#absolute mood ruiners

[dentist-brainsurgeon]

Love being constantly reminded why I don't leave my room

[minnnoru]

Do you still accept requests? If yes more Jerejean pls 🧎🏻‍♀️

Jeremy Knox does not, in fact, have daddy issues.

At least, that’s what he tells himself every time someone brings up their totally normal and still-present fathers. He’s totally fine. His dad leaving one fateful Tuesday afternoon with the immortal words, "Just running to the store for milk. Be back soon, champ," does not affect him. At all.

Not even when the almost-empty carton in the fridge went bad. Not even when it curdled. Not even when it fossilized.

Totally fine.

And he’d managed to keep it that way for a solid twenty-one years. That is, until Jean Moreau, cynicism incarnate, opens his sharp, French mouth and ruins everything.

It starts like this:

Jeremy, sweet, sunny, ever-happy Jeremy, is at a post-game Exy celebration, halfway into a beer and fully invested in telling the team about a completely harmless childhood anecdote.

“So anyway, my dad went out for milk when I was eight and never came back—”

Silence.

Absolute, deafening silence.

Cody looks horrified. Derrick's beer pauses mid-air. Laila stares like he’s just confessed to murder.

And then—Jean Moreau, traitor, ruiner of moods, destroyer of good times, frowns and leans back in his chair.

“Ah,” he says, like he solved a riddle. “So that is why you are like this.”

Jeremy blinks. “Like what?”

Jean lifts a brow. “Optimistic.”

Cat coughs into her drink.

Jeremy scoffs, offended. “I was already optimistic before my dad left.”

Jean hums, deeply unconvinced. “Yes. I am sure.”

After that, it becomes a thing.

Jean, insufferable in the way only a man who has survived the Ravens and come out even meaner can be, does not let it go.

Every chance he gets, he slips a joke in.

When Jeremy forgets his keys: “Did you learn that from your father? Vanishing unexpectedly?”

When Jeremy holds up an empty milk carton: “Déjà vu, no?”

When the team’s bus breaks down: “Did your father take up bus driving?”

Jeremy, naturally, tries to retaliate.

He might be kind by nature, but he’s still a competitive athlete and he wants to land a comeback or two. The problem is, he’s… not great at it.

When Jean forgets his Exy stick, Jeremy blurts out, “Wow, uh… maybe you, like, inherited that from someone irresponsible? Like… um… Riko?”

Jean raises an eyebrow. “Inherited it from Riko?”

“I mean. Learned it from. Whatever.”

When Jean sighs dramatically at practice, Jeremy shoots back, “Bet you wouldn’t be so dramatic if you’d had, you know. A solid father figure. Probably would’ve turned out way more… emotionally stable?”

Cat winces. “Oof.”

When Jean mocks his optimism again, Jeremy mutters, “At least my dad left without giving a whole evil monologue first.”

Jean pauses. “Was that a dig at me or my trauma?”

“…Both?” Jeremy offers, sheepish.

Cody groans into their hands. “Please. I am begging you both. Stop.”

---

It should be infuriating. Should be.

But Jeremy, who has survived worse (like his mother’s attempt at a “healthy” vegan Thanksgiving), finds himself… enjoying it?

Which is insane.

Jean Moreau is not fun. Jean Moreau is not nice. Jean Moreau is about as warm and inviting as a haunted house.

And yet.

There’s something about it. The way Jean doesn’t pity him. The way Jean pushes but never wounds.

Jeremy doesn’t think about it too hard. Because if he thinks about it too hard, he might start thinking about the way Jean looks at him. The way Jean stays close, even when he pretends he isn’t. The way Jean, despite everything, is still here.

And Jeremy doesn’t do complicated.

(Or at least, that’s what he tells himself.)

---

Things come to a head one night when Jean, for once, doesn’t make a joke.

Jeremy notices immediately. Because when you spend months engaging in mutually assured daddy issue warfare, you notice when the battlefield goes quiet.

“What’s with the long face?”

Jean exhales. “Do you ever…” He hesitates. “Do you ever think about it?”

Jeremy, for once, does not joke. He thinks about how often he doesn’t think about it. How he’s spent his whole life not thinking about it.

But Jean isn’t just anyone. Jean is Jean.

So Jeremy shrugs. “Only when I run out of milk.”

Jean huffs, almost a laugh.

---

After that, things shift.

The jokes are still there, but now, sometimes, Jean softens.

A hand on Jeremy’s back when he thinks no one’s looking.

A quiet, “You’re not as alone as you think.”

A night where, against all logic and reason, Jean kisses him first.

Jeremy, breathless, doesn’t pull away. Instead, he grins against Jean’s lips and whispers, “Wow. Bet my dad didn’t see this one coming.”

Jean groans. “I take it back. Leave.”

Jeremy doesn’t. He just grins and pulls Jean back in.

[omgwhatchloe]

some lil headcanons because im bored🐺

-if arthur or someone else brings back bad meat, sean gets toothache while eating the stew. he doesnt make it obvious on purpose, but the way his eyes brim with frustrated tears as he holds his cheek and throws his stew to the side makes it quite hard to hide.

-lenny has absolutely no awareness for other people when it comes to stretching. more than once he has stretched and accidentally half-punched someone in the face. he stretched his arms out near sean and the silly irishman thought he was putting his arm around him and fully leant in. lenny did not correct him.

-dutch is the only one in camp who likes those records. for everyone else theyre an absolute mood ruiner and they cannot be happy until theyre turned off. he, similarly, absolutely cannot stand sean’s jawharp.

-sean lost his front tooth as a kid, completely his fault. he got told multiple times to calm down by his da and stop running around, but sean being sean he didnt, ran straight headfirst into their table and knocked his tooth out. scream-cried, would not calm down, was yelled at but also held.

-if mary-beth doesnt like the ending of a book, she will just write her own ending. maybe add her own characters. she is yet to realise this is, in fact, fanfiction.

-molly comes up with the most stupid insults during a fight. once called dutch a soggy milk bottle. why? she doesnt know. no one knows.

-1907 jack could talk mega shit about anyone if someone let him.

-1899 jack loves insects. he loves to bring worms for bait for pearson, or snails to stick on john. sometimes he brings arthur butterflies to draw. he brought dutch, who was in a tent, a slug once and was confused on why he freaked out and demanded he “get it off the rug right now”

-hosea snores like crazy. makes bill and lenny (who have their bedrolls next to him) want to tear their own eardrums out. while the other members hate it, it doesnt stop them sitting upright immediately and panicking slightly when they hear him pause for too long

-lenny would love board games, but, inspired by another post i saw, would get extremely bossy and frustrated when people wouldn’t play right. takes it extremely seriously and is a sore loser to add onto it. cannot stand people who dont play right. playing half-heartedly? fuck off. your out. go away. go. quit halfway through due to the fact hes made it boring? get the hell out of his sight. he will NEVER forget this. cheating? fetch the guillotine. your beheaded.

-tilly is so blunt in showing shes not interested when someone flirts with her, and she knows it. she will literally stare them dead in the eyes and go “ew”, maybe with a facial expression to match.

-kieran used to have a lisp.

[morgana-ren]

So is Tomura getting into screaming matches with kids over PvP canon now.

Oh yeah, that's been canon for a while now too.

There was some jokey strips of Horikoshi's a while back that confirmed it, as well as him saying that he imagines Tomura plays Dark Souls.

So basically, this man is out here deliberately seeking out PvP with people online, getting pissed off when he loses (inconcievable!) and then smashing his shit up as a result.

Don't get me wrong, I can see him loading up Fortnite, and starting shit, doing well for a while, but then getting danced on after getting capped in the fuckin' dome and just fuckin' seething.

But I think him playing a game like Dark Souls or Elden Ring is arguably funnier, because the community does not fuck around, especially in the older games like the OG Dark Souls or Bloodborne. They are there with the very specific goal of ruining your entire fuckin' day, and they are damn good at it. The John Wicks of mood ruiners. It's a fuckin' profession.

I imagine he's pretty good at the games. Like he makes a point to be very good and be one of those professional mood-ruiners-- until he runs into the guy. Everyone who plays those games knows the guy. The one with no armor, butt-ass naked, with nothing but a broken straight sword or a club, and you think it'll be easy because it's probably some newbie about to get crushed. And he fucking demolishes you.

There's that guy, and then there's the obnoxious cheese hound, who uses the cheapest weapons (dual Corpse Piler, anyone?) and the houndiest of armors, and just breaks all the conventions and courtesies of PvP.

Listen, I am not personally of the belief that there really are any rules in PvP if you're outside a colosseum. I see people in the Souls tags whinging constantly about their experiences in PvP, and it's like... Yo, your experiences are not universal. Your personal rules don't fuckin' matter. You're the one invading someone's game, I got no fuckin' sympathy for you if you get destroyed. I don't care the games are tilted against you now. I don't care that you get ganked. In my opinion? Lmao. Get fucked.

But I imagine Tomura is the type of guy who only observes courtesies when it's convenient (and by 'observes,' I mean bitches when someone doesn't observe his personal rules) and will absolutely use the nastiest, cheapest, dirtiest tricks when he wants to. The man is a fucking menace online. Hideous cackles when he's winning and fucking shrieking when he is losing.

And when he loses against all odds?

Oh, he throws a fit the likes of which would-- well, probably match a lot of the Souls Online Enthusiasts™ I've seen, actually.

[huckleberrykai]

PLEASE that's so funny to me😭😭 It really fits Kai though, he gets too embarrassed/put off if the plushies are facing you, absolute mood ruiner fr😐

YEAH he's a gentleman he doesn't want to scar his fur babies but he'll be damned if that's stopping him from getting in your pants 🫣

or he shoves them in the closet and calls it plushie daycare then rearranges them all around you when you're done and cleaned up to comfort you after he went a little rough djakdhaka pls this is so funny

[the-kipsabian]

the early days of aew had soooo much potential and were so fun but then you have absolute mood ruiners like 15 minutes of jericho just talking about fuck all and jr in commentary

[bringmefoxgloves]

i am now actually sitting down and listening to the downward spiral in full tonight (surprising i haven't) cause i'm in a music mood. so witness my live track by track filled with a lot of imagery. that's just how my mind works. okay here we go:

damn. mr. self destruct already has my entire attention and has me by the throat. the electric guitar breakdown at the end...... just jfc that song feels like my heart is a misshapen record with scratches and it's being played with an icepick.

piggy makes me feel like i'm in the middle of the summer and walking through one of those massive drainage pipes until about minute two. and then a summer storm rolls in and i'm about to drown. and listening to trent reznor inhale in the play out is doing something to me.

heresy HOLY SHIT feels like i'm driving at night in a car that has a conversation in the front that you really want to hear but the bass boosted speakers against your back are rattling your teeth in your head so hard you can't hear anything but your bones clicking. but then you're in a car crash. also the lyrics are so wes-core i feel like this is just my brain draining out of my ears after said car crash.

march of the pigs is like you're playing a mario or sonic level from hell in the middle of a berlin nightclub while on a mixture of drugs that will have you raving for weeks. i fucking love it. the switch that feels as sudden as a tapedeck clicking on the lyrics of 'now doesn't it make you feel better?' with the piano.... if there is a way to make audio moments physical so i could fit them inside my mouth and chew? yes, that is one i would like to have.

closer.... need I say more. this is one i have heard before (you would have to be dead to not have heard closer) but now that it's in the atmosphere of the entirety of the downward spiral, it's only better. yes i want you to fuck me like an animal mr reznor. this lava lamp type of electric sound & marriage of bass is a physical presence and it is perhaps fucking me.

that transition into ruiner WAS CLEAN!!! i feel like i'm in the middle of a mosh pit that is somehow in like. idk dracula's castle. that entire section (you know the one in this) is indeed a dick metaphor. and then when the tortured guitar that sounds like it’s about to snap every one of its strings played by a resurrected jimi hendrix that really hates you in particular comes in it just is. so much. hearing the wetness of reznor's mouth as he breathes in and out is.... i shan't say.

oh WOW that cut off from ruiner to the becoming had me pausing and going wait. that's insane. anyways the becoming. teheheh i beat my machine. ALRIGHT ALRIGHT. i'm in the middle of the nightclub featured in the collection (2012). and i'm absolutely jamming to the screams while reznor's voice is carrying me by puppet strings. the switchup after the line 'but it's all clear' feels like i'm now on the floor slowly bleeding out, and then i'm being torn apart by dogs. goddamn this noise inside my head, indeed.

i do not wait this, but yes, yes, i really do want this. please keep speaking directly into my head yes. the music is scratching an itch i didn’t know i had. the entire last minute of the lyrics is #mood. hearing trent pronouncing 'fuck' in that way makes you think about the meaning of the word.

ooooo funky noise and drumbeat that has me immediately bouncing my leg. yessss big man with a gun. this is pure machismo and makes a gun the tool of sex. (meme voice) oh wow.

a warm place. just. is me floating facedown in a saltwater pool filled with water from the dead sea. i feel so cradled and light. glorious. completely immersed in this instrumental like few instrumentals ever make me.

eraser at the beginning makes me think i'm driving through some godforsaken part of the american west and the radio is on and the people in the car are making funny noises over the radio static. then that drum kicks in and the bass layers like i'm about to enter a boss battle. it's a cobra with those cartoon eyes that are swirls and it wants me to kiss it. then it all snaps apart for trent to swoop in riding a hurricane screaming: kill me.

reptile, the start has me thinking i'm back in the backroom of an empty grocery store trying to sneak away from a killer. the sudden smash in at the one minute mark is me hitting the ground. dead. the rest of the song i feel like i'm overhearing sex between an angel and a devil while i'm tied like a dog on the floor at the end of the bed.

the title track!!! the downward spiral at the start of it has me feeling like a fly buzzing against a broken glass window after escaping a dish of honey, too drunk to find my way out from the gap directly in front of me. once trent's voice comes in, with those screams in the background.... i feel like he's leaning into my ear and confessing to this in a darken movie theater watching a goresplattering flick.

and goddamn. hurt. i had heard the johnny cash cover of this before i ever heard this one, and then i listened to the original shortly after and it's the only other song i've heard before (closer was the other). but once again, with it in context of this album..... it feels like a baptism in wine you're not quite sure isn't just blood that trent reznor poured out for you from his own wrists. just. goddamn. godamn. it sounds like he has salvation right in his trembling hands and is asking you to take its heavy burden from him, please, but instead it’s a knife he guts you like a fish with, and you still say thank you.

conclusion: if i had heard this album in middle or high school i would have become a very different person i think. i might have burned down the catholic church i grew up in. i might have had sex even. that's how powerful and solid and sensual this album is. it has its reputation for a reason, and i can't believe i hadn't heard this album in full before this. but i have now. also robin finck i need your gender NOW

[nighty-amy]

Nothing angers me so much as anime/book/reality show characters that are surprised when someone says they don't drink and ask is it because of medical reasons.

I'm coming from a country where drinking at virtually every single occasion is socially expected and being a teetotaler is seen as something weird. The only "acceptable" reasons why you might not want to drink (and even those don't always work) are:

Currently taking meds for a specific condition

Pregnancy

If you say you simply don't drink because, say, you simply don't like the taste, 98% you'll get the reaction from images above. And plenty of people trying to convince you to drink anyway and not be a mood ruiner. And if you say you are driving, you'll be encouraged to leave the car at the parking place and call a taxi (let's omit those people who will say "you won't get drunk after one shot").

I hear those at basically every single gathering when I say I hate the smell and taste of alcohol, to the point I don't even like chocolates with alcohol in it. It's unfortunately often treated as something I'll "eventually grow up to".

If you can't or don't want to drink, then don't drink. And if someone tries to persuade you to do it, you have absolutely every right to refuse (and even tell them off if they are insistent). You don't drink - end of the discussion.

[dashawfrostart]

This Week In "Time & Again" #30: Gettin' There Little By Little 💪 And About The Inevitability Of Inconsistencies

(look, look! He CAN be cute sometimes, I swear!.. Not always terrible)

Well... I was hoping to make another post before the New Year's, but failed at it. Those were not fake promises: that's just adult's life, and it's totally normal 😁 Happy New Year everyone!!! I hope that the new year brings you a lot of wonderful achievements!!!

And here's the happy news right away! I made my way through the majority of the lineart for Chapter 6.1!!! 🥳

As indicated earlier, there are still some parts that I will have to come back to and address later on after a satisfactory amount of research. But the majority is done. I am very happy. I will miss you dearly, [redacted], until you appear in the story again. So I'm moving on to Part 2 now 😁

Oh irony! Even with Lothar's anger outbursts that I teasingly mentioned in the previous post, Chapter 6 is going to feel quite tranquilized. Oftentimes, I think about that awesome Evangelion meme with Kermit The Frog that fantastically pinpoints the difference between the opening mood and that of the rest of the show (and unfortunately, no matter how much I try, I cannot find that meme anywhere in the internet or even on my phone... I swear I did NOT fantasize it). Up to this day and since forever ago, that is one of my absolute favourite Evangelion memes. Well, aside from "I'm not getting in the effing robot: change my mind". So, I see a strong resemblance between that meme, Evangelion, and "Time & Again". Evangelion was and still is one of the biggest inspirations for "Time & Again", and you will see it very clearly in Chapter 6. There's a little bit of everything. A story about two contract killers in love?! With time travel, and tagged as "action"?! And "aliens"?! And "comedy", on top of that?! Gee, that must be intense!.. But no! Instead, you're thrown directly into Lothar's broken head and showered with his countless, repetitive, tedious thoughts on the meaning of existence and sour memories of the love that is irreversibly (?!) gone. Welcome to "Time & Again", folks 😁. The story that most likely will break your expectations. Because expectations always only prematurely limit and therefore ruin our experience and enjoyment, so it's better to go without them at all 😝 (the statement has been 100% proven by my own experience)

Anyways, here's "a fun ruiner" (those of you who want to solve all the puzzles in the story by themselves - please skip this paragraph): even though the chapter is gonna be focused primarily on Lothar's stuttering and ever-multiplying thoughts, there's still gonna be a lot of pop-culture references. Again, including subtle Evangelion references. And references to Easter eggs from another certain franchise. Mystery and mystification? Yes please!!!

Now, one more thing. I keep repetitively mentioning the importance of consistency in one's art style in my blog posts. So here's more on the topic.

I take 3 4 sketchbooks with me all the time: one has the storyboard, and the other 2 3 have designs of the characters and their outfits (both require a certain consistency when drawing, as you may have guessed. Lothar might be a rich guy after all, but he won't change his shirt every hour). I remember reading about Naoko Takeuchi's work and how she mentioned that she used to forget to draw certain elements on the outfits of Sailor senshi here and there because those designs were so complex and highly detailed. This fact entertains me... Because I can totally relate. Especially since my outfit designs are also getting progressively complex, and some invisible hand (must be my subconscious) just keeps pushing me to do that despite my clear logical intention to simplify things. Darn it. It's like when you fight [redacted] in [also redacted] in Vampire Survivors, and they just keep pulling White Reaper from the side of the screen to insta-kill the players. In other words, I'm getting really carried away sometimes, when I'm having a lot of fun. It's hard to keep up with fizzingly explosive nature of creativity, because there is nothing rational about it by default. Art is weird. That's why I bring my sketchbooks with me to my studio room, so that I could look at them and make sure I'm not missing another button, zipper or a part of embroidery on anybody's outfit... And, last but not the least, to also make sure that I draw the shape of Beatnik's nose right on every panel. After all, that guy cannot have his facial features altered with a plastic surgery on every panel. I'm still a human tho, and I'm destined to fail at times, for nobody's perfect. In fact, just today I noticed a mistake in Chapter 4 when checking for something - that is, about a year and a half after release 😱💀 Peck! Now that needs to be fixed and updated on GlobalComix and Itch. 🤦‍♀️ *sigh*

Now, time for some weird musings - for your amusement (pun most certainly intended). I already talked numerous times to virtually everybody I know about my experience of how one's art style changes almost every drawing session (even over the course of 24 hours). By a little bit, perhaps unnoticeable to the majority of the viewers - but the artist themselves can definitely spot the difference, subtle and ghastly, but it's certainly still there. I don't know if that happens to absolute 100% of the artists, but I can definitely see that this happens TO ME. Since a giant comic chapter cannot be done in one sitting neither hypothetically nor physically, the tiny, miniscule fluctuations in the art style will be inevitably present - even though they could be easily omitted/ignored by the readers. Come to think of that: that entertaining observation correlates with the bizarre idea of us dying every time we go to sleep and becoming different "ourselves" (or just flat out different people, to take it to the extremes) as we wake up. Every drawing session is an act of feverish madness driven by the hand of a higher entity (there are multiple interpretations of the aforementioned theory in cultorology), every each one of them has nothing to do with the subsequent ones. We can talk about some ephemeral, general "art style" of a certain artist, and yes indeed, these variations of the same art style have a lot in common - and yet, they're still different, slightly or vastly - depending. Or at least that's what is feels like to me.

Finally, to the less complex stuff to wrap up the post 😁 There's a lot of black colour in Chapter 6. Even though I listen to happier music, such as vaporwave and new wave. Although Marc Almond's music is not exactly giving me that even and steady cathartic feeling that is incredibly useful when drawing but rather strikes hard and loud as thunder at times, I still really appreciate it. I do need to switch back to Floral Shoppe and the albums of Nmesh sometimes to maintain the solid steadiness of my work. Vaporwave is so darn good for this chapter every time when [redacted] or [redacted] appear on the pages. It just fits so perfectly. But, looking forward to working on the excruciatingly dark Chapter 6.2 further, I also mentally prepare myself to industrial, metal and twisted creative electronic with a chaotic, horror-esque elements to establish that direct connection between my mind and my drawing stylus that I really need. So, basically, back to Skinny Puppy again. And no, I said Skinny Puppy, not Fat Dog (although the latter are very good!).

P.S. I don't think I've ever mentioned that before, but drawing female characters is incredibly difficult for me 😅 but I'll write more about that later.

P.P.S. Lothar is sure an attractive character... When you don't know him close enough. And when you DO know him close enough, he's still attractive... but he's also begging for a punch in the throat. Or a kick in a lower area. Something like that, anyway.

P.P.P.S. The first video game I beat this year was Fatum Betula. It's an absolutely fantastic little experience in another world, with multiple endings. It's quite artistic, bizarre, and quirky sometimes, a little dark but also fun at times. The skeleton ending was simply wonderful. I highly recommend!

[metrosexualcyclops]

“♫”

hiiii kitty thank you for the ask :333

Mr. Crowley by Ozzy Osbourne

the synths in the beginning are so so epic AND i just really like ozzy's vocals in this one!! itches a very specific part of my brain!!

2. I Am A Poseur by X-Ray Spex

listen if you haven't listened to anything by x-ray spex you definitely should. poly styrene is an absolute POWERHOUSE when it comes to singing. iirc she was trained to sing opera? and she definitely weaponises that in their music. not to mention a lot of the band's songs are just fucking fantastic. aside from this song, i really love their song Identity as well.

3. Mansion Party by Ninja Sex Party

this song is actually so funny HDJSKADN dan's nonchalant kind of singing coupled with the outrageous exaggerations of danny sexbang's wealth is hilarious, and the way it slowly devolves into chaos by the end of the song just adds to it all. and yes, you guessed it! i find the bass line sexy <3

4. Ruiner by Nine Inch Nails

i only ever listen to nin (especially the downward spiral album) whenever i'm really feeling horrible and shit's getting bad again, and i have to say that this song specifically gives me Some feeling of catharsis when i feel like utter shit. the harsh and rough instrumentals already make you feel some kind of way, but the song wouldn't be what it is without trent's vocals imo. the way he's kind of singing in a low, softer voice that manages to still drip with anger and resentment in the verses sets the mood for the song as well as the emotion behind it. and then when he screams the pre-chorus, it just adds to the emotion that the verse set up. the chorus feels almost mocking, and then the ending with him repeating the same thing over and over creates some kind of mood that i really can't describe. i really love this song

5. Starlight Brigade by TWRP

another band that more people really need to listen to. also!! this song features dani avidan!! the synths in this song are absolutely SCRUMPTIOUS and dan's vocals are wonderful as always. the music video is one of my favourite music videos, as well. the art style is beautiful and matches the song perfectly. the moment that chorus kicks in, i can visualise the mv so well and i just absolutely Ascend. i know i already said this but genuinely, dan avidan has a fantastic voice, and his harmonies in the chorus are amazing. my absolute FAVOURITE part of the song is the last chorus, because there's a key change there and it works SO well with the song that i can physically feel my soul leave body.

[planethobbit]

syd or jerry whichever u want 😼

ill do jerry bc its longer!!!

j - just another day , oingo boingo

e - echo chamber , the ark

r - roam , the b-52s

r - relax, take it easy , MIKA

y - your best american girl , mitski

[riverdaleplots]

oh my god it's zombies. chaos reigns in riverdale high as students and teachers alike rapidly devolve into flesh hungry, ooze dribbling mood ruiners. only a few remain, and they've barricaded themselves inside the student lounge (one of very few available sets because the cw is broke have you heard?). cheryl has, miraculously, fashioned the handle of a mop into a combination pistol axe and is refusing to share it with anybody. she's covered in blood and she looks amazing. she's trying very hard not to smile about how good she's turned out to be at shooting and hacking at her former cohorts, but everyone can feel the smug aura radiating off of her. veronica is clinging to archie, who is shirtless, because the second he thought a fight was breaking out he took off half his clothes and ran into the fray. jughead had to pull him out to save his life, losing his beanie in the process. jughead is in the corner trying desperately to craft a new crown hat for himself out of paper, feverishly muttering to himself that he feels naked, and that all his powers are gone. everyone's ignoring him. toni is helping Gay Kevin and josie patch up the remaining survivors using the limited resources available to them. betty has been suspiciously quiet for some time now. veronica tentatively asks her what's wrong, gently placing a hand on betty's shoulder. we, the audience, can tell that betty has absolutely been bitten and hasn't told anyone, because she's an asshole (also homophobe). as she turns to face veronica, we see black ooze trickling slowly out of her mouth, her eyes, her nose. "oh come on!" veronica yells, hastily stepping back and alerting the others to what's happening. "that's so shitty of you betty, what the fuck?" archie demands, flexing his pecs. "i have the serial killer genes. i thought i'd be imm-" betty doesn't get a chance to finish burbling out an excuse, because cheryl shoots her in the face with her pistol axe, dropping betty to the floor. veronica bursts into tears, falling to her knees and placing her hands on betty's shoulders once again. "please- i know it's horrible but please, you have to keep it together just for a little bit-" jughead tries to console veronica, but is cut off by her plaintive wail. "she's wearing one of my sweaters!" she burbles, collapsing on the bloody corpse of her former friend, but making sure to do it in a way that doesn't get her clothes dirty. the cause of the zombie outbreak turns out to be radioactive waste leaking into the town's water supply ("gee THANKS, daddy" veronica snarks). we're given no explanation as to how the survivors weren't infected, so we have to assume it was because none of them drink water, which is insane. roll credits.

[mermaidsirennikita]

Reading a lot of historical romance and I think I'm in a cathartic mood but are there any romances where someone finally gets what's coming to them and they know it?

They destroyed their lives, it's ruined meanwhile the heroine is living her best life with her stud.

I mean, if you want to stick with historical romance, there are definitely a lot of older books where the Evil Woman gets what's coming to her, buuuuut that has not SUPER aged well. I feel like, as a kid, I read a lot of Jude Deveraux and Johanna Lindsey books with this vibe, but those come with plenty of trigger warnings for just about everything that immediately comes to mind--underage heroines, noncon/dubcon, the like.

If I'm totally real, I think that lately a lot of my attention has been focused on the life ruiners getting happy endings, lmao. But from what I recall, in terms of historicals, these could give you what you're looking for.

From what I recall, in Amalie Howard's The Duke in Question (a recent release) there is an absolutely bATSHIT final confrontation between the villain and the leads, which I appreciated greatly. Fairly certain it doesn't end well for him.

You might also want to try Monica McCarty's Highland Guard books for this vibe--The Ranger actually posits the heroine's father as the main villain, and there's a huge, epic confrontation on the battlefield at the end.

Lady Isabella's Scandalous Marriage by Jennifer Ashley features, from what I recall, an EVIL IDENTITY STEALING PAINTER who gets his comeuppance.

I want to say that Duke of Midnight by Elizabeth Hoyt ends with a vengeance murder or capture. I love that book a lot. The hero is very literally Georgian Batman. He's also kind of a piece of shit, to be frank, is all but the villain of someone else's book.

Speaking of, in Devil in Winter (another villain as hero book, if a bit more lowkey) there is like... a hilarious amount of "WE THOUGHT WE HAD 'IM BUT HE'S ACTUALLY STILL ALIVE" in the end of that novel. Which I love, because it reminds me of 90s thrillers.

Lorraine Heath likes to go for this--Between the Devil and Desire has a really cathartic ending, from what I recall. (TW: hero was sexually abused as a child.)

A Lady for A Duke by Alexis Hall features a villainous confrontation, and I believe the heroine has him at swordpoint at one time or the other.

Kerrigan Byrne's books tend to head this way--I believe that Seducing A Stranger may be a good place to start, as it kicks off the Goode Girls series that has a lot of this. Her Devil You Know trilogy features a lot of confrontations with villains in each book, there's also a thriller-esque old school vibe to them.

Marrying Winterborne by Lisa Kleypas deals with this... famously deliciously.

Seduce Me At Sunrise by Lisa Kleypas has an evil doctor who wants her for himself!!! And I believe at one point they like, trap him in a burning armoire or something lmao.,

The last three books of Elizabeth Hoyt's Maiden Lane series actually deal with a vanquishing pedophilic sex cult situation, and the heroines and heroes battling it. Keep in mind that these characters obviously have to deal with the sex cult--the heroes of Duke of Sin and Duke of Pleasure especially. The hero of Duke of Sin is also just fully insane, a total villainous hero, but we root for him because he's a fun guy.

Hope these work!

[onlycosmere]

Elantris Characters and their Dumb, Stupid Secrets That are Dumb

Joe_Anglican: I'm new to Mr. Sanderson's work and my first book, Warbreaker, was enjoyable.

Maybe it's depression or the global pan-pizza but I just finished Elantris and I found it just absolutely got under my skin in all the wrong ways. Among many things that bothered me was the CONSTANT revealing of secret identities or keeping of secrets.

I really do want to be a fun-haver not a fun-ruiner, so to get out of my bad mood I wrote this up in the spirit of giving the author a gentle ribbing. I hope you like it, internet strangers.

<SPOILERS, DUH>

CHARACTERS IN ELANTRIS

Has a Secret Identity or Engages in Secret Keeping for Literally No Reason:

Prince Raoden - Aw shucks, I’m just a regular Joe Leper.

Galladon - Aw shucks, I’m just a regular Jose Farmer.

Princess Sarene - Now that I have bad skin I’m sure no one wants to hear how the King was a cultist and hung himself.

Hrathen - No secrets here! I just thought tattooing “Deus Ex Machina” on my demon arm would be funny.

Dilaf - Type III Demon can only be damaged by +1 or better weapons.

Brutal Gang leader Karata - actually an honorable nursemaid.

Brutal Gang leader Shaor - actually a petulant child.

Brutal Gang leader Aanden - actually a not-crazy sculptor.

King Iadon - It puts the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again.

Uncle Kiin - secretly the Best Pirate Ever

King Eventeo - secretly Fire Lord Ozai

Shuden - secretly a not-Asian not-Kung-Fu master

Lord Roial - secretly not a bored billionaire asshole

Lord Ahan - secretly turned traitor so he could finally win the pageant this year

Lord Eondel - secretly goes and kills the new King without alerting his fellow conspirators

Arteth Fjorn - I was the bumblingest of fools who disappeared in the first chapter but guess who I’m going to kill at the end of the book?! It’s like RA-ee-AAAIN on your wedding day!

Does Not Keep Nonsense Secrets:

Lord Birthmark - actually pretty sensible to keep your plans to usurp the throne and sell out your country to the bad guys on the down low.

That one guy who just loves scrubbing slime

Brandon Sanderson:  Ha. That was pretty hilarious. Joe_Anglican, You'll probably find it amusing to know that I cut out a couple of big twists that ended up being useless except for them being twists. The first draft was even worse.

[infinitelytheheartexpands]

La traviata (La Scala, 1992): Reactions, Part II

@revedebeatrice​

PWETTY (again)

oh ya got Trouble with a capital T and that rhymes with P and that stands for Pool!

you really did it. you really won her over

ngl half the time I skip this aria because I cannot be bothered but this is really lovely

mood

“wait fuck I can’t be a freeloader”

well no, but you are talented

she’s so prettyyyyyyyyyyyyy i can’t get over it

here comes the LIFE-RUINER HELLO LIFE-RUINER

YES QUEEN

“well, uh, I was not expecting my expectations to be messed with”

this Papa Germont is very good

HOW FUCKING DARE YOU (I mean, I get it, but STILL)

oh HONEY

YOU ARE NOT HELPING

sadly, you are absolutely correct

what’s that sound you hear? oh, just my heart breaking nbd

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

A Nerve Has Been Struck

you’re trying but you don’t get it

she deserves SO MUCH BETTER

she’s trying her best

this gets me EVERY TIME

you know they’re related because of the hair

newsflash: Travel Ad For Provence Does Not Make Area Tenor Feel Better

how often do we even get this cabaletta??? 

“ALFREDO STOP BEING SUCH A TENOR”

PWETTY (AGAIN)

the gossip is traveling QUICKLY

I love this party music so much

another serious bop with seriously good dancing

“well, uh, fancy seeing you here”

gorgeous dress but that music spells TROUBLE

seriously, tenors and gambling are NEVER a good combination

I mean, given that he came to your house every day for a year before you two ever spoke to each other, I am completely unsurprised that he has an issue with following you

oh no oh HONEY

ALFREDO DO NOT

FUCK YOU ALFREDO

VIOLETTA DESERVES SO MUCH BETTER

well DAMN

“I RAISED YOU BETTER THAN THIS”

...okay, true. at the same time, you have contributed to this same culture and way of thinking

oh HONEY

Verdian concertantes are just the best

[foli-vora]

As a writer, dude, I totally get it—like you want to write, you even have stuff planned out to write, but at the end of the day, you just can’t. It’s absolutely sucky and a complete mood ruiner (god forbid it happens when your life outside of whatever you want to accomplish—then the bad mood just persists and worsens). Usually when it happens to me, it’s due to some form of burnout, in which I keep telling myself that it’s fine and that I should write because writing makes me feel better sometimes—when in reality I just need to rest and take some time to myself.

I don’t know if this helps, but something that helped me reorient myself is by thinking of it as shifting your productivity towards resting (shifting the goal you’re aiming for shifting from making something to taking care of yourself). It’s a tough thing to learn/unlearn (and one I myself still struggle with), and it absolutely sucks ass that the narrative that’s perpetuated is one that productivity equals quantifiable and often-physical output.

Writing falls into this in some capacity, at least in my experience, just because you get used to the external feedback, and you want to make your followers happy, and you want to share your ideas with them to make them happy, but at the end of the day, constant output like that isn’t sustainable. It especially isn’t sustainable when you have outside work that can sap your mental, emotional, and physical energy on top of everything else. But the fact that it isn’t sustainable is okay. It can suck, especially when your brain is screaming at you to do something already and your physical body just won’t get with the program, but it is okay. It is okay to rest—to have to rest—even when you’d rather not. At the end of the day, all that matters is that you are okay.

Whatever you decide to do, know that we love you and want the best for your mental and physical well-being; you’ve got this, and we’re all rooting for you ❤️

Thank you for this my sweet.

Your words of wisdom are spot on. I guess I just don’t feel like I deserve to rest because I haven’t put anything out, y’know? And I seem to hold myself to a word count standard which is starting to really piss me off tbh. I don’t know. It’s just been a lot this week.

I feel so guilty because I’ve promised so many things, and haven’t updated my series’ in so long, and it’s like hello? Get your ass up and do it? You’re disappointing people. And then I just sit in front of a blank screen with all these ideas running through my head, and I just can’t seem to formulate them enough into words/sentences.

But thank you nonnie. To be seen and understood is something that I really appreciate, as well as your words of support. Sending you a big cuddle ❤️