#it's thematically appropriate okay!

[strangertheory]

Did somebody say that they saw Dustin wearing shoes from the 1990s in a leaked photo?

I'm not incredibly invested in believing we'll reach the 1990s within the Stranger Things timeline, however...

If they happen to reach September of 1995 even in an epilogue scene, I need Holly to be into Sailor Moon. Because I know she would be.

Our blonde, pigtailed Holly Wheeler would adore a reincarnated warrior princess from outer space (that in later seasons protects Earth from aliens and evil doctors that have been creating creepy monsters in labs.)

[transsongtaewon]

[sisterdivinium]

sisterscell is now ready and open! :)

Or, rather, it's open for interested parties to join and be able to read my WN fanfic whenever AO3 goes down for a few moments. I'm not sure that I'll alter the Members Only control any time soon and I am not inclined towards going back and adding warnings to the stuff I forgot to warn for (oops), but it's there after a few days' feverish work and one need only click the join button if one is ever so inclined.

Now I am going to vanish from the internet because we are almost at page 90 of the teenagers AU and our favourite tragic ladies haven't even kissed yet so we absolutely must work to allow them that much!

[blackjackkent]

Our final quest item for Grymforge (as far as I can remember) is checking out the little side area off the forge, which is absolutely full of lava.

Rakha makes short work of the lava elemental keeping the place all agitated. It's vulnerable to cold damage, she is running Mourning Frost which does extra cold damage, and she has Ray of Frost; she two-shot it before it could heal itself or get close enough to strike. Beautiful.

Not overall a satisfying moment for the beast urge - too easy to kill, and no blood. But at least they didn't get melted into slag, so that's something.

Investigating the island at the center of the lava pit, Rakha finds something far more perplexing than the elemental - a tightly locked chest, seemingly untouched for quite some time. It takes some doing, but she manages to jimmy the lock open and is even more perplexed by the nondescript amulet inside.

She reaches in and carefully pulls it from the box...and immediately a voice rings in her head, piercing and gleeful.

"Thou has come! Hee. Hee. Hee-HEEEEEE!"

Narrator: The amulet is heavy, but holds a subtle warmth, like it was left under the sun.

Narrator: Suddenly, the metal surges with heat. You feel great power and an overwhelming urge - to laugh.

Her face strains, her lips curling up at the corners without her volition. It is like those early moments when she first encountered a corpse, when the beast woke up and smiled and her face smiled along with it - but this is a far stronger impulse, a madness, hysteria. The laugh rises in her throat, unbidden, frightening in its immediacy.

"Haaaaa!" wheezes the voice, mad and eager. "Can thou endure?!"

She can't. The desire to laugh is like an ache in her chest, her stomach, up her spine, every muscle of her face. It is so uncharacteristic, so unlike her, and yet she needs it, everything has been so dark for so long, the tension strained to the breaking point--

"What is happening?" she gasps out. "What are you-- doing to me?"

Narrator: The urge to laugh intensifies. Talking jewelry? That's hilarious!

The Weave swirls and surges around the amulet. She can see the way it ripples with each burst of the urge to laugh. This is not like the beast, which seems to exist separate from her own thoughts; this comes from within her, a spell working on her very being. Her eyes show the whites, an expression of terror above her twitching mouth.

"ENDURE!" cries the voice within the amulet.

She's hanging on by her fingernails, the hysteria threatening to swamp her. Endure. Endure. Endure. The word rings in her head, echoing.

She has spent too long with voices in her head. This new one - paralyzing and mocking and cruel - feels intolerable. Rage shoots through her - her own rage, not the beast, not anything else but her - and she feels all the power in her body rise up to meet this invasion and force it backwards.

[SORCERER][WISDOM] Close your eyes and let your magic flow through you in all its wild and beautiful glory.

Narrator: Your pure, raw power rips through the urge to laugh.

Her body spasms, and a wave of energy bursts outward around her like a supernova, blinding, prismatic, raw, the unchanneled Weave that is her very soul fighting against the spell's attempted control.

For a moment she hangs on the edge of it, gripping on by her fingernails...

And then the desire to laugh eases. The muscles of her face unclench. Her breath steadies.

Free. Safe. No more. No more...

"Thou hast done well!" cries the voice gleefully. She can still feel it pulling at her, calling to the laugh, but she has control of it now. She can feel the amulet digging into her fingers with how hard she is gripping it. "For what is a laugh, if not one step toward madness!"

Another pulse of energy - from the amulet this time - and a strange figure sizzles into being in front of her.

"Return me!" it cries. "Take me home, and thou shalt glow with blessings!"

Rakha squints at the figure, trying to ignore the laughter compulsion and focus on the facts. It's the figure of a human man dressed in simple, well-fitted clothing, bare-armed. There were dead men in the Lathandrian monastery who wore something similar. A monk then, perhaps.

This man, however, has none of the stoicism she associates with the word - he too is caught in paroxysms of laughter, and the twisting of his face calls to her, tries to summon up that helpless reaction in her again. She sets her jaw against it fiercely, groans with the effort of keeping control.

"Return you where?" she rasps out. "To whom?"

"To my granddaughter!" cries the apparition. "Shirra Clarwen! Serves Ilmater, she doth! She waits in Wyrm's Crossing! Take me there, and thou shalt bathe in her golden gifts! O, thou shalt be blessed indeed! He he heeeeee!"

Rakha lets out a soft whimper as her breath catches on the hint of a giggle, and her eyes narrow in rage. "I could barely hold my laughter," she snarls shakily. "What did you do to me?"

"The Sharrans tormented me!" the ghost wails. "And I laughed at the pain 'til ne'er couldst I stop! Is there affliction more terrible than eternal joy? This is my pleasure. This is my curse! Ha. Haha. Ha ha ha ha ha HA HA HA HA HA AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"

Shadowheart and the others have been watchign this play out with increasingly troubled expressions. All of them know Rakha well enough to know that whatever laughter this thing is drawing from her, it is not by her will.

"That thing's tainted," Shadowheart mutters grimly. "Better to leave it than bear a dead man's grudges."

Rakha is rapidly coming to the same conclusion. The request has been made and she is sure Wyll would want her to help this man, whoever he is... but she can't. It hurts. It hurts too much, struggling against this new voice, this new manipulation. It is too close and too deep; she can't fight it and the beast both, not for long.

She clamps her jaw tight, squeezes her fist around the amulet-- and with an effort of will that takes her whole body to muster, she hurls it away from her into the lava.

Discard the amulet.

"You mustn't!" she hears the monk's spirit cry as it drifts away from her into the scalding liquid. "Hee hee hee heeHEEE HEEEEEEEE!"

Rakha sinks to her knees, staring at the point where it disappeared. She feels like she's been beaten all over, and her face aches.

"What the hells was that?" she whispers. "Never mind-- nobody answer that. I don't want to know."

[mars-ipan]

thinking abt atsv. and how i think “miles was never meant to be spider-man” is kind of bullshit or at the very least being spider-man is so not his fault. bc clearly kingpin was meant to set up that collider. so following that pattern of logic that spider was meant to be brought into the universe. so it’s not too far-fetched that miles was bitten. not like he sought out the spider

not to mention the canon has pretty clearly accepted miles as a spider-man. he’s been spider-man for a year and a half and his dimension is fine (interestingly enough, so is the universe his spider came from). he had/has canon events like uncle aaron and also his dad potentially dying soon

like i think he actually very much was meant to be a spider-man. so

[b0rtney]

I live in an apartment building and it is Fourth of July. Some very very large family gathering is happening in the parking lot behind the building, but as the rain becomes more likely, the children are making their way inside with hoots and hollers and the raucous joy of not yet understanding how fucked America is and just having fun screaming with cousins under the threat of politically-thematically appropriate rain. I do not mind that they are jump in on the ceiling above me or cheering in the hallways outside my front door as they play tag inside at 10:30pm, I am honored to be part of the community. Usually my door is locked (the realtors in my area seem to be part of some kind of exploitation racket, and I don’t want them stealing my cookies again), but I must have forgor when I came home from using my friends washing machine because my front door just. Opens.

And through it, for a moment, I see a little boy, maybe three or four, who apparently does not yet understand how apartments work and thought my front door might get him into some part of his house, and he looks at me like “oh shit who is that and where am I” and I give him a little smile and wave in my “big dick energy” t shirt (which he thankfully, probably can’t read yet), and he nods seriously and shuts the door with the air of a horror movie protagonist who is not yet ready to start the plot thank you very much.

While I love children and would not necessarily mind allowing him access to my living room, to discover how apartments work if nothing else (and maybe pinch his adorable cheeks because I have baby fever like no other atm, and my lesbian ass ain’t having kids yet), I have two flight risk black cats in here, so I lock the door behind him.

It is now 11:00pm and everyone has come inside from the rain and quieted down but, lagging behind, I hear little three-year-old hands jiggle that locked door handle on their way to chase mom’s skirts upstairs to his apartment, and I hope he and his mother and everyone else had a fun night.

[keenawatchesagt]

I hate how that performance just gave me goosebumps I don't even stan Kodi or Queen.....

[calliphone]

NICKEL…..

[ceiye]

Mm okay Tokyo Revengers is pretty good. I was worried that it would be like "change something, go back to the future, someone comes out of nowhere to make it worse" and yeah they did do that, but like not excessively. I didn't appreciate how many times they were like "this is the final time travel" a hundred chapters in, but like what actually ended up being the final few time travels were fresher than what came before it. Good job changing the status quo while maintaining the (granted, loose) rules.

I can also see why the fujos latched onto it. It is kinda really gay more than a few times. I think the author didn't intend for it to be like that, judging by how they drew characters before they bishified them, but good on them for rolling with the punches.

Overall, yeah, pretty good. I actually didn't hate the pacing, which is usually a problem with these popular nakama shounen manga. Wish it weren't 20% swastika when the mangaka could have chosen any other Japanese symbol, but like... okay. Sure. They didn't intend it to mean what it is generally meant now, but like it's not really something you can say "oh I didn't know" or "I didn't mean to reference THAT" to, but I don't think internet weebs and otaku are people I would want to have this conversation with

[itsbenedict]

Yep, that all checks out- you've pretty much identified the core problems with P5. Exactly one of the things on that list gets better later in the game, but I won't spoil what it is- most of the issues you've identified stay the same or get worse.

A couple things about the series' history for context:

If you're looking for the concept being applied to the protagonist's mental worlds, that's the main hook of the previous game, Persona 4. It wasn't done particularly well there, either, though- the dungeons were procedurally-generated mazes of featureless hallways and random encounters, and nobody was really fucked up enough for their mindscapes to be compelling. The character arcs those mindscapes served were mostly kind of regressive and uninteresting, too.

The monster design being scattershot and disconnected (and the battle system being kind of old-school hit-elemental-weakness stuff) is an artifact of Persona being a spinoff series of Shin Megami Tensei. SMT's had basically the same roster of demons since its inception- imagine if Pokémon had kept making games, but took the gen-1 diehards seriously and never introduced new monsters or substantially evolved the gameplay. Persona, as a spinoff, just takes those demons and fluffs them as "I dunno, something something Jungian subconscious metaphors", stapling SMT branding and mechanics to a story that doesn't really make use of them.

I've started playing Persona 5 Royal, my first Persona game, because it was ridiculously cheap on Steam. Back when I had GamePass, I installed it but never played past the opening, which I think is a bit weak. I'm about 20 hours in, through the first two palaces, and I'm not sure that my opinion is going to change too much, but I'm registering it now just in case (with some spoilers for the first fourth of the game):

I think having a division between the physical world and the mental world, which is physically represented, is super cool. I used it in Dark Wizard of Donkerk, and am overdue for using it in something else. Psychonauts did it too. Inside Out as well. I will always love this concept.

I don't think I like the gameplay. The last major JRPG I played was Final Fantasy VII Remake, and I thought the same there, so ... I don't know, maybe just a whole genre that I don't have that much of a taste for. It's mostly the random inventory items and pointless mob fights that I'm frowning at.

Severe lack of harmony between the battle stuff and the story. The mob fights have fuck all to do with infiltrating someone's mind. There's stupid elemental shit. The mob designs are interesting but mostly disconnected from each other and any theme.

So far, the psyche stuff has been surprisingly shallow, given that it's the main focus of the game. First palace was a gym teacher (Kamoshida) who's abusing students (physically and sexually), and sees the high school as his castle, but ... I don't know. I wanted more. We're literally walking around inside a character's mind, why is the character study so shallow? He should have layers, like an onion, each more horrible than the last. Kawakami is the other teacher we know best at the start, and there's no sense of how he views her, whether she's a sex object to him, or a non-entity, or someone he's worried about, or what, and I kept expecting that narrative beat to happen. I don't know, I think my fanfic would just radically change the entire palace concept so we get ten times the interplay between real world and mental world, and so we can turn these characters inside out and see all their gross bits.

I wish that Joker spoke more often. He's not really a blank slate protagonist, but there's very little personality there, as much as I'm trying, and that means that other characters are driving the plot and scenes and in general being more interesting than him. This is just a matter of personal preference, and a place where I definitely depart from what the average JRPG enjoyer likes.

I generally enjoy the slice-of-life elements, and to a lesser extent, the time management, though there's a part of me that's just screaming that I should be looking at a guide to maximize values. And if I do that, I'll no longer be playing the game, I'll just be watching scenes and doing inputs. I am definitely not playing this game twice, so if there's a difference in endings, or a big chunk of content I might miss, so be it.

It's relatively low on the anime shit that I hate, though there's still plenty of time for me to be disappointed. The way they're handling Ann is ... kind of not great. She was sexually harassed and then immediately after they have this whole "nude modeling" plot that's played for laughs and titillation, and it's possibly just a me problem here (avoiding spoilers for now), but "girl who was leered at and sexually pressured by her gym teacher being then jokingly pressured by her friends to do sexual stuff she's uncomfortable with" is ... not how I would write it. (The answer to "how I would write Ann" would certainly be pretty long, and I haven't finished the game yet, so maybe it gets better, or gets given more meat in the hangouts or whatever.)

There's still time, but I sort of assume that we're just never going to go into the minds of the protagonists, which is a shame. Tons of possibilities there, and I think if they were going to explore any of them, they would have done it by now. I guess I feel the palaces are underdeveloped enough that I probably wouldn't be satisfied by how they treat the protagonists anyway, but it's what I would have done. Let me see a physical manifestation of how Ryugi feels about his alcoholic father. Let me see Joker's defiance. Let me see Ann's self-image. Show me links between these characters, the differences in how they see the social web.

The frame story for the game is an interrogation by the cops, and I am not a fan. Half the time they're just yanking me out of the story I was in the middle of to signpost "hey, this guy is important". Possibly this will all payoff later in some interesting way, like halfway through the game we reach the "present" and the frame breaks. I usually like that. I've had thoughts on the interesting ways the frame story could be used, and so far they haven't used it in those ways. (Also, there's a bit of weirdness where ... I am pretty sure that I was fighting shadows and using powers outside the Metaverse? Unless the interrogation is actually taking place within the Metaverse. Unsure whether I can register a prediction on this basis, or if there are just more mechanics/wrinkles later on. So far, the interrogation taking place within someone's Palace doesn't seem like it would comport with the rules/expectations that have been set up, but there's still time. I'd prefer not being spoiled if there is a clever payoff or twist.)

This game is apparently 100 hours long, which means it's going to take me forever to finish it. I am enjoying it in spite of any quibbles above, but I'm also feeling like it's only 80% of the game that I want it to be, partly down to execution and partly down to personal preference.

[that-one-wizard-tm]

Okay i just finished the episode and BOY DO I HAVE THOUGHTS.

Diversity win! the soap opera doctor is queer!

K being a bone specialist because she feels guilt about trying to reset Evan's bone and killing him. But now she has the chance to set everything right! (i know in the moment and above the table it was just a comedic choice from Erika but oh my goodness)

SAM BRITAIN DID A MOVIE?!!?!?!? I need more info right now

Jammer getting cast as a shooter and that being what snapped him out of the spell feels very thematically appropriate for him but I'm not smart enough to speak to that.

"COME WITH ME IF YOU WANT TO LIVE"

GOD I loved this episode and tumblr you simply have to deal with me being insufferable about it

[lordsovorn]

In retrospect, it's very impressive how thematically loyal Dandadan stays to the dual theme of alien conspiracies and ghost superstitions. "The world is big and dangerous and unknown, full of mysterious actors and hidden forces that threaten our deepest, most intimate insecurities for unknowable reasons"

Dandadan's aliens are logical and just in a way that is absolutely absurd in practice, but have the power to apply their judgement onto humans regardless, in the ultimate kafkaesque sense. And you might never even know it, and likely never fully will. And ghosts are vicious reflections of this dangerous and unjust world, sadistically hurting random people they encounter from a perverted desire for justice and overwhelming, directionless emotions. These conspiracies and superstitions present a world without grand universal justice, and Dandadan takes that to heart. But there are always ways to fight back, avoid the dangers and stay safe. There may not be divine or cosmic justice in the world, or a promise that nothing bad will ever happen to you. But there IS resolution, and catharsis, and safety nets, and kindness, and stupid fun, and teen romance along the way.

I guess what I want to say is: Dandadan swings from funny to heart-wrenching, from fun to terrifying, and it also has really uncomfortable moments sometimes. And while you could argue that they make the story harder to approach for some, they are very thematically appropriate regardless. And not in a misery-fest way - it always works out in Dandadan. As much as it is a homage to paranoia and dread and injustice, it is a fun ride of interpersonal growth and unexpected friendships, full of hope and nice certainties and fixing things and making things better.

And though it may not always work out in the "justice is restored, evil is destroyed" way and this might be irksome at times as well - it's not out of the blue either. And, in the end, it works out in all the ways that matter for the people living through it.

Not every story is for everyone, of course, and it's okay. But if you were intrigued and had reservations after certain scenes - I say give it a chance, with this in mind.

[lesbianrobin]

ok so here is my pitch for my dream buddie catalyst:

eddie and maddie are trapped in some sort of likely-fatal time sensitive situation together (drowning related probably because it's Them) (have they overused it yes is it still thematically appropriate YES) where one person could potentially sacrifice themselves for the other to survive. i want eddie and maddie using their combined experience and ingenuity to survive together and discussing who should be prioritized which means they talk about parenthood and how they both feel they've failed their children by "running," how their lives have been so defined by trauma and they don't want to scar their children any further by leaving them again. of course they're doing everything they can to get out together, but as the situation deteriorates throughout the episode(s) (c'mon something like this could be at LEAST a two-parter) they can't help returning periodically to the world's most morbid debate.

i want buck and chim on the outside both going out of their goddamn minds. they know that eddie and maddie are stuck (wherever), know that they're probably alive, but aren't sure in what condition and if they'll stay that way. rescue operations begin as everybody walks on eggshells around buck and tries to comfort chim, who wants absolutely none of it. time is running out.

eddie says that he couldn't possibly let maddie sacrifice herself for him and look buck and chim in the eye afterwards. maddie says that she couldn't do that either. she says that at least jee-yun would still have her father, and eddie says that christopher would still have buck. maddie says that of course none of them would just abandon christopher if something were to happen to him but—

and eddie cuts her off and says it's in my will. if i die, christopher will have buck. buck will have christopher.

they just look at each other for a weighted moment. maddie makes a decision. she says ...i meant it, you know. that i couldn't let you die down here (wherever here is i don't KNOW okay i'm not here to think up convoluted emergencies i'm here for drama) and look my baby brother in the eye knowing that i could have changed it. eddie says i know, okay, but it's different, you're his sister, and maddie says, yeah, but you're his... and she pauses. and eddie says what? best friend? partner? that doesn't—

and maddie says you're his. eddie, you're his.

and eddie... i want to see something slot into place. i want to watch him understand as maddie spills everything she's been suspecting since the day that buck came out to her and maybe since before she and eddie even met. maddie says you know, when i first came to california, you were all he talked about? you're still all he talks about. you and christopher. you're his. i couldn't... eddie, you're out of your mind if you really don't think that losing you would break him just as much as losing me. he would forgive us both, because he's buck, but i couldn't... i'm no saint, eddie, i want to survive. i don't want my daughter to grow up without me. but i can't do that to him. i don't know if he'd survive it. even if he did, the guilt would eat me alive.

meanwhile. buck is barely holding on to his sanity as rescue efforts are underway and time is running out. chimney is keeping it together as best he can but there isn't much that he and buck can do. he can't let himself fall apart because buck is already a stiff breeze away from clawing his own skin off and somebody has to keep their cool. something goes wrong—suddenly, their short amount of time has gotten shorter, and they may only have enough of a window to get one out before it's too late for the other. buck, who has been ranting and arguing and screaming this whole time... is silent. he is silent, and he stares straight ahead at nothing in particular, and we know that no matter which way the scales tip, his soul will be destroyed all the same.

eddie regards maddie for a moment. grief, heartbreak, anger, all flicker over him, but what settles is determination. he says that neither of them are going to leave again. that they'll survive together, or not at all, or leave it to the universe to decide.

of course they make it out. by the skin of their teeth, they make it out, working together, clawing their way back to life and love and possibility. maddie makes it out first, and eddie sees buck as she falls into chim's waiting arms. he watches as buck sees his sister, and reaches out to take her hand with trembling fingers and white knuckles, but there is no relief, no happiness in his red-rimmed eyes. just a deep, unspeakable grief, until his eyes slide past maddie and meet eddie's.

finally: relief. and then he is in buck's arms, a perfect parallel to chim and maddie, and we see eddie's face over buck's shoulder, and we know. he is in love, and buck is in love, and eddie knows, and he sinks into his partner's embrace with joy and acceptance.

after that, who knows? maybe a grand confession. a moment of quiet understanding. a passionate post-rescue kiss. a chaste, tender kiss in some kitchen or other. maybe eddie panics later, or maybe he's found peace for once. maybe buck has realized something and he makes the first move. maybe it happens immediately. maybe it takes a while, takes discussions about how it'll affect work and christopher and whether it's worth risking all that they have for all that they want.

and maybe they'll ask whether it's even a risk at all.

[infiniteeight8]

Stiles Stilinski and his red clothes

Stiles shrugs out of his hoodie and leaves it draped over the back of Peter’s couch. Peter looks up, exasperated, but when he catches sight of Stiles he stops abruptly, then blows out a hard breath. “Okay, I concede, I have to ask. Are you doing it on purpose?”

“Doing what on purpose?” Stiles asks innocently. Throwing his clothes around is definitely on purpose, but he’s not going to admit it.

“The red,” Peter says. 

Okay, that’s unexpected. Stiles just gives him a blank look.

“The red clothes,” Peter nods at Stiles’s shirt. “You wear red clothes far more than average. Is it on purpose?”

“I… like red?” Stiles offers. 

Peter rolls his eyes. “Little Red Riding Hood, Stiles.”

“Oh!” A laugh bursts out of Stiles. “No, not on purpose. It is kind of thematically appropriate though, isn’t it?” He grins. “I guess that makes you the big bad wolf.”

Peter arches an eyebrow. “Not Derek?”

Stiles scoffs. “Derek might like to act big and bad, but we both know he’s a marshmallow.”

Peter’s smile is pleased. He likes being the big bad one. 

Stiles will definitely not be mentioning that, given the right circumstances, Peter is also a marshmallow.

[imagining-in-the-margins]

CM Autumn Air Challenge

The following are prompts including the theme of Autumn! Reader, Original Character, Character/Character ships, Gen/Platonic fics are allowed!

This event is over (Masterlist of Fics here), but you are welcome to use any of these prompts. If you would like to be added to the existing Masterlist of entries, please check out the Rules below!

General Prompts

Characters fight over the perfect pumpkin.

Characters share a bale of hay on the hayride.

Character A helps B cope with the lack of sunlight.

The BAU takes a holiday trip to Rossi’s hunting cabin.

Character A “helps” B with baking for the Fall Festival.

Character A is shocked by how cold B’s hands get in Fall.

Character insists on getting the perfect apple. And then they fell on their ass.

The BAU’s Missed Holiday Meal is the first family meal Character's ever enjoyed.

It’s unseasonably warm, but that won’t stop Character from wearing fall sweaters.

Character A tells spooky stories around the bonfire. Now B is afraid to sleep alone.

or anything else you can think of!

Halloween Prompts (SFW)

Wait. That isn’t fake blood. Oh no.

Character has a “secret admirer” for Halloween.

Character A thinks B is in costume… they are not.

Characters argue about the accuracy of a costume.

Character A hates Halloween. B tries to change that.

Character A grabs the wrong hand in a haunted house.

Character is very brave while watching the horror movie.

Character A catches B’s wardrobe malfunction seconds before disaster.

Keep reading for more prompts + rules!

Halloween Prompts (NSFW)

Character's costume is multipurpose.

It’s okay. Screaming is normal on Halloween.

Characters have sex... with the costumes on.

Period sex is, in a way, thematically appropriate.

Character A’s costume is awakening something in B.

Character A dresses as B’s fantasy to fuck with them.

Character A’s obsession with lollipops is becoming a serious problem for B.

Dialogue Prompts

"That is NOT a horror movie."

"Wait, are you afraid of the dark?"

“You’re scarier without the mask.”

“Am I meant to be afraid or aroused?”

“No way, you’re a fan of (sports team)?!”

“Gourds are very versatile.” “You look insane.”

“If the leaves are allowed to change, so are you.”

“My costume is not cute. It’s scary and powerful.”

“Stop looking at me like that. The candlelight is for dramatic effect, not romance.”

Your fic can be a Reader insert, an Original Character, a character/character ship, a platonic ship, or a Gen fic. It can feature any Criminal Minds character. AUs and crossovers are more than welcome.

Tag me in the fic, or send the link to me in a Direct Message. It can be already written, or you can write it for the challenge - I collect both! You can also tag “#mentioningmargins”

The fic can be any genre, but ONLY send me smut if your bio states you are 18+. I DO NOT WANT smut written by minors. Ever. At all. I will check. Platonic ships and pure, fluffy fics are 100% allowed. Please also include some indication of rating if it is NSFW.

Please include Content Warnings and a one-sentence Summary of the fic in your post. For xReader fics, PLEASE specify if your reader is Female, Male, or Gender Neutral.

Have fun!

Happy Writing!

[chongoblog]

SCREW IT IM GONNA TOOT MY OWN HORN FOR A BIT

So it's been like a month since I put up my last big mashup, and the response has been awesome. I wanted to talk about all the little bits I put in there, because frankly, I put a lot of love into it, and I want to share it! Here's the video of the mashup with the music video (which is a big part of it.)

First of all, shoutouts to Shoocharu for the incredible animation for the original MV. I've found him to always have the best Game Grumps animations, and his abilities work perfectly for this music video.

Okay, now just to talk about all the Silly Jokes and Bits and Stuff. A lot of these were noticed by comments (and shoutouts to them! I love seeing people get these)

-Ska Cha Cha is used as a reference to the name of the actual song "Transcendental Cha Cha Cha". Close enough.

-A couple samples are used multiple times at different points in the song. For "Tik Tok", "Ska Cha Cha" and "Down" it makes sense since it's the chorus of the song. However, I also bring back "I'm Blue" and "Toxic" because in the original song, those samples are played over the lyrics "The universe is getting colder, colder. Still every universe somehow got Zumba". Those lyrics are repeated at the end of the song, showing how what was once madness is now being embraced. I thought playing those samples again with the full mix was appropriate.

-And yes, in the two appearances of The Void in the music video, MEGALOVANIA plays because he looks kinda like Sans.

-"words, words, words" was a super interesting inclusion. At first I added it because of the lyric "Just relax..." which is a lyric during that portion of Transcendental Cha Cha Cha. Also, not only did "here's two facts" thematically work well (since the song was about to discuss two separate universes) but it also perfectly aligned rhythmically. Also, that "words, words, words" line might be one of my favorite pre-choruses ever.

-I included Cruel Angel's Thesis at someone else's suggestion, but I'm really glad they suggested it. I actually start it with a somewhat heavy low pass filter before slowly fading off it because I thought it sounded cooler.

-I included "Harder Better Faster Stronger" during that portion because Tom's vocal effects sound similar.

-Cha Cha Slide matches perfectly since the lyrics of Transcendental Cha Cha Cha are also "Slide to the left....slide to the right". Incredibly proud of the little breakdown I included during the mix-up portion.

-"Sometimes this song, it sounds like" segment is referencing myself, since over the years I have developed my own patterns. Sometimes the song does indeed sound like Crawling (plus funny commercial next to it. Again...patterns) and sometimes it does sound like All Star (shoutouts to Star Shop)

-The Mighty B! Theme slaps actually.

-I felt like I had to include the Peanut Butter Jelly snippet, since "it's everything and nothing, it's a baseball bat" sounded almost like it was a direct reference to it. I wanted to include the original Tom Cardy lyric on top of that one both to hammer home the joke and also because I thought the harmonic vocals layered perfectly onto Peanut Butter Jelly Time would make for a nice touch.

-Every time I saw someone notice that I put the "God Dammit" directly after Never Gonna Give You Up to imply that he was mad about getting rick rolled, I gained a year of my life.

-Keeping the "Blink!" from the original song I felt was useful to help kinda punctuate the wildly different samples I was using.

-"Money Game" and "Money Money Money" being played over the French Revolution. Completely unrelated, but have you noticed how much wealth inequality we're facing here in America? That's interesting.

-"Closer" and "Closer" is such an easy joke. In fact it's so easy I've done it before. Did it anyway lmao

-During the big buildup, "Larger Than Life" was used mostly because I hadn't used that song before and I thought it was time. "Dare" was put in because I think that the vocals work really well to naturally create a sense of buildup (unless it's the Live version). "Brain Power" was put in to replicate the noise gate that Tom put on his extended note.

-Monkey Watch and Mr Brightside. Again! Patterns!

-toes

So yeah that's Transcendental Fever Dream. I'm sure if I had more time and excuses to talk about all the nitty gritty details and choices made I'd do it, but I think this is a pretty big breakdown. Something's always felt kinda Big about this one. I think that save for Super Smashup, this is the best mashup I've ever made, and I think it acts as a sort of a culmination of these last 7 years or so of mashups. No idea what the future holds, but if it comes from love, then it's gonna be great.

Thanks for reading.