#i wanna animate a clip to prove my point

[stephofromcabin12]

Busy with comms and stuff BUT if you’re starved for cabin 12 vibes: Go ahead and look up Brooke & Connor Make a Podcast on tiktok for me now, and just watch their podcast clips — literally what I imagine overhearing cabin 12’s dinner conversations to be like lmao

[tater-tot-jr]

I think I should put in my two cents considering the Hazbin hotel leaked Angel Dust clip. I’ll say that this post should be one absolutely massive trigger warning. If you’re sensitive please don’t read this, I’m pretty blunt. Also I’m only talking about a small leak but SPOILERS!!!

So before I make any points I’ll start by saying that I’m not an inherent fan of vivziepop, this isn’t meat riding, it’s a genuine attempt at open conversation and discussion. I’ll also say I’m a survivor myself and while I don’t claim to speak for anyone else I have some ground to stand on here. I completely understand that people can be triggered by this type of imagery and will at least skip this particular scene or episode, I promise I’m not talking about you guys.

You wanna know who I am talking about though? The weird ass moral police I’ve been watching mobilize. It’s crazy how people are making a big deal out of this. I’ve seen three arguments and all of them are terrible in themselves and being used to justify terrible behavior.

I’ve only seen people claim three major things, this is a bad depiction of a s/a survivor and situation, this is something that’s too graphic and immoral to put in a TV show, the fact that the singing and dancing lightens the tone in a way people find distasteful. I’m going to be trying to prove why I find these arguments mostly ridiculous and unfounded.

As for argument one, s/a survivors come in all shapes and sizes and hyper sexuality happens to be an incredibly common reaction to sexual trauma. I haven’t watched episode one and two but even if I had I’d still have too small of a sample size to determine the entire tone of an incredibly messed up complex dynamic between too incredibly interesting and layered characters. It’s ridiculous to have so many assumptions and expectations of an *11 second leaked clip.*

Secondly. Creative freedom is possible the most important thing in art. If we didn’t have the freedom to put what we wanted on paper or on screen then we wouldn’t have had so much societal change recently. Just because you might find something distasteful and immoral doesn’t mean it absolutely has to be hated on and removed. It’s okay to not like things because you find them gross, it’s okay to not enjoy graphic depictions of serious subjects, it’s not okay to start internet wars over moral bullshit. It’s okay to be mad in silence sometimes, guys.

Thirdly. I kinda get this one, I don’t agree with it but I do understand the point. The idea you don’t want a serious subject framed with a sexy pop song is not inherently bad, it’s just something that makes me think you wouldn’t have liked Hazbin Hotel anyway. I actually appreciate the fact they are using the creative medium to make bold and shocking decisions but I get some people are sensitive to new things, that’s fine. Where this argument gets ridiculous is when people act like this is very out of line for a show like this. This isn’t a Saturday morning kids cartoon it’s and adult animated show about people in hell. It’s highly likely that this won’t be the worst thing we see, you either need to heed the trigger warnings at the beginning of each episode or get over it.

You’ll notice that I didn’t bring up anything about the merchandise pins or the storyboard artist, I did this because they aren’t arguments but barely related attempts at character assassinations. When you spend five minutes thinking about them critically you come to realize that there is nothing substantial to those arguments.

I’d like to finish up talking about how I think this scene is doing more good than harm. It’s important to make people uncomfortable when you’re talking about things so horrible like s/a and rape. It shouldn’t be meek and palatable for a general audience, it should upset you. I remember hearing something in a video game once that stuck with me. There was a character who said that when you’re sick you need strong medicine and that the strongest medication is very bitter.

I think episode four will be some very bitter medicine.

[immoralimmortals]

Things I've written about the Akatsuki that i think are funny out of context, because I think I'm funny and love microdosing on stroking my own ego

(this is a third person reader x akatsuki fic I swear to god, please believe me it's ROMANTIC, I don't just make them look stupid, I PROMISE I SWEAR ON MY LIFE--)

☆ Hidan wrote a book by ripping pages out of an already existing one, putting in his own that he wrote in blood (origin unknown) and not even attempting to glue them to the blinding.

☆ Kakuzu being forced to say the word "duckling" with such great disdain he may throw up.

☆ Literally just anything about the fact that Kakuzu became a talent agent on his own free will

☆ Hidan thinking that Kakuzu being your talent agent is-- in a very literal sense-- a fate worse than death

☆ “Doesn’t matter. Physical agony fortifies the soul. Whatever.” (about accidentally letting the performer starve)

☆ "She’d be lying if in some way this wasn’t her dreams come true. ...Minus the serial killers, or whatever they are. They won’t really tell her. But she can make that work!"

☆ 1) You’re a failure of society.

2) You’re a kidnapping victim.

3) You’re in a cult.

4) You’re a one-man band with a manager AND you’re in a cult.

☆ Zetsu scaring people on purpose, then Zetsu being flabbergasted and insulted as he scares people by accident!

☆ The performer thinking Kisame is Itachi and Itachi is Kisame. Because of course the big scary shark man is the evilest here, right? (Holding Itachi's hand like la dee da! Boy sure am glad I'm not with the scary clan killer!)

☆ The above being ZETSU'S FAULT on PURPOSE

☆ "Were Hidan and Kakuzu really that mean to other people…? Grumpy, yeah— also yeah okay they were killers or whatever— but they didn’t start any fights! Yet!"

☆ Kisame thinking YouTube is shit from description alone

☆ "The raven shakes his head, despite how helpfully Hidan gestures in a shoving motion, demonstrating the direction in which he should move his ass."

☆ Tobi jumpscare (ALSO ZETSU'S FAULT)

☆ Directly taking inspiration of how Tobi gets punched by Hidan from this Smiling Friends clip

☆ Hidan being allergic to cleanliness

☆ Hidan spending his entire month-long stipend on useless animal figurines he did not want that may or may not be cursed

☆ “Did Takara-chan get the kitty statue?”

A thud sounds beside her chair, a sack cloth with the weight of a whole baby hitting the floor. “Yup. You could say that.”

☆ Kakuzu's type is people that surprise him even after being alive for so long. Therefore, apparently, he's attracted to fucking idiots.

☆ Kakuzu getting told someone tried to kill themselves over being in debt and his first reaction is "wow that's a LOT of money" instead of anything about the killing yourself or whatever

☆ Zetsu LYING BY OMISSION AGAIN BECAUSE THAT'S HIS FAVORITE HOBBY

☆ “Guess it’s a good thing you don’t wanna hurt yourself or whatever.” said in disappointment

☆ “Tell the chemicals to stop.”

☆ Deidara giving a powerpoint on why he's the best and Pain being like *nodding, nodding* (has no faith in him whatsoever)

☆ Long suffering Sasori having a point proven to him that does not need proving (that Deidara is the best)

☆ Getting attached to a clay mouse Deidara made only for it to commit suicide (all according to plan! Isn't he dreamy ;) )

...And more to come!

[clown-cult]

Rlly? You wanna say no to SessRin but you stan Naraku, the most cishet character in the show???

Okay so we’re doing this cuz I’ve got some tea to get off my chest. Buckle up cuz this is gonna be a long one.

First of all, why must you people insist on continuing to try and draw lines between the queer community and sus shit? Stop that.

Secondly, this fandom like to headcanon that everyone has “x romantic identity”, “y sexual identity” and “z gender identity” which is fine. It’s great. Keep it up cuz we need more of this energy. But…people always feel the need to add on that Naraku is the token straight person or the only cishet one in the cast while the rest are queer as the day as long; gay, bi, trans, GNC, NB, the whole lot…as if Naraku isn’t the only character who has canonically done ANY of that.

Like lest we forget that the whole reason 3 out of 5 members of the InuGang alone got their lives fucked up can be tied be to Naraku’s shapeshifting. He can and has been both male and female and seduced other men (Miroku’s grandfather) while disguised as a woman.

Like I’m not even just trying to prove my headcanons here or be a villain apologist; Naraku is deadass canonly gender fluid and has had rendezvous with people of the same gender as whatever he was at the time because of his shapeshifting. It’s genuinely mind blowing that there’s still people going “hmmmmmmm I’m not sure if that’s what really happened??? I don’t remember any of that 🤷” like it’s some fan theory up for discussion.

I went and got manga and AND anime caps just to make my point bc I know every point anyone has in this fandom will spark the need to bring up comparisons. They both agree on this. Naraku has been a lot of people and one of those people was a beautiful woman who nearly got tapped by Miroku’s grandfather.

I also included some clips from the anime of Naraku wearing other forms, particularly female ones, yet still retaining a masculine voice because it is PEAK gender envy/admiration for me. Yes, I chose English Dub bc Paul Dobson served.

But yeah. My point is; characters like Naraku and Jakotsu always get the short end of the stick in this fandom even through they’re as close to canon queer rep as we’re going to get, and given the premise of Ranma, another of Rumiko Takahashi’s well known works, it’s pretty obvious that this blurring of gender roles and conformity is something she likes writing so it’s absolutely intentional that it’s present and can be interpreted so plainly.

Also I swear to god if even one person tries to pull the “villains can’t be LGBTQ+/only heroic characters can be LGBTQ+” card, I will commit arson.

[another-fantasy-world]

The Idol’s Inspiration

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆　　 ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆      ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆　　 ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

Title: The Idol’s Inspiration

Pairing: Valkyrae || Rachell x Fem! Reader

Summary: In which the international singer find’s her inspiration in a certain brown eyed-often screaming- streamer

Warnings: None? Fluff. Awkward Crushing. Top Rae? (Oh Gosh)

Word Count: 2,905 Words

@short-kid27​ helped me with this one. Go check her out she’s actually great

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆　　 ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆      ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆　　 ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

-

You scoffed when you saw what your bandmate tweeted out, tweeting as if he wasn’t using his phone either. Deciding to throw something at him, you spot a plastic perfume bottle, reaching out for it, only for Luna, your other bandmate to slap your hands of her perfume bottle.

“Don’t you dare.” She playfully glares before turning back to her original position, with her hair stylist tending to her long reddish-brown hair.

“Sebastian, you are so lucky you’re on the other side of the room right now or I swear to God, you would have a concussion.” You frowned, before turning back to your phone, further proving Sebastian’s point.

“See?! What are you even doing?” He loudly asks, you barely hearing him from the noise of blowdryers.

“Writing.” You answered, annoyed. It wasn’t a lie tho, You were now writing a new song, since your management once again are rushing you to write at least 12 songs for your new album.

“We wrote 3 songs yesterday. Calm down.” Your bassist, Luna reassured you, who just finished her glams.

“We’re supposed to be finished with this by the end of the month. How am I supposed to calm down?” You complained.

Ever since your band, Coldify, got enough attention, your management barely gave you enough time to just breathe and write like you used to, How were you supposed to produce quality music?

“Choco Milk?” Jace, your drummer offers you his second cup

“No thank you. Hot sweet things stress my throat. Maybe later though.” You stood up, thanking your stylists, before changing into your casual clothes, since you would be doing a Q and A session first as a soundcheck and also for extra fan service before the concert proper.

Once you finished changing, you walked out of your dressing room, only to find that your bandmates are now all set up, all except you.

Jace is fiddling with his drum sticks

Luna is tuning her bass guitar

And Sebastian is playing a random tune on his electric guitar.

You rolled your eyes at them, before slinging your own acoustic guitar over your shoulder, the familiar weight and pressure of it’s strap makes you smile.

“Are we ready guys? We can start now, there’s only 5 minutes left.” You asked them, plugging in your “in-ears”

They all nodded at you and you guys started to do your signature intro, you playing a few notes on your acoustic, followed by Sebastian and Luna, then you all run out, hearing the screams of your fans intensify, before Jace started banging on his drums, ending your intro with all of you guys harmonizing your band name and lifting your right arms up, showing the compass tattooed into the insides of your wrists, symbolizing your band and the friendship that will never grow old.

“What is up LA!?” You loudly said into the mic, chuckling when they screamed louder than your own mic.

“Well, we certainly need to up the mic volume later.” Luna giggled, sitting on one of the chairs positioned in the middle of the stage.

“Mhhmmn. Let’s all calm down first yes? You guys save your energy for later.” Sebastian winked into the crowd, also sitting on one of the chairs, with his mic in his hand.

“Great, great. We’re all settled in, Please sit down and let’s start this 1 and a half hour Q and A? Soundcheck? Fan service? Whatever you want to call this whole shebang.” You joked, thanking the staff that gave you your own water bottle.

“You know the drill, if you don’t that’s fine. My name is Luna and I am the one who plays the amazing silver-gray bass back there.” Luna introduces herself

“That amazing silver-gray bass that you would marry someday. I swear you are inlove with that thing.” Sebastian teased, earning him a loud smack to the shoulder.

“That is animal abuse. Stop it.” You hold in your laugh, but bursted out laughing anyways when you saw the appalled look on his face.

“My name is Jace. And I bang my sticks into a hallow cylindrical thing for a living. I heard they’re called drums but whatever. I also live with these idiots and I, unfortunately, am the one who holds their leashes.” Jace introduces himself, smiling into the crowd

“Okay, Father. My Name is Sebastian. aka the most attractive one in this group. I play the guitarrrrrr. You guys can call me Seb, Sebastian or Daddy. Your choice.” He winked.

“Ew.” All three of you pretended to gagged, before laughing at Sebastian’s pouting face, your audience also laughing at your antics.

“Okay- Okay, Stop. We need to be serious. Gosh. My name’s Y/N! And I’m your local sapphic lead singer. Yes, I need to say that everyday because people still debate that I’m straight. It’s annoying” You introduce, taking a sip of your water

“Right. So this is how it’s gonna work. There are multiple Coldify interrogators, as we call them, roaming around, all you have to do, is raise your hand, first one they see wins the first question. And the cycle continues until we run out of time.” You explained

“HmmHmmn. So are you guys ready?” Luna asks, earning a few “Yes!” and “WHOOOOO” making all you guys chuckle.

“Okaaaay! on 3. 1,2,3! OH! That redhead with the all black attire. I like that.” Sebastian calls, waiting for the guy in the uniform to hand the girl the mic.

“What’s your name love?” Jace asked the now blushing girl

“Ah. Kadie. I just wanna say that I am such a big fan and I wanted to know if, besides the tattoo you guys have right now, the compass, are you guys still planning on getting a matching tattoo?”

“Ooooh. Tattooes. Hmm. I personally would love to have another tattoo. But you see, Sebastian here cried when we first tattoed. And I am not looking forward to that at all.” Luna answered, laughing when Sebastian whined.

“Oh yeah. No. Not again.” Jace agreed, while you just smiled and nodded.

“Next Question Please.” Sebastian interjected before you could even talk

“Hi my name’s Catherine-” You guys interrupted her to say hi

“Hehe. Hi. Uhm, I wanted to know if you guys have like, favourite youtubers or streamers?” She asks shyly, which made you smile.

“Oooooo. Okay, now you guys get to know why I tweeted that earlier.” Sebastian chuckles

“Okay Mr. Snitch. But uhm. I would have to say... Sykkuno. His voice is just the best-”

“Excuse me? Corpse?! Hello? Corpse has the best voice don’t even. He’s my favourite, what you said was just Corpse slander” Sebastian interrupts Luna, to which Luna answered with a glare.

“Uh-huh. Okay. As I was saying, Corpse’s voice is good, but Syk’s is just this wholesome anime type voice that just melt’s your heart you know? He should be a voice actor for like, an anime protagonist. AND HIS PERSONALITY IS SO GOOD AND WHOLESOME LIKE WHAT THE FUCK?” Luna gushes, nodding to Jace before she goes on a full rant

“I’m sure you won’t match with him, expecially since he’s quiet and you’re loud and abnoxious.” Sebastian casually says

“You know what?”

“Pokimane...” Jace speaks into the mic, interrupting the siblings from fighting. “...Because she’s actually a really good gamer, and she also has a cat called called “Mimi” and that’s major points in my book.” Jace says, smiling.

“Hmm. That’s actually a tough choice... I would have to say-” You were interrupted when your phone let out a noise, letting you know you forgot to silent it.

“BABUSHKA!” Your face felt hot as you desperately tried to put your phone in silent, but it was too late.

“My phone just outed me what the hell?” You mumbled into the mic, hiding your face as you hear your fans laugh and coo at your cuteness and embarrassment.

“Anyways, if that didn’t answer your question, I don’t know what will. But uhm, Valkyrae. 100 percent. She’s just really skilled in video games and has probably played more games than me. Also, she’s absolutely fucking gorgeous and I just love her personality and all.” You smiled, still feeling a little bit embarrassed

“I just love her personality- Please, last night you fell asleep to her playing a horror game. She screams alot in that video, I’m just saying. How could you sleep to literally her screaming in your ear?” Sebastian shrugs, ignoring the glares you sent him

“Just this morning, you were frowning because there was another viper on the team Rae was fighting against in Valorant, and you accused that viper of being a copycat.” Jace added

“Or the fact that you always flinch, or dodge and curse whenever someone shoots at Rae-” Luna finishes making you cover her mouth before she says something more

“Okay. I think it’s pretty obvious that I have a crush on Valkyrae but please- Stop.” You grumbled, frowning playfully at your fans when they awed at your band’s interaction.

“Next Fucking Question Please.” You huffed, closing your eyes and leaning back into your seat, trying to settle your beating heart

Rae will for sure see that. Oh my god. Thoughts of Rae seeing your clip of literally simping for her has your heart running marathons.

“Hi! Uhm, this question is for Y/N”

You hear the gasps of your bandmates, but you pay no attention to it since you were still gay panicking inside

“What will you do if you ever met Valkyrae in person?” a familiar voice echoed in your ears, you of course can’t figure out who it is.

“I honestly don’t know how I would react. Maybe faint? But then probably hug her? I dunno? Kiss her cheek maybe? I mean, how would you react if you meet your long time crush?” You answered mindlessly, chuckling silently knowing that you probably faint and be knocked out for God knows how long. Or maybe you’d fumble and embarrass yourself.

You hear your bandmates join in the laughter with the audience, and that made you open your eyes, throwing a confused glace to Luna who just patted your back and made eye contact with who, you presume, asked the question.

You followed her gaze, eyes widening when you saw the brown-eyed brunette beauty holding the mic. Your brain lagged, trying to comprehend the situation.

“Uhm, I mean- Unless, You know? She’s uncomfortable about it. I don’t wanna make her uncomfy, you get me? First impressions are a thing. I mean- I’m just gonna shut up.” You just spat words out before your brain could even comprehend it.

Come on Y/N keep it together. She gotta think that you’re cool. Not an awkward gay mess.

“Pfft- Little too late for the first impressions that included you being cool.” Jace threw his empty water bottle at you

“...I said that aloud didn’t I?” You asked, now trying to hide your face behind Luna’s back, who’s doubling over from laughter

“Please, someone tag me when you decide to upload this very moment. I wanna blackmail Y/N with it.” Sebastian wheezed out.

“I think we can do something with the hugging thing. Just don’t faint on me.” Your eyes snapped to Rae’s as you see the smirk etched on her face, her hands still holding the microphone

Your eyes widen as your fans, screamed and a series of “OOOOOOHHHH” and “Get it Y/N!” erupted, making your embarrassment amplify even more.

“Is it embarrass Y/N day today? God, please- Next Question please. Oh Jesus.” You put your face in your hands, trying to hide.

Thankfully, they didn’t pry anymore, your embarrassment slowly subsiding as they asked about your daily life, career, albums and upcoming awards. After finishing a couple more questions, you guys sang a couple cover songs, and that’s what concluded your soundcheck. (Sebastian managed to sneak in Janet’s PETTY song, which you rolled your eyes on but sang nonetheless.)

You walked out and to the backstage as you shoved Sebastian playfully for making kissy faces.

“Y/N and Rachell sitting on a tree-” He was suddenly cut off by someone

“K-I-S-S-I-N-G” Your gaze wonders to Pokimane, or Imane who just interrupted Sebastian

“Kissing?! Isn’t it a bit too early for that? Why would they kiss-” Sykkuno says glancing between Rae and I

You wondered if they said anything else because you’re going to be honest to yourself, you were only looking at Rae’s eyes. The deep brown orbs you only ever saw through your screen, was now staring right back at you, her brunette hair tied up in a bun- She’s staring back at you.

Quickly averting your eyes, you felt yourself grow shy, you now also find your shoes very attractive.

“Keep your head up or else you would faint on me and I don’t want that. I prefer to hug a conscious person, Thank you very much.” you lifted your head so fast you could’ve given yourself a whiplash. Darting your eyes around Rae, you quickly find that your friends + Imane and Sykkuno have left the both of you alone.

“Sorry. You just caught me off guard there. Hi! Uhm. I really don’t know what to say to you- Uhm.” You rub the back of your neck, nervously smiling at Rae you in turn smirked at you, raising her brow in the process.

She quietly chuckles before opening her arms, signaling for a hug, to which you launched yourself in, trying not to breathe because that would be so weird.

“Okay so now can you take out your knife and stab me just to make sure that this is real.” You stated, looking directly into her eyes

“...But I’m not the Impostor?”

“...Okay that’s clever-” You laughed, taking a sip out of your water bottle, leading her to your dressing room

“Speaking of, do you mind if I play with you guys sometimes? I’ll find time, I promise.” You say, watching the time considering you only have half an hour to change and get ready, not to mention your crush is right in front of you as well.

“Wait really? Yeah! Just DM me on twitter! I’ll organize a lobby just for you.” She replies, plopping herself on the sofa you have.

“Awe, I feel so... special” You smiled, finally composing yourself, emerging from behind the curtains, already in your performance outfit

“The almighty Creator of the Year, creating a lobby? For lil ol m-” You were greeted with a facefull of pillows thrown at you, just for that statement. Which made you laugh.

“Shut up.” She grinned

“I’m sorry, m’lady” You curtsied playfully, expecting her to start smacking your shoulders, instead when you lifted your head up, she was just sitting there with a soft smile on her face.

“You’re wearing my merch.” She stated

You widened your eyes then looked down, the hoodie that you just randomly picked up was her merch.

“I’m sorry, do you want it back?” You spit the words out before your mind could comprehend how idiotic that sounded

Rae bursted out laughing at your statement, putting her hand over her mouth while doubling over. You rolled your eyes at her and plopped down on the sofa, crossing your arms.

“Yeah, Yeah. Go on. Laugh. At least I can spell broccoli right.” You teased, poking her side

“OKAY! LISTEN HERE HOTSHOT! I-”  she was interrupted by a series of knocks on the door.

“Y/N! PLEASE TELL ME YOU’RE DECENT AND IS NOT SEDUCING RAE BECAUSE THAT’S JUST WRONG” Sebastian loudly asked through the door

“Oh My God. Please just kill me.” You rubbed your face with your hands

“I’m pretty sure I’ll be the one doing the seducing but okay.” You hear her mumble under her breath, making you look at her with a scandalized look on your face

“DOOR’S UNLOCKED SEBASTIAN. DON’T BE AN IDIOT..” You replied

“Don’t mind him Y/N We’re just coming in to say that you have 5 minutes until we have to go onstage.” Luna softly replies, shoving Sebastian out your field of view.

“I’ll be right there Lune.” You stood up, smiling at Rae

“I guess that’s it. I’ll talk to you later? I think? Just check your DM’s soon yeah?” She pulls you into a hug, kissing your cheek as she pulls away.

“Good Luck out there. I know you’ll do great.” She smiles, walking out, leaving you to your thoughts

“Huh?” You touched your cheek, a smile slowly paints itself upon your face

"Come on, lovergirl we're running late." Jace drapes his arm around your shoulder

"She kissed my cheek." You say, still shocked

"Lucky You." Jace says, his ears reddening.

...lucky bastard

"POKI KISSED YOU TOO DIDN'T SHE?!" You screeched

'Hush!" His cheeks are also red now.

"Huh. I guess today's our lucky day." You grinned, now extremely happy and hyped

"Oh, check your e-mail now by the way. Manager says she sent our line up there." he pats your back, getting into his position, as best as he can considering the stage is now pitch black

"Huh. Okay." You pulled out your phone, sending a piece of paper flying. Bending down to pick it up, you feel your heart soften into mush and then it decides to run another marathon.

Just incase my Twitter DM's don't work, or if I'm streaming. xx 09-xxx-xxx-xxx

"Be still, my beating heart." You sighed out

Valkyrae just gave you her phone number

[meruz]

i was gonna draw tonight but i dropped my tablet pen and the barrel of the pen broke off and flew somewhere underneath (??) my bed (?) and now i cant find it so I’m just gonna answer asks before bed instead. just some art asks and more mentions of infinity train LOL

What program and brushes do you use when making your art?

@ravki hi! part of this is in my FAQ but i’ll say it again anyways LOL: I use photoshop CC and have used photoshop for pretty much....my whole art career. I’ve dabbled in clip and paint tool sai in the past but photoshop is my true wife, we eloped away from her awful father adobe many years ago and are very happy together. 

as for brushes... I should prob put this info in my FAQ too lol,... my default brush set is actually free to download here! Tho I will say I also use steve ahn’s storyboarding brush sometimes and lately i’ve been using shiyoon kim’s brushes A TON. Shiyoon’s cost a couple bucks but they’re super worth it imo

How do you choose colors?

This is kind of a difficult one to describe from scratch but hmm.... I’ll put it this way. Generally when I go into coloring or painting something I already have some colors in mind. Like for a certain piece I know I want a bright green, or a magenta, or a dark blue in certain areas. A lot of the time I know a mood I want. So I’ll start with that core color tone and build around it. I’ll use an example from a recent piece

So you can see here that the first color I accessed was that bright cyan. So I start with that bright cyan and then bring in its “friends” in the form of analogous colors (shown below on the far left)

greens greys etc. THEN I know I want the characters to stand out against all the blue so I start laying down warm contrasting colors for them (middle group). the mat under them is orange, skin tones are warm, ryans flannel is red etc. then to get them to work together I work more cool colors into the shadows and slightly warmer (not too warm because its a cool img overall so in this case, greener LOL) colors into highlights. 

hope that makes sense? for me choosing colors is a lot about story and composition. If you know what you want to say, the mood you want to create, where you want to go, the path to get there becomes a lot clearer imo.

Have you ever considered making an art book?

I have! But I don’t think I currently have enough...original illustrations for one LOL? Not that an art book has to be all original work but if I were putting fanart in an art book...at that point I’d just make a fanzine. I’m making more original work lately though so maybe this year....? Who knows. For now, I do have a sketchbook up on gumroad. Hoping to do one of those next year too.

Any tips for keeping background drawings from getting super stiff, especially since things like interiors have a lot of straight lines?

This is a really interesting ask. Really great question that I don’t think gets asked enough - forgive me if I get a bit art school here but I drew up some examples.

First I think we have to investigate the assumption that straight lines make things stiff. That seems true on an instinctual level and certainly proves to be true very often But I don’t think its actually the straight lines themselves but the sort of arrangements and compositions they tend to dictate. Take this for instance.

pretty big difference, right? there’s a couple things that make a composition feel stiff and one of the most significant is lines that are perpendicular and parallel to the frame. it feels locked in and solid, like bricks. but the moment you shift these angles even a little the composition instantly becomes more dynamic because our innate senses of weight, gravity, and directionality can sense movement.

But it’s not just diagonals let’s take this one step further

when lines meet and terminate together those tangents can flatten and lock space so the best way to solve this is with overlap and complete intersection, forms continuing past or behind each other feel more layered and less like a flat mosaic... again, even in the simplest line drawings. So how do we apply this to a background?

ok I drew this really fast so its potentially not the best example but I think the idea is there. This space isn’t even particularly deep, it’s basically a room, a doorway, and a hallway behind it, and we’re not seeing that much of any of those things LOL. but when you draw an environmental object like a doorway in a way that lines up with the perpendicular and parallel lines of the canvas you’re automatically flattening it and making it look rigid.

and when you create tangents with objects and characters you flatten the space around them and make it difficult to tell what is actually in front or behind or if they’re on the same plane.

GOD I HOPE THIS MAKES SENSE. Anyways. avoid those things and you’ll instantly have less stiff bgs no matter what kind of bg you’re depicting.

I wanna mention however that this isn’t to say a stiff bg with flat space doesn’t have its purposes.

sometimes you want to create parallels and tangents. it can make characters feel closed in, trapped, regimented, part of a routine, etc. it’s also great for making a composition look ornamental (especially combined with symmetry).

directors like wes anderson can even use these compositional elements to make images feel uncanny or harrowing! its very versatile. I think the important thing is to just be aware of when you are making something rigid and when that’s the last thing you want to do. conscious choices.

Can you speak Tagalog?

@lemuelzero101​ I can! BUT NOT VERY WELL LOL ;;; both my parents are from Visayas! but they met and had me in the states lol so I’m pretty American born and raised. We go back to visit family on occasion but not regularly. My tagalog is mostly absorbed from listening to relatives at parties lol and my parents speak bisaya at home so I’m marginally better at that. Sorry to any filipinos out there hoping I’d be better educated, I’m like a little baby...

I do love meeting and talking to other filipinos online though, I grew up in an area that was relatively diverse but the asian population was small and the filipino population basically non-existent. I was like one of maybe 2 filipino kids in my highschool of 2000.

Apart from infinity train what shows are you watching now? Have you seen jujitsu kaisen?

Man this is gonna sound so boring but I haven’t watched a lot of tv lately.  It’s not really part of my daily routine. Let’s see... I was sort of watching Amphibia, Craig of the Creek, and the new Digimon Adventure 2020 but I keep falling off watching those for one reason or another. Also there’s a lot of episodes, it doesn’t feel like something I can just binge and be done with.

The last thing I binged was Succession. I want that show and Euphoria back so bad, when I’m done forcing all my friends to watch Infinity Train im cancelling my HBO subscription until Succession and Euphoria return so they know exactly what I’m on their list for LOL. 

I have not watched jujitsu kaisen but I’ve kept up with some of the sakuga news (I keep up with anime industry news and production info like x5 the amt i keep up with actual anime) for it and their compositing/editing looks dope. I’ve read the manga actually LOL or at least part of the beginning. I wasn’t super keen on the whole finger eating thing. Also to be honest I kinda feel like its the new Bleach and I never particularly cared about Bleach. Characters look nice enough tho. I wholeheartedly support jjk fans.

Thank you! Thank you @keznodzieja​! <3

And thank you anons who don’t watch infinity train LOL...it’s always nice to hear when people enjoy my fanart despite not knowing the source material because it lifts a little bit of the “oh god am I being annoying???” fear off my chest. But also I think you should watch infinity train because it’s really good I have no reservations recommending it.

[ruby-whistler]

Alright curious anon here. All this is /dsmp /rp from here on out unless otherwise specified and is refering to characters. If i make any mistakes or am misinformed please let me know! So by the cat was nothing compared to mushroom henry i was meaning more toward the fact that the cow was killed as a punishment for something not worth or ok for it to be killed for at all and the fact that it belonged to tommy, wheareas the cat was killed more to annoy dream and belonged to tommy. (1/?)

alright then another lengthy reply, here i come! /lh /dsmp /rp

Dream also did not seem to mourn the cat much, shrugging it off with a "just more motivation to break out".

it was killed to hurt dream, not to "annoy him". it doesn't matter who it belonged to, c!dream was attached to it and it died, which had an effect on him and also further proved his point about attachments being weakness and caring getting you hurt, and it's still very sad.

you say that it was not ok at all to kill mooshroom henry, but the cat's death wasn't ok either, so i really don't see your point.

again, i disagree it was "nothing compared to" either way. i never meant to compare them in the first place, i was simply talking about the cat and c!dream so i don't see why it is in any way necessary to drag c!tommy and other dead pets into this. /nm

also, it isn't true he didn't mourn it. he is a very reserved person who doesn't show his feelings much, that's true, but the cat death still changed the way he acted afterwards, as well as the attempts he made to prevent it. he didn't "shrug it off", he yelled about it because he was understandably upset.

You mentioned that propganda was used to make dream seem like a tyrant, could you specify a bjt? Cus im a little confused srry /gen. Because the most i can remember from the lmanburg era at least is him being called a b'tch or other similar insults. You also mentioned how trauma responses can be differet which is true! I agree! Do you have any ideas to what caused dream the trauma?

wilbur would continuously make him out to be some sort of oppressive, tyrannical force, in front of his troops - a prime example of this being the lyrics of the l'manberg anthem itself and the l'manberg declaration of independence.

actually! here's a nice thread about l'manberg's establishment complete with links, timestamps and evidence :]

i also said in my previous post what could've possibly caused it, but since the character intentionally hides his emotions from the public, it would be difficult to see how things really affected him - which is why the way his spiral went is the majority of the evidence that would imply it, however it does make sense within the story as well with what i mentioned last time.

I would like to note that for sapnap at least had reason to leave dream. Some examples off the top of my head are dream leading an angry fundy to sapnap's pets on purpose, resulting in some deaths, dream assisting tommy in burning down sapnap's effiel tower where he got engaged to karl, and dream giving tommy either mars or the other fish at the battle of the lake. Idk about george tho other then the whole mexican lmanburg/el rapids thing and decrowning him

c!sapnap was actually at fault for most of this, and it wasn't really ever betrayal on c!dream's part.

c!dream is a mediator and he wants to stop everyone's conflict - c!fundy was angry because of c!sapnap's actions, and hence it made more sense for c!dream to centre him on c!sapnap's animals instead of running around killing everyone's pets (at that time, all c!dream knew was c!sapnap did something really bad and c!fundy wanted beckerson / mars from him, which were also his and c!george's fish).

c!sapnap was an instigator, and in multiple conflicts during the time as well as before he'd align himself against c!dream. he isn't "loyal" per se, he causes chaos and the reason c!dream helped c!tommy was because, c!sapnap, again, killed his pet. the first l'manberg war and then the 16th are signs of the fact that c!dream and c!sapnap were willing to fight together in actual war, but these small conflicts where c!sapnap continuously picked fights weren't about personal loyalty, nor did they seem to affect their relationship at all.

c!george was never really hurt by c!dream either. the dethronement was him very obviously being a guilt-trippy drama queen, but, well, that's just the character. he had stolen the l'mantree while he was supposed to be the diplomatic figure of the greater smp, which is why c!dream was justified in - very politely, may i mention - taking the duties off of him (seeing as he was also trying to keep him safe and c!techno had already assassinated him once).

Im pretty sure i remember cc!sam stating that his character never canonically physically tortured dream during his subathon but take this with a grain of salt as i am looking for the clip currently. So to the best of my knowledge dream did not have a physical contact trigger during tommy's visit which! I rewatched the vod and dream actually was first to hit tommy and i can give you my full writing downs but 10/12 of the phy-

you never finished this point because you had to go do something, but i'll reply to what is here at the moment (i suggest writing these down before sending next time, or even writing them out wholly before sending a single one could help avoid stuff like this).

i am 95% sure that the reason cc!sam stated this was because people were suspicious he had already been doing what c!quackity was doing after - torture within the storyline itself is associated pretty much only with what c!quackity is doing, so that's what he meant, just to clear up confusion - the starvation or terrible conditions haven't been retconned, but it was direct torture (like c!quackity is doing) people were asking him about.

i never said c!dream had a physical contact trigger at all, i don't think he had that, though he probably will after the torture.

huh, ok, i'm gonna have to rewatch then, but i remember c!tommy punching c!dream a lot and him just telling him to stop and only punching back to get him to stop. trigger or not, getting hit isn't very pleasant, if you know what i mean.

You mentioned tommy stealing dream's armor unprovoked. Do you have the vod or a general idea of the time so i can find it? Like before lmanburg after another event so and so because if you do not have it i can find it but any help is appreciated.

i am pretty sure you can find the video on cc!tommy's channel! there are also recaps of the disc war on youtube :]

I wanna talk a little on why the Final Control Room was so messed up. For starters, with the way the room was designed. It was small, and had labeled, empty chests with each person's name on them as a mockery. The next reason is that its bascially a kill box.

It's fairly inescapble with the stairs being ones you have to jump up, slowing anyone who climbs them down. The final reason it is messed up is that it is shown to have caused every person who died in it trauma. With tommy there are several examples, the time he saw it with techno, the way he refuses to go near it, the exposure trauma, etc. Fundy also appears to have trauma, as when the Red Banquet executions began, it can be seen as him being afraid of dying last again.

It can Be thought as tubbo having trauma because he buries most of his issues and pretends to be ok. Moreover this event took at least one of each person's canon lives, making it the most canon lives lost EVER in a dream smp event. (This is not hate on any of the ccs btw i loved this scene and its one of my personal favorites). Plus the fact Eret's betrayal just literally happened, giving at least Tommy and Wilbur canonic trust issues.

i wouldn't call the chests mockery? it was a trap. people had traps on the smp before. it was a trap in the middle of war, supposed to end said war by killing them all at once rather than individually which would be a lot more bloody and difficult.

i agree c!tommy and other people might have post-war trauma, especially if they were young during the time, but i think that's because the final control room was "messed up", moreso because the war itself was. it all happened fairly instantly as well? i don't think c!fundy would be able to realize he was the last one standing within the two second before he wasn't.

it "can be thought" and it can be interpreted like that but besides c!tommy there isn't much evidence for them "all" being traumatized by the final control room. of course betrayal would spark trust issues, i understand that.

The probation was humiliating in my opinion because dream was Sending tommy anatgonizing messages through out the whole meeting, plus he had to write a review of his day every single day, which fundy mocked him for.

i mean, it was definitely a strike to his pride, but he was being extremely uncooperative so i don't really blame the other members of new l'manberg trying to teach him to listen for once? of course i know c!dream was riling him up, and that should definitely be considered. i don't think it would be as humiliating if c!tommy didn't make it, is what i'm saying.

for the tommy being toxic to fundy? At least for the examples you gave, to me personally they come acoross as either in a meta way being the cc's bantering or in canon being the characters having banter. If you can send the post with the clips so i can read the tone better that would be cool but if not i will try and find em.

no, these were all in canon. canon isn't only when c!tommy is being nice, it's also when he's being a jerk. /lh

the first one was him threatening c!fundy about kicking him out of l'manberg and undermining his self-worth, and the second one was him trying to get c!sapnap to vote for them via bullying c!fundy.

i found these from a transcript focusing on c!fundy's character, so i don't know exactly where the first one is from, but the second one i am pretty sure is from when the elections were starting with the whole cabinet battle deal and all of that.

there are other instances, and all of them are canon. his personality was never being nice or compassionate, so i'm not really surprised? he still cares about the people he cares about and is very brave, y'know. but this part of his personality is definitely a valid reason for people to dislike him.

I hope the exam went well :). Hope u have a great day! (Ps i think theres something called a submission box to send in pictures? Am not entirely sure sry)

it would've gone well but my work-speed is a tad too slow for the schooling system (considering i'm three years younger than my classmates,,, probably that's also a factor) so probably not despite the fact i knew everything and would've aced it if i only had more time. i did as well as i could so i'm not worried about it, but thanks!

i think you're thinking submissions. sadly, i tested it and it doesn't work on anons, so idk how you'd solve that, maybe make a burner account?

Curious anon here one point you may wanna include in the redemption essay is that c!tubbo or c!tommy do not necessarily have to forgive him. What's important is that he recognizes what he did was wrong (exile, beating tommy to death, manipulating them both, etc) and does his best to make amends. Hope this helps! Can't wait to see your essay

it's out, idk if you've seen it yet, and i think i included enough of that so hope it's all good! :)

the mcc update video is out if you are an mcc enjoyer. It's very neat, if you wanna check it out

yeah! i am a fellow mcc enjoyer, saw it already, thanks for telling me though, i'm really hype for today.

Allo curious anon here sorry if the lots of asks bother you. I was just curious if i could share an interesting post i saw today about c!dream :0 (not necessarily negative i think? More of a statement of an often-confused canon)

sure thing! i don't know what you mean by often-confused since, the entire fanbase is very confused always, and often selection bias plays into the perception from both sides, but sure :]

you also sent in a thing for the other anon who said they didn't know what c!dream did that bad; pretty sure they couldn't really be alerted since, not sure if they watch my blog that closely, but i'll summarize your points just in case and add some notes;

the repeated blowing up of l'manberg (in my mind that's largely a positive since i,, despise that country, but fair enough), revealed c!ranboo as a traitor (they seem to be friends so i also,, think that might've been planned between him and enderboo), sent ghostbur away (i don't think c!dream knew it was dangerous for him and wanted to actually hurt him, but idk), participated in fighting against c!sapnap when he killed people's pets (that's only negative against c!sapnap and didn't seem to hurt him much at all), and then the whole vault scene where he was allegedly planning to steal people's things (though saying he would & being stopped beforehand and doing it are two different things, frankly).

so i still agree with the other anon that a lot of the hurt he did "to the entire server" (he only negatively interacted with like,, a half of them) is exaggerated both by the characters and the fandom, but i guess that's a consequence of most people seeing him as a threat to everyone's happiness rather than a complex personality.

Also he was aware of the butcher army going to kill techno but only got involved because he saw an opportunity to get a favor. (As he knew in advance due to him telling techno to get a totem, watching from afar instead of interveing or manipulating tubbo out of it)

i don't understand this at all, i'm sorry. how do you know he only helped techno in order to get a favor? last i remember he was only doing it to protect and strengthen his alliance, and techno came up with the whole favor thing entirely on his own. you might've not watched techno's perspective or their prior interactions, idk, but this really is a misinterpretation in my eyes. /nm

sorry if that is overly dream negative i just wanted to let yall know cus you seemed unaware -curious anon

nah dw, i watch the smp and i watched all of these things happen so, wouldn't say unaware, but thanks.

[jungshookz]

Halloween in CeeWorld

I’m pretty sure I’m supposed to post this. 

These drabbles were in Cee’s drafts, so... if I wasn’t supposed to post this, blame it on Y/N. 

Enjoy. Or not. It doesn’t really matter to me. 

                                    the little ghost (ceo!yoongiverse)

“alright, let’s get this quarantine hwalloween party started!” you clap your hands together as you step into the living room before rubbing them together excitedly, “is everyone excited??”

“as excited as i’ll ever be,” jungkook huffs as he leans back against the sofa chair, “i can’t believe we’re celebrating halloween indoors like a bunch of losers-”

“you’re very much welcome to leave-” yoongi butts in, “and then stay isolated in your own apartment for two weeks after you’re done partying as part of the safety protocol-”

“quick question- why does jungkook get to be the one with the goggles?” jimin gets up from the couch before putting his hands on his hips, “i look way hotter in them-”

you frown lightly before rolling your eyes, “does it matter who gets the goggles-”

“yeah! the goggles ties the entire costume together-”

you and yoongi exchange knowing glances when jungkook and jimin start to bicker over who should get the goggles and you know that if you don’t cut it off right now that they’ll continue to argue until the end of time

“where’s my little ghost?” you interrupt loudly, cupping both hands around your mouth as a makeshift megaphone, “oh, spooky little ghost...”

a moment of silence ticks by and suddenly-

the sound of rapidly approaching little footsteps echoes down the hallway and you grin excitedly, dropping down onto your knees before reaching up to adjust the inflatable proton-pack you have on your back  

pap-pap-pap-pap

hwayoung bursts out into the living room wearing a plain white sheet with two holes cut out for her eyes and you feel your heart basically bust out of your chest

you already saw her in her costume earlier when you were getting her ready but 

god

it gets you every single time! 

you were debating on cutting two holes for her pigtails but then you’d figure she’d look less spooky that way

anD you were going to cut two holes for her arms but that would completely ruin the look of the costume as well

everyone knows ghosts don’t have arms or ponytails 

“ᶦ ᵍᵒʰˢᵗ, ᵐᵃᵐᵃᵎ” hwayoung practically ramS her little body directly into you and you laugh lightly when she bounces up and down on the balls of her feet

she leans forward to boop her nose against yours through the sheet, “ᶦ ᵍʰᵒˢᵗ!”

“oh my god-” yoongi snorts, bringing his hand up over his mouth when hwayoung blinks up at him through the sheets, “that’s… that’s hilarious.” 

holy shit

that’s so cute

“i have to admit, i thought a blanket ghost was a lazy costume idea, but-” jungkook nudges you aside before looking down at hwayoung with a grin, “look how cute she looks!”

“i know!” you clap your hands before letting out a sigh, “it was actually pretty hard cutting out the eyeholes into two perfect circles.”

“aw, now i’m sad that we don’t get to go trick or treating! we would look so good walking out on the streets-” jimin groans, reaching down to pat the top of hwa’s head, “the ghostbusters with this little itty bitty super scary ghost-”

“ᵇᵒᵒᵎ” hwayoung sticks her arms out from under the sheets and you let out an exaggerated gasp as if she actually scared you

(you don’t miss the way jungkook jumps but you choose not to point it out) 

“okay, now what do you say?” you get up off the ground, everyone immediately going off to their designated candy stations at your signal

yoongi’s in the kitchen, jungkook’s in the laundry room, jimin’s in hwa’s bedroom, and you’re the lucky one who gets to accompany your daughter on her candy-collecting journey

“do we know if hwa’s allergic to peanuts yet?” jungkook pokes his head around the corner before holding the bag of mixed candies up, “i think i should eat all the reese’s peanut butter cups just to be safe-”

“ᵗᶦᶜᵏ ᵒʰ ᵗᵉᵃᵗᵎ”  

“nuh-uh-” yoongi opens the kitchen door, “what do we really say?”

hwayoung pauses and you frown lightly as you think about his question as well

what does he mean what do you really say?

you really say trick or treat when you go trick-or-treating

what else are you supposed to say??

!!

hwayoung suddenly perks up and reaches up to wrap her hand around your pointer finger to get your attention

you look down at her, “yes?”

“ᵗᶦᶜᵏ ᵒʰ ᵗᵉᵃᵗ ᵖᵉᵃˢᵉᵎ” 

“trick or treat, pleas-” you turn around to send yoongi a playful glare, “yoongi, no one says please when they go trick or treating-!”

“we’re not raising an animal, y/n-!”

                              hello, playboy (secretary!yoongiverse)

yoongi doesn’t really understand why halloween is such a big deal

he’s pretty sure it’s just an excuse for people to go out half-naked anD for people to get completely wasted without being judged

sure, he supposes it can be fun for people to dress up and stuff, but at the end of the day, think about it!

you’re wasting money on a costume that you’re literally only going to be wearing ONCE a year and then you’re probably never going to wear it again because you can’t wear the same costume twice in row because everyone knows that’s lame 

he’s, personally, never had to worry about costumes before because he literally?? doesn’t dress up or do anything for halloween

but things have changed now that you’re the boss

and one of those things is celebrating halloween with a fun costume party

admittedly, he enjoys company parties because he gets to drink free booze and eat free food all night (last year they served these mini buffalo chicken sliders at the christmas party and he still dreams about them from time to time)

and yeah, it’s nice getting to mingle with his colleagues and not having to worry about any office work

but costume parties are so lame!

he knows you’re only throwing it because you’re trying to prove to people that you’re a fun boss, but if anything, this costume party will make people think you’re trying too hard to be a fun boss, ultimately making you the lamest boss ever

...no offence, obviously

he tried to explain that to you because he,,. really doesn’t wanna see you get hurt again but if there’s one thing that he’s learnt about you, it’s that you’re very stubborn 

anyways

he’s waiting for you because you’re changing into your costume in your office and then the two of you are going to head up to the rooftop together

“yoongi, i need you to-” yoongi looks over when you open your office door slightly before sticking your head out, “is that your costume?”

yoongi reaches up to brush his fingers over the flimsy devil’s horns he clipped into his hair before nodding, “yeah. i’m a demon. duh.”

“that’s… yeah, those are devil horns, alright,” you snort, “you didn’t even- c’mon, you’re still wearing your clothes from work-”

“then i’m a secretary from hell.” yoongi lowers his voice before wiggling his fingers spookily, “what did you need me to do?”

“i can’t zip my dress up. do you mind…?” you ask sheepishly and yoongi nods and turns to shut off his monitor seeing as you guys are almost ready to go

“sure thing. also, just a reminder that the party started, like, ten minutes ag- woah.” yoongi turns back around and feels his mouth go dry when he sees the costume you’re in

hello, playboy

he didn’t know that this was the costume you were going with

holy shit

the little black satin dress that you’ve got on is hugging your figure in a way that he’s,.., never seen before,..,

and you usually wear heels to work but these stilettos are making your legs look,.,. wow

black stockings usually aren’t the first thing he thinks of when he thinks sexy but you are most definitely changing his mind about that

“eh, it’s fine.” you sigh before spinning around and moving your hair to one side, “i don’t think anyone cares if i’m even at the party or not, anyway.”

yoongi swallows thickly when he notices the little cotton tail that’s glued onto the back of the dress

nice touch 

very nice touch 

his brain is telling him to move but he finds that he’s frozen to the spot as his eyes slowly trail up your bare back

you turn your head to glance at yoongi over your shoulder, “yoongi?” 

he’s always thought that you were pretty, so that’s not something that’s suddenly being revealed to him or anything  

and he’s always thought that you were cute (especially when you make a fool out of yourself trying to get his attention)

but this?

you look… sexy.

really, really sexy.

“yes! sorry, i just- that’s-” he clears his throat and shakes himself out of it, “that’s not true…” he steps forward before gently taking the zipper, “i would care if you weren’t there.”

the zipper glides smoothly against the silky satin as he pulls upwards, yoongi making sure not to snag any loose strands of hair or anything along the way

jesus christ 

and you smell good, too

“okay, you’re good.” yoongi steps back and folds both his hands in front of him, “zipper’s, uh, good to go.”

“thanks- also, you’re only saying that because you have to.” you turn around before rolling your eyes playfully 

“saying what?”

“that you’d care if i wasn’t at the party.” you repeat, reaching up to adjust the little collar you’re wearing around your neck, “i know everyone hates me, yoongi. you don’t have to sugarcoat it.”

“i’m not sugarcoating it!” yoongi scoffs, watching you struggle with the buttons in your cuffs for a moment before automatically reaching out to help you, “…and who cares what they think, anyway? at the end of the day, you’re the boss.” he nods firmly, looking up at you, “now lemme hear you say it.”

you chuckle nervously before looking away, “i’m not gonna-”

“come on...” your heart skips a beat when yoongi hooks a finger under your chin to turn your head back to face him, “just once? for me?”

god

he really knows how to pull your strings, doesn’t he? 

you let out a sigh

“i’m the boss.” you mumble sheepishly, reaching up to scratch the back of your neck  

you’re the boss

you’re the boss

...you’re the boss.

you have the power to fire all of these people. (not that you’re going to, but... you know)

so why are you so scared of them?? 

your brows knit together and you stand up a little straighter, “yeah… i am the boss…!”

“that’s right!” yoongi chirps, nudging you aside so he can quickly turn your office lights off and shut the door for you, “now, we’re going to go up to the party and we’re going to have a good time and you’re not going to sit there worrying about what other people think about you-” 

“yeah! i’m not!” you grin, reaching up to fix the bunny ears sitting on your head 

yoongi smiles before holding his arm out for you, “c’mon, bunny. let’s go show everyone who’s boss.”

                              sweeter than frosting (lveb!jooniverse)

“i’m back!” 

you look up from your mixing bowl when you hear the front door slam shut

yoongi glances over his shoulder before looking back at you, “are we really going to spend the entire day baking?” 

you nod before shrugging as if telling him that it is what it is 

you usually get a lot of orders whenever it’s a holiday, and halloween is no different because,.,. duh

halloween parties all over the city! 

the thing is, you didn’t think that you’d get a lot of orders this year because of social distancing and all of that, but you were sorely mistaken

you have forty-five orders today and you’re pretty sure you’ve bitten off way more than you can chew 

your average is like fifteen orders a day

obviously you’re super grateful for the business because money is good and nice and helps to pay for bills or whatever but 

woW

these are a lot of orders!!!!!

and you have to do everything by yourself!! 

yoongi’s actually supposed to be helping you, but his version of helping you is sitting on his ass and occasionally handing you a tool every now and then 

at one point you asked him to hand you a piping bag and he handed you a spoon which??? how?? did he even???

how did he mix up piping bag and spOON

he also eats whatever leftover bits you shave off the top of a cake or whatever frosting is unused 

so, all in all... not very helpful. 

it’s nice to have company, though! 

yoongi even suggested to put on a spooky movie to keep the two of you somewhat in the holiday spirits while you work your butt off

he insisted that you guys watch something really scary and super bloody so he’s.,,. not entirely sure how you ended up convincing him to watch wallace and gromit: the curse of the were-rabbit

“how’s it going in here?” namjoon steps into the kitchen and almost instantly the corners of your mouth turn up in a bright smile 

he offered to be one of your delivery boys today to help out and you would’ve jumped his bones right then and there if it weren’t for the presence of yoongi and hoseok in the living room

he’s just!!!!

he gets more and more perfect every single day :’) 

“going okay...” you gesture to the multiple mixing bowls around the kitchen, “halfway done!” 

“mm, would you look at that.” yoongi mutters to himself as he keeps his eyes glued on the laptop screen, “that is indeed a were-rabbit...”

“are you- are eating the frosting or are you helping y/n frost the cupcakes?” namjoon pauses to look at the bowl that yoongi has cradling to his chest, yoongi humming as he sucks off the remainder of the frosting off his spoon

“eating!” “helping.” 

both you and yoongi speak up at the same time and you two look at each other before exchanging knowing glances

“eating.” “…yeah. eating.”

yoongi leans over to pause the movie before turning in his stool to look at namjoon 

“waht are you thuppothed ta be?” yoongi asks, the spoon hanging from his mouth carelessly as he turns to look at namjoon

namjoon perks up when he realizes that he must be referring to his super fun halloween costume

he reaches up to brush his fingers over the little beansprout clip he has in his hair with a grin, “a sprout!”

he was trying to think of a creative plant-based costume but there weren’t a lot of options for grown adult men like himself 

there was a broccoli costume that he could’ve pretended was a tree, but… it’s very clearly broccoli

so this was the next best thing!

and it was pretty cheap too, so that’s a bonus

“i think it’s cute.” you giggle, leaning up to press a kiss to namjoon’s cheek, “very cute!”

“mm, i think you’re cute-” namjoon grins cheekily, slinking an arm around your waist and pulling you in closer so that you can give him a proper kiss

“-!”

yoongi immediately groans and looks up towards the ceiling, “god, you guys are sick-”

“uh, says the one eating frosting by the spoonful-“ namjoon pulls away for a split second and laughs lightly when you turn his head to get him to kiss you again

heh 

:-) 

                                  wa-hoo! [roommate!taehyungiverse]

“alright, people, let’s get this show on the roa- oh, jesus-!” namjoon immediately spins around as soon as he barGEs into the apartment, his face going bright red

uh

he just got a very good look at taehyung’s bare ass which was the last thing he was excepting when he walked in here

well

maybe not the last thing he was expecting

“what the fu- ever heard of ringing the bell?!” taehyung rolls off of you before pulling his overalls up so that namjoon doesn’t see both his ass and his dick in the span of three seconds, “this isn’t even your friggin’ apartment anymor-” he turns to look at you, “hey, why does namjoon still have a key, anyway?”

you get up off the couch before pulling your skirt down a little, “in case we both lose ours! he’s also my emergency contact number.”

“okay, but- wait, why aren’t i your emergency contact number?” taehyung frowns, placing both hands on his hips

…

“okay, we don’t have time to do couple’s counselling- are you two ready to go or not?” namjoon turns his head a little to make sure that everyone’s clothed and no body parts are carelessly hanging out

phew

he’s in the clear

oh, jesus

what makes things worse is the fact that you guys are dressed up as mario and luigi

THEY’RE BROTHERS

AND BROTHERS DON’T DO WHAT YOU GUYS WERE JUST DOING

“yeah, yeah, we’re ready to go-” taehyung raises a brow as he sticks his green hat back on, “why are we even going barhopping anyway? it’s not going to be fun having to get our temperature checked every time we go into a building-“

“it’s halloween!” you hand him his mask (you guys stuck the moustaches onto the mask, which you think is a pretty clever way to deal with the whole mask wearing situation) “and now that conditions are slightly better, we have to take advantage!”

“c’mon, mario, get your heels on-” namjoon claps his hands to get your guys’ attention, “i’m parked out front and i do not want my car getting towed-”

“okay, gimme a sec-” taehyung gives your bum a swat when you bend over to step into your heels and you let out a gasp as you shoot straight back up with pink cheeks, “taehyung!”

“what?” taehyung raises both his hands in defence, “i couldn’t not smack it-”

namjoon’s face twists in discomfort

he’s completely fine with the pda

what he’s bothered by are the costumes and the mental image of luigi smacking mario’s ass that’s now burned into his mind forever

he’s… going to stay away from super smash bros for a while.

[whaleiumsharkspeare]

Okay so I know it's a lot of numbers but also please keep in mind that a part of me wants to ask you ALL OF THEM so this is actually just restraint.

3 6 8 12 13 16 20 24 25

Well okay but get ready for a long post!

3.) My hair is very simple. I pretty much wear it down or in a ponytail because I’m not very experienced with doing different things with it. I let it dry naturally most of the time, which gives it some nice waves that I like. And I wear bangs straight across or slightly side-swept to the left. Sometimes I like to wear headbands or a tropical flower clip. But in general I keep it very simple

6.) I’ve always wanted to go to a concert because I’ve never been to one (excluding the virtual showing of Jeremy Jordan’s one man show Carry On, which I suppose I did buy tickets for rather impulsively). I’d also love to just take a random trip one day, somewhere really fun, like Disney World or someplace scenic. I also found out that Jeremy’s sister-in-law has a bakery one state away from where I live and one of these days I’m gonna get in my car and just drive there and get me some cupcakes just to say I got them from her

8.) One skill that I have is singing. I love to sing and I consider myself pretty good at it, but not a lot of my friends know that I can because as much as I love to sing, I can be a little shy about it. Obviously my family and high school choir friends know I can sing but here at college most people don’t realize it unless they’re some of my roommates and they happen to come into the bathroom while I’m in there singing in the shower

12.) I love stars and constellations a lot. I love to stargaze and I even have a pair of socks with constellations on them, but I don’t think I’ve ever made up my own constellations. I just like trying to find the real ones lol

13.) I have bangs and I’ve had them for as long as I can remember so I guess by definition, yes, I like it when my hair is in my face lol. But I don’t like them to be too long, and if I’m studying or taking a test or doing something else that requires a lot of focus, I like to have my hair back in a ponytail to keep the rest of it out of my face. But the bangs stay

16.) It would perhaps be easier to ask what songs I don’t sing in the shower lol. A lot of showtunes, a lot of Disney stuff. And then I’ll do some pop, like lately I’ve been singing Dog Days Are Over and Drops of Jupiter (which I suppose is more rock, idk). Pretty much anything that isn’t rap or heavy metal or anything like that is fair game in my shower repertoire

20.) Honestly, Let Me Make You Proud stuck with me pretty much right away, to the point that I even have a bracelet that says that on it. It struck a chord with me a number of reasons. One being that it was the first song I ever heard Jeremy Jordan sing and turned me into a fan immediately. But then the lyrics mean a lot to me, because I’m always trying to do my best like in school and I wanna prove myself. Not that my parents aren’t proud of me because they are and they let me know that but sometimes when I feel like I could be doing better, I think about that song. Not in a bad way necessarily but just like “yes, I will make you proud.” Again my parents are a lot more open about that than Quirin but idk, it just means something to me

24.) My freshman year of high school, I was like the only kid in my biology class that ever seemed to answer the teacher’s questions. I guess because science is my thing. But anyway this one day he shows us a picture of a dugong, which is an animal very similar to a manatee. And he asked if anyone knew what it was, so I raised my hand because I knew it. And he looked at me like “this again?” and he said “Really? You know what, let’s let some other students try to answer this one and we’ll come back to you.” So I put my hand down and leaned back in my chair like “alright, but good luck.” And he called on some other students who said anything from a manatee to a dolphin but no one got it right. So finally I put my hand back up and my teacher, who sounded really done at this point, said “alright, what do you think it is?” And I, with all the confidence in the world, said “it’s a dugong” and he was like, so surprised. He said “yeah, that’s actually right” and I felt rather smug about it and I’ll never forget it.

Oh! Also the time in 7th grade when I got a solo in choir for our Christmas concert. I was really shy and not prone to singing out very loudly (also I was in the alto section that year and those low notes were murder on my throat. I’m definitely a soprano but I didn’t know it then). But there was this solo that I really liked and I wanted to audition. And I was up there standing in line listening to the other girls singing it before me. And I got up to the front, and I wasn’t very popular in school and not a lot of the girls really knew me that well, so when it was my turn they were all sitting on the risers just talking to each other. And my choir director played the intro on the piano and I started singing and I kid you not the entire room went silent and they were all watching me. It was so scary and nerve wracking but I also felt very proud to have even tried. I wound up getting the solo in the song “Yes, Virginia” and because of it, I really grew a lot in my confidence after that

25.) My favorite holiday decoration is this Barbie ballerina Christmas ornament that I’ve had for as long as I can remember. It’s from the movie Barbie in the Nutcracker and it’s Barbie in this pretty pink and light green tutu with sparkles on the skirt and she’s doing some ballet pose. She is missing a hand but it’s because she’s well-loved. Every year I insist on it being the first ornament on the tree and I always place it very prominently so it can be easily seen and appreciated

Thanks for all the asks, Kazzy!

[doyelikehaggis]

Twelve Days of Rarepairs: Scanny | Scott McCall x Danny Mahealani (Teen Wolf)

Requested by @childofsquidward

The collie laying on the table is patient and docile as Scott finishes slotting the cone into place around her neck. She just stares up at him with big eyes, nudging against his hand with her nose.

Laughing, Scott rubs her head. Her tail gives a little wiggle in response.

"You know, you're the only one I've seen who isn't bothered by this thing," he tells her, scratching behind her ear. 

She just gives a playful yip in response. 

The bell rings over the front door, alerting Scott to someone entering the animal clinic. Somewhat pointless considering he heard the heartbeat first. But Lola's ears immediately perk up, and her tail bangs against the table.

Scott grins at Danny when he appears in the doorway, holding two festive coffee cups.

"You've been missed," he says.

Lola's already standing on the table, barking fondly at Danny. He laughs, and moves towards her, fuelling her excitement.

"By which one of you?" Danny jokes.

Scott's eyes widen. He opens his mouth, but he falters, and Danny's already focused on Lola again anyway. Heat rushes to his face. He quickly tries to regain some composure. 

"Hey, girl! Oh, you look so good!" Danny coos. "Did Dr. McCall take good care of you?"

Scott tries to bite back a smile and fails. He's getting used to hearing his friends call him Dr. McCall, more as a joke, but something about the way Danny says it gives him this fluttering in his chest.

So, when he first saw him at the start of December, it was a surprise. He'd practically disappeared off the face of the earth for two years, and then suddenly he was back in town for the holidays, to see his family and friends. 

But not only that, Scott hadn't quite realized just how attractive Danny is. Was he always that good-looking while they were at school together? Of course he was, everyone knew it. But Scott hadn't exactly been out to himself at that point, so seeing Danny back from New Orleans, even more tanned, with even more defined muscles—yeah, Scott might get a little nervous whenever he sees him now.

And it doesn't help that they seem to be seeing more of each other now than they did while at school. They run into each other in town. When Scott went back to fill in for Coach while he was away towards the end of the year, Danny just kept showing up, saying he was visiting a teacher to discuss something (he is, after all, in computer programming now, so it makes some semblance of sense), and they'd talk out on the field. He bmped into him while bringing his mom lunch at the hospital. 

Scott even saw him while out with Lydia two weeks ago. He was catching up with Jackson, who was also back in town for the holidays, like everyone else. 

And now at work, too. The universe seems to be playing some joke on him. He doesn't mind all that much, for once. As long as this isn't going to lead to him finding out that Danny's actually been turned into a vampire, or has been possessed by some new, evil spirit.

"Thank you," Danny says, lifting his eyes to Scott. Of course, Scott's still the one looking up at him, because it would appear Danny has had another growth spurt as well as everything else. 

Scott realizes he isn't answering. Just gazing. He grins, and hastily tries to not be totally obvious.

"Just doing my job," he says with a shrug. 

Danny rolls his eyes. "Yeah, but I know for a fact that this clinic should have been shut for the rest of the holidays. So, thank you for seeing her anyway."

Scott hesitates at that. "Well… you're a friend. And I had to come in today anyway. And—" he looks down at Lola, who's settled back down on the table, and gives her head another rub "—I couldn't just leave this one stranded on Christmas Eve."

"We both thank you, then." Danny then holds out one of the coffee cups. "A gesture to prove it."

"God, thank you," Scott says, gratefully accepting the cup and taking a drink. "I haven't had anything all day. Or since last night. Including sleep. I might be running on three Mountain Dews and a kitkat."

Danny raises his eyebrows in disbelief. "That… can't be good for you."

Scott just shrugs again. He'll probably feel the effects later on today, since it's currently only one-thirty in the afternoon. As long as he makes it to four to head to the station to see Stiles, then he can head back home and have a nap. And maybe food.

"I didn't know the life of a vet was so demanding."

"It's the holidays," Scott explains, taking another drink before continuing. The gingerbread-cinnamon-whatever is in this latte is the best thing he's ever had right now. "Lots of people want their pets better before Christmas and New Year. A lot of strays get found with bad injuries. Currently I have—"

Barking starts up from the dog room in the back. Scott smiles, gesturing towards the door as Lola once again perks up.

"—them. Eight labrador puppies. They're under a year old. Deaton and I were trying to get them rehomed before the holidays, but it didn't work out. That's why I was coming in to work anyway, since Deaton's out of town."

"Never mind, your job is clearly far more demanding than I thought." Danny smiles, glances down at Lola, then pauses. "Do you need a hand with them at all? They sound pretty eager for attention."

"Yeah, I was gonna take them out for a walk once I was finished up here," Scott says.

Danny's grin widens. "You planned to walk eight hyperactive labrador puppies by yourself? In the snow?"

Scott just gives another shrug. "They're not too hard to handle once they're outside."

The look Danny is giving him only intensifies the fluttery feeling in his chest. It's like something's tickling him from the inside. He can feel the heat beneath his skin, in his cheeks.

"Guess that whole Alpha thing really does give you an advantage, huh," Danny says, a certain teasing twinkle in his eyes but his grin sincere.

Scott has barely gotten used to the idea of Danny knowing about the supernatural at all, never mind him making casual comments about it. And especially not while he's looking at him like that.

"I don't know if it's anything to do with that," Scott says, shaking his head. "But… sometimes, yeah. It comes in handy."

Danny nods. The puppies are still barking in the back, trying to get Scott's attention.

"Well, I think Lola could use a walk after being so good about this," Danny says. He looks at Scott, smiling. "Mind if we join you? I can be pretty good with dogs, might help to take a couple off your hands for an hour."

Scott's eyebrows raise in surprise, and his heartbeat raises itself as well. 

"You… but—" he frowns, his head tilting with a confused smile "—it's Christmas Eve. Don't you wanna get back to your family?"

"They won't miss me for a little while," Danny says, brushing it off. Then, because he seems to be catching on, he rolls his eyes, and says, "Please? You helped me with Lola when you clearly already had your hands full. I wanna do more than get you coffee."

Scott's heart drops into his stomach and lurches right back up. He swallows, and tries to keep his mind on one track, biting his lip. 

"Uh… yeah," he breathes out before he can think twice. "You know what? That would be great. Thank you."

"No problem," Danny says, sincerely.

They get Lola to hop off the table, and head into the back room to get the others ready. Danny just laughs when he sees the little christmas hats Scott put on the ones that were happy to wear them.

As they're getting them all on their leashes, Danny casually adds, with a glance at Scott, "And if you were up for it, I'd like to get coffee with you sometime."

Scott accidentally clips the leash to his hand instead of the collar. He winces, quickly undoing it and fixing it to its right place instead. Then he looks over at Danny and his amused grin, his heart racing.

"Like—like a date?" he asks, hardly daring to believe that's what he means. Danny was never interested in him. Was he? 

Scott's quickly going through every interaction he's ever had with him.

"Exactly a date," Danny corrects. 

Scott's eyes are wide. His mouth opens, then closes. He wasn't prepared for this. Sure, the thought of Danny liking him back crosses his mind after Stiles and Lydia both insisted that he did after he told them about running into him all those times. But that doesn't mean he was prepared for it.

"You can say no," Danny says, giving another casual shrug as clips the last lead on to the last excited puppy. "I just thought I might as well ask. Waiting three years to do it was bad enough, I didn't want to seem totally pathetic by waiting four to at least know what you'd say."

"Three—what?" Scott asks in disbelief, sure that he must have somehow misheard. "You've wanted to ask me out for… three years?" 

"Like I said, it was starting to seem pathetic." Danny looks at him, holding his stare with a soft gaze. "But, Lydia told me that you came out last year, and after seeing you, I figured I should at least ask."

"Wow. Uh…" Scott's mind is a mess, and he can't sort his thoughts out. Except for one. "I'd love to."

Danny blinks, thrown off his own guard now. Apparently even he wasn't prepared. But he quickly recovers, as does Scott, smiles forming across both their faces.

"Go on a date with you, I mean," Scott says, as if it needs further elaboration. 

"Really?" Danny asks. "Uh… today?"

Scott's breath is knocked out of him, but he's already nodding again. "Yeah, absolutely."

He didn't think anything could make the fluttery feeling in his chest worse. Turns out, Danny smiling at him like he is right now is the thing that can. 

"Okay, great," he says. "Then let's get these guys out of here."

Scott happily agrees. They head out of the back door after making sure the front is locked up. It has to be an hour or more that passes as they walk the dogs through town, taking an open path into the woods, through the snow. The whole way, Scott and Danny are talking, and laughing, catching up on the years they missed and in between. 

[chidoroki]

Okay, so this is basically a follow up post to all the thoughts I had about season 2 the night before the first ep aired. You’re welcome to read it if you wish but I’ll let you know that it’s a mess and does contain manga spoilers. If you don’t wanna that’s perfectly fine, but the main thing I rambled on about was the possible episode count for season 2 and where in the story this season will end.

I’ll try to give a short version of that post now though. I was certain that we would get 24eps for the second season when it was first announced, especially due to the large gap of time in between when S1 ended and when S2 was originally going to start. I believed that a 24ep season would end at ch101, right before the two-year time skip. But then 2020 happened. Anime series got delayed and Cloverworks also has two other series premiering this January alongside TPN. So I thought another 12ep season was reasonable. Though if they wanna split up a 24ep season and give us the second cour over the summer I’d be perfectly fine with that too. The only reason why I had trouble wrapping my head around a 12ep season was.. where in the hell were they planning to end it? I had several ideas, which I mentioned in my other post with little more detail, but ch60, ch64, and ch74 were some of my guesses. Of course I would love to see Goldy Pond animated but with a 12ep season, I had my doubts. S1 adapted 37 chapters and if S2 were to at least reach ch96 then that would be the next 59 chapters, which seemed a bit much at first. Then came the issue with starting the possible next season with the time skip and eh, the idea didn’t sit well with me?

But now, after seeing the second season’s OP and first episode, I’m honestly reconsidering my original guess of ending at ch101, even if we get 12eps. Let’s start with the OP first. While it’s completely beautiful and I already love “Identity” with all my heart and soul, a couple things really stand out, some more obvious than not.

First off, Peter appears. His debut chapter is 73.

Then we get this shot of Phil, who doesn’t show up again until ch100.

Next up is Emma’s braid & hair-clips. Along with her fantastic Goldy Pond outfit, the clips first appear in ch75. However, she receives three from Sandy: blue, yellow & green. Not only is the blue clip missing, but her hair is now braided. This style didn’t appear until ch102.

Ch102 is.. post-time skip, which surprises me? I honestly never thought we would get a glimpse of that this season. Unless it’s an error perhaps? This other shot has Emma with the two clips & braided hair, but then you would think Ray would have his scarf here too, right? Neither of them look much older either.. maybe the anime just decided to go with two clips instead of three? I dunno.

But then you have Anna’s hair which is significantly longer here... which I’m pretty sure isn’t until post-time skip? I doubt it grew that long in between the events of Goldy Pond and the Cuvitidala search, since it was only what..5? 6 months? I tried to spot her during the ch102 flashbacks but didn’t see her, so pretty sure this is post.

And then we also see Yvette wearing her goggles, which also shows up post-time skip. Well, she actually obtains them mid-time skip, because there’s flashbacks of her with them in ch102, but also one that shows her without them that happens around July/August 2046.

I’m not trying to say that just because the OP shows us some future scenes/people/changes that we’ll actually reach that far this season. It would be nice, sure, but they could just be teasing us too. I know this is a minor detail and it shouldn’t prove much of anything, but they did give us real small cameos of Michelle & Olivia in the first ending, “Zettai Zetsumei,” and yet we didn’t see them in the flashback in s1ep10. 

So now I’m still on the fence a little bit. I mentioned before that I would love for Cloverworks to expand on the Cuvitidala search during the two year time skip, but would that work better at the very end of a season or at the start of one? Who knows.

Speaking of seasons, the first episode of this one? Can you believe we’re already at ch45? I knew all the action would go by at an alarming fast pace, compared to the dialogue heavy S1, but damn. And that was with some of the added anime scenes! Granted, they also heavily changed the snakes of alvapinera and took out Isabella’s scene from ch38 completely but.. yeah. Although, I’m seriously hoping they include her scene at some point in the future? Because how could you forget this wonderful woman? I’m grateful they gave us that quick glimpse of her in the OP (with her hair down still! so i thank the anime staff for that at least!) but come on.. I was really looking forward to seeing her again, darn it.

One thing I’m sure about is that we’re reaching shelter B06-32 and seeing our favorite father figure because, hello.. the shelter jackets!

Speaking of the geezer, I was also actively looking for him throughout the OP, but had no such luck. I saw some people think he appears in the above mentioned screenshot, I think? but I counted 15 heads, so I believe it’s just the GF escapees here. Why everyone else is wearing them aside from only Emma & Ray.. I have no clue, but they all look nice!

Also, that screenshot got me thinking (as if i didn’t just do a whole bunch of that again already) more about Goldy Pond at the OP itself. While the opening sequence didn’t currently give us any large hints that arc will happen anytime soon, I could see Cloverworks updating it to incorporate the many characters that have yet to make an appearance. I think these two shots could easily be changed by replacing the escapees with the GP Resistance and showing the poachers instead of the wild demons.

Not only there, but any other group shot could work out too. Of course “Identity” would stick around as the song (because it’s an absolute banger) since I don’t see any point in having it last less than 12eps? Yes I know, S1 switched up the ending songs and “Lamp” only showed up for 3eps, but shhh.

Anyways, that’s enough out of me. (also r.i.p to all the extra pages i hoped would get animated. no such luck so far because the anime seems to be flying by like hayato.)

[moldychocc]

saccharine | a seccolata playlist

pronouns and stuff are adjusted x)   [ the link is  h e r e  ]

saccharine — jazmin bean: everything you do/ i'm obsessed with you/i don't mean to scare/ but you're just so cute/ every move you make/ you're fucking sweeter than a cake/i wanna cut you up/ and put you in my oven just to bake/ this shit is scaring me/ the thought of caring/ for anyone makes me want to scream/ looking at you makes me wanna/ gouge out my eyes/ bloody surprise/ like cherry pie/ will you be mine?/ saccharine, feeling kind of sick vomit in my teeth/ i don't want this responsibility

baby eyes — green day: they say my middle name is danger/ the guy you keep away from strangers / i’m out of control/ oh baby when i see your pretty face/ god rest your fucking soul/ 'cause baby, baby I was born to kill

prescription — mindless self indulgence: i'm the doctor, i'm the patient/ don't forget that, it's important/ if ya love me, like i love me/ everybody will be sorry

nine inch nails — closer: i broke apart my insides/ help me/ i've got no soul to sell/ i wanna fuck you like an animal/ i wanna feel you from the inside/ my whole existence is flawed/ you get me closer to god

fuck time — green day: take a look into my eyes/ i wanna hold you 'til you're paralyzed/ oh baby, baby, it's fuck time/ you know i really want to make you mine

dna — little mix: no scientist or biology/ it’s only natural that i'm so affected/ and my heart won't beat again/ if i can't feel him in my veins/ no need to question, i already know/ it's in his dna

turn me on — nicki minaj: doctor, doctor, need you back home/ doctor doctor, where you at? give me something/i need your love, i need your loving/ you got that kind of medicine that keeps me coming

the dismemberment song — blue kid: hold still, my sweet/ i'm trying to measure the space between your molar and your jaw/ this caliper– no cause for fear/ no, it... it doesn't hurt/ it only helps me measure how much skin you have

can’t decide — scissor sisters: i can't decide/ whether you should live or die/ you'll probably go to heaven/ please don't hang your head and cry/ no wonder why/ my heart feels dead inside/ it's cold and hard and petrified/ lock the doors and close the blinds/ we're going for a ride

culling of the fold — the decemberists: cut him up boy/ he's a wicked disgrace/ and he said it to your face/ you better cut him up boy/ take him by the teeth/ get him down on his knees/ with your hands all shaking

what do they know? — mindless self indulgence: beat me up/ beat me down/ mess me up/ beyond all recognition/ for what it's worth/ i'd do it again/ with no consequence/ i will do it again

adrenalize — in this moment: i must confess i'm addicted to this/ shove your kiss straight through my chest/ i can't deny, i'd die without this/ make me feel like a god

love buzz —  shocking blue: would you believe me when i tell you/ you're the king of my heart/ please don't deceive me when I hurt you/ just ain't the way it seems

cascade — siouxsie and the banshees: the air was shining/ shining like a wedding ring/ barbed like sex/ i felt ten thousand volts/ my chest was full of eels/ pushing through my usual skin/ i opened up new wounds/ pouting, shouting

tear you apart — she wants revenge: he wanted her and this was bad/ he wanted to do things to him it was making him crazy/ now a little crush turned into a like/ and now he wants to grab him by the hair and tell her/ i want to hold you close/ skin pressed against me tight/ lie still, and close your eyes, boy/ i want to fucking tear you apart

drain you — nirvana: i don't care what you think unless it is about me/ it is now my duty to completely drain you/ chew my meat for you/ pass it back and forth in a passionate kiss/ from my mouth to yours/ i like you

touch — lights fade low: no one will stain you/ no one will pain you/ i'll keep you clean until my end/ no one will hurt you/ the way that i hurt you/ nothing will feel the same again

polly — nirvana: i think she wants some water/ to put out the blowtorch / let me clip your dirty wings/ let me take a ride, cut yourself/ want some help, please myself

qual — xmal deutschland: deine qual ist meine lust/ meine liebe ist dein tod/ nachts wenn du schläfst bin ich lebendig/ mein tag ist deine dämmerung/ meine wiege ist dein grab

clown — switchblade symphony: crying loud, you are crawling on the floor/ just a beautiful baby/ you're nothing more/ close your eyes/ you are crawling into sleep/ i swear i won't break you/ if you let me take you/ where the willows never weep

church of no return — Christian death: in the beginning there was sinning/ and in the end, well, let's pretend/ blessed is the fruit i dare you/ to take another bite of it/ and somehow i think you will/ in spite of it

bloody mary — lady gaga: love is just a history that they may prove/ and when you're gone/ i'll tell them my religion's you

spiritual cramp — christian death: crosses burn your temples on slaughter avenue/ it takes too much time to say 'i refuse'/ time is digging graves for the chosen few/ children dig graves for me and you/ describe the illness i'll prescribe the cure

cavity - first communion — christian death: nailing you to the wall/ nailing you to the spanish mystic/ i sit and hold hands with myself/ i sit and make love to myself/ i've got blood on my hands/ i've got blood on your hands

where did you sleep last night — nirvana: my boy, my boy, don't lie to me/ tell me where did you sleep last night

lithium — nirvana: i'm so happy/ 'cause today I found my friends/ they're in my head/ and i'm not scared, light my candles/ in a daze 'cause i've found god/ i like it, i'm not gonna crack/ i miss you, i'm not gonna crack/ i love you, i'm not gonna crack/ i killed you, i'm not gonna crack

carpe diem — green day: carpe diem, a battle cry/ are we all too young to die?/ making a living/ making a killing/ what's worth forgiving?

dirty rotten bastards — green day: calling all the demons, this is the season/ next stop is therapy/ we're the retarded and the brokenhearted/ the season of misery/ gonna take it further/ get away with murder/ and no one here is getting out alive

witness — mindless self indulgence (yes, unironically. no, i’m not writing down the lyrics.)

brain stew — green day: my mind is set on overdrive/ the clock is laughing in my face/ a crooked spine, my senses dulled/ passed the point of delirium/ on my own, here we go

minority — green day (my big cio song!!): i pledge allegiance to the underworld/ a face in the crowd unsung, against the mold/ without a doubt singled out the only way I know/ 'cause I want to be the minority/ i don't need your authority/ down with the moral majority

dr. feelgood — mötley crüe (dealer cio dealer cio dealer cio): i've got one thing you'll understand/ he’s not what you'd call a glamorous man/ got one thing that's easily understood/ he’s the one they call dr. feelgood

ich will — rammstein: ich will dass du mir vertraut/ ich will dass du mir glaubt/ ich will deine blicke spüren/ ich will jeden herzschlag kontrollieren/ ich will deine phantasie/ ich will deine energie/ ich will deine hände sehen/ ich will in beifall untergehen

gimme chocolate — babymetal: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

candy candy — kyary pamy pamyu (see above)

body — mother mother: take my eyes, take them aside/ take my face, and desecrate/ my arms and legs/ they get in the way

spellbound — siouxsie and the banshees: from the cradle bars/ comes a beckoning voice/ it sends you spinning/ you have no choice/ following the footsteps/ of a rag doll dance/ spellbound

someone’s in the wolf — queens of the stone age: he steps between the trees, a crooked man/ there's blood on the blade/ don't take his hand/ tempt the fates, beware the smile/ it hides all the teeth, my dear/ what's behind them/ so glad you could stay/ forever

gutter glitter — switchblade symphony: iridescent eyes, of the seahorse rise/ treasure he loves, others despise/ braceletes of silver adorn my wrists/ candy kissed from sugar lips

l’insetto — hiroshima mon amour: io voglio il cuore, io voglio il sangue/ voglio bruciare, voglio uscire/ io voglio andare dove mi porta la coscienza/ di essere un insetto/ voglio fuggire, voglio tornare/ é sempre il tempo per sognare/ ed ai miei occhi un fiore è differente/ un insetto è differente dagli occhi di un insetto

a day — clan of xymox: where are you/ when i am needing you… so far away/ i think you're the most important to me to me/ my sunken footsteps put themselves on/ through this gallery of deceased

restless heart syndrome — green day: i've got a really bad disease/ it's got me begging on my hands and knees/ so, take me to emergency/ 'cause something seems to be missing/ i'm elated, medicated/ lord knows i've tried to find a way/ to run away/ you’d be surprised what I endure

wallflower — switchblade symphony: something is happening underneath the ground/ for he’s been waiting to bloom/ thinking and wondering/ of his climb up to the sun/ “let me grow… the soil, it strangles me”

[chaoticriderlessb]

“Camp Cretaceous” Season 2 Review

 As the title says, this is what this post is gonna be about xD. And, unless I’m very stupid (which is entirely possible), but the whole “Under the Cut” option for spoilers no longer seems to exist. Sooo....

SPOILER ALERT!!! For this whole post, just in case.

 Alright, first off, I just wanna say this show has surprised me, yet again. I was concerned that this season was going to feel very rushed and turn out disappointing since the date for it was so soon after season 1. Because as I’ve probably said in my last review of this show...usually, when things get a date that soon after the first season/movie/book/whatever, they don’t turn out quite well, most of the time. So yeah, the date for this 2nd season did make me feel really skeptical. However! I binged it, today, and was genuinely surprised that it turned out to be just as good as the first season! Maybe even better!

 I’ll try not to make this review as long as my last one ^^;.

 Anyway, first off (again, but for realz or whatever), I knew that Ben was going to come back. I noticed the twitch in his fingers at the very end of season 1. So I saw that coming. What I didn’t see coming was his kinda sudden character development (if that’s what it’s called...I dunno, I’m no expert on the whole character development thing ^^;). He went from a very skittish boy to like, Tarzan. Lol! He grew a pair, and I’m a little proud of him xD. Then again, I guess that’s what being alone and surviving like that with lack of sleep will do to you. I also loved how big and powerful Bumpy grew up to be! And protective! I mean, of course, she kinda did imprint on the boy (or is it the other way around?), just as how Blue was protective of Owen. I just love those sort of bonds in wild animals and humans that they share (I’m being a nerd, please ignore me xD).

 Oh! Blue! I love that they gave her a bit more screen-time! Just like the first season, her screen-time only lasted about a second...but she had more scene cuts like that than she did in the first season! I kinda hope she’ll make more of an appearance in season 3 (yes, I read that apparently, season 3 is probably a strong possibility), and if she does, I hope she’ll actually have a full scene with her in the spotlight, if that makes any sense. She is just like, my top most favorite character in the Jurassic World movies (with Rexy coming in second).

 Speaking of Rexy, our old girl is as badass as frickin’ always! Her roars will forever give me the chills (I’m still so happy that they kept all the dinosaur sounds from all the movies. I find it interesting that she had pretty much made Main Street her little home. I was confused about her making a nest, though. Like, she an old lady, why does she need a nest xD? On a different note, maybe I just didn’t see them...but, I noticed that she did not have her scars. That confused me because since I didn’t see any of her scars, I wasn’t sure if it was actually her...or, if there has actually been a 2nd T-Rex on the island that nobody knew about (that’s unlikely, though). But she’s supposed to have scars, people! She’s a fighter, and has been in some tough battles! Lol!

 I liked that the people who made this show brought back Toro. Even for only two scenes, and Ben had gone up against her in his story of what had happened after the end of the first season. The Ceratosaur making an appearance did kinda surprise me, as the last time I saw that dinosaur, she was in the 3rd Jurassic Park movie (please don’t at me about that, I grew up with all 3 of those movies). I mean, I saw her in the season 2 trailer, but honestly, she had such a small clip in said trailer that I forgot about her ^^;. Even in this show, she didn’t really make too much of an appearance as I had thought she would.

 The Baryonyxes. This trio were very interesting antagonists! I actually liked them, a lot! And I’m not really much of a Baryonyx fan (probably because growing up, I never really paid it too much mind as I did Velociraptors and Tyrannosaurs. I only remember seeing 1 Baryonyx in the Jurassic World movies, but she only got a little bit of screen-time. Now that I think about it...it might’ve been the two siblings in “Fallen Kingdom...because I think one of them died when the volcano exploded, and the other one was carried onto one of those ships. I could be totally wrong, though...but after watching this season, it would kinda make sense and an interesting theory. Anyway, I went off-track, there. Main point being: Baryonyx, very interesting antagonist, actually terrifying. I was not expecting them to sound like that, either. Maybe I’m just crazy, but they sounded just a little bit like the Indominous! Maybe.... 

 I was not expecting poachers to be in this show, at all. I’m actually very against poachers...I feel like they’re the reason some certain animals are going extinct. But anyway, that was an interesting reveal! I was suspicious of them from the get-go, but I honestly thought that they would turn out to be working for Manticore. The show did a good job on making me constantly second-guess this couple! I never liked them, to begin with, simply because I felt something off about them...but they were just horrible people! The woman, I forget her name, was the worst of the two, or so she turned out. She seemed to be the one actually in charge of things. Lemme tell you, when she killed one of the Baryonyxes, I literally had a “uhhhmmm” moment because I just knew that her actions were going to come around right back to her...literally. My heart actually went out to the other two Baryonyxes because it was just...a bit of a roller-coaster of emotions, there! The woman later on left her husband for dead (now, that’s just a douche move). But ya know...what goes around comes around! So, I wasn’t shocked when the two Baryonyxes made their way onto her boat.

 Yeah.... Karma is a bitch.

 What I really liked about this season was that it threw in so many elements of the first Jurassic Park movie. I loved that! I haven’t seen the movie in a really long time, so those elements in this season was a nice quick nostalgia ride for me. Raptors in the kitchen (though, in the show’s case, Baryonyx in the lab), the watering hole (I think that was in the first movie, but I could be very wrong), Rexy with the flipped over Jurassic Park (World) vehicle...all of it was amazing to see!

 I talked a lot about the dinosaurs, sorry ^^;!

 The kids were great, of course. Honestly, I feel like there isn’t too much to say about the humans, this season. The kids get along, well, and prove to be a great team, Kenji is...well, Kenji xD, and like I said, Ben coming back was expected but still great to watch. One thing I also liked was that the kids realized and pretty much implied about what had happened to the Indominous.

 To close this review off, I have just one question in mind about something that has me totally thrown off and kinda desperate for answers.... What in the hell is in that locked room in the lab?!?! What was cooked up that the show is so implying to be incredibly scary and dangerous?! Is it another I-Rex or is it a I-Raptor or a half-dino, half-human creature?! What?! Dr. Wu?! Explain, please!

 Ok, I’m done with my confused ranting xD.

 That is my review for season 2 of “Camp Cretaceous”! I am curious to see what season 3 will bring and what the kids will do, now, since they’ve decided to no longer wait for people to come rescue them. I’m also curious to see what sort of dinosaurs season 3 will bring. That is all if season 3 does get decided to become a thing. 

 Until next time! Later! 

[borisbubbles]

17. CZECH REPUBLIC

Benny Christo - “Kemama”

So first off, thank you for the nice commens. 😇The past few months haven’t been the happiest time for me, so thank you for your patience as I scraped my bearings together for another post! 😁

So I will now extend that same sympathy to Benny Christo, whom I think I damn fucking underrated. Let’s jump in~

ENTRY ANALYSIS

As one may expect i INSTANTLY liked “Kemama” because you know, it’s a fun, laid-back, tropical afro-breeze, completely different from anything else we would see in NFs and the year. EXACTLY the type of song I was hoping the Czech NF would deliver (and deliver they did, see NF Corner). This level of mild like swung into strong unironic like upon realizing that the title is a contraction of “Okay Mother” 😍 and the song deals with the subject of overcoming racially-tinged discrimination and rising above the hate. That just feels very poetic and apt? “Kemama” felt like the entry that had to overcome the highest odds in order to earn the respect it so fully deserves, and still hasn’t fully reached it.

.In our Western European bubble, comprised mostly of gays and left-liberal straights, we have a very grateful and universal acceptance of many different kinds of [lizard] people that make up Eurovision casts. Yet with “Kemama” we may have reached  an unusually grimy undercurrent of coded racism. 

Of course nothing I read was outrageously rancid, than Cod for that. The worst statement I read was a double-whammy of “EWW THIS ISN’T CARIBBEANVISION” and “WHY WOULD SOMEONE FROM *KENYA* WANT TO REP CZECHIA IN EUROVISION?”, and yes they first got the continent wrong and then *also* got the country wrong in the follow-up post and then they were torn limb from limb by a pack of aformentioned left-liberals. I’m sorry but i can’t not have any other response than laughter in the face of yet another fucking MORON faceplanting themselves with words like a... racist JK Rowling if you will?

Still, while I never read something outright vile about Benny doesn’t mean I found his deniers really annoying and they were! Think “Ew Solovey is ‘Too Aggressive’ it will NEVER DO WELL IN ESC”, a statement that isn’t coded nor racist (and yet extremely false and misguided), functioned as a similar idea by the same minds. A statement borne from the same breed of narrow-minded stubbornness which has caused elitist morons to be all “there is **SOMETHING** about “Kemama” i do *NOT* like and I cannot lay my finger on it... but I **DO NOT** like it at ALL. It won’t ever qualify because everyone will think the same way I do” -- Eurovision snobs, tiptoeing around racial coda in January 2020.

 They would also insist that Benny was “arrogant” because he was seemingly impervious to their (de)constructive criticism. Like, if you were a biracial butterfly living in a slavic country who had to deal with statements such as the above on a regular basis, you WOULD block out the noise. And if you heard them often enough you will start to block them out pre-emptively. DO YOU NOT KNOW HOW COPING MECHANISMS WORK?? (oh wait you’re white-privileged. Nevermind 🙄)

 So naturally, when Benny decided that he would revamp “Okay Mother” by adding in MORE African elements it only made me love him even more lol. 😍 Was it a bull-headed, contrarian and possibly really stupid decision? Yes, yes and absolutely yes. Was it worth it? Well he managed to incite even more meltdowns in a group of people I feel nothing but contempt for, so hell yeah? Eurovision was cancelled anyway so who cares how much ‘worse’ “Kemama” actually got. 

Okay, so we’ve arrived at the revamp.

Granted, it wasn’t the best ‘vamp, I’d be a fool to deny it. The new elements threw a wrench in the melodic balance of the song. Out went tropical laid-back fun, IN went that fucking guitar oh my god this is some Hotel FM piano levels of overbearing I swear. (nb: this still didn’t stop me from ironically stanning Hotel FM’s lame asses anyway 😍). However, it made the personal backstory that I loved and savoured take a backseat to the now inferior composition. 😭

Regardless, New Kemama was fundamentally the same song, and I fundamentally liked Old Kemama, so whatevs, it made no different to me. In the eyes of many Eurovision diehards we were experiencing WORST PRESHOW SEASON EVER (after three songs... lol) and nothing clinches this brainworm more than a revamp announcement. “OH MY GOD HE WILL RUIN IT! I CAN GUARANTEE YOU I *WON’T* LIKE IT”. Self-fulfilling prophecies, ya know? It certainly didn’t help when the official channel accidentally uploaded a vid with broken soundmixing (‘OMG HORRIBLE LAST IN THE SEMI!!!!’ calm the ever-loving HELL down) and took another FULL WEEK to upload the correct vid. The damage had already been done. Typing "SEE I TOLD YOU THE REVAMP WOULD BE SHITE HA HA HA” in the Kemama comment box really just is the ESC equivalent of reponding with “Actually, *all* lives matter :smug:” to a BLM support pamphlet, isn’t it?

NF CORNER

While not my favourite NF of the bunch, I found the Czech NF to be lowkey epic. Not epic enough to remember its name but regardless Czechvision or whatever marked the end of an era because it was also the last selection spearheaded by Jan Bors :o

I think I’ve made it clear enough in the past that I’m somewhat mixed on Bors Era Czechia - Lake Malawi were a toetapping good, Ickolas was a pockmarked, skin-crawling evil and the other three inhibit a purgatory somewhere between “moderately nice” and “moderate timewaste.”

Still, I have great respect for the man who orchestrated Czech’s comeback after scoring NINE POINTS TOTAL across three years with the mindset of “So what? Why says we can’t win?” so ofc I was all into the idea of the “EIGHT INDIE ANGELS, HAND-PICKED BY BORS HIMSELF” NF that would serve as his swan song.

Naturally things went down the drain the second Bors left, with one of the eight peacing and his successor cancelling the live broadcast (does anyone remember what exactly happened? I vaguely recall one was the cause of the other but lol it’s July can’t be bothered to factscheck (Factsczeck?) anymore, bitches.

Anyway, ON TO THE GOOD STUFF, and yes, there was plenty.

We All Poop - “ All the Blood (Positive Song Actually)”

Yes, as you can imagine I ofc IMMEDIATELY fell into like when I saw that chyron and invisioned the inevitability of the Czech Rep’s Rep immediately alienating every parent just based on their name alone <3 😍 w/e WAP quickly became that “Good but not great” song you find in every NF that everyone gushes over because it’s the whitest option available. Like, yes, “All the blood” is good, but musically it’s identical to Green Day and Twenty-One Pilots and god name ANY 90s-early00′s American Punk Rock band. For me the enjoyment came from the fact that WAP were openly crazy vegan fundamentalists and the VC clip actively condemns the use ANY animal protein by replacing the cattle and game with LITERAL HUMAN BEINGS. 😍 :fusedmarcintensifies: :kasiamosage:

Pam Rabbit - “Get up”

Ohhhh YES a glorious experimental Synth-Trap song only I could love and ofc I did. God what is there even to say; the provocative darkness of the verses combined with the swirling amorphousness of the chorus gives me LIFE. LUFF THIS SHIT <3333 Ftr, this was also the fave of Slovene Juror duo / synth angels / Boris faves ZALAGASPER, further proving their pathetic naysayers that they own all things music and the haters can suck a series of-

Barbora Mochowa - “White and Black Holes“

Lol, yes even with a “Get up” existing, there was a song I liked even more. Barbora proved a very competent Lana del Gay last year, but I was a YUGE fan of this year’s... Kate Bush-Björk blend of ethereal awesome. It is so soothingly beautiful and the rare example of a song that I find completely free of flaws. Were the competition not such a hard place, I’d be pissed she didnt win (at least she won the jury vote MASSIVE KUDOS to every alum on that) but w/e this selection had opions and I’m rather robbed of a “Kemama” than I am of a BRILLIANT IRREPLICABLE AETHERBALLAD. ~Danse balance sûr les white and black holes~

Elis Mraz & Cis T - “Wanna be like”

I *VERY* strongly felt that if the Czech Republic wanted to win ESC, they should have picked Elis and even now I STILL believe she could have won. That isn’t to say I gushed over “Wanna be like” because I find it kind of annoying lol. Yes, I LOVE an annoying female voice (:Tones&Icackle:) but Elis’s reaches a Camilla Cabello sort of place for me (good lord get Senorita OFF the fucking radio) and the Scat + White Guy Rapping middle-eight. 😬. However, the second I opened up the video clip for this paragraph and was immediately BLASTED by Elis murdering a ukelele and wearing a  “schoolgirl” outfit straight from a Japanese tentacle porn movie and OH MY GOD THE AGGRESSIVE TWERKING made me reconsider that hey, this min-sized Meghan Traynor actually kinda highkey owns, yo!  Yet, I’m not at all bothered we lost her in the Czech NF because we got UNO DOS QUATRO CINCO SEIS :fatmansplit: fill up the megameme slot instead, so...

Eurovision 2020 vs Eurovision 2021

BENNY RUINED HIS SONG AND NEVER WOULD HAVE QUALIFIED. jk I’m not a moron. Sure, “Kemama” wasn’t an easy sell because you know AFROBEAT in a contest where half of the people watching are fash (ie: all of Eastern Europe, who watch out of ~Nationalistic Sentiment~ 😬), but there are Kemama live renditions out there and he owns them SO hard lol. A few soundmixing issues really would not have stopped Benny from qualifying in that RIDICULOUSLY WEAKSAUCE SEMIFINAL are you fucking kidding me. He probably would’ve bombed in the Grand Final, but I mean it’s Czech and it’s not Ickolas so ofc it would have.

And Czech renewed him for 2021 regardless of the sceptics, woohoo! I think part of it was due the Czech not wanting to re-organize an ENTIRE NF from scratch without Jan Bors, but probably also because Benny owns live when he isn’t engaged in psychological trench warfare with actual human detritus <3 and also because the Czech fucking CARE about their artists and don’t drop them like a sack of rotten potatoes wtfshitprus.

Can’t wait for the moment when he qualifies and Efendi does not, etc, etc. 

FREAKY! FRIDAY! FACTOR!

I’d say that the core around which the Ben Drama spun was pretty standard fare: niche fave beats out the concensus fave, meltdowns ensue, people convince themselves it was the WRONG decision because it wasn the result they wanted, try to disown the song and make a fool of themselves because the song slaps, sorry. Even the revamp drama felt more of less generic for me, because yawn fantards melting down over a revamp of a song they don’t even like what else is new.  

However, what I do take away that the revamp was ENTIRELY Benny’s idea which he told no one about (cue to JAN BORS having a social media meltdown like he’s Caesar at the Ides of March 💔) added MORE afrobeat just to troll his haters even more <3  God, I’d say it was bad from a musical perspective but this level of in-your-face defiance is fucking iconic and hilarious, sorry. This entire this year is so batshit bonkers that the concept of a someone potentially shooting themselves in the foot and “torpedo’ing” their qualification chances  (not rly, he would’ve Q’d anyway lol) JUST to take the moral high ground in a racially coded argument only HE took seriously may not even be the craziest concept in the year! (lol it definitely isn’t. Look at the pics I haven’t greyed out yet)

This and more yield Benny some well-earned Senheads! Yay!! 

Score: 3 Senhits out of 5.

[ethospathoslogan]

there will come a poet: chapter six (a vampire sanders sides fanfiction)

A/N: thank you all so much for your patience!! i didn’t expect for this chapter to take ten days to be published, but life is crazy like that!!! also my twin legend was inspired by gothic fiction!!!!

summary: “How would you two like to go hunting with us?”

ships: eventual moxiety and logince

WC: 6,025

read on ao3

start from the beginning / previous chapter / next chapter

i made a spotify playlist because i have no chill

taglist: @iwillsithereandtrytocontribute , @glitchybina , @ab-artist , @daring-elm , @crazydemigod666

----------------------------------------------------

As Patton and Logan were coming down the main staircase later that day, they were met with Janus coming out from around the hall.

“Well, would you look at that?” And he clasped his gloved hands together. “Just the two people I was looking for.”

Patton was barely even able to register Logan’s own wide-eyed stare as his own mind spiralled out. He had already known, or at least had assumed, that Janus didn’t trust him. To have heard it confirmed, though, and that things could’ve gone much differently…

Patton gripped the railing, forcing himself to smile. “Oh, well, uh, here we are!”

Janus arched an eyebrow, eyeing the two of them. “Please, contain your excitement,” he drawled. “I know I can’t.”

Logan straightened his posture. “What do you require?”

Janus studied Logan, narrowing his eye. “It has been so long since we’ve had an advisor around here,” he mused. “I forgot how difficult it could be to talk to princes.”

“There’s always time to learn again,” Logan said.

“Is everything alright, Janus?” Patton interjected with a smile before… anything else could happen.

Janus turned back to him. “Quite,” he said. “We actually have a… proposal for the two of you. So-” And he gestured back down the hallway to the sitting room “-If you two would care to join?”

Patton and Logan shared a look, and Patton allowed himself to be the one who took the first step forward.

Janus smirked. “Wonderful.”

Following Janus down the hall, Patton could hear the twins having a low discussion and, as they neared the doorway, he finally caught snippets of what they were saying.

“-collar is a bit messed up, there,” Remus was saying. “Wanna fix that?”

A hesitation. “Artistic intent, Remus,” Roman said, his voice clipped. “I would know.”

“Whatever you say! Just thought you’d want to check it out.”

When the three of them rounded into the sitting room, they found the other three brothers waiting for them. Virgil, sitting in the desk chair, had one leg pulled up to his chest and, with the other, was rocking the chair back and forth. At first distracted by the twins sitting across from the mirror that took up the far wall (Remus smirking and Roman glaring as he fumbled with his collar), his attention shifted to Patton as he entered, followed by Logan and Janus.

Roman’s eye caught them as well and he replaced his glare with a grin. “Our guests! Hope the day is treating you well?”

“It’s fine,” Logan said. Patton noted how he looked between Roman and the mirror, most definitely noting his lack of a reflection, and was incredibly thankful when he didn’t say anything.

Remus, looking over his shoulder, flashed a jagged grin. “Glad to see Janus brought you here in one piece!”

“Glass houses, Remus,” Janus warned, taking a seat in one of the remaining chairs. “Don’t want to sully the… opportunity we’re about to give our guests, no?”

Remus, laughing, threw his hand to his chest. “I would never!”

“Well neither of you are helping,” Roman muttered under his breath.

“Can we just cut to the chase?” Virgil rushed out from the back of the room, his eyes narrowing. “Or are you all changing your minds?”

Roman huffed. “We already decided, Virgil.”

“Oh, really? Did we? Because I don’t think everyone’s opinion was-”

“Now you two aren’t helping!” Remus interrupted with a laugh before turning his grin back to Patton and Logan. “How would you two like to go hunting with us?”

The room fell silent.

Patton, lost for words, turned to Logan, and found him the same.

Janus sighed. “Not how I would have phrased that,” he said, shooting a quick glare at Remus, “But… yes. You two have chosen to remain here, thus meaning you are not prisoners. This you know, yes?”

“Yes, absolutely!” Patton confirmed, nodding. When Logan stayed silent, he hoped his answer worked well enough for the both of them.

“Good,” Janus said, though Patton didn’t miss how he glanced at Logan (and he assumed that Logan did not miss it, either). “Because of that, we thought we should give you the… opportunity to go outside the kingdom walls.”

“The vines?” Logan questioned.

“Precisely.” Janus leaned back in his chair. “Being… what we are, we have to hunt every couple of days.” One of them must have pulled a face, for he rolled his eyes. “Don’t be so dramatic, it’s animals.”

“Okay,” Patton said slowly. “Where do we come in?”

“It’s simple,” Janus said with a shrug. “You’re guests in our home, we’re doing our best to provide. But I hope you won’t be surprised when I say that our pantries aren’t as luxurious as they once were. Of course, we can find things in the forest, but don’t you think you deserve a say?”

“And this is where I come in,” Remus said, leaning forward over the arm of the loveseat, “Because I know these woods better than anyone else here!”

“So Remus will be your… guide, per se,” Janus explained.

Logan arched an eyebrow. “You’re sending him out with us?”

“Logan!” Patton scolded.

“Patton, I’ll have you remember that he was preparing to attack me in these same woods!”

“Oh, but I’ve changed!” Remus said with an exaggerated pout.

Logan slid him a heavy glare.

“Don’t worry,” Roman piped up. “I’m going, too!”

“As a bodyguard?” Virgil, monotone, asked, raising an eyebrow.

Remus sighed dramatically. “And here I thought it was because you couldn’t have one without the other!”

“You know we can wait until tonight, right?” Virgil asked, looking to Janus. “The four of us can’t go together anyway, so why don’t they just-”

Janus gave Virgil a pointed look. “I already told you, Virgil. If they agree, they go out when the sun is up. I’m sure, together, Roman and Remus are smart enough to work around the setting sun. And, of course, you could offer to go now, but if I’m remembering correctly, you don’t really like going out when the sun is up!”

Adding to his brother’s words, Remus gave Virgil a smile. "We'll be just fine!"

Virgil, choosing to stay silent, instead glared at his older brothers and settled back into his chair, continuing his tilting back and forth.

Ever so slightly, Remus’s smile faltered.

“To get back on track,” Janus continued, calling Patton and Logan's attention back to him, “We are giving you two the opportunity to venture outside of these walls.” His gaze then hardened. “I would hope that, because we are showing you this trust, you would respect the hospitality we are giving you and not… try anything.”

Without even having to say it, Patton understood the threat behind Janus’s words.

Still, though, it was trust. Whether an inch or a mile, Patton wouldn’t discredit that.

“I understand,” he said, quietly, before looking at Logan. “We understand.”

“Are we... doing this?” Logan asked

“I- I think we should,” he said.

“And, for what it’s worth,” Roman interjected, “This isn’t some… elaborate ruse or anything.”

“It’d be a shitty ruse,” Remus added.

“And a stain on my- our reputation.” Roman flashed a smirk to the two of them.

Logan raised an eyebrow but, nonetheless, looked back to Patton and nodded. “Very well, then.”

Patton—deciding that it was better to shelve the discussion of whether or not Logan actually wanted to do this—turned back to Janus with a smile.

“So it’s decided,” Janus said. Then, looking to the twins, he raised an eyebrow. “And I expect you two to behave.”

“Always do,” the twins quipped, each with a grin, before shooting each other furtive looks.

Virgil covered a snort with a cough.

“Great,” Janus deadpanned. Then, to Patton and Logan, with a chilling smile, “I will see you when you return.”

Even as Patton was being led out of the castle by Roman and Remus, Logan closely shadowing him, he could still feel the weight of Janus’s unspoken threat on his shoulders.

“Well, isn’t this exciting!” Roman beamed over his shoulder as he led them down the spiral steps.

“Maybe we’ll even show you two the gory bits,” Remus added with a wink.

Roman’s grin dropped to a scowl as he looked forward, quickening his step. “Behave, Remus,” he sing-songed.

“I could say the same to you,” Remus mocked back, following his brother’s tone and inflection.

“Is this bickering between you two common?” Logan asked, raising an eyebrow.

Patton lightly smacked his arm. “Logan, be nice!”

Roman laughed as they reached the courtyard, turning with a clap of his hands to face Logan as he continued to walk backwards. “Don’t worry, Patton, I like the bluntness!”

“Are you going to answer his question?” Remus asked.

“Well, I’m getting to-”

“Because I can!” Remus, too, then turned to face the two of them.”And we all know what they say about twins!”

Patton bristled and, besides him, Logan tensed as well.

Of course they had. It was a legend that traversed the country, based off of the belief that, at one point, a set of twins were meant to be one person. Yet, becoming two, all the “good” was thought to be in the first-born, while all the “bad” was said to be in the second, following their eldest twin in hopes of squandering that good. Among the kingdoms, twins were meant to be a sign of a true struggle between good and evil, a test meant to prove which will come out victorious. 

Patton could recount the tales told to him as a child of twins fighting to their end, only one living to ever see a throne. 

“We’re meant to destroy each other,” Remus continued when no one else spoke up, his tone too glib and his smile too casual. “So, perhaps this bickering is common!”

“We should keep going,” Roman mumbled, turning back around as they neared the barrier.

Patton had to admit, Logan’s curiosities on the barrier had rubbed off on him. If the brothers had to mutter an incantation, then perhaps the magic was in the wall all along? Or if there was a rune that had to be drawn, or a sigil? A pattern to be followed? It wasn’t like he was an expert at magic, but Logan basically was, and Patton liked to believe that he picked up enough secondary knowledge to-

His thoughts came to a standstill as, by the twins simply approaching the barrier, the vines unlaced and opened up a doorway.

“After you,” Roman said to the two of them, flourishing his hand to the opening with a smile.

“Th-Thank you!” Patton beamed, stepping through. As Logan followed, followed by Roman and Remus, he continued with, “It just… opens like that?”

“It did for you, didn’t it?” Roman asked.

“Well, yeah, but that… easily.” Patton laughed slightly. “I think that just leaves us with more questions, doesn’t it?”

“Oh, absolutely,” Remus said, stepping up alongside Patton. “But we’re wasting daylight! And I don’t want to deal with Janus’s bitching if we get home too late!”

“He did seem rather… intense about that,” Logan said, following behind with Roman as Remus led them onward, Patton at his side. “Are there other creatures we need to be aware of? We had always heard of dire wolves, but I can’t remember the last time one of them crossed into our kingdom.”

“Oh, sure,” Remus said, waving his hand. “I mean, our wolves are long gone. But sure, they’re here somewhere.”

“And you’re not concerned?” Logan asked.

“They’re not really… an issue,” Roman interjected. “You know, large forest and all. And we’re… tough.”

Patton looked up at Remus. “Do you run into them?”

Remus’s lips quirked up in a smirk. “Only if I’m feeling peckish!”

“Oh.” Patton followed as he led the group off to the right.

“Did you expect something else?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe not.” 

Remus smirked. “Well, shit happens when you’re dealing with monsters.”

“You don’t have to generalize us, Remus,” Roman said from behind, which Remus answered with a scoff.

As Remus led them further into the forest, Patton could just barely catch glimpses of sunlight through the trees. It wasn't strong enough to reach the forest floor, but the twins still lurked closer to the bases of trees, where the shadows were thicker.

When Remus took a quick look back and forth before leading them to the left, Patton asked, “Do you like the forest?”

“My, you do like to talk!”

Patton blushed and, as he tried to stumble out something, Remus laughed and continued, “But sure! Things get lost and never found in here, and I get to do whatever I please! It’s perfect!”

Patton frowned. “Lost and never found?”

“Remus,” Roman warned.

“Oh, Roman, so attentive,” he said. Patton caught his eye roll. “But, yes, don’t worry. Even I know Janus will kill us if he finds out the two of them ran off!”

“Why would we-” Patton then cut himself off at the sudden memory of citizens of the Hartt Kingdom venturing into the forest only to never return.

He told himself that the chill down his back was from the breeze.

Remus, catching his silence, shot him a smirk. “Don’t worry,” he repeated. “I’m currently being on my best behavior.”

“Your thinly veiled threats do you no good,” Logan said. 

Remus turned to him with a pout. “Are you going to hit me again?”

Logan, instead, rolled his eyes and ignored him.

After a couple more minutes of walking, distance being put between turned back to Remus. “Is that all you like? About the forest?”

“Is curiosity a Hartt virtue?”

Patton smiled and shrugged. 

Remus sighed, leading them off to the right. He was silent for a moment, finally saying, quietly, “Roman and I used to… play out here a lot. Closer to the castle, but...”

Patton snuck a glance at Roman. Paces behind, he was looking up at the canopy, shading his eyes with his hand. “Does he ever come with you now?”

Remus huffed out a laugh, and it was the tiredest Patton had heard him yet. “Does it look like it?”

“You could ask him.”

Remus grinned and Patton startled at the sudden malice behind it. “That’s a big ask, Pat,” he said. “A big ask to a situation you know nothing about.”

Patton stared up at him, and Remus stared back.

Remus was the first one to break eye-contact as he looked forward again. “Actually, I’m done with this conversation! And you should stay out of it.”

And he quickened his step.

Patton frowned but, nonetheless, let himself fall back in step with Logan and Roman as they came up from behind.

When a clearing bursting with the sunset’s orange glow came into view, though, Patton couldn’t help but stop entirely. It was too far off in the distance to make out the miniscule details but, squinting, Patton could see the early summer breeze gently shaking lush green leaves. In the midst of the dark tones of the forest, in shadow and foliage alike, the site ahead was… breathtaking.

“Wow,” Patton breathed out, barely even registering how Logan and Roman stopped alongside him.

“A naturally occurring orchard,” Logan noted, though even he seemed taken by the sight. “I… I didn’t expect to find anything like this out here.”

“Did you know this was out here?” Patton asked Roman, looking up at him.

Roman, wordless and gaping at the sight, shook his head.

The three stood still for one more moment before moving back into gear, following Remus as he pushed along ahead.

When Patton and Logan stepped out into the sunlight, Roman and Remus hung back by the edge of the clearing where the shadows still creeped in. Patton, his mouth ajar, looked around. Though scattered and disorganized, the trees were plentiful with fruit, some that they had within their own kingdom, some that they had import in from elsewhere. The sky above was a brilliant blue mixed with the orange that was beginning to seep in from the horizon and, just above the treeline at the opposing edge of the clearing, the sun was slowly, peacefully setting.

“Wow,” Patton repeated as, gently, the breeze blew his curls away from his face.

Logan nodded. “This is… remarkable.”

Behind them, just barely audible, Roman said, “You… you actually knew where stuff like- like this was.”

There was only a short pause before Remus responded, “Why would I lie?”

“I didn’t…” A sigh. “It’s… I haven’t seen the sunset in so long.”

“Well, now you are.”

Patton and Logan both looked over their shoulders as a branch snapped behind them and found Remus taking a couple steps closer, though still mindful of the sun creeping in on the edges.

“We’ll be back! Don’t stray!” He grinned. “You won’t be able to get very far.”

“We won’t!” Patton assured him with a grin of his own. 

Remus cocked his head. “How delightful!”

And, with that, he darted off into the depths of the forest once more, leaving Roman behind.

Roman watched only for a second before turning back with an exaggerated eye roll. “Don’t worry,” he said, though the shrug he gave seemed more… tired than anything. “Just… do stay here.”

“We will,” Logan answered. “We wouldn’t be so foolish as to just go off in the woods by ourselves.”

Roman raised an eyebrow and stifled a laugh, looking between the two of them. “You sure about that?”

And he then darted off behind his brother.

Patton giggled at the blush dusting Logan’s cheeks. “We would never do something like that! How terrible would that be!”

Logan cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses. “Now we would never. I believe that we have learned our lesson.”

Patton smiled as he walked further into the clearing with Logan at his side. “That if we go out in the woods alone… we can find nice people?”

“I-” Logan sighed as they approached a tree bearing some of the reddest apples Patton has ever seen. Logan, reaching up, plucked and examined one. “Perhaps.”

Patton frowned.

Logan did as well. “What?”

“You have been my mage advisor since I was fifteen and this is the most… stuffy you’ve ever been!”

Logan’s eyebrows shot to his hairline. “Stuffy?”

“I- I know you’re staying because of me. And I appreciate that! So much! But-” He sighed, shrugging. “But when are you ever someone to hold back what you’re actually thinking?”

Logan frowned, plucking and examining another apple, comparing the two in his hands. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he murmured.

Patton pouted. Logan, finally looking up, tried to hold his passive look before letting the hint of a smile poke through.

“You know those pleading eyes don’t work on me, Patton.”

“Are you sure? I can be very persuasive.”

“And I can be quite resistive.”

“Come on, Lo!” Patton, laughing, swatted him lightly on the arm. “What is it?”

Logan sighed. “I just don’t think you’re going to be pleased!”

“I- I can handle it,” Patton said, trying to keep his tone casual.

The two eyed each other again.

“Alright,” Logan finally said, nodding. “You’re right. Our friendship is strong enough that silencing myself now would be fruitless.”

“Good one!”

“I-” Logan shot him a glare as he laughed “-What I mean to say, on this very serious matter, is that… I trust you.”

Patton nodded. “I- I know, and I trust you, too!”

“No, I-” He sighed again “-What I mean is that I only trust you. I know you have your beliefs about the… men we are currently residing with, and I will respect that, but I just feel the need to… stay on guard.”

Patton, frowning, bit his bottom lip and nodded. “I understand,” he said quietly.

And then he thought back to his and Virgil’s conversation.

“But what if,” Patton continued, “I could… plead their case?”

Logan raised an eyebrow but remained silent.

“And I think the best way to start with that is… if they wanted to hurt us, they could?”

Logan chuckled. “Is now a good time to mention Remus provoking me in the woods, or Janus charging you in the parlor?”

“And you’re here now, aren’t you?” Patton asked. “And Roman stepped in between me and Janus, didn’t he?”

Logan, tilting his head, thought for a moment before nodding. “Fair enough.”

“And- And Roman’s been very polite! Very charming! He even cooked for me!”

“Did he?”

“He did! And it was good!” And Patton, perhaps realizing that someone’s cooking skills weren’t exactly a character merit, continued with, “And he was welcoming. To both of us! Honestly, he didn’t even seem shocked that I was there! And he completely saved us when you showed up!”

Logan nodded. “I will admit, that I did not expect.”

“Exactly!” Patton beamed. “So- so that’s Roman, and- and then Remus!” When Logan frowned, Patton continued on with, “Now I know Remus can be a little spooky but- but has he actually done anything to us? For all the… threats—or maybe they’re jokes!—he hasn’t acted on anything! And he led us here!”

“I don’t think the bar can be that low.”

“The bar can always get higher!”

“... Perhaps.”

“And then Janus!” Patton continued on. “Uh, he… okay, I’m still a little scared of him, but he can be reasoned with! And- and sure, he’s a little… suspicious, but even you said that it’s understandable for them to keep secrets!”

“But don’t you wonder what those secrets are?”

“Only… only sometimes…”

Logan eyed him, obviously seeing through him, and Patton grinned.

“And Virgil…” Patton, smiling, shrugged. “He’s been the one… helping me out.”

“Really?”

Patton nodded. “Yes, really! He showed me around and checked in on me and- and he’s been so nice, Logan! And…” He trailed off, letting his voice grow quieter, “He’s the one… pleading our case, too.”

Logan frowned. “How do you know that?”

“Because he talked to me about it.” Patton sighed. “After he found us at the wall… he came to my room. And he said that- that we need to leave all that stuff to them because, ever since we showed up, he’s been the one on our side reasoning with Janus that we don’t mean any harm.”

“But we don’t mean any harm.”

“Exactly,” Patton said. “And Virgil knows that and trusts us.” He paused, biting his lip. “That distrust you have? It’s the same for Janus. And we… we both saw what happened when Janus thought I betrayed them. Roman stepped in then, probably saving our lives, and afterwards… Virgil stuck up for us. He has been this whole time.” He shrugged. “What you’re feeling is valid, Logan, but… I think it means something that these brothers haven’t done anything to use yet. I- I know what the legends say, about them and their kingdom, but can’t time change people? And, sure, things are scary! Even I will admit that! But… if they’re giving us the benefit of the doubt, shouldn’t we do the same?”

Logan watched him for a minute before huffing out a breath with a smile on his face. “You’ve… really thought about this, haven’t you?”

“I-” Patton’s voice quieted, “I just think… they’re good.”

“And your… hope in people is commendable.”

Patton blushed. “Thank you, Lo.”

Logan was silent for a moment as Patton plucked an apple. “Can I ask… why?”

Patton furrowed his eyebrows. “Why what?”

“Why do you feel so strongly about this? About them?”

Patton worried his bottom lip, letting himself focus too hard on the red apple in his hands, on the small bruise by its stem. “I… I just do,” he whispered. “There… there has to be good here.”

“Has to?”

Patton swallowed thickly. “Sometimes… sometimes there’s just gotta be good in places you don’t expect to find it.” He finally looked back up at Logan. “To… to counter the rest. And I really think we… found it.”

Logan studied him for a moment and, whether he understood what Patton meant or not, he knew to not press further. Instead, he nodded and turned back to the fruit tree. He plucked another apple and gently placed it into his pack.

“Speaking of the brothers,” Logan said when the mood lightened, “I find it interesting to see how their vampirism affects them all differently.”

Patton nodded. When he waited for an explanation that never came, he poked his head around the apple tree and smiled at Logan. “I know the Logan Sanders, my advisor and smartest friend, isn’t holding back information.”

Logan, looking up at the setting sun through the branches, smiled. “Perish the thought,” he said. “I am more so just thinking of the… implications of that.”

Patton furrowed his eyebrows. “What do you mean?”

“Why would the spell affect them all differently?” Logan asked, perhaps wondering aloud. “If this really was a quest for power gone rogue, why would the spell… mutate them differently? Perhaps it could be hubris, but still… it makes me wonder what spell they tried to have casted.” He then sighed. “I apologize, I do not mean to make the brothers sound like… experiments I am trying to study, I just...”

“You’re curious,” Patton finished for him, smiling. Logan lightly blushed and nodded. “I am, too. It’s something I’ve noticed, but I’m guessing you, Mr. Magic, have more thoughts on it?”

Logan chuckled. “Is that my new name? Nevertheless… I have observations that I’m hoping will bring me to an answer. This is like no spell I have seen before.”

“It’s not even in your spellbook?”

Logan frowned, shaking his head. “Nothing even like it.”

“Well,” Patton said, “What are these observations?”

“Well, to start, Janus’s fangs are longer than his brothers’,” Logan began. “They’re more like the fangs of a viper than anything else. And then we have our kingdom’s fixation with his ruined eye, so that does make me wonder about what he’s concealing under his eyepatch but… it could be nothing, and, either way, it would be rather insensitive of me to ask.”

Patton thought of the scales he had caught sight of on Janus’s hands, and he stayed silent.

If Janus wished to keep them hidden under his gloves, Patton wouldn’t take that away.

“And then there’s Roman,” Logan continued, “Who seemingly has no physical afflictions other than his fangs, but… he’s the only one without a reflection?”

“Yeah,” Patton breathed. “Virgil told me not to say anything.”

Logan nodded. “Very well,” he said. “Remus, on the other hand… it goes without saying, but he’s the most bestial of the four. It’s obvious that he and Roman are identical, but I’ll admit, it’s challenging to see that past the rows of sharp teeth, the claws, those green eyes.”

Patton nodded. “Our legend didn’t prepare us for that,” he whispered.

“No, they did not,” Logan said, just as quiet. He then cleared his throat. “However, Virgil might as well be an exact representation of what our legend actually depicts. If I hadn’t known any better, I would have thought he was a corpse.”

Patton worried his bottom lip, thinking back to Virgil’s gaunt features. “He looks tired,” he said. “Stressed.”

Logan nodded. “And that… leads into the one theory that I have.”

Patton frowned. “How?”

“Well, take our legend. The eldest son was corrupted by his conniving bitterness, the second son by his pride, the du-... the third son by his greed, and the fourth son by bad omens and anxious isolation.” Logan huffed. “Of course, this is all merely theoretical, but… these princes are known for their vices or- or circumstances of birth. If there was a spell that capitalized on that… this might be the one.”

Patton stayed silent for a while, frowning up at the tree as he absentmindedly traced the bark with his fingers.

“Time can change people. They shouldn’t have to suffer,” he finally whispered. “It just doesn’t seem fair.”

“Few things are,” Logan responded, just as quiet. “But… but maybe the hope you have says just as much about them as it does about you.”

Patton, wide-eyed, looked back at Logan.

“Oh, good! You’re still here!” Both Patton and Logan jumped as Remus’s voice burst from the treeline. “Would hate to have to go on a second hunt.”

They both turned to find Roman and Remus standing back in the shadows of the forest.

“Take your time,” Roman said, flashing a grin. “We got a little bit more daylight left before Janus sounds the alarms.”

--

It was when Janus and Virgil returned from hunting, the moon hanging high in the starry sky, that Logan finally looked up from his contemplation.

In the time they had waited, Patton and Logan made themselves comfortable in the sitting room while Roman and Remus flitted about before eventually joining them as well. Though Patton had perused the small library they had downstairs, and even considered venturing up to the castle’s main library to find something to put his mind to, he could not help but be distracted by Logan’s silence as he sat in the loveseat closest to the window. Absentmindedly looking out the window as he pondered, he paid no mind to Patton’s continual glances towards him.

Yet, when Janus sauntered into the sitting room, followed by Virgil, Logan finally looked up.

“It’s so quiet,” Janus commented, looking between the four of them as he leaned against the wall (and as Virgil slid into his typical seat at the desk). “Almost makes me think that something happened.”

“We’ve been on our best behavior!” Remus beamed and then, shielding his mouth from Roman, mock-whispered, “Even kept Roman in line! You know how he gets!”

Roman scoffed. “Like anyone will believe that.”

Janus huffed and, ignoring them, turned to Patton and Logan. “We didn’t get to talk much before Virgil and I headed out,” he said. “Is it safe to assume that things didn’t go terribly?”

Patton smiled, nodding. “Everything went great! Remus and Roman were really helpful.”

Janus allowed himself a small smile. “Good to know.” Then, after a quick hesitation and a glance between him and Logan, he continued with, “And… thank you both for complying with us.”

“It was the least we could do,” Patton said, sharing a look with Logan. “You’ve all been so accommodating to us.”

Logan nodded. “Yes and, on the subject of that…” He sighed and stood, looking between the four brothers. “I would like to… apologize for my behavior when I first arrived here. Though I had cause to worry for my friend, I should not have acted so rashly. I have been taught my entire life to not use my magic so thoughtlessly and, forgetting my teachings, I caused all of you a great deal of stress that could have been avoided if I just-” He snuck a quick glance at Patton “-Allowed myself to listen and understand the situation first before acting. I… understand if you all still have apprehensions, I will not blame you for that, but I just wanted to say that… I’m sorry.”

Janus, who had been studying Logan the entire time, looked to Patton. “You have a good advisor.” Then, when he realized that his younger brothers were all staring at him, he scoffed. “I cannot speak for the four of us on everything. But-” And he looked back to Logan “-I will say that… I accept your apology. Though it was… unfortunate, I cannot entirely fault you for your actions. As long as this… civility remains, I see no problem.”

“Me too,” Virgil said, giving Patton a small smile. “You two are okay in my book.”

Patton smiled, too.

Whatever hand Virgil had in further swaying Janus, Patton was grateful for it.

“I don’t care.” Remus shrugged. “It’s fun to have some action around here.”

“Well I for one am happy for things to calm down around here,” Roman said, smiling. “All the intensity was getting exhausting.”

“And, Roman,” Logan said, looking to him. He hesitated only for a second before saying, “Thank you for de-escalating the situation. If you hadn’t stepped in… I think it’s safe to say that things would have turned for the worst. So… thank you.”

For just a moment, Roman looked almost shocked. And then the moment passed, and he donned his typical grin. “What can I say? I’m good with my words!”

Logan’s look lingered on Roman for just a second longer before he turned back to the rest of them. “There is, however… one more issue that needs to be addressed.”

Janus frowned. “And that is…?”

Logan sighed, adjusting his glasses. “It is something I have been thinking about for some time and, while I do not want to cause a panic, I think it would behoove all of us to note that-” And he looked to Patton “-The heir of the Hartt Kingdom and his Royal Mage Advisor disappeared within hours of each other.”

Patton’s stomach plummeted so quickly, he actually felt nauseous, and the silence that fell upon the room did nothing for his nerves.

He could barely get his voice louder than a whisper, “Does… does my father know?”

 “I- I am not sure,” Logan answered. “Which is destressing, to say the least. He didn’t think that you would… bring yourself here. He was very adamant about it, actually, thinking that my worries about you coming here were... at best, paranoid and, at worst, insulting to the Hartt family.”

Patton swallowed thickly. With how carefully Logan was choosing his words, Patton could only imagine what his father actually said.

“And I don’t say this to upset you, Patton, or to stir up panic,” Logan assured, looking at everyone in the room. “But, while King Titus seemed very sure of himself that a Hartt would not find himself in the Twisted Wood, I cannot deny that I expressed my worries to him about that, nor can anyone deny that two fairly powerful people disappeared within a day.”

“So what are you saying?” Virgil asked, the worry evident in his own voice.

“That he might come looking,” Patton answered quietly, his eyes trained on Logan as his hands shook in his lap.

Logan sighed and nodded, shutting his eyes. “If history is right,” he said, “They won’t be able to get in.”

“They won’t,” Janus interjected quickly. Patton couldn’t tell if he was stating a fact, assuring his brothers, or calming his own nerves. 

Patton wondered if him being able to get through the wall passed through anyone else’s mind.

“This might not even happen,” Logan continued. “But… even if there is a slight possibility, I needed to say something. So that-” He glanced at Patton “-So that all of us would be prepared.”

“Well… what happens if it does?” Roman asked. “We haven’t had knights try to storm the wall in- in decades!”

Remus, shoulders just rigid enough to be noticeable, added, “Especially not when they’re looking for a prince.”

“And- and we can’t let them know that we- that we have them!” Virgil’s voice was already loud with panic as he turned to Janus. “So what are we going to do when-”

Janus put a hand up and Virgil snapped his mouth shut. “Virgil,” he said, a sudden calmness to his voice, “All of you, this will be a situation we will have to deal with when it comes to us. But… none of them are getting through that wall.”

Where Roman and Remus relaxed back into their seats, Virgil didn’t seem to take his assurances as easily.

Janus looked back to Logan. “Thank you for… warning us of this.”

Logan nodded. “I- I do not mean to cause you all to worry.” He looked to Patton. “Are you… alright?”

Patton worried his bottom lip and looked up at his friend. “I didn’t even think about this,” he whispered.

He didn’t want to have to think about this.

Janus released a deep breath. “Well, they won’t be able to get through,” he said, “So that’s the silver-lining. And, if they do show up… we’ll just have to deal with it then.”

[its-a-branwen-thing]

r/RWBY AMA Highlights

For those who weren’t aware, r/RWBY did an AMA with the voice actors of the Ace Ops early this morning :) I wanted to share some of their answers here for ya’ll in case people didn’t feel like trekking through the thread. Here are some of the Q&As that I found fun/the most interesting! These are just my personal highlights, by the way! :)

First, some introductions (I put the character next to the name but...just in case I mess up):

And now, for some of the Q/As!

Q: FancyDancyMaho: For Mick - so who is the Goodest Boy and why is it Marrow? If you had to take a guess, is Marrow a mix of insecure and overcompensating because he's the Rookie?

ricepiratemick (Marrow): Absolutely. The thing is, he's a Rookie to the team, but not a rookie in general experience.  The AceOps don't just hire anyone.It's like being a senior in high school: you're the upperclass. Then going to college and starting back down at the bottom of the food chain.Plus he's young, AND a little "different" from the rest. He's got a lot to prove. But unfortunately, "needing to prove something" can sometimes get in your way.

Q: JazzRen47 asked: Hi! This is a general question for all of you. I know voice acting is different from stage work, but was there anything in particular that helped you get into character for your recordings? I'm currently a University theatre student so I'm beyond curious about getting insight wherever I can haha! It was an absolute joy to get to hear your performances this Volume (and an aside for Dawn: you are a wonderful singer, ma'am). Thank you so much for taking the time to come do this.

ricepiratemick (Marrow): Some VA's sit while they work. Focusing all that energy and nuance directly into their voice. I've never been able to that. I gotta stand up and move around (which is sometimes a problem, but I've been able to reign it in and keep it more manageable).

But I'm still flailing my arms around and pointing at imaginary people lol

Q: silent-film asked: Clover’s tone in his scenes with Qrow is noticeably different from his tone when speaking to the Ace Ops or the kids. Can you say anything about that or what your thoughts were on their interactions as a whole?

ChristopherWehkampVA (Clover): I approached Clover as a guarded leader type character, who rarely allowed others into his mind on a personal level. So you see that reflected in how he treats most people, keeping a professional but kind distance.

Q: CapitalStory4 asked: Anairis, what is the best part about being the female Flash?

anairisq (Harriet): At this point? The memes.

Q: Mpatrick23 asked: Hey y'all! I wanna thank you five for taking the time to do this AMA! Now down to the questions:

To all: What was it like in your own perspectives to be a part of the ride with the RWBY cast and who were your favorite VAs to just hang with when not recording? And do you guys have spare time hobbies? Also, just throwing a compliment out there: Dawn, you did beautifully in War!! That was bloody amazing. I loved Harriet up until the "It's not excessive if it's necessary" line as well. I hope you guys make convention appearances soon and possibly see the rest of you in V8!

One of the many loyal fans, -Mitch

DawnMBennettVA (Elm): Hey Mitch! Thank you so much!!! :'D

We generally don't get to see each other a lot when we're not recording, as actors have the most unpredictable schedules. However, I did get to see Anairis before we were able to announce our roles, and we totally geeked out and got excited about each others' performances since we hadn't heard them yet.

I think I'd say my hobby is cooking and baking! I love trying to make new dishes I've never made and see what works. My last favorite food I made was lavender tea bread with a honey lavender glaze. My kitchen smelled fantastic.

Q: MrZissman asked: Hi Dawn! Question - who wins in an arm wrestling contest: Nora or Elm?

DawnMBennettVA (Elm): I think Elm would win at first, but then Nora would probably keep challenging her for rematches until she won. And then Elm would do the same back to Nora until it became an infinite loop of flexing.

Q: BiFross asked: Anairis, the beginning of the season's Harriet is much different than the end's Harriet. How did you make that distinction between friendly threats to actual threats?

anairisq (Harriet): Oh, definitely. Harriet was really serious and angry by the end, so there was no room to play games. You don't see her confidence manifest as playfulness as much as it manifests in frustration by the end, and that's the distinction I made in my head.

Q: Firegirl15639 asked: For Chris, A lot of people's favorite scene you were in was the one in the truck with Qrow. What can you tell us about getting into character for that scene?

ChristopherWehkampVA (Clover): Thanks, I loved that scene. It’s a good glimpse of how professional and capable Clover is while also still having a warm hearted side. I remember wanting to show that warm hearted side with my reads and have it contrast to how all-business he would be later in the scene

Q: threefoldthrowaway asked: Chris, I absolutely loved you as Clover and I’m gutted to see you leave. Clover had most of his screen time shared with Qrow so I just want to ask: How do you think Clover and Qrow’s relationship changed over the course of the volume?

ChristopherWehkampVA (Clover): Thanks, it was so cool to play with their dynamic. By the end of the volume Clovers pain at feeling he had to arrest Qrow was so genuine. He was dealing with the very real pain of having to choose sworn duty over what was becoming an important relationship to him

Q: BrokenLevel asked: Why do you suppose each of your characters are so steadfastly loyal to Ironwood? No need to be canon, personal conjecture is also fine.

ricepiratemick (Marrow): For Marrow, he's a faunus, and there's clearly social tensions that come with that. Having been brought into THE most elite group of huntsmen in the Atlesian military, I can't help but think Marrow (despite being a bit cocky) is hugely appreciative and humbled. He knows how difficult and rare it is for those of his kind to be placed in a such an important role.

That said, of all the AceOps... I think he'd be the first to question his "steadfastly loyal" position on Ironwood.

toddwo (Vine): I think it's the military thing. It's chain of command. He's in charge. The RWBY kids can use their hearts more as a guide because they're not military-first like I think the Ace ops are.

Q: ArmoftheSpoonFiend asked: What would you guys rather fight, 100 duck-sized horses or 1 horse-sized duck?

DawnMBennettVA (Elm): 1 horse-sized duck. Gonna need a giant oven, though.

ricepiratemick (Marrow): Marrow prefers a single target :]

anairisq (Harriet): 1 horse-sized duck. Easier to run away. :') I know if it was Harriet, she'd take on all 100 the duck-sized horses just to show off.

Q: OutcastMunkee asked: Quite a few (mainly because a few from my friend who is at work so can't make it!) questions here for everyone...From me, I gotta ask what you think about the Ace Ops vs RWBY fight and why do you think RWBY came out victorious?

As for questions from my friend, he wants to know:

Did any of you know of/watch RWBY before you were cast?

How did you end up auditioning for the roles?

Was working on RWBY any different to other voice acting jobs you've done in the past?

Thanks for doing this AMA folks! <3

toddwo (Vine): Firstly, RWBY team cheats in battle, so that's why they beat us ;)

I actually produced two seasons of the broadcast show RWBY rewind about RWBY, so I had seen nearly all of it by the time these auditions came around, and programmed entire episodes of that show around episodes, characters, and events of RWBY.

I usually submit every time there's a call for voice actors. I've been voicing various things in videos for a decade, animated characters, puppets, Reggae Shark. So I just love leaving the headspace of being at a desk at work and going to imagination land and recording voices.

I think I answered this in a different post, but I'd say the difference is being close to the show - I work at Rooster Teeth - and knowing the directors personally. It makes it way easy to ask questions, get feedback, and just be loose, as compared to skypeing in to some jerk director in L.A. lol.

ricepiratemick (Marrow): I've seen the debates about the fight results on twitter and reddit and I think it's fairly simple (and that many folks got it): AceOps were not on the same page and down a leader + RWBY were fighting for their lives and the lives of the people they were trying to save. It's as simple as that. Sure "team work" and "friends" and all that, but for those who were disapproving of that being the sole reason... I think it was clear that there were many legit reasons why RWBY came out on top.

Before getting cast, I knew of RWBY, especially some of the folks on the team, but wasn't an avid follower of the series before. Since being cast...gotta say, I love it. And will continue to watch no matter what happens to Marrow.

Audition was sent by the magic of electronic mail.

One main difference (compared to other acting jobs) is the time they take to nail down a line. In many VO jobs, yer on the clock and they roll through the script at a clip. With RWBY, it wasn't like there was a 100 takes of each line, but they knew what they wanted while still wanting the actor to explore. Just super positive, organic, and overall great experience recording with them every time.

anairisq (Harriet):

1) Yup! From the beginning. :)

2) I had received the audition online while living in FL! Submitted it pretty much the same day and tried not to think about it. I was so, so excited when I heard I booked.

3) It was for me! It was my first time doing prelay work in the booth. I was a little nervous about how it'd be like, but each session was really fun.

Q: patrizl001 asked: Todd, did you ever notice your character never used their weapon throughout the volume? Why do you think that is?

toddwo (Vine): This is totally a guess, but I feel like it's Vine's "nuclear option." He's all zen normally, so I tend to think he wants to solve things organically, and not just go nuts and use some metal blades to do the job of stretchy-ness and tactics. I could be wrong tho! Maybe it's just a fashion accessory!

Q: Eldi13 asked: For everyone: Where do you hope to see your characters go in Volume 8?

ricepiratemick (Marrow): Obviously, I have no official say in what happens to Marrow and his place in the story. But I can't help feeling he's gonna get a lot of heat from Ironwood and company after Harriet rats him out for not fighting, especially in light of Clover's death.

Personally, I'd love to see him help/side/join the RWBY gang, even if he's not a mainstay. But no matter what, he's definitely been built up to be the most conflicted of the Ops and I'm curious/excited to see where they leads.

DawnMBennettVA (Elm): Like Mick said, I have no say in the story, but I'd also love to see Elm's growth after Clover's death and the possible events to come (like what's gonna happen to her team after losing its leader, y'know?). She really does seem like a team mom at times, and I'd love to see her give Team RWBY another chance.

Q: Eldi13 asked: For Dawn, (if you make it by later!) what was the recording process like for the song in episode 12? Did Jeff and Casey arrange the whole thing, or did all the vocalists have input as well?

DawnMBennettVA (Elm): Hey there! I believe Jeff and Casey did indeed arrange the whole thing. (Obviously, someone from production please correct me if I'm wrong)! :'D

I was approached by Jeff during the process to be a guest singer, which absolutely blew my mind!!! He and Casey are such crazy talented musicians and it was an honor to be able to perform with them.

Then Christopher Sabat (voice of Arthur Watts) kindly let me use his recording studio to track my vocals, Briana Villarreal engineered me, my cousin Kaitlyn Fae coached and directed me, and I sent my vocals off to Jeff!

Jeff had asked me to sing whichever lines I liked best and he'd pick which ones to use from those. You can imagine how happy I was to hear myself singing when Elm appeared on the screen. :')

Q: SentientHam asked: Thoughts and opinions on each of your character's sembalances and weapons?

ricepiratemick (Marrow): It's fetching. Despite not seeing it's full potential, I think it's got a lot of staying power.

Q: AylaPazza asked: For all VAs, do you have any particular headcanons for your characters? Like hobbies or ways to relax, things like that! Also you all did a fantastic job this volume! I hope we see more of all of you in volume 8!

ricepiratemick (Marrow): Marrow uses his semblance to hack speed-runs of difficult games.

toddwo (Vine): I try to channel Paul Bettany's Vision character and make a lot of resonating noise in my head and relax at the same time. My voice is really high naturally so I spend a few minutes just humming low to myself to get someplace different.

Q: galaxyseal asked: To any of them: have you guys gotten to meet any of your fellow cast members in person?

DawnMBennettVA (Elm): Yes! From the Ace-Ops, I already knew Chris Wehkamp, and I met Anairis not too long after recording! I also met Lindsay and Michael Jones years ago when I started working on Fairy Tail, and Elizabeth Maxwell when we were working on Dragon Ball Super.

Actually, now that I think about it, I've met way more of the RWBY cast than I thought... The voice acting world is smaller than you think! :D

anairisq (Harriet): I met Dawn! She's just as much of a sweetie as Elm is <3

ricepiratemick (Marrow): I haven't!!!! >:[

Buuu~t I've gotten to meet/hang/know some of the team members :D

All solid, passionate, hard-working peeps

Q: brendans1989 asked: For anyone to answer - what is the most powerful advice you would give to anyone aspiring to become a voice actor?

DawnMBennettVA (Elm): Know that rejection is just part of the job. You're not going to book everything you audition for. Learn to let things go. Also, your friends' progress is not a measure of your own.

Even when you're at your lowest and you think you might be the worst, don't give up. Talk to a private coach, take classes, do everything you can to improve yourself. Keep pushing, keep trying, keep moving forward.

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I hope this is fun for everyone to read through! I tried to balance out answers on character questions and misc. ones, as I bet some folks are interested in hearing about their journey as VAs! If anyone wants to check out the full AMA, it’s here.

r/RWBY seems like a cool crew of people, this seemed like a lot of fun, and the mods did a good job curating! Hope I gave credit where it’s due for question askers--this was all their hard work!

Happy Saturday everyone~