#and some 'hm. this might happen.'

[tiredmaster]

My Season 7 bingo that I'll probably change when a trailer actually gets released. Transcript below!

Season Seven Bingo!

Aarmau age gap retcon

Aaron regains memories at Phoenix Drop High

Marriage

Ends with them having a child

Cocomau reference

Mac is a character

Only Aarmau healing is shown

"Oh my god Aphmau you went through so much :(" - Travis, in a wheelchair

Ghost dies

~ Ableism ~

More awkward werewolf racism

Oops, no Laurence!

Free!

Why is this joke in a PG13 kid's show

Reference to real-life drama

Queerbaiting

Character loses development

My Inner Demon's reference

Character gets a last name

Pet Death

Lycan funeral scene

Garte adds nothing to the plot

Return of the void mold!

Akshually (Actually) Irene was good and moral.

End List.

[kingofthering]

FCO AU. Inspired by @moonshynecybin's answer and her tags here. Marc was photographed on dates with another man during the winter break (well, the press assumed it was romantic dates anyway and so did Valentino).

This is set up I think during one of the testing sessions, either Sepang (always Sepang, right) or Phillip Island (literally happened two weeks later), first time where Marc and Valentino see each other since they've "broken up" a couple of weeks after Valencia.

Don't ask me why they're in Marc's motorhome but they are. I didn't have it in me to write the whole thing (wasn't even supposed to get that long to begin with) but Valentino says something about Marc's "new boyfriend" and they start arguing and that's when Valentino clearly expose that he was told he didn't have to pretend with Marc and he could have left Marc alone to deal with the aftermath of the photos.

Essentially :

—

"Why are you only telling me now?" Marc eventually breaks his silence. He's not looking at Valentino, his eyes firmly planted on the poster on the adjacent wall.

"What?"

"It's been a whole fucking year," Marc turns to him then, the line of his jaw set, his face adorning an expression Valentino doesn't know how to decipher. Too rigid. "An entire year since it began and months since it's been over and you decide to tell me now? Like it's some kind of weapon you've been keeping in your pockets to use when you needed the upper hand in an argument with me? Like this is an immunity totem supposed to give you the higher moral ground? Actually no Marc, I can't do no wrong because one time, I decided to not be a selfish person to help you."

Now, when Marc put things out like that it did sound bad but that wasn't— "You're misinterpreting things."

And if eyes could kill, someone would have to find Valentino's dead body lying at the bottom of the couch of Marc's motorhome the next day.

Right. Not the way you prove to someone that you're hearing them. Maybe they should send him back to Communications 101. Maybe they should have sent Marc and him to fucking couple therapy while they were at it last season.

"Then tell me why," Marc says. His voice is still hard even though his volume has dimmed compared to his previous words. "Why now?"

"Because you deserve to know."

"Bullshit," Marc shakes his head. "By doing it today you're only making yourself feel better. If it's even true, why now and not on one of the billion occasions you had last year? "

When Marc starts questioning the veracity of the fact, Valentino's heart goes heavy, pulsing too fast like he's just received an unwarranted jolt of electricity.

Valentino swallows. This might be the most confident he's ever seen Marc when he's not mounting his bike or wearing the armor that his leathers are.

Valentino's aware that the past year changed Marc, changed them. He thinks about the stone cold expression on Marc's face when he tried to confront him after Phillip Island, the way Marc wouldn't even look at him, let alone answer Valentino back.

Maybe a proper fight then would have prevented a lot of things. They'll never get to know.

"You didn't need to know. Everything went fine with that configuration of things, didn't it?"

Marc looks at him unimpressed and Valentino knows it was the wrong thing to say.

He's stalling. He's not answering Marc's question. He's proving him right on the stupid "higher morality point" thing, which means Valentino has two options. He can let Marc believe that he was right (and he probably was just a little because at the end of the day, Valentino is still an asshole who refuse to lose an argument) or—

He's had over 3 decades of racing to teach him that you don't obtain much if you're not willing to take risks.

"Sorry," Valentino breathes. His right thumb goes to his left hand, playing with the rings there. "I just— I'm not sure what you want me to tell you about it. I didn't lie. Yamaha did tell me it would be easier to deny that it was me. They even asked me if I thought you could be okay with that."

The question had thrown Valentino around for a loop, the burn in his stomach spreading while a treacherous part of his brain was whispering "yes, of course he would, it's silly to even doubt that".

Valentino risks a look up to Marc. Face still unreadable but seemingly focused on Valentino, the arms crossed in front of him a clear demonstration of self-protection. No proper reaction yet, still waiting Valentino out.

"I said I wanted to be in the meeting with you and I came in not sure of what I wanted to do and I listened and I looked at you and I don't know, I had to say yes, had to push for that solution."

"Just a spur of the moment decision, really?" Marc asks and Valentino can't tell if he's unimpressed or non-believing.

Valentino shrugs. "I guess."

"Right, I should have known. It’s your thing after all, no? You look at me and you forget how to think? How inconvenient."

"Yeah, well, you’re the only person who does that to me so you can blame yourself if you want."

Maybe blaming Marc was once again not a smart move but it said a lot, considering the amount of great rivals Valentino had had in his career. None of them had ever managed to get under his skin the way Marc had.

None of them had ever made Valentino feel so much for them, whether it was admiration or hatred or things he still wasn’t sure how to name.

"And yes Sepang was shitty, both the press con and what I said after and what happened in the race. And then the photos happened and I watched you in that stupid office and you looked scared and everything was wrong and maybe I forced your hand into this but I still believe that was the right thing to do. For once."

And maybe it stroked his ego a little in the beginning because telling himself he was doing it because he was a good person was much easier than facing out the real why. Especially with everyone in on the secret telling him this didn't make sense after the events of the previous months.

"I'm not saying this is the way I envisioned to come out and if I have to do one more couples interview game I might kill a journalist or two but in the end, if I look at last season, I'm not mad for that one impulse."

Valentino looks at Marc, watching for his micro-expressions, anything indicating that he's processing what Valentino has just poured out into the air between them.

He thought this was supposed to make him feel better, lighter, but the more the seconds go, the more Valentino thinks he's going to be sick.

Unexpectedly, Marc walks towards the couch, slouching down on it but keeping a good meter of distance between them, his elbows on his knees, head resting against his knuckles.

Valentino tries to wait him out. He's never been good with silence and his anxiety gets the better of him.

"Of course if we try to add the good and the bad points I probably have a really shitty score but it's not like we have to stop the game now, do we?"

He cringes at his choice of analogy the second he's done with his sentence. It does get Marc to laugh. The first real laugh that Valentino has heard coming out of his mouth in months.

Valentino watches him use the palm of his hands to press against his eyes and when Marc finally looks at it, his eyes look red. Not really angry anymore, though.

"Fuck, you've given me a headache."

"Sorry? Do you want me to get you some water?" Valentino asks, a little stunned.

Marc chuckles again, shaking his head no. Valentino tries a small smile for himself, not realizing how tense he's been too. He was still mad at Marc just a handful of minutes ago but the anger has gone now, poured into his words and diffused in the air on its own.

Valentino feels tired, likes he's lost too much blood when he was busy pouring his heart out.

Marc lets his left arm fall to the couch, his palm open in the space between them, back of his hand against the cushion.

"Okay," Valentino nods, gathering himself because if they stay in silence for too long, things are just going to be more awkward than he can handle. "I should go then."

"Stay."

Valentino can't tell if it's a question or a demand. An order or a plea.

Marc's palm is still an open invitation between them.

The truth is, there are lot more things that Valentino wants to tell Marc and a bunch of stuff he needs Marc to own up to or else Valentino will just use them as ammunition during their next fight and he would rather not.

He's too drained for any of that to happen tonight, though.

Stupidly, Valentino thinks, maybe if they sleep with the curtains open, photos will get taken and they will have to start this whole charade all over again.

Valentino is the one who takes care of closing the blinds when Marc is brushing his teeth and getting himself ready to bed.

He accepts Marc's hand when it's being offered to him to slide under the cover together. And if Valentino thinks that he's go too much to ponder over before being able to fall asleep, the emotions of the day are here to prove him wrong, taking him out mere seconds after he's pressed a kiss good night to Marc's nape.

[catocappuccino]

A pointless tumblr post titled

"Assigning furby colours (specifically 1st gen) to Murder Drones characters without giving any explaination for my choices" part 1

Uzi - juicy grape

N - labrador

V - banana peel

J - bumblebee

Cyn - angel

🔥🔥🔥If you enjoyed this post leave a like and follow for more PEAK content like this🔥🔥🔥

/j

[seaofreverie]

Sparkstember Day 18: Balls (Bullet Train)

Sometimes (oftentimes) it's true that all you need are Balls. I personally absolutely love Balls. I'm a big fan! Ekhem. Today I'm using the help of (I mean, copying most of the passages from it) my earlier Balls rant that I have written down after my first listen of it back in January. I really love this album and I don't want to completely skip over saying a couple words on it at least but I really don't think I have the headspace to write anything very good for it today. I'll still try though!

So yeah, Balls. It's a great album, fun and chill (in my sense of what I call and consider chill anyway), consistent, as Sparks albums tend to be, and as I suspected / hoped it does fit this specific vibe of driving around at night somewhere city-like and illuminated. Or being on a train deep at night and looking at the world zooming by (if you'd even see much of it on a train at night anyway.....). And I do think that it's not so dissimilar to Gratsax (I'd say now that it's definitely darker and moodier than its predecessor...). So it's interesting to think about how it's considered to be one of the "weak" ones (by music reviewers at least) while Gratsax is so beloved in comparision.

I will admit, I don't really know what the big problem with this album could be. As I said, it's fun, it has the melodies, it has the energy, it has the theatricality (I like seeing how more and more orchestral instruments such as strings are being incorporated into the music, in a way the jump into Lil' Beethoven two years later doesn't come of as THAT much of a shock because of this. The evolution of sound here is fascinating!) I really like the intense beats, just as much as the more laid-back and moodier pieces. And there's lots of gold to be found in the lyrics department as always.

One more thing I wanna say is that at some point I wondered if this music sounds older than it is. Maybe it does? But then I remembered that this was 2000 and honestly when I think about it, there just IS something about this album that fits so well with the Y2K image and vibe and all. Sparks 2000 and all that.

Favourite songs (and other highlights):

Balls: I mean. It's Balls.

Scheherazade: absolutely LOVE this one and I had the strangest impression of it sounding very familiar when I first heard it. Months later I found out that it was just briefly featured in TSB so I think that explains it (I will talk more about my TSB viewings on TSB day. EVERYTHING has to be explained in excruciating detail, lmao)

The Calm Before The Storm: bugsonas 4ever. Song itself is amazing too

How To Get Your Ass Kicked: how can a song about getting your ass kicked be so pleasant and relaxing, it always keeps cracking me up, how perfect that is actually

Bullet Train: I love it how introducing the topic of the song with a "It's the [topic of the song]" is a reoccurring theme on this album. Thank you Sparks for this ode to technology and art (these lyrics always have me giggling). And also it just goes hard as heck

It's Educational: a perfect fusion of / sequel to I Thought I Told You To Wait In The Car and Progress (it's mostly the vocal delivery that reminds me of the latter)

The Angels: such an odd one here but I still like it a lot, I apparently said that it sounds "surprisingly mainstream for Sparks but somehow in a positive way". It's very sweet and I absolutely love how Russell sings here, it's so different from what we're used to but that only makes it hit you even more in the feels, lol. And I actually prefer the alternative version of this song that's featured as a bonus track, and I do think that's in big part because you can hear Russell better on it (or that was my first impression of it at least and it kind of stuck)

[animentality]

I know it's a fact of life and all, but it does give me the heebie jeebies, knowing there's someone out there whose job is to masturbate male pigs so they can ship off semen to artificially inseminate sows.

Like I get it... it's just...like...business, circle of life, this is how the meat industry is efficient in how it breeds livestock, but...

I'm trying to imagine someone whose job it is to masturbate a caged pig, and it's like...

Hm.

I hope they pay them...something good.

Also I wonder if like...female pigs ever feel super weird about being artificially inseminated.

Like they know it's not natural.

I assume.

And then I think, well, what about the male pigs?

They probably know it's not natural either, being jerked off in a cage by some human.

What is going through their heads during all this...

[camgirlkaminari]

i just caught up with the latest chapters and like. those dudes definitely made out right? like that's not even subtext? like horikoshi fully said one and two absolutely went hog wild upon each other like. in the text, right??????? I have other, more cool and normal thoughts, but what is really important to me right now is that. those dudes definitely canonically got nasty. right???????????????????

[apocalypticdemon]

okay okay okay so i just finished the terror and i think i'm insane

[sualne]

Just saw your head bonk comic so are you better????? You went to a doc right??

my forehead is fine 👍 ive seen a doctor who actually listen (incredible shit) and im going to have to do another test (😔) and MRIs (😱) cause doc want to see if smth is pressing on my optic nerve (🫣)

[fag-supreme]

ICH FAG!!! ICH FUCKING FAG!!!!!!

[aparticularbandit]

Current titles for That Faint Green Light pieces:

(under cut because spoilers and sometimes the fun is whatever the new title is so)

Just A Jump To The Left - Melancholy pt. 1

(Am I) More Than You Bargained For (Yet) - Sigh

Jealousy (Turning Saints Into The Sea) - Endless Eight (ish)

Detox Just To Retox (Boycott Love) - Disappearance

Rewrite The Stars - Haruhi Hope's Peak (title subject to change)

(I'm In) The Business Of Misery - What Happens To Yasuke

Change Me At All Costs (Starlight, Starcrossed) - Melancholy pt. 2?

[itstimeforstarwars]

My diary when I was a teenager: I am so angry and this is where I put my rage about how the world is ending and how mad I am about it and how much I hate politicians and the school board

My diary now: here is a recounting of what I did today as well as how I feel about some of the news from today, so that in twenty years when everyone is lying about how the 2020s went I have proof that I'm not insane.

[trentcrimminallybeautiful]

yknow i enjoy tedependent as much as the next guy, and i get the temptation, i truly do, but i think implying or outright saying trent imploded his career and told the truth about giving up his source only or mainly because he had romantic feelings for ted takes away from what actually happened there?? like. him being willing to throw away his career and in such a spectacular way (not just quitting but actually probably fucking his chances of working further as a journalist at all, i gather) wasn't necessarily a rom-com moment in the sense that it was for ted or about his feelings for ted alone. it was about himself, his own growing dissatisfaction with the toxic world of sports journalism and the kind of writing he was doing, the desire for "something deeper". that's not to say there's no tedependent take on this, or that hypothetical feelings for ted couldn't or didn't play a role. but like, it's also about his own character development, even if it is driven by ted (as many of the characters' developments are)

[welcometoteyvat]

the wanderer and furina story was beautiful!! i loved the little foreshadowing to dancing a waltz alone, which i read was furina dancing at the stage as the hydro archon all alone—but she’s not alone because scaramouche is there as well.

it was genius to have scaramouche see the funeral of furina and furina the funeral of scaramouche. i’m not sure if this is reading too much but the front part of the story hints at neuvilette controlling the rain, and the fact that it rained at the end… does it allude to how neuvilette was mourning for the death of what furina was (which was her act and the furina that he grew to know) but in the midst of people mourning the loss furina is freed and found a partner who understands her turmoil and they sort of relish in that fact they aren’t alone??? either way, i loved it and i would love more author’s commentary!

i don’t think this is particularly ooc too. — @apologems

for people who missed the context it is here

ehe (venti voice) thank you!!!!! wahhh this is such a sweet note 🥺 also i'm so glad you picked up on all the things i added in by chance and intentionally FDSKFJKDSJF it's good to hear they were expressed clearly enough!!

tbh both the waltz and the rain were kinda spontaneous BUT im very happy they both had their intended effects. i was thinking about that exact scene when writing the waltz line—it's such a good cutscene from the archon quest i had to refer to it. lowkey was also thinking about coppelia and coppelius, especially since they're a pair of dancers, based off a play about an almost human mechanical doll and the creator who fell in love with her... yeah. it's not 1:1 but the pieces are there. also yeah her and scara! it worked nicely as his intro, but I also wanted to show furina as someone who's suddenly alone, but slowly trying to live for herself.. in an empty ballroom there's nobody for whom to put on an act, and now she can dance only if she feels like it. she can also teach scara how to formal dance! and maybe his puppet body can finally control its own strings </3 also im sure she's been to some kind of fancy ballroom party before with neuvillette and maybe this just reminds her of the artificial foreignness that's estranged them now. oh furina my dear actress on the stage

i was so close to cutting out the rain at the end but i was like nooooooo i need the weather symbolism (incredible archetype btw i love weather), and furiously tried to figure out a good ending sentence. you basically got all my thoughts LOL i wanted people to make the connection between rain as rebirth and the washing away of old sins, but also like. the sky is crying. it is dreary and miserable and they're soaked to the bone but the last string connecting their present to their past has finally been dissolved, and now... maybe they're free to move on to sunnier days.. etc,,, i didn't think too much about neuvillette's role in this but what you said 100% works <3 im still unsure what he thinks of furina tbh so i didn't really elaborate DSKFJKSDJ. last thought about the rain: they both have a thing about crying, but the only thing wet during that scene was the rain—i guess i was trying to show like, neither furina nor scara think that this death is a bad thing, or maybe all the tears they could've shed already dried up. it's only other people who mourn for their pasts.

also i forgot but the fire was supposed to be a lowkey callback to when scara burned the house down when his unnamed child died. the entire theme i was kinda going for was like. a farewell to your past; no matter what happened before, maybe you can finally put it down, and leave it behind, live today unrestrained by yesterday's pain, etc.

if i was an animator this would've gone so much better because the scenes were so clear cut in my head. ideally the flow is like this: furina says she can see kabukimono. wanderer's face whitens in a flash, until he's the color of a sheet of paper and it's actually scary to look at. he recovers, says the line about his and furina's funeral. he steps closer to her and turns so that they're directly facing each other, faces like two feet apart. it cuts to a closeup of their faces, panning from furina's, neutral/apprehensive, to wanderer's, eyebrows furrowed, face set (entirely self centered anger that this, of all things, is fate's last laugh at him). and idk the light changes and makes his eyes glassier and more reflective, and furina sees her old self—the camera gets sucked into her reflection (like you're diving into the void) as her face warps in a terrible twisted way, maybe some blood idk; the camera zooms back out, furina breathes heavily, looking disturbed and a bit sick. wanderer is slightly off to the side and his face is blurred (the focus is on furina's slightly horrified face) but he's watching her closely and carefully, but without judgement. wanderer holds out his hand, and furina takes it, and immediately the hiss of the fire starts. its like one of those gigantic funeral pyres, wild and leaping and intense, and she watches the pile of kabukimono doll get smaller and smaller. somewhere in the middle a blackened chunk of something gets spit out (his heart), lands at their feet. the most important part is that after the fire burns itself out, the rain starts immediately. sudden downpour, very heavy etc. the viewer should feel a wave of Closure and Relief after the intensity of the burning. a slow waltz starts playing in the background, low, smooth, and very quiet. they just stand there, and the camera zooms out until they're just two dark blue/black smears against a blurry gray backdrop. end scene

also about the characterization: that's good I always wonder whether I'm leaning too much into my own writing voice instead of sticking closer to the character's canonical language register and mannerisms haha

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

The Ruin of Kings

start of a complex high fantasy series

follows a boy who grew up in the slums, but is claimed as the missing son of a treacherous prince and is dragged into dangerous politics against his will

and simultaneously follows him older, having escaped and following his destiny, among gods & sea monsters & giant dragons

both stories being retold as he’s trapped in prison, by himself and his captor, with footnotes from a third party

shapeshifters & demons

[inkats]

I really thought I was a relatively calm stress free person before meeting other people.

[tuesdayisfordancing]

I am conceptually quite into hanahaki but I think there’s been like three actual hanahaki fics ever that I liked.