#jar of positivity 2021

[pierswife]

Y'all being considered part of the professional staff at work is still so jarring urhgyrhyujk

But I'm super proud of myself for getting to where I'm at today, and I think I deserve to be <3

[boiohboii]

The Lost Keychain

(Max Verstappen x f!reader)

When Max loses a key chain gifted to him by his girlfriend, the world realises that a race track isn't the only thing he dominates in.

or

When Max's girlfriend shocks the world about how she has 2 different personalities.

WARNINGS: NOT PROOFREAD, JUST SOMETHING QUICK, A BIT SUGGESTIVE. no actual smut but description of a spicy position in a photo and a suggestive quote engraved on key chain.

Masterlist

Everyone knows how much Max hates media days and reporters invading his privacy, he hates talking about his personal life, especially his girlfriend.

When they first started dating Max tried to keep her away from the media as much as possible, and no one blamed him seeing how sweet, kind and lovely she is, nowadays some of his fans even save her from reporters during race weekends, everyone loved her and they all followed Max's footsteps into protecting the sweet, shy girl.

So maybe this was his fault, actually scratch that, it is definitely his fault, he shouldn't have lost such a precious gift. He feels like everyone is watching his every move much more than usual ever since the incidence at the redbull garage got out, but what can he do, after all a gift like that shouldn't have even been outside of his hotel room.

"Guys, who lost their keychain?"

A redbull mechanic screamed over the noise as he waves the found item around, jiggling sounds from what appears to be multiple house keys and two gate keys gradually drawing the attention of the entire redbull garage.

"Why would anyone even bring their house keys to the garage?" an intern dismissed "none of us have a house in this country man."

Shrugging, the mechanic decided to keep it with him until it's owner realises, and until then he decided to just examine it, maybe there'd be a clue of who it belongs to.

The chocking sound alerted some fellow mechanics, making them get closer to the one who was now red faced with wide eyes looking at the lost keychain.

"Damn," a mechanic said as he took the keychain "that's one lucky motherfucker"

Other mechanics make their way over to the commotion, a crowd forming to see why such an item is taking so much attention.

It was a silver keychain, that much was seen by all the mechanics from afar, what wasn't seen from afar however was what had all of them coughing awkwardly, some even blushing.

On one side of the diamond shaped chain you can see the words 'welcum home. Dinner is ready.' Now, you would think that the pun is just weirdly placed and doesn't match with the sweet message, but the message was intended to be anything but sweet. Turning the chain to its other face, you would see another engravement. A picture. A woman who appeared to be resting on a flat surface supporting her weight on one elbow so that she can lift her torso up, with her legs wide open, palm covering her and a bike helmet on her head. But it wasn't a bike helmet, it was a helmet with an outline that's eerily similar to the design of Max Verstappen's 2021 helmet.

"Holy shit."

"Do you think-"

"Hey, has anyone seen a silver diamond shaped keychain?" The familiar voice of their three times world champion cut through their talking, making them all look like they were 5 year old children with their hand in a cookie jar way past their bedtime. And Max noticed.

Walking closer to the mechanics Max's cheeks got redder and redder with each step, coughing and smiling awkwardly.

"So," clearing his throat in a failed attempt to make things not so tense "that's mine, give it back."

Trembling hands dropped the silver item into Max's awaiting palm before he clenched it around the treasured chain, turning and taking his leave.

"What did you guys do to Max? His face and ears are all red." GP's voice cut through the awkward atmosphere, no one knowing what to say or do.

Noticing the environment and reading the room, GP laughed as he looked at the rest of his colleges. "Did he lose the keychain again?"

[missmimii]

✪ 𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐓- 𝐂~𝐒𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐎𝐋𝐎

୨ৎ － 𝐒𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬 - In which the two ex high-school sweethearts cross paths in their final night in Las Vegas, tension from their pasts building as they make the last night the most memorable.

୨ৎ — 𝐂𝐖. 18+, dom!matt, fem!reader, smut, language, public(kinda?) dirty talk, light degradation, pet names, teasing, light fluff, risky sexual encounter, fingering, detailed intercourse.

✩－ℳ𝒾𝓂𝒿’𝓈 𝓃ℴ𝓉ℯ | I’m not a huge fan of this, and I’m still working on improving my smut, but it’ll have to surface because if I have to edit this one more time, I’ll probably die.

୨ৎ －Graduating Class of 2021 －୨ৎ

✰－ Since kindergarten Y/n had dreamt of the day she officially entered adulthood. She found the idea of being bossed around by adults had been overwhelming, and being bribed into eating green vegetables that looked disgusting, was unethical. In the little girls head, being an adult was being free. And freedom to Y/n, was graduating high-school.

－ Never once did the girl think she’d find herself filled with more joy seeing a boy cross the stage, more than herself. But here she was, tears threatening to fall down her cheeks dramatically as she watched the brunette boy cross the stage. Chris shook hands with the grey haired man before gently taking his diploma, holding up the certificate proudly.

✰－ The blue cap that rested atop his head of tousled hair slid down every now and then, making the triplet’s hand fly up to steady the awkward position. Y/n had resisted the urge to giggle every time she saw the pink tint his cheeks, knowing exactly what the shyness had been stemming from. God, he was so pissed about wearing the gown.

－ She laughed over the tears, sniffling as she watched him awkwardly smile toward the crowd of parents. “Your boyfriend is such a dork, Y/n.” Nick, who stood aside the girl snorted, saying the silly remark as if it wasn’t his little brother. Seconds before Chris had stepped onto the stage, Y/n had walked across. She’d been practicing that damn walk for months, keeping her posture perfect as she smiled and waved with etiquette.

✰－ And during the full 43 seconds she stood on the podium, Chris watched from the crowd, waving his two hands in the air while grinning like a fool. “That’s my girlfriend!” He screamed, numerous times. The girl, not being one for the spotlight, slouched in the centre of attention, her cheeks flushing.

－Nick leaned back on the bench beside her, eyeing up his triplet with a mischievous glint his eyes. Y/n looked at the eldest brother for a second, giving a second glance as she caught sight of the smirk on his lips. “What’s the look?” She inquired, her own lips tipping up slightly. He shrugged, grinning as he stood up from the bench, making the girls eyes widen. “Nick,” She warned, reaching out to grab his hand.

✰－ “That’s Y/n’s boyfriend!” He shouted in between laughs, making the girls jar drop open. “Oh my god, Nick!” She attempted to pull him down into a sitting position through laughs, eventually giving up as she realized he wasn’t budging. Chris’s cheeks almost immediately reddened, eyes darting throughout the large crowd of people, now staring at him.

－Chris’s hat, once again, slipped from his head. “Shit,” he cursed to himself, catching it before it fell. The grey haired man who stood beside him gaped at the foul language, making Chris’s face pale. Oh he was so dead. The triplet’s eyes roamed the crowd, prepared to send a glare to eldest, but instead was met with her.

✰－ He watched as her knees bent as she laughed, one hand gripping Nick’s as the two laughed at the scene he’d caused. Her hair blew flawlessly in the wind, and he swore he could almost smell the coconut aroma it carried. It suddenly occurred to him that the girl he once lamely asked out in freshman year, wasn’t the same as the one he gazed at now. She’d grew a full foot, the god awful jaw length haircut, now grown into wavy tendrils that swayed below her shoulders.

－And him. Chris had even changed. His heart fell with an unsettling emotion as he realized time had flown by, memories of the past seemingly vanished. The buzz-cut he constantly sported had now grown out into its thick brown tendrils, and he even had a job. Chris’s eyes glazed over with tears, that he at first fought back, but failed beautifully. He wasn’t a kid anymore. And she wasn’t the same girl he fell in love with as children, now matured into a perfect young woman.

✰－Chris felt the principal pat his shoulder and say something that went deaf to the boys ears. “You’re set, Sturniolo.” But he wasn’t done. The males hand rose to shield the crowd from his sensitive state, index and middle finger rubbing his one eye as he felt tears coat his lower lash line.

－Y/n watched the boy’s head lower, as well as the motion of his chest moving up and down increase in pace. Oh. She could’ve spotted the body language of his anywhere, the mannerisms he carried looking awfully close to the ones he’d use when overwhelmed or upset. “Sorry, sorry.” She whispered to a few parents as she slipped past them through the rows of bleachers, aiming straight the short steps at the end of the stadium.

✰－“Baby,” she breathed out softly, a sympathetic smile on her lips as she stood at the last step. Chris silently wiped the wetness away as he met her at the last stair. “what’s wrong?” Her hand reached out to carefully remove the graduation cap from his trembling palm.

－Getting on her tippy toes, the girl threaded her one hand through his disheveled locks, pushing the brown strands away from his lashes. The sweet touch, that was meant to soothe the boy, did the exact opposite. More tears threatened to fall as he felt her nails scrape against his scalp comfortably, knowing it would be the one of the last times he’d feel it. “Are these happy tears?” She murmured in an undertone, tilting her head up at him.

✰－ Again, he just shook his head, knowing that if he were to speak he’d end up a blubbering mess. Chris pressed the ends of his index finger and thumb into the corners of his eyes, praying his girlfriend wouldn’t have to see him so fucking weak.

－A part of the girl’s heart tore off as she saw the pink in his eyes, the glaze of water that coated both of them as he avoided eye contact. “Awh, baby.” She cooed softly, using her thumb to swipe away the pool of tears just below his lower lash line. Chris kept on shaking his head, over and over. She didn’t understand quite why, watching as he continued to repeat the action.

✰－It didn’t matter to her though, she just wanted Chris to know she was there. “I’m such a fuckin’ loser.” Chris scoffed to himself, lips quirking up as his chest shook with a few laughs. His blue eyes looked heavenward for a moment, before the slid back down to his girlfriend. “will you marry me?” He blurted out.

－The girls mouth went ajar as she let Chris’s hand fall from her own. “Sorry- what?” Chris spotted the horror on her face, making him instantly reach out of cup her cheeks. “hey- not like now,” the triplet rushed out, pulling her closer. “I just saw you in the crowd and I realized how fast everything went by- yesterday we were seniors in high school and now you’re leaving for college while I- do other things.” What?

✰－“wait- what do you mean?” She shook her head, face scrunched with confusion. Chris’s shoulders dropped with a sigh, before he tugged her closer once more. His lips pressed against hers softly, a far contrast between the usual quick and meaningless ones he’d give her passing in the halls of school. More tears threaten to fall as he squeezed his eyes shut, his thumb moving back and forth against the side of her cheek as he finally pulled away.

－Resting his forehead against hers, “I don’t think I could ever live a life that’s not with you.” Chris whispered, lips flushed as he ran his tongue along the bottom one. Y/n looked into his eyes for a solid ten seconds, throat bobbing as she took in his words.

“Marry me? Someday, today, tomorrow? Hell- marry me three years from now.”

✪ Current year － Vegas, Nevada ✪

✪ The girls arms rested on the cold island countertop, grimacing at the sticky feeling of of spilled alcohol under her forearms. “Jesus.” She mumbled to herself, looking around discreetly while reaching a hand down to tug the skirt further down, desperate for some kind of extra coverage.

－How short does a skirt have to be until it’s considered a belt?

✪ Y/n rolled her eyes, sensing that the material hadn’t covered much more from the attempt. An orange hue lit the venue, the aroma of heavy liquor and cigar smoke engulfing the girl’s nose. Jewels from chandeliers above glimmered along the ceiling, reflecting against the crystal glasses behind the bar.

－ The girl had been standing in the exact same spot for over twenty minutes, making her feel the lamest she could ever imagine. She was at a wedding for goodness sake. Everyone was mingling around, dancing, before sneaking off to throw back a few shots to numb the embarrassment of their god awful moves.

✪ And then there was Y/n. Swirling a cocktail straw around her strawberry daiquiri while her thoughts drifted off into space. How is it that everyone here knows everyone else? It was as if they’d gotten together prior to the ceremony and told each other their life story’s. Conversing, dancing － taking shots off of each other’s midriffs.

－ “You’ve been sitting here for a while,” Her head rose with widened eyes as the blonde bartender approached from behind the counter, throwing a small towel over his shoulder. “could I pour ya’ anything else?” Even this guy knows I’m a poor excuse for a wedding guest.

✪ Clearing her throat, she sat up further in the barstool. “Uh- I’m alright.” The girl past off, sending him a small smile. He nodded, waving his hand in the way of her forearms. “Do you mind..” he rose a brow. The girl looked at him for a few seconds, before the stupid little lightbulb in her head practically shattered. “Oh.” She mumbled, moving her arms from the counter as he swiped a cloth across the surface.

－In the girl’s short experience, she’d gathered that Vegas wasn’t what people had raved about. Sure, it had its spark, and she’d be a liar to say she wasn’t having fun, but it wasn’t … it. She’d spent far too much money on poker, encounter many Elvis impersonators, and got into lots of drunk escapades.

✪ And her excuse was always the same thing. It’s Vegas. When she got cuffed behind a Sephora for dumpster diving for the shoes she’d accidentally tossed in, it’s Vegas she told the officers. When her friend poured a glass of rum & coke on a douche who was hitting on her, it’s fucking Vegas.

－ And she had to give it to the newlyweds, the wedding was absolutely gorgeous.

✪ Y/n tipped back the remaining liquid in her class, humming to herself softly as she swirled an ice cube around her tongue. “Thank you for enduring me during these last few hours.” The girl mumbled mostly to herself, sliding the glass back onto the marble countertop. Her Saint Laurent heels scraped the backs of her ankles irritably, a painful contrast the usual air forces she’d sport on a regular basis. Rose petals sticking to the pointed backs of the black shoes as she stalked across the venue, cursing to herself while adjusting the slim fitting top that hugged her chest.

－ How am I even breathing? She pondered to herself.

✪ She made her way to the closest exit, pushing the door open as she stumbled in her heels. “Holy.” Making a soft thud behind her, the door slowly closed behind her as she leaned against the concrete wall. The brightness of her phone screen illuminated against her face as she held her finger on the power button.

－ Stay on task. 12:38 AM, she read across the screen, eyes widening. “I’ve been here for six hours?” Jesus. Her thumb swiped up on the screen, showing the icon to type in her passcode after Face ID had declined due to the darkness outdoors.

✪ She watched as dozens upon dozens of messages popped down the top of her screen, all from Alyssa, a friend who was also attending the wedding with Y/n. Where are you?, Are you dead?, answer me. Most of the messages contained the same wording, the last one catching the girl’s attention. Holy shit

－ The girls eyes flew open as she read the hoards of texts, Alyssa, a childhood friend of Y/n’s, sending text after text. Most of which containing the same context. Where are you?, are you dead?, answer me. It wasn’t until Y/n read the last message that she felt her jaw drop, as well as her heart.

‘Chris fucking Sturniolo just walked past me and Leah’

✪ The name had trouble written all over it, memories from the past revealing themselves in the girls head as she realized that she was in the same city as him. It had been at least three years since she’d faced the boy, the period of time not nearly long enough.

－ Her skin ached as she remembered the faint of his touch, remembering every single inch of her body that he grazed his sinful hands upon before the fallout. The freckle neck to her left eye, his lips pressed against the beauty mark below her lip, his one hand shakily gliding up her pink camisole while the other drifted below the lace of her first thong. The whispered apologies against her neck as she came undone below him.

‘I’m so sorry’

✪ Y/n inhaled with a shiver, a pit building in her stomach as she fought both arousal and pain. Tears begged to fall as she leaned off the brick wall, brushing the hairs that had fallen from her ponytail from her cheeks. “Shit.” She whispered, voice wavering as she stared at the door. Do I even go back in?

－ She suddenly remembered the gift she had for the bride, the small box with diamond earrings lying in the girls purse. Fuck me. Her hand gripped the door handle, softly shoving it open before briskly stepping onto the marble flooring. Music still played throughout the huge venue, few people dancing along to an oldie.

✪ Dizziness clouded her vision as she walked past many tall brown haired men, knowing that one of them is －or could be him. was this affecting her so damn much? It’d been years, years that should’ve been filled with healing and forgiveness.

Either of which never took place, the void of him filled with resentment and hatred.

－ Her chest tightened from both the top she wore, and the stress of her current dilemma. Fuck everything, fuck me and fuck Christopher Sturniolo － “Jesus!” The girl gasped and stumbled as she slammed into a hard chest, her phone clattering to the ground with a crack. “no, no no －” she bent down, brushing her hair from her face in frustration as she reached to grab her now shattered phone.

✪ A grunt was heard from behind her, before a deeper voice spoke in a quieter octave. “Y/n －stand up.” That voice .. Y/n’s entire body froze, doing the exact opposite of the man’s demand as she felt her skin go ice cold with goosebumps. You’ve got to be fucking kidding.

－ Chris’s hand twitched in the pocket of his slacks, before slipping from the fabric and tugging at his tie. It was merely a gesture to help him from grabbing the girl by her hips, forcing her body upright so he wouldn’t have walk around all night, hot and bothered as he fought the memories of her bent over, ass slipping from the obscenely short skirt.

God, he needed to repent.

✪ The girl winced as she swiped her phone from the ground, shards of glass prickling her palm as she stood. “What’re you, following me?” Y/n grumbled, spinning around with a glare plastered across her face. Chris’s eyes narrowed at the accusation. She’s .. changed. Running a hand across his jaw, he replied after taking in her inquiry. “Cocky of you to assume I’d pay that much mind on you.” He murmured, lifting a brow.

－ Y/n’s mouth fell open at his words, hating how the distasteful remark made her feel. Who the hell does he think he is? The girl’s jaw rolled as she looked away, holding in the scoff that sat on the tip of her tongue. “I’m not cocky, I’m correct.” Both of his eyebrows rose at her words, but failed to reply as she stormed past him, her shoulder slamming against his. Feisty, he thought, the grin of amusement growing.

✪ Chris’s impulsive part of his brain blurred between the critical thought process, anger filling his chest as he turn around. “Running away like usual?” He said before she made it any it further. Y/n halted, jaw clenching as well as her fists as the words registered in her head. Sucking in a deep breath, she slowly turned back to the male. His eyes widened slightly as she stalked back toward him, daggers thrown his way.

－ Oh－ her hand gripped his yellow tie as she appeared in front of him, tugging the fabric with a harsh pull. “You are such a dick.” The girl hissed in an undertone, not wanting to make a scene at her friends wedding. “And fuck you,” Chris cocked his head as he waited for her to go on, only making the girl’s anger grow by ten. “you knew I’d be here- Maddison’s my friend too.”

✪ Chris ran his tongue along his bottom lip, withholding the urge to smile at her amusing behaviour. She wasn’t like this in high school. It was almost －refreshing. “Someone’s finally grew a backbone.” And like that, a switch flicked in her head.

－ Within seconds Chris felt a pain erupt on the left side of his jaw, the girl’s hand lowering to her side with a shouting pain going down it. Holy fuck －I didn’t do that. He went silent for a moment, rolling his jaw as an attempt to relieve the pain and discomfort. “hm,” Chris hummed, tasting the iron in his mouth as he slid his eyes back to Y/n’s. “Sweet.” He uttered.

✪ Shoulders falling, she let out a aspirated sigh while spinning around. She could never win, at least not when it came to Chris. Chris watched as she sulked away, catching sight of her hand raising to shield her face as she crossed paths with friends and strangers. She was crying. He knew it from the way she walked with a stumble, and the way the hand by her side shook gently.

“Fuck me.”

－ His eyes flicked around the room for a moment to make sure his brothers were out of sight, knowing that if they saw him chasing after her of all people, they’d lecture him until the end of time. He’d never hear the end of it, you were supposed to let her go, Chris, you promised to let her heal.

✪ And the worse part was that it was true. He should let her heal, let her find someone who is capable of loving her in all the ways she deserves. Because after all, if he couldn’t, then it he needed to let someone do it for him. The triplet would’ve been a liar to say he hadn’t lurked on her social media accounts over the years, not regularly －maybe every few months. He’d stare at the pictures of her and her friends, a cheesy smile on her lips that he knew －felt, was fake. And it killed him.

－ It broke every single piece of the male’s heart, knowing that she couldn’t be completely happy or unbothered until he fixed the mistakes he made as a teenager. It was a curse, he always thought. Chris had cursed himself with past actions made, holding a deep inner grudge with that boy he once was.

✪ After all it was Chris who’d decided to take another route for his life. If anything the male should’ve prided the girl for her motivation, but instead he loathed her. She knew what she wanted to do, and he didn’t, setting off an insecurity inside him. The nail in the coffin was always the things they aspired for, were far different from each other.

－ Rolling his eyes, he leaned off of the wall and began to stalk after her rushed steps. The long strides he took kept up with her pace perfect as she turned corners, effortlessly keeping up with the girl as she unknowingly was being followed. He had to, didn’t he? Chris wasn’t some monster －well, not really.

✪ “Y/n,” Chris breathed out, catching the girl’s wrist just as she went to enter a washroom. The girl, who was completely unaware of his presence, jumped at the touch. Heart racing as she lurched forward, pulling from the grip she once craved －needed.

－ The coldness of the wall pressed into her cheek as she rested her face against it, eyes fluttering shut as she felt tears glaze the surface. “Let go of me.” He heard her whispered, making his affirming grip only tighten. He didn’t want to. “Chris－” he cut her off by softly tugging her from the wall, nudging her around to face him as he cornered her.

✪ “I’m sorry.”

－ Chris’s tense frame faltered, shoulders falling with relief as he uttered the words. The words he’d been dying to whisper against her neck as he pressed feather like pecks around her jaw. I’m sorry －I’m sorry－ he was so fucking sorry. The sorrow felt by the male consumed him every day for three years, eating away at him whenever his mind allowed rest.

✪ Many mistakes made by the male, but the current one in front of him, taking the cake.

－ Y/n’s chin shook as she bit down on her tongue, forcing the spewing words to leave her mouth impulsively. “You left me.” The girl whispered, voice cracking. “I know,” Chris breathed out, reaching his hands out to cup her cheeks. “I know baby－” she brushed off his touch, turning her face to the side with a shake of the head. “No.” She mumbled.

✪ Sucking back the tears, she inhaled deeply. “You promised me that night,” Meeting his eyes, feeling her own heart fall as she saw the realization twinkle the blues. “I let you－” she cut herself off as a sob threatened to escape her throat, lifting the back of her hand to cover her mouth. “I let you take me, Chris.” Oh god, he knew.

－ Like a whirlwind of memories, the night before the two parted flooded Chris’s thoughts. It was wrong of him, he knew that. He was a stupid fucking kid, and in his defence, it seemed less －terrible then. The lies he whispered against her trachea while he slipped a hand down her garment, the promise he made to love her, cherish her, until they were too old to remember the sealed promise.

✪ Resting his forehead against hers, he unintentionally leaned into the warmth of her body. Coconut, Vanilla, tea tree. The aromas he’d hid away in the back of his mind, all of which reminded him of the girl. Now engulfed in his nose as he lulled his eyes shut, breathing in the comforting scent he missed for years.

－ The rational part of the girl told her to pull away, leave before he could do any more damage. Though, the little part that loved to wreak havoc, convinced her she deserved this, wanted it －needed it. “Just let me make it up to you.” Chris whispered, lulling his eyes open to meet Y/n’s.

✪ Teary eyed, she batted her eyelashes unintentionally while lifting her gaze to hips. “Nothing you could do could fix the pain and hate you’ve left inside me.” Crack. Chris felt his heart fall to his stomach, blowing out a hurt breath as guilt flooded his chest. Chris could only take in her words for a moment, knowing that nothing he could say would make the circumstances right. No words, that is .. The blue eyes fell to her lips, seeing the pink tainting the no doubt soft skin. God, they looked so kissable.

So he did the only thing he could.

－ The triplet slowly leaned in, gently pressing his lips against her supple ones. He felt as her body tensed, but almost immediately fell in place with his actions, breathing a soft elicit gasp from her mouth as she returned the act of tension and need. Chris swiped his tongue along her bottom lip, making her moan softly, his lips twitching at the slightest feeling. “Did I ever fail you back then?” He murmured in between kisses.

✪ Y/n broke apart for a second, a scoff coming from her raw lips. “Any promise you’ve ever made me has been empty and void.�� Chris, speechless, leered down at her with a hooded gaze at the remark.

－ He pulled back an inch to look deeper into her eyes, searching for the hesitation or fear. Nothing. Chris felt his tongue twinge the inside of his cheek, muscles tensing as chuckled a bit. “Yeah?” One, two, three. Y/n yelped as she stumbled backward, Chris’s hand effortlessly twisting the door nob behind her as he nudged her through. “Guess’ I’ll have to change that.” He whispered against her jaw, spinning her around.

✪ With a surprised grunt, she felt her hips being slammed into the hard countertop. “Jesus!” Snapping her head up she met his sadistic gaze through the mirror. “That hurt, you dick.” Chris let his gaze bore into hers through the glass, cocking his head a bit as he examined the beautiful pained expression painted across her face.

－ Chills trailed up her back as she felt his warm hand press against her back, slim fingers dragging from the span between her lats to her lower back. “Whoops.” He said with a grin as he looked her in the eyes, chuckling a bit. Y/n rolled her eyes, head lowering as she felt her thighs clamp together shamefully. “Yeah you sound real apologeti－fuck.” She gasped, feeling cold air hit her backside as a split tore through the room.

✪ He didn’t －oh my god he totally fucking did. “Chris,” she muttered, slowly lifting her head from the counter as she peered at the male from the glass. “tell me you did not just tear my $500 skirt.” Chris heard the ware in her tone, only intensifying the immense satisfaction he felt. “Okay.” He shrugged, lips twitching as he heard her breath hitch, his two index fingers slipping down the sides of her lace thong.

－ He watched in entrancement as the rough garment drug down her plump ass, unable to ignore the far difference in the lingerie she usually wore. She kept it tame back then, panties that would show a little something, and if she was feeling risky, sheer with some lace. But this, this was new.

✪ A sign that he’d lost touch with the new Y/n. He bit down on his lip, pressing down on her lower back as she bent further. “Always such a sweet girl,” he muttered, hearing her whimper as he slid a finger down her glistening slit, applying pressure to the sensitive bundle of need. “now dressin’ like a slut.” Chris tutted softly, eyes lifting to meet hers in the mirror, watching as her eyes rolled back at the motion of his middle finger easing its way into her pussy.

－ He felt as her walls clamped down on the digit as if it was his cock. Letting out a huff of amusement, he added another finger, the push becoming more reluctant against her tight cunt. “That’s it,” he mumbled, thumb slowly rolling over her clit as he eased his other two fingers into her heat. “jus’ open up for me, baby.” He whispered, the pace of his middle finger torturously slow.

✪ The girl’s head fell against the cold marble, whining in pleasure as she felt the ball in her stomach building. It almost was too much, such a foreign sensation after using her own, smaller hands for her pleasure for the few years. As she felt her body react so differently to his touch, the idea of him fucking her, seemed simply impossible.

－ Chris was definitely more than well endowed, if her memory served her correct. Even after fucking her the first time, the occasions after were just as harder to get her through. It was the additional discomfort and pain that got her. She had always described it to be tore in half, a shooting pain as well as heat coursing up her core as he slammed himself into her.

✪ Chris hushed her softly as she began to struggle against his touch, shifting with discomfort, but pushing her hips back against the touch despite her body’s reluctance. “I know, I know.” The triplet murmured, feathering kisses against the opening of her skin tight top. “You can take it.” Y/n moaned at the words, pussy pulsing around his slim fingers that scissored up into her.

－ Hardness pressed into the girls thigh from behind, Chris’s hips pathetically rutting against the soft skin as he impatiently waited to slam into her sopping cunt. “M’gonna fuck you s’good.” He breathed against the shell of her ear, his free hand flattening around her trachea, squeezing gently.

✪ He uttered the words like he meant it, unfulfilled promises he’d never made up for, finally being made. “Please.” She practically whined, pushing her hips back into his erection.

－ Tight walls of the girl’s pussy clenched around nothing as he slid his fingers from her the dripping core, a trail of arousal slipping down her inner thigh as she feigned to be filled. The sound of the triplet’s zipper being tugged at echoed throughout the washroom.

✪ Chris’s hand slipped into his slacks after tugging at the belt, immediately palming over the raging hard on with a guttural moan. Pre-cum tainted the end of his calloused thumb as he ran the pad along his sensitive tip, whimpering as he bucked his hips into his own hand. Fuck this.

－ “Sorry －I gotta’ fuck you baby.” Please. She almost cried the plea, opting to whine in desperation as he lined the tip of his cock up to the entrance of her dripping cunt, one hand placed on her waist as he adjusted himself. Slowly sinking himself into her heat, she moaned breathlessly, nails scraping the marble countertop as he barely got an inch in. “Chris,” she whined.

✪ The male threw his head back with a grunt, chest heaving as he tugged at the button of his dress shirt. “I’m not even halfway in yet, sweetheart.” He said airily, running a hand through his hair. “Be a good girl and hold on for me, yeah?” Chris said, squeezing her waist warily.

－ Huh? Y/n’s eyebrows met with confusion, but she complied to the request with the slightest hesitation. Just as her hands mounted around the counter top, her whole body was being forced forward with one sharp buck of Chris’s hips. “‘Holy fuck!” Her nails dug into the counter, Chris’s hips meeting her backside as he bottomed out.

✪ A shooting pain ran up her core as heat swirled within the drenched folds, pulsing with need as she clamped around his cock snuggly. Chris’s eyes were squeezed shut, hips still from any movement as he forced himself not to come the second he slammed inside her pussy. God she was fuckin’ tight. “Jesus, baby,” He moaned, neck bent back with the overwhelming amount of pleasure he felt as he slowly pulled out of her. “you’re tighter than when I first fucked ya’.” Pressing a hand on her lower back, he sharply thrusted back into her, a startled moan emitting her lips.

－ She felt him everywhere. “S’so good,” she panted, whimpering as she felt the ridge of his cock sliding against her clit sensitively. The pain subsided with each rut of his hips, until it was just an overwhelming tingling sensation with every single movement.

✪ Her walls tightened around his dick with every single retraction, making him groan as he gripped her waist. “You’re suffocating me here, baby.” Y/n whimpered, the words itself allowing her cunt to squeeze around him as he pulled out. “Can’t’ help it.” She whispered, whining as he swiftly slammed back into her. “Fuck.” It was so good.

－ The girl couldn’t tell if she was jealous with his new experience, or thankful. While Chris did know how to make a girl feel good back then, it was mediocre. His hips moved with the need to find his own pleasure, lazy thrusts as he whined and whimpered next to her ear. But this, was something else.

✪ She watched as Chris’s face scrunched with pleasure, neck craned back as he watch his cock fuck into her little hole, before his eyes lifted to meet her’s through the glass at the feeling of her stare. She breathlessly smirked at his darkened expression, pushing her ass out to meet every slam of his cock. “Couldn’t even wait, had to fuck me in a bathroom.” He bit down on his bottom lip, shaking his head a bit.

－“Why? So I would have to walk around all night, with my brothers, feeling like I need to shove my cock into this little cunt?” The male grunted, using two hands to lift her hips, sharply fucking into her from a new angle.

✪ She moaned, nails scraping the countertop, laughing at the sinful statement. Chris’s eyebrows came together, teeth gnashing as he fisted his hand around her ponytail, lifting her face from the cold marble. “Somethin’ funny, doll?” She shook her head, chest still heaving as she panted and laugh.

－ “No- no, it’s just that you’re the same selfish little boy you were three fucking years ago.” She grits out, glaring at him through the mirror as he fucked into her with a darkness twinkling in his eyes. “Worried about getting it up, instead of the girl who fell- ah －” she was cut off as his hips snapped forward, her body going limp as he slammed into her hard.

✪ The hand that was pressed against her belly slid up until it pressed on her neck, slim fingers wrapping around the area as he held her up, set on keeping the eye contact. “That girl, is the same little bitch, that would rather spend time with frat boys then stay with her boyfriend.” He hissed.

－ Y/n felt him slowly pull out, making her breathlessly pant out. “No, no －” she cried out, sinking into the counter as Chris’s hand made contact with her right ass cheek, his hand groping the pink skin afterward. “Hush.” Her body was limp, thighs trembling as she struggled to stay upright, the only balance she held was the triplet’s grip on her.

✪ Which she didn’t know was a good thing or not. “Put your hands behind you,” He murmured while turning her around, two large hands rubbing the underside of her thighs as he stepped closer to her, wrapping them snuggly around his hips. The girl complied, two palms falling against the marble as she leaned back, lifting her hips with need. “someone’s impatient.” He chuckled.

－ Her eyes narrowed into a glare, chest heaving as she looked at his disheveled frame. “Someone’s needy.” Chris rolled his eyes at the bratty reply, hands gliding to grip her backside. “Yeah, yeah.” The male muttered, looking into her eyes nonchalantly as a smirk graced his lips. “Hold on f’me.”

✪ And just like that, he was bottoming out in her with one thrust, the girls eyes flying open. “Chris!” Every fucking inch, she felt as he slid into her violently, a new spot inside being brushed against with every movement. His hand swatted her’s away as she pressed it against his abdomen, “slow- slow down,” gripping her smaller one in his, he tutted softly. “Hands to yourself, doll.” Her face scrunched with pleasure, feeling an iron like taste in her mouth as she nipped at her tongue.

－ Her back aches into him as he ruthlessly fucks into her, the length of his cock rocking back in forth along her pulsing walls. Chris’s head fell back with a low moan, feeling the way her hips raised as a silent plea to continue despite the harsh thrusts of his dick. “Always takin’ it like a good fuckin’ girl.” Bobbing her head silently, he sunk himself deeper in her.

✪ The girls hips roll to alleviate some of the pressure, only causing a whole new shockwave of arousel to come over her. “Yes, yes －” her whined echoed through out the bathroom, no doubt heard by passing guests. Chris couldn’t help himself, the sound of her lewd whines flooding straight to his cock.

－ A strangled moan escaped her parted lips as he buried himself inside her to the hilt, so deep that she swore she could feel him up her throat. “Chris,” she gasped out, head hitting the mirror with a soft thud as it fell back. Chris panted softly while pushing away the hairs that stuck to her face, using every bone in his body not to give and press his lips to her’s.

✪ She swallowed deeply, sucking in a breath as she flicked her gaze down to her abdomen. “Your cock,” she whimpered, seeing the faint outline of hid cock in her belly. He hummed, his veiny hand pressing to her stomach as he drug the top of her shirt up further, just until it was below her breasts. “Yeah? You like that? seeing my cock fuck into ya’?” She nodded dumbly, moaning silently as he pressed down on the outline.

－ Chris couldn’t get enough of her ass. Groping the skin as he lifted her up onto his cock, just before slamming down into her. She moaned in pleasure, he groaned in agony. “Fuck － baby,” so damn tight. She was squeezing the life out of him, clamping down in every inch of his length.

✪ “Oh my god －” tears of pleasure threatened to fall as she released over his dick, feeling him reach places she didn’t even know existed. “That’s it my girl,” He grunted while fucking into one last time, groaning as he felt ropes after ropes of cum spew from his sensitive tip. “Thats. Fucking. It.” All he needed.

－ His forehead pressed to her’s as the two calmed from the aftershocks of their orgasam’s, eyes fluttering open to meet her’s. The look in her eyes was one of the few things Chris noticed hadn’t changed. They gleamed with such love, a love she was so willing to share with him once.

✪ And if he knew one thing, it was that he missed that fucking look. If he could do it all over again he would. He’d take everything back with a snap of the finger, go back to the simple times where they’d sneak from class to meet up, share messy chaste kisses as they dodged the hall monitor.

－ Chris flicked his gaze from her lips to her eyes, over and over, debating what his next move would be. He couldn’t, could he? No －it’d be wrong of him … right? Being the irrational individual he’d always been, he slammed lips against her’s, despite his better judgment.

✪ Y/n’s eyes flew open, a sound of surprise emitting her lips as she felt the impact of his making contact with her flush ones. He cupped the one side of her jaw as he moved his lips against hers, chasing the feeling of pure melancholy he did as a teenager. And god, he’d be a liar if he said he didn’t feel it.

－ His heart practically pumped from his chest, lips twitching against hers as he felt a smaller hand softly tug at the brunette tendrils atop his head. He missed it so much. Chris hissed as she nipped at his plump bottom lip, eyes glaring into hers for a moment.

✪ She laughed. Pressing a hand to the back of her lips as she giggled, chest shaking as she concealed the laughter that wanted to emit from her mouth. His eyes softened at the sight, glare no longer as he looked at her with pure amazement.

－ He missed her so much.

✪ They both looked into each other’s eyes, silently searching for the correct thing to say after the moment they’d shared. Hell －it wasn’t a moment. Chris had fucked her in a bathroom, at their friend’s wedding. There was something so .. ironic about it, though he couldn’t put a finger on it.

－ Should he thank her? Apologize? Maybe he should express how much he liked it － no, no. His eyes flicked to eye to eye, throat bobbing as he blurted out the words he been fighting for years.

“Marry me.”

𝒯𝒶𝑔𝓈 ♡︎－

@fratbrochrisgf @jetaimevous @sturnstvr @sturnrc @stonermattsgf

[cityof2morrow]

JSB Grocery 002: (Functional Jacky93Sims Add-Ons)

Published: 1-13-2024 | Updated: N/A SUMMARY This is a vending machine and functional seafood products to go with the JSB Grocery 001 set (Simmons, 2023). The machine itself vends groceries while shop owners can place sale items in the open interior – sell more items while using less space! Additionally, there are several seafood products which can be sold in OFB shops and used to stock fridges for food points. Some objects require shifting and/or placement cheats for ideal positioning. See below for details.

DETAILS Requires all EPs/SPs. §60-500 | Buy > Appliances > Large Appliances (Community Lot Only) The JSB Grocery 001 set (Simmons, 2023) and Object Freedom 1.02 (Fway, 2023) are BOTH required. Items with “MESH” in their filename are REQUIRED for textures/recolors to display correctly in-game.  Since some items are cloned from shelves, you may need to shift items up once for them to place properly. See below for more details and a download link.

Two items in one -purchase groceries by clicking on the machine itself. On OFB lots, place sale items (like the seafood products) on the vending machine shelf, then place the shelf behind the glass (you’ll need “move objects ON” and “snap objects to grid OFF” cheats). Let sims know what you’re selling by applying one of 21 swatches to the machine buttons. When it runs out of stock, the buttons will glow red.

ITEMS Vending Machine – (252 poly) – functions like the default grocery bin, use with shelving Vending Machine Shelf (196 poly) – place w/ “move objects” and “grid on/off” cheats Lobster (Small/Medium/Large) (530 poly) Lobster Package (974 poly) Fish Package #1 (679 poly) Fish Package #2 (861 poly) Fish Package #3 (689 poly) Fish Package #4 (798 poly) Fish Package #5 (730 poly) Fish Package #6 (796 poly) DOWNLOAD (choose one) MESHES from SFS | from MEGA RECOLORS from SFS | from MEGA *A known game bug may disable some OFB shelf slots. Not all players experience this bug in the same way, but if you do – there is a long-standing fix for it. If you cannot access more than 2 slots on shelves, download ONE of these fixes: MORE_Custom-objects-placeable-on-shelves (Numenor, 2006) MORE_Custom-objects-placeable-on-shelves+LOCKEDTILES (Numenor, 2006) Object Freedom 1.02 (Fway, 2023)

*Seafood is part of THIS set. The aquarium display is part of JSB Grocery 001 set (scroll back up for the link). CREDITS Thanks: Stockable Food Math (@curiousb), @chocolatecitysim, @kashmiresims, @jacky93sims, Waterpixels, Severinka_, BodegBaby. Sources: Any Color You Like (CuriousB, 2010), BBNiche1Master (BuggyBooz, 2012), Beyno (Korn via BBFonts), Cubic Dynamics (EA/Maxis), Dessert Deco Set (PForest, 2021), EA/Maxis, FFP in SimPE (@creesims, 2019), Great Groceries Display (Balkopat, 2020), Grocery Store Part 1 (Jacky93sims, 2023; Severinka, 2022; Bodegababy, 2021), Kitchen Basic (Hafiseazale, 2016; BuggyBooz 2008), Kitchen Basic Extras (Hafiseazale, 2016; BuggyBooz, 2010), Offuturistic Infographic (Freepik), Other Imagery (EA/Maxis; Hyde, 2000-2013 via LightningCoyote), Steak Package (Patrakeevasveta, 2020/2021 via Creative Commons Attribution), Vending Machine (Robotic Earth, 2023 via Creative Commons Attribution), “How do I change object ‘weight’ for surfaces?” (Simmer22 via modthesims.com, 2017), Make Food Clutter Useable – A Tutorial (@deedee-sims, 2019),  Mini-Tutorial: Batch-fix Custom Objects to make them *placeable on OFB shelves* (Numenor, 2006), SimPE Resources (@gayars, 2022), Stockable Foods (CuriousB, 2023),  Offuturistic Infographic (Freepik), “What restricts which object can go into which slots?” (Jonasn, 2023), Vegemite Jar (WR/HChangeri).

[katabay]

lmao these are ocs I made wayyyy back in 2021 on a personal blog and I don’t think I ever posted them here, so I’ll do a quick recap!

the guy with the blue hair is marion. he hunts demons! baron is a librarian at a university only because everyone else who was actually qualified for the position died and he really just wants to go home and take a nap.

that’s about it! it was a story I started on because I wanted to draw cool outfits and big monsters after spending a weekend playing DMC5 during the lockdown, but recently it’s been getting some more serious depth as I build up the world.

the original desire to give everyone fun hair colors has remained the same tho, that’s not going to change no matter how serious this story does or does not get

⭐ places I’m at! bsky / pixiv / pillowfort /cohost / cara.app / tip jar!

[signor-signor]

Trending 27th - June 2024

What gives you the motivation for not giving up on Wander Over Yonder?

Well, for starters, when Craig McCracken brought up the uncalled-for cancellation, he also brought up the existence of…

The Plans

Here’s what Craig said in his Tumblr post from March of 2016:

“About a year ago we presented a pitch for a season 3 arc that promised to bring our characters together in new, unexpected, and hilarious ways. And just as S2 evolved from S1, we had a really exciting approach to evolving S3 even further. We had plans for new characters, the return of old characters, and even a bit of backstory! We were all really excited about the new direction and so were our bosses at DisneyXD and TVA.”

“Unfortunately, the higher up bosses of bosses of bosses at Disney decided not to continue with the show. It's not that they didn't like Wander, they just felt that 2 seasons and 80 cartoons was enough and they didn't see the need to produce any more.”

“For the record, this decision had nothing to do with the ratings performance of S2. Truth be told, we were informed that we wouldn't be continuing before S2 even premiered.”

If what he said is to be believed, the mediocre performance of S1 on Disney XD made the “higher up bosses of bosses of bosses” think WOY shouldn’t continue after S2, so they decided to cancel it five months after the pitch, one week before The Greater Hater premiered. Big mistake. After nearly a decade, Craig still keeps the plans for S3 under wraps, but his talk of S3 is enough to pique my curiosity. He piqued it even more when he brought up Star Force Enforcement Force in 2021. Truth be told, he knows way more about that third and final season than he let on.

At first, I thought S2 would wrap up the show nicely. Boy, was I wrong - it wrapped up S2, but not the whole show. Once I checked out The End of the Galaxy, I knew right then and there that one more season was planned, because in the end credits, I saw…

The Cliffhanger

I will admit, I found the last couple of minutes anticlimactic. Dominator spurned Wander’s friendship, Hater is still cuckoo for conquering (much to Peepers’s delight), and the main four are practically back where they began. I reiterate, it wrapped up the season nicely, but not the whole show, because what I’m about to describe is indicative of the show’s unfinished business.

Dominator walks off in angry defeat, trying to peel an orange (or open a jar of jam if you prefer, assuming you looked closely at what she grabbed), and she grumbles, “They’ll get what’s coming to them.” Unbeknownst to her, she passes by a crash-landed space capsule with its door unhinged. Green lightning flashes, ominous Hater-themed music plays, and simian screeching is heard and fades into Hater’s evil laugh.

How is this anything less than an indicator of unfinished business? If stopping the show here is not a bad move, I don’t know what is. I’m positive English primatologist Jane Goodall would not be pleased with the decision to leave an ape stranded in space with no one around to help him. The question remains: who would find that space ape? Wander and the passengers aboard the Star Nomad or Star Force Enforcement Force? Only Craig and those who worked on the pitch with him would know and so would the bosses of Disney XD and DTVA. There’s also something that was on my mind after I watched the season finale. I shall now tell you about…

The Missing Pieces

I’m, of course, referring to parts that were absent from the episode and left unexplained. We’ve got the other villains, most of whom were last seen in The Bad Neighbors. Emperor Awesome made a silent appearance in The Sick Day, and that was it. As a certain @koskela13 indicated in a post 8 years ago, the villains never mustered up the courage to help the heroes fight against Dominator. There’s also Buster, the planet-sized puppy dog whom the Ballzerians call home. Since Beeza and the Ballzerians were among the refugees, he had to have fled from Dominator’s galactic onslaught. I found long ago that he’s supposed to be all right, but where he is remains to be seen. Same goes for Janet the Planet and her moon, Maurice; however, it was said that they were on their honeymoon, hence their absence in S2. Another thing that I think was left out was Wander getting to sing/play his banjo. Think about it, if the crew had wanted to stop after S2, would they have had Wander perform a glorious reprise of an upbeat song right after Dominator’s downfall? That was never done. It’s pretty obvious.

Moving right along, another thing that keeps me motivated is…

The Fan Content

Over the years, I came across countless fan pieces to make the Internet aware of the show’s existence, such as @wanderin-over-yonder’s calendars. It’s possible to come up with WOY-related activities, original characters, and meta gags.

Master Yisuko

Dr. Otmar Vunderbar

In case you haven’t guessed by now, the possibilities are endless.

I would expand more on the Star Nomad, but I’m sure you can find the information in my previous posts. As long as we’re talking fan stuff, let me refer to…

The Supporting Characters (and their VAs’ Longevities)

Apart from the five major characters, The End of the Galaxy had at least ten other characters speak solo (King Bingleborp, Destructor, the Cashier, Prince Cashmere, Neckbeard, the Lost and Found Guy, the Black Cube, Mittens, Major Threat, and Michelle). All the others barely had a chance to shine. For that reason, I put my effort into showcasing as many of them as I could in my fan fiction, The Eye on the Galaxy. What’s more, some of those characters are performed by voice actors over the age of 50. Stella Starbella was voiced by June Squibb, who was in her mid-80s while WOY was running. Today, she’s a nonagenarian, and if her performance in Inside Out 2 as Nostalgia is any indication, it’s not too late for her to reprise her role as that character. We might have until 2030 to revive the show, assuming June lives to be 100.

By the way, Major Threat was said to become a recurring character in S3, and we’ve yet to see him actually interact with Wander long after he put his days of villainy behind him.

Now I wish to bring up…

The Luck of the Other Shows

A vague and unconvincing reason for WOY’s cancellation was that two seasons/80 episodes were enough. I mean, really? Disney never felt that way about Fish Hooks, which I believe has three seasons and 110 episodes. Also, they allowed Star vs. the Forces of Evil to run for four seasons, putting it well over 100 episodes. And how about Big City Greens? Although not as frequently brought up as Gravity Falls, Amphibia, or The Owl House, it recently managed to get a whopping five seasons. They’re treating it like it’s the new Phineas and Ferb, although there’s no merchandising or presence in the parks. When I compare WOY to the aforementioned shows, it’s clear to me that it had the worst of luck. Heck, I wasn’t even sure if those other shows had pitches for later seasons. We can’t stand idly by while the plans made for WOY remain shelved. It just wouldn’t be right, y’know what I mean?

One more thing…

The Other Fandoms of Shows With Unfinished Business

I’ve noticed the presence of fans of shows that still have more to tell, including, but not limited to, Sym-Bionic Titan and Glitch Techs. One show that’s being resurrected as we speak is Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM), which ran in the 1990s for a measly two seasons and, just like WOY, was left on a cliffhanger (in this one, Snively re-emerges in a different outfit and is raring to take his uncle’s place and put a stop to the Freedom Fighters, and behind him stands Naugus, who somehow managed to escape the void). Fortunately, a group called Team Sea3on are working on a S3 premiere titled “Return to Robotropolis.” You can find this group on just about any social media platform - their determination to right the wrong done to the show is truly inspiring.

Did I mention shows like Hey Arnold! and Samurai Jack got closure after years of being neglected and incomplete? The same thing could happen to WOY if we persevere. Invader Zim, which also only got two seasons, got its overdue closure (I think) in the form of a Netflix-exclusive movie. If a season is too much work, fewer episodes or a two-hour TV movie should suffice.

And I think that’s about it for now. I hope all this information was enough to keep you all motivated! Fight on for fairness, my friends, and to those of you who think of The End of the Galaxy only as a SEASON finale, I thank you.

#CanceledCartoons

[dragonomatopoeia]

Air's Bizarre Christmas Rom-Com Reclist

I am a fan of Romance Media, but even more importantly, a fan of mediocre art. As such, I have watched a lot of christmas romcoms. I have in fact watched Too Many christmas romcoms. While freelancing between jobs, I would put them on in the background as mindless noise to keep me company while writing copy.

This means that I am uniquely positioned to create a rec list of christmas rom-coms that meet a very specific set of criteria:

Is the movie interesting enough to make me actually Watch it instead of half-listening to it in the background?

Are elements of the plot bizarre enough to make me yell "WHAT" at the screen?

Would I rewatch the movie in the company of friends?

Any movie that fulfills all three of these criteria is eligible to join those privileged few, the elite ranks of My Christmas Rom-Com Rec List

A Chance for Christmas (2021)

Synopsis: "Influencer Christina Chance gets the opportunity of a lifetime: a lucrative sponsorship from the brand of her dreams. However, she soon discovers she's stuck in a time warp where the same Christmas Eve repeats itself over and over again." Commentary: This is a Tubi original, and it lives up to all the mess that status bestows. That established, my favorite parts of this movie are that the main character and love interest have the same kind of obsessive, perfection-driven marketing brain poison that lead them to try to min-max a time loop and learn zero lessons for the vast majority of the movie. There's a kind of frenetic, self-absorbed energy to each of the characters that's fascinating to watch. At one point the main character attacks a man dressed like Santa in an act of misdirected rage, and the love interest holds her concerned family back while yelling "SHE NEEDS THIS LET HER GO SHE NEEDS THIS". Also, the kids are actual characters with inner lives instead of props! There are structural issues with the movie, and in my perfect world, the protagonist would quit her influencer job, but overall, I enjoyed it.

A Christmas Movie Christmas (2019)

Synopsis: "A Christmas movie fanatic and her cynical sister wake up to find they are now the stars of a Christmas movie." Commentary: I have a soft place in my heart for scripts written by actors who have been trapped in this Christmas purgatory for years. There's a certain sensitivity to The Way Words Work that is nonexistent in most of these films. Especially since this industry relies on Never Retaking Any Line Read Ever because these movies are basically made on an assembly line. That is to say, this movie is a love letter and a list of grievances wrapped together in a metatextual bow. All of its jabs at the genre feel like they come from a place of familiarity rather than scorn, and the actors are obviously having fun. Line deliveries and elements of blocking feel like they have actual character work put into them, and one of the love interests feels like a Christmas Homunculi with no understanding that a world other than snowglobes and sugar cookies exists. But on purpose this time! If he encountered a turtle flipped on its back, he'd start feeding it christmas cookies, and the movie is Very Aware of This. It's fun.

Baby It's Cold Inside (2021)

Synopsis: "When a travel agent up for a promotion is directed to forget her tropical vacation and instead visit the world-famous Ice Hotel, she discovers that her sacrifices are more than compensated." Commentary: I'll be honest. This one is mostly here because the editing choices made me feel like I was losing my mind. I ended up dragging my roommate down to the living room at multiple points so that they could witness the same thing I was seeing. The jarring cuts, dropped story beats, and lines that lead nowhere make for an unforgettable viewing experience... except for the part where I have forgotten literally every other element of the movie. Except for the inexplicably evil love rival who becomes niceys at the end. I like her. Girlboss. This isn't even the only Hallmark movie that was set at and filmed at Hôtel de Glace in 2021. Truly the most Hallmark movie on this list.

Christmas Perfection (2018)

Synopsis: "Darcy's been striving for the perfect Christmas since childhood; thanks to a magical figurine her dream finally comes true." Commentary: I have already written up my thoughts on Christmas Perfection in EXTENSIVE detail here. Needless to say, I watch it every year. What a fascinating text. What an odd timeloop. It should have been gay.

Snowmance (2017)

Synopsis: "Each year Sarah builds her "Snow Beau" snowman with her best friend Nick. After another breakup, she begins to wonder if she'll ever find her own true love. A little Christmas magic brings her Snow Beau to life." Commentary: I cannot believe the snowman actually came to life. The snowman came to life and he's not even the primary love interest. Nick sucks in a normal possessive childhood friend love interest way, fuck Nick, everyone hates Nick, sure, but THE SNOWMAN CAME TO LIFE? THE SNOWMAN CAME TO LIFE AND HE TRIES TO SELL THE PROTAGONIST'S HOUSE!!!!! SHE LIVES THERE!!!!! This movie made me scream out loud multiple times. It is not good. Please watch it.

Timeless Love (2019)

Synopsis: "Megan wakes up from a coma in a hospital. The husband and 2 kids she just dreamed about aren't real. At her first job interview, she meets Thomas from her dream - or was it a vision years into the future?" Commentary: Listen to me. Listen. The establishing scenes of this movie are played completely straight. For the first chunk of the movie, it feels like this is going to be a dramatic, serious movie in a way that Hallmark Christmas Romcoms fundamentally are not, which makes it EVEN WEIRDER when it suddenly pivots into your classic nonsense. It entrances me. Who let this happen? Why is the medical professional who is assigned to help Megan with the trauma of losing her coma-construct family and recover from being in a literal coma cartoonishly evil? Why was the information Megan obtained from the coma dream accurate to real life? Why is she suddenly okay with losing her coma children as soon as she found the real-world version of her coma-husband? What a fascinating text. I have no clue what to do with it. But maybe you do. I'm folding it into your hands. Whatever happens next is your decision

[breelandwalker]

Sneak Preview of The Sisters Grimmoire Vol. II - Gilded Locks

So he went into the first room. A cauldron was hanging from the walls; it was boiling, but the Prince could see no fire under it. "I wonder what is inside it," he thought, and dipped a lock of his hair in, and the hair became just as if it were all made of copper. "That's a nice kind of soup. If anyone were to taste that his throat would be gilded," said the youth, and then he went into the next chamber. There, too, a cauldron was hanging from the wall, bubbling and boiling, but there was no fire under this either.

"I will just try what this is like too," said the Prince, thrusting another lock of his hair into it, and it came out silvered over. "Such costly soup is not to be had in my father's palace," said the Prince; "but everything depends on how it tastes," and then he went into the third room. There, too, a cauldron was hanging from the wall, boiling, exactly the same as in the two other rooms, and the Prince took pleasure in trying this also, so he dipped a lock of hair in, and it came out so brightly gilded that it shone again.

-The Master-Maid (The Blue Fairy Book)

-----

Intent: To braid wealth into the caster's hair.

Materials:

Hair long enough to braid

Copper, silver, and gold-colored embroidery floss

Rubber bands (if desired)

Ideal Timing: Waxing Moon is best, but this spell can be performed anytime.

Acquire three pieces of embroidery floss the same length as your hair. One should be copper, one should be silver, and one should be golden. Approximate as best you can; they don't need to be metallic, or to contain any of the actual precious metals. If desired, this can also be done with "fairy hair" or long strands of fine tinsel.

Align the three strands with a small lock of your hair. Knot the strands together around the lock, as close to your scalp as you can get it. (If you prefer, you can use a small rubber band for this step.)

Divide the small lock of your hair in half and braid, using the embroidery flosses as the third piece. Alternatively, you can divide the lock into thirds and match one piece of floss to each strand. Tie everything off together at the end. If you'd like to make a larger braid, you can add additional pieces of floss, so long as there are equal numbers of each color. For a fun touch, you can dab some Amber oil onto the embroidery floss before braiding, or add a lucky charm to the end when you've finished.

Leave the braid in until the night of the Full Moon, or until the desired financial boost manifests itself, whichever comes first.

This spell is geared toward individuals with hair that is long enough to hold a braid, but this is not a requirement. In the absence of long hair, you can weave in a piece of sewing thread the same color as your hair (whatever that happens to be). Wet the thread with your saliva and allow it to dry before braiding. This will tie the charm to you the same way a piece of your hair would. Wear the finished braid around your wrist or ankle until the wish manifests itself or the braid breaks and falls off.

-from the forthcoming book, The Sisters Grimmoire, Vol. II; © 2021 Bree NicGarran

(If you’re enjoying my content, please feel free to drop a little something in the tip jar, tune in to my monthly show Hex Positive on your favorite podcast app, or check out my published works on Amazon or in the Willow Wings Witch Shop. 😊)

More Fairy Tale Spells:

[tavolgisvist]

Maxwell’s Silver Hammer

Joan was quizzical, studied pataphysical Science in the home Late nights all alone with a test tube Maxwell Edison majoring in medicine

Maxwell is possibly a descendant of James Clerk Maxwell, who was a pioneer of electromagnetism. Edison is obviously related to Thomas Edison. They’re two inventor types. <...> Part of the fun here is that Edison is connected to the lightbulb and the phonograph, and here we were making a gramophone record.

(Paul McCartney, The Lyrics, 2021, about Maxwell’s Silver Hammer)

Painting to Hammer a Nail In was a wooden panel from which a hammer hung on a chain; a jar of nails sat on a chair below it. Viewers were invited to hammer one of the nails into the panel. When its surface was covered, the work was considered finished. When Lennon saw the piece at a 1966 exhibition, he asked Ono if he could hammer an imaginary nail into the panel. His question inspired her to make a version of the work in stainless steel and glass, which she dedicated to him.

Calls her on the phone Can I take you out to the pictures, Joan?

by blondecasino

But as she’s getting ready to go A knock comes on the door Bang bang Maxwell’s silver hammer Came down upon her head Clang clang Maxwell’s silver hammer Made sure that she was dead

The thing about Maxwell is that he’s a serial killer, and his hammer isn’t an ordinary household hammer but, as I envision it, one that doctors use to hit your knee. Not made of rubber, though. Silver.

(Paul McCartney, The Lyrics, 2021, about Maxwell’s Silver Hammer)

Painting to Hammer a Nail in (Yoko Ono, 1967)

Also invoked is the world of the children’s nursery rhyme, where people are always getting their heads chopped off – and of course, there’s also the Queen of Hearts from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, who’s always saying, ‘Off with their heads!’

(Paul McCartney, The Lyrics, 2021, about Maxwell’s Silver Hammer)

Yoko Ono during her early ‘Half-a-Wind’ exhibition at the Lisson Gallery in London (11 October – 14 November 1967), photo by Clay Perry)

I've got a girl they call the queen of the hop Well I love my queen Do you know who I mean

(Bobby Darin, Queen of the Hop, 1961)

Back in school again, Maxwell plays the fool again Teacher gets annoyed

Songs like this, where you’re calling someone out on their behaviour, are quite commonplace now, but back then it was a fairly new ‘genre’. The idea of too many people ‘preaching practices’ was definitely aimed at John telling everyone what they ought to do – telling me, for instance, that I ought to go into business with Allen Klein. I just got fed up with being told what to do, so I wrote this song.

(Paul McCartney, The Lyrics, 2021, about Too Many People)

Wishing to avoid an unpleasant scene She tells Max to stay when the class has gone away So he waits behind Writing fifty times I must not be so

I’d been able to accept Yoko in the studio, sitting on a blanket in front of my amp. I’d worked hard to come to terms with that. <...> If he fell in love with this woman, what did that have to do with me? Not only did I have to let him do it, but I had to admire him for doing it. That was the position I eventually reached. There was nothing else I could do but be cool with it.

(Paul McCartney, The Lyrics, 2021, about Too Many People)

But when she turns her back on the boy He creeps up from behind Bang bang Maxwell’s silver hammer Came down upon her head Clang clang Maxwell’s silver hammer Made sure that she was dead

This song is also an analogy for when something goes wrong out of the blue, as I was beginning to find appening around this time in our business dealings.

(Paul McCartney, The Lyrics, 2021, about Maxwell’s Silver Hammer)

The whole story in a nutshell is that we were having a meeting in 1969, and John showed up and said he’d met this guy Allen Klein, who had promised Yoko an exhibition in Syracuse, and then matter-of-factly John told us he was leaving the band.* That’s basically how it happened. It was three to one because the other two went with John, so it was looking like Allen Klein was going to own our entire Beatles empire. I was not too keen on that idea.

(Paul McCartney, The Lyrics, 2021, about Too Many People)

*Yes, the song was writing and recorded befor the meeting where John told he was leaving the band but our lads discussed about it during Get Back sessions - and Paul 'was not too keen on that idea', so…

Recording sessions were always good because no matter what our personal troubles were, no matter what was happening on the business front, the minute we sat down to make a song we were in good shape. Right until the end there was always a great joy in working together in the studio. So there we were, recording a song like ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer’ and knowing we would never have the opportunity to perform it. That possibility was over. It had been knocked on the head like one of Maxwell’s victims. Bang bang.

(Paul McCartney, The Lyrics, 2021, about Maxwell’s Silver Hammer)

Q: When you were working on McCartney in London, was it strange not being able to bounce ideas off the others? A: Yeah, it was. Because right up until that point I’d been working with John, the best collaborator in the world. Suddenly that was taken away. It was very difficult. But I thought, ��Well, I’m not going to worry about it. I’m going to sling some ideas down, have a little go on the drums.’ I had my own stuff at the house for my own fun, I wasn’t going into the studio with The Beatles. I wasn’t sweating it. Then suddenly, it became something. “OK, this is an album.”

(Paul McCartney, interview with Tom Pinnock for Uncut, Nov 2020)

(Get me right, it's not about Yoko, John or Paul, it's about the song and some free associations)

[silent-neutral]

About SH2 Pyramid Head symbolism and the remake PT.1

--mentions of sexual violence, suicidal themes and just overall mental illness-- please PLEASE DON'T READ BEYOND THE CUT IF YOU PLAN TO PLAY THIS GAME BUT KNOW NOTHING ABOUT SILENT HILL 2!! There will be spoilers in this ''essay'' and I don't want to spoil such a great game for anyone starting fresh and blind, because that'd be the perfect way to start this game imho - your feeling toward this game will be heightened without knowing too much, plus forming your own view and having questions about it is also cool.

(***Had to cut this down into parts after watching 10+ hours of the remake and so much watching gave me a headache that felt like a literal hangover the next day ugh I felt like James lol otherwise it's too many topics and words in 1 post. This way it might be easier to organize them. )

------------------------------- My mind was blown recently. Ig I'm posting this to clarify more to myself than anything, but I had to search up Ito's recent comments about certain scenes with Pyramid Head. (ahem, the first cutscenes specifically). I've always had my own ideas and guesses about specific details playing as James, but after some clarifications on Ito's part about Pyramid Head.. it kind of jarred me, but at the same time explained other things and now my initial view of this game and its characters are validating my assumptions.. And if you knew about this already, well good on you.... Ito tweets so much sometimes, info like this gets buried and I had no idea until a week or so ago lol. So in light of SH2R releasing, I conveniently found out about some crucial details that would *also* inadvertently explain my (petty) gripes about SH2R. I watched the entire playthrough and my views have slightly altered (mostly positive, as this game was actually very faithful to the original imo). but for now I give you...a very wordy analysis on some themes of SH2. Excuse my rambly thought process though, it's very hard to organise them sometimes, I say to future self re-reading this later lol.

We know the monsters all carry symbolism relating to James. Specifically speaking, the series has a lot of sexual undertones present. Man.. Idk where it all started but I'm pretty sure we all assumed it was true when every Silent Hill source or fanpage over decades would bring up James' sexual repression. It made sense because of how things appeared, plus Angela's trauma and her demon....that James even fights... Well.. Ito hates fans saying James 'sexual repression' being symbolised in the monsters are canon. He doesn't mind people forming their own opinion, but he hates when fans say it's canon lol. At any rate, there was a lot of confusion from what I read at first (and the language barrier didn't help, but I think I got the gist of what he meant). --------------------------------------------------------------- Talking specifically about the mannequin scene, Ito says PH is *not* raping them. Ok sure, tbh it looks too vague to label it something extreme like that. But it became something of a meme and Ig it ended up being believed as true. Kinda wish this sentiment was quashed many years ago and not in 2020/2021 gah... So, what's happening in that scene is actually far more deeper than simply to traumatise James.... Pyramid Head is a manifestation of James' guilt AND unconscious desire to be punished for killing his terminally ill wife. James is called to Silent Hill via a delusional letter from Mary he created in his mind.(A made up one to ignore the real one). He's suffering from some kind of selective amnesia throughout the game, hence why everything is there to remind him of his pain. Obviously he's traumatised by what he did that his mind has blocked it out to the point it seems he has remembered a false timeline of events... but his soul is yearning for judgement. Ito says that, therefore, James is suffering from many delusions, that's what's creating and manifesting his inner demons (true for all that come to Silent Hill). Pyramid Head himself is manifested as the executioner, tasked with punishing James, and so.. He is actually attacking James' delusions, trying to remove them:

*o* And Ito goes further! Right after PH kills those mannequins, he stalks over toward the closet James hides in (also meaningful, lmao, but okok it's not about sexual orientation). Apparently, PH's appearance is shifting. Ito says he modelled and animated all the monsters in the original, so I trust him when he says that the front left panel in the corner of his helmet is peeling/flaking back and a tongue-like appendage protrudes from the hole. Although.. he admits it might be too dark to see in that scene, but it's there supposedly. I'm paraphrasing, but Ito implies that PH is impacted by James' delusions in that James *thinks* he sees a tentacle come out of the helmet and thus manifests that. And that's when James shoots at him - He shoots at his own desire to be judged when it attempts to remove his delusions that are keeping him from the truth of his reality!! James can't face reality at this point - those delusions are keeping him somewhat sane and distracted! It hurts too much this early on for PH to attack those delusions so he stops it...this is why he is 'in the closet'. James continues to keep those 'skeletons' there, for now. It makes PH look like the true good guy - an angel.. like Valtiel (interesting to note they have similar body design). Because of learning this, I very quickly noticed how throughout the Remake, you will find plenty already downed enemies.. and it was easy to think ''PH was here''. After James realises the truth from the tape, the Hotel reveals its true appearance (not sure when it burned down or if that has something to do with Alessa, er wait I remember in Origins it was in her house.. well anyway! this could explain James' sketchy memory of events, especially when confronted by Laura having only met Mary and received the letter a year ago in-game.) Anyway, the point is; if James is aware, then the delusions begin to fade. So after watching the Remake, I hoped that the monsters wouldn't appear/be weakened and lo and behold! Bloober was paying attention! The monsters after you watch the tape are weak and limping, can't attack or are already dead and I was delighted! It means Ito was consistent that the delusions the town creates makes up the core theme of Silent Hill. In the original, there are only 2 lying bodies before the PH fight. (I forget the meaning behind them but it has something to do with James' helplessness.) At any rate, Remake did the 'dying vision' symbolism much better here and the explanation is so so fascinating that it led me to rethink the concept behind PH. Side note though, about that hole in PH's helmet. I was always so damn confused about it for so many years!! I used to draw it as a rectangular hole (some art by Ito actually depicted it like that iirc), and then eventually to a gunshot hole since James, well, shot at him, so I assumed that's what it was from. and NOW it's actually a triangular shaped hole from the paneling being 'turned upward' due to how James' is perceiving him in the moment. What a revelation, I cry. Ah.. and note on other design aspects.. Apparently Ito never designed PH with a mass of flesh under the helmet (just a perpetual shadow and the neck bag thing at the back) and he doesn't even know who conceptualised that, but I think it's due to all the cameos and appearances PH has made in many games since SH2. And he looks slightly different each time so.. yeah, interesting that.

Even the figma has that fleshy mass (and gunshot hole!) but I'd say it is accurate on nearly everything else:

It is a very nice figure though. I can't blame all these figures ever released that *weren't* supervised by Masahiro Ito himself, because lmao, Ito just admitted that PH is subjected to changes depending on how James views him, and that explains why details are vague and hard to determine let alone see bc the game is so dark. Take this little gacha figure of PH for example, from a cute baseball game called, I think, Konami Dream Stars (Pal Pro kun?) Yeah, I got Snake as well lol:

...and yes, shameless little peek at my nerdiness on display, all the Capcom stuff is directly below it lolll

------------------------------------------------------------------ So! Having learned what I did, I ofc had to question the next obvious thing; the cutscene just before the first boss fight. PH was without a doubt molesting the Lying Figure/Body which was moaning suggestively the entire fucking time - no one is about to gaslight me into thinking THAT wasn't sexual! And yes, Ito admits that scene was intentionally made to appear sexual (as opposed to the mannequins) and yet he says it has no sexual meaning....wtf does that even mean?! Well, I think I got it. Again, language barrier is most likely to blame, but... To apply the last explanation for the mannequins; James' delusions are making him *think* he is seeing something intimate to the point it manifests right then and there which is so disturbing he recoils and tries to go back through the now-locked door. And so.. it would seem that to PH, he is just trying to destroy the delusions and he can't help how James perceives that; it's just going to manifest accordingly. And while Ito hates 'sexual repression' as somehow being canon to some fans (the majority actually), well, bruh... can you really blame people for coming to that conclusion? The flesh lips, nurses too, are on the risque side. Now, idk how it doesn't indicate something sexual if it's not meaning to be but I am aware of Ito's art style tending to be quite sexual and suggestive, featuring a lot of bdsm themes in his artwork and he is quite obviously inspired by at least HR Giger's work. So making the nurses, for example, look the way they do may be a stylistic choice, but I highly doubt it doesn't also have a symbolic purpose other than referencing Lisa's image or something (This is Silent Hill though ffs, everything is symbolic, it HAS to be). I'll reassess the meaning of those for myself, but specifically I'm addressing PH (and soon in another post, the other elephant in the room: Abstract Daddy.) Initially, I always saw PH as trying to remind James of his sins, jolt his memory, to wake him up to reality. (Which is interesting considering it's not clear if Silent Hill itself is even rooted in reality, the alter dimensions I mean. Another topic I want to address soon.) I also noticed the mirroring effect PH/Maria were doing in relation to their human counterparts; PH is James, and Maria is Mary; James killed Mary, and so PH kills Maria. But.. If PH is actually also trying to destroy the delusions, (which also appears to reflect the fact James is trying to overcome his guilt, his mental blockages that are causing his selective amnesia)that inadvertently means PH will need to destroy himself in the end as well, and that is exactly what happens..

Coincidentally, this would also reflect James' suiciding.

But first, PH attacks the monsters that are manifested and represent different aspects of James' trauma/psyche. Then he is constantly confronting James by killing Maria, or James having to return to a dead Maria. I thought he was basically tormenting James by showing him what he'd essentially done to Mary. "This is what you're guilty about, this is what you need to accept'' I think that idea still holds water (pun very intentional), but now I feel it adds another layer because Maria is the ultimate delusion... and thus, PH must destroy her. Now when she says 'I'm not your Mary, but I can if you want me to be' makes more sense to me what she is. She too is subjected to James' delusions because she keeps shifting the perspective she talks or thinks in, Mary's or Maria's? But she knows she is not Mary, just a manifestation of an idea. And James deep down knows she is holding him back (like all the other delusions) and that feeling calls PH to thus kill her. When James can't escape the reality of his past, he finally accepts the truth, the memories revived by the tape, and confronts PH after stabbing Maria a final time. 'Stop denying/ignoring your guilt, and stop trying to cover it up with distractions like Maria'. James finally doesn't need to be told anymore, he has punished himself (fitting, seeing as PH is an extension of James anyway) and thus PH, the final delusion/illusion kill themselves and disappear.

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

OK so that's PH! Now to compare that with the remake

My main gripe was that the game is way too saturated in colour and too bright in certain parts, but it improves that as you delve deeper in the game thankfully. Kudos to Bloober for changing James' face to something more 'unaware' and disassociative. Gripe number 2: I do wish they cut out the 'hand rubbing' in the opening scene or at least tone it down bc that kind of foreshadowing is too damn obvious, sorry. Not needed. Especially not right at the start. Not even for old fans playing it, we know what happens, but cmon...It makes James too aware of *something* and his selective amnesia is what gives rise to his own customised demons...if he is even slightly aware of what he did, then what is the point to seeing the monsters, let alone PH attacking them, now that we know what Ito had intended? Wouldnt that change their appearance, or rather, remove them altogether? sigh, anyway. I find PH a bit too bright, not dirty enough and consequently, not as disturbing. Partly for that was how they clearly removed the lying body scene from the boss fight. I would be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed, but now with much needed context, this now makes sense...

HOWEVER....If my guess about James' assuming something sexual was taking place in that scene is what manifested it to begin with, then what is there to say about the remake?... So the simple act of hand-rubbing (awareness) really DOES make a difference, huh?! >:O it took away our favourite PH scene! 😂💔..

We can talk about DEI and stuff like that affecting certain themes in this game.... but Ito saying 'it doesn't mean it's sexual' would explain why it's taken out of the remake. Ito has supervised the Bloober design team on this, so they would have so much more context and info from the man himself... Still, it appears to conflict with James' psyche, bc it is through his very perspective that we are perceiving the town and how it presents itself to James so ofc if James sees something explicit, so are we the player. We are seeing the town and monsters through his eyes. And there is much to say about whether or not the other characters are even seeing the same town, but I'll get to that too. There is also the possibility that it's just 'creative freedom' on Bloober's part. It sucks, but overall... the game's pros outweigh the cons. Symbolism for Silent Hill is a very strong trait though, so I'm a bit conflicted about those changes. In the end, PH being a punisher and attacking the delusions of James' traumatised state of mind is fundamental, so as long as that is present, then I can't really say it's so inaccurate ig. It does imho, take away from PH's menacing persona and tones the disturbing factor down which consequently, in my humble opinion, makes him less scary. Intimidating, perhaps.. but less so. He looks very cool though lol. Especially how he breaks the walls during the chase and the final PH battle, I was super impressed with it! I didn't really like how PH was animated in the cutscene in the first fight (the way he turns around, idk..) but I love how they both throw the spears at you! This fight definitely improved upon the og version. Ah, and the sound of his heavy footsteps are wonderful as well! There was another creative thing Bloober did with PH's knife where you have to pick it up to advance through the tentacle wall thing. I realised this was a manifestation of James mental blocks since he starts holding his head in pain. But I thought "oh cool! James is gonna use the Great Knife to cut them!" But sadly, no.. but.. those tentacles would peel back, afraid of the presence of PH's knife... they are delusions after all~

Oh btw.. I didn't realize this before, but as soon as you attain Angela's knife, PH appears with the Great Knife - before this, he is unarmed. In Remake, right after you get her knife, you can hear PH's infamous screeching coming from dragging the Great Knife, reiterating that he is James. Subtle but very cool! I can't believe I didn't make that connection myself lol bah.

A bit more gripes to mention though: his strange janky movements that were imitated in remake made it look like a sad parody of the original scene, which was much more disturbing. I think it would have been better had they not added that part, it was random to see when he was moving as normal as one does trying to apprehend the mannequins, then calmly and slowly assessing the room only to suddenly flail about and strike random poses barely reminiscent of what he does in the original...and then just stand there as if James never shot him 🤨 not to mention, James looks so unbothered in this scene, he doesnt look at all anxious like in the original..the whole 'interaction' looked awkward. The original scene was paced better giving PH a kind of build up to those strange movements. I also dislike the lack of reaction and bad pacing with several of Remake's cutscenes as it toned down much of the intensity in crucial moments of the game, like in this one with PH. Yet... improved on others that I think were made better than the original's by elaborating on them.

Anyway I will touch on this and add more criticisms on remake in another post, this one is long enough lol; i just tried to get my thoughts on PH in one post but if I missed something I'll just add it in the PT.2.

If you actually read this, you must be as obsessed as I am (thank you)! Feel free to add your thoughts if you want, I love talking about silent hill symbolism or the ideologies behind The Order.

[raspberry-and-friends]

“The secret to a lady’s heart is a PB&J!”

Name: Marmalade Buttercup Apple-Belle

Nickname(s): Mary, Laddie (Princess Ophelia)

Species: Earth pony

Gender: Cisgender female (she/her)

Sexuality: Bisexual

Age: 17

Parents: Rarity Belle Apple and Applejack Macintosh Apple

Sibling(s): Patchwork Apple-Belle (younger brother)

Partner(s): Princess Ophelia Supernova Sparkle

Headcanons and disclaimers below the cut 👇👇

Personality: Polite, well-organized, graceful, charismatic (like Rarity, she has a talent of charming whomever she wants to get whatever she wants), and hardworking (don’t underestimate her petite physique—she can certainly pull her own weight on the farm).

Flaws: Moody, vain, uptight, overly critical of others, and has a bit of a gossiping problem (she takes her mothers’ honest virtue a bit too literally when talking behind ponies’ backs).

Special Talent: Making jam

Cutie Mark Story: Every year, the Apple family holds a memorial for Pear Butter and Bright Macintosh. Everypony who came to the ceremony would place an offering of some sort against the heart-shaped tree planted by the two lovers decades before. 

When she was finally old enough to attend, Marmalade decided to whip up a jar of pear-honey crisp jam, combining the lineages of both families into one tasty preserve. As soon as she positioned the jar at the base of the tree, a shiny new cutie mark appeared on her flank. Gazing up at the arching branches, Marmalade smiled knowing that her grandparents were looking down upon her with pride. Turning around, she was immediately startled by her Applejack pulling her into a suffocating hug.

“Granny Buttercup would be so proud of you, Sugarcube.”

Base by SelenaEde

***DISCLAIMER: In this AU, The princesses DIDN’T hand off their powers to Twilight, and still remain the primary rulers of Equestria during the course of this story. The illustrations and writing (the latter of which has since been revised to fix previously missed grammatical errors and to more closely align with my current headcanons) were done back in 2020-2021 and posted to my now-inactive DeviantArt account. The signature ‘Hun’ reflects the name I went by at the time, Hunter.***

[callmejudgement]

My Shifting Timeline

Judgment's Detailed Experiences #2

(Including my 2 mini-shifts to my Winx and Twst dr!)

October 2020

Discovered shifting from that one tiktok about Saiki K "kicking people out of their drs". I thought they were talking about lucid dreaming at first, but when I went to the comments, a few other people were saying otherwise. So, I went into a deep dive of shifting and concluded that it was a physical experience when people "became aware of themself in another reality."

November 2020

I entered the vibration state "for the first time" (I actually experienced it once when I did not know about Shifting). I wouldn't say I got close to shifting, though, because I exited this state pretty quickly after hearing some phantom noises (they were not scary; I thought it was my baby nephew).

August 2021

I had a lucid dream on the night of the 10th, so I decided to go to my dr. I did not make a portal since that did not work for me the two times I tried before, so I simply thought about my dr and willed myself to be there. Then, it felt like someone gently pushed me, and everything was white. It felt like I was slowly falling and moving forward, kinda. I didn’t feel jarring or disorienting, but comforting. I felt my body changing positions and myself laying in my dr bed (it was my alt-earth magic school dr), but I couldn’t manage to fully shift and ended up back in my cr.

September 2021

I heard about this thing where you ask your spirit guides (or higher self), “What steps do I need to take to shift?” I don’t do tarot, so I decided to communicate with my spirit guides through lucid dreams. Plus, if I did it that way, I would get way more direct answers... or so I thought.

I had my first lucid dream around 4 years ago, and I’ve had multiple since then, so I was confident in communicating with them this way,

But when I had my first LD after deciding to talk to them, they straight up told me “no”. 

Imagine this: you’ve been struggling with shifting, so you decide to contact your spirit guides(something you’ve never done before). Then you have an LD a few days later, but when you ask them your burning question, they just say “no” and make you wake up. 

A few nights later, I had like 3 lucid dreams, and in each one, I tried to ask my spirit guide the same question. 

In the first dream, I realized I was dreaming, looked up at the sky, and said, “Spirit guides, I’d like to talk to you.” I started walking through a river in the town I was in, and it began to rain. 

The people around me told me to say the word “rain” (or maybe it was “water”) if I wanted to summon my spirit guide. I started to get pushed down into the water and lose lucidity before I could say it. I feel like they knew what I was going to ask and was avoiding the question (it’s pissing me off, tbh). 

After I woke up, I fell back asleep because I was super tired. In my next dream, I became lucid again. I don’t remember as much of this one, but I went to call my spirit guide. Before I could speak, the dream people came and started tickling me so I would become excited and wake up. 

I woke up, fell back asleep, and had another LD. This time I was only half trying to contact my spirit guides. The rest of me wanted to eat a burger(I’m pescatarian btw). So I was looking for a burger joint (I was in a giant mall), but many of the dream people were trying to stop me and wake me up. Their main tactic was to catch me and then tickle me so I would wake up. That’s actually what caused my dream to end, and I know it was my spirit guide doing. 

2022

Somehow, nothing notable happened in my shifting journey for a year and a half. There's just a fat ass blank space in my stories for this year that even I'm shocked. I have scripts and stuff, but no experience where I can say, "omg, I almost shifted!" So, nothing interesting here...

 February 2023 (mini-shifted)

I went to bed at 10pm and then woke up at 2am. I laid in bed for an hour, but I couldn’t go back to sleep, so I got on my phone until 5:30. Then I listened to this immersive ambiance related to my dr (Twisted Wonderland).

I imagined I was in the black carriage on my way to NRC. I think I fell asleep for a few minutes, but when I woke up, the space between my eyes was pounding. It didn’t hurt, but it was like a thump thump thump. I ignored it and continued visualizing Twisted Wonderland. My mind was clear, and I was relatively alert. 

I felt a weight on top of me and visuals appeared in front of my eyes. My head stopped thumping at this point and I saw the door of a car. It was light brown and shiny (it looked kinda similar to the interior of a Mercedes Benz from the 90s/2000s). Floyd was sitting next to me and was practically on top of me. Like my back was against the right door, and he was leaning all up on me! It was nighttime, and we were in the backseat of a parked car. Everything was slightly blurred and surreal like I was in a half awake state. 

I remember that even in the moment, I couldn't get over how pretty his eyes were and how clear his skin was😭. My breath literally stopped. Bro was actually so beautiful.

Floyd moved around a bit, and then everything went black. I was back in my bed, and my head was still thumping. I fell asleep after that, and when I woke up, It felt like a dream, but the more I thought about it, the more real it felt. 

Even though I was in a half-awake state, the images were so much more realistic than my dream. The fact that this experience just felt so different from any of the dozens of lucid dreams or vivid dreams I have had just threw me off so bad.

From what I noticed in those few seconds, I saw the brown of the car doors and I think the seats were a tan leather. I saw the yellow-tinted car light that cast a dim yellow glow on the inside of the car. I think the passenger seat was empty, so only Floyd and I were in the car.... AND THAT'S WHY I MUST SHIFT BACK TO THAT EXACT MOMENT TO KNOW WHAT THE HELL WAS GOING ON! WHY WAS I IN A CAR ALONE WITH A MAN AND WHY WASN'T IT MY BLACK KING, LEONA KINGSCHOLAR!! Note: NRC is an actual college in my dr; students start at 18. 

March 2023 (shifted?)

It was about 3:15pm when I woke up. My room looked the same, so I thought everything was normal; it was only strange that I woke up hella late. I got up and stood by my desk, and then I had the urge to try and float. I balanced on one leg and slowly lifted the other until I sat crisscrossed in the air! Then I was like, wtf? I floated for a few seconds in shock, then I got down and ran out of my room to tell my siblings. My sister and brother (who should have been away at Uni, but I didn't realize in the moment), were in the kitchen. I showed them my flying, and they were not surprised. I think they already knew, so I was sharing old news.

I went back to my room and noticed Skyrim was on my pc. My brother was probably playing it. I closed his save and loaded mine. THEN I DIED LIKE 5 TIMES IN 10 SECONDS. Every time I loaded the damn save, a giant would run up on me and kill me one way or another! I got mad and gave up. Then, I did a reality check by pushing my fingers into the palm of my other hand. My finger did not go through my hands, meaning I was not dreaming. I was about to get my phone, but I couldn't focus, and I kept thinking about how I might accidentally shift back. Then I shifted back... I came back to this reality just as this body woke up. I grabbed my phone to check if I really shifted, and the time here was exactly 7:35, nowhere near 3:15pm.

Reflection: Lowkey, I don't consider this a full shift. Even though it was consistent, I didn't feel "completely there" mentally. Maybe it's because I was excited, so I wasn't thinking straight, but idk. It just didn't feel right so I don't accept this as a true shift.

November 2023 (mini-shifted)

I decided to take a nap around 4pm because I had that weird eye strain headache. I had been up since 6:30am and went to sleep at 12:30 am, so I was tired. Plus, it was right after Thanksgiving, so I had that post-holiday fatigue. I laid on my back and started easing myself to sleep while my sister played BG3 in the background. I decided that I was going to shift to my Winx Dr (I was drawing my dr self just before lying down). At some point, I stopped thinking of anything, and my mind started to buzz. It buzzed for a while but nothing was really happening. After a while, I gave up and thought, “I surrender myself (to my subconscious) to shift”. Immediately after I said that, I ‘fell down’ and the room became a small point in an endless void of black (imagine falling down a hole, everything around you is pitch black and you can only see the opening become smaller and smaller).

Then, I felt myself lying on a bed again, but it felt different. At first, I was lying on my back, but now I was on my stomach. I also heard a voice, initially I thought it was my sister or the voices from her game. But the voice sounded too far, like it was coming from another room and was muffled by the walls. When I looked in front of me, I saw a blurry (it could be because I have horrible vision or just blurry vision upon waking) and unfamiliar dark room. Then, I realized that I was in my Winx Dr, in the bedroom on the second floor of the bookstore where I always imagined waking up. Right when I realized that, my awareness ‘rolled’ (it literally felt like I was rolling when lying down), and I was in another bed. This time it was a very familiar one. It was the guest room that I stayed in for a month in my cr! At my instant realization, I shot up and tried to ground myself; however, black spots decorated my vision against my will (not that I was physically blacking out; my body felt fine. It was like my awareness was disappearing from the scene), and I shifted back to my cr room at 5:15pm. I thought it would have been much later, and I took much longer with the initial shifting process since I think I closed my eyes around 4:30 or 4:45. It was so quick, and now it almost feels like a fleeting dream or a long lost memory. But I know that it's real! None of my lucid dreams have ever felt like this.

[spinningbuster98]

And we're back! Yes this is indeed Samus' second adventure involving the Metroids. Absolutely. There was positively nothing in between.

So Metroid II is a bit weird to me, not the game itself as much as the fandom's reception of it

Back when I joined in 2012 I...never saw anyone talk about this game, and when they did it was usually with a big "Eh, it's the black sheep (after Other M)"

So it was particularily jarring to me when this game suddenly saw lots of fans come up and present it as some sort of misunderstood masterpiece in later years, like some sort of secretly genius jem of a game that pushed the limits of the gameboy! This was mostly around the time AM2R dropped and especially after Samus Returns, when people would prop up the original game in order to shit on the remake for all the things Samus Returns did wrong.

Not gonna lie I use to resent this game: I used to think it was fucking boring and dull as hell, so seeing people praise it to high heavens just to shit on SR (as flawed as that game also is), and the subsequent clusterfuck that the Metroid fandom was between 2016/17 and 2021, kinda soured me on the game

But looking at this game in an unbiased way (or at least as much as possible)....this game isn't that bad, not as much as I thought (though it definitely is an acquired taste) nor as much as people used to say

...but it's far from great

But let's start with the positives: this game controls comparatively better than Metroid 1.

It's...still not great because Samus still feels clunky and too floaty, but now she can crouch and shoot and also shoot downwards while falling, which helps a lot

The sprite work is also a FUCK ton better than Metroid 1, with stuff being a hell of a lot more detailed, especially Samus.

Granted it's....got its issues (and I'll get into them more next time) but I'll give credit where it's due

Enemy placement is also far better, with enemies being placed far more reasonably except when you're dealing with the screen crunch and not as incessantly spammed as before. They also tend to do much less damage

The game introduces the series' trademark save points which sure beat Metroid 1's password system or even the Famicom version's save system which still spawned you at an area's start and with minimal health

Of course the game still doesn't have a map (in 1991 this was already pushing it) but given the game's more linear nature it's less egregious...but not completely so because most areas still look samey partly due to the gameboy's monochromatic color pattern and also because, despite the game's better overall spritework, most locations still look really samey, either being generic caves, generic Metroid nests (except the Omega's, that one is pretty cool) and generic building ruins that all look pretty much the same as far as architecture goes

And then we have the music

Yyyyyyeah uhhhhhh

The game certainly has some good tunes, the title theme is delightfully creepy and minimalistic, but with a really nice hopeful part. I like the main caverns theme, the credits theme and especially the Metroids' nest theme

Unfortunately you'll be spending a big chunk of the game listening to beeps and boops that wanna pass off as an atmospheric, minimalist ost

Now look: it....sorta works. When you're going through dark spooky caves and only have these atmospheric...weird sounds to keep you company it can absolutely give you a sense of loneliness and creepiness.....but the game overplays its hand with it way too much

These tracks play every time you visit one of the game's main areas and when you're outside of their buildings, meaning this is pretty much gonna be all that you'll hear of this game's OST for about half of your playtime.

I often see people claim that this game pushes the gameboy's limits and yeah in some ways it does, but in this case I'd say it plays against its limitations rather than within them: the gameboy's simple sound font can't easily create minimalist atmospheric tracks without them sounding way too basic or outright boring, or at least the composer wasn't able to, yet the game doesn't seem aware of this and just spams these tracks throughout most of the game, tracks that barely sound any different from each other and just end up blending in.

I think they jumped the gun way too early with this. There is merit in creating tracks that are incredibly simple and un-melodic but that can still give you the creeps. Just compare this to this

As it is Metroid II's soundtrack, at least most of it, makes the game just sound boring and uninteresting which....well isn't helped by the monochromatic pallette and some gameplay aspects though that's for next time

[katblu42]

Jasmine and Jade (fic Reblog for @thunder-pride)

The themes of this wonderful event are not ones that feature in my fics as a general rule - I'm not a shippy writer at all, and the as such the main characters preferences don't factor in to the stories - so I have been at a loss as to how to contribute.

I do have one story that features a couple who could fit today's theme, but they are OCs. From the moment this story began forming in my mind Jasmine and Jade presented themselves as a couple. They have so much backstory that did not fit into the fic, and I was a little shy about spelling out the intricacies of their relationship while I was still so new to the fandom. I hope the love they have for each other is evident anyway.

Originally written for Easter Tag 2021 (prompts from @bonsaiiiiiii) Approx 6435 words, so I have only posted a taste here (link to AO3 at end of post).

Jasmine and Jade

“International Rescue, we have a situation,” John’s holographic figure announced as the last echoes of the alarm died away.  Once he was sure he had the full attention of his brothers and sister he filled them in.  “An EPIRB device has been activated in a remote section of a national park in Vietnam.  Local authorities have requested assistance.  The remote location combined with challenging terrain makes access to the area difficult.  There is also a weather concern.  Heavy rainfall expected to hit the area soon and continue over the next 12 hours will likely cause rock falls and mud slides as well as flooding in the cave systems.”

“How many people are we looking for?”  Virgil asked, already on his way to his launch chute.

“The EPIRB device is registered as belonging to a pair of visitors who entered the national park two days ago.”  John replied.  “This rescue could turn ugly quickly.  I suggest you take Alan and Gordon with you on this one.  Thunderbird 4 may be required to traverse the river system that runs through the caves and canyons.”

“FAB,” two voices responded as the youngsters raced off to suit up.

“I’ll head out there too,” Scott suggested.  “I’ll liaise with the local authorities and park rangers and co-ordinate on site.”

“FAB.”

And with that Kayo was left alone in the sunken lounge to wait and watch as her brothers took off towards Vietnam.

Jasmine was exhausted.  The fall had left her battered and bruised, scrapes and scratches all over her hands, knees, forearms and shins from her attempts at grabbing hold of something on the way down. 

Initially when they had cut the rope she thought she had a chance of making it to the top without the safety of Jade’s belay.  Then she’d heard the gunshot.  She hadn’t dared look down to where she could hear Jade yelling for her to get out and get help.  But when she’d looked up there was someone waiting for her, a stranger with a vicious grin and a gun. 

Fear had frozen her to the spot as she’d tried to figure out whether to go up or attempt to climb back down and help Jade.  In the end fate decided for her as her hand had begun to slip on rocks already slick from earlier rain.  Her attempt to adjust her hold failed and she slid several feet before hitting a protruding rock. Hard.  She’d jarred her right hip but managed to hold fast and catch her breath. 

She had caught sight of the canyon floor below her and seen Jade being dragged back toward the cave entrance by two men dressed like Indiana Jones wannabes.  She could hear a voice above her but she hadn’t thought he was talking to her – maybe the guys below that had Jade were talking to the guy above through some kind of radio.  Jasmine had tried to haul herself into a sitting position on the rock, but her foot had hit loose stones and she’d slipped again, this time bouncing and scraping down the cliff face until reaching the bottom. 

“You still alive down there?” a male voice had bellowed from the top of the cliff. 

Instinct told Jasmine not to answer.  Instead she had taken time to asses her injuries.  Nothing broken, so far as she could tell.  Her hip was complaining, there were tears in her clothing and blood stains beginning to appear in places, the cuts in her left leg needed dressing, but didn’t look too deep, and her right ankle was tender, but otherwise she considered herself very lucky. 

Taking stock of her surroundings she realised she had landed a few metres away from where her original ascent had begun.  Jade’s backpack was still lying on the ground next to the severed belay line.  When Jasmine attempted to retrieve the backpack another gunshot rang out, and the bullet ricocheted off the rocks a few feet to her left.  Looking up she spied the gunman far above her and her heart lurched in fear – for him.

“Get back from the edge!” she yelled up at him.  It was mere seconds later that the rock he stood on gave way and he was tumbling down the rockface.

Now she was sitting with her back against rocks, tired and sore, beginning to shiver as the cloud cover increased, trying to keep an unconscious, unknown enemy alive.  She had activated the EPIRB alarm from her own pack, and used the medical kit Jade had carried in hers to treat what she could of the man’s injuries as well as the cut on her own leg.  She had tried the man’s radio, but it seemed to have been broken in the fall.  She had considered leaving him and going after Jade, wondering why the other men had taken her, and what they might be doing to her, but staying put was safer.  She just had to trust that someone would come in answer to her beacon in time to find and rescue Jade.

The canyon was rapidly growing dark.  A look skyward confirmed the ominous threat presented by the gathering storm clouds.  Jasmine could hear the rumble of distant thunder as the rain began to pelt the surrounding rock and the surface of the river that ran through the canyon.  This was why she and Jade had given up on their quest for the next clue in the treasure hunt and decided to make their way back out of the canyon.  They were right on the edge of the rainy season, and once the rain began it would not take long for the water level in the river to rise.  The cave system was known to be prone to flooding.  Water would come at you from below, with the river and its network of creeks and streams winding through the various caverns, tunnels and caves, and from above trickling down through cracks, crevices and swallow holes in the rocks and earth overhead.  Rock and mudslides in these caverns and caves were common in heavy rain and Jasmine and Jade had stayed as long as they dared before this weather system had arrived.

Despite the cold and the rain and the intense worry about the well-being of her closest friend Jasmine must have fallen asleep.  She didn’t remember closing her eyes, but now she was struggling to open them.  She was aware that the distant and intermittent rumbles of thunder seemed to have become much louder, closer.  There was something not quite right about the deep rumbling sound reverberating through the canyon.  Between the loud cracking booms that came seconds after lightning the rumbling sound never completely died away, and instead of fading it seemed to be growing consistently louder.  It was the oddness of the sound that gave her the mental strength to drag her eyes open.  The river had moved closer to her – or rather the water level had risen significantly and she wondered how long she’d been asleep.  She could feel the rumble of the thunder now, vibrating through her bones, unceasing and growing in intensity.  The realisation that this wasn’t thunder came milliseconds before she saw the flash of blue and silver overhead.  Not thunder – a Thunderbird.

Read the rest here

[aihoshiino]

your analysis are really interesting and are a joy to read! i wanted to ask about your thoughts on the tokyo blade arc of the manga because its really interesting and gives a lot of characters more depth

thank u so much anon! 🥺 I feel like I've said this in like every ask but it really does surprise and delight me how many people vibe with my longform takes on the series when the extent of my fandom engagement for the last few years has been talking about fate grand order in a group chat comprised of like 5 other gay people LMAO

That said, Tokyo Blade is... an arc I have mixed feelings on! It was, in fact, the arc I originally dropped the manga on back when I was first following it in 2020/2021 feeling it was poorly paced and that I wasn't able to get invested in the cast to the degree it wanted me to me. But upon revisiting the series and this arc in particular with fresh eyes, I think I was being pretty unfair to it - though I do stand by my feeling of the pacing being not the best at least when reading it week to week. It's one of those arcs that definitely works better when you can take it all in at once as opposed to having it doled out over what felt like an agonizingly slow 30+ weeks.

As for my current feelings... in isolation I think it's extremely strong and has some incredible moments that I am PUMPED for seeing animated in season 2 but the further we get away from it and see its long term effects on the cast (or I should say, the lack thereof) the more I feel like it ultimately adds up to less than the sum of its parts.

Not that it's a bad arc, mind! Like I said, it has some insanely strong individual moments and I think the character arcs it ends up serving are super interesting. Its commentary is compelling and I literally can't gush enough about the massive glowup Melt gets in this arc. Every time I have new friends get into the series and understandably react with derision towards him in Sweet Today I just sit there crying tears of blood like that's my fucking baby son you don't understand

I also just really appreciate that the arc is willing to slow down and just let us breathe in some of the emotional baggage the characters are all dealing with without needing to shackle it to Aqua's revenge quest. Even the side characters like the mangakas and the production staff feel like they have real, human lives beyond the ways they factor into the plot and again, it feels like there are real weight and stakes to ensuring the play's success beyond just whether or not it will help Aqua do a thing. So many people's careers (and by extension, their lives) are hanging in the balance and you feel the weight of that responsibility absolutely crushing everyone involved. It's great!

This is potentially a sillier point to add but can I also say that I really like how authentic Tokyo Blade feels as an in-universe piece of fiction LOL. Everything from the premise to the designs rings so fucking true to the exact sort of manga it's a pastiche of that I'm half expecting to hear about the Studio Bones Tokyo Blade anime adaptation announcement any day now because it feels so real to me.

On the less positive side, though... like I said, this arc is s l o w. I believe it's still Oshi no Ko's longest arc at three volumes's worth of chapters and change and it's such a change to the story's until-then relatively breezy pace that it can be really jarring when you go in not expecting it. Again, having the arc available in full to read as quick or slow as you like does a lot to alleviate this problem but if you aren't connecting with it, you're stuck with it for an incredibly long time. This also means that B-Komachi in general and Ruby in specific get completely side-lined for almost thirty entire chapters - Ruby basically vanishes during this entire arc and if you were invested in and excited about her as a character, it sucks to see her get so immediately and completely sidelined after what felt like a big triumphant step forward for her, which is a pattern that will unfortunately continue through the rest of the series.

And speaking of unfortunate patterns... Tokyo Blade is the arc where Akane starts taking steps towards becoming the version of herself I like the least lmao. I've said to friends elsewhere that short hair/LoveNow!Akane and long hair/post Tokyo Blade!Akane basically feel like completely different characters to me and while I really love and am invested in LoveNow!Akane, PTB!Akane is easily my least favourite member of the main cast for reasons that are not entirely her fault.

She doesn't quite achieve her final form in Tokyo Blade arc but the seeds of my worst future annoyances with her (lack of meaningful connection to the extended cast, largely just orbiting Aqua, the overly convenient nature of her deductions, etc) start to take root here. There are some teases of interesting ideas and I particularly enjoy the build up, development and reveal of the true nature of her rivalry with and animosity for Kana but I don't feel like these bear any long term fruit.

That's probably my biggest problem with Tokyo Blade - it feels like an arc that should massively advance the story and the arcs of all the characters associated with it. In some ways it does and we get some tasty crumbs about the central mystery but when you take a step back and really look, the broad strokes status quo of the plot and the character relationships really don't get much of a shakeup and even the things that do feel like they should lead to big changes (Akane figuring out Ai's secret, Aqua finding his half-brother, Kana getting her shine back and Akane's reaction) just kind of... don't? Or at least not in ways that are as impactful as they feel they should be.

Kana and Akane's rivalry is probably the worst example of this. It's built up across the whole arc to the point of their on-stage confrontation basically being the arc's climactic high point. Kana finally stepping into the spotlight again and outshining Akane so beautifully really feels like it should have served as a gigantic change to their dynamic but not only have they barely interacted in any meaningful capacity since it happened, but the times they have it's just been the same old shit of hostility and sniping at each other with the tiny flavour difference of "oh gosh, akane is just such a tsundere tee hee <3". It just doesn't feel like the meaningful, impactful change it should have been based on how hard the end of that arc made me FEEL it.

I've said elsewhere before that a lot of the characters feel sort of like they've been stuck in holding patterns since Tokyo Blade and I'm hoping that in the Movie arc, with the cast being crunched together into a single, extremely emotionally taxing and relevant project, it might shake a bit of life back into the proceedings, especially given that Aka has said that he thinks the manga's ending is probably within sight - though that could be anything from fifty to a hundred more chapters depending on what he's got planned so who knows how things might shake out.

I do ultimately feel more positively about the arc than negative, though! I feel like I rambled a lot more about the things I dislike here than the things I enjoyed but that's because I feel like the arc's strengths speak for themselves while the stuff I don't like as much needed a bit more explaining. At the end of the day, I think Tokyo Blade is a really solid arc that I'm beyond excited to see animated - it has one of my favourite scenes in the whole manga (given that I am an Ai enjoyer you can uh, probably guess which one it is) and I'm really hopeful that we might get a sneaky peek at a certain someone if season 2 ends at the point I suspect it might...

[flirting-with-psychology]

REFLECTIONS Answer the following questions:

What is the single best thing that happened in the past year?

2015:  The beginning of the fall semester when I grew a lot more confidence

2016: Studied abroad

2017: Graduated

2018: Moved into the B Flat

2019: Got a boyfriend

2020: Got a car

2021: Got my vaccine

2022: Went to the premiere of Good Night Oppy which I worked on

2. What is the most challenging thing that happened to you in 2015/16/17/18/19/20/21/22?

2015: Getting over Marble maybe

2016: Getting over Hawaii

2017: Making my 4500 film

2018: The music videos I did

2019: Deciding whether to date my now boyfriend

2020: The entire pandemic

2021: Still the fucking pandemic

2022: Trying to figure out my future with my boyfriend

3. What thing did you learn the most from this year?

2015: Hawaii and Marble

2016: My film class

2017: Also my film class

2018: My film jobs and internships

2019: Starting a relationship

2020: I guess the pandemic

2021: The Nasa footage (or google)

2022: My job

4. What is the kindest thing you did this year?

2015:  I don’t think I’m the one to ask, you’d have to ask people who perceived kindness

2016: Same

2017: Same

2018: Same

2019: Same

2020: Wore a mask

2021: Got a vaccine (though it was mutually beneficial)

2022: Helped my parents with stuff? Helped my friends move?

5. Did you lose any close family member this year?

2015: Nope

2016: No

2017: No

2018: My great aunt died

2019: No close ones, but my grandma’s dementia is getting so bad she doesn’t remember who I am

2020: No

2021: No but my grandma is pretty far gone

2022: No

6. Pick three words to describe 2015/16/17/18/19/20/21/22.

2015: A learning experience

2016: Single, senior, band

2017: Senior to graduate

2018: Almost an adult

2019: Another year older

2020: Covid, long, stagnant

2021: Covid, jobs, vaccine

2022: Friends, film, trips

7. What did you do in 2015/16/17/18/19/20/21/22 that you never did before?

2015: Got further than I ever had in my love life

2016: Studied abroad

2017: Moved into a house with roommates

2018: Moved in with male roommates, did an internship

2019: Got a boyfriend

2020: Bought a car

2021: Got a job in my field

2022: Went to a premiere of a movie I worked on

8. Did you keep last year’s resolutions? What were they?

2015: Here we go. Put one happy moment from each day into a jar: YES. Go to the gym regularly: Doing better but still could use improvement. Get a summer job: Yes. Make an effort to eat breakfast: Haha nope. Make an effort to look pretty: About the same as last year. Talk to people more and appear more confident: Yes. Find things to be excited about: Not as much as I want. Find a boyfriend: NOPE. Write more: Not really. Read more: Maybe a little. Have adventures: Some, but not as much as I would like. Initiate things: Yes. Use “I” more: Yes. Be less mean to myself: Yes. Overthink less: No, still working on that. Be proud of myself for trying my best but accept not being perfect: I guess. Take responsibility: More. Be positive and enthusiastic: Still working on it. Carpe diem: Not enough.

2016: I can’t remember lol

2017: I can’t remember what I wrote. Here’s what I’ll do: write my 2018 resolutions so that when I reblog this next year I will know:

2018: Be more adventurous: Maybe? Overthink and strategize less: HA not really. Get a film job: Yes. Eat more vegetables: Maybe a little but still not enough. Go to the gym, like, ever: Yes. Read more: Kinda. Finish my Harry Potter spellbook: Not yet.

2019: Get a boyfriend: Finally did! Be more spontaneous and adventurous: Kinda? Sometimes? Lose weight and eat better: Nope. Read more books: Nope. Finish my Harry Potter spellbook: Not yet. Learn how to work hard: Not really. Spend more time with my friends: Kinda. Love myself, and be someone I love: Not really. Carpe diem: Sometimes. Keep doing the moment calendar and journal: Yes. Earn more money than I spend: Nope. Travel: Yes. Discover new music: Yes. Try new creative things: Yes. Believe in myself: Not really. Learn to be a leader: Nope. Watch more movies: Some. Think about other people: Tried to. Learn how to make mistakes: Kinda.

2020: Get a new job: No. Lose weight and fit into my dresses again: Noope, the opposite. Read more books: A couple. Spend more time with friends: Haha, nope, although I did zoom with them some. Go on dates: Not really. Keep doing the moment calendar and journal: Yes. Try new creative things: Yes, I tried dice making. Take risks even if they cost money: Yes, again the dice making. Make more money than I spend: Actually yes with the stimulus. Make jewelry: Some, and opened and etsy page. Get back to people in a timely manner: So-so. Be more punctual: Nope. Finish my harry potter spellbook and keep up with my character book: Nope. Learn new things: Not enough. Be the kind of person I wish I could be: No. Be more open to ideas: No. Post more pictures online: No. Don’t be such a control freak: Not even a little bit. Worry less about what people think: Kinda. Laugh more: No.

2021: Get an interesting job: Yes. Get my own apartment: No but I moved in with my boyfriend. Get a covid vaccine: Yes, 3 of them. Lose weight: Lol no. Keep doing my sticky notes and moment calendar: Yes. Be less hard on myself: Kinda. Survive: The year’s not over but yes so far.

2022: Finish moving in: Yes, after a scare with a fire in my neighborhood that prompted me to finally get all my stuff together. Get back to normal: Covid wise, yes, for the most part. Lose weight: Not really. Do more crafts: I think so. Read more books: A couple but not as many as I wanted to. Do well at my job: Yes. Hang out with my friends more: Yes. DM a short campaign: No. Keep doing my sticky notes and journal: Yes.

2023 resolutions: Keep doing my sticky notes and journal. Actually lose weight. Stick to my dice workout rewards program. Finally finish my Harry Potter spellbook. Be on time for work. Cut out the time I waste getting ready for bed. Do more creative projects. Read more books. Make the Detroit: Become Human jacket. Spend time with my friends. DM a one-shot. Make friends at work. Clean the apartment. Save a decent amount of money. 

9. Did you travel to any interesting places in 2015/16/17/18/19/20/21/22?

2015: Went to Las Vegas for my birthday and California with the band and Kentucky to see Paul McCartney.

2016: Went to Italy, went on band trips to California and Texas

2017: Went to London with my mom, went to New Orleans for my cousin’s wedding and hooked up with my 6th grade crush, went to Wyoming for the solar eclipse

2018: Went to Las Vegas for a film shoot

2019: Went to Israel

2020: Went to Harry Potter World in Orlando with my boyfriend

2021: Nothing too exciting but went to Colorado Springs for thanksgiving

2022: Made up for some lost time with trips to St. Louis, Chicago, San Francisco, and New York

10. What would you like to have in 2016/17/18/19/20/21/22/23 that you lacked in 2015/16/17/18/19/20/21/22?

2015: A BOYFRIEND HAHAHA

2016: Still a boyfriend lmao fml

2017: Still a boyfriend but one that I feel satisfied with. I’m not sure if I’m there with Guacamole. Also he’s not even my boyfriend yet

2018: Still a boyfriend lmao

2019: An interesting job (finally got the boyfriend!)

2020: A job, an apartment, and a vaccine

2021: A fucking break from this damn pandemic

2022: Clarity

11. Do you even believe in new year’s resolutions? Why or why not?

2015: I think they are a good idea, for reflection as much as goals.

2016: Maybe. Idk

2017: Yeah it’s a good idea

2018: It’s always good to try to better yourself and it gives you motivation to do it

2019: It’s a good idea for goals

2020: It’s good to make goals and remind yourself what to work on

2021: Yeah it’s a good idea

2022: It’s good to make goals

12. Do you believe that 2015/16/17/18/19/20/21/22 had an reoccurring theme for you? If so, which theme and why?

2015: No more than any other year really

2016: More like my entire life has a recurring theme of being single af

2017: Not really

2018: Boys I like having girlfriends

2019: Macy’s

2020: Covid

2021: Still covid

2022: Making up for lost time in the pandemic

13. Do you feel like 2015/16/17/18/19/20/21/22 went by too fast?

2015: No

2016: It went a little fast, especially now that I’m about to graduate

2017: Not really

2018: Not really, but maybe my youth went too fast

2019: It went by too fast for how much I accomplished

2020: It went by way too slow

2021: No but my youth is going by too fast

2022: I think it went a normal speed but yes my youth is going by too fast

14. Did you fall in love with any new artists during the year 2015/16/17/18/19/20/21/22? List them.

2015: I fell back in love with Taylor Swift

2016: Collabro

2017: Anastasia the Musical cast, and Hamilton is growing on me

2018: A bunch of musicals

2019: My musicals playlist on spotify has Rent, Dear Evan Hansen, Legally Blonde, Galavant, Hamilton, A Star Is Born, Frozen 2

2020: Fell more in love with taylor Swift, and Come From Away

2021: Olivia Rodrigo

2022: Jake Wesley Rogers

15. Brag about two of your accomplishments in 2015/16/17/18/19/20/21/22.

2015: I made a couple cool music videos, and I lost some weight after increasing my gym attendance.

2016: I made a short film, Pancakes, with a full crew. I got straight A’s in the spring.

2017: I graduated and I made another short film

2018: I worked on two film shoots and I got promoted at work

2019: I stayed in touch with friends I made on a film shoot, and I got a boyfriend

2020: Bought a car and was the costume designer for a TV pilot

2021: Got a temporary job on a documentary, got a full-time job in my field

2022: Had a movie I worked on premiere, got a friend group

16. What was your favorite movie that came out this year?

2015: The Martian

2016: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

2017: Coco

2018: A Star Is Born

2019: Rocketman

2020: None of them were really memorable

2021: Again there were none that memorable

2022: Good Night Oppy

17. Fill in the blank: In 2016/17/18/19/20/21/22/23 I will ____________.

2015: Get the confidence back that I had in the fall

2016: Graduate college

2017: Start looking for film jobs

2018: Find myself

2019: Find a new job

2020: Survive, please

2021: Rebuild

2022: Lose weight, finally finish the Harry Potter Spellbook

18. If you could fly anywhere in the world in 2016/17/18/19/20/21/22/23, where would you go?

2015: Italy, and I plan to!

2016: London, and I plan to

2017: Scotland or Ireland, and I don’t have any plans to

2018: Maybe that Israel birthright thing

2019: Maybe Ireland or Amsterdam

2020: Wherever has the least amount of covid. Of course that probably means they wouldn’t let me in

2021: An alternate dimension that doesn’t have covid

2022: Maybe Amsterdam, we had planned loosely on that before covid

19. What was your biggest regret of 2015/16/17/18/19/20/21/22?

2015: Worrying about the future when I had something good rather than just enjoying it

2016: Not trying enough in making friends and making the most out of it

2017: Maybe not getting quite enough out of college

2018: Forgetting or never quite learning how to work hard. That and not asking a cute guy out in time

2019: Not buying that moonstone necklace

2020: Gaining weight

2021: Maybe being mean to my dad

2022: Being unfair to my boyfriend

20. Do you think you’ll be having a better 2016/17/18/19/20/21/22/23 than 2015/16/17/18/19/20/21/22?

2015: I hope so

2016: I hope so

2017: I hope so

2018: I hope so and I think so

2019: I sure hope so

2020: I fucking hope so

2021: God I fucking hope so

2022: I hope so but I don’t want to get my hopes up too hard

21. Did you make any new friends this year? Lose any friends?

2015: I got closer with some friends :)

2016: I made some new band and film friends. One of my friends from freshman year died.

2017: I almost lost a friend but now we seem to be friends again. I also made some new ones

2018: I made some new ones, and kinda stopped being friends with some of my old roommates

2019: I think I got closer to some friends

2020: I met a few online playing among us, and I probably lost my roommates

2021: I met a couple people from the film shoots and DnD

2022: I got closer to some friends

22. What was the biggest adventure of the last year?

2015: Hawaii, I think

2016: Studying abroad

2017: Moving out and starting to adult

2018: The film shoots

2019: Dating my boyfriend

2020: Harry Potter World

2021: Venturing back into the world

2022: Gradually getting back to normal

23. Did you get cake on your birthday? Presents? What you wanted?

2015: Yeah I went to Vegas which was cool! Got cake and alcohol and presents

2016: I did not get cake but I got IHOP. I got presents, and the football team won the game that day sending us to the PAC 12 Championship

2017: I got pancakes, presents, and maybe I’m starting to get what I wanted?

2018: I got chocolate mousse and presents and I didn’t even know what I wanted

2019: I got cake and presents including one thing I wanted

2020: I got bundt cake and a few things from my wish list

2021: I got fondue and shopping and presents

2022: I got chocolate fondue and presents

24. How much did you change this year? What’s different about you?

2015: Not too much has changed but I think I’m prettier, more confident, braver, and value bravery more.

2016: I’m lazier, gained back the weight that I lost last year, and lost some of the confidence from last year. Wow…

2017: I’m not a student anymore

2018: I maybe lost some of my hope in my love life and felt more set in my ways

2019: I don’t have as much FOMO but I’m also getting more frustrated with my life

2020: Gained weight, got more anxiety

2021: Maybe became more forgiving of myself, started running out of fucks to give, but also still worried about running out of time

2022: Got more relaxed about covid, hung out with friends more

CONFESSIONS

Bold the statements that are true (2015) and cross out (2016) and italicize (2017) and I’m running out of formats so CAPS (2018) and *star (2019) and ~tilde (2020) and =equals (2021) and +(2022)

In the year 2015/2016/2017/2018/2019/2020/2021/2022 I confess that I….

KISSED SOMEONE I HAVE NEVER KISSED BEFORE. +=~*DID SOMETHING I REGRET. *Painted a picture. +*Dyed my hair. Got a new haircut I thought I’d never get before. Wrote a poem. Graduated from High School. Graduated from College. Applied for Graduate School. +RAN A MILE. Ate much healthier. Ended toxic friendships. +=~*GAINED A NEW FRIEND. Gained a new best friend. *Visited a foreign country. =~*LIED. +=~*HAD A FIGHT WITH MY PARENTS. +*HAD A SECRET/KEPT A SECRET. Realized my homosexuality. =~REALIZED MY BISEXUALITY. (OR AT LEAST QUESTIONED IT) Realized my pansexuality. Realized my asexuality. =~*Broke a promise. *Slept under the stars. =~*STAYED UP TILL SUNRISE. ~*PUSHED SOMEONE AWAY. ~*Got in a fight. SLEPT WITH SOMEONE OTHER THAN MY SIGNIFICANT OTHER. +~*ATTENDED A PARTY. Got dumped. Got a new piercing/tattoo. Learned that I wasn’t cis gender. Drank underage/used illegal substances. +*ATTENDED A CONCERT. +*ATTENDED A MUSICAL. +=~*TRAVELED TO ANOTHER CITY. *Broke someone’s heart. *Hiding something from someone. +=~*MADE SOMEONE’S DAY. Cheated on a test/homework. Physically cheated on my significant other. +=~*Emotionally cheated on my significant other. ~Quit a job. =GOT A NEW JOB. Learned to hate someone I thought I never would. Learned to be more patient. Saw the supermoon. +~SAW THE METEOR SHOWER.