#can’t you feel the terrible ominous vibes coming off of my person

[imanes]

nothing I hate more than excuses like I heard you I still don’t give a fuck since people never learn from their mistakes around here so what are we going to do?? also why did this bitch sit next to me on a HALF EMPTY BUS. There are 17 empty seats where she could’ve sat. Let me be mad and isolated on this godforsaken Sunday morning!!

[not-wholly-unheroic]

This is a weird question, but y'know how some versions of Hook are super serious nearly all of the time (like in the novel and in Peter Pan and the Pirates) and some of them are only semi-serious (like the Cyril Ritchard one)? Where does Disney Hook sit on that scale of silly to serious? What do you think the ideal ratio is?

Another thing, how rich looking do you like Hook to be? Toned down like his OG stage appearance or crazy, stupid, impractical wealthy looking like Hoffman's Hook?

Love the blog btw :)

Aw, thanks so much! I’m always happy to hear someone is enjoying my content and I’m not just rambling about my favorite character into the void. 😅

So…as this is primarily a Disney Hook blog, I’m admittedly a little bit biased in my preference. I love most versions of Hook (though there are a few I actually really dislike because I feel they do a disservice to the character), but Disney has a special place in my heart because it was Disney’s version that first drew me to the character and convinced me to read the novel. I was intrigued by the fact that he could simultaneously be a legitimately threatening villain and also show emotions like fear and despair that we so rarely saw in animated villain characters from that era. It was these moments of “weakness” that made him actually seem human to me. A Hook (or any character) who is TOO stoic and frightening either becomes entirely unlikable because the audience can’t relate to them or they become a sort of flat, boring stereotype, a sort of caricature of villainy.

The more classic Disney villains are generally meant to be the sort of character we love to hate and hate to love. They’re supposed to be a little over the top and larger than life. They’re meant to revel in their villainy while still being entertaining. We’re supposed to like them at least to a point even if we seriously disagree with their moral standpoint on things. There are a few, however, who become a little too “real” and who I genuinely despise… Frollo comes to mind. There is nothing “fun” about Frollo. He’s a racist, misogynistic, ableist man who mis-uses the name of God and his authoritative position to get what he wants. Is Frollo a well-written villain? Oh, absolutely. Is there anything about him that I find likable or redeemable? I mean, he has a good singing voice… But that’s about the only nice thing I can say about him. He’s a terrible person and I have zero sympathy for him at his death.

But to return to Hook specifically…. What I find interesting is that although Disney’s Hook is often accused of being too silly, really the only thing that makes him a comical villain is his fear reactions to the crocodile (and octopus if you include the sequel). And that is entirely a function of the lens we are given to view him as the audience. The music we hear in the background as the crocodile’s theme is rather lighthearted and the other characters (the heroes) are often making fun of him in the scenes where he’s having a complete breakdown and running/swimming for his life. But if we switched the music to something more ominous (check out the Drewe & Stiles Peter Pan musical theme for the crocodile—it’s frankly terrifying) and saw things from Hook’s perspective…it would really give off the same vibes as, say, Jaws or Jurassic Park. I strongly suspect that if it were our heroes being chased by the crocodile, things would look/sound/feel very different. Case in point…go watch clips of Pinocchio where Jiminy Cricket, Pinocchio, and Geppetto are fleeing Monstro the Whale and compare them side by side with Hook’s interactions with the crocodile. One is portrayed as comedic while the other is an action scene where we feel like the characters are genuinely in danger…but realistically, the same thing is happening in both. (Side note… I was absolutely TERRIFIED of that scene in Pinocchio as a kid. I literally had nightmares about it…so maybe I just relate a little too hard to Hook’s reaction and that’s why I’m so defensive of him.)

Compared to certain other Hooks, Disney’s is rather…soft, high-strung, and prone to being emotional but…that’s actually what I like most about him. That said, there are absolutely moments when we are reminded that we should be afraid of him. Heck, he shoots a man dead in his first few minutes of screen time which is more than most villains do. During the scene in Skull Rock, he climbs up behind Peter and—if Wendy hadn’t warned him in time of Hook’s approach—would have sunk the claw in through Peter’s eye socket. Not to mention the fact that he threatens Tiger Lily’s life and afterlife, sends a bomb to a child, and would have gladly allowed every single one of the Lost Boys and Darlings to walk off the plank to drown when they wouldn’t sign on with his crew. We also have him mention in passing “boiling in oil…keelhauling…marooning…” which would seem to imply that these are things he has done before and is willing to do again. In Return to Neverland we arguably have some even scarier moments on-screen. That final showdown with Jane…there are moments where you can see the murder in his eyes. He nearly lops off Jane’s hand at one point and then immediately attempts to run her through with his sword when that fails. A few seconds too late and she would have been a goner. In those moments, we are reminded of exactly what Hook is capable of and why the children should be afraid of him.

Disney’s Hook is, I think, a good mixture of scary and sympathetic; humorous and heavy…and that’s why he’s my favorite Hook. He’s very human and it makes him a lot of fun to play around with as a writer.

To answer your second question regarding Hook’s opulence…I tend to prefer my Hooks to be somewhere in the middle—wealthy but not totally impractical. If you go back through the series I did looking at versions of the Jolly Roger in different Peter Pan media and what we could learn about that particular Hook from his ship, Disney and Isaacs come out as two of the “middle ground” Hooks who I would label as well-off (unlike Jude Law’s Hook, who seems more like any other average sailor in terms of his wealth) but not rich to the point of impractical extravagance (like Hoffman’s Hook).

[chuuyrr]

❀ headcannons for illumi introducing his s/o to his family and hisoka ❀

note: so sorry this took so long to upload my internet sucks grr !! hope you enjoy this tho <33

Short Background:

you and illumi started off as partners in crime.

you two have known each other way back before he even acknowledged hisoka as a partner.

you had a give-and-take kind of relationship at first.

it didn’t take too long for you and illumi to recognize each other’s hidden feelings.

eventually, silva and kikyo noticed that their eldest son seems to have a remarkable partner. thanks to the butlers and their hidden cameras, they often saw you from milluki’s screens. 

they decided to call their son, asking him to introduce who you are to him at a family dinner.

“huh?” you blinked twice, “but why?”

illumi turned to you, “they’d like to know more about you. don’t you think it’s finally time for them to meet my partner?”

“i suppose.” you trail off, a smile tugging at your lips, “well it can’t be that bad. let’s go.”

Introduction:

after a day of accomplishing a mission that you and illumi had, the two of you headed to kukuroo mountain, the place he called home. 

it was quite a trip from the front gates. the place was well-guarded by a giant watchdog named mike and several servants and you’d have to walk a mile or so to reach the estate.

eventually, you had reached the estate along with illumi with ease despite the long walk.

as soon as you stepped inside, multiple servants lunged towards you.

with ease, you dodged every single one of them and used your [nen] to knock them out on a whim. illumi didn’t even move a budge when you attacked as a natural reaction, he trusted your reflexes. with a small smile visible on his face, he spoke, “excellent job, [name]. try not to murder them, they are our family’s butlers.”

“well they attacked me!” you retort, a nervous laugh escaped your throat as you turned to see illumi’s standing there the whole time. the two of them gave you a round of applause. “oh, um, i’m terribly sorry. i didn’t notice your presence right away.”

kikyo smiled with delight at you, “that was amazing, i hope you don’t bear a grudge on that. it was simply a test my dear.”

silva nodded, “welcome to the zoldyck estate, [name].” reaching out a hand for you to shake.

“it is a pleasure to meet you, silva and kikyo-san.” you shook hands and smiled, bowing slightly as a gesture of respect. 

illumi lead you into their extravagant dining room along with silva and kikyo

and that’s when the family dinner began. 

you sat beside illumi by the way.

you were introduced to the rest of his family as each one of you ate dinner, he had three brothers, milluki, killua and kalluto.

Silva and Kikyo Zoldyck

it was the two of them who requested to meet you in person.

silva and kikyo asked your questions that mostly consisted of describing yourself, your occupation and your relationship with illumi.

you told everyone, including silva and kikyo that you were a professional trained assassin, a partner of illumi and his s/o at the same time.

this caught everyone’s attention.

this made kikyo like you even more, “ah, i see. well i must say, you are one fine person [name]. what silva and i saw earlier was a only a mere fraction of your might, correct?”

you shyly nod, smiling. “well yeah.”

“i’m glad that illumi has found a splendid partner.” silva chuckled.

the two of them were very happy with you, the fact that you’re an assassin with tremendous abilities made them fond with you. Not only that, you were very polite. 

silva and kikyo have no doubts for you at all. 

Milluki Zoldyck  

milluki is actually quite intimidated by you at first.

since he was the one behind the screens, he saw what you did to their butlers effortlessly through the cameras.

he addresses you as [name]-san.

“i-it is nice to meet you [name]-san!” milluki greeted you nervously. “i’m thrilled that illumi-nii brought you here for us to meet you.”

illumi turned to you, “this is milluki.”

you think he was quite nice. 

“same here, milluki.” you said, smiling kindly. “that’s so sweet of you, ‘illumi-nii’? in that case, can you call me [name]-nee instead?” 

he was very surprised to see how calm and kind you were.

it made it hard to believe that you were deadly.

“s-sure [name]-nee.” 

he was looking forward on working with you in the near future along with older brother. 

milluki hoped that you’re still sweet as ever as time passes by.

Killua Zoldyck

killua didn’t really care that his older brother has got a s/o or partner, whatever.

he was discreetly intimidated by you.

you may be smiling and polite and all, but he could sense something dangerous with you.

killua didn’t really like anything that reminded of his elder brother’s aura. 

“this is killua, the heir of the family business.” illumi informed you.

you simply smiled, “hello. it is nice to meet you, killua.”

killua could barely make any eye-contact with you. you assumed he was just ‘shy’.

“nice meeting you too i guess [name].” yes, no formalities.

this made kikyo disappointed, “kil! show some respect to our guest.”

you shook your head and waved a hand dismissively towards kikyo. ‘it’s fine kikyo-san. there’s no need for formalities.”

you thought of an idea, considering how ‘shy’ he must be. you pulled out a chocolate bar from your small bag. you always had a sweet or two since you’d crave some after a mission.

you handed it to killua, which made him shocked. 

“here ya go, there’s no need to be shy killua.” you say as you hand him the chocolate.

killua was quite hesitant at first but he took it almost immediately, a grin then finally came to his expression.

“thank you.”

Kalluto Zoldyck

kalluto didn’t mind your presence, your aura reminded him of his older brother’s. 

he thinks you were quite beautiful too.

he called referred to you as his onee-san right away with you needing to offer it.

“i’ll call you [name]-nee-san.” kalluto says to you.

you merely smiled at him, “i don’t mind at all, dear.” you say sweetly at him.

kalluto secretly admired you, it was like a love at first sight for a ten year old like him. 

aww the smol has a friendly crush on you!

he couldn’t wait to see you more often now that you knew of them. 

he was actually quite straightforward. 

“can we see you more after this dinner [name]-nee-san?” 

you turned towards illumi who gave you a curt nod, a small smile on his face but it was barely there. 

you also turned towards silva and kikyo.

“you are very welcome to come here as often [name]. you are part of our family now.” said kikyo.

this made kalluto secretly happy.

you were quite happy too knowing that everyone is delighted with you. 

Hisoka Morow

since you’re illumi’s partner asides from being his s/o, he thinks it is only right for you to meet his other partner, hisoka.

you weren’t as fond upon meeting hisoka. 

he seemed quite odd. 

there was just a strange vibe from this man. but you thought nothing of it.

“um, nice to meet you. i’m [name].” you say awkwardly, reaching your hand for a friendly handshake.

hisoka held your hand and instead of shaking it, you brought it to his lips which made you very confused. “it is a pleasure to finally meet you [name]-chan~ i’m looking forward to work with you.”

illumi is quite pissed, the two of you can feel some of his bloodlust oozing.

hisoka, however, was far amused. 

“i’m only messing with you illumi.” he said calmly, chuckling. “i just think [name]-chan is quite a ripe fruit. she must be a delicate one~~”

“can you not?” you heard illumi say blankly. a sigh escaping his lips, blinking at hisoka.

“fine, fine.” hisoka trailed off.

hisoka was very fascinated with you.

he could feel a strong yet ominous aura wavering on you. 

it made him quite excited to work with you and see what you were capable of. 

Conclusion:

you ended up coming towards the zoldyck’s estate more often after meeting them.

you were quite spoiled by kikyo whenever you come there. she’d always give you food and gifts.

you and milluki ended up working together pretty often since your missions would often require some of his hacking skills. 

you’d gift him some anime figurines or video games as a thank you gift and he is very happy and thankful about it!

“thanks a bunch milluki! you’re the best, here I got you a little present.”

“really?! this is the one i’ve been meaning to buy. thank you [name]-nee!”

you found out his passion for anime and video games after you started visiting more often. 

sometimes you’d even stop by to watch some or play video games with him. 

you were often welcomed by kalluto, eventually he no longer became shy around you so whenever you come, he hugs you around the waist and greets you.

“welcome back [name]-nee-san.” he says.

“aw.” you giggle, patting his head, “thank you kalluto.”

killua on the other hand, would often come to you to ask some chocolate for you. you’d always have one for him.

“hey [name], do you have any chocolate for me?” 

“of course! i think you’ll like this one! i got this from the azian continent, it’s one of my favorites actually.”

he trusts you more than illumi honestly speaking.

you’d often get assigned by silva and kikyo to partner up illumi since then so yes you’d really have to visit them a lot because of it.

you also saw hisoka quite a lot since he’d hang out with illumi often now. 

hisoka would often mess around just to agitate illumi. 

you were quite annoyed with it but didn’t really bothered anyways, he was pretty cool when it comes to missions. 

but most of all, illumi is quite happy that you got along with most of them. he wouldn’t say or express that at all. 

but he really was [name]!

lucky you :)

welcome to the zoldyck family.

[imagine-loki]

Ruin

TITLE: Ruin

CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT:

AUTHOR: fanfictrashdump

ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine that halfway through a makeout session, Loki stops abruptly. He stares for a long moment before he says anything. “I can’t ruin you like this.” He anxiously stands to put space between you. “I have to leave.”

RATING: T

NOTES/WARNINGS: My to-do list is a mile long , but I saw this and my mind wrote it on its own. Did I never intend them to be romantically involved? Yes. Did I really think of Lily as an oblivious ace for a long time? Also yes. Do I enjoy the current chaotic bi vibes she’s putting out? H e l l  y e s. Language. Kissing. Idiots. Speed run, so errors may be plentiful.

SUMMARY: Loki has been feeling feels that he can no longer shove into box and ignore. Lily didn’t know she could possibly have access to that box and would very much like the opportunity to do so. Loki is dramatic AF and is pleasantly surprised he’s been lied to. 

=

His lips trailed an invisible line over her neck, gliding over the expanse of skin until it reached a point where her pulse thrummed steadily. A second later his tongue darted over the heated flesh, tasting the electricity of her skin and what tasted like fresh morning dew. His teeth followed, pinching skin together so he could suck a half-dollar size bruise into it before returning to the honeyed lips he had already kissed swollen. The half-gasped whimper that followed as response would have usually spurred Loki on in his actions. This time, it was the noise that broke him from his reverie.

He pulled back, blinking drunkenly at the flushed face staring back in wide-eyed, pouting surprise. For a second the perfectly sky blue marbles beckoned him back like a siren call, but the Prince caught himself before he managed to drag her back onto his mouth. Fine, silver strands slipped through his fingers, the ends curling delicately around his digits and tickled his palms. He tried not to focus on the fact that the fact that they felt like each follicle was woven of spider’s silk.

A kiss brushed onto the inside of his wrist, startling him out of the silent exploration of her hair. There was a silent question in Lily’s stare, a curiosity as to why he had pulled away when they both had been perfectly content to try to devour each other a moment prior.

All Loki saw was an innocent curiosity reflected back at him and a genuine desire to share affection. It was all very overwhelming. Loki’s hands retreated abruptly, just as the dark cloud settled over his features. “I can’t ruin you like this,” he murmured, his face screwed into a frown that looked more distraught than Lily had ever seen it. He was on his feet a second later, almost as if shocked by lightning. “I have to go.”

“Wha–Loki!” Lily called at the already slamming door, leaving Lily behind, in his quarters, she might add, earnestly confused as to what had just happened. How all of it had happened.

Lily couldn’t remember who had started their short-lived tryst. It just sort of… happened.

The pair had been play-fighting, an increasingly common occurrence that would come about from Lily feeling a little too sure of herself and would decide to test her reflexes and element of surprise. Loki could always see her attacks coming a mile away, if he were honest. The little plant witch had only managed to startle him once, and it was very quickly rectified. He had not let his guard down ever again.

The familiar sensation of being watched crept up his spine and the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. There was no ominous feeling, but rather a knowledge that he was not alone. The smirk that crept up on his face was unintentional, but it also unsuppressed. Loki continued sorting through materials as if there were nothing amiss. The slightest breeze fluttered his hair and the smell of ozone and magic filled his nose as he easily grabbed the arm that had intended to wind around his neck and he flipped the person over his shoulder.

Lily landed, flat on her back in bed with a choked gasp, scrambling quickly out of the vulnerable position, but Loki was far faster than she ever hoped to be. Not to mention that he was so much stronger, his hands bigger, able to pin her down neatly with little effort. Her veins glowed green in tandem with the vines that intended to squeeze Loki still.

He gave a surprised chuckle in response–they never had resorted to magic when they grappled like this. His response to shapeshift was second nature. The giant serpent that slithered eerily in her screeching direction dealt with the vines with little issue. She swallowed her protests to pin him down before the shape of a porcupine had her shuffling off again. More vines, more pliant and dense than the first, bound the creature down before a fox took its place. The ebony of its fur contrasted with the bright green of the vines was surprisingly endearing. Loki noisily gnawed at the vines as he rolled onto his back, hind legs kicking up a storm.

“Aww, I didn’t think you could shift into cute things!” She cooed, scratching him under his chin, prompting him to let out a startled yelp.

While Loki was no stranger to Lily suddenly thrusting affection in his direction in the form of hugs and genuine compliments, they were usually after he was in dire need of it, or vice versa. They never seemed to share this affection when they were both perfectly fine, but rather as comfort. And while the gentle stroking of her fingers up the bridge of his snout was soothing in a quasi hypnotic manner, there was still a bubble of emotion that he was sort of uncomfortable with gurgling at the pit of his stomach.

In the tumult of his emotions, he had shifted back, vines disappearing into the ether, and yet her fingers still trailed that lazy route from his forehead, down the bridge of his nose and back. He couldn’t exactly pinpoint when his head had shifted into her lap or when he decided it was a good idea for his teeth to playfully nip at her fingers. All he knew was that after a moment he her face was down by his and their mouths pressed together. Everything after that had been a blur.

And now she was sitting alone in his room, trying to piece together the last hour and why in every god’s name he had decided to bail on her.

Lily marched out of the dark bedroom and out into the hallways. She was sure Loki would be hiding quite proficiently–there wasn’t a creature alive that could find Loki if he did not want to be found, but she could certainly try. Lily peeked into the lab where Tony and Bruce tinkered away at their science projects.

“Tony, have you seen Loki?” She knew Bruce would rather stay far away from the demigod, so it wasn’t worth asking.

“Have I seen Scary Spice? No, I have not and I count myself lucky.”

“That’s not nice.”

Tony didn’t miss a beat. “Neither is he. What do you need him for?”

“He wasn’t feeling well,” she fibbed, easily. “I wanted to check in on him.”

“Oh, that’s too bad,” Bruce quipped, flashing an awkward smile and going back to adjust an array of tiny screws. Lily raised an eyebrow and Bruce did a double-take in her direction. “What?”

Lily ignored the question, dropping unceremoniously into one of the stools by Tony’s bench. “Honestly, I think we should kick Loki out,” she said after a long moment.

Tony’s face crumpled into an odd frown. “Not that I don’t fantasize about that every single day, but, why?”

“He’s a bad influence I think.”

“On who? The assassins, the 1940’s super soldiers, the recovering alcoholic with anxiety or the rage monster over there? Or do you mean you? Because I think we both know you’re your own bad influence. We’re all our own worst enemies, here, kiddo.”

“He’s going to ruin me.”

The loud bark of laughter spewing from Tony’s mouth startled Lily. “You lied to me for five years about who you really were and then you failed to mention that you would go all Poison Ivy if you were out on missions for too long. The only being brave enough to go into that room and keep your borderline non-murderous was that dumb, goth, wannabe-boyfriend of yours.” Tony peered down his nose at her. “Loki is a lot of things, mutant ruiner is not one of them.”

“He made out with me.”

“Good. If he’s busy sucking your face off, he can’t keep messing up the paint job on my suit.” He smirked when Lily pouted. “It’s not my fault if you make terrible choices. You have to deal with them yourself. Welcome to adulthood” He sobered slightly, cracking his neck in a nervous fidget. “So, you, er, like him or something?”

Lily turned a brilliant shade of red, suddenly becoming interested in a loose thread on her jumper. “I don’t know. I’m usually kind of oblivious and assume everyone just wants to be my friend, so I never… I didn’t think…”

“Oh, god, you do. Disgusting,” Tony quipped, making retching noises to tease her.

“Shut up, Tony.”

“But, you do! You’re totally–”

“Shut up, Tony!”

Tony frowned, the expression turning to curiosity when Lily’s eyes trailed to stare out of her peripherals towards Bruce’s benchtop. Realization lit up his face as his mouth formed a wide ‘O’ before he chuckled. “You better put everything back the way you found it or Bruce is going to Hulk-smash you into porridge.” Something clattered noisily onto the ground before the sound of footsteps shuffling overcame them. “He’s heading for the balcony,” he whispered just as the steps retreated. “Don’t make sudden moves, he looks terrified.”

“Thanks. Pleasure wreaking havoc with you, Tony,” she announced, hopping to her feet.

Cool air rushed her face as the automatic doors hissed open. The weather was already biting in the late autumn, and Lily was in no way prepared to be outside for any length of time in just her jumper and jeans.

Loki stood at the railing, staring off into the city when she pressed her forehead to his back. His body stiffened, taking several heartbeats before his muscles stopped seizing up. By that time, however, the bone-wracking shivers had prompted some protective instinct within him to turn, shedding the charcoal zip jumper off his shoulders and over hers.

“You’ll catch your death.”

“Do you mean you or the weather? Because you’re rather elusive today”

Loki scoffed. “Lilian–”

“Not my name.”

He drew in a deep breath whose chill rattled noisily in his chest. “How’d you even know?”

Lily rolled her eyes. “Bruce pretends you don’t exist. He wouldn’t express his sympathy for your illness. Rookie mistake. I know how to read people rather well.”

There was a long stretch of silence between them, eyes jousting before he couldn’t bear to hold her gaze any longer. “I’m not what you want.”

Lily chuckled to herself, burying herself deeper into Loki’s coat. “Forgive me, but you have no clue what I want. Mostly because I don’t know what I want. Frankly, I didn’t think making out with a Norse god was one of the options.” She shrugged, leaning into his side and smiling to herself when he instinctually pressed in closer. “I mean, if you don’t want it, that’s a different matter, altogether.”

Loki cut his eyes to the side to stare at her. “You’re ridiculous. You can’t tell me you don’t see–don’t you?”

“See what?”

“Fucking oblivious.”

“It’s not like I actively seek anyone. I can’t exactly be myself with anyone else.” She smirked, nudging him with her hip. “I don’t want to be–” A yelp cut her short, swallowed into Loki’s throat before it ever got the chance to break through the air. His long digits bunched up either side of his coat to pull her closer. She sighed, molding herself into the curve of his body. Just as she was tilted her head to deepen their kiss, he pulled back.

“No. I–I have to go.”

Once more alone, wrapped in Loki’s coat, she remained confused. Lily let out a groan, letting the cold autumn air cool her down before marching back inside. She hoped he shifted into someone easily recognizable. And that this sudden attack of guilty conscience was short-lived.

It wasn’t.

A month-long game of cat and mouse, of watching him disguise himself as every single occupant of that godforsaken tower to escape temptation and they still had not managed to sit down for a conversation. Lily decided that if that was the game he wanted to play, that she was entirely fine with it. She prepared breakfast for the team, as usual, setting a bouquet of fresh flowers in the center with a smile. Eventually, everyone began to stream in for the morning meal and Lily sat at her usual spot at the far end of the table to watch everyone come in, half-asleep and ravenous.

Blue eyes trailed Loki shuffling in behind Natasha, who sat to her right while he sat to Lily’s left. Not missing a beat, Lily smiled at the assassin before tugging at Natasha by the strings of her hoodie. Their mouths met easily, the Widow’s lips quirking at the corners and prompting the sound of clattering utensils across the table.

Nat pecked Lily gently before allowing her to move back and grinned. She licked her lips almost lewdly and followed it with a sip of coffee. “Good morning to you, too, hon.” Impish energy glittered in her eyes. “You know what? I don’t think I got enough of you. Come here–”

A thud echoed in the room and the table clattered. Loki was half out of his seat and had buried his dagger into the mahogany surface of the dining table. Tony protested quietly, almost half-heartedly.

“If you so much as breathe on her, again, I will skin you alive, Agent Romanoff. I swear it,” Loki hissed. “When I said I didn’t want to ruin you, I wasn’t suggesting you go off and find someone who would!” Loki snapped back at Lily, his expression halfway between annoyed and hurt.

“What else am I supposed to do?” She declared loudly, grumbling unintelligibly for a long moment. “I have been driving myself dizzy chasing these stupid circles you’ve led me on. Do you want me or not?”

“In what Universe do I not want you? It cannot be more obvious that I love you and you make me feel special, you impossible woman! Even fucking Stark noticed! But I don’t deal well with emotions if you haven’t caught on, yet, and I don’t want to lead you on when I’m not sure how to feel anything!”

“I don’t know how to feel, either, you ass. Which is why I’d rather we figure it out together than have to play Guess Who?: Shapeshifter Edition with everyone in the Tower!”

Loki growled, scrubbing a hand down his face in frustration. “I’ve just told you I love you and you said you didn’t know how you felt!”

Lily stabbed a sausage rather aggressively onto her fork, bending two of the tines in the process. “Of course I love you, you moron. Who in their goddamn right mind would voluntarily put up with your moody bullshit, otherwise?”

He scoffed. “Fine, I guess we’re in love, then!”

“Whoop-de-fucking-do!”

Loki opened his mouth to snap another witty retort back, when the conversation caught up to him. His eyebrows rose to meet his hairline as wide, green eyes cut instantly at Lily. “We’re in love,” he mumbled. “We’re in love?” Surprise melted into hopeful softness.

“Wait, were you two not together?” A chorus of Clint and Barton followed the interruption, but it was enough to cut through the magic of the moment.

x

Loki fidgeted on his feet as he paced in front of the bed. Lily looked bemused as her eyes moved like the swing of a pendulum to follow him back and forth.

“I’m not good enough for you.”

“Not for you to decide,” she countered, easily.

“I’ve killed.”

“So have I. You’ve been there.”

He stopped to face her. “I tried to take over the planet.”

“Mind control.”

“I’m a monster.”

“I’m legitimately an eldritch horror hybrid.”

Loki kneeled, resting his forehead on her lap with a sigh. “But we–you–I don’t think I could bare losing you after a paltry few decades,” he reluctantly mumbled.

Lily giggled, which Loki thought odd, but weirder things had happened between them. “I mean, fair. I’m not sure how long I’ll live, but I am also a hundred and six.”

His head snapped up so quickly he felt the muscles contract painfully. “What?”

“The hair is not a fashion statement,” she whispered, feeling the weight of his stare and the million questions it contained with it. “There’s a reason I haven’t really dated. I’ve never met anyone I can ostensibly spend my whole life with.” She laughed nervously, rustling her hair. “Say something.”

“You lied to me?” He seemed impressed rather than angry.

“No. You’ve always just assumed. And, I let you,” she admitted, her cheeks coloring faintly. His hands had curled around hers, dwarfing them in his comfortable warmth. “If you had let me explain a month ago, I would have told you that I’m really not some innocent maiden you can ruin.”

The little anxious notch that she was so familiar with formed between his brows. “By the Norns, we have a lot to talk about then, flower.” Lily sighed good-naturedly at the statement. Before she had managed to protest, Loki craned his neck enough to slot lips to hers. “Later, of course.”

[ruby-whistler]

Are you normal or do u sometimes go "IVE BEEN SCARED OF SLEEPING WITH THE LIGHTS ON(off? Idk its hard to decipher)"/lyrics -curious anon

me: oh boy, can't wait to try and make a tumblr blog! Before i do i should research it- *what in the hecking heck is an xkit*

djskdjsk i had no idea what an xkit was until yesterday and when i got it i got too confused and uninstalled it - dw curious anon i don’t use it either i just vibe and do whatever i guess. if you tag correctly and make good posts things should work out, can’t wait to see your acc around!

I got some sad-ist merch :DDD!!

yooo!! that’s so pog for you! it’s probably pretty comfy :D

me standing ominously in your askbox waiting to rec my fav fics:

fjsjdjsk i literally just finished passerine i still have 80 more (some of which are like 300k words long) on my to-read but uh if they have c!dream mischaracterized i’ll not be reading them anyways so it’s very hit-or-miss, will probably get through some of them quicker-

After many moons spent under the dsmp, seeing discourse and analysis alike, i have come to the conclusion i simply do not have the energy to care about any lore outside of c!tubbo and c!tommy's and will only defend them. And that is ok. It is ok to not watch or care about all dsmp or want to discourse about them or analyze. Idk man was thinking deep thoughts today

it’s ok to watch entertainment and enjoy it the way you want to! it’s great to want to enjoy or talk about your fav character!

the problems come up when you attack other people for their perspectives on the medium or spread misinformation about different characters based on only watching the perspective you like, but you know - if you’re not doing analysis, you really don’t need to look that deep into it.

it’s ok to just chill. your feelings about characters are valid! :D so yeah i agree with you! let people with different opinions exist if they’re also being respectful (e. g. tagging correctly).

Hey ik u worked with animgician's newest vid and i found a not-crit (i rlly think) little thought on it if u wanna see it

yoo feel free to send it in!!

No one: me: *shuffles around* wanna hear about my cool warden c!tommy au?

may i interest u in a little bit of my writing? If not that is ok i just wanna see if my writing is any good before working on a fic lol

Anyways if i am not in the askbox for a little it is because i am now writing a proper fic thing out. Wish me luck o7 -curious anon (i have three different lyrics i am going to be incorporating and a little analysis and just a smidgen of projection)

Ruby do u wanna read a little something i wrote? *does the little fingers thing* its really short just a headcanon with a little prose

i sure do! that sounds rlly cool - are you sure you don't wanna make a post about that on your own account though? i don't mind seeing it at all but i think the c!tommy tag would be able to appreciate that au better than my followers. you've gotta find the right target audience, y'know? /lh

though of course i'd love to see your writing, i'm sure it's great! looking forward to it :]

Ayo i remembered u talking about how punitive punishment doesn't work the other day so i want to discuss. What would u consider to be a fitting "punishment" for c!dream's canonic killing of mexican dream?/gen

i mean... we're not trying to - being against punitive justice is about the fact punishment is wrong, not just certain types of it. asking me what a "fitting punishment" would be is sort of very not getting the point.

hurting people further is not going to teach them anything and it’s not going to help anyone, why is it necessary?

so the answer is: none. he shouldn’t be punished, actually! he should learn on his own that what he did wasn’t right, and that’s about it. that’s the thing about transformative justice. him becoming a better person who Wouldn’t Do That again because it goes against who he is.

however, there’s also restorative justice, which is working to “make it up” to the victims. to which i propose; dream has the revival book and could literally bring him back once he is out of the prison. give him some powder maybe. md would probably be chill w/ that.

Yknow. In all my time in dsmpblr i can confidently say that the main differnece between c!dream apologist/enthusiants and c!wilbur/sam ones is that the c!wilbur/c!sam ones want their fav to have a breakdown and c!dream ones want theirs to get positive reinforcement /hj /lh

i’m pretty sure the sam and wil ones also want them to get better/get redeemed, at least deep down, but i get what you mean! you’re *glances at the 🟩⛏ gc where all we do 24/7 is write angst about c!dream being terribly hurt and then we cry about it* 100% correct. no angsters who like the pain here *nervously laughs* we all just want him to heal and be happy for the rest of his life with no heart-shattering breakdowns whatsoever! /s /lh

Hope ur having a great day m8 :]] -curious anon (also i have a new canon fact i wanna share. In quackity's alt lore stream yesterday he said (to the best of my memory) that "no law/juridsiction exists on the dream smp to prevent one from building anywhere" so i guess that clears up the big debate on wheather or not c!dream had a right to enforce rules (or basically the arguement that he owned the server by divine rule)

no i’m - i’m pretty sure that’s just how it works. dream still owns the smp, but he himself has said wayy back at the beginning “everyone can build and go wherever they want” and that was that. it was one of his rules on the smp, it was his main problem with l’manberg. being able to build anywhere were the rules that he “had the right” to enforce. and he did, not because he was a god, but because it was his smp, his home that he claimed for his friends. wouldn’t call it a big debate, it’s really that simple.

.AGONY. HURT EVEN. THIS IS HOW IT IS FOR CURIOUS ANON. I LAUGH, I CRY, I FIND AN ANIMATED GIF ON TWITTER THAT SQUEEZES MY C!TOMMY ENJOYER HEART INTO OBLIVION. (i am being dramatic btw for the funnies just so ya know) I AM NOT GOING TO FINANICALLY RECOVER FROM THIS. AAAAAAAAAAA UEEEEEEE

OK THAT FREAKING

O U C H-

also for the old phil ask. Hes a bad dad because of how he treated ghostbur. I will elaborate if u want

didn’t ghostbur just say “i’m not wilbur” and philza said “you’re not my son” and they went on with their day? weren’t they actually in agreement that he wasn’t the same as wil when he was alive? i don’t remember him really treating him badly tbh other than disowning him which seems fair to me, because ghostbur was a literal stranger to phil at that point?

wish you a nice day, curious anon! (i’ll be back on my essays and answering other asks now, so i might not reply right away :])

[stranger-who-writes-fiction]

Superman & Lois - Ep. 102 “Heritage”

In which the Sad Dad vibes and teen angst continues!

Spoilers!

Lois gets the opening and closing narration this week! And generally has more to do, which is nice.

The fam has officially moved to Smallville, so the boys are gearing up to start school...or are they???

Well, Jon is. Jordan is told he has to stay home until he can get his nascent powers under control because they don’t want him to accidentally flash frying a classmate. Which he almost did. Last week. 

Clark calls Jordan’s accidental heat vision an ‘ocular release of energy.’

This decision, of course, leads to some FAMILY DRAMA. Jordan feels like a freak! Jonathan is upset that they’ve had to move! Clark feels like he’s failing as a parent!

Oh and also the guy in the Master Chief suit is on the hunt for Kryptonite. Which is, you know. Troubling.

SO it’s off to school for Jonathan and off to the Fortress for Jordan!

Lois, upon Jonathan asking why Jordan gets to go flying with dad: “At least we have the radio!”

One plus side about the show being ‘grounded’ and ���prestige-y’: the high school drama is of a more believable variety. Still tedious, but at least it’s not dated 90s tropes.

...Well, okay. Not entirely true. Sarah Cushing’s personality thus far is ‘nice girl who’s dating a jerk’ and yes, the line “What do you see in that guy?” is said aloud. So.

Win some, lose some.

MEANWHILE, AT THE FORTRESS:

Love the actor they got for Jor-El. He’s perfect, in that he feels like an homage to Brando, Crowe, but is also his own distinct version. I dig it. 

But there’s no giant key made of dwarf star matter because this is GROUNDED and REALISTIC and none of that SILLY CW NONSENSE, WE GOT HBO MAX MONEY. 

Back to the Lois vs. Edge plot:

For all the folks wondering how Lois working at the Planet was going to continue, what with the show being set in Smallville...

WELL.

Edge now owns the Planet, so he re-writes a negative article she’s written about him, which leads to her quitting, and going to write for the Smallville Gazette.

Which is operated by Chrissy Beppo.

Who is...named after the super monkey? 

Does this mean we’ll eventually meet other Smallville residents named after super pets? Like Marsha Whizzy, or maybe Kenneth Comet.

Seems a weird choice when ‘Bibbo’ is right there.

ANYWAYS.

Best line of the episode: “You know what babe? You do your Superman stuff, and I will do my Lois Lane stuff.”

MEANWHILE, THE SAD DAD VIBES INTENSIFY as Grandpa Jor-El reveals: Jordan...will never be like you, Kal-El. His human DNA is too limiting.

Which is a very interesting plot point (that was sorta mentioned/explored in Future State!)

So, about the boys: I still find them...mostly annoying. But I appreciate the dynamic they’re establishing: Jordan has always required more time and attention due to his anxiety disorder, and Jonathan has always had to look after him and compensate--this carries over into the new status quo where Jordan has the super powers and Jonathan further feels that his brother is getting time and attention and he needs to make sacrifices and changes for him/the family. 

This leads to a really lovely moment between the brothers at the end of the episode that I genuinely enjoyed, so. I’m hoping that there will be more of that and less of ‘drama with Sarah’.

(Also if you think that sounds a little like another pair of Super siblings...it does! And also hold that thought.)

The OTHER big twist is that Master Chief AKA Captain Luthor comes from a world with an EVIL SUPERMAN.

To be clear, the set-up is very obviously, ‘Our Clark will prove Captain Luthor wrong re: thinking he’ll turn evil,’ so I’m not seriously suggesting we’re in for a full-on Injustice situation. I just find it funny, how quickly they pulled out the ol’ evil Supes.

(The one we saw in Elseworlds doesn’t count since that wasn’t Clark.)

And maybe this one isn’t either! I admit complete ignorance as to the comics stuff they’re pulling from; I guess it’s somehow connected to Project 7734 (Which is ‘hell’ upside down, as any fifth grader with a calculator will tell you) a counter-Kryptonian force put together by Sam Lane, I think? 

IDK. Like I said, comics blind spot.

The episode ends with Grandpa Lane looking a bit spooked at the ominous 7734 keychain Captain Luthor gave him, and Captain Luthor still on the hunt for Kryptonite! DUN DUN DUUNNNNNN.  

And now, time for a segment I’ll call: Gettin’ Super Salty w/Stranger wherein I will stash all of my frustration regarding the fact that this spin-off doesn’t really want to be a spin-off.

Okay, so first up! As mentioned, the Fortress design has been changed because the silly Supergirl version does not vibe with the new serious aesthetic.

Their loss! More Legion Rings, baby Sun Eaters, and impractical front door keys for Supergirl!

The sunstone AI details the last days of Krypton, and only one (1) pod is shown escaping the destruction.

Thanks, I hate it.

I do appreciate that Jor-El at least kinda appears to be wearing clothes that match the look of Supergirl’s Krypton. I wasn’t paying close attention to the buildings in the hologram, no clue if they match the architecture we’ve seen thus far.

Like, I get it. There’s no time to pause the plot and be like, ‘hey, just FYI, I’m not the sole survivor of Krypton, my cousin escaped as well’ but also AAAARRRRRGHHHHHH. 

You’re using the versions of the characters introduced in Supergirl, the least you can do is namedrop her once. ONCE. That’s all I’m asking. XD

They missed their opportunity, actually; when the boys were like, ‘We have so many questions!’ All you had to do was slip in, ‘Are we related to Supergirl?’ Bam. Done. Never need to go back to it, you’ve acknowledged it, continue on with your solo Sad Dad adventures!

(Except I guess that wouldn’t work, since so much of this is built on Clark being the Lone Protector of the earth. If you allude to other heroes being around, your whole character motivation/struggle makes less sense.)

I get it but I don’t have to like it. XD

They shoulda just set this on another Earth!

Circling back to the sibling dynamic: I hate how now I really want Kara to someday appear on this show and hang out with the boys and be like, ‘ah, yes, I know the feeling, my sister and I were the same.’

That’s it, that’s all the crossover content I need. I realize Melissa is moving on to bigger and better things but MAYBE SOMEDAY. XD (Or maybe I’ll just write a fic, who knows.)

I can’t remember if I brought this up already but it is hilarious to me that anyone still thinks of Superman as a reporter--most modern takes treat it as an afterthought and here, it’s dispensed in the first episode.

It has not been brought up since.

Like, much is made about Lois leaving Metropolis, and what that’ll mean for her career, but no one in Smallville is like, ‘Clark, wow! Farming? That’s quite a career change!’

(I assume he’ll be farming, since they mentioned starting the farm up again.)  

...You think anyone will drag the writers for tossing aside Clark’s ‘true calling?’ 

Who am I kidding? Supergirl fandom is not watching this show, they’re just harassing the people running the social media accounts. 

SO OVERALL: The good remains good! The meh remains meh! I appreciate that this version of Clark and Lois exist as we inch ever closer to the release of the Snyder Cut! But also the behind-the-scenes stuff continues to hang over everything like a terrible cloud! Here’s hoping those problems are addressed!

[innytoes]

Self-Insert January: Let’s Go Steal A Protégé

Yes I did write a self-insert fanfic of my own fanfic. Most of this was written in December and then um, January happened. This takes place December, probably before Christmas (and is obviously not canon).

Happy Self Insert month!

Being with Leverage, Jamie had seen a lot of weird stuff. Done a lot of weird stuff, too. But all the breaking into highly classified places and museums and pretending to be a circus performer and jumping off the Eiffel Tower did not prepare them for the magic portal that opened up in the ceiling of the Leverage Offices, or the lady that fell through it.

Luckily, their startled yell had summoned an Eliot, which meant that if this was the beginning of an intergalactic space war or some kind of mutant criminal rival of Parker’s, Team Leverage was going to come out on top.

Except Eliot actually put away his knife and greeted the lady, who struggled out of the squashy purple beanbag chair she landed on. “Hardison, Parker, Inny’s here!” he called.

“What the hell is an Inny?” Jamie asked. Was it a species of alien? Was Hardison’s Doctor Who obsession because they literally knew The Doctor? Honestly, it wouldn’t really surprise Jamie.

“I the hell am an Inny,” Ceiling-Lady said, before gasping and pointing at them. Which was concerning, to say the least.

“That’s Inny,” Hardison said, coming into the office and handing the lady one of Jamie’s Mountain Dews. Rude.  “She’s from a darker timeline and drops out of the ceiling once or twice a year to catch up. And get inspiration for her fanfiction. Apparently we’re like, a TV show over there. What’s up, girl?”

“Is that why nobody is allowed to move the beanbag chair?” Jamie asked. They had thought it was some weird Parker thing. Or perhaps that it was on top of some kind of secret trap door to Hardison’s BatCave or something. They ignored the part about the fanfiction and the TV show. That was too Truman Show to think about. Though their brain was already going over actors they’d cast as the team. Eliot would totally be played by Chris Evans, right?

Inny stopped chugging the Mountain Dew long enough to shrug. “They used to live somewhere with way lower ceilings. Nearly broke something falling from this one.”

“Yeah, me,” Eliot grumbled. He nearly broke something again when Parker dropped down from the ceiling onto his back. “Dammit, Parker!”

“Inny!” Parker proclaimed. “How is Deeks?”

“Good!” the lady fished a beaten up phone out of her pocket. “He met some alpacas, wanna see?” Parker snatched up the phone and made delighted noises. Jamie peered over her shoulder. They had to admit the dog was pretty cute, and the alpacas looked very intrigued by their small, same-coloured, short-necked friend.

“How’s life in the darkest timeline?” Hardison asked.

“What date is it here?” the lady asked, looking around. “I mean, if you still know.”

“Why wouldn’t we know?” Parker asked, still swiping through dog pictures.

“Well, I mean, 2020, am I right?” Inny said, waiting for a reaction. She looked incredulous at their blank  faces. “It is 2020, here, right?”

“Um, yeah?” Hardison ventured carefully.

“How dark is this timeline of yours?” Jamie asked carefully. Sure, it was a tumblr joke, usually reserved for stuff like the however-many-renewed-season of Supernatural when great shows were cancelled or whatever creepy feature FriendCzar had tried to impose that month.

The woman paused, frowned, then took a deep breath. “In response to the global pandemic of a deadly respiratory virus, President Donald Trump suggested on television during a briefing that people should inject or ingest bleach to kill the virus.”  She took another big breath. “And that’s not mentioning the fact that he downplayed the seriousness of the virus while knowing how deadly and contagious it was, called it a hoax, made taking safety precautions a political thing instead of a public safety thing, and held massive super-spreader events.”

“Donald Trump?” Jamie asked. “The ‘you’re fired’ dude?”

“Oh my sweet summer child,” Inny responded, before taking another swig of her Mountain Dew. “Yeah, I mean, I thought the fact that Australia was on fire at the start of the year was going to be the only terrible thing I was going to tell you.” She laughed and shook her head ruefully, like that was some kind of funny joke.

“Australia was on fire?”

“Yeah. Parts of the US too, for a while. Orange skies. But since the country was basically on lockdown anyway, it wasn’t like it was very different to stay inside for that…” Jamie stared at the lady, then back at the adults. Parker didn’t look overly concerned, but then, she never really did. Eliot and Hardison were both frowning, though. There was no sign that this was some kind of elaborate prank Hardison was pulling on them with the help of one of Sophie’s acting friends. Besides, he was good, but not ‘fake opening a magic portal in the ceiling’ good. At least not within the five minutes Jamie had been in the other room.

After a litany of horrible things, which were apparently not even all of them, the woman stopped. “On the upside,” she said. “I perfected my banana bread recipe, Deeks met some alpacas, Leverage is getting a reboot, and I figured out why I probably keep dropping in here.”

“To remind us that things aren’t so bad like some messed up version of ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’?” Hardison guessed.

“Because Jamie is my OC,” she said, dropping a fucking bombshell like she just dropped out of the fucking ceiling. Jamie felt their brain fill with static, because no, they were a real person, and that either meant that this lady was full of bullshit, or, well, basically god. The Truman Show feeling returned ten times over. “This is my fanfic.”

Hardison recoiled a little. “No,” he whispered, fully understanding the implications of that. Hell, it was probably even weirder for him. Sure, knowing they were a TV show was probably cool, even more so with the reboot. But Fanfic Land didn’t fade to black and Jamie was pretty damn sure some kinky shit went on behind the soundproofed doors of their bedroom.

“Now, there’s two prevailing theories about this, as far as my internet rabbithole searches can tell,” Basically God Maybe continued. “Either I wrote this world into existence, because the multiverse is ever expanding and that is one of the ways it expands, or I just got some vibes from whatever crack between worlds keeps bringing me here and wrote down your shenanigans.”

At Parker and Eliot’s blank looks, Jamie clarified: “Basically, she’s either God or…”

“Some kind of shitty false prophet,” the lady on the beanbag chair beamed. “Probably the second one, honestly. My subconscious turns everything into a zombie apocalypse sooner or later, and you guys seem to be fine.”

Jamie whipped around to look at Hardison and Eliot, hopeful. “We’re fine, right?” they asked quickly. If anyone knew about a starting zombie apocalypse, it would be those two. Between Hardison poking around in basically every intelligence agency’s server ever and Eliot’s contacts, they’d know. God, Jamie hoped not. They were so not ready for a zombie apocalypse. Eliot hadn’t even taught them how to murder someone with an axe yet.

“We are definitely fine,” Hardison assured them.

“Yeah, I figured,” Not-God agreed. “If I had my say, Eliot would have stopped pining long before he did and kissed you guys.” Eliot grumbled and glared, probably because she was right. Parker patted him condescendingly on the head, which wasn’t helping matters.

The ceiling started crackling and glowing ominously. The lady put her can down as she slowly drifted off the beanbag, alien-abduction style. “Well, it’s been real. Be good, guys. Have some fun adventures. Ruin some rich douchebag’s day for me.”

“Will do,” Parker promised. “Say hi to your dog for me.” She got a thumbs up.

“Let us know how the reboot turns out,” Hardison said. Jamie figured it would probably fuck with the space-time continuum if she downloaded the show and brought it to them, but who knew. Maybe there was some kind of loophole for that, too. They were kind of curious to see what a Leverage show would look like. It probably had kickass fight-scenes.

“Stay safe,” Eliot said seriously. He’d been the most concerned about the talk of the pandemic, probably because you couldn’t punch it.

“Will do,” Inny shrugged. “I mean, 2021 can’t possibly be any worse, right?”

The portal crackled louder, which Jamie hoped wasn’t a sign. The lady was almost at the ceiling. She looked concerned, like she realised she just totally jinxed herself and the new year.

“Hey, just in case you are god,” Jamie called up. “Can you give me superpowers?”

The portal closed to the sound of laughter, and then there was silence. All that remained was a dent in the beanbag and an empty can of Mountain Dew.

“What the fuck,” they told the room at large.

“Yeah, you get used to it,” Parker said, before wandering off back to the blueprints she had been studying.

“I’m just gonna… check some things,” Hardison muttered, making a detour to the kitchen to grab a ginormous bottle of orange soda before getting behind his computer. “And buy a bunch of disinfectant and toilet paper, just in case.”

Eliot rolled his eyes, before bumping his shoulder against Jamie’s. “Come on,” he said.

“Come on where?” Jamie asked. “I’m having a bit of an existential crisis here.” If they were someone’s OC, did that mean that they didn’t have free will? Did it mean that all the cool things they had done the past year had only been because of some weird lady that fell out of the ceiling? Or did it mean-

“I’m gonna teach you to throw a knife so you can take out a zombie,” Eliot said.

Fuck that, the existential crisis could wait until 2am. They had more important things to do. Knife throwing would be fun and useful no matter if there was a zombie apocalypse or a pandemic, or they got superpowers.

[recurring-polynya]

9, 13, 19, 23 for RenRuki OTP meme!

9. Have they made each other cry?

Neither Rukia nor Renji are criers by nature, but absolutely yes.

I looked it up, and weirdly enough, Rukia does *not* cry in the manga version, but she does cry in the anime when Renji tells her to go to the Kuchiki. Regardless, I think they both had some wet face syndrome in the days following that.

Rukia was having a pretty tough time in the Academy, and Renji was in a constant state of unconsciously rubbing it in. I bet he made her cry at least once, although she is way too stubborn to actually do it in front of him, I think she did it in private, later.

I’m not sure crying over someone is the same as them making you cry, but I believe with 100% of my being that the “fear she was trying to avoid” in the As Nodt fight was Renji-related, and even though she held it together pretty well at the time, I hope homegirl went home and had a good cathartic sob after the fact.

In the same vein, it’s very believable that Renji had at least one tearful breakdown at some point in the Soul Society Arc. I imagine he came home and puked his guts out after he had to arrest her and throw her in a holding cell and there could have been some tears that went along with that, and possibly also after he found out that Byakuya had no intention of lifting a finger to stay her execution. (I just realized this is not the first time I have headcanoned Renji puking out of grief and it’s true, I think he does, it’s great, I love my brain, thanks)

I would bet money that Renji (possibly both of them) teared up a little when Ichika was born, and/or when they found out about the pregnancy.

Also, not to ruin the vibe, but it seems highly likely that at some point in their acquaintance, probably in their Inuzuri days, Rukia kicked Renji in the nards hard enough to make tears come out of his face.

13. Name something they would never do for the other person.

Like the dealbreaker question, this one is really hard because they are both really intense people who are absolutely ride-or-die for each other (as well as everyone else they know). I am still sticking to my guns that Rukia became a shinigami in the first place for Renji’s sake, and Renji’s entire first character arc involved him binning 40 years of hard work and career ladder climbing to be with her.

That being said, though, they do maintain a fair amount of personal autonomy that I think they would stick to. Renji would never get his brow tatts removed, for example, no matter how much Rukia hates them (or conversely, I think he didn’t tell her before he got them because he knew she’d tell him not to, and he was determined to get them and wouldn’t have listened to her anyway). Likewise, if she asks, he will refrain from wearing a particular pair of extra-terrible sunglasses to a Kuchiki family picnic, but he’s not going to get rid of the sunglasses collection for her. I honestly can’t imagine her seriously asking him to do either of these things-- she’d rather just drag him for them.

I think the part in WDKALY where Rukia decides to keep “Kuchiki” as her professional name was written in a kinda stilted and dumb way, but I do not disagree with it. I am reasonably sure that this was decided at an editorial level, because if they have a Bleach continuation, they would want the character to keep her more familiar name, but then they added the fact that she took his name more generally because people are weird about women who don’t take their husbands name (and then people argue that her keeping her name is “evidence” that she doesn’t love him... so, honestly, there’s no winning either way). Personally, I didn’t like that they waited until they were actually in line at the Soul Society DMV to have this discussion (with Byakuya standing around, no less), but but otherwise, I think it’s a nice compromise, and that Rukia would want to use the names of both the men she considers her family. Renji seemed vaguely disappointed that she wasn’t taking his name entirely, and I can see that, but also, it’s her choice and he doesn’t make a stink about it, which rings true to me.

In all of these examples, the principle is that, all else being equal, each of them will take input from the other, but they would stick to their guns when it comes to decisions about themselves. That doesn’t mean they are going to die on these hills out of sheer stubbornness. I wrote a fanfic once where Byakuya died and Renji married Rukia in order to help her consolidate power in the family, and he took her name and very vehemently made everyone call him by it. 

Also, I am sure there are some household chores that Renji would like done to some particular specifications, and Rukia just will not. Like, she refuses to rinse the dishes before she puts them in the dishwasher and she won’t squeegee the glass after she showers, or whatever the Soul Society equivalents of these things are.

19. If they could each write a single line in their marriage vows, what would they be?

I cannot emphasize enough that Byakuya paid for their entire fancy Kuchiki-ass wedding and even though they are constantly on their best behavior around him, he knows how they are and he would never, ever let them write their own vows.

So, here is a dispatch from some secondary drunken, backyard wedding that they had for close-friends only (Byakuya was also there, but Isshin slipped him a pot brownie and he was feeling very at one with the universe at the time)

Who the heck writes a single line of their wedding vows?? I gave them each a paragraph.

Rukia:

People have been joking a lot, every since we started dating, how lucky you are, but the fact is, I am the lucky one. I’ve been so fortunate, in my life, to have such good friends and family, but I feel luckiest of all to have you-- you’ve always been there to cheer me on, to pick me up, to make me pickles. You’re brave and you’re handsome and you have really, really great hair, and I feel like the luckiest person in Soul Society that I get to marry you. I love you so, so much, you big dummy.

Renji:

I used to think that I would be content if I could just love you from afar. That just being able to see you and hear your voice and know that you were happy was enough for me. But I was wrong, as it turns out, because being able to touch you and kiss you and tell you I love you a hundred times a day has made me happier than I ever thought I could be. I expect that being married to you is going to make me more powerful and obnoxious than anyone here could possibly imagine and I am absolutely not sorry. I love you so, so much, you little dummy.

See, Byakuya, that wasn’t so bad! (maybe it was)

Bonus! In the dead Byakuya fanfic I mentioned above, I had them get married under Gotei authority and I wrote some (partial) shinigami wedding vows that are basically perfect for them and also I was really proud of them:

How will you meet your enemies? As one, we shall meet them, as one, we shall fight.

And how do you swear this? We swear on sword and soul.

Let it be so. With this, you are forged together, a single blade. May your battle be long, and when you fall, may you fall together.

23. Write a ~300 scene between them with no dialogue, only body language.

Wow. Dang. This felt like a personal attack. Anyway, it was really hard, and I did it, but I didn’t like it.

Here’s the scene right where Renji hauls Ichigo off to go fight Ywhach, because I am always thinking about this scene and willing it to make sense (Rukia should have gone with Ichigo, I will die on this hill!!!!), and I think it only works if there’s a bunch of unsaid subtext. It’s depressing, but it’s only 511 words, which is very much like 300 words, almost exactly the same, honestly.

~

The others don’t see it, because they are busy watching Orihime restore Ichigo’s sword, his swords, for maybe the last time, but Rukia does, because she needs an explanation.

Renji’s shoulders slump, his chin tips down, his hands are open at his sides.

He is sorry.

He better be sorry! Rukia clenches her jaw, her eyes burn at him. She is the one who should have yanked Ichigo to his feet, she is the one who should go with him to his death.

Renji’s eyes slide upward and meet hers. His jaw is set.

He is right, and she knows it.

Orihime is hurt. Her lungs are making ominous bubbling noises as Zangetsu pieces itself back together under her care. Rukia is exhausted, but she can manage the kaidou that will save her friend’s life. Renji cannot.

It is more than that, though. Rukia’s bankai is perilous. Ichibei warned her that she should use it sparingly-- that it will take many hours of practice before her body can handle the wrenching temperature shocks. She has used it too many times already in the last 48 hours. She still can’t feel all her fingers and toes since she came back from killing As Nodt. Another go at it so soon may kill her before she even has a chance to be useful. It could kill her and everyone in her blast radius, which might be helpful, but probably...not. Her hand rubs nervously at the hilt of her sword. She tries to flex the dead pinkies, but they deny her.

Renji sees the motion, and he grips Zabimaru confidently. His bankai is new to him, too, but Hihiou Zabimaru was like a weighted practice blade-- So-oh Zabimaru is familiar enough and easy in comparison. Sode no Shirayuki and Zabimaru are both temperamental blades, but Zabimaru has always been at their most dependable when the odds are stacked against them.  

Rukia reaches out and gives Orihime’s hair a gentle pat. She will stay, but she will not like it. 

The side of Renji’s mouth ticks up in a rueful half-smile, and his eyes glitter with the last bit of humor he can muster. She can beat him up all she likes when he gets back.

Rukia flings an arm around Orihime, and stuffs her face into her friend’s shoulder. None of this is fair. 

Renji’s eyes soften briefly, and his eyes are filled with so much love for her. He knows he has the easy job. There aren’t any words to thank her enough for letting him go on a suicide mission with Ichigo while she stays back to give them something worth fighting for.

Then he stiffens, and squares his shoulders once again. He jabs Ichigo impatiently with one foot and screws up his face into the same scowl he always uses to armor his heart. 

It won’t work, Rukia thinks, as Orihime finishes her task and slumps backward. She will keep Renji’s heart here with her, and Orihime will keep Ichigo’s, and no matter what, none of them will die alone.

[mccncrane]

INTRODUCING  —  LEYLA KARAHAN

“ THE ICHOR THAT RESIDES IN ME DEMANS ITS OWN THRONE. ” is that MELISA PAMUK? oh no, that’s LEYLA KARAHAN, born on the 29th of MARCH, 2015. i heard SHE/HER (CIS WOMAN) is a PRINCEDOM of THE PURGED. apparently, they can be RESPONSIBLE and DEDICATED but also known to be CALLOUS and POSSESSIVE. spends most of their free time AVOIDING GETTING HER HANDS DIRTY, probably smells like ROSES AND JASMINE. is that a bite mark i see? no, must have been a trick of the light.

HISTORY: (tw murder, what's new!! also blood and gore descriptions)

Leyla doesn't know a life outside of the purged. She was born into it, when the group still didn't have the kind of power it has today. Her parents were young when they had her, and probably too immature to actually make the decision to start a family, but the rest of the group helped them take care of her, once she came into the world.

They were okay parents, all things considered, and her life was pretty uneventful in her early years. She grew up reading and listening to the teachings of the purged, believing and hanging onto every word they said. When she was six, her father started wanting to defect from the faction. But her mother was too attached to the beliefs of the group, and Leyla was too young to know any better than what she grew up with, so his desires fell into the wrong ears.

Her father was seen as a sinner, and he couldn't escape before the rest of the faction discovered this. As per tradition, he was buried up to his neck and offered up to the infected. Her mother made sure they watched it happen, since she insisted it was the only way their souls could be cleansed from his sins.

As much as Leyla didn't agree with her dad's desires to leave, she didn't want to have him gone -- much less watch him get devoured by those things. The sight of his horrid, bloody, screaming death made her pretty desensitised to the horrors performed by the purged, but it left some pretty gnarly emotional scars that she can't quite place to this day.

At the time, while they watched, some of the blood from his flesh splattered onto her poor six-year-old self. She still remembers the feeling of it, the bright red stain on her arm, the eery warmth of it, his screams becoming white noise. This left her with an absolute repulsion towards blood, guts, and anything bright red-ish of the sort. She can't quite connect this trauma with the obsession with cleanliness she has today, if you ask her, but it's there.

She continues to be loyal to the purged, and she understands that her father's death had to happen; she believes watching it made her stronger, and even though her relationship with her mother is incredibly flawed today, she's thankful for that.

When Malachi becomes the new Oracle and reinforces branding, Leyla and her mother are the first in line. She feels bad that she hadn't gotten it before, when most of the kids these days are getting theirs by 8. The mark doesn't hurt as badly as she expected, but the healing doesn't come as easily. It takes her cross-shaped branding much longer than the others' to heal, and the damned thing goes through a number of complications. It ends up healing a little crooked, a little off, and it looks terrible. Her mother's suspicious of it, and tells her maybe she has too much of her father in her. Leyla's embarrassed of it, and hides the mark whenever she can.

She grows up to be a devoted member of the purged, climbing her way up to be one of the princedom's of the group. She takes her job too seriously, and she spends a lot of her time studying or praying or following Malachi around. 

Somewhere along the recent months, in hopes to blow off some steam, she and Audrey come to an agreement to fool around, no strings attached. It sounds like a perfect plan; they've known each other vaguely since Audrey joined, when they were both 15 or so. Leyla has never been attracted to any of the men of the purged, which she has been hoping would happen eventually, so she could do the whole get married and have babies thing. While that doesn't happen, what would be too bad about having some fun with a friend anyway, right? She never thought of Audrey like that before, not that she can remember. Now it's all she can think about.

PERSONALITY: (aka the cool part of these intros)

too serious for her own good, honestly. an absolute buzzkill. probably throws around 2 jokes a month tops, and they're both such dry humour that people just chuckle along in confusion to please her. she loves being in the purged, and although she's not close to a lot of people, i imagine there are a handful of members she considers family. she's the serious aunt you go to when you need to get shit done quickly and efficiently.

REALLY self-conscious of the way her branding healed all fucked up. it's wonky and ugly and her mother is really not a great person who keeps shaming her for it, so she hides it a lot of the time. she also has a very fear-based relationship with her mother in general. probably refers to her strictly as "my mother" all ominously in conversations.

she got a real big problem with blood and being dirty in general. she'll spend a good amount of her every day just scrubbing herself squeaky clean with makeshift soaps and water, and she has even gotten into concocting essential oils and fumes to use as perfume. she just needs to feel clean. just 10/10 smells like expensive flowery perfume at all times, in the middle of the apocalypse. have you ever smelled the perfume idôle by lancome. yeah that one, that's the vibe.

she doesn't have a problem with watching people die or knowing about the murders, she's chill with torture and she wants all sinners to die, but she will not do it. just the queen of not getting her hands dirty for shit. she'll order people around to do this kinda shit for her, and if she NEEDS to really get dirty, she'll go as far as using some fancy leather gloves that she probably made someone make for her. this is all trauma from having her dad's blood sprayed on her but she doesn't even make that connection, the dumbass. we don't face our traumas in this house.

EXTRAS:

i'm lazy and i want to put the intro out before i can think of connections but feel free to come plot with me, as usual !! give me enemies, friendships, frenemies, exes (more likely if they're fem presenting, she's probably uninterested in men but like not above giving one A Chance for the sake of trying to accept purge beliefs tbh), whatever your heart desires bby

[blackcatanna]

Hakuoki part 2

I love that their hair AND ONLY THEIR HAIR moves in the intro so you know that these aren't still images, they're just staring REALLY INTENSELY at you.

Okay, so I learned that the ending is super depressing if you blunder through the game like an idiot as I did on my first try...

"I'm going to go and watch the physical exams ^_^ " WTF?!!?? CHILD, NO!?! STAY BACK, YOU PERV! I DIDN'T THINK THAT THIS WAS THAT KIND OF GAME?!!? Also, for once, I'm kind of on Itou's side here. I don't have that much of a problem showing my friends my body but the moment any one tries to force it, I am GONE.

I am eternally grateful to this game for introducing me to the concept of a SNOW BUNNEH!!! 8D

Kazama is suck an absolute prick. And a creep. Please stop making rapey comments and being smug. When Harada tells him that too much of a bitch to ask you out, I was VERY happy. He is a COWARD.

Even before you meet your dad, I had already written him off as an unpleasant individual for working with Kazama: a man who is trying to kidnap and impregnate you?! Aren't fathers supposed to protect their daughters from demonic rapists?

I'm not that mad at the pc for being more useless than the skilled swordsmen and demons around her but the fact that she doesn't even TRY to learn about her demonic powers irks me. If you're going to spend so much time angsting about being a waste of space, at least ask someone like Sen for help?

On that note, Sen is bae. When she comes to get you from the Shinsengumi, I was like, "Please, take me away with you and your beautiful bodyguard! The two characters I'm closest to have abandoned me so running off with some sexy demon girls seems JUST FINE BY ME." but that was not an option and so I was sad.

This main character is so emotionally dense and inconsiderate. She says so many times things like, "It never occurred to me that he had feelings inside of him because he didn't say so." You idiot. The number of times you ask stupid questions like, "Don't you care about ****?!" YES. OBVIOUSLY HE CARES. JUST BECAUSE YOU EXPRESS YOUR EMOTIONS BY CRYING AND YELLING AT EVERYONE DOESN'T MEAN THAT THAT'S NORMAL. Anyway, that got more intense than I'd intended. I actually liked the pc in this game more than I thought I would but this game doesn't give you a lot of choices. Which is fine and I still love it but it has lead me to vent my frustrations on Tumblr.

Also, why do you ask so many questions about the future when it's all up in the air? They're probably wondering the same things that you are and are feeling anxious too and you're just reminding them of how uncertain the future is for them.

The guy with the beauty mark on his face who's name I can't remember? He creeps me out. I don't know why because I've only encountered him that one time at the teashop with Saito but he's seriously giving me bad vibes. So much so that his is the only dlc I haven't played (clicked) through. I guess I will play it and reconsider, perhaps.

I was so mad when you say that Iba is "almost as good looking" as Hijikata. Hijikata is not that good looking, in my probably controversial opinion (safe in the knowledge that no one will probably ever read this. If you have stumbled across this nonsense and you are a Hijikata fan, I am sorry for being a bitch 3:) but he's just not my type and I wouldn't need to be saying this if the game wasn't trying so hard to brainwash me into fancying Hijikata). Anyway, Iba is so beautiful, it almost makes up for his personality. JK, Iba is lovely but they had to come up with such a convoluted way of making him horny?! Anyway, that's the next game.

This game is pretty brutal! I've only played through two routes so far (Saito and Iba) because I'm immediately playing Edo blossoms afterwards but even the good endings seem to have your bae getting tortured by dickheads while you watch helplessly. And then Yamazaki and Inoue die!?! Tempted to play Yamazaki's route next just to stop him from dying! I wonder what the terrible price he'll have to pay while you stand by helplessly will be. Yamazaki and Inoue were just so nice a the time :'(

I'm super reluctant to give my blood to Sanan to study it but only because he's being super creepy and aggressive about it! If he asked nicely instead of barging in with a sword, I would be totally down to help my friends in that way. As seen throughout Edo Blossoms.

This game is giving me so many 19th century goth vibes, what with the beautiful men, dark secrets, mad science, vampires, horny demons, Stockholm syndrome and people dying of TB...

Much like Samurai Warriors, this game knows how to wring my heartstrings by placing a bunch of adorable characters in a historical setting and then torturing the shit out of them. I guess I'm pretty sadistic but then I'm sure that freaks like me aren't the only people who enjoy this game...

Apparently, there are all kinds of shenanigans only released in Japanese like Okita adopting a cat and naming it Toshizo and the many adventures of Hijikata's book of terrible poems (more goth points there). Speaking of, Hijikata also gets bonus goth points for looking like Sebastian from Black Butler. Maybe that's another reason why I don't like him. I never got into Black Butler. I bought the first two volumes but the pedo vibes made me super uncomfortable.

Speaking of pedo vibes, why does Chizuro look so young? I personally dislike her design because she's so nauseatingly cute and round but maybe that's just me. I don't mind her face so much in the event art but in the main character art of her, her face is just so dumb and blank. Guess that's the point of a self-insert character, though.

I wish there was more of you dressing up as a girl for both recreational and disguise purposes.

Sen: They say that bad things will happen if anyone, especially a human, uses this demon arm! ..... *five seconds later* You should use this demon arm! :D I get that these are desperate times but she suddenly seems not at all bothered about risking unspecified badness raining down on her people. I guess that that's because letting Takeda run around unchecked is potentially more dangerous... Maybe because the two arms are linked, unleashing the other one doesn't activate a second curse of ominous bad things? Idk, this whole plotline is weird and O BOY does it only get weirder from here!

Anyway, I'm done ranting about this game for now. I am in the bath and I need to wash my hair before I go out and VOTE. Normally I read in the bath but I've spent hours staring at text on my computer so it's time to inflict my own nonsense on the world.

[nomettesbizzareadventure]

CaeJose Week 2018 // “Future”

    The night after Joseph retrieves his adorable pissy nerd grandson and his purple friend from prison, he gets a phone call from Suzie. It must be early in the morning in New York- he can hear the sound of water kettle heating up and dishes clinking as Roses prepares breakfast, and he feels a sudden stab of jealousy that he’s not there with her.

    “Caesar’s on his way to you,” Suzie says, her voice uncharacteristically serious.

    “Caesar?” Joseph says. He and Caesar have always orbited each other like planets, but in the years since Holly moved to Japan their contact has been more and more infrequent, their lives stretched out between New York and England and Los Angeles and Rome. The last time Joseph saw Caesar, they were at Lisa Lisa’s funeral, shoulder to shoulder with her coffin between them. Lisa Lisa was more of a mother to Caesar than she was to him, and while Joseph didn’t resent either of them for it, it meant that he didn’t have anything to say- not to Caesar, and not to the gravestone. Afterwards, they went out and got incredibly smashed, and for about six hours Joseph felt like he was 18 again. But that was months ago, and they haven't spoken since.

    “He’s worried about this whole business with the stands,” Suzie reports.

    “He’s always worried,” Joseph complains, but he’s not really annoyed. It’s starting to look like they’ll need all the backup they can get.

    “Did he tell you about his stand?” Suzie asks, and giggles at Joseph’s obvious surprise.

    “OH MY GOD?! A stand- how- where did he- when- Suzie, what does it do?!”

    “Well, if he didn’t tell you, I don’t think I should…” Suzie says coyly.

    “Suzie, baby, angel, sweetheart, you can’t just-”

    Joseph’s conversation with Suzie is interrupted by Jotaro appearing ominously in his doorway, dressed in a Queen tank top and pajama pants and exuding ominous vibes in every direction.

    “I’m trying to sleep. Keep it down, gramps.” Joseph tries, he really does, but he fails to get any more information out of Suzie and after fifteen minutes Jotaro reappears, silently crushes the phone into dust, and then goes back to sleep. It’s hard being a genius, Joseph reflects sadly as he ticks himself into bed. No one appreciates him.

    The next day Jotaro comes home with an unconscious boy slung over his shoulder and then rescues his new friend from vampire tentacle. Joseph will give this to Jotaro- he might be a bad-tempered little brat, but at least he has the composure and skills to back up his scowls.  Of course, he immediately leaves after his rescue, probably embarrassed to have done something nice for another human being, and Joseph is left to explain to Kakyoin that he’s been under control by a sexy vampire for several weeks.

    Kakyoin takes it about as well as anyone can considering the circumstances, which is to say that he excuses himself to the bathroom and doesn’t come out for a long period of time. Joseph suspects he’s crying, or trying not to cry. Teenagers.

    Between this and that, Joseph entirely forgets about Caesar until about 7 the next morning, when someone comes careening into their driveway, motor loud enough to wake the dead, brakes squealing like a subway train, opera music playing at full blast. One last scream from the lead singer, and the car switches off. There’s the sound of a door slamming shut, and then the beep-beep of a car being locked.

    Caesar’s here, Joseph thinks, and then he’s clambering out of bed and putting his clothes on. A minute later and he’s at the door. He can see Caesar’s pink rental car through the window; it sits among the tasteful gardens of the Kujo estate like a stripper at church.

Caesar himself is waiting impatiently at the door, beautiful as ever. He’s the only bastard Joseph knows who could hop on a flight from Italy to Japan and come out looking the kind of disheveled that models spend hours in the makeup studio trying to achieve. His hair is a fine light blond, just beginning to shade to white, and he looks closer to thirty than to sixty, the wide muscle of his shoulder framed by his crop-top and elbow length gloves. At the sight of Joseph, a pink and blue humanoid flashes into existence behind him and poses, one finger pointed in Joseph’s direction.

Caesar grins real wide at Joseph’s shocked expression and throws his head back, his stand combing its fingers through his hair.

“I call it Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy,” Caesar says. His stand blows Joseph a kiss, and a pink bubble emerges from its lips and floats through the air. Curious, Joseph reaches for the bubble with his mechanical arm. It pops. A curious tingle passes through his body, and he finds that the entire left side of his body has gone numb.

“Hey,” he starts to protest, and Caesar grins and grabs Joseph in a headlock. They scuffle for a bit before Hermit Purple can finally get a grip on Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy and make it reverse the effect, which it does with a delicate kiss.

“Not dead yet, I see,” Caesar jeers. It’s a long-standing contention between them that Joseph doesn’t practice his hamon training as much as Caesar thinks he should. When Joseph’s hair first started to go white, Caesar took it as a personal insult.

    “You’re two years older than me!” Joseph responds, like he always does. Holly comes out of the house, and all the levity drains out of Caesar’s face. It’s only a moment and then his smile is plastered back on, but Joseph knows Caesar well enough to know when he’s bluffing.

    “Holly!” Caesar says, pulling her into a hug. They exchange enthusiastic greetings, but Joseph can tell something’s wrong. Caesar’s stand is hovering behind Holly, hand outstretched over her back like it wants to touch but can’t.

    “It’s been such a long time since we’ve had this much company,” Holly says, laughing. “Are you here to help Papa?”

    “I am,” Caesar says, and kisses her forehead. Holly’s eyelashes flutter, and goes limp. There’s something growing all along her back, thorns and vines, and Joseph doesn’t need to catch Caesar’s eyes to know what it is. A stand. A parasitic stand.

    “Holly,” he says, and his voice trembles in his throat.

    “This is your fault,” Caesar says quietly. The one big argument, the one that nearly brought down their house, the one that kept Ceasar from talking to Joseph for nearly a year- was about teaching Holly the ripple. Caesar wanted her to learn. He said that there were more monsters in the world than either of them knew about, and that it was an important tradition, and that Lisa Lisa would have wanted her to know, and then as the argument progressed he called Joseph negligent and lazy and selfish and, well...

    They both said a lot of things that they would regret later, but Holly never learned the ripple. Joseph wanted her to have a better life than Caesar had, a better life than Lisa Lisa had, and here she is, her life leaking out of her drip by drip by drip.

    “What’s wrong with her?” Jotaro demands. Joseph didn’t even see him appear.

    “Her stand is killing her,” Caesar says, and Jotaro’s face goes pale and furious, his stand looming behind him. After that, a lot of things happen in quick succession. The Speedwagon Foundation is called. Jotaro’s stand discovers a new talent for zoological artwork. Plane tickets are booked. Suitcases are packed.

    Caesar comes to Joseph when he’s in his room packing and shuts the door, and Joseph thinks for a moment that it’s going to be bad.

    “If you’ve come here to gloat at me over my daughter’s unconscious body I will beat the shit out of you,” he says, and means it. Caesar pauses, and then he keeps walking. He comes to a stop in front of Joseph, and then grabs him in a hug.

    “Dumbass,” he says. A lump rises in Joseph’s throat. He’s not a crybaby, whatever Caesar might accuse him of. He can hold it together for as long as he needs to, and right now it’s looking like that will be forty days and forty nights, god- the timer on his little girl’s life. Still, he lets Caesar hug him. He misses the days when they used to cuddle in the tower while insisting that they weren’t cuddling and Caesar would let Joseph fall asleep in his lap. It’s terrible, what time does to people, how far it takes you from the things you care about.

“I wish I’d been wrong,” Caesar says, and that gets a muffled laugh out of  Joseph. Caesar gives great hugs. He’s huge, solid, the feel of his body familiar even after all these years.

“You? Wrong?” Joseph says. “I’m sure that never happens, Caesar-chan.”

“I’m glad you can admit it at last,” Caesar says, pulling back from him. “We’ll do this, Joseph. Just like last time.”

“If I recall correctly, I did most of the work last time,” Joseph says, earning him a scowl from Caesar.

“That’s a failure on both our parts, then, since you hate work,” Caesar retaliates.

“You’re mean,” Joseph says, but he’s smiling. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too, Old Man,” Caesar says, and Joseph winces.

“Don’t say that, it makes you sound like Jotaro.”

“Oh, you don’t want me to call you Jiji? You’re right, I don’t want to imply that I respect you.” Caesar may be the last remaining ripple master and have a shiny new stand and this and that, but at the end of the day Joseph can put him in a headlock until his hair looks awful and his face is pink, and that’s what really matters.

                        Kakyoin takes the initiative to order in some food, and they all troop outside to eat by the river while the doctors set up inside the house. None of them really want to watch as Holly is hooked up to their machines. As they’re trooping over the bridge and back towards the house, Jotaro’s new tentacle friend declares his intention to come with on their trip.

    “What use are you going to be?” Caesar asks. Behind Kakyoin’s back, Jotaro’s eyebrows go up slightly. He and Caesar have always gotten along well. Before Jotaro was a punk, he was the kind of nerd that admired Caesar’s flashy clothes and sweet words, and Joseph’s always suspected that he took up smoking in imitation of his ‘cool uncle.’

    “I beg your pardon,” Kakyoin says politely, and then Caesar goes careening over the edge of the bridge and comes to a stop just shy of the water, a piece of Hierophant Green wrapped around his ankle. Joseph didn’t see Kakyoin summon it, so he can only assume it was lurking under the bridge. He reluctantly awards Kakyoin points for preparation and audacity.

“Is that all,” Caesar says, laughing. Lover Boy pries Hierophant Green’s tentacle loose from his ankle, and Caesar flips over backwards onto the pond. He lands on the surface of the water like a gymnast sticking a landing. “I asked what use you were going to be, not your stand.”

Kakyoin looks flabbergasted. Behind him, Jotaro also looks surprised, or what passes for surprised with Jotaro. He really shouldn’t be. It’s not as if Joseph hasn’t told him about the ripple.

“Kids these days are so spoiled,” Joseph says. A snap of his fingers and the water rises, in an unnatural wave, depositing Caesar back on the bridge. Caesar strikes a pose like a model on a runway, his hand braced on Joseph’s shoulder. They’re standing in pairs now, Caesar and Joseph on the right, Kakyoin and Jotaro facing them on the left. Joseph knows the next step to this dance, even if the kids don’t.

Sure enough, Caesar’s stand strikes a pose behind them, and then the air is filled with bubbles. Kakyoin tries to move, but Hermit Purple’s got him pinned to the spot- and Jotaro too. It won’t hurt Joseph’s grandson to be reminded of the advantages of experience and trickery over power and youth.  The bubbles pop, and Kakyoin and Jotaro are locked into place, unable to move. Joseph winks. It feels good to stand like this, shoulder to shoulder with Caesar, united in their quest against an unknown foe. It feels like fate, like every step he took in the last decade was bringing him here to Caesar’s side.

    “Caesar,” Joseph says. “Let’s show them how it’s done!”

Written for CaeJose week 2018, for the prompt of “Future”. I’ve always wanted to see an SDC au with Caesar in it. I think he and Jotaro would bond over their love of cigarettes and being mean to Joseph.

The name of Caesar’s stand stolen from the incredibly funny Havisham and her wonderful CaeJose fics.

A big thank-you to the organizers for putting this together! : 3

[ryouverua]

A Certain Lab, Reprised

lab get lab get lab get lab get LAB GET

Everything around us is either exploding or on fire so Sweetcheeks and I are going to retreat to our space safe, investigating

am I talking about the school exploding or tumblr

we just don’t know

Speak of the devil!

“I AM HERE!!!”

“K1-B0 THeRE WAS AN OPEN WINDOW OH MY GOD, THERE’S GLASS EVERYWHERE, OH NO -”

“OH YEAH!”

Didn’t really wait at all tbh 8′D

Actually all jokes aside Sweetcheeks is right, it was hella cool - and also thank god he was in the hallway and far away from the window! K1-b0 keeps asking if Shuichi is okay but is being incredibly reckless at the same time - what if Shuichi had been showered with that glass? He wouldn’t come out of that unscathed. Was that just K1-b0 taking more of his uncorked anger out on the school?

... Hm, though I guess calling it ‘anger’ isn’t quite right. Or, at least, K1-b0’s fluctuating between ‘anger’ and sort of... more... ‘grim determination’.

Yeah, he didn’t even flinch at being complimented. He’s got serious tunnel vision right now.

Damn.

LMAO SHUICHI’S SCREEN -

There’s only one other place I can think of that qualifies...

DON’T YOU DARE SHUICHI WE FINALLY GOT HERE AND I HAVE QUESTIONS

Oh thank god I want to satisfy my curiosity about the library as much as you do but RANTARO’S TALENT FIRST

Again - damn, K1-b0.

Whoa -

..... This has a very YGO Season 0 vibe. Sorry, that’s a weird comment. Maybe the better way to describe it is that the words ‘punishment game’ immediately come to mind? Some sorta wheel/puzzle thing in the back, cards hanging from the ceiling, some sort of... table...? Kinda reminds me of a poker table, though there’s no center to it... Maybe he... really did specialize in death games...?

Actually, if Celeste had an Ultimate Lab, I feel like it would have a similar aesthetic ~

IT’S HIS SOUL ROOM WE’RE IN RANTARO’S SOUL ROOM

“Yeah so I never shared with you all, but part of the Ultimate Detective status includes the ability to shoot spirit energy from your finger like a gun -”

I don’t think that’s completely wrong but I feel like the actual talent name is going to be x100 times more ominous. 8′D

MAN end-game Himiko is so different than early-game Himiko! Nice to have you onboard - wait, I just realized we’ve got a magician sidekick helping us in an investigation. Is this the right time to make an Ace Attorney reference, or -

Okay, huh. There’s actually way less to click on than I thought there would be. WHAT IS WITH THE MOST CRYPTIC PEOPLE HAVING THE LEAST INTERACTIVE ROOMS, COME ON DRV3 -

Okay, that laptop first:

Empty laptop.... okay, let’s set that aside for now.

Here’s the real question - what came first? The K1-b0 we knew for the first five chapters or this K1-b0? Which one should we consider to be the ‘true’ K1-b0? I think the game is implying that this is the real K1-b0, and the one who we knew up until now was a ‘controlled’ version of him - but at the same time, if the antenna was built in with him, could it be considered part of the original design and therefore part-and-parcel of K1-b0?

omfg I just realized the implications of a white-haired boy hearing a voice (that he literally calls ‘voice’) in his head who may or may not be controlling him behind the scenes be still my heart you’re getting distracted

WHELP THERE’S REALLY ONLY ONE OTHER THING TO CLICK HERE SO -

Like a safe?

......... Omfg it says ‘B’ and ‘A’ on them and it has pictograms on them. Is... this going where I think this is going...

Okay Himiko is being our in-game tutorial and noting that the zodiac is on one side and astrological signs are on the other but honestly I’m fine to skip all past it tbh because there it is, there’s our fucking ‘horse a’ and ‘twin b’ is gemini, Kokichi himself was a gemini, this was where we were going with those hints??? Rantaro’s lab?! idk I just don’t find puzzles like this hard I kinda thrive off of symbolism and mythology in general 8′D

Wait.... doesn’t that mean Kokichi couldn’t have been the one to leave those messages behind?!

Okay this was pretty cute so I left this in ~ but straight up two minutes later it was just a string of KACHUNK KACHUNK KACHUNK until I got it open immediately -

.... the symbols are weirdly cute though, hehe ~

Don’t worry Sweetcheeks, the only life-threatening time-waster we’ll spend all of our time on is fluff text!

Aaaaaaand done. Thanks Kokichi!

MAN I LOVE THESE TWO SPRITES TOGETHER FOR SOME REASON

Ah, so they’re talking about the stone with ‘horse a’ written on it - which... does make me curious, honestly. I think the existence of this safe pretty much confirms that he didn’t write the original message... right?

When did the letters start appearing aside from ‘horse a’? Chapter 3? Was that around the time he concocted that particular plan, then?

H-Hey now, he’s also the reason we found the second clue. 8′D I mean, it wouldn’t have been terrible to go through 12 different combinations with ‘horse a’ determined, but it wouldn’t have been ideal.

i bet you can buy that, that is literally perfect DR merch

IT’S

THE VIDEO

THE VIDEO!!!!

yeah I’m totally going to pull up my old post to see what matches and what doesn’t

“Oh god I forgot how absolutely stunning he was.”

OH I thought that was an abstract red background, silly me - 8′D well, that was probably the point. It might give away the game if we saw something more concrete behind him way back in... what, Chapter 4?

Anyway, more importantly, Rantaro shouldn’t have had access to this place... except he clearly did. So... he... must have been here before. And he knew more about the killing game, or seemed to intuitively know more, than anyone else. He... must have done this before. Except he had made it all the way here last time??? So there is a loop of some sort? Though it can’t be an outright time loop because otherwise there would be no need to record a video (unless like I considered it’s a ‘simulated’ time loop, aka VR-style like last game)...

This makes me wonder how we saw the video the first time. Was it just another flashback/tease like the meteorites were, before we saw the flashback lights?

I mean, I guess it’s kinda hard for recording!Rantaro to prove, but we’ll have to take him at his word here I suppose. 8′D

OH

OKAY

WE’RE JUST GOING STRAIGHT INTO IT THEN

are you telling me you were the protagonist in the last killing game

DIDN’T YOU HAVE LIKE, TWO AHOGES TOO

Man, what an asshole move??? Like, okay, Monokuma’s creating the puzzle of the safe which would unlock this video. Fine. But almost half of the class would have to be dead in order for him to get to it! There’s no way for him to even start the puzzle at this point, because he wouldn’t know it existed! What a huge handicap!

......... Something.... he had.... since the beginning............. Hm. I’m drawing a blank. I don’t remember anything in particular that stands out....

My dead boy, that is an understatement.

AHAHAHA ABOUT THAT....

Now this makes me wonder if he is the only one repeating it or if anyone else is? Well, maybe the mastermind - but like, maybe everyone is repeating it, but only those who ‘won’ were able to have better memories, or were just able to retain the memories of the last game better than the others?

Or, hell, if I want to go along with my previous theory about downloading the memories of students, maybe... Rantaro can remember more about his real self? Or something? But everyone else can’t?

And if he’s really someone who won the previous one (along with one other person, I suppose), then he knows that for a fact.

???!?! Aaaah this part got cut off last time too - so it was actually cut off in the video, and not just in our flashback?!

“You’re also dead, which may make things a little bit more difficult, but I still believe in you!”

That at least I expected -

WHAT

OH GOD THERE ARE SO MANY LAYERS TO THIS

like the dramatic irony I’m sure the fandom has done to death, for example

What about the second person??? Is there a second Ultimate Survivor???? I guess there can’t be since everyone else knows their talents but -

wait, if you’re the Ultimate Survivor because you won a killing game, who were you in the last game????

Does this really give him an advantage though??? I guess the information would have been nice but I mean, it obviously didn’t do him much good because he got taken out so quickly!

Man this makes me wonder if Kokichi had any inkling of this...

jsyk since I have the screenshots side to side, his expression is different in this video compared to the last one

~ fun facts ~

Yeah, see, the ‘he wanted’ part is throwing me off. He participated, sure, and he didn’t say he wanted the original one, but he came back for round two and said he wanted it.... but why???? That implies there’s a purpose to it, and he was okay to gamble his own life - but also, as a person without his memories of this, he wanted to stop the game. If the chip he bet is his own life, the reward must be huge, right? He won these supposed perks for this game, but what did he win for his life outside the game? .... Assuming there is anything outside the game? Is there anything for him outside the game?

HIMIKO DON’T BE RUDE

Yeah, she didn’t know the identity of her target. 8′\ Also I’d be sad if it was Kaede in the end. Second also! I know that she ended up being the first chapter killer and I’m one of the people got taken by surprise by that, but we were in her head for that whole chapter! Her motive made sense - but for her to end up being the mastermind now? That wouldn’t make sense, based on what we know of her, memory shenanigans aside!

That would require the mastermind to have knowledge of Shuichi and Kaede’s plan then, right? So they would have had to draw Rantaro to the library somehow, so he would get caught in Kaede’s trap...

It... should be one of a kind, considering the circumstances...

Yeah I’m still wracking my brain and not coming up with anything there. Could it have to do with his necklace? It did make me think of that ‘soldier tag’ present, about remembering someone who they lost. That would be an incredibly appropriate, if not cruel, ‘survivor’s perk’ present for someone who survived a killing game.

Man are we going to get a new flashback for every place we investigate???

OH SHIT IT’S BACK

FLASHBACK LIGHT!!!

you can pry the flashback light animation from my cold dead hands

?!?!?!

Immediate thoughts - generic students. But, are they? Is there any chance that they look generic on the face of it, but are actually representative of people in the class? I don’t see anything that could be an immediate match (Korekiyo = masked guy, Kokichi = small guy with similarly shaped hair/short stature/face, Kaito = tall guy, maybe), and they seem to have different VAs - hell, is that Jounouchi (or for the proper DR character, Munakata)’s seiyuu?

...... or the guy with the sick mask could just be sick lmao

Ah, so this is from when the virus began to ravage the population...

That seems like an understatement 8′D But at least we know for sure when in the timeline this takes place! Shuichi doesn’t seem to know they’re going to be the only survivors yet, but they’ve already been presumably screened for the Gopher Project which means it is well under way.

Calm down Sigma Klim -

Shuichi hasn’t told them he swings both ways, huh.

OH GOD RIGHT IN THE KAITO

DO YOU GET IT YET SHUICHI, YOU ARE THEIR HOPE

Don’t mind me, just wanted to make sure Shuichi didn’t miss the cryptic message left for him in these memories -

Not only that, but these aren’t memories meant to act as a reward for completing a stage like the other ones or even one they found - this was literally forced on them. It’s supposed to be Monokuma’s weapon against them. So... similar to the motive from the last trial, it’s trying to make them take action...?

And it’s clearly working!

... Maybe it isn’t the necklace then. I mean, he was wearing it when he died right??? And his body is gone...

Oh man unless just like everyone else there were copies of it along with the rest of it in his room - except there are 15, one for all the participants for the last game or something -

It might be 50/50 right now??? There’s something screwy going on, I just don’t know what.

[anne-lida]

[SPOILER] My Thoughts on “Venom” Movie

So yesterday and today, I (finally!) watched the movie with my mom in flippin' 4DX (but with 2D graphic though). We never watched a movie in 4DX before, but I saved the moment and the money for this movie. ;)

Also, I repeatedly lost parts of my long review seven times. I was losing my patience, my memory, and my excitement each time I had to rewrite my review. So I decided to just make... commentary for my expectations and (stupid) wishes that I posted days ago.

n.b.: there will be so much spoilers after this (hence the title). You've been warned. Plus, there was two types of commentary here: the bold commentary (and most of "My Other Thoughts" part) is from my first watch, the italic is from my second watch.

My Expectation (what I think the movie would be/what would happen in it):

- I can see myself squealing like a fangirl at any random moment in the movie. Probably most of those moments are reference from the comic that I know. XD --> I was so noisy (my mouth almost never closed at the entire movie). I screamed or "aww"-ed like... every five minutes at the rarest? I was sitting on the farthest row from the screen and I saw almost everyone looked behind their chairs everytime I screamed. XD --> still screaming and "aww"-ing, except that no one cared about me. XD

- After I watch it, my thought might be ranging from “omg, I love the movie! I don’t care what they say, but this is the best movie ever!” to “I love the characters, I love the concept of this movie. But may I rewrite the story, please?”. --> it's in between? Like there's still something that should be fixed, but maybe not the story. Maybe it's just the pacing?--I said the pacing towards the end is too fast, my mom said the pacing at the beginning is too slow. Maybe one caused the other. But then we kinda agreed that the time from after Riot bonded with Carlton to the end of the final fight is too short compared to the other part of the movie. I think this could be fixed in some kind of novelization or... what people called for "comic version of novelization". I won't even complain if it will be a 1000 pages novel with story like this. :) --> apparently love comes from understanding and understanding comes from time; I totally forgot about those flaws after watching it for the second time and just took all the goods.

- I think the ending would determine whether I like the movie or not. I have a feeling there’s something great at the end, something… surprising. But if apparently not, my love to the movie (not the comic) might be gone. Also, I think the ending might be–no, must be based on “Planet of the Symbiotes”. --> apparently the ending is much happier than the comic, especially because Anne is not traumatized after biting a head off (at least not traumatized enough to kill herself).

- No matter how many times Venom said that it want to bite people’s head off, I highly doubt that we would see a “solid proof” that a head is actually being bitten off, even before it was announce as PG-13. What I think would happen is… something like this level of violence. We might see Venom opened their jaw, the victim and people around them freaking out, the victim’s body stop moving and thrown away, but… it might be just that. (I might called every “bite your head off” lines as BS) --> I slightly surprised that Venom bit a head on camera. No one's bleeding though. (also Venom is a big hungry boy in general, not because of lacking phenethylamine like in "Venom: The Hunger")

- I have a strong feeling that in the end (probably in the post-credit), Eddie would be thrown into jail (to the prison where he did an investigation that led him to Life Foundation) after all the damage he had done as Venom and he would meet Cletus. Begin the film in the prison, end it in the prison. --> yes, there was Cletus in the one of the post-credit scenes (mid-credit scene, to be exact). But Eddie was just interviewing him, actually (and that's the only scene that took place in San Quentin prison).

- I know that this is impossible, but why I still have a feeling that Spider-Man would appear in this movie, even though I don’t want it to happen? --> yes, he is in the post-credit scene (which is shockingly a clip from "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" and almost everyone in the theater were disappointed XD. Fun clip, though). --> my mom refused to wait until this post-credit scene. XD

- I have a feeling that the “Venom” name origin would be either so cheesy or the idea just came out of nowhere. --> it came out of nowhere. It's also the symbiote's individual name and it doesn't make sense to me (also Eddie didn't even question that?). Like if the symbiote is called "Venom", then both Eddie and Venom called themselves as "Venom", doesn't that mean Eddie is also a... symbiote? (this might be my brain farting, but still) --> maybe it's too confusing if the symbiote doesn't have an individual name and too risky to give him other name.

- Someone might be pulling my heartstring at the end. --> "Goodbye, Eddie." "VENOM, NO!" ...and there goes my heartstring.

n.b.: When they lowered the age rating, I tried to lower my expectation, just in case the movie is terrible. But the hype tho. --> I was spoiled from here and there (I was so bad at dodging it). Yet the movie is still so fun to watch that we both agreed to watch it again on the next day. XD --> ...and somehow the movie became much better after the second watch (it's like from 80-85% good to 100%). XD

My Wish (what I want from the movie):

- A flair of chocolate in Venom and Eddie relationship (this version of Venom symbiote needs chocolate real bad). --> not much as I want (just a barely mention), but it's better than none. Plus, me and Venom have a common ground now: Tater tots. --> I might be up to tater tots dipped in chocolate sauce. :d

- At least one soundtrack that I like because it is actually good, NOT because I like the movie it comes from. --> at the early part of the movie, there was "Eddie's Blues" that makes me think this movie will be different than other comic book movies nowaday. I feel like it has that mystery, private-eye movie vibe in it. (somehow it makes me think of "The Wolf Among Us"?) --> "You Belong to Us" is pretty good too. Its happy, slightly jumpy tune became a great refreshment after those tense, ominous, dark music.

- A touching interaction between Venom and the civilian (especially kids and/or women –> maybe with Mrs. Chen? She seems like a lovable side character) --> I don't think there's any (I didn't count Eddie as "civilian" in this case). Yet speaking of kids, the interaction between Carlton and the kids at the beginning made me forget that he's the antagonist :3. Also Maria wrenched my heart. )": --> Eddie is so nice to every woman.

- Please, for the love of God, just for once, let me love the protagonist more than the antagonist. --> I guess I did it? I like how Carlton's "persuasions" made me almost don't believe that he's the villain (especially in his conversation with Isaac), but every time he said "open", it broke that impression. Guess I still love Eddie-Venom duo more.

- This seems almost impossible, but somehow I want at least one song that Venom sang in the comic be featured in the movie? Or maybe a tiny scene with “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” in it? --> no, there was none. --> "I move to San Francisco for you. You are my home." Well, still sounds like "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" life to me.

- It might sounds odd and cringey, but guys, there’s a rapper in the movie. Are you seriously not letting him rap even just for the credit? --> same as above.

My Other Thoughts:

- at the entire movie, my sitting position was either way too near to the edge until my mom held me back (afraid that I'm gonna fall off XD) or pressing my back to chair way too hard and I still wished I could press it even further (omg that Riot jumpscare... my poor heart... DX). Also I raised my feet so many times because the wind effect kept hitting my feet each time someone shot or kicked other's legs.

- dear symbiotes, why did you have to land in Malaysia? Dear female EMT whoever-you-are, why did you speak in Melayu? Why this movie is already so relatable in first two minutes?

- what happpen to Yellow (I assume that's its name since the other symbiote is called as "Blue"?) and the rabbit's fate? Did I miss something?

- it might be just me, but something in Carlton's appearance or face makes him seems like a nice person who can't do "angry/pissed off villain" expression. Like he's almost as innocent and curious as the kids that he interacted with. At least until he started to kill people.

- some of the 4DX effects for this movie are not necessary IMO. My chair was vibrating when Anne hit Eddie with a pillow, and I was sprayed (like a big spray) when Eddie picked a lobster and ate it (and it scared me. Twice).

- Idk if it's because of the 4DX effects, but the street chase is so awesome ("It's incredible," said Carlton Drake--seriously, he did say that himself after that scene XD). Also, this is the scene when I slowly leaned to my mom and whispered, "Let's watch this movie again." ;). This is also the point when I felt that this movie is so impossible to be hated.

- although people said that this movie sucks, I think we all still agree that the scene where Venom called Eddie "pussy" because he didn't jump off the building and took the elevator instead is funny/amusing (even though I'm also scared of height and would do the same XD. But seriously, I would rather be called "pussy" and lost my dignity than hyperventilating or getting heart attack and lost my life). --> also the scene when Anne demanded Eddie to go to hospital made the entire theater giggles at the least.

- omg, Venom likes Anne! Venom literally said he likes Anne! Omg, I don't think this OT3 even existed in the comic. :O

- I was about to ask how Riot's journey from Sibu to San Francisco is even possible, but somehow after the second watch I just don't want to ask it? XD

- the moment Venom was separated from Eddie, I immediately thought of "Planet of the Symbiotes" comic and I... gdi, Eddie. :"(

- I was expecting Venom bonded with Mr. Belvedere for some reasons. But of course, Venom is a dog perso--I mean, dog... symbiote?

- am I the only one who see the "making out" scene as an OT3 kiss, instead of just OTP kiss? Like both Eddie and Anne were actually kissing Venom, then Venom was like, "Okay, I had enough. I'll let you both have your moment alone now while I move to my favorite host." XD

- Venom being protective to Anne even when Eddie disagreed with him? Y'all, in Venom: Sinner Takes All, Venom protected Anne only when Eddie ordered him to. But this? What the duck is this movie trying to suggest us?

- "You belong to us, Anne." *me biting my bag, trying to hold back the squeal* oh my God, Venom told her to join the OT3! Three's a family! I can't--oh God. >O<

- I quoted what Venom says (and listed what Venom eats XD) at the scene after the street chase and at the ending, almost didn't lose a beat (because I watched the trailers too much XD).

- how could I didn't expect Stan Lee to be in this movie? (and of course Tom Hardy would pet a dog :3)

- the way Eddie taught Venom how to know the difference between good and bad people is somewhat cute (almost like teaching a kid >< And Venom later acted like a kid when he demanded Eddie apology for calling him "parasite").

- I told you that the movie would be good and enjoyable even without (directly interacting with) Spider-Man. I told you that despite the trailers being dark and edgy, the movie has its own "unexpected cuteness". :)

- when can I buy the DVD or Blu-ray for this movie?

- outside me liking the movie, I watched the movie twice because I was kinda hoping that by buying more tickets would help the possibility of the sequel becomes higher. And honestly, this is the first time I watched the same movie twice in the cinema.

- also I love how the fandom reacted to the movie (especially on Tumblr). You are the best! XD Keep it up, y'all! :D

I think that’s it for now. If there’s anything else that I remember, I would update this post. Maybe.

[newmusickarl]

Album & EP Recommendations

Small Talk by Soda Blonde

I must admit until this week, I had forgotten all about Little Green Cars. Having discovered the Irish indie rock outfit at Dot-to-Dot festival a few years back and subsequently hammering their two albums, Absolute Zero and Ephemara, they kind of just dropped off my radar. As it turns out, in the five years since that Dot-to-Dot appearance and the release of their second album, Little Green Cars had called it a day due to one of the original co-founders exiting the band. But out of the ashes of Little Green Cars arose Soda Blonde, with the four remaining members now finally releasing their debut album under this new guise – and it is fantastic.

Back repackaged and with a fresh sound, this may technically be Soda Blonde’s debut, but you can tell from the off these are no novices. Built on the experience of their previous outfit, the musicianship is exquisitely mastered and the lyrics as stirring as ever. This is a very accomplished record, with the band steadily navigating shimmering alt-pop tracks built on self-reflection, heartbreak and difficult relationships - be it with former lovers, family members or even strangers online. The band stated in a recent online listening party that the record was partly inspired by Kanye West’s 808s & Heartbreaks, and that is certainly one influence you can hear coming through.

There are really so many highlights on offer here – from Tiny Darkness opening proceedings with a catchy melody and stunning orchestration, before the neon-glow of single In The Heat of the Night arrives shortly after, followed then by the melancholic downbeat riffs of Terrible Hands. There is also the decidedly 80s flair of the brilliant title track, as well as the glorious string-tinged closer Choices. However, ultimately the track that ends up leaving the biggest impression is I Still Have Feelings for You – an ultra-raw acoustic number where frontwoman Faye O’Rourke lays bare her vulnerability, speaking out to an ex in what is a really stunning vocal performance.

All in all, this is a wonderful listen and an album I can see myself frequently returning to over the next few weeks. Little Green Cars were special, but with Soda Blonde this band are now really hitting their stride and I can’t wait to hear what they deliver next.

Seize The Power by Yonaka

Another band I discovered at Dot-to-Dot festival (where they got handed the 1am graveyard slot but still absolutely killed it!), I’ve pretty much enjoyed the entire output from Brighton-rockers Yonaka so far. With their debut album, Don’t Wait ‘Til Tomorrow, making it into my Top 20 Albums of 2019, my expectations for their second release have certainly been high – luckily with their new mixtape Seize The Power, the young band have delivered big once again.

Where their first album was ultimately a rock album with a slight pop shimmer to certain tracks, this new project feels much harder to pigeonhole. Across the album’s eight tracks, the band push their musical boundaries out even further, sonically defying genre to perfectly match up with frontwoman Theresa Jarvis’ ever-impressive vocal acrobatics. However, some things thankfully have returned from the debut such as the relentless energy, glossy production, big anthemic choruses and stadium-sized sounds they produce.

Kicking off proceedings with the big riffs of Ordinary, the incredible title track soon cuts in with Theresa Jarvis aggressively spitting her rallying mantra over an ominous and masterfully produced electronic backdrop. From there the band soon head into their most radio-friendly track to date, Raise Your Glass, with its huge chorus and noticeably more pop melody. However just when you think Yonaka might be softening, they hit back with the siren blaring riffs of Clique, with Theresa and FEVER 333’s Jason Aalon Butler yelling “Get the fuck out my face before I do something” on the track’s hook.

The mixtape is then brought to its conclusion through another collaboration, this time with singer-songwriter Barns Courtney. A stunning piano ballad with a jaw-dropping vocal performance from Theresa Jarvis, Anthem is one of the band’s best tracks to date and a perfect example of how their artistry is nicely maturing. Although this may turn out to be just a prelude to what will eventually be their second studio album, this still feels like a significant step in Yonaka’s captivating evolution.

Vince Staples by Vince Staples

Elsewhere this week, Compton rapper Vince Staples released his fourth studio album and, as the project being self-titled would suggest, this is by far Vince’s most personal release to date. However more importantly, where a lot of hip-hop artists nowadays will choose to deliver bloated, overlong and ultimately dull projects - Vince has instead given us the absolute antithesis of all that.

Just 25 minutes in length and every track under 3 minutes, no bar is wasted here – this is a concise, thrilling and intriguingly introspective listen. With Kenny Beats in the production driving seat, he helps to elevate Staples’ work further, with highlights including Law of Averages, The Shining and Sundown Town. Although it may not quite hit the dizzying heights of recent albums from Brockhampton and Tyler The Creator, this is still a great hip-hop album that’s well worth your time.

It Won’t Always Be Like This by Inhaler

And finally, all young bands have the weight of expectation on them when it comes to delivering on their debut album – that first record is always going to be a big “sink or swim” moment. However, when the father of the singer is one of the most recognisable men in music, in this case U2’s Bono, there does seem to be an added pressure.

Luckily for young Irish indie rockers Inhaler led by frontman Elijah Hewson, they take this pressure in their stride on what is a very impressive first outing. Showing plenty of potential through their energetic sound, as well as their knack for writing killer hooks and big anthemic riffs, I will not be at all surprised when these guys quickly move onto arenas in a few years time.

Tracks of the Week

Creep (Very 2021 Rmx) by Thom Yorke featuring Radiohead

On the tracks front, something I did not expect to hear this week was a new remix of Creep from none other than Thom Yorke and Radiohead themselves. Where the original is a classic guitar-driven anthem, here it is reimagined as a synth-soaked nightmare that will fill you with harrowing, existential dread. Very 2021 indeed!

Golden Arches / Ever New by One True Pairing

Tom Fleming formerly of Wild Beasts has also returned this week with two beautiful new tracks – the first, Golden Arches, a sparkling synth-soaked number with Tom powerfully singing the refrain of “Hope is all I know, you are my inspiration.” Then things are completely stripped-back to basics for a gorgeous, mostly-acoustic rework of Beverly Glenn-Copeland’s Ever New – really haunting stuff, the latter of which you can watch/listen to above.

Funny Way of Showing It by Spector

Co-written by Jack Kaye from The Magic Gang, indie legends Spector continue their build towards new album Now or Whenever with this spacey, guitar-driven new single. As always, packed with a killer hook and an instant melody that will get stuck in your head for hours.

Good Girl by CHVRCHES

The Scottish trio deliver this striking new single, which frontwoman Lauren Mayberry wrote “after listening to some friends arguing about the present-day implications of loving certain problematic male artists – I was struck by the lengths that people would go to in order to excuse their heroes and how that was so juxtaposed to my own experiences in the world.”

A glistening synth-driven pop song, contrasted with razor-sharp lyrics and a defiant message at its core – catchy, but also powerful and thought-provoking.

The Unforgiven by Vishal Dadlani, DIVINE & Shor Police featuring Metallica

I must admit I’ve been really enjoying these Metallica covers in recent weeks, with the likes of Biffy Clyro, Miley Cyrus and St. Vincent taking on the challenge so far. This week a bit leftfield as Indian singer-songwriter Vishal Dadlani teams up with rapper DIVINE and pop duo Shor Police for a fun, albeit slightly cheesy, take on the Black Album classic.

Only Love by Tycho & Benjamin Gibbard

Benjamin Gibbard returns to his Postal Service roots for this collaboration with electronic artist Tycho, for what is a dreamy, feel-good summer anthem.

Dangerous by Hard Feelings

Hot Chip’s Joe Goddard also delivers his second collaboration with Amy Douglas for their Hard Feelings project, an ultra-funky, dancefloor-ready disco tune.

The Aftergone by Holy Holy featuring CLEWS

Australian outfit Holy Holy, who are due to drop their fourth studio album next month, team up with CLEWS for another brilliant teaser that sees the band continue to expand their already adventurous sound.

I Go by Peggy Gou

And finally, the Queen of House only drops a new single once in a blue moon, but they always seem to be just what you need to hear. This one is no different, with I Go built on dreamy vocals and euphoric summery vibes.

[mosylufanfic]

27. “Son of a bitch. It’s you.” Killervibe!

Today’s NaNo fic is a long one, and a tad more serious than I planned, but I still hope you like it!

Mosylu explain yourself pls

Secret Admirer

They all stood around the table in the cortex, studying the bright red candy box.

Barry picked up the card. “To Cisco,” he read. “From a secret admirer.” He looked up. “That’s not ominous at all.”

“It was delivered to the police station, not here or your house,” Iris said. “So they know your name and that you sometimes help the cops.”

“Do you think there’s a tracker on it?” Barry wondered. “ Like they’re trying to find out your home address? Or what if they suspect that you’re Vibe?”

“The cops looked over it thoroughly,” Iris said. “X-ray and everything.”

“And, hey, I vibed it too, because I’m not actually a moron,” Cisco said. “All I got off the box was the fight that the girl who packed it had with her girlfriend and the hot threesome the postal carrier had with his neighbors last night.” At their looks, he spread his hands. “I do not control this stuff, you guys.”

“According to the shop, it was an online order,” Caitlin reported. “Paid by a prepaid gift card.”

Iris looked up, eyes bright. “Is there an email address attached to the order?”

“Yes, but it was a dcmail address. Anyone can get one of those. And it was Ciscos_Secret_Admirer, so I think it’s pretty clear it was created just for this.”

“Okay, that’s really ominous,” Barry said.

“Orrrrrrr … ” Cisco said, “it’s Valentine’s Day in a week. Maybe I actually have a secret admirer who sent me candy because they think I’m sweet.” He ripped the plastic off the box, pulled it open, and selected a bonbon.

“Cisco!” Iris said, half-laughing. “You’re eating it?”

“Why not?” he said, with his mouth full of chocolate. “It’s my favorite kind. Want some?”

“Oh my god, no! Caitlin, come on, help me out. I can’t believe you’re not at least giving him the stink eye.”

“Actually,” Caitlin said, “I don’t see the harm. It’s fully packaged, from a reputable shop that shipped it directly. The police station examined it once when it arrived there, and Cisco vibed on it himself. All indications are it’s just a gift from a secret admirer, like it says. Why shouldn’t he eat his own candy?”

“Thank you,” Cisco said, and held up his hand for a high five, which was delivered. “Want some?”

“Oh, no, no, it’s yours.”

Over the next few days, regular as clockwork, more gifts arrived from his secret admirer. A giant teddy bear. A bottle of wine. A bouquet of roses. All of them ordered online, delivered to the police station, and impossible to vibe on.

Cisco got a lot of ribbing from the guys on the force, but he would grab his new present and say, “You’re all haters because you slobs ain’t getting shit.” He flicked his fingers over the three dozen yellow, orange, and red roses, grinning broadly. “And it takes a real man to like flowers.”

One day, the present was just a folded-up sheet of paper, which was kind of a let-down after everything else. Cisco opened it and let out a noise somewhere between a yelp and a moan.

“What? What is it?”

He looked up, starry-eyed. “They gave me a hundred dollar Steam gift card. Shit. This person totally gets me.”

Two days before Valentine’s Day, Cisco bounced around his lab, humming. His presents usually turned up around noontime, so he’d fallen into the habit of running out for lunch to one of the places near the police station.

He’d had a rough year since calling it quits with Cynthia. She’d been the first person he’d ever thought could be The One, and it had been a horrible shock to realize that someone being The One didn’t mean the universe was going to just hand them an Everything-Works-Out card. Now she was the one that got away, and Cisco had spent the year feeling like shit because he couldn’t make it work. A string of terrible dates and a soulless one-night stand had also left him feeling like he’d lost his only chance at love, like the world was cold and grey and devoid of the possibility of happiness.

This secret admirer business had buoyed his spirits, though. Okay, he had a tragic love story in his past now, but it didn’t mean romance couldn’t be right around the corner with someone else. Maybe, right?

Maybe sounded awfully good to him at the moment.

He was so busy thinking about what might be next - something sexy maybe? - that he knocked over his oil can. Of course, the loose cap came off and the contents went everywhere.

He yelped, swore, and got to work cleaning the oil up, which took forever. Then when he went back to his calculations, he found that “everywhere” had included his entire precious stash of dry-erase markers. He could “liberate” another box from the cop shop later (Joe always sighed, “Singh is gonna arrest you one day and I won’t even stop him”) but he needed one now.

He went up to Caitlin’s lab. She didn’t use them like he did, but she had her own little stash, in fun colors, too.

She was hunched over a microscope, lips pursed, tap-tap-tapping a pen.

“Dry erase markers?” he said.

“Top left drawer,” she said without looking up.

He tugged open one of the drawers at her desk and scanned the contents. No markers. He realized it was the top right drawer and was about to close it when something caught his eye.

A prepaid gift card.

He frowned at it.

Why would Caitlin have a prepaid gift card for - holy shit. Five hundred dollars?

Maybe it was in case she forgot her wallet. Maybe this was some weird budgeting hack she’d read about. Maybe she …

Ordered stuff online.

He reached in and picked it up. On the backside was a post-it, with notations in Caitlin’s neat handwriting. He read through the list.

Candy store.

Flower shop.

Novelty stuffed-animal website.

Fancy wine store.

The Steam website.

The incredible bakery by her house.

His favorite fancy-pants restaurant.

“Cisco,” Caitlin called out. “Did you find it?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Sure did.”

When he turned, she had lifted her head from the microscope. The guilty look on her face erased his last doubt that the card he held had any alternate explanation.

“I - ” she said in a very small voice. “I said the top left.”

“Son of a bitch,” he said. “It’s you.”

He sat looking at the gift card, conscious of a weird, deflated feeling in his chest. A knot of something he couldn’t quite identify.

“I - ” she said, and stopped.

He looked up at her - one of his best friends. Someone who’d been right there for him at all his worst points, like he’d been for her.

Someone who’d spent the whole past week - no, knowing her, the whole past month, at least - putting time and energy and thought and a not-inconsiderable amount of money into showering him with gifts and affection, and seeing him bounce and smile around Star Labs without claiming any credit.

Her head had drooped down, and her shoulders were folded in tight.

“Hey,” he said softly.

She said, “Look, I -”

He held the card up. “This? Was super sweet, Caitlin. Thank you.” He set it down by her computer and went to give her a quick hug. “You knew how rough this V-Day was going to be and you wanted to give me some happy buzz. You’re the best, you know that?”

She was still sitting on her chair, chin tipped up, eyes big.

He kissed her cheek. “Seriously. This has been so much fun, these presents. And they were amazing. Thank you.”

“You - you’re welcome,” she mumbled.

“Look, I’m about to go grab lunch and stop by the station for - ” He laughed. “Well, you know what, don’t you? You wrote down Cameron’s Bakery - I’m guessing cupcakes? Maybe cookies?”

She nodded like a bobble-head doll. “Cupcakes. Red velvet cupcakes.”

“All right. So I’ll bring those back, and we can share, and hey, you know what? I’m grabbing your lunch, too.”

“N-no. That’s okay, I -”

“You’ve been giving me a lot this week, least I can do is pick you up your favorite sandwich, right?”

“Okay,” she whispered. “Okay.”

“Okay,” he echoed. “See you in a little bit.”

He went downstairs for his wallet and breached out to a handy alley near the station. He wavered between going there first or grabbing the food - but her favorite sandwich place was five blocks in the other direction. He headed for the station.

“Finally, you’re here!” Iris said. She’d been at the station all morning, reading through case files from about the 1940s that weren’t yet digitized. “I’ve had to practically throw my body on today’s present.” With a dirty look to the desk sergeant, she handed Cisco a dark green box with swirly silver script.

“Come on,” the sergeant mumbled. “We all know what a Cameron’s Bakery box looks like.”

“Well, you can go buy your own,” Cisco said, forcing cheer. “This one’s mine. Thanks for protecting it, Iris.”

She gave him a quizzical look. “Aren’t you going to open it and see what’s inside?”

“I’m afraid of a stampede,” he joked.

Iris didn’t laugh. “You okay? I thought you loved that place.”

He traced his finger over the lettering. “I do. But I need food-food right now, too.” He waved at her with the box and went on his way, wondering if Iris or Barry had been in on it. But no, after their initial skepticism, they’d been into it, cooing over the presents and speculating on identities.

Why hadn’t he told her? “Oh, guess what, craziest thing - it’s Caitlin!”

Maybe because he still had that weird knot of he-didn’t-know-what in his chest.

He couldn’t deny that it had been exciting to have a mystery admirer. Who didn’t love that? Sure, there was the risk they would be someone he wasn’t attracted to. But he’d at least known that someone was attracted to him, coming off a year where he didn’t feel lovable or even sometimes likeable.

But hey. Come on. She was one of his very best friends. She liked him enough to think all this up, just to see him smile. Actually, now that he thought about it, maybe he should have figured on it being someone who knew him really well, and that would have narrowed the field down hard.

He looked at the box of cupcakes in his hand.

She’d brought him a cupcake for his birthday once, during the terrible, horrible, no-good, very-bad nine months they’d spent between the explosion and Barry waking up. This exact cupcake, in fact, red velvet from Cameron’s Bakery.

Would he have figured it out then? Or would it have passed right over his head like all the other hints?

Hadn’t he been saying this whole time how perfect these gifts were? How well his secret admirer got him? She knew his favorite kind of chocolates, his favorite wine, how much he dropped on Steam every year.

She’d even heard him once, years ago, talk about how much he’d like to be wooed someday. That guys did all the wooing in straight relationships, and while he loved doing it, how cool it would be for a girl to do the whole showering-him-with-stuffed-animals-and-flowers thing sometime.

He paused across the road from the sandwich place, checked the oncoming traffic, and jaywalked without compunction.

The thing that stung so strangely - the thing that made him list all the reasons it was so awesome, like he was trying to convince himself to appreciate it - was that here and there over the years, he’d wondered about Caitlin. You know. Like that.

And if she’d been his secret admirer in a romantic way - if all those gifts and surprises were wooing and not just a friend knowing exactly what would make him happy - that would have been …

Well. Honestly, it would have been pretty cool.

He’d had a little crush on her when they first met, but she’d been with Ronnie. The crush had softened into friendship, but the friendship still had a little crushy tinge from time to time. But “from time to time” always seemed to be bad timing.

They’d been friends nearly seven years, through thick and thin. Oh, so much thin. All that time - surely any diem they might have carpe’d was long gone.

Right?

He frowned at the familiar signboard with the specials of the day, and went to stand in line. When he ordered - “chicken salad, with just a little bit of honey mustard” - the worker wrote “Caitlin” on the wrapper without even checking. On autopilot, he grabbed her a bottle of iced tea and himself a bottle of soda.

With the bag swinging from his wrist and the bakery box in his other hand, he found an alley and breached back into his lab, where he dropped everything on his table in a jumble.

The roses sat in a vase on one of his work tables. For some reason, he just stared at them for several minutes.

She’d gotten everything else dead on. Perfect, down to the squashiness of the giant teddy bear, which now was the best gaming chair he’d ever had. But the flowers -

He did like flowers. But his picks were sunflowers, or blue daisies, not roses especially. Why had she gotten him roses?

Didn’t rose colors have special meanings? It would be just like Caitlin to encode her posies. He pulled out his phone and looked it up.

Yellow - friendship, joy, warmth. Okay, that made sense.

Orange - passion, energy. Oh. Uh. Hey. Well, maybe that referred to him, to all his passion and energy for, um, saving the city on a daily basis.

But red? Everyone knew what red roses meant.

He reached out and pulled one of the red roses from the vase. The water dripped cool into his palm and ran down his wrist. He rolled it between thumb and forefinger a moment, and then grabbed the bag of their lunches and took both flower and food with him upstairs.

She sat at her computer, the gift card in hand, staring at the screen. Across the top was the logo of his favorite restaurant, and underneath that, the reservation tab.

“You waited this long to make a reservation?” he asked. “For Valentine’s day?”

She jumped and minimized the screen with a laugh that sounded fake. “No, of course not. I made it a month ago. I was just checking on it. Thinking about canceling. That was supposed to be the big reveal, after all, but now it’s just going to be a meal.”

“Caitlin,” he said, suddenly afraid.

“But!” she said brightly. “You know what. It is your favorite restaurant, and you should get to eat there. So the reservation’s in your name, and they have my credit card on file, so you go, okay? By yourself, or - or take whoever you’d like. Have a lovely time. Happy Valentine’s Day.”

She was so bright and chipper. She looked like she was about to shatter.

He set the food down next to her computer and pulled an extra chair over. “What if I want to take you?”

She looked away. “Don’t you think that would be a little strange? Around all the happy couples?”

“That was the original plan,” he pointed out. “Two BFF’s, eating a nice meal together on Valentine’s Day. Right?”

Still not looking at him, she fussed with her fingernails, picking at her pink nail polish.

He laid the rose over her keyboard and watched her go still.

“Or was it?” he said. “You gave me red roses. Sure, it took me a little while to catch on to that, but everybody knows what red roses mean.”

“Cisco - ”

“What was your plan?” he asked. “You were going to invite me - I’m guessing a card with time and place, delivered to the station tomorrow?”

She nodded.

“And then you were going to be there at the table and ta-daaa! And then what? How did you picture this going?”

She looked at the rose for a long moment. Then she reached out and picked it up, touching the velvety petals to her cheek.

“I - I was going to follow your lead,” she almost whispered into the bloom.

He let out a huff of breath. “My lead. Like, where I immediately jumped to the conclusion that those were all platonic, friendly secret admirer gifts you were showering down on me? A conclusion that was clearly mistaken.”

“I knew it was a risk. I knew that even though it seemed like your heart was mending and you were ready to get out there again, I might be wrong. And even if I wasn’t wrong about that, there was every chance you’d be disappointed that it was just me. But - ” She put the rose down. “I wanted to try. Because so many times over the years, I’ve thought ‘what if,’ and I wondered if you thought that too.”

He started to lean in, and she pulled back so hard her chair rolled a couple of inches. “Please,” she said. “I already know you think of me as strictly a friend. Don’t pity me on top of it. Just let me handle it on my own, okay?”

“You wanna know why I was so weird earlier?” he said. “Because I was trying - oh my god, I was trying so hard! - to be happy that I had a friend who cared about me that much, to put that much work into giving me an amazing Valentine’s Day week. But there’s this little part of me that’s also thought from time to time, 'what if’ and that part of me wanted you to be wooing me, Caitlin. Courting me. Is that what you were doing?”

Very slowly, she nodded. Her eyes were big again, like they had been earlier when he’d thanked her for being such a good friend.

He brushed his fingers down her jaw and leaned in again. This time, her lips met his.

It was light, tentative, questioning. But it was also the sweetest kiss he’d had in a long time.

“Okay,” he said softly after a long minute, leaning back. “So. I’ll meet you at my favorite restaurant at eight pm on Valentine’s Day. You’re going to wine and dine me, and then we’ll see this where this goes. How’s that sound?”

“That sounds amazing,” she said, and kissed him again. In her kiss, he could taste a world of possibilities, opening up.

FINIS

[tumblunni]

Today’s random Thought about gamemaking, I guess? Does anyone else get inexplicably super pissed off when a song seems to give the wrong meaning to a scene?

Like seriously i do not know ANYTHING about making music, I don’t even know how to read music notation at a basic primary school level. So it seems bewhildering to me when super talented viddygame musicians seem to take a ‘ehh it doesnt matter’ attitude to their soundtrack. I can’t understand why any game would not even TRY to have music match to the story stuff that’s happening, seriously why are there so many mediocre products like that. EVEN STUPID BUNNI CAN SEE IT!!! WE EXPECT BETTER FROM YOU!!! Good retort for any other ‘don’t listen to the players, they couldn’t make their own game’ type argument- you don’t have to be a master chef to know a cake is burnt.

sorry, sorry, I’m getting offtopic here, I’m just a little fired up!

Well basically what I mean is that music can be REALLY IMPORTANT to enhance an emotional moment in a game, and it can backfire horribly if one of those moments has a bad soundtrack. Not that it’s the be all and end all of sorywriting though, I mean there are plenty of games out there with forgettable soundtracks that still made me cry. But.. I mean.. usually they were just forgettable, and not outright terrible. Not many games where I had to play the whole thing muted managed to stir up as much emotion, yknow...? RAMBLING AGAIN Summary: music is not > writing, but can add +1 to writing if they work in harmony.

But the point that bothered me today is remembering how a failed musical moment can confuse players on the meaning of a scene, if the writing didn’t outright spell it out. Or if the writing is very clear on the intended reaction and the music still seems to say something else, the disconnect can ruin your immersion even if you still understood what was trying to be said. or, hypothetically, if a situation exists with two versions of the same story and one of them has a fitting, meaningful song while the other has a rather generic one, that moment could seem to hold more ‘importance’ in the narrative depending on which version you bought. JUST SAYIN’

which actually happened once in pokemon ruby and sapphire and it still rustles my jimmies!!!

okay so we have two versions of the same game where the villain guy has a different personality and tries to harness the power of a legendary monster of either fire or water. They both still follow the same general plotline, and both have a moment where villain guy’s plan fails and he isn’t able control [insert monster name here], thus causing Apocolypse Time for some damn reason this was chosen as one of the only songs that differs between games, despite its emotional resonance being CRITICALLY important to this goddamn scene

I guess that’s bad? I suppose?

but then the other one gets the fuckin creepiest music i have ever heard in a pokemon game

I THINK THAT EVER SO SLIGHTLY CHANGES THE TONE OF THE SCENE, GUYS

seriously, the water one sounds more like a vaguely ominous dungeon exploration theme and like.. a music.. in general??? not a YOU DONE FUCKED UP! YOU DONE FUCKED UP! alarm blaring right in maximillian’s goddamn face. it’s deliberately dissonant non-music, and the other one doesn’t even try to capture the same sort of aesthetic!

and lil kid me had only played Sapphire Version, so I never even heard the spookier version until I played the Ruby remake a decade later I know it sounds weird to not grasp the gravity of a literal apocolypse if the music isn’t scary enough, but I mean.. its a jrpg cliche. The world is always under threat and we already knew it was under threat and that’s why we wanted to beat this guy. That spooky music moment was necessary to sell the audience on something that’s often lost its shock value in this genre. And it was also an emotional moment because its where the villain sees the consequences of his actions and realizes what he was doing was wrong. It shouldnt be just a ‘wow, new sea adventure dungeon, better get moving kiddo’ sort of thing, but something that knocks you off your tracks for a second and makes you pause to take in what this guy is saying and feel sympathy for his horrific realization. Its a moment that’s so disarming for him that you just have to leave him there nigh-catatonic as you rush off to fix his mistake, and he only properly teams up with you to help save the day a dungeon or two later. That just seemed like a plot contrivance in Sapphire because there wasn’t that same desperate urgency that you have to rush off NOW, and can’t wait for this guy. Apocolypses happen all the time in rpg games, you need to specify to the audience when you want it to feel like an URGENT apocolypse! FF7 had a similar moment where you learn a bunch of revelations about the main villain and he succeeds in summoning the magic meteor that was more of an abstract threat this entire time. Now you can see it hovering in the distant sky, and the world map music has a drastic spooky change similar to this game. it worked there, it worked in pokemon ruby, pokemon sapphire why did you change it?

also, a more random minor issue I had with another song in the same game

Is it just me or does Wally’s theme sound more like ‘classy rich guy’ than ‘unconfident younger child with a chronic illness whom you play a mentor role to’? It also sounds really cheerful and upbeat and reminds me more of the generic ‘HI I AM GIRL AND CUTE AND CRUSH ON YOU’ rival characters like May and Shauna. Its just kinda got that ‘hyperactive and clumsy but in a way that’s supposed to be seen as a love interest’ sort of vibe. So yeah to me it says ‘fancy high class characters are usually egotistical jerk rivals, but I personally want to assure you that this rich lady is actually super nice and adorable and possibly has cute comic relief aspects’. Aka Sonia Nevermind from Danganronpa. Is this just my brain making nonsensical associations or does anyone see where I’m coming from??

Also ‘Wally Emotion’ doesnt seem to have ANYTHING in common with it and I never even knew this was a Wally-only theme AT ALL until I saw the track listing.

THINGS THAT SOUND WAY MORE LIKE THAT: THIS seriously why is this just the generic song for the town the guy lives in, instead you don’t even really take enough time passing through it to hear the full thing...

also obligatory mention to possibly the greatest change in the whole remake being SPECIFICALLY GIVING THIS GUY ANOTHER ACTUALLY FITTING REMIX SONG hey guess what didnt give me emotions in the first version hey guess what gives me all the emotions now FUCK YEAH that’s how you sell ‘the student becomes the master’ entirely without words! this thing was so goddamn successful that it took me half an hour to even find a video of his ‘main theme’, youtube search was overwhelmingly shoved full of cover of this badass piece i cant believe that the original game just used the same old minor trainer battle theme for him...