#Which is a hard balance to strike. So I hope i don't come off as too much of a kiss-ass here

[butchsophiewalten]

iirc you said martin apologized for the edited alcala picture in the past. was it via the twf discord or something? i believe he'll likely retcon it but it still troubles me a lot. i know one could argue if he just replaced it in the reupload it would or wouldn't have "fixed" things but idk i really wish he did. keeping it in mind is far from a problem but it's frustrating. not something you can really help me with, i'd just like to hear another fan's opinion on the situation

I actually don't recall him ever directly apologizing for the Rodney Alcala thing, but when I was checking the discord server just to see if I could find anything for you, I did see a secondhand account mentioning Bravvy saying something about how Martin did not know who Rodney Alcala was when he created Jack's missing poster in TWF1. Which I obviously can't verify in any meaningful way, so make of that what you will. (But I don't think it's an unreasonable claim to make. Martin isn't even American, I don't expect him to have an encyclopedic knowledge of American serial killers, even though I don't think ignorance necessarily excuses him of any judgement here.)

That said, Martin has talked before about wanting to broach topics related to real-world tragedy sensitively in The Walten Files, so I don't think this is something he'd like, dismiss as not being a big deal, even if he's never gone out of his way to bring him up. But I absolutely agree with you about wishing he had replaced it in the Company Introductory Tape reupload. I was honestly really expecting him too? And it left a pretty bad taste in my mouth that he didn't

[scoonsalicious]

1.1 Major

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Fem!Reader

Summary: Lily McIntire, trainer for new SHIELD recruits at the Avengers Tower, has been in love with her best friend, Bucky Barnes, from the moment she met him. She's been content with her role of the #1 girl in Bucky's life, even if it means she has to sabotage a romantic relationship or two. It'll be worth it when he realizes that they're meant for each other, right? There's just one small problem: Lily McIntire never expected Bucky Barnes to fall for You.

Warnings: (For this part only; see Story Masterlist for general Warnings) Language, alcohol consumption, slight objectification of men.

Word Count: 1.6k

Previously On...: Lily McIntyre met Bucky Barnes. Everything had changed, and now it's only him that matters.

A/N: You know what? Fuck it. Turns out I write more when I'm actively writing for all of you. Plus, I miss you, besties. Yes, I know-- it's only been two days, but I don't care. You guys give me the strength to face the day, and when I'm interacting with you, I'm happiest. So, we're starting the full roll-out of With Friends Like These... Now, there won't be multiple postings per day, so I won't be dropping a bunch at once. We're going to start nice and slow, lol. I hope you like it!

NOTE! The tag list is a fickle bitch, so I'm not really going to be dealing with it anymore. If you want to be notified when new story parts drop, please follow @scoonsaliciousupdates

Thank you to all those who have been reading; if you like what you've read, likes, comments, and reblogs give me life, and I truly appreciate them, and you!

You stood outside the door to the bar, nervous as fuck. It wasn’t every day a girl got invited to spend an evening out on the town with the goddamned Avengers, and though you’d only known Natasha Romanoff for about six months now, you were honored she liked you enough to extend an invitation for you to join her and her friends on their off time. 

Giving yourself a once over in the reflection of the bar’s window, you double checked to make sure you looked good– your hair and makeup were on point, your dark wash skinny jeans hugged your curves in the best possible way, and the black satiny top you wore under your leather jacket showed just enough cleavage to be tantalizing, but not trashy. 

You got this, you told yourself. You took a breath, and walked inside. 

The place was dimly lit, but not too crowded. You were able to spot Natasha easily– it wasn’t as if the striking redhead was hard to miss. She sat at a high top with another redhead, nursing a vodka tonic. Catching her eye, you waved and made your way over.

“Major!” Nat greeted you, going in for a friendly hug, which you happily returned. “I’m so glad you made it!” She pointed to the other redhead– Wanda Maximoff, The Scarlet Witch, you remembered now from having seen her on the news– and introduced you. “Major, this is Wanda; Wanda, Major.” You shook hands as the other woman offered you a kind, welcoming smile.

“Finally, some balance to the force,” she joked. At your questioning look, she elaborated: “We are desperately outnumbered in the girl department when it comes to our friend group,” she said. “It’s just me and Nat versus the boys.”

“There’s Lily, too,” Nat interjected.

“Please.” Wanda said, waving Nat’s words off dismissively. “We all know that Lily is not one of us.”

Nat snorted into her drink. “Lily’s just not really a girl’s-girl,” she offered to you in explanation. “Very much sees herself as ‘one of the guys,’ if you catch my meaning.”

You nodded; you’d had plenty of experience with pick-me girls in the past. “Yeah, I know the type.” You waved down a waitress and put in an order for a frozen margarita.

“So, Major,” Wanda said, taking a sip of her beverage once the waitress had gone, “which one of our lucky bachelors is going to catch your eye tonight?”

“I don’t follow,” you said, confused. 

Wanda turned to Nat and playfully hit her on the shoulder. “You bitch! You didn’t tell her?”

Nat had the decency to look sheepish. “I wanted it to be organic,” she said, offering you an apologetic smile.

“Natasha Romanoff,” you said, realization dawning on you, “did you invite me out tonight to try and set me up with one of your teammates?”

Nat frowned, looking remorseful. “I know I should have said something, but you’re always complaining about how you never have luck with dating, and it just so happens I live in a compound literally full of eligible men, so I thought… I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have overstepped.”

The waitress brought over your margarita and you raised it, toasting to Nat. “Fuck apologies; you want to hook me up with an Avenger? Girl, remind me to send you a gift basket!”

Nat and Wanda both laughed, raising their own glasses to toast with you. Wanda leaned over toward you, her voice a conspiratorial whisper.

“Alright, don’t be obvious about it,” she said, “but our fine gentlemen are over at the pool table.” You followed her line of sight and were met with an array of some of the most attractive men you had ever seen. Yeah, you’d seen them on tv, and in magazines, but they were always wearing costumes and masks. But up close? And in person?

“Woof,” you said softly. 

“Okay,” said Nat, leaning in on your other side. “Let’s size up our options. First, we’ve got Captain America, himself, Steve Rogers. All-American, corn-fed, take-home-to-mamma kinda guy. Such a gentleman, could bench press four of you. Knows how to treat a girl right.”

“And bore her to tears,” Wanda added.

“Wands!” Nat flashed her eyes. “We’re supposed to be talking them up!”

Wanda shrugged. “Facts are facts,” she said. “A sweetheart, really, but very old fashioned.”

“Fine,” Nat said, exasperated. “Moving on, we have Sam Wilson, our resident Falcon. He’s funny, charming, a great dancer.”

“Seriously good moves,” Wanda added with an enthusiastic nod.

“Smart, good listener,” Nat offered. “Incredibly loyal.”

“You make him sound like a puppy,” you said, laughing.

“Oooh, oooh, my turn!” Wanda said enthusiastically. “Next up is our resident himbo, the one and only Thor Odinson. Unbelievably endearing, the body of a literal god: Great hair, an ass you could bounce a quarter off of, arms that could snap your tiny little body right in half if he had half a mind to…”

“Down, girl,” Nat said, flicking some droplets of water from her water glass at Wanda. “Damn, we’re here for Major, not you.”

“Sorry,” said Wanda, ducking down to hide her blush behind her hair. “He’s just so… big. And… beefy. Like, what does one even do with that much man?” she asked, before muttering so low you could barely hear her: “I would really like to find out.”

You and Nat stifled your laughter. “Okay, definitely not going to be Thor for me, then,” you offered. Across the room, another man caught your eye, one Nat and Wanda hadn’t mentioned yet. “Who’s that?” you asked them.

Nat craned her neck. “Oh, that’s Parker. I dunno; he’s kinda on the young side for my taste, but the kid is 18, so if that’s what you’re into–”

“Ugh, no– pass,” you said, realizing she had been referring to the skinny teenager who was hanging on Steve Rogers’ every word. “No, I mean the brunet. Who’s he?” The more you studied him, the more you realized he just may be the most handsome man you’d ever seen. He was currently leaning against a pool cue, engrossed in conversation with Sam. He had a slight smirk on his face, as if he was keeping in a very humorous secret, and it painted his features in an adorably boyish light. 

While you were looking at him, he turned his head and saw you watching him. You should have been mortified at being caught staring but instead, you were taken aback by how striking his crystal blue eyes were. You offered him a soft smile, and were delighted when his own widened in return, his cheeks taking on a dusky hue in the low light, before Sam elbowed him, bringing his attention back to the game of pool. He shot you another look, running his tongue along his bottom lip, before refocusing his attention.

“Oh,” said Nat, following your gaze. “Oh, no, no, no. That’s Bucky Barnes. He’s… not on the menu.”

You turned back toward her, disappointed. “Oh. Of course, guy that good looking’s got to have a girlfriend, right?”

Nat and Wanda exchanged glances. “Not exactly,” Nat said.

“Remember how we mentioned Lily not being a girl’s-girl?” Wanda asked, nodding her chin toward where the boys were racking the balls for a new game. You hadn’t noticed the woman in their midst before– petite, blond, and athletic. 

“Yeah, Lily’s more of a Bucky’s-girl,” Nat added. “Just, you know, Bucky’s not aware of it.”

You must have looked very confused, because Wanda was quick to clarify. “Bucky only joined the team… what? Four years ago?” She looked to Nat for confirmation, and Nat nodded. “He was like a totally different guy back then. Didn’t go out, didn’t want to be around people.”

“Like Oscar the Grouch, but if you took him out of the trash can and gave him moderately better grooming standards,” Nat offered. 

“Yeah,” Wanda continued, nodding in agreement, “and for the longest time, the only person he would talk to was Steve. But then, like, Lily made it her life’s work to become his best friend.”

“I remember it annoyed the shit out of him in the beginning,” Nat added. “Poor guy just wanted to be left alone to process his trauma.” She sighed. “But the girl was relentless. She’s got tenacity, I’ll say that for her.”

“That’s actually kind of sweet,” you said. “That she wouldn’t give up trying to be there for him.”

“No, sorry,” Nat said. “We’re not explaining this well. She basically made being Bucky’s best friend her entire fucking personality. It was like, any other friend she had just–poof! Stopped existing to her. We no longer mattered; everything became about Bucky.”

“It’s a bit much,” Wanda said. “She’s very… I don’t want to say protective is the right word for it, but very possessive of him.”

“It’s like no girl Bucky’s ever dated has been good enough to pass her standards,” Nat said. “And she’s had no problem making that abundantly clear, and I know she’s been the reason for at least a couple of his relationships ending. Poor guy’s balls must be so blue by now, they’re practically black; she never lets him get any action.”

You took a sip of your margarita. “Well, they’ve got to be sleeping together, right?” you asked. Nat and Wanda both looked at you. “I mean, that would explain it, right?”

“Oh, they are definitely not,” Nat said. “Though I’m sure she wishes. I heard him tell Steve she reminds him of his dead kid sister.”

You sucked in a breath. “Ouch,” you said. “Just what every girl wants to hear, I’m sure.” You looked back over to the pool table, admiring the way Bucky bent over to take a shot. “It’s too bad,” you said, turning back to girls. “I mean, he’s hot as hell, but no man’s worth taking on that kind of drama.”

<- Previous Part / Next Part ->

[supercorpkid]

How You Get the Girl

Supergirl. Lena Luthor x Reader!, Kara Danvers.

Word Count: 2500.

Notes: I really love this fic, and part 2 (my favorite ever written) is coming soon :)

"Hey, remember my friend Barry?" Kara asks as you settle onto her couch, balancing containers of takeout food. The late hour has granted Kara a break from her Supergirl duties, allowing for a rare moment of tranquility.

"Barry Allen?" You confirm, and she nods. "The one from another Earth?"

"Yeah." She hands you your food and takes a seat beside you, facing you. "Sometimes we meet just to talk, instead of dealing with end-of-the-multiverse situations."

"Nice. I didn't know that." You start eating, but Kara hesitates, an uncommon occurrence as she's typically the one speaking with her mouth full. "Have you seen him recently?"

"Yeah, and he told me something amusing." Kara tilts her head, uncertain. "He ended up in the wrong universe, thinking he was coming here. He was very confused because everything was oddly similar. You know, there was me, you, Alex, Lena, J'onn…"

"Isn't that normal for different universes?" You furrow your brows. "I might not know much about it, but Lena explained once that when a diversion event occurs, a new Earth is created, so—"

"Yeah, yeah." Kara interrupts, contemplating her words as you watch curiously. "The weird part was that you and Lena were..." She pauses, choosing her words carefully. "Together."

"Okay?" You return your attention to your food, losing interest. "We do spend a lot of time together."

"No, I mean, romantically together. Dating." Kara's revelation makes you snap your head up, heart racing. "More than that, actually. You guys were married! And had a kid!"

"A kid?" You laugh nervously. "Now that's absurd."

"Really? The kid part is absurd?" Kara sets aside her untouched food. "So you and Lena being married didn't strike you as absurd enough?"

You swallow hard, avoiding Kara's gaze as your cheeks flush. Is any of what Kara's saying absurd? Not entirely. Have you thought about you and Lena together before? Definitely. Have you secretly hoped for the day Lena will stop pining over Kara so you can do something about your love for her? Absolutely. Will you ever confess this to Kara? Not a chance.

"I mean," You take a deep breath, raising your head and trying to compose yourself. "Perhaps that's why the new Earth was created, right? A wild new scenario? Me and Lena."

Kara blinks, then chuckles. "I guess you're right." She finally picks up her food and begins eating. "I'm not sure if that's how a new Earth is created, but it's certainly wild enough."

Yeah. Wild enough.

Lena steps off the elevator, and you lift your head to admire her before she notices. Her hair is in perfect dark waves down her shoulders. She looks so tiny in her white sneakers, but you love them so dearly because you know how much more comfortable she's been ever since she stopped wearing those awful heels for work. Her lips, just a splash of red in them, as she's recently been dabbing with wearing less makeup than usual. You don't think she's ever looked this pretty.

The headquarters is unusually quiet; J'onn is in another room, Kara is at work, Alex is out with her girlfriend, and Winn is occupied in one of the computers. For now, it's just you and Lena, which means pining is almost allowed. 

"Hey, Y/N." Lena approaches, carrying a gigantic book and sporting a playful grin. "I know you're gearing up to tease me about my book, so go ahead."

"Honestly, Lena. You think too little of me." She raises one eyebrow at you and you hold back your smile. You manage your best British accent. "Have you gone mad, Hermione? Are you a witch or not?"

"Ah. There it is—the Harry Potter quote I've been waiting for." Lena drops the book onto the table with a thud, and you glance at the cover. "Ironically, it's actually about magic." You offer her a smirk, earning an eye roll in return. "So, has Kara mentioned anything about her last encounter with The Flash?"

"Uh." Your mouth drops, why is Lena bringing this up? "She – She might've mentioned seeing him."

"Right. So apparently she told him about my theory on elseworlds and he doesn't agree with it." Lena opens her book, looking for a page. And you breathe out, relieved you won't need to have that fun conversation with someone else. "So, you know, obviously I have to prove him wrong."

"Obviously." 

You stare at her lips, curving into a smile. So red and perfect. So close and yet so far away. She might be beside you, but the gap between you feels insurmountable.

"Oh, and he also said something about us being married!" She says and you choke on your own saliva and starts coughing violently. Lena's hand goes to your back and she soothes you, in a protective manner. "I mean, I know it's a little far-fetched, but that's an odd reaction."

"I just –" You try to breathe again, ignoring Lena's hands on your back and the way it makes your body shiver under her touch. "I wasn't expecting that. Sorry."

Lena chooses to ignore your awkwardness, which is very much appreciated, and you fall silent thinking about things you will not have, body parts you will not hold, and the reciprocated love that you won't feel. Thoughts etched in the inside of your mind, so addicted to the illusion of a love that never was and never will be.

"How –" You look back at her and she raises her head, previously nose buried in the book, and you swallow your nervousness. "How does a diversion event occur in order to create a new Earth? Is it something big and worldwide, or is it something small and insignificant?"

"Well, it is commonly thought to be big events. The small insignificant things that follow are usually in response to them."

"I see." You breathe deep one more time, mastering your best courage. "So, what would happen if I were to meet the other me or you from another universe? Would it be a paradox or something?"

"No. We're all different people." You bite the inside of your mouth thinking about it. Lena's voice brings you back from your trance. "Why the sudden interest?"

"Hm? Oh, I'm just trying to understand more." You smile getting up from your place. "Thanks for explaining it to me." She looks at you curiously and you over explain things with your arms, like a lunatic. "Things are slow today. I'm just gonna head home. If there's an emergency, just hit me up."

"Oh, sure." Lena has barely noticed you're gone, nose buried in the book once again. "Yeah, we'll let you know."

Is it madness? You pace the apartment floor, wrestling with your thoughts. Is it crazy to entertain the idea of venturing into another Earth just to witness a scenario where you and Lena are together? Is it reckless and irresponsible? Is it even fair?

But this love you feel for her has been eating you from the inside. You don't believe there's ever been a space quite as big as the one she wished into existence between your heart and hers. So how can you not? How can you not go on an excursion to find out how to summon this love into being?

"Hey!" Kara taps on your window and you turn around to look at her. "What's the emergency?"

"I need to go on a trip." You say. Packed bags at the edge of the couch, forced smile on your face. She flies in, landing close to it.

"Whe –"

"Can't tell you where. Just wanted to give you a heads-up so you won't worry."

Kara studies you, suspicion evident in her eyes. "Did something happen? Are you going on a mission?"

"No!" You rush to assure her, preventing any further questions. "No, no. Nothing happened, really. It's not a –" But it is a mission of sorts. "Not a real mission, maybe one just to answer a question that keeps me fast awake at night."

Kara squints her eyes looking at you, clearly finding your act extremely suspicious, and you curse yourself for your breath stuck in your lungs and the heart beating almost out of your body.

"Kara, you don't need to worry, I promise."

"Too late! Am worried!" She breathes out, sitting on your couch, right next to your bag. "What's going on? You've been acting weird these days. And DON'T –" She points at you accusingly, because she knows you were about to open your mouth and defend yourself. "say you're not, because I know you and you can't fool me, no matter how much you want to."

She's right. Kara knows you inside out. But there's one thing she's mistaken about: you've been successfully fooling her for months.

This pining over Lena, this ridiculous huge crush you've been nurturing for Lena Luthor has been going for far too long. You crave the way she smells and how she talks. You dream about green eyes and perfect arched eyebrows directed at you. You're consistently going out of your way just to see her. You jump on cases, and suggest team pairings. It's crazy the fact that no one noticed yet, because honestly? You don't think you're doing a far too good of a job when your mouth literally drops at the sight of her.

And yet, your best friends haven't figured it out. None of them. Not even the Kryptonian with super hearing and x-ray vision. 

"You have nothing to worry about, really. But I can't tell you where I'm going, so you're just gonna have to trust me on this one." You try your best puppy eyes and sweet smile. "You do, right? You trust me?"

Kara's eyes soften immediately as she stands and comes closer to you, "Of course I do, Y/N. You're a strong, powerful woman and you can take care of yourself." She reaches for your arm and winks at you. "Plus, you have me on speed dial."

She means the watch.

You agree with your head and hug her goodbye.

You've never been to another Earth. Have heard enough about it, though, to not look completely lost and out of place. So you do your research, does Supergirl exist? Is Lena running some kind of business empire? Where do all the heroes meet up?

You're quick to find out, LuthorCorp is still very much a thing here, and it's run by yours truly, your so-called wife, Lena. So you make your way there first thing. 

"Hi," You try, while talking to the receptionist. "I'm here to see Lena, I'm –"

"Mrs. Luthor!"

Startled, you glance behind, finding no one. "Where?" Then the realization dawns. "Oh. Oh! You mean me. Yeah, I never quite got used to it. Can I go up?"

"Of course, ma'am."

You step into the elevator, musing over how Lena's last name sounds rather fitting when associated with you. In fact, you might prefer it to your own.

"Mrs. Luthor," you overhear Lena's assistant on the phone as soon as she spots you. "Your wife is here."

You make a gesture to correct her, but she's already running to the door. "Mrs. Luthor, please." she nods at you.

"Oh, you don't have – it's ok. I can –" You finally smile back at her. "I'll take it from here, thanks."

As soon as the door closes behind you, Lena makes her way towards you.

Holy shit, she's a mirror image of your Lena. Not a single strand of hair out of place. She even wears the same style of heels your Lena used to, with a high ponytail and those perfect red lips curved into a smile.

"Darling, I didn't know you were dropping by." Before you can say anything, she's planting a kiss on you—a short, sweet peck that catches you off guard. It takes a few moments for you to close your eyes and reciprocate, only to find Lena pulling away. "Is everything all right?"

"I'm not your wife!" The words burst out before she can lean in again, the realization hitting you hard. It hurts to say, especially when all you want is to kiss Lena once more, even though she's not truly your Lena.

"What?" Lena's eyebrows knit together in confusion.

"I'm a different Y/N. From another Earth." You point to yourself, trying to convey the truth. She stares at you in disbelief, so you rack your brain for ways to convince her. "Call your wife, and you'll see."

Lena blinks, then reaches for her phone on her desk. After a brief conversation, she hangs up. "You're not my wife," she confirms, setting her phone down. "Sorry for the unexpected kiss. You look exactly like her. Well, you are her."

"It's okay. I can't say I hated it." You admit, feeling a blush rise to your cheeks at her amused smirk. Maybe you shouldn't have said that.

"Let me guess, your own world is in danger, and you need our help, or something equally insane?" Lena guesses with a sigh.

"My world is fine. But I do need your help with something insane."

Lena gestures toward the couch, and you follow suit. "Do tell, not-my-wife."

"How did we end up together in this universe? How did I win you over?" You're not even half seated yet and are blurting out questions.

"Win me over?" Lena chuckles at your choice of words. "Oh, darling. You fell in love with a Lena?"

"I'm afraid I did. Except mine is in love with Kara, so –"

"Oh, ok." This Lena shakes her head like that thought is insane. "Can't help you in that area. I was always in love with you – your version from here. In fact, you didn't win me over. I was the one who had to win you."

"Oh yeah, that was probably so hard. Flash those green eyes and a knowing smirk at me, and I'm already head over heels for you." 

Lena nods in agreement, a smile playing on her lips. "To be honest, that was pretty much it."

Great, this entire excursion to another universe was useless. This Y/N finally got the girl, and you can't be helped.

"I'm sorry," Lena is quick to say. "I know I was of no help, but don't lose hope!"

"How do you know–"

"Please, Y/N. I am your wife." She reaches for your hand, smiling warmly. "If you fell in love with me here and in your universe, there's likely others where we end up together. I'm not saying you can visit them all—"

"I will visit them all!" You declare, rising from the couch, and you can practically feel Lena rolling her eyes. As you stand, she does too, and you share a goodbye hug. "Thanks for your help, not-my-wife! A pity kiss goodbye in case I never get the girl?"

She chuckles at your jest and plants a kiss on your cheek. "I'm certain you'll get her."

With renewed determination, you prepare for another journey to another Earth.

[hoonigiris]

PUMPKIN SPICE & EVERYTHING NICE

s. jaeyun x reader

0.95k

love, rosie au...-esque! original request here

light streams through the shutters, evening sun warming your room in a slow, steady drawl of golden hour. jake lays on the side of your twin bed, crammed alongside you as he balances precariously near the edge of the mattress.

it smells like you—the pillow, the blanket, the room. all warm and familiar and so full of home he just wants to close his eyes and fall asleep like when you were kids. the scent of cinnamon drifts into the room, and jake knows your mom is probably making her pumpkin spice cookies downstairs, the way she always does when the weather starts getting chilly. jake wonders if he can steal a freshly baked one before he goes home tonight, just like he used to.

but he supposes it's not like how it was before. maybe it can never be the same.

"i broke up with minju."

the word strikes a fracture in the air, your body stiffening slightly beside his before you relax, voice taking on a casual lilt he can tell is masking something beneath. “oh, really? why?”

"it just..." jake pauses. "didn't work."

"oh." short, concise, maybe a little hurt. and then, timidly, "sorry to hear that."

he shakes his head, pillow rustling. "don't be. not your fault."

"you just really seemed to like her a lot."

he shrugs, biting back his words. "yeah."

"you know," you start, almost timidly. "i almost thought you hated me, or something."

"what?" jake's head turns to you on instinct, swift motion that leads his nose to almost brush against yours. his breath hitches, a split second of smelling the leftover peppermint on your breath, before he turns back again, ironing out his cracking voice. "what makes you say that?"

"i don't know, you just..." you trail off. "we just stopped hanging out. like you were avoiding me."

you try to make it lighthearted, but the hurt peeks through enough for the pang in jake's chest to shoot into his throat. he swallows hard, eyes pinned on the leftover glow-in-the-dark stars still stuck on the ceiling.

“that’s not…” jake manages, but the rest of words lump up and lodge in his throat. he can’t lie to you. “it’s complicated.”

a pause. "is it?"

he hesitates, blinking. the peppermint still lingers. "yeah."

jake hopes you'll just leave it at that and not press him further, because if he were being honest then he'd say yes, he has been avoiding you. that's the partial truth, at least.

the whole truth is that he can't look at you the same after the night of your 18th birthday, not after you had three tequila shots too many and blacked out for the rest of the night. not after he can still taste the feeling of your lips on his, even months since that night has passed.

jake likes you—he's admitted that to himself for a while now. in fact, he may even be in love with you, but that seems way too big and scary of a concept for a guy his age to even wrap his head around. at the very least, like or not, in love or not, jake knows he loves you. he has for as long as he can remember, as his twin flame, as his best friend, as just who you are wholly, as a person.

but he knows you best, which means that there's no way in hell he can tell you that he started dating minju to distract himself from a kiss you don't even remember and feelings he's fairly sure you don't even return. jake can't even tell you that minju is the one that dumped him, because the truth would come tumbling out that the reason she did was because she was sick and tired of him never being able to shut up about you.

(when minju broke it off, she said she was setting him free. "untethered to follow his heart," or whatever that means. she probably thought she was doing a good deed, considering the wise look she gave him when she left his house, but it really just set him back to square one. without anyone stopping him, jake would always find himself coming back to you.)

it's not like he's proud of his bout of ghosting, but at the time, it was the only thing he felt like he could do to get his newfound feelings under control. he's better at it now, more practiced. jake is happy to shove his feelings underneath the rug and continue like everything is normal if it means things will continue like they always have been.

it's fine. it'll all be fine. as long as he doesn't lose you, it'll all be okay.

jake peers to his side, catching a glimpse of your face. brows scrunched, lips set in a slight frown, body slightly turned away from him. his fault, admittedly. jake pushes aside the slight guilt and pokes your side, watching you squirm and yelp.

the best solution to avoidance is distraction—jake's tried and true method.

"do you think your mom will let us have a cookie before dinner?"

you drag yourself up, hair mussed from the pillow as you look down at him. "when has she ever?"

sunlight tinges your hair warm, the dust particles floating between the streams of light through the window. there's a pillow mark on your face that draws the corners of his lips up before he can stop himself.

tried and true, jake repeats to himself. tried and true.

"how long do you think it'll take her to notice two are missing?"

you hum, tilting your head. "only one way to find out."

he grins, sitting up beside you. "then let's find out."

[mccoyquialisms]

I think it's pretty clear that the Rat Grinders didn't kill Lucy purposefully. Partly because of what we learned about how the rage kills, but mostly because I can't see Brennan making a bunch of loser 15 year olds cold-hearted killers (well...maybe Kipperlilly). They may have done so accidentally in self defense vs Lucy essentially killing herself with rage, that part remains unclear. However, I do think that the subsequent coverup has absolutely been deliberate. I think that prior to Lucy's death, the Rat Grinders were involved in trying to revive the rage god and things got out of hand. I don't think they became involved out of love for the thing itself. More likely, they have their own individual motivations that were played upon by someone else, which is why their actions seem so weird and disparate. Ruben and his sudden transition into emo fame; Kipperlilly and her bid for power in the school/revenge against the bad kids for being idk cooler than her I guess; Buddy and his clear attempts to establish his grandfather in the school to spread the word of Sol....I'm sure with more digging compelling motives for Mary Ann, Oisin and Ivy will be found. I can even see Lucy originally being for it if she thought they were a sibling of her god that had once been a benevolent force and potentially could be one again. 

I think an opportunistic adult/adults who seek to bring back this god probably used the Rat Grinders, selling them a chance to have their dreams come true AND one-up their rivals by recreating one of the bad kid's primary achievements: reviving a dead god. That same person could now be threatening them with revealing their hand in Lucy's death to ensure their continued cooperation. I do think the Rat Grinders have a 'divide and conquer' approach where not all of them have the same amount or same type of information (i.e. Kipperlilly excluding Oisin from obtaining the arcano-tech), which is why some of them come off as less suspicious than the others, but I don't think any of them are innocent. It would be pretty bizarre for your party member to die in the tutorial level woods at school and have absolutely no desire to probe deeper into that. The fact that absolutely none of them have indicated they looked for Lucy after her disappearance and immediately replaced her is NOT a good look. If I had to pick a mastermind of the group who has all the information as the primary planner, my money is on Kipperlilly. 

I don't have a clear suspect for the adult influence but Jace Stardiamond has come up wayy too many times in seemingly disparate instances for my comfort. I admit to a lack of motive as of now, but we also barely know anything about the guy, so I'm hoping new information will come to light. I am intrigued by the theory that Porter may be a paladin of this god, knowingly or unknowingly, but I also don't think it's necessarily automatically a bad thing. His thoughts on rage seem very...balanced? I could honestly see him being an adherent of what perhaps was the god's original aspect, rage as a warm presence and a shield, or someone who hopes to return that god to that aspect. I have a hard time seeing him as the type of mastermind that a convoluted plan like this requires, but I won't rule him out as a foot soldier. Lola Embers I've been side eyeing but if Ruben is her new darling, I can imagine him asking her to request the venue of the festival be at the Thistlesprings and that's the end of her involvement. Henry Hopclap is also not above suspicion given his relation to Ruben and the fact that the arcano-tech under the stage seemed pretty advanced (none of the Rat Grinders strike me as particularly talented artificiers capable of something like that), but I'll admit other than that I've got nothing on him.

Ultimately, while Ruben released something incredibly powerful with his ritual, it was clearly merely a first step in a longer plan. Given all the "random" rage outbursts and what we found out at the farm, I'm betting that the rituals performed so far have been to literally poison the earth, leading to everyone in the area breathing in the rage cocaine, therefore expanding this god's influence and making it easier for them to anchor themselves to the material plane. They're going to most likely recreate the ritual Bakur attempted but in the correct place, the school gym, as that is where YES! was created during prom. The real mystery right now is exactly how far are they into this plan, and is it already too late to stop it?

[shihalyfie]

Hi. I'm someone who has come back to Digimon after enjoying it from my childhood and now watching through Ghost Game as well as watching episodes of Digimon: App Monsters. Something I'm wondering about is how the experience of binge watching may or may not be compatible with the various Digimon seasons. I realized that I enjoyed binging App Monsters more than I am Ghost Game even though I do enjoy watching Ghost Game more as it fits a lot more of my tastes.

I define the binge format as involving frequent use of cliffhangers, a larger overarching conflict those cliffhangers tie into, and a three act structure that stretches throughout the season instead of just one episode. I do recognize that both Ghost Game and App Monsters share at least some similarities with this structure, but the main difference seems to be that there isn't a bigger overarching conflict in Ghost Game. However, I see myself going back and rewatching episodes of Ghost Game more than I do App Monsters. To what extent were these seasons built with binge watching in mind? I live in the US by the way, so I imagine that cultural lens might be playing into the questions.

Hi! Welcome back, hope you're enjoying your watch! Also, glad you're enjoying Appmon; that's a series that's especially close to my heart.

Well, as you alluded to at the end of the question here, cultural stuff does play a role here, or more specifically, the fact that Digimon TV series generally use a format that Toei has refined and perfected over the years via their long-running shows, especially Super Sentai and Kamen Rider (tokusatsu and not anime, but with a lot of important factors in common). While it is true that the majority of these series are serialized, they are ultimately still made first and foremost to be watched by kids once a week. That's why there's still a loose monster-of-the-week format for even the more serialized Digimon series, because there has to be a certain self-contained nature to it, and that's why you get those recaps at the beginning of each episode (or sometimes even full recap episodes, like Appmon episode 26, which was released after the series went through a timeslot change). It's not that they think the kids have a terrible attention span or anything, but that even an adult would probably need to be reminded of what was going on after having been out for a week or longer.

If a series is hard to follow when watched this way, that's considered a failure of the writing, especially since the series has a goal of selling toys during the duration of its run and would probably not accomplish this if it's hard to follow. The majority of Toei shows using this format run for exactly a year (with Adventure: and Ghost Game being exceptions due to what I suspect are pandemic delay related issues), so that means they basically have a year to sell as many toys during that period as possible before they pass the baton to whatever occupies the timeslot next. But of course, that doesn't mean people in the writer's room don't also care deeply about what they make, so they'll still try to make works that leave a lasting impression for adults who binge watch later. So that means striking a balancing act between making it possible to follow weekly or when binge watches, and how well they accomplish that depends on the series.

For what it's worth, Ghost Game's extreme episodic nature is an outlier not only for Digimon but also for this kind of Toei show in general; while "resolved in one episode" format is used elsewhere, Ghost Game not calling back to a huge overarching plot often is not often seen. (Although it has been quite successful in certain areas; one famous series I can think of off of the top of my head is Kamen Rider W, which recently got an anime adaptation of its manga sequel -- long story -- and is known for being pretty much entirely presented in two-parters.) That said, Ghost Game's lead writer did infamously say at one point that it was as episodic as it was because of the idea that kids are more into shorter content like TikTok and all that, which got ridiculed as hilariously out of touch, especially since the aforementioned Kamen Rider and Super Sentai are still doing fine without that. I'll let the Sentai experts weigh in more, but the one running right now (Kingohger) is so unusually serialized that it even just had a timeskip!

[hils79]

Hils Watches The King's Avatar - Ep 34

I'm trying not to think about how few episodes I have left

Wait, I thought that WAS the official verdict. I'm assuming that because this dude has been sitting here gloating for like an hour that it's going to be overturned somehow.

I love that this is a gathering all all the team captains plus Wenzhou's husband

Still unclear what he did to warrant a lifetime ban.

Okay now I want Shaotian to lead a revolution where no one will play because there's no point if their most worthy competitor has been banned.

Yes! Lead them into a strike! Also, this is my 700th screenshot of this drama. Nothing else I have liveblogged (or livetweeted as I used to do) has come anywhere near this amount and I've watched stuff WAY longer than this. Well, maybe my Lost Tomb Reboot rewatch but nothing else!

Wenqing is like 'I'm not sure 'friends' is the word I'd use for what we are'

Are you sure about that?

See, this is why I love them. Shaotian is loud and passionate, Wenzhou is quiet and rational. They balance each other perfectly and they love each other so much

I love that during his whole speech Wenzhou has his hand on Shaotian's shoulder. Probably to stop Shaotian from launching himself across the table and fighting the chairman of the league

It's a good thing Shiqin is there as the Excellent Era vice captain because Sun Xiang would never admit this even if he knows it's true

Not me crying because, for the first time, Shaotian decided to be tactful and stay quiet but his husband is there to encourage him to speak

So this dude said 'I can only overturn the ban if you give me a good reason', the captains gave him several good reasons, and the response was just 'cool but you have to respect the decision to ban him'. Well, that was a waste of 5 minutes (apart from letting me see the Blue Rain husbands who I have missed)

Okay, next we need the fans to protest I guess? If the pros and the fans all protest you don't have a league anymore

It seems weird to me that the captains of the other teams know Ye Xiu has been banned but his own team doesn't. Anyway, they've made him a sub which I hope means he's going to get unbanned in time to show up and help them win

That is not a good tactic. What if he doesn't show up? Also, you told Mo Fan to stall for time and he got a yellow card

Oh I hope she ends up having to fight three of them by herself and wipes them all out like she said she was going to do. Fighting!

Nope she got killed again. So much for getting to redeem herself.

Okay, I'm glad they rescinded the ban. But how do you even enforce this? Didn't he win them the championship a bunch of times? Are they going to take that back and give it to another team?

Sucks to be this guy though. And hi Blue Rain husbands in the background. I can't believe they've decided all of this in less time than it takes for Team Happy to finish a tournament. If this was real life there would be months, maybe even years of meeting with lawyers and league board members etc

I choose to believe Shaotian and Wenzhou are holding hands just out of frame

They could at least have given him a ride back to the game that they pulled him out of instead of making him try and find a taxi

He has friends who were in that meeting even if the league weren't prepared to drive him back to the game. Does no one in this universe own a car?

YAY! I have no idea how he got there so fast given he was hailing a cab like a minute ago but let's just go with it

I love her! Plays for another team but just walks on stage and sits with Team Happy in front of everyone after dropping off Ye Xiu

Aww you must be new here

Okay, it's not very clear in the screenshot but Baozi just punched the ground so hard he collapsed the cliff everyone was standing on and It Was Awesome

OH SHIT HIS UMBRELLA BROKE

And they lost. Devastating. What happens now? Are they out of running to win the league?

God I can't stand it when he's sad. It was bad enough when his dad made him cry. This is way worse

Well, that was a real downer to end on. More tomorrow I guess.

[marimbles]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Thanks for the tag @jattendschaton<3

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

29

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

283,369

3. What fandoms do you write for?

mostly miraculous ladybug and a bit of owl house! potentially a couple others in the future

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Why Are You Like This?

tell me something i don't know

lucky (we're in love in every way)

some truths are loyal (as the shadows we lead)

two idiots and a hamster

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

i try to! it means a lot to me that people would go out of their way to leave their thoughts. sometimes it's a bit hard to keep up on multichaps though if the updates are frequent enough so i really fell off the bandwagon and currently live in shame with an overflowing inbox;; trying to do better from now on!

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

tbh i don't really do angsty endings bc i want the ending to be happy lol

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

like i said, all my fics have a happy ending but i think lucky is probably the most like extra-fluffy happy ending. and then tell me something i don't know is probably the most cathartic happy ending purely for the dramatic 100k+ buildup lol.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

not really, no! maybe a sort of disappointed comment here and there

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

nope and i don't read it either haha

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

nah

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

haha i hope not!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

a few in russian and one in spanish (the beginning of it, at least)

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

yep! @botherkupo was my collab partner for two idiots and a hamster and i had a blast writing with her!! kim is such a good writer and sooo clever and funny so it was really fun to try to match her energy and bounce ideas off each other to make it as silly as possible

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

love square and in particular marichat is my weakness<3 also big shoutout to huntlow. and also zelink. and also recently tamaharu. aklsjf

15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

at this point im not sure i will ever come back to i wanna tell you (but i don't know how) … it's an owl house fic that i started during season 3 but the direction i had planned doesn't feel very relevant anymore now that the show is over

16. What are your writing strengths?

i think dialogue bc i really enjoy writing it and it typically comes most easily to me! i would consider humor a strength too bc i have a very good time being silly

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

big one is speed. I'm just very slow 😔 the writing process is fairly painstaking for me, and it takes a lot of time and effort even to write things that are pretty short and simple! agonies

for the writing itself, i consider myself a pretty simple writer with a pretty simple writing style—which works well for me most of the time, especially since I tend to lean toward humor. but sometimes it feels like a weakness when i read a story with really rich, beautiful prose and i wish i could emulate that a bit more! when i'm trying for something with a more serious tone it takes a lot more effort for me to convey the appropriate level of depth I'm going for and i worry about going overboard and coming off as overwrought or cheesy sounding lol. along the same vein i feel sometimes that my characterization is a bit two-dimensional and i find myself wishing i could add more levels and depth to the characters. there's just a lot i try to balance in my writing and i don't feel like im quite striking that balance every time. which is fine because no one's perfect ofc! i hope this is all stuff i can learn to be better at.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

i generally prefer keeping everything in english since im writing in english. it just feels a bit smoother for the POV if there would be no distinction for the character, and i don't want people to be pulled out of the story if they need to google something

19. First fandom you wrote for?

hunger games, i think

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

tell me something i don't know C:

tagging (if you want to!): @fairytales-and-folklore @lollytea @bahbahhh @sha-nwa @botherkupo @taliaxlatia (or whatever blog u wanna do it on lol)

[altschmerzes]

Thoughts on the new ted lasso episode?????? I have so many conflicting opinions re: zava

well first of all this is how i enjoyed it:

i will be repeating the experience weekly. cannot more highly recommend cosymode ted lasso.

as for the episode itself- [shrieks into my hands] i'm gonna put some thoughts under a cut, both generally and re: zava specifically, thank you for asking. these thoughts are not going to be at all organized and mostly composed in run-on sentences i am so sorry.

IM ALSO.... CONFLICTED ON ZAVA I THINK though it's interesting bc as i was watching the episode i kept getting like, OUTRAGEOUSLY distracted by..... [checks notes] not knowing what his first name is. this is not a joke. it was ACTIVELY distracting for me. i kept telling myself sometimes people are like this. like cher. you don't need to know his first name. and then two minutes later someone would mention him again and i'd be like What Is The Man's Fucking Name Though. it was so bizarre lmaooo.

honestly re: the man himself i'm like!! idk!!! jamie is clearly already way in his feelings about this and i can only imagine it's going to get worse which is gonna be. fucking delicious if we actually get to spend some time with and unpack it because 'i feel like i'm being replaced and i'm getting anxious/upset/lashing out about it' is one of my favourite sources of Angst Plots. we shall see. i am as always a combination of hopeful and anxious.

the dude playing him really did a great job striking a very specific and identifiable vibe for someone who had like Three Lines of dialogue and whose face we saw clearly like once.

i feel like i have two diverging paths in front of me with this guy's arc and it's either gonna be 'i'm riveted and having a great time' or 'please get this dude out of my face' and no in-between

and now for some general thoughts:

didn't realize this was the chelsea episode and somehow still had 'chelsea dagger' on repeat while cleaning up and getting ready to go cosymode. (i am stealing that song from its association with the chicago hockey team. it whips too hard to be left to them.) enjoyed the accidental reference when i turned on the tv and saw the title. also kept remembering a couple irl friends who are chelsea fans and having myself a giggle.

speaking of 'great time' vs 'get this out of my face' how relieved am i that they've now bait-and-switched me TWICE with fucking. love triangle bullshit. with roy and keeley and jamie. when he followed roy and not keeley i was like. oh thank fuck. the ensuing scene was both very sweet and very funny. they are welcome to continue bait and switching me on this as long as the switch Continues To Happen but if this goes in a Direction i am not gonna be thrilled.

something is brewing with keeley's company. it's not gonna....... go well, i think. something is gonna come to a head there, i got the feeling from the drop, and i'm not sure what or how yet but something's gonna give with that. all those scenes have this weird like. tension to them that i can't quite put my finger on and im intrigued to see where it goes.

i actually really like the CFO woman? she seems like a very interesting character and i think she and keeley could balance each other very well.

my jamie and dani besties agenda is flourishing. so is dani's hair. it's fantastic and i want to braid it.

oh speaking of hair back to zava for a second. beard pulled up the footage of him and i literally said out loud, pronouncing the letters not the word 'motherfucker': "oh this mf has my haircut"

AND SPEAKING OF DANI when he said "fuck off trent crimm" i think i shriek-laughed so hard the whole block heard me. dani my fucking beloved. i adore you.

y'know who else had a good episode here? isaac. his body language thing was so good. it made me laugh and also was a SPECTACULAR look into him as a person. every time we get a scrap of characterization on one of the secondary richmond player characters i dance around like the soot sprites with the candies in that ghibli movie i can't recall the title of off the dome.

i probably overblow this in my head, right, because everyone thinks their own perspective is like Super Unique or something but i really do think being an enormous irl sports fan is enhancing the experience i'm having with this show so much. watching the fans unfurl that banner for roy and cheer for him like that was like... immediately a half dozen welcome back tribute videos and player homecomings i've watched raced through my head and i was literally in actual physical tears. both bc of what was happening on screen and bc of All The Rest Of That in my head.

speaking of. oh my gd my heart hurt so much for roy as soon as he pulled that fucking. newspaper clipping from his wallet. i liked that he ripped it up at the end but i do wish it had come a little harder. he's been carrying that thing around for 20 years i'd have liked to see a biiiiit more of a battle over letting it go. still. holy shit and the bit at the end? about leaving chelsea? winded me. WINDED ME.

to be honest this was a rough one for him all around. i cannot imagine everyone i know making my breakup front page news in THEIR life too. which is like- they mean well and it's obviously coming from a good place and the people talking to him directly - jamie, ted, etc - are like. trying to be kind and supportive but if i were him i'd want to run away and also die in a hole about it so. big #felt that whole thing. even so, i do also have to say-

the roy's hyperbolic violence/threats thing is Back With A Vengeance! we know how i feel about this. i had a whole post about how i feel about this. it's a Bit, i know, it's a goof, this being a comedy show and roy being The Angry One but still i just. i feel like they take it a liiiiiittle past the pale in this ep, in general and also with jamie specifically. roy flying at him in the locker room during the big 'who's on first' round robin was a Bit Much for me - and i know i harp on this a lot but i maintain my stance here - given their history to this point. ted saying to roy near the end of the episode that like, he needed to get his act together or he'd be ruining more than one match was a good touch that did a lot to defuse some of my unease with this running thread but. it was still there and i was still a little [oh boy.gif] about it.

anyway so now i'm knee-deep in a fic about That.

overall it was spectacular, i really enjoyed it. knocked out of the park episode thank you so much.

i have many more discrete thoughts but i have to clip it here my keyboard is starting to lag lmaoooo

[steak-n-popotoes]

FFxivWrite '23 - 28

"Don't tell me you're giving up already," Caranar teased, "C'mon, Beef, I thought you were stronger than that!"

Beef dragged himself back up to his feet from where Caranar's swing had sent him tumbling away.

It didn't matter how much padding was on that staff, Caranar could make anything hurt.

It was far from their first sparring session. Caranar enjoyed the fight, and Beef felt he needed the challenge. They would often end up having a scuffle wherever L'kozu couldn't eye them with disapproval, though they would usually end up going to Kozu to heal their hurts regardless. Easier to ask forgiveness.

That said, if Beef managed to leave a mark on Caranar, L'kozu would usually make him bear it.

"That's more like it. Here it comes!" Caranar levered the staff and opened with a series of quick jabs, hoping to force Beef off-balance.

As Caranar expected, Beef neatly ducked past each one. He tried to go on the offensive, but with each step inward he tried to take Caranar sent another jab his way.

To look at the two fighters, one would think the match completely one-sided. Caranar had every edge: his brawn was obvious, but against his Lalafellin opponent he also had a seemingly insurmountable advantage in reach.

Caranar pressed that advantage as he swung the staff wide at Beef.

However, Beef was used to fighting above his size class. To strike a Lalafell, most races swing for the head or shoulders rather than aim low and risk becoming off-balance.

Beef dropped to all fours, ducking under Caranar's swing. He knew what would come next.

Caranar used the momentum of the missed swing to raise the staff overhead and arc downwards, sending it sailing toward Beef's vulnerable back.

The staff never met its mark. In the moment Caranar raised the staff, Beef darted forward like a coiled spring and flipped upward, delivering a heel straight to Caranar's bare chest.

Caranar let the kick land without so much as a flinch.

Before Beef could land, Caranar grabbed him by the leg and spun round before tossing Beef back out of range.

Beef barely managed to reorient himself before landing.

"No need to hold back," Caranar taunted. "Take your best shot."

Beef let out a huff and straightened his stance. One foot slid back in the dust, one palm thrust forward. Gale fluttered forward from where she was keeping her distance and hunkered down against the back of Beef's head.

Caranar had seen them do it a number of times before. It gave him pause. No amount of ribbing would make Beef strike first when he was focused like this.

"Alright. My turn, then." Caranar swung again, aiming for Beef's midsection in the hopes that he would knock Gale away when Beef ducked.

But Beef stood stock still.

The instant before the blow landed, Beef's hand darted upward to intercept the staff. Along with the hand came an immense blast of wind pressure which charged the blow with devastating power.

Not only was the swing halted, but the weapon was battered clean out of Caranar's hand. It whacked his forearm as it spun away.

Not ready to hand over the round, Caranar drew his arms inward into a defensive stance. He blocked his vitals on pure brawling instinct.

Beef propelled himself along the ground at hurricane speed, launching another kick at Caranar's ankles.

The arc of the kick seemed to swing just past its target, but the air surrounding the swipe was pushed forward with such blunt force Caranar had no choice but to brace himself against it.

With the momentum of the kick, Beef turned mid-air to land behind Caranar, and sent a punch lightning fast to the back of his opponent's knee.

The opposing forces acting on Caranar's legs forced them to buckle beneath his weight, and he slammed down hard onto his back.

This is, of course, where Beef was at the time. He was pancaked beneath the heavier fighter, resulting in both being downed at the same time.

"Oof. Sorry kid." Caranar said as he rolled off. He ignored Gale's angry clawing and picked Beef up under the arms to set him down on his feet.

Yet, Beef didn't appear to have much fight left in him. His shoulders slumped and he continued to breathe heavily.

Caranar stretched his shoulders and placed a hand against his back.

"We'll call this one another draw."

[rappaccini]

gonna dump my btsv spec, salt and wishful thinking here

general thoughts:

no way in hell is this movie coming out in under 3 years. it's gonna be long and extremely hard to animate and they can't even start recording lines yet due to the sag strike, assuming the script is even done and won't need lots of reworking.

i am totally fine with that. the animators were treated terribly during atsv and i hope they get better conditions this time around, including more time to work. and if they're treated as badly or worse i hope they loot the studio like a viking raiding party.

miles's arc is probably good to go. maybe it won't hit its full potential, but it seems pretty safe to say that his character is in good hands.

gwen's is probably fucked since she'll likely be The Girlfriend at the end assuming they don't fridge her.

itsv emphasized miles's bond with aaron, atsv emphasized his relationship with jeff. btsv should emphasize miles's connection to rio to balance it all out.

jessica's going to turn on miguel, to either save jeff from his canon death or gwen from hers.

the movie will start with miles in 42, and follow him traveling home to save it from the spot.

we know they'll stop by in 138 at some point, probably around the halfway mark.

we've heard that margo will play a 'larger role than we expect' -- idk if that's just 'margo pushes the send-miles-to-42-button' or 'she's going to factor heavily into btsv.' i hope it's the latter.

so hopefully, hobie and margo are built up with much more prominent supporting roles and like. actual character arcs. that don't revolve around being the disposable corner of a love triangle whose consolation prize is cheering the main couple on. we met punk and byte in across. let's get to know hobie and margo in beyond.

(wishful thinking: make them the love interests for gwen and miles instead of each other.)

we know gwen's death is going to be a canon event explored in this movie. it was teased with the 'in every universe...' line and gwen's overall behavior, gwen's literally wearing the Gwen Death Colors (green and purple) in her civvies (... which even have the green top/short bottoms/black leggings silhouette of the Death Outfit), and she ended atsv accepting her place as miles's girlfriend (gag) and with none of her trauma regarding her peter's death resolved, as she's about to throw herself into danger to redeem herself to miles, who she treats as a peter replacement.

and chronologically speaking, after the death of the captain, gwen's next. atsv was all about The Death Of The Captain. so gwen's next.

we know we're meeting alternate gwens. candidates include gwen42, gwen8, gwen138, gwen1610, gwen616, ... and a possible revisiting of gayatri and gabi. also, we've seen glimpses of gwenom in the canon event web and gwen's penguin stuffed animal is a reference to spider-guin. possible for them to appear too. (earth 42 seems like the most apt place for a gwenom to appear since gwen probably won't get her symbiote and gwenom would probably be viewed as the Dark Edgy Corrupted version of gwen (sigh), and now that ham's in the cast, we could drop into his dimension, where guin fits in)

please not earth 8 anything but earth 8. if gwen and/or miles fucking meet their stepford wife selves and are told 'see? you CAN be a couple' and decide its somehow a good thing i will start biting people. if gwen gets starry eyed and decides 'wow! i CAN have a future! as miles's wife!' i'm gonna rip the seat off. if she pulls a sitting in a tree and takes their future children into the fight as reinforcements, i'm gonna jump into the screen and start tearing it apart.

big fear: that the spiderverse trilogy will be revealed as an earth-8 gwiles origin story, complete with them abandoning their arcs to be a couple and leading an eight-person hero team called the amazing eight. or having their worlds smashed together so they can be together.

i doubt the writers have read that deeply into gwen's comics to know about the council of spider-women. if they have, i don't think they'll be smart enough to put it together that the council doesn't exist to say 'yes gwen! go be someone's girlfriend!'

gwen needs to meet an alternate version of herself a la miles and miles 42.

act i:

the 'let's do this one more time/differently' monologue sharing a character's backstory should be miles 42's. show us a quick montage of his story from his pov, leading up to him meeting miles.

miles and miles 42 gain each other's trust and come to an understanding instead of fighting. miles processes his grief over his aaron, helps miles 42 do the same with his jeff, and miles meets rio 42. there's probably some impersonation. miles learns about the state of earth-42 and decides to help miles 42 save new york, given the stole-your-destiny angst. they learn who each other could've been.

gwen and co land in earth 42 (where they know miles is thanks to margo) and start looking for miles. maybe they get held up by the sinister six cartel, or confuse miles 42 for miles 1610. my guess is we get some indication that gwen 42 is dead to start planting the Gwen Death Seeds (that, or she's the venom of this dimension).

(praying that gwen 42, should she exist, isn't either miles 42's love interest or even worse, his love-interest-who-died-to-give-him-manpain. praying that gwen42 is a gwenom, because peter b parker / miles g morales / gwen m stacy is a theme. and gwen m = gwenom.)

miguel, jess and ben prepare to interfere in jeff's death and apprehend miles, but realize miles isn't coming and that the spot's about to swallow this world up. jess probably turns on miguel to protect jeff.

act ii:

miles reunites with gwen and co, probably as they all work together with miles 42 and aaron 42 to take out the sinister six cartel. (my kingdom for a tiana toomes cameo as one of vulture's followers.)

miles is probably going to be harsh to gwen after they reunite. she gave him a shitload of trust issues.

(also, fingers crossed but no hope, he's over his crush on her-- the reason why he's fixated on her has been resolved: he doesn't need gwen to help him with his grief, because aaron 42 did that; he doesn't need validation because he just found it with miles 42; and he doesn't want to leave his community on 1610 anymore-- he wants to go back to save it.)

(fingers crossed, zero hope x2: we expand on gwen's survivor guilt and death anxiety. she thinks that saving miles and/or being his love interest is how she can redeem herself not just for betraying his trust, but for outliving peter. miles has everything he needs to get over gwen, but she has nothing to help her get over him.)

wild guess: interdimensional fuckery ensues, which tips miles and co off to the spot being in 1610. or jess straight-up calls them and says so.

wild guess: dimension-hopping ensues. to 138 at the minimum, because it was confirmed we'd see more of it.

probably also to 616 and ham's world, since both have alt gwens (spider-guin, and og dead gwen).

maybe a quick return to mumbattan (especially given that gayatri's there and it already has spot damage), or a passthrough of noir and peni's worlds because of how artistically distinct they are. (hopefully margo's too because why leave her out if we're doing the rest. plus given that margo's powers are only through her avatar, it'd be funny to see a totally normal girl juxtaposed with seven superheroes)

this is probably where we introduce the twist that gwen's death is the big canon death miles is actually going to contend with. and that she has probably internalized and accepted it given that she's accepted her place as miles's love interest. so, miles learns, through the dimension-hopping, that gwen's death is a canon event, that's what had her worried this whole time, and that it's oncoming and she isn't doing anything to prevent it.

wishful thinking: please give us more of what gwen and hobie were up to in his dimension. if we're gonna spend more time there, let's fill in that gap. (please have the balls to not friendzone them)

i'm guessing if they split the characters off into trios, they'll be miles-gwen-peter, pav-hobie-margo, peni-noir-ham.

meanwhile in 1610, jeff, rio, ganke, visions academy and miles's community react to the spot causing havoc as the spider-society debate whether to intervene or allow his world to be destroyed. hopefully ganke gets to do something in this movie.

btsv's big Take That at how editorial's treated miles will probably be at how they let his universe be destroyed, so the movie will emphasize just how special his world is and how terrible it is to let it die.

i'm also wondering if miguel's going to catch on to miles in 42 and start chasing him through various dimensions.

again, jess is going to turn on miguel if she hasn't already.

act iii:

the return to 1610 to save the dimension from the spot.

miles's identity is revealed to his parents. they love and support him.

the spider-society, led by jessica drew and/or peter b, rallies to protect 1610, and possibly miles as well if miguel goes after him.

maybe the spot threatens earth 65. after all, ~it's another parallel between gwen and miles~ that their worlds are seen as disposable compared to 616.

gwen probably performs a heroic sacrifice to save miles or a member of his family, maybe even jeff. it'll most likely involve the clock tower, given how it was set up in atsv and it's where the last cinematic gwen stacy died.

hopefully, gwen doesn't die for miles's manpain and a Gotcha, You Predicted The Wrong Canon Event moment. i doubt that'll happen but you can never underestimate men when it comes to thinking that fridging is 'satisfying.'

(.... are they going to kill rio instead. i know his mom dies in the comics pre-616 move, and that so far the movies have structured itsv as the Aaron Movie and atsv as the Jeff Movie. there's one adult in miles' life left, and one movie to go, and he's about to spend time with her variant on 42. i'm worried.)

anyway it's probably gwen. the canon event involves gwen stacy falling from a great height, often unconscious, as spider-man tries and fails to catch her. and this occurs during a conflict with the archvillain.

so gwen will probably fall or dive from the clocktowerduring the spot battle, might be knocked out, and miles will try to catch her.

.... hopefully she jumps instead of falling.

hopefully, gwen's survival doesn't revolve around miles either-- either by being saved by him, or saving herself/being saved by someone else so she can be his girlfriend. (fingers crossed, zero hope! they keep cramming in moments where miles ~catches gwen as she's falling~ for a reason.)

i really wonder if gwen will end up falling through the spot's teleportation holes and ends up in an alternate universe, presumed dead.

(big fear: she lands in earth-8, realizes ~i can have a future as miles's babymaker~ and rejoins the fight with their kids as backup like in sitting in a tree.)

(big hope: she lands in earth-617, and she and gwen-617 inspire each other to do better, like in the life of gwen stacy)

regardless, ideally gwen saves herself for her own sake. another acceptable alternative is jessica saving gwen and redeeming herself for being a bad mentor. an alternate gwen doing it would be even better as long as it isn't gwen 8. just no men saving gwen.

(or using their electricity powers to 'restart her heart'. staring hard at ism2 and wondering if lord and miller want to snatch that plotline.)

anyway that heroic sacrifice is going to re-endear gwen to miles.

miguel sees the light. maybe it's because of gwen, since if gabi's his gwen, he won't respond well to seeing an alternate version of his daughter in danger/dying. either way he either lays off or joins in to protect 1610 at the end.

miles 42 probably shows up to help (maybe aaron too). probably has an emotional moment with jeff.

anyway 1610 is saved and miles is affirmed as the ultimate spider-man.

miles comes to the understanding that he isn't the only one who deserves to redefine his narrative-- everybody does. gwen is the natural conduit through which to realize this, as the character with the most pressing consequences weighing down on her, and the one whose relationship with him has the most narrative weight.

(-- and also because miles letting gwen go is the greatest fulfillment of his arc because of how selfless it is. if gwen stays locked into her narrative, then he gets to have her as a girlfriend and be her hero. if she breaks out, then he won't get those things anymore. he gains nothing from encouraging her to be her own person, but it's still worth doing because it's the right thing to do.)

what'll probably happen is the movie will stop at 'wow isn't it so subversive that spider-man and his gwen got to end up together! good on gwen for choosing miles instead of peter! miles is Different for some reason!' and they'll have their big upside down kiss and become a couple because the writers don't understand gwen and want miles to have his cake and eat it too. gag.

(fingers crossed, no hope: my pipe dream is that miles helps gwen realize her feelings for him are rooted in her survivor's guilt, and that living for herself is what she actually needs. i hate that it's a girl needing permission to be independent from her male love interest when her original canon storyline is her coming to that conclusion all on her own, but we'll take what we can get: they let go of their crushes on each other, reaffirm their friendship, and support each other in defining their own paths.)

in the end montage, it'll be confirmed that miles is still in contact with his interdimensional spider-friends, that the spider-society probably still exists but has reformed somehow and miles is a part of it (... something tells me it won't end), that his family and friends support him in being a hero, and he's going to art school (because his interest in physics was all in finding the validation he no longer needs, and these movies are a celebration of art at their core. no way is he not gonna be an artist at the end).

also unfortunately i think they'll throw in fluff about how gwiles are going to stay together forever, get married and have those damn earth-8 spiderbabies. gag me. i wish them a very divorce.

(fingers crossed, no hope: give us a margo-miles ship tease instead. miles doesn't need a girlfriend right now because he needs to find himself. once he does, he's ready for love. my kingdom for a casual reference that margo has a middle name that starts with the letter j, aka she's been an mj all along. it follows thematically that in a story about how any boy can be spider-man, we should also discuss how any girl can be mary jane.)

(and if gwen's gotta end up with someone, my kingdom for it being hobie. they have a past that could easily be brought up on 138, margomiles have a future. let the disposable corners of the love quadrangle be the ones who win out in the end. let gwen fall for a spider-man without him getting her killed or turned into a sidekick gf. let hobie have something that humanizes him.)

[usercelestial]

Nate returning to richmond/taking over for Twd when he leaves seems like its almost definitely gonna happen even though I think him either staying at the current club (without Rupert influence dragging him down) or moving onto a new club with a fresh slate and being like a (friendly) rival to Richmond would be a nice ending.

Especially with the amount ted has said winning isn't the main goal having Nate and his club versus Richmond and their coach where yes, they're still hoping to each win but they're all genuinely enjoying the rivalry with no malice or hard feelings on either side after a win would be lovely

Yeah, I think Nate leaving West Ham/coming back to Richmond is the most likely ending for his character. The reason I like the idea of Nate taking over if Ted leaves is because I truly think that Nate deserves his own team, he just needs an adjustment in the way he coaches. It would be a nice development in character for him to be head coach at Richmond (being the boss and getting that recognition he's been craving from people who actually respect him). Again, I think where Nate fails as a coach is his inability, or rather, unwillingness to connect emotionally to people when they need it.

We've seen that since he was at Richmond in him calling players stupid when they don't do something right. I think when Nate was first coming into his own as a coach, we saw this side of him that I think he thought of as "powerful" when in reality, it was just mean. The moment that comes to mind is when Colin misses a goal at training and Nate calls him a dolt. There's a part of me that thinks he was mimicking Roy's behavior towards the team as a captain earlier on in trying to be demanding and assertive (which I feel like is connected to Nate's suspiciously Roy like suit and him kissing Keeley- he wants to be seen as someone more powerful than he feels he is). So he insults Colin when he fucks up, Roy on the other hand steps in and gives him advice on how to improve in his own way. I think Nate in this moment was doing what he thought a powerful leader would do (see an error, point it out; it's just that he's not doing it in a way that actually helps fix that error). He's being a powerful leader not a good leader.

There's nothing wrong with a bit of "tough love" to encourage the players but what Nate does is much more on the side of bullying and taking out his own issues on the people he thinks he can aka the people he views as below him. The thing about Nate is that he is a good coach, he won that West Ham match because of his tactics (not because he has Zava on his side), he is smart (and I'm not just saying that because he's my favorite lol). He would be the best person to take over Richmond if only he could work through his own anger and self-esteem issues to actually help the players- if only he could strike that balance of being assertive and kind.

My favorite thing about Nate is that he wants to be a good man, we saw that in this last episode, he just has so much clouding his way to what he wants to be that every time he takes one step forward he takes two steps back. His father never sees him for his accomplishments, Rupert is manipulating and isolating him, and I don't think Nate himself has ever actually felt like he's earned what he has. It's hard for him to accept that he truly could have done it on his own because Rupert or Ted (though differently) have always been beside him, pushing him forward. All this to say I think Nate has a long way to go emotionally and mentally but I think genuinely the best thing for him is to figure out his own way of coaching his own team without any one lingering over his shoulder. I hope that over the season he works through his anger and grows both as a person but also a leader because he has it in him to be a good one. Like Rebecca in season 1, he fell off the path a little but he's finding his way back.

[rookie-critic]

Living (2022, dir. Oliver Hermanus) - review by Rookie-Critic

I have found that, over the year since I started writing these reviews, good reviews for movies that I truly loved are generally harder to write than the bad ones. It's easy to write about and articulate what I thought was wrong or could have been done better, but how do I write a full, well-articulated review of something I loved without just gushing about how good it was? There's only so many ways to say "The acting was good, the writing was good, etc., etc., and on, and on." So when I saw Living (2022, dir. Oliver Hermanus), I was walking back to my car thinking "Wow, that was truly fantastic. This review is gonna be rough." So what do I say, what reasons do I give, for loving Living besides the usual suspects?

First, remaking any Akira Kurosawa film is almost inviting criticism, and Ikiru is one of the ones that I would almost have said just couldn't be done better. I won't say that Living is better, but it is about as close as anyone could have ever hoped to have gotten. The raw emotion that the camerawork evokes (in conjunction with Bill Nighy's masterful performance as Mr. Rodney Williams) is something to behold. It feels like a movie from the 50s/60s (helped in no small part by the film's opening scene, which mirrors the look and feel of a film from that era) and that helps the first section of the film convey the stuffiness of its central character. The movie doesn't really concern itself with Mr. Williams' past outside of passive reference to his late wife and brief flashbacks (I'm talking a few seconds at a time) to his childhood and young adulthood, because the film is trying to show this man, on the far edge of his life, not knowing truly how to do anything other than work (and maybe go to the cinema once a week). We need not concern ourselves with the past because the whole point of it is to show him learning how to live in the moment. Not to regret his past, but to really start living (eh?? ehhhh????) in the now, while he still can.

Speaking of the film's central character, let's talk about Bill Nighy. Anyone who watches a decent amount of movies will know Nighy's face at least, if maybe not his name (or maybe neither if all you've seen him in is the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, as he is hidden behind a bunch of CG'd tentacles in those films). He's one of those veteran actors that just knows what he's doing, full stop, and he carries the emotional weight of this film on his back with a spirit equal to Atlas carrying the world. The entire lifetime of regret behind the eyes of this character for a majority of the film is palpable and striking, digging straight into the empathetic core of the audience like few performances are able to do. Every time Nighy sings "The Rowan Tree" (or anytime the song plays at all in the film) I was just an instant mess of a person. It's wild how instant the tears seemed to be. One second I was perfectly fine, sitting in my theater chair, feeling bad for this character, but not really close to overwhelmingly emotional, but the second the notes started coming out of Nighy's mouth that was it. He distilled the feeling of lifelong remorse out into a single note, and then did it again with the next one, and again and again until the scene ended. It's one of the most brilliant pieces of acting I believe I've ever seen. I know I started this review off by saying I have a hard time pinpointing and articulating the bullet points of films I enjoy, but I could talk about Nighy's brilliant performance in Living all day long, and if this review comes across as just me gushing over Bill Nighy and nothing else, then maybe that's really all this film needed to be great, but I don't really believe that to be true. It may be too sappy for some, but I found it to have wonderful balance, and I recommend everyone give this one a try if you're able. It is, hands down, one of the most moving films of last year.

Score: 10/10

Currently only in theaters.

[sleeplesslark]

May I also send an ask for the character game: Kakashi, 9 and 21. 😊

Of course! You may always send me an ask.

Hehe mr. Kakashi! Good choice

Once again under a cut cuz I'm wordy

9. Could I be roommates with this character?

Personality wise we'd probably be fine but not close. He'd be off doing his thing. I'd do mine. He doesn't seem the sort to approach people or open up to them unless he has to. His approach with team 7 comes to mind.

I could maybe see him pulling small pranks on me depending on how he sees me, I'm very jumpy irl and I feel like that would amuse him. That might be the most of it, though.

There is something that is outside Kakashi that would cause us a few issues. I'm not really a dog person. I've had bad experiences with poorly behaved dogs who were off leashes. I don't hate dogs or anything, but if I don't know the dog or it's jumpy, I get pretty nervous.

This isn't unworkable, but I definitely feel like it would be a short roommate situation with one of us moving.

21: if you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what do you enjoy doing? What do you dislike?

Hmmmm, he's one of the characters where I didn't have as many issues with his voice or thought process. I like being able to tug on his shared history with Kabuto. Both having been in the ANBU and not having had the best time of it. It's something that can draw them together, but also makes them suspicious of each other.

His care for his students is also fun to portray. He cares a lot for his original trio in a bit of an understated way, though it's present in a lot of his interactions with them. He's stern, wants them to succeed, and can be jeering or cruel to make that happen (see his teasing Naruto and Sasuke about not being immediately good at tree climbing, chapter 18. Or his entering them into the chunin exam at all). This is constantly contrasted by all his affectionate little gestures, though. It's fun to try and catch that energy.

Dislikes...I'd say his overall role in the fic can be fun but hard to balance. He does his best by these kids which is great but in canon itself, with Naruto and Sasuke especially, it wasn't enough at a point.

Due, in part, to Kabuto being there this point is coming a lot quicker and it's coming in Sakura too. She's realized she was left out of some important discussions and information and that this is normal, part of the system Kakashi is trying to train her to exist within.

In a way Sasuke leaving in the fic caused everyone problems. Kakashi bringing Kabuto into the team caused a rift as well that's still affecting things in small ways. Kabuto himself telling Sakura and Naruto that mission reports can be fabricated, the village might lie to them, Kakashi has kept things from them.

This balance is fun to strike but can also be pretty hard while keeping everyone in character properly. Especially with Sakura striking out on her own more. She's the responsible member of the team so her acting out more, not keeping to the background when it's dangerous, it poses a different kind of challenge.

Dislike might be too strong a word, but there are definitely moments I'm not sure I'm hitting the marks characterization wise. I haven't had any complaints, so it's probably on me expecting something higher than I can achieve, but balancing Kakashi’s role can cause headaches. He has to be their mentor still, the one everyone can come to when things get bad, but slowly the team just, is moving on before their power levels are really ready for it. We'll see if I can stick the landing.

I hope this covers it. Thank you so much for the ask!

[ehlnofay]

miscellaneous notes on story and drawing both:

I fiddled with the backdrop a lot (it was hard to strike the balance I wanted, because I wanted it to be busy but not detract from the foreground) but I really like how it turned out :) here it is without the pesky main character/s in the way

I've had the idea for this story for... truly a wildly long time. I think it might have occurred to me during or soon after my playthrough of the questline and it has been simmering in my head ever since. finally doing something with it was a little intimidating but very fun (many thanks to that one brainstorm-heavy night in which, while still in bed with the lights off, I wrote the outline of the scene sequence on the wall)

(that's "cave - tunnel - forest - boat - palace - kitchen - temple - mountain - red - water", for anyone who can't read my dogshit in-the-dark wall handwriting, which I assume is most people. it remains pretty accurate)

because I've been pondering this idea for so long I'm not sure how well it comes across - by which I mean, what pax is experiencing and the process they are undergoing are two different things, and they're not very aware of the latter (until the end, and they won't really understand what happened until they're further in the mantling process). I honestly don't know if I communicate The Process at all. the narrator doesn't know what's going on. but I DO so I will inflict this knowledge upon you!

what's happening in this fic is, in my mind, a crucial part of the mantling process: it is extremely hard to become something else when the thing that you are is taking up all this space. so you need to stop being that asap. the tree/grove/trial is, functionally, winnowing the wheat from the chaff; it's separating pax's self-schema from their instinct and emotions. there are kind of three characters in this piece because of that - there's pax, and then there's these two parts of them that slowly become more distinct as the journey progresses. (in a lot of my notes, I refer to them as ego and id, respectively; the freudian terminology rankles me on principle, and that's also not what either of those words means, but it worked very well as shorthand.) I hope this came across well and made any sense at all, because it was an absolutely bloody fascinating challenge to write - to examine the character and try to figure out what about them is tied to how they see themself, and what isn't? who would you be if you had no ideas about what made you, you? who would you be if that was all you were? (the ego is the coloured glass shell through which everything filters through for the id to react to; on its own it is just shell and filters. the id is without shape.) (I cannot stress enough how much that is not what either of those words mean. but shut up. if the game gets to be that wrong about psychology all the time I also get to be wrong about psychology sometimes)

the innards need to be taken out so they can fit and grow into the role of sheogorath without anything else in the way; the outside needs to go. once both parts more or less figure that out, it is upsettingly amenable to this. it's taken them this far, but it's not needed anymore.

talk about ego death.

a couple more miscellaneous notes before I speed bedford: the way I imagine all this probably relates to the cooler version of mania and dementia in my head (being positive/excess/presence and negative/deficiency/absence respectively; an empty shell and all its loose person bits wandering about unconstrained by the concept of the self fit pretty well into that duality). unrelatedly I keep thinking "guys will kill the idea of themself in a pond before they will go to therapy" and that is true. no-one take anything pax does as any kind of recommendation ever. also unrelatedly I have made a bad illustration of how I think mantling works. why? I don't know. but I will send you off with it anyway so have fun with that. thank you for reading my 1am rambles I owe you a life debt

I Walked Into The River

The Tree of Shades, fed by a spring deep in the Shivering Isles' underground, will not surrender its secrets to one who has not earned them. The erstwhile Hero of Kvatch and Sheogorath's current grudging Champion has little left to prove and even less to lose.

I wrote this piece for the summerfest prompt "mirror" and am posting the full thing for the free day! it's my take on the doppelganger bit of that one quest in the shivering isles, which always struck me as having a lot of unrealised potential (especially in conjunction with running themes of duality the questline already has). I've had this idea for a long time now and this event finally got me to actually write it out, which was a lot of fun! if you're inclined to check it out, please do - it would give me much joy :)

[existentialmagazine]

Review: Secret Lung’s debut alternative-rock single ‘Phantom Limbs’ encompasses instrumental brashness and a harsh personal resonance in its undertones

Since joining forces in 2022, the alternative-rock trio Secret Lung have torn up a mass of live shows despite never releasing a single together. With an official launch at the BONEZ x MIDSUMMA event on February 4th, Melbourne will be the first to hear the group’s debut single ‘Phantom Limbs’ live and at full-force, showing off a culmination of years of work on the scene.

Ripping into ‘Phantom Limbs’ with a soundscape that’s leaping and bounding into every avenue of adrenaline-infused highs, Secret Lung waste not a moment in setting the bar high for their fast-paced alternative-rock styling showed off for the first time in this debut. As dominant electric guitar strums and quickly beat drums commence for the first verses speeding delivery, ‘Phantom Limbs’ bursts into action with its moody rock sound contrasted against vocals that are clean and charismatic. Picking up even further for the striking chorus, the track dominates with contagious energy delivered through an upbeat interweaving of instruments. Shredding guitar and even further pushed drum beats lift in volume and power, as well as an atmospherically bright switch-up to tone in the chorus mid-way through that sees a peel away from the melancholic darker feel of the rocky tones and a lean into brighter indie flair. None of this would be possible to hit as hard as it does without their vocalist’s profusely catchy performance however, commandeering the soundscape to a tee and prevailing in a higher range that dances between the soundscapes fluctuating highs and lows. With the songs epic climax also comes guitarist Jess Porter and bassist Brycey trading vocal jabs, demonstrating opposing halves of a fractured partnership and a fight to be the first to move on between them. Soaring at just under four minutes in length, ‘Phantom Limbs’ offers a fully fledged instrumental and narrative journey to be uncovered, perfect for fans of artists like Bon Iver, My Chemical Romance and The Mars Volta whilst its clear that Secret Lung are in a league of their own.

Inspired by a relationship had by frontman Jess, the lyrical journey of ‘Phantom Limbs’ is one that while smothered in the instrumentals’ brashness still carries a harsh personal resonance in its undertones. Depicting an emotionally unavailable partner who ultimately broke his heart in the end, ‘Phantom Limbs’ rips to shreds their toxic relationship and maintains a self-confidence in resolving to find better whilst still processing the residual hurt: ‘I blocked it out and I’m never gonna unblock it again.’ With a chorus unashamedly filled with profanity, ‘Phantom Limbs’ doesn’t hold back in voicing the bands’ full thoughts and establishing their self-worth with a velocity that can’t be ignored. Other lines like the opening verses’ lead, ‘I can’t bear to hear your voice any longer, the sound always brings back too much pain’ continue to demonstrate a lingering heartbreak, with a lyrical narrative throughout that seems to plead to move on but evidently they can’t quite help but still feel damaged from the experience. Infusing their downbeat message with a bombastically bursting, catchy sound only makes ‘Phantom Limbs’ more of a hard-hitter, watering down their words of weight so you can chant along at full volume whilst relating all the while too.

Jess adds on the trio’s upcoming releases that: “In the early stages of the band all three members were going through relationship breakdowns, which have obviously influenced a lot of our early songs. This has injected the music with intense and emotionally raw lyrics that I’m hoping fans will be able to really connect with. However we've also tried to offset that with upbeat and catchy music so we don't just come across as sadbois. Ultimately I think the balance between emo lyrics and festival-banger riffs really defines the band at our inception."

Check out ‘Phantom Limbs’ for yourself here to listen to Secret Lung’s thrilling debut filled with lyrical meaning and a sound you can’t get enough of!

Written by: Tatiana Whybrow

Photo Credits: xeropixels

// This coverage was created via Musosoup, #SustainableCurator.