#if she’s in more than that one clip i will sadly tune in despite not watching since like. early 2021

[whitmore]

god absolutely loving the heavy sighing and the “ok. are we going to watch titans about this” of it all right now

[chameleontea]

Lemonade MCs

@lemonade-if​ 

I’ve really loved seeing everyone’s MCs for Lemonade, and it gave me the courage to talk about my own MCs for Lemonade as well! The only thing is that I get a bit too excited about making MCs, and I like to have different MCs to romance all of the different ROs, so I kind of ended up making 8 different characters…

So, I apologize for showing up with a small army of MCs. I’ll split their introductions into two parts with 4 characters each so that this doesn’t get too long. I also sort of already thought of ROs, best friends, and clubs that I think could fit them well, but those could end up changing in the future.

Without further ado, here are the girls and one of my nonbinary MCs. Next time I’ll introduce the boys and my other nonbinary MC.

(Picrew used: link)

Chiyo Fujihara [F She/Her]

Ethnicity: Japanese

Club: Cheer

Personality: Chiyo is a very outgoing and talkative person. She’s always been very in-tune with her emotions and allows them to show themselves whenever they want. So, while this means that she’s usually bubbly and happy, you’ll definitely know when she’s feeling negative emotions. It’s not uncommon for her to burst into tears without any warning or get angry and chew out a bully in defense of another student. The hardest part of her parents’ divorce was the fact that she had so many conflicting emotions about it, so it was sort of the first major time in her life when she really didn’t know what to feel or how to act. It’s just confusing and frustrating, so she tries not to think about it anymore than she has to.

Best Friend: Ren. I just feel like they could really get along!

RO: Aleksei. Listen… I think there would be a lot of chaos with these two, but it would be fun. Plus, Chiyo is the type of person to call people out, and Aleksei probably needs to be humbled sometimes.

Bonus facts: She definitely the type to wear gyaru fashion. Is always trying out new hairstyles. She’s 5’6. She has a phone addiction for sure. She is a terrible student lol. She does not try at all in school.

Junko Hirano [F She/Her]

Ethnicity: Half Japanese/Half Taiwanese

Club: Art

Personality: Junko is… often seen as strange to say the least. She’s generally cheerful, but she always seems to be in a sleepy, dream-like state. Her head is always in the clouds, and she could fall asleep within seconds no matter where she is. Junko has an interesting way of seeing the world and tends to just say whatever comes to her mind, so other students often label her as weird. It probably doesn’t help that her drawings tend to be about creepy things, which also tends to have people distance themselves. Despite her carefree demeanor, her parents’ fighting, and divorce did have a big impact on her. She’s always blamed herself for it, maybe if she wasn’t so weird then they could have been a happy family.

Best friend: Hikaru. He’s so nice and cheerful and I think that Junko could use more of that in her life.

RO: Shion. I just have the image of listless little Junko just attaching herself to Shion on day one and never letting go lol.

Bonus facts: Tends to wear really cute, frilly outfits outside of school. Always wear eccentric hair clips, she collects them. Junko is 4’11 (She may be a gremlin, don’t feed her after midnight). Also, her skin tone is tanner than shown in the Picrew, sadly it didn’t have the option that I wanted for her. An average student, doesn’t necessarily try that hard to get good grades.

Alice Campbell [F She/Her]

Ethnicity: White (Australian)

Club: Track

Personality: Alice has always been a very shy and quiet person. She has a lot of anxiety, and it can cause things like making friends to be really difficult for her. Seeing as she moved schools so frequently as a kid, she never really managed to make many friends. It made for a lonely time growing up, but she’s grown used to that feeling by now. One of the only times that she doesn’t feel self-conscious is when she’s participating in track. It just allows her stop overthinking and feel confident in herself for at least a short amount of time. When it comes to her parents’ divorce, she honestly can’t help but feel a little bit relieved by it. The constant tension and fighting just made her anxiety even worse, and she would always wish that she didn’t have to go home after school. Now that they’ve separated at least she doesn’t have to feel like that anymore, although she does feel a bit guilty for feeling that way.

Best friend: Yosuke. I feel like this is a bit of an unexpected friendship, but from what we’ve seen so far it seems like Yosuke reacts kindly to shy MCs, so I think it would be a sweet friendship.

RO: Leila. I think that Alice would be totally drawn towards Leila. She just seems so confident and chill and I think that Alice would be falling for her before she even realized what was happening.

Bonus facts: Usually likes to wear hairbows or headbands. Loves to read in her spare time. She’s 5’3, so another shorty. She’s fine with being called Arisu. School doesn’t come as naturally for her as some people, but she works really hard to get good grades still.

Setsuna Ogawa [NB They/Them]

Ethnicity: Japanese

Club: Volleyball

Personality: Setsuna’s persona is a bit complex. They’ve always taken it upon themself to be the perfect child for their parents, I guess they thought in a way that if they were perfect then they might be able to keep their family together. They’ve always tried to get prefect grades and to be the best at everything they tried. They crafted a personality where they are really charismatic and flirty, and its always succeeded in helping to make them popular among their peers. It obviously didn’t work in getting their parents to stay together though, and now they don’t really know what to do anymore. They don’t know how much of their personality is real and how much was constructed. But they don’t know how to be any other way, so for now they’re ready to charm the hell out of a whole new student body. Hopefully they can learn more about themself along the way as well, because trying to constantly be perfect at everything is starting to really exhaust them.

Best friend: Aleksei. I mean come on; it only makes sense.

RO: Ren. They would be a true power couple. I think that a romance between them would just be a lot of fun as well. Also, the idea of Setsuna, Ren, and Aleksei all hanging out together… they could cause some serious havoc at Mori High.

Bonus facts: Wears very sleek and stylish clothing outside of school. They are 6’0. They totally have a secret tattoo. Similar to Alice, getting good grades doesn’t come naturally to Setsuna, but they do work hard to get them.

-

Thanks for reading! I didn’t go back to edit any of this so sorry if there are mistakes. I’m nervous to put this out there but hopefully people enjoy reading about the unnecessary amount of thought that I put into these characters. I’m just super excited for this IF as you can tell! c: 

[poguesofthebau]

paranoia

summary: meeting dylan einstein, a genius forensic scientist from indianapolis, musters up some unknown insecurities about your relationship with reid. however, morgan-- and reid, once he figures it out-- isn’t willing to let you think that way. warnings: mentions of bombings (as pertaining to the case)

word count: 3k pairing: spencer reid x female!bau!reader

a/n: set in season 10, episode 14, this one was requested by @koc-help! as per usual, it took me forever to write, so i hope you can forgive me for that and enjoy what i came up with!! 

bombing cases were stressful. it always seemed harder for you; figuring out a motive, pushing down the overwhelming sympathy for the victims, convincing yourself that all of your team members were safe. because of your unshakable paranoia in the wake of those cases, you were already on edge by the time the team was boarding the jet to indianapolis. and, of course, spencer caught on to the way you were feeling almost immediately.

with the limited information the team had at that point, conversation about the case was reasonably brief. the file was reviewed and discussed, and hotch delegated a role for everyone to take when the jet landed. when the conversation came to a lull, you slid out of your seat, tossing the manilla folder onto the leather before moving to the back of the jet to make a cup of coffee. jj and derek’s voices were audible as they continued to spitball off of each other, masking the sound of spencer approaching where you stood. “hey,” he called to you as he neared. having been enveloped in the chatter your other friends were creating, you jumped at the sound of your boyfriend’s voice. when you looked up at him, his eyebrows were raised in concern at your reaction, immediately making you recoil into yourself. “you okay?”

“yeah,” you breathed, pulling the coffee pot out of its place to pour the liquid into your empty cup. “i’m fine.”

“that’s not very convincing, you know.” you turned to face him then, sighing and internally shaking the dread away. “what is it?”

“i’m not a huge fan of bombings,” you said sarcastically. spencer scoffed a laugh at that, reaching out to tuck a stray hair behind your ear as you continued with a bit more seriousness. “just a little worried. it’s nothing, spence.”

“i’m not used to seeing you worried in this way. are you sure you’re okay? i mean, do you want to talk about it?”

the soft-spoken concern in spencer’s tone along with the expression he was looking at you with warmed your heart. if there was one thing that could take your mind off of a murderous bomber, it was spencer. your eyes flickered over to the rest of the team, making sure no one was paying any attention to you and your boyfriend huddled up in the back of the jet, before you leaned up and pressed your mouth to spencer’s. the kiss was quick, but it was also just the reassurance that you both needed. “i promise, i’ll tell you if i need to talk. for now, i just want to get this son of a bitch and go back home.”

being present for the disarming of the second bomb only worsened your initial paranoia. the thought of an explosive device made you anxious enough; having to stand your ground and comfort an intended victim while a bomb was armed less than a foot from you was a whole new feeling. you trusted morgan to clip a wire without killing you, but the adrenaline in the heat of the moment was hard to shake. it had been a few hours since the scene had unfolded, but you still felt like your heart could possibly jump out of your chest at any moment the morning after the disarming. despite the underlying terror running through your veins, you were critically analyzing everything going on around you. your focus was completely dedicated to the case unfolding around you, because the sooner you cracked it, the sooner your thinly veiled fear would dissipate.

you were digging around in the bed of the pickup truck while einstein, the local forensic scientist, examined the bomb itself. out of your peripherals you saw reid and morgan approaching, but the bulk of your energy was going into analyzing the scene as best you could. your boyfriend’s eyes lingered on you for a few seconds as he neared, immediately gauging the nerves you were trying so hard to conceal. reid made a mental note to address that as soon as he could get you alone, but fought the urge to do so right then. spencer knew you well enough to know that, no matter how freaked out you currently were, your mind was concentrating on the scene before you, and anything else would simply be considered a distraction. he swallowed down the lump in his throat that formed at the thought of not being able to help you before tuning in to the comment einstein began to make. “he really went for a bigger boom this time.”

the short conversation that ensued between the two following that comment was something that shouldn’t have bothered you. you knew it meant nothing; reid wasn’t the only genius in the world who memorized excerpts from anarchy cookbooks or mathematical theories. just because some young, brilliant, beautiful girl knew the same book as spencer didn’t mean you had anything to worry about.

nonetheless, you became very worried about it.

you strolled around to the passenger side of the truck, sliding into the empty seat with a quizzical look on your face. “you know, it’s a wonder that he even realized he triggered the bomb.”

opening the driver’s side door as he spoke, reid slid into the truck next to you. “maybe he heard something when he stepped on the pedal.”

“and knew not to move? i mean, what’s this guy got, an ex-paramilitary background we don’t know about?”

the back and forth continued a few more times, and within a minute you and reid had developed the idea that allen archer, the bomb’s target, could potentially be your unsub. upon this conclusion, einstein spoke up again. “that’s what you guys do. you just talk a lot.” her voice was joking as the words left her lips, and a bright smile graced her face as she spoke. regardless of the playful tone you immediately identified, the words triggered something in you.

“well, there’s also a lot of kicking down doors involved,” morgan interjected from outside the passenger door, shaking you out of your internally-mortified state. you watched as einstein announced her departure then, mustering up a measly close-lipped smile in return to the courteous and friendly glance she offered you before leaving.

as she walked away, her words repeated in your mind. it was so simple for her to summarize; you just talk a lot. a woman so young and so intelligent had just condensed your entire career into a five-word sentence so simple that you couldn’t even disagree. was that truly all you were capable of? talking? bouncing ideas off of your coworkers’ ideas and hoping you’d end up catching the killer that way?

you spent the rest of the day arguing with yourself. in all honesty, your own inner monologue was starting to get on your nerves. despite your most sincere attempts to focus on the case in front of you, you couldn’t shake the feeling that  einstein was right. and maybe she was-- maybe your job was nothing compared to hers, and maybe she was a better match for spencer than you could ever dream of being.

this new uncertainty of your career and relationship definitely didn’t help to settle your previously established fear of being blown up at any given moment.

given the circumstances, it was only a matter of time until someone on your team noticed how uneasy you were steadily growing. they knew you. you were y/n-- sometimes stubborn, oftentimes overprotective, and always capable. sure, you had off days at work, just like everyone else. you weren’t always the one to solve the case, but you were always present and attentive, engaged in the investigation with your mind and body. however, right now, your mind was in two places at once. for that reason, you weren’t surprised in the slightest when morgan approached you at the station.

as you walked toward the conference room to find hotch, you were stopped by the familiar voice calling out. “hey, hold on little lady.”

“what’s up, morgan?”

morgan shook his head at that, a knowing look crossing his features as he began to speak. “nuh-uh. what up with you, y/l/n?” you threw him a falsely quizzical look, trying (and failing) to get him off your back by playing dumb. sadly for you, morgan was too good of a profiler and friend to fall for it. “don’t play with me, girl. i know cases like this always get to you a little, but i also know how badass you are. normally you would’ve bounced back from our brush with death by now, so what’s the problem?”

you squinted at him as your face morphed into dismay. of course you couldn’t fool morgan. your mind flickered to penelope, suddenly relating to one of her more commonly made complaints: damn profilers. “my first problem is that you might know me a little too well.” derek scoffed at that, waiting for you to continue. “my second problem? well, my second problem might be that i’m not smart enough, or maybe that spencer is too good for me, or maybe that our job is too easy, or maybe--”

“woah, woah, woah. slow your roll, little missy. ‘spencer is too good for me?’ where’s that coming from?” you blinked slowly in response, not quite willing to give up any more information than you already had. “fine-- i’ll figure it out myself. let’s see: you’ve been acting weird since we got this case, but that’s not what this is about. i’ve seen you on bombing cases before, and this ain’t that. so... oh, i know. is this about a forensic scientist, maybe? maybe one who has the same name as a very smart, very famous--”

“okay, morgan. i get it. you’re a great profiler, and you know my thoughts better than i do. that doesn’t really change the way i’m feeling right now.” your tone was a little sharp, but the look in your eyes was a mixture of sadness and contempt. “and, in case you needed me to put it simply, i’m feeling like shit.”

a look of pity overtook morgan for a moment. he knew what you were going through. sure, he wasn’t dating a genius with an iq of 187, but he knew how it felt to doubt yourself, and especially how it felt to feel belittled for your work. “y/n,” he said, placing his hands on your shoulders and crouching a little to get on eye-level with you. “don’t do that to yourself, kid. don’t forget how hard what we do is, and how important it is. you save lives every day. no matter how you do it, or how much brainpower it takes, there are people all around this world who are alive because of your work. whether they admit it or not, everyone has respect for that. especially our resident pretty boy.”

“i know, morgan,” you sighed. his hands slid from your shoulders as you finally gave in, looking him straight in the eye as you spoke. “sometimes it just feels like he deserves better.”

“just because it feels that way doesn’t mean it’s true. and i can promise you, reid has never felt that way. not about you.” after giving a comforting pat on the arm to go along with his final words, morgan was walking away.

damn profilers, you thought again. why are we always right?

before you got the chance to speak with reid, the team was off again. instead of splitting up this time, you were simply spreading out; hotch and rossi were scouring the crowd of civilians and news crews at the staged ceremony for allen archer, and the rest of you were divided into two suvs with morgan and kate in one and you, jj, and spencer in the other. your talk with morgan had lifted your spirits a bit, but there was still a tightness in the air as you sat beside your seemingly clueless boyfriend.

unbeknownst to you, spencer wasn’t all that clueless. not only had he caught on to your behavior long before anyone else on the team, but he’d also spotted you and morgan’s secretive moment from across the police station. (and, yes, morgan may have whispered “check on your girl” to spencer when you weren’t paying attention. he just wanted to help.) so, while you thought he was in the dark about your current insecurities, reid was very much aware of what was going on in your head. as much as he hated it, though, he was hesitant to acknowledge it with jj in the backseat and the rest of the team on comms. so, like the considerate boyfriend he was, he waited.

it wasn’t until you got back to the police station that spencer got the chance to catch you alone. everyone else was busy preparing to leave for the jet, the bustle of having solved yet another case causing an uplifting distraction for the team. while your friends were distracted, spencer grabbed you by the hand and pulled you into a nearby empty conference room. the surprise on your face was evident when he looked at you, and he couldn’t help but smile. you laughed nervously at his expression, not completely sure what he had taken you aside for. “hi, spence. you okay?”

“i was actually going to ask you the same thing,” he admitted. “except, i already asked you that once during this case, and you weren’t very willing to share, so i was going to approach it in a more insistent way.” although you were amused by this mysterious behavior of his, you were still confused about what exactly spencer was implying that he knew. “did you really think i wouldn’t notice that you were upset?”

“no,” you said unconvincingly.

“y/n, why won’t you just talk to me?” the desperation in his voice almost shattered your heart. the whole time that you’d been in your own head, spencer had been in his. all because you were scared to talk to the one person you trusted more than anyone in the world.

“i’m sorry,” you breathed, taking a step toward him. spencer’s right hand slid around your waist once you got close enough, and your forehead dropped onto his chest as you sighed. when you looked back up to him, spencer was already anticipating eye contact. “i’m sorry i didn’t say anything. i just didn’t want to worry you, or to make you feel like you’d done anything wrong, because it’s not your fault, i just-- i don’t ever want to feel like i’m holding you back.”

“holding me back from what? you could never hold me back.”

“i could, though! you’re this amazingly brilliant genius, and there are so many people out there who are so much smarter than me, and i--”

“is that what this is about? you think you’re not smart?” you felt his hand tense from its place on your lower back, his disbelief clear in his voice.

“no, no-- i mean, i know i’m smart enough. but sometimes when we have cases like this we meet some really, really smart people, and i can’t help but wonder if you would be better off with someone on your intellectual level. someone like einstein.”

“y/n,” spencer seemed stunned at this revelation, and you realized then that morgan had been right. the idea of you not being enough had never crossed spencer’s mind. “you are the person that i’m better off with. you. i don’t-- i’ve never even thought of anyone else as a possibility since i met you. there isn’t anyone else. i mean, before i knew you, i wasn’t even sure that i believed in love at all. the only reason that i know it’s real now is because of you. i can’t think of any statistics of mathematical theories or scientific discoveries to explain or defend it, but i have always known that there isn’t anything for me aside from you. i mean that. no matter how smart anyone else is, or how cool anyone else is, or how compatible anyone else’s intellect is with mine. i love you, y/n.”

and, just like that, your fears were gone. your inner monologue went silent, and the serenity that spencer’s words brought you washed over your entire body. spencer’s arm tightened around your waist, pulling you closer into him. his free hand moved to the side of your face, brushing back your hair as he waited for you to reply. the anticipation on his face sent another rush of absolute love through you, and you quickly closed the gap between you. as your mouth met his, your hands found their way to the sides of his neck, slowly wrapping around until they were laced together behind his head. for what could’ve been an hour, you stood there, melting into spencer as his words of reassurance replaced the chants of uncertainty that had filled your head hours prior. you were forced to pull back from him eventually, but even then your hands remained around his neck and the distance between your faces was minimal as you reopened your eyes. “i love you.”

a knock on the door suddenly interrupted the moment, causing you to release each other as a third party entered the room: morgan. “hey, lovebirds,” he grinned. “nice to see that you’re back to normal. it’s time to head home.” you smiled knowingly at the man, lacing your fingers through reid’s as you followed morgan out of the room. grabbing your belongings on the way out, the three of you headed toward your designated suv, where jj was waiting patiently in the driver’s seat. “so, you finally confessed, huh?”

“of course i did,” you laughed. “no secrets in this relationship.”

“yeah, and i would’ve figured it out eventually anyway.” at spencer’s interjection, it was morgan’s turn to laugh.

“oh, yeah, 187?”

“he is a genius, you know,” you added smugly.

“well, apparently so am i, because i figured it out before he did. oh, and by the way, pretty girl, i told you.” and with that, morgan was jogging off (in a fit of giggles) to the suv, hopping in the passenger seat before you had a chance to jokingly scold him.

damn profilers.

[thatcartoonnetworkblog]

Cartoon Network Hotel Review

WHAT TIME IS IT????

If you don’t find yourself screaming this when you get here, even just in your head, then you’re in the wrong place.

But after a nice drive through Amish Country, the Cartoon Network Hotel is nice and visible right outside of Dutch Wonderland. Coming in, you see images of some of your favorite characters, right before Finn and Jake welcome you at the front.

Granted, it looks like I came off season- with fall and school just starting, Dutch Wonderland is only open on the weekends, and the hotel wasn’t exactly packed from what I can see. Which made for a good time for the indoor pool to be under renovation, so I sadly didn’t get to check that out. But hey, the outdoor pool was running just fine, although it was mostly empty, just myself and a family.

I didn’t take any pictures of the pool, since I didn’t have my phone (but a couple of Ice King’s penguins are playing life guard duty, alongside a pretty cute girl), but I did snap a photo of the Powerpuff sprinklers! They look pretty cool, right?

But that’s jumping ahead. Anyway, as mentioned, today it didn’t seem so busy, so despite arriving a couple of hours before 4 PM check-in, I was able to get a room right away. It must have been busy enough that I didn’t get the Gumball room I asked for, but instead I got my second choice, Steven Universe.

But I mean, look at this. I can’t complain. I was just thinking that I wanted the SU room instead, anyway.

The rooms are themed to one of six shows/franchises, the other four being Powerpuff Girls, Ben 10, Adventure Time and We Bare Bears. The former two seem to be primarily inspired by their recent series however, not their classics, so your mileage will vary there. I asked a receptionist which show tends to be the most popular choice, and she says that it rotates. Apparently PPG does get picked often by those who grew up with it, which makes sense, although those aren’t my Powerpuff Girls.

So, some things of note- there are four exclusive channels to the Hotel. Gumball and Teen Titans Go get their own 24/7 channels, which seems redundant since they’re basically all CN shows anyway. But they also have a FanFavs channel, which shows various episodes from various series, and New Shows, which I’m not sure if it shows currently unaired episodes or not. I couldn’t get that one active for long, but I did see part of a Victor & Valentino episode. I did have FanFavs on a bit as background noise, and they seem to mostly show:

Adventure Time

Regular Show

Steven Universe

Ben 10 (2016)

Mao Mao

Thundercats Roar (seriously...)

It seems like they mostly rotate from those shows, but I’d like to believe there’s more. Griz is on the cover bar for it when you connect to wifi, and you’d think they’d also show at least the 2016 PPG show as well, as that’s all over the resort.

They also do showings of cartoons in the kitchen at 3 and 9 PM, as the kitchen is closed during those times. My flight was very early, so I missed the 9 showing, as well as the Summer Camp Island-inspired bonfire that happened before, but I caught the 3 o’clock cartoons. They played episodes of Craig of the Creek, Total Dramarama, Teen Titans Go, and Gumball. Pretty cool, although these are basically the only four shows the channel plays anyway, The intro they use for the screenings shows clips from classic Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry, and Scooby-Doo cartoons, but none of those were shown today. Maybe they’ll throw one in at another time? Probably not Scooby... or maybe just a movie, since they apparently play movies as well sometimes.

I didn’t stick around for most of the TDR cartoon though, as I was participating in the Craig of the Creek scavenger hunt. They hunt various CN characters around the lobby vicinity, and you try to find them in the right spot.

This is what you get if you win- a COTC pin and a Hershey bar. But hey, you can’t argue with results, and this is about it for Craig merch.

The gift shop almost exclusively focuses on the six shows with featured rooms, and a lot of merch isn’t exclusive. I did get a couple of things though.

The beach towel is based on the designs you see all over the hotel and has a couple of series not otherwise represented in terms of merch, like OK KO, Summer Camp Island, and the aforementioned COTC. Oh, and Clarence! Almost missed him in the bottom.

I got the stickers because there are more COTC characters, and again, the designs are nice. The SU pin was cool, and if there was a similar one for AT or Gumball, I would have got that as well. And I got the Anais keychain because Gumball merch is strangely rare despite its popularity, especially for her. There were also some pencils, notebooks, a couple of T-shirts and a hoodie. I almost got some pencils.

There’s also an arcade and an activity center, but those do seem mostly for kids, plus you have to pay for most of the crafts. I think the coloring is free at least, and there are a couple of nods to classic shows I found that I’ll share on another post.

Just as there are some nods to classics around the place, primarily the elevator and kitchen, but the people who want to see Dexter and Johnny and the Eds aren’t the target audience for this resort. Which is unfortunate, but the thing is, besides the fact that we’re getting old and today’s kids need their own shows, Cartoon Network has become a big deal internationally over the past decade, moreso than during their supposed heyday in the late 90′s-early 00′s. The six shows featured aren’t just picked for being the most popular, they’re all big draws overseas. We Bare Bears sells a LOT of merch in Asia and parts of Europe, even if it doesn’t seem that big of a draw stateside. Hopefully they can make this a tourist spot.

That said, I do hope that they consistently update things in the years to come. Part of the problem with the Nickelodeon Hotel over in Orlando was how stuck it was in the mid-2000′s. Sure, SpongeBob has remained a big draw over the years since, but when I visited the place around 2010 (didn’t stay, but took a tour), it was apparent that if your kids weren’t big fans of Rugrats or Jimmy Neutron, and they probably weren’t around that place until its last days, there wasn’t much reason to stay over.

I do think that Craig deserves his own themed room, and it may be time to swap out Powerpuff for it. Let’s admit that the 2016 reboot was a failure and move on. Or maybe just double down and replace the reboot designs with their classic look.

But hey, my final thoughts on the Cartoon Network Hotel? I had a lot of fun, and got the best sleep I had in ages. I’m not sure if I’d go again, though. At least unless it changes things up a little. Part of the thing is that this is really for the kids who love today’s new shows. And I do really love three of the six shows heavily featured here- four if you count the original Powerpuff. But I’m just not the right age for this place.

If you love any of these shows and/or Cartoon Network’s brand as a whole, I recommend checking this place out, but only if you’re near the area. Don’t make it a pilgrimage. Unless you have enough friends to make grouping up on the Steven Universe Dream Suite worth it.

That said, look at these Bear macrons. So damn cute, and tasty, too!

[icarusbuck]

26. how about you trust me for once?

FOX! 911 | spoilers for s3 finale

∞

"When are you going to learn to do this yourself?" Hen's words were chastising, but her tone betrayed her amusement. She flipped Buck's tie this way and that while Athena looked on with a smirk.

"Bobby's done it for him, too," she said, and both women laughed.

"Hey," Buck complained, but was stopped from trying to look at her by Hen's hand on his chin.

"I'm almost done, if you mess it up you're on your own." She worked the tie for a few seconds longer, and finally nestled the knot up against his throat. "There," she said with a proud grin, smoothing her hands down the lapels of his tuxedo.

"Thank you," Buck said, bowing his head toward her.

"You're welcome. See you in there," Hen said, retreating to the exit.

Buck made his way into the next room in search of his sister, with Athena on his heels. She wore a stunning emerald green gown that matched the color of his tux.

They found Maddie seated in front of the vanity with Josh on a stool beside her. He was chattering away and talking faster than Buck could comprehend, but Maddie seemed to understand him just fine. She laughed every few seconds, pausing in the application of her mascara to do so.

Maddie looked up when Buck entered the room, her eyes finding his in the mirror. Her laughter was more nervous than anything. He winked at her.

"Hey, would you guys give us a minute?" Buck said, looking first to Josh and then to Athena at his side. He clasped his hands together apologetically when Josh stood.

"Of course," Athena said, patting him on the shoulder. She turned, and the two of them exited back into the outer room.

Buck walked over and sat down with a sigh on the stool Josh had just vacated. As soon as the door closed, Maddie turned to face him. All traces of mirth were gone, replaced by an apprehension he hadn't seen from her in all the time they'd taken to plan the day.

"Have you heard from them?" She asked, searching his eyes like they might hold the answer.

"Not a peep," Buck said sadly, picking up her hands from her lap. He squeezed them gently. Maddie nodded and looked away, blinking rapidly.

"I just thought they'd want to be here. Today of all days." She sniffed and pressed her lips together. Buck wasn't all that surprised that their parents had ignored the invitation, but he didn't want to make her feel any worse.

"Hey," he said softly, taking her chin to pull her around. He waited until she met his gaze before continuing. "You look so beautiful, Maddie. Even if they show up, I'm still walking you down that aisle."

Maddie offered him a weak smile and nodded, this time with slightly more conviction. Her shoulders slumped and she sighed, her resolve breaking just as fast as it was built. "Are we doing the right thing here? What if this is just one big mistake? Maybe we should wait…" She gestured at herself as she talked, at the gown and her slightly swollen belly.

"Maddie," Buck scolded, frowning. "I've never seen you so happy, or so free. Chimney is the right guy."

"Promise?" Maddie replied, laughing wetly. She picked up a tissue and dabbed carefully at her lashes. "I thought Doug was the right guy once."

Buck leaned back from her, looking her up and down thoughtfully. "Do you love him?"

"You know I do," Maddie whispered. The vanity was an antique, but it had bulbs wired around the mirror that lit her face. She said the words to her reflection and turned her chin this way and that, examining her flawless makeup. Her hair had already been done and was held up in a clip, but she reached up to take it out as she sat there looking at herself.

He leaned over slightly to look at her reflection and raised his eyebrows. "Then screw the timing. Look, you've given me a lot of advice over the years and I'm trying to return the favor. How about you trust me for once?"

Maddie smiled at him, a real one this time. She turned to face him again and put her hand on his cheek. "I'm lucky to have a brother like you, Evan Buckley."

"Don't you ever forget it. Now come on, I've got a bride to deliver." Buck stood and offered his arm to her. She took it as she rose, unfolding the fabric of her gown. He didn't have a clue what kind it was, but he knew that she really did look incredible in it. Lace cuffs rounded her shoulders and detailed the body of the dress, descending into the skirt with tiny pearls accenting the delicate swirls.

Maddie picked up her bouquet and squeezed his arm to signal she was ready.

Together they walked out of the side room and toward the big hall where the ceremony was being held. The music grew louder as they approached, and the tension in her grip melted the closer they got. Outside the closed doors, they waited for the current tune to end.

He looked at her in the breath before the processional started. "Ready?" He asked.

"Ready," she said, grinning as she met his gaze.

The ushers took their cue and opened the massive double doors as the music started up again. The audience turned to look at them, all conversation grinding to a halt as the pair started down the aisle. It wasn't a huge group, composed mostly of people Maddie had met since moving out to LA, and a dozen or so of Chimney's friends and family. There were people from the dispatch center along with past members of the 118, most of whom Buck didn't know or recognize.

Up ahead on Maddie's side of the altar stood Josh and Athena; across from them, Chimney waited. He stared at Maddie with the biggest smile Buck had ever seen. Beside him stood Bobby, with his hand on Chimney's shoulder, as well as Eddie and Albert.

Eddie stood out despite wearing the same tux as the other groomsmen. His hair was coiffed neatly and his face clean shaven. He stood tall between Bobby and Albert, his hands linked in front of him. The groomsmen had emerald green pocket squares and bow ties to separate them from Maddie's bridesmen.

The sight of him made Buck's breath catch and Maddie squeezed his arm, almost as if she'd felt it.

"You know," she muttered to him, so quiet that he could barely hear it. "I've never seen you so happy, either."

"Shut up. Today's about you," Buck muttered back. The butterflies in his stomach took flight anyway and he forced himself to look away from Eddie.

Bobby took his hand away from Chimney's shoulder as they arrived. The latter had tears in his eyes, but he was still smiling. Once she was in place Maddie turned so Buck could take one last look at her. He leaned in to kiss her forehead, then took the bouquet and stepped into place behind her as the ceremony began.

It was a short one, due to both the bride and groom's excitement. Any worries or fears disappeared the moment she saw Chimney waiting for her. Both of them were jumping at the bit to say their vows; they were cheesy and heartfelt and full of inside jokes that drew confused chuckles from their audience.

Buck allowed himself to zone out during Maddie's. After all, he'd heard them a thousand times while serving as her sounding board for them. 

As soon as she started to speak, his attention shifted. He looked past Chimney's shoulders and was only mildly surprised to find Eddie staring at him. He swallowed when Eddie winked and smiled.

Buck was so distracted by it that he almost missed the cue to give Maddie the ring. Soon after they were saying their 'I do's, and the room erupted in cheers and applause.

The newlyweds started up the aisle together hand in hand. Buck and Bobby followed suit, and moments later the doors to the hall closed behind the whole wedding party. Athena moved to Bobby's side and pulled him down into a kiss.

"Well," Buck said, moving away from them. He stopped beside Eddie and took the arm Athena had vacated. "Who's ready to dance?"

[buddha-in-disguise]

Weariness and cynicism is deadly.

When we were growing up, I remember my paternal grandfather once said to me: Weariness and cynicism is deadly.

At the time I didn't really understand the comment, but as I got older, it was something that I've kept in the back of my mind, in part because I would hate for me to become weary & cynical in life.

The last few episodes of Supergirl have had this line come roaring to the forefront with me.

Right now, weariness and cynicism within the Supergirl fandom (and not just a ship), has now shown in ratings.

You could argue as to why the ratings have dropped, and there are certainly going to be a few reasons for it. After all, in any season of a show you get peaks and troughs on the figures.

With Supergirl though, it has been a steep hit, then a steady decline afterwards. 

I've been writing this over a few days, and yesterday the synopsis for 5.19 dropped.

Now you can tell this was written before they planned on merging some of 5.20 into 5.19 and it became the finale, and this is given away by the 'penultimate episode,' wording. That is true, so knowing elements of 5.20 will be merged into it, means there is likely a divergence to this synopsis on some level. If there is, once again the marketing has failed to adapt with these changes. 

However, the synopsis also has people absolutely at the end of their tether over Kara and Lena. Why? The 1st segment:

'Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) realizes that in order to stop Lex (guest star Jon Cryer) and Leviathan she must work with the one person she never thought she’d trust again – Lena (Katie McGrath).' 

I have issue with this for more than one reason, but the biggest for me is simply this.

Honestly the situation should be sorted by now in far better ways. If this goes on through to S6 unresolved, then it is beyond a joke.

19 episodes of this is utterly unacceptable. Even if they'd carried on resolution into the 20th episode, that's still far too long. 

I can't speak for other fans, but personally I was hoping (& expecting) that once Crisis was over, Kara and Lena would actually begin to talk. If not Lena and Kara, Lena and Alex. Because remember how Lena spoke to Alex when Alex asked for her help during Crisis? Here are the lines most relevant (I'm including the clip for the whole interaction).

"I am sorry that I lied to you. And not just me. Not just Kara. J'onn, and Brainy, and Nia."

"You know, you actually had me believe that you hated Supergirl."

"I wasn't pretending about that, but that is a long story."

This was 10 episodes ago once 5.19 hits, & has never been broached again, nor looks likely to be. Why even bring it up if you're going to ignore it? Lena & Alex were friends by S4 end. If Kara couldn't talk to Lena, why hasn't Alex tried? Or Brainy? Nia. Even Kelly, who genuinely hadn't lied to Lena - although that could've been awkward if Lena said it was about Kara lying being Supergirl and Kelly didn't know. But you know, I would've loved to have seen it play out that way, because Kelly's surprise wouldn't be faked, and Lena, despite it all, would probably recognise that.

Have Lena working with Lex, but also using Kelly to help her with the lenses, to placate Lex, but to be actively working with the Superfriends (Kelly as the intermediary) to bring Lex down. That way, Kelly gets screen time she deserves, Lena slowly works through her issues, even if it isn't directly with Kara yet. Alex really uses the Tower to investigate and help Kelly and Lena. But we have had nothing of note.

Out of the two Winn episodes, we had one episode of Winn's own psychopathic father getting his redemption, (which sorry, was too far fetched for me). What was the purpose of this? It apparently serves none. This episode should've been a redemption arc starting for Lena in my opinion, even if Kara wasn't involved (so the 100th still could've gone ahead as planned). It could've been Brainy for example tentatively reaching out to Lena. Or as I say, Lena seeing how Lex was working, and reaching out to Kelly. It wouldn't have to be a noticable or big thing, but the beginnings of some reconciliation with someone. 

Yet Lena, who time and time again has tried to do the right thing, has been lied to, has been abused by her family since she was 4, has been left to her own devices for 19 episodes! By people who say they are her friends. This is more than about Kara. This is about a whole group of people who seemingly have washed their hands of Lena. That sure as hell isn't any kind of friendship I know, or agree with. 

This is why as a general audience people are now weary and cynical. When the hard core fans, not ship fans, but the ones who tune in religiously, are screaming enough, then a more general audience will simply drift away. Sadly the viewing figures suggest this is exactly what has happened. 

If they're suddenly best friends again from 5.19, then it will be as bad because nothing is talked about! Even if they carry on the redemption arc into S6, will the general audience - or even the main hard core group of fans - wait potentially 9 to 12 months before it starts again, not knowing if they plan to maintain the push and pull between Lena, Kara and the Superfriends, or actually are going to rebuild the friendships?

We also have the question of why did Kara find the tape that Mxyzptlk left? I'm including a screen capture for this.  

There were a couple of things at the time that I wondered about.

Why make it so obvious that was the video tape left? It then immediately led off to Kara confronting Lena, which while harsh wasn't really too OOC until that last line. No, she didn't call Lena a villain (ugh also continuity in 5.17, hello Kara, you didn't call her a villain). But Kara knows that Lena has always wanted to be seen as being different to her family, but especially Lex. Instead of going to Lena as Supergirl, go to her as Kara! Make her see the person not the cape. Of course being Supergirl is important to Kara, but knowing that Lena has always had a more volatile relationship with Supergirl, it seems utterly inconceivable to me that at some stage Kara wouldn't go to try and talk to her simply as Kara. Or was it Mxy as Supergirl, who hesitated moving from the balcony because he needed to be invited inside by Lena? Supergirl took a step forward, but doesn't appear to actually enter Lena's apartment. 

So yes. That whole scene has always bugged me.

I also always questioned why did Mxy hang around watching through Kara's loft window? What was it he needed to see? By all accounts his mission there was accomplished. Why hang around?

So it begs the question, are we seeing how the tape plays out? Is this the 'nothing is as it seems' and the 'Black mirror season,' they touted before the season began. If this refers to how Lex has played his part, then that is nowhere near good enough.

If it is because of Mxy, it is just an awful way to go about it. It has left most fans weary, jaded and honestly not trusting of how they will carry on writing for the show.

Let's not forget, Kara told the whole world her identity to save Lena. 

Lena tried to save Kara from the Kryptonite in the air, but failed because she was too far away in Metropolis. 

Lena took to heart the pleas from Kara not to use Kryptonite, and so devised another way to subdue Reign, only to die in Kara's arms (and remember Kara literally crumpled as Lena fell into her arms. This is a Kryptonian with Super human strength, but her knees gave way). 

The only time Lena did turn evil was when Supergirl didn't save her. But even then, watch her face carefully as she hits with Kara with the Kryptonite. That stotic mask falls just fractionally. 

However this plays out in the last two episodes, quite honestly I can't see how it is going to be enough to pacify the distrust and anger over vast aspects of the season. How a lot of what has gone on can only be called queerbaiting, and if (& it's a big if) they even lent into Supercorp (I highly doubt it), then it needed to come far quicker. When you lose the trust of a big part of your audience, it is extremely difficult to get that trust back. When you have to try and achieve that with only 2 episodes left? Pretty much impossible. 

When that weariness and cynicism has months to fester in a fandom, it is deadly.

[kaypeace21]

The Duffers use of music proves byler is endgame (music-analysis)

The Duffers in an interview said that they choose songs for the show very deliberately -sometimes spending weeks on Spotify to find just the right song to convey an emotion/context of a scene. Songs in all seasons (but especially in s3) were used to show how characters are feeling- or just an action they’re about to commit.

For instance, Karen when she’s about to meet Billy at the motel-  feels apprehensive and wants to get out of it (since it would hurt her family) and she was just flirting with Billy as a way to escape her own issues, about her life. She never flirted with Billy for the end-goal of “getting him.”

They even use “cat’s in the cradle’ which could be shown as a way to illustrate the inappropriate age disparity between Billy/Karen.

Other examples-

Right before the boys run away from the lingerie store- the lyrics are literally “I just walk away” XD

Jim when he looks at Joyce- the lyrics are “she’s got you.” ( cause he’s in love with her).

-And Jim after getting Mike to not come over to see El, (by yelling at him) sings…

Joyce after she sees Bob’s drawing fall to the ground and then crouches to pick it up.

And songs also illustrates how Nancy feels about her job (with her sexist co-workers). As the morose lyrics of “I’ll be working here forever” play as it zooms in on Hawkins post -as Nancy rushes inside.

As well as  her excitement -about investigating a new case. As Jancy leaves and the very on the nose song  of “get up and go” begins -as they get into the car.

Billy when he pulls out chloroform (from a perfume bottle).

El after dumping Mike (and smiling about it) XD

So all the byler stuff I’m about to mention proves byler is endgame.

So yes, the fact that the very first lyrics that play when we see mileven kiss for the first time  is “Just a little uncertainty can bring you down”- reflects that (just like the others, the song reflects Mike’s true feelings). The song is from the album “boy in the box (cough closet)”.

And we know this is how Mike (not El) feels about their relationship because he begins to sing the song right after this lyric. It mirrors how when Will danced with a girl (who owned a rainbow hair clip) the lyrics were “every smile you fake.”

Mike continues “And nobody wants to know you now. And nobody wants to show you how.So if you’re lost and on your own. You can never surrender.” He fears that if he isn’t straight everyone he cares about will abandon him, and that he’d be lost and the only one ‘like this’ -all alone.But he can’t ‘surrender’ the false-idea of being in love with El (out of fear).  El even says to “stop” and tries to cover his mouth to prevent him from singing and Mike asks “What you don’t like it?” and El just says “No!”.

Which may be a purposeful juxtaposition to how Robin came out- and instead both Robin and Steve sang off-tune happily together- while El covers Mike’s mouth and tells him to stop singing. When Mileven kiss at the end of the season the song ‘the first i love you’ plays. The same song that plays when Robin comes out to steve (to illustrate the juxtaposition).

What’s interesting is ( right before the mileven kiss) we see a zoom in shot of a picture of Will and a rainbow . Like that’s Will! He has light brown hair (not black) and Will is the only one associated with fire and has drawn himself with fire in the past.

And since El has Mike related-stuff all over her room, and barely knows Will. Mike probably lied saying it was supposed to be him- which is why it’s above her bed.And we also see that based on it’s placement Mike is facing the Will drawing so he can see it  (cause we see El in front of the poster and Mike sitting opposite of her during the 1st kiss) . 

And during this transition the lyrics read “cause just a little more time could open closing doors” Which could be hinting at byler becoming a thing later - when (after some ‘time’) they both become ready to actually admit their feelings/sexuality - despite the other probably doubting the other has feelings for them.

I mean we even see an illustration of Will & the text of the name ‘Mike’ written out next to a rainbow-heart. And 2 other drawings next to the rainbow heart drawing (that are covered in red hearts). XD

(*for those who can’t see Mike written out in the transitioned will/mike pic)

However, what’s interesting though is the one other things he took down from his wall. In S1 Mike (before he even met El)  has a heart sign, with a red heart being propelled by a rainbow. Then in s3 it's gone from his wall when he dates El (cause he's trying to repress the fact he's gay). Why El has a drawing that says Mike (with a heart also propelled by a rainbow.) He can't use El to escape the truth. His rainbow follows him everywhere even when he tries to hide it (from his basement wall and himself) -  and when kissing El!Aka he tries to take it down (like he pretends to be straight). However, in the first ep of s3 when Mike is making-out with El (trying to project his feelings for Will on to her by looking at the Will drawing while kissing) we see a emergence of the heart being propelled by a rainbow (in El’s room) as a drawing.  signifying Mike participating in compulsory-heterosexuality,  and the fact no matter how hard he tries- he’s not straight!

Also El’s reaction to the song - hints that this isn’t actually her mixtape. But one that Mike made for her. or Will made for Mike (since jon makes mixtapes and prob taught him how- Will in s3 gave a mixtape to Dustin so it would not surprise me if he gave one to Mike).

So similar to the drawing, the mixtape hints at byler’s feelings

  ‘I can’t fight this feeling’ (which mileven makes out to later). Actually indicates Mike fighting his feelings for Will. And how he’s been trying to fight his feelings for Will, all season.

Besides the lyrics themselves- the singer literally went on record about the song’s meaning . Which is about a boy being in love/pinning over his friend of many years and never thinking he had a chance at being with them (and being afraid he’d ruin the relationship if he confessed)- but slowly thinking he could  be with them (and that they might feel the same way about him) . And in the song the 2 people AREN’T even together yet!

“Oh, I can’t fight this feeling any longer. And yet I’m still afraid to let it flow. What started out this friendship has grown stronger, I only wish I had the strength to let it show. I tell myself that I can’t hold out forever .I said there is no reason for my fear ‘Cause I feel so secure when we’re together ‘.You give my life direction. You make everything so clear. And even as I wander I’m keeping you in sight. You’re a candle in the window on a cold, dark winter’s night. And I’m getting closer than I ever thought I might”

This makes no sense for mileven who kissed after knowing each other for a week and who didn’t have a long established friendship, beforehand. And who also are already together (and not afraid to express their ‘romantic feelings’ for each other).

Then in s2, mileven dance to ‘every breath you take’ a break up song about a stalker ex. The writer of the song also has said many times “it’s NOT a love song.” The duffers obviously knew that. Lumax also danced to it and Lucas was called a ‘stalker’. El also stalked Mike in s2 (all that stuff milevens found romantic- El watching him without him knowing. Mike says he was not ok with it in s3). And in s3 he said not to do that and she just says ‘i make my own rules’. Not to mention Nancy teaching Dustin how to dance is a direct parallel to Mike teaching El. 

Mike also tries to act like Dustin, and  forces Will to dance with a girl (who’s wearing a rainbow hair clip). Trying to be a good sport like Dustin is about lumax. And right after this we see Dustin look sad about Max/Lucas dancing and Mike (next to Dustin) look sadly at Will/girl dancing in the same exact frame as Max/Lucas. As they switch between these 2 shots to emphasize their sadness/jealousy.Then they both sit down (mirroring each other) on the verge of tears before Nancy and El show up to comfort them and distract them.  As El once again (presumably) wears Nancy dress. Mike “you cant go with your sister… i mean you can but it’d be really weird.”

Also in regards to Will- when I heard they were going to have the song ‘Never ending story’ I wondered if they were going to re-contextualize one line in particular to be a hint at Will’s queerness. And shock- they did it! XD

The lyric is “ Rhymes that keep their secrets will unfold behind the clouds and there upon a rainbow Is the answer to a never ending story. ”

And of course Will is the one with a secret- that is ‘rainbow’ related. And they pan to him during the “secrets” line. I think Will is less in the denial phase than Mike is and already knows he’s gay and in love with him.

And this wasn’t a coincidence because when Lumax makes fun of Dustin they sing the lyrics incorrectly as  “The mirror of your dreams. Rhymes that keep their secrets…” And it pans to Will AGAIN!

We see Will obscured in shadows to represent he’s “hiding”.

And then he appears in the light, looking sadly at D&D as the lyrics , “rhymes that keep their secrets” is sang (again).

And we see he’s specifically looking at the d&d game sadly and about to give it away- since they zoom in on the game title (before he places it in the “donation” box). 

Because the d&d game is used to reflect his desires (like a “mirror”) . It’s the ‘mirror of his dreams’- to be with Mike. Cue Mike saying “ what did you think,really? That we were never gonna get girlfriends? We were just gonna sit in my basement all day and play games for the rest of our lives?” And poor Will  just responding with “Yeah, I guess I did. I really did.”

This lyric about the mirror is NOT in the original song. It was used once again to establish D&D as a romantic symbol for byler. Just like how they zoomed in on d&d right before the romantic “crazy together” speech.

Mike in s3 says “Blank makes you crazy… y’know like the word (love).” Flo in s1 says “ Only love makes you that crazy and that stupid.” Cue Will calling himself “stupid” 4 times (after Mike says they won’t be together playing games for the rest of their lives-and ripping up the Halloween pic , out of heart-break).

(x)

So again right after we see the zoom-in of the game (another romantically coded scene happens after). Will puts the game in the ‘donation’ pile - and Mike isn’t happy about it.

Mike: “WHOA, dude, that’s the donation box.”

Will: “ I know, I’ll just use yours,  when I come back. (pause) if WE still want to play?”

( translation: “I love and want to be with you but I’m not going to pursue you and get my heart broken again. Because even if I feel like you love me… I can’t trust my own instincts about how you truly feel anymore. If you want to play this ‘game of love’  with me you have to initiate/participate in the game properly.” Mike when fixated on El even says it was a cool campaign but  “we just weren’t in the mood right now.” and  also says to Will “c’mon, let’s play for real”  but Will storms off (not thinking that what Mike said was genuine).  

Mike : “Yeah, but what if you want to join another party?”

(*cough, the other ‘species’/girls, or just someone else: girl, guy or otherwise)

Will: “Not possible.”

(Will will always love Mike, and  admits he wants to be with him for the rest of his life).

(x)

And we actually see the Hopper’s Monologue (where Mike is shown)- reflects what Mike said to Will earlier. Mike does want to love Will but he’s just scared of changing their relationship into something romantic- and even though a part of him doesn’t want things to change, he’s still afraid that Will will move on from him as they both get older. “I’ve been feeling distant from you. Like you’re pulling away from me or something” (Will does this both figuratively/literally). I miss playing board games every night (d &d)”. “But I know you’re getting older, growing, changing. And I guess, if I’m being really honest, that’s what scares me. I don’t want things to change.”

Also the lyric “ Rhymes that keep their secrets will unfold behind the clouds and there upon a rainbow- is the answer to a never ending story. ”

One way or another Will’s secret (of being queer and/or being in love with Mike) will eventually come out. And that’s the answer to this “never ending story” between Will & Mike. Their love story. I mean who else is associated with Will’s story and has loads of rainbow symbolism - and has rainbow symbolism that  specifically connects them to Will?

*Lol don’t even get me started  on analyzing how in s1 when Mike thinks Will is dead- Mike hugs his mom and the lyrics are “and we kiss as though nothing could fall. And the shame.” Which is queer coded and written by David Bowie- and during the s2 “freak” speech- Will even says he’d rather be friends with Bowie than Kenny Roggers.

People need to realize no one is a bigger shipper of byler- than the Duffer brothers themselves! XD

[nev3rfound]

two sides : p.p

brief summary: peter can’t help but find himself nosing into your life as both himself and spiderman. and for a while, it’s alright until he develops feelings for you, but you seem more interested in spiderman than peter parker 

word count: 4.7k (i know, i went off a bit on this one)  requested: not by anyone. i’m kinda just writing a few things and seeing how they go for myself currently  warnings: not many, some swears and mention of assault (but nothing explicitly described) - oh and both peter and reader are around 18/19 

(everything on my blog is my own writing. if it is shared on another page or website know it isn’t me. all rights reserved. - thank you to everyone who helped regarding the wattpad situation, you’re all amazing)

masterlistin’

permanent taglist

In all the years Peter has lived with his Aunt May, he was no stranger to the sounds he heard throughout the building. Various people came and left, leaving behind their stories that were spread around like wildfires. But out of all of the neighbours he’s had, Peter can’t help but be intrigued by the girl at the end of the corridor. 

Jolting him awake, Peter listens as a door slams with aggression and rises to his feet. 

“Aunt May?” He calls out from his room, but with no response, he walks out to find his Aunt nowhere in sight. 

With his senses heightened, he finds himself looking out from his front door and down the hallway. Despite having lived in the same apartment for years, he barely knew who his neighbours were. No one in Queens was exactly jumping at the opportunity to be social, especially with neighbours who tend to just complain or make uncomfortable small talk. 

But Peter can’t help but tune in to the sound of someone crying. He steps out from his apartment further, following the sound down the corridor until he’s stood outside 3F. The apartment is located at the end of the corridor, right by the slim window that’s been sealed shut ever since Peter can remember. 

“I told you to fuck off okay!” A voice yells from inside of the apartment as Peter remains frozen on the spot, hearing footsteps nearing him he tries to turn around and walk away, but sadly he’s too late. 

The door opens as Peter has his back turned, but he can hear a quiet sniffle. “You spyin’ on me?” The same voice speaks up, trying to disguise their upset. 

Peter mentally swears to himself before turning around, facing you for the first time properly. 

To you, Peter is just a neighbour you’ve never really spoken to before. But to Peter, you’re the girl from the library he always sees. The girl who walks home in the dark with earphones on and tights that always seem to have holes or ladders. You always seem so upbeat, a smile on your face whenever you greet the librarian before finding a spot to hide away and bury your eyes into a book. 

Yet the girl before Peter isn’t you, at least, not the version he’s used to seeing. 

Black stains your cheeks as your nose continues to run, but you quickly wipe it roughly with the hem of your sleeve. He can see you’re shaking, despite your best efforts to hide it from him. 

“Well?” You raise an eyebrow to him, causing Peter to snap out of his thoughts as he stutters over his words. 

“I erm, I wasn’t I just,” He motions to his apartment, and then to yours before sighing. “I heard someone yell and a door slam.” He says calmly, trying to keep his cool as you nod. 

“Yeah, that would’ve been me.” You raise your hand, a weak laugh leaving your lips as you look down at the floor. “Sorry ‘bout that. Bad day.” You apologise, but Peter shakes his head profusely, catching your attention. 

“No need. Everyone has bad days.” He comments, smiling softly at you. 

You nod back, only to feel tears filling your eyes again and for once you’re unable to hold them back. “I’m sorry,” You repeat once more as you cover your face, feeling your sobs wracking through your body. 

Peter steps forward, wrapping his arms around you hesitantly. He can’t help but feel awkward as you continue to cry in his arms. That is until you wrap yours around him, holding him tightly as your sobs soften into whimpers. 

“It’s okay, you’re alright.” Peter hushes, rubbing soothing circles into your back. “If you wanna talk about it, I got time and my Aunt has some really good tea.” He suggests as you pull yourself from his embrace, wiping your eyes as a watery laugh escapes your lips. 

“I appreciate that thanks, Peter.” You respond and Peter looks at you with wide eyes. “What, you think I don’t notice you at the library? Or how your Aunt is always calling after you in the mornings?” You remark and Peter opens his lips, a smile rising on his face. Maybe you do notice him after all. 

“Come on, let me get you a drink.” Peter wraps his arm around you instinctively, holding you close as he guides you into his Aunts apartment. 

You both sit in silence for a while as Peter makes you a cup of tea. He notices how tightly you grasp the mug, that you’re lips are still quivering as you focus past him to the newspaper clippings of Spider-Man beside the small kettle and collection of mugs. 

“You a big fan of the guy?” You speak up, and Peter follows your point of focus to see the articles his Aunt insist she keeps. 

Shaking his head, Peter takes a seat beside you at the coffee table. “He’s alright, it’s my Aunt really. Thinks the world of the guy.” Peter laughs quietly whilst he sips his drink, scolding his lips before placing the mug back down. “What about you, any thoughts on Spidey?” 

A small sigh leaves your lips as you lean back in your chair, looking up at the ceiling as damp lines the edges. It’s almost identical to your apartment, minus some furniture choices. 

“My Dad thinks he’s a fraud, like some stalker.” You scoff, and Peter just nods. “But I think he seems like a good guy. He comes across as a cool guy who wants to help.” You explain as you focus on the pictures of him, oblivious that he’s actually sat beside you. “Sometimes I think I know him, that he’s like a guardian angel protecting me or some shit.” You shrug your shoulder, trying to pass it off as a joke.

“Maybe he just looks out for those who need it?” Peter suggests and you hum in response, a ghost of a smile crossing your lips.

“I’d like to think of it that way,” You comment. “but who knows. He’s just some guy at the end of the day, right?” 

“Yeah,” Peter looks back at the blurred photos of himself, the words and comments that plaster his mind. “just some guy.” 

*

After your first encounter with Peter, he’s learnt a lot about you and why you were so upset that day. Well, technically Peter didn’t find out, Spiderman did. 

It wasn’t supposed to happen, he didn’t anticipate engaging with you as Spiderman but he couldn’t help himself. 

You were walking home, headphones in and eyes fixated on the ground. Peter was simply doing his rounds of the neighbourhood. It was a Tuesday evening, things tended to be pretty quiet. But then he heard a scream three blocks over and you cry out for help. 

He got to you before anything happened luckily. You were simply shaken up and revealed to him that this wasn’t the first time it had happened. 

Spiderman had found you curled up in an alleyway, your bag was a few feet away from you with the content spilt out for all to see. He could see there was a struggle, and a hole had been torn in a new pair of tights you were wearing. 

The signs were evident of what could’ve happened, and he heavily encouraged that he take you home, just to be sure you got back safely. 

And that’s when it started, Peter having a double life with you as his friend. You had one friendship with Spiderman, someone who was a guardian angel to you and then there was Peter, you’re fun-loving neighbour. 

*

Peter woke up to insistent knocking on his front door. “Aunt May!” He sleepily yelled through the apartment before glancing over at the clock, seeing she would’ve already left by now. 

With a heavy sigh, Peter tore himself from his bed and dragged his feet to the front door. As he opened it, you barged past him and paced around the kitchen space. 

“Mornin’ to you too, Y/n.” Peter yawns as you roll your eyes, unable to keep still. “You alright?” He questions as you shake your head but then nodded. 

“I, I’m not sure.” You answer him honestly, looking up at him as you bite your nails. “Last night I, I met Spiderman.” You tell him and Peter’s eyes widen. “Yeah,” You scoff. “I know.”

Peter pulls out a chair and takes a seat. “Wait, I mean, how?” He asks, trying his best to act surprised as you run your fingers through your hair before sitting opposite him. 

“Well, I was walkin’ home last night and he showed up.” You skip a few details, but Peter already knows these having witnessed the aftermath last night. He nods along, not wanting to pressure you into telling any more. “He, he was sweet and helped me get home.” You say with a small smile, still trying to comprehend it all. 

“Wow.” Peter whistles as he leans back, seeing you glancing over at the black and white pictures of him from the articles once more. “I mean, what was he like?” 

You lean forward, resting your head in your hand and sigh. “Not what I expected. Younger than I thought. A lot funnier.” You can’t wipe your smile, and neither can Peter internally listening to you talking about him. 

“Do you think you’ll ever see him again?” He questions and you shake your head, looking down at your lap to see the single rip in your tights from last night. 

“I doubt it. If I did, I would hope it would be under better circumstances, you know?” You reply and Peter simply nods. “Anyway,” You quickly change the topic of conversation, not wanting to dwell on the details leading up to meeting the one and only neighbourhood Spiderman. “wanna get breakfast at Jamie’s Diner? I’m starving!” You chuckle as you rise to your feet. 

“Sure, let me just get my phone.” Peter tells you as he wanders into his bedroom, closing the door behind him before looking in the mirror. 

Behind him, he can see his Spiderman costume peeping from his wardrobe and quickly closes it as he tries his hardest to wipe the excited grin off of his face. 

“Okay, let’s get some breakfast.” Peter walks out from his room but leaves the door ajar. You smile as you follow him from the apartment and head to breakfast, eager to get to know Peter better. 

*

Weeks had passed by since you had last seen Spiderman, but you hadn’t anticipated seeing him unless it was a dire situation which you were thankful to not have been in. 

“No Mom, I’m fine really.” You exit the store with a bag of groceries in one hand whilst you hold your phone to your ear with the other. Squinting your eyes you regretted not bringing sunglasses since rain was forecast for the entire weekend.  

Normally, you’d be hanging out with Peter or studying. But with Peter busy with his Stark internship and you didn’t feel like studying alone, hence a detour to the store for something to eat. 

“If you weren’t you’d say so, right?” Your Mom persists and you internally groan but nod. “I can’t see you, honey you gotta use words.” She jokes and you roll your eyes.

“Yes, Mom.” You say with a small laugh. “I’d tell you, anyway I gotta go. I’ll talk to you later?” 

Hanging up the phone, you turn the corner of the street to your block. 

The sound of a whistle catches your attention until it is suddenly cut off and as you whip your head around as a blur of red and blue crosses your vision. 

“Oh, hi.” Spiderman appears behind you and you almost jump out of your skin.

“Jesus Christ.” You blurt out, holding your chest as your heart pounds. 

“No, Spiderman, actually.” He chuckles as you take a deep breath. “You alright, sorry if I scared you there.” Peter tries his best to disguise his voice as you tilt your head, almost recognising his voice. 

You nod, still struggling for words. “I, I’m fine. Just didn’t expect to see you in broad daylight.” You joke and Spiderman spins on the spot. 

“Well, here I am. In daylight.” He jokes and you laugh lightly. 

“Are you some guardian angel or something? Because I swear you’re around whenever I’m almost in trouble.” You playfully comment and Spiderman shrugs his shoulder. 

“I can be if you want me to be.” He comments back, and Peter can feel his cheeks burning up beneath his mask as you bite your lower lip between your teeth. 

Looking around, you notice a few people stopping. The sight of flashes from phones plays out in the corner of your eye and you turn back to face Spiderman. “I appreciate it, thanks Spiderman.” You give him a small nod before walking off, listening to the sounds of his name being called as you turn into your building, forcing yourself to not look back. 

But Peter watches as you unlock the front door through all the phones in his face. “Alright, folks I gotta go.” He announces as the crowds back away. “People to save, city to watch.” He adds as he shoots a web and disappears out of sight, listening to cheers as he lands on top of the roof of the apartment building. 

As he sits on top of the building, he hears his phone ringing. Pulling it out, he lifts his mask up and walks into the stairwell out of sight. “Hey, Y/n.” He answers, hearing you dumping something heavy onto your counter as you exhale loudly.

“Pete, oh my god you won’t believe what just happened.” You chuckle and Peter leans back against the stairwell, looking down the gaps knowing you’re several flights away. 

“No, you saw him again?” He tries his best to sound excited as he listens to you laugh so happily, something he’ll never truly tire of. “Okay, I’m leaving in an hour. Want to grab dinner and tell me all about it?” He suggests and you stand still, taken by surprise. 

Your prolonged silence doesn’t go unnoticed and you listen to Peter starting to ramble. 

“I mean if you don’t wanna that’s fine too. God that came off strong right? I just I,” Peter can feel his heart sinking as he tries to hide his disappointment, only to hear you cut him off.

“Peter, breathe!” You playfully yell down the line. “I’d love to get dinner tonight. Seven okay with you?” 

Nodding to himself, Peter cannot stop his smile from growing. “Yeah, yeah seven’s great. Perfect even.” He rubs the back of his neck before slipping his mask back on. “I’ll see you then.”

With that, you hang up the phone and can’t help but feel your grin widen, reflecting Peter’s who makes his way back down the side of the building until he reaches your kitchen window. 

He glances in, noticing you dancing around giddily as you put away groceries with your headphones in. “Dancin’ on the moonlight,” You sing to yourself, out of tune as you sway your hips whilst Peter watches, chuckling beneath the mask. 

As you turn around you jump catching a quick glimpse of the red and blue once more. “Shit.” Peter swears under his breath as he leans against the side of the building, just away from your window. 

Stepping forward, you’re convinced you imagined it all. 

Hesitating at the window, Peter can feel his heartbeat in his ears. “You spyin’ on me, Spiderman?” You joke as Peter turns his head, still clung to the wall. 

“Just wanted to make sure you got home okay.” He tries to keep his confidence up, but his voice cracks through his sentence. 

Leaning against the window ledge, you can feel the breeze through your hair as you hum contently. “Well, as you can see I’m home and I’m okay.” You shrug your shoulders, glancing over at him wishing you could see the face beneath the mask. “And I’d love to stay and chat, but I’ve got a date tonight Spidey!” You call out, and Peter can feel his heart swell.

“A date, huh?” He responds, moving to perch in your window as his legs dangle into your apartment. “Who’s the lucky one?” 

You move over to the kitchen counter, taking your mug as you sip your drink. Peter can see the small pot of tea May gifted you a few weeks ago still in use. 

“No one you’d know.” You tell him with a smirk. “But he’s a good guy, so you don’t have to watch over me tonight.” 

Spiderman nods in response, before giving you a small salute. “You wearing those?” He motions to your tights laced with small holes and ladders. 

“What’s wrong with them?” You scoff playfully, raising an eyebrow as you look down at your legs. 

Despite wearing a mask, you can predict the expression underneath. “Nothin’” He answers too quickly, and you pull out a chair from your coffee table. 

Sitting down, you take another sip from your tea before lifting your eyes back up to Spiderman. “I don’t own any tights without holes in them. When I first got mugged my tights got laddered. My Mom didn’t like me to look scruffy or show any sign that something happened, so she bought me a new pair. But as it happened again, I realised that I couldn’t always just buy a new pair of tights.” You explain, drifting off deep in thought as you tilt your head. “Sorry, this probably makes no sense.” You laugh quietly, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

“No, no I follow.” Spiderman states as he rests his feet on the floor, leaning against the window frame rather than sitting. “You don’t wanna hide these things that have happened.” He comments and you unknowingly meet his eyes. For a moment, Peter feels like you’re talking to him, not just a man in a mask. 

“E,exactly.” You stumble over your response as you let out a small sigh of relief. “Like, if you got shot, you’d repair your suit. But you’d still have a scar underneath.” You rise to your feet, slowly walking closer toward him. “Just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen and you’ll always know it did.” 

“So you wear the tights as a reminder?” He questions and you look away from him. 

��Partially, but also as a reminder I’m stronger and no matter how many falls I have or dicks come my way, I still make it out.” You tell him, flashing a weak smile. 

“Well,” Spiderman rises from the window and rests his hand on your shoulder. “I think you’re pretty strong.” He tells you, wishing you could see Peter telling you this as you look away as your cheeks heat up. “And whoever you’re seeing tonight is a lucky guy.” 

“Thanks, Spidey.” You weirdly feel like you know him, and it’s a feeling you’re struggling to shake. “Peter’s a great guy, I just, I don’t know how to tell him.” You admit and feel his hand weaken from your shoulder as it falls to his side. 

Backing away, Spiderman sits in the window, looking back one last time. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out, and he’d be stupid not to like you back.” 

Before you can say anything else, he shoots and web and disappears out of sight into the city. You lean against the window before pulling it back down, shutting out any negative thoughts as you turn back around to get ready for your date. 

*

“So you’re telling me, you hang out with her as Spiderman and as Peter?” Ned questions with wide eyes as Peter buries his face into a pillow, nodding. “Wow, I didn’t think you could make it more complicated but you did.” Ned laughs to himself as Peter lifts his head up, giving Ned a look of desperation.

“What do I do? She told Spiderman that she likes me, but I can’t exactly tell her that I know because she’ll find out I’m him.” Peter tries to explain but can feel his own brain turning to mush at the explanation. 

Ned swivels in his chair as he remains in deep thought. “Would it be so bad if she knew you were Spiderman?” Ned suggests and Peter nods defensively. “What’s so bad about it? She likes Spiderman, and you’re him!” 

Peter sighs as he sits upright, hugging the pillow close to his chest. “Because she confides in Spiderman in a way she doesn’t with me. I can’t explain it, but she has this emotional connection with him.” 

“Dude, you’re talking about yourself you know.” Ned deadpans and Peter groans loudly, covering his face with the pillow as he falls back down on the bed. 

“I’m aware, Ned.” Peter replies nonchalantly. “I like her, and I don’t wanna screw it up.” He states, picturing you earlier today as you opened up in your kitchen, talking so candidly about the things that have happened in your past. 

“Then just see what happens tonight. If you wanna bring it up or if it feels right, do it. Just, just see okay?” Ned watches as Peter sits upright as he picks up his phone along with his mask. 

“You’re right.” Peter admits with a huff. “I gotta get ready. Good talk.” He tells his best friend as he slips his mask back on before exiting through the window, knowing he was cutting time short. 

As Peter reaches his apartment, he rushes around to get ready in time. He knew he was cutting it fine, but there was enough time for him to make an effort- just. 

Fiddling with his jacket, a series of knocks on his front door catches his attention. “Comin’” He yells as he stumbles over his sneakers on his rug before making his way to the front door and opening it before catching his breath.

“Hey, Pete.” You say with a smile, seeing him huffing. “You just ran a marathon or something?” You tease as you step inside the apartment, spotting the collection of newspaper clippings having grown, including a photo of you and Spiderman. “Oh my god, it was in the paper?” 

Peter follows your eyes as you walk over, pointing to the photo where you’re laughing with Spiderman. “Yeah, crazy.” He nervously chuckles, seeing how your eyes are lighting up at the sight of it. “I’ll just finish getting ready.” Peter mutters as he walks into his room, leaving you alone as you look through the photos. 

“Wait, Peter?” You call out as you follow him into his room, leaning against the door frame as he looks like a deer caught in headlights. “Can, can I ask you something, I, I can’t really wait to ask til dinner.” You nervously question, looking around at the posters in his room. 

Falling back onto his bed, Peter watches as you pace around on his rug, avoiding his sneakers. “Are you okay? If you’re not feeling good we don’t have to go for dinner.” Peter suggests, but you shake your head.

“No no, I feel fine, it’s nothing like that.” You quickly reassure him. “I just, I really like you Peter.” You blurt it out, letting it settle as you shut your eyes tightly. 

His mouth drops open as his eyes widen whilst yours remain closed. 

“Oh god have you walked out of the room?” You slowly open your eyes, seeing him still sat before you in silence. “And I’m sorry if that’s made our friendship awkward, but I had to tell you.” You say with a small laugh as you fiddle with your purse. 

Rising to his feet, Peter reaches out as he takes a hold of your hand in his softly. “I’m glad you did,” He mutters, lifting his eyes up to focus on yours as he notices the corners of your lips rise into a smile. “and if it helps, I like to you too.” He awkwardly adds and you lean into him, wrapping your arms around his torso. 

“Thank god for that.” You chuckle into his chest, resting your head into the crook of his neck as his hands are around you, holding you tightly. “Oh, there was one other thing too.” You pull out from his embrace as your hands slide down his arms into his hands, intertwining your fingers with his. “I know you’re Spiderman.” You state and his eyes widen.

“I, I, what?” He stutters, feeling his entire body heating up as you start to laugh. “No, I, I’m not.” He tells you, shaking his head whilst you nod. 

“Yeah, yeah you are, Pete.” You repeat yourself, but Peter scoffs. 

“That’s crazy, how could I be Spiderman?” He asks dumbfounded, but you take your hands from his and turn around to face his wardrobe. “Wait don’t-” He starts, but he’s too late.

You reach up and pull out his suit, taking it in your hands before turning back to face him. “You keep this as fancy dress, huh?” You raise an eyebrow, knowing you’ve bested him. 

“How, how?” Peter stumbles, sitting back on his bed before you sit beside him. 

“I mean, it wasn’t that difficult to figure out.” You pat his knee. “The more time I spent with Spiderman, the more similarities I found with you. Like, he just sounded and acted like you.” You explain as you rest your head on his shoulder. “I wasn’t convinced, until I mentioned I liked you, as in you, Peter.” You chuckle. “Something seemed different, and I noticed that Peter Parker nervous energy in Spiderman. But this,” You motion to his suit beside you. “this proves my point.” You say with a bright smile, whilst Peter shakes his head in disbelief.

“So when you were talkin’ about all that stuff,” He trails off as you nod.

“I knew it was you.” You confirm his suspicions as you glance up at him, your nose brushing against his. “I wouldn’t have said anything if I wasn’t sure, but I, I just knew it was you, Pete.” You whisper as his lips brush against yours. 

“Thank you, Y/n.” He mutters before kissing you. 

Your hands reach into his hair as he pulls you onto his lap, allowing his hands to support your waist as you straddle him. Peter deepens the kiss, listening to a small moan escape your lips. 

The sound of a loud knock breaks you apart as you’re both breathing heavily. “You expectin’ anyone?” You question and Peter shakes his head. 

“Stay here.” He mutters to you as he slowly walks out from his room and toward the front door. 

Slowly, Peter opens the front door and lets out a sigh of relief. “Oh, hey Mr Stark.” His cheeks heat up as he tugs on his shirt, straightening it up as Tony looks him up and down. 

“Hey kid, sorry to disturb you. I just wondered if, oh,” Tony trails off as you walk out from Peter’s room, tugging on your dress as you shyly wave. “you’ve got company.” He raises an eyebrow as Peter looks back over to you. 

“Hi, I’m Y/n.” You introduce yourself, holding your hand out as Tony shakes it. 

“You’re Y/n?” Tony answers, looking over to Peter with a smile. “You’ve done well, kid.” Tony chuckles, patting Peter on the shoulder. “I’ll talk to you Monday, you two enjoy your weekend.” He points to you both before exiting the apartment, leaving you both in a weird silence before you laugh. 

“You told Tony Stark about me?” You walk over to Peter, wrapping your arms around his neck. 

Peter rests his arms around your waist, pulling you closer. “I mean, I talk about you a lot. But not in a weird way, just like,” 

Cutting Peter off you kiss him. “I don’t mind, Pete.” You tell him. “I think it’s cute. Now come on,” You tug his hand as you pick up your purse. “can’t miss our dinner reservation Spidey.” You wink as you walk out from his door as he follows behind you, excited to see where the night will lead you both. 

t a g l i s t (thank you for the support!) link in my bio to add yourself☺️

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[popculturebuffet]

Jingle Belle: A Very Special Jingle Belle Special or A goofy holiday comic and a long tired rant about the animation industry

Ho ho ho and merry Christmas as we reach the final stretch of Christmas reviews and it’s all Christmas all the time for the rest of the week for obvious reasons. So we’re starting off by wrapping up Jingle Belle for the season with one more comission. While it’s from my usual client, It’s via patreon as for 5 bucks a month you can get a review a month of your choice. But since that hasn’t taken hold just yet, and won’t till next month, he asked to swap it for this month and here we are.  Not much to cover though this is the very comic where Jing hopped publishers from Oni Press to Dark Horse. The whys I genuinely do not know and at the time, I just know it’s weird to talk about Dark Horse these days. Their not dead nor entirely irrelvant, Resident Alien, which I really want to check out as it has a really engaging premise, is getting a tv show that I also want to check out as while i’m not sure if it’ll be good, it’s still Alan Tudyk playing an alien who can barely pass for human and it hilariously shows. Whenever that streams i’m not missing a second of that and we all know it. And Umbrella Academy, started during bigger days for the company, is one of netflix’s hottest shows and one of many shows on my to do list I haven’t gotten to because I procastinate like no one else and as taking an entire month to get to the newest loud house shows to the point another one popped up, it bites me in the ass a lot. Point is their not GONE in relevance.. but at the same time they’ve lost the huge tide of liscences they road in on. Except for the Joss Whedon stuff, Marvel’s pretty much taken EVERYTHING from them via various deals: Star Wars, Conan and now Alien. Their still standing and makes good art books and clearly given Resident Alien good content, they’ve lasted this long their not going anywhere, it’s just really weird to think about. I will however give them huge credit for giving out tons of comics in early quarantine, and being easily the most generous company next to marvel. I.e. one of the few that actually gave out full collections. 

But yeah at the time this was probably a safe move as Dark Horse had a love of one shots and likely a larger budget. Hence why from here on out the stories are in living color, and have a slightly diffrent art style to boot. Granted the character would shift artists but now it’s got a clear more cartoony art style I like a lot better courtsey of Jose Garabaldi. So yeah with christmas on our heels, let’s ring a ding jing, it’s A Very Special Jingle Belle Special. 

We won’t be covering the backup for this one though it is quite good, it’s just not what kev asked or paid for. 

We open on a parade!

While batman foils the joker’s poisioning scheme, Santa rides on a float proudly and   Jing is hanging out on the back grumpy. It’s a great introduction for new readers showing Santa being big and jolly and what you expect while Jing grumps in the back with a “Sheesh, Daddy”. That’s how you establish a character well in only a few panels. IT’s really great is what i’m saying. Some teens pop up but don’t belivie her about being Santa’s daughter and when going to a christmas shop to try and find figures of her, the owner claims he dosen’t.. and well violence insues. You’ve met jing right?  Anyways Jing is understandably a wee bit absolutely livid the world dosen’t know about her. Her parents sure but her? Nope. And it’s easy to see why: She’s the daughter of the world’s most famous man.. but despite all the holiday lore and junk she’s just the part he likes to hide from people.. or that’s how it feels. While he ducks it, she even gives him a nice save fatty it’s clear that even if she brought it up to rile him a bit.. she does feel on some level like he likes to tuck her away and hide her because he’s ashamed and because she’s not perfect. Granted she does act out and stuff, but she’s still his kid and i’ts still gotta sting. Though she has the perfect idea to fix this: A christmas special. Santa suggests just doing good deeds but Jing is right: her idea is better. Mostly because, as cyncial as this is.. more people are going to pay attention to a good holiday special than a celebrity’s kid doing charity and for far longer. A good christmas special just sticks in the brain and sticks with you forever. It’s why Santa Claus is Coming to Town and A Charlie Brown Christmas have lasted decades or why my list of best chirstmas specials is pretty weighty. They just stick with you so while this can’t possibly end well.. her plan is actually a really good one this time. 

So Jing takes her friends off the line to help her animate it, stop motion styles and they remind her of her LAST christmas special. 

I mean I’m a sucker for any refrence to Star Wars Holiday Special. You’d think after several decades of jokes at it’s expense, with tons of youtubers, many of whom are dead to me but that’s besides the point, tackling the thing without it getting stale, that we’d eventually grow tired of mocking it but .. no. It’s a bottomless well of what they were thinking. The only question left is why isn’t it on Disney Plus.. I mean.. you made a second one as an affectionate parody and in lego. Kids are going to know about this now. Just put the thing up. Even edited down or just some clips. You put Rise of Skywalker up there, you’ve proven your threshold for shame when it comes to this franchise is vast. Just person up and do it.  But Jing’s learned her lesson.. stop motion only and to follow the bouncing formula to sucess. So in the special which sadly isn’t all stop motion and is just drawn to resemble the specials, probably for the best but still, Jing and her animal pals are sneaking into a town where christmas was banned! Meeting the chirstmas legion of doom.. well okay that’s what i’m calling them. Burgermeister Budweiser! Bungle the Abominable Snow Monster! Frost Master and Heat BLister! The Frost Fakir.. wait the what?

........

I mean where do I even begin? I know this was during the war on terror, I know that.. but still I expect better from Paul Dini for a crosses the line twice joke than “hey let’s just make bin laden into an ice wizard!”. I mean South Park made fun of him too, but they went all out with a looney tunes homage. Put effort in. And even years after he died the lonely island did this beautiful thing in the film pop star: never stop stoppin, which you should watch seriously watch it it’s underated. 

Point is you can do better and if you don’t have room to do better then just.. don’t. You could’ve put in a t-rex in a top hat and monocle.  That would’ve genuinely been better... because it’s better than everything ever btu that’s besides the point. There’s also one last addition to the rogue’s gallery thank god. 

He hates her too. Now that gag is actually reallyf ucking funny. What’s also funny is how she solves things. By singing a nice and frinedly song about friendship to reform the villians.. or rather lure them over a bridge to get eaten by her orca friend. 

So Jing after showing it to her dad heads to market it with him trying to warn her netoworks haven’t aired this kind of thing in years. But she faces the greatest threat to all of television: network executives, who keep offering advices and basically change the thing all together for stupid reasons and think cartoons should only be for kids despite it wokring in the past. Aka the hells animators STILL go through. I think Paul was projecting just a wee bit with this one. Given again IT HASN’T CHANGED since then, I can’t blame him. Seriously Harvey Beaks was canceled, among MANY ohter nick shows including rise of the tmnt just because it wasn’t an instant hit, Cartoon Network and warner keep trying to make dumbed down remakes of great shows, and Disney, among other networks, is fairly homophobic and while finally allowing some gay on the network this year had to be fought and outright refused it on ducktales for no adquate reason, caring more about monney and the bible belt than doing the right thing. So yeah as you can tell this bit got to me a bit and was hard to read because it. hasn’t. changed. 16 years and not a lot has changed other than more women are getting a chance. And granted the “kids are our only audiencce argument” isn’t as strong and several shows are powered by other demographics it’s still an issue and still the reason several good shows have gotten the boot and why the jeph loeb era of marvel animation was terrible. Because guys like him thought it should JUST be for kids and the lowest common demoninator of htem. You can be clever and be for kids dammit. 

I apologize slightly for that it’s just something that’s been on my mind as shows dwindle and with ducktales gone the standard forbearaers for children’s animation are all pretty fresh faced. It’s just a lot to take in and i’ts been on my mind a lot. 

Back to the actual story the result is a pretty purtrid cutesy special.. Jing reacts how you’d expect, destroying the tapes covertly with a herd of musk ox and destroying the tape. But they find the 70′s special and we end on that which is pretty funny. The only thing I really don’t like here is the ending. The rest of this special is really good: it’s clever , has some good satire and some really funny jokes especially that hook one. The ending just feels a bit weak.. like yes Jing wanted to be noticed but it’s not really an unsympathetic motive and while she does some shady stuff the villians still basically win by airing her terrible holiday special all over again. It’s just not satisfying.  But yeah overall another pretty decent holiday comic with some good jokes. I”ll probably see Jing again next year, and it was fun getting to dip into these comics. THeir not my faviorites, but their still pretty decent and if the complete collection ends up on sale on comixology or you see it in a bookstore and you think it’d be up your ally i’d buy it. Again not my faviorite thing ever, but still enjoyable enough. Coming up this week of holiday cheer: ducks, more ducks, superheroes, and a best of list. 

Until next time: Courage. 

[fraink5-writes]

From Darkness Into the Lantern Light - Chapter 6

We’ve reached the halfway point, and things can only get more exciting from here! Stay tuned!

Big thanks to @leio13 for editing!

Summary: Once upon a time, there was a cold-hearted queen. Although the Tsaritsa, as she was called, possessed her own divinity, she coveted the powers of the other Archons. Aiming to steal the Geo Archon’s gnosis, she sent her strongest warriors to Liyue Harbor. But just when Rex Lapis was almost defeated, he escaped to another vessel, that of a powerless baby, and was swept away to a hidden tower for his protection.

Many years after the great fight, the young and ambitious Harbinger, Childe, arrives in Liyue to grant the Tsaritsa’s desire, but, on his search for the Geo Archon’s gnosis, he ends up tangled in a mysterious man’s dreams to see Liyue Harbor’s Lantern Rite.

This chapter can also be found on Ao3 here. Without further ado, please enjoy!

When Childe opened his eyes, the sun was shyly peeking through the wooden planks. Judging by the golden hues of light puddling on the ground, the sun must have risen just shortly before. Although he prided himself with being able to sleep almost anywhere, Childe was still surprised by how rested he felt after sleeping on solid dirt. He brushed the dirt off his clothes and quickly ran his comb through his hair. It was still early, so there was no reason to wake up… Zhongli...

Zhongli was missing. In the dirt next to Childe, there was a light, human-sized indent where Zhongli must have slept, but he was gone.

Childe darted out of the building. At the base of the stone steps, there was a human figure. “Zhong—” No, it was one of the men from the crew. Drake, if Childe remembered correctly. “Hey, have you seen Zhongli?”

“Zhongli? Oh yeah, he left not long ago. Said he was going down to the water.”

“The water?”

“Yeah, see that roof over there by the cliff? If you follow this path in the direction of that building then continue going down hill, you should run into a little pond and your friend, probably.”

“Thanks,” Childe replied hastily.

“If you guys need anything before leaving the area, let us know.”

“Yeah. Thanks.” Childe took off. He wasn’t sure why he was so worried. The Crux Fleet had taken care of any monsters in the area. Besides, Zhongli was strong enough to fend for himself. The scariest part was Zhongli leaving.

Childe slowed when he reached the pond in question. Underneath the tiered expanse of rock, the crystalline water glistened. Its teal waves guarded a treasure-trove of old mining equipment. On the shore, with the sunlight illuminating his bare back, strumming his hands through his long hair with a comb, Zhongli sat.

Childe recalled the stories from his youth: the seductive mermaid on the rocks by the sea. Any adventurer, lucky or unlucky, would be lured in by her ethereal beauty as she combs her hair.

Childe, eyes fixated on Zhongli, inched silently down the remaining path. His breath and heartbeat had nearly vanished, lest they disturb the scene.

Distracted by the picture in his mind, Childe tripped over a rock right by the water’s edge. He scrambled to right himself and Zhongli’s shirt, coat and tie which he had apparently knocked over.

“Oh—good morning.” Zhongli stopped mid-brush and looked up at Childe.

“You’re up early.” Childe tried to direct the focus away from his awkward arrival. “Did you sleep well?”

“I would have preferred my bed, but it was fine. I didn’t want to keep you waiting, so I woke up early and came down here.”

“You’re washing your hair?”

“Yes. Unfortunately, it takes a long time.” Zhongli patted his hair down. “If you want to leave soon, don’t let me keep you. We can go.”

“No, it’s fine. Do you want my help?” Childe hadn't brushed another person's hair in a long time, yet he blurted that out like an old habit. Of course Zhongli, who was especially paranoid about his hair, would turn down his offer. 

"I wouldn't mind, but how could you help?"

Childe’s embarrassment transformed into a smirk. “I wouldn’t be much of an adventurer without one of these.” He plucked his comb from his pocket and twirled it in his fingers. 

“Alright, then if you wouldn’t mind helping. The ends are more difficult, so start on the other end.”

“You got it.” Childe sat behind Zhongli then scooted up close. He grabbed a few strands of hair from the side of Zhongli’s face and tucked them behind his ears. Even after the previous night’s dirt bed, his hair was remarkably silky. “Do you brush all this hair by yourself every day?”

“Usually, yes. However, sometimes my mother helps.”

“Your mother?”

“Mmm.”

Childe took Zhongli’s answer for what it was: an end of the discussion. For whatever reason, the topic of Zhongli’s mother was off-limits, so Childe wouldn’t ask any further. 

Running his comb through Zhongli's long hair, Childe was warm with nostalgia and intimacy. In the silence, there were no secrets and no lies, just the two of them. He could feel each gentle nod of Zhongli’s head under the light movement of his fingers. With each breath, Zhongli's shoulder blades rose and fell steadily, and the tension in Childe's body ebbed to a similar, peaceful rhythm.

While mindlessly combing, Childe's gaze drifted from his own work to Zhongli's brush. How effortlessly it glided through his hair, like a breeze over a field of flowers; it was impossible to imagine that it was the same hair that had been slept on, dragged through the mud and yanked by a hilichurl. 

On his cushion of sand, Zhongli looked right at home, like a boulder, embraced by wind and kissed by the waves. The sun's rays caressed his golden skin. How could it be that such a man, beloved by nature, spent his entire life in a tiny tower?

Eventually, Zhongli's fast-working hands caught up to Childe's amongst the hair. He smoothed his hair over before tying it up at the base of his head. Then he clipped it in place with an orange diamond. After running his fingers through his bangs a few extra times, Zhongli turned around, staring Childe straight in the eyes. "I don't have a mirror—does it look all right?"

Being so close to Zhongli, Childe's brain was scrambled as his eyes darted all over. But at least, the answer was obvious. "Yeah, you look great."

Zhongli's lips unfurled into a small smile. "Thank you for your help."

"No problem—" Childe cleared his throat. "We should get going soon, but first we can grab something to eat from the tavern."

Zhongli nodded.

Childe glanced in a panic at the water as Zhongli buttoned up his shirt and coat.

"I'm ready. Shall we go?" Zhongli's voice signalled Childe away from his pond.

"You first." Childe scooped up Zhongli's hair. "We wouldn't want this getting dirty again, would we?"

***

A pool of morning light cast upon the wooden table where Zhongli sat, creating the illusion of peace in the rowdy tavern. Childe, resting his chin on his hands, wore a calm smile. Zhongli embraced the superficial serenity as he sipped his tea.

“Here you go, boys: Captain Beidou’s specialty!” Yinxing placed two large plates on the table. Each dish was stacked with stir-fried beef and vegetables. 

Zhongli thanked the acting waitress, who left for a different table.

“Let’s dig in!” Childe chimed.

From the savory morsels of beef to the neatly cut onion wheel and pepper anchor, the dish seemed more appropriate for a restaurant than a fleet’s seasonal tavern gig. Although he wanted to savor each bite, Zhongli had already cleared half of his plate before he knew it. On the contrary, despite his eager attitude, Childe had hardly made a dent in his food. He hesitantly brought the food to his lips, and every other bite would fall sadly back on his plate. 

“Is something wrong?” Zhongli asked.

“Nothing. It’s delicious.”

Zhongli, while slowly resuming to eat, continued to watch Childe, searching for the problem. If the food wasn't to Childe's taste, he wouldn't necessarily tell Zhongli—in fact, he probably wouldn't—yet Zhongli did not believe taste to be the cause.

"Your grip is wrong," Zhongli finally declared, staring at Childe's right hand. His chopsticks were twisted as he reached for his next bite.

"Aha, you got me." Childe laughed. "I can't use chopsticks."

Zhongli gently placed his chopsticks on the table. “I can show you,” he offered. He then picked up one chopstick at a time, raising his hand up for Childe to view. “Hold it like this.”

Childe’s eyebrows furrowed as he stared at Zhongli’s hand. With clumsy movements, he attempted to imitate Zhongli’s grip, but he couldn’t hold the chopsticks’ position, and they kept crossing.

“No, like this… move your index finger… No, the other way…” Zhongli continued offering advice, but each ended with the same failure.

“This is impossible.” Childe sighed and placed his chopsticks on the table in defeat.

Zhongli rose from his chair. “Don’t give up so eas—”

The tavern door slammed open. It was Xu Liushi. “We’ve got trouble.”

“Hilichurls?” Huixing called from another table.

“Millelith.”

With that, every eye in the tavern turned towards Childe. Calmly as ever, he stood up. “We should get going.”

“Now?!” Xu Liushi shook his head. “You’d better start hiding.”

“We can take a few milleliths.” Childe’s hands were fingering at his sheathed blades.

“And create problems for the Captain’s fleet?” Furong protested. “No way!”

“We should listen to them.” Zhongli joined the effort to persuade Childe.

“Over here!” A small voice called from behind a counter. “Hide over here!”

Hearing the thumps of milleliths’ boots, Zhongli and Childe ducked behind the counter, where they found little Yue. Tucked into the tiny space under the counter, Zhongli desperately grabbed his hair and pulled it close to his chest, which thumped violently. Next to him, brushing shoulders, Childe’s hands remained by his sheathes, but his breathing was calm. Although Yue also wore a stern face, his legs trembled. To Zhongli's surprise, Childe let go of his weapons. He gently took Yue's hands. As the tension dissipated from Yue's body, he inched closer. Childe, with a grin, patted his head and ruffled his hair. which was met with the beginning of a giggle. “Shh..” Captain Beidou crawled behind the counter. “Hopefully they’re fast. I don’t want to deal with them.”

Finally, the door thudded.

“Hi, welcome to our tavern!” Yinxing sang out. “Would you like something to eat?”

“We’re not interested in eating,” a stern voice replied. “We’re looking for someone.”

“Why surely you must mean the Captain!”

“No, this man. A criminal.”

“Sorry. I don’t recognize him.”

“It doesn’t matter. We intend to search the premises.”

“Oh, but please, let us treat you to our hospitality first. You must be tired and hungry.”

“No thank you.”

As the footsteps spread across the tavern, a chorus of voices also sprung out.

“You call yourselves soldiers? Where’d you get these old, dinky things? Let me at least fix you up with some real weapons first.”

“You look very ill. On your back, so I can examine you.”

“Wanna wrestle? No one has beaten me yet.”

“That beer will cost 15,000 mora.”

“After four days of perilous fighting, Captain Beidou stood at the helm of the Alcor, ready to face the monster—”

“What’s going on here?” The original man’s voice shouted. “Where is your Captain?! Let me speak to her!”

Beidou sighed. “Yue, lead them to the path to Yaoguang Shoal. The Alcor is parked there,” She whispered before grabbing a mug of beer and standing up. “You’re looking for me?” She paced slowly away from the counter, gulping down the beer as she went. “I was just getting more beer from the back. Ahhh… how refreshing!”

“We are the Millelith on behalf of the Qixing. We are here in search of a criminal.”

“And I am Captain Beidou of the Crux Fleet. Surely, you wouldn’t be suggesting that the Crux is a band of criminals?”

“Not at all, Captain. However, we have reason to believe that a criminal is at large in this town, and we’re seeking your assistance in hunting him down.”

“What’s in it for my men?”

“Well, uh..”

“Not interested.”

“This isn’t a matter of debate. The Liyue Qixing demands that you help with our search.”

“If the Qixing cares so much, they can send the Tianquan down here herself, and then we’ll see.”

“How dare you! If that’s how you want to play, then the Tianquan will definitely hear of this, and next time you’ll be explaining yourself to her at Liyue Harbor!”

“Great! Then, it’s a date!”

“Men, this is public property. Search every last corner!”

By the time the thumping of boots resumed, Zhongli, Childe and Yue had already snuck into a backroom and were standing before a secret tunnel entrance.

“This is where you must go,” Yue whispered.

“Thank you.” Zhongli bowed slightly.

“Be careful and don’t forget the Cygnus Fleet.”

“You’ll be a great captain someday.” Childe lightly tousled Yue’s hair with a fleeting soft smile before he grabbed Zhongli’s arm and ran into the tunnel.

[evergreen-dryad]

day 6 - reverse au

As I Thought, My High School Life with A Ghost Is Wrong (2040 words)

Our Very Shounen MC is Yashiro Nezu, grey hair with green tips, and bright red eyes. And don’t forget the little ahoge! It sprouted from his head like a little spring onion.

“It’s the start of a new term, I should join a club...” He scratched his head, ducking his chin as a gaggle of girls passed him by. “Where can I go to be popular?” He murmured under his breath, ticking off his fingers. “The anime club didn’t work out, neither did the supernatural club sadly...”

He sighed morosely, deflating as he filed into his classroom. Taking his seat second from the back by the window, he gazed outside. Nothing really happens in this school.

His longtime friend from middle school Aoi tapped him on the back at break. “What’s got you so eaten up?” He smiled, indigo hair artfully tousled.

Nezu stared at him. Abruptly, he kowtowed. “Please teach me your riajuu ways, O Crown Prince of the Popularity Rankings.”

The top spot, of course, naturally belonged to the Queen, with golden hair and blue eyes and charming smile, Minamoto Teruko. Whom he only dared admire from afar.

“Eh, this again, Nezu?” Aoi chuckled, leaning on his cheek as he pulled up a chair. “Have you found a club, first of all?”

“Not really.” He wasn’t particularly interested in any of the sports offered, but that was the logical path to popularity, really.

Aoi, darling prince of the school, was in the Gardening Club, and all the girls adored him for it, cooing over him from afar as he clipped and pruned roses. He could make it work, Nezu not so much. Beside the vegetable patches girls had giggled at him for looking like a radish sprouting from the earth. A radish! He covered his face just thinking about it now, terrifically embarrassed.

Aoi patted his shoulder consolingly. “Now, now. You’ll get there. But you should keep coming to the Gardening Club with me, Nezu. It was fun, wasn't it?"

"Yeah... it wasn't half bad."

"Mm, and you look very focused when you dig, Nezu. It's a good look on you."

"Really...?" Nezu felt his spirits perk up.

"Really! I'm sure you can continue to cultivate your 'manly charms' if you keep working out," Aoi said, mimicking him whining about his lack of muscles last time.

"Stooop." Nezu wrinkled his nose. "Some charming farmer I am."

Aoi laughed. "Alright, let me tell you about this cool new rumour that’s been floating around...”

“The girls’ toilets, are you for real.” Nezu said flatly after he had finished the tale.

Aoi raised an eyebrow enquiringly.

"That means only girls can go in to wish then," he groaned, slumping onto his elbows.

"Hmm, but it's the old building though, not many classes are held there. So you can just sneak in," Aoi suggested cheerily.

Nezu mock gasped. "Aoi-kun! I didn't expect you of all people to have this side to you!" He clapped out a hand to tousle his friend's head. "What would the girls say if they heard their Prince was like this..." He ruffled his head mercilessly.

"Nezu, please!" Aoi chortled, trying to wriggle free from his grasp. "Mercy, SOS!"

~

So he had said, but he was curious enough to actually consider trying. Walking casually down the corridor, he looked left and right. Coast was clear. Yashiro Nezu burst into the girls’ bathrooms, grey-green locks flapping about his ears.

“Phew, mission accomplished.” He passed a hand over his brow, huffing a breath.

He knocked and said the words. Even if it was nothing, it’d just be a laugh with him and Aoi later. Sneaking into the girls’ toilets for a wish, really...

And so here he was in this situation. He had let out a particularly girly scream he was not proud of, and Hanako-san was laughing at him. The Hanako-san was holding her stomach, laughing. Two white wisps bobbed alongside her.

It's a loli, thought Nezu with some fear, a loli ghost in a red mini-skirt-!

"Oya~ you're thinking pervy thoughts, aren't you?" The little girl snickered at him, stepping on his toes.

"Ow- wait, it doesn't hurt?"

"Just joking." She winked at him. "Now let's hear it, what's your wish?"

He stared at her.

She wriggled, affecting a sigh. "Ooh, don't stare so much, your eyes are burning through me~"

Nezu jerked away, extremely embarrassed. He heard her snigger. "No, I was just surprised you actually - offer wishes.” He peeked at her from a corner of his eye.

“I do! The rumours you’ve heard about me are all true!” Her choppy black bangs hung over her face as she floated over to sit on a toilet tank. “Of course, all wishes come with a price as well.” Her golden eyes glinted like coins. “Did you come here with a wish?” The corners of her lips curved in a smile.

Nezu swallowed. “I want to be popular,” he admitted quietly. “I want girls to like me and stop rejecting me for my height.”

Hanako-san nodded encouragingly, floating over with a notebook in hand. “And your name?”

“Yashiro Nezu. Does that notebook help you grant wishes like Death Note...?”

“My, my. You’re an imaginative one.”

~

How did this happen? Nezu despaired internally. It appeared he was now in a stand-off with a middle-school student, taller than him. And this blonde, blue-eyed guy had him pinned to a wall with a golden trident at his throat.

This was not how I wanted my first kabedon to be like, he thought wryly.

“Hey, listen to me! You know where Hanako is, don’t you?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, please let me go, kouhai.” I haven’t got my wish granted yet, I can’t tell him.

Besides, it didn’t seem fair to tell a towering guy with a weapon where a little girl is, even if she’s a ghost and has magic powers...?

“Liar, I saw you conspiring with her yesterday!”

Yesterday...? Yesterday he had been trying out all of Hanako-san’s suggestions, which had included smiling at and offering to help the Student Council President and Popularity Queen Minamoto Teruko carry some of her paperwork...

(Hanako-san had initially suggested bumping into her at a corner and then helping her pick up her things. Nezu didn’t have the guts for that, he knew his bishounen stats would not Pass.)

Oh, the boy beside her then.

“...you must have mistaken me for someone else.” He tried to deny.

The boy eyed him. “No one else has hair like you, senpai.”

Shit. Well then. “I’m sorry, I can’t tell you. Let me go.” He pushed at the arm.

“H-hey! Wait a sec-”

He walked away, shrugging off the boy’s hand. All that gardening work came in useful for this moment, huh.

“Wait, senpai!” The boy trotted beside him. “Let me explain. It’s my duty as a Minamoto to exorcise her!” Yadda yadda, backstory. He’d heard about Minamoto no Yorimitsu before. Was this guy still in his chuunibyo phase? “-barely managed to seal Hanako-san,” he tuned in right there, “she’s a dangerous spirit! You’ve seen her use her knife, right?”

“No...?” he said slowly, turning to look at Minamoto.

“She’s a murderer, she definitely used it in her lifetime-”

“Oh? Who’s been gossiping about lil ol’ me?” Hanako-san sat atop his shoulders, elbows on his head. Both boys froze.

Do not, Nezu thought with a chill, think about what’s behind me right now.

~

“Don’t you have something that’ll make me grow taller,” he griped, sneaking into the toilets yet once again.

“Drink milk,” she said sweetly, swinging her stockinged leg from where she was sitting on the window ledge. She was playing Hanafuda by herself as usual. Cards floated on their own accord.

“Or something that’ll give me that mystical bishounen aura with sparkles?”

She squinted up at him briefly. “I heard there’s this thing called plastic surgery.”

He gritted his teeth. “Stop messing around with me. You grant wishes, don’t you? But you haven’t pulled out anything other than that tatty manual!”

She looked at him, cards fanned out in her hand.“The more power the method takes, the higher the price.”

“If you don’t even tell me what the price is, how can I pay it?” He stared back, as he walked right up to her.

The air was tense as they stared each other down. She lowered her eyes in thought.

“You’re willing to pay anything?” Her eyes smouldered against the backdrop of the stained window.

He gulped. “Yes.”

~

Nezu stared at the silvery discs on his palm, glinting softly opalescent whenever he moved them. Unworldly, they were definitely magical items. Finally, the real deal.

But he could get any girl he chose to return his feelings with this...? Anyone? Was there a girl he really liked?

There was Minamoto Teruko, with the highest social capital.

She smiled at him when she made eye contact with him in the hallway. He smiled awkwardly back.

If he dated her, he’d definitely be popular. Not just a short guy with a baby face and radish hair.

He watched her move away, hand twitching to call out to her.

This... isn’t right.

~

“So you didn’t use them after all,” Hanako-san marvelled, seemingly amused.

“No... it felt like a date rape drug.” He scratched his head, sheepish. “I would have been just using her, whoever it was just because,” he ducked his head, “I want to be liked.”

“Hmm...” Hanako-san was in his face, amber eyes wide and affectionate, “You’ve actually got spine after all, I like you.”

“Eh?!” He leaned away from her, face reddening despite himself. “N-not like that!”

“Really?” She tilted her head, a teasing smile crawling across her face. “Who came in here begging to be a popular bishie with the ladies~” She singsonged.

“I-”

“Multiple times too~”

He deflated, defeated. He mumbled a vague assent.

“Though, I can still grant your wish, in a way.” She flipped one of the mermaid scales into the air, watching it spin.

“How do you mean?”

“Your wish for popularity stems from wanting to be liked. In conclusion, you want someone to like you back, or someone to like you more than you like yourself.” The scale landed on her open palm. She took it up in her fingers, pointing at him. “Am I right?”

“...you didn’t need to expose me like that,” Nezu said stiffly. “And?”

She looked into his eyes directly, a smile rising. “I like you. Ah-ha, not romantically of course, I’m a decades old ghost,” she laughed, flapping a hand at him. “And for the price...” she rose up on her tiptoes to whisper into his ear, “I need you,” he gulped, not breathing, “as a human assistant.”

“What?” He croaked.

She giggled, her breath tickling his skin. “You heard me right.” Her hand on his arm. “I need help in some things, so this arrangement should work out fine, right?”

“Wait, what things-” His head was reeling.

“Labour, of course,” She tilted her head innocently. “Oh wow, you perv~” She flapped at his back, exhaling laughter.

He tallied some things in his head. “So I work for you, and you just like me back? That’s it?”

“I gave you some good advice, didn’t I? You’ve been making progress in your social interactions.” It was true. He had been talking to people more, more people greeted him in the corridors now.

“What did I tell you? I dispense good advise, don’t I?” She kicked him lightly in the shin. “I can still continue to be your wise advisor if you choose to be my assistant,” she said, smugly.

“I see...”

“What do you say?” She stuck out a hand.

“...Okay.” Why not, he told himself, shaking her small hand. How bad can it be?

“Okay! For your first task~ open up.” She prodded the mermaid scale between his lips.

“Mm-!” He turned away. “Why? Didn’t you just tell me it’s cursed?!”

“It’s to sign the contract.” She smiled widely. “This bonds us in such a way I can find you, no matter what happens to you. Humans are so fragile after all.” She sighed.

Is this because you’re truly concerned for me or you’re afraid to lose a worker, he did not say. He sighed through his nose, and swallowed the scale.

Hanako-san smiled at him gently, and ate hers too.

He felt nothing. He thought that was it.

It was not until he got back home, when he got under the showerhead, that he regretted everything.

“Damn you, Hanako...!” Nezufish blubbed, flopping on the bathroom tiles.

//I’m unsure if the bond between supernatural and kannagi can just be their word or they all need some sort of binding item. Though I suppose it’s needed so Yashiro is partly supernatural so she can see supernatural activity, like enter Boundaries and such.

concept: try to make jshk an actual shonen anime. Kou remains male as a rival/foe. Though it came out as ‘Nezu becomes the star of a yes shonen comedy slice-of-life with lots of BL shiptease’ (it’s not really jshk anymore if Nezu can somehow fight because Hanako’s powers don’t work like that?)

Yes, there are fujoshi classmates that ship him and Aoi. And after what happened in the corridor with Kou they’re getting shipped too. Fuel for the rumour mill lolol

So he did become popular after all, just not the way he wanted pffftttt

On another note, the fic for day 5 has expanded into a monster of its own, so...it’ll take a while oof

[rueitae]

“Stay Quiet”

Read my whumptober collection on Ao3

canon typical violence involving a kid, set during s3, realization of feelings

~~~~~

The rocks above groan, sliding just a little bit more out of place each time so much as a gust passes by, drowning out Lance’s soft humming.

It’d be worse if Lance or his charge moved. Any overt motion from either of them would send a landslide of boulders to crush them to death. 

They have no choice but to wait for rescue, and hope it isn’t by a Galra Empire soldier.

So he holds the young Puigian boy close to his chest, letting him squirm on his lap if he needs to. Lance isn’t sure how long they’ve been trapped, but being that young himself once, he knows Dimta will get restless far quicker than he. 

“What song are you singing?” he asks, so quietly Lance almost mistakes it for breathing. 

Lance grins despite himself. “What would you do if I sang out of tune,” he whispers without the tune. “Would you stand up and walk out on me?” He pats the boy on the back, amused by his quizzical expression. “It’s an old song from my home planet.”

“It’s weird,” he says, nose scrunched in distaste. 

“Most songs are if you really think about it.”

Dimta sighs heavily into his chest. “You have a nice voice, Paladin Lance. No one would dare walk out on you.”

“Thanks, kiddo,” Lance chuckles softly, touched and humored by the honesty of a child. “Got any requests?”

The boy looks up with such trustful, expectant eyes. “How much longer until help comes?”

Lance’s heart freezes. I don’t know, is his most truthful answer, but he can’t bring himself to tell Dimta that. “Soon,” he says, hoping that it isn’t a lie. Lance’s heart thrums with renewed anxiety. “The Red Lion is pretty on top of knowing its Paladin is in trouble.”

Or, at least it had for Keith. 

Dimta, thankfully, trusts Lance enough to simply sigh of boredom. “Do you know any good stories?”

Lance can feel his heart practically glow. “Do I know any good stories,” he huffs quietly, squeezing Dimta tight and earning a soft giggle from the boy. “You are stuck with the right Paladin. I could tell you tales for so long you’d be a grown up by the time I’m finished.

“But just one for now. We’ll be rescued before its even done,” Lance assures him.

Dimta smiles, with the trust that only a child can have. “I’m ready.”

Lance opens his mouth confidently, but the words don’t come. He has a retinue of a thousand stories from Earth to tell this kid and any one of them would be fresh and interesting - all he has to do is pick one. 

“Is it about the other Paladins?” Dimta prompts eagerly after several long moments. 

“Yeah, oh yeah,” Lance quickly assures him like the liar he is. Great, now he can’t even pull from his awesome collection of Earth stories. The kid would probably eat up a tale about all of them having breakfast together. 

…Maybe that will work. 

“Shiro was the best pilot on our home planet,” Lance begins. But Shiro is also the one currently lost, he realizes with a wince. This wouldn’t go far. “Me and the others followed in his footsteps and went to the same school for pilots. Pidge, Hunk, and I were all on a team and we had the worst simulator scores.”

Dimta’s jaw drops in horror. “You were a bad pilot?”

“The worst,” Lance says with an eye roll. “I once tried to thread the needle and I clipped our shuttle’s wings.”

Raised eyebrow, abject confusion. “Thread the needle?”

Maybe he’d save that one for another day. 

“The important thing,” Lance emphasizes, quietly, of course, “is that even though we started terrible, we ended up working really well once we all became part of Voltron. And if we can work as a team, anyone can. Me and Pidge - the Green Paladin - for example, we were always at each other’s throats at school. I’m pretty sure she hated me, and I didn’t even know why.”

Pidge’s entire story wasn’t his to tell, but he could give Dimta the gist of it. Even glimpses of it were far more interesting to talk about than his own in any case. 

“Turns out she was trying to stay focused on finding her family. They were - still are,” Lance admits sadly, “in Galra hands.”

Dimta gasps at that, a light of admiration in his eyes. “She was trying to find them all by herself?”

Lance can empathize. Pidge decided to take on the impossible, and she hadn’t even known about aliens yet - it was pretty incredible when he looks back on it. 

“Yeah, she’s pretty stubborn even as a friend,” Lance chuckles. Part of her charm, he thinks. “I spend so much time in her lab trying to get her out of it to play video games. Even my charms only work half the time.”

There’s nothing he enjoys more than looking over her shoulder and hearing her work through the latest problem she has to solve, always confident she’ll come up with the solution eventually. All Paladin responsibility leaves the air once they start playing Killbot Phantasm, Pidge with the controller and Lance with the glove to give him the infinite lives (he sorely needed them, as it turned out), working through level after level. Playing with Pidge makes him feel more useful than usual, able to bring joy to a teammate by simply being himself. 

“She’s the best Green Paladin anyone could ask for - she’s super smart, funny, and has the most loyal heart. She’d do anything for any of us.”

Anything for him, he realizes. She’d stayed to save him when Sendak hijacked the Castle, she’d been extra fierce during the fight against the Warden in Beta Traz. 

It was nice, he reminisces with a smile and a warmth in his heart, to be cared about like that. 

More than anything, right now he wishes she were here. “She’d do the physics to get us out of here,” he says. “That’s for sure.” Then they could spend a relaxing evening playing games, which sounded ideal right now. 

He could play games with her forever. 

The mere thought sends his heart skipping in realization. Lance can actually imagine a future with the two of them together - working at the Galaxy Garrison, a nice house on base like the officers get, being a test pilot, doting on his own little kids - showing them and Pidge all his favorite spots at the beach. Pidge would love the plant life with her newfound bond with Green…

The rumble of a ship landing knocks a few small rocks loose, an area of dirt the size of his finger rushing like a waterfall onto his shoulder. Lance’s heart races in anticipation, putting a hand over Dimta’s head as heavy footsteps approach. 

That isn’t a Coalition ship. 

“Paladin Lance…?” Dimta’s voice wavers, clearly understanding the danger. 

“Stay quiet, no more talking,” Lance pleads, terrified. The Galra were going to find them first, use Dimta as a hostage and then use him as a hostage against the team or just kill them both. 

He could really use a little help from his friends right now. 

“The scanner shows life signs over here, Lieutenant!” 

Quiznak, so much for attempting to hide. 

Galra claws poke in through the holes between rocks as one after another is lifted, bringing more and more sunlight into their natural prison. Lance’s heart drums through his ears, desperate enough he twists, putting his body between Dimta and their villainous rescuers. 

It’s the cruel laugh that lets Lance know they’ve been found and identified. “Get the Commander! Tell him I’ve caught him one of the Voltron Paladins!”

With a jerk, Lance is pulled out of the cave by his collar and tossed unceremoniously onto the rocky soil. 

“Let me go, you jerks!” Dimta screams. 

Lance lifts himself up to see his worst fears - the Galra in charge holding the boy up by the scruff of his neck. 

Lance doesn’t let it get further than that. “Let him go!” he demands on his hands and knees, though his breath is harsh with adrenaline. “I’m the one you want.”

Their captor chuckles unkindly. “We’ll see what the Commander says. There’s always room for another hostage.”

Glaring is about all he can do now, the sunlight making it difficult to look too far up. The light reflects off metal, making a shimmer that is almost unbearable to look at. 

But something in his gut tells him to look. 

And there in the sky, coming right for them like an angel, is the Green Lion.

“It’s a Lion!” one of the subordinates yells. “Run!”

The lieutenant holding Dimta drops him, backpedaling as far away as he can. 

Lance grins, and catches Dimta’s growing smile of delight. Yes, indeed it was a Voltron Lion. And she was hungry.

[realmofthemind]

The Bitch of the Ball

Pairing: Severus Snape x Reader

Word Count: 2,571

Summary: You had a crush on Severus every since you began teaching at Hogwarts. When Umbridge takes over, she brings an assistant with her who throws herself at Snape. With the Yule ball on its way, you are left wondering what to do. 

A/N: Yes, I named the assistant after Saki from Your Lie In April. I had a lot of time on my hands at work today so I finished this. Sadly I don't think I will have as much time on my hands as I anticipated given that I did not make the graduate program I applied for. I will still try to write and post as often as I can. I'm open to hear ideas for new fics. 

You hummed a tune as you finished fixing up two cups of earl grey tea. You made your way to your  favorite couch in the teachers lounge, placing the two teacups on the table. You settled in and opened your textbook as you outlined your lesson for tomorrow. A few minutes later, Severus made his way into the room, taking the seat closest to yours. The corners of his lips turned up ever so slightly as he spotted the tea you made for him. He muttered a thank you before taking a sip.

Teaching at Hogwarts was hectic and you felt like you never got a break. Between the students constantly asking you questions at the most inopportune times, dealing with want-to-be teacher's pets, and listening to numerous excuses for missing assignments, at times you just want to pull your hair out. Although the overall experience made you happy, there were times where you just wanted to scream. Despite this, there was one time you truly felt relaxed. That time was between the hours of 1:00-2:30, right after lunch. This is the time you had to yourself. You usually spent it in the teachers' lounge where you found the company of a certain potions professor. In the beginning, you both remained silent and went about your own work. As weeks went by, conversation made it's way between the both of you. You both got to see a side of each other the rest of the world doesn't get to see. You were so relaxed around each other. There was no need for a façade. Now, although neither of you will admit it, both of you counted down the minutes until 1:00.

"Any crazy potions stories for me today?" You asked without looking up from your book. You heard Severus shuffling around, sorting through a comically large pile of papers. 

"Aside Nevil Longbottom taking another cauldron casualty, nothing eventful." He replied, grimacing at the number of cauldron's Nevil has managed to destroy ever since he set foot in the potions room. "I hope your day was better." He asked as he began reading through the paper at the top of the pile.

You smiled as you turned the page of your book. "Yes, it went pretty well although my students are becoming increasingly distracted with the upcoming Yule ball. I'm sure you've experienced the same." 

Severus shook his head and replied, "I'm afraid so. Sadly that also means I will have to teach those dunderheads how to dance. It is nearly impossible given that most of them have two left feet." He paused physically and audibly for a couple of seconds. You could almost hear him deliberating his next question. "Would you mind coming in to assist me in teaching them?"

You mentally and physically froze. You slowly lifted your head to meet his gaze. He's been starting at you intensely. You cracked a smile, "I would love to."

He smiled back at you. You both turned back to your work as a comfortable silence fell between the two of you. Sometimes this happened but it wasn't an awkward silence. It was nice to do work in the presence of the other. Sometimes, if needed, you would ask each other questions or ask for an opinion on something.  

 The silence between the two of you was broken when the door to the lounge flung open and many disgruntled professors came flooding through. You and Snape looked up half angry they were disturbing your time and half confused as to what was happening. They all were supposed to be teaching during this time. Silence fell over the room when a short lady dressed in an obnoxiously pink suit came strolling through the door. She was followed by a taller, younger woman. She looked around your age. She walked with such elegance and grace. She had looks that could kill and walked with such confidence. She scanned the room. You felt her eyes burn through you as they gave you a once over. Her eyes continued around the room and lingered on Snape for a bit long. She paused and eyed him up and down. Her faux smile grew into a smirk before directing her attention back to the lady in pink. 

"I am Dolores Umbridge. I will be taking over for Dumbledore while he is away. This is my assistant Saki Arima. I trust you will treat her with as much respect as your would any other professor here..." said the lady in pink. Her voice was drowned out by your thoughts. All you could think about was Saki and the way she kept looking at Severus. It was unsettling. Sure, it's not like you and Severus weren't dating or anything but it didn't make you immune from jealousy that you felt overcoming your thoughts. You've had a crush on him every since you both got to know each other.

When the pink lady finished her announcement, she requested the professors clear out of the lounge. You and Snape were the last two to leave. As you both made your way to the exit, Severus was stopped by someone grabbing his wrist. You continued out of the room but he remained in there alone, with Saki's hand around his wrist. She smirked at him and began. "I know that Yule ball is coming up and as head of Slytherin house, you are required to teach the students how to dance. I am here to inform you that I will be there in order to assist you." She let go of his wrist and walked away, not giving him time to respond. She swayed her hips with much exaggeration, trying to capture his attention.

Snape stood there frozen for a bit. The audacity of this girl to stop him and command him around as if he was lower than her. She had no respect for him and it annoyed him. He grunted out and made his way back to his room.

Ever since that day, a thick tension that hung around Hogwarts. Everyone was on edge. It seemed as if Umbridge was always watching along with her little pet Saki. It was almost like having another Filch and Mrs. Norris around. Your time with Snape in the lounge was cut short now that it felt like Saki was always around him.

When the day to teach the Slytherins how to dance arrived, you woke up early and went over the steps alone in your room. Once you were ready, you put on your robes and smoothed them out. You sprayed a tiny bit of perfume and put a simple clip in your hair. You never outdid yourself to impress him. He was a simple man with simple tastes and you knew that a little went a long way with him. You made your way to his classroom, fixing yourself once more before opening the door. You carefully and quietly pushed the door open. You immediately froze when you saw that the lesson has already started… and Saki was in your place. You stood there, peaking through the door and watching them dance together. She was so close to him that her chest pressed against his; His hand was resting on the middle of her back but she swayed her hips as if she was encouraging him to move it lower; Her left arm was slightly wrapped around his neck while her finger tips lightly played with the ends of his hair. They were acting as if they were the only two in the room. Even the students seemed slightly uncomfortable. You felt as if you've been punched in the stomach as a tear rolled down your cheek. You closed the door and sprinted back to your dorm. 

Meanwhile, Snape has never felt more uncomfortable in his life. He could not believe the audacity of this girl who is pushing herself up against him and acting so inappropriately in front of his students. All he could do was avoid eye contact and pretend it was you. Gosh, how he wished he was dancing with you right now. After months of plotting and planning, this was supposed to be the first step along an elaborate plan to ask you out. He was so disheartened that it had to be ruined by Mrs. Norris 2.0.

 Once the lesson was over, Severus stormed out of the room. The students have never seen him in such a mood. Despite how quickly Severus fled the scene, Saki pursued him. Severus sensed this and made as many turns as he possibly could to lose her. Once he made it to his room, he closed and locked the door behind him. He sat down in his chair and buried his face in his hands. What ever was he to do.

After that day, Severus spent most of his time trying to avoid Saki at all costs. Sadly, this meant forfeiting his time with you in the teachers lounge. You would sit there alone, feeling a slight tinge of pain in your heart as your brain went wild imagining what Saki and Severus were probably doing. Eventually you stopped showing up and sat alone in your room during that time.

The morning of the Yule Ball, Professor McGonagall approached you and informed you that you would be chaperoning and that you were to dress nicely and not in your teacher robes. You sighed at scoured your closet, looking for something to wear. You eventually found a simple yet elegant dress to wear. After doing your makeup and changing up your hairstyle a bit, you took a look in the mirror. You looked so beautiful, you could have easily been mistaken for one of the students. You made your way to the location of the ball.

Once you arrived, you saw all of the students dancing and a few of the professors lining the walls. A few were chatting with each other and others had their eyes glued to the dance floor, looking for any mischief. Your eyes scanned the room until you spotted Severus. Your heart sunk as you saw Saki hanging all over him. Although Severus look displeased with the situation, you assumed it was a front he put on for the children. You shrugged and stood against a wall adjacent to the one Snape was.

It may have looked like Snape was watching over the students but his wandering eyes were looking for you. The second his eyes landed on you his jaw, quite literally, dropped. You looked so elegant and beautiful. Between the dress and the way you carried yourself, Severus couldn't help but stare. Saki took note of this and grew annoyed. "Come on, let's go dance." She demanded as she went to tug on Severus' arm.

Severus jerked his arm away and turned to her. "I understand you are assistant to the new headmaster but that does not give you the right to act as entitled. You are just as insufferable as the children are." He rushed away from her, not giving her time to respond.

Your eyes widened as you spotted a fuming Severus, storming over to your direction. Once he was in front of you, he took a moment to calm down and catch his breath. He looked at you and grumbled an apology for his abrupt approach. You giggled lightly and assured him that it was okay. After a moment of staring into each other's eyes, he opened his mouth to speak. "Miss. (Y/L/N), may I have this dance?" He asked as he offered you his hand.

You heard the beginning notes to the next song begin to play. You gently placed your hand in his and smiled. "I would love to."

Severus returned the smile as he gently led you to the dancefloor. You two stayed on the edge along with the other professors who joined in on the dance. He placed his hand on your lower back and pulled you into him ever so lightly. You looked down trying to hide the blush that stained your cheeks. You were both quiet as you effortlessly floated across the dance floor. 

He spun you around twice before dipping you ever so slightly and returning you to his grasp. You felt your cheeks heat up. He noticed and giggled at your blushing. "I knew I was a good dancer but I was unaware of the effect it would have on alluring women." He teased. 

You registered his comment and regained your wit. "Perhaps, but I'll have you know, this alluring woman has some moves of her own." Now it was his turn to blush as he realized what he admitted to you. You laughed at his reaction as you pulled yourself closer to him, embellishing your steps every so slightly. 

As the song came to a close, you both bowed toward each other. You looked around to notice you have gained the attention of a few students and professors. You also noticed a fuming Saki, standing in the corner with a look in her eyes that could kill. You turned your attention to Severus as you both stood their awkwardly, neither of you knowing what to do next.

You turned to walk away from him when he grabbed your arm and exclaimed "Wait!" in a slightly panicked voice. You turned back to him. He tried to regain his composure but couldn't with the amount of eyes he felt watching him. He also saw Saki, storming toward the two of you. He quickly made his way toward the exit, pulling you behind him. You tried your best to keep up. You both walked for a bit until you reached an empty corridor. Once you stopped, you noticed that sometime during your escapade, Severus' hand slipped from grasping your wrist to grasping your hand. He didn't pull his hand away though, rather he grabbed your other hand as well. He looked into your eyes as he tried to grasp the words to say.

His time was running out as he heard angry foot steps make their way toward where the two of you were. You knew it was Saki. You went to pull your hands away from his, worrying about her reaction if she were to see. Instead, Severus gripped your hands tighter as he pulled you into a kiss. You were shocked but once your mind grasped what was happening, you kissed him back.

The footsteps got louder and louder until they stopped completely. You heard Saki gasp and could only imagine the look on her face. She stomped away as you heard her grumble something under her breath. Although she has left, Severus did not stop kissing you. Instead, he moved his hands to your cheeks as he moved in closer. You placed your hands against his chest and kissed him until you both needed to breath.

You both broke the kiss, panting for air. For a split second your mind filled with doubt. Maybe he did it only to get rid of Saki . Your thoughts were interrupted by Severus' voice. "Yes, I do find you alluring and I am completely infatuated with you. I am still unable to completely articulate my feelings for you so would you mind helping me over some tea?" He asked very honestly, his eyes full of desperation.

This is real. He meant it.

You nodded lightly "I would love to."

A/N: I hope you enjoyed it!

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

is the VA thing a "All I hear is Makoto" situation or a "I recognize them from P5 and I have war flashbacks" situation?

It's a "All I hear is Makoto" situation (tho sadly it was prepped prior to Makoto...I'll explain in a bit). If it was "They are from P5 and I have war flashbacks" I don't really have those. I joked about Robbie the other day (it was more to inform fans who really like his voice that he voices novels as well), but it's not really the case for him. Despite me only......knowing his voice from Goro (I've listen to a few other roles he's been in, half the time I forget it's him tbh....which is good cause it doesn't pull me out aklfjsafj except for Mitsuki but he always felt like he'd have the same voice as Goro so I'm fine 8U), same goes for Xander. The only reason Japanese!Futaba gives me some war flashbacks, is cause of her damn voiceline trophy in the vanilla game......I'm sitting there listening to very specific lines before I move on.

(Below the cut is a self reflective dissertation on why I’m having a hard time with this VA 8U Also I know what you are thinking “Silly this is kinda stupid” yeah and I hate it and I want it to go away too but it’s not and I’m stuck...and I wanna vent)

What's odd is a heard a good few number of roles by Cherami before P5. I was actually gathering clips of her for my videos way back when (was probs going to make an Anne video, just cause 1) Anne was the only female character at the time, 2) I kept running into Cherami's voice). Tbh that was probably the downfall I had, since it got me really in tune with picking up her voice. But prior to that she voiced one of my fav characters! Komaru Naegi. Only issue I had at the time was for some reason her voice went from higher pitch, to suddenly lower pitch in the last chapter (except for the animated cutscene where it was high again)....and this is something that the Japanese dub did as well(???? I dunno that's just what I heard, but whyyy DR devs??? WHyyyyy???). That was a bit off topic, but moral is, the only issue I had at the time with her voice was the voice direction in DRUDG (aka it’s not her fault, I was upset with the director). 

Before I really heard what Japanese!Makoto's voice really sounded like, that I was hoping she'd be like Satsuki from KLK. But then I heard her voice.....and the second I really heard Japanese!Makoto in action my brain went "Oh, she sounds like that character no one likes from Psychopass" (fun fact, I'm not as hard on Mika as most of the fanbase seemed to be at the time, dunno how they feel about her now, I'm still sympathetic towards her). And when I started collecting the voice clips, and trying to listen to other voices during that time.... and I found they all really sounded almost the same (cadence wise, obvie the acting I could tell was diff from char to char a lot of the times, tho if they had the same personality they could feel the same but I was eh about it at the time, and thus my big issue with her voice started to grow but.....I def thought there was something about her that fit Mako).

Then P5 hit, and you know how deeply unsympathetic I am towards Makoto. And RIGHT then is where I realized something about the voice. It was whiney. I thought back to the two big voices I knew her from, Komaru and Mika, and both were whiney (both had roughly good reasons, more so Komaru than Mika). "But Silly! You said you were more kind to Mika than the rest of the fandom. Why are you calling her whiney?" Yeah well, here's the thing. Mika is brainwashed and gaslit by the dystopia she lives in (hence the whiney parts of her dumbass). She is an antagonist to Akane. She is conflict to the story. I don't think we are supposed to like her (at most pity her). As for if she gets off easy in the story, it's been to long to say (ironically all this is said about S2!Mika, before in S1 I was like "man I hope that Mika char joins the main team for S2! :D and then klajsfdl;jafsa S2 happened XU). But regardless, we aren't supposed to really 100% root for Mika, she plays the role she is written for (can't hate her for that). Complete opposite of Makoto in terms of how the writing is handled but I digress. 8U

Anyway, after Makoto I could escape how condescending Makoto sounded (and FYI I thinks she did FANTASTIC as Makoto, because Makoto sound so gd condescending in the text I think she nailed it, sadly I just now associate Cherami’s base voice with it DX.....”Silly you know Makoto’s not supposed to sound like tha-” Yeah well we know how I feel about the writing and how I think Atlus missed the mark so we’re gonna just move along from that now XU). So I started to associate it both with whiney-ness and condescending-ness. I started to actively avoid her voice (sans Mako, can't escape her atm, not that I was listening to Mako 24/7), a year later after I listened to the Boruto movie dub. I.....thought that Cherami would fit Sarada. What I didn't expect was how it would make me feel towards Sarada (whomst I liked in the jpn dub and in the prequel manga pages). I found her annoying, like I do with Makoto (tho ironically the first season of Boruto I found Sarada to act like a brat that would remind me of Makoto that was in the jpn dub, which isn’t going to help my mental image of Cherami’s voice any better so DX). So maybe I typed casted her....

And after that it was just a knee jerk anytime I heard the voice. The second I heard that cadence, all my negative connotations associated with it (aka Makoto), would flood the character on screen....to the point I don’t see the char. I just see an annoying voice. Well hear...you know what I mean.

Basically......I think I pavlov’d myself.....to that voice. It’s not Cherami’s fault (maybe a little........a lot of her younger girl voices sound the same, she’s got maybe 3 modes......maybe I’m just not used to the other newer actresses or maybe she’s just special for my brain atm). I tried uhhh “rehabilitating” the voice (aka, exposing myself to other roles), but it didn’t work out. So now I’m trying avoidance. Obviously not working since I clocked the woman on a breath *sobs* a breath! The character just inhaled and I was like “oh god that’s Cherami-GDI!” *sobs* I just want to turn my brain offffffffffff! orz

I’ll probs try to expose myself to the voice again.....just not right now.....I’m still recovering from the breath incident. 

Or maybe it’s not pavlov...maybe it’s OCD, I do have some OCD tendencies.....Regardless if it’s Pavlov, OCD, or type castng....wish me luck. I must undo a prison my brain has trapped me in~! 

[deadcactuswalking]

REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 14/02/2020

This’ll either be a long episode, a very confusing one, or both. We have nine new arrivals, which might actually be our most ever, although it’s probably tied with one from last year unless we had something ridiculous like twelve new arrivals. Let’s just get this over with.

Top 10

First of all, celebrating its second week at #1, we have “Blinding Lights” by the Weeknd stable since last week at the top spot. I love this song, so I’m definitely glad to see it here.

Speaking of songs I love, “The Box” by Roddy Ricch isn’t moving either at number-two.

In fact, much like most of our busy weeks, the top 10 doesn’t necessarily reflect that, as with some exceptions, there’s nothing of note to speak of here. “Before You Go” by Lewis Capaldi is stable at number-three.

The number-four spot has also stabilised; “Don’t Start Now” by Dua Lipa is there, and doesn’t seem to have any competition.

Neither does “Godzilla” by Eminem featuring the late Juice WRLD, unfortunately, at number-five.

Up two spots to number-six for whatever reason is “Life is Good” by Drake, then Future – this might rebound even higher next week due to a DaBaby remix.

“Someone You Loved” by Lewis Capaldi is down a spot to number-seven, but it’ll be back in the top five once the BRITs have their impact. Delightful.

Our big story in the top 10 is the 13-space boost for “Roses” up to number-eight, meaning it’s Saint Jhn’s first ever top 10 single in the UK, and, yeah, sure, we’ll give Imanbek credit for that too, since his unauthorised house remix really blew it up all over Europe. Hence, I’m pretty sure this is the first Kazakh lead artist on a UK Top 10 single, and that’s pretty epic.

Billie Eilish’s “everything i wanted” is down two spots to number-nine.

And finally, to round off our top 10, is the non-mover, “Adore You” by Harry Styles.

Climbers

To my surprise, we do actually have a few notable climbers, and a lot more than I expected at that. First, there’s “You should be sad” by Halsey up five spaces to #12, making a pretty unexpected play for the top 10. There’s also “Lonely” by Joel Corry up 14 spaces to #16 off of the debut, and “Lose You to Love Me” by Selena Gomez inexplicably moving up six spots to #21. Maybe in the wake of a Justin Bieber album, there’s some stan revenge streaming? It’s a stretch but that’s honestly my only explanation other than it making another, more organic chart run. I do have a reason for Jonas Brothers and the nine-spot boost for “What a Man Gotta Do”: the second video as well as the One Show performance, which is still something millions of people watch here in the UK. “Better Off Without You” by Becky Hill and Shift K3y is up 12 to #24 off of the debut and finally, “Say So” by Doja Cat is up 10 spots to #25 also off of the debut (Not complaining about that one).

Fallers

There were some pretty massive fallers this week but also not actually that many that were notable, and definitely ones that demonstrate a transition period between Winter 2019/2020 and Spring 2020, but these are also mostly hip-hop and rap, hence can be explained by streaming cuts, an arbitrary UK chart rule that affects nearly exclusively one genre for the most part. That’s not the case for all of them though; “Wake Up Call” by KSI featuring Trippie Redd is down 17 spaces to #28 because it’s a song by a YouTuber, and hence usually a bit crap. The rule did affect, however, “ROXANNE” by Arizona Zervas, down 24 spaces to #33, and “Memories” by Maroon 5, an exception to the rule seemingly, down 23 spots to #39.

Dropouts & Returning Entries

There were a hell of a lot of dropouts and actually two returning entries, for once. All of these dropouts don’t seem like they’re going to gain much traction after this week, and if they do, it’ll probably be some kind of fluke or special event that gets them back up there. I can see about three or four of these returning to the dregs of the top 40, but otherwise this seems to be the end of the line for most of these. “Bruises” by Lewis Capaldi is out from #15, “Pump it Up” by DJ Endor is out from #23, “Lose Control” by MEDUZA, Goodboys and Becky Hill is out from #25, “This is Real” by Jax Jones featuring Ella Henderson is out from #26, “Ride It” by Regard featuring Jay Sean ends its second run out from #29, “Gangsta” by Darkoo and One Acen is out from #32, “Don’t Rush” by Young T & Bugsey with Headie One is out from #34, “Ladbroke Grove” by AJ Tracey is out for what must be the fourth time from #37, “Those Kinda Nights” by Eminem featuring Ed Sheeran is thankfully out from #38, “Vossi Bop” by Stormzy is temporarily out from #39 but the BRITs will probably pick this one up and boost its numbers, and finally, “Big Conspiracy” by J Hus featuring iceé tgm is out from #40. The other two J Hus songs are somehow still in the top 40.

The two returning entries are, firstly, “Hold Me While You Wait” by Lewis Capaldi returning at #30, seemingly in a trade with “Bruises”, because, I guess two Capaldi songs in the top 10 isn’t enough. The second is “Pee Pee” by M Huncho at #40, and I just love how stupid that song is. It’s actually a pretty fun and arguably good song, but I also have so many questions about it, like why the album it’s from is called Huncholini the 1st. I’m glad to see it back here though. Anyway, before we get to the new arrivals, here are some songs below the top 40 that I could see getting here in a couple weeks, if that. Not all of them are good, not all of them are bad. We have “All I Want” by Olivia Rodrigo at #72, “No Judgement” at Niall Horan at #70, “Yikes” by Nicki Minaj at #69, “No Shame” by 5 Seconds of Summer at #68, “What if I Told You that I Love You” by Ali Gatie at #63, “Charades” by Headie One and Fred Again at #57, “Stop this Flame” by Celeste at #56, “Staqdo” by MoStack at #54, “Mya Mills” by Lil Pino at #50, “Run” by Joji at #46, “High Fashion” by Roddy Ricch and Mustard at #45, and finally, “Ourself” by NSG at #43. Now, for our new arrivals.

NEW ARRIVALS

#38 – “Ballin’” – Mustard and Roddy Ricch

Produced by Mustard, Justus West and Gylttrip

Okay, so this is a song I’ve been predicting would breach the top 40 for ages, mostly because it’s already been a massive hit in 2019 for the US, and hence is on my list of the best hit songs of 2019, which will probably be the last of one of those lists that I actually do. It’s #14, so it’s not that high, but I feel like I should talk more in-depth there since the list’ll be out as soon as possible, probably this month. It’s Mustard’s first UK Top 40 hit as a lead artist (Congratulations) and Roddy Ricch’s second – I love this song, we’ll talk about it more another day, that’s all.

#37 – “Suicidal” – YNW Melly

Produced by Z3n

Okay, so let me explain: Yes, YNW Melly, real name Jamell Demons (Fitting name by the way), is still in prison facing murder charges. This is the third album he’s released behind bars, obviously the others were released while he was incarcerated for less serious offenses, but it’s not exactly a new concept and hey, the label aren’t milking his death, at least, although they are milking the murder of two other people, so I guess that point’s out the window. It’s not impossible to make an album from prison but they’re probably just taking snippets of his SoundCloud stuff or unreleased demos and re-releasing it as new content. This is his second UK Top 40 hit after “Murder on My Mind” – if you go by just his song titles, this man is guilty as all hell – and well, it was never going to be any good, was it? The dull piano-lead trap beat isn’t emotive at all, and with the disruptive producer tags and clipping bass, as well as the generic emo guitar, it just feels emotionless, which is awful for a song called “Suicidal”, and YNW Melly is actually giving it all trying to replicate a typical emo-pop song with his voice that I actually love hearing most of the time, especially when it’s drowned in Auto-Tune like this; the vocal track here, despite oddly mixed, would sound great in isolation. Sadly, this beat is so boring, and he goes off topic so many times, with his structure-less flow and monotonous rambling about how he’s got his bag now and everyone’s wishing bad on him now (Probably because he’s facing murder charges)... yeah, this just does nothing for me, and it’s clearly an immature attempt at making a deep, powerful break-up song, even with some of the most pathetic inflections I’ve heard from the man in that “I’m drinkin’ Hennessey” bridge, as well as his heartbreak ending up being as deep as “I swear to God, I swear to God, you stupid bitch”. Yeah, no, this is not great at all, and way too long, by the way.

#36 – “Birthday” – Anne-Marie

Produced by Oak

So, if you forgot who Anne-Marie was, first of all I don’t blame you because so did I, but second of all, she’s a pop songstress who often hops on dancehall or house beats with a voice and delivery that treads the line between indie-girl mumble mouth and a fake Caribbean accent. This is the lead single from her second album, that actually debuted dangerously low—seriously, this is looking like it’s prepared for a sophomore slump ala Camila Cabello’s Romance late last year, although admittedly Anne-Marie’s chart presence, whilst seemingly omnipresent in 2018 and early 2019, has dwindled considerably. This is her tenth UK Top 40 hit, and well, I don’t exactly know what to expect but I’m guessing some fluffy, vaguely tropical dance-pop tune, but it could be a ballad for all I know. It doesn’t look like I’m too far off, but this one is particularly obnoxious, with a dated, beeping synth tone acting as the main melody, an aggravatingly static hi-hat pattern, a messy and out-of-place drum beat that sounds straight out of a shit Flume rip-off, some of Anne-Marie’s most obnoxious Auto-Tuned vocal inflections (And some of her most Kehlani-like, may I add), and vocal mixing that is questionably lower than the drums in the pre-chorus, even though they’re clearly not backing vocals. The chorus is hilariously trite, saying, “Goddamn, it’s my birthday”, and that people should give her money because it’s her birthday. Basically, it’s about a spoiled teenager on her 16th birthday being all rebellious and edgy to spite their parents but without any actual emotion or passion, and instead some pathetic vocal runs and disgusting, cluttered instrumentation... actually, that would describe a teenage birthday party pretty well. The little chuckle at the end in place of an outro is also really cringe worthy. What an awful song – it’s been a while since we’ve had a hit here that seems fundamentally broken, but this gets pretty close.

#34 – “Know Your Worth” – Khalid and Disclosure

Produced by Disclosure

R&B singer Khalid and EDM group Disclosure, two acts I happen to be very fond of whenever they appear on this show, have collaborated for the second time since 2019’s “Talk”, a song which I love but won’t be making an appearance on my best list for that year for one simple reason that’ll seem obvious once you read that list. This collaboration doesn’t seem to be for an album, though, and is instead an advert for Levi’s jeans. Nice. It’s Khalid’s thirteenth and Disclosure’s sixth (ironically excluding “Talk” as they weren’t properly credited as lead artist) UK Top 40 hit, and it sure is a Disclosure song, with their more modern EDM touches they’ve been picking up recently in productions like the aforementioned “Talk” and Mac Miller’s “Blue World”, but with some really sweet steel pans, the same stilted groove they’re known for, a quirky collection of beeping synths and a familiar yelling vocal sample that I can’t find the original source for anywhere. Khalid rides on the instrumental pretty nicely and smoothly but this really isn’t anything special, with the lyrics mostly being some kind of general motivation or self-empowerment, mostly directed towards a girl whose significant other doesn’t exactly treat her like she is worth, apparently to Khalid. I think Shawn Mendes is rubbing off on you, mate.

#32 – “London” – M24 featuring Tion Wayne

Produced by ETS

Hey, Tion Wayne! I like this dude a lot, and I was thinking about him a couple days ago, thinking that he’d had his time up on the charts, but he seems to be back with M24, another British rapper, for this new single. Tion Wayne is one of the main reasons “Options” by NSG is one of my most-listened songs of last year, and has since delivered excellent verses on “Bally” with the equally charismatic Swarmz and tried to lighten up the amazingly dull “Keisha & Becky” by Russ splash, who has since changed his name because of course he has. It’s safe to say he’s one of my favourite of the recent crop of London rappers, simply because of how fun his cadences can be. I was surprised when I saw him on a sharp black-and-white cover art with a song about London, which I assumed would be about the struggles of gang violence and poverty that Tion Wayne has since risen above, but instead, for his fourth UK Top 40 hit and M24’s first ever, we have a chorus that goes, “That gyal wan’ shock, one eye on her arse like, “Holy f***”, look at the arch, you know I buss, back up the arse like uh-uh”. That’s actually about what I expected from Tion Wayne to be honest. Looking back on all those songs that I mentioned, especially “Bally”, it has interesting, eccentric, exciting and energetic cadences, as well as some upbeat production that is sourly missing from people like Aitch and DigDat. That’s why while I was slightly disappointed by the more minimalist, dull, colourless drill production, which honestly actually kind of bangs, I was welcomed by Tion Wayne’s hilarious hook, especially the “UH UH” ad-lib, and his injections of humour into the verses, which M24 tries as well. Both M24’s more aggressive stuttering delivery and Tion Wayne’s more carefree flow work for this beat (which is unfitting for a song that’s supposed to be about attractive women by the way; this is in no way sexy), with Tion Wayne’s first verse seemingly carrying the theme of “beef”, and he likes a fight in prison because it’s “beef in a cell”... “like Beyoncé”? Huh? He kind of gets away with it though, as the next line is even funnier; his gun is like his roll-on deodorant because it doesn’t leave shells. He shouts out his designer-brand boxers then says that he will fight a man for his phone charger. You get why I like this dude, right? He’s kind of absurd. M24 and Tion Wayne trade bars on the second verse, with M24 even lightening up to say that his sex is so good that his groupies try to invite their mother. Lovely. They also share some clever worldplay about “ye” (drugs) and Kanye, both comparing themselves to Kim Kardashian in the process. All this is without overstaying its welcome, by the way, it’s less than three minutes. Wayne then, for a final few bars, adopts the “A$AP Forever” flow to shout out basically every woman in England, as well as saying this:

I f*** your girl from the back / I put my block on the map

These two events (hopefully) have no relation to each other, like at all. Never change, Tion Wayne.

#31 – “Destined for Greatness” – Tobi & Manny featuring Janelle

Produced by Krunchie and Zdot

I knew this was going to be a tricky one once I realised that I know more about the producers than I do about any of the three primary vocalists here. Krunchie and Zdot are responsible for much of Bugzy Malone’s discography, especially the older stuff. Anyway, this is the first UK Top 40 hit for Tobi & Manny, a duo much like Young T & Bugsey or Krept and Konan made of two members or affiliates of the Sidemen, namely: Tobi and Manny, two brothers that joined KSI’s group of YouTubers, rappers, entertainers, FIFA players, what have you. They teamed up with their sister Janelle, who actually contributes very little to the song, no more than a short intro and backing vocals, for a kid-friendly motivational anthem – on a dark, menacing beat. Of course. Yeah, this is pathetic. Both Tobi and Manny have no interesting bars, and whilst it is mostly a story-telling song, there isn’t any passion in their voices about their come-up, so why should I care? Janelle doesn’t exist, and if she does, she’s annoying, joining in on the bland hook for a somewhat colourful addition to the shitty non-entities of Tobi and Manny, both of whom are just phoning it in, but I feel like this is them trying to be their best, to be honest. This is just corny, and aggravatingly so, with a boring beat to boot. I have no idea how this debuted this high, when it is this painfully amateur. “We’re controlling the game like Nintendo Wii”? Give me a break. Oh, and I listened to Tobi’s only other official single as part of the Sidemen on “The Gift”, and somehow he had the best verse.

#29 – “React” – The Pussycat Dolls

Produced by Will Simms, Johan Gustafson and Ivares

The Pussycat Dolls were a girl group formed in the 2000s, who were reasonably  big worldwide and massive here in the UK. They weren’t made by a British talent show, but they were similarly generic and basically just the sexier alternative to the more teeny-bopper groups, and hence I guess were made more for boys than they were for girls, in that respect, but even for today, despite being produced and directed by men for men and presented consistently in an awfully objectifying manner, they have kept that “girl power” schtick. You may know them for “Don’t Cha”, “Buttons”, “Beep”, “I Hate This Part”, whatever, they’re all garbage. After the group split only lead singer Nicole Sherzinger retained relevance and officially made the only good song tangentially related to the Dolls, with her (originally uncredited) feature on “Club Can’t Handle Me” by Flo Rida and David Guetta. I mean, it’s a low bar that you’d think they’d be able to ascend, but I can’t think of a single song from the Dolls that is better. Anyway, they’re all in their 40s now, and they’ve reunited for their eleventh UK Top 40 hit (and their first since 2010’s “Hush Hush, Hush Hush” peaked at #17), with massive comeback, television debut, high-budget music video and... a chart debut at #29. Yikes. Well, the Dolls were always dancers rather than singers, so people won’t purchase the single in the streaming era where you can choose what to listen to and you’re not having songs pushed down your throat by radio stations incessant label promotion (Well, at least not most of the time, Drake). I think the only reason the song is even in the top 40 at all is that the UK Singles Chart decided three years ago that YouTube streams counted for the chart. Listen, the song is manufactured plastic dance-pop that’s worth no-one’s time, with even the most distinct voice in the band, Scherzinger, sounding like a vocaloid. The chorus is a massive rip-off of the melody from the verses of Carly Rae Jepsen’s “I Really Like You”, by the way. Once I heard that, I couldn’t get it out of my head. Jepsen’s song is actually good, by the way.

#27 – “Power Over Me” – Dermot Kennedy

Produced by Koz

Remember “Outnumbered”? That was a pretty decent folk-trap hit, right? Well, Dermot Kennedy is back for his second UK Top 40 single, which was actually released far before his breakout hit but is getting the push now, “Power Over Me”, originally released in 2018. Now, it’s basically the same concept: Irish dude croons and belts over a guitar-lead pop song... but this isn’t a ballad, and instead has a real kick to it, figuratively and literally, but very little groove. The song isn’t bad at all, and I love the concept of a song of not him having the power in this relationship, but him finding himself subservient to this girl, who he paints as some kind of deity figure, and it’s convincing. God, I love how the drums sound in this song. The humming in the pre-chorus is just so sonically pleasing as well. The belting in the bridge and the mesh of guitar, on the other hand, isn’t really, but damn, the strings in the final chorus are genuinely gorgeous, and it’s catchy as hell, so for a good folk-rock love song, yeah, I can vouch for this one. There’s a MEDUZA house remix to this that hilariously misses the point of this song but sounds crazy good doing it, and might be a bit better than the original, if just for the blend of 80s post-disco and 16-bit chiptune bass in the drop. Either way, this is a good song, and reminds me kind of 2000s alt-rock, as did “Outnumbered”, to be honest. Maybe I should check out that debut self-titled album.

#14 – “Intentions” – Justin Bieber featuring Quavo

Produced by Poo Bear and the Audibles

This is the most 2016-sounding song that was released after 2017, and that’s just off the title alone. You guys want to add Chance the Rapper while you’re at it? God, what an anti-climactic end to our new arrivals. Justin Bieber and Quavo. I cannot imagine a blander, less interesting duo than Justin Bieber and Quavo. I think I’ve lived approximately five Quavo verses ever, the dude is so non-descript compared to the rest of the Migos, especially Offset, who, to be honest, I’ve become quite a fan of in recent months. It’s Bieber’s 46th UK Top 40 hit or something to that effect, and Quavo’s seventh but who cares, honestly? Who is listening to Bieber out of passion for his music or voice or whatever? Only his biggest, most loyal fans. The general public who casually listen to Bieber are listening more out of morbid curiosity than anything else, and for someone who seemed like the biggest star in the world at some point, that’s just depressing. Yeah, I have nothing else to say, and I’ll continue to ignore actually reviewing this dude’s songs, even once the album bomb comes next week, if it even does. I think the “(feat. Lil Dicky)” song might be even more dreadfully embarrassing than the “(feat. Quavo)”, actually.

Conclusion

All things considered, this was a below-average week but I had a lot of fun reviewing these songs, so at least most of them were interestingly bad or had intriguing stories behind them. Even if I didn’t review it, the Best of the Week is still going to “Ballin’” by Mustard and Roddy Ricch, with Honourable Mention probably being a toss-up between “London” by M24 featuring Tion Wayne, and “Power Over Me” by Dermot Kennedy. The Worst of the Week is undoubtedly “Birthday” by Anne-Marie, with “Destined for Greatness” by whoever that was by picking up the Dishonourable Mention. This could be one of two or three big weeks on the horizon, so watch out for that and follow me on Twitter @cactusinthebank for my real-time reactions to said weeks, and more pop music ramblings. Thank you for reading!

REVIEWING THE CHARTS 2020

[denise8691]

Finding her own way: Becky Lynch, identity, and wrestling

Part one of why the Lasskicking heroine is WWE’s greatest character.

by andrewmswift@andrewmswift  Jul 4, 2017, 5:30pm EDT

There are a number of great questions that all humans struggle to answer at one time or another: Why am I here? What am I doing? What’s the point of it all? What happens after I’m gone?

But there’s one great question that stands above the rest:

Who am I?

This question of identity leads to a process that everyone undergoes throughout their lives. Indeed the act of trying to “find yourself” is a universal human experience in the fragmented, immense, confusing world of the 21st century.

Too frequently “identity” in terms of WWE characters is boiled down to two-dimensional gimmicks lacking nuance and depth. (A certain scene from GLOWdefinitely comes to mind.) Seemingly part of the impetus behind the “Reality Era” was an attempt to flesh out characters in relatable, human ways that could help better bond the audience with respective performers.

Ideally, all WWE characters would come equipped with substantial backstories that explain why the character acts a certain way in any given scenario. But the world is far from ideal, and many WWE Superstars flit in and out from one week to the next, used in service to whatever desired plot at the expense of actual character development and growth.

The old adage is that the best wrestlers are simply themselves turned up to 11. This no doubt is true, but a helpful corollary is copying a performer’s real life motivations into their kayfabe persona. As we’ll see, few wrestlers in WWE more accurately track the performer’s personality with their character’s narrative than Becky Lynch.

In this era of rewrites and last minute switches, consistent, linear character growth is all too rare. It is thus completely remarkable that Lynch has not merely managed to stay on the same arc for several straight years but also provide value-added depth on a weekly basis. This consistency and clarity in purpose make The Lasskicker WWE’s greatest character.

Core truths

In WWE’s developmental brand, a renewed emphasis on layered characters seemed to reemerge in recent years. And there are no better examples of this sort of depth than the Four Horsewomen of NXT: Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks, Bayley, and Becky Lynch.

What initially made the Four Horsewomen so beloved in NXT—long before Revolutions or Evolutions—was their portrayal of complicated, nuanced personas that were natural outgrowths of the performers themselves. But it also must be noted that the group meshed so well with each other because the roles each had filled were inherently complementary to the other three.

Legacied, pedigreed, and coldly ruthless Charlotte claiming superiority due to birthright—and trying to hide the fact that her drive was so strong because she feared people would believe she didn’t deserve the name.Zealotous, righteous, chip-on-her-shoulder, chaotic good, “built on self-success” Sasha Banks shouting from the rooftops that she was the hero of destiny for a movement—a movement she believed could not and would not (and perhaps should not) exist without her at the vanguard.Wholesome, determined, innocent Bayley, who was unprepared for the cutthroat world of WWE and only through repeated failures at the hands of the other three Horsewomen learned to toughen her spine and fulfill her lifelong dream.

And then there is Becky Lynch. At first glance, the clear coherency of the other three and their natural interplay with each other are undercut by Becky’s numerous and wildly different gimmicks. Is she a stereotypical Irish lass—complete with emerald green outfit and aggressively lame jig? Is she a headbanging punk rocker with a prickly, cynical edge? Is she a steampunk pun queen who adorably battles cans of pineapple? Is she a near-sociopathic purveyor of violence and destroyer of innocence? Is she a virtuous and loyal friend whose goodness is rewarded time and again with betrayal?

Who is Becky Lynch?

The answer, of course, is all of the above, and there’s a very simple reason for the seemingly incongruent whole. At her core, Lynch is someone who experienced great loss at a very young age, and is desperately trying to hold onto what she regained while remaining pure of heart.

Characters in the world of professional wrestling have forever been defined by two categories: babyface (good) and heel (evil). But for a long time now this view has been outdated. With the intention of making its characters seem whole and realistic, WWE long ago largely shifted the domain of good and evil from black-and-white personas to a body of actions. Though too often un- or underexplained in storyline, the idea is to present characters that are relatable, whether good or bad, via motivations that are common to viewers.

Each character in WWE struggles with the flaws of others. But in works of fiction, it is frequently the complex struggle of humans with their own flaws where narrative beauty is found. The same is true in WWE, and that sort of internal struggle (the classic Hero’s Quest) is something that best binds characters and performers with the audience.

Like most others, the character of Becky Lynch has an overriding tragic flaw: she has experienced immense heartbreak, and is forever afraid of any relapse into despair and apathy.

In fact, the seesawing nature of Becky’s path is perhaps the journey of any of the Horsewomen that best fits with Reality Era use of the performer’s real-life backstory. It’s well known that WWE appropriates their performers’ real lives to add to their characters. But few characters in WWE are as finely tuned with their actual life than Lynch. As previously noted, her disparate gimmicks seem, on their own, incongruous with each other.

But this reading fails to see a larger truth: the story of Becky Lynch is the story of someone trying, and struggling, to find their way in the world—and for very good reason.

Origin stories

Becky’s story did not begin in July 2015 when her, Charlotte, and Sasha Banks were called up to the WWE main roster. Hell, her story did not even begin with the infamous jig she did during her NXT debut in June 2014. The story of Becky Lynch began long ago, when the then-Rebecca Knox was barnstorming around the world as a legitimate wrestling prodigy. She began her training to be a wrestler at the very young age (especially for a woman) of 15 and made waves worldwide—but stepped away from the business due to a head injury before she even turned 20.

Adrift for years after her ostensible retirement, she got an acting degree and landed more than a few parts; she studied to be a clown; she worked as a personal trainer; she was a flight attendant for over two years. Becky wanted to do anything possible to find herself after seemingly losing her true passion. But her heart forever remained with wrestling. Despite denying the truth for so long, she couldn’t shake the bug of the squared circle.

She was always a wrestler, even when she wasn’t.

Every part of who Becky Lynch is today—the resilience, the fear of isolation and loneliness, the desire to make it her own way, stems from the apparent heartbreak of her far-too-early retirement. The intensely emotional character we know today, who wears her heart on her sleeves at all times, is a combination of this exodus and her inherent manic, quirky energy. When it seems that misfortune has ended your dreams at 20, even the slightest hint of a second chance compels one to pour everything in their heart into the endeavor—and to do everything possible to make sure this resurrection does not go to waste.

It’s entirely understandable—coming-of-age struggles in our teenage years stick with us for the rest of our lives, regardless of what context we stumble into. Our formative experiences are buried deep inside our subconscious, guiding our motivations and informing our reactions to the world around us.

Becky Lynch’s journey is the story of an identity crisis—following your dreams, only to have them torn from you in seemingly definitive fashion to the point of resignation. What follows is the road back—the expanse of which forever after defines your very self. It is a narrative about remembering and fighting for who and what you are.

While it’s mostly a positive story, there’s more than a hint of melancholy in the idea. It is unrealistic to pretend that Lynch’s saga of continuous betrayal and trauma has not weighed a heavy toll on her mind, and furthermore it is doubly unrealistic to imagine that a natural human response to that backstory is always doubling down on being innocent and good. As seen onSmackDown Live in recent months, her frustration at times appears to be on the verge of boiling over.

Moreover, this wistful nostalgia can also easily be used against Becky—either by manipulating her into becoming a tool to be used for the nefarious purposes of others, or by blinding her from the truth of those around her.

The Becky Lynch we currently see onSmackDown Live is undeniably a fiery ball of positive energy. But just how “good” is The Lasskicker, though? Surely her run since the call up in July 2015 has been universally on the side of light, and frequently she has come across as the most pure character on all of WWE television. The sadly online-only promo she cut after Mickie James interfered in Becky’s steel cage title match with Alexa Bliss last January is almost certainly the most heartfelt and best babyface promo in the entire company for a number of years—but also hints at an eternal inner struggle.

Mind-blowing that this clip was not broadcasted over and over on the blue brand. Moreover, it’s a strange fact that some of Becky Lynch’s greatest work has been in online exclusive interviews. Presumably the creative direction should stress including those moments on WWE’s actual television programing, but even here we see the interplay between character and performer.

It makes sense that a character/performer like Lynch would hustle and grind in literally any way possible to make herself more whole, more coherent, to better round and ground herself. TV, online exclusives, social media—the platform doesn’t matter. Becky Lynch is going to do whatever it takes to present her character in a way that gets across the truth of her soul. She simplyneeds to do this—not just for the audience, but herself as well.

In this way, it is easy to see how Rebecca Quin’s real-life Bexile bleeds into the character’s motivations—and it’s yet another reason why Becky Lynch is WWE’s most honest character today.

This never-say-die fighting spirit has contributed a great deal to her positivity so readily displayed these days. But the memories of the years of heartbreak, and the desperate grasping of this second chance, could also potentially be fostering a darker, more cynically destructive side:

I don’t know what it’s going to take… but I’m willing to do it.

In that quote, we see Lynch’s frustrations bubbling up, but still she remains righteous. If (and when) she does eventually fall from the heavens, it will be wholly understandable given everything the character has gone through.

And it would not be the first time she has fallen from grace in WWE.

Despite her debut victory over Summer Rae on June 26, 2014—a match that is more remembered for her aforementioned jig, and Sasha Banks and Charlotte utterly taking the piss out of said jig in the background—Lynch struggled early on, falling short several times to then-NXT Women’s Champion Charlotte. In the process, she had formed a bit of kinship with another “lovable loser,” Bayley.

But it was Banks, who soon broke away from Charlotte, that saw an opening in the impressionable mind of Lynch. In an iconic piece of NXT continuity, Becky approached Sasha in the locker room on October 16, 2014, to criticize The Boss for attacking Bayley. But it was Lynch who ended up getting a parting piece of advice from Banks: “Maybe you need to look in the mirror and ask yourself, what you need to do, to make it to the top.” Just as Banks had looked forlornly into the mirror over a year prior when Summer Rae gave her very similar advice, the troubled Lynch purposefully stared at her own reflection.

Only one week later, when Banks continued to assault Bayley after defeating her in a match, Lynch ostensibly came to The Hugger’s aid. The Boss scurried out of the ring, and Becky helped Bayley up, even giving her a slight hug. But when Bayley stepped forward to challenge Sasha, Lynch revealed her true intentions.

After attacking Bayley from behind, Becky raised the arm of her new “mentor” before sneeringly looking back at her naive former friend.

Imagine this. You are a prodigious talent that has your dream crushed due to circumstance at age 20. Finally, finally, a full eight years later, you get a second chance and begin to make good on your promise—only to find that the game has become “more fierce,” the competition that much stronger.

You’ve made it after such a long road back, but then you begin to discover that you are not as good as you once were and that others are better. You fail, repeatedly.

Enter a charismatic figure, who once maintained a similar overly-sunny disposition as yourself, preaching an “alternate” route to the glory that you surely deserve after all your trials and tribulations. The notion that your dream is once again slipping away from you, but if you only changed just a little bit, you could truly have it all—it’s a ripe cauldron for manipulation.

Becky Lynch, who told Alexa Bliss two years later that she “watched far too much TV and I listened when they told me, that if I believed in myself, I could be anything that I wanted to be,” is and always will be a believer—someone motivated by halcyon ideals and righteous passion. It is why she can inspire such loyalty among the WWE Universe—despite subpar booking and narrative drift, the chants of “BECKY! BECKY! BECKY!” remain as strong (frankly, stronger) as ever.

But that strong sense of belief can manifest itself in different ways. As noted, she has experienced true heartbreak and immense struggle, meaning that her intense passion is forever at danger of bubbling over into fear, despair, and anger.

In that moment, looking into the infamous Full Sail mirror, with failure weighing heavy on her mind, she wanted to believe the truth that Sasha Banks claimed to offer her. She wanted to believe that it would end her struggles and bring her the greatness for which she was always destined.

The decision to attack Bayley doesn’t make Becky a bad person. Yes, it made her a heel for the time being, but it’s ultimately wholly consistent with her core self. Sasha simply knew what buttons to push to chip at Becky’s soul. With Becky suffering consistent setbacks, Sasha’s manipulation was well crafted in order to succeed. And succeed it did, to the point where Becky was so twisted that by December 18, 2014, she would cheerily state she was going to end Bayley’s career like a downright sociopath:

The only thing that’s changed, is my ability to see what’s in front of me. Yeah? Sasha Banks opened my eyes to what it takes to get to the next level of NXT. Yeah? My eyes were opened, to the fact that smiling, and having the fans cheer, doesn’t mean anything when I am losing week, after week, after week. My eyes were open to the fact that, if I want to get anywhere, the only person I can rely on—besides myself of course—is Sasha Banks. And so I hope Bayley’s little starry eyes are open, so that way she can look into my big brown eyes and see the person that’s gonna end her career—permanently. Cheers Devin!

Her tone of voice is utterly consistent with everything the character has done and said before and after. That she scoffs when Devin calls it a “change of attitude” is telling: to Lynch, her frame of reference remains the absolute same as always. Sasha Banks didn’t “change” Becky Lynch in any fundamental manner; she merely persuaded her to view her place in life differently.

Can’t stop, won’t stop

Becky’s time as Sasha’s sidekick could easily be viewed as nothing more than a continuation of her kayfabe failings, but this ignores a crucial bit of context. Before coming under Sasha’s wing, Lynch was a featured player but clearly below Banks, Charlotte, and Bayley in NXT’s Women’s Division. But once she joined with The Boss, she was forever cemented as the final Horsewomen of NXT—regardless of wins or losses in storyline.

(It’s the sort of worked-shoot notion that makes most of Becky’s programs so compelling—she was elevated in storyline and in reality. She’s very much like The Miz in this constant ability to blur the lines.)

Indeed, this growth in stature eventually put Lynch in a position to famously shed off her skin as Sasha’s lackey during the Fatal Four-Way NXT Women’s Championship match at TakeOver: Rival on February 11, 2015. But unfortunately for Lynch, she did not came away with the gold—her former mentor did instead.

Now adrift from Banks, it would not been a surprise to see Lynch once again founder. Instead, she won a number one contender’s match for Banks’ title April 22, 2015 by fortuitously pinning Bayley while she was locked in Charlotte’s Figure Eight. Her exasperation upon winning the match seems innocent enough, but when placed in the context of the character, Lynch’s reaction to the idea of gaining an opportunity through what can be charitably acknowledged as a fluke victory is brilliant: utter shock and delight at getting a chance she never expected to have, both in the larger storyline and the match itself.

She would face Sasha Banks at TakeOver: Unstoppable on May 20, 2015—and though she did not win the match, she accomplished something far greater during her performance of a lifetime. (Based on ringwork alone, Banks-Lynch fromUnstoppable is almost certainly the greatest women’s match in WWE history and easily one of the company’s greatest matches this decade.)

Becky uncovered a certain truth during theUnstoppable match that to this day still guides the character’s arc: life is, well, unstoppable. We can be aware of how we came to be in a certain spot, but getting lost in the past and how things seemed destined to be at one time is an easy way to lose the present and future. Instead, life is “the shit that happens while you wait for moments that never come.”

Venerating yourself and the idea of what should be yours at the expense of reality is more than appetizing, and it’s what led to Becky falling under Sasha’s wing. But it’s this trait that Lynch cast off during her performance that night in Full Sail. This realization, this understanding, prompted the character to undergo a transformation of sorts, from the arrogant cynic to the unabashed dreamer.

When the final chapter of Becky Lynch the character is closed, that May 2015 night in Full Sail will forever remain her most defining moment. But why?

In that night, in that match, Becky finally accepted the power of her journey. She accepted the path of her life. She accepted who she was. She accepted her exodus, and what’s more accepted that despite getting a second chance, things would not come to her because of some vague destiny—she would have to work endlessly for every little thing in her career. She finally accepted the beauty in her struggle and road back.

Sitting in the ring, crying, the NXT Universe serenading her with her theme song—those tremendous few seconds were a cathartic moment for the character and quite probably the performer as well. While nursing the left arm that Banks had thoroughly worked over, she washed out the remaining pangs of exile with her tears and entered a new chapter in life.

Becky knew there was no guarantee she’d ever have another title match in WWE. She vowed that night to make sure that would not be the case.

There are few better demonstrations of genuine emotion in wrestling history.

But it would be far from the last time that Lynch captured the hearts and minds of an audience through her struggles.

Bext: Betrayals and opportunities on the main roster

https://www.cagesideseats.com/wwe/2017/7/4/15639746/finding-her-own-way-becky-lynch-identity-wrestling