#a FANTASTIC start to my fall into madeness I'd say

[ereborne]

Song of the Day: May 14

"Diamond on a Landmine” by Billy Talent

[syoddeye]

more reading recs

because one post isn't enough. we are hashtag blessed with fic.

as requested, i've highlighted fics with noncon and/or dubcon elements in orange. beyond that, you are responsible for reading tags, warnings, and summaries.

pairings are indicated, although these may change or may not be established yet.

there is no method to this madness, no specific order. these are listed here as my brain remembered them.

i've checked all the links maybe three times, if they're broken, i blame tumblr's formatting.

without further ado...

Slasher Handler by @dragonnarrative-writes - Ghost x Reader

"Simon does serial killer things. What a rascal!" Another fantastically written Simon, with wonderful dashes of Gaz and Price. It's put the term 'romance knives' in my vocabulary. There are many quotable bits and moments that made my blood run cold with how normal the ~situation~ feels, but everything has to be experienced firsthand.

The Far Shore by @deadbranch - Soap x Reader

DB's fic collection is rich, and The Far Shore is no different. I fucking loved Pacific Rim, so when I saw her first mention a PR AU, I did imaginary backflips. DB's Readers are some of my favorites because of how complex and realistic they feel, and when combined with the visceral depth of the neural handshake AND Soap? Compelling. The dynamic between them is fascinating. I almost can't wait for it to be finished so I can go back and dissect it.

Falling into Place by @mortuarywriting

Morg's brought the first COD Isekai AU I've read, like a little treat, with A/B/O to boot. The first chapter hooked me and cracked me up. Their dialogue reads so well, it truly feels like I got sucked into the universe. The panicked ramblings, the over-explanation, the 'oh shit, we don't even have a shared cultural touchstone' moments. I cannot wait for more.

Carvings by @femalefemur - Price x Reader

Cyn's got this amazing thing going on called 'Top Quality Worms' where she takes me by the hand and leads me down a rabbit hole I didn't know I'd find so cozy. Carvings is one piece from her incredible list, featuring a bloody, possessive Captain Price. Somehow, out of this entire piece, Price snapping a pen really did it for me. Did someone say loss of control? Oh no, not my kryptonite!

Under Your Spell by @groguspicklejar - Gaz x Reader x Soap

This fic had me at the pairing tag. Lured me right in. No hope for me, and I'm not mad about it. The way Gaz and Soap play off of each other in Under Your Spell is spine-tingling in more ways than one. The definition of scaroused. Kelsi writes a wonderful Gaz. The first two paragraphs in part two, Split My Skin, describe him perfectly to me.

Chokehold by @ccrites - Soap x Reader

Chokehold is a chef's kiss read. Starts off as a cute and sweet gym read, and uh, well, it does get sweeter, in a way. Without spoiling anything, there is a brief cab ride that made me take a lap before things got really going for Reader. CC's Soap is a delightful tease that is tender all at the same time. I'd join his gym in a heartbeat.

Knight/Princess AU by @a-small-writer-in-a-big-world - Price x Reader

I've read and re-read this AU series a dozen times. It's so gd cute, I might need to see the dentist about how it's rotting my teeth. Seriously, it makes ME want to be a princess. Specifically Price's princess. Bear writes such a sweet and gruff Price, catch me holding a hand over my heart and just sighing. I'm also a big fan of multiple POVs and the insight into each character.

Martyr in the Making by @eilidh-eternal - Ghost x Reader

I had a tattoo touch-up the other day, and while waiting, I thought about this fic: the dream and nightmare of being tattooed by Simon and the rest of the 141. It's a dream for obvious reasons (probably unhealthy for me) and a nightmare because of, well, you'll have to read the story. Getting a tattoo can be such an intimate experience. You put yourself into someone's care and get something permanently etched onto your body. When Reader sits for Simon, you're right there with her, the two of you on an altar.

Liquid Smooth by @cordeliawhohung - Gaz x Reader

Bodyguard!Gaz save me, save me, bodyguard!Gaz. Ugh, Gaz is fucking incredible in every flavor, but there is something that hits different about the guy when he's flexing those 'VIP protection' skills. There are several tiny moments in Liquid Smooth that made me audibly whisper, "God, I wish that were me." If you have a conifer tree allergy, you might not be able to handle the god-tier pining. (I'll see myself out.)

pornstar!Gaz by @cordeliawhohung - Gaz x Reader

Gotta include the series that I drop everything for whenever I see an update. Another fantastic depiction of best man Kyle Gaz Garrick. The charm, the jealousy, the care...My personal favorite installments are Whispers and Threesomes.

plus size puppygirl!reader / Simon & Reader / Punishment by @secretsynthetic - Price x Reader x Ghost

Ghost gets his Captain a puppy, and Synth gives us a tasty Price x Reader x Ghost story. I've linked the intro and a Simon x Reader snippet, but my personal favorite is Punishment. Punishment is a deeper dive into Price the disciplinarian: "how the hell do i get a mutt like you to fuckin’ listen?" I'd gush about it, but again, this is another one to read and experience firsthand. One of my favorite recent explorations of a PriceGhost dynamic.

~~

i'll probably cobble another one of these together in may 2024. my fic backlog is something else. i blame it on all the massive talent. mwah.

[flower-boi16]

Apology Tour Made Blitz Do The Right Thing for The Wrong Reason

There's a common critique of Apology Tour I've seen regarding Verosika is that the fact that she went out of her way to create an entire annual party dedicated to shitting on her past ex makes her look overly obsessive. While at first glance I can see where this argument is coming from I'd like to disagree.

Blitzo has been frequently established as a fairly destructive person who thanks to his own self-hatred ends up hurting others and pushing them away, the fact that there's this many people in the party shows how destructive of a person Blitzo is, and we see that it's not just limited to his exes, but people in general who he hurt (like Dennis, for instance).

And Verosika is one of Blitz's later victims who Blitz bailed on after she told him she loved him, a very vulnerable moment for someone to be in, and that's the point where Blitz broke her heart. And so she created this party both out of spite for Blitz seeing how much of a horrible person he is and out of sympathy for his many victims who were just as heartbroken by him as she was. She created this party so she could help the people Blitz has hurt cope with what happened and heal from it, creating a sense of community amongst victims.

Apology Tour shows how much Blitzo damages people, how his self-destructive tendencies always end badly for both him AND his victim, leaving his victim broken and making him more broken, the fact there's a whole party made for the sole purpose of helping his victims cope shows that. And Blitz is forced to see how damaging of a person he truly is because of this...or at least, that's the route the episode should have taken.

Apology Tour is an episode with an absolutely fantastic set up with Blitz going to a party where he sees how many people he's damaged and chooses to start becoming a better person, but the problem is HOW the show gets him to see that. The show gets him to start to change himself...through Stolitz.

Blitzo realizes how he hurts others through seeing how he hurt Stolas, who Blitz previously just believed was some classist dick and nothing else only for Stolas to pour his heart out in a musical number, making Blitz realize that Stolas' feelings were genuine all this time and what he was saying to Stolas did, in fact, hurt him...

...at least that's how the writers want you to look at this scene. However, thanks to the general problems with Stolitz writing this development ends up falling flat on its face. The reason for why this development fails despite the perfect set up is because the show is holding Blitz accountable for something he isn't even in the wrong for in the first place. I've ranted about Stolitz many times before but I'll just repeat the same points because it's relevant for my argument here; Blitzo had no reason to ever think that Stolas' love for him was genuine.

Throughout the whole first season, Stolas consistently looked down upon and belittled Blitz, calling him demeaning pet names and always invading his boundaries even when Blitz says no, yet Stolas continues it anyway. YET, the show tries to paint Blitz as biased here because "oh he only hates Stolas for being a royal and is repressing his feelings for Stolas due to self-hatred" or some bullshit.

However, once you factor in the outside context, Blitz never comes across as biased here whenever he rants about Stolas, because he doesn't have a reason to believe Stolas has any genuine affection for him beyond some small, off-screen "nice things" he did for him, and even then, you can still look down upon someone while caring for them. The show wants to present Blitz as in the wrong here for "hurting Stolas' feelings" and being consumed in his bias, but that doesn't work because Blitz had no reason to believe that Stolas didn't look down on him when he literally did.

But despite Blitz not being in the wrong in the situation, he's portrayed as the abuser here and he's the one who apologizes to his abuser, and HE says that Stolas "deserves better than HIM", making Stolas out as the victim here in this situation when the context and framing say otherwise.

Speaking of Stolas, many people have torn him apart this episode already so I won't go that in-depth here, however, it's still relevant to my point. The episode portrays Stolas as sympathetic here when he isn't - in fact, Stolas comes across as extremely unsympathetic in this episode due to claiming that he "never looked down" upon Blitz despite doing that throughout all of season 1.

He THEN gets angry at Blitz for not saving him when Striker captured him even though 1. Blitz was busy and 2. HE LITERALLY SENT HIS CO-WORKERS TO SAVE YOU WHY TF ARE YOU MAD???

Stolas doesn't have a legitimate reason to be angry at Blitz due to the outside context - instead, all of his interactions with Blitzo in this episode come across as him playing the victim and gaslighting him. And All 2 U is the pure culmination of this. A song that is supposed to be the moment where Blitz realizes his mistakes instead comes across as Blitz being repeatedly gaslighted and guilt-tripped into apologizing to his abuser.

HE is treated as the problem, HE is treated as the one who is meant to apologize to Stolas, even though he is NOT IN THE WRONG FOR THIS IN THE SLIGHTEST. Yet, the show ignores past interactions for this to work. It doesn't address anything Stolas did beyond just making the deal - it acts as if that was the only bad thing he ever did even when Stolas did more than just that to Blitz.

Yet, that's never called out by anyone. Stolas doesn't have a good or sympathetic reason to be mad at Blitz - yet the show treats him as another one of Blitz's victims anyway. So, Blitz was essentially gaslit into becoming a better person, which isn't really great writing. Apology Tour had all the ingredients of a fantastic episode but it's severely held back by this specific aspect, Stolas drags the episode down so much and it sucks that the Stolas crap in the episode has to be tied to Blitz's development. Blitzo should have seen his mistakes through someone who actually had valid and sympathetic reasons to dislike him, someone who does actually come across as a person deeply hurt by Blitz's actions.

In other words....Verosika. Verosika should have been the character they used here, not Stolas. Verosika has an actually good reason to dislike Blitz and one the audience could actually sympathize for, SHE should have been the character to get Blitz to realize his mistakes and decide to change and grow as a person. Have All 2 U be sung by her instead of Stolas, with the song detailing how Blitz met and Blitz broke her heart.

Seriously, the concept of the begining scene and All 2 U can work, but they'll work better if you replace Stolas with Verosika in them instead, because Verosika has a good reason to dislike Blitz that could easily be expanded upon and developed, and Blitz would've had better reasoning to become a better person rather than being gaslit and guilt tripped into it. Apology Tour had all of the ingredients for a fantastic episode but the Stolass trash drags it down HARD.

[lokilaufeysondiaries-fanfic]

Hey there!!

I don't usually write fanfiction but I wanted to try it since many people have asked me to! My friend @lowkey-lokid requested this after I blurbed at them about Tom playing the piano in the lobby at TIFF. The song is "The Way I am" by Ingrid Michelson.

The Way I Am

Pairing: Tom x Reader!Wife

Summary: Being Tom Hiddleston's wife is its own fairytale.

TW: NONE!! All FLUFF!!

Sometimes you still couldn't believe this was your life and you'd pinch yourself to ensure you weren't dreaming. You stood looking out the window, the sky a cloudy gray and the earth still damp from the rain that had fallen earlier that morning. A warm mug of tea was clamped between your hands with the hot steam rising warming your face as you sighed contently.

If you were falling, then I would catch you You need a light, l'd find a match Cause I love the way you say good morning And you take me the way I am.

The dryer plays its jingle alerting you to that the clothes are ready to be hung and folded. On your way to the laundry closet you set your mug on the coffee table and hurry along so the clothes won't wrinkle, not that Tom would even mind that at all but it's more a personal OCD thing for you. You hadn't really seen Tom yet today but you knew he was home somewhere, he was always so quiet around the house when he wasn't sure if you were awake or not. Often times you'd tease him about being like a ghost he was so good at it, he'd say it was because he was so light on his feet but you'd seen him stumble over things enough to know that wasn't entirely true. The clothes were warm, a welcome feeling against your icy hands really. You pulled out Tom's favorite worn dark blue jeans, a few of his shirts and eventually his classic navy-blue sweater. Tom adored that sweater and it looked fantastic on him, he'd had it for years and it was still a vibrant blue. It was soft and warm in your hands, it smelled like Tom and you couldn't help yourself slipping it on. There was a rustling noise nearby pulling your attention to the hallway and upon peeking out you spotted Bobby having just laid down in his bed nearby. Downstairs a melody began to play from the piano Tom kept, you pictured him sitting on the bench with his eyes closed and smile on his lips while he rocked a bit and played. If you are chilly, here take my sweater Your head is aching, l'll make it better Cause I love the way you call me baby And you take me the way I am. After you pulled the rest of the load out of the dryer you made your way downstairs and came upon Tom. He looked exactly as you imagined he would, sitting at the piano and happily playing. Wrapping your arms around him as you approach his scent greets your senses. His hair was soft against your skin as you rested your cheek against his head "Oh, hello darling" his beautiful voice hummed like music. Your heart fluttered when he spoke, like you hadn't been married for over a year now "Hey handsome" you kissed his cheek with a giggle. Tom continued to play, his long slender fingers effortlessly moving over the keys, the muscles in his arms rippling as the fingers moved. Your eyes closed as you held him and listened to the melody fill the air until Tom's voice broke through again "Darling is that my sweater?" there was a slight chuckle in his voice. "I don't know what you're talking about my love" you answer coyly. Tom chuckles again, you loved that sound and would even say it was your favorite sound in the world honestly. He takes your hand in his and presses his soft lips to your palm "I love you" he whispers leaning back against you a bit. "I love you too" you reply kissing his cheek, there was a bit of scruff on it but you liked it. I'd buy you Rogaine if you start losing all your hair Sew on patches to all you tear Cause I love you more than I could ever promise And you take me the way I am. Tom stood and took you in his arms dancing you around the room as you both giggled happily. It was a pinch yourself moment for sure, the fact that this was your life, this man was your husband and he loved you the way you are. His blue eyes sparkled at you with his smile before he leaned in stealing another kiss "My sweater looks good on you" he teased playfully "You can't keep it though, I like that one" he smirks. "Well when I am finished with it then you can have it back, how's that?" you tease wrapping you arms around his neck.

Outside the rain began to fall again, pattering lightly on the windows while Tom continued dancing you around and occasionally stealing a kiss or two. Whatever higher power brought you both together had your undying gratitude for sure, you practically lived in a fairytale after all. This virtual Prince Charming of a man loved you, slept next to you, and called you his wife, what more could you possibly ask for? Perhaps one more kiss would suffice. 

Tags:

@lulubelle814 @vbecker10 @chaosdragonnyxx @animnerd @mischiefmaker615

[maxwell-grant]

hi. you've mentioned Donald Duck a few times in your posts, with scrooge being one step removed from pulp heroes, Donalds Paparinik (Italian superhero identity which I love, the new PK Adventures where lovely) in terms of their relation to the Diabolik line of European superheroes and Donalds general tendency to run head first down slippery slopes. so I'm wondering if you have any further thoughts on his comics and weird place in the superhero/pulp world

Oh God, do I. I mostly wanna talk about the superhero side of things but I feel like it's worth mentioning I grew up with Donald Duck comics, specifically the Carl Barks ones. The picture above wasn't taken by me but I own and recognize like 7 of the books in it, my mom always bought these that collected several of his stories and had these beautiful painting covers so we could read them together, and I still flip through them on occasion and love them very much (I really wanna buy a translated edition of Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck to read with her but those cost a liver). Donald Duck was one of my childhood hyperfixations and I got my hands on all the comics and movies and cartoons I could find with him, and I actually did read several of the Italian comics, I could go down the stationery right now and grab 5. I first stumbled on Paperinik via those, and for long I didn't think much of it, because Donald Duck moonlighting as a superhero for decades isn't the kind of thing that comes up often. I just thought Paperinik was a weird but funny idea for the longest time and always liked rereading a story where he puts on the costume to scare a rich jerk into leaving his granny's farm alone. And THEN I stumbled onto PKNA, Paperinik New Adventures, and oh my god this rules so much.

Actually one of the best superhero comics I've ever read, it's just constantly and consistently doing these wild absurd stories and swings into genre territory and quality storytelling. It's famous for opening it's first issue with aliens genociding an entire planet and I thought that was kinda overselled, and it's not frequently this dark (sometimes it actually gets darker though, and I probably stopped before it could really get there), but it is a very weird comic. It's more akin to Fantastic Four's serialized consistency than any kind of graphic novel prestige storyline but it is frequently so good at what it does, even the lamer issues are still worth reading. I like describing it as Donald Duck falling headfirst into Batman-level resources, forced to deal with Superman problems (on both the "huge sci-fi horrors" and "people being really, really irresponsible dicks" ends), while trying to stay Ditko's Spider-Man and failing. These do not feel quite like any Donald Duck comics I'd read before and while they would hold up with a different character, I do think they deserve credit for how they make it still always feel like you're reading a Donald Duck story, if a slightly different one. In fact I'd even say PKNA actually makes the concept feel more suited for Donald Duck in a way that brought the idea full circle.

To those of you that don't know, Paperinik started as a villain, or more of a revenge fantasy. By that point there was a tradition of doing a lot of parody stories with Donald that started in 1953. By the late 60s, readers were dissatisfied with Donald Duck always constantly being mistreated by the rest of the supporting cast and losing unfairly, so it was decided to have one of those parodies feature Donald Duck as uncovering the fortune and resources of "Fantomius" and becoming a masked rogue able to get back at them by achieving the impossible, in that he both steals from Scrooge and defeats Gladstone's luck by framing him for it.

He had a stint as a master thief until it was decided it made him too mean, so he morphed into a superhero trying to overcome his prior bad reputation and using his new skills and gadgets (still prone to malfunctioning) to deal with his typical rogues and new ones, and having the admiration of his nephews who don't know that Unca Donald and Paperinik are the same. PKNA, in turn, was sort of a reboot, shedding the previous history and pretty much getting rid of Donald's traditional supporting cast and having Donald stumble onto a different set of resources and means to fight crime, but keeping the idea of Donald Duck having a superhero alter-ego that nobody suspects. The scale and menace of the threats he's up against DRASTICALLY increases, and if anything that fact is crucial to what allows these to still feel like Donald Duck stories, even with Paperinik being a genuinely impressive and cool hero able to save the world. Nobody believes Donald Duck could be a cool and impressive person if he tried, and so Paperinik becomes not just a power fantasy, or a call to something better or be someone better, but it becomes a key component of Donald Duck stories: a thankless job he's expected to do that he doesn't want to do until his pride or something crucial is on the line. These are still parables about human failures and what can be learned from them.

I'd even say a big part of why they succeed is because they introduce a character who can pick up Donald's slack as a comically unpleasant ill-tempered grouch in need of a lesson protagonist in Angus Fangus, a character who's sort of J Jonah Jameson meets Harvey Bullock. Angus has it out for Paperinik and gets up to a lot of the antics you would traditionally expect Donald to be doing if this was a classic Donald Duck comic (and even has a Gladstone-esque rival of his own in another reporter), and getting to learn lessons and be humbled and even have his own set of impressive moments. The choice to give an entirely new cast around Donald greatly added to the comic's ability to experiment and do new things while still keeping the core of Donald.

I actually like a lot of these new dynamics better than the ones he traditionally has, I love The Raider and Lyla and One and oh god Xadhoom, Xadhoom is so fucking cool, such a cool design and name, this powerful roaring supernova stickbug alien person in a crusade of murderous vengeance who names herself her language's equivalent of creditor because the death of her entire planet is the DEBT SHE WILL COLLECT IN BLOOD ENERGY and she is just the most 90s anti-hero ever made except she's stuck in a Donald Duck comic getting into comedic situations and learning to laugh and feel emotions and learn from her mistakes again whether she likes it or not. These two are so good together.

Even with a superhero lair and supercomputer and gadgetry handed to him, Donald Duck is so comically outmatched against his opponents he still winds up winning through guile and will and comedic trickery. Donald desperately wishes he could go on self-serving ventures or just sit at home and enjoy tv, and not get dragged into dealing with murderous alien invasions, or cyberpunk revenge stories, or collapsing future timelines, and still having to solve those problems so there's a world to come back. The stories are frequently fun and they are prevailingly comedic and very good at it too, but they also get a lot out of taking weird turns into unexpected territory.

I haven't finished it because I wasn't able to find it in full or keep track of what's the og series and what's the reboot, still trying to sort that out, but god what a find this series is. What a great strange turn in the history of this great strange character.

[perseruna]

Pre Season Four press thread with Freya talking about Ciri and Liam.

Freya's been on a press tour for the Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes for the past few months, and she'd sometimes share a morsel of information about S4 of The Witcher, so I thought I'd put all the quotes on it together to tide us over during the hiatus and bring in some more positivity!

Allan reveals that Ciri goes to "quite a dark place within herself… She's trying to pretend to be someone else and is becoming that," she explains. "It's a darker place for her but there's many moments of joy and freedom in many ways that she hasn't had. So it's this double-edged sword." To not succumb the story to the fantastical elements and magical powers Ciri has, Allan strives to still make Ciri relatable and as humane as possible. “I’m always fighting to prioritize and keep the story and character building to try to make it as real as possible. Because otherwise, it would just be soul-sucking.” Allan heavily relies on the books in which The Witcher is based for the upcoming season, more than in years past. "It's been exciting because I've been able to have creative input about things I like in the book, and I'll ask to put those elements from the book in the show," she smiles. She sees her journey with Ciri as one that both mirrors and seeps into her own life in its own strange way. "What I go through as Freya in some ways is what she's going through," she says. "We have kind of become those characters and the line has crossed over a bit. She was never particularly dissimilar to me. She's formed quite a lot of me." (via Flaunt Magazine)

"I don't want to speak for [Liam], but from what I've understood, I feel like he's really wanting to try and bring the heart. He's been training. I feel sorry for him, honestly, because, number one, that fan base can be very attack-y, and it's not an ideal situation to be in taking up someone else's role. But I'm really excited to see what he does. And he's such a lovely guy. I just hope that people give him the time of day, you know?" (via Collider)

"[Liam]'s so sweet and just such a normal guy and so willing to connect," Allan says. "And I feel bad for him because he's had so much weight and pressure on his shoulders, joining a new cast as one of the leads and replacing someone else who's already done three seasons. It's a lot. It's been important for the rest of us to really make him feel that he's a part of the family." (via Inverse)

"[Ciri]'s experiencing a very complicated romantic relationship for the first time and really falls into a very dark and brutal side of herself but also a very free one in some ways," Allan says, calling it liberating "to be able to do something different than before and surprising, hopefully." (via Variety)

“[Liam]’s lovely. Really, really sweet, a really, you know, grounded person. And I was dreading it for a while if I’m being honest, but now I’m on it, and we have, thank god, a great director starting us off which has made it so much fun. My storyline is… there’s so much great stuff to play. I’m actually quite happy, yeah.” (via Comicbook)

“I haven’t… I haven't necessarily really wanted to do [Season Four]. But now I really want to. Now I’m loving it. And let me tell you why. Because our director (Sergio Mimica-Gezzan) for block one is brilliant. You don’t always get directors that actually direct you, and give you ideas that you haven't thought of that are intelligent. And he is that. And it’s so lovely to have that. But I struggled at the idea of going back before shooting. Just because it’s been such a long journey, and it’s been very tough at times, for everyone. But now that I’m on it, and I’m with this amazing group of new actors who are just such fun people. And like I said we’ve got this great director, and so I feel suddenly very lucky to be doing it, and I’m glad that I am, having been kind of dreading it for the past year. Was it because it was just so intense to shoot? Yeah. I mean there’s lots of various factors, I think everyone found it difficult last season. And you know, sometimes there can be creative struggles, and that’s why it’s so lovely to have Sergio, our current director, to have someone lead us through it and have someone who's on the same page. And also, just like, you know, you hear this often with people that have been in something that long, and you played a character that long so it really does feel like… I feel like I’m about 100 on that show. I feel like the old women of the set, even tough I’m still the youngest. Still the bloody youngest, but I feel like I’m bloody ancient. Ciri, this season, is so dark. It’s so dark. I mean, this is really exciting, and this is why, now, I’m really getting into it, and happy that I’m doing it because she has such a great storyline, it really goes to a dark place.” (via Reign)

Allan teases that Ciri's storyline in The Witcher's next chapter will take "the biggest shift we've seen. It's so unbelievably different from anything that I've ever played with her," she says. "She has her first experience with romance, if you can even call it that, because it's not a good relationship. She goes into a very dark part of herself that I think is going to be terrifying to look at."  Some fans weren’t thrilled when the transition was first announced, but Allan dismisses the vitriol. Fans “just love to hate on something,” she says. “We’ve made it clear that we’re welcoming [Liam] with open arms.” (via Elle)

There's no relationship this season. Ciri's off on her own path and [Geralt]'s off on his own, and so it's, "Forget about Geralt". That's what Ciri's in the zone of. "Let's try and block that out. That never happened. Now I'm Falka; I'm not Ciri." But as you can see, I sort of haven't left it behind. I'm sort of still in it now. But Liam's lovely; he's a really nice guy. I haven't seen anything he's done because we don't really have scenes together, but he's so sweet. I've heard that he's smashing it, so I can't wait to see what he's doing. (via Screen Rant)

The other day I was fighting a monster [in the Witcher Season Four]. Spoiler. Yeah, no way! Who would've thought! [laughter] And they actually got those VR goggles, so I could see on the set where the monster would be, and how it looked like. It was kinda crazy. They’ve not done that before, but it was great. It meant that I really understood what it is that I’m actually fighting. (via HighVoltageLive)

"You actually also haven't seen that [Ciri] gets new hair and makeup, as well, which I think when you see that, it's a lot of paralleling the game. So, I think that will tie it all together, as well. But I think it was basically about getting a mixture between the books and the game. I was very heavily involved with the costume, and I really wanted it to be a bit of a mixture of both, just so that fans had that. The minute I'm in that costume and the new hair and makeup, it feels like a different Ciri. It's so much fun. We've just never seen her like this, and so I'm really excited for people to see what happens. It's fun." (via Collider)

[On when Season Four will come out.] Listen maybe 2025, maybe… I don't know. That’s me guessing, I’m just guessing. Because I actually don’t know. But I hope so! Because I want people to see it, because it’s actually really cool. So, please watch it. Please, okay. Because Liam’s gonna rock it, so. (via The Direct Extras)

[cyberdragoninfinity]

wild dana spotted howling and barking about yugioh arc-v out in the parking lot

oh BOY oh boy it's bout that time again. i can't believe it's been OVER A YEAR (?!?!?) since i last did one of these 'i just finished a yugioh here's my little rambly retrospective about it' posts but we are BACK!!! Finished my first ever watch-through of Arc-V last Tuesday after some 8 months of it putting me through the spin cycle and now as it's wedging itself permanently into my psyche i need to talk about its Everything or i will explode. so LET'S SWING INTO ACTION!!! I'M TAKING CONTROL OF THIS DUEL STARTING NOW!!!

[SPOILERS ahead for this decade old anime, of course]

WOW. YUGIOH ARC-V, HUH. before i started it watching it, I knew two things: A.) every single bit of knowledge I'd learned about it from Duel Links events or otherwise had me so, so, unbeliebable fucking hyped. I was absolutely certain this Yugioh was going to be so full of Danabait and completely fry my brain like an egg on the griddle. I had to physically restrain myself for TWO YEARS to keep from jumping the gun and watching Arc-V before I'd finished all the series before it (a decision I'm ultimately thankful for--Arc-V hits kind of fuckign crazy as a chaser to four other yugiohs.). And also, B.) when people Talk About Arc-V they always talk about it in a Very Particular Way. like. it's hard to describe. I feel like you know it when you see it. There is the full range of human emotion in the way people talk about Arc-V. People talk about Arc-V like its a confusing, malicious specter haunting their living room. And this admittedly got me even more hyped to watch it.

And then I watched it and here I am and I KNOW NOW. I KNOW NOW WHY PEOPLE. TALK ABOUT IT LIKE THAT. FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART: WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT. SLASH POS. SLASH NEG. SLASH SECRET THIRD THING.

Arc-V is a fucking MESS. It starts out SO strong and then it starts setting plot threads on fire and writing conceptual checks it absolutely cannot cash. It falls down the narrative stairs like it has a goddamn death wish. It introduces 342052805 characters and then forgets to do anything with 99% of them. It does things to its girl characters that makes the back half of 5Ds's girl writing failure look like the height of feminist theory. If the stories I've heard about its deeply troubled production are any indication it is some kind of MIRACLE this show got made and aired at ALL. IT'S LIKE WATCHING A CAR WEAVING THROUGH TRAFFIC AT 90 MPH ONLY TO PLOW DIRECTLY INTO THE SIDE OF A PARTY CITY.

and goddamn if I didn't have a FUCKING BLAST watching it. GODDAMN IF I DIDNT HAVE SO, SO MUCH FUN. goddamn if Arc-V might very well end up being my FAVORITE yugioh out of ALL of them when all is said and done. WHOOOOOPSSS!!! 🥴🥴🥴🥴🥴

like. imo Zexal is absolutely from a quality/art direction/narrative/everything standpoint leaps and bounds better than Arc-V. Definitely one of my favorite cartoons I've ever seen period, and most people should give it a shot. Such a beautiful work of art. But Arc-V....... girl they put something In this one. My pre-show hype was absolutely warranted. This show is just one blast of Shit That Makes Dana Crazy after another. Every character absolutely delights me and is my best friend. I'm going to be losing my mind over Yugioh Arc-V for the rest of the year and maybe forever.

As usual I primarily watched the dub, with some sub episodes sprinkled in if I got tipped off about a big change, or just if I wanted to see what was going on back there. (glad I did, of course, for a number of reason--least of all that Arc-V's OPs and EDs are SO fun and so charming!!) (THOUGH SIDE NOTE: THE DUB OPENING SHREDS SO HARD IM SORRY. IT'S UP THERE WITH THE GX DUB OPENING FOR ME. CAN YOU FEEL THE FUCKING POWER!!!!!) Anyway, gotta say, really was blown away by this dub!! It's tied with Zexal for what's imo the 'best' yugioh dub--the majority of the voice performances were just fantastic (truly all the love in my heart for Michael Liscio Jr.'s performances as the yuboys, they all have such unique and charming voices and im OBSESSED WITH THEM.) and having watched some sub eps side by side with the dub it's really cool seeing a dub that genuinely tried to faithfully translate Most of the Original. idk it's just a really solid localization to me!! I loved it a lot!! ALSO IT'S EXTREMELY FUNNY. I SAY THIS ABOUT EVERY DUB BUT IT'S TRUE. there are line reads in the arc-v dub that have me SOBLAUGHING.

anyway. I like to do these little subsection breakdowns in these little retrospective roundups, so let's get into the weeds with it:

Stuff I Didn't Like: loooooooooong inhale through my nose. looks at you with mildly pained eyes. alright. let's get this one over with.

though I did really try to go in as blind as I could/avoid most spoilers with this one, I did inevitably get spoiled by some things from Duel Links, but in the case of. uh. Riley Getting Turned Back Into a Baby At the End. 👶🏼 I AM glad I had that spoiled for me, so I knew it was coming. Because if I didn't know that was going to happen and that clocked me over the head I would have been on the NEWS. I WOULD HAVE BEEN, SO MAD. HEY, YUGIOH: WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 👶🏼👶🏼👶🏼👶🏼👶🏼 WHY DID YOU DO THAT TO RILEY!!!!

"character gets permanently turned back into a baby for Critical Plot Reasons" has gotta be one of my LEAST favorite tropes in anything, it's NEVER GOOD. AND IT'S ESPECIALLY BAD HERE!!! Riley is such a good character, he's got such an interesting arc going on, and THEY JUST RIP THAT TO PIECES. SO RILEY'S JUST FUCKING GONE NOW I GUESS. COOL. ALRIGHT. SURELY THERE COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER WAYS TO DEFEAT ZARC. SURELY. just. good GOD. it was a small miracle to me when this happened like 8 episodes before the end, it was like ripping the bandaid off early, it was like "oh thank christ i got past that. ok well whatever happens it cannot possibly be as bad as the shit they did to riley"

^ (and imo it wasnt. thank GOD. actually let's talk about that)

LIKE. MAKE NO MISTAKE ARC-V'S ENDING IS CONFUSING AND CLUMSY AND SO STUPID AND NOT GOOD. WHY ON GOD'S GREEN EARTH DOES THIS SERIES NEED EIGHT EPISODES AFTER ITS BIG BAD DUEL.WE COULD HAVE WRAPPED THIS UP IN 2-3!!!! it feels like watching Chopped and the contestant has 20 seconds on the clock left and theyre like "i gotta make my whipped cream" like WEEEE DONT NOT HAVE TIMEEE FOR THAT!!!!! WHAT ARE WE DOINGGGG. why are we dueling jack AGAIN. FOR TWO EPISODES. EVERYONE IS YELLING AT YUYA LIKE ALL OF THIS IS HIS RESPONSIBILITY AND FUCKING IS IT??!?!??! HE'S 14. AND THEN THOSE EPISODES HAVE THE GALL TO THROW SO MANY COOL IDEAS ON THE TABLE (Gong fully exploring dueltaining, the Dimensional Highway, etc) AND IT'S LIKE. COOL!! WISH WE COULDVE HAD THIS ANY OTHER TIME THAN THE LAST POSSIBLE SECOND!!! WHAT ARE WE DOINGGGG

BUT all that being said, the way people talk about that fucking last episode I was expecting some genuinely godawful 'zuzu is yuyas mom again like in the manga' tier absolute nightmare scenario. i literally made a secret prediction chart of what insane plot twist i assumed the last episode was going to drop on me.

AND THEN THE LAST EPISODE WAS JUST. FUNNYBAD. just a run of the mill whimper at the end of eight episodes we KIND OF REALLY DID NOT NEED. THE SHEER AMOUNT OF RELIEF I FELT. like absolutely i think going into it completely blind/encountering that ending watching live I would have been pissed, folks are rightfully frustrated with it, but I WAS TRULY. EXPECTING MUCH WORSE. IT ENDS LIKE A FAKE TUMBLR POST. "AND THEN EVERYONE CLAPPED" ASS ENDING. I DO HAVE TO LAUGH

^ YIPPEEEE SIX CHARACTERS HAVE EFFECTIVELY STOPPED EXISTING YAAAAAYY (😬😬😬😬)

ALSO, IN GENERAL. SPEAKING OF. GOD. THE BRACELET GIRLS. YALL ARE SO COOL AND THEN POOR LULU AND RIN DIDNT GET TO DO A GODDAMN THING EXCEPT HAVE WORMS IN THEIR BRAINS!!!! HELL ON EARTH!!!!!! WHY DID THEY DO THATTTT GAHHHHH again!! show that introduces SO many characters, so many FUCKING COOL CHARACTERS, and then does NOTHING with them. Or hits them with PARALYZING NERVE GAS FOR 20 EPISODES. CHRIST!!! WHY DO ARC-V GIRLS SUFFER MORE THAN JESUS. LEAVE MY GIRL ZUZU ALONEEEEE

TO THAT END, ARC-V JUST MAKES; SO MANY CONFUSING CHARACTER DECISIONS. AND CHOICES. why is Yuto just out of the picture for like 60 episodes!!! Let him be Yuya's brain buddy!!! WHY WASNT HE. DID YOU NOT WANNA ANIMATE HIM FLOATING NEXT TO THE DUEL RUNNER??! BE REAL. It's like. GRAHHH In general Arc-V has a pacing problem that is like. Atrocious even for yugioh's bad pacing problems. This series needed to be 400 episodes long. I like the IDEA of a yugioh with a big cast, spending episodes cutting between different groups of characters like some kind of bulky YA fantasy novel, but in practice it got. Real Muddy. RIP Xyz dimension arc you shoulda had so much more to you. And then there's that combined with this way it's trying Really Really hard to ape the themes of the past yugiohs ('dont forget to have fun,' grief/moving on after loss, classism) but it's hitting every damn branch on the way down and just completely fumbling ALL of them, it's not actually doing much to Earn being able to have those kind of themes resonate properly. IT'S SUCH A BAFFLING SHOW. IN THE THEMES DEPARTMENT. AMONG OTHER THINGS. "DONT EVER BE VISIBLY PUBLICLY SAD" IS A FUCKING INSANE MORAL. AND IT TAKES THAT SHIT WITH IT TO THE BITTER END. WHY IS THE FATE OF THE WORLD HINGED ON YUYA MAKING A BABY LAUGH. WHERE AM I!!!!

god. god. ok. ok im calm now. im sure in the coming weeks i'll have more barking about arc-v's various fumbles. but i'll leave it at that for now, i wanna talk about stuff i DID like now lol

Favorite Season/Arc: ok well. this actually is a hard question. um. hrm. LIKE. I'LL GET SHOT BY SNIPERS IF I SAY IT WAS SYNCHRO ARC BUT ALSO

IM SORRYYYYYYYYYYYYY I GOT THAT DOG IN ME (A BACK HALF OF 5D'S LIKER'S SOUL.) and unfortunately I WILL go in there and think about it that hard (the absolutely fucked to hell sociopolitical situation happening in Arc-V New Domino City and how it contrasts with the NDC in 5D's) (one thing about me I love weird fucked up yugioh old people I love those bitchass old centrists apparently governing the entire dimension and doing a piss poor job of it it's just like contemporary American politics!!!!!!) ROGET WAS JUST REANIMATING DEAD PEOPLE AND PUTTING MIND CONTROL CYBERNETICS IN THEM AND WELL YEAH SURE I'LL BE NORMAL GRIP ABOUT THAT. NORMAL. i need to make an arc-v AU Aporia so fucking bad THEN YOULL ALL SEE *talking to empty room*

YES synchro was way too fucking long. but regretfully i love turbo duels and will never not be charmed when yugioh puts guys on motorcycles that have no business being on motorcycles. DAMN I JUST FUCKING WISH YUYA AND YUGO GOT TO ACTUALLY TALK AND MEET IN THE SAME ROOM THOUGH!!!! BUT ANYWAY!!!!

im. kidding at least a little, I actually thoroughly enjoyed like...all of Arc-V's seasons/arcs at least a little (barring a lot of the Weird Post Zarc Duel 8 Episode Dead Zone.) The first 50 episodes really are just peak banger Yugioh, I do love action duels to absolute bits (though Action Spells. Uh. Need Some Workshopping 8| If I See Evasion One More Time Im Gonna Lose It) and the shit especially that first season does with the crazy Action Fields is AWESOME. GENUINELY. GO DUEL IN THE VOLCANO. DO A FLIP. RIDE YOUR MONSTER. it's practically running on Pokemon universe logic i cant NOT love it. And well Fusion Dimension arc does just have a whole lot of episodes that make me go cuckoo bananas crazy. Truly something for Dana in every crevice of Yugioh Arc-V.

Favorite Characters: god I do think like a solid half of why I think Arc-V may be becoming my top fav Yugioh is that the cast is just, really Really fucking good. Like yes so many of them are underutilized but the time we Do get with them really just shows off what delightful characters they all are. Half the reason it took me so damn long to finish was I was having so much fun and was going to miss seeing them!! IT'S GENUINELY HARD TO PICK A TOP LINEUP OF FAVS. THERE'S SO MANY DANABAIT GUYS IN YUGIOH ARC-V. YES EVEN THE SYNCHRO ARC GUYS. LUCAS SWANK I MISS YOU SO FUCKING MUCH.

The Lancers alone are SO good, theyre up there with Team 5D's in terms of Favorite "Main Yugioh 'Friend Group'/Organization". Group of guys who kind of have horrible synergy and only like 3 of them are actually competent. Declan came up with it when he was 13. Funniest group of teenagers imaginable, I love them all. LIKE .YUYA MAY BE MY FAVORITE YUTAGONIST??? IM NOT SURE YET BUT. I DO LOVE HIM A LOT. HE'S A PATHETIC WET PAPER TOWEL AND I WANT TO GIVE HIM A NOOGIE. SLASH POS.

And I mean I'm always gonna be Z-one biased but I do like Zarc as a Big Bad a lot too... damn if I don't love Just Some Guy Has Become God and Is a Huge Tool About It <3 WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM WHY ARE YOU ACTING LIKE THIS!!!!

ah. but. of course. i'd be remiss if i didn't bring up. Rainbow Carrot Rock Your World.

hey guys. why'd it happen again. why'd the Yugioh Carrot and Company get in my head and completely fry my brain AGAIN!!!!!!!! ORANGE CARROT. PURPLE CARROT. YELLOW CARROT!!!!🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕 YUGO ISNT EVEN MY TOP FAV BUT HE'S IN MY HEART AND IN OUR HOUSE FOREVER NOW. meanwhile i dont want. to talk about what yuri is doing to me. if i think too hard about this little purple freak i'll start going bonkers ballistic chewing my leg off. I like all the yuboys but he is especially. Gripping Me. La Cucaracha Loca. My shithead gay son.

dennis needs his own post he's just. a Lot. may very well be one of the funniest yugioh characters ever. Among Other Things. his dub VA's performance needs to be marked as culturally significant. AND THEY JUST KEPT BRINGING HIM BACK.

IN GENERAL, AS I WAS COMPLETELY EXPECTING, FUCKED UP AND EVIL DUEL ACADEMY REALLY DID ME IN I love you Fusion Dimension kids I love getting sick in the head thinking about card game child soldiers.My Actual favorite Arc-V character may just straight up be Sora..... I just like him a lot. He's got a really solid character arc, his deck rules, he's a little fucker AND an absolute real one. Just 10/10 little guy.

GOD WHAT EVEN IS MY TOP FIVE FAVORITES. UHHHH Okay Sora and Yuri for sure, and Declan, I love Declan. Yugo..... god. GOD IS THE FIFTH ONE DENNIS FOR REAL. I FEEL HIM IN MY BRAIN SO BAD. AAAAUUGHHHH (Runners Up: Yuya, Yuto, GONG MOTHERFUCKING STRONG!!!!!!, Rin my girl my badass mechanic girl IM ON MY WAY. I'LL THINK ABOUT YOU THAT HARD., Riley, Arc-V Aster unfortunately a Dana Guy ever. Why Is He Here. He Didnt Even Go to DA in GX. But all of this is subject to change in coming months as the entire cast continues to hit me with weapons. An honor and a privilege to induct these characters into my Blorbo Hall of Fame)

Favorite Duel: HEY QUICK QUESTION: WHY ARE ARC-V'S DUELS SO FUCKING WEIRD. LIKE. NARRATIVELY. There's like 4352984589 ties and duels that get cut short and DUELS WE JUST NEVER GET TO SEE THE FULL OUTCOME OF ON SCREEN?!?!? WHAT WAS GOING ON THERE. It feels like another symptom of arc-v just desperately trying to bite off more than it can chew 😭 Frustrating!! And god I LOVE the zaniness of Action Duels, but we neeeeeed to do something about Action Spells... GRABBING AN ACTION SPELL SHOULD NOT BE THE CRUTCH OF YOUR WHOLE DECK.........

coughs. anyway. My actual honest to god favorite Arc-V duel is Yugo vs. Celina in the Friendship Cup <3 IVE ALREADY TALKED ABOUT IT BEFORE BUT IT'S JUST SUCH A FUN ONE. It's got some great character moments on both sides, a yugioh girl Getting to Be Cool, the colors are gorgeous, it's SO funny, I just get such a kick out of it....I think part of what I Do like about the Friendship Cup is it really shows this sense of kinetic energy that the WRGP in 5D's really needed. I also really like the Shay vs. Dennis Friendship Cup duel for just going completely off the rails. Blow Up This War Criminal and The Whole Stadium With the Giant Bird Satellite Cannon. DOES NOT GET MORE YUGIOH THAN THAT!!

for all its weirdness Arc-V has a LOT of really fun duels that i enjoy--Shay vs. Sora is beloved for a reason, it also goes hard as hell. So many Season 1 duels are just a goofy blast, I really need to rewatch the quiz show one. For as much of an unnecessary mess as those last 8 episodes are, I DO really like Yuya and Dennis's duel too (THAT GETS REALLY REALLY GAY AT THE END???!?!? ARE WE ALL SEEING THIS.)

Hell even the Zarc duel started making me kind of sick in the head--watching Yuya's friends passing around his pendulum necklace while trying to save him makes me turbo emo WHAT CAN I SAY!!!

Arc-V also has the thing I had with Zexal where there's just some individual episodes that are absolute bangers for me. i love the Prison Break episode, it's fucking INSANE. HIP HIPPO SAID FUCK COPS FUCK THE PRISON SYSTEM!!! I love the episode where Gong and Dennis duel. FOR HOW LONG IT DID DRAG SYNCHRO HAS SOME REALLY FUN ONE-OFF EPISODES which I just really enjoy. Also love when Zuzu and Sora beat the shit out of a pack of cops. Based for that for real.

i do also love Yuri and Yuya's duel. Of course.

Other Miscellaneous Gushing/Shrieking/Losing My Mind About Yugioh Arc-V For Good and Bad and Everything in Between: arc-v arc-veeeeee yugioh arc-fiveeee theres just so MUCH. TO TALK ABOUT. THIS ONE'S GONNA BE IN MY HEAD FOR EONS I FEAR. THINKING ABOUT THE EVERYTHING. The sheer amount of narrative traits that make me specifically lose my mind (in a good way. as opposed to. the babyfication making me lose my mind. in a Real Bad Way :////) that they crammed into this. It's like digging in the treasure chest of elaborate fanfics I was writing in my brain in freshman year of high school. The Sick and Twisted Evil AU Version of Duel Academy. The Trained to Be Weapons Child Soldiers. Mind Control Reanimated Corpse Brain Chip. Alternate Dimension Selves. All of the Split Different Dimension Bullshit. Soul Splitting and Soul Fusion Framed as Fucking Terrifying. It's good I didn't have Arc-V growing up it would have been doing IRREVERSIBLE THINGS TO MY DEVELOPING CREATIVE BRAIN. INSTEAD IT'S DOING THEM TO ME NOW.

(side note, re: terrifying soul fusion: Arc-V is SO FUCKING SCARY SOMETIMES?!?? Like "ohh i wish yugioh was still a horror story" DAWG ARC-V ROUTINELY HAS SOME OF THE MOST DREAD-INDUCING CONCEPTS GETTING FLUNG AT YOU AT 90 MPH. SKIP BOYLE FORGETS HIS DAUGHTER EXISTED AND IT'S ONE OF THE MOST HEARTBREAKINGLY HORRIFYING THINGS IVE EVER SEEEEENNNNN )

The shit Arc-V does with Yugioh's themes of identity, these "when does a piece of yourself stop being you and start being their own person?" "what happens when multiple free standing people are one person" type ideas, you KNOW that makes my Aporia Turbofan ass go CRAAAZYYYY. AND THEN IT HAD RELIGIOUS MOTIFS TOO <3333 YOU'RE ME AND IM YOU AND IT DOESNT MATTER WHO DOES WHAT THE DEVIL WILL COME BACK REGARDLESS 😊💞💞💞

Arc-V takes such bold swings at things and 95% of the time it misses the ball entirely and spins up and out and directly into the fireplace but that 5% of sheer genius and thematic weight hits like a truck. Is Arc-V good? FUCK IF I KNOW. PROBABLY NOT. BUT ALSO YES IT IS. BUT ALSO IT'S NOT. BUT ALSO IT'S SOMETHING SO SPECIAL, AND I LOVE IT. That first like 50 episodes makes for such a good yugioh starter course tbh, the way it goes over different summoning methods and is very engaging and energetic, and then the rest of the show is an 18 car pileup of Card Game War that makes me automatically like DONT. START WITH THIS ONE. WATCH ANOTHER YUGIOH OR TWO FIRST AND THEN COME MELT YOUR BRAIN IN HERE. AND THATS SUCH A WEIRD DICHOTOMY TO HAVE WITH ONE YUGIOH. weird like everything else with arc-v i suppose. :,)

For all the mess and all the madness there truly is so much I love, though. I love the character dynamics, even when the show isnt doing much more with its cast--Yuya and Gong's friendship may be one of my favorite 'yutag and best friend' bonds, it's SO sweet and I'm going to be mad forever that Gong isn't more popular in western ygo fandom. I love the DUEL MONSTERS!! Performapals are SOOOO sillygoofy I have to adore them, the dimensional dragons all kick so much ass I love you Clear Wing my big legless weirdo. I love Shay's increasingly bigger Bird Guns. I LOVE FRIGHTFURS!!!! I LOVE D/D/DS!!!!! SO HAPPY TO SEE THEM ON ESPECIALLY SCREEN AFTER PLAYING THEM FOR MONTHS IN DUEL LINKS. MY FREAKY DECLAN DEMONS. I love the miscellaneous callbacks to past iconic monsters and funky weird AU retrains of the Legacu character's decks. Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend my friend Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend

I also do love that Arc-V in theory is trying very hard to be a celebration of past Yugiohs, but it's also instead being completely fucking insane with its 'tributes.' Oh you like Heartland City from Zexal? It's a carpetbombed warzone now! LIKE... HUH!!! When Lazar showed up at the end of season 2 i SCREAMED. I WANT TO KNOW THE LOGIC OF THESE CHOICES. THEY DONT MAKE ME MAD OR ANYTHING REALLY IM JUST FASCINATED BY THEM. i cant really be too angry at arc-v I'm just. transfixed. at every baffling choice it's ever made. I've really truly never seen a show that's so thoroughly felt like some kids doing a roleplay on a forum somewhere, players dropping in and out and mods not really knowing what to do with the lore anymore as things become more and more convoluted. I watch arc-v scenes and i can picture the text RP in my head, the players' forum signatures and all. It's truly some kind of feat to achieve that inherent vibe, that's for sure.

ok im running out of steam i think... what else. god. Yugioh Arc-V is just.... such a teetering Jenga tower of a show, a complete nuclear meltdown of clumsy writing and fantastic vocal performances (dub and sub) and confused handling of its own lore and occasionally some of the fucking coolest most intense expressions and gorgeous shots of any yugioh

I held out on watching it for so long cuz i just fuckin KNEW it was going to grab me by the brain and swing me into the wall and WELL!!! I WAS RIGHT!!!! SHES A MESS BUT SHES MY MESS BABEYYY!!! IS ARC-V GOOD? MAYBE NOT BUT, BROTHER, I FUCKIN LOVE WHEN YUGIOH IS BAD ❤ ive been a disciple of Bad Yugioh for 20 goddamn years and im not stopping now!!!!! I love you Pendulum summoning you insane busted ass mechanic. I love you all four completely fucked up dimensions. I love that they localized Maiami to Paradise City. I love the little nods to past yugioh things (like fusing with a motorcycle <3 Primo Moment...2!) I hate you Leo Akaba explode and die forever (though 'parent going mad trying to bring their child back' do also go me a little bananas.) I love the kickass shots of Yuya's monsters being set in the pendulum scale.I love Sora's relationship with Yuya and Zuzu. I love every fucked up crazyass expression Yuri makes. I love the sense of character design in this show. I love the Action Duel start chants. I love seeing the Synchro Math again and the Overlay Units and the deeply unsettling fusion hand gesture kids use with Polymerization. I love that third ED thats just the Lancers dicking around in different locations and having fun. I love Declan and Riley's complicated but deeply loving bond. I love when characters RIDE THEIR DUEL MONSTERS!!! AND I LOVE THAT DESPITE EVERYTHING I ALREADY WANNA SEE THESE CHARACTERS AGAIN. THEYRE MY FRIENDS!!!!! THEYRE IN MY BRAIN!!!!! MY KIDSSSSS

I KNOW NOW. WHY PEOPLE TALK ABOUT ARC-V LIKE THAT. AND IM ABOUT TO START TALKIN LIKE THAT TOO. YUGIOHHHHHH!!!!!

[wannab-urs]

The Spreadsheet Digest - Vol 17

Hello darlings!

It was another big week - 24 fics! I should really start sleeping at night instead of reading until 3 am.... oh well. Enjoy the fruits of my sleep disorder!

You can find the Spreadsheet in all it's organizational glory here and all of my previous recommendations here.

Recommendations below the pedro meme (created by @gasolinerainbowpuddles)

Ravish -a Joel series by @psychedelic-ink

I've read a few like... cam girl/chat service/sex work type AUs and I have to say this is one of my favorites. I really really love the little Dieter cameos. And a little birdie (the literal author) told me he may be making an appearance in a future installment??? I am so excited ugh. Joel is like... stunningly hot in this despite being the kind of guy that falls in love with a cam girl. Yummy yummy

Seven minutes in heaven (the bathroom) -a Frankie one shot by @tieronecrush

A fun twist on the bathroom quickie trope. Frankie is so filthy in this fic and it is fantastic. I really like the ending also. Made me giggle

A Savage Place - a Joel series by @gasolinerainbowpuddles

SUB JOEL MY BELOVED!!! This is one of those more realistic sub joels where he's confused as fuck about liking it, but he really clearly needs someone to take control for a little while. I really fucking love this so much. (there's pegging in part 2 @ my pegging enthusiasts <3 ) Reader is hot as hell, also. GOD I love this.

Whistle in the Dark - a Joel series by @gasolinerainbowpuddles

Romantic cucking <3 No but okay the like basic plot is that your husband is a piece of shit who cheats on you so you like forcibly cuck him with Joel and Joel has feelings and it's sooooo hot and so good and like... affirming? and sweet? And your husband deserves to have his dick cut off bc he does something real fucked up, but having to watch Joel Miller dick his wife down GOOD is a start.

He hurt me but it felt like true love - a Joel one shot by @iamasaddie

Mean sexy Joel is pissy cause he found your dildo and he's gonna make that your problem. It's so hot. Vaginal DP????? GOD DAMN. Someone said DP isn't depraved a while back (eyeroll). They should read this. This is beautifully depraved

Feral Woman - a Joel series by @gasolinerainbowpuddles

This series has me feeling so many emotions. Watching FW/reader/Julia/Bug heal over time and learn to trust again is so fucking good. Susan is the light of my motherfuckin life I love that woman with all my heart. This series is GORGEOUS

Endless Night - a Joel series by @gasolinerainbowpuddles

yes i basically worked my way through Puddles' masterlist can you fucking blame me look at this shit. Anyway. EnNi reader/OC is, on the surface, the sunshine to Joel's grump. But the thing I love about her is that she's got this underlying darkness that adds so much depth to the grumpy x sunshine trope. I'm also eating up the borderline enemies to lovers dynamic going on here. Joel is such a dick lmao. I'm so excited for the rest of this fic.

All the good girls go to hell - an Ezra one shot by @psychedelic-ink

DUBCON with PRIEST EZRA yesssssss. The Haunted Hoedown is the gift that keeps on giving. This fic is so fucking HOT. Ezra as a priest seems so wrong and so right at the same time. This is excellent. I'd gladly go to hell for this man UNF.

Three's a crowd - a Marcus P/Javi P one shot by @agentmarcuspike

Marcus motherfuckin cute ass baby Pike watches Javier Peña fuck you. Yeah. Cucking Marcus Pike. That's what this is. Marcus is also characterized perfectly. Like this is so fucking cute actually. And it's really hot. obviously.

Begging for you to take my hand - a Joel series by @jupiter-soups

This fic is driving me up the wall in the best way. Joel is a big dumb idiot man who is like... not emotionally intelligent enough to realize he's in the wrong while trying to do what he perceives to be the "right thing." Here's what I commented verbatim on part 2 "Joel 'You Deserve Better Than Me' Miller back on his bullshit. I love this so much. Joel is so sad and so stupid i kinda wanna hit him." So if you're like me and you like to watch Joel be a sad little idiot who is also super hot.... this is the one

Refuge - a Joel series by @cool-iguana

GAH THIS IS SO GOOD!!! This fic really situates you in reader's head. Like you feel disoriented and frustrated and scared when she does and you feel like a powerful badass when she does and it's SO good. Basically in this one your husband joel shows up with some kid who is def not your kid in Jackson after you've been there for a hot minute and it's a big wtf moment. There's some other shit going on that I don't wanna spoil but like... this is so good. I know I keep saying that but GOT DAMN

Exposed - a Javi P one shot by @atticrissfinch

big fat dub con warning on this one. I so rarely see Javi written as a creep and I really fucking enjoyed it. I would like to humbly request more creep!professor!javi p

The Apprentice - a Dave York one shot by @pedropascalsx

This has like mafia!au vibes while not really being that, but what I mean by that is that the big bad murder daddy who you thought you'd be scared of saves you from murder father (ur dad). I really liked the characterization of Dave in this and the smut was HOT

Stockings - a Joel one shot by @atticrissfinch

Daddy kink daddy kink daddy kink. This is inspired by a photo that literally looks like denim shirt joel is helping you put your stockings on. This fic manages to be adorable and aggressively hot at the same time. I am in love.

Slumber - a Joel one shot by @cool-iguana

I love a good somno fic. also this is literally their 2nd fic they ever wrote and it's so good?! TALENT. There was a thing in this that caught me off guard bc I fully did not read the warnings, but I was not at all mad about it... HOT

Yearling - a Joel series by @justagalwhowrites

Holy motherfuckin shit balls dude. I'm noticing that I'm reading a lot of Reader-Who-Is-Extremely-Traumatized fics this week and I refuse to examine why that is but also they all have handled the heavy content very very well. Anyway. Reader is super duper good with horses and Joel is so soft and Ellie is so Ellie and I love all of this. I really love the way Kit builds the world in her fics. Like the opening chapter and then the way Bambi's back story is built up and the spaces that she exists in, they're all so vivid and good and real to me. I'm so fucking in love with the way Kit includes these details like reader singing and playing music, joel's coat, the light on in the house when Bambi is gone. It feels like nothing is there just to be there, like it's all important and it has a significant impact on the story and man... (also if you're worried about starting a longfic that's not finished, it updates like twice a fuckin week. Fast writer lol).

The Cabin in the Woods- a Dave York one shot by @xdaddysprincessxx

Getting kidnapped by Dave York and held in his cabin in the woods. Dark dark dark fic and so fucking well written. Love this <3

Isn't She a Doll? - a Dave York one shot by @proxima-writes

You are Dave's perfect little housewife and that is definitely the only thing going on here. Nothing out of the ordinary at all. (just read it)

Who do you call? - a Joel one shot by @chloeangelic

Your hot neighbor Joel helps you get rid of a spider! How sweet of him. Oh and then he rails you on the couch. I really love the way they have a whole conversation while they're fucking about how long it's been since they've fucked anyone. Chloe just has this wonderful way of infusing humor into really really hot fics that I adore

Does your mother know? - a Joel one shot by @cupofjoel

Another bathroom quickie for the rec list and god DAMN this one is hot. Close Family Friend!Joel (god I love putting this man in situations). There's something about being forced to stay quiet that just makes everything hotter.

Cellmate's Nephew!Joel - a Joel series by @toxicanonymity

JoJo is actually the love of my life. His tattoos, his voice, his dick print.... sigh. Can't wait to get out prison so this man can rail me on every available surface between the prison and Mabel's house.

The Man That I Love - a Joel series by @lumoverheaven

Joel is an idiot who doesn't know what he has until he almost loses it. The first part is heartwrenching and sad and I love it. The second part is wonderful and makes me tear up a lil

I said I didn't feel nothing, baby, but I lied - a Veracruz one shot by @iamasaddie

Veracruz is so hot. I swear that man could punch me in the face and I'd suck his dick for it (that is not healthy oops). This lovely little drabble is literally just you getting your ass spanked so raw you won't be able to sit for a week and it's HOT AS HELL

Creep - a Joel one shot by @theywhowriteandknowthings

Joel Miller is your super hot creepy neighbor and he manages to get you to fuck him and that is definitely the only thing going on here. nothing fishy at all. nope. totally normal reader fucks her creepy neighbor fic. (just fucking trust me and read it ok?)

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

Happy Reading!

[hrodvitnon]

Just got out of my first viewing (spoilers so tag accordingly)

Yeah that was the most ridiculous shit ive ever seen and i had a blast lmfao.

--

To get the few negatives out of the way: Syclla and Tiamat got COOKED. That's crazy. Especially Tiamat. I had no idea she was in the movie and like choked on popcorn when they said her name. First onscreen appearance and she dies in like 3 seconds... sucks to be her. But honestly... this is probably one of those moments where Fan Content messes with the perception of a canon thing, at least for me. It hurts a lot more because of the emotional attachment from stuff like Ozymandias's story, Shamhat, and other adjacent stuff. If I had never seen those and watched her die I'd probably think "oh she had a cool design, but whatever". But yeah, my only serious complaint is her being shafted and I don't even really think I can call it objective because there was definitely an attachment there.

Ok besides that this might be my new personal favorite Monsterverse. Could be recency bias but I don't think so. Every human is at the very least entertaining. Everything Trapper did in this movie made me crack up, hearing Bernie say the words 'Discord chat' and 'Ghidorahstan64' (i stg this was a callout of some kind) onscreen gave me terminal whiplash, and although Jia and Andrew's story was sorta surface level, it was still endearing. I'd rather have a good human storyline, sure, but if we can't have that I'll settle for entertaining.

Here I thought Suko was gonna be an annoying marketing ploy to sell toys... I physically snorted in the theatre when Kong slammed him into that one ape. MVP of the film lmao. Mothra was... also there. Yeah, it really shows that she was a last minute addition. But DAMN she sent Godzilla ROLLING with a single attack. Speaking of, I don't think the Tia-Zilla form was as underutilized as I've heard people say it was. Especially that new Atomic Breath effect. Holy eargasm.

Oh man though, Shimo and Skar are fantastic. Skar hits the same beat as like a Celestial Dragon or Vladimir Harkonnen with way more grace than I would've expected from a big monkey. They go shockingly dark with his treatment of the ape-slaves and Shimo... especially with that female ape insinuation.

Holy shit poor Shimo, man. I honestly thought the Skar controlling her aspect would be kinda downplayed and just regular mind control, not genuine torture of some kind. I love that they let her have characterization by resisting him at every chance she gets, and that the pain control isn't always active (i'm assuming that's the insinuation of keeping her all chained and behind magma, it depowers and restrains her when Skar's not actively using her), further insinuating she gets merciful breaks from hellish enslavement only to be yanked back into it whenever Skar needs something turned into a popsicle. I think my favorite moment in the film is right after Suko shatters the crystal and the light blue luminescence fades to reveal her actual eyes for the first time. Eyes are used throughout the film to show subtle humanizing features, like Godzilla falling asleep in Rome, Kong's wide eyes when he sees his kin, and shock when Shimo realizes she's free. Having her eyes glowing the whole film makes her seem way more monstrous and inhuman, so when that suddenly goes away she starts getting framed as just an animal. Also her eyes are pretty. Also, I lied, that wasn't my favorite part of the film. My favorite part was Kong giving her chin scratches and that cute half-hug. This needs to be normalized. He needs to hug Godzilla next film. I will pay someone a king's ransom for this to happen. Final little detail, I like that Kong doesn't do his final roar from on her back but standing next to her, on the same level as all the other apes. He doesn't look to elevate himself over her or everyone else like Skar did, which is a great touch.

Also also also: Think it's time for a Doug solo film where he tries to steal all the Titans' food. Make it happen Legendary.

Much agreement here! I'd love for a solo Mothra MonsterVerse film to really capitalize on her lore and give her stuff to do (without dying at the end preferably); maybe establish some connection between the Chen family and Jia. Also, I need a little shot of Mothra going to visit Godzilla while he's sleeping in the Colosseum and just cuddle up to the big lug.

Andrews and Jia were a welcome breath of fresh air after GvK reversed Mark's characterization and Madison became... that. There was still some slight tension between Jia not feeling like she belongs and Andrews wanting to do right by her, even if it means possibly giving her up, only for Jia to go "you're my mom, you're my home, stop being dramatic". You love to see it.

Adding to the Doug solo film idea... Shimo adopts him because he's cute and she thinks his shenanigans are hilarious. Let us have fun wholesome times!

[heyjude19-writing]

I have not been an active participant in the Harry Potter fandom in a very long time and it's just recently that a coworker of mine suggested that I give Dramione fics a try.

Her suggesting was both a blessing and a curse—ever since I started looking into Dramione, I've found more than a handful of fics that I absolutely loved, Remain Nameless being one of them. Of course, I've done nothing but devour fanfics in my free time ever since, placing other hobbies and social outings on hold. I can't say I regret it much, though my sleeping schedule took quite a hit as well :')

I'd like to start by telling you how much I enjoyed the plot for Remain Nameless. I never was a fan of slow burns before, but it might seem like aging has mellowed me out quite a bit. It's either that, or the fact that I've been feeling like time just flew by lately (to be completely honest ever since the pandemic it feels like every time I blinked, another year passed by), and I desperately want things to slow down a bit, just so I can enjoy them properly—both in my life and in my reading.

There are plenty of stories about Draco and Hermione and them falling in love, but this one is definitely a favourite. I loved how the accent was placed on them and their evolution as people and their journey as lovers.

It was heartwarming to see Draco's transformation throughout the story and each interaction between these two characters, especially the initial ones at the coffee shop, brought me such joy.

The pacing of their friendship and then romantic relationship felt so natural, and I couldn't help but sit at the edge of my seat, waiting with baited breath to see if things are going to turn out well for our main couple (even though I knew it would be a happy ending, according to the tags :') )

Also, the characters that made an appearance fleshed out the story wonderfully. I'd like to say that the moments including Ginny, Theo and Sasha were some of my favourites, but then again, can I really have favourites when I loved each chapter so much?

The familial relationships were also points of great interest for me. I enjoyed seeing how Hermione interacted with her parents after everything that happened and her relationship with the Weasley members really warmed up my heart. The acceptance of Draco into Hermione's friend and family circles was also quite emotional for me, since he went through such complex experiences with his own parents and friends.

The writing was also marvelous and it really captured me, though I feel like I couldn't fully appreciate it since my eyes were flying over the words to know what happens next. I would love to pick up this fanfiction again for another read, just so I can fully appreciate the craftsmanship that was put into it.

Honestly, being reintroduced into this fandom reminded me why I love fandom and fanfiction so much. Sure, there might be people who sully the experience with their greed and pettiness (I've read a bit about those people what bind your fics and sell them on etsy and I recall reading an AN of somebody reposting your work on Wattpad and I'm so sorry that these things happened/are happening to you and many other fantastic writers) but it can also bring people together and be such a great source of comfort.

I apologize for the long message, I feel like I rambled quite a bit. I know there's much more that I would have loved to say, but words seem to evade me today. But I would like to thank you again for putting in so much of your time, effort, love, and passion into writing this wonderful piece of fanfiction and for sharing it with us.

This story made me giggle, it made me cry, and it made me feel so many emotions, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for it.

hello hello!

wow, thank you so much to your co-worker, this was lovely to receive. sorry about the sleepless nights 😅 but i am happy you enjoyed your time with my story and other fics.

and yes, there's some bad actors out here making fandom a not-so-fun place at the moment, but as you rightly noted "it can also bring people together and be such a great source of comfort." It's certainly why i stick around and thank you for this beautiful message that reminded me why i've loved my time here. your kind comments about my writing brought me so much joy, thank you 🥰

[stargazer-sims]

The Art of Redemption

(part 13)

previous // next // story index

—————

By the time Saturday rolls around, Nikolai has almost entirely forgotten his disappointment at not being able to enjoy Thursday's unexpected snowfall by playing outside with Stan, Beth-Anne and Stan and Milena's two young grandsons. He acknowledges that Beth-Anne and Stan's reasons for discouraging him from going out made sense. Another inadvertent fall wouldn't do his injured leg any good, and he definitely doesn’t want any more setbacks. But, just because he understands the rationale now, that didn't mean he had to like it at the time.

He can't say he was sad or bored indoors with Milena. They listened to music and she taught him how to bake chocolate chip cookies, and they laughed a lot at each other’s work-related anecdotes. Although he would have preferred helping to build a snow fort and then engaging in the inevitable snowball fight afterwards, lack of snowballs notwithstanding, it had been a fun day.

He and Milena had hot cocoa and their freshly-baked cookies waiting when everyone else came inside, and it was hard to determine if it was Stan or his seven and nine year old grandsons, Lukas and Marek, who were more excited about the snack. After snack time, Nikolai played video games with the boys while Milena got some housekeeping done and Stan and Beth-Anne went back outside to help the Kovacs' elderly next-door neighbour clear snow from his driveway.

While Lukas, the seven year old, was taking his turn with the game controller, nine year old Marek chattered enthusiastically to Nikolai about skating, about his Saturday group class, and how his grandpa thought he could start competing next year if he wanted to.

"I don't know if I'd win any medals or not," Marek said. "But even if I don't, that's okay. I like skating a lot, and Grandpa says having fun is what counts. But, I think he thinks I'm a good skater anyway."

“Well, your grandpa should know,” Nikolai told him. “He’s seen a lot of skaters in his lifetime, and back in the day, he was fantastic too. Is he going to coach you?”

“Maybe,” Marek said. “Or maybe Auntie Beth-Anne, ‘cause I’m in her group class now. You have to be at least nine to be in that class, and I had my birthday in November, so I moved from another class to that one."

“I’m coming to your group class this Saturday, so I’ll see you there.”

That elicited a giggle from Marek. “You’re too big for a kids' group class!”

“No, I’m not coming to skate. I’m coming to watch. Some day, I’m going to be a coach like your grandpa and Beth-Anne, but I have to learn how to do it first, and Beth-Anne is going to teach me.”  

“Is that like… coach coaching?”

Nikolai laughed. “Yeah, I guess it is.”

“Cool.” Marek beamed. “You should watch me, ‘cause I can do three different double jumps. Oh, and there’s this one kid, Eden. He can do a triple toe loop, but don’t tell anybody, ‘cause Auntie Beth-Anne already said he’s not allowed to do triples yet.”

Nikolai put a finger to his lips and made a zipping gesture. “The secret’s safe. Don’t worry.”

He’d been aware on some level that Stan’s grandson and the much-mentioned kid named Eden were both in one of Beth-Anne’s Saturday group classes, but until recently, he’d been far too focused on his own career and the events of his own life to give much thought to what might be happening at the rink when he wasn’t there. Saturdays used to be his day off, when he didn’t go to the dance studio or the gym, and when he skated only if he wanted to. Prior to his injury, he’d had very little contact with children’s group classes. He'd had no reason to.

But, all that has changed.  It’s Saturday, and he’s essentially going to work. Or, more accurately, to volunteer. He rephrases the thought because although it’s technically on-the-job training, he’s not getting paid. 

He’ll have to start looking for a real job soon. His savings won’t last indefinitely, and the mortgage on his and Anya’s house and their household bills won’t pay themselves. He doubts Anya would be thrilled about taking on the full responsibility for it. She couldn’t afford to manage it on her own anyway and would probably need help from her parents. Nikolai does not, under any circumstances, want that to happen. He’d rather sell the property than to be indebted to Anya’s father in any way. Mr. Baranov dislikes him intensely, a fact that he barely succeeds in hiding, and Nikolai isn’t shy to admit the feeling is mutual. 

It hadn’t always been like that, of course. His family and Anya’s have known each other since he and Anya were teenagers, ever since Nikolai’s family had moved here from another province and Nikolai met Anya at the rink. They’d all gotten along well, and Nikolai even recalls Anya’s father happily giving his blessing for their marriage. It’s only been during the past three years, since Nikolai and Anya have been married, that things have gone drastically downhill.

God alone knows what Anya might’ve been telling her father about me all this time. It’s enough to push him toward panic, and he has to remind himself this isn’t the moment. He needs to be clear-headed. Later. You’ll have time to think about all that stuff later.

Beth-Anne had woken him up at six o’clock and told him to hustle, as they needed to be at the rink by a quarter to eight.  When he asked her why they needed to be there so early if her first class didn’t start until 8:30, she explained there’s one kid who’s been coming to the rink with his older cousin lately, and the cousin is apparently fixated on arriving early for everything. He could be there as early as eight o’clock, she said, and she didn’t want a ten year old out on the ice by himself with only the non-skating teenage cousin to supervise him. 

As it happened, Beth-Anne had given him ample time to get ready. He ended up sitting on the bench by the front door for twenty minutes waiting for her, and he wanted to laugh when she came flying down the stairs with a breathless, “Okay, this is the best I can do with this fucking makeup. Let’s go.” 

They made it to the arena only five minutes later than Beth-Anne’s 7:45 target, which they mutually agreed was due entirely to being held up by some sort of emergency road work they’d had to detour around and had nothing at all to do with stopping at Tim Horton’s to fill their insulated travel mugs with fresh coffee. Beth-Anne was pleased, right up until two seconds ago, when they’d rounded the corner into the glass-walled corridor leading to her assigned practice rink and they spotted a kid already on the ice. 

The child is small, with wisps of straight black hair peeking out from beneath his rainbow-striped toque. When he turns, Nikolai sees a delicate face that reminds him of a porcelain doll more than of a real person. He immediately feels weird for having this thought, but he can’t help remarking to himself that he’s never seen such a beautiful child before.

Then, something else occurs to him that quickly chases the stray thought away.  He wonders if there’s been a mix-up with ice times. There’s no way this boy should be in a group class for nine to eleven year olds. He doesn’t look like he could be more than six or seven. 

Nikolai blinks and looks more closely at the way the little boy is moving. The child is dancing around an orange safety cone, and his footwork is far too complex for any six year old to have perfected to that degree. 

It takes only a moment for him to connect the dots. This must be Eden Seong, the student Beth-Anne often talks about with such adoration and pride. Korean-Canadian, tiny, feisty, and overflowing with talent… Suddenly, it makes sense why everyone refers to him as ‘little Eden’ and why he gets so much praise.

“Dammit!” Beth-Anne mutters. “I’m going to have a word with that cousin.”

Nikolai looks up toward the benches and notices another boy, this one probably around sixteen or seventeen, with the same delicate features as the younger one. He's bundled in a huge parka and cradling a takeaway cup between his mittened hands, and he looks unhappy. He appears to be shouting something at the smaller boy, but from behind the wall, it’s hard to tell. 

Nikolai’s attention is off the child for no more than three seconds, but in that sliver of time, Beth-Anne lets out an exclamation of “Shit!” and almost simultaneously sets their two metal travel mugs and her skate bag on the floor. Beth-Anne is already pushing her way through the door to the rink area when Nikolai sees that the little boy is now sitting on his bum on the ice, legs splayed out in front of him. 

Nikolai hurries to catch up with Beth-Anne, cursing under his breath because at this point his crutches are slowing him down rather than helping him. He abandons them by the door and limps as fast as he can to the gate that leads to the ice surface.

Beth-Anne is already practically running across the ice. "Eden, are you okay? What happened?"

The little boy — Eden — scrambles to his feet and skates directly into Beth-Anne’s waiting arms. Almost immediately, he begins to sob for all he’s worth. He wails, "Everything is awful!"

Nikolai frowns. Not that most of the figure skaters he’s acquainted with, including himself, are known for being particularly mellow, but this level of dramatic behaviour seems like an overreaction to a simple fall. He glances up at the teenager in the stands again. The older boy is scowling with his entire face, his features pinched with anger or embarrassment, or both. 

He realizes something must’ve happened before he and Beth-Anne arrived, and what he’s seeing now is Eden’s breaking point.

"I wouldn't go that far," Beth-Anne is saying to her little student. "Everything can't be awful. There's got to be something that isn't."

"No... everything,” Eden says.

"Are you sure?" she asks. “What about grilled cheese? And ballet?"

Eden pauses, considering her words. He sniffles loudly and concedes, "No."

"There. You’re not awful either, and I’m reasonbly sure I’m not. So, everything's not awful. Just certain things."

"Yeah, I guess,” he says. 

"Can you tell me why you're crying?" she inquires. “Did you hurt yourself?”

“No,” he tells her. “It’s just… I hardly ever fall down. I lost my balance, and it was stupid ‘cause I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Everyone falls down sometimes. It’s okay. As long as you’re not hurt, that’s what’s important.”

Eden shakes his head. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Of course it does,” Beth-Anne says.

“No, it doesn’t. Even if I hurt myself really bad and I could never skate again, it wouldn’t make any difference. Maybe it’d even be better that way, ‘cause then I’d have an actual reason to stop.” More tears spill down his pale cheeks, and he wipes at them aggressively. "It wouldn’t just be because my parents don’t want me to skate any more. They said I have to stop after this month, and it’s not fair.”

“I know,” Beth-Anne says gently. “I’ve talked to your parents, and I've been thinking a lot about that.”

"Really? Can you fix it? Can you talk to them again and make them change their minds?”

“No one can make anybody change their mind, you know. Every person is in charge of their own actions and their own feelings. I can try to convince them, but at the end of the day, what happens will be up to them."

“But, what about my feelings?” Eden protests. “I love skating. I don’t ever want to stop, but all my parents care about is liabilities, whatever that is. They don’t care how I feel.”

“I think they do,” Beth-Anne assures him. “But, they’re worried about you. They don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Then, I should never do anything ever again. I should never ride my bike or run on the stairs or walk on the sidewalk in my bare feet or play tag with Charlie and Sadie. I accidentally got hurt doing all that stuff.”

“Have you tried telling that to your parents?”

“No, but it wouldn’t do any good if I did.”

“You might be surprised,” Beth-Anne tells him.

“We shouldn’t even have to talk about it,” Eden says. He pulls back from his coach and looks her straight in the face. “I’m good at skating. Like, really good, and it’s my favourite thing in the whole world, and everybody knows that. Why would anybody want to take away somebody’s favourite thing that they’re really good at? That’s just… not right.”

"Hmm..." Beth-Anne lets go of him and straightens up. "You know what I think?”

“What?”

“That’s a very grown up way to express yourself. I think, instead of acting like you did last time when your mother came to get you, you should explain it to your parents the way you just did to me.”

"I was so mad," Eden says. "I couldn't help it."

"Really? Some invisible force of nature just pulled you to the ice and made you scream like a toddler?"

"No, but—"

"Remember what I just said? Each person is in charge of their own feelings and actions. That means we get to choose how we respond to things, and sometimes the choices we make help us get our point across a lot better."

"What do you mean?"

"If you were having an argument with one of your friends, would you listen to him more if he yelled and threw a tantrum, or if he just calmly explained his side of it?"

"Calm," Eden says. "I don't like it when people yell."

"Most people don't like that," Beth-Anne says. "I'll bet your mother didn't like it very much the other day."

"She said I made a scene." Eden looks down at his feet. "And she said she didn't want to hear me saying anything else about skating that day."

"Well, today's a new day, and you've already learned something useful, haven't you?"

Eden nods. "Yeah. Only babies get their way by screaming. Kids my age kinda have to act more like grownups to win the argument."

Beth-Anne laughs. "I might not have put it quite that way, but you've got the idea. If you want me to, I'll talk to your parents again, but I want you to talk to them about it as well. Do you think you can do that?"

"Yeah," Eden says. "As long as you tell them I want to have a grown up conversation first."

"I'll definitely do that for you."

"I'm gonna tell them what I told you, but should I also say I want to start competing in Novice division next season, too?”

“Yes, you can tell them that, but let’s concentrate on keeping you skating first, okay?”

“And getting out of group classes and having more individual sessions?” he persists.

“Yes, but let’s go one step at a time. Stay in the program first, and then we’ll worry about the other stuff,” Beth-Anne says. “For what it’s worth though, I do think you've outgrown group classes. If you want to skate competitively, you should have individual coaching all the time."

"Will you do it?" Eden asks. The prospect of skating competitively seems to have distracted him from his earlier emotional outburst, and Nikolai finds himself smiling slightly. Eden reminds him of himself with his single-minded passion for the sport and for reaching the top. "I want to keep skating and maybe even get to the Olympics some day, and if you were my coach, that'd be awesome."

"I'll be your coach for the next couple of years, if that's what you and your parents want," Beth-Anne says. "When you're ready for Junior division, you might need somebody who can give you more time and attention."

"Somebody?" he echoes, sounding a little incredulous, as if he can't possibly imagine not having Beth-Anne as his coach. "Like who?"

"We'll have plenty of time to work that out, but maybe this guy over here." Beth-Anne turns and waves her hand in the direction of Nikolai, who’s leaning against the open gate to take some weight off his leg. She beckons him to come and join them. "You know, if he learns everything I'm going to teach him about coaching, and if the two of you can get along."

“Is he nice?” Eden asks, as Nikolai starts to pick his way carefully across the ice. "And he can't work with me unless he likes hugs, 'cause you know I'm a hugger."

“He’s amazingly nice,” Beth-Anne says. “A little headstrong sometimes, but he’s great guy and he’s just as obsessed with skating as you are. That should make him a good match for you, and…” she cuts the sentence short to admonish, “Nikolai, take your time! And where are your crutches?”

“Over there,” Nikolai says vaguely. He slides a bit as he stops beside Beth-Anne. “They were getting annoying, and I can put weight on my leg now, so…”

Beth-Anne makes an exasperated noise. “See what I mean? Headstrong as fu—"

“Fudge,” Nikolai interrupts her.

Eden seems not to notice the slip. He’s too occupied with scrutinizing Nikolai. "Can you be a coach? Do you even know enough about skating?"

"Oh, I might know a thing or two,” Nikolai says, doing his best to keep his amusement off his face. “I’ve won a few medals, even.”

Beth-Anne smiles. "Eden, this is Nikolai Pavlenko. He won gold at Worlds last season." She gestures at Eden and continues, "Nik, meet Eden Seong."

Eden scrunches his brow in concentration as he studies him. "But, you kinda don’t look like Nikolai Pavlenko, though? My parents let me stay up to watch a bunch of stuff from Worlds last season. I watched your free skate, but you look a lot different than you did when I saw you on TV."

Nikolai strokes his chin. "Maybe it's the beard. It's new." 

He doesn’t mention that his beard is a result of him having been too depressed to bother with shaving. By the time he felt well enough to care about his appearance again, he decided he actually liked the beard and opted to keep it. He hadn’t been aware that it had altered his recognizability that much, but then again, he’s used to his own face in the mirror. He’d never not recognize himself, but that doesn’t necessarily mean other people would instantly know it was him.

"I like it,” Eden says. “You think I can grow one someday?"

"Probably when you're older," Nikolai replies.

"I'd look cool with a beard." Eden strokes his own chin like he’s trying to imagine himself older and with facial hair. "If you were my coach, could you teach me to do quads? You make them look so easy."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Beth-Anne says. "You can't even do a triple yet."

"Yes, I can!" Eden retorts, and then quickly claps a hand over his mouth. "Um, I mean... Triple? What's that?"

Recalling the tidbit of allegedly secret information he’d heard from Marek a few days earlier, Nikolai laughs out loud. "Oh, I already like you."

Really?" Eden says.

"Beth-Anne, remember the back flip?" Nikolai says.

"Oh, lord..." Beth-Anne groans. "Don't give him ideas."

"Back flip?" Eden inquires. "What back flip?"

"Never mind, Eden," says Beth-Anne. "Forget you heard that."

"Can you really do a triple, Eden?" Nikolai asks.

Eden suddenly has the stereotypical ‘deer in the headlights’ expression, as if he doesn't know how to answer this question without getting in trouble with his coach. He glances at Beth-Anne, clearly trying to gauge her reaction. “Um… maybe?”

Beth-Anne shrugs. "If you can, you can. Never mind that I told you not to try it."

"I can," Eden confesses. "A triple toe loop."

"You don't become a champion without taking risks," says Nikolai. "You told me that, Beth-Anne. Remember?"

"You were my first student. What did I know back then?" she says.

“I think Uncle Stan told you the same thing, didn’t he?”

“Motivational bullshit.”

"Eden, how old are you?" Nikolai wants to know. "You're starting Novice next season, so ten or eleven, right?"

"I'm gonna be eleven in May," Eden answers. “May twenty-third.”

"And you can do a triple already. Nice." Nikolai meets Beth-Anne's gaze. "Can he show me?"

Beth-Anne spreads her hands. "Does it look like I could stop him?"

"You really wanna see it?" Eden says eagerly. "I promise, it’ll be good."

"I'm sure it will," says Nikolai.

"Beth-Anne, can I show him right now?"

Beth-Anne nods toward the center of the ice. "You might as well go for it. Move a few of those cones first."

Eden looks excited by this new turn of events. He grins at his cousin in the stands and gives him a cheeky thumbs up before skating away from Nikolai and Beth-Anne, and then pushing the orange cones off to the side, one by one.

Nikolai can’t look away as Eden skates around, building up momentum. The kid may be small, but that little body is packed with strength and kinetic energy. It’s not only pure power, either. He moves with a precision that surprises Nikolai; refined, graceful and disciplined. 

The kid has talent, and if he's already this advanced at ten, who knows what he might be capable of in the future?

Nikolai can predict the exact moment when Eden is about to jump. He counts the rotations.

One… two… three.

Yes!

The landing isn’t the greatest, but Eden doesn't fall or stumble as he touches down. Nikolai exhales. He’d been so invested in silently cheering for the boy’s success, he hadn’t been aware he’d stopped breathing while Eden was in the air.  Now that Eden’s blades are back on the ice, Nikolai allows himself to cheer out loud.

Beside him, Beth-Anne sounds like she might’ve been holding her breath too. She visibly relaxes as she calls out, “Well done, Eden!”

Eden skates back to them and more or less tackles Beth-Anne in his effort to hug her. Understandably exhilarated from what he's just done, he exclaims, "Did you like it? Was I awesome?"

"Yes, you were awesome, sweetheart," she says. "I'm not letting you do that again for a while though, understand? You're brilliant, but it's not a good idea to rush you along. There'll be time to work on triples and quads when you're really ready, okay?"

He acquiesces. “Okay."

"All right. Your friends are going to start showing up for class soon, so we need to put the cones back. I'm going to grab my skates and put them on, and then I'll help you set the cones up. Sound good?"

"Sounds good," Eden agrees. He turns to Nikolai. "So...? Was I super amazingly awesome or what?"

"I've never seen anyone like you," Nikolai tells him honestly.

"You think I could be in the Olympics?"

"Maybe."

"That's my dream."

"I'll tell you what," Nikolai says. "Let's both agree that we're going to work really hard to learn everything we can and to be the best we can be. Then, when we're both ready, maybe we'll work on achieving that dream of yours together."

"So, does that mean you'd really want to be my coach?" Eden asks.

"We can't know the future, so I'm not going to promise anything," Nikolai says. "But if everything goes the way we want it to for the next year or so, and we get to know each other better, then yes. Some day, I think I'd really like to be your coach."

[carica-ficus]

Review: Harrow the Ninth

Author: Tamsyn Muir

Date: 24/02/2024

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

________________________________________________________

My February has been very hectic (to say the least), but at least I finally managed to get my hands on "Harrow the Ninth" thanks to my wonderful boyfriend who ordered it for me. <3 And just in time too because I was in a mood to get back to The Locked Tomb. This series completely won me over.

"Harrow the Ninth" picks up sometime after the ending of "Gideon the Ninth", and follows Harrow as she tries to adapt to her new life as a Lyctor. Her powers are immeasurably stronger, but in comparison to the older Lyctors she is seen as feeble and incompetent. Even worse, she is seen as a liability to the Emperor. She needs to learn to defend herself and prove to be a valuable soldier to her God, but this all seems a menial task in comparison to more dire matters - the indescribable grief and significant vulnerability which render her useless.

The first thing that stands out in this book is the switch in narration. "Harrow the Ninth" is mostly narrated through a 2nd person singular and is only switched to 3rd person singular when referring to the events which happen at the Canaan house. It's certainly an interesting writing choice which might prove to be slightly confusing at first, but Muir's beautiful style and fantastic storytelling quickly compel the reader to simply accept the fact that this is how "Harrow the Ninth" will be told. If something, Muir has proven numerous times that her writing decisions are always made with a specific intention, so it's best to just accept them and enjoy her work as it is presented.

Even though the story is a bit convoluted at first, things slowly start falling into place. New characters are introduced and old characters are given enough space to grow and expand. Muir incredibly utilizes her universe and the story in order to create a completely new experience of the series, but also provides many scenes where it pays homage to the first book and its events. "Harrow the Ninth" is truly an upgrade from "Gideon the Ninth" in tension, emotion, depth and story.

On the other hand, I'd argue that its pace is slower than that of "Gideon the Ninth". Harrow is actively preparing for the most difficult fight of her life, but the process of it is relatively passive. There's a lot of things happening at the same time, but it feels like the plot isn't moving forward at all. This book focuses more on other elements, than on its story, up until the very end where it builds up to a thrilling finale. Taking into consideration the aforementioned switch in narration and unresolved questions, it is easy to understand why some readers find it all difficult to grasp. However, "Harrow the Ninth" is absolutely worth the time.

There's a lot of things to adore about this sequel, but the portrayal of Harrow's grief, feeling of inadequacy, and utter helplessness take the crown. "Harrow the Ninth" is a story about loss and about love, it's about desperately clinging to that which doesn't exist anymore - a home she cannot go back to and which will never be the same, a person who gave their life for hers, and to a version of herself that she no longer is. It is about change and the inability to finally accept it.

"Harrow the Ninth" is a worthy sequel to a riveting book such as "Gideon the Ninth" and provides a compelling foundation for the rest of the series. Although the novel might seem a little slow and complicated, my honest advice is to just leave all your expectations behind, keep reading, and accept everything as it is written. The book is highly rewarding and offers something new and different. Reading through it has been a beautiful experience and I cannot wait to continue with the series and to, one day, reread it and appreciate it even more.

[egg-emperor]

something I love about Eggman's English voices in the games is that he really sounds like his age range. it's always been reflected well in his voice, they always pick the actors right thanks to the age specs in the casting set in place. (from what I've heard, the other languages do too- but Eng is my expertise thus my focus here)

Deem was in his 50s when he started voicing Eggman and his take immediately sounded like it was in the 50s-60 range that the character is. I can't find a better way to describe other than you can just hear the age in the voice and it's fantastic for him, it fits so well. it was literally the perfect first canon game English casting for Eggman

Mike was much younger when first voicing Eggman at 38. I never felt there was a time his take didn't work, it always did- the unique type of gruffness he gives Eggman's voice made him sound a lot older because he has the talent to transform his voice like that (Gerald, hello). but he naturally sounded quite a bit younger for Eggman than Deem then

but of course over the years, it's become even more suited for Eggman's voice with time and age. which is of course mostly his talent and experience voicing the character, all due credit. but part of it is the age in his voice too. he sounded brilliant in X/Shadow 05 already but compare to any recent release like Dream Team, the evolution in all areas is great

I saw someone saying you could hear the age in the voice intending it as a criticism back when people were debating the quality of the all of the Dream Team cast performances. and I was like you're joking, it's good that you can hear the age in the voice for Eggman, the 50-60 year old character. that way Mike's voice actually fits for him more than ever lol

Mike actually said something along the lines of this himself in an interview a few months ago. paraphrasing heavily as I'd have to go back but it was something like- as he's approaching Eggman's age (he sees Eggman as around 60, he'd said it before that too) the voice falls more naturally in his range. which was cool as I thought so before that interview happened!

it now suits Eggman so well in the same way I always felt with Deem too, so that's nothing but an improvement. when Eggman audibly has that gruffness and age in his voice it's the best 💜

[averyangrytissuebox]

Considering that there are very few campaign reviews for Arkham Horror, I figured I should throw my hat into the ring and give it a go. This will probably be a short series of posts for each campaign. I have played almost all of the campaigns (I am on the last scenario of Scarlet Keys playing Charlie Kane and on scenario 3 of an Innsmouth campaign that will return eventually). I will be exclusively reviewing the main campaigns and not the return to's because it is near impossible to get them these days (I recognise this limits The Forgotten Age's review but c'est la vie). With all that said and done, lets delve too deep together and get some experience.

Night of the Zealot: Let's start at the Beginning. It is a very good place to start

Yes, I am aware this is a mini campaign technically because it is only 3 scenarios but shush or I am removing your text box

I have much less to say about Night of the Zealot than I do about the other campaigns but that is simply because of its brevity. This campaign is tight and the three scenarios are used well to introduce the main mechanics of Arkham Horror as a whole. It is easy once you know how to play and deck build properly but by that point, there are 9 other options plus some fantastic fan made content.

Midnight Masks is the true stand out of this campaign because of the game feel. The dynamic of spending clues to uncover the cultists across the town who you can either kill or fulfil unique challenges to entrap them in other ways. The scenario also has a catch up for players that fall behind when the first agenda advances, it brings in a unique cultist that is easy to kill and gives XP.

If I had to name a bad scenario, it'd be the last one. Adding a random encounter set means that we don't get to enjoy all of the flavour that Arkham can do so well. We also can finish the scenario before we see the big bad and the big bad is less interesting than it could be. Umôrdhoth The Devourer Below, for reasons beyond my mortal comprehension, is not a monster and so Lita doesn't help you get through it's massive health pool. All three of these scenarios have ancient evils which is an interesting choice for an introduction but the agenda numbers are very generous so I assume it's more about scaring new players. I've run through this campaign on expert and you do feel a crunch but it's not super tight.

There are no specific investigators I'd recommend for this due to its brevity and limited upgrades. So long as you aren't playing a build that requires 15+ xp, you should have a great time

Overall, I have a lot of fondness for this mini campaign. It is a fantastic way to lure in new players to a phenomenal game that I have sunk many hours into. It isn't my favourite but a good taster before I can get them to agree to playing one of the better campaigns.

Other reviews in this series:

Path to Carcosa: The perfection of the base formula

Dunwich Legacy: Good but with growing pains

[onceuponalegendbg-rwby]

RWBY Retrospective - Volume 2

With Volume 1's success, the team now had proof that there was an audience for this show. They just had to see if they could keep the momentum going.

Volume 2 is in an interesting position because it basically works as a middle chapter of a prologue, meaning it's meant as a connection point for V1 and 3. Not to say nothing happens, quite the contrary, but that it feels even more open ended than V1's finale. Our team even mentions that there's still so many questions and things to solve. However, V2 is a step forward for the series regardless.

From the first shot the show is letting us know that things have improved. The textures for the buildings look better, no longer just flat images. The first real shot we see of Beacon is grand and a far cry from episode 2 of V1's. Same can be said for the NPCs. Gone are the Shadow People and their comedic potential, now we have actual models. The coloring is also so much better, saturation levels seeming to have evened out enough to where characters like Weiss with her mostly white color scheme no longer hurt your eyes to look at.

This volume also does a better job at expanding on characters that didn't get much focus previously - characters like Yang and Pyrrha. It's not flawless in this department but there's an attempt made to give these characters depth past their initial impressions and I'd say that they succeed.

The show still carries over some of it's pacing issues from before, but they don't feel nearly as distracting as V1, most likely due to the episodes all being a more consistent and longer length than V1's four-six minute two parters. There's also just the lingering problem of not having the time to properly explain some mechanics of the world, which is no doubt why the World of Remnant videos that started up in this volume felt necessary to the crew.

Some General and Unfiltered Thoughts

While I know people have some issue with the whole Neptune - Weiss - Jaune part of the season, it doesn't really bother me, personally. It's just kind of there. I mostly just end up feeling bad for Pyrrha the whole time until Jaune gets his head on straight.

I find that the season's humor has improved. There's a few jokes that don't work for me, but over all I found myself laughing more. It feels like they're finding their footing a little better in that department here.

The foreshadowing is through the roof this volume, and given what happens in V3... Well. Let's just say it was warranted. Our trio of baddies take the stage and set us up for the inevitable fall.

While I love the Food Fight and the RWBY vs Roman fight I think the fights during the Mountain Glen arc (before and after the train) are kind of meh? A lot of it is split screen shots, and while CFVY's entrance is cool the rest feels... anticlimatic. Which I understand is a little bit of the point in regards to episode 12 but when viewed in a vacuum it's... not my favorite.

Genuinely the Burning the Candle Bee scene still remains one of my favorite scenes in the entire show. The lighting is gorgeous for early RWBY, Barb and Arryn do a great job, and the music is on point. There's just something so warm (heh) about that entire interaction and I will fight anyone who says this wasn't some of the best stuff in the first three volumes.

Music, as always, fantastic. Though I still cannot stand the rap in Caffeine.

[onyourowndaisymae]

Hey Daisy, congrats on 500 followers!! Whoo🎉

So I'd like to request prompt #6 "I win" with Solomon x reader (if gender is mentioned/needed, please write it for gn/f reader). I thought it would be perfect for a scenario with him and mc doing some practical sorcerer training stuff and mc ends up playfully challenging him to a duel. Sol accepts with a knowing grin, and he fights mc with confidence, but mc also doesn't plan on going down easily (just so they can wipe that shit eating grin off Sol's face)... Eventually they end up in an intimate position with him on top of mc, both of them breathing hard. Mc can't help blushing at the closeness, so he smirks down at them and goes "I win"... (in my mind, they have a pre-established relationship here, so this could lead to nsfw-ish stuff, but not necessarily)

I'm down bad for this man😩 If you have another idea, it's totally fine, just thought I'd try to share what's in my head😆 Thanks in advance💙

in your defense-- you are a fantastic fucking sorcerer. the power you wield is enough to subdue seven of the most powerful demons in the devildom without breaking a sweat. your untamed abilities almost caused the collapse of all three realms. you are a fire, a force to be reckoned with-- a legend, dammit!

so, then... how did you end up pinned to the ground, out of breath, and thoroughly beaten in a duel you started?

well. the training had started like any other-- spell demonstrations, potion making, boring sorcerer lessons that eventually made both of your concentrations slip. you were feeling hcompetitive and riled that day. no more spellbooks, solomon, c'mon, let's do something interesting! and today, your lovely boyfriend was feeling (in the mood to fucking lose) generous, and took you up on an offer for a "friendly duel".

"friendly" probably wasn't the word to describe what ended up happening. it started as such, with a few playful spells being tossed back and forth, but soon solomon's taunts got the best of you. your spells became more pointed as time went on, and his rose to match your intensity.

sparks (literally) flew as you shot spells at each other. one of yours made solomon's cape flip over his face (and wrap around his neck... maybe that one was a little mean). a spell of his knocked you flat on your ass a few feet back. that smug ass grin on solomon's face made you fight harder-- how was it that his skill dwarfed your own so thoroughly?! you'd been working tirelessly for months on your craft, and yet he was able to run circles around you, able to fight back while laughing.

the real frustration came when he started dodging your attacks, even going as far as to throw himself on top of his work desk so you wouldn't hit him with knockback spell. fine. if that's how it's going to be, then he could certainly be dragged closer then, hmm? you recalled a spell you learned when studying with satan for exams, and cast it, with the intent of drawing solomon to you like a magnet.

what you lack in technical knowledge, you make up for in power. solomon's body flung itself towards you, bowling both of you over in a tangle of limbs and panic.

silence. the room is void of all sound except the steady pants of exertion as you two catch your breath. solomon is glued to you, with his body having been intertwined awkwardly with you at some point while falling, and now he has you pinned underneath him. his face hovers close to yours as his gray eyes flit around to try to understand what has happened.

then, he smirks.

"someone's a sore loser," solomon breathes, watching each bashful twitch in your expression as you realize this situation was, in fact, your fault.

"loser? i didn't lose."

"oh really? what makes you say that?"

"I got you! i incapacitated you!"

"... i'm the one incapacitated? i have you pinned."

"that wasn't part of the rules."

"we didn't establish any rules."

"... they were implied."

he laughs in your face, grin splitting his rosy cheeks. the heat of his body on yours was starting to get to you. did he really have to land in such a compromising position? his legs were tangled with your own, with his knee stuck between your thighs, your chests glued together by the spell you'd cast-- the one you couldn't currently undo, of course, because your hands were pinned between your bodies when you tried to shield yourself earlier.

"we're really stuck, huh? well, come on, apprentice, fix your mistake."

"... i don't think i can."

"oh?"

"my arms are stuck."

you can tell by the look on his face that he knew this already-- that he was cornering you with his words like he had done with his body.

"so, you're pinned with no escape because of your wonky spell... and somehow I'm the one that's lost here?"

you let your head lull to the side in shame as you realize how badly you've lost. still, though, you can't admit defeat, not aloud.

his lips find your skin, soft and warm as he litters kisses up your jawline and the side of your neck. you gasp-- his lips curl into a smirk against your throat. you think about chiding him for taking advantage of such a situation. then again... something about the heat of his body intertwined with yours was making you feel a certain way.

"oh, did you like that?" he teases, hand drifting up and down your arm to feel the new field of goosebumps that have taken up residence across your skin. "i like being this close. i get to see all your little reactions, all the ways you respond to my touch... it's fascinating, really."

"should we call someone for help?"

"oh, no," solomon replies, grinning wickedly. "i don't want anyone to walk in on something like this."

"what do you mean?"

"the aftermath of our little duel? i win, after all. don't you think i deserve a prize?"

you like the sound of that.

i am officially out of requests for this event w plenty of prompts left-- if you would like to request a prompt (anon or not), please feel free!

(i also would like to apologize again for taking forever to get this one out, life got in the way)

[500 follower event masterlist] // [obey me masterlist]