#but anyway after af i got burnt out for most of the rest of the year and only worked on comms haha.... hence why i havent posted much

[receding-tides]

I started this in like march and haven't rly done any more of it since so here

[makeste]

So, which of these desperately sobbing children gets to compete for Worst Day? I... think Shouto's our, uh, lucky winner, but I think Deku, Momo, and Tokoyami all put up strong fights

so seeing as we are finally approaching New Chapter Times again after a very long three weeks, this feels like a good time to do a recap of just how much everything currently sucks for our intrepid heroes. it may seem a bit insensitive of me to go through the cast list one by one and arbitrarily assign each character a number score based on how shitty their day was, but... well actually I don’t really have a good defense for that, lol. whatever, let’s just get to ranking these children’s misery (and while we’re at it, some of the adults’ as well).

Midoriya Izuku

current status: unconscious. currently has a pair of those floppy inflatable flailing tube men dealios for arms. had to watch his teacher and his best friends get hurt and nearly die while being helpless to do anything to stop it. has a new quirk which “warns” him of approaching danger by giving him ice pick headaches, as if he didn’t have enough pain in his life as it is. is being targeted by the most dangerous person in the world. and last but not least, is probably on the verge of his super-secret quirk becoming not-so-secret, and having to deal with the fallout of that.

rank: 9/10. hard to imagine how things could get much worse for this little guy atm. NO HORIKOSHI THAT IS NOT A CHALLENGE. YOU LEAVE HIS MENTOR ALONE.

Bakugou Katsuki

current status: unconscious. got impaled by the Big Bad which initially did not look good, but apparently it wasn’t enough to stop him from flying around in drunken loop-de-loops whilst ignoring Iida’s protests, so who knows. proudly announced his new hero name to the world only to be met with scorn and ridicule and hysterical laughter from that fucking Caillou-looking motherfucker whose opinion he never mcfucking asked for, thank you very much. and also his best friend’s self-sacrificing tendencies are giving him anxiety, and his other best friend’s brother just pulled a reverse Darth Vader on Endeavor and upended hero society as we know it. so there’s a good chance he might be called upon to provide emotional support to one or even BOTH of them in the near future. has... has he actually become the stable friend in the trio. fuck.

rank: 7/10 just because he briefly appeared to be in a situationally-inappropriate good mood for those few brief minutes right after Jeanist appeared. you were having too much fun to get a top score, Katsuki.

Todoroki Shouto

current status: not unconscious but probably wishing he was. older brother came back from the dead and revealed that he was a mass murderer and broadcast all of Shouto’s personal traumas to the entire world before earnestly trying to set him and his friends on fire. so is currently dealing with all of the fun fallout from that, on top of watching his teacher and friends all come within inches of death. will probably be dragged into a national controversy against his will now that Endeavor’s past has been revealed. all of it is honestly so shitty that it’s all but impossible for me to put an irreverent spin on this. I honestly can’t think of a single joke to make. goddammit Shouto.

rank: 10/10. a perfect storm of shittiness.

Yaoyorozu Momo

current status: somehow Momo went from having no mentors that we knew of, to having two mentors, and then back to having no mentors, all in the span of a single day. has to be some sort of record.

rank: 8/10. and the worst part of all is that she was a fucking BAMF during this arc, but she can’t even enjoy that now because of all the trauma. I’m still proud of you, Momo.

Uraraka Ochako

current status: mentally and physically exhausted after spending a day out on the front lines dealing with the aftermath of an unnatural disaster. saw things that were canonically enough to make a grown man have a nervous breakdown right then and there. had a really weird and unsettling encounter with Toga who keeps trying to relate to her by telling her things like “hey Ochako, this one time I turned into you and used your quirk to murder someone horribly isn’t that wild.” it’s just been a very long day for her.

rank: 6/10. stressful af but she’s still in one piece and no one was actively murdered in front of her. sometimes you gotta take whatever wins you can get.

Tokoyami Fumikage

current status: his mentor was nearly burned to death in front of him and he was almost burned to death too, and the guy who kept attempting to burn him was all “YOUR MENTOR’S A MURDERER BTW AND SO YOU SHOULD JUST LET ME KILL HIM”, and so he was kind of put on the spot there and he didn’t really know what to do, and somehow he managed to escape with Hawks anyway but Hawks’s wings were all burnt off, and then a fucking video of Hawks stabbing Twice in the back got broadcast to the entire nation and so it’s like, ???? he didn’t sign up for this??? he is just a little birb??? can he live????

rank: 7/10 because he missed out on all of the other traumatizing stuff, but it’s honestly impressive how bad his day managed to be even in spite of that.

All for One

current status: All for One’s day is actually going pretty good.

rank: 0/10. hey but fuck you, AFO.

Shigaraki Tomura

current status: woke up early from his nap which always sucks. only got to enjoy his cool new Transcendent Being powers for a few minutes before the heroes all ganged up on him and incinerated him a bunch of times and fucked up his shiny new cape. has his old mentor currently taking up residence in his head uninvited and trying to boss him around. found out his grandma was part of One for All?? then slept through all of the fun stuff with the Dabi reveal. also a bunch of his friends are either dead or captured. all in all was not really the best day for him.

rank: 8/10 because he was having himself a grand old time for a while there, but once some of this stuff finally sinks in the Suck Factor is going to go way, way up. also, seriously, AFO is currently possessing his body, jesus christ. just leave him alone already.

Hawks

current status: had to make an impossible choice between sitting back and letting an untold number of people die, and turning on a good but misguided man who was only trying to help his friends. has to live with the trauma of literally stabbing his friend in the back for the rest of his life. may have been rendered effectively quirkless. was publicly dragged through the mud alongside Endeavor, and unlike Endeavor he didn’t actually do anything to earn it (though that probably won’t stop him from feeling like he has). oh and speaking of Endeavor, just found out that the hero he looked up to since childhood abused his family and shit, and so now he has to grapple with that on top of everything else. how fucked is it that the minute he finally got to drop his whole double agent balancing act, his life somehow got even more fucked up and complicated.

rank: 9/10. let Hawks rest.

Aizawa Shouta

current status: unconscious. seems to have lost an eye which may possibly affect his quirk. had to saw off his own fucking leg. met the man who experimented on his childhood friend. doesn’t know yet that said man was originally targeting him and not Shirakumo. oh and also his other other childhood friend just died and he doesn’t know it yet. and someone else sacrificed himself in order to save him. and most of his other hero pals are either dead or wounded too, and all of his kids are deeply traumatized. and the guy they went through all of this shit to try and capture in the first place got away, and hero society is now in shambles.

rank: 11/10. Horikoshi. wtf did Aizawa ever do to you.

anyways it’s getting late and I was gonna throw in a few honorable mentions, but I think I’ll just call it a day instead. feel free to weigh in on any of the ones I missed. Dabi for one is having himself a FINE, fine day. but Endeavor not so much. sob.

[simpz-art-stash]

Late Beginnings [Ch. 2]

Summary: Macaque’s gotten over the biggest gap on his side of the burnt bridge between him and his broke af relationship with Wukong. Now he’s gotta take an even bigger leap in hopes of getting MK to give him a chance as well.

(Author’s note: DUNNO IF THERE’LL BE MORE BUT WE’LL SEE, FEEL FREE TO SUGGEST STUFF TO PUT IN HERE)

Previous | Next

---------------------------------------------------------------

It should’ve been easy, a kid like MK had a good head on his shoulders, enough to see the good in all besides himself.

It should’ve been easy.

So then why the hell was he still standing on the sidelines mulling over what to say to the kid who was just a few yards away training under the careful eye of his mentor?

What could he say? The same to Wukong? He felt that might be a bit too cliche, even if it had worked.

‘Just barely.’

Mac sighed, brushing his hair back and watching the two practice stillness together, Wukong resting on his tail in a lotus position while MK stood on one foot, straining to keep his posture in check. Even with the staff being used as a counter-balance his muscles flexed against the lack of support in his other leg.

Maybe he could offer him something? Nothing major of course, something innocent but worthwhile and thoughtful. Demon head’s wouldn’t do, the kid had no real use for those, nor would he probably appreciate a trophy that wasn’t his. What did kids even like these days anyways? He thought of toys but, MK was practically a bigger kid than most other cub’s. Most kids like him usually just kept to popular places or their phones…

Decisions decisions…

A small yelp forced him out of his thoughts, his gaze shifting back over to MK who had since fallen back on his butt. Groaning and complaining like usual before Wukong gave him the ol’ ‘keep it up!’ attitude, prompting MK to simply nod and give it another try.

‘Geeze, and I thought my training was harsh. At least I gave him actual critique on his form…’

Then an idea flashed in his mind, popping off like a rocket and he suddenly found himself with something worthwhile.

------~------

“Alright bud, I think that’s enough of that. Why don’t you hit the bench, I need to go check on the kids back inside n’ make sure they haven’t left a mess after that marathon I set up for em.” Wukong claimed, patting MK on the back before turning away. Offering a curt wave as he left, “Call me if you need me!”

“Alright, I will!” MK sighed and made his way over to a makeshift seat, which happened to be nothing more than a split log. And proceeded to take his headband off if not to just drench his hair in some of the water from one of the bottle’s he’d brought along with him. Before guzzling the rest of it down like he hadn’t drank in forever.

“I see he’s been keepin’ you on your toes. Full pun intended.” Mac commented, earning him a startled squeak from MK who had just about spat his drink out when Mac rounded him from behind to sit himself down on the opposing side of the log.

MK had heard a little snippet from MKing about Macaque trying to make amends, he didn’t get the full details but he’d heard enough to know to keep an eye out for the guy. Not that he wasn’t already always on high alert for any suspicious activity.

“Guh- yeah.” MK coughed a little, rubbing his throat a little as he cleared it. “It hasn’t been uh, easy, but I think I’m gettin’ better. Just need to try harder or whatever…”

“Mmm…” Mac let his gaze concentrate on the immortal peach tree Wukong had planted out in the front of his yard, it having long since bloomed and been picked clean.

MK shifted a little under the uncomfortable silence that spread between the two, there wasn’t tension in it per sey, but it was still a lil awkward for him to just outright be chatting it up with the same guy who had once tried to kill him at one point.

“So uh..I was hoping to..make it up to you, what with everything that happened the last time…” Mac’s face squinted a little, his tail irritably swaying behind him, it seemed this was just as awkward for him as it was MK.

“Uhm..okay?..” MK veered a little away from the guy, not too sure how to handle that. “Hey if this is about the whole ‘you trying to kill me thing’ then uh, hey man we’re cool.”

“What? I mean yeah but, it’s more than just that..” Mac fiddled idly with the hem of his cloak, the things color long since having been worn down from the elements. “A lot more…”

“Complicated?” MK quirked a brow at him.

“Yeeaaahh…”

“Heh, been there. Done that.” MK nodded, not that it was anything to be proud of.

“He didn’t tell you?” Mac looked at MK finally with a concerned expression.

“About you and him?? I mean..yeah he told me a lil..mostly just warned me to keep an eye out for you but…” MK rubbed the back of his neck out of nervous habit, shifting under the demon’s gaze.

“Of course he didn’t…” Mac sighed with a frown, “Well, maybe that’s where I can help you out. I know Wukong, he doesn’t exactly give you the full picture so easily, then again he’s never really had a student before either so.”

“So?”

‘So, he won’t just outright give you the benefit of the doubt just like that, especially if you just say you’ll give him whatever advice he wants. He’ll think you’re just trying to pull him from Wukong again or worse.’

“What I mean to say is, if you want to correct your form with that whole balancing thing, you should try putting less focus into just your foot, and put it towards your whole body.” Macaque stated plainly, his gaze shifting away back to the peach tree.

“Oh..uhm..alright?...Thanks???” MK blinked, none too sure what to make of that, but he wasn’t trying to kill him, or hurt his feelings so, maybe that was a good thing??

“Feel free to mention it to him…” Macaque claimed, his gaze softening before he got up finally and began to walk elsewhere.

“h-Wait!” MK called out, standing up right then. To which Macaque of course obliged, though he kept his back facing kid.

“..are you..like...being serious about that whole, ‘making amends’ thing?..” MK squinted at him suspiciously, even if Macaque could lie about his true intentions, MK at least thought it right to ask. Considering everything else…

“Yes.” Mac stated, his tail curling a little behind him.

“Ohkaaay... “ It was still hard to tell but, “Then why’re you trying to?-”

“Because he told me to.” Mac claimed, his head turning just enough to share a glance with the kid. “Don’t get the wrong idea..it was wrong of me, but.”

“Buuut?”

-------~-------

“But whatever you do, you gotta stop lyin’ about the real stuff.”

Mac grunted, that was probably gonna be the hardest trial of his to overcome. For him, lying was basically his day by day means of survival. “I think I’d rather cut my own tongue out at that point an be mute then cut that out.”

The chick shrugged, “Hey, I’m just sayin’. Honesty is the best policy. Even if it hurts to hear it, better said than left for dead. You want em to trust you again? You gotta earn it. A few pretty words ain’t never gonna be enough. You gotta put some effort behind em.”

“Uuuugh.” He rolled his eyes, already regretting having decided to go through with the whole thing. “Fine...but if I get my ass beat because someone couldn’t take the heat, I’ll hunt you down.”

“I’ll take that chance.” The chick smirked.

-------~-------

Macaque sighed, he could already imagine just how easy it’d be to screw up something so casually done by others. Century old lies he’d held onto for most his life being the worst one’s, with how gnarled they were from the many times they’d been knotted by his reasons to keep them from being undone by any means necessary. He’d run from them for such a long time though, enough to the point where he’d finally hit the end of his lead, and now he was forced to look back at the mess he’d caused.

It wasn’t a pretty sight at all.

But that didn’t mean he couldn’t go back and try to fix some of it. Now matter how long it took, little by little. He just had to be careful in doing so or else he’d just get himself wrapped up in knots all over again.

“...I..” Just say it, even if it’s half the truth.

“I didn’t want to see you waste that potential under a guy who wouldn’t appreciate it...” Macaque claimed, his gaze shifting away.

That...was probably the first time MK had ever seen Mac show a genuine side of himself before. Even during training he’d been distant and strict, similar to Wukong but a lot less merciful in a spar. Where with Mac, bruises were lessons learned.

“...Thanks. For the uh..advice I mean.”

Macaque stiffened a little at the response, but he didn’t spoil it for fear of ruining what little ground he had on that bridge.

“Anytime.”

And then he was gone.

[redswanned]

Roommates! w/ Jean+Connie+Sasha

oh boy where do I start

so! you decide to move into an apartment with your friends Jean, Connie, and Sasha

cause the dorms at your college were hella overpriced

saving money was great, and how bad could it be living with 3 of your closest friends?

since it was a 2 bedroom apartment you shared a room with Sasha 

Connie and Jean shared the other bed room

sharing a room with Sasha was interesting to say the least

Her side of the room was pretty messy most of the time but also organized at the same time?

like she knew where all of her stuff she needed was among the mess

it was impressive tbh

sneaks in snacks all the damn time

but she gives you “half” so you won’t tell Jean or Connie

weekends at night was so fun with Sasha

you two basically had slumber parties

so so so much snacks

doing each others’ hair and laughing and joking around watching movies

you guys laugh so hard sometimes Jean or Connie will yell at you guys to shut up which makes you two laugh even more

sometimes Sasha forgets about food she brings in

one day you woke up to a NASTY smell coming from Sasha’s side of the room

“Sasha it smells like something died wtf is that??”

“Oh! There’s where that steak went!”

she pulls out a whole ass steak from underneath her bed

it was green... and fuzzy....

you almost threw up when she debated taking a bite out of it. 

that being said you slept on the couch for the next few days because of trauma

anyways

you also had to deal with/live with Jean and Connie too

which was kind of annoying but funny at the same time

depending on your mood

for example, whenever Connie and Sasha prank Jean you always end up laughing your ass off

but Connie’s pranks occur at the worst times sometimes

like one time Jean came home late around midnight after studying late at the library with Marco

so Connie thought it would be funny to prank him by slipping underneath his bed

when Jean entered the room he was too tired to even consider where Connie was. 

when he reached his bed Connie grabbed his leg from underneath the bed

that was the loudest you’ve ever heard Jean scream

its kinda funny now that you think back at it 

but boi in that moment you were pissed

they woke you up!! but not Sasha somehow

you barged into their room to find Connie laughing with tears streaming down his face and Jean who looked like he just had a heart attack

“WHAT ON EARTH IS GOING ON ITS ALMOST 1 IN THE MORNING!?”

“HAHAHAH I- HAHAHA- I GRABBED HIS- HAHAHA LEG” laughed Connie who was barely able to talk

insert eyeroll from you

“Jean what happened?”

seeing you all pissed somehow scared Jean more

“I- don’t know?” was all he said before he started crying??

he was super sleep deprived and the last thing he needed was to be spooked and yelled at

“Bro it was just a prank!” said Connie who was shocked at Jean’s expression

you couldn’t possibly yell at your sleep deprived roommate who was emotional af so you just gave him a hug

and gave Connie a well deserved lecture

so now you guys have a no pranks after midnight rule

don’t worry Jean got Connie back

he put a fake spider inside Connie’s laptop and boi Connie screamed louder than Jean that day

when it comes to cooking its usually you, Sasha, or Jean 

Jean makes the best omelettes for breakfast every Saturday

everyone asks for seconds while Sasha asks for her fourth lol

you and Sasha usually make dinner or lunch throughout the week

Sasha makes the best steak and you make (fave food)

Connie tried to make cookies once and the cookie dough was amazing

but he accidentally burnt them and convinced himself he needs a break from the kitchen (unless its to eat)

you’re surprised you can even get your homework done with these chaotic people

Usually you just finish your homework in your room or with Jean at the kitchen table since he’s the calmest

you often tutor Sasha and Connie much to their delight and you’re a great tutor

their grades have been improving so much since you guys started living together

Connie was so grateful that he bought you your fav coffee/tea every day for a week

during breaks when you all are still at the apartment you guys just chill and watch movies

or do chaotic things

like one time Connie just happened to find a Ouija board

and the rest of you were dumb enough to play with it with him

needless to say you, Connie, and Sasha were scared shitless when the “ghost” said yes when asked if it was in their apartment

“Oh come on guys ghosts aren’t even real” said Jean

that night everyone somehow crowded onto Jean’s bed since he was the least scared

you thankfully woke up to no ghost 

instead you woke up to Connie’s elbow in your ribs

and Sasha’s head resting on your thighs

and your head in Jean’s armpit *gag*

and that’s how you developed claustrophobia in beds jk

it was nice being curled up with some of your closest friends after being scared of something silly

they definitely made your college days so much more fun

you were actually sad knowing this living situation would be temporary 

but for now you were gonna embrace the chaoticness of living with them

[welcomebacktohoimicraf]

DreamSMP omegaverse AU:

Okay so hear me out.

Platonic omegaverse doesn't NEARLY get as much attention as it deserves in fandom spaces as a whole and I don't care if you think a/b/o is icky or not because you can pry this au from my cold dead hands

Part 2 here :>

Philza may have been their father, but his long absences during their childhood caused quite a bit of trouble. Tommy and Tubbo were still pups too young to survive without a pack hierarchy, so it triggered Wilbur's hormones to present as an Omega. He was only 13 and already the default leader of a mere 3-member pack, but it was HIS pack, and he'll make sure to raise them right.

(even after the two of them reached age of maturity, they would still turn to Wilbur for the default authority)

Being a piglin, Techno doesn't have a second gender. He does, unfortunately, have a really good sense of smell and is always awkward af around human scenting culture. Why. Why would you rub your wrists with another person. Aren't you worried about hygiene?? Personal space?? Phil I know that look on your face so don't you DARE come near me---

A!Bbh and A!Skeppy's scenting sessions constantly tether the line between pack and mate and nobody knows what to say or do about it. The two scent and speak to each other deeply like mates, and yet bad always ends up nipping and growling at skeppy to re-establish his authority as the pack alpha. Skeppy doesn't challenge him back.

Tommy, to the surprise of almost everyone, presents as an Omega. His loudmouted and assertive personality might've made him the stereotypical Alpha, but he was a protective and nurturing boy at heart. Whatever he considers "his" is constantly cared for and maintained with great dedication (whether that be his discs, or Tubbo, or L'manberg, or that dumb dirt hut he refused to leave). He's as stubborn and stupidly endearing that way. So yeah, classic Omega traits lol /o\

Dream has the most obnoxious grooming sessions ever. His tongue is unusually barbed for a beta, long and spiky and only uncomfortable if he combs too hard by accident. Nevertheless, Sapnap and George despise it because the appearance of the dreaded barbed tongue only occurs when he's cranky, looking for attention, or just lost a chess game and is sulky about it. They eventually indulge him anyway

(Only Antfrost actually likes the grooming. He says it's therapeutic and makes his fur look shiny, though at the cost of Dream hacking up furballs for at least a week afterwards)

Schlatt bites everything. Maybe that was just his goat/satyr side showing, or maybe a habit from childhood he never go over, but the man sinks his teeth in everything that won't immediately send him to the dentist chair or surgery. Wooden meeting tables, stone brick walls, item frames--you name it, it's got a vague tooth mark somewhere. His least proudest moment was the time he bit into a lava bucket as he was holding it in his inventory and very nearly burnt his fingers off. Never again.

Quackity is an Enigma, a rare but not unheard-of type that can shift the dominance of his Alpha/Omega gene as he wills. And while enhancing his senses as he needs them is a rather strategic skill in battle, he unusually prefers a more neutral state. "Scentless", if you will. Perhaps simply to fuck with people more, to keep them on edge in trying to figure out what exactly is his dynamic.

Everyone agrees that Tubbo has the most unusual scent. It isn't unpleasant, it's just hard to pinpoint the exact details. Wilbur likes to describe it as "smokey"-- warm and homey like a campfire charcoal on a good day, and pungent like burning dynamite on a bad one. Tommy claims there's also a bit of blueberry, and gets increasingly irritated whenever other people say they didn't notice it. He tells them their noses are shit and that his sense of smell is clearly superior.

In contrast, Niki has the clearest and most recognizable scent out of all of them. She may seem more quiet and mellow than her friends, but her scent is always a dead giveaway for her emotions. Strawberry chiffon is her natural, calm scent that slowly turns more pungent and stale as she gets unhappier. Though perhaps not as visually attention-grabbing as the others, her scent had always placed her in everyone's emotional radar.

The whole Dream vs Lmanberg war was just sapnap throwing a slight tantrum cus Tommy had accidentally overwritten his claim on a tree that bordered their territories. He then attempted to take Tommy's precious discs as a prank, knowing full well the value of an emotional stash of items, and the rest is history

......Okay I'm not done and I have even more thoughts about platonic!omegaverse and dsmp and will hc dump them....another time......gotta sleep first lol 乁[ᓀ˵▾˵ᓂ]ㄏ

[lochtayboatsong]

The Jesus Christ Superstar essay absolutely no one asked for.

Last weekend, I watched the pro-shot of the 2012 arena tour of Jesus Christ Superstar starring Ben Forster, Tim Minchin, and Melanie C, because it was Easter and it was up on YT for the weekend.  I never managed to do my annual listen-through of Leonard Bernstein’s Mass this year, as is my usual Easter tradition, so I figured “Why not watch/listen to this instead?”  It was my first time seeing and hearing JCS in full, and Y’ALL, it has been living rent-free in my brain ever since.  I have a mighty need to get my thoughts out, so here they are, in chronological order by song.  

1) Prologue: I love the way JCS 2012 makes use of the arena video screen.  The production design and concept clearly took a lot of inspiration from the “Occupy ______” movement, which makes it feel a bit dated now.  But every single production of JCS is a product of its time period, so this is a feature and not a bug.  

2) Heaven On Their Minds: This is a straight-up rock song.  It wouldn’t be out of place on any rock and roll album released between 1970 and 2021, and it boggles my mind that Webber and Rice were both in their early twenties when they wrote it.  Also, the lyric “You’ve begun to matter more than the things you say” hits hard no matter the year.

3) What’s the Buzz: A+ use of the arena screens again, this time bringing in social media to set the tone.  Also, this song establishes right from the outset that Jesus is burnt out and T I R E D by this point in the story.  Seriously, can we just let this man have a nap?

4) Strange Thing Mystifying: Judas publicly calls out Mary and Jesus claps back.  Folx, get you a partner who will defend your honor the way Jesus defends MM in this scene.  Also Jesus loses his shoes and is mostly barefoot for the remainder of the show.

5) Everything’s Alright: Okay, this is one of the songs I have A LOT to say about.  First, it’s important to know that I was a church musician throughout all of my adolescence and into my early adulthood.  The pianist at the services I usually played at was a top-notch jazz pianist, and also my piano teacher for about six years while I as in high school and undergrad.  (Incidentally, I had a HUGE crush on his son, who was/is a jazz saxophonist and clarinetist and also played in the church band, but that’s a story for another day.)  One of the hymns we played a few times a year was called “Sing of the Lord’s Goodness,” which is notable for being in 5/4 time.  Whenever this hymn was on the schedule, it was usually the recessional, or the last song played as the clergy processed out and the congregation got ready to leave, so we were able to have some fun with it.  After a couple verses the piano player and his son would usually morph it into “Take Five,” a famous jazz standard by Dave Brubeck which is also in 5/4 time.  Anyway, the first time I listened to this song in full, it got to Judas’s line “People who are hungry, people who are starving,” and I sat bolt upright and went “HOLY SHIT THIS IS ‘SING OF THE LORD’S GOODNESS/TAKE FIVE.’”  And I was ricocheted back in time to being fourteen and trying to keep up with this father/son duo in a cavernous Catholic church while simultaneously making heart-eyes at the son.  Final note: This is the only song in the musical to feature all three leads (Jesus, Judas, and Mary Magdalene) and is mostly Jesus and MM being soft with each other in between bouts of Jesus and Judas snarling at one another.

6) This Jesus Must Die: I LOVE that all the villains in this production are in tailored suits.  LOVE IT.  Also, Caiaphas and Annas are a comedy duo akin to “the thin guy and the fat guy,” except in this case it’s “the low basso profundo and the high tenor.”  Excellent use of the arena video screen again, this time as CCTV.

7) Hosanna: My background as a church musician strikes back again.  It honestly took me two or three listens to catch it, but then I had another moment of sitting bolt upright and going “HOLY SHIT THIS IS A PSALM.”  Psalms sung in church usually take the form of call-and-response, with a cantor singing the verses and the congregation joining in for the chorus.  If I close my eyes during this song, I have no trouble imagining Jesus as a church cantor singing the verses and then bringing the congregation in for the “Ho-sanna, Hey-sanna” chorus. 

8) Simon Zealotes: This is part “Gloria In Excelsis” and part over-the-top Gospel song.  Honestly it’s not my favorite, but it marks an important mood change in the show.  The end of “Hosanna” is probably Jesus at his happiest in the entire show, and then Simon comes in and sours the mood by trying to tip the triumphant moment into a violent one.  Jesus is not truly happy again from this moment on.

9) Poor Jerusalem: Also not my fave.  It kinda reads like Webber and Rice realized that Jesus didn’t have a solo aria in Act I, so they came up with this.  But it has the distinction of containing the lyric, “To conquer death you only have to die,” which is the biggest overarching theme of the story.

10) Pilate’s Dream: Pontius Pilate might be the most underrated role in this entire show, and I love that this production has him singing this song while being dressed in judge’s robes.  

11) The Temple: The first half of this is one of the campiest numbers in Act I, at least in this production, and it’s awesome.  The second half is one of the saddest, as Jesus tries to heal the sick but finds there are too many of them.  Also the whole scene is almost entirely in 7/8 time, which I think is just cool.

12) I Don’t Know How To Love Him: Mary Magdalene’s big aria, and one of the songs I knew prior to seeing the full-length show.  This production has MM taking off her heavy lipstick and eye makeup onstage, mid-song, which is kind of cool.  Melanie C says in a BTS interview that MM’s makeup is her armor, so this is a Big Symbolic Moment.

13) Damned For All Time: The scene transition into this song is played entirely in pantomime, and I love it.  The solo guitarist gets to be onstage for a bit, A+ use of the video screen again to show Judas on CCTV, etc.  Love it.  And then this song is Judas frantically rationalizing what he’s doing, and what he’s about to do, with Caiphas and Annas just reacting with raised eyebrows and knowing looks.

14) Blood Money: This is where the tone of the show really takes a turn for the dark.  I think this might be one of Tim Minchin’s finest moments as Judas, because his facial expressions and microexpressions throughout this scene speak absolute volumes.  And the offstage chorus quietly singing “Well done Judas” as he picks up the money is a positively chilling way to end Act I.

15) The Last Supper: Act II begins with major “Drink With Me” vibes.  (Except JCS came WAY before Les Miz, so it’s probably more accurate to say that “Drink With Me” has major “The Last Supper” vibes.)  Jesus and Judas have their knock-down, drag-out fight, and it’s honestly heartbreaking, thanks again to Tim Minchin’s facial expressions.  A well-done production of JCS will really convey that Jesus and Judas were once closer than brothers, even though their relationship is at breaking point when Act I begins.

16) Gethsemane: This is Jesus’s major showpiece and one of my faves.  Jesus knows he has less than 24 hours to live, he knows he’s going to suffer, and worst of all, he doesn’t know whether it’s going to be worth it.  It’s an emotional rollercoaster to watch and to perform, and it goes on for ages: something like 6 or 7 minutes.  Fun fact: the famous G5 is not written in the score.  Ian Gillan, who played Jesus on the original concept album, just sang it that way, so most subsequent Jesuses have also done it that way.  Lindsay Ellis has a great supercut of this on YT.  John Legend notably sang the line as written during the 2018 concert.  

17) The Arrest: Judas’s Betrayer’s Kiss is played differently across different productions.  The 2012 version is pretty tame - I’ve seen clips and gifs of other productions, including the 2000 direct-to-video version, where they kiss fully on the mouth and have to be dragged apart by the guards and it is THE MOST TENDER THING.  Then the 7/8 riff from “The Temple” comes back and the 2012 version lets the video screen do its thing again as Jesus is swarmed by reporters.

18) Peter’s Denial: Not much to say about this one, as it’s basically a scene transition.  But it’s a significant moment in the Passion story, so I’m glad they included it.

19) Pilate and Christ: The 2012 production continues with the theme of Caiaphas, Annas, and Pilate all being bougie af, since Pilate intentionally looks like he just came from tennis practice during this scene.  Also he does pilates...hehehe.

20) King Herod’s Song: Tim Minchin says in a BTS interview that JCS works best when Jesus and Judas are played seriously and the rest of the production is allowed to be completely camp and wild and bizarre all around them, and he is bloody well CORRECT about that.  Case in point: King Herod.  There is not a single production of JCS that I know of where Herod is played “straight.”  He’s been played by everyone from Alice Cooper to Jack Black, and everyone puts a different zany spin on him.  In JCS 2012 he’s a chat show host in a red crushed velvet suit, who is clearly having the time of his LIFE. 

21) Could We Start Again Please: This is another of my faves.  Just a quiet moment where MM, Peter, and the disciples try to grapple with the fact that Jesus is arrested and things are going very, very badly.  This is also my favorite Melanie C moment of the 2012 show.  Her grief is very real, and the little moment she has with Peter at the end is very real.

22) Death of Judas: This is basically Tim Minchin screaming for about five minutes, and incredibly harrowing to watch on first viewing.  

23) Trial Before Pilate: Possibly my single favorite scene in the entire 2012 production.  This is another harrowing watch, but there’s so much to take in.  The “set” that the entire show takes place on is essentially just a massive staircase, and the people with power are almost always positioned above the people without power.  In this scene, the crowd shouting “Crucify Him!” is positioned above Pilate, which is a very telling clue to Pilate’s psychology during this scene.  Jesus is at the very bottom of the stairs, of course.  Excellent use of the video screen once again during the 39 Lashes, to show the lash marks building and building until the entire screen is a wash of red.  Pilate’s counting also gets more and more frantic, especially starting around “20.”  And all the while the guitar riff from “Heaven On Their Minds” is playing.  Jesus’s line “Everything is fixed and you can’t change it” is played quite differently in different productions - here it’s defiant, but elsewhere (in JCS 2000 for example) it’s almost tender, like Jesus is absolving Pilate for his part in the trial.  But it always ends the same - with Pilate almost screaming as he passes the sentence and “washes his hands” of the whole sorry business. 

24) Superstar: The most over-the-top number in the show.  Judas, who died two scenes ago, comes back to sing this.  There are soul singers.  There are girls in skimpy angel costumes.  The parkour guys from the prologue are back.  Judas pulls a tambourine out of hammerspace midway through the song.  And Jesus is silently screaming and crying as he gets hoisted onto a lighting beam while all this is going on.

25) The Crucifixion: More of a spoken-word piece than a song, it’s Jesus’s final words on the cross over eerie piano music, and another harrowing watch.

26) John 19:41: An instrumental piece in which Jesus is taken from the cross and carried, at last, to the top of the stairs, before being lowered out of sight as the video screen turns into a memorial wall and everything fades to black.

So.  I know I’m anywhere from three to fifty-one years late to this particular party, but I am on the JCS bandwagon now and I’m thoroughly enjoying myself.  :)

[the-fiction-witch]

My baby P1

TV SHOW: THE QUEENS GAMBIT

COUPLE: BENNY X READER

RATING: FLIRTY AF

I smiled as I sat at my vanity slowly applying my eyeliner "carefully….. carefully… oww!!" I complained having poked myself in the eye I quickly fanned myself to prevent tears ruining the rest of my make up I finished up make up puffing a whole bucket of power to set it all down. I began carefully taking my hair out my rollers being careful not to burn my hand on the hot surface of the rollers as I pulled them out my hair one by one letting loose the insense curls a couple of locks of my hair slightly burnt or singed from the rollers I brushed my hair out letting my hair sit as it usually did checking my make up before going and slipping my little shoes on and picking my handbag up from the bedpost.

"And where are you going?" My mother asked stood at my door in her long dress arms crossed face as sour as a professional lemon sucker. 

"Out" I answered

"Where?"

"I don't know" I shrug 

Just then I heard a knock on the door I went down with my mother who unhappily opened the door,

I smiled widely as I saw him stood on my porch his usual black dress shoes, his blue jeans, his belt tight to him with his knife say down his leg, his grey and silver button down undone fairly far down his chest as usual, his chains sat against his skin, his black leather coat over him hiding most of him away. His facial hair neatly groomed, his face a little panicked seeing my mother and not me answering to him his hair neatly combed and his hat perched on his head however as soon as he saw my mother he removed it, and in his hand sat a beautiful lone white rose. 

"Ohh uhhh. Good evening Mrs y/l/n" he nodded to her 

"Watts." She nodded "back by ten, not a moment after or so help me girl I'll knock you into next week" she says 

"I know, bye mummy" I smiled rushing out the door with my things grabbing his hand and scurrying down the path away from the house, "hi"

"Hi, for you pretty girly" he smiled handing me the rose 

"Aww thank you benny" I smiled giving his cheek a kiss as he put his hat back on "you should do your shirt up" I giggled

"To be fair. One in like sixty times I knock on your door it happens to be opened by your mother, the rest of the time it's you" 

"Well plan for it being her" I smiled squeezing his hand "you look nice though"

"Thank you, your look beautiful too" he says kissing my head "so where are we going?" I asked as we arrived at his little beaten up beetle 

"That's a surprise" he told me tapping my nose before opening the door for me offering a hand to help me in 

"Aww such a gentleman" I smiled giving his cheek another kiss as I climbed in I didn't need his hand but I used it anyway sitting in his car with my bag smelling the sweet rose as he climbed in the car too and noticed himself in the mirror 

"Ohh for fuck- y/n" he complained

"What?"

"That red lipstick is adorable it makes you look very very cute but for God sake everytime you wear it I end up with bright red kisses all over me" he complained trying and failing to wipe my lipstick marks off him I giggled and licked my finger wiping them of for him "thank you babydoll" 

"Your welcome" I smiled 

"Come on or we'll never get back before your curfew" he laughs starting the car up

"Sorry" I blushed

"Its fine babydoll, I know you still live at home I understand it's alright, just means we have to plan things out" he explained as he drove "maybe soon, you can come move in with me and we can have a date night every night" he suggested

"Maybe Benny. I'm not sure my mother will let me move out yet, especially in with you"

"She really hates me doesn't she?"

"She doesn't hate you. She just…. Doesn't like that we aren't married"

"I'm working on it." He laughs putting a hand on my leg "I promise babydoll" 

"I know it's okay Benny, she just doesn't like it"

"I don't know. Maybe I'm weird but I think we should live together a little before where married"

"Why?"

"I don't know, Incase you do weird shit I don't know about"

"Like what Benny?"

"I don't know what you do? The most you and I have spend staying over with each other is one or two sneaky nights here and there and that one week your mother went on holiday. You might so some werid… witchy shit when I'm not around or… you might be really into classical music… or you might be one of those insane people who puts eggs in the fridge"

"Benny we've been dating for six and a half years I think if I did you'd know by now" I giggled

"I don't know,"

"You might be one of those boys who always leave the toilet seat up, or has busy magazines under your bed, or jerks off in the shower" I giggled

"Y/n, we've been dating six and a half years you know all of those are true" He laughs 

“I do. So where are we going?”

“We are going somewhere special.” 

“Where?”

“Secret” He says Giving my hand a kiss.

We did our usual date night, we went and got pizza, then ice cream, and just drove around the new york streets chatting about this and that till we parked up as we often did in an old beaten up car park looking out across the bridges and water. 

"How long have we got?" I asked 

"About an hour" he shrugs checking his watch "did you… want to? Before we go back?"

"Maybe" I giggled blushing hard 

"You want to?"

"Yeah" I blushed

“ALright, But I get red lipstick all over me and we get caught. I'm blaming you” He smirked, giving my lips a gentle kiss… 

I sat nervously I couldn't keep putting it off any longer my mother was out shopping so it had to be now I picked up the phone pressing the rotary numbers and listening to it ring

"Hello?" I heard his voice ask

"Hi"

"Ohh hey y/n, what's up I wasn't expecting you to call me"

"Yeah, ummm the thing is Benny I uhh I need to ask you something?"

"Sure what's up?"

"Can you drive me to the doctor"

"The doctor? Why what's wrong?" He asks 

"Just uhhh… something. It can't be my mum"

"Okay, I'll be over in a bit" he says nerve in his voice 

I sat in the car fearful of what my other would say when she found out…

“What are we gonna do?” Benny asks 

“I don’t know” I answered

“Well. You could go back to the doctor” He says nervously

“No. I'm not gonna do that”

“Okay, I just wanted to check our options”

“I think, this is a good thing. You can get out of your mums house, we can live together in my flat, we can get married, we can have our little family” He smiled stroking my thigh

“Well, Y/n. You want me to be honest?”

“... yes”

“You would really want that?”

“I don’t think we have a lot of options Benny”

“Of course I do,” He smiled 

[tsrookie]

Alright, so today’s the three-year anniversary of Reputation a.k.a the greatest album of all time, my baby, the light of my life, the album that deserved a Grammy (trying desperately not to think about the scene from Miss Americana😭), the album that introduced us to the most beautiful couple ever, the album that shut Kimye up, and I better stop now, or else I’m not gonna shut up.

So in honour of this momentous occasion (and the fact that I reached 200+ followers! Thank you so much you guys!🥺 Love you all 3000💙), here’s a loooooong post on why Reputation is the Ethan and MC album.

1. ...Ready For It?

No one has to know

Throwback to MC saying the exact same words back in Miami.

In the middle of the night, in my dreams

You should see the things we do, baby, mmm

In the middle of the night, in my dreams

I know I'm gonna be with you

So I take my time

Remember back when MC asked for Ethan to get into bed right away during their first time? Ethan told them that he had dreamt about the moment for months, so he wasn’t going to rush it.

2. End Game

Big reputation, big reputation

Ooh you and me would be a big conversation

These two dating would be the talk of the hospital, and they know it.

Even when we'd argue, we don't do it for long

And you understand the good and bad, end up in the song

For all your beautiful traits, and the way you do it with ease

For all my flaws, paranoia, and insecurities

Think these lines are pretty self-explanatory😌

I hit you like bang

We tried to forget it, but we just couldn't

*gets war flashbacks of the ‘reset’ phase*😭 They tried to make it work, but we all know how Ch 8 of book 2 went😌

I swear I don't love the drama, it loves me

Perfect for our chaotic MC😌

3. Don’t Blame Me

Do I... really have to explain this one?

For you, I would cross the line

I would waste my time

I would lose my mind

They say she's gone too far this time

Do we need a recap of our rule-breaking MC?

And baby, for you, I would fall from grace

Just to touch your face

If you walk away

I'd beg you on my knees to stay

He was willing to risk his (mostly) rule-abiding reputation for being with MC. And there’s no way he wouldn’t beg for MC not to leave him if he ever screwed up🤷‍♀️

4. Delicate

This ain't for the best

My reputation's never been worse, so

You must like me for me

Ethan stood by MC’s side throughout the Ethics hearing, when her reputation was completely smeared, and people only saw her as a patient murderer. He didn’t know about the sabotages, but he would’ve definitely supported her if he had known.

We can't make

Any promises now, can we, babe?

Commitment-phobia🙃

Sometimes I wonder when you sleep

Are you ever dreaming of me?

Sometimes when I look into your eyes

I pretend you're mine, all the damn time

They spent so much of time apart, not able to be with each other, so the least they could do was dream of being with each other all the time.

5. So It Goes (an underrated af bop)

What can I say... it’s a sex song, okay? Don’t make me go into the details😂 Just listen to the lyrics, and all will be clear.

6. Gorgeous (Tumblr won’t let me put any more links)

MC’s eternal anthem to Ethan.

Whisky on ice, Sunset and Vine

You've ruined my life, by not being mine

We all know Ethan loves Whiskey, and the second line? C’mon!

You're so gorgeous

I can't say anything to your face

'Cause look at your face

And I'm so furious

At you for making me feel this way

But, what can I say?

You're gorgeous

Ethan Ramsey is famous for two reasons. One: his smart brain, I guess😒 Two: HIS LOOKS!!! HE’S GORGEOUS, AND DON’T DENY IT.

And you should think about the consequence

Of you touching my hand in the darkened room (dark room, dark room)

Ah, the olden days of hand holding in the diagnostics office🥺

Ocean blue eyes looking in mine

I feel like I might sink and drown and die

No explanation required.

You make me so happy, it turns back to sad, yeah

There's nothing I hate more than what I can't have

You are so gorgeous it makes me so mad

The wonderful will-they-won’t-they saga. The frustrating hot-and-cold behaviour. The ‘We can’t’, ‘It’s unethical’ and ‘It’s complicated’. MC deserves an award for her patience😓

7. King Of My Heart

I'm perfectly fine, I live on my own

I made up on my mind, I'm better off bein' alone

Ethan ‘I don’t believe in soulmates and nobody’s waiting at home’ Ramsey.

And all at once, you are the one I have been waiting for

King of my heart, body and soul, ooh whoa

And all at once, you are all I want, I'll never let you go

King of my heart, body and soul, ooh whoa

This could be from both Ethan and MC’s perspectives. The love they share isn’t something that you get easily. It’s something that MC has waited for her whole life, and something Ethan never knew he needed, but now can’t live without🥺

Late in the night, the city's asleep

Your love is a secret I'm hoping, dreaming, dying to keep

Change my priorities

The taste of your lips is my idea of luxury

This was definitely Ethan throughout book 2, after he finally gave in. He let go of his previous rules and regulations, especially during the time of the attack. He was clearly affected, and once MC was alright, his main priority was her, and her alone.

Is the end of all the endings?

My broken bones are mending

With all these nights we're spending

Ethan’s been burnt a lot in the past. But all those wounds are now healing thanks to MC.

Up on the roof with a school girl crush

Drinking beer out of plastic cups

They act like lovesick teenagers around each other, like, that’s literally their description if you choose to kiss Ethan for the first time in Chapter 14 of book 2!😅

Say you fancy me, not fancy stuff

Baby, all at once, this is enough

We all know about his initial fear of his mother reaching out to him for the sake of his money. To him, MC not talking advantage of him is a pretty big deal, even though it’s never mentioned. You just know, you know?🥺

8. Dancing With Our Hands Tied

My, my love had been frozen

Deep blue, but you painted me golden

Again, Ethan doesn’t have the best experience with love. But MC changed that.

I'm a mess, but I'm the mess that you wanted

This could go both ways, cause they’re both piping hot messes😬 (but love each other anyway🥺)

The rest of this song could have made so much more sense for them if we had gotten some sort of a secret relationship storyline. But oh well, I’m definitely not complaining about the gala😌 (and definitely not believing any of the supposed cancelled storylines)

9. Dress

Our secret moments

In a crowded room

They got no idea

About me and you

I mean... pretty obvious😌

Even in my worst times, you could see the best of me

And I woke up just in time

Now I wake up by your side

My one and only, my lifeline

This is practically Ethan’s train of thought, and you can’t convince me otherwise.

As for the rest of the steamier lyrics... I’ll um... let you guys listen to it yourselves😁

10. Call It What You Want

I wrote an entire fic inspired by this song, so excuse me for the shameless self-promo, but go give it a read?🥺👉👈(totally fine if you don’t! I’ve probably made so many posts about this song that y’all know the meaning anyway😅)

11. New Years Day

Don't read the last page

But I stay when you're lost and I'm scared and you're turning away

I want your midnights

But I'll be cleaning up bottles with you on New Year's Day

MC has always stayed by Ethan’s side, even when he’s pushed her away. These lines perfectly explain how she wants his worst times, and his best, the midnights they spend staying up together, and the moments where it’s just the two of them, when everyone else has left, like the aftermath of a New Years party (still mad at the fact that we didn’t get to see the gang celebrate New Year together😭)

I'll be there if you're the toast of the town babe

Or if you strike out and you're crawling home

The above explanation for these lines as well.

Please don't ever become a stranger whose laugh I could recognize anywhere

Becoming strangers to each other would be their worst nightmares. Knowing that the other was out there in the world somewhere, but not being in their lives would kill them.

You and me forevermore

These two are each other’s soulmate, they know it, even if they haven’t said it yet. Forever wouldn’t be enough for them to shower each other with they love they hold for each other. But it’s a good start.

——————————

If you guys made it this far, then I honestly love you more than words can ever express🥺💙 Thanks for putting up with my Swiftie-Directioner-Ethan stan ass, cause I dunno if I’d ever be able to handle someone like myself. And if you read all the above stuff, then I hope you wanna know why this album means so much to me.

Reputation is perceived as a dark album, when in reality it’s truly about finding love amongst all the noise. This album, and Taylor and Joe’s story, taught me what true love actually is, and Ethan and MC cemented that. This album and these two couples (quite literally) saved my life.

The most beautiful part about both these relationships is that even though they never showed it openly, for the sake of their relationships, both Ethan(in the story) and Joe stood by the side of the one’s they loved, despite half of the people who they knew hating on them, or betraying them. And I think that’s what’s truly important. Forming a true relationship like that, be it platonic or romantic, is long lasting, and I hope everyone finds those kind of people to fill their hearts with. Sending much love, and sorry for being a huge sap😅💙

Tagging a couple of my Swiftie homies: @swiftlydarcy @nikki-2406 @dxnicaramsey @kaavyaethanramsey @caseyvalentineramsey @drariellevalentine @justanotherrookie

[secondhand-trash]

Paper Cranes

A/N: I know I said this about literally everything I write but this is self-indulgence af because please I just want someone to rant to when I have writer’s blocks (which is all the time) you get me? (Also, I’m not saying you have to do it but I’m def attaching a paper crane tutorial so everyone can get the whole iMmErSivE reading experience)

Pairing: Takami Keigo x reader

Description: Your unconventional way of handling writer’s block caught the eyes of a certain bird boi.

Word count: 3838

Warning: mentions of injuries/hospital

Playlist:

What’s My Age Again?//Blink-182 (This is a Hawks song you can’t convince me otherwise)

I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor//Artic Monkeys

The Next Time We Wed//The Fratellis

-

You knew that there were more productive things you could be doing right now, sitting at the outdoor area of a cafe with a half-empty mug next to a laptop but your brain felt more like a pile of mush and every word you typed out in the last 20 minutes made you cringe, which was exactly why you stopped doing that all together.

Refusing to even look at the untouched word document on the laptop in front of you, you pulled out a pile of coloured square paper and started folding it in a routine you knew at the back of your head. You sighed as you stared at the small crane in your palm. Your odd habit of folding paper cranes whenever you got stuck on something came when you were so infuriated with not doing anything that you started toying around with the napkin provided by the cafe. After getting bored of bunching up the paper towel repeatedly, you started looking up easy origami tutorials to forge the sense that you actually did something and wasn’t wasting your time by making something presentable. You settled with the elementary school level crane and it became the only origami you were semi-decent at making. You kept all the cranes you made from your writing sessions at the cafe in a paper bag you carried around all the time. The bag was half full and you weren’t sure how to feel about it, knowing full well that it implied that you spent a lot of the time you planned to use on writing making little to no progress.

It had become a routine for you almost. Going to the cafe with your laptop and notes, ordering coffee with as much extra shots of espresso the shop offers, open your document, your brain stops working midway, shifting your focus to folding cranes as an outlet for your frustration and self-loathing. So productive, so good for your mental health-

“I thought you are supposed to be writing?”

Oh, all that and being interrupted by this oversized blonde pigeon.

You did not stop even when you heard the sound of the man in front of you pulling the chair and sitting down next to you uninvited. Pressing down on the paper to form the beak, you threw the origami into the paper bag with the rest of its friends before finally lifting your head to meet the amused gaze of the winged hero.

“And I thought that heroes are supposed to be real preoccupied with saving people and all that,” you said as you lifted your brow, “I’m really starting to question if you are getting any work done, how come you’re always around?”

Hawks laughed, attracting the attention of by passers as some of them gawked at the number 2 hero who was so casually sitting there with someone who looked like they wanted nothing more than to wipe his grin off his face. “What can I say? You’re my favourite writer and I’m just trying to urge you to put new stuff out there.” he said, not without adding a wink at the end and you groaned in annoyance. You weren’t gonna lie and say that you didn’t feel the slightest bit flattered when the charming hero approached you for the first time, saying that he read your work. But as he showed up more and more frequently and invited himself to watch and gave snarky remarks as you struggled, it was like Hawks was trying to get you to be annoyed at him deliberately.

“What’s with you and paper cranes anyways? Ever think about switching things up and fold something else?” he asked, reaching for one of your creations and fiddled with it curiously despite the glare you were sending him.

“Cranes require the least effort,” you said as you leaned forward to snatch it out of his hand and groaned when he pulled back with a knowing smirk, “not sure if you can tell but I’m already on the verge of a breakdown. I’m not gonna put even more stress into doing something that is supposed to take my mind off of my lack of productivity.”

You let out a defeated sigh and fell back onto your seat which only made his smirk grew wider. He examined the origami for a little longer and shifted his stare back at you, “Can I have one?”

“What? No!” you snorted and launched forward to take it back as he let his guard down. You gave the hero a disbelieved look as he gave you a childish pout that was so unfitted for someone of his status. Before you met him, you always thought of the pro-hero as a suave and respectable person. Well, you still sorta did, but to think that this man was someone people rely on was something that became hard for you to imagine, especially seeing how child-like he was in front of you.

“But whyyyyy,” Hawks whined and motioned to the paper bag on the floor next to you, “you had made so many! What difference will it make if I take one?”

“They’re all my children and I love every single one of them,” you said as you dramatically placed a palm on your chest where your heart would be at, “you are dead wrong if you think I’ll ever let someone take away one of my babies.”

Hawks snickered, “God, are all writers so weird?”

“I don’t know, are all heroes annoying?”

He threw his hands in the air in defeat, “Fine, I won’t force you to separate from your children.”

“Good.” you nodded as you threw yet another crane into the bag.

“As much as I like talking about your crane obsession, I need to get going. Still a long way to go until heroes can properly slack off.” he said as he got up and stretched. HIs wings spanning widely as he extended his arms, threatening to push your things off the table and hit you in the face.

You quickly dodged the assault of his wings and bent down to shield your precious laptop, “Mind your ducking wings, you blind goose.”

He let out a full body laugh at your insult and started walking away, only to turn on his heels as he heard you call out for him. “Hawks?”

“Yes?”

“Put it back.”

He groaned as he reached into the inner pocket of his jacket to pull out a tiny paper crane. He muttered something about you being telepathic while he let the origami slid from his palm into the paper bag where it belong and you couldn’t contain your grin despite your best effort.

You stared at the pile of paper cranes in front of you soullessly. If you were being self-deprecating and giving in to unhealthy coping mechanisms when you said you were on the verge of a breakdown before, you were seriously burnt out now. Usually, folding origami would give you the slightest bit of ease but it wasn’t working now. You could feel your head throbbing in pain as the blankness of the screen mocked you and you lowered your head with your eyes shut, trying to calm the stiffness in your brain just a little. You didn’t even pick up on the familiar sound of chair shuffling until a voice brought you back to reality.

“Wow, you must be really stressed out huh?”

With your forehead on the table, you groaned, “Not now, Hawks. Go bother some other civilian.”

”But you’re the most fun to be around!” he chuckled and you snapped your head up to stare at man. His laughter quickly died down under the gaze of your bloodshot eyes.

“What do you want, you featherbrained son of a birdspawn,” you grunted, “no. It’s not working. I can’t even find joy in insulting you anymore, this is bad.”

“I’m gonna pretend I didn’t hear that,” he said, concern contrasting with his lighthearted words, “are you ok?”

“Not at all. It’s like I don’t even know how to form proper sentences. There’s so many ideas floating through my brain but it just goes ‘error 404′ when I actually try to write it out,” you ran your hand through your hair as you went on with your rant, “I’m spiraling and I don’t know what to do. I’m in desperate need for a distraction.”

Hawks looked at you as you took a deep breath, being quieter than you ever remembered him to be. You put your tired gaze on him and that’s when the red feathers poking from behind his back caught your eyes. You weren’t exaggerating when you said you needed a distraction and right now you wondered how you had never took much interest in the winged hero’s trademark before.

“Can I touch your wings?”

“What?” his eyes widened at your sudden request, almost believing that he had misheard what you just said.

“Can I touch them?”

His shocked expression slowly faded and the corner of his lips slowly tugged upwards, “Never thought of you as the eager type.”

“Hawks, I swear to god-”

“At least try to buy me dinner first-”

“Get your mind out of the gutter, you hormonal rooster.” you bite back but immediately realized that you probably shouldn’t act so aggressive when you were asking for a favour and unknowingly whined, “it’s just, it looks so soft and I never really thought of it and I’m so hyperaware of everything right now that I just want to know what it feels like.”

Hawks fell silent for a moment. In all honesty, he had always been very iffy about anyone making contact to his wings. It was an important tool to his survival, not to mention extremely sensitive. But you looked so tired and beaten up that he just didn’t have the heart to reject you.

Hawks carefully extended his left wing to you and the way you perked up just a little made his heart swell. You leaned forward and lightly stoked a finger along the most outward feather of his wingtip. Chills shot down his spine as you felt the red feather gently and he had to physically restraint himself from shivering under you touch. Hawks was shocked when he almost let out a disappointed sigh as you pulled back, he didn’t even realize how much he enjoyed the gentle affection you were giving him.

You had seen him in action in news broadcast many times before and it amazed you how the razor sharp feathers he often used in fights felt like silk under the pad of your finger. You felt content for a split second before the thought of your untouched work slowly shadowed you short happiness once again.

“Did that help?” he tentatively asked and his heart sank as you let out a sigh.

“No,” you groaned, feeling bad that he let you invade his personal space just to help you but it didn’t work, “I’m starting to feel like I’m washing my entire career down the drain at this rate.”

It pained him to see his usually witty and sharp-tongued friend in this state. Hawks looked around to see if there’s anything he could do for you when the golden glow of the late afternoon sun gave him an idea.

“Wait, what are you doing?” you asked as the man grabbed you by your forearm and started pulling you up from your slumping position.

“I’m taking you somewhere.”

You were confused but his serious demeanor showed you that he was genuinely trying to help, “At least let me pack my things first.”

“Leave it here.” he said as he pulled you with him, completely clueless as to where you were going.

“You must be kidding me...” you said, now standing on the rooftop of a random building Hawks dragged you to.

“Do you trust me?”

“No offense but no.”

“And here I thought we’re getting somewhere,” he sighed before looking at you and the determined look in his eyes shut down all your attempts at protesting, “I promise this’ll help, just trust me for once.”

You felt your breath hitched in your throat at the way he looked so intensely at you, almost pleading in a way and it made your heart soft. Letting out a defeated sigh, you stepped closer to him and wrapped your arm around his neck. He locked his arm tightly around your waist and you could feel the heat radiating off his body at the close proximity.

“If you let go of me at any given moment, I swear I’ll turn you into a chicken casserole and eat it for dinner.”

“That’s my snarky little literary giant.” he grinned before taking off and you held on tightly to him. Almost burying your face in the crook of his neck, partly in fear of slipping down, but mostly to hide the faint blush on your face.

Hawks kept his promise and held you securely around your waist throughout the whole flight. Your heart was beating fast from the adrenaline of being so high up the sky but also because his face was merely millimeters away from yours. Feeling a bit more comfortable with the height after a while, you relaxed your neck and felt chilling wind on your face. You peered down to see that big city reduced to miniatures below you. It was a sight to witness.

“Not as bad as you thought, right?” his smooth voice rang from just above your eye and you felt your cheeks heat up, letting out nothing but a soft hum in response.

“We’re here.” Hawks gently put you down and you leaped onto the soft grass. You looked around to see that you were on a hilltop away from the central city. Turning around, you were immediately speechless.

“So, what do you think?” he asked, almost a bit nervous at your lack of response and he wasn’t even sure why he was so jittery.

The sun was sinking down, giving off an almost golden glow. You could see the skyline of the city from where you were at, the clear windows of the compacted buildings glistening from under the sunshine. The sound of cars speeding on the highway mixed with the occasional breeze from the soft wind eased the knot in your head, the fresh smell of grass made you sigh in content. You watched from afar as the entire city basked under the sunlight, emitting a soft radiance. It was majestic.

You gasped, “This is...”

“I always come here when I feel like I can’t keep going,” he said, “this sight never fails to lift me back up.”

You chocked out a gasp in awe, “It’s beautiful.”

You were looking at the sky, but he was looking at you. “It is.” Hawks whispered.

And even for just a short while, the sight and the comforting presence of him made you feel so much better.

You felt great. It had been a long while since you were last so inspired as you type away on your keyboard, not stopping except for the few times you paused to take sips of your coffee.

You looked at the words on the screen and hummed in satisfaction, pulling your shoulders back to relax the tensed muscles. You couldn’t wait to tell Hawks that it worked and you were making amazing progress.

Speaking of Hawks, where was that dumb bird anyways? He usually shows up around this hour but he was nowhere to be seen.

You looked around to see if you could find any sight of the familiar red feathers anywhere but stopped as you heard the chattering from the group of women sitting from a few tables away.

“Oh my god, have you seen the news? Absolutely horrifying!”

“I know right? It must be a really tough fight, Hawks was always so quick to capture a villain!”

You got immediately alerted at the mention of your friend. Your mind started racing, she said ‘horrifying’.

“Haven’t you heard? His agency put out a statement this morning saying that he had to take a break from work just to recover, that poor thing!”

You felt heat retreating from your face and your senses going numb. Slightly panicking, you rummaged through your bag for your phone and immediately went onto the news site once you got hold of it. Your eyes widened and you clasped your hand on your mouth at the gory photo attached to the article. You could not began to describe the twisting in your stomach when you saw the usually cheery hero being so beaten up, his glorious wings you tenderly stroked not so long ago now left with nothing but the long, thin bone of its main structure.

It hurt.

It hurt to see him like that and you hated how there’s nothing you could do for him when he went out of his way to help you when you were in need. That’s when you noticed the paper bag you brought with you out of habit. Quickly shoving everything on the table into your bag and threw it across your shoulder, you clutched the handle of the paper bag tightly in your hand, wondering if it would work if you just wished harder.

Hawks groaned as he twisted on his sofa. He had been forced to stay home after that particularly gruesome fight to allow both the injuries on his body and his abused wings to recover. To say that he was bored out of his mind would be an understatement. Flicking from channel to channel mindlessly, he sighed at how there’s nothing that could entertain him.

He wondered what you would say if you had saw him lying there like a dead fish, probably something along the lines of him acting like a slab of ‘dry, flavourless chicken breast’. He chuckled at the thought of your usual snarky attitude and felt even lonelier when he was once again reminded that he was confined in the concrete walls of his apartment, with no one but himself.

He almost flung himself at the door when he heard the bell rang, wincing in pain as he had forgotten about the main reason why he was on what he felt like house arrest.

Hawks opened the door to see his sidekick. “Morning Mr Hawks, feeling better?”

“Physically yes but I’m going to combust if I had to stay in any longer.”

The sidekick gave his boss a nervous chuckle, he had been working for the hero for long enough to know how on edge he could be when he was put out of action for too long. “Just for a little longer, the agency needs to make sure that you’ve recovered completely before letting you get back to work,” his sidekick quickly added upon seeing how Hawks’ face dropped, “actually, I’m here to bring you this.”

Hawks watched as his sidekick pulled out a paper bag that almost looked too familiar. “Someone gave this to me at the agency and asked me to bring it to you, must be some sort of fan gift.”

Bidding his sidekick goodbye, he quickly locked the door and opened the bag that felt quite heavy when he was holding it in his hands. Prying the bag open, his heart soared as he looked inside to find it filled up to the brim with paper cranes.

“I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen you actually typing instead of folding cranes.”

“Hawks!” you immediately looked up when you heard his voice and the bright smile on your face that was in place of the usual sneer made his heart flutter, “You’re alive!”

You rested your chin on your palm as you watched him sat down. You would never tell him but it almost felt wrong to have the table all to your own for the past week.

“Gladly, I nearly died out of boredom,” you snickered and god, did he miss that sound, “thanks for the cranes. I had them put on a string and hanged in my office just so you know, really added some life to that place.”

You smiled, happy to know that your thoughts were properly delivered. He teasingly asked, “Thought you were hell-bent on never separating from your children?”

You shook your hand, grinning from ear to ear. “Nah, I figured you need it more than I do.”

Hawks raised his brow, “How’s that so?”

You chuckled nervously, pondering if you should tell him what it meant. Not knowing that he was well aware of the meaning behind the one thousand paper cranes you gave him, he just wanted to hear you say it out loud so badly.

“It means to wish for peace and health,” you wondered why you were suddenly so reserved when you spent most time with this man making fun of each other, “I just thought you would need extra of both of those.”

Hawks smirked. You were hiding the rest of the meaning deliberately and he was determined to get you to admit it.

“It only works when you do it for someone you really care for,” he said and he felt the pounding in his chest, “you care for me.”

He could see the blush forming on you face and it filled him with an unexplainable feeling of joy. “I never said I don’t.” you said with a smirk of your own, trying to brush away your sudden shyness.

“We both know it doesn’t work like that.” he tried to fake the confidence in his voice but deep inside, he was anxious to see your reaction to what he wanted to say.

“You like me.” that last part came out in a whisper but you could hear it clearly. Despite it having nothing but thin pin feathers, he could feel them stood up on his back in pure excitement as you didn’t object. His face almost hurt from smiling as he caught sight of the sheepish smile on your reddened face as you lowered your head to avoid his gaze.

“Does that mean I’m the father to your paper children now?”

“Don’t push it...”

He gasped, “We’re gonna make such beautiful crane babies-”

“Don’t push it,” you glared at him and quickly put on a smirk as you regained your usual composure, “besides, salmonella-ridden raw chickens can’t give birth to cranes.”

“That’s low,” Hawks put a hand to his chest, pretending to be hurt, “even for you.”

You could not control your laughter as he continued to say that you wounded his ego.

Oh, how you adored this bird boi.

Bonus

“Wait, where are you supposed to put this flap?”

“Just tug it underneath the other part.”

“What? But how do you make it into that shape?”

“You... Nevermind, having one artistic person is enough in a relationship.”

“No, you’re not leaving until you teach me how to make this stupid thing.”

“Don’t go insulting our children when it is clearly your lack of talent. Here, take this, it’s you in origami form. I made it while you were struggling.”

“..."

“...”

“It’s just a regular crane with two legs.”

“Exactly.”

(And here’s the tutorial that nobody asked for but I wanted to put in anyways so y’all can join in and make beautiful crane babies of your own)

[rainbowsntears]

cold outbreak ( finn x sick!reader )

request

   ↳ finn taking care of you when you’re sick headcanon?

warnings

   ↳ fluff, fluff, maybe bad words oops but jus fluff lol 

note

   ↳ hi i made this an au so finn isn’t famous but is just your boyfriend that goes to your school if that’s okay? also omg how long has it been since i last wrote here? three months? idk oops sorry but enjoy! love u x

it’s cold, it’s awful weather. it’s been like this for some time now and honestly what the frig mother nature

the rain is beautiful, i love rain sm idk bout y’all

but sometimes when it gets toooooo chilly and there’s been a bad cold and fever outbreak around the place, obviously the rainy weather is a lil irritating

especially because...yay! you’ve been cursed with a cold thanks to someone at school

fuck i get colds all the time ugh

but that’s only because i’m vegetarian and don’t take my iron tablets even though i got bad iron deficiency fwefjwehjhe

anyway

so you’ve had to miss out on school this week because you’re sick as a dog and you kinda feel like you’re on your death bed.

the whole day you finished on some homework that was due and napped and watched tv. literally it’s been pretty boring, and you’ve already gone through a box of tissues because jEsus how much mucas does your body actually have lmfao. 

also you’re completely drugged up from the amount of cold and flu tablets you’ve taken.

your mum tried making you drink some of that nasty ass ‘strawberry’ flavoured cough medicine even though it tastes like a burnt chemical that lives within the depths of brutal hell and NOTHING like strawberry. but you cried hard enough that she gave up on trying.

you miss finn because he’s at school and you want to cry. 

but you know what? finn being the best boyfriend, he’ll text you every morning that you’ve been sick this week wishing for you to feel better and that he’ll see you after school.

 which he always does.

finn would knock on the house door and your mum would let him in, giving him good luck to not get sick as he would make his way to your room

and when you would see him after just blowing your nose, omg the biggest smile would grow upon both of your faces

even though finn kinda scrunches his face up because OBVIOUSLY your body thinks it’s the perfect time to give you a nice coughing fit just after choking out a greeting

“geez you don’t look too good” finn would snicker as he’d sit on the edge of your bed and hand you more homework that was assigned to you by your teachers and chocolate he brought from the store before coming over here. even tho chocolate isn’t the best thing to have when you’re sick, you still gladly take it.

you’ll glare at him as you say, “shut the fUCK up” in a hoarse and dry voice

finn would laugh

so while he’s there, finn likes to make you some soup because ugh we love a boyfriend who can cook

and by cook i mean he just makes two-minute noodles but it’s the thought that c o u n t s

you enjoy snapchatting him when he’s making the soup ( cue the gif from above bois )

he just shakes his head and laughs

finn also refills your glass of water and makes sure you take your tablets at the right time, and as much as you banter him for being a second mum to you

you still love it

“anything special happened at school?” you’d ask

and ooooo you sure love the tea finn spills

at this point he’d be cradling you in his arms from behind on your bed

so at least finn isn’t coping your bad sick breath and if you need the box of tissues, he’s able to grab it for you without you moving. 

“well, my science teacher said orgasm instead of organism and-”

you choked hard on your water

“WHAT??!?!!”

finn nodded his head, a small chuckle escaping his throat when he heard you laugh

“yeah, it was so funny! he was embarrassed as shit and basically, the whole class paid him out for it for the rest of the lesson”

SOME GUY IN MY SCIENCE CLASS DID THAT AND I’M TELLING YOU RIGHT NOW I HAVE NEVER LAUGHED SO HARD

you were giggling as much as you could before you started to go into a coughing fit, but it was still funny. and you muttered a small, “oh poor guy!” before kindly asking for the box of tissues.

for the rest of the time that finn was there, you guys cuddled and watched a movie

finn likes to banter about you being sick

so when you cough, he’ll dramatically gasp and choke

“oH GROSS”

you groan

“I’M SICK WHAT DO YOU EXPECT”

also when you have to blow your nose finn just scrunches his face up and sighs heavily

“i buy you chocolate and care for you and thIS IS THE THANKS I GET?”

you were so close to deliberately coughing in his face but all you do is just roll your eyes and nudge his stomach with your elbow.

but it’s all for shits and giggles, and honest to god, finn actually loves taking care of you and making sure you’re okay because that’s how great of a boyfriend he is.

and as much as he wants to because he loves affection, you don’t let him kiss you.

like-

iT’s vV cLiChE wHeN peOpLe kIsS wHiLe tHeIr sIcK

also you guys can wait, and so when you’re better you can kiss all you like! sometimes you gotta be safe than sorry kids!

plus finn acts wayyyyy worse when he’s sick. like it’s as if he’s dead in hell and trying to say his last fucking words to you 

it’s like he’s in some kind of hospital bed and he’s at least 108 years old

it’s ridiculous but funny af

sometimes you’ll fall asleep in his arms because you’re so tired from staying up late being sick and such, and finn admires how quiet you are and not blowing snot everywhere lol

also, he may have kissed your forehead a couple of times because he can’t help himself

you never find out tho

when you fall asleep, that’s more of finn’s cue to leave since he sure knows that you won’t be waking up till two hours later. and the boy has to get home before it goes dark - yes, you two live close to one another.

so when you do wake up after a big phat three-hour nap, you’re in awe with how comfortable you are

lmao i literally had a three-hour nap between 3pm-6pm it was amazing

so that’s when you realise that finn literally tucked you into bed, made sure you slept with two pillows, refilled your water one last time and left you a lil note that wrote:

sorry i had to go, i didn’t want to walk home at night and it looked like you really needed to sleep lol. i really hope you get better though because i miss you at school. love you, baby, see you soon. - finnieeee

you don’t miss the way your heart skips a bit and omg i cry

he’s too precious for this world istg-

but yeah! that’s finn taking care of you when you’re sick

sometimes he’ll bring flowers rather than chocolate, but most of the time it’s the food that he gives you

anyway y’all are cute

finn deserves the world

we love finn

we stan

oKAY SORRY BYE

but then again, if you actually are sick rn, hope you feel better. have honey and lemon if you have a sore throat, rest, don't go to school and drink water!

love you guys sm xxxxxxxx

[butterflydm]

2020 (what a weird year)

I did not get very much done this year at all. The business I work for got us all classified as essential workers which... tbh, I did not agree with as a categorization. It’s meant that hours per week stayed the same, but my anxiety levels at work skyrocketed. And most of the time, after getting home, I basically had enough energy to check some stuff online but I mostly needed to decompress by doing something familiar, which I’ve been doing by replaying FFX and FFX2, and my brain mostly hasn’t had room for anything new. Which is a shame for all the plans I had to watch tons of new media! I had a long list of things I wanted to check out and I haven’t really watched any of it.

I did get a chance to watch a few new things (as always, tbh, any recs of mine are basically ‘you will like this thing, if this is the kind of thing you like’):

The Old Guard: Really enjoyed this movie. It’s been out for a while now, but if you haven’t had a chance to watch it, it was a fun, easy watch that also made me think some interesting philosophical questions about life. A good time! It’s honestly the only movie I watched during the 2020 pandemic period, unless I get around to watching anything else in the next couple of days.

MXTX’s Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System: I love love this story. I’ve watched the donghua (looking forward to S2!) and read the translation by BC Novels, and the story just has so many things that make my heart go ‘yes!’: it’s funny, with a charming PoV character who both doesn’t take himself too seriously and also seriously misunderstands himself in a lot of ways -- very relatable. It’s dramatic AF, with romantic lead Luo Binghe at the heart of a lot of that drama. It’s clever and I love the way the premise is used for both humor and pathos.

Tone-wise, it reminds me of works like Galaxy Quest or Northanger Abbey. Honestly, that light tone helps in some of the later chapters, which have content that is actually very dark and very heartbreaking if taken seriously, but because of the momentum of the story and the tone of the narrative, I didn’t feel like I got lost or bogged down in the darkness.

And I love the relationship between Shen Qingqiu and Luo Binghe a whole heck of a lot. I think the way it’s structured is clever and sweet and sad and makes for an interesting story. There is an element of an unintentional romantic obsession that SQQ created by the way he flipped between kind and cruel (against his will, which is what makes it forgivable for the audience, imo, because SQQ wanted to always be kind, though not always for the most selfless of reasons) and how LBH had to try to mentally justify/rationalize how the same man could act in such completely opposing ways. And the narrative symmetry between how SQQ thinks of LBH as the center of the universe because he’s the OP Protagonist (!) but LBH thinks of SQQ as the one that everything revolves around and how that’s narratively true because, of course, in the story that we’re reading, SQQ is the protagonist and LBH is his love interest.

I also actually really appreciated the bad sex near the end of the novel -- sex-to-save-the-world is a trope that can easily get romanticized but here it’s (literally) painful and ugly instead, as all of LBH’s trauma pairs with the influence of Xin Mo on his mind. Even through the translation, it definitely feels like bad sex written well, rather than badly-written sex that is supposed to be good, if you know what I mean. Sex can be an important narrative tool in stories and I feel like MXTX uses it very effectively here.

I think I burnt through the entire translation in just a few days. I’ve been reading a lot of fanfic afterwards and I think my favorite so far is I Wish You Were My Husband by Feynite. It’s an AU but it keeps the same kind of vibe as the original story.

Bridgerton: Goodness, so enjoyable! Julia Quinn is not My Most Favorite of the various romance writers that I read but she was one of the first writers that really got me back into reading romance and it was delightful to see her world on screen. I don’t picture people when I’m reading novels; I have to have a visual first and then I can carry that into the reading, so it was nice to be able to assign faces to some of these characters that I’m already very fond of. Simon and Daphne had a nice amount of chemistry and I loved the Bridgerton family relationships.

I hope they get to cover all the romances in the series and continue to do some updating as well -- I generally liked the changes they made to Simon and Daphne’s romance (a few I wasn’t as into but could see why they’d done it -- mostly For The Drama). And I really loved what they did with Simon and Lady Danbury’s relationship. It took me some time to tell the three older Bridgerton brothers apart but that’s pretty much canon, lol. Anyway, I was invested enough in it all that I stayed up all night on Christmas eve to watch it all and I had no regrets afterward.

I started watching S2 of TharnType but then my work schedule changed and I was working on Fridays and (see above) I just didn’t have the energy to watch anything after work. I might wait and binge the rest of the series once it’s all out, now that it’s gone this long without me being caught up.

I do think I’ll take a break from Critical Role for a while, after it comes back. I’ve just come to an unfortunate place where the show literally cannot win with me re: the romances, as I’m annoyed when they happen but also, perversely, annoyed when they get ignored because my brain goes “they gutted beaujester for this limited amount of inferior romance? At least commit to giving an adequate amount of the romances that I dislike!”. And so it becomes a vicious circle. Good sign that it’s time to take a break. My unhappiness with one part of the show is overshadowing everything else and maybe some time away will change that. Or maybe I just need to pick it up again with campaign 3. I guess I’ll see how it goes. I also admit that I’d hate to pick up the show again only to have Lucien get killed off in a few episodes.

I want to try to watch some more shows in 2021, and maybe I’ll have time, if I’m freeing up several hours every Thursday.

I want to watch Heaven Official’s Blessing and I’ve had a translation of the novel on my phone for the entire year and I really do want to read it as well. I’d like to watch Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo’s new shows (The Wolf & The Legend of Fei) as the gifsets I’ve seen have been interesting and enjoyable, and there are a bunch of shows that I’d gotten recommendations about after watching TharnType that I still want to check out too. Plus, I have the new Stormlight Archives book and I want to read that as well. So, there’s quite a list.

It’s still probably gonna be quite stressful at work for a while, at least until I’ve had a chance to get the vaccine, but at least I am going back to Thursdays & Fridays as my days off at the start of the year, so I’m looking forward to that. I’m also hoping to get back to my detailed rewatch of The Untamed, because that was so much fun but I did not have enough brain this year to do any more of it.

[liplicked]

               [  kaylee  bryant,  cis  female,  twenty  ]  it  looks  like  MADISON  GILBERT  is  late  to  class  once  again.  how  do  they  expect  to  get  their  degree  in  NURSING  by  skipping  class  ?  it’s  a  wonder  that  they  made  it  to  their  JUNIOR  year.  then  again,  i  heard  that  they  were  DISCIPLINED  which  may  give  them  a  pass  with  professors,  but  they  are  also  DEPENDENT  so  maybe  not.  all  i  know  is  that  they  remind  me  of  COLOUR  CODED  NOTES  IN  NEAT  HANDWRITING,  BURNT  SUGAR  COOKIES,  OBSESSIVELY  PICKING  AT  AN  EXPENSIVE  MANICURE,  so  watch  out.  oh  look,  SHE  just  walked  in  !

maddy  gilbert.  everything  in  her  life  has  been  meticulously  planned,  even  her  life  itself.  maddy  is  the  only  child  of  charles  &  nancy  gilbert,  who,  after,  a  long  period  of  trying  unsuccessfully,  finally  conceived  through  the  third  round  of  in-vitro  fertilization  –  and  that  shit  ain’t  cheap  !  even  before  conception,  charles  &  nancy  spared  no  expense  for  their  little  girl,  and  that  didn’t  change  through  the  rest  of  her  life.  

maddy  went  to  the  best  daycares,   then  the  best  private  schools,  then  on  to  whitton  university  like  both  her  parents  before  her.  nancy  had  been  the  president  of  zeta  beta  zeta  in  her  time,  and  maddy  dutifully  followed  suit,  joining  the  sorority  in  her  first  semester  of  university  with  jessica  santiago  as  her  ‘ big ’. 

less  than  a  month  into  her  freshman  year,  maddy  met  jacob  wright  at  a  sorority / fraternity  mixer.  he  was  a  year  older,  and  she  was  smitten.  a  relationship  quickly  began.  and  then,  in  august,  just  as  quickly  ended.  (  she  claims  it  was  mutual,  but  anyone  who  witnessed  her  crying  into  tubs  of  ice  cream  and  watching  old  romcoms  in  pyjamas  would  say  otherwise.  )  

and  then  in  november,  he  was  making  out  with  jessica  santiago  at  a  party,  and  then  he  was  missing,  and  then  he  was  dead.  not  the  best  way  to  end  a  relationship.

how  would  one  describe  madison  gilbert  ?  someone  being  nice  might  say  sweet,  thoughtful,  caring,  studious,  conscientious.  someone  being  less  nice  might  say  needy,  goody-goody,  a  pushover,  a  crybaby,  a  tryhard.

she’s  the  girl  next  door.  the  sidekick.  lawful  good.  the  girl  a  meaner,  more  cynical  girl  might  look  at  and  say,  at  least  i’m  not  like  her.  maddy  is  definitely  the  kid  who  cried  when  her  parents  dropped  her  off  at  kindergarten,  and  the  girl  who  stops  on  the  street  to  give  loose  change  to  people  begging  for  money.  she’s  not  stupid,  or  naive,  like  some  might  think.  she’s  just  excessively  tenderhearted.  

gets  anxious  very  easily  !  she  does  not  do  well  with  people  not  liking  her,  and  can  be  a  bit  of  a  people  pleaser.  she’s  very  worried  about  how  people  perceive  her,  which  makes  her  needy  and  dependent,  which  makes  her  worry  she’s  being  too  needy  and  dependent,  which  makes  her  worry  about  how  people  perceive  her  …  it  ain’t  a  cute  look  !

to  cope  with  the  anxiety,  she  bullet  journals,  almost  obsessively.  she  takes  cute  pictures  of  her  cute  notes  with  her  cute  manicure  and  a  starbucks  frappucino  in  the  background.  has  a  whole  studygram.  her  room  is  constantly  neat  and  tidy.  honestly,  if  she  wasn’t  such  a  pushover,  she’d  be  a  total  control  freak.  order  and  stability  calms  maddy.  some  might  call  her  boring,  but  she  doesn’t  care.  (  well,  no.  she  cares.  she  cares  a  lot.  so  sometimes  she  might  get  into  sticky  situations  for  the  sake  of  not  being  seen  as  a  wet  blanket.  )

i  feel  like  i’ve  really  been  dragging  maddy  through  the  mud  here,  but  she’s  got  her  strengths,  too.  she’ll  be  the  most  supportive  friend  you’ve  got.  extraordinarily  intuitive  to  other  people’s  emotions.  she’s  studious,  and  disciplined,  and  organized,  and  genuinely  intelligent,  though  prone  to  overthinking.  and  she’s  so  kind.  she’s  a  soft  bb.  pls  be  patient  with  her 

WANTED  CONNECTIONS  !

this  gon  be  messy  cause  i’ve  already  spent  ages  writing  her  bio  &  now  i’m  impatient

bad  influence.  i’d  love  someone  who’s  a  bit  more  rebellious  &  chaotic  and  can  drag  her  into  sticky  situations  and  stress  her  out  a  whole  fuckton  please

girl  squad.  I  NEED  GIRLS  SUPPORTING  GIRLS  IN  MY  LIFE  PLEASE  !!!!!  especially  after  the  whole  thing  with  jacob  and  jessica  ....  ya  girl  was  a  wreck.  give  her  some  support

unlikely  friends.  she’s  very  girl  next  door.  gimme  someone  who’s  not  but  these  two  manage  to  get  along  anyway  !

hookup.  maddy  is  definitely  not  the  type  to  hook  up  with  people  so  this  would’ve  probably  been  a  one  time  thing  n  she’s  probably  suuuper  embarrassed  by  it  lmfao

unrequited  crush.  PLEASE  ....,, ..  maddy  is  absolutely  the  type  to  fall  head  over  heels  for  someone  who  is  not  interested  in  her  !!  bonus  points  if  it’s  a  lady  n  maddy  slowly  comes  to  the  realization  that  she  ain’t  as  straight  as  she  thought

enemies.  ok,  i’ll  admit  it.  sometimes,  maddy  can  be  super  annoying.  sorry  girl,  not  everyone’s  gonna  like  you  !!!  please,  give  me  people  who  just  cannot  stand  maddy  so  that  she  can  try  embarrassingly  hard  to  impress  them.

OR,  somehow,  the  rare  person  who  maddy  doesn’t  like  !

slow  burn  /  friends  to  lovers.  do  i  even  gotta  elaborate.  bring  me  that  mushy  stuff.  maybe  they’re  pining  after  maddy  and  she’s  totally  oblivious.  maybe  they’re  friends  and  she  thinks  they’re  cute  but  she’d  never  say  anything.  i’m  talking  REAL  slow  burn  shit

rebound  bf.  as  much  as  i  love  maddy  she  is  needy  af  and  probably  is  the  kind  of  girl  to  normally  be  in  a  relationship  so  ....  a  guy  she  got  together  with  probably  a  few  months  after  jacob  died  (  even  tho  she  clearly  isn’t  healed  from  that  )  but  she’s  kinda  in  it  just  for  the  stability  ......   yikers  :/  they  could  still  be  together  or  maybe  they’ve  split  up  by  now

someone  she’s  tutoring.  she’s  a  smart  bih  what  can  i  say  !

childhood  friends.  this  shit  would  be  cute  af  thankssss

or  literally,  anything.  anything  please  god  i’ll  pay  you

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 291: The Endeavor Pamphlet

Previously on BnHA: Dabi showed up atop Gigantomachia’s back and was all “you’ll never guess who I really am!” and the readers humored him and were all “who?” and he was all “TODOROKI TOUYA” and we were all “WOW └(・。・)┘ OH MY GOSH I WOULD NEVER HAVE GUESSED”, except for Shouto and Enji who were GENUINELY SHOCKED. Anyway so Touya was all “and guess what I’m doing right now!” and before anyone could even try, he was all, “STREAMING MY EMMY-NOMINATED MINISERIES ‘HELLO, I’M EVIL BUT ALSO TRAGIC AND SEXY, NOW LET ME TELL YOU ALL ABOUT MY DAD WHO SUCKS’’, THAT’S WHAT.” And everyone was all “oh my god” and Touya was all “ヽ(⌐■_■)ノ♪” for basically the rest of the chapter, and that’s pretty much it! Oh, wait, except for the part where he also doused himself in bleach in a fit of pure theatrics, which is actually pretty much the main takeaway from the entire chapter really because it was just wild af. ANYWAYS.

Today on BnHA: Horikoshi introduces Baby Touya, the world’s most enchantingly sweet character, and is immediately all, “I sure can’t wait to tell you guys all about how his fucking jaw burnt off.” Thankfully he doesn’t (YET), and we cut back to the present pretty quickly, where Dabi explains how he took all of his brain cells that should have been used to stop him from pouring bleach over his head, and instead put them all toward his big brain plot of releasing an elaborate video detailing Endeavor’s various abuses and crimes, and even throwing Hawks under the bus as well because WHY NOT. He then leaps off of Gigantomachia’s back (like I said, no brain cells) all set to blast them with a Prominence Burn, only to be stopped by none other than THE LEGEND HIMSELF, MOTHERFUCKING BEST, PRETTIEST, NICEST, MOST OUTSTANDING MOTHERFUCKING JEANIST. Who’s no doubt outraged by the crime against hair he witnessed only moments earlier. GO GETTIM JEANY BOI.

so I haven’t had time to answer any of them because this has been the stupidest week, but I just wanted to tell you guys that I received no fewer than nine asks about Dabi’s hair. which, in a week filled with election memes and tumblr’s most cursed fandom briefly rising back up from the dead, is a pretty impressive feat for him if you ask me. like, I know I was making fun of it basically nonstop, but it sure did generate a lot of discussion so maybe I should rethink my opinions on Dabi’s PR strategies now, idk

anyway. it’s Saturday. time to catch up on this shit. let’s see how fucked the Todorokis are

OH NO HE’S CUTE

HOLY SHIT THIS IS TOO MUCH TO FUCKING PROCESS. I’M JUST TRYING TO ENJOY MY DAY HORIKOSHI, ARE YOU REALLY GOING TO TRAUMATIZE THIS POOR CHILD RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY SALAD

“thanks for being all right” the fuck

who allowed this child to be so cute. I’m serious. who signed off on this

how could a child this adorable possibly want to murder his equally adorable baby brother. please, your honor. there must be some mistake here

guess how prepared I am to read all about Touya’s tragic past. mm. that’s right. zero ready. none ready

anyway. TWO THOUSAND DEGREES LOLOLOL. NO TRACE OF A CORPSE HOW CONVENIENT. A PIECE OF HIS LOWER JAW BONE FFFFMSGHKLSh. LOVELY. LOVELY

LMAOOOOO

listen you guys. I just want to take a moment to appreciate that Horikoshi Kouhei did one of two things here. either (1) he planned it out FROM THE VERY START that Touya would be born with red hair Because Fire Powers, but would then have his hair turn white due to trauma, thus making the Dabi/Touya connection very slightly less obvious, although Let’s Be Real Who Are We Kidding. OR, (2) the anime got it wrong and gave him red hair, and rather than allowing this plot hole to continue to exist, Horikoshi took it upon himself to concoct this elaborate storyline and pretend it was never a plot hole at all! in which case I sure hope someone at Bones is sending him a VERY nice Christmas card this year. got this man sweeping up all your messes for you. you’re just lucky he has some sort of wild compulsion to address these things

anyways!!

FATHER AND SON. how sweet. :| still zero percent ready for any of this btw

STOP BEING CUTE

THIS IS RIDICULOUS. I’M SO MAD RIGHT NOW. HE IS THE SINGLE CUTEST CHARACTER IN THE ENTIRE SERIES, and do you even know how many other baby characters I’m betraying in order to say that?! baby Kacchan, baby Deku, baby Ochako, baby Shouto, Eri, baby Hawks. I’M LOOKING YOU DEAD IN THE EYE RIGHT NOW AND TELLING YOU THAT BABY TOUYA IS CUTER THAN ALL OF THOSE PLEBS. AND YOU’RE LOOKING BACK AT ME RIGHT NOW ALL “YEAH IT SURE IS A PITY ABOUT HIS JAW MELTING OFF THOUGH.” THAT’S IT, I QUIT THE SERIES

and Enji’s smiling at him. he’s so proud of him. but then Touya won’t be able to do it, and Enji’s gonna stop training him, and Touya’s gonna feel like a failure and keep pushing himself in order to try and win his dad’s affections back, because that’s all kids fucking want, all they want is just love, that’s fucking it, you couldn’t just give him that?? and then he’s gonna immolate himself fflkdlskfh THERE YOU SEE HORIKOSHI, I KNOW THE WHOLE STORY ALREADY, YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO THE WHOLE “SHOW THEM THE DEAD DOG” THING YET AGAIN YOU PIECE OF SHIT

OH SNAP THERE GOES THE TWIN THEORY. R.I.P.

BABY FUYUMI. PRETTY CUTE. NOT AS CUTE AS TOUYA THOUGH. HEY LOOK, NO REASON TO GET MAD AT ME I’M JUST STATING A FACT HERE

YEAH THIS IS GONNA GO REAL WELL OH BOY

I keep pressing the emergency stop button but this industrial tragedy machine just keeps on chugging along anyway, I’m pretty sure this thing is not up to code

:| I am so sorry sweet boy, Horikoshi is only getting started with you

FUCKING HELL WITH THIS NARRATION

but he wasn’t actually a child to you, he was just a little puppet child for you to live vicariously through!! and then you went and did the same fucking thing with Shouto afterwards and never learned your lesson until just six months ago!! fucking hell, Enji

so now he’s all “Touya is dead, that’s an unforgivable lie” fflkdhflk motherfucker does he look dead to you. if you really think that, tumblr and twitter have got a little over five years’ worth of archived theory posts to show you

oh shit Touya’s countering with “it’s an unforgivable truth”, which, damn. I actually think Horikoshi’s dialogue is one of his weaker points as a writer a lot of the time, but that comeback was snappy as fuck

actually guys, now that I’ve seen how ridiculously fucking cute baby!Touya was, I can almost understand why Shouto and Enji never put the pieces together before lol. any passing similarities would have easily been dismissed on account of he’d need to be at least 10x more adorable in order to get the full resemblance

OH MY GOD

NOW YOU SLEEP??? SO YOU POINT BLANK REFUSED TO PASS OUT WHILE YOU WERE BUSY MAIMING ALL OF MY FAVORITE CHARACTERS, BUT NOW THAT THERE’S AN OPPORTUNITY TO SEE YOUR REACTION TO THE “YOUR LIEUTENANT WAS SECRETLY RELATED TO ONE OF YOUR WORST ENEMIES THE WHOLE TIME” BOMBSHELL, YOU FINALLY DECIDE TO GET YOUR FORTY WINKS. I SEE

WOW DABI

I’M SURPRISED YOU DIDN’T ALREADY HAVE YOUR ANCESTRY.COM RESULTS PRINTOUT READY TO FOLD INTO A PAPER AIRPLANE AND ZOOM ON DOWN TO HIM

LOL NEVERMIND

gotta say, so far The Endeavor Pamphlet is just about as spicy as I could have hoped

(ETA: Natsuo’s face as he watches his beloved dead brother come back to life only to literally and metaphorically set everything on fire in one fell swoop is :/. why must you do this to me Natsu. can’t you see I’m trying to throw a Welcome Back Jeanist party here.)

HAVE YOU READ THIS?! TODOROKI ENJI ABUSED HIS OWN HEIR, AND DABI WROTE IT DOWN RIGHT THERE

WELL HE’S NEVER GON’ BE NUMBER ONE NOW / NEVER GON’ BE NUMBER ONE NOW / THAT’S ONE LESS THING TO WORRY ABOUT / THAT’S ONE LESS THING TO WORRY ABOUT

btw I neglected to mention this last week, but yes I do recognize and appreciate that this is Can’t Ya See-kun himself whom Horikoshi has chosen to be the face of this existential crisis which the general public is about to experience. rip CYS-kun

OOF

excuse me. putting aside the implications of Dabi sharing this context-less murder video of Hawks with the entire world for a moment, I just have to pause for a sec here, because when exactly did he get a chance to edit this all in?? complete with voiceover that seamlessly ties in with the prerecorded footage of him with DNA test results sans shirt?? you’re telling me this motherfucker, with all the smoke that was in the room thanks to his own quirk, somehow got a PERFECT SHOT of the PRECISE MOMENT when Hawks drove his feather knife into Jin’s back, using his MAGIC CAMERA THAT HE I GUESS HAD THE ENTIRE TIME IN THE POUCH RIGHT NEXT TO HIS BLEACH BOTTLE, and then immediately somehow got this very next shot as well FROM AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT ANGLE

ALL THE WHILE IMMEDIATELY RUNNING THROUGH SCRIPT REVISIONS IN HIS HEAD, WHICH HE THEN PROCEEDED TO RECORD... WHERE, EXACTLY?? WITH SKEPTIC, WHILST RIDING ON MACHIA’S BACK??

AND THIS IS ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF???

and this after I just wrote that whole long paragraph positively GLOWING about this man’s ability to plug up a plot hole. jfc. just scratch out every damn word I said lol. just forget all of it

are you fucking kidding me, the footage was from the cameras Skeptic planted on Hawks??

that’s... actually... okay you know what, it still doesn’t make any sense in the slightest, but the determination to address it nonetheless... just, dammit... I feel like I’m constantly at war with myself over whether or not I want to shake this man’s hand or slap him lmao. whatever, then!!

anyway, since Shouto and Enji can’t actually see the damage that Touya is dealing to the hero industry even as they speak, Touya is taking it upon himself to give them the highlights

I think it’s a testament to how much Endeavor cares about Hawks that he managed to zero in on that comment even amidst all the craziness of his eldest son returning from the dead to announce how he’s been carefully plotting their destruction for years and years. like, he heard “Hawks” and his face immediately went like that. you think he’s worried that Dabi did something to him? because he’d be right to worry lol

so the Endeavor Pamphlet narration is now explaining all about how Hawks totally killed the Number 3 Hero Best Jeanist as well! yep... he sure did... totally...

OH MY GOD WE’RE CUTTING TO HIM AHHHHH

Hawks, that is. lol. not Jeanist. NO, JUST MY POOR HALF-DEAD WINGLESS BABY SON

NOOOOO HIS LITTLE WING STUMPS. BUT SOMEHOW HIS FACIAL HAIR IS STILL INTACT. OH TO BE AN ANIME PRETTY BOY BEING SET ON FIRE. “HEY, TAKE IT EASY, WATCH THE FACE”

EXCUSE ME WHAT

interesting! we suspected as much, I think, with the clues that Ending dropped, and the little flashback right after the name reveal. still not clear how Dabi found out about it though!

looooool okay here we go, breaking out the heavy-handed holier-than-thou shit now

you know, I do find it interesting how trying to model themselves after All Might’s noble Symbol of Peace image has kind of ended up being the heroes’ undoing here. like, I could write a whole essay on this, but what it basically boils down to is that they were all trying too hard to be perfect. All Might went out there and did his thing and was amazing, and so the powers-that-be built an entire system centered around this seemingly-infallible person, and they acted like the system was infallible as well. and so most of the population ended up becoming complacent over the years, and meanwhile the people who were unfortunate enough to fall through the cracks understandably wound up disillusioned and perceiving the heroes as these false idols

anyway, but I think one positive takeaway from this is that the new up-and-coming generation of heroes represent a breakaway from that system. like, imo what we’re witnessing is the downfall of the Perfect Hero, and the rise of the imperfect hero. and this new generation doesn’t shy away from their failures or pretend like they never happened. they pretty much can’t pretend, because their failures are all right out there in the open for everyone to see. Bakugou Katsuki, just to name one example off the top of my very biased head, has had his own personal character journey basically play out right in front of the media’s eyes. his humiliation at the sports festival, his kidnapping by the League, and all of the fallout afterward. this isn’t someone who can ever go out there and convince the world that he’s perfect. but what he can do, instead, is show the world that he’s trying. that he’s trying with everything he has to do his best, to be the best. rather than this untouchable godlike image, it’s instead the image of someone painfully human who is nonetheless striving with everything he’s got to keep moving forward, flaws and all, and work his way to the top

and ultimately I think that’s going to be a much more positive image to send out to the world when all’s said and done. because rather than merely inspiring awe, heroes like that inspire people to take action themselves. or at least that’s what I hope! and not just Bakugou, but the others as well. we’ve got Shouto, whose own personal trauma is being aired in front of the whole nation even as I sit here ranting. we’ve got Deku, who cries at the drop of a hat, and who fought to become a hero despite being quirkless (and I think it’s only a matter of time before that eventually becomes public knowledge as well). tl;dr because I’m getting way too long-winded here, but these kids have effectively been humanized in a way that the old generation never was, and I think that’ll go a long way towards building trust between them and the people they’ll someday be protecting, and inspiring the next generation in hopefully a much healthier way

anyway so where were we. ...oh yes, Dabi was explaining that heroes only protect themselves, and is presumably building up to his grand conclusion of “therefore you should all just let the villains take over and burn down the world”

omfg. YOU GUYS

DOES CAN’T YA SEE-KUN’S SHARK FRIEND ACTUALLY CALL HIM “CAN’T YA SEE-KUN.” HE HAS A NAME YOU KNOW!! UNLESS HE LEGALLY GOT HIS NAME CHANGED TO CAN’T YA SEE-KUN. OH MY GOD

ALSO, IS THAT CAN’T YA SEE-KUN CRYING IN THE BOTTOM RIGHT THERE OMG. GIVE THIS CHILD A HUG. EVERYONE STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING RIGHT NOW AND HUG HIM

BAKUGOU IS BARELY HANGING ON THERE LOL. GOTTA STAY CONSCIOUS... SO MUCH TEA BEING SPILLED... FOCUS... CONCENTRATE

IIDA’S ANGLING HIS HEAD IN A WEIRD WAY, LIKE DUDE. LOOKING SUSPICIOUSLY SNUGGLY THERE. MMM THESE IIDABAKU CRUMBS

HADOU IS ALL “WHAT EVEN IS ACTUALLY GOING ON” LMAO

LASTLY, POOR SHOUTO OMFG. WHEN YOU’RE ALL FINISHED HUGGING CYS-KUN THIS CHILD NEEDS YOUR ATTENTION!!

so now Dabi’s leaping off of this ninety-foot-tall gargoyle man like that’s a normal, smart thing to do. unless he can fly too now? saw his dad doing it back at Fukuoka and was all “hmm”

OH MY GOD SOMEONE TELL ME RIGHT NOW WHAT WORD SHOUTO IS USING TO ADDRESS ENJI, THESE TRANSLATIONS LOVE TO MESS WITH MY HEAD

ENJI GET MOVING DO YOU NOT SEE THOSE TEARS!!! SNAP OUT OF IT YOU BIG TREE

AHHHHH

OH KACCHAN YOU WOKE UP A LITTLE MORE THERE, HUH

lol he and Deku both look so determined but they’re basically sitting ducks. their “oh shit” faces do look remarkably like their “TIME TO SWING INTO ACTION” faces but don’t be fooled, they have one good arm and about six pints of blood left between the two of them. looks like this one’s all on you Shouto

-- AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH --

BAH GOD... WHAT’S GOING ON HERE... THAT’S BEST JEANIST’S MUSIC

y’all. can’t even talk right now, my brain has completely shut down lol. just. ...

  °˖✧◝(￣▿￣)◜✧˖°

[smollandtoll]

HC: 5Hole

TW: this headcanon mentions other people in the NHL including certain Blackhawks and Capitals you might not want to read about. You can skip this one and won’t hurt our feelings OR just read until you get to the section divider that indicates the rest of our HC that doesn’t particularly involve just Sid/Geno.

Have you ever listened to Ariana Grande in the shower and immediately come out with an entire head canon about a Gay Hockey Bar called 5Hole? No? Just me?

So imagine Mario owns this establishment of course and Sid works there as a bartender. He’s perpetually single, mostly because he is super awkward, but also a little because his lower half is always behind the bar. There’s also the fact that he’s hopelessly in love with a regular named Geno and no one wants to get in the middle of whatever epic romance they’re figuring out together.

Geno’s story goes something like: he tried to work at 5hole, but was literally always late, and drank too much while on shift, and was generally the worst bartender because he'd get distracted flirting with patrons instead of y'know working. So he turned into a regular, and is ALWAYS dating someone new/constantly with a boyfriend. Cue Sid being like terribly in love with him from afar for 8 years.

We love a pining Sid - meanwhile Geno’s like, “Sid's good friend! Very cute boy. Weird little bit, but fun to chirp. Flirt with Sid all the time. He never show any interest.” See why no one wants to get in the middle of that? Besides you never know if Sid’s going to do something to one of Geno’s date’s drinks. Like he hasn’t so far, because he’s Sid, but sometimes he looks long and hard at the way they giggle up at Geno from under his arm and takes a really long time to set their drink down on the bar. Anyway Geno's busy having a great time and being young and a mess and missing his family so fiercely he doesn't even think his heart is capable of love any more it's so broken, y’know casual. So he's not looking, not even thinking to look back at Sid because sometimes someone just doesn’t register as a prospect.

Meanwhile Geno is like so scary to Sid, like he's so bright and bold and fearless and like he's got so much drama, with all the people in his life and like the on again off again friendship with Ovi and all the other shit, the Russian politics, the constant internal struggle against self-hatred. He’s always in and out of the bar, always laughing brightly at someone pretty or giving his friends shit and then turning his smile on Sid, and Sid just can’t help but be so drawn to him. Geno is so much, and Sid is so little, he doesn’t think he could compare at all, he doesn’t have deep thoughts or an interesting background, he’s not sexy or silly or fun or any of the other things Geno seems to look for in a date.  

He definitely wouldn't know what to do even if some miracle happened and he managed to capture Geno’s affection and attention. To always have the weight of Geno's gaze and possessiveness on him? Like it'd be so nice, but also when he flirts even just a little, Sid always FREEZES. It's been years and he still doesn't know how to handle it. So he’s writing himself off.

But other than the Geno drama, Sid actually really likes being a bartender. It suits him because he can’t flirt (that well) but he can quickly and efficiently prepare drinks when it’s busy af and it’s easy for him to stay low-key and focused. He’s actually the best, he's quick, his eyes never miss anything (he's definitely caught a few doctored drinks), he remembers an infinite amount of orders, he's clean, he's no nonsense, and he's pretty enough to make really decent tips when he smiles even if he can’t flirt worth a damn.

Mario is definitely grooming him to take the bar over - sending him to business school, letting him stay with him indefinitely (this is definitely one of those stories where Sid was like wayward, but not in a terrible way, just a little at loose ends and in need of a decent paying job and Mario swoops in with all the experience and convenient answers). (At this point we got deeply excited by possibilities of other people in this universe and our adorable Sid/Geno plot went off the rails. We just have so many faves, guys!)

Other things about the bar/patrons (stop reading here if you don’t want other people):

Mario is one of those old gays that realized late in life that they COULD be gay, like long after they had a wife and four kids and a career and things. Mario's “one that got away” was probably Gretzky (like, okay, in retrospect, I was in love with him and very in denial about it) and Jagr was probably a young coworker that got along well with him and occasionally experienced a tension-laden moment at a conference or two after a few drinks and was DEEPLY IN LOVE WITH HIM despite Mario explicitly saying "BACK OFF I'M VERY HETERO AND HAVE A WIFE AND BABIES I LOVE." But you know how it is when someone is in so much denial about who they actually are, and Jagr knew, he KNEW. But he also wasn’t self sacrificing enough to stick around waiting only to get burnt over and over while Mario always prioritised his wife.

Basically in this universe, NHL = gay(/bi/pan/poly/aro/ace/various other QUILTBAG abbreviations/occasionally straight because they can’t ALL be gay but like just most of them!). There are a lot of regulars at this bar, and they float in little interest groups and cliques depending on who is dating who and who has what in common - you know like real life. Here are some of the groups and what we think about them.

Jonathan Toews is the other bartender who works in tandem with Sid, because we just imagine this being a super Canadian bar. Jonny is hot and serious and deadpan and if Sid’s the shy (but incredibly competent) one with a great smile then Jonny is the intimidatingly tall and hot one. Regular bar patrons occasionally give guys the DL on the Sid <3 Geno situation - if someone is interested in wooing Geno feel free to hit on him, make out with him, but they usually get warned to grab their drinks from Tazer.  

Patrick Kane is one of those self hating gay dudes who comes to the bar to pick up and fuck in the bathroom and then goes back to saying f slurs with his finance bros. He’s probably very angsty and Tazer probably serves him a lot of water and stern looks.

Jamie Benn is one of those gay boys that has no style and doesn't know how to be gay at all. Sid feels for him deeply when he first starts coming in with just the solidarity of his straight brother who kind of abandons him to hustle at pool and watch hockey (hockey is always playing at 5Hole). Tyler Seguin probably swoops in early, takes him for haircuts and makeovers and long late-night heart-to-hearts they pretend are just bro-chats but no one is surprised when it turns out they’re secretly in love with each other.

Flower and Tanger are in some kind of open or poly relationship. As far as Sid can tell, Flower is married to a woman, but a couple times a month he and Tanger come to 5Hole and Tanger goes off to pick up a third guy for Flower’s inspection while Flower shoots the shit with Sid at the bar.

Phil Kessel genuinely comes in for the beer and the hockey and to not hear gay slurs while enjoying them. At first Sid thought maybe he was in the wrong bar and tried to warn him they weren’t a normal hockey bar, but Phil didn’t even look up from the beer menu and scathingly told Sid that he didn’t have his rainbow ID card with him that day, his apologies. After a while they all got used to him being gruff at the bar, focused on the TV more than the company, but still getting hit on relentlessly by like Hags. Phil usually tells him "SURE KID WHATEVER. YOU'RE TOO PRETTY FOR THE LIKES OF ME, MOVE ON." But Hags likes him, and thinks he’s cute and is slowly eroding Phil’s disbelief. Phil deserves love too.

Whenever Hags feels like he’s starting to cross the border into being harassing however it’s okay, he pays for Phil’s drink and then retreats to the corner that is occupied by mostly blonde swedes. Taken into Horny’s open (usually bare and glistening) arms, hair ruffled by Erik Karlsson.

The rest of the Swedes are a small contingent and insanely hot. They usually all break into their individual cliques and return every so often to Nicklas Backstrom’s table where he watches over them all with a stony expression of love, and makes sure the babies don’t get drugged (looking at you Willy Nylander).

There is a similar table of Loud Hot Russians, that is mostly lead by Ovi, and, depending on where their on and off friendship is at, Geno. But obviously Ovi is always like "SID! NICKY HERE?" literally any time he comes in. Ovi is just SMITTEN from the beginning, loving that beautiful impassive man, seeing the WARMTH WITHIN NICKY knowing he NEEDS OVI'S JOVIAL NATURE IN HIS LIFE. Whenever he can say something that gets Nicky to smile it’s 100% worth all his scathing looks and comments and he drunkenly pledges that he’s going to spend the rest of his life trying to make Nicky smile as much as possible. Nicky thinks he’s certifiably insane, but eventually caves and starts hesitantly dating him, and they are definitely instantly the new old married couple at the bar. And then all the Russians and Swedes get strangely intermixed a lot. Geno and Horny being brothers etc.

The Bi Guy club is mostly just Tyler Seguin, Paul Bissonnette talking shit and giggling in a corner and occasionally leaving 5Hole to pick up down the street at the straight club.

IF ANYONE was gonna be part of the drag act that comes in on the first Friday of the month it'd be PK and his Predators. Roman Josi in drag would be so beautiful. Baby gays Kevin and Juuse, longtime queens Pekka and Shea (#denial). Those Preds are so pretty.

Johnny Hockey would be that twinky kid who is like actually maybe too afraid to have sex yet but acting all mature and like he can handle it but he's sEEN SOME FUCKED UP PORN, HE KNOWS ASSHOLES CAN JUST RIP AND HE'S SMALL he's just ANXIOUS. It doesn’t help that he’s deeply hung up on Sean Monahan who runs in the Fuck Boy circle with Tyler Seguin, Tom Wilson, Michael Latta, and Brady Skjei. He is afeared. It’s okay though, Jeff Skinner, and Beau Bennet comfort him and take in Mitch Marner when he wanders in on his 18th birthday.

There’s definitely a kind of low self-esteem but thicc as hell club? President Tyson Barrie, VP Nate Mac, Treasurer Jamie Benn. THEY ARE ALL SO SHY AND WEIRD BUT SO JACKED AND FUNNY??? Gabe's gotta always be tagging along with them because he thinks he fits right in, not because he's ugly or they're ugly but because he thinks they are all smart and funny. And also Tyson is super cute and he is INTO IT. But it like PEEVES Tyson like no other because GABE DOES NOT BELONG.

Tyson: Why does he not spend all his time with the hot swedes, he gets to be hot AND FUNNY. RUDE. Gabe doesn't know how to stay in HIS LANE. THERE IS SUCH THING AS TOO PERFECT GABRIEL. LOOK GABE, GO BACK TO YOUR HOMELAND, LOOK, THAT ONE WHO LOOKS LIKE A PIRATE PROBABLY IS MISSING YOU. 

Gabe just exchanges looks with Nate and buys Tyson a very sugary drink (basically anything that ends in -tini) and smiles at him a lot to see him turn increasingly fluorescent shades of red.

Tom Wilson and Michael Latta despite their best intentions as part of the Fuck Boy clique are those guys who have been in a high school sweethearts level committed relationship for EVER AND EVER and everyone is like "maybe you should play the field" and they're like ....I don't think I need to. Because they have everything they need in their meathead bro! Solid sports understanding? Companionship? Twice the wardrobe? A+ blowies??? Done, done and done.

There is also the older distinguished extremely handsome gentleman's society aka Henrik Lundquist and Patrick Sharp. They’re biding their time, eyeing up future Gabe and Holtby. Ovi occasionally tries to set up shop with them and they're like "Good try, you might be silver but you're still like 28."

Thennn idk probably plot would happen like Geno would start dating someone and drama would occur and someone would have to force Sid to talk about his feelings and Geno would realise that he could have had Sid all along BECAUSE WE NEED LOVE. 

5HOLE!

[manymessyfandoms]

a little highlight reel of my favorite acting moments from the amazing cast of IT (2017) -

wyatt oleff as stan uris: stan the man! i loved this character. he had the right amount of optimism with just enough pessimism. stan just wanted some rest, gdi. anyways, the scene i chose for him was quite obvious. i chose the one after they got separated in the sewers at the end. he was crying and screaming about how they said they wouldn’t leave him. he was distraught and even i felt betrayed??? even though i knew what happened?? 

finn wolfhard as richie tozier: richie was a funny af character, and i found myself genuinely laughing out loud at most of what he said, but I think the moment that stood out to me was when bill, eddie, and richie entered the house on neibolt street and richie saw his own picture on a “missing” flyer. he went from sarcastic and relatively unbothered to sheer panic and fearful in like 3 seconds flat. i’m still impressed, tbh.

jack dylan grazer as eddie kaspbrak: ahh, eddie. adorable, paranoid, sweet little eddie. jack was someone who i’d never heard of before, but immediately checked his imdb afterwards because wow. he played that character so incredibly well, it was hard to choose a standout moment. what i did eventually land on was when the losers were looking at the maps of derry in the garage and he got up and stopped it. that may seem like an odd choice but when he was going off on his little tangent, i just believed everything he was feeling, if that makes sense?? that was one of his scenes that really stuck with me.

sophia lillis as beverly marsh: beverly is my love, if i’m being honest. she’s strong and brave and just good. sophia did an a+ job bringing this character to life. an acting highlight for me was when she was standing over the sink and cut off her hair. she had just had that confrontation with her dad and i could feel her dread. powerful stuff.

jeremy ray taylor as ben hanscom: ben is such a pure character. he likes boy bands and conspiracy theories and becomes a key member of the losers club. jeremy did amazing. i was especially impressed when henry bowers and co. had him at the bridge. his cries for help were so genuine and his pain when henry cut into him was palpable.

chosen jacobs as mike hanlon: WE NEEDED MORE OF MIKE. i wish this movie was three more hours long with bonus scenes for all the characters. chosen was so good as mike. his highlight scene for me was when he was delivering the meat and saw pennywise for the first time. his horror was unmistakable when he saw the burnt hands scratch at the door and his fear only escalated when he saw pennywise. some quality acting.

jaeden lieberher as bill denbrough: this boy. i felt for him. his anguish and pain from losing his brother. it was brutal. jaeden’s best moment imo, was when he was giving That Speech about how it’s easier to walk into the house with pennywise than his own, like???? i’m crying in the club??? 

bill skarsgård as pennywise: i had high expectations of bill going into this movie because i knew he could be great, and let me tell you- he did not disappoint. he was amazing! my favorite moment was when eddie/richie/bill went into the house and pennywise crawled out of that cabinet. he started mocking eddie (poor boy) and just all his mannerism?? and how he delivered his lines? so good. that entire scene was perfection, all the way to the end when he sauntered out of the room with a pole through his head.

BONUS-

jackson robert scott as georgie denbrough: “you’ll float too, you’ll flOAT TOO, YOU’LL FLOAT TOO”

[the--blackdahlia]

Elm Street Chapter 4 (Sam x Reader)

Title: Elm Street Chapter 4

Summary:  Someone is killing patients of a mental hospital. Someone (Y/n) never thought her and Sam would have to face again.

warnings: Not extremely explicit smut (Please don’t read if you’re under 18), language, violence

Not much was spoken between the brothers on their trek to that small town. The only time Dean really talked to Sam was when he asked him what he wanted from a drive-thru in Missouri. Sam was keeping things from Dean. He just knew it. But secrets were starting to become their thing and Dean was starting to get scared that maybe, just maybe, the only way to get Sam to talk would be to tell Sam what he and John talked about before he died.

 After almost a full day of driving, and very little talking, the brothers finally pulled into the small Indiana town. Dean didn’t remember much of it, but Sam did. Everything was about the same. A few of the businesses were gone and the old high school had been shut down and remodeled into a psychiatric hospital. But for the most part, it was the same. Even the motel that Dean was pulling into was the same. Sam just secretly prayed they didn’t get the same room.

 Sam couldn’t remember the exact number, but the place had been redecorated since the last stay there, so it didn’t matter too much. There was the smell of vanilla in the air and it helped Sam relax some. He watched as Dean threw his stuff on the bed closest to the door.

 “Okay, we’re here. Are you ready to spill?” Dean asked. Sam hadn’t mentioned anything because he was afraid that Dean wouldn’t bring him if he knew. He would’ve wrapped him in bubble wrap and put him at Bobby’s while he went to finish the job. But it wasn’t Dean’s fight. It was Sam’s.

 “I was attacked here and the thing that did it might be back.” Sam said with a shrug.

 “What do you mean you were attacked here? I would’ve known!” Dean said. Sam shook his head.

 “Remember what I said about you cruising for college girls? That’s when it happened. To me and (Y/n).” He said. Dean stared at Sam.

 “Well, if I didn’t know, did you at least tell dad?” Dean asked. Sam sighed.

 “Not exactly. But he found out anyway.” Sam flopped down on his bed. “And he and I had an agreement not to tell you.” That made anger flood Dean’s system. What was with their dad and keeping secrets? Especially when it was Sam involved. They had only been in the room five minutes and now Dean needed to get out. He grabbed his jacket. “Dean, where are you going?”

 “Out.” He grumbled, slamming the door shut behind him. Sam groaned and laid back on the bed. He honestly had thought that John had told him about what had happened in this town. He honestly didn’t think that John kept secrets from Dean the way he kept them from Sam. But he was learning more about his dad after death than he had while he was still living.

 After laying there for a bit, Sam finally decided to get up and get a shower before he started researching, even though he already knew a bunch about the case. Just as he got up and headed toward the bathroom, there was a knock at the door.

 “Dean, you don’t have to knock. It’s…” Sam froze as he opened the door, and suddenly, he was back in 1999. “(Y/n)…”

 ****

 Then

 Sam and (Y/n) had developed a secret knock over the time they had been alone in town. When one of them would go over to the other’s place, they would use the knock as to avoid running into parents or the other not opening the door. So when Sam heard the familiar knock, he put the book down he was reading and answered the door with a smile.

 “(Y/n), what are you doing here?” HE asked, even though he knew why. She tossed her bag onto the table and smiled.

 “Warden Tina was home.” She explained. “I would’ve been over sooner, but she wanted to talk and I had to make sure she was asleep before I could leave.”

 “Wasn’t your dad supposed to come home tonight?” Sam asked. (Y/n) wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.

 “He won’t even notice.” She laughed. “I just kinda take up a spot in one of the vehicles that gear could go on.” Sam held her close and kissed her again.

 “You’re more than that. Especially to me.” He said with a smirk. (Y/n) smiled.

 “My, my, aren’t we a charmer when we’re about to get laid.” She giggled.

 “Well, I am a Winchester.” He said as they made their way back over to the bed he had been sitting on, reading his book. They didn’t waste time with foreplay like they did their first time a month and a half ago. Clothes were shed and strewn about the room. (Y/n) was nestled under the covers with Sam hovering over her. He had slowly grown out of her shy virgin persona, and once they started he gained a confidence that she had only seen out of his brother, the handful of times she had met him.

 She didn’t need much prep, and he had gotten hard the moment she started stripping out of the clothes she had shown up in. The radio was playing as Sam slowly pushed into (Y/n). When they had both lost their virginities on this very bed, it had been “I Want to Know What Love Is”. Tonight, it was Huey Lewis song that Sam was sure Dean knew, even though it hadn’t been featured in Back to the Future.

 Sam had had time to practice his game with (Y/n), and found a rhythm that worked best for both of them. He was addicted to kissing her neck as she gasped his name and raked her nails down his back. Slowly, over the past month, they had figured out how to last longer and Sam had even been able to get (Y/n) off twice. Tonight, they had almost made it to three before Sam came.

 They laid by each other, (Y/n)’s head on Sam’s chest, listening to his heartbeat. He had one arm wrapped around her, holding her naked form close to his.

 “I love you.” Sam said softly. (Y/n) propped herself up on her elbow and smiled at him.

 “I love you too Sammy.” She said before gently kissing him. She laid her head back down with a content smile. He rubbed her back gently.

 “I have some money saved up.” Sam said after a while. “What if we run away from this? Just run and leave this life behind. The two of us against the rest of the world.”

 “You mean that?” She asked. He nodded. “Let’s do it. We’ll just leave. Nothing’s going to stop us.” She yawned.

 “Close your eyes. I’ll wake you up in an hour or so, so you can sneak back in.” Sam said. Soon after, the two fell asleep wrapped up in each other’s arms.

 ****

 “Sam?”(Y/n) asked, looking around. She thought she had woken up in the motel, but it was half burnt down and she was alone. “Sam, where are you?”

 “(Y/n).” Sam said. “Where are we?”

 “I don’t know.” She said, finally seeing him behind a half charred wall. “What is this place?” Something ran behind Sam then. “Sam, what was that?”

 “I didn’t see anything.” Sam said, looking around. “Do you have your knife?”

 “No.” (Y/n) said, patting down the clothes that she was wearing. She didn’t even remember putting clothes on. “Do you?” Sam shook his head, floppy hair moving despite there not being a breeze. He reached out and held her hand. “Sam, something’s not right.”

 “You think?” A voice behind them asked. Before Sam could react, he was thrown into a half destroyed wall. (Y/n) was grabbed by her throat. “I’ve been looking for you sweet cheeks.” (Y/n) looked at their attacker and gasped. She remembered some of the victims at school talking about this man in their dreams before they died. The man with burnt skin. The man with the blades.

 “Let her go!” Sam called out, running at the man but he swung his hand around and cut Sam deeply on the thigh, making him cry out and fall.

 “Not now princess. We’re talking.” He laughed. He turned his attention back to (Y/n). “You remind me so much like her. So you have to pay.” She struggled to get free.

 “W-who?” She asked, barely able to breathe.

 “Nancy.” He growled. “You remind me of her. So you need to die.” With that, he swung the blades he had just used on Sam at her, cutting her across her stomach.

 ****

 John walked into the motel room early in the morning. Dean hadn’t come back, crashing on someone’s couch after a kickass party. John had expected to Sam asleep. He hadn’t expected the naked girl to be asleep next to him.

 “For fucks sake.” He groaned. “I expected this out of your brother, but not you.” John growled. But Sam didn’t make a move to wake up. Neither did (Y/n). “Samuel, get up.” John said, but still, Sam did not wake up. John made his way over, frowning as he went. He touched his son’s shoulder, shaking him some. But Sam’s head just rolled with the motions. John quickly placed his hands on his pulse point, finding a sluggish pulse. The same with (Y/n).

 That’s when he saw the red on the sheets from a wound to Sam’s thigh.

 And that’s when (Y/n) screamed in pain and arched her back as John watched slashes carve into her.

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