#but seriously like he was never a serious contender for her

[tytangfei]

I cant believe they just had fenglong say that he only thinks about ru shou from day to night. He was always more excited with men than women...

[onlyonetifosi]

Keep pushing yourself, and you'll go far

Y/N had always known that she was destined for greatness in the world of F1 racing. It was in her blood, after all. Her father had been an F1 champion, as had her grandfather before him. The pressure to succeed had always been there, lurking in the back of her mind, and it had only grown stronger as she got older.

Despite her lineage, Y/N had always been drawn to the underdogs of the sport. The teams that struggled to compete with the big names, but who poured their hearts and souls into every race nonetheless. So when she was approached by a small, underfunded team that was seen as a joke by the rest of the paddock, she jumped at the chance to prove herself.

It was a tough road ahead. The team lacked the resources and funding of their competitors, and Y/N had to work tirelessly to help improve their car and develop their strategy. But she refused to let that stop her. She knew that she had the talent and determination to succeed, and she was determined to prove it.

At first, the other drivers didn't take her seriously. They saw her as just another rookie who would quickly be left in the dust. But Y/N was determined to show them what she was made of. She pushed herself to the limit in every race, taking risks and making bold moves that left her competitors stunned.

As the 2020 F1 season got underway, Y/N was ready to take on the world. She knew that she had a lot to prove, but she was confident in her abilities and in the team that she had behind her.

It wasn't long before Y/N began to make a name for herself. She started to gain the respect of her fellow drivers, who began to see her as a true contender. Even Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton, two of the biggest names in the sport, took notice of her talent and potential.

"Y/N, you're going to impress everyone," Sebastian told her after a particularly impressive race. "You've got what it takes to be a champion."

Lewis nodded in agreement. "You're a force to be reckoned with, Y/N. Keep pushing yourself, and you'll go far."

"Keep pushing," Vettel told her. "Don't let anyone tell you that you can't do it. You're proving them all wrong."

Hamilton nodded in agreement. "You've got something special, kid," he said. "I can see it in the way you drive. You're going to surprise a lot of people."

Those words meant everything to Y/N. She felt a surge of determination and confidence, knowing that she had the support of two of the sport's greatest champions. She continued to work hard, never giving up on her dream of becoming a champion. And eventually, her hard work paid off.

And she didn't disappoint them. Race after race, she continued to defy expectations, racking up more podium finishes. The other drivers began to take notice, and some of them even started to treat her as a serious competitor.

But Y/N didn't let the newfound attention get to her head. She remained focused on the task at hand - winning races and proving that she belonged in the sport.

In a race that no one expected her to win, Y/N shocked the world. She overtook her competitors with ease, her car running like a dream thanks to the tireless efforts of her team. When she crossed the finish line, her heart racing with excitement and adrenaline, she knew that she had made history.

The world of F1 was forever changed by Y/N's victory. She had proven that anything was possible, that even the smallest and most underfunded team could achieve greatness.

As she stood on the podium, holding the championship trophy high above her head, she felt a sense of pride and accomplishment that words couldn't describe. She had done it - she had proved herself and surpassed the expectations that had been placed upon her, the sound of the crowd cheering her name ringing in her ears, she knew that she had fulfilled her destiny.

And she knew that she had done it with the help of her team, her family.

[brw]

It's fascinating that comics insist to me that Simon is straight when from a very clear meta level, he will never compare to Vision? His relationship with Wanda fundamentally only exists because of Vision. It has nothing to do with their chemistry as characters or whatever balance they may have, and it has everything to do with Vision being the connecting feature between them, and because of that Simon will just never measure up. He will never, ever be as important to Wanda as Vision is, because Vision is the person Wanda chose to marry and have children with, and Simon is the person Wanda chose because he was convenient and there.

Similarly, with Carol, there's never any sense that they are endgame. Simon is never treated as a serious romantic option compared to her other options. She even says "I love him like a brother", and the only time she actively seeks intimacy with him is because he's just... there, and convenient. He's an attractive body who happens to be there and is somewhat nice and emotionally dependable, and that's the only reason why he's there as a romantic option, but he is never ever going to be the serious main relationship. He's the placeholder while you wait for something else.

Even with Tigra, their relationship is just... Simon is vaguely nice to her and he's handsome, so that's good enough. And that's the most genuine Simon romantic relationship, where it's not affected by Vision having a past romantic entanglement, and Simon doesn't act like an absolute demon. And still Simon is vaguely a placeholder while Tigra has much more genuine emotional, romantic and sexual connections with Hank Pym and Marc Spector.

He's just not someone who is ever seriously a contender in his relationships with women, and there's a very clear reason for that but no writer is brave enough to answer the question.

[homerforsure]

okay i'm watching now. Also I'm shitfaced so ignore me.

God, Eddie turning up at the church not for forgiveness but for punishment is so 😭😭😭

No babies. I'm bored of babies. Get Jee a pony instead

Buck is so bad at presents and I love him so much for that. Bro is out to dinner and doesn't even know that he should have brought a present.

Help the Abby thing is so dumb. It's hilarious if it wasn't tagged to something more serious, but yeah no. Not like this.

HELP OH NO HIS INSIDES ARE ON THE OUTSIDE

"Saying he never loved me is the most beautiful lie he ever told" - oh that's gonna haunt me

Ugh, this conversation is so much better if it's not about Abby. Why could Tommy not have had another partner?

Cuz the pre-glee, post-glee thing is actually an interesting thing for Tommy and Buck to contend with. BUT AGAIN NOT LIKE THIS

"Pretty sure my mother's still going through PPD" - omg please give me a Maddie reckoning with her childhood storyline.

I wish I had the arms to wear the LAFD tank top. Eddie is so blessed

The Hot Priest return is hilarious actually. They should fuck on the altar.

Aw man, this kid gets to be traumatized now. Choosing not to read the worm book means your baby brother falls down a well. I'm with you, kid. I bet the worm book is shitty.

It's good that it's the worm book actually. He'll be prepared for being underground.

Idk that you can really chuck a kid down a pipe? I mean a sibling bond is special but also...

Baby Han siblings would be so much more meaningful if Chimney's brother wasn't consigned to The Void

Baby doll keeping all those photos of him and Abby <3 <3 <3

Oh Buck baby. You don't just always have to ask someone to move it. That's not the only mark of seriousness

😭😭😭😭 Okay no I was right; this is not their ideal ending.

Tommy is right to hold Buck back here, but, god. He's overreacting based on his own previous trauma and it's so sad we don't get to contend with that.

Joy <3

Not that Eddie needs to suffer any extra but I think that probably could have been it's own episode.

Lowkey projecting but I bet this expression of joy would have led to sobbing for Eddie if Buck hadn't interrupted

[thelampisaflashlight]

Everything Goes On Pt. 7

[Mistakes were made. Not suitable for younger audiences. Previous part here.] Below the cut.

"Ya know..." Swiss whispers to Dew as Papa leads the beginnings of mass, "...I've never been really into this whole going to church thing, but something about seeing you dressed up all modest-like is making me feel strangely pious..."

"I'll make you pious your pants if you don't shut up." Dew glowers, shooting him a glare from his spot in the first row, "Now sit up straight and listen to the sermon."

"Yes, Mom."

"You-"

Mountain pinches Swiss' ear, pulling him back.

"Ow!"

"Behave."

Swiss pouts.

"You both suck..."

Dew sighs and does his best to ignore Swiss' antics, if Aether were here, he would...

"-and now to perform the ceremonial rites, I ask the Bishop Dewcifer to-"

"Wait, seriously, that's your full name-" Swiss whisper shouts leaning forward again.

Dew stealthily smacks Swiss on the back of his head with his tail as he stands before proceeding to join Copia on stage.

"To assist the bishop in this most sacred of rituals, Sister Cumulus will-"

Despite a few minor hiccups -in the form of actual hiccups on the part of a toddler in the back of the hall drinking his juice too fast, and thankfully not Dew himself, because that would have been mortifying- the rites are completed with ease.

Dew had been more or less confident he would remember the words he needed to recite, and that Cumulus would know the order of the candles that needed to be lit by heart, but there's always those last minute jitters to contend with.

Overall, the ceremony had gone well.

By now, most of the siblings have returned to their dorms to prepare for the post ritual feast, save for Copia, Cumulus, a few select members of the clergy who would act as witnesses, and Dew himself of course, so the atmosphere had shifted to a more casual one.

With important figures like Sister Imperator and Mr. Saltarian gone off to attend to matters elsewhere, no one is feeling particularly serious.

Dew, with the assistance of Cumulus, has shucked his outer robes in favor of the simple cassock worn beneath the heavy layers of fabric, and even Copia had removed his mitre, a clear sign to those gathered that this is, essentially, break time.

"Remind me to wear crocs under my robes next time, these fucking dress shoes are killing my feet." Dew groans, leaning on Mountain, who has graciously offered to keep his friend balanced while he kicks off his footwear in favor of sliding on the loose slippers he'd dropped into the ghoul's lap just before the ceremony, "Gonna suck to put those back on..."

"Want to trade?" Cumulus asks, holding up her heels, having opted to go barefoot, the soles of her stocking covered feet being soothed by the cold stone flooring, "Ugh... at least part of the path to the sunken chapel is paved..."

Dew stretches, "I doubt your tiny shoes would fit me."

"Your feet aren't much bigger than mine, see?" Cumulus places her foot beside Dew's, "There's maybe a centimeter of difference."

"Tell you what, so long as no one dies during the summoning tonight, I'll try on your heels AFTER dinner." Dew says, moving to lightly step on Cumulus' foot.

"...Can you wear her dress, too?" A curious looking Swiss asks, poking his head into view from behind Mountain, "And while we're at it-"

"I'm not wearing a dress, Swiss." Dew rolls his eyes, "Shoes are one thing, but a dress is going too far."

"You have worn a skirt before though." Cumulus points out.

"Please don't encourage him."

"You guys, Dew can't wear Cumulus' dress." Mountain says flatly.

"Thank you, Mount, I knew you'd be on my s-"

"Burgundy doesn't match his skin tone, I think maybe a baby blue would be better, like that short little nightgown Sunny used to wear."

"Oooh~! You're so right, Mount!" Cumulus claps her hands together excitedly, "I could even do your make-up~!"

Dew purses his lips then sighs.

"And where exactly am I getting all dolled up to go, Lus? Huh?"

Swiss slides up behind Dew and wraps his hands around his waist, resting his chin on his shoulder, "Could come by my room later and finish up that back rub Cirrus so rudely interrupted, hm~?"

Dew considers this for a moment, feeling Swiss' hands sink to his hips.

"Hold on, Cirrus walked in on you two getting it on?" Cumulus asks, "Really?"

"I mean, we weren't actually gonna fuck-"

Swiss nods solemnly, "It was an apology massage for being a dick."

"-and then Cirrus burst through my door, busted the lock."

"Undid all of my hard work." he pouts, slipping his hands around to squeeze Dew's ass, earning a swat from Dew's tail, "So mean..."

"Why'd she do that??" Cumulus wonders, crossing her arms, "Actually, Cir's been acting kind of funny lately..."

"Funny haha, or funny bad?"

"More like... funny... upset?" Cumulus places her hands under her chin, "She's been really clingy lately, and only just this morning we had a fight about- Never mind. I'll try talking to her some more later, it's not worth getting into right now, we have to head over to the chapel soon."

"Wanna take bets on spade shape?" Swiss proposes, "I still have my bingo card from Sunny's summoning."

"Satanas, I forgot how informal that all was... I blame being cooped up in the abbey for over a year with you guys." Cumulus shakes her head.

"It felt more like a baby shower instead of a summoning honestly..." Mountain says, earning a series of curious stares from the other ghouls, "What? You all forget I've been on the surface for a very long time now."

"How many baby showers have you been to??" Dew questions, once more slapping Swiss' hands away from his butt as they begin the walk to the chapel.

"I have been many a siblings plus one to these sorts of events." he says, "I have eaten many a gender reveal cake to the sounds of a couple bickering over the fact that one of them wanted a boy or a girl and wound up expecting the other..."

"Ooughh..." the other ghouls hiss.

"There was one that I enjoyed though, it was a bee themed party... 'Announcing The Arrival of Our Bay-Bee'. Very cute, ten out of ten."

"What'd the cake look like?" Cumulus asks.

"A lovely yellow honeycomb without any hauntingly blue or pink dye to make my bowel movements look like I have some kind of disease-"

.

.

.

"So, kits, yes or no?" Aether had asked Dew once while they were laying in bed together.

Dew hummed thoughtfully for a moment before shaking his head.

"Can you imagine me as a parent? I'd be awful..."

Aether had cuddled him close then and told him sincerely, "I think you'd be a wonderful dad."

Dew is panicking.

The moon must have decided to have a blue light special, because not only did the summoning spell spit out one ghoul, it spit out two ghouls a freaking baby-

"I-It's not mine."

"Not mine either..."

-who is now clinging onto the front of Dew's cassock for dear life making little alarmed "meeps" whenever someone tries to make a grab for them, having retreated into the folds of the band around Dew's waist to hide when he himself tried to remove them.

"How did this happen??" Copia wonders aloud, looking over the incantations for a third time, "Do... D-Do we send it back?? Did we just kidnap... kitnap?? A baby??"

Mountain gently pats Copia's back, "It's fine, it's fine... and, no, now we can't send it back that would be dangerous."

"What do we do with it then??"

Swiss pokes the lump hiding under Dew's waistband, making the kit wiggle and squirm.

Dew smacks his hand away, "Don't do that."

"Because I'll scare it?"

"Yeah, and it fucking tickles."

"Don't swear in front of the baby!" Swiss gasps.

"I doubt it understands what we're saying." Dew says, placing his palm over the kit, "Thing's tiny as sh-... Heck. Tiny as heck. Probably still has its ears pinned."

"For real though, what do we do with it?" Cumulus asks, trying to peek at the kit from the gap in the band, "There's no way we could send it back."

Dew glances off to the side, "Well... I mean, it's kind of our responsibility now..."

.

.

.

Dinner is... shockingly uneventful.

Mountain had half expected the clergy to crazy at the sight of not only two new ghouls, but a kit to boot, but the overall reception is one of subdued excitement.

It's later in the evening, so, really, he can't be all that surprised, but he'd assumed at least one person would ask about the strange little ball of fluff tucked into his sweater...

Indeed, they'd managed to free the kit from Dew's cassock, but the poor thing started shaking almost immediately upon contact with the air, so Mountain offered to keep it warm for the time being until they could figure out what to do with it otherwise.

Dew, who opted to sit beside him at dinner, spent about half the night feeding the kit scraps from his plate.

Little bits of turkey, less than half a spoonful of mashed potatoes, the teeniest bit of goat milk... Honestly, Mountain was surprised at how easily Dew seemed to take to caring for the kit, only to get a reality check in the form of a reminder that the fire ghoul had raised multiple dogs up from puppies, and the process of feeding and maintaining a kit was not all that dissimilar up until a point.

However, a phantom of a voice plays in the back of his mind.

“Can you imagine Dew as a parent? He could barely take care of himself up until a couple years ago, and that’s only because I spent ages trying to learn what makes him goddamn tick.” 

“I’m ready to step back from things and slow down and he’s… he’s still acting like we’re a couple of kits. I… I don’t have the energy to put up with him anymore, so I ended things now before things got any… any worse.”

"I'm tired of being his caretaker, Mount."

Mountain glances at Dew as he feeds the kit another bite sized piece of turkey, using his thumb to wipe away a bit of gravy from its face.

"So... Does this make you a dad now?" Mountain asks, and Dew laughs.

"Nah... I'm not ready to be a parent. Think I'll stick to raising my Hellhounds a little longer." He says, watching the kit curl up to sleep, "Besides, I know there's some ghouls here that would happily take this guy in."

"It's a boy?" Mountain asks, tilting his chin to look at the kit, "And you do?"

"Hell if I know, I wasn't about to check while it was already freaked out." he shrugs, "And yeah, yeah, I do."

Dew nods in the direction of two of the ghouls who had been keeping guard earlier in the evening... Cowbell and Special.

"...What?" Mountain's eyes go wide, "Those two?"

"Shhh..." Dew shushes him, "Yeah, back when... when Aether was still working in the infirmary, they were trying to work on adopting a human kit they were fostering together, but ya know how that stuff goes..."

"I didn't even know those two were a thing..." Mountain whispers, "...I mean good for them, I guess... Also, weren't there three guards earlier?"

Dew nods, then gestures for Mountain to lean over.

"I managed to set Swiss up with them for the evening instead of me, they both ran off before Copia finished the toast."

Mountain blinks.

"You turned down se-" he glances down at the sleeping kit, "-adult fun time with Swiss for this?"

"Ehn, I wasn't feeling up to it anymore honestly..." Dew admits, "It's... different now without Aether. Just not the same when you don't get cuddles afterwards. I mean, Swiss is good at that kind of stuff, but, ya know... doesn't have the same, uhh, oomph to it, I guess."

"Ah."

"Yeah."

Mountain takes a moment to ponder what he's learned.

"...Seriously though, Special and Cowbell?"

"I know, right??"

[fictionadventurer]

I happened to see a good chunk of the Netflix Persuasion. I can't give a complete review or analysis or whatever, but I have thoughts.

This movie has some very pretty colors. I like cool color palettes, what can I say?

There was one shot of a purple sunset where I was like, "Oh, I could live in this picture."

The aesthetic was so trendy I couldn't take it seriously. The clothes were that 2019 Little Women cottagecore vibe with lots of poorly-fitted textures and layers and colors. I laughed out loud at the Big White Text announcing LYME or BATH, because it's such a specific vibe.

I tried to detach from any notion of it as an Austen adaptation, and just enjoy it as its own movie that just happens to take place in a history-flavored fantasy world where everyone uses modern speech. Because sometimes those stories can be fun. It still didn't work.

Because it mostly just confused me. It was this weird mish-mash of genres and tones that didn't really blend together. Oil and water. It was Pinterest and Hallmark and Austen and College Humor and Instagram and Feminism and it's all felt like it came from completely different movies.

It was trying to be a sincere period drama love story and a goofy parody at the same time and it just didn't work.

Like, there were some sweet moments in it. Anne talking about poetry to Captain Benwick was rather nice.

But then you've got things like the weird octopus-sucking-my-face story Anne tells at Lady Dalrymple's. Even that could have worked okay in context, because Mr. Eliot jumps in and turns it into a metaphor about identity, which helps to cover for Anne's awkwardness and shows that he's willing to help her out. But then they keep bringing up the octopus as a sort of pet name and it's just so weird and doesn't fit with the rest of the story.

I've gotten ahead of myself so I'm going to backtrack to some specifics.

Mary Musgrove was excellent. Spot-on. I love how she's visibly younger than Anne. First adaptation I've seen that emphasizes that.

It was interesting how they emphasized the Mrs. Clay storyline. It actually sparked some interesting thoughts about the differences between the male social climbing of the sailors (shown in a positive light in Austen) and the female social climbing of the marriage-seeking ladies (shown in a more negative light).

I've never had a clearer picture of why Mrs. Clay matters so much to Mr. Elliot. Even in the book, it's a bit muddy, but it's crystal clear here. Mr. Elliot telling us his schemes straight-out did have the benefit of making the story very easy to follow.

I've got to back up again.

They completely altered the Anne/Wentworth storyline by mixing around all the plot points.

After they go to Bath, Wentworth seeks out Anne, says that they haven't had a chance to talk, and tells her how he always admired how good she was in an emergency. And this was before the staircase scene. I was extremely confused, until it hit me--this is a dream sequence! This is how Anne wants it to play out, but then she'll wake up!

But no! This actually happened! Wentworth says all this very sincerely and passionately, leading up to him declaring...that he wants to be friends. (At least there's context for "We're worse than exes--we're friends.")

It completely alters the trajectory of their relationship. Instead of jumping from the passion of hatred to the passion of love, Wentworth has gone to the other end of the pole--friendly indifference. He likes Anne and is totally okay with her marrying someone else.

I think they changed it so Mr. Elliot could be a serious contender in the love triangle. Wentworth has let her go--can she find happiness with someone else? I'll admit it's an interesting change, even if it's not Persuasion.

But it also seems like they're trying to make Wentworth a Suitable Love Interest for the Twitter Generation. Wentworth gets weirdly bristly with Mr. Elliot. Then Wentworth apologizes because Anne is a strong woman who doesn't need his protection. He tells her she should have been able to be an admiral. He's being mature and letting go of his resentment and wishing her well and showing that he doesn't like Regency Gender Roles. It's like they're shaving away his character growth in favor of a bland Nontoxic Relationship (TM).

But then Anne likes Mr. Elliot because he's bad? He openly talks about how he's trying to wreck her father's relationship to get the title. He insults her family. And she likes it.

This version of Anne holds her family in contempt. She doesn't like them or how they treat her and she openly disdains it. So she connects with Mr. Elliot. But the book Anne seems sad for her family--she doesn't like their behavior because she wishes they could be better people. She has compassion while movie Anne is resentful.

Persuasion is all about restraint. This movie is all about lack of restraint. People speak bluntly and say what they think and openly insult people. It's a completely different culture from the usual Austen movie, because it's modern culture. Which emphasizes how little we value good manners and restraint.

It's also weird how in changing the story, they also turn it into a generic rom-com. There's a more blatant love triangle between the good boy and the bad boy. Wentworth is starting to fall in love with Anne, but he's got an opportunity to advance his career, and he has to decide within a few days, oh no! It's textbook romcom plot points.

There was another point that I'll probably think of later.

EDIT: Oh, I just remembered! I think it was that the movie was so interested in the vibes and emotions of each individual scene that it didn't bother to try to stitch them together in a coherent whole.

The ending kiss looked 1000% like the cover of a cheap romance novel.

And the final moral of "don't let anyone tell you how to live your life" feels so simplistic and selfish and weird.

Overall, I'm not angry. I'm just confused. It's not the type of movie to arouse any kind of emotion other than "Huh???" And maybe a bit of regret that they couldn't have done better things with the interesting bits.

[swagalicioussquids]

2, 6, 16, 24, 31, 38 from the oc prompts! :3

Yeeeessss these're good ones, thanks for asking!! These are all Nuri and Deyan talking about characters from our main human plot (which is in name limbo right now but I think we're changing the name back to Snapshots so let's call it that) and AU versions thereof~

---

2. Do you have a personal favourite among your OCs?

Is "all of them" an option??

In all seriousness, tho: Nuri can never settle on a permanant favorite, so the answer changes from year to year. But Mo (more specifically, her Dragon Age AU) has been a very strong contender for the past few years.

Deyan's favorite for the better part of the last decade has been a 3 way tie between Zee, Kye, and Brae!

---

6. Two OCs of yours that look alike despite not being related?

We don't have any super close lookalikes. Heck, a lot of the folks who ARE related don't even look similar, because there's a lot of adoption going on in this plot. but Sebastián and the Obsidian System look vaguely similar despite having never even MET.

---

16. Which one of your OCs would be the best at biology (school subject)?

Sebastián! He's a pharmacist! And also just generally a huge nerd.

---

24. If you could meet one OC of yours, who would it be and why?

Nuri would like to meet uhhhhhh... all of them?? But maybe Mario, because fae wants to understand him better. He's our very oldest OC and we adore him so much, but he's sometimes hard to write without ending up with some sort of like... [parody of a dudebro] situation.

Deyan wants to meet Kye because he desperately wants to be ocean buddies with her and also bond over Interfaith Family Things!

---

31. Pick one OC of yours and explain what their tumblr blog would be like (what they reblog, layout, anything really)

We have to pick only ONE?? Okay leeet's go with Brae, because they are Very Online. And... also we've been playing as an AU version of them in BG3, so they're on our brain.

Brae's Tumbr layout would be exceedingly green. Probably something designed to make text-heavy posts easy to see, with a very thorough intro post and tagging system. Their icon would be of their fursona playing the lute (drawn by Lirpa or Mario), and their header would probably be a photo of some very old sheet music or something.

Their orignal posts would mostly be lengthy infodumps about (mostly Celtic) music history, anecdotes about their roleplaying misadventures, and occasional photos of their ren fair outfits. And their reblogs would be a hodge podge of:

Other people's music history infodumps

Other history, music, and linguistics posts (serious or funny, often very text-heavy)

Posts about endangered cultures, religions, and languages

Posts about Celtic reconstructionist paganism

Photos of historical instruments, clothes, and art

Other people's roleplaying anecdotes

Their friends' art (especially of their roleplaying characters)

The occasional fic or fanart from fandoms they're tangentially in (mostly fantasy RPGs or D&D podcasts), tho they're not super active in any given fandom

The occasional green or nerdy aesthetic post

The occasional green magpie

---

38. Which one of your OCs would be the best dancer?

Aqui! She's not a professional dancer or anything, but she does have a considerable amount of formal training. Modern dance is her favorite!

---

Want to ask us questions about our OCs? Here's the list!

[jonathanbyersphd]

A little Jancy season 5 scenario ficlet:

“Are we seriously going to talk about this right now?” Jonathan shouts, digging the axe into another vine.  “Well yea, Jonathan, if we’re going to die I'd like to know” Nancy counters, reloading her gun “I never said I didn't!” he defends, providing her coverage. “No, you just trashed all our plans” she accuses, firing off a shot  “I can't believe we're doing this” He complains, swinging the axe again “What was your plan exactly!?” she questions sarcastically, swapping the shotgun for something more practical.  “I don't know I didn't have one” Jonathan admits, throwing his hands up.  “Clearly!” “What do you want me to say exactly?”   “Duck” Nancy informs “What?” he questions, confused “DUCK!” she shouts, taking aim.  Jonathan complies in the nick of time, as Nancy sprays bullets into the monster.  “You never even asked what I wanted, you just dragged me along like always” he accuses, taking a swing at a demobat “Like Always!?” she protests “Yes like always, Jonathan let’s go hunt a monster, Jonathan let’s burn down the lab, Jonathan let’s investigate these rats even though we could get fired” He mocks, adding fuel to the fire “Yea well you went along with it” Nancy reminds him. “Yea and maybe that’s the problem”  He argues  “OH you are unbelievable” she screams  “Nance” he calls “Do you seriously think I don’t know when you’re lying?” she contends  “Nancy” he tries again  “Or when you’re pushing me away for some bullshit noble reason” She chides “Nancy!” “And what I’m just supposed to ditch you, settle for some boring guy, and end up like my parents?!” she hypothesizes  “NANCY!!” he shouts panicked Jonathan tackles her to the ground, cradling the back of her head. She feels more than sees the fire. She holds him a little tighter, reminded of how close to death they actually are this time. The fire dies down and cold snaps back almost instantaneously and he lifts his head quickly to look at her.  “Are you ok? Are you ok?” He questions anxiously She nods in response and pulls him back down, desperate to keep him in the safety of her arms.  “I don’t know what I’m doing” he confesses quietly into her neck.  “Deja vu” she snarks  “I’m serious, I can’t lose you” Jonathan clarifies, pulling up to look her in the eye again.  “You won’t” she promises, knowing she can’t really keep it. “I mean if- ” he starts  “Do you want to break up?” she cuts him off  “No. But I don’t want to hold you back” he worries  “You think I'd let you?” She quizzes, raising an eyebrow “No, but… I don’t know… I’m just… scared” he admits  “Me too” she confesses  “Yea?” “Yea.”  “I guess we could figure it out together” Jonathan offers, moving some stray hairs out of her face. “I guess we could,” she agrees, taking his left hand and linking it with hers. Jonathan seals their compromise with a kiss, cradling her head gently and pushing their scars together. Nancy loses herself in it, in him, temporarily forgetting that it’s the end of the world. All that exists is them, their love for each other, and this moment. “Seriously?!? In the middle of an apocalypse!?!” Will shouts at them disgusted  “Gross” Mike yells “That’s true love my dudes” Argyle comments “Or shared trauma” Jonathan jokes to her softly   “I love you too” Nancy responds, with a small laugh  “C’mon Wheeler, save the world first, make out later” He instructs, offering a hand to help her up “I’ll have you know I’m an excellent multitasker, Byers” she quips with a grin “I’m well aware”  he states, with a look she can’t help but smile at before raising onto her tiptoes to give him another quick kiss. 

[knightyoomyoui]

The Tale Of The Bloodline | TWICE MiSaMo (Mina, Sana & Momo) x Male Reader- CHAPTER 10 (SPECIAL): “Rise Of The Empire Chief”

In this chapter, there will be no any of the MISAMO trio to feature in here. This special chapter is only to tell the origins of Yuta Nakamoto becoming The Empire Chief and how did his historic title run begun, which led to the foundation of The Bloodline. Oh, and by the way, Your appearance in this story will be ENHYPEN's Park Sunghoon. I chose him because since your role in this story is YN Myoui, who is the twin brother of your older sister Myoui Mina, I based your appearance on being mostly similar to Mina too, and I've seen some contents telling how Mina and Sunghoon look almost like "siblings" because of how similar their features are, so that's why. But I'm not telling you to follow me though; if you're still more comfortable imagining yourself in your role, then I have no problem with it. This is just optional.

PREVIOUSLY ON TTOTB CHAPTER 9: [The Reason Why]...

"Here's what we gonna do. If you still don't work yourself being SHY SHY SHY around Sana again, I'm gonna do something you ain't gonna like." Yuta warned YN who is still couldn't calm himself down from his cackles because of Sana's newly made catchphrase.

"Here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna take that "Honorary" away, and I'm gonna make her our official Bloodline's muse." Yuta said as he points out at Sana's scarf around her neck, with YN now back at being seriousness even though the glimpse of how he surrendered herself from Sana's irresistable effect is still visible.

YN gave Yuta an incomprehensible look, muttering "You can't be serious, cous?!" but Yuta just nodded back at him and points his head. "Use the time well, think wisely."

"Well ladies and gentlemen, I think The Empire Chief has called an end to this segment. Please catch your Empire Chief LIVE and in person from all around the world next time on Friday Night Knockdown." Jinyoung said as he gave his closing remark in regards to The Bloodline, doing a mic drop before the arena played Yuta's theme again.

The show ended with The Bloodline as Yuta walked out on the ring first followed by Jinyoung, Mina, and Momo until YN and Sana were the last ones. Sana gave a cheeky smile on him in which he blushed before quickly rolling his eyes back and ignoring her to hid it away.

AUGUST 20, 2020 | 3 YEARS AGO

The Japan Combat Federation's World Champion Dong Young-bae or better known by his alias Taeyang is making his entrance to the ramp. The titantron, the raging theme, and his aura as he emerges in the arena perfectly congruent altogether to describe the cursing adrenaline and fueled motivation of him to finally finish his last quest.

That, is in the form of his contender, being his 3rd straight match with him, but this time... the opponent is in another persona as a part of his character, which is Taeyang's biggest challenge because this one's is the final form of Shin Dong-hee: a diabolical, merciless, and beastly character.

Shindong is waiting for Taeyang to join him in the ring as he creepily stalked at the corner. Their eyes had contact, and Taeyang never wore such a terrifying expression before that will match to what he's having today.

"Ladies and gentlemen, if you guys have a weak stomatch, please turn away... because this is not going to be pretty." Knight warned to the viewers. "Dong Taeyang and "The Sinister" Shin Donghee finally clash here tonight at Superslam."

Taeyang enters the ring, leaps at the ropes and stares down a hole at Shindong before doing his taunt and proudly showed the golden telt in his grasp.

"Taeyang promised to show the world the evil son of a bitch they have ever seen before." Kwangsoo reminded. "And now he stands before us as a World Champion tonight."

"This is a Falls Count Anywhere match. That means you pick up the victory in this building, to be out of the street as a matter of fact. Taeyang, Shindong, for the World Championship title." Knight explained the rules to anybody who might have forget how does the stipulation works.

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

5 minutes after the bell rang to officially start the match, the two collided with all their last stored might at one another, sending them all around in the arena.

Taeyang rudely kicks Shindong's face while he is crawling away in the ramp from him. "I've never seen this side of Taeyang before." Knight commented as they continue to watch him assaulting Shindong.

Taeyang picks up Shindong and threw him to the LED screen of the entrance way. "C'mon, Shinister!", he mocked as he weakly kicked his face then bounced his head on the screen.

Both went to the curtain, Taeyang punches Shindong leading him inside to the backstage area where the producers monitoring the match left and gave space for the two behemoths to proceed hurting each other while sparing theirselves from harm.

Taeyang fires a blow on Shindong's stomatch before attempting to lift him up for a powerslam but the latter refuses and fights back, pummeling Taeyang with multiple arm hits on the spine.

The two exchanged hits until Shindong took the advantage and threw Taeyang into the wall, shoulder and arm first on the bump. Shindong grabbed him again and he drove him on the other side of the wall after.

Shindong positioned Taeyang to prepare executing his finishing manoever, the Kiss Of Death where he kisses his opponent's forehead first before he rotates along with the head, slamming the face backwards straight at the ground.

He perfectly performed it, putting Taeyang unconscious for good. "That's gotta be it. No one's getting up from that." Kwangsoo reacted.

"And the cover now by The Shinister to win the Japan World Championship"

"1...2..."

Taeyang swayed his arm away, lifting his shoulder up to break the count and kick out at two. Shindong sat beside his beatened foe, and maniacally laughs at how Taeyang is determined to hold on and willing to take more pain just so he could submit once and for all under his hellish brute power.

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

Another 5 minutes have passed, Shindong and Taeyang's fight returned to the ring. Taeyang who is now leading the match under his control, is carrying Shindong's body over his shoulder to attempt for a second repeat of his own finisher, a running powerslam.

He ran, turned, jumped and drilled Shindong's body down on the mat. He hooked his leg and the referee began to count. "1...2..." but Shindong kicked out again.

"And if you're Taeyang you're gonna start wondering what the hell do I need to do to keep The Shinister down?" Knight stated as the camera flashes at Taeyang with bloody head muttering something out of rage in which it urged him to hammer fist Shindong's face repeatedly before screaming in anger on his front.

Taeyang rolled out of the ring and slowly walked around the ringside before he noticed something on the floor. A laid out opened toolbox with its contents scattered. He squatted and picked up a sharp object as he stared at it with fascination.

With a cruel idea, he reentered the ring and guards Shindong who is still down. He kneeled  on the vacant space and looked at the sharp object around his hand as he lets out a frightening laugh.

"The hell is Taeyang gonna do with a damn box cutter?" Knight confusedly asked before the answer was thrown at him when Taeyang started to slice through the mat of the ring.

"Taeyang is exposing the wood inside the ring." Kwangsoo replied as Taeyang spreads and tears off the thin foam and the canvas away to make the wood surface visible.

After he finished doing a little work to assist his plans, he turned around only to see a fully recovered Shindong standing and staring intimidatingly at him.

Taeyang immediately charges at Shindong but he catches him, hooking his arm around and squashes him down with a urinagi straight into the exposed ring area.

He wasn't done yet, as the tables suddenly  flipped, Shindong snatches the opportunity where he grabs the critically damaged Taeyang and sets him up again for a Kiss Of Death on the woodened surface in which he did succeed.

"Wait what? The Shinister isn't done yet?" Knight was baffled and even Kwangsoo as they thought Shindong is going to pin Taeyang already but it looks like the monster isn't finished yet with his agenda.

Shindong positioned Taeyang again on his hold, head locked around thd arm for another Kiss Of Death on the wood.

He finally covers Taeyang's completely knock- outed body and the referee counts. "1...2...3."

The bell rang on the signal and the timekeeper handed the world title belt on the referee as the entrance theme of Shindong played across the interior of the arena.

"Here is your winner and the NEW Japan Combat Federation World Champion, "The Shinister" Shin Donghee!!!" ring announcer Song Jihyo yelled into the microphone to declare the win for the brand new victorious champion.

"The Shinister is a champion again." Knight acknowledged Shindong's second world title run after winning it last year in 2019.

"Once more, darkness reigns over the Federation." Kwangsoo said. Shindong snatches the championship belt away from the hands of the referee who is presenting it in front of him.

He slowly rose from his feet and exhaustedly stood to raise his arms up with the belt in his hand to celebrate his another achievement before he sensed something danger coming against him.

He glanced at the side and the entire world went stunned when a familiar person appeared on the scene, tackling Shindong down with an emphatic spear before aggressively punching him in the head.

"What the- who the hell?!"

"You know who the hell is he!"

"OH MY GOD IT'S YUTA NAKAMOTO!!! THE GUARDIAN OF NCTIZEN IS BACK, AND HE'S BEATING THE HELL OUT OF THE NEW WORLD CHAMPION!!!" Knight exclaimed as they keep on witnessing the returning Yuta Nakamoto in action after being on a hiatus for months due to suffering from a virus infection since 2020 was when the pandemic started and spreads out around the globe, affecting all the people in every different countries.

All the fans watching that were visible on the screens provided as a temporary replacement for the arena's set-up during the pandemic were all making the different shapes of reaction to Yuta's return: shock, disapproval, and hype.

"And now he's got his eyes set on The Punisher!" Knight said as Yuta glanced at the weakened Taeyang on the ringside. He rolled out at the other side and starts to run towards at Taeyang to unleash a massive spear into his midsection.

"DID YOU TWO SERIOUSLY FORGOTTEN ABOUT ME?!" Yuta asked, talking to both Shindong and Taeyang who were taken out by him. He looked down at Taeyang laid on his feet. "I MADE YOU! DON'T ACT LIKE YOU'RE THE BIGGEST THREAT AS LONG AS I'M HERE!"

Yuta went to the timekeeper's area and grabbed a steel chair with him which he used to brutally smash it on Taeyang's back and his left arm.

"Yuta Nakamoto is mangling the chair out of the fallen body of Dong Taeyang!" Kwangsoo said.

Yuta threw away the chair bended in half and went back in the ring to set his sight on target at Shindong crawling in fours. He stood at the corner and prepares himself to create another attack on the champion.

"The Shinister, the World Champion has no idea what's going on. He has no idea where he's at. He was blindsided by Nakamoto moments ago." Knight said as they all wait for Shindong to realize the pain he's about to take.

Yuta charged and speared Shindong again for the second time. He stood up and fixed his shirt as he breathes out the effects of the impact he showed tonight.

"Yuta Nakamoto is back with an empathic statement."

Yuta observed something beside the unconscious Shindong. The golden belt in the ground, he grabbed it and admiringly looked at it as he switches his gaze to the current holder of it.

"What is this? You think you can handle the responsibility?" Yuta asks Shindong as he threatens him while holding the belt. "So this is what's all for, huh? No. You're just a freak, out of your mind. I'm the man. I'm the guy, I'm the one."

The show ended with Yuta Nakamoto officially makes his return back in Japan Combat Federation as Shindong's new challenger for the World Championship in which everyone didn't see that coming.

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

AUGUST 28, 2020 | 1 WEEK LATER

The general manager of both main rosters, Monday Night War and Friday Night Knockdown Bang Sihyuk knocks on the door thrice to drew the attention of the occupant inside.

"Yuta, it's me Bang Sihyuk!" he exclaimed. Not having any responses by receiving a "get in!" signal or the door opening for him, Sihyuk had no other choice but to do it by himself, muttering "Alright, then" under his breath.

He entered the locker room, meeting Yuta inside who is organizing his things. "Oh thank God you're here, I was looking for you everywhere."

He opened the folder, showing the paper content inside of it to Yuta. "Here's the official contract for your Triple Threat match at Retribution."

"Let's see this thing."

"I'll show it to you."

Sihyuk handed the ballpen to Yuta but he didn't grabbed it from him. "I'm gonna check this out first with someone. Is that alright?"

"Yeah. Go. Sure, take your time." Sihyuk nodded before he left the locker room. Yuta picks up his phone and made a phone call, informing somebody that he finally received it and got updated in return that "he" is on his way now in the arena.

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

Two matches has passed for tonight's show, Sihyuk decided to check over Yuta regarding the contract signing.

He entered his locker room again, and in his surprise, he recognized a very familar individual sitting beside Yuta on the couch.

"A-are you done, now?" Sihyuk asks Yuta who is reading the contract.

He massaged his chin, pursed his lips and popped it before he speaks. "Let me tell you this, I want you to fix the changes that I need. I assure you right now, I will be on Retribution this Sunday. That is a promise." Yuta said to Sihyuk who is switching looks to him and the other person with them in the room.

"I will be in the Triple Threat match, destroy everyone and vanish. That's a guarantee, and I will win back the World Championship that I never lost in the FIRST PLACE." Yuta added, referring to his previous reign that was unfortunately cut short with regards to his health condition where he was forced to vacate the title as a consequence for taking a time off away from the company.

"And that's not just a prediction..." He turns his head to the side, now his and Sihyuk's attention are both glued at this mysterious person making the general manager distracted. Grinning from ear to ear, he looked back at Sihyuk to end his statement.

"... that's a spoiler."

The camera's frame widens, revealing the identity of the man, who is none other than one of the most legendary managers in pro-wrestling and combat entertainment history who held many iconic fighters that ever stepped foot in the industry, Park Jinyoung.

He leans forward to make his words clearer to hear for Sihyuk. "Believe. That."

Him and Yuta looked at each other with an interesting smirk as they nod their heads, teasing everyone who is watching at their homes about their newly formed affiliation.

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

AUGUST 30, 2020 | 2 DAYS LATER

Japan Combat Federation held their Retribution pay-per-view in Hokkaido. The show's main-event features the Triple Threat match which includes the rivals Dong Taeyang, "The Shinister" Shin Donghee, and Yuta Nakamoto who is making his first match since his months-length of absence.

Strangely enough, the match started with only Taeyang and Shindong present in the ring when the referee signalled for the bell to rang immediately as Taeyang plowed Shindong to the back of his neck while he was performing his entrance in the ring.

They forgot about Yuta supposedly to be included also in the match, and it proceeded instead with only Taeyang and Shindong fighting each other off for the World Championship.

"Taeyang going after at The Shinister, still upset after what happened last week."

Taeyang ran through Shindong and collided his body on him at the corner before lifting him all over and slam him down on the mat.

He made a quick cover, looking to end the champion earlier than expected. "1...2..." but Shindong kicks out.

Taeyang just laughs at the toughness of Shindong until the latter just stood back up like a possessed madman, only to be caught when Taeyang drives him to the turnbuckle and deliver some right hand shots and headbutts before he tries to splash him again on the corner.

However, Shindong finally manages to prevent the Punisher by blocking him with a crossbody, two heavyweights involved in a collision.

Shindong stalks Taeyang who is groaning in pain. He sets him up for a Kiss of Death and he nailed it. A cover was made "1...2..." but Taeyang kicks out.

Taeyang crawls out of the ring. Shindong pursues the challenger but Taeyang caught him with a choke, then a knee to the stomach and elbow shots at the back. He was about to smash his head on the edge of the ring but Shindong counters, taking his turn to attack with his own hits and returns the attempt back at Taeyang, bouncing his head off at the ring.

The two titans continues to apply pain at ond another. Shindong wraps Taeyang and performs a urinagi slam to him right through the announce table as it exploded on the impact.

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

Their grueling and intense fight created a slightly similar feel to their match back at Superslam when both of them were now brawling at each other around the ring.

Shindong punches Taeyang on the stomach and sets him up again for another Kiss Of Death but on the steel ramp this time but Taeyang was able to block him with a headbutt to the forehead, escaping from his possession.

He punches Shindong on the face. Noticing that he is now standing at the end of the stage, Taeyang did an unbelievable spot by pouncing at Shindong and send theirselves crashing through the tables stacked below.

"We anticipated chaos and destruction, but these two have no bounds." Kwangsoo said.

Taeyang slowly gets off from Shindong's side and continues to hammer his fists around his face. He stands up and leaned at one of the equipment machines for the stages to heavily breath off his exhaustion caused by the ongoing battle.

Afte resting a little, he pulls Shindong's hair upwards and carried him all the way back in the ring.

Taeyang climbs at the top rope, looking to fly and land through Shindong to apply more damage but the immortal-like ability of Shindong assists him to recover eventually and fires an uppercut at Taeyang's face.

Shindong joins Taeyang on the turnbuckles and proceeded to attack him.

"These two entities, these two monsters climbing at the top of the ring."

"There's a great deal of humanity in the ring ropes even though neither of these were close to being a human"

Shindong clutches Taeyang's head around his arm and sets him up on the corner before performing a superplex to the top rope, and in everybody's bewilderment and amusement, the ring collapses at the massive impact it took.

"Oh my goodness, The Shinister has Taeyang in position for a superplex! O-OH MY GOD!"

"WHAT THE HELL! THE RING IMPLODED!" Knight and Kwangsoo reacted in utter awe as they watched the ring bounce and deconstruct. The posts bended, the ropes untangled, the referee was yeeted out of the ring, both fighters down in the destroyed battleground.

The arena then played Yuta's entrance theme, alarming everyone who might've forgotten already that Yuta is still included in the match. "And at this moment, with both men down. Here comes the Guardian of NCTizen, with Park Jinyoung in tow."

Yuta with a steel chair in hand emerged along with Jinyoung holding the contract for him. He took out the ballpen and gave it to Yuta for him to sign the contract.

Yuta starts to march in the ramp with steel chair in his hand as a weapon, completely legal based on the No Holds Barred rules.

He entered the collapsed ring, rolled Shindong around to pin him but he noticed that no referee was present anymore. He commanded one from backstage to get out and substitute.

One listened and runs through the ring to count. "1...2..." It's too late as Shindong kicks out at two, much in Yuta's disbelief.

He shook his head, then proceeded to hook Shindong's leg again for another cover. "1...2..." and a kick out still.

Yuta panics. He decided to switch to Taeyang and cover. "1....2..." but yet also, the Punisher is still holding on to his strength.

He figures out what to do next. He grabs again the steel chair that he left on the ringside and starts smashing it on Taeyang's back repeatedly.

Yuta pins Taeyang again, thinking it might finally work "1...2.." but still, it wasn't enough as Taeyang refuses to stay down.

Yuta confusedly looked at Taeyang and wondering why is he still fighting with everything he can when he knew he's losing the advantage of the match.

He tried to attack Shindong next with a steel chair but it prevented Yuta when he chokes him out with a mandible claw manouvre stuffing his fingers down into Yuta's throat only to receive a low blow on his crotch.

Him enduring the pain sends him rolling out of the ring. Yuta covers his mouth to ease the pain that he felt on that part before ficusing back on the action, setting himself on the corner as he eyed Taeyang slowly getting up back to his knees.

As Taeyang rotates, Yuta engaged a spear to him, putting him down. He covered Taeyang for the third and final time.

"1...2...3."

The referee signalled for the bell and Yuta's entrance theme played. "Here is your winner and the NEW Japan Combat Federation World Champion, Yuta Nakamoto!!!"

Jinyoung laughs and applauds for Yuta on the stage as he watches him being presented by the golden belt. Yuta grabs it and accepts the declaration by the referee to raise his arm in victory.

"Nakamoto regaining the title he never lost." Knight said at the aftermath of the main event.

"Listen, Yuta did exactly what he filed to do but I don't think Yuta even expected it to do this way. It doesn't matter anyway, because we got a brand new World Champion!"

"But wait, Kwangsoo. What about the way Yuta did this? He waited for the opportunity. He walked down here, signed the contract on the way to the ring..."

"...exactly what Yuta said he's going to do. Destroy everyone and vanish."

The show ended with Yuta approaching Jinyoung praising him for his title win, marking the beginning of his historic championship reign in the main roster of Japan Combat Federation.

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

SEPTEMBER 4, 2020 | 5 DAYS LATER

For this week's episode of Friday Night Knockdown, the brand new World Champion Yuta Nakamoto and Park Jinyoung are both scheduled to appear tonight for a segment, to address everyone and explain about their relationship.

Yuta with his golden belt around his shoulder, standing beside Jinyoung with a usual microphone in his hand fitting for his expertise.

"Just when you thought I was out, HE... pulled me back in." Jinyoung starts his speech, pointing his finger at Yuta staring seriously at one of the cameras recording them live.

"Oh please, don't make fools out of yourselves and embarass yourselves pointing your accusatory fingers at me for corrupting him, because I assure you... HE is corrupting ME."

"Let me ask you a question, what happened to the thank yous, the appreciation to all the selfish executive decisions through life-threatening illneses this man has delivered?"

"Let me tell you this one time, so you can get this into your thick unappreciative skulls. Ladies and gentlemen, my name... is Park Jinyoung, and I serve as the special adviser for YOUR Empire Chief, YOUR reigning, defending, undisputed World Heavyweight Champion... Yuta Nakamoto.", Jinyoung said, announcing to everyone his role in Yuta's life while introducing a new side into the man's entire personality.

He handed the microphone to Yuta, while he remained behind and watch him patiently.

"I'm a man of my word." Yuta speaks out his message. "I did exactly what I was about to do in Retribution. I signed the contract, I destroyed Shindong, I destroyed Taeyang and I left as your World Heavyweight Champion."

"At Battle Of The Champions, I don't care who I am gonna face. Monster or man, watch them get enslaughtered by me because THIS IS MY TERRITORY."

"And when you have this kind of power, all you have to do... is show up and win."

After they ended the segment, they walked through the backstage to make their leave on the arena. In the middle of their way, Yuta plastered a grin on his face as he get to crossed paths with one of his cousins, YN Myoui who is clapping his hands loud enthusiastically.

"OH YES SIRRR! LOOK WHO IT IS!" YN shakes hand with Yuta. "WELCOME BACK, THE NEW WORLD CHAMPION!"

He waved at Jinyoung who nodded and smiled at him. "Oh man, you really made our family proud! Yo, I've been texting you for a whole week, man. What were you up to?"

"I'm sorry, man. I was busy, alright?"

He commanded Jinyoung to go first and prepare the car for him.

"Can I ask you something, man?"

"What is it?"

"What's with you and JYP?" He asked intriguingly with a mix of doubt in his tone. "After all he'd put you in, bro? You trust him?"

"Wait, don't worry. I know, okay. I got it under control", Yuta calms down YN, understanding his point knowing that Jinyiung has been once a manager of some of his previous best rivals throughout his career.

"Everything is all in line, just let me handle this okay?"

"If you need somebody to watch your back, you know I got you. Always."

"I know. I love you, man but I have to go." Yuta bid his farewell to his cousin who still has a match upcoming for tonight.

"Okay. See ya!" He watches Yuta walk away, but he just remembered something when Yuta was already quite far away from him already."

"Wait, yo! Wanna grab some steak with me after the show ends?"

As expected, Yuta couldn't hear his invitation anymore.

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

Jinyoung received a notification from his phone while he is in the middle of driving.

He tapped the screen to check, the information displayed on it.

As he quickly reads it to maintain his focus more on the road, he blinked his eyes rapidly when he understood what the update is sharing.

"Uhm, sir..." he called at Yuta who is busy playing a game on his phone.

"What?"

"Did you know that YN had a match earlier tonight?"

"No." Yuta answered. "He did?"

"Yes sir."

"What's the match and the result?"

Jinyoung cleared his throat before speaking as he wasn't sure what his Empire Chief would feel about this.

"Mr. Sihyuk organized a Fatal 4-Way match earlier with the winner to be the number one contender and your first challenger for your World Championship at Battle Of The Champions-

"Yeah, I knew that he will." Yuta replied, interrupting his sentence. He then furrowed his eyebrows and paused the game. "Wait, so YN is in the match?"

"Y-Yes, sir...

... and he won the match too."

Yuta slowly raised his head and stared at the reflection of the nervous Jinyoung in the rearview mirror as his reaction to the unexpected information that was given to him.

[literalgrill]

Zom 100: Truly Living Despite A Pandemic

Does Zom: 100 Bucket List of the Dead have a bad message for the Covid conscious, or is there more below the surface? Let's find out together! This is my first ever video essay, so I hope you enjoy! If you like reading instead of watching stuff, this is available over on my blog. Or you can find it by keeping on reading below!

[SPOILERS For Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead]

[CW: Alcohol and Ableism]

As an immunocompromised person living through the pandemic with a severe distaste for capitalism, I’ve had complicated feelings watching Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead. The anime’s premise was brilliantly simple. Office worker Akira Tendo has spent three years having the life crushed out of him by an abusive company to the point where he feels like a literal zombie apocalypse would be “heaven” compared to going into the office. Then literally the next day, waves of zombies start overwhelming the world and he makes the choice to seize the day and live his happiest life. The show really caught my eye the moment where color literally returns to Akira's life as he realizes he is truly free from the shackles of capitalism. It was a masterful moment of animation in a show that was already visually stunning.  

By the final moments of episode one when Akira writes “100 things I want to do before becoming a zombie” on that notebook I was caught hook, line, and sinker, just like so many others who were on the edge of their seats waiting for the next episode to drop. I was thinking that it might even be a serious contender for anime of the year.

But then episode two introduces one of the most powerful philosophical conflicts of the series. Akira wants to “loaf around and drink beer all day” but to do that, he has to risk his life going to a convenience store to get the beer in the first place. Upon arriving there he meets Shizuka Mikazuki, a woman clearly taking the risk of being zombified extremely seriously. When Akira asks for her contact information, she denies him while admonishing his behavior. “I can’t see myself teaming up with someone who doesn’t know how to analyze risk. I’d prefer not to lower my chances of survival.”

At this point, I began to notice an all too familiar feeling of panic and dismay gnawing at the corners of my heart but I couldn’t quite pinpoint why. So I pushed it aside for the moment to continue the episode. After Akira gets home, he sees that a couple he had run into that morning didn’t make it. He sits down, drinks his beer, and says the lines that finally made everything click.

“We could die today… Or we could die 60 years from now. Either way, there’s never enough time to do all the things we want. Life’s too short to avoid taking risks… If I have to go on living without doing the things I want to do, I would rather be eaten by zombies.” 

As those subtitles ran across the screen, all I could hear was a cacophony of voices in my head. “Covid is not going away, you have to live your life.” “Why are you still afraid?” “People can do what they want but I’m not changing my life.” “I won’t live in fear of Covid.” All of those words are things every Covid cautious person is tired of hearing and could easily be summarized into what Akira was saying. To the people with this mindset, life is too short to avoid taking risks and if they have to go on living without doing the things they want to do, they would rather risk death or severe health issues to return to the “new normal.”

For someone in a high risk category that could die if they catch COVID-19, it’s one thing to hear words like this from right wing trolls online, but it’s another to hear these words from friends you have held close for years as they decide maintaining that friendship isn’t worth it because of your safety needs. But when your own family, hell, your own mother, the woman who literally birthed you, the parent you were always told would unconditionally love you, decides that not wearing a mask on her face is more important than keeping her literal child and those like her from death or devastating health conditions? From personal experience, that last one will break your heart in ways that are irreparable. 

Hearing what seemed like similar sentiments from Akira, a character I had begun rooting for and identifying with, stung. I was already shaken from that moment alone, but the episode wouldn’t make things any easier. In its second half we get to see the entire situation from Shizuka’s point of view. We see Shizuka eying a sakura mochi at the convenience store but she chooses not to bring it home as it would go against her survival plans which include minimizing her sugar intake. She looks over some footage from a camera she had set up for safety and sees just how excited Akira was to get his beer. She then remarks:

“Who knew a single beer could make someone that happy in a state of emergency? Oh well… Maybe I should have grabbed that sakura mochi after all…”  The show then pans over her computer screen with a list that reads: 100 Things To Do To Avoid Becoming A Zombie.

This does not mean Shizuka is meant to be an antagonist. At this juncture of the story, she serves as a juxtaposition to Akira’s beliefs as the protagonist. But the series is already making it clear that Shizuka’s desire to only focus on what keeps her safe makes her wrong, that the “hero” of the story is right, and that even Shizuka is starting to agree with him, just a little bit. It is made clear by the show that we’re supposed to agree with Akira, our protagonist, and what he believes.

Everyone who continues to take precautions to keep themselves and others safe from COVID-19 has asked themselves a similar question: At what point is keeping this level of isolation and safety depriving me from living a fulfilling life? We see people go to massive conventions to interact with communities they care about in ways we cannot safely do. We have to watch friends and families gather for holidays while leaving us out. We must continue to exist in a society that shows all signs of not valuing our participation within it.

It is not an exaggeration to say that this series has been weighing heavily on me ever since I saw the second episode. How much I agreed with Akira’s philosophy had a vice grip on my mind. Those who know me personally are keenly aware of all the wild adventures I’ve had in my life, how I have fought so hard to have unique experiences that leave fantastic stories to tell in their wake. As corny as it sounds, the words Carpe Diem have been a driving force of my life ever since I first heard them in Dead Poets Society years ago as a young teen. So by being Covid conscious, am I betraying my ideals? Were those people right? Am I wasting my one chance at life by being afraid for my health? By wanting to protect others? These are the kinds of questions that I’ve been constantly turning over in my head ever since seeing that episode.

It would have been easy to drop the series here, to ignore this inner turmoil brewing, but I’m glad I didn’t turn away and kept watching because the show has a lot more to say than this simple black and white reading of its themes. 

Fast forward to episode 5 when Akira is trying to fulfill another part of his bucket list, remembering his childhood dream, which turns out to be that he wanted to become a superhero. “To fight danger and save those in need in a kickass costume, without a reward… A hero of justice who saves people from zombies.” 

Akira and his best friend Kencho head towards the aquarium to find a shark suit to keep him safe from zombie bites, allowing Akira to become the ultimate superhero. Nearby, a group of people trying to get to the harbor have their bus stopped and are suddenly overwhelmed by zombies. Akira jumps in to save a girl before the zombies maul her, and helps lead the group running by to safety. A group that just so happens to have Shizuka among their number.

Akira tries to use this moment of heroism to talk to Shizuka when everyone is safe, but gets shot down for his antics right away. While she doesn’t deny that he saved people, she points out he made a major mistake when she asks Akira, “Did you consider the danger to those truly important to you when you leaped into action to mollify your low self esteem?” While the rest of Shizuka’s arguments are played off comedically as being argumentative, even Akira admits that she’s right on this point, that his efforts at being a hero put his best friend Kencho in danger. He acknowledges in that moment that there might be more to completing his bucket list than just selfishly fulfilling his own desires. It is his turn to accept that Shizuka’s philosophy might be worth considering too.

This complicating of Akira’s philosophy is examined even further as a wildly terrifying zombie shark with legs begins chasing after everyone Akira just saved by ushering them into the aquarium. It’s only through Shizuka’s knowledge of the aquarium, which she gained by studying its maps, that most of the group is able to get away safely. In fact, the theme that selfishly only caring about your own wants and desires being bad is hammered home even harder when a woman shoves Shizuka to the ground, ensuring her own safety while leaving Shizuka to die, which is portrayed as a villainous act. The woman is shown chanting to herself, “It’s not my fault, it’s not my fault.” Many have heard similar words hurled at them when asking if people feel responsible for the deaths that could have been easily prevented by taking precautions against COVID-19. Those people refuse to believe it’s their fault in any way that people are dead or are being left to die. The symbolism of this moment and how it reflects real life mindsets should not be lost on the viewer.

Later in the episode when Shizuka questions why Akira would selflessly save her, he blows her away with his response. “When you’re hungry, you want to eat your fill. If you see a cute girl you try to get to know her. If I see someone who needs help, I want to be a hero.” Up until this point, Shizuka herself has also been quite selfish, only focusing on what gives her the best chances of surviving without thinking of anyone else. Even now she’s still questioning how she feels. “If you die, it’s all over. Why do you go so far to go straight for the things you want to do?” Once more, Shizuka proves her skills in analysis and risk management have their purpose as she scrapes together a plan to save them both. And she realizes it’s a long shot and asks Akira if he wants to risk it. She is making sure that unlike how he treated his friend Kencho earlier, that Akira has a choice.

In the end, the day is saved. Akira, Kencho, and Shizuka are walking away from the aquarium. She admonishes Akira once more for putting Kencho at risk, and Akira apologizes to Kencho, bringing the point about people consenting to the risks presented in their lives back to the forefront once again. But Shizuka, starting to warm up to Akira, finally gives him her contact information. In the next episode, Shizuka runs into Akira and Kencho once more. She wants to find a place that’s safe and sustainable, if such a place exists. Akira and Kencho want to head back to Akira’s hometown, Kanto’s best kept secret: Gunma. Since their interests align and they all had the same idea that using an RV would be the best way to manage long distance travel, they pick an RV out and start traveling together.

This plan literally hits some spike strips when it turns out Akira’s former abusive supervisor has started a colony of people that takes advantage of travelers to exploit their labor. Once again, someone selfishly serving only their own interests is presented as the villain. Hell, this very evil supervisor gets angry at Akira for trying to chill some beers as something kind to do for everyone. The good guy tries to help everyone around him, the bad guy only cares about himself and his own comfort. The show is drilling this theme home hard.

Akira falls into his old pre-zombie life habits due to the abuse coming from his supervisor and ends up being convinced he might actually want to just stay and keep working there instead of fulfilling his own dreams. He is once again saved by Shizuka with a rousing speech. She proclaims how it was Akira who opened her eyes and made her want to live for her own desires and not simply fold over to do what others want from her. Things then take a sharp turn as zombies accidentally are let loose and everyone runs around in a panic. Several people climb onto the tops of trucks, desperately trying to keep alive. Akira sees his old supervisor being chased by zombies. He could simply leave him to die. He could take his friends and try to find a way to escape alone. But he refuses to do any of that and saves everybody he can, even his horrible supervisor. “Standing by while someone’s about to be eaten by zombies isn’t on my bucket list.”

They manage to burn the zombies into a crisp due to Akira’s wild plan to corral the zombies around a food truck before lighting the natural gas inside of it, causing a massive explosion. Then he and Shizuka have this exchange. “Honestly, you’re always doing something crazy.”

“It wasn’t that great.”

“I wasn’t giving you a compliment”

They both laugh, making this moment stick out to me as well. At this point, the show has repeatedly shown that Shizuka’s point of view of wanting to focus on survival isn’t necessarily wrong, that having those ideas to balance out Akira simply jumping into situations thoughtlessly not only keeps him alive, but enables the entire trio to keep doing the things that make them happy. The show repeatedly also condemns those who do things purely for themselves, painting those that are selfish in that way as obvious villains. Zom 100 as a show does not agree with the thinking of people who are giving up any attempts at keeping others safe, selfishly pretending like life is “back to normal” when it’s not. The show has made it abundantly clear that while it is important to do what makes you happy, it should not come at the expense of others. That if risks have to be taken, we should all be allowed to consent to those risks, not having those choices taken away from us by the selfishness of others. That even doing things to stay safe, survive, and protect others, is something we should actively be doing as it brings joy to our lives as well as theirs.

The trio eventually makes it to Akira’s hometown, picking up a new friend to travel with them while having exciting adventures along the way. Gunma houses a group of people doing their best to bring others in, keep them safe, and foster a healthy sustainable community despite the dangers around them. This is the kind of thing COVID conscious people have dreamed of with plenty of them joking about the idea of somehow having a town and moving everyone there to form a community of people actively looking out for and caring about each other. 

Gunma is upheld as the best of what we as humans can do for each other in the middle of a crisis. It reminds me of how at the beginning of all of this, people banded together to help one another, supported essential workers and those in healthcare, began serious discussions about universal healthcare, and more. How for one huge moment, despite the horrors taking place around us, hope swelled for the chance at a brighter future.

The villains of this arc are people who were outcasts in pre-zombie society that are set on getting revenge in some way by letting zombies into Gunma which would destroy the beautiful community being built. And that is where the series abruptly left us after episode 9, going into a hiatus due to production issues. I’m writing, recording, and editing this as the CDC warns we might once again be forced to ration care to those who are sick. As 15,000 people per week are hospitalized due to COVID-19 in the United States with 1000 of them dying weekly. In a world where every one in five adults reports having long covid. All of this devastation is taking place in one country alone, the numbers become even worse when viewed globally. 

These thoughts and world events have all been swirling in my head while waiting for Zom 100 to hopefully return triumphantly from its hiatus and finally air episode 10. It is not lost on me that this series has had massive production issues in an era where shows like Uncle From Another World and NieR: Automata Ver1.1a both faced production issues due to COVID-19. Was COVID-19 a reason why Zom 100 was delayed? We may never know because if you look at the comments online to NieR: Automata’s announcement in particular, you can see just how many people said COVID was not a reasonable excuse. People selfishly saying their personal entertainment is more important than others being permanently disabled or even outright killed certainly puts that line of, “If I have to go on living without doing the things I want to do, I would rather be eaten by zombies” in a whole new context. 

But that very cliffhanger the show has been hanging on is exactly like the precipice we find ourselves upon as we face this ongoing pandemic. I have not read the manga for Zom 100 and thus do not know how this arc will end, just as I am unsure what the future holds in the real world. I know what I hope to see happen in the story. I hope Akira and the gang will selflessly swoop in and do all they can to protect those they love, the community in Gunma, and all it stands for. 

However, I cannot control how Zom 100’s story will conclude just as I cannot control the actions of others regarding the pandemic. It is entirely possible this arc will end in such a way that leaves me with even more complex feelings and questions to tackle than ever before, just as the pandemic has left me questioning all I knew about the innate kindness of people while witnessing how I and others like me have been treated throughout it.

But right now, I want to believe in the indomitable empathy and kindness I know humanity is capable of. I want to believe if we all work together, we will prevail over those who selfishly wish to put their own wants above all else. I will choose to continue doing my best to protect myself and others while building community because that is what truly makes me happy, just like Akira would want me to. Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead has shown me how one person can inspire others to make great changes in their life to truly find happiness. I can only hope my words will inspire you the same way.

[livvyofthelake]

there are like only three real contenders for winning dwts this season and to be honest i finally watched this week’s episode and genuinely skipped over everyone else… actually not true i watched jenn tran she’s not bad! and the bachelor guy isn’t horrible either but who even cares this mirrorball trophy is ilona, stephen, or chandler’s to win let’s take this seriously. and i would honestly be fine with any of them winning this is fortunately not a repeat of season 27 where i still feel a rage in my soul when i’m in my moms car and she has her radio on and i hear anything to do with bobby bones…. i’m still praying on that man’s downfall it’s beyond serious that shit was RIGGED! justice for milo manheim! anyway. i don’t think chandler will win because while she has the judges scores and is clearly the best dancer on the show i don’t feel like she has the popular vote in the bag especially since in olympic years people tend to watch the show for the olympians and vote for them so it feels like the real contest is between ilona and stephen. i don’t think ilona is as good a dancer but i know she’s gonna make it super far because she HAS the popularity and she’s really good enough at dancing to coast through and also people like alan he’s one of the better pros on the show rn (i personally would not describe brandon that way sorry chandler they gave you a mid one. i mean he’s not a bad pro he’s just not one of the elites. he could never be the next derek hough. alan could be the next derek hough if he tried… ok i’m biased for alan he danced with hannah brown a few seasons back and they won and it was beautiful and i loved it SORRY for being an alan girl…) meanwhile stephen is a pretty great dancer AND has the popularity so i kinda think he’s gonna win it. which will be a loss for me as a chandler kinney fan but hey i like stephen too and rylee is one of my favorite pros so i’d love to see her get a win on her second season (rylee is one of my favorites entirely due to nepotism btw… this is the first time i’ve seen her on the show but she’s literally lindsey arnold’s sister… i fucking LOVED lindsey when she was on…) anyway. rip anna delvey you came you gave nothing and you got eliminated week two. slay

[ash-and-books]

Rating: 1/5

Book Blurb:

Formula One meets The Hating Game in this rivals-to-lovers romance between a legacy driver and F1’s first woman driver

Diana Zahrani is Formula One’s first female racing driver this century. All the other drivers are told to race carefully around her, and leave her to her real job: being a pretty face and good advertising for a hypermasculine sport. But Diana’s not worked this hard her whole life just to be a mascot.

World Championship favourite Miguel de la Fuente is not taking any rookie seriously, let alone a woman. With his first championship win looming, all he has to do is stay focused – and make sure Diana stays out of his way.

But motorsports is a small world, and as Diana and Miguel race their way through the season, they’re forced to face each other again and again. When sparks fly, Miguel and Diana must decide for the sake of their teams where their priorities lie: on track, with the championship, or offtrack, with each other…

Esha Patel previously published a book with these characters under this title – this is a completely rewritten title

Review:

Formula One Romance in this slow burn rivals-to-lovers between a legacy driver and F1's first woman driver. Diana Zahrani is Formula One's first female driver this century and she's out to prove she's more than just a pretty face but a serious contender. Miguel de la Fuente is the World Championship favorite and is desperate to get his first world championship and he definitely doesn't need a rookie, let alone a woman get in his way. Yet as Miguel and Diana spend more time together sparks begin to fly both on the track and off. Can two competing drivers make a romance work when they both want to win? As a huge F1 fan I can never resist an F1 romance book, and this one deals with a lot of pretty relevant issues in the industry when it comes to the representation of women in it. However this one also had a lot of issues for me, from pacing, lack of romantic chemistry, to just being a book that could hook me in. While I definitely see the author's love of F1 in this book I was actually failing to see an actual romance in this book. I just never found myself all that invested in the romance and couldn't feel the chemistry between these two characters who had so much promise. The premise sounded absolutely delicious but the execution was lackluster unfortunately. This one just felt like a miss when it could have been my next favorite book. While this one was a miss for me I definitely do still think fans of motorsports and F1 should give this one a go!

Release Date: September 24,2024

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and Harper 360 | Avon for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

[bitterrobin]

1,8,13 for the hate ask game 💃💃

a character everyone gets wrong -- The character I'd say that everyone truly gets wrong is Talia. With the exception of dedicated Talia fans and certain Damian or Bruce fans, pretty much everyone in wider fandom has some kind of negative view on her. If its not about Talia's relationship with Bruce, then its about her relationship with Damian. People will pop up with "Talia's a rapist!" Technically, yes, but that got retconned years ago and the writer admitted their own mistakes. Even then, why are you so adamant that Talia, historically one of few Arab/Asian characters in DC to be at least morally grey and portrayed positively romantically with a main hero, be immediately villainized based on the work of a single author? And then, there are also Damian fans who still swear by "Talia's an abusive mother!" when if her character wasn't so butchered, drawn and quartered by DC writers she would never treat Damian that badly? (Much less have a child raised in the League??) I've noticed some fans will stab at any flaw of the mother and dismiss the flaws of the father - it doesn't just happen w Talia it happens with almost every mother in Batman adjacent fandom. Talia, Janet --and then Bruce's clear flaws are ignored or explained away, Jack's actual present involvement in raising Tim is either dismissed or also turned up to eleven. I should stop here before this gets any longer lmao. There's more succinct and well-read Talia stans out there who carry the same complaints.

8. common fandom opinion everyone is wrong about -- A lot of misconceptions float around the fandom its hard to just choose one. But "Dick sent __ to Arkham!" and "Damian aggressively tries to kill Tim every chance he gets" are the worst contenders. No, SpongeBob, Dick didn't send Tim to Arkham, he was trying to get Tim to see a therapist. No, SpongeBob, Dick didn't sent Jason to Arkham, Jason got arrested by the GCPD and put there by them. No, SpongeBob, Damian doesn't feed Tim rat poison every day and try to slice his head off every hour, Damian's only seriously attacked Tim (in the Reborn 2009-2011 era) twice. Once, in his introduction where Damian was clearly set up as a nothing-character who wouldn't appear again until Morrison decided to project their "child of divorce" arc onto him. Again, the line cutting in Red Robin, when Damian was retaliating for something Tim did against him. Was it justified? No. But people really portray Damian as a child psychopath over these incidents. Some Tim-fan's genuine hatred seeps into their fics and become laughably awful to the point Tim doesn't seem like a sympathetic character anymore. And yes, Tim may be insecure and grieving but guess who also was??? Damian, who also lost his father and doesn't know where he fits into the family. Is it so hard to admit that Tim and Damian were equally bad to each other, and there is no side to take? Is it so hard to admit that Dick was also dealing with serious shit, also lost his father, and he couldn't make the "right decisions" for everyone? I feel like I have to get on a megaphone and yell "EVERYONE WAS GRIEVING AND TERRIBLE! THERE IS NO RIGHT OPINION OR OPTION THAT WOULD SAVE THEM!"

13. worst blorbofication -- *siiiigh* Objectively speaking, every character gets blorbofied, not even my fellow Damian fans are exempt from this. But the absolute worst offenders are of course, Tim and Jason and occasionally, Dick. They do get blorbofied for different reasons and in different ways though, which I'll admit does affect my opinions for each of them and their fans. Tim gets blorbofied to hell and back because its easy. Thats it. The longest running Robin has tons of fodder to explore, and I get it. Tim is easy to warp into whump mode, but that doesn't mean I'll turn a blind eye to how utterly fucked over everyone else has to get in order to get Tim to that state. You can explore Tim's terrible moments in life without making everyone the villain. Jason gets blorbofied in two ways: the struggles of his childhood and the ever-present specter of UTRH. Jason's fodder for whump is basically singular - its his death/resurrection and rarely anything else, maybe his parents if a fan's feeling bad about it. I get it, again, Jason's narrative is interesting to explore. Some fans just delve too deep into justifying all of Jason's feelings and actions and shoving Bruce into the "terrible dad/mourner" machine that I've grown apathetic to it. We get it, Jason's death was terrible and Bruce is terrible for moving on like a normal person would /s. Finally, Dick is a strange case. Ive seen more fans of other characters blorbofy Dick than actual Dick fans. I think this mostly because Dick's sources of trauma have been widely explored and agreed upon, or at least his history is so expansive that the fandom just doesn't get into it (cough the non-comic readers cough). Frankly I don't have major issues with Dick whump, just that it sometimes weirdly centers other character than actually around Dick. Tarantula/the multiple incidents of SA/Bludhaven getting nuked/Dick's subsequent mental breakdown always seems to get explored in terms of "how will these characters react to it?" rather than how does Dick feel about it? It bothers me when fics veer into "and Jason is a good brother/good arbiter of justice because he kills the rapist and everyone is fine with it and everyone clapped" when Dick canonically would just feel even worse about it if that happened. The scenario is set up to justify Jason's philosophy and history, and again, no one cares what Dick would really want. I actually think that's the only instance where Dick gets blorbofied in fics, correct me if i'm wrong, and its at his own detriment. I've read Dick being weirdly wrong or mean to other characters than fics where people are exaggeratedly mean to him.

(ask q's from here)

[silver-wield]

some parts of me wish Johnny was a more established serious contender for Tifa's heart like he has more screen time lol. I'm kinda wondering if ill see takes like if tifa wasn't into cloud she'll develop well with johnny. Or Tifa's jealous of johnny's gf. Or tifa doesn't explore her options. Doesn't really matter that despite being kind with him he does blow him off and never treats him the way she treats cloud. But like who cares, he's there, flirting with tifa. Never mind the non existent chemistry but sure sure.

Sigh. Tifa's like the most beautiful girl in this game but not a single seriously written contender? But zack has cissnei crushing on him and she's so much better than that walking red flag.

I'm grateful our guy is a serious dude with tifa and isn't an asshole at all. His love for tifa is equal to that of hers. Destructive but Resilient and Strong. Loyal and Unwavering. Moving and Unchanging. All those beautiful stuff. It's incredible coming from a demisexual btw. How this guy is never attracted to anybody else like she does. I don't care what others say, i know the truth. They can all go have their Rancid version of him, we'll be here taking the Gold that is Canon.

Tifa doesn't like him like that.

Idky she has to settle for an idiot like johnny because he likes her. It's the same as when aertis get all pissy and say aerith is Tifa's gf and better than anyone when aerith is ugly af and tifa could have someone much better and less toxic.

Tifa can have her pick of anyone, male or female. She doesn't have to settle for losers.

[anhed-nia]

Spoilers be here

The more I think about this movie the less I like it. Under the veneer of competence and sentimentality there may be nothing but a gimmick, and it's an old gimmick too: "What if we made a zombie movie but with REAL human drama instead of all that horror bullshit?" It feels like someone has to ask this question every few years and everybody treats it like it's a really novel idea, even though George Romero was immediately doing Real Human Drama when he invented the zombie subgenre as we know it, and he never stopped. I'm not really doing any kind of good or responsible film analysis here, I'm just venting about this personal pet peeve that won't die (ahem). But this is why I didn't like The Walking Dead (comic or show), because of all this posturing on the part of BOTH the writers and their audiences suggesting that it was really brave and sophisticated of them to have psychological realism and character deaths, and to say "This is NOT a story about scary monsters, it's REALLY about human nature etc" when they're really just imitating what Romero perfected decades earlier. And I mean it would be foolish to insist on originality in any case, but your familiar, derivative thing still needs to be good, it's not enough to just be very serious and self-satisfied. I'm not so sure that HANDLING THE UNDEAD is anything more than just very satisfied with its own seriousness.

Another thing I don't like so much here is also a reoccurring issue in modern horror cinema, and it is also supposed to confer instant sophistication onto a film without the hassle of good writing: that thing of being deliberately ambiguous with your story. I happen to have a very high tolerance for this, in fact I am less tolerant of movies that bend over backwards to rationalize and explain themselves; I mean film is a visual and atmospheric medium, you should be able to tell me a complete story without trying to convince me that it happened in real life. But if you're going to do that thing where some facts are deliberately left in shadow and there are no easy answers etc, there should be a real motivation for it other than just trying to seem smart and artsy. Like in TROUBLE EVERY DAY, which feels like it has about twelve lines of dialog, you don't need any more information than what you get in order to feel fully involved with the story, and in fact more information might have just made the film feel bloated and defensive. But some filmmakers seem like they've decided to be withholding as a stylistic gesture--like they're doing it because they saw Claire Denis (or someone) do it. They don't know why Denis does it, they're just jealous of that bewitching power she has, so they're going to leave stuff out too. But if you don't know what you're doing, this can be really detrimental, for instance:

Some of the characters in HANDLING THE UNDEAD have some sort of troubled past that is not explained. An angsty young burnout doesn't resolve whatever-the-problem-is with her mother before the mom gets zombified, and this is supposed to make their situation extra fraught...but in reality the conclusions are all the same as with all the other characters, "It's really sad when someone dies, you can never go home again, etc." Meanwhile in another segment a woman and her father contend with the re-animation of her five year old son, which raises huge questions not the least of which is "How does a five year old die?" I mean this isn't the dark ages, they don't just expire from obscure weaknesses. And there's this unexplained enmity between the woman and her father, and it's impossible to tell if they're just "dealing with grief differently" or if one of them is specifically culpable in the child's death or what...but once again none of this impacts the answer to the movie's central question, once again it all just boils down to "It's really sad when someone dies." Which frankly is something that nobody really needs to be told. But I think if you propose but refuse to answer a question that is way more intriguing than the central question that you do answer, then that's a big problem and you should rethink why you're doing things the way you're doing them. The End.

HANDLING OF THE UNDEAD (Hanteringen av odöda)

There's a certain common experience of comic awkwardness--actually there's even a Mr. Show sketch about it, if I remember correctly--where, after bidding a sincere farewell to someone at the end of an enjoyable night out, you make the unfortunate realization that you're both walking the same way home. Emotionally you are both somewhere else now, "the night" is conceptually over, and now you're trapped together without a script. Although Thea Hvistendahl's feature debut HANDLING THE UNDEAD probably has nothing else in common with Mr. Show, they both ask this same basic question about closure and the persistence of the past. The film concerns three families of the recently re-animated; there's a sort of will they/won't they tension regarding the obvious question of whether these zombies will behave in the traditional manner, but the focus is more strongly on the emotional problem of accepting that things will never again be as they once were.

I think this film is really going to do it for modern horror fans who have come to expect direct explorations of tough topics like grief and trauma. For me personally, I found it highly competent, but a little flat; yes, it is sad, it is VERY sad, it is VERY, VERY SAD, and what more can one really expect? At my screening director Hvistendahl was available for questions, and she candidly confessed that she didn't have any personal experiences with grief to which she could refer--a fact that had no impact on the amount of sniffling in the audience. She inherited the project from others, after a few false starts over the last decade; it is adapted from a novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist, better known for LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, and the writer really did have a powerful reference point for grief. According to Hvistendahl his father was literally defaced in a hideous boating accident and, despite the warnings of morgue workers, he insisted on viewing the body. The filmmaker says that her own reference points lay outside her life; that she drew inspiration from others who'd had closer encounters with death.

Personally, I started thinking about people I've known who died early in the film, and then I just couldn't stop. I wondered what would happen if various people came back. The basic assumption might be that it's usually desirable to have somebody back, if you missed them. But I feel like things are likely to be more complicated, especially if the living have already gone some distance through the grieving process--potentially accessing feelings that were too hard to face during the deceased's lifetime.

I thought about a much-admired friend, somebody who was kind of my hero and who was adored by everyone who knew her, who killed herself. The main initial reaction among her closest loved ones was rage. People were so, SO angry with her for leaving them, or not allowing them to save her, or maybe for forcing them to feel as sad and lonely as she felt, or for whatever other things seem to piss people off so much about suicide. I don't know what would happen if she came back to life. I mean probably a lot of people would lay down their arms and try to be grateful, but who knows. That kind of really personal anger can be hard to come back from.

I also thought about a couple I know well, the wife was extremely well-loved by many people, all of whom were devastated when she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. The painful, protracted illness made the loss all the more awful, and it fell to her surviving family members to preserve and sort of reenact her memory for everyone else. But the reality was that things were not so perfect at home--not to suggest anything really dark, but the couple would have been divorced had she survived. So then she died and her widower was left holding the proverbial bag; he could never have the personal satisfaction of separating from someone who was not right for him, and criticizing her would be unthinkable. If she came back to life...sure, they might divorce, but it's just as likely that he would suffer public pressure to honor and keep her in a more extreme way than usual for the rest of his life.

Finally I thought about a friend of mine who was murdered. I watch a lot of slasher movies, and whenever I hear the criticism that horror lovers must all be desensitized or delusional about real violence, I think about this person who was senselessly killed by a random psychopath at her sister's wedding. It shattered our circle of friends and I cannot imagine what it did to her family, especially her sister. I mean even if they were to do another wedding, it would be impossible not to think of the murder the second time. It would be permanently associated with the new couple. It's hard to even wrap your mind around all the effects of this event. In this case--setting aside the problems of zombies, which I have left out of my meditation--I can only think that having my friend back really would fix things for everyone.

So maybe ultimately I'm saying that HANDLING THE UNDEAD would be a more interesting movie if the losses in it were a bit more complicated in some way. However, I can't ask one film to be all things to all people, and surprise is a particularly difficult thing to achieve. But if you like John Ajvide Lindqvist and you want to be surprised, I strongly advise you to watch BORDER. You will see some stuff in there that you will never see anywhere else in your life, and it probably won't bum you out too much.

[blackandwhlteaesthetlc]

I really feel like opening weekend is almost all it’s going to get in total. And I do wonder if it’ll actually hit that projected target of 21. I just don’t see it bringing in much more than this initial fan run and views from curiosity seekers. Whatever it makes, I wouldn’t deem it a success in any way. It’s made a shitty laughingstock of everyone but basically Flo (And the support cast because even the director ignored them).

Totally agree, anon. I think that’s the general consensus from those of us that are looking at these particular stats.

And oof, you’re not kidding with your last point. I can’t imagine Warner Bros will consider this a success considering how deep in the hole they are right now. From a financial stand point, even breaking even on the original budget looks like a bust.

For the cast themselves, no. Olivia has completely discredited herself as a Director. Her next film would have to be 100% devoid of any personal tabloid fodder and basically be a Scorsese-level Oscar contender for her to find any sort of redemption as a viable Filmmaker. This is how it is for women in a Hollywood to be taken seriously anyway and she short herself in the foot because she’s 1. addicted to the paparazzi and 2. lacks the actual creative talent or drive to deliver something like that. She’s fucked there. She’s welcome prove me wrong though (she won’t).

Harry’s acting skills have been mocked mercilessly, he’s been labeled a queer-baiting home wrecker, and is still very publicly affiliated with a proven liar (the Shia video should’ve been the end, jfc). The general public feels validated in their assessment of him. He’s also gonna have to give a performance that’s basically Oscar worthy in his next role if he wants to continue to take on serious, complex characters. Unfortunately he doesn’t do that in My Policeman and a Marvel movie won’t cut it either. So the next project is going to have to be chosen VERY carefully. And again, he’s gonna need to stay out of the tabloids for anyone to take him seriously. If he continues to be connected to Olivia, that’s never gonna happen because again…She can’t help herself.

Florence Pugh is definitely the winner here. She has her next film debuting on Netflix later this year (The Wonder, which also debuted at TIFF) and already got great reviews for it. But her performance in DWD wasn’t panned by critics anyway so yes, she’s fine.

Maybe it’s a blessing for the rest of the cast that they were essentially ignored. Kiki Layne posted today:

But gave nothing to DWD. I think Gemma Chan posted the same IG story Harry posted but not much else. And who can blame them?