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violetren · 1 year ago

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Ok live action atla reaction for episode 2.

It was better than episode one. Where episode one was a dumpster fire actively trying to hurt me both as an avatar fan and as someone with a basic understanding of how multimodal media is used to craft stories, episode two is fine.

I hesitate to call it great or even good when my only other point of reference so far is one of the worst episodes of TV I have seen in the past decade. Or possibly just ever. But I can comfortably say it was fine.

Perhaps my biggest on going issue is still the dialogue. When they don't sound like they just walked out of a LA therapists office, they instead sound like they are either in a circa 2010 disney original tv show, or just straight up like the writer explaining directly to camera how they are justifying skipping events from the animation because they have made the characters so much more mature and self aware of what they need to do/become for the sake of saving the world.

In short, Sokka remains unfunny.

I can't believe the "I bet you taste like chicken" comment wasn't even in response to Momo doing anything in particular. Momo is just there chilling on Aang's shoulder and Sokka is glaring at him like Momo is his arch rival, talking about a singular non mishmash animal that he has probably never even seen before because where the fuck where the chicken coops in the south fucking pole!?

Katara's strives in bending probably look impressive to anyone who hasn't seen the first episode of the animation where she already outclassed her current progress. Girl was out there (accidentally) splitting icebergs out of anger, but I'm meant to be impressed she can make a water ball in 3 seconds? I hate how badly she has been nerfed.

I also hate how they made it that Gram Gram actively helped nerf her by denying Katara her inheritance until it was clear she was gonna hop on a flying bison and go on adventures with the Avatar. She didn't even give her the scroll directly and apologise to her face. Just shoved it in her bags with a sorry note and now we're deprived of Katara stealing from pirates! Which means Katara is gonna be carrying that "goody toe shoes always morally correct with no room for nuance mom friend" burden for who knows how much longer now.

We did FINALLY get some Iroh adjacent behaviour from Uncle Iroh. Him trying to cajole Zuko into eating some street food and getting distracted mid sentence because he noticed some sticky rice wasn't perfectly executed but it was better executed than any other Iroh moments we have seen so far. Mostly he still hits as gaslighty and condescending. And don't get me wrong. OG Iroh COULD be gaslighty but never so fucking blatantly. There's no finesse, no gentle distractions layered with concern. Where is the charisma? Instead we effectively get him going "you're wrong. you should consider giving up." at every other time he talks to Zuko (less so this episode than last but only because he "tries" to teach Zuko diplomacy. Yes there are quotes around tries for a reason. He basically says Do This, gives no real guidance on how and then steps in to do the thing the second Zuko is sucking because he's never had to do this shit before and doesn't want to do it now especially since he has no idea wtf Iroh means).

Anyways, didn't they say they were overhauling the Ba Sing Se arc to make it less gaslighty? Yet they let this vibe fly with Iroh of all people?

We did at least get Suki though. And she's mostly pretty recognisably Suki. Save for the instant and hardcore pining for Sokka because he immediately became a surrogate for her yearning for the outside world. I can appreciate that they wanted to nix Sokka's sexism and instead just made him insecure about his status as a warrior, and they almost made it work but they cut themselves off from such an interesting interplay of tension by having Suki just as, if not more, eager to show off her skills to Sokka as he was to act like he was a big tough southern water tribe warrior. They were on to something when they had her question how he could be the guardian of his village if he was here with the Avatar instead. They could of had her be dismissive of his claims at being a warrior when he was clearly acting like an undisciplined blow hard and the fanthrowing/chokehold scene could have been a "stop acting tough, I am the warrior you're claiming to be" moment which wouldn't have involved any sexism on either side and have made a basis for mutual respect when Sokka comes along to the training hall. They could have had him humbly ASK instead of awkwardly miming until Suki noticed. We could have still had Sokka in Kyoshi Warrior garb. It would have stuck closer to the original, it wouldn't have taken up more time, and it would have created a much more satisfying interplay of tension between the two characters which also would help ground their future relationship in mutual respect.

I will say though, although the writing fucking choked the cinematography, the lighting team, the actors and the editors all came through with creating a sense of attraction between the two characters. So that wasn't nothing.

Kyoshi was a high point. Still fell victim to the dialogue writing, but a very strong perfomance by Yvonne Chapman accented excellently by the sound design team during some of the more intense parts when they layered in all the other Avatar voices. She was a good choice for giving Aang a bunch of hard truths and I liked how she both told him he had to find his own path but when he kept pushing for a more concrete answer just started telling him to deal with shit her way, because that felt very Kyoshi.

Also the entire sequence of her manifesting through Aang to show him a bit of what he could do as the avatar and lowkey to protect HER island was fucking badass. Not a single fire nation soldier left that island with clean underwear after facing Avatar mother fucking Kyoshi.

Unfortunately I was very quickly brought down from this high by Aang closing out his part of the episode by saying that Kyoshi told him something terrible was going to happen to the Northern Water Tribe if he didn't get up there and do his duty as the avatar to stop it. A conversation beat that happened off screen btw.

This annoys me for several reasons, starting with since when can the Avatar's collective past lives tell the future? The big threat to the Northern Water Tribe was originally Zhao coming to kill the moon spirit, which is a culmination of his lust for dominance and power and his plans to capture the avatar for himself. So either that isn't happening (and they are unnecessarily trying to revamp a perfectly good finale to stroke their own egos) OR they have made the nonsensical decision to foretell this tragedy in the show instead of just letting the tension mount naturally because 80+% of their audience already know shit goes down in at the Northern Water Tribe. Which annoys the fuck out of me. Aang was always going to go North for water bending training anyways, and especially this borderline hyper responsible version of Aang who knows even if it will hurt emotionally he will need to learn the other elements. There was no good god damn reason to add a second layer of urgency by saying if he doesn't get there bad shit will happen!

My closing rant is really more of a question, but why the fuck is it every time we see a firelord, (Sozin and now Ozai) that they are just hanging out in the middle of the fucking chamber chatting with some fucking guys until a prisoner/messenger arrives while the fire throne looms menacingly in the background upstairs and 50 feet back. Where is the menace and pizazz of them sitting looking down on literally everyone and everything from up on high flanked by flames, committing atrocities with a wave of their hand and a few low spoken words that everyone grovels to hear? I believe in Daniel Dae Kim's ability to look scary and lordly on a fancy chair, especially if the fancy chair has FIRE, why doesn't the director?

#chirping wren #live action atla spoilers #live action atla critical

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gravityglitch-blog · 4 months ago

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"The New Kid"

(N does receive a name here, but to keep things simple, the story will keep referring to him as "N".

Also gave the schoolteacher a name, because the man sees so much chaos, he at least deserves that.)

Chapter 2

ao3 version here

first chapter here

The corpse spire was the dread of Copper Nine, a reminder to every Worker who saw it of the threat that hovered over them.

It had been built upon by different squadrons over the years, meaning the interior was divided into wandering, disjointed segments, like a hive crafted by insane bees. Many Disassembly Drones had lived there before, but it was currently home to the young three that had stormed the spire when they first landed.

Well, now only two.

"Tell me I heard you wrong," Serial Designation V hissed at her squadron leader through gritted fangs. She had never feared J, and wasn't about to start now.

"Fine, I went too far," J answered, her tone flat and cold. "I was tired of that factory defect screwing things up. We took a beating today and only got away with enough oil to fill our reserves for a week. Now that he's gone, it'll last longer. You're welcome."

"You left him out there to die! We have to go after him!"

"And why is that, V?" asked J, one eyebrow lifted curiously. "Why are you so upset over this? It's not like you treated him any better."

V cast her gaze down, shame and anger coursing through her. "He was all we had left from our life before," she said finally.

She met V's glare. "Don't tell me you never think about that time."

J's hand had been replaced by a long blade and was already at V's throat.

"Never speak to me about that again," J's voice was rough, a warning scratched in stone.

Pulling the blade away after a long minute, she continued, "Even if I wanted to go after him now, there'd be no point. Sun's up. He's nothing but a pile of ashes by now."

V sank to the floor, as though the blade had actually hit its mark. Something like pity crossed J's expression before vanishing.

She turned her back and marched toward her own quarters."I suggest you get some sleep," she threw over her shoulder. "Now that we're shorthanded, we'll have to work double-time to beat the other squadrons on this rock."

V didn't hear her. Her senses were consumed by memory. All the cruel things she'd ever said or done in her stupid attempts to keep N at a distance, to protect him from the evil that had infested their lives.

Most of all, she was remembering a lonely manor house long ago and far away.

She was remembering a kind little butler Drone who used to sit beside her and read facts about dogs.

She shut her eyes against the simmering tears. "I failed everything," she whispered, so quiet she could barely hear herself.

"I'm sorry, N."

---

N's internal clock told him he'd been in the infirmary for about a week now.

The first few days were a long, foggy dream. He'd thought about his past life. He'd wondered if V would miss him at all. They had been friends once. At least, he thought they'd been.

The worst was when he remembered what J had done, the pain tearing through him like fresh wounds all over again.

According to Miss Nori and Miss Annie, he had lain in a coma-like sleep while his systems reset themselves.

A new sensation had gradually begun to shine through the fog. The girl, Uzi, coming to visit him every day. He could sometimes feel her hand wrap around his. Sometimes she would read to him, or tell him about whatever had happened at her school that day.

She'd become an anchor point as he drifted between life and the abyss, and he'd held on to that with all his strength.

However long or short his life would be, he'd never forget waking up that first day without the fever.

The craving for oil was gone, at last.

He'd looked down at himself and seen his body as it had been, in bygone days when he'd been a Worker, not a weapon.

There'd been a small crowd around his cot, eyeing him nervously. N had locked onto Nori and thrown his arms around her shoulders.

"Thank you," he'd sobbed. "Thank you, thank you," until the words ran together into a babbling chant.

He was the only patient in the infirmary now.

As days kept passing and no disaster erupted, the other residents of the colony were less anxious around him, but they were a long way from trust. He didn't blame them.

They were running diagnostics on him again today, the band wrapped around his head beeping at intervals. He was walking slow laps around the room, one arm tucked around Uzi, the other around Miss Annie as they guided him through each footstep. He still getting used to his new body. Smaller but still strong, without the burden of bladed wings on his shoulders. During his recovery, Uzi had been reading her comic books out loud to him.

("Manga," he corrected himself. No way was he making that mistake again. She'd looked so offended.)

Right now, she was excitedly acting out the most recent chapter they'd left off.

"Okay, so he winds up his fist like this," Uzi pulled back her free arm, as if preparing to battle an unseen enemy. "And then he lets it fly!"

She gave the air a devastating uppercut, sending a wobble through all three of them.

"Delaware Smash!"

"Now, Uzi," Miss Annie said gently. "I'm not sure such an exciting story is the best thing right now for...Nico?"

N smiled and shook his head.

"I...don't really feel like a Nico," he said apologetically. He liked Miss Annie. She was kind and quiet in a way that soothed everyone around her. She was also determined to find him a name, but none of her suggestions had fit quite right.

"I'm running out of ideas, hun," she said, "Just one more today. How about Novah?"

N tilted his head a little, letting the name roll around in his head.

"Okay, that one sounds pretty cool," Uzi said.

Miss Annie smiled. "I've been doing some reading. In some ancient human languages, 'Novah' meant 'newcomer'. I thought it might suit you."

"Novah," he played with the sound of it. "Know-vah." A wide smile dawned on his face.

"I'm Novah!"

"Yes!" Miss Annie laughed and offered her hand to Uzi for a victorious high-five, which she gladly returned.

"I think I'd like to keep my letter, though. Maybe as a nickname?"

"Of course."

By this time, they'd made a full circuit around the room. A male worker Drone with smiling white eyes and black hair leaned in and tapped on the wall.

"Knock, knock."

Uzi waved. "Hey there, Mr. Haven."

"Hi, kids. Just here to collect my wife."

"Just a second, Edmund," said Miss Annie as she helped N back onto his cot and returned to her work station to print his readings.

Mr. Edmund walked inside, ruffling N's hair affectionately as he passed.

"How are you feeling today, buddy?"

"Better!"

He gave a warm smile, then turned to Miss Annie. "I know you're busy, honey, but the meeting has already started, and--

"Annie's eyes hollowed. "Oh, that's right! Um, okay," she hurriedly gathered things from her station and followed her husband out the door,

"Uzi, you're in charge! No playing with the defibrillator, please! We're still trying to get the marks off the ceiling!"

"It was one time!"

---

With most residents of the colony somehow crowded inside the classroom, Nori could feel every pair of eyes drilling into her like lasers.

Never did like school, she thought wryly.

Khan kept a supportive hand on her shoulder as he stood beside her.

The schoolteacher, Linus, kept his usual place behind his desk, but the tap-tapping of his pencil betrayed his anxiety.

Most of Nori's attention was on Yeva, once Subject 048. She was her fellow Cabin Fever Labs survivor, another holder of the Solver (though she'd been cured by an older version of the patch that Nori's own systems had rejected), and the closest she'd ever have to a sister.

And right now, she was looking at her with something between sadness and anger.

"Nori, how could you do this? Bring one of those...monsters into our home?"

"I didn't see a monster," Nori answered plainly. "I saw a kid in pain. A kid like my Uzi. Like Doll. I did what I thought was right."

"Child or not, that boy is a threat to everyone!"

The door to the classroom opened, and there was a small disturbance as Annie pushed her way inside, followed by Edmund.

"Now, now, maybe not!"

She was almost yelling to be heard over the agitated murmur of the crowd. "I've been running diagnostics on Novah every day since he's been here, and--"

"Wait," Yeva's husband, Adam, spoke up now, confusion in his eyes. "Novah?"

Annie briefly looked down, a little embarrassed. "Yes, that's the name we've given him."

"We've become rather attached during the boy's recovery," Edmund explained.

Annie continued, "There is no hint of Disassembler code anywhere. Since Nori installed the patch and made her repairs, he's as much a Worker as any of us."

"Khan, you're leader of the Worker Defense Force. What do you think?" Linus asked.

Khan took his time before answering. "I think a lot of progress has been made. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried about the danger."

"I was dangerous when you found me," Nori said, her voice dark with bad memories.

Yeva rubbed her arm. "So was I."

"We didn't have any choices then," Nori continued. "They'd been made for us."

She tried to meet the gaze of everyone in the room. "But you all gave us a second chance. To build new lives. It feels wrong to deny that to someone else."

Nori took both Yeva's hands in hers.

"You looked out for me while we were trapped in that hell. I'll look out for you now. For all of us. I swear on my life."

They stayed frozen like that for a very long time. Sighing heavily, Yeva lowered her forehead to Nori's.

"I don't trust the boy," she said quietly. "But I trust you."

---

N leaned back in his cot, staring at the ceiling with hands tightly folded over his chest. He was so nervous, he didn't know what else to do with them.

Sitting at his bedside, Uzi had the same problem, endlessly fiddling with the edges of her hoodie.

"What do you think they're talking about?" he asked.

"Whether or not to let you stay."

"Oh."

Purple eyes blinked at him. "What was it like...before?"

"It's hard to explain. It's like the kind of nightmare you have when you're sick, only it's real. You're still you, but you're also...something else. Something bad. And all you want is to stop, but you can't."

Struck by a terrible thought, he quickly turned to look at her. "Did I ever hurt you?"

Uzi shook her head. "No. I never saw you before my mom brought you in."

Relieved, he returned to contemplating the ceiling. "I've hurt others, though."

"Yes. And I won't lie, you'll have a tough time living that down, if you stay."

A beat of silence. "Do you want to stay?"

"If they'll have me," he sighed. "Being around Miss Annie, Miss Nori...you...I've never felt so safe." N glanced at her again.

"Would you want me to stay?"

She smiled at him, and his chest felt warm.

"It's been nice having someone to talk to," she said. With a little smirk, she added, "Even if you can't keep your manga stories straight."

"Yes, I can! Um...the Demon Slayers guard the Dragon Balls, right?"

"Okay, now you have to stay. Someone has to make sure you get a good education."

Both of them sat up when Uzi's parents, followed by Annie and Edmund, came into the infirmary. Uzi bolted out of her chair to grab her mother and father by the hand.

"Well?" she asked, bouncing slightly on her feet.

"He can stay," Nori announced with a smile.

"But we do have a question for N...Novah."

She stepped aside to make room for Annie and Edmund.

"Novah, you're strong enough to leave the infirmary now. Edmund and I were wondering...if you would like to come and live with us? We don't have any children, and...we'd be happy to be your parents, if you'll have us."

So many emotions were flooding him, he thought he might blue-screen.

"Parents? I-I'd be part of a family?"

"And we'd be neighbors!" Uzi chimed in. "Mr. and Mrs. Haven live right across from us."

"That is," Edmund added gently, "if you want this."

N looked at Uzi, standing with a parent on either side. Shielded. Loved.

And now the same was being offered to him, a monster that had been reshaped into something like normal.

He didn't deserve it.

He wanted it more than anything.

"Yes. Yes, please," he finally breathed.

If those first days had been a dream, the ones that followed felt like a prayer answered.

He had never dared to imagine this kind of life for himself. Gentle smiles to wish him good night that were still there in the morning.

Warm baritone singing while doing chores on weekends.

Watching two Drones silly in love waltz around the apartment for no reason, and then sweeping him up into the dance until his clumsy feet tumbled them all into a giggling heap on the couch.

A best friend who lived just across the hall, so he could see her every day. They played old video games and built pillow forts and made crazy plans about what they'd do if they could fly away from the world.

Sometimes he wondered if he had actually died that first night and was mistakenly allowed into heaven. Because if there was such a place, surely it felt like this.

---

In the darkest part of the farthest shadows, a heart of flesh and a silicon soul kept up a relentless search.

Like almost everything alive, it craved to reclaim what it had lost.

Not because of anything like love or affection.

The Solver of the Absolute Fabric was above such mundane pursuits.

This was pure obsession.

"Where are you, big brother N? Come out, come out, wherever you are..."

#murder drones #murder drones fanfic #gravityglitch writes

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im-an-anxious-wreck · 4 years ago

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Who Is It I See In The Mirror? (Who Is It That I Want It To Be?)

AO3 link

Summary: After his brother's death, Roman couldn't stand to see himself in the mirror. Roman just looked too much like… him, so he changed every similarity between himself and him that he could.

Now it had been 9 years, but Roman was still only just able to float by. His pristine appearance was so carefully crafted and oh so fragile.

So how will everything crash down when Roman sees someone who looks painfully like him?

Warnings: presumed past character death, crying, cursing, alcohol consumption, references to a past physical fight

Perspective/main characters: switches between Roman, Remus, and Patton

Side/secondary character: Logan

Mentioned: October [TS Shorts]

Romantic relationships: logince, intrulogical

Familial relationships(brothers): Roman & Remus, Patton & Logan

Word Count: 4,340

Link to my collection of TSS fanworks

Roman couldn't stand to see… his face in the mirror so he changed any similarities he possibly could. He, with an unsteady hand, cut his hair short, only leaving the top a bit longer. The brown was… not a good colour on Roman… yeah. So he dyed the top of his hair red, just because he liked red, not because it was the opposite of green, thank you very much. (Hadn't he used the same excuse time after time, even when he was a kid? Just so people wouldn't compare them. So Roman wouldn't get in trouble like Re—)

His green eyes and freckles all but mocked him, so he wore brown contacts, and put on the thickest foundation he could find. Green and black made him want to scream… or cry, so he got rid of any of his clothes in those colours.

And he couldn't stand the stubble that grew on his face so he stayed clean-shaven. If stubble sent him off he could only imagine what anything even close to resembling some hair across his upper lip would do.

He supposed one good thing about forcing himself to go out in public and pretend that everything was normal and that he didn't miss… him terribly was that he had to shower, he had to keep his appearance up. And he couldn't do that if he never changed his clothes, took a shower, did his hair and makeup, or shaved.

He couldn't allow himself to slip. It was a slippery slope and one wrong step would send him tumbling down at an alarming rate. Just like whe—

So no. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't allow himself to slip… he couldn't. He… he wouldn't have wanted Roman to. So he wouldn't. He wouldn't think about it… about him.

"Roman?" Roman's boyfriend, Logan, called out from the bedroom, tiredness evident in his voice.

"Yeah?"

Logan appeared at the open bathroom door. "Ah, there you are. Are… are you putting on makeup? Roman, it's…" —Logan checked the time on his phone, before slipping it back in his pajama pants— "7:36. I thought you didn't have anything you needed to do this morning."

"Oh, I don't. I just… like wearing makeup. Feels weird to be up and about without it… yeah."

Logan's expression went from exasperated to almost understanding. "Roman, you don't have to wear makeup when I'm here, you know that, right? I know we've only been dating for three weeks and five days, but all eight nights that I've spent here, you've always gotten up before me and put on makeup. You are, of course, free to do whatever you wish with your appearance, however you needn't worry about always quote-unquote 'looking your best' around me." Logan set his hand on Roman's shoulder, and Roman had to stifle a gasp at how warm Logan's hand was. "You can relax and figuratively let down your hair."

"Y— yeah. I… I know, Lo. I just… just can't." Roman pulled back and instantly missed Logan's touch. "I can't stand to see myself with… without makeup."

"Ah, I see. Would you like to talk about why?"

"Uh…" Gods, Roman was so pathetic. Even the thought of telling someone made his throat close up. "Not… not yet. Maybe… eventually, but I can't right now. 'M sorry."

"That's alright, Roman. You have absolutely no reason to apologize, and in fact, you don't have to tell me yet, or even at all, if you're not comfortable with sharing the reason."

"Oh, I— thanks. That really… really means a lot to me, Specs."

"Of course, your health and wellbeing are very important to me." Logan adjusted his glasses. "Would you like me to change the subject?"

Roman released the tension in his shoulders, causing them to slump. "Yes, please."

"Hmm… ah! Are you going to Patton's Halloween party?"

"Oh, yeah. That's tomorrow night, right?"

"Yes, it begins at six thirty. Costumes are optional but recommended."

"Yeah, I've got my pirate captain costume all ready."

"Excellent. I'll pick you up at six sharp then?"

"Are you sure? I can be the designated driver this time. You always are, and then have to take drunk me home, which I know is a big pain."

"Please, the worst you've ever done while drunk in my presence is when you tried to fight your reflection for, and I quote, 'the right to date the most charming nerd in all the land so get your ugly ass face away from him, you don't deserve him, you damn coward.' And besides, I prefer not to be inebriated. Oh, and I have class rather early the next morning, so having a hangover is not in my best interest."

Roman huffed. "You know, that was only one time, and the mirror deserved what it got, sooo…" What Roman had failed to mention, and had absolutely no plans to say, was that he'd somehow, despite all the work he put into not looking like him, had mistaken his own reflection for him anyway.

"Well, I suppose, for your health and safety, I should ask you to not get completely drunk, but a drink or two would be fine."

"Deal! Now, do you want to eat breakfast here, or at the Rosé café?"

The party was loud. Far louder than Roman really preferred, but he'd just have to grin and bear it… and maybe get a bit tipsy. That usually helped take the edge off everything.

He'd finished his first cup, and was just about to refill it when Logan disappeared, mumbling something about finding… someone. Roman wasn't exactly paying attention as people's chattering filled his ears and tried to drive an icepick into his brain.

Without Logan by his side, Roman was quickly becoming grumpy, and certainly not anywhere near drunk enough for faking cheer.

The next several minutes passed by in a blur of snacks and drinks… mostly beer, if he was being honest. He drank some soda too, probably, yeah. Yeah, he did, even if it was only as a mixer and the drink was at least half rum.

He personally didn't see what the hype about rum and coke was. Congratulations you just made watered down coke! But it did what he wanted it to do, get alcohol into his system.

Roman idly scanned the ever growing crowd and almost dropped his drink when he spotted a man that… oh no. He was already at the 'mistaking people and reflections for him' part of drinking. Roman had only had two cups… three? Four?? Well, a bit of alcohol, anyway.

The resemblance was uncanny, even as Roman's vision started to blur slightly.

The man had brown hair that laid in soft curls around his broad shoulders, and just like Re— Rogue, the top of his hair was a shocking white. Although his hair had never been longer than ear length. The guy even had a mustache that curled at the edges like his.

The man's shirt was a sparkling green, with puffy sleeves, and a green tulle sash. His silver crown glittered with faux emeralds, and he had an obviously fake Morningstar.

Roman couldn't help but feel like the general vibe was unhinged royalty, as Roman bitterly thought about how he would've loved a costume like that.

Gods, that would've been right up his alley.

Roman lost sighed of the Re— Rogue look alike, the person having disappeared through the many people standing about and talking.

Roman wandered through the party for a few more minutes until Logan appeared at his side, with another person in tow. Roman almost dropped his drink for the second time that evening.

"Hello, dear," Logan casually said, as if he wasn't holding hands with someone who made Roman want to cry and scream just by happening to look like him. "I hadn't realised that you two haven't met yet, and I thought it was about time my boyfriends met each other."

The Re— Logan's boyfriend looked at Roman, eyes widening, most likely at the no doubt sick look on Roman's face. "Uh—"

Nope. Absolutely not. Roman couldn't do this.

"Sorry, 'm too drunk for this right now. N— nice to meet ya." Roman called out behind him as he turned and high-tailed it over to the bathroom, dropping his cup in the trash on the way.

Shit, talk about bad first impressions. Roman would need to apologize to the both of them. But later, it'd… it'd have to be later.

Roman locked the bathroom door behind him and sat on the floor by the toilet, trying his best to not empty his stomach into it.

Ugh, Logan must be so confused, and that guy, Logan's boyfriend… geez. He hadn't even done anything, except bring up painful memories — but that wasn't even his fault!

A loud knock at the door startled Roman out of his thoughts.

"Hello? You okay in there, kiddo?"

Shit, it was Logan's brother, Patton. Okay, just get it together, Roman.

"October said you didn't look too good," Patton continued. "And Logan texted saying you ran off upset, so I just wanted to check on you."

Roman shakily stood and carefully walked to the door, but didn't open it. "U— uh, yeah, no yeah. I'm good. Just drank a bit too much and thought I saw… saw… anyway, 'm definitely good though."

"Roman, I know we don't know each other that well, or for that long, but if you want to talk about it, I'm here. Okay, kiddo?"

"I… thanks."

"Of course! Oh, would you rather I go get Logan?"

"No! Er, I mean, no, thank you. I was kinda… kinda rude to Logan and his boyfriend and Logan really should be there reassuring him that he didn't do anything wrong. I'm just… just very bad at coping apparently."

"Oh, you mean Re—"

Roman yanked open the door to find a very startled Patton. "What?"

"Uh, Remy? I think. Something like that anyway."

"O— oh." Roman's shoulders slumped. "Yeah. Right, um… that— yeah."

Patton's eyebrows knit together with worry. "You sure you're feeling alright?"

"Yeah, I… I am. I just need to get a hold of myself. Sorry for bothering you, Patton." Roman said, belatedly realising that Patton was holding an unopened water bottle.

"Hey, you're not bothering me at all! Like I said, if you want to talk about it, I'm here… I would recommend going somewhere that isn't the bathroom though."

"Oh! Yes, that… yeah. Sorry."

"No worries! It's okay. My room should be nice and quiet. Oh! And here." Patton held out the water bottle. "I also have some water here for you to sip on. It'll help."

"Fuck!" Remus swore as soon as Roman was out of sight. "Fuck shit, potassium mayonnaise damn worcestershire butter brickle fuckhead!"

"Come on." Logan grabbed Remus' hand, leading him through the crowd, and to the empty, much more quiet back porch.

Remus, despite being upset, didn't argue with Logan until he pushed down on Remus' shoulders to make him sit on the large, wooden bench.

"What are you doing?!" Remus yelped.

"We needed to be somewhere quiet where we could figure out," —Logan turned the last part of his sentence into a question— "What in the four laws of thermodynamics just happened?"

Remus sighed, anger draining out of him, only to be replaced by the old, achy, and painfully familiar sadness. "Well, that… that was my brother, identical twin brother, actually, who I haven't seen in… god, years. We parted in… a less than stellar way. A.K.A. he hates my guts."

"Wait, Roman's brother? The one who died? Or was there a third sibling?"

"Wha— the one who died? I jus— oh. Oh shit. Oh fuck! He thinks I'm dead?"

"Yes. Although, he doesn't actually remember telling me that you supposedly died. He was quite inebriated at the time. I do know that it wasn't on purpose, and that he feels incredibly guilty about what he thought happened."

"So he didn't… didn't mean to— what… God, what happened? I mean, he… he just left."

"What?"

"After… after I fell. He left. I thought… he didn't— I just…" Remus sniffed. "Never knew he… I thought it was on purpose! I never understood why but I thoug— I actually thought he'd pushed me off on purpose. God.

"It took me a second to even… even recognize him. Like, he looks so different! I mean, he was wearing a pirate costume… but still. His hair was so different and it even looked like he was wearing contacts."

"Oh? Did he used to wear glasses?"

"No, I mean 'cause his eyes are green, like mine, but they looked brown. He sure was wearing a lot of foundation too…"

"Does… does he by any chance have freckles like you do?"

"Yeah, wait…"

"Hmm, I believe he might've been trying to change any similarities between himself and you then."

"Shit. But that really does explains the short, straight, red hair, and the brown eyes… and the lack of freckles." Remus sighed. "Damnit."

"So… I suppose the next step would be to find Roman and then you two could discuss what really happened."

"Oh, shit, Roman! We just let him run off."

"It's alright, dear. I wouldn't have let him go off by himself, while we traversed the house, I texted Patton. He's most likely still with Roman."

"Yeah… I— he's… probably not doing too great. But Patton's with him… so he's okay, yeah?"

"Yes, he is. Now, do you feel up to going and finding him now? Or do you need a bit of time to process?"

"Let's… let's go see him. I— I think I need to see that he's okay and hear directly from him that he doesn— doesn't hate me."

"Ah, perfectly understandable."

"Where do you think Patton would take him?"

Logan only had to think for moment. "His bedroom. It'd be nice and quiet there."

"Alright." Remus took a deep breath before standing and holding a hand out to help Logan up and off the bench. "Lead the way, my dear nerd."

Patton shut the door behind them, throwing away Roman's empty water bottle as he gestured for Roman to sit on the bed, and sat down next to him.

"So, kiddo… before we start, just a reminder that there's no rush, and you can stop at any time, okay?"

"I— okay, thanks, Patton. God, there's no easy way to say it."

"Just say what comes to mind. We can sort through it afterwards."

"Well… um, okay so, about eight or nine years ago, I… lost my brother. It was an accident! B— but I pushed him and he f— fell and then tonight Logan's boyfriend looked so very much like h— him and I just panicked and ran away…" Roman took a shaky breath. "God, the poor guy must be so confused."

"Oh my goodness, kiddo. That's awful! I'm so sorry you had to go through that. Grief sure is a difficult thing. I can't even imagine. I mean, if I lost Logan like that… but this isn't about me. How can I help?"

"Help?"

"Yeah! It's okay if you don't know, but some options are a listening ear, so you can talk it all out; a distraction, so you don't have to think about it right now; or space alone, with the added option of me checking on Logan and Remy and letting you know how things are going there."

"I— you don't have to—"

"I know." Patton softly smiled at Roman. "I know I don't have to help, but I want to. So if there's any way I can help you feel, even just a bit better, then it's worth it… I know we don't really know each other very well yet, but I already know we're gonna become good friends! And friends help friends when they can."

Roman felt a bit choked up again. "Thanks, Patton. Just offering means a lot to me. And yeah, I… I think we'll be great friends too. Um, if… if you really don't mind…"

"I don't mind at all!"

"Maybe—"

Roman was cut off by the bedroom door flying open to reveal a man in a sparkly green royal costume with Logan a bit farther behind him.

The man, who Patton recognized as Logan's boyfriend, Remy —they'd only met once but Patton was pretty sure his name was Remy— stared at Roman, wide eyed, before he exclaimed, "Roman!"

He… but it couldn't… surely he wasn't actually… him, was he?

But the more Roman looked at him, the more he realised that he didn't think he could blame this guy looking like his brother on his grieving and tipsy brain this time.

It was… he was actually…

"Remus?" Roman all but whispered.

"H— hey, Ro-bro. Long time no see, huh?" Remus sadly said as he and Logan walked farther into the room.

"You— but… you're alive!?"

"Yep! It… it wasn't quite as far as it seemed. The uh, the mountain wasn't as s— steep as we thought."

"O— oh, that's… good."

"Yeah…"

Patton stood up. "You know, I think Logan and I are going to get back to the party. I hope your conversation goes well and just text us if ya need anything." Patton grabbed Logan's hand and began to drag him to the door, Remus sidestepping to get out of the way.

"What Patton said. Um… goodbye." Logan pulled the door shut behind them, the small click sounding much louder than it should've.

"S— so… you're alive," Roman said.

"I uh, I am… I— Logan had said that you thought I was dead. What… if I can ask, what happened that day? Er, from your perspective."

"Well… you— and this isn't an excuse! But you were always copying me and I don't know why but it was really bothered me that day, so I told you to stop and so of course you got defensive, you've always liked that we wer— are identical twins. And then, as you know, we got into a first fight because we were young and stupid and immature. And you pushed me hard, like really hard, I almost fell so I p— pushed you back a— and then you f— fell and ran like a complete asshat, I— I ran and tried so desperately to never look back."

"I…" Remus' voice was so quiet that Roman leaned forward to hear him better. "I only pushed you because you were going to fall."

Ice ran through Roman's veins. "Wh— what?"

"I— you got too close to the edge so… so I pushed you away from the edge, and you pushed back… and I just kinda laid there for a sec' in shock b— but I had waited too long to call out for h— help. You were already gone. I mean— I had my phone, but it took a while for the uh, the chopper to get there. And after you never showed up, even when I got out of the hospital… and then I couldn't find you no matter how hard I looked… I kinda just assumed that it was on purpose and that you... hated me."

"Hate you?" Roman sniffed, blinking back tears. "I have never once hated you. I only m— moved and changed my appearance b— because of grief, never because of any resentment t— towards you!"

Remus finally sat on the bed next to Roman. "I'm r— really glad. And for the record, I never hated you either."

"But, aren't… aren't you at least mad at me? You have every right to be. I p— pushed you o— off the mountain!"

Remus sighed, picking at a loose thread on his costume. "Don't get me wrong, I was angry for quite a while. But over time it faded. I thought you hated me, but even still, really I just… missed you.

"When I was… recovering… the entire time I kept thinkin'... kept waitin' for you to… t— to come back." Tears dripped down Remus' face. "I just wanted you to come back," he whispered, arms wrapped tight around his middle.

"I'm… I'm so s— sorry, Re. I never— Gods, I m— messed up so bad. I shouldn't h— have… I— fuck. I don't even… I d— don't know how t— to say how very s— sorry I am."

Remus gave a humourless laugh. "Yeah, the w— whole thing's kinda messed up, huh?"

"J— just a bit."

Remus scooted closer to Roman. " 'M glad you're h— here though."

"Really? You are?" Roman asked, his voice just above a whisper.

Remus gave Roman a sad smile. "Of course I am. It's all I wanted. I just wanted you back. That's all I've ever wanted, to have you by my side."

"That's… that's all I want too."

"Well, it's a damn good thing we found each other again and aren't going anywhere."

"Yeah, it is."

"Can— can we… can I hug you?"

Roman almost broke down crying again. "Please," he managed out before he was enveloped in the warmest and tightest of hugs.

God, he'd missed his brother.

They sat there for who knows how long, each brother clutching the other just as tight. But eventually their grip softened, Roman pulling back but latched onto Remus' hand.

"Sorry, just—" Roman began, but was cut off by Remus.

"Got a bit overwhelmed."

"Yeah, how—"

"You may have changed your appearance, but you're still Roman inside. I know how much you need touch desperately but also how too much for too long overwhelms you, so you need to pull back, but because you still want some contact, handholding is a great compromise."

Roman huffed. "Forgot how much of a know-it-all you are."

"Yeah! I know like, everything. Well, not everything, just basically everything. Like how dork actually means—"

"NOPE! Not today, Satan. Absolutely not."

Remus cackled, ducking when Roman let go of his hand to chuck a pillow at him. At Roman's pout, Remus just laughed and stuck his tongue out at Roman playfully.

"Oh, hey," Remus said, bouncing slightly on the bed. "Speaking of know-it-alls, how the hell did Logan not realise we were identical twins yet?"

"Well… that's a good question. I have a bit of an idea though. Like, first of all, he's never seen me without my makeup on and contacts in; second of all, we've only been dating for just under a month; but third of all… I kinda… may have… changed my last name."

Remus' jaw dropped. "You what?! Well no wonder I couldn't find you. What did you even change it to?"

"...Pr~" Roman mumbled.

"What?"

"Prince! I changed my last name to Prince, okay!"

Remus started snickering until he was full on cackling. "You ch— changed your name from King t— to Prince?" A few tears welled up in Remus' eyes.

"Wh— hey! It seemed like a good name when I was twenty, okay?"

"You demoted yourself? I can't!" Remus managed to get himself together, but his shoulders still shook with the force of his giggles. "Oh fuck, I can't believe you— Oh God, does that mean I should change mine to Duke? Then we'll match and both be demoted together."

Seeing Remus here, and so happy, to see him actually laughing… it made Roman want to cry with joy.

Roman quietly sniffed. "Hah, maybe you should."

Remus finally caught his breath, looking at Roman with that lopsided smile that Roman never thought he'd get to see again, but was oh so happy that he did.

"It's… it's gonna be okay, Ro-bro."

"Yeah, it really is, huh?"

"You wanna know how I know?"

"How?"

"Dogpile!" Remus exclaimed as he tackled Roman back onto the middle of the bed, hugging him tightly.

Roman hugged back just as strong. Yeah, they were going to be okay.

Remus lifted his head, a small frown on his face. "Did you change your smell? 'Cause you definitely didn't used to smell like this."

"Oh, yeah, I did. I would be surprised that you can tell after all this time but you've always had a great memory and sense of smell. I, uh, I might change it back now though."

"Good, lavender suits you much better than whatever the fuck is this."

Roman laughed. "You know, I don't even remember, I've changed it so many times. But lavender it is."

"Good." Remus nodded before laying his head back down.

Everything was calm and quiet, save for the music from downstairs that they could only just barely hear.

Remus sighed dramatically. "We should probably go down to where Lo-gen and Cow Patty is soon, but can… can we just stay here for a minute? I'm not… quite ready to move yet."

Roman gave his brother a squeeze and lifted one hand up to card through Remus' curls. "Of course, I'm not really ready to move just yet either. We can just chill for a while."

And maybe they fell asleep there, Logan coming to check on them an hour later only to find them snoring softly. Logan carefully laying a blanket on them.

Or maybe they got up after a few minutes and went down to the party, never once leaving each other's side as they laughed with their boyfriend and friends.

And it might take a while for Roman to loosen up on his appearance, a while until he can bare to look anything like Remus again. And yes, it might take a while for him to finally face the wall of grief and emotions that he'd been ignoring for 9 years, but it'd be okay. He had Remus back and that was enough. For whatever came their way, whatever got in their way, they could handle it, because they weren't alone anymore.

It doesn't really matter what happened next, because although this story is over, a new one has just begun.

Remus and Roman had each other now and wouldn't abandon each other ever again.

And for Roman, that was more than enough.

~The End~

No reposting, likes are nice and reblogs are very much appreciated! | Taglist (ask to be added or removed): @someoneiwasnt

#sanders sides #sanders sides fics #my fics #ts roman #tss roman #ts remus #tss remus #ts logan #tss logan #ts patton #tss patton #logince #intrulogical #creativitwins

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hookedonapirate · 5 years ago

Text

Trick or Treat

A/N: It feels so great to post again. I've been in a writing slump for several weeks now, so I wanted to write something short and sweet to get the writing juices flowing. Thank you @hollyethecurious for your ideas for the premise and @darkcolinodonorgasm for Killian’s costume!

Rated: Teen and up for mature language

“Well, that’s disturbing.” Emma grimaces at the zombie gnome with gnarly teeth, reaching out with dirt and blood covered hands like he's coming out of the ground to get them. Even though it's not real, the graphics are enough to give a kid nightmares.

“That’s so cool, Mommy!”

Well, any kid who’s not her seven-year-old son that is. Henry runs down the sidewalk, his oversized hat falling off his head. He’s a ball of energy most days, but tonight, he’s extra energetic, and he hasn’t even had any candy yet.

“Kid, your hat!” She follows after him, picking up his hat from the winding walkway which is lined with jack-o'-lanterns on each side. But as she passes each one, she’s surprised when she realizes these aren’t just typical jack-o'-lanterns with a mouth, nose and eyes carved into them. No, these are intricately crafted jack-o'-lanterns. One is carved into a haunted house, one is a graveyard full of ghosts, another looks like a skull from afar, but up close, it appears to be carved into long stem mushrooms and grass. Her favorite is the pumpkin carving that mimics a scene from the Nightmare Before Christmas.

Like seriously, who has time to carve out all these pumpkins? And why weren’t the Jack-o'-lanterns on display as she had seen at the Night of 1,000 Jack-o'-lanterns at the Chicago Botanic Garden? Whoever carved these has some ridiculous artistic talent. They are also way too into Halloween, because their yard is all decked out. There are games set up on tables in the yard, skeletons and ghosts hanging from the trees and tombstone yard signs all over.

As she walks up the steps to the house, fake fog sweeps around her feet, the porch is covered in fake cobwebs with large spiders and the porch railing is lined with decorated jars, “potions”, skulls and other Halloween themed knickknacks. She laughs at the potion bottle labeled, “love potion.” When she reaches the door, which is wide open, a group of kids in cute costumes gathered around waiting for treats, she’s expecting the three looney witches from Hocus Pocus to emerge from the house.

When a man in a black top hat, tailcoat and a cane appears through the door with a bowl full of candy, she realizes how wrong she is.

Boy, is she wrong.

Holy shit, he’s gorgeous. His skin looks ghostly white from the makeup on his face and he's wearing a brown curly mustache, but those vivid blue eyes are so very blue, even in the dark and under the hat he’s wearing. She’s afraid those eyes will set her on fire when he looks at her.

“Trick or treat!” the children chorus.

Emma can’t take her eyes off the man as he excitedly hands out candy.

“I love your costume, lassie,” he compliments a little girl who's wearing an Elsa costume.

He has an accent? Holy hell.

The little girl frowns, clearly not understanding what he meant by lassie. “I’m not a dog, I’m Elsa.”

He chuckles, dropping a candy bar into her pumpkin bucket. “My apologies, Elsa. Please don’t blast me with ice.”

“Thank you, mister,” she says cheerfully before scurrying down the steps to meet her parents at the end of the walkway.

“Trick or treat!”

The man looks toward the small voice, seeing Henry approaching him. He grins big and wide, which makes him look much creepier than he already looks in his costume. Creepy, but sexy. “Well, hi there. Captain Hook, I presume?”

Henry nods his head and opens his Halloween sack, using his plastic hook to hold one of the straps.

“Very nice costume, lad. My favorite one so far.”

“Thank you. I made it,” Emma boasts with a smile as she steps behind her son, placing the hat on his head. She’s not normally one to brag, but then again bragging doesn’t normally afford her the opportunity to talk to ridiculously handsome strangers.

The man looks up, and when his eyes finally connect with hers, he completely steals her breath. She was wrong. His smoldering blue eyes don’t set her on fire, but they do make her melt.

And his heavy stare makes her skin tingle.

“You made this lovely costume?”

She waves her hand nonchalantly. “It was easy. Just took a red, long-sleeved shirt, some ribbon and slapped some red felt and white feathers on a straw hat and voila.”

“Very impressive, lass.” He glances at her shirt briefly before returning his eyes to hers. “Did you also make your costume?” he asks, his eyes dancing with mirth. He must have been referring to her red leather jacket and white t-shirt that reads, “This IS my Halloween costume.”

Emma laughs. “No, I bought it on Amazon.”

“Wow, Mom, check this out! Full-size candy bars!” Henry shouts excitedly when the stranger deposits the candy bar into his sack.

Emma tears her eyes from this man’s mesmerizing blue ones to see the full-size Snickers bar Henry’s holding out to show her. “Huh, people actually do give out full-size candy bars.” She looks up at the man. “I’m impressed. Let me guess, you also carved those pumpkins, too?” she asks, pointing to the pumpkins in his yard.

He nods with a small smile. “I did. You’d be amazed by what I can do with these hands,” he says smugly.

Emma wants to roll her eyes, but she can’t deny she very much wishes to find out exactly what he can do with those hands. Instead, she flashes a sarcastic smirk. “So who are you supposed to be, Jack the Ripper?”

He chuckles. “Not quite. I’m a gentleman from the Victorian Era. A devilishly handsome gentleman, may I add.”

She cocks a brow, laughter bubbling in her throat. “If by a devilishly handsome gentleman, you mean creepy.”

He sets down the candy bowl and surprises her when he takes her hand in his and lowers his head, murmuring softly as he looks up at her. “The name’s Killian Jones. And it just so happens, I’m always a gentleman. Not just on Halloween.” His touch sears her skin, then he presses his lips to the back of her hand and it feels like electrical currents are surging through her. Her breath catches, and she’s worried he will notice. Judging by the smirk spreading across her skin, he definitely noticed.

Emma turns her head, looking for her son, whom she spots in the yard playing games with the other kids, their parents supervising them. “I should get back to my son.”

This man actually pouts as he releases her hand. And it’s freaking adorable. “I told you my name and yet you haven't told me yours?”

She bites her bottom lip, contemplating whether she should or not. But then again, what’s the harm? It is a small town, so they’ll probably end up running into each other again at some point. “It’s Emma.”

He grins, making her heart melt. “Nice to meet you, Emma.”

“Likewise.”

He scratches behind his ear, which makes him look less creepy and even more adorable. “I’ve never seen you before. Are you new in town?”

“I’m from Chicago.”

“Well, love, welcome to Storybrooke.”

Oh. Now he’s calling her love? Can this man get any sexier? Jesus Christ. “Thank you.” She gives him a shy smile and turns to head down the steps.

“Wait. Before you go, I have a treat for you, too.”

She spins around, arching her brow. “Oh, that’s okay. Henry will share some of his candy with me.”

He chuckles and shakes his head. “This treat is not for kids.”

Emma gulps. “What kind of treat did you have in mind?” Something salty? Her mind definitely did not go into the gutter there. Okay, it totally did.

He heads inside, then returns not a moment later with a caramel apple.

“A caramel apple?” She almost sounds disappointed. But she’s definitely not.

“Aye, but not just any caramel apple. It’s an adult caramel apple. So make sure you don’t share this with your lad.”

She eyes it suspiciously. “It’s not laced with love potion, is it?”

He chuckles and leans closer, whispering in her ear. “No. But it is laced with cannabis-infused butter.”

Emma smirks as she takes the caramel apple. “Wow, you really go all out on Halloween, don’t you?”

He shrugs. “You should come back around Christmas.”

“Oh God, you’re not one of those people who goes completely crazy with the Christmas lights and the decorations and Santa and his reindeer on the roof, are you?”

He shrugs again, donning a smirk. “Guess you’ll have to wait and find out.”

“Is that an invitation?” Because she's definitely not thinking about inviting him to get high and engage in hot, sweaty sex with her. Not at all.

“Perhaps. Do you and your son enjoy hot cocoa and watching Christmas movies in front of a cozy fireplace?”

She eyes the caramel apple and then glances up at him. “Does Santa enjoy adult cookies with his milk?”

His grin widens, making her heartbeat skyrocket out of her chest. “Aye, then it’s a date.”

Emma rolls her eyes, a smile tugging at her lips. “Not a date.” She doesn’t like the idea of waiting until Christmas to see him again, though.

His face clouds with guilt. Sorry, love, I just didn't see a wedding ring on your finger so I assumed-”

“I'm not married,” she clarifies, her cheeks flushing because of the fact that he was curious enough to check her hand for a ring. “Nor do I have a boyfriend. I'm single.” Very single. She's never been so glad to be single before.

He sighs in relief, which gives her the courage to say what's on her mind and to thankfully change the subject.

“You know, adult cookies aren’t just for Christmas...”

He cocks his brow, and good Lord, she really needs him to stop doing that, because it’s doing things to her breathing and her heart. “No? What other special occasions are they for?”

She shrugs. “Like a Saturday night, say next week when my parents are taking Henry for the weekend.”

His eyes flash with something she can only describe as excitement. Or anticipation, maybe? “But still not a date, right?”

She shakes her head. “Nope, just two adults enjoying their adult cookies.”

He laughs. “Okay, I’ll bring the apple cider.”

“Sounds like a date,” she says accidentally when she had meant to say Sounds like a plan. But she doesn't even bother correcting herself as her cheeks warm with blush. She backs away and manages to rip her eyes from him to turn around and head down the steps. She finds Henry playing a game with the kids and takes his hand, telling him it’s getting late. He leaves with a groan but doesn't make a fuss.

As they leave the yard, Emma turns around, getting one last glimpse of the devilishly handsome Victorian gentleman. He winks and smiles at her, making her heart stutter, and she blushes and walks away as she leaves with her son.

She had doubts when she moved to this small town to start over, but the warm feeling in her chest is telling her perhaps coming to Storybrooke wasn't a bad idea after all.

Tagging a few people who might be interested in reading:

@kmomof4 @teamhook @ilovemesomekillianjones @onceuponaprincessworld @artistic-writer @nikkiemms @snowbellewells @donteattheappleshook @itsfabianadocarmo @searchingwardrobes @melly326

#cs ff #captain swan #halloween

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dephoraowo · 8 months ago

Text

Ah yes, forgive my phrasing 😣🙏, I'm just trying to say that Jiang Cheng also targeted other people, not necessarily gui dao users.

As for the text you showed:

Jiang Cheng said darkly, “Break his legs? Haven’t I told you that when you run into heretics, you should kill them outright and feed them to your dog?!” -- Wei Wuxian hastily backed away, leaving the donkey behind too. No matter how much Jiang Cheng hated him, he had thought the feeling would’ve dispersed somewhat after so many years. Who would’ve thought it wasn’t that easy? Not only was the hate still there, but it had thickened with time, like a jug of aged wine. And that rage was taken out on every cultivator who imitated him!

I think this is the one you showed. I'm using a different translation, sorry 😅. Alright, yes, it does show it the text, and Wei Wuxian thinks it is so, but you are missing context here. The reason why Wei Wuxian thinks it is true isn't because he knows who Jiang Cheng captured. He thinks it's true because Jiang Cheng reacted violently to him summoning Wen Ning. And coupled together with the fact that he hated him so much. So Wei Wuxian assumed that Jiang Cheng was hunting down gui dao users since Jiang Cheng was hunting him down.

He just came back to life, and he kept on avoiding Jiang Cheng. How on earth can he confirm who Jiang Cheng captured? He was gathering information along the way, so he must have heard the rumours of Jiang Cheng hunting down gui dao users, and then that rumour turned out to be true in Wei Wuxian's mind because Jiang Cheng was lucky enough to target Wei Wuxian, thus solidifying the rumours in his head.

Wei Wuxian used gui dao because he thought there were other gui dao users. Which is later disproven because we don't actually see any in the novel, despite what Wei Wuxian thinks.

(Also, just because a character says something doesn't mean it's necessarily true, characters can be wrong about things, too. They are still human, and they have limited perspective. You need to read the novel to see if what they are saying is true supported by evidence. You using that text and proving it by saying "Well Wei Wuxian himself said this" so it has to be true is kind of equivalent to believing "Well Lan Xichen himself said that Jin Guangyao would never do such heinous acts", therefore it must be true!)

As for what Lan Wangji and the juniors say:

Lan Sizhui reasoned with him. “Mo-gongzi, Hanguang-jun brought you here for your own good. Sect Leader Jiang wouldn’t have stood down unless you came with us. Over the years, countless people have been arrested and taken to the Jiang Clan’s Lotus Pier, and none were ever freed.” “That’s right,” Lan Jingyi said. “You’ve never seen Sect Leader Jiang’s methods, have you? Super vicious…” He stopped when he remembered the Lan Clan rule “Do not speak behind another’s back” and snuck a peek at Lan Wangji. Only when he saw that Hanguang-jun had no intention of punishing him did he regain the courage to continue his grumblings. “It’s all the Yiling Patriarch’s fault for starting the trend with his evil craft. There are way too many people playing around with that senseless cultivation method of his, and Sect Leader Jiang is such a paranoid person. Would it even be possible for him to catch them all? Why didn’t he take a proper look before suspecting someone like you? Playing the flute like that…heh.”

I think this is what you're referring to? Lan Sizhui didn't specify what people Jiang Cheng targeted. He said countless people, it is general, not specific (means that it is not necessarily gui dao users). Lan Jingyi said Wei Wuxian's evil craft. From this text, we can see that he has a wrong perspective on ghost cultivation. During this time, many in the book already like to blame Wei Wuxian for every bad thing in the world, so those who practice dark magic (ancient rituals and curses) are also Wei Wuxian's fault now?

Here is an example of the junior's misconception of Wei Wuxian's cultivation:

Jin Ling gritted his teeth. “Walking corpses are crazy enough. Why is there such a thing as a living corpse?!” Wei Wuxian answered, “Living corpses are rarely formed naturally. They’re usually deliberately made, like this one is.” “Deliberately?! Why?!” “The dead have many shortcomings,” Wei Wuxian lectured. “Stiff muscles, slow movement, and so on. But they have their advantages too—they don’t fear pain, can’t think, and are easy to control. Some people think those shortcomings can be improved upon, and that by doing so, they can construct the perfect puppet. That’s where the concept of living corpses came from.” While the boys didn’t blurt it out, their faces were already boldly written with an obvious sentiment: That person must be Wei! Wu! Xian! Wei Wuxian didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. But I’ve never made such a thing! he thought. Although it did indeed sound like his style!

In this text, we can see that the juniors have a warped view on Wei Wuxian’s path. Most of their elders have always said that anything evil was due to the Yiling Patriarch. All of the juniors, even the Lans, I'm afraid, immediately assume that Wei Wuxian started the trend of making living corpses, which is not true! Wei Wuxian has never used living humans to create corpses. He has only ever used the dead.

So when Lan Jingyi said that he hunts down people who follow the Yiling Patriarch's path, I don't think it is quite credible anymore. The juniors don't even know what Wei Wuxian's path specifically entails, they just simply assume that the dark arts is Wei Wuxian's path. The only part he got right was that "Jiang Cheng did indeed hunt down people," but the part where he said about "people following Wei Wuxian's trend" is unreliable since he and the rest of the juniors also lump up Wei Wuxian's cultivation with dark arts and other devious paths.

Lan Wangji doesn't know what gui dao specifically is or how it works. He has seen Wei Wuxian use it, yes. But seeing it is different than knowing it. How can he know if he was never interested in understanding Wei Wuxian's gui dao? In Wei Wuxian's first life, Lan Wangji always assumed it was bad for Wei Wuxian and that it was harming him in some way. It wasn't! He never bothered to understand Wei Wuxian's cultivation, how on earth would he teach the juniors to identify gui dao? This is why the juniors confused Xue Yang's living corpses with Wei Wuxian's cultivation. Because no one knows what gui dao actually is. Sure, Xue Yang's cultivation looks like his style, but it isn't!

About Jiang Cheng hunting down those with the surname Wen:

Surely, this person couldn’t also have coincidentally run into Jiang Cheng using his whip on someone. Just how diligent was Jiang Cheng in his arrests, and how frequently did he lash people? “No, no,” the proprietress said. “It was his bad luck too, I guess. His surname is Wen, and of course, Sect Leader Jiang’s mortal enemy is also named Wen. He hates every person in the world who bears the name Wen, and he grits his teeth at the mere sight of them, clearly wanting to skin them alive. So of course, his face was not a pleasant sight…”

So yes, he does kill those with the surname Wen.

Also, not all the Wens were annihilated, just the ones that Wei Wuxian took in. The other Wens sought refuge in the Jin Clan:

Wei Wuxian laughed. “Oh, I see. Because the Wen dogs committed so many evil deeds, everyone with the surname of Wen can be killed without exception—do I understand you right? Many renegade clans from Qishan surrendered and joined the alliance, and they’ve since found support with the Jin Clan of Lanling. If I’m not mistaken, I see a few guests at this very banquet who used to be the family heads of clans affiliated with the Wen Clan.”

If you still do not believe me, I can list down some users who have also spoken out on this: this is from @lwjsmile and this is from @fannish-karmiya, I find their metas really canon accurate.

You are right in that Jiang Cheng wants to kill Wei Wuxian and that he will target anyone who so as much resembles him or his cultivation. But we don't know if the people he targets are necessarily using gui dao. The novel does say that he hunts down those who practice gui dao, but is there evidence? No one knows who Jiang Cheng actually killed all these years. And the ones that are shown are not gui dao users at all. Not everyone he hunts down might be gui dao users. They could be "rumoured" to follow gui dao or they could be "rumoured" to possess Wei Wuxian's soul. Jiang Cheng doesn't really care either way, as long as he suspects, he will kill them.

As for speculating, forgive me, I thought we were speculating? Were you not speculating about the existence of other gui dao users? If we are really talking about canon novel, we did not meet a single gui dao user in the novel at all. (Mo Xuanyu doesn't count because he only used an ancient forbidden ritual from the dark arts, not gui dao. It has already existed, and Wei Wuxian didn't create it. There was no other evidence that he practised gui dao).

And yes, the novel does say that Jiang Cheng did hunt down those who practice gui dao, but is it true? Mdzs is a novel where you can't take anything at face value unless proven otherwise. We are given a boatload of rumours to find out if it is true or not. To find out if it is true, you need evidence of it. We never see any gui dao users throughout the entire book. Perhaps you may be thinking, well, that's because Jiang Cheng caught them all! We are not given evidence for that either. No one has ever seen the people that Jiang Cheng has killed over the years, and no one knows if they practice gui dao or not. We do not have evidence. Just because the book says so doesn't mean it's true. Unless you can show me evidence of actual gui dao users in the novel, your take is merely speculation as well.

The novel does show evidence of the many people that Jiang Cheng has captured, and none of them, other than Wei Wuxian, practice gui dao at all. The evidence of the people he captured are either civilians or those with the surname Wen or people that pissed him off. This is the evidence that we have in the novel.

And if you do not believe me, here is another user who has said this:

This is by @mxtxfanatic , who is also one of the users whose mdzs metas are canon accurate as well, so I'd suggest you take their comments into consideration.

In fact, @mxtxfanatic has raised an important key factor. The Jins took all of Wei Wuxian's notes of gui dao. How can other people learn gui dao if they have no access to it? And those who have access to it have failed (Xue Yang). This question raised by them debunks your take already.

As for Empathy, I never said it was Wei Wuxian's invention. I was merely using Empathy as an example of Wei Wuxian's attitude towards the dead compared to other people with the dead. We do not see anyone else using Empathy to communicate with the dead simply because it is too dangerous for the caster. No one is willing to use Empathy because no one is willing to risk their bodies for a possession for a person who is already dead. Only Wei Wuxian is willing. You said some could have used it since it was no Wei Wuxian's creation, but we do not actually see any in the novel? Those people would have to be very skilled in Empathy to even use it. Common people cannot use Empathy because it takes skill, mastery of one's emotions, and willingness to allow a possession from a resentful ghost. Even Lan Wangji, one of the few most skilled and kindest cultivators in the world, doesn't use it. So I don't know who else would other than Wei Wuxian.

Uhm, I think you have missed my point. I said there is no one who would sympathise for the dead like Wei Wuxian does. I meant what I said. Do you know how Wei Wuxian treats the dead? He treats them like human beings, like his dear friends. He actually hangs out with the ghost ladies and drinks tea with them. Do we see anybody else doing this? Voluntarily having tea with dead ladies? No! We have a scene of Wei Wuxian kissing the hand of a skeleton. Do you know anyone who would do that? No, not even Lan Wangji would kiss the hand of a skeleton. We see Wei Wuxian petting the head of a ghoul child and feeding him fingers like treats. We see him letting a dead prostitute lay on his lap in and gently stroking her head! Would Lan Wangji and the juniors do this? They may be kind, but they don't treat the dead so intimately like this.

If you don't believe me, look at this post from @mxtxfanatic.

Wei Wuxian treats the dead so dearly. He genuinely cares about them and is willing to seek their companionship! We have never seen anyone else do this in the novel. Not to mention, the ghosts seem to reciprocate this affection shown to them as well! They seem quite protective of Wei Wuxian, so we know this isn't some one-sided thing. His special bond with the dead is something no one else has in the novel. This is why only he can use gui dao so effectively.

By the way..., I never said no one shows sympathy for the dead, I said no one shows sympathy for the dead like Wei Wuxian does. Wei Wuxian has a special bond with the dead like no one else does in the novel. I never said Lan Wangji and the juniors don't show sympathy to the dead.

Yes, Lan Wangji does show compassion for the dead, but not to the same extent as Wei Wuxian. My point is to tell you that no one shows the same level of empathy to the dead like Wei Wuxian. Lan Wangji is kind to the dead, yes, but he does not have the special connection that Wei Wuxian has with the dead. We don't see Lan Wangji spending time with ghosts for the sake of companionship. We don't see him patting the ghost head to comfort it. Lan Wangji doesn't have the same closeness to the dead like Wei Wuxian does.

In fact, we actually see one of the scenes in which he disapproves Wei Wuxian hanging out with the dead:

The girls all urged him on. “Go on, take a seat!” “Sit down, won’t you?” Lan Wangji’s light eyes frostily examined the charming, beautiful girls before his gaze landed on the shiny black, red-tasseled flute hung on Wei Wuxian’s waist. He lowered his head, seeming to be contemplating his choice of wording. Wei Wuxian quirked an eyebrow at the sight of this, as if he’d already figured out what Lan Wangji was about to say. Sure enough, Lan Wangji slowly said, “You should not while away your time with things nefarious.” The teasing smiles on the faces of the girls around Wei Wuxian instantly vanished.

Luckily, he apologised later on. Though he didn't specify whether it was for that rude remark to the ghosts or his comment on Wei Wuxian’s cultivation.

(Side note: Not gonna lie. Usually, Lan Wangji is very tactful. This comment of his actually shocked me a little. I feel like it was jealousy, along with his dislike for Wei Wuxian's gui dao at that time that caused him to say this.)

As for the juniors, yeah, we are shown that they are kind to the ghosts, but that was literally after their experience with Wei Wuxian. Before Wei Wuxian, they were scared of ghosts 🤣. They avoided A-Qing like the plague. Wei Wuxian had to teach them how to conquer their fear before they could even begin to interact with A-Qing. The reason they treat the dead so kindly in the present and in post-canon is because of their exposure to Wei Wuxian's treatment of the dead.

What makes you think the common folk will treat the dead any better than the cultivators? I don't know if you notice, but whenever something weird or something supernatural happens, the common folk always call in the cultivators to deal with it. Most of the common folk are scared of the dead, and that's why they call in the cultivators to get rid of them! That's literally what one of the jobs of a cultivator is. Cultivators are usually paid to deal with the supernatural for the common folk (except for Lan Wangji, he is the only cultivator from the gentry that doesn't require money as payment). We can see that cultivators are usually called in by common folk to deal with yao, spirits, or resentful beings. Common folk do not have the education needed to deal with resentful beings. They are not cultivators. They do not train to deal with the supernatural. Where will they even get the materials for gui dao? Aren't all of Wei Wuxian's notes with the Jin? Even junior cultivators, who are taught about this in their education, fear the dead, what more the common people? Common people rely on cultivators to deal with the dead or the supernatural in mdzs.

Another reason common folk cannot learn gui dao is simply because of this. They have no access to gui dao education. How can anyone learn when the founder is dead and all of his remaining notes are with the Jin?

The knowledge of cultivating is kept secret very tightly by the clans and cultivators. They do not simply share cultivating techniques with anyone, much less common people. Only those who join the Nie Clan can learn their sabre cultivation technique. Only those who join the Lan Clan can learn their special musical cultivation, and even then, only those special higher ups of the Lan know of the Forbidden books of music and Cleansing. Seeing as how greedy the Jins are, they would never share their cultivation techniques with outsiders of their clan as well. The Jins kept Wei Wuxian's notes, so no one could have access to learning gui dao. This is why Xue Yang could have access to it, since he used to be a part of the Jin Clan.

Civilians pay cultivators to help them with the things they cannot solve (dangerous serial killers or the supernatural). This is how it works. If the civilians knew how to cultivate, the cultivators would be jobless. This is why cultivation clans keep their cultivation techniques so close to themselves. And this is also why they were so scared of Wei Wuxian's gui dao, if Wei Wuxian were to build a sect and teach people gui dao, his number of disciples could be limitless. But since Wei Wuxian never taught his work to anyone, no one, not even civilians could be able to use gui dao.

I don't mean to be rude, but you seem to have this very bad habit of misreading other people's texts. When did I say music is necessary to his cultivation?? I never said that. I said the reason he uses music most of the time is mainly because music is more effective when it comes to controlling resentment in the corpses.

Either I am misinterpreting your words, or you have a very funny way of saying this, but what on earth do you mean by Wei Wuxian using music to calm his heart and focus? Why would Wei Wuxian need to do so? And when did he do so in the novel? Could you show me some examples? He uses music to control resentment in the dead, not calm himself. Calming himself down with music is only shown in the Untamed, that's why I assumed you were talking about the Untamed. He has never used music to calm himself down in the novel.

Wangxian is merely a song that brings comfort to Wei Wuxian. With the way you phrase it, you make it sound like the song has some sort of magical abilities to clear his mind. Also, where in the novel does he use Wangxian to clear his mind? Clear his mind of what? The only instance I know of Wei Wuxian using Wangxian was to calm down Wen Ning. Wei Wuxian didn't use Wangxian to calm himself in Xuanwu Cave, Lan Wangji sang it to him and he found the song nice and comforting. The only song that I know of that clears one's mind is Cleansing, one of the secret Lan techniques used on Nie Mingjue.

As for the text you mentioned:

He had truly thought his heart was made of stone. But humans were no stalks of grass, not unfeeling, and in the end, he was human after all.

This text is used to tell the readers that although Wei Wuxian may not care for the harsh and mindless comments of those who talk bad about him, they still hurt his feelings. That's what the text you used is trying to convey. The text is saying that Wei Wuxian still has feelings, and even he can get hurt by the harsh words of other people.

I used the text about people trying to make fierce corpses like Wen Ning as an example of people trying to use gui dao but ended up going down the demonic path. This example shows us that gui dao is not as easy as it seems.

Overall, your take is from a piece of text from the early pages of the novel, which also shows us a lot of rumours, which are later disproven as the story unfolds.

I see that the only solid argument that you have and keep on repeating is this:

Unfortunately for him, Jiang Cheng’s resentment seemed to have intensified, fermented over the years like an aged wine. He had even started lashing out on practitioners who had adopted his cultivation method!

This text is later disproven because the novel shows us that:

1. There are no signs of gui dao practitioners at all. We do not see any in the novel.

2. Wei Wuxian taught nobody his cultivation. Therefore, no one knows what gui dao actually is.

3. The only notes that he had pertaining to his cultivation were all kept by the Jins.

4. The people that Jiang Cheng targeted were either people who reminded him of Wei Wuxian, those with the surname Wen, those who unluckily managed to piss him off, and civilians. They are not gui dao practitioners.

5. The gentry tends to call anything remotely unorthodox as gui dao. They don't even know what it truly is. You can't even trust the world's judgement on gui dao anymore.

6. The only reason Wei Wuxian assumes there are other gui dao users is because Wei Wuxian thinks it is easy and that anyone can do it. (I mean, it is easy for him since he is a genius, but to anyone else, it is difficult. If Xue Yang, a talented cultivator who had the opportunity to study Wei Wuxian's notes and had the resources from the Jins couldnt even do it, how could other people do it?) He honestly thinks too highly of the world.

All of this is evidence from the novel that disproves your point.

I see this a lot in fics, especially ones that use demon cultivation versus ghost cultivation, but Wei Wuxian's cultivation isn't easy. I keep seeing people write it like it is some easy thing that people were doing in droves, but other than certain talismans, we aren't given any indication that anybody else learned how to use Guidao. It takes a certain level of mental fortitude, empathy, respect, humbleness and discipline to achieve to do even a tenth of what Wei Wuxian does.

#mdzs #mo dao zu shi #gui dao #wei wuxian #mdzs meta #the novel never showed us evidence of gui dao users other than wwx #this is canon fact #i see a lot of people agreeing on this so im not the only one who thinks this #and there are other factors shown in the book that disproves your point #lets just face it #wei wuxian's cultivation is just too complex for other people to understand on their own #if wei wuxian specifically taught people then maybe they stood a chance at understanding gui dao #wei wuxian is on a whole other league

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crazymecjc · 7 years ago

Conversation

Quotes from Mary Poppins

So I was in Mary Poppins this summer and it was the best show I've ever done, it was also one of the funniest backstage experiences I've ever had so here's some quotes from rehearsals :)

I'm referring to everyone by their character names except if they're my friends yeet

My friend Miranda, staring me dead in the eyes: “Cannibalism."

Both of us simultaneously: "hmmmm”

Miranda, frantically: “Do you want some.... boNeLesS AiR”

(She then proceeded to research if boneless air was a thing for like ten minutes)

Me, angrily: “buT wE hAvEnt had our mILK”

Honestly idk who this was: “What is in your boob?”

(Context: we were all volunteering at a meat raffle, which I didn't know was a thing before then but ok)

The guy in charge of the raffle: “If you’re selling tickets, stand up”

*everyone simultaneously drops to the floor*

Guy running the raffle: “Hors d’oeuvres is not a person”

The same guy, a half hour later: “I’m not trusting you, because you said hors d’oeuvres were a country”

The radio:“I’m looking for some way to bond with my kids” Miranda, whispering: “Mr. Banks?”

My friend Anthony:“That’s like the worst way to reduce reuse recycle”

Miranda during rehearsal for Step in Time, pretending to be on Disney Channel:“Hi, I’m a low class citizen, and the only time I see the light of day is at night”

Anthony, sinisterly:“We’re all dead bodies in the end”

Anthony, in the car: “Smells like... g g g g g g g g g g ggrravy”

Miranda:“buT THEY TORE MY spinal cord.... aGAIN!?!?!”

Anthony, walking out of rehearsal:“It smells like a hot dog out here”

Me:“mE”

Anthony, incredulous:“you smell like a hotdog?!?”

Also Anthony:“My uvula is quook”

My friend Maddie, who we all call Marcy bc that was her "character" for the show and it stuck:“Why do you guys know what windex smells like??? Hello???”

Miss Andrew: “You don’t smell windex? What’s wrong with you???”

Anthony, in the car, shouting:“sTEP AWAY FROM THE GOODS”

Anthony, discussing Into the Woods:“I feel like Little Red is sort of like Smeagol”

Me: “There’s a whole family standing in the middle of the road??”

Anthony:“Are they ok?” Me:"They’re not even crossing, they’re just chilling.”

Anthony to me, while in the fake plant section at the craft store: “It’s like you’re trying to get into leaf Narnia”

Miranda to me: “You look like the Kool Aid Man”

Anthony, to me:“Go onto stage like ‘OoOh yEaH”

Anthony, to the tune of one of he songs:“Reeeedd Robin, Yum!”

Miranda, dramatically crossing her legs:“I’m a fucking queen” *mouth pops*

Miranda calling after me on my way out the door:“Wait I’ve gotta tell you a secret “ *whispers in one ear* “the snack that smiles back” * in other ear* “goldfish”

Me, singing:“Someone is returning”

Miranda:“the demons in my house when I’m coming home”

Miranda, in a whisper:“Mary and Bert look like they’re gonna fight”

Anthony, in the car: “No one is alone.. that’s kinda scary”

Anthony:“When I was young, I ate people”

Miranda:“crispy”

Miranda, in the car after a long rehearsal, exhausted:“Can we play some tunes? I don’t want some hard tunes tho, I want gentle tunes”

I honestly don't know who this was, probably Anthony:“Why are you discriminating against whales?”

Miranda, with jazz hands:“Just a spoonful of... pizazz!”

Miranda, a few minutes later:“Just a spoonful of soot helps the depression go down”

Miranda:“What’s the month after January?”

Me, sister struggling:*counts on fingers* “October, November, December, January, feBRUARY”

Anthony,:“Doesn’t it smell like cat food? Oh no that’s McDonalds”

Anthony:“You smell like Cheerios.”

Me:“Thanks????”

Mary, standing by the roof set we had:“Bert, you look like a cat”

Bert, on the roof: “meow”

Marcy, working on her character:“I’m doing research... drug research “

Marcy, trying to explain her character to me:“Marcy Tippetome is a drug addict. But she’s addicted to Tylenol”

Bert:“Bloody hell”

Michael:“sTOP THERE ARE CHILDREN “

Bert:“well you’re the one who keeps pretending to shoot people on stage”

Anthony, singing:“Someone smells like celery!!!!”

Anthony, moments later:“So I was in my room and my body collapsed”

Miss Andrew:“In 20 years I’ll be like ‘hey, you owe me a soda kid’”

Michael:“I’ll be dead in 20 years”

Mr. Banks:“All hair is dead”

Miranda:*bad Italian accent* “would you like some rigatoni???”

Anthony:“Spit the alcohol out Marcy”

Miranda, ranting:“The government can leave. I only know... I don’t know English”

Miranda, reenacting the Sound of Music:“Donde es Maria??”

Miranda and Anthony:*speaking in simmish for ten minutes*

Bert:“I’m gonna hiss. Like a cat. Meow.”

Mary:“Bert, I’m done with you. Jump off the rooftop.”

Probably Anthony??? I don't know:“My name is Margaret, and I like cheese”

Me:“Michael who? I only know mILK”

Anthony:“Remember when I asked what century it was?”

Anthony:“There’s blood on my finger”

Miranda, deadpan:“blood is the cure”

Me:“There’s something in your pocket”

Anthony, nonchalantly:“it’s just a chair”

One of the statues:“Ohmigod who’s on your phone screen Anthony?”

Anthony:“I’m gay”

Anthony, staring into the distance:“Death is my cure”

Anthony, moments later:*valley girl accent* “I’m gonna die”

Miranda, disdainfully:“I never had emo phase. I didnt want to associate with tHAT”

Me to Anthony because he had to wear this frog costs and it was skintight: “Dicks out for Mary Poppins”

Anthony, giving Mrs Banks a hug:“Hi mom!”

Mrs. Banks, deadpan:“did I give you the permission to touch me?”

Anthony, after we went to Wendy's:“Oh my gosh there’s a spoon between my legs! I just wanted my phone and I reached down and then... there’s ice cream on my crotch”

Also Anthony:“I was exhaling really intensely the other day and my tongue started flopping around”

My little brother right before tech week:“Dress rehearsal?? More like stress rehearsal”

Anthony:“Marcy put the Tylenol DOWN!”

Miranda:“Noooo, she’s doing cocane”

(I swear we're good children I'm sorry)

The lady who played Queen Victoria, approaching Miranda:“Can you blow into my eye?”

An ensemble member:“Don’t choke me”

Mr. Banks:“I don’t even know you yet”

Miss Lark, handing someone her dog puppet:“Here, hold my bitch”

Literally all of my friends: *simultaneous “it’s poppin”*

Who knows, but now we all say it:“Rest IP”

Anthony, buying frozen yogurt at the mall between shows:“Is chocolate supposed to be crispy??”

Me, dying inside because I thought it would be a good idea to leave my show tights on while we went to the mall:“Oh No tHeReS SorBeT oN mY TigHtS!?!”

Ok backstory: we had this table for Spoonful of Sugar that is supposed to break and then magically repair itself. So it's motor powered, and so far it's been working great. Fun! So the last night of the show arrives. I accidentally sweep the guy playing Robertson Ay because he's on the floor, so we're already dying. Mary goes to fix the table, and it goes as planned, only to revert back to broken a moment later with a bang. I'm breaking character, and trying to keep singing, but I lose it bc out stage manager offstage, sounding completely dead inside, goes:“Well, there goes the table.”

????:“Why is it wet??” Anthony:“Because I salivate”

Michael, on his way out the door on closing night:“Keep it poppin”

(I cried)

Other notable moments:

This girl started crying about cows in the middle of rehearsal bc she loved them so much

The guy who played Mr. Banks did origami and he made me a dragon

The lady playing Mrs Andrew would regularly balance chairs on her chin

I had to pretend to rip a dolls arm off and the second night I actually ripped its arm off oops

One night I forgot to preset said doll, so it didn't have an arm for a full scene

We'd been joking about building a fort in the dressing room for a while so on the last day, we walked in to find Mrs Banks surrounded by chairs. "It's Fort Banks." She said. Someone had blankets in their car and suddenly there was an actual blanket fort in the dressing room

The girl who played the messenger would write letters to Mr Banks to read during the shows. One of them was about robbing a bank, I think??? She gave him her address and we're still waiting for a reply for the final letter

The flying equipment got caught on the lights one rehearsal and Bert almost died

We'd sing Feed the Birds for warm ups sometimes and I'd cry. every. time.

We were in the Disney store, and the Mary Poppins trailer starts playing as we’re buying Mary Poppins shirts, with Mary Poppins shirts already on

#this is such a long post I'm sorry #if you get through this congrats #not newsies #mary poppins

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arreisstorm · 5 years ago

Text

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"You don't know how incredible this is!"

"That's the kind of group you are!"

"This just defies belief!"

~ BANG PD

If there's anyone still doubting the genuine relationship between BTS and BANG PD, well then, here's your proof.

Do you hear the amount of pride and emotions in his words? This is a man who has been by these boys' sides since the very beginning. This is a man who bet everything he had on this teenage boy, an underground rapper from the small city of Ilsan. A man who, not only continued to support these young artists when they faced backlash for "selling out", but who also faced some of this same treatment himself because of his decision to debut BTS. From hatred, bigotry, prejudice, and even racism, these 8 have stood strong together, and it was through their unfathomable work ethic, their unbreakable spirit/determination, and their homemade family bond, that they have successfully proven every hater wrong.

Bang Si-Hyuk believed in these 7 incredible legends from the moment he met them, and he's expressed this multiple times over again. Here's a few examples:

He took this group of boys, who were literal strangers, and he placed all of his faith and trust into their dreams and into their vision. BigHit was on the verge of bankruptcy at one point, they didn't even have the type of funds to cover MV expenses or stuff that would be necessary for making a successful K-pop group; however, despite this fact, Bang PD still managed to provide the boys with a dorm, food, and the equipment that would allow them to pursue their passions.

When it comes to most groups in this industry and their relationship between their CEO or manager, it's usually always strictly business, but those rules just don't apply to BTS and Bang PD. Now don't get me wrong, they still show the proper amount of respect that is required for someone who is older and more experienced, and they always put in the work when asked to, but when all is said and done, Bang PD's presence in these boys' lives symbolizes so much more than just BigHit's CEO, he's become like a 2nd father to them. He's someone in a high position of power yet he never uses this status against anyone and he always treats all of them as his equals, I mean just look at how friendly they refer to him here:

This fact becomes even more evident when we see how he always allows BTS to have freedom over their music and concepts; he respects them so much so, that he even allowed them to produce, compose, direct and design their next album, giving them complete creative control! And if that wasn't enough, just recent Bang PD also gave up some of his shares to the boys, making them co-owners of his own company. Do you understand the amount of trust that takes???

Now just imagine watching these same 7 driven and dedicated boys, who you've literally helped raise, who you've seen practicing and recording into all hours of the night, giving up their sleep because they were more focused on perfecting their craft, who you've seen stumble, fall, get injured, and beat themselves up for said craft, the same boys you've seen at their lowest of lows, in tears and at their breaking point both mentally and physically, the one's who had to make mistakes in order to learn from them, but who have also grown and transformed into 7 incredible, inspirational men, who are now leaving a positive and powerful impact on the world, because of the experiences and knowledge that manifested from those same mistakes, just imagine being there through every moment of this, witnessing the heartache and hardships turn to smiles, tears of joy, and celebrations of victory, then imagine on top of all of this, included alongside these victories is the #1 spot on one of the most famous music charts which is centered hundreds of miles away, across the ocean, and in a completely different country where music is a very prevalent and sometimes an exclusive concept to people seen as "foreigners", and this feat was achieved not once, but TWICE (well 3 times now!) by those same 7 boys you first met back when they were mostly just a group of ragtag teenagers...

I know Papa Bang is not always one to openly show his emotions, he even made it a point to the editors to state that he was in fact "not crying" in this video, but even despite his denial, I have no doubt that there were definitely some tears shed in this moment. I mean if ARMY couldn't stop crying with how happy and proud we were of our boys, how do you think the one man who always believed in BTS even from the very beginning felt?

This relationship is real, it is full of genuine love, respect, trust, and admiration. To those who still can't understand this or who cannot see the truth that's right in front of your eyes...well, I'm sorry ✌

And if you still don't know how much this achievement meant to our boys, here's a little reminder

I'M VERY EMOTIONAL RN!!!!

***Well I've been emotional since this Bangtan Bomb dropped, but unfortunately I had to work and couldn't finish this post until now so anyways...***

😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

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