#haunted house reference does anyone get me!!!!

[curiousnightly]

carbon copy - pt.one

a caleb x reader fanfiction

summary: although caleb is the type to eventually come clean about some of the awful things he's done, there's one thing he had never intended on admitting to honestly. part of him keeping quiet was probably out of selfishness, but deep down it was the fact that what he had done was utterly sinful and admitting to it would fill his heart with immeasurable amounts of shame and guilt. he planned to carry this secret of his to his grave, or so that was his plan until his horrible deed would come back to haunt him years later, inside your bedside drawer. 1.2k words

warnings: nsfw; mentions of toys; mentions of male arousal; hints to possessiveness & jealousy; mentions of masturbation

reader characteristics: she/her; mc!reader; caleb referred nicknames (pip-squeak, etc.)

a/n: this idea came to mind randomly and now i have deemed it a complete headcannon for caleb. planning on making this a short 2 to 3 part series (short & sweet). let me know what you guys think and likes/reposts are always appreciated <3.

masterlist

Caleb knew that he was not a righteous man. He does try to make up for it by being honest about some of the terrible things he’s done, but there is one instance he couldn’t quite confess to and would rather take it to his grave. 

Or at least he thought he’d be able to take it to his grave until the thing he did a few years back was sitting right in front of him in your bedside drawer. 

˗ˏˋ ✈︎ˎˊ˗

One summer break during university, Caleb managed to finish his exams early and get out a few days before the end of the semester just so he could surprise both you and Gran with a few prepped meals and a clean house. Caleb made sure that you wouldn't return home for another few days so he could prepare as many of your favorite desserts as he could in an effort to please you. Normally he would be eager to see you first thing once he arrived back to Linkon, but he was even more eager to see your excitement at him making that homemade apple pie you loved so much. He was willing to do it just to see that smile of yours that always made his day but equally plagued his thoughts at night. 

Upon entering the house, Caleb immediately registered some packages on the coffee table. He called out to see if anyone was home as he inquisitively looked at the various boxes from where he was standing. When no one responded, he closed the door and set his bags down so he could get a closer look at the packages. Once he reached around the table to sit on the couch to examine the packages, he quickly noticed that they were all for you. 

Caleb thought it was odd that you’d have stuff sent here when you could’ve had it sent to the university PO boxes for the student dorms. As he wondered about why you had all of this sent here, he reached for one box in particular that was wrapped in a black plastic layer. He turned it around every which way as if to try and determine what was in it, even thinking about opening the boxes to see their contents. Although the temptation did cross his mind, he gently set the box down when he realized he shouldn't pry. The last thing he wanted was to get scolded like he did when he admitted to going through your ‘account book’. 

Caleb sighed as he set down the box and got up to grab his bags to bring them to his old bedroom. He took the next few hours in the house by himself to clean up, shower, make a grocery list, and so on and so forth. But every minute that went by he couldn’t keep his curiosity from returning to the packages on that table. And so not even a few hours in from when he first came home, he finally caved and decided to take a peek at what was inside. 

Caleb reached for his pocket knife and flicked it open as he sat down on the couch. He pointed the blade at each box as if doing ‘eenie meenie money mo’ to see what he’d open first, but his eyes landed back on the small rectangular black package he held up earlier. He hesitated selecting that one at first because it would mean he’d really have to work hard at sealing it back up as if it was never opened, but soon realized that there was no way for you to know how the box was previously wrapped in a plastic layer. Without anything to prevent his advances, he reached for it and began to cut off the wrapping.

He sighed a breath of relief when he discovered that the box underneath looked like a normal package. He makes fast work of cutting the tape in between the middle seam of the package and sets the knife down to use his hands to open the box the rest of the way. Inside was some packing paper that he discarded to his side on the couch to reveal a long black pull string bag within the box. Caleb’s curiosity not faltering, he reached to pick up the bag inside but froze when his hand wrapped around something firm and painfully familiar. He looked at his hand gripping the object from outside the bag, which only made his suspicions worse. In an attempt to prove himself wrong, he pulls the bag out of the box and slowly opens it to confirm the object inside. 

“Pip-squeak,” he whispered to himself, completely in shock to find a dildo inside the bag. 

Although he carefully closes the bag and sets it back in its box, Caleb’s thoughts are racing - Why would she buy this? What is she doing buying stuff like this? I didn’t know she would buy these kinds of toys? Does she plan on using this while she’s home? Is she really going to use this? There’s no way she’d actually put this in her, right?

That last thought triggered Caleb’s imagination and immediately made the blood rush to his cock. He pinched his nose in frustration. It didn’t help that he knew that the walls separating your bedrooms were thin and he could already hear whenever you pleased yourself. And he admits he would follow suit in his own room upon hearing your sweet, soft voice moans, but now that he knows that this would be inside you when he could’ve been the one ins-

A horrible, sinful, idea crossed his mind. He was already tipping the line of ignoring the way you viewed him as an older brother because his feelings were getting harder and harder to conceal, however, this idea he just conjured up would be crossing a whole new line he would not be able to recover from if you ever found out. But to think that you’d be pleasing yourself with something so…artificial? Caleb wasn’t having it. He tried to find shame in even thinking of the idea from the start, but before he could stop himself, Caleb threw the boxes into his room, grabbed his keys, and was out the door heading to the nearest sex shop. 

˗ˏˋ ✈︎ˎˊ˗

The memory of that summer and the crushing realization of what he did comes flooding back into Caleb’s mind when he finds the dildo nestled inside the drawer of your nightstand. He recalls how he came home the night he originally learned of your purchase: how he locked himself in his room; the way he still hesitated on following through on his idea even though he had already made his insane purchase; how he glanced back at the toy you had bought for yourself and mocked its size; the way his imagination returned to thoughts of you pleasing yourself with his dick rather than the toy version of one; how hard he got just thinking about the way you’d sound at the feeling of his size and girth; he remembers all of it.

Everything comes back to him from that night, including the part where he made a mold of himself and replaced your original toy with his replica. And here it was, still being used by you whenever you wanted. 

⊹ ࣪ ˖✧˖°⊹ Reblogs are appreciated ⊹°˖✧˖ ⊹ ࣪ ˖

[ikilledmyhamster]

The Dwarves and Bilbo :3

Ok I know damn well I never talked about any lotr or the hobbit movies but I've rematched the movies last month and I've had some very wholesome but kind of sad little skits in my head after I finished all six movies.

This will mainly be focused on Bilbo and The Dwarves so I hope you enjoy this random thing I did in my head :)

Alright so after the battle of the five armies of course fili, Kili, and thorin died while the other dwarves lived after the war (still crying about that). Well in LOTR 9 of the dwarves also passed away from their own deaths while I think Gloin is still alive? I forgot so if anyone can remember, you may tell me🙏

Anyway now I imagine the wholesome thing is that what if someone revived the dwarves? And not in like bringing them back from the dead, more like bringing their souls to life again. So they're like ghosts and all that. And what's wholesome about this little story I've made up is that the dwarves 'Haunts' Bilbo's home in the shire and they technically all live there in the shire in Bilbo's home without the Hobbit even knowing the dead souls of his old company just constantly hanging around his house. I feel like some of the dwarves would help bilbo around the house since he is getting older and older, so whenever bilbo loses something or can't find what he's looking for some of the dwarves would just leave the item somewhere in his home, like the kitchen, dining room, bedroom, etc.

And here are what I think the dwarves would do in Bilbo's home in the shire :D!!

Thorin: I feel like he would oftenly be the one who sticks around Bilbo's side everyday because the two were very close (yes I am a Bagginshield shipper👌). Also I feel like thorin would be kind of surprised that bilbo kept the mithril shirt he gave to him a long time ago and finds that quite heartwarming. Thorin would be the more quiet and calm spirit so he rarely talks but if he does, it would be really short since he just doesn't have anything interesting to talk about. He would guard and protect bilbo even in his sleep since they're dead souls they don't need sleep. And he even watched bilbo plant the seed in his garden in Bag-end, he's very happy about it. Thorin has met frodo and he finds him quite charming, he has small similarities to bilbo but he still questions why frodo looks exactly like thorin himself.

Fili & Kili: These two would absolutely be clinging towards their fellow hobbit. Even though they're much older than Bilbo, they always refer to him as uncle since he oftenly takes care of them when they were alive. Fili would help bilbo by guarding his home from anyone who tries to pull some shit, and kili would do the same but mainly he would look at all of Bilbo's family items, like the fancy and very old ones. One time he broke one by accident and tried fixing it but in the end, bilbo blamed frodo for it even though the poor boy didn't even break it, (Kili still feels bad about it till this day). Fili and Kili would always watch over frodo whenever bilbo was never around and they would act like frodo's nephew/uncle. Kili wishes he could meet tauriel but he knows she probably needed some space so he let's her have it :).

Balin & Dwalin: Balin would mostly chill around Bilbo's home in his soul form but would help the hobbit when he can, like clean up after himself and also finding items for bilbo when he loses them. Dwalin would be 24/7 guarding the house but I have a feeling he would sometimes watch bilbo garden his plants and how he grows his food there, he wants to try but Balin reminds him that they are dead, and they can't do gardening whatsoever, so they just watch him. They are very fond of frodo and one time dwalin gave little frodo his axe which bilbo found in his room and almost passed out till death, Balin lectures dwalin ever since that happened.

Bofur, Bifur, & Bombur: The three would probably laze around Bilbo's house (mainly Bombur trying to eat even though the man is dead). Bofur would always watch bilbo doing his daily chores and helps him too if he can. One time bilbo lost his handkerchief which gave bofur a funny memory from when they first traveled together, so he made a new one for bilbo and left it on his bedroom desk. Bilbo still questions where the handkerchief came from. Bifur would sometimes look at Bilbo's home items and would often loose them and balin was always the one who has to find them again.

Ori, Nori, Dori & Oin: They would often be distracted by a lot of the things in the shire since they're mostly outside rather than inside the house. Might've accidentally scared the crap out of some of Bilbo's neighbors and even steal some of their stuff and return it to Bilbo's house, they got scolded by balin and thorin for it.

Overall the dwarves cares a lot about Bilbo and frodo included, and so far the only people who can see them in actually Gloin, Gimli, Aragon, Frodo, and Legolas, but besides that no one else can see them :D

[snowthedemonfox]

okay so i need to put my thoughts somewhere before i forget so uhhh heres a quick theory about what ep 6's adventure might be

(i could be extremely wrong though so glitch if youre seeing this and thinking about how wrong i am: i cannot wait to be proven wrong bc i am hyped for episode 6 either way)

so in the ep 4 trailer we can see this suggestions box, and based on Caine's conversation with Zooble in ep 3, i think all future adventures will be based on requests from the cast. like episode 5 being baseball themed. we saw an unfinished version of the stadium in the s1 teaser, and in ep 4 we can see Ragatha with a baseball. if ep 5 is the baseball episode, it'd make sense if she was the one who put that adventure idea in the suggestions box

so then i think we can safely assume the spudsy's adventure, even if it does seem to be rushed by Caine, might've been suggested by Gangle. why? not sure, im guessing we'll be told that in the episode itself, but if she did, then that means that yes, future adventures will be suggested by the character the episode is about

since episode 5 is the last episode that was teased in the s1 teaser, we have little to no info on episodes 6-9. i think its still a bit too early for me to guess what will happen in the final 3 episodes, but i think based on some other things we've been told i can make a safe guess about ep 6

i think it might be a dance themed episode. which, okay, hear me out, i have some more things i want to share with the class:

ONE: this would not be the first time one of Goose's "wait and see" answers would hint towards a future episode's adventure. back in september, before the s1 teaser released, someone asked her this:

which, as we know, a haunted house adventure DID happen in ep 3

(there was also this one, which if the ep 4 theories about someone being high are to be believed, then this one could also be a hint of something we didnt know about at the time. but take this with a grain of salt because ep 4 isnt out yet at the time of writing this)

TWO: "but why would Jax's episode be the dance one?? he wouldnt suggest something like that!!"

well, yes, he probably wouldnt let anyone else see him suggest something like that for an adventure, but who said you had to sign your name on the suggestions? couldnt he do it anonymously without anyone knowing who suggested it? doesn't seem like he's the kind of person to admit something like that

maybe in the episode, someone figures out it was him (maybe recognising his handwriting, since episode 4 has shown us what the cast's handwriting looks like on their spudsy's nametags), and that's what starts to cause problems. the point of the episode isn't the adventure itself, it's about Jax and his issues

THREE: this is the weakest piece of evidence here but im just thinking like, it kind of makes sense that a dance episode might feature a lot of different outfits. maybe Goose was talking about a later episode, but again, i have 0 ideas on what might be happening in those final 3, so my safest bet is that this was referring to episode 6

the only thing i DONT have an answer for, is why ep 6 would be described as "guns":

unless this post was made before the episode 7/8 split (which resulted in a total of 9 episodes), i have now idea how "guns" fits into this theory. we know thanks to the fandomcon QnA that Jax's weapon of choice would NOT be a gun, and would be revealed in canon to be something else. if Jax isn't the one with the gun, why is episode 6 described that way? i have 0 answers for this, and this one word could be the thing that destroys this already flawed theory lol

anyway uhhh post over thats my game theory i hope Jax continues to get worse <3

[starillusion13]

Hi congrats on 500 i would like to request for ateez ot8xfreader

IS THIS THE END?

Pairing: Ateez! ot8 x fem! reader

Genre: Lore Au, Angst, Mystery

Warnings: crying, mention of death, fever dream, many flashbacks, loneliness (major warning is this is mixture of sad and happy fic, idk why am feeling so down in this spooky season.)

W.C: 5.3k

Note: please I want to thanks to people for reading and reblogging. Reviews are always appreciated 😭. Applause to the ones who come up to me to interact and they know how friendly I am. Okay enough!

Network: @cultofdionysusnet @k-vanity

dear Anon! ( I'm sorry if you wanted something spicy or fluff but i instead of these two, wrote something very different. i hope you may like it. Please let me know.)

Standing in front of this place seems different now, no more those chaos, those laughs echoing through the huge space, those smiley faces running around the street and getting shelter inside the huge place. Street is just now a silent and abandoned place without those lively beings occupying the area. Your fingers touch the cheeks to feel the wet sensation only to realize that you are crying, Crying for what? You don’t have hope for anything to return to its origin, right? Nothing can turn back. You are lost, they are lost and everything is lost. This place is lost without you all. Are you still going to keep a hope within yourself for, for them. Why? Everything is clear to you. You have seen those faces, those words, that scene still haunting you every day, every second and every moment and even now. Your heart aches on those thoughts but never you are caring to soothe it. It’s only because you don’t know how. How can you say to yourself that everything is alright when nothing is in its place, not even your mind and your heart.

Please.

Please what? Is there someone to listen to your pleadings, to listen to your heartbreaking cries every night and to see your helpless state? No. No one is going to pull you into their arms and rub your back with whispers, ‘Shush….its okay…I’m here. Nothing can hurt you. I’m here.’

I am here. Nothing can hurt you.

You are still here but everything is hurting as you are here alone. You are not with them. Them? Is it just them? Are you really going to refer them like this? They are your ‘home’. A safe place. The warehouse in front of your eyes is the only home to you and to them.

Taking few steps closer to the big metal door, binding with chains and locks, your hands fish inside the pocket for the keys. Hastily, you unlock the different locks and pull the chains and throw them to the side, not caring if they are okay to use afterwards. Your mind is just focused on one thing and that is to enter the place. Gripping the big handles in your hold, tears flowing continuously and so you close your eyes. You are ready to push the door but a memory flash across your mind.

▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️

“Welcome to the Wanteez.”

Chuckling, you asked the person, “Wanteez? Why such a name? like, are you wanted?”

Standing in front of an old abandoned building with rusted gate, with some graffiti sprayed across the door and the walls all around, one name is quite repeated ‘WANTEEZ’ and also there are some other things repeated like their names and ‘Heart Awakened Live Alive’ and ‘Hala-zia’. Them and their names, both are weird.

“Yeah something like that. You know why as hear clearly, the loud beats of the music is coming from inside and guess you know, people don’t like citizens like us causing disturbance in the society.”

“So? You guys are enjoying yourselves and why does it matter to those others, they can simply ignore it. It’s not like anyone lives around this place. The nearest house is much far away from here to reach this sound. Unless, you are playing the speakers in front of their house. I would do this if anybody had complained anything about me.”

He laughs loudly along with you on your comment, “There’s more to this, you know. People assume us that we are some sort of gangsters and we are doing illegal stuffs behind everyone’s back. The government and police are always attentive to this surrounding to find any little proof against us to claim us as the criminals.”

“Are you?”

“Huh?” His face turns into a frown and his confused eyes staring back at you.

“The way this place looks like, I must believe you guys have some illegal shits up your sleeves.”

Before he could reply you back, you both feel someone’s hand around your necks.

“What are you both doing here? So, you finally brought our girl to this place.”

You smile to this intruder between you both but you are really happy to see him so energetic like always.

“Yes, Woo. Joong finally brought me here after so much whining and ta da I’m standing in front of the building.”

Wooyoung is the one who is always hyped up with silly matters and trying to lift up everyone’s mood in every situation. The way he takes care of everyone and other’s need is very adorable. Being one of the youngest member, he is referred as the menace also because of his mischievous acts but he is the first one to jump in for you if you are in trouble. The most clingy one and your favorite one in this family. But hush, don’t let him know about this as he would be going to shove this on everyone’s face.

Hongjoong removes his friend’s hand from around his neck and walks towards the gate and before he could pull it open. Wooyoung gives you a mischievous smile and holds your hand and makes a run towards the gate.

“Let’s go….”

“Woo...I will fall. Slow down.”

With other hand, he pushes open the door and left Hongjoong cursing at him

“I swear Wooyoung….”

▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️

You push open the door.

Darkness reflects back to you but the full moon day spreading its light inside, slowly clearing your vision and those memories of coming here and spending time fills your mind. Your eyes are blinded not with the darkness of the room but those happy days replaying in front of you.

▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️

As soon as you step inside the warehouse, your hand still in his hold, you come to a halt and take heavy breaths. With calming yourself and fixing your posture, you look towards the centre of the warehouse, where six other boys staring back at you, some confused and some with soft look on their face. With a quick smile towards them, your eyes follow the interior of the place, some small high widows lining the upper end of the walls on your sides and also huge ventilators, old and somewhat rusted rods attached to the pillars for arranging their stuffs. Many of their items spread across the floor, food packets, clothes, shoes all scattered near a corner, basket ball and different kinds of flyers. You pick up a flyer near your feet and eyes scan the photo and description, some men in black outfits of coat and masked and fedora hat with chains decorated on them. ‘wanted’ written at the top of each flyer.

Those flyers still scattered around you. Tears blurring your vision, legs feeling weak, hands shaking by your side. With shaky steps, you walk towards the sofa, covered with a layer of dust and memories. Taking a seat, your hands caress the material.

“Who are they?”

You look at them with curious eyes but none of them answer you, only Hongjoong snatches away the paper from you and throws it aside. Furrowed eyebrows and pouty lips staring at him, he just gives away a dry smile.

“Nothing, its just something which is not your concern or…any of us.”

Your attention moves towards the speaker where the song has been changed to a different melody. It’s a very soothing one from the previous one and you can see Yunho memorising his steps while looking at the mirror. Seonghwa and San by his side and Wooyoung grinning beside them.

“Well, I don’t care about these mysterious men but I care of these three not acknowledging my presence. I feel so neglected and hurt.”

You make a fake crying expression to which Wooyoung stick out his tongue and Seonghwa flick his head and comes near you and now you are grinning to the scene.

“I cant ignore my girl ever.” His warm palms over your cheeks, soothing your every nerve from the exhaustion since the morning. He has that magic of warmness and healing in himself for which you always run to him for warmth like the heat in winter afternoon.

“I don’t believe you. Also, why is this place so dirty?”

He lets out a groan on your question to which everyone laughs and you jokingly glare at them.

“I have to clean this place all alone and everytime these idiots have to destroy it afterwards.”

You keep a neutral expression for few seconds and one two three you burst into laughter. And now everyone has abandoned their previous individual works and attention focused on you. Only you.

Maybe they are friends since childhood and you are a new addition to the group but you are the most precious part in their life. They have their own individual stories and some of them has shared a little part of their life with you and some just gives you tight smile whenever you want to know about them, like Hongjoong, the leader of this group. He has built this whole friendship circle and the last one to meet you. You don’t know much about him but still you trust him, have faith on him that whatever he does or is going to do in near future is nothing wrong. It means no harm to anyone but you fear for him. He keeping his life and feelings aside, always caring about his friends and you.

Will he be safe?

The second person you don’t know much about is the person standing in front of you, Seonghwa. He has a very strict family and always, he needs to follow their rules and regulation on everything as if every second of his life is already scheduled and he cant have his own way and this is the place where he met hongjoong and now this hideout is the escape place for him. This cold abandoned place has the warmness only because of him. He also gave you a bracelet which has a sensor and signal technology attached to it, of course made by yeosang so that they can know if you are in any danger or not. The way a bracelet braces your wrist like a protectiveness. He is always there like a protective barrier to you.

“I thought you will take my side but you are literally laughing like them.”

“I’m sorry Seonghwa but you looked so funny while complaining. Its not like I’m a tidy person myself so….”

You walk towards Wooyoung and snatch the packet of snacks from him, ignoring his whines. Munching on some, satisfied with the spicy chilli-peppered flavour, you again go near the eldest one.

His confused eyes keenly following your every move and his eyes go wide when you a bundle of papers which are kept in a place altogether on the table in front of the sofa.

“What the hell….”

Wooyoung skipping steps towards you, messily throw some other stuffs towards Seonghwa and others joined in the fun too. That’s how the chaos filled with some running after others, scolding, whining and laughs echoed throughout the place.

Whatever their individual life was, one thing was common among them. It’s you. Their precious treasure in life. You were their everything. You were meant to keep safe by them as you were their only hope in life.

To be their light.

▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️

Your gaze falls on the diary still kept in the place where it used to be on the table. You don’t know exactly to whom this actually belongs to but you know, this is most important thing to them. Maybe was. They are no more here to keep this diary. You put the diary in your backpack when you notice a drone placed in a corner and you know that’s broken.

▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️

“What are you doing Yeosang?”

He is still connecting the wires and testing his remote, not aware of your presence behind him. You place your hand on his shoulder for him to get startled and the drone on which he was working fell from his hand.

“Oh…I’m so sorry…I didn’t mean to scare you…”

“Y/N. Its you. I thought….Leave it. What are you doing here today?”

“Wooyoung has a dance battle later this evening and he asked me to go there to watch his performance. So, your eyes are blessed with my beauty.”

He chuckles. Taking the drone in his hands, he gets up to put it on a shelf nearby. He is the quietest one in this group and the reason is very clear. Somehow, like Seonghwa his life is also controlling one but in a different way. He belongs to a royal family from the city, Sector 1. He has an image to be maintained and also his father doesn’t like him to be friends with others who don’t belong to any royal blood. He is the first one you met. You first met him while you were returning home from school and he was standing in the middle of the road looking up at the sky, maybe questioning about himself. About his life. That’s how you become friends when you two met often at that street and that’s how he introduced you to Seonghwa at one convenience store. Yeosang is very talented in every stuff but outstanding when it comes to technology. You know his secret feelings about everything as he only shares such things with you. And you are always there to listen to him. You are his little blue bird to keep the secrets safe. A bird of hope.

“lets go.”

“where?”

“Come on. Don’t you wanna see how well Yunho choreographed Some steps for Wooyoung?”

You gladly accept his hand and go to the other room where both of them were practicing to a song, you heard it before from them ‘To the beat’.

Both of them are very passionate when it comes to dancing. You love to see the rage behind their eyes to make every step to a perfect level and until they are satisfied, they are repeating the steps again and again.

“Yunho, why don’t you go to the dance battles as well?”

The music is already paused by the other to get some water and so your words are well audible to the tallest one. You could see a sad expression flick to his eyes but quickly he sends a wide smile towards you. This does not ease your worry for him. He doesn’t share much with you but he is the most comfortable person to spend time with. He is the one to give you hug after a long day, to give you the feelings of having an older brother. Brother? Is that he to you? You don’t know what they are to you. But they are everything you need. He is a perfect brother for his friends in this place and a perfect man for every girl out there. And for you?

You feel hands engulfing you in a bear hug. You smile widely, snuggling to the chest, knowing who this is.

“How are you tiny?”

“Ugh! I’m not tiny. Joong is tiny. Call him that, not to me. I’m very tall, atleast than majority of the girls in my neighbourhood.”

“Whatever makes you stand tall.”

“My legs keep me stand tall. You are just too tall Yunho. A walking giraffe.”

“Excuse me.”

“You cant be excused. Woo….lets run away before this giant bury me here.”

Grabbing his wrist, you run outside. Don’t know where. But atleast every place is like heaven when one of them is with you.

▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️

A thud sound makes you startled and then you noticed how a black cat has entered the place. You didn’t notice before but the gate is open and maybe the cat has entered through it as there is no other possible entrance. ‘But I’m sure, I had closed the gate when I entered here’. The black cat sniffing a cabinet and you thought of some food or something is kept there but still out of curiosity, you made your way towards the cat.

The cat is not frightened with your presence near it but as if it is signalling you to open the drawer. With shaky hands, you pull the handle.

An hourglass? No wait. It’s that ‘cromer’.

▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️

“Don’t touch it.”

“Hm?”

“Capt…I mean Hongjoong doesn’t let anyone to touch it.”

“Why? What is this?”

“its cromer. it’s a very important part of our life, especially to him. Come on, lets go to the park.”

“Jongho. Are you all not hiding something from me, right?”

Silence. Your anticipation for an answer grows with each second of his mouth shut and slow breathing.

“…no..”

“hmmm…so you are.”

“what do you mean?”

“Well, I know I’m not close to you all for a long time like you guys are from your childhood but in these five years, I have come to know a lot about you all and also not. Whenever, one of you spend time with me, shares a lot of things with me. I start to think, I have known you completely. I know you all. But the next second I don’t , as if you all are ones with hidden life. What are you all hiding from me?”

“y/N…its nothing like you think.”

“It is everything that I think and like you know. Its nothing the way you all are trying to show me things. If you want me to stay away from this, I will. Stay away from you- “

“never. We wont let you stay away from us.”

“I cant. I cant stay away from you all. You guys are like pirates in my life. The eight boys with individual mysterious pasts and united through friendship and on a heist to conquer the treasure. But, I don’t know what I am. An intruder in the pirate ship, maybe?”

“Our light. Our precious treasure.”

Their light.

Jongho, the youngest of the group. You met him when he was thrashing things around the basketball ground because his dreams of being an athletic came to an end after his accident where he hurt his leg and hand. You still don’t know the cause of it but you know both jongho and yunho feel uncomfortable with the topic and so you keep quiet with this. Jongho is the not the one to show affection in front of everyone but he is really a caring person when you are alone with him. He is a very passionate guy with his personal things, majorly his singing. His soothing honey like voice and gummy smile is everything you need to keep your nightmares away. He is a great listener like yeosang and so the most of the time when you are feeling low, you can find these two beside you.

▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️

There is no one to light up your darkness now. You are all alone here. In this cold abandoned building, sitting in front of the table in middle of the warehouse.

▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️

Palms pressed over your eyes, a presence behind your back, pushing you towards your front.

“Mingi…you know I can’t see when you are literally closing my eyes. Slow down. I can’t match your steps here where different things bumping my shoe.”

“I told you, yeosang to keep your gadgets somewhere else then why are they scattered here?”

You could hear Mingi scolding Yeosang but you know Seonghwa is already picking up the things from the ground.

“So? You could have done then, why still waited for me to clean the mess? I am very much busy.”

Your hands come up to remove his hands from your eyes when you come to a pause but he holds it tighter.

“Not now.”

Licking your lips, you pull your lower lip between your teeth and contemplating as what need to be unfold here. What are they upto? Its not your birthday today then-

“Congratulations on being with us for five years.”

Your eyes squint several times to adjust with the view. Hongjoong standing with a cake in his hand, smiling widely at you with Seonghwa glaring at Wooyoung and trying to smile at you because the other one is trying to blow away the candles. Yeosang by your side gives you a smile and congratulates you with San behind him, giving you his eye smile.

“Y/N. You better blow the candles before him or I have to smack him and light it up again.”

“Don’t worry, San. I’m sure he doesn’t want his name to be removed from the dance club.”

“But you don’t know that Yeosang is there to help that menace so better be prepared.”

Yunho comes to your other side with jongho trailing behind and both of them are smiling wide at you but something is there that Yunho is sad about because he is the worst one when it comes to hide his feelings. Its not right time to ask him but maybe later.

“Tiny. San is right. Never trust these two’s intentions. They are bestfriends and they can do anything for each other.”

“Aren’t you all?”

Yunho asks in surprise, “What?”

“Best friends? Aren’t you all best friends with each other?”

“No tiny. We are more than that. We are like brothers, Hongjoong accepted me in this group as if…as if…he is my own elder brother. But soon after others treated me the same. We are a family.”

“So, you all are to me. My family. Also, you all need to stop calling me tiny. I’m not Tiny.”

“Of course, you are.”

All of them laugh at you and meanwhile Jongho pats your head with shaking his head to ignore them. He signals you to blow the candles and when you are about to blow it, you pause. Their worried and confused looks earn a chuckle out of you.

“Whose plan is this for our 5 years?”

They all stare at you. Wait not you. Someone behind you. Mingi.

You quickly turn around, causing his hands to fall from your shoulders. Small eyes and wide smile staring down at you.

“What happened?”

“Thank you.”

He turns you around and hands resting on your shoulder like before and now, you smile towards everyone.

He whispers in your ears, “Welcome.”

“Also, I like the name ‘our girl’ because you all are my ‘my boys’. No wait. ‘My Pirates’.”

Their smiles drop for a mere moment but quickly nod their heads and you blow away the candles.

What are they to you? It’s obvious that they are your family. The only people who actually cared for you like a family. They are like brothers with each other but with you. With you? Did you fall in love with them? Love? You haven’t thought like this with them but you are sure one person is always making it obvious. Even if you feel a little bit something more with them. You are sure its not the same from the other end.

San. He has almost confessed his feelings several times but you just waved it off with changing the topic or just giving him a smile. You being their light was first referred by him. His life is very unstable unlike others. He had to change schools several times and this time, he made himself clear that he has to permanently settle down at one place. Due to changing places often, he does not have any one permanent in his life like you before meeting them. That is why, you are so close with him. The nights you both spend together with your head resting on his shoulder and talking about your life. The comfortable silence between you both and whispers which are only for between you two.

San is a comfort place. They all are. In their own way. The way mountains stand high to protect the nature and its beauty, he is the one shielding all of you and can even sacrifice himself to save you all. To save the friendship and the bonding of the family.

To protect his light.

Their light.

Their treasure.

 You.

The member who is just the opposite to San is Mingi. He is a mysterious person. Its true that they all have some hidden past but his present is also hidden. When San is very physical and verbal with everything, Mingi is quiet and staying all by himself. When you first met him, he was still in school and he got in many fights and Jongho and San were there to bring back him from the scene. He is the one who still thinks himself as the extra member in the family even after so many years. You don’t want him to be left out in any way so you always keep his update whenever you are with them. He always keeps his earplugs on and closing his eyes, staying in a corner of the warehouse. But secretly, he is the most emotional one.

Maybe they have individual mysterious past and some uneven presents which are not clear to you. You don’t know exactly what they do for the living but one thing is common. The future with you all together. The uncalled blurry future which is peeking like a moonlight yet you are not fazed with it. The way they keep you safe from this world. You need to keep them safe from whatever lingering danger roaming around for them.

But, can you?

▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️

“Mr. kang Mr. kang please tell me. Tell me. What’s going on here? Where are they?”

“Go away. Just go away. You don’t have to know about this. I’m sure you don’t want to end up in a similar way like them.”

“what? What happened to them?”

“Nothing you need to know.”

“I have to. I need to know. Let me enter the building. Leave my hand. I need to see them.”

You are screaming and the people crowding the place are looking in between the warehouse entrance and to the side where Mr. kang is holding your arm, preventing you from entering the building. You could see many police cars and ambulance all around. Government forces are also guarding and preventing from anyone trespassing the area which they have already closed with barricades and no entry tapes.

Your screams are echoing the place even silencing the thunderstorm and heavy rain at the moment. Everything is blur to your eyes. Your tears and raindrops mixing together same as the way your hope to meet them mixing with the worry of what happened to them. Everything is crashing to the ground with each rain drop. But one thing is still in your mind, to see them.

A government officer comes near you and Mr. Kang, and your hope to know about the scene rises.

“Hello, Mr.kang.”

“please, what happened? Let me enter. Please.”

The officer looks at you for a moment before Mr. kang speak up, “Ignore her. I will take care of this. So, that’s the end, right?”

“No one is alive. Each on of them is deceased. Also…your son was there too. One among the deceased ones.”

“I know.”

You look towards them with horror in your eyes, “Who?”

“Kang Yeosang.”

Yeosang.

One of the deceased. Them. They are deceased.

You sat on the muddy ground with bawling your eyes out and crying louder. If it were some other times then one or the others would come running to you to engulf you in a tight hug and never let you go until you had come down. But now again. Its you all alone. You don’t have a family now. But atleast you have wonderful memories with a family.

▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️

You are again crying and hiccupping like that day again now, sitting on the sofa with the cromer and your backpack. You don’t know what to do with these stuffs but you are going to take all their stuffs with yourself before someone else gets their hand on them.

The cat is still roaming around the place. You put the cromer on the table where moonlight is coming directly from the big ventilators and starts to put everything possible in your bag. Its late at night already and your eyes feeling droopy with tiredness and crying. So, placing the bag aside, you lie down on the sofa to rest yourself.

.

.

.

.

“She is lonely without us. I can’t see her like this.”

The girl’s head resting on the thighs of the tallest man among them. His hands combing her hairs and caressing the scalp in between. Her legs placed over the other’s thigh, one with broad shoulders and his hands drawing soothing circles over her sides to lull her to sleep.

The other peeking down at her with his best friend from behind the sofa and tears glistening their eyes. Another tall man sitting on a chair nearby the sofa, staring at the tired body sleeping soundly in his friends’ hold.

“She is still wearing my bracelet.” Said the one who is examining her hand and the bracelet.

“She even put my drone in her bag.” The eldest who is still holding the bracelet in his hold looks at the person behind the sofa on hearing his words.

The person beside him nods his head with similar sad smile, “She even pass through the dance club with the hope that she would still see me waiting for her.”

“Everything is still in the same place. Thanks to that dad of mine to lock the place and not letting anyone to enter here but I know he is just going to sell this place to the government and she is doing her best to protect this place with her all might.” Yeosang says while wiping the tears and turning away from them.

The leader kneels in front of his face and removes the loose strands of hairs and tugging them behind before caressing her cheeks with a soft smile on his face but tears threating to fall from his eyes.

“I should not have included her in my life when I knew that one day, I need to leave her here all alone. I should not have showed her the hope of us together forever.” He pauses before continuing, “I thought I could have achieved both- the victory and her but I lost both.”

“But you said We can get back with her and that’s possible?”

“I don’t know, Mingi. I don’t know anything anymore.”

“Is it possible?”

Everyone looks towards the youngest on his sudden question as he was being all quiet and him asking the leader caught everyone’s attention.

“What?”

“Is it possible to start again?”

Hongjoong turns back to the girl sleeping peacefully while the eldest caressing her hand. The leader’s thumb ghosts over the dried tears over her cheeks and dry lips with exhaustion reflecting from her whole self.

“I don’t know what to do but everything is possible till she is being our light and our precious treasure which we need to protect. Our only hope to start a new beginning from the horizon.”

Honjoong leans forward to peck her lips.

▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️

Your eyes shot open and you sit up. You are sweating and bring your fingers to your lips, you feel as if the dream was real. They were here. No. how can they be? You touch your forehead and then to your neck, you are having fever. Its just a dream because of your exhaustion. It was a fever dream.

‘Everything is possible till she is being our light.’

‘Their precious treasure.’

Your eyes stare at the cromer. You need to know about them all over again but in details. You need to find their past and what happened to them that day.

‘Our only hope to start a new beginning from the horizon.’

The diary.

You rummage through the items to get the diary and quickly pull it out.

The title written on it: ‘From the witness.’

Flips open the diary, the first page reflects the word, ‘The Black Pirates’.

The words written scribbled below are Passion Young Fever.

“Is this the end?”

.

.

.

“Or is it the beginning of the end?”

.

.

.

The fever dream was real?

Or actually, you never met them?

Or maybe, It’s just the part of the witness you read in this diary and all these times you spend yourself imagining in her place.

Was it her dream?

Or yours?

……..

[ Now listen here! When writing this down, i literally plotted a whole series but somehow i uploaded this one-shot on the request. maybe I would write a series on this in future. Should I make it a series?]

Perma Taglist: @mymoodwriting @justhere4kpop @vvshere @anyamaris @yeoobin @icchyi @jwnghyuns @piratequeen-queenofgames @dinonuguaegi @oreharuuu @eriny123 @sanwifesstuff @kiwiisnthereoops @kiwiraccoon [open!]

[tgmsunmontue]

Coming from my main SORRY but 🔥 and your choice, let the inspo guide you

😈😈😈

SO!

The Great Mashup AKA Twisters/Gorge/Maverick... Tagging @phisworld14 and @halestrom because quite frankly they don't get a say in the matter... (and your blog you actually use @hangmanbradshaw).

(For anyone not aware of this, then I refer you all to THIS POST HERE, and the 87 comments currently on it for reference).

This one haunts my every waking moment until I put it to bed and force myself to focus on one of my actual PROPER WIPs. But you've just opened a floodgate so I might need to save this answer as a draft so I can write and come back to it during my working hours... And I've put this under a cut now.

BUT.

I've been figuring out the order in which the possible canon movies would work, and I can only think that it would need to go Twisters, Gorge and then Maverick, because I feel like Drasa would be very much all up in Levi's shit about not talking to his family, because she LOVED her dad, and what the fuck does Levi think he's doing just not even attempting to make amends? Huh? (And that man is SO GONE on her, and if she wants a family, then he'll give her a fucking family, go and find Bradley and talk things out. Find Maverick and make a better effort at staying in touch...)

So it's while both Bradley and Maverick are in blackout comms that Levi and Drasa are trying to find them, and Levi is freaking out a little that HE DIDN'T EVEN SAY GOODBYE!!! He went black-ops, so he never considered that Bradley might one day be the one to die while on a mission, he's up in the sky, not doing hand-to-hand stuff (and Levi does not appreciate the fact that he's a fucking sniper and does all his best work FROM A DISTANCE).

BUT ALSO - Bradley's ability to hit that target with no guidance??? Levi is totally going to be all smug about him "teaching" Bradley that, and Bradley being "you didn't teach me shit" and cue another rough-housing fight while Jake, Tyler, Drasa and Kate are all just 🤨🤔😑🙄...

So I don't envision this fic as being overly long, but it having lots of little vignettes and slices of life from each person/couple.

Carole giving birth to surprise twins and Nick and Maverick being all proud like it was somehow them doing all the hard work and Carole sitting there like 😑😑😑.

Jake/Tyler's mum knowing she's having twins and being well prepared. (They've got three older brothers and she was REALLY HOPING for a girl... instead she got TWO MORE BOYS. Not borrowing from one of my friends at all there...)

Like when Tyler talks about Kate to Jake for the first time, and the Jake meets her and sees how happy his brother is??? (And GOD does he want that for himself, but he's bombing out on fucking Grindr, and his regular hookups with Bradshaw are becoming a little fraught maybe? Are they frienemies? Exes? Just flirted and never done anything about it? I haven't decided - but I just want Jake and Bradley BOTH to look at each other's twin and be like HOW DID I END UP WITH THE UNROMANTIC ONE??? (Except of course they haven't let those walls down, too scared to be vulnerable with each other, BUT NOW!!! THEY CAN!!! (Spoiler - they're not very good at it)).

ALSO - Levi and Tyler FRIENDSHIP along with Kate and Drasa friendship. Like these guys are both bonding over the fact that their twin brother is certifiable. In love, sure. But also this is NOT how you go about wooing someone? Like they look at each other and go... you seem normal - what the fuck happened WITH HIM???

I just... I am NOT NORMAL about this.

AT ALL.

[tragedry]

What headcanons do you have for the spider-man Tyler AU? (It's awesome btw!!). How did he get bit? Does Taylor know? What are the others up to?

sorry for the late response anon, life got a bit busy (projects, responsibilities, getting sick, etc)

anyway, this ask has been haunting my narrative for so long and i really wanted to go ham with my answer, and now that i'm in bed rest (as per my doctor's advice) and bored out of my mind, i feel like i can finally settle down and answer your questions!!

1. how did Tyler get bit?

he got bit during the summer, specifically on a trip to savannah. okay, so in this AU the location is set to NY bc i really can't imagine spiderman being anywhere else lol, which means this AU is very different from the canonverse.

though the twins were still born in Georgia, they're now studying in NY with full scholarships (to get that 🤑🤑) they still make the effort to visit home every weekend if they can (for their mom)

which brings us back to how Ty got bit.. so during the summer, the twins spent most of their time at home, and on their way back to campus, they went to Savannah on a whim and that's where they came across the weird haunted house and Ty got bit by a radioactive spider.

(i don't really have much thoughts about the details, but the event was very wild for the both of them, hence why the two have a matching 'I survived my trip to Savannah' t-shirt lol)

2. Does Taylor know?

Yes, her sibling intuition was definitely telling her something was up after their weird trip to Savannah, and the more Ty seemed to change and keep away from her, the more she needed to know what was going on.

She finds out eventually, but the cost is very high... (referring to my last spiderman tyler art)

3. What are the others up to?

As of the moment, i've only ever thought about Ashlyn in this AU apart from the twins.

Basically, she's Ty's lab partner.

(i already have a fic i plan on writing for this, but it's not gonna be ready for a while)

HEADCANONS:

Ty is still part of the varsity (for hus scholarship)

Tay is in the mechanics club (she ends up helping Ty with his spiderman suit later on once she finds out about his double life)

The scars on Ty's face is from the traumatic accident™

Ashlyn is the second to suspect Ty's hiding something, though she doesn't really pry him for answers

Everyone's a bit older in this AU, i'm thinking 16 or older tbh

alright, i think that's it for now. thank you for letting me yap about this AU of mine, and if anyone's interested to know more, feel free to ask me stuff!!

(you can also check out the tag 'AU: SPIDERVERSE' for any updates!)

[elsaxx19]

I survived the Until dawn movie, that’s like one of the top 5 hardest things I have done in my life yet. If you liked the movie atleast a bit i suggest you scroll now because i’m about to rip this mess to pieces.

Here is a list of questions that popped into my head while torturing my eyes and soul with this monstrosity of a film, it’s gonna be a long one so grab your popcorn I guess…

Why is everyone wearing an oddly similar outfit, why are there only five of them, why is the gas station called ”Hartley’s” if it’s run by dr. Hill and not Chris, why is there only one missing sister, how is every character from the group so damn annoying and why do they hate eachother, what was that weather circle, literally what was the house supposed to be like was it just a haunted house, where is the snow and the lodge, why is the psycho bald and who was he and how did he get there, why is Peter Stormares character called dr. Hill if he’s basically a totally different character, why are the other characters hating on Abe while he is the only sane person there (telling the truth is crazy in a world full of lies) and why the hell did that one girl stab him, WHY IS THERE A WITCH, why was the tap water bad like was it poisoned and what was it poisoned with, why does this remind me more of The Quarry than Until dawn, why is the hourglass so important in this when its just a graphic choice for the cover of the game, why was Clover only posessed by the witch for one of the nights, why did it seem like gooner content or something when that asian girl exploded, why were they able to feel the ways they died only after died for the first time, why was there a sex tape in the basement like that was so unnecessary, why did they choose that lazy ass plot of having a ”psychic” character, why were the mines and sanatorium combined, were the glitching video effects supposed to like actually scary, why did the night start over at exactly those moments like when that one girl wiped the mirror and stuff, why was there a drawing of a werewolf, why did all of the jumpscares follow the exactly same series of cinematic techniques like first theres quiet then theres a bit of relief and then theres a jumpscare, why does this whole movie remind me more of Beetlejuice beetlejuice than Until dawn, why didnt Clover just open the damn bear trap cuz by the looks of it the spikes werent even that long, why wasnt the sister a full wendigo and why did she just look like a posessed doll, what was that clown doll at the witches house, why is the plot of this movie that if you mess up the first time and die you can try again by coming back to life when in the game the point is the complete opposite because like the point of the butterfly effect is that one small thing you do can cost someones life, why was complete ”wendigos die from fire and born from cannibalism” lore removed when the wendigo is the biggest reference from the original game even according to the way the movie has been marketed, were these characters written by a gen x man who was never met an actual gen z, how was there only one actually spooky jumpscare, why was there a random sunken town, what was that worm on Clovers face supposed to be, how was my pulse the highest when I realized that we were soon about to see 5 seconds of Josh, why did the movie acknowledge the lodge BUT ONLY IN THE END, why did the group go to the town where the sister disappear lastly at the end of the road trip instead of starting there, were all these outfits and accesories ordered from Shein, why did we only see a couple of the nights fully like what was the point of watching a couple of them on that guys’ phone, was the psycho like an actual creature or just a really strong guy, what happened to the other people who had come there and why did they come there in the first place, how many plot holes were actually in this and has anyone counted yet (if not my guess is 23), why are all of the characters dark haired, why don’t the characters relationships have like anything to do anything, why isn’t the music scary, why didn’t Clover just stab dr. Hill cuz that seemed easier tbh, why was the wendigo chained in that room, not that i’m complaining but was Joshes file there just as a reference or did it actually mean something, who was driving that car that almost hit the group and last but not least HOW UNTALENTED OF A DIRECTOR DO YOU HAVE TO BE SO THAT THE ONLY SCARY ELEMENT IN THIS MOVIE IS THE JUMPSCARES???

If I ever had a semi positive thought even barely related to this crapstrosity of a movie it sure is gone now, just like my hopes for an actual Until dawn movie. From now on I will deny the existence of this movie and the fact that I actually saw it. I haven’t felt this angry since accidentally missing that one werewolf while shooting in The Quarry but i’m sure as hell enraged now. God is sorry he made us.

Thank you for coming to TED talk.

elsaxx19 out.

[roboticsstuff]

Cars walking into a haunted house Pt. 1

Inspired by: @rollingwheels (check them out!)

Okay- So, I know it's not a spooky month but it is to me! And I'm gonna show you, how the WGP, Cars 3 and 1 are gonna react when they are walking in a haunted house.

*Humanized*

Montgomery "Lightning" McQueen - Okay, So Lightning is first so what he does is that he has this cocky attitude and goes inside the haunted house but deep down inside, he's actually scared (Reference to Cars on the Road) and if there happened to be a killer clown in there Oof- Say goodbye to your hearing- Cause he's gonna scream really loud (like really loud). ☠️

Tow Mater - Oh, Uh- You can figure that out...

Jeff Gorvette - Oh he'll stand there like a statue! And he moves slowly and quietly and he doesn't want any one popping up in front of his face. He'll throw tires/hands if he gets jumpscared.

Lewis Hamilton - Just starts walking as he tries not to get jumped scared by an actor or anything.

Vitaly Petrov - He may be Russian, Tough, and strong, but- Ha! Your wrong! He's gonna make solids in his pants and he'll have to clean them when he gets home- lol!

Miguel Camino - Yeah, he's Sprinter and people are gonna be able to scare him because he's like a blur. (Because he's the runner and runs from bulls in Spain-)

Carla Veloso - Oh Yeah- She'll have some sass when she walks into the house, nothing won't scare her because she's braver than the boys! (Girl power!)

Francesco Bernoulli - He may act brave, but no, if he was teamed up Raoul or anyone else he's gonna latch onto them starts shaking and chattering his teeth with wide terrified eyes.

Shu Todoroki - He is dead silent he'll be quiet as a mouse and actors won't know he's there- But if he squeaks or squeals then it's game over for him.

Max Schnell - Oh- He'll have his hands in his pockets and walk down the hallway without feeling scared, that dude's tough as a rock- And if an actor startles him or attempts to- He'll just move away quickly but just just shrug it off.

Raoul ÇaRoul - Oh boy- That dude would have a panic attack- If anything or anyone pops up in front of him- He'll jump and scream at the same time, he'll fall on his butt and start scooting away clenching onto his chest and starts Hyperventilating and he'll have an anxiety or panic attack while Hyperventilating, but his boyfriend Rip Clutchgoneski would help him out.

Rip Clutchgoneski - Oh, Well he'll be scared at first but he'll get used to it when he realizes it's not that scary, but if he gets scared or startled he'll let out a little squeak or yelp. But he'll continue. (Just to be clear Rip will be a nervous little boy- but he'll make it out without feeling scared. 😋)

Nigel Gearsly - Easy- He'll run like hell and get scared every time when he runs into an actor-

[aranarumei]

how much does sasaki talk about hirano?

hey everyone. I’m coming to you live with an INVESTIGATIVE REPORT about the one and only sasaki shuumei. the question above pretty much summarizes what I'm trying to find out. so I’ll expand on this under the cut. apologies in advance for any typos

—

there’s a scene that’s always made me confused ever since I first read it (which wow. I’ve been reading this manga as it updates since partly through volume 3… crazy how far its come!) and that is this sequence of two pages in the extras of Vol 7 (39.5), below:

hirano’s like “well, it’s fine to talk about me to miyano as long as you didn’t say any weird stuff about me” and sasaki goes. Silent. Now I at the time assumed like. ah sasaki’s talking about the hirano and kagiura relationshipisms. or the whole uke thing. right?

…right?

see, the thing is: when sasaki visits campus in ch 46, he asks the basketball team about a kagi-kun, and then when miyano questions him about what he was doing, he’s like “oh I just remembered hirano’s old roommate was on the basketball team,” and then refuses to even tell miyano his name. so it’s like… did sasaki EVER talk about hirano’s roommate to Miyano? like of his own initiative? did he offer any information? so I decided that instead of just bringing that question up, I’d reread all of sasaki to miyano and get my answer.

disclaimer that this deals with exclusively the manga: I have this hidden fear that I’m going to post this and get a reply like “oh this is 50% of the entire novel content” but! the scene in question comes up in the manga! I think it ought to then refer to an event in the manga! but seriously if stuff like that does come up in the novel feel free to chime in. also bc I was rereading the whole manga I have Other Thoughts Too but. those can hopefully marinate their way into other posts.

ch 2:

miyano: But I saw you! I saw you laughing as you chatted with a first-year boy from class 1A in the basketball club with a lovely smile!

this does not count. miyano brings this up to hirano himself. in fact a lot of miyano putting hirano into bl contexts happens In Front Of Hirano’s Face. not really a conversation starter for sasaki. it does make ch 46 way more interesting bc it means like. sasaki has remembered that kagiura’s on the basketball team to the point that he wants to check in on him? whereas miyano like Knows this info yet never really pursues it. suppose it’d be awkward to just go up and try to find him without knowing his name, though.

ch 4:

sasaki says “but hirano can handle alcohol fine” which is perfectly on topic since they were just discussing how sasaki can’t handle it. it’s miyano that spins into bl fantasies afterwards. also hirano is right there in this situation. does not count.

ch 5:

sasaki: Hirano’s playing Oiwa-san for the haunted house. Want to see? He’s crossdressing and wearing a wig.

this does count. sasaki is bringing up hirano and telling miyano something that miyano would totally get excited about. it is, I would say, not brought up out of nowhere, since they discuss crossdressing right before. unrelated to this I would love to see the image of sasaki as hanako-san of the toilet.

ch 6:

sasaki asks about miyano’s love life and when miyano says that he’s not romantically interested in anyone around here, and sasaki asks “what about hirano?” miyano says he ships him with his roommate and the conversation ends there. I would say this also does not count—yeah, he’s perhaps bringing up hirano as a romantic prospect, but I think this is more sasaki like. being jealous more than it is using him as a reason to talk to miyano. he’s like. a pretty jealous guy.

ch 8:

sasaki tells miyano that his grades suck and hirano’s been tutoring him. this does not count.

ch 11:

sasaki says “don’t you prefer black-haired ukes?” and “ah, you mean like hirano?” when miyano says he prefers manly ukes. this does count. while it’s in the topic of conversation, there’s not a real reason he has to bring hirano up. plus, he even continues it with “hirano’s pretty tall. can he still not be a seme?” so it’s using hirano to keep a conversation going with miyano, but I will note it’s not what starts the conversation.

ch 13:

sasaki talks about hirano getting banned from doing the ball toss. this does not count.

ch 24.5:

“ooh, if it was hirano, it would be taiko” says sasaki when miyano brings up all the girl names that he and his classmates would have. this does not count. it’s a natural extension of the various female names they’ve been talking about, sasaki included, and hirano’s their mutual friend.

ch 33:

sasaki brings up hirano’s dedication to studying and how he says that getting accepted to university isn’t the finish line. says hirano’s pretty cool for that mindset. this does not count.

ch 41:

sasaki says "haha, yikes! hirano was a terrible influence!" when miyano tells him about kuresawa getting a piercing. this does not count. it’s also after graduation, where the scene happened.

ch 42.5:

sasaki is like wow I can't believe hirano's roommate does THAT in the mornings to miyano, regarding vol 2 of sasaki to miyano. however this kind of thing isn't quite canonical since they know there are books being published about them so. this does not count.

halloween 2018 extra:

miyano asks if sasaki's friends got their items confiscated, and sasaki replies by saying that hirano's in charge of confiscation for their class, so their class had the idea to overwhelm him. this does not count.

dvd extra 4:

sasaki tells miyano about how they ripped the wallpaper on accident, and once he said it kind of gave it a badboy feel, they started doing it on purpose. hirano participated in it too. this does not count.

I’ve probably missed some, but we can see that out of all of these situations, only TWO are actually what I’d qualify as “weird” by hirano’s metrics. unless sasaki talking about the wild stuff Hirano gets up to includes his ball toss strategy and him ripping up wallpaper. then it’s four. my point is that sasaki says it’s “a lot” when it’s not. so… why is that?

I’ve been mulling over a couple of ideas regarding this, but I kind of don’t want to offer up my own interpretations first? plus when I tried writing my answer I spun off into a really bad tangent, so… post ends here. hope we all learned something here!

[night-unfurls-its-splendour]

Susan Kay's 'Phantom' Read: Part IV (Nadir)

I always knew I'd have mixed feelings about this chunk of the book.

I feel like the issues with the rampant Orientalism and just generally how very wrong Kay is about so much of this have been sufficiently commented on by others, so I'm not going to spend a lot of real estate on that. I'm mainly going to focus on what bugs me personally.

Which is... well, several things

Where do I start?

I guess with "Nadir" himself. I don't know who "Nadir" is, but he's #NotMyDaroga. 'Why's that?' You may ask? Well because, in my opinion, he's only tangentially related to his source material. There's a lot here that checks the boxes: Daroga of Mazanderan, reluctant with many of his duties, simultaneously in awe of and terrified of Erik’s genius all of that's in there. Buuuuut

First of all, Kay took the most practical, likeable character in Leroux's work and made him whiny and annoying. All he does for the first five pages is complain. Within those five pages he also refers to himself as "regrettably squeamish". Nothing happens in the course of this episode to show him growing out of that, so how we get the, pragmatic badass who haunts the Paris opera house keeping Erik in check I have no idea (I also have no idea how this is gonna go later in the book).

Not only that but this in particular stuck out to me:

Some of the illusions were positively supernatural, and long before the show was at an end, I was quietly convinced that I stood in the presence of a genie, created from fire more than two thousand years before Adam. I noted uneasily that he was left handed. Every Moslem knows that the devil is left handed--it is for this reason that we always take care to spit to the left. My fingers felt instinctively for the amulets that hung at my neck, an outstretched hand made in silver and the dried eye of a sheep, killed at Mecca on the great day of sacrifice. Both were powerful protective agencies, and I had never felt more in need of their protection. I took care not to meet his gaze, for I already feared his evil eye.

This stands in sharp contrast to the Persian of Leroux:

If I had been a superstitious man or easily susceptible to weakness, I could not have failed to think that I had to do with a siren of some sort whose task was to trouble the voyager bold enough to travel on the waters of the lakeside house; but, thank God, I come from a country where the fantastic is so cherished that we know it to its depths, and in times past I myself have studied it extensively. Anyone who knows the magicians trade can excite the human imagination with a few simple tricks.

Of course you can make the argument that the Persian speaking here has known Erik for years now and is wise to his tricks, whereas Kay's "Nadir" is seeing them for the first time. But I'm sorry. I don't buy it. Leroux's Daroga, though amazed and awestruck by Erik's skills at illusion, never indicates that he has even been so fooled by them as to actually mistake him for more than what he is: a genius, certainly, but no genie.

Which leads me to wonder if Erik's magic tricks in this book aren't a little too fantastic. Granted Kay never leads us to believe that they really are supernatural, but she uses Erik's degree of genius as a bit of a shield to get away with not revealing the secrets to some truly fantastic tricks, while Leroux nearly always explains Erik's mechanisms (whether they would work to the level of efficacy Leroux describes its up for debate, but he at least does have explanations for them all.

I think it's hilarious and contemptible that Kay has, at numerous times in this book, dropped incredibly clunky and gratuitous clusters of architectural technical terms, just lists of them for no apparent reason except, I can only assume, to show off how much research she did on the subject; and then makes it so patently obvious that her cultural research is dubious, negligible, or entirely non-existent.

She goes to great lengths to paint Nadir as a devout Muslim, which is not something Leroux ever did, now that I think about it. I don't doubt that the Persian is, at least culturally, be he seems quite ambivalent to his religion, as a rule. It quite literally (as far as I can recall) never comes up. But Nadir is. Several times she has him exclaim "Allah" much in the way a Westerner would use "God" as an expletive. Not "Wallah" not even "By Allah" just "Allah".

"Allah, how I hated cats!"

And it's not only the things he says but the things he doesn't say that annoy me (though I'm a layman, and very much open to correction). Common Islamic phrases that could easily be used in any of the situations Nadir finds himself in are completely left by the wayside. There isn't even a single "Inshallah" in his entire narrative.

Another problem I have is that Kay's Daroga is a widower with a sick son. A very complex emotional relationship develops among Erik, Nadir, and Nadir's son, Reza, to whom Erik feels an affinity, as the boy is slowly crippled by a debilitating congenital disease. I have a problem with this because its all very... I call it the Michael Burnham effect. That is to say this is a very important and big emotional thing in The Persian's relationship with Erik and I don't believe that this wouldn't have come up in any of the Persian's narrative if it was actually the case. This is a liberty which Kay, in my opinion, shouldn't have taken. It affects Erik's entire relationship with The Persian in ways that strain my credulity. And it's part of the reason that Erik's character here is fully beginning to stray deeper into a musical-based version than the Leroux-version (which I have a problem with, as this book is ostensibly following Leroux's outline). She even goes to far as to have Erik acknowledge Nadir, with complete (if reluctant) sincerity, as his friend. And this pretty much confirms my suspicions of where "Erik and Daroga are friends" comes from. Whatever Erik and The Persian's odd relationship in the book is, I can't call it friendship with how frequently The Persian calls him "the monster".

Note don't get me wrong Erik and Daroga do definitely have a bizarre bond that is, I think, a kind of friendship. Daroga feels sympathy for Erik, and also responsibility for him. He is, in many, ways, more like an older brother than a friend. I could say so much on this subject but that's for another post.

But what I find really baffling and annoying about Erik and Nadir's "friendship" in this book is the drugs.

I can't express how repugnant I find this. I think it's an insult to both Erik and the Persian, the fact that Nadir HIMSELF GETS ERIK HOOKED ON OPIUM. WHY. And then she has the fucking nerve to lampshade with all the "Oh yes Opium's a terrible horrible deadly habit" Only to have Nadir turn right around and give Erik his fix. What the actual fuck.

But setting aside that Susan Kay actually said "I'm not just going to make Nadir annoying, I'm also going to make him an enabler!" Is the fact that... I just don't buy Erik doing drugs.

I know Erik is an artist, and artists throughout the ages have been associated with decadent habits like drugs and alcohol to soothe their tortured souls or broaden their minds to ever more fantastic plains blah blah blah.

But Erik is not an every day kind of character. Erik is notable in how uniquely he glories in his tribulations. Erik's music in particular is a manifestation of his pure emotions both good and bad, and I think for him to alter his moods with substances, to him, would sully the purity of his art, which he always characterizes as a spiritual, almost holy thing.

And here's another thing. Part of the reason Erik is doing opium in this book is, yes the horrors of his past, but also the terrible things he's doing in the present... which I do think Erik of Leroux did grow sick of what was demanded of him in Persia (he explicitly says he wanted to put it all behind him), but I don't think he probably felt... that bad about it? I dunno maybe that's just me.

Moving on.

I'll pause here to say that while I think Kay is a bit guilty of "de-fanging" Erik in this book, I genuinely do appreciate her emphasis on his affinity for the weak and broken, and his knack with animals.

So now I come to one of the things that made me look most askance at this section. Again, the conceit of this book (or at least what I was given to understand the conceit was) is that its filling in the blanks that Leroux left vague. And I don't really know if that was Susan Kay's intention, but it's certainly how the Phandom took it. Which is why it bugs me when there are things in here that either don't quite jive with canon or straight up contradict it.

Now in terms of the canon of Leroux's actual book, we're not sure exactly which Shah employed Erik. Leonard Wolf point out that Leroux mentions Erik "[fighting] the Emir" and posits that he is referring to the Afghani-Persian war of 1837. This would put Erik’s age in PotO at about 60, assuming he was very young at the time (in his teens). That would make Erik's patron Mohammad Shah Qajar.

However M. Grant Kellermeyer (and most others writing about this period in Erik’s life, including Susan Kay) favour the idea that Erik’s patron was Mohammed's son, Nasser al din Shah Qajar.

When Erik and the Persian talk about the "Rosy Hours of Mazanderan" they both make mention of the "Little Sultana", who is described by Leroux's narrator in the epilogue as "the Shah-in-Shah's favourite", whose boredom was the Shah's impetus for sending the Persian to find Erik in the first place, and whose delight in bloodthirsty spectacles of torture and execution allowed Erik's talents in those areas to develop into a finely honed art.

Now I would take "the Little Sultana" to mean one of the Shah's wives, concubines, daughters, or even a sister.

But Kay, for some inexplicable reason, chooses to interpret this capricious (and bloodthirsty) female figure--the Shah's favourite--as his... mother.

Now Nasser al din Shah's mother was Malek Jahan Khanom, who, true to Kay's portrayal was Regent of Persia for one month (September 5th - October 5th) in 1848. Also like Kay's "Khanum", Malek was a formidable and politically savvy woman, and definitely not an individual you would want to cross.

I can't dispute the idea of the Khanom being an incredibly powerful figure, and the type you would need and want to keep appeased (she is described by Kay as keeping her son firmly under her thumb), but I have to look at the fact that Kay read "The Little Sultana, the Shah's Favourite" and really said, "Right. That'll be his mom" and squint a little bit.

On top of this, the Khanum is characterized as having a sexual obsession with Erik, very similar to the way Duchess Josiana is aroused by Gwynplaine's facial deformity in Victor Hugo's The Man Who Laughs, and is first irritated, then enraged by Erik's constant indifference. This fact is not lost on the Shah.

I just don't know ya'll. It's...I just... I don't know about this.

M. Grant Kellermeyer speculates that the "Little Sultana" Leroux refers to, to be the seventh wife of Nasser al din Shah, Jeyran, whom he first took as a mistress in around 1850 following a chance encounter during which he apparently fell in love with her on sight. One story of their meeting even asserts that she was one of his mother's servants.

If that is the case it would be one reason why Malek and Jeyran stood locked for years in stark political opposition to each other.

Jeyran was herself formidable and enjoyed many masculine pursuits including hunting and shooting, and not even the Khanom was able to dissuade Nasser from conferring her the title of Forough ol-Saltaneh, or from naming her son the crown prince (though this decision was stuck in political hell for years because of Jeyran's lack of influential blood-lines).

She was his favourite wife until her early death in 1860 at the age of 29.

It's my opinion that Leroux's "Little Sultana" is a composite of Jeyran and her successor as the Shah's favourite, Anis al-Dalweh, who was even more formidable and politically savvy than Jeyran. She was the only one of the Shah's wives known to share his meals and the only one he suffered to publicly criticize him, and she took over Malek's duties as the head of the harem upon her death in 1873.

Masterpost

[redstringraven]

OC question for you! Is there an item, belief, or person that your OCs refuse to (or struggle with) leave behind? Does this have a positive or negative impact on them, either long or short term?

(And why do they hold onto it so strongly?)

<:D!! aaa THANK YOU!! omg, this is a great question.

---*---

CASSIA while she's not usually one to hold onto things, i know for a fact cassia carries a strong and bitter grudge toward her mom's side of the family--specifically her maternal grandparents and one of her two aunts. i'd mentioned previously that esme's side of the family didn't accept cassia's transition, but that's not the heart of the reason for her grudge. their rejection was more a general final straw and lead to their estrangement (also they would have been estranged regardless, if they hadn't accepted cassia for who she is ofc, just to clarify; i just mean to say shit was already stacked up).

esme struggles with high anxiety. where cassia is loud and energetic and loves being the center of attention, esme has always been soft-spoken, a bit timid, and tries to take up as little space in a room as possible. much of this behavior can be attributed to the environment she was raised in.

while esme (and oliver) haven't provided cassia with heavy details--your child can support you, but it isn't their responsibility to carry your burdens--she knows enough to understand why esme's demeanor would change during certain family visits.

cassia will sometimes commit petty acts of '''violence''', such as signing up to junkmail newsletters with her aunt and grandparents' email addresses, or prank calling their house before caller ID was a thing, or a variety of other harmless--but extremely annoying--"pranks". she mostly only does this when she's in a low place, herself, and she doesn't talk about it to much of anyone outside her therapist (because she knows her parents would gently chide her). it's her dirty little secret. wouldn't surprise me if she has some kind of burn book somewhere in her room specifically for them.

NYXRAM nyx is not a person to hold onto things, be them grudges or material items. if something's becoming dead weight she lets it go.

there is, however, one exception.

i've mentioned nyx was the only survivor of her clutch. she doesn't remember most of her siblings, but she does remember her brother. for dozens of cycles in her youth, the two of them trained together. they had a complicated relationship; there were moments of competition and resentment, but there were also moments of silent support. until the day came that their parents decided it was time for that first kill to be made. nyxram's first kill was her brother and last remaining sibling. he never earned a name.

i'm not sure if "haunted" is the right word, but nyxram seems to believe her brother is still with her in some way. she refers to him as a feeling she gets--almost a sixth-sense-like impulse that alerts her to approaching/unseen danger and keeps her alive when something should have gotten the jump on her. whether she considers this a blessing or more of a curse depends on the day. she got to live that day, so she's going to keep living... whether she wants to or not.

for a long time, she kept the knife she used to kill him. but when traximus goes to mourn tilus and leaves a spear at his grave, nyxram leaves the knife. i wouldn't say she's left her brother, or the associated tangle of complicated emotions, behind. but it is a first step to allowing herself some kind of peace.

GWYN it's a cop-out answer, but i feel like i have to say ash, given this is a point of argument between them throughout their journey.

ash considers herself dead, as i've mentioned, and has come to peace with it as well as the idea that she may be a literal weapon for the rest of her sentience. she often wishes gwyn would move on and live for herself, rather than continue risking her life for what ash considers an unreachable goal. but gwyn won't, or can't, let her go.

darach has tried the tactic of "look at the trail of pain and misery you've left behind--all these people hurt, the sense of security in their lives forever tainted; it would all end if you just surrendered her to me".

and like... gwyn knows he's right. he'd stop pursuing her, the "ripple effect" of her presence on any world would vanish and people around her--regardless of their involvement--would stop suffering. but... whether you call it loyalty or selfishness, she won't let ash go.

now she's landed in new york. and the ripple is starting to spread.

ASH again, a bit of a cop-out answer but if i were going to provide any answer, it'd be gwyn. ash will absolutely use whatever little bit of power she has to keep gwyn alive. outside of that, though... she's at peace with the fact she's "dead". she doesn't hold on to much else.

[fyrefrostanimus]

I still need to finish full references for most of the characters in the Everyone Lives AU but I might as well infodump what I know about the FNaF 6 cast after the fire if anyone wants to read it.

Michael

So, Frailty's remnant logic. If you know you know, if you don't it basically means that he recovers really quickly because molten soul metal is a hell of a drug. Mike actually didn't start recovering until AFTER the fire, since most of his body was rotten to the point it would take forever. Then the fire burned the parts that were stopping the remnant from really working (as you may guess it did not burn as Henry had anticipated) and it really was a shock when Michael passed out in the middle of the floor in front of everyone because his lungs just completely reformed and he hadn't needed to breathe in so long he'd just forgotten.

After he fully recovered (basically he looks like a normal human being again), his eyes took on a silver tone instead of the previous gray-blue. A little nod to the Silver Eyes trilogy even if it's just me taking the name literally.

Honestly way too much of Mike's stuff here is just "yeah this is how having remnant in his bloodstream affects him", so last one: while ghosts just phase through most people, Michael's a solid object (usually ghosts can only physically interact with other ghosts/directly haunted objects). Also he's kinda stuck being 23 forever.

Michael really likes Mother Mother, his favorite album is O My Heart. This might seem random but just listen to Body and you'll probably get it.

Since this AU came from nostalgia from an ask blog I used to frequent, he figures out that the older animatronics are still out there and goes around collecting them one way or another.

Henry

Charlie kinda shoved his soul into Lefty. She refuses to elaborate why to him.

Henry's a bit upset that he's still here, but maybe that's a good thing since no one else seemed to die in the fire.

Charlie

Her main reason for shoving her dad into Lefty was that THIS being his solution to keep her there pissed her off. Before you get on me for mischaracterizing her, imagine trying to fall asleep, but whenever you're about to nod off something wakes you up again so you're just constantly cranky from being tired for a whole week. That's basically what it was like insider Lefty for her.

She was inside the Puppet for a week before leaving it, and most of that time was spent inside a cardboard box that Michael was about to put into recycling. Box is box and Charlie was tired.

Charlie can interact more with the physical world, unlike most ghosts (eg. picking objects up, having more choice in when she phases through things, etc.).

William

He's just completely out. Everyone else could at least move after the fire (although Mike did have one of his legs charred to the point it crumbled when he tried to walk on it), but he's in UCN right now. Elizabeth in CB had to carry him out of the building.

William does still twitch occasionally, so he's obviously not dead. To reduce suspicion from the house smelling like someone died inside, they keep him in the basement and check on him once in a while to see if he woke up.

Elizabeth and Circus Baby

I got a lot to say on Elizabeth, honestly the reason I made this post was because I thought about her a lot while drawing her and I didn't want to forget it. Eventually I just decided "screw it, this IS the main AU I think about anyways so why not give everyone who wants to know an intro?". I'll color the text as it corresponds to each (green for Liz, blue for CB).

Originally she planned on only staying at Michael's house until William woke up and they split off (not like she would tell him). Elizabeth only stayed longer because it became really apparent that he wasn't getting up for a long while and she didn't want to leave without William.

She died in 1987 shortly after the second Missing Childrens Incident, and hadn't actually left Circus Baby until after the fire. So she spent about 36 years with no break inside the 7-foot-tall robot, and was extremely used to that. Once she's out and herself again, Elizabeth is suddenly about 4 feet tall and feels completely different. The closest thing I think to how she'd feel is weak/defenseless.

Michael managed to tell Elizabeth that William full well knew that Circus Baby would kill her if she went near it because that's what she was created to do, even having an emergency override: he just didn't pay enough attention to use it in time. She does end up believing this but it left her in a situation where she just couldn't trust anyone in the house for a while. William was shown to not really care about her as much as she thought he did, and she still didn't trust Michael. Elizabeth didn't trust Henry or Charlie either, and the rest of the Funtimes kicked Circus Baby (and by extension her) out to survive on her own. Eventually she built enough trust with everyone but it really did take a while.

The original MCI kids and Evan show up eventually, and Elizabeth subconsciously would count them and only really interact closely with one at a time when it was just the two of them. It's a habit she picked up from her time in Circus Baby and I don't think it really ever left her. So Elizabeth looks really shy at first, but really she's just functioning off of something that she has for years.

Circus Baby is still Scrap Baby when it comes to looks, but still goes by her normal name.

She has the claw on her right arm but no actual reason to use it, so sometimes she'll clamp down on something and not let go just for fun. This annoys basically everyone else since occasionally it will be one of their arms.

CB and Elizabeth still get along really well. CB's the only one Elizabeth trusts during that time period where no one else seemed trustworthy.

Everyone just calls Circus Baby either by her full name or CB (like I did here sometimes). But no one under any circumstances calls her just Baby. More from their own preference.

Molten Freddy

The Funtimes (minus Circus Baby who is still exiled) aren't exactly Molten Freddy anymore. They separated into their different characters again but take their sweet time figuring out how to take a form other than just a blob again. They'll figure it out eventually.

By eventually, I mean when Michael finally caves and goes back to the bunker for their casings. If Circus Baby can do it and not get locked back in, there's no way he can't (I would not doubt that the remains of his previous internal organs are still there, but he wasn't thinking about that part).

They get really excited seeing some of the most mundane slice-of-life things. Mike's building a LEGO set since he hasn't had enough time to do so in a while? They're immediately over there watching. The Funtimes probably haven't seen vents that aren't large enough for a grown man to crawl through and are questioning about why they exist if not as a mode of quick transportation around the house.

The Rockstars

Not much about them, but there's some notable things about the Rockstars I wanted to put here to finish this post off.

Rockstar Freddy's fucking dead. I'm not even holding back, he overheated in the fire and no amount of repairs are going to bring him back (UCN reference lol).

All the surviving Rockstars have some pretty bad fire damage, but none of them really care about it. The nice part of not having as much of a programmed personality is that you don't care how you look quite as much.

With Freddy gone, Rockstar Bonnie and Foxy do vocals together. Despite their grouping being called the Rockstars they actually do more country songs than anything.

[grace-aline]

Why I think Bob Newby had to die (part 1: a postscript)

On being consumed by the abnormal

It's difficult to name our last glimpse of Bob because the Duffers love themselves a good flashback. The fact that Joyce has several concerning Bob could be a whole other post. I could fairly confidently put 'extremely veiled allusion to Bob/Bob flashback' on my Season 5 bingo card, let's put it that way.

What I'm talking about, though, is the last time we actually see Bob linearly, as opposed to a memory of him. I's not a very pleasant moment; he's being torn apart by Demodogs. I'll spare you the GIF, although I do think it's a striking shot and a masterclass in practical and visual effects, because anyone who is familiar with Season 2 has that bird's-eye view of his desiccated body burned into their retinas.

In my last post, I talked about Bob's thematic value to the Duffers. I argued that he is the perfect candidate for a transformation from someone achingly, comfortingly normal into something abnormal, corrupted by supernatural trauma.

But by the last time Bob is physically present in the show, ravenous Demodogs have taken things a step further. Bob's face is still recognisable, but the frozen, dumbstruck expression on it is horrible and new. Because in the end, the Upside Down doesn't just traumatise him; it literally consumes him. He actually becomes a part of it, sustaining the supernatural ecosystem feeding off his body.

Horrible, I know, but also true, I think.

The conclusion that Bob was actually, physically kind of absorbed by the Upside Down is a bit whacky, I know. But just stick with me here, I think I might be onto something.

Reason 1: Bob's disappearing act

First and foremost, it is actually strange that after that haunting final shot of his corpse, Bob is simply no more. No funeral, no grave, no photos, no belongings in Joyce's house for her to come across and cry over. Sure, his ghost haunts the show through flashbacks, drawings, even in a news report; in any way that isn't physical evidence of his existence.

And what's even weirder is that after Season 2, no character ever mentions him again. He literally never comes up again, he's never directly mentioned or indirectly referred to by another character. No one even says his name.

And I know they would've cleaned out the Lab after so many people died there in Season 2, but hell, Bob Newby's death is arguably the goriest death in the whole show; which is quite the mantle, considering how violent ST can get; but when Hopper and Joyce return to that exact spot a year later, there is not a single blood-stained tile or indication that someone had died a graphic, messy death there.

It's fucking weird, is what it is. The way that any physical, tangible manifestation of Bob is just wiped from the show.

(Almost as if the Upside Down had consumed him, you could say.)

Reason 2: It's happened before, and it's happened since

Way back in Season 1, whilst searching for Will, Eleven comes across the body of Barbara Holland. We see her again an episode later, when Hopper and Joyce are searching the Upside Down version of Hawkins Library for Will. In both scenes, and without going into too much gory detail, the grotesque state her body is in is confirmation that Barb is definitely dead.

Now, you could argue that from a purely cinematic perspective, the inclusion of Barb's body is designed solely for shock value; it serve to scare the audience a bit, to up the stakes and tension for surviving characters, and of course, to tug on the viewer's heartstrings. That bird's-eye shot of Bob does a similar job.

From an analytical perspective, though, the deteriorated state of Barb's corpse can be read as a kind of fatalistic symbolism. Barb was also literally consumed by the Upside Down. Her horrific postmortem reappearance makes her a convincing part of the scenery in an alternate dimension otherwise inhospitable to warm, familiar forms of life.

And she's not the only one. This happens just about every time there's a supernatural death in the show. Shocking, Upside Down-ified imagery of their corpse, then the disappearing act begins, rinse and repeat. When the supernatural gets you, it seems to keep you.

Still not convinced? After all, so far I've put forward circumstantial, educated guess work. Nothing concrete, nothing canonical. Yet.

Reason 3: What we know about Vecna/Henry Creel

Enter a villain who tells everyone the details of his masterplan before he kills them.

Fast forward to Season 4. We're introduced to the Mind Flayer's "five star general" Vecna, who is systematically terrorising and murdering the traumatised youth of Hawkins (one thing that Hawkins never seems to be deficient in.)

As it turns out, Vecna was always there, pulling the strings side-stage. A dominant force in the Upside Down's hivemind complex, it's implied that Vecna was aware of, and even somewhat responsible for all supernatural deaths in the show to date. Following the Hawkins Lab massacre, Vecna lets Eleven in on a rather morbid little secret: "With each life I took, I grew stronger. More powerful. They were becoming a part of me." The implication here is that Vecna kills, not only to "restore balance to a broken world", but to transform the lifeforce of the victim into energy. (A theory confirmed once again by Brenner's initial studies of Henry in The First Shadow, if I recall correctly.)

Vecna's powers allow him to tamper with, but not erase memory. As far as we know, Vecna has no interest in, and in any case no ability to remove the drawing of Bob Newby, Superhero from Joyce's fridge. Nor to prevent memories of TV dinners and Cheers from resurfacing every time Joyce finds herself alone on her couch after her boyfriend's death.

And yet. As we've established, Bob's physical imprint; his body, his name; is banished from the show post Season 2. Vecna may not be able to erase memories, but he can erase people. Because people seem to give him energy, power, and above all, a way to frighten and taunt the living.

In other words, Vecna couldn't leave it at permanent abnormality and a slap on the wrist for Bob Newby.

He had to die, to be consumed.

[the-nerd]

The haunted mansion : analysis of 2003 and 2023.

Let's see, taking into account that I like any movie that has a Halloween theme and that is scary but that has a plot ahead of it.

They both have the same focus, telling the story of the haunted mansion but each one does it from a different perspective.

Now foolish mortals, if you haven't seen them, don't read this part.

Let's start with the 2003 Haunted Mansion with Eddie Murphy.

We can start to say that the famous cast of this film is small, leaving more room for the other characters.

Eddie Murphy plays the co-protagonist of the film, in it he is a hard-working father, so much so that he has forgotten about his family, to the point of almost leaving them behind, to see the mansion that is going to be sold.

Here the plot begins, with a suspicious call Eddie Murphy's wife telling them to go see a house they want to sell, they go there and realize it's not all it seems.

This is where it differs from the new one.

The house is not presented to us as being haunted, only in poor condition and that those who live in it are... strange.

They show us how it is haunted little by little and with this they tell us the plot of the legend of the haunted mansion.

When it becomes clear to us that it is haunted, we are introduced to the ghosts that live in it.

Here we are explained why the mansion is enchanted, and how they can free it and save themselves.

And here comes the difference, this movie is scary, it doesn't have special effects, but it doesn't need them, it uses the decoration and the costumes and sound effects to tell a story And remind us that we are watching a scary movie, for children but scary

Or you won't tell me that's not scary.

Now we are going to comment on this year's one, which in my opinion... is very weak, taking into account the first one.

In this movie we are directly shown that the house is haunted and that anyone who enters will be followed by a ghost, so they cannot leave the mansion.

Here we are introduced to the protagonists, the difference is that it is a more famous cast, therefore they focus more on them, but since there are so many of them, they do not have as much time to give them the special role.

The ghosts here are secondary and focus more on the story through the "live" Cast. That's why, in this movie, you don't really get along with the ghosts, because they aren't even given an important role, they're just there, scaring you.

I guess because this movie is more based on the DisneyWorld attraction, and many ghosts are a reference to the attraction, it's more like a "hey look that's from the attraction" and although it's funny, It contributes nothing to the plot.

Now... The villains, in both we have two villains who are ghosts. In the first they have a meaning, a butler pissed off because his master was going to destroy his life for a girl, so what does he do...? I won't tell you.

And the other one from 2023....I still don't understand what the goal of this was, to conquer the world, to make the world a hell, to make everyone ghosts? The intentions of this villain are not clear, but there are many Special effects....too many.

Although it has very cool moments and funny moments, I was neither scared nor interested in its plot, at least that of the house.

Both are good, if you want to be more scared, watch the one from 2003 and if not, the one from 2023.

[chemnections]

When I listen to Frank's lyrics I can't help but wonder who is he writing the angry songs about, do you have any opinions about it, since he said he only writes from personal expirience, and for some reason I can't see him writing them about his wife, for the most part? And do you think any of his songs are about G? I think at least 2-3 of his songs are about him? I mean it could be even more what do I know? But also it could be none of them are about him?

And do you think any of G's songs are about Frank? From MCR or any other?

combine the interview where he said he only writes about real life with the one where he talks about writing songs as continuing on a conversation. see the sick state he was in during danger days into the band break up, then how healthy he looked after being back at home with jamia. i don't think he is singing about her in the angry songs. he is usually forthcoming when a song is about her, like she's the prettiest girl at the party and she can prove it with a solid right hook and all i want is nothing - songs about choosing her. then the for jamia ep. i think she is good for him and doubt they have an unfinished conversation that requires several albums to hash out.

so i do think they are about gerard. their behaviour around the break up really showed the conflict between them even if they played nice. and for frank's songs to be about anyone else and have no one have an inkling of a clue requires him to have a secret double life, so occam's razor to it being a significant person in his life who he has conflict with who holds power over one of the most important things in frank's life his career with mcr and who clearly hurt him. especially when it turns out he started writing some of the songs during the danger days era when conflict was ongoing.

i do think frank has written some songs directly for gerard, and some others that are more about his values/experiences that he does point in gerard's direction. not all his songs, but honestly a good portion of them.

i also think gerard writes about frank. millions is a very clear example. and it is also an example of a call and respond thing they both have going on with certain themes and symbolism. in millions, the william lyric was confirmed on twitter by gerard to be a reference to the smith's song 'william, it was really nothing' and then back to frank's 'all i want is nothing'. another example opff the top of my head os frank introducing stage four fear of trying as being about an acrobat - basically a bullshit story to hide the real one which is something gerard does sometimes. get the gang together, how it's going to be and action cat are songs for the band break up/ frank. likely zero zero, too. drugstore perfume is likely shade towards jamia, and his mother at times. some of his singles, too, but not all. 'baby you're a haunted house' is 100% for his wife for example.

i personally think gerard wrote some mcr songs for/about frank, too. a lot of their themes come from that time, and how they interact in some songs like the 'trust me', etc.

and gerard definitely writes about frank in the umbrella academy, it's really not a stretch to assume he writes about him in his music, too.

[you-can-be-what-you-want-to-be]

Alright then smarty pants what kind of weird niche of characters do YOU love?

Oh far weirder

fucked up guys with bats see

1 the batter from off

2 little slugger

3 any angery woman

any coward character (dustfinger, Douglas Effiel, ect)

sentient landscapes. Is it a town, a spaceship ai, and haunted house? Does not matter I love them

this is less of a love more of an annoyance of tropes but hate the whole thing with parasite characters that want a body being treated as evil. Bestie you want your body too?

anyone who is at least a little unsettling or outright creepy but in a fun happy autistic way (RAT ARCHIVE 81 MY BELOVED, L death note, mob psycho sometimes, mister teatime from discworld)

Class clown with bpd or something similar and trauma, makes references to voices in head (Hawkeye, Eiffel again, sometimes Juno Steele but he isn’t intentionally funny enough for this maybe)

any mute character I almost always fall in love with immediately no questions asked. Love me a mute character

NARRATIVES. The thing controlling them or people who are in them and know it. Narrator from Stanley parable, sans undertale, David Ward of Eskew, literally if you break that fourth wall and make it a little sad I WILL go feral.

give that bad boy parentification issues. Not parental abuse, parentification. (Martin Blackwood, Dean Winchester, ect)

Bad ass pushover who grows out of being a push over (David 7, Guillermo de la Cruz, Martin again-)

Any baby monster. No I don’t just mean Frankensteins where he legit did very little wrong and just needed love though he is included, I’m talking I watched Vivarium and saw that little coocoonest child destroy those peoples lives as part of a long chain of doing that and went “well maybe raise him better”. This also applies to species that are grown but are new to humanity and commit atrocious by accident.

characters who have so much love in them. Not necessarily babyish optimistic characters, but characters that will stop on a walk to check out the plant coming out of it and tells people openly that they love them and that’s their whole thing. Thinking Nona the ninth and Hawkeye Pierce again. Also Henry Oak Garcia

Any character that’s chill with death. Not suicidal, they just genuinely do not mind dying and see it as a very natural, easy, if not upsetting part of life when it happens to them ((still are against other people dying they are simply not scared of doing so (do not get me started on the graveyard book do not I am loosing my mind) thinking of Nona again also leave me alone))

my interests are very very specific but also I am very basic and will automatically eat this out of the palm of your hand if given to me