#i cant tell if this style is uncanny or not but i like it so

[naphelion]

drew this right before seeing paddington 3 and then cried right out the theater

[nomeniko]

hi :D for the ask game What do you wish more people understood about kazui? Which trial 2 MV do you enjoy the most, and why?

thank you for the ask i would grovel at ur feet in gratitude i hope the sun shines down and makes the light dance for u and you only today

1. if anything ive seen a few theories of kazui possibly revealing himself to be a two faced manipulator of sorts due to his self proclaimed liarness…. like ‘ohh u cant trust what he says he cld be trying to make himself look pitiable to the audience to get voted inno’ sort of theories which is. no he wont do that???

is he a liar? to a degree yes—liar not in the sense that what he says are direct falsities, but more like hes built much of his character to constantly disguise his true intentions/feelings as a defense mechanism. the lies he says are less of words from a schemer and more of redirections from someone who is, all in all, an insecure adult scared of what will happen if he isnt able to meet peoples expectations of him

as much as he calls himself a liar hes mad honest about where he thinks his capabilities lie, which is to say he doesnt believe in his capabilities at all lol. when amane asks him for help with her studies, he turns her down after some consideration bc he doesnt believe himself to be smart enough to help (despite having graduated from a university; sports degree or not credit shld be given where credit is due). when he talks to shidou post ktk attack, he refuses to admit doing any of the work in taking care of the situation and instead puts all the praise onto shidou. even his physical strength and skill (which is arguably the one part of him he does acknowledge and take some sort of belief in) is something he treats as less of something that he has achieved himself and more of an obligation of his—like, hes strong bc to him he HAS to be, bc it is expected of him to protect those who need protecting. he does want to protect others, sure, but much of that wanting comes frm how ingrained it is in him that thats what hes good for, thats what his strength is for (his timeline w/ yuno on her bday says as much nyway)

the way i see it, that self deprication of his plays back into his obsession with meeting the expectations placed onto him, or at least lessening the disappointment of others by lessening those expectations in the first place. if u tell someone that u didnt go to the right university, that u didnt do much to help anyway, that u were born so fundamentally wrong as a person that everything is bound to go to shit as long as ur there (he basically said this to es in his t1 vd im not even kidding), wouldnt that ensure the safety that youre less likely to ruin someone elses confidence in you? less likely to ruin bc in the small chance that u still fuck up, theres not much left to ruin at that point

in the end ig what i wish more ppl understood abt kazui is that hes a liar yes, but not a manipulator. he lies to stay safe, not to be a sadist or whatever. you cant take what he says at face value (in much the same way u cant do the same for any other prisoner tbh), but that does not mean u shldnt take anything he says srsly at all!!!

2. ok this one i have to give a bit of thought, mostly bc i cant pick just one

if the standards were which t2 mv do i enjoy for its direction music n visual wise, purge march takes the cake so quickly. the music itself is so bomb (which like, i cant even find a logical explanation as to why… its just so good to listen to) n the mv itself does such a great job at creating the right atmosphere, both in its flashy theatrics and the subtle uncanniness under it. mayb i have a slight bias bc tpm was the whole reason i got into milgram in the first place, but i stand by it idccc

aesthetic wise, def all knowing and all agony. the horror elements r genuinely disturbing, but not so overbearing that it overwrites the pop style that milgram has going on. i luove the use of amber for blood, plus the filters that remind me of found footage u usually see show up in asian horror movies. i think i was actually terrified the first time i watched the mv

symbolic wise, its cat always and forever god bless. it takes advantage of its aesthetics to hint at subtle secrets so well that it makes me giddy as hell. the use of colors as a part of the set, the transitions frm scene to scene having its own part in making the story, n honestly making the bg more blank than usual readjusts the focus of the mv on what matters p well. i cant mention every detail rn or else id be here all day

[bmpmp3]

ive loved it since i first heard it in project diva x years ago, but listening to Tsumi no Namae again (with slightly higher quality headphone audio rather than my vita speakers <3 ) i didnt realize just how crazy the production choices of this song is. wait hold on lemme hashtag musicpost for a minute. im busting out the timestamps

immediate tone setting. bagpipes??? or something like that right out the gate which is wild. clock winding, gear crunching, and real human woman whispering (i think in english but ive never been able to find official lyrics of that section) as well <3 im a sucker for using human voices with synth voices i think it adds a lot of neat texture

the instrument choices lean into a fantasy musical-esque soundscape for obvious reason (the whole song is basically a little original fable or myth type story complete with trickster goddesses and breaking fate's curses etc etc) but the composition is plenty pop rock which is a fun juxtaposition im always a fan of but like SPECIFICALLY those drums that start around a minute in. im not sure what it is, the speed? how loud and hard the drums are? it works so well to give it a forward momentum while also being a bit uncanny. maybe im just imagining how tired the drummers arms would be hitting at that speed and with that amount of power for this long........ but yeah it gives it this unexpected, sorta otherworldly feel, like its just a fraction of a fraction faster than you'd assume. theres like hints of clapping and stuff in there too i think? so much all together but so so so good

and speaking of how tired those drummers arms would be, i do love that this song is six and a half minutes, i love stuff over 5 minutes like YES i am going to waste SO MUCH TIME staring into space and listening really hard (i like to listen to songs on loop <3 half an hour is gonna go away in just a few plays) i love love love love love it

1:38 mark THE BANJO????

1:43 ouuhhhh that we-will-rock-you-type boom-boom-bap-type clap-clap-stomp percussion. ouhhhhhh yesssssssssssssssss.

1:50 the banjo and the flute are now making out in the background. they are making out sloppy style

2:00 there's like this drum breakdown thats incredibly poppy and rock-y which also goes back to the like fun blends of instrument choice and composition

2:23 am i crazy or is there like a tiny tiny little bit of like a static sound as a piece of percussion in this quieter bit... love a mix of fantasy with digital artefacting

2:45 IS THAT A HINT OF SOME MANNER OF BASS INSTRUMENT IN MY LEFT EAR I HEAR..........

3:50 WHAT is that little sound near the right.... it sounds like one of those medieval instruments but i cant remember which one.... and the banjo has made a return

3:58 THE BASS COMING IN ON THE LEFT

4:35 okay the whole bridge section is crazy but first of all. the dynamics between the deep bass-y sounds going between the two ears.

4:40 and what on EARTH is THAT. like a glitchy static-y bit of vocals going on both sides. AND the flute-y sounding thing is going NUTS up there

4:45 and this is what always makes me lose my mind. that really REALLY deep, circular, almost string sounding instrument? is that a god damn hurdy gurdy. i dont know much about instruments can you tell...... BUT for real that like again adds this haunting, extra bit of synthetic uncannyness to the medieval fantasy fable story

5:18 WHAT is that long like droning sound. is that also bagpipes. whats that classical piece thats supposed to teach you how to differentiate the parts of an orchestra. i need to drill that in my head im fighting for my life out here. ANYWAY those background notes with also these bits of like chattering? people talking or playing?

5:24 RANDOM BIT OF MEDIEVAL VIOLIN

6:08 and ending off with the glittering little chimes.... awesome

i dunno just holy shit man. this song goes everywhere it wants to. theres a banjo.

[bardsoftheuncannyvalley]

Bards FAQ

What is The Bards of The Uncanny Valley?

The Bards of The Uncanny Valley is an ask driven story designed to be like a Analog Horror ARG. viewers are encouraged to interact and figure out the mystery along with the characters.

Readers will be able to ask questions to the characters to further the story. Asks meant for the Author, Me, must be placed in [Square Brakets] to not confuse them with Ask directed to the characters

Style do the asks?

I am unfortunately not a very good drawer. So it will be mostly written with small images to provide effects

When does it update?

Updates don’t have a fixed schedule atm, they will upload when ready. The blog will be active as long as people are active with interacting with it.

TW

this ask blog will have heavy Uncanny valley in it, if you cant tell by the title, also a bit of gore and body horror and supernatural horror. I will update this Post when there is more TW or info

[syrupspinner]

i just completed mothered

oh this is gonna do some funky things to my brain

this game has an amazing visual style. i love how dark it is without just feeling like a black filter was put over the screen, the lighting is always intentional and does so much to elevate the mood of the game. and the design of the mother in this game, god damn. she looks just enough like a human that it can be passed of as a stylistic thing, but the way she moves is so deliberately uncanny. this is the best way to make a human terrifying ive ever seen, and is probably the only time ive been jumpscared by someone standing still (multiple times across multiple playthroughs)

i noticed the dark lighting and made a point of turning the lights on wherever i went. i was impressed by the consistency and restraint of having them stay on no matter what... with a single exception. you know the one im talking about. ive seen other people need to interact with the bed, but i was so thrown off by the darkness i thought "oh, mother turned off the light, thats very foreboding. im gonna turn it-" and thats how far my train of thought went.

the atmosphere, dude. this game completely understands what is scary and how to achieve it. there are so many subtle things the game does to make you feel nervous and connect to the central theme of family bonds and appropriate roles. like, the game has an emphasis on menial tasks just done for the sake of it without really enjoying it. at first, i just thought this was a jab at how the apple picking section wasnt very fun. i had such a hard time finding them i had to scan through the trees in a single file like a dot-matrix printer. on a second playthrough, its so much more resonant, its such an effectively recontextuallized moment.

id like to emphasize this game doesnt have anything that people usually "cant deal with" when it comes to horror games, like chase scenes or threats popping out at you. so, this isnt a 'try it if youre interested' reccomendation, im telling you that you are going to play mothered. its currently on sale for less than six dollars canadian! thats like what, probably $4.99 usd? buy it now!!! its so well made and emotionally resonant and i just felt it so personally in my brain... its just art, yknow? its probably one of the best games ive ever played

but hey, its your life

[itsartistpending]

The Vision (2015)

General Watered Down Plot:  *Spoilers Ahead*

The series opens with the next door neighbors bickering as to whether or not the Visions would eat the cookies made for them. We discover Vision has this new family full of other synthezoids who look just like him. Virginia is his wife and they have two children named Victor and Vivian. They appear to live the normal domestic life style and even acquire a synthezoid dog named Sparky through the series. However, through the series it becomes even more clear that things are not normal as the tone can be felt though the art style alone. The way they are depicted with black hole eyes adds a sense of uncanniness to them. This series is riddled with death and has very ominous undertones about mortality and what makes someone real. 

(Issue 1)

*A SMALL DISCLAIMER*

In full honestly it has been a long while since i read and completed this series so my memory is not the best. Thanks for bearing with me. 

What is Really Going On:

It is very evident that this story is about what is considered normal. It is easy to look at the surface level and say that robots/ synthezoids cant be have similar experiences to humans. All of us would assume that since we have not had interactions with synthezoids and this is purely in a fictional world. So if we take the idea from this series and apply it to our world, I think this story is trying to warn us that life is fleeting and there is no point isolating others or yourself from what life has to offer. To me it also seems to be saying to embrace what makes you different (a bit cliche I know).  

Victor & Viv:

Victor and Viv have one of the most classic high school experiences. They are considered outcasts and have a hard time making friends. Victor and Viv both fit into two very classic high school stereotypes. Victor is the quite outcasts who gets bullied for existing all while just trying to make it through the day. Viv is the studious shy girl who tries so very hard to please every single person around her. 

*To fairly analyze this Im going to break it down and separate Viv and Victor* 

Victor:

It can be seen so much through the series that Victor is a cautious young boy trying his best to figure out his place in the world, especially in a world that despises him. On the first day of school, Victor askes Viv if he is normal. Her response is to say that Vision told them to remain ordinary. Victor is confused and questions if being ordinary makes him normal. Through the series Victor is constantly trying to figure out how to be normal. He is confused as he does everything a normal kid his age does. He likes football, does his homework, goes to school everyday, he has his own likes and dislikes yet all of that isnt making him ‘normal’ to others. He struggles with this through the entirety of the series. 

(Issue 1)

Much later in the series, the children meet their uncle and Victor walks in on something he isnt supposed to see. His uncle is working with the Avengers and reporting in on the family. Victor is confused and his uncle (either accidently or not) uses his electric powers on Victor. The whole time his uncle is telling him to stop resisting while Victor is crying out for his dad to save him. eventually everything comes to a stop and for a brief moment if seems like Victor might be ok. A few moments later he is dead and in the arms of his father and mother, he is a synthezoid after all.

Victors want to fit in and be normal, lead to his death. One could argue, Victor was normal and can be proven in his final moments. Victor had the curiosity that drove him to discover what his uncle was up to. Isnt curiosity a natural human state? Would him feeling curiosity make him normal? His deference to what was considered ‘normal’ in that world lead to him and his family being stalked and watched and his own death. The world could not accept him and choose to kill him rather then learn from him. 

(Issue 9)

One thing that summarizes up Victors life would be this classic quote from Cicero, “They condemn what they do not understand”. 

Viv:

Viv has quite similar experiences to Victor in the way that she isnt considered normal. The only difference is that she chooses not to dwell on it and carry about her life as best as possible. Viv is also quite clearly a people pleaser. She does her best to seem and act as ordinary as possible to live up to her fathers requests. She never makes any noise or causes any issues. One day as she is walking to class a kid stops her and she braces for another rude comment but this kid actually just wants to get to know her and leaves the convo by saying that he thinks she is pretty cool despite what others may think. She obviously feels validated and warmed by another person approving of her. She had gotten so used to rejection that she did not expect anyone to ever think more of her then just some fancy looking robot. Unfortunately her world came crashing down when this kid was killed (read Virginias section to know more) in a freak accident. The only person in the world, outside of her family, who had accepted her was now gone and she felt like she was to blame for it in some weird way.

There is a common theme with Viv through this series. This series is riddled with death and murder of all kinds by so many different people. Because of this, Viv becomes almost accustomed to it and thinks it is just apart of her life. the world will try and kill her just for existing so why should she give any energy back into the world that hates her. To me she is the embodiment of paralyzing fear and pain. She is so sacred and afraid of the world that wont take more then 2 seconds to judge her that she becomes emotionless to it. This is seen later in the Champions series. However, it is through this that she realizes that she is not normal, she never was and never will be. There will always be people who judge her in the world but she knows she cant change their mind. As shown to her once before, there are some people who will like her for who she is and she has to choose to put her energy into them. 

(Issue 12)

Viv's personal journey continues with Champions as that is the team she chooses to join after leaving Vision behind.

Virginia:

Virginia is quite a complex character in this series and one could argue that this entire series is mainly about Virginia. She is a housewife and has the typical housewife duties except there is no need for those since they are are synthezoids. there is no need to cook, clean, take care of children or a home. So Virginia struggles with her sense of identity very aggressively through this series. She, like everyone else in the series, wishes to be normal and blend in as best as possible into a town that will not welcome her. In the entire 12 issue run she kills 3 people and their dog. Of the 3 people she kills, 2 of them were children. Then first kid she killed was vandalizing their home. She grabbed him through the wall and he was dead. The next one was on accident. She had gone to the home of a parent threatening their family. Little did she know this was the father of the only friend Viv had. His father tried to shoot her but she phased and it hit his son instead. Virginia killed sparky in a fit of rage after the death of victor. Lastly, Virginia killed Victor Mancha (vision’s technical brother) in revenge for her son.

I think Virginia represents the extreme need to protect and defend. She tries so hard to stand up for her family but every single time she does, it backfires only making them look worse. In the end, her ideas of trying to help their image just ends up leaving a long line or red behind them.

It all comes to a head for her with the death of her son. She is too angry to do anything other then retaliate the only way she has known how through the entire story. The man responsible for the death of her son does not live much longer. Virginia then has to face the wrath of Viv for not doing good enough. Vision is gone with no explanation, her daughter is furious with her and her son his dead. Virginia, unable to bear it any longer, ends her life.

(Issue 12)

Virginia struggled with her sense of identity through the entire run. Isn't that a core experience that many "normal" people go through as well? Sure she did plenty of horrible things but she did it to protect her family. She struggled with her identity in a much different sense then ay other characters in this story. She is supposed to care and provide for her children as she is programmed to be a mother. However, her children do not need her like that since there aren't many "normal" house chores or family duties for her to attend to. Is it really fair to blame her for her spiral? Couldn't it be argued that all the things she did (barring death) were normal ?

Vision:

In my opinion, Vision is the real enemy through the series. He created this family in the aftermath of him and Wanda's relationship dissolving so he could have a family that understood him. He created his daughter, son and wife all in his image. They of all things would understand him and get him. He was the one from the very beginning of the story who told his whole family to be as ordinary as possible. he placed all this pressure on his family because he was tired of being seen as unusual himself.

(Issue 1)

Vision had the chance to give his family the lessons he had learned through his years and let them live on their own and experience the world for themselves. Instead, he made sure that they knew the world was already unaccepting of them placing all this fear in them. Vision couldn't live with himself so he made more of him to share his sorrow with. He made sure that they would never be normal.

Personal Takes-Aways:

Personally I think this store has a very intricate and deep meaning that I'm not even fully capable of comprehending. The one thing that seems to stick out to me though is Visions role. He created his family and was the one instilling them with fear and pressure to confirm and be normal from the very beginning. This is something seen in our lives very often. In the real world, we are often faced with the judgment of others and feel the need to conform to what is considered "normal" by society. This has long lasting damaging effects on everyone. Those effects are shown quite dramatically in this series. Viv runs away and keeps everything repressed. She becomes a stone cold individual who doesn't form connections (though she changes through champions). Virginia acts out in anger and ends up ending her own life which, is unfortunately something that many people in real life do who feel this pressure to great extremes. Victor was harmed through his pursuit of being normal. In the end, Vision, the one pressuring all of them, is left alone.

Overall Review and Rating:

Overall, i give this tory 5 stars. This story has its place in fame for a reason. I do encourage everyone to read it just know there is a lot of violence and it is a dark story. The story and art is supposed to be unsettling so take that as your warning. This is a story that doesn't need much pre-reading in order to understand what is going on as almost all of the context is given in flashbacks. The only context not given is how Vision and Victor Mancha are related but that can be rendered with a quick google search.

I know this review was super long compared to what i usually write but this story is deserving of such an analysis bad one even greater then what this is.

As always discussion is welcomed in the comments, my asks or my dms!

[dontmixpaintinyourcoffee]

I'm gonna be annoying abt this for a minute because I have lots of feelings and I'm sure other people can relate- I LOVE HORROR!!! PSYCHOLOGICAL! BODY! INTERPERSONAL! COSMIC! I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!! I LOVE THE VERSATILITY! I LOVE THE THEMES! I LOVE THE DESIGN!* LITERALLY THE ONLY THING STOPPING ME FROM HURTLING OFF A CLIFF INTO THE NIGHTMARE REALM OF GOOD HORROR IS THE FACT THAT IM SO GODDAMN SENSITIVE AND IT WILL MAKE ME SCARED OF THE DARK!!!!

*Ok so I ended up on a whole tirade about horror character design so if you want to read that it's under here

Take Don't Hug Me I'm Scared; The main puppets are masterpieces. Actual works of art. Each of them is somehow terrifying in the most subtle and obvious ways at the same time, all independently of each other and I just have to geek about it because it's incredible.

I'm gonna start with the Red one because he's actually the least threatening out of the main three to me. He makes the most sense to my brain. He's got very normal proportions, his movements are very grounded, everything about him just tells me "oh yeah, weird alien-type dude, cool, got it". But then you look around and you realize... Hm. This dude is big. Like, weirdly big compared to the other characters. It's such a subtle unnerving thing, but it adds a lot to that sinking sense of discomfort. It feels like he's always looming over the others, and that combined with his more naturalistic movements creates the sense that he is somehow fundamentally separate from the other beings in this world. But the puppet-y aspects are unnerving too, just in a different way. At first glance I think his face is the least terrifying out of all of them tbh. Partially because he reminds me a bit of the Martians from Sesame Street which takes him down a notch on the scary scale. He's a very simple design that's easy to comprehend. Then you make the mistake of thinking a little bit more; What's under the yarn?

This is a perfect example of why I admire the designers so much, because they've taken classic puppet elements and made them uniquely nerve-wracking. Red has the classic Elmo-style eyes, placed directly on top of the head with no obvious sockets, using pieces of extra fabric to add eyelids for different emotions. Because they're placed this way we have no idea what his facial structure actually looks like. A lot of the time you can wrap your head around a design by starting with the relationship between the eyes and the rest of their face, because you look towards their eyes first. By taking advantage of that, the designers have created a weird mental contradiction, because the thing that should communicate the most information only communicates the absence of information. It's genuinely amazing.

Duck and Yellow are that "classic puppet feature just a little wrong" dialed up to eleven. I can't even figure out what's so messed up about them in detail because they make me so skeeved out. So here's what I can say- they look just left of muppets. They've managed to hit the uncanny valley within puppet design that's totally separate from the uncanny valley of puppets in general. There is this sense of fundamental wrongness but I can't figure out where it comes from because it makes my skin crawl. It's absolutely brilliant. And I CANT EVEN WATCH IT ALL THE WAY BECAUSE ITS TOO SCARY AND IT MAKES ME WANT TO CRY

And that's just the one I can say the most about because I can look at him the longest.

Anyways rant over I've been thinking about this a lot thank you

[icharchivist]

Veilguard Spoilers

Need to talk about it tho but Dorian's new haircut is based on his Trespasser's epilogues yes but. But it also looks like young Solas' hair. Which itself was based on his early concept art

And i dont know which one came first but its so uncanny that Dorian is there standing with slavers in the Magisterium in order to take them down from the inside while he's fueling a rebellion to free all the slaves, with the same haircut Solas had when he was standing with slavers with the Evanuris in order to... you get the idea.

Solas is the person who has the most conversation about slavery with Dorian, and he's the one who told him that unless Dorian frees all the slaves, he cant believe Dorian is sorry for what Tevinter did to the elves.

And since he's back from the South Dorian repeatedly say that people changed his mind in the south and its why he's working hard to free the slaves.

While Dorian and Solas used to argue a lot at the time. Worse. Dorian was constantly shittalking Solas's style.

And yet Dorian is now spouring the same haircut as young!Solas

This is so funny i want Ithena to point and laugh because this is too on the nose. Dorian sweetie ily you NEED to face that you're now more like Solas than ever. Imagine telling that to your younger sef. He'd gag.

[steveshairychest]

i have steddie brain rot but also im in beauty school so basically this is just to say that i’ve been thinking a lot about steve in beauty school and how like eddie would react to some of the really weird stuff that comes with knowing someone in beauty school, steve coming home with his very uncanny valley wig head and just leaving it on the counter to scare the ever loving fuck out of eddie in the morning, steve complaining about how annoying perms are to do and how he cant stand the smell while eddie just sits there and listens to him complain wirh a fond smile, eddie getting to benefit from steve needing someone to practice on whether it be something small like trying to remember the correct way to formulate permanent color or bigger stuff like acrually allowing steve to cut and dye his hair, walking in to see steve braiding and unbraiding max’s hair again and again in preparation for the upcoming test out, i also like to think that steve becomes the kind of unspoken hair and makeup guy for corroded coffin and even goes out of his way to learn some less traditional hair styles and cuts for the band when they go on tour

hi I also have steddie brainrot and I love this !!!

I just know that by the time Steve graduated beauty school, everyone in the party had a new haircut or colour. They trusted him and didn't doubt his skills. They'd seen Eddie's new haircut and practically all volunteered to be Steve's little test subjects. Though, he had to ask Joyce for permission before he fixed poor Will's bowl cut. He also did Joyce's hair and makeup for her wedding with Hopper.

It took some convincing on Eddie's side to get the other Corroded Coffin members to agree to let Steve anywhere near their hair.

"King Steve Harrington wants to cut my hair and do my makeup for our first big show? Please tell me you're kidding." Eddie had not been kidding. When they saw Eddie's finished look and Steve's proud little smile, they all reluctantly sat down in the hair and makeup chair to let Steve work his magic.

Robin refuses to let Steve do his own hair and makeup for his and Eddie's wedding a few years later.

[ancientgoddessofegypt]

"There's something so different about you, I cant put my finger on it..." Neptune Trine Ascendant and The Mysteries Beyond This Realm

Neptune trining the ascendant people have an attitude towards life that can be pretty optimistic when the inner child is allowed to wonder. These people have a knack for connecting with other realms in their imagination. Their inspiration can come from the mundane life so they tend to take what they see and make it better. Their beliefs are uncanny to some, interesting to many. Whimsical lovers of the universe, their is so much hidden in them that others try to discover. When an individual finds their way to their domain, they immediately aren't able to describe how it feels to be around a Neptune trine ascendant person, but it is mainly felt. This could cause confusion, considering since Neptune is the illusionary planet others may be prone to putting certain descriptions on them that doesnt truly reach the surface of who they are.

Having Neptune Trine the Ascendant means you either have Neptune in your 4th/5th, or 8th/9th house. Whichever house it is in is what shows up on the surface in your day to day.

Anything that seems to be of the imagination may be real.

ghost? fairies? unicorns? they may believe these to be true while others may tell them to put the fairytale books down.

Their inner child never stopped believing in the wonders of what could be. Because remember, believing it is to see it. Not the other way around ;)

Neptune trine ascendant individuals have an amazing, captivating aura. You CAN see it, however like I said before its not easy to grasp or describe, mainly felt. These people can be like aliens amongst the common folk. Its something different about them. People try to describe them so they could mimic em, but it never works.

Neptune trine ascendant holders are the stars that came down from the cosmos and are shining their mysteriously light into the world. They attract so many to them because its like looking into a dream. Their presence its able to put you in a daze, and in a blink of an eye. their gone!

These people are also good at shapeshifting! SHAPE. SHIFTERS. they can use art to transform their style and turn into a different being/person like no other. how do they do it? we'll never know. its in their blood.

magic runs in their vains, and they are good at attracting what they want because they understand frequencies/energy and Quantum psychics/reality shifting very well.

dont ask them how they do it, because the way they explain it may 'confuse' you.

did I mention their also tricksters? ;)

[sillywebz]

not even for the bingo necessarily i would just like to hear ur thoughts on venitas because .they Plague me

houghg. venitas .i have So many thoughts about them lem im sosoaoso happy u asked !!!!.we’re going bullet point mode 4 this one (And to clarify these are more specifically abt what I think venitas would be like if ventus and vanitas chose to reunite)

my fav hc is that their appearance is always fluctuating. from more venlike to more vanilike to any kind of blend between based off of how they’re feeling. it makes them super uncanny to look at bc u could look away for a second and they would look just slightly different when you look back. (watching their hair change color and length in real time is very freaky) eye color is their biggest emotional tell

i think they speak with both ven and vanis voices at the same time like in game. this adds to the uncanniness and about them .i think the degree to which each voice is more prominent might change based on feelings as well

i cant decide if they work more like a su fusion or just venvan piloting them around pixars inside out style

they inherited vens pass out when stressed (or when theres too much arguing in your head) genes but not the classic j mccartney yelps so they will just randomly collapse and its terrifying

naturally tries to imitate ven when they are around new people/super stressed .they can be unsettlingly close but it usually leads to them passing out again. they dont go full vani very often but in certain situations itll happen

any sort of decision making is an ordeal .but Especially when it comes to clothes and food

itd be cool if they could dual wield wayward wind and void gear

Worlds Most Complicated relationship with touch and physical contact. ventus very desperately needs it from his friends while it makes vani want to crawl out of his skin .venitas struggles

has a habit of speaking their thoughts out loud and is very bad at holding their tongue despite very much so wanting to be good at it

vicious opponent in battle but otherwise are like an extremely nervous chihuahua

basically. to me theyr guy that is not exactly one whole guy but is still more than just one guy .frankensteiney and stitched together rather oddly. You immediately get the vibe that they are a Huge Anomaly and are probably bending the rules of nature

and really. the personification of one of the most powerful weapons ever is not going to be very normal

[crow-caller]

first off, i absolutely adore your channel. i think ive fully listened through your lightlark review twice every day since its come out. i play it in the background while im doing the dishes or doing homework or writing (its great motivation, really “if this could get published, then by god some poor fellow on Ao3 will like my story”)

i left a youtube comment on your latest video about sweet evil that has the same premise as this ask, but either it just didnt go through or you deleted it yourself (which i kind of doubt, but if it did bug you then please disregard this ask lol) because i cant find it anymore.

your love for angels in literature is a very nice breath of fresh air among the booktube community, and that paired with your love for bad books made me wonder, have you ever read Georgia McBrides PRAEFATIO?

if you have, oh my god i thought i was alone in experiencing this horrendous novel, but if you havent i really do recommend it.

actually. “recommend” isnt the right word. i dont recommend this book to anyone at all. save yourself

the writing is so JUVENILE its painful to read, imagine my immortal but with zero edge and thats almost exactly the writing style of the first few chapters. at some points the book gets so insanely hardcore (like lightlark but the violence is somehow even more unnecessary to the plot) but then the mc is reacting to these things with such eloquent phrases such as “OMG” “WTF” and “OW”

the mc, grace ann miller, is (from my memory) newly seventeen and is also the most specialist nephilim to ever exist because she was actually the will of GOD, so that makes her better than the other nephilim.

she falls in love with a Hot Rockstar Fallen Angel™ named gavin who is absolutely not also 17, after he totally didnt kidnap her and when shes eventually saved— i mean ripped away from her one true love by the police— shes deemed INSANE and a victim of stockholm syndome. the entire book is meant to be her giving her police statement which georgia seems to forget for most of the story.

tale as old as time really.

id love to hear your thoughts on it if you ever get your hands on this garbage fire (or if you have already).

(also, georgia mcbride is totally in love with gavin and its a little weird, you can see her ramblings here)

I def didn't delete the comment, I've only deleted 1 spam comment the entire time I've done youtube, but I probably haven't seen it or it got caught somewhere in the web. I TRY to read and respond to every comment or at least like it to show I've read it, but as I get more videos and views that's increasingly hard to do. I'm bad at time management to begin with and now I have hundreds of comments to respond to!

The name Georgia McBride sounds very familiar but I can't tell why. I have never heard of PRAEFATIO, it doesn't seem very notable or wide spread but you're right in that it looks similar. And sounds bad. And the cover looks.... wrong.

They.... look so wrong. They both look extremely photoshopped and severely uncanny, the girl in particular looks like a doll and honestly, it really really creeps me out. It definitely is going on my list of books to read though because it sounds gloriously bad, and yes, I love angels and bad angel books a lot.

(It's the autism if anyone couldn't guess by everything about me... special interest: angels (and demons). Longest lasting special interest maybe I've had)

[pianostarinwonderland]

idk if anyone noticed or thought of it but, the venues of the dorms looks (almost) exactly like the places the remaining twst boys got separated into ,,

like just look at these venue images and where they got transported into

Heartslabyul (Cemetary / Graveyard)

Savanaclaw (Pirate Shipwreck)

Octavinelle (Science lab)

Theres this one but i cant tell if its either pomefiore (vamp castle) or diasomnia (haunted mansion ?) or another place entirely, maybe where we face the mastermind ? i cant really tell for now

The similarities here are uncanny ,, but interesting as food for thought

idk, i just wanted to share this since i thought its something to take note of i guess

Yes!! This was my first thought as well when I saw the places!!

Last year, a friend made a theory about what if Halloween event is going to have the students turn into the monsters they dressed up as. Lowkey was disappointed that that didn’t happen in the first event, but looking at this, it might turn out to be true 😳

Knowing that this is Halloween part 2, I bet that episodes 2 and 4 will be formatted the same way as part 1, aka battle style (or ayo what if it’s rhythmics instead? Haha jk unless). If this is the case, then it’s possible that episode 2 will have us battling mob students turned gravediggers/ghost pirates/mummies/vampires.

And then in episode 4, maybe we get to face off against the other 11 characters? 😳😳😳 And in Halloween part 1, the groovies are based off of the events of episode 4, so what if it’s the same in this event?

But also, in SM Ruggie’s voice lines, he makes mention about Ortho’s way of scaring people. So maybe there’s also a possibility that the boys will be challenged to try to scare the monsters more than the monsters scare them!

[hxseok-honee]

blossom | part 16

blossom [part 16] || 'Hoseokie'

[‘cause all i need is to see you blossom out, blossom out, blossom out]

previous || masterlist || next

a/n : I cant tell if this is a hobi chapter or a yoongi chapter but i am very in love with them both thats for sure -- lmk what you think!

“Hobi, hi!” Y/n had practically slammed face first into the front door in her rush to answer it, and she’s a little breathless when she finally greets him. She’d honestly been expecting maybe a different, more confident Hoseok than the one she’d become familiar with to be standing there -- after all, he certainly looks the part today. But she’s pleasantly surprised to find that he’s still the same old Hoseok, rocking back and forth on his heels on her porch while he takes in the exterior of her home with bright, wide eyes.

He turns those eyes to her now, his smile boyishly charming as his red ears poke out cutely from beneath his winter hat.

“Y/n! Your house is so cute!” The compliment rolls off his tongue immediately, because frankly it’s all he could think about as he’d walked up the path to her door. It suits her perfectly, this lovely little home on the outskirts of town. He holds up a bag when she thanks him, shaking it lightly while he steps inside, following her into the entryway.

“I know you said no gifts, but I couldn’t show up with nothing!” He sets the bag into her waiting hands, pulling out four flower crowns -- they’re perfect, clearly crafted with care and delicacy that borders on professional. Each one is unique in size and style, somehow a set of matching winter crowns but created with individual intent. She can’t even bother to hide the look of endearment she shoots him.

“Hobi, you really didn’t have to do all of this.” He waves her off while he removes his hat, and she sets the bag down so she can take his coat while he explains.

“It’s nothing, seriously. I didn’t know what I could possibly buy you and your family because I don’t know what they like, so I thought I’d stick to something I know… I tried to make the one for your dad a bit more, uh -- manly? It was hard, though.” He laughs off his slight embarrassment, but Y/n’s mind is stalling on what he’d said. She turns to him with an awkward smile.

“Ah… I thought the big one might have been to fit Yoongi’s massive head… I think it still would fit him, to be honest.” When Hoseok blinks at her in confusion, she only offers an uncomfortable laugh. “My dad’s not around, actually… There’s only three of us.” Hoseok’s eyes go wide, and he finds himself swearing internally. He hadn’t even noticed that she’d never mentioned her dad before.

“Shoot, I’m sorry -- I didn’t even think about it--”

“No, you’re fine! It’s okay, it’s my fault for forgetting to mention it.” When he tries to apologize again, Y/n only sets the larger flower crown on his head to silence him. It hangs low on his forehead, making her smile. “Seriously, Hobi -- you’re sweet for even thinking of all of this.” He opens his mouth, still feeling unsure, but another voice cuts in before he can say anything.

“Yoonie’s here! Oh-- you’re not Yoonie…” Sliding into the doorway with small socked feet is a literal carbon copy of Y/n -- granted, she’s about a head shorter and very clearly a child, but the resemblance is uncanny. Hoseok blinks at the girl, and she only blinks back, hands on her hips in what can be described only as disappointment. Y/n rolls her eyes playfully.

“Hoseok, meet Hana, my 8-year-old sister. Hana, meet the boy that brought you a handmade flower crown -- so be nice.” Immediately, Hana’s arms are dropping in surprise, her eyes wide as she glances at Hoseok’s hands. He smiles kindly, picking out the crown with the smallest circumference and handing it to her. The girl’s eyes almost sparkle with excitement as she moves to take it from him, fingers delicate as she sets it on her hair.

“I had to guess at what size your head would be, but I hope you like it!” Y/n’s sister blinks up at him with an expectant gaze when he’s done talking, clearly waiting for an assessment.

“Do I look nice?” Hoseok warms immediately, finding the girl entirely endearing. He nods, handing Y/n her own crown while he responds. He has to stop himself from doing a double-take when she puts hers on.

So pretty…

“Yay! Thank you for the pretty crown!” Hoseok blinks, realizing he’d definitely just said that out loud. Luckily, the sisters had taken it as a response to Hana’s question, and he feels relief flood his body at the coincidence. He’s so busy thanking whatever higher power had just saved him from that awkward moment that he misses the sound of the front door opening behind him.

“Yoonie!” Coming back to reality, Hoseok barely has time to jump out of the way as the 8-year-old barrels past him, charging with purpose for the person entering the home.

“Monkey!” The voice that hits his ears is familiar, but it’s entirely unlike the person he knows it belongs to. Looking up, Hoseok can only stare lamely as Hana all but flies through the air, caught securely in the arms of one Min Yoongi. The Slytherin laughs loudly at the sudden attack, swinging the girl around in greeting before taking a good look at her.

“Jeez, do you ever stop growing? I’m getting nervous over here, kid.” Yoongi sees Y/n and Hoseok then, and he greets them with nothing more than a nod and a cool grin.

“Happy Christmas, nerds--” Somehow managing to hold onto Hana with one arm, he extends the other out to Y/n, passing her a large bag of gifts. “The one on top’s for you -- don’t even think about it, loser.” Y/n had peered curiously at the topmost gift when he’d said it was hers, eyeing it with excitement. She rolls her eyes now, letting the bag hang at her side as she waves Hoseok into the next room -- a living room, decked out in warm blankets and an even warmer fireplace. There’s a staircase on the far end of the room, the wooden steps uneven from years of use. The home is small but very clearly lived in, and Hoseok’s happy to think that he’s been allowed into Y/n’s childhood home.

There are a few picture frames on the fireplace mantel, and he can’t help but wander over to them while Y/n sets the gifts under the decorated tree in the corner. He looks over the photos with a smile, listening as Yoongi and Hana catch up behind him.

“What’s that on your head, Monkey? I like it.”

“A flower crown from Y/n’s boyfriend! He said it looks pretty on me.” Y/n chokes on her own saliva when she hears those words -- Y/n’s boyfriend -- and Hoseok finds himself overheating just slightly. He swears it’s from the crackling fire in front of him, and he tugs a few times at the front of his dress shirt in discomfort. Y/n glares at Yoongi, who’s barely managing to contain his laughter.

“Hoseok’s not my boyfriend, Hana--” The girl turns, maneuvering her way out of Yoongi’s arms and onto his back while she responds, clearly confused.

“But the last boy you brought home was Stinky Koo, and he was your boyfriend!” Hoseok’s immensely glad that he’s still facing the fireplace, because the name Stinky Koo is much more amusing to him than it should be. He turns to face them only when he’s got his face under control, but he almost cracks when he sees how proud Yoongi looks -- it must have been him that had nicknamed Jungkook for the young girl.

Desperate to change the subject, Hoseok gestures at the photo in the middle of the mantel -- a portrait of the sisters and their mother.

“Your mom’s beautiful, Y/n. Like a queen.” Y/n smiles shyly, Yoongi nodding appreciatively behind her. He's doing just fine, Yoongi thinks to himself, seeing how obviously nervous Hoseok is.

“Well, thank you, young man! Y/n, I like this boy.” The photograph in question is nothing compared to the woman that enters the room, and Hoseok swears the genetics in this house have seriously won the lottery. Y/n’s mother has the kindest eyes he’s ever seen, and he feels like all he wants right now is to see those eyes look at him with approval. It would mean the world, honestly.

She steps toward the group of kids, smiling sweetly at Hoseok before immediately turning to Yoongi with an evil glint in her eye. The boy never stood a chance, only having enough time to inhale sharply before her fingers are coming down on his cheeks, pinching with all her might. Y/n snorts when Yoongi lets out a pained wail.

“Release me, woman!” Hoseok’s shocked at the tone Yoongi takes with her, but Y/n’s beside him in an instant to do damage control.

“My mom’s favorite pastime is antagonizing him -- Yoongi’s been around long enough that formalities just… don’t exist… You get used to it.” Hoseok only nods as he watches her mom start in on the Slytherin.

“Never in my life have I seen a boy with so little meat on his body -- do you even eat, or is the sickly look in style these days?” The woman pinches at Yoongi’s torso for emphasis, and he starts to wriggle away from her, Hana barely managing to hang onto him for dear life.

“This is why I never come here -- the bullying is insufferable!” Yoongi hops around the living room with the 8-year-old glued to him, racing for the doorway into another room when he sees that Y/n’s mom isn’t giving up anytime soon. She almost follows the pair when they disappear, deciding instead to stay in the room with Y/n and Hoseok, an innocent grin on her face.

“You look much healthier than that bag of bones over there--” Hoseok realizes she’s addressing him and smiles, extending a hand to greet her and ignoring Yoongi when he lets out an enraged ‘hey!’ in the other room.

“You have such a lovely home, Ma’am-- Oh! I made you this!” He’d almost forgotten about his gift, but it’s hanging from the wrist he’s using to shake her hand, making him look both awkward and cute as he struggles to hand it to her with some semblance of elegance. “I hope you like it-- I can mend it if it’s too big! But… I left my bag at home, so I’ll have to run to get the scissors and twine-- Oh, it fits!” Y/n’s mom had watched him stumble over his words for a moment before decisively setting the crown on her head with a smile.

“I love it, Hoseok -- thank you.” He blinks, realizing that she knows his name although he had forgotten to introduce himself, and it clicks that Y/n’s talked about him to her mom before. The shy smile on the Gryffindor’s face only confirms his suspicions, filling him with joy. He smiles brightly, following Y/n’s mom when she waves him into the room where Yoongi had gone.

It’s a kitchen, small but comfortable, with a dining table positioned in the middle of the room. When they enter, they find Yoongi bent over the open oven door, lifting a large dish out of it and setting it on top of the stove. Hana’s clung tightly to his back, but the Sytherin moves around the kitchen with ease, dropping the oven mitts on the counter on his way to grab plates from one of the cabinets. It’s obvious not only that he’s very used to having Y/n’s sister stuck to him, but also that he’s comfortable in this home, fully aware of how the house functions.

“What in the world do you think you’re doing? Get out of my kitchen -- you’ll break something!” Y/n’s mom makes a beeline for Yoongi, swatting him away with an oven mitt scooped up from the counter. He complains loudly, grabbing at it and arguing with the woman.

“Will you please just sit down and let me do this?! You’re in my way -- go sit down, Mom!” It looks like a fight -- by all standards, it’s a mother and son arguing and nothing else. But Hoseok looks around the room, taking in the table full of homemade food, the sink full of dishes from the cooking. He sees the light sheen of sweat on the woman’s face, knowing just by looking that she’d been working tirelessly to make Christmas dinner for them. And when he looks to Yoongi, he sees that the boy knows this, too -- that he’s urging her to sit down and relax, that he’s just making it seem like he’s annoyed instead of openly caring for her. That, along with the fact that Hana is very clearly emotionally attached to the Slytherin, makes it obvious to Hoseok that Yoongi belongs here. That this Yoongi belongs here, not the promiscuous one that the entirety of Hogwarts knows. Hogwarts doesn’t know this Yoongi.

“You’re doing that thing again.” Hoseok jumps, realizing when he turns that Y/n’s watching him closely. He smiles, cocking his head to the side in confusion. The chaos of the room never stops, happening in the background while he and Y/n stand in the doorway.

“What thing?” She grins, pointing at his face.

“That observant badger thing. You’re just watching and taking mental notes.” He flushes slightly, not even realizing that he does this often enough to classify it as a ‘thing’. He gestures to her best friend, a question slipping out in the form of an observation, something he’s apparently good at.

“I didn’t realize Yoongi was good with kids.” Y/n snickers, shaking her head.

“He’s not, actually. One time, he tripped over a kid at the store because he hadn’t seen them walking past, and for the rest of the day he kept saying ‘children are the evil groundhogs of the world… waiting to pop their little heads out of the ground and scare you’. It was kinda dramatic.” Hoseok blinks, utterly dumbfounded by that story because it sounds exactly like something Yoongi say, but the Yoongi in the kitchen right now is not showing any of that malice.

“So… then how did this happen?” He gestures to the pair hopping around the dining table, Hana now clinging to Yoongi’s leg while the boy sets out utensils, all the while bickering with her mom. It’s not hard to imagine, seeing how the girl hangs off of him, why Yoongi calls her Monkey.

“Well -- Hana’s 8, which means Yoongi’s been in her life for… almost the entirety of it. And, although I doubt he’d say it, I know he feels some sense of responsibility for her since our dad’s not around. He’s just kind of always looked after her, so she definitely relies on him a lot.” Y/n looks at peace when she says it, and Hoseok gets the feeling that she appreciates Yoongi’s involvement with her family more than she’s letting on.

“They’re pretty cute… It’s nice to see.” Y/n smirks at Hoseok’s final assessment before beckoning him further into the kitchen, commenting in a low voice as she moves to the table.

“Don’t let Yoongi hear you say that -- his ego needs to be kept under control as it is.” Yoongi looks up when he hears his name, lifting an eyebrow but asking no questions as he examines Hoseok and Y/n. Letting it go, he glances down at the child sitting on his foot.

“Let’s wash our hands, Monkey. I dont need your dirty germs getting in my food.” Hana protests loudly but allows Yoongi to haul her off to the bathroom to wash up. He sets his phone on the table when he goes, and Hoseok can only imagine how much trust he has in Y/n to leave her with it -- especially because it keeps buzzing with notifications, and Hoseok can tell even from here that Yoongi has his message previews on.

When they return, Y/n passes the boy his phone, but not before it lights up again in her hand. Without meaning to, she glances down at it, and Hoseok’s not sure what she sees, but it has Yoongi looking at her with wide eyes once he’s gotten a chance to read it, too. He eyes her almost guiltily, but she only smiles knowingly and turns back to the table, taking the seat next to Hoseok.

“Let’s eat!”

--

Dinner passes surprisingly easily for Hoseok -- he’d been nervous all day, changing and re-changing his clothes until finally he’d just given up and left his apartment. But now, sitting here with Y/n and her family, he feels welcomed, included immediately in the chaos of the group dynamic while they eat. Her mother insists on piling his plate high with insanely delicious food, although it’s not nearly as much as she feeds Yoongi, who looks disgruntled at being called a walking skeleton but eats it all with vigor, anyway.

Just as they’re finishing dinner, Hoseok jumping to his feet to help clear the table, Hana rests her elbows on the wood, peering up at him curiously while he moves around the room. He has to purse his lips to stop himself from smiling when he spots her legs swinging back and forth from her chair, not yet able to reach the floor.

“Who’s that other flower crown for? Is it for you? It’s kinda big on you!” His eyes widen just a fraction, and he looks to Y/n for help as he hums. Y/n starts talking at the same time he does.

“Oh, it’s just an extra--

“He just accidentally made it too big--”

“It’s for me!” Yoongi cuts them both off with finality, sticking his hand out almost childishly for the crown hanging low on Hoseok’s head. Hoseok looks at him in shock, forgetting to mask his emotions for the young girl in front of him. But it’s fine because Hana’s only looking at Yoongi, something the Slytherin's clearly aware of when he waves his awaiting hand, dramatically impatient for her sake.

“But then why haven’t you been wearing it the whole time?” The girl’s questions are straight to the point, and Y/n’s mom starts to tell her not to pry, but Yoongi’s always ready for Hana’s inquiries.

“Obviously, Hoseok’s a little shy about giving me a Christmas gift -- he’s been waiting for the right time!” He sounds so sure of himself, like he actually believes it. But as Hoseok’s lifting the crown off of his head and setting it in Yoongi’s hand, he sees the look the boy gives him, and he knows that Yoongi’s aware of the assumption he’d made about Y/n’s father.

And of course Yoongi knows -- he’d made the exact same mistake the first time he’d visited the home at 11 years old, walking in with expensive gifts for both parents because his mom had always stressed that ‘you never go to someone else’s house empty handed’. Hana was much too young then, only a year old, and Yoongi’s not about to let the girl catch on now and risk souring the Christmas spirit. He knows how insecure she gets sometimes about not having a dad, so he saves Hoseok from the moment with practiced ease.

Looking away from the Hufflepuff and turning to Hana while he sets the crown on his head, he points up at it.

“How’s it look, Monkey?” The girl hums, squinting for a moment before nodding.

“It fits! Probably because you have a big head.” Y/n snorts loudly, even Hoseok coughing out a laugh while he sets dishes in the sink. Yoongi only nods, accepting that he’s just been blatantly insulted by an 8-year-old, made worse by Y/n’s mom running her hand over Hana’s hair in amused approval.

“That’s my girl -- you tell the skinny boy how it is.” Yoongi opens his mouth to protest, but the woman’s standing to retrieve something from the fridge, and immediately his complaints are replaced by an excited gasp.

“Is that--”

“Well, someone’s gotta feed you your favorites!” Hoseok only glances over his shoulder while he and Y/n clean up, seeing that the woman’s setting a pumpkin pie on the counter and reaching for a knife to cut it. Another glance tells him that Yoongi’s argumentative nature’s been won over by the dessert, and he’s standing to help her serve 5 plates of it, shy smile peeking through.

“Thanks, Mom…” The woman grins, bumping him with her hip but not saying anything about the embarrassment on his face. She turns, holding two plates and gesturing toward the fridge while she heads for the living room.

“Grab the whipped cream on your way, will you, Hoseokie?” Hoseok almost drops the dirty plate he’s setting in the sink, all the hair on the back of his neck standing on end when he hears the name Y/n’s mom calls him. Y/n notices that he stills suddenly beside her, but before she can mention it, he’s blinking, the moment gone as he moves to the fridge with a smile.

The group migrates to the living room, Y/n’s mom taking the armchair by the tree while Y/n and Hoseok share the couch. Yoongi’s sitting on the floor with his legs crisscrossed, Hana seated comfortably in his lap. The plates of pie sit on the table next to Yoongi’s head, and he keeps glancing anxiously at them, like he’s wondering if he can sneak a bite without anyone noticing. Y/n’s mom’s voice rings out, and he knows he’s been caught.

“Not a chance, Yoongi -- presents first!” Rolling his eyes but nodding anyway, he turns his attention back to the group, where Y/n is passing out presents to everyone. The biggest ones always go to Hana, who seems very excited but is somehow even more enthused about finally giving everyone her own gifts, small trinkets she’d picked out with immense care during her school’s holiday field trip. Y/n has to stop herself from snapping a photo of Yoongi’s face when he unwraps a snake plushie, watching with amusement when he cradles it close to his chest, eyes full of adoration as he mouths "I love her" to the Gryffindor. Hana doesn’t even notice how dramatically sentimental he is, her short attention span having her already turning to Hoseok with a large smile and a small gift.

“This one’s for you, Hoseokie!” Hoseok chokes on his saliva, paling slightly when he hears that name again. Y/n picks up on it for sure this time, but she doesn’t say anything, not wanting to interrupt his and Hana’s moment.

Hoseok takes the gift with shaking hands, masking whatever’s running through his mind with a shy smile.

“You didn’t have to get me anything, Hana -- thank you!” The girl watches with intense interest while he peels the wrapping paper off, revealing a pink ballpoint pen in the shape of a flower, explaining when he holds it up in the light.

“Y/n told me you liked flowers when I asked! Do you like it?” Hoseok smiles brightly, pressing down on the center of the flower with a quiet click and running the tip of the pen along the knuckle on his thumb to test the ink.

“I love it! I’ll use it every day!” Y/n smiles then, thinking how endearing he’ll look, using a pink ballpoint flower pen in a school that still standardizes quill and ink. But she knows he means it and won’t even think twice about using it. Hana beams up at him, but her eyes become curious almost immediately.

“But -- do you not like the name ‘Hoseokie’? You looked a little sad when I said it…” Y/n cringes, cursing the fact that her sister is both extremely observant and completely lacks a filter. She’s like the perfect mix of Hoseok and Yoongi, something that would be really funny if the situation hadn’t just gotten really uncomfortable.

Hoseok gapes at the girl, letting out a breath of laughter when she only tilts her head to the side curiously. It’s fine that he’d been caught -- it’s just a little embarrassing that it had happened here at Y/n’s family dinner, where he’d been trying to make a good impression and leave only good energy behind. With a slight sigh, he shakes his head to answer Hana’s question.

“I don’t not like ‘Hoseokie’ -- I actually really like it… it’s just--” He glances quickly at Y/n, feeling a bit awkward. “My little sister used to call me that…” Immediately, Y/n’s looking to Yoongi out of the corner of her eye, finding that he’s doing the same, the alarm in his eyes matching her own. Hoseok had never mentioned a sister.

“It’s a little… uncomfortable, so I feel bad…” Hoseok looks to Y/n’s mom then, watching carefully for her reaction when he continues. “My parents run an apiary -- they’re very big nature types, all about the ‘way of the natural world’ and stuff like that… that's why--" He cuts off, gesturing vaguely to the crown on the woman's head. That's why I know how to do this, he means. Clearing his throat, he continues. "So it didn’t really… go well… when I turned 11 and got the letter saying I was a wizard.” Y/n hears Yoongi inhale sharply from where he’s sitting, and she knows he’s putting the pieces together like she is.

When Hoseok sees that Y/n’s mom is watching him with a guarded expression, almost worried about where he’s going with him, he bites at the inside of his cheek nervously. Y/n had never explicitly said it, but he could tell the minute he walked into the house just a few hours ago that she’s also a muggleborn. Wizarding homes always show signs of magic -- dishes that wash themselves, hanging plants that can’t be found anywhere in the muggle world, that kind of thing. He hadn’t seen anything to give away a magical upbringing, almost shocked at how much Y/n’s home reminded him of his own childhood.

He can see now that the woman is glancing at her own daughter, and he knows what she’s thinking. Y/n and Hoseok are the same, but his world had been entirely different. He sees her making that connection, so he just decides to rip off the metaphorical band-aid and finish explaining.

“My parents didn’t want something ‘unnatural’ living in the house, influencing their innocent daughter, so they kicked me out. Agreed to help me pay for an apartment and bills as long as I promised to never reach out to them for anything else -- Dumbledore helped me out the first few summers, let me stay on the grounds since I wasn’t old enough to be on my own. I moved into a place not far from here when I turned 15.”

He’s got his eyes screwed shut now, terrified of the pity he’s going to find when he opens them again. It’s too quiet, and he feels his ears warming, knowing that it looks like he’s been thrown away, discarded. He doesn’t feel that way, having accepted his situation when he was still young -- having decided to accept his situation because it was better than being bitter. But he knows what people will see when they find out, so he’d gone to great lengths to hide it. Because he doesn’t need pity, he’s happy as he is.

While he’s thinking of how to ease everyone’s tension, he’s completely unprepared for the arms that wrap around his neck. Cracking his eyes open, he realizes these arms are quite small, that the person hugging him is quite small.

“Will you come back for family dinner every year?” Hana’s question is muffled in his neck, but the words have his heart stuttering because he really hadn’t been expecting this. Glancing quickly at Y/n, he finds that the pity he’d been preparing for isn’t there. She looks completely heartbroken, her eyes shining with unshed tears, but more than anything she looks mad.

She blinks it away when they make eye contact, and she nods while reaching for his hand. He’s not sure what she’s nodding at, and he gets the feeling she doesn’t know either, but he takes it as her understanding. Understanding that he doesn’t want to talk about it further, understanding what he’d meant in the forest that day about being happy alone.

Just past Y/n, Yoongi’s standing from his spot on the floor with a groan and a crack of his spine. He moves for Hana, who’s still clinging to Hoseok’s neck.

“Of course he’ll be back, Monkey. He’s not goin’ anywhere.” It’s said so simply, without any particular feeling to guide it, but Hoseok’s so immensely grateful for Min Yoongi in that moment. Not only because he hadn’t changed at all in the way he’d looked at Hoseok -- his eyes are still even and calm, if not laced with slightest bit of emotion when their gazes lock -- but because Hoseok had just received clear and direct approval from the one person in Y/n’s life that he’d been most nervous about.

It’s one thing to be nervous about family or the entirety of her friend group -- those things are normal. Min Yoongi is not normal, not to Y/n. He’s the only person that knows Y/n better than she knows herself, and Hoseok hadn’t even realized just how terrified he’d been that Yoongi wouldn’t accept him suddenly appearing in Y/n’s life the way he had. But he sees now, while Yoongi is slowly peeling Hana off of him and carrying her to the staircase, claiming that it’s ‘way past her bedtime’, that Yoongi’s just let him in. The girl waves goodnight to the rest of the group, almost immediately sleepy now that Yoongi's carrying her to bed.

When Hoseok looks to Y/n, eyes wide with surprise, he sees that she’s noticed Yoongi's behavior, too. Because she’s got her eyes closed, but she’s smiling fondly, like the telltale signs of Yoongi’s respect have finally revealed themselves, decidedly giving Hoseok his stamp of approval.

He’s so busy reveling in the fact that he’d just gotten all the reactions to his life story that he’d been expecting the least that he barely feels Y/n’s mom set a hand on his shoulder when she stands. He looks up now, taking in her kind eyes, and he thinks she’s going to say something sentimental, but--

“I like you a whole lot more than I liked Jungkook.” Hoseok’s jaw drops, and Y/n’s scoffing loudly beside him.

“Mom!” The woman smiles, leaving the two them there on the couch while she grabs the plates of pie, mumbling something about ‘needing to pack Noodle Arms a plate to go’ before heading into the kitchen. Hoseok can do nothing but laugh when he looks to Y/n, who’s still completely scandalized by her mom’s comment.

“I can’t tell if I should feel highly approved of, or just regularly approved of since Jungkook is apparently low on the Family Opinions list.” Y/n nudges him with her elbow playfully, and they sit there quietly together on the couch for a moment. He finds himself reaching out to brush his fingers across her knee insecurely.

“You know, you don’t have to feel bad for me. I really am okay -- I said it before, but I just… I’ve been okay not having anyone. It never really haunted me or hurt me or anything I’m sure you’d expect an abandoned child to feel. I just… took the bad with the good and decided to focus on the happy moments of my childhood because, believe it or not, I had a lot of them. It’s just easier to remember my parents as they were before, so that’s what I do.” Y/n nods slowly when he’s done, feeling a lot of things but wondering if maybe it’s not her place to say it. He sees it anyway, because he sees everything.

“You’re angry. That they left me.” Y/n glances at him quickly, wondering if he’s upset at all -- this is such a delicate subject, and she doesn’t know if she’s allowed to feel this mad for him. But he’s smiling, like he can tell she’d been trying to hide it and he’s finding her incredibly endearing for it. She purses her lips and nods shyly, confirming his suspicions.

“That they left you… yes. But I’m angry that they kept your sister from you.” It’d been obvious in the way Hoseok had talked about his parents that he’d become purposely detached from them, that he’d accepted the situation and doesn’t feel any certain way about them. But the name -- ‘Hoseokie’ -- it had set him on edge in a way she’d never seen in this carefree, sunny boy before. His sister’s a sore spot, probably the one thing that hurts most. His smile tells her everything she needs to know, because she’s never once seen him smile bitterly. And yet there it is, forcing his dimples to make an appearance in a way that isn’t as heartwarming as it usually is.

“The last time I saw her, she was Hana’s age… she probably looks so different now.” If a person could physically deflate into nothingness, Y/n would have successfully done it. Hoseok can’t help but snicker, the image of Y/n almost melting into the couch too endearing.

“I -- I can’t even imagine… not knowing what Hana will look like in a few years.” It breaks her heart all over again, the way Hoseok nods, because he knows exactly what that feels like. But he refuses to dwell on it, clapping his hands down on his knees decisively and shaking Y/n from her stupor with the noise.

“Spend New Year’s Eve with me!” Y/n’s brain stalls, trying to process what he’d just said. He waits patiently, smiling while she switches mental gears and catches up to him.

“Huh? I mean -- sure? Yes? But, huh?” He laughs under his breath, finding her confusion almost obnoxiously cute.

“I’ve never had anyone to spend it with. Now that I do… I really want to spend it with you.” Y/n swallows hard, wondering where these butterflies in her stomach are coming from -- maybe it’s the way he’s watching her, eyes curious as he waits for her reaction. She only nods, suddenly very shy under his gaze.

“I’d love to, Hoseok…” He warms at how low her voice is, and now he’s the one feeling shy, pressing his palms into his thighs and staring down at his lap. They’re quiet for a moment, the soft crackling from the fireplace filling the silence, until--

“Oh, just kiss already!” They both turn quickly toward the voice, finding Yoongi standing at the bottom of the staircase, a look of disgust filling his face. He shakes his head when they gape at him, going so far as to wave his hand quickly, his palm passing through the air with intent. “Look, I even helped.” He’s looking at the space above their heads, and when she and Hoseok follow his eyes, they find a piece of mistletoe growing from the ceiling, hanging down between them.

Y/n groans in annoyance while Hoseok sits there, blushing brightly at Yoongi’s forwardness. As if to make things worse for him, Y/n’s mom enters the room again then, noticing the mistletoe right away as she’s handing the comically large stack of to-go containers over to Yoongi.

“Oh, cute! Did they kiss?” She looks at Yoongi when she asks, and he shakes his head in disappointment -- Hoseok gets the feeling they’re enjoying pretending he and Y/n aren’t right here when they start snickering in unison.

“Well, I gotta go--” Yoongi stops to glare at Y/n when she looks at him knowingly, eyebrows raised. Hoseok wonders if maybe this is about the messages she’d seen on the Slytherin’s phone earlier. “-- but I’ll catch you guys later. Happy Christmas, nerds!” With that he’s heading for the entryway, and Hoseok can hear him bickering with Y/n’s mom all the way to the door.

“Yes, I brought my coat--”

“You don’t have a hat! I’m sure they make hats for big-headed people, too--”

“That is so offensive on so many levels--”

“I’ll just have to make you one myself--”

“Mom! Stop working so hard, I promise I’ll go buy a damn hat!”

“Don’t you take that tone with me, Big-Head!”

--

“I got us takeout!” It’s the first thing she says when Hoseok opens the door to his apartment, emphasized by the large bag she’s shaking in his face with enthusiasm. He pokes his head around it, smiling brightly at her.

“I also got us takeout!” Lowering her bag in surprise, she follows Hoseok into the small studio when he beckons her in, slipping her shoes off at the door as she looks to the kitchenette, where an equally large bag of food sits. She only looks to Hoseok, dumbfounded, and she finds he’s giving her the same look.

“How are we gonna eat all this--”

“No idea.” Y/n snorts when he looks between their two bags, face deadpan as he reaches for hers and sets it on the table beside his. He looks at them for a moment longer, finally speaking.

“Did we get takeout from the same place?” Y/n hangs her head with a groan when she realizes the bags look exactly the same. When she looks up again, he’s heading for the cabinets to get plates, his shoulders shaking with laughter. It’s infectious, and soon she’s shaking her head, turning to look around the apartment while she laughs openly. Her breath is cut short almost immediately when she looks at the living area.

“Holy plants.” Hoseok glances over to where she’s looking, a nervous laugh leaving him.

“Too much?” To put it simply, they’re everywhere. Floor plants, hanging plants, windowsill plants -- everywhere. There’s even a massive plant overtaking the table next to his bed in the corner, not an inch of space for him to put anything else. She feels like she just walked into a jungle.

“Your air must be really clean…” Hoseok laughs loudly, not having expected that to be her one assessment of his plant collection.

“You’re lucky I haven’t covered the couch in plants, too -- where are we gonna sit to watch TV?” As if the universe has decided to test him at this very moment in time for absolutely no reason other than to make him suffer, the apartment goes dark with the booming sound of the entire room powering down.

Hoseok barely manages to hold in his groan when he hears Y/n turn in his direction in the dark.

“I wasn’t watching anything good on TV these days, anyway.”

--

“Come on, come on -- where are they--”

“Hoseok, it’s fine--”

“I swear I had candles--”

“Hoseok--”

“Aha!” He pokes his head up from where he’s crouched by the closet, holding a stack of small candles triumphantly. Y/n’s sitting at the dining table, having cast lumos long ago and unpacked their copious amounts of food with nothing but the light of her wand. She’s smiling at him fondly now as he shows her the candles.

“Are you feeling better now?” Hoseok lowers his candles, sending her a sheepish smile as he rises to his feet and moves to join her at the table. He’d immediately started apologizing to her when the power had gone out, thrown into a panicked rush to fix things as he flitted around his apartment. She’d tried to reassure him that everything was okay, but he’d still felt really bad for messing up their night.

“I’m sorry, Y/n… I told my parents that I’m still in school until the spring, but I don’t think they heard that part when they said they were gonna stop helping me pay for stuff after graduation… I’ve been applying for jobs all year, but they just don’t really start accepting people until they see our NEWT results and transcripts and stuff, so--”

“Hobi.” He stops at the nickname, realizing when she levels him with a hard stare that he’s devolving into anxious rambling again. She reaches across the table, taking his hands in hers.

“Stop apologizing, Hobi. This isn’t your fault, and you haven’t ruined anything. I promise.” He’s slow to nod, but eventually he accepts her words, seeing how insistent she is.

“I do have one question, though.” He blinks, humming curiously when she continues and wondering what she’s going to say. “Do you… have spare blankets? Because it’s going to get very cold in here very fast.”

--

“I don’t think I want to eat anything ever again.”

“Mmm… Mmmm…”

“So you agree.”

“Mhm… Mmm…” Hoseok throws his head back against the couch, completely unable to form words after the meal they’d just had. Y/n snorts, nodding as she gets used to his various sounds of exhaustion.

“Me too, Hobi.” They sit there quietly for only a moment before Hoseok is lifting his head, urgent. Y/n looks at him, wondering what’s happening in his head when he turns to her, face deadpan yet again.

“I bought us ice cream on my way home with the food.” Immediately, she’s groaning, and he joins her in flopping around on his couch dramatically. Y/n takes a moment through her food-induced haze to appreciate their little setup.

The candles are set strategically on his coffee table and counters, clear of any plants because the last thing they need tonight is a fire. She’d been right in assuming it’d get cold, and they’d eventually stopped trying to manage with small blankets, dragging his comforter right off the bed and curling up together beneath it as they ate dinner. She can’t even recall what they’d talked about, the entire thing a confused fog from the food.

She knows they’d been giddy the whole time, on a weird high from the collection of ridiculous things that had happened in the first five minutes of her being here. That, along with the sheer amount of food and the wine Hoseok had pulled out for them, ended up creating nonstop laughter over the smallest things. She’s comfortable here, never having experienced a bubble of quiet happiness like this. She feels no pressure and she’s worried about nothing -- everything had fallen away when she’d walked in the door, the rest of the world blocked out from this safe space, here with Hoseok in his apartment.

“Oh! It’s almost midnight!” Hoseok’s squinting at his phone in the dark before showing her the screen -- 11:55pm. She glances at her own phone, sitting peacefully on the table in front of them, and she hates that the only thing she can think of is Jungkook. She’s scared that this period of silence between them will have done nothing, that as soon as the new year starts, he’s going to be back to badgering her constantly. She just wants everything to return to normal, and she’s scared that she only has five minutes left before that dream falls apart.

“Hey… Where’d you go just now?” Blinking, she sees that Hoseok’s peering at her, brow furrowed in concern. His phone toggles when he moves closer to her, a small pout set in his features, and the screen lights up again. 11:57pm. She hates that, after such a good night, it had taken only this to have them both frowning. She hates it.

“I just… I really just want all of this to be normal again. I want Jungkook to be normal again. I want the new year to be something good again, and I’m terrified it won’t be. I just want to forget everything bad from this year and start fresh.” She rolls her eyes at herself, hating that she’s ranting to Hoseok about her love life again, when they’d just wanted to have a nice New Year’s Eve together. But his mind is elsewhere, a thought crossing his mind suddenly. He checks his phone again. 11:59pm.

“Maybe I can help with that?” Y/n looks to him when he says it, confused.

“What do you mean?” He blinks, trying to decide if he’s really going to do this. The nervous feeling building in his stomach is somehow telling him this is a bad and good idea. He turns to her quickly.

“With that fresh start… forgetting the bad from this year… Maybe I can help…?” Y/n’s not sure what he means, but she doesn’t see why she would say no. Hoseok’s never done anything but help, even when he doesn’t realize it. If anyone’s going to help her forget, it’s him.

So she nods, waiting for him to explain. And then she’s gasping, because he’s leaning in, and she can see even in the dim lighting that he’s looking at her lips -- that he’s going to kiss her.

He pauses for a second to give her time to push him away. When she doesn’t, he’s glancing up and finding that she’s looking at him nervously, her gaze flicking back and forth between his eyes and his mouth. With a small inhale, he lets his eyes drift shut, closing the gap between them carefully.

Y/n’s not even sure she’s kissing him back -- she’s too focused on the feeling of his lips on her, how gentle he’s being as he applies just the slightest pressure to her mouth with his own. But she must be kissing him back, because he’s responding to something, his lips pressing harder when he feels her reciprocating.

It’s only one kiss, one that he pulls back from slowly after a moment, their breaths mingling warmly in the small space he’s created. Neither of them makes a move, eyes hooded and noses brushing in his dark apartment as they try to make sense of this haze long enough to figure out if this has really just happened. If Hoseok’s really just kissed her on New Year’s Eve.

And then her phone is lighting up on the table, celebratory texts from her friends pouring in, and they turn at the same time to glance at the screen. 12:00am.

Hoseok turns back to her then, eyes searching hers for something -- he’s not really sure what it is, but when a shy smile starts to dance at the edges of her lips, he knows he’s found it.

“Happy New Year, Y/n.”

[imagines-mha]

◇ haikyuu and their music tastes◇

daichi: he has the most generic music taste 💀 💀 mr brightside was his most played song of 2020

suga:  i just know he loves boybands. one direction, the vamps, semi-ironically big time rush i just KNOW but also,,,, twice stan

asahi: hozier 1000% i will die on this hill that he stans hozier. also ricky montgommery vibes

noya: 100 gecs satisfies the itch in his brain like nothing ever has. 

ennoshita: he thinks he’s the king of indie-rock because he listens to wallows and declan mckenna but his taste is so good you cant even argue w him

tsukki: he is the epitome of every single genre mixed into one massive chaotic playlist. we got alec benjamin, we got fall out boy, we got 90s top hits. anything u want boo hes got it except for ed sheeran

yamaguchi: he listens to so much soft boy music it’s uncanny. im talking mxmtoon, jack stauber, beach bunny he has the aesthetic COINED

yachi: look at me and tell me she isnt an emotonally unstable swiftie who literally loses her shit when the opening of blank space plays. dorothea’s her favourite song bc shes gay.

kuroo: everyone is jealous of his music taste. literally everyone. you know all those songs that make your entire body switch astral plane? like midnight city by M83? they’re HIS type of songs

kenma: cavetown, lil peep, joji. anything that just screams i want to fucking vibe no more no less

aone: bom bom by sam and the womp was his most listened to song of 2020 and futakuchi didnt sleep soundly for a week after finding this out

futakuchi: he lies about his music taste bc he wants to be edgy. listens to BTS and 1975 religiously. stans melanie martinez and he wishes colours by halsey was written about him

kogane: he unironically listens to nyan cat i promise

oikawa: still not over his electra heart faze rip. when hes sad he cries to lana del rey, when hes happy he raps nicki <3 its equality

iwa: literally no taste. he listens to whats on the charts. sometimes bazzi and chase atlantic but thats it

yahaba: u know those instrumental playlists on youtube like “you run away with your lover in the middle of the night” by olivialee. yeh <3

makki: his spotify playlists all scream mental breakdown. Mitski, Lana del rey, and pheobe bridgers are his golden trio, but the SECOND Katy Perry comes on he is UNHINGED

ushijima: he doesnt listen to any music. semi tried introducing him to hozier once, and he latched onto take me to church like it was holy bread for 14 months straight

tendou: mother mother’s music was crafted simply for tendo. and when he’s listening his body ASCENDS

semi: thinks he’s the ultimate edgy boy smh but he has such a basc indie music taste IT HURTS. “Hey i like this band but theyre super underground you probably havent heard of them haha... theyre called arctic monkeys”

atsumu: hes so chaotic and for what. yes he knows every single word to WAP, yes he knows the say so dance, yes he cries to katy perry and ariana grande. you cant pin him down smh

osamu: listens to the soundtrack of a teen indie movie. wallows? tongue tied? electric love? theyre all in there. dua lipas holds a special place in his heart. 

kita: listens to a lot of chill k-pop songs and soft classical music whenever he’s studying but he doesnt really have a favourite song or anything like tht

suna: AM by arctic monkeys changed his entire view on music, but he doesn’t wanna sound like a mainstream tumblr girl so he just tells everyone he listens to lil peep

bokuto: good morning harry styles biggest fan. his favourite songs on fne line are TPWK, canyon moon and golden

akaashi: he has the most ethereal music taste omfg <3. he worships lorde, florence welch and hozier. folklore by taylor swift changed his life.

[couldbeglorious]

ways encanto is different from magic realism

the magic is kind

the magic is seen as a rare blessing

the magic is seen as magical

there is a set point in time between no magic and magic (i think magical realism usually has more of an always been there/it simply is vibe)

there is one single magic happening (does that make sense? i mean it’s not a thing likely to happen to anyone in the village at any point for any reason, it’s just the madrigals (although i guess it could) (it’s just not what’s happening in encanto))

the characters try to understand the rules of the magic and it's meaning

the gifts are something of a escapist metaphor for the character's relatable struggles, emphasis on the escapism

the magic of inanimate objects is personable and variable (although casita is more a character (than a magical object) because it's making the point a house is also part of a family and is given character per the miracle?)

in short, the magic is way too explained and looked at

theeeeeee people on horses who burned the village and killed pedro? the fact i have to refer to them so vaguely because they were so small and faceless in the story... like i get why, and it’s powerful in it’s own way but i’m saying usually, a story that’s magic realism very much would look at these guys long and hard and a lot and have more.

there’s not a lot of politics at all! in fact, further fuckin more, the madrigals are almost like a royal family that’s somehow more important than the others in the village, it’s kind of uncanny that that’s never adressed!

the vibe is generally happy and has a "everyone" rating with a happy end

it’s emotionally accessible and easy to watch

there were like producers and stuff keeping it in check so it’s literally disney-level palatable and child-friendly ha ha

it's made by a huge popular american studio with funding n stuff (magic realism is originally more of a countercurrent, unique-to-the-author style)

i’m bringing back the magic is kind. that’s not. it’s just not it !

ways encanto is alike to magic realism

the magic is not otherworldly/faeeric/ethereal

the magic is linked to this family

in some way, the reason why these people have magic is because theyre the main characters / magic as a stylistic device to tell a story, and making it worldbuilding

the link is, for some part, generational trauma, for another, simply familial link

the magic is happening about the character's life and state and emotions

it’s still very poetic

it does cause some problems

the characters also have problems beyond the magic

sometimes stuff happens that’s just in a different plane of reality and you just have to nod and accept that’s how the story’s being told now (surface pressure is a very disney, friend like me take on it but! it’s a thing!)

it's meaning and rules clings to their lives (as in, the magic wouldn’t make sense unless it is tied to these people’s precise lives at this point where the story happens. example: weights have no intrinsic meaning outside of social convention, luisa gives them the significance that made them appear on her door. the usual magic from fairytale fantasy would normally not know to do something like this. see also: camilo’s gift is about being a teen, julieta’s is about being a mom. in real life, they wouldn’t make much sense because camilo’s not a teen his whole life and julieta was 5 when she got that gift, but narratively within encanto, it does make sense, so it is.)

something about the way animals are?? i just, i know it’s exactly the level of intelligence disney usually gives them in a story where they’re not flat out people, but there’s something here. i think.

the extant of a gift has no limits/ is not bound/ the source cant be used up

the narrative is about more of an interior journey for the characters more than disney's usual adventure and fight against evil

the artists directly making it clearly cared a lot about their story and the impact colombia's history would have on it

julieta and her gift have the most magic realist vibe imo. the power based on the mythos of mom’s-cooking? when she says her food healed mirabel’s cut bc she loves her? yes!

loved encanto? i THINK you know not to fucking jump into magical realism right away expecting lin manuel. HOWEVER. depending on which things you loved of encanto, you may also appreciate this writing style! do some research if you need warnings, or follow people’s recs idk