#i mean I think it’d force people to be more clear on what source material they’re grabbing from when engaging in silly debates

[macadam]

Is it okay if I be a little delusional about the movie in your askbox? I had naively hoped because the movie was going to focus on op and megs, we’d finally get a more blatantly queercoded look at their relationship that could be explored more in depth. But seeing mcu thor attached to the project snapped me back to reality and made me remember hasbro needs to make money so there’s no way in hell we’re getting anything gay out of this 😔 what’s even the point if those old men can’t bicker like the old married couple they are

I… really didn’t have that expectation. The romance in megatron and optimus’ dynamic has always only existed in subtext. While transformers has brought a lot of queerness into the franchise, I wouldn’t say a focus on optimus and megatron would bring that focus in (quite the opposite honestly…..)

In fact, I think there’s a whole thing in the bayverse films about them being brothers? There’s definitely some line in there that created a lot of common headcanons/fanon. I think. Correct me if I’m wrong

So with that in mind I have frankly been fearing some sibling type dynamic to be focused on. Which would break the fandom. It’d be funny to watch though

[ask-everafteracademy]

Hey guys, can we chat?

I started this blog almost two full years ago (which is insane to me). Honestly it’s been so exhilarating being able to make content and speak about something so near and dear to my heart with people who share the same passion as me. I’ve met so many wonderful people in this fandom who have stuck with me (special shoutout to the one and only @arinlangdon) and this blog has been one of the greatest experiences I’ve had while being online. I feel like the way I’m wording this could make people nervous so I want to clear the air

The blog is not over, nor is it being taken down

This post is mainly to answer some questions I’ve been getting, and also to explain myself. If my co admin decides they want to make their own statement I’ll leave that up to them, but here is mine

Why haven’t you been posting?

The main reason this account hasn’t been very active is simply due to a lack of motivation. We have so many ideas for this blog (an email, Pinterest boards, Google docs, even Spotify playlists) but just not enough source material to run with them. On top of that, we feel like we aren’t getting that much traction on our posts, which really puts a dent in our moral. That’s not a ploy for pity, obviously people can’t help if they aren’t interested in a story from an app that’s been dead for two years. We can’t force people to still care, and we’re not expecting it from anyone, but it doesn’t change the fact that it sucks

What does this mean for the blog?

Honestly, I’m not sure. I feel like with all the effort we’ve been putting into our bigger ideas it’d be a shame for it all to go to waste. Plus I do enjoy interacting with whoever stops by and posting our silly headcanons or random thoughts. I think the best answer I can give is content will continue to be posted, just not constantly. I do have to take into account that I’m going to college next month and I need to prepare to take my next steps in life so I’m not sure how much I’ll be online at all, but I do want to try.

When are you going to [answer BLANK or post BLANK]?

EVERYTHING WILL BE ANSWERED/FINISHED IN TIME! This blog is run by two people with jobs and lives outside of tumblr so we’re not going to be online constantly. We’re running exclusively on our passion for the story and fandom and pure spite of V*ltage. For me personally it depends on what time I have and if I’m motivated to write (and more often then not I’m channeling that motivation into my book), but I can assure you that we are still here and we will give you the answers you’re craving… just not right now.

In conclusion, yes this blog will still be active, unlike some companies we care deeply about the story that has been given to us and we want to continue to honor it as best we can. We just need some time to collect ourselves.

Thank you for listening to my long rant and for supporting us through this whole crazy journey. I love you guys, keep dreaming <3

- Lightkeeper (Blaire)

[byersfanclub]

I feel like ppl need to understand when we are criticizing/ranting about ppl who compare byler to other non-canon mlm ships that most of us aren’t necessarily hating those ships themselves and most of us actually ship/shipped those ships as well but it’s the fact that we can differentiate between a ship that had little to no viability in the show (aka, the show was already obviously set up for f/m couples, it’s clear the mlm ship wouldn’t become canon, queerbaiting was used deliberately by creators and actors) and just because the creators/actors of show don’t mind mlm ships of their characters and encourage fan creations such as fan art doesn’t mean it’s going to be canon either. like you really need to sit down and actually look at the material being put in front of you instead of going off of gifsets/edits catered to your ship. are you actually being given canon material that makes sense for those two characters to actually be in love when they’re also being given straight love interests that work well? where it’s obvious they have feelings for one another? where their love story is being built up? this is where I draw the line between byler and other ships like this that it’s constantly compared to. mike and el are continuously shown to have relationships problems and are technically already canon? they aren’t having their love story “built up” it’s being brought down and being shown for what is really is. phony. fake. forced conformity. meanwhile mike and will’s relationship is what’s being built up, it’s not treated like other friendships within the show, it’s treated differently for a reason. it’s getting the classic love interest treatment in every other fucking show in the world, people just don’t wanna admit to it. maybe because it’s two younger boys they can’t fetishize, maybe it’s because it’s two boys in general and it’d be ridiculous for the duffers to cater to “the gays” even tho byler follow every detail of the trope for a well written childhood friends to lovers story. maybe it’s because people genuinely think milkvan is a good couple even tho they’re the worst written relationship in the show, and dustin and suzie have yet to even interact irl yet and they’re somehow better than mike and el. maybe it’s because reddit bros literally can’t comprehend that stranger things was never written for them in the first place. maybe it’s because Harry Potter millennials have let themselves be queebaited multiple times even when they were told to their faces their ships would never become canon and laughed at by the creators of their favorite show/book/movie. which is back to where we started. it’s not our fault you let yourself actually become disillusioned by ships you convinced yourself would be canon even though the source material never supported it and in one case (d3sti3l) only happened purely for fanservice and nothing more. 

[raayllum]

not sure where i’m going with this yet but bc it’s something i’ve seen in a few fandoms (largely star wars, voltron, atla, and a couple of others) but i’ve recently realized is also - slightly?? - relevant for tdp

you ever see shit when people take something one ship canonically has and then just copy and pastes it onto the ‘rival’ ship they prefer, with no mind to any of the characters’ canon personalities or backstories?

this was most common in the voltron fandom with debates over which character, keith or lance, should get to be the black paladin (leader) of the group, ignoring that shiro was already the canonical and clear leader. other aspects that often got handed to those two despite shiro (or other characters) actually having set up or these components in their backstories: being taken prisoner for angst, having a cool robot arm, having major survivor’s guilt or self sacrificial tendencies, etc.

for star wars, it’s the way the canon source material took finn/rey’s dynamic from the first movie and then pasted it over kylo/rey’s dynamic in the last movie in particular: running to rey, who has fallen, and cradling her in their arms, even though in the first film, finn did so because kylo had slammed her into a tree so hard she went unconscious, amid other copy-and-pastes. 

i could get into how, for many years, the zu.tara fandom assigned zuko either traits he doesn’t have to make him more desirable or just flat out took things aang has/offers, while ignoring the ways aang relates to katara in ways zuko never could (i.e. being mutual survivors of genocide, both waterbenders, a desire to travel the world, etc. etc). 

and i’m not saying this is widespread thing in TDP. it’s not, hence why it took almost four years to notice, but i do think the areas i’ve noticed it’s in is interesting, hence why i’m sharing it. that said: feel free to ignore everything i say in the section below & it is not meant to be a generalization

that all being said

tdp femslash ships — basically janaya & raydia — have a Weird tendency to borrow a lot from rayla/callum as a couple without the JA or RCl shippers tending to... seemingly realize?

for example: i have seen people say they would prefer raydia (or sorayla) to rayllum bc it’d be “enemies to lovers,” as though rayla and callum weren’t / isn’t. and while rayllum is still very much friends to lovers more than those ships would likely be, they did start out as enemies. it’s a core consideration of how amazing it is that they became friends so quickly. 

another example would the one raydia oneshot i read where claudia - for some reason - had to save rayla from a very aggressive corvus. despite being vaguely ooc (and honestly kinda falling back on racist stereotypes, bc s1 ensures that corvus isn’t an ‘aggressive black man’ by any means) it’s like. if you wanted a human mage helping to save rayla from a dangerous threat, uh...

got bad news about what side claudia has been & realistically will be on. 

or even - bc i don’t read that much fic, even for rayllum - the few times i’ve read janaya oneshots i couldn’t quite relate. too often i felt like they would lean heavily on janai 1) caring too much for amaya too quickly or 2) have HCs of janai not really having any friends. nothing in canon points this way (if anything it leans towards the opposite of her having Good camaraderie with her soldiers and her bio has said she’d rather be a general > than a princess exalted above people, hence the path she chose until s3 came long). 

but canon does have hints that rayla, possibly, didn’t have a lot of friends before the boys

i’m not saying for sure that rayla was a lonely, largely friendless kid growing up - “bloodmoon huntress” could prove me wrong and i’d love to learn otherwise, even if i also love my current headcanons that she was. but the point still stands that canon at least gives me a reason to read into it as a headcanon rather than trying to force a ship that, thus far, has mostly indicated the opposite to be truth, of a square peg into a round hole.

and rayla also starts caring for her human love interest who saved her “too much” in her own canonical words

i have also seen people read rayla’s willingness to self sacrifice and some of her other traits onto janai, despite the fact that while they have similarities, janai and rayla are exceedingly different characters at their core. and, furthermore, if either half of janai/amaya was going to have super strong self sacrificial tendencies, it’d amaya - and i think amaya gets ignored bc she has her nephews to live for, in many ways, and we know she’s had close friends like gren and corvus. it’s easier to give janai a lonely backstory that’s a clean slate than to write her as having had a full life before amaya showed up in many ways, including her family and her troops

and although i don’t talk about it often, i also haven’t made it a secret that the dark magic stan (aka dark magic is Good viren is just misunderstood) and the JA corners of the fandom are the ones that i have the most ‘issues’ with.

the weird thing to me is that on the one hand, i get the rayllum-janaya comparisons. i’ve even made them myself! JA’s relationship development follows very similar steps to rayllum’s, just with less time and less varied emotional weight (by that i mean, rayla and callum have been through multiple losses and hard events together, including grief, whereas ja have only been through a couple. additionally, RC has everything that JA offers, emotionally, but JA doesn’t offer anything that RC doesn’t, emotionally, in terms of thematic explorations, events they’ve been through, etc). 

for example, yes janai and amaya’s displays of trust (janai trusting her in regards to viren, amaya trusting janai with the light) are big. but rayla and callum were having those, with rayla and callum saving each other’s lives (1x05) and callum trusting rayla with ezran and over claudia (1x03, 1x06), too. 

but the weird thing is that JA shippers have a tendency to be hard on rayllum. call it rushed or boring or that they get dumb, redundant arcs... and then turn right around and try to apply those exact same arcs to JA despite the fact canon thus far hasn’t supported those parallels.

i also see this play out sometimes with harrai, who once again, have a Lot of rayllum parallels all over the place in some pretty prominent ways

this is a very long winded way of saying that ship comparisons are normal and natural, but i don’t get disliking the development of one ship that is more in depth thematically and in terms of screentime, only to try to copy and past that development to your - technically, comparatively - more ‘shallow’ preferred ship. i just don’t

basically: tdp is a very well written show that purposefully parallels these relationships and if you don’t understand how they all contribute to the core themes in meaningful ways you just... have bad media literacy, bub

[logo-dojo]

I'm listening to a riding on a "carriage ride through the woods" ambiance playlist and I got inspired. Enjoy.

The night is still, there are no storms tonight. A winding path with swaying tress that surround it. It's beautiful, really. The peace of the wind, moon; the chirping of nearby insects, the occasional who from a wise owl. And the sound of hooves hitting pure earth. What they carry makes soft clinging chimes, but it is not overpowering. Just peace. Just the night.

Two men on horseback walk down what seems to be a never ending path tonight.

Hanzo shimada, the dark archer in a hooded cloak; riding a midnight mare. He carries bow and arrow on his back, he didn't trust putting it with the luggage. What can be seen of his body, show's it's defined, perfectly muscular in the smoothest way known to man. Or elf, in his case. His hair is sleek and soothing like the darkest blues of the sky, long as well. But it is tied back in a low ponytail with a golden Seigaiha ribbon acting as a tie. For the features under his hood, it twists in the meanest form of resting bitch face.

Riding beside this powerful elf is Jesse McCree, a simple human with impeccable aim. His horse varies, a strong stallion with amber hair and a mix of white and brown spots. He wears another cloak, one much more decorated and worn. It's red with western sunsets that act as accents. Most predominantly about his style, is his boots that have spurs, yes they make sound as well; and a leather cowboy hat that's seen better days. Jesse's cream button down has chest armor that catches the moon's reflection in it. He always wears a holster over his layered pants, it has a revolver he calls "Peacekeeper" in it.

Another thing to note about these two wanderers is the emotions they carry. Jesse Cowboy McCree is relaxed with that lopsided grin on his face. He rides like it's the most soothing thing in the world, like he's done this his whole life. If the peace this night had a embodiment, it'd be him.

Hanzo hardass Shimada, rides with posture and a tight grip on his horse's leash. Resting bitch face giving no signs of going away. He clashes with the night.

Jesse - You need to take a break?

Jesse genuinely asks. It catches Hanzo off guard and he takes his time answering.

Hanzo - No.

Hanzo trots past Jesse, who quickly catches up, getting amused despite Hanzo's annoyance.

Jesse - It's just, if ya squeeze that leash any tighter it might break.

Hanzo finally, finally, turns to him in a stone cold stare. Yet Jesse doesn't look away from it.

Jesse - Something bothering you?

He asks once more, still laced with care. Hanzo sighs like this is the hardest thing he's had to do today.

Hanzo - Are we not out in the open, vulnerable? We could be attacked by anything.

Jesse chuckles, as if Hanzo just told the funniest joke. Which does nothing to ease Hanzo.

Jesse - Darlin', I'm the best gunslinger there ever was. We can defend ourselves just fine.

Hanzo rolls his eyes, but Jesse does notice the slight realise in the man's hands.

Jesse - So stop worrying so much, and just enjoy this.

Hanzo - What is there to enjoy?

Jesse scoffs.

Jesse - The quiet, Darlin'.

Hanzo shoots up, not expecting that answer. Not in a million years, not from someone as gregarious and smooth as Jesse McCree.

Hanzo - Quiet?

Jesse - Yeah, the thing you love so much.

Hanzo shakes his head. His hoarse does too, seemingly interested but in a way that she's judging Hanzo.

Hanzo - I did not mean to oppose-

Jesse - I know, ya don't have to apologize. It's weird for me to like that, I get it.

There's a pause where Hanzo hears Jesse breath. It's soft and alive and deep. Hanzo waits.

Jesse - I'm a social guy and you've only seen that side, so it's understandable. Doesn't mean I don't like alone time where I can just-

Jesse pauses and Hanzo honestly thinks he's pushed too much. He focuses back on the road, still never ending. The little pebbles, the dirt, the speks of grass that's made its way on the path. So many little pieces of material coming together to paint a portrait.

Hanzo's daydreaming stops by a sudden drawl, it forces its way into his brain and pulls his head to look at the source.

Jesse - Just... relax. I can think whatever I want to. Say everything I never got to say, apologize to my mama for leaving her behind to join some gang and hope she hears me.

Jesse chuckles, and that softness and life and warmth melting into hurt that he tries to conceal with a dry laugh. Hanzo still stares at him in a different, empathetic, expression. After a pause, he finds the courage to speak.

Hanzo - I... used to have people too.

Jesse's heard snippets of this, so he keeps his mouth in interest to know more. He doubts he'll get the full story, but partial is just as good.

Hanzo - I- ... I used to have a little brother. When we were children, he meant everything to me. Every time I would find my classmates picking on him I'd defend him. At night when he had nightmares so bad he wouldn't fall back asleep, I soothed him. And-

Hanzo smiles sadly.

Hanzo - When we'd steal treats from the kitchen I would eat the parts of them he didn't want.

Jesse smiles too.

Jesse - Sounds like a dream, Darlin'

Hanzo - It was. But it never lasts; as we got older, we stopped.

He stops, unable to go on. He tenses again. Jesse speaks so kindly, it takes over Hanzo's mind twice.

Jesse - It all went to hell.

Hanzo nods.

Jesse - You don't have to talk about it if it hurts too much. I'm just glad I got you to loosen up for a minute.

Hanzo laughs, small but sincere. Jesse finds it evading his own brain.

Jesse - I um, had a few sisters. Was the only boy so pop tried hard to make sure I didn't grow up weak. Be the man when he was gone and all that.

A pause.

Jesse - He- He wasn't my favorite. I joined Deadlock cause I didn't want to die in a barn, like him. I didn't cry when he-

Jesse breaths again, regaining some of his warmth.

Jesse - My ma was that everything to me. She taught me and my sisters how to read animals, instead of just riding them. Included me in lessons on how to make flower crowns when pop wasn't looking. Her and my sisters were the only thing I regret leaving behind.

As Hanzo was about to speak, they reached a clearing. Jesse scanned it, then smiled.

Jesse - About time. Hey Han, help me set up?

Hanzo chooses to leave the past conversation behind to join Jesse on the ground. Gone is the tense full of a frown and not needed posture, he was relaxed now. A thought pashed past him, that he'd have to thank Jesse for this, but that was left behind too.

Hanzo - Sure.

[thepancakeboi]

Day 1: Favorite Scene

Would you people hate me if I said it’s the scene after the boiler room fight...? Because it is- Granted, “Honey I’m home” is always a favorite of mine but...the after-fight FEELS. Also, my favorite scene could change as I play through Royal, as I’m still on the third palace and have just started Goro’s confidant.

I’m going to leave this now. Someone needs to remind me to stop writing things that make me cry-

I severely underestimated you, Joker. You and your band of thieves...

“You ready to call it quits?”

Skull’s question is pointless. Isn’t my answer obvious? I decide to indulge him with a response if only to put your mind at ease. “I know... I’ve had enough.” I’m done trying to kill you. It’s clear your skills exceed mine. You win again, just as you always do. “...You’re so lucky. Lucky to be surrounded... by teammates who acknowledge you...And once Shido confesses his crimes, you’ll all be heroes.” Your fame won’t be part of an elaborate scheme this time. Shido’s crimes are truly unforgivable. No one would side with him once the truth is revealed. Anyone who does isn’t in their right mind. But with the truth comes... “As for me, people will find out my past deductions were just charade. My fame and trust will vanish.” The trust I had lost with you, the Phantom Thieves, it seems minuscule in comparison.

“I see,” Mona says after a slight pause. “So you were turning people psychotic, then solving the cases yourself. And you did that by joining forces with Shido.”

He’s just now figuring this out? How foolish...though I keep those thoughts to myself. I don’t have the time nor the heart to antagonize your group further. Besides, what right have I to say anything? It was foolish of me to think I could take on all the Phantom Thieves at once. Mona was right. I’m just some child ‘throwing a temper tantrum’ as he rightly put it. What was I thinking, believing I could be something special? That was the wishful thinking of a naive little kid. “In the end... I couldn’t be special...”

Skull immediately buts in. “Dude, you’re more than special...”

Wait...what?

“It pains me to admit... but your wit and strength far exceeds ours. We only defeated you by teaming up,” Queen reluctantly admits. Where is this coming from? “I was honestly... envious of your natural ability. It was frustrating to see how much my sister trusted you...” If only you knew how strained our trust truly was when I started working with you. Sae-San and I were barely speaking to each other by that point in time.

I’m surprised when Noir joins in. She’s the last person I would expect to add on to this conversation, considering what I did to her father. “I have no intention of forgiving you for what you did to my father, but... I sympathize with you.” I don’t expect her to ever forgive me, and she shouldn’t. Not when I don’t deserve any form of forgiveness. “I wholeheartedly understand wanting to get back at the adults who took from you...”

“But when you gained the power to fulfill that desire, you only used it for your own self-benefit,” Fox adds.

Oracle chimes in after him. “If you’ve got more than one Persona, maybe you actually have the same kinda power as Joker’s.” The same power? My gaze turns to you at this. You’re being much more quiet than usual. I wonder what’s going on in that head of yours. “But you trusted no one, so you only got two Personas: one for your lies, and one for your hate. Still, you thought that was enough, right? That part I totally get.”

“You excelled at everything over us... yet that was the one thing you lacked.”

The one thing I lacked...here I thought it was skill, or perhaps friendship. To think that it would be simply trusting others. Oracle and Fox are right. I only relied on myself to get where I am, trusting no one. In the end, that’s what’s caused my downfall. Though...it isn’t entirely true. I had trusted you to some extent.

“All right, let’s go back and get that callin’ card ready!” Skull says, eager to leave. “We’re gonna take Shido down. What’re you gonna do?”

The question stuns me. You shouldn’t be concerning yourself with me. “It’d be a problem if you kept getting in our way. Wanna come along and help us settle things?” Panther asks.

“...Are you all idiots?” I finally say, shoving my own feelings away. It doesn’t matter that I want to come with your group or that I would love nothing more than to fight my father by your side. It’s too late for that. “You should get rid of me... if you don’t want me getting in your way.”

It may have been Panther who asked the question, but my eyes are on you. I want to hear your response. “No.”

“No?”

“No,” you say with such certainty, such finality, that it leaves little room for argument. “I don’t want to lose you. Come with us. We’ll change his heart, together.”

Together...? Is that really what you want? I shake my head at the absurdity. “...You all are truly beyond my comprehension.”

“Akechi?” Skull blurts out in shock. His response confuses me.

“Another one!? Wait, is he...” Fox says, and it’s then I realize the source of their surprise. I must really be faltering if I didn’t notice the newcomer, a nearly identical version of me. His dead brown eyes give away who, or what, he is.

“That’s... Shido’s cognitive version of Akechi!” Mona says, confirming my suspicions.

So, I’ll be finding out what my father thinks of me. Haha, not that I give a shit anymore-wait, he’s...pointing a gun at me!? “I’ll deal with the rest of you later,” he says. At the look of shock on my face, he elaborates. “Captain Shido’s orders... He has no need for losers. Well... this just moves the plan up a little. He was going to get rid of you after the election anyway.”

“What!?” How... how could he!?

“Did you truly believe you’d be spared after all the murders you undertook?” No... I hadn’t believed that for a second. I knew the consequences of my crimes should they ever be discovered. But surely Shido couldn’t say anything without implicating himself! “Don’t tell me... Were you actually feeling good about having someone rely on you for once?”

“I-” I... had enjoyed being relied on, even if the reason was as deplorable as needing me as his personal hit-man.

“Oh by the way, the captain says it’s time you receive retribution for causing the mental shutdowns.”

“What the hell, man!?” Ryuji yells. He sounds pissed. “That bastard’s the one who put him up to it!”

“I see,” I chuckle. The irony of the situation doesn’t escape me. “I was wondering how he’d protect himself if I used my power to tear through his Palace. Turns out you’re how. So he’s making a puppet kill me... Sounds like something he’d do.”

He nods. “That’s right. I’ll do anything. But look at yourself... you’re the true puppet.” I...I’m the puppet? “You wanted to be acknowledged, didn’t you? To be loved? You’ve been nothing but a puppet from the very beginning.” That... was exactly what I had wanted. All of my plans, my revenge, all stemmed from simply wanting my father to acknowledge me. Here it turns out that he already knew everything and he has no qualms of killing me off. It doesn’t surprise me, but... “What’s all this nagging about?” He’s talking to you and the rest of the thieves. What did any of them even say...? “Want me to take care of you first?”

I can hear the sound of Shadows materializing behind me, but I pay them no mind. Panther is the one to speak the entire group’s thoughts. “No... He’s not alone! He has Shadows too!”

“You know what? I’ll let someone volunteer to take his place.” A cruel grin forms on the cognition’s face as if relishing the situation. “Who knows, you might delay his death.”

Immediately, my eyes hone in on you. I’ve seen that look in your eyes before, right before you execute some outlandish scheme. You better not try it now. “I-”

“No,” I snarl, cutting off whatever response you might have. I already know exactly what you’re thinking, and I’m not going to let you go through with whatever wild plan is taking shape in your mind. “I’m not letting you die for me.”

“But-”

“No.” I am not going to let you change my mind.

“You guys are all about doing things for others, aren’t you?” The cognitive me remarks as if goading you on into ignoring my wishes. “Oh, that’s just the same as me. I’m going to take all the blame for our captain. I’ll die for him too.”

“This is what Shido thinks of Akechi-kun, even after making him help with the murders!?” Queen says in surprise. Why is your group so shocked by this? I know exactly the kind of man my father is. I know what’s going to happen next.

“Here, I’ll give you one last chance.” The cognition focuses his attention solely on me. “Shoot them,” he commands.

I laugh, “I was such a fool.”

My hand is steady as I point my gun, aiming it right between your eyes. The mask hides it well, but I remember the look on your face right now. It’s the same one that you had in the interrogation room just before I murdered you in cold blood. Despite my outward stillness, my thoughts are going haywire. Am I truly capable of this? Your voice wavers a little as if you can’t bring yourself to believe the scene before you. “Goro, you-”

“Yes,” the cognition hisses excitedly. “That’s the you our captain wishes to see.”

I shake my head, a chuckle escaping me. If anyone notices my tears, I’m blaming it on the pain of my injuries. “...Don’t misunderstand.” I don’t know who I mean that to: you, the cognitive version of me, or both of you. It seems I’ve finally managed to fool you after all. “You’re the one who’s going to disappear!”

I whirl around, immediately firing once I have the cognition in my sights. My shot hits him in the abdomen. I barely spare him a glance as he drops to his knees. My next target is further away, but my accuracy pays off. The glass shatters, the bullet activating the red button underneath. Alarms blare as red lights flash. “The watertight bulkhead door has closed,” an automatic announcement says in a monotone female voice. “All personnel within the partition wall: evacuate at once.”

My intuition was right. The bulkhead door rises up from the ground, right between us. I’m left with the Shadows and the cognition. This is how it was always meant to be. “Whoa, what is this!?” Oracle says, her voice muffled behind the door.

“Akechi!” Skull yells, banging his fists hard. His voice is clearer just because of how loud he is. Typical.

“Hurry up and go,” I yell back, leaning against the door. I’m struggling to stay on my own two feet, but I fear that if I collapse now, I’ll never get back up.

“You fool!” Fox’s voice isn’t as loud as Skull’s, but his voice cuts through the thick metal. “Are you trying to get yourself killed!?”

I suppress a laugh. It wasn’t the plan, but... if it happens, so be it. At least my death will be for something- no, someone I love. “The real fools... are you guys. You should have just abandoned me here a long time ago... You would have all perished... if you had tried to face these with me weighing you down...” My words are interrupted by a fit of coughing. I cover my mouth as I do. The black gloves are speckled with red spots that hadn’t been there before. It’s blood... my blood.

“Akechi-kun!” Queen cries out. Is...she concerned about me?

I hear a fist bang against the wall, this time right behind me, and I immediately assume it to be Skull again. Instead, I’m shocked to hear your voice crying out my name, “Goro!” Are you...crying? I must be imagining things. I’m not worth your tears. “Why!? Why are you-”

My voice is strained as I continue. Even talking hurts. “Let’s make a deal, okay?”

“Goro...”

I can hear the pout in your voice. I’m so glad I cannot see your expression. It would make this so much harder. “You won’t say no, will you?”

Fox answers, “Why at a time like this!?”

I know you won’t deny my words. You’re too good, too perfect to refuse this request. “Change Shido’s heart... in my stead... End his crimes... Please!” I end with a desperate yell. I’m hoping you don’t refuse.

“Akeppi...” I wasn’t imagining it after all. You are crying over me. Of course you are. If there’s one thing that has been constant, it’s your damn feelings for me at every turn. I don’t even object to that stupid little nickname you gave me all those months ago. “I’ll hold on to your glove.”

I gasp. I thought you had forgotten about that, after everything that has happened. To think that you still have it... I shake my head. You never fail to surprise me. “Heh... After all this, that’s what you have to say? Seriously, you really are...”

I don’t have time to finish my sentence. The cognitive version of me is finally recovering, standing up as he snarls in whatever pain a cognition can feel. “You bastard...”

He immediately points his gun at me. I push myself off the wall, pointing my own gun at the cognition. “So my final enemy is a puppet version of myself... I...!”

I try to shut out the rest of the world before my resolve falters. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t afraid. I am, but... you’re worth this sacrifice. If only I could have accepted your offer, but there’s still no use talking in hypotheticals.

I’m... I’m sorry, Ren.

Case closed. This is how my ‘justice’ ends.

[whyamistillwatchingtheseshows]

Do you think TharnType is as popular as it is more-so because of the series itself or MewGulf? As someone who hates shipping people they make it hard not to ship them and I wonder that if they weren't so obviously "close" would the series have a different impact on people. I think they have some of the best chemistry in all of the bl series and I'm actually worried for my sanity for what we will see in the next one. I'm asking several people this for different perspectives.

I do think Mew and Gulf’s chemistry has a lot to do with it, but it’s also a market in Thailand. It’s a brand. The whole shipping in real life thing. I like how Mel @graveformydarling once said it. Schrodingers Gays. It’s that whole is the cat in the box or not? Or the classic will they won’t they? I can’t say is never a possibility because hello gay people are invested in these shows and I ain’t ever gonna say all these boys are straight (pssh). That’s to say it’s not our business or job to police who these boys should be dating. That’s up to them. All I want to do is say thank you for the acting because we know both of them worked hard to make Tharn and Type come to life. Do I think this show could’ve been a catalyst for change ? Yes, I do. If we could’ve handled Type’s trauma correctly and also negate the idea that all gay men are pushy and predatory then there’d be much more praise rather than backlash. What makes authors, producers etc think we want non-consent bullshit or that gay men/people won’t take no for answer, (so if the story is that Type doesn’t fall for Tharn then what we have a whole show of Tharn being a non-consent prick?) The author’s question should be how does Type “I hate gays” fall for him? I’ve said it before, Tharn’s character seemed a byproduct, if not equivalent to the one who molested Type and just because your character (Type) thinks like so does not make your gay character the same predatory man. That’s entirely different and if we could’ve had the show questioning that a little more then I think it’d be popular outside of shipping MewGulf. Questioning or working through a trauma like Type’s, and sure he grew out of some violent tendencies, his brain managed to stop thinking all gay men are like the man who molested him but I don’t think he’d still be without triggering moments. Type never figured out a sexuality (don’t ever think he will label himself at all), but through a learned intimacy he did come to terms with how much he loves Tharn. It also turns out that Tharn needed Type more than the other way around, if you think about it. How drawn out would everything be if Llhong kept doing his bullshit? Tharn learned from Type that maybe you can’t always wear your heart on your sleeve. Type is a defender, if he’s latched onto to you/cares so deeply, he will defend you to the death tbh. And truthfully, it’s all partly for Tar because Type knows how he feels. By exposing Lhong, Type rescued two people, if not partly himself in the process.

I digress because I love these characters, but I do think the show never established itself as anything but two college roomies, enemies to (extremely jealous) lovers trope. One a raging homophobic character but wait! He has a past repressed trauma that fuels his anger...and then a gay roommate enters his life what now? He’s gonna be a dick but the gay character is so pushy (ep 1-3) that eventually he falls for him because that’s how you get a straight raging homophobe to like you. Or that’s how you get anyone to like you if you’re gay, be pushy they’ll eventually give in with a little force.

Let’s redo the show (first 3 eps) to put everything Type’s head. He imagines it all and we get his inner monologue to explain how he’s parsing through his feelings. Or at first the sexual attraction. I mean the water bottle scene could very well be in his imagination and it partly is...who stares like that at someone’s throat if you’re not attracted/turned on? He’s caught staring so Tharn flirts. Duh. Tharn if anything is a confident flirt. Type tells himself (in his head) it’s because he hasn’t got laid in awhile that’s why he finds it hot or basically wants his dick sucked...well, he learns after (ep 4 onward) three times he can’t seem to stop, something else is happening...

Anon, this show could be a solid 5 seasons of well planned characterization to stress that Type is a character worthy of change, growth and sympathy. Tharn is a gay character who is not equivalent to a pedophile but he too might have trauma because I am still on the fence about his first time (at 14 😬) with P’San. I might be crazy and perhaps the author never thought this but by the actions given to Tharn in ep 1-3 it seems pretty clear that he kept trying in a forcible way to make Type like him back becoming even more so the very thing Type hates. Should’ve seen reciprocated attraction from Type that takes place over time and at his pace, after all the pushiness triggers him.

I need to stop but I do still love this show. Love how much Mew and Gulf love their characters too which also makes it awesome. Recenly, I saw they had such professional answers to some questions that simply explain (and I paraphrase) we (MG) have to make you believe these characters are in love for 7 years (s2) and that’s what they’ll do no doubt.

Ooh..wait one more thing. I do think none of these BL series could be executed properly if the main couple or side couples didn’t have chemistry. If the boys absolutely hated each other for some reason and couldn’t get along then I don’t know how you could even act intimate scenes. If you find someone repulsive even acting is out of the question. Look at how a couple years ago Hollywood was being called out for rampant sexual harassment (still is) against actresses and even actors came forward too. The experiences are basically sexual assault and then threaten the job when they refuse; why do I have to be topless in this scene? No reason says the director. Oh well, then I’m going to keep my top on. Are you sure about that I can ruin your career if you don’t...

None of that has came forward in real life circumstances as far as I know for the actors of Thai BL series, (well there was Saint’s issues from LBC set...) but other than that it’s just a problem within the source material/entertaining they’re creating. It’s spreading lessons that it’s okay for non-consent, we’re all straight but gay for one guy, we absolutely think it is okay to be possessive and take what we want because they’re the wifey (😡grr), says the hubby. There is a YouTube channel that has a few videos to talk about Thai culture aspects that may be disconcerting but truthfully not all that unsurprising to see since it’s also in mainstream American television/film.

[blackasteriia]

🔥 story structure bih

Feed the Fires of my Salt

I jumped into Kingdom Hearts right after KH3 came out. I had the privilege of watching the series’ cutscenes from beginning-to-end, starting with the KHUX back cover and ending in KH3. This is a very confusing way to enter Kingdom Hearts. The start of the story is in KHUX and the beginning is in KH1. It’s KH1 that introduces the core mechanics, themes, and principles of the story. Yet, the story starts in KHuX, which is a mobile game. The KHuX itself is a baffling mess with too many twists for me to even bother tracking it. For the purpose of this essay I’ll focus on Sora’s story, he’s the protagonist after all. 

Kingdom Hearts 1 begins medias res, ‘into the middle of things.’ It doesn’t know that. It thinks it’s a straightforward story and probably the best told one in all of Kingdom Hearts. Sora and his friends live a normal life. He has a call to action when his island falls into darkness and he losses his friends. To find his friends he must travel through several worlds. On the course of this journey he learns of Kingdom Hearts. He then meets Ansem, the antagonist who believes that all people and things belong to the darkness. Sora takes all that he has learned to confront Ansem. Ansem is defeated and Sora’s journey comes to a close. It’s a simple story but it is effective, charming, and fun. 

Then, Sora loses all his memories in a random castle through an event that he does not remember, he wakes-up after sleeping a full year, and we go into Kingdom Hearts 2. 

Kingdom Hearts 2, is another hero’s journey. Sora seeks guidance from the wise Yen Sid, a mentor archetype we most often find in stories of this type. Yen Sid informs Sora that he must defeat Organization 13, an insidious group seeking to obtain Kingdom Hearts. This bunch isn’t as straightforward as Ansem was. They’re manipulative, and also, very human, with their own quirks and personalities, some even befriending Sora. The series delves into a more mature grey than the pure black and white of KH1. Sora learns that light and dark aren’t clear-cut concepts, but to accept the complexity of himself, and others. Sora defeats Xemnas and returns to Destiny Island with his friends, concluding his journey. 

In Dream Drop Distance, Sora and Riku undergo training by Yen Sid to become keyblade masters, which is very important. Sora must unlock the power of waking by *shuffles notes* freeing seven sleeping keyholes, in the realm of sleep. Okay, yeah, anyway he does that. Then this Xehanort guy --who the hell is this guy? He was in Birth by Sleep. Wait, what?-- kidnaps him and tries to possess him so he can fill out the ranks of Organization 13-- Didn’t we kill all of them in the last game? No, they came back. Then why bother killing them off?-- But he’s saved by Axel --who died in the last game-- and Riku. Anyway, this is apparently grounds for failure and Sora does not become a keyblade master. 

In Kingdom Hearts 3, Sora embarks on an adventure to unlock the power of waking by traveling through the worlds and training to become stronger. Didn’t he already beat like, three series antagonists by now why does he need to grow stronger??? Sora is confronted by the members of the Real Organization 13, who taunt him as he travels. Sora gathers the Seven Guardians of Lights and defeats Xehanort and the Real Organization 13. He returns to Destiny Island with his friends and concludes his story by vanishing into a burst of light.

And that, from beginning to end, is Sora’s journey through the Kingdom Hearts series. I skipped a lot of details. I didn’t include side games. I told it as Sora experienced it. Here’s a few things I noticed:

1). There’s a lot of start and stops. The series has three endings. The end of Kingdom Hearts 1, Kingdom Hearts 2, and Kingdom Hearts 3, are all satisfying stop-points for the series. This makes sense, as Nomura, for the most part, intended them to be endings. Of course, he leaves some running threads to intrigue and hint at another game. It means that Sora has his powers reset twice and he begins another hero journey three times. The goals never change: train, grow stronger, beat-up bad guy, go home. Sora never grows past the dumb kid that picked-up a giant key in KH1 and started swinging, or any growth he does develop is reset. 

2). The side games are useless. I can tell Sora’s story without Birth by Sleep. I can do it without 358/2 Days, Chain of Memories, Re:Coded, and I bet I could kick-out Dream Drop Distance too. Xehanort is the sole character that you need. He is by far the worst antagonist. He shows-up without fanfare and is defeated with little trouble. Ansem and Xemnas both had something to contrast to Sora, some sort’ve dynamic, a personal stake. Xehanort is just a jerk and he needs to be beaten-up.

3). Xehanort is a terrible antagonist. An antagonist is the character that opposes the protagonist. It is the antagonist who the protagonist must overcome in order to complete their journey. Ansem and Sora jostle over the very nature of humans, idealism vs cynicism. Xemnas forced Sora to recognize the complexity of the human condition. Xehanort-- bullies Sora until Sora kicks his ass. Never mind untangling how unbelievably complicated the relationship between Xehanort, Ansem, and Xemnas are. You’d believe that Xehanort would be some culmination of Sora’s journey-- but I’d argue that it’d complete the Sea Salt Trio’s story more to defeat Xehanort, than it does for Sora to do it. 

4). Final Fantasy and Disney are window dressing. This game series is supposed to be a crossover between Disney and Final Fantasy. If you read my synopsis, you would not know this. Maleficent in KH1 is the sole character I feel I could’ve added. None of the Final Fantasy characters are on the list or come close to deserving mention. Why do we have the fiftieth Xehanort clone, and not Sephiroth, or anyone else, as a main antagonist? When I watched this series for the first time I did not watch a single Disney World, and I lost nothing for it. About 60-70% of this entire game series is useless, poorly written filler. This becomes worse as it drags on too. There’s some neat character study in KH1 but by KH3, it’s all crap. Instead of using the Disney World’s for character exploration and building plot, they’re usually charmless retellings of the original movie. 

5). There are so many useless characters. We don’t need Roxas. Get rid of Xion. Namine, who? Xehanort just needs to go. You can remove Kairi after KH1. Maybe we keep the BBS-trio because we have to have someone fill-out the Guardians of Light in KH3, but I think Terra is expendable. All of the Union Cross cast, gone. After KH2, all of the Organization members are wasted screen time. These characters do not contribute to the main plot and they have no satisfactory, useful, or good character arcs. They’re just here, repeating what we already heard. Axel finished his story in KH2, why is he still here? The entirety of Chain of Memories, 358/2 Days and Re:coded can be removed, and you would lose absolutely nothing. If I was Nomura’s editor, I’d be making judicious use of a red pen on his scripts. Characters that die don’t stay dead, characters that finish their arcs just hang around taking-up space, and characters that shouldn’t be added, are added. Cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, trim this down to like, 2-3 games, tops, and you’d have a powerful story. Not a long overwritten piece of absurdity that’s wheezing like a pneumonic horse on its last legs. 

6). Dream Drop Distance and Kingdom Hearts 3 are the worst. Sora sets out to complete one task: become a keyblade master, and, he fails. He doesn’t even finish his secondary task, master the power of waking. Kingdom Hearts 3 has no tension, it’s so cut-and-dry, you need about... an hour of the game to know what happened in it. Sora defeated Xehanort, the all important villain, introduced in DDD. It then ends on a stupid cliff hanger. Also, goes to show that Re:Mind was stupid and didn’t help anything or anyone. KH3 had one job, complete all the character arcs introduced in the series in a satisfying way, and it failed on every single account. 

How this series tells story is terrible. It’s done through long-winded exposition that is boring and confusing. Somehow, after watching hours of cutscenes and reading all of the additional side material, I still do not know what Kingdom Hearts is supposed to be. Sometimes, it’s the ‘heart of worlds,’ other times it’s a ‘source of wisdom,’ or it’s a ‘source of power,’ or it can just grant Xemnas’ wish like a star, and it looks like Scala Ad Caelum inside, or its the door to the Realm of Darkness. How can it be the name sake of the series and be so poorly defined? The Metal Gear series is just as convoluted as Kingdom Hearts is, but at least I know what a metal gear is. 

Nomura can structure a plot. He understands the basics of hero’s journey. Every single game is based on that structure, individually. When tied together, however, they make this weird mass  of starts and stops, retcons, wasted time, and poor story telling. I like Sora and I like his story. I would not be here if that was not the case. It’s the same way with Xion. I really like Xion and her story, but she shouldn’t be here. That, or it needs to be written in a way that it matters. This plot stuff isn’t just about the events. It’s about the characters.  What happens to them. What do they do. How do they behave. How do they change? Plot happens when characters act. What a bad plot indicates is bad character motivation and action. These characters don’t matter because Nomura didn’t give them backstories, nuanced motivations, real flaws, or meaningful action. So he crams as most information into the dialogue and pretends that counts as a plot. 

 And it’s not like plot is  complicated, shit happens, that’s it. To add in some RP salt? It bothers me when muns says they’re ‘bad at plotting.’ What do you mean you’re bad at plot? Plot happens when our two muses meet and shit happens. Your muse has encountered a wild Xion, what do you do? > Run > Attack > Talk to > Feed. I’m not writing a passive brick here, ya’ll. I want shit to happen. And when I’m slogging through 13 hours of Kingdom Hearts 2 I want shit to happen, and not watch Sora faff about in a Disney world for forty minutes. Why is that so much to ask for?

[kiruuuuu]

Doc/Lion oneshot in which, instead of going for each other’s throat, they reach a little lower (and Lion gets more than he bargained for). (Rating E, explicit, ~3k words) - written for @big-r6s-fan! 💗 I will never tire of thanking you for commissioning me and allowing me to write this because it was super fun :) Find my commission info here!

.

“Flament, a word.”

The tone of voice effortlessly conveys the blatant lie in Doc’s statement – what he really means to say is: The only thing keeping me from writing you a novel is lack of time. Lion narrowly avoids rolling his eyes in annoyance and obliges, throws Montagne a meaningful look which implies they’ll finish their rudely interrupted conversation later and trails after his other teammate. If he could’ve gotten away with it, he’d be dragging his feet just because the murderous glare Doc would send him never fails to be hilarious. He’s reasonably certain he knows what this is about and boy, is he not in the mood for this.

And of course Doc marches him into his office instead of just any room which would’ve served the same purpose. With his inflated ego, it’s no surprise he enjoys chewing people out in a place where he’s comfortable; Lion can’t even begin counting the occasions on which he ended up on this side of the mahogany desk, having his person and skills and ethics challenged by a man too naive to be in this line of work and who genuinely thought he could pull off that frankly ridiculous moustache for a few years of his life. Lion is almost sad it’s gone by now, it befitted Doc’s general absurdity.

It doesn’t matter. He’s secretly begun rebelling against the man’s authority in a satisfying way and now he puffs himself up whenever he comes face to face with the very desk which used to make his temper flare purely by existing, but by now has lost its sting. It was customary for him to view the solid piece of furniture as an unsurmountable obstacle rendering any proper communication between them impossible, yet his view has shifted. It’s converted. It’s working for him now.

“I will not stand for you endangering more innocent lives.” Doc’s French is clipped, efficient, yet more than a tool to be used – he has the same intonation and melody to his words as Lion’s parents, as Sophie, as former teachers.

“Then stop endangering your own”, he replies and wants nothing more than to stuff something down Doc’s throat to make him stop talking. His holier-than-thou attitude has always rubbed Lion the wrong way, created sparks of fury, hostility, and something… entirely different on occasion. There’s dust from the debris in Doc’s hair, making it whiter than it already is and Lion wants to bury his fingers in it and then pull sharply.

He needs to stop getting distracted.

“Stop interfering with my work”, Doc snaps and it’s wonderful how easily Lion can get under his skin. At this point, it’s almost a hobby for him to rile up his colleague. And while private hissy fits are a necessary-turned-amusing evil, they serve another purpose as well: providing excellent material for long, gratifying ‘self-care’ sessions in which he fantasises about what would’ve happened if instead of quoting a specific law to shut down Doc’s argument, he’d just crowded him against a wall, rumbled filth into his ear and showed him how unprofessional he really can be.

“Then stop interfering with mine.” He has to suppress a smirk at the frustration on Doc’s face and doesn’t mind in the least that he’s doing the grown-up version of ‘no you’.

“Pray tell, Flament, what exactly does your work entail then? Does it state anywhere you should prevent me from administering first aid to a wounded civilian? Hm?” His tone is cutting, sharp and sweet like a rose’s thorn, and he actually abandons his safe haven behind the desk to come down to Lion’s level – or rather lower. Because he is noticeably shorter and Lion gladly stands up straighter to emphasise this fact.

“Above all, my work entails keeping my colleagues safe, for example preventing an altruistic idiot from rushing head first into a potential ambush.”

Doc’s eyes narrow. Their faces are uncomfortably close together, a result of too many altercations in the past where both of them got scolded for raising their voice, so now they rely on dangerous hissing. His smell is making it hard to breathe because it’s earthy, mesmerising, distinct. Lion wonders how it’d feel to force him to his knees and have this defiant gaze directed up at him while his sharp tongue is used for something other than reprimanding him for - “Is that your way of saying you’re worried about me?”

Lion is halfway through formulating a reply in his head when his thoughts screech to a grinding halt. Nothing has changed, Doc’s posture is just as defensive as before, expression stony, intonation accusing, and yet the atmosphere has… tilted a little. Spilled into uncharted territory. Lion isn’t sure what to make of it. “I worry about all my colleagues”, he eventually responds neutrally.

“That doesn’t absolve you from jerking off at my desk. Repeatedly.”

Oh.

Well fuck.

He blinks owlishly, utterly speechless because how in the world is he ever going to recover. Doc knows. How does he know?

Sensing he’s not going to get a sensible response from Lion any time soon, Doc continues: “If you have a problem with me, I’m sure we can work something out.”

His mouth is faster than his brain because there’s no way he’d in his right mind shoot back: “Yeah, you can work out on my cock.”

Okay. Alright.

This is still salvageable. All he needs to do is to back off immediately, apologise for the inappropriate comment, not mention that Doc needs to stop wearing these blasted form-fitting shirts or else Lion will really end up doing a briefing with a raging hard-on in front of everyone, and then steer clear of Doc for the rest of his entire -

“Real mature, Flament, but I expected no less. I’m afraid you’re mistaken, though, as it would be the other way round.”

Once again, words elude him, this time out of indignation. The audacity. Lion has no doubt he’s the more experienced one, is taller and heavier, certainly more masculine and dominant, and Doc has the gall to imply… Shock slowly morphs into smug disbelief and he finds himself shaking his head at this bold claim. “You haven’t got the balls.”

And Doc grabs him by the collar and smashes their mouths together.

Lion just – he stops functioning for a few seconds until he realises that it’s Doc’s tongue prying his lips open so he parts them willingly with an involuntary moan he regrets the moment he utters it. His brain still refuses to acknowledge the whole situation, making it easy for Doc to overpower him, guide the messy kiss and shove his hands under Lion’s sweater and holy shit, is this really happening? The desk’s edge digs into the backs of his thighs and Doc’s teeth into his lower lip and it’s Lion who’s making these horribly embarrassing noises, isn’t it? Like a mixture of a dying whale and a prisoner of war about to be freed and this is not at all how he pictured this to go.

Despite the suddenness of it all, there’s a particular part of his body which has no trouble keeping up and draws even more attention to itself the moment Doc’s thumbs brush over Lion’s nipples and good heavens, he did not expect Doc to be such a fantastic kisser. Desperate to regain any sort of control, Lion tries to fight the onslaught by grabbing Doc’s hands, wrestling his tongue into submission and spinning them around – with an emphasis on tries. Because Doc chooses that second to push a thigh between Lion’s legs, presses it directly against his achingly hard erection in all the right ways and makes his brain short-circuit yet again. The gesture results in vague flailing on Lion’s part, a particularly vicious swipe of Doc’s merciless tongue which turns his joints into butter and some ungraceful bumbling of which Doc makes use by basically lifting him up and setting him down on his stupid desk.

Well, so much for that.

“If you want me to stop, now’s the time”, Doc murmurs against his mouth and curls his tongue around Lion’s in a way he didn’t think possible. His inner monologue has turned into no more than incoherent screaming because while this general situation is a wet dream come true, he’s conflicted about the details and yet the thought of stopping the other man doesn’t even enter his mind. When calloused fingertips twist his nipples, all he can produce is a throaty groan full of arousal and longing, and when his legs (the traitors) wrap around Doc’s to pull him closer, his opponent breaks the kiss to regard him with a disgustingly smug expression. “That’s what I thought”, he says and starts unbuttoning Lion’s trousers.

Why don’t you start lubing up my cock with your throat so the sliding in becomes easier, the monkey part of Lion’s brain provides helpfully, sends the signal to his mouth and witnesses in stark horror how he instead chokes out something very, very different: “Please, hurry up, I want you.” It seems his entire body has set out to betray him: his upper body gives in at the slightest push and lies flat on the largely empty surface he’s defiled in the past, his hands lie uselessly by his side instead of struggling, and his dick is magnificently hard. Painfully hard. So hard it’s continuously throbbing and will probably ejaculate as soon as Doc looks at it wrong.

“I noticed my hand lotion depleting unusually quickly and asked Meghan for a Black Eye when I couldn’t locate the source”, Doc informs him conversationally while ripping down Lion’s trousers with minimal resistance. And oh, that explains how he knew. And… also means that Doc saw him. Oh God. “Tell me, did you fantasise about me, Olivier?”

His cheeks are crimson. It’s impossible to provide an honest answer, not when Doc pulls his underwear down as if they’d done this a thousand times and throws his uncomfortably hard cock an appraising glance. “I”, Lion starts stupidly and then Doc’s mouth envelops him in wonderful tight heat, prompting him to thrust his hips up at the unexpected stimulation and the next thing he hears is a sharp snap.

Doc just slapped his ass as punishment.

It stings, but even worse is the realisation that Lion isn’t going to top anybody today. “You can’t do that!”, he gasps, appalled, yet the look he receives is unbothered.

“Watch me”, Doc says and does it again. This time, Lion moans at the sensation, can’t help himself, it’s just – he doesn’t even know what’s going on, only that he’s in too deep already, and he’s not only talking about Doc’s mouth and oh God, his tongue really can do what it promised earlier. A mere minute later, Lion is writhing on the cursed desk in agonising bliss, trying desperately not to come down Doc’s throat while producing so much noise it’s a miracle no one has checked on them yet. He’s so resigned to his fate that he at first doesn’t notice the warm hand creeping up his thigh and getting dangerously close to his crotch, up until the pad of a finger strokes over his entrance and absolutely no way.

“Don’t”, Lion pants and nearly knees Doc in the temple, “just – keep sucking, please, but not -”

Doc pulls off his dick with a wet pop and, unperturbed, conjures up a bottle of lube seemingly out of thin air. “Should’ve used this instead of the lotion”, he states. “Then you could’ve fingered yourself in preparation as well.”

“I don’t do that sort of thing”, Lion protests and yelps when Doc hoists his legs up, folds them in half and places Lion’s hands on his own calves. He’s much too overwhelmed to complain and so he simply holds his legs up, spread invitingly, and then there’s a slippery finger inside him.

He opens his mouth to object. The finger crooks in a way just as magical as Doc’s tongue earlier and a fierce wave of pleasure rolls through him. Lion closes his mouth again.

“I don’t believe it for a second”, Doc counters and adds a second one and good Lord, how is he doing this? Lion’s thoughts are running haywire and he’s ashamed to admit that at least half of them are focused on replacing those fingers with something else. “This looks like your natural habitat.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” He flinches when the digits withdraw and narrowly stops himself from substituting his own. It really does feel phenomenal.

“It means”, Doc replies while unzipping his own trousers, “that you’re a slut.”

Lion is stupefied. Did Doc just -

And before his brain even processes the insult, it shuts down completely because that’s definitely a dick pushing inside him, giving him the opportunity to adjust and then rubbing over all the right places. In utter disbelief, Lion stares down at himself and can’t fathom how he ended up here when by all means, he should’ve -

“Hold this too.” The hem of his sweater gets shoved between his teeth and he bites down automatically; his reward is warm palms stroking over his chest and fingertips finding his nipples yet again and he’s sizzling, he feels hot and weird and his skin prickles wherever Doc touches, and above all he never wants this to end. Especially when Doc starts thrusting. “Do you like this?”

Lion’s only answer is a muffled moan about an octave higher than he’d like. There’s something like fireworks going on and it almost drowns out Doc’s next words. Almost.

“You, Olivier, are a nasty little slut”, and Doc emphasises this with a particularly deep thrust, “and you deserve to be punished. Do you know why?”

He shakes his head, too preoccupied with the sight before him, the incredible feeling of becoming one with this man, something of which he’s been dreaming for a long, long time.

“But you do. Because it wasn’t just my desk, was it?” Panicked, Lion looks up and is met with a half amused, half heated gaze. Doc seems to be enjoying this at least as much as he is. “My underwear has gone missing a few times. So has my uniform. I know how you look at me.”

Oh shit. Lion’s face starts burning and it’s only partly the hard movements which rock his entire body. He must make for a shameful display: presenting himself, incapacitated of his own volition, whimpering and squirming on Doc’s magnificent cock. And he realises that he doesn’t even care – because it looks like Doc is having the time of his life, and that implies they’ll do this again.

“Look at you, you’re taking it so well.” His voice is mesmerising and Lion notices himself giving in to the thrumming desire, relishing the sharp motions reaching deep and causing small explosions of need, of want, of delight. When a hand closes around his throbbing erection, he throws his head back and arches his back, feels fingernails dig into his ribs and scrape over a sensitive nipple, prompting an elated groan. “You’re sucking me in and gripping me so tightly.”

Lion wants it to last so badly, wants to hear Doc talk some more about all the depraved things he’s done because he hasn’t even mentioned half of it, can’t know the full extent, but as always, the universe is against him and gave Doc not only a gloriously talented tongue as well as a perfectly shaped dick, but also awarded him with skilled fingers who identify Lion’s weakspots in seconds and massage the ridge of his glans, torture him with long, slow strokes just like he would himself and that’s right, Doc knows exactly how he does it because he’s seen it, and this knowledge mercilessly shoves Lion off the edge without so much as a warning.

He comes with a series of moans, abs contracting marvellously and sending shocks of pleasure through him while Doc milks him, keeps jerking him in time with the almost violent spurts of come Lion unloads on his belly. Doc fucks him through it and creates white noise in Lion’s head with his thrusts, the stimulation flirting with discomfort but never really reaching it; and if it wasn’t for Doc’s own orgasm, Lion might’ve passed out cold with how hard the relief hits him. His rhythmic spasming must’ve been too much for Doc, causes him to climax while Lion is still tensing up and riding the last of his high and he looks beautiful. Doc tilts his head back with a satisfied groan, hips stuttering, and comes deep -

He – he’s actually coming inside, dick pulsing, eyes rolling back. And if Lion is honest, it’s one of the hottest things he’s ever seen.

The hem of his sweatshirt snaps back the moment he lets go and he rests his head on the uncomfortable and frankly ostentatious desk with a sigh, lowers his legs but refuses to let Doc go by wrapping them around him once again. The fight has left him, but so has the heat of the moment which has shifted into an odd uncertainty. He’s not sure what to do other than enjoy the gentle afterglow.

As if he’d read his mind, Doc bends down to him for a kiss which lasts much longer than Lion expected it to, and when they separate after a good while, they’re both smiling. “How about we think of an excuse as to why our conversation took this long while we get you cleaned up?”, he murmurs good-naturedly.

The warmth spreading in Lion’s chest easily replaces the insecurity he felt, and so he nods happily.

“Really, though. Don’t touch my stuff again.”

He almost laughs at Doc’s serious tone and decides to take a chance: “And what if I do?”

To this, Doc smirks and Lion didn’t even know he was capable of doing that, is actually glad he didn’t find out earlier because it apparently doubles his heart rate and steals his breath away.

“Then I’ll see you in my office, Flament”, he says and raises a meaningful brow.

[hellektr0]

Man, I am on a ROLL. I posted a new fallout fic: As You Were.

It’s my first story over on AO3 and I’ve been working on it for over a year and, now, I’m finally posting it.

*taps on the mic* Please clap.

I’ll include a little chunk of the recent chapter here for y’all, but please pop on over and give it a quick review. A kudos. Anything to show me that I’m at least writing something worthwhile for you guys.

As You Were:

Pairing: F!Sole Survivor x Paladin Danse Rating: M Warning: Canon-typical violence.

The wind nipped at her face as she hurried towards the center of town. The map in her pip-boy indicated the source of the distress signal was only a couple hundred yards away. She flinched as another explosion of gunfire erupted. The closer she got, the louder and more frequent it became. Her boots thudded against the asphalt as she picked up the pace, breaking into a sprint. She rounded a cluster of buildings and skidded to a halt.

There, in the distance, was a towering police station surrounded by cement half-walls and sandbags. It wasn’t the structure itself was intimidating, rather, it was the fact that it was swarming with ghouls. She wasn’t sure that she’d ever seen that many ghouls all at once—ever. It was the most fantastic (and terrifying) sight she’d ever witnessed.

She snapped back to reality and jumped into action, finding cover behind the shell of a rusted car. She pulled her rifle towards her, balancing it on the hood of the car as she crouched, and looked down the scope. If she was lucky, she could find some errant ghouls to pick off from afar before heading it. Thin the heard.

A ghoul entered the cross in her site and she turned the safety off, exhaling as she squeezed the trigger. The ghoul’s head exploded into a shower of crimson, pallid lumps of flesh spattering against the cement wall behind it.

A few more were picked off, one right after the other. It wouldn’t be long before they started to notice where exactly this line of fire was coming from.

A sheen of cold sweat coated her forehead and slicked her palms. The distance helped her to feel safe but she wasn’t, she was never truly safe. Each time she pulled the trigger she would look around, sweeping her immediate perimeter. The cover of darkness helped to keep her hidden, but it was only a matter of time. She focused down the site once more, lining it up with a ghoul that was attempting to climb over the cement border around the station. With the pull of the trigger the ghoul’s head snapped back, its body going rigid for a moment before tumbling backwards.

The remaining ghouls started to disappear as they charged the building. Olivia stood up and moved towards them, trying to keep her steps light and her movements swift. A ghoul charged at her from her flank and she swung around, firing a rapid burst. It went down and she continued on, picking up pace. She took a moment to wipe her palms on the fabric of her uniform, hissing as she pushed an errant strand of blonde hair away from her face.

The adrenaline was getting to her.

Within a few beats she was at the station. It was chaotic and loud. Beyond the swarm of undead she glimpsed a small group of people. At the front was a looming figure in military-grade power armor, brandishing a laser rifle. The barrel glowed an ominous red in between its agitated firing. Olivia raised her gun and began to fire as she approached the swarm. She swept her gun back and forth methodically, watching them drop left and right.

A pang of dread pulsed through her when she pulled the trigger once more only to realize she was out of bullets. She frantically fumbled with her pouch, trying to retrieve her full magazine. She ejected the empty mag and popped the other one in. Just as she started to fire again she saw a blur of grays and blues in her peripheral vision. She swung around just in time to see a ghoul charging at her. It lunged for her midsection and she tried to hop back, but it was too late.

She hit the crumbled road-top with a thud, gasping as the wind was knocked out of her. The ghoul had been flung a few feet from the sheer force of her take down and she tried to stand, only to be pinned back down by a different one. Its arm had been shot off but it straddled her chest, its one hand flailing frantically as it attempted to reach for her neck. Her heart leapt into her throat as she pressed the upper receiver of her rifle into its chest, summoning all of her strength to try and push it off. If she tried to pull her rifle back to shoot, it’d surely leave her open.

Fuck.

There wasn’t a good way to be trapped in a herd of feral ghouls, but being trapped on your back was undoubtedly the worst position to be in. She’d witnessed many people be taken out this way—pulled apart by gnashing teeth and rotting flesh. It was a slow, miserable way to die.

Her limbs began to tremble as she parried and blocked its blows, trying to find an opening so she could knock it off of her. Just as she was beginning to lose hope, she heard a loud bang above her. Blood sprayed against her face and she yelped, feeling the ghoul go limp, slumping against her rifle. She shoved it away from her with a curse, letting her rifle fall to her side. With trembling arms, she went to push herself up, when a gloved hand was thrust into her face. Olivia looked up, squinting through the blood to see who her savior was.

It was the person in the power armor she’d seen before.

She apprehensively accepted the gesture and placed her hand into theirs, letting out another unflattering yelp as they yanked her to her feet. So rough.

Olivia grumbled and bent down to pick up her rifle, dragging a dirtied hand over her face in a vain attempt to clear the blood. When she stood back up, she noticed the armored person had removed their helmet and she paused. It was a man, maybe mid-thirties, with dark hair peeking out from a hood. He gazed at her sternly from beneath a strong brow, his square jaw gritting as he gave her a once over. He had a dusting of stubble along his cheeks and intense, dark eyes, with a jagged scar dragging across his right eyebrow.

“We appreciate the assistance, civilian. But what’s your business here?” He asked.

She threw him a questioning glance. Were they not the ones projecting a distress signal? Maybe that signal wasn’t meant for her to hear. She frowned.

“Elaborate on what you mean by ‘here’?” She queried, aloof. “Because if you’re implying the wastelands in general, then I’m just trying to survive out here… like everyone else.”

His brows furrowed slightly but he remained impassive. “You don’t appear to be a common wastelander just trying to survive with the way you charged in and engaged those ferals.” He hesitated, holstering his rifle, his gaze never leaving her face. “Are you from a local settlement?”

Olivia regarded him warily. She had no idea who this man was or what his intentions were. All she had done was respond to some fellow humans in desperate need of aid, but the reality was she knew nothing about them. Who they were or what their purpose was here was a complete mystery to her. It seemed he mirrored her apprehension.

She crossed her arms and shrugged nonchalantly. “I don’t really have a home.”

“An answer that I hear often,” he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “If I appear suspicious, it’s because our mission here has been difficult. Since the moment we arrived the Commonwealth, we’ve been constantly under fire. You seem adequate on the field. Usually, I wouldn’t ask this of a stranger, but,” he paused, licking his lips. “If you want to continue pitching in, we could use an extra gun on our side.”

She weighed her options. On one hand, she had a prior mission with the Minutemen to clear a feral infestation. On the other hand, she had just about seen enough ghoul fighting for one day. She felt guilt tug at the back of her mind but she pushed it away. The opportunity this man was giving her might turn out to be more fruitful. Besides, she’d hate to think what would happen to them if she decided not to aide them. Strangers they may be, but their deaths would weigh heavy on her conscience. Especially if she didn’t even try to help.

“I’ll continue to help, but,” she paused, taking a step closer to him. He loomed over her in his power armor and she had to crane her neck back to meet his gaze, “you owe me an explanation first.”

He stared down at her, his eyes flicking back and forth between hers for a moment, before relenting. He let out a sigh.

“Very well. I’m Paladin Danse, Brotherhood of Steel. Over there,” he gestured to a small statured woman in a wide brimmed hat and a churlish looking man with a shaved head, “is Scribe Haylen. Next to her is Knight Rhys. We’re on recon duty, but I’m down a few men and our supplies are low.”

Her gaze wandered to the pair near the entrance. Haylen was hunched over Rhys. The front of his orange jumpsuit was spotted with blood and there was a large tear in the front panel of the material. She was pressing bandages to the wound with one hand and reaching back into a first aid box for a bottle antiseptic with the other. After cleaning it, she covered the wound in a dry bandage and taped it firmly in place. Her gloved hand ghosted over the bandage, almost soothingly, before taking a step back to admire her handiwork. Rhys didn’t look pleased but he was alive.

Haylen walked over to where she and Danse were talking and extended a hand. “Really saved our butts back there. Thank you for your help…?”

Olivia was waiting for her to continue talking before she realized Haylen was expectantly waiting for her name. “Oh!” She grabbed hold of Haylen’s hand. “Olivia Becker. And no problem. I heard gunfire and then stumbled upon your distress signal and decided to check it out.”

Haylen gave her a genuine smile, her freckle-specked face lighting up with curiosity. “And do you usually run to the aid of complete strangers?”

“I try not to make a habit of it, no,” she said lightly, trying to keep an air of humor. Danse and Haylen just stared at her blankly. Yeesh, tough crowd. “Actually, it’s kind of my job… I guess. I was on my way to help a couple of farmers with their own ghoul problem and got sidetracked by yours.”

“A mercenary?” Danse asked, his voice rough.

Olivia eyed him, gauging whether or not to be insulted. “No, actually. I’m not a hired gun. I…”

Part of her wondered how much information to relay to these two. After all, Danse said they were a part of the Brotherhood of Steel. She had no idea what kind of intentions they had. For all she knew, they would try to confront the Minutemen the moment they caught wind of them. Or, at the very least, where the remnants of them were currently located.

They looked at her expectantly.

“I just like to help people. Is it not our jobs, as humans, to help one another when we can?” She turned her gaze from Danse’s back to Haylen’s. It wasn’t technically a lie. “Any time I catch wind of people in need, I try to go and assist.”

“That’s… noble,” Haylen gave her a quizzical look. “It’s not often we meet someone so willing to dive right into danger just for the sake of helping others. Usually people want something in return.”

“Not me,” she tried to give a convincing smile but it faltered. “So, what is it that your squad needs help with?”

“I’ve been trying to send a distress signal to my superiors, but the signal’s too weak to reach them.” Danse thumbed in the general direction of building.

“Sir, if I may?” Haylen interjected before he could elaborate.

Danse nodded brusquely. “Proceed, Haylen.”

“I’ve modified the radio tower on the roof of the police station, but I’m afraid it just isn’t enough. What we need is something that will boost the signal.”

“That’s where I come in?” Olivia queried, eyeing the radio tower looming at the top of the building.

“Correct.” Danse looked back at Olivia with a terse smile pulling at the corners of his mouth. “Our target is ArcJet Systems, and it contains the technology we need.”

“I’m assuming you’ll need some sort of deep range transmitter to boost something like that,” she said pointedly, her gaze still skyward. “Its old military technology but it’ll do the job—especially since towers like that don’t do much for distance. I didn’t pick up your distress signal until I was already in Cambridge.”

Seemed listening to Espinoza prattle on about military tech was worth it. He’d be so proud.

“Uh,” Haylen fumbled for a moment, taken aback. She seemed impressed. “That’s right. It seems like you know your stuff there, Olivia. What we need to do is infiltrate the facility, secure the transmitter, and bring it back here.”

She bobbed her head in thought, bringing a slender finger to tap her chin.

“So… what do you say? You willing to lend the Brotherhood of Steel a hand?” Danse asked, his expression softening a bit as he awaited her response.

She studied him for a moment. His armor was intricate and well-kept, the emblem of what she believed to be his brotherhood plastered in shiny white paint across his chest. They must be in some deep shit for them to ask her, a random traveler, for assistance. She was sure to get an earful from Preston for not making a b-line to the settlers in need but… well, what did she really have to lose?

“There’s no time to waste. Let’s get moving.”

Danse flashed her a large, toothy grin and took her hand in his. “Outstanding.”

[juliesoutsourcingblog]

DIGITAL MARKETING 101; CREATING CONTENT TO ENSNARE THE MILLENNIAL HEART

Content is everything.

Content is king.

As digital marketers, we’ve read this proclamation so many times it’s burned in our brains. It’s been said over and over and over- so much that when I see the word “content”, it’s the first thing that comes to my mind. And it certainly is true.

Content still is, and would almost certainly always be, king.

It’s the heart and soul of every campaign. It’s the building blocks where we build our social media following. It’s the magnet that attracts behind every advertisement. It sends our narrative, our story, our message across to our target audience.

It builds credibility.

It establishes authority.

It attracts- which, I think, is its most basic, yet most important function for those of us who use it primarily for marketing.

Now the question arises.

Who do we want to attract?

Of course it’d be nice to think that we could write a piece that would engage and attract the attention of every group and denomination. But we have to be realistic and set our goals accordingly. Every time we create content, just as we always think about the quality of the article, or the infographic, or the podcast that we are creating, we should also be keeping in mind the people who we want to be on the receiving end of our finished product.

For me, those people more-often-than-not, turn out to be millennials. Which then, brings us to the title of this article:

DIGITAL MARKETING 101; CREATING CONTENT TO ENSNARE THE MILLENNIAL HEART

When we think about millennials, most of us often scrunch up our noses and think, pumpkin spice latte, twitter rage, trophies, student debts, entitlement etc. Which is a bunch of harmful stereotypes that does not exactly promote generational unity, but let’s not talk about that.

Instead, let’s define the term: Millennial.

Contrary to popular belief, millennials are not teenagers. Millennials are young adults, whose age range typically fall between 18-35 years, sometimes older (different groups have different opinions on the exact range). To clear any misconceptions, here is the general agreed upon birth years for different generations:

And according to Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data, Millennials are actually the largest generation in the U.S labor force.

Which is good news for me, and other digital marketers and content creators whose target audience are millennials, for the most part. Because it means that the people we are writing for are earning money. It sounds mercenary, but again- let’s be real here. The main reason why we do content marketing is to attract customers. Prospective clients.

Buyers.

Since the mediums wherein most content creators like me disseminate our pieces are found in the internet, it’s also important to know just how much of our intended audience actually have access in it.

Statista, a site that publishes statistical analysis of facts and figures recently released the following:

SHARE OF ADULTS IN THE UNITED STATES WHO USE THE INTERNET IN 2019, BY AGE GROUP

“The statistic shows share of internet users in the United States in 2019, sorted by age group. During the survey period, it was found that 100 percent of 18 to 29-year olds in the United States were internet users. Overall, 90 percent of the adult U.S. population accessed the internet.”

 –STATISTA

The glaring numbers don’t lie. A huge chunk of the majority of the people actually spending time in the internet are- you guessed it- young adults. Again, good news for us, right?

Well, yes.

Also, not entirely.

See, just because they are in the internet, or are in social media, does not mean that they are instantly going to fall heads over heels with our content. Just because I published an article on Tumblr, or posted a link to my blog on Facebook and they happened to see it, does not mean that millennials will automatically start sharing and hitting the like button. There’s always the chance that they might ignore it. Or worse, start hating it so much that I become a victim to the of the prevalent boycott movement, the cancel culture.

Yes, that’s a thing now.

Millennials are like a double-edged sword, so to speak.

There are a lot of pitfalls in making them our target viewers, to be sure. But if there’s one thing that I know from experience, it’s this: the gains and advantages that can be reaped from having millennials as an audience far outweighs the cons.

Having said all that, it’s also very important to remember that this generation is not exactly impossible to please. To capture their attention, there are few things that can be implemented that won’t necessarily cost any money- just a considerable amount of effort from our part.

1. Be conscious of political correctness

Generation Y is a generation of socially conscious individuals. Remember, that these people were raised in a time where equality and awareness are the main advocacies. I am not saying that we need to start turning our backs on our own political beliefs and start catering to theirs- let’s just be mindful enough not trip over sensitive issues in our content unless that is exactly what our purpose is. Let’s try to avoid publishing material that blatantly belittles or discriminates against people because of their race, body type, hair, gender, age, culture, fame (or lack thereof), social status etc. The general rule of the thumb is, to be nice as much as we can, and respect people the way that we want to be respected.

2. Be aware of trends

I’m not talking about eating Tide Pods or mimicking other challenges that are physically harmful. I’m talking about trends in technology, software and social media updates, fashion, clothing lines, restaurants, travel, philanthropic acts and charitable institutions, art, architecture. Of course, we all have our own niche to pay attention to, but with a little bit of effort, there’s an unending number of trending topics out there that are just waiting to be featured no matter what industry we are currently focusing on.

3. Stop sounding like salesperson

In my opinion, this does not just apply to millennials, but to every audience subtype. Stop being so obvious that you are selling something. Instead, tell a story. Make your viewers empathize. Be a friend- someone who actually cares and someone who they can relate to.

Don’t tell them:

Buy my shoes. They have great price compared to other shoes.

Instead, tell them:

I have worked in a corporate office almost all of my adult life, and have always worn heels. I have shed copious amounts of tears from bleeding blisters, and have since learned to always keep a supply of band-aids in my purse and a small first-aid kit in my desk. But what can I do? There’s an office dress code that I apparently agreed to when I signed my contract. I could quit- but then what’d I do for my bills? Should I tell my mother I am unemployed, because I didn’t like my shoes?

That’s when I started to think- why not make my own? Something that I can actually design, something that is comfortable and does not cost a house mortgage.

See where I’m going with this? With more time effort, it’s not impossible to make the part that advertises a certain product or service even more low-key than this. We have to make our selling points part of the natural flow of the narrative. Remember: subtlety is the key.

4. Use millennial buzzwords

Language is dynamic. It’s constantly changing. Time, geographical location, culture, events- these things and more affect the evolution of language so much and with such consistency that it’s almost impossible to determine its original state. As years pass by, people incorporate more and more slangs and new terminologies in their everyday lives.

I won’t say that it’s absolutely necessary to imbue our every article with terms like bop, lit, or salty- just that there are certain terms or “buzzwords” that we can add in our writing that would make us seem more like a peer than a lecturer. It sounds silly, I know, but the goal is to be relatable. Here are some of the words that millennials have been known to use in the past year that could also be used in creating content, within the right context, of course:

Spill the tea

The struggle is real

Trolls

Goals

On fleek

Clap back

Break the internet

Said no one ever

Slay

Adulting

Here’s another advice- we don’t necessarily have to over-stuff our sentences with these buzzwords. Let it flow naturally. The secret is to sound casual, not to overdo the whole thing and end up sounding silly.

5. Inform and educate

The last, but most certainly not the least. The internet, for most of its users, act heavily as a source of information. When people read articles, guides, tutorials, and other types of content, one of the main reasons that they do so, is to learn. But in the event when people are reading for entertainment purposes, it’s still important to make sure that they get to take something out of it.

And even when we end up writing about, say, the dazzling blue waters of a certain Polynesian island, or the breathtaking view atop the Grand Canyon, let’s make sure to inject bits and pieces of interesting facts and advice that would make the reading experience not just fun, but also enriching in a way that would encourage visitors not just to return, but to also share our material to the rest of the digital world.

From the rise to the number of users for the information crowdsourcing site Quora, to the popularity of online entities Mashable, and the types of articles, infographics, quotations, and other forms of shareable materials that young adults are sharing on social media platforms, it is evident that millennials are leaning more and more towards content that contains fascinating information.

It is important to note that most people are heavily motivated by the desire to share something that they think others would also like. For our part, we have to make sure that our products are sufficiently valuable and are interesting enough to warrant their reposts and willing dissemination.

Final words

Always be reminded that in digital and content marketing, researching about the target audience is as important as ensuring that the technical aspects of content creation are on point, and that learning about the trends in the behaviours and opinions of the people we want to send our message to is absolutely vital, because it helps us tailor our content to their tastes and interests.

[chubbyooo]

Blurred Lines: Cursed Past Chapter 51 - Dathomir

back with the writings sorry for the short break had to focus up on some drafting

Zash tells Terri she has a plan and they set off for a far off planet

Terri sat alone in the cockpit of the ship it had been about a week since Zash told her about Lusari and she was slowly getting better. She hadn’t cried today so that was a plus she had begun to realise this is what Lusari wanted so she wouldn’t be helping anyone by moping around. Terri had hardly spoken to Zash during the week she had been busy meditating, apparently she was trying to find a way to ‘enhance her own power’ whatever that meant. Terri had been looking up the commander a bit during the week she thought it’d help her be ready in case they encounter her again. She’d found very little about her before the sith academy and from there it was just one cruel story after another, sure enough the story about the jedi apprentice was true. She had admittedly saved the galaxy but it seemed like the commander had selfish intentions in mind, Terri didn’t know what to think of her except she was a dangerous enemy, she hoped Yavin was the last she would see of her.

She had been sitting there for a few hours procrastinating when suddenly Zash sat down next to her with a smile on her face “Terri I know where to go” Terri’s eyes widened she had been meditating for a week Terri had expected it to take a couple more she wasn’t ready to start doing tings again.

Terri stammered “oh um ok where are we going” Zash opened up a star map and began to trace it with her finger

soon she stopped on a planet “here it is Dathomir, only planet that fit the landscape I saw” Terri nodded and begun plotting the coordinates noting how close it was to Yavin she hoped the commander wasn’t still around

Terri frowned “fit the landscape? um what do you mean?” Zash seemed to break out of a trance when Terri asked

Zash frowned “uh well I saw the landscape while I was...” she trailed off “in a vision while I was meditating yes” that was a little odd but it least explained all the meditation

Terri began to set the ship up for hyperspace “so um this planet has the answer to enhancing your power?” the star lines lengthened as the ship sped into hyperspace

Zash shrugged “not exactly it might be there it might not the vision wasn’t clear” of course visions were always vague in the stories too “worth a shot though right? and it’s not just my power Terri it can be yours too you have great potential” Terri was surprised she’d never thought of enhancing her own power

Terri looked away “oh I dunno I’m not that powerful it’d kinda be a waste” she’d just had charged moments she wasn’t actually powerful right.

Zash put a hand on Terri’s shoulder “now Terr you’re a lot more powerful than you give yourself credit and even so we’re working together in this it’d be rude not to offer” Terri did feel a small amount of pride as Zash talked maybe Terri wasn’t so bad

Terri stammered “t-thanks but I’m n-not sure I’m proper force user material it’s fine” Zash sighed giving her an exasperated look

Zash gave a smile “hey come on Terri believe in yourself a bit more Lusari certainly did and I do too” Terri winced at the mention of her name Lusari had believed in her all the time “we wouldn’t want to let her down after everything” Terri took a deep breath Zash was right Lusari had sacrificed herself for this the least she could do is take the gift.

Terri sighed “alright sorry I’m just very nervous you know?” Zash nodded smiling broadly, she was glad Zash was so understanding of her situation

later... 

Terri brought the ship down into Dathomir’s atmosphere, the planet was a mix of deep reds and swirling greens it was unlike any planet she had ever seen before. She had been told to cruise a bit above the surface to see if they could find any sign of civilisation, it seemed like Zash had no more information than it was on this planet which was less than reassuring. She could see large thorny trees tangling up into what looked like a pretty dangerous woodland, the mountains stretched up into the sky with a strange red hue. There was a strange green mist that seemed to emanate from the ground layering the planet, the animals they managed to spot seemed dangerous and savage with large sets of teeth. Zash seemed to think what they were looking for wasn’t in the swamp at least not in the heart of it, the swamp itself seemed to stretch for miles although certain sections looked like they had been destroyed. Soon Terri spotted what seemed like at least the ruins of a village either way it was a good place to start.

They made their way out of the ship and were instantly met with the strong stench of the wasteland around them. 

Zash frowned “the vision never mentioned the stench this place gave off” Terri held a hand over her nose she hoped it was just where they landed. They began to make their way towards the huts they had spotted, on the way Terri noticed what looked like half buried skulls littering the ground causing her to nearly trip over a few. As well as this the plants here seemed less developed she had a hunch some fort of conflict took place here

She shuffled up to Zash hoping to look smart “um I think maybe there was a battle here” Zash nodding weirdly smiling

Zash raised her eyebrow “very good Terri I was wondering if you would pick up on it” oh it was a test and she’d passed yay “the bones are a big giveaway showing it wasn’t exactly recent but the general landscape shows signs of conflict, notice the scorch marks in a slashing motion” Terri hadn’t picked upon those was this sith or jedi related?

Terri looked away “do you think that will affect if this power thing is here?” The green mist Terri had noticed earlier was much clearer here and she could clearly see them coming from cracks in the ground, although they did seem to close up as it went down. 

Zash considered Terri’s question “if those who know the secrets are unfortunately deceased then I hope they wrote this stuff down” Zash seemed to half chuckle half be very serious, Terri hoped so too whoever these people were they seemed powerful. “still I have a hunch that’s not the case, you can sense the powerful force energy around us can’t you?” Terri hadn’t really focussed on it but now that Zash mentioned it she could sense it all around her but mostly from below her.

Terri nodded “I can what do you think it is?” Zash gave her a smile as she strode forward

“I imagine it’s something natural in the planets structure or ecosystem that makes the force energy this potent” Terri nodded she had no idea what that meant but it sounded right.

Soon they had arrived at the village or what was left of it, now closer it was clear it was a part of whatever conflict took place here and it had not come out of it well. They split up to check the houses for any clues and Terri decided to start with the biggest house, it was dark in the house seemingly it was once lit by torches but all of them seemed gone now. The shadows seemed to move as she began to look around she was probably just paranoid, after a little bit of searching she found what seemed like pages ripped out a diary in a language she did not understand. She turned to find Zash but before she left she thought she saw a shadow pass the door, Terri spun around looking for the source of the shadow.

She found nothing and assumed she was just seeing things but as she turned she saw a figure in the doorway holding a bow drawn at her. She let out a small scream of surprise as the figure moved towards her in the darkness, her face was covered with a red hood she seemed to be wearing some form of tribal robes. Only her eyes were visible through her hood and they narrowed on Terri, she began to talk in a language unfamiliar to Terri all she could tell about it was that it wasn’t friendly. 

Terri stammered putting her hands up “um don’t worry miss I don’t mean you harm I swear it” the figure frowned before doing a few motions with her hand, as she did green mist swirled around her fingers. 

the figure put the bow back on Terri “that’s better now who are you what are you doing here?!” Terri was bewildered she could suddenly understand her but she was definitely still speaking another language

Terri tried to stay focussed “uh um we don’t mean you any harm we’re just looking for something” the figures eyes narrowed but Terri suddenly saw Zash sneaking up behind her. Zash grabbed her shoulder and shocked the figure who quickly fell to the ground unconscious, Terri jumped back startled “Zash I was talking to them I had it covered” Zash frowned at her with a look of doubt

Zash cocked her head at Terri “she had a bow on you Terri” ok that was fair Terri conceded “did you find anything besides a” she pulled down the hood revealing a rattataki female “rattataki native?” Terri still thought they could’ve gotten information from her but thy still had the pages

Terri passed over the notes “do you read this language?” it seemed whatever thing the rattataki had done had worn off as the words were gibberish.

Zash looked at the pages “I do actually this is Zabraki” Terri’s eyes widened like zabrak? “most of it is nonsense about a farm but it does talk about the ‘witches that come from the edge of the swamp’ they seem to fear them but can’t do anything due to their power, sounds promising” Terri looked at the rattataki maybe she was a witch after all she did some force stuff

Terri considered it “Maybe they don’t understand the force so they think it’s witchcraft?” Zash nodded it seemed likely simple folk had a habit of calling the force witchcraft or magic both of which were absurd

Zash looked to the rattataki “looks like we won’t need to talk to this one then, I know it’s not a concrete lead but it could lead to something without having to talk to an angry native. I’ll go put her somewhere discreet you find the quickest way to the edge of the swamp” Terri nodded she was still curious about the rattataki but avoiding conflict seemed more important

Terri quickly charted a course to the edge of the swamp on her datapad, this was all very bizarre the planet itself gave her the creeps and now witches it’s like she’d walked into a storybook. She wondered how that rattataki had made her understand their language that definitely wasn’t normal force power Terri was curious if she could learn such powers. 

After a short wait Zash came back with a smile on her face “alright that should cover that lets go on a witch hunt” Terri chuckled she did enjoy Zash’s cavalier attitude to all of this it certainly made it a bit less intimidating.

They made their way across the red wastes towards where they could see the jagged trees rise up at the edge of the swamp. Terri imagined some people could find beauty in a landscape unfortunately she wasn’t one of them she just found everything scary and intimidating. Soon they reached the edge of the swamp and could see what looked like an unkempt path towards the cliff with broken torches lining it. They followed it and soon reached a cave which looked like it had been closed up by a rockfall, around the cave there seemed to be some signs of civilisation, some of the stuff around the cave was definitely made by people. Terri could see Zash channeling her anger and quickly the rocks plugging up the cave entrance had been thrown into the swamp water. 

On the other side they could see a faint light at the end of the tunnel Zash smiled “now we’re getting somewhere” Terri followed as Zash strode excitedly into the cave. After a few turns in the tunnel they were met with a stunning large open chamber, pillars of rock jutted up into the ceiling and seemed to have buildings built into them around the chamber but what was most stunning was the luminescent green mist swirling between the platforms of the cave. Terri couldn’t tell if it was a liquid or if it was just very dense mist but it was unlike anything she had ever seen, glowing lights were scattered around the lair it was unclear what was making them work. Terri stood in awe this place was so eerily beautiful but yet there was no sign of people, maybe the conflict stretched here as well, maybe this was why there was conflict.

Zash stood next to her smiling “it’s stunning isn’t it Terri” Terri nodded still unable to move “I think we may have found exactly what I’m looking for” Terri was inclined to agree, she understood why the natives called them witches this was the most witchy thing she had ever seen. Zash began to walk forward to the edge of the platform, she waved her hand through the mist and as she lifted it up she found the mist swirling around her hand. Terri watched as she tried to manipulate it, all she seemed to be able to do it move it in the space not the most useful thing but very pretty. Terri gave a thumbs up to Zash who seemed a little disappointed, Zash began to walk further into the lair there were many pillars but the middle one looked more like where they would do their ‘magic’. They entered the middle pillar and came to a room with a large cauldron sitting in the middle Terri frowned oh no maybe they really were witches.

Zash ran her hand along the cauldron “I think there may be far more going on here than I first realised” Terri had to agree this seemed like a whole society “it’s a shame this society seems to have disappeared apart from maybe a sparse few it dis seem like a waste.They searched the rooms a bit more which had similar ritual circles no broomsticks though much to Terri’s disappointment. Terri felt her attention drawn to the back wall of the pillar she didn’t know why but it just didn’t seem right, she reached out with the force and suddenly she realised that there was a lever on the wall the whole time how could she have missed that.

Zash looked at her as Terri walked up to it “Terri what are you doing” could Zash not see it? 

Terri felt like she had to pull it “there’s a lever here can’t you see it” she grabbed it, it was very stiff and took both hands to pull it down and the wall began to turn

Zash looked at her bewildered “how did you?” she quickly joined Terri on the rotating wall “how did you see that?” she seemed almost jealous

Terri looked away “I uh I dunno i just could” the wall finished turning and they both looked out at the small room. In the middle of the room was a figure cloaked in similar red robes to the rattataki but much more extravagant she was much larger but looked very frail. The green mist from before seemed to swirl around her form her eyes yellow skin wrinkled.

She looked at them her breathing was coarse but her presence still imposing “you saw it because I let you my dear” she walked down the steps to them slowly Terri felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up she was real scary “you seek knowledge and I seek assistance, my name is Mother Ysum and welcome to the Nightsisters Lair”...

[moralhymn]

I noticed that you seem fond of Ardnis. I was wondering if you could describe how you see them coming together and how Ignis would justify being with someone like Ardyn? I'm intrigued, and would love some headcanons/meta on the subject.

hello anon you’ve activated my trap card.

because, good lord, fond is putting it lightly. fond is putting it very, very lightly in truth. ardnis is my serious major ship for ardyn and ignis both and i! i just. i LOVE it. i love it so much. it’s a grand ship and i wish it was more popular but it’s sadly not but oh man OH MAN i wish more people were into it. 

okay but let’s see here. how do i see them coming together? well not very easily for starters. after all, ardyn is very much noctis’s enemy. he’s not quite an enemy to prompto, ignis, and gladio, but they certainly are within their rights to view him as an antagonist. that being said, knowing that ignis is very prone to wanting to know things? i’m pretty sure the fact that ardyn knows so much would always be a huge draw for ignis. like, ignis is a guy who likes to know things. he wants everything to be clear. he wants to understand them. and ardyn is most definitely an enigma wrapped in a riddle wrapped in a mystery. i can see ignis wanting to figure him out as much as he can right from the start. ardyn would probably tease him. he’d probably even indulge him more than once. ardyn’s very much the sort to toss out random bits of information ( that can be positively fact checked and clearly truthful. ) to ignis to keep drawing him in.

the fact that i’m quietly convinced that ardyn is everyone’s type ( more or less. ) probably helps too. 

a lot of in-game interactions between ardyn and ignis also lend me a lot of support for the idea of there being something going on there, a sort of mutual attraction if you will. ardyn goes out of his way to mess with ignis even more than he does with noctis. like, yes, ardyn wants noctis dead. he does torture prompto. but he never really bothers with gladio or prompto or noctis the way he does with ignis. hell, ardyn literally tells ignis he’s envious of noctis for having such loyal people in his life. out of all of them, ardyn reveals more of himself at more points in time to ignis than he does anyone else. now, it’d be easy to see this as ardyn trying to subvert ignis and all that, but that’s not quite how it’s ever read to me. ardyn very literally gives more to ignis than he does anyone else.

add in the fact that talcott is able to tell noctis things when he gets out of angelgard and that you know that neither prompto nor gladio are likely to have gone near insomnia, this leaves one person who would have gone to ardyn to demand answers. it’d be ignis. hell, it was ignis that did that. he plundered the royal tombs to learn about ardyn. he deliberately went out of his way to learn about this man and that was something that none of the others did. it was ignis who took the time to learn ardyn’s secrets and the truth of who he was. that is a major significant thing for someone like ardyn and someone like ignis. i mean, i’m sure ignis learned the truth somehow, but it was to ardyn he went to get it confirmed. and i imagine by that point, ardyn knew what he was doing so he just... told him. he told him and it was probably the first time in so long that he’d ever told anyone the truth of himself. and there’s a big difference between someone learning a secret you have versus telling someone you care about this secret. like, contrast verstael and ignis. verstael learned about it. but ardyn probably told ignis of his own accord and that made it more significant.

so, how did they come together? ( heh heh– okay okay i’ll behave– ) well, honestly, i think it wouldn’t be that hard. ignis is seen as the mother hen of the group. he’s had numerous expectations and responsibilities heaped onto him over the years, since the age of six. people just expect him to have an answer for something or to know what to do in any given situation and very few would ever give him any sort of acknowledgement or praise or anything else for this. so ignis has learned that he has to put the needs of everyone else before his own. he’s learned that others are a priority before himself. hell, i imagine that no one really bothers to ask ignis what it is he wants. what he wants to do. what he believes. and so he’s been dealing with this over and over for so long that he doesn’t expect anyone else to offer a difference in how they treat him.

and yet with ardyn, being ardyn? ardyn would ask him all those things no one else does. it’d definitely shock ignis, i’m sure. hell, he can be his own person without any expectation around ardyn and that’d probably be so liberating for someone like ignis. for someone to see him as himself and his own person? ignis would probably go wild over it and for it. after all, he’s been seen as only a servant for so long, by everyone ( and yes, this includes prompto and gladio, nevermind noctis. ), that i imagine that having the attention of a man as handsome and insufferably charming as ardyn would really get ignis going when all is said and done.

but that’s not all! it’s stated in numerous source materials that ignis is a very caring and maternal person. he’s not the whole soft side of being maternal. he’s very much the fierce protective side of things. for ignis, i don’t think it’d be much of a stretch to find him caring for ardyn very quickly once he realizes that ardyn, for all his behavior, is a very lonely man. add on ardyn telling ignis the truth of himself and it’s very, very easy for me to see them slowly growing into a relationship. and there’s even more! ardyn is a very smart man and he’d definitely push ignis and challenge him. for ardyn, he sees such potential in ignis and gives him a chance to show what he likes to ardyn. for ardyn, ignis is ever going to be amazing and a true force of nature. ardyn would fully recognize ignis’s potential and want to see it bloom in full.

they’re different in personality, yes, but theirs is the sort of difference that somehow clicks between them. they would know how to work against one another and work together at the same time. and the differences would be what truly binds them together. ardyn would challenge ignis but ignis would also challenge ardyn in equal measure. neither of them would be satisfied if the other party backed down and as a result, that wouldn’t work for either of them. besides, i honestly believe that ardyn would appreciate ignis’s bitchier side in all truth. he thinks it’s cute.

as for how ignis would justify it? honestly, i think even with knowing that ardyn is an enemy, he might have half a vague thought of doing it to get close. why not see if he can win ardyn over? but as time goes on, it turns into genuine love and he understands that his own personal feelings and desires won’t change anything. i believe, myself, that ignis would understand by the end of things that this is inevitable. he knows the prophecy, after all, as does ardyn. that’s what makes them a tragically wonderful couple to me. because unless there’s some kind of divine intervention or one branches into a different territory, there’s no happy ending. and i, apparently, am here for this ship being tragic and angsty as hell. that being said, though? i don’t know entirely how ignis would justify it to himself beyond recognizing that ardyn wants him to be himself, that ardyn has no expectations of him, that ardyn merely likes ignis for who he is. and i think that that’s a powerful enough reason to want to be with ardyn all on its own.

like, i love ardnis so much. i feel like ignis is the one person that would get ardyn to reconsider what he’s doing, even a little, but it’d also be a bitter pill for ardyn in its own right. he’s been alone since his mortal life and now, here’s this amazing beautiful young man and it’s at the end of things. ardyn has to cope with the fact that he gets such a short amount of time with ignis. and ignis has to understand that he’s going to be bereft of ardyn by the time it’s all over and that ardyn will end things with noctis one way or another. literally, their story would just be one of sadness. but, man oh man, ardyn allows ignis to get away with so much too. he really truly does.

like i have written before on how ardyn and ignis interact together in the game and it’s just so interesting to me that ardyn goes out of his way to bother ignis the most. it’s also interesting that ignis doesn’t say no when prompto goes “not your type?” to him on their way to altissia. ardyn literally offers ignis things that he doesn’t give to any of the others. ignis in turn shows ardyn that he’s willing to go as far as he does to stop him. and i think that’s just huge for both of them. literally, i believe that ardyn never encountered anyone like ignis before. and i think that had the astrals not been a bunch of complete cockmunchers and had they found some way to save both ardyn and noctis, ardyn and ignis would’ve been that couple that bickers constantly, kicked ass together in fights, and obviously been very, very in love with one another. they also would’ve had five kids and probably three or four cats.

and i just?

i JUS T LOV E THE M S O MUCH–

[shalebridge-cradle]

Be Somebody

It’s Spooky Day.

The ceremonial markings are prepared. The crimson candles cast a dull and sinister light over the chamber, as the stomping and chanting of the hooded figures grows faster. They chant in an old, almost forgotten tongue, begging the forces of all that is foul and unholy for their profane blessing. As the thumping of feet grows faster, as the voices of the cultists grow to a scream, a burst of flame materializes in the center of the circle, burning blindingly bright for only a second, before a horned figure takes its place.

One of the cultists, presumably the leader, speaks. “Candeus! Great Duke of Hell, Seer of Past, Present and Future, Procurer of Treasures Both Carnal and Shining Gold, we have summoned thee!”

The devil pauses to think. No doubt the words from its mouth would form a baleful new verse for its worshippers –

“What.”

The atmosphere of the room, the triumph and anticipation, falters for just a moment. Luckily the hoods hide their identity, and by extension their facial expressions. The leader, to his credit, doesn’t seem fazed.

“We ask you for a boon, O Illustrious Duke! We seek your aid in making our fortune!”

A second stanza. “What the fuck.”

“We call upon your power! Grant your conjurers a precious, glittering boon!”

“What the fuck is going on?” And thus, the prayer was complete. “I’m not Duke! Is-is this some sort of prank? An elaborate attempt at blackmail? Are you seriously asking me for cash?!”

The leader turns to his compatriots, who shrug. “I… yes?”

“You’re a demon,” one of the other cultists pipes up, “you can do that, right?”

“We did the sacrifice and everything,” says another.

“You what?” The demon looks down at the bloody markings on the floor, meant to bind it in place, then behind it. “Oh, shit. Oh. Oh my God. What the – Jesus Christ…”

“I thought I did a pretty good job with the seal,” mutters the leader. The other figures nod or murmur in agreement. One pats him on the back.

The demon slowly turns back, surveying the cult with horror and disgust. “You know what? Fine. Fucking… whatever.” It snaps its fingers. “Bam. You all got a billion dollars in your bank accounts, go build a casino or some shit. I’m leaving.”

“Well, uh, we have to properly unbind you and unsummon you first -”

“Nope. Not doing that. Fuckity-bye, freaks.”

And the demon walks out of both the circle and the chamber, unknowing or uncaring of the panicked cries of ‘it shouldn’t be able to do that’ that follow it.

-

The Sherwood Cemetery has its gates locked. Usually, the council doesn’t bother. However, on Halloween night, they’ve found paying for a cheap lock and chain saves them hundreds in cleaning off graffiti, eggs and other fluids from the grave markers and tombs.

Not that it matters. One kick from a cloven hoof, and the gates swing open in a crash of metal on stone.

“Veronica Sawyer!”

The humanoid figure saunters down the lines of graves. Curved horns protrude from its forehead. A pointed tail lashes from side to side. Its eyes are alight with hellfire, glowing in the darkness of the night.

“It’s time for you to face the music,” the demon continues. “It was your idea for all of us to dress up. It was your idea to buy a pair of devil horns. It was your idea to put them on my head after I repeatedly told you I wasn’t wearing a costume! I remember what you were, and if I’m right, which I usually am, you’re here! Come and see what you’ve done!”

An awful grinding, screeching noise echoes from further away. The demon frowns, and sets off in search of the source.

It’s not hard to find; Sherwood isn’t a big enough town for its cemetery to have many tombs. This one has a door of bronze, turned green by time and neglect. The decorations carved into the stone had also been worn away – the proud lions, once regal and intimidating, were nothing more than vaguely cat-shaped mounds on the sides of the vault.

The door is currently being destroyed. A whimpering emanates from inside the tomb, as gnarled fingers pull at the metal gate. It crumples like cardboard, eventually falling off its hinges as the only moving inhabitant stumbles out.

She’s grey, both with fright and from a lack of a pulse. There’s stitches and sutures everywhere, holding her together, like she’d been the victim of every slasher movie villain ever conceived. Clouded, glassy eyes land on her observer, and she straightens, clearing her throat.

“There are dead bodies in there,” she mumbles, gesturing toward the tomb.

“That’s where they’re supposed to be,” the demon replies, arms crossed. “Speaking of dead people, explain what’s going on or I throw you back in.”

The corpse blinks. “…Heather?”

“No shit, Sherlock. You should know. You’re the one who did this to me.”

“I’m the one who did this to…” Any confusion quickly turns to righteous indignation. “I put a pair of plastic horns on your head. I expected to you to sulk for a while, maybe, definitely not this!”

“Well, if you hadn’t insisted on playing dress-ups -”

“It’s Halloween, Heather! You wear a costume, you get candy, it’s entertainment for all ages! It’s not like I forced Heather to hand-sew that sweet witch outfit! I didn’t pick out Heather’s cat ears against her will!”

“We’re not twelve!” Heather snaps back, “Imagine what everyone would’ve thought if we showed up to the party in costume. It’s childish!”

“It’s fun! I know you know how to have fun, Heather Chandler, and I don’t mean by fucking over someone else. We’re not even eighteen yet. Why do you have to act like every social event is a life-or-death situation?”

Heather is about to reply, when Veronica’s face is suddenly illuminated by light. Any righteousness left on Veronica’s face is once again replaced by a mask of fear.

“Hello, officer,” she croaks.

Heather dares to look over her shoulder. The cop, who looks pale even for someone bathed in moonlight, has one hand on his torch and the other on his holster. He opens his mouth, but all that comes out is a choking noise.

“We apologize for the disturbance,” Heather adds, with just a hint of anxiety. “We were just leaving.”

The cop’s countenance contorts further at the sound of her voice, but he manages to get out, “I feel like you shouldn’t.”

“With all due respect, officer, I think the laws of God are out of your jurisdiction.”

The officer puffs up his chest for a moment, and manages to get out half of the word ‘trespass’ before his confidence quickly fades. His eyes flicker to the corpse, to the demon, to his own gun. After a moment’s thought, he shakes his head.

“Let me…” he swallows. “Let me escort you out, then.”

“I’m happy with that. Well? Lead the way, officer.”

“…You go first.”

-

The door closes gently, and two figures trot down the front steps and onto the sidewalk of a quiet street. The first, not quite four feet tall, brushes down her costume with a reverence that a felt pumpkin outfit does not often receive. Her expression, one of excitement and gratitude, quickly morphs into a pout. The second, much taller and with a short yet carefully coiffed hairdo, bends down to examine the contents of the girl’s matching basket.

“That’s mine,” she whines.

“You heard Mom. I have to check your candy hasn’t been tampered with.”

“That was Mrs. Applegate! She teaches kindergarten!”

“You can never be too careful,” the boy replies.

The girl stomps her feet. “Peterrrr, we’re wasting time! You can check later!”

“I don’t understand why people don’t hand out more chocolate bars. The wrappers are much safer, you can tell if someone’s messed with them. She gave you an apple, honestly, what was she thinking? Do you know how many razors you could stick in there? If she wanted to do something nice, she’d give you some money to donate to a charity of your choice.” he pauses in his rambling, then looks up. “You haven’t complained in almost twenty seconds. What’s wrong?”  

The girl’s face is a perfect mixture of indescribable terror and reverential awe as she points. “Look at their costumes!”

Peter looks up, his gaze following the finger. There’s a zombie and a demon, just visible behind the bushes, strolling along and exchanging quiet, heated words.

Peter frowns, then calls out - “Veronica?”

The zombie’s head snaps up, dead eyes wide as saucers. The demon looks at her, and the smile doesn’t reach her eyes as she disappears into the thicket of foliage.

“It is you,” Peter approaches, one hand holding his sister back, “isn’t it, Veronica?”

“Yep. This is me. In costume. And makeup, lots of makeup.” A pause. “It’s Halloween.”

“Sure is. What are you doing back there?”

“Looking for someone.”

“Ask her about her costume,” the girl whispers in her brother’s ear.

“Yeah, yeah, in a minute. Who are you looking for? The devil girl?”

Veronica scowls. “Well, yeah, it’d be nice if she stuck around…” She takes a deep, steadying breath. “But I’m looking for Heather. Duke. We took separate cars, and we can’t find her. You know of any bonfires, or big lakes, or… uh, lynch mobs close by?”

“...I’m sorry, what was that last part?”

“Ask about her costume!”

“She’s dressed as a witch, just wanna cover all areas,” Veronica says quickly.

“No,” the little girl says, butting her way into the conversation with confidence she shouldn’t have, “we’re talking about your costume. How’d you do it?”

Veronica doesn’t answer immediately. She just stares, thrown off, before she points at her eyes. “Contacts.” Her ragged clothes. “Old hand-me-downs.” Her forearm, apparently sewn on with what appears to be exposed bone. “Prosthetics and makeup.”

“She doesn’t know what the word ‘prosthetic’ means.”

“Uh... Fake stuff? Yeah, that’s probably right. It’s fake, zombies aren’t real.”

This isn’t the answer the little girl was hoping for, if the scowl is any sign. She marches up to the zombie and yanks at her wrist, sticking her face so close her nose is almost touching the skin.

“Mary!”

Peter picks up his sister, much to her displeasure - “I wanna see what to do for next year!” Veronica just stands there, stunned, holding onto her arm like it’ll fall off if she lets go.

“I’m so sorry,” Peter babbles, “I didn’t know she was actually gonna grab you. She didn’t ruin your costume, did she? You said it was makeup.”

“Uh, well, I might need a touch-up. Back to my question-”

“No lynch mobs that I know of, but there’ll probably be a lot of bonfires tonight. Try Remington.”

“...Okay. Thanks.”

Peter gives a sheepish smile, and Veronica watches as he wrangles his screaming sister back to the sidewalk.

When they’re far enough away, the demon reappears, sporting a smug, fang-filled grin.

“Still having a good time?”

“Shut up, Heather. I’d be totally fine with her checking out my costume if it was just a costume.”

Heather crosses her arms, incredulous. “You’d seriously be okay with her putting her snotty little hands all over your outfit?”

“Look,” Veronica huffs, spreading her arms wide -

And the limb the girl had pulled drops, dangling, held onto Veronica’s body by a few loose threads.

“Wow!” Heather exclaims, her voice and her smile now filled with fake enthusiasm, “That’s something I really wanted to see tonight - the inside of my friend’s arm! Halloween sure is fun!”

“...We need to find Heather.”

-There’s a bare patch of grass behind the Chi Zeta Gamma fraternity house. At least, there was grass there at some point in the past - while it made a few pathetic efforts to grow back over the summer, parties and hazing and bonfires pulverized it time and time again. Now, it was packed-in, bone-dry dirt.

And, just for tonight, a pile of wood and leaves, surrounded by hollering, staggering young men.

Two girls stand off to one side, inappropriately dressed for the cooling weather. One’s gaze is hard, cynical, while the other’s eyes were wide, either with surprise or fear. Their attention is focused on the gathering.

“They’ve done a better job than last year,” one says.

The other tears her eyes away. “On what?”

“I guess since the party’s on Halloween, they have to make it different. I remember a couple of them asking me where to buy needles after I refused to make it myself. I mean, I know why they asked, but I dunno where they’re sold. Never needed to.”

“What do you mean?”

“Sewing’s for girls, remember?”

The younger one considers this, then points to the thing propped up on the pyre. “So, they got someone to make that for them?”

“Maybe. Last year it was just a bunch of sackcloth and a dollar store hat. At least now it’s human-shaped.” The older one squints. “...Yeah. I don’t think they made that. Looks too good for a bunch of dude-bros with masculinity so fragile you could break it by talking too loud.”

“Shit.”

Both women whip around, shoulders tense, which does not ease when they see no sign of the speaker.

“Maybe we should go back to the sorority house,” the younger quavers.

“Sisters stick together,” the older replies automatically, but her voice is filling with worry. She pauses to think. “I’ll tell them you’re feeling sick, and that I’m taking you back. Wait for me.”

“Fine... fine.”

The younger is already halfway back to the house before the older manages to make her excuses.

All the leaves and garbage in the general vicinity has been piled on top of the wood, and some of the ample supply of alcohol was poured out in memory of the frat house’s missing members (who weren’t dead, just suspended).

“A torch!” one cries, “It’s a witch-burning, we gotta have a torch!”

To general cheering and whooping, he takes a large enough piece of wood and ties his alcohol-soaked shirt to one end. He grins as he looks up at the fake witch they’d made, clad in a cheap black dress and hat, tied to one particularly large piece of wood. For a moment, there is conflict in his drunken mind - it looked good, but he can’t be proud of his part in that.

“A lighter!”

One bounces off his head, to a mismatched chorus of guffaws, and he laughs along as he picks it up. The little flame is lit, he pulls it closer to his makeshift torch -

Someone grabs onto the back of his head. It isn’t the ruffle of hair he might have expected - the hand does not move, does not let go. It squeezes, just slightly.

The babble of the crowd dies. In the distance, he hears a female voice say “Now what?”

All hell breaks loose around him.

“What the fuuuuuuuuck!”

“No no no no no no no, too spooky!”

“It’s a hand, dude! A hand!”

“Whose hand?” The fraternity member looks this way and that, sees his bros running from him, tripping over each other in their panic, but the pressure on the back of his head remains the same.

One of the few who remained behind screams, “I dunno! It doesn’t have a body!”

The former firelighter takes a moment to process this, then he starts screaming, too, as his friend gets behind him and pulls. There’s a tearing sound, the hand drops, and the few remaining partygoers flee the scene.

After a moment of blessed quiet, out steps a corpse. Her demonic companion follows

“Oh, wow,” Veronica mutters, picking up her detached forearm, placing it under the arm that’s still there, then picking up the hand. “Now I’m disarmed and...” she pauses, contemplating, “...unhanded. They’ve unhanded me, Heather. Do you get it?”

Chandler ignores her, clambering up what would have been a bonfire to examine the figure on top. After a quick patdown, she rips off the dummy’s sackcloth head.

Underneath is a girl, already on the edge of hyperventilating, now staring at her dubious saviour with her eyes almost bulging out of her sockets.

“Hey, Heather.”

The captive gapes wordlessly, before deciding on, “Hey.”

“Now, before you ask, no, I didn’t try to kill you. Nor did Veronica. We don’t know who put you here, actually, if your experience was anything like mine. One minute you’re all laughing at some dumb joke Veronica made, the next there are a bunch of satanists asking me for money.” Silence. “Side note, I may have busted the economy.”

“Okay. There’s a lot to take in, there, but - how are you getting your voice to do that?” Duke asks.

“It just does, now. I blame Veronica.”

Veronica uses her severed hand to wave. Duke makes a strangled noise in response.

Chandler presses on. “The more important thing is you can fix it. You dressed as a witch, and since Veronica can pull down an inch-thick metal door with no problems, you can probably cast a spell and make it so this never happened.”

“Maybe that’s why everything’s falling off now,” Veronica mutters to herself.

“What about Heather? I don’t see her with you.”

“We’ll get to her - wait.” Chandler turns to Veronica. “She was dressed as a cat. Would she be a regular cat, or, like, a cat-person?”

“What, like a furry?”

The demon gives her a glare that would reduce any lesser being to ash. Veronica, no lesser being, just shuffles awkwardly.

Duke gives a long-suffering sigh. “Just... untie me. Please. Get Heather, and I’ll see what I can do.”

-

It’s late. The sun is well below the horizon now, but the lights at the ‘Paws for Thought’ Animal Shelter are still shining on. A large sign is taped to the glass door - No Adoptions Today.

A woman, middle-aged and dumpy, the sort of person who looks like they were born to be that way, totters around the reception. She checks every door, examines every kitschy poster, straightens every decade-old magazine on every end table. She nods, satisfied with a job that didn’t need to be done, and takes out her keyring, so full of keys that it could be used as some sort of weapon.

Then, she stops. She seizes, as if her whole body were flinching.

“Ugh,” she says, “this is - I don’t like this.”

She snaps the lock on the front door, sticking her head out.

“Coast is clear. C’mon.”

Two young women enter, exposed under the sterile, flourescent lights. One is dressed in sackcloth, the other has an arm sewn on with some sort of twine.

“I remember this place,” Veronica says, “this is where I got JFK. Geez, still smells the same as it used to.”

“Why did you name your cat after a dead president, anyway?” Duke inquires.

“I didn’t. It stands for Jumpy Furry Kitty. I was seven when I got him, so I wasn’t too great with names.”

“That’s... kinda sweet.”

“That’s not the cat we’re here for,” says the woman, in a harsher tone than she’s probably ever used in her life. “I have about the same amount of keys as the jailors at San Quentin must have. Help me figure out which one opens the door. I don’t wanna be wearing this hag like a skin-suit any longer than I have to.”

“Don’t call her a hag,” chides Veronica, “she’s probably doing her best.”

“I’m a demon, Veronica. I don’t have to be nice.”

It takes them a good five minutes to find which of them opens the door. The woman fumbles for the light switch, and with the buzz of the lights comes a rising chorus of meows.

“We’re looking for a blonde cat,” the woman says, “or a black one. Or a blonde one with black ears. Or, we’re looking in the wrong place entirely, and Heather’s lost in an alley somewhere.”

“Or she’s a furry.”

“NO.”

“I’m a witch,” Duke offers. “Maybe I can... fortune-tell my way into finding the right one.”

Veronica grins. “You’re a witch - does this mean Heather’s your familiar?”

Duke blushes. The woman currently possessed by Chandler snorts.

“I mean, that wasn’t the idea when we - never mind.” Duke straightens, speaks as if she were giving a speech. “If you’re Heather McNamara, can you meow for me?”

The meowing had never ceased.

“Stick your right front paw out of the cage if you’re Heather McNamara,” Veronica calls over the caterwauling.

There are already a number of cats doing just that, hoping to gain some food or attention. Some are angling for both.

“This isn’t gonna work,” Chandler grumbles through someone else’s voice, “just to your little ritual thing here, Heather. If one of these cats is Heather, we’ll find out.”

Veronica’s brow creases. “These cages are tiny. What happens if she’s in one, and she becomes a person again? She’d be crushed.”

“Okay. Let out all the cats. See how that goes for you. You know cats eat corpses like you, right?”

“Hello, Heather!”

All three intruders freeze. The voice is from behind them, and their eyes say they recognize it.

“Hey, Heather,” Duke quavers.

“I saw you going in,” McNamara says from behind them, “you were looking for me, right?”

“Well, of course. We were worried about you.”

“Been a weird night, huh? Like, we were laughing about how much Heather’s devil horns fit her, then I’m in an alleyway.”

“That sounds about right,” Chandler croaks.

“Anyway, I’m fine. I’ve had a lot of fun. Kids love me, they keep petting me when they see me.”

Veronica finally speaks up. “Heather?”

“Hmm?”

“How many legs are you standing on right now?”

“Two, of course. Why?”

The other three share a look, and once again Chandler is trying to kill Veronica with her eyes. Veronica, taking this as a sign, turns.

There’s a regular-sized cat behind them, standing on its hind legs like a meerkat. It blinks up at them with big yellow eyes.

“I can’t decide whether or not this is worse,” says Veronica.

-

A big stone slab stands before the four. A long time ago, the indents and worn-down carvings might have meant something - now they were given use again.

A chalk circle has been drawn, gibberish markings adorning its edges. In the center, there are four small candles, pink and blue, the sort you’d see on a birthday cake and not for use in some dark ritual.

Witches make do.

Duke admires her handiwork, then turns to her friends. “Who wants to start the chant?”

No answer. Chandler idly scratches McNamara’s head.

“None of us know the words,” Veronica volunteers.

“I don’t know them, either. Let me try - what was the Latin? Quaeso ut mihi: in domum suam.”

“Sounds ominous,” Chandler hums, “let’s do it. Heather. Veronica.”

A chant starts up. McNamara trips over her own tongue, but manages to bluff her way along.

A wind begins to blow. Barely a breeze at first, it builds as the girls raise their voices to compete. The flames on the candles change in a whirl of color - red, blue, green, yellow - almost horizontal in the gale forming around them.

Chandler pauses, then checks behind her. through the dust and leaves, she sees figures.

Hooded.

“Contain the Duke!”

“Ah, fuck.”

While Duke and McNamara keep chanting, Duke out of commitment and McNamara from ignorance, more faces end up appearing around their circle - two officers in uniform, a bunch of young men, the plump woman with her ring of keys and a face full of fear. Some try to reach them, but their bodies are tossed back by the wall of force.

“Keep going,” Veronica urges. Chandler pauses, then starts up her chant again.

“Get the zombie! I know that hand!”

“You’re under arrest for trespass and the destruction of public property, come quietly-”

“No, we gotta beat up the zombie first. It ruined our party!”

“Gentlemen, this is a police matter-”

“No one can know what we’ve done - Father Ripper can’t know about this!”

“What did you do?”

“We had a good time -”

“Officer, I’ve been possessed, how do I file charges against -”

The wind ceases. The four are gone, and those that followed are left, empty-handed, in the middle of a forest.

-

10:49.

Chandler stares at the clock, as if willing it to be wrong. No-one else is with her; there’s nothing but the plastic headband and the difference in time to tell her that anything at all happened.

Duke looks down at her costume, exquisitely hand-sewn, sequined and untouched after tonight’s events. She hangs it up in her closet - maybe Heather will let her wear it next year.

McNamara makes use of her newly-restored opposable thumbs to ring as many people as she could. She had an amazing night, and everyone needs to know about it.

Veronica checks her pulse, her limbs, her face in the mirror. JFK saunters in, she scratches her old friend under the chin.

Martha Dunnstock sleeps peacefully, the leather-bound book resting on her bedside table.

It was a fun idea for Halloween. A shame spells weren’t real.

[mochatakes]

Hanebado Ep. 3 Review: She Was Perfect

     Hanebado! has hit its 3-episode mark - the big make-or-break point for many anime watchers - and successfully managed to establish itself as a solid character-focused sports drama with soaring highs to combat its unfortunate lows. With this new entry in the series, Nagisa's 2-episode intro comes to feel more like a prequel arc than a main plot line. Her conflict with the club and self-loathing was wrapped up in a loose bow, and now she takes a step back from the spotlight to make way for our other troubled girl, Ayano.

    Her episode comes to a similarly optimistic ending, but in contrast to Nagisa, she still has multiple plot threads that can be further explored. From what I gather, she was the focus of the source material from the very beginning, taking center stage in all the promo art, so it only makes sense she has the most substance in the future.

    And what...interesting substance it is. Ayano's remarkable talent for Badminton seemingly runs in in the family, since her mom was the 10-TIME Japanese national champ. She's also a huuuuge asshole. I'm sure we don't know the full reason why she abandoned her only daughter, but it better be pretty damn important. This episode is full of absurdly rough characters, including *insert horns* Kaoruko. Just seeing her on screen with the other girls feels weird in itself, but she even has a mascot and shojo filters on standby. Her connection to Ayano is presented in what wants to be a hard-hitting flashback but feels so bizarre I wasn't sure whether or not to laugh. Kaoruko is the weirdest little psychopath but I'm kinda glad she exists, just for the fun of it. While the transformative effort of the staff to take this series' beginning from comedy to drama is surely commendable, the roots continue to show through.

    It's easy to understand why Ayano would be so averse to playing Badminton again after being completely rejected by her mother. We see her childhood in rose color, playing day after day, and I can imagine the sport brings back a lot of trauma. That makes the teams forcefulness in getting her to join the club a bit difficult to get behind. Most of this effort is presented through the childhood friend Elena, the supportive Riko to Ayano's Nagisa, who alone witnessed Ayano change to her current downtrodden self. It's understandable she'd want to recreate that childhood love for her, though I don't think Badminton was the only way to do it. Surely Ayano could find another hobby to get into, one without all the bad associations; Nagisa brought up that "forcing her won't do anyone any good" so I'm glad the show is self-aware at how hard everyone's been on her, no matter how well meaning.  

    In the first episode, I had the impression that Ayano was the submissive, aimless girl just following the more adjusted Elena around, but this week gave me a surprise. Elena claims she cared so much about Ayano’s passion because of her envy; it’s not uncommon for people to exist without finding something to commit themselves to completely, rather than bring down those with more passion, like the girl from last episode, she chose to wholeheartedly support the happiness it gave her friend. Sweet as that is, it’s also kind of depressing. I want her to find something to love all her own, and maybe being a manager is that for now.

    Despite my grievances, when Hanebado! hits, it hits it out of the park. The getting there was rough, but the ending scene brought all the pieces together for a cathartic victory.   The decision to have so many interactions this episode set in that (adorable) octopus park was lovely, if on the nose, recalling the nostalgia of childhood innocence in a bittersweet way. Ayano comes back to the park to be alone after quitting, same as she did years ago, and it’s a fitting stage to reignite her old feelings of excitement. Nagisa's encouragement of Ayano felt natural and refreshing, honestly admitting her desire to beat her one day, so long as Ayano wants to play. In a nice touch, they create a makeshift court in the park, reminiscent of something my friends and I would do as children. The shot of mid-match Ayano springing into her child self from a flare of light was brilliant, seemingly straight out of Elena’s memory almost convinced me to forgive my earlier issues. She makes a decision for herself in the end; choosing to submit her application was a great way to bring this 3 episode journey to an encompassing conclusion.

…Saying that makes it sound like I just watched a season finale, and I guess that speaks to just how high the dramatic stakes have been thus far.   Honestly, I don’t think it’d be entirely unsatisfying to watch these 3 episodes and be done with it. The characters are all on positive paths for the future, but I’d prefer to stick around to see how the series fairs when focused on the sport and matches themselves. These series have a reputation for lengthily explaining their respective sports’ rules and conveying what makes them so unique and loved, but I haven’t quite gotten that yet with this one.

    Ultimately, I think we've finished the "build-up" chapters to have a solid foundation to move forward on. Unlike your Haikyuus and  Kurokos, there's no clear end-all goal – unless you count Coach's boast about creating an Olympic athlete- so I'm a bit unsure on where it wants to go. Maybe it'll stick with the character-heavy ruminations on passion and commitment, cycling through our current cast, or turn tail to a tournament arc. Even better, it could do both.

3.5/5

Watch on Crunchyroll      

[that-curly-haired-lesbian]

Analyze love story from a queer view?

Hianon!

Surething, one analysis of Love Story comingright up!

Before we startlooking at the lyrics though,we need to talk about Shakespeare real quick, everyone knows who that is,right? Writer dude that was kind of a big deal in the 1500’s (and interestinglyhad quite a few gay rumors surrounding him.) Anyway old Billy wrote this famousplay called Romeo & Juliet and it’salmost impossible to talk about Taylor Swift’s Love Story without constantly referring to this play so lemme breakdown the plot.

These two kids (she’s14 he’s 17, creepy right?) meet at a ball that Juliet’s family is throwing.

Juliet doesn’t knowwho Romeo is when she first meets him at the ball, but later (when he comes toher bedroom window and gets her attention by throwing pebbles at said window) shefinds out that he’s a Montague. A member of the family that’s having agenerations-long feud with Juliet’s family thus making it difficult for them tobe together even though they’re very in love.

Oh and also, whilethe goal of these analyses isn’t to tell you who a certain song of Taylor’s is orisn’t about I cannot quite help but attribute Love Story to Emily Poe. You know, Taylor’s first semi-publicgirlfriend? The girl who played the violin for Taylor in her early career onlyto then be fired on vague grounds somehow connected to the “negative influence”she was supposedly having on Taylor’s image.

This song is on thesame album as Breathe a song withmore than a few queer elements that Taylor has all but publicly stated waswritten for Emily. (Here’s a Taymily master post by @karlieskupkake for anyonewho’s interested)

Anyway, I just wantedto point that out since I may mention Taymily in the analysis. As always though,any interpretation of the song I offer below is nothing but my own speculationand I’m obviously not claiming it to be fact.

Okay now let’s lookat Taylor’s song, one of her most popular ones in fact. On the surface we havea song that’s using references to one of the world’s most famous hetero lovestories to tell its own hetero love story, fairly unoriginal really. But if wedig a little deeper we have a queer retelling of Romeo & Juliet with SPOILER ALERT: a happy ending! Pretty cool,right?

Lyrics cred onceagain goes to AZLyrics, this time with no edits from me.

–

We were both young when I first saw you.

I close my eyes and the flashback starts:

I’m standing there on a balcony in summer air.

–

These opening lines almost immediately lay out the Romeo & Juliet narrative by invokingimages of a girl on a balcony which is a clear reference to the source materialas her balcony is the first place Juliet has a proper conversation with herlove interest Romeo in Shakespeare’s play. Romeo and Juliet are also bothindeed very young when the events of the play unfolds, but the fact that Taylorthinks back on the events in her own life (the “flashback” part) that she’schosen to explore with the help of Romeo& Juliet suggests one key difference between Shakespeare’s story andthe story Taylor is telling. Unlike Romeo (the character I’d argue she plays inthis narrative, despite what she tries to tell us) she’s alive to think back onher time spent with “Juliet.”  

–

See the lights, see the party, the ball gowns.

See you make your way through the crowd

And say, “Hello.”

Little did I know…

That you were Romeo, you were throwing pebbles

–

So, like I said, Tay- I mean Romeo is thinking back onher time spent with Emi- I mean Juliet. Just like the characters in the play it’splainly stated that the lovers from the song met at a ball and had a briefinteraction there, not knowing what they’d later come to mean to each other.

I think the party part (no pun intended) is mostlythere to keep the references to the play going, it’s probably not suggestingthat Taylor and her girlfriend met at an actual ball, but perhaps they also metfor the first time briefly and in a formal setting and a room full of people,not knowing they’d come to be important to each other in a personal way?

–

And my daddy said, “Stay away from Juliet.”

And I was crying on the staircase

Begging you, “Please don’t go.”

–

If we’re to believe the hetero narrative the song istrying to put forth Taylor is playing the role of Juliet and her MALE loveinterest is Romeo, right? Well, in these lines she tries to point this out tous as to #NoHomo-proof the song. She’s now explicitly stating thather lover is Romeo and then she implies that her father tells Romeo to leaveand stay the hell away from his daughter.

However these lines always struck me as a little weird…It’salmost as if Taylor’s dad is telling HER to stay away from Juliet, don’t youthink?

It’s unspecified who the dad is talking to when hesays to stay away from Juliet and then Taylor is immediately telling us what she’s doing, not what the male love isdoing. As if those words are directed at her,not him. She’s only saying she was upset by them, but not specifying how theyimpacted the male who they were supposedly spoken to.

Additionally, when she begs the love interest not togo Taylor’s doing what she usually does, despite having just told us that thelove interest is Romeo she’s now having them be gender neutral, not calling him“him” she’s done #NoHomo-proofing for now.

So to summarize,with our queer googles on the scene Taylor is painting looks something likethis: Taylor is told by her “father,” or perhaps more likely, label or managementthat she can no longer see her girlfriend. This upsets Taylor and reduces herto tears as she begs “Juliet” not to leave her.

–

And I said…Romeo, take me somewhere we can be alone.

I’ll be waiting; all that’s left to do is run.

You’ll be the prince and I’ll be the princess,

It’s a love story, baby, just say “Yes”.

–

After that daring little “you” in place of “him”Taylor takes us to the chorus by once again reminding us that the other person inthis story is a BOY named ROMEO. Just in case we got confused by all thatgender-neutrality and started wondering which lover is playing which part.

Anyway, after once again shouting “NO, HOMO, GUYS!!”At us Taylor is saying she’d very much like to be alone with her love so thatthey can have a private and perfect love story. She’s suggesting they run awaytogether and begging for her girl to say yes to the idea (Call It What You Want, anyone?)

She also throws in some more#NoHomo for good measure, this time by referring to herself as a princess andto her BOYFRIEND as a prince.

Remember in my analysisof Angelina when I said Taylor was using “princess” as a metaphor fora heterosexual girl? Yeah, she’s doing that again, but this time she’s describingherself as the “typical princess” that in Angelinashe said she’d never be. 🤔

–

So I sneak out to the garden to see you.

We keep quiet ‘cause we’re dead if they knew

So close your eyes,

Escape this town for a little while.

–

Here Taylor’s talking about a secret relationship andhaving to hide the love, wishing they could just be far away from where theyare so that they could love openly, pretty queer, right? Interestingly a famousquote from Taylor about Love Story statesthat while she choose to tell the story by relating it to Romeo & Juliet she relates more to the song as being about “alove that you cannot really elaborate on — a love that maybe society wouldn’taccept or maybe your friends wouldn’t accept.“ (x) Once again, pretty damnqueer!

–

‘Cause you were Romeo, I was a scarlet letter,

And my daddy said, “Stay away from Juliet.”

But you were everything to me,

I was begging you, “Please don’t go.”

–

Something interesting happens here, Taylor refers toherself (or perhaps her girlfriend, if we’re sticking with the idea that Taylorherself is Romeo) as a “scarlet letter” this is another literary reference asit alludes to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel TheScarlet Letter from 1850. In the novel this girl Hester falls in love withthis dude named Dimmesdale and they have a kid together out of wedlock which wasa big no-no in those days. To make everyone aware of Hester’s “crime” she hasto wear the letter A in bold scarlet on her chest at all times. Many litprofessors and such agree that the letter in the context of the novel symbolizessin. (Ha, I KNEW that lit degree I’m in the process of getting would be goodfor something!)

Many homophobes consider homosexuality a sin and so I thinkthat line is simply Taylor warning everyone involved that if she and hergirlfriend were to publicly date it’d be societal suicide. In the sense that alot of society would look at them as “sinners” or mark them as odd or out ofthe norm, just as if they were wearing a giant red A on them at all times, they’llalways stand out and society would always be aware of it.  

She may also be talking about how being in a publicrelationship with another girl would “mark” her a “gay artist” and limit hercareer, as if she was wearing a giant L for lesbian everywhere she went. To stop this from happening “daddy” (or Taylor’s management/label) isstepping in to stop the girls from going down the path of being publiclytogether. 

With the you were everything tome, I was begging you please don’t go-line though Taylor is, at least for amoment suggesting she doesn’t care about the consequences of being with hergirlfriend, professional OR personal ones, the girl is worth it all.

–

(Chorus)

–

Romeo, save me. They’re trying to tell me how to feel.

This love is difficult but it’s real.

Don’t be afraid, we’ll make it out of this mess.

It’s a love story, baby, just say “Yes”.

–

Interesting fact: the original lyrics here was allegedly“This love is DIFFERENT, but it’s real” 🌈🌈🌈  

Anyway, with these lines Ibelieve that Taylor is trying to reassure her love that while management orother various outside forces are trying to tell them how to feel (aka “don’t begay, it’s bad” again, teaching children internalized homophobia is fun, right? 🤢) or advising them to break up for the benefit of Taylor’scareer etc. that’s not what she wants and she wants them to fight for theirlove and she’s encouraging “Juliet” to agree that they’ll try to stick togetherthroughout all of this, closeted if they have to.

–

I got tired of waiting

Wondering if you were ever coming around.

My faith in you was fading

–

This is the part of Romeo & Juliet where Juliet is waiting for Romeo to sneak backto see her so that they can work out an escape plan and be together far awayfrom their feuding families, but she’s starting to fear he won’t actually showup. If we assume this song is about Taymily this is where their story would’ve ended,right? Emily is fired and they give in to the pressure from management and breakthe relationship off never to associate with each other ever again…Meanwhile inthe play Romeo and Juliet both die, everything is super upsetting, but THEN…

–

When I met you on the outskirts of town.

And I said…Romeo, save me. I’ve been feeling so alone.

I keep waiting for you, but you never come.

Is this in my head? I don’t know what to think.

He knelt to the ground and pulled out a ring andsaid…

–

Taylor decides to go against both the canon of theplay and her own reality by giving the star-crossed lovers a happy ending. It’seven implied that perhaps this last part is imagined (is this in my head? I don’t know what to think) but regardless,just when she’s given up hope Taylor is reunited with her lover and proceeds to tell “Juliet” all about how lonely her “Romeo” has been without her, Then suddenlyshe decides to use a pronoun for her love interest for the first time in thesong and of course it’s a “him” and now “he’s” proposing. This is (almost) Taylor’slast desperate attempt to #NoHomo-proof this queer af song.

–

Marry me, Juliet, you’ll never have to be alone.

I love you, and that’s all I really know.

I talked to your dad – go pick out a white dress

It’s a love story, baby, just say “Yes”.

–

Hi, thanks for sticking with me so far and um, welcometo the best part of the song! You see, it turns out Taylor was #NoHomo:ing like crazy in this song for a REASON. In what is perhaps her gayest lyrics ever to date Taylor finally fully steps into her rightfulrole as Romeo and proposes to her Juliet. This isn’t the first time Taylor hasstepped into the shoes of “the guy” in her songs in order to sing about a girlin a #NoHomo way. (She does this in Mine andOur Song among others) Taylor istelling Juliet that she loves her and that none of them should have to bealone, that they’ll figure out the rest as they go along. She then continuesthe proposal by stating she’s talked to Juliet’s dad (#NoHomo) or as we’vechosen to look at it management/the label and managed to convince theseopposing forces that the lovers should indeed be allowed to be together. With the white dress line Taylor is begging “Juliet”to take her back and say yes to being together once more so that their lovestory can get the ending it deserves.

–

Thanks for gettingall the way to the end! This song was considerably longer and more complex thanAngelina, but I hope you all enjoyedthe read and if you want me to look at another one of Taylor’s songs from aqueer perspective, don’t hesitate to send me an ask! 😊