#fuckin trilogy bitch

[thescarletchan]

But Not Forgotten

ship: Spike x Reader tags: Death and greiving, unhealthy greiving, Jet is the best Mom Friend™

summary:In the months following Spike's death, Reader finally comes to terms with what happened.

word count: 1201

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

a/n: Depression trigiloy go brrrrrrrr, also part 3 to the “Not Coming Back” series

“A hunt well ended,” Jet said with a smile, raising his bottle, and I reluctantly returned the gesture.

“Sure is,” I said with a sigh, looking around.

The Bebop is awful empty these days.

Ed and Ein were happily on Earth, Faye had gone who knows where, and… Well it was just Jet and myself left.

We still hunted bounties all the same. Granted, with fewer numbers, we had to take the small fry and were hardly making enough to get by ourselves, never mind the endless list of maintenance the Bebop needed.

But today we bagged a big one. The leader of a gang on Mars that was attempting to take power now that the Syndicate was decimated.

Jet and I helped ourselves to some food and for once, not bottom-shelf beers.

Speaking of the beers, I had just finished off my third.

“Well, I guess I should head to bed. Can’t drink away all our money,” Jet chuckled at that, “Night.”

“Night kid, rest easy.” He said as I left the living room.

“No promises,” I called, entering the hallway.

It’s always so quiet now.

The sound of my footsteps seemed to echo endlessly, no matter where on the ship I was.

When I stopped walking, I was in front of a familiar shut door.

Spike’s room.

We hadn’t cleared it out, not in the few months, it had been since… Everything happened. It was essentially a time capsule. All that was left of Spike was in there.

I stood there, staring at the metal that blocked my way.

I meant to go to my room, how did I end up here?

Options weighed in my head. Do I go in? Do I go to my room?

While I mentally debated with myself, my body seemingly acted on its own, and the next thing I knew, I was inside Spike's room, the door sliding closed behind me.

I had seen his room before on a few separate occasions.

Once when Faye dragged me in there to poke through his stuff while he was out. She was disappointed with how little he owned.

Another time was when I had to wake Spike up for a bounty. He was obviously awake, just pretending to be asleep and ignoring me. So I pushed him out of his bed. He was pissed off to say the least, but awake, so it was a job well done.

The last time was when Ein was in his room and apparently he can’t fall asleep with the corgi in there, so I was tasked with removing him. But I knew he was lying, since the day before I caught him sleeping with the dog on his chest.

But now, the room was empty.

A layer of dust had formed on Spike’s few belongings, giving the room a duller appearance. His bed was well made, as it always was.

I found myself frozen in the center of his room, slowly looking around.

Then a feeling of exhaustion took me over. I hadn’t felt this tired in a while.

Maybe I hadn’t fully processed my emotions since that day?

Maybe I hadn’t realized that Spike was gone. Never to return. He would only live in my memories.

Maybe, somewhere in the back of my brain, some strange optimistic part of myself thought he’d come back.

Even though I knew he had died.

He died in my arms after all.

Tears pricked in the corners of my eyes.

That moment replayed in my head, again and again, tens, hundreds, possibly even thousands of times in a matter of seconds.

Tears rolled down my cheeks, to my chin, gathering there before falling to the floor.

And there I stood, silently sobbing, finally feeling something other than the numb dream-like state I had been in for the past few months.

I moved to the nearest surface, Spike’s bed, and sat, hands over my face, palms growing wet with tears, hunched over.

I have no idea how long I sat there, how long I cried. My eyes were stinging from the salt of my tears, my throat ached from all the held-in sobs, and my back hurt from my posture.

I wiped my hands off on my pants, sniffling slightly, and clearing my throat.

“God I’m a mess,” I said to myself, chuckling dryly.

My voice of reason, which had slowly turned into Spike’s voice, spoke in my head.

“What’s got you like this?”

“You,” I spoke aloud.

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. It’s just my stupid emotions getting the better of me. I’ll be fine.”

“You’re allowed to have emotions.”

“Not in this profession. Not on this ship.” I murmured.

“That’s exactly what got us into this mess you know.”

“What do you mean?”

“I didn’t… I should’ve talked to you. To Jet. To anyone.”

“Shut up.”

“What?”

“You’re not the real Spike. You’re my stupid idealization of him. He did what he did because he’s a stubborn idiot who’d prefer to suffer in his own mind than talk to any of us.”

“Kinda like you’re doing now?”

“It’s not the same.”

“Oh really? So what are you doing then?”

“I… I don’t know.”

“Then figure it out.”

He stopped talking.

God, I knew it was just me, just my own brain using Spike against me, to finally do something for myself other than wallow in self-pity. But it really felt like I was talking to him, at least for a moment there.

“I’m going crazy, aren’t I?’

Nothing.

Too tired to get up, I kicked my shoes off and laid down on Spike's bed, sleep quickly taking me.

~

The feeling of the foot of the bed dipping down woke me up.

With bleary eyes, I saw Jet sitting there, looking at me, worried.

“What are you doing in here kid?” He asked, and I slowly sat up.

“It’s… It’s a long story.” I spoke, my voice quieter than I expected.

“I’m willing to listen,” Jet said, and I looked at him.

Not-Spike’s words replayed in my head, “Kinda like you’re doing now?”

“Well…” I started, and we talked.

The whole morning we talked, going from Spike’s room to the kitchen, where we both made ourselves breakfast. We talked while we ate, even though Jet insisted I don’t talk with a mouthful of food, which I ignored. We went to the hangar and talked there while Jet tuned up Hammerhead. And finally, we were done.

“I’m glad we did this. It feels good to finally get all this out of my system.” I said, a small weight off of my shoulders.

“Me too, but this isn’t gonna fix everything, you know that, right?”

“Yeah… but it’s a step in the right direction. Communication is good.” I countered.

“It is, and you’re right. This was healthy. How about we do this again? And it doesn't have to just be about Spike. It can be anything.” He offered, and I nodded.

“Same time next week?”

“You got it.”

He went back to work on the Hammerhead, and I left the hangar, for the first time in a while, genuinely content.

Spike may be gone, that’s true.

He is gone, but not forgotten.

[pcktknife]

anime characters to go get a big greasy ass burger and fries with

[themuseofbaroque]

astro obvs. & notes #1 - general

author’s note - this is for entertainment purposes only, none of this is fact. these are simply my own opinions!

- neptune 1H 🤝 pisces rising, noticing their eyes first. the water influence to these placements adds something that draws you in like a current, no pun intended. i used to work with a pisces rising, and she literally looked like a pretty fish (lmfao) big, shiny eyes. either of these placements can find it incredibly easy to appear sensual or seductive.

- speaking of water placements! i’ve also noticed pisces placements tend to take a lot of pictures around water. beaches, hot tubs, rivers.

- this can also be said for air signs (esp. libra) but with things they enjoy! i’m always seeing personal interest posts from libras, aquarians and geminis. music, video games, political causes, shows they’re watching, food, celebrities, etc. anything they like, they post. anything.

- i’ve never laughed harder than when i’m with people who have heavy gemini, capricorn, sagittarius and leo placements

- in my personal opinion and experience, capricorn risings are what people think scorpio rising is. i’ve only met one scorpio rising irl (that i know of) and she did not fit martian/plutonian ruling at all. celebrity examples ⬇️

kim hongjoong of ateez. the intimidation factor, the style, sex appeal, the interest in piercings/tattoos. he’s a capricorn rising, with his chart ruler, saturn, in the sign of aries so we see a lot of red/martian influence from him as well.

megan fox. she’s been a little fuckin weird ever since she dated mgk (that man makes me physically ill to look at much less read about) but! she had her bad bitch moments! being known primarily for her sex appeal + starring in jennifer’s body (a gothic treasure btw) i feel is very scorpio coded however she herself is a capricorn rising, with a sagittarius saturn in the 11h, more fire influence from her as well just like with hongjoong.

joan jett. THEE female guitarist of the 80s. her whole career was surrounded by sex, scandals, drugs, all the darker themes of rock n roll in general. she’s another fire ruled capricorn rising and a sagittarius saturn in the 11h like megan. her style and even her personality has an edge to it, much more fitting for scorpio/plutonian stereotypes rather the capricorn ones. imo.

- actors who’ve done major/recognizable roles in horror usually have a capricorn neptune. neptune is imagination and capricorn is ruled by the devil card in tarot. combine the two and you have quite literally = dark imagination. celebrity examples ⬇️

mia goth staring in the X series as the main face of the trilogy

bill skarsgard being the main face of the IT remake as pennywise

evan peters as tate langdon in AHS, he also played jeffery dahmer recently for netflix.

- capricorn actually shows up quite a bit in the horror genre, esp. gore and paranormal. both actors and writers.

- sagittarius too, oddly enough. a lot of well known faces of horror have major sagittarius placements/stelliums/jupiter dominance.

- underdeveloped cancer placements are more manipulative and two faced than geminis. i see so much gem slander on here, and don’t get me wrong, i love both cancer and gemini placements! however i’ve met and befriended quite a few of both, and cancers by far have been the common denominator in issues around them more than once. stirring the pot then turning around and playing the victim when people are frustrated, lying, playing both sides to better their own situation, and even playing people against each other. i’ve never seen such hateful behaviors from the geminis i know irl.

- aries men are much shyer compared to the women

- taurus women i’ve met irl get pregnant very easily. venus? good coochie? idk

- grand trines are some of the most beautiful people i’ve ever seen (a grand trine is when someone’s big 3, so sun/moon/rising, are in the same element but in all 3 different signs. ex: virgo sun, taurus moon, capricorn rising)

- queer individuals with pisces placements can pass as straight pretty easily if they wanted to. most of them are chameleons

- aries risings i’m so sorry for the household you had growing up. i see martian childhoods usually being the ones who dealt with screaming matches, toxic parents, poverty and underlying issues with siblings that last into adulthood

- i’m not surprised at all when libra placements tell me they’re in college for a general studies degree because they can’t figure out what they wanna do yet

- a lot of fan favorite female characters in video games are canonically cancers

- if you think your rising sign doesn’t suit you very well, try looking at whatever planet correlates with your gender identity. masculine: sun and mars, feminine: venus and moon. the houses and signs of these should help you out a little bit

- libra placements absolutely get favoritism at least once in their life, jobs/family dynamics especially

- sagittarius women usually have rough love lives, at least in the beginning. a lot of them try to save and help partners who don’t deserve it and they get hurt badly in the process. same goes with pisces women

- virgo venus is not that bad of a placement as stereotypes make it out to be. clean freaks? yes. perfectionists? usually, yes. loyal? yes. remember the small things? yes. romantic? no. at least not in a cheesy way. sensual? yes.

- lilith aspects to any of the big 3 is a bad bitch placement. honorable mention is venus/lilith aspects as well

- air signs like spicy food just as much as fire signs

- a lot of rappers have heavy mercurial placements (virgo and gemini) (3h and 6h)

- mc aspecting venus in anyway is usually the person who fools around with coworkers/may even cheat on a partner with someone they work with. most people with this placement have definitely had a partner at one point or another worried about someone they work with. may be the type to have a “work wife”/“work husband”

- 6h chiron is the person who’s life has been majorly impacted by their own or someone else’s health. disabilities, chronic illnesses, stds, limb amputation, skin grafts, etc.

- aries moon and mercury combo = bad potty mouth, cursing is an almost unbreakable habit

- speaking of aries! aries and aquarius placements together in any of these ➡️ moon, venus, mars, lilith, pluto ➡️ usually have a tendency to jump around from partner to partner very quickly, including falling back into exes. their thoughts and opinions on people and things change SO quickly that they usually are the kind of people who have rosters (unintentionally). they are upfront, they don’t lie or drag anyone along but they do seem to be restless when it comes to romance. even if they don’t physically date a lot, they may often THINK of it, their minds going a million miles a minute

- geminis do not get the rep they deserve for being freaks. not only does the sign traditionally rule the throat/lungs/hands/nervous system, (choking, breath play, hickies, hand fetish/fingering, blindfolding and sub/dom dynamics) but it’s also ruled by the lovers card in tarot 👁️👁️

- fixed signs 🤝 tattoos

- sagittarius/capricorn/pisces/libra placements usually have issues with religion/spirituality growing up. either they were forced into one as kids and they have an unhealthy relationship with their god now as an adult or they simply struggle to find something that feels true to them. this is just my experience but every single friend i’ve had who’s left the christian church, had an interest in paganism/buddhism, joined the satanic temple, grew up as strict catholics, etc, have had these placements. religion is a revolving door for them and it’s a common subject of struggle in their life

- women with pisces placements tend fall into unhealthy relationships very easily, especially if they’re heterosexual and dating men. they fall in love with the idea of love before the actual person presenting it. they are bossed around very easy and usually don’t like confrontation. honorable mentions for this as well: pisces stellium, cancer stellium/mercury/saturn, 7h saturn

- cheesy hallmark movies make me think of taurus/libra venus placements, 7h venus as well

- 5h cancer/moon/venus, cancer rising/moon dom, 5h/8h synastry aspects please be wary of accidental pregnancies! wrap it before you tap it cause y’all extra fertile 💀

- most well known streamers/youtubers have 10h stelliums, including their venus. a lot of them will end up dating another social media presence/someone who shares a platform/job with them

yay first post! pardon any spelling errors i’m proof reading this half asleep ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁 .ᐟ

[seizethecringeofproduction]

Wait so like

Hold on a second

Crisis Part 3 is claiming that JLD:AW created the multiverse, implying the multiverse didn't exist before the ending of that movie right?

But, the DCAMU had a crossover with both OG Teen Titans AND Teen Titans Go in the TT vs TTG movie.

And Titans had an episode that confirmed TTG is a canon universe of the DC multiverse.

So....did Crisis Part 3 LITERALLY just make both itself, the entire Tomorrowverse, and JLD:AW literally impossible because a prior movie dead ass DEBUNKS ALL OF THEM from fucking EXISTING?! Because how the FUCK could that crossover film happen if the multiverse didn't exist yet, huh DC? I'm weaponizing your own bullshit lore against you, bitch. I DEMAND AN ANSWER.

BRUH

FUCKIN BRUH MOMENT

Make this info VIRAL, it takes ALL these fuckin' movies and their horrible ass endings DOWN.

Also this is dead ass the only time I've ever been thankful for Teen Titans Go's existence. It literally negates the entire Crisis trilogy, the entire Tomorrowverse, and JLD:AW's entire storyline. Never thought I'd say Thank God for TTG.

Here is the receipt showing that this crossover did in fact happen and I'm not making it up. The fact this happened contradicts Crisis Part 3's claim that the multiverse wasn't created until after the ending of AW (aka Shitopolips Dump), meaning that entire movie as well as the entire Tomorrowverse + Crisis trilogy should be completely and entirely stricken from canon immediately and we should all refuse to acknowledge them as such.

[firemama]

If I had the power to become a Disney bitch that can just remake one of their classics because that's what Disney does these days, id remake Aladdin.

It'd still be animated and the goal would be a consistent style trilogy (without the sudden and sharp drop in animation quality preferably please god).

Completely scrapping the 'return of Jafar' plot line, I'd make the second movie in the trilogy about exploring the ramifications of aladdin's wish. He did not wish to *look* like a prince, he wished to BE a prince. Somewhere out there aladdin is the prince of some country or city or something and I would love to explore that as a technicality to aladdin and jasmine trying to get married. Especially if perhaps that kingdom is NOT on good terms with agrabah. They're trying to get all the arrangements done and theres a big joke about paperwork and getting the prince-requirment law squared away and then bam, the "well actually-" comes from genie and the rest of the movie is about exploring this new territory of aladdin. Who is marrying into Royalty and Politics, actually having to deal with some of that.

And then at the end of the movie, when all of that is sorted out, genie drops the second "well actually-" that aladdin was always sort of a prince anyway. Just not the inherited of any kind of land. You see, al, buddy, your dad's a king of thieves.

Movie three is that the wedding is once, again, delayed. Because now we have to deal with the fuckin ramifications of "what the fuck do you mean I'm the son of a famous criminal?" And the revelation that genie actually knows aladdin's parents. Movie three includes returning to the Magic Treasure Hoard where aladdin initially gets the lamp- "only One May Enter Here" being that aladdins father (deceased) left the cave as a sort of will of his treasure trove, a bounty worthy of a King Of Thieves. Including the most valuable artifact of the trove, the Genie In The Lamp, the most valuable treasure that was responsible for aladdin's fathers success as the king of thieves in the first place. We see some stories of Genie and Aladdins father- from rags to riches via crime, maybe the love story of aladdin's parents, (maybe some hints to why genie says "i dont like doing it" as to being able to bring back the dead rather than outright "i cant do it") and plausibly that the genie and aladdins father made the same deal, I'll use my two wishes and then free you, but (possibly following that failed attempt to bring back the dead as in trying to bring back aladdin's dead mother shortly after aladdin is born?) In the grief of that failure aladdin's father decides to use his last wish (possibly to arrange the Cave of Wonders for his sons inheritance or something) and ultimately betrays genies trust.

We get a little heart to heart with aladdin and genie- "I don't think your dad was a bad guy, per se, but-" and the classic Disney "what matters is that you kept your promise, and that's why I've stuck with you even after freedom, it's the magic of friendship"

and then once we work out reparations of the cave of wonders - using all of that stolen fortune inheritance to better aladdin's accidentally aquisitioned kingdom, and provide agrabah a stable fucking childcare system for orphans, and a whole other musical mintage of do-gooding, they FINALLY get their royal wedding- a unity wedding between these two lands and isn't it glamorous.

ON A COMPLETELY UNRELATED NOTE.

The whole big damb deal where Aladdin and Jasmines partnership is weighted against the genies freedom is so stupid when you consider. Aladdin could have just fucking handed the lamp to Jasmine? 3 more wishes. They solve the whole thing in movie one. Jasmine gets the lamp, makes a wish that Jafar will never escape the cave of wonders, wishes that there were bo laws restricting her personal freedoms any more than anyone else (marry who she wants AND go to the market) and then a third wish that argrbah under her rule will know ages of peace and tranquility. Then she hands that damb lamp back to Aladdin, Aladdin wishes the genie free, big happy celebration fireworks scene. (They do the heart to heart thing where they say they'll miss eachother after genie cuts himself off from talking about seeing the world. Obviously. That still needs to happen. They're friends, you honor.)

[hunysckle]

people i’d like to know better

i was tagged by @t4tvglow !!!

last song: hmm it was in the car so i'm trying to remember...i thiiiiiiink it was down to my last cigarette by k.d. lang !!!

favorite color: yellow =3 and also pink

last book: i think it was technically mockingjay? but i work in publishing and often get distracted by the books i'm working on bfkfkdhskf i reread the hunger games trilogy to try and get out of a reading slump and i fuckin tore through them but then life happened and i haven't picked anything else up. i intended to read the ballad of songbirds and snakes but i've heard some weird stuff about it so idk...i also need to finish the rosewater trilogy...

last movie: JUNO!!!!!!!! one of my favorite movies ever to be honest. i can't really explain why but it's so comforting. i love the characters and their relationship dynamics. it's also a very different viewing experience now that i want to be a mom bc i was like fourteen? maybe? when i saw it for the first time and i was deep into "i will NEVER have kids i don't want to be a parent ew gross no!!" and now i'm like. Ah...it's just a very charming film and i love the music (shoutout to kimya dawson i love them sooooo much)

last tv show: i'm watching arcane rn! but the last show i actually finished was uhh. god i promise i watch better stuff than this but it was ladies versus butlers! SDHGJKSDHGKJS it was pretty funny i couldn't take any of the boobie stuff seriously and i actually got invested in the (very minimal) story. akiharu hino is transfem btw

sweet/spicy/savory: this is such a hard question because i love all three equally but i think i crave savory stuff more...love love love the way spicy burns though it's so yummy

relationship status: not to repeat my pinned post verbatim but i'm partnered with my butch and i have a fwb!!

last thing i googled: what the } bracket is called (it's braces or a curly bracket)

current obsession: arcane i guess? i've been nonstop rting art on twitter. jinx and sevika and mel are like the only bitches i care about. fuck that cop and her bootlicking "butch" girlfriend. anyways

looking forward to: i really like christmas to be honest...i couldn't care less about the religious aspects but i enjoy the holiday flavors and scents and general vibes. my partner and i are going to decorate cookies and build a gingerbread house and exchange gifts =3

tagging: @girlpenis-redux @bunnyboy-juice @hornythotdish @bitingbooth @butchcutie no pressure of course <3

[dillweedshole]

what no internet does to a bitch

expert opinion: budokai 3 is the worst of the trilogy gameplay-wise.

i don't care that there's pursuit, teleporting, etc, dragon rush kills the whole fucking thing and makes it a genuine 4/10 game i will never forgive this game for having such a horseshit gameplay mechanic.

if you want a game that looks and sounds just as good and plays way better, that's infinite world. trade off is: singleplayer fuckin sucks outside of the story mode, cuz there practically fuckin isn't any single player modes.

[atticcreationz]

1,2,7 and 10 !

Thanks for the ask! <3 We are quickly going to learn that I have trouble picking favourites ahahah

1) Favourite song is either High School is Killing Me or Cool As I Think I Am! I could gush for a long time about how gorgeous they both are. NPMD actually takes the cake for my favourite music in the Hatchetfield trilogy - least skips, most bops! (Hatchetfield, compared to other Starkid musicals, doesn't always have music I like to listen to outside of watching the musical itself)

2) Jesus don't make me choose between my children...! Starkid are really so damn good at having a tight group of main characters. Hmmmmm the many years of starkid nostalgia means I always love a Joey protagonist so damn much, but you know what, I thought Richie was so great, I think he wins by a hairs breadth. He opened the musical beautifully, I was a little weeb at his age and hung out with a lot of kids like him so his dialogue was fuckin hilarious and hit me where I live, I had a lot of FeelingsTM, and he ended act 1 beautifully too.

7) Dirty Girl! Loved it in the musical (Angela's performance is just amazing, as was Will's) but used to skip it on the album coz it just wasn't really my genre of music. I think it's coz the opening verse doesn't really hit for me. But everything from that Grace verse onwards got me in the end.

10) I'm such a basic bitch and l tend to love the canon ships (Lautski are so damn cute, and Holy Ghost are insane for each other /pos), so I'm reading this question as what NON canon ships do I like! I love Trevor and Rudolph, but also I wanna see Ruth (my sweet baby bisexual) have a happy flirty moment. Is anyone shipping Ruth with Brooke?? I don't think they'd be together long, but I think they'd have some adventures (or y'know, Brooke setting fire to shit and Ruth too flustered to stop her) before they went their separate ways. Or maybe Ruth and Caitlyn would be cute, a short theatre kid romance while they work on a show together!

Link to the NPMD ask game post for anyone who wants to see the list of Qs or who wants to join the fun! https://www.tumblr.com/atticcreationz/736158319964733440

[theputterer]

Good Things In 2023

It’s that time of year again! Time to remember all the good things that happened in 2023. I’ve done this since 2017, and highly recommend doing this as a fun way to reflect (and to have something for future reference when you are feeling Down.)

woof ok here we go

PERSONAL

I visited two countries I haven't been to before: the Netherlands and Iceland!

The Netherlands: mostly Amsterdam but did also pop down to The Hague for a day. Did the Van Gogh Museum, the Anne Frank House, the Rijksmuseum, the Bloemenmarkt, a canal boat tour, the Royal Palace, the Mauritshuis.

Iceland: I was there for less than 48 hours but I saw THE NORTHERN LIGHTS!!!! they were subtler than I expected but so cool. also did the Perlan Museum and a Lava Show, which ruled.

Related: I turned 30 this year!

My dear friend Sam came to visit me in Dublin in June! The highlight of her visit was going with her to see Hozier at Malahide Castle.

Speaking of which, Hozier dropped UNREAL UNEARTH which isn't personal, per se, but is very personal to me

My sister visited me in November! We squeezed a lot in her time here, but highlights were Glendalough, the Hill of Tara, and the Galway Christmas Market.

A few aunts went on a trip to Ireland this fall and I joined them for a bit up in Donegal, as well as a day trip to Derry, which I'd not been to before.

Completely fucking forgot about this but I did write a 158k word long ROGUE ONE / FRINGE AU, ENDLESS FORMS MOST BEAUTIFUL. it was a real fuckin bitch to finish, let me tell you that

I got really into MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE over the summer (don't ask) and wrote a couple short pieces inspired by the most recent movie, DEAD RECKONING - PART ONE: LADY LAZARUS and WORTHY THE NAME OF SIR KNIGHT.

I jumped back on my bullshit in October and wrote a long, extended epilogue to my BINARY STAR SYSTEMS trilogy: TWO DESERTS. the way the series ended was always correct and good but it was fun to write this extended epilogue focusing on the fallout, the question of what it's like to live past the end of your myth.

Anything bolded below is something I particularly enjoyed and recommend. 

MOVIES

2023 movies I saw and liked:

M3GAN

KNOCK AT THE CABIN

65

BONO AND THE EDGE, A SORT OF HOMECOMING WITH DAVID LETTERMAN

DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS: HONOR AMONG THIEVES

RENFIELD

THREE MUSKETEERS: D'ARTAGNAN

JOHN MULANEY: BABY J

SISU

THE LITTLE MERMAID

SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER VERSE

ASTEROID CITY

INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE: DEAD RECKONING - PART ONE

BARBIE

OPPENHEIMER

PAST LIVES

ELEMENTAL

A HAUNTING IN VENICE

CHEVALIER

KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON

BOTTOMS

THE ROYAL HOTEL

DREAM SCENARIO

ANATOMY OF A FALL

THE HUNGER GAMES: THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS AND SNAKES

EILEEN

NAPOLEON

GODZILLA MINUS ONE

FERRARI

2022 movies I saw and liked:

TAR

THE LOST CITY

WOMEN TALKING

TV

THE LAST OF US

PEAKY BLINDERS

BOOKS

super embarrassing how few books I read this year:

"Survival of the Richest: Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires" by Douglas Rushkoff

"Donegal Folk Tales" by Joe Brennan

"Listen to the Land Speak: A Journey into the Wisdom of What Lies Beneath Us" by Manchan Magan

"Hell Bent" by Leigh Bardugo

"The Book of M" by Peng Shepherd

"The World We Make" by NK Jemisin

"The Echo Wife" by Sarah Gailey

"Daisy Jones and the Six" by Taylor Jenkins Reid

"White Cat, Black Dog: Stories" by Kelly Link

"Yellowface" by RF Kuang

"Ithaca" by Claire North

"Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI" by David Grann

"A Heart That Works" by Rob Delaney

"Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier

"The Crying Book" by Heather Christie

"In the Dream House" by Carmen Maria Machado

"Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels, and Crooks" by Patrick Radden Keefe

"Fleabag" by Phoebe Waller-Bridge

"The Hurricane Wars" by Thea Guanzon

OTHER GOOD THINGS

*some of these things are Good as in well-written or well-made, but maybe not Good in topic.

"Eurydice" by Adrienne Su

"What Happens to a School Shooter's Sister?" by Jennifer Gonnerman for The New Yorker. A high school student murders his parents and several students at his school, and his sister is left to pick up the pieces. really powerful story on unconditional love.

"A Friend Died, Her Novel Unfinished. Could I Realize Her Vision?" by Leslie Jamison for The New Yorker. the grief of losing not only a dear friend but her art as well.

"Fuck you, I don't know?"

Werner Herzog pronounces Eeyore.

George Washington's Dream for America, an SNL sketch.

Judi Dench performs Shakespeare.

"Walking Brittany Home" by Devin Faraci for Washington Post. a really beautiful piece on death and love.

This thread on the struggle of trying to be fashionable in Ireland.

"The Return of the Marriage Plot: Why everyone is so eager for men and women to get hitched" by Rebecca Traister for The Cut.

"We Were Never Supposed to See Our Own Faces This Much" by Lola Christina Alao for Dazed Digital. on social media and personal reflection.

sunwoof

this story about Jimmy Buffett I loved

"She Wasn't Able to Get an Abortion. Now She's A Mom. Soon She'll Start Seventh Grade" by Charlotte Alter for Time. the cruelty is the point.

had a pilot named Ken yesterday and he introduced himself by saying his job is plane

"Cillian Murphy might be the star of a massive movie atm but to me he will always be the guy that showed up in the rain to our abortion rights marches"

"The 'Troubling Reverberations' at the End of OPPENHEIMER, Explained" by Bilge Ebiri for Vulture. it's an absolutely devastating ending, but the fact remains: there was no other way to end it.

this obituary for the great Sinéad O'Connor.

Kiké Hernandez returned to the Dodgers!

this behind the scenes video from the filming of MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE: DEAD RECKONING - PART ONE where Tom Cruise's co-stars watch him drive a motorcycle off a cliff.

"How Christopher Nolan Learned to Stop Worrying and Love AI" by Maria Streshinsky for Wired. good interview with Nolan, one of my favorite filmmakers / artists. (anyone who's ever read anything I've written is probably like yes, this is very obvious.)

"The Perils and Promises of Penis-Enlargement Surgery" by Ava Kofman for The New Yorker. an absolutely BONKERS but super important piece!

a new ending to RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, lmao

"The Return of Ryan Gosling" by Zach Baron for GQ. really great profile writing going on here!

"LOST Illusions: The Untold Story of the Hit Show's Poisonous Culture" by Maureen Ryan for Vanity Fair. LOST is one of my favorite shows and has been super influential on my work. (again, this is probably very obvious). this piece is devastating in how it reveals the terrible racism and sexism behind the scenes of a show I have loved. important.

Henry Kissinger died this year (GOOD THINGS BABYYY) and this piece by Nick Turse, which came out in May, is a good explainer on why that's such good news: "Kissinger's Killing Fields".

"Talking With 'Swiftie Dads' at a Taylor Swift Concert" by Eileen Cartter for GQ. I thought this was very sweet.

The New York Times had an interactive feature about Connie Chung and her impact on young Chinese-American women, particularly the ones named after her. I love this video of her meeting some of them.

"Will A.I. Become the New McKinsey?" by Ted Chiang for The New Yorker. Chiang is best known as the writer of STORY OF YOUR LIFE which was adapted into ARRIVAL, so it's wise to listen to him when it comes to tech and science.

Loved this speech Mark Hamill gave about Carrie Fisher at her Hollywood Walk of Fame induction ceremony.

Accents white people can still do.

this absolutely incredible slapstick esque unintentional comedy scene.

As always, tagging anyone who’d like to do this!

@magalis @callioope @earnestfeeling @illuminahsti @fortysevenswrites @vaderkat @leaiorganas @garethsedwards @rifle-yes @buffyrat @alittlemomentum @i-am-slain @rogue-rook

[ibims1seb]

A Life’s Gamble

The Sypher Trilogy

Tw: knife in the form of a playing card, beating, kidnapping, torture, blood, threatening to harm a loved one, kidnapping again but in a lot less serious way, a little bit of sadism,

Here is the Infopost for Tye Sypher Trilogy and Here you will get to the Masterlist :)

Chapter 0 || Prev || Next

Chapter 2

“I’m gonna ask this one last time, Silat, and you better answer me before I get bored and just decide that Cara will give me better answers.” The bastard had something of Azriel’s… Again. And the assassin has been letting him get away for a little too long for comfort.

The knife, looking like a playing card, with its sharp edges and the pattern of a 7 of Diamonds drawn on it delicately, moved between his fingers effortlessly, only stopping when the poor man he’s been tormenting for the last hour or so stirred. God, the guy looked pathetic. Even more so than last time.

“I-…” right, he had slit his throat a bit… not enough to kill him, but enough to make talking just that much more painful. He would feel bad if it wasn’t so damn satisfying to hear the fool scream.

“You?” The blond asked dryly. If this little shit said some nonsense like ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about’ or ‘I don’t have it’, he was gonna-

“I-I’ll… never…” immediately, a kick to the groin shut him the fuck up. He didn’t want the guy to talk unless it was gonna be something useful, and that didn’t sound like something useful.

“You really are a dumb bitch, huh? No wonder your boss dropped you off at my doorstep.” The sociopath grinned like a shark smelling a victim’s blood in the water. Did Silat know he was lying? Did the brunette know that it was him who sneaked into his house and sedated him? The slight flinch and the way he tried to turn away from his captor said that, no, he didn’t know what really happened. Tried, he couldn’t really move much…

“F-fuck… ya-…” Huh. Even while being tortured, the man couldn’t drop his stupid accent. Fucking dumb bitch.

“I’m getting what I want, no matter how stubborn you are. And if I don’t get it soon, I’m gonna drag your fiancé down here as well, see how that motivates you, dipshit.” Another kick followed, as well as a gurgling sound and some coughs, blood staining the already bloodied floor a new kind of crimson.

Azriel knew very well how much the threat of getting his beloved soon to be wife into this terrified the man, obvious by the way he flinched back even harder and looked up at him with dull, teary, almost pleading eyes. He loved those eyes. He fucking hated the man, but he loved those eyes.

“Oh, you don’t want that, do y-“ he got interrupted by the rude fucking person who used his doorbell, the annoying sound of ring ring ring echoing through the concrete walls of the lowest part of his house. “Fuckin’ great..” groaning, he glanced back at Silat, who seemed stupidly hopeful that he could scream his way out of this.

The shark grin reappeared, wider, as his captive’s eyes widened, the ball gag and scarf dangling before his face strangling any hope of escape. Again, he loved the terrified look in his eyes.

It took a few seconds of forcing the gag into the struggling bastard’s mouth, before he could tie the cloth around the lower parts of his face to make sure no noice could be loud enough to reach the person still ringing the fucking doorbell.

When Azriel was completely done, he gave Silat one last kick, a warning and not as hard as the first few, before walking up the stairs, locking the door behind himself and pushing the bookshelf in front of it. It was mainly to make sure no one would find out he even had a basement. There were no windows in his downstairs bedroom, so no one could watch him do this, too. Precautions, he said to himself. Definitely not paranoia.

“Hey! I’m coming! Calm the fuck down!” He screamed while taking his handgun and hiding it under his baggy, green shirt. Again, precautions, not paranoia!

“Now, just who do you-…”

Well, imagine the assassin’s surprise when he saw a… man… in front of his door. He had thought it was one of his neighbours who wanted something, or had something to rant about, but no. It was a… man. Tall, lean, muscular, definitely from the military. His black hair was cut very short and the only kind of clothing style the guy seemed to have was ‘uniform’. But it wasn’t the normal military stuff, those really were just normal clothes made to look like a uniform. Was he getting pranked by that bratty kid from down the street? No, that couldn’t be. He didn’t have a lot of friends and the dad was an obese office worker who liked letting his dog take a shit wherever the mutt pleased. Well, used to, Azriel took care of it…

“Can I… help you..?” He asked, slowly, unsure of what the hell was happening. It definitely wasn’t that he was uncomfortable with the situation, it just seemed… surreal.

“Mr Sypher? My name is Jonathan Star, I am from the International Safety Association, specifically the Branche from the United Kingdom, may I come inside.” That… that didn’t sound like a question. It was a statement that this man… Star… would come in. It was so he sounded polite, but there was no real need for an answer. Well, it’s not like that would stop Azriel from answering anyway!

“No.” He said, still confused, but his tone has gone a little bit more dry. More.. weary and irritated. International Safety Association. ISA. Anti terrorism and organised crime. Anti literally what he does for a living. Great.

Without giving ‘Jonathan’ even a second, he slammed the door shut right on his face, grinning to himself when the last look he saw on the rando’s face was irritation and shock. Delicious, in other words.

He was just about to push the bookshelf from the basement door when it came again. That stupid Ring Ring Ring sounding through the house. He had half a mind to just cut the electrical wiring and forget this happened, but the guy, who Azriel was sure this was, would probably just storm his house.

The next time he opened the door, there were four people, one being this Jonathan Star bastard, and the other three being fully geared up Soldiers with assault rifles trained on his legs, shoulder and… okay, the third guy didn’t seem to know what he was doing. Even better.

“I already said-“

“Azriel Sypher, or Zero? You are to come with us, struggle against this or make a scene, and we will use force. Please, put your hands up and slowly step out of the building.” The voice was calm. Too calm, what the hell was happening- wait-

“How the fuck- no, you can’t take me! You have no reason to-“ he argued, well, tried arguing, but that was hard when he was held at gun point and got metaphorically slapped in the face by the fact that this wannabe commanding officer knew his callsign.

“You are a wanted criminal, Zero. I can very well do this, and I will. Now Put. Your. Hands. Up.” Jonathan hissed through gritted teeth, taking a menacing step forward. However, even through all of this, he still seemed rather.. emotionless. Cold, for a lack of better words.

“I won’t- ugh, Hey!” He wanted to protest, but before he could continue his temper tantrum, Star rolled his eyes and simply grabbed him by the shirt, dragging him out of the threshold and shoving him towards one of his dogs, who grabbed Azriel not so gently and cuffed his wrists behind his back. Great! Just Great! This is-! Ugh, Great!

Only when he was pushed into the back of the Van, followed by two Soldiers and Star, did Sypher find his words again. Well, no, he had his words the entire time, but preferred to use them by throwing every insult and bad word he knew at his captors.

“Good, now let’s talk.” One of the Soldiers, a bit short but still definitely a good Soldier, removed her mask when Star, obviously the leader, said that. The man sat across from him and the unmasked woman took a place a few feet away from Azriel on the same side of the Van.

“As I said, my name is Jonathan ‘Nova’ Star, I am a Colonel in the New Zealand Army and the ISA. I am also the highest commanding officer in a Special Operations Task Force called The Crimson Spades. And as much as it pains me to say this, we need your help.”

Azriel choked on the air he was trying to inhale, finally looking up at the man and making eye contact. Okay, never mind, this was a dream. He was definitely dreaming, this is-

“We know that you have once worked with a man called ‘Malvik’, and we would like your expertise and knowledge about anything and everything regarding him. In return you will not be put before trail, for as long as you work with the Spades. As a Spade’s Soldier.”

The assassin had to admit, the guy was good at talking and explaining. That did absolutely nothing to stop him from almost vomiting at that name. Oh yes, he had experience with that guy, but-

“No. No, no, no! Not Malvik! I will help you with anything, but *not* Malvik! No! That-.. no!” He growled, earning an angry look from the woman next to him, as well as a slightly annoyed glance from Star. He had to admit, getting a wild card as a wanted criminal was something he’d take any time, even if h wouldn’t admit that, he did want to change, but not with that fuck! Not with Malvik.

“I… understand, partially. We will talk about this some more when we are at the base. Please, get comfortable, this is gonna be a long ride.” Azriel was almost content with that, until he remembered that he was basically kidnapped, stuffed into a Van, had no idea where they were going and…

Wait, he still had a captive in his basement… and he left the lights in the hallway on! Damn it! Nobody gave a shit about Silat, but his precious electrical bill!

—————

Thank you for reading. As I said, I’m in a very good mood for writing right now, even though that is a tiny bit declining. Still, here I have another treat for those who care to have it ;)

Please, if you want, also check out my Masterlist

[livvyofthelake]

holly black for real writes books like they’re mid movies from 2008 and it is sincerely one of the most beautiful and real things ever. the cruel prince trilogy excluded from this sentiment because i haven’t read and wouldn’t know if that’s its vibe. well that’s not true i read the cruel prince but NOT in the booktok way i read the first book when it came out when i was in high school and then i entered my illiteracy era and never read the next two. i have them, one’s even a signed copy i just haven’t had the time to get around to them and also i’m lowkey prejudiced against them because of their booktok popularity. those annoying ass people don’t even know my friends hazel and ben evans. who btw would have slayed in a low budget fantasy action comedy rated pg made in 2006 released direct to dvd with the ugliest and most captivating cgi you’ve ever seen in your life. starring some dude who was not famous at the time but became so in 2011 as the faerie prince. god i can see it now. actually to be fair this could never have been a film in 2006 because there’s gay people. if it was about two sisters tho instead of a sister and brother it would have. and nothing else about it would change and i would have watched it so many times i scratched the dvd. but well that is not the world we live in we live in the world where it’s just a book nobody has read but me by an author who’s popular for other stuff. and you know the worst part about the cruel prince getting booktok-ified? ben is literally in that book and i know none of those bitches even knew or cared. holly sets all her faerie stuff in the same universe (which is ambiguously also the same universe cassandra clare writes in. hard to explain the nuances to a fuckin newbie you had to be there) anyway. i was a holly black girl before it was cool. i was literally made fun of for reading her books and then suddenly in like 2020 faerie romance became “in” and frankly i’ve never felt more betrayed by the trend cycle as i was then. ok i was there in 2017 getting bullied by my older cousin for reading about gay faeries (lady midnight) when i was 15 and now adult women are allowed to log on to tiktok and talk about their literal fantasy porn series every day. is anything fair holy shit…

[idridian]

what are your favourite horror movies

what a question to ask me lol. ohhhkay, strap in.

(please note that when you ask me "favourite", that means you get favourite regardless of quality. and you get no tv shows or any such things, strictly movies)

(btw i haven't actually seen that many horror films. many of the iconic franchises especially - chucky, elm street, scream, friday the 13th, texas chainsaw massacre, what have you - just never piqued my interest. maybe some day)

(also these are in no particular order)

-

1. hellraiser franchise

my working theory is that all "hellraiser" movies are bad movies, but for different reasons. the og from 1987 is a bad movie because it was made on a budget of ten pounds and a packet of crisps. hellraiser 8 is bad because its plot is about a group of teens obsessed with a hellraiser video game getting murdered at a weird sex party. these two are not the same

that being said, i love these movies very much (except for hellraiser 10. i hate hellraiser 10 and will never ever watch it ever again, thank you. no reason) and love to look at pinhead and his many cenobite buddies doing weird kinky shit <3

2. halloween movies (only 1978 and the green trilogy from 2018 onwards)

i haven't seen any of the other ones because i was introduced to the series by my very good friend miri aka @asylos, who showed me those four and no others. and i was like okay :D and just never watched the rest because i don't consume media unless prompted

i'm a basic bitch, i see a man in a jumpsuit and get gender envy, so og twink michael delights me. that being said, old man michael from the green trilogy? CHEF'S KISS. love that fucker. he's the best

3. anything del toro

a lot of his films don't really stay within the constraints of a single genre, but they definitely contain horror elements. my favourite is "the shape of water", which has its moments but is overall not that scary. the pale man from "pan's labyrinth" made quite the impression on me when i first saw the movie because while i had seen the iconic shot of him raising his hands to reveal the Palm Eyes before, i was unaware of the fact that that fucker gets up and shambles around and i was Not Okay with that

crimson peak is very pretty and i love it. for obvious reasons, i think

4. willy's wonderland

nic cage night janitor animatronic murder fight bonanza my beloved. like honestly, i watched the fnaf movie yesterday and it had zero good cleaning montages, wasn't as funny and had fewer bangers, music-wise, than willy's does. like what's the fuckin point

5. fright night 2011

this film has david tennant in it and that's why i watched it. apart from him being an absolutely show-stealing delight, the rest of the film is also a fun romp. there's vampires and stuff

6. bad samaritan

this film ALSO has david tennant in it. he's doing an american accent (a way better one than in "gracepoint", a show that you should Not watch. just watch "broadchurch" instead please, i promise you're not missing anything) and is playing a rich asshole obsessed with horses who abducts and kills women. also he throws a phone out of a car window at two separate occasions and it cracks me up

the main character is played by some actor whose name i can never remember. he's irish or something and i think he might have been in one of those pieces of media i haven't consumed. umbrella academy? was he klaus in umbrella academy? who's klaus?? is klaus FROM umbrella academy? who knows

anyway, the film is a thriller and i quite like watching it. it's tense with zero unnecessary padding, it knows what it's here for and delivers

7. the thing 1982 + 2011

another one i watched with miri. miri likes to show me horror films (and tv shows) a lot <3 we watched both the og and the new one and i quite liked them! the dog in the 82 one is really really good at his job. i highkey struggle with big groups of characters bc i can't remember names and faces for shit, so i was reeeally bad at spotting the Thing. also i liked the teeth thing from the 2011 one that was smart

8. bunny lake is missing

does this count as a horror movie? idk, but i'm putting it here

9. psycho

it's pretty good. i liked it. i think norman would have been a tumblr sexyman if such a thing had existed in the 1960s

10. the one hour long space horror segment trapped in the middle of otherwise meandering artfilm "2001: a space odyssey"

you know the one

11. alien

classic. i haven't seen any of the others apart from "aliens" because the internet said they were bad

12. the abyss

veers closer to sci-fi than horror, but i'm counting it bc it sure is tense. this is a film by james cameron about *checks smudged handwriting* some underwater diving alien nonsense or something. idk, it's been a while since i've watched it. another movie with a big group of characters i can't tell apart for shit, which is why i'm always rooting for some of them to start dying already

i watched this one because i unfortunately am doing a handshake meme with jimmy cameron labelled "hello i am obsessed with the ocean" and unlike me, he has the money to make really long epic films about it

13. the haunting 1963

this is a movie adaptation of "the haunting of hill house" by shirley jackson. it's very good! (if you're familiar with flanagan's netflix show, there are some parts of this movie that will be... quite familiar)

i watched this one with miri, followed immediately by the 1999 remake (?), which i found very strange and occasionally hilarious because of cgi that hasn't stood the test of time. also, i'd like it to be put on record that i fuckin CALLED the thing about the fireplace (somehow lol)

14. rocky horror picture show

my parents showed me this movie when i was maybe a bit too young to see it, at a point in my life where i hadn't quite figured out yet that i was various shades of queer. it sure made an Impression

many years later, i finally got around to watching the sequel, "shock treatment" (thanks to miri, of course) which is very different but also a good time, and has some bangers of its own!

-

those are all the ones i can think of (and look up in the big movie watchlist google doc miri and i use to keep track of what we've seen so far) without digging through my dvd collection, which i don't feel like doing right now because it'd be a bother.

but just for fun, a few brief honourable mentions:

the shining (i care about shelley duvall and nothing else. so glad she got to punt jack nicholson's character down a flight of stairs with a baseball bat)

black christmas (keir dullea what IS your haircut shgsjfghs)

cabin in the woods (i knew nothing going in and miri was very pleased by this fact)

house on haunted hill 1959 (skeleton lol)

young frankenstein (my parents showed me the german dub version when i was, again, a bit too young for it. iconic movie tbh)

[https-chaos]

Cold as fuck outside ✅

Went for a long ass walk ✅

Drank a lot of water ✅

Had a nice meal ✅

Showered ✅

In bed ✅

Window all the way open ✅

Oil diffuser going ✅

Heated blanket on ✅

Brand new THC pen ✅

Fantasy Adventure playlist on ✅

It's my FAVORITE time of year bitches!!! I'm about to read the Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-Earth, The Hobbit, and the LOTR trilogy and then watch all 20-odd hours of extended cut movies and completely forget I exist for several weeks!!!

I'm so fuckin pumped let's GOOOO

[irlactualhuman]

It is amazing how many times in my life I've sought mastery over a thing or learned a lot about stuff I really don't care about in the effort to cover up the subset of things that are tangential to that mastery because it's embarrassing to be myself, so I must come off as having passive interest in that thing due to my obvious mastery of its genre or idiom

Fuckin

Dysphoria a bitch

Expectations are a bitch too

I know quite a lot about many forms of music because I like classical music and that was just too weird as a 12 year old

I am way into voice acting because I wanna get my femme voice going and didn't want to admit that

Now I have a dozen really cool voices. So that's awesome. But. Like... not the goal. I just kinda accidentallied into being good at it.

I'm a decent writer because I was really into anime fanfiction back in the day and wanted to write my own... but instead of doing that, I read classical literature and explored styles of writing to better merge the anime tropes I enjoyed into a form that gave them more gravitas and respectability and didn't immediately identify me as a weeb or whatever.

I just wanted to make weird dudes and put them in situations that snowballed into crazy nonsense a la Ranma 1/2. With genderbending and very gay things... but in the classical Greek style.

Although this all really did get me into enjoying things I would've otherwise never experienced. Read the Three Musketeers trilogy. All three books. Worth every second. Dumas had a way of making simple things beautiful and full of wonder and all his books scream of the joy he felt in putting his ideas to paper, and of his absolute love for the characters he created.

So count your blessings I guess.

I dunno. Thank you for attending my TEDtalk.

[sourcreammachine]

what are your favorite movies? :3

basic bitch answer but Children of Men (2006), also Remains of the Day (1993), Star Wars: Ridiculous Melodrama (2005), Grand Budapest (2014)

uuuuh i’m having a hard time rembering i don’t really keep favourites, im not a passionate person

i liked the cornetto trilogy a lot when i were a teenager but everyone did. everything everywhere (2022) fucked nasty but everyone agrees. hmmmmm uuuuuhhhh shit i know there’s more i like but i’ve fuckin hit a brick wall here

[moonnen]

So I’m playing through Vigilant for the first time and I have so many thoughts. I stayed up till like 3 playing it last night and I’m currently at work on a break so I’ll give a small summary of my thoughts.

Spoilers for Vigilant ( Skyrim mod )

Keep in mind I’ve only gotten through Act 3 and I’m at the beginning of act 4 barely even started because I told myself I had to go to bed last night. I’m not gonna break every act down into massive paragraphs I just want to summarize my thoughts on a first play.

ALSO keep in mind I’m playing alongside with Gore and Auri as they both have Vigilant commentary!

First and foremost Vigilant is fucking incredible.

Besides maybe the first couple of quests in act 1 the writing is impeccable. Not that those first quests are bad but they aren’t great. It’s a bit jumpy and mostly a “go here do this kill this thing okay move on.”

So act 1 in the beginning eh.

BUT BITCH

The end of act 1 is FUCKIN CRAZY.

As someone who adores and loves the dark souls series the feeling this mod gave me was almost exact to how the trilogy of souls games made me feel. For a Skyrim mod that’s fuckin insane.

Granted I am running lots of combat mods so things are more fluid then they may usually be, I would say some combat mods are necessary. Like a dodge mod and maybe some animations. Vanilla combat would make this experience pretty lack luster in my opinion. The bosses themselves are incredibly well made. Down to the design, the music, the arenas. Again it gave me the feeling of a souls like!

AND GIRL I HAVENT EVEN FINISHED THE MOD!

There are some triggering themes. Please keep this in mind if you are also considering playing vigilant. It through me for a loop when playing it and I had a little cry sesh after. I do think they are handle in a subtle and respectful way however. Take care of yourself first 🩷

Not to even mention the MASTERPIECE that is GoreDevs work on Gores commentary for this quest line. It is beyond phenomenal! The work he put in is truly incredible and getting to act 4 with Gore was a wild ride not only because ya know vigilant but also GORE!

Overall I’m loving vigilant and I’ll give my full and final thoughts when I finish it. As I’m writing this I am now back home and about to hop back in! Yippie!!!!