#do yourself a favour and watch the original video :)

[jfleamont]

this is how James plays the guitar in a specific scene of never, sometimes, all the time and i'm posting this for future reference (also because hands are my weakness goodbye)

source: x

[screamscenepodcast]

HAPPY HALLOWEEN 2023: THE TOP TEN

Hey there, Creatures of the Night! Once again it is that time of year where we recap what films have made the cut of Scream Scene's top ten best horror movies of all time! (all time defined as 1895-1960) If you’re looking for some genuine classics to check out this year, we’ve got you covered, with running times and where to find them!

#10. I Walked With a Zombie (1943)

The second Val Lewton produced film on the list, I Walked With a Zombie is perhaps best described as Jane Eyre in the Caribbean, but what is surprising is that the film is also a well researched depiction of Voodoo practices for 1943. The haunting imagery, sparse sound design, and dreamlike poeticism of this film might make it among the most unique zombie movies you’ve ever seen, made in a time with zombies were supernatural undead slaves, instead of reanimated undead cannibals. Do yourself a favour and check it out - it’s available to buy online in SD for $9.99 from Apple TV, and $14.99 on Amazon Video, Google Play Movies and YouTube. 1h 8m.

#9. The Old Dark House (1932)

James Whale’s definitive take on this traditional mystery thriller formula is a movie that will have you laughing right until the moment it has you screaming. In some ways, it’s a movie of clichés, with the protagonists seeking shelter in an old mansion during a rainstorm in the night and having to deal with the reclusive family they find within. But the dark, brooding cinematography, and truly shocking twists that rivet up the intensity over the running time, all contribute to make this a harrowing watch. It’s one part Rocky Horror Picture Show, one part The Addams Family, and one part The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. I’m not kidding. The Old Dark House is currently streaming on AMC+, Criterion Channel, Flix Fling, and Tubi. 1h 10m.

#8. Horror of Dracula (1958)

Hammer Films had been producing X-rated horror and sci-fi content for a while by the time they got around to producing an adaptation of Dracula, but everything they learned from the success of The Curse of Frankenstein they applied tenfold to Dracula. From the subversive opening act to the shockingly graphic (for the time) finale, this film is full of action and excitement, as well as a sexually feral Count played by Christopher Lee for the first time. A Halloween crowd pleaser! Horror of Dracula is available to rent for $4.99 on Amazon Video, Apple TV, Cineplex, Google Play Movies, Microsoft Store, and YouTube. 1h 22m.

#7. The Spiral Staircase (1946)

This RKO classic is another great take on the old dark house subgenre, from noir director Robert Siodmak. A masterpiece of suspense, featuring wonderful production design and dynamite performances from its cast, this movie will draw you in to the world of a mute servant named Helen trapped in a dark manor on a stormy night with a whole cast of lunatics! A forerunner of giallo (no, really!), this classic and classy thriller is not to be missed! The Spiral Staircase is currently streaming on Classix, Flix Fling, and Plex. 1h 23m.

#6. The Fly (1958)

While the 1986 remake may be more well known today, the original rendition of this body horror classic still retains a punch with its central mystery, compelling drama, and traumatic ending. Excellent creature effects and memorable moments like a woman screaming seen through compound eyes cement this as one of the great sci-fi/horror films of its time! The Fly is currently available to rent for $4.99 on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Microsoft Store, and YouTube. 1h 34m.

#5. Peeping Tom (1960)

While it may come across as fairly tame by today's standards, in 1960 the seminal British horror film Peeping Tom was considered so offensive it single-handedly ended the career of its director, former national treasure Michael Powell. Today, the film still has the power to disturb through its exploration of the relationship between victims, voyeurs, and viewers. Peeping Tom is currently available to stream on Tubi and to rent for $4.99 on Apple TV, Amazon Video, and Microsoft Store. 1h 41m.

#4. Gojira (1954)

Ishiro Honda’s classic giant monster movie, the progenitor of all kaiju and tokusatsu movies to come, is a masterpiece of ingenuity and imagination. But more than that, it’s a powerful statement about the horrors of nuclear war, an angry and relentless funeral dirge mourning for the Japanese lives lost and raging against the American foreign policy that continued to poison Japan with radiation even after the war. Godzilla is an apocalypse personified, the great revenge of the natural world against the hubris of man that has harmed it. But Gojira is also a film about the immense weight of personal and scientific responsibility weighed against the greater good, and its position on the use of weapons of mass destruction is perhaps more nuanced than you’d expect. Don’t let the campy reputation of Godzilla in the West fool you. Clear your mind of that and sit down to watch this powerful black & white epic. Gojira is streaming on Cineverse, Criterion Channel, Midnight Pulp, Plex, and Tubi, and can be rented for $4.99 on Apple TV. 1h 38m.

The American adaptation Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956) is also worth a watch, and is available on The Criterion Channel, Plex, Tubi, and to rent on iTunes. 1h 20m.

#3. Cat People (1942)

Cat People is brilliant. The first of Val Lewton’s horror movies for RKO, it best exemplifies his shadow drenched, suggestive, adult, contemporary, and ambiguous brand of horror. Irena is convinced that if she experiences sexual excitement, she will turn into a black panther and kill the man she loves. Her husband is convinced it’s all in her head. What is the truth? Cat People gives the viewer plenty to chew on while being the first horror movie to understand that less is more, that the monster is scarier if you can’t see it, and also how to pull off a jump scare.You can find this absolute classic to stream on Amazon Prime, and to purchase for $9.99 on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Microsoft and YouTube. 1h 10m.

#2. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)

Finally dethroned from the number 1 spot after 265 episodes! Early on in the first Hollywood horror craze, Paramount Pictures managed to outdo their main competitor Universal with this masterpiece from director Rouben Mamoulian. With a use of sound, visuals, effects, script, and performance far beyond what most films were doing at the time, this adaptation reigns supreme among other versions of the same story. Fredric March utterly inhabits the dual title role, but it’s Miriam Hopkins’ performance that will stick with you in this superb examination of domestic abuse, alcoholism, and the beast that dwells within us. Currently streaming on the Criterion Channel, and available to rent on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, and YouTube for $4.99. 1h 38m.

#1. Psycho (1960)

It's our new number one! Not a big surprise, as Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho changed the horror genre for decades to come. A low budget thriller based around its two big twists, the film's power is a little muted now that those twists have been thoroughly disseminated through pop culture osmosis, Psycho is still a master class in pacing and tension through its first half, and contains an incredible performance from actor Anthony Perkins. You can rent Psycho on Amazon Video, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Microsoft Store, and YouTube for $4.99. 1h 49m.

A new top ten with a new number one! Will Psycho keep its throne as long as Jekyll and Hyde did? Keep listening to Scream Scene to find out!

[vanicanela18]

thoughts on Jamil Viper and self-respect

This is a bit of an introspective post/analysis/character study on Jamil, born out of some rambles I rained upon a friend last night after watching this video, where the author made a couple of comments that caught my attention on regards to Jamil (the video is non-twst related though). I believe they are things that have always been there, but I finally put a name to them and weaved my thoughts into words. Hopefully it will be readable, even if this still keeps a bit of the ramble-y nature of my original messages to my friend. One of the things mentioned in the video (regarding a character, the video is an essay on Spider-Man: No Way Home) that struck me were these lines:

You have to believe in yourself enough to know your capability and show off when required and use the best parts of you. Servitude requires, yes, humility, but it also requires your self-esteem.

(...)

If you don't recognise your own value, you can't offer your value. By hating yourself, you're doing a bad job of serving others.

I was a bit baffled to say the least. I paused the video, wrote the sentences and chewed them a little in my mind. I momentarily scrapped aside Jamil's own desire of seeing the world and his own dislike of it in order to reflect on the words.

Jamil has this thing where he's very prideful and egocentric, that’s just part of his character (and not entirely undeserved, as he’s indeed very smart and capable). He feeds his own ego by constantly reassuring himself of his value, his power, his intelligence, yet on the meantime he constantly craves for approval, praise and recognition from others. His perceived chains come from the way he was raised, in which his position is tied to the way he can show himself to the world. Jamil is not an insecure person per se but he ultimately wants to prove something. He wants to be praised and adored, and such things he has associated not to himself as a person but to his position in society, which is why he also craves a higher social standing (the entire master thing with the parrot for example, because master=power, and that means he has value enough to show off).

In essence, he doesn't value himself not because he doesn't believe he's capable but because he doesn't have enough self-respect to himself, his family, their job. Not only since it's something he doesn't like, but because he's been raised with the idea that he's inferior just because he has to bow down to someone else. 

"Servitude requires humility, but it also requires your self-esteem". In other words, it’s knowing you're still capable and worthy of respect and praise. And the funny thing is that this idea that he matters less wasn't even hammered down by the Asims, it was just Jamil's parents trying to curb down their slightly-too-prideful son (in their perception) so they wouldn’t fall out of favour. They obviously did a horrendous job at it though, while also perpetuating in Jamil's mind that they're worth nothing because they're servants.

To be clear: I am not saying this is Jamil’s fault. This is a consequence of his environment and the society around him, added to his own personality which tunnel vissions on this (value=power). In the end, Jamil's insecurity is less about not believing in his capabilities and more of just believing himself unworthy because of his position, which is why he never tries his best at anything and bends under the pressure of underperforming. Yet he hungers for that praise and approval, of being in the spotlight, while simultaneously running away from it. It's heartbreaking but a self-made hell as well, because...

No one lights a lamp and hides it in a clay jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, they put it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light.

(quoted from the video)

Jamil never realises that Kalim has always been aware of his capabilities. Since Kalim doesn't have Jamil's bias (his insecurity, let's call it, his perhaps surprising lack of self-respect), he always lifts him up and naturally praises him. He lights a lamp (Jamil) so others can see its light! But since it comes from Kalim himself, Jamil resents him as he only sees the social ladder and not Kalim as an individual. And of course, this is because of Jamil's deeply-rooted beliefs, his upbringing, the way it is obvious he lacks Kalim's privilege. But this impossibility of ridding himself of this insecurity is what holds him back in the first place, and what makes him hold Kalim back as well (by not letting him do things by himself).

(Slight Episode 6 spoilers ahead)

This is why Leona says, "at least try your best and struggle". The harsh truth is that by hating himself (the place he was born in, the value of his profession, his true goals) Jamil has never been able to do his best at anything. He has to believe in himself enough to show off when required and use the best parts of himself! And when learning this, he can do the same for others! He can step back and also recognise when he's not needed, to let go of that tight grasp he has in the urge of controlling everything, because it's the only thing that not only makes him feel like having some control of his life but the closest he can get to a position of power (in his eyes).

This also reflects in Jamil's Unique Magic, which by itself is a reflection of a mage's soul. Gratuitious Jafar reference aside, it says a lot about Jamil as well. (paraphrased) "Look into my eyes and tell me, who is your master?" Jamil's long-sought dream; the sad reality of it all is that being called "master", even being the "master", won't bring him any of the reassurance he so yearns for.

In the end, what was what Jamil wanted in Episode Four? Ultimately, he wanted the seat of dorm leader for himself, this power he so covets, what will make him great and finally let him spread his wings, a taste of freedom before it all comes crashing down once he graduates. But... he doesn't have to do that.

Jamil is valid to not want to take on the job of a servant, much less when he's a child himself, but he's not worth inherently less just because he has to bow down to someone else. And I think that's what Leona ends telling him in Episode 6, "you're not worth less if you know your limits and know when to step back. You're not worth less if you lack privileges when you are born. Struggle, fight with all your might: that's what shows that you are worth just as much as others." That's why Leona points out Ruggie, Azul and Riddle, who have all had their fair share of struggles, but have tried ways of making up for them, and ultimately either know their worth or are on their way there. Sebek is also a great Jamil foil: although they're both servants, Sebek takes a lot of pride on his position. He doesn't believe he is worth less for serving Malleus, but more. His actual struggle comes from him as an individual (being half-fae), not his status as a servant.

Ultimately, to keep walking forward and finally find his path, I think this is the conclusion he must learn: Jamil has value as himself. He has value as just Jamil. The servant boy. The one who doesn't want to continue the work of his family. The one who wants to travel the world, and live his life on his own terms. Power won't give him the self-respect and self-esteem he so longs for.

And I think this is the road he begins to walk by the end of his arc on Episode 6, little by little. Stepping back and recognising Leona’s superior magical prowess, but that there’s nothing wrong with weakness. Starting to see Kalim more as his own person, and letting him do things on his own (which will also kickstart Kalim’s own arc, but that’s worth another post). And at last, truly letting himself do his best, speaking out his desires and accept that there’s nothing inherently wrong with the work he and his parents do (as evidenced by his Broomquet Birthday PS), even if he doesn’t want his future to be like that.

In the end, there's no such thing as an useless oil lamp. Even if it's not flashy, not golden and incapable of granting wishes, it can always give you light.

[scattered-stardust]

rules: put your music on shuffle and list the first 10 songs that come up and tag 10 people

thank to @dummerjan for tagging me<3<3<3

These are from my "shit i like" playlist, because I'm incredibly original with names

the moon represents my heart - moonlight chicken

Once upon a time - My school president

Statisch - BENR (do yourself a favour and watch the video it's so good)

What is love - James Young

Welcome to the DCC - Nothing But Thieves

Meet me in the woods - Lord Huron

Animal (acoustic) - Neon Trees

Stacy's dad - Kevin burgess (if you're wondering yes, stacy's mom and stacy's brother are also in this playlist)

The sound - 1975

Dum Dum - Jeff Satur

tagging: @risu442 @tuturuue @wardog-of-the-endless @divorcedmalewife @fuckyeah-itme @booksnchocolate @xxatlasxx @eggwars @arewedoneyet @shubaka

[thegamecollection]

THE LAST OF US (TV) - REVIEW ROUNDUP!

We’re all a bit anxious about Joel and Ellie being on our telly, aren’t we? At least in a very human, non-video-game capacity. This fan-favourite of truly pandemic proportion has delivered so much to us as gamers over the years, with multiple remasters dropping on top of the two parts to this tale of heartbreak.

There’s been an element of faith from our side when it comes to Pedro Pascal’s involvement. What with his “whatever I touch turns to gold” effect that he’s mastered in recent years... But what are the critics saying about The Last Of Us ahead of its TV debut in less than a week? We’ve compiled a mix of the big names for you below:

EMPIRE - 5/5

“Comfortably the best adaptation of a video-game ever made: one that deepens the game’s dystopian lore, while staying true to its emotional core. Like the game, it’s a masterpiece, too.”

Read the full review here.

IGN - 9/10

“HBO’s The Last of Us is a breathtaking adaptation of one of the most impactful stories told in video games and brilliantly brings Joel and Ellie’s journey to a whole new audience. Taking the essence of what made the original tale so enduring, it builds out the world of the game while also switching up some aspects to almost entirely stunning effect.”

Read the full review here.

RADIO TIMES - 5/5

“So, we'll say it again: The Last of Us is the best video game adaptation of all time, and it's also a fantastic TV drama in its own right. If you're on the fence about watching it, do yourself a favour and get involved as soon as possible. Trust us, you'll be infected in no time... infected, that is, with a hunger to watch the next episode.”

Read the full review here.

NME - 4/5

“When The Last Of Us was announced, a vocal corner of the internet exploded into anxious anticipation, some sniping that Ramsey didn’t look enough like Ellie. Gamers have been burned before by poorly conceived adaptations of their favourite titles, so they were naturally skeptical. But they needn’t have been. The Last Of Us might lack novel ideas, but when it’s this good it can get away with it.”

Read the full review here.

GAMESPOT - 9/10

“It stands proudly as one of the best video game adaptations ever, and a clear signal that PlayStation is right to pursue a future where its already reputable video games are reborn on TV. The show is brought to life by a cast and crew that seems hellbent on living up to its name and their own already-glowing reputations.”

Read the full review here.

DIGITAL SPY - 5/5

“While diehard purists might balk at some of these changes, that silence you can hear is us not caring because this show will transcend all that. Like Joel and Ellie themselves, The Last of Us is gloriously defiant and strong-willed, always taking the path that makes the most sense for it rather than the path others might want it to go on. And the story is all the better for it.”

Read the full review here.

Yeah, looks like we’ll be alright...

The Last Of Us finally hits our screens next Monday 16th January!

-Jack

[glorioustidalwavedefendor]

The two hour video is by hbomberguy and titled:

Sherlock Is Garbage, And Here's Why

and it is glorious

Go watch it XD

Also, yes, do yourself a favour and

Anyway - go to YouTube and search “Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes” and clear your brain of Moffat.

While I personally think like with the doctor there has never been a bad actor playing Sherlock Holmes ... there are better and worse adaptions out there

The Grana adaption with Jeremy Brett is one of the best ones out there

The show run for 10 seasons and did pretty much almost every sherlock holmes story that is out there?

ANd jeremy Brett was BORN to play sherlock holmes

I love him!

He is amazing AND Jeremy Brett did fight tooth and nails on set to keep the stories as close to the originals as possible <3 <3 <3

ALso, his character is allowed omething that sherlock holmes rarely is allowed ... he is allowed to be kind ...

Becasue sherlock is kind ... and he does not really understand vanity ... if he makes a mistake he never bothers to waste time to cover it up

In "the adventure of the yellow face" he even tells watson:

Watson, if it should ever strike you that I am getting a little overconfident in my powers, or giving less pains to a case than it deserves, kindly whisper 'Norbury' in my ear, and I shall be infinitely obliged to you.

He accepts the fact that he is only human with ease and humility ...

I love him so much <3

By the way, I really wish we could have an adaption of "the sign of four" (my favourit) by an Indian writting room, I personally feel like that would be very intersting and would make the story very current even if the adaption was a period piece

Because you can do sherlock holmes deep if you so choose ... but no one wants to do that ... they just want to do him "edgy" ...

On that note

I personally would like to see "the house by the copper beeches", "the solitary cyclist" and "the specled band" in the context of "me to" and a female/queer writting room, ... I will nevet get that, mind you ... but it would be glorious ...

If you wnat something of the beaten path I'd say

Which has ages suprisingly well

Which hasn't aged that well ... especially considering one side character tha is either a trans women or a gay man dressed as a women (it is never really made that clear)

I personally feel like it is watshable if you cut the movie some slack. since the character is usually not the but of the joke ... buuuuut YMMV ...

honestly it was a red flag when bbc sherlock went “well obviously the word written in blood isn’t the german word for revenge, it’s clearly the beginning of the name ‘rachel’, what absolute idiot would fail to see that” when in the original novel it is, in fact, the german word for revenge, which sherlock points out gleefully to a roomful of policemen who all figure it’s the beginning of the name ‘rachel.’

and by red flag I mean it was a clear sign that the adaptation was trying to one-up the source material, instead of engaging with it with love.

[mi5016tomberry]

Project Planning

These are my notes from the first few lectures familiarising myself with each component.

I started to air out a few ideas I had for the project, this semester is focusing heavily on 3D work so I wanted to figure out which direction I could go as to not neglect 2D animation or other areas that weren't a key focus this semester like background art, writing, etc...

In this lecture I had a better idea of what each component could look like with a focus on these prompts: 'How to pitch a Show?' and 'Frame x Frame VS Rigging in 2D animation.' My goal above all with this degree is to make something, make something I have a passion for and I always imagined this in the form of an animated TV show when I was young and as a teen I also imagined making something for YouTube. I'll only figure out which direction works best for me when I actually start making cartoons of my own. I decided to look into pitching a show as a basis of my essay to help me out in future attempts at towards this goal.

Here's where I properly started the planning of the structure of the essay and as of this moment I hadn't decided whether or not to make this into a video or written essay.

This was the first video I found on the topic which just so happened to be made by one of the Youtubers I watched when I was much younger and it gave me a really good starting insight into the topic especially in the sense of what would be presented during the pitch. It's a simple video but it comes from a place of experience as he now has a show on Netflix called 'Oddballs' and this video gives an overview of his experience trying to get his "big break" with one of the big streaming platforms.

The two videos above gave me a really good insight into the world of pitching from an experienced perspective. The first is a Q&A with various board executives from different companies in the industry and highlights the unique requirements of each publisher, its interesting to see how these differ with one another as they each favour a specific type of show that best suits their demographic. The second video is an insightful guide to understanding your own show, it gives a list of 9 questions (which I used in my plan) of the sorts of things you need to know about your show so that you truly understand what it is that you're making:

What is the great world your show is set in?

What is the theme of your show?

What are you passionate about?

What do you believe in?

Why watch every week?

What are the parents of your show?

What's the unsolvable question for the hero?

What's the core wound of the hero?

Asking yourself these questions could iron out the kinks of your idea and lead to a better pitch.

I was going to use the questions above as the foundation to create a video essay like the one above using the questions as a means of checking things off before the pitch.

I also found this Adult Swim livestream with short pitches from prospective showrunners each putting forward their own ideas to producers at Adult Swim. It was great to see this sort of thing because it gives examples good and bad hinting at what encourages a producer to listen (original spin on existing type of show, engaging characters) and what can put them off from the get go (poor planning, not enough content to keep viewers coming back for more).

I've done a lot of research into the options available when trying to publish a show and I started to plan out a script for the video essay, wanting to make something inspired by a Youtuber called the Internet Historian but after speaking with Paul, it seems like people tend to focus too much on making an entertaining/funny video at the detriment of critical analysis and research. I can see myself spending too much time on the video essay and losing track of the brief so I've decided to stick to a written essay and I will do my best to include a good amount of research and referencing.

I found this book (Animation Writing and Development - Jean Ann Wright) on the University library database which I am going to use for quotations following the video above for the Harvard Referencing format so that I make sure to include my research into the essay as well as the blog.

I also found these articles as potential references for the essay as they are sometimes considered for valuable sources than Youtube videos for referencing but I will have to see how they fit with the rest of the essay.

On top of this research, I am figuring out how to embed an interview with one of the visiting speakers called Theo W. Scott - he's an independent award-winning filmmaker and past alumni of Northumbria. His experience figuring out how to finance his work, entering film festivals and creating something of his own will be really interesting to learn more about on top of what I learnt during the visit on Monday.

[gay-dorito-dust]

A/n: DISCLAIMER: I do NOT have DID so if I say something or portray something negativity plz inform me straight away as I wish not to offend anyone with DID at all.

Long summary short: Steven needs a hug and I will personally give it to him.

“Oh Steven.” You uttered as your friend finished retelling the events of his utter disaster of a date and how he ended up in the doorway of his apartment with a heart shaped box of chocolates hung limp in his hand, looking like a kicked dog in a fancy suit. It hurt you even more when you remembered how excited he was for the date -despite having no recollection of ever setting one up at all- as Steven felt it was one of the few things that had gone right in his life so far. Only for that to backfire in his face too with the recent realisation that today was actually Sunday and that meant he was, in fact, two days late.

You didn’t pry into why that was, assuming it was for a family situation but that didn’t feel right when you saw how worse for wear he looked but still you didn’t force an explanation out of him as whatever he went through wasn’t something he was eager to revisit anytime soon. All you were certain about was the fact that he now gained a habit of looking over his shoulder, eyes scouring the many faces frantically as though he’d gain a sixth sense that told him that he was being followed to the point you feared it was just downright paranoia. Steven grew a lot more skittish ever since then but still you refused to satisfy your curiosity in favour of valuing your friends comfortability first and foremost. You’d rather wait for him to open up to you feather then force yourself into the conversation that you had no business being apart of in the first place, it was just common knowledge.

“Am I cursed? Because it feels like everything in my life has been nothing but chaos and I don’t know how it even started or how to stop it from getting worse.” Steven spoke glumly through a mouthful of chocolate before wordlessly passing the box to you as you plucked a chocolate and plopped it into your mouth humming. “I don’t think your cursed Steven, not at all because most things in life aren’t meant to stick by a specific set of rules as it goes against their very origins. A little bit of chaos in one’s life isn’t all that harmful unless you let that chaos control you. That’s when it becomes a problem. You’ve got to control the chaos within or be consumed by it. Things aren’t all black and white as society has conditions us to believe from an early age.” You weren’t a life advice coach nor someone who inspirers others with a elongated and articulated speech but just someone who only wished the best for their friend. You didn’t want Steven to go through this alone and remind him that he can lean on you for support if he so needs and that if he ever needed help you’d be there no matter what.

Steven puts his head on your shoulder and sighs as though a weight had been removed from his shoulders, allowing him to properly breath. “How are you able to know what to say y/n?” He asked almost meekly, his eyes looking directly at the wall ahead of you with a hint of sombreness as he pops another piece of chocolate into his mouth all the while adding onto the collection of chocolate smears streaking across his mouth and cheeks. You shrugged, “I’m not all that knowledgeable Steven I’m just someone who’s talks out their ass half the time and that no one should take anything I say seriously but instead with a pinch of salt as I don’t have the answers for everything and that’s okay.” You stayed sat in comfortable silence for awhile until you piped up again, bringing out your phone from your pocket. “Wanna watch cute otter videos?”

[servamp-musings]

Please feel free to ignore this request if you don't want to do it, or it breaks some rules. May I please request Jeje with an eve who's lead lets them "play their last video game irl"? for example, if the last game they played was Plague Inc., they would have 'cartridges' full of viruses/plagues which they could unleash upon their enemies. Your blog is amazing, and thanks in advance!

That actually sounds like a really cool idea/concept! I’ll see what I can do :) Thank you! ☆*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆

Jeje with an Eve that has a video game-based Lead

Gaming had always been a hobby you enjoyed so when it came to receiving your Lead, it made sense that it came in two parts; a blank game cartridge and a holographic controller/baton.

Both you and Jeje were initially confused with how it worked until your first battle with a Subclass when you threw the cartridge and it exploded before freezing your opponent in place, causing you to recognise the ability being from a game you had played the previous night.

You originally thought that was it, but next time you ended up fighting, your Lead took an entirely different shape with a line of Tetris blocks above your opponent and you could control where it landed with the baton in your hand.

When it changed yet again another time, you realised that your abilities were different according to whichever game you were last playing, finally understanding your Lead and working on thinking about strategies on how it could help you.

From then on, you became more selective with the games you played, testing to see what worked and what didn’t but still took the time to return to those you enjoyed every now-and-then.

Unfortunately, Jeje himself found it a little difficult to understand the controls for video games when you invited him to play with you but he was content to sit and watch you enjoy yourself on whichever game you chose, be it a rhythm game, adventure or horror on the condition that it’s not too loud. He does occasionally join you for games with simpler controls though.

He is usually more surprised than you are at the forms your Lead takes. Sometimes the cartridge would explode and deal elemental or physical damage to your opponents or summons holographic creatures or items from the last game you played and the baton would either take the form of a weapon or keep its form and acts as a controller for you to manipulate whatever the cartridge produced.

On the occasions when the baton part of your Lead becomes a gun, Jeje would teach you how to handle it properly.

Even so, your team attack remains the same; where if Jeje bites an opponent, it forces them into a prism-shaped barrier which bursts into sparks when he shoots the target above the barrier, ending in a bombardment of small/medium sized holographic attacks (falling stars, asteroids, etc). If he doesn’t shoot the target, the opponent remains trapped in the barrier for up to three minutes.

There has been multiple occasions where it sometimes goes wrong though, such as if the cartridge didn’t produce something expected, the game you wanted to use had already been overwritten by another or if you ended up being caught in your own attack (usually if you’re too close when the cartridge releases something gaseous or infectious) in which case Jeje has to step in to help.

Overall, you are happy with your Lead and even though the concept confuses Jeje a little, the two of you often work together to try and get a favourable result.

[screamscenepodcast]

HAPPY HALLOWEEN: THE SCREAM SCENE TOP TEN 2024

Good evening, Creatures of the Night! We hope you've been enjoying the new episodes in season 2 of Scream Scene. Our next will be with you on the night before Halloween! All Hallows' Eve Eve, if you will! But to keep you well entertained in the week ahead, here's our annual recap of the top ten films on our list! No changes since last year's list (for possibly obvious reasons), but I've updated some of the streaming information.

#10. I Walked With a Zombie (1943)

One of two Val Lewton produced films in the top ten, I Walked With a Zombie is perhaps best described as Jane Eyre in the Caribbean, but what is surprising is that the film is also a well researched depiction of Voodoo practices for 1943. The haunting imagery, sparse sound design, and dreamlike poeticism of this film might make it among the most unique zombie movies you’ve ever seen, made in a time with zombies were supernatural undead slaves, instead of reanimated undead cannibals. Do yourself a favour and check it out - it’s available to buy online in SD for $9.99 from Apple TV, and $14.99 on Amazon Video and YouTube. 1h 8m.

#9. The Old Dark House (1932)

James Whale’s definitive take on this traditional mystery thriller formula is a movie that will have you laughing right until the moment it has you screaming. In some ways, it’s a movie of clichés, with the protagonists seeking shelter in an old mansion during a rainstorm in the night and having to deal with the reclusive family they find within. But the dark, brooding cinematography, and truly shocking twists that rivet up the intensity over the running time, all contribute to make this a harrowing watch. It’s one part Rocky Horror Picture Show, one part The Addams Family, and one part The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. I’m not kidding. The Old Dark House is currently streaming on AMC+, Flix Fling, Kanopy, and Tubi. 1h 10m.

#8. Horror of Dracula (1958)

Hammer Films had been producing X-rated horror and sci-fi content for a while by the time they got around to producing an adaptation of Dracula, but everything they learned from the success of The Curse of Frankenstein they applied tenfold to Dracula. From the subversive opening act to the shockingly graphic (for the time) finale, this film is full of action and excitement, as well as a sexually feral Count played by Christopher Lee for the first time. A Halloween crowd pleaser! Horror of Dracula is available to rent for $4.99 on Amazon Video, Apple TV, Cineplex, Microsoft Store, and YouTube. 1h 22m.

#7. The Spiral Staircase (1946)

This RKO classic is another great take on the old dark house subgenre, from noir director Robert Siodmak. A masterpiece of suspense, featuring wonderful production design and dynamite performances from its cast, this movie will draw you in to the world of a mute servant named Helen trapped in a dark manor on a stormy night with a whole cast of lunatics! A forerunner of giallo (no, really!), this classic and classy thriller is not to be missed! The Spiral Staircase is currently streaming on Flix Fling. 1h 23m.

#6. The Fly (1958)

While the 1986 remake may be more well known today, the original rendition of this body horror classic still retains a punch with its central mystery, compelling drama, and traumatic ending. Excellent creature effects and memorable moments like a woman screaming seen through compound eyes cement this as one of the great sci-fi/horror films of its time! The Fly is currently available to rent for $4.99 on Apple TV, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, and YouTube. 1h 34m.

#5. Peeping Tom (1960)

While it may come across as fairly tame by today's standards, in 1960 the seminal British horror film Peeping Tom was considered so offensive it single-handedly ended the career of its director, former national treasure Michael Powell. Today, the film still has the power to disturb through its exploration of the relationship between victims, voyeurs, and viewers. Peeping Tom is currently available to stream on Amazon Prime, Criterion Channel, Kanopy, and Tubi. 1h 41m.

#4. Gojira (1954)

Ishiro Honda’s classic giant monster movie, the progenitor of all kaiju and tokusatsu movies to come, is a masterpiece of ingenuity and imagination. But more than that, it’s a powerful statement about the horrors of nuclear war, an angry and relentless funeral dirge mourning for the Japanese lives lost and raging against the American foreign policy that continued to poison Japan with radiation even after the war. Godzilla is an apocalypse personified, the great revenge of the natural world against the hubris of man that has harmed it. But Gojira is also a film about the immense weight of personal and scientific responsibility weighed against the greater good, and its position on the use of weapons of mass destruction is perhaps more nuanced than you’d expect. Don’t let the campy reputation of Godzilla in the West fool you. Clear your mind of that and sit down to watch this powerful black & white epic. Gojira is streaming on Criterion Channel, Kanopy, and Tubi. 1h 38m.

The American adaptation Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956) is also worth a watch, and is available on the Criterion Channel, Plex, and Tubi. 1h 20m.

#3. Cat People (1942)

Cat People is brilliant. The first of Val Lewton’s horror movies for RKO, it best exemplifies his shadow drenched, suggestive, adult, contemporary, and ambiguous brand of horror. Irena is convinced that if she experiences sexual excitement, she will turn into a black panther and kill the man she loves. Her husband is convinced it’s all in her head. What is the truth? Cat People gives the viewer plenty to chew on while being the first horror movie to understand that less is more, that the monster is scarier if you can’t see it, and also how to pull off a jump scare.You can find this absolute classic to stream on Amazon Prime, and to purchase for $9.99 on Apple TV and YouTube. 1h 10m.

#2. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)

Early on in the first Hollywood horror craze, Paramount Pictures managed to outdo their main competitor Universal with this masterpiece from director Rouben Mamoulian. With a use of sound, visuals, effects, script, and performance far beyond what most films were doing at the time, this adaptation reigns supreme among other versions of the same story. Fredric March utterly inhabits the dual title role, but it’s Miriam Hopkins’ performance that will stick with you in this superb examination of domestic abuse, alcoholism, and the beast that dwells within us. The film is available to rent on Apple TV, Microsoft Store, and YouTube for $4.99. 1h 38m.

#1. Psycho (1960)

Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho changed the horror genre for decades to come. A low budget thriller based around its two big twists, the film's power is a little muted now that those twists have been thoroughly disseminated through pop culture osmosis, Psycho is still a master class in pacing and tension through its first half, and contains an incredible performance from actor Anthony Perkins. You can rent Psycho on Amazon Video, Apple TV, Microsoft Store, and YouTube for $4.99. 1h 49m.

[angrylizardjacket]

fit by my side {Machine Gun Kelly}

@bitchylittleredhead said: Okay I hear your MGK x pastel!reader and I raise you MGK x Mother Nature!reader. Hella plants, strong love for animals, heckin soft, v kind, mom friend, sunshine child. (I just really really love soft paired with him, it’s so damn cute) also I love you I hope you are well 🧡 

Also This Concept

A/N: 3177 words. Gender Neutral Reader (they/them) ! im worried kells is OOC. also there’s no smut but it does get M rated, but there’s no genitals specified. gets quite sappy at times. also @url-under-construction i hope u like it and i hope its good.

----

When you meet Colson, he’s famous, but he’s not, you know, famous famous. You meet on the set of The Dirt; he’s one of the stars, you’re a production assistant and stand-in when they need it, and you don’t think for a second that he’ll even remember your name when this is all over. 

But he does; in rehearsals, you’re the one reading the lines for the characters they haven’t cast yet, and the first time the four main cast members see you, in your floaty, floral top, and your gentle aura, and then to hear you say, with absolute sincerity, ‘your mom’s a cunt’, it has them bursting out laughing. You smile, sweet and kind, and you step gently through the blocking that has the character you’re currently standing in for, stabbing Tommy - Colson - with a pen. 

Maybe the juxtaposition of you taking part in this whole production is what intrigues him.

When filming starts, you’re still around, and something about seeing you, amid this performance of debauchery, and yet you’re still sincere and gentle, your choice of attire making you stick out like a sore thumb amid the leather and grime. At first, he tries to play it off, that you look somewhat out of place and it’s eye-catching, but you bring the cast food and water and whatever they need, you go on coffee runs, and take a genuine interest in each of them, and by the time he realises that his mood lifts every time he walks on set and sees you there, he knows he can’t play it off as you catching his eye for completely platonic reasons.

He asks you out the week after Casie leaves from visiting set, having seen you interact with her, entertain her while Colson was in hair, treating her with just as much kindness and respect as you did everyone else on the production. It convinces him that your intentions are true, and he knows that he can’t finish this production without shooting his shot.

By the time the wrap party comes around, you’re calling him your boyfriend, at first tentative, looking to him for confirmation, but then you see the way he beams at how the words sound when you say them, and you grow more confident each time you say it.

It’s met with... confusion.

Really? 

It seems no-one saw that coming - if anyone, I would have expected Douglas - you hear, and frown. 

“What does that mean?” You ask; a frown is rare to see on your face, but you’re wearing it anyhow, and the woman your speaking to splutters her way around a sentence as she’s trying to backpeddle.

“I just- I mean, well, Kells - Colson - he’s so... Doulgas just seems more... refined? Not that Colson not, you know- you’re just -”

“I’m just what?” You ask, not accusing, more curious than anything else, and the woman’s voice dies in her throat as she looks you over; pale blue jeans and a pastel, patterned button-down that would have looked right at home in the eighties. 

“I’m just concerned for you,” she eventually says, laying her hand on yours like she’s trying to do you a favour, “Colson’s intense, I’m just worried you’ll get hurt.” You see what she’s trying to say, but her tone is so painfully condescending. 

“I’m an adult,” you tell her, tone understanding but firm, “and I appreciate your concern, but I promise I can take care of myself.”

The moment you can get out of the conversation, you find Colson, talking animatedly to one of the makeup artists, and you slot yourself into the space by his side. Automatically, without even stopping the conversation, he wraps his arm around you and pulls you close, and you gratefully take the moment to press your face against him, wrapping your arms around him without saying a word. It’s both strangely intimate and familiar, his thumb rubbing small circles against your side.

As he stops talking, there’s a lull, and you don’t have to look up to know the makeup artist is giving you both a strange look.

“Ignore me,” your voice is muffled against him, using one hand as if to waive off any last bits of hesitation. 

“They’re fine,” Colson assured, tapping you on the hip. He’s still oozing casual confidence

You’ve been together for almost half of filming, which isn’t exactly a short amount of time, but usually you try and keep things professional on set, so it’s nice to be able to be close to him in public. 

The rest of the cast know, of course, you’ve been out with them on several occasions, and they all have come to adore you just as much as you adore them. Something about hearing Daniel drunkenly assure you that if Colson ever hurts you, that there’d be a line of people ready to slap some sense into him. You try to brush him off, endeared by his drunken affection, but he turns suddenly to the rest of the cast.

“Hey, hey, hey - who’d throw down for Y/N?” He asks; without hesitation, Douglas, Iwan, and Colson raise their hands, eyes wide and alert, as if the offer needed to be acted upon immediately. The show of support has your heart swelling in your chest.

You find yourself fitting into his life back in LA easily; while beginning work as an assistant on a Netflix original series, you call into his house in the Hollywood Hills, delighted to be privy to demos and snippets from his next album. 

And you meet his friends, shake their hands and smile and chatter with them. They’re not sure what to make of you at first, no-one really is when you present yourself in conjunction with Colson, but soon they start to see what he sees in you. It’s endearingly genuine and thoughtful and honest and enthusiastic and -

“They’re like sunshine,” it’s Rook’s Instagram live, almost six months into your relationship with Colson, that really cements it to the public. Rook is smoking in Colson’s living room in the middle of the afternoon between recording sessions, and someone asked what your deal was. 

“I’m so sick of - and I know Kells is, and Y/N too, not that they’d ever say anything. ‘ve never heard them say a bad word ‘bout anyone, you know,” Rook hits the blunt again, his face scrunching up, “but everyone ‘round here’s so fuckin’ sick of people talkin’ shit ‘bout ‘em. For real, Y/N is sunshine, nicer than all of you motherfuckers put together,” and he laughs, but it’s clear he isn’t entirely joking, “- you know what?” He asked, eyes lighting up and standing abruptly, grabbing the phone.

“Baze, man, you seen Y/N?” He calls, and Baze responds from somewhere off-camera that you’re outside. The comments are going off, but he pays them no mind, heading out to the backyard, only to see you by the back fence, peering over into the trees, on your tip toes, one hand straining over the fence, in shorts and a singlet in sunshine yellow.

Rook calls your name.

You shush him loudly, and then, without looking at him, slowly wave him over.

As he approaches, he can hear the telltale sound of a bird chirping, and as soon as he gets close, he hears you whisper -

“I think they’re bluebirds,” you murmur, and finally look back at him, lowering yourself, surprised to see his phone held aloft. He tells you he’s live streaming, you wave awkwardly, which is when he sees the slice of banana you’re holding, “I’m not sure what they eat; do bluebirds eat banana?” You ask, a little helpless, looking at Rook, and then to his phone. 

After a moment, you step aside, and gesture for Rook to take a look over the fence, and sure enough there’s a nest with a single, rather sad looking bluebird with it’s wing bent at a strange angle, calling out pathetically, obscuring a few eggs, just out of arm’s reach. While he’s looking over the fence, also trying to reach them, and also trying to get the phone close enough to see if anyone watching the livestream could identify the bird or offer any suggestion, he hears your footsteps retreating.

“Stay there, I’m going to get Kells,” you call out to him, voice bright, “he’s got long arms!” And Rook bursts out laughing; you weren’t wrong. 

While waiting, he sits against the fence and answers a few more questions, until he looks up and sees you, expression concerned, and Colson uncharacteristically fond as he lets you lead him by the hand.

You show him the nest and ask for him to get it, worried the bird was hurt, and he obligingly reaches over the back fence to gently collect the bird nest, trying his best not to jostle the bird. The bird’s wing appeared to be broken, and Rook ends the live when you mention that you’re going to take the bird to the vet.

Already, the fandom is exploding from what had transpired. 

People are making suggestions as to what the birds should be named, people are claiming your caring and sweet personality is completely fake, people in the live managed to screenshot Colson’s expression as you’d lead him to the birds, how smitten he was with his hand in yours, and have started posting ‘get u a man who looks at u like kells looks at y/n’ all over twitter and tumblr.

“Bird update!” Several hours later, Colson posts a series of videos to his instagram story, “for those of y’all who don’t know, Y/N found a bird with a broken wing in a tree out the back of my place, we rescued it and it’s eggs, and took it to the vet,” and with that he flips the camera around, from a close up on his face, to show a large, cardboard box in the corner of the room. 

Peep Davidson was written in large, black letters on the side of the box.

The rest of the videos are outlining what the vet had told you all, and that the bird should only take about seven days to heal before you could put them all back into the wilderness. 

At that, he pauses.

“You worried about putting the birds back when you saw that cat the other day?” And he angles the camera to reveal you, laying with your head in his lap.

“The orange one?” You ask, voice heavy, as if he’d disturbed you when you’d been right about to fall asleep. You yawn, and he confirms, you give a little, lazy shrug and smile, “not sure where that cat is.”

“Fuckin’ hell, babe,” Colson laughs, “you gotta stop finding random animals in my backyard.”

“They find me,” you counter, and shift so you can press your face against his belly, humming contentedly as his free hand begins stroking your back. 

“Snow White-Cinderella-Pied Piper motherfucker,” how that is somehow the softest, most gentle words to ever leave his lips, is utterly baffling, but there’s so much love and adoration but you turn enough for the camera to catch your delighted little smile, “you’re-” he starts, “who’s that dude from that, that My Hero shit we were watching the other night?”

“Koji Koda, you weeb,” you tease him fondly, knowing exactly who he’s referring to, and that’s where the video ends.

That’s the day it’s confirmed for the rest of the world. There’s countless paparazzi photos, and hints, and speculation, but this is the first time he’d called you anything but your name, and they’d all seen you snuggling up to him, your head in his lap.

This also is the day the trend begins on his Instagram story of a photo of you, usually in his backyard, with whatever animal had decided to befriend you that day.

My partner. My backyard. No fucking idea who’s animal that is.

And he still goes out and gets fucked up, and sometimes you’re there, and sometimes you’re not. When you’re out together, it still doesn’t quite make sense; he’s hard partying and over the top, and it seems like it wouldn’t be your scene at all.

But then there’s photos of Colson and a few of his friends standing on the edge of a roof, announcing that they’re Kings, and you’re by his side, smiling and waving at the person taking the photograph. He manages to get himself injured pulling a stunt at a friend’s house party, but you’re in the back of some influencer’s vlog, straddling his lap with tissues in your hand, him holding you secure as you clean up the scrape on his forehead; it’s kind of sickening how in love he looks, as he watches the way you concentrate. When you notice his expression, your own softens, and you lean in to give him a kiss. 

And so you start to make sense, but people still ask why.

So when asked, you tell people that you support each other, and challenge each other, and yeah, that’s absolutely why you’re together, but it’s not the whole reason as to why you make sense.

Because no-one sees the way you hook your finger into his belt loop at the back of his pants at the house party, and you press a kiss between his shoulder blades, and he knows exactly what that means. He’s quick to make some flimsy excuse to leave as you step into place by his side, which everyone he’s speaking to immediately sees through. You play at being flustered, tucking your embarrassed expression against him as he slings his arm around your shoulders, and calls an Uber.

The drive back to his place has you both on edge with anticipation, his hands all over you in the back of the car while you try to hold a civil conversation with the driver. It’s killing you not to give in, but you know it’s worth it. 

“You’re such an idiot!” You announced, grinning from ear to ear the moment you get into the house, before the door’s even closed, and he slams it shut to press you against it. Kissing him feels like a cathartic release, but after a moment you shove him back, loudly admonishing him for taking part of a stunt that got him hurt.

“You could have been seriously hurt!” You keep poking him in the chest to punctuate your words, and he steps back each time, expression alight, pupils blown wide. He keeps reaching out, as if to touch you, to snag your clothes, like it’s a game when you smack his hand back every time. 

“Got a gnarly cut though,” he pointed out, as his ass hits the kitchen island. His legs open, making space for you, and you step into it.

“Gnarly cut,” you murmur, tone surprisingly derisive, and you reach up to push his hair back from his forehead. His head tips back, leaning into your touch, the look on his face almost dreamy even as you’ve got a hand on his hips, pushing him back on the counter. 

Then you’re in his lap on the counter, hand fisted in his hair, lips on his neck, leaving bruises and bite marks. He’s trying to get you naked, efficient and desperate, but the moment he gets your shirt off, you push the fruit bowl behind him onto the floor, and push him back against the granite countertop. 

“You were worried about me,” he smirks up at you, admiring you with your hands planted either side of his head. 

“Because you don’t worry about your damn self!”

“Ooh, breaking out damn tonight? Must be serious,” he teased, deliberately riling you up; he loved this side of you just as much as the sweetness. Instead of responding, you reach up under his shirt and rake your nails harshly down his chest and stomach, delighting in the way he arched up at the sudden sensation, eyes falling closed. 

With one hand still flat against his belly, the other comes up to cup his jaw, gentle at first, before your fingers move to caress his throat, and you press yourself against him. 

“If you get yourself killed, I’ll kick your ass,” you whisper, lips inches from his as you press firmer against his throat. He grins, and sighs, the sound content and syrupy and so fucking into it, leaning up, to meet your lips with his, to feel the pressure on his neck just a little more.

And you bite, and you scratch, and you ride him on the kitchen island. The location is new, but the situation isn’t; once he’d discovered the righteous, sexual fury you’d been bottling up, he’d been more than happy to let you unleash it on him. Not to say that he didn’t give as good as he got; there’s been several times he’s had you swearing a blue streak, seeing stars, desperate and blissed out in equal measure.

But then there’s your dominant moments, the mean streak, and the teasing, the sting of your nails and your teeth and the way you push him around, into the mattress, against the wall without hesitation, and that he covets. No-one else is allowed to see you like that. To be tied up or blindfolded or or punished or pushed around, at your mercy, it’s as close to Heaven as he’s ever felt on Earth, because he knows without a shadow of a doubt that your heart is kind, that you’d never really hurt him in a way he wouldn’t like.

You make him feel safe.

And it’s not just the sex, you’re never dismissive of ideas or suggestions, seemingly always ready to help if he ever needs it, rather than judgmental. It makes him want to be there for you too. 

He wants to be better for you.

Which is kind of terrifying to consider.

“I love you,” he tells you in the shower, in the afterglow, soft, pausing where he had been washing your back where you couldn’t reach. It wasn’t the first time he’d said it, but he felt like he needed you to hear them.

“Love you too,” you say around a yawn, though the words are as genuine as they’d always been coming from you, and you lean back against him, leaning your head against his cheek in a moment of quiet intimacy. You try to kiss him like this, but turns your face directly into the shower, and end up spluttering and breaking the moment.

Colson chuckles softly, stepping back and pulling you with him, out of the stream of water and into his arms so he could kiss you properly. You’re still giggling as you’re wiping the water from your eyes, looking at him with fond adoration. When you settle your arms around him, you quiet down and bask in the moment, his forehead coming to rest against yours, warm and safe in his embrace, sensing that, in that moment, he felt the exact same way.

[floret-botanica]

Top 5 games (of any kind -- video, board, card, roleplaying, whatever)? Top 5 favorite tropes/cliches (to read or write or both, your choice)?

Apparently I cannot stop myself from making long posts, so this one's under the cut I guess.

Also there's a little weird confrontational energy to parts of this, so just ready yourself for that I guess.

Hoo boy that's a lot of type-of-game choices. Best attempts have been made, but the ranking is probably a little squiffy.

Gamer Hours

1. Child of Light

Ubisoft is kind of the worst, but I love this game. I've replayed it in it's entirety at least five times, because I have a lot of feelings about it, and it's beautiful. The music gives me so much joy and as a complete experience it's had a massive continuing influence on the kind of media I enjoy. I would highly recommend watching the opening cutscene/cinematic because it is gorgeous and better showcases my reasons for loving this game than I ever could in writing.

2. D&D and Songbirds

Yeah, the system is awkward and complicated, but it is still how I got into TTRPGs. Personally, I love the crunchiness, and I love making funky little characters who will only ever exist in my mind. Also quite a lot of my current friendships started from this wacky little guy, so that's nice.

Songbirds is probably my actual favourite TTRPG, but it's complicated in a very different way, so I have not yet convinced anyone to play it with me.

3. Star Stable

I'm too old for it. I know. Age is a construct, and I am allowed to enjoy whatever I want, however, I am too old for it. But you have to understand. When one has spent upwards of eight years playing a game which releases story episodically and in very small chunks, there is a level of emotional investment that I cannot even begin to describe. I fucking love this shitty little game.

4. Bananagrams

My family have always played board/card games together, so there are a lot of options (Gin Rummy, 500, and Pit all deserve honourable mentions) but I love Bananagrams. I must admit, this is almost entirely due to the fact that I'm always around 10-20 games ahead of everyone else, BUT it is also a good game for other reasons I guess (/j). All of us are also quite extremely competitive so it gets pretty heated, but it's a great time.

5. Sims 4

My cash grab beloved. Yeah, the Sims 3 has better content, and, while I've never played them, I'm assured that Sims 1 & 2 were excellent (X to doubt). They just look awful nowadays and the Sims 4 is nice and pretty and I think it's good. I'm strongly in favour of the cartoon-y style, and if I want to give EA all my money then that's my goddamn prerogative and I will not be taking any criticism.

Additional Notes

An honourable mention must go to Minecraft, which I've been on since almost the very beginning. I don't play that often, so it's mostly on the list because my internet name, floret-botanica, is partly inspired by the Botania mod.

Also Spiritfarer (viddy game) and Wanderhome (TTRPG) should be mentioned here, but I haven't had long enough with either of them to be top five worthy. I do adore them though. They both invoke "the Child of Light feelings" in me, which is definitely a big part of it.

Tropes/Cliches

Modern AU / Urban Fantasy

I love Oxventure, and I love Critical Role, but I do not gel with the setting. I have absolutely no time for this medieval, high fantasy nonsense, because phones are good and it's good when people text each other. Yes, magic is great, but why not also technology? Treat yourself. Let us all luxuriate in the glorious possibilities of both.

These are a joy to write. I generally default to an urban fantasy setting even when that is not the original plan. However, most of the traditionally published urban fantasy is not to my taste at all, unfortunately.

Slow burn

Complicated relationship with slow burn tbh. I basically only read oneshots (except for Oxventure-related stuff) and don't have the drive to commit to writing long fics, but I do have a lot of ideas that would be slow burn stories. Also, it’s nice when people to fall in love slowly, but I often don't feel the need to have that written out. Just the understanding that they've Been Like This™ for forever. Bonus points if all their friends know, but can't say anything, or all their friends assume that they're already together but they're still in denial or oblivious.

Soulmates

I love a soulmate story. I have one proper polyguild soulmate AU which I recently remembered and it's now living rent free in my mind. I generally don't worldbuild, but I really wanted this to Make Sense logistically and not be instant love (because boring) so I've done a bit of fiddling to make that work. The mechanic of this one means that the soulmate mark* relates to the realisation of love, if that love is permanent, regardless of the level of reciprocation (which avoids instant love). You can even continue shenanigans, because even if the feelings are returned, they can still get the mark at different times, so more time for sadness >:). Also they give you opportunities to do metaphors and other nonsense which I enjoy.

I never really seek out soulmate stories, but to be fair, I only reliably read Oxventure fics and we can't afford to be picky lol. Basically, I prefer writing/thinking of them to reading them (also my previously mentioned dislike of instalove makes most of them pretty eh).

*It's complicated. But kind of colours.

A Whole Bunch of Stuff to do with Destiny

This one's complicated and (kind of?) similar to soulmates, but anything about prophecy, chosen one(s) or closed-loop time travel (with the massive caveat that I need free will to remain intact). I fucking love symbolism and allegory and both of those work into these tropes/cliches so well. Quick highlights:

Prophecies which were thought to mean one thing, but actually mean another.

People changing their behaviour to make a prophecy true.

Chosen ones who are bad at it.

Closed loop time travel is kind of a separate thing, but I like the puzzle of travelling back in time, only to realise that your actions in the past caused the events of the future. While it's obviously "more interesting" I don't really enjoy the travelling back in time and creating an entirely new future.

I have never written anything like this, but I do seek out these kind of themes in the non-fanfic written media that I read.

Whatever it is Where They are Softly and Intimately in Love

Hurt/Comfort and fluff and cuddling? I guess? That soft kind of sadness where it is alright, really, but you just want to sit with someone. Melancholy is the best word I have for it, but less... sad. A deep and intense appreciation for each other, to the point where it isn't a big deal, where someone's presence is no longer an event. It just is. That reflection and understanding and peace is what I love (if that makes any sense).

I read a lot of slow-paced stories, which is definitely a part of this. Never written anything to similar though (but I think my stories run slow-paced? Maybe?).

Additional Notes

This one was quite difficult and I went a little off script because I don't often think of tropes or cliches. Additionally, it isn't in ranked order, and the first three aren't even in order I wrote them. Vibes only. Ranked order would be:

Whatever it is Where They are Softly and Intimately in Love

A Whole Bunch of Stuff to do with Destiny

Soulmates

Slow burn

Modern AU / Urban Fantasy

Again, I don’t really seek any of these out (except maybe the first two), so this is more based on how happy I am when they come up and are done well.

[legends-live-in-memories]

I Have Too Many Opinions. ep. 1

lmao. i got encouragement to post my opinions on fandom things and now i want to make a miniseries doing just that. so here i am. doing just that.

im putting it under the cut cuz this was 4 whole pages including the disclaimer. yes i put a disclaimer and i explain why.

Anyways, here is the first piece in what inevitably will become fandom info dump, this time on thomas astruc’s writing on miraculous ladybug. but only some of my opinions cuz we would be here all day otherwise.

So… a disclaimer before I begin… 

I do not hate Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir (yes i'm using their government name). I am quite a fan of the show actually despite its faults. I am also older than the intended audience but was obviously younger when the show first aired which is how my interest was piqued (the fact that its been 6 years and only 3 seasons says more about the show than me being a fan for that amount of time but also i never want to rush content creators cuz they're doing their best) and due to my age, there will be inherent bias in my approach of what i'm about to say as there is in EVERY opinion. The fact that it is an opinion should imply the presence of bias but most people tend to lack the critical thinking skills required to draw that conclusion ANYWAYS…

If I did hate the show I would not have this blog nor would I be even writing this because i tend to not give more than 2 seconds of thought to things i actively dislike (some of yall should give this a try) and i'm allowed to like things that are designed for an audience that i was originally a part of but grew out of. (I don't suddenly stop liking things because I'm older despite what many younger fans seem to believe about older audiences. I also don't need to be ‘allowed’ to do anything cuz i wasn't asking for permission anyways.)

This will not be character bashing, astruc bashing nor fandom bashing cuz, again, that would imply i hate any of those elements and if i did, i would not dedicate brainpower to them. Analyses and criticisms of media are fun and engaging and required if you wish to produce good enjoyable content. Now most of this should be already assumed and self-explanatory but people on the internet like to play morality roulette roll dice on purity culture and I rather have documentation that I am in fact not bullying fictional 14 year olds or a grown man. But alas, people get trigger happy whenever someone has less than 1000000% positive opinions on something they like and will throw out words they can't define (gaslight, baiting, toxic, problematic, gatekeep etc) in an attempt to defend their blind devotion, 

which is not needed, if you like something you never have to defend it, even if i don't like it. If you respond to anything I post saying you disagree with me, I will not argue with you. I won't debate back and forth and try to convince you that the things you like are wrong. Unless you are being absolutely tone deaf to what i'm saying, you wont get a negative reaction from me. So don't try to fish for a fight. Please. I got metaphorical hands for days and I'm mean, you don't want me hurting your feelings on the internet. Do yourself the favour. Difference of opinion is how we get diversification in media and is inherently a good thing. Now that that's out of the way, please don't ever let me have to say that again. I beg.

Now onto the fun stuff

I didn't know what I wanted as a first topic so my trusty internet friend @moonlitceleste suggested astruc’s writing… 

AND BOI do i got some opinions on ole tommy boi. Again I don't hate the dude. In fact, he has worked on a few shows that had defined my childhood, including but not limited to W.I.T.C.H. (all eps available on youtube for those interested, 2 seasons, general fun time all around).

So I don't think he’s scum of the earth but I do think his approach to writing mlb specifically has more misses than hits.

The first big miss is that he has no idea how to write 14 year old girls. At all. Almost every girl he has ever written feels like some terrible archetype built entirely for marketability and childish projection and pubescent self-insert (kind of). He has never been a 14 year old girl. I have. In fact when the show first aired, I WAS around the (assumed) age of the mlb characters. The behaviour he passes off as quirky or awkward or just the character’s genuine personality tend to perpetuate harmful stereotypes of teen girls found in the media and are never actually addressed as harmful. they just get swept under the rug. Marinette’s exuberant collage of teen heart throb model boi Adrien Agreste and her very painful almost fan worship she has of him (which flip flops like a paper sandal in the rain) being portrayed as a cute school girl crush uwu, Chloe being the y7 Regina George, Alya being the token best friend of colour with her ‘sassy’ personality (i want y'all to imagine me eyerolling so hard i bust a vessel in my eye), Kagami being the very damaging Perfect Asian Child stereotype. And before y'all get on your dusty soap box and defend going on about “BUT IT'S FOR CHILDREN”,,,, know this.

 i don’t give a solid fuck. 

Not one. 

Children arent stupid. Children are always going to remember the richy bitchy blonde who bullies the art kid, and the big kid, and the shy kid, and the non white kids, and was only nice to her equally rich white friend who she probably had a crush on or was only ever civil to her equally white lapdog. They're going to remember the half asian girl who was never allowed to actually be asian or the only black girl who existed solely as a soundboard for enabling bad habits or chastising the main character for the same habits she enables in the first place (boi aint THAT a topic for later). Like do i really need to explain that alya chastising marinette for taking max’s spot in gamer just to play with adrien rings absolutely hollow when she actively encourages her to sabotage the contest she’s in just so Kagami doesn't win?? Like I don't have to explain that right?? Again kids arent stupid and its quite something that Mari gets chastised for proving herself the best video game player regardless of her intentions just cuz it comes at the expense of max’s feelings/ego but is actively encouraged to sabotage not only kagami but herself by extension cuz kagami is ‘competition.’ Adrien is not a trophy to be won. And no I don't expect 14 yrs old to be perfect and to always make good decisions but these decisions are never addressed as being bad decisions. they get swept under the rug cuz those decisions were necessary for the ‘plot’ but astruc can barely keep characterization consistent and his characters suffer for it and it's the same children you preach are watching it that suffer as well. Cuz guess what? I KNOW 14 yr olds aren't like that cuz i've been there done that (this is the last time i'm saying that i promise) so I know astruc is just metaphorically throwing darts to figure out who says and does what without consideration for pre established personalities to drive the stalemate plot along. The same kids you say are watching this don't know that that's not how preteens work and will absorb and internalize those dynamics like baking soda and vinegar. Cata-fucking-strophically. 

And I haven't even gotten to the boys yet. Which honestly doesn't require much explanation anyways cuz they suffer the same fate as the girls. Tired archetypes with nothing to give them life. Nino falls into Adrien’s person of colour token best friend who dates the female lead’s person of colour token best friend so they can have cute double dates uwu. Except the plot goes nowhere and we have no inclination of romantic development beyond moments that only act to actively convince me to anti ship the lovesquare (i don't want to do that so i self indulge in fanon that actually cares about the characters and plot. may i interest you in True Sight on AO3?). Max is the residential nerd but it doesn't matter (cuz he and everyone are dumbed down for the sake of ‘plot’), kim is the sports jock (which interestingly subverts the asian comedic relief stereotype but only barely) and luka is cute older guy ™ that wears black nail polish and is in a band. The point of all this is to say there is no depth in the characters. It's especially blatantly obvious with the characters astruc doesn't like (chloe). Again, it being a show for kids is not an excuse to be absolved of putting effort into the characters you make.

This is one of the biggest misses astruc has. I haven't even gone into all the nuances of this particular miss. And i havent gone into how that works against him in the plot either. Mostly because the plot itself hasn't gone anywhere and partially because I wanted to go into the plot (or lack thereof) separately as its own miss. 

AND BOI is it a miss. 

SO home boy astruc wanted to reap the benefits of a serial show with ‘engaging’ plot without putting in any of the work to make a linear storyline and relying on the episodic format for, again, marketability. You can't have the best of both worlds, you are not Avatar: The Last Airbender. Which btw has a lot less episodes and a desired end goal that didn't involve top dollar. Legend of Korra did but that's not the point and it had its failings with that too. I challenge you, tell me how many episodes actually contribute towards a plot point or introduce new thematic elements to the show? Can you name them? I can and I'm going to include the plot points that moved the story in some direction if only temporarily. Yes only temporarily for some of these and i will explain later. (if you're in the server you already saw this list *wink*)

25/26. Origins- self explanatory, the beginning of the story, 

24. Volpina- introduction of the grimoire and Master Fu (kind of) and no, Lila is not a plot point,

28. The Collector- proper introduction of Master Fu,

37. Sapotis- introduction of Rena Rouge,

41. Syren- introduction of new aquatic power ups,

44. Anansi- introduction of Carapace,

47. Frozer- introduction of new ice power ups,

48/49. Style Queen- introduction of Queen Bee,

51/52. Heroes’ Day- introduction of Mayura and mass akumatization,

66. Startrain- introduction of Pegasus,

67. Kwami Buster- Marinette wears multiple miraculouses,

68. Feast- backstory as to how the miraculouses were lost,

69. Ikari Gozen- introduction of Ryuko,

70. Timetagger- introduction of Bunnyx,

71. Party Crasher- introduction of Roi Singe and Viperion,

73. Chat Blanc- alternate timeline that essentially means nothing but got a reaction out of fans anyways (myself included)

 77/78. Love Eater/Battle of Miraculous- Marinette becomes guardian and other heroes lose their miraculous,

New York Special- other heroes exist and there is an American miraculous box,

That's 21 episodes. 21 out of a heaping 78 plus 2 specials. Everything else was just your typical akuma of the day episode and everything that happened outside that had no lasting consequences on the plot thanks to the miraculous status quo. Was it entertaining to watch Lila stir the plot of the class dynamic? Hell yeah. Too bad it meant nothing by the end of the episode cuz we were struck with miraculous status quo. She literally doesn't appear again until Heroes Day. that is from episodes 25 all the way to 51, she means nothing and yet she is treated with the severity of a b-villain/rival thing. She means nothing by the end of Volpina if I'm being honest. She is only relevant for 20 mins of episode time she’s in then it's back to magic status quo that undoes any shift in dynamics and relationships. It's like Spongebob who can't get his driver’s license. The worst part is I actually like Lila and I wish the story treated her with the seriousness we as an audience are expected to treat her with. Despite being painfully inconsequential by the end of each of the 3?? 4?? episodes she’s in, it's entertaining to watch a character create drama just because. 

Too bad it means nothing.

Astruc is constantly building up suspense to something ‘important’ only for it to not deliver and fans are constantly having the rug pulled out from under us. Oblivio teased us with a reveal only that gets undone cuz memory akuma. Chat Blanc teased us with romantic development but that gets undone cuz time travel bullshit. Feast introduced more miraculous lore and the history of the guardians but that means nothing by the next episode or ever (i'm not including any reference to the season 4 trailer cuz i've been around the block a few times and im familiar with this lil dancy dance). Heroes Day teased us with a possible future team of heroes but that gets undone in Battle of Miraculous cuz ????? why?? (here's why; astruc was having a jolly ole time letting us know how irredeemable Chloe is at the expense of shooting his own stagnant plot in the foot. Again, discussion for later.)

Too bad anything that slightly swerves off course from the akuma of the day gets undone or ignored. Too bad nothing has any lasting consequence. I mean, if anything did, the episodes would have had a consistent order and release schedule so im not scrambling to watch the leaked ep in Portuguese or something while the french dub is two episodes behind while the english version hasnt even been dubbed. I really wonder how he plans to conclude the show when he’s so afraid to step out of the corner he painted himself in.

Again, not going into nuances. If you want you can ask for more specifics (i doubt anyone would) but this is really just a slightly detailed general overview of my opinions on astruc’s writing. 

I was going to include another miss in his approach to this show but imma save that for another time. 

How’s that for a ‘first’ post?

[breitzbachbea]

👨‍👧‍👧 Do you tell people in real life that you write fic?

🌝 Who is one character you haven’t yet written for that you would like to?

/ @fireandiceland (there were so many others I also wanted to send but I settle for these two for now ^^)

Oh Riva, feel free to send more for me to answer tomorrow!

Fanfic Ask Game

👨‍👧‍👧 Do you tell people in real life that you write fic?

Oh yeah! Like, I wouldn't send my grandma my ao3 account, but I talk rather freely about writing as a hobby and say where one can find me if they want to read my stuff. I usually don't talk about what I write more specifically, because talking about fanfic with someone outside a fandom just isn't very interesting to me.

🌝 Who is one character you haven’t yet written for that you would like to?

Let's get one non-Hetalia related thing out, because my entire ao3 profile is either Hetalia, my original characters from my Hetalia AU "Like Father Like Son" (LFLS) or the OCs of my beloved friend Jonah.

I reread Soul Eater last year and read some excellent GiriJasu Fanfics to the point I had an idea for one myself. I even have some dialogue snippets still in my notes app, but sadly, I don't think I'll ever write it :') WIP list for LFLS too long and hyperfixation on Hetalia/my OCs burning too bright.

So back to my regular scheduled bullshit - Hetalia/LFLS

There are a lot of characters I'd like to write. The problem with LFLS is that the worldbuilding always requires every nation to have two right hands for me to consider international relations properly. Means I can't just have a character without their two closest allies, besties, worsties, their dreamteam. I however also keep telling myself NO new OCs, because I already have too many and this AU is wildly out of control already.

But I have been reading way too much fanfiction that features aph Egypt & been thinking too much about how much more I could do with Turkey's neighbours & old acquaintances, so have my ramblings under the cut anyways:

- I was thinking of a followup for The Amulet of both of them running to other people - Michele in Herakles' case and Mohamed (Egypt) in Sadık's. This was also inspired... well, the root of all of this is honestly me reading too many TurGre fanfics with the Egyptian in it, even some TurGregypt stuff. (Which also means that if I ever write this, I have to fold and make Egyptians. SIIIIIIGH.) ALSO, sidenote about that - Love the idea of Turgypt or Turgregypt in this. I'm so sorry though, because the other thing I fucking loved in the fanfics was Mohamed always being the second fiddle, the only one next to Herakles, but still not there. And he knew it. So I also do wish him that he actually found a more stable, nice partner in here. Presents us with 3/4 possibilities though: 1. His partner is not down to clown whatsoever. Mohamed is off-limits. 2. His partner IS down to clown and foursome shenanigans continue to ensue. (If it worked with SicIre, why stop there.) 3. His partner would be down to clown with ONE of them, but not both. Now, I'm sure Sadık has made enemies enough that it'd be easy to find someone who's give Herakles a thumbs up, but not the Turk. However, it would be so infinitely funnier therefore to find someone who says yes to Sadık but isn't here for Herakles. "Oh yeah, I could go for a hatefuck with Sadık, but I don't know about the Greek."

- Here are some more ideas about potential right hands for both Egypt and Iran/Persia:

- Recently sent Jani a voice note about how funny it would be if the OLD right hand of Mohamed (who must have already worked for his parents, at least) brought the other, younger one into business ... and they had this dynamic: "I should have left you on that street corner where you were standing." "But you didn't!" (If you don't know this video, do yourself the favour and watch it.)

- Also this post about a potential right hand for aph Iraq. I know nothing about Iraq and would super love to have a good reason to learn more; I would need someone else's aph Iraq OC though, because I'm not making any new aph OCs these days.

[iggy-of-fans]

Of being a Ladybug

So this one will Hopefully be a little less angst and a little less salt buy still a good read. Hope you enjoy!

Cons of being a Ladybug

There are a lot of things about being Ladybug that made Marinette's life difficult. The fact she always got sleepy in winter, the fact that the cold affected her more strongly than before. The way she never got enough sleep because she had to patrol. Having to deal with Chat Noir and his tantrums and flirting. The way she sometimes had to ditch her other responsibilities in favour of fighting Akumas. Hawkmoth. But right now, the thing that got to Marinette the most was that she couldn't call Lila out. Being Ladybug, a hero, meant she couldn't use being Ladybug for selfish reasons. She'd learned her lesson the last time, and in the end it hadn't even been worth it. But as Marinette, she could at the very least gather some evidence, just in case she made good on her threat. Adrien may think taking the high road was best, but Marinette could see the damage she was subtly dealing to Alya, and also to the others, a toxic kind of take and never give mentality growing in the class in the week since her return. Little things, like Kim asking to copy Max's homework instead of simply getting help with his dyslexia, Alix getting annoyed at Nathaniel for paying more attention to the art than to her when they'd hung out last, Mylene getting frustrated and feeling neglected when Ivan took her to practices instead of dates. Things that had never bothered any of her classmates before were starting to cause rifts and fights. Lila wasn't the best liar, anyone could figure her out with half a brain cell and a smartphone. Her power really came in manipulating situations in her favour, her ability to cry on command and have people feel sorry for her. But her ability to read people was her only real genius. She always knew just which buttons to push to make people feel guilty, insecure or "righteous" fury. So it was subtle, but the classroom was becoming toxic to be in. Marinette, being so giving and kind, was the most taken advantage of.

But as it turned out, Marinette didn't really have to do anything at all. Alya did the work of outing Lila by posting an interview on "The Amazing Lila Rossi, the New Every Day Ladybug and Ladybug's best friend!"

Marinette felt bad for Alya, but also a bit vindicated, since maybe this might finally teach her to fact check. Marinette crossed her fingers in hope of Alya getting off with a slapped wrist and sent the video to Penny Rolling and the Italian embassy general e-mail. It was Sunday night, at least she wouldn't have to wait long to see the results.

Monday morning burned bright with hope, as Marinette saw a special interview announced from Jagged Stone, Clara Nightingale, Prince Ali and several other names Marinette didn't recognize. Nadja Chamak was not going to be hosting though, as several people being interviewed had complained about "unprofessionalism" of the Parisian News anchor. Marinette shrugged, at least she wouldn't have to babysit. She went to school, hearing whispers of LadyBlog being shut down by Officials due to inaccurate information. Marinette sagged slightly, 'that sucks', she thought. She'd hoped Alya wouldn't be too badly affected. Suddenly a shadow fell over her and she looked up to the frowning face of Adrien Agreste.

"Adrien! Morning good! Good Morning! Hi!" Marinette stuttered.

"Did you have anything to do with the LadyBlog being shut down?" Adrien asked, his eyes spelling disappointment.

"What? It's being shut down? Why? And what do you mean me? What power do I have over anyone, let alone Alya to shut that down?" Marinette asked, a negative feeling travelling down her spine. What the hell was Adrien on about?

He smiled reassuringly suddenly," You're right. What was I thinking. You may be our everyday Ladybug, but it's not like you have the influence to get a free blog shut down."

Adrien smiled, patted her shoulder, and walked past her towards the classroom. Marinette stood frozen. Did… Did Adrien think… Did he think she was… Worth less? Because she wasn't rich? She stood there past the final ring of the bell, until Tikki popped her head out.

"Marinette, are you okay?" she asked quietly. She was highly dissatisfied with Adrien at the moment, but needed to focus on her own charge.

"Am I… Did Adrien… I thought he was better than that…. But… He actually thinks because… That because I'm not rich, that I have no power…?" sheshe frazed it like a question, but Tikki and Marinette both knew the truth.

"You should get to class, Marinette" Tikki said instead. Shaking herself, Marinette started walking, only for the alarms to start.

"Tikki, spots on!" Marinette shouted, and took off towards the sounds of crashes.

Alya woke up Monday morning excited to see the result of her post the night before. She'd worked with Lila all weekend to get it perfect and now the fruits of her labour would be sewn. She opened the blog and stopped. Yesterday, before posting the video, she'd had 675 followers. This morning, only 231 people were left. She scrolled to the comments.

"Oh yes, I saved Jagged's non-existent cat, from his non-existent private jet, on a tarmac which civilians aren't allowed onto. And I came to Paris months after Ladybug started saving Paris, but I was supposed to be the original and I just recommended my friend instead!... Yeah right! Who the hell believes this crap? "

" my favorite line in this video is where she claims to have grown up as jagged stones favorite person, but doesn't even get his home city right!"

" oh ladybug totally loves chat, she just wants to keep it on the dl. {attachment} this video taken a couple weeks ago while chat threw a tantrum cause she refused to go on a date with him"

"Clara Nightingale and I were ACTUALLY in the same dance class, and I don't remember a sausage with a mouth being in that class"

"if ladybug can heal her supposed tinnitus, why isn't she curing cancer?"

The comments continued along that line when suddenly a loading error came up. Alya scowled and reloaded the page, only for a [401: error. The page you are trying to load no longer exists]. Alya paled.

"No! No no no no no no no no!" she chanted as she tried to reload it, and then tried to go in to check the coding. Everything was shut down. Alya started to tear up. This couldn't be happening! She was sure Lila wasn't a liar. Marinette just didn't like not being the center of attention, just as Lila said. Marinette just, just this once, couldn't find the good in a person, but Laya could. Alya opened Google and looked up 'Jagged Stone pets', 'Jagged Stone cat', 'Clara Nightingale dance school', 'Prince Ali charity foundation', and finally 'Lila Rossi'. The only thing that came from the search was that Alya felt like a total idiot for not believing Marinette. And an Italian school site. She clicked it and had Google translate the page.

"STUDENT COMMITS SUICIDE AFTER SEVERE CASE OF BULLYING"

The name of the victim was never released, but schools in Italy were all warned about Lila Rossi. According to the article, this should be in her school files… Why did Mlle. Bustier not warn them? A knocking on the front door distracted Alya from her screen.

"EXCUSE ME?!" Alya's mother screamed, and Alya bolted to the door. Her mother rounded on her the second she opened the door.

"Alya! What is the meaning of this? You're being sued for misinformation and defamation and slander!" her mother continued, holding papers in the air and waving them about. Even still in her housecoat with messy hair, her mother struck a terrifying picture. Alya shrunk in on herself. There would be no sneaking out of this one.

Rose looked at her phone again, her eyes dim and her head bowed. Phrases like "I have never heard of this girl before", and "if this is the type of persons you surround yourself with", "Perhaps I was mistaken in trusting you", and most hurtful of all "This is the last time you will hear from me" jumped out of the email at her from Prince Ali. She had been so excited in her last message to him, telling him how Lila had told her of their adventure together, and Lila was giving her such good advice on her singing, dancing, songwriting and more. Her email had burst with praise from and for Lila, and wanting to hear Ali's version of events as well. Usually he emailed back within a few hours, but this time it had taken over a week to hear back from him. In the email he had sent, was an attachment to Alya's interview of Lila and a short message, saying only that he had never met Lila Rossi, and he'd thought Rose was smarter than to believe everything she heard, and if she kept that kind of company and believed such outrageous lies then perhaps he shouldn't have contact with her anymore, since she was seemingly too gullible and too naïve to take his friendship seriously. Tears dripped down her cheeks onto her phone. Why was Marinette always right about these things.

Jagged Stone watched the video that Marinette had sent to Penny on his big screen in his suite in Paris. He was not at all impressed with her obvious name dropping, made up stories of her greatness, and claiming he'd written a song about her. Marinette's short message of "HI Penny, I understand you and Jagged are crazy busy, but this interview ended up on my friend's website, and I just couldn't ever remember Jagged mentioning a pet other than Fang. I've even looked at some older interviews where he said he'd hatched and raised Fang when Jagged was only 15! I have no idea where this girl is getting her information, but I didn't want you to think that all of Paris had completely lost their minds and thought this heads up might put you in a better space to deal with weird questions if they ever come up. - Love, Marinette"

Jagged listened to the little chit on the screen claiming shevd received tinnitus from saving his cat. Geez! Did this girl have any idea the kind of implications this could have on his musical career?! The hell is wrong with kids today? And the girl interviewing her never even checked her sources? Poor Marinette, stuck with such complete idiots and liars. He really should try to talk Sabine into letting him take Marinette on tour with him again. This was getting ridiculous. He frowned even harder when Clara Nightingale was accused of "being jealous and stealing" sausage girls dance moves. He started feeling his blood boil slightly as he distantly heard Penny shouting into a phone for lawyers and interviews and "gosh darn it, anyone but some idiotic French Anchor". He honestly wasn't sure which of them was more pissed. Himself or his fiancée.

Clara Nightingale broke her phone on the far wall of her apartment. Two decades of dance and singing lessons, of poetry and practice and some little chit half her age thinks she can tell people that she stole it? Tears at the corners of her eyes, she was grateful Jagged had sent it to her with the assurance that Penny was already setting up interviews and lawyers. Thank Ladybug and all that is good for Marinette Dupain-Cheng. If she hadn't had the foresight to send this video to them, then there would have been absolute hell at their next public appearance. She glared at her broken phone on the floor. Steal her moves, did she?

At 4am in Metropolis city, Lois rolled over and sleepily answered her phone.

"Yes?"

"I know it's early, Lois, but I have a job for you in Paris…" came from the other end. Louis bolted up in bed.

"I'm listening"...

To be Continued

[that-sw-writer]

3 for Kylo please because I love torturing myself 💖💕💘💗💞

PART TWO

I too love torturing myself, and also all of you apparently...

3: “Wake up, please wake up!”

Word count: 1654

Warnings: angst, torture, blood, implied character death - this is DARK

Notes: I could potentially do a part two of this sooo lmk if y’all want that

Come back to me I

Kylo hadn't slept in days.  Specifically he hadn't slept since he last held you in his arms - when he knew you were safe, safe because you were with him.

You were more than capable of looking after yourself, he knew that, but the one time your team had fallen into a trap he hadn't been there.  Hadn't been there to protect you, which was his job.

When you led a division of stormtroopers to investigate a distress beacon, it had been a trap set by a group of credit-hungry pirates.  It was clearly a well planned assault, they killed your entire team and took you hostage.  The pirates had been anticipating a high ranking member of the First Order to respond to the beacon, but the Supreme Leader's wife?  It was better than they ever could have planned it.

Kylo had been working tirelessly to track you down, and being forced to watch new holovids every day of you, beaten and bloodied, was only adding fuel to the fire.  The pirates had demanded a huge sum of credits, and the First Order dutifully paid it.  Money was money, but your life was priceless to him.  However, it didn't end there, clearly knowing how valuable their leverage was the pirates weren't letting up, they were coming back with new demands every day - including weapons, ships and complete amnesty from any crimes committed in future.

The First Order knew that these requests could not possibly be fulfilled, they would be supplying their own demise.  Kylo and his Knights had taken it upon themselves to track down your trail, but every lead was painfully running dry.

Another two rotations passed and another holovid surfaced.

"Supreme Leader Kylo Ren, you are now one standard planetary rotation away from the deadline to meet our demands.  You will supply us, or you will watch your wife die, and her blood will be on your hands."  The pirate's face was always covered, so effectively that it couldn't even be distinguished what species he was.

The holocamera turned to face you, and Kylo's hands had immediately balled into fists.  You were suspended from the ceiling by your wrists, just as you had been in every other video.  You couldn't even physically lift your own head, to an outsider you could have easily been mistaken for already being dead.  When the pirate moved over and yanked your head back by your hair, a few gasps rang through the otherwise silent conference room where the Supreme Council was gathered to watch the holovid.

There was so much blood staining your face that your features were barely visible.  A small blade was pressed to the side of your waist, the tip of it cutting through your already tattered clothes and meeting your skin.  A short cry left your lips as the blade sliced at your skin painfully slowly to add to your torture.  Blood soon began to ooze out of the wound, and your voice quickly cut out, your throat too dry to make any more noise.

When the blade was retracted and your hair released, your body went limp and the masked pirate moved to stand in front of you.

"It's your choice Supreme Leader, this is your last warning."  And with those words, the feed cut out.

Everyone remained silent, one could hear a pin drop it was so tense.  Nobody knew what to say.

Kylo broke the silence with an almighty roar leaving his throat, his Saber immediately whirring to life so he could slash at the walls.

Once he had successfully demolished the conference room he turned off his Lightsaber and faced his council, his breathing laboured.

"Find her!"  He bellowed, "We will not be beaten by a group of pirates.  We rule the galaxy, we cannot, and will not lose!"  He yelled at the top of his lungs, his voice so overcome with emotion that it cracked slightly.

"W-we're doing everything we can Sir!"  One general spoke up, and she immediately regretted it when Kylo used the force to throw her against the ceiling.

"Do more!"  He ordered, storming out of the room, furious.

Really he was angry at himself more than anyone, he had let this happen... the pirate said your blood would be on his hands, and Kylo believed it.

Hours passed, and there was still no news.  He had been pacing around the bridge, searching every crevice of the galaxy for you.  Eventually a breakthrough came.  It was a lead based on very loose evidence, but at this point Kylo would grasp at any and every straw in the hope of finding you.

The transmission signal from the holovid had been bounced to hundreds of relays in order to hide its origin, but professional slicers had finally tracked it down... or at least they hoped they had.

Buried deep in the outer rim was the planet Bor.  It was essentially an industrial wasteland, but the perfect place for pirates to operate since it wasn't on the First Order's radar - until now at least.

"Gather my Knights."  Kylo barked as he stormed off the bridge towards the hanger.  He didn't have a second to waste, if you were there he was going to find you.

When he landed on the planet's surface he immediately began tracking you, following the signal which the slicers had isolated.

The Knights were silently marching behind their master, and when he raised his hand they all stopped in unison in front of a durasteel structure, large enough to encompass at least ten rooms.

"This is it."  He muttered, throwing the signal tracker to the ground.  "She's here."  The Force was was buzzing all around him, although you weren't Force sensitive Kylo still recognised your energy anywhere.

"Take no prisoners, save her at any cost."  He ordered, and the Knights all nodded in compliance.

Kylo's Saber roared to life, and he clutched it at his side as they slowly moved around the building.  The only light was the red glow from the unstable blade, and the place was eerily silent.  No signs of life.

With a manoeuvre of his hand he permitted the Knights to split up and begin searching, which they did.

You were there, Kylo knew you were.  But the lack of security was putting him on edge.  His fears were only interrupted when he heard the voice of one of his Knights.

"Master Ren, in here!"

Kylo ran as fast as he could to the source of the voice, and when he burst through the malfunctioning blast doors he heart hit the floor.

There was nobody else, just you.  Nobody for him to tear limb from limb for daring to lay a hand on his wife.

"Find them."  He ordered his Knights in a low tone, and they hustled out of the room to look for any trace of the perpetrators.

The cowards had ran.  They ran and left you there, beaten, and on the brink of death.

Kylo's heart was racing as he approached you.  You hadn't acknowledged anyone since they had entered the room, and he was fearing the worst.

"My love."  He mumbled as he placed his hand ever so gently against the side of your face to try and get a reaction from you.

Your skin was cold to the touch, and the blood coating your skin was dry.

Kylo swung his Saber above your head to slice the chains binding your wrists, before throwing the hilt aside in favour of catching your body as it fell limp to the ground, lowering you down to lay across his lap.

"Y/N..."  His voice was hoarse, a lump forming in his throat.

Tears were beginning to pool in the corners of his eyes, this couldn't be it, it just couldn't be.

He looked at your body, your clothes stained with grime and blood.  He could see your wounds, there were so many of them that his blood was boiling just thinking about the animals who did this to you.

The cut by your waist that he had witnessed them inflict upon you via holovid just hours ago was clotting, but there was still fresh blood there - it hadn't been long.  He had seen you alive in that holovid, he refused to believe that he had gotten here too late.

"Come back to me."  He begged, holding your body to his chest, "Please come back to me."

"Kylo-"  He heard the smallest noise, and he retracted enough to see your face.

"Y/N!"  Relief washed through his tone, as he held your body on his knees.

"I-I..."  You strained, your E/C eyes struggling to stay open to finally look at his face.  You knew he would come for you, it had been the only thing keeping you going every day.

"Don't strain yourself, we'll get you help."  He reassured you before calling to the Knights to bring a stretcher.

"I love you-"  You hoarsely told him, your voice barely audible.  You were malnourished, your throat so dry it hurt to talk.  "D-don't blame yourself."  You finally managed to squeeze the words out.

As he processed your words, panic took over his face again.  You were saying goodbye.

"No, Y/N, no!"  He panicked, placing his hands on either side of your face.

He looked at your eyes slowly flutter closed, those beautiful eyes.  He remembered seeing them on the day of your wedding, how you had spent all day smiling at him and reminding him just how much he meant to you.  Now he feared it was the last time he would ever see them.

You were slipping away, he could feel it, "No!"  He cried out again, tears freely falling down his cheeks as he desperately held your face, "Wake up, please wake up!"

Even with cuts, bruises and blood staining your face, your skin devoid of all colour and malnourished - you were still his wife, his Empress, his one and only love.

"Help is on its way my love, please just hold on."  He whispered, swallowing the lump in his throat.

All he could do is hold you, hold you as close as he could and sob.

He wasn't ready to let you go, he needed to save you... somehow.

He couldn't say goodbye.