#but alright alright i get that they are sticking to main story scenes

[lxvi-gloria]

New photos of this statue! 🥹

[fingertipsmp3]

Ughhhhhhh I hate writing and I hate not writing and I hate myself

[shunin-gumis]

Designs of Happiness - Track A14

L4mps Main Story Translation

Title: Imposed Blessings

Characters: Nagi

Summary: Nagi is working alone at his shop after abruptly leaving the Friday Film viewing. The protagonist chases after him, and he finally explains his unique predisposition.

Thank you aca @463ce6, jes @arcanecrayonn myun @/myuntachis and Niri for helping me with proofing!

Also a gentle request from me, please do listen to the chapter in-game alongside the translation if you don't do so already, the voice acting is very precious 🥺🥺

Location: Flower Laundry

Sonia: Nagi-shan, here ish all the flowers you can use! 

Nagi: …Oh no. This isn’t nearly enough.

Sonia: You came back all of a sudden from HAMA House, sho you have no right to complain! 

Nagi: Sorry. Please get whatever’s left in the storehouse too.

Sonia: Aye aye, Shir! Geez, I’ll bring back as much as I can!

*bell jingles*

Customer A: ‘Scuse me! Sorry for popping in last minute—

Nagi: Oh, that’s alright. What can I do for you?

Customer A: Just a quick question– Does the laundromat here accept IzuPay? 

Nagi: IzuPay… Ah, we don’t use that here yet. There were plans to add it as an option but it was delayed… Sorry about that.

Customer B: Darn… out of luck, huh. I guess it makes sense, not everyone would bother getting the ward’s special payment method.

Nagi: Other digital payment options are still available, and we accept cash too.

Customer A: Huh? Can’t believe there’s a laundromat that still takes cash… 

Customer A: I thought they’d all be gone with the ‘Valley of the Sky’ or somethin’. POTHARU! and all that. 

Customer B: Hey, don’t be rude… He’s standing right there, and that scene is long since over. Um, sorry about that. 

Nagi: …It’s fine. 

Nagi: (Right. I guess the film viewing would be over by now, too.)

Nagi: (...Why did I have to think about that now?)

Nagi: (I wouldn’t have lasted much longer in that situation… Just thinking about it gives me chills. I’m sorry I didn’t stick with Toi till the end, but I had no choice, I had to leave for everyone’s sake—)

Sonia: I’ve prepared the flowers for you!

Nagi: Thanks. —Let’s go, we need to leave right now.

??: Um, excuse me… 

Nagi: Oh, yes, welcome—

Momiji: Good evening… again.

Nagi: …… 

Momiji: Do you mind if we talk for a bit, Nagi-kun?

Momiji: …… 

Momiji: (I can’t believe he ran out of HAMA House during the viewing… I guess he must’ve hated it that much, huh…)

Momiji: (Maybe I was being too naive in thinking that he’d open up with enough time…) 

Nagi: …… 

Nagi: (I can’t believe she noticed I’d left… I might have messed this up worse than I’d thought. She must be annoyed with me…)

Nagi: (No, I shouldn’t jump to conclusions, maybe she’s just here to check up on me. I clearly suck at communicating with others, so that might have gotten her worried…)

Nagi: (Still, it doesn’t change the fact that I troubled the Chief… I’m worth less than a plant louse that preys on flowers. I mean, even plant lice are useful to ants, yet I’m…)

Nagi: (No one would want a Ward Mayor that’s worth less than a louse.)

Nagi: (I wanted to take responsibility and see this job through to the end, but…)

Momiji: …You see, Yodaka-san just informed me earlier. 

Nagi: Yes?

Momiji: That you haven’t slept at HAMA House even once, Nagi-kun.

Nagi: …… 

Nagi: (So he knew. He’s too sharp to slip past, huh.)

Momiji: …… 

Momiji: (Ah… He’s tensed up.)

Momiji: (I wonder if I should’ve approached it more delicately…)

Momiji: (I’d readily help him if he’d just let me know what he’s having trouble with, or if there’s something he’d like changed… But what if he says that he never wanted to be a Ward Mayor in the first place? Hrm… What should I say…)

Nagi: …… 

Nagi: (She looks really troubled… I feel guilty that she’s worried over someone like me.)

Nagi: (I should just explain everything, even if it makes me uneasy. I know it’s the right thing to do, but… If I really just blurt everything out, she’d probably think I’m some kind of weirdo.)

Nagi: (But if I keep quiet any longer, she might feel hurt instead. What should I do…)

Nagi: (...The cyclamen at the storefront just caught my eye… In flower language, they mean “resignation” and “words of parting”...)

Nagi: (And next to it are the anemone, meaning “abandonment,” and the calendula, “sorrow of parting.”)

Nagi: (I see… I get it now.)

Momiji: Um… 

Nagi: (I should… brace myself.) 

Nagi: …… 

Nagi: …If I don’t hand out flowers, it rebounds. 

Momiji: Huh?

Nagi: The other side of the Yajirobe*. 

Momiji: Uh?

Nagi: This is just a theory of mine.

Momiji: O-Okay… 

Nagi: I believe that, just like with human emotions, if a person experiences great fortune or misfortune, then they will eventually have to return to a neutral state.

Momiji: Uh huh...?

Nagi: In my case, the rebound is especially strong. If I experience any fortune, then misfortune is sure to follow soon after. 

Nagi: That’s what happened when I got caught in that bee trap before; I’m sure it’s because I’d won a set of tissue boxes the day before, at a raffle in the shopping district.

Nagi: This is my theory on the phenomenon I call “The Yajirobe of Fortune and Misfortune.”

Momiji: I-I see... It’s like when people say bad luck doesn’t last forever, or how something good is bound to follow after something bad… Is it like that?

Nagi: …Are you a genius? I feel embarrassed for making up a whole theory now. I’ll just use your explanation next time.

Momiji: No, no, I understood what you were trying to say with your Yajirobe theory.

Nagi: …To avoid having the Yajirobe go crazy, I need to avoid any situation that might make me happy, intentionally or not. 

Nagi: Even a single slice of cake is too much for me. That sort of kindness… is too much happiness for me to bear. 

Momiji: (So he’s saying the cake made him so happy that he had to avoid accepting it, and even ran out of the dorm just so he could avoid inviting misfortune…)

Nagi: But sometimes, no matter how careful I am, the happiness just piles up anyways.

Nagi: That’s when I bring these out.

Momiji: Flowers…?

Nagi: My special ability– Flower Power: Imposed Blessings*.

Momiji: …Um?

Nagi: By imbuing flowers with the energy from my accumulated happiness, I can impose the excess onto others. There's no limit to how many flowers can be handed out. The only debuff I have to suffer is embarrassment.

Momiji: (Oh…)

Momiji: (Is that why he was handing out flowers in the middle of the street the first time I met him…?)

Momiji: (Honestly, I’m not sure how much of this I’m supposed to believe… But at the very least, I can tell Nagi-kun is being serious about this.)

Momiji: I…see. So if you give away your flowers—

Nagi: The misfortune’s rebound gets weaker. 

Momiji: –The misfortune’s rebound gets weaker…… Right. 

Nagi: (As expected, she looks really confused.)

Momiji: Um, let’s see if I got this right– You felt that joining HAMA Tours, and living at HAMA House would—

Nagi: Accumulate a debt of happiness.

Momiji: Which is why you left.

Nagi: Yes. Something like–

Nagi: Something like working together, and living alongside others, just like a ‘family’... There’s no way to predict the amount of happiness I’d receive from just being there.

Momiji: (The amount of happiness…)

Nagi: Being surrounded by happiness like that… Holding hands, and shouting POTHARU together with everyone—

Nagi: It wouldn’t surprise me if an earthquake hit right after, and HAMA House ended up as a pile of rubble…! 

Momiji: …… 

Nagi: (She looks stunned. I guess that’s expected.)

Nagi: (It was just impossible for someone like me, who’s always avoided other people, to suddenly work with others and live alongside them.)

Nagi: (She probably thinks I’m a weirdo. It’s not something you can wrap your head around. It’s a natural reaction.)

Nagi: (I’ll just get myself fired right here and now, so I can return to my old lifestyle. A life with no big waves, just the mundane everyday.)

Momiji: I understand your situation now.

Nagi: …… 

Momiji: Can I have all your flowers, then? 

Nagi: …… 

Nagi: —Huh?

Momiji: You just have to reduce that, um, debt of happiness, by giving away your flowers, right?

Momiji: But it’s probably difficult for you to find people to give flowers to on a daily basis, huh?

Nagi: …Is that… where this conversation is supposed to go?

Momiji: I think so?

Momiji: Then um, maybe your costs increase because you have to give out more flowers?

Nagi: No, that’s not really a problem. I can get a good discount if I buy it in bulk, so… 

Momiji: I see. Then, it’s just a problem of who you can give your flowers to. Accosting strangers to give them flowers is probably taxing for you, and confusing for the other person too.

Momiji: But, since I know what’s going on, I can take as many flowers as you want to give away.

Nagi: I… I guess that makes sense. 

Nagi: Wouldn’t it be a bother to you…?

Momiji: Of course not. You can never have too many flowers! I mean, flowers give a feeling of a fresh beginning, you know? They’re always nice to have.

Nagi: …… 

Nagi: Here.

Momiji: Oh! A flower! Thank you very much. You popped that out like some kinda magician!

Nagi: …Flowers have always been a part of my life, before I’d even realized it. That’s why, it’s always there, right beside me, where I can reach for it whenever I want.

Momiji: Still, what a large flower! What’s it called?

Nagi: Peony.

Momiji: Aw, it’s so pretty! And it smells so good too!

Nagi: —......

Nagi: Next, this one.

Momiji: It has such a unique shape… What’s its name? 

Nagi: Serruria.

Momiji: It’s so peculiar and cute! I wonder what I should decorate with it… 

Nagi: Here.

Momiji: This is a crazy amount! It’s starting to look like a huge bouquet at this point!

Nagi: Here.

Momiji: Oh dear, the colors are clashing…!

Nagi: Here.

Momiji: I can’t see in front of me anymore…! *giggles* But—

Momiji: Thank you, Nagi-kun!

Nagi: I should be the one saying that.

Nagi: Thank you for taking on my happiness, Chief. 

Notes:

Yajirobe is a term used for Japanese balancing toys. The mechanism involves balancing the main body at a fulcrum and making sure it doesn’t tilt too far in either direction before it’s balanced again, swinging back like a pendulum.

The name of Nagi’s ‘special ability’ literally translates to “imposing happiness/good fortune onto others through giving away flowers” which is super long hence why it got changed. He’s the type to make up silly names anyways.

Flower Language:

Peony Bashfulness, Shyness

Serruria Yearning, Beautiful heart

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Masterlist

[feelingpure]

Fellow Travelers | The Orange Elephant in the Room

Alright, let's talk about it.

For those who've watched the available episodes of FT so far; I'm sure we've all noticed the citrus haze they all seem to be living in.

Especially if you've attempted to edit/GIF any portion of it. The struggle is real and I'm sure has inspired many colouring dilemmas.

And we're all asking "WHY?!".

Now, I'm writing this having not looked up anything about it. So I dunno if anyone responsible has made a formal confession.

One of my initial thoughts around it was; okay... so is this just a 1950s thing? But after watching (and rewatching) episode 2, I feel like it's part of the story in a different way; It's clearly a stylistic choice, yes (I should hope that doesn't just happen by accident). But it also seems to double as a narrative choice.

Putting the rest, with image examples, under a cut because it's kinda long.

Warm vs Cool

The conclusion I've come to is pretty simply, one that we've seen used across media in a lot of movies and shows. Warm tones used to colour scenes that are meant to literally be 'warm'; a loving environment or somewhere where the character(s) feel like they can be themselves. Cool tones used for scenes where it's quite the opposite; a cold hostile environment where the character(s) does not feel welcome. Gradients in between for all the neutral/'greyarea' spaces.

Consider

Cool/neutral outdoor bench scene (with park spies around):

Maybe it's an indoor/outdoor thing? No...

Indoors (even with the mandatory orange lamps nearby) they stay pretty neutral:

Night time/day time thing? No...

Night time vs day time in Tim's apartment:

Compare it to day time neutral alone Tim in the same room before. The difference is that he's with Hawk, out of sight of any would be naysayers.

So yeah, while I am mad about the colouring for giffing needs, I do think what they're doing is pretty neat, and the POC in the show look glorious in the warm tones.

The warm/cool motif is dialled up even more in episode 2, with the contrast of Mary's warm welcoming party and Hawk's cold af family gathering (even though they still have the orange lamps/sconces around, they add nothing to the warmth):

🥺 Ugh, Tim at Mary's party. Might be my favourite part of the episode, alongside the kissing n spooning. Anyway...

The transition of Mary from the same living room where she hosted that party, to the kitchen they were just questioned in:

That transition made me start paying more attention and go back to rewatch previous scenes just for colour themes.

Interestingly Hawk's apartment seems to live in this neutral/warmish space. It was more warm earlier in the episode, especially when they were in the bedroom the morning Tim left his glasses. But in general it's a lot less warm than Tim's apartment when compared; still their skin glows with a hint of tangerine:

Of course, not only the lighting/colouring but their outfit choices say a lot. Tim is usually in the warm browns with his dress, while Hawk pretty much sticks to black, white, grey (hints of a cool toned blues and reds in his ties). This coupled with the differences in their own living space probably reflects a lot about the character and how 'welcoming' they are to others. Idk... or I could just be thinking too much about it.

This is another really interesting transition in episode 2. As Hawk hangs up the phone in that cool toned side room, opens the door to the main room of a gay bar, the warm tones literally seem to absorb him in. Which makes sense, this is obviously a gay friendly place in San Francisco. He doesn't have to try to hide any part of himself, like he probably was still trying to do on that voicemail to Lucy just before.

Now, I could go through and screenshot a load more examples (some scenes with Lucy are interesting, and that lounge/club), but you probably get the gist, you see the pattern. If not before, on your next watch, you'll certainly see it.

This has got longer than intended; I'd be surprised if anyone got this far, I did NOT fully organise my thoughts before I started this, I just began rambling and I feel like it could've been more organised and laid out better. But if you have thoughts about the colouring, I'd really like to see those too. 🤗

[sufferu]

So... did no one at any point say something like, "Break your contract with puck to prevent him from ending the world, but we should keep him around to monitor Subaru's mental health?"

Also how long does the initial panic last? If I squint really hard I can see how you could blame the initial bad calls on that, but I feel like past the 2-3 week mark someone (literally any single one of the 10+ people that claim to love him) would use a bit of empathy and start thinking about how stuff looks like from Subaru's side no?

Like yeah Subaru would probably deny it, but they have a living lie detector (that now knows it can be worked around if they don't ask the right questions), and have watched everything, including how bad they were at noticing his pain before, as well as how Emilia leaving him was the catalyst for one of his worst emotional breakdowns. (And she decided to do it again but worse lmao)

Just stick Crusch into any mental health checkup Felix does and problem solved. (And I genuinely think that the post-viewing cast is smart enough for someone to think of that, at any point in like the 1.5 years the suffering part takes place in)

“We should keep the Apocalypse Demon around specifically to monitor the mental health of the guy we watched torture to death through freezing him bit by bit, starting with the tips of his fingers and ending with his major organs like he was pulling the limbs off of a spider.” I mean, even if Puck’s ability to read emotions could logically be used to read Subaru’s mental state, 1) nobody even knows that would be all that necessary due to not even realizing that Subaru is FAKING his being okay at the moment, and 2) they don’t want Puck anywhere NEAR Subaru after THAT, lol.

And yeah, the initial panic lasts about a week, it doesn’t color the entire course of BTZ. But it DOES establish a precedent, because it is during this time period that Subaru gets into a very specific routine that everyone takes a cursory glance at, determines will not get him killed, and subsequently decides to just let be due to not realizing the underlying psychological reasons that should be raising alarms. They don’t think to actually check on him until AFTER the Whale Fight due to…all that — but said check-up ends up going sideways in a way that I can’t really describe without just writing the entire scene lol. But long story short, they GENUINELY think he’s doing alright at the moment. That assumption (and everything perpetuating it) is the main cause of all of the issues in BTZ.

[mogamuncher]

Alright, I was thinking that for Christmas I'd do some good old Fandom Positivity Post, so:

One of the things I love on fandoms is just when they make some shit up, but said shit becomes so widespread within the fandom that it becomes an entire fandom staple, and sometimes it even evolves into a fandom itself

Like, obviously the easiest example is the Undertale AUs, which I've always adored so so so much. I just love seeing the designs and creative ways people put spins in the original world and story

Another old example that makes me laugh though is definitely the entirety of Reed900 in the Detroit: Become Human fandom. Featuring a cop that got like three scenes where he's an asshole and a slightly taller replacement of the main character that didn't even get a single line, this ship is literally all made the fuck up by the fandom on the fly, it's put together by people finding headcanons in each other's works and sticking with them until they become a soft sort of "canon" for the ship, like:

Gavin likes/has cats, RK900 is called Nines, Nines is more serious and sterner than Connor, both mirror Hank and Connor by being assigned partners, they clash at first but slowly fall in love. These are all staples of this ship, almost all fanfiction involving them has it, but it's all headcanon. The fandom dreamed this ship up out of thin fucking air but it's still like the second most popular ship in the entire fandom and it is glorious

I also want to give honorable mentions to the TCF and ORV fandoms, the transmigration stories are top notch and I love the TCF reaction fics a lot. These are staples, I wouldn't give them up for the world

But of course, anyone who follows me knows that I'm a Re:Zero fanatic, and anyone who is in the Re:Zero fanfiction scene knows that we have a lot of these fandom staples here

The reaction fics, which were started by Watching Him Die Over And Over Again, we have reaction fics in droves. Most of them are for the main story, just watching return by death in it's full glory, but otherwise we also have reaction fics to everything now. We have reaction fics to other pieces of fanfiction, sometimes of a fic is good enough someone will ask "hey can I write a reaction fic for this" and if they get permission you wait like a week and it'll be up for you to read, it's great

And who could also forget Re:Forgotten Spin-offs? While usually used as excuses for writing revenge stories, I think the idea is so fun and emotionally harrowing that I can't help but read it anytime it comes up! My favorite so far is the one where it led to a Yandere Subaru!

For a more recent example, the "Subaru gets isekai-ed in body of another character", a genre that I hold so near and dear to my heart, I love it so so so so much. The canon diversion, the shenanigans, the identity crisis, it's all mwah mwah perfect

Overall I just love it when fandoms have these little running gags and tendencies, like massive widely accepted stuff that gets as popular as the original work itself

[grumfield]

what do you mean Will is an apex predator? curious about your perspective.

Here i'll just post a meta about it i never put up on tumblr from like, 8 months or so ago about this question...I basically think of him as like a wild animal:

Will is interesting to me because I see a lot of memes/videos/posts about Hannibal being horny/falling for Will etc. (sparkle eyes, turning himself in, etc.) but I realized there wasn’t much of this kind of thing for Will other than his sort of calculated seduction attempts or incidental, vaguely sexual moments like the ladder scene. There is not much casual dialogue online about his internal workings or motivations, or affection. And I was like…huh. And I just had this realization where I looked at him in my head and just felt like…white noise, the way I would if I was trying to understand the thoughts of a wolf or something. I’ve watched this show going on maybe eight times and had never really given much thought to how little I actually knew about him or his motives/desires, and I was just kind of hit with the feeling that this guy is very, very unlike me and exceptionally dangerous.

For a show all about profiling and understanding people, it's interesting how little we are allowed into our main character’s inner thoughts. Hannibal as a show is thought of a lot as like, the seduction of Will Graham and the pull between Hannibal and Jack, but really I feel like I’m watching Hannibal and Jack in a bike race while this random beautiful guy stands off to the side and is trying to pick which bike he’d rather put a stick between the spokes of. And you ask him why and he just stares at you with his big blue eyes and you're just kinda like alright whatever you say gorgeous.

We’re given emotional closeups to Jack and Hannibal, but Will, much like he is with other people, is kind of kept at arms’ length. We don’t need an exposé on who Hannibal is because of the mythology around him. We know who he is, but the first stated theme of the show (which Will says in S1E1) is “Tell me who you are”. 

We know Hannibal, we know Jack. Aside from building off the audience’s knowledge of these characters and their morality, Hannibal’s motivations and emotions have always been apparent in the story. All of them can be sort of summed up as curiosity, eating the rude, loneliness, and love. 

We know a lot about the other killers he profiles. Their motives, their pathologies, their wants. He takes them on, but every time he does, we know less and less about him.

We don’t know who Will Graham is. Alana mentions making an effort to not be alone with him, and we aren’t ever really alone with him either, especially early on: there’s always dogs there, or hallucinations, or actual people to reflect off of. And because his empathy disorder sort of makes him a vessel for the wants, desires, and thoughts of others, we only ever see a construct a person suit that looks person-shaped, potentially caused by being in proximity to other living things.

We know things about other people and can kind of construct an idea of him based on what others think about him--fine china Will, wounded bird Will. And when Hannibal goes to his house we learn the same things he does about him: he lives far from society, in the woods, the outdoors, etc. We are privy to the real Will as much as anyone else is, including himself.

A lot of Hannibal’s dialogue with him can be summarized as that. It’s about getting Will to understand what he is outside of the influence of other people. Who are you?

In the way that Hannibal is a fallen angel and makes a lot of choices due to his emotions, I find him to be as human as it gets in a lot of ways. He’s a killer but he’s exceptionally relatable and kind of hosts the most extreme versions of wants and desires--wow, this person sucks, I totally get eating them! Wow, turning yourself in out of love! And if we’re running with that, Will on the other hand, I feel like is the opposite. 

I never once was like “wow, you’re doing x because of y”. He just does things. There’s logic and calculation to them, but especially later, beyond revenge or whatever, I feel like trying to understand their reasoning is a futile effort. It’s a very scorpion/frog parable thing: just as the scorpion stings the frog, so too does Will have the urge to kill. It’s in his nature. Which we hear a lot, but viewing it not as “a deep desire to kill” (because he arguably embodies the desires of others) but as some kind of integral element of his existence is interesting. He even goes outright and says it in Season 2: "I've given up good and evil for behaviorism"

He is extremely inhuman and reminds me more of an apex predator than an actual person. Where Hannibal’s perspective towards killing has a certain level of civilized dialogue to it (ie. people as livestock) Will’s definitely strikes me as something different, and wilder/less cultured, in that he seems to view people more as prey--it’s not that they aren’t equal to him like for Hannibal, but more that they are weaker than him. He hunts/fishes/lures, he uses his hands, his teeth. And Will’s urge to kill seemingly has no true motive other than a primal instinct.  His empathy disorder then started striking me less as a disorder and more as an angler fish’s light—it’s a hunting mechanism.

Another thing I think is interesting that kind of plays into this whole hunter Will is that I never really got the sense he had an explicitly “save people” but rather a “hunt killer” instinct which kind of plays into him being a predator. If he really cared about saving people he would’ve given a shit about the people Hannibal killed. But, like, he liked Beverly but his motivation to proving Hannibal was a killer wasn’t like “I need to stop this man from killing and avenge Beverly”, like it was for Jack (who very explicitly has a save people instinct, it’s kind of reflected with his wife’s cancer) it’s, “I need to give him a taste of his own medicine”. He has a hunting drive like a bloodhound—truly, when the fox hears the rabbits scream, he doesn’t come to help

Like an animal, he brings Hannibal his “prey” to the table (Randall Tier, another person who thought he was a predator and paid the price going up against a real one) the way a cat brings dead animals to the people it’s bonded to. 

It’s why it’s kind of impossible to know what he’s going to do at any given time. I think he makes decisions for himself not really in any conscious logic path (today I will x and y) but kind of the way an animal might: he just does it, because he does it, and everything stopping him is outside influence. Sure, if you muzzle a wolf, it can't bite, but that doesn't mean it's not in its DNA to.

I could never really articulate Will’s feelings towards Hannibal in any way that really felt like it encapsulated his character until I kind of thought of him more like a predator than a person. Hannibal very explicitly loves Will in a recognizable way, and shows moments of sexual desire (feeling paternal?) but Will’s feelings towards him kind of seem abstract and unknowable. He certainly feels something. But it always felt more like some kind of pack bonding thing than explicitly an “I love you”. 

People always kind of poke fun at the whole “is Hannibal in love with me scene” but I actually think the way Bedelia’s frames her response is super interesting for how Will is portrayed. Will knows what Hannibal feels, he’s a profiler, but the actual conversation says a lot.  Bedelia frames love not in the same way she talks to Hannibal about it (with Hannibal she uses the words love and extrapolates on his emotions). When she talks to Will, she presents what he feels not as love the way me and you might say it, but in primal language: hunger, ache. Things that he would understand. Both Bedelia and Hannibal are kind of the only ones to recognize this (Hannibal calling him a mongoose).

Anyways. That’s it.

[loveislandthegame]

thoughts on todays volume !

leo is…well, at least he’s not dean 😭 i like his personality but he looks like a mix of dylan from season 4 & wesley stickler from ace attorney

i feel like FB is overexplaining why OG LI didn’t leave when MC got dumped. i get that they’re trying to make him look good (& get more money from players by milking these backstory gem scenes lol) but tacking on even more stuff is making the whole thing look nonsensical

FB! make this evil twink a love interest and MY LIFE IS YOURS ! (i guess they are aware of the slim shady comparison lmao)

but for real, i still don’t know if he’s gonna be an LI or not. i can't tell if he has any significant dialogue changes and i'm too lazy to start another playthrough. he doesn't have amnesia though, he remembers that ive been flirting with him (i forgot to screenshot his first piece of dialogue but he’s talking about the spin the bottle kiss)

there’s not much to say about mr. love island, except that FB seriously needs to retire that gross looking yellow massage oil overlay. at least adjust the hue a bit 😭

caleb sticking up for MC was very sweet 🥺❤️ obviously she can defend herself just fine, but he’s a real one for this. it’s making me feel bad that i haven’t spent any time with him in the villa (if only we could be a friendship couple, instead of the game forcing us to lead him on)

the spirit of season 1 MC possessed us for just a moment, i was gagged 😭 i ended up forgiving ava tho, i wish we could just be friends with the girls that aren't also LIs. i know i keep saying it but this one sided rivalry shit is so boring

the ex rated challenge was what i expected: LIs get decent reviews, MC gets the only 5 star rating. not to nitpick (in the sense that there's much bigger issues with FB's LGBT representation) but i don’t know why we couldn’t have chosen the gender of MC’s ex, especially since ash is already a gender neutral name (there could’ve easily been a dialogue option like “my ex…boyfriend/girlfriend/partner” before telling the story)

since MC won the challenge, she gets to go to the hideaway. i don't know why it's a secret or why none of these nosy af islanders tried to figure out what the prize was. anyways, i chose lisbeth ! it was so cute that they mentioned being happy to be there with eachother again

this damn box— whatever, i picked sexy dice

all those letters teasing movie night got me scared luv, i’m sure the main event is gonna be nyah in the shower with dean, but i’m bracing myself for MC and lisbeth caught doing bits all over the villa in 4K. i hate how wlw routes have to be sneaky/shady/hoe route-adjacent (it really sucks because i remember complimenting FB for the dialogue you get if you kept choosing her over the guys up until the first hideaway visit)

i'm still holding out hope for enemies to friends but sadly i won't be surprised if she does a full 180 in the next volume

next up is a three way date with hayden and caleb, unfortunately we can’t make them kiss challengers-style. i picked neutral answers whenever i could, but caleb won whatever compatibility thing we were doing because i liked his answers more lol

tristan’s rapping…i was gonna say “welcome back, rap crew” but tim, rohan, even jake would never come up with bars as horrible as those 😭 (can you tell i miss season 1)

lisbeth got jealous, so she took us on a hot tub date ❤️😭lately all of her scenes mention something among the lines of “i can’t wait until we’re finally able to couple up," when the hell is the recoupling ?! the last volume ? my heart can’t take it

hayden, caleb, tristan, and leo are on the chopping block. i have no idea why milo is safe & not the two dudes who’ve been here for one day and are still single, but alright.

it’d be hilarious if tristan got dumped again, but i’m guessing they’re gonna keep him around for drama (or he's a LI ?) . leo will probably stay to be ava’s partner, so my prediction will be that MC will have to choose between OG LI and casa LI

overall, there's 4 volumes left, why on earth are we dealing with a forced love triangle instead of spending time with our chosen LI ? at the very least i'd be more invested if it was between lisbeth and jesse, or even eisha if FB was too lazy to branch for a love triangle with different LI genders 😭 (even though they were able to do that back in season 3, with the iconic "i've got a beautiful girl and a handsome guy fighting for my attention. i'm living the bisexual dream") what a mess

i'm not looking forward to movie night, but i guess OG LI loyal girlies will probably be considered cheaters too, let's all be miserable together 🥀

[captainblou]

3, 12 and 32 for the TMI Friday?

Thanks for the ask love!!

3. Describe the creative process of writing a chapter/fic

Oh I’m a mess. I have so many docs opened with scenes, outlines and stuff… I write stuff as they come to me because if I don’t I’ll forget. I wrote a dialogue while still in bed this morning because it was giving me the feelings and I was afraid to loose it if I left my bed. But, when the main ideas are set, I try to outline each chapters with the main scenes I want in them, usually I outline the first and last before filling the gaps in the middle. And then, I just start writing. Whenever I feel the block, I open a new document and write a scene that actually flows until I can come back to the main doc.

Long story short I’m a chaotic writer. I write while watching TV, I write at work, I write in my bed. And I reread everything a thousand times.

12. How does receiving or not receiving feedback/support impact you?

I would love to tell you that I write for myself and don’t care about what people think, but that would be a lie. I love getting feedback. I love receiving comments, I love reading how excited people are over the stuff I write. It makes me feel good about myself for the first time in years. I was so sure I was done for creative stuff when Covid hit and I was just not capable of writing anything when everyone else was soooo productive… My self esteem was so low at that point, that I’m not even ashamed of saying that I write and post my stories because it feels good to receive feedback.

So please guys, comment on the fics you read. Even if it’s nothing groundbreaking, not all of us are going to post Slow Show, alright, but please, comment, give us our bread!!

32. Name 3 of your favorite fanfic writers.

Oh god, this is so difficult. I have to admit that I mostly read stories but don’t stick to a writer

@ineffabildaddy is a must. Sweetheart, the way you write smut is unbelievable, I’ve said it before, never thought I’d cry over porn in my life, but you did it, more than once

@demonicputto and their mega fic By My Side is my Roman Empire. I can’t wait for the next part, seriously.

@fellshish never misses!! Trial and errors is *chief kiss*

But also, my to read list is so full it’s insane, I’m probably missing out on a lot of amazing writers… Send me your fav’ @eybefioro !!!

[honey-beann]

Bound

Ghost!Sixty x Reader

Chapter I - The Apartment

Note: Here it is, the long awaited "Halloween" celebration fic that everyone voted on earlier this month! Originally, this was just going to be a oneshot, but I decided to split things up a bit after noticing the word count was getting pretty high, so I hope everyone is alright with a spooky series as we get deeper into autumn!

Series Synopsis: Reader moves into a new apartment for some much needed change after several months of living with her ex post breakup out of necessity. This negative experience has made her all too eager to be on her own again, except the only place in her budget that doesn't require a roommate was the scene of a murder less than a year prior...

What could go wrong?

AKA - Reader makes an iffy compromise so she doesn't have to live with another person, and ends up living with something else entirely, and he's a lot less capable of moving out than she is.

Warnings: This series will eventually contain smut in future chapters and there are many mentions of death, gun violence, and blood all throughout.

Word Count: 7,865

"This the place?"

You looked up from your phone, which contained the GPS directions to your new apartment, and nodded, unbuckling your seat belt as you turned to face your friend.

"Yup, this is it."

You reached over to open the door to the moving truck that contained most of your belongings, watching it swing outward before you stepped down onto the side bar, taking in the cool fall air with a soft sigh.

You stayed like that for a few moments, relishing in the feeling of freedom and peace, before you motioned with your thumb at the apartment complex, although far more specifically at the second floor balcony sticking out from the side of the building.

"It's the one attached to that balcony. I'll run ahead and unlock the door before everyone else gets here."

You said, looking back just long enough to see your friend nod his head in the affirmative before you stepped out onto the sidewalk below, looking up at what was about to be your new home with a mild sense of bewilderment.

How had you gotten here?

Well, you knew the answer to that.

The end to your five year long relationship had made your rooming situation with your ex pretty tense, and after four long months of trying to make it work for the convenience of not having to move, you'd finally given in and started looking at apartments.

The only problem was, there were none.

Detroit wasn't exactly a cheap place to live, regardless of how dingy it could feel at times, and you weren't really feeling all that great about a roommate after your previous living situation.

No, you wanted a place all to yourself, you just needed to find somewhere in your budget.

And in the end, that had landed you here.

A four story apartment complex that had been built in the early seventies. You were a ten minute drive away from the most metropolitan parts of the city, a seven minute walk from a park, a five minute walk from a grocery store and deli, and a three minute walk from your new job at a ridiculously popular bar that your friends were always talking about.

A spot to grab sandwiches and groceries, a place to sit and enjoy nature, and a not entirely creepy bar to work and have fun at all within ten minutes of you, and you didn't even have to deal with heavy traffic on your street. What more could a girl ask for?

Well, maybe she could ask for appliances that weren't older than her, a functioning heating unit, and an apartment that someone hadn't been murdered in, but how else could she afford rent in an area like this one?

You shuddered a bit at the memories of what had supposedly happened here, and tried to shake it off as you reached the front door of the building, pausing to take note of the name that was scribbled on tape next to the call button for apartment 2C, your new home.

'Lukas Everett"

You made a mental note to change that later on before punching in the code to the main entrance, sighing in relief when the old door gave the electronic click that meant it had unlocked for you.

The landlord had warned you that it tended to be difficult at times, since it was an old door lock equipped with a far more modern day system, and you'd be lying if you said his comment about "just shouting until someone buzzed you in" hadn't made you a little nervous about getting your stuff inside.

"Alright, good luck so far."

You muttered under your breath, knocking briefly on the old wood of the door in front of you so as not to jinx yourself before pushing it open and taking a hesitant step inside, where the scent of old wood and floor polish immediately washed over you.

Your shoes tapped on the linoleum beneath your feet as you moved in further, snapping the deadbolt of the lock outward manually before the door could close to keep it wedged open. The electronic lock made a beep noise to warn you that it had been left ajar, but beyond that, didn't set off any alarms or give any other security warnings, so you decided to let it be so your friend could get inside without your help.

Taking another brief glance around the lobby area, you found little worth noting and opted to take the stairs immediately to your left rather than the elevator a few more paces forward.

The stairs were made of aged wood, creaking with every step you took, but even so you could feel how sturdy they were, somehow remaining relatively structurally sound despite how old they must have been judging by the roughly two foot long strip of carpeting that ran up their center, which was a rather faded looking green that spoke to the age of this place both in its style and as its muted tone.

Upon reaching the top of the staircase, which landed you on the second floor, you stepped forward instead of continuing up, your shoe planting firmly atop the heavily marred wood flooring that adorned the hallway.

From there, you took a right, reaching into your coat pocket as you walked all the way to the end, pulling your apartment key out just as you made it to the door.

It was quiet, but not eerily so for a Tuesday at 10am, when you knew that almost everyone who lived in your complex was likely working or sleeping in. Still, you couldn't help but wish it were a little more populated around here, so maybe your footsteps wouldn't sound so loud in your ears.

Sighing, you placed your key in the lock, turning it slowly before pushing the heavy wooden door open with a gentle grunt, taking note of how weighty it felt beneath your palms.

"At least I'll know they worked for it if the murderer comes back for me too."

You muttered under your breath, stepping in and placing a brick that was just inside between the door and it's frame to keep it from closing. It wasn't uncommon to see them used as doorstops around here, but in a brick stone building of this age, you couldn't help but worry that it had once been of some structural importance.

You shrugged off the thought, pulling your coat closer around yourself as you began to survey your surroundings.

Sure, you'd toured the place a little over two weeks back, but this was the very first time you'd ever been here alone, and as you lingered in the heavy silence of your new home, you couldn't help but shiver a little.

At that, the question of your thermostat's location rose to mind, and you began taking small steps into the living area, until you found it on the wall beside the entrance to your hallway.

The landlord had warned you that the apartment ran cold, partially because of the poor sealing job done on the balcony doors, and partially because of the rather ancient heating system, but you turned the temperature up nonetheless, mentally praying that it might bring the heat up a degree or two.

The soft ticking of the radiator located further down the same wall as the thermostat indicated to you that you had at least managed to do something regarding the chill, so you decided to take the little victory and leave well enough alone for now.

You had a new apartment to explore alone for the very first time, after all.

Walking into the kitchen, you immediately set your bag down on top of it, shimmying the accessory off of your shoulder and leaning it against the green backsplash, being careful to ensure that nothing spilled out in the process.

After that you moved on to the old seventies style yellow fridge, sighing in relief a bit when you pulled it open to reveal a pristine white interior that seemed to be sustaining a cool temperature without issue. This fact also remained true about the freezer located above it, so with that, you moved on to your cabinets, checking inside of them to make sure that the previous tenant hadn't left anything behind.

Your thoughts regarding the man who had lived here before you drifted a bit as you continued your chore of checking all the wooden cabinets in your kitchen, steering your mind back to the day of your tour, when your landlord, John had informed you of the real reason that rent was so cheap here.

"So I am required to let you know before we even go in that someone did pass away here a little under a year ago."

He'd said as casually as possible as he wedged the key into the lock, immediately causing your eyes to widen a bit before you steadied yourself, choosing to remain calm rather than assuming the worst immediately. You had long since grown tired of living with your ex and dealing with the awkwardness associated with trying to make that work, so if the only apartment in your price range that didn't require a roommate had its quirks, then so be it.

"The previous tenant?"

You asked curiously, stepping into the apartment after your guide and taking a look around the naturally lit space, which allowed you to see the open concept kitchen and living area as well as the glass balcony doors.

"No, but he was involved."

The landlord replied as nonchalantly as possible before he gestured to the hardwood floors adorning the entire open area that was visible to you.

"So as you can see, I meant it when I said no carpeting. There used to be a ton but we removed it after the last guy moved out. The floor is a little scratched up from the job, but we tried to make sure all of the staples were collected."

You froze a bit at the mention of the carpeting being ripped up recently, sticking your vaguely chilled hands into your pockets as you looked around the room.

"They look nice..."

You murmured, trying to remain as casual as possible despite the strange topic of discussion.

"So the guy who lived here last was there when this person died in the apartment?"

You asked nervously, hoping to learn at least a little bit more about what had happened here.

The landlord nodded and walked over to the balcony doors, cracking them open and letting them swing inward in opposite directions as he motioned for you to follow him onto the concrete landing.

"That's what I last heard during the trial. I'm not sure what he plead but I know he got 25 to life with a potential for parole in fifteen to twenty years."

You had froze at that, eyes widening once again as you struggled not to gape at the man in front of you.

"You mean that the person who died here was murdered? By the previous tenant?"

You asked incredulously, watching in shock as John simply nodded.

"Yeah, it's a real shame. Lukas had been doing drugs for years by the time he moved in here, but I hadn't realized it had gotten so bad until after I found out about the killing. Apparently a buddy of his came over while Luke was having a bad trip, and thinking the poor guy was an intruder, he shot him right in the middle of his forehead."

The man elaborated on the horrifying tale with some sadness to his tone, but an ease to him that made you wonder just how many deaths he'd come across in his time as owner here.

You shivered a bit, rubbing at your arms and making your way off the balcony and back into the apartment, which suddenly felt a lot less welcoming than before.

"Is uh, is that why the carpet was removed in here?"

You asked hesitantly, gesturing vaguely towards the floor as the landlord raised a brow at your question, working to process it for a moment before a look of understanding came across his face, and he began shaking his head with a slight smile.

"Oh no, we really did just think it dated the place, all of the other vacant apartments got the same treatment."

He began, making his way down the hallway before he stopped suddenly at a doorway to his right, the room inside of which appeared to have the same view of outside that the balcony did.

"This is the office space. Lukas was using it as his bedroom because he liked the windowsill sitting area."

He paused for a moment, and before he even spoke, you knew exactly what he was going to say.

You let him finish anyway.

"This is the room it happened in, if you were wondering. We took the carpet out and had a forensic cleaning team deal with the rest before we decided to basically replace everything anyway. Even the cushion on the bench windowsill and a section of the wallpaper."

You nodded softly,

"That's... good to know."

John hummed, patting the side of the door frame before carrying on with the tour, showing you the bathroom, which consisted of a standing shower, a retro style baby blue toilet, and a vintage sink with a mirror cabinet mounted into the wall above it.

You found it charming in an odd way, despite how clearly dated it was, and nodded when asked if you were ready to see the bedroom, which apparently had a bathroom of its very own attached to it.

Together, you walked to a door at the very end of the hallway, which stood proudly in the center rather than on either side of the hall.

John reached forward to open it, allowing it to gently swing inward with a soft creak before he pushed it further, stepping inside to reveal a rather large bedroom lit up immensely by the outside world.

A great deal of the wall opposite you was windows save for one solidly walled space in the center, where a bed was clearly meant to go. These windows had been frosted in a way that made them nearly impossible to see through from the outside, and you couldn't help but ogle at how clear they were from where you were standing despite that fact.

You gave yourself a few more moments to appreciate the view of the city some fifteen to twenty feet below you before you allowed John to guide you in the direction of the en suite bathroom, which to your surprise, was a lot less dated than the other.

In this bathroom, rather than another standing shower, there was a claw-foot tub instead, which was as pristine of a white as the ceramic tiles beneath it. In addition to this, all of the metal that you could see was brass, from the claws of the tub to the faucets and even the radiator in the corner.

"This bathroom was touched up during the renovations too, interior design guy said it would help bring the value up after everything that happened."

The landlord had explained, letting you look for a few seconds longer before you both started to make your way back out into the living area/kitchen and towards the front door.

It was then, right after you had exited and were standing in the hallway facing one another, that John surprised you by bringing up the murder again.

"I know this is all a lot to take in about a place you're thinking about renting, but I want you to know that Luke was a good kid. If I never see you again, I don't want you to leave today thinking he was some crazed killer. He was scared and confused, and Six wouldn't have wanted you to blame him for what he did."

You paused at that, raising a brow at the unconventional name.

"Six?" You asked, watching as John nodded, gesturing for you to follow him back down to the lobby.

"He was a good friend of Lukas'. Ended up coming to check on him after he'd heard about him having a hard time lately towards the end of his shift. He'd always had a soft spot for Luke, had known him since he was twelve or something like that. Knew he had gotten in with a bad crowd. It would be wrong of me not to explain that to you... Kinda like spitting on the poor guy's memory."

After John finished, there was a heavy silence between the two of you, until finally, you piped up.

"I appreciate you letting me know. Would it be alright for me to leave my renters application with you, or do you have somewhere else I should drop it off?"

You asked, pulling out a manila folder from your purse without even really thinking at all.

Something about that apartment, about the way that John talked about everything that had happened there, it made you feel like this was somehow exactly where you were supposed to be. You wanted to make this place your home.

The man before you seemed surprised at your question, faltering for a few moments before he nodded and reached out to take the folder, offering you a polite nod and a slight smile as he began walking you towards the front door.

"Thank you for coming, I'll be in touch soon regarding your potential tenancy."

And that was it.

Three days later, John had called you with the good news (that you'd gotten the apartment), and told you that all he needed was a down payment before you could basically move in whenever.

And now, here you were, two weeks post tour, standing in the kitchen of your new apartment and checking the cabinets for any evidence of Lukas Everett's existence, as if he had moved out himself and left something behind in the process.

You paused to consider that, wondering briefly whose job it was to move someone's things out in the event of their arrest, when suddenly, a vague blur of movement seen in your periphery caught your attention, and you turned to the right towards the living room and the hallway that connected to it.

There was nothing there.

Even still, you felt the hairs on the back of your neck rise, as if you were subconsciously aware of something you could not see, but could almost feel the presence of.

As quietly as possible, you shut the cabinet door, taking a few small steps toward the living area while scanning your surroundings all the while.

It was only a few seconds later, as you breached the divide between the kitchen and living room, which was marked by the shift from linoleum to wood floor, that you heard a sharp creaking sound from the hallway that was now directly to your left.

Heart pounding as you tried to make sense of what was going on, you swallowed thickly as you started to make your way closer to whatever the source of that sound had been, halting entirely the very second you realized where it had come from.

It was the first room to the right of you, the only room to the right of you in fact, and if John had been telling the truth, it was also the room that a man had been murdered in.

Cursing under your breath at the dread that was building deep in the pit of your stomach, you forced yourself to move forward despite how terribly you wanted to pretend as if you'd never heard anything at all.

You peeked your head around the doorway slowly as you came upon it, fighting back a literal sigh of relief when you saw it was empty, before realizing that you still needed to find out what the source of that noise had been.

It was then that you noticed that the window, the one next to the sitting sill, was open, swinging outward on it's hinges as it blew gently in the wind.

You groaned internally at the sight, but found yourself grateful for the explainable cause of the sound, no matter how annoying it was going to be for you to pull that hinged window back inward.

Slowly and with a great deal of hesitance, you approached it, reaching for the cool metal handle and pulling it back in from above, before you latched it, noting with vague confusion the way that it slid in firmly, which led you to wonder how it had ever come undone in the first place.

Had John opened it up earlier that morning? And if so, what had you heard a minute or so prior?

You shrugged off your own questions, checking to make sure the latch was firmly secured when you suddenly noticed a speck of red spattered on the window sill near the source of your attention.

Tilting your head and leaning forward to get a better look, you squinted at it, running your thumb over the mark and noting the way it was slightly raised, like new paint on top of old.

You swallowed thickly, not wanting to admit to yourself what that probably was, but unable to stop yourself from allowing your mind to wander back to what had happened here.

Had he been afraid? Did he know he was going to die before he did, or had Lukas surprised him? Would he really have forgiven him if he could the way that John had said?

You pondered these questions with your eyes trained heavily on the stain, until the feeling of a warm hand on your shoulder caused you to let out a rather unattractive yelp as you fell into the side of the seated window sill.

Standing there with his hands up in an "I surrender" position, was Rupert, your friend who had driven you to the apartment.

"You left the doors open, so I figured you wanted me to follow you up here instead of wait for you to come back down."

He turned his attention towards the window, looking out of it for a few seconds as if searching for whatever you'd been so focused on.

"You good?"

Slowly, and with a bit of effort, you began to nod the affirmative in response, forcing a smile until you yourself started to believe it and stood to face your friend with a nervous laugh.

"Yeah, I'm all good, I just freaked myself out is all. New house, new sounds kinda thing."

Rupert raised a brow but didn't say anything, no doubt thinking what you weren't willing to say. That someone had died here, and that the creepy feeling may not have had as much to do with sound as you were hoping it did.

Not wanting to have that conversation at the moment, you clapped your friend on the shoulder as you walked past him, propping the front door open even further once you reached it.

"Come on Rup, let's see how much furniture we can get up here before everyone else arrives. I bet Leo twenty bucks that we could get the couch inside just fine without his whiny ass helping."

Rupert rolled his eyes but followed you over to the door, exiting without hesitation in spite of the fact that you lingered for just a few more seconds, watching curiously as a shadow seemed to briefly creep out from the doorway of the room you had only just barely exited before disappearing entirely, as if someone had been standing in front of the window in there only to suddenly dissipate without warning.

"Hey Slowpoke, are you gonna come help me, or are we trying to increase the size of Leo's monster ego?!"

Your curiosity regarding the situation at hand disappeared immediately, replaced by your perhaps too competitive spirit, which had you following Rupert down the stairs and towards the moving truck without a second thought regarding the room with the doorway and it's strange happenings.

"Oh, and get this, when I told him about the project already being done, he still asked me to put his name on it, can you believe that prick?!"

Leo rambled, causing you and Rupert to make eye contact with one another before chuckling to yourselves, always amused by your friend's ability to find something to complain about, even during group events.

"I dunno man, maybe he just needed someone to cut him a little slack, would it really hurt to include him so he doesn't have to worry about his job?"

Jerry asked hesitantly, his twin brother Jeremy nodding in agreement beside him.

Leo rolled his eyes, though you could hear the annoyance in his tone falter as he addressed his friends,

"You guys just don't get it. Everyone used to mock me for setting up exhibits because they thought I was using my dad's influence instead of actually working, and now they want me to include them on my work? It's such BS..."

He trailed off, his voice growing quiet as he finished,

"But it doesn't really matter anyway, I already put his name on the credit listing."

He grumbled, making you smile before clapping him on the shoulder,

"Atta boy, Manfred, I knew you had a heart somewhere in there."

You teased, laughing when he shot you a glare before you held your hands up in surrender and reached past him to grab the bottle of wine sitting on the counter.

Currently, you were all sitting around the table, which was pushed against the wall opposite the counters and other appliances in your kitchen, except for Leo, who had hoisted himself up onto it shortly after starting his rant.

You held up the bottle to your friends, swirling it back and forth a bit,

"Anyone else need a refill?"

You asked, moving towards your other friends, Andy and Mary to refill their glasses when they held them out to you.

Pouring some of the wine into your own glass once you were finished with theirs, you took a long sip before sighing happily, smiling at your friends.

"Thanks for being here to help me out today guys, it really means a lot."

You said for what was probably the fourth or fifth time that day before continuing.

"When Will and I broke up, I wasn't sure if anyone would be willing to forgive me for shredding the friend group like that, and having all of you here by my side really has made all the difference."

You continued, laughing a bit as you began to tear up, leading Mary to stand and move to give you a hug, which you gladly accepted.

"You don't have to thank us, you goof ball."

Leo said from behind you, his hand patting your shoulder as Mary went to sit back down,

"Will didn't deserve you, we all saw how little effort he was putting in, and we were always gonna support you in leaving no matter what."

He said, and you watched as Rupert nodded in agreement before joining in himself.

"If anything, I think we all feel lucky that you still want to keep us around after not saying anything for so long. He was absent, and took you for granted constantly, and if I could go back in time and warn you sooner, I would have."

He muttered, causing you to shake your head before moving to hug him as well.

"I had to do it on my own."

You assured him,

"There wasn't anything you could've said, I was completely in denial about how little he cared for me until the very end, and even then it wasn't until after the break up that I learned how easily he could turn on someone that he used to claim to love..."

You trailed off as you looked over to the cat bed in the corner of the living room beside the glass doors.

There was a cat bed in every room, even the office in spite of how much it creeped you out, just in case William ever let you bring your best friend home with you instead of keeping her trapped there with him.

Jerry, having noticed where your gaze had fallen, piped up,

"We're gonna get Tallulah back."

He promised, and immediately Leo nodded,

"Dad says he's having one of his lawyers look into a few people who deal with pet ownership related cases often. If Will doesn't come to his senses soon, being served might help him find them."

He bristled, and you offered him a slightly somber smile in response,

"You guys are doing way too much for me, you know that?"

You asked, only to have Andy shake his head,

"Lu is your cat, you had her for three years before you and Will even started dating, you deserve to have her back."

You nodded in response, taking a deep breath before letting the stress of the day go to the best of your ability, wanting to spend these next few hours having fun with your friends again for the first time since your breakup had halted most hanging out.

There was silence for a few moments before Mary spoke up,

"Okay so who organized the party games, and where did they put them, because I am so ready to kick Jerry and Jeremy's asses at Cards Against Humanity tonight."

You laughed at that, raising a brow at your reigning champs who simply shrugged in unison before looking at each other with matching grins.

Oh yeah, tonight was gonna be a good one.

By the time everyone was leaving, it was 1:30am, and everyone was thoroughly exhausted after a day of moving and unpacking.

"Thanks again for coming guys."

You yawned out as you held the door open, matching their smiles as they left for the evening.

"Come back again soon, alright?"

Everyone vocalized their agreement, promising to plan out another game night soon before they all walked down the hallway.

Heading out onto the Balcony, you shivered in the chilly fall air, but watched as everyone got into their respective vehicles.

Rupert got into the moving truck he had rented, waving at you as he drove away, while Jerry, and Jeremy piled into the cramped back seat of Leo's fancy red convertible, which would be in dire need of a rood reattachment soon if the weather was any indication.

They beeped the horn at you as they drove off in the same direction as Rupert, heading deeper into the city where they all lived.

Mary and Andy meanwhile got into their shared car, a practical little sedan shortly after shouting their goodbyes up to you, and then they drove off in the opposite direction of everyone else, living about twenty minutes away in the more suburban area of Detroit.

After watching everyone leave, you sighed as you reentered your home, shutting the balcony doors behind you before walking into the kitchen, where you began cleaning up.

Leftover pizza and recorked wine were the only things in your fridge by the time you were finished, and you stifled a chuckle at the sight before working on drying and putting away the dishes.

It was then, as you were reaching up to put the final wine glass away in the topmost part of your cup dedicated cupboard, that the same sharp sound from earlier rang out again, causing you to jump with a gasp as the cup tumbled out of your fingertips and crashed off of the edge of the counter, spraying glass everywhere.

You pressed your hand against your chest, eyes squeezed shut for a few moments before you finally opened them, taking in the sight before you.

There was glass all over the place, littering your counters and even your oven, which made you groan when you realized how long all of this would take you to clean up.

Sighing, you grabbed your mini hand broom and dust pan and set out to work, silently thanking god that you had already put the pizza away so you didn't have to worry about accidentally eating glass for breakfast the next morning.

Doing your best to not miss anything, you spent the next fifteen minutes working on your counters, oven, and floors before finally, the job was done, and you were able to throw the shards into the trash.

Still, it wasn't quite time to settle in yet, because the current chill spreading throughout your bones was far too uncomfortable to ignore, and you knew exactly why it was happening.

The window.

Cursing under your breath, you flicked on the hallway light switch before making your way toward the office, where you attempted to turn that light on as well, only to find that it didn't work.

"Seriously?"

You muttered under your breath, sighing as you used the flashlight on your phone instead, allowing it to illuminate the dark office space as you walked towards the window.

Shuddering at the cold, you reached outward and pulled it back in again, latching it as firmly as you could manage before you stood up, relieved at the foregone feeling of autumn wind in your hair.

Still, as you turned around, you couldn't help but feel as if someone were watching you, and a nagging voice in the back of your mind begged you to run and leave well enough alone in favor of confronting whatever unknown thing could be lurking in the darkness.

Unfortunately for that voice, you had experienced discomfort within your last place for far too long, and you had no intention of doing the same here.

"Look, if this is the guy who died here I'm gonna have to ask you to quit it with the window opening, alright? It's cold as hell outside, and I don't want to pay extra for heat just because you want to play unlatch the window."

At that, you began walking towards the doorway, pausing once to add,

"And if you absolutely have to open it, don't do this shit at night, I almost pissed myself."

And with that said and done, you made your way towards your bedroom, where, despite your brave words, you immediately locked your door behind you.

Heart still hammering a bit from the previous scare, you were quiet as you got ready for bed, brushing your teeth and changing into your familiar set of pajamas (an old tee shirt and some men's boxer shorts) as quickly as possible, all too ready to put this day behind you in hopes that it had somehow all been a fluke, and that the mysteriously opening window and the shadow from earlier on in the day had some obvious explanation that only a good night's rest could provide you.

But if that was the case, you weren't about to get it.

Fruitlessly, you tossed and turned about all night, falling into bout after bout of fitful sleep as nightmare after nightmare plagued your mind.

Cats yowling, tires screeching, Will shouting, cries of your name, gunshots, and persistent sobbing all echoed throughout your mind until finally, you shot upright in bed for the final time at 7:08am on a Wednesday morning.

Groaning as you got up, eyes still bleary with sleep and wounded by pervasive sunlight, you made a beeline for the bedroom door, opening it before immediately walking into the far dimmer hallway, which was lit up solely by the windows lining your bedroom wall, and the windows lining the balcony door, both of which had light pouring in.

If you had been more awake, you might have noticed that the door to your bedroom was no longer locked, but with your mind still so groggy with restless sleep, you didn't think anything of it, and instead went to grab the only thing you could for breakfast: a cold piece of pizza.

Sighing, you opened your plate and bowl cabinet, groaning when you noticed how high up and far back Jerry had placed your plates.

The poor guy didn't have a mean bone in his body, but he definitely wasn't the most cognizant of others' personal struggles.

Like how you could in no way reach those plates without a boost.

Grumbling to yourself about how it was far too early for this shit, you placed your hands firmly on the counter to hoist yourself up, only to hiss in pain as you yanked your left hand away as if you had placed it upon hot coals.

"Motherfucker!"

You shouted, turning your palm towards you only to be met with a slightly gruesome sight.

There, lodged in the center of your hand, was a piece of glass about the size of your pinky nail, and it hurt like a bitch.

Not bothering to ruminate on how you could have possibly missed a piece of glass this big while cleaning up the night before, you rushed to the bathroom in the hall, yanking open the mirrored cabinet to find your band aids and a set of tweezers that you were almost certain Rupert had left upon realizing you didn't have any yesterday, because of course he carried tweezers around with him in case of emergencies.

Yanking the two supplies out of the cabinet, you briefly let your eyes search for anything else you might need, noting the peroxide and alcohol wipes sitting towards the end of the middle row.

'I just fucking cleaned this cup last night right before I broke it, there's no reason it should be dirty.'

Your injured brain shouted at you, and immediately, you moved to close the door, having decided that you wanted this to be over far too badly to bother cleaning it your wound.

But then,

"Yeah you're gonna wanna clean that."

You startled slightly as a voice you had never heard before spoke from what sounded like the left of you, though a quick glance in that direction yielded nothing of note.

What the fuck was going on here? Were you finally losing your mind?

You groaned as you grabbed the alcohol wipes and peroxide out of the cabinet as quickly as you could manage before all but slamming the mirrored door shut. You then lined everything up on the counter, sat yourself down on the closed toilet seat, and got to work.

"Shit."

You muttered to yourself as you began attempting to use the tweezers to pull the glass shard out of your hand, the pain causing your fingers to shake as you wiggled at the piece to dislodge it, brain clouded by pain and a slight sensation of fear.

"Don't twist the damn thing, just pull it straight. Hasn't anyone ever taught you how to take a splinter out before?"

There was that voice again, this time from your right, but you didn't even bother to look over this time, firmly believing that it was all in your head, some sort of coping mechanism for the pain.

You did as the voice said, pulling the piece straight out before sighing in relief, dropping it and the tweezers onto the bathroom counter, smearing the pristine surface with your blood.

Once that was done, you used an alcohol wipe, fighting back tears at the stinging sensation before forcing yourself to use the peroxide as well just to be safe.

You watched as the cut bubbled as you poured the liquid on to it, and you continued little by little until it stopped, which was when you were finally able to dry it off and use a band aid on it to help stop the bleeding (or at least to make it harder for you to see).

Sighing, you leaned your head back against the wall, injured hand hanging below you as you tried to catch your breath.

In reality, it had only been a few minutes, but that whole ordeal had felt like it had taken hours, and you were still exhausted from your poor night of sleep.

You were so exhausted in fact, that you had actually started to doze off while still seated atop the toilet seat when a persistent knocking sound jolted you awake.

Looking around the room for the source, you found nothing, and soon realized with a start that the sound was coming from your front door.

Groaning with effort, you heaved your tired body up, and, still in only your long pajama shirt and men's boxer shorts, made your way to the front door, which you swung open without even bothering to use the peep hole, since, in your eagerness to make the knocking stop, you had entirely forgotten about it's existence.

And with who was waiting for you on the other side, you really wished you hadn't.

Standing there was William, your ex boyfriend, with a cat carrier in hand.

His eyes gave you a once over before he had the decency to look away upon realizing you clearly hadn't expected a visitor so early in the morning.

"Will."

You said, eyes widening slightly before you regained control of yourself, clearing your throat a bit before continuing.

"How uh, how did you get this address?"

The man in front of you shrugged a bit before opening his mouth to answer.

"I asked Jerry. He was pretty hesitant to give it to me, and wanted me to call you about it instead, but when he heard it was about Tallulah, he gave me your complex address and apartment number."

He admitted, and you nodded before looking to the speaker and buttons beside your door, the ones you were supposed to speak to and buzz people in from.

"Wait, but how did you get up here? Did someone buzz you in?"

You asked, watching as confusion etched its way across your exe's features.

"Uh yeah I mean, I thought that you did."

He muttered, scratching at the back of his neck nervously,

"I hit the call button to your apartment for a second or two and the main entrance just kinda unlocked. I didn't even have to say anything. I figured you could see me from the balcony or something."

He said, gesturing over to the doors attached to the wall over to your left.

Your brow creased in confusion, wondering how you had missed the buzzing sound and who had let Will into the complex if you hadn't, but you shrugged it off, far more concerned at the mention of Tallulah than anything else.

"Is Lu alright?"

You asked, changing the subject entirely.

Will nodded.

"Yeah, she's fine, I just picked her up from an overnight at the vet, she wasn't eating."

At this, you grew even more concerned,

"Not eating? In what world is that fine, Will?"

You all but snapped, watching as the man in question shook his head in response, guilt present in his eyes.

"No no I mean it, the vet says she's fine, she just... misses you."

He finished, sighing a bit as he met your gaze once more.

"The vet said it would probably be best for her to live with you from now on if this is how she's reacting to you being gone already, so I wanted to drop her off. I would have called, but you never answer and I wasn't about to bring her home just to wrestle her into the carrier again later, so here I am."

He explained before reaching out to offer you the carrier.

"And here's Lu. I'm sorry I didn't just let you keep her in the first place. She's your cat, and I knew that, I just thought that if I didn't let her go, it might convince you to stay..."

Will trailed off, and you nodded solemnly as you took the carrier from him, briefly walking inside to place it on the couch before returning, your hand already poised to close the door.

"I know Will. Thank you for bringing her home."

You said gently, watching as your ex nodded before taking a step backward, shoving his hands deep into his pockets.

"Yeah, no problem. I'll see you around, alright?"

He muttered, and you waved to him in farewell before closing and bolting the door behind him, praying there would be no more unwelcome intrusions after that absolutely doozy.

Still, there was one thing to celebrate, and as you rounded the couch, you couldn't help but smile at the cat laying down inside of the gray carrier in front of you.

You opened it up slowly, wanting to let her come out at her own pace, but almost as soon as the door was open, Tallulah was calmly walking out to the edge of the couch, rubbing her brown head against your hands as you knelt down in front of her, instantly relieved to have her home.

You'd had her since she was a three year old stray that the previous tenant of your old rental duplex had been feeding prior to you moving in.

It had started off as you just giving her food, but soon enough you were inviting her inside as well, where she had eventually retired her outdoor cat status in favor of staying with you.

She was a beautiful little lady, even now at eight, which was when most cats tended to grow a little lax with their self grooming. She was entirely chestnut brown in color, with two stunning yellow eyes and an adorable pink nose.

Before Tallulah, you had never seen an all brown cat before, and you could still remember how shocked you'd been to hear she was a stray from your neighbor.

You smiled down at her as you recalled the fond memories of some of your first interactions, lowering your head so she could rub her soft face against yours, easing your mind of any and all stress instantly.

"I missed you so much, Lulah girl."

You murmured, reaching out to pet her only to falter when she bristled, looking straight past you as if there were someone there.

Fighting the urge to turn around for the second time that morning, you ran your hand down her back, smoothing down her slightly raised fur as you spoke to her gently.

"It's alright sweet girl, there's nobody else he-"

"Okay, so I'm kind enough to buzz that guy in for you while you incorrectly treat your wounds, and this is how you repay me? By forcing me to live with a cat?"

You shrieked, falling to the side as you turned to see where the voice had come from, only to see an ever so slightly translucent man standing there with his arms crossed.

"What the- who the hell are you?!"

You shouted, watching as the man rolled his eyes,

"What, you can't guess?"

You shook your head indignantly, hoping desperately that you would wake up from this strange nightmare soon.

The man sighed in response to your insistence, and raised a brow at you as if you were more than a little dumb for not figuring it out yourself already.

"I'm Sixty. You know, the guy who died here?"

masterlist

AO3

[fontasticcrablettes]

i've always admired the way you wrote NPCs/OCs into your fics that serve their purpose, but still feel cohesive to the setting and not a boring blank personality slate. developing characters is hard enough already, but making the randos memorable (well, as memorable as randos need to be) is impressive. how do you do it

Thank you!

As for advice, I think developing side characters is a skill that is helped by writing original fiction, where all the characters are invented by you and there's no canon to character to base them on. You don't have to write original stories, though, just practice with the side characters when they come up.

For advice, here are some things to keep in mind that might help with making supporting OCs feel cohesive with the setting:

Consider the name scheme for canon characters and pick something along those lines. A lot of canonical characters in Vesperia have names that are from European languages and have been heard before, but aren't especially popular in English today. Giving them a name that wouldn't stand out in a list of NPCs helps them fit in.

Similar to the names, if you describe how they dress, keep their clothing similar to other NPCs. Look how the background characters in canon in the regions your oc comes from dress and stick to that theme.

Give them ties to canon. Don't go too hard on this or you end up with someone who is so tied to canon that it would be unbelievable that canon never mentioned them (like, making your OC the protagonist's best friend or the villain's child or something like that). But give them motivations based on things that happened in canon, opinions on canonical events, business relationships with canonical companies. Connections that embed them in the world.

As for making them memorable, it's part of creating characters in general. For characters who are going to be around for a while, give them at least a motivation for why they're doing what they're doing and some distinct trait. If they're an antagonist, are they cruel? Apologetic? Angry? Self-righteous? Vengeful?

Even when someone is allied with the main characters, I think one of the quickest ways to get a 'boring blank slate' character is write them as a generally pleasant person who gets along well with the main cast. Your blorbo might be the main character, but it can be interesting if the OC they need to work with to solve a plot issue thinks your blorbo is annoying. When in doubt, basing them on a person you know irl can be a good starting point for someone unique.

Ad if they only need to appear in one or two scenes, they probably only need one or two personality traits. A defined quirk for their brief appearance helps them not blend into the background. If they're only around for a scene or two, it's alright for their personality to be exaggerated. They aren't around long enough for a deep and layered view of their character.

Let me know if you'd like me to talk about any of this in more detail. Good luck writing!

[the-mspfa-200-favourites-project]

LOVESTUCK

You know what? A lot of these Fanadventures have like, HORROR as the main theme. Which makes sense, because MSPFAs can do Horror like nobody’s business, and that’s probably what a lot of fanadventure authors are into. But how about we get some LOVE into the mix, huh? Where’s the romance genre, where’s the dating sims? After all, Visual Novels *are* the closest to matching the exact style and cadence of a lot of Homestuck’s beats and framing of the story. Well, look no further than LoveStuck. It’s even in the title! What could go wrong?

Alright first off I’m getting a little distracted by the gif in the top left hand side of the screen. I think it’s because it’s rapidly changing and that means my eyes are immediately drawn to it, so it’s a little hard to see the actual panels. Messing around with the site’s UI, while easier than every because of the frankly fantastic CSS fanadventures that allow you to generate your own code without actually having to code anything yourself (shout out to those fanadventures), is a task that you should probably think about how it will effect the reading experience. Because, it will, and the idea is to do it in a positive way that immerses me more in the action, rather than a negative way that pulls me out of it, I guess is my point with this particular note.

I wonder if anybody has ever studied the first act of Homestuck. I’m thinking about this because yes, this is a Homestuck AU, and therefore is repeating the same beats at the original Homestuck’s Act 1 (Getting a message that there’s a game in the mail, seeing the flag thingy sticking up, Guardian gets the mail, etc.). Because, like, Hussie is writing those scenes with a purpose, right? But most people tend to add them into their Homestuck AU ad nausum for, like, familiarity and legitimacy and stuff like that, and not really understanding whether or not those beats serve a purpose within the narrative that THEY want to tell. It makes me almost want to do a complete deep dive on the structure of Homestuck Act 1…

Hmmm…is this a Homestuck AU? I’m starting to think this isn’t a Homestuck AU, but rather a continuation, because apparently SBURB has already been played and that’s why our Dad stand-in (who is, in fact, John Egbert himself) doesn’t want our main protagonist, JACE, to play it. It’s interesting to see a continuation like that that DOESN’T focus on the main cast of HOMESTUCK, especially in this era of MSPFA. I like it, personally, it gives an interesting texture to proceedings and hey look! The story itself is commenting on this fact just after it reveals that it is, in fact, a continuation and not just an AU like one might think at first glance. That’s some Hussian storytelling right there (here’s a thing, okay now characters are going to talk about ramifications of the thing, etc.).

Okay yeah this is pretty good! It’s so good I’m just going to recommend it now and immediately move on. It’s a pretty good one. You know ERR0RBOUND, one of the best discoveries of the journey I have had so far? Yeah, this comic gives me a little bit of ERR0RBOUND vibes, and those are good vibes to have in my opinion. So many check it out? Sadly, like ERR0RBOUND, it seemingly hasn’t upd8ed since 2022…but unlike ERR0RBOUND, that could just mean the Author is in HIBERNATION, biding their time for the perfect opportunity to come ROARING BACK TO LIFE!!!!!!!! Or something. Idk. It’s good, is my point.

[so-bitya]

I got to watch the Phantom & Ghost playthrough (thanks to @pain-in-the-butler d(^-^)), and I've been dreaming of Phantom & Ghost getting a remaster with HD graphics and a expanded story line, so here's how I would've liked it:

coherent routes

I think it would've benefited the story to just stick to one POV for the entire game, and you'll have to complete both Sebastian and Ciel's routes to get the final ending. Similar to other visual games games that have multiple endings depending who and how you play, that give you a true ending after completing the game.

like wow, the game is kinda nonsensical to follow? not only can you switch between the two different POVs while playing, but you can do it after nearly every scene? So all the clues and reveals feel all over the place and referenced in ways that don't make sense.

general appeal

alright lets be honest, the game's main appeal is its characters. getting to play all these scenarios with the servants and Lizzy is what's fun. sadly, the minor characters weren't as interesting to bounce off of, so it would be nice to lean into their eccentricities (when you got a guy named Patrick the Grey wizard).

Add more scenarios, more character combinations, more dialogue options. Can't tell you how disappointed I was that Stella's pov barely showed anything, esp since the moments between Lizzy and Stella were really good. Like, let's play with all these different povs! Stella's route could have flashbacks and much needed backstory to solve the mysteries. Lets see Lorraine, Patrick, and Stella's parents in the past, since so much of the story revolves around them And having all these expanded character options really build the replayability of the game.

tonal dissonance

This game was disorienting to me because how light the story remained. Kuro is a dark story! It has a lot of morbid humor and always something disturbing happening in the background. This game really was just some average errand for Ciel and Sebastian and it falls flat. So I had ideas to bring in out more of those darker tones kuro has, described in the next section.

the villain

I understand why Lorraine was made into the villain as a "surprise twist", but I truly dislike that she was the bad guy after dealing with suggested abuse and getting jealous over a child (without even the backstory to back it up??). There's ways to give misdirection over the villain without resorting to the cheap maid plot twist, that is frankly tired now (also I thought Count Ridley would be the villain? what was he around then for lol).

There's still a mysterious air around Stella's father, right? maybe, instead of villainizing an abused maid for the nth time, we can have a more in depth exploration of the maid's abuse and the father's character. maybe we find out the father was quite a vile person. Stella's route could imply the abuse happening in the background and how disturbing it is.

perhaps after the first half of the game, Lorraine is pined as the murderer, but Stella insists that she's innocent and we have to find the true culprit. the player is mislead here a bit, because Lorraine's attitude does take a turn and she acts very bitter and erratic (which we find out later her signs of abuse).

eventually Lorraine is found innocent and her father is blamed for the murder, and Lorraine gets with Patrick to take care of Stella at the mansion, a perfect happy ending.

However in the true ending, we find out that Lorraine did kill the father, but it was to protect herself and Stella from his abuse. We don't know how the mother died exactly, but let's implied that he was the one to kill her (mad father vibes). Ciel doesn't reveal this, since the case with the ghost and embezzlement is solved, but Lorraine gets away with the murder. Sebastian could suggest that Lorraine only did it for her benefit, because now she's acting as head of the manor, through Stella (or whatever edgelord nonsense he'll say).

The games ends on the note we, the audience, will never know Lorraine's true motives, all while Stella remains naive, still thinking the best of her parents and Lorraine. All we can hope for is that they'll take care of each other now, though who knows what the future holds.

So there's plenty of dark aspects to this story while having a rather positive ending for our main characters! let me know what yall think! any other ideas for an ending or story route?

(anyway here's a drawing of Stella and Lorraine to convince yall: x)

[eemcintyre]

"Stretch" (2014) review

Aka ✨ why this movie is one of the most underrated ones I've ever seen and why it is some of Patrick Wilson's best work ✨

"If you like stories about chance and coincidence, here's one you've never heard" gives me the chills every time 😮‍💨

Patrick Wilson is one of the most underappreciated actors of his time, like, not only do his other projects demonstrate that he has drama, romance, instruments, and singing down ✨, but here he is finally given a chance to flaunt his impeccable comedic timing, vocalizations, and expressions

Idk maybe I just love movies with narration (ex., "Heathers," "Jerry Maguire," "Amelie," "Eloise at Christmastime," "Megamind," "American Made," "The Outsiders," etc.)

But jokes aside, I will defend Patrick Wilson's narration throughout the movie no matter whAT ANYONE SAYS YOU CAN PRY IT FROM MY COLD DEAD FINGIES; IT IS AT TURNS FUNNY AND RELATABLE AND PROFOUND AND WE GET TO KNOW THE MAIN CHARACTER BETTER 😤😤

It does start a bit slow, especially if you aren't as invested in Patrick Wilson as I am 🙃🫠 but if you stick with it and pay attention to the subtle comedic elements in the meantime 👌🏻

This movie is not afraid to be a bit irreverent, which is a modern and mainstream rarity

Stretch and Charlie are so cute together; I wish more of their interactions had been kept in the final cut because when I think of the quality content that we missed 😩💖

"Who gains weight in their neck?" "Sexy people." "Three months of Rosetta Stone- I HATE THE FUCKING FRENCH." "We was gettin' all romantic, watching Titan-tic..." and so, so many more

Honestly, Karl is an integral part of this film as well- he may seem overtly cartoonish to some, but again, we get to know the main character better through him, as his presence gives us a visual of Stretch's inner struggle; he contributes to the dark humor vibe, and Ed Helms was clearly having the time of his life (as was the entire cast)

Speaking of which, stellar casting all around, especially those who were cast against type; love when directors give that stuff a chance. Everyone was made for their role

Dark humor, satire of Hollywood, homage to 80s films

The Navstar scene. If you know you know

Same goes for the post-Candace club exit scene with the valet, the wannabe rapper, and the sex club exit scene (there's a man wearing only balloons. need I say more). I mean, the whole movie is basically the best part and I'm trying not to make this review me just naming every scene and going "yes. this is good" but these are some of the most standout parts

The soundtrack may be atrocious overall, but the exception is the song at the end (although I was disappointed when I read that it was originally supposed to be "Telephone Line" by ELO but they didn't have enough in the budget because that would have gone so hard) 😩💕

Speaking of the ending, why is it so incredibly pure and sweet to me that it would almost make me cry if I weren't medicated? 🥺 Something about the setting of the diner, exuding vintage charm and glowing in the sun the quiet morning after the previous night of chaos, and the serendipity of how Stretch and Charlie finally reveal how much they've obviously liked each other for a while, and after all of the danger and depravity, everything ends soft and gentle and alright 😊💖

This film is somehow so sleazy and wholesome at the same time- against the backdrop of drugs, sex clubs, threats of violence, and constant swearing, it's ultimately a story about overcoming cynicism and self-destruction, getting your "mojo" back, taking control of your life, and allowing for the possibility that things happen for a reason ✨ Honestly? 10/10

[away-ward]

To the anon who posted "one thing i hate about will was his manwhore tendencies/lowkey maybe “flirty” personality.", i agree with you 100%. Even worse when i remember that will said that he could easily "sink into alex" implying that he can have alex and alex have him, just like how rika could easily have kai if em and banks were not around. There's no "exclusivity" for their romance as if intimacy with others were so easy, so it does cheapen their feelings for their partners, and it can be seen like "so mich talk, but no actions". This was my main gripe with will too, because if he had the time to fuck around with other women, he had the time to email or call emmy and asked if she was homeless or dying, alright.

That's why i said, no MMCs in this book is possessive, not even damon, they all aint shit. The romantic parts were not giving, the bias were so obvious it ruin the fun of "a story with variety of couples" type of series, the men were scums from hell, even worse than mafia romances (and mafia romances had better arc, can you imagine that?! Even these mafia guys practice loyalty and monogamy wtf?!). Like if you guys want great dark romance, better not expect it from PD srsly, because if there's one constant thing i noticed that pd loves to use in their storytelling is to romanticise (?) something ugly, then abandon that ship and expect the reader to lap every second of it. They always wanna write something that goes beyond ugly (whoch is fine, many other authors like k. Webster and other do it too), but PD'S wrap up of their stories were always just pure shit. It's even disappointing because pd's idea was usually fun to read but man, the execution was just so 🗑️☠️

If there is one thing pd was really bad at, it's the middle and redemption arc, that's why whichever character that gets the shorter end of the stick in any of their books will always just have to stow in their hurt feelings without any further just ending for them. It happens in DN for banks and emory, it happens in Fall Away, it happens in credence noah and jake, in tryst six venom too, and at this point, only birthday girl and maybe hellbent were free from this, only because they dont have much "bully" elements to their stories. Even if there were some rough scenes in hellbent, the romance was still sweet, hot, monogamous and everything great you'd expect from the romance genre, but with a sprinkle of hot spice in it.

IMO, i didnt have much thoughts or feelings when will complimented banks, because he's literally like that with everyone, but when you guys discussed about it, he really was a bit too flirty with these women, huh? 🤣 now he made me pissed off to, and this just adds more to my will grayson's ick list, LOL! Becaus that mad sense, if we cant get angry at michael for looking at banks and kai at rika, why cant we with will?

Hey, I hope the Anon sees your message. And I also hope you don’t mind me popping in with some thoughts!

But you can ignore them too. I'll post if Anon replies.

Even worse when i remember that will said that he could easily "sink into alex" implying that he can have alex and alex have him

So I actually found this line interesting, because it can have two meanings, depending on how deep you want to look at it. One, is the obvious. He means penetration.

But the second is like drowning. Like how he used Alex, along with drugs and booze to, drown out his pain. It would be so easy to just try to love Alex and to sink into her because she doesn’t fight him; she numbs his pain. But at this point, he's come so far that he doesn’t want to be numb anymore. He’d rather fight with Emory than forget with Alex.

At least, that’s how I understood his thoughts in that scene.

because if he had the time to fuck around with other women, he had the time to email or call emmy and asked if she was homeless or dying, alright.

You’re not the first person to say this and, I hope you don’t mind, but it always struck me as a bit funny. Because if I was Will’s friend after he got out of prison and he told me he was going to try and contact Emory, I would have lost my mind.

Because, looking at the situation with only the information Will has, this is a girl who had repeatedly for three years told him ‘no’ and to ‘leave her alone’. Then, when he goes to prison for brutalizing her brother (who rightfully deserved it), she doesn’t reach out to him at all.

He's not sleeping with other women in prison. He’s not going anywhere. She knew exactly where he was every day and night.

I’d say with all of that, Emory had made it abundantly clear she didn’t want to be contacted by him.

So if he told me he was going to reach out “just to check on her” I would have tied him to a chair, and removed all access to the internet. No email. No calls. Hell, he doesn’t even get pen and paper. He can’t do smoke signals or morse code. Nothing.

It just seems to be that when a girl says no, we should respect that. So we can’t say we want Will to respect her but also ignore her when she says she doesn’t want him in her life. Because that’s what she told him. Repeatedly.

But also, it sort of does a disservice to Will to expect him to roll his heart out to her once again.

For three years, he begged, followed, and pleaded with her to see him. He goes to prison, and she still says nothing. Not even a thank you letter. Now, whether Em owned him any communication is up to the reader.

But even before then, Will was lost.

I propose Will didn’t just not like himself, but that he hated himself. He hated himself for wanting her so much. And he tries for years to root her out of his mind and heart. He tries to numb the pain with women and booze, because if the woman he wants doesn’t want him, what would be the point of acting like he’s in a committed relationship. Why mourn the loss of someone who was never his?

And I still think all of this is to cover up the fact that he hates himself. He’s trying to deaden the voice inside that says he’s worthless because Em didn’t see anything worth in him. He’s heartbroken and sick.

Now, if I were Will, and I had gone through all that and had tried to get this person out of my head and heart, only to see them once and realize they are still so deeply entrenched in every part of me? To realize that for years, all the stuff I’d done to try and kill off the love I felt for them, was useless because at the first sight of them I know without a doubt I’m still in love with this person who has made it very clear they want nothing to do with me?

I would feel so stupid. Just dumb. And broken.

But in NF, Will of course has a layer of anger to cover up his feelings. He wants to hurt Em for hurting him and it’s messy and wrong, but people often are.

All I’m saying is expecting Will to come out of prison wanting to get right back to where he left off in high school would be unfair to both of them.

but PD'S wrap up of their stories were always just pure shit. It's even disappointing because pd's idea was usually fun to read but man, the execution was just so 🗑️☠️

Unfortunately, I think this is the case. PD has great ideas, but somewhere along the line, at least for me, the story I’m interested in reading and the story they’re interested in telling diverge until I’m just confused as to how we ended up here.

because they dont have much "bully" elements to their stories

This is an interesting analysis. I wonder what it is about the “bully romance” trope that causes them to do this?

I know a lot of author get tripped up with arc enemies to lovers storyline because they don’t give enough time to let them come to respect each other before making them lovers? At least in my experience, it seems some authors try make the enemies part ‘oh they don’t really hate each other; it’s just hidden attraction’ but that’s not enemies to lovers!

Does PD do the same thing? Where they try to make it a bully romance but once the romance picks up, there’s no time to deal with all the previous bullying?

I don’t know. I’m just throwing things at the wall…

IMO, i didnt have much thoughts or feelings when will complimented banks, because he's literally like that with everyone, but when you guys discussed about it, he really was a bit too flirty with these women, huh?

I never minded Will be flirty with the women in the inner-circle, because I don’t think there was any real intent behind it, but I won’t waste an opportunity to bring up this clip so…

[nectardaddy]

Thirteen Years [Porco Galliard x reader] 18

** Trigger Warning: blood, death, very graphic descriptions, mentions of war, ptsd, disassociation, very very dark scenarios/scenes/and imagery.

Please take care of yourselves while reading here on out, if you need a break take a break. Things will get very heavy.

Note: creative liberties will be taken from here on out, the main plot stays the same but minor details are changed for the sake of this story

Strap in for this. It's long and very, very dark.

"What the hell do you mean I can't sit with them?" You questioned loudly, and quite rudely, to the Marleyan soldier in front of you. "He's my fiancé, why the fuck does my arm band matter right now??" You prodded more, crossing your arms over your chest with determination. "Ask him yourself, Mr. I Hate Eldians!" Porco and the other Honorary Marleyans looked over to your voice, the others looking at him in worry as soon as they realized it was you.

"Galliard!" The soldier called out to the blonde who stared warily at you. "Control your filthy pet, or I'll have to get rid of it!" He got up quickly, nearly tripping over Pieck as he crossed in front of her to get over to where you were.

"Filthy pet?!" You yelled, "so high and mighty you are huh? That stick is so far up your-" Porco quickly took your arm and pulled you away gently from the uniformed man before you could continue, though you wished he hadn't. "We're engaged, why the hell does it matter that I don't have a red armband yet?" You groveled. His steps were frantic as he desperately tried to get you as far away from where they sat as possible, knowing your temper would only get you into trouble.

"(Y/n), please," the man said gently. "I know it's frustrating, believe me, but the arm bands matter to them. Please, control your temper," he pleaded. "He'll shoot you without a second thought at the rate you're going, so please."

Taking in a deep breath through your nose and letting it out through your mouth, you felt your anger leave you bit by bit. "I just wanted to sit with you," you whispered. "It's not fair I have to sit without you, just because of a silly armband." You realized his steps slowed until he finally stopped and looked over at you with a sad smile. There was a grief in his eyes that was apparent to you, which made your heart sink and guilt wash over you. You probably frightened him greatly from how you were speaking to a Marleyan soldier, he of all people knew how ruthless they could be. "I'm sorry."

"I know it's not fair to you, but I promise I'll come find you as soon as this stupid thing is over," he reassured. A genuine smile pulled onto his lips after a moment, "it's alright. Just, please, never do that again, I nearly had a heart attack," he admitted. "Thank god the man called for me instead of taking matters into his own hands," he breathed out before finally pulled you into a hug. His hold was strong, thinking any less and you would drift away from him, but it was brief. "I have to get back, if I'm gone too long they'll start to question." With only a quiet nod, you looked at him with a small smile, "please, stay out of trouble. I can't leave unless I'm told to."

"Ok, ok, I'll save the fights for when you're with me," you mused with a chuckle. "Now go, I'll feel even worse if you get in trouble over me." He gave your hand a final squeeze before walking back, watching as he left with a sad smile on your face. "Stupid Marleyans," you grumbled under your breath before turning. Looking around to see where you were supposed to sit, and sighed upon seeing it. A tightly packed horde of people huddled together as far away from the stage as possible, "of course," you mumbled.

Shoving your hands in your pockets, you let out another sigh. No way in hell you were managing to get in there, so finding the closest building adjacent to the horde- you leaned. Minutes that felt like hours passed before anything of stature happened. Though most around you found Willy Tybur mesmerizing, you felt yourself being quite bored as you stood there. But your attention was pulled by a different soldier who passed you, seemingly all looking the same you wouldn't have taken another look if it wasn't for the three he had in tow. Your lover gave you a wary look and gave a small shake of his head. Getting the "don't follow or you might get shot" message loud and clear, you stayed put.

Rolling your eyes, minutes continued to creep by, and your attention was piqued by people gasping around you. You weren't paying attention at all, losing yourself within your own mind as a means to try to make time go faster. But in the very moment, you wished you had been, but you knew something was wrong. A line of soldiers ran in front of you and your stomach dropped upon the hushed words of, 'find them!' You quickly turned the corner and left, you knew better than to stay and watch panic unfold if something truly was wrong. Something you remembered from your candidate training was to never stay longer in a bad situation unless you had to. Even if your intuition was wrong, you'd rather jump ship now than drown in the shipwreck.

Oh how correct your intuition had been, being as a loud screech and a terrible crumbling rang in your ears as soon as you turned. You didn't dare turn back, fighting your curiosity as your pace to a run. Your heart rate sky rocketed, thinking to yourself you could feel it in your throat as you ran. You soon realized others had the same idea as you began to be pushed and shoved out of others way. A sickly feeling of fear washed over you, and the screeching sound from seconds ago echoed in your ears again. "It's the island Titan!"

Your breathing stopped upon the revelation someone had yelled beyond you, and all became slow motion as you continued to run. The island devils were here, in Liberio? Why? Did they know we were declaring war? Did Porco know they were here? You hadn't noticed someone had shoved you hard, hadn't noticed you went tumbling to the ground, hadn't noticed how people kicked and bound over you, hadn't noticed the blood that trickled from you knees and elbow, hadn't noticed your body was moving in complete autopilot to crawl to the nearest alley. Nor the two soldiers there, looking around just as baffled as everyone else, but only noticed when a shot rang out and killed one of them dead. "Fuck-" you breathed as reality slammed into with force. You watched as the other soldier locked eyes with you before running in the opposite direction, swallowing hard as you were left alone with a corpse.

You pressed yourself against the wall and took a shaky breath, your mind racing until all went blank. What was there to think, really, in this situation? Thinking it was a dream, you pinched your leg hard but whimpered knowing you couldn't wake up from real life. Taking a deep breath, you tried to calm yourself, think rationally. 'I was a candidate for awhile, what the fuck did they tell me to do?' You thought to yourself, swallowing and closing your eyes as you thought of an answer. Survive.

Mindlessly getting up, and letting fear utterly consume you, you grabbed the gun off the soldier who lie just before you. Shakily cocking it to check for bullets, then slinging it over your arm by the strap. Grabbing the bag of bullets from the dead man as well, you felt nauseous. "Pull yourself together, (Y/n)," you breathed. But nonetheless, you turned to heave, letting your stomach contents splatter on the ground next to you. 

Breathing deeply once you heaved, you closed your eyes. Fear racing through your every fiber of being only making your nausea worse, you tried to disassociate yourself - something Marleyans taught young Warrior candidates early as to combat recklessness. Finally breathing out and reopening your eyes, you found yourself in a trance like state. Feeling your body move on its own in order to save yourself, as if watching yourself from above rather than your own eyes.

A strange wizzing from above made you tense, and you aimed and fired, mindlessly pulling the trigger as you were taught years ago. Frightening yourself as you so easily pulled the trigger without a second thought, pulling you from your disassociate state quickly. "Shit, shit, shit," you yelled to yourself and frantically looked around for somewhere to hide. Finding a door meters front of you, you sprinted and yanked on the handle. Pulling the door open and slamming it behind you, you heaved your back against the door.

"What the fuck?" You yelled to no one in particular, screaming and yelling curses as you finally felt yourself unravel. Over your own deteriorating mind, you hadn't heard the other loud voices in the room. But jerked into consciousness as the door behind you swung open, losing your balance at the force it took to barge in. A man in black and grey stood over you, your heart thumping wildly in your throat as you scrambled for the gun you had before falling. Mind blank and world in slow motion yet again, you grabbed the gun as he lifted a weapon you had never seen above you. Without aiming, without even looking you fired as soon as your finger met the trigger.

A sickly crack made your ears ring, and the splatter of blood hitting you in the face made your stomach drop in horror. "Oh my god," you whispered. "Oh my god, I killed him. . ."

"(Y/n)! Fucking christ please answer, for the love of god are you ok?" But the voice feel on deaf ears as you stared off to the man who laid dead before you. Only snapping back to reality once other Eldians stood in front of the open door, though you couldn't tell how long that had been. You recognized them, and completely unraveled at the sight of a familiar face within your terror. Letting out a sob you never knew you were even capable of.

"Oh fuck. . ." One of the man stated, assessing the scence in front of him. The other swiftly closing the door behind them from more unwanted attention. One of the men had to all but pry the gun out of your hands as you clung onto it, pleading with you that you were alright. Unbeknownst to you, the others made their way further inside and called out into a deep hole within the floor.

Snapping your watery, blurred eyes towards the men, you took in a deep breath. "Who is this?" You asked angerly through tears, "and why the fuck did he try to kill me?" Your shattered mind kept shifting from horror to anger, grabbing the gun you stole from the dead soldier out of the hands of the Eldian in front of you.

"An island devil," he replied softly, answering honestly seeing as your mind was completely disheveled.

Your knuckles paled at how hard you gripped the gun in your hands, fingers losing feeling as you moved with anger. You knew what you were doing now, no longer running on autopilot but completely out of your own free will - running off of adrenaline, fear, and anger. Hot tears streamed down your face as you lifted the gun over you, ramming the butt of it into the already deceased man. "I hate you!" You screamed as you lifted the gun only to throw it back down again, over and over, hearing the cracking of bones and splatter of blood fill your ears. "You, stupid, stupid, island devils! You've ruined everything!"

The men watched in horror at your anger; they knew the terrors of war but even this was too raw for them to let continue. But they stayed, too stuck in their own fear to even dare stop you on your rampage. There was no greater fear than a person scorned. Blood and tears dripped down your face and your arms ached, but you only stopped upon feeling a hand grab your arm. Whipping around, gun still in hand, you pointed it at the person who grabbed you.

The blonde's arms shot up as the muzzle of the gun pointed directly at his face, swallowing harshly. "(Y/n)," he whispered. The young woman next to him looked at you with panic and worry, her eyes flicking between the gun and you. Both of them took in your disheveled state in absolute terror. You eyes were wild, and your clothes were torn and splattered with crimson, the crimson color even dripping down your face from the sheer amount on you. "Put the gun down, dear, it's alright."

"Did you fucking know they would be here?" You asked harshly, surprising even yourself that you hadn't lowered the gun. The anger you felt was greater than anything you felt, a rage you were certain you had never felt before.

"No." Pieck whispered in response, seeing as Porco only stared at the gun pointed at him by his own lover. Dropping the gun at such a simple word, you sucked in a deep breath. Panting as if you were holding your breath the whole time, you felt strong arms around you as tears continued to stream down your cheeks.

"I'm sorry," you choked out, "oh god, I'm so sorry." You cried as you finally found the will to hug the man back.