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whenthemarshmallowmettheslayer · 1 year ago

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My thoughts on Smallville 1x08 “Jitters.”

Confession: I watched this episode the other night. I’m watching it again because I enjoyed it so much. Okay, now that I’ve said that onto the episode.

I drag on the Smallville writers (for context I’ve been ranting about the show on several discord servers I’m on) but I want to compliment here in these opening scenes. The writers are showing the Kents are poor instead of simply telling it or simply having Lex offer a loan one episode and then never showing the Kents financial issues again. We actually get to see how oh, Kents don’t have money to spare. We see this in how Johnthan fixes the truck himself instead of going to an auto mechanic. We see this in how Martha is going to handle a plumbing issue herself instead of calling a plumber.

A small detail I like that makes this house feel lived in is how there's several cabinet doors left open that we can see behind Clark when he’s opening the fridge. I have a habit of opening cabinets, grabbing what I need, and completely forgetting to close them until a minute or more has passed. And then it’s ‘oh shit, I’ve got to close that.’

Also is it just an universal farmer thing for farmers to own a truck with a toolbox on the back? Because my great grandfather was a farmer and he had a truck with a toolbox in the back just like how Johnthan does.

Jonathan: “I’m definitely raising your allowance.”

Some thoughts here. 1.) Clark probably isn’t going to get that allowance raise after the party. 2.) We know Clark does the work of several farm hands - even though he’s juggling school - because this is mentioned in the episode the Kents needed a loan so my question is where does that saved money go? Is it given to Clark’s allowance? Is money the Kents keep to pay for stuff they need? Is it set aside for Clark’s college fund or for his first car? Looking back knowing what I do now…. Jonathan probably should have let Clark keep that truck. The Kents can’t afford a new car for their son and even if they go with an older car they’re still going to have to pay for repairs unless the used car is still in dealership warranty. But Jonathan was too prejudiced to accept it because of who Lex’s father was. I could understand vetoing the truck if Lionel was the one who gave it but it was Lex. I just **shrugs** I’ve got thoughts on Jonathan - I like him but he frustrates me - and I don’t know how to convey them so moving on.

Clark”....It’s a couple nights at Metropolis-”

That party of Clark’s was selfish. I understand that the Kents had to return early because of the plot but the in-universe reason they came back early is because they called several times the night of the party. Clark never answered but other people - people who told the Kents they didn’t know Clark - did. They left their trip after one day. I've got mixed feelings about this. Cause on one hand they deserve to celebrate their anniversary but at the same time they have to spend several hundreds of dollars on this trip because they’re staying at a hotel for several days and meals. That’s not counting any activities like going to movies, going to see a play, going shopping, or whatever. And it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth because what two episodes ago they were talking about a bad loan Jonathan accepted. I just they should spend money on themselves but at the same they were going to spend a pretty penny on this trip before they came back earlier.

Is Earl going to hold a bunch of teenagers and a man hostage this episode? Yes. Do I want to hug him? Also yes. So far Earl and Jodi are the only villain of the week characters I have empathy for. I was really happy last night to learn Lex is getting him medical help. Until canon states otherwise I’m going to hope Earl eventually gets to live with his family.

Janitor dude: “Earl see that's the talk that got yourself canned. Now, if you got as problem get some help.”

Dude. With what health insurance?! This is America. Also those doctors likely can’t do shit because they don’t know what caused the issue. There is also the fact that meteor rocks are volatile. There are no rules and regulations on how it is handled. And like most rules and regulations they’re gonna be written in blood.

Sidenote: I like how it’s established that Earl has a family. If he dies then not only does his wife lose her spouse but she will be a single mother. Earl is fighting to get answers so he can be in his wife and child’s lives. Also I wonder if meteor mutation can be passed onto children. I know Earl’s kid is too old for this to happen but I wonder about this in general.

I’ve ranted about this multiple times but whoever worked in costume and design in this show deserves a fucking raise. Why? Because they are telling us the Kents aren’t well off with money. Clark is constantly wearing the same articles of clothing throughout the show instead of a new piece every time we see him. This book bag in this scene looks like the same bookbag from earlier this season. (Martha - she’s not in this scene but I’m bringing her because I’m talking about the costume and design team being great - often wears the same grey coat.) Chloe and Lana meanwhile have a wider selection of outfits. Lex meanwhile - I’m not even going to talk about colors yet - has driving gloves. It’s such a small detail but it says a lot. It says Lex has money to spend because most people don’t own driving gloves. Driving gloves aren’t needed in this time period the way they were in the past because of early steering wheels. Driving gloves are not a necessity nor are they common. Yet Lex spent money on them which shows he has money to spend on his interests in sports cars. Also Lex is often seen wearing purple. Purple is a color associated with royalty and wealth. Fun fact: there was a time where only Roman emperors could wear Tyrian purple.

Okay back to the show. Who invited all these people? I know Clark didn’t. Maybe Lex? I know Lex is behind the fireworks.

Lana has this thing of politely calling out implications of her love life and it’s so funny to me. I did not remember this trait of hers from when I watched the show as a kid. I do wonder why Lana abruptly stopped wearing her necklace.

I know the show is trying to set us up to like Lana/Clark but I don’t like the pairing already. Lana is painted as this nice girl - she’s friends with non popular kids (nevermind we’re just told this instead of actually seeing Lana and future villains of the week hanging out in the background before the x villain of the week episode), she’s interested in breaking apart from the expectations people have of her, she’s against academic cheating, she’s willing to tutor people for free, and so on. The thing is. She is one of the two characters outside of Clark and football players who know Whitney kidnapped Clark, stripped him, and tied him up in a pole where Clark stayed for hours. And she’s still with this guy. I just. I admit I ship Clex and those two are going to be a mess as the show progresses but the thing is Lex calls out Clark’s bullshit (which I don’t always think all of Clark’s bullshit is actually bullshit but that’s not the point). Clark calls out Lex’s bullshit (which again I don’t think Lex’s bullshit is actually bullshit but again not the point). It feels more even because they are critical of each other. Where as Clark never has a moment of ‘Lana knows what her boyfriend did to me and she’s still in a romantic relationship with him despite calling me her friend. Do I really want to be with her?’ I feel like Clark and the show itself puts Lana on a pedestal. I hope that the shows allows these two characters to be critical of each other since they’re eventually going to be canon relationship.

Chloe:”It’s a class field trip.”

Lex: “What did you do wrong?”

Kid me did not understand Lex was the funniest character on the show. (Clark is the second funniest btw.)

Lex has a type and it’s brunettes. This lady, Victoria, Desiree, Helen, and Lana. If Lionel’s goon - I feel like his name starts with d but I’m not sure - from an earlier episode has the same hair color as his sister then her too because the goon had brown hair.

Also I like how the plumbing issue from earlier is brought up again.

Clark: “I’m officially dead”

Lol. Clark you’ve been dead.

I love that we’re getting background on Martha. Johnthan is so enamored by his wife.

Lana: “It was kind of last minute. I didn’t realize I needed your permission.”

I get mixed feelings about these two. (Sidenote: I respect Whitney asking Lana to come outside instead of arguing in front of everyone.) Because on one hand Lana has a right to hang out with her friends without inherently telling her boyfriend. On the other hand Lana has a history of not telling Whitney she’s hanging out with Clark - a previous occasion being a limo ride to a concert in the city. Lana is aware Clark has feelings for her. She is aware Lex - a friend of Clark - keeps trying to pouch them together. Lana has admitted she’s defended that limo event with Clark to her aunt. Whitney is not being paranoid. I can understand why he doesn’t like this.

Whitney: “So you sneak off to a party without me?”

Lana: “I didn’t sneak off - I walked.”

I don’t even fucking like Whitney but I’m on his side on this. Lana was being sneaky by not telling him.

Lana: “I’m starting to get the feeling you don’t trust me.”

I mean you didn’t tell him about the limo even until you thought Clark ditched you.

I find interesting in this episode Whitney relies or tries to rely on Clark twice in regards to handling potential threats.

Chloe: “This guy should be in a detox center.”

Chloe there are multiple reasons why he could be having body tremors even without taking into consideration this is smallville.

Chloe: “Then why was he shaking like a junkie?”

Was Chloe’s mom a drug addict? From what I remember Gabe is single handedly raising her.

Clark: “I kept snapping the guitar strings. I think Earl got sick of replacing them.”

But he replaced them more than once. He still tried to teach Clark even though Clark broke strings of the instrument. I just find this moment says a lot about Clark and Earl. I wish we could see these two interacting outside of this episode.

Clark: “He was like family.”

I want to hug him.

Clark call a lawyer damn it. Preferably one who does a contingent fee basis work or someone Lex would recommend.

I’m surprised no one tried to get medical staff to look over Clark after he went through that glass.

Whoever decided to have Kent parents watch Clark clean and then clap is a comedic genius. Also Clark honey why would you not shut and lock the door before using your super speed?

I’ve complained about how the writers don’t show Clark having empathy before but they did it right here. Clark spent all night at that hospital because of Earl even though he had a house to clean.

Doctor: “I pulled the plant’s safety records. I checked with OSHA and the EPA.”

Ma’am. How did you get all of that so soon?

I know there are cameras in this building. How come no one notices Clark super speeding? I can begrudgingly suspend my suspension of belief that Lex doesn’t have cameras at home - I still need to know what happened to the guy that froze in the pond in Lex’s backyard - but we see cameras in this building. You mean to tell me that Lionel nor Lex wasn’t curious about how Clark was already away from the group and running around unsupervised. Like even without a hostage situation I feel like someone would check the cameras on just Clark wandering around by himself.

Once again Martha is wearing that grey coat. I love the costume and design crew on this show.

How the fuck did no one notice Clark speeding around?

Clark, you have x ray vision.

Earl: “Just like everybody else.”

I’m gonna defend Clark here. He’s the only person willing to investigate Level Three even though Jonathan had also interacted with Earl. Jonathan who constantly is suspicious of Luthors (I think in the Bug Boy episode he makes a comment about the Luthor plant infecting people) isn’t willing to look into this. Clark, who is friends with Lex, was willing to investigate even though it could potentially cause an issue between him and Lex. He was willing to hear Earl out and search for Level Three even before there were hostages involved. (Side note: moments like this I can see why Clark grew up and became a reporter. Though I hope to see Clark taking an interest in the school newspaper in this or the next seasons.) That said, I can understand why Earl made this comment. He’s been gaslighted about Level Three. He is also being told that level doesn’t exist because there are people who genuinely don’t know about Level Three is a thing. He’s being treated like he’s crazy even though he’s having these powerful body tremors from the incident in Level Three. I can understand why he’s pissed off at Clark but Clark is genuinely trying to help him.

Lionel: “How did you allow this to happen?”

Lionel has a brilliant actor. Lionel is a nasty, intelligent villain which I like because I don’t tend to enjoy dumb ones. That said, this character makes me furious. Gee, asshole. Maybe if Lex was given a warning he could have been better equipped to prevent this.

Lionel: “Lex! How did you allow this to happen?”

Lex: “I didn’t allow anything.”

Lionel: “Then how did this man get inside?”

Lex: “I think-”

Lionel: “You think? Why don’t you know Lex!”

Lionel is one of those parents who even if you have a justified reason why x happened it doesn’t matter. Lionel isn’t asking how this happened out of genuine interest of knowing. He asked so he can lecture. If he truly cared he would allow Lex to continue speaking after Lex said “I didn’t allow anything” and wouldn’t interrupt Lex when he’s saying “I think.” Also I love how Lex’s actor plays this scene because at one point when Lionel is yelling at him Lex lowers his head. Lowering your head like that is usually a sign of submission but also it could mean you feel threatened and you’re protecting your throat. The first one is common but I’m not throwing out the latter because I remember from when I watched the show as a kid that Lionel was physically abusive to Lex.

Lex’s expression at Lionel offering his hand to Johnthan makes me curious. Is Lex wary of his father knowing the Kents? Does he find it weird that Lionel is offering to shake hands with Johnthan?

Lionel: “Of course it is.”

I love Lionel’s actor. Lionel has interrupted Lex throughout this scene but Lex asking about Level Three isn’t interrupted nor is Lex lectured for even entertaining the “deluded” theory that the man holding teenagers and a Luthor employee as hostages believes in. There’s even these few seconds where Lionel doesn’t answer. And it’s so telling.

Martha: “What about the kids? You need to get on the phone and talk to him!”

I wonder when Lionel will start to be attracted to Martha.

Lionel: “But…I do not negotiate with terrorists.”

Negotiate being the key word. I wonder if Lex picked up on this. I do think he picked up Lionel’s response earlier as off.

This episode is heartbreaking because in another universe Lex could have been a hero. I don’t think he’ll necessarily have the drive to go be a vigilante but I think Lex could have been a damn good hero if he decided to be. Now would he be a manipulative one? Absolutely. But **gestures at Batman**

Lex **insert handshake emoji** me. We both don’t like being abruptly touched by family.

I wish that Clark would hear this speech and think about it later when Lex is being hugged by his dad and is staring at the Kents in yearning. Clark is a teenager - who has a lot of weight on his shoulders - but I just wish that he recognized Lionel was abusive to Lex. A lot of the fandom blames Clark for Lex’s downfall. I however have a different opinion. Lionel is the main person outside of Lex to be blamed. I know what it’s like to be raised in an abusive environment and growing up in an abusive household may explain things but there comes a time where we are all responsible for our own decisions. Lex is responsible for his actions but if we are going to put blame on another character for the path Lex goes down I say Lionel is to blame. I think Clark played a role - though I’ve got opinions on this topic I’m not going to ramble about it just yet because I need to hurry up and finish this but I will be ranting about my mixed feelings later - but Lionel was abusive shit.

Lex: “Yeah, it’s in his imagination. There is no Level Three Clark. Now get out of here.”

The acting in this episode is phenomenal. I like how Clark is showing signs of feeling unwell as Earl draws near. There’s no physical signs of meteor poisoning - aka the green veins - or music to convey the meteor is affecting Clark but Clark’s actor is doing his part to convey Earl getting closer to him makes him sick. Also does Lex genuinely believe that or did he notice how off Lionel was acting but doesn’t have actual proof of Level Three nor does he have time to truly look for it with Earl so he’s just letting Clark believe there never was a chance for Lex to be saved? Lex is just one of those characters where I’m sometimes never sure what he’s actually thinking. And honestly it’s nice because I often can figure out what characters’ motivations are in situations.

How the fuck does no one notice Clark using his super speed on the cameras.

I want to hug Pete. Poor kid is blaming himself.

God I love the Kents pretending they have no idea what’s going on.

Lex must be so curious. Because not only did Clark magically find Level Three - somehow the wall covering the elevator has been smashed. I feel like the wall being smashed would be less interesting to Lex - he already suspects Clark is stronger than natural - than how Clark somehow managed to find it.

Lex probably is hating his dad right now. Which is completely valid.

Earl: “How am I going to get better if I don’t know what’s poisoning me?”

I’m so tempted to write a fic where Clark reveals the meteor rock is what is harming Earl. We know Clark sees Earl like family - Clark has said this but he’s also shown it in his actions - but he’s not willing to tell Earl the truth. Also I wonder if Earl will go the same hospital Amy Adam’s character went to…

I find it interesting that Lex - who is in a hostage situation - is taking time to tell Clark he didn’t know about this place. His life is in the balance and he doesn’t want Clark to think he lied to him. Lex doesn’t even know Clark is close to Earl to the point he considers the man family - he only knows Earl used to work on the farm. Yet he doesn’t want Clark thinking he lied.

Earl: “He’s lying. He's just like his father.”

I don’t drink but I want to say if I took a shot every time a character said Lex was just like Lionel I would probably have liver poisoning before the season ends.

Clark: “...I don’t know. Adrenaline, I guess.”

Okay, so here's the thing. I’ve read fics where this line is mentioned in a negative light either because it’s a bad lie or it was bad of Clark to lie. I don’t think Clark is lying though. I think Clark went through an episode of hysterical strength. There are times where humans have abnormal strength for a period of time in order to save someone’s life - there was a case in like 1980s I believe where a mom lifted a car that had fallen on her son. Anyway, throughout this episode we’ve seen Clark become sick when near Earl. It is so bad that Clark would not agree to help Whitney attempt to attack Earl. Yet when Clark’s friend and someone he considers as family have their lives in danger Clarkl manages to find the strength to pull them up. So I don’t think Clark is actually lying.

Ledx staring at Kents being happy Clark is safe - that they’re giving him a hug because they actually want to instead of for publicity - makes me want to cry. Also another reason this scene is sad is Lionel grabbed Lex by the arm earlier and Lex told his dad to never do that again. And Lionel here is hugging Lex - which is much more contact than grabbing an arm - for publicity reasons instead of respecting Lex’s wishes. I also think Lionel hugs Lex to prevent Lex from declaring anything else in front of the press that Lionel doesn’t want.

This episode is my favorite episode so far. I feel like it’s going to be a favorite even after I’ve rewatched multiple seasons.

#Smallville #Lex Luthor #Clark Kent #clex #Johthan Kent #Martha Kent #Lionel Luthor #watching smallville

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tweedledumandtweedlebum · 1 year ago

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Could be reaching but…

Didn’t one of the articles quote from an inside source that Max was leaving indefinitely? Indefinitely meaning for an unspecified amount of time. Could be slightly Linda Henryesque where he will be coming back but they just don’t know when yet. I’d they did axe him because of his mh, behaviour, whatever (I really don’t like to speculate) they could be giving him time to ‘sort himself out’ before returning?

I haven't got the foggiest idea, darling. I don't like to speculate either, but I just can't help it after all that's happened. I, too, would like to believe that this is a twisted way to give Max an extended leave, but I very much doubt it for two main reasons:

1 - the way EE handled the news was disgusting, what with them blaming it all on Max and his behaviour OFF SET (when other actors are still employed after much worse offences). If the break were consensual and the plan was for him to return at some point, I'm quite sure the PR team would have come up with a less hurtful explanation (I know, it was The Sun, but I'm convinced they were fed by somebody inside EE with CC's permission). So... no, I reckon this isn't them being nice to Max giving him time to sort himself out. He isn't coming back (*cries like a baby*).

2 - Ben and Callum have had an incredibile growth both individually and as a couple. They are in a good place right now, meaning soap producers and writers simply don't know what to do with them plot-wise. The depiction of the rest of their life together I have described in a previous post can't happen in a soap IMHO, because - let's be honest - we're not talking about Dickens here, those writers don't have the skills or the time to write them in a way that is wholesome, true to character AND interesting for the general audience. It's always about the drama - violence, dirty secrets, cheating, crime, fighting, teenage pregnancies, conspiracies... the unhealthier the better. The only unhealthy thing in Ballum's life at the moment is Jay with PR. Callum and Ben are learning how to deal with their issues instead of reacting impulsively and their connection is the strongest it's ever been. See? Nothing juicy to narrate here...

You know, after the rape, it was clear they were planning a "reset" for Ben, and I was thrilled to see where it was going. I was silly enough to think it would be something entertaining and educational to watch at the same time. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely loved bad boy Ben Mitchell, he is a splendid specimen of Byronic hero. I was just curious to find out how they would shape a reformed, healing troubled soul. Max would have rocked that as usual. How naive of me!

So, in my head, the meeting went like this. The bosses discussed the future of Ben with Max, informing him that Ballum would take seveal steps back, with either him or possibly Callum cheating, or Ben going back to being an unreliable dad to Lexi, or resorting to crime again, or some other nonsense utterly inconsistent with their recent development. Max protested just like John Krasinski did when "The Office" producers wanted Jim to cheat on Pam (which he would never do) because Max cares about Ballum. And the rest is history.

I am ROMANTICISING this, obviously. We'll never know what actually happened. But you'll see a devastating, hastily written exit story soon enough.

I won't be there.

#ballum #ben mitchell #callum highway #eastenders #ben x callum #max bowden #tony clay #lexi pearce

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jones-friend · 2 years ago

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Lol. Lmao.

I started watching One Tree Hill bc what I saw through my now estranged sister was absurd, and bc of the John Oliver clip where a dog high on marijuana eats Dan Scott’s replacement heart. I first watched all the finales back to back to back then decided to give the whole thing a run through.

In one tree hill a number of souls are shackled within the purgatory of Tree Hill, a place that causes characters to stagnate professionally and emotionally while giving illusions of growth through platitudes and unearned emotional moments. You cannot escape Tree Hill. Death isn’t even enough to escape Tree Hill. You can fall onto the pitcher plant but you cannot climb out. You are one with Tree Hill.

This is a show with no less than three serial killer arcs, a show so hungry for drama it consumes every teen drama concept before the second season leaving it nowhere to go, a show with two near fatal bridge accidents, with real ghosts that help and haunt, where teenagers and small children talk like aged adults, where we get to see the progression of culture and technology from early 00’s flip phones to early 10’s smartphones and social media, and teenagers promising rebellion instead become the forces they were so much so against in early seasons as cycles are broken yet perpetuate. This is a show where a teenager can afford an apartment by working part time at a mall food court. Its also got an incredible reinforcement of heteronormative ideals.

In this show, Ball is Life.

The biggest issue with One Tree Hill working is there needs to be a source of drama caused by the main cast. The way this works out in writing is characters often backtrack their growth to cause more drama again.

I do have a few positives. After S4 there is a time skip of 4 years. I think this actually gives good weight to S4’s finale, letting it keep that weight. And they give new struggles to the cast that don’t trivialize their previous successes while giving us something to root for. The friendship between Nathan and Lucas has genuinely compelling moments as they learn about themselves and each other.

Dan Scott is also a source of great enjoyment for me. He makes the show work. You have plotlines like “Lucas and Brooke are having relationship issues”, “Nathan wants to play basketball more”, and “Dan uses a school shooting to kill his brother Keith bc Dan was convinced he was drugged and left to burn in his dealership when really it was-“ and its just absurd every time.

I will do a character rundown of the main 5 peeps:

Lucas is the original protagonist of the show. He is half brother to Nathan and the “underdog” of S1 where he plays the river court compared to Nathan playing varsity bball. He’s described to be the more emotionally driven one between Nathan and Lucas but as the show goes on he just becomes the dumber of the two. When it comes to relationships he can’t make up his mind and goes with whatever the girl he’s with wants. This leads him to cheat multiple times and as his gf gets mad at him he squints off into the middle distance like there’s something going on but we all know there’s nothing going on behind those eyes. After the timeskip he continues dwelling on the past writing a book that is both super successful and terrible at the same time and the show just kinda makes him a washed up writer before giving him and Peyton a fairy tale ending and saying goodbye S6.

Nathan Scott is the “rich boy” bball player who starts the show as an asshole until the show decides he isnt. Nathan is the only good person in One Tree Hill. He’s the only one who’s level and tries to make reasonable choices without flying off the handle. He does have a few hilarious moments with how seriously high school bball is taken where a mafia is pressuring him to shave points off games bc they bet a lot of money on him. The biggest letdown with Nathan is he continues to beat himself up over the unrestrained anxieties of his wife-

Haley is the worst character in the show. She accuses Nathan of cheating at least 5 times in the show despite nothing indicating that, the most egregious of which is when she snoops and finds Nathan’s valentines day gifts for her and accuses them of being for someone else. This is second to a rando accusing Nathan of sleeping with her after he becomes famous and after a few days she decides to believe the rando over her husband of 4-5 years. She just lets her anxieties get the better of her and it makes her mean to Nathan for 75% of their screentime.

Brooke! One of my least favorite characters of s1-4 and one of the stronger of 5-9. Brooke starts as a party girl who just kinda starts shit for the sake of starting shit. When the show needs drama they turn to her for it most times and it makes her later high school bits feel less genuine. After the timeskip shes in charge of a multi million dollar clothing company (if you’re noticing a trend the timeskip changes characters from relatable high schoolers to wildly successful in their field). She matures out of that shit starter mentality and slides into Lucas’s spot as protagonist (a loose term with so many characters). Her and Nathan undergo the most growth. I also did appreciate and resonate with her graduation arc in that she didn’t really feel the same drive as her classmates.

Shit with Peyton is wild. She has 3 sudden family member reveals: one is Laura Palmer who dies almost immediately, one is serial killer arc #1, and the last is one of the show’s rare black characters who’s a marine thats very quickly sent out to war (Bush era politics). She is a musician, artist, she dates the lead singer from Fallout Boy somewhat seriously (that’s canon, its not the lead singer as a character, in universe he’s also the lead singer of Fallout Boy. He comes by in a limo and goes on tours). Her and Lucas are supposed to be the will they won’t they but with three female leads and two male leads Brooke kind of gets left behind S4 in a smaller capacity. In the timeskip she goes on to become a producer instead of a musician which always felt odd, then after her and Lucas depart they beach ball her label around without knowing what to do with it. Also casting has an issue where they hire sameface women and Peyton was the only one I could reliably identify.

If youre interested in watching One Tree Hill it depends how much time youre willing to sink into it. S1-8 are 22ish episodes long each and each episode is 42mins. I don’t think every episode is worthwhile unless you come at it with the analytical mind of having watched good prestige TV so you can pick apart characters more than the show wants you to.

For those just looking for a casual good time watch S1E1 then watch all the finales back to back to back. Its wild, so much happens you just have to adjust for. Its actually great.

If you REALLY wanna get your hands dirty the entire show is a nostalgia trip into the 00’s complete with famous bands of the time, tech, and norms. This is good and bad as you’ll watch them try to handle a bisexual character in the early 00’s. Also watching Dan Scott dunk on literal high schoolers never gets old.

I DON’T WANNA BE ANYTHING OTHER THAN WHAT I’VE BEEN TRYIN BE LATELY

#One tree hill

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ogravensimp · 3 years ago

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y’all i’m tired of hiding my truth, i unironically liked raven as a teenager😖 she’s literally just like me and when ppl say she’s annoying as a teen, it genuinely feels like an attack to me🙄💀/hj

#i really enjoyed rebirth ngl #like the only issue i have is that writers don’t know how to handle teenage girls without making them weak and whiny #like no writer lets her to actually discover herself #without down scaling her powers #she can understand her abilities AND not understand her self #raven teen titans #raven dc #rachel roth #dc comics #teen titans

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showtoonzfan · 2 years ago

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I’m so glad I found this tweet and that somebody FINALLY fucking said it, cuz I have some thoughts. So like…..I love Mystery Inc with all my heart. It was a huge part of my childhood and it has got to be one of the best, if not THE best Scooby Doo adaptation I have ever seen. I loved the characters, I loved the mystery surrounding the old gang, I loved the horror elements….I loved it all but………yeah I was NOT a fan of the damn love triangle between Velma, Scooby and Shaggy, in fact I think it was the only main thing that held the show back even if it was a masterpiece in my eyes. Particularly my issue was with Velma as a character. Don’t get me wrong, I love how she’s characterized in this show, she’s hilarious and all, but whenever she was attached to Shaggy, good fucking god, she was absolutely insufferable and honestly unlikable. I legit HATED the way she treated Scooby, the way she got jealous over a damn dog and referred to him as “some dog”, not liking Scooby really at all and the real Velma just would never act like that in my opinion, even if she did have beef with him. The whole point of the gang is that they’re supposed to be like a family, so to see this interpretation of Velma treat Scooby like shit did turn me off a lot.

There’s legit a scene in this show I DESPISED where Scooby was literally about to die, he was on the edge of a cliff and Velma deadass had to THINK about saving him or not because in her eyes he was the source to her and Shaggy’s relationship being messy. It was such a dark and disgusting scene of her blaming him for everything when he’s literally hanging on for his dear life, of course she saves him in the end but the fact that homegirl had to think about it and even CONSIDERED not saving him pissed me off immensely. It made her character look so fucking horrible, like she was really about to let Scooby fucking die just for some Shaggy tail, I legit have no idea what the writers were thinking for that scene, like I get that Velma had beef with him but that was going WAAAY too overboard.

Also there were like….SO and I mean SO many episodes of Scooby being jealous of Velma and then having drama with Shaggy over it and I just hated whenever the show wanted to focus on this romance drama bs, again the whole love triangle between these three drove me nuts. Velma was so forceful towards Shaggy as well and I always ended up just feeling bad for the guy. I can see where the show was coming from especially since the writers admitted they wanted Velma and Shaggy’s relationship to be messed up so she could end up with Hotdog Water, but…….yeah it was not for me, and you know what’s funny? I legit enjoyed Fred and Daphne’s drama more, seeing Fred be so oblivious and loving traps while Daphne was so obliviously pinning for him was hilarious. I will never not praise this show for how it characterized Fred, making him this cinnamon roll trap loving himbo was the best decision they ever made, and whenever the show focused on THEIR relationship, I never got tired of it, which is the opposite I can say for Velma/Shaggy/Scooby. As much as I love this show, it did drag with its romance aspect. I always hated love triangles and stupid drama in teenage shows, and I feel like this show kinda suffered from that. When it comes to Velma/Hot Dog Water, they could have been handled better honestly, in contrast to how she was with Shaggy. Like…the writing could have been so much better with that, but even after everything I just said, I still love this show and think it’s great. It has its up and downs, but at the end of the day it still rocks, I just needed to get this out there since I don’t see much people talk about it. I will say I don’t HATE this version of Velma, but I will admit that it is hard to really like her after the writing made her so attached to Shaggy and so needy and almost aggressive. They did her dirty with that damn cliff scene, but in the end it is happy to know that her and Shaggy realized they weren’t good for one another and that Velma was meant to be with a girl.

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jennycinco-5 · 2 years ago

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Miraculous Ladybug vs Agent Ali/Ejen Ali Comparison post : Introduction

So in my previous post about this mention about “Three Malaysian Superhero Cartoon have better handle than ML”. For anyone wonder what Cartoon I mean is “BoBoiBoy” “Ejen Ali (Agent Ali)” and “Mechamato”. All of this show have same demographic with Miraculous, a Kids Show with Action who also beloved by older viewer.

While the three shows also have their specific flaws, they still have its consistency and better handle than Miraculous. The show creator and writers know what is the main core about the show. Its about Kids being Superhero and Secret Agents. Despite this, they still allow to bring some serious heavy issue or drama to make the show interesting instead of a fanservice. They do have some “soft reboot” to expand their world building and stuff but it never become messy like Miraculous.

Miraculous constantly has retcon and it become utterly MESS because The Writer feel viewer are idiots and only care about the ships. This is make The Writer and That Guy has zero idea what the show is about ! Its about a shojo-esque cartoon ? Its about silly teenage-romance ? Girls Power ? Family Drama ? They DON’T KNOW about that ! I would like to said this show is about a wild fantasy of grown-man about his “ideal virtual daughter” who obsessed with freaking white boy and that its !

Since I already see many of post who compare Miraculous with other show about the consistency and the handle, here I will make the same post with one of Malaysian Cartoon and I will choose this cartoon :

For comparison post, I think Miraculous is deserve to be compared with Ejen Ali. Gotta admit this is my favorite show to the point my current Tumblr name “jennycinco-5″ is based from one of the villain of this show. I like to said that Ali is a “what if Adrien and Marinette become ONE CHARACTER but with good characterization and handle”. I said that because Ali share same parental neglect issue with Adrien after the death of their mother and he also have some Marinette personality. But the show handle him mooore better than Marinette and Adrien. Making Ali become lot more interesting as the story progress

In this topic I will make a post about :

Comparison of Ali & Alicia vs Marinette & Adrien

Comparison of Aliya vs Emilie Agreste for being death mother who trigger the main plot

Comparison of how Ejen Ali vs Miraculous handle the serious issue for children

Comparison of the Antagonist/Villains and how they “Humanize” them

Comparison of IRIS and Miraculouses

Comparison of the Secondary Character like friends/allies and mentors

If you interest about Ejen Ali and curious about the show, you can watch it at Disney Hotstar. You can watch it from English Subs or English dub. Its still on going on Season 3. There is also the movie titled “Ejen Ali: The Movie” in there and you also can read a mini comic in webtoon title Ejen Ali : M A T A Secret Files about the series side story and all of them are canons especially the movie one since its explain about the world building and the lore of IRIS and the Agency

#ml salt #comparison post #ejen ali #agent ali #ml critical #ml writer salt

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anxresi · 2 years ago

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Something just occurred to me...

And its barely Chloe-related! (shock, horror).

So basically, by the end of this season, there are eighteen, yes eighteen(!) full-time superheroes, right? Including: Pretty much ALL of Marinette’s classmates and passing teenage acquaintances (sans Chloe and Lila, of course).

My question is... has Marinette EVER considered the only one in her friend circle who she doesn’t know the identity of as a hero, the one who seems to be in love with her both in and out of costume and the one person she sees on a regular basis... could be Adrien/Chat Noir?

I know, it’s stupid, right? Considering they’re about a billion other plot holes and incidences of convenient stupidity the writers use just to get from A to B. But in view of the whole premise of the show seemingly resting on this obvious subterfuge, even if I was a kid I’d be pretty dumbfounded she hadn’t figured it out by now.

Now I’m sure there have been episodes that I’ve wiped from my memory where through the use of chicanery or shenanigans, Adrien has managed to be in two places at once to disprove this ‘clever’ idea in Marinette/ Ladybug’s head once and for all. You might even say it’s not important, and I should just ‘enjoy’ the show for what it is: a simple superhero cartoon for kids.

That’s the point though: I CAN’T enjoy it, obviously first because of legitimate issues I’ve had with the disgraceful treatment of my favorite character (guess who) but also down to the fact I honestly think it’s the biggest load of shit made from a great idea I’ve ever seen. Like taking a diamond, and using it to carve dog turds I suppose if you want a simple off-the-cuff analogy.

Just reading the latest spoilers made me very sad, angry and confused that anyone could defend this mess by the time season 6 rolls around. Each to their own, but I think any audience member, whether they be 1 or 100 deserves to be treated with more respect than the absolute bilge the makers of Miraculous are shovelling.

I would be bashing it relentlessly even if I WASN’T a massive fan of you-know-who, it’s simply breathtaking just how much the show plunges in quality with every passing season. And they say they want to give it at least eight?! That that doesn’t even include the ridiculous amount of individual spin-offs, Made-For-TV movies and live-action projects they have planned in the future? WOW. Compared to this overextension of property, even Spongebob seems a model of restraint.

The mind boggles at the cynical cash-grab of it all... but hey, if all that blatant rapaciousness for money over quality floats your boat, you’re welcome to it all. Just don’t ask me to understand your way of thinking, because I won’t. Ever.

Sorry that I lapsed into one of my standard rants (come on, you know you love them), allow me to return to the original topic. The reason I pondered the issue of Marinette not even considering the fact that the love of her life and her superhero partner over 130 episodes might be one and the same is very symbolic to me of the show’s deeper problems. If it can’t even handle it’s central storyline right, how can you expect it to cope with anything else in this over-convoluted plot? The answer is, naturally: it doesn’t.

In a better show, other elements might distract me from asking such a straightforward question, but seeing as there ain’t much of that here, my mind keeps returning to this one big query. And so far, I’ve yet to hear an acceptable answer. Any ideas, guys?

Still, looook over there! EIGHTEEN heroes eh, isn’t that something! All of which I’m sure will be fully-utilised and developed as part of the show’s core squad (something which the show has a SUPERB track record of), and all of course whom have various types of merchandise available NOW! And to show how brilliantly pre-planned everything is in advance, you can even get tons of limited edition Queen Bee stuff in all good shops already...

...Wait.

#miraculous #miraculous ladybug #ladybug #ml spoilers #ml leaks #chloe bourgeois #Marinette Dupain-Cheng #adrien agreste #chat noir #ml salt

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antiloreolympus · 2 years ago

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10 Anti LO Asks

(Note: All of these asks are before episode 206 (Season 2 finale) so some may be dated.) 1. do RS defenders realize the issue is in the fact that, despite being a woman who claims to be a progressive feminist marketing herself to be making a progressive, feminist "reclaiming" of mythology, her work and actions being indistinguishable from awful male writers is?? really bad?? the "if the roles were reversed" argument is to point out her and her work is really no different from the same misogynistic, bigoted men and their stories that she and her fans claim she and LO are better then.

2. The thing is an age gap isn't the actual issue, the issue is the fact Persephone was made A TEENAGER who looks/acts even younger and even in comic it was found gross, THAT's why people were and still are grossed out by it and find Rachel's insistences "subverting it" questionable at best, and an outright lie at worse. This especially is more pointed with the timeskip, because Persephone still looks/acts the same as she did at 19, so it just makes you wonder WHY Rachel made her 19 to begin with.

3. Ok but it IS important to point out how the double standards within LO and RS and especially the fact she is a rich white woman who wants the praise of being progressive and feminist yet her actual actions and story do not show that. We also have to point this out because of how she and her fans weaponize this to say any legitimate criticism is merely "hating women", over the fact she DOES promote and do harmful things other creators (like queer and BIPOC creators) dont get to "grow" from

4. I'm sorry if this comes across as racist. That is not my intention. I hate the human skin colors Rachel Smythe uses. They look unnatural. Like paper grocery bags or potato wedges from KFC.

5. If 10 years passed, shouldn't Dionysus already be born? Semele died? I feel like RS forgot about a whole Olympian God. 🤨

6. I'm reading the comments on Rachel's insta, with the fast pass showing the pink nymth, and the comments speak volumes. Everyone's questioning if it's another lover, or someone is trying to seduce Hades, or Kronos is possessing him (??), Some fans even talk about getting anxiety/blood pressure spikes. Wow... It's almost as if a trama bonded relationship isn't stable. It's almost as if Hades has been unfaithful to past lovers. As if there's a pattern here that makes the readers want to blame the nymth (who has NO voice lines yet, btw. Their attacking her for putting her hand out (smug) and showing side boob (telling her to cover up? That's ironic)) rather than Hades himself. You know. The other person in their relationship. And don't even tell me they're not official yet, I'm tired of beating around the bush, Persephone is literally the queen of the underworld.

7. Do LO fans know that flipping out over even potential other women in Hades' life, despite the fact the whole selling point is knowing Hades and Persephone ends up together, only gives the impression they're not confident in their relationship to begin with? Like yall know they end up together, there's absolutely no reason to flip out at the inclusion of a random woman other than they knowingly or not think the couple is too weak too stand on their own (also misogyny but that's a different convo)

8. Not to be a nerd or anything, but I think LO completely mixed up Kronos and Chronos. The former is the titan of harvest and leader of said titans, while the latter is the personification of time. Similar names, but distinctly separate entities.

-----SA Discussion Below-----

9. Yeah it's hard to say RS is a staunch supporter of SA victims and takes the topic seriously/handles it with care when she made Arion and the result of his birth a child support "joke" when the actual mythology is Demeter being violently r*ped. It's honestly disgusting the fans defend it as "just a joke' while claiming the series stands up for victims. No, it stands up for CERTAIN victims, the rest, what, "deserved" it? Especially Demeter because she's not their "precious cinnamon roll"?

10. The issue with the SA plot too is she uses it to push P towards Hades, but then also can’t just have them jump into bed because of the obvious barriers there from the assault, so she’s basically stuck in this bizarre juggling act where she wants to be praised as this “serious writer who tackles serious issues” yet does nothing because she just wants to draw them boning but can’t because she doesn’t know how to handle SA & its trauma without ignoring it outright, so she doesn’t tackle it anyway!

#anti lore olympus #anti lo #lore olympus critical #lo critical

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wqintraining · 2 years ago

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NEW MUTANTS: LETHAL LEGION #2 - THOUGHTS

I had so much fun covering the first issue, I thought, “Why Not?” and decided I’d do similar breakdowns for the rest of the series as it comes out. With its sapphic trans lead, Escapade, and writer, @charliejaneanders, there’s no book I’m more eager to support and help spread awareness of right now.

This issue sees multiple plots continuing here, with Escapade, Cerebella, Honey Badger (I’m still not calling her “Scout”), Morgan, and Wolfsbane still our leads as of this issue, but with the set-up and solicits we’ve gotten, it’s clear Dani and Karma will be getting more involved for the rest of the book.

Starting with the A-Plot, probably my favorite thing about the previous three issues of New Mutants to star Shela, and this book so far, is how in nearly every scene, we get to see a new layer of her character. So often, fans will defend bland new characters by saying they “Just Need Time”, and my counterargument is always, “No, there are numerous modern characters who came out fully realized and captivating almost immediately.”

We got a bit of this in the previous issue, but it’s made even more clear here that despite Shela often coming off as a typical quirky, goofy, teenage hero, she is an adult, she is an experienced veteran in her field, and she has lived a hard life with much more down-to-Earth trauma which has built responsibility. She may not like having to be all these things, and getting to act more like a kid is probably something she appreciates about Krakoa, but if she’s only teamed with less experienced heroes, this is gonna show.

I’m unsure of what the writing is going for with Gabby so far. Gabby being excited and enthusiastic about beating up a bunch of villains? Nothing weird there. Being snarky? Right up her alley. But she has a weird mean streak throughout the issue that doesn’t feel right. Just a couple lines that don’t sound like things she’d say.

I do like how she handled Nefaria’s tournament though.

Sadly, Martha doesn’t get to do much this issue, and it’s to its detriment. While Shela and Gabby’s fights are fun, they take up so much of the A-plot that there’s no room for her. And with me not being particularly interested in Nefaria and his antics (mostly), sidelining the character who’s the whole reason this adventure is happening, and who’s emotional struggle is our hero’s primary motivator, hurts the issue.

With that all said, now I get to talk about my favorite part of the A-plot, and the part that has me the most excited.

To the shock of literally no one, it’s the part which involves Emma Frost.

Not once, but twice in this issue, Shela directly compares Nefaria’s persuasive skills to Emma’s. Once is a joke. Twice tells me our young thief still has some unresolved issues regarding her former idol.

In tandem with her other insecurities, it really is no wonder she allowed herself to get drunked-up by Nefaria. Against Emma’s speeches, she was able to bite back with bitterness. Against Nefaria’s, despite knowing what he’s doing, she still likes what he’s saying enough that she eases herself.

Anders confirmed to me before this book started that Emma would not be appearing in it, BUT I really, really hope this is all going somewhere post-Lethal Legion.

Onto the B-Plot, let’s start with the funny stuff because WOW did this get real dark, real quick.

Of COURSE there are doomsday preppers for Mutants, of course there are. Wonderful way to start the issue.

Cosmar basically realizing Shela has taken her place in the Lost Club’s main girl trio is sad, but also pretty funny in a meta sense. Hopefully Tashi can find another team to join.

Also, Charlie, I know you read these, so I’m gonna ask one of the most common questions fans of these characters have: How old is Anole supposed to be? Shela and Martha are young adults, Gabby and Tashi are teenagers, and Rain Boy can go either way since it’s unclear if he died or not post M-Day, but no one really cares. Anole meanwhile is a longtime fan favorite, and between him simultaneously bartending at the Green Lagoon and hitting on Ahkiro, while also acting no older than Gabby and Tashi, and being referred to as a kid by one of his old classmates within the pages of New Mutants, fans have been deeply confused for years.

I know writers sometimes aren’t allowed to speak on ages, so if that’s a thing here, I get it. If you can give an answer though, so many fans would love to know.

Tangents aside, Dani and Karma’s entrance to the plot confuses me. I get Dani worrying about her kids, but are her and Xuan really freaking out because they don’t know where two grown women and their highly-deadly teenage friend are for more than a day? Hey, Dani, if you want to check on someone, how about your adopted son you haven’t spoken to in the last decade? If Josh has time to flirt with Gwenpool, he has time for you.

Everything mentioned above is completely forgivable, however, because Dani and Xuan get the best damn panel in this issue.

Transitioning into the more dramatic stuff, we have Rahne. Wolfsbane has consistently been wonderful under Anders’ pen (really, she’s gotten consistently better writing in the past 3 years than she’d gotten in the prior 20), with so many great moments in this issue alone. I love how she helps calm down the sewer creature, wastes no time arguing with the doomsday prepper’s leader’s garbage, and is able to separate him from the rest of the mostly innocent people living in the sewers who need her help.

Oh, Morgan, Morgan, Morgan. Since your first appearance, I have not liked you. I still don’t like you, even if you being Chinese, Jewish, and Asexual on top of being a trans man is pretty cool.

However, progress may finally be getting made on making his less insufferable. At the start of this issue, he’s still his usual self, with 0 comprehension of what Mutants have been through (honestly though, man, with all your other identities, you shouldn’t be THIS blitheringly ignorant), but then...

...we get to the big “Oh shit” part of the book, as it seems like Rahne may be about to teach Morgan about The Massacre.

This data page is amazing. I’m not sure if it actually fits the book tonally, but I love it. I’m not gonna go over the details of it just because it’s such strong prose, and you should really take it in for yourselves. It really makes you just imagine Jared walking through the woods on Krakoa, and seeing Greycrow, one of the people who brutally murdered him and his friends, making out with Kwannon, one of the War Captains charged with protecting everyone. Of course he wouldn’t believe he was safe on Krakoa (you know, along with all the OTHER reasons not to feel safe on Krakoa if you’re not one of the big, special Mutants)

Despite the various complains I had, I still loved this issue. With multiple issues now out I feel comfortable calling this my third favorite X-book right now. And when your competition includes Red and Immortal, third place is still a triumph. I can’t wait for the next issue, and I can only hope Marvel greenlights more just like this.

#New Mutants #Shela Sexton #Escapade #Cerebella #Gabby Kinney #danielle moonstar #xuan cao manh #rahne sinclair

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astrologista · 2 years ago

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been thinking a lot about online identities.

it is interesting to me the level at which people will go to curate their online persona now-a-times. there’s a lot more focus on creating these vtuber/twitch “personas” with a 3d avatar that can emote, adding your own voice to the mix, and other things such as that. but at the same time there’s such an emphasis on doxxing, on the “face reveal”, on what someone looks like in real life. on real life identities, dramas, personal information being revealed, relationship and information on peoples’ partners, breakups, their family, real life friends, etc etc etc. it seems that kids are forming parasocial relationships with these youtubers and twitch personalities, thinking they are their personal close friends, donating actual money to these people, and then something gets dug up and the person is doxxed and cancelled. and then everybody takes their money and moves on to the next one.

back in my day, we usually identified ourselves with a simple online “handle” or URL and one 2d avatar and that was it. the focus was more on the content we were creating - writing, art. now it seems like the content that content creators make is more of an afterthought. i won’t say that let’s plays aren’t art, you have stuff like the dream smp which seems to have a bit of a lore and a story to it that makes it more than just watching some lads play minecraft, but at the same time... eh? maybe i’ve become too old. i don’t really get it.

as copyrights become more of a problem, people want to monetize their content. however, ip holders have a stranglehold on the internet. they don’t want anything monetized that doesn’t meet their “ethical and moral” standards which would damage their brand apparently if it came through that they were financially supporting something verboten. so in other words, it can’t be lgbt, you can’t swear, and it can’t be transformative in any way. only squeaky clean.

i have never and will never monetize my content because i write fic and a lot of the fic that i choose to write deals with heavy issues. so i’m out of this world of “content monetization”, i guess. what does it mean to become a brand? a persona? does this mean selling out? if chatgpt writes your copy and scripts and content, what does it mean? you’re an “online enterpreneur”? you’re an “influencer”? you’re a “disruptor”? you’re doing something significant? you’re improving peoples’ lives?

over time i truly start to hate this kind of landscape. i miss being surrounded by those who want to create for the sake of the process of creation. yes, i have this blog to shoot the shit, talk about my work, whatever, but creating this tumblr was never about “me” as a person. it was for me as a writer. of course this is a self indulgent place, for sure, but it was always about writing, from the very start. and i can’t seem to find as many people around who are interested in the same things. all they want to talk about is “monetization” and “content” and “personas“. i don’t know what that means. i’m not in that world. i’m not excited about ai writing things for me. overall, it’s not a good thing.

getting back to what i was saying re: doxxing and cancellation, i know that kids love this kind of schtick and if i were a teenager now, i’m sure i would be getting in on it too. it feels good to gang up against people when you’re a teen and i’m sure many of them think they’re doing the right thing within this culture but i still say things on the internet should be decoupled from real life hangups and drama and how people look in the meatspace. i don’t know it’s just silly. that being said, the kids are usually alright so i’m all for what teens think is the cool thing now as long as it’s positive. but i also think people should use their judgement and think independently more, not in a ben shapiro you-should-think-independently-by-buying-my-book type of way, but in a genuinely traditional you-should-look-at-different-sources-and-draw-your-own-conclusions-about-the-world type of way.

thems just my thoughts.

edit: also, this is dovetailing neatly with a very very disturbing general push in the zeitgest away from science and scientists (which is worse post-pandemic, dumbfucks saying the vaccine is poison etc) and into very very toxic anti-intellectualism which is leading some people back into religion fundamentalism. as someone who has experience with religious fundamentalists... this is not good juju

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professionallydeadinside · 2 years ago

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I also think the difference between Boyfriends and Heartstopper is that, I believe, Heartstopper had better character development. I’ve never seen Heartstopper, so this one might be shorter than the others, but based on how little criticism there is and slander, I’d place my bets on Heartstopper having better characters and characterisation and storylines than Boyfriends. I’m confident a big part of that is that Heartstopper, at least the show, had more than one writer, whereas it seems Boyfriends was written by mainly just the one person. And I’d also like to say the idea that people hate on Boyfriends because of personal aspects of the creator (gay, trans, and Asian) doesn’t seem to really hold water. Most people don’t know the creator is from Indonesia! I didn’t know until I tried to do research on the hate for the creator. Most people also don’t know about him being gay or trans. Most people seem to think he’s a girl, which has its own problem with the hate given to teenage girls interacting with fandom, and don’t know who he actually is! Now, that’s not to say that some might hate the comic for racist reasons, that’s always a possibility, but when there’s genuine criticism to be make towards the comic without ever bringing up the creators ethnicity, race, gender, and sexual orientation in a negative way? That’s foolish and short sighted. Boyfriends has genuine problems and issues and isn’t a good comic, it’s storyline is flawed and isn’t good. I wish this comic hadn’t gotten the publicity it did, god I wish it could’ve stayed hidden in its own little bubble with little to no hate or knowledge, but that isn’t what happened. Heartstopper was placed in the public eye when it was ready, and it gained notoriety by itself and through Netflix making a, to my knowledge by what others have expressed, quite good show. Boyfriends was placed in the public eye as a comic that only a few would enjoy due to the way its written and made, and could never even pray to stand strong by itself. It has nothing to do with any personal attributes of the creator himself, aside from his choice to let the comic be made into an ad, and solely to do with the comic itself.

I actually heavily reccomend heartstopper! The author is also really good about putting warnings before content because the comic often handles harsher topics

#answered #shoutout to heartstopper all my homies love heartstopper

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hohoz · 4 years ago

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How RE Village (8) SOLVED almost every problem that I had with RE Series

Okay - a few weeks ago I made a post that was “The ones that suffer the most” where I showed and explained my main problems with Chris and Jill and the RE series in general

RE 1 is my fav game of this series and probably one of my all time favs, I player every RE there is to be played except 4 (because I dislike Leon, sry)

Recently, specially after 4, the franchise had a few problems, specially in writing/map design/lore

Resident evil 5 for example (I love this game) but it has it flaws, Chris there is only driven by anger and action - Sheva is used as a tool for lore exposition and to be Chris’s new partner

PLEASE: be aware that game at that generation didn’t have much lore - with some exceptions, like God of War 1 2 3 were a simply game with a simple lore, and the most recent GoW has evolved a little bit in the storytelling

Until we hit rock bottom in RE6 - I know a lot of people like this game, but this is only and action game, bad writing and generic stages.

Chris there is so mistreated that makes me mad (if you want to read more about this go to my other post “the ones that suffer the most”)

Until RE7 appeared, Capcom had a new engine and they wanted to do a game that was more horror like - since RE is know for being a Survival horror game.

I liked 7 - some people complained about Ethan being without emotion and others complained about the mold, a few didn’t like the FEAR vibes from Eveline.

I personally enjoyed the game, I thought RE series was going back on track, that game has it’s problems but it was really nice compared to what we had in 6.

After that game I had a conversation with my best friend and I said that I wanted a game that portrayed Umbrella’s fall since the only game that shows this is Umbrellas Chronicles (and that is most a resume of what happened)

And I said: “Bro, I wish that when they made that game, they could tie some mythological lore and human evolution before Umbrella - using Spencer, this would solve LOT OF STUFF and open new ways to handle this series”

and guess what - this happened in RE8 and kudos to the one writer that did that, i have my gratitude.

RESIDENT EVIL 8 is probably one of the BEST RE games that we had IN YEARS

And I want to address all thing that I loved in this game and do some predictions to what will happen in the next games.

“WELL WELL IF IT ISN’T ETHAN WINTERS” (The Father of the year)

My father was not a great guy... really, so I want to be the best dad ever, I really want be like Ethan - a guy who is ready to sacrifice and fight every monster in the way to save my family.

Ethan was a character that in RE7 was used to make us fell like that it was us in the Baker’s house, so that is why he didn’t had that much personality (in my opinion) but they changed that in RE8, here he has nice dialogues AND a diary

He has one of the best story line in the whole REverse, a guy that did EVERYTHING in his power to save his daughter - and you saw that playing the game, every sentence line that he delivered, he tried to save others too and even tho Chris said to him stay put ... but he couldn’t, he had to go to the altar, he had to help Chris, he had to go forward and keep going, specially after having the tools to face Heisenberg.

The plea from a father, that was his last wish, after he heard that Mia was alive he knew that someone had to stop that monster, he made a promise to his daughter “Daddy won’t let those weird fairy tale monsters get you” so he trusted Chris, to be the one that teaches his kid how to be brave and strong

I will not address Chris and Rose situation here because this is Ethans part and he deserves completely all the spotlight, his sacrifice was 100x times better than Steve (CV)/Piers(6)

My cheers to Ethan Winters - You have my respect !

Revelations -> RE8

So leaks from earlier times said that RE8 sucked and Revelations 3 was amazing

Revelations FYI is know for using old tales in RE stories

Revelations 1 - Dante’s Inferno

Revelations 2 - Frans Kafka

Revelations 3 - Dracula

But since RE8 sucked, Capcom said to the REV3 team that they could make REV3 become RE8 and they accepted

Revelations series is one of the best in the games, they handle Jill in a way that I love, Claire and even Barry - so they deserve all the spotlight for making this awesome game - you CLEARLY can see that they love this series and that they treat all the characters with the love that they deserve.

Keeping that in mind, they are the same team that made Rev 2 and in REV 2 we have this file here

So they had a plan for Jill and we can see that in RE8 - I will address that later but keep that in mind - this team cares for the old characters, they were the ones that brought Barry back to the games :V

Chris Redfield

This is a hard one, because he is my fav character and I usually have the most critics regard him, since I’ve expect a lot from Capcom

In the latest games they made him kind dumb, only muscles type of guy and an alcoholic that let all the people in his surroundings die (RE5,RE6,Vendetta)

RE6 treats him the WORST

But in RE8 he had an amazing part in the storyline, it was obvious that he wasn’t evil and they FIXED HIS EYE COLOR - FINALLY

I still don’t like the model face that much but it’s way better than 7 - so I believe Capcom, I still feel that he need more jawline

But let’s go to the most important thing - here he really feels like a squad leader and a veteran, he has his team but he is the one in the front line, he covers and ask for help when he needs, everything about his line delivery makes you feel like “Woah, this guy is a badass, he is not some stupid guy only driven by emotions”

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR FINALLY GETTING THIS RIGHT

If you remember my post about the ones that suffer the most / Jill is also in that list and I will talk about her a little bit later but if my guess is right RE8 saved her character aswell

Another thing that I enjoyed here is the fact that he is kind of a mercenary / Neo Umbrella kind of guy, even tho he is one of the founders of the BSAA

So I will give you all my score to this game:

9/10

I won’t give 10/10 because of some technical issues, the cursor lock didn’t work and mouse sensitivity was i dunno, not the best.

RE8 and the future (PREDICTIONS) - Jill Valentine, Chris Redfield, BSAA, Neo Umbrella, Ada Wong and Rosemary

First let’s look Rose

The first time I saw Rose all grown up - I thought to myself : She has the same problem as Eveline (age a lot faster than normal)

But she also absorbed Miranda’s power since the metalicite (something like this) thought that she was a better host. - so maybe she will live longer or something because I doubt that they will do a 14 years time skip.

This is not the same as Terra Save logo (Claire’s job) but it kind reminds me of it - her shoes appeared at least 3 times in this cut scene so maybe they are trying to show some hints with this

She really reminds me of Jodie (Beyond two souls, a game where a girl has a lot of power and the gov uses her in missions and stuff, but she also is learning how to be her own person)

Another thing here is that they don’t have a logo in this car, it really reminds me the car that Chris as using in RE8

This supports the theory that Chris’s organization is dealing with her instead of the BSAA, the she is a hot headed girl and that she had a lot of powers.

So here you can say that she is just a kid because she is a teenager, but what if she actually grows older really fast (like Eveline) maybe this is just 1 year later / 2 yrs later. (after RE8)

So this is the tricky part, this is Chris’s guard/soldier, someone that Chris trust to stand by her side, in my mind I do believe that Chris is kind of a father figure to her, so when this guys says this he is thinking about hot head Chris but she replies “Yeah” thinking about Ethan - (she has the mold memories, so she can actually remember Ethan’s memories)

Now let’s look at this

BSAA

So in REV1 is hinted that BSAA is not the best organization in the world, but since our heroes work there we think that they are the good guys right ?

In REV 2 (it’s important to remember that the team that created RE8 is the same from the REVELATIONS and they had this file here in REV2)

This email is from Jill and what does Jill have ? T-Virus

Wesker is a different case since he was a project and she had the vaccine but this would make a lot of sense if they had this tests with Jill to get the T-Virus

If that is the case, they explained Jill’s absence in the main games, could even explain why Chris left BSAA and opened a new window to a lot of possibilities

My Predictions:

- Chris had trouble dealing with BSAA and Jill’s case, he wanted to get her out of there, maybe he removed her from there but that resulted in him being expelled from the force

-Jill may or may not know what they are doing with her blood, but she will have a huge part in the BOW used by BSAA

-Chris is married to Jill (sorry- I had to place this here, in a perfect world he has two kids with her and they all love aunt Rose)

-Chris will hopefully be a father figure to Rose and they will be in a game together since in the end they came to get her

-Rebecca is still involved in BSAA activities (leak from new REV3) if you consider Vendetta canon, she maybe the one that used Jill’s sample of blood to create the virus soldiers

-Barry maybe retired

-I don’t think Leon will be in this game, but he will get his RE4 Rmk

- I do believe RE9 will be release after Code veronica rmk and MAYBE they will do a game about Umbrella’s Fall (Chris and Jill in Europe against Red Queen and BOWs)

But that is it, you can see a lot of elements from old RE games in RE8, they tried to do something really smart and the game felt amazing to play, that was something else and it’s been a while since a player a RE game that made me feel that way <3

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stxleslyds · 4 years ago

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Robin Jason, a friend and ally of the Titans.

PART 2.

Hi! Welcome to Part 2 of this post, as I said in the last one, I will be talking about Robin Jason’s moments and not reviewing the issues from a story point of view but I think I will have to give a little more context in this one because honestly I am a little lost with this particular storyline, there is too much going on and Jason isn't part of many pages so yeah, I hope this post isn't too boring or bad though.

I will link part 1 Here!

Let’s begin!

· NTT (1884) #26-28

In my last post I talked about how Jason would be called by Donna to help the Titans save Dick and Raven from Brother Blood’s people. We start #26 with Mother Mayhem giving a public speech on television. What you have to get from this is that this cult is using the image of the two Titans/Heroes (Nightwing and Raven) that they captured as propaganda for their intentions, their intentions being resurrecting Brother Blood and making the world believe that they are good people. Obviously, Dick and Raven are not there because they are supportive of their cause, they were both brainwashed.

In this issue the Titans team that had fallen apart in issue #19 is back, so we find Donna, Beast boy, Cyborg, Joey and Wally together once more and they are trying to figure out what to do because they have two problems, on one hand Beast Boy’s father is killing people and captured Garth and on the other a whole ass cult is doing cult-y shit and captured Dick and Raven. In the end they choose to go save Dick and Raven first but they do it because Beast Boy says this “I…don’t know. I can’t say what we should do. We need Dick here…he’s a tactician. We need him as out leader”. Never in my life would I have thought that I would agree with beast boy but yeah…hard agree.

Donna understands that even though the team is (mostly) back on its feet they still need more firepower and that’s why she calls Jason. While it was kinda rude of Cyborg to say that Jason is not all that (in terms of firepower) any kind of tension is quicky gone because Starfire comes back (talk about firepower).

We have various moments of Beast Boy being a perv towards Kory (thanks a lot Marv) but that’s not important, what’s important is that now the Titans have to tell Kory that Dick has been captured and they are on their way to save him.

They all leave to Zandia (where Brother Blood’s Church is located) and a fight ensues as soon as they arrive, they fight but their goal is to get to the Church as fast as possible. Jason doesn’t say anything in these panels but he is fighting alongside the others. When things get a bit more complicated Jason starts to feel that maybe he isn’t that capable of handling himself but he doesn’t have to do anything by himself because this time he has a team that can back him up. Kory gives him a lift as soon as Jason is surrounded, he is of course thankful and a little bit pervy (thanks a lot Marv).

Kory is shot just after she gets him out of trouble and Jason as the adorable kid that he is becomes worried for her well-being. After Beast Boy is also injured in the fight the Titans decide to leave back to camp. Thankfully both Kory and BB are okay but they are all still worried about how they will get to the Church. We see here once more Donna being a bit overwhelmed with leading the Titans and beating herself up over what happened in Switzerland (#20 and #21) but Jason reassures her instantly that she did a good job and she doesn’t need to be so hard on herself.

This interaction here is particularly nice because Jason reassures Donna without her asking for it. In my last post Donna looked for reassurance in Robin several times but she didn’t do it because she actually wanted Jason to give his thoughts, she did it because she was hoping Jason would act like Dick and eventually take over the team’s leadership. Here that isn’t the case, Jason just tells her what he thinks.

After Donna talks about her doubts Kory says that she is impatient and worried about Dick but also expresses being unsure because the last time that she saw Dick they kinda left things off on “bad terms”. I say this because just like it happened with Jason and Roy, Jason and Kory also have differences, she is a grown and experienced woman that is going through adult problems and Jason is a kid that is just happy that he was called to join them on another adventure.

If we back a few panels to when Jason said that Kory “was a sight for sore eyes” Kory responds saying “first Changeling, now you. It’s got to be puberty”, she is obviously not pleased about Jason making that comment about her and it’s also made clear that he is just a teenager.

This is where I rant about how different what we see here is from what we get later in New 52. Just like Roy (in New 52) Kory is also seemingly very close or the same age as Jason and she is the one that is written as wanting to take Jason to bed or, at the very least, attracted to him. Kory being an adult in comparison with Jason is taken away from her and she is just transformed into something to fit Jason’s new beginning as the Red Hood. Lobdell didn’t do Kory any favours, he annihilated her character and made her out to be just eye candy that can come off as stupid and way too reckless just to prop Jason up, believe it or not Jason sometimes was the voice of reason to both Roy and Kory’s antics.

It’s even worse when you consider the fact that in this issue Kory is feeling better and more confident because she finally understands what she wants and has accepted Earth as her real home, all of that is gone in New 52, Kory is lost, insecure, she even depends on Jason a bit too much at the start (because she “didn’t remember” her time on earth or Dick) and goes back to killing. All in all, Lobdell’s version of Kory was very damaging and a disservice to her past history.

Back to the issue, as Donna and the others are going to start coming up with a plan (with only two days until resurrection day) we move scenes and find ourselves in a meeting where people are complaining about the Titans messing up their plans, but that is not what matters, apparently the people in that meeting wanted to “summon the Brotherhood” and here is where we are introduced to the person who will make the Titans’ lives a little more complicated…Twister. She is one of the people that were victims to Brother Blood’s brainwashing and experiments.

In the next page we see the Titans resting but Cyborg is awake so thanks to that he hears someone coming straight to them, here Kory takes the lead and she says once more that she will not kill whoever that is, that she can’t and won’t do that anymore…I wonder if Lobdell ever read these issues, maybe not.

The attacker was Twister and in seconds she twists the Titans’ reality and leaves them all incapacitated. She then goes to look for and recruit the Brotherhood of Evil. While she did that though the Titans slowly made their way back to the city and are now getting ready to attack. Donnas plans as we soon find out don’t include Jason as one of their front line fighters, in fact he has to be left behind as back up.

Jason is not very happy about this; he is the boy wonder! But because it’s the plan and the Titans are experienced, he decided to stay put (at least for now). Its funny to me that even Beast Boy calls Jason a kid. What is sad from these panels is obviously the last thing that Jason says “I can’t wait until I am sixteen!”. I mean, this issue came out exactly two years before Jason’s death, there was no way they could have seen that coming but yeah, it’s just sad. Jason really was in a better and happier place around this time, little did he know everything would turn upside down after a while.

The rest of the Titans fight, Donna starts to feel like she is finally in control and that she is doing a great job at keeping the Titans together, Kory is having her inner turmoil about Dick but she is doing her job and when she decides to go help Cyborg and Joey they come across the Brotherhood of Evil. This is where #26 ends.

Issue #27 starts with a very difficult fight for Kory, Cyborg and Joey, it ends with Kory injured, Joey captured and with Cyborg thrown off a window. The only one of them that Donna, Beast Boy and Jason are able to save is Kory.

The Titans that re left have to retreat and find a place to recover, Jason is very silent all the time but Donna and Kory are the ones that are having interesting talks, they have to find out where the Brotherhood has Joey and Cyborg and their time to save Dick and Raven is running out but if they don’t save the others they might die. It’s a complicated situation and they are both impatient but Donna tells Kory this “Dick would be the first to tell you to plan first, attack later”, I bring this up because nowadays its very common for fanon and current writers to think of Dick as someone that doesn’t plan, that doesn’t think before jumping. Even Beast boy called him a tactician, I know this is a Jason post but its also a post about how characterizations are also kinda destroyed. Dick has suffered a lot from mischaracterization so its nice to go back to these stories and see that what we think Dick should be now isn’t something that we once imagined but something that mas modified or taken away from him either by fanon or current writers.

After the Titans decide to wait for the storm to pass to go looking for Joey and Cyborg, we actually see that Cyborg is in the city looking for shelter, he is injured and as he falls unconscious we meet a couple that decides to save him. Back to the Titans once more we have Jason say that the storm that is forming look “like something out of Ghostbusters” its then that the Brotherhood makes itself known, they are taunting them and they have roped Joey to the top of the capitol building and they are asking the Titans to surrender or Joey dies.

Its here where Donna takes full control of the Titans and even though she and Kory have different ideas of what to do she says that she is the leader now and what she says gets done. Donna will be in charge of saving Joey while the others will make their way towards the Brother Blood Church to help Dick and Raven.

Before they go their separate ways Jason says this about Donna “Wow! I wouldn’t wanna be in her shoes for all the garbage pail kid stickers in the world.” I am going to be honest, I had to look those stickers up and all I have to say is what the hell. But I am not here to talk about stickers I am here to talk about how funny its that Jason is being so uninterested about leading a team. Now, don’t get me wrong, Jason has the ability to lead, yes, but he is better at leading himself or an operation, we have all read UtRH, we know how well the Red Hood can handle himself and his plans but a team of heroes? Controversial opinion but I think that Jason should have never been given a team and I am talking about Kory and Roy as well as Artemis and Bizarro. Was Rebirth better than New 52? Absolutely. But I just don’t see Jason as a leader of a team of heroes and it’s also incredibly repetitive, just because he was Robin doesn’t mean that he needs his own team. I know that Robin Jason and Red Hood Jason aren’t the same person and that they might think differently but if Lobdell had never come into Red Hood/Jason Todd’s life when he did we might have never seen Jason lead his own team and that to me is proof enough that it should have never happened. I quite enjoyed the Prince of Gotham storyline in Red Hood: Outlaw, he didn’t have a team but he had an operation going on and people working FOR him not WITH him. In my opinion that’s better for Jason (if you would like to see me review that storyline let me know).

There is a lot happening story wise and I am finding it more and more difficult to continue talking about Jason’s moments here without giving context so I am going to resume what happened between Donna leaving to save Joey and Jason’s next appearance in this issue. Here we go, Brain tells Monsieur Mallah that he decided to “help” Twister take down the Titans because he wants to use Brother Blood’s Blood Pool because he is dying, Twister goes back to her family’s home and we get to see how brainwashed she is, her family is shocked to see her and they are also the ones that took care of Cyborg while he was unconscious, Cyborg leaves to find the Titans but Twister sees where he left to, she tells the Brotherhood where he might have gone to but protects her family by not telling them that they were the ones that protected Cyborg in the first place and Donna was able to save Joey. I think that was everything.

We see Jason again when he is just outside Brother Blood’s Church with Kory (who is giving him a lift) and Beast Boy. But because life can’t be easy for them the Brotherhood of Evil teleports there and a fight ensues. Kory takes the lead and Jason gets to work.

Kory praises Jason for his work here not because she can’t do anything but because she is seeing that a kid is doing an excellent job. Make no mistake, she is the one with experience but she is nice and gives credit when its due.

Cyborg arrives and the fight continues. We see Beast Boy warning Jason about some of the villains’ powers and Jason being the excellent Robin that he is pays attention and escapes Plasmus’ touch.

I might not think that Red Hood is a team player but Robin Jason absolutely is, and the Titans are nice and care for his safety.

While all of this was happening, Cyborg had made his way to the Church and there he gathers all kinds of information including the location of Brother Bloods main Church in the US. He also makes the alarms sound so everyone leaves because he set up the Church to blow up. Somewhere else Monsieur Mallah is threatening to kill Brain after the later insults him again. And there is where this issue ends.

In issue #28 Jason and the rest of the Titans appear after several pages of Mother Mayhem being a creep, Azrael the angel rising and trying to resurrect Brother Blood through the power of prayers, people watching the live broadcasting of the event and Dick trying to break free from his own head but as soon as he does it Mother Mayhem brainwashes him right away.

The Titans are back in their tower where we see Wally again but that is not all, Frances Kane and Robotman come in too. After all the people who are willing to fight get together the Titans make their way to Brother Bloods Church.

It’s in the jet with Wally that we see Jason and this time he gets to talk too! Jason is talking about how much braver the Titans are compared to him but Wally calms him down by saying that even though he has been doing this for a while he is also scared.

The fact that Jason joined the Titans on another adventure without mentioning it to Bruce is funny to me, he was probably so happy that Donna called him again! Maybe Jason was more bored of being with the Bat than he let on and maybe he didn’t feel appreciated enough or heard. I also like to think that Donna got Jason’s number through Dick, like do you remember that Dick gave Jason his number if he ever wanted to talk shit about the Bat with him? What if they did talk and then Dick put Jason’s number on the Titans’ data base? That would be cool and really sweet!

Jason continues to be a team player and being useful during the fights, he has the Titans’ back as much as the Titans have his.

They fight their way in Brother Blood’s Church and once there they find a dude called the Confessor with Arella (Raven’s mother) but he tells the Titans that she is dead. Somewhere else though is where the real trouble is at, between Azrael and Raven, Brother Blood has finally been resurrected.

It’s in the last page where Brother Blood is looking all mighty and powerful that Dick seems to have broken free from his brainwashing once more.

That’s the end of that issue and this part of the post. This one was super difficult to write and it’s even longer than part one, I hope I didn’t make it super difficult to read. At some points I felt like I was explaining too much and in others too little. I guess it’s very difficult to show how one character participates in a story without giving context but I just didn’t want this post to be too plot heavy.

These issues had some cool Jason moments but the ones in issues #29 to #31 are even better!

#jason todd #teen titans #titans #new teen titans #starfire #kory #donna troy #dick grayson #nightwing #brother blood #dc comics #robin jason todd #wally west #red hood

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raineschaos · 3 years ago

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here’s a short owl house concept i found in my notes-

if anyone wants to continue the idea, ur welcome to use it as a fanfic. i don’t need credit but i hope i can inspire some owl house writers to write some fanfics. its about the witches showing up in luz’s world and needing to find their own way back, without luz even finding eda.

❝𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐋!❞ Luz's mother, Camila Noceda chimed out on the car ride back home. "During my shifts too, I drove all the way to school worried that you were hurt or something."

"I'm sorry-" was all Luz could get out of her mouth before Camila took a quick left turn onto the road they lived on.

Her mother sighed, being a only mother and having such a rable-rousing daughter was a little bit too much for her to handle. Trying to balance both was impossibly difficult. After a couple seconds of silence, "I'm glad you're okay, just try not to do it again." Luz had gotten called down to the principal's office after dumping most of a can of paint on another student's painting. Her reason was that she thought she saw the painting moving. The principal, who was fully aware of Luz's reoccurring "active imagination" decided to report the situation to her mother, who had been quite shocked when she heard the news.

The brunette nodded, holding her held low in both sympathy for her mother and guilt. "I know I'll do better, mamá, I promise I will."

"Those ideas of witches and fantasy stories are holding you back. You're sixteen, miha, I just want what's best for you and I know focusing on school is hard for you...but if you put those Auria books away-"

Luz cut her mother off as they pulled into the driveway. Unfastening her seatbelt, she said, "Azura. And like I said, I'm going to try harder." The sixteen-year-old opened the car door, her mother opening hers on the other side. It was obvious that the health-care worker was tired from her shift as she didn't respond until they were inside.

As her mother began to retrieve vegetables for gazpacho, Luz sat down at the round wooden dining table contemplating helping or not. Her mother broke the silence once again, "I'm just trying to look out for you, because I love you and I care very much about how you're feeling. Are there any issues you're dealing with in school?" Luz remained silent, there wasn't much to share besides the regular teenage girl things. It seemed like everyone around her was getting into relationships and going off to parties.

Just like her mother had looked into the cavities of her daughter's mind, she brought up, "You know, Mrs. Machados's daughter is holding a party and I think you should go."

After all of the trouble Luz had just gotten in, there was no way that she would have been welcome at an event like that, yet Camila had brought it up. Her mother continued on insisting that Luz go, "I have another shift to work tonight and you need to socialize with kids your age more often."

The young Noceda nodded shyly. Choosing to act hyped up, she hoped that within the action she'd feel more hyped up "I don’t know."

"You have until after dinner to decide, okay?" Mrs. Noceda said nonchalantly. To her mother it wasn't a big deal at all. It was just another social event, but to Luz, a party was frightful social event where different cohorts at school mashed together and created more chaos than a bull in a china store.

𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐑, Luz got changed into something else. She hoped that wearing something else would hide the disaster of an event that she had caused at school today. Different clothes, different person. She knew that her mother wouldn't be impressed, but she brought her gray-strap brown leather side purse with a book inside it. An Azura Book.

Luz got lost in her thoughts before her mother called her downstairs to leave. The sky was a dark haziness of purples and reds. She would have admired it longer if she didn't have to get into the car quickly. Trying her best to avoid suspicions of the heavy weight in her side satchel, she moved hurriedly and stashed her bag behind her feet. Buckling up much faster than her mother, Camila exclaimed, "Did your whole attitude about the party change suddenly?"

The truth was that it had, so Luz was able to respond, "Yes." However, it was only the outlook that Luz had crafted to help her get to the party. She knew that she'd see a lot of the same people, but maybe there would be kids from the schools that she used to show up at sports games for.

Some people who wouldn't know her.

If that went wrong, Luz knew that she always had a friend in her book.

Pulling up the house, there was already loud music playing from speakers on the patio and dozens of teenagers talking and whispering to each other. "You'll be fine, I know it seems like a lot. Te amo, miha. Give me a call if you need anything." Luz nodded to her mother, fully aware that her phone was brushing the cover of the book that was supposed to stay a secret in her purse. Throwing her bag over her shoulder, she got out of the vehicle and checked out the scene.

They were all grouped, situated at different areas of the field, but as Luz got out of the car and walked through the party, whispers diminished. Murmurs and gasps filed the crowd. At least no one was confronting her...oh wait. The bright blonde haired cheer-captain, Skylar, was there. The Skylar that Luz was on the cheer squad with, until she got banned. "I didn't realize they let just anyone in," she remarked with a sly sneer.

"Oh, I'm not just anyone." Luz said with a smile.

Skylar sent her a scowl but Luz quickly finished, "I'm Luz Noceda. Do you not remember me?"

The girls behind Skylar laughed and the blonde and pink haired cheerleader turned on her heel believing that she had a least made her point clear. Or maybe she just didn't feel like trying when Luz's reputation was already as worse as it got.

Walking away from the group, she walked closer to the speakers. No one really talked over there so she figured that maybe someone would want to hang out together at least. Everyone frowned as she walked by, so Luz did want anyone would do at a party where they weren't desired, sit down and read a book. Of course it was dark out, but Luz made do with the little light that her phone flashlight provided. As expected she felt like she was whisked off into another world. One where there were no limits...

one where a normal girl could be part of a legendary prophecy...

one where weirdos bonded with another and celebrated their differences...

...but she quickly snapped out of her fantasy trance. Usually the books provided as enough distraction from the world, but now she heard something. A shout amongst the loud blaring music. As everyone else continued to dance and talk, Luz followed the noise.

It was not a simple task, it was incredibly hard to navigate the party with the sounds and the lack of lighting. She looked up at one of the windows of the house and saw someone sitting on the sill of an open window. They did not seem like they were level-headed, once break of balance and they would plummet to the ground.

Luz saw the scene in her head as if she was envisioning the future. The partygoer fell from the window, but miraculously was saved by moving vines upon a wall. That was so unnatural, there must have been something else there. The vines had appeared out of nowhere and on top of that they had just saved that person's life.

Glancing around, she saw two shadowy figures standing off near the street. The two figures looked shocked as Luz turned to face them. As Luz noticed them the vines retreated back into the ground and there was no evidence of anything unusual from the ground or near the house.

The two shadow-cloaked individuals whispered amongst themselves. "How could you do that?" one angrily spoke. "I couldn't just let them hurt themselves." The other sighed, "What am I going to do with you? You could have got us both caught by a human or even expelled."

Other teenagers were finally crowding up around the scene. None of them had seen what the brunette had just saw. They would all assume that she was crazy if she said anything of the sorts so she stayed quiet and called for her mom. Luz could have sworn that she heard ambulance sirens nearby, but it was all fine, there was no emergency and the person was all fine.

As the phone connected her to her mom, her mother seemed to already be mid-conversation, "Are you okay? I heard that an ambulance was sent to the address that the party was at."

"I'm fine," Luz assured her mother. "Someone wasn't careful and fell from the window."

"Are they alright?"

"I believe so. I can't tell. A lot of people are crowding them now." Luz said.

A clicking sound of a signal turn played as Camila said, "I'll be there soon." She was fast, but someone she had still obeyed road laws. Luz saw the familiar look of her mother's car and walked into the passenger's seat. As she sat down she realized that she didn't have her book within her bag. She would have gasped if she wasn't already trying to keep it a secret. Hopefully she could get it back, it might have not been her favourite in the series but the Azura series wasn't fully complete with the whole set.

"What happened?" Her mother said. No completely sure how to answer that question, Luz looked for the signs that would tell if her mother was trying to make small talk or if she was genuinely concerned.

Deciding that there was nothing to conclude, Luz told her mother about her theory. "There were these two mysterious figures and I think that one of them created these vines that caught the student that fell."

Her mother nodded, but Luz noticed the faint expression of disappointment underneath the rims of her mom's glasses. "Luz, not again."

"I'm telling you, mamá, those vines came out of nowhere!"

"That couldn't have been what actually happened."

"Then how did they not get hurt?" Luz retorted in desperation.

Her mother was tired of the stories that Luz always told, because to her none of them were ever true. "Luz..."

"I wouldn't lie about this."

"I know you wouldn't but-" There was something in that voice that proved that her mother didn't trust her. No one did. Luz sighed in the passenger seat. When they made it home, she was quick to unbuckle her seatbelt and bring her bag and phone inside. The brunette went straight into her room once the door was unlocked.

Her mother knocked once it was closer to bedtime, "Please get some sleep and try not to worry so much. I know you want there world to be magical like your books, but the world we live in isn't that way. True there's elements of the world that are special, that make us want to believe that magic is real, but at the end of the day it's not."

It wasn't the best pep talk, but it wasn't a pep talk. It was a reality talk, and right before bed. Luz drifted off to sleep and felt the gentle touch of her mother's palm upon her forehead before she wished her goodnight and went to bed.

𝐀𝐒 𝐋𝐔𝐙 𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐓 𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐋 she could tell that all of the students were wondering what had happened as well. No one knew how they hadn't sustained any injuries. Some theories were being thrown around like aliens or a pile of leaves. Luz knew none of them were true, and she knew what she had seen even if others didn't believe her. As she walked into her homeroom period class, she saw more desks taken up. She didn't have the time to take the count, yet all was explained to her quickly.

"Class, meet your two new exchange students, Miss Blight and Miss Park."

𝐭𝐰𝐨.

𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐏𝐄𝐎𝐏𝐋𝐄 at Luz's school. It was quite unbelievable if she was completely honest with herself. Something told her not to trust them, but another part of her was glad to see faces that didn't already know all of her mess ups and record of chaos. Miss Blight and Miss Park. Completely dumbfounded at which was which, the brunette had looked at both of them a little too intensely.

The one with thick-rimmed circular-framed glasses and short cerulean-coloured hair gave Luz a short wave knocking her out of her daze. They wore a orange and yellow ensemble with persimmon leggings. At first impression, she seemed fairly nice and genuinely kind, but then there was the other girl.

The girl with bright green hair that reminded Luz of her favourite ice cream flavour, mint-chocolate chip. The girl's eyes were an amber colour, soft but somehow sparked with an intensity not yet brought to name. Like that of a spark that starts a flame or a wave before the sun reflects upon its crescents. Looking back at the girl with dark-blue hair, she smiled at her friend who was looking down at her notebook intensely.

Her bright pink and white shirt was matched with burgundy sweats and white high-heeled ankle boots. As the one with glasses whispered something to the focused part of the pair, she looked up at Luz. Squinting as if to say, 'what's your deal ?' Luz looked away, her cheeks flushing intensely with embarrassment, or something else.

The brunette hadn't realized that the teacher was beginning a lesson and she scrolled to an empty page in her notebook. Before she could scribble down something, a small paper plane dove onto her pages. Luz unwrapped it carefully, knowing who it was from. She knew she'd have to be quiet, the teacher wasn't a fan of note passing in class.

Lunch, today, by the cherry blossoms. - W + A

W and A? Those must be the initials of the people that she was just looking at. She was worried that the one girl was going to be mad at her, but maybe this was supposed to be a nice gesture. Maybe they were interested in letting her into their group. She could use a couple new friends and her mother might be pleasantly surprised if she had a group of people to hang out with.

Just as if first period never happened, the bell rang and Luz scrammed to right down barely legible notes. The school dance was in three weeks, the dance committee was looking for volunteers and their test would be on Friday about the renaissance and Luz was still working out the details of her presentation. She wasn't certain what artist she should investigate or how she should display the information.

As her thoughts trailed on and on she realized that she had to hurry to class. Bio class, right down the hall. "Hurry, Luz," she told herself, pacing at a speed that wouldn't get her stopped by hall monitors but arrive on time for class. Once she got there she saw that the seat that was usually empty beside her was taken by the dark-teal haired girl.

"Hey?" Luz said, a little bit suspicious about the fast she'd gotten there, considering that they were in her other class. They waved back at Luz with a smile but didn't say anything. "So I guess sitting beside each other makes us desk partners?"

She really didn't want to come on too strongly because that's when other students would try to change seats, but she hoped that this person would be different. "I'm Willow Park," they said, breaking the silence.

Surprised, Luz pointed to herself wondering if Willow was introducing herself to her or not. "Uh, um I'm Luz, Luz Noceda." Willow smiled, "So did you guys just get here?"

Willow looked forlornly as if the question was a little bit challenging to answer. Maybe even difficult to think about. She decided to ignore it and say something else, "I should apologize for the attitude of my friend. She's not normally like that. Well, that's a lie, I just mean that she can need some getting used to."

Luz wanted to Willow to go on, but they were quickly shunned and reprimanded by the teacher and they went back to intently focusing on their schoolwork. Willow's fingers drummed upon the desk as minutes on the clock passed by. The anticipation built with every whisper of each student and every hum from the projector. The sounds were hard to keep out while Luz jotted down things to remember but they were all minuscule distractions compared to the note in her pocket. The note that meant she could be a part of something for once. The paper that gave her hope.

"W + A. Well, that's Willow beside me. What does A stand for?" Luz thought inside her head, each one bubbling and bouncing off another in a hectic herd.

Luckily, as if magic aided her, Luz was not called on by the teacher to answer any questions. It might have only been the second hour of the school day, yet she was drained.

The bell rang out immediately as Luz focused back on the chalkboard and she sighed remembering her promises to her mother. Mrs. Noceda was counting her and she couldn't let her mother down. Hopefully after lunch she'd have some good news to go home with.

Even though it was her school, the brunette had no idea where to go for the cherry blossoms. Luz was grateful that Willow stuck around after biology to help her to the area. "Coming, Luz?" the blue-haired girl invited and Luz's brown eyes sparkled, feeling as if this was all just a dream.

Keeping her pace behind short sixteen-year old, Luz keep her boundaries and made sure not to startle her in anyway. Her mother wouldn't be too proud of her if she happened to make two new students scared of her on their first day. "Welcome to the Abyssary."

Willow gestured to the area and the border of cherry blossoms that seemed to keep strangers out and secrets in. Luz realized that they weren't in season and if she wasn't led there, she never would have been able to tell which trees were which. "How did you tell that these were cherry blossoms? You've never been here in the spring and it's incredibly hard to notice when they're not in bloom."

She smiled behind her glasses, "Let's just say, I know a lot about plants."

Luz was confused but she put a friendly face on and said, "That's so cool!"

The mint-haired girl was looking off at the distance, one foot on-top of her seat and the other to the floor. Luz took her own seat on a stone bench, a little bit nervous around the other girl. Willow cleared her throat, looking at the girl. When A. didn't respond Willow just spoke for her, "This is Amity."

"It's nice that you're here and all, but we're doing fine. We don't need a guide to the school. We may be new but we aren't brainless." Amity was too far away to be jabbed with Willow's elbow, but with a short motion, Amity knew that she should try and be a little nicer. "So, what's your name?"

"Luz," she said, "Luz Noceda."

"Alright, Noceda, why were you staring at us this morning?"

"Amity-" Willow began, Amity turned to her friend and shot her a look that wasn't necessarily mean, but conveyed a want to speak in private later.

Crossing her arms, she tossed her green hair and frowned. Luz realized that it would come to this, she stood up as well just a bit below Amity's height. "Of course she was wearing ankle boots, she probably liked the dominance that a couple inches in height gave her." Luz thought.

Stumbling words out of her mouth, she replied, "I was only looking at you two because you're new and I don't have any friends here. Maybe if I could-"

"I'm not buying it. Who sent you?" Amity eyebrows furrowed.

"No one."

"She's just human, lay off." Willow said, putting her arm in front of the Blight in order to keep things peaceful. Both of them realized that they had said too much because Luz had slumped back down onto the stone bench.

Human? Where they not humans? Who were they?

The two of them sighed, Amity palming her face with one of her hands. "Don't we at least owe her an explanation?" Willow pried, hoping that she would get some sort of approval from her friend.

"We don't owe her anything."

"Amity..."

A couple of seconds passed, even though Amity was still as stern as she was when Luz was invited to lunch, Willow started to explain a couple of things. "We're witches. We're new here because we don't normally live here."

Both of them were waiting for Luz to get mad or scared. Instead the teenager jumped up excitedly. "That's amazing! Wait? Are you guys serious?"

"Yes." Willow confirmed.

The brunette jumped up and down, "Oh my gosh, this is so cool. So what do you do in your world? Do you attend witch school? Do you fly on brooms? Do you have magic wands? Oh, oh! Do you guys have familiars or use magic wands? Are you guys chosen ones? Could I be a chosen one?"

Her speech would have gone on for a long time, but the bell rang signifying the end of lunch and Amity sighed and muttered under her breath, "Thank Azura."

"You guys have to tell me more!"

Adjusting her glasses, Willow smiled, "We will."

Amity's eyes opened wide, as if to showcase her shock of being roped into this situation. "I'm not going anywhere with this human."

"Too bad, you have next period with her." The witch ruffled out her orange top to which Amity closed her amber eyes in aggravation and balled her hands into fists. "So, what do you say? Are we going to give her a longer explanation? We kind of have to now."

"What if we went to the mall?" Luz said, trying to slowly back away so she could quickly speed out as to not be late for class.

Willow smiled and looked towards Amity. "Okay, alright, fine. We'll go."

Luz turned around to hide her happiness. Her first hangout with actual (well- maybe) friends. It was so exciting. "Hey, Amity."

"Don't talk to me. We're not friends."

The brunette faked a cough, "Yet."

As they kept walking, Amity spoke without looking in Luz's direction, "Let me guess you're one of those girls who reads too many books and has fantasies in her head while she's supposed to focus on more important things. So, now, she's got to prove to her mother that she can make her proud."

Luz looked at Amity's face, the girl hadn't even skipped a beat when filing that estimation of Luz's character. Instead of taking it as an insult, the tan-skinned girl exclaimed, "That's it! How did you know?"

Amity looked at Luz for a second, then shook her head with an angry sigh as she walked into the classroom holding onto the notebook she was writing in before. Some people pedalled past her and she dropped the book. Luz bent over to pick it up, but Amity grabbed it first with a frown, "I don't need your help."

She tried to act confident but they both tried to walk into the doorway at the same time and were shoulder to shoulder. If she'd trusted Luz more, she would have told her that the explanation was so easy to her, because she was the same way. It was the whole reason why she was here. She'd messed up and know she only have a couple weeks to fix it.

❝𝐆𝐔𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐖𝐄'𝐑𝐄 𝐒𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐎𝐆𝐄𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑.❞ Luz noted while nervously laughing as she sat next to a pretty grumpy Amity. The green-haired girl threw her black nail-polished nails on top of her notebook in an attempt to give Luz a hint to keep her eyes on her own page. For a second, the brunette almost forget what class she was in. She looked at the clock to remember the period.

English. We have english together. Their teacher was a huge romancer so of course the novel study was The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare. The book was a part of Shakespeare's later ("romantic") plays. As the books hit the desks with load thumps, students groaned at how long it ended up being. "I hope you're a fan of reading," Amity said.

Luz's fingers flicked to the first page where the teacher began explaining the first verses. "Welcome to the human world where every novel study is Shakespeare."

Her amber eyes looked at the cover where the author's name was. "Never heard of him."

"Well, if you like Azura books, you might find the flowery writing of Shakespeare flattering," she palmed Amity's book in her hands where a sticker of the novelized witch was placed.

Amity took a look at the book, her eyes widening. "Give it back!" she said, a whole non-angry side showing itself for the first time. "Luz..." the witch pleaded hoping not to cause a scene within the English classroom.

That reaction was completely unexpected and it might have been the shock that willed her to put the notebook back on the desk or the fact that everyone was looking at them. "Miss Noceda and the new kid! Are we having issues sitting next to each other?"

Feeding Luz a quick scowl, Amity said, "Yes."

Once she woke up out of her daze, Luz answered, "No, I was just trying to help her take notes." She couldn't have another call to her mother from the office.

"Alright, then. Focus back in our scene, class. 'Wherein our entertainment shall shame us we will be justified in our loves; for indeed--'" The teacher read aloud. Amity took the book back, intensely scribbling down a lot of words. "Anyone have any guesses on what that could possibly be alluding to?"

Amity's hand rose higher than Mt. Everest and although shocked by the sudden movement, Luz continued to write down point form memos detailing the characters and outlining the plot. "I believe he's trying to say, that if their demeanour is poor and unamiable then they will make up for it, with their love for the guests."

"I'm glad to find that we're on the same page, um..."

"Blight, Amity Blight." she filed in quickly, slumping back down in her seat.

Luz whispered to her, "You can make sense of all this? You must be a reader."

"So I like to read, what else of it?" Amity's nonchalant attitude blew a little bit of anxiety off of Luz's shoulders. She hoped that within a couple days, or even a couple hours she'd find the hidden sweet centre of the sour lemondrop that was Amity Blight.

"....though absent, shook hands, as over a vast, and embraced, as it were, from the ends of opposed winds. The heavens continue their loves!" Before the teacher could completely explain the importance of that verse, they realized that there was something else to make sure the students were aware of. "We were called in to help the art class in decorating the gym for the Fall Formal. I know it seems a bit early but we'll be meeting in the gym for the rest of these week and continue our novel study on Monday."

"Do we have to do any extra reading?" A student asked from the back of the class.

"Nope! I have plans to borrow the stage on Monday so we can fully explore the art of The Winter's Tale." The teacher explained.

"Ooh, that sounds dramatic." Luz excitedly thought.

The bell bid everyone goodbye and Luz walked out of the class knowing that she was going to be walking to the art classroom. This was by far her favourite part of the day and it was the only room that she could walk to without even looking. "Hey, Luz." Willow appeared out of nowhere by the lockers.

"WHAAA I-" Luz stammered, "How'd you get here so quick?"

"I have art class before you." Willow explained. If she had art class while they both had english then that means that they'd be decorating the gym together for the dance. Something mysterious was happening. How was it that all of her classes were with these new people? It must be fate.

"Oh well, I better head inside! Have a good last period, I'll see you later!" she exclaimed. Luz entered the class finally within her element. Her teacher was happy to see her again. After being sent to the principal's office one too many times she found herself frequently late to art class.

As the paint dribbled upon her canvas, with each stroke Luz was more and more sure of what to do. She painted stars upon a crimson landscape. Every painting felt like a part of her and a part of home. Art was over too soon, she wished that it could last endlessly but luckily she had plans.

Sending a quick text to her mom, she got approval to go to the mall as long as Luz told her all about the trip. "Ready to go?" Willow said.

"Heck yes!" Luz said, completely amped for their short departure. "I guess we're going to have to walk there because I doubt you two own cars."

"No..." Amity said, slightly wondering how humans got around if not using magic.

"How'd you hear about the mall, Willow?"

"My friend, Gus, we're not allowed to cross the border until we turn sixteen and he's still got a few years until he's allowed to. He loves human things though. Maybe we should consider getting him something."

"That's so sweet and that'd be a wonderful idea!"

Amity brought Willow aside and walked faster on the sidewalk, leaving Luz behind them. "We can't get too friendly. What if telling her everything puts her in danger?"

"What if not knowing anything puts her in more danger than knowing something?" Willow said, "I know we try our hardest not to interfere with the life of humans when we leave the isles, but she'd different."

The cerulean-haired witch returned back to their human friend. "Anyway, I'm not really sure where to begin. There's so much to tell you."

"What about, 'how you got here'?" The two witches nodded, okay with beginning with that subject.

"As I was saying, once you turn sixteen you're officially given your key to the human world. You're allowed to cross from the Boiling Isles to here. Amity and I were going to use my key to spend just an hour in the human world. Even though Amity's not fully sixteen yet, she's allowed to hop over with someone with a key because-"

"Of my remarkable marks on our hexams." Amity bloated, cutting off Willow's sentence.

"You're hex..."

"Hexams. Hex-exams."

"Oh, are those tough?"

"Yes, and extremely competitive. Only one student can ace Hexside's Hexams." Willow said. "Back to where I was. We were going to the human world and Amity and I saw a human party. We wanted to check it out so we said we'd arrive and quickly scram out before anyone noticed. Then that one teenager was about to fall and I had to help them. I used some of my plant magic to get them out of danger."

"A completely irresponsible decision." Amity huffed, "One that got us expelled from Hexside. We're not supposed to use our magic in front of humans. Not to mention it cost me three weeks of school. Who knows what spells they're going over that we could be learning right now if you hadn't had used your plant powers!"

"It was a good choice though. It was very courteous of you." Luz smiled, trying to give Willow a bright side.

Willow nodded happily, "I wouldn't have changed a thing, the one issue is, because you saw us we got suspended, not expelled. It would be a pretty serious charge, but the Emperor's Coven is incredibly busy right now."

Amity sighed, "They've all been sent of missions. They need to send a lot of witches in order to keep the witches within the human control under control. We have to get back home before my parents return to the Boiling Isles."

Listening intently Luz nodded, "That must be a lot of pressure. Why are you guys still here? Why stay if you could go back?"

"We're stuck." Willow said, disappointed.

"When we jumped through another witch snatched our key and now I'm hoping I can find them and get the key back. However, we only have three weeks or I'll be in serious trouble." Amity explained, crossing her arms in contemplation.

"So, we'll do this thing in three weeks!" Luz said.

Amity was about to share her feelings about that remark, but she was cut off by another one of Luz's exclamations. "Oh look, we're here now!" The witches stared at the large building in awe. Malls were mostly a human phenomena, according to Willow's friend, Augustus. They had never truly explored one as the isles liked the traditional methods of using markets.

"Wow." Amity said.

"That's a mall alright."

"Come on! Come on!" Luz said, taking their hands and pulling them through the doors. The Blight let go of Luz's hand shyly, while Willow got pulled along. "Where should we go first? Should we look for a gift for Gus? Maybe since you guys are going to be here long enough for the dance, we should go shopping for dress or suits-"

"Maybe we should take it a bit easy first." Willow said.

"Right, gotcha." Their human friend held a hand to her chin to think. "I know the perfect place! You guys wait here, i'll be right back-"

"Did she really just leave two witches alone in the middle of a huge human mall?" Amity said, wondering where Luz's head was really at.

Willow shrugged still smiling, "She's nice, maybe you shouldn't always be so suspicious of people just being kind."

"I am not." The green-haired witch said defiantly. "Besides, we should focus on our plan."

Luz came back before Amity could say anything more. "I brought Boba Tea. It's really good. I didn't really know what you guys would like so I got a couple of my favourites hoping that you guys might like them." She carried three drinks and set them down on a table.

Passing one that was purple with dark blue popping boba's in it to Amity, the witch took it a little bit on edge. "It's taro with blueberry."

"It kind of looks like her abominations at home." Willow said with a bit of a laugh.

"For you, I got watermelon and strawberry. An unlikely mashup that is kinda legendary." Luz said, passing the green drink to Willow. The red bubbles jumped up and down when Willow used the straw to stir.

"What did you get for yourself then?" Willow asked.

The brunette smiled, hoping that one of them would ask her. "I got strawberry and passion fruit." Amity and Willow took their first sips, both with pleasantly shocked faces. They passed their drinks to try each others, but they stayed true to their originals. Willow finished her quite fast admitting that it was really good. Amity cautiously took short sips of the drink.

Luz got up realizing that if they wanted to actually see the mall they had to walk around. "My favourite part of the mall is the fountain." She told the two of them.

The three walked up to it, Amity and Willow weren't surprised by the fountains. They had many of these back home, but Luz happily walked upon the side and sat down right near the water that people threw dozens of pennies in.

"You know, it's already a long shot that we even find the witch. But if we do, we'll can go back home and we'd never see her again." Amity said, but for Willow it was the last straw.

"What is your deal? Amity, you have to at least give her a sliver of a chance!" Willow said, being louder than her natural pitch, but still not loud enough that Luz could listen into their conversation. "We already told her everything."

"We can have Sybil erase any memories of us." She name-dropped their oracle coven friend.

Playing nervously with her sleeves, Willow protested, "Ames, you know that oracle coven members aren't allowed to erase the past, they're only permitted to tell see into the future."

"Oracle coven?" Luz said, interrupting again. "Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to listen into your conversation. What's a coven? You've already brought it up before. What are you guys a part of?"

Willow was happy that she could easily answer that one, but before she could Amity turned to her fellow witch. "We should only tell her if we're involving her in this."

"I thought I already was a part of this? I want to help you guys get home."

"It wouldn't hurt to have a human guide. Right, Amity?" Willow said, once again trying to ease the Blight into agreeing.

Amity looked around the mall, hoping for something to use as a distraction. "How about we think about it while we shop for some clothes. Willow and I only brought enough to last us today."

Luz smiled, "Not a problem, the mall has a lot of clothing stores." While she ran off to the first apparel store she saw, Willow and Amity stuck behind.

"I caught on to you trying to change the subject."

"Just give me some time to thing about it."

"You and I both now that it's now or never to ask for her help. If you don't get home in three weeks, do you want it to be on your own fault because you can't trust anyone?" Willow said, bringing up a fair point.

This wasn't just a fair vacation they were discussing anymore. This was no longer a trip, they were really lost in the human world. If they didn't find those keys and word got out to her parents that she left the Boiling Isles before her 16th birthday, they'd be so disappointed in her. Sure she had the grades, but her parents weren't going to accept that as an excuse. If she could never she Ed or Em again...

No. She wasn't going to let that happen.

As she watched Luz looking at all of the different outfits passing Willow shirts and jeans, she felt something unfamiliar.

The silence worried Willow, "Did you think about it?"

"Sort of. I'm not sure if we should let her in. She just doesn't seem-"

"What did I say about trusting others?"

Amity took another sip of the boba tea, reminding herself that without Luz they wouldn't have found something like it. "All I'm saying is that her human-ness can be distracting."

"You don't say..." Willow said, trailing off when Luz returned with a bunch of outfits for Willow to try on.

"Wait, until I get a couple things for Amity, then you guys can change at the same time and it can be like a mini-fashion show!"

After Luz was gone again, Amity said, "I'm going to trust you, to help me in trusting her."

"I'm glad we could make an agreement."

"I just hope I can keep it." Amity thought.

𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞.

𝐀𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐎𝐅𝐓 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐏𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐆 music invited the girls to hang out and stay within the store, Willow an Amity sat patiently on a large ottoman. A frazzled Luz was quickly picking out things that they could wear for the next few weeks. They were beginning to wonder if the brunette ever actually ran out of energy. Luz wasn't panicked, but she was sort of in a rush. Her mother would expect her to be home in time for dinner and there was only around half an hour left to shop.

Amity pulled on the straw hoping that stirring the substance would help more come through, but it was finally empty like an hourglass showing how long they'd be there. Willow didn't attempt to make small talk with her friend, but she was confused when Amity got up. "Where are you going?"

"Just to dispose of the drink," the green-haired girl quickly replied. While she was out Luz came back with five different outfits for Willow to try on. There was a couple of orange tops, but a couple of green ones as well. The witch squinted at the outfits even though she could view them quite well.

Luz looked bashfully ashamed, "I'm sorry, do you not like green? I just thought it would look nice on you, but I also got some in things in orange because I noticed that's what you're wearing now." Willow smiled at her newfound human friend. Taking a hanger, she smoothed over the fabric with her hand.

"It's all good, I've just never worn human clothes before." To that Luz let out a little bit of a laugh but helped Willow find a place to try the outfits on.

"Where's Willow?" Amity asked, walking back into the store.

"She's gone to try her outfits on. Which made me remember, I've completely forgotten to pick out outfits for you!" Luz said, dashing away into the aisles of clothing. Amity sighed waiting, it was strange to have some time alone in a place she didn't recognize. It wasn't at all quiet or dark like her secret library hideaway and it made this place all the less familiar. She contemplated what Willow had told her. You can trust Luz.

You can trust her.

But the moment didn't last long. She felt her heart twist and turn like a clumsy metamorphosis and she couldn't seem to explain or understand it. Exhaling softly, she watched Willow come out of a room with dozens of hangers. "Amity, you wouldn't believe human fashion!"

She softly smiled at her friend, looking back at Luz who was coming back with a bunch of clothing hangers on her wrists. "Need a hand?" Willow asked kindly. Luz smiled but shook her head 'no' while she handed off the clothing to Amity. The Blight took off not wanting to stay within the vicinity of the two cheery pals.

As Amity hung one of the pairings on a rack, she muttered to herself, "For the human world, they still have taste. I guess Willow was right." She quickly swapped in and out of every outfit, liking each more and more. Amity changed back into her original outfit from the Boiling Isles and walked out with a bit of a strut.

"I must admit..." Amity's voice stumbled over Luz's name wondering whether or not she was allowed to say it fully, "you have some taste, Luz."

Luz looked over to Willow and sat up from the ottoman. She took the clothes along with her and paid with a bunch of gift cards that she had been saving up. She was thankful that her back was facing the two witches. Her face showed happiness but also distressed confusion because she wasn't really sure if she fits in with all of them. They were talented, lovely, amazing, and one might even say beautiful. Luz looked up at the store lights trying to focus on her surroundings once again. She took the clothes with her in giant bags and passed them to the girls to carry the weight. "You don't mind, right?" she asked to be polite.

To her, they shook their heads. "Alright so, I know the whole dance thing isn't until the fifth of November but it's better to shop for formalwear earlier, or else students will be crawling the stores." Luz checked the time, they had around fifteen minutes, but then they'd have to make a large effort to race home. "So, come on!"

She said, quickly treading the mall to a store with fancier apparel. "You could search on your own or we could all look together, it's all you two's decision." Luz smiled, she looked at Amity but Amity quickly walked in on her own.

"I think it will be faster if I go alone, I'll catch up with you two," Amity said, making a quick excuse to get out of there. What was going on with her today? She seemed to not be able in the same room with them anymore and now that she was alone she felt how fast her heart must have been racing on the way there. Just look through the clothing racks, Amity told herself.

Luz paced around the store looking for a colour that would look good on her. While searching for something for her, she found the best thing for Willow. The brunette showed it to her friend with a smirk, "How about this?"

"How are you so good at this?" Willow said.

"I may or may not have picked out costumes for one of our school plays," Luz said.

Willow tried the dress on to see if it would fit and it was nice. She twirled in the green grape coloured gown that trailed down to her ankles. The dress was accented with sparkly green lace vines and small white flowers. Ribbon wrapped around her waist and decorated the dress a bit more. She packed up the dress and told Luz, "It was perfect! We just need to find something for you."

Luz showed Willow a black dress, which she promptly shook her head no to. "What about this one?" She asked Willow, taking out a teal coloured dress. Willow once again shook her head 'no'. Both of them looked around the store, Willow found one rolled up on one of the lowest shelves.

"What about this, Luz?" The dark-blue-haired girl handed her friend the dress that was missing a hanger.

"It's great!" However, she noticed her friend's puzzled expression. "What's wrong?" Luz looked down at the long-sleeved blush pink skater dress. It had a two-layered skirt that was kind of poofy, but Willow could tell that it was missing something.

Using the same method that she had before she searched for the unwanted gems on the clothing shelves. The ones that were about to be forgotten, so they could take them and make them wanted again. "I think I found it."

"Found what?"

"What you were missing," Willow said proudly, holding up a lilac jacket. Luz looked shocked at first, then a little bit confused as she debated the option. After she took it in her hands she smiled knowing that her newfound friendship was working wonderfully.

•°. *࿐

𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐓𝐘 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐅𝐎𝐑 her own outfit while the two conversed. She looked at several different things, but they all seemed to remind her of things that her siblings would admire, not her. She looked behind a couple of black dresses, getting annoyed that there was a bright purple one where it didn't belong.

Pulling it out she realized that it was the one, "Look at you, you're not where you belong. But neither am I...why am I talking to a dress?" Amity said, shaking her head. She put it in one of the formalwear covers and met back with the other two who had their outfits within black fashion bags as well. Luz took them and paid again being the only person with money.

"Well, all of my gift cards are gone now. Ready to hit the road?"

"Why would we hurt the road?" Willow asked.

"Never mind! Let's get going." Once they exited the mall, Luz took their hands and raced home with them. "Welcome to the Noceda house!"

Luz let go of both of their hands, causing Amity to break out of a strange trance. "You live here?" Amity asked. Then she realized that it could have been considered rude and bit her lip.

"Me and my mom, but she'll probably be nice enough to let you guys stay," Luz said, knocking on the door. Her mom was quick to answer and opened the door to let them all in.

Mrs. Noceda kissed Luz on the cheek, "Te eché de menos, Luz!"

"También, mamá," she told her mother, giving her a quick squeeze. "I brought company, and they might be staying for a couple of weeks."

"A couple of weeks?" Her mother asked, completely confused.

"Our house burned down." Amity blurted out, quick with a lie.

Luz's mother went to the two of them and gave them each a hug, "I am so sorry for you too, of course, you can stay here if your parents don't mind." The two of them smiled from the warm hospitality. Amity never really knew what it felt like to get a hug from her mom, Odalia Blight wasn't one for warm gestures. Willow however never experienced having a mom so it was quite different for her too.

"Well, it's been a long day, we should probably head up to bed and get these two some mattresses or something," Luz said, but her mother wasn't willing to let her go upstairs that quicky.

"Luz, you can get your friends ready but you aren't going to bed without food in your stomach." The brunette smiled and nodded as she ushered her friends up to her small room in the attic. Amity and Willow set down their bags and looked at the room wondering how they were all going to sleep there. Luz hauled a giant mattress into the room.

Huffing and puffing from exhaustion she quickly noted, "This might only fit one of you guys."

"Willow can take it," Amity said, kindly offering it to her friend. Willow helped Luz find pillows and blankets.

"Since that mattress will only sit one person, Amity you could sleep on top of the covers of my bed." The green-haired witch blinked hoping to find a response. She saw a rolled-up sleeping bag and grabbed it conceiving words to speak.

"I'll just use your sleeping bag. I don't want Willow to be alone on the floor and we use sleeping bags all the time back home." Amity said, half telling the truth.

Luz put a hand on Amity's shoulder, "You're a really good friend to Willow." The Blight was worried that she wouldn't be able to keep her composure anymore. Luckily, Mrs. Noceda called them all downstairs for dinner. After the meal, they were all pretty tired anyway and they all went to bed in their designated sleeping location. It was lights out and Amity missed her books back home, even her diary. She would have written so much about her day within those pages. Then she remembered the journal that she had brought from school.

Along with her dozens of sketches of Azura characters and Otabin, she found a new page to write some quick information down.

First day in the human world.

- Not going to lie, it's been really strange.

- We met a human girl and we're hoping she can help us get back home.

- We also went to a human mall and went shopping for human clothes.

and why can't I just go to sleep already?

It's because I can't stop thinking about Luz. That human someone how makes me forget to put up my boundaries and Blight never gets flustered like that. I should get sleep, but here I am writing in the dark. Goodnight, journal.

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