#i’m being so dramatic about this BUT i just wrote a third version to begin this chapter (sorry ela ily ela)

[flowercrowngods]

live footage actually

[trainsinanime]

Was Namaari gaslighting Raya?

In Raya and the Last Dragon, one hot take you’ll find quite a bit is about the part where (spoilers) Namaari says to Raya that they’re both responsible for Sisu’s (temporary) death. They’re saying that Namaari is “gaslighting” Raya here, and that she’s the one responsible because she’s the one that brought the crossbow to what was supposed to be a peaceful meeting. Is that true?

To discuss this, first of all, let’s set aside the fact that this is not what “gaslighting” means. Gaslighting is an abusive long-term project, not a single thing you say once. People way overuse that term on the internet. I’m sure there are people who say that scams like shell games or NFTs are gaslighting (they’re not). This scene, if anything, is just normal lying and/or blame shifting, but it seems to me that this is what we’re talking about anyway. I’m also going to ignore that Namaari clearly didn’t bring the crossbow to kill Sisu, but rather to (threaten to) shoot Raya, because that’s still not a nice thing to do.

Personally, I think that at the very least, Namaari is telling her truth here. She truly thinks that she and Raya are both responsible for what happened. She isn’t deceitful, she isn’t trying to manipulate Raya, she’s not even begging for her life, she’s just explaining her view. Of course that is only partially relevant; just because it’s not a lie doesn’t mean it’s the truth.

So that is the big question: Is Raya to blame here, at all? Even though it was Namaari who brought the crossbow, and pointed it? I think yes. To explain why, let’s look at the structure of the movie.

This movie is almost an ur-example of the structure described by screenwriter Craig Mazin in his “How to write a movie” talk (original audio version). The movie has a clear central dramatic argument: Cynicism and isolation versus optimism and trust. Raya and Namaari both have similar arcs where they start the main part of the story very cynical and isolated; Raya arguably more so.

Throughout the movie, Raya meets more and more characters and situations that discourage her cynicism and encourage her to be optimistic and trusting. She has moments of being trusting, and sometimes it pays off, sometimes less so. And as she meets more and more people who prove trustworthy after she gave them a chance, her cynicism slowly melts away.

Namaari’s arc is parallel and similar. She believes she lives in a doomed cat-eat-cat world, partly through her own actions, and everything she does to protect her own people is justified because there is no alternative. But then she sees her favorite dragon has returned, and she begins questioning everything she thought. She sees that there is hope after all. But just like Raya, this isn’t a one-and-done thing, especially since her mother encourages her to stay cynical.

When they meet outside the Fang city, after Raya’s letter, we find both of them at the midpoint of their arc. Both know their old, cynical mode of being doesn’t work anymore, and they both want to get rid of it. Both would outright say “I guess trust is a good thing”. But neither of them is yet ready to actually believe it.

Yes, Namaari brings her crossbow, but she’s not taunting Raya; she’s apologizing. This time, she knows she’s doing something wrong, but she can’t bring herself to do the right thing yet either.

Meanwhile, this is Raya’s big chance to show that she’s learned the movie’s lesson. It shouldn’t be a surprise to her that Namaari brought the crossbow. Your ex enemy doesn’t immediately become a friend just because you wrote a letter, and that wasn’t the point of the letter. The point is this, here: It is Raya’s chance to convince Namaari to do the right thing. And that was always going to require Raya placing a certain amount of blind faith in Namaari. Raya needs to tolerate Namaari’s aggression long enough to convince her. The movie makes it clear that she has an actual chance of making it work.

But Raya can’t bring herself to trust Namaari long enough. She knows she should, but she hasn’t internalized this yet. And so she gets aggressive and escalates a situation that she always knew was going to be tense.

For both of them, this moment is the test: Have they learned the lesson of the movie yet? Both of them fail miserably. And wow, do they get punished for it.

What follows is the low point of the movie, where both of their world views are shattered completely. Their old cynicism is gone, their new hope and trust is destroyed, and now all that’s left is depression and blind rage. The movie helpfully points this out by giving us some extreme backlighting, making the entire fight between the two almost monochrome. The characters have basically lost all color and nuance, and are now just shadowy silhouettes, because that’s what their emotional state is right now. Yes, the folks at Disney do know what they’re doing.

Namaari is the one to say this out loud. That’s why she doesn’t care if Raya kills her. And Raya realizes the same. That’s why she doesn’t kill Namaari; not because she cares, but because she doesn’t anymore.

Then some time later we get a do-over: The same situation again; the stakes even higher, success even less certain. And this time, Raya has realized her mistake; now she has full faith in the theme of the movie. This time she is open to Namaari, she is patient with her, and instead of being aggressive or guarded, she isn’t showing any resistance to anything anymore. And when she turns to stone, she is smiling. Because now Raya knows that even if it doesn’t work, she’s still doing the right thing, and that matters the most.

It takes Namaari a few moments more to get there herself. She even briefly considers leaving, through the small but unstable way out that exists for her. But she can’t; not because the way out falls, but because she hesitates too long. Raya’s faith in the theme of the movie worked, and she did convince Namaari, even if Namaari hasn’t yet realized it herself. Finally, of course, she does realize that Raya has already won her over, and she does the right thing after all. And when she turns to stone, she’s kind of okay with it as well.

And of course we get literally the same moment we had in Finding Nemo or, even more literally, Frozen, where it seems like it didn’t work, and the faith in the theme of the movie was misplaced. Plus, in this case, we get to appreciate some incredibly beautiful subsurface scattering on the stone statues (meaning the way the light partially filters through the edges). Seriously, the graphics in this movie are amazing. You’re doing yourself no favors by being too jaded to appreciate the finer pixels in life.

Of course, as Mr Mazin said, faith in the theme rewards, and everything turns out fine and it’s all peace, happiness and pancake, as we say here in Germany.

But the crucial part is that this high point of the movie works because we previously had the low point; because we previously saw it go wrong. Not just the world at large, but both main characters. It’s their third, final chance, when both have finally learned their lesson.

If you want to assign blame like a traffic accident, to decide which percentage gets paid by whose insurance, yeah, maybe Namaari gets more of it. But narratively, Sisu’s temporary death happens because both characters failed, and both need to fix it together.

[scone-lover]

Happy Birthday to Holding Out For a Hero!!! ❤️

art by @subparselkie

I published the first chapter of my longest and most popular fic just about a year ago! And I bet you always wanted to see some shitty outlines. Right? Just giving the people what they want. My brain is chaos and now you all have to be subject to it. Strap in, boys. 😂 Everything’s below the cut!

Read Holding Out for a Hero on AO3

This fic was born because I saw a tumblr post about a hero and villain who are roommates and I just had to Snowbazzify it. I had so many random ideas in my brain, and I’d been engaging with fan content for the CO fandom for a few months now.

So I started off by opening a blank document and writing the Prologue, featuring Shep. I had a few basic facts in mind: Shepard’s a reporter, Simon’s a hero, Baz is a villain, Mage is an evil mayor. And that’s. Literally it. I made it up as I went along. I actually still do that with fics, even though I do try to outline in more detail now—I have to write a scene or two that’s been bouncing around in my head to get a feel for the story, then I can give it a direction.

The document is 337 pages on google docs, LOL. 

Here’s the first ever set of notes I had. I wrote this on March 29, 2020, directly after typing out the Prologue! 

Like I said, absolute chaos. The third Simon bullet point originally said something like “also I’m a superhero and only Penny knows,” then the following day I changed it to “but he’s so handsome? what do???” 

I didn’t publish the prologue until writing 5-6 additional chapters, but I think the only major change was going from Baz being “The Vampire” to just “Vampire.”

Chapter 1 was originally called “not a bloody avenger” before I decided to do the rhyming thing. I actually decided that because I wrote “counter spray and earl grey” down for chapter 2, unintentionally rhyming it, and then @ashspren-writes was like, “you should make them all rhyme”... so I did. 😂 For 25 more chapters.

I have a section labeled “quickie backgrounds” in which I finally sat down halfway through writing Chapter 2 (the blade/vamp fight) and said to myself, okay, maybe they should have backstories or something. Or like, reasons for being the hero and villain. Right, yeah, those would be good to make this into a coherent story. In the first version of that, Simon was a sports coach on the side, not a baker, and Baz was an English teacher. LOL. 

Once I had all that, I literally just wrote for four days. There’s a weird kind of magic to your first-ever fic for a fandom. All your ideas and thoughts and wishes for these characters comes to a head as you suddenly have an outlet for the first time. It’s why I think people’s first works are often their best or most creative or most profound. The first couple chapters took some time and a couple 1am epiphanies, but once I got into a rhythm it was quick going. I wrote a lot of it in a linear manner, but after writing the first Simon/Baz scene (watching the news together in the flat), I doubled back and added Simon going to Penny’s house after meeting the Mage so that I could work her in as a character earlier.

Fast forward to April 5, I had 5-ish chapters written? I thought this fic would have like... 10 total. And be less than 20k. Haha. Ha. I asked @ashspren-writes to beta read for me - I’d been bouncing ideas off her since the beginning - and then I started brainstorming titles. 

The list actually started with that second one. It took a whole 24 hours to decide on the final title. 😂 I thought it might be too cheesy. But hey, it worked out -- now I can’t open AO3 without the damn song getting stuck in my head. 

I worked a LOT with my friend @ashspren-writes on this fic - we were friends long before fandom, and she was the only person I knew at the time who had read CO and was involved in the fandom. I didn’t even have a tumblr at this point, I interacted mostly through Instagram and AO3!

On April 6, right before I posted, I realized that if I was going to actually put this on AO3 I should probably know where the story was going. So I made sure Chapters 1-6 were complete, then I wrote one bullet point per chapter up until 12 or so -- you can read those below.

Then I texted ashspren THIS mess:

Some silly notes:

Then I have a section that says “Why do they even have roommates?” because it was a few chapters in and I hadn’t justified richboy Baz and superhero Simon... living together. Cool cool cool

I also did this cool little writing experiment I want to share. Remember that line in Fangirl that’s like—“Once Cath wrote what she thought was a swordfight, and Wren turned it into a love scene.” (Or maybe it was the other way around? LOL.) Anyway, there’s swordfights in this, AND love scenes, so I wanted to do a play on that for two alternate ways Simon might figure it out.

I have a huge Deleted Section in which I wrote an alternate version of Simon and Baz finding out about their secret identities. I have one version where Baz figures it out first—it’s a very tropey yet angsty scene where Simon comes home totally wrecked from a fight, and Baz realizes as he’s helping with the wounds that he caused them. I actually like it a lot, but it ended up not quite fitting with the vibe of the fic (and I rather like them finding out through kissing better). :) I also had an idea where Simon figures it out because Vampire smells like cedar and bergamot, but it really just wasn’t interesting enough. 😂

Now onto... Outlines. 

I say that hesitantly because I think these are literally a disgrace to outlines everywhere. These are the baby ones I wrote on April 6 right before posting. Some are more detailed than others, clearly...

Gotta live up to my username somehow. 

We do love to see it. ​

I love this next one: 😂 CHAOS, SCONEY.

THEN, I wrote this as a very long text to ashspren, when I realized no sconey, this is not going to be under 20k words. LOL. 

And then I did A Dumb Thing and I put it on AO3, having absolutely NO CLUE WHERE THE STORY WAS GOING. 😂 

This is my favorite heading on the document.

Another one of my favorite notes in there.

This next part wasn’t even divided into chapters yet, it’s just a word vomit. I’m so sorry you have to read this mess.

Hahaha, once upon a time there was angst in this story. 😂 

And then I realized my true calling: bakery fluff.

Then and only then, I actually decided to divide into those things called Chapters. This is the point where I made the admission to mr scone (boyfriend, not husband lol, we just call him that) that I write gay fanfiction, whoops, and can he please help me because he’s a HUGE DC comics fan and knows everything. And of course, he was super chill about it, and he did. He really did. He’s the genius behind Egghead!!! And also the entire Mage-Humdrum-Supercomputer/Politics plot. I’m serious. I did none of that.

I can’t even say I’m trying anymore. “Flort”??? I AM LITERALLY NOT TRYING.

Why yes sconey, so very specific. 😂 

This is what qualifies as a “good” outline for me, that heading was just for my betas. Isn’t it fabulous to see that some of this actually made it in and I’m capable of planning in advance? 😂 

Get ready for the shock of your life, though -- I actually have a SUUUUPER detailed outline for the two finale chapters. Because, well, it’s the finale. Wrapping up loose ends does actually require planning, WHO KNEW. Also I’d been writing and posting for a couple months at this point and it had been several more weeks in quarantine so maybe I’d regained some sense of reality? It’s like two pages but still shittily written, so I’ll just share a couple tidibits.

That bullet point is extraordinarily cracky BUT actually, Baz shooting up from the cloud like an awesome fucking hot dramatic person was one of the very first scenes I envisioned for this fic :D 

I hope you enjoyed this glimpse into my writing brain! It’s a terrifying place. I love all of you that say Holding Out For a Hero is a well-crafted masterpiece, but respectfully, no ❤️ 

(Though I swear I AM super, super happy with how it turned out - it’s still my favorite thing I’ve ever written. Read it here!!!)

[golden-barnes]

Divinità

Prologue: Salvezza

Bucky Barnes X F! Reader

Description of the series: Au! Divinità. A deity. A goddess. One that Bucky has only seen 3 times before and now he can’t get Y/N out of his head. So he decided to put an idealized version of Y/N in his books. But what will happen when he gets to meet the real Y/N? Will you still be his deity?

Summary: (Salvation) The three times Bucky has seen Y/N and how his life changed because of that.

Warning: Curse words, grumpy Bucky, ptsd attacks and war mentions

Word count:1.5k words (I think that’s a lot for a prologue but I got carried away) 

A/N: I (loosely) based this off the Dante Alighieri and Beatrice Portinari story but with a modern twist. This is my first series in years, so I am a little rusty but I am very excited about it.

Past:

The first time he saw her: 

James Buchanan Barnes hated the center. And he made it goddamn clear that it was the worst and that he rather be anywhere else than there. After coming home from his last tour, with one less hand, Sam and Steve decided it would be for the best that he went to the Military Rehabilitation Center. He understood why they wanted him to get help and it wasn’t like they forced him, he truly wanted to get better. He was grateful that they cared about him so much to help him. And the center helped him a lot. He was getting fewer nightmares. The nurses were nice. He likes his physical therapist, even though he thinks that she underestimates him. But he is making some progress, more than anyone in the center. The food is decent, a lot better than what he ate when he was stationed. He liked going to the small library that they had in the center. There was a little park next to the center that he likes to go for a run in the mornings. He was finally starting to feel normal, or rather as normal as he could possibly get. 

His psychologist, on the other hand, is a nuisance. It wasn’t that he is a bad guy, it’s just that Bucky hates talking about himself and he swears the psychologist is out to get him.Sam thinks that he is just being dramatic but he still claims that he hates him. He recommended (even though Bucky says that he ordered him) to keep a journal. To fuck with him, Bucky decided to write some random things. They were borderline poems but Bucky would never admit that. In one of his journal entries, he wrote  about some french fries he ate in Belgium. One time he just rambled about a blue bird. Doc wasn’t pleased with that one in particular.

“You have to write about your feelings, Mr Barnes. That is what the journal is for.” He reprimanded  him in one of his sessions. But Bucky wasn’t going to go down without a fight. That is until today.

His session with the irritating physiologist started normal. The whole "How do you feel Barnes?" and "did you have any nightmares last night or any anxiety attacks?"  Which the answer was yes. He didn't particularly wake up on the right side of the bed. Meaning that this session was getting on his nerves more than usual.

Then there was a knock on a door before he could answer the doctor's questions.

"Excuse me, doctor. The director told me to come get you. Apparently there's a situation in the lunchroom." From the door emerged the most beautiful person he has ever laid eyes on. Her presence just filled the room, in a way he has never seen. It was as if she was radiating calmness. For a few minutes, all of his worries and his fears just vanished. His mind was only focused on her. On the way her eyes were warm and made him feel comfort. On the smile she was giving him. Oh that smile. He knew that he was now addicted to it and would do anything to see it again.

“Behold, a deity stronger than I; who coming, shall rule over me.”

 Was the first thing that came into his mind when she left the room with the psychologist. That night when he wrote in his journal, he wrote about her. 

A month later;

The second time he saw her

Veteran’s day in the center wasn’t as fun as a lot of people think it is. It would be crowded with family members. Kids would bring their toys to show them to their grandparents. There would be a cookout outside for all the vets and their families. Even fucking games, there were little challenges and shit for the families to have fun with. The ruckus was too much for Bucky. Bucky always made it a point not to celebrate this holiday.

 “First of all, it’s dumb. If you wanted to do something for the veterans, maybe you should give the centers more money to operate. And, I don’t know, make more fucking centers. Second of fucking all, why make so much noise? Seriously, can’t we have ONE silent holiday?” He once told Sam and Steve. To which Sam replied with a “stop being such a grumpy motherfucker”.

This year, he decided to hide in the library instead of his room. He wanted to finish this new book Steve brought him in peace and quiet. And since the library was on the other side of the rehabilitation center, he knew it was gonna be his little safe haven. What he didn’t expect was to see her there.

He stopped at the entrance, astonished and amazed. With a flowy flower dress and peonies in her hand. She was looking at the books that they had. Running her fingers over the spines of the books. Why would she have flowers? Why was she here? Was she staying?

She turned around to see him and gave him the same addicting smile that she gave him the other day.

“I thought I was going to be the only one here. I was just looking at the books. Don’t worry I’m going to leave.” Bucky swears her voice is like honey to his ears. His senses were overpowered by the smell of her perfume. Was that vainilla? Or was it cinnamon? He couldn't guess. He was stuck there. He couldn’t talk or move. She gave him another warm smile, one that made her eyes crinkle a bit. Bucky would bet anything to have her permanently smile like that.

“Oh before I leave, here’s a flower. Happy veteran’s day. Thank you for everything” She gave him one of her peonies. Their fingers slightly touched and Bucky felt a small shock. He probably looked super dumb to her. With widened eyes and his mouth slightly opened, he probably looked like an idiot. Damn it Bucky, she might think that you are a creep. 

She smiled again and pointed at the door. Fuck, I haven’t moved from the entrance. She can’t pass. Way to go Barnes! 

“Thank you soldier.”She winked at him. But little did she know that he wouldn’t stop thinking of her wink. 

Another one for the journal, I guess. He thought letting his mind run wild with the image of her.

Two months later; 

The third time he saw her

James Buchanan Barnes was consumed by two thoughts. Number one, he had finished all his physical therapy and his nightmares and panic attacks were less, but he was much better at dealing with it. So that means that it was his last week at the center. He was so happy. He has already said goodbye to all the nurses, his doctors and he even said a nice goodbye to his insufferable psychologist, who he in the end grew to like. He was packing all his things and was waiting in the reception area for Steve to pick him up.

His second thought was her. He hadn’t seen her since that Veteran’s day where he acted like an idiot in front of her. Fucking damn it. But he couldn’t stop thinking of her. Almost every night since then, he kept writing about her. It was like his brain was trapped in a box, captured until he wrote out everything he could about her. He never even formed a formal conversation with her, but he still couldn’t help but think about her. About how her presence soothes him. How her smile filled him with joy. How the flower she gave him was the most important thing he has ever received. Hell, he learned how to press flowers and made it into his bookmark. 

“These last entries were really good Mister Barnes. It is like something I would see in a poetry book.” His psychologist once noted. And he couldn't help to agree with him. She had become his muse. And I don’t even know her name.

His train of thoughts was interrupted by the sound of the door opening. As if Bucky called her with his mind, she appeared. With the same heart melting smile and the brightest aura. The receptionist even smiled when she saw her. She walked in, and the room got lighter. Can a human glow? Because Bucky thinks that she is glowing, as if small specks of glitter were emanating from her body and reflecting back at him. Did it make sense? Not one bit, but Bucky couldn’t describe it any other way. 

“Good morning Y/N. I was beginning to wonder when you were going to show up again.”  Y/N let out a soft chuckle at the receptionist’s words. She reached to sign in the sign in list. 

“Buck! Hey buddy, ready to go?” Steve had walked in and Bucky hadn’t even noticed

“Ye-yeah. Let’s go” Grabbing his bags, he started to walk out the center. But not without giving Y/N one last look.

If salvation had another name, Bucky would bet his life that it was Y/N.

[aqvarius]

Top 5 fav hlitf cgs?

thanks for this ask!! ahh it was so hard to narrow it down to 5 but i will try my best (with some bonuses bc... how could i not). i’m not going to include vip room CGs here even tho there are a couple of them that i adore too. also i can’t believe i’m not including the soma coming out of the shower CG that i love enough to have made my icon for a very long time now... but that just goes to show how much i love these ones. 

5. are you bullying my aide?

okay so i’m cheating right off the bat and decided to group these two in one category bc they’re like conceptually the same CG lmao. i made a post before about loving instructors getting furious at people trying to hurt you in the sunset. and the fact that two of my absolute fave LIs of all time get these gorgeous fury CGs makes me infinitely happy alskdfls. the sad thing is that there’s an error in soma’s route so the CG doesn’t actually appear in-game...  anyway you know i love seeing cool love interests get mad so these two CGs are a perfect depiction of that.

4. i’ll take compensation

who doesn’t love this scene and CG!! and the in-game version as well where his eyes are open bc he was surprised. i love it so much. that entire ending was so good, with the mc being the Best Senpai Ever? and she tries to blow his socks off with a kiss but then he just grabs her butt and goes in deeper? we stan a tie-grabbing mc. i only wish there was a CG for that elevator kiss too in the sequel(?). 

3. it reminded me of ugly cat

honestly i love all of goto’s s3 CGs bc they are all just so pretty and i love the one as well where tsugaru is joking about him and usa being a couple and goto gets pissed. but this one is just so... pure and soft???? it’s so rare to see goto all relaxed and smiley and i just love it soooo much. also does anyone else find that his smile in this CG is so similar to chiba’s smiling sprite? ughhh this is so freaking cute i physically can’t look at it for too long otherwise i get overwhelmed with feelings. oh and also that cat is so weird looking lmao

2. please... let me be with you

one of my favourite moments of all time. look how stunned kaga looks (but also... how pretty is he here... and how pretty is she.... season 3 CGs are so top quality). the fact that she’s hopped up on painkillers but they’re just fading off so she’s already starting to feel pain again and kaga is already kind of angsting over everything that happened on the case and then tsugaru is taking her home while kaga can’t even speak to her bc of office rules. and she just runs back to the office by herself even tho she’s already starting to feel the pain in her gunshot wound and just bursts into the office and yanks his cigarette out of his mouth and kisses him? and says even if you don’t want me, i want to be with you. honestly this whole moment is like freaking kdrama level dramatic and romantic and i love it so much. it’s like... the perfect moment combined with the prettiest CG. kaga’s pov of this scene makes it EVEN BETTER because he’s literally smitten with her, like he wants her so badly and then she just magically appears in front of him and kisses the life out of him, just as he was thinking about how much he needs her. right at the moment when he’s feeling the most empty, the most hollow, like his entire career in public safety amounted to nothing, she comes back to him. and then there’s that line of his, where he talks about love so fierce that he can’t breathe around it filling his chest and honestly it gets me every single time (also bc i can relate to that feeling lmao) but basically kaga/mc is my favourite couple and this moment and CG are just like... exactly what i love the most about them as a pair. ALSO i love her hair and that gold pin hahaha i want it. 

1.5 did i or did i not say you were forbidden from acting rashly?

how could i not include this one as a bonus? i’ve been in love with this CG from the very first time i laid eyes on it back in 2018. no context (at the time i think soma’s graduation hadn’t even come out in l365 so we hadn’t even seen his short hair sprite in the intl app), no idea what was even happening in this scene, and yet i was immediately struck by the dangerous look in his eye and that little smile, and also just like... getting to see him in a tshirt and hoodie is so rare? i’m p certain that outfit is just recycled ayumu sprite’s casual clothes. anyway, knowing the context behind this CG makes it 10000x better for me. i wrote this in my unpublished review of soma’s battlefield route but i genuinely believe we’re seeing this CG from his mc’s eyes and that’s what tokito really looked like in that moment - with soma’s face, his hair, his expressions, his hands, his voice. our poor, sweet mc had been suffering for so long to the point where even toru and ayumu noticed that she hadn’t smiled in forever and were trying to cheer her up (and momose too later!!). for me, this CG represents the absolutely heartbreaking sense of delusion that soma’s mc feels in this route, and the way that she keeps trying so hard to project soma onto tokito because of her grief. i genuinely felt like in that moment, she physically saw soma coming to her rescue, like her desires manifest into a delusion. also, this CG comes at an absolutely amazing time bc we had been deprived of seeing soma for like 60% of the route and then we get this CG and suddenly everything is better for a short moment, and then everything goes back to normal and you really get a sense of how upsetting life has been for his mc.

1. come now, love. tell me what you desire

i love this CG. i love it so so so so so much. firstly, i love the look of it. both soma and his mc just look so attractive?? soma’s muscles?? in his shoulders and back especially?! his mc has commented on his shoulderblades and back muscles before which have been honed through kendo practice so i’m very happy to get to see them. the actual text says that the mc is naked but here she’s still wearing a sundress, but she just looks so pretty and like she’s feeling unbelievably good? anyway i scream bc even soma’s hands look good and they still kept that one piece of hair that he has that sticks up lmao what’s gravity anyway? anyway, beyond the sensuality of the image (and also his tongue... and his sweat...), there’s just so much meaning behind it? like yes, it’s very hot and sensual and the dialogue that goes with this scene is unbelievably sexy, but this scene is just super meaningful bc it’s part of their recovery as a couple. they’re on this secret holiday in okinawa and they’re reconnecting after their trauma and idk it’s just so intimate. we really get to see the mc from soma’s eyes and we get to see how he is the only one who can see her weakness behind that strong face of hers, but also how he sees her strength in recovery? the way he describes that scene where she’s in this gorgeous white swimsuit with a sheer coverup and then picks a brown swim float so she can sit atop it on the waves and say “don’t i look like a doughnut?” despite having a literal near-death experience in the sea not too long before honestly had me falling head over heels in love with her, and it really made me understand exactly what he loves about her, and how much he just adores her. anyway this is me gushing over that special story, but what i mean is that the ending of his battlefield in combination with this special story sets up the beginning of soma and his mc’s healing as a couple, and it culminates in this scene. soma is kind of similar to kaga in the sense that they both actually demonstrate their feelings the most honestly through physical means, and here you can just see how palpable the desperation is. they desire each other so intensely and intimately and having this moment for the two of them to share is so significant for their recovery. you can just see how much soma needs to show her that he’s here, he’s really, physically here with her, and he’ll never leave her alone ever again, and he’s so sorry for all the pain she’s had to go through. you can see the way he’s telling her that with his body and with the way he talks to her and is just so himself in bed. there are really parallels between their first night together and this scene (mostly like... him asking her to tell him what she wants lol) and it just makes me so EMOTIONAL. 

YOU THOUGHT THIS WAS THE END? 

no, that was just my top five solo (or li/mc) CGs. i also need to give my top five fave group/multiple character CGs lmao.

in no particular order:

what can i say? it’s just so beautiful, and every single expression and pose is just so suited for each character i’m in love. 

frankly no real reason for this one aside from the fact that we get to see goto and subaru in yukata and subaru always looks soooo freaking good in hlitf CGs and also goto’s hand is on subaru’s chest and you know we ship gobaru in this house

the third anniversary substory CGs are just amazing (you’ll see the full one in a bit and it’s WILD) but honestly i just need everyone to see this one bc it’s just gorgeous. look at ishigami and kaga and look at how inhuman they look, all sweaty and tired from being in panda mascot costumes. kaga with his sleeves rolled up literally has me salivating. look at PRETTY their faces and muscles are... anyway, this CG has me as thirsty as ishigami guzzling that bottle of water.......... 

i said it was in no particular order but i just need to say that this one is my actual favourite bc it has EVERYONE. and look at how gorgeous they all look.... every single one of them with their hair pushed back ;alskdjfalsk WHO??? WHO LET THIS HAPPEN? NAMBA’S GLOVE? KAGA AND GOTO’S MATCHING SCOWLS? THE ANGLE OF SOMA’S HEAD? TSUGARU’S TONGUE? and also the way his legs are positioned?!?!?! also i love swishy hair ayumu and hide with his leg crossed the other way from kaga and also i’ve never seen toru look this attractive it’s very unfair. 

the sheer amount of chaotic energy in this one is just wonderful and i love all the details. you all know namba is DAY DRUNK. goto and toru in that signature headlock position, ayumu being a lil shit and putting wasabi in all the cupcakes and ISHIGAMI AND KAGA FALLING FOR IT AND SUFFERING??? LOOK AT THEIR SUFFERING FACES JUST LOOK. and you just KNOW that soma is going to suffer the same fate oh sweet mercy this is like “famous last pictures” level of good. also they’re all wearing new clothes which i love sooooo much. i wanna see ayumu in that orange sweater more often and also army green shirt kaga with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms with that look on his face. have i ever been more in love? no. 

finally, here’s my ultimate favourite favourite group image of all time! not a CG but it’s the header that i use on the mobile version of my blog:

they’re all looking so happily/fondly over at YOU (hlitf mc who fell asleep) and wondering what you’re dreaming about/saying that you’re dreaming about them. and they all just love and adore you so much. the amount of affection in this one image is unreal and also momose is in it ialskfjsd i just.............. am the SOFTEST for this one. 

anyway sorry that (1) it took so long for me to answer this, bc i had to spend ages thinking about it alongside being busy with life stuff and (2) that i went on for so long and did not pick 5 CGs but rather... 12....... but these are my faves!! thank you so much for the ask! 

[shemakesmusic-uk]

Texan-born, Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter and TikTok personality Allison Ponthier makes a splash with 'Cowboy' – it's the enthralling first taste of her upcoming EP. Finding a path away from her conservative upbringing, queer singer-songwriter Allison Ponthier is another artist making country music her own. Taking references from Kacey Musgraves and Orville Peck, Ponthier's take on the genre is high camp and features a kaleidoscopic visual world too. Growing a huge following on TikTok, 'Cowboy' marks the start of a whole new chapter for Ponthier with her debut release with Interscope and Polydor. The track itself references her move from the bible belt to New York City and her journey accepting her sexuality. Warm and inviting 'Cowboy' is cinematic pop with some real heart-on-sleeve confessional songwriting. Complete with a masterful music video that runs like a mini-movie complete with impressive special effects, on reflection, cinematic is an understatement. The video itself is a striking and exciting introduction to this new artist, “I probably watch movies more than I listen to music,” Ponthier says of the video. The clip, directed by Jordan Bahat (Christine and the Queens) adds a whole new cosmic energy to the track and aims to amplify the lyrics' detailed storytelling. As she unveils more of her forthcoming debut EP, Ponthier explains what we can expect from her; “a lot of my songs are about being uncomfortable in your own skin but getting to know yourself better, figuring out who you really are.” [via the Line Of Best Fit]

Miley Cyrus has shared the full video for 'Angels Like You'. The pop rebel returned in 2020 with her excellent album Plastic Hearts, a series of superb empowerment anthems. Album highlight 'Angels Like You' has received the video treatment, shot at the Superbowl in front of an audience of fully vaccinated healthcare workers. Miley has also provided a note for the video describing her feelings of gratitude to these workers. [via Clash]

LA punk four-piece The Paranoyds have dropped a new video for track 'Egg Salad', taken from their album Carnage Bargain which is out now on Suicide Squeeze. The video's director Nicole Stunwyck comments "The video presents the glitzy & glamorous world of a teenage girl who, after accidentally catching a beauty pageant on TV, dreams of her rise to stardom & subsequent downfall... It’s not a commentary on anything but an experimental depiction of my own personal fascination for young tragic starlets alà Valley of The Dolls."

Noga Erez and collaborative partner ROUSSO have shared a fifth compelling new single from forthcoming album KIDS which is set for release on March 26 via City Slang. 'Story' is a snappy, addictive song about how couples relationships are always a relationship between two people’s past and present. "Everyone brings their past experiences to the relationship even if things are great" Erez comments. "Sometimes past situations come in and take over." As with the album's previous singles 'Story' is brought to life with a captivating video, starring Erez and ROUSSO, who also provides vocals on the track. "ROUSSO is my partner in music as well as my partner in life" she explains. "This is the first time we tell a story about our relationship in a song and video. It’s a song about a couple fighting and how, in that situation, sometimes what you hear the other person say is not what they actually said. The making of this video was a 10-day couples therapy session for us. As we rehearsed the pretend fighting and martial arts moves we knew that, at times, one of us would get punched just a little too hard. It was so intense and interesting to live in this world, where our relationship comes alive in the most physical way."

After announcing Detritus with lead outing 'Stories' last month, Sarah Neufeld has unveiled the album's second single 'With Love and Blindness'. Neufeld says of the song and Jason Last-directed video, "The video for 'With Love and Blindness' came together through a long-time collaboration between myself and videographer Jason Last. I knew that Jason and I would work together again on some visual aspect for my third solo release, and it so happened that before I even began recording the album, we were presented with the opportunity to do a mini residence on Corsica with Providenza; an amazing collective with a farm, cultural laboratory, festival and residency program." She continues, "I was doing a short solo tour in Europe in the summer of 2019 in order to re-work some of the pieces from the dance collaboration to begin to find a shape for the album that was to be recorded in the Fall. In the middle of that tour, Jason and I travelled to Corsica for several days (graced once again with a suitcase containing Esteban Cortazar’s unique and beautiful creations). Besides performing in Providenza’s outdoor amphitheater, we were immersed in nature, literally staying in a treehouse perched on the side of a mountain, overlooking the dramatic coastline." Neufeld adds, "I found that the pulse of the landscape resonated with the essence of the music, especially "With Love and Blindness"; a sense of rawness, of sensuality, of a strange gravity intensified by the hypnotic summer heat and the general otherworldliness of the place." [via the Line Of Best Fit]

Molly Burman was brought up around music. At every family event, every party, the soundtrack would resonate with her, providing an education in itself. Both parents were gigging musicians, and she always wanted to follow in their footsteps, to use performance as a means of self-expression. Lockdown brought the time and space to bring these ideas into focus, and she's working to unveil a series of one off singles. Her debut single proper 'Fool Me With Flattery' is out now, a blissfully melodic piece of indie pop with some whip-smart lyricism. There's a tongue in cheek element to her sound that is fantastically endearing, matched by the subtle lo-fi elements of her bedroom pop confection. She comments: "I wrote the song after a long day of feeling overlooked and ignored by some of the guys in my life. I was fed up, angry and used the stereotype of a mansplaining misogynist to let it all out. This song is for anyone who feels belittled and like they’re being made to shrink themselves; be as big as you possibly can, and don’t let anyone fool you with flattery." The video is a hilarious showcase for Molly's offbeat sense of humour. [via Clash]

Punk provocateurs Pussy Riot have unveiled their latest song 'Panic Attack', as well as a music video that features a hologram of singer Nadya Tolokonnikova. This is the final release from Pussy Riot’s new Panic Attack EP, a collection of three linked songs that, for now, can only be streamed as separate singles. The title track features punk guitars underneath a tinkling music box melody, as Tolokonnikova turns anxiety into a sports cheer. “Gimme an A,” she says, “Gimme a T/ Gimme a T/ Gimme an A/ Gimme a C/ Gimme a K/ Okay? Okay.” While upbeat and seemingly cheerful, the synth-punk song comes out of the trauma she experienced in a Russian prison camp. As she explained in a statement, “After serving 2 years in a labor camp, I’m still struggling with mental health issues. Trauma, fear and insecurity never fully go away, causing depression episodes and deep anxiety. ‘PANIC ATTACK’ was born as the result of me staring at the wall for 24 hours in the middle of the pandemic, feeling 100% helpless. I was trying to write something uplifting to encourage people to get through the tough times. But I was just failing and failing. Magically, at the second I allowed myself to be honest and write about despair I was experiencing, I wrote the track in like a half an hour. Depression is a plague of the 21st century, and it tells me that there’s something broken in the way we treat each other. The video ‘PANIC ATTACK’ reflects on objectification of human beings, loneliness, disconnection from the environment that causes us to feel small and powerless. And it’s us who caused it with our own hands – that’s why in the end of the video I’m fighting with my own clone.” The music video for 'Panic Attack' was directed by  Asad J. Malik. He used 106 cameras to capture all angles of Tolokonnikova, then converted that information into a photoreal hologram. Afterwards, Tokyo-based creative technologist Ruben Fro built out landscapes reminiscent of video games through which the virtual Tolokonnikova could frolic. But as the visuals progress, those idyllic settings give way to a hellscape, and the singer faces off against a clone of herself. [via Consequence of Sound]

The wait is finally over. BLACKPINK’s Rosé shines like the star she is with her official solo debut. On Friday, she released two solo songs on her debut single album titled R, 'On the Ground' and 'Gone.' With its deep lyrics, angelic bridge, and Rosé’s high note at the end, 'On the Ground' is an exemplary song for her solo debut. Add the fact that Rosé is credited as a writer for the song, and one can really tell how much time she spent perfecting it for release. The accompanying music video, meanwhile, expands the story of life and growth. Rosé starts off looking lost and trying to find herself amidst all the wildness of life; she eventually encounters past and present versions of herself while searching for answers and purpose. By the end, she finds herself and her path forward, and one can’t help but smile as she sings an explosive outro. [via Teen Vogue]

On Ellise's latest alt-pop concoction the rising pop star gets gothic as 'Feeling Something Bad...' transforms a crush into an obsession. An expert at catastrophising everyday experiences, the LA-based artist has arrived fully formed with not only a consistent and cohesive sound but a striking visual identity too. That's even more clear when you press play on the accompanying video for her latest infectiously catchy track. With the clip directed by Joakim Carlsson we get to see Ellise in her absolute element as she brings "Feeling Something Bad..." to life in a macabre world of its own. “I just love dramatising little everyday feelings in life, so this is my big dramatic ‘I have a crush on you’ song,” Ellise explains – it's a song she wrote about a boy she barely knew. [via the Line Of Best Fit]

With President Biden determined to get the majority of American adults vaccinated by summer, bands are earnestly beginning to look forward to the return of live music. Purity Ring are the latest to announce 2021 tour dates, which they’ve shared alongside the video for their track 'sinew'. The song comes from WOMB, the synth-pop duo’s first album in five years that was released just before the pandemic struck. Directed by Toby Stretch, the clip brings back the abstract graphics and costumes that featured in the 'stardew' music video, continuing the enigmatic story of the domed bicyclist and their sun-headed sidecar companion. [via Consequence of Sound]

Australian Pop Princess, Peach PRC releases the official music video for her debut single 'Josh'. Peach PRC comments on the official 'Josh' visuals, “The music video was inspired by growing up watching the same five infomercials, morning news channels and old movies on my little pink box tv when I was a kid and couldn’t sleep on a school night. The idea was to have “josh” feel just as harassed the more he tries to call. Every creative step along the way was entirely my vision, from writing the music video script, to the lyrics and everything in between. I’m so happy and hope all the girls, gays and theys who dated “josh” will sing along.”

[thattimdrakeguy]

ROBIN 80TH ANNIVERSARY - REVIEW!! - The GREAT, the okay, the meh, the wait what, and the freaking awful

None of the stories I’d consider bad in this besides the Super Sons one.

They have flaws, some don’t have any but aren’t that great, and just weird choices, with some disappointments.

I’m just gonna be honest about each story because that’s all I can do.

--

DICK GRAYSON’S FIRST STORY: Really freaking good.

My favorite story is probably the first one:

Like the art is the best in the whole issue, and the only real flaw is how mean they made Bruce through-out it.

It’s yet again another story of how and why Dick quit (I guess he didn’t get fired this time) being Robin, but it’s just nice. Nice pacing, timing, dialogue, good art, and because the people working on it are 80s writers and artists, it keeps it feeling classic.

Which is great for a little showing of the 80s world, and I’m no big 80s DC guy at all, but it’s a really nice flashback for that.

One thing that was disappointing but I won’t count as a flaw (since it’s really not, just a wasted opportunity) is that this kid didn’t end up being Tim:

It looks like a young Tim, it’s drawn by the first artist on Tim’s Robin ongoing, written by his creator, it’s about the history of Robin, and he’s an overeager Robin fanboy-- like why wasn’t this kid Tim? He even has that dorky bowlcut Tim had when he was little, just less 80s styled.

A missed opportunity honestly.

The story though shows Dick’s compassion, talent, frustrations as he became his own man, his views on Robin, some of his sense of humor even. So his characterization is pretty great, but it is written by the man that grew Dick his own unique character to begin with, and it’s great to see this story keeps it up. (Prolly gonna find out this is an old script, but hey, it’s a good one.)

A weird retcon story, but it’s a nice callback to the 80s, and I think it’s really well-done beyond Bruce being a controlling grumpy prick to the point it feels like parody.

--

DICK GRAYSON’S SECOND STORY: It’s just alright.

Where the first story is a flashback to the 80s, this is a direct flashback to he 90s, with the writer and artist that started his ongoing solo.

And it’s good. Like I had a lot of fun reading it, good heroics, feels of it’s era, but like the last story that’s the fun.

There’s nothing really to say about it besides it’s good. There isn’t anything too standout about it.

--

DICK GRAYSON’S THIRD STORY: It’s forgettable.

I forgot this was a thing in this, and it just feels like a waste of page.

It’s in no way bad that I seen, but it’s so very bland and one note. Titans fight and Dick acts as leader. Very generic.

The art’s really good though.

--

DICK GRAYSON’S FOURTH STORY: It’s better than that last one at least.

Unlike the last one, this feels like it at least has a point to be here, and it actually feels like it makes sense to be in he 80th anniversary as well.

I’m not a personal fan of the “Grayson” series, it just sexualized Dick too much honestly, made him cheesier again a bit, and the writing was a little on the off-side in a way that just made it all feel empty besides a few moments, but I never read the whole series to be a great judge on it.

But also because of that, I have no idea who these people are for this story to be grand. What makes it feel like it’s worthy of being here though is trying it back to the history of Robin like the first story with these little bits.

Without these moments though, you wouldn’t have a clue why this is there.

Also Dick just suddenly wears this:

Which is super duper off-putting. But Oh-ho gotta have sexy Dick in there somewhere I guess. Just-- wow, was that super sudden.

--

JASON TODD’S STORY: It’s good but this kid doesn’t look right.

The story is very simple and sweet, and I think it works a lot given Jason and Bruce’s complicated relationship.

It’s even written by Judd Winnick who did Under the Red Hood, which is awesome.

But who is this kid they keep calling Jason exactly? It irrationally bugs me, because all the art has been super spot on till this story. They even write him well, but it just genuinely doesn’t look like post-crisis Robin Jason.

Like to show what I mean--

You read it and this is how the kid speaks.

Super snarky,

a bit of a rude edge to it,

practical sounding but rough teen-ish still

yet still mature enough to feel like he can handle himself.

So you might place this around when Jason was 15 given he’s Robin, and when he was 15 and when they gave him a unique design finally away from a generic silver age Robin, he looked like a young body builder--

Like this is what Jason Todd looked like when they settled his look away from a Dick clone:

A young body builder type, strong jaw, working out, mature features for his age

So who the heck is this?

Like this isn’t what Jason looked like besides pre-crisis, but this is post-crisis Jason. They already settled what he looked like during that 80s run, and this isn’t it. He’s not supposed to look like a generic silver age Robin anymore.

Even beyond it not looking like what Jason’s supposed to, it doesn’t fit the dialogue. He’s written as a practical, snarky, yet in his own way still mature teen. Soooooo why’s he look 5?

It’s so off-putting and it bugs me.

However, beyond that, I really like the story, and at least the artist was good at drawing adult Jason.

Them representing Bruce’s and Jason’s complicate relationship of distant but still caring is something I really enjoy. It’s so much more true to character rather than acting like Jason is just a part of the family like nothing ever happened.

More of that dynamic for them, please.

--

TIM DRAKE’S FIRST STORY: It’s pretty good, but it’s missing something.

Not the highest praise ever, but I do like this story. I enjoy it’s setting at Tim’s school. High school was a constant setting for Tim’s comics in Robin, and they rarely ever treat it like that so I enjoy this story bringing it back.

I really enjoyed the connection  between extracurricular activities and what he does as Robin. It’s that blend of relatability and heroics that really made Tim work as a character. So that’s also great they brought back.

One of my favorite things that they bring up is Tim being into eSports, cuz it reminds me of how much Tim was into video games. It’s a very modern version of him being into the arcades in the 90s. Which is great.

However a downside is that it doesn’t really focus on Tim as a character like the other stories did with the other Robins.

Nothing about his never give up attitude, his insecurities, his underdog likability, how hard he is on himself, or things like that.

In-general this story says nothing about his personality besides a mention that he’s geeky. Which is a pretty big let-down because it keeps it from being any better, despite it already being good.

Freddie William’s art is also very hit or miss. It’s so crude sometimes, and Tim seems so buff compared to before in his actual Robin run. It’s very displeasing given that his early Tim work was top 5 Tim art material. However I still enjoyed that they brought him back even if he can’t draw Tim as well anymore. Tim’s still good in the babyface in most panels at least.

BUT-- this is still a pretty good Tim story. It’s just lacking.

Like it just should’ve been more about Tim as a character since it’s a Tim Drake story.

--

TIM DRAKE’S SECOND STORY: It’s honestly just pretentious.

Tim doesn’t talk like this. Tynion has a melodramatic tone to his characters that works great for characters like Batman, I’ve actually quite liked his Batman run so far partially because of that, but it doesn’t work for Tim.

This is not what Tim talks like. It’s so very unnatural sounding for a kid. Yet Tim talks in this incredibly dramatic tone except for a few light hearted spots, when I feel like it should be the opposite.

It’s also trying hard to be a character study, but again it’s so unnatural. It sounds like a fan describing their view of the characters, not the characters themselves. Like since have these guys became each others therapists?

And then he has Dick say these things that makes Tim seem like a Gary Stu and the greatest most talented guy ever.

Also having Tim hang out with Jason when Jason’s using guns even though Tim’s insanely against that sort of thing.

They even have Damian talk like a typical fan person who dislikes Tim based off of superficial things for a bit.

The fact it treats that Detective Comics Rebirth part of Tim’s character history as uber important is also a bit pretentious of the writer given he wrote that too. Despite Tim only being in that run for like three arcs and wasn’t even in-character for most of it.

Best part of it, is the vague acknowledgement that Tim didn’t want to be anything else but Robin to me.

Otherwise it just reeks of awkwardly written fan fiction.

Honorable mentions of quality though, is Dick and Tim being brothers train riding, and Damian’s mini-adult coming out. I’m so sick of them making Damian a generic kid sometimes that I actually liked this part even if it’s through a snarky filter.

--

STEPHANIE BROWN’S STORY: Better than expected, it’s actually pretty good.

I actually really liked this story. Overall I think Steph’s actual Robin run sucked, this is still a good story if I can get past the era it’s set in.

Unlike Tim’s stories, this actually uses her character.

How reckless she can be without it being super exaggerated, her attitude, love that they brought back the diary format for her inner-monologue too. 

There’s not much to say besides I’d actually consider this one of the best stories in the thing, except for the fact Steph clearly disobeys Batman and she was said to get fired for that. That’s a decent plot holes for me.

I super love the detail of Tim being so small that Steph can’t fit in his uniform. That cheered me up.

Them bringing back her Robin era artist was also great. Unlike Freddie Williams, their art actually really improved.

DAMIAN WAYNE’S FIRST STORY: The genuine worst story in it.

It’s so-- baaad.

Fan service can work if it’s in good quality. Like being in-character, or a nice homage. The train riding in Tynion’s story was that.

This isn’t that.

Damian and Jon didn’t get along right away, not even soon enough for this “mostly” part to feel right as a joke, because they obviously didn’t get along mostly right away. They fought a lot. They even show it on the full page them fighting, but they downplay how long they did fight just for fanservice. It took a long time, and even when they did it was still contrived.

Then they have Damian and Jon in the same class, when they aren’t the same age for that to make sense..

They even have Jon help Damian on his tests when it’s constantly shown that Damian is a brainiac who wouldn’t need that.

It’s literally even in the history summary at the end that he’s highly intelligent. So he probably wouldn’t even ever need a study partner considering he’s even said to have actual PHDs anyway. Which makes the study partner thing just plain out of character.

There’s also panels that straight up feels like oddly specific deviantart fetish art, which is so nasty. Especially considering that I know damn well that’s there’s pedophiles who make this same kind of oddly specific fetish art on there. So much so I had to stop using the site cuz of the anxiety it gave me.

And they downplay how mean Damian can be too Jon so much that it irks me.

This is the worst story in the whole comic, genuinely. Nothing good is in it, besides some decent enough art.

It’s certainly pandering to it’s fandom, but to certain parts it really shouldn’t be.

(This sort of stuff was still happening in their miniseries. Jon really shouldn’t want this as a brother. That’s stockholm syndrome.

--

DAMIAN WAYNE’S SECOND STORY: It’s better than the last one, but somethings missing still.

Unlike the last one avoiding talking about Damian’s actual character besides to play it down. This one actually uses it.

It’s just so quick, and empty feeling at the same time that it’s missing something. A bit like an inverse of Tim’s first story. Tim’s story had the setting and interesting story format, but no real character, while this has a lot of usage of the character but no interesting setting or story.

A lot of Damian’s character is that he’s not a natural Robin as far as attitude goes. He isn’t a typical Robin, and I enjoy how they play into that rather than be afraid of that. It’s what makes this actually work for me.

Although it makes you question why he’s still Robin, I consider that a good thing, because YOU SHOULD. You want the character’s to actually acknowledge things as if they’re real and not just ignoring things.

He’s not typical, he’s unique for better or worse. That’s Damian, and that’s what you should show of him.

This goes into why Damian’s the exact opposite of what a Robin normally is. That’s great.

But it’s missing anything memorable about it. However I think that’s cuz it leads into a future issue of Teen Titans which gives it a reasonable excuse.

I’m really hoping it leads into something.

Although i have a feeling they sadly might do the same thing as typical and ignore Damian’s actions more. Avoiding any genuine feelings.

--

OVERALL

It’s not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Only two stories I’d actually call bad, which is a lot less than I thought With just occasionally sloppy art, not even what I’d call back, but just crude or not drawing the character accurately which will annoy some more than others.

When I heard of this book I got so worried, but only two stories is actually almost relieving how little that is given the potential ego-driven things they could’ve done, which only those two stories then.

To me, I say it’s worth a pick-up, just rip out a story or two to keep it friendlier to revisit

Mostly was just really missing that extra heart in a lot of the stories.

[clumsyclifford]

hi my love i’m hope not too late but i would like you to tell me about my loves jewish cake, anything you want to but specifically baker calum 🥰 thank you i love you

of course you aren’t too late!!! ESPECIALLY to talk about jewish cake oh my goodness meg i shall die for you i love you. alright let’s see what i can dig up

ha’ahava hazot shelanu + it’s so simple

a cut, per usual

so let’s start WITH:

ha’ahava hazot shelanu

jewish cake was a labor of love for myself. little known fact about me is that i am in fact jewish! :) and around christmas time i always get a little prickly about the surplus of christmas spirit and in this case the amount of fic for it. and i’d sort of had this hesitant idea to write a jewish fic in the back of my mind for a long time, but it felt like a really big divergence from the Cast of Characters that was for some reason a lot more dramatic than any other circumstances into which i could place them, so i’d basically been hesitating for several months. in november we had a brief conversation about it in the club which looked like this

but the idea still made me a little nervous and so i kind of talked myself out of writing it, as always. and THEN, middle of december, iba sent me this 1d fic out of nowhere with this accompanying message:

and i kinda lowkey almost cried!! it was such a jewish fic. i read the word kvetch and i almost lost it. the fic was just so unabashedly jewish. and i was like...well. that’s what ive been wanting to do. so now i have no reason not to do it.

in the ao3 notes i talked a little bit about my internal debate over How Jewish To Go with the fic because on the one hand i really do understand that it can feel alienating going into a fic with zero understanding of the culture but on the other hand since it was MY fic i wanted to make it jewish the way i’m jewish. which is like...............very. i don’t think i ended up striking a balance so much as just deciding to say fuck it and write it the way i would want to read it, but i definitely think that was the right decision for me.

there was actually one more motivator for writing this fic, especially the WAY i wrote it, in eight chapters, and that motivator was that i wanted to break 400k on ao3 before the year ended. i just wanted to have an even number and 400k was a good goal. which i did achieve thanks to jewish cake fic being the 13.6k beast that she is! so that was also part of it

NOW! as for the PROCESS. i created the doc on december 22 and i originally kind of thought it was a little bitchy to write a hanukkah fic after hanukkah had already ended but was reminded that most christmas fic is neither written nor posted on actual christmas which reassured me well enough. i had already had the idea to divide it into eight chapters for the eight nights of hanukkah and i thought that would be a nice way to showcase different aspects of the holiday (seeing family, playing dreidel, opening presents etc) and also in certain cases (like the third chapter where they do some baking) some days that weren’t necessarily hanukkah-driven but just a nice natural consequence of being on break for hanukkah. i wanted it to feel like hanukkah feels to me!! normally i don’t like people seeing the way my outlines look but this one i don’t mind sharing so here’s what i had at the top of the doc for reference while i was writing. not everything in that first list got included but most of it did !!! 

i’m not really sure how this fic ended up being cake. i never used to default to cake but for some reason as i was diving into this one it just felt right. that’s all i can say about that. meg you have genuinely shifted my approach to fic i DO default to cake sometimes now and that’s on YOU. 

the very first thing i ever wrote down for this fic was this part that ended up going in the summary:

“Happy Hanukkah,” Calum says, smiling at Luke as their fingers intertwine.

Luke murmurs, “Chag sameach, ahovi,” and Calum’s face is aglow in the candlelight.

that was The Moment for me. i didn’t even write the rest of that scene until later but i had those two lines written down straight out the gate and i knew they were gonna close out the first scene because it just Felt Right. and i was right! very cool and fun for me

now the nice convenient thing about having this fic separated into eight discrete scenes/nights/chapters was that i didn’t have to write it in order, and i didn’t. i DID write the first night/chapter first, but then over the course of maybe a week, i wrote (deep breath get ready): the first half of chapter 2 (hemmings family) > the beginning of chapter 5 (the dreidel game) > most of the scene in chapter 7 > the beginning of chapter 3 (where they bake) > finished writing chapters 2 & 3 > started chapter 4 and finished chapter 5 > finished chapter 4 and wrote the rest of chapter 7 > all of chapter 6 > all of chapter 8 aka the proposal. i deliberately saved the proposal for last because i don’t think i could have written it exactly right without knowing the events that came before it but everything else was all over the place as you can see. 

a problem i ran into a lot, and i talked to my sounding board and fellow jew sam about this among many other things, was that i had a lot of trouble characterizing very obviously Not Jewish people in a way that made them Very Jewish. not even like, Jewish But You Can Ignore It. i wanted them to be front-and-center jewish like i am and that was hard for me to navigate because obviously my speech patterns and vocabulary as an american jew are extremely different from 5sos’s as australian goyim (non-jews) like i do use hebrew words in my day-to-day communication all the time and i somehow had to keep their mannerisms but also insert mine BUT not insert so many of mine that the fic became incomprehensible and it was just. a Challenge. here’s some insight into THAT crisis

and then again writing the other characters in other chapters

i sent sam the doc when i was mostly done writing it, mainly just to be reminded that at least one person was going to appreciate this fic, which worked out nicely because she very very much did. genuinely i cannot stress enough how insecure i was to write and share this fic. like i’m gonna be really straight up with you meg, i think part of the reason i had calum and luke baking sufganiyot was because to me that felt like a sort of bribe? i basically wrote what felt to me like the least appealing fic ever and then my mission from there was to add stuff in that would convince people to give it a shot anyway. i was trying to make it worth everyone’s while. the baking was my trade-off, i was like “well yeah it’s a jewish fic but maybe she’ll be happy enough that it’s cake and they’re baking that she’ll forgive it for being a jewish fic” yes i realize how kind of hilariously tragic this sounds but !!! you never get jewish fics!!! and you especially don’t get them in fanfiction for obviously non-jewish bands!!! anyway. we’re not gonna get into this whole thing but like. even though objectively i knew that i had been told again and again people would appreciate the fic i still had doubts and knowing something and feeling secure in it are very different things.

also, i didn’t remember this, but apparently i had a lot of problems with writing the proposal! here’s a sneak peek into that mental breakdown

don’t actually think the fic specifies (making life easier for myself) but they have already had dinner in that scene. so now you know. 

i could choose to not get this elbows-deep in the details of Crises I Had While Writing This Fic but instead i am choosing to go all out. here’s another thing i had trouble with:

(i did end up using transliteration obviously but i DO think actual hebrew would have been a cool flex)

and as for the title, ha’ahava hazot shelanu is the name of an ivri lider song that i love, and it translates to “this love of ours” and i realize titling the fic in hebrew was a Choice but i did talk to sam about this as well and that went roughly like this

by the way here is the song, i absolutely love it and i cannot recommend it enough. also i’m not sure how glaringly obvious this is but the chapter titles on ao3 are just hebrew numbers. like the first chapter is echad which literally means one. and so on. are they the correct genders? i don’t know ! fuck gendered language.

one more thing and then ill move on but an unfortunate natural consequence of writing a hanukkah fic (at least the way i wrote this one) is that it necessitates presents. so i had to come up with presents for these dumb boys to give each other. and to be completely honest with you i don’t remember how i did!!! the ones calum got for luke were trickier because they were actual things. for some reason this luke was always a version of luke that just kinda like, wore makeup, so that was just a question of figuring out an eyeshadow palette that would be Nice but not obscenely schmancy (i did ask the club for help since i know nothing about makeup but as usual i ignored their replies). but that by itself didn’t feel like enough of a gift, and so i tried to think of something that would be more than just the gift of an object. like, something that would maybe enable luke to spend more time on something he loves. piano music made sense to me because it wasn’t just a thing by itself it was a thing that encouraged luke to play piano and even to improve at it and to learn songs that he could be excited about. so! that was that

the trip to israel gift was a little bit of a retcon situation i really liked the idea that luke had been planning to give that “gift” to calum for a hot sec that he’d have had it ready, but i’d already written the scene where he and mali talk about israel, so i went back to it and edited it a little to hint at the idea (luke plays it off very casually because he is a clever boy) but i thought there was something very romantic in the idea of the israel trip, of luke planning a future with calum and a trip to a place that means so much to him (to me yes maybe luke and i are the same blah blah) and getting to drag calum around to falafel places and teach him words in hebrew and it just seemed like the appropriate trip for these two cute jewish boys to plan so i rolled with it.

okay moving on slightly!! to baker calum <3 baker calum was more of a cameo in the hanukkah fic, in the chapter i wrote with you in mind, but i can talk about it’s so simple here as well because i fucking adore that fic.

it’s so simple

so the inspiration behind the fic came from the “kitchens are for lovers” rhetoric and the realization that that would be the perfect...sort of thesis to build on for a fic for you in specific, because you are, in my mind, a very kitchen-based person, given your baking habit. it actually just worked out pretty nicely for me honestly because i’ve been wanting to write a big Kitchen Romance type fic for a while and you just gave me the perfect opportunity. here’s what i had at the top of the doc for the fic for you

and then once i sort of landed on the idea for the fic, it just made a lot of sense to make it jewish cake because, well, im gonna be real w you, because i identify very strongly with jewish cake and the kitchen-romance aspect felt like a very bella thing in the same way that jewish cake felt like a bella thing. and so i wanted to be able to romanticize these kitchens to share the way that i, bella, feel about them, and that was easy to do when the characters were so similar to me. not to mention this cake already existed in my head as a very settled, domestic duo, and they had their own home and had already had a kitchen-romance scene in the hanukkah fic and the whole thing just fell together perfectly. i had this sentence in my head and it was: “Shabbat in Luke and Calum’s kitchen looks something like this.” the kind of thing you would read in a fic summary right? and especially having it take place on shabbat felt like an extra layer of domestic easy romance to me so that was kind of my guide

here was my "outline” for this:

Romance :)))

obviously calum was going to be the one doing most of the cooking/baking because he had been established as the Kitchen Boy between the two of them and maybe i realized in the course of writing it that while i was luke, you were very much calum. so the goal was then basically to romanticize (1) the kitchen and (2) luke as much as humanly possible for you (see: message sent to helen and ainslee)

unfortunately i was unable to do baker calum justice as much as i would have liked because i could not have him baking anything complex because i can’t bake anything complex and if i had tried to describe him baking something complex and then described it wrong i would have died of shame so that is why he is only baking brownies BUT they have chocolate chips which hopefully makes up for it. also i just stumbled across this which i think pretty well represents the crisis i had regarding baker calum

:)))

re: the soundtrack (so to speak), i wanted to include some songs that i associate with you meg but you see the situation is that some of those songs are 5sos/mali/atl songs and so i couldn’t include those, for obvious reasons, which did narrow down my choices somewhat. fortunately i think the mcfly worked pretty nicely i mean yeah it’s a little obvious that i was forcing mcfly into the story but they deserved to be there. i think i’ve mentioned this but i genuinely have a memory of listening to star girl on a loop in my kitchen at home and in my head the hood-hemmings kitchen looks like my kitchen because i have zero imagination so it felt to me like these songs just belonged in kitchens. and that they’d be inherently romantic. woah i think my brain is short-circuiting i’m not sure i’m making sense anymore. point being i hoped that you would appreciate it nonetheless.

a note about the short introduction, because it’s very unlike anything i’ve put in any other fic to my knowledge. i kind of wanted it to feel like the prologue to a fairytale, almost. i wanted it to feel like the beginning of a movie, when the camera is slowly, slowly zooming in from a Big Picture down to one house on one street and then through the window into the kitchen while the voiceover is very serenely describing the scene. i wanted it to feel like we were in the kitchen before even calum was and that we were standing against the fourth wall watching the fic unfold. and also, i wanted to make the fic romantic as fuck, from the get-go. there was to be no confusion: this fic was going to romanticize the living daylights out of the hood-hemmings kitchen.

(also you may have noticed that despite having “london” in the list of Meg Things at the top of the doc, the fic never actually specifies that they’re in london. that’s because this fic was really an exercise in “how much can i hint that they’re in london without outright saying it so i don’t establish a canon that i may later regret” which went as far as me asking helen what her kitchen floors and counters are made of. like. if you want it to be in london then hell yeah it’s in london but i didn’t wanna lock myself into that decision just in case so i never actually said it but i hope it kinda felt london-y anyway lmao)

so...............i THINK that’s all i have to say. “all” as if i havent just written an entire dissertation but at least it’s done now. i sure did say a lot! that was a lot!!! but also a very very fun and interesting dive into the ~process~ of writing these jewish cake fics. also, for what it’s worth, the way hanukkah fic was received basically calmed all my fears about writing jewish fic, which was a relief for me. so thank you for loving it, i don’t think you know how much that means to me!!!! i love YOU so very much

[hopefullystillliving]

Shed Skin Chapter 3

Queen, Captain, Consort, Prince

Linda has some introductions to make. Telling Bell won’t be a problem, but she’s concerned about telling Percy. Becoming a sort-of mother with no warning whatsoever is very different from being told that your queen got a surprise heir for you to guard. But first she has to deal with being roasted by an hours-old child. This is fine.

Chapter 2|Chapter 4

Masterpost|LAOFT

Sympathetic!Deceit, past Unsympathetic!Deceit, Sympathetic!Remus, LAOFT Linda/Percy

Warnings: Discussions of the Serpent King, sympathetic!deceit, light discussion of potential assassination attempts, eating raw meat. There is very very little heavy stuff here, it’s mostly just good wholesome shenaniganry.

Words: 3158

This is the longest chapter so far, by exactly 500 words (second longest is the prologue) and the first chapter I wrote with no idea of what I wanted from it. I knew what chapter 4 was going to be, and I knew where I needed to get to from the end of chapter 2, but the middle? Nothing. I decided pretty quickly that the beginning would be more bonding, and Linda trying to get Adder to sing “kid’s songs” was the perfect shenanigan. Despite her occasional fits of Responsibility™ (because she is the head of the courts, and she is actually competent), her and Adder’s relationship is a weird combination of cool aunt, fun mom, and older sister, and thus I needed the perfect brand of mildly embarrassing Chaos. Then I decided to have this be the chapter where Bell and Percy get brought up to speed, because I didn’t want another chapter with very little action. Then I got the little fiddly bits down. I’m pretty proud of it overall, especially some of Linda’s Serious Face Moments. I also really like Percy and Linda’s relationship. It’s still very much a rivalish friends to lovers relationship, as opposed to the husband collection’s pure concentrated True Love and Soppy Goodness, so they’re in love, but would absolutely pettily rock-paper-scissors over dumb stuff, and hold it over the other’s head when they won. My biggest regret is that I wish I could’ve written the moment Adder realizes Linda is the Queen from his perspective. Maybe you guys’ll get an extra.

☙❀❧-☙✿❧-☙❀❧-☙✿❧-☙❀❧-☙✿❧-☙❀❧-☙✿❧-☙❀❧-☙✿❧

Linda was enjoying herself perhaps a little more than she should’ve been. They’d played several more rounds of I-Spy before they’d gotten bored of it, and she’d started trying, with very little success, to teach Adder “The Green Grass Grew”.

    “Come on! It’s easy, just sing it once with me.”

    “No. It’s not even a game, just a children’s song.”

    “First, you’re literally a child, second, I-Spy was a children’s game, and third, it’s better than being bored.”

    “Yes, but I-Spy was at least fun. This is beneath my dignity. And I can assure you, this is far worse than boredom.” Adder said, pointedly ignoring the first half of her statement.

    “This is also fun! You don’t even have to properly sing it, you could just echo me.” She insisted. The coolly disgusted look he gave her was so out of place on his young face that she couldn’t help but let out a laugh.

So maybe it wasn’t so much teaching, as convincing him to be taught. Still, she had a plan. She was sure that she just had to show him how much worse it could be. Or maybe that wouldn’t work and it would only make him even more irritated. Either way, it was a win.

    “Fine. If you don’t want to learn that, I can teach you a different song. The words go like this-” She cut off his protests by launching into an intentionally out-of-key and overenthusiastic version of “Down by the Bay”, struggling to keep her laughter down. It burst out though, as Adder let loose a perfect specimen of an overly dramatic pre-teen groan. He walked several feet ahead while Linda had to pause to try and regain some sense of composure. Who knew teasing a small child could be so fun? She did, obviously. Really, it was just like teasing Percy when they were both younger.

    “If you want me to stop, you need to sing with me.” She giggled. “Besides, is it really so bad?” He gave off a venomous glare.

    “I’d rather take a knife to the face.”

    “Oh dear, we can’t have that!” Linda feigned concern. “That sounds very unhealthy!” Adder groaned again, and looked like he was considering whether the risk of getting off track was worth walking ahead. Linda laughed again and briefly sped up her pace so that she matched his again. He grumbled at her, but seemed satisfied when she only gave him a smirk and didn’t burst into song.

The two continued down their path in a relaxed silence, broken up by Linda’s occasional chuckles, swiftly followed by put-upon sighs from Adder. The noises of the court, louder than they had been when she had set out in the morning, began to join the noises of the forest as they grew closer to their destination. What had been a subtle gap in the underbrush and her hour-old footsteps quickly grew into a proper trail. The sun was high in the sky, nearly noon, and after the morning’s surprises and heart-stopping terror, she was looking forward to lunch, but there were a few things that she’d have to do first.

    “Once we get to the Hill we can eat, but before that there are a few people I need to introduce you to.”

    “Is there a reason?”

    “While you might not technically be my child, Grandmother still led me to you, so that means you’re under my protection. If you’re my ward, that also means that you’re my heir, at least for now, and that’s a big deal for the court, so I definitely need to tell the Captain of the Guard before she finds out on her own and skins me for not letting her know. Aside from that, I should tell my wife. For obvious reasons. Those two are the most urgent, everyone else can wait.” She said, then turned to Adder, only to see him looking at her, head tilted in confusion.

    “Why would being your heir be a big deal?” He asked. Linda blinked in bewilderment before the pieces clicked. He didn’t know that she was the Regent of the forest. It made sense, he’d said that he didn’t know who she was, and she wasn’t exactly decked out in full regalia, but it was still surprising, after being easily recognized for so long.

    “I’m- uh- the Head of the Courts. Really I’m Grandmother’s regent, but She can’t really manage ruling how She is.” She responded sheepishly, giving him an embarrassed grin at the incredulous look on his face.

    “You. Are the Lady of the Forest.”

    “Well you don’t have to sound so shocked about it.” Linda said.

    “That’s- How didn’t I know?” He exclaimed, bewildered. She shrugged.

    “Well, you are only an hour old, and I’m the only person you’ve talked to so far. It’s not really that surprising that you didn’t.”

    “But I-” he cut himself off. “Nevermind.” he muttered, hunching his shoulders. Linda was concerned, but from what she’d gotten to know about Adder, he wouldn’t appreciate her prodding, so she reluctantly let it be.

They were on the path that she’d been walking originally, the Court and the Hill peeking between the trees. It was around 11, so Bell would probably be nearby. Or she’d be on the complete other side of Court, still sparring with the rest of the knights. Obviously the first one was preferable, not only because it would take less time, but also because it meant that it was less likely that they’d run into people, which could both slow them down, and spread the news about Adder sooner than they wanted. And that meant that the news about Adder could potentially reach Bell before they did. Linda had no desire for a scolding, thank you very much. So when the two of them stepped out of the cover of the trees, she made sure they did so quietly, and subtly positioned herself in front of Adder.

    “So I want to find the Captain of the Guard first, she’s called Belladonna, Bell for short, and then we can go to the Hill to see my wife. She should be near here, I think.” She said to him softly, looking around at the passing faces to see if she could see the Knight. When her scan turned out fruitless, she beckoned for him to follow, and started casually walking towards the commons, her first guess as to where she’d be, Adder awkwardly following behind her. The commons were strangely empty, thankfully, so while there were definitely some whispers, it wasn’t nearly as bad as it could’ve been. 

    “Your Majesty.” A voice called, and Linda turned to see Bell to her left, walking up with a look of scrutiny on her face.

    “Oh! Bell! Just the fairy I needed to see!”

    “Who’s the child?” She said, with her typical bluntness. As Linda was about to respond, Adder beat her to it.

    “I am Prince of the Winter Court. You may call me Dee.” Both of the older fae’s eyes widened in sync. Linda hadn’t known that. At least he’d had the good sense to be quiet when declaring himself to be royalty.

    “...And you’re a snake?” Bell asked.

    “Yes.”

    “Right. If you’ll excuse us; Your Majesty, a word?” Linda glanced at Adder, or maybe Dee, apparently, before nodding somewhat helplessly and allowing herself to be dragged a fair distance away. It was far enough that even though he was clearly straining to eavesdrop, he wouldn’t be able to overhear, so long as they weren’t loud.

    “Where did you get him?” She asked quietly, dead serious. “Is he yours?”

    “I was walking this morning when Grandmother started pulling me. I followed her to the witch-hazel and there he was. I don’t think I’m his mother, if that’s what you mean, not like my fathers were mine, but he’s under my protection. He’s my ward.” Bell took a deep breath before looking her in the eyes.

    “I am old enough to remember part of the Spider Prince’s first reign. There are not very many remaining who can. You’re very lucky in that regard. A Winter Snake Prince? His scales are different, and he’s much younger than I ever knew him, but your ward’s resemblance to a younger Usurper is uncanny.”

    “Yeah, I... caught the parallels as well. I mean, I didn’t actually know he was a Prince, but…” Linda sighed as she trailed off. Now that Bell had brought the subject up, she realized that the long list of unfortunate coincidences that linked Adder and the Serpent King would undoubtedly burden the Court’s opinion of him. Even Linda’s first reaction to seeing him had been shock and apprehension, and she had only heard stories of the forest under his rule and about his defeat. Hopefully they wouldn’t consciously let it affect their judgement, but to expect that the courtiers who had lived through the Usurper’s tyranny would be free of latent biases was foolish. And that didn’t bode well, at least for the short-term. Adder was a kid, he didn’t need the pressure of court politics and assassination attempts. Then again, it was possible that rationality would prevail, and the worst he’d have to deal with would be a harder time getting people to like him, something that it didn’t seem he’d be terribly concerned about, but that was only the best-case scenario. Bell must have seen something of her train of thought, because she broke into it, saying:

   “Well, hopefully the rest of his luck turns out better. Anyway, despite all that, it’s still only one more person I have to keep from getting killed. That brings the total up to, what, three? That’s not bad. And you told me first thing, that’s more than your fathers could’ve said.” Linda chuckled drily.

They returned to Adder, her mood slightly less subdued. The disgruntled look on his face showed that his attempts to overhear their conversation had been a failure, which Linda found herself very thankful for. The last thing they needed on top of everyone else was to explain the story of the Serpent King and why he related to Adder.

    “Alright, your highness. You may call me Belladonna. I’m the Captain of the Guard. It’s my job to make sure you don’t die.” Bell said to the child. Adder nodded seriously.

    “Okay,” Linda said, “We’re going to the Hill to have lunch and introduce him to Percy. You can go on with your day.” She could feel her desperation rising as her blood sugar dropped. It had been a long day already, and she really needed lunch. And to get the introductions over with. What would her wife even think about her coming home with a child, a prince, no less, to take care of?

    “Just like that? The Bobcat Queen gets an heir and expects me to just go on with my day?” She snorted. “I can recognize a dismissal when I hear one-”

    “Can you?” Linda muttered, earning an admittedly justified glare.

    “Like I was saying. I can recognize a dismissal, but I’ve got to make arrangements for the Prince. The rest of the guard needs to be prepared. John will understand.” She gave them a slight bow, a smirk, and spun on her heel. With a wave over her shoulder, she set off back to the sparring grounds. Linda sighed in relief and ran her hands through her hair, freeing even more of it from her braid.

    “Okay. One introduction out of the way. We can go to the hill, and you can get yourself started on lunch while I talk to my wife, and then you two can be introduced and I can have lunch.” She said, already walking and nodding for Adder to follow.

    “Why can’t I be introduced first, and then we have lunch together?” He wondered, keeping pace beside her.

    “Because she’s my wife. I’d rather prepare her before I say ‘here’s a child, I got him from a tree, and we’re gonna take care of him because my shadow-Grandma said so.’”

    “You didn’t do that with Belladonna.” He pointed out.

    “Yeah, well I didn’t get the chance to. And dealing with this sort of thing is Bell’s job. My wife’s only job is to tell me when I’m being a dumb-” She cut herself off with the realization that she probably shouldn’t swear in front of a young, impressionable child. Oh no, they were gonna have to make a swear jar weren’t they?

    “Being a dumb? Is that some kind of stupid saying, or are you just being a dumb right now? Maybe we should hurry to get to your wife, I wouldn’t want to take over her job.”

    “How dare you. How can I ever recover from the suffering your words have inflicted on me.” He blinked.

    “Your suffering?” He asked, confused, “You don’t look like you’re suffering?”

    “What? Oh, no. That’s a rhetorical question. I’m not actually suffering, but I can joke that I am because I phrased it like a question. The answer to which is: I can’t, because there wasn’t really any suffering inflicted.”

    “Why would you bother?”

    “I don’t know? It’s funny I guess.”

    “Huh.” Adder fell silent at that, apparently contemplating the merits of fae-friendly sarcasm. And that brought something else to the front of her mind.

    “Oh, uh, can I still call you Adder?” That caught his attention. Right away his head snapped up to look at her.

    “What?”

    “You introduced yourself to Bell as “Dee”. If you changed your mind on what I should call you, you can tell me.”

    “No you-” He paused to take a deep breath before speaking again. “You may call me Adder. That’s yours. You may call me Adder, and everyone else may call me Dee.” Judging by the mildly disgusted look that passed over his face, and the way her muscles relaxed, Linda was sure that her expression had softened considerably.

    “Thank you.”

    “It’s yours.” He insisted, and then shut up, clearly uncomfortable with the more sincere exchange. She took the hint, and they drew up to the Hill in silence. She pulled open the smaller door, set to the side of the Great Entrance, and stamped the snow off her boots as she took off and hung up her coat, hat, and scarf. Adder came in after her, and Linda noticed he was barefoot. He’d need more clothes as well. And where would he sleep? Though in that case the issue was too many options, not too few. But those were problems to deal with after food.

She led him to the kitchen, pointed out the places where there would actually be stuff to eat, and headed upstairs to tell her wife that they had a kid now.

In their bedroom, Percy was sitting on the bed, completely cocooned in blankets. Her face was barely visible, and she was trying to read a book, holding it with her hands under the covers.

    “Hey Perce. How are you doing?” Linda asked. Green eyes glanced up at her, as Percy tried to put the book down while keeping as much of her body as possible within the warmth. When it ended up face down by her side, keeping her place, she groaned and shuffled up from her blanket nest until her arms were free to brush her hair out of her face.

    “Cold. Tired. Contemplating arson. The usual. Is it lunchtime already?”

    “So, about that…”

    “What did you do? Don’t tell me you actually committed arson. That was a joke. Mostly. There are plenty of other ways to show that you love me.” She said. Linda couldn’t help but let out a short laugh, despite her worries.

    “No arson here, I promise. It’s a little early for lunch, but we, ah, have a guest. Sort of.”

    “That is not a comforting tone of voice. Elaborate.” Her wife deadpanned. Well, nothing left to do but be honest. She opened her mouth with the intention of cutting straight to the quick of the matter. Grandmother had led her to the witch-hazel, and now she had a child to take care of, who was currently eating lunch. What came out instead was:

    “How would you like to be a mother. Hypothetically. Or not really mother, I guess, more like a guardian? Because it may not actually be that hypothetical and-” Her rambling was cut off by Percy quickly squirming out of the tangled mess of covers, rolling out of bed, and sliding on a pair of fuzzy slippers shaped like fish.

    “Where the absolute- how did you end up with a child?” She exclaimed, opening the door.

    “Why didn’t you assume I was pregnant?” Linda asked back, following after her, before the wind on that particular line of thinking was completely knocked out of it’s sails by Percy coming to a dead stop, slowly turning, and leveling her with a flat stare.

    “We’re lesbians, Linda.”

    “I know that!” She replied sheepishly, her wife still looking her dead in the eyes.

    “Do you really?” She paused for effect, but spoke again before Linda could retort. “Where did you get the kid? And where is the kid?”

    “Grandmother led me to him, hence why he’s now my, hopefully our, responsibility, and if he’s behaving, he should be in the kitchen getting lunch.” Percy didn’t wait for her to finish the sentence before heading there, Linda hurrying after her.

She rushed into the kitchen, only to find Adder, eyes wide, having been interrupted shamelessly swallowing a whole chunk of frozen, raw hamburger. He had fangs, she inanely noticed.

    “Hello. You may call me Percy. I’m Lyn’s wife. Officially, the Court calls me the Queen’s Consort. Can I have some of the hamburger before you eat it all?”

    “Perce!”

    “You may call me Dee. I’m Lyn’s ward, and Prince of the Winter Court. And it’s your meat. You can have all you want.” He gestured to the rest of the meat, lying out on a counter. Normally Linda or Percy hunted their meat, but occasionally Linda wanted something more processed, so they kept hamburger in the fridge. (It was an ice box really, but that just didn’t have the same ring to it.) The point, for her, at least, was to cook the food. So after Percy took a chunk off as well, and started gnawing in solidarity, Linda lit the stove to defrost what was left to make meatballs. She grabbed some caramels to eat while she worked, and was hit with the sight of a small, snaky child giving her puppy eyes.

    “It won’t taste good with the meat.”

    “I won’t know until I try?” He made it sound so reasonable, and she couldn’t help but fork over a few. Seeing his smug face, she sighed. It had been a long day, and she got the feeling she’d been unknowingly signed up for many more like it.

[yuvon-writes-letters]

[The first words of the letter are a bit chaotic and written in a yet unknown scripture]

Hello Yuvon, Jake, Rainer...I cannot really comprehend all of your names.

My name is Maximilian Collins, but just call me Max please. From what I was told that's what you already know me under.

I am Lig. Sorry. I remembered she told me that you just know her nickname. I am Liskas cousin.

I would really like and try say something, but I don't think I would get out anything with sense in the moment.

Long story short: The little fox is doing okay I guess. At least when I take in accountant what happened to her. I mean, she is hunted by a murderer? And he almost would have gotten to her...And only thanks to Jake she was safer again.

Damn it. Why didn't she tell me? Maybe I shouldn't have stolen

So yeah, we arrived five days ago in our first location and currently are in a small German town. (Do you even know we're originally born in Germany? That really helps us) Just away from home, you know? Though, she did not talk to me at all until today. She broke down in front of me when a letter struck Lis directly in her face..In front of me. In some kind of golden light.

She told me many things and if I hadn't seen the letters appear I would not have believed it.

Rainer, Yuvon, your last two letters appeared as one, so I guess that's because Liska should read both all of them? But it doesn't matter, I want to thank you. She really started smiling again. Even though..After the letter where you said that you have some responsibility about her situation she started rambling. Many feelings she kept hidden.

She didn't talk much after that and I don't know when she will answer again (weird enough is I am not angry at you, since I am too protective of her at other times when I am not stealing her work). But at least she talked a bit!

And..if you read this little fox, please skip. You already have enough things to embarass me. Just read again after the red part.

Oh and one more thing..she seemed upset after 'Jake' didn't answer her on her phone. Like, really upset.

Is there something more I should know? Like...Are they in a weird relationship or something?

Lis only told me about the man without a face thing and not really her relationships. And that they didn't have so much contact in the moment (even though I don't know why). Only the bastard wanted to get to her.

And I know that you are from a parallel universe with a sick entity? I don't think I know everything, just parts, but that's enough for me.

Just, why is she so upset? She wasn't when she talked about the others don't answer momentarily.

MAX

Ps. Uh, damn..She just started laughing as if she was crazy. And insulting someone 'You damn golden bastard'. Oh and I think I heard a 'It worked!!'

[The writing is really known again, even though a bit shaky in the beginning]

Oh shit, Max you idiot. Can't even check if your letter sent...

It's been a day since the events Max is talking about took place. So, six days since you last heard from me I believe? Maybe seven. I don't know.

I...I don't know what I believe to reach with writing again, but it makes me so damn happy. I am sorry I didn't write anyone of you, it was just so difficult to even get up and not sit in bed all day. But, I can't stay like this. And Goldie was completely right. [Lis' writing becomes like when she did the word association] Always. But that's why he is the safe one.

[It becomes normal again, the first words are smeared a bit]

I mean, Max told you that the letters hit me in my face, right?

Jake was in stasis again, as long as I did not want to contact him. That is the reason he did not write you more letters. I want to see more of his handwr

He isn't anymore though and I am supposed to tell you his thanks for getting me out of my...catatonic state.

So yeah, I don't know what to say anymore...I really hope you are doing better Yuvon and Jake and that you are also fine, Rainer.

And Jessica, if you still read this.

Liska🐾🔥

Max, (and Lis! Didn't see your part at first :) )

I'm glad Lis is okay. It's been awhile since she wrote, and I was getting really concerned about her, because of the whole, well, I'm sure you can guess.

I didn't know you were from Germany, but it does make sense, in hindsight. Probably it's more confusing that I'm from America, actually, given where Duskw

In her face? XD I don't know exactly how much Lis told you and it's not my place to tell you her secrets, but ffs Goldie XD

I'm glad Rai and I could get Lis to smile. I was hoping I could lighten our moods a bit, given all the recent... let's call it drama that went down. It's been stressful, lately, we all needed some levity.

I'm glad you're not angry at me, though you do have the right to be.

Lis and Jake, if you're reading, skip to the |||.

Jake is very important to Lis, and I mean VERY. Visa versa, too. Him not answering her calls is fairly concerning. Lis isn't the only one who's a target of Things, after all.

Something very, very bad happened recently. To avoid traumatizing you, I won't go into detail, but the upshot is that my version of Jake and I were very seriously hurt and someone tricked Lis into blaming herself for it, despite it not being her fault at all.

|||

Oh! Lis! Hi! :)

Don't worry about not writing, I know how that goes :/

...Lis, do you get copies of your own letters? I know we get copies of ours. If you do, you might want to look over the letter/section of letter you sent me again. Third paragraph, last two sentences. If something looks odd about it,

Actually, let me just send you it.

(Glued on with sap are the sentences Yuvon was talking about. Specifically, the lines "Always. But that's why he is the safe one.")

Yeah, Max told us XD I guess Goldie REALLY wanted you to read the letters. I'm getting flashbacks to Jake blackmailing Rai into telling us their issues.

Huh. That... both does and doesn't make sense. Why would you not wanting to talk to him put Jake in stasis again...? Goldie wouldn't do that, I think. Is your stasis tied to you, somehow? Or is that other entity messing with you?

...Was my stasis tied to me?

No. No, that doesn't really make sense, I think. Based on what I've seen, at least. I'll keep it in mind as a possibility, though.

I'm glad he's out of the stasis, at least. And you're welcome, Jake :) Lis matters to me too, so of course I would.

That's all I have to say for now, so

(There's a section of the letter that's been ripped out of the center, as if Yuvon poked her pen through the letter and then ripped out a line or two of writing. The paper around the tear is unnaturally white, just this side of eye-searing, and you can see the very edges of letters written in ink so dark it seems to suck in the light around it. There is absolutely no way to ever know what the entity said.)

Don't. You. Dare. Say that to Lis.

Try that again, and I don't care how powerful you are. I will find out what your other weaknesses are, and I will exploit them. With a little luck, I'll break your neck myself. Or poison you to death. If you know enough about my writing to plagiarize it, you know I'm not bluffing when it comes to the poison.

Would you prefer strychnine, entity, or something more symbolic? You do seem to love your symbolism.

That being said. Bye for now, Lis :)

—Yuvon

Hello, Lis and Max.

It is a pleasure to meet you, Max. I am glad that Lis is doing better.

...When did (blacked out) Yuvon say she thought she was responsible for Lis's state of mind?

I am afraid I do not have many more answers than what Yuvon offered, Max, at least for the moment. My apologies.

I am glad you are feeling better, Lis :)

I am also glad your Jake is no longer in stasis, though I second Yuvon's concerns and curiosity as to why. Also, please tell him that he is welcome.

I admit that I am not entirely sure what the entity said to provoke such a dramatic reaction from Yuvon, but I suspect I am better off not knowing. I am somewhat worried that her words may provoke a reaction, but she seems rather confident that the entity will not react. Given her recent... intuitions, about the entity, I am inclined to believe her.

I do worry about her, though. Neither of us know why she can suddenly know all these things, and even the entity does not seem to know, either. It is disturbing, to be frank.

Regardless. I have little more to say, for the moment. Do be safe, Lis.

Sincerely,

Jake

(The letter tucks itself into the paper clip with the others.)

[sennaleee]

(Heyo, here’s a P5 Akira/Akechi omo fic that I wrote entirely for myself despite having a ridiculous number of requests for different things please don’t kill me. ;~; I have a HUGE note regarding my thoughts about timeline, my opinions on these characters and their relationship, and other things, but it was such a Long Explanation that I didn’t want it at the beginning of the fic. If that’s something that interests you, please scroll all the way to the bottom of the fic for that!

Short version with the most important stuff: This ain’t a shippy fic, but I do ship Akechi/Protagonist and like Akechi as a character despite him being a villain. Based on timeline, Akechi is suspicious Akira is a Phantom Thief but doesn’t know for sure, and Akira hasn’t yet figured out that Akechi knows about the metaverse and is a persona user (probs takes place between Kuneshiro’s and Futaba’s palaces, but exact date doesn’t really matter). There are no spoilers for P5 Royal in this fic.

Also gotta admit this is 100% self-indulgent nonsense, so if you're looking for something Deep and unquestionably In Character, this probably ain't it. Honestly, I just wanted to get back onto the writing train, and doing something entirely for myself was the best way to do that lololol. (also upon rereading this to edit, I realize that Akechi is entirely ooc whoops please just accept this for what it is because I don’t want to rewrite it when it’s literally a kink fic)

This fic was inspired by this post.

Fic contains omorashi. Also a note that this is somewhat different from my usual stuff in that there’s a lot more focus on the relief than the desperation, which I blame on point of view. Anyway. I’ll stop talking now and let you get to the actual fic lol.

-----

“Oh, you're back.” Sojiro's usual drawl as he stood behind the counter was expected. What was not so expected was the detective prince seated primly at said counter, an empty mug in front of him and a book held open by his gloved hands.

“Out a bit late today, eh? I'll leave closing the store to you then,” Sojiro said without waiting for a reply, replacing his apron with his jacket and giving Akira a short wave as he headed out. There weren't any other customers, and Akira really had been out late – Ryuji had wanted to train, and afterwards Akira had run into Ann when he’d made a stop in Shibuya’s underground mall. Glancing at his phone, he noted that it was technically past closing time already, and was surprised Sojiro hadn't given him more of a talking-to, not to mention he hadn't said so much as a word about Akechi having to leave Leblanc.

Speaking of Akechi ...

Akira flipped the sign to 'closed,' not wanting to risk having to deal with any more late customers wandering in.

“Come here often?” he joked, pleased when Akechi rolled his eyes and closed the book, setting it aside.

“Good evening, Kurusu-kun. You're back much later than usual today.”

Shrugging, Akira dropped his schoolbag on a booth, only giving Morgana a cursory glance as he hopped out of said bag and stalked up the stairs, throwing a disapproving glare over his shoulder. Akira went behind the counter to grab Akechi's mug, giving the inside a quick look, deeming it clean enough before refilling it with what he knew was Akechi's favored coffee blend.

“Yeah, one of my friends likes running, so I offered to run with him. My other friend likes talking, and I ran into her on the way home.” Akira put the now-full mug back in front of Akechi with an exaggerated bow before going about preparing a coffee for himself.

“Ah, isn't it past closing? I did want to talk with you today, but I'm sure you have more important things to be doing,” Akechi said, even as he rose from his seat, grabbing his briefcase from where it was set on the chair next to him.

“Don't worry; if Sojiro wanted you gone, he would've said. Stay as long as you like. Besides, I just refilled your coffee – be a bit rude if you rushed off now.” Akira gave Akechi a narrow-eyed smirk, just daring him to do something deemed 'rude.'

“As long as I'm not causing you any inconvenience,” Akechi said slowly, though he made no move to sit back down. “If you'll excuse me, I'm going to use the restroom, and then we can talk as long as you'd like.”

“Oh, wait, sorry,” Akira said. “Toilet's out of order currently. Sojiro promised me he'd get a plumber in sometime tomorrow.”

Akechi stopped from where he was halfway to the restroom, turning abruptly toward Akira with a single eyebrow raised. “Kurusu, don't you live here?”

“There's a public bathhouse across the street,” Akira shrugged. “Works well enough for emergencies. Otherwise I'm usually only here to sleep anyway.” Watching as Akechi's eyes darted for the slightest of moments toward Leblanc's exit, Akira continued, “I can walk you over there if you need?”

“No, that won't be necessary,” Akechi was quick to answer, returning to his chair and immediately reaching for his coffee, taking a long drink.

“Suit yourself. It's no problem.”

“I can assure you there is no need.”

Holding back an exasperated sigh, Akira instead walked around the counter and very deliberately moved Akechi's briefcase off of its chair and onto the booth next to Akira's own bag, ignoring Akechi's token protest. Plopping down in the now vacated chair, Akira folded his hands around his own coffee cup and smiled at Akechi. “So, Akechi-kun, what is it you wanted to discuss today?”

---

It had stayed in the back of his mind throughout the rest of the evening and later into the night. Sure, Akechi hadn't mentioned the restroom again, but there were the tiniest of tells – he was crossing and uncrossing his legs just a tad more than he would normally, he was twitching his foot up and down whereas he tended to sit completely still, it was taking him a good hour to get through this third cup of coffee when he could usually down them in no more than thirty minutes, even while talking to Akira throughout.

Akira wasn't focusing on Akechi's sure need of the restroom. It was more a curiosity, wondering why he didn't just give in and use the toilet in the bathhouse when obviously Akira was aware he'd needed to go for some time, but Akechi was nothing if not stubborn.

They jumped from topic to topic throughout the night: What restaurants Akechi had visited recently, what Akira had been doing with his friends, how both of them were doing in school, plans for the upcoming summer break, and of course, the all-consuming topic of the Phantom Thieves. Granted, as soon as Akechi started asking the more probing questions, Akira redirected toward Akechi's more recent interviews, charmed to watch Akechi scowl for just a moment before plastering that pleasant grin back on.

Akechi didn't stumble or stutter or lose track of his words. He kept sipping on his coffee, albeit at a slower pace, while Akira watched on.

It felt like no time at all before Akechi glanced at his phone and gave a start. “Ah, it's getting quite late! I really must get to the station before the trains stop for the night. Thank you for indulging me, Kurusu-kun.”

“Pfft, how many times have I told you not to thank me? I like talking to you, idiot.”

“No need to be rude,” Akechi softened his scolding with a smirk, eyes sharp as they looked up at Akira from under his bangs.

“Oh, I'm so sorry. I'll make it up to you by walking you to the station.”

“Thank you, but that's really not necessary,” Akechi was quick to say.

“It is -” Akira stopped to dramatically pull his phone out of his pocket to check the time, “- 11:47 at night. As safe as Yongen-Jaya is, I refuse to give up on chivalry and stay here while the Detective Prince himself walks alone to the train station.”

“If you insist. I suppose it wouldn't exactly be 'princely' of me to argue.” Akechi's smile was more obviously forced than Akira had seen before, and he could swear he saw Akechi's left eye twitch before he turned toward the door and made his way toward it.

“Hey, Akechi?”

“Yes? I don't want to miss the last train, Kurusu,” Akechi said.

“Yeah, I know. I only thought that you wouldn't want to forget your briefcase.”

Akira took great humor in watching how quickly Akechi's back straightened, arms stiffening at his sides in what Akira assumed was embarrassment.

“Of course. Thank you, Kurusu-kun.”

Carefully locking Leblanc's door behind him, Akira smirked to himself when he realized Akechi had already started making his way toward the station without him. His gait was no faster than usual, and Akira doubted he would've known anything was wrong without his much earlier clue.

“Hey, wait up! The station's not even a five minute walk away. I promise you're not going to miss your train,” Akira called, jogging a few steps to catch up.

“My apologies. I simply don't want to risk the possibility of becoming stranded here overnight. After all, it would do nothing for my reputation if it were to come out that I spent the night in a Yongen train station.”

“Don't be ridiculous. If you miss the train, you're coming back to Leblanc.”

Akechi looked over in shock at that, eyes wide and mouth open as if he were about to retort, yet no words came.

“I don't know why you're so surprised. What sort of friend would I be leaving you to fend for yourself? You wound me, Akechi, truly.” Akira clutched at his chest, dramatically throwing his head back in faux-distress.

“Be serious,” Akechi scowled, continuing his steady march toward the station.

---

The last train for Shibuya left Yongen at midnight exactly. The big clock on the station wall informed them that it was currently 11:56.

Gesturing toward this clock, Akira said, “See, plenty of time to make your train. I can't believe you doubted me.”

“Yes, wonderful job, you correctly estimated the amount of time it takes to walk from your own home to the train station you frequent.”

“No need for sarcasm. A simple 'thank you' will suffice just fine.”

“Oh, thank you, my hero, Kurusu Akira. Now that I'm at the train station, I assure you I'll be able to make it to Shibuya on my own. No need for you to stay with me.”

“Come on, Akechi, it's only four minutes. I'm convinced you want to be rid of me.”

“Four minutes...” Akechi looked at the clock before looking down at the floor for a moment, seemingly deep in thought. He glanced once more at the clock, once toward the train tracks, then before Akira even knew what was happening, Akechi was off like a shot. He wasn't quite running, but his long strides were moving him through the station at an impressive pace.

Akira took only a moment to watch after him in shock before taking off at a swift jog to catch up with him.

“Akechi, what—”

“Please excuse me, Kurusu-kun,” Akechi said in a strained voice before abruptly pushing through a door. Akira, still chasing after him, entered right behind.

He shouldn't have been surprised to be faced with a restroom. It was small with only a toilet and a sink with no actual stalls, likely due to the Yongen-Jaya station itself not servicing too large of a crowd on the daily. Sure, he shouldn't have been surprised – Akechi had made clear his need for a restroom literal hours ago, and he'd had three cups of coffee since then, but Akira still couldn't wrap his head around Akechi being so desperate as to run away from him to get to a bathroom. Sure, there had been small tells throughout the night – just that much more fidgeting, that much more tightness in his facial expressions, but if Akira hadn't been looking for these things, he certainly wouldn’t have noticed them.

As it was, Akechi wasn't even bothering to wait for Akira to leave, instead dropping his briefcase on the floor and working on undoing his pants even as he was still walking toward the toilet.

There was no way he was unaware Akira had followed him into the bathroom. Apparently, his desperation was so great that he simply didn't care. Akira would've left. He wished he could've left, but as Akechi would've been in direct view of the door had Akira opened it, he didn't dare, instead reaching over and locking the door to prevent anyone else from bursting in.

Looking away would've been, at that point, the correct thing to do. However, the situation itself was so bizarre that Akira felt frozen in place. Frozen and staring as Akechi managed to pull himself out, already obviously dripping even before he managed to aim at the toilet. He was biting his lip and Akira could see, even from across the room, that Akechi's hands were trembling as he aimed and then he was peeing and wow Akira didn't want to be impressed, especially in what was clearly supposed to be a private moment, but the force of the stream was like a goddamned firehose.

The immediate relief was obvious on Akechi's face, his expression relaxing for the first time all night. His eyes drifted closed and his mouth went slack as he let out tiny sighs and cut off moans.

Akira was still frozen, staring, unable to pull his eyes away from the blissful relief apparent on Akechi's face. He could feel his own face flaming in a blush. The sounds alone would've been embarrassing enough, the harsh splashing and the sighing that was only slightly quieter now that Akechi was biting his bottom lip.

To Akira, the moment lasted eons. It seemed neverending in both the worst and best of ways, but truly it couldn't have been longer than a minute when the force of Akechi's stream finally began to wane, the liquid exiting slower and slower until it tapered to a stop. Akechi had turned his face away now, as he tucked himself back into his pants, flushed the toilet, and strode to the sink, taking his time washing his hands and decidedly not meeting Akira's gaze in the mirror. Not that Akira wanted to. At least, he didn't think he did. He wasn't sure if he'd ever be able to meet Akechi's eyes again after that display.

Once finished washing up, Akechi stayed facing away from Akira.

“You can leave now, Kurusu.” Akira had expected his tone to be darker, angrier, but all he could hear was a bone-deep exhaustion mixed with … was that sadness? Embarrassment? Disgust?

Unfortunately, reacting to unexpected situations such as this was not Akira's forte.

“Uhhh. Wow. that looked like it felt good.” Great, Akira, shove your foot right into your mouth, amazing job there.

“Please just go,” Akechi groaned, covering his face with both hands.

“So actually … You know how Leblanc's toilet is out of order?”

“...Obviously.”

“I definitely have to go now. Mostly out of sympathy for you, but—”

“Would you—ugh,” Akechi growled, face still buried in his palms. “Fine. Fine. I will be the one to leave.” Akechi spun around and all but leaped toward his bag, holding it very conspicuously in front of his crotch as soon as he grabbed it, but it was too late. Akira had definitely seen a small dark patch just to the right of Akechi's zipper, made all the more obvious by the light tan color of Akechi's pants. He strode to the door, trying to yank it open and quickly realized that it was, in fact, locked.

Akira choked on a laugh, the ridiculousness of the past five minutes fully catching up to him. He desperately hoped Akechi hadn't noticed – laughing at him was the worst way of getting Akechi to keep spending time with him, Akira knew. Thankfully, if Akechi had noticed, he didn't acknowledge it as he unlocked the door and let himself out at last.

It only took Akira himself a few minutes to finish in the restroom, even though he took his time, knowing that Akechi had surely left for Shibuya already. So, it was to Akira's immense surprise when he left the bathroom only to see a familiar figure sitting against the wall, knees pulled to his chest with his head pressed into them.

“Akechi?”

“... I may have missed the last train.”

Akira glanced at the clock. 12:08. Apparently Akechi getting his relief did take as long as it seemed...

"At least you already have a back-up plan,” Akira said, grabbing Akechi's briefcase before offering him a hand up. Lifting his head, Akechi fixed him with a glare.

“And if I refuse?”

“You won't refuse. Besides, there's a laundromat right next to that bathhouse I mentioned earlier. I'll throw in your pants for you so you won't have to travel with a stain tomorrow.”

“Would you shut up?” Akechi hissed, but he seemed too tired to put any true venom behind his words.

“Come on, I'll lend you my spare pajamas.”

Without another word, Akechi finally took Akira's hand and rose to his feet.

“I will warn you, Morgana may act very offended by you staying the night.”

“I'll be sure to apologize to him for invading his space then,” Akechi murmured as the two boys left the station and began retracing their earlier path walking side by side.

Akira snorted and bumped his shoulder gently against Akechi's. “Hey, if Morgana wants to stay with me, he's going to have to get used to you being around.”

Akechi's breath caught and he didn't answer, though a quick glance over revealed his cheeks dusted light pink.

---

An hour later found Akira and Akechi both finally ready to sleep after having made a late-night laundry run and settled onto the bed and couch respectively. Morgana, surprisingly, had already been fast asleep when the boys arrived and they were respectful and quiet so as not to disturb him. Akira was sure he'd get an earful about his unexpected guest tomorrow, but at the moment, he wasn't in the mood for a lecture.

“Sleep well, Akechi. And please, if you have to use the restroom during the night, don't hesitate to wake me. It's no trouble to show you to the bathhouse,” Akira said, only partly doing so to push Akechi's buttons.

He could swear he could hear the blush in Akechi's words as he replied, “Thank you, Kurusu-kun. I'll be sure to do so.”

-----

(K, so here’s the super long note I promised at the beginning of this fic. I copy/pasted verbatim from how I had originally written it, so if things seem redundant, whoops sorry.

Full disclosure: I am a die-hard Akechi/Protag shipper and I will not apologize for that. I don't think I made this shippy at all, but I know Akechi is a polarizing character, so I want to make y'all aware that it was a dirty Akechi stan who wrote this. I just think he's an interesting character and I am very sympathetic to him okay don't judge meeeeee. I couldn't remember exactly when Akechi first started going to Leblanc in the actual game, so the timeline is kind of skirted around, but I imagine this to take place after Makoto joins the team but before Futaba contacts them. I know, I know, no one cares about The Lore on a kink fic, but it makes me happy to think about it, and it is also more important in this case because of the following:

The way Akira and Akechi act toward each other is heavily based off of where they are in the timeline + how I interpret canon events (I refuse to say headcanons because I can defend why I think this). Basically, I feel there's strong evidence that despite suspecting Akira to be a Phantom Thief, Akechi didn't truly know he was until Okumura's palace. I also feel that there is even stronger evidence that Akira and Morgana didn't realize Akechi was a persona user until the school fair event that occurred after Okumura's palace. Yes, the event that allowed them to figure this out happens significantly earlier, but there's nothing pointing toward either of them actually figuring it out until the school fair. Please keep this in mind when reading, as this 'headcanon' of mine definitely affects how I write them interacting with each other. I realize that may be confusing, since I think there's some discrepancy as far as interpretation goes around these events and when they truly happened, but this is how I interpreted the game.

Also in regards to the very ending of this fic: Didn’t add this part in because it would’ve dragged for really no reason, but my thoughts on what happens the next morning is that Akechi is naturally an early riser and gets up earlier than both Morgana and Akira and sneaks out so he doesn’t have to face Akira again, which is how we can skirt around the little issue of ‘Akechi can understand Morgana talking.’ Sojiro is definitely in Leblanc already when Akechi leaves. There is awkward eye contact, but neither of them say anything, and Sojiro vows to never bring it up to Akira. (He definitely brings it up to Akira later that same day.))

[your-angle-of-music]

Anyone want my playlist for my dream cast version of The Phantom of the Opera?

Coming right up!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGFe3xKBIJQ&list=PLyXOfYb8cpfkWW_8EO-XHO2MIBFLMevmn

To my knowledge, this has all the songs that count as songs, but as always, I welcome other people’s additions or suggestions!

Check out under the cut for the list of songs and actors, and my notes and explanations for each of them. Enjoy!

1. Prologue/Overture - Barry Clark as the Auctioneer, Steve Barton as Raoul de Chagny, Rosemary Ashe as Carlotta (Original Broadway)

To be honest, I was never too fond of this long prologue, which is never relevant again and reveals very little about the characters’ future. Clark’s Auctioneer does create a properly grand feel, and Barton’s Raoul does sound heartbroken, but what I’m really here for is that epic, bombastic, beautiful overture. No matter how many times I hear it, it will never stop being exhilarating. This track also features the Hannibal opera part. Ashe’s Carlotta sounds deliciously dramatic and her high note on “Rome” treads that line between impressive and annoying perfectly.

2. Think of Me - Katie Hall as Christine Daae, Angela Caesar as Carlotta, Simon Bailey as Raoul de Chagny (UK Tour)

God, I love Caesar’s Carlotta. She takes her time with all her lines, to excellent effect, and her “spare a thought for me” is both genuinely pretty and utterly distinct from Hall’s Christine’s. I also adore the alternating weepiness and shoutiness she puts into her “these things do happen” tirade, and you can hear her clapping during “all the time!”. And then her “this thing does not happen!” is gloriously over-the-top. Meanwhile, Hall’s Christine’s voice is so lovely here. I appreciate how quietly she starts out, barely audible, and then how sweet her voice is once she gets more confident on “that oh so distant day.” She sounds pure and innocent but yet still clearly classically trained, and damn, she can project. I love the way she sings “think of me, think of me waking silent and resigned” especially. And then that final “think of me” cadenza is perfect. She makes the high notes seem effortless and they’re buttery smooth. Bailey’s Raoul also makes an excellent first impression.

3. Angel of Music - Sarah Brightman as Christine Daae, Janet Devenish as Meg Giry, Michael Crawford as the Phantom (Original Broadway)

We start of strong with Crawford’s Phantom’s absolutely haunting “bravi, bravi, bravissimi.” And then I adore Devenish’s Meg — she has such a pure, clear, young voice that sounds perfect for her role. Devenish makes this the best version of this song in my opinion, even though I prefer the new lyric ““I watched your face from the shadows / distant through all the applause. / I hear your voice in the darkness, / yet the words aren’t yours” to the one that Devenish’s Meg sings here, “Christine, you must have been dreaming, / stories like this can’t come true. / Christine, you’re talking in riddles, / and it’s not like you” (because come on now, talking in riddles is one of Christine’s defining personality traits). Brightman’s Christine sounds gorgeous on the high notes, especially when she sings softly, and I love her on her “father once spoke of an angel” part.

4. Little Lotte/The Mirror - Sarah Brightman as Christine Daae, Steve Barton as Raoul de Chagny, Michael Crawford as the Phantom (Original Broadway)

Barton’s Raoul will always be my favorite. There’s a sweetness and a warmth to his voice that makes him always seem likable, when other musical Raouls seem patronizing or boring or manipulative or dumb. I like the mischievous, flirtatious note in Brightman’s Christine’s “you remember that too.” And most of all, I like Crawford’s Phantom’s powerful “insolent boy!” that manages to sound both scary and strangely far-off and echoey — I’d believe he was an angel too. And then the gentleness in his “flattering child, you shall know me” seems more book accurate and likable to me. Crawford has a unique quality to his voice that makes me love his rendition of the “angel of music” motif the best of any actor’s. I am a little sorry that the end of Barton’s cry of “angel” gets cut off in this recording, though.

5. The Phantom of the Opera - Michael Crawford as the Phantom, Sarah Brightman as Christine Daae (Original Broadway)

Brightman’s Christine might not be the strongest, acting-wise, but vocally? She has the range, darlings. She sings the soft, low beginning of this song and the piercing, high end of it with the same facility — I mean, just listen to that last high E. It sounds effortless. And everything in between is good too; her first “the phantom of the opera is there, inside my mind” has a breathtakingly haunting quality. Crawford’s Phantom is also very good with the high notes. I just love the way he sings the words “my power over you grows stronger yet” and “in all your fantasies, you always knew” almost too airily, and of course every time he sings “phantom,” it’s powerful enough to give me chills. And I love how soft he is on his first few rounds of “sing for me.”

6. The Music of the Night - Earl Carpenter as the Phantom (London 2006)

This is one of the few tracks on here that I have video for, and I couldn’t be happier about it. Everything about Carpenter’s Phantom’s body language really makes this song for me, in addition to his positively angelic voice. Carpenter embodies the version of the Phantom that I know from the novel, hesitant and gentle even though he’s...Like That, and he manages to make “The Music of the Night” really seem like a love song. I appreciate that he remains so quiet for so much of the beginning, almost inaudible with your computer’s volume turned up less than a third, and the sweetness he puts into the phrase “night unfurls its splendor.” Also that little hand block he does on “tremulous and tender” and the way he never quite touches Christine during “turn your face away from the garish light of day” makes me Feel Things. The crescendo fakeout he does on “close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams” is masterful, as is his high note on “soar” and the way he turns his masked side away from Christine’s hand on “the darkness of the music of the night” and...oh God, we’re only three minutes in. But he’s not just soft and sweet; his “let your soul take you where you long to be” is strong and powerful. I really, really like how he keeps his distance even when he has his arm around her, and the way he stops her hand during “savor each sensation.” Christine’s faint looks weird, because it always does, because it’s really dumb, but I appreciate that Carpenter actually catches her — and looks a small bit panicked about it. And then when he strokes her hair and sings that last “night” the softest and purest of all...perfection.

7. I Remember/Stranger Than You Dreamt It - John Owen-Jones as the Phantom, Rachel Barrell as Christine Daae (London 2005)

Another one with video! And oh boy, what a video. First of all, Barrell’s Christine has a very cool and interesting voice, and I love the way she sings “on the lake there was a boat, and in the boat there was a man,” delicate and unsure, before you can hear her steeling her courage on “who was that shape in the shadows?” I’m equally happy with the way JOJ’s Phantom snarls out that “you little lying Delilah! you little viper!” while still making it sound good, and that over-the-top, extremely JOJ final “damn you! curse you!” that ends in a sob ‘n growl, because if there’s ever a show to be melodramatic in, it’s Phantom. And then his hissed out “stranger than you dreamt it” and the fact that he keeps his hand over his face the entire time makes it perfect. His wounded-animal-style crawling starting on “fear can turn to love” and the roughness and pain and prettiness in his voice reminds me a lot of Erik’s characterization in the novel, as is his sobbed “oh, Christine!” right afterwards, and his “those two fools who run my theater will be missing you!” is believably scary.

8. Magical Lasso - Janos Kurucz as Joseph Buquet, Mary Millar as Madame Giry (Original Broadway)

It’s such a small song, but I really love the unique quality to Kurucz’s Buquet’s voice, as well as the anxiety in Millar’s Madame Giry’s “heat of his eyes.”

9. Notes/Prima Donna - Rosemary Ashe as Carlotta, John Savident as Monsieur Firmin, David Firth as Monsieur Andre, Steve Barton as Raoul de Chagny, Mary Millar as Madame Giry, Janet Devenish as Meg Giry, Michael Crawford as the Phantom (Original Broadway)

This song is way more of a bop than it has any right to be. I absolutely adore Savident’s Firmin and Firth’s Andre, with their humor and their bluster and their old married husbands vibes. I love that overpowering “damnable!” and that long-suffering sigh on “Wrote. Written.” All the indignant drama that Ashe’s Carlotta brings is delightful in every way, especially on her high Italian parts and that “it’s no use trying to appease me, you’re only saying this to please me.” Crawford’s Phantom’s “one last chance” is chilling, and I like how pretty his sound is here — it’s way creepier than growly anger. The “Prima Donna” section is just such a gorgeous melody, really, and Savident and Firth have such rich, lovely voices. And Barton’s Raoul is also amazing; his “is this her angel of music” especially is so gorgeous. I do wish I could hear Millar’s Madame Giry a little bit more clearly, but I love her voice. And Ashe’s last “once more” high note is really quite breathtaking, as is Crawford’s “a disaster beyond your imagination will occur.“ This recording also features a section of Il Muto that will overlap a little bit with the next track — sorry about that.

10. Il Muto - Kim Stengel as Carlotta, Elizabeth Loyacano as Christine Daae, Howard McGillin as the Phantom (Broadway 2008)

There’s some video for this one, which is good, because all the actors are hilarious. This Raoul...sounds like a bit of an asshole, but to be fair, the script shoves him pretty firmly into that role. I can’t find the name of the actor who plays the Count anywhere, but he is perfect. I love the way he holds that “observe her” note, and his hammy self-awareness in doing so. The real MVP here is Stengel’s Carlotta, with all her imperiousness and her high notes and her dramatic nervous laughter and the way she bosses around Christine and the conductor. And her croaking. The croaking is perfect, especially when she does it offstage. Loyacano’s Christine doesn’t have too much to do in this scene, but her kissing in time is amazing. Same for McGillin’s Phantom, although I like how quiet and genuinely amused he is on his “perhaps it is you who are the toad” as well as his maniacal laughter when he kills Buquet. Actually, the whole ballet section is perfectly executed (although I’m not much of an expert on dancing).

11. Why Have You Brought Us Here/All I Ask of You - Sarah Brightman as Christine Daae, Steve Barton as Raoul de Chagny, Michael Crawford as the Phantom (Original Broadway)

Brightman’s Christine is wonderful here, sounding properly hysterical on “and in this labyrinth, where night is blind” and “Raoul, I’ve been there” and beautiful and sad on the “yet in his eyes, all the sadness of the world” bit. And did I mention that I love Barton’s Raoul? Because I do. I really, really do. The beginning of this song can make Raoul look. Really bad. But this one manages to pull it off, sounding so concerned and so utterly in love. When he sings “no more talk of darkness” and “let me be your shelter, let me be your light” his voice sounds so soft and warm and gentle and my God, you can hear the smile and the hug, and then his “then say you’ll share with me one love, one lifetime” is urgent and soaring and lovely. Brightman matches his energy, and she has a lovely, delicate voice that balances perfectly with his. Her “say the word and I will follow you” sounds so tender and there’s a gorgeous intensity in her “say you love me.” Their last “love me, that’s all I ask of you” is sweet and soft, and I love the lightness in Brightman’s “I must go” and of course the warm solidity in Barton’s “Christine, I love you” that sets up the contrast that will absolutely make me cry later. Crawford’s Phantom is perfect too, right from that first haunting, echoing “Christine” at the beginning. He sounds vulnerable and almost disbelieving and on “I gave you my music” and the last repetitions of “Christine,” and that “Go!” is TERRIFYING.

12. Entr’acte - John Savident as Monsieur Firmin, David Firth as Monsieur Andre (Original Broadway)

I don’t have that many feelings about which orchestra in particular preforms this, but I definitely want to include it. I do adore Webber’s score and the switches between the different melody motifs are pretty awesome. Fair warning, though, that it does include the very beginning of “Masquerade” but cuts off in the middle of “I must say, all the same, that it’s a shame that Phantom fellow isn’t here,” which frustrates me to no end.

13. Masquerade - Anna O’Byrne as Christine Daae, Alexander Lewis(???) as Raoul de Chagny (Australia 2009)

Another song with video! And it’s good quality too, highlighting the colorfulness of this scene. O’Byrne’s Christine and Lewis’ Raoul enter at “who can name the face,” and they’re graceful dancers, and everyone reflects the high energy of the scene, especially on the quiet verse. O’Byrne’s Christine sounds young here, but in a good way, and quite scared on “you promised me,” and Lewis lets his Raoul be exasperated on “it’s an engagement, not a crime” — it feels like they’ve had this argument many times before. The part where Christine and Raoul get separated feels genuinely suspenseful, and I really love the lighting just before the Phantom’s entrance.

14. Why So Silent? - Earl Carpenter as the Phantom (London 2005 - 2007)

I do love Carpenter’s Phantom because he’s sweet, but sometimes I love him because he’s really, really scary. There’s video for this bit so we can all admire his Red Death costume and the lighting to match. He stays creepily quiet for the beginning, so that his “remember there are worse things than a shattered chandelier” and his “your chains are still mine! you will sing for me!” are all the more powerful.

15. Notes/Twisted Every Way - Sarah Brightman as Christine Daae, Steve Barton as Raoul de Chagny, John Savident as Monsieur Firmin, David Firth as Monsieur Andre, Mary Millar as Madame Giry, Rosemary Ashe as Carlotta (Original Broadway)

Honestly, Ashe’s Christine is one of the best parts of this song. The way she sings “outrage!” and “ha! here’s our little flower” and the way she absolutely snarls “she’s the one behind this, Christine Daae!” is perfection. She’s also brilliant in the “Don Juan Triumphant” rehearsal. Savident’s Firmin and Firth’s Andre are wonderful as usual, and Barton’s Raoul manages to sound gentle and good in a script that is not kind to the character here — his “you don’t have to, they can’t make you” and “you said yourself, he was nothing but a man” and “every hope and every prayer rests on you now“ are lovely. Millar’s Madame Giry sounds frail and scared and determined (I love her “monsieur, be careful, we have seen him kill”) and she reminds me a lot of her characterization in the novel, and Crawford’s Phantom is deliciously creepy in his letter, and I adore his almost sighing sound on phrases like “an office not the arts” and “her teacher.” His “your obedient friend” gives me chills. Brightman’s Christine also shines here. I actually like the quiet almost-shrillness in her “how dare you” because it sounds like she’s been trying to do what she’s supposed to all along but she’s beginning to snap under the stress, and same goes for her “I’ll go mad!” which sounds genuine and spontaneous. Her “twisted every way” section is haunting and haunted and ethereally beautiful and I could listen to it all day. This recording also includes the beginning of “Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again,” so heads up about that.

16. Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again - Leila Benn Harris as Christine Daae (London 2008)

There’s some video for this one, but the quality isn’t great — sorry about that. Harris’ Christine, however, is extremely great. Her voice contains sweetness and sadness and trauma and anger all at once and her dynamics are just perfection. The way she sings “that voice which calls to me and speaks my name” provokes instant goosebumps every time, and then the softness in her “Little Lotte thought of everything and nothing” is brilliant. The fierce anger in her “sculpted angels, cold and monumental” is what really made me fall in love with Harris’ rendition. And that strength and power in her “why can’t the past just die” and then the softness and clearness in “help me say goodbye” with the last ringing, gorgeous high note. God, she is perfect, isn’t she.

17. Wandering Child/Bravo, Monsieur - Michael Crawford as the Phantom, Sarah Brightman as Christine Daae, Steve Barton as Raoul de Chagny (Original Broadway)

Hands down, this song, at least the first half, is my favorite in the show, and these three singers’ voices pull it off perfectly. Brightman’s Christine has such a delicate voice that sounds so lovely with the two lower ones, and she puts so much gentleness and sadness into that “angel or father, friend or phantom, who is it there staring?” and she sounds beautiful and tortured on that “Angel of Music, I denied you, turning from true beauty.” Her acting on “oh, Raoul!” and “Raoul, come back!” is...not the best, but her singing makes it well worth it to me. And Crawford’s Phantom sounds, well, like an angel. There’s such a strangeness and sadness and beauty in his voice. The way he sings “have you forgotten your angel?” is lovely and soft, and I just love how he says “far from my far-reaching gaze” (and I also love the lyric itself; I think it’s really creepy when later Phantoms change it to “fathering gaze”). And his “turning from true beauty” and “come to your strange angel” are powerful and perfect in every way. His “I am your Angel of Music, come to me, Angel of Music” is properly hypnotic, and I like the steadiness of it amidst Christine’s and Raoul’s panic. And speaking of Raoul, Barton kills it with all of his harmonies, and there’s genuine worry in his deliciously soft “once again she is his, once again she returns” and in his loud and long and powerful “luring her back from the grave.” Crawford’s and Barton’s “bravo, monsieur” exchange sounds properly scary, and I almost like how over-the-top Crawford is being compared to Barton’s relative calmness — they are just on such different pages, emotionally, and are assessing the situation in completely different ways. This recording also gets into the beginning of “The Point of No Return,” or rather “Don Juan Triumphant,” and it sounds...demonic is the best word I can think of, honestly, but that is definitely a good thing. I’m not too fond of Brightman’s Christine or Crawford’s Phantom in this part, but I do appreciate their excellent voices as always.

18. The Point of No Return - Ramin Karimloo as the Phantom, Sierra Boggess as Christine Daae (25th Anniversary)

Unpopular opinion, perhaps bordering on life-threatening: I’m generally not that into Karimloo’s portrayal of the Phantom. His voice is just a bit too smooth for me, too glamorous and sexy, not an eerie Crawford or an angelic Carpenter or a tortured JOJ, and his acting usually reflects that side of him a bit too much for the Phantom I know. But in this song? It works. Holy everloving fuck, it works. I love the way he says “no backward glances” and “what warm unspoken secrets will we learn” Boggess’ Christine is absolutely mesmerizing here too — her high notes on “you have brought me” and her vibrato on “our passion play has now at last begun” and the huskiness of her “past the point of right or wrong” are brilliant in every way. I’m especially glad that I have video for this song, because these two really make it with their body language. The way Boggess’ Christine springs up and bolts away just before her “you have brought me” line and, of course, Karimloo’s Phantom’s shaking hands on “until we’re one” are perfect. And then, after Boggess’ Christine’s realization that it’s the Phantom she’s singing with at “consume us,” their dynamic is perfect, with Karimloo’s growling determination and Boggess’ anger and fear, both expressed perfectly in their “so stand and watch it burn.” I love the way their “return”s are out of sync after Boggess’ Christine reveals the Phantom’s mask, and the way Karimloo spits out his “-turn” like a challenge. And then the tenor sweetness and intensity of his “say you’ll share with me” can just about break me every time, yet it also sounds properly distinct from Raoul’s earlier version, like with the fiercely desperate edge to his “one lifetime,” and his “anywhere you go let me go too” almost has a different melody. And then I think his snarling and “no”ing when Christine unmasks him at the end is...a little much, but still very on-brand. Oh, and there’s like ten seconds of silence at the end of this recording, just to warn you.

19. Down Once More/The Final Lair - John Owen-Jones as the Phantom, Katie Hall as Christine Daae, Simon Bailey as Raoul de Chagny (UK Tour)

I love this production so, so much, and I wish I had video for it, because nothing exemplifies its understanding of the characters like the staging of The Kiss — instead of the standard staging, in which Christine kisses the Phantom, then hugs him, then kisses him again with more enthusiasm, in this production, Hall’s Christine kisses JOJ’s Phantom once, and then he falls to his knees and she hugs him as he sinks into her and then pushes her away. But I’m here for the audio, too. We start of strong with JOJ’s Phantom’s “into darkness deep as hell!” which he holds for an amazingly long time in this voice of beautiful despair, followed by a properly tortured “why, you ask, was I bound and chained” section. His “a mask, my first unfeeling scrap of clothing” is heartwrenching, and his “monsieur, I bid you welcome” section is chilling. Despite his awesomeness, I might still need to hand the MVP award to Hall’s Christine, who carries an anger and defiance into this scene that I rarely see in other Christines that you can hear in her “am I now to be prey to your lust for flesh” and her “it’s in your soul that the true distortion lies” and of course her iconic “tears of hate.” And Bailey’s Raoul is compelling, and his “free her!” and “I did it all for you and all for nothing” are wonderfully delivered. In the frantic part where all three characters sing at the same time, their voices are balanced perfectly. I absolutely adore JOJ’s Phantom’s “for either way you choose you cannot win” and Bailey’s Raoul’s “why make her lie to you to save me” and Hall’s Christine’s “Angel of Music, you deceived me.” JOJ’s Phantom’s “you try my patience, make your choice!” is scary but not deafening, and then comes the tender perfection of Hall’s Christine’s “pitiful creature of darkness” (although I wish there was a slightly longer pause before it” and her angelic “alone” and God, I love them all. Hall’s little “no please” when she sees the Phantom approaching Raoul is an excellent detail, and JOJ’s “angel in hell” sounds desperate and almost childlike. I wish his “go now and leave me” wasn’t quite so loud — my throat hurts just thinking about it, but then his “Christine, I love you.” Oh my God, that “Christine, I love you.” I think stabbing me in the heart would be less painful. And I love the lightness and gentleness of Hall’s and Bailey’s final “All I Ask of You” reprise. Yeah. I adore this production, and I adore this show.

Thank you for stopping by! I’d be happy to talk about these choices or Phantom in general with anyone, any time :)

[ducklooney]

Even if you think the Quack Pack VAs for HDL are more age appropriate, would you say the DT 2017 ones do a better job in terms of the more emotional and dramatic moments seeing how DT 2017 has more of those than Quack Pack?

Depends. Not everyone's tastes or opinions are the same. Again it depends on the convergence of views. As for Huey, Dewey and Louie in the Ducktales reboot, I don't think they are bad, the good thing is, as many would say, that they have different personalities and that they are different and that the series will definitely focus on them because when you give them traits (I don't mean you, I mean the creators of that series), you have to reshape them with virtues and flaws and process them in a cartoon series. This has been shown in the previous two seasons and now in the third season, which you yourself know is divided by triplets, that Dewey got the first, Louie the second, and Huey the third season. In addition to the shared traits, they are also given specific problems with them. Please don't take this as an insult, but they were given something that doesn't suit everyone's children. I say this from my experience and from my view. Does that mean it's bad? Certainly not and such things should be paid attention to. What did I mean by specific problems? I was thinking primarily that Huey, as far as I’ve noticed is partly autistic, Dewey is hyperactive, and Louie is (I don’t know how to say it) suffering from materialism. I repeat, it does not mean that it is bad, if such problems are dealt with and which should point the way for those children, I mean boys, to face their problems and become better people.

But there are certainly problems with that. As you mentioned at the beginning, the votes for HDL in Ducktales 2017, are very strange to sound like that for your age. I know that many will not like what I am going to say now, but I really don't like how HDL sounds in Ducktales 2017, it can be seen that voice actors don't know how to imitate boys' voices so well, but use their natural voices. Don't take this as an insult or an attack on those actors, the voice actors are ok and they play HDL well, but they are grown men, not 11-year-old boys. I consider that one of the main mistakes in that series, but if you think it's okay, then it's okay, I respect your opinion, but I don't think these things should be repeated in the future, if the next incarnation is used, ie a new version of HDL . If you were listening to Boyd, then you should know that this is how HDL should sound. In other dubbings, a different thing is being done, so that, as far as I know, in Spanish (I don't know if LA or European Spanish) dubbing, in Ducktales 2017, boys play boys, that is, female voices play boys. In the Hungarian dubbing, HDL are played by a boy, so they really sound their age (here's a recording of that:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zreXadB1Cq8&feature=youtu.be ). Even if you don't understand that language, just listen to how they sound and you will really feel a part of boyish maturity. It is unfortunate that in the original dubbing, in English, HDL will not be played by boys or female voices. What I have to show is that in the classic short, very interesting, in the educational short "Scrooge and Money" from 1967, HDL sounded just like boys, but played by men, that is, their group Mellomen. Here it is:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWTjJZxS64Y

This is just proof that children's voices can be imitated, even by men, but only if they can. I know that Ducktales 2017 is not the only modern cartoon series that suffers from that, there are others, where the main characters are mostly children, who sound like adults. But again, HDL are the original characters that have been around for decades, while other characters have emerged recently, so they could do that to make the boys sound really their age. 

Not to be outdone, what I don't like next is how they look, in terms of the style used in the Ducktales reboot, they have square heads and blunt beaks and I still wonder why they used such a style, to be totally different from the others Duck media. But well, someone loves those styles and they don’t even mind the fanart which can be much better than in the original series (I mean the current Ducktales 2017 series). Again, I would prefer them to have round heads and straight beaks as they should, as they should. The next thing that is a problem with them is the somehow uneven focus on them. It's okay to make them totally different from other versions of HDL and to be totally new, but they are triplets and should be together and work together. I'll explain later why I prefer HDL from Ducktales 1987 and Quack Pack, but for now I want to say, HDL doesn't work together anymore since the series started. At first, they were together at the beginning and they acted together and I'm glad about that, they even quarreled and all that, as befits them. But probably because of the mystery of their mother it began to separate them, so Dewey acted independently of them and then got into big trouble with the brothers, after which they reconciled. Yes, then their mother Della Duck returned, with whom she has different relationships with her sons. Especially when you look at the relationship between Dell and Dewey and Dell with Huey and Dell with Louie, totally different. Donald Duck treats everyone equally. I’ve already said that the series focuses mostly on them, which certainly doesn’t suit everyone and we have less Donald and Scrooge, but I’ll talk about that another time. Although they have supported each other in the previous episode with Ragnarak (one of the few good things in that episode), they still don't act together anymore. I say this because if they are triplets and since they are together, they should be together all the time. Unfortunately, I hardly see that in the series. As for the uneven distribution, I speak for the reason that most of the series focuses on Dewey Duck, even though he got his first season and he is the most represented. Whether the point is that the writers of that series like the blue triplet the most, I don't know, depends on them, but he can't stand out in the series compared to his other two brothers. It shattered their togetherness. It's one thing when fans create their drawings and write their fanfiction and point out their favorite triplet, which is fine, but when you do it in the official series, then it can become a real problem. Also, the problem as far as I can see is that the creators of that series knew what to do with Dewey and Louie in the series, but with Huey, as far as I can see they don’t know, which also shows a big problem. Yes, I know, it’s not even the middle of the third season, but we only got two episodes focused on Huey, while future episodes as far as I can see, won’t be focused on him (I’d love to be wrong, but we’ll see what the next episodes show us). But then again, I can’t make such conclusions until I see by the end of the third season, whether it’s really Huey season, as many say. I apologize for this long description of the answers, I hope you don't mind and if you don't agree with me, it's okay, I respect your opinion. Feel free to ask me what you are interested in and what is not clear to you and I will answer you.

I wrote this at length to point out the problems I have while watching HDL in that series, but that doesn’t mean they are bad. But is there a better version than that? Definitely yes. I prefer Huey, Dewey and Louie, but in the classic version, as they were in the original Ducktales, but also in comics (especially Carl Barks and partly in Italian and Dutch comics, where Huey, Dewey and Louie have a special role), where unlike the classic shorts, although they look almost the same (they still wear different colors of clothes), which sound similar but different (Russi Taylor did a great job playing them in the original Ducktales), and the gag that the triplets didn't break. I know it doesn't suit many and they think that gag is outdated, but I don't think so. There are still people today who are triplets and look the same, and yet they do different things. Not to mention that there are a lot of references regarding that gag. Quack Pack made them even more different, but in accordance with their ages, so that from similar little boys, they became youth boys who look both similar and different. After the classic version, I definitely like the Quack Pack version as well, which I consider to be the teen version of HDL from the original Ducktales, precisely because of the features they have, but they are more different. Yes, the voices in Quack Pack, where the voice actresses played the boys great, were great and it’s a shame they weren’t used afterwards. There are people who would prefer the boys in the Quack Pack rather than the Ducktales reboot, but with good reasons. Although the boys are different and I know that the problem was supposedly "imitation of the 90s, hip and cool and similar nonsense), I don't think so. They also behaved like brats, as befits the characteristics of these triplets, and they acted together. , they have fallen together and risen together, even though they have different characteristics.That is what I expected from HDL in Ducktales 2017, but I see that unfortunately there will be none of that, although I would like to be wrong.As for emotional and dramatic scene, yes there was more in Ducktales 2017, because as far as I know this series is a drama, so it was with HDL, but what I miss in Ducktales reboot, are the adventures as they were in the original Ducktales and comics. those dangerous adventures would be more like a Quack Pack version, yet they are older and more experienced than that. And I love how HDL got older, they can't be boys all the time 10. Yes, there were problems in the Quack Pack, but it's probably due in part to bad scenarios in certain episodes, and sh it's about "too many made them cool and hip", isn't there such a problem in Ducktales 2017 as well, considering that as far as I can see this series is also comical, and it constantly tells us "Everything is great, we're great, let's we laugh... Hahahaahah... ". While many critics criticize the Quack Pack for it, I could point to the problem that Ducktales 2017 does the same, so I would tell critics not to whine, but to really give good reviews, not criticism like the past, let’s face it let's forget. This may sound vague to you, but I want to say that there are double criteria, and I watch both series and I have an insight into what it is about. I think  HDL are from Quack Pack, no matter what problems they had (I forgot to say, HDL were great with Uncle Donald, and they handled great dynamic relationships between Uncle and his nephews there too, which unfortunately Ducktales 2017 didn’t show how should), deserved that version reappeared and that the creators of Quack Pack did a good job of separating them, but still to work together. And they sounded really like teenagers. I mean, the point is not, which version is better and which version I or you will prefer, but the point is to format HDL properly. You prefer HDL in Ducktales 2017, which is fine, I prefer HDL in Quack Pack, we have different opinions and we don't match, but I mean, there are problems with HDL in Ducktales 2017 and they are not perfect as many think. I wanted to point this out to you and apologize that this turned out to be a long novel and I hope you are satisfied with my answers. Sorry if I offended you in any way and feel free to ask me, I definitely like to argue with you.

[alexsmitposts]

The Emergence of the Technetronic Society of Humankind The world community is being transformed. The current pandemic is only another phase of a metamorphosis set in motion decades ago. The intersection of our physical and digital lives is the battleground, where the last hopes of freedom are being bludgeoned to death. Few can see this because most people are already casualties the old world order sacrificed before the altar of liberty. Most of you reading this introduction will sense a bit of melodrama. But I assure you, anything I could type out here pales in comparison to the skullduggery that has beset humankind the last half-century. The war for planet Earth is upon us, but the battlefield is not some desert in Syria or a swamp somewhere in Latin America. The battlefield is real and virtual. It’s in the streets of Portland, Oregon, and the pages of Facebook. The Third World War is taking place in Walmart. It’s spreading to every back yard in Florida and every apartment complex in Bucharest. We’ve taken up arms against one another over every facet of life, not just whether or not to wear protective masks. Working-Class Struggle Redux Some of you already see this. You understand because you were finally forced to unfriend that high school buddy who Tweets or shares Facebook posters revealing humankind’s ignorance and meanness. We’re back to being tribal, devolution is upon us, and the end is written on the slum wall and the internet version. Wall Street is making a killing, billionaires are gnashing their teeth and wringing their hands, and the so-called little people are boiling in a kettle about to explode. Amazingly, my words here can be proven. Nobody can call “fake news” on this author. No sir. In 1970 the legendary (notorious for some) Zbigniew Brzezinski wrote a book entitled, “BETWEEN TWO AGES: America’s Role in the Technetronic Era.” The author, who was one of the five or six most influential political celebrities of the latter part of the 20th century, is well known for his aversion for first the Soviet Union, and then the Russian Federation. Brzezinski’s book was an is a “how-to” book on methods for using computers and communications technologies as a means of transforming society. Though the book reads like an analysis by a technology outsider, the work is part of a wide-spanning strategy we see coming to competition today. Let’s look at an excerpt from the first section of the book where the former counselor to President Lyndon B. Johnson and President Jimmy Carter’s National Security Advisor delineates post-industrial America’s course: “In the technetronic society scientific and technical knowledge, in addition to enhancing production capabilities, quickly spills over to affect almost all aspects of life directly. Accordingly, both the growing capacity for the instant calculation of the most complex interactions and the increasing availability of biochemical means of human control augment the potential scope of consciously chosen direction, and thereby also the pressures to direct, to choose, and to change.” I won’t tax the reader here, but I encourage you to read the book yourself so that what I am presenting will sink in. Brzezinski, in no uncertain terms, is describing the fundamental transformation of society beginning sometime shortly before 1970, when he collated the information within the pages of the book. Remember, he was LBJ’s advisor. The Rise of the Techno-Bourgeoisie He continues in this section to refer to the past ideologies of the industrial age which built and sustained America and other democracies, to insist upon a more “modern” or “advanced” central ideology. Brzezinski, who most detractors would describe as a dinosaur or archaic, was discussing cybernetics replacing humans when Bill Gates was still at Lakeside Prep School being bullied and writing his first computer programs. I mention Gates for a purpose that may be obvious to some readers. This citation from Between Two Ages will transport the reader to my line of thinking here. Brzezinski writes knowingly: “In the emerging new society questions relating to the obsolescence of skills, security, vacations, leisure, and profit-sharing dominate the relationship, and the psychic well­being of millions of relatively secure but potentially aimless lower­middle­class blue­collar workers becomes a growing problem.” Please remember, this was published in 1970, years before Brzezinski would brag that he had helped cause the Soviet Union to invade Afghanistan so that it could get its very own “Vietnam.” The man was a genius, an evil one, but a brilliant geo-policy strategist nonetheless. This book is not a reflection of Brzezinski’s powerful mind, however. This book is the revelation of a plan set in motion after Dwight Eisenhower left office. It’s a blueprint for the liberal world order to completely dominate the world. But before you label me, please consider how this “growing problem” is being used today. Who is Donald Trump? Aha! Now I have your full attention. What about the psychic wellbeing of aimless lower-middle-class Americans? Or, the psychic wellbeing of relatively secure Germans right before Adolph Hitler made them afraid of all the nations surrounding their country? Wait! Don’t go to that tangent, please focus on who got Donald Trump in the White House and how this came to pass. You see, Brzezinski and his colleagues created the conditions, the society, and the “path” we see taking shape today. Think about our symbols now, for instance. How did Google come to dominate the internet? Who stood behind? What does Google do? How about Facebook or Amazon, or any of the monumental successes we see controlling this technetronic society we now live in? Google lured the masses in with “free” and with slogans like “do no evil.” The competition was driven off, through massive investment. Now billions of people are analyzed and “computed” like Brzezinski revealed, to transform society, not to simply extract money via ads. Take the case of Facebook, it’s the same story. A huge swath of humanity is studied, spied upon, and manipulated while the puppetmasters tweak ideology, foment discord, and steer the crowd toward the desired endgame. Sounds crazy and dramatic, doesn’t it? But, wait for it. In 1972, Bill Gates served as a congressional page in the US House of Representatives. He was then a National Merit Scholar who went to Harvard for a brief time, where he met Steve Ballmer, who would lead Microsoft until 2014. Ballmer was an assistant product manager at Procter & Gamble for two years, where he shared an office with Jeffrey R. Immelt, the onetime CEO of General Electric. I hope you are keeping up with me here, for these names figure prominently in the current situation. Immelt was the head of GE’s Medical Systems division (now known as GE Healthcare) as its president and CEO back in 1997. To make a very long story shorter, Brzezinski was closely tied to all the names I am mentioning either through roles at the Council of Foreign Relations, or via more intimate and secretive associations. Take into consideration GE and Immelt’s view on China from back in 2010 when he said; “’I worry about China. I am not sure that in the end, they want any of us to win.” Fast forward to 2015 and Brzezinski is pushing for Donald Trump to “outbid” everyone for the presidency. He tweeted this to his followers on Twitter: “What’s better: a billionaire outbidding everyone for the Presidency, or billionaires picking the candidates for the Presidency?” The answer to his feigned query is drop-dead simple – “It doesn’t matter, the same people control no matter what.” And the control processes were put in action once John F. Kennedy was out of the way. LBJ played his role to a “T”, Nixon got too big for his britches and had to go, Ford plated nincompoop in charge to put the plan on pause, and peanut farmer/Nuke sub commander Carter helped roll out the red carpet for our current technetronic society. But I’m getting ahead. The Immuno-Catalyst Let me retrace a step to the associations of Gates, Ballmer, and Immelt. And most importantly, the current healthcare/pandemic crisis some experts believe is an induced one. Remember Gates’ pal Immelt headed GE Healthcare, which entered an agreement with Gates back IBio to commercialize the iBioLaunch vaccine manufacturing platform. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has funded iBio Pharma, which has been in recent news because of President Trump grandstanding about a COVID breakthrough. The company is one of those focused on vaccines against the coronavirus. And if you’re getting lost in this maze of technocrats, now it’s time to interject another key player named Warren Buffett. Buffett, who for all intents and purposes owns IBM, is another link in what we should call the Brzezinski Plan for world domination. Remember, it was IBM that teleported Bill Gates out of brainiac obscurity back in 1980. It is not common knowledge, but the last Watson family head of IBM, Thomas J. Watson, Jr. served as US ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1979 to 1981. It was the ideas and ideals along with the patriotism of the latter Watson, from which people like Brzezinski convoluted the notion of modern democracy. Thomas J. Watson Jr. was also central to the administrations of L.B.J., Nixon, Ford, and Carter. Moving forward, most people are unaware, that Warren Buffett is also the biggest contributor to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (more than $30 billion). And in this, we see how the “system” of control gets its continuity. Finally, it was the Brzezinski plan that delivered us to the current sorry state of democracy. The former advisor to key presidents not only helped devise the plan to shift the world’s ideologies and social structure, but he also helped empower the super elites running the show, and the lower-middle class minions who would stoke the forest of orchestrated rebellion. When asked how he would deal with the super-rich, Brzezinski differentiated people like Warren Buffett and Gates from the rest, while at the same time feeding the mob that Trump now leads and the left learning hordes on the left hanging: “It would be increasingly helpful if there was a movement to publish, worldwide, lists of those who make, largely through speculation, enormous amounts of money almost instantly, and hide the fact from their social context.” A Government of Business Power So, a ruling elite was and is to be lifted, isolated, and protected using demonic intimidation from every vector. Today’s dog and pony show across western capitals have roots in Rockefeller’s and Brzezinski’s Trilateral Commission, established to help put in motion the tenets from the latter’s Between Two Ages manifesto. If I throw in the fact that the Trilateral Commission’s notable member list includes such notorious super-rich as Jeffrey Epstein here, I’ve no doubt the reader will be overwhelmed by the scope of this “plan” for turning the world upside down. Finally, the academic Noam Chomsky once criticized the commission’s goals as undemocratic saying the publication of the organization, The Crisis of Democracy reflects how modern democratic systems are not democracy at all, but systems controlled by elites. And the Rockefeller Foundation’s support of the various German eugenics programs and the connections to Nazi war criminal Josef Mengele and Auschwitz tarnish anyone and everyone associated with Rockefeller, and the ruling elite of this new “modern ideal” or technetronic society. In his 1980 book With No Apologies, Republican Senator and presidential candidate Barry Goldwater called the Trilateral Commission: “A skillful, coordinated effort to seize control and consolidate the four centers of power: political, monetary, intellectual, and ecclesiastical in the creation of a worldwide economic power superior to the political governments of the nation-states involved.” The Brzezinski Plan for new democracy is the liberal world order’s plan for humanity. It’s a process that’s been going on for decades, one centered around and dependent on the puppet President Donald Trump. You see, I believe it is Trump’s mission to utterly destroy the very social class of people he is supported by. It is the only idea that makes sense if you examine the loosed cannon idiocy of an otherwise shrewd businessman. What better way to bury the working class who have been bred, reared, and marginalized into mediocrity than to create a revolution against everything they stood for? The Confederate flag, the statues of heroes, the race issues resurfacing, riots, discord, snarling and biting at anyone and anything that is not TRUMP! Real Death, Real Fear, Real Monopolization For this Technetronic Era to culminate in a Utopia for the ruling classes, a pandemic was set loose, a very special kind of virus engineered (probably) for segmenting society. The hard-nosed working class would shun the femininity and weakness of mask-wearing, while the ultra-liberals at the other end of the spectrum would thrive on the morality of caring – and on winning against the callousness of right-wing discord. As I try to explain to those who ask, the situation today is a perfect storm of social upheaval engineered to bring in this new society. You see, both sides of the COVID argument are right – and wrong – at the same instant. This is as it was planned. Bill Gates and his monopoly on vaccines and the health community can hide in plain sight, while Trump’s and Biden’s handlers rake in hundreds of billions playing the dynamic markets. Watching it, at least from my perspective, is like watching the pressure in a boiler build up past the red danger gauge on the outside. In Hitler’s Shadow we find the depth of the US deep state and Brzezinski’s role in the planning for the new world without the Soviets (Russians) in the picture. There’s limited space for describing a CIA operation codenamed AERODYNAMIC which was the forerunner for transformative/revolutionary efforts in the CIS including Georgia, Ukraine, and now Belarus. The reader should understand that Brzezinski, and his father before him, were central figures in a movement to subdue and subdivide the Soviet bloc, and later Russia and her neighbors. No one reading this will know of a man named Mykola Lebed, who operated alongside Joseph Bandera and with the backing of the OSS and later the CIA. He immigrated to the United States because of his importance to the CIA and the deeps state, even though he was in league with the worst Nazis who ever breathed. Brzezinski broadened the scope of AERODYNAMIC, which was in league with former Nazi sympathizers to upend Stalin, and then later Soviet leadership. The history of it is all a deep well no single volume could encapsulate. Again, I have fallen too deep into the rabbit hole of the order, but the reader can observe via this CIA document bearing Brzezinski’s authorship how the plan for today was set in motion decades ago. Trump is destroying the Republican Party for good. Technocrat Bill Gates has monopolized immunization and will leverage it for this new Technetronic Society. The money and power behind this forceful transformation of our society are incalculable, mostly unseen, and probably unstoppable. Think about it, a plan to take over the world put in place decades ago, a plan hardly anyone notices because of its incremental, indomitable, and relentless nature. Sounds conspiratorial, doesn’t it? Well, conspiracies killed Caesar and overthrew the Czar. Conspiracies were the seeds of the American Revolution and the French one too. What? You think control is just a roll of the dice?

[multimetaverse]

Quick Thoughts on the July Ep Titles

3x17: Arts and Inhumanities

I’ll stick with production order to keep things easier to understand. A clear reference to Andi displaying her art piece at the Middle School which leads to her touring an art High School with at least Jonah and Cyrus accompanying her. I’m curious to see what the inhumanities pun is all about. 

One thing I wonder after seeing the Muffy bowling alley plot being included in the June eps promo is if it was moved from 3x17 to 3x16. If so, there’s a decent chance that the new Muffy plot with pro basketball players visiting the school that they filmed to replace the Muffy plot at the original wedding in 3x18 will be slotted in to 3x17. I don’t think there was going to be any long gap in universe between the bowling alley and the original wedding; the dramatic way they’re sinking Machel seems primed to lead to a fairly quick resolution. 

The working title for 3x17 was I Do Over and was obviously where Bex decided the wedding was back on and Ham almost certainly helped with that. Bexie will still get married it’s just a question of whether it’s a small Mack family only affair or they re-wrote the Jandi get back together in 3x20 to also be a wedding. If they went with a Mack family only low key wedding which Bex always wanted anyways, then this is a good ep to slot it in. Since all the Bexie scenes in 3x19-21 were written and acted with the knowledge that they were married it may be hard for the show to try and shift the new wedding into a later ep. 

3x19: Something to Talk A-Boot

A clear reference to Buffy injuring her foot which presumably happens during the Spikes final game which partly explains why they only filmed basketball scenes for part of one day. There’s not much difference between introducing a sport injury plot line with just two eps left in the series and never introducing it all so I’m side eyeing Terri for shoving this in so late. It reads like something she had wanted to explore in a potential S4 and just decided to throw in before they ran out of time. The Spikes plot has been pretty poorly written and paced but I hope they at least get the cliched underdogs triumph at the big game plot. 

I made what turned out to be a very well timed post last night talking about how the original wedding in 3x18 was the cut ep and that TJ would return 3 eps later instead of 4 and that TJ and Cyrus would be the big winners of the cuts and now we have confirmation of that. Losing an ep drags all the other story lines down a bit which makes Tyrus more equal and now the gap between TJ’s appearances is in line with the straight recurring characters and will feel more balanced overall. And the big difference is we won’t have to see Cyrus with Amber at the wedding while Andi is with Jonah and Buffy with Marty; no matter the in universe justification it would have been a stark reminder of how censored Cyrus’ story line has been and it would have tarnished the show’s legacy. It’s sad that it took such horrible circumstances to make this happen but at least Cyrus and TJ got to benefit from the FBI’s good work. 

A common thread in a lot of the 3c ep titles is that they reference a literal thing that happens in one plot line but also works on a thematic level as a reference to the other plots. Will Cyrus’ screen play give people something to talk about? Will whatever happens between Tyrus at the theatre? We’ll definitely  see Cyrus and TJ talking and moving past their conflict but we also have Jandi/Tyrus having scenes together for only the third time in the entire series (if we count them all being at the game in 2x18) and if Andi talks to TJ in 3x19 it will also be only the third time she’s ever talked to him. It’s very significant that these four have scenes together especially since in otl it was only Muffy who were together by this point and with them having written the Tyrus plot in 3x15 in a way designed to completely wall it off from the other main characters. Not to mention that before the re-shoots 3x19 was the last time they ever filmed at the school. This is likely when the show starts bringing some of the Tyrus subtext into text and is allowed to clue the casual audience in to the fact that Tyrus is not a crack ship or queerbait.

3x20: A Moving Day

Another title that works on multiple levels: a reference to Celia announcing that she’s selling the house and an emotionally moving day as the Mack family has a last hurrah and Jonah sings You Girl to Andi. I also wouldn’t be shocked if this is the ep where Bex and Bowie announce they’re having another child. I don’t think the title is in reference to it but the best case ending for Jonah’s story line is his family moving into an apartment of his own and I wonder if we’ll hear about that or if we end the series with him still living with relatives. 

The logical endgame for Celia and Ham was always them leaving to travel the world and the only question is whether Celia is giving the house to Bex and Bowie and they move in before the party in 3x21 or if she’s selling the house to someone else. They may have re-worked the Mack family outing/Jandi get together to also be a Bexie wedding. Either way I think Celia decides to travel because her work is done: Bex is now living the kind of life Celia had always hoped for after a 14 year detour, Bex and Bowie are married and likely have an in wedlock baby on the way, and Andi has the nuclear family she always wanted with her biological parents. Celia is likely the character who suffered the most from Ham being cut and I hope her arc was salvaged. 

3x21: We Were Here

I think I’ll likely make it through the ep itself without getting too emotional but if they do a photo montage of the cast during the end credits like they did for the S1 and S2 finales that will break even my cold, black heart. We’re sure to have lots of lovely moments in this ep: Mack family moments, GHC + Jonah moments, Tyrus getting together, likely a Muffy kiss, Jandi moments, Kira’s redemption, and whatever else Terri wants to touch on one last time. Lot’s of callbacks I’m sure to the party way back in 1x04 for the characters who were there like Andi and Buffy and Cyrus and Jonah and Bex and Amber and Marty.

I wonder if they were able to salvage any Celia scenes from the 4 scenes they cut from the top of the ep after Ham was cut. If they did then I’d expect her to say goodbye and leave within the first five minutes. If they did have Celia sell the house to someone else then that means Terri was slamming the door shut on S4; the show would find it difficult to lose that set and almost impossible to lose Andi Shack which is so important to the show and is prominently featured in the opening credits. It would certainly lend a sombre atmosphere to the finale if this was a good bye party for the Mack house.

On the other hand it does make a lot of sense for Celia to give Bex and Bowie the house especially  if they have a kid on the way and it would bring the Bex and Celia relationship full circle in many ways. If the baby announcement didn’t come in 3x20 then it will come here, I think that’s why Bowie is wearing his dad’s tuxedo, because he’s becoming a father again and this time he’ll be in the baby’s life from the very beginning. Another winner of 3x18 being cut is the finale itself. If the original farm wedding was still happening then the finale would just look like a more crowded and lamer version of what we had already seen. It’s going to be a wild few weeks and I’m excited to see how things wrap up even though each ep will bring us closer to the end. To think that this is the last time we’ll ever discuss new ep titles.

[jinmukangwrites]

19?

Title: Huh, Weird.

Description: DING DING DING, GEM FOUND. I wrote this right after getting out of watching Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse in theaters! Its long, and hilarious if I say so myself. It's about Miles getting teleported into the MCU and meeting Peter there. Idk why I didn't continue this one. I should have. It's hilarious.

How I would continue: I wanted to end it quickly, like Pete and Miles do some fun stuff together and talk about eachothers world and then Miles goes home. I wanted to write something fluffy I think.

Long, I'll add a keep reading when I get to a laptop

-o-o-o-o-

It wasn't Miles's first time experiencing interdimentional travel. He's just… haven't been on this end of it. Thinking back on it, he didn't really believe Peter and Gwen when they explained how weird it was. He thought they were just being dramatic.

Nope. This was, without a doubt, the weirdest thing that had ever happened to him, and he's //Spider-Man, it's like in the job description to deal with weird.

He didn't really know how it all happened, which in retrospect could be the title of his biography, things just happened and he rolled with it. Get bit by a spider? Weird, but okay. Get spider powers? Well, now it's time to be a superhero. Accidentally zap some fat hobo wearing Spider-Man's suit into unconsciousness? Take him to his uncle's house and begin interrogation.

Find a box on the pillow of his bed? Open it up and look at what's inside.

It was a bracelet, if anyone was wondering.

It was like some weird metal bracelet that looked like it could be a futuristic version of the web shooters, but as he turned the small item in his hands, there was nowhere for the little webs to come out. It was just a metal bracelet, and Ganke, being the smart, reasonable guy-in-the-chair that he was, said—with no hesitation—"dude, try it on."

What a reckless idea. Neither of them knew where it came from or who put it on his pillow, and here he was being told to just //try it on.

He did.

Shouldn't have, but he did. That's probably the title of the sequel to his biography.

Nothing happened when he slipped it on his wrist. Miles looked up from the contraption, not really knowing what to expect, and shrugged.

"Dang," Ganke said as he slumped back into his chair, "I was hoping it would do something cool."

"I don't know," Miles said. He waved his hand in front of his face and studied the accessory, "I'm kind of glad it didn't do any-"

The bracelet suddenly lit up and some sort of screen appeared.

"Woah," Ganke whispered.

"Yeah… woah..."

Miles sat down on the lower bunk and took a closer look at the screen.

"Is it some sort of smart watch? Man, I wonder who gave it to you."

"I don't know…" Miles said. He tapped his finger and scrolled. "It doesn't have any apps… just tabs that say weird things. 67? TASM? 616? What's this all mean?"

"Don't know till we tap on one," Ganke replied helpfully.

Miles rolled his eyes and stared at all the other tabs. Superior… MCU? He shrugged, and tapped it.

Suddenly, the bracelet hummed and colors swirled around him. Miles got a brief flashback to that lab back when he first began. The colors swirled more violently and Miles realized whatever he just tapped on wasn't just any tab on a computer.

"Ganke?!" He called out in panic. The colors were wrapping around him, obscuring his vision and making his head spin. He felt a tugging sensation in his gut and everything went black.

Before it exploded.

-o-o-o-o-

So yeah, weird. Whatever MCU was, it clearly meant swirling colors and finding oneself standing in some dark, abandoned street in the city. He took a couple gasping breaths and looked down at the bracelet in shock.

//That was… weird…

The bracelet was back to a hunk of metal… there were no lights or screens. He tapped it a couple times, but nothing happened. He reached down and tried to get the bracelet off his wrist, bit it wouldn't budge. He sighed. Of course something weird like this would happen to him. Thankfully, it happened just before Miles was about to go out on "patrol". He went out every night for a few hours to stop some crime and make the city just a bit safer to live in. His dad grumbled a lot about how Spider-Man is doing the cops job and should back off, but Miles still went out. He had a reputation to live up to.

Rest in peace blond Peter Parker.

Anyway, //luckily he was just about to go out on patrol, so he was wearing his suit under his sweatpants and hoodie. His mask was stuffed into his hoodie pocket, so if the bracelet was something sinister he should be ready for it.

Something tingled the back of his neck, making him shiver. He'd come to recognize that weird third sense he had. No one really talked about it to him, but it seemed every version of Spider-People had it. It was a radar, warning system or something. Anyway, it was definitely warning something this time. It was like red flashing and giant, bold words that screamed //HIDE.

The weird sense thing hadn't let him down yet. He scrambled to the edge of the street and squeezed himself between a garbage can and a closed clothing shop. He went invisible just in case.

The sound of rockets met his ears not a second later. It came from the sky and sounded powerful. He looked up and his jaw almost dropped when he saw some sort of robot zooming through the air with a trail of fire following behind. It was flying at rapid speeds right towards Miles, it took only a couple seconds for the robot to make touch down on the street right where Miles used to be standing.

It was red and gold and super cool looking. In the middle of the robots chest was some sort of blue, glowing thing. It looked like something out of a comic book… ironically of course. Everything Miles dealt with looked from a comic book.

"Friday, are you sure this is where the signal came from?" The //robot //said. Oh man, this is the coolest thing Miles had ever seen.

No one gave any answer to the robot, but the head of the machine nodded and lifted it's arm and waved it's other around as if it was tapping on some invisible screen.

"This is off the charts… Friday, scan the area."

Miles took a deep breath and buried himself deeper into his hiding spot. He slowly reached into his pocket and dug out his mask before he quickly lowered it over his face.

"Heat reading…" the robot murmured before it began it's head around, looking for something.

It's sight locked on where Miles was.

He almost swore when the robot raised it's hand and a threatening light appeared in the palm.

"Okay, kid," the robot said, "step out or I'll make you."

Okay, robot was cool but super mean sounding. So, instead of walking out, he aimed his wrist at a nearby building and //thwipped.

Immediately, he was soaring through the air. He heard the roar of rockets behind him start up and he was almost tempted to look back and see the flying robot in action, but he had to remind himself that the flying robot was after him and wasting time to look back was not the smartest move.

Ganke would be having a field day.

It was extremely unnerving how quickly the robot caught up to him. Radio waves made his eye twitch as the words //LEFT screamed out at him. He quickly aimed left and swung in that direction just as the robot shot something through the web he used to be connected to.

The robot switched it's course and rocketed over to Miles.

"Okay, invisible kid," the robot said, shooting another projectile at the web Miles was using to swing. The //DODGE came a bit too late and he lost his momentum and support. He quickly began to fall.

//DODGE DODGE DODGE

//I know, I know, I know

"Let's end this," the robot grunted and grabbed Miles around the middle before he could shoot another web.

Miles grabbed at the robots arms and let electricity flow through his fingertips and onto his attacker.

The glowing eyes of the suit flickered a second and the grip around Miles loosened just enough for Miles to muscle his way out.

Miles was just able to shoot another web to stop his decent. He swung low and sloppily dangerously close to the road as cars sped by and honked. His arms are jerked upwards when he shot another line, but whenever he shot at broke and Miles fell.

He tumbled on the street and cars frantically tried to swerve out of the way. Horns blared and lights blinded him, screeching metal met his ears as car after care came to a frantic stop, rear ending each other and probably giving each passenger a case of whiplash.

Miles groaned and forced himself to his feet, counting his lucky stars he hadn't been hit by a car. His invisibility wore off without him concentrating on it, which made it that much easier for the robot to spot him and fly in the middle of the road, not bothered by the stopped traffic and blaring lights.

"You some Spider-Man cosplayer?" The robot said, waving it's arms dramatically, "gotta say, I love the black."

"Umm, thanks" Miles said smartly, "but, I am Spider-Man?"

Right as he said it, the weird sense gave him a shoulder touch, said //hey, and told him that no, he wasn't Spider-Man. Which didn't make sense, because he was. His eyes flickered from the robot to the city around him.

"Uh, kid, Spider-Man dresses in red and doesn't turn invisible or taser people."

Suddenly, the helmet of the robot flicked up and revealed the face of a man.

Holy crap it wasn't a robot. It was a //suit.

Ganke, once again, would have a field day.

Also, Spider-Man dressed in red? Either this guy was a bit outdated… or... He was in a other dimension?

//CORRECT

//Thanks for nothing, weird sense.

"Okay, um, sir," Miles said, backing up a bit when the man took a step forwards, "I thinks there been a misunderstanding…"

"Where'd you get the tech? Did you have anything to do with the strange readings back at our fist meeting?" The man continued. "Friday, scan him."

Miles heard a small, //"right away sir," and backed up just a bit more.

//STOP

Miles stopped and whipped his head behind him for just a moment, what he saw were a bunch of drivers and passengers climbing out of their cars, pointing phones and talking excitibly.

"Look," Miles said, "I think there's been some... Cross dimensional miss-hap. Are you a good guy or bad guy?"

"You're joking, right?"

"My guess is that since people aren't running in terror that you're a decent dude. Umm, if you just let me go, I'll be outta your hair and I'll find a way back home-"

//"Scan complete, name unknown, genetic makeup unknown, DNA comprises similar strands to Spider-Man."

"You're not going anywhere," the man growled, "the only place you're going is with me. I have questions for you."

Miles nodded, "um yeah, yeah that would be good too. Um," he turned to a random pedestrian, "is he a good guy?"

The pediatrician gave him a look like he was an idiot and nodded.

"Okay. Great."

-o-o-o-o-

Iron Man. Turned out his name was Iron Man, or really Tony Stark. He introduced himself like some hot shot and Miles could only nod like he understood how famous and glorious the name was.

He'd never heard of Tony Stark before. In his entire life.

Not that he would tell the man, because he was busy figetting under the intense stare of Tony. They were at some tower, had a giant "A" on it and looked super futuristic. Tony had brought him to one of the upper floors and commanded him to sit down on the sofa, and hence began the most comfortable but intense interrogation to ever exist.

"Mask off," Tony said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"You sure you're not a bad guy? Cuz that's a no-no-"

"Kid."

"Fine." Miles reached up and pulled his mask up to rest on his head like a beanie. "Happy?"

"Yup," Tony said in a smug voice. Sharp eyes studied Miles's face and Miles couldn't help but shift uncomfortably. Being studied like that made him feel like an animal behind a cage. "Now, you mentioned cross dimensional miss-hap, care to fill me in?"

"Kay, um, I'm just going to plow through this.. so… okay, my name is Miles Morales, and I'm my universes Spider-Man. I was bit by a radioactive spider and got super powers. I inherited the title from Peter Parker just after a huge portal black hole thing opened up and then Peter B. Parker came from another universe and then Gwen Stacey came who is Spider-Woman, and then Peter Porker and another Peter Parker… and then Peni Parker… anyway we stopped the Kingpin from creating a black hole together, well, all of us except blond Peter because he kind of died… and-"

"Okay," Tony suddenly cut in, looking 100% shocked and confused. "Okay this is crazy. I must be drunk or something."

"It's the truth! Other universes exist! I've never traveled to another one myself until now, but let me tell you this is the weirdest thing that's ever happened to me."

Tony looked like he was going to argue, but then a voice came from... Somewhere. "Sir, Spider-Man is requesting to be let in. He says he needs help on his suit."

"No!" Tony suddenly yelled, "Turn him away!"

"I'm afraid he's insisting…"

Suddenly, the doors to the elevator that took them up to the floor opened up. Miles held his breath, wondering who this Spider-Man would be, and was a bit shocked to see a young teenager, mask off but clad in a red suit.

"Mr Stark? I really need help with-"

The teen stopped in his tracks when he saw Miles and they stared at each other for a few seconds, twitching and senses going haywire.

"You're like me…" they said at the same time.

-o-o-o-o-

"This is insane," Mr Stark said as he paced the room. Peter shifted akwardly in his seat and glanced at the kid next to him on the sofa. Mr Stark continued to pace and mumble to himself as Peter scooted a bit closer and leaned his head towards the kid.

"So you're from another universe?" Peter whispered.

"Yeah. Weird right?"

"Totally weird."

"Names Miles Morales, you?"

"Peter Parker."

Miles looked surprised. "Really? You don't look like a Peter Parker. I've met..." he stopped to count on his fingers, "three Peter Parker's and they're all in their twenties. One does have the same hair as you, but another is blonde… and I don't know what the other one looks like cuz he never actually took off his mask."

"That's weird, I've only met none Miles Morales so far."

Miles wiggled his eyebrows, "I'm one of a kind."

"Are you two talking!?" Mr Stark suddenly asked, both Spider-Men snapped their jaws shut and looked at him. "Seriously. Right now. Talking?"

"Sorry, Mr Stark."

Mr Stark sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. "Just when I thought things couldn't get weirder…"

"There's no limit to weird when you're Spider-Man," Miles chimed in. Mr Stark glared at him.

-o-o-o-o-

After a long talk and a lot of confusing explanations from Miles's end, it was decided the main priority would be to try to figure out how the bracelet thing Miles was wearing worked and send him home. Till then, Miles was going to stay at the tower, under close watch from Mr Stark.

Peter called May and did his best to explain what was going on (she made a lot of confused noises so Peter was sure he was doing a horrible job at it) and asked her if he could stay the night. The next day was Saturday and it wasn't like Peter had that many plans. She said yes, but Peter suspected it was mostly because she was tired of listening to him fail at explaining.

Mr Stark had Miles's hand placed on one of the tables in the lab as he carefully poked and prodded the bracelet. Miles sat in a stool with his other hand holding I'll his head and wearing a bored expression. Peter sat at a different stool a bit away from the work area, tinkering with his web shooters.

His shooters broke in the middle of fighting some gang members in Queens, and Karen kept automatically going to instant kill mode (hense why Peter went to the tower). He decided while Mr Stark tried to figure out the bracelet, he would at least fix what he can.

It was akwardly quiet in the lab and Peter couldn't be more relieved when Miles spoke up. "You made those yourself?" He asked suddenly.

Letter looked up from his shooters and at the other Spider-Man. "Uh, yeah. Mr Stark helped me with this versions, but the original design is mine."

"That's dope, man," Miles said, grinning. He lifted his free hand and showed off his own web shooters. "Aunt May- I mean May Parker... She's not my aunt… more like my cool grandma- anyway, she made mine."

Even Mr Stark looked surprised by that information. "You know aunt hottie?"

"Um… I wouldn't call her hot. She's kind of ancient, man. She basically took me in when I became Spider-Man. Helped me with my suit and gave me web shooters. I guess you could say she's my Tony Stark."

"Wow."

-o-o-o-o-

When Friday announced that it was four in the morning—startling Miles from his nap in the process, clearly not used to the life of a vigilante yet—Mr Stark finally called it quits. He threw down the screwdriver he was holding and leaned back into his chair with a groan. "It's useless. I can't figure it out."

Peter watched as Miles gave his wrist a worried look before he rubbed his eyes. "Now what?"

Mr Stark shrugged. "Not sure. Whatever you're wearing is way beyond 2018, kid."

Miles bit his lip. "Is there... any way you can check my DNA or something? For dying particles or something like that?"

Mr Stark lifted an eyebrow. "What for?"

"Just, when the other Spider-People came to my dimension, their particles didn't agree with my universe and they began to… slowly glitch to death."

"That doesn't sound fun," Peter said.

Mr Stark stared at Miles for a few moments before he sighed. "Yeah, that shouldn't take too long."

And it didn't. All Mr Stark had to do was take a DNA swab and ask Friday to examine it. She announced it would only take a couple minutes, so Peter blurted what had been on his mind for the most part of his encounter with Miles.

"What are the other Spider-People like?"

Miles launched into an excited explanation of each of the alternate versions of Spider-Man. He smiled a lot when he talked about "fat, hobo, Peter" and gained a dreamy look when the name Gwen Stacy left his lips. He was in the middle of talking about Peter Porker when