#also baby metas name is midnight

[icarus-suraki]

1, 7, and 9 for the movie ask!

It occurs to me that I could just answer Goncharov (1972) for all of these…

Movie Questions Ask Bait!

->what is your favorite film of all time? Very possibly Mad Max: Fury Road. That movie rewired my brain. That movie scraped the rust off my soul. That movie sneaked up behind me and stole my spine. And it was great.

I literally went to see it in the theater seven (7) times. Seven. If you dig back in my blog here to June 2015, you'll see that this place was full of Fury Road. Stills, gifs, music, meta, fic, shitposts, all of it. All of it.

Sidebar: I think my absolute love of Fury Road is what's keeping me from wanting to see the new Furiosa prequel: Fury Road didn't explain everything to death so we, the fandom, had a great time imagining explanations or making things up. We dissected that movie and we also left it alone. I don't want to know too much. I like that world being left a partial mystery. We, like Max, get thrown into it and we're both figuring out how it works as the story progresses. I love that.

I can't exactly explain why I love it so much. The colors, the action, the fight scenes, the music (holy shit the music), the characters, the weirdness, the story itself, the callbacks and parallels, the newness and the oldness of it (it really is a train robbery movie at its core), the sense (ultimately) of hope, the presences of women (old women even!) in action roles… Something about it, maybe everything about it, were just perfect for me at that time and in that place.

Yeah. Favorite movie ever.

->name a movie you’re emotionally attached to? There's so many ways I could take this. Positive attachment? Negative attachment? Very Strange Time in My Life attachment?

Like, I know I can never watch L'Illusionniste, Les Triplettes de Belleville, or Grave of the Fireflies again because I cried just too fucking hard at each of them, which I think is an emotional attachment.

Or I could say the Lord of the Rings movies (all of them). They came out when I was in college and a handful of us were counting down the days to the premiere, watching this miniscule clip of video taken by a fan from a train that showed a glimpse of the Minas Tirith set endlessly, gobbling up any news or leak or rumor about production on Livejournal, engaging in the fandom of that era (which was a whole thing in and of itself), even going to midnight local premiers. So while I'm not a huge fan of the movies, they certainly were a constant presence in my undergrad days.

Or it could be the other movies that rewired my brain: Mad Max: Fury Road (see above), Princess Mononoke (baby's first Studio Ghibli film in 1999 at the local art house theater), Star Wars (only episodes 4, 5, and 6 though; I kind of deny that any others exist), Kiki's Delivery Service (which I had on VHS in college and would watch when I was stressed and depressed because I love the city), Voices of a Distant Star (the concept really got me)…

Or it could be the kids' movies from my own childhood, you know? Robin Hood (1973) is very near and dear to my heart. And Panda and the Magic Serpent is what started me down the weaboo road way back when I was 6 years old.

There's so many possible answers here. But that's a few movies I have emotional attachments to. How's that?

->guilty pleasure movie? Do I have to? Okay, okay, okay: I like a good cheesy, gory giallo movie, red tempra paint blood and all. Spaghetti westerns are amazing with their half-understandings or misunderstandings of USAmerican history to the point that it becomes something different, something bigger and more epic (I love The Good, The Bad and the Ugly so much). Martial arts movies full of dramatic scenes and wire-fu are so much fun (and I get to practice my Mandarin or my Japanese). Gothic drama, especially from the 1990s, is great like the original IwtV, Crimson Peak, The Crow…

But I paid actual, real, hard-earned money for a (digital) copy of Bloodsport and it's so bad. It's so bad! But I love it--maybe as much for meta reasons as anything.

Like, the whole thing is based on this Canadian-American guy Frank Dux's memoirs about being trained in ninjutsu by a mysterious Senzo "Tiger" Tanaka (who probably didn't exist at all and has the same name as a character in You Only Live Twice) and then going on to compete in this international full-contact underground martial arts competition in Hong King (the "Kumite"). Oh and he was also in the military at the time, doing covert missions, so he had to go AWOL to fight in this competition of course. Which he does without being caught. And he keeps outsmarting the CID officers (one of whom is played by a young Forest Whitaker) when they chase him to Hong Kong, meanwhile picking up an April O'Neill-style beautiful American journalist ("reporter" because it's the 1980s).

The whole thing is so clearly ridiculous bullshit but it's marketed as being based on a true story because Frank Dux insisted his bullshit was true. And it was produced by Cannon Films, which is another can of worms entirely (I highly recommend the documentary Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films for more backstory on the company; it is bonkers). And did I mention that Frank Dux is played by Jean-Claude van Damme? And yes he does do the most epic of splits.

And the whole thing is simultaneously so deep in meta layers (self-proclaimed martial arts masters, which ties into Count Dante and the dojo wars, Frank Dux's amazing bullshit and stolen valor, Cannon Films) and yet so incredibly shallow at the same time.

There's minimal plot, zero depth to the characters, massively long flashback sequences, even longer training montages, a totally ridiculous amalgamation of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean cultures into just "Asian Culture," the dubbing in some scenes is practically criminal, there's minimal exploration of the location (Hong fucking Kong!!!) outside of a chase and a throwaway scene about bad restaurant food, and even the fight scenes during the tournament aren't really all that great.

But the Kowloon Walled City gets some screentime (except that it's just a set sometimes). And there are tons of locally-hired extras and bit players, along with a slew of international actors and/or actual martial artists, even if a lot of them have been cast as nationalities other than their own???--like Bernard Mariano, who is Filipino by descent but was born in Hong Kong, had no martial arts experience but got scouted while he was working out, was cast as a "Middle Eastern" fighter named Hossein, but used his pay from the movie for university classes to go on to be an English teacher in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, Jean-Claude van Damme is busy taking his shirt off and wearing super tight spandex underwear (he snaps them in one scene; you're welcome). Leah Ayres is a "reporter," which is really "journalist" and one of the few adventurous jobs acceptable for women in 1980s movies to have, who maybe lives in Hong Kong or maybe doesn't but she's super cute and deserves better than she got in the script; she's The Girl (Leah Ayres is now into pseudoscience). And Donald Gibb is playing this American bar brawler who somehow got invited to this elite fighting tournament and he looks like Kurt Russell in The Thing if he were still infected by the Thing and living out on the ice alone.

Like, I could just keep going. I love this shit. There is so little that's "good" in terms of filmmaking, scriptwriting, cinematography, anything in this movie and yet it entertains the fuck out of me.

Hence: guilty pleasure film.

[gallawitchxx]

tag game tuesday thursday: fandom edition! ✨

thank you so much to @celestialmickey @energievie @mzshko @shinygalaxyperson @juliakayyy @mmmichyyy @metalheadmickey for tagging me! & then i'm pretending that @gardenerian & @suzy-queued tagged me too. i love you all so madly 🖤

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your name: bee ���

your age: 13 going on 30 🥳

your first fandom(s): probably harry potter (fuck jkr). there's a picture of baby me that ran in my hometown newspaper at a midnight book release (at borders books! remember that place???), dressed as luna lovegood lolol. i still have the radish earrings that i made out of model magic! but then i was super active in the doctor who fandom in the early 2010s. i never wrote fic or anything though, just irl stuff--god, the 50th anniversary was so fucking fun--& tumblr gifs 🤩

your current fandom(s): shameless 🖕🏼

how did you first get into fandom? see above? lol. i think i just have always been a nerd who likes to engage with media in a fully unhinged way 😅

how long have you been engaging with fandom spaces? i'll keep this answer shamey specific: since early 2021! i fully fell into a deep pit of gallavich & started reading fic & lurking around tumblr. finally made one over the summer & then decided to fully impose on this space for the first ever gallacrafts! what a way to join! ✨

how often do you read fanfics? every damn day 😇

top 3 characters from your current fandom(s): mickey milkovich, ian gallagher, mandy milkovich

have you ever written a fic for a fandom? if so, shout it out! you can find me at gallawitch on ao3 & here's my bee writes 🐝 ✍🏼 tag on tumblr! 😍

have you ever drawn fanart for a fandom? if so, drop a link! surprisingly, yes! there are some on ao3 & then you can also check out my #bee makes art 🐝🎨 tag on tumblr!

share a personal headcanon that you feel very strongly about: i have really big feelings about 4x11 (it's one of my absolute favorite episodes of television, truly) & the powder keg that is the whole day between ian & mickey. you can read some of those thoughts here, but basically i think that regardless of love or mania, ian stopped taking mickey's safety into account when he was pushing him to come out. one day i will find the og meta post i wrote!! i still stand by it! 🗣

you’re trying to convince a friend to get into your current fandom(s) with you. what episode, clip, or scene are you showing them? again, because i am UNHINGED, i actually made this whole interactive summary to introduce someone to ian x mickey, aka the greatest love story of all time & you can read it here: the great ship gallavich 🚢

and finally, what does fandom mean to you? oh holy hell. at this point, it's truly everything to me. it's my escape, it's my joy, it's my entertainment, it's my safe space & it's now my BEST FUCKING FRIENDS. i truly think it's the most comfy i've felt sharing & creating with others & i just think it's a magical & emotional place. words cannot describe my gratitude 💗💗💗

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tagging @crossmydna @whatthebodygraspsnot @whaticameherefor @whatwouldmickeydo @heymrspatel @thisdivorce @squidyyy23 @abundanceofnots @oatmilkovich & @rereadanon if you wanna play! if not, i'm kissing your head! 😘

[meta-knight-is-bisexual]

*crashes through a wall* HI. ME. HERE.

SO. I have this funny headcanon with baby meta knight. OF COURSE he’s nightmare’s fucked up kid, obviously, but Also. nightmare didn’t want to raise this fucking baby so instead of doing anything normal like getting a babysitter, he made a whole ass man. aka, fofa. y’all know fofa, the monster from the anime at was split in half to become fololo and falala(jk you probably don’t remember them and if you do I’m gonna kiss you on the li-). anyways, fofa is much more metas parent than nightmare, and primarily raises him when he’s young. nightmare tries to separate fofa and meta as he gets older, but they always try to stick together <33 until, you know, meta escapes and fofa gets fucking sliced and diced lmao. anyways, I made some doodles for this on call with my partner, enjoy baby meta!!!

[miraculous-trinity-leo]

Ok so... I know I already have a fic going on right now, But... me writing Harley and Ivy as moms/parents to Marinette got me thinking about other fics I could write, so hear me out.

Either Harley or Ivy as Marinettes bio mom... (or both due to a crazy person's experiment...) it will also be a Damianette fic so yeah.

Ok, here are the options:

A. Harley is with Joker... they have a 'special' night or something, and then Joker tried to kill Harley for the something-ith time, and she finally leaves him thanks to Ivy. Ivy and Harley have been friends for a little over 3 years, and Harley may have started feeling happier around Ivy for awhile, and only realized after being free of the Joker that she really loves Ivy, and they start dating like a week or so after that realization.

After some time Harley will wake up with morning sickness, she gets cranky not wanting to go to the docter, but they go anyway, and that's when she finds out she's pregnant. They get back and Harley is in and out of horror, excitement, and all the weird moods a soon to be mother goes through. After a talk with Ivy, they decide to keep the child, and then Marie Quinzel-Isley is born 8 months later. She will still have midnight hair and stunning vibrant light blue eyes, and she'll grow up learning tricks like slight of hand, gymnastics stuff, self-defense, the proper technique to use a bat, and the other usual child of rogues things... (like love for the environment, and extremely exotic pets...).

B. Harley is long over the Joker, and is with Ivy, they are known for their environment protectiveness, and the occasional theft thanks to something Selina drags them into. During two separate occasions, one with Harley getting kidnapped, and then like a week later Ivy, some villain gets their blood, and fusses both their blood, and with plot magic and unknown science, they create a child, when the vilian steels some sort of plant Ivy really loves (and can enhance the baby's meta-powers) Ivy and Harley stumble in on the villian preparing to give the baby some sort of weird something in a needle, they beat the life out of him, asking what the hell he's doing with some random kid. said villian will then tell them it's not just any random child, it's your child (insert some crazy laugh) he gets beat up more, because wtf? who makes a baby out of people's DNA without their consent?(ehem, Talia ehem!!)... anyway they see this child, and it just so happens that in the moment, the baby opens her eyes, and they fall in love with her, effectively keeping her and naming her Mary Quinzel-Isley.

Now for her powers:

For option A. She can just be born with abilities that are a good chunk above the average person. She will learn how to fight with anything and everything, and will be great at reading people.

For option B. She can have both above average physical abilities, and plant manipulation/communication, and will still be good at reading people to some extent. She will learn how to use anything to fight, and will be a little chaoticly creative ball of joy to be around.

and for either option she can also learn magic and stuff, or just have a natural affinity for it, and is also taught by the Riddler so she can kick butt and Riddle me the f-ck out of anyone.

Now on to the Miraculous part, which can be in either option A or B:

Marinette will spend most of her life in Gotham until the Bats start getting a little to curious as to why a mini Harley/Ivy is running around fighting both wannabe villians and on occasion some Teen Titans hero (Beastboy, they become buds after she kicks his butt for the 10th time. and will later be friends with Raven). Selina is also dating Batman so when Selina tells them the Bat is looking for Marinette, she gets stuck with taking care of Marinette until the heat dies down. So when Marinette is 10 she and her Antie Selina go to Paris, where family friends of Selina own a small yet wonderful bakery. Marinette is then introduced to Tom and Sabine, she later meets a crazy girl that lives on her skates named Alix Kubdel and they become friends, since she is kinda board with the school system there, she starts to take up hobbies, like Sewing, more gymnastics, and fencing, where she meets and befriends Kagami Tsurugi. The three are joint at the hip, and are always daring each other to do stupid and or silly things. Marinette always goes back to Gotham on both summer and winter break, but is alsmot never allowed to go out just in case the Bats find her... (almost) she sneeks out sometimes to hang out with Beastboy to see how he and the Titans are doing.

When Marinette is 12 thats when things get a little weird... as in she starts feeling extremely creative/(more)Chaotic at the same time when she's doing something. During one of her Creative/Chaotic moods/feelings she goes out for a walk, noticing a man that fell in the middle of the road, she instantly goes to help him up, leading him to the sidewalk. When she handed the man his cain, she gets a VERY sudden feeling of power, when she looks the man in the face she sees he is also slightly shocked. She wished him well and darted back to her house not looking back at the shocked man. on the way back she starts seeing things... like seeing the dark thoughts of everyone around her, as well as their life energy/force it overwhelms her, and when she gets back to the Bakery where her and Selina are staying she quickly greets everyone and goes to her room. She thought her room would be safe from the weird energy she was seeing but no. There on her desk would be a small box of either Chaotic energy or Creative energy (I'll let you decide which Kwami She gets, 🐞 for Tikki, and 🐈‍⬛ for Plagg(if you choose Plagg Selina will be happy, and Plagg will cackle with Marinettes' mom Harley...just saying)) anyway, she doesn't touch the box until the next day, most of the weird energy looking stuff is gone except for whats surrounding the small box. The Stone heart thing will still happen, (I can see either Alix or Kagami weilding Tikki, but more Kagami. Alix can still get Fluff if she doesn't get Tikki, but I'm not sure what Adrien will get in the future... Maybe Roar(So he's still a Catboy, or Tiger boy)) So they'll face Stone heart and so on, the rest of spring is crazy, she quickly realizes the old man was the one who gave her the box, found out where he was (due to the crazy energy around his shop, which for convenience is maybe 15 or so blocks away from the Bakery). She has a talk with him and tells him she leaves Paris every summer and winter break, and is then given Kaalki... (permanently bc... plot, and bc she is a special f-cking girl that could rule the whole world if she willed it damit!). So she becomes a hero, and she blows it during her visit to Gotham, and ends up telling her moms and antie about the tiny cat god ("OMG Kitten! I knew it!No wonder you started using more Cat puns around me!" - Selina at some point) and the tiny horse god ("Dey're so f-ckin' cute!" - Harley) So more shenanigans ensue.

•—–·★·–—

So these are my Ideas for a Harley and or Ivy Bio moms to Marinette fic, please let me know whether you want option A. or B., whether you want Marinette to have either Tikki🐞 or Plagg🐈‍⬛, and whether you want her to be called Marie, Mary or just Marinette Quinzel-Isley. Hope you're all having a wonderful day, stay safe, and saty positive. !BUG-OUT! 🐞💮🐞

[theparanormalperiodical]

The TRUE Story Behind Friday The 13th (1980), And America’s 7 Most Haunted Campsites & Lakes That Will Definitely Ruin Your #VACAY

It was sometime around midday when Nils Gustafsson’s body was found on the shore of Lake Bodom. The 18 year old was alive, however, despite his broken jaw and the concussion. 

The three people lying next to him were not.

In the early hours of June 5th 1960, Nils, Irmeli Bjorklund, Tuulikki Makiwer, and Seppo Boisman were attacked by an unknown person armed with a knife whilst camping at one of Finland’s most serene tourist spots.

12 years later, a former suspect confessed to the crime. The local kiosk keeper was known to be irritated by the presence of the youngsters in the area and it was assumed he took his rage into his own hands.

He alleged that he did indeed commit the murders in a suicide note before drowning himself in the lake that overlooked them. His wife has since provided evidence that refutes this.

This tragic story is still under investigation to this day, with the sole survivor being put up for trial for killing his own girlfriend and her friends himself. But what makes this tale quite so terrifying is that we’ve heard this story before.

We’ve read it on r/nosleep, we’ve heard it at a sleepover, and we’ve told it round the campfire. We’ve even seen it on the TV, too.

It’s been 41 years since the terrifying events at Camp Crystal Lake were recounted in the horror classic Friday The 13th (1980). But what happened at Lake Bodom is not the only time the stories we tell around the campfire actually happened. And right by the crackling logs, too.

Today we unmask the dark inspiration behind Friday The 13th and make some smores at the most haunted campsites in the US, each with their own tale as terrifying (and tragic) as what happened at Camp Crystal Lake.

First, Let’s Recap Horror’s Most Iconic Franchise, Friday The 13th

It’s not easy to summarise a franchise lumbered with 12 films, a TV series, and a gaggle of video games following in close pursuit. But I’ll try.

This American horror franchise follows Jason Voorhees, a serial killer who drowned as a child at Camp Crystal Lake while the camp councillors were having *sex*. Following this tragic event, the lake was rumoured to be cursed according to the superstitious locals and became the setting for several mass murders carried out by Jason or in his name.

It was one of the original slasher flicks released in an attempt to cash in on the success of Halloween (1978) and was actually the highest grossing horror franchise of all time - until about 3 years ago.

The reboot of it’s arch nemesis, Halloween (2018), left Jason in the shadow of Michael Myers.

The franchise starts by introducing us innocent viewers to the mysterious folklore surrounding Camp Crystal Lake when the new councillors rock up to revamp it. Then Jason Vorhees’ mother starts pickin’ em off one by one in vengeance for the death of her son who was born on - yep, you guessed it - Friday the 13th.

There’s actually not much mention of the date in the franchise, with some claiming only on his birthday does Jason commits the murders. But this is what’s so great about the films: at its core it’s a story told around the fire by American kids at summer camp. 

Just like ‘The Hook’ or ‘Killer In The Backseat’, Jason’s murder spree fits a simple plot line copy-n-pasted for urban legends. There’s a mysterious killer with a mysterious motivation who does terrible things at a mysterious location.

We see the events of these baseless stories happen in the grainy footage of the 80s and the pierce-your-eyeballs HD of 2009, right where the stories are typically told. It’s meta. It’s mindful. It sounds like a boring 90 minutes stretched out of an urban legend you could tell in 45 seconds flat.

The franchise does sprinkle in a handful of bad luck symbols amidst the buckets of blood ‘n’ guts to fit the title, but it’s setting on this infamous day is merely a technicality to pull us headfirst into the not-so-urban and not-so-legendary plot line.

Most urban legends are just that: legends. Rumours pieced together from random scraps of information until they juuuuuust about make sense. But most of these rumours have basis in reality. Despite the creators claiming it was not directly based on a true story, we already know events eerily similar have taken place.

But what happened at Lake Bodom was not the only occurrence of such terrible events. We will get them later.

Even if Victor Miller wasn’t inspired by the cursed lakes and haunted campgrounds littered across the States, they clearly took inspiration from one paranormal phenomena.

(Hint: it’s in the title.)

Why Is Friday The 13th Considered Unlucky?

We’ve never had a good relationship with the number 13. Triskaidekaphobia can be traced back as far as Norse mythology when 12 gods were having a dinner party until Marvel-fan-favourite Loki arrived and arranged for someone to be shot.

The god that was shot, Balder, died, and it was then that the “earth got dark. It was a bad, unlucky day.” A similar dinner party, this time hosted by Jesus and his disciples, also gave ‘13’ a bad name.

Judas was the 13th to sit at the table during the Last Supper and his betrayal of Christ gave it its more mainstream reputation.

There are many more events like this, whether mythical or based in reality, that link the number 13 to bad luck. But what is about Friday the 13th?

Friggatriskaidekaphobia - or fear of Friday the 13th - lumps together the cursed backstory of the number 13 and the fear of the unluckiest day of the week. Eve gave Adam the apple on a Friday, their son killed his brother on a Friday, and Jesus was crucified on a Friday.

It’s not looking good.

But fear of the date Friday the 13th was only planted in mainstream Western culture in the 20th century. 73 years before Jason Vorhees mother slut-shamed those camp councillors, Thomas William Lawson published the book Friday, the Thirteenth (1907).

Lawson told the tale of an NYC stockbroker who used superstitions about the date to create chaos on Wall Street and rake in the cash.

*sweats in GameStop*

From here furore about the date festered with every occurrence (which can be as much as three times a year). There’s no escaping it, even if a hockey-masked killer is interrupting your campfire sing along.

To this day, the American economy loses about $900 million every Friday the 13th. Flights are half-filled, spending is reduced, and some daren’t leave their homes until midnight strikes.

Funnily enough, the franchise only contains 12 movies so far, but this echoes the unluckiness of 13 that much further. Another reason we fear the number is because 12 is used so much to represent completeness. The months of the year, the hours in a day - 13 goes beyond that. 13 plays on that.

It takes what we know and twists it a ‘lil. But just enough to strike fear into even the least superstitious.

The 7 Haunted Campsites And Lakes That You Should Emotionally Block Out When You’ve Finished Reading This

Holy Ghost Campground, New Mexico

Nestled in the Sante Fe National Forest, this is an isolated but serene location perfect for pitching a tent and starting a fire. But 300 years ago, something happened there that might make the howling wind that much more terrifying.

The area is reportedly haunted by the spirit of a Spanish priest murdered there in the 18th century. But the entire area has a reputation similar to the Bermuda Triangle. People just tend to disappear into thin air over there. No clothing is found and no bones or bodies are discovered.

UFOs have been sighted overhead, shadows have wandered through the forest, and voices have echoed into the night. Just like the Bermuda Triangle and the lesser-known Alaskan triangle, there are claims of a ‘cosmic doorway’ where different energies and entities flit between realms.

Big Moose Lake, New York

Grace Brown was only 18 years old when she died. She was unmarried and she was pregnant by her boyfriend, Chester Gillette. This was a bad situation to be in in 1906.

She went with her soon-to-be-fiancee to the Adirondacks mountains assuming he would propose during the trip, saving her from a ruinous fate. But one day, she would not return to the campsite from which they stayed.

Knowing she couldn’t swim, Gillette paddled their boat out to the middle of the lake, grabbed a tennis racket from inside his bag, and smashed in her head.

She then fell into the water and drowned. To this day, campers have reported supernatural occurrences around the lake. She is often seen wandering the shores of the lake, visiting the local cottages nearby, or reliving her traumatic death.

According to local legends, she is trying to extinguish all the lights in the local houses. No one knows why.

Lake Morena, California

On the other side of the US, events similar to those seen in Santa Fe were playing out.

In 1983, these supernatural occurrences were reported in the local paper: “More than Fish Haunt Morena”. Park rangers and tourists have witnessed and reported a vast range of phenomena, not limited to heavy footsteps following visitors, noticing the figure of an old man in the corner of their eye, and even seeing people levitating.

One of the most infamous sightings of paranormal activity was when a ranger had a relative staying over in his house. The relative woke up in the middle of the night to see a baby’s christening gown float across the room.

“It floated to her, brushed her cheek, floated back where she had first seen it and disappeared.”

Lake Ronkonkoma, New York

To this day many locals won’t dip a toe in Lake Ronkonkoma - and it’s easy to see why.

Long Island’s deepest lake was once the setting of a tragic love story. Just like Romeo & Juliet, but far wetter. Legend has it back in the 17th century a Native American princess fell in love with a colonist on the other side of the lake.

The star-crossed lovers were forbidden from meeting, and the princess wrote notes confessing her love on a piece of bark and floating it across the lake. Heartbroken by the lack of response, she canoed to the middle of the lake, stabbed herself in her broken heart, and her body slumped into the icy waters below.

Some versions of the legend claim before she died she cursed the lake.

Whichever you believe, the routine drowning of a young man on a yearly basis is enough to stir up the story. There have been at least 160 drownings here from the 1850s to the 1970s. A majority were men, fitting the story.

Is she still looking for the man she could never be with? Or is she punishing the local community for the divide that kept her from her love?

Lake Lanier, Georgia

There are a number of ghosts seen at this lake. There’s the spirit of a woman in a flowing blue dress roams around this lake, and several pairs of supernatural hands have been felt reaching out of the depths and grabbing swimmers mid-stroke…

But this paranormal phenomena is nothing compared to what lurks underneath the water.

The lake was actually created in the 1950s by flooding valley communities. The local government wanted to provide surrounding towns and the city of Atlanta with water and power, but to do this they’d have to create ghost towns and then effectively drown them.

Locals that had sold land to the government gathered during the building of the dam and watched the waters rising above the place they once called home. But in these communities were cemeteries. The dead did not consent to this.

More than 200 people have died in mysterious accidents on the lake since 1994.

Manchac Swamp, Louisiana

The Manchac wetlands are known for being, well, grotesque. They’re thick with pea green ooze, riddled with bugs, and festering with ‘gators. But according to some, the greatest threat was the local Voodoo priestess, Julia Brown.

She was known for her charms, curses, and singing strange songs on her porch. But there was one verse which in hindsight makes a lot of sense: "One day I’m going to die and take the whole town with me."

On the day of her funeral a huge hurricane swept through Louisiana. On September 29th 1915, the 125mph winds killed 300 people with homes, buildings, and railways destroyed.

Locals claim this was caused by a curse created by Brown. She is even rumoured to still be seen cackling by the water’s edge.

Lake Tahoe, California

Tahoe-Truckea is steeped in paranormal tales, stretching back as far as the legends of the local Native Americans. Many hotels and cabins claim to have their own supernatural entities concealed within their hotel which you can see for yourself - for a booking fee, of course.

But the spirit that haunts Emerald Bay can be seen for free.

Captain Dick Barter was known for telling stories of his seafaring days in the early 19th century. His encounters with capsizing in frosty waters, grizzly bear attacks, and by the sounds of it serious alcoholism made him talk of the town.

Apparently Captain Barter just can’t stop reliving his glory days.

One night after goin’ heavy in the bar, Barker boarded his boat to sail home. But he was never seen again. Somewhere on the route back he capsized and died. His body was never found.

His spirit is often seen swimming in the area during foggy moments, trying to find his way back to the tomb he built years before he passed.

So that was depressing.

Anyway.

If you liked this post/it traumatised you but hey you’re living for the spooks, make sure you like and reblog to let me know!

And if you simply can’t wait for more articles on the paranormal, then you best be hitting the follow button. I post a new article every weekend AND a new ghost story everyday.

(That’s really sad, isn’t it?)

Oh well. See you next week, kids!

[arsenicpanda]

Bughead Appreciation Day 1 Except It’s Day 2

So I spent yesterday nice and cozy in bed and put this off (good choice, tbh, I was very snug as a bug), but now, now comes the time for me to gush about some people in the fandom!  This is definitely not a comprehensive list, I have absolutely left some people out because I am very forgetful, but, in no particular order and under a cut because I’m a wordy bitch:

@tory-b: A delight and a dear, leading writer of monsterfucker!Betty, co-runner of @riverdaleprideandjoyzine, a legend and a friend, we have no choice but to stan.  Her stuff is so good and varied and just *chef’s kiss* a delight, two favorites of mine are Fangs/com/Match (Betty/dragon!Jughead meet via monsterfucker Tinder, has some great friendship moments with Kevin and Veronica and is v sexy and funny, features the horniest Betty) and Sticky Sweet Serenade ((past)-friends-to-enemies-to-lovers bughead, mixes up some statuses in Riverdale, excellent mystery, I remember reading it and going, “holy shit, a believable take on Northside!Jughead”).  I’ve also gotta mention Whats in a Name? (Betty and Jughead meet on tumblr, Betty writes poetry and Jughead is a shitposter, they slowly connect, it’s great) and To Balance the Scales (scientist!Betty/mermaid!Jughead, currently a slow build, I cannot wait for you guys to see the excellent worldbuilding she’s done).  I could keep going, or you could binge all her fics today, an excellent use of your Saturday, I assure you, because I’ve left a lot out.

@stillhidden: Always good for some great thoughts on the show, one of the best reasons for my your thoughts on Riverdale please show them to me tag, I get psyched every time I see a Riverdale text post or ask answer because I know I’m in for a good time.  Thoughtful and funny and nice, what a combo!

@satelliteinasupernova: So talented!  Author, artist, co-runner of @riverdaleprideandjoyzine, funny, haver of good thoughts on Riverdale is there anything she can’t do?  No, there is not.  Every time I see her art I’m like !!!, the colors! how well-drawn the hands are! the accuracy of their hair! the backgrounds! the way I can see the love in their eyes! I cannot even, there are no words.  Also!  Her fics!  So original!  One of my earliest memories in the fandom is reading The town called Riverdale (a sort of mystery about the meta fuckery going down in Riverdale, explores time loops, stories that control lives, the roles the Archie characters are “supposed” to have, a mash-up with concepts in Princess Tutu that requires zero knowledge of Princess Tutu) and going !!! is this a Princess Tutu mash-up?  Have I been #blessed enough to see a mash up between Riverdale, a story that fucks with archetypes, and Princess Tutu, one of the shows about fucking with archetypes and the way stories ontrol lives?  I was and I am and I raved to my non-fandom but Princess Tutu liker friend about it.  Has also wonderfully tackled eldritch horror in return to Eldervair and gothic horror/romance in The Lady of the Manor, does fluff, does angst, does it all, so go check her out!

@go-ldy: An angst and time skip queen, tbh, and always has some great thoughts on Riverdale, another reason I’m glad I have that tag.  Every time she answers an ask, I’m like, “Yesss, incoming Good Thoughts, I am HERE for this”.  But do not sleep on her as an author!  Into the Deep is some delightful dark!bughead, and I’ll walk with you in the shadows is such good time skip angst and a mystery and there’s a certain surprise I love but is a spoiler but you simply must read this, you must.  The Time after Time series is giving us that good angst bughead content that season 5 is not going to, and I’m so glad it exists and just thrilled that she trusted me to beta it.  I’m leaving a lot of stuff out though, so you should go check her out!

@milajovovich: One of the best gif makers in the fandom, I will fight you on this.  Makes absolute miracles with footage, the way she makes season 4 webrips look like they’re actual blurayrips is godly, they’re so crisp and so smooth and the coloring is always great.  And like, jesus, the way the bluray footage looks?  Fucking outstanding, the talent is off the charts.  Go marvel at their gifs, go, go.

@imreallyloveleee: A prolific, talented author and funny to boot!  loveleee is one of the people who has been here since the beginning, a mainstay in the fandom, and we are so, so lucky she hasn’t left.  How do I even begin to rec you some of her stuff?  She can write smut with fics like burn, baby (a 3x16 missing moment of bughead fucking in the car as the trailer burns, what a gift to the fandom, I can’t even), is queen of pining with fics like boy problems (season 1 post 1x05 canon divergence, a bughead get together but with that quality pining) and her i’m just a shot away series (two fics, one from Jughead’s POV and one from Betty’s, that are fully of pining and sexual tension and miscommunication and major teenage vibes, you gotta read them), and writer of one of the funniest fics in the fandom and one of my favorite, like spirits in the night (the core four + Kevin perform a seance to contact Jason Blossom and yes, it is just as funny as it sounds, perhaps even funnier).  And there are countless others, so settle in and go check her out because she does it all, fluff and angst too, I just don’t have time to rec them all.

@meditationonbaaal: Absolutely one of my all-time favorite fic authors, like across fandoms, the talent, I cannot even properly describe it, like the quality of the prose, amazing, iconic.  the devil’s daughter (a season 2 rewrite with some differences in season 1, jumps back and forth through time in the best way, has the best and creepiest dark!Jughead, has some great smut that includes dom!Betty and dom!Jughead can you believe we are so blessed, such a good rewrite of season 2, and you know how I love season 2, so that is some high praise, let me tell you) is easily in my top 10 all-time favorite fics across the many, many fandoms I’ve read many, many fics of, and you simply must check it out, you will not be disappointed.  develop, stop, fix just blew me away as a kink week fic of bughead playing with bdsm in a dark room, the layers, the smut, the trust, the feelings, I cannot even.  And doll parts!  doll parts is so good, just such an amazing take on drop dead gorgeous, a fabulous Jughead and Betty as per usual, dare I say even better than an already fantastic movie.  I am behind on loose lips sink ships, but I can already tell it’s going to be a great exploration of the Stonies and a great take on season 4.  Keep an eye on her stuff here and here, do not miss out!

@dieqohargreeves:  An icon and legend in gif making, just makes the most beautiful and intricate and creative gifs.  The coloring is amazing, the techniques are amazing, that shit is Art, I will fight you on this.  You gotta check ‘em out, you just gotta, I can’t do their work justice.

@sullypants:  The wit!  The humor!  The observational skills!  The talent, my god!  Sully is the genius behind @bettycooperoutfitwatch and @riverdalearthistory as well as a fabulous writer of both meta and fic, yet another excellent reason for me to keep up with others’ thoughts on Riverdale.  Her a comic miniverse series is so funny and sweet and such a great take on the Archie Comics version of bughead, and the after-party series (Betty and Jughead attend a, well, prom after party, and the events that happen, and I am not doing it justice, but it is v good, I promise) has such a great vibe and such great characterization.  And young adult friction (librarian!Jughead is in a kind of competition with librarian!Betty, it’s so funny and so great) is such a delight, and we do not have time to get into everything great she’s written, but go check it out here.

@lilibug--xx: The queen of bughead smut, can you believe she has graced us with her stuff?  It is steamy and it is in character and it is amazing.  Dark Cherry Chutney is still a fandom favorite of mine, just some great dark!bughead who are unaware of each other’s darkness (but oh, they find out!) as well as some excellent smut.  And Pressed for Time (Betty teasing Jughead with her skirts in an effort to get him to fuck her and he is barely holding on until he isn’t, alternating POVs in the best way) is sexy af but makes you work for it, it’s a delight.  And give you mine (Betty and Jughead fuck at work and it is so hot, I can’t even) is so goddamn good, just some of the best dom!Jughead out there.  Has also written monsterfucker!Betty, which you know I’m a fan of, in once upon a midnight (werewolf-hunter!Betty/werewolf!Jughead with sex pollen where she does not shy away from some wolfy-ness and it is hot af) and has written monsterfucker!Jughead, a rarity but always a delight, with reap what you sow (witch!Jughead/undine!Betty and Betty is so delightfully otherworldly and it is so sexy but also sweet), and there are countless other smut fics, we would be here all day if I went through them all, so you gotta check her out here.  One more thing though: she can also write fluff with Lemon Drops and Chocolate Chips, a sweet fic of Betty and Jughead as neighbors that you should definitely check out.

@thatiranianphantom:  Funny and thoughtful and talented and has correct opinions on musicals!  Writes such good explorations of post-4x17 (and post-4x17 adjacent) scenarios.  Like, the we are a masterpiece series is v good and so interesting, and no one else is singing my song is such great angst as a post-4x17 fic and a great use of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend songs.  I am forgetting a lot of stuff, I know I am, and I think I might be behind like a fool, so let’s go check out all her stuff together here, yes?  Yes.  Also?  Great for Riverdale speculation, especially about the season 5 musical episode.

@heartunsettledsoul:  So talented, queen of canon missing moments, and funny to boot!  I love reading her liveblogging of the episodes, and I cannot recommend her stuff enough.  Her Forgotten Moments series of canon missing moments is iconic, you must go read all of it, especially there’s witchcraft in your hips, a post-2x13 fic of Betty and Jughead being such teenagers and Jughead being a dweeb about his cheerleader girlfriend and I am not doing it justice but you gotta go read it, man, you gotta.  But the series is full of gems from the beginning with Midnight Silence (Betty and Jughead talk post-1x04 about the Grundy debacle and it’s such a delight) and going all the way through to the most recent it might’ve been a nightmare (a 4x12 through 4x16 fic that gives me a wide range of emotions and is fantastic) and your eyes look like coming home (Betty’s diary entries throughout season 1, simply inspired).  But she’s also so good at AUs!  a dark world aches (for a splash of the sun) is already looking so good as a bughead mystery with some varchie fun on the side, just some quality core four content, and won’t be the same (if you’re not here with me) is a favorite of fake dating, Christmas, and there was only one bed, just the best tropefest.  And there are so, so many more, so you must check her out here.

@lovedinapastlife: She writes such a variety of AUs, I am just in awe of them all!  The talent, I am amazed.  The dark!bughead in The Society is peak dark!bughead with a simply iconic yandere!Betty, and you are seriously missing out if you have not read it yet.  Oh, and there’s some more dark!Jughead with a side of dark!Betty in the key to harm(ony) that you must check out because it’s such a great ride and is sexy, what more could you want?  Every movie AU she does really takes the source material and makes it her own from works You Drive Me Crazy (but I'm gonna keep on loving you), based on Drive Me Crazy and definitely better than the movie, to the most recent to all the boys (but especially you), based on To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and just so sweet.  But also can write otherworldly fics like Heart’s Desire with genie!Betty and The Second Coming with fae!Jughead, as well as regular aus like Detention (Betty and Jughead in detention and it gets a little sexy but also quite cute), and pure porn like Eye of the Beholder (Betty and Jughead as sorcerers who hook up over sorcerer Tinder and it is sexy but also sweet), as well as some of the best ABO in fandom with her A/B/O Mine series (alpha!Jughead/omega!Betty in high school and holy shit is it hot as hell).  I am only just skimming the surface here, so definitely go check her out!

@kyloren aka @jughead-jones:  Mila is so talented at making gifs, like goddamn, and also so funny, but I bet you didn’t know that she also has written some damn good fic!  She hides it, but it is out there and it is very good, my favorite being let me hang my hook on your splendor, a fandom fave of a Scooby-Doo au that is so much more thoughtful and clever with its casting, and also very amusing, you must check out the rest of her stuff here.

@elizabethbettscooper: A delightful person and a delightful writer who is largely retired from the bughead fandom but still such a talent, like seriously.  Her Twin Peaks Riverdale AU The Past Dictates the Future is so good, you simply must check it out, like you must.  And yours was the first face i saw is such a fun AU of “what if Betty’s crush on Archie was a front for her crush on Jughead”, you must go read it.  And holy shit, her i may be bad (but i’m perfectly good at it) series is peak dom!Jughead/sub!Betty taking place when they’re in college and fucking in so many varied ways, like if you are into that, you must go read these fics, you must, you will have a great and sexy, sexy time.  And there’s so much more good stuff, you gotta go read it all here.

@bettycreeper: She does so much for the fandom and she makes such gorgeous gifs!  Like, the coordination she does on the @bugheadfamily server and @bugheadfanfictionawards and @riverdale-events and probably elsewhere cannot be understated, she is such a valuable presence in the fandom.  And have you seen her gifs?  Gorgeous quality, just gorgeous, and her movie poster gifs for fics are simply inspired.  Also?  She’s an amazing beta, just outstanding.

@stillscape: A very thoughtful person and excellent writer who I can’t seem to tag.  Dianthus Caryophyllus is still one of my favorite fics in the fandom, a high school bughead fic with some amazing pining from Jughead with an oblivious Betty, I can feel it, it’s so good.  And of course there’s Ninia, an amazing take on the soulmates trope, just so good, I cannot do it justice, you must check it out.  The for the life of me series is also such a good AU for Betty and Jughead getting together pre-Riverdale at a summer internship, I have such fond memories of it.  And la peste (the plague)!  So good, I cannot even.  We don’t have time for everything, except you should make time and go check all of it out here.

@theheavycrown:  God, where would we be without Sarah?  She does so much work for the @bugheadfamily and @bugheadfanfictionawards and @riverdale-events and @riverdalecentral and I’m probably forgetting some, tbh.  And so sweet and talented!  Her gifs are fantastic and so are her fics.  Like, Rain Comes Down (Betty and Jughead fucking in the car on the side of the road while cars drive by)?  Iconic, some amazing exhibitionism.  you had me howling(Betty in heat in the woods and then Jughead finds her and fucking ensues)? Fantastic ABO, so horny, so desperate.  Beneath the Silver Moon Rising?  Excellent dom!Jughead, excellent sexy times.  You must go check out all of her stuff here, you must.

@50shades-of-bughead:  Just some of the absolute cutest art that you must check out, especially their series of dark!bughead that is just fantastic.

@thepointoftheneedle: The variety of work here is phenomenal, the talent, I cannot.  Took my ridiculous double fake marriage/draft-dodging concept and turned it into an excellent, thoughtful period piece with phenomenal characterization and a great mystery with Never No Locomotive, I cannot recommend it enough.  And Ghosts and Clouds and Nameless Things (ghost!Jughead/grieving-dead-Jughead!Betty with a side of mystery) gave me so many emotions, I think I almost cried, and I am not a crier, I assure you.  Hey Pixie Dream Girl, I’m Coming for Your Man! (Betty in her bookstore saves Jughead from his date with a Manic Pixie Dream Girl) is so delightfully funny, and Sunflowers (Betty and Jughead share a working space and fall in love) is so goddamn cute.  I have actually found myself behind on her work, which is a crime, it all looks so amazing and I know it will be, and you must check all of it out with me here.

@hellodinoflower:  Such an amazing presence in the fandom, such a delight, so clever and funny.  She ran @bugheaddrabblechallenge this past summer and gave us all so much joy in the process, and, while her fics are deleted now (as is her right), I promise you that they were amazing, you all missed out if you slept on her.  She’s such a great follow, you gotta follow her.

@bluevelvetvideo:  A delighful soul, great character insight, great writing.  Like, her smut is fantastic, have you read Arsenal (a double feature of Betty and Jughead fooling around in public and then having some sexytimes back in private with some quality dom!Jughead, let me tell you, v steamy)?  Because you should.  Christmas Lights (Jughead ties Betty up with their Christmas lights, it’s fantastically sexy) is a delight, and you can’t blame gravity (for falling in love) is a very fun take on soulmates and soulmarks, and you simply must go read it.  She is a master of smut, let me tell you, and you must check out all her stuff here.  Also?  An excellent beta, 10/10, I’m so lucky to have her.

@a-true-janian-reply:  Very funny, has excellent thoughts on Riverdale!  Like, truly, every time I see an original text post or a reblog from her, I am PSYCHED because it’s always going to be SO GOOD.

@writeradamanteve:  Such great talent across genres, really impressive.  Drive (illegal drag racing Betty and college student but former-ish Serpent Jughead, just fantastic) is one of my earliest fandom favorites, I remember excitedly telling my non-fandom friend about it because I thought it was so clever, and we all know how good Daemon Bound is, yes?  Yes, I’m sure we do.  Let’s go make sure we’ve read all her stuff here.

@thugheadjones:  Has some great insights, some great responses to dumb anons, and some fantastic art, like holy shit, I cannot even.

@bugggghead:  A delightful soul, so nice, so talented.  Writes some amazing smut, like, have you read intimately acquainted (alpha!Jughead/omega!Betty, meeting up on an app to help Betty with her heat in a heat retreat, four chapters of excellent smut)?  Because you should if you’re even kind of interested in ABO.  And en pointe is the bughead knifeplay fic of dreams, you gotta check it out.  And there are so many other ones, we do not have time to cover them all.  She also does cute fics, btw, and Message Me (fanfic-author-who-is-actually-the -real-author!Jughead/gif-maker-and-fangirl!Betty meet on tumblr and fall in love and it’s great) is such a delight, definitely go check it out.  In fact, go check out all her stuff here.  Also a fantastic beta, I really owe her for that.

@heavy-lies-the-crown:  A talented soul who has written so much high quality fic, from the hilarious red ribbon winner (a Christmas fic comedy that I cannot describe well but I assure you is both hilarious and sweet) to the emotional and moving road to me (Betty and Jughead break up, find themselves, and come back together and it’s perfection) to the heart-ripping angst of apizza (a semi post-4x17-speculation fic of bughead together but apart at Yale and the way they will come back together and it is so good and so angsty) to many, many more.  You gotta go check it all out here.

@lurker-no-more:  Yet another funny person, we as a fandom are so blessed, you must check them out, you just must.

@iconic-ponytail:  Another excellent writer!  a revelation in the light of day is SUCH a great slowburn and  SUCH a great take on both FBI!Betty and Sheriff!Jughead and the two of them falling in love as adults.  Also, the side varchie is fantastic, and the mystery is amazing.  I have not yet checked out the nighthawks, but I already know it’s going to be good, I can tell, you can trust this author to be quality, so go check all of her stuff out here.

@soyforramen:  Funny!  Very funny!  Also?  Writes some great ficlets that are, I think, exclusive to tumblr, which is a tragedy, tbh, but as is their right.  But I do have the link to this genius fic about bughead and a platypus in honor of the platypus anon that was going around this summer.  Definitely go check them out!

And now I am very tired, I have used up my energy, and I am so sorry if I forgot anyone!

[procrastynol]

I wasn’t tagged, but I’ll take the invitation from @theghostcaptain and just hop on the train to answer some questions about my writing. So, I guess thanks are in order? 😉❤️

AO3: @Procrastynol

Fandoms

Currently I’m trapped in the MDZS hell (focusing on songxiao, but pretty much everything else is also go, wangxian, 3zun, anything) with a side of SVSSS and FF7 (mainly tsengru and/or turks centric). I’m still working my way through the huge load of danmei, so maybe things like TGCF, 2HA or SPL will soon join the list.

Other things I can’t seem to let go of include FF15, Mass Effect, Dragon Age and a hint of Marvel and Star Wars. If you want to go really far back, you can add LotR and Hobbit to the pile.

Where You Post

You can find all of my fics on AO3 @Procrastynol

​I rarely use tumblr anymore, mostly for keeping all the links to my fics organised in one place - and to read meta that will shred my poor heart. My main social media is Twitter, so if you want to yell at me, please go over there and feel free to do so.

Most Popular Oneshot

Conflict of Interest (FF7, tsengru, domestic fluff and dogs)

I started this one on a whim in August 2020 because A) the hype for FF7 Remake was real and B) plague times, yay! It got me back into writing fanfiction after not having done so for several years, and I’m still surprised how positively it has been received among the people who read FF7 fanfictions. A follow-up is currently in its early drafting state.

Most Popular Multichap

None (so far). But I have something brewing for my songxiao gang, so I’ll just be a little tease and tell you to stay tuned for more until Summer 2021. 😉

Favourite Story You’ve Written So Far

Untethered (MDZS, songxiao, character study xxc)

That is my November/December/Christmas-procrastination baby, which started out as a midnight word vomit I wrote in a desperate attempt to find sleep. It only grew from there, and it has become my first deep dive into the character of Xiao Xingchen and the canon setting of MDZS. To this day, it just blows me away how well this story is received despite its length and the rather limited songxiao bubble. I’m really proud of what I did here, and it has been a while since I could say that about anything I have written.

Fic You Were Nervous to Post

Frostbloom Flowers (MDZS, modern songxiao, flowershop AU)

This was my absolute first fic for the fandom, and my second fic in total after the unexpected “success” of Conflict of Interest. I was so scared to get the characters or the setting wrong, even more so since this was a prompt fill for the songxiao Secret Santa event. It has done surprisingly well, so well actually, that I have turned this into a series that I will continue this February.

How You Choose Your Titles

They either come to me or the don’t. Really, there is almost nothing in between. Sometimes a poem, a line, a lyric, an image, SOMETHING sparks my imagination and the title is the first thing I have.

If it is the other way around, the idea usually revolves around a certain dialogue, scene, setting, etc. that I want to explore and I really struggle finding a title for it once the fic is finished. There are rare instances where a title comes to me simply while working on a fic, but mostly it’s hit or miss. If it is the latter, I usually sit in my room and decide to name stories after the first thing my eyes land on 5 minutes before posting them. 😅

Do You Outline

90% of times I do. Especially larger works or multichaps need an outline. I sometimes try to write non-chronologically, and I have a really hard time doing it, so the outline becomes my LIFELINE. It allows me to skip over parts I find hard and just put the famous [get there] in certain spaces, knowing I can come back later to flesh them out because the outline guides through this process.

For oneshots, I sometimes freestyle, but even then I usually write down a few lines for the scenes/dialogues I really want to include and put them in the corresponding order, so I have a goal to work towards to and don’t start meandering around.

I hate doing them, though, even though I largely depend on outlines.

Complete

All of my fics are complete at the moment, but I have two on-going series that I’m feeding with new entries in irregular intervals.

In Progress

I have some WIPS, but none of them are in the process of being published right now. But there are a few things I’m working on, so follow me to the next paragraph if you want more details on that. 😁

Coming Soon / Not Yet Started

Curiosity killed the Cat [WT] - which is a MDZS multichapter fic I have started working on last December. I really wanted to try writing a case fic for once, something more than just drama and romance (although drama and romance will still be very much part of this). Plotting a murder mystery is really new to me and sometimes exhausting, but so far I’m having a lot of fun doing it. I don’t want to spoil the details, but it will definitely focus on pre-canon songxiao and a mysterious haunting/murder they encounter during their travels.

Another thing would be the continuation of the Egret Flower series. Currently I’m finalising the second part, writing on part three and four has already begun. Part two will feature songxiao going on the date that has been teased in the first part, Frostbloom Flowers, and part three is currently giving me a hard time because I decided to include some wangxian - we’ll see how it goes.

I’m also trying to feed the Shinra fandom a bit, since it got me back into writing literally days before I got swept away by MDZS and danmei hell. But tsengru still holds a place in my heart, has done so for years, and so Conflict of Interest has now also been turned into a series, It’s me or the Dog, and the second part for this series is also outlined already and just waiting for me to flesh it out.

Upcoming Work You’re Most Excited About

Curiosity killed the Cat [WT], definitely. I have only ever finished one other multichap in my life, and I plan to complete this one before I start posting it, to feed my lovely songxiaoists in regular intervals (and to make sure this entire case fic works and does not go up in smoke halfway down). But since this involves so many new things for me at the same time, I’m equally excited and anxious to finish it and start posting it.

Tagging

Since I’m pretty much inactive on this platform I find it a bit hard to tag someone. I think @wangji-string might have something to offer, at least if they haven’t participated already (although if you don’t feel like doing this, please feel free to ignore me). I’ll just leave it open to the rest of you whoever read this and may find it interesting - if you want to do this, please, feel free to do it! 😉

[theassofwonder]

Oh!! 1, 2, 3 of the Fun meta asks for writers. I would love to know the answers to these questions

Fun meta asks for writers!

1. Tell us about your current project(s)

* ACOTS, obviously- I swear to fuck I’m almost done with part 6! I know I keep saying that but I really do mean it!! I broke 2k last night (this morning?) and I’m in the homestretch! I can see the end in sight (literally, since I wrote the end of the chapter before I wrote most of the middle)!! And then after part 6 there’s only like three more chapters. I started writing  ACOTS only a little over a year ago and I’m more than halfway through? Fuckin mindblowing.

* I started writing more of the we’re sick (like animals) verse because I love it and technically the beginning of what is published was supposed to be in the middle? But then it was going to be waaay too long so I cut the ‘beginning’ (but still have it in a google doc that I check in on)

(more under the cut bc I actually have a fair bit of wip babies)

* not hockey rpf but I started writing a Teen Wolf fanfic? Despite never watching the show? So my only reference for the fic has been other fanfics. lol. It’s called Scotty Doesn’t Know based on the song by the same name and it’s just a mess of half-written snippets that I’m going to have to glue together at some point

* I want to eventually get around to rewriting (and then finishing? maybe?) my two destiel fics Midnight Blue and Holy Ground. Fun fact- I started writing both of those on Wattpad before I found out about ao3 and every chapter title of HG is a taylor swift song. But they’re both currently up on ao3 if anyone wants to give em a look!

* I have several OG fiction novels I’m trying to write as well. the first one has the working title of Messier 30 (it’s a star cluster near the Capricorn constellation) and it’s supposed to be book 1 in a trilogy. The main character used to be named Charlene-call-me-Charlie Elizabeth Roman but I suddenly had a stroke of ACOTS-fueled need to make her half-russian and changed her name to Anastasyia Viktoriya. Her name/ethnicity change shouldn’t change the plotline itself but I guess we’ll see. the second work is set during a zombie apocalypse with flashbacks to the B.Z. (Before Zombies) era and the early days of the apocalypse. the main character’s mom accidentally created the virus and was Patient Zero so MC carries a fuckton of guilt and also she’s gay and her wife was one of the first ones to go since she was Mom’s second on the project

2. Tell us about what you’re most looking forward to writing

ACOTS: copied straight from the outline :) {The Russian word for uncle is ‘дядя’. It sounds almost identical to ‘dada’. Nikita calls him ‘дядя Sid’ one day and Sid just starts bawling, and then Nikita’s bawling because Sid is bawling and there’s so much tears and snot it’s so gross. Nikita is two years old and therefore has no idea that Sid is crying because he doesn’t just want to be Nikita’s “uncle” he wants to be his dad. It’s a good thing both Geno and Anna are old enough to understand. And reassure him that of course he’s also going to be Nikita’s father, what’s the point of him being with Geno and Anna if he’s not?? Sid admits that while he and Kathy didn’t officially break up in 2010 like the rumors said, they did take a break. Because Sid told Kathy that he was starting to have feelings for Geno. Even though he said it didn’t mean anything because he was with Kathy and he loved her and would never do anything to hurt her} and then everyone basically confesses their love for each other and there’s still a lot of crying but this time it’s happy!!

ALSO APPARENTLY I HAVE NINE CHAPTERS OUTLINED?? NOT TEN?? SO AFTER PART 6 IS DONE I’LL BE TWO-THIRDS DONE

WSLA: Sid and Geno getting together and sneaking around and not being subtle at all but everyone humors them anyway

SDK: this scene where Stiles’ dad tells him he knows he and Derek have been dating, which i made up for the specific context for this line: {“Look,” his dad says. “Scott may not have the sense God gave an ant but I haven’t been Sheriff this long just because of my dashing good looks.”}

MB: there’s a scene near the end where a character from Cas’ past comes in and shoots Cas and Mary knocks the shooter out with a cast iron frying pan and John has mega heart eyes and that’s where the reveal that Dean and Cas are married was supposed to happen

HG: I was kinda into crackfic when i started writing this so that’s why it’s like that in the beginning, but the scene i can’t wait for is heartbreaking and not in the fun way. I joke a lot about being super emotional but seriously. i cried during the outline for this scene. I love it so much.

3. What is that one scene that you’ve always wanted to write but can’t be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need?

well I guess the good thing is I almost always write The Scene first and then I have to write the setup and context. which still kinda sucks, but at least it’s more motivation to write all the other nonsense- and then sometimes I write something in the middle of all the nonsense that almost rivals The Scene?? and that’s my favorite part about writing. 

[eyesontheskyline]

(about the whole fic writer asks, except those answered now) the story specific ones have to be about 'but if you really hold me tight' - I love all your cxg fics and it's the longest one :D) it's just I'm thinking of getting back to writing and since you're of my favorites authors out there now i'd love to get some insight. kudos for being cool about it!

Hello!  Okay first of all thank you so much, that is a ridiculously big compliment and my face hurts.  And yes yes yes you should definitely write if you feel like writing - just go for it!  If you have any specific questions or you want a pep talk or whatever, message any time :) 

Okay I’m gonna put these under a Read More because wall of text.

2) What fandoms do you write for and do you have a particular favourite if you write for more than one?Right now only Crazy Ex Girlfriend.  I wrote for Criminal Minds under a different name then had a gap of several years.  I’m pretty far removed from CM now but I can safely say writing for CXG has been a nicer experience community wise (partly a smaller fandom thing and I suspect partly a demographic thing), and there’s more established character stuff to work with because all the character development isn’t like…  Crammed in the five minutes they have to work with either side of the crime solving.

3) Do you prefer writing OC’s or reader inserts? Explain your answer.I don’t really do either, but reader inserts are kind of a squick of mine honestly, so I’m gonna say OCs.  I’ve only written OC kids though.

4) What is your favourite genre to write for?I am not entirely sure what this means…  Fic genre?  Original media genre?  I have only ever written romance or friendship stuff for TV shows, an odd balance of fluff and angst?

5) If you had to choose a favourite out of all of your multi chaptered stories, which would it be and why?Mmm let the sun inside has a special place in my heart because it was the thing that got me back into writing after a really long gap and turned out pretty much how I wanted it to.  Writing it was just a very intense ‘I am writing again and my brain is on fire’ experience for me.

7) When is your preferred time to write?I would love to have a less dysfunctional answer to this, but probably between 1 and 4am unfortunately?  That can’t be a thing on work nights because I get up at 6.30.  If I can get myself on a roll early afternoon in a coffee shop though, that’s a better feeling.  Just… Less common than ‘the rest of the world around me is asleep and my brain just woke up’.

8) Where do you take your inspiration from?Oh everywhere.  The media I write fic about.  The stories I read.  My life, my friends.  The world.

9) In but if you really hold me tight, what’s your favourite scene that you wrote?Oh god I really don’t know.  This story is really hard for me to have perspective on because of the ridiculously time pressured way I wrote and published it.  I’m probably proudest of chapter 12, where they discuss the ‘do we want a baby’ question properly, because that just…  Is an important conversation that you don’t really see in media?  I’m not sure it’s the best writing in the story, but I’m glad I didn’t chicken out of it.  I also enjoyed writing Rebecca meeting Plimpton Senior in chapter 19, because that feels like an opportunity the show missed and I will never see enough versions of it in fic honestly.  (Do you have a favourite?)

10) In but if you really hold me tight, why did you decide to end it like that? Did you have an alternative ending in mind?That one was pretty much always going to end where it did – just because of the format, it was always going to end in a fluffy happy place around midnight on the 1st of January 2021. The last chapter was going to be longer originally, with more characters getting a moment, but it was just getting kind of unfocused – Rebecca POV can handle tone shifts pretty well I think because of the way her brain is wired, but at some point it all just got a bit messy so I pared it back.  I think I’m pleased with how it turned out, but the chaos of writing it is still fresh enough that it’s hard to tell!

11) Have you ever amended a story due to criticisms you’ve received after posting it?Nah, but I’ve fixed typos (thank you @what-the-elle-n!)

13) Who is your least favourite character to write for? Why?I find Valencia and Paula pretty difficult.  I love them, but I struggle.

14) How did you come up with the title - You can ask about multiple stories.(Since it says multiple and since I only have 3 currently…)  Everything I’ve published for CXG so far has had song lyric titles – mostly because I am not good at poetic turns of phrase, and I like lyricists who are.  (I’m also not a particularly romantic person, and I like lyricists who are!)

let the sun inside is from Ribcage by elbow.  The full line is ‘I wanted to explode – to pull my ribs apart and let the sun inside’, which feels to me like that feeling of having bottled everything up for so long that you just can’t feel anything anymore until you kind of break down and come out the other side?  And Rebecca = sunshine, so.  That is basically the premise of the story, so that was a stroke of luck.

the landing light is from K2 by elbow (I swear I listen to other music, they just have words that really lend themselves to fanfic titles lol).  I have a whole meta thing written to publish alongside the last chapter about why this song for this story, but basically the line is ‘Dickhead’s done a runner and he’s wondering if anyone cares – is the landing light on?’ which is just someone far from home feeling a bit stupid and homesick and wondering if there’s anybody waiting at home for him.  And of course Nathaniel comes home to a totally miserable situation and there Rebecca is.

but if you really hold me tight…  It had to be a lyric from a Christmas song, preferably one Frank Sinatra sang at some point, because that was the playlist I started listening to in mid-October while outlining this madness.  So it’s from Let It Snow, obviously, although that exact line is not in that version, ssshhhhhh (he sings ‘but if you’ll only hold me tight’).  I chose it because R&N being a team and getting through stuff together in a mostly-fluff-but-not-entirely way was kind of what I was aiming for, and it just felt like it fit.

15) If you write OC’s, how do you decide on their names?I kind of have an OC coming up in a story I’m writing now, and I just… Knew who named them, and tried to choose a name those people would choose.  I don’t really do OCs much in fic, but in not-fic (it’s been a while!) I try to go for a name that (1) means something, and importantly (2) I can imagine their parents having named them.

16) How did you come up with the idea for but if you really hold me tight?So a writer I used to read a lot from the Criminal Minds fandom did a Christmas fic a couple of years in a row – one short, mostly fluffy chapter for each day from the 1st-25th of December.  So that was the plan.  Except as soon as I started outlining it, I knew I couldn’t write an entire month fluffy and problem-free for these two (for anyone, but especially these two), so short and fluffy didn’t stick!

17) Post a line from a WIP that you’re working on.“I’ve gotten better at a lot of things since you’ve been away, but my self-deception skills have taken a real hit.”

18) Do you have any abandoned WIP’s? What made you abandon them?Yeah, I abandoned a few Criminal Minds fics.  I still feel bad about them actually – I get comments on them occasionally. (On the offchance anyone reading this is someone who feels nervous about commenting on old stories – these delight me in ways you cannot imagine.)  I ran out of steam in a lot of ways – I started them without any real idea where I was going and wrote myself into a corner, mostly, but also I was starting to really struggle to write unprompted.  I am not the most mentally well person, and I just got my brain into this spirally tangle where I thought nobody wanted to read anything they hadn’t asked for, so I filled a lot of prompts but couldn’t convince myself to write anything else.  It feels really weird to think about that now, which I guess is a good sign…

19) Are there any stories that you’ve written that you’d really love to do a sequel to?I toy with following the emotional arc of S4 but following let the sun inside sometimes – that was the plan, when I originally finished it and was panicking that I would never get another idea.  Also, but if you really hold me tight created a world of warm domesticity for R&N that I felt really sad leaving behind, so I would probably like to write in the timeline again.  And the landing light might get a oneshot sequel, depending on whether I end it the way I think I’m going to or the way I was originally planning to…

20) Are there any stories that you wished you’d ended differently?No, not in this fandom.  I’ve only written two endings though!  I’ve ended on some real cheeseball final lines in the past though.

21) Tell me about another writer(s) who you admire? What is it about them that you admire?@heartbash, who can do plot and slow-burn in a way my impatient ass will never be capable of.  @justwanted2dance who deserves a million flame emojis and writes BDSM stuff in a way that makes my anxious brain comfy enough to enjoy it (literally nobody else has achieved this).  @pictureofsoph1sticatedgrace who writes the loveliest fluff and is a badass individual.  @notbang and @anthropologicalhands and @catty-words and @akisazame and @romansuzume who write beautifully and can do those poetic turns of phrase I am not good at.  I’ve got to be forgetting someone but wowww there is so much talent and creativity in this lil room.  So many people to be inspired by.

22) Do you have a story that you look back on and cringe when you reread it?God yes, but not in this fandom.  It’s fine, 19 or 20 year old me, you were learning.

23) Do you prefer listening to music when you’re writing or do you need silence?Silence.  Or like white noise or the Hufflepuff Common Room 10 hour ASMR video on youtube or something lol.  Anything with words just ruins me – my attention span is laughable.

25) Have you ever cried whilst writing a story?Ha yes actually, but I’m really not entirely sure why.  Sometimes my brain is just a really weird place to be.

26) Which part of but if you really hold me tight was the hardest to write?It depends how you measure hardest, I guess.  Several of the smut scenes just said ‘[insert sex]’ for the longest time, sometimes with descriptions?  So like ‘[insert feelingsy sex]’ or whatever lol.  In terms of getting voices right (like to the point of still being unsure whether it’s any good), this gurl group chapter.  

27) Do you make a general outline for your stories or do you just go with the flow?It really depends.  Usually I know roughly where I’m going and how I’m getting there and that’s good enough for me, but my NaNo fic got an outline because of the format and timescale. And I’m planning a thing with an actual plot arc (gasp!) so that’s getting an outline, in the hope of making it look vaguely romance novel shaped.  Basically it depends on the length of the thing for me, and how plotty it is.

28) What is something you wished you’d known before you started posting fanfiction?Writing advice: if you’re struggling to move past a particular point, the thing you need to change is probably a few lines back.  It’s rarely the last line that painted you into the corner. If you think something needs to come out, paste it into an outtakes document – you might want to put it somewhere else later, or salvage lines from it or whatever, and it’s just easier to let go if you’re not actually hitting delete.

Posting advice: remember fandom is community – everyone is here because they love the thing you love.  They’re gonna be excited there’s a new story to read, and they’re rooting for you!  (Write the thing!)

29) Do you have a story that you feel doesn’t get as much love as you’d like?Nahh I mean, it’s a smaallll fandom.

30) In contrast to 29 is there a story which gets lots of love which you kinda eye roll at?Again, smaaalll.  (Also I try not to publicly eye roll at things other people love even if they are my things – there’s nothing quite like loving a song just for the band to be like ‘ugh I fucking hate that song’, so I always try to keep that in mind.)

31) Send me a fic recommendation and I’ll post it for my followers to see! (The asker is to send the rec not the answerer)You did not send me a rec!  Feel free to send me one now!  In fact, open call, everyone send me fic recs, even if I’ve definitely read them.

32) Are any of your characters based on real people?Mm no I don’t do OCs.

33) What’s the biggest compliment you’ve gotten?I mean, I enjoyed hearing that someone read my story in the corner at a party lol, especially because it was a chapter I was pretty pleased with and nervous about.  Also any time anybody says something I wrote is a headcanon or ‘this should have happened in the show’ is a glittery feeling. When somebody notices a little clue or detail that isn’t obvious, it makes me ridiculously happy.  Humans reading my thing then saying something about it is still crazy, so, yeah.

34) What’s the harshest criticism you’ve gotten?Story time: my old fandom has this one character who has a lot of pretty hardcore stans.  I mostly dislike the word stan but like…  Yeah.  So anyway, I got an email saying I had a new comment on my ficlet collection (keeping in mind I was in my ‘very unhealthy relationship with feedback’ stage at this point), and clicked on it all happy, and all it said was ‘I didn’t read this because another comment said it doesn’t contain enough *stanned character* and you really should warn people upfront that he isn’t gonna be in it, I’m glad I didn’t waste my time on it’.  Which was just…  A bizarre comment.  Like, commenting to say you didn’t read the thing is weird in itself, but also you list the characters who are in the thing, not all the ones who aren’t?? Anyway, I then went on my tumblr and I had several anon messages that were just straight up hate along the same lines and…  Yeah.  The Criminal Minds fandom was a strange place. On a related note, have I told you today that I love you, CXG people?  I love you.

35) Do you share your story ideas with anyone else or do you keep them close to your chest?I am basically always up with talking stuff through with people.

36) Can you give us a spoiler for one of your WIP’s?This is actually difficult to do right now.  There’s a baby?

37) What’s the funniest story you’ve written?I mean, I made myself laugh a couple of times in my festive fic, but I’m more of a ‘this one line is funny’ writer than a ‘this story is funny’ writer.  I’m too angsty!

38) If you could collab with any other writer on here, who would it be? (Perhaps this question will inspire some collabs!) If you’re shy, don’t tag the blog, just name it.This question is faaar too terrifying.  I’ve actually never collabed with anyone, I’d love to though.

39) Do you prefer first, second or third person?Third.  I think because I’ve only written for TV shows, no matter how closely you’re following one character, if you’re seeing them on a screen, you’re in third person.  So it’s just an extra struggle to make that jump to another POV for me.  I have written my not-fanfic mostly in first though, and I’ve read some lovely fic in first and second.  I’m just not good at it.

40) Do people know you write fanfiction?One person.

41) What’s your favourite minor character you’ve written?Hmmmm who is minor, really?  I find AJ difficult but fun.

43) Has anyone ever guessed the plot twist of one of your fics before you posted it?I don’t write anything plotty enough for this to be a thing!

44) What is the last line you wrote?“Mm, because you know how irresistible your weird old timey voices are.”

45) What spurs you on during the writing process?I want people to read the thing, honestly.  It’s a ‘reach out my lonely haaand’ moment with a little less melodrama.  I want it to be out in the world doing what it’s meant to do.  I also want it to be finished so I can read it – I get a very particular kind of happy feeling from reading a good sentence I wrote.

46) I really loved but if you really hold me tight. If you were ever to do a sequel, what do you think might happen in it?Lol it felt really weird to type that in there when you didn’t actually say it directly, but you said all so here we are!  I’m just gonna take that compliment even though I wrote it…  When I started coming to the end of writing that story, I started to feel really sad about leaving behind the warm domestic feel of it, so if I ever feel more domestic fluff coming on, probably it’ll be set after that.  

47) Here’s a fic title - insert a made up title. What would this story be about?You did not insert a made up title!  Although insert a made up title has potential for Rebecca hounding everyone she knows to help her title a song she wrote.

48) What’s your favourite trope to write?Is ‘let’s have an actual conversation about this’ a trope because that’s my brand so far!  I haven’t written anything particularly tropey, I don’t think, although the pull of ‘omg there was only one bed’ is strong right now!

49) Can you remember the first fic you read? What was it about?Yes!  It was a Criminal Minds fic, Hotch/Prentiss, canon compliant (ish) missing scenes kind of deal.  I can’t remember the first CXG fic I read, which is ridiculous because it was a lot more recent.  I started writing CXG fic before I started looking for it, because I hadn’t been inspired to write in so long that I didn’t want to scare myself away.  I read some before publishing, but I can’t remember where I started.

50) If you could write only angst, fluff or smut for the rest of your writing life, which would it be and why?I can only dream of being mentally stable enough to have a consistent answer to this lol.  Angst comes more naturally to me, but writing angsty characters into happy situations is one of the ways I make sense of the world, so…  Fluff, maybe, as long as I can keep the characters screwed up, because they just…  Are.  And like, same.

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 216: You’re a Good Man, Shinsou Hitoshi

Previously on BnHA: Deku calmed his emotions and activated Blackwhip a second time, this time On Purpose, and for a moment it looked like he was going to completely curb stomp poor Shinsou. But then he crumpled in pain and the quirk vanished, and he realized he wasn’t physically strong enough to use that quirk just yet. So instead he chased after Shinsou using good ol’ full cowl. Meanwhile Ochako captured Monoma, who taunted her about having one last ace up his sleeve. This turned out to be a Twin Impact shot he’d been saving to hit Deku with, and it worked pretty nicely, but unfortunately our boy Shinsou didn’t have enough experience yet to take full advantage of the resulting opening. Meanwhile Ochako went to bail out Mina and Mineta and took out not one but two more opponents singlehandedly like the fucking ninja she is. Mina took out the third with a raging uppercut, leaving Deku to wrangle Shinsou, thus securing 1-A’s total victory. Now all that remains to be seen is what kind of excuse Deku will come up with for his sudden new quirk, and whether or not Shinsou will be accepted into the hero course. We’re all rooting for you, kid.

Today on BnHA: The 5th set wraps up with a 4-0 victory for Team A, which also gives class A the overall victory over class B, having won 3 of the 5 matches. As 1-A celebrates, Shinsou broods. He was able to piece together that the exercise was a test for his potential transfer, but he feels like he didn’t accomplish enough. The teachers gather the two teams for the post-game analysis and are all “what the fuck, Midoriya.” Deku is all “I don’t know either,” and for some reason everyone just buys that and moves on with their lives. Deku credits Ochako and Shinsou with helping to save him, but Shinsou says he just did it to stop his team from losing. Aizawa chokes some sense into him and says that just because he’s not a perfect 100% self-sacrificing martyr all the time doesn’t mean he’s not worthy of being a hero. Everyone else chimes in and says that Shinsou did really good, and Vlad says that although they still need to make it official, it’s more than likely that Shinsou will be joining the hero course next year. Having settled all that, Aizawa asks Monoma if he can do him a favor and come with him to see Eri the next day.

(As always, all comments not marked with an ETA are my mostly-unspoiled reactions from my first readthrough of this chapter. I’m caught up with the manga now at chapter 225, so any ETAs will reflect that.)

so we’re opening with Shinsou’s perspective on those last few moments against Deku

wow

you’re telling me Izuku was spinning around over and over again in mid-air? he wasn’t just twisting the binding cloth around?? he himself was literally twirling at high speed? that’s what this panel was depicting?? the author of this series is drunk

ahhhhhh my poor exhausted lavender son

welcome to shounen manga, friend. we only go forwards not back

ahhhhh fff dammit Shinsou

YOU BETTER NOT START CRYING OR I’M GONNA LOSE IT

and now we’re belatedly getting the hero names of the four class B kids waaaaaay after the fact

Emily??

(ETA: Exorcism of Emily Rose?? that’s what Viz’s translator speculated, anyway. idk I don’t watch horror movies so I don’t know what else it could be.)

I like the name “Mines” for Shouda though! his quirk kinda is like a landmine I guess. also this poor kid has seen better days Mina what did you do to him

anyways so poor Vlad is being forced to announce class 1-A’s perfect 4-0 victory for the second time in a row

haha check out Mina’s kung fu pose

and Ochako’s peace sign. MVPs. I stan some motherfucking legends here I tell you what

oh lol it was Midnight that was doing the commentary since Vlad went with Aizawa and All Might

I’m glad the kids’ petitioning paid off

so in the end class 1-A once again proved themselves against the unfortunate class 1-B who had all of the cool quirks but none of the luck

Midnight’s making the official announcement and everyone is cheering!

poor class B

it’s not your fault, Manga. at least your team actually won, mainly thanks to you

ahhhh we’re cutting back to Shinsou and his face is hidden and he’s tugging at his scarf and hesitantly addressing Vlad and Aizawa

SHINSOU STOP IT

SOMEONE GIVE HIM A HUG!! AND STOP LEAVING HIM IN SUSPENSE!!!

he says this was also supposed to be his transfer exam. so he knew??

lol Vlad is asking Aizawa if he told him, but Shinsou says he basically just put two and two together even though he wasn’t 100% sure

“not to mention, I was the only one who participated in two matches” yeah that was certainly a big clue

lmao Vlad looks so impressed

just how low are your standards dude

and now Aizawa is changing the topic and says it’s time for the teachers’ critiques! OH BOY THIS OUGHTA BE GOOD

Deku’s critique basically should just consist of “what the actual fuck Midoriya”

and like I said in the previous recap, Shinsou should get credit for his performance in the first battle as well as his save in this battle which showed he has the true spirit of a hero!

LOOOOOOOOOOOL

I WANT TO SHAKE HORIKOSHI’S GODDAMN HAND

so Aizawa’s asking what the principle is behind Deku’s new move since it’s so radically different from his established “super strength” quirk

and Deku’s just standing there nervously

Tokoyami and Kuroiro are bonding over their mutual admiration of how goth the new quirk is

hmmmm how you wanna play this Deku

so basically just be all “fuck if I know, this quirk only manifested for the first time eight months ago and it keeps surprising me with weird new shit. petition to rename it ‘mystery quirk’”

sidestepping the question like a pro there Deku

so he says his power suddenly started overflowing and he couldn’t suppress it and it scared him, but that thanks to Shinsou and Ochako’s help it turned out all right

he says that if Shinsou hadn’t knocked him out he’s not sure what would have happened

and he’s turning to Shinsou now and explaining that he wasn’t bluffing earlier, and he’s thanking him

what the fuck Shinsou

were you?? fooled me then

YESSSSSSSS GIVE OCHAKO HER PROPS

SHE WAS A FUCKING BADASS. NOW TALK ABOUT THE PART WHERE SHE’S RESPONSIBLE FOR CAPTURING 3 OF THE 5 ENEMY TEAM MEMBERS

noooo goddammit Mina not now!!

MINA ARE YOU JEALOUS NO ONE HAS GIVEN YOU CREDIT YET. WE WERE GETTING TO THAT, BE PATIENT

oh sheesh lmao

and now she’s nervously twiddling her fingers and smiling hesitantly and saying she’d rather do that than not do anything and regret it later

oh my gosh

SO PROUD OF MY LITTLE BABY GIRL. YES!!

and holy shit but I want to take that picture of him smiling almost imperceptibly and fucking frame it

look at Ochako managing to completely deflect the attention away from Deku somehow. not only was she the MVP of the battle, but she just keeps saving his ass even afterward

holy shit

DEKU’S FACE ALSO BEING BEET RED THOUGH. HE MUST LOOK LIKE A GODDAMN RADISH

anyway, so Shinsou says he just did what Ochako asked him to do

yeah, but you did it despite them being on the opposing team though!

exactly. you knew it was the right course of action and you didn’t hesitate

SHINSOU STOP MAKING THESE SAD FACES!!!

FOR FUCK’S SAKE I CAN’T TAKE THIS??

AIZAWA OH MY GOD YES

PLEASE REASSURE YOUR DEPRESSED PURPLE SON AND TELL HIM THAT HE DIDN’T DO ANYTHING WRONG AND HE’S A GOOD HERO

sdlfhaslkdfj

holy --

lmao at Kaminari immediately breaking into a chant. methinks the mangaka is too self-aware

and well then, since Best Dad Aizawa Shouta has officially entered the ranks of parents who occasionally discipline their children via shocking comedic violence (consider also: All Might decking Deku at the beach a mere chapter before Mitsuki’s infamous introduction), maybe we can finally put that debate to rest. I think it’s pretty clear when Horikoshi is intentionally portraying abuse and when he’s just being over the top because this is a fictional story in a fictional world where not three pages ago there was a character with a literal comic book for a head

oh snap Aizawa

in other words, it’s okay to be a little selfish. sometimes selfish is even needed. because he’s absolutely right, if you don’t take care of yourself as well you’ll fuck yourself over before long and then you won’t be able to save anyone

and also, at the end of the day, if you save everyone successfully and complete the mission, does it really make sense to stand around and argue whether or not your intentions were pure enough?

anyways needless to say I’m really digging this “nobody’s perfect” speech right here you guys

(ETA: oh hey it’s Aizawa’s Mysterious Cloudy Friend, Shirakumo! probably. hey Shirakumo. what’s your fucking deal goddammit)

this is basically Aizawa’s version of All Might’s speech from chapter 120. I always love when the series metas about what it means to be a hero and what separates the great ones from everyone else. and we saw firsthand in Bakugou’s match just a few chapters ago the difference it makes when a hero is focused on both winning and rescuing

now Deku is complimenting Shinsou on all of his strategic moves like dropping those pipes down on him and trying to lead him back to where everyone else was to regain his advantage

oh my god you guys Deku is so passionate and generous with his praise, this is exactly the kind of thing Shinsou needed to hear though

kinda getting that “a true hero doesn’t just save people, they save people’s hearts” vibe thing here on top of everything else

oh my god Deku

what the fuck are you talking about, if anything you lean into this too much and you need to relax a little and take some of Aizawa’s advice to heart

ahhhhhhhhHHHHHH

YESSSSSSSSSSS THIS IS WHAT I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR. YOU DID IT SHINSOU I’M SO PROUD OF YOU

oh my god. the one hand clutching his scarf and the other one in a clenched fist. and that face. oh shit here come the feels

and I desperately need to know if this means next year as in January/next term, or next year as in when they move on to year 2

(ETA: Viz’s translation indicates it’ll happen in their second year of school.)

OH FOR FUCK’S SAKE

GODDAMMIT HORIKOSHI I WAS SO LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS CHAPTER TO FIND OUT, AND THEN YOU GO AND PULL THIS SHIT. UNBELIEVABLE

(ETA: I love that both classes so clearly want him though. again, they’ve all collectively adopted him and I love it

also, class 1-A still has a traitor in their midst, so depending on when and how that all goes down, they may just end up having a vacancy, just saying...)

oh my god

Mina this is why I want you to run for President. and Aizawa, she absolutely is right and he should be punished

loooool Monoma is trying!

hang in there buddy

so getting back to that, I’m guessing what happened there was that he did take One for All the quirk, but not any of the stockpiled power within Izuku? because to get that it has to be willed to you by the previous owner. so basically he was trying to activate it, and it probably was working, but his version of the quirk was at OFA Prime levels. basically starting from scratch with no additional power stored up other than his own. and we all agree this is actually very fortunate for him and he’d be getting carted off to Recovery Girl right now if things had gone differently

does that not bother him, by the way? like, Ochako just figured he was “bluffing”, but Monoma knows he was actually trying to activate the quirk and nothing was happening. I wonder what he made of that. it seems like maybe he’s too caught up in the loss to class A to really think much on it just yet

(ETA: so apparently he knows enough about how his quirk works to have already figured this out, lol.)

whoa oh shit and I just read the last three panels and a ton of interesting stuff happened so quickly lol

okay let’s break this down and then we’ll end the recap

(1) Deku is so fucking pure. middle of a battle and being attacked, and his only concern is that the quirk is gonna be too much for Monoma and badly injure him

(ETA: and can I just say, the other students could have used a little more of that concern though. the teachers too for that matter.)

(2) so I take this to mean Horikoshi is going to explain what happened, but for now I’m assuming my speculation is more or less near the mark. he definitely did take OFA because you could see the telltale red flashing pulsing shit happening with his skin. so it has nothing to do with Deku originally being quirkless; it’s the way that OFA as a quirk works

(3) Deku is super fucking lucky that no one started questioning what happened with his quirk again, what with Monoma bringing the subject back up

and lastly, (4) OH SHIT. is he gonna have Monoma copy Eri’s quirk to see if he can control it? lol we only just established how lucky he is to be alive after taking Deku’s quirk. what are you trying to do to this poor kid

though I am glad to see Aizawa being a logical dad who cares about his baby girl and is constantly thinking of ways in which to possibly help her out. ah well, hope nothing goes wrong there

and that’s it! on to the next chapter to hopefully see Bakugou and All Might grill Deku about WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED lol

[sesquipunzel]

Act 1 (111-120)

Obviously, I fell behind the Great Re-read on the first day, and my weekend was busy enough I kinda surrendered on that front and didn't sweat not posting for a couple of days. My goal going forward is to get through twenty pages/two posts per day, with occasional extra posts on days I get really motivated, and the occasional missed day or weekend in there when life does what life does. I can also answer asks or post the odd bit of HS arting, if I get inspired in that direction (did I mention I like to art?).

Page 111 - John: Open browser and go to mspaintadventures.com

111.  "You decide to space out on the computer for a while before doing anything important." John seems to be trying to frustrate his player/reader in their Install Game quest. Same Slimer desktop; the Typheus web browser has a big worm in it — the name sounds mythological but I don't recognize it offhand; or maybe it and the worm thing is meant to make us think of worms/viruses —> the disease typhus? And/or John's computer being compromised/unhealthy? A stretch maybe.

112.  MSPA site, intro to Midnight Crew. I'm not getting suckered into another big story, I'm not, I'm not! [Maybe someday. But not when I'm enthusiastically in the middle of Homestuck (on the computer), The Adventure Zone (when I’m driving), the Vlad Taltos book series (when I’m not on the computer), The Expanse and Westworld on TV (when the next seasons are finally available), The Good Place (when I don’t have to own season 3 to watch it), and intermittent Babylon 5 and Buffy rewatches (while my other shows are on hiatus).]

113.  "Less meta, more beta." Yay, installation at last!. (Though it seems a convenience to leave room for the thrilling SYLLADEX action, this panel is very much framed to keep those ominous movie posters in view (also, is "failure to launch" applicable to failing to launch the beta?).)

114.  SBURB client launches and….waits for connection. All too familiar. Skaianet — welp, that doesn't sound like Skynet at all.  

115.  Boning up on data structures. Lots of programming books; yep, definitely a nerd. ("And those textbooks, I've owned a few; I've had my share of sand kicked in my face, but I've come through...")

116.  Okay, Data Structure for Assholes made me laugh. By Buckminster Funnyuncle. Cos it's bad enough having a GUARDIAN who thinks he's Funnydad. But hey, free fetch modus!

117.  And laughing again at John's new QUEUE modus, because my personal sketchy data structure knowledge coughed up FIFO and FILO earlier, and here it is explicitly in the comic.

118.  "This modus doesn't strike you as a significant upgrade to your previous one. In fact, it almost seems more inconvenient." Great, more inventory silliness to come. But we're reminded of that Chekhov's razor again.

119.  John realizes he doesn't know how to switch back to STACK modus — I'll call this one symbolic of not being able to go back to his familiar status quo in lots of other ways, now that fate has been set in motion.

120.  "John: Put down razor." He doesn't understand...but I guess he can't interact with his world without the SYLLADEX shenanigans?  (One wonders how a baby learns to hold a bottle or ride a swing in this universe…)

Righty-o-e-o-e-o -- to Infinity and Beyondward...!

[thenameofaslan]

Hey, The Name of Aslan followers! 

Currently we stand at 7 members, and to keep things unique, instead of using existing character names, we will be going by Narnia-inspired names we created ourselves! Our names are Veriele, Ailora, Gianah, Astriella, Haaven, Lailenah, and Elledia. Allow us to introduce ourselves! Below we will be sharing some facts about ourselves & our interest in Narnia. 

Hello! I’m Veriele!

Favourite book:

My favourite book tends to change a lot. Of course The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is a classic, and in and of itself it’s possibly the most magical story of the 7. However, I also love The Magician’s Nephew for the beautiful creation of Narnia it shows us. Then The Horse and His Boy really stands out from the other books, and I love the characters and their growth so much. But I think when it comes down to it, The Last Battle holds the most special place in my heart. The ending chapters are so full of life and beauty. The parade of returning characters in Aslan’s Country is stunning and hits my nostalgic heart hard. And those final lines just fill my heart with joy! It’s a hard choice, as the entire series is absolutely lovely, but I do think The Last Battle stands out to me most of all.

Favourite Aslan quote:

I love a lot of Aslan’s lines, but I think my top 3 are “Courage, dear heart,” “Do not dare not to dare,” and “Now you are a lioness.”

Favourite Bible verse:

In the entire Bible it’s hard to choose just one, but Revelation 21:5a fills me with a special kind of joy. “He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’”

Songs that remind me of Narnia:

A lot of songs remind me of Narnia, but to name a few: Hear You Me by Jimmy Eat World, North by Sleeping At Last, and Long Live by Taylor Swift.

What kind of content or art I make/enjoy:

I make edits, analytical posts, and I write the occasional fic!

Hi everyone, I’m Ailora!

Favorite book:

For the Christian themes, my favorite will always be The Last Battle. The ending few chapters make me cry. I also love the atmosphere of Voyage of the Dawn Treader, especially the ending.

Favorite Aslan scene:

It’s so hard to choose just one. I guess I’d have to say the scene where Aslan appears and walks beside Cor on the mountain pass in HAHB. I love Aslan’s gentleness with Cor, but also the sense of wonder when he starts to reveal himself and how he’s been acting in Cor’s story. I love that during the entire scene, Aslan is walking beside Cor to protect him from falling off the mountain, and also that he is guiding Cor to exactly the place he needs to be. I love Cor’s response to seeing Aslan, and I love that Aslan leaves him a footprint-full of cold water at the end. It’s just a beautiful picture of God’s provision and love and kindness and knowledge of us.

Favorite Bible verse:

Again, hard to choose. But for now I’ll say Ephesians 3:17-19: “That you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

Hi, I’m Gianah.

How I got interested in Narnia:

I got interested in Narnia when my friend forced me to watch The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I immediately bought the collection of all seven books, joined tumblr and then got even more obsessed with it. Once I found out other people actually really liked the series, I started to be more invested. The rest is history.

Favourite Bible Verse:

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” ‭‭Jeremiah‬ 29:11

Kinds of art or content I enjoy/make:

I love both writing and painting/ drawing. I love making analysis texts so much, and also narrative texts.

Hey everyone! I'm Astriella :)

How I got into Narnia:

I've loved Narnia since I was about twelve, when I was first allowed to read the books (I think I burned through all 7 in about a month!). Even then I loved finding “hidden meanings” in stuff and Narnia is a treasure trove of allegory and allusion!

My favourite non-human character:

My favorite has to be Jewel the Unicorn.  Both because unicorns are amazing and majestic and all, but because of his loyalty for Tirian, his sacrificial love, and his gentle gentility.

My favorite Aslan moment: 

It has to be from VotDT, from the Dark Island where nightmares come true.  Lucy, up in the crow’s-nest, looks down on the havoc and chaos on deck as the sailors panic in terror, and whispers to Aslan, begging for help. And help comes in the form of an albatross, which circles the crow’s-nest before leading the ship to safety; but in that moment Lucy hears Aslan’s voice whisper to her, “Courage, dear heart.” That scene means a lot to me because anxiety always provides plenty of possible nightmares, but I know my God will lead me to safety and He gives me courage.

Hello! I’m Haaven!

How I got interested in Narnia:

 I literally cannot remember a time when I wasn’t. I grew up on the series. My true obsession with it, however, would have begun in about 4th grade when I found the entire series in the school library and read them all for the first time.

When/how I became a Christian?

 I could talk for a very long time on this, but I’ll try to keep in short(ish). I grew up in a Christian home so I always kind of knew  that I needed Jesus, but I didn’t know how to go about it. I was also the most shy person you would ever meet, so I wasn’t about to ask anyone how, either. But then when I was ten, I went to church camp for one week during the summer for the first time. (I wasn’t sure I really wanted to go, but my mom convinced me with, “Well, your sister will be there, so you’ll be fine!” haha.) And, I guess you could say, the rest is history (since this is the short version, haha). :P

Favorite Narnia-esque songs:

 I have so many, but I will limit myself to three: All the King’s Horses by Karmina (totally an Edmund/ movie!PC!Peter/ Eustace song!), Up All Night by David Archuleta (okay, yes, I know this is a love song, but if you think about it as Lucy and Aslan especially in LWW… It’s adorable, okay?!?), and Beautifully Broken by Plumb (sort of a post-Last Battle Susan song).

Hi! My name is Lailenah.

Favorite non-human Narnia character:

This is a tough question, because the majority of my faves aren’t human! Hwin and Bree, Mr. Tumnus, Reepicheep, the centaurs, and then of course Aslan in his completely own category...But I’m going to have to go with Puddleglum because I LOVE him. Many heroes tend to be optimistic, hopeful, and outgoing people, but Puddleglum’s the opposite. And yet he’s still a very caring, courageous, and loyal individual; he stays true to his faith and encourages the others to do the same, especially in the scene where the Green Witch tries to enchant them so they deny that the world above and Aslan exist. And when everything is at its most hopeless point, he’s the one to offer hope in the form of, “We’re just four babies making up a game, if you’re right. But four babies playing a game can make a play world that licks your world hollow. That’s why I’m on Aslan’s side, even if there’s no Aslan to lead it.” He’s not a ray of sunshine, but he can be a gleam in the darkest places, when it’s most needed. And sometimes I feel like as a Christian, some people expect that you must always be “joyful” (aka wear a cheerful smile, be optimistic, and act outgoing) to be a good witness and influential for Christ. But Puddleglum reminds me that I can be real, I can be honest, and I can be an encouragement to others even when I am at a low point (in fact, being with others during their low points because I understand how it feels might be when I am most needed!). My faith and my effectiveness to others as a Christian is not less because I am not an extrovert. It is not less because I struggle mentally and feel exhausted because of anxious or depressed thoughts. No. I was created the way I am for a reason. I have the challenges I have for a reason. We all do, and that’s okay. No matter our differences, we’re not less than anyone else in God’s loving eyes, and He has a unique time and place for each of us to serve as His light as Puddleglum did.

Favorite Narnia book:

It’s always been the Last Battle. I love how intense it gets in this book, how the evil is overwhelming, the stakes are high, and the battle between right and wrong is at its climax. It feels like the good guys are losing as their already sparse armies dwindle, and the main characters are being forced into the stable. Sometimes that sense of being overwhelmed mirrors how I feel when I look at all the scary, sad, and bad things happening in the world today, but I’m encouraged by the characters who still are soldiers for Aslan’s cause, who keep going and trusting in what’s right in spite of that and in spite of the fact that can’t see what’s coming next. And then, of course, Aslan’s country. I love seeing all the familiar faces from throughout the series and the joy and rest they find in eternity with Aslan and their loved one. It shows that it truly is worth it all.

What kind of content or art I make/enjoy:

I have always loved to write!  So fanfiction and meta are definitely my favorite ways to participate. Bet you couldn’t tell that I tend to drone on. ;)  (I also make mood boards on occasion.)

Hi, Elledia here!

Favourite book: 

A Horse and His Boy or Silver Chair

What age we got interested in Narnia: 

I SAY 7, but I grew up watching the BBC miniseries, so I don’t know for sure.

Favourite Aslan quote:

 “And I was the Lion you do not remember who pushed the boat in which you lay, a child near death, so that it came to shore where a man sat, wakeful at midnight, to receive you.”

When/how I became a Christian:

 Raised in the church/missionary brat. I decided when I was around eight that I wanted to be baptized and though there’ve been some bumps along the way, I’m growing in Christ as best as I can.

Narnia-esque songs: 

“If You Want Me To” by Ginny Owens reminds me a lot of Narnia, for some reason.

Kinds of art or content I enjoy/make:

 I write, so fanfic and metas are my thing, but I enjoy all kinds of art.

Anyways, it’s great to meet you all! We hope to interact with you all more in the future, and as we begin creating original posts for this blog. Our ask box is open, should you have any questions! Thanks for following us! <3

[gamingofkenna]

KH3 Day 7

I only have three plot-related achievements to go, so I think I’m pretty close to the end....!

I do Not like flying around in this giant space cube. Free me.

the Keyblade Graveyard I’m very worried. The Sephiroths appear and start talking about trying to start another dark war, but for the purpose of the great creation that comes after the war or something like that. So OK, pretty standard ‘im gonna do the evil thing for the benefit of all’ bad guy BS.

There are a million enemies onscreen how is the CPU handling this.

So they find ‘Terra’ but he’s been possessed by the villains, and his hair literally turns white. I’m real sick of white hair being the villain marker. Look your hair color should say nothing about the character of your heart this is not a mechanic I’m here for.

Why are they still protecting Kairi when her whole shtick this game was that she wanted to be strong enough to fight for herself and protect Sora? I’m also pretty sick of the ‘cute tiny eternally-underaged-looking girl who must be protected while she stands there defenseless’ trope. Let her fight. She and Axel trained together idk what her background before this was but she should at least be about as ready to fight as he is?? Let me see Kairi’s keyblade. Let her kill the big bad.

So... we lose. There’s practically a gameover scene. And then we’re back up to the chess board, except they’re different chess players? They look like maybe the same players, but younger now, and there’s a ‘checkmate’ by mini-Sephiroth, but young Hanzo pulls his king back and says the game isn’t over.

The Final World.

OK so all of this is.... very meta and existential and dramatic. Can we talk about how the spikes in Sora’s hair make it look like he has cat ears on close ups?

I don’t... really understand what happened with Kairi there. Was she the star in the final world, and by talking to her there Sora already saved her? (Was it possible to get through the final world without talking to that star? I wanted to talk to ALL of the stars it was so weird and sad and interesting) Was she never really gone in the first place because Sora seeing them all get taken and assuming all was lost was really jumping the gun on his part?

Why are we... repeating this scene? Did we time travel? I think we time traveled.

HOLY FRICK HOLY FRICK HOLY FRICK

OK we revived all the keyblades from the original keyblade weirders but these looks like usernames?? Like Earthbound ending level meta but where are these usernames drawn from??? Is this just meant to SEEM like you’re calling upon the community or do these actually come from the KH community, winning the day for us?? Either way that was SO COOL!

The X-man is trying to make the X-blade. My joke comes full circle.

So the whole picking everyone off one by one thing is very tedious yes, but ALSO very thematic and I love getting closure on all of these faceless nameless pions. Blue-haired-guy gets a happy ‘death’. Weird antennae girl gets a happy death. Sora reassures someone’s just going to get ‘recompleted’ whatever that means and it sounds VERY dystopian scifi.

ROXAS IS BACK THE BLACK CLOAK GOOD GUYS TRIO IS REUNITED!! Yay congrats y’all!!! The girl’s name is Xion apparently which is funny to me, both that it’s another X name, and because I finally realize where that weird Japanese manga name ‘Shion’ comes from.

Ugh don’t kidnap Kairi again this is getting so boring.

So Xion must be the girl Axel was seeing in Kairi when he was kidnapped and trapped with her on a deserted island by a crazy wizard. They do look a little similar? Not that there’s enough variety in face models for that to be important - two main characters are literally like identical twins or something.

Y’know this fight would be so much easier if Roxas and Xion didn’t look exactly like the bad guy I’m fighting.

Why do all the trios have one girl? I mean I know the answer is sexism but what’s the in-universe answer? Is one of the ‘guys’ really nonbinary and it’s now my job to figure out which one it is in every trio because that’s what I’m doing now.

Now we freed Terra!! I think that’s everyone we were trying to find? Except the girl who’s in Kairi, and now we’re also looking for Kairi again ugh. Look Kairi doesn’t need to be a butt-kicking hero of the day like Aqua is, but can you elevate her somewhat above ‘cute little girl who is always in trouble’?

Last big fight with the Sephiroths, and then we’re coming for you, Baldie.

Aaaaaand.... he killed Kairi? Or something? I guess we know that coming back from the dead is totally an option so.

And we are In! Kingdom! Hearts! I think!

OK wait actually X-man calls this ‘Scala ad Caelum’, the nexus where all the worlds are born. Literally the ladder to heaven. Probably the topmost level of the Inception dream - beyond this is literally only our actual reality.

I died like fifteen times in that fight.

So one of X-man’s moves was literally to pull the light out of Sora, turning him into the dark Sora form that I jump into whenever my health is low and I really don’t wanna die. I’m still not sure if I morally should be doing rage form or not.

TERRA HAS BEEN HANZO THIS WHOLE TIME??????

Holy friiiiiiiiiick ok so the chess game was a long time ago, like when the first Keyblade war was.... and Terra’s teacher along with X-man were there, or something, being the chess players, and grew up to be the Keyblade teachers - except X-man was all doomsday prophet and all that, and decided to do time travel shenanigans to try to reset the whole world. Which like, valid? But also Sora’s whole ‘thats not your call to make’ should be your FIRST thought when you decide the world sucks and you wanna reset it!!

Anyway, Hanzo/Equius/whatever his name is.... probably like died or something in a previous game, or maybe even before the series started, except death is fake and he lived on metaphysically to help the new kids stop his old chess-mate (lol) from resetting the world and hopefully now y’all can CHILL.

Is Kingdom Hearts like actually just the moon tho. Was this game Majora’s Mask the whole time.

“His heart and his mind are made up” yeah but like technically.... this whole game is made up....

No joke if I was even a hair more invested in this I would be crying, I would be sobbing about this ending sequence, everyone moving on and being happy and having friends and the cat-thing found not-Roxas and some girl gets put in the replica body I don’t know who she is - is she Namine?? - but Riku is really happy and I don’t know how y’all can stand this. They’re playing on the beach with old bad guys and and Kairi is there in the sunset and they’re holding hands and Sora is gone???? He pulls a Luke Skywalker and vanishes what is this???

There’s more after the credits - eyepatch from before shows up at the Keyblade graveyard, with the black box everyone was hunting for earlier and promptly forgot about. Four white-robed people with animal masks show up too.... I don’t get any of this, but it suggests there’s something bad still on the horizon (of course).

Then we’re back to the chess game and baby Hanzo says there’s a new game - baby X has seven pieces (four of them have animal tops like from the previous scene) and then Hanzo pulls out the king (representing Sora!) and says ‘Just watch’!! So??? New series???

OK and I didn’t get enough hidden mickeys to unlock the secret ending to brb while I do that.

OK SO THE SECRET ENDING IS JUST AN AD FOR THE NEXT GAME.

I would assume at least - I actually looked up the phrase and apparently it’s nonsense that’s at the end of all the games so that’s nothing - but we see Sora, alive, and he and Riku are in the Verum Rex world, so I’m guessing.... that means something? There’s more I guess is what it means.

OK it’s midnight, I’m spending three more bucks just to sleep and turn this game in tomorrow, I’m posting this tonight and I’ll make a proper post-game tomorrow.

[tsunderrated]

I got tagged by @astolforiderofblack

what was your last…

1. drink; water boys!

2. phone call; i answered a spam call on accident

3. message sent; I think i can do it!

4. song you listened to; i absolutely can not remember this.

5. time you cried; i cry every day cos that’s just how mental illness is

— have you ever…

6. dated someone twice; no

7. kissed someone and regretted it; no

8. been cheated on; yah

9. lost someone special; yah

10. been depressed; every day cos that’s just how mental illness is

11. gotten drunk and thrown up; nah

— favourite colours…

12. Blue

13. Pink

14. Yellow

— in the last year have you…

15. made new friends; uhhhh. I upgraded an acquaintance to a friend but i dont really think ive made a completely new friend.

16. fallen out of love; absolutely not

17. laughed until you cried; mmmm no? who remembers this for a whole year

18. found out someone was talking about you; no. are they? almost definitely. but i don’t know.

19. met someone who changed you; nah

20. found out who your friends are; been hanging out with like 4 people exclusively if that’s what you mean, as far as irl friends go.

21. kissed someone on your Facebook friends list; yah

— general

22. how many of your Facebook friends do you know irl; most. there’s a couple i don’t know who i accepted because we had at least 100 mutual friends, but not many. never accepted just a complete and total stranger.

23. do you have any pets; my dog is the most important one in the world

24. do you want to change your name; no, my name is cool

25. what did you do for your last birthday; my family and i went to top golf. this birthday i haven’t decided what i want to do and we’re celebrating in 3 days lol

26. what time did you wake up today; fucking 2:30 ass in the morning. went back to sleep after lunch and i’ll go back to sleep after dinner then i’ll do it fucking again. cool.

27. what were you doing at midnight last night; got damn asleep

28. what’s something you can’t wait for; may/june when i’ve gotten a couple paychecks, have all my bills squared away, and have some fucking disposable income for once.

29. what’s your favourite animal; foxes, red pandas, and dogs

30. what are you listening to rn; it is extremely silent in my room.

31. have you ever talked to a person named Tom; the guy ive been shadowing at work is named tom, also one of my parents’ friends

32. something that’s getting on your nerves; this fucking jobsite i’m on that runs from 2-9 in the morning.

33. most visited website; tumblr almost definitely

34. hair colour; brown

35. long or short; hair? short-medium for a guy. i get it cut pretty short but i also go like 2-3 months without a haircut.

36. do you have a crush on someone; my gf. also i guess i have crushes on some other people but that’s like whatever

37. what do you like about yourself; im hot and talented and a disaster

38. want any piercings; nah

39. blood type; u really think i’m just gonna but my blood type on tumblr.

40. nicknames; meta, that’s about it. my name’s shorter than any nickname that doesn’t sound like baby talk

41. relationship status; in fucking LOVE with my gf

42. Sign; Star Aries Moon Leo Rising Virgo. Star aries is absolutely true and moon leo is generally accurate too but i have never identified less with any horoscope than the rising virgo stuff.

43. pronouns; he/him. idk sometimes i think i’d prefer they/them but idrc that much

44. fave tv show; uhhhh. mbmbam  seeso.

45. tattoos; i have a cicada and an angel right now; i can think of 3 more i know i want a get and a few more ideas i have w/o placement or places i wanna get one but no idea.

46. right or left handed; right

47. ever had surgery; yeah a couple times

48. piercings; none

49. sport; like, to play? i played baseball and soccer as a kid, and i played tennis with my dad occasionally but i wasnt very good.

50. vacation; i’d like to go to japan some day. also i know it became basic but i wanted to go to iceland back before OMAM got popular when no one though about it.

51. trainers; what the fuck does this mean. best gym leader was elesa.

52. eating; nothing?? i had leftover spaghetti for lunch.

53. drinking; water boys!

54. about to watch; i’ll catch up on this season’s anime soon.

55. waiting for; the sweet release of death

56. want; the sweet release of death

57. get married; for sure

58. career; in the end, something musical. I’m not sure what i’d most enjoy yet.

— which is better…

59. hugs or kisses; mmmm close but hugs probs

60. lips or eyes; what? i like my eyes and lips both very much.

61. taller or shorter; i’d like to be taller. i like shorter girls.

62. older or younger; this is so fucking weird. is this supposed to be about a partner or like if i’d rather get younger or older. what is this question.

63. nice arms or stomach; stomach

64. hookups or relationships; i love my gf very much so relationships. if i didn’t have her though? uhhh probably hookups for a while

65. troublemaker or hesitant; what.

66.  kissed a stranger; yah

67. drank hard liquor; yeah i mostly drink rum. usually either rum and coke or add something fruity though, i don’t drink liquor straight usually

68. turned someone down; yeah

69. sex on first date; uhhh. i’m usually more of a “sex before the first date” kinda guy.

70. broken someone’s heart; almost definitely

71. had your heart broken; absolutely definitely

72. been arrested; nope

73. cried when someone died; not usually when, it doesn’t usually hit me til after.

74. fallen for a friend; hmmm. i guess never really a close friend. they’re usually acquaintances or friends of friends or i ask them out before we have a chance to be friends

— do you believe in…

75. yourself; sometimes

76. miracles; usually

77. love at first sight; yeah

78. Santa Claus; no. who the fuck believes in santa clause.

79. angels; hm

— misc…

80. eye colour; blue/grey

81. best friends name; uhhhhHHHH

82. Favourite movie: i really like Her and Moonrise Kingdom. One of those.

83. favourite actor; my boy Jakey G (jake gyllenhaal)

84. favourite cartoon; Avatar the Last Airbender is hands down the best animated show ever. i dont generally consider it a “cartoon” but sure

this is so fucking long i’m not gonna tag anyone but if were mutuals and you want to do it just say i tagged you

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Michael After  Midnight: Jeepers Creepers

It’s amazing how one character can really make a movie. Horror movies are the genre where this happens moreso than any other; typically, the antagonist gets some cool and iconic look, a signature weapon, and a penchant for really cool kills. Freddy, Jason, Michael Meyers, Leatherface… all of them are slasher villains you could pick out of a crowd, and all of them tend to make even the cheesiest schlock they feature in enjoyable. And to add yet another name to that list of horror greats, we have the titular Creeper of Jeepers Creepers, a demonic entity so cool he kind of makes up for the cliché nature of the story and some meta issues. We’ll get to THAT shortly, but for now…

...here’s the plot: two young adults are taking the scenic route down the highway on their way home from college, when they accidentally get in the way of what seems to be a crazed driver driving a massive truck. They manage to get out of the way, and later pass by the driver doing something mighty suspicious… this being a horror film, they find the best idea is to investigate, and investigate they do! And what they find, or more accurately what the boy finds… is really not pretty: he finds a grotesque menagerie of artwork made from the bodies of this psycho’s victims. It’s some straight-up Sander Cohen shit. Even worse, soon after, the crazy truck driver is after them, and he’s not exactly a normal driver. Can these two get to safety, or is the Creeper going to use them for his little macabre arts and crafts projects?

The film is basically carried by how cool the titular Creeper is. He has very interesting power and lore behind him, what with his hibernation cycle, his unique regenerative abilities, his flight… There’s also the fact he seems to like old music, he drives a big truck, he wears a badass coat and hat, and he uses the corpses of his victims (or the parts he doesn’t eat at least) for art projects when he’s not out killing. Oh,and he has a sweet battle axe. He’s an infinitely interesting and intriguing monster, and I have no doubt without him and his intriguing lore this movie would be a lot more forgettable, because oh boy, this movie is pretty cliché. 

I don’t mean that in a bad way, though; it just kind of follows a lot of beats that other horror films before it have done a hell of a lot better. If it weren’t for the Creeper and how cool he is, this movie would not be particularly interesting in the grand scheme of things. But hey, the Creeper is who he is, so he does salvage the generic plot. What he doesn’t save is the obnoxious, unnecessary, and totally out-of-nowhere psychic lady who tries to guard our two protagonists. She really only appears in the final a ct, but even there she does nothing at all, and nothing she does effects the outcome at all. She’s basically pointless and shoehorned in.

Now, to address the… rather uncomfortable elephant in the room. The director of this film, Victor Salva, was once convicted for having sex with underage boys. I knew this going into the film… which features a horrifying monster stalking a young man with a desire to use his body in disturbing ways. There’s even a scene where the Creeper is shown to have rifled through his laundry, smelling it all… yeah, this movie is pretty creepy as is, but holy shit does the knowledge of the director’s disturbing actions make it a bit hard to watch.

Still though… can’t take away how cool that Creeper is! If you watch this for anything, watch it for the Creeper. I definitely think he’s one of the most awesome horror antagonists ever conceived, and he has such a cool design… it’s just a shame his debut is in a movie that is not comfortable to watch with a bit of meta knowledge. Still, unlike something like, say, Rosemary’s Baby, where the meta knowledge is really the least of the film’s problems, this movie stands as being pretty decent on its own. I definitely don’t think everyone will like this, especially with the issues with the director, but honestly, at least watch it for the Creeper. He’s fucking awesome.

This movie managed to spawn two sequels, and may be getting even more… while Salva directed all of them, I can only hope that perhaps they feature a bit less uncomfortable subtext to them. Hell, maybe they’ll be better than the first one! Guess I’ll just have to see for myself, use those peepers to watch the Creeper.

Can’t believe that’s what I’m ending this on.

[whifferdills]

“World Enough and time” quicktakes:

fuck dudes what if the Xmas special is a “Caves of Androzani” thing where the Dr is basically dying the whole time. that'd explain the dramatic 'noooooo', bc this Dr Who i feel isn't a 10 Dr sort of, fuck you i need THIS ME to live, but in the context of 'i can't do the regeneration tango rn i have work to do' it makes sense

god i love generational ships. this ep doesn't quite nail it but i love that SF trope

MISSY. who is Doctor Who, with her plucky assistants/expendables. i am in love. "Think of the age gap" fuckin

"Nardole, do something non-irritating," says Dr Who, eating snacks. all my Twelvedole headcanons are basically canon now

"Time Lords are friends, everything else is cradle-snatching." you could do a meta on the Time Lord take on intimacy using that line alone.

Friends above all else. And the Dr and Missy are very, very old friends

"You're probably handsome, aren't you. Well congratulations on your relative symmetry." I love Missy ok

"And if I'm in the shower, just bring me some beans on toast. That's....that's roughly human flirting, right?" MISSY.

her accent ramping up on "this ridiculous exercise" right i just really love Missy

Dr Who's real name is Dr Who. the meta nods, i'm livin. "I'm cutting to the chase baby, I'm streamlining, I'm saving us ac-tu-al minutes." *dab* M I S S Y

"Are you eating?" yes, yes they are. luv this hungry boy

Nardole was Blue, once. what the fuck is Nardole

"Is this the emotion you call...spanking" holy shit Missy please i cant

i love how the Dr's speech is just cut off, it reminds me of - i think it's an Indiana Jones? where the one dude is like *dramatic sword flourishing* and the other dude just straight-up shoots him

like i know it'll end up ok but BILL NO. this moment doesn't quite feel earned - like maybe if more of the writers had really used her? but it kind of just feels shitty and cheap. horrifying, but it woulda landed better if she'd been more present beforehand. see also: how "Heaven Sent" woulda worked better if Clara hadn't been fridged or off away wherever i really wish we'd had more 12&Bill moments. i love what we get here, just that shoulda happened all season

nice kitchen. looks like an Aalto-Shaam and a salamander, plus fryer and misc. decent set-up for a college cafeteria.

"What's so special about her?" "I don't know." "Yes you do." "Are you having an emotion?" See THIS is what i want this Team TARDIS to be and i'm so mad we're only getting it now

Twelvedole is canon tho look @ these 2 obnoxious boys

and fuck that scene w/ 12 and Bill just chatting about crushes i wish we'd had more of that

i feel like 12 has eaten more on camera than any other dr who, i am here for this hungry boy who drops chips on their lap

"she was my man-crush - I think she was a man back then" all the gender-misc sexuality-misc stuff yes YEs like sure it's clumsy but it's CANON

"but you still call yourselves Time...Lords." "Yeah shut up." seriously why did we not get more of 12 and Bill hanging out

the PACT to see ALL OF THE STARS anyway Best Enemies is real

i love Bill admitting that she's scared, and doing the thing anyway. Bill in a nutshell right there

oh GOD the body-horror of the Cybermen and the VOICES uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhghghgwaghfgejf nope

"Wait for me" oh way to use hope to fuck someone up again. why, why dude

on first watch i did not at all suspect that this dude is the Master in disguise, i’m a dum-dum

so this hurts more on re-watch

and after input from smarter people - the disguise the Master uses is sort of...like it edges into a hinky area. dunno if it's anti-semetic as such (im not an expert, just it feels fucky on second viewing) but it does flirt with those tropes a lot and w h y would you go there

ffffffuck the converted people just screaming out best they can that they're in pain, and then being silenced. this is for me probs the most directly horrifying thing DW has done since, idk, "Midnight"? been a while, anyway. fuck, dudes

so i know it's the Master now but i do really love the relationship Bill has with Master-In-Disguise. it's a trick, a trap, but it also feels almost...genuine. they have a dynamic, Bill believes in it and i'd be almost be willing to believe the Master does too, despite themselves

Nurse Ratched continues to terrify audiences. the self-assured evil-nurse trope, like. is it cheap? yes. is it fucking me up? also yes. (my favorite aunt is a nurse, i’ve had a lot of - like not good experiences, but experiences where the nurses saved the day best they could; i love nurses but ALSO this trope ok ok ok aw geez)

the body-horror in this episode continues to be OFF THE CHARTS like this is as if someone asked me 'what deeply upsets you' and then they made an episode about it holy fuck

why's Dr Who fucking around for so long if they already know the bottom is much faster and Bill's down there for years like fuck off, be succinct, cough it up. 12 is every waiter i've ever dealt with as expo like - just FUCKING SAY WHAT YOU NEED don't dick around

i do really love Bill here. that mix of needing to leave and wanting to stay, or vice versa

V E N U S I A N  A K I D O. they've got hidden talents and hidden arms

the graphics in this episode are nice that black hole is nice somebody put some work in there

speaking of the assets - Murray Gold nearly on a Phillip Glass tip here. that sort of dissonant orchestral thing. you could rescore this with the soundtrack to Koyaanisqatsi, easily

god that Cyberman voice is...so upsetting. again, always. fuck that shit. this does have a big Spare Parts vibe, with the dying world trying to save itself and the semi-volunteers. it's not quite as emotionally crushing as Spare Parts but it does angle towards that whole...yknow

"aw, sorry mate, guess what I'm about to do" like even knowing what he is, what this situation is, this is such a pure Bill moment and i love it

DONT U DARE DO ANYTHING TO BILL I SWER

but fuck dudes this is ultra horrifying this is so bad and i like it bc i'm confident it'll end up ok but god oh god oh no Bill i wish that hadn’t happened

Missy/Master sure is a thing. i'm really hoping Missy is stronger than that now, better than that now

fuck my emotions are all over the place

A  M O N D A S I A N  C Y B E R M A N

that Master reveal was straight out of Classic Who

"You've met the ex" / "I waited for you" oh shit oh no

NEXT TIME: my soul dies, everything is bad, aw fuck