#forgot how life ruining some of the dialogue is while playing. my god.

[schelofthesea]

consolation

[autobot-ratchet]

MTMTE 56, 57, and Revolution

MTMTE 56

and now for something completely different

“I know I'm paranoid. Contrary to popular belief, that doesn't mean I think everyone's out to get me. It just means I don't know who is and who isn't.” HEY. BIG SAME LMFAO not to gripe on fandom culture once again but y'all literally ruined my brain chemistry and I think it's fair for me to talk about it lmAO I know that not literally everyone who participates in fandom is an insane person who wants to start a harassment campaign against a complete nobody like me because it would be easy clout and no one would help me, in fact most of you are pretty cool, but I know someone will. Because someone always does. I've seen enough of my peers get hurt and/or die to know that someone always does, even if you think you're not popular enough. Like, I hope y'all realize what a fucking act of bravery posting all this has been for me lmfAO you have no idea how many times I've had to stop myself from editing out a hot take out of fear that even one chronically online individual might feel the need to punish me to protect the purity of the funny alien robot comic, including this paragraph

gfdsjkk I forgot Fort Max just fuckin kicks Prowl while he's in his alt mode so it just looks like he's kicking a police car. ACAB

oh god Outrigger's a fuckin youtuber lmAO

aww I do like that both Fort Max and Red Alert tried to get in contact with anyone they could when they saw everyone's farewell message, they still have everyone's numbers. Ooh except Chromedome changed his, or at least I assume Prowl's talking about Chromedome

ooohh right, this was another theory if I remember correctly, that Fort Max used to be Pious Maximus, like he got shadowplayed from being one to the other. I vaguely remember a panel I think way back in the Shadowplay arc of a dude in the background who looked kind of like Fort Max when Prowl and Chromedome found one of the institutes

casually thousand yard stares off into space at Sentinel's monologue about how Cybertron is now full of “mongrel Cybertronians” and he wants to “wipe the slate clean.” I wish life would imitate art would imitate life a little less lmfAO

*points at Prowl* lol but also Sentinel leave Red alone, he doesn't deserve this

MTMTE 57

ohh man here we go, last issue of MTMTE. It's not the end of the comic, it just changes names, but this still always feels like a milestone. The name changes, the main artist changes, this is absolutely a turning point and it always feels strangely bittersweet to reach it during a readthrough

“You're not one of THOSE, are you?” is still such a funny line of dialogue, truly on some care bears villain shit

still incredibly funny that Prowl has to use his table-flipping skills to reactivate the titan. The release mechanism was just. Conveniently table-shaped

man no wonder Red Alert got overwhelmed and tried to end it, poor dude's been out here playing 4D chess with his own brain for millions of years

fgshdjks Sentinel gets knocked into a pit by a bird and unceremoniously falls to his death. I've never seen anyone get more owned in my life

“You hate change. I sympathize.” “I hate endings.” “Same thing.” yEAH. YEAH THAT'S WHY THIS ALWAYS FEELS SO BITTERSWEET like yeah it's not an actual ending, but it is the end of certain constants that had been established (like the name, the main artist, etc) and like. That's enough! That's enough of a change for it to be felt! Not to get too deep or anything but it's normal to mourn for the loss of a life you're still living because it's no longer the same life

MTMTE Revolution

but before we move on, one more issue of MTMTE lmAO

god I completely forgot about Crankcase's online boyfriend

gfsjdkl Krok and Fulcrum trying to help Crankcase prepare for his date........ they're real ones

gOD THEIR STUPID HOLOMATTER AVATARS...

THEY FUCKIN BURIED HIS ASS god they are so bad at humans lmfAO

aww, Grimlock... shame he had to level a handful of cities to get his keepsake back but that's very sweet lmAO

fdhjks poor MP3

[majorxmaggiexboy]

my favorite part about TURN is how most of Ben’s little handful of Personal Enemies tend to just. forget he exists. usually (but not always) right after verbally confirming their intent to murder him.

( disclaimer: this is a very silly list and not meant to be taken seriously at all, especially toward the end, although imo i’ve got a point on some of them XD )

Simcoe is more implied, but i mean he has his own special way of saying Ben’s name and a very good reason to Absolutely Hate Him (they share a birthday!), they had an excellent dialogue basically debating each other under the guise of playing Devil/Angel to Newt...but ultimately he’s content to go after Abe and Caleb and be the bane of Anna’s existence and never think about Ben again.

Rogers literally spends all of s1 on a full-on quest to get revenge against Ben for having the audacity to fight for his life and survive Rogers’ ambush. The first time he hears Ben’s name, it zooms in on his face as a “oh sh** he comin” song plays over the scene.The last time they see each other, Rogers  l i t e r a l l y  swears to hunt Ben down....and then only ever mentions him again, one time, to Abe, and then hecks off to do his own thing and doesn’t even go back to the Must Kill Tallmadge quest after finishing the Must Kill Jandre quest. Drops Ben like a hot potato (not an inaccurate label but we digress)

Sarah considered shooting him but she isn’t really on this list

Arnold gives his whole stupid spiel in the tavern about how Ben’s one of the Meddling Kids who ruined his life and how he Will Not Let That Stand and then, to be fair, you know what, actually he might have been trying something when he invited Ben to turncoat. He knows Ben’s Head of Intelligence. Maybe he had a little backstabby plan there. We’ll give him half a point for inviting Ben via postcard to come to his little ratbastardly house party, immediately after verbally confirming intent to murder him...before proceeding to never think about or mention Ben again. half a point to Arnold. However points off for lack of follow-through or finesse bring his score to a number so negative we don’t actually have a number for it.

Lee not only decided he wanted to murder Ben, but was also fully gonna make it happen until Wash intervened and then Lee couldn’t even be bothered to plot in the background or send assassins or anything. no points. actually two points for the hilarious scene where he does intend to attempt murder. but points off for being Lee and also for giving up. Hasn’t he heard of Try, Try Again? I mean Ben’s fully immune to death but come on, dude.

Randall got his face rearranged by Ben (and the people said amen) and while it was mentioned that there was a fallout from this (for Ben) we didn’t see it and Randall didn’t discuss it and it was never brought up again. Granted there is nothing that could improve Randall’s score at this stage of the game but you know what now his score is even lower. Randall Sucks, objectively.

To be fair, Gamble never claimed he’d like to- actually no I take it back he actually did verbally confirm that, for pretty much no reason, he’d like to not only murder Ben but also ~be mean to him~ first. Actively attempted to hunt him down after he escaped but apparently was eventually like “eh, forget it” before getting indecisively d’Artagnan’d by Ben. He doesn’t lose any points though because he’s got a cute smile and is weirdly charming in a swamp weasel kind of way. Also used his last words to make a pun.

Bradford’s on the list just bc he did not give a damn. He didn’t forget anything with Ben bc Ben was barely on his radar to start with. He was so unconcerned with actually participating in the rivalry, that Ben had to carry 90% of it himself. Every time Ben shows up Bradford’s just like 🙄 doesn’t lose any points bc the only reason he didn’t make a solid attempt to do whatever he was going to do right after announcing intent to do something, was that Caleb was there as backup (always) and then the whole dying thing happened. Solid effort, Brad, deserved better and i like him so much. 9/10

Hewlett’s on the list just in order to mention that Ben literally charged into town with guns blazing and ruined his day and Hewlett was just like...he had nothing to say. Ben was off his radar so fast they couldn’t even get to the Personal Enemies stage.

Jandre unfortunately loses some points for the fact that Ben gets outed to him as Head of Intelligence and Johnsauce doesn’t particularly care or do anything with that information he’s just like “that’s weird bc based on what I know about Tallmadge, the kid sucks, but based on what I know about Washington’s Head of Intelligence, the kid is brilliant. Huh.” so he loses points for never even trying to ruin Ben’s day or anything like that but he gets a pass bc their little interaction bit was all sweet and mutal-respecting and emotionally just. yeah.

Mary’s on the list because she should have had a personal grudge like “you’re the one who invited my husband into your dangerous little spy club?” and they had some tension but she didn’t do anything and really all they did was yell at each other so u-u

hell let’s throw Scott on here too because he was like “dISCIPLINARY ACTION” but then he was like “...LATER.” like dude you can shoot like three dudes dead with no trial but you can’t even roll up one of those reports and bop Ben on the head with it? tch. no gumption Scott, you suck. Loses points because he was so convinced that someone else would handle Ben for him that he (thankfully) didn’t just do it himself.

you know what let’s actually put Washington on this list too just because of the fact that two different times, TWO TIMES, he reaches the point of being like “TALLMADGE YOURE FIRED” and literally nothing happens. Especially funny because the first time, he said Ben was fired for not being able to get the spies to listen to him and follow orders...and then Ben proceeds to...not...follow orders...like ever. at all. straight-up planned to go behind Wash’s back to rescue Hewlett but Caleb was like “I got this”...continued to defy orders right up through the second time he got fired. 10/10 but no actually Washington loses some points for just being like “I’m done with you. You’re fired.” instead of dropping that cape over Ben’s head and then spinning him a few times or something. Show some initiative, my guy, be creative. Express yourself. Anyway he apparently forgot Ben had been fired both times it happened so. List.

Peggy’s on the list because not only did she cook up a scheme to try to at least get information from Ben, she also...look, she was told by Arnold that Ben’s Head of Intelligence. The wheels turned, onscreen, for God and everybody to see. She goes to Ben, turns on the charm, which he’s too busy admiring the clock and being sad to properly appreciate, had that whole thing where she was like “Hey,,,,wanna dance,,” and he was like “I’m at your service” (!!!!!!!!) and she was like, “I should think so” (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and there was nothing happening right then that wasn’t her being like “i’m gonna squeeze this himbo for every ounce of war-critical intel he can give me. won’t even know what hit him” aND THEN IT’S NEVER MENTIONED AGAIN. SHE JUST. SPOKE TO HIM LIKE ONE TIME AND DROPPED THE WHOLE SCHEME. WIThIN THE SAME EPISODE. 1000000000000/10 Iconic, Pegs. Well done on the “Let’s not bother with Tallmadge, he’s a silly boy” angle!

Lastly let’s actually put Tarleton on here just because i mean in real life, he and Tallmadge allegedly had a run-in (an ambush, actually) that involved him stealing Tallmadge’s horse, some money, and some documents. In the show? Never even shows up. Not even mentioned. Dude quit before he even started that’s how uncommitted...boooooo

[radramblog]

Dreamworks Tier List

It’s a low effort post time!

I asked for a random tier list to do and this is what was handed to me. I can work with this. Time to ruin some people’s opinions of me.

Aight lets get this out of the way.

I’d consider watching some of these- Prince of Egypt and How to train your dragon 2/3 are apparently pretty good, and I’d watch The Croods for Nic Cage alone. But I think the bottom tier are just inexcusable, based off what I’ve seen and heard of trailers and opinions and reviews since their release. And Antz and Sinbad are movies I’ve definitely seen as like, a 5 year old, but I don’t know shit so I might as well not have.

 Shit Tier

If you’ve seen the trailer for Madagascar 3, where Marty does the whole “da-da-dadadada-da-dada circus” for way to long, you’ve seen Madagascar 3. The rest of the movie is just as obnoxious and unfunny.

Similarly, Monsters vs Aliens is just devoid of anything resembling humour or intrigue. The most I remember is the scene of the President trying to communicate with the aliens by…playing Axel F? I remember it because at the time I was like holy shit a Crazy Frog reference, but that’s not something I like to acknowledge being a fan of these days.

Shark Tale is an abomination unto god, and that’s even before we get to how fucking weird it looks. It’s an entire fucking story built around the “liar revealed” plot, which is easily one of the most aggravating plot archetypes ever devised. Somehow it’s not the worst cinema Will Smith has been in, a fact that is frankly mind-boggling- but After Earth and the second half of Hancock still exist, so.

 Bad Tier

Over the Edge was something I found entertaining as a kid, but I’m not sure why. It does have the climax sequence I did like, but that one blatant reference got a lot less funny when I realized it wasn’t original. For the life of me I don’t remember what the reference is to, but it’s some anime, you know.

Bee Movie is the source of some of the greatest memes of all time, and for that alone it gets a rescue from shit tier. But it’s so, so awful. I really don’t know who signed off this plot.

Madagascar was a series that only got worse as it went on. It didn’t start that good. At least this one has Moto Moto.

Shrek the Third is the worst Shrek, and it’s nooooot particularly close. I don’t remember a huge amount from it, but what I do remember wasn’t good. Why did they make Donkey fuck the dragon?

 OK tier

Madagascar 1 was the best Madagascar, and in a surprising reversal of how this normally goes, managed to be significantly better than it’s Disney (?!) ripoff, Into the Wild. The one with the most genuine emotional moments, and the first one before they started shoving the Penguins and King Julien down everyone’s throat. Sidenote, did you know Julien is voiced by Sacha Baron Cohen??

Shrek Forever After somehow managed to be less bad than Shrek the Third, but it’s not like it was particularly good. It’s a wonderful life but it’s Shrek is more compelling than I would have expected, seeing as it does mean you have to have him actually acknowledge the development of his character. The framing of this, and the “comedy” therein, do not land.

 Good Tier

For what it’s worth, I think Shrek is overrated. This doesn’t mean I think it’s bad, obviously, quite the opposite. It’s a parody that thankfully doesn’t rely too heavily on reference and gross-out humour, but manages to have the comedy actually land in a way I don’t think anyone at the time expected. But it’s really overshadowed by the sequel.

I basically don’t remember anything from How to Train your Dragon, but I’m pretty sure I’d get my throat slit if I put it any lower than this, so. It’s aight? Probably need to rewatch it, but you’d have to force me to do it.

I genuinely forgot the Wallace and Gromit movie, along with the other Aardman Animations films, ended up under the Dreamworks umbrella. I’d argue Curse of the Were-Rabbit is weaker than the original shorts, but considering how perfectly charming those are, that isn’t actually saying that much. Now that I think of it, have I ever watched this all the way through? It might be up here by pedigree alone.

Speaking of Aardman, Flushed Away is genuinely excellent comedy, and would probably be substantially higher if the main characters’ design didn’t weird me out. They’re a little too anthropomorphized.

Kung Fu Panda is best described by the Chinese film producer who said, “Why did we never make this film?” While I find Po somewhat obnoxious, the rest of the movie more than compensates.

Holy shit I need to go rewatch Megamind, that movie was so fucking good but I haven’t seen it since it came out. Somehow I remember a review of the Wii game in some magazine (34ish % iirc) better than I do that film, and that’s a genuine tragedy. I didn’t even realise that meme of the villain from like last year or so was actually from Megamind, aaarrgh.

Top Tier

Shrek 2 is a perfect sequel. It innovates on the parody elements, continues the story in an interesting way, and has genuinely good emotional moments with a frankly iconic climax. I’m not sure I have a single bad thing to say about it. It’s really, really good.

Chicken Run is another one where it’s hard to gush about. It’s just excellent Aardman Brothers animation combined with a solid premise and surprisingly dark elements, and all of those come together to make a genuinely top tier movie. One of the best animated films ever made? Maybe.

But El Dorado is better. What El Dorado feels like to me is the secret 5th member of that period where Disney was just putting out off-beat but excellent animated films- from when we got Lilo and Stitch, The Emperor’s New Groove, and Atlantis. The last glorious breaths of American 2D animation. It’s a peerless adventure film, on a similar stage as the better Indiana Jones films or the aforementioned Atlantis, while managing to be engaging for those of all ages. It’s got witty dialogue for days, and astonishing visuals and music. I don’t think Dreamworks has made a better movie than this, and I don’t think they ever will.

That image this list is using for it looks fucking awful though, holy shit.

[lunasilvermorny]

Facing the past - Luna and Jacob

This is not part of the headcanon. It’s simply a dialogue that Luna and Jacob would have had if they actually talked about their problems instead of sweeping everything under the rug.

They have so many unresolved issues, that I thought it would be an interesting concept to explore. It got intense.

Enjoy.

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

Luna: Aren’t you tired of playing the victim when you’re clearly at fault here?

Jacob: Right, I forgot I was talking to father’s mindless lacky.

Luna: I am not his lacky! Just because you have a warped perception-

Jacob: Accurate perception.

Luna: -of me, doesn’t mean that you know what the bloody hell you’re talking about!

Jacob: Won’t you ever shut up?!

Luna: You’re a failure! You have no one to blame but yourself-

Jacob: Yes, father.

Luna: -if you only did something with your life-

Jacob: Yes, father.

Luna: -instead of acting like a child.

Jacob: You’re right, father.

Luna: LIKE NOW! ACTING LIKE A CHILD!

Jacob: At least I can think for myself!

Luna: Oh, right. You’re so edgy. Hey everyone, look at me-!

Jacob: And I’m the child?

Luna: I wear leather and I smoke like a chimney! Aren’t I cool? Screw the man - literally!

Jacob: Is that supposed to be funny?

Luna: You are a self-centered prick that has nothing to offer and can only stand up against literal children and bully them!

Jacob: I was trying to prevent you from turning into HIM!

Luna: You were trying to kill me!

Jacob: Oh, please. Could you be any more mellowdramatic?

Luna: What about the time you used Bombarda on me?

Jacob: I was aiming for your toy.

Luna: You hit my god damn face!

Jacob: By accident!

Luna: I was 6, you psychopath!

Jacob: Were you already a mindless lacky at the age of 6? Impressive.

Luna: What about the time you destroyed my arm?!

Jacob: It was a tiny scratch-

Luna: It took the healers 6 mouths to fully reconstruct it!

Jacob: Fine, but I was a kid too!

Luna: Funny, when I was at that age, I haven’t completely obliterated any of Olivia’s limbs!

Jacob: Of course not, you were too busy climbing up father’s bum!

Luna: Father this, father that-

Jacob: Yes, father this, father that! He’s the real monster, if you’re looking to blame anyone.

Luna: You think I don’t know how he’s like?

Jacob: Oh, please.

Luna: Because I do-

Jacob: OH, PLEASE!

Luna: I know more than you think, you just never gave me enough credit. You never had even the slightest respect for me!

Jacob: What is there to respect? You were a mini version of him!

Luna: I was a child!

Jacob: You were a little devil.

Luna: I WAS A CHILD!!

Jacob: You can yell it all you want, still doesn’t change the fact that you were a nasty little twat.

Luna: Oh, me? Really? Was I the one that constantly pranked you?

Jacob: You were asking to be pranked, with that stupid face of yours.

Luna: Was I the one that constantly belittling you?

Jacob: It was a matter of time and you know it.

Luna: No, it wasn’t.

Jacob: It was. I knew he’ll get inside your head eventually and turn you against me, so what was the point in even trying? I had no chance, you adored him!

Luna: I have my issues with him, just as much as you do.

Jacob: Yeah, right.

Luna: What the hell would you know?!

Jacob: Aren’t you still in that cozy closet of yours? I know mum knows, she always knew, but does he know?

Luna: ...

Jacob: Right. So you haven’t told him - what a shocker!

Luna: Why the hell would I tell him?

Jacob: Because that’s who you are! You want to know how he reacted when I told him?

Luna: You should’ve kept it to yourself.

Jacob: How can you, of all people, say that?

Luna: He’s old and set in his ways. What’s the point in antagonizing him?

Jacob: You’re right, how dare I find men attractive?

Luna: That’s not what I meant and you know it.

Jacob: All I know is that you’re a little coward. Afraid to ruin your reputation as his perfect little princess?

Luna: He is old! What good would it make?!

Jacob: Don’t you want to be yourself?

Luna: I don’t need to! Not in front of him.

Jacob: Wow, so rebellious.

Luna: You told him because you knew it would push him over the edge!

Jacob: Ha! Oh, really? Was that the reason? Good to know!

Luna: He already had his problems with you-

Jacob: Exactly. EXACTLY! Do you have any idea how it feels that my own father hates me?! My own father thinks I’m a bloody mistake!

Luna: And instead of proving him otherwise-

Jacob: There was no way to prove anything! That horrible man made my life miserable ever since I can remember!

Luna: Look at that, just like you did to me.

Jacob: I was trying to help you!

Luna: You were taking your frustration on me! I was your bloody scapegoat, since you couldn’t confront father, and you know it!

Jacob: You are so blind!

Luna: No, you’re just a hypocrite!

Jacob: Fine, I’m a hypocrite! But it doesn’t mean that man gets a free pass for all the crap he put me through!

Luna: He had a messed up family too-

Jacob: Don’t you even try-

Luna: -they were literally Death Eaters!

Jacob: -to compare the situations. He married mum out of spite! He brought us to this world out of SPITE!

Luna: They messed him up-

Jacob: That doesn’t justify his actions!

Luna: -really bad and you know it.

Jacob: He messed me up!

Luna: Yeah, well. Me too. That doesn’t mean I’m crying about it like a freaking infant!

Jacob: YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THIS MAN DID TO ME!

Luna: Yeah, made you feel worthless. Boo-fucking-hoo. Join the club.

Jacob: Really? Did he ever beat you up?

Luna: Of course not.

Jacob: Did he ever screwed up your face so badly that mum had to literally reconstruct it?!

Luna: I know that he’s not a good man, but he wouldn’t resort to violence.

Jacob: When he found out I’m gay, he used the CRUCIATUS curse on me!

Luna: ...

Jacob: Do you have any idea what it’s like being tortured by your own father?!

Luna: ...

Jacob: Nothing to say, all of a sudden?

Luna: You’re a liar.

Jacob: Oh, am I?

Luna: Yes, you are clearly lying.

Jacob: Of course you’ll say that, you worthless arse.

Luna: You must be really desperate-

Jacob: Why would I lie about it?!

Luna: -to create such fake- BECAUSE YOU’RE A LIAR!

Jacob: ASK HIM! Ask mum. Let’s see what they’ll say.

Luna: Fuck you.

Jacob: And if you ever come out to him, that’s exactly what’s expecting you. You’re welcome, by the way. I had no one to give me a heads-up.

Luna: Shut up! I don’t need to hear these kinds of lies for the psychopath that was probably a few pranks away from using the same curse on me!

Jacob: I would never-!

Luna: You are the only one that ever physically hurt me in our family.

Jacob: ...

Luna: How dare you pass the blame to him, after everything you’ve done.

Jacob: I... I never intended to hurt you, honestly. You were just so much alike! With your stupid smirk and insufferable voice-

Luna: I was helpless.

Jacob: Well, so was I.

Luna: I don’t care. You are the older sibling, you should have known better.

Jacob: ...

Luna: You don’t deserve any sympathy. None!

Jacob: I care about you and that’s more than that horrible excuse of a father would ever give you. He is incapable of real love and you know it.

Luna: ...

Jacob: There is no such thing as unconditional love with that man.

Luna: I don’t need unconditional love. Never have.

Jacob: He is a bad man.

Luna: I know. You’re both bad-

Jacob: He’s worst!

Luna: I know.

Jacob: No, you don’t. If you don’t believe me, then you don’t know.

Luna: Nothing would convince me that you’re telling the truth now.

Jacob: Then ask him.

Luna: I will, but I already know that you’re lying.

Jacob: We’ll see.

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

Some cuts are just too deep to mend. I can’t think of any scenario that could ever truly repair their damaged relationship. That’s why they chose to just ignore the past and act as if nothing happened, while letting all the passive-aggressive remarks slip through the cracks.

This post is long enough, but if you’re interested, I’ll add the part where she asks their father about Jacob’s allegations.

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

Edgar: Yes, Luna. Come in.

Luna: Hello, father.

Edgar: As you can see, I am very busy. Is it urgent?

Luna; I just have one question.

Edger: All right, go ahead.

Luna: Have...have you ever…?

Edgar: Speak, child. I have no time for hesitancy.

Luna: Have you ever used the Cruciatus curse on him? Jacob, I mean.

Edgar …

Luna: …

Edgar: No.

Luna: Okay…

Edgar: Anything else?

Luna: No, that's all.

*She turned to leave*

Edgar: Luna.

Luna: Yes, father?

Edgar: You have great potential and your OWLs prove it. Do not let him take you down with him. He is below your level in any regard and he knows it. That is why he dragged you into the these vaults nonsense and that is why he is planting these ridiculous ideas inside your head.

Luna: Yes, father.

--

Rowan: So, what happened?

Luna: He did it.

Rowan: Oh, Luna, I’m... I’m so sorry-

Luna: I don’t want to talk about it.

--

Jacob: So, have you asked father yet?

Luna: ...

Jacob: Didn’t like what you’ve heard?

Luna: Of course I haven’t asked him, you’re obviously lying!

Jacob: Figures. You’re such a coward.

[kpopfanfictrash]

Greek Life

Author: kpopfanfictrash

Pairing: Taehyung / Reader

Word Count: 3,218

AU: Demigod / College Fraternity

Dialogue Prompt: "Are you suggesting an orgy?” (warning: this got a bit darker than intended but there’s light at the end!)

↳ part of my AU drabble game

“Alright.” Both arms crossed over his chest, Seokjin glared at Hoseok, son of Apollo. “I just want to be clear about one thing tonight.”

Without glancing up from his phone, Hoseok pushed dark Gucci sunglasses up the bridge of his nose. “Yes, brother?”

“Not brothers,” Seokjin corrected. “Anyways, this is me reminding you that your set volume cannot be over 100 decibels tonight. If we get another noise complaint, this house is toast.”

If Hoseok did roll his eyes, Seokjin couldn’t see through the sunglasses. The generally dismissive slouch of his posture was answer enough.

“Yeah, sure, whatever,” Hoseok drawled.

Seokjin’s frown deepened. “Yeah, I’m afraid I’m gonna need more than that. The last time you said you’d keep it down, we hit 125 decibels and the house nearly collapsed.”

“A gross exaggeration,” said Yoongi, son of Hades, currently curled up on the sofa. “As the demi-god of earthquakes –”

“Actually, Poseidon is in charge of earthquakes.”

“– seeing as we have no son of Poseidon in this house, I am demi-god of earthquakes, and I can inform you that the house was not close to falling down.”

“Irregardless,” Seokjin said.

“Irregardless isn’t a word!” 

Namjoon’s voice drifted from somewhere on the third floor. As son of Athena, goddess of wisdom and strategy, Namjoon took grave offense to grammatical errors.

Seokjin sighed. Rubbing his forehead, he contemplated whether his continued attempts at decency were worth it. At least if he tried, he could tell himself he did everything he could to stop chaos before it arrived. Decision made, Seokjin fixed Hoseok with his best no-nonsense glare. It was a good one, to be sure. As the son of Demeter, goddess of harvest and earth, Seokjin was the most grounded one in the fraternity.

“Hoseok,” he said. The younger demi-god looked up. “You will keep it down or I’ll personally call your father.”

The smirk disappeared from Jung Hoseok’s face. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“Oh, but I would.”

Seokjin sounded so stern, Hoseok didn’t feel like calling him out. Despite his cooler-than-thou appearance, Hoseok had major daddy issues – as in, he hated his. Apollo was a difficult guy to be be cuddly with, to be fair. On the surface, he seemed everything a father figure should be: personable, warm and awe-inspiring. Apollo was the god of the sun, healing, prophecy, music and poetry. As one might expect from the god of the sun though, he had rather high expectations for his offspring.

Hoseok didn’t care about greatness, so long as he had a good tune and good times. One time, he semi-jokingly proposed to Apollo that he become the demi-god of DJ’s and sick beats. Apollo wasn’t amused by the suggestion.

“Fine.” Hoseok placed both feet on the floor. “Dearest Seokjin, I will try to keep it down but know this,” he said, pushing a hand through his hair. “You have ruined the soul of an artist.”

Seokjin tried not to laugh. “Yeah, cool. I’ll take my chances.”

Turning around, Seokjin exited the living room into the main hall. There, he found himself face to face with what could only be described as chaos. Taehyung, son of Dionysus, absently twined grape vines up the stairs while Jimin, son of Aphrodite and Jungkook, son of Zeus, argued in front of the door.

Taehyung cocked his head while he stared at the bannister, trying to make sense of it all. As the son of Dionysus – god of wine, fertility and ecstasy – he was not unaccustomed to parties. Even his origin story at the frat involved one. When the other men showed up this year for their first day of campus, they found Taehyung entrenched in their backyard, midway through the biggest beach rager the University had ever seen.

As to his method of arrival and when, even Taehyung was not sure on the details. General merriment seemed to follow him wherever he went. The moment he decided to attend University, obviously the party followed him to his new destination.

Regardless, Taehyung was welcomed into Beta Tau Sigma (BTS) with open arms, due to the similarities he had with its other members. Taehyung was descended from a god of the Greek Pantheon, as they all were. Most mortals were shocked to learn gods and demi-gods still walked amongst them. Most mortals were blind, though and rarely saw what was beyond their noses.

Taehyung looked up, surveying the chaos before him. Kim Seokjin, eldest of the house, usually adopted a parental role to the others. At that moment, he had both hands on his hips and was attempting to mediate a fight between Jimin and Jungkook.

Already, sparks leapt from Jungkook’s fingers while Jimin’s gaze burned ruby-red with his anger.

Jimin, son of Aphrodite. 

Sweet and beautiful, with a temperament to match until you spoke ill of his loved ones. Then, all bets were off and as lovely as Jimin could be, his temper was far worse. Sweet words turned poisonous when spewed from his lips, since Jimin was also armed with the gift of persuasion. Jungkook attempted to avoid said power by not looking Jimin in the eyes.

“Look!” Jungkook said, one hand over his face. “I didn’t say your mother was easy! I just said she has a lot of demi-god children. That’s all!”

“She’s the goddess of love,” Jimin hissed, attempting to swat Jungkook’s hand down. His gaze burned scarlet in an otherwise calm expression. “Obviously she has children! You’re one to talk, anyways. How’s good ‘ol dad doing? Impregnated any mortals recently? Turned himself into a ray of light? A cow?”

“Hey! He turned Io into a cow, not himself!”

“How is that better?”

Shrugging, Jungkook nearly stumbled as he crashed into an a thousand-year-old lamp. 

Appearing from nowhere, Yoongi deftly caught this and replaced it on the counter. “Welcome,” he mumbled, drifting into the kitchen.

For a minute, Jimin and Jungkook forgot their fight and stared. 

“Dude needs to announce himself more,” Jungkook said, momentarily thrown.

Shoving both hands into the pockets of his hoodie, Jungkook revealed a small rip in the seams. Despite his grunge, Jungkook was still one of the most handsome guys around campus. It was hard not to be with his chiseled jawline, tousled hair and dark, piercing gaze. If there were a student vote on who was most likely to be a demi-god amongst them, Jeon Jungkook would be the unanimous favorite.

Still, he had problems of his own. Mainly that despite all his achievements, his father continued to insist he failed to meet expectations. A demigod of Zeus was powerful and as such, was expected to accomplish great feats. So far, Jungkook had only been the youngest person ever to climb Mt. Everest, written a collection of poems reviewed in Time Magazine, discovered a purpose for the appendix not previously thought of and contributed several designs to NASA’s most recent launch.

Zeus called it all child’s play. 

Shortly following, Jungkook stopped trying to impress his father and enrolled in University. Still, it wasn’t unusual to run into Jungkook at odd hours of the night, muttering corrections of Machiavellian theory with a bottle of wine in one hand.

All of this went to say that Taehyung understood why Jungkook was sometimes an ass. Jimin was lucky amongst them, as far as demi-gods went. He had intense, emotional power but he also had a goddess who loved him. Taehyung, on the other hand, had rarely seen his father since he had discovered what he truly was. It was hard having a father in charge of general celebration. It meant Dionysus was often called elsewhere, usually interrupting any father-son bonding time.

“Listen.” Seokjin rubbed his forehead. “You two are giving me an Athena-sized headache. Stop bickering and help Taehyung – his vines are out of control.”

Glancing at his hands, Taehyung realized Seokjin was correct. While he had been watching them argue, his vines had taken on a life of their own. They twined around his legs, the banister and sprouted large clusters of pomegranates (which, frankly, didn’t make any sense). Absently, Taehyung plucked one of them and took a large bite. Lately, he’d been very interested in pomegranates.

Clomping his way downstairs, Namjoon batted vines out of the way. “Are you going to clean this up before tonight?” he said to Taehyung, who nodded. To Seokjin, he added, “And watch what you say about my mother.”

“I was being literal!” Seokjin protested. “Your mom was literally born from Zeus’ mind, so obviously her birth was a headache. I don’t make the rules –”

“Thank the gods for that.”

“Shut up, Jungkook.”

This last statement was exclaimed by Jimin, Seokjin and Namjoon combined. Abruptly, Jungkook turned around on his heel and exited the lobby. Once he was gone, some of the red dissipated from Jimin’s gaze.

He looked sympathetically at Taehyung. “Need help cleaning?” Jimin offered, laying a hand on the bannister. 

His touch instantly trimmed the vines, sending blossoming roses over the rest.

Taehyung wrinkled his nose. “This looks… somehow worse.”

“Sorry, man.” Jimin’s lips twitched. “My botanical powers only go so far.”

With a wave of his hand, Seokjin transformed the mess into neat, tidy rows of vines up the staircase. As the son of Demeter, he had the best grasp over all earthly elements.

“There.” Satisfied, Seokjin dusted both palms on his pants. He looked curiously at Taehyung. “You alright, man? Lately, your powers have been, uh…”

It was considered impolite to comment on another demi-god’s powers; hence why Seokjin trailed off at the end. 

Taehyung tilted his head. “They’ve been what, exactly?”

Seokjin seemed distinctly uncomfortable. “Off?”

“On the fritz,” said Jimin helpfully.

“Borderline chaotic,” Namjoon added.

Taehyung considered their input. “Borderline chaotic is kind of my nature, no?”

“Yes, but…” Namjoon shook his head. “Not like this.”

Chewing on his lip, Taehyung was forced to admit they were right. His powers had always been intense, but they were usually controlled. Despite the influence he exerted over others, Taehyung could never party or grow drunk on his own power. In his opinion, this was his great curse. No matter what Taehyung did, he always found himself the eye of the hurricane, the center of the storm. He could never lose himself in the relief he provided to others; could only watch while they did.

Lately though, his powers had changed. They were darker, less controlled and had a frustrated edge. Glancing down at the pomegranate he held in one hand, Taehyung saw the seeds were an ominous shade of dark purple.

“It’s because of Y/N,” Jungkook said as he entered the room.

Taehyung’s head snapped up.

Leaning his shoulder to the wall, Jungkook stared lazily back. Power crackled restlessly about him like thunder. 

“What?” He arched a brow. “You know I’m right.”

Though Taehyung’s lips parted, he had no response because Jungkook was correct. If Taehyung retraced his magic to the moment it changed, it was around the time he met you. Or, more accurately, it was around the time you rejected him. 

Taehyung’s stomach twisted.

“Who’s Y/N?” Namjoon asked, glancing between them.

Taehyung tried and failed to look casual. “No one.”

He could barely push the words past his lips, which prompted Namjoon to arch a brow. “Doesn’t seem like no one.”

“She is,” Taehyung muttered. “She wants nothing to do with me – rightfully so. Which means that she’s no one.”

“That seems harsh, Tae,” Seokjin chastised. “How do you know?”

His gaze softened looking at Taehyung. Taehyung was the youngest amongst them aside from Jungkook, so the other demi-gods felt the need to protect him. No one else thought to, thanks to Taehyung’s abilities but in him, the others saw their younger selves. His powers drained him so often and left him feeling exhausted from their personal nature.

When Taehyung said nothing more, Jungkook sighed. “Just the usual,” he said, a bit gentler. “The same girl came to a few of our parties. Taehyung liked her. His powers got out of control. When she tried to kiss him, he pulled his powers away and she freaked. Ran out of the party before he could explain.”

“What would I explain?” Taehyung said, unable to help himself. The vines at his feet withered and turned an unnatural shade of black. “Hey, sorry about that! I’m just the demi-god of parties and wine. You got too buzzed on my power, so I tried to pull back and return your free will. Wanna hang?”

Even Namjoon had no response, rubbing the back of his neck. “Or,” he suggested. “You could just apologize about the party and offer to buy her a coffee.”

Taehyung looked up. “That’s just a temporary fix, right? Eventually, I’ll have to tell her and – let’s face it – who would stay? I’ve seen what these powers do to my dad. I’ve seen what they did to his other children. It’s pointless to become attached to a mortal.”

Out of all Dionysus’s children, Taehyung was the only one currently living. Most had been famous throughout history – musicians and actors known more for their parties than the talent they had. Many died young, unable to cope with the effects of their powers. Taehyung knew it was smart to push you away, since he couldn’t control himself and his powers often proved lethal.

Still, a pang entered his stomach whenever he thought of you. Whenever he remembered the shape of your lips, the way that you smiled and the uncertain way your fingers curled in your sundress. You laughed in two ways when you talked. One was a quiet, self-conscious giggle, but other was Taehyung’s favorite. It was more of a snort than a laugh, granted whenever Taehyung said something particularly funny.

The memory of this made Taehyung’s heart twist and he swallowed, looking away from the others.

At the bottom of the stairs, Jimin seemed distressed by his pain. He probably was; oftentimes, Jimin confused other people’s emotions for his own.

“I’m sorry, Tae,” he said softly.

“S’alright,” Taehyung muttered, even though it wasn’t.

“Can I do anything to help?” Jimin brightened. “Want me to use my powers, or something?”

Jungkook looked at him in amazement. “Are you suggesting an orgy? Dude, this hardly seems like the time.”

Jimin glared. “That’s not all my powers are good for, you jackass. I can make people forget their troubles, you know. At least for a little while.”

The tips of his fingers glowed faintly pink and Jungkook glanced at his hands, thoroughly unnerved. Jimin’s power of persuasion extended beyond simply telling others what to do. He could make someone else feel happy, sad, tired or angry – a hefty power, although it wore off after awhile and wasn’t quite as good as the real thing.

Taehyung shook his head. “No, thanks. Appreciate the offer, though.”

“Anytime.”

As he climbed the stairs, Seokjin clapped Taehyung on the shoulder. “Sorry, man,” he mumbled, understanding the fear. Truly, they all did. “Let me know if you need anything. I’m gonna bake later if you wanna stop by.”

Taehyung smiled despite himself. If there was one earthly power which could cure his longing, it was Seokjin’s cookies. “Thanks, man.”

Shooting him a sympathetic look, Jungkook nodded and Jimin poked him hard in the ribs. “C’mon,” Jimin said, jerking his chin. “Let’s go help Hobi with his playlist before Seokjin pops a vein worrying.”

A giant grin stretched over Jungkook’s face, which the rest of them should have found worrisome. 

“Cool.” Head bobbing, he followed Jimin down the hall. “Yoongi showed me this great eastern European doom metal band. Gonna see if I can get Hobi to play it tonight.”

Jimin snorted, his voice growing softer the further away he got. “Get the demi-god of the sun to play doom metal? Good luck with that, man.”

“Maybe if I tell him Mariah Carey covered it.”

The sounds of their conversation faded to nothing, leaving Taehyung alone in the hall with Namjoon. Turning quickly, Taehyung attempted to leave but was halted in his descent by Namjoon clearing his throat. 

Slowly, Taehyung looked up at his friend.

Namjoon looked back. 

No one could stare quite like Namjoon. He had a piercing gaze, as though he saw every piece of your soul and was able to size you up to expectation. It made Taehyung wildly uncomfortable, as it did most people.

“You know you’re only a half god, right?” Namjoon tilted his head. “Part of you is also human.”

“I know.” Taehyung’s voice came out somewhat petulant, though he did not mean it to be.

Crossing both arms, Namjoon leaned a shoulder against the wall. His irises glowed the gentle gold of Athena. “It’s hard to control our powers,” he admitted. “It is, but there are difficulties in any relationship. Don’t give up on your own happiness.”

A wan smile crossed Taehyung’s lips. “Are the difficulties in most relationships that the guy semi-drugs his girlfriend whenever he loses control?”

Namjoon winced. “You don’t drug them.”

“Feels like it,” Taehyung muttered, glancing down.

“Their natural impulses are already there,” Namjoon pointed out. “Your presence at parties doesn’t make people drunk. People drinking makes people drunk. You only lower their inhibitions, call out their truth, give people the freedom inebriation gives without intoxication. You grant people their truest form – which is a gift, not a curse.”

Taehyung didn’t respond. He knew Namjoon was right, at least in part. Still, there existed within him a kernel of darkness he couldn’t control. His power was linked to such horror and melancholy; it was hard sometimes to see the light.

“Hey.” Namjoon took a step closer. His voice took on that maddening wisdom which came from the goddess. “We all have burdens. Humans do too, along with demi-gods. Our greatest strengths are often our greatest weaknesses. Someone who’s confident is prideful. Someone who’s humble? Inactive. Someone who rationalizes, often fails to empathize. It’s why relationships are necessary, Taehyung – they provide balance. You can’t simply close yourself off from the rest of the world.”

Taehyung’s gaze sharpened, looking up from the floor. The vines at his feet unfurled, reminding them that while Taehyung’s power was mostly parties and fun, there was a dark side of revelry which couldn’t be forgotten. Madness and misery emerged just as often as goodness when he called true selves forth.

“Okay.” Taehyung kept his voice level.

Seeing he wouldn’t budge on the matter, Namjoon sighed.

Truthfully, Taehyung heard his advice and longed to accept it, but found it too hard. It was difficult when his chest ached for you, when he couldn’t stop chastising himself for the moment you ran from his house.

Namjoon nodded and turned down the staircase. “Let me know if you need anything,” he called over his shoulder. “Gonna go and make sure Yoongi hasn’t turned the basement into another séance, or something.”

As he left, his footsteps growing quieter, Taehyung stared the sight of his retreating back. Uncertainty entered the pit of his stomach, wondering if perhaps Namjoon was right. The sanest to date Taehyung had felt was the past year in the house, living amongst others who understood what he was.

Maybe it was foolish of him to push you away.

As soon as he thought this, his phone chimed in his pocket. The sight of your name at the top of his screen sent his heart soaring, wondering if this coincidence was something he couldn’t ignore. Pushing blue-black hair from his eyes, he unlocked your text.

Y/N: hey. I just wanted to apologize for leaving so quickly. I think I drank too much, got carried away but… I really liked our conversation. Would you want to get coffee sometime? [4:15 PM]

Taehyung’s heart constricted, his hands trembled and before he could stop himself, he was responding.

Taehyung: yes, please. When?? [4:16 PM]

 Author’s Note: hey, I just got service at the hotel so I’m posting but I haven’t proof-read as much as I usually do! Please forgive any errors, I promise to read over it again in the coming days :) thank you!

↳ part of my AU drabble game

Greek Life!All + brainstorming fundraiser ideas for the frat

[coepiteamare]

2020 in fic

2020 was terrible year but an okay year of fic considering i didn’t really write till october. 

STATS: fics: 1 fic; i wrote drabbles because i can’t write long fics. but i wrote 8 drabbles? female pov: 8 male pov: 1 (i thought i had more but nope, they’re all wips) both pov: 0 (i haven’t written anything long to justify both pov) total word count: (lol, i’ll update this later but i know it’s absolute shite) OVERALL: Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted? both! i started this blog in january, wrote two things, then forgot about it because life kind of took over. because i didn’t write for so long, i didn’t intend on coming back, but i realized that i had a couple wips for the dictionary of lovers that i never uploaded so i came back sometime in october? (i published one and then kind of tucked away the rest because i wasn’t sure what i quite wanted to do with tdol)

i started off this year intending to write and finish tdol (26 drabbles), but that didn’t end up happening, so less. but when i stopped, i also didn’t think i would ever come back to posting, yet here i am! and i’ve posted drabbles and have a bunch in the wip folders, so more! tl;dr: less than i thought but also more than i thought. What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January? i don’t write cross fandoms anymore (though that was my start in ff, my peak poetry days), but i never thought i would write 2nd pov/memberxreader because i started off writing memberxmember fics for bangtan, so i suppose that!  Did you take any writing risks this year? most definitely. i never thought i would write 2nd person pov, but here i am. and i didn’t think i’d write memberxreader, but here i am! (a bundle of surprises i am) 2nd person pov is actually a lot harder for me to write, but i’m getting better at it. 

pens and paperwork actually has a lot of dialogue and less purple prose: i think it’s the one piece i wrote that was less emotion based and more plot, which is very out of character for me. it’s also a little (a lot) different than what i normally write, so that was also a risk, but i enjoyed writing that one so much: it’s definitely one of my favourite pieces and i want to flesh out that universe a little more. Do you have any fanfic or profic goals for the New Year? write! longer! fics! i want to rewrite “the dictionary of lovers” and put it together into a long fic. i have a multiverse fic that i’ve been planning out, and i want to finish 9,719km and make it at least 10K: i want to practice fleshing out characters and worlds. my goal in general is just to write a long fic (9,719km, i’m looking at you). and also return to writing memberxmember fics too (i have a namgi fic in the works and there are def taekook ideas). get better at writing openings and closing and titling fics. god, i suck at titles. 

also, i would very much like to publish most of my wips. so, future violet, here’s to hoping you do that.  What were last year's goals? this is my first year, but last year, my goal was to just start a writing tumblr and write! and i’ve managed to do that! so yay  🎉  BEST AND WORST: My best story of this year: nine thousand, seven hundred nineteen kilometers. i love it to bits and pieces and i had it in my drafts for a while? because i wanted to publish it as a full fic but who knows when that will be, so i published it anyways. also this part was so much better than the other parts, so no regrets, i suppose. i think it is my favourite piece i’ve written, along with pens and paperwork, because it’s so different from what i’m used to writing? (both are also yoongi fics, funny enough) i definitely think it’s less purple prose (though 9,719km def has elements of that still; can’t get it out of my system) so hs me would not have approved, but i love it to smithereens. i try to not read any of my fics after posting them though because i’m incapable of letting it be: i have to perform autopsies on it, pick at the bad parts, cut open the good ones for flaws, until it’s virtually unrecognizable and ruined, so i can’t bring myself to reread it, but as of now, from what i remember, i think it’s my best story.  My most popular story of this year: love is a losing game (we played anyways): i’m so flattered and in awe that people actually liked this story because it was so hard for me to write. it’s only 1k and it took me a good week before i could publish it because i kept tripping over the language. and i felt (still feel) like pre-dialogue and post-dialogue are two different stories, which was extremely frustrating for me. i think i can write dialogue (this story is a different beast, just because of the nature of the beginning) but it’s really hard for me to combine poetry/prose with dialogue. i feel like it throws it off but the only other way to write it would be in a short bit compilation (i’ll write fics like that again someday) and i didn’t feel like it would work for lialg. (funny story: it was actually a royalty!namjoon fic where he wants to give her the world but it turns out she was a spy and she essentially burns his kingdom to the ground) i’m honestly not too happy about how it turned out but i’m still glad people enjoyed it!  Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion: none! i really didn’t expect to have an audience, so people stopping and reading my fics? wild. Most fun story to write: pens and paperwork. that drabble was so much fun to write and i loved the characters. also gave me the least amount of headaches, probably because it kind of wrote itself once i started. i really do want to expand on that universe, just because i want to revisit it and explore 007′s background (maybe write about 005 and 006 as a spin off though whether i want to make it taexreader or taexjimin is to be determined) and yoongi’s journey in the MI6/NIS as well!

Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters: probably pens and paperwork? i’ve always known that yoongi was a dynamic and versatile person but that fic really did it for me. i can totally see him being this sarcastic, dry person, but also someone with a lot of love and care for others, like he does with 007 by bringing her alc when she’s in pain and generally trying to distract her as she’s getting stitches. someone who’s as loud as they are quiet. i definitely want to write more soft yoongi though. 

Hardest story to write: i am your ocean (your little mermaid). hands down. i don’t know if tae is just really hard to write (for me) or if that fic was a monster of it’s own, but i spent two+ weeks working on it. it went through so many storyline revisions and changes and then even after i had a decent idea of the final plot, it took me another week to write fucking 1.4k. absolutely awful. do i like it? i don’t even know. but i don’t like hoarding fics, so it’s out there for the word to pick at, to dissect it’s anatomy, to taxidermy it.  Biggest disappointment: the movietheaterworker!oc x marvelnerd!jk fic that i never published. i don’t know if it’s just bad or it’s just not what i wanted but i haven’t touched it since october (and idk if i want to look at it) so that says something. 

in terms of something i published, probably “heart” from tdol. i re-read it recently and it just felt really bleh to me? i should have more attachment to it considering it’s my first drabble on this account but nope. some parts of it are cute but it’s so clunky. i don’t like it.  Biggest surprise: pens and paperwork or monsters under the bed. pens and paperwork because of how much i loved it/how fast it wrote itself and how much i liked it afterwards, even though it’s written in a much different style than i normally write? monsters under the bed because it was written with no direction and honestly feels like a fever dream (though i did have a backstory to jk’s character and his relationship with oc), yet it still was well liked! i kind of posted it as the start to the “things you said” drabble collection and was like here goes nothing, but people seemed to really enjoy it!! which was very surprising. and my butterfly, noor, called me the bob ross of fanfiction (that still cracks me up) so!  Most unintentionally telling story: hmmm...probably anything from tdol. i’ve been so fortunate to have such beautiful, healthy, intimate platonic relationships, but the one (two if we’re being generous, which we most def are if counting it) romantic relationship i’ve had was quite awful and extremely toxic. (ask me about it if you want to: i like to rant about it from time to time) so tdol is a creation of wishful thinking, of what i think a healthy relationship should look like, through the ups and downs, the highs and lows. because i don’t have experience with healthy romantic relationships, i def put a lot of my friendships and bits and pieces from those into tdol. and it’s not published yet, but there’s an unwritten piece from tdol where oc talks about how she doesn’t believe in love but jk very much is a hopeless romantic, and that’s me writing me into a fic so. 

HIGHLIGHTS + WRAP-UP: Favorite opening lines:

(god, i suck at opening lines)

tdol “perfect” + coming back home to you would always be one of the highlights of my day. whenever the sun shined for a little too long, a storm would hit, but this--coming home to and closing the day with you--was one of the few things in life that was completely and utterly mine to have, out of the reaches of whatever was out there that made sure the road was never too smooth. [note: this isn’t THE opening line but we’ll ignore that]

9,719km + paris is much quieter than the places you’re used to, but it’s not a bad thing.

Favorite closing lines: (i struggle so much with these) i’ll be your ocean (your little mermaid) + the enfilade of rain continues and pelts against the windowpane, against your balcony floor. 

monsters under the bed + but when he opens his eyes again, to the blaring 1:01AM of his clock, you’re no longer by his side. 

9,719km + p.s. did you miss me? + maybe he’s just as potent as a habit, just as hard to kill. 

Favorite lines in general: i’ll be your ocean (your little mermaid) + you let the words fall from your lips, dribble down your skin like water droplets, and dissipate in the ocean of your feelings. watch them dissolve into the seafoam of your being and sink down, down, down. + it feels a little like that now as you card your fingers through his sweaty locks, dyed red like ariel’s, bright red against the blue of both your feelings. 

love is a losing game (we played anyways) + he looks at you like you hold the secrets of the universe, even as he tears through the valley of your breasts with the claws of his ambitions and devotion. + (the summary line: he builds cathedrals in your name, whispers prayers into your skin, and you shatter the stained glass windows of his dreams.) 

9,719km + nothing has been able to keep him out: not the gallery treasury in newport beach with its earthquake proof alarm system, not the cartier vault in new york city with its impressive randomized laser grid, and certainly not the flimsy, fickle alarm system of your heartbeat. 

LIST OF COMPLETED STORIES: [note: does tdol count? i’ll put it here anyways. also i suck at titles] the dictionary of lovers: heart the dictionary of lovers: confirmation the dictionary of lovers: perfect love is a losing game (we played anyways) monsters under the bed pens and paperwork i’ll be your ocean (your little mermaid) nine thousand, seven hundred nineteen kilometers you feel like a holiday

WIP TEASERS: welcome to wonderland (we’re all mad here) (aliceinwonderland!au) summary: queen of hearts!jk x alice!reader

excerpt: be careful in the woods, they whisper. so many girls have gotten lost and made it out with just their bodies intact, bones rattling hollow and mind astray. the girls mumble about tea parties with madness, about croquet games with the heads of the executed, before they are wheeled off to hospitals, still talking to the wall. 

be careful in the woods, they warn. it preys on your fear and feeds on your sanity, if you linger too long. 

i know you (i’ve walked with you once upon a dream) (dreamwalkers!au) summary: oc works for the department of dreams: bureau of night terrors as a dreamwalker. jungkook has chronic nightmares.

excerpt: They tell lucid dreamers to look down at their hands, notice the garbled image to recognize they’re in a dream. Your brain backtracks to what it last remembers. A click of the seatbelt, Jimin’s soft “sleep tight,” the cool air inside the tank. Darkness. You grip the wand a little tighter. 

Dreamscapes are weird, you think as you conjure up an ironwood table and a cup of earl grey. The fabric of reality is so thin, so permeable and malleable with the right amount of knowledge. If you think really hard, slip a hand through that curtain, you can still feel the cold air lingering on your skin from the tank. You look down at your watch. 8:44. Eight hours and fourty four minutes left to wander through other people’s nightmares. 

if the world was ending (you’d come over, right?) (au where the world slowly comes to a halt and you find yourself calling your ex. inspired by “if the world was ending” by jp saxe and julia michaels) summary: ex!tae x female!reader

excerpt: The world starts to freeze over when you’re on the bus ride home. 

Pedestrians pause in the middle of the sidewalk; cars decelerate in the middle of accelerations. The chatter in the bus groans to a stop, like a radio after the plug has been pulled, as everyone slowly freezes. Your hair, which once fluttered in the breeze, gently falls back into place. 

The traffic light is red. 

You pull your earbuds out. It’s quiet. Too quiet. 

“Hello?” you whisper, shaking the arm of your neighbor. No response. The silence is loud, almost deafening.

“Hello?” you walk down the aisle to where your driver sits. His face is still. Annoyance clouds his eyes, chest puffed like he was about to take a deep breath. One he’ll never take again. 

You shuffle your feet back and trip on the stairs, back slamming against plexi glass and metal.

The light never turns green. 

untitled (mermaid!au)

excerpt: Jungkook loves the sea, but he thinks he might like you a little bit more. You, with the sea breeze in your hair and summer storm in your eyes. There’s something about the way you sparkle like the ocean top, sun skimming across skin, that makes him think you might be more than human, a trick of light, an optical illusion.

untitled (desert princess x pirate!jk au) summary:  i love you the way ocean clings to shore, the way the horizon wants the sea, but, darling, we were never meant to be

excerpt: you’re pretty sure the ocean is enchanted, bright blue waters glimmering with magic. nothing else could explain how jeon jungkook, notorious pirate and thief, owns eyes that twinkle like the night sky and a face that puts the sunset to shame, unless he managed to somehow steal those too. you wouldn’t put it past him. + they name hurricanes after girls, he tells you. a prayer for gentleness, a hope for small casualties. huh, you reply, whoever came up with that idea must never have been caught in the storm of a girl. 

IN CONCLUSION: 

wow, could i be any more conspicuous about which drabble i like the most? why do i use so many parenthesis? also, i suck at titles and opening and closing lines. but hey, i’m trying, and sometimes that’s all i can ask from myself. i wrote a lot less than i thought but also more than i thought, so cheers to that. maybe next year will be better, maybe it’ll be worse. who knows? hopefully it’ll read easier though.  p.s. if you’ve read this and if you’ve read anything i’ve written, thank you for reading. thank you for sticking through the calamity of my thoughts, through the hurricane of my mind. you have no idea how much it means. i hope i’m able to make your day a little better, a little brighter, a little light in this time of darkness.  p.p.s. i’ve made a few friends on tumblr. i won’t tag them because i don’t want to put them through this awful clusterfuck of words, but if any of you read this, hi. you’ve really shaped my tumblr experience and i’m so glad to have met you all.  noor (papillionsgf): my butterfly, i adore you. you were my first tumblr friend and you’ve been nothing but sweet to me. thank you for talking to me and thank you for our lovely conversations, for letting me squeal about tfua, for  i absolutely adore you.  hana (cutechims): the two of us are awkward potatoes, and i still need to rewatch batman begins, but thank you for always being so sweet, so kind. i love talking with you and reading everything you write. you make me smile when i see you on my dash, with every response you send. jlin (bratkook): i slid into your tumblr dms because you’re so talented and so awfully pretty. i absolutely enjoy our conversations about rich folxs and karens, and i really hope the pandemic comes to an end because i would love to meet you in person and teach you aerial! (also i will bake you lots of cookies) erin (yeojaa): hi lovely. i adore you to the moon and back and to be honest, you still intimidate me because i love your writing so much, but i wanted to say how much i adore you and how i love talking to you. i hope you’re taking care of yourself and staying warm and i hope to get to know you better in 2021!

notes: adapted from lj, where i started writing! i used to see this a bit on lj (or maybe it was the circle of writers i followed) but i figured i’d bring it over here because it’s a good reflection piece and tumblr feels like a good place for that. 

[mysticdragon3md3]

Reacting to last few episodes of Nippu Sentai Hurricanger.

4:07 PM 8/1/2020 Nippu Sentai Hurricanger ep49; last scenes.

Why is this tragic music playing during Shurikenger's battle scene?  

Oh no...I just remembered that Super Sentai Hurricanger is a "ninja story".  We know what's the most common trope in a story about ninja...  Ninja sacrificing themselves.  ;~~;   . . . 4:13 PM 8/1/2020 ep50

Wait.  Is Gozen dead too?  Why did she appear in that flash of remembering Shurikenger being dead?  Is that why Shurikenger sacrificed himself?  Gozen was already dead?  

I think I remember these antagonist ninja girls from Gokaiger.  Ever since I started catching Hurricanger on Tokushoutsu, I've been wondering how these 2 kunoichi end up either surviving or defecting away from the villains' side.  

And of course the villain in a ninja story is the one who betrays their master.  Sandaaru.

Wait.  Why did Ikkou and Isshu's mecha blow up?  Did they do that cliche where you stab through yourself to get the enemy?  Haven't seen that since Jin.  I guess we gotta have more ninja sacrificing themselves before the series ends.  ~.~;  I want to go on about how "cliche" it is, but only to blunt the blow of the tragedy.  Because honestly, these tropes really do hit me in the feels!  ;o;!!!  

Oboro and the Headmaster god killed to?!????  Jeeze, how much tragedy does this story need?!?  ;O;!!!  ...Oh, yeah, I forgot:  This is a "ninja story".  Tragedy and everyone dying is kind of the prerogative.  

Wait.  Why aren't they getting into their mecha to fight?  Oh yeah.  First gotta have the unmasked character introduction kata/mie pose sequence at the start of the series' last battle.  I loved that in Gokaiger!  (I'm going to refer to Gokaiger a lot.  It's the only Super Sentai series I've finished.  I barely started with Shinkenger before my source for episodes dried up.)   . . . 4:30 PM 8/1/2020 ep51 "Final Scroll: Wind, Water, Earth".  

Oh, yeah.  Even though the lead Sentai is red like fire, there is no Fire in the Asian fundamental elements set---noWaitaminute!  Yes thre is!  Wind is the one that's missing!  If anything, Wind is considered Ki.  If Fire is there then why isn't the red Sentai representative of Fire?  Is this a ninja thing?  Ninja and the wind?  Probably.  lol  

Tau Zant is back?!  O.o?!  Well, I guess building him up as the final boss, all season, and not giving him the final battle would've been disappointing.

Oh, wait.  He's a conglomeration of all the villain's evil wills?  I thought that trope was only for yokai stories...  But I guess ninja stories do use a lot of magic and blur the line with the yokai genre.  

I like that they won the mecha battle by pretending to be beaten.  They used both the tropes of "an enemy is the most dangerous when about to be killed with a final blow" and "a ninja's primary weapon is deception", to get to Tau Zant's forehead weak spot.  And I also like the trope of "the villain makes an obvious fatal flaw" during battle tactics, rather than just the plot.  I know all these tropes are cliche in Japan, but I re~ally like them~!  ;u;!  It's so weird that at the hint of a cliche trope from American/Hollywood media, I get kind of bored, but I love all these Japanese pop culture tropes from anime, manga, and tokusatsu.  ^.^;  But I guess some things just speak to you, and some things don't.  lol  

The villains have a combined attack "canon" now?  lol  "Falling back from the exploooooooooooooosions!"  LOL    

WAit.  Ikkou and Isshu are still alive?  Well, it is nice to soften the blow of death for a kid's show.  ^.^  And more importantly, they get to fight in the final final battle.  If a series finale battle lacked in fanservice, like the fanserive of seeing all the main characters fighting together, then I'd be disappointed.  

Now that they're doing their poses with minimal costuming, I can see more clearing that they're doing actual kabuki mie poses.  ^o^  I love it!  ^o^  

Of course, Oboro and her dad turn out to still be alive.  LOL  I'm sorry, but I feel RELIEVED!  ;u;!!!!!!  All those tragic deaths, from the previous episodes, all at once, was too much.  ;o;!  I mean, it was really effective for The Feels at the time, but damnit, I watch fun kid shows to get away from my anxiety/depression!  Later, some jerk always comes out of the fandom woodwork to complain about "undoing character deaths is cheap" or "it cheapens the story".  Blahblahblah.  I'm sorry, but if you can't retain the lessons/emotions/revealations you learned when you *thought* tragedy happened, unless the tragedy stays, then I've got to question your ability to learn from events and not take stuff for granted!  All these crybaby fanboys complaining about the effects of a death not staying unless the death stays...I don't think they even got the important effects of a death.  I don't think they really learned what's important.  When a character dies, it's supposed to bring to mind all regrets left unresolved.  And then, more importantly, the surviving character(s) is supposed to resolve to change themselves to not make those same mistakes.  Not the mistake that specifically got the other character killed in their death scene, but the mistakes of all those everyday things that were left unresolved, out of an assumption that there would always be more time with that killed character.  I personally think that striving everyday to guard against making those same mistakes is a whole other, brand new battle, that needs to be taken on everyday.  To me, that's a whole new world of tension and drama that doesn't get erased when the "killed" character returns from the dead.  When the "killed" character gets resurrected, that's the START of a brand new battle, a battle that the surviving character has already proven to have LOST BEFORE.  That's why it became a regret---Though a regret unnoticed until the "killed" character died.  The "killed" character's resurrection inherently has drama because the surviving character might fail again, might prove that they either learned nothing or more tragically, are unable to overcome their everyday flaws, to avoid repeating that same regret.  That's a whole lot more tragic to me than a character staying dead.  (When [spoiler] returned from the dead at the end of Kamen Rider W, I ranted so much against those fanboys complaining that his resurrection "ruined" everything.  Urrrrgh!!!  https://mysticdragon3md3.tumblr.com/post/111356254057/spoilertastic-rant-warning-for-kamen-rider-w)  

But yeah, Gozen and Shurikenger remaining dead works.  I didn't watch many episodes of this season, but there was a lot less connection between the audience and those 2, compared to with the other Hurricanger.  

Is that a persimmon?  He better be eating a persimmon!  ^O^  Can't have a ninja story without eating persimmon!  LOL  

Wait.  Did PlutoTV just cut off the last scene of the last episode?!?!?!  Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

Oh, good.  Tokushoutsu came back.  I wonder what all that back to back loading was all about?  

I just realized "Ikkou" and "Isshu"...  Doesn't that mean "Let's go together"?  ;U;!  

Aaaaahhhh!  Another trope I love!  Catch something from the master to complete your training!  ^o^  

Are they seriously intercutting between this graduation fight and their future careers?  lol  I guess it makes more sense

Big Shurikenger cameo at the end.  lol  Nice to get all the actors together.  I did like that joke about never really know what Shurikenger's real face was.  

Ah~  I didn't watch the full season, but Super Sentai finale episodes are always satisfying.  ;u;   . . . 5:02 PM 8/1/2020 I guess PlutoTV/Tokushoutsu is starting again with episode 1.  

It was a persimmon in the final episode!  ^o^

Wait.  So the only reason this trio became Hurricanger was because they were the slackers playing hookie while everyone else was attacked?!  LOL  I love that trope.  lol  

But wait...  So did all the other students DIE??????????????  ;O;!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Aaaaaaaaaaaaaugh!  O~O!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

Omg.  They just rushed into battle, all at the same time, with no cover, and all obvious moves...  They really are idiots.  lol  I love them.  ;u;  Well, I love knowing how much they're going to grow from this low level. . . . 5:28 PM 8/1/2020 So I went on YouTube to try to find Power Rangers Ninja Storm episode 1, just to compare how they handled their character introductions.  And OMG.  I'm sorry, I hate them.  ~_____~;;;;;;;;;;;;  Everyone is snarky, disrespectful in ways that imply a lack of common compassion, and they're too much dialogue like "dude, I don't get this because I'm totally stupid".  Uuuuuuuuuggh~  ~o~;;;;;;;;;;;;;;  See, this is what I mean by how astonished I am that get sick of American fiction tropes so easily, but inexplicably just eat up those J-pop culture tropes.  ~_~;   . . . 5:31 PM 8/1/2020 Hurricanger ep2

Oh, these are the jobs that tied into the final episode's montage.  I like the lesson about not forgetting the "important Fight in your heart" even while you're doing everyday mundane life.  

Sorry, I'm not paying attention, but I've got stuff to do.  ^^;  Well, looks like Tokushoutsu is ending their Hurricanger marathon block, so I'm going to switch to some studying concentration ASMR.  

Wait.  Gotta listen to Kamen Rider Ichigo's opening theme!  ^O^!!!  "Rider jump!  Rider kick!  Kamen Rider, Kamen Rider!  Rider!  Rider!"  ^U^!!!  

[kirbopher]

I went to see the "Mewtwo Strikes Back: Evolution" premiere at Anime-Expo!

Hey, everyone! I just returned from Anime-Expo where I was lucky enough to've seen the world premiere of the 22nd Pokemon film, Mewtwo Strikes Back: Evolution. Wanted to share some of my experiences on it!

I'll start with some information about the event, before going into details on the movie itself. First of all, this was (as far as I understand) the very first time any Japanese-language with English-subtitled Pokemon animation has been officially (and legally) released in North America (and possibly outside of Japan in general?) so I wanted to make sure I attended this pretty momentous occasion. The event itself was handled very well by the staff and there was a great bilingual host who oversaw the whole thing and really hyped up the audience. After the film screening was finished, the three related guests of honor, Kunihiko Yuyama (co-animation director), Motonori Sakakibara, (co-animation director) and Rica Matsumoto (Japanese voice actress of Satoshi/Ash) were brought to the stage to answer a few prepared questions and audience questions. Afterward, Rica Matsumoto performed "Mezase Pokemon Master" live for the audience, which was an absolute treat. Finally, after the reveal of Armored Mewtwo's upcoming appearance in Pokemon Go, we took a "family photo" with a mascot Pikachu making an appearance! The whole thing was a total blast.

Some key points involving the Q&A session:

Rica Matsumoto was in particular very excited to visit LA, especially because she had worked on the Japanese dub for Beverly Hills 90210 and got to visit the real location after wanting to for so long! In addition, she was so taken aback by the audience's enthusiasm for "Satoshi", knowing how they were far more familiar with "Ash", but felt a strong connection to them through the character and Pokemon in general. The two animation co-directors Mr. Sakakibara and Mr. Yuyama shared similar comments, being blown away by the audience's emotional reaction. The screening also gave them major nostalgic flashbacks to first working on the original over 20 years ago. They were also so grateful.

I was fortunate enough to be chosen to ask the first of the three audience questions. First, I thanked them for giving us the opportunity to see this film in its original language with subtitles, as this was a tremendous honor to begin with. After mentioning that the American fandom was very appreciative for the English dubbed version of the TV series and movies, I asked if they would be able to give us any other future opportunities to see ANY other Japanese-language Pokemon animation down the line. Mr. Yuyama said they have plans, with Rica Matsumoto following with "Count on it!!" Nothing further than that, but definitely a good sign!

The next question from the audience asked about a trailer featuring footage involving what appeared to be an older version of Misty, why it was cut and what its involvement was to the movie's early stages of development. Mr. Yuyama simply responded with (paraphrasing, here) "While that was meant to show the image of an adult, the character in question was not actually an older version of Misty. The haircut is very similar though, I can see why you would make that mistake!". Rica Matsumoto adds (again, paraphrasing) "It just goes show that there's so many pretty girls in Pokemon, it's easy to mistake them for each other sometimes!" (Personal note: obviously this is sort of 'dodging the actual question', but it's likely they either weren't allowed to go into detail as to what that early trailer was all about, or possibly forgot about the details since it had been so long ago.)

The final audience question asked about what led to the decision to re-do the original film with CG animation. Mr. Sakakibara mentioned that they had wanted to do a CG Animated Pokemon film for a long time, but thanks to the collaboration with the 3D animation studio they worked with (I've forgotten the studio's name unfortunately, sorry!) they were able to finally make it happen. They chose Mewtwo Strikes Back as the experiment piece in order to try pushing the original character animation even further with the expressiveness and emotion.

I'm sure fans of her know this already, but Rica Matsumoto is an absolute ROCK STAR on stage. She loved teasing the audience and getting them amped up, commanding us to get louder and louder! "When I say 'Pokemon', you say 'Getto da ze!'" was a real highlight. To her, "Mezase Pokemon Master" is THE defining Pokemon song.

Next, I'll talk about the film itself. To those of you who don't want to be potentially spoiled on some of the differences between this and the original movie, skip this part!

The subtitle track for the film used all of the official English names of all characters, including the humans, Pokemon creatures, attack names, locations and even the nicknames of the guest characters' starters ("Bruteroot" and "Shellshocker"). For the most part, the translation was very close to the original Japanese dialogue, but there were definitely a few liberties taken at times. Team Rocket's motto was changed to reflect the English adaptation ("Prepare for trouble and make it double" etc.) along with referring to Ash/Satoshi as "Twerp" (instead of "JARI-BOY!"). There was also a very obvious 'joke' on the translator's part involving a new scene where Brock/Takeshi hits on Neesha/Sweet, proclaiming something about his "jelly donuts" (ending in the ol' Misty-dragging-him-away-by-the-ear gag). As this scene had completely new dialogue, I wouldn't be able to cross-check whatever the 100% accurate translation would be off-hand. A couple other liberties taken (in a way), were that certain lines throughout the movie were word-for-word 'translated' as lines from the original English dub of Pokemon: The First Movie. Thankfully these were rare, but one that definitely sticks out was the "I see now that the circumstances of one's birth are irrelevant. It is what you DO with the gift of life, that determines who you are." at the film's climax. Lastly, Mewtwo's words asking "Was I created by God?" and the scientists' response, were adapted in the subtitles as "Was I created by nature?". (Personal note: Likely this was to avoid flat-out religious references.)

The film begins with Dr. Fuji and his crew retrieving the Mew fossil from the ancient ruins. The "Birth of Mewtwo" sequence involving Amber/Ai is NOT included in this version of the story; the following scene leads directly into Mewtwo's awakening in the tube, to which the movie plays out as you remember it.

Dr. Fuji's laboratory is tremendously redesigned, but the same events transpire.

Mewtwo's armor is, as you've noticed, also fully re-designed. We see many re-directed (in terms of cinematography) scenes from the sequence of his servitude to Giovanni/Sakaki, including Gary/Shigeru's from-behind cameo. The main element of difference in the armor's usage is, just before blowing up the Team Rocket base upon defying Giovanni, it transforms into a binding 'prison' sort of state, to keep Mewtwo confined if he ever fought back...of course, he breaks it easily and flies off, just as before.

The first sequence where we see Ash, Misty/Kasumi and Brock starts a little earlier than in the original, showing Ash more excited and offering to help set up the table for lunch. It then cuts to slightly later where he's tired and slumped over the table. The Pirate Trainer "Raymond" appears again (still with all his glorious Engrish), now with a slight redesign involving bigger hair and the theme song battle sequence plays out. Worth noting, during the 3-on-1 against Pikachu, his Golem is replaced with a Drowzee. (Personal note: Likely to circumvent the "Thunderbolt should be ineffective against a Ground-type" argument.) We also see glimpses of Mewtwo and the mind-controlled Nurse Joy viewing the battle. Just before Dragonite shows up to deliver the invitation, we also see a bit of the gang's other Pokemon used in the movie: Vulpix, Psyduck, Squirtle, Bulbasaur and Charizard, eating Pokemon food.

LOTS more trainers in the dock scene. The pier master Miranda/Voyager actually speaks of Wingulls showing signs of how bad the storm is, warning everyone again. We see a few more trainers attempt to travel to New Island, including one who tries Surfing on their Kingler and another who is carried by their Scyther...neither of them make it, along with whoever tried flying with their Fearow like in the original. RIP.

The Vikings-the-mostly-live-in-Minnesota are replaced with an equally-funny costume theme of the Team Rocket trio as some tourist-trap sailors utilizing a Lapras-shaped ferry service. Brock comments on how conveniently they showed up and they all get on. We then get a very Disneyland 3D Attraction-style sequence of the two trios riding through the storm before it crashes and Misty sends out Staryu to try and save the day. Another extended sequence of Ash, Misty and Brock clinging for dear life to Staryu plays out, including a really gorgeous orchestral arrangement of...the Sun & Moon Wild Pokemon Battle theme, of all things!

Ash and the others meet the other guest trainers. This is where the short added scene of Brock hitting on Neesha is added.

In general, while the grand majority of the things that happen in each scene are the same as they are in the original, a lot of the animation is expanded upon and really pushed in terms of expressiveness. Often this makes them longer than how they were before, but it's definitely paced out properly to fit with the adjustments they made.

The battle arena sequence plays out and all 3 of the battles between Venusaur, Blastoise and Charizard Vs. their super-clones are extended with new fight choreography and additional attack exchanges, including with later-added techniques like Energy Ball and Leaf Storm. This scene also features a completely new background music track from the one used in the original film (later used quite a bit in the anime).

The sequence of Mewtwo capturing all of the humans' Pokemon plays out, also with new background music as opposed to the original. A few new shots of the trainers trying to guard their Pokemon from being captured are added.

After the super-clones emerge, Mew appears to save Ash from being splattered against a wall, the Pokemon and their clones brutally beat each other, now with new sweeping camera angles and new music instead of the original.

When Ash rejoins Misty and Brock after climbing down from the castle, a few bits of dialogue are slightly played around with, but leads to the same untimely demise. Some new DBZ-esque glow effects are applied to when Ash is struck by the two psychic blasts and his turned-to-stone state is a bit more like crystal. Pikachu trying to Thundershock Ash back to life lingers a bit more, to show the desperation in Pikachu's attempt. When the other Pokemon begin shedding their tears, their actual sounds aren't heard and the scene is silent minus the background music.

The memory erasure happens yet again, sending everyone back to the docks. From just after Ash sees Mew flying in the sky, commenting on it, up through Team Rocket's sign-off on the now-abandoned New Island, the orchestral arrangement of the Pokemon Red & Blue Credits theme plays. For the movie credits, we're treated to a new remix of "Kaze to Isshi Ni" (featuring Shokotan) along with some 2D paintings of Ash, Misty and Brock traveling. One shows a flock of Wingull near the dock area! At the end, we see Mewtwo and the clones flying off to what appears to be Mount Quena from the "Mewtwo Returns" TV special.

Finally, as is always the case, a very short teaser of the "Pokemon 2020" film, showing a 2D-animated Pikachu in the style of the Sun & Moon series.

There might have been some things I missed, but that's everything I could recount! If you have any other questions, I'll try and answer them as best as I can. To anyone else who was there for the screening, feel free to add anything else you like! Overall, highly recommend folks who enjoyed the original Mewtwo Strikes Back movie to go see this when the English version comes out!

[madameinsomnia]

Why Jordan Peele is One of the Most Important Directors of our Generation

Intro:

Before the horror-comedy sensation Get Out was released in 2017, I’d never heard the name Jordan Peele before. Now, after seeing his most recent success, Us, I can’t see myself not perking up at reading his name in the credits.

Peele didn’t just appear magically out of thin air as a gift from the filmmaking gods, even though it seems like so. His career actually kickstarted in 2003 when he joined the cast of Mad TV in its ninth season. I’m not here to give you an entire biography of Jordan Peele’s life, but this does give some insight to just how long he’s been working in the industry. 

Get Out was Peele’s first job as a solo director, but with the amount of professionalism and mastery put into it, you’d never know it was his debut. Might I also add he was the sole writer as well?

Thrilling, with a premise as outlandish as The Stepford Wives, but with so many silly and satirical moments, Get Out feels very much like real life because of this perfect mix. As a screenwriter (wannabe), I must gush a bit about how well his characters are written and how natural their behavior feels given the situation. The protagonist of Get Out, Chris (played wonderfully by Daniel Kaluuya) feels like someone you could meet at a bus stop or in line at the coffee shop, point being he’s an everyman. Not every lead character has to overtly stand out to be noticable; we just have to be able to fit in their shoes.

But what really made Get Out work is how Peele wrote it as a horror movie, without the need of all those cliche horror tropes that our generation is so accustomed to. About to go off topic for a bit, but I assure you, it’ll all make sense as to why I made this article about Jordan Peele.

What is Horror and What WAS Horror?

Horror is, perhaps, one of the most enigmatic genres there is because what can be defined as scary or unsettling is entirely subjective. There are very few things that people are universally afraid of. Things that only seem more common today but really have always been around... what makes today different from then is that everyone talks about it.

Imagine it’s the 1960s, you live in a cookie-cutter neighborhood where everyone knows everyone. Everywhere you look is a friendly face. Then suddenly, down the road, there is a break-in. The parents left the baby with a sitter and she was brutally attacked. Well, the only way you’re bound to know is through the newspaper or word-of-mouth, but after a while, is anyone going to talk about it or want to? Not a chance. You’ll always hear: These things just don’t happen around here. Not in our town. When really, they do. They happen everywhere. Then of course this is how urban legends start. The Hook Killer on Lover’s Lane, the Boogeyman that creeps at night.

A documentary that goes more in depth on this idea is Joshua Zeman’s Killer Legends. He explains how the real-life stories that inspire these legends are far more scarier than the films they create... and that’s how it all started.

Let me explain: the ‘Horror’ genre was meant to showcase just what people didn’t want to talk about what was happening down the road or across town. There’s a man that lures people into his hotel to kill them? Our neighbor killed his wife in cold blood and is trying to hide it? My upstairs neighbors might be psycho Satan worshippers?! Nah. Let’s just ignore it and hope it goes away.

A lot of people think if we don’t talk about it, these issues will vanish. But Horror films reminded us that such terrors exist in the real world, and can only be stopped if we acknowledge that they’re there. That’s why such films like Psycho or Rosemary’s Baby were so revolutionary--the idea that the scariest things are not even supernatural (Peele understands this greatly, but I’m getting there).

Horror worked well as a unique genre for the creative minds of Alfred Hitchcock, Wes Craven, and Tobe Hooper. Then this happened:  

The Slasher Era:

HOLD UP. I’m NOT undermining the effect that these films have. Halloween is a classic, and there are plenty of other ‘semi-modern’ thrillers that work like this, but... 

They unintentionally got the ball rolling for marketing genius and filmmaking disaster. Halloween was far more effective in 1978, when it was released, than it probably would be had it been made today (No, we’re not talking about 2018′s Halloween. Now stop distracting me). With horror, timing is everything... as in, ‘what’s going on in the world’ timing. Babysitting late nights was far more common then than it was now, and teenagers didn’t have modern conveniences they do now should anything happen. Back then, they actually had to WATCH the children, ensure their safety as well as their own, not give them an iPad and watch TV for an hour or two.

On top of this, as much as we take it for granted, 911 wasn’t always around. Until 1968, US citizens had no way of getting in immediate contact with the police until they got the operator on the phone to connect you to them. So Halloween recreates that idea of what if the babysitter got into a terrible situation with no way of getting immediate help? But they also decided to make things a little edgier... better said, bloodier. Cue Friday the 13th.

Teenagers go to sleepaway camp all the time (No, we’re not talking about that movie either, so hush), so what would parents be like seeing this film about kids going to a sleepaway camp where there’s a murderer hanging around? A brilliant idea that sold tickets back in 1980 to young adults and grown-ups alike. That’s because these ideas were new and horrifyingly relevant and real. They’re reminded of the threats that are out there.

But here’s the catch that ruined everything: it sold tickets. Sure, it scared some people for a good while, but they didn’t always leave with the idea lingering in their heads. But the producers and writers don’t always care about the latter, once they realized how easily money can be made by movie-goers wanting a good scare and a ‘fun time,’ the Slasher genre skyrocketed, and the brilliance of horror got dumbed down... and down... and down over the years with few exceptions. Let’s not mention, marketing blew up with Slasher films. Did anyone ask for four Halloween sequels or seventeen more Jason films? Nope. Did it make money anyway? Yup. It’s all in the name, not in the art...

Come On In, Get Out!

(See what I did there?)

Repeating myself at the intro, for those who forgot that this is really about Jordan Peele, I’d never heard of him before I saw Get Out. Even then, I only really knew about the movie through everyone talking about its 100% Rotten Tomatoes score. I went into the movie blind, a little confused to what made it considered a ‘horror’ when it looked like perhaps a Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner? type film.

When I saw it for the first time, I was sinking back into my seat whenever I felt Chris’ (the lead’s) discomfort. Again, it’s because we all fit into his situation seamlessly, being somewhere you’re not sure you’re welcome (hence the clever title). The audience was cheering by the end, eager that our in-movie buddy had made it out safe (Spoilers, I guess, but c’mon. If you haven’t seen it yet, get out :D).

But what made Get Out stand out from other modern-day thriller films is that when I went back, I caught things I’d missed my first time through; small hints and cues that clue you into what’s really going on. Did they have to be there to make it more enjoyable, probably not... but Jordan Peele wrote them in anyway, combining it with his perfect set-ups and shots so that the more cerebral movie-goers can have those ‘ah-ha’ moments! It’s a horror film where, for once, you feel like a genius for getting those little hints and figuring out what’s going to happen next (We are all Rod, who pretty much kept a running commentary of the movie-watcher’s thoughts).

Again, all not required, but very necessary if your film is going to be effective. While Peele deservedly won Best Original Screenplay, I say he was next up for Best Director from the perfect pauses in dialogue, to the little awkward looks in the camera by the hypnotized victims.

Why was it so successful among audiences everywhere, of all nationalities and ages?

Intelligent Horror:

Jordan Peele himself stated that Get Out was from ‘an effort to master fear.’ Us, I think, is an extension of that idea. What made these two films so effective wasn’t that they were filled with scary moments now and then and called itself ‘horror.’

They were smart films.

Get Out has very real fears we as people have; being out of place, uncomfortably watched by people, being abducted and never heard from again which horrifyingly happens far too often here in the States.

Us offers similar real-life horrors. A home invasion, being separated from your kids (and in return, kids being separated from their parents, their source of protection since day one). There always seems to be something supernatural or paranormal at play here, but there’s nothing of such going on. In Peele’s writing, it’s all real-life. After all, is the real world not a scary place?

The only difference I noticed in Us is that Peele maintains his effective dialogue with subtle clues of what’s going on, while visually he kept some of his trademarks (the wide shot of a figure walking towards the camera, looking right into it with wide, terrified eyes) but with a lot less visual hints than Get Out (to me, at least, but I’ve only seen Us once and will definitely be watching again).

While Get Out’s message leaned more towards the race issues in the US (and the world by proxy), Us is more muddled in what the audience is meant to take from it... and that’s perfectly fine. Jordan Peele’s horror is that you might not necessarily leave the theater scared to turn your light off at night, but you’re up late thinking about it and what it all means. And those are the kinds of films that stay on Hollywood’s radar for generations to come and not just as Halloween-time fun. Heck, Get Out came out in February, 2017. Us came out in March, 2019. Normally we expect cheesy rom-coms this time of year; so when a movie claiming to be a thriller shows up on the ‘coming soon’ list, you bet people are going to raise their brows and see what’s going on.

Peele understands how to entice people, to make them feel comfortable with his characters and then worry for their safety, while at the same time being far too fascinated by what’s going to happen to even think about taking their eyes off the screen to check their phones while waiting for the next jump scare.

He knows how to bring out the actors’ most unsettling parts of themselves, actors we may be familiar with and are used to seeing them as friendly faces (Lupita Nyong’o managed to creep me out while being an amazing spectacle on camera)! Daniel Kaluuya became an Oscar Nominee from his performance as a man being held captive going into full survival mode.

Don’t we all worry about what we’d do if we were in the situations those people were in? Wouldn’t we hope to have the smarts or guts to fight our way out just as they did? That’s the idea of what horror really is meant to be. Not be that one idiot character that goes into the scary house that’s known to be haunted while your friends tell you no (or film you for snapchat, I dunno).

No, in Peele’s movie, you’re going somewhere that’s supposed to be safe, where something unexpected that you were unprepared for happens... and that’s scarier than any ghost story I’ve seen.

[kpop-stole-my-sanity]

Insomnia // Hwang Hyunjin [bulleted scenario!]

Summary: In which you and Hyunjin are both too oblivious to realize your true feelings... until it’s too late? 

Genre: angsty, floooof, gender neutral 

Word Count: 2175

Warnings: Just some cursing 

A/N: This is my first time writing a bulleted scenario and i quite enjoyed it :) idk it’s fun to not care about settings too much and punctuation and stuff. I also liked adding my own little dumb remarks here are there :PP it was fuN! This was another scenario that kinda arose while i was napping i hope you guys enjoy it! <3 i love stray kids 

i’m also gonna try to make all my scenarios gender neutral from now on (unless specifically requested) b/c we are all about inclusivity here !! :)

This was originally gonna be like a real fic

But the writers block was REAL like i really tried to set the scene and everything

But it didn’t turn out right

And i really wanted to get this one out so HERE WE ARE TRYING THE BULLETED SCENARIO OKAY YAY LETS BEGIN!

Trainee au!! Kinda :D

Like skz didnt go through the survival show yet

Ok so SEtting thE SCeNe~~~~

You just walked into the jyp building bc jyp hired you as a new producer

Like to study under him and potentially help w producing in the future

Like jyp 2.0 ya know

Jyp meets w you himself bc you’re like a prodigy

And a foreigner so he thought you’d be more comfortable w him speaking toyou in english :D

So he explained what you gotta do during your training period

Like studying more about composition and production

Learning korean to more easily communicate w idols and what not

And also honing your own style and figuring out who you are as an artist

So he pairs you up w the trainees bc it be good practice

More specifically skz bc they seem to have a more flexible style

Also like he thought it would be good for you to work w chan and the rest of 3racha

Like bc yall around the same age

And it helps you become more comfy

And familiar w the company and the producing rooms and recording studios and what no

Like

Yer

And then like

Through working w them to produce a song for the trainee showcase

Yall get mad close

And like

You have your eyes on hyunjin from the start

Like bc who couldn’t

Like

Gorgeous boy

At first you were just like “this is admiration”

“He very handsome i just admire his features”

Yeah

And maybe it was..

At first

Now it's a full blown crush

Like

For real

That boy is so hard working

Like you constantly see him asking for help

So he can improve

And like

People always said he was a visual only

Which made you feel bad that you saw that at first 

But you realized later

That like

You actually like him bc of his personality

What a hard worker 

For real

Angel

Anyways

Little did you know that your crush was NOT one sided

Hyunjin admired your hard work in producing

And how you always took criticism well and only worked to improve your work

Also

He thought you were hella cute

So yall were both kinda obvious

Him more than you

Like by a loT

So skz knew for a fact that hyunjin was head over heels in love w you so they pushed him to confess to you

Yeah he was like no

But after PEEr pRessUre

He finally agreed

They was gonna plan something like a party for you

To celebrate the time you’ve been w the company

But the showcase came before the celebration and suddenly they were on a survival show to see who would debut

So the party was postponed OOOODDDDD

But you didnt even know it was gonna happen so you didnt mind anyways

Soon enough it got closer to your birthday, and skz just decided to make it a birthday celebration instead

Hyunjin was more iffy about confessing bc what if you dont feel the same and he ruins your bday oh no

But at this point, skz was sure you liked him back so they were like dont worry about that they aren’t like that your relationship will be fine

So the party happens ladida

You were super surprised and sosososososo happy

Bc like

Your hart

These boys were precious and totally made your day

Tbh bc of your work

You almost forgot it was your birthday

After the crazy loud party, you wanted to like take some quiet time for yourself so you excused yourself

And then walked to the hallway and sat by the window and looked out at the city and the night sky

Beautiful

And suddenly you heard footsteps

It was this boy named jason who you were friends with

He was from the same town you were from so you got close p quickly when you first got to jyp

And jason had a not-so-secret crush on you

That ofc you were oblivious to

But he came over there to spend time w you and wish you happy bday

Little did you know

Hyunijn was mentally preparing himself to confess to you down the hall and around the corner w a pretty bouquet of flowers what a sweet boy

And when he finally works up the courage, he turns the corner and sees jason giving you a bday hug 

And he cant help but feel his hart drop

Yall look good together and like you were from the same town so similarities

So he was heartbroken needless to say

 He quickly turned around and walked away

But you heard the footsteps and saw just a glance of his outfit retreating

You excused yourself from jason’s company and ran after him bc you are so in love w this boy

You were gonna hug him and thank him, but when you approached he took a step back

Like ow

That hurt

He quickly stammered that he had to go home bc he was tired and left

He was hiding the flowers behind his back :’(

And then tossed them as soon as he left the building

He went for a long ass walk to clear his mind and soothe his aching heart

You were so worried

Was he okay?

You went home soon after bc you couldnt help but worry and that made you super tired

But you couldn't sleep

InsOMniA

Goddamn it hyunjin

You messaged him

“you’re prob sleeping but i hope you feel better”

Dry ass reply: “thx”

Like wow

Rude

But you let it go

jic he was actually really exhausted

You knew he took criticism from the show too so maybe it was that

Hopefully he’d talk to you about it bc he usually did

But he didn't

He avoided you

Your heart really couldnt take it

Meanwhile you and jason got closer bc you didnt have hyunjin to hang out w anymore

Despite your many efforts

And this just further fuels his belief that yall are together

So to ignore the tinge in his heart every time he saw you, he buried himself in practice

Didn't sleep

Didnt drink enough water

Didnt eat enough

He was getting dangerously skinny and unhealthy

And it affected his attitude

Not only to you but to his members

One day you were asked to come in and monitor a recording session

And he was happy and giggly in front of the camera

But as soon as it turned off u could see the fatigue

And you told him that he should take better care of himself

And he SNAPPEd at you

 You actually flinched bc he was so aggressive

Your heart SHATTEREd

And you, also sleep deprived as FUCk

Slapped him

Not super hard, but like a “what the fuck is wrong with you”

And you walked right out, not even bothering to hide your tears

And he was sad but he thought that you hating him would help him get over you

What a dumb boy

You completely avoided him after that

You also still had restless nights 

God that convo kept playing over and over in your head

YOU COULDNT SLEEP

But one day you got a call from chan

He needed your help

Hyunjin was seriously overworking himself and he was afraid hyunjin was gonna collapse

Luckily you were still at the company working on smth bc ofc you couldn't sleep anyways so might as well make use of your time

So you finally agree bc even if you’re still angry at him, you are srsly worried about this boy

And when you get to the dance room your heart breaks all over again

Hes so pale

And sickly looking

And hes shaking but hes still dancing

You knock and hear a gruff “its open”

The music pauses for a moment but when he sees its you he scoffs and turns it back on

“what do you want”

“Uhm.. are you okay?”

“Why? You wanna slap me again to make me feel better?”

Ofc you rolled your eyes bc wtf hyunjin you were being nice

“I dont even know why i bothered”

You go over to the stereo and turn it off yourself

And he turns to you angry

ARGUMENT TIME

Him: “WHAT THE FUCK IS YOUR PROBLEM?”

“MY PROBLEM?!!!?!?? YOU’RE THE ONE WHO PUSHED ME AWAY FOR NO DAMN REASON!! AND EVEN AFTER ALL THAT, I STILL TRIED TO BE NICE AND ASK IF YOU WERE OKAY. I WAITED FOR YOU TO OPEN UP TO ME. TO TALK TO ME ABOUT WHATEVER WAS BOTHERING YOU!”

At this point, you’re practically sobbing like udk if he can understand you but who cares

All this frustration that was pent up inside felt good being released

Bc at this point, you had nothing more to lose

Hyunjin already hated you so like why not just speak your mind amirite

 Anyways continuing w the dialogue:

“HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT MY PROBLEM WHEN MY PROBLEM IS YOU!”

Cue awkward pause/break thing (AWKwARD SiLEncE)

“What are you talking about hyunjin?”

He sighed defeatedly

It was now or never. He felt like his relationship w you was ruined already anyways

So he, like you, also had a ‘what do i have to lose’ mentality

“I was going to confess to you y/n. That night at your birthday party. But i was too late. I saw you with jason and you looked so happy and perfect together.  So i left. I cut my ties with you because i didn’t want my own feelings to get in the way of your happiness.”

You were completely utterly speechless

Like there were an overwhelming number of feelings enveloping you atm

Bc on the one hand:

The love of your life just confessed to you

But on the other

Like

What a dumbass

You end up laughing and scoffing at his words bc

Hes so dumb

You dont like jason

God you’ve been in love w hyunjin for so goddamn long

And now you’re debating over how to respond

But like your anger and frustration kinda takes precedence bc youre also sleep deprived and you go

“ so, you broke your own heart and then you broke mine because you didn’t want to talk to me about it you dumbass ????”

And he gives you that classic confused puppy-dog look

W the head tilt and everything

And you go

“Hwang hyunjin, i’m fucking in love with you”

And he just stares blankly at you and blinks like 8 times trying to comprehend what just came out of your mouth

And his lips form an ‘o’ shape

And then hes coming closer and wrapping his arms around you

And you dont even mind that hes still sweaty and kinda smelly

Bc hes finally in your arms

But holding him so close also makes you super aware of just how skinny he’s gotten

Like it was worse than you thought

So you pull back and you open your mouth to chastise him

But before you can even start he’s cupping your cheeks can pulling your face to his

Your lips collide and then they're molding into one another

And your mind kinda blanks out

But your automatic reaction seems to be letting your fingers run through his hair and pulling him closer towards you

And when yall finally come up for breath

He tries to go in for another one like immediately after

Like slow your roll boy you guys can kiss all you want later

If you said that out loud, he wouldve responded w something like “we gotta make up for lost time”

But you put your hands on his chest and hold him back

And he pouts

(you almost squeal at how cute he looks)

“Ok, now that we’re dating, i am literally commanding you to take better care of yourself because this,” you eye him up and down, “is unacceptable”

And he quirks an eyebrow up and is like

Oh? I don’t recall asking you out? On a date?”

And you get all blushing and become a blubbering mess and hide your face in his chest like

“Shut up hyunjin”

But he’s just giggling at your embarrassed face :D

Then, him being the dramatic hoe that he is, he gets down on one knee in front of you and says

“y/n, y/l/n, will you go out on a date with me?”

And ofc u say yes

And after that whole dramatic scene, you pull him out of the practice room, fingers intertwined, ready to stuff him with food

And he goes

“I dont think i said it back.”

“Said what back?”

“That i love you”

UWU

And the rest is history

[blancheharrington]

Thoughts on Jolex in 15x08

I’ve made my thoughts on Jolex in this episode pretty clear already, but I still need to box them up all together and shove them in one post for my own sanity. Consider this the box I’m hiding my Bubbe the Bunsen Burner in. So grab a big drink of water because things are about to get salty. (Don’t worry it’s not totally just one big shit post.)

- I shall start off this rant on a high note - with my favorite part of the episode: Alex Karev using tape to put his name over Bailey’s name plate. Very Karev. Very funny. And that’s about the best this episode had to offer for them. Let’s wrap it up, we can all go home now.

The First Scene: 

- A morning scene! How cute! How married of them! Jo playing with Alex’s hair in the morning! Alex nudging against her neck! My oh my this episode started off great. Alex realizing he was late and just about shoving Jo off of the bed in a hurry to get up was hilarious. My only note, and I’m just being picky out of frustration, is that nobody comfortably sleeps on a pillow mountain that high without snapping their necks in the middle of the night. 

The Second Scene:

- The loft hallways! Fun! Was the mailbox that was overflowing their mailbox?

- Camilla’s British accent is just flat out a third character in the hallway scene. 

- Justin Chamber’s beard grew about 20 inches during his chaotic rush to get ready. 

The Third Scene:

- My instant reaction to Jo looking for the bag of chips was oh my god she’s pregnant. That thought dimmed quickly.

- I will give them 10 points for finally showing us different angles of the loft. 

- I will take away 10 points for not showing me their bathroom.

- Five points for making Jo wear socks around the house instead of shoes like a normal person would. (And they’re Seattle Seahawks socks! That’s a fun detail!)

- A ‘second honeymoon’ was a good idea in theory. But I feel like there should have been something that was the catalyst to Jo having that idea. For instance, maybe she still feels bad about ruining their first honeymoon, plus the added stress of not seeing much of each other made her come up with that idea. But instead it was pulled out of thin air and the dialogue was a bit awkward. They also didn’t do anything special to make their day have the vibe of a second honeymoon. What differentiated this day as opposed to a random day off. I was expecting a bubble bath, or eating their freezer burned wedding cake topper because there was nothing else to eat in the house, Alex carrying Jo over their threshold because they forgot to do it the first time, etc. It was only romantic because of the candles, and those were because the power went out.

- Jolex has a gas stove! Uh oh... a potential foreshadowing of some kind of as explosion!?!? (Spoiler: It wasn’t.)

The Fourth Scene:

- Jo has a bunsen burner named Bubbe. Because she’s Jewish now, apparently??? And did you know she lived in her car? BECAUSE IF YOU MISSED IT THE FIRST HUNDRED TIMES SHE’S MENTIONED IT, HERE’S ONE MORE!

- Let me add on to that. I love that Jo used a bunsen burner to heat her food. But what I don’t appreciate is the consistent use of this part of her life as a form of comic relief. I hate it when I see this fact about Jo being used as a way to ridicule her or as a cause for jokes. But when they only ever use it as a punch line, I can’t see why people wouldn’t. If they’re going to continue to bring up her car, the least they could do is delve more into what it was like for her. The cold nights, the best foods that would keep while sitting in the hot sun while she was in school, awkwardly getting dressed while hoping no one was watching, being caught by Mrs. Schmidt early one morning, struggling to find bathrooms in the evening, how she paid for gas, etc. So much potential just thrown out the car window every time they use, “I lived in my car.” as a joke. 

- It would have been fun to see them actually using the bunsen burner to heat the mac n cheese. It would have shown us a little peak of them as the scrappy, do whatever you can to survive, kind of children they used to be. 

- Did you hear that? That was the sound of my huge sigh of disappointment I released when I found out that Jolex never sent in their marriage license. What in the hell was the point of that!? Please tell me this will have a point later on. I can’t deal with this “do we/do we not get married” storyline any longer. 

-

-

-

-

-

-

- Those are empty spaces for the missing Jolex scenes that I assume were cut because they just flat out weren’t in the third act of this episode lmao. (There wasn’t a Jolex scene for 15 minutes. I COUNTED.)

The Fifth Scene:

- Jo and Alex find out they’re not officially married...and then decide not to talk about it and instead open up their wedding presents. Yep, okay, sure. Makes so much sense. Lets not talk about that huge detail we just uncovered.

- Okay, we get it, Jo and Alex were underprivileged children who grew up without a lot and probably didn’t know about a lot of things growing up. But they also grew into smart, talented, surgeons. Jo went to Princeton and Harvard for God’s sake and we’re gonna pretend she doesn’t know what a creme brûlée dish looks like just so we can have a shoehorned mention of Izzie that served no purpose to furthering their non existent storyline?

- That’s what I hated the most about this episode. Nothing had a point. Sure, mention Izzie. Go for it. BUT AT LEAST HAVE IT MAKE A POINT. He could have been sorry about not mailing in the marriage license and mentioned that he didn’t do it for his last marriage, that Izzie must have done it. Or have Jo feel insecure about how Alex talks about Izzie baking all of the time and she feels guilty that she only knows how to make Mac n’ Cheese a la bunsen burner. Make it mean something. Otherwise it just seems like Alex was thinking about Izzie on his “honeymoon” with Jo.

- I’m gonna be a bitch right here and throw out the continuity error card. Alex suggests that they return their wedding gifts, (and let’s ignore the fact that it’s been MONTHS since they received them) and buy a bigger TV. This would be classic Alex, IF, we hadn’t already seen the huge TV they used to have vs. the smaller tv they clearly replaced it with for this episode. 

- Jo’s “I love you” was weird. I think it was supposed to be more joke-ey and cutesy over the fact that Alex wants to return all of the cheesy stuff to buy a bigger TV. It was supposed to be a, You’re so dumb but what a great idea! “I love you” instead of a sincere one. The sincere I love you, although nice to have them say once in a while, seemed out of place in that moment. It was reminiscent of the I love you in 14x07 which was said after Jo had just made a major decision. This one made me feel like I had missed an entire conversation that lead to that moment. 

The Sixth Scene:

- The second best part of the episode for Jolex was that Jo was wearing Alex’s sweatshirt in the end. Because apparently they had the sex. I think?

- And now, for the worst, most confusing, uncharacteristic part of the episode... Mr. Alex ProposesThreeTimesAndGotVisibilyAngryWhenJoSaidNo Karev, DOESN’T CARE ABOUT THEIR MARRIAGE BEING LEGAL??? I do not buy that at all. I did not go through four seasons of torture for you guys to just “Feel married.” Nope. No thank you, I don’t accept that. That was such a bullshit, random, plot device, that served absolutely no purpose what.so.ever. It really pushed me over the edge. I will only accept this ‘storyline’ if it serves a larger purpose later. Like, let’s say, Alex gets hurt at work and Jo’s not legally Alex’s next of kin so they have to call his family and they come to Seattle. But, you’d think if they were going to do that they would have introduced the “we’re not actually married” storyline a couple of episodes ago and have Alex get hurt in the big storm and then we would have had angst and a cliffhanger. Instead, we got this. 

- I’d agree that Jo and alex forgetting to turn in their marriage license is very Jo and Alex. What I won’t agree with is Alex Karev being so nonchalant about it and somewhat suggesting that they just not turn it in? Because ‘he feels’ married? Why couldn’t he just “feel married” when Jo said she couldn’t marry him? He wasn’t okay with “feeling married” when he yelled at Jo about wanting what Amelia and Owen had. So that’s the tea on that.

A Foot Note:

- If they were going to recuse Alex of his chief duties for this episode so Bailey could have some kind of breakthrough about how she loves being the boss, than the least they could have done was to give Alex a decent plot about a.n.y.t.h.i.n.g. Don’t let Alex Karev be the boss who gets all the grunt work while Bailey gets to have all of the glory. 

[hoyoungy]

001. Sanctioned | Jun

genre: comedy, mentions of sex, college/roommates au, friends with benefits au | jun x fem!reader summary: dating does not come easy to apartment 417. sex is even worse. well, maybe it was just you. it seems like everyone you know is able to get laid, get a date - hell, even a hug! you look sad and desperate as you wallow in your dry spell, so when your roommates soonyoung, mingyu, and minghao try to be your wingmen on a saturday night, you end up signing a no-strings-attached contract with a very familiar, but very much willing face word count: 2839 a/n: .... i know i literally just said i didn’t want to post this soon...... yet here i am..... im sorry..... warnings include swearing, alcohol, mentions of sex, dialogue-heavy, and platonic relationships

part 002

“I think I’m gonna be celibate,” you said as you plopped down on the couch next to Soonyoung. You just wasted the past couple of days talking to this guy on Tinder and you just found out he was about to graduate… high school. You would think college would be the prime time for you to find a hookup through a free dating app, but boy, were you wrong. Probably because people your age were being competent adults who didn’t need an app to talk to someone.

“You said that last week,” Soonyoung said, not looking up from his textbook on the coffee table. He knew this routine all too well.

“But I mean it this time.”

“Didn’t you also say that last week?”

“I’m sure I did.”

“Did something happen to that Felix guy on Tinder?”

“He was so young it felt illegal,” you groaned.

“Like, Chan young?”

“Younger.”

“Jesus Christ, you cradle-robber.”

“Shut up, I know, ok! It’s not my fault, he totally lied about his age!”

“I don’t know, _____, you’re not getting any younger. Who knows, maybe young guys could be your new thing? It seems to be working. I know a few people! For example, Mingyu -”

“Soonyoung, I will not begin my cradle-robbing career with Mingyu, of all people.”

“Did someone say cradle-robbing and my name in the same sentence? Is there an older woman in need?” you both heard Mingyu say as he walked through the front door. He tossed his backpack near the collection of shoes in the corner before grabbing a snack in the kitchen like he always did when he came home.

“Ugh, I can just feel my panties drying up every time you speak.”

“Words can hurt, you know.”

“Are we making fun of Mingyu again?” Minghao said as he left his room to join you all.

“I literally just got home, can’t I have a snack first?” he pouted.

“Guys, it’s 4:00 PM, which means it’s my hour to complain! If we aren’t going to follow the schedule, then this is anarchy.” You referred to the poorly-drawn clock on the dry erase board that hung in the kitchen. Every hour that struck 11 or 4, AM or PM, was your time to complain about anything and everything, and the rest of the time was divided amongst the rest of the roommates. Your complaining got so out of hand that the boys decided to punish you by giving you set hours in a day and you were sure to use up every damn second.

“Sorry, Mingyu just makes it so easy,” Minghao snorted. “So what’s up?”

“What’s up is that I haven’t had sex in six months.”

“I am eating, you penis-repellant,” Mingyu scolded with cheeks full of food.

“My God, six months? I thought six days was bad… What happened with that Sungjin guy you brought home a couple of months ago?” Soonyoung asked.

“He ended up, um… Crying…”

“About what!?”

“Bro, I don’t even know, I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Yikes, ok. How about Sehun from Accounting?”

“Passed out when we got home.”

“Jin from the bar?”

“Strictly a cuddler.”

“Uh, Gymhead Youngjae?”

“Pulled a muscle before the foreplay started.”

“Steven the exchange student!?”

“See, it was going well, but the language barrier was kind of a big thing -”

“Good lord, you really are a penis repellant,” Soonyoung sighed. “You’re hopeless.”

“Couldn’t even get with Steven the exchange student,” Mingyu tisked.

“Guys, what do I do ~ !?” You threw your face into the nearest pillow. The years of your youth were dwindling down with each passing second and all you wanted to do was to have some fun, but these past six months have amounted to nothing.

You couldn’t blame anyone else but yourself, though. You’ve been single your entire college career - like, never had a boyfriend, but have gone on dates and had hookups and it was all by choice. These were the best, stressless four years of your entire life. You didn’t wanted to bother with your never-ending fear of commitment, but it was starting to take a real toll on your needs. If you just sucked it up and got a boyfriend, you wouldn’t be looking like a desperate mess.

“Let’s go out tonight,” Mingyu suggested. “It’s a Saturday night, midterms are over, we’ll be each other’s wingman, and I heard Jun’s throwing a banger ~”

“Jun!?” you screeched. “Isn’t his place like, super nice?”

“Yeah, his rent is ridiculous, but that’s how all foreign exchange students are.” All at once, you, Mingyu, and Soonyoung glared at a cowering Minghao who wore his Gucci slip ons. “C’mon, we’ll get all gussied up and have fun and - oh! Let’s all match!”

“Why…”

“Uh, because we’re a squad? Duh?”

“Fine, but I only wear black when I go out. It’s slimming.”

“Agreed, it makes my cheeks look not as squishy,” Soonyoung said.

“And it makes my orange hair stick out,” Minghao nodded.

“Ugh, you’re all so boring. Black it is. And we’re leaving promptly at 10:30 PM or his infamous concoction of Moon Juice, trademark is gonna run out.”

“Guys, can you be real with me and judge my outfit?” you asked as you stepped out from your room. The other three were ready to go, sitting in the living room. They all looked in your direction with wide eyes when you came out in an all black outfit that looked too hard to breathe in. “Be honest, does this scream ‘I’m desperate, please have sex with me’ ?”

“Your shoes sort of whisper ‘I’m both desperate and old’, but the outfit is yelling into a microphone saying ‘I am ready to drop to my knees any second’,” Minghao nodded as a matter-of-factly.

“That has to be the nicest thing you have ever said to me,” you smiled. “Ok, let’s get drunk and get laid ~!”

“We sound so sad right now,” Soonyoung sighed, closing the door behind him.

“So what’s the game plan? Is there an outline? An itinerary? Syllabus, maybe? Examples from previous students last semester?”

“All I know is Mingyu’s in charge.”

“Hell yeah, I’m in charge. And the plan is that there is no plan.”

“What, how could there be no plan?” you asked.

“You can’t make plans to get laid, that takes the whole fun out of the equation! See, we’re probably going to be, like, the best looking people there, and that means we have to be the ones playing hard to get.”

“That’s the exact opposite of what I’m trying to be.”

“Lucky for you, you won’t have to try hard because you kind of make yourself hard to get already when your standards are impossibly high.”

“They are not impossibly high!”

“Didn’t you turn down a guy because he wore man-flops?”

“Yeah, but -”

“And that one guy who wore really low v-necks?” Minghao chimed.

“Ok, well -”

“Can’t forget the one guy in our Stats class who wrote with 1.0 mm pens and pencils -”

“That is a completely valid reason, Soonyoung, and you know it! No one older than ten writes with such a large diameter!” you pouted. “Ok, I get it, I’m hard to get, but why is it when I’m trying to be easy to get, I still end up in bed alone?”

“Because you go for the guys who are also naturally hard to get! That’s the number one biggest mistake we beautiful people make all the time.”

“So you want her to bring home some ugly dude whose standards are as low as a sex doll with a fleshlight installed?” Soonyoung snorted.

“No, she just has to learn to play smart and pick out the guys like us - guys that only look like we’re playing hard to get.”

“Translation, Mingyu wants to have sex with you.”

“That is also true, but we signed a No Conflict-of-Interest contract, so I begrudgingly abide by it.”

“I almost forgot about that one. We have way too many contracts.” You sighed as the four of you arrived in front of Jun’s apartment - no, loft. If it was on the very top floor of a high-rise, you’d consider it a penthouse, it was that big. The door was tall and wide, made of some steel maybe? Iron? It was the most beautiful door you’ve ever seen, like it came out of a dream apartment catalog under the industrial themed homes, right next to the rustic section.

When Mingyu opened the door, there were so many people inside that even Mingyu couldn’t see past two rows of people.

“What the hell, it’s only 10:45! Why are there so many people here!? Minghao, call him ~!”

“Way ahead of you - yah, Hyung, we just got here!” Minghao yelled over the phone. “We’ll try to get to the windows. Bring four cups of juice while you’re at it!”

The four of you squeezed through the tight crowd with Minghao taking the lead. You took the opportunity to look at potential targets, but there was way too much going on to even focus on that. Jun had lots of plants and neon signs in his loft that you felt like you were in a music video set in California by some Soundcloud DJ. They really added to his cool, rich boy ambiance, except for the one guy taking a piss in one of the plant pots.

“See anyone you like yet?” Soonyoung asked once the four of you found an empty space to chill out in.

“I feel like I don��t eat enough avocado toast and arugula to get with anyone here…” you groaned. “Also, I don’t think my prescription is bad enough? This isn’t the pregame to a poetry slam, is it?”

“Why do you always ruin everything?”

“It’s the cynicism in me.”

“Found you!” Jun slipped through in front of you pinching four red cups filled with pink liquid. After handing each of you a cup, he casually wrapped his arm around your shoulder, pressing his cheek to the top of your head. “Ah, I missed you guys ~”

“Are you drunk?” you teased.

“No, I’m drunk.”

“Good lord…”

“The host isn’t supposed to be drunk!” Minghao scolded. “You do this every time and regret it because your place gets trashed!”

“It’s fine, I scheduled the cleaning crew to come at six tomorrow morning!” Jun giggled, squeezing your shoulders tightly. “I am having a great time, are you having a great time, _____?”

“I always have a good time drinking Moon Juice.” The drink touched your lips and you immediately cringed, regretting taking such a large gulp. It tasted much stronger than the first time he ever made it when you all were eighteen - was it supposed to burn this badly going down? “Holy shit, Jun, what’s in this!?”

“Lots of Everclear. I thought the new recipe was appropriate.”

“Good, she needs more of it.” Mingyu tilted your cup upwards, forcing you to gulp more down. “C’mon, you need more liquid courage before we start.”

“Start what?”

“Our hunt. It’ll end up being a scavenge if we continue at this pace.”

“Ooh, a hunt! I want to participate,”

“Wow, ok I am definitely feeling it,” you muttered, trying not to spit out the liquid heat. “I am feel - ing it…”

“Good, now go talk to that guy over there who’s been eyeing you since you walked in.” Mingyu gently shoved you towards a shy-smiling stranger across the way and you could feel your flirty instincts mix with the alcohol.

Let the hunt begin.

“Four hours,” you sighed. “I flirted for four hours and I got nothing!”

You were the only one left in Jun’s apartment, ‘helping’ him by drinking the rest of the Moon Juice so that it doesn’t go to waste and fueling your self-hatred. The guys left earlier, walking away much luckier than you and leaving you here to rot in your misery. Jun sat beside you with a cup of his own in his hands, listening to you rant for the last thirty minutes.

“I mean, I know I’m not the sexiest woman in the world, but I like to think that I’m kind of up there on the looker-scale, you know? Am I wrong, Jun?”

“Honestly, those guys are blind, _____.”

“Thank you!”

“Both theoretically and literally. Some of them are legally blind.”

“Oh…”

“Yeah…”

You sighed loudly again, kicking an empty cup that was on the floor in front of your feet. You tilted your head roughly to face Jun who only scowled at the mess everyone made. It was probably the alcohol talking, but in all your years of knowing Jun, you never previously appreciated how handsome he was as much as you are right now. His bone structure was so perfect and skin so clear and hair ends so kept together that you hated him for it.

“Stop looking at me like that, it’s embarrassing,” he chuckled.

“You’re just so damn perfect and I hate you.”

“See, if you were this charming earlier, you might have had someone to take home tonight! Why are you trying so hard, anyways?”

“Don’t laugh at me, ok?”

“No promises.”

“I haven’t had sex in six months.”

“Oh… Wow…” he whistled quietly, holding in his laugh. “I’m so sorry… Are you ok? Is there, like, something wrong with you, like did you have surgery or something -”

“Don’t pity me!”

“I’m not, I’m genuinely concerned for you! Do you at least play with yourself -”

“Shut up, for the love of God, don’t finish that sentence -”

“- or use toys, because if you don’t, I know a guy that sells customized ones and the quality is amazing -”

“If you don’t shut up, I’m going to scream.”

“Ok, ok,” he grinned. He playfully ruffled your hair when you kept the pout on your face. “Glad to see you’re still the same cute orientation leader that I met my sophomore year.”

“And you’re still the same reckless foreign exchange student that breaks the hearts of hundreds of young girls.”

“You flatter me too much.”

In the span of that short banter you and Jun shared, the two of you ended up with little-to-no space between each other on the couch. Your head fit comfortably on his broad shoulder and his soft hand felt warm as it rubbed your bare inner-thigh affectionately. His hand travelled a little higher with each stroke, sparking your interest and your core.

You knew exactly where this was headed.

“So, Jun…” you began awkwardly. “You wanna, like… you know ~”

“Good lord, is this how you’ve been asking guys to have sex with you this whole time!?” he asked. “No wonder they’ve all said no.”

“No…! I was totally cool about it when I asked…!”

“Prove it,” Jun challenged, sitting up to face you properly. “Show me how you ask to have sex.”

“Can’t you just be normal and carry me bridal-style to your room and, like, ruin me? Why do you have to test me!?”

“C’mon, _____, you know I’m not normal. I’m also trying to help you for future encounters. What if this is where your problem starts! Are you willing to risk that possibility?” Jun chuckled as you vigorously shook your head. “Good. Now show me how you ask, or we’re not doing it.”

“Ugh, you’re so weird!” you groaned, preparing your game-face reluctantly. “Ok, fine. Jun, will you ~ do the… do… with me.”

“Oh, my God, you are hopeless.”

“I am completely hopeless!” You buried your crying face into Jun’s strong, toned, and unexplainably exposed chest as he rubbed your back sincerely. “I need help!”

“Yeah, you do.”

“Jun, you need to help me.”

“Absolutely not -”

“Please, you are literally my only hope! Everyone in the apartment has done nothing to help me!”

“I’d much rather take your previous offer by just having sex with you instead,” he declared

“I mean, I assumed we were doing that anyways, but it’s not like you and I are going to keep it up after that.”

“Why not?” Jun’s smirking face leaned in close to yours so that the tips of your noses almost touched. “I wouldn’t mind.”

“Are you proposing what I think you’re proposing? Because I don’t play games when it comes to deals, especially of this kind, Jun, so you better not be joking -”

“Holy shit, _____, you talk too much.”

After cutting you off, he aggressively pressed his lips to yours. He showed you that he wasn’t going to hold back tonight by shoving his tongue in your mouth and crawling on top of you on the couch. Even though you saw this coming, it didn’t stop your skin from feeling like fire wherever his hands touched you. The both of you were definitely still drunk and you both knew it when your hands messily explored each other’s bodies and struggled to remove each other’s clothes.

“Should we go to your room?” you asked breathlessly as Jun nibbled on the sensitive spot on your neck.

“Mm, no,” he muttered between kisses. “I don’t think I could wait that long.”

[lucisevofficial]

Good GOD this was a lot longer than I expected it to be Here, have this character analysis/defense of Corrin, drawn from plot, DLC, support conversations, the drama CD, and a couple headcanons thrown in for fun. Enjoy?  @chikoriti @bitrockshooter @gyakusai 

As a disclaimer, I think a lot of the reason Corrin resonated with me on a personal level is that I’m a chronically indecisive (to a nigh-harmful extent), transgender child of divorced parents with four siblings of varying ages, two of which are sisters and two of which are brothers (not to say that Corrin is trans [unless that’s your thing {which is is mine}] but I related to the sort of rift between two identities and the game-wide theming of whether identity is forged through birth or action). 

So what I’m saying is that Corrin struck all the right notes to be incredibly relatable for me, personally, but I get that that’s pretty much a unique position that I’m in. So bear in mind that I came into Fates with a positive, open position on Corrin already, and that probably informed how I felt about them throughout the game. Okay? Okay.

[Actual confirmed canon is gonna be standard text, strongly implied story/subtext will be italicized]

EARLY LIFE

So let’s start at the beginning. Corrin was born in Valla to Mikoto and Anankos shortly before Anankos’ insane form ravaged the country. When Valla was destroyed, Mikoto and the infant Corrin fled, eventually making their way to Hoshido where Mikoto became Sumeragi’s queen consort (an important distinction because while she held the title, she held no actual power).

So right off the bat Corrin’s starting off on a rough foot – a displaced refugee from a ruined kingdom who was lied to from day one – only his mother, Sumeragi, and Ryoma knew he wasn’t blood-related and for some reason they elected to keep this a secret (likely because of the heavy Hoshidan focus on bloodlines and station of birth – no better way to reject a prince than to reveal he’s actually just some random kid. Corrin wasn’t a prince in Valla, he was the son of a commoner and the queen’s sister. And besides, Valla is in ruins – there’s nothing left to be a prince of.

As tensions between Nohr and Hoshido escalate, the pivotal event happens, where Garon murders Sumeragi and kidnaps Corrin. Corrin’s memory of anything prior to the attack is erased and Corrin is sealed away, locked in a tower in the Northern Fortress. Corrin was convinced that Garon is his true father and that the Nohrians are his true family. Even now, Corrin is consistently lied to – not just about his heritage, but about why he is imprisoned in the fortress – Garon claims it’s to protect him – that he’s too weak, and to venture outside the “magical barrier” of the fortress would invite certain death. This is a common abuse tactic – to insist that any limitations or manipulations are done for the victim’s own good, and that the abuser has their best interests in mind.

THE NORTHERN FORTRESS

And so Corrin begins life at the Northern Fortress – a life of isolation, suffering, and abuse at the hands of his so-called ‘family’. Supports with Gunter reveal how he is treated there, with particular attention being drawn to being starved and being physically abused (being whipped is the example given). On top of that he spends most of his time there alone, with only occasional visits from siblings.

Corrin’s only constant companions are his ‘retainers’, an entourage which includes two prisoners-of-war-turned-practically-slaves. Flora and Felicia were taken in as children to essentially be used as tokens to ensure the Ice Tribe’s submission to Garon’s rule. Flora clearly shows outright disdain not just for Corrin and the Nohrians, but even for her sister for treating Corrin kindly – Flora views any concessions to any Nohrians as turning traitor, despite the fact that they are in similar positions to Corrin themselves. All three are prisoners, not for their own acts but as bargaining chips in a grander political scheme.

Jakob, on the other hand, is pretty much the opposite of Felicia. He’s rude, unsociable, and often blunt to the point of needless cruelty (often making Felicia cry). According to supports, the only reason he softened his heart at all is because of the kindness Corrin showed him.

So these are Corrin’s companions for the majority of his life. (Doing a bit of number fudging, my guess is that Corrin lives in the Northern Fortress for around fifteen years? He’s kidnapped when Hinoka is seven, meaning he’s probably around five, and during the plot of Fates I’d guess he’s in the 17-20 age range). Other occasional visitors included Xander who trained him in swordplay; and Silas, who was very nearly executed for the crime of simply taking Corrin out of the fortress a single time, only being spared by Corrin’s own opposition to the execution. Silas was forbidden from ever returning and Corrin forgot entirely about him – about the only outsider who genuinely tried to be friends without being there by force.

Because it’s important to remember that Jakob, Flora, and Felicia were all there by force – they had no say in who they served. I’d have to imagine that wears on your social skills a bit, right? Like, your only friends are people who are FORCED to be your friends. How can you really get a sense for how people feel or act in a situation like that? Flora despises Corrin yet puts on a happy face and serves him with the utmost care and attention. Felicia does the same but truly loves him. Same results, vastly different motivations.

Some of the supports are kind of startling if you think about them – often they’re played as jokes, but they’re really telling of the sort of childhood Corrin had. Corrin’s life goals were to see things like “a town plaza”, a “street food stall”, and “bugs”. Imagine spending your entire adolescence in a single building, with only a handful of friends trapped there with you. It’s entirely likely Corrin’s missing a whole subset of normal skills and knowledge. Does he know what the ocean looks like? A forest? All he can see is the desolation of northern Nohr, so he only knows about the beauty in the world through stories and pictures.

ACTION ANALYSIS

And I think that childhood informs a lot of the rationale behind Corrin’s foolishness. It’s not just naïveté; I don’t think that’s a strong enough word. It’s aggressive ignorance. It’s the result of a childhood of abuse, manipulation, and isolation; of just as many lies from loved ones as from enemies. It’s the culmination of years of social deprivation and a fundamental lack of understanding of how humans interact, of the true nature of what humans do.

(I like to headcanon this is why Corrin is so quick to fall in love – anyone showing him genuine kindness and love without prompting is a marriage candidate in his mind, so unused to such affection is he.)

If I’m allowed to touch on some slightly-outside-game-canon stuff, remember that during this time the Concubine Wars were in full swing – Garon’s children were literally murdering each other while vying for power, to the point where the pool of candidates narrowed down to just four. Did Corrin have other siblings that visited him? Did those siblings just stop coming one day, vanishing forever without explanation? Did those siblings die at the hands of Xander or Camilla, both fearsome warriors with unmatched skill? It’s never really answered in canon, but it’s an easy assumption to make.

So you get a Corrin’s who’s just a fucking dumbass. An unapologetic, unreasonably ignorant fool who constantly thinks that every single person in the world has light and goodness in them. And in that sense, I fucking adore Corrin. I love him so much. I love that he’s a character who has endured all the worst the world has to offer – going from refugee to political prisoner, suffering abuse, starvation, all manner of intense cruelty, and yet he still believes in the good in everyone. Everyone has a chance for redemption, everyone has a shred of good in their soul that can be brought out through peaceful dialogue – even unrepentant bastards like Hans and Iago.

And I love that the game throws it back in his face. His belief in good gets him into a heap of trouble time and time and time again, but he refuses to stop believing people are good. And I love that so much. So many (male, especially) FE lords are characters whose arcs are essentially them learning that strength needs to be tempered with compassion – look at characters like Chrom, Ephraim, Hector, and Ike. Their characters usually start off as these rough-and-tumble rowdy boys, and they must slowly learn responsibility and kindness over the course of the game.

Corrin’s character arc is the opposite – he starts off believing in the good in everyone, showing compassion for everything from wounded animals to enemy soldiers to fucking monsters. It’s an attitude only a sheltered Disney prince could possibly have. He’s an avid reader, so he likely spent his childhood reading about grand heroes who solve problems neatly, who always save the day and get the girl. It’s not until he leaves the Northern Fortress that he learns that war is real, painful, violent, and never, ever happy. There are no happy endings to be found in Fates – each victory is a loss for someone else. Whichever route he chooses means a single, straight march of blood and death and violence that culminates in the murder of his siblings and the death of his father, the only father he has ever known.

Literally the first thing that happens when he leaves the fortress is that Garon hands him a sword and tells him to kill two unarmed prisoners. He of course chooses to spare them, leading to the plot of the game, where he is forced to confront the foolishness of his idealism time and time again – The death of his mother, Hans attacking the Hoshidan soldiers, the execution of the Chevois rebels, Iago slaughtering the townspeople in Shirasagi, etc.

One important note is the Zola subplot in Birthright – even after Zola tries to kill him, Corrin still believes Zola’s lies about wanting to assist him. And he’s betrayed, stabbed in the back again. But it doesn’t stop him from believing that people are good! No matter how many times it comes back to bite him. Essentially half the plot is “sheltered dumbass doesn’t understand how war works, majorly fucks things up for everyone else”.

And remember that Corrin’s loyalty to his “father” isn’t unreasonable – even despite the cruelty he endures, he’s forever in pursuit of the praise and love of this man who he believes to be his father. This is fed into by Xander, who insists that “Garon wasn’t always like this.” Again, a common thread for abuse victims is for them to insist that it hasn’t always been that bad. In this case, Garon used to be a good man – the transition from man to monster was so gradual that it’s entirely understandable that Xander went along with it. Where is the line between strict king and tyrant? Nohr is a hard land, and austerity is necessary for survival. At what point did that austerity become cruelty?

So Corrin can scarcely even see the manipulation he endures – he sees Garon’s wickedness but is assured that it’s necessary. That father knows best. Nohr is strong, even if its people suffer, so Garon knows what it takes to rule. And Corrin accepts that – he hears his siblings talk Garon up so much, so Garon’s disdain for him must be a personal failure on his part. And he works desperately to rectify that and make his father proud.

META-GAME STUFF

I get people not relating to Corrin’s decisions, but I think Corrin isn’t meant to be as relatable as people think. I never really understood Corrin to be a self-insert as much as his own character, with thoughts, ideas, and motivations separate from the player. And I can see that being grating for people who are used to controlling an avatar, not a character. Even Robin is more of a mix of the two – think about all the decisions you make in Awakening compared to the single, all-important decision you make in Fates.

As for how incredibly Corrin-centric the game is, I do think that’s a bit of a misstep, but I think I get what they were going for. Take the Nohrian characters – even at their relatively young age, the older siblings are stained with blood: they are perpetrators of murders both on the battlefield and off. I think the obsession with Corrin comes from a view that Corrin is Nohr’s light – the last hope of goodness in a royal family wracked with pain, misery, and treachery. 

Corrin was in the Northern Fortress, free from the concubine wars and being trained as a soldier, so Corrin reached adulthood without getting blood on his hands – likely the only Nohrian royal other than Elise who did. Nohr is a dark land, ruled by dark, hateful people. It’s a land of famine and plagues, of bandits and monsters and murderers. Almost every single Nohrian character has a bloodstained past – except Corrin. Except this naïve little prince with his heart of solid fucking gold.

So I get everyone being obsessed with him – Xander seeing Corrin as a chance for Nohr’s rebirth into a kinder, gentler kingdom, and Camilla seeing Corrin as a precious treasure to be protected at all costs.

As for the Hoshidans, I think the drive comes from the honor-and-duty-bound nature of Hoshidan royalty. It’s heavily modeled on feudal Japan, and I think the loss of Corrin was seen as an immense, irredeemable failure. I love Hinoka with my whole heart, so let’s take a look at her – Corrin’s loss drove her into spiraling depression and then reckless, selfless heroism. She became a soldier at age seven, vowing to never again fail to the extent to which she failed Corrin.

Seven years old! And already such a strict, unbreakable sense of honor and pride. An entire life lived in pursuit of fixing a single mistake. And you see that elsewhere – Ryoma’s ritual suicide and Takumi’s possession being the result of his unending grief and abysmal self-image.

And again to touch on my own life experiences, I don’t think that’s unreasonable – having four siblings creates this sort of mob-mentality protectiveness. Any slight against a sibling is a slight against the whole family. Corrin is not just himself, but a symbol, and the focal point of the conflict between both the two nations and the two royal families (which are two separate but interlinked conflicts).

DRAGON BLOOD

The last thing I’m going to touch on is Corrin’s dragon heritage, because I think that’s an important facet that isn’t explicitly touched on a lot in the game.

Corrin is the first manakete lord in the series (which is fucking AWESOME I love shapeshifters and manaketes most of all), and is also the first time we really get to see a manakete’s early life unfold. Characters like Nowi, Tiki, Xane, Myrrh, etc, are all thousands of years old, despite their appearances. Corrin isn’t – he’s like twenty. He’s young and foolish – exhibiting the same foolish childishness as dragons like Xane, Nowi, and Young Tiki. Despite the burden of war on his shoulders, he likes to read books and play games and learn new things. Half of his my room dialogues are him inviting people into his treehouse to play games with him, after all!

But he’s also not human – there’s a disconnect between him and others, even if he doesn’t fully understand it. Everything, even his character design (pointed ears, reptile eyes, fangs, bare feet) puts him apart from “normal” humans, and with no explanation given to him, he’s likely left to assume that’s his own fault. That he’s a freak and a monster. Does he notice that when he’s in the Northern Fortress? Does he think that he was locked away because of his monstrous nature?

If we take Corrin to be a half-breed in the same sense of characters like Nah, then it’s likely he suffers the same problems that all manaketes do. The softly advancing madness, the uncontrollable destructive urges that he needs to balance with his own internal desire to be compassionate and kind. A desire to do good despite the ever-present sensation that he is not normal, nor is he even human.

Honestly I just think making him a dragon was an interesting narrative choice, but the details were all lost in the grand scope of the rest of the plot.

CONCLUSION

Okay this is finally wrapping up and I hope any of that made a goddamn lick of sense. I adore Corrin not just for what he is (his fantastic character design, his viability as a unit regardless of chosen class, etc) but for what he looks like in the grand scheme of the series. He’s a pretty unique lord, all things considered (not just because he’s a manakete) – he has a character arc that runs counter to many of the popular lords and in fact has more in common with characters like Eirika and Lyn, and I think we need that. This series in particular needs that.

At the risk of using a term like “softboy”, I adore that we have a both soft and monstrous protagonist – a half-breed, vicious monster who is defined chiefly by traditionally “feminine” traits (at least in the series history) – staunch pacifism, compassion to all, a belief that diplomacy comes before action.

I love that we have a character who overcomes a childhood of abuse and manipulation to be a fundamentally good person. We can see that Nohr twisted the royal siblings into monsters (again, barring Elise, who is Small) – Leo, Camilla, and Xander all say and do despicable things if you choose Birthright. And if you choose Conquest, they sit by and watch atrocities happen without intervening.

Corrin doesn’t stand for that. For him, everyone deserves happiness. Everyone deserves a second chance, and a third chance, and a fourth chance, and he would willingly let himself die rather than stop letting people try to be something better. And I just love this fucking idiot dragon so fucking much sajhfdkjasdf

Sorry this was so fucking long I have a lot of thoughts about Fates and when people trash Corrin I just *knife emoji*

Anyway I was listening to Mechanical Minds by Nordic Giants as I wrote this so I’m gonna drop in a relevant section of lyrics as my parting words:

More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost.

[thestylesproject]

#52 Playing the Intermediary Part 4 (Harry Styles)

Because it’s Christmas…

SUMMARY:  Where Y/N plays the intermediary in a breakup and is stuck with the ex-boyfriend

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

—

It took awhile for me to get over what happened. Nobody saw it as a big deal, no one saw how uncomfortable it could have been for someone.For someone who hasn’t felt that touch ever in her life. I got over it. It happened and it was okay. I was ignoring all calls from Sara. She put me in this situation and was an awful help after. That wasn’t how a friend was supposed to be. I had taken a step back into advising people. I was reading a few books on how to improve. I know it was none of my business and, what I did was not fine. I would be crushed if I was told by my boyfriend’s friend about my breakup. It was humiliating.

I was keeping away from some people as well. Some people who knew Harry well now since it had been a while. Some people who knew about my tattoo and about Harry’s painting. I know they were questioning it, I know they were questioning me.

I was volunteering a lot more. I knew I was a good listener, but I chose where I opened my mouth, and let people come to their own decisions.  It was almost Christmas, and people were starting to leave. I knew I was not going back home. It didn’t make sense, it was another pain of choosing houses to go too, and dealing with obnoxious people who were plainly mean and ruined any feeling of the holiday spirit. I was better alone. I was planning to go to a couple museums and work with this one charity where we wrapped gifts for children. Then, plan a nice meal for myself and sit in - it was ideal really. And, then a few people will be back before New Year so, I was fine.

I walked into the charity with some nice Christmas gift wraps and was instantly let down to see him there. Harry Styles. He looked up and smiled. This was a select volunteer programme, only 6 people were selected and we had a partner. He was mine.

“How are you?” He asked.

“Fine, fine. Let’s get to work?” I said, sitting down. He had everything ready so, we just had to work.

“What are you still doing here? Not going back home?” He asked.

“Umm no,” I responded. I didn’t want to make small talk.

We kept quiet for a while, “We have wrapped 30 gifts now. Can we please say something to each other?” He groaned.

I just looked at him. I really had nothing to say.

“I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. It was wrong for me to do that,” He apologized.

“It was a game,” I shrugged.

“I also, meant about the paintings,” he looked up. “I made them in the next three days after I left your house and I was angry. I didn’t want them to come out, but Giselle saw it and sent pictures to the gallery manager. That’s why I didn’t call you. I didn’t call you because I knew you’d get it. And, I made it at a time where I was really low, so low, and I don’t have anyone here Y/N. Painting is my only way… the only way I can get it out. But, I’m really sorry. It was wrong.”

“Do you think that bad of me?” I asked.

“What?”

“I have never had someone think that badly of me. I don’t get off at hurting you, and I’m not sick, I like to think I’m -  that I’m nice and not not..”

“Yeah.”

—-

“So, what about you? Aren’t you going back home?” I asked, walking out of the charity.

“No, I’m not. I lost my father last year, and I don’t have anyone else to go back to really. A stepmom, but we were never close.” He walked with me.

“Oh, okay.” I didn’t have anything else to say.

“And you aren’t going back because?” He asked.

“I don’t fit with my mother’s third husband’s family. And, my father’s wife is obnoxious. I don’t have many choices,” I told him.

“You’re fine with being alone?” He held my arm stopping me.

“I’m used to it,” I laughed.

He nodded, and we went our separate way.

—

“Hello, who is this?” I picked up my call.

“Hi, umm Hi. This is Harry.”

“Hey, hi, Merry Christmas!” I quickly said.

“Merry Christmas,” He mumbled.

“What happened?”  I asked.

“What are you doing?”

“I just made a lot of food, and I am going to watch a movie, you?”

“Can I join you?” He asked.

“Umm-“

“Please. I am not used to being alone. It is my first holiday alone without dad, and I am a bit, umm, a bit sad. I know, we aren’t on the best terms, but please,” I hadn’t heard anyone who sounded as pained as him.

“I’m sending my address.”

“I’ll get the alcohol.”

He arrived in the next 30 mins, looking a bit dishevelled. He was still so hot. I swore that my hormones didn’t care about anything. In these thirty minutes, I tried to fix my room which was a mess, I should have fixed myself. I still in my night clothes which I realized were a bit too skimpy for meeting someone.

“Thanks for inviting me,” He smiled.

“Come in,” I pulled the door open.

“I got everything I had in my cupboard. So, we have Tequila, Vodka, Cheap Rum, and Wine, it’s red,” He empties his huge bag.

“Wow, you got the bar! I went out on a spread and made a full Italian spread!”

“You have people coming?” He asked.

“No, just you. Come on, you can choose the movie!”

“I’m going to be a sap and say Love Actually,” He smiled. I groaned, why?

“It’s a Christmas movie, C'mon!” I climbed into my bed, he changed into his pyjamas and danced his way to me. “Thank you for having me. Are we starting with shots?” I nodded and we took three each.

“Shit, Love Actually,” I giggled, my head spinning. “Found it!”

He brought us rum, and I played the movie. His commentary went through the movie making me laugh so hard. I forgot all about our history, laughing with him as he repeated the dialogues, telling me details of the extra shots. It was the shortest movie ever.

“C’mon we should eat,” I tried getting up from the bed. I realized I was drunk when I placed my feet on the ground and fell back in the attempt to stand up on the bed.

“You fell,” He laughed, as sloshed as me. “We should dance.”

“Oh god,” I held my head, trying to walk towards the kitchen.

“Do you want lasagne or I made pasta or this pasta -“

“Lasagne,” Harry screamed. I nodded and cut the meal and put it in the microwave. Harry was fumbling outside with my speaker. “God, I love this song!” He moaned. “Come here,” He wrapped his arms around me and pulled in for a classic dance. How was it so easy to be around this guy? What was happening?

“Food’s ready,” I met his eyes. He was looking at my lips. He nodded but didn’t let me go. My eyes shifted to his, they looked so soft. Memories from that night flooded inconveniently only the feeling of his lips on mine, and how good they felt. I wasn’t thinking, I don’t think he was either. It was slow, I was more aware of his hand moving to hold my face, the other bringing me closer to his body. I closed my eyes when we kissed. This was willing, as my fingers pulled his hair, trying to get him closer. It was as if my mind shut off. We were jumping boundaries. If we told people how we came to this, I would come out looking like a bitch. I pushed him against the couch, my instinct taking over. He tasted like rum, and I was enjoying it too much. He sat down, our lips breaking, and I pushed my hair, aside. “Food’s ready,” he pulled me down, making me climb on him, as he kissed me again. I had never been this close to a guy, and my drunk mind was telling me to take his clothes off. I could feel his hand on my waist. My shirt rising up, I wasn’t wearing anything under. I stopped kissing him. He opened his eyes in question, “too fast,” I mumbled. Nodding, he tucked my flick behind my ear and placed another kiss on my lips.

“We chose Lasagne, didn’t we?” He asked.

—

Request for Part 5? 

What do you think about where the story is headed? Any further ideas? Please do write and comment. It encourages me to post a lot! 

Thank you for the support this time. I shall respond to them as soon as I can! 

Comments?

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Copyright ©theStylesproject 2017: ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS WORK CONTAINS MATERIAL PROTECTED UNDER INTERNATIONAL AND FEDERAL COPYRIGHT LAWS AND TREATIES. NO PART OF THIS WORK MAYBE REPRODUCED OR TRANSMITTED IN ANY FORM OR BY ANY MEANS WITHOUT EXPRESS WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM theStylesproject.

[hymntotheseas]

One Night (Lams)-Chapter 2

The loud September sun beams through the curtain directly onto John's face, waking him up. He slowly opens his groggy eyes to a headache that feels like a jackhammer at a construction site. When he finally gets his eyes to open he sees a brown shag carpet most likely from the seventies and brown paneling. This is definitely not his apartment. Panic quickly sets in as he notices the noise coming from the bathroom. He can make out the sink running and (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction playing quiet enough that it wouldn’t wake him, but loud enough for whoever is in the bathroom to enjoy. He spots his phone on the coffee table and grabs it. Just as he is about to call Lafayette in attempt to figure out where the fuck he is, the creaky bathroom door swings open, almost hitting the wall. A guy who looks about twenty-three exits in a towel wrapped around his waist, a toothbrush in his mouth, and his wet hair is sitting on his shoulders. John takes a second to look at him. His abs are slightly defined, but soft. His arms are painted with a few tattoos and his face is soft, covered with a little stubble.

“Oh hey man! You’re awake! Let me go get you some Advil and shit,” Alex says to him.

“Uh, um, thanks,” John responds in a confused voice.

Alex ambles back to John and hands him a glass of water with two Advil. John stares at him a little, still totally lost as to why he is here and who this guy is.

“Are you gonna take it? Do I have to hold the glass for you while you take them?” Alex says a little sarcastically.

“Uh, no I got it. Thanks.”

“No problem man. Again, I’m Alex. I’m guessing you don’t really remember much, you were pretty far gone last night.”

“Right. Yeah. I’m John. And honestly, I’m a little lost. I just woke up on a strangers couch with very little memory of last night.”

“If you want answers, you’re asking the wrong person. I only got involved ‘cause you came up to my porch asking about dogs and then threw up on me. I mean, I couldn’t let you go back into the night like that.”

John can feel his face flush as some memories from last night whirl around in his head. Oh my god, I really did throw up on this guy's feet. Fuck. Before any of that happened, John remembers going to a club with Herc and Lafayette. They had to go to help John take his mind off of some things. He had just broken up with his long-term girlfriend, Martha. In his head, he can see himself doing shot after shot while grinding up against anyone he could. However, sometime in the heat of it all, he took a break. He remembers the cool September air hitting his face as he pushed his way through the club doors. The air was a little bit rejuvenating and gave him the courage to walk back to his apartment. Except, it is clear as day that he did not make it back to his apartment.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck. Fuck, my friends are probably so worried about me. What time is it? I have class today,” John says frazzled.

“Relax. I talked to your friend Lafayette last night and he is coming to get you at 10. It’s only 9 right now.”

“Oh thank fucking god,” John says while rubbing the palms of his hands into his eyes.

“I can’t believe this fucking happened,” John says distressed.

“Relax, shit happens. One drunken night isn’t going to ruin your life,” Alex responds.

“It’s not even that, I broke up with my girlfriend yesterday,” John tells Alex.

Alex can feel his heart sink into his chest. Well, there goes any chance of having him, Alex thinks. He starts to pick at his already non-existent nails.

“Oh, I’m sorry. That’s shitty, what happened?” Alex asks with a gleam of interest in eyes.

“Nah, you don’t want to hear about it. I shouldn’t be dumping my problems on some stranger who let me sleep on their couch,” John says as he laughs stiffly. “Anyway, you look like you were in the middle of getting ready. I’ll just chill here until Lafayette comes.”

“Oh yeah, I kinda forgot about that,” Alex lies, he is well aware of what he is wearing. “I’ll just come back out when I’m done getting ready.” He says with a grin on his face.

John watches him carefully ask he ambles back into the bathroom. He likes the way the towel sits on his hips and the way his hair curled near his face. Great. Just what I need right now.

“Fuckin’ feelings,” John grunts. His head continues to pound while he thinks about the other day. Breaking up with Martha was the right thing to do, he tells himself. He couldn’t the fakeness of the relationship. It truly wasn’t fair to her, even though she had agreed to go along with it after he came out to her. John and Martha grew up together in South Carolina. His father, Henry, always pushed John towards Martha. Ever since John could remember his father was trying to set them up and when John found out they were both going to the same college up north he figured he’d give it a try. It would get his dad off his chest and once they started dating the ‘Why don't you have a girlfriend yet?’ questions stopped. It felt good, really good, to have the constant questioning stop. His father laid off him even more than usual when he was dating Martha. Martha wasn’t upset with John at all. In fact, she was proud of him. To her, this was the first step to him coming out completely. There’s no fucking way I’m ready to do that. He hasn’t even come out to his friends yet, Lafayette and Herc wouldn’t mind, at least he thinks they wouldn’t. In the midst of his ongoing internal dialogue, a loud ringing catches him off guard. Thank God. That must be Lafayette.

John slowly rises off the ratty couch in an attempt to not get too dizzy. He begins to wander to the door. On his way there, he makes note of the dullness in Alex’s home. There are no pictures hanging on the brown paneling. No photos of Alex smiling with people who would probably be his family.

“Huh, strange,” John says aloud.

“What’s strange?” Alex asks while coming up behind John.

John jumps a little bit and puts his hand on his chest.

“Jesus Christ man!” John says.

“Oh shit, sorry,” Alex says with a smug smile on his face.

“But, really, what’s so strange about my house?”

“You-”

John is cut off by the loud ringing of the doorbell.

“Coming!” Alex yells.

John stands behind Alex as he goes to the small wooden door. Alex is wearing slacks and a button down. Huh, he must have a serious job. As he opens the door the strong Autumn scent fills the entryway.

“Hello! I’m Lafayette. I’m here to get John,” Lafayette says a little too loudly for 10 A.M.

“Alex. Nice to meet you. I like the accent,” Alex says as he extends his hand to shake Lafayettes. However, instead of returning the gesture Lafayette goes in for a hug. Alex grunts and shimmies around in the hug a little bit, clearly uncomfortable. Behind him, John is trying to hide his laughter. After releasing Alex from a hug that seems much too long for people who had just met Lafayette heads towards John.

“Mon Ami! I was so worried about you,” Lafayette announces.

“Yeah, but not worried enough to come get me last night,” John says with a little bit of frustration in his voice.

“Well, I’m not the one who took it upon themselves to get shitfaced and then venture out into the world!”

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s get going. I’ve extended my stay long enough. Thanks again for letting me crash here,” John says while turning towards Alex.

He goes to shake Alex’s hand after witnessing how uncomfortable he was made by Lafayette's hug. Alex returns the gesture and gently grasps John’s hand. John lifts he head to look Alex in the eyes and ends up looking at them longer than normal. Alex’s eyes remind John of waves. There is so much happening in them and John wants to find out about all of it. He could drown in them, but they also bring a sense of comfort to John, like he could float around in them in peace.

“Bye, I’ll see you around,” Alex says to John after letting go of a handshake that lasted much longer than he intended.

“Yeah, thanks again,” John says to Alex while walking out his door. He can feel his face start to flush as he jumps down the porch steps. As he ambles over to Lafayette’s car, he thinks about running into Alex again and hopes that it happens. Alex is thinking the same thing.