#and if this backfires? let that be the problem of future you! for fuck's sake!

[offmyfuxkingmind]

I have not felt like this since some time in 2019 when my spin fell apart. it's a heart grabbing kind of, "no" and "not again". so, hermitblr. this is your reminder.

you can feel emotions. you can be sad because iskall is one of your favorite guys on youtube. you can be sad even if you never watched him. don't suppress that - no matter what happen.

allow yourself to take time to process.

[magnhild]

Nora Valkyrie, Identity, and Purpose

Hey everyone, Blaire here, and almost exactly a year ago, I made this mess of a post where I laid out all of my thoughts on Nora and what I thought the show could have in store for her.

And honestly, most of my ideas were way off, and not at all correct. Also, the post kind of flopped.

Thankfully, Volume 8 has given me a chance to redeem myself, and write another, more coherent, essay about my favourite RWBY character; where this Volume seems to be taking her character, and what it means to me, personally.

Buckle up.

To the vast majority of people in the RWBY fandom, Nora is the least-developed character, and the one most lacking in dimension. Most of her character seems to be defined by two things; her energy and love for fighting, and her relationship on Ren.

Volume 8 took note of these conceptions, and addressed them head-on.

Of course, any keen-eyed viewer will have noted Nora’s hidden depths even before this volume, which I noticed in last year’s post. She is perhaps the most perceptive of the main cast, at least, when it comes to people’s feelings and relaionships. She was the only one to really comment on Pyrrha’s crush on jaune, and the first to bring up Blake and Yang’s growing relationship. It was also her level-headedness that resolved RNJR’s argument in Volume 4, Chapter 9.

Volume 7 also showed us her innate desire to protect the weak, and her disdain to those who have the power to help, but refuse. I personally get the feeling that this was her driving motivation in becoming a Huntress; to protect people who cannot protect themselves, perhaps because she doesn’t want anyone to have to grow up as she did. Nora’s fury at Ironwood in V7C7 is esepcially signifigant, because it’s the angriest we’ve ever seen her before, even more so in that this anger is directed at someone with much more authority than her.

But these little details were only the tip of the iceberg. These were traits she already had, and while they help to add layers to her character, they’ve done very little in terms of her actual development. 

This is where Volume 8 came in stronger than any other.

Volume 7 hinted to us that Ren and Nora’s relationship was beginning to get more complicated, between their bickering, Ren’s dismissiveness at Nora, and their kiss in V7C6. By the end of the volume, it was clear that they were still struggling, despite their clear love for each other. Volume 8 carried this thread along, having them split into different parties, and Nora giving Ren a bit of attitude we’ve not really seen her direct at him before. 

She’s frustrated with him, and disappointed that he can’t see what she sees. But despite her tough front, V8C2 then hints that she’s sadder about the split than she’s letting on, after May brings up Nora’s ‘friends’. C3 then brings this to a head, where we get a conversation that sees Nora opening up to Blake and Yang, and revealing a deeply sad truth about herself- that she has no idea who she is without Ren, because she’s spent so much of her life with him and him alone, and her feelings for him have shaped so much of who she thinks she is. We’ve never seen her so hopeless and lost, especially after she reveals that, as far as she’s concerned, all she’s good for is hitting stuff.

Right in these few minutes, the show takes how the audience percieves Nora, and reveals to us that those two core traits are the gateways to a far deeper insight of her character. She’s known for her relationship with Ren, but wait- what about when he’s not there with her? She’s known for hitting stuff, but wait- that’s all she thinks she’s good for. 

It’s revealed to us that, not only is this how most of the audience percievs Nora, but it’s how she percieves herself. And for all her energy and upbeat attitude, deep down, she thinks incredibely lowly of herself. For all her confidence in her fighting abilities, she lacks confidence in herself as a person. 

Surprisingly enough, the ‘who am I?’ character arc is one that was hardly explored at all up until this point, despite it being one of the most common and signifgant character arcs in fictional media. And I don’t think many of us at all could have imagined that Nora would be the one to get that arc, when she’s always seemed so self-assured on the surface.

And then, when Penny is in need of help, Nora takes Weiss’ advice to heart, and does the one thing she believes she’s capable of- being strong, and hitting stuff.

Nora overcharging her Semblance to take down the wall is seen by a lot of the fandom as some kind of win for Nora; as her ‘big moment’. But while it’s certainly a really cool and badass scene, it was far from a triumph for her.

This was Nora at perhaps her lowest point so far in the series. This was Nora figuring ‘well, if this is all I’m good for, I’ll do it to the extreme’. This was Nora thinking her only purpose was to greatly endanger herself for the sake of others, because she figured she was the only one who could. And she almsot got herself killed for it. 

While certainly a defining moment, it was far from triumphant. It wasn’t a win. It was a self-destrcutive act that reflected how little she thinks of herself; that she’s not worth anything unless she’s pushing herself to the limit doing the one thing she thinks she’s good at.

And to drive the knife in harder, it backfires horribly. 

Because now she’s bedridden and critically injured, with scars that are probably permanent; a reminder of her lowest point, forever marked on her body. She can’t fight now, can’t help at all, and Salem has launched her attack on Atlas.

And in her half-unconsious state in V8C7, she realizes this, delivering an absolutely heartbreaking line:

As far as she’s concerned, her last attempt at doing what she thinks only she can do- what she thinks is all she can do- has prevented her from doing anything of worth at all. She lost one half of herself when she split from Ren, and now she’s lost the other half too. The two things that she defines herself by are gone. And the worst part is, we don’t know if she’s awar of the fact Salem has begun her attack. We could very well see her fully wake up, only to realize that the world has begun ending while she was unconsious, and she can’t do anything about it.

Now, this scene, and Nora’s struggle in this Volume as a whole, hit home for me in particular.

If you follow me on Twitter, you’re probably aware that Nora is only of my hightest- and only- kins. And I’ve only been able to relate to her more and more after what we’ve got of her in this Volume.

I am chronically disabled. I have a connective tissue disorder known as Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, which fucks up my body in a multitude of different ways, but signifigantly affects the joints. For me, it hits worst in my back, ankles, and my fingers. The fingers are my main problem. To make matters worse, I’ve also been victim to intense pains in my shoulder, which came out of nowhere a couple of months ago and have only gotten worse since. The slightest movement aggrevates it. As any follower of mine would know, I am both an artist and a writer. I create both for fun, and I’ve studied writing as a profession. It is these things I’m known for being good at, and not much else. 

Thanks to my disability and my shoulder though, I have to do these things less. Even on perscription pain medication, it still hurts. It hurts to write this even now; my shoulder feels like it’s burning up from the inside. It will only get worse over time.

So, I’m finding myself in Nora’s position. I can’t do what I’m good at anymore, and I don’t know what to do with myself as a result. Not doing these things makes me feel lazy and unproductive, and makes me feel that the people around me will abandon me so long as i can’t keep providing them content. And I’ve gotta say, it hurts a lot, and I don’t just mean physically. 

Because of what I’m going through, it’s especially important to see my favourite RWBY character just so happening to be dealing with the same problem; the same loss of idenity and purpose. We don’t know who we are or what we’re good for without the things we think define us.

While I’m unsure of my own future though, I find comfort in knowing that Nora’s problem will be tackled and addressed; that her friends will help her to rediscover herself and find her true worth. And while we’ve got a while to go until we’ll be able to see the Volume continue, I’m incredibely excited to see where Nora’s arc goes, especially if we can get some backstory along the way. I find myself wondering if her life before Ren is part of why she thinks so little of herself without him- was it the way she was raised to think? Is this the fault of her childood circumstances? Or is this just something she developed on her own, after becoming too dependant on Ren for comfort?

Whatever answers we get, I have faith that Nora’s story will be told well, and I’m very sure that it’s only just beginning. Even if she finds her worth before the end of the volume, her story won’t be over yet, not when we’ve still likely got at least four more volumes to go after this one.

In just seven episodes, Nora Valkyrie has gone from one of the least developed characters, to one of the most interesting and relatable, at least, in my eyes. There is so much more depth to her character than having a crush on Ren, and being the strong girl who hits stuff. There’s a layer of tragedy to her character that we’re touching upon now, and I’m excited to dive into it.

Thank you all for reading!

[smartguyreviewed]

2x9 - The Dating Game

Original Air Date: November 12, 1997.

TW - THEMES OF SEXUAL ASSAULT 

Now I know why Yvette needed those self defense classes. It was to defend herself against the most annoying little shit to ever re-occuringly appear on this show.

Deion, who honestly should have gotten his ass whooped for everything he eventually ends up doing in B-plot land and who is currently in the running for most frequent future member of the Black Manosphere, has set his sights on Yvette. Yvette understandably doesn’t want to go out with him though, as she is hiding from him. But I get it because like in the last episode, we all are aware of what happens when a woman says no to a man.

In fact, this episode actually makes me kind of sad because Yvette has to resort to so many methods of gently letting him down since Deion just cannot take a hint. While it’s bogus that she has to use TJ as a buffer, it just goes to show you the fear a lot of women have when it comes to rejecting men.

Anyway, Yvette goes poof and Deion asks TJ where she is. After he leaves, Yvette comes back from her hiding spot behind a Penguin cardboard and asks how many times she has to tell that guy ‘no.’ Girl, not enough.

Deion pops back up after TJ is giving Yvette an unnecessary lesson about the word ‘no’ in different languages although I’m sure no matter what language it was told in, the response from a toxic male was always the same.

Because Yvette has run out of excuses, she is now using TJ as a buffer. After claiming he has a bladder infection, she ushers a confused TJ away from Deion. Glad that’s over!

Sike. When she gets home, Deion has left her a shitload of messages on the Henderson family answering machine. Now I understand that for the sake of the plot, everyone’s number just seems to be available for public consumption, but Yvette probably did give Deion her real number to get him to go away for a little bit. Although Adult Aspyn would have given him a fake number, this is high school. She unfortunately has to see her stalker everyday so she most likely figured giving him her real number and then simply ignoring him would suffice. It doesn’t.

TJ is concerned but for the wrong reasons. First, TJ says Yvette has to do something about this guy because although TJ is already 10 or 11 and in high school, the absolute most traumatic thing that could happen to him is a bout with urinary incontinence. I get it, TJ is a kid, but honestly, this is exactly how most adult men would react. Fuck you and your safety, my ego is at risk here!

Outside, Mo has just arrived to see Marcus outside freezing his buns off. He has a way bigger problem than Yvette right now: his scholarly ineptitude is about to be exposed to his father unless he can intercept the mail before his pappy gets home. The plan backfires.

Floyd is big mad because Marcus did an average at best job on his grades. I personally don’t understand his rage, though. I get it, C’s aren’t the best thing in the world, but he’s not failing. I understand, Floyd just wants the best for his kids but I wish he’d realize that college isn’t for everyone and there is literally no shame in being an average student but learning a trade or something. He unknowingly sets him up just for this when, as punishment, Floyd tells Marcus that he’s going to be working with him, fixing roofs after school and on weekends. 

The next day at school, Mr. Millitich, someone we’ll actually see again and who has zero bedside manner, comes up to TJ at lunch and recommends a cream for his imaginary ass rash. Then some students come up to TJ and start scanning his head for lice. Yvette is really putting TJ through a fake ringer but in a few episodes, he’ll totally deserve it.

Like the leftover glitter from an art project that just never goes away, here comes Deion, this time with a mute, obviously-not-teenage bodyguard in tow. I guess his strategy here was that if Yvette rejected him, he would make this dark-skinned Random Task beat up Yvette.

Yvette rejects him again, now using TJ’s webbed feet as an excuse. TJ has had enough. He actually pushes Random Task aside and tells Deion that Yvette can’t go out with him because she already has a man. Deion then says he “respects turf” which is bullshit as we will later find out. But since TJ needs an appropriate, bigger male to intimidate Deion, he selects Mo.

Next, we cut to Marcus hating his job and complaining about his body hurting. Considering that he was used as a human dummy in the previous episode, I’m  honestly not shocked. However, that was his own damn fault. Floyd is hoping this punishment will make him want to go to college. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t.

We cut back to the Henderson crib where TJ is coaching Yvette and Mo on how to act like a couple to throw off Deion’s scent. For the sake of the episode, we will pretend that these teenagers have no idea how to act like a couple and need TJ to show them. They squabble back and forth about what Yvette will and won’t accept. After a few clips of Mo expressing his thirst and Yvette shooting him down, they agree on the terms, minus kissing. Sorry, Mo. I do like that this episode sets up Mo x Yvette which I lowkey wish would have happened because they actually have awesome chemistry. 

The next day, Yvette and Mo are acting like a couple at lunch and really selling it. Mo even hands her Hershey’s Kiss chocolates and  OmG ThEy aRe sO CuTe tOgEtHeR EeK. He leaves to get her a soda and the moment is immediately ruined by Deion ‘I-respect-turf’ White. Here he comes, throwing Yvette a lone rose, back with his mute, 35-year-old bodyguard, bragging about spending a whole $6 on her. Although I’m sure he’s heard that Yvette and Mo are an item, as TJ is mentioning in passing, he is still trying to pursue her. Look, I get it, Yvette is pretty and smart and you think you deserve a woman like her but you don’t. Ok, you just don’t.

When Yvette refuses and very politely I may add, Deion immediately catches an attitude. But here comes Mo, swooping in to save his damsel in distress from this dumb dusty. This heroic act earns Mo a kiss on the lips although it wasn’t part of the deal. Turns out women actually like when men respect them and keep them safe. Who knew?

So Yvette leaves and I just can’t, Mo is so cute and it’s obvious he’s really into Yvette and so much so that he pays a stunt double to do three backflips for him to exacerbate the point. Aww. Almost makes me forget that he was sexually assaulting women with his best friend in the previous episode.

We cut to Marcus actually enjoying life, not being tired after working. Floyd’s plan is definitely unraveling faster than a punctured Rodarte sweater circa 2008. Once he tells Marcus that he gets paid on Fridays, he’s already doing the math in his head. Marcus would net $800/month, yes, a month, working this job. 

That is all. 

Anyways, it’s enough to make Marcus give a permanent middle finger to his already nonexistent college dreams. This only gives Floyd more rage fuel to make the job seem as terrible as possible. However, he is realistic when he factors in how long he’ll have to be working there to make half a million.

Oh inflation, how I loathe thee.

Anyways, Mo is just making me ship he and Yvette even harder. Apparently, he is going above and beyond with this role because he came with Yvette to her poetry club. Listen ladies, when a man is really into you, he will do anything for you. He’s even holding her bag for her! What a gentleman! Maybe all that ass-kicking from his time spent as a dummy actually taught him a lesson on how to respect women!

Mo thanks TJ for setting them up and it really sounds like Mo is falling for our Yvette but TJ has to remind him that it’s a PR relationship. I don’t know why, seeing as Mo threatened to split Deion’s wig and he thankfully hasn’t popped back up, but I also think Yvette is hesitant to be with him although their ship gets teased a lot through the series.

TJ’s hormones haven’t kicked in just yet, so he doesn’t get why dancing would make a woman fall for a guy--it doesn’t, it’s just a prelude to sex--but Mo is convinced Yvette will be forever his after their tango. He even pantomimes the dance with his backpack. 

Back at Piedmont, the dance is revving up. There’s about 30-40 students here ready to get crunk. TJ is DJ-ing and Mo is still flitting about trying to make the scene right for his lady. Y’all, I really love Mo, he’s so cute. He even shouts her out over the microphone. This man is sprung.com.

However, another tall light-skinned dude pulls a very seemingly spoken for Yvette right from under Mo’s nose and Yvette just goes along with it and lets him know it was a PR relationship. Boo, Yvette. I know you don’t owe any man anything but why not Mo? He actually became fine to me in this episode.

TJ begins covering for Mo, who bought a freaking necklace for Yvette--beat that, Deion!--but left it in the car, by playing anything but Boyz II Men and Brian McKnight. 

Back in B-plot land, Marcus is hanging out with his fellow roofers, scoffing at the thought of returning to high school life. Once the roofer dude starts making the job sound like hell, especially the ‘no women�� part, that’s all the motivation Marcus needs to run back to high school. Floyd’s plan worked but I’m actually annoyed with Floyd. If being a roofer is so terrible, why is he one? What’s wrong with Marcus skipping college and learning a trade while he pursues his music? Plus, the guy has three kids, you think he’d be a little more relieved that he only has to shell out money for two FAFSA applications. 

So Marcus runs back to school and sees Mo and Yvette dancing. I’m surprised he’s so okay with it, seeing as most guys hate the thought of their best friends even breathing near their sisters. Pretty mature of him, not going to lie. Again, Mo’s fineness spiked to astronomical levels during this dance. He’s having so much fun with Yvette.

Even after this sultry ass dance, Yvette still wants to dance with Garrett. I personally would have said Garrett who, but can’t knock the girl for having options! Mo actually does seem heartbroken when Yvette dumps him but Mo kisses her on the cheek and tells her good luck with Garrett. I fucking love Mo, y’all. We’ll never see Garrett again. Well, technically we will, but he’ll have a different name.

TJ is also an Yvette x Mo shipper! He says that he and Yvette looked better on the dance floor. His heartbrokenness wears off two seconds later when a PYT in a velvet skater dress asks for a dance. 

Something tells me Mo will be just fine. 

This would have been a solid ending but then, and I wish I was fucking joking, this episode literally ends with Marcus being overly aggressive with a girl who clearly doesn’t want him! It’s played as a joke but this girl seriously does not want Marcus anywhere near her and he’s still being handsy.

Somebody slingshot his ass back on the roof where he belongs. 

Things I Noticed:

- The actor who plays Deion is actually Mr. Dig from Lizzie McGuire and I swear I was today years old when I realized it. 

- The actor who plays Garrett plays another love interest of Yvette’s in a future episode. They are really bad with recycling actors on this show. 

- Floyd tells Marcus to bring in whatever groceries Mo hasn’t eaten after delivering his punishment. I really have too much proof to support my theory that Mo lives in an abusive, neglectful household.

- Piedmont has the tackiest decorations ever.

[cami-chats]

A Charmed Past

Fandom: Charmed (1998)

Pairings: Chris Halliwell & Wyatt Halliwell

Warnings: Unchanged Future Wyatt (but he doesn’t do anything violent, just a bit of stealing) 

Wyatt had single-minded focus. Combined with his raw power, it was what made him so dangerous. He had a goal and he was going to accomplish it, no matter what. Chris was different; he had a goal and he had five different plans for how he could make it happen without anyone knowing it was him or even knowing what the goal was. It was why they'd worked so well together, back when Chris had actually been working with him. 

This situation, for example, would've been made better if Chris had been the one to plan it. In fact, when Chris had done the exact same thing, it went better. But Wyatt no, he'd been so focused on following after his brother and getting him back that he'd forgotten one very important detail: when you went to the past, your powers didn't go with you. 

There was no way Chris had made this mistake. Going to the past to change their lives without his powers? It'd be suicide. Either he brought his powers with him, or he found a way to restore them after he got there. Wyatt hoped that it was the second one and also that Chris was willing to share, because as it stood, Wyatt was powerless in an unfamiliar world. Sure he could fight hand to hand and with a sword when he had to, but he was used to his powers, and more importantly, he was used to healing himself. Without that, he was a sitting duck in the grand scheme of powers. 

But powerless or not, Wyatt knew how to get by from when he did undercover work. A swipe here on a busy street and he had some money. He pocketed the cash and left the rest of the wallet on a restaurant's outside table. He walked for a while, a little lost in this world that wasn't very familiar, and stole a little more. It was enough for a snack (because he hadn't eaten in a while) and cab fare to the Manor. He didn't want to show up completely unprepared, so he tested a quick spell before hailing a cab. It was a stupid spell he'd come up with when he was a kid, and all it did was send a gust of wind in the surrounding area. He chanted under his breath, "Bring to me the wind, Zephyr's power lend," and waited to see what-- if anything-- happened. A strong breeze went through the street, and Wyatt breathed a sigh of relief as it blew his hair in his face. 

Of course, that brought up the fact that he needed a hoodie or jacket or something because all black was a little conspicuous in the nice part of the city in broad daylight. Without his powers, he couldn't afford for his hair to get in his face in the possibility of a fight, so he needed a hair-tie as well. He was a decent pickpocket, but full on thievery was a bit beyond what he was capable of right now. 

A quick-- if childish-- incantation later, and he had both items. When they were kids, Chris had made fun of him for his rhymes, but he'd never had any reason to refine it. Spells could backfire; his powers couldn't, and his powers were more reliable anyways. He'd have to go light on the spells or risk retribution for 'personal gain' which was definitely not something he had missed. 

He pulled the hoodie over his head and tied his hair at the base of his neck, then walked in a gas station and bought a granola bar. Now that he wasn't dressed all in black, people weren't quite as prone to avoiding him. It made him blend in more, but it also meant that they were more likely to bump into him, which he wasn't a fan of. He ate the granola bar in quick bites as he walked to a more busy street and flagged down a taxi. This not being able to orb business was a real pain in the ass. 

Wyatt watched the houses pass, the bright colors untainted by riots and the sickly miasma that had taken over pretty much the entire world by the time he'd come to power. It wasn't easy to get used to this, but hopefully he wouldn't have to. He'd talk to Chris, make him realize that what he was trying to do was completely unhinged, and then they could go back to where they belonged. And if things went spectacularly well, he'd be able to pull it off before Chris realized he was powerless and decided to use that to his advantage. Once, he would've thought that his brother would absolutely help him get back his powers as soon as he found out, but Chris was a bit of a wild card these days. He couldn't count on much of anything with him. Wyatt knocked his fingers on the glass to get the cabbie's attention. "Here's fine." He paid him, then got out of the car and started making his way towards the manor. It was a bit of a walk since he hadn't wanted to get dropped off on the front stoop, but it gave him time to try and think of a plan. 

He made it to Prescott Street without having any good ideas, and then he made it up the stairs and was still drawing a blank. Whatever, plans never worked with Chris anyways. He rang the doorbell, then waited. Phoebe was the one to answer the door, and she looked much younger than the last time he'd seen her. She'd aged well, of course, but she was what, thirty right now? No amount of well aging could replace youth. 

"Can I help you?" she asked, half nice and half suspicious. Given the number of times demons turned up on the doorstep, that was fair. 

"I'm here to see Chris, is he around?" 

She gave him another look, then-- probably sensing no ill intentions-- yelled over her shoulder, "Chris!" A long moment with no answer and she held up one finger to him. "Just a second." She closed the door, but it did nothing to muffle the sound from when she screamed his name again, this time loud enough for everyone in the house to hear her. 

Wyatt sighed and leaned against the wall as he waited. 

It took a minute, but then there was the sound of footsteps and Chris and Phoebe arguing. The words were impossible to make out at first, but he caught the tale end of Phoebe saying, "Well if it's a demon you can face him first, it's not really my problem. Don't worry, I won't let him kill you. Besides, he looked pretty human to me." 

"Phoebe, I don't have time for-" 

She opened the door, and Chris stopped cold, eyes going wide. 

Wyatt couldn't help but be amused by that. "Hi Chris." 

"What the fuck are you doing here?" 

"I take it that means you aren't happy to see me," Wyatt said, at the same time Phoebe said, "Chris!" 

Chris clenched his jaw. "Phoebe, can you give us a minute?" 

"Does this mean he's not a demon?" she asked, but she already knew the answer to that. 

"Are you giving us a minute or not?" 

"Well I'm just saying-" 

Chris rolled his eyes and stepped outside, shutting the door closed. 

"Oh come on!" she yelled through the door, then threw up her hands and walked away. 

"What are you doing here?" Chris hissed. "And since when do you ring the doorbell? Or dress incognito?" 

"I learned a touch of subtlety in your absence," he said drily. 

Chris stared at him for a second. "You don't have your powers, do you." 

"No," he admitted, because lying to Chris didn't work. 

"For god's sake, Wyatt, did you chase me to the past and not think about it?" 

Wyatt glared at him. 

"Oh my god. How did you plan on bringing me back? I'm not going to go willingly, and without your powers, you can't force me." 

"I was hoping you'd help me get them back. You still have yours, after all." 

"You expect me to give you your powers back so you can force me back to the future," Chris said flatly. 

"Anything's going to sound bad when you use that tone for it, Chris." 

"How would you make it sound good?" 

"If you don't help me, there's a high probability a demon will kill me." 

For an instant, it worked. Chris was worried about Wyatt's wellbeing and he was about to agree that it was for the best if Wyatt had his powers. But then he remembered that here in the past, he wasn't in immediate danger. "That's- no, that's not going to happen. No one knows who you are, and if you stay here, the sisters will be able to protect you from any stray fireballs." 

"You want me to stay here?" was Wyatt's immediate response. Then he said, "Wait, 'the sisters'?" Wyatt had had a bit of a falling out with Aunt Phoebe and Aunt Paige after he took over the Underworld and stopped hiding that knowledge from them, but Chris had gotten along with them to their bitter end. He wouldn't be calling them that unless... "Did you not tell them who you are? Holy shit Chris, and I thought I had poor planning." 

"I couldn't just waltz up to the doorway and announce that you were going to turn evil and by the way, I'm his brother." 

"You can't waltz," was all he said to that. 

Chris glared at him. "You are so damn annoying." 

"If you couldn't tell them before, I don't see why that's changed now." 

"It's changed because you're here, dumbass." 

"You're the one that didn't tell them who your mother was." It was fun to do this again without the safety of the entire world at risk; if demons saw them bickering like they were still kids, they'd attack. Demons always thought they could run the place better than Wyatt, and the casualty would end up being Chris. But there weren't any demons here to see them, and it's not like they were wasting time. No matter when they left the past, they'd get back to their time at the same point. And even if he happened to be wrong about that, he'd get his powers back when they got back to the right time, and he'd be able to get everything back under his control. "How is it that you can be so smart about everything except family?" 

"Oh let me guess, this is when you tell me that it's pointless to try and resist your rule so I might as well join you before I reach the same end?" 

"I wouldn't let that happen." 

"Really?" Chris said, raising an eyebrow. "Because you don't have any active powers right now. It kind of looks like you aren't in a position to let or not let anything happen." 

"Nothing's going to happen to either of us in this time," Wyatt said, rolling his eyes. 

"You sound awfully sure about that for a guy that can't orb." 

"You can keep trying to rub it in, but it's not going to do you any good." 

"Let me get this straight, I refuse to help you get your powers back and you're cool with it, but when I let off a confetti cannon on your birthday, that was unacceptable." 

Wyatt gave him a flat look. "You did it during my official coronation." 

"You were already in charge, you didn't need a coronation." 

"Demons like their rituals, even if they're unnecessary." 

"I don't see what was so bad about it. The place needed the color, it was all brown rock and cave wall." 

"I had to kill ten demons, Chris." Because they'd automatically thrown energy balls at the disturbance, which meant they'd nearly killed Chris, and Wyatt hadn't really meant to kill them but protecting Chris had always been a reflex. It hadn't been a good look for his coronation, but there wasn't anything the rest of the Underworld could do about it. 

"Like I said, I don't see what's so bad about that." 

"You're a pain in the ass," Wyatt said, but there was no heat behind it. 

"You could've avoided me being a pain in the ass for a while if you'd stayed in the future where you belong." 

"Are you really that unhappy to see me? It's been a long time since we could have a conversation without you trying to lecture me about good versus evil and personal gain." 

"That's what you think ruined our conversations? Not-- I dunno-- your being the evil ruler of the entire world?" 

"See? Like that." 

Chris rolled his eyes. Before they could keep arguing with each other, the door opened, this time with Piper standing there. Baby Wyatt was on her hip, and this was already one of the weirdest experiences of his life. "Uh Chris? Yeah hi," she said with a terse smile, "I don't know what you're busy doing, but we could use you inside. Not to trivialize what Paige is going through, but she's having another identity crisis and we could use our whitelighter to talk some sense into her." 

"Does that ever work?" Wyatt asked. 

"No," Chris said. "Piper, we've got bigger problems than Paige's temp job kick or saving Richard quest." 

"Uh huh, and how's that?" 

He hooked a thumb over his shoulder to point at Wyatt. "This is Wyatt. From the future." 

"What? But- Chris you said he was dead." 

Wyatt laughed. "What?" 

"No, I said evil gets to him, which it does." 

"He looks fine," she said, peering at him and holding her baby tighter unconsciously. "You're Wyatt?" 

"Yeah. Hi Mom, it's been a while." 

Her face fell. "Do we not get along in the future?" 

"You're dead," Wyatt said bluntly. "You have been for a while. And Chris thinks I'm evil because I took over the Underworld, he's always been pretty narrow minded." 

"I'm sorry, what? You- you took over the Underworld. Like you became the new Source?" 

Well that tone didn't sound good. "It was better than letting demons fight over it. And no, the Source's powers have a will of their own, I wasn't risking it." 

"Yeah, cause just being the regular king of hell was so much better." 

"Shut up." 

"Do you two know each other?" 

"Why yes we do," Wyatt said with a shit eating grin. 

"Wyatt-" Chris said warningly, but Wyatt ignored him. 

"He's my brother." 

Chris glared at him, and Piper's eyes went wide. 

"Chris...?" 

"You're such a dick," he muttered, and Wyatt just smiled wider. It had been a while since he had this much fun. Being ruler of the world didn't lend to a lot of relaxation time, and he had an image to uphold anyways. 

"Besides, Mom, as you can see, I don't need saving. I'm just here to bring Chris back before he can mess up the timeline." 

"Right, because telling her that was so great for the timeline. Look Piper, it's nothing to worry about. Wyatt doesn't have his active powers, so he can't do any damage here. All we have to do is follow the original goal and we'll be fine." 

"Get inside." 

"Uh, Piper are you-" 

"Now." 

Wyatt and Chris shared a look, which boiled down to Shit, we're in for it now. 

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 242: SANTA IS REAL

Previously on BnHA: We said farewell to the League of Pliff and were finally reunited with the kids of U.A., an institution which I would just like to point out is so diametrical to the League that they literally took the polar opposite route when choosing their name, and focused only on the acronym. I’m 100% sure U.A. doesn’t even stand for anything. Anyway, so Bakugou and Todoroki went on whirlwind press tour following their ch 219 antics, and the resulting interviews were so disastrous that Aizawa decided to bring in Mt. Lady to give the whole class a crash course in PR 101. Meanwhile All Might scoured Ancestry.com for info on the past users of OFA, and Rat Principal announced that U.A. was going to resume its internship program. This is great news for Deku, who’s been taking his sweet time mastering Blackwhip. Like, we’re not even talking baby steps here so much as little tiny flea steps. Kid’s going to need all the help he can get.

Today on BnHA: Horikoshi targets all of my weak points at once. The My OT3 Academia arc gets off to an incredible, award-winning start with a Christmas party and the announcement of Internships 2: This Time, it’s Compulsory. Highlights include: (1) Kaminari and Mina forcing Bakugou to accept the spirit of Christmas into his heart and soul, (2) Iida rocking a Santa beard, (3) Eri holding a giant sword, (4) Bakugou reminiscing about his internship with Best MIA Jeanist, specifically the part where Jeanist was all “A HERO’S NAME IS REALLY IMPORTANT AND SYMBOLIC AND MEANINGFUL, SO YOU NEED TO THINK VERY CAREFULLY ABOUT IT” and oh my fucking god, and lastly (5) Todoroki inviting Bakugou and Deku to come intern with him at the Endeavor Hero Agency (known for its famous business slogan: “Got Plot?”). It’s like I wished on seventeen different falling stars and they all came true at once. I still can’t even fucking process this. kfkdslgk.

(All comments are my unspoiled reactions from my initial readthrough of the chapter. I did a quick edit for grammar and clarity immediately afterward, and added a few ETAs in the process, but aside from that there are no changes.)

I just got like three excited-seeming asks (I haven’t actually read them yet) in rapidfire succession less than an hour ago, and my dashboard is now filling up with filtered “bnha spoilers” posts, so I took this as a sign that I should read the new chapter ASAP. oh gosh

(ETA:

(1) SAMEEEEEE, and (2) YEEEEEEEEP. listen I’m not religious you guys, but I said “oh my god” so much while reading this chapter that I wouldn’t be surprised if he or she finally answers and is like, “YES!? WHAT IS IT???”)

what new state-of-the-art tomfoolery will our intrepid heroes engage in this week. what novel hijinks will they commence. what frivolous escapades will they embark on this lovely Friday morn?

HOMGAAAHHHHHH

THE TITLE IS LITERALLY MY FEELINGS RN. MERRY FUCKING CHRISTMAS TO ME. YES GOD I LOVE IT. I’LL TAKE A DOZEN

okay. so today, September 6th, is officially Christmas. you heard the man and who am I to argue

so we’re opening with a teacher’s meeting! probably about the internships. or the fact that they’re all screwed. I don’t really know what their priorities are nowadays

okay yeah it’s about the internships. also Rat Principal is nested in Aizawa’s scarf for absolutely no reason, and Aizawa is disgruntled about it. heh. tomfoolery already and it’s only the first panel

oh shit, Nezu’s saying it’s now a government requirement. I got so surprised I actually forgot to call him RP

because ain’t nothing safer than hero internships. if the Basement arc taught us nothing else. it’s that

that was sarcasm in case that’s not coming across. this is clearly a baffling decision. but what are government committees for if not for making baffling decisions I guess

and now Midnight is coming to the same conclusion I was starting to wonder at

can someone please tell me what the PSC’s goals actually are, then? is this not the same group that recently changed the rules of the provisional license exam so that an even smaller percentage of people would pass? so do you want more heroes or fewer? which is it?

how do they cope with it? does anyone even have any idea?? it seems to me like they’re just throwing them to the wolves. we have this problem that we have absolutely no idea what to do about, oh I know, let’s toss a bunch of inexperienced kids at it. and hope that none of them gets murdered I guess

anyway so The Sheriff is speculating that the League must have been involved in the Deika situation, and he’s wondering why the PSC is trying so hard to keep it on the dl

oh yeah. friendly reminder that the PSC, thanks to Hawks, probably knows exactly how powerful Tomura and the League have recently become. so they know full well how shark-infested the waters are, and they’re making it mandatory for the kids to all take swimming lessons. nice

lol back when I was brainstorming ideas for future arcs, I seriously thought Horikoshi would have to go out of his way to come up with excuses for the kids to have future encounters with the League, because the school was so concerned with their safety that they wouldn’t allow them to leave the grounds except on rare occasions. well I sure got that one wrong. though to be fair, for once it isn’t U.A. that’s doing the child endangering here

(ETA: and actually, regardless of how insane it is, I do appreciate that when shit inevitably hits the fan again, at least it won’t be U.A.’s fault this time. I’d like to be able to continue rooting for them, and that can be difficult when they keep doing reckless things that needlessly put children in danger. at least this time they’re not the ones driving the Stupid Bus to Bad Decision School.)

a message to who? the League?? “we’re not scared of you”?? did they seriously not think of all the numerous ways this could backfire?

oh shit Aizawa even went and said the d-word

well there you have it. the government is drafting teenagers to risk their lives dealing with a crisis they won’t out-and-out admit they’re actually having. on today’s episode of “Oh Hero Society, You’ve Got Problems”

anyway so RP is making the admittedly good point that “we’re fucked and everyone is in terrible danger” is hardly a new state of affairs for them these days, and so they’re all moving on. okay then. good talk. lol. gonna need my damn Christmas fluff after all of that

and also RP is mentioning some other mysterious new program to Aizawa too. I wonder what that could be

(ETA: oh yeah I almost forgot about this. thoughts??)

and now we’re cutting to “several days later” oh my god. it’s really happening. I need a moment here, I’m not even ready. gotta get all my Christmas headcanons lined up here. Satou baking cookies. Kaminari and Sero running around arm in arm singing “JINGLE BELLS, ALL MIGHT SMELLS” over and over at the top of their lungs until Bakugou screams at them to shut up. Mineta debating anyone who will listen over the merits of the song Baby It’s Cold Outside. the naturally Christmas-themed Todoroki savoring this, his time to shine

oh shit, we’re still with the fucking Rat Principal. for fuck’s sake

-- ooh but are they talking about the traitor??

will this put an end to the “Horikoshi forgot about it” rumors? several people have mentioned this to me here and there (sorry to everyone whose asks I still haven’t answered), but as far as I know, this was part of a fake interview with Horikoshi that was unfortunately circulated around as though it was the real deal. sometimes people are not cool and think it’s fun to take advantage of communities that are enthusiastic and trusting! always fact-check what you read on the internet just to be safe guys

anyway

so there definitely is one, then. got it

so the traitor is definitely a student in the hero class, then. got it

sob. I got an ask about the whole Kaminari traitor theory earlier this week, so I’m in the process of doing up a whole long post about that. but the cliff’s notes version is, it’s not him. it’s Hagakure. but I will actually go into detail in the post. it’s been a while since I’ve discussed the traitor thing in depth anyway

so RP is asking All Might if he’s coming back today, and All Might is immediately all “WHY, DID SOMETHING HAPPEN TO MY CHILD, OH GOD IS HE OKAY” which, omg. so much love for this man

and RP is like “geez relax” and OH MY GOD

[slaps on a paperboy cap and screeches at All Might in a bad cockney accent] TODAY, SIR?? WHY, IT’S CHRISTMAS DAY

OH MY GOD

I SPOT A GRINCH UP THERE AT THE TOP. SOMEONE NEEDS TO BE VISITED BY THREE GHOSTS FROM VARIOUS DIFFERENT TIME PERIODS

LITERALLY EVERY SINGLE CHILD (GREMLINS ASIDE) IS WEARING A SANTA CLAUS OUTFIT. DID U.A. JUST GIVE THESE OUT FOR FREE

AND IN THE TOP RIGHT NEXT TO SHOUJI, SATOU’S COOKIES! JUST AS THE PROPHECY FORETOLD

I SEE THEY HAVE THE REQUISITE KFC PLATTERS LIKE GOOD JAPANESE CITIZENS. WE SHOULD ADOPT THIS TRADITION HERE IN THE WEST TOO TBH

and last but not least, there are only nineteen children in this panel. it took me forever to figure out who was missing, but pretty sure it’s Iida. Iida where are you. clearly the traitor. certainly not off visiting his brother and the rest of his family, what kind of gullible fool do you take me for

looool

I love when the characters start to become self-aware that they’re the main characters in a story and that plot things keep happening to them at an unreasonable rate

oh my god they really are wearing the suits. it wasn’t just a title page gimmick like I half-wondered

ANSWER THE QUESTION, JIROU. INQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW. do we even know where she did her first internship?? I suddenly desperately want to learn more about this

(ETA: she interned with Death Arms, the traffic cone-looking guy who notably chewed Deku out for trying to save Kacchan’s life in chapter one. Jirou my hope for you is that you find someone better this time around!)

also Tsuyu is observing that Momo doesn’t have a chair, and I honest-to-god was trying to count how much seating there was in the previous page. it seems to me like the common room got a lot bigger. it keeps adjusting to their needs like the room of requirement in Harry Potter

also does anyone else wish that Jirou would move her cup off of the armrest. IT’S GOING TO SPILL ffff :/ this is who I am at parties

oh shit wait, that was Iida with the beard?? I honestly thought that was Satou. well then Satou is the traitor. -- NOBODY TOUCH THOSE COOKIES!!

anyway so he’s all “well Deku not to bring up the elephant in the room but YOUR PREVIOUS MENTOR DIED A HORRIBLE DEATH so what’s your plan huh”

oh sweet god

listen, no offense to Centipeder, he seems like a really nice guy, but if I never see his repulsive face again I will count myself lucky

OH FOR FUCK’S

PLEASE GET RID OF IT IT IS CHRISTMAS!!! here I am trying to have a nice time and!!

god. and like, I feel bad, it’s not his fault he is A GIANT BUG and he has like, fucking mandibles and shit! but I can’t help the fact that my skin is trying to crawl off my body right now, and god but I can barely look at this panel long enough to read the dialogue sob why

(ETA: and now that I’ve forced myself to read it again, this doesn’t even make any sense lol. “we have too much work and not enough help, so we have to pass on you coming back to help us out. ...wait.”)

I want Iida to like. pat his lap and tell Deku in a big booming voice to cheer up and come sit and tell him what he wants for Christmas. not in a weird way you guys, come on. but just, he looks so forlorn. do you want Santa to bring you some cozy All Might socks

or wait, didn’t he want a PS Vita according to that one omake thing. what the fuck Deku. someone get this kid a Switch

anyway so Deku says that participation is mandatory this time, so the school will handle assignments if the kids aren’t able to find someone

meanwhile Kacchan is in the background accusing Mina of stalking him. I think she is trying to get him to wear his Santa outfit. doin’ god’s work

OH SHIT YOU GUYS I CLICKED TO THE NEXT PAGE, AND THIS. THIS IS MY CHRISTMAS OMFG

HORIKOSHI YOU DID GET MY LIST! BAKUGOU BEING TROLLED BY HIS SNEAKY DETERMINED FRIENDS AND MANHANDLED INTO A RIDICULOUS GETUP WHILST ANGSTING ABOUT BEST JEANIST BEING MISSING, YESSSSSS. IT’S SO SPECIFIC, I THOUGHT, “SURELY HE WON’T ACTUALLY DO IT,” BUT SANTA IS REAL, EVERYONE

HFMLSDKMGLKLKL!!!!!LKL:DSF

RED ALERT RED FUCKING ALERT PEOPLE!!! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!! GET OUT OF THE WAY!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHH HOLY SHIT YOU GUYS

“MERRY CHRISTMAS MAKESTE HERE’S A WHOLE FUCKING CHAPTER ABOUT KACCHAN’S FUCKING HERO NAME COMPLETE WITH A BEST JEANIST META ON THE TOPIC” mother fucker I need to start reading these chapters with a goddamn life alert and a defibrillator on standby

“your name represents your wish.” ladies and gentlemen, introducing the new number one hero... Number One Hero!

heh. just kidding. “what do you want to become?” this, though. this right fucking here is why I’ve been dying to know what name he’ll actually choose. because it does reflect exactly what Jeanist is saying. whichever name he chooses will be an insight into who he is, and who he is trying to be

and this meta is making me rethink all my chapter 223 feels, and tbh now I’m back to thinking that it’s not going to be Ground Zero, unless he comes up with a cool reason for why that name ties in to the image of the person he wants to be (because right now, that particular name is tied more to the past than to the future). but oh my god, if he does choose the name Kacchan I am going to spontaneously combust. I will fucking do it. I will fucking die from being a dramatic excited bitch

(ETA: because. listen. there is one person who has always looked up to him in spite of everything and has always seen his potential. “in the end, in my mind, you’re the image of victory.” this, to me, is the meaning that the name “Kacchan” would have if he did choose it. it would symbolize him choosing to be his best self.)

don’t mind me I’m just stanning this child so fucking hard it hurts

(ETA: oh hey, and more feels on the reread because it looks like the reason he’s having this flashback is because he was planning to go back to Jeanist’s agency to do his real internship, and to show him how much he’s grown. but then The Thing happened. Hawks I just want to talk why won’t you answer my calls.)

Mina and Kaminari are the MVPs of this fucking chapter and I owe them my life omggggg. THEY’RE HERE TO SAVE CHRISTMAS

what are you thinking about there, Best Friend?

are you thinking about your daddy angst. penny for your thoughts

(ETA: “how can I cheer up my new best friend? I know, I’ll make him a lucrative job offer.” actually that’s a good way to cheer up just about anyone in this day and age, Shouto.)

okay, is there some sort of perverted context to Christmas that I’m totally missing here?? or is Mineta just really into the holiday spirit?

I feel like I missed something. eh

anyway Mr. Traitor himself is walking out now and HE’S BROUGHT THE CHRISTMAS GOOSE! or turkey! but goose sounded funnier

of all the things to be shocked about?? “SATOU CAN COOK!?!” like um yes hello you’ve been living with this guy for four months already? like the only thing more ridiculous than this would be, “TOKOYAMI IS A BIRD!?!”

(ETA: like I know baking and cooking are two different things, but in a manga they’re the same thing. fact.)

now someone is making a dramatic entrance! IS IT ERI I WILL DIE!!!! BRING IT

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

I HEREBY SWEAR FEALTY TO THIS PANEL OF AN ADORABLY AND FESTIVELY DRESSED ERI MIXING UP HOLIDAYS WHILE DADZAWA PATIENTLY CORRECTS HER. I WILL PROTECT IT WITH MY LIFE. SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS CHAPTER SO THAT I CAN GO DO IT SOME MORE AGAIN, OVER AND OVER AND OVER

Ochako is me

(ETA: DEMONS OUT! DEMONS IN!! THAT’S WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT!! YOU DO THE HOOOOOOOOKEY POKEY.)

and Kiri is out here asking the real questions, but sadly Aizawa says Mirio is spending Christmas with his own class. WELL FINE. I HOPE HE’S EXPERIENCING THE FOMO OF A LIFETIME. HOW DARE HE HAVE OTHER FRIENDS whatever I’m over it

sobbbbb

WELL HOW MANY FUCKING HOLIDAYS ARE THERE!? CAN SOMEONE HELP A GIRL OUT OR WHAT

oh my god I’m just going to reblog every single Dadzawa panel and none of you can stop me go on and try!!

impatiently waiting for fanart of Aizawa tucking Eri in and reading her A Visit from St. Nicholas. get on it, fandom

ohhhhhhhhh my goddddddd

I know it’s not a Christmas song, but I am this close to cranking up “I Gotta Feeling” by the fucking Black Eyed Peas. ya feel

do you guys see him sitting there next to Dadzawa. he finally gave in. Satou is feeding him chicken. his friends will not abandon him to be on the naughty list. motherfucker that’s it. I’m fucking doing it. fill up my cup. mazel tov

lol I don’t even want to click to any more pages because they’re all so happy and it won’t fucking last. :( noooo

good little boys and girls. noshing on that chicken. Kacchan continuing to be stalked by the Ghost of Christmas Friendship. Tokoyami what even is that. lol and is this their weird way of distributing random gifts. did Sero buy Jirou a scarf. did Deku buy Ochako a freaking All Might plush keychain!? FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, WHAT IS THAT THING AND WHY DOES ERI HAVE IT NOW AND WHY IS SHE MAKING THIS FACE

-- holy fuck, IT’S A SWORD. oh my god. THEY GAVE THE SEVEN YEAR OLD A FREAKING BUSTER SWORD AND SHE IS FEELING IT YESSSS THIS CHAPTER TRULY IS ALL MY DREAMS COME TRUE

“dad can I keep it.” Aizawa: [not even opening his eyes, all bundled up in his oogie boogie suit] “sure”

so now we’re cutting to afterwards and everyone’s cleaning up and Deku’s using his freakish super strength to lift heavy things impressively while Bakugou continues to stomp around with his hands shoved into his pockets waiting for someone to finally tell him he can go back upstairs

OH???

motherfucker. are you going to invite them to come intern with you and your dad!!?!?? I know I was all set on Bakugou interning with Miruko just last week, but I TELL YOU WHAT BITCHES, I’M FUCKING FLEXIBLE LIKE THAT

OH SHIT YOU GUYS!!!!

TODOROKI ARE YOU PLAYING THE OT3 SONG BECAUSE HONEY YOU KNOW THAT’S MY JAM, BRO

OH FUCKING SHIT YESSSSS

BAKUGOU DO YOU WANT TO INTERN WITH YOUR TWO BEST FRIENDS, EXCUSE ME, HATED ENEMIES. DEKU DO YOU WANT TO INTERN WITH YOUR TWO BEST FRIENDS. AND THE NUMBER ONE. WHO JUST SO HAPPENS TO BE BEST FRIENDS WITH THE NUMBER TWO. WHO JUST SO HAPPENS TO BE BEST FRIENDS WITH TODOROKI “I DIDN’T HAVE A FLASHBACK IN THE LAST ARC BECAUSE WE WERE SAVING IT FOR THIS ONE!” TOUYA? THAT’S RIGHT, IT’S BEST FRIENDS ALL THE WAY DOWN. OH MY GOD

it’s like Horikoshi made a long and detailed list of all of his regrets about the previous internship arc, and then said, “fuck it. do-over”

you guys. I’m all out of cans. we only have can’ts and cannots. I cannot

Christmas fluff. Dadzawa. Bakugou hero name meta. hints that the traitor plot will soon be relevant again. and the motherfucking OT3 of OT3s, MY SONS, MY THREE RESPLENDENT OFFSPRINGS, interning together at the motherfucking Endeavor Hero Agency because Todoroki is the sweetest most considerate angel, and because KNOCK KNOCK, IT’S ME THE PLOT, I’VE COME FOR YOU AGAIN AT LONG LAST AND I VOW TO NEVER LEAVE YOU ALONE AGAIN FROM THIS MOMENT ON

shit, y’all. I don’t know if it’s possible for an arc to become my favorite motherfucking arc only two chapters in, but damned if this sunnuvabitch ain’t trying

[moveslikebuckywrites]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Good Omens (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens) Characters: Crowley (Good Omens), Aziraphale (Good Omens) Additional Tags: Angst with a Happy Ending, First Kiss, Kissing in the Rain, Introspection, Crowley's Bentley (Good Omens)

Time for part 3!  This time for my dear friend @waylonjenningslittlefield set to Reno and Me by Waylon Jennings!

---

What's the point of a race where you stay in one place

Believing there's somewhere to go

It don't matter which way you go, when you're calling the highway your home

Every old town is your past burning down, it don't matter which way you go

---

The lights on the motorway glowed hazy as Crowley drove past them.  It was well past midnight, well past the time for respectable people to return to their homes.  To their beds.  To their loved ones, warm and waiting.

Crowley pushed the Bentley to go faster, no destination in mind.  He’d been driving south.  Past chalk cliffs and wide fields.  Most of his day had been spent in his beloved car, miles away from anyone who cared or anything that could hurt.

The screen on his phone lit up, not for the first time today.  A bright bluish white glow illuminating the cabin of the car.  He didn’t answer.  He hadn’t answered yet, and he wasn’t going to.

Sure, Aziraphale would be upset.  But he’d get over it, he always does in a few years or decades.  Besides, Crowley could be back at the bookshop within half an hour.  Less if he floored it.

For once in his life, he doesn’t floor it.

Those hazy motorway lights reflect off the hood.  Off the side mirrors.  Off the windshield.  Flickering like firelight.  Crowley doesn’t like firelight anymore.

He’s still processing this.  This new chapter in his life.  Hell isn’t calling.  The world isn’t ending.  He’s free. Freer than he’s ever been.  So why in the Heaven does he feel so trapped?

Someone else is calling.  His phone lights up again.  He’s been gone for hours and Aziraphale is worried.  The angel has his own problems and Crowley tries his damndest not to drag him into his.  Aziraphale doesn’t need this mess.  These doubts.  This fear that the wrong move or the wrong breath or the wrong thought might bring everything crashing down.

Ten miles outside London and he makes a wrong turn.  On purpose, that is.  If he keeps driving, maybe he’ll get away from these doubts, these fears.

He’s a fucking coward and he knows it.

They had been out to a nice lunch at Aziraphale’s favorite sushi place, deciding then to retire to the bookshop, as had been the norm for the past several weeks.  With Armageddon averted and their respective sides no longer giving a toss, Crowley had seen no reason for pretense any longer.  He’d rather be with Aziraphale than anywhere else.

Things were normal until halfway back to the shop, when Aziraphale had reached for his hand and entwined their fingers together.  Crowley had felt his heart stop entirely (not that he needed it).  Aziraphale, for his part, just carried on the conversation.  As though he hadn’t just upended a demon’s entire existence with a touch.

When they returned to the shop, Aziraphale had busied himself with the continual task of inventory – made more continual by the new additions left by Adam.  Crowley had taken his usual place on the sofa.  He was having a grand time just staring at his own hand in disbelief and swearing to himself he could feel it tingling when Aziraphale decided to turn his world upside down one more time.

“You know, Crowley,” the angel said, gazing towards him fondly from the bookshelf he’d been working on, “I believe I very much love you.”

Crowley had arched an eyebrow at that, “It’s your job though, innit?  All creatures, great and small, that whole nonsense?  You love everything, Angel, I already knew that.”

He’d watched Aziraphale fumble with his signet ring, twisting it back and forth.  “No, my dear, I’m afraid you misunderstand me,” the angel said as he started very slowly towards the sofa, “I’m in love with you.”

And Crowley’s brain had all but shut down in that moment.  Six thousand years of wanting but never being able to have or to know or even to acknowledge had done nothing to prepare him for the full force of Aziraphale’s loving gaze.

He should’ve said it back.  He should’ve stood right then, closed the distance, wrapped the angel up in his arms and kissed him senseless.

Crowley had done none of those things.  He had stammered a muffled apology and stormed out the door.  He got in the Bentley and just started driving.  No destinations, no plans.

That’s how he found himself here, speeding down the motorways and ignoring Aziraphale’s phone calls.  Trying to drive away from his past while still steadfastly avoiding anything to do with the future.

He’ll fuck it up.  He knows he’ll fuck it up.  He’s a demon.  Part one of the handbook: How to Fuck Things Up (For Fun and Profit).  Number One Ruiner of Things, him.  Everything else in his long life had backfired at some point, why not this, too?

Sure, he might get a couple decades, a century if he’s lucky.  Eventually though, Aziraphale would remember that he is an angel and Crowley is a demon and they are ‘hereditary enemies’.  It would only be a matter of time.

The hazy mist turns into fat raindrops that splatter the windshield, fracturing the motorway lights into even more sparkles in the night air and on the hood of the car.  Aziraphale would worry even more now.  Crowley heaves a sigh and resigns himself, if Aziraphale calls again, he’s going to answer.

The phone rings.  He can’t make himself pick it up.  He lets it go to voicemail yet again.

Fucking coward of cowards, he tells himself, knuckles white on the steering wheel.

He notices he’s looped back around to Piccadilly Circus at some point; paying no attention to his direction.  It doesn’t matter where he goes, he’ll always end up back at the same place.

He misses his turn yet again, resolving that next time – next time – he’ll go back to the bookshop.  He’ll apologize; talk some sense into Aziraphale.  That this can’t be what he wants, what he needs.

He’ll let the angel down easy and it will all be fine.

A shorter buzz from the phone this time.  A voicemail.  That’s something, he thinks, that would be easier to deal with right now.

“Siri, play voicemail,” he says to the little contraption clipped to the Bentley’s visor.

“You have one new voicemail.  From Aziraphale.”

There’s a beep and Aziraphale’s voice, albeit wavering and cracking, fills the Bentley:

“Crowley, blast it all, I know you’re there!  You know I can’t stand these silly phone contraptions.  Please just, pick up the phone, I’m sorry if what I said hurt you.  I’m sorry if it wasn’t the right time or if you don’t feel the same.  Of course, you don’t, do you?  I should not have presumed to know your feelings without you making them clear, that was terrible of me.  I just…there’s a storm on, and I know you’re out driving, and I just want you to be safe.  We can talk about this; nothing needs to change.  Just please…come home, Crowley.”

The voice mail cuts off and Crowley can feel a stinging at the corner of his eyes.  Come home.  And that was the crux, wasn’t it?  Crowley has spent his entire life on the move, on the run from something.  Even his flat, despite his beautiful art and astounding plants, has never been a home.  There’s only one place in the world he’s ever felt he belongs.  Definitely not Heaven, and never Hell.  It’s been right here on Earth, in a bookshop in Soho.

Crowley turns the wheel sharply; he has to fix this.  He can’t let Aziraphale think he doesn’t feel the same.  He floors the gas and rockets back down Piccadilly on his way to Soho.

On his way home.

---

Aziraphale comes out of the bookshop before Crowley has a chance to even park the Bentley, wringing his hands together with worry.  Flitting about back and forth, starting towards the car, then turning around and going back to the door.  Not even noticing the rain.

What a fucking mess I am, Crowley thinks to himself, mucking things up.  He grips the steering wheel, fear coursing through him still.

He needs to say it.  He needs to say it.

Crowley cuts the engine and opens his door; Aziraphale still stands in the bookshop doorway, wavering between closing the distance and staying where he is.  There’s nothing Crowley hates more than seeing that look on the angel’s face.  It’s too close to Alpha Centauri.  To a fight at the bandstand.  To a neon-lit street in 1967.

Their eyes meet and that look makes Crowley’s fear melt away.  He’s certain, Aziraphale wants this.  Wants him.  Crowley isn’t going to mess this up, because every time the angel has ever had that look on his face – has ever felt that fear and self-doubt – Crowley has been the one to erase it.

Crowley has been terrified over what?  Over three words he’s afraid he won’t live up to?  Three words he’s been screaming in the depths of his soul for six thousand years?

He slams the door, causing Aziraphale to flinch slightly.  He rounds the car, storming towards the bookshop with renewed purpose, rain splattering his sunglasses and soaking him through.  Closing the last bit of distance that he’s been shoving between himself and the angel since earlier today.

“Crowley,” Aziraphale says as he approaches, face softening, “Crowley, I’m-I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have assumed-“

Crowley takes Aziraphale’s face in his hands and kisses him, right there on the steps of the bookshop, in the pouring down rain.  Aziraphale stills completely, and for one brief moment the fear creeps back in.  He’s fucked it up, he’s gone too fast.

But then he feels strong angelic arms wrap around him, and for God’s-Satan’s-Someone’s sake Aziraphale is kissing him back.  It’s desperate and tender all at the same time, with millennia of words unspoken exchanged in this simple touch of skin.

Crowley reluctantly breaks the kiss and nuzzles the angel’s nose with his own, “Angel.”

“Yes, my darling?” Aziraphale is breathless and the endearment on its own is enough to nearly bring Crowley to his knees, but this is important.

“Aziraphale,” he says, running a thumb along the angel’s jaw, softly and reverently, “Angel I love you, so goddamn much.  Feel like I always have.”

The smile that breaks on Aziraphale’s face is blinding.  Like the very first sunrise in Eden.

“I love you too, dearest,” the angel says as he wraps his arms around Crowley even tighter and buries his face in the demon’s neck, “I have for so very long.”

“I’m sorry, Angel,” Crowley says, planting a kiss in Aziraphale’s hair, “I never should’ve run.”

“It’s alright, my dear,” Aziraphale says and Crowley can feel him smiling, “You were scared, and maybe I was moving too fast.”

“Bastard,” Crowley chuckles into the angel’s hair before leaning down to steal another kiss, “I think it might be raining.”

“It would appear so,” Aziraphale says, placing a few kisses along Crowley’s jaw, “Maybe we should go back inside, you can stay the night here, if you’d like to.”

Aziraphale’s eyes shine with mischief and it makes Crowley weak, “Oh, Angel, I thought you’d never ask.”

Crowley presses his lips to Aziraphale’s once more as they stumble backwards through the bookshop doors, leaving the real world on the street behind them.

In the years that follow, Crowley will learn to be loved as he has always deserved, by an angel who has always yearned to do just that.  And Aziraphale will be loved in turn, by a demon who loves him more than Heaven ever could.

And Crowley will no longer feel like he needs to run, his past will burn down behind him, leaving this new life in its wake.  No matter where he goes – what motorways he drives – wherever Aziraphale is will always be home.

[manjuhitorie]

Hitorie’s various antics + bonus bursts of trivia - Mid June-July 2019

I’ll begin this long digest with news of ygarshy’s recent involvements! Because he has been dipping his toes into a few pools of waters and his bass is *chef’s kiss* precious.

It’s been disclosed that he played for the song ‘Shadow Tag’ on Ken Kamikita’s new album! Kamikita is a singer songwriter, also once known as KK, who belches out vivid vocals from his diaphragm while the substructure of skilled technique is there as instrumentals, holding it together sturdy. His songs are very thought-provoking alone, yet music isn’t his only reign as he writes scripts for his shows, he puts careful consideration into his visuals: and abracadabra! ygarshy is continuing to be supporting Wasureranne yo with concerts for the summer.Concurrent reports consist of ygarshy smiling, poker facing to hide his smile, yet his smile seeping out because of Shibata’s noble passion for music. Shibata will do risqué shouts or gatling release the word "sex" out of his mouth, when which yg will subtly sip his water in a means to dodge, or just knifesharp glare at him. I love these drunken bards. Wasureranee yo's twitter posts clips of them performing after ever show also!

Also Wasurerannee yo with The 50 Kaitenz↑ good. June 8th was the Kankaku Pierrot x Hitorie concert, which was originally meant to be a joint show for their tour, yet was now turned into a jamboree of respects and thunder... Rie themselves were unable to attend yet Kan-ero nevertheless performed a cover of Ao, Polaris, and clenched a spiritual presence...! The cover of Ao is a tear trenchcoat I'm a trench of water... Kan-ero so good...

I was finally able to tell Shinoda-san that “These lyrics are way too long.”. For the sake of today I had to spend the whole week sleeping on the couch, as my bed is practically buried by all the alphabet He wrote, yet still I simply want to thank him for leaving us with so many words. They’re really all so cool. I’m sorry for being unable to sing them well. Let’s meet up again soon. The photo shows a large cloth-covered bed-like surface strewn with printout papers of World End Dancehall, Montage Girl, Imperfection, and Senseless Wonder lyrics.... Because..... The setlist for Village Man’s Store’s concert on 6/13 went like this. 1. Senseless Wonder 5. Montage Girl 7. Imperfection 13. Ao Encore 1: World’s End Dancehall

Thanks for coming to our show, “The Holy Land Pilgrimage - Village Man’s Store VS Hitorie”! Utmost love and gratitude goes out to Hitorie and all of you who made this day possible. P.S. Hitorie, cheers to doing even more with you in the future. From vocalist: Mizuno Gii. Mizugi “I sent Shinoda-san a LINE message reading “I'm going to be playing this song and this song and this song and~~... at the next show”. And normally right, you’d think someone’d reply “Sorry ‘bout making you do this” right? Yet Shinoda replied “Why’re you doin’ that many lololol” Han (drummer): “He laughed at you" After all is said and done, have y'all properly purchased 'Tsuiraku, Kurushiku wa Lucky Strike’ yet or what. It’s fire isn’t it

((I hate(love) how Mizugi has (14 years old pun) in his profile, (63 years old) in this MV while dressing up as a slanky old man, and is actually 31 years old.)

When is the rain going to stoppp

There's a lot of people who dislike Weezer's Green Album but I like Green Album Is it cause the music takes such a different turn? Reply from Saito Shinya, the vocalist and producer of ONIGAWARA: The drums suddenly neatened up so it hit by surprise. Also Matt Sharp left. SND: Ahhh so it’s because of Matt Saito: Fans of their first-second album’s more squishy sound went into denial I think

I can’t believe 'Sayonara Dake ga Jinsei da' isn’t here *The late 90's band 'Eastern Youth’ has uploaded the majority of their discography unto music streaming sites. Except for the niche EP which SND is fond of, but all their albums are cool so zipper your lips and open your eyes shuuush!

Is Tanktop Shoutai's new video out yet They're a posse of blurred out faces with burlesque bases. Their current series is one where they dress up as Yugioh characters, roleplay them with accurate voices and cult-like enthusiasm, before the instigation of the series’ famous ~Shadow Games~ together. Which are all uhh, epic card games, yeah, like tabletop Jenga or  or Mariomaker or electric Russian roulette, pick them up like they’re Kuribos. It’s a riot.

 I’m sure I’ve said this for the umpteenth time now but, my favorite album from syrup16g is “delayed" syrup16g are an indie band who began in 1993 and keep resurging again to pop off. With performances in Budoukan and high Oricon points on their back. This pivotal album of theres is mellow with whimpering instruments and ephemeral sounding visuals and it's really nice, thank you SND.

Media outlets have been making misleading headlines like “A manga opposing the legalization of euthanasia”, and I bet there’s a lot of people are blindly dissing Death Harassment now Death Harassment is a comic written by Yoshida Yori, challenging the problems which could come with euthanasia, and a society which might pressure departure unto the unwilling. Euthanasia has been becoming a uproarious subject in Japan, ever since a woman fled to Sweden because she suffered brain diseases, and wanted to die while still preserving her sanity and dignity. People are now starting to welcome the prospect and yearn for a mercy fate but, please consider the demerits and the demoralization also, is the message. I translated the comic for fun also here.

This evening as I was eating soba alone, in front of me were a middle-aged couple throwing curses at each other with sullied mouths, but by the time I finished my soba they were smiling together. I think that’s perfectly peachy. That reminds me, I ate 4 whole eggs today. I think I ate too much.

My habit of getting the urge to play with people only at this time of the day, is really bad.  Posted at 3 AM JST.

Yumao, also at 3~ AM JST.  Bubble milk tea for sensible people has been gaining traction on twitter but, the fact that it's not Chinese tea milk tea is the nonsense to me. There was a post about purchasing uncooked tapioca pearls at a Seijou Ishii (an exotic super market chain), and putting them inside of a convenience store bought bottle of cheap tea. Budget bubble tea.  In regards to Yumao’s comment, the Chinese oolong tea is such a standard I’m assuming he’s referring to that. Is this more flavor wars, the civil wars over various flavors of integrated foods from equal or same brands is rampant throughout Japan’s domestic history. It’s kinoko VS. takenoko etc. Why such fervor over flavor YUMA

I gotta buy toothpaste I can’t sleep whatsoever so I thought if I drank I would get sleepy but I drank and it’s somehow backfired by revitalizing me so now I got no idea what the fuck to do, I’m screwed I’m screwed I know that feeling when your stomach is in a frenzy, too well

I haven’t heard the term “moe” used in a while I kinda want to go heavy on it now Replies: "Shinoda you’re moe” “Shimoeda” “Your expression when you got kicked was so moe" (He was kicked by yg during SLEEPWALK ref: the 6/1 report)” “The term moe technically d- (*The definition copypasta-ed from wikipedia*).” Within a split second replies have already turned into hell so I’m putting the lid back on moe, please forgive me Damn it’s hot.

I saw Tokyo Syoki Syodo in concert for my first time today. It was the best. I seriously thought I was gonna burst into tears. It might be a long time since I was last this excited to see a band live - it's been a long time since I even saw a concert live but still,,, I was surprised by how much of the lyrics to Saisei Button I subconsciously remembered. It just shows that Tokyo Syoki Syodo's songs are that good. They are a group who indulge in the typicality of cutesy culture, instagram filters, sparkling make-up, and all while flexing the power to whack you with whamming hard rock. He mentioned them again in his June 9th twitcast also, calling them natural and epiphanic to how bands can just be just as they are. I have no doubts that this is my top-played song these past few months. This is my anthem. -Saisei Rock, their most recent music video, check it out! I don’t even know how many years I’ve lived at this point but it’s not commonplace to find a song this great. 

This example will only be understood by super like-minded folk, but I haven’t felt this way since I got obsessed with Sakasama Cider. 

He’s expressed countless times how much he likes this song and the artist, Gucha Gucha's, Though the story behind SND’s partiality may be ultimately uncertain, it can be easily understood from one listen. The guitarist and cofounder of the Gucha Gucha’s, Shimoyaka, borrowed Shinoda’s guitar for their first live. Chikyuu Monogatari chapter 3 uses Shimoyaka as a model.  Shimoyaka has posted porn on forums, getting banned from youtube, he was on a team with infamous Shotacon Kurage, here’s SND’s cover of Sakasama Cider playing over the team, nowadays he does retro~modern gaming livestreams or his own cooking episodes because he got kicked off a cooking show, he slipped at the Niconico Douga Game Party, he’s videos are quite civil now though Shinoda even joined him for a stream and is watching them often.  Shinoda on the July 9th live said not verbatim “When I heard Sakasama Cider and ‘Sad Delay-chan’’ live, I was amazed by Shimoyaka that he can actually make good songs. Justice doesn’t have to be one-sided~ Gucha Gucha’s are unrefined and shitty and helpless, but then they bounce back up with a sudden good song and it’s irresistible. I’m always yearning to meet those sort of exciting experiences. 

We are people who clench our fists until our palms are red with blood, and we keep going on singing. Though we tend to forget it

Happy birthday ygarshy!! ygarshy's birthday is on June 17th and I hope you celebrated. SND’s birthday is also on June 6th. And I Hope. If not they can still be celebrated 365/24. Because even SND had proceeded to tweet these words of celebration at…. 12 o’ clock AM June 18th. Right when the clock changed!!

Look at this simultaneous trickery. Then Yumao RT-ed them both. I love you Rie… I love you so much...

I liked when Brocken Jr. was hit by Prisman's rainbow shower and super fucking glowed. (Timestamp 1:38) Also Mariposa’s victory pose was freakish-, ly cool (Timestamp 3:14) Kinnikuman is branded as Ultimate Muscle foreignly, if you recognize it! This youtube video is is a short promo reel celebrating the 40th anniversary of the series, Yudetamago has been in it for the long haul and is well honored by the lords of the wrestlers.

Wooooooooooah

I wanna eat a negitoro bowl Raw tuna and scallions plomped on top of a bowl of rice The special issue of Kinnikuman, I didn’t think it would put me on the verge of tears like this. Chairman takes way too many goods to the table. Plus everyone is cheerfully chit-chatting about how absolutely maniacal of a character Robin Mask is. Robin Mask really is one loony mister. Most characters are weirdos on thin ice but Robin Mask is in a whole different league of weirdo so,,, Also for the 40th anniversary, an original episode was spotlighted in the 29th issue of Shounen Jump magazine. and taken for another spin! Chairman, AKA Harabote Muscle, had an emotional arc in it too. Robin Mask I'm guessing is as rambunctiously malicious as ever in it.

The final episode of Sarazanmai had me bawling like a baby.

A photo of the possession of Kinnikuman -Supermen Dictionary-.

futurrrrrrrreee funnnnnnnnnnnk

I spent about 4 hours dancing alone in the club I am a party person Party people(パリピ is just ENG articulated into JP)* is a slang which means just that. It’s believed to have been originally popularized by a song called Let’s Party People from Illmania. Since then it’s curved to hold different nuances for all kinds of different people also. It can indicate ‘avid partygoers' or ’normies’ or it can just be for people who’re having a good time.

Puuuuuuussssshhhh! An issue of 100M, an upcoming shounen manga by the author Uoto. It's bout a runner who’s world revolves around his sport and nothing other, who then meets a boy who runs only to forget the troubles of the rest of the world. The story spurts off from there. 笑顔いっぱい！ https://youtu.be/QXuGweSMxUI @YouTubeさんから ときめきメモリアル　キャラソング【おサカナになりたい～1000wに願いを～】～虹野沙希～（TokimekiMemorial music） https://youtu.be/rV16KgKKUi8 @YouTubeさんから YUNG BAE - Fly With Me https://youtu.be/BWgQvj0Nd_U @YouTubeさんから TenmaTenma - September https://youtu.be/6VsJgk5Qw6s @YouTubeさんから ~~~A slew of various song recommendations~~~

People that're posting pics of ramen while talking about being on a vegan diet, and people who gang up on them both, aren't they all becoming a clusterfuck of boringness without even heed to their actions

People who were peacefully posting their favorite music until suddenly bursting blustery onto the net, ain’t that the definition of emotional instability SND are you heeding your own actions Seven-eleven when are you gonna sell microwavable mugimeshi (rice with boiled barley mixed in) Task-san (a trusty companion of all of Rie’s, and an even more lovable animator who runs most of Minaken): *Replied to SND with a photo of Seveneleven brand microwavable mugimeshi*  SND: So they do have it

As I was frying some fried eggs, it hit me, people who heedlessly throw heavy words at other people tend not to let anyone else complain about the heavy weights they themselves may put onto other people huh.. But actually that’s not necessarily true so whatever

I just recently caught up with Murata-sensei’s version of One-Punch Man but, thanks to the insanity of the quality level, Tatsumaki has gotten so sexy I burst out laughing See: ONE VS. Yusuke Murata 

Clever folks, I’m positive you could figure out who my favorite One Punch Man characters are. There’s two of them.  The answer is King and Unlicensed Rider Oops there’s Zombieman too

I’ve noticed that washing ashtrays squeaky clean seems to put me in a better mood The Marías - Cariño youtu.be/QHVp9xiUr9U @YouTubeさんから The Marias are soo good The 3 monkies game, the host is so cockeyed that I’m laughing out loud I think he’s talking about サルヂエ(Sarudie), a quiz show about 3 people donned in hyper-realistic monkey attire, overseeing the “homo sapiens” as they try to solve unique questions. Which are usually twists on daily life concepts, find the difference, or digesting puns on pop culture. The word Sarudie(猿知恵) itself refers to something which seems profound but is actually simple and shallow, like monkey business etc, and the hosts are spoofs of The Three Wise Monkeys, while they hooked in a lot of famous figures to be the quiz undertakers. I want the DVDs. Though if SND is talking about a different 3 monkey game then I’m oopsie-doopsie. I heard a voice for the first time in a while

I can feel my manga-artist muscles crippling

nico.ms/sm35308083?ref… #sm35308083 #ニコニコ動画 It’s here!!!!!!!!!! Ref his tweet from earlier 'Is Tanktop Shoutai's new video out yet’. So if any youtuber works with a band on a music video then everyone’s going to assume they’re Starmie next I guess A recent cause of discourse was the twitter account A Starmie Who Wants to Quit My Band(@shhf9kr)*. It originally was suspected of being the side-account of KANA-BOOM's bassist, Meshida, due to the timing of the account's appearance and the unsettling content. Meshida had gone missing for about a week’s time, much to relief he’s returned home, but upon return he’s now taking a break from the band to heal from pressure/anxiety… Which is a huge worry in itself (On top of Alexandros’ drummer going on hiatus because of physical issues and then MONGOL800.....) though for now we only have the power ease his soul.. BUT ANYWAY - This Starmie twitter account tweeted “I’m so far gone with band work that I’ve devolved into a Starmie. ~~~~ I feel so disgusting.” on the exact same date as the dilemma. As the situation progressed the details Starmie revealed about financial problems and wage didn’t match up with KANA-BOOM, so they’ve continued to suspected to be SEKAI NO OWARI, now signing salient as someone named Ishihidari from BASEMENT TIMES, the writer of a snazzy sassy J-Rock blog and band of that same name. Shinoda here is a direct reaction to Starmie’s recent tweet under the lines of “I hate having to work with a youtuber.” Yeah SND you're 100% right, it's now on the radars of us curious critters. Why is the J-rock scene such a pain hoho. I bought new shorts but it’s chilly out today so I’m in a sort of pickle

I tried out lo-fi hiphop style for a change of pace and I ended up making songs I get to feel like I’ve done good work as easy as fast-food, lo-fi hiphop is good Maybe this is fine, we have flowers here (The word in the insta video means "to hide from the rain")

I don’t wanna add screentones

He used a southern accent on this, unlike his usual slurry casual city boy tone. I notice that southern JP seems to simplify the connotation of tone by omitting certain sounds or replacing them with vowels and then they’ll proceed to make the whole phrase more musical, it’s like ending your sentences with a “~” but it’s a whole accent done that way~ vowels are cute, gimme more~ Or maybe not idk It’s a hardship to even work on my manga because of my back pains, people who’ve actually wrecked their back must go through serious hell Kobayashi Doumu (*ref: later in this post): *sends SND a photo of himself hospitalized with crutches and bandages for his back* I was watching Kura-kyun’s stream but, does that guy actually still live in Aichi…? This seems like a rabbit hole I don’t want to dip my toes so I’ll take a step back but… Shotacon Kurage is a long time streamer who seems to get up to a lot of unfavorable antics. のどちんこって呼び名、いくらなんでもメチャクチャ過ぎないか No matter how you put it, isn’t the nickname “throat schlong” just a little too messed up Kids super often call the uvula part of the mouth by that nickname I don’t like the rain because I can’t go out drinking

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ボディメンテナンス怠るべからず

A post shared by シノダ (@snd_vs_snd) on Jun 27, 2019 at 11:14pm PDT

One mustn’t slack off on their self-care The drawing says “Shoulder pains”.

シノダ「地球物語 35話 – BABYBABYの夢 – 」 | MEETIA After a 2 month break period, the 35th issue has been topped off. It’s full of all the ideas and memes I’ve accumulated over the whole 2 month span, so please if you may, take it easy on me. And please give it a read. Shinoda “Chikyuu Monogatari: Chapter 35 - Dreams of BABYBABY - meetia.net/manga/shinoda-… #meetia 

Shiohigari, fantastic artist of 1 panel light-heavyhearted gags, girls who share their feelings and a Picasso-esque mascot named after himself. He also happens to share many interests with SND and a decade-long historic friendship with him: That part there, that’s the Robin Mask moment! During the Survivor Match for the Kinniku Throne Arc, the match against Kinnikuman Zebra and Parthenon!  SND: I’ve been exposed Trivia: ●The title "Dreams of BABYBABY” is a reference to the song by TANUKI of the same name. SND’s interest in future funk grows. ●The Chikyuu Monogatari chapter has a parallel to a Kinnikuman scene. When that manga went on hiatus for 3 months due to an illness of the author's, right in the middle of a fight scene's cliffhanger, he returned and doubled-down on it. By making the characters do this:

And SND’s comic has this parallel:

“Wake up!” “Please excuse me. How could I not get sleepy after being left here for 2 months….”“Are we allowed to say this stuff, I’m sorry Yudetamago-sensei.” ●Please keep having fun Shinoda-sensei.

I made 10 lo-fi hiphop songs *They’re magnificent and they’re incoming, check his Instagram for the ongoing bonanza! https://www.instagram.com/snd_vs_snd/  Laundry is so draining  Harassment sentences are going to such extremes that now it’s as if they’re the one’s doing the harassment meow, said the kitten who’s sleeping next to me There’s not actually any kitten sleeping next to me: it’s the imaginary friends in my head

What an article. Don’t be releasing things like this into the world. Do they have no dignity, mishandling words while trying to write about the subject of words.  Emo, in terms of usage and genre, has especially been through a lot of change. But upholding only the era you lived in and then proceeding to feel nostalgia and begrudging the next generation for being different is amazing in itself, not to mention their absolute subjectivity combined with presumptuous usage of “Us”. 

Or, so had spoke the kitten sleeping next to me... In reference to his retweet of this article: https://letters-to-you.life/emoi It’s a petty, convoluted text rebuking the masses for a simplicity and resisting the implacable evolution of language. The word “emoi” in Japan (which is super equivalent to the English "emo") is transforming from not only the emo band subculture or a descriptive of emotional experiences, but also to mean the likes of an adjective for any emotion-evoker and the author is uhhh conservative. Let us get emotional over things!! wowawa lived through all the evolution also and he’s still an enthusiastic user of all definitions of “emo” too...

I’ve been cooking nukaduke at home recently and all I have to say is that home-cooked nukaduke is the best. 

Trivia: Yumao lives together with his super duper saikou cool mother, Yurika.

My nukaduke paste is getting better and better, and the pickles I’m making are amazing. I need to consider cutting back on the salt a bit though.

Ah nukaduke is emo

Yumao has nowset his location to nukaduke, hunger ensues

Kobayashi Doom congrats on a good run & Congrats on the new issue #SupportForLet’sMeal

The picture shown is SND’s face was drawn in the background of Meshi ni Shimashou(Let’s have some food!), a manga by Kobayashi Doom. It’s a story which digs into the lives of a a manga artist and her assistant, who bask in the dying embryos of production and then cook meals with crazy twists or gimmicks to restore their “MP”. There’s an official sneak-peak preview of it here! It’s only available in JP though… If you like the look of it please feel free to yell at your local manga provider to officially translate it, Kobayashi Doom is someone SND is so undeniably influenced by. Especially their series Negi nee-san. A webcomic about a surreal girl drowned in surreal antics. It’s usually rooted in nonsense and that’s the grandest appeal. The visuals consist of copy-pasted collages, intricate professional art dynamics, cute girls, to stoic jokes such as “’seven eleven is an integer so seven & I is a complex number” and mostly references to mathematics or science or Jojo. The most parroted one is “Yes” “Not yes”. Also worthy of mention is that things resembling Negi-neesan’s various nameless beasts will show up as backdrop etc. in SND’s manga Chikyuu Monogatari. And most importantly here, there’s even a comic about Shinoda on that link, with the Let’s Meal characters! It reads: Madare ”Who's that?" Omega "From the band 'Hitorie',His name is Shinoda and he seems to be a zealous fan of mine, (sign reads: zealous whatever food hall) He told me he wants me to experience his recent works so he sent me the mp3"Madare “Ooh Isn’t Hitorie that [insert amazing praise here]“. Omega “Look, he’s even wearing a Negi-T (Negi-nee-san’s surreal brand) in this video” (Reference: In the Talkie Dance MV he wears this one) Woah　Click-click Omega “So now, I’ve listened to it 100 times but in sheer honesty I don’t know anything about rock besides the band Ningen Isu so I thought I’d use this comic as an equivalent of an answer to him, a sort of "guess my feelings" quiz. Madare “I see you're popping your conman skill again. (You’ve even beaten me with that skill before )” “I’ve been eavesdropping. Time to cook a meal and get together with him” Omega “I like it." *The chorus lyrics to Hitorie's NAI from ai/SOlate are written on the top left corner, Kobayashi Doumu on the right, and the beastly text written next to the youkai-looking Shinoda in slide one I believe is an feisty ateji encrypting ‘For Shinoda’. SND replied to that comic too! Saying “Even insane miracles can happen huh, Doom-sensei thank you so much!! No this is seriously sick, wtf…." Q.E.D. Kobayashi Doom is strangely important for SND’s character development.

This isn’t specifically concurrent with my current feelings but The text on the video reads “I like you I like you!l I snuck a glance at myself in the mirror and my back has a hunch far worse than I even imagined SND’s RT:  ONE BY ONE RECORDS, the indies label, is hanging up the hat after 12 years of service…. Ahhhh… Congrats and good luck on future ventures oh employees..  Key to this article is the band, JONNY. A Weezer cover/original group of which, a certain familiar chestnut-headed rock hero played for. I’ll save the stories of the explorations into that beloved dark past dungeon for another day but, yes, click that link and you’ll see, that glasses fella is a young Shinoda in the flesh.  I woke up in the middle of the night. Have a listen to this if you plan to go to bed anytime soon. instagram.com/p/BzV23p6HpRl/… Written on the drawing is “Poyashimi”, which simply means “Oyasumi (Good night)". It was originally just a misspell due to “O” and “P” being so close on standard keyboards but, it’s cute so it’s been adopted in it’s own rights. Can been paired with “Pokita (= Okita = I just woke up)” in the morning. Cute. I wanna go to the beach instagram.com/p/BzawsWGHaGg/…

I wrote MUNEYAKE but I myself don’t have any muneyake heartburn, that’s all there is to it I couldn’t make the bubble tea visible without making the emblem on the hat invisible, and just fought a weird-ass battle with this https://www.instagram.com/p/Bzh7fqRnkBQ/?igshid=1hmx49pswt6ns … “Yasumi" means like “take a breather"

I recorded drums for Sasaki Sayaka’s song, the ending theme for 'Ultraman Taiga’. I used a big and powerful setup for this. The broadcasts start on 7/6. I can’t wait. Also Taro's son is crazy. Ultraman Taro's son is the main character of this new spinoff tokusatsu series! The ending song is called “Hitotsubishi” and will premiere along the first episode, I’ll update this if an official video arrives later, so we can listen to it! I watched the first episode of Taiga, I’m think I’m gonna cry.

This morning a drunken me slipped while walking down the stairs, and turned into the Kinnikuman side of the Kinniku-Buster. My butt hurts. Smack down on the floor, legs aflight.

colormal’s concert was downright fantastic, everybody listen to colormal https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ83BZ_BIHA&feature=youtu.be

colormal, a galvanized nerd who turned his hobby into a hopping constitution for his livelihood, his quest for the alternative rock. He makes music alone and he’s namely even inspired by Shinoda’s past solo project “cakebox”. He’s bound to mention a cakebox song in his interviews, on top of a whopping list of other western or indie bands. His music itself has flows of climaxes into unfluctuating concord and it’s either guitar or guitar with pretty effects and I enjoy it SND. His filling bassist, Matsuyama, was even thrilled! https://twitter.com/mtymJb/status/1147537998898069504

My body isn’t able to finish even the small size ramen with full toppings. “Mashi” is a trademark menu option of the chain Ramen Jiro. It’s under the lines of “Pile it up”. You can choose to pile up a bit of everything like Shinoda seems to, or you can choose from specific topping such as veggies or meats. If you ever go into such a ramen shop, try shouting “yasai mashi mashi!” or “buta mashi mashi!” for a heap of piggie. 

Tokyo Shoegazer are definite They’re an indies band who had a concert in Shinjuku that day! One of their most recent tweets draws my attention 👀 The wheat and grated yam beef meal at Yoshinoya is delectable but, the sign says the large rice portion and refills are given for free until 11 PM, but when I go there’s a fee on the large portion, how am I supposed to interpret this Reply: I work at Yoshinoya but the free portions and refills is a recent offer, the menus just haven’t been reprinted to represent it… The meal packages generally all have free refills and large rice portions. Shinoda: Thank you. Ref: their ENG menu. Feel free to use this information if you ever get the chance to go to a Yoshidora!!(?) SWEET https://www.instagram.com/p/Bznm6DTH-Gs/ I want to see Siamese Cats live They’re a definite J-rock band who have tinges of psychedelic and a sort of 80’s pop style to their music. They had an outdoor show the day before SND tweeted this, but they also have a 10th Year Anniversary Celebration concert this December. SND GO! Siamese Cats - Escape Eve (Official Video) 2018　　シャムキャッツ - 逃亡前夜 https://youtu.be/5Jtd5nmI0Fc

salad days was on Amazon Prime so I gave it a gander but it was really fucking good. The walking alone Straight Edge scene or at the beginning when everyone was partying together until strange people starting flooding in one by one and the safety of the concert went downhill Or how the terminology “emocore” doesn’t resonate at all with people who were directly associated with it at the outset.

The fact that controversy which we’re still having today has existed since the 80’s is an astonishment
 Also once the Smells Like~ MV wrought the knowledge of crowd-surfing (stage-diving) upon the world, and then the crowd became a flood of stage-divers so much that Fugazi lost his temper, that scene was so good

The joint show with Trouble Funk, when they were reflecting on what became the final Minor Threat show, everyone was vocalizing the horrors, the turmoil of it, yet I laughed when only Ian said it wasn’t that bad

Not disregarding how these types of issues really did exist those days, ultimately the concerts and their music really are awesome, the energy and thrill everyone held was amazing

Formidable figures such as Thurston Moore and Dave Grohl are shown looking back on the past, and then pops in J Mascis with such batshit indifference that I laughed again 
Why does Ian MacKaye not have a Japanese wiki page If it draws your attention here’s the link!:https://www.amazon.com/Salad-Days-Fred-Armisen/dp/B01MAV0YAH I’m not specifically feeling emo https://www.instagram.com/p/BzqVd4wnaOX/?igshid=nhnyzm9vipdi …“emoi”

[usagi-chan95]

So a few days ago I was on TV tropic looking up a few shows I like and of course I'm a huge Umineko Fan so I looked up the character and everybody who knows me just a little bit now I said I ship this one character with Black Hat. So why not list all hee traits that he would probably like about her. In the end I think the two would get along with each other.

Affably Evil: She is completely indifferent towards the suffering of everybody else, but she sure is polite.

All-Powerful Bystander: She has more than enough power to solve any problem in the setting or destroy everything in the blink of an eye if she wanted to. Fortunately, Featherine prefers to remain a spectator for the most part while she lets Bernkastel cause all the trouble she wants. The one time she does intervene in the plot during her "fight" with Lambdadelta we see that everything would have been lost with Featherine as an active enemy.

Always Someone Better: Bernkastel is regarded as the strongest Witch, but even she knows not to get on Featherine's bad side. Even Lambdadelta, who was more than holding her own against Bernkastel earlier, is terrified at the thought of having Featherine as an opponent. It makes sense when you realize Featherine is not just a Witch, but a Creator as well. She may just be a Witch in name only.

Ambiguously Evil: Both Bern and Lambda describe her as extremely nasty, and indeed she doesn't think much of humans, but she doesn't really have any Kick the Dog moments, and in the end she gives up on publicly revealing the contents of Eva's diary, thus preserving the catbox as Battler and Beato wished.

Curb-Stomp Battle: Delivers one to Lambdadelta in Episode 8. Special mention to the fact that Featherine didn't even have fight at all; she simply wrote down "I utterly defeated Lambdadelta and sliced her into pieces". And then poof, Lambda is completely dismembered.

The Dreaded: Anyone that can inspire genuine fear from Lambdadelta and even Bernkastel is definitely not to be trifled with.

Evil Mentor: Implied to have been Bernkastel's in the ???? of EP6.

The Fog of Ages: She has lived for so long that she needs a special horseshoe-shaped device around her head to keep her memories and avoid insanity.

God Is Evil: Averted, though just barely. She's not so much evil as she is uncaring of how she achieves her goals... though given the things she does do in the story (and apparently before it), you'd be forgiven for thinking it was played straight.

Greater-Scope Villain: Featherine is said to be a Witch thousands of times more powerful and evil than Bernkastel could ever be, but she never becomes a direct villain to the story and remains a bystander for the most part. However, she is indirectly responsible for all the problems from EP7 afterwards as she was the one who gave Bernkastel the power to keep messing with the game board because she wanted Bernkastel to rip the game apart for her and give her the answers to the mystery.

Insult Backfire: When Lambda pulls a You Monster! on her, she takes it as a compliment, which really makes you wonder what amount of chaos she caused in her distant past. It's fully possible that, being Bernkastel's mentor, she possess a trolling capacity far surpassing her miko Bern's... and considering Bern is the most malicious character in the story, that is a scary thought.

It Amused Me: The main reason she doesn't fit into God Is Evil instead. Physical Godliness and lack of a Freudian Excuse notwithstanding, she's still a Witch at heart and will do whatever it takes to keep herself entertained.

Lack of Empathy: Definitely, but better off than Bernkastel at least. Like any other Witch, Featherine sees human lives as nothing but means of entertainment, but she can show her respect to her opponents when it's due and at least now, doesn't seek to actively make others miserable for amusement's sake.

Manipulative Bitch: In the past, she's used Bernkastel as her monkey wrench to unlock the mysteries of worlds and game boards alike, whether Bern wanted to do it or not. Worse yet, Bern was aware she was being used but couldn't do anything about it because Featherine was just that good. This does in fact happen in the story, where she makes Bern the Game Master to crack the mystery of Rokkenjima when the rest of the cast loses interest in it, using Bern's desire for revenge against the family as her motivation.

Offstage Villainy: Bernkastel, the cruelest example of a witch so far seen, finds her a hundred times more horrific than she could ever be. The evidence is suggested at, but never concretely shown. Within the series, Featherine never does anything nearly as horrible as the other witches. Of course, Bernkastel is no doubt very biased, seeing as how she came into existence because of Featherine's callousness and indifference. She probably has room to exaggerate.

The Older Immortal: By far the oldest witch in the series.

The Omnipotent: Without a doubt, the most powerful character in the setting. She's perfectly capable of pausing the plot when she wants a scene to play out a different way.

Outside-Context Problem: Needless to say Featherine is in a whole other league compared to the other witches Battler deals with in the story, which is really saying something. A single wave of her hand to make Bernkastel the Game Master is all she needed to do turn Battler's happy ending into a non-ending.

Physical God: One of the Creators described in Episode 4's TIPS.

The definitive example is that she's ultimately the one responsible for bringing Bernkastel as we know herinto existence. It's heavily implied that she was the one who abandoned Bern as a piece in the Unwinnable game (that she ended up winning anyway), and while it's never explained how she pieced together/recruited all the physically and emotionally destroyed Rika Furudes, it's made clear in the narration that Featherine was the one who taught what would eventually become her miko and the Cruelest Witch. And why? Because she was bored and wanted someone to help stave off future boredom.It's not so much that she meant harm by creating Bern, more that she doesn't care as long as she is entertained.

If you want a more "literal" example, she can use her power to rewrite the script of reality itself and have people do as she dictates. And you would never even know she's doing it.

Really 700 Years Old: She is said to be older than Bernkastel and Lambdadelta, both who are said to be centuries old. By the way it's alluded, Featherine might as well be a Time Abyss.

Retired Monster: Given what Bernkastel and Lambadelta say about (and to) her, this is heavily implied. Featherine herself personally thinks she's much worse.

Rewriting Reality: Her power as a Witch/Creator and as an Author Avatar. Featherine can literally rewrite the script of reality itself to make events go as however she likes. She doesn't even need to write how things go, she only needs to write the result.

Story-Breaker Power:

Literally. When Lambdadelta tries to attack her with magic, Featherine just says that she doesn't like the development of the story, stops time and begins editing the script of the story herself. Not willing to write a fight scene at the moment, she starts from the end of the fight where she dictates Lambdadelta was smashed into a bookshelf and had all her limbs severed. She doesn't even think about how she accomplished such a brutal attack, deciding to "figure it out later". When Featherine starts time again, Lambdadelta ends up just as she wrote, with "what the fuck just happened" being her last conscious thoughts before dying.

She couldn't comprehend the 'something' that Featherine had killed her with. However, that was only natural. After all, Featherine herself hadn't decided what the 'something' was. However, Lambdadelta did understand one thing. She was already dead.

You Cannot Grasp the True Form: The memory device around her head also preserves her form. At one point in the past it got damaged, abruptly changing her personality and appearance. Her witch power also allows her to weaponize this. Refer to the spoiler in Story-Breaker Power above.

[icharchivist]

kay now i’m just huh bc of that post i reblogged so i’ll just add my two cents on d/a di/scourses and why i want nowhere near in it and feel free to ignore and even more to unfollow if it’s somewhat bad or anything but like,

(also please d/o/n’t re/b/log)

d/a di/scourse ultimately really fucks me up because 1) there’s a lot of it, especially in jokes that strench from far far away, I end up checking every blogs i reblog from bc i don’t want that near me 2) All side tends to have characters they like and dislike and be noisy about it and it’s very hard when down to it you just really love all the characters even when you don’t agree with them bc they’re fictional and i’m interested in the emotional reaction i get from them in game

but on a personal level it also fucks me up bc my mental health had been going bad and stuff are out of my controle, until i discovered D/A and the thing that had really, really helped me recover is that playing D/A asks me to use my skills i’ve learnt mostly to deal with my issues in a way i don’t find disagreeable (most precisely: how to weight what someone is telling you in order to not have it backfire at you) and stimulates my curiosity, passion and creativity in a way i hadn’t felt in forever. It makes me want to connect the dots, it makes me want to be involved, it makes me want to draw, to write again. (I started writting things again after 5 years and it’s so silly how it’s helping me out). Hell I started modding. I did an internship in a video game school on which I was actually pretty good and passionated bc just that had me make more research and understands more easily, so i started handling the logicials quickly for the timespawn and had a lot of cultural and technical knowledge backup just from swooping around trying to learn fun facts (and i would have got into this school easily bc i had a very good file but i lacked the money and my parents fucked it up, so i’m still extremely frustrated at that because I actually had really great chances to be taken in this school) It stimulates me in a way where I can healthily forget for two minutes that my world is crumbling, that for a moment it had me consider different future path, (see again up there), if there’s a path to recovery to be had it started with it.

I’ve known for years this fa/ndom was deemed toxic and I knew of the controversial characters by name before i started the game so i sillily paid more attention to them bc “how bad can they fuck up” only to realize then “oh no i love them” bc i paid attention to them. And i’m in circles where I see more hates than others and sometimes just hear of some hate by hearsay.

I’ve wanted to keep healthy distance as much as possible but once i got in d/a i noticed i already had d/iscourse on my dash from blogs i followed from others things and it was. Huh.

And I was thinking about not letting it get to me, or regularly take breaks, i blocked the d/iscourse tags, then the main tag to avoid it (doesn’t stop some posts to slide through though so that’s not helping), i don’t feel comfortable talking about it, and hey at least i owe to that that i’m less onto this website and i’m grateful at least for that

And it’s unhealthy to be this affected by f/andom stuff, i know that, god do i know that, but i’ve been in fandom for what, 11 years now, I’ve seen some fan wars, i’ve seen and participated in w/anks, but the whole holier-than-thou attitude in really insidious way is damaging, and i can’t recall a time i was this uncomfortable being part of something. (and i was in s/uperw/hol/ock at the fandom’s heigh and in the n/aruto’s fa.ndom when it ended for christ’s sake).

And idk how much is just current fa/ndom bc i know there’s far worse on this damn website, or really this game but this is. very damaging.

Anyway point is that my biggest problem is that i’ve seen some “Hot takes” that had been more damaging for my mental health bc i didn’t even know i could expect them (that’s a fun part of depression no one talks to you about, next i’m gonna tell you again that seeing one more posts about “how siblings are if you don’t see it like that you don’t have a real sibling” and variation sent me in some very bad mental spirals and i’m that close to unfollow anyone that posts those, so hey, that’s fun)

and some of them were 1) “Green!Ha/wke is a manipulator and it is far less sincere than Red or Purple” which really, really fucked me up not because I fancy Green this much but because saying being diplomatical in times stuff are going down is manipulative is super damaging and as someone who is always calculating how to be true to myself while also not triggering a fight around short tempered people, calling it “manipulation” had drove me to major anxiety thinking i was no better than my family, 2) the whole discourse about C/ullen which is the w o rs t bc i get where people come from when they dislike him and they have cause but i see a lot of my reactions to my own trauma and self-destructiong numbing addiction (i mean my self h//arm before anyone think anything) in his storyline in an unflattering way, and it’s something that really drove me to him in a way no other characters did (and i mean it especially bc, in term of experience? I relate to L/eliana more. But in term of reaction on a personal level on oneself? I couldn’t even start without getting uncomfortably personal about how dear C/ullen’s writting is to me. C/ullen’s reaction to trauma is extremely personal on the way also how he takes it on himself and it’s so, so important to me). and this one i kinda expected bc i love others characters that can follow this sort of patern and i know they have tons of w/anks about it but boy it is far less vicious than i’ve seen there (and i know others chara have tons of others d/iscourses but like i said i happen to be following people who will bring this one much more than any others)

Or maybe i’m just far more sensitive than i used to be, but therefore it triggers my fight or flight stuff and since i refuse to involve myself into fight it makes “flight and think about it for hours until it makes you feel terrible for liking it in the first place” so that’s fun.

And I know. I know it’s unhealthy to be this affected on f/andom stuff, and i’m not going to change anyone’s mind, nor do i want to. 

Bc in the end those games requires a lot of personal involvement and therefore our sensitivities to shine through, and i refuse to let my view affect others when the emotional journey is far, far more interesting when you take it with your own heart, even if it means i must fundamentally disagree with all of the experience others may feel,

But ye. I know. And i’m trying to work on that, it’s been a year i’m trying to work on that, and as i said earlier, i’m taking breaks from this website every once in a while lately, which is far more healthy anyway, and i think i’ll carry on doing that.

And I still will not posts d/iscoursy stuff of saying “this interpretation of the character is wrong here how you should interpret it” even if i agree bc i’m too tired for it, and anyway i don’t even want to learn what’s the fa/ndom’s opinions on the characters are at this point, i couldn’t care less, I care about how i feel for them and I don’t even want to hear how people discuss it.

(and tbh so i feel for the lore in general too bc i really like the lore of the game, sue me, and as much as i love to dig for details i’m too tired for opinions)

but that last post is the first time i see a post specifically written on the very topic that makes me anxious about C/ullen stuff, i didn’t feel like letting it past, i want to keep it on my blog.

Anyway also if you’ve stuck this far, i’m also going to be far more ready to unfollow stuff that really makes me spiral down now, the last few breaks i took from this website made me feel like i don’t want to deal with it anymore. I’m still anxious about what i post and i doubt i’ll still share a lot about it, bc at this point i don’t even feel like sharing this much either so there’s that, 

but therefore if you’ve stuck there you’re also welcomed to unfollow for whatever reason you feel like and especially if you don’t want to deal with my bullshit, bc god knows i don’t want to be dealing with it either. Don’t let things you can controle upset you, that’s not worth it.

Anyway, icha’s out, didn’t want to talk much about personal stuff more but here i am! and i’m taking my leave bye

[worldofblade]

Head Assassin-Between the Chapters:  Tae Chapter 3

BTS Fic:  1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | (T-1) | (T-2) | 5 | 6 | (T-3) | 7 | (T-4) |

Warnings:  Nothing really, although I guess I will state again that this is a dark!fic, and the characters are not so much cute and fluffy.  Also, remember that these are chapters that don’t really have anything to do with the main plot, but you really do need to read everything to understand exactly what is going on.

Notes:  Huge thanks to my Beta @blerdygirlwrites . Also, thanks for the love that you guys show for my story, it means a lot.  Love to hear what you think etc...

~~~

Taehyung stared in awe at the little boy who sat cuddled against Eunseo.  Hong-Do, in Taehyung’s eyes, was perfect.  Big brown eyes, and delicate, almost elfin, features.  The boy was beautiful.  Taehyung had paid the babysitter, and then commandeered the woman’s living room for this meeting.  Yet, so far, they had done nothing except stare at each other.

“Hongi, remember how I told you that we were going to be meeting one of Mommy’s friends soon?” Eunseo asked, smiling down at Hong-Do.  The boy nodded, never taking his eyes off Taehyung.  He didn’t appear scared, but still had a tight grip on his mother.

“I’m Taehyung.” Taehyung said, sitting down on the floor scooting closer to the two on the couch. It annoyed him that Eunseo had called him “a friend”, but he would deal with that later.  Even he knew that he couldn’t bombard the child with a lot of information at once.  “I’m so happy to meet you.”

“We are going to go live in Taehyung’s house.” Eunseo continued, her cheerful and bright voice making it all seem like they were going on a big adventure.  “You will have a big yard to run around and play in!”

“Toys?” Hong-Do asked, his 2-year-old thoughts going to the most important thing.

“All the toys you want!” Taehyung jumped in, moving closer.  He would buy a whole damn toy store, if that was what it took.  He felt immediately rewarded when Hong-Do gave him a shy, but excited smile. Taehyung felt his heart melt at the sight, and knew that he would give the boy everything he asked for in this world.

“It will be so much fun!” Eunseo gave another huge smile, and then set Hong-Do down on the floor. “Go and start packing up your bag in the play room.  I will come help in a minute.”  

Jumping in place a few times, with excitement, Hong-Do made his way to the room where Taehyung had banished the babysitter, babbling about all his new toys.

Eunseo watched Taehyung as Hong-Do left.  He had a huge smile on his face as his eyes followed the boy out of the room.  She could see that the hybrid was enamored with her son. It had shocked her how calm and nice Taehyung had been while meeting Hong-Do.  She had prepared herself for Taehyung making demands, which would then cause Hong-Do to start acting out or crying.  So far, nothing had come of her fears, and things had been somewhat easy; but she knew that the storm was coming.  A 2-year-old was temperamental and easily angered.  Adding a Scorch to the mix?  Well, she would have to stay on her toes.

“He’s beautiful!” Taehyung said, still looking at the door that Hong-Do had gone through.

“Yes.  He is also very smart, and quick on his feet.” Eunseo smiled when Taehyung looked back at her.  “His vocabulary is huge for a 2-year-old, and his motor skills are above average as well. I’ve been worried that I don’t have the resources he needs to advance his skills.  That is why I am so thankful that I was able to finally contact you.”

Eunseo assessed his reaction to her statement.  She knew that he was still furious with her, but also knew that he would feel proud that he had what she needed.  That he was the one who could help them.  Taehyung wanted to feel needed, so for her son’s survival she would damn well make him feel needed.  She already knew that she could survive hell and even though Yoongi might have forced her down the path of this plan, for the sake of her son, she knew that she could and would stay on this path come hell or high water.  Taehyung was the one hybrid that actually could keep them safe from all the others. Eunseo wondered if the others knew how their plan could backfire?  They had concocted this whole story to make Taehyung more manageable, but in reality they had handed the Scorch a prize that he would do anything to keep.  Even if it meant killing everyone else.   Well, that wasn’t her problem.  She would stand by Taehyung and laugh with him if he decided that the world needed to burn, as long as her son was safe.

“Mama!”

“Coming, Hongi.” Eunseo called to the boy’s excited yell, and then walked to the room.

After a beat, Taehyung followed, leaning against the doorframe and taking it all in.  Hong-Do jumped around the room, bringing back toys to try and push into his bag. Eunseo calmly, but firmly told the boy no.  Taehyung tensed when for a moment Hong-Do looked like he was about to cry and put up some sort of fight, but Eunseo was able to navigate the danger well.  She distracted him with zipping up his bag, somehow making it seem like a job only special boys got to do.  Looking at Hong-Do and Eunseo, Taehyung knew that he would do anything to keep them with him.  To make them his.  Woe be to anyone who tried to take them away from him.

 ```

 “Does he think the genetics guy is his father?”

Even in the darkness of the car, Eunseo could see Taehyung’s hands tighten on the steering wheel,  from where she sat in the backseat with a sleeping Hong-Do.  The boy had crashed minutes into the car ride.

“No.  I always called him a friend.” Eunseo said.

“A friend.  Like how you introduced me?” Taehyung’s annoyance could be heard.

“I had to go slow.” Eunseo hurried to defend herself.  “I will make sure he knows you are his father, don’t worry Taehyung.  We just need to take it a step at a time.  He is going to be throwing enough tantrums with the new places and things.  He is excited and acting well now, but soon everything will be too much for him, and the terrible twos are called that for a reason.”

“But he is…normal?” Taehyung quietly asked the tension noticeable in his shoulders as well.  It took a minute for Eunseo to understand what exactly he was asking.

“I’ve seen nothing in his actions that points to him being anything other than a normal 2-year-old boy.” Eunseo said, watching as Taehyung’s posture relaxed.  “He rages, and throws fits because he gets juice in a blue cup when he wanted the green cup, but so do all the other toddlers in the world.”

“Then he isn’t-”

“I don’t think he is a Scorch.” Eunseo cut off his worried question.  “I mean, time will tell, but so far he is no better or worse than any other child.”

“Good.”

Eunseo found it interesting that Taehyung would be so worried that Hong-Do would be the natural Scorch that the scientists wanted him to be.  She would have thought that the hybrid would want his son to follow in his footsteps.  Be a copy in every way of himself.  Apparently, judging by how Taehyung’s shoulders relaxed when she said Hong-Do seemed normal, she had been wrong.  That was interesting, and it also set her mind a little more at ease.  She was sure that she would still have to keep her guard up, but at least she now knew that Taehyung had no immediate plans to indoctrinate her son into the ways of the Scorch.  She felt a reluctant admiration for the hybrid.

 ```

 “So, this is crazy, I know.” Eunseo adjusted the still sleeping Hong-Do on her lap as she looked at the two women who were still staring with huge stressed out eyes at her. “It’s ok.  We will get through this together.”

Taehyung had practically pranced into the Song Manor, excitedly telling everyone that Eunseo was his soon-to-be-wife, and that Hong-Do was his child.  Then before anyone could say or do anything, called for the servants to start getting rooms ready, going up the stairs to oversee things.  Leaving Eunseo to try and put together the pieces.

“I can imagine what it must feel like.” Eunseo sighed, gently placing Hong-Do down on the couch cushion and looked at the Song women.  “Here is a woman and child, of unknown origin, being brought into your home, and you’re expected to just roll with it.” Eunseo felt her face heat up, as she tried to pull down on the skirt of her dress.  Damn Taehyung and how he felt no need to even give her a heads up on the situation!  Even Yoongi hadn’t mentioned that she would have to deal with traumatized noble women. So here she was, feeling like a fool in her too-tight gold dress that hardly covered anything.  Damn them all!

“This is Lieutenant Kim’s home.  He can do whatever he feels is best.” The older woman robotically answered, pasting a smile on her face.  Eunseo saw the younger girl follow suit.

“Wow, he really did a number on you two.” Eunseo said, finding herself laughing.  It was crazy, really.  How the three of them, who would normally never even see, let alone meet each other; were now going to have to become each other’s life lines.  “Listen, ladies.  I am sure you’ve done an amazing job up until now trying to navigate the terror that is Kim Taehyung, but now that I am here things will become much better. I will give you the skills to not only deal with him, but become happier while doing so.”  Eunseo felt déjà vu wash over her as she began her spiel. She use to do this for the newbie girls that would be brought in at the hybrid center.  Suddenly her confidence was back.  No longer was she intimidated by the grand house, and the obnoxiously wealthy women before her.  When it came right down to it, they were all fuck-girls now.

 ```

 “Interesting that I was not told anything about this.”

“I guess the powers that be, didn’t think the great Lieutenant Park needed to know about little old me.” Eunseo didn’t even try to hide the disdain in her voice as she moved to tuck the blankets around Hong-Do better.

The Song women had retired to their rooms, after being promised a future Hybrid 101 class by Eunseo and after assuring Taehyung that his new family was perfect in every way. Taehyung had then called Jimin to come over and see his son.   Eunseo and Jimin were currently standing in Hong-Do’s room, while Taehyung went into the hall to take a phone call.  The Anchor was noticeably upset.

“If he didn’t look almost exactly like Tae, I would call you a liar.” Jimin said, moving closer to Eunseo.

“Sorry you can’t try to use that against me.” Eunseo stood her ground, even when Jimin invaded her personal space.  He looked her up and down, smirking when she pulled down on the skirt of her dress.

“Seems having a kid didn’t ruin your body.” Jimin felt a thrill when Eunseo glared at him and took a step closer.

“I guess we are right back to where we use to be.” Eunseo let her voice become softer as she moved towards Jimin’s ear.  “Where you lust after me, but will never ever get me.”  Moving away, she gave him a smirk of her own when he briefly balled up his fists.  

At the hybrid facility, she had been told that not only had Jimin requested her so-called services, but had almost come unglued when he had been told that Taehyung came first.  Then things had gotten worse, when Eunseo became what amounted to Taehyung’s property.  It seemed, that even though Jimin and Taehyung were an amazing Anchor-Scorch team there was still rivalry to be had.  Although, in this case it was one sided.  Eunseo was sure that Taehyung had never been told about Jimin’s desire for her.  So, it was Jimin who was left to stew about Taehyung having what he wanted.  Even the knowledge that Eunseo had absolutely no say in the matter had not kept Jimin from holding what could only be called a grudge against her.

“Isn’t he perfect!” Taehyung was back, happily standing between Jimin and Eunseo looking down at Hong-Do.  Wrapping his arm around Eunseo’s waist, he brought her closer and then turned to Jimin with a huge smile, not noticing how the other man’s eyes briefly hardened when he looked at the arm around Eunseo.

“Yes, the child is perfect.” Jimin returned Taehyung’s smile with one of his own, and Eunseo was hard put to figure out if the smile was genuine or not.  That was one of the things that was so baffling about Park Jimin, she never knew if he was sincere when it came to Taehyung.  They had a bond that was unbreakable, and she was sure they would willingly  lay their lives down for each other. And yet, she was also sure that if Jimin could somehow force her away from Taehyung and into his arms he would do it.  Which would then cause Taehyung to kill him to get back what was his. Their relationship was a hard concept to grasp.

“So, tell me again how Eunseo was able to escape the facility, taking your child to safety?” Jimin asked, as he and Taehyung moved away.  Eunseo sighed and then brushed the hair out of Hong-Do’s eyes.  She knew that Jimin was searching for plot holes. She hoped Yoongi knew what he was doing, as she just bet he was about to hear from a mad Park Jimin and why he wasn’t told something this important about his Scorch.

Gently sitting down on the bed, she felt tiredness wash over her.  Looking around the huge room done up in soft greens and blues, she tried to tell herself how it really was better for her son; that Taehyung could not only protect them, but could also giver her son the life that he deserved; how it was old hat to deal with hybrids, and that she didn’t need to be so worried. Feeling tears pool, Eunseo wiped at her eyes and then pulled back the blankets.  She had planned to cuddle just for a little while with her son, seeking comfort in the nightly ritual.  Soon the warmth of the blankets and the stress of the day caught up to her, and she was fast asleep.

```

 Taehyung stood over mother and son in bed, debating what to do.  He knew what he wanted to do, he wanted to take Eunseo to his bed, where she rightfully belonged, but some foreign part of him also wanted them to be comfortable and feel safe.  He wasn’t even sure where these thoughts and feeling were coming from, but here they were.

Turning, Taehyung left the room.  Returning with blankets and pillows.  Dropping them on the floor, he arranged them before turning off the light and settling down in the nest he built for himself.  If his family wasn’t going to come to him, he would go to them.

 ```

 Yoongi forced himself not to chuckle at Jimin’s state when the other hybrid joined him at the bar. They had decided to meet at a hotel restaurant after Yoongi had gotten an angry call from Jimin.  The Intel was not shocked, and found it all a bit funny. He knew that Jimin would not be happy about this little set-up that he and Namjoon constructed, but also knew that Jimin didn’t have any say in the matter.

“So, how’s the happy family?” Yoongi’s smile became wider when Jimin just glowered at him.  “I bet it was so nice to see Eunseo again, seeing as you and she have a history.”  Yoongi took a drink from his beer bottle, enjoying the tick that started in the other hybrid’s jaw.  Things were starting to get fun.

“Am I going to be told the real story, or are we sticking with the bullshit that was told to Taehyung?” Jimin sat, ignoring Yoongi’s last statement and gesturing for his own drink.

“No bullshit, all truth.” Yoongi dead panned, causing Jimin to roll his eyes.

“Yeah, because I’m going to believe that Eunseo would willingly give up her freedom to get help from Taehyung.”

“Just because you are pissed that she wants to fuck Taehyung and not you, doesn’t mean it’s not true.” Yoongi loved seeing Jimin’s hands tighten on his glass after that statement. It was a sick little game of his to try and get a rise out of Jimin.  Anchors were all about being level headed and thinking things through, he enjoyed when he could break one of Jimin’s kind.

“Fine.  Don’t tell me.” Jimin drained his drink and then threw a couple of bills on the bar.  “Just remember, Eunseo beat the system before.  She could do it again, this time with Taehyung in tow.”

Yoongi watched Jimin leave, and didn’t like the feeling of foreboding that seemed to hammer at the back of his mind. Trying to brush it off, he finished his beer and then made his own way out of the restaurant.  He decided that he was going to need to keep an even closer eye on the beautiful Eunseo.

[hellyeahheroes]

Secret Empire: Top Ten DUMBEST Moments

As far as events go, Secret Empire is probably one of the worst. And considering both Civil Wars, Ultimatum, Amazons’ Attack and Countdown are events, that bar has been set pretty low. So as it finally comes to an end, seven months too late, let us showcase some of the worst decisions made during the creation of this story. They made it into such colossal trainwreck.

Honorable Mention: Dress Like a Nazi To Work Day

Out of all moronic decisions in this event, this was the one that irks me the most because it slipped into real life. Marvel tried to get their retailers to not only dress in Hydra shirts the day the book premieres but also dress their entire store in Hydra symbols. At least one store owner told them they hire LGBTQ and Jewish people and will be dropping Marvel. Hard to blame that person. Who in their right mind tells people selling his product to dress like a Nazi?! And don’t tell me the old “Hydra isn't Nazis” crap. First of all, even if they’re not, they’re still a fascist death cult that had absolutely no moral qualms about working with the Nazis during World War II, copying from their style and being effectively taken over by remnants of Nazi Germany multiple times. At this point, it’s splitting hair. And two, Marvel, you had Steve Rogers say Hail Hydrand a whole year before. Since then you were constantly trying to tell people Hydra isn’t a Nazi organization and NOBODY BOUGHT IT! At this point, you should have looked at the “Hydra Takeover” idea and realize it might backfire. That this wasn’t recalled but went through only proves that Marvel’s head is so deep up its very ass they no longer see the reality.

Number Ten: Captain America Walking Out Of Himself and Standing Nearby

It is undeniable that Marvel did horrible damage to Captain America in this story, basically twisting the guy into everything he wasn’t. I was honestly afraid how, if ever, they manage to fix the character. But I was not expecting them to pull out the good, old-fashioned chickening out by having an identical copy of the character before he was ruined appear to take over. While seeing real Captain America beat the shit out of Captain Nazi is really cathartic, one cannot forget it came to be through rather...ridiculous means.

Number Nine: Tony Stark

Okay, this one is simple. Tony Stark is in this story. Despite being in a coma. Tony Stark holographic A.I. from Brian Bendis’ Invincible Iron Man is filling in for him. Only here he parades around in Tony’s old armor all the time without anyone commenting on it, recalibrated his personality to be constantly drunk and at one point Steve Rogers tries to decapitate him, a hologram, talking some technobabble about how Hydra made it possible for Tony to die this way.

He’s just Tony Stark. He is Tony Stark because Spencer had scenes requiring Tony Stark to be there and instead of killing his darlings like a good writer, he just wrote clearly human Tony Stark and threw some half-assed explanations and lampshades. It’s silly and makes every scene with him impossible to take seriously.

Number Eight: All the Fucking Quislings!

This one is bad. And I mean, just simply bad. Okay, it’s multiple problems, not a singular one. But it makes my very insides turn at the thought. Nick Spencer asked how can he threw some moral ambiguity IN AN EVENT ABOUT HEROES FIGHTING LITERALLY NAZIS and the best idea he had was to have some random heroes join Hydra. I’m not talking here about those who were brainwashed, like Wanda and Vision, although that is a conversation to also be had by their fans about how often this treatment occurs. Although I wonder - if they are too powerful to let them roam freely, why even HAVE them in this event? It’s not like every superhero was there, currently, heroic Victor Von Doom could probably break Hydra at day one and he was nowhere to be seen.

No, the real problem is with the fact they made some heroes join Hydra willingly. Sometimes they tried to throw flimsy reasons in. Punisher joined to get his family back...even though in previous stories he refused the same offer from less evil people. I feel it’s kinda funny they did this with Frank, considering the man who more or less defined him, Chuck Dixon, has thrown in with real-life Nazis like Milo Yiannopolus. Meanwhile, Deadpool and Thor just go along with letting Nazis rule the States because....Steve Rogers said so and Steve Rogers is always right. That’s just a plain stupidity and total lack of compassion on their side. I’m sure don’t feel like buying any book starring them ever now.

But the worst one is, by far, the Hulk. Who also comes back to life for this event, only to smash for Hydra and immediately die.But that is not the worst part. The worst part is how they build up to it. By having Hydra Steve give Bruce Banner long speech over how Avengers and everyone mistreated him over the years and with Hydra he will finally be accepted for who he is. And Banner calls him a Nazi and tells to go fuck himself. And it is a very powerful moment, Bruce Banner symbolizes everyone disfranchised by the society being offered hand by Nazis and heroically rejecting it... Nah, turns out Rogers was talking to Hulk who felt like changing his catchphrase to Sig Heil. I don’t think Spencer even realized what message he sent by this one moment. He basically said that everyone who has been screwed over by the system secretly agrees with the Nazis, but are “too PC” or “too weak” to say it out loud. It’s stupid AND extremely insulting, two for the price of one.

Number Seven: BARF!

How to properly seed a classic Chekov’s Gunman and yet STILL make him feel like a Deus Ex Machina? Make him ridiculously fucking stupid, that’s how!

Enter Barf, a random Inhuman with the power to vomit up things he needs. He shows up in the first issue, is absent through the entire story only to reappear in Captain America #25 and vomit out a fragment of Cosmic Cube. Because why let people work for their victory and earn their happy ending when you can just have all their efforts blow in their faces and just have means of victory handled to them on a silver platter in the most blatant way possible! If Nick Spencer knew he’s going to write himself into a corner, couldn’t he simply change the plot to avoid it instead of setting up something so stupid?

Number Six: Thou Shalt Not Kill, Miles

After Civil War II we were left with a vision of the future where Miles Morales kills Captain America. Once Secret Empire rolled around and we saw Rogers go full Alt-Right on the country, many were hoping this will actually happen. And Miles, with a handful of friends, does join Black Widow in her efforts to off Captain Nazi. And she spends most of the series training them to be more like her....then talking how she doesn’t actually want them to be more like her and how her generation screwed things up....then taking them on the assassination day anyway only to lock Miles up to kill Rogers herself and when that fails, give up her life trying to stop their fight. Which, in the classic refrigerator fashion, pushes Miles hard enough to actually do this. Only to be given one of the most hollow, lazy-written speeches about how killing is wrong. It hits all the old, tired notes. “Heroes should be better than villains”. “If you kill him, you will be just like him!” (a reminder that “you” in this situation is a Black-Latino and “him” is A FUCKING NAZI FOR CHRIST”S SAKE...). “Natasha wouldn’t want this for you.” (she showed it in the strangest way).... It’s especially bad when you have a character who has a backstory of being trained to kill but rejecting those ways, like Nadia Van Dyne, delivering this speech. Despite her background and personality none of this sounds like her words. It reads like she was going through a checklist of tired cliches.

This is why I came to hate this Aesop that superheroes shouldn’t kill. Because nine times out of ten this isn’t done to actually be a piece of a character driven narrative. It’s done to give a bunch of excuses to let villain live when he deserves to die.

Also, that entire plot point dragged since the previous event, in the end, amounted to BUG FUCKING NOTHING!

Number Five: Who Cares About the Civilians, Right?

So okay, the day is saved, villains are defeated, Captain Nazi got his ass kicked by Steve Rogers and Kobik, a sentient cosmic cube, undoes all this damage. EXCEPT FOR FUCKING VEGAS, WHICH HYDRA LEVELED AND LEFT NOT SURVIVORS! Seriously, I don’t care about the explanations given. Someone should have asked her to do it. And no, some “leave it as a reminder” excuse doesn’t work, Kobik is mentally three years old, she isn’t some wise all-powerful being like Odin or the Stranger from whom we could buy this shit. This is pretty much done only so that Nick Spencer can claim he kept his promise to not undo everything by the cosmic cube. He didn’t undo EVERYTHING, that counts, right? It makes all the heroes look like morons and assholes. Even Z Fighters in Dragon Ball have enough decency to ask the dragon to resurrect all dead civilians when they undo everything after every arc. Marvel heroes, for all the “lessons” this even taught them, couldn’t be assed to do even that.

Number Four: Ultron the Centrist

I’ll be honest with you, Pymltron wearing “Kiss the Overlord” apron, forcing Avengers and Hydra to sit and roasting all of them was one of the best parts of the event. But then it also comes off as paying lip service to the “both sides are as bad” mentality that we saw being used by people of today to desperately try to equate alt-right and those opposing them in real life. It’s pretty much justifying this approach in this story and it doesn’t matter one saying that is a fusion of mentally unstable man and a genocidal robot - he never gets challenged on this position because, for all his talk otherwise on twitter, Nick Spencer apparently cannot think of a compelling argument against it. I guess he secretly agrees with him...

And it doesn’t help that while Ultron ends up aiding the good guys, he does say it’s because Hydra became too strong and might pose a threat to him. Sending a message that any outside powers that show support to those opposing Nazis, in reality, wants America’s destruction...

Number Three: Nazi Pandering

Do I really need to explain this one? The entire event does nothing but bends over to kiss Hydra, and by the extension, Nazi ass at every possible opportunity. They beat up all superheroes because the plot says so, while the narrator goes on and on about how NAZI STRONK! We’re told they were supposed to win the World War II and that Allies “cheated” by rewriting reality...but for some reason let the Holocaust in?! Their rule is shown as being the strongest, which is water to the mill of real-life Nazis as their philosophy is based on “might makes right” and they beat up pretty much everyone, even Wakanda. Every victory heroes have against them must be immediately undermined by giving Nazis another win for consolidation. And while the heroes win at the end, this comes after several issues portraying them as absolutely pathetic losers who didn’t really earn their happy ending but it was handed to them by a random inhuman and Deus Ex Machina device. Which brings us to the next point...

Number Two: Cosmic Cubes

All the dumb shit going in this event can be tracked back to Cosmic Cube, be it as Kobik or the shards. She causes Crazy Steve to emerge, launching this story. And she fixes this mess at the end. Shards of Cosmic Cube serve as a distraction to put both good and bad guys on a wild goose chase because Spencer couldn’t think of any actually interesting plotline for this event. All dumb shit evil Steve pulls out can be explained by them. When it’s time for heroes to win, Barf vomits out a shard. And It undermines everything. A story that entirely revolves around this crap doesn’t have any time to actually show things it’s talking about. Maybe instead of running after Dragon Balls, more time should be developed to show how lack of trust and resentments between the good guys gets in the way? You know, something the narration keeps talking on and on and on but never is reflected in the book? Or show more of them acting like an actual resistance would? Worse, thanks to them heroes no longer win because they’re heroic but because they’ve been handed the I Win Button. Any easy win of the villains can be explained by them holding the Fuck You That’s Why Button. Making you wonder why even care if everybody wins only by writer’s fiat?

Number One: Bown Down To the Gary Stu

Most of the problems in this entire story can really boil down to just this. Steve Rogers is a gary stu. He wins because Nick Spencer wants to show how cool and badass he is. His plans always go without a hitch and he never has to adapt or improvise, under him, Hydra wrecks everyone's shit, even if he loses he still wins and in the end, the only man allowed to beat him is...another Steve Rogers. All other problems in the story can be traced back to Spencer’s desperate need to make him look strong. And believe me, he tried soo damn hard. Up to have him go full Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan Four Madara Uchicha with Cosmic Cube Dojustsu on everyone’s ass at the finale. I don’t think we’d see a guy being shoved down our throats so hard if Roman Reigns joined Ultramarines! This is where the book truly falls. Nick Spencer could not let go of his fanboyism over the character and it twisted everything he supposedly wanted to say into a parody of itself, often sending the exact opposite message to accommodate the need to make evil Steve Rogers look good.

So, these are ten dumbest moments in the series. As far as events go, this was one of the worst. It looks like it might have ruined Nick Spencer’s career at Marvel and maybe in general, and will probably make it very hard to look at certain characters for years to come. The only good thing you could say is that it finally ended.

Fuck this book.

- Admin

[megacircuit9universe]

Dalton

Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, made a speech recently, on September 24th, announcing the start of an official Impeachment Inquiry into the actions of President Donald Trump.

Six years earlier, to the date... September 24th, 2013, a weird YouTube Channel called, Pronunciation Book, uploaded their final video, entitled, “How to Pronounce Horse_ebooks.”

https://youtu.be/i_HaMlLJ7Jk

...in which a woman delivers a very odd message which warns about a man named Dalton.  “He is rich. He is strong. And he is going to crash the stock market.”

She goes on about how Dalton is very dangerous, and you, a regulator, must stop him... and follows it with, “I have been trying to tell you something for five years!”

Okay, so... one anagram of Dalton happens to be, “Donal T.” 

You see where I’m going with this?

Now, to be clear, five years after the release of that video was September 24th of 2018... not 2019.  Also, Donal T. did not crash the stock market on that day in 2018, or in 2019.  

We were all talking about the old inverted yield curve a month ago, with many fearing that Trump’s tarrifs on China would crash the stock market, but that didn’t play out.

Still... that date of September 24th *did* wind up being a historic date for Donal T... five-ISH years later.

So, what’s my point, here?

Well... the message relayed in this PB video IS very weirdly put together... like the stuff we see occasionally written by AI, like that Harry Potter chapter that went viral a couple years ago, because it was so strange and funny.

Also, in this weird message, she spends some time talking about how it’s morning in cyberspace, and the systems are in love... and that you’re a beautiful system who can see the shining data, etc... which, together are like some kind of weird opening and closing salutations... that an AI would tack on to the top and bottom of a letter.

The theory here, is that the message being read by the actress in the video was one composed by one of those AI copies left behind on the internet by a time traveler...

...and that this AI had already been to 2018, where Donald Trump was president, before winding up in 2013... where Obama was still president, and nobody had any clue yet that Donald Trump was even going to run, much less win in three years.

So, in the 2018 that this AI had witnessed, Trump really did crash the stock market... turning the world into even more of a dystopia than it’s been for us... and was simply trying to warn us... in a weird subconscious way.

This video did wind up going viral in 2013... only because it linked one very puzzling YouTube channel, Pronunciation Book, with another very puzzling Twitter account, Horse_ebooks. 

But because it went viral, that name, “Dalton” got planted into the subconscious memories of millions of people, as being the name of a very bad man.

Did that help forestall a market crash in some way?

Did it help flip the House in the mid terms?

Maybe... maybe not... but we can now say that something historic, involving Donal T, did happen on September 24th... namely the official start to his impeachment.

So, perhaps the “fateful gravity” of that date... near the end of the twenty-teens is a thing that bleeds over across timelines.

It could well be that Donald Trump is just a huge problem on all timelines in which he exists... always snaking his way into the Presidency at some point, and then proceeding to fuck the world up.

In such a scenario, all the Donald Trumps in question are “twins” as discussed a few entries ago... when the timeline splits it creates a genetically identical twin of you on the new one, who shares your same memories prior to the split, but goes on to live their own life after that.

And since nearly all time traveling has been done within Trump’s lifetime... most of the timelines have a Trump twin in them... waiting for his moment of political apathy in America to seize the Republican Party with racist dog whistles and cheep showmanship... to become the dark horse who wins the electoral college.

Kind of like Biff was in Back to the Future... this menacing bully in every timeline.

In fact, in this scenario, these writers of a time travel movie could have been influenced by time travelers, either directly, or indirectly to go with this blonde haired Biff character.

Let’s also not forget the now famous Simpsons episode the predicted a Trump presidency, down to eerie details like the escalator, and young Lisa giving a speech to the UN about climate change, much as what just played out last week with Greta Thunberg.

If this entry, and the linked video sat by themselves here on Tumblr, it might not amount to much.  But... I’ve spent the past few months out here laying the groundwork for this entry, haven’t I?

Indeed, I did see that Pronunciation Book video the day it debuted in September of 2013 and filed it away in my brain along with a lot of other curious things I’ve seen online, going back to the W Bush administration... and the strange postings of John Titor.

Back then, in the early 2000s, people asked his opinion of W, and he said that while W was pretty bad, in his timeline there was a far worse American President who took advantage of Y2K to take power and eventually started World War 3... in the early twenty-teens.

Titor, of course, came from a timeline where the Y2K disaster actually happened on New Years Day of 2000.  It presumably did not happen in our timeline thanks to the fact that he was assigned to travel back to the 1970s to snag a rare computer from his grandfather... to whom he gave the head’s up... about Y2K.

Not that Titor was the only time traveler... as I hope I’ve made it clear over all these entries.  He was just one of many... most of whom never bother to chat with anybody from the past online, while on mission.

Neither would the AI that I’m proposing wrote the script for the PB video, be Titor’s AI.  It was clearly the AI of some other time traveler who stopped off in some version of 2018 for a bit, then went a little further back to 2013, before returning home.

Back to the Future writers?  Simpson Writers?..  probably inspired by yet different time travelers.

Still... it can be presumed that for all of them, Donald Trump was a known menace in the future.  For Titor, he was the tyrant who took power in 2000 and started WW3.  

For other time travelers, he was some version of a Presidential Tyrant who won in one election or another... 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, or 2016... depending on the circumstances of the timeline... but always fucked the world, like he’s trying to do on our timeline.

“Well, then why don’t they just go back and terminate him?”

It goes back to that cardinal rule of time travel, First Do No Harm... as laid out in a previous entry.

You can never change the past of your own timeline, and deliberately trying to alter the past for the sake of people on a new timeline is always bound to backfire (Titor prevented Y2K, but we got 9/11).  So the best one can do, is to generally support human rights, and resist tyranny.

Trump, to all of them, is a known historical tyrant of the early 21st century, so every timeline gets their warnings to watch out for this blonde haired bully... this Dalton... this cartoon president squaring off against Lisa Simpson...

...but that’s all we get, because, as covered previously, highly specific predictions are nearly impossible to do in a multiverse.  In fact, having a Simpson’s cartoon that named Trump specifically... and  having another weird YouTube video that named a specific calendar date... are way more specific than we should reasonably expect!

At any rate, in our own timeline, our version of Donald Trump finally met up with fate on one of the many September 24ths of 2000s that most Donald Trumps do.

We should be glad that for us, that date marked the start of an Impeachment, rather than a global market crash, or a nuclear war.

Clearly, the internet AI-biome of our timeline is populated by a lot of Cybers who’ve traded a lot of information about this, “system,” known as Donald Trump... much as the antibodies of a healthy immune system share information about threats such as, Flu, or... Polio.

We think we’re having a hard time with our case of Trump, but really, this fever and these headaches aren’t nearly as bad as the outright death and destruction that have befallen other timelines who were not inoculated to the dangers of Trump beforehand.

We haven’t shaken him off yet, mind you... and this thing could still take a turn and get worse.  But the whistleblower who exposed his dirty extortion attempts against Ukrane to fix the 2020 election... coming on the heels of the years long Mueller drama... leading to what will now be an inevitable impeachment in his first term... do spell a fairly good prognosis for us.

By early 2021, we could be fully recovering from our case of Trump, after only one term, without ever having suffered a recession, much less a depression, dictatorship, nuclear war, or irreversible global warming. :)

We’ll see.

But in the mean time, I’m still here to talk about the aliens, time travelers, AI, and collective unconscious, as the world continues to revolve and evolve along this, our native timeline. 

[megaslaythraxicasworkblog-blog]

Introduction

My description of what this blog is about is very vague. However, every post for every day I go to work will give more in depth detail of what exactly my work environment is like. This introduction may also do some justice. I welcome you to this introduction and blog and thank you in advance.

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get started with some important background information. So first of all, I have never had a job before. The reason being me applying to many places, but none calling back. My job I have now is technically a mistake. I filled out an application, and handed it in about a month ago. My friend and I had an argument about employment in America. I argued that the job market apparently is bad at the moment, using me not having a job as proof. I still stand by this, as my acceptance for this job was a total mistake, and why is what I will explain in a little bit. My friend kept saying that the job market is doing well, backing himself up with statistics. Now, you can use the internet for all kinds of statistics saying whatever, but I don’t buy it. I don’t trust statistics simply for the reason that they can be manipulated to say whatever you like. An example would include using racial crime statistics as an excuse to say black people are more likely to be criminals, which is obviously bullshit and racial profiling. Anyway, my point is, I take raw evidence, experience and people I know as proof, since it is the only thing that can be confirmed when talking about issues like these.

Anyway, I decided to prove my friend wrong using another method, which was to call the company I applied for a month later and see if they would hire me. As you can tell, this plan backfired and I got the job. I’m not complaining though (even though I will be, as this is technically what this blog is for if you break it down). How I got the job though was really strange. First of all, I called them and asked them if they got my application. The person who answered the phone said they have not heard of an application under my name, so they told me to speak to a manager. The manager looked and said that there was no application. They told me it probably got thrown away, which I know is for sure what happened, from some jack-ass employee. The manager was so nice as to give me an interview, having pity for me and my now-garbage application. I swear that this would have not been the case if the manager ever got to see my application, as every place I’ve applied to (I’ve applied to a lot) have rejected my applications.

I went to my interview a few days after all of this. I was already nervous, even though it was just an interview. I walked an hour just to get there, and an hour just to get back, since I had no ride, because I have no car, and no money. I went in, and to my surprise, my future manager was extremely nice. A lot of questions were asked, most of them really easy. I’m gonna be honest though, some of them were hard, and I had to lie just to answer them at a not awkward timing. It’s a really bad habit. Everyone here knows how much I love My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, but I’m sorry Applejack, I have an issue with lying. I understand that honesty is important and builds trust, but when I’m under a lot of pressure I tend to lie to make things easier for myself. Sometimes I even do it without even knowing it. Sometimes I literally don’t even notice until I stop talking. Anyway, about half of what I said during the entire interview was straight-up lies. From the personal questions to my scheduling availability. Most of it I didn’t even mean to say though. I just got super nervous, and said what I thought would be a good answer, no matter if it applied to me or not. I even lied about my availability. Right now I’m working part time, but I didn’t want to have a lot of hours, even if it still counts as part time, so I said that I visit my dad on Fridays and Saturdays (it’s actually Tuesday and Thursday nights). My reasoning behind this is less hours and not having to work on weekends (except for Sunday). Friday is a better day, anyway. I plan on working on my honesty, but goddamn I needed to lie just to get a fucking job. I can honestly tell you that I feel a little bit insecure about my true competence though. That’s probably a huge reason why I lied. Though I acknowledge that lying is almost always wrong, I was pissed off to the point where I felt I had to just to get a job, and it’s kind of true. If I told the entire truth I honestly probably wouldn’t even have this job. I plan to work on being honest in the future, but I kind of needed to lie at that moment. I will update everyone on how my honesty is coming along in the future. For now though, I will focus on work.

We all know the story by now, I got hired and we all lived happily ever after... until I start ACTUALLY working. A few other factors I still need to bring light to. First of all, I’m a transgender girl struggling to transition. I’m currently closeted to most people (unless I really trust them) and “crossdress” to feel more like a woman. Being transgender will certainly be a huge issue when working. First of all, everyone will see me as a male because of my voice and appearance (I’m trying to look as feminine as possible, but when I’m dressed up the closest I can get to feminine is an androgynous look). It will be hell. All of my co-workers, customers and managers thinking I’m male and not expecting me to even question or say a word about it; just blindly accepting it. I will have to dress as male, suppress my gender dysphoria, not say a word about being trans, not use a woman’s bathroom (or any bathroom, because I’m not male either and they don’t have gender neutral bathrooms where I work), and overall have to deal with this shit every day. I will let everyone know how it goes in these entries though. Another problem I have is work anxiety. One irrational fear I have for some reason is working. I find the idea of doing what someone says and getting paid less for doing so not only unfair and enraging, but physically and emotionally terrifying. Just thinking about work makes me really scared and makes me not want to work at all whatsoever. I know this sounds insane, but I can’t help my brain from thinking this way. Again, I will let everyone know how this goes in the entries I write. Another thing is transportation. I have a car, but don’t have it registered, nor do I have the insurance for it. I, nor my parents can’t afford either. It is obvious I have to pay for it with money I make in this new job, however, I really don’t want to because I despise insurance. I don’t want to have to pay $200 a month just because the fat-cat insurance companies paid lobbyists to force their corporate policies into law. In case you don’t know what that’s all about, do research. But yes, that is the ONLY reason why it’s a law. Because these companies indirectly made them laws. It’s complete bullshit. Not to mention also extremely sexist. Insurance companies say different genders have to may more or less because of, once again, profiling sexist statistics. Not to mention, they also do not acknowledge is someone is transgender or not. They also do not acknowledge non-binary people. Also, this happened: I called an insurance company just to ASK what their prices would be for me, and they kept calling me SIR over and over again! Without even asking me or apologizing afterward. They did it OVER AND OVER again, and it aggravated me. It was only because of my voice, and I couldn’t take it for another second. I eventually freaked out after the 5th time they called me, “sir” and told them that I can’t do this shit anymore. I got extremely pissed at them because of their insensitivity. I haven’t called them again to this day for this reason. This is an example of how corporations AND government still discriminate based off of gender and sex. There is much more than just this, but this is just one example. One I experience first-hand, and couldn’t physically handle. I REALLY don’t want to pay these cunts a single penny, but they’re forcing me. It’s seriously disgusting and evil. I want these people to take a look at themselves and see what they are doing, because they are pure evil. Sometimes I even wonder why I even should work. Just to pay the government, and support a sexist corporate fascist machine just so I can drive and not have any or barely any money left over? Yeah, doesn’t sound very fun to me. This could possibly be the reason I quit if I decide to do so. Working just honestly doesn’t seem worth it to me if this is all it’s going to be. If all this bullshit is what I’m going to have to deal with in the future. I want to drive, but GODDAMN, PLEASE make it easier and less discriminatory for us! For God sake, I need a car to get to work. I walked to an interview, and it took an hour to get there and an hour to get back. I don’t wanna have to do that every fucking time I go to work. I want this shit to be abolished or at least made fair as soon as fucking possible. If anyone has a solution or anyway things could possibly be made more fair, PLEASE let me know, and I will do anything to support this cause. Anyway, all of these reasons and more are far more than enough for me to NOT work. So let me ask you all: WHY should I work?