#and i was like wait what stop rewind come back expand on it

[acourtofthought]

Lucien really needs to come first and be happy.

In a way, Gwynriel and Elucien could be the next books.

For me it also depends on the definitive villain, for me the last book and that would close would be Elain's.

But I totally agree that Az currently needs it and it can wait.

I'm of the opinion that the necklace won't even cause drama and that the two women are mature enough not to waste pages and pages with this drama.

And that the story will also start from the point that doesn't even make a difference.

While that's just me I don't think there's any bad feelings or intent to add to this.

And which Sarah just used to show that Elain came out and rejected it in the end, perhaps realizing it's a mistake.

But I think I'm more interested in Lucien's story because Elain's focus is still so little during the 5 books.

When I read Acosf my vibe was wanting to see more of Gwyn, Emerie and I thought I needed an extra well focused on Elain..

But that's because I only got into the vibe of Nesta's book because of the extra bonus.

I agree with so much of what you said.

I write the posts I do which read strongly that Elucien's book is next but that is contingent on the villain, like you said.

At one point, I do think Koschei was the "final" bad guy who would take us through book 2. Because SJM knew who the first two books were going to be about and said the third was possibly going to be a novel set prior to the events of ACOTAR. That means at one point in time, Koschei was never meant to make it to the third spin-off since the third spin-off wasn't even going to be set during the time of Feysand, Nessian, Elucien, etc. So I feel like Nessian was first then Elucien was second. I don't know how this wasn't the lineup at one point considering she said she wanted to write books for both the sisters and had already done research for Elain's book.

But then she wrote SF (and at the same time began to fully flesh out what she wanted to put in the second CC novel which is when she realized the worlds could connect) and she said that while her original plan hadn't changed, the ACOTAR world expanded. Which I think was her referring to the crossover she had planned as well as the idea for additional romantic pairings.

Part of me wonders if her plan is still to address the Koschei storyline in the second spin-off and still write a novel set back in time for the third. Could the third be about Helion and the LoA? Could she have decided to write a book taking us back to the very first war when the Daglan were defeated?

Now that she's contracted for an additional four novels (some of which may be ACOTAR), then it would be an interesting way to resolve the outstanding Koschei / Vassa / Tamlin storylines, taking it back to the time of Fionn before then moving on to the story that results from the information we're about to learn from the crossover.

SJM said the series are meant to stand on their own but I don't know how it's possible for CC3 not to greatly impact the next ACOTAR book unless she decides to rewind and start the next ACOTAR novel shortly after SF in order to build up to the information we eventually learn from CC3.

If you'd never read the CC series then SF would have ended with the issues being Koschei, Spring, Tamlin, the Human Queens, the Trove and the formation of the Valkyries only for the next ACOTAR book to start up with an alien visitor from another world, TT having some connection to Gwydion after being lost in time and space for millennia as well as the possible threat that the original rulers of their world are trying to make it back to take over once again. And suddenly, the threat of Koschei seems laughable compared to all that.

But maybe the Asteri trying to make it back to their original world was a throw away line and Bryce will stop that from happening. Maybe there will never be any real concern that the Asteri could reenter Prythian through the portals. Then that does leave Koschei as the worst villain in ACOTAR so it would make more sense for an Elucien book to be last.

So there's a lot of unanswered questions that make it difficult to figure out who gets the next POV since different answers lead me to think different things. But since SJM loves Avengers movies it makes me think she's going in the direction of the Asteri / Daglan making it back to Prythian and the characters from all worlds will join together in a major battle which means Prythian first needs to avoid a civil war (Elucien type things) before a war of the worlds event occurs.

I, like you, do not think we're going to see any drama with the necklace. I don't think it was ever about the necklace so much as the experience Az had when giving the necklace to each possible love interest. I mean, I do think there is some symbolism to be found between Elain and the charm (seems ordinary, easily dismissed until held to the light - is that not Elain's personality? That no one thinks much about her but there are hints that she'll finally "bloom" when she's away from the NC and in a place of light? With her mate who is the "sun"?). But in relation to Az, it was how he felt after giving the gift to each.

You're right, Elain hasn't gotten much focus and I think so many really enjoyed the Valkyries and their friendship. It's hard not to want to keep the ball rolling once it gets started. But (and I know I'm just repeating myself on this), Elain's ball is only going to get rolling in her book and not in someone else's. She'd be featured in a Gwynriel book even less as she's not related to or friends with either Az or Gwyn and she's supposed to be in the background in the NC. The more SJM keeps her out of focus with the IC, the more it makes sense that she's not supposed to be there. So until SJM gives her a book, I think the Elain we've gotten so far is the only Elain we're going to get

However, I don't think it means nothing that in her bonus Feyre said "let's help one sister before helping the other", that Rhys said Elain is capable of getting her hands dirty, and that SF ended with Nesta placing Elain's rose carving on her father's headstone as a "permanent marker of the beauty and good he’d tried to bring into the world".

These seem very "Elain's time is coming" hints to me.

[kopw]

obviously if you stop liking something you're not obligated to engage with it further period. but as someone who's been watching bte for around a year now (ever since i properly got back into wrestling as a hobby last april) i just can't help but tune in every monday! even if i know the episodes will leave me unsatisfied and mildly disappointed

i think balancing a behind the scenes vlog series with, i guess you could call it another weekly television show, where you expand upon the big plot line surrounding your friend group, while also giving opportunities to people who may not get as much screen time or attention on your main programming (even more so now with dark and elevation ceasing)... it's a tricky thing for sure. but not impossible! it's a format that's worked for years, ever since they figured out that there was a market for this sort of storytelling in wrestling. it's unique, and fun, and emotional, and there is obviously a place for these external details to slot into, gaps that in-ring storytelling fails to fill

so why am i suddenly unhappy? did something drastically change?

the simple answer is no. you have the drama, you have the travel montage, you have the ryan nemeth segment that everyone and their mother skips—but, wait. let's go back to that first item

something about the "kayfabe" portions has been bugging me recently and i couldn't put my finger on what exactly it was until today

they are deeply unserious

not that bte has ever been a prestige drama, nor is that what I'm looking for when i click play on an episode. but there's this... emotional distance? between the story and the elite themselves that feels disingenuous

i know that partially this is because the people involved are, above all, looking to have fun. i can't remember if it was swerve's podcast or the sessions, but in one of the recent interviews kenny did, he talks about how he's not looking for that grand story anymore, which i think is respectable. this mentality probably extends to the bucks as well, based on how similar their views are to kenny's when it comes to the subject of wrestling philosophy and storytelling

say what you want about cody and his pretentiousness when it came to his character on bte (which isn't even inherently a bad thing when you're an actor), but my brain keeps rewinding to the monologue he did at the end of episode 106. you know the one. ah, yes. his recital of hurt by nine inch nails. that episode was special, and it is special, because it was genuine and immersive, much like the larger narrative it was a part of at the time

not every story needs the same weight. they don't all need to pull on the same heartstrings. but i think what they all need is care. and there's almost this... flippancy, nowadays, that stands like a wall between me and my investment in the story that is being told to me

but maybe i'm wrong. i'm often wrong about many things. i'm not saying bte became soulless and unenjoyable beyond saving. it's just a bit bland at the moment to me personally

nick is still hot though

[mario8th]

This Is Not A New Years Resolution Post

I don't believe in the concept Anyway

My last video of the year is coming out tomorrow. This video is my 56th one about video games. The Game Awards was numbered 66 (although number 64 isn't out yet either). Which is to say the numbers really got away from me, lol.

That doesn't matter though, what does matter is that I Did It! I put out a video Every Other Week for the Entire Year. And that's not even counting how I posted weekly in the final weeks of Mario Bros Bonanza (previously/still named In Review) (I wanted to change the branding since In Review is very much a Kinda Funny thing, from now on everything else will be solely my own) (There was also my failed podcast in there, we don't need to talk about that)

(more after the break)

Afterwards things got a bit hectic on my part. I started (and will hopefully continue) my Zelda Diary series, but the whole concept was basically a stop gap where I ran out of games to even talk about. Which was Zelda's fault in the first place!

And while I'm mostly happy with the work I put into Luigi's Mansion Mania, I'm still thinking about how I want to grow. I'm currently working on a yet unannounced series in addition to (well, actually before) my Super Mario RPG series (I'm thinking Mario RPG Rewind as the name). And I'm really excited to do this series, I'm expanding on the first impressions in a way I've had a fun time with! (Of which I'm very nervous about its reception) But one thing I've definitely been thinking about is how I want to write the reviews themselves. I think I've been too rigid. I initially sorted my scripts into parts due to a comment that was very rude but somewhat correct from my Deathloop review where they complained the review didn't start until x minutes into the video. I think they're wrong, first of all, but there was a nugget in there that made me realize it's probably better to segment the videos a bit. The thing I want to be less rigid on is the content in relation to previous games. This is a series! Each Video should Build on the previous one! I know some people (or maybe even many) won't watch every part, but I shouldn't let that hold me back. For instance, I should have said less about what each Luigi's Mansion game did, and said more about what they did In Relation to the previous game. Right now my retrospectives/series's are technically that in the way they discuss and analyze every game in a series, but I want them to be able to converse with each other just a tad bit more. Which is a long way of saying that I'm going to try to do that with [redacted] Replay and Mario RPG Rewind. The [redacted] is a hint, btw. (So is looking at my [redacted] page, but what's the fun in that)

And before any of that anyway I'm gonna go back to Mario Bros Bonanza to look at the "Remakes" with Mario All-Stars, Advance, and 64 DS, which'll lead into Mario Bros Wonder. Excited to replay these versions, which I will do closely after I finish playing the last game for [redacted] Replay.

And Before Any Of That Still, it's game of the year season! This year I'm doing two things, my official top 10 list, as well as a year long retrospective of the games industry as a whole. And the latter of these (which I hope to get out first) I'm really trying to do something with too. The goal is to have it more in tone with my Game Awards video, but I also pulled so many articles about industry layoffs that going through them all is making me the joker. I've got one more idea for a bigger video like this, but that'll have to be on the back burner until the company I want to write about finally goes under. Oh wait, I've got another idea too! But that's like a Big big project, don't know how I want to focus on that

All of this is to say, I don't actually know what I'm going to do. Yes, I want to keep going with this! Yes, I think about how I haven't done any game dev in months and really want to start that up again, but I've also been focusing a lot of attention on trying to "find employment." And I'll be honest, my last gig was pretty cushy in terms of being able to work around the clock. I have a feeling whatever my next one is will be more restrictive. I feel like I'm going to have to make some affordances. I'm really happy I was able to successfully release a new video every other week for the full year. In mid February I'll have managed to do it for two years in a row. I don't know what the future holds, but I do know that running a youtube channel is not making me any money, and at this pace, will not make me any. (plus I refuse to run adds so like it'd have to be through other means). And in the case where I have to prioritize earning a living or making crummy videos, I need to choose the money one.

So where should I put my focus? I don't know. I really want to cover more indie games. But I also really want to continue with these long series retrospectives. But I also want to grow into more long form stuff too. And in many ways I Really Need to make some games to get my thoughts out in an artistic way. Who knows how much time I'll have to do any of it, though?

Anyway, I made a lot. Some of it was viewed far beyond my expectations too! If you haven't please watch Mario Bros Bonanza, and stay tuned for my next things too. Goodbye

[ash-and-starlight]

what if during their life changing field trip toph and zuko picked up a new chill hobby

[angelasscribbles]

What If: Rewind

Series: What If

Original Series: Bad Romance

More: Bad Romance One-Shots

Fandom: The Royal Romance

Pairings for series: Riley x Liam, Liam x Max, Riley x Max, Riley x Drake, Riley x Rashad

Rating: MA

Warnings for this chapter: Mature themes I guess

Word Count: 2,351

This is an alternated ending to Maximum Damage because @21wishes threatened to stalk, harass and bully me until I gave her an alternate ending to the alternate ending. 😆 I was planning to do it anyway, but she lit a fire under me to get it done sooner rather than later and I appreciate her for it because being able to bounce back and forth to this one helped me get through the (as she put it) emotional carnage that Maximum Damage inflicted.

Thanks @nestledonthaveone and @harleybeaumont for prereading.

My other stuff: Master List.

Ramsford….

“Max, wake up.” Riley poked him.

His eyes fluttered open to find her smiling down at him and happiness washed over him, “Good morning, my everything. What can I do for you this morning? Are you hungry? Can I get you something?”

She giggled, “No. I mean yes, I could eat, and I’d love a bagel with cream cheese but there’s something else I want and you’re going to like it.”

“What is it?”

“I’ve been thinking a lot about what you said the other day, about Liam and Drake and I think…well, I know you’re right.”

“I am?” He sat up quickly as hope surged through him, “I mean, I know I am but what changed your mind?”

She drew her knees up and leaned her chin on them, “It was the thing you said about everyone being responsible for their own choices and for how they deal with the circumstances dealt to them. I’ve been blaming Liam for Drake leaving but it’s not fair. Drake made that choice on his own and I probably pushed him to it. It was just easier to blame Liam than to deal with my own pain and guilt.”

“So…does that mean….” He sucked in a breath and held it as he watched her face.

She grinned again as she nodded and dropped her hands to cradle her newly expanded midsection, “I want to go home, I want us to be a family, all of us.”

“So, we can finally tell Liam about the baby?”

“Yes.”

“Oh my God, Riley! This is the best news ever! I’m going to call Liam!” Max bounded out of bed looking for his cell phone.

“Wait!” Riley grabbed for him, and missed.

“What?” Max laughed as he danced out of her reach.

“What am I going to say to him, Max? I can’t tell him about the baby over the phone!”

“Do you trust me?”

“What?”

“Do you trust me?”

“With my life.”

Max had already hit dial and put the call on speaker. It rang twice.

“Hello?”

“Liam! I have great news!”

“What’s that?”

“Riley wants to come home!”

“What? Like, for real? For good? She’s not…I thought she didn’t want anything to do with me anymore.” There was a catch in his voice.

“She’s right here, Li. You’re on speaker. Ask her yourself.”

“Riley?”

“I’m here, Liam.”

“Is it true? You want to come home?”

“Yes, if….if that’s ok with you…”

“How can you even ask that question? Please come home, I’ve been miserable without you. You and Max both, I’m completely broken without you!”

“I’m so sorry, Liam! I’ve been blaming you for things that weren’t your fault, or at least not entirely your fault.”

“I did a lot of things I regret, Riley, I-“

“It doesn’t matter anymore. All that matters is I love you, and you love me and Max loves you and we should all be together. It doesn’t feel right any other way. Liam….are you crying?”

“Yes. I really thought…it doesn’t matter. What can I do? Should I send a car?”

“Liam, there’s something I need to tell you and I’m afraid you’re going to be mad, and hurt, that I didn’t tell you sooner, but I don’t want to do it over the phone.”

“Riley, my love. My queen, light of my life. There is nothing you can tell me that will make me stop loving you or not want to be with you, so whatever it is, tell me now, tell me when you get here, it doesn’t matter, and it won’t change how I feel about you.”

Max hit mute as he told her, “Riley, he’s going to know the moment he sees you. Wouldn’t it be better if he’s prepared?”

From the phone, Liam’s voice asked, “Riley? Are you there? Did I lose you?”

She stared at Max for a moment then nodded. He unmuted the phone and handed it to her. She took it in her hand, but left it on speaker as she replied, “I’m here. I….I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner but…”

She paused, looked to Max for support, then sucked in a giant breath and blurted the words out as fast as she could, “I’m pregnant and it’s Drake’s baby.” Then she squeezed her eyes shut tightly and held her breath.

There was silence for about five seconds. Just as she opened her eyes to look at Max, Liam said, “A baby is amazing news. We’ll deal with the rest, like we talked about last year when we thought you might be pregnant and didn’t know if it was mine or Max’s. Is that why you left? You thought I couldn’t handle you being pregnant with Drake’s child?” The thought that his own insecurities had almost cost him the woman he loved gutted him.

“That was part of it. I’m so relieved that you’re ok with it. I just want to come home. I miss you. I love you.”

“I love you too and I’ve missed you terribly, you and Max both. But you can’t come home just yet.”

“What? Why not? You just said-“

“I think there’s one more person you need to tell about the baby, don’t you?”

“You mean Drake? I don’t know, Liam, he doesn’t seem to want anything to do with me.”

She could hear the smile in his voice as he told her, “That’s where you’re wrong.”

“What do you mean, that’s where I’m wrong? I haven’t heard from him since Paris, Liam.”

“He was here, today, at the palace.”

“What? Why? What was he doing there?”

“Looking for you, love. He wants to come home too.”

She looked up at Max with tears in her eyes, “He does?”

“Yes, but he’s on his way to Ramsford right now, so you should wait for him, then the three of you can come home together.”

“What time did he leave?” Max asked.

“About an hour ago, so he should be there in two.” Liam replied.

“Ok, we’ll wait.”

An hour later…..

They were lingering over a leisurely breakfast on the terrace when Riley suddenly pitched forward and grabbed her stomach, “Fuck!”

“What is it? Are you ok?”

“No, that really fucking hurt! Shit, was that a contraction?”

“What? No, it’s way too early!”

“I can’t breathe…shit…”

“I’m calling 911!”

“I don’t feel so good….this can’t be normal, I…I can’t see, Max, I’m scared! I feel so dizzy!” It was the last thing she said before her body slumped in her chair.

“Riley! Riley!” She slowly blinked her eyes. She was on the floor surrounded by people. Max, Savannah, Bertrand, and two paramedics. There was an IV in her arm.

There was a ringing in her ears as she heard an unfamiliar voice say, “The nitroglycerin is working! Let’s get her to the hospital.”

“I’m coming with you!” Max insisted as he ran along side the gurney, “Riley! Riley, I’m here, I’m right here blossom!”

An hour later….

Drake rushed into the hospital, skidding around the corner and nearly colliding into the admissions desk, “Where is she? Where is the queen?”

Hospital security poured into the hallway to surround him.

“Move, let this man through! He’s a captain in the Queen’s Guard!”

Drake looked around for the source of the voice, “Marco! Where is she?”

Marco waved hospital security off and pulled Drake to an elevator bank. He pushed the call button as he said, “Come on, I’ll take you up. She’s fine. She’s going to be ok. It’s good to see you, man. You’ve been missed.”

“Thanks, I…uh…” Drake stepped into the elevator and slumped against the wall. He raked a hand through his hair, “This is surreal. She’s pregnant?”

Liam had called him while he was driving and filled him in on everything. He still couldn’t believe Riley was pregnant and the baby was his. It was a lot to wrap his head around.

“Well, she was.” Marco replied with a grin, “Baby got here a little early, but she’s doing great, they both are.”

“That’s…that’s good. Shit.”

The elevator stopped and the door slid open. “Hey man, I mean it, it’s good to have you back. Maybe don’t be an idiot and leave again, ok?”

“Heh.” Drake gave a short, ironic laugh, “Yeah. Count on it.”

Marco walked him down the hallway toward Riley’s room, where Drake was surprised to find Liam waiting for him outside the door.

“About time you showed up.” Liam quipped.

“How the hell did you beat me here, man?” Drake asked as he pulled his lifelong friend into a quick embrace.

“Helicopter.” Liam grinned at him.

“Right. King shit.” Drake laughed softly.

Liam clapped him on the back, “Riley’s doing fine, the baby was early, but her odds are very good. She got prompt and excellent medical attention. She’s in the NICU right now, but come on, I think someone is waiting to see you.”

Liam ushered Drake into the room and motioned to Max, who stood and greeted Drake on his way out of the room.

“Riley.” Drake moved to her bedside and took her hand in his, “You’re really ok?”

“I’m fine. Just a little high blood pressure.”

“Don’t joke. You scared the hell out of all of us.”

She pulled her hand out of his, “Why are you here, Drake?”

He flushed with guilt. That was a valid question, he had spent the better part of the last two years running away from her, running away from his own feelings. But he was here now.

“I was wrong. You were right. I’m not ok without you. I want to come home. I want…I want to be there for you, for the baby, as much as you’ll let me. If you don’t want me back, I understand, but I’d like to at least be friends again, try to coparent, maybe. Whatever you want, whatever you need. I’m going to spend the rest of my life proving you can trust me again.”

She let him take her hand back as he pulled a chair up and sat next to the bed. He held her hand in both of his, “I love you and I’m ready to do whatever it takes to make this work. We can go to couples therapy if you want.”

Riley laughed, “What?”

“I’m serious, Riley. I need you to understand that I’m all in this time, no matter what. They…uh, there are therapists that specialize in polyamorous relationships.”

Riley blinked, “There are?”

“There are.” He confirmed.

“And you know this how?”

Drake flushed, “I googled it. I just…I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, and a little research and I’m ready to try this. No, not try, I’m ready to do this!”

“Are you sure? This seems like a complete one eighty from the last year and half.”

“All I know is I was happy when we were together, even though I knew Liam and Max were both in the picture. And I was miserable without you. Liam and Max are both ok with it. The only one standing in the way of my happiness is me.”

“I think I tried telling you that at the cabin that day.” Liam said as he came back into the room.

“I know.” Drake answered, “Everyone’s always telling me I’m an idiot. Guess it’s true.”

“And people think I’m the flighty one.” Max shook his head.

“I understand if you say no. I’ll take as much or as little as you’re willing to give me.”

“Oh, Drake, you idiot.” She smiled at him, “All I’ve wanted for the last year and half was for you to come back to me.”

“Really?”

“Really. I know that doesn’t mean this will be easy, but I think it’s worth fighting for. You’re worth fighting for and I started out this morning with my own hat in my hands, so to speak and someone showed me a hell of a lot of grace and forgiveness when he agreed to take me back.” She shot an adoring look at Liam, “So I’m more than happy to pay that forward.”

Drake brushed a tear from the corner of his eyes and leaned forward to kiss the top of her head. “Thank you. I’ll never make you regret it, I promise.”

Liam pulled a chair up to the edge of the bed on her other side, taking her free hand in his, “There was nothing to forgive. I can’t wait to get you back home and I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure you never want to leave again.”

“You’re going to make me cry, Li!” Max sniffled.

“I can’t tell you how happy I was to get that phone call this morning!” Liam squeezed her hand.

“Yeah, she was going to wait and surprise you, but I talked her into calling.” Max explained.

A shadow crossed Liam’s face, “It’s a damn good thing you did. If you hadn’t called, this would have happened an hour into your drive to the palace. On that stretch of highway that runs through nothing and nowhere.”

He shuddered at the thought.

“I know I have a lot to catch up on with both of you,” Riley gave Liam and Drake each a quick smile, “But I’d really like to go see my baby now.”

“Absolutely, love!” Liam was up and out the door looking for a nurse immediately.

As Riley settled into the wheelchair with Liam’s assistance, Drake asked nervously, “So, how is this going to work, exactly? With the baby?”

He had just started to think through the ramifications.

Max squeezed his shoulder, “Don’t worry about that right now. Right now, let’s just focus on getting the baby out of the NICU and ready to go home.”

“He’s right.” Liam agreed, “We have a lot to worry about, and a lot to be grateful for right now. The rest, is just details.”

Riley reached for his hand, “We’ll figure it out. We’ll figure it all out, because we can get through anything, do anything, as long as we’re together, all of us.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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[thanksjro]

More Than Meets the Eye #33: In Which I Write the Word ‘Quantum‘ 19 Times

Dang, I forgot what happened at the end of the last issue. It was pretty important, too, but I don’t have time to reread. Maybe the establishing shot can help me out?

Oh, that’s right, Rewind happened!

Everyone’s pretty jazzed that Rewind is here, non-exploded, and supposedly alive. Megatron carries this ridiculously small man over to a table, while Skids is busy admonishing Nightbeat for trying to put the pieces of this mystery together.

That’s one of the two first canonically, openly gay Transformers, Megatron. You bet your ass he’s important.

Nightbeat’s dragged Nautica over to look at that poster for Crosscut’s play they saw last issue. Together, they discover something interesting, and it’s not that Nightbeat’s chin has elongated to the point of absurdity. On this future ship, the play was completed and produced a mere few weeks after the initial launch of the Lost Light.

While this is going on, Rewind wakes up and asks Skids what the hell is going on. Skids, likely not wanting to poke at farm-fresh trauma, glosses over the fact that everyone on this ship was violently murdered, and that they found Rewind blacked out inside the hollowed torso of his brother-in-law.

…This is a dark story line.

You see, the joke here is that “Dark Cybertron�� sucked major chrome.

Megatron reminds everyone that they’re still in grave danger every moment they stay aboard this ship, but Skids is more concerned with Rewind’s mental health. Which is sweet, but maybe not the thing to prioritize in such a precarious situation.

Rewind takes the fact that Megatron is an Autobot now pretty friggin’ well, as well as the introduction of gender into his species. That is, until Nightbeat, the king of social graces, saunters up to the scene to ask Rewind what the hell happened to the ship. He does get his answers, despite Rewind being horrified to the point of speechlessness.

Over at the hole in the wall, Nautica and Riptide are taking a gander at the quantum drums, which house the quantum foam for the quantum engines so quantum jumps can happen.

As Nautica explains the process by which quantum travel works, she realizes that the answer to what happened to everyone who disappeared was right in front of them this whole time.

Quantum, quantum, quantum- doesn’t even sound like a word anymore, does it?

The data slug Rewind made corroborates this theory, showing a series of events that definitely didn’t happen to the Lost Light we’ve been following throughout this story so far. The data slug contains this Rewind’s version of dead Rewind’s “Little Victories”, the travelogue that was never completed, where the question “are you happy?” revealed just how emotionally unhealthy most of the crew is. I’d like to imagine this Rewind’s film is called “Small Achievements”, or perhaps “Dear Fucking Lord, We’ve Been on this Trip for Three Hours and the Captain Has Been Killed by a Goddamned Soul-Vampire”, or maybe even “Where the FUCK is Our Therapist”.

The DJD came into the equation by way of someone having led them to the Lost Light. We get a flashback panel of the gorefest, in which Tarn appears to have learned how to fly, given the angle he’s coming from.

Because Rewind’s big thing in this series is being the guy who records stuff, the DJD take the opportunity to make some movies of their visit to the space yacht.

James, why do you keep getting Rewind involved with snuff films? I’m starting to get concerned.

Now, the thing about Rewind is that he’s almost always accompanied by his other half. Where is Chromedome, anyway?

He’s dead, that’s where.

Turns out, when you tell the DJD that you won’t do the thing they want you to do, they have a habit of doing nasty things in retaliation. Chromedome got stabbed in the friggin’ visor with his own finger needles, because Vos enjoys ironic deaths, I suppose. There’s some other stuff that’s implied to have happened, but we’ll get to that once we learn a little more about the DJD themselves.

While Rewind recounts the grisly tale of his husband’s demise, Riptide notes that the quantum foam has begun to spread at a remarkable rate. This is a bad thing, because that shit can and will explode, given half the chance, and this wreck is floating right above a potentially-inhabited planet.

Though I could have sworn we established that this planet was a Smartplanet, and therefore very much populated by students and staff. I don’t know. Maybe we conveniently forgot that, so we could make this a learning moment for Megatron.

Jiminy Christmas, Megs, do you even listen to yourself?

Skids, who has had a very long day of finding corpses and learning about quantum theory, snaps at Megatron, telling him that in order to actually be an Autobot, you have to have a little frickin’ compassion for those outside of your peer group.

Which is sort of contradictory to the Aequitas trials, the Killswitch debacle, the POW situation back on Cybertron, and whatever the fuck Prowl’s whole deal is, but maybe Skids is speaking about his own, personal relationship with being an Autobot. Hopefully so, otherwise he needs a class on critical thinking, STAT.

Never mind all of that though, because the problem just got a lot worse- the quantum foam has expanded to a point where any holes in the stuff are too small for the Rod Pod to get through. We’re going to have to get creative if we want to save the day.

Luckily, we’ve got a quantum duplicate of just about the tiniest little dude in the franchise here to do the job. Now we just need another, equally tiny little man, so the quantum drums can be shut off at the same time. Nautica commits more microaggressions, and this gives Getaway inspiration for a witty quip, which in turn gives Skids a brilliant idea.

The gang heads down to Brainstorm’s lab, to look for the mass displacement gun that was used for treating Ultra Magnus’s nanocon infestation back in the 2012 Annual. While they search, Nautica explains just why the hell the Lost Light disappeared in the first place. You see, quantum duplication acts on the Cain Instinct— it’s fine, as long as the duplicates don’t perceive each other. However, the moment contact is made, it says “oh man, guess I’m gonna have to end you” to one of the duplicates. The contact in this case happened when the Coffin Rodimus was brought aboard the ship.

Anything that wasn’t aboard the Lost Light at the point of the takeoff/explosion was never duplicated, and thus wasn’t erased from reality once shit started going to hell. This is why the Rod Pod is still around, and why the remaining cast are— well, the remaining cast.

While this conversation is going on, Nautica and Nightbeat uncover yet another dead body; it’s Brainstorm, and he’s a little underdressed.

…Someone run a paternity test, I think Cyclonus might be the father.

Also, Brainstorm’s a double agent.

Fucked up.

Getaway is furious that a Decepticon has been living on the same ship as him for the last six months, right under his proverbial nose. Even Megatron’s surprised, stating that Brainstorm isn’t usually who the recruiters aim for.

So, no mass displacement gun, and now they’re aware of the fact that there’s a traitor on the ship who’s had access to a LOT of weapon tech. It’s at this point that Megatron decides to stop lying by omission and tells everyone that he can mass-displace, since he used to turn into a handgun.

Smashcut to Megatron and Rewind floating out in space, the former now not much taller than the latter, as they traverse the web of quantum foam to get to the drums. Nautica instructs them from the Rod Pod. If this works, anything produced or connected to the quantum engine will be neutralized, and maybe we’ll even get the other Lost Light back! YAAAAAY!!!

Y’all really let this man go out there to fuckin’ kill himself for the greater good, didn’t you?

Rewind is honestly pretty chill with ceasing to be, seeing as he watched 200/+ people die today, including his long-time spouse.

Jesus. I’d say get him a therapist, but in order to do that, we’re going to have to wipe him off the map anyway.

Rewind asks Megatron if the Chromedome that isn’t his and his duplicate are still together. And I mean…

Luckily, Megatron has the good sense to lie.

With that, they flip the switches, and deactivate the drums.

And that’s a series wrap on Rewind! Congrats to Mr. James Roberts for the esteemed honor of burying the same gay twice!

Later on, everyone is back inside the Rod Pod, as their disappeared shipmates return from being nonexistent. Chromedome pops back in, and Skids is on him like a shark, telling him to go on the roof. Skids doesn’t even try to explain why. Which, fair. How the hell do you explain to someone that their dead husband’s quantum duplicate survived both a terrorist splinter cell attack, and the laws of quantum sci-fi bullshit crashing down on his tiny, tiny body, and that he’s right there on the roof waiting for them?

Welp, there goes the Chromedome/Dominus endgame. Shame, that.

Looks like Chromedome finally hit the threshold for having earned Roberts’ pity, and won’t be directly targeted by the plot for a little while. This isn’t something you see very often, so let’s really soak this in.

…Someone had to have told Rewind what happened to the other Rewind, right? I wonder what that conversation was like.

Back inside the ship, Blaster gets word that the Lost Light has reappeared. As they navigate towards it, Megatron requests that an encrypted call be made to Rodimus, to discuss the Brainstorm problem.

In the interim, Ravage is offered the opportunity to be a part of the crew, so he doesn’t have to keep skulking around in the shadows. We don’t get an answer from him, as our focus shifts over to Nightbeat and Nautica.

Nightbeaaaaaaaaaat, stop stating the themes of the comic verbatim! People are going to start thinking you’re a shonen anime protagonist!

Nightbeat’s somehow managed to keep ahold of the briefcase that they found on the other Lost Light. Unless Brainstorm’s boyfriend is in there, I don’t think this one was the work of Huey Lewis and the News’ hit single from the Back to the Future soundtrack.

Over on the Lost Light, specifically in Swerve’s, Brainstorm’s making his way through the crowd, briefcase held gentle like hamburger as he goes. He makes it to the bar, where Atomizer tells him he can’t have his briefcase in here. Brainstorm has what most would accept to be a healthy response to being told “no.”

It’s what I would do.

[artxyra]

Hi, could you please write a miraculous ladybug salt with Damianette where Marinette and Damian have been dating since before the show starts. Alya believes Marinette has a crush on Adrian even though Marinette is in a relationship with Damian. Alya then tries to break Damianette up in order to get adrianette together. Also Marinette and Adrian met when they were younger due to the dupain-cheng and Wayne's being friends and the Argeste and Wayne's being business friends. Maybe make it Class salt

Pretending to like Adrien may have been the worst decision of her life. Of course, Adrien agreed to it wanting to pretend to be the oblivious just a friend kind of guy. Marinette and Adrien shared laughs at the thought of their classmates trying to get them together not knowing the extent of their relationship prior to meet them.

Let’s rewind a bit.

It started with Sabine and Emilie went to University to together. They were roommates and the bests of friends. From there, Sabine went into dating the baker’s son while Emilie touch interest in a fashion mogul. Everything was perfect for their little group until business started to grow on international levels. Sabine and Tom jumped to stardom after participating in a baking contest in English and became one of Europe’s celebrities in the food industry. Emilie had grown to be loved on the big screen as Gabriel expanded on the family business taking on building the biggest fashion empire in Paris.

Soon the family of twos welcomes new members: Adrien and Marinette.

The children would send the day at each other’s home when their parents were on business trips. They grew to love each other as brothers and sisters. It was Marinette who asked her parents to send her to big brother's house to show him something she had made. Sabine and Emilie cried together when they realize that their children had taken to calling each other siblings.

When Adrien and Marinette were five, the family was welcomed to a Wayne Gala. Sabine and Tom were quick to become friends with a certain Mr. Wayne. Marinette had expanded who siblings to include Dickie and Tim Tam. Adrien was jealous of the competition regarding Mari’s favorite brother.

All was perfect until Mari meet the latest addition to the Wayne family around the age of ten.  Damian Wayne.

He wasn’t like the others, and she had met plenty of the adopted and non-adopted Wayne over the years. He was rude, always looking like he was out to get the world. She at the utmost pleasure in breaking through to the older boy. Her challenge every time she visits was to get him to laugh. She didn’t exceed.

 When Adrien went the young Wayne, he screamed and hid behind Marinette, who at the time was taller than the two boys. Adrien hugged Mr. Kitten, his stuff black cat, like a lifeline until Alfred had called the three kids for lunch.

As they have gotten older, Damian took a liking to Marinette and had developed a crush on her. His older siblings found it hilarious when they found the demon lightly brushing at any mention of the Parisian girl.

Unfortunately, a loss entered the Agreste household. Emilie had fallen sick and had disappeared from the face of the earth. Gabriel didn’t know how to deal with the loss, he ended up giving the Dupain-Cheng temporary custody of his son until he figures out his next move. That was the last time anyone had seen M. Agreste in public. Adrien plenty of surrogate siblings to help him through the loss of his mother, but he also ended up losing his father in the process.

Months before they were to enter college, Damian had asked Marinette on a date. Marinette smiles and wrapped her arms the taller boy’s neck. Her boys had grown to be taller than the girl even if it was by a couple of centimeters. Everyone around them suspects that they’ll be at least 5’9” to 6” while Marinette would grow to be Sabine’s height at best.

Celebrations were made at the announcement of the Dupain-Cheng heiress and Wayne heir becoming a couple. Their parents promise their kids a normal relationship despite media interference. The Dupain-Cheng moved into their smaller bakery as it had an apartment upstairs. The perfect front and it was close to the school that they were sending Marinette to for college.

It was all fine and dandy until Marinette and Adrien received their miraculous. Not even a day after they started college. Marinette had taken a liking to the reporter, but she quickly realizes that she is determined, and that kind of determination can last for a long time.

“I’m fine, Dami,” Marinette says to Damian over video chat. She was working on a commission for a client and Adrien was being no help despite being in the same room with her. Damian raises an eyebrow. “I’m serious, they cannot bring me down.”

“She’s lying.” Adrien sings from his position on the chaise. Marinette turns to the blonde model and glares at him.

“Stay sane, Angel. I’m sure she’ll come to her senses.”

“I doubt it, we’re about to graduate lycée and she's still headset of getting Adrien and me together. I’m pretty sure Luka would hate that.” Marinette begins to stitch together the pieces of fabric in front of her.   

“In that case, I will gladly put a sword through her if she doesn’t stop.” Marinette smiles and laughs at the thought of Damian putting a sword through Alya.

“Well your lunch is ending soon, we’ll talk later?” Marinette says pulling her focus away from the outfit and to the clock.

“Father will understand if I ditch the other half a day.”

“Dami…”

“I’ll go Angel.” Damian folded. “Are you still on for date night tomorrow?”

“I would be crazy if I said it wasn’t.” Marinette waves goodbye to the small screen. The screen goes black signaling the end of the call.

“So, what are we going to do about Alya?” Adrien asks and before Marinette could reply, both of their phones go off. “It’s Nino. Asking if I want to hang out with him and Alya.”

Marinette sighs and sends a quick reply. “Alya texted me about wanting to hang out with her rather than Nino.”

A beat past. “She’s setting us up again.” Groans follow through.

With Alya, she is determined, to get Adrienette together by the end of the school year. This was their final year and Marinette never once managed to work up the confidence to ask the blonde model out.

Today, she was staging an “Operation Adrienette” at the Place des Vosges. Everyone that is a part of the akuma class was there. Alya, standing front and center with Lila, points to the easel with a large poster board.

“Here’s the plan. We all know that graduation is coming up soon, and I tend to make it my legacy to ensure Adrienette becomes canon. They have ditched us for the last time and I planned to end that this week.” Alya states pretending to be heartbroken.

Lila couldn’t help but notice how Chloe and Juleka were missing from the meeting. She doesn’t want Adrienette to happen but when she tried to get Marinette expelled in college, during a photoshoot Adrien had to threaten for her to back off and stop messing with his sister. Their other brothers wouldn’t like that. Since that encounter, she made a deal with the duo and learned very quickly how there was no romantic attraction between them, just mischief. The reason for Lila being her is because Alya and the rest of them are still her puppets and she has to play the supportive friend.

“I’m still salty about the last plan. They were supposed to have a romantic time at the ice rink, and nothing came of it. This time I’m planning a romantic dinner where Nino and I would ditch the two for another booth. That way they are forced to interact with each other.”

“What are we going to do if that backfires?” Rose raised her hand inputting her concerns.

“We don’t expect it to.” Alya confidently states.

It was Friday night when the plan went into fruition. Adrien had agreed to meet up with Nino and Alya for whatever they have planned. He ended up dressing up at the request Alya of blowing up his phone under Nino’s contact name.

Alya was hanging off Nino’s arms smiling at the model. It was creeping him out.

“So why am I here?” He finally asks even though he knew the answer already.

“We’re waiting for Marinette; she’d promised that she’ll be here in a moment.” Alya deflects the question, she looks elsewhere, no doubt to find Marinette. “There she is.”

Marinette walks over to the group. Adrien gasps causing Alya and Nino to smugly smile at each other. Marinette was wearing a red and black T-shirt dress with the icon of Robin in the center.

“Hey gurl, glad you can join us.” Alya pulls away from Nino, giving the poor teen his arm back and formerly greets Adrien.

“Not like a had a choice, Alya.” Marinette murmurs under her breath.

“Of course, you did, look you’re already here and let’s go get to our seats.” Alya pushes Marinette towards the door and gestures for Adrien and Nino to follow.

Before they were event seated, Marinette notices the two-seat table. Like that didn’t raise any red flags about this evening. Adrien and Marinette took to the table first while Alya made up an excuse for her and Nino. They took the seats on the opposite side of the restaurant to spy on the couple.

Marinette stares down at Adrien both looking very comfortable with one another. The waiter came to their table asking if they need anything to which Marinette orders water and Adrien saying that he’s just a stand-in. The waiter didn’t question it.

Alya and Nino had ordered their meals and she was getting fed up with the lack of communication between the two. She would have stalked over there if it hadn’t been for Nino holding her back.

Just then, a tall, sleek dark hair, gentlemen walk over to the table. Adrien immediately gives up his seat to the gentlemen, but Marinette got out from her seat to hug the man. Alya was in shock. Marinette even gave the male a kiss on the lips before wishing Adrien out.

Adrien had the nerve to turn to Alya and smirk before walking back to the entrance and out of the restaurant. Marinette and the male happy hold hands across the table and chatted. When the waiter had returned with Marinette’s glass of water, he doesn’t seem surprised to see the new face. Instead, he takes their order and doesn’t return until the order is ready.

Alya watch as the couple happily eat. Anger could not describe what she was feeling. Who was this gut and how dare he hijacks a date she had been planning for weeks? When Nino finally gave his okay, it was after Marinette and her mystery date disappeared out of the restaurant. Alya wanted to scream and shout. Scream to the heavens to let out all the anguish she was suffering from Adrienette and shout at Marinette for daring to bring another dude in while she has a crush on Adrien.

She must break them up. If that is the last thing she does.

Alya didn’t see Marinette nor Adrien for the rest of the weekend. She tried to go to the bakery, but the girl’s parents informed her that Marinette was not home. Everything was a mess.

When she returned to the classroom that following Monday, the class was all wondering how the date went. Did they finally get together? Alya was near a breakdown.

“You, how could you. Do you have any idea what I had to go through?” Alya shouts at the teen at fault for all her problems.

“Look Alya, I didn’t ask to be set up with Adrien. At first, it was hilarious but now it’s affecting both our love life.” Marinette counters taking her seat in the back. Adrien enters the classroom not long after she sat down.

“Excuse you, but you are destined to be with Adrien.” Alya screeches but her cries go unheard by the two siblings.

The teacher walks in and demands the class to sit down. Alya turns to Marinette and mouths, “This is not over” to which Marinette raises an eyebrow.

Another meeting in the Place des Vosges.

“I have called you all here to take incriminated photos of Marinette. I need to gather as much evidence to break up Mari and this supposed boyfriend of hers. Any suggestions?” Alya asks standing in front of the remains of the class that supports her.

“Oh, I’ve been seeing Marinette a lot lately with these two boys. They’re clearly more than a thing.” Lila lies through her teeth. She already knows that wasn’t the truth but Alya didn’t know that.

“Someone that wasn’t her boyfriend?” Alya raises an eyebrow. Lila nods. “Good, that is excellent news.”

It wasn’t excellent news.

The first attempt was a fail. Marinette was hanging out with Nathaniel and they all knew he was in a relationship with Marc. Apparently, the artist was commissioning a scarf as an anniversary gift.

The second attempt was also a fail. Marinette was with this boyfriend of hers getting ice cream together. They were having a romantic evening.

The third attempt was nearly a success until Juleka rained on their parade saying that Luka was in a happy relationship with some dude and Marinette and he was just friends.

It wasn’t until they were on the fourth attempt that they struck gold. Marinette was spending time with two unknown boys. The designer was out and about in the park throwing frisbees. One of the guys picked her up and spun her around before placing a kiss on her cheek. The class cheered at the thought of finally getting Marinette and Adrien together.

Alya was waiting for the opportunity. She didn’t have to wait long. Marinette and the dude were sitting underneath the tree at Place des Vosges.

“Your girlfriend here is a cheating bitch.” Alya states confidently.

Marinette turns to her boyfriend then back to Alya.

“What makes you think that of my beloved.” The guy asks raising an eyebrow. Marinette was still in his lap.

“I got evidence.”

“Pray tell.”

Alya pulls out a stack of photos. She gave them to the boy who examines the photos. He hid his smirk in Marinette’s neck who was hiding her laughter.

“So that’s why they were here. I really need to place boundaries on those idiots.” He says thoughtfully.

“Don’t you dare.” Marinette counters playfully hitting the male’s chest.

“It seems that you have caught my beloved with my imbecile’s brothers. Those photos that you have of them are without consent. I could press charges against you on their behalf.”

Alya was losing every ounce of confidence she had.

Adding oil to the fuel, Adrien walks over to them hand-in-hand with Luka. He greets them and kisses Luka’s lips. Alya wanted to scream. How could all this go so wrong?

“If you need any indication as to how long I’ve been with Marinette, we have been together since she turned thirteen.” He states kissing Marinette’s cheek in the process.

“But…but,” Alya stutters her brain could not comprehend the situation.

“Alya, dating Adrien would be like dating my brother. We’ve been friends since we were in diapers.” Marinette then adds more fuel to the fire, “You and the class would have noticed had you not been set on this Adrienette ship.”

“Yeah, a simple search online and you would see photos of Mari and me at galas, movie premieres, fashion shows. She and Damian have been in news coverage from the first time they announce their relationship to the recent engagement announcement.” Marinette blush at the thought of the giant ring on her ring finger.

“Alya, in a different universe I would proudly be Adrien’s girlfriend but it’s not this universe.”

“Let’s go, future Mrs. Wayne.”

“I couldn’t agree more, Mr. Wayne.”

Marinette and Damian walk out of the park and head to the bakery.

“Better luck next time Alya,” Adrien smiles before he and Luka follows the two.

Alya was lost for words, she would never get her ship canon. She fell on the green pastures and contemplate life decisions.   

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[littlx-songbxrd]

TSC song recs

I have to stop annoying my mutuals with my every song rec so lets all join in on the fun

Heather/ Jordelia

"Only if you knew, how much I liked you, but I watch your eyes as she walks by"

"Shes got you mesmerized, while I die"

Soulmate that wasnt meant to be/ Kitty

"I never should have kissed, Kissed your hand, I am under your control, I will never understand, I never should have said, "I love you", You never said it back, So why do I still care for you?"

"Stranger, that's all I see, When I look into your eyes, A soulmate who wasn't meant to be"

Clockwork (piano version)/ Jessa

"There is glass between our touch,Phantom limbs of former love, And the truth is that I am so terrified"

"Still unsatisfied,We chase what we're denied.As generations wait,We can't resist the taste of possibility. Gears turn, endlessly,To bring us back to life again. Like clockwork, we begin"

East/ Cordelia Carstairs

"I set out to rule the world, With only a paper shield and a wooden sword"

"Now I bear little resemblance to the king I once was, I bear little resemblance to the king I could become, Maybe paper is paper, maybe kids will be kids, But Lord, I want to remember how to feel like I did"

Breathe deep/ Thomas Lightwood

"Once in a while, I put up a fight, I write another song, And sing it with all my might. Renegotiate the terms, Of this terminal life. I put up a fight"

"If every breath is sacred. God, I want to breathe, Deep enough to feel something, Deep enough to believe"

The cult of dionysus/ Anna and Mathew

"I'm feeling devious, You're looking glamorous, Let's get mischievous, And polyamorous"

"Run, run, run away, Just take my hand and we'll abandon this world, We'll wash those tears away, You're young and beautiful, and I'll love you always, We got no time for pain, When it's just you and me in ecstasy"

LA devotee/ Kit Herondale

"The black magic of Mulholland Drive, Swimming pools under desert skies, Drinking white wine in the blushing light, Just another LA Devotee"

"The high rise lights read your rights, And a downtown storm with Aries rising, I couldn't change ya, oh, Couldn't ever try to make you see, no"

Would you be so kind/ Jordelia

"Oh would you be so kind, As to fall in love with me, you see, I'm trying, I know you know that I like you, But that's not enough, So if you will, Please fall in love, with me"

Eight/ Julian Blackthorn

"I remember the minute, It was like a switch was flipped, I was just a kid who grew up strong enough, To pick this armor up, And suddenly it fit"

"Now you wont see, all that I have to loose. And all I've lost in the fight to protect it"

Dont threaten me with a good time/ Mathew Fairchild

"Who are these people? I just woke up in my underwear, No liquor left on the shelf, I should probably introduce myself"

"I've told you time and time again, I'm not as think as you drunk I am, And we all fell down when the sun came up, I think we've had enough"

Saturn: Will herondale and Jem Carstairs

"You taught me the courage of stars before you left, How light carries on endlessly even after death"

"I'd give anything to hear, You say it one more time, That the universe was made, Just to be seen by my eyes"

The cut that always bleeds/ Charlestairs

"Cause if you're gonna leave, Better leave, better do it fast, Can't live a little longer, Sitting on your lap"

"Oh, I can't be, Your lover on a leash, Every other week, When you please"

Soldier/ Poet/ King / Cordelia Carstairs, Lucie Herondale, James Herondale

"There will come a soldier, that carries a mighty sword, he will tear your city down"

"There will come a poet, whos weapon is his words, he will slay you with his tongue"

"There will come a ruler, whos brow is laid in thorn, smeared with oil like davids boy"

Little leagues/ Blackstairs

"We'd lay on the grass, all day talking, Cause we snuck out of class when no one was watching, I remember you and me, Yeah, I remember everything"

"Could I get a rewind?, Get another chance, take it back in time 'Cause I don't know what to do, With everything I'm going through"

Five/ Christopher Lightwood

"I want to watch the universe expand, I want to break it into pieces small enough to understand"

"It feels like an out of body experience, But something gets lost from a safe distance, Now I can't put my mind to rest, And I can't help but second guess, Living behind this one-way mirror"

I'll probablu do a part 2 later

[jadoue1999]

Wanda and the life she deserved (she’ll made sure of it) Chapter 7

Summary: After unknowingly saving Wanda from Agnes’ clutches, the Maximoff twins take walk.

Previous parts: Chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3, chapter 4, chapter 5, chapter 6, chapter 7, chapter 8, chapter 9, chapter 10, chapter 11, epilogue

Chapter 7: The circus

They continued walking for awhile, talking about their childhood. Wanda was aware that many memories coming from her brother were wrong, but she ignored it. It was nice talking to him alone. They had settled on finding Vision, she was certain he was around Ellis Avenue, his last known location. Wanting to make the moment last longer, Wanda requested that they didn’t use magic, or superspeed. Pietro had originally agreed, but his fidgeting was steadily increasing with each step they took. She spotted a circus where the abandoned Avenue once was. Unsure about what they might encounter, she turned to her twin. “I can go get Vision on my own, go help Agnes. I’m sure she’ll have enough stuff to do that you won’t even see the time pass.”

“You sure, sis? I can wait.” Pietro might have believed his words, but Wanda could see how much he wanted to run and move. She assured him she’d be fine, and he was gone in the blink of an eye.

Wanda looked up at the circus banner, finding irony in the state of the soldiers. Them, who wanted to understand the situation so badly, were now in it. How’s that for firsthand experience? She walked through the various performers, they were filling typical roles any circus would have clowns, gymnast, they even had a strong man and a psychic.

“Hello!” Greeted a man dress in a blue leotard, he was holding his nose that was obviously broken. “Are you here for any specific performance?”

She ignored the man’s injury, knowing S.W.O.R.D, he probably deserved it anyway. She looked around at the various entertainment, they were all pretty straightforward. Her eyes landed on one specific tent, the psychic. She decided to amuse herself and walked over, the board next to the tent read: Charles the Xtraordinary.

Coming in, it wasn’t all that impressive, there was a crystal ball at the center of the table and various cushions were laid on the ground. A bald man, probably in his forties, was seated on one side of the table.

“Welcome,” he said, opening his eyes to greet his guest. “I am Charles, I suppose you’re here to know your fortune?”

“Shouldn’t you know that already?” Joked Wanda with a smirk.

The man returned her smile, “yes, I suppose so.” He motioned her to take a seat. ”Shall we begin?” As the man put his hands over the ball, it began to glow. Closing his eyes, the man hummed pensively, “I see pain, a lot of pain,” he sighed. “Oh, I’m sorry Wanda, so much loss.”

She froze in shock, she had met many psychics in her lifetime, but a circus charlatan certainly couldn’t be the real deal, right? But then again, how could he know her name, and what she lived through?

The man continued, “I see a great battle, one that was unfortunately lost. But then everything was made right,” he frowned, “but not for you. You were still alone.” Her senses were on high alert, her magic was pushing for a rewind, but she had to know more. She needed to know how he could achieve this. “I see... a breaking point, and great suffering. Oh Wanda... what have you done?”

Wanda couldn’t take it anymore, she had to know who he was. What kind of S.W.O.R.D. Agent was he? She tentatively lifted a hand to his temple and let her magic do the work. The man’s eyes opened, and he gasped as he was released from her spell. He looked around him, confused at his surroundings before gripping his head in pain. He looked at her, seemingly to thank her for releasing him before he froze. “Wanda Maximoff! What an honor to meet you!” Charles went to shake her hand, but she backed off before he could reach her. Although slightly taken aback from her movement, the psychic continued. “We have a slight misunderstanding here, your brother, Pietro as you call him, he’s not your brother, not really.” Charles paused as he tried to take in her reaction, but Wanda was unreadable. “You see, a team composed of myself and a couple of others, including his father, are here to bring him back. We crossed universes to get here, it took weeks to find the right calculations. Thanks to your broadcast, we had a good grounding point. The military base kept us updated about Peter. We were brought in as you expanded the Hex, even our member with teleportation powers couldn’t escape. I’m certain it wasn’t your intention to trap us, or Peter, but you have to let us go. We’re not from your universe, we don’t belong here, we- “

“No,” interrupted Wanda, startling the man. He certainly hadn’t expected that reaction. “This is my home, I have my husband, my children and my brother. I will not let you take them away.”

“Ms. Maximoff, you have to come to reason, you cannot keep up this lie forever. What you’re doing is wrong, putting an entire town under mind control- “

“Is better than putting the entire Earth under it,” completed Wanda. Her accent was out once again, rage oozing off her body as she stared at the man. She could feel his stare, and something else, it was nudging at her brain. A telepath, Wanda realized. She quickly shielded her mind and her magic acted without her realizing. In a move that could challenge her brother’s speed, she put the spell back on the man. Eager to finish this awful conversation and go home. She hadn’t found Vision, why had she even stayed? The consequences tied to the man’s words quickly clicked, Peter’s team was here, here for him. That could only mean that his father wasn’t far. If he was anything like her brother had described, she would be in trouble.

As she ran out of the tent, she looked around with more attention. In her frantic state, everything seemed so overwhelming, yet no one took notice of her panic. She couldn’t see much that was out of the ordinary, so she assumed that most clowns were probably soldiers.

‘That leave the specific role to...’ Wanda didn’t finish that thought as her eyes stopped on another attraction: Nightcrawler and his disappearing act. The psychic had mentioned a team, with one of their members not being able to teleport away in time. The irony of the name had to have meaning. Suddenly she stopped in her track. No, no, no, please. I’m not ready! She ran over to the banner, not wanting to believe the writing on it. There, written on bold red letters, was the confirmation that her little world couldn’t continue much longer.

 Magneto, the man of steel.

 Wanda supposed it was ironic that the man controlling metal was nicknamed like that, but then again, her magic had a twisted sense of humor. She quickly left the circus, appearance be damned; she used her magic to reach her house faster. Unsurprisingly, it was empty. Vision was apparently still mad at her, she wished she could make it better. Wanda made a mental note to sit down with him and apologize, he deserved to know the truth. Though right now, she was feeling better. She closed her front door, heading for Agnes’ house; she had missed her children. She ringed the doorbell, she could see movement inside and seconds later, her neighbor opened the door.

“Hi Wanda! Feeling better?”

“Yes, can I come in?”

Agnes opened the door wider to let her in, Wanda felt something was amiss, but she tossed her worry aside as her neighbor started offering drink options. She settled for a tea and sat at the table.

After a few moments, she noticed the eerie silence of the house, save from the television. There were no arguments about who could do something better than the other or even a reaction to whatever show the boys would be watching. There was also no sign of Pietro, no sign of anything being repaired either.

“Where are the twins?” Wanda asked, “and Pietro?”

Agnes paused the making of her tea, wiping her hands on a dish towel, and turned to her. “Oh, your brother is fixing a leaky pipe in the basement, I tried to tell the kids to leave him be, but they wanted to be with their uncle, so I let them go with him.”

That makes sense. Wanda wasn’t sure if her mind was being sarcastic or not. She opened the basement door, calling her children. After no answer came, she walked down the stairs, ignoring how creepy the basement slowly became after each step. Her instincts were screaming at her to run away, but she had to get to her boys. After calling their names once again and getting no answers, true bone chilling fear settled in her body. As she turned a corner next to a glowing door, she had only one thought. Please be alright.

She arrived in a bigger room, a lair? She walked around trying to make sense of the place. Wanda passed a cabinet containing various bones when she felt drawn to her right. A black book radiating orange energy was on the table. The gears in her head finally clicked. This is a dungeon, probably the very same dungeon Peter talked about. Get out, get out, get out-

“Wanda, Wanda,” Agnes’ voice resonated through the room. “You didn’t think you were the only magical girl in town, did you?” With a flick of her fingers, a far away door closed by itself. She resumed petting her rabbit, “the name’s Agatha Harkness, lovely to finally meet you dear.”

_____________________________________________________

Notes: The circus is in town! And it brought in unexpected visitors...

[andawaywego]

Your fics are my favorite! Could you write one where some guy hitting on Dani too aggressively and won’t leave so Jamie has to step in? Maybe punches him, Dani takes care of her hand after and has a lot of feelings

okay! so i also got a more recent prompt for someone asking for Jamie to defend Dani, so this is for both of you guys. i hope you like it!

(check it out in my prompt collection for a bonus ending written by my hilarious bud, Julia)

..

Growing up, the storybooks always made Dani think that heroes come in suits of armor. Broad-shouldered, tall, handsome strangers who wait for you at the bottom of the tower asking you to let down your hair, give them your heart, just let them save you and they’ll love you forever, promise. And there was something about that she never wanted—she’s never seen herself in that throne room or glass coffin or anywhere else where a princess might need saving.

Because, no. She doesn’t need any saving that she can’t provide for herself. And she knows that. Really, she does.

But then again, she’s never had anyone knock a guy on his ass for her. At least, not until—

_____________________

Rewind.

The last night of Owen’s visit, they go to a bar in Burlington for drinks. It’s not a place they frequent, no, but it’s nearby and always seems busy. Certainly that can’t mean it’s unliked.

And it is nice enough. Clean booths, even if the benches are cracked vinyl, nice enough waitresses, good lighting and, importantly, not too loud. It’s a Friday, so it is fairly packed and it’s late, too, what with them having decided to come last minute after letting Owen cook them one more meal (“You’ll have plenty of leftovers,” he’d said, “so you won’t have to do take-out for a bit”; always trying to take care of them, even when he lives on the other side of the ocean).

He and Jamie are trying to outdrink one another, though neither of them had said this aloud. Dani sits beside her girlfriend, arm around her waist, and watches them fondly as some of Jamie’s beer dribbles down her chin. Somehow, she manages to finish before Owen does, and then she’s slamming her glass back down on the table in front of her, liquid spilling into her lap and Dani laughs.

“Oh my god,” she says, reaching across the table for the napkin holder. “You’re a mess.” She grabs a handful of them and turns Jamie’s head her way, mopping her face up while Jamie smiles and laughs at her own ridiculousness.

Owen stops drinking with just a splash left and sets his own mug down, shaking his head as he makes himself swallow. “I refuse to look like that,” he says, gesturing to her beer-stained flannel. “You win.”

“You refuse to look like what? A winner?” Jamie counters, a triumphant gleam in her eye that makes Dani sort of feel like swooning, even though that’s silly.

“A wet winner,” Dani amends and Jamie must be buzzed because her smirk only gets wider and she wiggles her eyebrows at Dani. “Stop.” Dani pretends to push her away as Jamie darts in quickly to plant a kiss on her cheek. 

“God, stop being so bloody happy,” Owen complains, not an ounce of animosity in his voice or his expression. “You’re making me ill.”

“That’s probably because of the beer you just guzzled down,” Dani tells him and Jamie cackles.

“She’s got your number,” she says. She lifts her hand up then, burping into her fist and then apologizing and Dani rolls her eyes.

Sometimes, it’s a wonder that this is the same woman who could make her weak-kneed with just a look. More than anyone Dani has ever known in her life, Jamie contains multitudes.

“I’m gonna get you two some water,” Dani says, getting up. 

Jamie throws her a happy grin and Owen gives a sincere, “Thank you,” that Dani waves off. She’s only a foot away from the two of them resume their childish bickering. 

Slowly, Dani weaves her way through the other patrons and makes her way to the bar, keeping to herself as much as possible. It isn’t as if she’s been in many, but it seems strange, almost, how the atmosphere of the place can change with the types of people who choose to inhabit it. When they first arrived, the place seemed warm and friendly—lots of clean lines and light greys. A modern-looking chandelier strung above the main tables past the bar. An exposed brick wall beside the booths. Without too many people in it, the space had seemed almost bonhomous. Welcoming.

Now, as the evening grows later and people are getting more and more into their cups, it’s begun to lose some of what made it convivial. 

So she tightens up her posture, holds her shoulders and head higher, and finds an empty space beside the bar to wait while the bartender assists someone else. There’s a song playing from the jukebox in the corner, but she can’t make out any of the words or even tell what key the melody is in. All she can hear is the distant, seemingly random scatter of an asynchronous beat.

“What have I done to deserve this?”

It takes Dani a moment to realize that, despite the phrasing, the question is being asked in relation to her presence. There’s a man sitting on a stool beside where she’s standing and he’s looking at her with dark eyes that make her feel even more on display. He’s smartly dressed, like he’d come to the bar directly from his office, and his tie is loosened around his neck, the top buttons undone in a blatant show of after-hours leisure. 

There’s something to the way he’s looking at her—the parting of his chapped lips—that makes her feel trapped. Makes her heart speed up in her chest.

“Excuse me?” she asks. Wanting to ignore him. Knowing in her heart of hearts that he will likely only persist even if she does.

“What brings a girl like you to a place like this?” he asks, eyes dancing with slight intoxication. Leering at her. 

Dani taps her fingers against the bartop, a quiet prayer of, “Come on, come one, come on,” escaping her lips as she stares down the busy bartender. Wanting a rescue. Wanting a way out.

“Did you hear me?” the man asks, and there’s a quality to his voice now that makes her feel even more on edge than before. 

Dani decides that the best course of action is to simply play dumb. “Sorry?” she asks, turning his way again with a stiff smile. 

He smirks. “I asked what a girl like you is doing in a place like this.”

“Um…” She clears her throat. “Waiting for the bartender.”

“Why don’t you sit down and stay a while.” He gestures at the empty stool beside him. “Let me buy you the next one.”

Dani presses her lips together. Takes a deep breath. “Thank you, but I’m uh...here with people.”

His expression darkens even further somehow. “Boyfriend?” he asks.

Her immediate reaction is to deny it because no. There is no boyfriend. Just her beautiful, silly, and very, very far away girlfriend. But then she thinks of Owen, also with them. Not necessarily intimidating, no, but another man at least. 

She grits her teeth. “Yes, actually. Right over there.” She points to the booth where Owen and Jamie are still talking amongst themselves. The man follows her gaze and stares them down. As he does, Jamie perks up, frowning at the sight of him and catching Dani’s eyes.

If there were a way to send for an SOS, Dani would have done it already. Instead, she has to settle for hoping that, after three years together, Jamie might be able to simply read her mind.

“Him?” the man asks. He turns back around and fixes Dani with a hard look that makes her skin crawl. 

“Yes,” Dani says. “Him.”

“He looks a little busy with your friend, wouldn’t you say?” He leans a little closer, and Dani jumps when she feels his hand touch her waist, trying to pull her in. “Come on, baby. One drink.”

“No, thank you.” Dani pulls away from him, anger flushing up her neck and chest. “And don’t call me that.”

He grips her arm next, a little too tightly, and Dani’s certain her heart is going to pound directly out of her chest. “What?” he asks, showing his teeth in a way that is so, so different than a smile. “Baby?”

Dani wrenches herself out of his grasp and pulls away. “Yes,” she says, a note of slight hysteria tinting the word. “Now—”

“Somethin’ the matter, Poppins?” 

It’s as if her lungs can finally expand when Dani hears Jamie’s voice, feels her warm, gentle hand on her waist. Immediately, she leans into the touch and turns to meet the worried, heated gaze of her girlfriend. She opens her mouth to say something, to ask for Jamie to please, please get her out of here, but she’s cut off by an irritated, “Oh,” coming from the man on the stool.

When she turns, he’s looking between them knowingly, eyes tracing the way Dani has turned herself into Jamie’s touch. 

“I didn’t realize you were one of them,” he spits.

Something hot and panicked shoots through Dani’s chest at his words, like lightning, like a bullet. She feels rather than sees Jamie stiffen beside her, pull herself up to make herself seem taller.

“What’s that?” Jamie asks, teeth bared and feral, already pushing herself in front of Dani to stand between him and the man.

He scoffs, and rolls his eyes. “If I’d known, I wouldn’t have wasted my time on a d—” 

Thankfully, he doesn’t even have time to finish the thought. Instead, there’s a sickening, fleshy thump as Jamie’s fist collides with his cheekbone. 

Hard.

Caught off guard, the man falls off his stool and lands on the floor with an even louder noise. As he does, his arms flail out and knock his glass off the table, and it lands beside him, crashing as it breaks apart upon impact. 

Immediately, the entire bar goes quiet as everyone turns to stare at what’s just happened. Owen is standing by the booth, mouth agape and wide-eyed as he looks between a seething Jamie, fist still cocked, and the man on the floor clutching his face.

Dani is clutching Jamie’s other arm, pulling at her and trying to let her mind catch up with the quickly-unfolding events that have just taken place. 

“You bitch!” the man yells. He turns to look at the shell-shocked audience around him. “She hit me! You crazy bitch!”

“You’re lucky that’s all I did you fucking dickhead!” Jamie shouts back. “When a girl tells ya’ no thank you, keep your greasy fucking hands off her or I’ll—”

“Jamie,” Dani says softly, tugging at Jamie’s sleeve. “Come on. Let’s just—”

Jamie is wild-eyed when she turns to look at her, as unhinged as Dani’s ever seen her and she looks so angry and beautiful that it’s a wonder Dani keeps standing at all. “He fucking—” she begins, but Dani shakes her head.

“I know, I know.” She throws a look at Owen who is already making his way towards them. “We need to leave, okay? Please.”

It’s the final word, perhaps, that finally brings Jamie back into herself. Her expression softens and she lowers her fist, nodding and letting herself be pulled toward the exit before anyone wises up enough to call the police. As they go, whispered conversations start trickling through the crowd again, muffled shock cupped behind hands as the man begins to pull himself to his feet, deflated and looking very much like a child.

The front door squeaks loudly as they step out into the bitter, November air. It’s shockingly sobering, despite the fact that Dani hasn’t had a drop to drink all night. Her cheeks are flushed with the emotion of the last few minutes and she realizes that she’s trembling, even as she’s gripping Jamie’s wrist.

Fortunately, it seems to have the same effect on Jamie, who’s begun to calm herself down and breathe normally again. The normal sounds of the evening feel otherworldly now—the rush of cars and voices and regular life crashing down on each of them.

The door squeaks again and then Owen is there, coming towards them with a still-surprised gleam in his eye. But there’s something else there, too. Something that Dani thinks might be pride.

“What happened?” he asks, looking between them both.

“Bloody wanker grabbed Dani,” Jamie mutters and she’s inspecting her punching-fist now, eyebrows furrowed.

Owen’s eyebrows raise in even more surprise. “You okay, Dani?” he asks, turning his worry her way.

Dani nods. “I’m fine, I just—”

“Yep,” Jamie says. “It’s broken.”

“What?” Dani squeaks and Jamie looks up at her with a wry smile, clutching her hand to her chest.

“My knuckle. It’s broken.”

“Oh my god,” Dani breathes.

“It’s okay.”

“You broke your hand. How is that—”

“I’m fine. It’s not like I—”

“Jesus, Jamie, why did you have to—”

“What was I supposed to do, Dani?” Jamie asks. “Let him touch you like that when you were trying to get away from him? You looked so scared and he was just...I just...I’m sorry.”

Dani blinks. Tries not to cry. “You big, dumb hero,” she says softly and Jamie looks hurt for a moment until she realizes that Dani is smiling. “You broke your hand defending my honor.”

For a moment, she forgets that Owen is there at all. It’s just her and Jamie and Jamie’s battle wound, wrapped up in a bubble of their own design. Jamie smiles a little, clearly in pain as her adrenaline drains away.

“So out of character for me,” Jamie breathes, laughing a little. “I’m sorry that I—”

Dani cuts her off again, but differently now. Leaning in, she cups Jamie’s face and kisses her, hard and heart and i can’t believe you did that. Jamie lifts her good hand, resting it on Dani’s shoulder as she kisses her back. It lingers for a moment, just long enough for Dani to feel like the earth has stopped spinning beneath her feet. 

When she pulls away, Jamie breathes shakily against her lips, resting their foreheads together as they each try to settle down.

Owen clears his throat, bringing them back into the moment. “If you two are done, I really think we should get her to the hospital.”

Reality washes over Dani like an icy ocean wave. “Oh my god, Jamie, your hand.”

The last evening of Owen’s visit, they end the night in the emergency room; Owen buys them food from the vending machine, Jamie makes too many jokes about being temporarily handicapped (“Handicapped,” she says, smiling at herself. “Get it?”) and Dani holds her good hand, remembering all of those heroes she never wanted to be rescued by.

Jamie’s nothing like them. She isn’t a knight or a prince or anything like that. She’s the hard-headed, unbelievable, wonderful love of Dani’s life. And that’s better than any hero she could have ever wished for.

..

[plasticflowering]

A Unifying Theory of Loreography (Lore + Choreography)

(2/3/21) HELLO to all new folks finding this post! It is also now a YouTube Video, and I’m pretty happy with it so if you’d rather get your lore analysis visually please check it out! 

Preface: I don’t think it’s just coincidence that we got full choreography for an intro called “Devil is in the detail”, and I’ve made it my mission since 반박불가 dropped to pull apart the threads that might link everything, lore-wise. This morning I believe I had an epiphany about it, so here are my thoughts.

If this flops I will feel my soul exiting my body so please validate me.

Notes: In forming this theory I mostly considered the events of the storyline MVs and teasers as well as the choreography, but a very important part of my epiphanies came when considering the post-MV stingers for TBONTB and 반박불가. It’s using these stingers that I feel like I can better understand the thesis statements in the choreo. 

Part One: Now then, where were we? 

At the end of TBONTB, the monarchs are approaching monumental, pitch-black gates made of skulls and desperate, reaching hands. 

I can’t not interpret this as the gates of Tartarus, considering the Greek mythology in the canon lore already. Tartarus, however, is at the lowest depths of the underworld, and so my interpretation is that, while they reclaimed their souls from the necklace, they awoke physically in a realm beyond the underworld, and now have to make their way out of this psychological nightmare to breathe free the air, as it were. Through Tartarus, through Hell, this is not because I played 80 hours of Hades in the last three months but it might have a little to do with that. Stay with me. (Though if anyone is wondering, YES Leedo would be Zagreus, but that’s not why we’re here today)

Part Two: Devil is in the Detail 

What an opening formation. The imagery is not 100% clear to me, but I feel as if this entire opening formation sequence is dual-wielding imagery of a crown (much like the killing part of TBONTB), but also the gates of Tartarus. 

Look at this transition once Hwanwoong ascends to the top of the formation, and how the hands all come out, similar to the gates above. I’ll be damned if this is supposed to invoke anything else.

Rewinding a bit, this framing of Seoho being resuscitated and borne by their hands is stunning. Seoho’s journey in the TBONTB choreography merits its own post entirely, because there are a lot of moments that seem to be telling a story for him particularly, and this is just a continuation of that. 

Ravn and Leedo being separated for the rap line part seems like an obvious utilitarian choice, and I agree that it is. However, before we prepare to dismiss all “pairings” as serving the progression of the song itself, I have another theory that ties together a lot of the inciting moments of choreo. I promise you this is going to sound like A Reach, but that’s just how my mind works and if you enjoy it I’m glad.

Leedo, Hwanwoong, and Xion are the monarchs who have absolved themselves by the events of 반박불가, and fully reclaimed their souls as well as their conscience. Seoho and Ravn, not so much. They have a lot of work to do to free their conscience - especially Seoho. Oh, lord, especially Seoho. Keonhee is an extremely interesting case, as he seems to have a foot firmly in both sides, More on that later. 

For further paranoid conspiracy theorist proof of this, please note that their outfits in the choreography videos symbolically reflect this:

Light, Light, Light/Dark, Dark, Dark/Lightish, Light

If you need more convincing, may I point out that Leedo, Hwanwoong, and Xion are the only members who got those wonderful “all clothed in white” shots in the back half of the 반박불가 MV? I tried to make a gif, and I did make a gif, but Tumblr doesn’t want to post it in this text post.

(you rn)

The most interesting moments of loreography in DiitD are the following: 

1. These lotus hands. Again, the imagery, I die!! Keonhee is coming into his own, his character is blooming, expanding his consciousness, going sicko mode with the realization that he has power in the underworld. 

2. Directly following this, Seoho offers a hand to Keonhee and literally drags him down (again, the light/dark dichotomy of Keonhee), while the two good good boys Hwanwoong and Xion are back there just trying to maintain balance so they can get through this Hell/Tartarus thing. 

3. Good ol’ ONEUS Summoning Circle, but wait this time I think it’s actually meaningful beyond the imagery. Seoho is at the center because he has the vocal line, yeah obviously, but he stays there much longer than is objectively necessary without a formation change. This isn’t common in ONEUS choreography. As much as they love their Summoning Circles, they tend to move on to other formations quickly. This one has meat on its bones, and I think what’s happening here, loreography wise, are the other monarchs banding together in an attempt to save Seoho from the darkness. But Seoho is powerfully dark, y’all, even going so far as to overpower them in the moment above. 

4. This is flame imagery. Seoho has been engulfed in flames despite everyone’s best efforts. 

5. At the last minute, he gets yeeted via backflip back into Hell/Tartarus

6. Keonhee takes the initiative in going back for him...

7. We’re back in Hell, that’s just great. Thanks, Seoho. You’re lucky we love you and your extremely disturbed conscience. 

With this in mind, you can probably get way ahead of me, here. 

Part Three: 반박불가 

Perhaps not remarkably, the title track doesn’t have nearly as many loreography beats as DiitD. However, we know it’s part of the lore, and this was made abundantly clear simply with that opening move...

This is where we left off TBONTB, but not exactly. There is a slightly different formation of dancers here, which suggests it’s not picking up exactly where TBONTB left off, but rather that this is a cue to let casual fans know, explicitly: yes, this is a continuation of the TBONTB story. 

Some moments don’t have choreography allusions, but they are loud in the MV, such as:

- “Youngjo, would you stop playing with flowers, our lead vocalist is going to Hell.” Ravn, who barely scraped out of Hell last time, ostensibly with Leedo’s help according to the rap line break in the choreography, has a rough time of it in the 반박불가 MV, but Hwanwoong isn’t going to let him fall back into toxic behaviors and lose himself to that psychological prison again. Hwanwoong drags Ravn back out of Hell, but not before Ravn successfully makes contact with Seoho. Obviously, Ravn would be the one to make contact, because Ravn’s still a little on edge about his own conscience and can easily backslide if he wants to. Who does he find down there? Seoho.

- Keonhee, who led the charge to return to Hell, is staying on task but seems to be the chief of operations to Hwanwoong’s chief of intelligence here, exercising his newfound sicko mode. Those two are certainly working hardest at keeping the servants of darkness in check down in the depths so they can make a quick break for it. 

- Leedo’s actually having a grand time fighting his own demons - or rather, smirking at them and realizing that nah, he’s good. He can use his guilt and regret to motivate him towrd good things now. 

- Xion is literally just above all of this and can move between Hell and Earth with ease, so he’s just waiting to see if he has to pull any Fallen God-Prince cards here to save his friends. 

Now, for the key loregraphy moments. It’s obvious that 1Million was choreographing for a new direction in the ONEUS style, here, so it’s nearly bereft of the usual lyricism and formations, but they’re definitely there. Unsurprisingly they almost all deal with Seoho. 

1. God, this moment whips. They’re all working to free Seoho and lock the gates behind them, with Keonhee giving Seoho one final push. That’s not a normal choreography move. That is storytelling and it sticks out like a beautiful sore thumb with an entire sonnet written on it. 

2. With Seoho on lock, now Ravn may break out. He does so rather easily, but it’s not without Hwanwoong’s help. Please notice that Keonhee and Seoho are the two BEHIND him, and what that symbolizes. 

3. This fucking bridge. It’s amazing with the loreography. First of all we have Keonhee, and the Summoning Circle is using the same imagery/texture that was formerly used to represent engulfing fire. Uh-oh.

4. Keonhee reaches out...

... but gets dragged under.

5. (excited football commentator voice) but who’s that on the outside making it to the surface, literally with the support of the other monarchs? IT’S SEOHO (cheers)!!

And Seoho finishes things out in the center, as well he should because he got us into this mess.

Part Four: What just happened to Keonhee

I’m so angry at this post-MV stinger. It took me forever to wrap my brain around what is being suggested here, because I thought “hey wait, the red lighting represents darkness/hell, doesn’t it?? DOESN’T IT?? RBW???? I thought we just GOT OUT OF HELL????

So I leave the final interpretation in everyone's individual hands, but the thought that occurred to me today was: 

What if this entire scenario was a test of resolve and camaraderie, an illusion, a trick by the Devil (or that donger Helios, whatever). What if Keonhee was the only one who saw through this, and the only one who genuinely made it to Earth at the moment he appeared to have been dragged back to Hell? Because, as we know, Keonhee is a tactical genius, a monarch among the monarchs, and all his visual imagery in the MV suggested a sort of power cabal. 

What if he realized that they weren’t all strong enough to face the challenge of breaking this cycle, so he schemed to leave them behind, but leave them safe in the illusion, while he struck out with the power of God and anime on his side.

I... I think Keonhee is about to go kill and dethrone a God, y’all. 

[thebreakfastgenie]

I get on Josh/Donna shippers in the fandom a lot for writing fic set in the early seasons that’s too explicitly romantic. I mean mostly I complain about this in private to my friends, but I think I’m on the record saying they shouldn’t get together before season 4. But I do think the show got them together too late. In my view, there are two points where the story organically wanted them to get together and the writers averted it. I’m putting this under a cut because this Josh/Donna meta I’m writing in the year 2021 is unforgivably long.

The first one is in season 4, Inauguration. There’s definitely a shift in season 4, both before and after Inauguration, to showing their relationship as more explicitly romantic. There are moments in earlier seasons, like Joey Lucas telling Josh that Donna likes him, Josh joking about sabotaging Donna’s relationships, and Amy asking if they’re dating. But season 4 really treats Jack Reese as a romantic rival in a way their previous love interests weren’t. Josh goes around asking if he can pull of a military dress saber because he’s so jealous, and notably nobody really reacts to this, implying he’s been like this before, but as the audience we’re seeing this level of behavior for the first time. I think there’s also an extent to which Donna wanted him to react this way, considering the way she describes Jack’s dress uniform in detail. And we can’t forget that before all of this started Jack was willing to back off because he didn’t want to get in the middle of whatever he thought Josh and Donna had going on. 

Then there’s Holy Night, where even Leo asks if he was being insensitive, which really requires watching the scene where he actually tells Josh that Donna left because it’s completely innocuous. The only reason Leo would think he was insensitive is if he thinks Josh is sensitive about Donna. Which he is. Leo then follows this by saying “oh, get it together, would you?” and Josh responds “I’m trying” which I think is the first clue we get that Josh is starting to figure out how he feels about Donna. I will expand on this more later. 

Rather like with the dress uniform conversation later, there’s something going on from Donna’s side in Holy Night too. Donna is given the opportunity to slip out before Josh tells her he’s staying late to work, she’s even encouraged by coworkers, and she doesn’t do it. This could be because she’s dedicated to the job, which provides deniability, but it’s really not. She’s so genuine when she says getting drunk at the Hawk and Dove sounds fun. I think she’s waiting for Josh to say something. She wants him to say “yes, I wanted you to stay, I want to spend Christmas with you, I don’t want you to go to the Washington Inn with Jack because I want you to go with me.” But he doesn’t say any of that because he’s not there yet. We also notably don’t see Donna leave or even Leo telling her she can, so we don’t know how she really felt about it. My money is on happy but also slightly disappointed, but she can’t exactly tell Leo no I want to stay and wait for Josh to tell me he likes me, and even if she could at this point she wouldn’t. 

Then you have Inauguration and the snowball scene which is so explicitly romantic that I really don’t have anything to say about it. I will say that later on at the end you see a line of people walking through the ballroom and it’s the President, the First Lady, senior staff, and Will. This is because Janel Moloney is a regular, but it’s also very much set up like Donna is Josh’s date. He brings her to see Will named deputy when literally no one else is there except that little senior staff and first couple group. 

So the question is why, aside from the obvious Doylist reasons, don’t Josh and Donna get together after that? It���s a hard sell that they don’t, but there’s some room there because after the balls they have to go back to work, and I think it’s believable that with sending troops into Kundu and everything else that comes up with running the country in the following weeks, Josh and Donna don’t have the time or energy to address their relationship and just kind of slip back into the status quo. Still, it’s a little bit different, because they’re ready now, and I think that’s where you see continued development in the rest of the season, like Amy asking Donna if she’s in love with Josh. There’s a sense to which, after Inauguration, it’s more acknowledged, even if they still won’t say it. 

The second time they should have gotten together is after Gaza. I’m also on the record as not a big fan of the Gaza arc, although I’ve softened on some parts of it since realizing that Colin makes me really uncomfortable and that’s a big part of why I don’t like watching it. Before I can talk about Gaza, I need to rewind to season 2. 

I do think Donna knew she had feelings for Josh in season 1, whereas Josh had feelings for Donna very early on but didn’t realize it. But the beginning of season 2 is still a huge inflection point in their relationship. Donna is forced to confront exactly how much Josh means to her because she’s forced to face the possibility that he might die. This is explicit, with the positioning of the flashbacks. Donna has fourteen hours with absolutely nothing else to think about. Josh doesn’t go through this journey with her because he’s unconscious. This is one of the reasons the “I wouldn’t stop for red lights” line is so good and so true to them. I’m going to go on a tangent here because I don’t really want to make a separate meta post. 

The whole Point of Josh and Donna is the lines they cross for each other. That’s their whole deal. And no episode really encapsulates this better than 17 People. They’re dancing right on that line the entire episode. They’re really over the line of a professional, employer/employee relationship the entire time, but most of it can be (with some effort, perhaps) played off as a friend relationship. Josh saying “if you were in an accident, I wouldn’t stop for a beer” is right on that line. He’s saying he cares about her, but it’s also kind of the bare minimum, but he’s also being compared favorably to her old boyfriend at the time. That in and of itself is a perfectly good ship moment, especially for so early on. And then Donna just bulldozes right over that line by saying “if you were in an accident I wouldn’t stop for red lights.” But she does it very matter-of-factly. It’s just the truth. And the difference is, Josh is speaking hypothetically. Donna isn’t. The only reason she hasn’t done this before is that she was already at the hospital when she found out he had been injured (which by the way was like eight months ago). Donna is speaking from experience. 

So this is where we get to Gaza. Donna has been through this whole experience of almost losing him. When Donna is injured in Gaza it’s his turn to almost lose her, and he goes through more or less the same little journey. Gaza more than anything else is what equalizes them. And they absolutely know it. Neither one of them says it, but the body language and tone in the “I’m still here” scene serve as an acknowledgment. There’s just no way to go back after that. Obviously the writers tried to use Colin to complicate things, but really he’s not very successful at it. Donna still asks for Josh before surgery and his name is still the first thing she says when she wakes up. My personal opinion is that Josh and Donna falling out in season 6 happened because there was no other way to keep them apart after Germany. And I do think it would take a little while once they got back, Donna has to recover and Josh has a lot of guilt to process, but that’s still what should have done it. It was time. They were ready. 

And yes, you can argue that Josh is very stupid, but I think after the experiences they’ve had, at that point Donna would be willing to initiate the conversation, and if confronted he would confess his feelings for her. That’s speculation but I’m right. They’re like three-quarters of the way to being in a relationship anyway. 

I also have some Opinions about how they finally got together but that I will save for another post. This one is about how Josh/Donna are a great example of TV writers following conventional wisdom instead of letting the story and characters do what they organically needed to do. 

[awesamkiller]

A sick Jan getting comforted by a side of your choosing?

Sickly Snake

Summary: Janus definitely doesn’t have the stomach flu.

Pairings: Platonic Anxceit

Warnings: vomiting, nausea, illness, slight weight loss (5 days food-less.)

Genre(s): Sickfic, Hurt / Comfort

Word Count:  830

Note: Am I sick? Yes. But it’s not going to bring down my presentation quality. You still get a cover, a song/playlist and an ok amount of writing! I’m building up his sickness and then giving him the cuddles he deserves! I’m sorry it’s not as long as Romancing and Scales! (Read THAT Roceit fic HERE!)

The Song for this!

Janus feels AWFUL. I mean well and truly AWFUL. Laid in his bed, he was on what he would estimate day ten of this sickness, and it was only getting worse. The Darkside was cold, and though Remus loaned him his (rather nasty looking) green striped blanket, the two thin layers were hardly enough to combat the temperature. His room usually had a space heater by the bed, but that broke on day three. That was also the day Remus announced he was going on a ‘many-day venture into the imagination to expand the lands!’ 

Code for: I’m leaving you for a while.

So, for the past seven days, the past week, he had laid in bed like some sort of pained rock, letting the cramps roll through his stomach like waves of knives twisting inside of him. Earlier on in the stomach assaults, he would be hunched over in the bathroom emptying his guts, but at that point, he was just gagging bile into the trash can he’d put by his bed. One minute, he’d shiver, the next he’d feel like he was on fire, then his stomach would ease, and moments later he’d be violently sick. Janus. hated. this.

_

It was day 15 when Virgil felt like something was off. You read that right. 15. Despite the gaps between filming, the Dark and Light sides would usually see some semblance of each other every four days or so, Janus coming up to talk to Patton while everyone glared, or Remus coming to scream some horrific, imaginative contributions to a pleasant conversation. He’d heard radio silence. To be fair, he knew about Remus’s random escapades but Janus was never one to stop frequently checking Patton wasn’t reverting back to his overbearing nature.

Patton hadn’t noticed because he’d gone in the complete opposite direction. He’d taken a highly appreciated step back and stopped over-worrying. Stopped worrying about them all unless they came TO him to ask for help. Which, to be fair, was a lot nicer than being fussed over when you displayed something out of the norm. But Virgil couldn’t shake the feeling that this was... Wrong, somehow. So he sank down to find his old friend. What a scene he got upon opening the snake-emblazoned door.

_

Janus hadn’t heard the door open, thanks to his pre-occupation of shaky hands holding himself over his trash can. He’d fallen out of his bed, what? Maybe a day or two ago, but he was still trapped in the blankets and, at least this way, closer to the trash. He heard quick footfalls behind him and felt a soothingly warm hand between his slightly prominent shoulder blades. He’d given up on kitchen trips on day ten. There’s nothing to throw up. After a few minutes of plain dry-heaving, he felt himself get lifted into the arms of someone taller than him, and his nose and face tucked into the black fabric they wore, just after the same person used a handkerchief to wipe his face. “Oh, Jan,” Virgil breathed into his ear-

Wait, Virgil? Of all people to come, he was the least expected.

“I’m so sorry I didn’t come sooner. Let’s get you warm...” He spoke softly. Sinking them out was nauseating, but he’d been feeling worse recently so it didn’t prompt any more vomiting. 

_

Virgil gently placed him onto the sofa of the common room and vanished. He came back with three things: His own THICK duvet, a box of saltine crackers and a glass of ginger ale. As he carefully tucked up his ex-dad friend he felt his heart drop at how pale and sickly he looked. Maybe they could take this time to repair it all. Maybe. He didn’t think to let Janus keep his arms out, so as he remembered Patton's favourite trick and hit a teaspoon around the glass of ginger ale to decarbonate it, he realised he might need to help out more. He put a straw into it, and sat by Janus, holding it to his lips. There was noticeable relief in the snake's eyes as the flat, mouth-warming decarbonated ginger drink slid down his dry throat, and Virgil took the drink halfway through to make sure Janus took a breath at some point before helping him with the rest of it.

When that was done, the silence began to feel heavy, so Virgil flipped the TV settings to play whatever was residing in the DVD slot, and he pressed a cracker to Janus’s lips as The Hunchback Of Notre Dame began to play at low volume. He wound an arm around the lump of blankets that was their very own Deceit. It went on like this for hours, rewinding the same movie as Virgil helped Janus finally get some easy to digest food down his gullet, cuddling the man to him like a long overdue hug of apology.

And it all felt like it could, just maybe, be alright again.

[clickbliss]

13 Sentinels is a meandering, emotional mess of a science fiction story--that only just works

by Amr (@siegarettes)

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim

Developer: Vanillaware

Publisher: Atlus, SEGA

PS4

Relentless in artistic and storytelling ambition, 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim still comes off as lacking in confidence. It takes plenty of risks, and in presentation at least marches forward with a swagger that makes it clear Vanillaware knew how many people they could bring in purely on the promise of their incredible 2D artwork and its time-travel, mech centric premise, myself included. Yet by the time the credits roll on the game 13 Sentinels’ big ideas and ambitious remixes of the adventure game formula feel more like distractions than essential components of its storytelling. 

At its heart, 13 Sentinels is a visual novel style adventure game, played from a sidescrolling perspective. In order to produce the absurd level of detail put into the 2D artwork, scenes and animations are constantly reused, restricting the story to only a few key locations that’ll become very familiar by the end of the game. It’s an intimate story that seems borne both of necessity and intention, trading detail for pure visual variety. Returning Vanillaware and visual novel fans will feel right at home here, while fans of more sprawling adventures might initially be surprised. 

What it lacks in geographical scale it makes up temporal scale and its rapidly expanding cast. 13 Sentinels takes place across five different time periods, and, as you might have guessed from the name, tells the story through thirteen different protagonists. Stories jump around through points in time, with various time specific incarnations of each of them even making appearances. 

It becomes complicated to track, especially given character storylines often leave out huge chunks of a timeline in order to let it be filled in during another character’s plot. One chapter might have you complete an objective, only for the next to take place far after the results of your actions, leaving you at a loss to what happened in the meantime. It’s convoluted to the point where the game offers a dedicated Analysis mode, where you can unlock glossary entries for characters and places, as well as put the game’s events into proper chronological order. 

There’s an enjoyable puzzle box aspect to reconstructing what’s actually happening alongside the characters, but it doesn’t always pay off, particularly when you have to put one character’s story on hold to dip into other character stories, or the bothersome Destruction segments, which provide the “action” part of the game. Just over a third into the game however, I’d practically solved the puzzle box conspiracy beneath it, then spent about 20 more hours waiting for the reveals to occur within the story, and not exactly in a “dramatic irony” kind of way. 

I was still plenty invested in the characters and their fates, and story progress is at least gated in a way that paces out the story well, but at this point the broken up plot structure was more getting in my way of seeing the story through than adding any real intrigue. Especially with so many character stories rewinding back progress to reiterate ideas already explored. It became little more than a distraction, one that betrayed Vanillaware’s confidence that they could sell the game on its story alone. 

If the mystery box structure is a distraction, though, the Destruction segments are the equivalent of setting the next town over on fire. Attached to the main part of the game are pseudo-real time strategy sections. Action takes place over a short amount of time where you need to defend a specific point, with the game pausing to give you a moment whenever you choose commands. Up to six of the thirteen cast members can be operated during a mission, with the rest staying back to defend the point. Plenty of sub-systems and unit types are introduced during its runtime, but in the end it all boils down to rudimentary tower defense that isn’t particularly challenging for anyone with a basic understanding of the genre. 

Destruction mode is flashy, inoffensive, and sometimes even fun, but it misses a trick by not integrating any of the incredible art seen during its main game into the action. Aside from character portraits and small, postage sized previews of each attack, Destruction mode takes place entirely within a cold tactical map view, with little more than small icons representing your characters and enemies. The sound and hit effects manage to still sell the impact of your moves, and there’s excitement in seeing so many missiles and explosions take place that they cause the frame rate to plummet, but without even animated cut-ins of the attacks, the action here really lacks the humanity and charm present in the rest of the game. 

At the same time, the interface manages to be so visually busy that it becomes difficult to make out important information. I felt relieved that it never asked much of me, because the few times I did manage to fail it was because I lost important information in the noise, like the fact a certain enemy was shielding others, or even the fact that my character was taking damage. 

Destruction mode in ultimately nothing more than a break from the story, and not always a welcome one. It gives of the feeling of something grafted on because Vanillaware felt they couldn’t hold their audience’s attention without some kind of action sequence. Honestly, aside from a few moments near the end, it rarely does anything to add to the story, and the few events that occur during its events are almost entirely disconnected from anything that happens within the main plot. Vanillaware struggles so hard to make this part compelling, they literally had to stop me from progressing the story by gating character progress behind it, and forcing me to unlock entries in the glossary with currency that can only be earned here. It could be cut entirely, vastly improving the pacing of the game as a whole. 

Nothing makes it more clear how out of place it is than the prologue, which chops up segments of several characters’ plots, jumps between timelines and interrupts itself after each chapter with a Destruction segment that acts as a tutorial, making the narrative even more disjointed. I’d go so far towards saying that the prologue itself is the worst part of 13 Sentinels as a whole, condensing all its flaws into the weakest pitch for what eventually becomes a genuinely fantastic tale. 

The prologue makes sure 13 Sentinels gets off on a weak start, and combined with its first steps treading immediately in well worn science fiction tropes, you’d be forgiven for not believing that Vanillaware won’t be able to pull it off. Time travel, terminators, kaiju and plenty of other in-universe homages to 80’s pop culture create a familiar atmosphere, getting you a little too comfortable in your assumptions before setting up a constantly unraveling thread of reveals. Shades of Koji Suzuki’s RING novels appear here, foreshadowing similar late story twists with a similar kind of investigative voice. 

Through all its narrative experimentation, what ties it all together by the end is the cast itself. 13 Sentinels is ultimately a romantic tragedy about the ties made by a group of survivors. They change, develop, falter and even transcend time and consciousness, but they remain connected and can’t help returning as catalysts for each other. And like its characters, 13 Sentinels is often a mess, confused about what it wants to achieve, and not always able to express itself well. But it’s a heartfelt mess--a genuine one--and sometimes saying it with your heart means more than picking the perfect words.

[leggomylino]

I saw someone else do one of these about a week ago, and it’s been on my mind to do one as well. It’s a very sweet gesture and I want to let all my mutuals know that not only do I see them and care about them, but I also really appreciate y’all as well! So without further ado, here’s my shoutout to each and every one of you! ->

@lovesickmark​ -> I’m pretty sure you’re like, the first person I really connected with on here? If not THE first then definitely one of the first. I know you’ve been going through a lot and I respect that; I’m cheering for you from the sidelines tho, just remember that! It’s been wonderful having you around so I hope you’re doing well and that you keep moving forward. <3

@jisungx2​ -> JOSIIIIIIIE >A< My INFP sister. I’m sure things have been kind of annoying and rough for you too, what with the holidays here and having to work Black Friday and most the rest of the season (holy cow I salute you and I’m really glad you didn’t die. Ily man.) It makes me so happy when you leave cute asks in my box like “hope you have a great day!” or “[enter cute chain mail here]”. You’re just very cute 😞😞 and I really wish you all the best this holiday season! I hope you’re taking care of yourself and remembering to take breaks when you need it. Remember the storage room excuse. Ily bro man.

@iiasha​ -> We haven’t been talking for very long but like, omgosh I love talking to you oops. 😂😅 Idk sis, I guess because most of my mutuals are a bit younger than me it’s nice to have someone who’s the same age I can relate to? And also someone to guide me through the confusing but quite entertaining world of the Seventeen fandom 💍 (I’m on my laptop and I couldn’t find the giant diamond emoji don’t @ me). ALSO! YOUR WRITING!! IS SO GOOD!!! Ugh I STILL gotta get to that Jimin alt. ending 😫😓 But I’ve been very invested in working and my language studies as of late while procrastinating on my other works rip. ANYWAY! I APPRECIATE YOU!! LET’S TALK MORE!!! YEEHAW!!!!

@joully​ -> You and I are still going to take over the kpop industry with our band, right? Shoot, what was the name of it again?? 😂😂 I don’t remember RIP...anyway, we don’t talk hardly as much but, I still see a lot of your posts and think about you! You’re really talented and I’m totally jelly of your piano skills 🥺🥺 Like dang I wish I could play half as good sis. Also, I’d really like to visit Germany one day! My dad’s best friend lives there, they met while he was travelling Europe in the army. He said we may go there one day and if we do, or if I just have to make my own adventure, I’d love to meet at a coffee shop and say hello. <3 Please continue taking care of yourself and come talk to me sometime! If you don’t, I will!! Lol 💕

@minniewoos​ -> 😎😎 <- SEE I REMEMBERED ❤️ I really hope your anatomy final went well! I bet it did <3 And if you haven’t taken it yet, you’re going to do great, I know! ^^ We haven’t talked for long but, I enjoy talking to you a lot. It’s always nice and appreciated to have another stay to bond with and just chat about how dumb boys can be but wow they sure are cute while doing it. Sigh. Anywho, I’m looking forward to talking with you more, and if you ever get a chance, I’m excited about getting to maybe study Korean together!  천천히 해 💓

@kpoptrashx2​ -> Luisa!!! We don’t really speak as often either 🤔 But I really appreciate that you’re always there to help me with my writing and give me pointers when I need it. Thank you so much for that! It’s truly very helpful because as a writer I have no idea how something is going to sound to others who have no idea what’s going on inside my head. ^^” Not only that but it’s a joy getting to chat with you as well. 💓 I hope you’re doing well and that we’ll get to catch up soon!

@hanniesunshine​ -> Omgosh sis I cannot wait for your story to come out! You know the one I’m talking about so I won’t accidentally spoil anything lol. But anyway! I hope you’re well and that you’re doing alright. We haven’t talked for very long but I had so much fun talking about your story with you, and I’m looking forward to chatting about even more stuff! 🥰

@bopping-to-my-kpop​ -> Sis you betta talk to me more or imma come after you 😤😤 Don’t test me I’ll dang sure hold another court case if I have to! And it’ll be totally rigged because I’ll be in charge of everything! The judge? It’s me. The jury? Also me~ Any outside opinions? I have influence in all of them! 💞 ...Nevertheless, I really hope that you’re well, and please know that you can come to me for anything :c Even if it’s just to take your mind off of something negative and you need a laugh. I’ll see what ridiculous shenanigans I can cook up for you, okay? You’re never a burden, I love helping people (esp. people I care about!) so please stop by anytime!! #westanemmainthishouse 🥀

@xxsanshinexx​ -> I haven’t talked to you in forever but I really hope you’re doing well! I haven’t seen many posts from you recently :(( Idk if you’re just busy or if I’m blind, but if you ever get a chance I’d love to catch up! Whatever you got going on please keep doing your best and remember to take your time as well. <3

@spuds-potato​ -> 🌟🌟🌟 B)) What’s poppin little sis? I hope you’re doing well as well, and I’m still waiting for my story 😤😤 Remember if Celi dies she’s dragging her bf down with her okay?! Okay. Some Romeo and Juliet action going on 😂😂 Aaaaaaanywho, I’ll have to pop in soon on Insta and you can tell me about your day! Remember boys are dumb and drink plenty of water~ 💗💗

@chanscoffee​ -> I know you’re super busy but I totally miss talking to you 😭😭 and I hope you’re well. I rarely use Snap but I need to hop on there sometime and maybe we can chat! Or on Insta. Idk we’ll see. Whatever you have going on just know I’m still supporting you and I’m here if ever you need someone. 💖

@daydream-jwoo​ -> Okay I’m telling you now imma be texting you soon! Seriously sis how have you been?! We have so much to catch up on! 😩😩 The holidays have managed to be both crazy and slow at the same time some how? Like time has been completely nonexistent and a total paradox lately. 🗿🗿 It’s wild. Anyway imma keep this one short bc it’s been so long and I’ll text you soon!! 💝💝

@thevampywarlock​ -> Give me a minute.........okay. *deep breath* AAAAH I THINK YOU’RE REALLY CUTE!?!?! ...Aaaaaanyway uwu” The stories you write are so cute and just, small wholesome things that you manage to extend and expand upon? Does that make sense? I really admire that. It’s like subtle but I definitely see it and eventually I’m going to come around to going on a reblogging spree \o7o/ But until then I hope you’ll consider stopping by and talking with me more? You’re a wonderful author and I think you have a kind heart. ^^ <3

@jisungsjheekies​ -> Oh sis. We gotta chat more too! Your stories are also very cute and well written and idk why but, I feel very compelled to support both you and @backhugsforhyunjin​ and whole squad. It’s very strange and I don’t mean to alarm anyone 😂😅 I just...can’t really explain it other than I feel like y’all are good people and I’d love to get to know you better. Anyway I’ll cut this short to avoid making anything unnecessarily weird, but, I’d really love to talk with you more! And I def support and appreciate you!!

@backhugsforhyunjin​ -> Sis you too, we def gotta chat more 😤 If you ever need anyone to talk to, I understand we aren’t close at all but I’m available to listen or give advice if you need it? 😅 Also, you’re a wonderful author as well. I really wish the best for you and hope to hear from you more in the future. If anything, please remember to take your time and know that there are people cheering for you! You got this, whatever it may be!!

@gaiyofanfiction​ -> Asdfghjkl now that we’re buds ofc I had to make you a part of this too 🤪🥳 I think we could use a team name, what do you think about #TurkeyDragons?  Bc the NCT float?? 😂😂 I like it honestly...but if you hate it lmk lmao. I hope we get to talk more soon and I’m really looking forward to an update of Twisted Karnival! One of the greatest fanfics I’ve ever read on here 😞✊ Of course with the Holiday season here updating isn’t super important, y’all pls take care of yourselves first and I hope you have a wonderful holiday season! (p.s. if anyone else is reading I wish this for y’all as well!) ❤️🎄

~~~

. . . That was a lot. If I’ve forgotten anyone I sincerely apologize and I love and appreciate you as well! Please don’t be mad at me 😩😩 At the end of the day I really do love and appreciate all my followers and mutuals, y’all are all fantastic and I’m always rooting and cheering for you like the Mom in every Pokemon rpg ;-;-;-; Keep going and become the Pokemon Champion okay? And I mean really go kick Gary’s ass, because he’s an ass and needs his ass whooped after all the crap he puts you through in Red/Green. I can’t wait for a reboot to come up on Switch so I can kick his butt all over again 😤🤭🥴 Anyway x9,000, thanks for coming to my Appreciation Ted Talks and I sincerely hope you all have a wonderful day and rest of 2019, as well as a happy New Year and an amazing 2020! ...Dear son of a biscuit it’s gonna be 2020. Wow. Letting that sink in. Where’s the rewind button? Actually I’m not sure if I wanna go back maybe it’s best if we bury this year for the most part and start over 👀💧

OKAY THAT BEING SAID EVERYONE GO OUT AND TAKE DOWN GARY!!! ILY ALL WOO 화이팅!! LET’S GET THIS 2020 BREAD after a cup of eggnog and some holiday celebrations uwu Peace out and again I love y’all! 💝

[taylorlearnsjapanese]

How did/do I learn vocabulary?

How did/do I learn vocabulary?

This is a question I’m asked quite often and I usually have a different answer each time. The reason is because I have no set way I learn vocabulary. This post will focus entirely on my experience and journey with vocabulary. Grammar will be a topic for another day. ;)

In my opinion, there is no set way to learn vocabulary. I can’t stare at lists and lists of words and suddenly they’re memorized, but I have! I can’t use flash cards because they take too much time, but I have! Kind of see where I’m going with this? I’m the perfect example of an informal or unstructured learner/studier. 

I am a lazy learner. THE LAZIEST. I’m all for fast and easy ways to learn without so much as lifting a finger. Insane, right? Totally. Extremely insane for a beginner like I was. Butttttt, I did it though. Was it smart? Probably not. Did it work? Well… kinda?

I also want to point out that I’ve never studied Japanese in a classroom setting nor have I had tutors to teach me. 

Okay, what I did:

I started learning Japanese on June 11, 2018. I’m going to list the resources I’ve done roughly up to this point in time that this is posted. 

Please don’t take my views on the apps and resources listed as final say. Everyone learns differently and I suggest you try all of these resources out! Things that don’t work for me, may work for you and vice versa.

DuoLingo. It was the only app I really knew of that was credible. I drilled the crap out of that app! That’s how I got my foundations in kana, my first words, and first kanji! 

DuoLingo is good in some ways, but bad in others. It’s perfect for repetition and getting you to think about those words over and over. But that’s also why it’s bad. Each step makes you go through like, what?, four or five tiers or whatever they’re called? By the time you reach that fourth of fifth tier, it’s just annoying to do that pattern over and over again before you can move on. This is just my opinion though, some people thrive off of that. Don’t knock it till you try it, ‘kay? I’ve heard the app has changed some since summer of 2018, so I’ll have to check it out again. 

LingoDeer. Gosh, I love LingoDeer. I really need to use it more. It is the best app ever to introduce you to grammar when you have no idea where to start. 

Workbooks. I got my first workbooks (not textbooks) at the end of June 2018 (I had been learning for roughly 3 weeks by that time). It was Learning Japanese Hiragana and Katakana and Learning Japanese Kanji Volumes 1 and 2, all published by Tuttle. As I worked through the kana book I managed to learn many vocabulary terms from the exercises in the back with the writing exercises (all spelled in hiragana and katakana, there is no kanji in that workbook). I tried and dabbled lightly in the Kanji Vol 1 book, but I wasn’t ready for that just yet back then.

I ONLY used those resources until the end of August 2018 and added Memrise too my list of apps during that time. I gained A LOT of vocabulary knowledge (and some basic grammar but that’s a post for another day) just from using three apps and a kana workbook over two and a half months. 

It was nothing fancy like some people tend to think? I didn’t somehow learn all these words over night.

Textbooks. Genki 1 and it’s workbook was my first ever textbook. This is one of the most widely known textbooks out there for learning Japanese from scratch. Most people know how vocabulary works for that resource. Each chapter introduces vocab and you learn it as you study the grammar and do the exercises.

Um, so, I’m gonna be honest for a second. I HATE TEXTBOOKS. I hate them with a fiery passion. *clenches fist* I stopped using Genki after completing half of the book because I felt like I learned nothing. It just wasn’t the resource for me.

At this point you’re staring hard at your phone, tablet, or computer like WHAT? Yeah… I didn’t hate them at first!! But because of my laziness and informal learning style, I grew to haaaate them. Textbooks are too “cookie cutter” in my opinion. But Taylor, don’t you use one right now? Yes, and let me explainnnnnn. I find that textbooks don’t give you freedom to expand! 

Remember when I asked on Instagram what were some things you’d like me to discuss or talk more about? One user messaged me and wrote,

“How [do] you apply grammar and vocabulary? Because I try to come up with sentences on my own then look up examples of its usage but I continuously use the same type of examples. But when I look at other example there is so much vocab and other grammar structures that go into play that I don’t understand, so it’s hard for me to find a balance that will make me push myself but also know that I can decently understand…”

That’s EXACTLY what I struggled with, with Genki! Textbooks only provide examples for that lesson and the grammar it teaches at that point. So you only know those words (and grammar) in those contexts only. You try to make your own sentences but you end up only using those words and those grammar points over and over. 

There’s simply no opportunity to expand.

Then when you look up other examples you see other new words (and grammar) and it freaks you out because suddenly you don’t feel like you’ve learned anything! This is the e x a c t reason I hate textbooks. 

My answer? For me, I don’t depend on textbooks anymore for vocabulary. They’re amazing for referencing vocabulary and pulling grammar structures, but textbooks only give a limited amount of vocabulary and if that’s all your rely on when learning grammar, it’s going to be rough. It stagnated my learning when I did that. 

When I make my own sentences now, I pull vocab I've been learning from apps, social media, reading, etc. I could go on and on about this, but that’s not the point of this post. I’ll discuss my more of my hatred for textbooks later. Same with grammar and how I make my examples and such. I’ve already gone off on a tangent long enough, hehe. (I hope that answered the above question though! If not, I hope future posts will! Or just message me, lol.) 

Other textbooks I have used after Genki for vocabulary gain is Basic Japanese by Tuttle and the にほんご90日 series.

YouTube. Japanese Ammo with Misa is my love. I love her videos and her personality. Her teaching style is relaxed, but she gets the job done. She has a wide variety of grammar videos along with lots of other videos related to Japanese and Japan.

After my downfall with Genki 1 and some discouragement that led to a nearly three months hiatus of studying, I started using her videos to get the grammar knowledge I needed in January 2019 (I have been learning (counting the hiatus) for about 6 months at this point). 

It’s the perfect things for a lazy learner like me, hehe. I could sit down at my desk and watch one of her videos (they can be anywhere from 8 to 40 minutes long) and watch, pause, and rewind as much as I wanted to write notes with ease. I was learning the grammar I needed to know and learned SO MUCH VOCABULARY. 

She uses common words you find in textbooks, but she also throws in culturally relevant words. She references Pokemon, manga, TV/anime, music, etc, vocabulary all the time! She even teaches the informal/casual variations of words along with formal/polite variations and that’s where I gain so, so, so much vocab! I still use and reference those videos to this day!

PRESENT DAY:

Okay, I just explained what I did to start learning vocabulary from the beginning to about ~5 months ago. I rambled a lot, I know… But did you kind of see the point I was hoping to make? I did not stick to one resource for learning vocabulary (and kanji). 

I didn’t not, nor do I still, learn vocabulary in a “traditional” way. There is no one way to learn everything you need to know. Over that course of time I learn about ~35-40% of my current vocabulary knowledge. Wait… Taylor… You learned ~35-40% of your vocabulary over the course of 10 months, but you’ve learned the other ~60-65% in less than 5 months? Yes, and I’ll explain below~~~

What I mainly use now, app wise, to gain vocabulary knowledge is Memrise, Quizlet (rarely though), Kanji Tree, and LingoDeer. I even use Instagram to learn new vocab too! I follow users who teach vocabulary (and grammar) with their posts. Yes, you will see lots of repeated terms but that’s exposure and review! 

Here are some profiles I really like for introducing vocabulary (new or review): boxofmanga, japanesepod101 (Instagram infographics only), japanese_language_mlc, j_aipon, blue_aoi, and _urabanashi_. 

I also suggest you find native Japanese Instagram users. Not just celebrities or idols. I mean average natives who use Instagram the same way we use our private accounts. I follow larger profiles (500+ followers) for the fact that I don’t want to be a creep and follow someone who only has like 100 or 200 followers. So, I follow some “mommy blog” Instagram's because they tend to use simpler vocabulary when referring to their kids. I also follow some book reviewers, writers, and one guy who loves camping! You get to see lots of natural Japanese this way and it shows common words that are used. I don’t understand a lot of it, but I’m being exposed to the language!

And by now you’re asking, “Okay, but how do you learn vocabulary NOW?” I’m going into N4 if you’re going to look at this from a JLPT stand point, but I don’t only learn strictly N5, N4, N3, etc level material. (That’ll be another post too, lol. Pssst… it’s another “cookie cutter” issue with me.)

Well, those apps mentioned above, obviously, but those only make up about ~30% of my vocabulary gain now. I use my textbook にほんご９０日 Vol 1 as a reference and gain some vocabulary there and I have a couple JLPT related vocab/kanji lists I use too, so that’s like another ~5% of where I get my vocab. 

I get the other ~65% from reading. Yup. Reading. Literally that’s it. I read all the time. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to learn Japanese! 

I have a short story digital bundle I read often from TheJapanShop.com and it’s aimed at beginners and becomes “harder” as you move to the next book and so on. I read through them and when my brain sees a word I know I’m like, “Cool.” But when I don’t know a word I see, I either look it up quick and write it in the margin or I continue on. I learn a lot through context clues. 

Here’s an example sentence from Story Two in Book One of the Japanese Reader Collection offered from TheJapanShop.com. 

「この傘は、雨が降るといつのまにか傘が開き、晴れると傘が閉じている…」

Roughly translated to “This umbrella opened unnoticed when it began raining and upon it becoming sunny the umbrella closed…”

When I read that sentence, I knew all the vocabulary except いつのまにか. The stories have lovely vocabulary guides, so when I looked it up, it said that it meant “before one knows; while unaware” and I took what I knew from the rest of the sentence and managed to learn that new word as a result! This is the best way I could explain how I use reading to expand my vocabulary… ^_^” Just taking what you know and expanding on it over time. I use this same method for grammar, but that’s saved for another post, lol.

I also use NHK New Web Easy to read articles about current events in Japan. It’s set up for native elementary and middle school students so they can read within the kanji and vocabulary they’ve learned so far in life. Guess what? That’s PERFECT for a language learner who has an okay-ish foundation with vocabulary. I learn so much everyday vocabulary that way.

Lastly, I read books and manga. Yup, manga. I don’t use these resources much right now because they’re bigger and more intimidating. I haven’t “officially” started a book but I’ve opened and read passages quite often to sort of test myself. Manga is simpler since there are fewer words than a novel, but they’re bigger than a short story or a news article. You’ve seen on Instagram that I’ve begun reading よつばと！ and so far I’m having a blast! I’ll talk about specific things I’m reading later.

Sooooo…. That’s basically it.

Most of my vocabulary gain now is through exposure to Japanese through social media (bless the internet), reading, and some usage of apps like Memrise and LingoDeer. I use no formal education or study plans or any structure at all. 

My word retention grew to be nearly double these last ~5 months because I built on what I knew and it grew easier and easier for me to learn and retain those words over these last few months. I never believed it, but there is definitely a language hump. Once you crawl over that, things simply become easier. It just takes A LOT of time and effort (and tears) to get over that hump. But, I believe anyone can do it, you just have to be determined and eager enough.

One tip I like to give is to learn through context. Don’t just learn lists of words and kanji. What’s the point? You can recite them, but can you USE them?

Oh, quick thing, I want to point out about how I personally learn vocabulary. I failed to realize this right away when I started learning Japanese, but quickly caught on and now hold onto this belief firmly.

I learn vocabulary and kanji together. 

I do not separate the two. I do not have a separate notebooks for vocabulary and kanji. I don’t even have a notebook at all actually for them, lol. When I post on Instagram that I’m focusing on kanji today, it means I’m just learning vocabulary or reviewing it. The 1026字の正しい書き方 book I use that teaches “kanji” is mainly for vocabulary expansion and how to write those kanji (stroke order). I don’t study the individual meanings of the kanji character, I study the example words it lists. That’s one way on how I’ve been expanding my vocabulary so rapidly.

Kanji is vocabulary. 

Kanji should be treated the exact same way that hiragana and katakana are treated in my opinion. Jokingly, kanji is just fancy kana. ;)

If you “fear” kanji, you’ll have a bad time. I joke and say now when I see an insane kanji or a difficult one, “Damn, that’s some angry squiggles right there.” and it makes learning it that much more enjoyable. :)

For example, 食 means “eat, food.” Okay, cool that kanji has a food related meaning. But I’m not going to do that for thousands of kanji especially since each kanji has multiple readings depending on how it’s used. It’s simply impossible! I found I personally learn better when I learn the kanji in it’s “true” form, aka, in WORDS. 

食べる - to eat / 食べ物 - food / 食事 - meal / 朝食 - breakfast / etc.

Holy crap, not only did I learn the kanji 食 effectively, I learned four words and THREE other kanji! (I’m over dramatic, I know, lol.)

Vocabulary is all interconnected. You can’t learn one thing without stumbling and learning other things by accident. Learning through exposure is the best in my opinion. It’ll be tough to begin with when you don’t know much and it will cause you to doubt yourself and your ability to learn this language. But, just be patient. Learning five, three, or even one word a day is progress.

Small progress eventually builds up to big progress as Yuta says. ;)

Words are meant to be strung together and form sentences for you to read, enjoy, and react to. That’s why books exist. You read those words and sentences and they make you feel warm and fuzzy or cry or laugh. Don’t keep them at an arm's length and treat it like it’s some delicate flower. Language is a not just lists of words, kanji, and grammar points. It’s a culture and way of life for people. Treat it like an old friend and play with it (or go get a beer with it, ya know, whatever gets this point across, lol)!

I tend to treat language learning like I’m a curious five year old. I’m constantly asking questions and discovering new things and it just sparks that fire that makes you want to explore more and more. 

I don’t take it seriously (from an academic view) and that’s why I find some stuff so easy. It only becomes difficult if you make it difficult. Everyone learns differently. There is no one way to learn Japanese and there is no one way to learn specific parts of Japanese. Also, don’t compare yourself! It only ends in self doubt and discouragement. 

Explore and try out all sorts of things. Try out the free apps, read articles online, watch YouTube videos, just do SOMETHING. Don’t look for the “perfect” resource or routine. Just. STUDY. You’ll find in time what works for you and what doesn’t.

Language learning is no race. There is no ribbon or trophy at the end for becoming fluent overnight. Take your time and enjoy the process, you’ll be learning your whole life, ‘kay?

I’ll talk further on how I review it in another post. :)