#but i digress leave that artist alone

[merriclo]

i should tell you about the cishet aa server NDJSNSKS. the cishet aa server is a server run by this 1 mutual circle or whatever (i used to be mutuals with them but um. not anymore) and iirc the premise was that they had this joke au where everyone in ace attorney was cishet and they decided to run a server around it. i wasn't in there for long but Wow it was a uh. place. /neg. owner of the server was 18 and most of the other mods were 17 or 18 and they had a whole channel dedicated to mocking this 15 year old fanartist???? who they made the most ableist jokes about??? their anatomy (spinal specifically) tended to be odd so they'd constantly make scoliosis jokes????? there was a huge falling out and controversy in the friendgroup after the 18 year old blog runner harassed a 15 year old which turned into 2 members of the server who lived in the same country mutually cyberstalking one another and finding info like home and school addresses etc.

this wasn't the only unsavory behavior directed towards minors in the server i personally got some Weird behavior as well but WOW it was. Weird! really Weird!

∑(;°Д°) HELP AHAKSKLSLW WHAT THE FUCK where. do i even begin to react

leave the kid alone holy shit (T⌓T) that’s actually so weird to be kinda grown and still bully the hell out of a 15 year old. i know the age gap isn’t that big but the maturity difference is so insane.. like guys grow up and leave them alone??????? they’re a young artist????????? also mona lore i have scoliosis and hate most of those scoliosis jokes because it’s so hard to make people take it seriously bc it sounds so unserious. like how do i say “guys :( my bad posture.. it’s serious stop being silly” without sounding like a whiney little bitch. stop it guysss my back hurts :(((

ALSO THE MUTUAL CYBERSTALKING is that a common thing because i’ve seen that happen too in several servers. some people just get weird i swear

anyways. discord is a hellhole and cishet ace attorney au will haunt me in my nightmares

[wellthebardsdead]

Your daily reminder that no matter how much you love a voice actors work. They. Are. Not. Your. Friends.

They do not owe you Jack shit!

Where is this coming from? Another parasocial freak came out of the woodwork and began harassing Andrew Wincott. Carrying on about his social media manager and him sharing artwork on his social media of a Raphael & Jaheira ship art that was honestly beautifully done. Me personally I ship jaheira with minthara but I digress.

To the person who did this. And I know for a fact you’ll see this.

You, and other delusional fuckheads who behave like you are the reason why artists distance themselves from fandoms.

Andrew loves interacting with the fan base, as do all the other VAs. But freaks like you often frighten them away and ruin it for everybody but especially the actor themselves. They become uncomfortable, afraid, irritated and remove themselves from the space.

Leave him alone. In fact, leave any and every Va alone. He is not your friend, he will never love you romantically and no doubt your behaviours left a foul taste in his mouth.

He is a human being. Not an object of your deluded fantasies.

[edwinspaynes]

Another post pointed out yesterday that the Clave was so progressive in the 1800s and (especially) 1900s while being incredibly regressive in the 2000s-2010s. This is inarguably true. It also inarguably is true to real life when it comes to views on homosexuality. While male homosexuality was illegal in the UK during the Victorian/Edwardian eras, many (though not all) people tended to turn a blind eye to it assuming that everyone involved minded their business. (Oscar Wilde, for a relevant example, was pretty widely known as being a man who loved other men. He probably would have been able to carry on as he was if not for suing a powerful and influential public figure. But I digress).

Also, it's important to note that, yeah, the TLH kids' parents were overall loving and accepting people. The one who was not such a person blessedly died before his son came out. On the other hand, Alec's parents were in a literal hate cult. But once again, digression.

Because what I really want to talk about are Shadowhunter's shifting attitudes to technology and innovation. I would like to posit that Christopher Lightwood's death was the beginning of the downfall of innovation in Shadowhunter society.

In TID, Henry contends with mockery and side glances because of his drive to invent and create. This makes sense in what his son will later describe as an "arid warrior culture." However, while generally labeled as an eccentric, the Clave - including the Consul and Inquisitor - generally leave him alone to tinker and build. No one stops him. And when he finally invents the Portal, no one shirks it. By the time TLH rolls around, it's a widely-used, widely-respected part of Shadowhunter society. It's ingrained in the fabric of their people just as steles and seraph blades are, and we still see them widely in use in the modern day.

Now, we get to Christopher, Henry's protigee.

It's important to acknowledge that Christopher may have been left alone in part because Henry's Portal was so successful. With him primarily hanging about in the Fairchild lab, nothing could go wrong. Additionally, Charlotte was Consul, and she knew how brilliant her husband was. This probably contributed to Christopher's success greatly.

Christopher grows up shrouded in this love. He is free to create and innovate as he pleases, and he comes up with the idea for fire-messaging. We see him successfully invent fire-messages by early 1904, at which point he is tragically killed by Belial.

Fire-messages are the final piece of technology that we see invented before the TMI era. All other technologies in the modern TSC canon exist in the historical stories. Thus, we can conclude that Christopher's fire-messages are one of the last creations of Shadowhunter society.

(ADHD side ramble: I'm interested to see what Grace manages to accomplish, but I cannot think of something in the modern TMIverse that she may have created. I imagine that her status as not only a woman but a widely-disliked social pariah held her back. Hate it, but my point stands. I hope she's at least given a small amount of credit for the final touches on the fire-messages.)

Anyway, fast forward to 2012. The TSCverse now has another brilliant neurodivergent mind in Tiberius Nero Blackthorn. Of course, he is extremely different from Henry and Christopher. He is more mentally present, serious-minded, and a lot less spacey. But he also views things in a significantly different way than other Shadowhunters do, finding himself drawn to technology like computers in a way that most Nephilim would shirk.

Ty and his family are forced to keep the fact that they have computers in the Institute a secret. This is likely in part because mundanes invented them, but it also feels inconsistent with previous generations. Shadowhunters of old appreciated art; Jem and Alastair were openly musicians, for example. Matthew is an obvious aesthete with a penchant for the theatre and artistic pursuits. Even when Alastair notes that they aren't supposed to like mundane things like moving pictures, he does not seem worried about facing repercussions for seeing one. Ty and the other Blackthorns seem to think that they will see legal ramifications for having a computer, and this is in a world where Jia Penhallow is Consul.

Could the Blackthorns be wrong? Sure. But it feels to me that the Shadowhunters of old would not shirk a useful technology, and the computer has limitless capacity to assist them in their demon-fighting endeavors.

The Clave closed itself off to progress shortly after TLH, and Christopher's death feels a likely catalyst for that.

[a-writers-blurbs]

A bit of a disclaimer ig...

Hi guys,

This is going to be a long post that sounds slightly rant-y & I'm going to apologize in advance for that. I am going to make exactly ONE post (this one) about this topic, and I will not be discussing it further or posting about it again. I will also not be responding to any negative comments but deleting them instead.

These are my personal opinions and [...not *trying* to sound rude, but there's no other way to say it...] a bunch of random people online aren't going to change my opinions.

My husband is an artist. He does canvas painting & draws comic books (think anti-hero dark horse). I paint furniture (kinda mini murals) & make chibi drawings. I've also been writing fanfiction since the late 90s.

That being said, this post is about AI art.

I get the controversy, I do. But I've heard this argument before, when fanfiction became more popularized. The whole "You're just stealing someone else's work & changing it up to call it your own" is (at its core) the same argument against AI. The only difference is that instead of you yourself changing it, you're allowing a machine to do it.

But I digress...

Over the last week, I have received several messages about my use of AI art. First & foremost, my stuff is appropriately tagged as AI.

Second, I don't sell or advertise these pictures in any way. In fact, none of them have been posted anywhere but here (as of 6/1/24).

Third, and probably most important, I DONT MAKE THEM FOR YALL. Fanfiction & fanart are a HOBBY. It is something that I do because I enjoy it and it destresses me. I DO NOT do it, hoping I'll get 1000s of followers, views, likes, etc. Every story I write, I print & bind for my library. I will now be doing the same with my AI pictures.

I have a condition that has a symptom called Maladaptive Daydreaming. Because of this, my head is full of an alarming amount of excruciatingly detailed & unrealistic scenarios and images. (To the point that it affects my everyday life).

I can't necessarily recreate the images in my mind without help & the only way to get rid of the random scenarios is to write them out. So I do write them. And now I use AI to help me get a BASE image. I do still go in myself and edit/redraw parts of each generated image to fit them to the characters I want them to represent. I do thus using digital art.

Granted, there's a whole other group of people that think digital art isn't real art... but that's a discussion for another day. Anyway...

TLDR:

I use AI art & will continue to despite some people's dislike. I will continue to delete any and all comments left publicly that are malicious, rude, or condescending. My stories & are are for me. If others enjoy it, great, that's freaking awesome. If not, there are literally thousands of other fanfic authors you can follow instead of me.

Again, I apologize, I know this sounds rude. But I need to be 100% transparent on this one. I am extremely grateful for every folllower & reader I have. I won't lie & say comments/positive interaction isn't a serotonin boost because it is. Yall also give me more motivation to actually complete a story vs. moving on to the next idea. But I'm not going to change the way I do things to appease someone I don't even know.

This is one of the few things I enjoy doing in my free time & have been doing it for 25 years now, and in the last 5 or so years ALL fandoms have gotten so toxic its hard to enjoy anything anymore. Last time it got like this, I simply stopped posting. I'd rather not do that again, but if people (who aren't even following me) don't leave me alone, I'll probably have to do it again, sadly.

But for now, hopefully this post will give people with different opinions to go ahead and block me from their feed. We're not going to agree so instead of wasting energy arguing, let's keep the peace & agree to stay off if each others feeds.

I won't judge you on your idea that you feel it's your duty to harass people over their choices & you won't judge me for enjoying something. 😉

Thank you for listening. Love yall & and I hope your day is blessed!

[the-outer-topic]

Are you a fan of the Conan movies with Arnold?

Hello Anon, thanks for the question! I like to talk (or write) about the things I love. The fist film is a good movie in its own right, but it's Millius story and vision of the character and, not Howard's. I dislike the infatuation with Asian things of the 70s-80s, you know when Conan is taught swordmanship by some Asian and he strikes poses with the sword to show off his muscles, but the more I know about Western swordmanship and see videos of reenactors reliving ancient swordplay, the more I dislike all that stuff that was cool in the 80s, ninjas , samurais, kung fu, and all that, and the more I lament that in Hollywood we don't get proper and realistic sword fights. It's either effete fencing with foils or exaggerated coreography with somersaults. The film is good but not great, the best part is the soundtrack is so good I recalled it and now playing it . Comics are much more faithful to the original movies. I don't really like Arnold, now that I think of it perhaps Dolph Lundgren with dark hair would have been a better Conan. I don't like Arnold much, I don't care about the German accent, as I watch movies dubbed into Spanish, I hardly can understand spoken English as it is. Arnold physique is magnificent, but he's an awful actor, even Stallone with his facial paralysis is better, and has improved with age.

I think the movie was a bad influence on artists like Royo. All his girls have the same face, all his guys look like Arnold. I also dislike the stereotype of Conan as a hulking brute who talks in grunts. Too much muscle, I think. Conan as depicted in the novels would have the body of a olympic gymnast and feline grace. Also I dislike the stereotype of mountain of muscles and no brain. Conan is no intellectual but he's very smart, cunning and articulate. Above all things, Conan is a leader of men, and in a world before the printing press, culture was oral. Story telling, verses , songs. Conan perhaps does not talk much, after all, his stories are action adventures, but Conan does not become king on the strength of his sword arm alone, he does know to talk. After all, the stories of Conan are supposed to be reminiscences in his old age, as he tells his drinking buddies his adventures as he recalls them as the mood suits him., Conan is not only a warlord that knows how to harangue his men, but he also knows how to haggle, cajole and persuade.

There's something of Howard the writer in the character of Conan.

Due to the constraints of media, both in comics and film Conan is always scowling, a tight lipped stoical, which is sad because it deprives him of his humanity. Conan is a sensualist, glutton, drunkard, lascivious, and emotional to both extremes of mirth and melancholy. What sets it apart from a mere hedonist is his ambition and thirst for power. It's not just that he wants power to have riches and enjoy the nice things in life, he resembles the Nietzschean superman in the "will for power". Conan wants to rule, to be obeyed, to conquer. In the end quite by chance he achieves his lifelong dream when he picks the crown of Aquilonia from the gutter, and finally settles down to have a wife and children, but then gets a whole new set of challenges and troubles. One wonders if Conan was a good ruler at all, considering his track record, of being ousted, overthrown, or giving up and leaving in all his positions of power he attains, course being a pirate captain or a bandit chief is more unstable than being king, but Conan t having taken the throne at spear point finds you can't sit on it.

But I digress, as I am wont to do, but hey, you asked!

As for the sequel, "Conan the destroyer" just a B grade adventure movie, without the epic and symbolism of the first one. Best that can be said about the movie was how hot Olivia d'Abo was.

No, I am not a fan of the Conan movie. It's good, but it's not Conan. I suspect that for most of those that hail from the 20th century before the internet, the only Conan was that of the Savage Sword comic. Of course the stories became derivative and repetitive after a dozen tomes, and it depends of the quality of the artist.

As for the original source, the novels.. I think I prefer the comic. Howard was a good storyteller, but the stories are pulp, and the Hyborian age as a fantasy universe is quite lacking and sketchy. They are readable, enjoyable, but not memorable. I think Howard was more suitable for historical novels , but the pulps demanded sword and sorcery so he had to shoehorn in supernatural elements and magic to make them enough of a "weird tale". Like Lovecraft, Howard lived at the wrong time. Decades later, instead of Conan, he would have been a best selling author of a series of novels of a Pictish warrior adventures in the Roman empire.

Probably you are sorry you asked. I wonder if anybody will read this...

[etherealascend]

hii it's unorcadox ^_^ how does your editing process work!!! like how do you choose what images to use, how to combine them, how to get the right "feel" etc. 👀 very curious abt ur answer

Damn, great question! Also, love your edits, Orca! (also a bit jelous abt your productivity, wish i had so many great ideas) So i present to you: a wall of text! (cw really long!)

So, many people see a great base image and then immideately get an idea of what they wanna do w/ it. I'm not like that, i ususally have an idea of an edit in mind, and then search for sometimes a few hours for a base image that may work. I have a whole tutorial-worthy process of how i always find what i need, but i digress… Most of the times, tho, i get something better than what i had in mind. I love this process, cause it's like tresure hunting for me. (ofc it's not always like that, just most of the time. Since i have a giant collection of base images i may sometimes use them). I choose my images based on the mood i wanna portray. It's always supposed to be looking kinda dreamlike and unreal, but it can also be creepy, dark, bright, etc.

When editing my favourite style of edits - fake dreamlike places - I try to make them look as real as possible, regarding color, lighting, etc, while still making them look blatantly fake regarding the composition, subject matter, etc. Ofc i don't try to perfect my lighting, since it can take away the feeling i strive for, so it's kinda based on my own feelings idk. I get really inspired by the surrealists' painting. Artists like Brent Wong, for example. Liminal spaces are already weird, so why not make them even weirder, by making the geometry non-Euclidean and subject matter impossible in the real world. Also unlike surrealist painters, i have a luxiry of making the scene like "more real" by combining actual photos in photoshop. Ofc people have been making surreal art w/ 3d programs forever now, but it still doesn't give off the same feeling real picture does, yk.

Uhh... what was i talking about... Ah, yes! I firstly make a collage, that i have in mind by this point, and sometimes it just... doesn't work out! i had discarded so many great ideas, cause they weren't turning out good. But if it works, i add shadows and highlights. I look at real liminal space photos and try to really analyze them. Like, what makes them work? the color, the quality, the blurriness? Then i add effects that works to my edit. Every edit needs it's own level of compression, sharpness, blurriness... You just gotta feel it.

Really important step. I leave my edit for a few hours, so i forget how it looks, and then return later. All the imperfections, things that don't work, etc pop out immediately. I read somewhere that the process of creating and the process of analyzing are two completely different things, and i couldn't agree more. It's annoying when you have a finished edit, and you really wanna show it to the world, but you have to wait... But it's better, than being embarrassed later that you posted something unfinished and you can't fix it now.

Ofc i make text edits as well, but they basically serve the same purpose and not that interesting to describe, cause process is the same just with a few steps skipped.

There wasn't such question, but i still wanna talk about it, cause it kinda answers "how do you get the right feel". Well, why do i make edits? Well, the world sucks ass (i don't agree w/ this statement for the most part, like friends are great, nature is buitifull, but then there are parts that just... yk...) and for me weirdcore is a sort of an escapism. I can't traverse dreamworlds mindlessly, alone or come across magical events in real world, sadly. But I can make them however i would like them to look and feel, with my characters (like deer), and my own thoughts about them, that no one except me knows. It's kinda like i actually've been there, and i took a picture. Or hell, maybe i've never been here myself, but those deer were, or invisible creatures, that are not in the shot. And i know them personally, cause i made them, they are a part of myself! And it really helps, and i'm so glad these pictures resonate with so many more people here too! I had been making these pictures without realising why for a year. I had some thoughts and heard dozens of opinins of other pople, but i hadn't had a full picture. And then a video by SuperEyePatchWolf about liminal spaces comes out, and i get it now, it was really eye opening, for me at least. It explains really well why we love unreality so much.

[paladin-of-nerd-fandom65]

Wow that as fast lol love the answers!

1: is there any modern comics that is canon in your universe? Like the recent action comics with the blue earth moment? Can see Chris having a problem with them for not being from earth.

2: would chris be the last Zod alive in your universe? Or would he be able to extend the bloodline with thara? Orrrr for drama/sadness, he ends up sacrificing himself to save his “real” family the Els.

3: don’t know if I ask this earlier, (except the duo didn’t exist question) what would it take to retire the duo?

4: maybe a nsfw question, skip it if it is, was there a plan to ship them together like a couple? Like how some ppl ship the super-sons together?

5: in their phones, what’s their family/friends contact names? Like just regular mom or mama Lois 👩🏻 for Chris

6: when taking a picture/selfie what silly face would they do?

1) Well as of recently because of the positive buzz about Beast World I got from a mutual or two, I might incorporate that with Chris and Jake no doubt being caught up trying to prevent Garro spores from entering into people in Bludhaven let alone themselves. Mar’i and Jake I can definitely see being wowed when Kory freed their Dad via luring the spore out but then crushing it with her teeth, preventing her from transforming while Dick was cured. I can definitely see Chris and Jake being there for their friend Jasper as not only is there the obvious with his Dad but also he’ll need their aid in preventing his mother Rae from being possessed by her dark self.

I haven’t been able to check out what’s going on in Action Comics so far (mainly I’ll pick it back up once Jon is restored to his proper age but I digress) but from what I can look up, the Blue Earth Movement are most definitely gonna be adapted as regular adversies for both Chris’ family and Jake’s too given their whole Human Supremacy shtick. Especially since in my own canon, Bludhaven has a sizable population of Tamaranean immigrants

2) In the future of this world…I can see Chris and Thara finally being wedded together and having a child or two together so neither Dru nor Chris would be the last of the House of Zod biologically speaking.

Though Chris might be identify as a Zod by birthright, he still proudly accepts his adoption into the House of El by Clark and Lois

3) I can only see them permanently retire once in their older ages when maybe their powers are beginning to dampen, they leave behind successors they trained for the ways of super hero work if they feel like stepping up, and the have fulfilling lives with their respective true loves

As for temporary retirements like you’d see if they’re kids and the like, likely if an internally traumatic and painful event in their lives happens with their inability to stop it or even moreso if it’s their fault somehow. Of course these retirements only last so long before the call of duty comes for them in form or another and don their costumes once again.

4) Oh No NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

No

I have seen how naughty (and in my complete honesty Perverted) fan artists and writers take that sort of ship and it makes me queasy, especially if they don’t even have the tact or foresight to age up the characters involved.

So yeah, no way I’m ever shipping Chris and Jake romantically. At the very most platonically as very close best friends but that’s the line I’m gonna have to draw

I don’t wanna invite those certain people to my little silly stupid fanon thingy, thank you very much.

Now…NOW if someone does ship them romantically in an age appropriate, family friendly, childhood crush with completely averting any to all intensely naughty and lewd acts, then I can respect them. Just not it for me personally

5) Chris;

Mom Lois

Dad Clark

Big Bro Kon

Lil Bro Jonno

Auntie Kara

Cousin Kenan

Jakey Best Buddy

Mar’i Big Sis of Best Buddy

Mrs Kory

Mr Grayson

Tim Best Robin

Cass Best Batgirl

Mr Bruce Wayne

Jake;

Momma

Daddy

Big Sis

Uncle Timmy Best Uncle and Best Robin

Uncle Jay

Auntie Cass

Grandpa Bruce

Chris Best Buddy

Jonno Lil Bro of Best Buddy

Konner

Mr Clark

Mrs Lois

Uncle Gar

Auntie Rae

Jasper , 2nd Best Buddy

Uncle Vic

Uncle Roy

Uncle Wally

Irey Sis of Jai-Jai

Jai-Jai

Auntie Donna Best Auntie

6) Hmmmm Maybe Either Goggly Eyes with their mouths wide open all crazily OR the Grumpy Cat look

Your asks are always appreciated here @pin-crusher2000

[chidoroki]

182 Days of TPN - Day 91

Chapter 91: “All We’ve Got”

Leuvis has a nice little quote at the start of this chapter, being “Humans seek happiness and hope. But it’s ironic that despair is what cultivates them.” Like.. he didn’t have to go that deep, but I guess that’s sorta the idea behind most sad character arcs. That aside, I questioned this panel at first, knowing that Yuugo survives this encounter with Leuvis by eventually running away, but it wouldn’t seem right of Yuugo to just ditch Lucas and leave him on his own against this demon. They’re best bros after all. But then I looked back at ch70 and it’s Lucas who literally tells Yuugo to run, so there’s that. Of course Yuugo looks far more determined while doing so in that chapter and not like he was just grieving over Dinah’s death, but I digress.

It fills me with great joy that it’s Emma who notices the disadvantage the demons have with their regeneration. She’s typically seen as the heart of the story but damn, do I love when her smarts are put on display.

I’m so glad that Ray realizes what she’s talking about too with the amount of energy such a process uses up. Leuvis may have a bunch of experience and knowledge thanks to his 1,000+ years of life, but that old age is gonna cost him during this fight.

If Ray can kick down a door down at Grace Field, then I have no problem believing he can kick a whole table like this.

Many movies and shows where guns are involved have endless amounts of bullets being fired off that you start to wonder if they every run out of ammo, which is why I appreciate that this arc actually addresses that concern by showing the kids pick up new guns & ammo (as Nigel does both in this chapter) and reloading magazines (demonstrated by Ray next chapter).

I know I joked about both these points before, but it’s still hilarious how far down Leuvis has to bend down inside the house and how we’re seeing far more bullets in these panels alone than during all of season two.

The more the kids learn about the demon’s weakness, the more impressed and excited Leuvis becomes. He’s almost like a proud parent, only completely insane and dangerous. I suddenly have the urge to see this dude as a human..? He’d be terrifying but sly and probably fancy as fuck all at once.

Palvus is such a good boy for acting as Leuvis’ eyes while his vision is still blurry. Not good for us but whatever. Also just noticed how that shot of Yuugo’s damaged the border of that last panel. I love when artists do things like that.

Player five has now entered the fray.

Favorite panel/moment:

I just really love that one panel of Emma. She’s so determined and confident with her strategy that it allows her to act fearlessly even with a demon charging right at her.

With ch91 finished, I’ve now reached the halfway point of this.. countdown? Challenge? That’s probably not the right word I’m looking for (since I clearly have no trouble rambling on about TPN), but whatever. Sorry these turned into full on chapter reviews rather than me just pointing out a couple random things to chat about, but this is me here, so it can’t be that surprising I suppose.

[master-jarrus]

We are back at our home church and there is a girl who thinks it's okay to flirt with my husband and does so in front of me

I thought I was being jealous and possessive and asked my brother in law about it and he confirmed that yeah she is and she actually does everything with the intention of "getting back" at him for "leaving her"

So I talked to my husband about it. He had no idea (not surprised I had to directly tell him I want to date him with the intention of seeing if we are compatible for marriage to make sure he didn't over think and think it was somehow just as friends)

But yeah I told him I trust him but I do not like that she is okay with doing that and considering I am pregnant and she all of sudden claiming that she was pregnant but lost the baby I do not want to be alone with her and I would be more comfortable of they weren't alone together and he feels that's reasonable

She also had a black eye that she is lying about how she got. I don't know how she actually got it but she is trying to claim she got it from falling and she has no other injuries or bruises (it also looks like an experience sfx artist took a crack at making it but I digress)

[sojutrait]

ok soju we need a track by track breakdown ‼️what are ur thoughts on midnights

HEHEH OKEY (disclaimer: these are all subject to change, i do full 180s on songs. if i call a song ass today and great tomorrow mind ur business!

i’m actually gonna give my overall thoughts out the way first jekrkdk. WELL. ITS NOT HER BEST WORK THATS FOR SURE 😭😭 i wont say it’s BAD but. it’s definitely not a banger. so much of it sounds like a bad rehash of albums and songs she’s already done. so many songs have me thinking “oh yeah. i see what she’s trying to do, but she already has a song where she actually executed this concept successfully” lyrically… yeah after evermore and folklore this feels like a crime. taylor is known to have some goofy ass “a millennial definitely wrote this” lyrics but something about this album made her crank that up to a million like sister please 😭😭 as a whole the album feels like if a god tier album (1989) had a baby with her worst album (lover). which is so confusing bc how did she backslide like this??? WE KNOW U CAN DO SYNTHPOP WELL, WHAT HAPPENED. the timing is just Bad too. like we just had the two masterpieces that are folklore and evermore, she just released the re-recording of one of her best albums, and in comparison to all that this just feels mediocre. anyways here’s to the songs ejrkr

lavender haze - 8.5/10

it’s cute!! it’s catchy and one of the best from the album. all her songs about joe makes my eye twitch lowkey but i can put that aside for now. probably the best bridge on the album (which is not a good sign bc this bridge isn’t even all that- which is disappointing bc she’s known for her god tier bridges but i digress)

maroon - 5/10

this one has potential. i can see it growing on me, but for now it was kinda boring djdkk the verses are delicious but not really feeling the chorus. the bridge made me laugh, like sister please bffr

anti-hero - 8.5/10

not even talking about it sonically, but lyrical content. yeah. YEAH. by the first line i was screaming “ME TOO” it’s like if blank space didn’t have the cynical parody spin it had. introspective and delicious MWAHH (“it’s me, hi. i’m the problem” is a goofy ass lyric tho LIKE SJRKFKF) also love the bridge

snow on the beach - 9/10

YALL GONNA LEAVE THIS SONG ALONE, ITS GOOD MOVE. even tho lana doesn’t have an actual verse on it (she should’ve but-) it’s very Lana. like i can imagine this on chemtrails over the country club. which is why i think a lot of swifties don’t like it 😭😭 the chorus is literally scrumptious

you’re on your own, kid - 6.5/10

her voice sounds so cute on the verses which is probably why i’m being so generous UEKRKD yeah i can definitely see this one growing on me

midnight rain - 1/10

taylor don’t do that shit again. no but actually, idk one of my biggest pet peeves is when artists pitch shift their vocals (looking at you frank ocean), like i get it you’re being experimental but this sounds BAD. reminds me of a reputation reject, it’s like if dress was bad. only reason it’s not a 0 is bc the chorus sounds kinda good when it’s not pitch shifted at the end

question…? - 4/10

boring. next song

vigilante shit - 3.5/10

her femme fatale songs just don’t do it for me 🗿🗿 another reputation reject. but! it does start getting kinda good at the end but atp it’s too late and the song is nearly over-

bejeweled - 6/10

this has potential. the chorus is gonna be stuck in my head i can see it now. also the way she says “nice” at the end of chorus does something homoerotic to me

labyrinth - 9/10

finally, some good fucking food. i’ve seen a lot of ppl compare it to epiphany, but the difference is this song is actually good. i wish she went with this ethereal route for more of the album

karma - 5/10

boring. millennial ass chorus. but i can see myself streaming it and calling it camp by like next week so let me not do too much-

sweet nothing - 6/10

i can see this growing on me. very nursery rhyme tho shekrkfkfk i’m a sucker for slow songs so we will be streaming this one i fear

mastermind - 1/10

nope. not offensively bad like midnight rain but it’s boring as shit

i listened to the 3am songs but none of them provoke a strong reaction from me in either way so i’ll omit them 😭

so top 3 heheh

1. labyrinth

2. snow on the beach

3. anti-hero

[house-of-slayterr]

Ok so i discussed wedding stuff for Hannibal.... but how about Honeymoon? How would he feel about that? What would it be like?

And also a more general; how do you see the wedding playing out? im not even that big on wedding stuff but with him? ive been swooning ever since you brought it up 💕💟🥰💖✨

Every-time I think about Honeymoons, I think about the one from Twilight Breaking Dawn. I could imagine Hannibal renting out an entire island just for the three of us. He would spoil us rotten, not letting us lift a finger the entire time.

He would cook for us every meal, even surprising us with breakfast in bed. Something he probably doesn’t do at home cause he’s a bit of a germanophone. There would be times with all of us together and times were we would be one on one.

I imagine together time being cuddling down by the beach as the sun sets. Or sitting together while we each read. Dinners and desert. But alone time would be more intimate. I would probably just leave the house when you and Hannibal want your time together, and go explore the island.

You know, you’d do the traditional Honeymoon stuff!😏 Hannibal would be FERAL now that you’re his wife. Oh Lord, he would worship your body in every way possible. He certainly wouldn’t be gentle, so I hope you’re not expecting such. He would have bought you thousands of dollars worth of lingerie. He probably just gets a kick of making you walk around the house in it. Nobody is here on the island, and the phones are off. There’s nobody to disturb you or interrupt.

Hannibal is very artistic. I could imagine him begging you to pose for him so he could draw you for his collection. He would keep the drawings safe in his office back at home, and probably look at them in between patients. Probably just to remind himself that you’re real and you’re really his. But I digress, be prepared to be exhausted after the honeymoon. He can and will take you on every surface in he house. Maybe even skinny dipping down in the water. And intimate showers to clean you up after.

He’s one of those cheeky bastards that’s proud of the marks he leaves on you. Of course he’d make sure you’re safe and not hurt, but to see you covered in hickeys and bruises and rope burns, god he wouldn’t know how to function. This man would do anything for you! Not going to lie, I think he’d even let you be dominate if you wanted to. He’d probably find it amusing if you were shy about it at first. But Lord is he into it, he’ll never admit it out loud. But seeing that you want him just as much as he wants you, he’d let you do anything you wanted to him in bed.

My alone time with him would be much different. He would let me help with meals, teaching me proper techniques in a sensual, and highly touch based way. Guiding my hands in every task and praising me every-time I do something right. I just know I would be a blushing mess hearing this man whisper praises in my ear. If you happened to be around, you would scold him for making me forget how to breath, reminding him that I’m fragile. But he’d just have a stupid smirk on his face.

He would let me cuddle up to his chest and read me books in his native tongue. Just stroking my hair and letting me rest. I would look up at him with so much love in my eyes, it would probably distract the poor man. I’d beg him for endless forehead kisses. And he would never decline me.

He would explore the island with me, watching me take countless pictures of everything. He’d help me collect firewood for the fireplace, and flowers to gift to you. He wouldn’t even be upset with me for catching and petting the local animals. Something again, he wouldn’t let slide at home. He already thinks Williams obsession with dogs is weird, he doesn’t need me bringing a deer into the house. But he would just enjoy watching me get excited and be amazed by things.

Hannibal loves to watch the two of us interact, not daring to interrupt. It doesn’t matter what we’re doing, wether it’s something so simple as painting each others nails, or doing each others hair. He’s watching form afar in awe, so happy that we both get along so much. He would hate if his lovers didn’t love each other as well. He would find our late night, drunken gossip sessions amusing. We would talk about the most random things, like movies or books we’d recently watched.

But he’d perk up if he heard us talking about him. Somethings you’d keep to yourself, but you’d probably tell me all about the things Hannibal did to you. Just because you need to fully process the fact that they actually happened, because you were so high floating on cloud 9, you couldn’t sworn you dreamed up half of it. Hearing you brag about him, my man would have to exhibit the most self restraint he ever has. More than he ever did trying not to kill Jack Crawford.

He thinks our bonding time is important. So as much as he’d want to take you right there, he wouldn’t unless he was invited to. If he saw us cuddling while we watched a horror movie, his heart would melt. It probably the cutest damn thing the psychiatrist has ever fucking seen. He’s not a fan of movies, so he lets them be our thing. But of course if we wanted to talk about the plot with him, he’d listen intently.

He loves us both in his own special way. He loves that he has a more traditional relationship with you. When he’s back home, he carries a picture of you in his wallet. He takes you to events and shows you off as his wife, knowing that no one else can touch you, or love you like he can. But with me, it’s much more innocent than he ever thought he was capable of. He respects my sexuality and the fact that I’m not overly touchy most of the time. I’m his sweet partner and the best friend of his wife. He knows I’ll be with you when he’s away at work. I’m not as social so he doesn’t show me off much, but he would still brag about me in my absence. I feel Hannibal could die happy with us by his side, no matter what came his way, he could handle it as long as we’re there.

[starshipsofstarlord]

Okay rockstars, settle down

rockstar!bucky barnes x assistant!reader x rockstar!loki laufeyson / masterlist

summary; having previously worked for loki, it causes a heat to burn within bucky’s already accumulated hate towards the musician / warnings; threesome, smut, mxf and mxm sex, mentions of sex with other characters, oral sex (male and female receiving), creampie, unprotected sex, double penetration, degradation, swearing, orgasm denial, cum eating

“Can’t believe you worked for that wanker.” Snarked Bucky as an image of the well known, musically spread, and acoustically acclaimed, Loki Laufeyson was shown on the screen of the dressing room television, as the other artist stretched his clothing bare arms across the back of the couch. “Come here sweet cheeks.”

At his command, you dismissed the paper work for a moment, trailing over and straddling the inked hunk’s chain belted lap, digging your manicured set of nails into his shoulders, as you seated yourself over his crotch. “I’m happy I work for you now Buck, you treat me so good.”

Punctuating your words, you pressed your teeth into your bottom lip, giving it the appearance of being more plump, as you batted your dark eyelashes up at your employer. “I do, don’t I?” He rhetorically asked, skimming his fingers across the length of your arms, before moving them to sloppily cup your jaw, ensuring that you would not look away from his wild and dilated pupils. “Tell me what I do better than the lead singer of the god of mischief.”

At his words, a small yet peaceful contortion of uncomfortableness split a skin grafted line through the centre of your forehead, stating that you had no wish to do so. And thus, as punishment for your self aversive silence, Barnes braced his knuckles into your skin, causing you to keen out, and tap his shoulders in verification for surrender.

In turn, you lowered your hands, dragging the tips of your nails, absentmindedly running them down the expanse of his waxed chest, conveniently passing the silver hoops that were attached to his nipples on the trail to a less dominant ground. “I prefer the way that your songs have a heavier bass and-“

“Uh uh uh, not the music. Think of something that has you, let’s say, screaming, but definitely not in a crowd. Though, we may have to try that one sometime; show the world how hungry you are to assist me.”

“You, James Bucky Barnes,” he loosened his grip to your relief, which lead to you hugging in spite, “are the best fuck I have ever endured. Loki has nothing on you, he deems himself a god of the arts, but he doesn’t see how you paint me so perfectly with your cum, nor how you bend my body to your whim, as though I am a tool in the midst of your creations, useful, but disposable.”

“I like the sound of that doll. Disposable, now that really does you make you sound like my personal cum dump.”

“That’s was certainly interesting to listen to...”that voice had your body jolting in shock, and it appeared that Bucky too was surprised by the presence, though, he steadied his well versed hands on your hips, claiming you to the intimate spot.

“What the fuck are you doing in my dressing room you greasy haired weasel?” Bucky sneered, his nose turning up at the sight alone of his competition in the lyrical world. Loki, he had graced you with his presence, and you had to look away; he admittedly looked good.

His shirt was open chested, leaving you with the memorable impression of all the times that you had left crescent marks upon that particular surface, a few times you had even drawn blood, but that had only fuelled his mission to fuck you into a propeller of urgency.

“Our new album Laufey has just been released, I can confirm my dear, you shoulda stayed around and knelt in our success. The records are certainly going to have more sales than what was it called again? Ah yes, the red star. I could tell it was about this one, so much passion, a sultry tune, that did little to justify what it means to be with her.”

Loki’s hands waved around as he spoke, and you could only picture the past whence he penetrated your with those long and talented fingers of his. He had drawn orgasm after orgasm out of you, resulting you to be nothing more than a withering mess, as he digressed the option to simply stop. There was nothing simple about him, nor the time that he demanded that he shared you with his brother.

That thought alone had you mindlessly grinding upon Bucky’s covered cock, plucking at your lip with the keys of your teeth, though Bucky’s voice brought you back to reality, causing you to pause your movements embarrassingly, venting a clear out of your head to process the situation that was before you. The two were bickering like two teenage girls, and it was quite exhausting to listen to.

“Answer the question trickster, else I’ll have you fed to the infamous black panther, and let’s just say that he is the best bodyguard I have ever hired. So, are you going to speak, or will I have you dragged out of here like a damned serpent with a noose around its neck?” Bucky threatened, gritting his teeth together, his nose straining in frustration, drawing more attention to the small stud on the right side of his nose.

“Looks like she needs me Barnes, perhaps your reputation does not proceed you. But to answer in full, my band have made quite the rise, and I thought it would be... fitting to pay you a visit. Though I had no idea that this wonderful woman would be here, pining on your lap like some feline in heat. I see she’s fucking you now, after all my suspicions are never wrong. Or we’ll, Heimdall’s train of thought always ends up at the right station.”

“Can the pair of you stop, for one goddamn minute!” Your hands obscured a path into your hair, as you glared back and forth between the pair of rival rockstars. “I am here, dammit! Stop talking about me as though I am not here, a part of me wishes that I wasn’t so I didn’t have to listen to your bitching.”

Without any thought, you clambered from your perch on Bucky’s lap, walking towards the raven haired gentleman, pointing your finger in his face as you accused him. “You’ve got your point across, but I’ll tell you something. If you don’t leave, Heimdall will see me putting my foot up your ass.”

“Does she speak to you like this Barnes? I thought she had loosened up in more ways than one when I allowed Thor to stretch her cunt, but it appears that that mouth of hers has gotten a little out of hand also. You should do something about that, or else you’ll lose her to someone else like a did. Who knows, could be Romanoff, heard she has a thing for brats.”

Natasha Romanoff, a diverse woman in her ways and songs. She was the queen of the rock culture, tormenting her workers with her verbal abuse and it would undoubtedly be no different for her assistant. If you were to be under her employment, it was certain that you would not get out alive, nor work for another talented person for the rest of your life. To cross her, was a vow to sign your own death certificate, it was plain stupidity, yet people still hustled with her and her limits, resulting in their chances of ever getting hired for any job, vastly slim to none.

At the lack of defence that Bucky provided you, you felt small, your shoulders slacked as you were tortured with Loki’s cold and silky gaze, more so when the man stood up, pressing his bare chest against your back. You could feel the rings that hung off the buds that adorned his chest coil and dig into your back, shrouding your demeanour substantially.

A part of you wanted nothing more than for Bucky to abuse Loki’s face with his fist, specifically the right, since it was the bearer to a chunky silver ring. It’d leave quite the print, however, the unexpected unravelled as his enquiring tone was aimed not at you, but Loki instead.

“You let your brother fuck her, hmm. Maybe she should learn her manners by being shared, that way her retrospective spattering of bullshit may be contained, to a limit of course.” It was unbelievably, you could not believe that Bucky was conferring with the enemy! And not only that, they were talking about experiences of having you literally become speechless from their unprofessional administrations upon your body. “I’d get T’Challa in here, but I know she’s already fucked him. Can’t quite fire him for it though, because who could ever say no to those pretty eyes, and that mouth, god, it is definitely one of her most persuasive attributes.”

“Bu-“ you didn’t even get to finish imploring his name off your lips, about to defend yourself and your previous actions, though, you were interrupted, starved from the opportunity of coming up with an explanation.

“No.” Loki told you, the roles now reversed as he was the one with his index finger aimed at you. He tapped your nose with it, as he began to pace in the room, his wild locks remaining in their place as he spun, before facing Bucky, a sly tranquility of a truce veining out from the pools of his evergreen orbs. “You don’t speak a word to me y/n, not whilst I’m having a conversation with James here.”

James. It was too far a polite way for him to address your boss. They were all hot and ready to tear out each other’s throats a moment ago, and now here they were, having a silent conversation without your inclusion. It had you reeling your mind as to why, until Bucky gathered your hair in his hand to the side, sliding you y/h/c locks over your shoulder, and finally deemed it acceptable for you to hear his voice.

Though, he still was not directing his tensive words in your direction. “Since you had dealt with this subordinate behaviour from her, perhaps you’d like to join us; help me train her to become more...” His breath fanned your the top of your ear, making your skin crawl by not only his warm and inviting breath, but also the offer that he had supposed to the other man.

“Obedient?” Loki asked in turn of his wispy ended offer of optimism, his leather, sharp tipped boots taking a prominent, heart clenching step towards you. He reached his finger out, grasping a loose strand that had fallen out of Bucky’s grip and before your face, tugging lightly on it, as his lips came dangerously close to your own. “Rules aren’t your forfeit, are they my dear? The best assistant I ever hired, with all those unique ideas floating around in that independent head of yours, but you’ve always been troublesome. I remember the time that you bit my cock that day you had attitude. I reckon Bucky here could do a better job.”

“Then why doesn’t he?” You hissed as said man tugged on his handful of your hair, instantly making you regret your phrase in the moment. To a halting surprise however, Bucky released you, lightly shoving you to cause you to fumble forwards, and away from him.

“Maybe I will.” He dared, earning a nod from Loki, whom seductively began to unzip his loose trousers, as Bucky descended to the ground, his hands running up his rival’s thighs, as the material dropped around Loki’s ankles. It would seem, that he had gone commando, and as Bucky grasped Loki’s shaft, you felt a pull in your chest inherently demanding that you play some part in this fornication.

“Wait.” Your hand shot out, as though you had some force to stop them from continuing with their war path to exact all of their developed spit onto you. “What about me?” You were ss

“Oh no doll, you are not pulling any strings here, if you wanna do something useful, come here and warm my cock, you can watch me blow your old associate.” A slither of a whimper fell from your lips, it wasn’t exactly what you were prying towards, but you sure as hell were not going to refuse the contact that Bucky was obliged to give you.

Thus you wandered towards him, your pinkies curling around one another, as you sashayed to the ground beside him, watching as he paid Loki no mind for a moment, ruthlessly in a desperation fuelled motion, unbuckled his thick belt, and shoved the material of his leather trousers to be held accountable against his lower thighs, just above his tense knees.

He too, as their exteriors supposed, had forgone the extra layer that kept his cock tucked away, though it was exposed as he tugged those tight trousers down, and the sight of both his and Loki’s cocks bobbing in the same vicinity had you close to quivering.

It was somewhat of a dream portrayed in the viscous space of reality, the two men half undressed in then proximity of yourself, it was something that you had always imagined, even before you had left Loki’s side, and opted to work for Bucky, but the idea was definitely short lived. They hated each other, but apparently they were willing to put all their issues aside to prohibit you from freely running your mouth.

Bucky’s cock twitched as he patted his own thigh, ordering you without the aid of his voice to commence it as a servant’s throne, or in your case, a stool for you to rest on as he tended to intimate needs of the man that you had once worked for. Finally, with the decision of better judgement, you allowed your grey jumper dress to slide down your body, leaving you nude, and the aspect of the two men’s unforgiving and locked gazes.

“No underwear, and you wonder why your men have no difficulty in her allowing them to fuck her.” Bucky took ahold of his cock, squeezing his cock with one hand, whilst his other aided you in sitting on his muscular legs, as he lightly growled up at the opposing rockstar.

From the stiff grip that Bucky affirmed around his sceptre, Loki gasped, his pale lips instantly shutting once the sound wantonly abandoned him. The last thing that he wanted was for Bucky to see him in vulnerable poise, though with that said, it’d be rather difficult considering the smutty circumstances.

Bucky took Loki’s long, alabaster prick into his mouth, starting from the primrose tip and descending down, reciprocating the action that you did yourself as you sheathed yourself onto his cock, but instead with his lips. A grunt rendered along Loki’s length as the man bit back a whimper, the vibrations running through his veins like a transpiring pulse of sorcery.

Bucky opted for bobbing his head, as you endured the liberation of his very slightly gyrating movement inside of you. Though, despite him being almost completely still and leaving you full to the brim with his thick length, his balls resting against the partition where he was delved into you, you remained transfixed.

The motion image, recording first hand through your own eyes, of him blowing Loki was sinful, but you were drawn to it. If that made you a sinner, one endorsed by the graphic scene, licking your lips from the sight of Bucky running his studded tongue up the length of Loki, dipping the ball of silver metal into his slit, then so be it.

Your heart raced as you were met with an opportunity. A globe of saliva, strung by the lapping muscle of Bucky’s tongue dropped down; you practically saw its fall in slow motion. It was done before you could register your actions, you had leant forwards, catching the trickle of spit in your mouth, thinking not for a moment as you gulped the subjective liquid down.

Bucky’s pace increased, he gagged lightly as he jolted him further down his throat. Loki hummed, harshly grabbing Bucky’s dark brunette locks, biting his lip as he reimagined your little catch. It had him feeling close, and just as he was about to finish, precum furiously pooling out of his tip, Bucky pulled back, a smirk marking his features.

“You’re not cumming in my mouth, I don’t mind sucking dick, nor swallowing, but I have to practically listen to you jizz over your own talent, and prowl over my girl.” The name he labelled you with had your heart fluttering, but not nearly as much as when he lightly pulled out of you, infuriating you with the lack of any pleasurable esteem. “Don’t you worry babes, you can finish with me inside of you, like always.”

That used to be him, Loki thought with a brewing rage in his chest. Though he instead shrugged out of his dull patterned striped shirt that was already loose on his shoulders. The fabric hit the floor, leaving all of you barren to the subject of nudity.

“Always doesn’t suppose the past Barnes.” Loki stated, referring to all the various times that he had found refuge in your spongey walls, you willingly clenching around him, and pleading for him to hit a deeper spot within you. “And I do not prowl, I don’t need to. The evidence is there between her legs, coiling in juices surrounding her ever so willing folds, that are prepared to endure the harshest of penetrations.”

“What are you trying to do, write a fucking song about this?” Scoffed Bucky, rolling his crystallised orbs at the guts that this man had. If he so much as wanted to, he could stop this passage into a three way all together, but he did not, at least he had yet to. He was enjoying the way that you were squirming to yourself, thinking that he didn’t notice, squeezing the sides of your thighs together in an aroused matrimony.

“A fucking song would’ve the correct term - literally.” Was the affirmed words of Loki, as he shoved Bucky to be sat beside you, tilting his messy brush of crazed hair, his untrustworthy eyes drifting to you. “Who’d you want to fuck you, you fangirling slut?”

It was truthfully a difficult decision. “Both.” You admitted, your bones jumping as Bucky pinched one of your erect nipples, continuing to hold a sturdy clasp of his pads around the sensitive flesh; you couldn’t jut choose one of them. Not when they were both in such close range, bore in nothing more than their birthdays suits, talking about your quivering and diversely accepting cunt.

They knew that you couldn’t possibly refuse one or the other. You were vastly too hungry to be filled like you had never been before, shagged by two of three most well known artists in the industry, earnestly and mindlessly earning yourself a title within the circle of uptight yet simultaneously chill performers.

Perhaps, if Bucky we to ever potentially fire you, there would be another pursuer for your articulating talents on standby, awaiting for the moment that you walked out of his complex door to swoop you up as though they were a predatory falcon, flying off into a stationed sunset, those around seeing you as nothing more than a shadow of the ambient orb, but the one who had employed you finding you to be a sufficing inspiration.

Large hands swallows your hips, firmly controlling their angle as they grasped you in their strong, almost super human hold, lifting you so that you were tentatively tucked in a reverse cowgirl position on Bucky’s lap. It was the third time that you had been this close to him, it would almost be intimate, if your legs weren’t strewn in an open, all revealing splay, so that Loki could see your boss tease his tip around your entrance before sliding you down his length, extracting a strong wail from your churning throat.

Your own hand resented down, applying swirls of pressure down on your clit; it appeared that they were willing you to continue without interruption. Bucky lightly, despite the power that he was promoted to in this position, began to bounce you on his shaft, spewing small mewls out from your agape mouth.

Fisting his cock, Loki approached, Bucky reachin this seen hands down to spread te lips of your pussy, so that the other man was guaranteed a crude glimpse of you being stufffed. Though, you weren’t quite filled enough, for Bucky raised a brow and prompted Loki to allow himself to be pulled closer by your axed and whining aura.

He brushed his tip languidly against your buzzing clit, dragging through your slick and jab i at your delicate fingers before probing at the base of Bucky’s cock, and pushing inside, right along his rival’s length, the pair moaning out in a pleasured union. On the other and, you had tears falling from the crescents of your eyes, the stretch so much that it was a blistering pain to your cunt.

“Don’t go all meek dear, you and i both know this is far from the first instance where you’ve had more than one cock in this nasty, betraying cunt of yours.” Loki taunted, gripping the vulnerable expanse of your throat from behind, his icy glazed skin sending provocative shivers down your spine, making your pussy pulse from the chill that ran through your body.

And then, i a split instant, both cocks began to piston into your walls, as though you were nothing more than a rag doll, meant o be thrown around and handled in a disorderly fashion. They ere ruthless, groaning out symphonies in the cursive air around you, as your walls engulfed their pricks more than snugly.

You felt so wide down there, they were taking a pirating toll on your body stealing every breath that dared wither from your lips, tweezing their nimble fingered around various parts of your body, all in due retrospect or coerce you into fucking them back, making all actions in the mass of bodies a mutual effort.

Loki lowered his head down meeting Bucky for a sloppy, brash kiss. It was clear they were simply doing that part to fulfil a greedy desire in your stomach, but you were not one that minded. It was, like the rest of their frenzy of collaborations, a competitive mess. They nipped harshly at each other’s lips, ravenously all in the meanwhile ploughing your body with their har girths.

“Fuck, that’s hot.” Your tongue dribbled, earning satisfied, lust induced smirks from both parties that were currently penetrating you, making you writhe harder against their lengths a new flow of moisture weeping out from your hole, lubricating their movements further, it encouraging them to do nothing more than continue what they were doing, despite their better judgements.

The truth was, they were rockstars. They had no better judgement, which is why everyone like them needed someone like you. Their thought were clouded with one mission, and for once in their spent lifetimes, it was not to beat the others, at least not to a certain extent anyways. It was their assignment, delivered by their own hands, to bring you to the edge, and that’s physically what they reformed to do.

One of them were groping your nipples, whilst the other confined the same treatment to your ass cheeks. Loki found your Rocky enables of positive feedback to be icicles and they were beautiful, he stared at them, as though they were divine ploys extracted from the mythical kingdom of Jotunheim, their residence in the realm to be the peacemakers of all bountiful creatures, much like himself and Barnes.

A rich euphoric groan exuberated from Bucky as he allowed himself to spoil, but he tutted whence he watched Loki’s features suppose that he was to follow shortly behind. “Not inside of her.” Bucky growled, sufficing Loki to roll his eyes, and pull out, the man behind you furiously replacing your hand, rolling our clit in his grasp until a sinful scream enveloped the air, commencing them all to the fact that you had just came.

Loki found the show to be unfair, and instead, spilled his priceless seed onto the huffing skin of your stomach, you eyes fluttered shut at the warm feeling pooling onto you. You leant back, drawing your neck into a crooked angle as you swiped your tongue wordlessly over the piercing on Bucky’s right nipple, metal providing a relief to the heat that your body was and had been swarmed with. “ Last chance you’re gonna have t taste her sweet cunt.”

“You do certainly have some faith in this one Barnes, but I do doubt that it will be the last instance in which i am todo so.” His silver tongue pried at your cum soaked flesh, drinking up all the essence that you had to offer, onshore the flavour that Bucky had brought to the table, i the form of a succulent drizzling of Snow White cum.

As Loki finishes swabbing his tongue over your cunt, Bucky adoringly kisses you, much sweeter than he has before. It was sort, and almost chaste, but his blue eyes roamed your face, delicately observing the high points of your face, that were covered with a sheen of great force making you as he would put it, glow.

The pair of you weer exhausted, there was still some swollen was to his lips from where he had sucked off Loki. His hands cradled you around your waist, his feet kicking Loki back as you whimpered from opaque sensitivity. “I guess that was you bidding me a dew.” Sneered the trickster, fishing for his clothes, as he spared you a spark filled glare, to which you ignored.

Once he was situated back into his attire, he left the sex scented room,a hollow smirk chapping his lips as he strutted th a purpose out into the hallway, taking a left instead of a right, and creeping into barnes’ studio to see what the man was working on in the midst of his enduring tour/ He was always the trickster, and nothing different was to ever be expected out of him.

“That was good.” You mumbled, rubbing your ode lovingly across the scruff that coated his jaw. His fingers made small circles upon your tummy, humming contently as he remained sheathed inside of you. He had to admit, he preferred it when it was just him, but his lonesome, sheathed within your walls, feeling the small trembles of your walls around him. It was practically heaven, and he would say so if he believed in such a place.

A deliberate knock ruined the moment, as the man entered,he quarrelled with himself where her to casually look in the direction of the pair of you or to avert his sight around, and blankly at the all. “What is it T’Challa?” Grumbled the man inside of you, quirking a thin brow at the timing of his presence.

“Loki; he managed to get into ur data, and he’s leaked a whole bunch of your music.” Of course, Loki would not come here to simply gloat, there was alas something extra up his green sleeve, and now it was revealed.

“Son of a bitch!” Bucky made a move to stand, but instead prohibited a whimper out of you as hi ships jutted angrily tip on instinct. “Get Odin on the phone, we’re going to have a little chat about his slippery hands son!” Barked Bucky, prepared t do anything to bring his greatest threat down, compiling him into the put of hate industry, until he was forgotten about, unable to ever produce new music again.

“Talk to Sif.” You whispered, becoming the image of his assistant once more, even if his cum lathered cock was prevailing within a rut of required stress relief, growing in the conjunction of your wall with his body guard there. “She loathes him, and rightfully so. He got her kicked out and she has dirt on him that nobody else has ever heard. If you want to take I’m down, she is your in.”

The strict tone grammatically supported by your logical information was definitely turning Bucky on again. He could handle you more than fine without Loki’s aid, he was just a means to an end, as it was clearly shown in his priorities.

[whysojiminimnida]

So, I think Jimin will go solo soon. They will perform butter remix and Jimin has no verse there because of that woman, and then my universe where Jimin has no line alone but he only armonizes. Also the break dance is made only by jhope in butter and my universe. So if jimin doesn't sing and dance, why he is there exactly? Nobody will notice him.

K wait. You mean go solo as in leave BTS? Fuck no. That is not happening. Listen to the man when he speaks ffs. This is the guy who was the last to keep a roommate in the dorms (hiya Hobi how's that permanent third-wheel position) and he has arguably some of the closest relationships within the group. His very tight bonds with Namjoon and Yoongi sometimes fly under the radar but they are there. His best friends are there. His man is there. He's not going anywhere. I wouldn't be mad if he released a mixtape or some new solo tracks but he's already one of the highest record-breaking solo artists in the industry without leaving BTS.

Hobi is the first main dancer by title and is the hip-hop specialist of BTS. Don't trash on his dance credentials by suggesting that Jimin is a jealous bitch who can't share the spotlight. I get that you didn't say that directly but it reads that way in my room. Um and did you totally blank on the entire Megan Butter remix with the 3J video in which Jimin not only appears but is one of literally only three guys involved? Maybe you missed the PTD Live stream of the entire Dynamite/Butter dance break in which Jimin ANNIHILATED that stage. I hope we get it again in LA. His speed and precision is not to be missed.

You seem also to be forgetting that Jimin DOES sing. Solo, often. He has large and important vocal parts in as many songs as Taehyung and the line distribution is planned out and agreed upon in advance. I would argue that he gets more vocal lines than Seokjin does and I'm sure someone somewhere has done the math on it that you could Google if you were more inclined to do so than I am. Maybe it's just me, anon, and if I'm completely misreading you I am sorry for it, but read the optics of what you're saying. Because what I'm hearing is you think that Jimin doesn't belong in BTS and that's just the dumbest thing ever. And that you think nobody will notice The Park Jimin? Have you seen Twitter just today? Do you follow K-media like at all? Dude is the King of K-Pop, right there with Jungkook, often as a couple but just as often on his own. What are you even watching? Get out of your imagination, anon. It's not good in there.

What the crap is going on in my drafts I ask you, she digressed. My photo placement suddenly went wonky.

[ruiyuki]

"Vanitas": The Name and Legacy

Vanitas declares early on that his motive for using the Book of Vanitas to save vampires of the Red Moon is to take "revenge against the Vampire of the Blue Moon". But some of his actions, reactions and expressions seem to contradict a conventional interpretation of "revenge". Seeing how MochiJun is a master of conveying things through facial expressions, nondescript panels, and double meanings, here's my stab at trying to figure out a bit of Vanitas' complexity and his (??hidden??) motives.

⚠️⚠️⚠️ MANGA SPOILERS, obv ⚠️⚠️⚠️

Also this analysis is really long. ‼Continuation in reblogs.‼

For the sake of minimizing confusion I'm going to refer to our!Vanitas as "Vani", Vampire of the Blue Moon (VotBM) as "Luna", and the name "Vanitas"/"Vanitas of the Blue Moon" as a title in this analysis.

0. "Revenge" against the VotBM

Now, what kicked me into this train of thought initially was watching the scene where Vani announces his revenge plot to all during the Bal Masque. Ofc Bones is doing quite a good job with the anime (I can honestly forgive them for leaving out some scenes knowing budget constraints and that this was probably produced during COVID; it's just more reason to get viewers to read the manga) but there are still some subtle nuances that MochiJun puts in her work that don't get translated into the adaptation. So I revisited Memoire 7 and something just didn't sit right upon looking at that scene retrospectively – which I'll get to that in a bit – but first let me recap what is my interpretation of Vani's proclamation:

The origin story we were told at the start of the series illustrates that vampires are typically born under the Red Moon, except for the one born under the Blue Moon. VotBM, given the moniker "Vanitas of the Blue Moon" by others at the time, is said to have created the Book of Vanitas capable of manipulating the World Formulas in order to curse all the RM vampires that casted them out of vampire society. Cursing the RM vampires = turning them into curse-bearers inflicted with malnomen.

Vani's "revenge" against the VotBM is to use their name "Vanitas" and the Book to cure all RM vampires of their curses and malnomen. In that sense, Vani saving the vampires is directly opposing the vow to curse all RM vampires as told in the VotBM origin story.

Vani's revenge claim seems pretty straight forward. There is nothing of the sort as to claiming he will turn the vampires into humans, or rewrite their existence into something they are not, etc. It is literally just "I will heal you from your sickness out of spite towards the thing that wants you to suffer". His feral revenge proclamation on top of the chandelier lines up with his feral "I will save you no matter what, using whatever method I choose" at the end of Memoire 1 as Noé points out:

So here's the thing that felt a little out of place upon my rereading of Memoire 7:

This panel. Idk about you but as a long time reader of Pandora Hearts, imo one thing that makes MochiJun such a talented artist and great storyteller of plot twists and angst is how she depicts emotions in facial expressions – it is very subtle with a certain finesse. With the above panel, Vani's expression doesn't necessarily look like "anger" or "vengeance" to me. Rather (and it took me a while to place it actually, flipping back and forth between newer and older chapters) his expression looks... melancholic? Melancholy with sense of conviction.

It's noteworthy that MochiJun has made an intentional choice to emphasize Vani gripping his closed fist and his distant stare here, so it has to be important. So, what could Vani be thinking of in this moment? And why?

I. Vani's hidden expressions and feelings towards Luna

To (attempt to) figure out what might be going through Vani's mind in this moment, let's take a look at some moments we've seen Vani making different expressions and when he's thinking back to the VotBM – or really, his time with Luna. Vani claims he hates vampires, but there are obvious exceptions (Jeanne, Noé). What's interesting though is that, despite claiming to hate the VotBM, I don't think he hates Luna. He may hate the being that Luna is but I don't think he hates Luna as a person.

We can see the difference between his hatred and active desire to kill Moreau, as well as his completely blank, no-remorse kinda expression toward the Chasseur's cross in the Catacombes arc vs the above panel after his revenge proclamation:

Also contrast the above chandelier expression to Vani's empty look of distain in Dante's flashback when they first meet:

I would say none of these Vani expressions look very similar to the chandelier one — the empty or blank stares are missing a sense of resolve and the teeth-gritting smirk lacks any bit of sadness felt in the scene. Now, when do we ever see Vani make another expression of what I would call melancholy?

Ughghgh these panels break my heart every time bc there is such a sense of sadness, it's distant but palpable and it is t r a g i c... but I digress.

We have no way of knowing what Vani is thinking in these panels but I have a few ideas:

Vani thinks back to something Luna said about how one should use the Book of Vanitas when Noé says using the Book's power to cure curse-bearers is "overwhelmingly right". What Luna said? Who knows, but it may be along the same lines of "despite its power" and "doing the right thing".

Vani realizes the reason Misha wants Noé to drink his blood is bc Misha doesn't remember what happened That Day. He repeats "... I see." twice as if he's reaffirming to himself that he's the only one left that remembers what happened. If Misha did remember, there would be another person to share the memory but Misha doesn't and Vani is alone in the world in that sense.

If we are to assume that this is what's going through Vani's mind in these moments, then we have to ask why? Vani thinking back to his time with Misha and Luna elicits this sadness (possibly likely?) bc Vani did truly enjoy his time with them and didn't actually hate Luna. In his own flashbacks of Luna teaching he and Misha about malnomen (first being Malnomen Prèdateur in the Catacombes arc, second of Chloé's Malnomen Millie) and the flashback of "love" during the Gevaudan Arc, we see that Vani may be grumpy or indifferent while being with Luna, but he is still attentively listening and comfortable enough around them for them to hug him:

Ofc, we can't forget that Vani, in his fever and poison-induced delirium, even mumbles to himself ".. didn't actually hate... I didn't... Lou..—" while recovering in the cabin with Jeanne. Given that just before this he asks "Is that what you really want? Truly?" in response to Jeanne saying "This time for sure, I'll kill the beast", perhaps we can even posit that Vani didn't actually hate Luna and didn't actually want to kill them? (I have another theory on what could have happened on That Day but let's get through this one first *wheeze*).

So let's summarize:

Vani claims he will cure RM vampires of their malnomen as revenge toward the VotBM, who is said to have created the Book of Vanitas to curse RM vampires that made them an outcast.

Curing RM vampires of malnomen = revenge since it is directly opposing using the Book to inflict curses

But Vani shows a look of sadness mixed with conviction that contradicts what would be thought of when claiming "revenge", which could possibly be him thinking back to his time with Luna, whom he did not actually hate and possibly did not want to kill but had to anyway.

So here's my theory: the reason why Vani has assumed the name "Vanitas" and is on a quest to cure RM vampires of their malnomen with the Book of Vanitas is to "rewrite" the reputation behind the name Vanitas of the Blue Moon.

... And I will continue explaining this in the reblogs ⤵️⤵️⤵️ bc holy fuck this meta is so long I have reached the image limit per post asjfklgs

[miserablesme]

The Les Miserables Changelog Part 1: Barbican Previews

Hello everyone! I'm starting out a blog which will look at my favorite musical, Les Miserables, and will discuss the various changes it has gone through over time (musically and lyrically). As it turns out, a LOT of edits have been made over the years so this will doubtless be a series with several parts.

This first part may well be the most difficult and will almost certainly be the most incomplete, as previews can be a time of extensive editing and experimentation. At least for the first few weeks or so, it's perfectly possible any one day of previews will be slightly different than any other day. However, I only have access to two audios from the Barbican Theatre previews of Les Miserables, meaning it's likely that lyrical variants exist which I have no way of hearing.

I am aware of the existence of a third audio which is fairly early in the run of previews, as the tape's master has told me that Gavroche's death scene is in its original form (I'll clarify that later). However, that tape has never been traded, and has sadly only been listened to by its master. I am also aware of a video proshot of the Barbican era that exists in the Royal Shakespeare Company library, but currently have no access to it. I plan to inquire about whether I can look at it sometime (though I'm not sure a blog like this is "official" enough to warrant it for research purposes). As such, this comparison only entails the two widely circulated audios from the Barbican run.

Now that we've gotten that cleared up, let's get started!

First, let's look at the opening "Work Song". In the earlier recording I have (let's call it R1), the beginning music (the same tune used, for instance, at the opening of "At the End of the Day" and "One Day More" and for Marius and Cosette's meeting in "The Robbery") stops. Then, a few moments later, the more familiar opening that leads directly into the prologue begins. By the time of the later recording I have (let's call it R2), the scores have been combined so that the first tune directly transitions into the second one.

Meanwhile, in R1 there is a sequence of lines that goes as follows:

I've done no wrong

Sweet Jesus, hear my prayer

Look down, look down

Sweet Jesus doesn't care

I killed a man

He tried to steal my wife

Look down, look down

She wasn't worth your life

I know she'll wait

I know that she'll be true

Look down, look down

She's long forgotten you

Most fans of the musical recognize the middle sequence of lines ("I killed a man" through "She wasn't worth your life") as no longer being lines in the show (for good reason, as we'll get into in a later edition of this blog). However, R2 keeps the lines. Instead, it deletes the third sequence ("I know she'll wait" through "She's long forgotten you"). I have no idea if this lasted only a few performances or made it all the way to the end of the Barbican run, or somewhere in between.

During "On Parole", specifically after Valjean is underpaid for his labor and sings about his frustration, R1 uses a variation of the "Work Song" theme which, to my recollection, is heard nowhere else in the musical. It can be heard here. By R2, it was switched to an in-tune version of the number with a unique opening. The musical retains that version to this day, but in case you can't recall it you can hear it here.

Minus an unintentional line flub in "At the End of the Day" in R2, the two Barbican recordings seem to use the same libretto and score from this point until "The Runaway Cart". At this point, R1 has a rather extensive scene leading up to Valjean saving Fauchelevent, which goes approximately as follows (the dialog is difficult to make out):

(VALJEAN)

Is there anyone here who will rescue the man?

Who will help me to shoulder the weight of the cart?

I will pay any man thirty louis d’or more

I will do it myself if there’s no one who will

We can’t let him die like that down in the street

Can you all watch him die and do nothing at all?

(FAUCHELEVENT)

Don’t approach me, Monsieur Mayor

The cart’s not gonna be holding

Not my poor mother would care if I should die

(TOWNSPEOPLE)

Don't go near him, Monsieur Mayor

There's nothing at all you can do

The old man's a goner for sure

Leave him alone

Most of that dialog is deleted in R2, so that it goes directly from "Who will help me to shoulder the weight of the cart" to "Don't go near him, Monsieur Mayor". I really like the idea of the original version; it seems reasonable that Valjean, having become a more trusted man, would expect the townspeople to help him. It's more meaningful that Valjean is good enough to do what's right when there's more time to establish that no one else is. Having said that, the original version did take quite a while and didn't really contain any relevant information that wasn't in the final version. I think the cut version as heard in R2 is a good compromise and retains the general mood and pacing to make Valjean's ultimate action satisfying (something that can't be said of later cuts, as will be discussed in a future edition of this blog).

Additionally, at the end of the number Javert refers to "the mark upon his skin" in R1 and "the brand upon his skin in R2 (as well as literally every subsequent performance since then to my knowledge). I have no idea if the "mark" line was a minor flub or was actually the original lyric.

"Who Am I?" is an interesting one. The musical content is identical in R1 and R2, but in R1 after his high note, Valjean shouts "You know where to find me!" with emotion so dramatic it sits right on the border between awesome and campy. By contrast, Valjean is totally silent after his high note in R2. Neither version would see its final day just yet, although the latter certainly has become more traditional over time. More on that in future editions.

From this point until "Master of the House" everything is the same between the two recordings. Roger Allam even comes in slightly late in both "Confrontation" scenes (making his line "-jean, at last...")! However, in the opening to "Master of the House" the following lines occur in R1:

(THENARDIER)

My band of soaks, my den of dissolutes

My dirty jokes, my always pissed as newts

My sons of whores

Spend their lives in my inn

Homing pigeons flying in

They fly through my doors

And their money's good as yours

(CUSTOMERS)

Ain't got a clue what he put into his stew

Must've scraped it off the street

Hell, what a wine

Châteauneuf de Turpentine

Must've pressed it with his feet

Landlord over here

Where's the bloody man

One more for the road

One more slug of gin

Just one more or my old man is gonna do me in

All of those lines would be scrapped in R2. Personally I prefer this shortened variant than the one that would occur much later. Sure, some fun moments get lost, but nothing that actually adds any substance or characterization to the musical (unlike the later cut, which I'll discuss in a later edition of this blog). Some have speculated that this is simply lost dialog due to a tape flip of degrading, given that future performances would retain those lines. However, there is firsthand confirmation that the cuts were in fact part of the performance. To quote Trevor Nunn on page 87 of 1990's The Complete Book of Les Miserables (a page which elaborates that "the cost of overtime incurred after three hours could be crippling at a time when Les Miserables was still trying to find an audience"):

"Cameron wanted major cuts, which would have reduced its length to two and a half hours. I resisted, refusing to discuss things on those terms... Some of the other proposed cuts - like the removal of the "Master of the House" scene-setting preamble - were tried out in previews and then restored as the scenes would not work without them."

From a historical perspective that quote is invaluable. As will be brought up in a later blog post (notice a pattern today?) the musical would in fact be cut much later to avoid overtime charges. When people like myself have expressed the opinion that these cuts come at the expense of artistic integrity, I've seen others defend them by claiming that the overtime costs never were relevant to Cameron and the gang until Broadway sales began to go down, and that if they were taken into account the musical may well be in its shortened form from the beginning. However, this quote proves that argument to be false. Right from day one, the crew was aware that retaining a >3 hour runtime would come with severe financial costs, but this was deemed a worthy sacrifice in order to tell the story they wanted told. Indeed, it sounds like Cameron Mackintosh was waiting quite some time to enact his infamous cuts! (Cameron Mackintosh valuing profit above art?! Crazy, right??)

But I digress. Going back to the musical, the "Waltz of Treachery" number is mostly the same. However, after Valjean's "It won't take you too long to forget" line, R1 has over a minute of wordless vamping which leads right into the rather awkwardly-placed "Stars" song. By contrast, in R2 this vamping (which is still a minute long, mind you) leads into a humming duet between Little Cosette and Valjean, similar to the duet right before the number. A nice little bookend that makes the scene feel all the more resolved. (Much later this duet reprise would ironically be scrapped again, though!) The remaining segment of R1's vamping now plays after this sequence in R2.

Minus some unintentional missed lines at the beginning of "Stars" in R1, the recordings seem to follow the same libretto right up until "One Day More". Here, R1 uses the following lines:

(EPONINE)

One more day with him not caring

(MARIUS and COSETTE)

Was there ever love so true?

(EPONINE)

What a life I might have known

(MARIUS and COSETTE)

I was born to be with you

However, by R2 this scene is in its current form:

(EPONINE)

One more day with him not caring

(MARIUS and COSETTE)

I was born to be with you

(EPONINE)

What a life I might have known

(MARIUS and COSETTE)

And I swear I will be true

And that closes act one! Going on to the second act, the opening barricade scene has a few changes. First off, following the opening notes, R1 features a rather odd tune bearing resemblance to "Do You Hear the People Sing" (which can be heard here) before transitioning to a more true-to-form instrumental reprise of "Do You Hear the People Sing?" By contrast, R2 goes straight from the opening notes to the true-to-form reprise.

Next, Enjolras proclaims "Have faith in yourself and do not be afraid" in R1, while in R2 he instead states "Every man to his duty and don't be afraid". It's unknown if this was an intentional libretto change or if it simply reflects a flub during R1. A later sequence uses the "Have faith in yourself" line, meaning he may have just sung the wrong line for that particular scene.

Finally, R1 includes the following sequence (at least I think this is how it goes, since the lyrics are a little hard to hear):

(PROUVAIRE)

And the people will fight

(GRANTAIRE)

And join with you

Who gives a speech in the square

Fortunately, R2 uses a much less clunky (though still somewhat so) sequence:

(PROUVAIRE)

And the people will fight

(GRANTAIRE)

And so they might

Some will bark, some will bite

This isn't quite its current form ("dogs" and "fleas" will soon respectively replace the two usages of "some"), but it's pretty darn close.

I've heard that the very first Barbican preview(s?) didn't have a finalized opening to "On My Own". Sadly there is no known audio record of this, so I cannot comment on what exactly it began as. As such, the next major change takes place during Gavroche's death scene. This honestly is probably the biggest of all the changes between the two recordings. R1 uses the following death scene (in the tune of "Look Down" right up until the "So never kick a dog" verse, which is in the tune of "Little People"):

How do you do, my name’s Gavroche

These are my people, here’s my patch

Not much to look at, nothing posh

Nothing that you’d call up to scratch

Some fool, I bet, whose brains are made of fat

Picks up a gun and shoots me down

Nobody told him who he’s shooting at

He doesn’t know who runs this town

Life’s like that

There’s some folk

Missed the joke

That’s three, that’s three

That one has done for me

Too fast, too fast

They’ve got Gavroche at last

So never kick a dog

Because he’s just a pup

You better run for cover when the pup grows...

By contrast, R2 uses a much shorter variant which is set entirely to the tune of "Little People":

And little people know

When little people fight

We may look easy picking but we've got some bite

So never kick a dog

Because he's just a pup

You'd better run for cover when the pup grows up

And we'll fight like twenty armies and we won't give...

This is much closer to its current form, although the last two lines are inverted (we'll get to that in a later edition).

We now fast-forward to "Dog Eats Dog", which while recognizable is very different from the number we know today. The chorus of R1 claims that "It's a dirty great sewer that's crawling with rats", which R2 changes it to "stinking great sewer" instead. I'd definitely say the revised lyric better captures Thenardier's and the sewer's grossness.

Additionally, regarding Marius' ring, Thenardier originally exclaims that he "didn't mean to waste it, that would really be a crime". By R2, the line changes to "wouldn't want to waste it", which I'd say makes a lot more sense.

"Javert's Suicide" has changed a lot. R1 features the following remarks following "Vengeance was his and he gave me back my life":

Damned if I live in this caper of grace

Damned if I live in the debt of Valjean

I'll spit his pity right back in his face

Is this the law or has sanity gone?

(I'm a little unsure as to how accurate the final line is.)

By R2, the lines have been replaced with the current ones:

Damned if I live in the debt of a thief

Damned if I yield at the end of the chase

I am the law and the law is not mocked

I'll spit his pity right back in his face

In R1, the "Where's the new world, now the fighting's done" line is absent, and there is nothing but instrumentals in the segment where it is usually sung. By contrast, it is sung as usual in R2. My guess is that an actress simply forgot her line in R1 and it was always supposed to be there, though I can't say for sure.

The final change occurs at the wedding scene. The singing which opens the number is repeated in R1. By contrast, R2 has it sung once and then done with, as it currently is (and as it should be in my opinion, since the music isn't particularly pretty and contributes nothing to the plot).

Later in the same scene, R1 includes approximately this exchange (again, it's quite hard to make out the exact lyrics):

(THENARDIER)

I was there

Never fear

Even got me this fine souvenir

He was there

Her old dad

*indecipherable* and fleecing this lad

Robbed the dead

That's his way

(MME. THENARDIER)

That's worth five hundred any old day

(MARIUS)

I know this...

By R2, everything between "He was there" and "Any old day" were removed, which makes sense given that they essentially just rehash what was already said.

Finally, there's a subtle difference in the epilogue, specifically during the "Do You Hear the People Sing?" reprise. In R1, the ensemble sings "They will live again in glory in the garden of the Lord". R2 replaces the word "glory" with "freedom", and that word remains the one used to this day. I suppose "freedom" is more appropriate for the context of peace and prosperity. To many, I'd guess that "glory" conjures imagery of knights, battles, and the like; just the kind of violence that the characters wish to move away from! I have no idea if this was why the writers changed the lyric, but it's my hypothesis.

Towards the end of the show, the chorus in R1 sings "Even the darkest moon will end and the sun will rise". By R2, this is changed to "the darkest night". Makes more sense to me, since moons aren't known for being particularly dark!

And that just about sums this part up! If I missed anything feel free to let me know, as my goal is to create a changelog as thorough and complete as possible. I plan on making more parts in the near future covering all the changes that have been made in the show up until this day (discounting concerts). Any feedback and constructive criticism is very much appreciated.

As a side note, both for this project and my own enjoyment, I want as complete a collection of Les Miserables audios as possible. I already have most of what's commonly circulated, but if you have any audios or videos you know are rare, I'd love it if you DMed me!

Until the turntable puts me at the forefront again, good-bye...

[sirphillipcranestanaccount]

"You make me feel like I couldn't love another..."

So, I saw this on twitter and had to write it, so here's bath time with Philoise.

(Attempt at an artistic title courtesy of "Bathwater" by No Doubt)

Eloise sighed as she walked through the door, dropping her bag on the ground in the entryway. It had been a long day, a long week. Heck, it had been a long month. But she was home now, and ready to fall onto the couch and relax.

And she did just that. Usually, she would find Phillip and the twins and discuss the day, but she just didn’t have the energy. So she flopped face down on the couch and let herself sink into the cushions.

The next thing Eloise knew, she was being awakened with a kiss on her cheek.

“Hello there” Phillip said. He was kneeling next to the couch and walking his fingers up her back.

“Hi,” Eloise smiled and looked around, “are the twins home?”

“They are with your sister,” Phillip said, “I figured you could use a night free of disturbance and distraction, and Francesca is always happy to take them off our hands…”

“I see,” she replied, sitting up and putting her hand in his “you know, there’s some distractions I don’t mind having. Specifically you and the twins.”

Phillip grinned, “Do you want me to go pick them up and take them home?”

“No no,” Eloise replied, “They’re probably having much more fun with Fran and Micheal anyway.”

“Good, because I’ve got a surprise for you,” he said, “and as much as I love Oliver and Amanda, I think it will be a bit more enjoyable without the ambiance that they provide.”

Phillip lead Eloise upstairs and brought her to the bathroom. As she entered she gasped. Phillip had filled the room with candles and drawn a bath. She walked over and could smell the scent of eucalyptus and see flower petals floating on the surface.

“Phillip, when did you do this? How long was I asleep?” she asked.

“Let’s see…” he said, walking up behind her and rubbing her shoulders, “I got home around six to find you completely passed out on the couch, then I made the arrangements for the twins, dropped them off, and came back around six forty-five,” he looked at his watch, “It’s now eight o’clock, so you’ve been out for at least two hours.”

“I can’t believe I didn’t wake up! Especially since it looks like you moved an entire Yankee Candle store in here,” she said.

“Well, you do sleep like the dead,” he laughed, “but I digress. You go ahead and enjoy yourself, just call for me if you want anything.”

As Phillip began to exit, Eloise turned around and grabbed his hand.

“Where do you think you’re going?” she said.

“I was going to leave you to enjoy some alone time,” Phillip said, arching his brow.

“I don’t want alone time,” Eloise said, pulling him closer, “I want you,” she flashed him a smile, “besides, it would be an absolute shame for you to put so much work into this and not be able to enjoy it.”

“It’s worth it to make you happy,” he smiled back.

“Well, it would make me even happier for you to join me, so take your clothes off and get in the tub,” she said.

“Well, if you insist,” he shrugged and pulled his shirt over his head.

Eloise put her hair up and began to undress.

“So, was this an impromptu treat for me? Or has this been in the works?” Eloise asked as Phillip got into the bathtub.

“Well,” Phillip said settling in, “on Wednesday you almost nodded off and fell face first into your soup during dinner, so I figured I’d do something for you this weekend, but when I got home tonight to find you drooling all over the couch, and grinding your teeth, I knew you needed something stat.”

“I see,” Eloise said putting one leg in the tub, then the other. She sat down and leaned back against Phillip’s chest and he wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

Eloise tilted to the side slightly so she could turn and look Phillip in the eyes.

“Thank you for taking care of me” she said with a smile.

“It’s an honor and a privilege” he said, kissing her forehead.

Eloise ran her hands through the water, taking in a deep breath and enjoying the relaxing scents, the calming ambiance, and the warmth of the water combined with the warmth of Phillip’s arms around her.

“So, these flowers,” she said picking up a flower off of the surface of the water, “are they from the garden?”

“Actually, no,” Phillip said, “they are from a can of ‘bath tea’. I didn’t want to risk filling your bath up with bugs by using fresh flowers.”

“Well, thank you for that,” Eloise laughed, “But, where on earth did you get bath tea?”

“I got it in a gift basket I somehow won in a PTA drawing ages ago,” he said.

“What’s in it?” she asked.

“Let me see, the can’s right over here,” he said, beginning to reach for the can.

“Ah ah ah,” she tutted, grabbing his hand, “I want you to use that brain of yours and guess, flower man.”

Phillip laughed and brought his hand back down to its original position.

“Alright, make me guess,” he said, resting his chin on her shoulder and giving her a gentle kiss on her neck.

“Well, let’s start with this,” she said, holding up the purple bud in her hand.

“That’s lavender,” Phillip said with little hesitation.

“How do you know?” Eloise asked.

“Because it’s purple, has small petals, and I can smell it from here” he said.

“Fair,” she shrugged.

“Let’s see, what’s next,” she said, scanning the water, “what about this?”

She held up a pink petal.

“Hmmm, it looks like a rose petal, I couldn’t tell you what kind though.”

“How many kinds of roses are there?”

“Far too many to name,” he said, “But there’s three main categories.”

“Tell me about them,” Eloise said, leaning her head back and closing her eyes. Just the sound of his voice made her feel happy.

“Well, there’s wild roses, antique garden roses, and modern garden roses. Judging by the petal shape and stong scent, these probably came from an antique rose.”

“And what type of roses do we have in the garden?” she asked.

“We’ve got some antique and modern roses.”

“What kind are the ones in the bushes in the front of the house? The really good smelling pink ones without the thorns?”

“Those are zepherine drouhine roses, they’re a type of antique rose.”

“I like those ones the best, I associate them with coming home to you,” she said.

“They’re my favorite too,” he said, “for the same reason.”

Eloise dropped the petal back into the water.

“Alright, that’s enough flowers, right now I want you to kiss me,” she said turning her head towards him once again.

“Is that so?” he said with a devilish grin.

“Mmhm, we can get back to flowers later,” she said before pressing her lips to his.

“Happy to oblige” he said, between kisses.

“I love you Phillip,” she said softly.

“I love you too Eloise.”

They never did return to the subject of flowers that particular evening.