#but anyway truly v v minimal spoilers

[trashlie]

now wait a DANG minute......

all this stalkyoo talk gave me a stupid epiphany....

the fact that Nol is the only one that is actively calling Shinae "Yoo" rn....

And it makes the title of the story soo transparent than it already is .

😭

i know i know its a dumb thought but i just NEVER read it in that angle for the first time until now.... :p

I've thought about this a lot and I'd really love to hear quimchee talk about it but I don't know if she'll be able to until later, in case it's right and it was an indication of Nol lol

I remember her once saying that there isn't anything to read into re: the title, that it was just something she came up with because she's bad at titles and it wasn't meant to be an indication of anything but... she's also said things to throw us off the trail before or to evade giving spoilers lol so I don't know if that was truthful or not?

Because the romance is such a secondary thing I've always taken what she said at face value because I think the main focus of the story is still so much about those interpersonal relationships, the way Shinae was accidentally drawn into this very complex family drama and how she sort of got centered between these two brothers with a really messed up dynamic, and how becoming involved with that affected her own life. But, yeah lol with a lot of the development we've seen up until now, it sure comes off that way, right?

I have a friend who also reads (though she hasn't caught up in ages and I am dying waiting for her to lol) who ships Dieter and Shinae but when we got to episode 151 when Nol called her Yoo for the first time she was like "Ohhhhh I see it's going to happen huh" lol and I hadn't! Even thought about that? Because I really did take what quimchee said at face value lmao and now I want her to talk about it one day - if she really intentionally named it that or not!

Cos yeah, even now he still continues to call her Yoo, and right, he's the ONLY one who does, and I think he will for a while. Someone I was talking with on reddit pointed out that it was because Shinae had told him if she's not allowed to be familiar with him, he can't be familiar with her and call her by her name - which I had definitely forgotten about lol - and we think that's probably what it is?

Gonna stick some spoilers under this read more now hehehe

Even as VERY FAMILIAR as Nol is acting with her, he's still calling her Yoo and he's probably struggling with that disconnect. He doesn't think himself allowed to be familiar with her yet, after everything that's happened, so he still calls her Yoo, even though he seems to be acting on more familiar instincts. The closeness, the touching, the dance invitation!!! These are SO INCREDIBLY FAMILIAR.

And yet, who he is he to her? Is he ready for her to call him Nol, Nolan? Does he still want to be Yeonggi? If he can't let her use Nol, does that mean he can't call her Shinae? If he goes by Yeonggi, that's still unfamiliar, right, because he's using his mask. So even though he's acting on these wants, being familiar with her in a way they hadn't (consciously) previously been, in his mind he cannot call her Shinae yet, because he cannot be Nol yet.

(I think that will be INCREDIBLY exciting future development, when not only he's able to call her by her name again, but when he will let her call him Nol. The name that once was so precious to him has been marred and demeaned and now feels like a branding of what he means to that family, but I think when he's ready to take that name back, to reclaim it and let it be something special again, and when he lets Shinae use it is going to be a big, BEAUTIFUL moment. I think he's far from that yet - Nol has been used against him for so many years, it will take a lot of undoing for the name to become something special for him again. But GOD when Shinae gets to use it ;~; I will cry. When his friends get to call him Nol, I will cry ;~;)

So!!!! To respond to you basically - I FULLY had not considered it that way because I will believe what people tell me until proven otherwise LMAO but it definitely feels really suspicious at this point now that it's been 50+ episodes and Nol still cannot use her name, and will probably continue to, and who else does it?! But also yeah, because this was so romance secondary I had never considered it to mean anything pertaining to romance? So idk! We'll see in time won't we lol. I'm always interested in hearing what other peoples' interpretations are, because for a while, my working interpretation has been that Shinae has inadvertently gotten involved in so many peoples' lives and, much as Yeonggi did with her, she's grown to become this very special person, so in a sense, so many people have come to love her? But also again I just believed that quimchee threw together a pun and said i guess this works and it was too late to ever change it LMAOOOOOO

ANYWAY DON'T FEEL DUMB! I think a lot of us took what quimchee said at face value and have just never thought anything else of it LMAO so being the first time you're reading it that way definitely isn't dumb!

[that-crazy-five-foot-two-chick]

Stray Kids+Mystic Messenger

So I know the fandom crossover here is probably fairly minimal, but I'm gonna do it anyway because I want to. Keep in mind these are comparisons of character, not appearance, although you may notice that I tried a lil bit for that too. There were just one too many comparisons in my mind where I was just like "they're literally the same person though" so yeah enjoy the mess and be aware that I am not holding back on spoilers for Mystic Messenger!

Bang Chan/Jihyun:

HNNNNGGGHHHHH I hate my reasoning here, but it's literally the truth. Thank goodness Chan has better mental health than V smh... mostly Would literally die for their people, try to shoulder everything themselves, love till it hurts, all of that terrible, wonderful jazz.

(did I put my bias with a route that I didn't like as much? surprisingly, yes. but admittedly, the reason I didn't like V's route as much was because it was more of a "this man doesn't need a relationship, he needs some freaking therapy" than a proper route, and I respect that, but like come on ರ╭╮ರ Buuuut that last CG of V's route, man...oof )

Lee Know/Jumin

Did I choose that Jumin picture solely because it had a headset? Absolutely

No joke, my actual second impression of Lee Know was "this man is Jumin Han". Forget my first impression, not important And man, was I even more right than I thought. Resting Face of Death? Check. Is a complete derp with a completely out there sense of humor? Check. Loves his cat(s) more than you? Checkity check check. I have nothing more to say.

Changbin SpearB/???

Okay I'm sorry Changbin stans, but I'm just gonna completely clown our man here 😆 There weren't any characters that wouldn't be better claimed by someone else, and also these were too funny to ignore:

So yes, Mr. i LiKe bLaCk aNd dArKnEsS is getting April Fool's Yoosung and Jumin and that one random guest that I don't remember his name lol. I'm so sorry I've deprived you of the heartfelt essay, Dwaekki stans. I truly do love him 🥲

Hyunjin/Zen

Now don't tell me you didn't see this coming from a freaking mile away. This post summed it up really well, and I'll probably parrot a lot of it, but to my credit, I thought of this before the lovely @hopebunnywrites shared it with me.

Both are men who get a lot of recognition for their looks, but would rather get it for the stunning performers that they are, despite their insecurities. Both are hilariously dramatic and flirty, but they truly put everything they've got into their passions 🙌🏻 Alexa play Passion by 3racha

Maknae line is gonna be in a reblog because I freaking hate tumblr's 10 pic per post limit 🙂

[watevermelon]

Cheater!Akaashi x Reader

✧ Summary: (Continuation) Akaashi apologizes to the reader, seeing her genuinely happy without him (MSBY Black Jackals Era) [forgiving/peaceful end]

A/N : Slight spoilers if you aren’t caught up to 392 ;) (reader ends up with our home-boy Konoha) ➳  Masterlist ➳  Part One

--------xXxXxXxXxXx--------

Walking away from Akaashi was one of the hardest things you had ever done in your high school career. He was the picture perfect boyfriend, the one you even wanted to spend the rest of your life with. Everything about him, from his kindness to his charming good-looks, you wanted to wake-up to it every day for the rest of your life.

Until one day, you just didn’t.

And from then on, so much as a thought about Akaashi set your heart aflame, ready to fight the setter with your bare hands. You had your friends to guide you through it all, even Konoha had drawn closer to you in your circle. And with time, it was easier to breathe in the halls of Fukurodani. Some people had pushed for details regarding your separation, especially since Akaashi was suddenly romantically attached to a certain captain, but the setter had adamantly requested for the others to leave you alone.

He had pursued you three times since your break, basically pleading with you to listen from his perspective.

You always said no.

And life moved on. Akaashi became the captain of the Fukurodani Volleyball team, both Konoha and Bokuto graduating to attend college nearby. Yukie, Haruki - all the older faces that you had come to know had finally left the school for good. And while some members of your friend group also graduated, it was bittersweet goodbyes for your worst year of high school.

Time really does heal wounds and you found yourself often forgetting all about the setter that broke your heart.

In high school, everything can feel like the end of the world. Whether it be a low grade, drama within your friend group, or even breaking up with some stupid person you called a boyfriend - it incited that deep curling feeling that just felt like: that was it. The end of the world as you knew it.

And in some ways that was true, but that wasn’t always a bad thing.

Now as a graduate-school senior, you had long accepted that there were still plenty of moments that felt like that. There was always going to be drama somewhere and some absolute sadist of a professor who liked to hand you a new asshole.

And it was not like you were suddenly a pro at handling these feelings. You still had doubts, worries, but this was all pushed back with your own brand of confidence built on the foundation of your earlier teenage years. With your friends, both new and old, you were ready to take on the world.

But first, final exams.

You were basically shut out to your roommates, either sheltering yourself in your room or in the library to get some good studying in. One of them was trying to follow a similar route, but she often got distracted by social media or newly released video games. The other had accepted her faith long ago, joking that the most she studied was during the breaks of the test.

And after having shared a class with her last semester, you found out it was not a joke.

There was only one class that you were particularly worried about and the final was tomorrow night. There were minimal distractions throughout today, even your boyfriend of almost a year was busy with his own classes and so the both of you were cooped up, mutually suffering at different colleges. 

It was only until this afternoon, did your focus break, nothing helping what you received today. On your coffee table was a simple letter, but you recognized the hand-writing even after all these years.

It was a personally written invitation to a professional volleyball game, home-court to the MSBY Black Jackals.

Bokuto and Akaashi had invited you.

The moment you received it, you called your boyfriend to see if he got one as well. Apparently, everyone from the old Fukurodani volleyball club got an invite. And, in addition to their crew, you had gotten one as well.

Your boyfriend assured you that if you were not comfortable with going, then that was it. Neither of you would attend. But you smiled at him surely, saying that anything regarding the two was long behind you. That was honestly the case, any memories of Akaashi brought forth a sad numbness, but nothing else. There was nothing you had to say to him, but you didn’t exactly want to hold back your boyfriend from being present at their reunion.

Slapping at your cheeks, you reminded yourself that you needed to focus on studying.

And so a week later, excelling with flying colors on that absolute bastard of a final, you mentally prepared yourself to see Akaashi and Bokuto for the first time in years. There would be no easy way to have that conversation, but with a group this large, you hoped that there would be no one-on-one time with either of them.

Sporting a loose denim jacket and leggings, you tried your best casual look for the night. Pulling it up into a high ponytail, you rushed over to the front of the dorm when the doorbell expectedly rang.

“Hey.” Konoha greeted you warmly, pulling you into a light peck in greeting. You murmured it back against his lips, happy to feel it curl into a smile against your own.

You hadn’t started dating until you were both in a few years into college, having kept in touch long after high school as you both attended schools in Tokyo. You went to the same college as Haruki and that was the silent lifeline between your relationship. From college parties to general hangouts, Haruki was a true bro and Konoha was relentless in his pursuit of your friendship.

It wasn’t like a sudden rush overnight or like the clouds had shifted to rain sunshine down on Konoha. It was simple, you liked Konoha and wanted to go out with him. He was more than just a friendly face or a wielder of cold humor. The previous volleyball player had a genuinely kind-soul that was more than just another person from Fukurodani.

You remembered how easy it was to be genuinely happy with Konoha. It made you want to do the same for him, to put a smile on his face and remind yourself what it was like to truly be needed.

The first time the two of you kissed, it was before you were even officially dating. You two had separated from the cluster of college teens, far away from the bustle of the house-party as you sat on the edge of the property. There was a pool a ways behind you, but you had sat together under a tree together and looked up at the night sky.

The stars weren’t visible from Tokyo, the lights of the city keeping them hidden from view. But that hadn’t stopped the two of you from thinking the sky was beautiful that night, laying back side-by-side as you talked to each other candidly.

“Professor Magnolia puts the mystery in chemistry.” You complained to Konoha.

He chuckled at your awful pun, probably more out of pity than actual amusement, you wondered. Replying back, “You still did pretty well in that class.”

“I don’t want to hear it from you, mister 4.0 GPA.” You quipped, a teasing smile on your face that he recognized.

“I could always give you some private lessons.” Konoha joked, but you both knew the suggestive line that was there. He seemed to recognize it and back off immediately, “Unless, of course -”

“I want you to.” You interrupted him.

Yes, you were the more aggressive party when it came to your relationship. At least, at the start. Konoha has been your friend forever. And there was no denying that the young man was plenty attractive and very handsome. But you tended to wonder if he was ever interested in bringing it to another step.

Whenever implications got too serious, or your mutual teasing had lingered a little too long, Konoha would make sure to put a wide berth of space between and the line. You honestly appreciated this very much, since Konoha was aware of your space and never encroached on your friendship. And it was not like he had put a complete damper on your relationship either, openly flirting back with you when you tried. 

Instead, Konoha put the ball entirely in your court.

You wanted this? You had to come and get it.

“Are you being serious?” Konoha asked as he sat-up, face serious as he contemplated your last statement.

But you smiled at him as you leaned closer, “Yes.”

He reflected your expression back at you, the both of you rising to stand for whatever reason. Konoha always towered over you, but now you were more aware of that fact as you looped your arms around his neck. You gravitated toward one another, lips meeting in a chaste peck before you deepened the kiss.

But it was not like your relationship depended on you making the first move, no way. Konoha was very attentive to the communication within your relationship. Once you made it clear that you were comfortable, he would make the move you both wanted.

From your first kiss to the first night you shared together, you nearly whipped your bra at him the week before to make sure he got the message.

And he definitely got the message.

Konoha went from your sudden high-school protector to the one you desperately wanted to spend your life with. You would do anything to keep your relationship steady and would feel your heart surge when he would whisper back similar thoughts.

And now here your boyfriend was, picking you up at the dorms before the both of you attended a MSBY Black Jackals game. You honestly never thought that this would happen. Konoha had attended some in the past, along with Haruki and the rest. It was never something that bothered you either, they were his best friends and he hadn’t done anything wrong.

You just never thought you’d be attending one together, at the invitation of your ex-boyfriend no less.

But you continued on anyway, waving goodbye to your roommates and taking Konoha’s hand as he guided you through the bustle of Shibuya. He held your hand tightly and you would squeeze back when you got closer to the arena, the large poster of current volleyball pro’s coming into view.

You had seen lots of images of Bokuto in his professional career. He was basically a household name now, a reliable outside hitter to one of the best Division 1 teams in all of Japan. There were highlights of him on social media and he had even starred in multiple commercials by now.

But the image of Bokuto never really lingered in your mind. He was always a passing thought, like you knew that he existed, but never really registered it that it was true. Seeing a huge poster with many unknown faces except the owl-haired man really brought back this fact.

Scanning your tickets, you were surprised when you were guided to another area. You and Konoha were being guided to a club box, a reserved area for larger groups to mingle together during sports events.

Many of the others during that Fukurodani volleyball club golden age were already present. You had caught up with Yukie in the past year, the nutritionist still as insatiable with food as ever. Haruki was probably the one you were closest to, since the actor and you kept in touch after receiving your undergraduate degrees in college.

He had even called you a few days before, saying that he heard from Konoha that the Akaashi and Bokuto had invited you as well. Your well-intentioned friend suggested doing something to their kneecaps even now, after all these years, but you said it was not necessary.

You had a feeling of why they wanted you here.

It was written out plainly in Akaashi’s letter: to apologize.

That was when you realized that you had never actually received one before. Akaashi was quick with excuses and even more desperate to have you hear his side, but never had the setter actually said the words, ‘I’m sorry,’ over what he had done to you.

And it was not like you need to hear it after all these years. It was something you were long over at this point, not even an issue.

But it made you wonder why now of all times was Akaashi asking to do this.

It was more like, if he needed to say it, then you were patient enough to finally listen.

Konoha said that the moment you needed an out, he would give it. There was already a back-up plan that could be in motion the very second you think it would be necessary. The two boys had made it the night before - Konoha getting a bad call from his family (actually Haruki calling him) and, if need be, he could cry on cue to get you two out of there.

You laughed and called them idiots.

And to your ultimate surprise, neither Akaashi nor Bokuto made an appearance before the game. You were mingling with the group when the announcer started introducing the teams. Those around you were making comments, talking about the young Hinata Shoyou from Miyagi or how the absolute bane-of-their-high-school-existence Sakusa Kiyoomi was now ironically on the same team as Bokuto.

You watched a volleyball game for the first time in seven years. The last game ever being the one before you broke it off with Akaashi. This was different in every way possible - the quick calculate looks of the setter Atsumu Miya. It was nothing like how Akaashi used to look at Bokuto, not how you remembered at least.

And you were actually enraptured in the game, interested eyes watching as the ball launched at high-speeds to each side of the court. At some point, Konoha placed a casual hand across the back of your seat, joking with Haruki that nothing less than food would get your attention.

It was only seven minutes into the first-set that Akaashi made his appearance.

You heard him before you saw him, some of the others greeting him as he strolled in late. In his hands was a box covered by a large plastic bag, apparently an order from Onigiri Miya that ended up taking longer than expected. He greeted everyone individually in his cool, yet quiet voice.

Konoha and you stood together, walking over to greet him with your hands clasped together. Akaashi greeted the both of you warmly, a half-smile at you before his eyes dropped to your hands. There was no hiding the length of his gaze before he was called to the side by someone else, thanking him for the invitation.

It was strange and felt like anything but normal, but at least this wasn’t the catastrophe you were somewhat expecting.

Akaashi turned to the both of you once his attention was freed, “Thank you both for coming. Let’s continue this later after the game, once Kōtarō is free as well.”

You nodded, mustering the best neutral smile you could. Konoha did the same before you made your way back to the seats. Akaashi continued to mingle with the others from high school, never taking a seat and standing watch over the game. One thing that hadn’t changed since your teen days was how much Bokuto stood out, on the court and just simply in person.

While you would’ve liked to have shouted or yelled at either boy at the time, you did not hold any malicious intent after. Never had you thought of outing them to the school or ruining their reputations. Life was hard enough with high-school drama, this was not something you wanted to draw out.

Once it was all said and done, you just wanted to move on.

And seeing Bokuto did not bring back a sudden surge of unhappiness or fight in you. Rather, you felt a small drop of happiness that he was pursuing his dream. But that was quickly squashed down when you remembered the last time you saw him on a volleyball court.

Konoha held your hand the whole way through, you could feel his gaze in the corner of your peripheral. It was sweet, he was making sure that you were truly okay with this, not just saying that you were. Haruki teased that the two of you were too disgustingly cute, to which Konoha just lifted your joined hands and placed a light peck to the side of your head.

You felt Akaashi’s eyes on you then.

You begged yourself not to look, there was nothing in the world that could ever excuse what he did to you. You told yourself that you were over this, that this toxic feeling would not engulf you back then and certainly not now. There was nothing that would grant him mercy.

You looked anyway.

His bright blue eyes were looking right at you. There was no pretend smile this time, no mask he could put on in time to show that he was as neutral as he was before. Instead, you knew what was crawling at the edges of his expression - sadness, jealous, regret. 

It was only when you shared eye-contact that it lit your nerves aflame. He was openly staring back, his eyes almost pleading with you to say something. The look made you tighten your hold in Konoha’s hand. You were filling with something from the pit of your stomach. Not with hurt, but more like worry. Why would Akaashi and Bokuto even invite you here if he was still lingering on those feelings?

You had to wrestle your gaze away, turning back to the gaze and leaning further into Konoha. He wrapped a lazy arm around your shoulder, pulling you and steadying you toward him. You were able to remind yourself that, this time, you were definitely not alone. Even though Akaashi was still looking at you, you refused to turn back and it was only when Konoha turned did you wonder what was going on.

You watched your boyfriend turn to Akaashi and wave, shooting a kind smile which served as a placating look of feigned obliviousness, before lightly kissing the side of your head.

Akaashi turned away then.

You smiled to yourself, thinking no one else had seen the interaction. But Konoha knew you well and even playfully called you out in a low voice, “Oh? You liked that?”

“What? I can’t appreciate my own knight in shining armor?” You teased back, earning you a teasing pinch to your side.

“We’re here for a couple more hours, try not to seduce me any further.”

“Wha!” You contested as he flicked your forehead, “I was not.”

But Konoha just smirked at you, a fond expression on his face before turning back to the game. “You’re cuter than you give yourself credit for.”

You felt your cheeks flush, this was hardly the first time that he had said something like this. But somehow it always lit your cheeks aflame anyway.

The rest of the game went by very quickly, with your attention distracted to your boyfriend on your right. It was the simple things that you found so attractive - even so much as the small veins protruding in his arms when he flexed.

It was hot, ngl.

When the game ended, you were bracing yourself for something. Bokuto made his way to the reserved box, his loud voice above the crowd as many moved forward to greet him. You waited to the side, only moving when there was space to actually get a word in.

“(L/N)-san.” Bokuto greeted back, “I’m glad you came.”

He gave Konoha a high-five that progressed into a side-hug, boys. Somehow they had this handshake that you had never really seen before between the two.

“We hope to move this reunion back to our apartment.” Akaashi announced, many of the group agreed since it was a night before the weekend and no work the next day. They filled out individually, the rambunctious group loud against the cold walls. Haruki and Yukie lingered, you were sure since it was because you were still there.

You looked toward Konoha, there was no doubt that he would want to join in with his old-friends. Not that you really minded, it was just that now it was going to be taking place in the shared home of the two people who cheated on you. Were you mentally prepared to sit in a place that showcased all of their memories?

With the box emptying out, Akaashi approached the two of you first, “This may be the only semblance of quiet we have for the night.”

“Yeah.” You replied dumbly, unsure what to say. Konoha did not let go of your hand.

Yukie edged out of the room, but held-up a cell-phone motion as if she would call you to give you an out if needed. Haruki followed, but their pace was slow and their footsteps halted outside the door. They were probably going to wait, but just gave you your privacy. Bokuto was leaning against the wall by the door, waiting for the three of you.

“This has been drawn out for too long.” Akaashi continued once the door closed behind them, “I wanted to apologize for everything I did to you.”

“Oh?”

“You didn’t deserve it.” He stated, his kind-eyes now reflecting determination toward you, “I’ve long realized how selfish I was, trying to have both of your feelings. And it made me ashamed to think that I had never even properly apologized to you. I was so eager to speak, but never the right thing back then.”

You smiled, but said nothing. Not that you were unhappy, just overwhelmed with how earnest his apology was. You hadn’t expected Akaashi to be so genuinely repentant.

“You deserve all the happiness I could never give you and more.” Akaashi continued, his eyes lifting toward Konoha before dropping back to you. “I am so, so sorry.”

“Accepted.” You replied with an uneven smile, out-stretching a hand for him to take. Akaashi jumped at the chance, eagerly shaking your hand before shooting a grin back at you.

“Hey! Hey!” Bokuto started as he clapped a hand on Akaashi’s back, “And I’m sorry for keeping it a secret also, but...”

“But you loved him.” You finished for him. There was a time you wanted to step on Bokuto’s neck, but now you just felt nothing but understanding.

“That was a pretty dick move of me.” Bokuto continued.

“No hard feelings.” You replied back, earning a playful slap on the back from the wing-spiker that definitely hurt more than it was meant to.

“You were always the nicest one, (L/N)!” He said with a smile before turning to Konoha, “You’ve got a real catch here.”

Konoha smiled as he moved his hand to your waist and squeezed, “And I’ll never let her go.”

You gave him a similar smile, looking up at your boyfriend at feeling a fondness settle in your stomach over his kind yet protective nature. He looked down at you and couldn’t stop himself from lightly pecking you on the lips at that moment.

Bokuto let out a playful bristle and Akaashi shot you another one of his wistful smiles, but that was the least of your worries.

It had been a long time since you put those high-school days behind you. But there was a certain happiness, a content feeling inside you that had suddenly fostered at hearing his apology. You were more than ready to move onto your future, this toxic memory nothing but a stepping stone from your past.

➳  Masterlist ➳  Part One

[yeee14]

Manga Recommendations for when you want something diff.

Otoyomegatari (A Bride’s Story)

Set in central Asia, a girl from a different tribe gets married to a boy much younger than her. Yes, I know it sounds wrong. But the manga is so much more than their relationship, it focuses on the lifestyle in the middle east. Also, THE ATTENTION TO DETAIL IS INSANE

Like goddamm look at all those details on the clothes. Trust me guys, this level of detail isn’t for this page. It’s for *every* single page. 

Choukakou/Chang Ge Xing/Song of the Lost March

Set in the tang dynasty, a thought-to-be dead princess plans to take the throne and save her country. *Deep breath* GO READ IT. This is such a jewel of manga that I want it get more recognition. The protagonist uses her head and  actually puts her dreams, aspirations, and duty before *gasp* love. The male lead oml actually respects that and for himself agrees that he will do the same thing if their path crosses as enemies. God it breaks my heart at how well they understand each other yet they are not meant to be. Also, this is actually a manhua that has beautiful, detailed art and character design that I really do wish that other manhua are like this because the current image of manhuas you guys think of pale in comparison.

Ugh the matching posessss

Golden Kamuy

I think this manga is fairly popular especially after the anime aired, but I don’t think it’s well known to more mainstream readers. Now let me tell ya, this manga is gold: The comedy and the faces are gold. Even more the knowledge it gives about Ainu culture is fascinating and the manga author references a lot of historical events or figures if you’re a historian nerd hurhur. Anyways, I promise you, you will laugh the whole time.

Oh yeah, the premise: 

Set after the Russo-Japan war, veteran Sugimoto the “Immortal” teams up with an Ainu girl, Asirpa, to find the hidden stash of gold that the Ainu hid. 

Hella salty that Asirpa didn’t win best girl of the crunchyroll awards, like how can you not love all those faces?!?!?

Hataraku Saibou (Cells at Work!)

What if the human body system was like a human society where people had jobs? Like magic school bus but funnier. Warning: You may end up shipping a red blood cell with a white blood cell because we have come to that point in anime/manga. 

A pretty great excuse “to be studying” if you’re a medical student since every episode they teach you something about the human body. Ooops did I say episode? Yeah there’s an anime adapatation and there’s also a gender-swapped, NSFW, and darker version of the manga called Hataraku Saibou Black. 

The Promised Neverland

*I should’ve posted this earlier before the anime came out and became super popular* Anyways if you don’t know what it is, a spoiler-free premise: Grace field is an orphanage where everyone gets along and is cared for under Mama. They all eagerly wait for the day for when it is their turn to be adopted as they grow up. Truly, like a paradise. 

I commend Shonen Jump for publishing this manga because this is something really different than what they are usually known for like young hot-blooded guys fighting each other for friendship. Like there’s a lot of mind games going on. 

King’s Maker

I got hooked in by the fanmade video like you will too. Even if you’re not into BL like I am, there’s minimal BL -at least in the first season- I have not yet read the second season, but I heard it gets steamy ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gJU0NmMRoo

This is a webtoon btw but who cares I already included a manhua already into this list. 

Enjoy~

[alvaar-aldaviir]

Wondrous Tails: First “I Love You” (replacement) / Bandaging Wounds

("First "I Love You"" is a replacement for "Going on a Cruise")

Time Frame: Post Canon (years after Shadowbringers(?)), Minimal Spoilers for 5.0 end. Notes got long so they are under the cut.

Notes:

I continue to refer to Alphinaud as a Scholar instead of Academician for no reason but laziness and bad habits.

I understand the ‘time bubble’ issue of MMO’s, but for writing I subscribe to time actually passing between expansions. I don’t keep a hard and fast rule, but sort of lean toward roughly 1 year per expansion if not longer. Otherwise everyone would be mired under so much PTSD I don’t know how the Scions would get anything done, and please let my WoL breathe?

Somehow, someway, Alvaar has gotten the better of me and it’s eventual committed relationship polygamy with the Leveilleurs up in here. After actual months of telling myself no, I give up. If you hate that, pass on my stuff and have a great day.

Just for posterity, there will never be twincest. I don’t have a personal stance on people’s fiction about fictional people, but it just doesn’t make sense for the twins to me.

   The first time Alphinaud hears Alvaar utter those words, he’s seventeen. Seventeen and full of fire and determination to help right the wrongs of a thousand-year war and maybe redeem some of his own foolishness.

Seventeen and half scandalized to catch his Warrior of Light buried against Lord Haurchefant’s chest before they readied to infiltrate the Vault after Ser Aymeric.

It wasn’t as if he’d gone looking of course. Such things would have been kept a better secret behind a closed door and not front and center to whomever strolled into House Fortemps expecting an audience. But romantic subtly wasn’t... exactly Lord Haurchefant’s forte and neither was it Alvaar’s. And it wasn’t as if he hadn’t known when it was the talk of Camp Dragonhead and the house servants anyway.

But it is perhaps the first time the Arcanist had seen any hint of the word “love” meaning something beyond dutifully repeated and expected phrases. Spoken as if it’s some personal secret, or more of a promise than just a response. Something alive and wild instead of the light and flippant ways he’d heard it used in Sharlayan and among nobility.

There’s a weight to those words that’s like aether humming in an incantation.

It means something when Alvaar says it and the Lord’s sharp features soften as he nuzzles into blond hair, and it means even more when Haurchefant answers in kind and some of the tension in the Bard’s shoulders ease. There’s a thousand words held in that phrase, like pages and pages of information distilled in a single line of arcane shorthand. History condensed into a lone footnote.

He never had to ask why Alvaar’s wails of pain as he’d held his dead lover mere hours later sounded like a heart breaking in two.

    The next time he hears them, it’s not quite the same.

He’s twenty (or was it twenty-one?) and farther from home than he’d ever dreamed. Fresh from facing off against Emet-Selch as they’d fought to save the First from destruction. Twenty and exhausted and content to doze quietly in the newly returned night alongside the beds two other occupants, arms draped over Alisaie and Alvaar both. He remembers feeling Alvaar’s knuckles brush his cheek, tiredly meeting the Bard’s gaze in the dark and hearing those words again.

They don’t mean the same thing, but it doesn’t overly bother him after the torture Alvaar had endured for the worlds. After the last several months Alphinaud had spent fighting sin eaters, stubborn short-term mindsets, and bitter loneliness in Kholusia.

Being called family, being called ‘home’ had only echoed what he’d felt too. The Scions, his Sister, and Alvaar, were what felt most like home. Not a large but empty feeling manor back in Sharlayan, cut off and indifferent to the world.

It’s a different kind of love but it doesn’t mean any less nor is it remotely insincere.

And even if there’s a faint disappointment in his heart he would never admit to, it’s fine. More than anything he’s simply happy that they’re still together. Still alive. Still able to fight and produce another miracle for the people of the First and the Source.

    He’s twenty-two and he knows Alvaar loves him deeply. He’s said it in every other conceivable way. Let poetry and sweet words fall from his lips or sent the meaning across in those brushes of familiar contact. Had the feeling burned into his body and mind more times than he could ever hope to keep track of...

But Alvaar hadn’t ever said it.

It’s silly and he knows it. He has no reason to doubt Alvaar and truly he knows the way the Bard feels for him isn’t anything less than his previous lover. That there was room enough in that gentle heart for all three of them. Jealousy is a terrible thing after all, so he convinces himself it doesn’t matter. Comforts himself and chides Alisaie gently when she inquires on it herself. Alvaar had been through a great deal of hardship and pain. And as they both didn’t doubt the depth nor truth of his feelings, the specific words should hardly matter.

    He’s twenty-three, and when Alvaar finally says them he barely notices. There’s too much blood, and Alvaar’s laugh is too weak and lilting from it. His mind is too busy on spells and incantations to register it as he works quickly.

Alvaar is fine. He’s always fine. He comes back beaten and bloody and smiling and laughing and visibly delights in being doted upon and taken care of. A routine scouting of the border wasn’t supposed to be anywhere near as deadly as the hopeless situations he’d been sent into before. He’s fine.

The Scholar is internally utterly terrified of course, but he knows from too much firsthand knowledge that there’s no room for panic as a healer. If he panicked, things would quickly turn into ‘not fine’ and neither of them had time for that.

So for right now, spells and aether humming in his veins, it’s fine.

        “Did you get a haircut recently?” Alvaar asks, letting Alphinaud clean, tape, and bandage his wounds. Magic had healed the critical damage and stopped the bleeding, but it would take time to heal the rest and a few more applications of white magic tomorrow. Cleaning and bandaging would ensure a smoother transition through the process, so it’s a step he takes anyway, perched on the edge of the medical bed while the Bard sits propped up against pillows.

“You should be taking this more seriously,” the Scholar returns flatly, pushing Alvaar’s hand away from his hair gently so he can keep working.

“I am. But I’m just so... very happy,” Alvaar murmured, a smile stretching across his exhausted face. “I made it back this time, I’m here, and you’re here, and it will work this time.”

It’s said with such offhanded confidence it makes the Scholar blink. “What? Alvaar you’re delirious, stay still.”

A hum of agreement rings in the Bards throat as he nods. “Okay. Let me know when you’re done and listening. He said I didn’t say it enough... That when I made it back to be sure to tell you something.”

He wants to pay more attention to Alvaar’s curious words but there would be time for it later. Though he was comfortably stabilized and would no doubt make a full recovery in a matter of days with the Warrior of Light’s sometimes obnoxious recovery speed, it’s never something he likes to leave to chance. If he overlooked something now, it could be disastrous later.

“He?” The inquiry slides off his tongue in a distracted manner, during which his moonstone carbuncle chirps with interest where it’s bedded down along Alvaar’s legs.

“Don’t worry about it,” Alvaar replies, glossing over it as his attention shifts back to the carbuncle eyeing him expectantly. “Can I have my hand back now?”

Another deft turn of the roll of bandages, a swift snip of the medical shears, and a tidy tie off had him releasing Alvaar’s arm with a nod. “Sure. Other arm if you would.”

Swapping obediently, Alvaar quickly settled his freed hand into plush white fur, grinning brightly. “Hey Carbi... I missed you too,” he cooed, chuckling at the fond chirp and purr he got in answer. “You’re the best summon ever aren’t you?”

Snorting under his breath, Alphinaud keeps at his work until he’s finished, letting his summon keep up its job of distracting Alvaar’s focus from pawing at him so he can work in peace. Alvaar was always a good patient, but woozy with blood loss he sometimes got sillier than was helpful. It made his moonstone carbuncle an utter lifesaver, and there were few helpers he would rather have working beside him. Though he had long developed more potent summons, Alvaar’s preference and the sheer number of revisions and intricacies of its design had left moonstone as one of his masterpieces. The patient bedside manner and attentive nature had made it a nursemaid second to none, and given the way it was currently cozied into Alvaar’s side and subtly keeping him quiet and still as it soaked up affection like a sponge, it remained a staple of his repertoire for good reason.

Inspecting the last of his work, he gives a satisfied nod before starting to pack things away. After almost seven years of chasing Alvaar’s shadow and tending to his wounds, his first aid is as neat and tidy as an experienced chirurgeon. A far cry from his fumbled and panicked work the Bard had coached him through with grit teeth in Coerthas. It’s only once he sets the supplies back on the shelves that he finally gives himself leave to think about anything but healing.

He’s seated back at Alvaar’s side before he realizes he’s made the steps, a bandaged hand curling warm at his jaw and pulling him closer until they bump foreheads together. It’s a movement that he’s long used to, a familiar gesture that helps to quiet the panic that had boiled over in his chest if not the emotion that threatens its place.

“I would appreciate it if you would refrain from frightening me like that again,” Alphinaud murmured softly, a faint tremor in his voice but refusing to cry. Alvaar was fine! There wasn’t any reason to overreact!

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to. Was the best I could manage,” Alvaar replied in the stilted way he picked up when he was exhausted. Given how much harder he was leaning into the Scholar, none of it surprised him.

Making a thoughtful sound in the back of his throat he leaned the faintest bit back into the Warrior of Light, soaking up the steady warmth that wicked off him and the silent reassurance he was still there. “Just... be more careful next time. For now you should focus on healing.”

“Thank you for saving me Alphi,” Alvaar whispered with a heartfelt gratitude.

It was enough to make the Scholar flush. “I... Any other healer would have done the same.”

“Maybe. But any other healer wouldn’t be worth me dragging myself back to. Sides, Alisaie was too far,” he joked fondly.

Alphinaud tutted under his breath, pulling back to grip Alvaar’s face in his hands and press a featherlight kiss to his brow before burying his nose into soft golden strands. “Jokes aside, thank you for coming back. If scaring me half to death means that you’ll pull through, then I would take that burden every time.”

There’s something about the way Alvaar relaxes into him, the faint breath of a sigh before tension eases out of his neck and jaw, that has always meant the world to him. It was too many emotions to articulate clearly, but it always made his heart feel warm. Reminded him that even if he wasn’t able to command the same fear and awe as the Warrior of Light, to be a brilliant blade that cut through the dark and evil that threatened them, the rallying cry that brought their forces to victory, what he could do was no less important.

All great hero’s needed a home to return to, else they would eventually feel they had nothing left to fight for.

“Alphi?”

“Yes Alvaar?”

Pulling back enough to regard him a moment with scrutiny, the Bard leaned in with a purposeful ease, lips brushing against his chastely for a moment before murmuring something against his skin.

This time he heard them. Felt their movement and the warmth of them against his lips and burning against his skin. Poetry and promise and providence all in one.

“I love you.”

It was no big deal. It was a sentiment he’d always known from 1,001 things Alvaar did all the time. Something he had long convinced himself didn’t matter. A phrase used over and over until it’s meaning was practically lost.

But oh.

Oh...

How those words shook him to the depths of his soul and cut him in two regardless.

    He’s twenty-one again for just a moment. Full of questions and a heart fuller still with longing, listening to Alvaar speak of love he’d known with that easy and sincere air of his. Brutally honest as ever.

Love was ruinous. Love would destroy you in ways you didn’t think were possible. Love was thirst and hunger. And all your days, when you’d known the taste of true love, of something that clutched past your heart and into your soul, you would always want for more of it.

In the present with his face buried against Alvaar’s shoulder, tears welling over and soaking into clean white bandages, he feels like a beast half starved.

“I would really like it if you stayed,” Alvaar murmurs, still running his fingers along the Scholar’s back soothingly. He’s infuriatingly casual for having just reduced his lover to tears. If he hadn’t just spent an hour healing and bandaging him up, Alphinaud would probably have swatted him.

Instead he just nods.

He’d never been very good at refusing that particular request anyway. Even when he was the one chastising Alvaar on why sharing a medical bed was in poor interest of his health.

But it’s late, and he’s tired, and nuzzling into the warm muscle of Alvaar’s shoulder he doesn’t want to leave anyway. So, he pulls himself up onto the bed fully, curling up beside him and keeping his cheek settled against the Bard’s shoulder that’s free of bruises. He knows he won’t sleep well but the situation is unfortunately familiar enough he knows that he’ll still get plenty of rest for tomorrow’s troubles.

“Alvaar?” he asks softly after they’ve both settled into the pillows, sheets, and each other accordingly.

“Yea?”

“You really need a shower.”

It has Alvaar laughing enough to make him wince, “Brat... don’t make me laugh that hurts.”

Alphinaud just smiles softly and hums an amused note as Alvaar settles further against him.

“Alvaar?” he asks again after a few minutes, getting a soft grunt of acknowledgement.

Shifting enough to study the soft and unguarded profile he’s sketched a hundred times before from memory, he presses a brief kiss to the Bard’s jaw and settles in for sleep.

“I love you too.”

[hellreads]

Chapters: 5/? Fandom: 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Kim Namjoon | RM/Original Female Character(s), Park Jimin (BTS)/Original Female Character(s), Park Jimin (BTS)/Reader, Kim Namjoon | RM/Reader, Kim Namjoon | RM & Reader, Park Jimin (BTS) & Reader Characters: Kim Namjoon | RM, Park Jimin (BTS), Min Yoongi | Suga, Jung Hoseok | J-Hope, Kim Taehyung | V, Jeon Jungkook, Kim Seokjin | Jin, Reader, Original Female Character(s) Additional Tags: Smut, Fluff and Angst, Sad with a Happy Ending, Angst and Tragedy, Love, Love Confessions, Falling In Love, Romance, Alternate Universe - College/University, Established Relationship, Alternate Universe, Fluff

Summary:

You had everything you thought you could ever want or need. You loved every moment of your life, your career, family, friends and most of all the light of your life your husband, Namjoon.

Until a reckless mistake sealed your fate.

Going through the motions of loss; the riptide of grief takes you and is pulling at your seams. Can you move forward and find happiness once again?

“I love you Ava, you are my world, you make up all of the brightest stars in my constellation.”

first of all, I don’t think I have read anything with this pairing a Namjoon x OC/Reader x Jimin story so I was delighted as soon as I saw the relationships info on ao3, the only confusing thing for me was immersing into a named reader (y’all know I’m all for immersion) because it’s always strictly second person pov/y/n or third person pov/named oc that I’m used to but after a while, I got used to it and enjoyed reading the story.

[SPOILERS AHEAD - very minimal since this is an on-going story.]

this is a very interesting story, I thought it would be easy to predict what happens next but I’m actually having a hard time thinking of all the possibilities since this is an on-going story, starting off with Namjoon and Ava talking about constellations, a secret the adorable husband can’t keep, the things they’d do once they get to Australia, the veil of love and lust consuming them because they were so happy sigh honestly I heard my heart shattered when Joon said the name Ava because I thought he was cheating but turns out it was a named reader, I had to pause and re-read over and over because again this was something new to me after accepting and immersing into the story with a different name it actually had my heart fluttering once again recalling their unspoken words, their conversation in the car, the way they show their love through actions and words were beautiful until everything came crashing down, that’s when I finally realized that this will indeed be tragic as stated on the tags.

the flashbacks are very important in establishing how the couple met and how they were as lovers before getting married, this is also where we finally meet every other character that adds life to the story from Min who is very charming and knows what she wants, ugh I utterly adore her cute story with Taehyung, it really is true that when two people are meant to be together they’ll find a way back to each other, Taehyung (or Min’s boyfriend) is taking up media studies with Jungkook, Seokjin, of course, the handsome chaebol who has everything one could wish for, Yoongi and Hoseok, or the lovers who have different personalities but still bring out the best in each other and Jimin the professional dancer who made Ava realize her that she still has passion for dancing. honestly, I’m still clueless on how Jimin will enter the picture will he remain as a friend with unrequited feelings (we still haven’t established tho how he truly feels for Ava), will something blossom between him and Ava while they spend more time with each other, will he enter the picture during the present day where she will need her friends to support her now that Namjoon is most probably in critical condition (not to mention we still don’t know whether or not she is pregnant), I like that there are so many possibilities and with the transition from present to past to present makes me lose my mind in a good way because it makes the story worth investing time in.

I am looking forward to the future chapters of this story, I love how my heart has been played with way too many times from the named reader to the tragic accident, the flashbacks etc., the characterization is lovely and I wanna get to know them more, the details of the story, it’s one of the things I like about your writing (A++ to the smutty parts of the story because ngl I live for dom!Namjoon, well-written *standing ovation with flying kisses*) the air of mystery in every chapter because I wanna know what happened to them but I’m scared like what if Namjoon ends up in a coma or what if he suffers from amnesia? what if Ava is really pregnant? what if she gets devastated from whatever condition Namjoon is in and her vulnerability gets used against her but I doubt that scratching that idea rn~ but that’s just me and my imagination trying to appease my restless self while I wait for the next chapters.

anyways, thank you @kathkeatz-blog​ for sharing your story with us, these are my thoughts as a reader, I hope more people get to read your Then There Was You so they’d understand my excitement for the future of this story! | 🍒🍒🍒🍒🍒 

[noscorpsaladerive]

LRA Korea Write Up!!!  This is so freaking long and rambly and fangirly but here we go

So obviously spoiler alert, I’ll mark the appropriate parts with trigger warnings, and also I don’t speak any Korean so obviously I missed a lot of stuff

Okay so first off the theater and stage itself were pretty damn small especially in comparison to the 4000 seat Palais des Congrès in Paris but they def made that stage work for them.  The back of the stage was curved in and had steps going all the way around, a screen above the steps with projections, etc, and a couple of entrances for actors.  They had some minimal set pieces, but the coolest part was the like celestial pattern they had on these giant moving screens that they used for a curtain as well as for backdrops for some of the scenes.  Tbh the costumes weren’t like mind blowing like you could tell they didn’t have the biggest budget but they worked and none were so ugly or awful that it took me out of the story.

So the show starts in a similar way with Merlin and the Dragon, but it was really cool bc the part (i assume at least) where the Dragon mentions the king’s son Arthur pops up at the top of the steps!  As the knights are slowly appearing for the tournament and start fighting, Arthur actually sings part of Je me relève???  Which imo is brilliant???? Anyways it gets down to just Meleagant and as he goes up to try and pull Excalibur from the stone, he sings part of Un Nouveau Départ which is also brilliant????  This production did a great job of establishing and maintaining musical themes for characters and i was living for it.

Anyways Arthur does the thing and yay he’s king now but wait side note Han Jisang who played Arthur was SO FUCKING GOOD.  Like he captured Arthur’s transition from a boyish squire to a grown ass adult king so beautifully and wonderfully it was truly incredible.

Okay so now it’s Advienne que pourra time and holy fuck.  Holy f u c k.  Kang Hongseok was the perfect Meleagant.  I’d link it but I’m on mobile but you can see his Advienne que pourra in the King Arthur press call around the nine minute mark and he just fucking k i l l s it.  Also there were no sword dicks in the choreography so it’s automatically better.  And the projection1!!!  They had a sun up from the beginning bc the Dragon had appeared in the sun but it was still up for Meleagant but then during the bridge it’s eclipsed by the moon and it’s like ooooo symbolism for Meleagant’s feelings~~~

Side note i really really really loved the staging of this like so much of it made soooo much more sense than the french production and like I’m attached to the original because obvious reasons but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t‘ve been better.

The training scene with Gauvain was pretty similar as the original.  Merlin introduces the stag and the wolf again, and ngl the dude who plays the wolf has very nice abs so good for him for being motivated to work out like that lol.  Anyways i really liked the staging of Qui suis-je because Arthur still has his existential crisis but Merlin’s explanation of the Grail is less directed at him???  Like Arthur’s still on stage but he’s not listening and is working on training with Merlin’s brothers.  So it’s much less “I know you’re having a hard time but look at this shiny thing!” Than the french one.

They took out the Danse des guerriers battle dance number music but they did still have a dance battle!  At the top of the stairs they had Guenièvre and Léodagant being held prisoner by Méléagant and they showed Mélé like trying to be romantic ish with Guenièvre so establishing that connection was really nice. And Méléagant had a new song????  That was really short????? But i don’t think it matched any of the melodies of his other songs?????? I’m confused but intrigued.

Oooo what was really cool was how they did Arthur asking Meleagant to knight him.  Like in the french one it’s tense but i really felt the tension among the characters tonight it was sooo great oh my god.  But after Meleagant takes the sword, he sings a few lines of Advienne que pourra and then points the sword at Arthur’s neck and idk i just really liked it it was such a nice touch and maybe it was Hong Seok and the other actors reacting to him but there was a true sense of holy fuck no one knows what he’s gonna do next and Arthur had this look on his face like I’m prepared to die if this is my time and ugh i love them all so much ;alkdjfa;dk 

Okay next is Rêver l’impossible.  I liked our Guenièvre but I’d have to see her again to have a more detailed opinion of her lol.  I really loved this scene because one no pregnant handmaidens and two Arthur was being really cute and acting all in love with her and it was adorable and I love it.  Quelque chose de magique was more of the same like Han Jisang fucking killed it as Arthur like he was such a dork in love and I loved it.  And towards the end of the scene Méléagant walks on stage and looks at Guenièvre and Arthur and so you know he knows he’s lost Guinevere.

Un Nouveau Départ was great because Kang Hongseok is great and I love him.  They did have the dancers do body rolls which i found very amusing for some reason idk why a;dlkfajd;lfksd Next was my one complaint about the show and it’s that there was no transition whatsoever between Un Nouveau Départ and Au diable but maybe they had Guenièvre do that lyrically???  Still some sort of musical interlude in between would’ve been nice.  I did l o v e how they did the water for her arrival like she stood at the top of the stairs and they had blue fabric covering all the steps then they pulled it down as she started to walk down and the screen was doing these cool star projections and it was just so pretty.

RAPE TW for this next paragraph

Next was A l’enfant and Tu vas le payer.  Nothing really changed story wise but our Leia was soooo good and was such a great dancer.  And I noticed the lady playing the role of child Morgane in the story had such great expressions and body language and tbh the same can be said for the entire ensemble they were amazing. Anyways our Morgane was really amazing too her expressions were also soooo great and I’m running out of adjectives bc it’s three am a;ldkfjad;l but anyways the way things go down for these two songs is about the same in the french but the staging is different obviously like instead of the party scene it’s mostly Morgane jamming out with the ensemble then they roll Arthur and Guenièvre in on rolling platforms and then Morgane waves her arms bc magic and she does the same movements as Guenièvre so it looks like she’s controlling her which I thought was a cool way to do that.  Afterwards Arthur is obviously very distraught but instead of Merlin being like “you have bigger problems your people are dying” Arthur runs off stage to (hopefully) process what just happened so i appreciate that there’s that moment instead of just rushing on to the next thing.

Next was Guenièvre’s garden and Lancelot’s arrival, which was really cute bc her handmaidens blindfold Kay and have him try to find one of them and he ends up in Lancelot’s arms ;aldkfjsdl;k. And the way Kay tries to protect Guinevere was so freaking cute he kept throwing his arms up to protect her and she kept pushing them down then his arms would pop back up it was so cute ;ladkjfadlk

Si je te promets goes down pretty much the same, but what’s interesting is afterwards Merlin shows up and is like hey your people are dying and that’s when they have Délivre-nous!  They also had ensemble member solos instead of just one singer which i thought worked really well.  And Arthur’s moving among them and he tries to reach out to help them as they fall dying and i just love the staging so much like from the very beginning with the dude who rushes in to tell Arthur Méléagant is holding Guenièvre and her father captive you can just tell Arthur is so concerned about caring for his people and i love him so much ;alkdjf;aldk 

After that song ends Arthur’s like hey we gotta fix this shit so he creates the round table then goes into Je me relève!!  Which was a lil creepy bc that’s the exact same idea i had in my own LRA rewrite and i was like fuck did they find my blog but it fucking works y’all!!!!  And they end Act I on that song and ugh it’s so beautiful i love it

Act II starts out with Dors Morgane dors but it’s not about her mother’s rape anymore, we think she’s talking about her plans for Lancelot, Guenièvre, and Arthur but that is to be confirmed.  They then show ARthur and Lancelot kicking ass and taking names which i liked that it showed Lancelot had buddies besides just crushing on Guinevere lol

Next was A nos vœux sacrés which holy shit y’all.  Holy shit.  Both actors are so freaking good and they both hit high notes at the end of the song and i died and went straight to heaven it was sooooo amazing ;alkdjfa;ldskjfas;d also they did not paint Méléagant up like a war boy they had this like branch like mask thing??? It looked really cool omg

Next Lancelot and Guinevere had a short scene that led into L’amour quel idiot and i loved this staging so much!!!! Like instead of having him sing at their faces after the wedding he’s downstage singing and longing for Guinevere while she and Arthur are standing at the top of the steps getting ready for the wedding and i just love it so much y’all

The wedding scene didn’t have a song but Morgane sung Ce que la vie a fait de moi afterwards and holy fuck y’all i freaking died and went to heaven every time this Morgane hit a high note she was soooooo good y’all.  So fucking good.

I don’t really remember much about le Serment d’Arthur prob bc i know they changed things but language barrier so I’m not 100% sure how it changed rip

Faire comme si was good but I’m so attached to the french staging of that song i still miss it ;alkdfjsad; one thing that i really really loved and preferred in this one was Lancelot and Guinevere don’t really touch??  It’s just longing gazes and at one point they touch hands and Lancelot like freezes like oh fuck she’s touching me i can’t believe it but then Guinevere pulls her hand away and he just leaves his in the same spot for a second like he still can’t believe she touched his hand and ugh i loved it the lack of touching really upped the ante on the pining and it was sooo good a;ldfkjadfkl;

Next was another scene with Morgane and Méléagant where Méléagant starts out being all like you promised me!!! And then I *think* Morgane tells him something like be patient and explains her plan but once again Korean and changes so it’s mostly speculation

But y’all

Y’all

They had Morgane and Méléagant sing Mon combat

Like w h a t

But also y e s

I’m glad they didn’t just leave the song the way it is in the French version bc it doesn’t work very well where it is in the French one???  So I’m so happy they moved things around and tried to make things work better

Next up Merlin peaces out and Arthur?????  Sings a slow reprise?????? Of Quelque chose de magique??????? No clue what he says in the lyrics but i thought it was an interesting melodic choice to bring back in the moment Arthur loses his mentor

So Guinevere gets kidnapped and Kay’s the one who actually realizes she’s gone and who took her but Arthur decides to go after her himself???  Then it switches to Lancelot who’s looking for the Grail and they kept the phrase Wake Up in English bless them but he doesn’t find Guinevere’s handkerchief until partway through the song and Niel (the kid playing Lancelot) was really great??? Like it was so much fun watching him as Lancelot ugh

I don’t remember why but Arthur then has a reprise of Si je te promets jury is still out on what he’s singing about but will keep you posted

Yoooo nos corps à la dérive man.  So. Good.  I’m so in love with Hong Seok’s Méléagant he’s so great and i just ;lakdjf;alkdjfd but the set was so cool they had like all these white ribbons???  That Guinevere was attached to??? Which sounds weird but it was like part spider web effect part almost shattered mirror effect????  That’s not explaining it well but it looked really cool and avant garde ish and there was a significantly fewer number of random creepy skeleton projections so i was here for it

Major difference tho Lancelot shows up ready to throw down except he gets his ass kicked and is seriously injured???  And Arthur shows up but he just listens at first so I think that’s when he really figures out what’s up between Lancelot and Guinevere but then Arthur steps in and kills Méléagant (who sings a reprise of Un Nouveau Départ before being carried off into the afterlife) (rip in peace).  Arthur then leaves Guinevere and Lancelot alone while the latter dies and they sing a really sad reprise of L’amour quel idiot :(((( my son dying meant that Il est temps got cut but like they added soo many reprises and things it makes sense that they’d have to cut at least one song but still sad :(

Next Arthur talks with Morgane and I’m not entirely sure what was happening but it seemed like she was having a breakdown because of what happened and what she did to Arthur and Vanessa said that he said something like “Don’t turn into our mother” or something like that but she breaks down and spirits herself away while she and Arthur sing a reprise of Dors Morgane dors

Then it’s Tout est joué and Merlin is standing on the back of the steps while Arthur is in front of the closed screen so it was nice to have that kind of physical barrier present on stage to further emphasize that Merlin’s not gonna be helpful bc he’s now separated from Arthur rip

Next up was Auprès d’un autre which involved a lot less yelling and shit then the French version and holy shit Han Jisang fucking killed it (again) he was sooo great but Arthur lets Guenièvre go partway through the song and so the show ends with him by himself holding up Excalibur

At curtain call they sang some of Je me relève (i think) again and it was cute esp bc at the end everyone was holding a dramatic pose except Han Jisang was just quietly bopping and jamming to the instrumental outro by himself so everyone is dead still except Arthur who was just bopping along it was so cute ;alkdjf;alskdjf

Anyways it was amazing and they seemed to make changes to make the story make more sense which bless them for doing it but i loved it so much and i need to see it like a million more times it was so good a;ldskfjas;ldkfjads;lkfjasd;k

[storiesofwildfire]

{ outofmagic }

Okay, as I already said, I saw Thor Ragnarok today and I have a lot of things to say about it. I’m trying to get all of my thoughts out in the open, both to give my honest opinion of the movie, and to help me organize everything I’m thinking right now so I can, hopefully, develop some sort of verse for this or figure out how to incorporate it for people who would want to interact in a post-Ragnarok setting. 

I already know the verse will be slightly AU. There are too many things about the movie that I don’t want to incorporate into my blog for it to be completely canon, but I’m going to try.

Anyway, my thoughts will be beneath the cut. If you don’t want to see any spoilers, please don’t open the post. I will tag this post appropriately for those who have blacklisted spoilers.

First off, I want to say that I’m extremely conflicted about this film. I’ve had a lot of complaints about MCU as of late. I absolutely hated Age of Ultron and Civil War. This movie was a massive improvement over some of the movies that MCU has been dishing out lately. I enjoyed watching this movie. It was fun and it was funny and all-in-all, it was a decent film. I’d see it again, but it’s definitely not my favorite. 

First off, I hate that they made Ragnarok funny. This movie was borderline a comedy and Ragnarok is literally the end of everything. I think it should have been taken way more seriously, but alas, they did not want to go with a serious tone. Instead, they made everything as funny as they could while death loomed in the waiting.

I. HELA’S BACKSTORY & PARENTAGE

I hate how they portrayed Hela. As most of you probably know, Sleipnir, Hel, Fenrir, and Jormungandr are all Loki’s children. Of course, MCU decided to edit that so none of these children are actually children of Loki. This really bothers me. If they didn’t want to have Loki be a parent to any of these characters, they shouldn’t have included them at all. Okay, the shoutout to Sleipnir in Thor 1 was cute. The horse Odin rode having eight legs was a nice little shoutout, but they never actually named the stallion and it was more of an Easter egg, but to put Hela front and center in a movie and destroy her parentage? I hated it. I knew I was going to hate it right off the bat, but I feel it’s worth mentioning.

The story that they decided to go with made about as much sense as just having Loki be Hela’s parent. They created an unnecessary relationship to the House of Odin that was never established or mentioned or hinted to in earlier movies and if they were just going to throw something like Hela being Odin’s eldest child in there, why not just go ahead and actually make her Loki’s daughter? 

The choice they made still makes her a member of the House of Odin, but it just felt cheap and easy and, honestly, very lazy. It was a band-aid solution for how to introduce her without actually making her Loki’s daughter.

We all knew this was coming so I won’t harp on it too much, but I’m just disappointed with how they chose to handle her. If they weren’t going to make her Loki’s daughter, they should have just had her completely unrelated whatsoever.

They didn’t explain who Hela’s mother was, either, so that was all up in the air.

And, to be honest, Marvel’s continuing down the path of under-developed villains. They did not develop Hela enough. MCU really needs to work on their development of their antagonists because they rarely get the time or backstory they deserve and they’re usually killed off in the film they debut in. 

II. THE WARRIORS THREE

Now, I’ve always been upset with how little screentime The Warriors Three (and Sif) got and how underdeveloped they were. These are supposed to be Thor and Loki’s friends. They’re important and they’re famous warriors. For fuck’s sake, Sif if the Goddess of War!

So what do they do? Waste all potential these characters had by killing them off straight away.

This was the thing that hurt me the most, to be honest.

Fandral is one of my favorite characters in the Thor universe. He and the others have so much potential to be fleshed out and developed into strong secondary characters that everyone wants to see. But what did Ragnarok do? Killed Volstagg and Fandral within a couple seconds of Hela arriving on Asgard and then Hogun a little while later. They completely disregarded these characters completely, as if they were disposable and they didn’t actually matter at all. I wanted them to do more with The Warriors Three and Sif, not just gut them so they weren’t there at all.

They didn’t even bother to give Volstagg or Fandral a decent death. They didn’t go out fighting. They were just Hela’s first victims and they never even bothered to have anyone react to their deaths.

Remember at the end of Thor The Dark World when Thor decided he didn’t want to be king, so he just left a battle-torn Asgard alone to rebuild without him? And he just completely forgot about his friends and the fact that Sif, Fandral, and Volstagg all committed treason for him? And Thor just didn’t even bother to care that they could be imprisoned or executed for treason? He just left them behind without even saying goodbye so he could go back to Midgard? 

Yeah, it’s basically like that all over again, except their deaths didn’t mean anything at all.

Oh, and Sif wasn’t even in the movie at all? What the fuck kind of shit is that?

III. NOT ENOUGH TIME ON ASGARD

This movie is... about Ragnarok, which is the end of the world, right? So why did the movie still not focus very much on Asgard? This has been a constant complaint with Thor movies. They spent too much time on Midgard or too much time on anywhere that isn’t Asgard. Yes, they spent almost all of the movie off of Midgard, much to my pleasure, but they still spent way too much time away from Asgard.

Considering what this story was, I think they needed to focus more on Asgard and Hela’s development as she invaded and took over the realm. 

IV. TOO MUCH EMPHASIS ON THOR AND THE HULK

This kind of piggybacks off of the last comment. Because the time spent on Asgard was so minimal, I think the time they spent with the whole Hulk vs. Thor thing went on for way too long. That took up a huge portion of the movie and it just took away from what the story was supposed to be about. I enjoyed that sequence, but I think it needed to be cut down a lot. They could have spent that time elsewhere to develop Hela more, to develop Loki more, to develop Valkyrie more, and yet... So much time went to this thing that just took up way too much of the movie. It was fun, but it almost felt like they were getting way off topic by dragging it out. They put so much emphasis on this that it felt like the actual threat of Ragnarok was not even that serious.

V. GRANDMASTER

Not everything I have to say about this movie is negative and honestly? I loved the Grandmaster. He was hilarious and ridiculous but he was just a really fun inclusion. And he totally wanted to get into Loki’s pants, let me tell you. A+ on the Grandmaster, Marvel. He was pretty fucking cool and I’d love to roleplay with one.

VI. VALKYRIE

FUCKING LOVED HER. They went into a bit of her backstory (not as much as I would have liked, but I digress) and I just? Really fucking liked her a lot? And I’d love to see more of her. She and the Grandmaster were definitely two highlights of the movie for me.

VII. ODIN’S DEATH

I think we all knew this was coming. Odin dies early on in the film. He speaks with Thor and Loki one last time. I enjoyed their talk. It was like Odin finally understood the wrongs that he’d done to Loki and he wanted Loki to truly understand that he was his son and he loved him. He even mentioned how Frigga would have been proud of the spell he put on him to keep him unaware of his relocation and removal from Asgard. He wasn’t angry or spiteful and it was a genuinely touching moment.

His death, however, made very little sense. It was like he just decided to stop living and went to join Frigga in Valhalla. It seemed very forced, like Anthony Hopkins wanted out of the franchise and his contract was up, so they wrote this half-arsed death scene that didn’t really make a whole lot of sense.

I would have liked to see a more logical end to the All-father. All-in-all, not the worst thing the movie did, but it could have been handled a little better.

VIII. GOD-TITLE INCONSISTENCIES

I’ve talked about this a lot. My pet peeve that MCU tries to take away the fact that these characters are actual deities in Norse Mythology and, instead, writes them as “really powerful aliens”. 

So why is it, that in this movie, they keep referring to themselves and one another as Gods? Thor’s title, Hela’s title, and Loki’s title are all mentioned as the God/Goddess of ___. 

Now, I’ve always portrayed Loki as a god. He’s always been a mix of Marvel and Myth and I refuse to take away his godhood because of some “really powerful alien” bullshit, but the movies seem to have a hard time making up their minds on the issue? 

This wasn’t a huge issue for me, but the inconsistency did annoy me. 

IX. SPECIAL EFFECTS & MUSIC

The movie was just really beautiful. Even if the movie had been absolute crap, the visuals and the music were entertaining and it just made for watching something very visually stunning. The work that went into all the details of the movie were top notch and they really stepped it up from the original Thor film and The Dark World.

X. LOKI’S PORTRAYAL

Okay, here’s where things get really rough for me.

As someone who has been roleplaying Loki for over five years now, I’ve developed him so much that I feel like I have a truly unique version of Loki that is purely mine and I am very protective of him in both mythology and Marvel.

Every time a movie comes out that has Loki as a main character, I get horrible anxiety, worrying that they’re going to ruin him or fuck him over so much that there’s nothing left for him. 

This movie... Well, Loki was fun to watch. He was funny and he had a lot of great moments. However, I don’t think they took Loki’s role, his importance, his development, or his character seriously enough.

The way he was written almost made it feel like he was Thor’s silly sidekick who was there to make Thor look better. Loki made a few extremely stupid mistakes and decisions in the film that just didn’t seem to fit his level of intelligence. Loki is supposed to be incredibly intelligent, light on his feet, and quick with his words. He’s no one’s fool, but this movie kind of made me think that they were knocking Loki down a few pegs so they could build Thor up even more. 

I enjoyed watching Loki (I mean, I love Tom Hiddleston and his Loki and he did the best he could with the material he was given), but I don’t think they were very good at doing his character justice. Yes, he’s the God of Mischief. He’s a prankster. He does silly things, usually with a purpose, but this movie just stuck him in the role of borderline-goofy sidekick and I really did not enjoy that. 

Loki did some foolish things that I just truly and honestly believe he’s far too intelligent for and it’s really bothering me that they seemed to take his role and make a joke of it. Even when it was revealed that he was parading around as Odin since the end of The Dark World, no one actually seemed to care?

Loki did go through even more of a redemption arc, which was nice, but it generally felt far too easy and lazy. Yes, he ended up being the one to save the day, but his and Thor’s emotional baggage seemed to just disappear at the end of the movie. All of the turmoil and animosity just faded away and they didn’t even really have a chance to forgive one another or anything. Loki seemed to tip towards being a hero, but what they did to show that transition just felt lazy, like they didn’t want to dig deep into the rawness of it all.

They did not showcase Loki’s magic enough. Tom Hiddleston himself said that Loki is unimpressed by people like Dr. Strange because his sorcery is so beneath what Loki can do, so why did Dr. Strange so easily pull one over on Loki? Why can’t they let Loki showcase everything that he can do? Or at least more of what he can do? And really validate him as the intelligent, cunning-yet-charming, deadly sorcerer that he is? It seems like if they give that to him, they think they’ll overshadow other characters like Thor and other heroes.

I did, however, like that Loki was able to give his side of the story to the people of Asgard while he was parading around as Odin. People seemed to genuinely take well to Loki’s memory. Loki even admitted to the entire realm that he was not only adopted but that he was also a Frost Giant. He’s finally accepted his heritage.

And you know what? While Loki was pretending to be Odin, he rebuilt Asgard. They didn’t elaborate on it, but Asgard was whole again after the Dark Elves invasion. People were happy and healthy and the realm flourished under his rule. He might not have been presenting himself as himself (something I still really, really hate), but he was a good king while pretending to be Odin and he put forth the effort to show that he could be a good king, even if he partook in a bit too much self-indulgence. 

Loki is also the only reason that there were any survivors from Asgard, I’m just saying.

XI. THE FINAL PLAN TO DEFEAT HELA

Ragnarok was not instigated by Hela. She came to Asgard to conquer it. She killed a lot of people to accomplish this, yes, but she didn’t actually destroy Asgard. Ragnarok was instigated by Loki. He summoned Sutar in order to destroy what was left of Asgard (as well as Hela) once the survivors of Asgard were evacuated. 

I liked this idea. I’ve actually written AUs just like this already where Loki purposefully enacts Ragnarok in order to save those he can and destroy their oppressors (like Thanos). For Loki to bring about Ragnarok for a good purpose is one of my favorite ideas. It’s the end of everything, but it’s also the beginning. It’s rebirth. It’s new hope. It’s one of Loki’s biggest roles.

But the idea wasn’t Loki’s and that really pissed me off. Instead of letting Loki come to the conclusion on his own, they had Thor instigate the idea instead. 

I think Loki’s entire story would have been so much more whole and complete if they just let Loki deliver the final blow on his own. It shouldn’t have been Thor’s idea. That just looked like another desperate attempt to have Thor outshine Loki.

Loki got to be the hero, but only because Thor gave him the idea. No, Marvel. That’s completely unnecessary. Ragnarok is Loki’s. Loki is intelligent enough and clever enough to come up with this plan on his own without any help from his brother. Period. He should have come up with the idea long before Thor ever even conceived it.

XII. THOR AND LOKI

I actually really did love seeing the brotherly bond between them. I think this is the first movie that really highlighted the fact that they are, indeed, brothers. While I didn’t like the dynamic of Loki being kind of like a sidekick or Thor constantly HAVING to be better than Loki, I did really enjoy them together as siblings. I felt like they had a lot more to discuss and dissect considering how much they were at odds with one another for so long, but there were genuine moments of brotherly bond that I absolutely adored.

I want more of that. I love Loki and Thor as brothers that struggle so much and often do stupid things to outdo one another but are brothers nonetheless. 

I loved seeing the unspoken love between them, however, I do think they needed to hash out more of their hatred and aggression towards one another. That seemed to be completely glossed over for the sake of... I don’t know what, to be honest.

XIII. SHOWCASING OTHER WARRIORS

The movie focused far too much on Thor’s battle and powers. During the final showdown between Team Thor and Hela’s undead army, Thor took out what looked like 90% of the army. The rest of the warriors, like Loki, Hulk, Valkyrie, and Heimdall only got a few seconds of screentime each to show them battling and that sucked. They are ALL powerful warriors. They should have been showcased a bit more.

[cabinboy100]

12 MONKEYS SEASON 3 TRAILER

So…Syfy’s posted a new trailer for season 3 of 12 MONKEYS. Usually, I would do my best to dodge promos before a show or movie is actually released. I like to get hit w/the text with minimal hints and no spoilers, as little pre-text as possible. But, given the paradigm-shifting “linear-binge” release of this season—leave it to 12 MONKEYS to Splinter an entire season (encompassing centuries =) into a single weekend, with all 10 episodes beamed in order over May 19, 20, and 21—I’m thinking I’ll need to get my wheels-spinning crazy talk wherever I can. And thusly, I tumbl…

I posted a version without screenshots here. Along with the stills, this v.2 is slightly wordier (can you believe it?), including some edits and additions to the first post’s text/crazy talk.

The first new shot of Cole, from the front and then from behind, has him holding a tech-festooned staff. The design calls to mind a computerized tuning fork, *just* the thing for time/dimension/reality-hopping, or tuning/dialing. Perhaps one of its components is a tank of red tea, reloadable via Keurig-like cartridges? With a regulated IV feed or retractable needles in the handle? Maybe this device enhances or adapts Cole’s mental time travel abilities, allowing him to view specific points in time or even what-if?s. Could it be a way to enable him to physically travel? A staff version of the vests? =)

Titan appears as a complex/city in the distance with a sea with rocks or wreckage or maybe ice floes in the foreground. Does Titan only move in Time and not space (relative to the Earth)? Is it always in Colorado? Climate change is real, people!

We see someone with great posture ascend the steps within Titan to meet w/Tall Man, or perhaps his father, both surrounded by robed figures. RE: that posture…It reminds me of Ethan Seki, but knowing that he’s in this season, I’m thinking Gaius Baltar.

Someone sits at the center of a spiral of glyphs drawn in white on a dark floor. My funnest thought about these is that they might be a new form of math, notation, and/or language, developed specifically to describe and understand Time. Unfamiliar to most humans, but somehow native and natural to Time. These characters represent values, constants, operators, functions, ripples, and paradoxes and describe relationships between them that we wouldn’t understand, but someone whose mind is steeped in Time would. The Witness…maybe Primaries…maybe maybe some human geniuses or those with an intuitive knack and understanding of Time…

That first shot of the four hat-and-coated figures, silhouetted in the fog or smoke in the dark…The three lights on each of their vests powering on…Gorgeous! Evokes DARK CITY for me (a good thing =), and some kind of clockwork men. I want the tech to be embedded in these people, but a later shot shows us that this is likely tech mounted on a vest. Portable Splinter/Titan units, a la Doctor Who’s Vortex Manipulators? In a future world (like, the future of the future, post-2044) of 12 MONKEYS, that’s where my head immediately goes. Although, honestly, that seems very unfair, no?

Still, if that IS what they are, I'd associate them with some very interesting story/logic that necessitates their not being usable before some year. After all, if the Witness's forces *ever* had this tech, they could have used it in the times Team Splinter has visited, right? Maybe the use of these vests shreds spacetime, and jumping back beyond a certain point would undo their invention in the first place? Or, y'know, something like that. =)

I’m *really* hoping that these figures are Something Else, tho. At the bottom of the season 3 poster, we see them standing in front of a console with the Witness’s/Titan symbol, and so, we want to associate them, right? But what if that’s just a couple of these…Time Shadows entering the Titan city limits? What if these guys are representatives of another player in the war across/for time? Perhaps descendants of the Witness and the Titanians, who know more than W does…Or are using W as their agent in their relative past?

Or maybe they serve a Time Variance Authority. Some organization—who knows under what authority/morality?—that watches over and polices Time and History, countering and punishing anyone who seeks to change too much. Maybe to preserve their own existence, Time’s existence (assuming damage is done by reckless splintering), or their own ideal mission outcome.

Cuz, how great would it be to have everyone we know, set up as enemies and rivals in so many permutations, ultimately be on the same side versus some (apparently) greater Time fascist?

Or greater threat to Time itself? If we take the Red Forest being an End-of-Time paradise as a feint, constructed to get all the splinter chess pieces into the right places to bring about the birth of the Witness, then the Witness was never really about that, right? Maybe he didn’t come up w/that threat himself, tho. What if he adapted it from a greater threat to Time? So…Casserole & Son (*and* Jones, Jennifer, Ramse & Son, Olivia, the Daughters, the X-Monkeys, & Agent Gale, Primaries, Monkeys, Druze et al) are destined to fight someone who truly does want to destroy all of Time and replace it with… Well, nothingness seems like a good ultimate goal, let’s go with that for now.

What if the super-future is amazing, but in a universe in which time travel is ever invented, history must be choreographed in order for it to be realized and persist? So, this paradise future has a black ops arm that manipulates events in the past to keep it safe. The paradise is a wonderful destiny for humanity, but it robs humans in the past and present of free will. Which side would you fight for in that scenario?

Hrm…Looking a little harder at the season 3 poster again…Are there four Time Shadows (that works, right?) holding, like, an Ark of the Witness between them? I thought it was some kind of console/control panel, but now I’m seeing it differently. Interrrresting…

A funeral for Time? For the Witness?

A Time bomb?

If the vests aren’t vortex manipulator-y, maybe their portable splinter device?

A Witness trap or cage?

Time picnic dinner?

The Word of the Witness is shown preserved in plastic or lucite, hanging in a candelabra-lit room, a red-vine patterned banner (or glass pane?) behind it. Its Ramse-torn corner is still absent. Does Ramse still have that swatch tucked in a coat pocket somewhere?

COLE: The man behind the apocalypse is my son?

Seems like Cassie’s breaking the news to him there. What if this is soon after the pointing-the-gun-at-wee-Witness scene? What if he draws on L’il W, hesitates, and Cassie finds him, stops him, and explains the horr-ironic truth?

Meet Johnny (Night Room), Jr. =)

A clip of some creepy Edgar Allen Poe-y Masque(rade) of the Red Death…EYES WIDE SHUT Cole and Cassie apparently in attendance. Hrm…Red Death…I had a theory back in season 1 that the Army might be an influence throughout history responsible for all major epidemics/plagues, as a way to thin the herd, perhaps disable or control meddling Primaries, and keep a population manageable via their resources and manipulations.

Cross fade to Cass and Cole going Nicholas Nickleby/Christmas Carol on some cobblestoned street…

KATARINA: It's been about them…

That's Jones apparently referring to Cass and Cole.

<aside> What would Cassandra name her child? I’m guessing, sadly, that Cole won’t be present for the birth. Assuming it’s a boy, maybe she’d go with her father, whom we haven’t met yet. Has Cassie mentioned him by name on the show? If not that grandpa, then how about Cole’s father, Matthew? (I don’t think we have confirmation that he’s James’s bio dad, but we never saw anyone question it.) Or—How about someone important to *both* of them? The person responsible for bringing them together? Katarina Werner Jones! Boy, *that’s* gotta sit well with Katarina, eh? (see/watch above line of dialogue =)

So, how about Jones? Like the space cat in ALIEN! Or Jonas? Jonas Cole. Jonas Railly? Or…Werner? Not so cute, but somehow fitting for a Witness-to-be, eh? Werner Cole, The Witness. Yeah. That’ll look good on his business card.

I’m hoping for Morris. =) </aside>

RAMSE: About time we set things straight…

If that is actual dialogue between Jones and Ramse, it signifies the formation of an alliance, between Ramse (and Olivia and her X-Mon/Orphans of Time) and Jones and Project Splinter. Their goal? To undo and/or destroy the Witness, which would likely pit them against one or both of his parentals. Ramse *does* like to boast about how he eats blondes for breakfast…~

Next we see an eyes-burning return to the Emerson Hotel, sometime in the mid to late 80s.

Will we ever see the lightning storm/strike that freezes the lobby’s clock? =)

Cole is dressed as Marty McFly. O, man! Are we gonna get an in-universe origin/inspiration encounter for BACK TO THE FUTURE? Whoa…

So, how about this? Agent Gale’s granddaughter, Roberta, has somehow inherited his dossier on his wacky misadventures with Cole & the Gang, and is staking out the Emerson in the 80s, perhaps at her grandpa’s direction, but maybe on her own. She meets them, maybe joins them in splintering, if the tech allows (Deacon as Time…ummm…Peter? Paul? Judas doesn’t seem right, right? =) helps them out, but of course, is sworn to secrecy—who’d believe her, anyway?—but hey, disinformation as a 3-movie franchise wasn’t disallowed, right? Story credit: Bob Gale. =)

CASS: Help me save him.

It’s just a pronoun, people. "Him" could be anyone…Junior/Witness, Cole, Deacon, Nessie the Time Puppy… =)

Christopher Lloyd, wearing the Titan pendant, apparently standing in an event-y tent illuminated by standing and hanging lamps…a remote location? An excavation site? A wedding reception? A pop-up portrait studio?

The pendant and wardrobe sells the Tall Man's father identity pretty hard. As far as we know, he wouldn’t have any Messenger blood. So, if he’s not enhancedly long-lived, what era/s would he have been operating in? Given the garb, perhaps from within the clergy? Maybe late 19th century into the first half of the 20th, to find/meet Vivian in the 40s. There’s gotta be a story there about why/how Vivian returns to the Army after rejecting the Witness. I still would really love for Tall Man to be playing a long con within the Army, a sleeper agent of revenge upon the Witness for doing his mother wrong.

Maybe Christopher Lloyd's playing TM’s *adopted* father or Army mentor? Cuz I still *really* want his biodad to be Agent Gale! =)

Oh! What if he’s a missionary to the Druze?! Oooooo…I *like* that. That’s how/why he acquires the Titan pendant. In this scenario, he might not even be part of the Army! Although, if not, then he’s definitely an unwitting pawn or asset of theirs. Yeah, I definitely like that.

COLE: If there's something wrong with him, he got it from me…

We see some drawings of gun-pointing Cole, surrounded by arcane, rune-ish characters… There’s also a shot somewhere earlier in the teaser, looking down on a figure in the center of a spiral of similar marks on a floor, suggesting that the figure has drawn them. Jennifer? Young W?

What if these aren’t all different drawings of the same moment, but of two? One in which James reconsiders killing the Witness, and a second in which he follows through?

What if what if—relative to James’s personal timeline—the first time is when W is an adult and the second time is when he’s a child? OOooooooo~ That would be a history-rewriting temporal nukular option! =)

The drawings are followed by a matching image of Cole pointing the gun in reality, the exact some POV. If this were season 2, I’d say the drawings were done by a Primary who’d been targeted by Cole. His mission would have been to kill the Primary before a Messenger could paradox him or her. Could that strategy still be in play by the Witness or another party?

Or are these drawings by the Witness, who has seen that Cole would come for him as a child? Does Cole know at this gun-pointing time that W is actually Jimmy, Jr.? I’m guessing not. Hrm…

As determined as Cole might be to do in baby Witler, pointing his gun at any child should give him pause, especially with his own child no doubt foremost in his thoughts, separated by centuries.

We see Katarina approaching the mothballed/covered up Splinter device. A beautiful moment I think. When is this? In history and in her personal timeline? Could this be a flashback to when she first arrives at Raritan National Labs from Spearhead? Or a visit that calendar-year predates that (maybe in Kat’s past, maybe her future), after the Army shut down Mr. Dr. Jones when Cole and Ramse went off-Word. Or her return to the lab, in a future (splintered-forward?) visit, post-2044.

OLIVIA: …the very edge of time…an inch from falling over…

I *think* that’s what she says. Is there an End of Time? Following thru on the idea that Time is a living thing, given life by Humanity, the End of Time would be coincident with the end of Humanity. Maybe Titan’s “home” setting is that era? If only Titanians live then, then they (and their one or few Primaries) basically ARE Time, no? Whoever lives then, would essentially *be* Time.

We see someone bathed in the *golden* light of the Beast. This splinter event does not look optimal. Hopefully the splinterer survives…. Remember that the splinter beam goes to yellow/gold when zapping forward in time, and blue when zapping backward. I believe red is shutdown-slash-fail.

Hrm…Those splinter colors do seem to match those of the lights on the Time Vests…Time Packs?

We see Cass approach a pedestal with a Witness plague doctor mask mounted on it…The mask is lit from above, but the space is lit by candles. This may be the same space in which the WotW is hanging.

JENN: Stop talking like a super villain.

Jennifer continues to rock! Olivia and Jennifer seem to be speaking to each other through a chain link fence. Olivia’s lucky there’s something separating them, cuz *that* is going to be an interesting reunion. I wonder how close the nearest stabby item is when that happens. =)

THE COMPLETE NEW SEASON

KATARINA (or the new girl?): Don't make me put you down…

As Jones pushes thru double doors (at Project Splinter?)…Daughters behind her?

JENN: They're coming—they're coming!

This may be Jennifer the Titan-zapped girl-out-of-time dropped into WW1 (or later, 2?), exercising her Primary abilities to warn her unwitting captors or guards of imminent Monkeys Army meddling.

DEACON: Go!

This looks like a shot from the season 2 finale, caught between a rock and robed-and-masked place, facing Witness acolytes in Titan, holding the pass so that Jennifer can escape get coin-tossed into Time. Maybe just cuz that footage is available, but maybe cuz we’ll see it again when we learn how he survived.

Ramse, leading with a gun and firing…Nothing new there, right? Actually, when I saw this, something in the shot, maybe the building interior, got me thinking this might be from Berlin.

IN ONE WEEKEND EVENT

CASS: He's mine…

Cut to Cass apparently giving birth…a new age-y red leaf infused water birth?

Tall Man looking true-believer-ecstatically pleased…Maybe a shot we’ve already seen?

EVIL ANNIE LENNOX: You can't have him…

She's sporting a 3-lights vest vortex manipulator over her MIB/Stranger/Observer/Chosen One/Time Shadow coat…

Jenn and Cole stomping thru a complex (looks like Project Splinter), Cole loading his gun, Jenn following…

A chapel or small-ish cathedral (I don’t know what determines the difference), the sanctuary heavily candlelit…Are the walls decorated with gilded red vines? A figure before a table before the altar with his back to the pews…It seems the voice we hear should belong to that figure…

W: Mother…Father…After all this time…

Two people walk down the aisle, approaching the figure at the front of the chapel… Seems like Cass on the left, Cole on the right, guns in hand, possibly in those black coats—in disguise?—maybe wearing Time Vests.

Did Cass and Cole ever officially get hitched? Maybe their ordained son can marry them here? =)

Looking harder at this still, I’m seeing that the Witness is standing facing a casket! Is this then a very poorly attended funeral service? Who died? Tall Pops, perhaps? Or is the casket empty? A funeral for Time? Or is it not a box for a body, but an item, a device or a trap? Is this the “Ark” that the four Time Shadows carry in the season 3 poster? Pallbearers of Time?

A Time capsule! Some artifact in this past era that needs to be preserved for use in a future one. Could this be the origin—or a stopover?—for the Annapurna Remains?

Cut to a figure raising a mask to reveal his face during "After all this time…"

Knowing that James “Gaius Baltar” Callis is in this season, I think it's him and his Brit-ish/aristocratic accented voice. Not sure that the unmasking happens in that same chapel space or as part of that same scene.

Based on W’s choice of words, seems like Cass will be separated from her son at some point in his infancy. Sad. =(

Then again, if that’s the case, who’s to say that this person confronting them *is* actually Jimmy, Jr., huh? =)

12 MONKEYS NEW SEASON MAY 19

It’s later than you think =)

Keep on keepin’ on~

[bluealicerose]

Sup ny’all. I’m back with you givin’ long-winded, probably boring, and (depending on who you ask) nitpicky observations I’ve had for a while lol

Spoiler: it’s about S/t*v*n U/n*v*rs*

It’s long, you’ve been warned.

(Note: This is excluding actual production time. As a person aspiring to be an animator themself, I understand all the workings of making a full-fledged television show take time, effort, and money. I am not taking issue with this matter at all [especially considering that anything on this particular topic is more nuanced and complex than most of those outside of animation would take it for]. Therefore, I wanted to clarify this particular thing to get any rebuttals regarding it out of the way)

I think the problem with S/U and how its plot progression feels less to be desired for some people is that it’s in a way kinda like how things go on in T/o/u/h/o/u: there are constant indefinite pauses between things, and characterization and lore get established little by little. Which, for the record, isn’t inherently bad overall and is excusable in its own context for the latter because it’s made by literally one guy (but for the sake of example, especially one that I know extensively enough to use as backup, I digress). The point is that S/*U’s equivalent is its constant hiatuses and sporadic airing schedules. Add in the show’s habit of elusiveness in its storytelling and overarching plots, and you get folks scrambling to make sense of it all through fan theories and headcanons. Come next installment of canon however, and more often than not, all that gets debunked. Conversely, sometimes plot points are theorized spot-on, which, while the pride of “being right” is often something one looks forward to, it also has the potential to host the belief that the plot is terribly predictable.

Don’t even get me started on its perpetual vulnerability of getting leaked. This factor utterly bewilders me, tbh. I just don’t understand how supposedly easy it is to make this happen. Does it tie in to its intermittent airings? Does C/N just not know how to manage the most opportune time slots to appeal to the most appropriate demographic? Is there a rat in their midst? Some people are eager for leaks but frankly I honestly think it damages the well-being of the show. Not to mention that people getting spoiled can exponentially damage their experience with it (i.e.: me >:^C ). I’m sure many of you recall that promo that got release long before it was intended to air. Either C/N is incompetent in its scheduling or, while a dramatic assumption, some form of intentional sabotage is at play. Those are essentially my only conclusions, tbh.

In the recent plot progression that had transpired since “L*g/s F/r*m H*r/e to H*m/ew*rl/d”, while yeah, it’s amazing and all, I BARELY felt anything personally, at least not as much as I hoped I would. And it’s weird, it’s a longtime coming but I just...didn't feel anything. It’s just another entry on the “great, mark that off the ‘Loose Ends Met’ List.” And now we’ve got more things we don’t really understand that are heavily implied but just not confirmed yet, even though it seems plain as day, given context clues and a minimal amount of investigating. Now it’s literally nothing but a matter of waiting until we get actual confirmation. If that’s the case, then, well...what a bummer having to wait on being “right.”

A personal note: for the longest time, we didn’t have cable because it was too pricey to have that and internet, so we piked our possession of the former. I wasn’t able to watch S/U, or anything else really, for the longest time. Eventually we adjusted our plan with our service provider and now have both internet and cable for the time being. Taking advantage of an on-demand option available with it, I binge-watched all that was released at the time. I enjoyed it so much more than how things usually go, wherein there are numerous bouts of cliffhanger-filled episodes in short bursts and hiatuses in indefinite time frames respectively, all the while with the threat of leaks possibly in tow.

I know this mostly comes off as an S/U Critical™ but really, at its core, at least in my head, it’s more of a C/N Critical or I guess “The Handling of S*/U” Critical. Mostly because the network's scheduling of the show is pretty abysmal and horribly spotty, and it’s hard to tell if it’s intended or just an inevitability on their part.

It’s making me confused. It’s making me impatient. I just don’t want to know anymore. No headcanons, No fan theories, no leaks, no nothing until it airs at its intended time slots and the whole thing is over with so I can avoid getting spoiled just for the sake of NOT getting spoiled. I desperately want to love the show as much as I wish I could, I truly, truly, truly do. But between all these things, my passion for it has become blunted to where I don’t care what happens and I’m just waiting for it to be over. My only hope is that I, one day, can come back to the show within a few good years and be utterly enamored by it as much as I was when I first started watching it.

I don’t mean to be a downer (and as if I WANT to be) but there are so many things that are impeding on my personal enjoyment of the show at present that I feel only its end can remedy.... :^/

So anyway sorry for that mouthful of bitchy bellyaching crap but thanks for readin’ anyway lol I’m done now bye

[hellreads]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS Rating: Explicit Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Kim Taehyung | V & Reader Characters: Kim Taehyung | V, Reader Additional Tags: Smut, Fluff, Light Angst Series: Part 2 of Effervescence

Summary:

Just like the fizz of a cola on a hot summer’s day, your encounter with Taehyung is short but sparkly sweet.

OR

Getting married in three months, you and your girls attend Ultra Miami to cap your single life, a final hurrah of some sort. What you didn’t expect is meeting a beguiling boy with a boxy smile who gives you a festival you’ll forever reminisce.

“Ephemeral love are like flowers in valleys, but everlasting love are like mountains.” ~ Arthy V. 

reading this second part of effervescence made me feel so many things but mostly sadness, despite MC and Taehyung spending a few days together it felt like a lifetime, it was like a meeting of two souls lost in this realm eventually finding each other because they were once intertwined in another life though not in this one, not anymore, because this is proof that we can’t always have the people we want in our lives, even if the feeling is mutual, even if you spend days even years together if it isn’t meant to be, it will never happen.

[SPOILERS AHEAD vv minimal, hopefully]

immersing into this one put me on a rollercoaster ride, the type of ride you wish would never end no matter how it makes you dizzy and intoxicated with every spin it puts you through, starting off with her girlfriends (to have my favorite celebrities as my BFFs here was a treat, each personality reminded me of certain roles they portrayed in dramas which was cute) bidding her goodbye to tend to their duties as they leave her to enjoy the festival on her own before she closes the chapter of her life as a single woman, because in three months she’ll be marrying “the love of her life”.

as soon as Taehyung entered the picture Aphrodite by RINI immediately played on loop in my head (the playlist/music recommendation is lovely tho *chef’s kiss* especially Lover’s Fire by Franco it’s so divine and will give you all the feels) he was a man on a mission, whipped as soon as he saw her having fun with her friends he came up to her with all the courage he mustered, it was now or never, it was an opportunity for them to get to know each other and maybe earn her affection and in return he’ll worship her, a goddess that came to him when he least expects it. I enjoyed every moment they spent together and made me forget she was getting married soon, everything felt like magic making me overlook her current situation, in my eyes and my heart they were meant to meet each other and learn a thing or two about each other and about life.

not wanting to spoil much of the beautiful moments the pair shared let me just share my thoughts about the stuff you can pick up here, first of all, let yourself get lost in the moment, do not overthink things, I know this is hard for people like me in particular because I overthink things making me lose every single second where I could’ve been enjoying stuff I might regret later but it’s better than thinking for the rest of my life of the what-ifs? secondly, age is just a number, it doesn’t matter when you’re in love, let go and let love in, the Noona romance theme here is something I enjoyed, though I think I am very much like her who'd rather fall for or date an Oppa rather than a boy years younger than me because even a year younger scares me, I have this mentality that I should date men at least a year older than me (I think the biggest age gap was seven years tho) because I always associated maturity with age and I had to learn the hard way, also,  I wanna be babied so I date older men but have this need to be on top and take control, anyway age and maturity isn’t really a thing that’s my point, do not let people judge you for the age difference, you’re the one in love and committing not them, their opinions shouldn’t matter. thirdly, life can be very unfair, no, life is truly unfair letting you meet people you never thought you’d change your life drastically in so many ways, even if it means sinning for a bit... in this case do I condemn her for letting go a bit? no, even if it was technically cheating, what if Taehyung was the one for her at least in one of her lives and this was a reunion of sorts before finally moving on??? and lastly “There are some secrets that we think we're keeping, but those secrets are actually keeping us. - Frank Warren” ~ “But some secrets are too delicious not to share. - Suzanne Collins” I think these sayings about secrets explain themselves well and if you read the whole story you’ll understand them much better.

and ofc my favorite bits will be shared, I cannot stop my effervescent heart for Kim Taehyung, sigh what are the odds that she would meet a young and handsome man months before her big day, a young man full of life and energy that will change her life for a few days, I adored the way they got along so easily as if they’ve known each other for a long time, he felt like home, it’s impossible not to be whisked away, because despite MC’s honesty about her relationship and upcoming marriage it wasn’t enough for the kid to back down, he clearly wants her and that made my heart jump way too many times but also hurt because this is just temporary, he’s just temporary, he will only remain a memory of Miami, every scene felt like it was pulled from some cheesy/romantic/heartbreaking drama where the male and female lead will never be together because time said so, because circumstance said so, because fate said so, the attraction, the dancing, the drinking, the piggyback rides, the tickling, the elevator ride, the push and pull with reckless abandon giving in only if for one night, the way Taehyung made her feel affected me so much it’s more than lust, the way he wants to take her, steal her, persuade her into choosing him, I was glad it was more than one night but was it really something to be glad about when you know the end will eventually take away this borrowed precious moment? nevertheless, they made every moment count, it was just them nobody else (the smut is proof that they just let go, 0 fucks given, as much as I wanna detail everything I want you to read it without any ideas on the things he’s done to her, all I can say is he’s a very generous lover, a pleaser who pays attention to every detail *wink*wink*).

then comes the part where they had to go back to reality, back to his idol life, back to the arms of her lover, I cried during their last night where he gave up sleep just to commit to memory every single thing about her, making sure he’ll never forget (tho I wondered if he had the same images on his phone as well?) his last favor, his uncontrollable tears, his genuine question it hit me like a tonne of bricks it was a sad conversation filled with so much emotion if I could change things for them I would, but that was their goodbye, the souvenir she left reminded me so much of her girl Sunny, I also noticed the maturity of both characters and how they handle love and relationships, Taehyung is obviously youthful, full of life, would risk it all, likes people easily but I think him falling in love was genuine, does it feel rushed? maybe? but I do know he did love her even if he only met her, after all, a lot of young people fall hard and fast, MC is obviously wise beyond her years, more cautious, guarded, though it was never clear if she only said those words out of pity or not I do believe she loved or at least cared for him, he’s the boy that gave color to her life, a color she never thought would make life beautiful, a bright color she’ll carry with her for the rest of her life, she may not be wise for engaging in an ephemeral affair with the boy but she did know it was just a passing love affair and that she’ll choose Joongki over and over, the other half that makes her whole.

ahhh thank you for this wonderful piece Fringe, I know some of my thoughts/interpretations may be wild or too much but everything you write just puts me in a trance where so many thoughts surround me and I have to get all of this out, thank you for writing again, for sharing with us your works, ily! | 🍒🍒🍒🍒🍒