the Halloween BallFandom: Crimson Peak Pairing: Sir Thomas Sharpe x Reader Rating: Teen Warnings: None Really. Romance. Talk about marriage and kids. Drama. Tiny bit of Angst? Sorry it was written in a rush. Possible Cameo for Albert Shaw. Summary:  AU in which Sir Thomas Sharpe never had his sister corrupt him and meets Reader at a Halloween masquerade.

Explicit Tales below:

(Don't read if you're under 18)

Reader in Hogwarts outfit visits Snape during Halloween Fandom: Harry Potter Pairing: Professor Snape x Reader Rating: Explicit Summary: A grown-up dressed as a Hogwarts student on Halloween… Snape has his own thoughts about it.

Warnings: Explicit Sexual content, spanking, blowjob.

Reader Mistakes Arthur Fleck (as Carnival) for a friend Fandom: Joker 2019 Pairing: Arthur Fleck (as Carnival) x Reader Rating: Explicit Summary: You mistake him for somebody else, but that might be the best thing that happened to the both of you, for you end up losing your virginity to each other.

Warnings: Sexual content, Virginity/First time.

Reader ends up being bred by Otis in a Halloween Ritual Please read ALL warnings. Fandom: House of a 1000 corpses, devil's rejects, 3 from hell. Pairing: Otis B. Driftwood x Reader Rating: Explicit Summary: When you and your friends ask for help, you end up as part of a horrific ritual. Warnings: Killer Family, murder, death of a friend, Sexual content, Non-con, Breeding.

Reader Bumps into a Clown at Halloween who comes to visit her house Please read ALL warnings. Fandom: Terrifier (2), All Hallows Eve (2) Pairing: Art the Clown x Reader Rating: Explicit Summary: It is Halloween when you bump into a clown and, embarrassed, apologize. Later that evening, your roommate Meri seems to have invited that very same clown into your house for a bit of fun. But that fun turns quickly into a nightmare. Warnings: Mention of Murder, Cannibalism, death of a friend, Sexual content, dub-con. Reader is scared of clowns. Implied Virginity/First Time. Mention of Blood. Coulrophobia.

Reader (witch!) ties Ernst to his chair and has her way with him Fandom: First Reformed Pairing: Ernst Toller x (Witch!) Reader Rating: Explicit Summary: Ernst is home alone at Halloween when a Witch comes at his door. Warnings: Mention of inner conflict, Pastor x Witch, Explicit Sexual Content, Slight Bondage: Ernst is tied down, Reader on top.

Reader is putting on decorations with coworker Albert Shaw Fandom: The Black Phone 2022 Pairing: Albert Shaw (The Grabber) x Reader (coworker) Rating: Explicit Summary: You’re putting the decorations up in the hardware store where you work, when your coworker lingers behind to help you.

Warnings: Explicit Sexual content, Reader wearing a skirt, Fingering.

Reader finds a handsome wounded stranger at her door Fandom: Stranger Things Pairing: Henry Creel (001) x Reader Rating: Explicit Summary: It’s Halloween when a young, wounded man appears at your door. How can you refuse him.. anything?

Warnings: Explicit Sexual content, mention of blood, orderly Henry Creel.

Reader dresses up as a Vampire after catching Arthur as Dracula Fandom: Joker (2019) Pairing: Arthur Fleck x Reader Rating: Explicit Summary: Arthur thinks dressing up as Dracula will help him seduce his neighbor: you.

Warnings: Explicit Sexual content, smoking (Arthur), laughing during sex.

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[doomed-prophetess]

I think the thing about what makes the cha siyeon and iklies thing worse is that where cha siyeon is from slavery and underage relationships are illegal and morally worng. Like one could make the excuse that for the people in the game world, slavery and courting 17 year olds isn't that bad cause they aren't illegal and not morally frowned upon by society which would still be a really terrible excuse but like...

Cha Siyeon is from a country, a world where slavery is the most inhumane crime and the legal age is 18 so she knows these things and yet she hasn't shown any disgust towards the actions of others or herself, only a mild sort of self centred disdain. There is a manhwa that I've read, can't remember the name, where the main leads get sent back in time and the guy feels like a criminal when he tries to date the girl he used to date at the time, when he was 17, the female lead kinda forced him to do so in order not to change the past so much. But I don't think cha siyeon ever felt disgusted with her actions not did she feel gross.

And the escapism and power fantasy that some manhwas have to offer have a lot of unexamined biases in them that make them into colonialist, pro slavery pieces of work.

And another thing that felt really unnecessary for me was the comonnars having no last name. Like why? Was it really necessary? And there isn't any resolution for that down the lane.

As far as I know the age of consent in Korea is 20. That means Iklies was 3 years below. I just wanted to mention this because the age of consent being 18 in some western countries shouldn't be treated as universal to the rest of the world especially when the beginning of the story was set in South Korea, Asia. Some readers might be arguing that Iklies being 17-18 by the end of the story makes him "technically" legal.

Cha Siyeon's lack of morals is strange. If I were let's say transported to a world where cannibalism was legal and the only way out was to kill and eat another human being I would not suddenly stop feeling horrified at the idea. She doesn't react viscerally to the things the game tells her to do - doesn't feel physically ill or disgusted. Her only comment on Iklies age was that she isn't usually into older guys but he would have to do. That's it. Her problem was that Iklies wasn't her type. An average modern day person accepting slavery and statuatory rape so easily is not realistic. To me it makes it harder to empathize with her as her behaviour is so far removed from reality and her inner world doesn't really reflect that of a modern day woman. The author could have shown the struggles of a moral person being forced to carry out immoral acts by a sadistic gaming system and how they would desperately fight against it, seek out an alternative, find a middle ground or finally fold and try to do something good afterwards in an attempt to clear their conscience. Instead the author created a character lacking a certain set of morals unless it's convenient for the narrative.

The way Cha Siyeon shows empathy is not consistent. She's willing to do terrible things in order to escape the game but sometimes for narrative reasons, as if a switch is turned, she feels bad. For example when she is rejecting gifts and friendly gestures that could improve her chances to get out of the game earlier with the justification that these things should have belonged to og Penelope. It feels ooc to me that she would do without valuables when this rejection won't benefit anyone not even the girl that has died. Also what makes her so sure that og Penelope won't return to her body and have a Happy Ending once Cha Siyeon has won and returned to her own world? Even more a reason to accept every gift with a smile. Romancing og Penelope's murderer is much worse than receiving a gift from one of her abusers anyway. But Cha Siyeon has to act rude and abrasive towards LI's that aren't Callisto in order to make her romance with Callisto work.

She is also a huge hypocrite I find. She likes empathy in theory but is unwilling to put it into actions. Mourning the owner of her body is easy and effortless because she's already dead. She never knew her personally and could project herself onto og Penelope's suffering with the illusion that she cares when in reality she is just self-pitying. She thinks she feels empathy for og Penelope but upon meeting another abused teenager (Iklies) she just becomes another source of trauma in his life. Like the duke she brings someone home with a specific purpose. Like the duke she neglects that person and is genuinely surpised when the staff abuses them. Like the duke the only apology she gives are gifts and expects money would fix everything. Another example of her hypocricy is when she is going on a date with Vinter which turns out to be a charity project where Vinter is giving food to orphan children. If I remember correctly Cha Siyeon acts angry when Vinter draws her attention to some children who were waiting in line that have already gotten their share of bread. Cha Siyeon was in no place to judge the way he distributed the food bought with his money when she accompanied him purely out of self-interest and otherwise would have eaten cake comfortably in the Eckart mansion while the kids would have starved if not for Vinter. Her worrying about not being dressed for the occasion only makes her more unsympathic.

Surnames were introduced in the 11th century but I doubt the author did their homework or cared at all. It would make sense for the Eorkan Empire to have surnames as they incorporated occupied territories, the population grew and people would need more names to distinguish among themselves. Volume 1 states that Penelope didn't even have a last name which implies that there must be some commoners that do have surnames but the story never bothered to elaborate on the reason why some commoners have surnames and she doesn't. Personally I don't have such an issue with it since we don't meet many commoner characters of importance. It's at the bottom of the list of things I would criticize about the manhwa.

I have more issues with this:

Slavery is treated as a just punishment. Another villain joins the oppressed population so we, the readers won't feel compassion towards them. No voice is given to the innocent ones that have truly suffered working themselves to death in the Duke's diamond mines (which now belong to the protagonist) or were torn apart by the wild beasts in the fighting pits. Incidentally I don't find it believable as punishment. I have never heard of nobles being demoted to slavery. Historically even the method with which nobles were executed was different from the way commoners were executed in order to preserve their dignity. Some say that slavery is a fate even worse than death. I feel as if this was deliberately done to manipulate the impression of the readers and make them side with the slavers by making the only known slaves criminals that were originally belonging to the aristocracy. It was very low of the author to do this.

[starberry-cupcake]

Free Short Stories: Aromantic Recommendations

Aro week is over but I spent it reading aro stories that are entirely accessible online (with their authors' consent) and thought I'd share some with you, as well as some extra resources. I’m going to include under “read more” content warnings and specific details, like the kind of rep included or important notes, so if you want to be sure and safe before reading them, you can click “read more” for all that information, or if you prefer just the blurb, avoid it easily enough. There you will also find the extra links of interest and other masterposts.

Edit: This post used to be split in two parts, I’ve integrated them into one whole post for everyone’s convenience. 

1. Nkásht ii by Darcie Little Badger

Josie and Annie set to investigate a strange death that may involve more than they expected. Sometimes the love that heals isn’t romantic and bonds that are strong are those chosen.

2. Hope of the Future by Elizabeth Barrette

In a fantasy setting, a human cleric finds an elf bard and a strong female dwarf, all cast aside for their identities, and create their own home and family. The same characters also appear in another poem that continued their story: The Underground Gardens.

3. Tanith’s Sky by Penny Stirling

Ash is left with the loss of Tanith, after she sacrifices herself to save the world. Tanith's memories resurface in people's minds and Ash has to navigate their identity, their memories and how to label for others’ sake their lost relationship.

4. And If The Body Were Not The Soul by A. C. Wise

Ro is a human who forms an unlikely bond with an alien refugee, discovering a different layer of proximity that doesn't chain to the type of physicality humanity sets. In that process of discovery, Ro learns about the other side of the social oppression in their own city.

5. The Crows Her Dragon’s Gate by Benjanun Sriduangkaew

An exploration of the background and re-telling of the story of the goddess Xihe. Marrying out of the obligation of customs and pressure, this story explores the feelings of Xihe, her relationship with Di Jun and the freedom she ultimately seeks.

6. The Girl Turns West by Darcie Little Badger

Another tale set in Native American culture (the author is a Lipan Apache writer), this story is about family, sacrifice and forms of non romantic love and devotion that transcend the limits of life and death.

7. Kin, Painted by Penny Stirling

The narrator can’t find a place in a family that seems so determined, so certain, painted each in a specific way. A poetic prose filled with magic and the colors that we paint ourselves with, which can sometimes change with time.

8. Cucumber by Penny Stirling

A queerplatonic couple in a fantasy setting deals with social pressure in a story written in poetic verse.

9. The Famine King by Darcie Little Badger

A woman is chased by fear, memories and a being that affects her relationship with her own identity and mental health, while finding refuge in a found family. These characters are also included in a previous story called To Sleep.

10. How My Best Friend Rania Crashed A Party And Saved The World by Ada Hoffman

Emma, a Relator, finds out that her best friend Rania, a World Saver, is being used by her boyfriend and can lose her credibility as a Hero for it, so she enlists a tech-savvy Number Fiend, Deborah, to crash a high school party in a forbidden sector to confront the guy.

11. Unlike Most Tides by Darcie Little Badger

Mathilda is in peace with her solitude until she communicates with energy beyond her understanding and finds the voice of a murdered woman who asks her for help to deal with her killer: her ex boyfriend.

Content Warnings and Extra Details

1. Nkásht íí by Darcie Little Badger

Details: urban fantasy, folklore, suspense, aromantic lead character, main platonic relationship between female characters. CW: minor characters deaths, accidents, the death of a child is mentioned, domestic abuse in flashbacks.

2. Hope for the Future by Elizabeth Barrette

Details: aroace male lead in a poly relationship with a female and male character, fantasy, story in poetry, happy ending. CW: arophobia and acephobia, family abandonment.

3. Tanith’s Sky by Penny Stirling

Details: fantasy, sci fi, drama, hurt/comfort. Main qp relationship between an aroace cis female lead and a non binary allo lead. The aroace lead is dead by the start of the story, which I had my hesitation about, but the story does a wonderful job capturing Tanith’s life in an aftermath of what would be another untold story, as well as Ash’s identity and their relationship, as well as the process of grief and moving forward. CW: major character death, grief, depression, transphobia, arophobia and acephobia.

4. And If The Body Were Not The Soul by A. C. Wise

Details: explicitly touch-averse asexual non binary lead, very likely aromantic (expressed but not named in the text), sci fi, social strife, hurt/comfort, found family and friendship (nb and cis female, nb and alien friendships). Many commenters have expressed that Ro is potentially an autistic character, some autistic authors and reviewers have agreed or disagreed but I couldn’t find whether the author stated that at any point. CW: mild depictions of violence, xenophobia, social issues and unrest, happy ending.

5. The Crows Her Dragon’s Gate by Benjanun Sriduangkaew

Details: the goddess Xihe is depicted as aroace yet marries the god Di Jun for a time in which she lives troubled. Fantasy, mythology, re-interpretations, angst with a happy ending. CW: internalized acephobia and arophobia, dubious consent, violence, animal death, toxic marriage, there is a side wlw couple of mortals who die.

6. The Girl Turns West by Darcie Little Badger

Details: there isn’t romance in the story, the lead character doesn’t seemingly have romance in the future and there is a side female character who explicitly rejects suitors and prefers to live independently yet with her family. Considering that the author has written several aroace characters, I decided to include this one and another story in Part 2 as strong potentials (there is another story by the same author that other sites recommend as aro-representative, but I think these two are a lot less vague). Fantasy, mythology, folklore, bittersweet ending. CW: death mentions, wounds and accidents, blood mentions.

7. Kin, Painted by Penny Stirling

Details: poetic prose, fantasy, aromantic lead character, trans male character, non binary characters.

8. Cucumber by Penny Stirling

Details: fiction in poetry form, queerplatonic relationship in a fantasy setting. CW: arophobia and acephobia, social pressure.

9. The Famine King by Darcie Little Badger

Details: mystery, suspense, horror, folklore, hurt/comfort, angst w/optimistic ending, explicit non romantic & non sexual main relationship between to female characters. CW: blood, wounds, cannibalism mentions, mental illness with hallucination episodes, racism.

10. How My Best Friend Rania Crashed A Party And Saved The World by Ada Hoffman.

Details: high school setting, uplifting, sci fi, aroace lead character in a friendship with a heterosexual girl and a bisexual girl. CW: arophobia by the best friend, which is not confronted or discussed, mentions of racism. Notes: I read this story for the Pride list last year and I didn't include it because I had a bone to pick with Rania's character. The story is fun, a lot more lighthearted than many of the ones here and has a distinct tone that makes it good to include, plus Emma (the lead) is a very friendly, social and well-liked person, rather than the traditional robot/alien foil aro, ace and aroace characters tend to receive. So, even if I'm still uneasy about Rania and how her bad attitude is not acknowledged in the story, I’m still including it for all its perks.

11. Unlike Most Tides by Darcie Little Badger

Details: there is a protagonist who prefers to live in solitude and speaks about it and about her favorable feelings towards it. It isn’t explicitly stated that she is aromantic but, much like The Girl Turns West in Part 1, I’d say it’s a good addition to the list, though it's probably the least explicit of the bunch. Mystery, supernatural, sci fi, suspense, positive ending. CW: murder, corpses, side character death, blood, femicide.

Other masterposts:

@coolcurrybooks's first and second masterpost I consulted

Penny Stirling's recommendation list

LGBTQReads recommendations list

Claudie Arsenault recommendation list

Aro and Ace character database

Aroaessidhe recommendations list

YA Pride masterlist

My own LGBTQ+ free short stories rec list from last year, some of these stories are in it but the majority is not

[kmlaney]

I read this post about storylines in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, which is a really interesting post and I don’t want to clutter it with something very off-topic, and I had Some Thoughts.

rant incoming

I want to preface this semi-response by noting that I liked the Black Pearl movie. I noped out of the second one after 45 minutes of filler chasing Jack Sparrow around the island in the Cannibal Hamster Ball and haven’t seen but scraps of the others. It probably wasn’t 45 minutes but it felt like total filler and anyway, this post isn't about the movie series.

It’s about framing the female character’s role in stories. And that frame, exemplified in Black Pearl, is typically through romance and choosing who to marry. In the CotBP story, that’s Norrington=socially acceptable, Sparrow=reject social conventions, Will=Romance and True Love (and also rejecting social conventions). The Princess Bride tells Buttercup’s story the same way (it’s one of my favorite movies, and given it has Bride in the title it kind of gets a pass). Leia in Star Wars. Nearly all the girl students in Harry Potter, including Hermoine. Don’t get me started on Dune or Wheel of Time. That’s a different essay.

Male characters don’t get their stories framed this way, or at least not as often. Luke is The Last Jedi, independent of his marital status or lack thereof. Jack Sparrow is a pirate, first and foremost. Harry Potter and Paul Atredies are The Chosen Ones, and while they may choose partners in the course of their stories, they aren’t defined by their love interest’s roles. They certainly don’t pick the girl in order to become the Chosen One.

I’ve made no secret that romance in general just isn't my cup of tea. My favorite stories don’t center love and marriage. Perhaps that’s why I get so annoyed at stories that aren’t ostensibly romances centering female characters' romances to the exclusion of all other development. In Pirates, Elizabeth ought not to have to choose a destiny by choosing a male partner who confers that destiny on her. Why can’t she have A Destiny of her own?

IDK, maybe this is a rant on how Even In Fiction we can’t escape Patriarchy. Men get to choose their destiny, women choose their men. Want power? Marry yourself a rich and powerful man. Tired of court life? Run off with the poor-but-honest farmer lad, preferably after setting all your other suitors impossible challenges. I just get frustrated with a female character’s “agency” being which male character they select as a mate (implied afterward that they settle down and start having babies, which just ugh please). Naturally, if her life does not turn out the way she hoped, it’s because she Picked The Wrong Man, which she can fix by leaving him and finding The Right Man (be sure to feel guilt about abandoning the first one).

This doesn't even cover characters that don’t fit the binary, or have romantic interests that aren’t exclusively hetero. That’s so rare as to only be observed in specialized detectors buried under miles of granite. Boys get Stories, girls get Marriage, everyone else gets nothing and likes it. We R All The Same.

Something something we need diverse stories something something idk work’s been rough and I hate my brain sometimes

[theotherackerman]

My Mind Turns Your Life Into Folklore

My Mind Turns Your Life Into Folklore

COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER: Any recognizable elements belong to Attack on Titan.

NOTES:

Tuesday, January 5th

TRIGGER WARNING: This chapter discusses the choices a person has when they are pregnant.

chapter eleven: but if it's okay with you, it's okay with me

Not once since the entire time that Annie had known Armin did she ever feel uncomfortable around him.

Not until she had taken a second little pink test in her bathroom.

She thought it may have been false because those things COULD be false. Besides, she really hadn’t been having morning sickness. She felt fine.

What was the percentage again?

Her cycle was never normal so it could be false.

Besides, it was the holiday season.

So she ignored it.

Then New Year’s Eve came.

She made the choice not to drink just in case.

Then she had taken another test during a brief visit home.

Another positive result.

Then her dad had found it.

Now here she was dreading Armin’s return from Eren’s.

Mikasa, Ymir, Sasha, and Historia had helped her keep her mind off of it with their antics. They were ridiculous in all the best ways. Annie would look over at Mikasa, wondering what she was truly thinking about her situation.

But there was no sign of judgement there.

She knew the other girls would be the same way. She did want to tell them the truth but she just didn’t want to tell anyone else. There were already four other people who knew before Armin. It didn’t seem fair.

Annie wondered if her biological mother and father had felt this. Had her biological mom been pregnant with her but been too afraid? Had she been young like her? Were they truly dead like she had been told?

She’d never know the answers. The files were sealed with her parents not wanting them unsealed. Yet she couldn’t help but wonder if her biological parents would be disappointed in her.

When Armin returned from Eren’s, it was like he just knew something else was bothering her.

He’d always been able to see through her.

Ever since they were kids, he could see under her hard exterior from a father who wanted her to become some sort of fighter to make him money.

Where Mikasa had learned to fight out of the fear of bullies from Levi, Annie had learned because her father wanted a prized fighter one day.

It had been when she went upstairs to be by herself because her stomach would not stop churning.

He knows was all she could think.  She didn’t know if it was the anxiety or the pregnancy.

Maybe if she just went to bed for a bit, she could delay it.

That plan worked for about five minutes before willing it away no longer worked and she found herself back in the bathroom.

After she had brushed her teeth, Armin had been there waiting for her.

There had been no malice, only understanding on his face. He took her into his arms right outside the bathroom.

Annie wasn’t one for PDA so she took his hand and led him back into the room she had taken to stay in. It had been a matter of moments between her shutting the door and her pushing him on her bed.

She climbed on top of him. Her lips were on his, only breaking away to remove his shirt.

But Armin knew something was wrong.

He pulled away, locking eyes with her.

“Annie?” was all he said.

That’s all it took before she started crying.

He wiped the tears from her eyes.

He didn’t say anything.

He just held her and let her cry.

She sobbed into his bare chest but he never once complained.

He didn’t ask for answers yet. He just let her cry for now.

“You’re going to hate me,” she finally said, her face still buried in his chest.

“I don’t think that’s possible.”

She got off of him and sat up, her knees pulled to her chest. “You say that now but you don’t know. You’re going to be disappointed.”

He sat up next to her, his legs crossed. “No, I’m not.” He wiped the stray hairs out of her face.

“Talk to me.”

“Armin...I’m….” she couldn’t say it. She hid her face in her knees.

Why couldn’t she say it?

He rubbed her back, “trust me.”

Oh she did. She trusted him more than anyone else in this world. She loved the band. Hell, she even loved Levi, Hange, and Eren. Not to mention all those other people from high school but nothing compared to the love she had for Armin.

A love she had kept hidden from him for many years due to fear of rejecting.

Even after he had danced with her at every single high school dance, being her date every time.

There had been flirtations but nothing had truly happened until right before the big fight between Eren, Armin, and Mikasa. What terrible timing that had been.

Yet it had been Mikasa who said it was okay.

But she never had said those words to him.

Once again, it was out of fear.

She finally looked over at him, his hazel eyes were locked on her. Her eyes finally met his.

“I’m pregnant,” she finally said.

There was a pause.

“Okay,” was all he said.

“Okay?”

“Okay.”

“What do you mean okay?” She was annoyed with his answer.

“I mean there’s nothing I can do about it.”

Suddenly Annie stood up, filled with rage. Never in her life had she wanted to raise her hand in violence to Armin but right now, she wanted to toss him out the window. She was pretty sure she could do it too.

“So you’re just going to say okay, there’s nothing I can do about it, and be done?”

“No! What?! I never said that!”

“You never said anything!”

She started pacing, she had to move. If she stood still, she probably would throw him out the window.

“What am I supposed to say? It’s your body, it’s your choice.”

He was being rational about this.

She didn’t want that right now.

“I want you to say what you’re thinking!” she shouted.

“Annie, I’m not going to influence your decision.”

“You were there too!”

He walked over to her, grabbed her, and held her to him. “I know, I remember.”

“Please, just tell me.”

“Do you know what you’re going to do?”

She wrapped her arms around him, hugging him back finally. “I’m keeping it.”

Armin’s lips were back on hers. She savored every moment of their lips moving in sync. If this was the end, she’d take it.

He pulled away and cradled her face in his hands. “Oh thank god,” he said finally.

“Yeah? You don’t want to leave?”

“Annie, I’m not going anywhere. Look, you have a good job. I get my undergraduate done then I’ll be working as Hange’s assistant while working on my masters. The timing is not perfect but after losing so many people in my life, it’d be nice to have another who does love me. I had hoped to be married to you one day. You know, before we had a kid but I’m okay with this too.”

“You want to marry me one day?” Her eyes lit up.

“I love you, Annie. Of course, I do.”

“I love you too.”

His lips were on hers as he guided her back towards the bed. As her back hit the mattress, he pulled away.

“Let me take care of you for once,” he whispered, “if you want me too.”

“Yes,” she consented.

His lips were on her neck, sucking on the skin that was there.

“Armin, I don’t have much more makeup,” she teased.

He stopped for a moment, letting his eyes meet hers. “I don’t care. Let people see.”

That’s all she needed to hear.

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

Screams came from downstairs.

“What do you think that’s about?” Armin asked as he pulled his belt through the loops on his pants.

“With our friends? Who knows?” Annie tossed him his shirt before pulling her own on and then grabbing her sweat pants before pulling them on. “Are you sure about this?” She asked him.

“Yes, I’m sure. You’re the one thing I’ve always been sure of,” he said before he rubbed his neck as his face got red.

“But Armin, you’re in your last year of undergrad. You’re going to want to….”

“I want to be with you. We didn’t plan for a baby, you’re right and we haven’t been together for all that long. But do you think anything ever goes as planned? Especially for us? For any of us?”

“But your future…..”

“Is you,” he cut her off. “You and this baby. I’ll still save the ocean. You’ll still be in the band. You know Mikasa is going to steal our kid and spoil him. Not to mention Historia, Ymir, and Sasha. You’ve seen Levi with Mikasa. This baby is going to be the most loved baby. But if you don’t want to keep it, it is your body.”

“It’s going to be hard.”

“I know but we’ll figure it out. We always have.”

He smiled at her as he took her hand, leading her out of the room.

They ran into Eren and Mikasa as they left Annie’s room.

“Eren?” Armin questioned.

“Uh, hi.” Eren gave an awkward wave.

“That didn’t take long. Glad you two are back together,” Annie said.

“We’re not back together,” Mikasa stated before leaving the group at the top of the stairs.

Eren looked dejected, the smile completely gone from his face.

Armin went to follow Mikasa, pulling Annie along with him, but Annie stopped him. He looked at her, she gave him a simple nod before he then left on her alone with Eren.

Eren went to follow Armin.

“Eren,” she said, causing Eren to stop walking. “Give her time. You really hurt her but she still loves you.”

“I know and I deserve all of it. It’s my fault things are like this.”

“It is. If you love her as much as you say, you’ll spend every day making it up to her. Look, I don’t get involved in these things. Mikasa means a lot to me. That’s why I’m saying this. Remember back when you tried to romance her? Flirted with her? Did things just for her? Do that again. That’s how you get the girl.”

“Thanks, Annie,” he said giving her the smallest smile.

“And if you break her heart this time, I’ll pull all your internal organs out through your nose.” She cracked her knuckles for emphasis.

Eren swallowed hard.

-----------

“Don’t go in there!” Sasha yelled at the tv.

“They’re going to stop and have sex in a creepy cellar?” Armin asked.

“Yeah, cool. There’s a groups of cannibals chasing us but let’s have sex here! That’s realistic,” Ymir snorted.

“There’s a knife above her head!” Sasha called out.

“Run!” Historia yelled.

“This is the dumbest movie I’ve ever seen,” Annie whispered to Mikasa.

“Agreed,” Mikasa whispered back.

They had all found themselves in Mikasa’s room watching horrible horror movies on her tv. Annie and Mikasa were on her bed with Historia and Sasha. Ymir had taken the spot next to Armin who sat next to Eren on the floor.

“She broke her heel! She’s doomed,” Historia threw her hands up.

“If this ends with the cannibals winning, I’m going to be pissed,” Ymir argued.

“Who runs a horror movie marathon in January?” Eren asked Armin.

“Annie’s pregnant,” he blurted out.

“WHAT?!” Eren yelled.

“WHOA!” Historia shouted.

“HIGH FIVE, ARMIN!” Sasha screamed as she leaned over to get a five high from him. He high fived her.

“NICE!” Ymir shouted as she also high fived Armin moments after Sasha.

“It’s always the quiet ones,” Sasha smirked as she nudged Annie with her shoulder.

“So is that why you got kicked out?” Historia asked Annie.

“Yeah, sorry. I was going to tell you but I thought I should tell Armin first.”

“It’s fine,” Sasha reassured her.

“So what are you going to do?” Ymir asked them.

“We’re keeping it. Levi knows and he said I can stay here as long as I need to. Armin has to go back to school and my job starts back up next week,” Annie answered.

“We’ll all help, you know that, Annie,” Historia rested her head on Annie’s shoulders.

“Yeah, you’re not alone,” Sasha reassured her.

“What about the band? You sure you want a pregnant member?” Annie asked.

“There are so many rocker moms out there! You’ll be the next one. Besides, you’re irreplaceable,” Ymir added.

Mikasa looked at Annie before taking her hand.

They didn’t need any words, once again.

Annie squeezed Mikasa’s hand.

Eren and Armin looked at one another before excusing themselves to go out into the hallway.

“Congratulations,” Eren said to Armin.

“Thanks. You’re going to be around, right?” Armin asked nervously.

“Yeah, I will. I mean I’m moving to Zeke’s but I’ll be around. You know, phone call away.”

“I’ll probably need a friend through this. You know another guy to talk to.”

Eren’s face lit up. “I mean, yeah. Of course. You can talk to me.”

“Good,” Armin hugged Eren.

Eren hugged him back.

It felt good to have Armin back.

“So why did you date the farmer and Reiner? I always kind of got...you being in love with Ymir vibes,” Annie said as Armin and Eren walked back into the room.

“What is this confession night?” Ymir scoffed.

“We’ll get to you in a minute,” Mikasa smirked.

“ME? What about me? I haven’t dated anyone besides her!” Ymir said as she pointed to Historia.

“I dated them because it made sense. My dad wanted a perfect daughter so I gave him that. Head cheerleader and captain of the football team. The future head of the farming industry and the Fritz Pharmaceuticals girl. I lived for my father’s acceptance,” Historia explained.

“What changed?” Sasha asked.

“Me. Ymir told me to live for myself so I listened.”

“So did you even like those guys?” Armin asked.

“Not really. Reiner really didn’t seem that interested in me either,” Historia shrugged.

“So have you been in love with me this whole fucking time and we’ve had to suffer through this nonsense?” Ymir asked.

“I thought that was pretty obvious. You just never picked up on it,” Annie said.

“Wait, did you all know this?” Ymir asked as she glanced around the room.

“I mean…..”Eren trailed off.

“You’re already on thin ice, Jaeger! Choose your next words carefully!” Ymir threatened him.

“I have an example,” Armin said as he pulled out his phone. “Here’s a picture of all of us back in high school. Look, Reiner and Historia looked weird together. Now look at who she’s looking at and smiling. It’s not Reiner.”

Ymir looked at the photo. She remembered it. It had been one of their last days. It felt like a lifetime ago. But Armin was right. Historia was staring at Ymir and smiling.

“I hate all of you,” Ymir replied as she fell back on the floor.

“I even figured that out,” Eren scoffed.

“You thought Mikasa liked Jean, so you have no room to talk!” Ymir shouted.

“She could have!” Eren argued.

“No! She didn’t! Everyone in that damn school knew she was in love with you!”

“And we all knew Historia was in love with you!”

“To be fair, these two didn’t figure out they liked each other until a year ago,” Sasha said pointing to Armin and Annie.

“Hey! I just thought Annie was out of my league,” Armin argued.

“And now she’s having your baby. Who could have seen that coming? Oh wait, the universe,” Ymir scoffed.

“ {lyrics redacted due to copyright},” Historia sang.

“Oh great, now Historia is going to be singing Harry Styles again.”

“Kiwi is a good song!”

“It is until you play it five hundred time!”

“You like it too!”

“You all are exhausting. I’m getting more popcorn,” Sasha said as she stood up.

“Oh wait! Sasha, come back so we can make fun of how you sext Niccolo but can’t talk to him in person,” Ymir called as she stood up and chased after Sasha.

The laughter echoed through the house.

[brideofcthulhu10]

I know I ask alot but could you do a story about the reader getting kidnapped and being held hostage against the boys as black mail or something and the boys coming to save them.

Don't even worry about it! I don't want any of you to feel guilty about multiple asks, there are no limits! Ask as much as you want.

So this is a bit rough, but I will defend my portrayal of the Frog Brothers. Remember they were willing to stake Star and Laddie TWICE, even when they were helping them, just because they were half vampires. A girl and a little boy were still a threat. With that being said, I hope you still enjoy

Taken from Your Bed

Fem!Reader x Poly! Lost Boys

CONTENT WARNING: Blood, Gore, Offensive Language, Subjects of Torture

The idea of a polyamorous relationship was something you had never considered in 17 years of living. The whole idea sounded so complex, sharing someone you loved with multiple people, or multiple people sharing and loving you? It just sounded like a huge mess.

 But when it came down to it, you could never choose between the beautiful vampires that had become absolutely smitten with you. What had started as a summertime time fling with the youngest and most perfect glam rocker, Paul, had evolved into a blossoming romance with his brothers. Late summer nights of riding through wind-warped beach dunes and cool morning naps were your new life. Your house had never really felt like a home even before you were coaxed into the arms of your blood sucking princes, and soon you just stopped coming back. Honestly they didn't even look for you. You'd be eighteen soon, you had graduated early from high school, there wasn't exactly much else to be done. It wasn't a surprise that your family was indifferent, you always questioned whether or not your parents had even wanted children. So, in the dark of the night they swooped in, liberating them of your belongings, and your presence. No note, no farewell, just an empty room with empty drawers.

Some days it would depress you. The subtle rejection hurt, but those days never lasted long. Any signs of tears and they'd be piling on you with a plethora of love. Paul would always remind you it didn't matter. You were with them now! Anyone else can burn in hell. The old cove where Star had slept was made up for you. They were more than happy to trash anything belonging to that treacherous girl. Battery powered fairy lights were hung across worn wooden bed posts, streams of colorful curtains kept you well shielded from any intruders, a mountain of stuffed toys from various trips to the boardwalk decorated the floor and your bed. They even managed to dig up a dusty old dresser for you clothes, and amongst your glamourous new cave dwelling, more often than not at least one of the boys would share the bed with you. On special occasions they'd all fall asleep with you in the middle between piles of plushies and pillows. Each one loved to spend time with you on and off the boardwalk. 

Marko was up for absolutely anything as long as he could be with you. You'd read out chapters of The Outsiders while he burrowed in your lap, just entranced by your soothing voice. He'd beg you to sing to him, just to get a glimpse of what that entailed. You could sound like a dying seagull and he'd still call it a serenade. On lazy days he would let you practice painting his nails when you got bored, or brush his hair. That was his favorite. Paul would whine that he wants his hair brushed too, only for David to interject that it's his turn next. Yes, even David loves having your attention on him. When you aren't sitting pretty in his lap, he's laying lazily against you while you run your fingers through snowy blonde hair. If you get him relaxed enough he'll let out a low, growling hum. You started calling it a sleepy bear sound. Your time with David was often mellow, wrapped in his arms while he read. Eventually you'd grow curious and peek at the pages, asking him to read out loud. "Only for you kitten." He'd whisper.

Dwayne could braid your hair for hours, telling you old stories his granny would tell him passed on from centuries. Your favorite is the wendigo, the story of settlers driven to cannibalism after being trapped in a cruel winter, doomed to roam as superhuman beasts. It makes you wonder if what they had seen were ancient vampires? He'd chuckled, throwing in a casual "maybe" then ask if you wanted feathers woven in your hair as well. Uh, yes please! Dwayne always made sure you were taking care of yourself. If you hadn't eaten that day it was suddenly top priority. He'll remind you the importance of 7 cups of water a day, plenty of rest- until you point out he does none of that. He'd then argue he's undead, that doesn't count. 

When Paul had his turn he'd be ecstatic. You'd both head bang to blasting music off the rock box, fix each other's hair in wild teased messes, sneak in a bit of heavy petting. Watching tv became a staple thanks to some rusty generator you "found" on a fisherman's boat after he… disappeared under mysterious circumstances. With a bowl of popcorn he'll pop in a scary movie, savoring those jumps that made you hide in his chest. It was too adorable! As soon as the other boys saw you two watching a film they'd all join and Paul would huff about his private time being commandeered. 

Even with all of this, you had still decided to remain human much to their dismay. It wasn't that you didn't want to be a vampire. But after the Frog Brothers nearly wiped them out, the boys needed someone to be a daytime watch guard. You weren't supposed to fight anyone, just raise an alarm if there were trespassers. The thought of that made you pout. It's not like you couldn't handle yourself. Sure you weren't Bruce Li, but you had a few street brawl victories under your belt. You could certainly handle those Frog dorks.

 Or so you had thought. 

That night you were absolutely positive no one had seen you, you certainly weren't supposed to be seen. It was 4:35 am, almost the entire boardwalk was scattered by now with most of the families long gone home. The lights were being shut off, rides had been closed hours ago. Only a few party animal adults still lingered at the bars making last calls, lazily returning to their beds after a draining night. A dense fog had started to roll in, coating the moon and beach in a haze. The foreboding swoon promised possible rain the following day. Taking advantage of the ethereal beauty the night was, you had lured two absolutely wasted surfer guys that had been stumbling across the boardwalk now eagerly following you through the misty sands expecting a night of thrills once you reached the caves. Calmly humming, you dragged your toes over the damp sands while wisps of ocean waves tempted to reach your feet. At the last stretch you waded through the shallows, cautiously climbing up onto slick mossy rocks when you reached the mouth of the cave. "C'mon boys. My friends are just dying to meet you," you purred. 

The high fives and penis innuendos were short lived when a flurry of dark figures swooped them into the air. You simply say atop the wet rocks with your knees delicately held against your chest. The screams and gurgled cries were lost to the ocean, and soon a familiar face poked from above looking into the cave. 

"Peek-a-boo," Marko teased, hanging off the roof of the cave before swinging next to you. "Have I ever told you, you have awesome taste in meals for a human?"

"Is that you, or the boozey blood talking," you asked with a giggle, smearing the blood off his cheeks to steal a quick kiss.

"Bow don't go taking all of her, Marko." You looked up, watching David swoop in coated in bloody stains with Paul and Dwayne trailing behind. 

"Sorry I could only bring you five people tonight guys, the fog coming in scared off whatever was left on the boardwalk. I barely caught those last two leaving the bar."

"Don't even kitty-cat, you already brought us way more than we expected," Paul protested, hanging on your shoulders from behind. 

Dwayne nodded, still leaning up against the soggy cave. "Five is enough to keep us full, princess, you did plenty." 

So with another successful night of feeding the boys were left ready to rest as 5 am rolled around. The sun tempted to rise before they had reached the cave, the boys slipping away to their dark hovel after giving you a mess of good night, or rather, good morning kisses. Although you often went to bed shortly after a night out, this morning you felt a surge of energy keeping you up. Thankfully it was a gloomy grey sky, causing minimal sunlight to burst through the slivers and cracks leaving the possibility still open that one of them would come to sleep beside you. Until then you chiseled away the boredom with a pair of headphones and a pile of comic books, flipping through the pages with eager anticipation for the next scene. Two hours barely dragged by, leaving you rolling over your bed in misery. Staring at the ceiling you debated sneaking into the cave. Maybe drag a blanket and a pillow, cuddle up on the ledge.. and then David would give you an earful for not only sleeping where you could fall but climbing through the tunnels. Oh well. It was only- 7:30 am. Perhaps you should spend the day out? But, something felt off. 

You sat up, pulling off your headphones trying to listen for anything out of the ordinary. There was a disturbing still to the room, even the ocean sounded distant.

 Then without warning, a firm hand clamped over your mouth from behind. You tried to wildly thrash and scream, but the sounds were heavily muffled under the thick layers of a towel. There seemed to be another who was running in front of you to grab at your wild legs still getting in every possible hit you could. They were whisper-yelling, demanding you keep your voice down. To hell with that! You managed to kick one in the face! The struggle dragged out for easily five minutes by this point. It always seemed to work faster in fiction, instead it dragged out for what felt like forever. The scent burned your lungs, it was getting harder to breathe, your resistance wavered as the drag of exhaustion continued to claw at your eyes. Your violent thrashing became a few heavy swings of your shoulders, until you could barely move anymore. It was impossible to fight the monstrous sleep they forced you into. Your body dropped into unconsciousness, finally able to breathe as you slipped away in the darkness.

Marko stirred in his sleep, swearing he could hear you screaming just outside. It wasn't until he opened his eyes that he was able to relax. Quiet as the day is long. It must've been his imagination. 

Flutters of light faded in and out of your peripheral vision. The more you saw, the more you heard. Two grumbling voices bickering back and forth. 

"- I say we should just ice her now!"

"Not until we can smoke the rest of 'em out! A vampire rarely travels alone these days! The rest of them won't kill us as long as we have her!"

A verbal groan alerted their attention towards you as you shifted in place. It was still daytime, maybe mid afternoon? You honestly couldn't tell. When you tried to sit up you felt a sharp, worn resistance that kept your arms firmly in place. The rope rubbed your wrists raw. Your boots couldn't get any traction on the floor, it was covered in dust and old hay. Finally you were able to see those responsible for your capture. 

"Oh you have got to be kidding," you announced, glaring at the two camo-clad brothers posing like suburban commandos. This was some old dusty barn, and you were kidnapped by the self proclaimed vampire hunters of Santa Carla, the Frog Brothers, Edgar and Allan. Typical.

"So, you guys have gone from murder to kidnapping. Well, I guess that's progress."

"The only murderer here is you, blood sucker," Edgar gruffly retorted, pointing a freshly sharpened stake in your face.

"Vampire? I'm in the sun you idiot!"

"We all know about you half bloods being in sunlight, you can't fool us." You didn't even realize the tall one spoke. His sneering upper lip wouldn't cease to display the disgust he held against you. 

"You two must be sniffing too much old newsprint," you snorted. "There's no such thing as vampires."

That's when Edgar got close, tilting your chin up with the stake. "We saw you drawing those civilians to the cave for your little monster buddies." 

His words hit you heavily. You were certain you had been careful, utterly positive. Instead not only had you been tailed, you had exposed the boys to a group of radical nutcases ready to kill. Now it was personal. Steeling your resolve, you took in a deep breath. "So what?"

Allan yanked you by your shirt, looking back into your eyes with his own hate. "Where are the others," he hissed. 

With everything you had you tilted your head back and bashed your forehead against his. The force made your ears ring. They always did it in the movies, but no one ever said just how much it hurt. There was a dull sting where your skull had taken the brunt end of the attack while it traveled all the way to the back, a small trickle of what you could only assume was blood dripping off your forehead. Meanwhile the teen had fallen onto his back atop the filthy floor still grasping his forehead with a groan, Edgar jumping up over Allan ready to drive that stake into your heart. 

"No!" Allan grabbed his brother by his shirt, just before it came inches to your heart. "We need her alive… for now."

With a smirk you sloshed around the spit in your mouth. As soon as Edgar turned to face you, you sent the congealed saliva in a forceful blast across. Direct hit. Edgar wiped away the disgusting phlegm off his eyes and in his rage quickly uncapped a bottle of holy water. Yes, a full water bottle of it, and doused you in it. 

Great. Now you were tied up. bleeding, AND WET. You gave them a disinterested glare, cocking an eyebrow. "So, again, not a vampire. Believe me now?"

The two looked at each other and quickly huddled. They would mutter amongst themselves, occasionally peeking above to glare at you and your rolling eyes. Alright, so you were human. Even a head vampire couldn't be out in daylight, and half vampires couldn't handle holy water. But in a way that only made it worse! A living servant of the undead, a spy to lure helpless victims into their grasp, a caretaker of evil! A traitor to your own kind! That settled it then.

Groaning even grew tiresome by this point. You tried to wiggle out of your crude bonds, but you had to give them some semblance of credit, this was a damn good knot!

"Alright," Edgar boomed, catching you off guard. "You may be a human, but any ally of the undead is still an enemy, and we're not showing you an ounce of mercy!"

Allan nodded, and suddenly the atmosphere took a turn for gloomy. He watched with disinterest as you tried to wedge your heel into the ground to scoot away from them but it seemed to have no use. The struggle had you thrashing until you lost balance, flopping over on your side. He stomped over and wrenched you up by your shirt, this time keeping a cautious distance from your head.

 "If they're keeping you alive.. they must think you have some sort of value." Alan finally knelt down to your level with your shirt still clutched in his left hand, brandishing a hunting knife with the right. The glint of it shined in your eyes in a cruel afternoon glow. In its looming reflective surface you could see your own e/c eyes as wide as saucers. They didn't see you as human. You were an ally of their greatest enemy, just as "evil" as the vampires they were so determined to hunt. Being human was no longer a bargaining chip to prevent injury. "Call to them."

Your teeth ground until they hurt, jaw locked in place. "Go to fucking hell," you hiss. 

Before you could land another blow to Allan's smug face, Edgar had grabbed you from behind to keep you in place. The blade lightly caressed the flesh of your upper arm, catching the folds of your skin leaving tiny knicks. It tempted the surface to break beneath it's cruel will as Allan repeated his command through gritted teeth. "Call. Them."

Threats of torture weren't enough to break your silence. Fine, so be it. The tip dug into your arm, skin peeling away in a stream of ruby leaving a trail behind. You sucked in a sharp hiss, but bit on your tongue before you could yelp.There was no way you'd let them get to the boys. If you had to die so they could live, so be it. You wouldn't let out so much as a whimper. Do your worst.

Late afternoon dragged out, clinging tightly to every ticking second until the sun gave way under its own weary weight. The moment night lifted, crowing hoots echoed the cave. Freedom at last! Paul swung out of the cave brimming with excitement, Dwayne flying out behind him and crashing onto a couch leaving a cloud of dust for him to sneeze out. David was the last to waltz out, looking towards your corner. Odd. You were usually the first up to greet them. It'd become almost expected by this point. Sensing David's confusion along with his own, Marko gleefully jumped down from the rafters over debris to reach your bed. Someone was certainly sleeping in!

"Y/N? C'mon baby girl, wake up! Time for..," he paused, pulling away the curtains to find your bed a disheveled mess. Your cassette tape had been eaten to shreds by your portable player, magazines and books thrown on the floor, wads of sheets kicked off topped by discarded plushies. "Guys, c'mere!"

Dwayne quickly jumped up, expecting you to be snuggled in bed like a baby bird in its nest. Instead he stood beside Marko and looked past the curtains at the disarray your little corner had become.

 "Since when does Y/N go out this late at night," Paul questioned from behind the two. Whoa, did a tornado come through here? He hopped over, pulling the trashed tape from your player. 

"She doesn't," David said slowly, a flood of concern spilling into his head. Fully pushing the curtains away they all stepped in, looking for any sign of where you had gone.

Paul managed to wedge out the mess of black threading and plastic, getting a good look at what you had been listening to. Def Leppard's Hysteria Album. He had scrounged up some dough a few months ago for your birthday, you guys spent the whole weekend listening to it. For some reason you liked their gifts even more when they didn't just steal them. This was your favorite thing from him.. you'd never just leave it in the player to get trashed. "Dude what happened here?"

 David lifted your blankets, noticing an unfamiliar scent intruding over your delicate aroma. Someone else had been here. Someone who shouldn't have been here.

Marko was able to catch whiff of a gnarly chemical scent, bitter. Crouching down, it was almost missed. Amongst your belongings was an unfamiliar towel stained with some sort of fluid. Peeling the soggy rag off the ground he took a whiff and immediately scrunched up his nose. "Hey, David, man. Smell this. Is it familiar?"

David caught the drenched towel tossed his way and barely had to smell it to recognize the stench. Throwing it down he began storming out, standing in the center of the room trying to listen for your heartbeat. None. 

"What is it? Where is she," Paul demanded. This was getting to be too much. 

"This isn't a coincidence boys," David hissed, looking their way. "Someone took Y/N. That rag was drenched in some sort of concentrated chemical."

The boys grew solemn, David's words setting into each of them. Paul was enraged, already his red eyes seeping through. How dare anyone take you from him! He'll rip them apart!

Marko's silence held a cruel storm ready to burst, biting on his thumb to stifle any unsteady rage. All he could picture were horrid images of you being hurt. Fear and guilt overwhelmed him. That wasn't a dream, he really had heard you earlier crying for help. The shame of it made him clench his eyes shut. A cacophony of blame riddled his heart knowing you had been taken just beneath their noses. He shouldn't have left you alone, he should have checked on you the moment he thought something was wrong!

Dwayne stood in silence, slamming his fist against the wall. Crumbles of concrete dusted his busted knuckles that quickly healed in place. You were supposed to be theirs, and he failed to protect you! "We have to find her," he choked out, pushing a mess of black hair from his furrowed brow. The not knowing was killing him. It was killing all of them. You weren't just missing, you were stolen while they slept only feet away. 

Even David felt an internal rage unlike anything he'd felt before, not only at the perpetrators, but at himself. A beast among men, eternal life with a bounty of strength worth a thousand. What fucking good was it when while he slept you were torn from your bed? But another thought sat heavy in his heart. Their hearing was impeccable, damn near perfect. Why hadn't you called them? A scream, a cry would be enough! He began to march over to your bed again, but a new perspective had just granted him a moment of clarity. Hidden just under your blankets was a broken strip of red cloth one could only assume was a headband. Clasped tightly in vengeful fists, David's eyes turned bloodshot. He knew exactly who took you. 

You weren't even sure how many hours had gone by at this point. The brother's grew restless at your resolve. While they regrouped in the corner to reevaluate their plan, you had found a nail jutting out from the floorboards to scrape your ankles on, slowly sawing away the worn rope that kept your legs together. Any movement stung. Cuts decorated up your exposed thighs and arms. Fresh blood caked over dried wounds, dirt became mud by this point from the excessive wounds and had smeared up your legs. They had conflicting feelings about throwing any swings your way. You were surprised to hear Edgar verbally voice his hesitations regarding unleashing a blow on a girl. Allan stepped in, but came to the same conclusion that he couldn't hit you. Well, after four good catches to your face. Utterly moronic, a knife was far more painful. Perhaps it gave them some sort of distance from you, punching was just too personal. Still, your busted lip was not appreciative of the last minute sentiment. Part of you wanted to mock them. If you're going to kidnap and torture someone go all the way at least, don't puss out half way through. But, you had other plans. You rapidly ran the rope across the nail while they bickered back and forth, nearly there.. and then you heard a massive thud land on the roof. 

No. No not yet. You quickly dragged your feet as fast as you could while the brothers flew into a panic. But now your feet were free. Using your knees you hoisted yourself up to the nail, rapidly dragging your arms across to saw the straw away. Edgar and Allan began checking each other for weapons, and right as the rammed into the door again your wrists came free. Right!

You dashed for the brothers, snatching the bottles of water and dumping out every drop into the ground. They ran to grab you as you tried to bolt out the door, almost able to see Marko in the air above when suddenly someone had grabbed a fistful of your hair. That was enough to make you scream. A chunk was ripped from your scalp, the rest still tightly grasped in Edgar's fist. 

David watched you bolt out the rickety old barn, ready to fly down to you until they caught you in their grasp. Paul didn't even hesitate once they snatched you back, that is until he caught sight of a shimmering glare wedged tightly against your throat. 

"Get back," Edgar demanded, twisting your arm. The pain rang up through your back to the point you feared your shoulder was being pulled out of place. Your breathing began to become shallow when something cold slid on your throat, Edgar's free hand pressing the blade to your throat so tightly a thin line formed beneath it. 

"You're fucking dead, you little shit," Marko hissed, jumping off the tin roof. 

"M-Marko," you whimpered. You didn't dare move an inch. 

"Back off death breath! Or your little pet becomes your next meal!"

With that warning Edgar tilted the blade just beneath your chin. 

You tried to pull your head back to keep your distance from the foreboding piece, looking at Marko with fear. 

"I'm sorry…"

Marko took a step back, unsure of how to approach this. Any moves he made could result in you being taken. He could see the barrage of wounds coating your skin. It made his shoulders shake, just aching to rip this punk's head off. 

From inside the barn Dwayne hovered over the rafters, shattering the bulb that provided the only light in the room. Left in the dark, Allan grasped at the wooden stake in his hand. He could hear Dwayne rapidly flying through the barn, but he could never move fast enough to see him. "Come out you coward!" 

Allan's scream alerted Edgar to his brother, turning his head just soon enough to watch him bled dry. Dwayne pried his fangs from the limp teen with a disgusted snarl in the dark, chucking the corpse at his brother's feet.

"NOOOOO!"

You took the chaos as an opportunity to escape, knocking his hand off of you and trying to bolt forward. Paul flew to snatch you, his hands tightly wrapped around yours when he heard the most hideous sound. Flesh tearing, bones cracking under the pressure with squelches of blood pittering down into the ground. His fingers trembled watching your delicate face drop in horror.

Edgar stood behind, only seeing the red of his rage as he drive the knife further into the small of your back. "Die you witch bitch!"

Those were his last words as David jutted his hand through Edgar's chest. You screamed in horror watching Edgar barely have a reaction to his own heart being held outside his body, collapsing into a hollow husk of flesh. What air you had was rapidly escaping your lungs, falling in a cascade into Paul's arms. 

"No, no no! Y/N!" He dropped to his knees, holding you tightly against him. David knelt down beside you two, Marko running and skidding on his knees beside you while Dwayne leaned over you. They were all holding back tears, David's hand brushing over the hilt of the knife still jutting out. 

"I'm so sorry," you hiccups between tears, fingers tangled in Paul's jacket. "I co-couldn't… let them g-get you."

Marko shushed you, running his fingers through your hair. "Its okay baby girl, we know. Just hang on, okay?"

David wedged you into a sitting position onto his knees, looking at Paul. "As soon as I pull," he began, pushing your hair away from your neck ", you bite."

The suggestion sent chills through you. "B-but.."

"Y/N, kitten, it's right through your lumbar artery," David whispered softly, lightly tapping the hilt with his gloved hand sending a dull pain through your entire back. "This has gotta come out. But when I pull it out, you could bleed to death."

"Please don't leave us, baby girl." Marko held your hand, looking at you in fear. He wasn't ready to lose you. None of them were. If you had to turn to stay with them, they'd do it in a heartbeat. 

With a slow breath in, you hugged yourself against David and closed your eyes. Paul moved beside your neck as instructed, but Dwayne and Marko each took one of your wrists in their grasp. They all wanted to turn you. "O..okay.. d-do it.."

David kissed your cheek softly, clutching his hand around the knife. It hardly put up any resistance against his vampiric strength. You, on the other hand, couldn't help but cry out. Tears flooded your face, nails dragging against David's jacket. When they could see the tip of the blade surface, Paul dove his fangs into your shoulder. David bit into the left side of your neck, while Marko and Dwayne tore into your wrists. What should take hours only took moments. 

Marko held onto you, closing his eyes tightly trying to muscle through your agonized cries before pulling his mouth off. Tears spilled from Paul's eyes, tearing away before he lost control. The taste of your bittersweet blood lingered on his tongue. Dwayne and David held you in place, and finally you had felt your heart stall, then stop. 

You didn't need to catch your breath anymore, there was no longer any breath left to catch. "I'm sorry… I'm so so sorry,:" you whimpered, buried against David's chest. "Th-they had holy water, they were going to ambush you… I-I couldn't risk it.."

"No more, kitten," David shushed, holding your head on his chest. 

"Don't worry about it princess." Dwayne ran his hands over your hair, kissing the top of your head. "This won't happen again."

"We are never letting you out of our sight again," Marko cooed, nuzzling your hand against his face. Paul gently kissed your available cheek, looking up at the black sky shifting to grey. "Guys, the sun's comin' up."

"So it is." David lifted you bridal style into his arms, kissing you softly. "Let's get you home babygirl. Tonight we'll take you out for your first hunt, but for now, you need your rest."

A burst up wind carried you off into the air, holding on tightly to David as he flew you over the ocean, above the clouds, back to the safety of the hotel. Your home. Forever.

[travllingbunny]

The 100 rewatch: 5x05 Shifting Sands

After four really strong episodes at the beginning of season 5, this is a slower episode focused on developing the new dynamics. This episode is by no means bad, and there are some lovely character moments in it - but this is, unfortunately, where the plot starts getting kind of boring. It’s the start of many subplots that, either intentionally or unintentionally, ended up not mattering much for the overall story.

Some of the subplots introduced:

the mutant worms - I’m not a fan of this subplot, which the show will literally chuck out 5 episodes later. Also, it’s gross. I don’t like to have to actually avert my eyes from the screen. The show was really going for the Alien vibe here.

Zaven romance was probably meant to be Raven’s endgame, but unfortunately, Jordan Bolger got another role and we know what happened. And now all that screentime devoted to the development of their relationship feels like a waste of time, which may be unfair to season 5, but it is what it is. In itself, it’s not the worst romantic subplot by any means, but it’s another rushed romance.

It seemed like the show was going somewhere with the friendship between Diyoza and Kane (with some flirty moments that could have at least suggested even more) - don’t get me wrong, I was very much against it being a ship (not a fan of Stockholm Syndrome romances, and Kabby is one of the very few well developed romantic relationships on the show), but every relationship involving Kane got pushed aside when Henry Ian Cusick decided to leave the show. In S6, only Kabby and his friendship with Indra were addressed. On the other hand, it’s always it’s nice to get more Diyoza backstory, which we get when she tells her story to Kane: her suicide attempt - when marines who used to be her own team came to arrest her and after they killed her father. 

Both Diyoza’s shock collars and Vinson are introduced. Vinson is a very unusual character for The 100 - which is full of leaders, warriors and cult leaders, but which doesn’t usually feature cannibal serial killers. I have to say that I quite liked where they went with this character - he was like an embodiment of Abby’s demons (addiction, cannibalism during the Dark Year) and the demons that almost destroyed the Kabby relationship.

The last scene sets up the main plot of the next episode, which is Octavia and Bellamy arguing about Echo… Not the best subplot out there.

In Eden, Diyoza shows again that she may be ruthless but she’s smart - she is against waging war in Eden and potentially destroying the only habitable land on Earth. Not such good news: she wants to use missiles on Wonkru, which makes sense - especially since they are, from her POV, a bunch of dangerous fanatics. (Actually, they are a bunch of dangerous fanatics, period.)She is aware that the rest of Spacekru are still somewhere in the woods, as is Madi (since she knew 5 of them were almost captured by her people, when Madi saved them). The rivalry between her and McCreary is highlighted again - and we also learn about their history. (Which is going to be important because of a certain reveal that will be coming soon…) I guess Diyoza was more honest than McCreary knew when she dismissed his sexual prowess as “that was torture, too” - since we learn in S7 that she had sex with him to get him to be on her side in the rebellion.

Diyoza’s choice of sex partners may not be the best, but she has good taste in music and hates speed metal or trash metal or whatever that was just as much as I do. “Play something with a beat” - exactly!

Kane in the meantime offers intel on Octavia in exchange for a guarantee of protecting Raven and Murphy, but his other reason is that he thinks Octavia will get all of Wonkru killed and wants to stop her.

And we get more of McCreary torturing someone, this time Raven and Murphy. McCreary torturing various people is a recurring thing this season. Is there any episode where he isn’t either murdering, torturing or both? I guess no one has told him that torture is not an efficient or reliable way of extracting information… but it’s quite possible he doesn’t care. Shaw gets to be reluctantly present during someone’s torture again - not a great way to get to know your future girlfriend. The fact that she’s in pain and tortured for who-knows-which-time may be why Raven is showing her judgmental streak again, this time dissing Shaw for lying about the fact he was the one who disabled the missiles and accusing him of getting them tortured to save his ass, which is technically true but ignores the facts that 1) he saved hundreds of Wonkru, 2) he saved Raven’s and Murphy’s lives, and 3) admitting the truth wouldn’t have helped anyone. But Raven also shows her smarts and comes up with a good plan how to get Murphy out so he can inform others about the missiles - and does some really good acting when she pretends she’s furious with Shaw.

One of the highlights of the episode is Murphy meeting Madi for the first time (”hobbit” as he refers to her), as everyone is in the Rover that Madi is driving. Murphy is not happy when Madi says she thought he would be funnier, and even less so when she says Octavia is her favorite. (It’s OK, Murphy, Hope and Jordan (during his rebellious phase) will love you.)

Contrary to what you’ll often hear in the fandom, Spacekru have been, in these early episodes, talking repeatedly about the fact that Clarke saved them and thanking her. They mentioned it all by themselves in 5x03. Bellamy told Clarke ‘Clarke, you saved us all!” in 5x04 and Raven tearfully thanked her for saving their lives. And now Echo tells Madi they wouldn’t have made it without Clarke, and Harper confirms it.

When Murphy realizes that his shock collar/tracker can be used as a bomb, he tells the others to leave him and save themselves and go warn Bellamy - which , I believe, is the first time that Murphy has been really unselfish and unconcerned with saving his own life. Emori has, up to that point, been hostile to him, accusing him of selfishness (she even jumped to the conclusion that he left Raven to die to save himself). But the moment he says this, you can see her face and her whole attitude changing. She says nothing, just staring at him - and then stays with him instead of going with the others. (Murphy will again be unselfish and ask others to leave him to save thrmselves in the season 5 finale, and Emori will refuse to leave him.)

………..

In Polis, there are more reunions: Clarke gets to interact with Jackson and Miller. Jackson tells her they could have used her in the bunker (Clarke replies that they had her mom, and Jackson’s silence hints that something is wrong, but she’ll only find out what much later).This is an interesting “What if” - what if Clarke and/or Bellamy had been in the bunker? How would that have affected everything - Octavia and Abby, above all? Indra later tells Bellamy that Octavia needs him. She is clearly not one of those who drank Kool-Aid and hopes for Bellamy to be a good influence on her, the way she obviously wishes she could be, but Octavia is not listening to her. Cooper, on the other hand, is Octavia’s yes-woman and clearly encourages her worst behavior. Miller still seems somewhere in between at this point - unlike Jackson, he tells Clarke not to get involved, but then changes his mind and tells Blodreina that Clarke has something to tell her.

(This is also a rare occasion: an actual Mackson kiss.)

Clarke and Bellamy are starting to realize that Octavia is pretty scary now, starting with the way her cult worships her and turns against anyone daring to criticize or question her, and then with the way Octavia herself has changed. The episode does a good job of showing that she has been losing her grip on reality,  and apparently drinking her own Kool-Aid a bit too much. She is obsessed what she sees as her messianic role pf delivering her people to Eden, and trying to get her people through the desert during the sandstorm, contrary to the advice of Clarke, who actually knows the terrain, (Maybe she’s taken it too much to heart to continue Jaha’s legacy.) Some of the things Octavia says in this episode:

“The wind hasn’t met Wonkru” - many people mock it as one of the worst lines in the show, but I like it, I think it’s intentionally hilarious, one of the few funny moments this season - and meant to show what ridiculous things Octavia says when she’s boasting in front of Wonkru. All the Wonkru members fully accept it while only Bellamy and Clarke are looking at her with WTF? faces.

She also says “Wonkru doesn’t retreat” And then orders retreat at the end of the episode. She’s not fully delusional.

“That valley is (our home) and we’re taking it back” - Back? When did she/they have it exactly? I guess she may just be considering everything that any of the clans had/where they lived as belonging to Wonkru… but she’s never even been there

“Thanks to you, we’re at war” to Bellamy again (would it have been better to stay locked in the bunker forever?)

“You don’t understand because you’re not one of us”

and finally, she straight up threatens her brother if he keeps questioning her.

During a meal by the campfire at night, while Wonkru are chanting “All of me for all of us”, we find out that Octavia is trying to live by the “Love is weakness” maxim, which is here retconed as something that all Flamekeepers teach all Commanders (and that Gaia is teaching her now, accordingly), rather than just a Titus/Lexa thing, as it seemed in season 3. (Which in itself was a retcon, since it first seemed in season 2 that it was just something Lexa came up with as a result of her tragic experience with losing her lover Costia.) And yes, it’s love in general, not just romantic love. “Love no one, and no one can hurt you”, says Octavia, and she clearly includes her brother in that. Indra rejects that and replies with “I love you”, asking if that makes her weak. This is a recurring theme in the show: Clarke and Octavia have both gone through “Love is weakness” phase. (And now in season 7, it’s time for Bellamy - only this time, this idea came to him in the form “love is selfish”, and that he should love all mankind rather than focus on love for individual people.)

Clarke finds something “beautiful” and impressive in Wonkru’s unity - maybe because she has been alone for so long. The long isolation has changed her - she seems less assertive when she’s around others, although, to be fair, it doesn’t help that she’s not in the position to be a part of the leadership while they are around Wonkru. But she’s also shy and vulnerable when Bellamy - after telling her how amazing she was for surviving so long on her own - tries to make her talk about that time. She starts saying “Well, I wasn’t alone” - and if she immediately answered “I had Madi”, that would be nothing strange, but the way Clarke makes a long awkward pause and seems to catch herself, before saying “I had Madi”, and then quickly leaves, almost as if running away - suggest that maybe she was, for a moment, thinking and going to say something else - something about radio calls that allowed her to keep her sanity. Subsequent events have certainly supported this interpretation - we will learn in 5x13 that Clarke has been keeping it a secret from Bellamy (when Madi tells him, she says “I probably shouldn’t be telling you this”), and when Bellamy finally reveals in 6x01 that he knows about them, Clarke is again very shy and embarrassed and almost runs away from the conversation.

But at this point, Bellamy doesn’t know any of that, and I don’t think he understands Clarke’s state of mind. To him, it must seem like she’s withdrawing into herself. 

Later on, the two of them get another moment, and this time it’s Clarke’s turn to tell Bellamy how awesome he is. She praises him for not killing the prisoners in cryo and for saving her, and says “the Heart and the Head” - recalling their conversation from over 6 years ago,. in 4x13, when she told him to use his head and not just his heart. She’s saying that he’s using both his heart and his head now. Bellamy repeats “The Heart and the Head”, and I believe that’s the first time they’ve said that phrase to each other. Now they have another canon catchphrase to describe their relationship, in addition to “Together”. (They will say it again - a little different - in 6x10: “The Head and the Heart”.)  Clarke then asks Bellamy “What does your head say about fighting a war (etc.)” and he replies “Same as yours”. Which is just crying for a callback to happen in the final season. Will we get Bellamy and Clarke saying “What does your heart say…”?

Clarke - in a rare moment of medically treating someone (something she did a lot in season 1, but rarely after that), saves Octavia’s life from the worms. And - in one of her better moments in this episode - Octavia thanks for her saving her life. Sadly, their relationship is not going to be that harmonious in the rest of S5.

And at the end of this episode - more reunions! The rover comes with Madi, Monty, Harper and Echo, with three memorable reunion moments:

I love the moment when Monty greets Octavia (he still has no idea how much she has changed) and she greets him back with the most awkward smile ever. It’s like she isn’t sure if she can be Octavia now that she’s Blodreina but she’s acting like her old self for a moment with an old friend who has no idea what she’s like now. 

And this is just moments after she has threatened her brother. This camerawork in this episode is quite interesting - the way it plays with focus. When Octavia threatens Bellamy, while Clarke looks at them, concerned, we have Octavia/Bellamy in focus and Clarke out of it, and then the reverse.

And then in the reunion scene at the end, after we see Clarke and Madi running into each other’s arms for a big hug, and then we also see Echo and Bellamy running towards each other - it’s interesting and very telling that. as we see Clarke and Madi hugging and Bellamy and Echo kissing, in the same frame, the Becho kiss is out of focus throughout, while the camera zooms on Clarke’s reaction. While the first Becho kiss we saw (in 5x01) served the purpose to reveal the relationship to the audience, this time, the kiss is there just for Clarke’s and Octavia’s reactions to it, and this frame screams - what matters here is Clarke finding out about Becho.

Does this look familiar? Oh yes, we saw the same kind of scene and the exact same facial expression from Clarke in 1x05 when she learned that Finn had a girlfriend.

(But in case you ignored this moment, since it’s subtle - the dramatic music only starts with Octavia’s reaction to seeing her brother with her old enemy, which is the cliffhanger - don’t worry, you’ll get another scene of Clarke looking sad while Becho are kissing, in the next episode.)

And here’s the (melo)dramatic cliffhanger! I guess the audience is supposed to be on Bellamy’s and Echo’s side as Octavia is showing once again she can stare daggers - but I suspect many were on Octavia’s side on this one, since we’re pretty much in the same boat as Octavia and Clarke -, for us and for them, comes from nowhere, after we’ve only known them as enemies. Especially Octavia - Clarke did spend semi-amicable moments with Echo and witness Bellamy spending them just before Praimfaya. Octavia's last memories of Echo are… Echo mortally wounding Ilian, Bellamy almost strangling Echo for trying to kill Octavia/cheat them all out of the bunker, and Octavia banishing Echo. and Echo briefly trying to threaten her with telling the other Grounders about the Skaikru rebellion.

Was this really necessary in terms of the conflict between the Blakes? I don’t think so. They’ve already been butting heads over Octavia’s leadership and actions and her intention to fight a war - but yay, we are getting an episode centered around Octavia objecting to Bellamy’s girlfriend, which will ultimately go nowhere and matter little in terms of overall Bellamy/Octavia relationship this season.

Body count: 12 Wonkru members died: Obika died a horrible death from mutant worms. (His death will haunt Miller, who was with him when he was attacked by the worm, during the red sun eclipse in 6x02, when Miller hallucinated having bugs inside of him and yelled he would end up the same as Obika.) 11 other Wonkru members died from Diyoza’s missile, which means there are 801 left.

Rating: 6/10

[thorsthot]

thorsthot’s must-see horror film masterlist

This is a list of all my must-see horror films for anyone interested in horror, or interested in wanting to get into it. Below the cut is the places to watch these horror films, as well as my personal handcrafted sub-genres with lists of films to watch. 

Don’t know where to start? I’ll create a special, personalized list of horror for you, based on your tastes in films, books, and music. 

Places to find the films (colored by streaming service):

netflix • hulu • shudder • tubi tv • amazon • youtube

Films and Subgenres:

Body Horror and Gore:

Saw, Eyes Without a Face, Would You Rather, Hostel, The Fly, Re-Animator,  Hellraiser, Hellraiser II: Hellbound

Romance Horror - Bloodsuckers Edition:

Dracula, Dracula 1992, The Lost Boys, Nosferatu, Nosferatu The Vampyre, Interview with The Vampire, Let The Right One In, Da Sweet Blood of Jesus, Ganja and Hess, Thirst, A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night, Jennifer's Body, Fright Night, 30 Days of Night, From Dusk Till Dawn, Blade, Queen Of The Damned

Keep Your Friends Close, Actually Don’t:

Get Out, The Orphan, Scream

The Madness of The Mind:

The Shining, The Babadook, Hereditary, Shutter Island, Mr Jones, Mother, Goodnight Mommy, It Comes at Night, Altered Minds, Circle

Brain Dead! Gonna Eat You Alive:

The Night of The Living Dead, Raw, 28 Days Later, Rec, Cabin Fever, Shaun of The Dead, Zombieland, White Zombie, Resident Evil, Train To Busan

Revenge is A Dish Best Served Cold:

The Last House on The Left, Sleepaway Camp, Upgrade, Mandy, All The Boys Love Mandy Lane, All Cheerleaders Die, The Final, Teeth, Carrie, The Cult of Chucky, The Purge: Anarchy, The Tortured, Shutter, Patchwork

Foreign Extremities:

High Tension, I Saw The Devil, Ichi The Killer, The Night of The Virgin, Ju-On, Audition, Martyrs, The Tale of Two Sisters, House, Gozu, Ringu, Guinea Pig: Devils Experiment, Irreversible, May The Devil Take You, The Orphanage

Aliens, Monsters, Giants and everything in between:

Alien, Trick r Treat, The Cabin In The Woods, The Lure, Clown, IT, The Descent, Aliens, Predator, Jaws, Jeepers Creepers 1 & 2, Wrong Turn, The Ritual, Ginger Snaps, Cloverfield, An American Werewolf in London, Underworld, Gremlins

Angels, Demons, Witches and God Complexities:

The Void, The Devil’s Candy, The Conjuring, Insidious, Suspiria (1977), The Witch, The Neon Demon, The Omen, The Evil Dead, Mama, The Craft, Drag Me To Hell, Rosemary’s Baby, The Autopsy of Jane Doe, Final Destination 3, It Follows, Candyman, The Amityville Horror, We Are Still Here, The Endless, Black Sunday, Light’s Out, Begotten, Jinn, The Lords Of Salem

"There’s Someone in My Home!” Invasion:

The Strangers, The Invitation, You’re Next, Funny Games, The Eyes of My Mother, The Pact, The Collector

Real or Fake? Documentary Edition:

The Sacrament, The Devil Inside, The Final Exorcism, Horror Noire, The Devil and Father Amorth, The Pougskeepie Tapes, Creep, Cannibal Holocaust, The Blair Witch Project, VHS, All Hallows Eve, The Houses October Built, The Nightmare,  As Above So Below, Paranormal Activity, The Human Centipede 2

Slashing into You:

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Halloween, Psycho, American Psycho, The Nightmare on Elm Street, Black Christmas, Child’s Play, Friday the 13th, Freddy vs Jason, My Bloody Valentine, Halloween (2018), Hatchet, Silent Night Deadly Night, Jason X, The Town That Dreaded Sundown, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Part 2

Remakes: Rehashing and Reslashing on the Big Screen:

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003), Let Me In (2010), Evil Dead (2013), Halloween (2007), The Grudge (2004), The Thing (1982), The Hills Have Eyes (2006), Last House On The Left (2009), Friday the 13th (2009),  Dawn of The Dead (2004), The Crazies (2010), Thirteen Ghosts (2001), Prom Night (2008), I Spit on Your Grave (2010)

Fucking Disgusting:

Salo, A Serbian Film, The Human Centipede

Others:

XX, Grindhouse Double Feature, House of 1000 Corpses & The Devils Rejects, Tucker and Dale v Evil, Final Girls, Deathgasm, Freaks of Nature, 31, The Bride of Chucky

[recentanimenews]

Bookshelf Briefs 5/19/20

After-School Bitchcraft, Vol. 1 | By Yu Shimizu and Kazuma Ichihara | Yen Press – Afterschool Boobcraft would be a better title for this supernatural romance about Ririki, a ditzy high school student who accidentally discovers that her chemistry teacher is a sorcerer. Though Ririki quickly realizes that she, too, has hidden powers, nothing about her giggly, helpless behavior suggests that she’s competent enough to tie her own shoes, let alone cast a spell. Renji, her teacher, is even less of a character, defined primarily by his brusque demeanor and perma-scowl. Anyone reading for plot will find the the crude, obvious fanservice irritating, while anyone reading for fanservice will find the series’ pedestrian efforts at world-building an unwelcome distraction from the parade of costume failures and panty shots, all of which are drawn in salacious detail. Not recommended. – Katherine Dacey

Animeta!, Vol. 3 | By Yaso Hanamura | J-Novel Club – Miyuki Sanada is making gradual improvement as an inbetweener, though she’s been told that if she doesn’t pass the key animation exam within a year, she’s fired. Meanwhile, her fellow new hire, Maria Date, seems to be leaving her in the dust, is actively campaigning to take her place with the prestigious Studio 7, and gets invited to enter a character design contest by the big boss. I appreciate the sports manga feel this rivalry evokes, but the most compelling part of Animeta! for me is the plight of Yuiko Fuji, the inbetween checker who once tried to become a key animator but had no flair. She’s amazing at her current job, but seeing new talent getting promoted over her is tough. This series has really grown on me, now that its been fleshing out its characters more, and I reckon I’ll stick with it for the long haul! – Michelle Smith

A Certain Scientific Accelerator, Vol. 10 | By Kazuma Kamachi and Arata Yamaji | Seven Seas – Last time I said the cliffhanger was chilling, this time that extends to much of the book. The Index series has usually been too concerned with action and harems to get into pure horror, but its spinoffs have no issues with it, particularly this one. Cannibalism of a scientific sort continues to be the norm here, with our tragic villain continuing to be sympathetic. As is Yomikawa, possibly the nicest character in the whole Indexverse. For those who aren’t reading this for nice, the good news is that Accelerator is back in action by the end of this and ready to beat villains up while continuing to state what a villain he is. Index fans will enjoy this, though may also be creeped out. – Sean Gaffney

Cocoon Entwined, Vol. 2 | By Yuriko Hara | Yen Press – Yes, it is still tempting to review these volumes by just saying “hair” and being done with it. I mean, the start of the second volume seems to be narrated from the POV of a former schoolgirl’s hair, which is now made up of the uniform of our heroine. But there is a bit more to it than that, as we cycle back a bit and get more insight into the mysterious Hoshimiya, whose hair drifting down in single hairlets (hairlets?) continues to be an emotional gut punch for most of the school. There’s also discussion of traditions, why they’re kept and when they might have to be broken for the sake of moving on and fixing things. It’s quite an emotional drama. And rest assured, it’s filled with hair. So much hair. – Sean Gaffney

The Golden Sheep, Vol. 3 | By Kaori Ozaki | Vertical Comics – The third volume of The Golden Sheep is its last, and while it was nice that the four friends at the center of the story ultimately resolved their differences, it all felt rather too easy and anticlimactic. I did like that Yuushin finds purpose in striving to achieve enough independence to live with the stray kitty he rescued, though. (It is an extremely cute kitty.) The volume is rounded out by a twisted short story called “Love Letter” in which an unborn soul chooses to be born to a teen runaway and ends up dying from neglect, but loves its mother so much that it opts to return to earth in any guise that allows it to see her, including another cute kitty who soon meets a tragic end. It left a weird taste in my brain. – Michelle Smith

How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift?, Vol. 3 | By Yabako Sandrovich and MAAM | Seven Seas – The first volume it was the fanservice that got my attention. The second volume it was the advice on keeping fit. And in this one it’s the comedy that’s really reaching out to grab you, taking the series in places I was not expecting it to go, like turning the main girls (including their teacher!) into a muscle-bound idol group, something that is impressively different but goes over like a lead balloon. Zina has fit in well with the others, and moreover she knows Satomi cosplays, so can cheerfully use that for blackmail. There are also hints that romance may come into this series—Hibiki has always been attracted to Machio when he’s not bulking out, but there’s a suggestion that her feelings may run a bit deeper than that. That said, I expect comedy to prevail. This is fun. – Sean Gaffney

Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, Vol. 14 | By Aka Akasaka | Viz Media – The first half of this book is almost all dedicated to Kaguya and Shirogane finally, finally, confessing—not through words, but through actions. It’s the payoff everyone has been waiting for, and it’s handled perfectly. The second half of this book then drags it all back to hilarious comedy, with the chapter about Kaguya french-kissing Shirogane being the highlight of the volume and possibly the series. Of course, there’s the question of where do we go from here—Kaguya ends up breaking her brain so much over this that she reverts to her old icy persona, and there may be a new love triangle developing around Ishigami. So don’t stop reading just because Kaguya got confessed to—there’s still plenty more fun. – Sean Gaffney

My Hero Academia: Smash!!, Vol. 4 | By Hirofumi Neda and Kohei Horikoshi | Viz Media – The gag series has caught up to the main storyline, or at least wants to avoid the Overhaul Arc, so for the most part this volume is original material. Sometimes that’s good—the author shows a surprising taste for very dark character-based jokes when they want to, including one with Todoroki talking about his mother that made me gasp. There’s also a parents’ day again (it goes a bit better than the one in School Briefs), which allows us to see parents we forgot existed, like Uraraka’s mother. That said, there’s also a sense that the series is starting to get a bit tired. The next volume is signposted to be the last, and that’s a good thing. Go out while you’re still flying high. – Sean Gaffney

Nori | By Rumi Hara | Drawn & Quarterly – Born in Kyoto and currently based in New York, Hara has been creating comics for about a decade, but Nori is Hara’s graphic novel debut. The volume has its origins in a series of self-published mini-comics which earned Hara multiple award nominations. Nori collects six short tales of varying lengths which feature the adventures of the titular Noriko, an imaginative three-year-old, and Hana, her grandmother and caregiver. Except for a surprise trip that takes Nori and Hana to Hawaii, the stories are largely set in Osaka in the 1980s. All of them are incredibly charming. Hara effortlessly blends mythology and legends with the characters’ day-to-day lives and Nori’s fantastical imaginings. Some of my favorite moments are Nori’s interactions with older kids—some of whom really aren’t sure what to do at first with a precocious toddler hanging about as they explore the natural world together. Nori is an undeniable delight. – Ash Brown

That Blue Summer, Vol. 4 | By Atsuko Namba | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Rio Funami is a Tokyo girl who’s been sent, along with her bookish little brother, to stay with her grandmother in the countryside for the duration of her 40-day summer vacation. She’s fallen in love with a local boy named Ginzo Izumi, who initially rejected her, believing they belonged in different worlds and valued different things. However, as time has gone on, Ginzo has come to see that’s not true. In fact, Rio seems enraptured by the village he calls home and understands the calling he feels towards graphic design while simultaneously feeling obligated to stay and take over the family liquor store. This is more than just a generic romance—it’s about passions versus practicality and finding reasons for joy in any situation. I’m enjoying it a lot and isn’t that cover a beauty? – Michelle Smith

Yowamushi Pedal, Vol. 14 | By Wataru Watanabe | Yen Press – The race that would never end has ended! And yes, our hero manages to capture first place, The first half of the book is really fantastic, showing off how good the author is at wringing drama and emotion from every last meter. The second half pales in comparison mostly as it’s setting up the next chunk of book, though seeing Onoda suddenly fail so hard simply as his mentor has left (transferred to another country) is poignant, and I suspect he needs another race or two before he can get back into form, so I expect more failure. Oh, and Kanzaki shows up briefly to remind us she exists and also help the core team get new bikes that work to their strengths. Still excellent shonen sports. – Sean Gaffney

By: Ash Brown

[severalbakuras]

time

to

finish

s3

im not prepared

(apologies to mobile users for the long post)

episode 5:

intro is a pink screen. it’s established pink is a mourning colour. hrmmm.

oh its an eyeball SHIRO

that’s not a good looking room to be in

that HAIR

hallucinating already, this is Not Good.

so he’s like totally alone in that room that is just bad practice right there. supervisor’s gonna get fucked if they get caught.

and. another shiro. one who’s kept clean-shaven. oh ok i know where this is going i think.

operation kuron is so unsubtle that i think we’re in for several layers of bait-n-switch until it turns out shiro never actually existed. schrodinger’s Shiro. shirodinger. 

he escaped waaaaaay too easily - yeah. called it.

‘stage 3′ so stage one is ??? and stage two is this guy.

ok so shiro obvs remembers some things but i find it interesting that we’ve had no internal thoughts beyond memories of the tube/surgery. like he’s not thought about voltron or the paladins or allura and coran like he has no idea if they survived or not. nothing at all by the five minute mark.

HAGGAR FINALLY I’VE MISSED YOU SO

yeah you keep an eye on that boy. im sure absolutely nothing will happen to this guy.

self-cauterization holy shit.

“what killed you?” is the first spoken line of dialogue from shiro i think. everything else is just vague confusion noises and/or battle grunts iirc. we haven’t even had an internal line of thought yet (which i know don’t rly happen in this series like everyone tends to speak aloud but still he’s ALL alone). i think that’s significant, somehow.

how the fuck has he not frozen to death in that skinny suit.

SHIRO NO THAT COULD BE AN ACID LAKE

“subject Y0XT39″ i will eat a raw garlic clove if this turns out to be the real shiro.

wow that’s rly bad for blood circulation like way to make him lose his hands jackasses.

so these two are space cannibals. neat.

if you’re trying to convince people of who you are why would you just say your first name? he WANTS these guys to know who he is, there’s no point being cagey. say your surname shiro go ahead.

knowledge of who the paladins are rly is being kept tight under wraps. so long as nobody ever thinks to check out any planet where galra were known to have integrated into local alien communities to the point of children.

i :) wonder :) who :) might :) do :) that :)

(i wonder how earth’s doing. everyone has family down there who misses them (besides keith since he’s living in a shack in the desert and nobody from the MILITARY-ish training academy told his dad to come pick him up apparently))

lotor i swear to fuck don’t you dare pull a dreamworks smirk DONT DO YOU DARE

so galra channels are hackable

that big guy’s totally having a SUPPRESSING FIIIIIRE moment

i rly like this winter backdrop i love being able to see the brushstrokes on the snow (like digital ones but they count).

he’s starving but he doesn’t take a single bite of the food onscreen can’t tell if suspicious or #mood bc i don’t like people watching me eat either lol

so operation kuron isn’t something widely known then or Hold up those robo-soldiers have no reaction whatsoever to a unit falling down until the hangar doors close.

ok those two guys in the cave HAVE to be in on it or shiro would’ve died on that planet. why keep the ship above a Death Planet for him to be permitted to escape to unless they had someone down on the Death Planet who could send him back to the right ship to deliver to voltron without him knowing he was being played?

like this is ALL phase 3.

‘stop spying on me’

‘do your fucking job’

HA. IDEAS. IN ZARKON’S HEAD. AHHAHAA

i think this is the first time i’ve seen lotor angry like haggar gets under his skin so easily i hope they talk again soon. ‘I AM THE LEADER’ his VOICE damn.

ok so like i already know lotor is half-galran and he’s probably half-altean too like in the original series with the hair and all. but i don’t think haggar is his mother even though she’s also altean. he’s hyper-focused on not being like his father in that scene but he also seems the type that he’d leave a snarky comment about his mother too if she were. and she doesn’t ever refer to him as her son, only zarkon’s. she’d surely say ‘our’ son, unless she officially disowned him as part of his banishment and hates his guts but then surely he’d have at least SOME reaction to seeing her unless he was, like, literally banished at birth and doesn’t know who she is and that he’s half-altean. bc if he knew he was he’d connect the dots between ‘only altean on the ship’ and his dad v quickly.

like i do know the story behind exactly how original lotor (aka sincline) is half altean and it’s Unpleasant and makes zarkon a fucking monster and i doubt this series would even imply that that was the case here but if it did and our lotor knew this was the truth behind his parentage that could explain his lack of reaction to haggar AND his deeply intrinsic rejection of his father.

oh come ON the ship is stocked with oxygen!!!!!! why would a ship that’s intended for a robot pilot need oxygen!!!!!!!!

seven days, when he’s already in a bad way re blood loss/injury (like a healing serious wound burns calories and fluid by the truckload) and didn’t have much water to go on beforehand. if i didn’t think something was up before man.

finally, almost 20 minutes in, we finally see him think of his teammates. took long enough.

black lion notices. hrm.

episode six:

nice shooting lancFCUKING KILL THEM ALLURA

SAME LANCE

HUG YOUR SON SHIRO actually no you’re not shiro stay the fuck away from him

‘weird headache’ since this isn’t a dramatic romance show, he’s not got Invisible Anime Disease #5 so there’s absolutely a tracker in his brain.

A HUNK MOMENT THAT ISN’T ABOUT FOOD I’M CRY (like it intersects with pidge but i don’t mind it’s nice that he gets to show his own brains in what feels like forever)

shiro automatically stepping back in ‘this is what we do mode’ is SHRHCHCH. NO. even if he WASN’T a clone he’s still recovering and is missing out on potentially months of their relationships changing and being redefined. he can’t just step back in like that.

ok so like???? if there’d been more scenes like this early on??? i’d probably be totally into klance?? like keith doesn’t really grasp the depths of the issue with lance judging by how the shot holds on lance leaving and his facial expressions and all but keith tries and lance tries and there’s no cheap joke thrown in there’s no rejecting that there was any emotional connection. it’s not solved the problem lance has by any means but it’s lance opening up to keith about his vulnerabilities and worries and it’s keith doing his best to help him both as a leader and a friend and the narrative doesn’t turn either of them into a joke for it. THAT IS MY SHIT RIGHT THERE.

like i’m obvs lowkey into enemies-friends-lovers (bc otherwise i wouldn’t consider keitor or any of my other ships which i won’t name bc i’ve made it this far without comparing anything to warcraft so i won’t start now) but i guess i much prefer the friends-lovers stage. (especially when only one half of the pair considers the other as ‘enemy’ in the first place).

‘just whack it’ is a universal law that will last forever

SHIRO ARE YOU IN THE LEADER CHAIR. NO? SHUT UP.

fucking fake ass shiro he doesn’t even acknowledge keith stepping up to make a plan as leader like he always fucking wanted him to do he just sails on into his own plan without so much as a ‘sorry’. fuck you fake shiro. firo.

and keith just stands there like a lemon like this is ok ahrhfhg. firo i swear to god if you drag keith back down into the place he was on the gas planet before lance intervened i’m gonna be so mad.

interesting that we don’t get a reaction shot of lance when keith offers to stay behind instead of taking back red. considering how that was literally what the last scene between him and keith was about is all.

so clones are genetically identical so the black lion picking up on firo’s ~spark of life~ fading or whatever to rescue him isn’t odd. but the black lion knows your soul and it’s not happy.

(could be an issue when the real shiro returns tho but eh that’s a problem for futuretron)

I LOVE THIS LOYAL PETTY BASTARD

“Victory or death!” OH COME ON YOU’RE MAKING THE WARCRAFT REFERENCES FOR ME. LOKTAR OGAR

so perhaps lotor squad isn’t in on operation kuron?

i wonder what’s being whispered during the mind control scenes.

that ship looks like a space fox... or maybe a star fox.

in two minds about this part like right now firo IS right but they DO need to actually try and confront lotor at some point. it’s ALWAYS going to be a bad time bc lotor has figured out how to use plot armor to protect himself so sometimes you just need to attack that face down trap card and face the consequences or you’ll be stuck forever yknow?

OH IT’S HER. FROM THE SHIP. COOL i was wondering if that’d come up again.

oops he’s ambidextrous.

also i think ezor might be a little crueler than she lets on, she’s got some v. vicious expressions going on in this grapple.

ZETHRID THINKS ALLURA’S A WORTHY OPPONENT ZELLURA YOU ARE CLEARED FOR LAUNCH (in other news i am a terrible person)

honestly those are both equally high priority targets, either one WILL fuck things up in the future no matter if they follow firo or keith.

now lotor how do you know they were about to attack, unless you perhaps had a direct link into the lions communication lines, which have been kinda previously established as being impossible to hack?

(so that’s one point in them also knowing about project kuron)

YES KEITH THIS IS WHAT YOU DO BEST ON THE FLY INSTINCTIVE GOOD MOVE

hooooly shit lotor’s maaaad

get your hand off him firo.

“i’m sorry i had to step in back there” step in. STEP IN. LIKE YOU WEREN’T IN CONTROL OF THE ENTIRE MISSION START TO FINISH. he sets up ‘you were the leader and you weren’t good enough’ almost on purpose..

the former isn’t true because keith still stepped down and firo commanded all their movements from the ship and the latter isn’t true because no plan survives contact with the enemy keith basically had it as under control as shiro always did. considering the circumstances he did damn well AND he scored a ‘fuck you’ point against lotor by using lotor’s own new ship to wreck the teledove.

“i thought i had it under control” ;A;

HE’S BEEN THERE SINCE THEY ALL FORMED VOLTRON YOU FUCK. HE WAS GOOD AT THIS UNTIL YOU GOT HERE.

FUCK YOU FIRO.

damn that’s cold haggar.

episode seven:

i’m. um. huh. those certainly were memories i’ll need to pause on later.

this dramatic scene is being ruined by all the cute little triforces floating around.

my civil war theory is officially dead now i guess. goodbye, civil war theory. it was nice to have you as a handy aversion of the whole ‘X race is like this while Y race is like this’ trope that always shows up in sci fi and fantasy and sci-fantasy~

this music is giving me jack sparrow IN SPACE vibes.

oooh the dust particle effect in the light shafts in the air is pretty and a good attention to detail.

now see like why wasn’t his spirit projection thing back in season 1 more like this??? he has a character he’s got personality he’s just like his daughter i’d actually MISS this guy if that spirit projection thing had been like his true self and not a bland whatever he was he’s so forgettable i can’t even remember what he was like.

ZARKON WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED. YOUR VOICE. YOUR EYES.

so like galra culture has a class/caste system and is kinda militaristic. explains a lot in the future i guess.

“WHAT IS THAT” is that the same cat narti has? and oh god no he’s a dork.

OH NO HE’S A REALLY BIG DORK AAAAAAAAAAA

AAAAA BABY ALLURA. SHE’S SO CUTE.

oh so he married honerva? oh no. OH NO SHE BETTER NOT BE HAGGAR. DON’T DO THIS.

“it was a customary gesture” tf is that all about.

“by willow!” is that the first canon mention of a deity? cool.

so the red paladin was technically the first paladin.

this thing is eldritch as fuck.

“Am I a leg?!” god i am so sad that you’re going to die horribly i love you.

now it’s REALLY eldritch.

god she really is haggar.

so alteans definitely age then (which proves empress allura was definitely dead a long LONG time before alt-eans went all mind-controlly).

honergar’s giving me major ‘that bloodbender who’s name i’ve forgotten’ vibes.

I KNEW QUINTESSENCE WAS BAD SHIT

he loves her so much im gonna cry.

so the lions cannot pick up on deceit then. they accept the will of their paladin over the safety of voltron as a whole and the other lions. they cast no moral judgement.

so there could easily be an evil voltron somewhere.

ZARKON NO HE’S HOLDING HER HAND ARGH.

so those weird purple cloud creatures from another dimension are puppeteering the corpse of the first black paladin, taking his basic desire for power and extending it into a galaxy spanning genocidal crusade because???

their home dimension must be a fucking hell dimension if things like that are trying to escape.

that guard made it seem like they sorta knew and accepted why their planet was destroyed so i guess zarkon returning from death was such a massive cultural shock that they all fell into line. bc otherwise i find it hard to believe that every single galra would join the battle (like yeah the blades exist but they’re a tiny movement) and not question what the fuck happened to his eyes or voice or how he came back from the fucking dead or why they’re meant to suddenly hate everyone.

ok so why do most of the galra have similar glowing eyes iirc? surely the vast majority should have the normal eyes that old zarkon and lotor have but they don’t. unless like successful generals are permitted to ‘live’ forever by taking the creatures into their bodies but then like they have far too much personality for that. the loktar ogar guy for example. what gives.

that’s kind of a leap at lotor’s motives but an understandable one, they don’t know how much lotor detests being like his father so i doubt he’d do the same damn thing his father was trying to do.

he’s baaaaack and he’s got no new tricks, zombieman zarkon’s still just as thick as the last time~

lotor’s gonna be so mad. and also this doesn’t actually explain why haggar lets zarkon run roughshod all over her much better plans prior to this because she doesn’t remember being his husband until this episode.

and also also imo this means haggar definitely can’t be lotor’s mother bc when we’re seeing things coran can’t possibly know like honerva on her death bed we’re probably seeing haggar’s vision of events and he doesn’t appear to be a factor in either of their lives but she remembers their wedding perfectly.

(unless he’s a zombaby but he can’t be because his eyes don’t glow).

hrm.

season four when.

[karrinewoo]

12 Best Long Takes in Film History

Long takes concern precise dispatching of shots and calcuated arrangement of characters’ positions. Some long takes are in order of close-medium-distant, while some with camera diversion.

THE LIST

The Protector - Restaurant Fight Scene Director: Prachya Pinkaew Synopsis: A young fighter named Kham must go to Australia to retrieve his stolen elephant. With the help of a Thai-born Australian detective, Kham must take on all comers, including a gang led by an evil woman and her two deadly bodyguards. Running time: 4 minutes

The Mirror - Burning Barn Scene Director: Andrei Tarkovsky Synopsis: A dying man in his forties remembers his past. His childhood, his mother, the war, personal moments and things that tell of the recent history of all the Russian nation. Running time: Roughly 1 minute

Atonement - The Beach Sequence Director: Joe Wright Synopsis: Fledgling writer Briony Tallis, as a 13-year-old, irrevocably changes the course of several lives when she accuses her older sister's lover of a crime he did not commit. Based on the British romance novel by Ian McEwan. Running Time: 5 1/2 minutes

Weekend - Traffic Jam Scene Director: Jean-Luc Godard Synopsis:A supposedly idyllic weekend trip to the countryside turns into a never-ending nightmare of traffic jams, revolution, cannibalism and murder as French bourgeois society starts to collapse under the weight of its own consumer preoccupations Running time: 7 Minutes

Hard Boiled - Hospital Shootout John Woo Synopsis: A tough-as-nails cop teams up with an undercover agent to shut down a sinister mobster and his crew. Running Time: 2 minutes, 40 seconds

The Player - Opening Shot Director: Robert Altman Synopsis: A Hollywood studio executive is being sent death threats by a writer whose script he rejected - but which one? Running Time: 7 minutes, 47 seconds

Touch of Evil - Bomb Sequence Director: Orson Welles Synopsis: A stark, perverse story of murder, kidnapping, and police corruption in a Mexican border town. Running Time: 3 1/2 minutes

Boogie Nights - Little Bill Sequence Director: Paul Thomas Anderson Synopsis: The story of a young man's adventures in the Californian pornography industry of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Running Time: 3 minutes

Gravity - Opening Shot Director: Alfonso Cuarón Synopsis: A medical engineer and an astronaut work together to survive after a catastrophe destroys their shuttle and leaves them adrift in orbit. Running Time: 12 1/2 minutes

Goodfellas - Copacabana Lounge Director: Martin Scorsese Synopsis: Henry Hill and his friends work their way up through the mob hierarchy. Running Time: 3 minutes, 13 seconds

Snake Eyes - Boxing Match Director: Brian De Palma Synopsis: A shady police detective finds himself in the middle of a murder conspiracy at an important boxing match in an Atlantic City casino. Running Time: 12 minutes

Children of Men - Car Scene Director: Alfonso Cuarón Synopsis: In 2027, in a chaotic world in which women have become somehow infertile, a former activist agrees to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea. Running Time: 4 minutes