#makes me miss the days the sequels had actual merch

[careful--ren]

i recently found my old star wars figurines again and apparently i bought 3 of the same hux's. younger me used to carry one of them around with me wherever i went as a good luck charm (or as a reminder to get my shit together)

[vicea]

dream merch discord recap (june 12, 2021) - disclaimer: i may have missed some things or mistakenly heard other things, apologies in advanced for that!

he has not played the new minecraft update

dream “knows” the date george is coming to florida but he’s not saying it :p

dream doesn’t have anyone muted on twitter

dream guesses his favorite disney princess is belle

sapnap has seen dream’s feet before

he’s not actually connor’s dad in the dsmp lore

dreamnap do not have nicknames for each other D:

dream likes olives but especially black olives

his mother makes homemade pickles

he doesn’t have a phone case

he has dropped his phone from his ear onto concrete in the parking lot before and the screen didn’t crack

dream has six fingers /j

he pours cereal first not milk when making cereal

dream calls sapnap nick most of the time :D

what’s your dream car? “idk the one that gets me to point A to point B consistently”

he finally fixed his sleep schedule, woke up at 8 am today

mrbeast owes dream a tesla because he never sent dream the audio file

dream is a very analytical person - he thinks with numbers/data

creativity is one his strengths that he is the most proud of

3 to 4 years ago, dream used to say george looks like shawn mendes a lot, now he doesn’t resemble him as much

patches is currently sleeping <3

swimming is very relaxing to dream, he swam the other day!

many houses in florida have pools than other places, even the cheapest houses in orlando have pools

dream has merchendise defects (misprints on merch) + milestone merch and he wants to give them away to those who live in orlando (probably to anyone but the event will be held in orlando) though he doesn’t want it to be a covid super-spreader thing so once you pick up your item you gotta dip. just all an idea though

he has been donating them to charity too though :)

dream has likely read Heroes of Olympus before a long time ago

he says that he’ll do a give away of his childhood books with his signature on it

he was obsessed with the series (Percy Jackson) 

he really liked the Alex Rider series

has all of Maximum Ride books, 39 clues books

has read the legend series, the twilight series, and the maze runner

has all/read of the harry potter books, divergent, eragon

he would read all the time, to the point he would read more than one book a day (a book worm he says)

dream had a goal to read 200 books in a year and he wind up reading about 150

he doesn’t want to call it a library but- growing up he had something like that that had 600 or 700 or more books in it (privileged he admits it)

he has not read a book since he started youtube (about 2 years)

dream has a folder called Book that has his own writing in it

word count: 76000 words for one of his stories 

another one he wrote 5 chapters of

he sounds very excited/embarrassed talking about the stories he wrote he’s so endearing

the very first paragraph of one of his stories (he was young when he wrote this) “What exactly is darkness? is it the lack of light? is it a pit of nothingness? ... your mind is full of darkness...” then he couldn’t continue.

the story is about a kid who wakes up in a cell and has no idea where he is with other people who are in the same situation

dream has a world building document

he has a sequel to the first book he has ever written

he found a query letter that he wrote because he wanted to get his book published- he finds it very funny

he’s calling himself a nerd but idk it’s kind of endearing

“as you can tell i’ve always been incredibly cool and not a nerd at all! ever.”

he cringes at his own old videos

dream took a lot of inspiration from witches and wizards by james patterson for writing

the story is written in a way where the main character is actually writing the story so you’re getting input from the main character during it. there’s a lot of sarcasm in it and it’s making dream laugh

very first person narrator

he feels like it’d be very cool if he were to publish his works he wrote when he was 16 on amazon or something but he probably never would because he’d have to read through all of it and it’s just embarrassing for him

dream used to video call sapnap fairly frequently- even before youtube

he strictly remembers, a very long time (at least 7 to 9 years) ago he was at his old childhood house he video called sapnap. he was wearing a (technically) suit and he remembers specifically that he was giving sap a tour... 

“snazzy in a suit”

he had no reason to put on the suit (wow time is a flat circle huh)

drista is pretty close to sapnap’s height, she’s like 5′7″ but sap is still taller than her

dream filmed the whole thing when he and sapnap met but... it’s... gone because when he was clipping that one clip for twitter... it edited the whole video

he’s sure when they meet up with george they will film that too :D

DREAM IS PRETTY SURE THAT HE AND GEORGE WILL MEET THIS YEAR-- HE SAYS A 95% CERTAINTITY the five percent is like either restrictions or visa issues

dream does not play any instruments but he had a guitar hanging on his wall when he was younger...

dream is convinced they’re the same height but also sapnap is probably taller??

they had george compare his height to a door frame and dreamnap were googling for any doorframes to find any possible chance that george is taller than 5′8″ ... nothing came up

there’s a chance they’re both lying about being 5′8″

sap and george will literally just show up in stilts to prove they’re taller than each other /j

dream without shoes is between 6′2″ and 6′3″ with shoes he’s 6′3.5″

dream is talking about awesamdude’s fake height arc again LOL

dreamnap are very private people so they don’t bother each other but george doesn’t care and would just barge into their rooms and start bothering them- they were all joking about that over a voice call

he will visit europe

he thinks that greece would be a cool place to visit because sapnap’s family is from there :) so it’ll be like a nice “treat” to go back with sap :D

dream isn’t entirely sure that the dream team meet up will happen this year but he’s working out the details because he wants to make sure it’s safe

he’s talking to youtube about his face reveal

it’s up to george if he wants to eat healthy when they finally move in

dream just has a lot of meat and vegetables in his house

spinach with chicken is good

not much fruit (only apples and tomatoes)

“DRISTA IS 5″ is trending on twitter LOL (her height got cut off)

dream doesn’t want people flying to different places because he doesn’t want to encourage travel so he wants to do all of the meet ups with a two day heads up at most

he thinks that it’s awesome that ranboo and tubbo are meeting soon !! :D

it’s very cool to dream to see how far everyone’s has come since the beginning of the dsmp. everyone has done so much

dream finalized his youtube plan a couple weeks before he uploaded his video and he was talking to drista about how he was gonna be a big youtuber in a parking lot :”)

she was the first person he really ever talked to about it

dream would love to teach george how to drive it’d be really funny :D (a very good video or a livestream idea) 

dream knows how to ride a bike, he used to have to bike to school

he can’t explain dnf.gay he has no clue he is not responsible. sapnap was the one who found it LOL. he is adamantly exclaiming that it was not him

dream doesn’t worry about views/likes/dislikes a lot- mainly views but that’s for the new uploads

he hasn’t uploaded in like a month and a half (*cries*)

he wants to stream at some point but he doesn’t know when 

he wants to play geoguessr but not now... he doesn’t want to alt stream rn- maybe tomorrow!

he is insisting that the splash text on his minecraft home screen is by callahan

he asked callahan to send him bunch of text files that are dream team related so that the splash can rotate through it but callahan thought it was funny (it is) to put only dreamnotfound <3 so it doesn’t ever change at all and dream doesn’t even know how to change and he has asked callahan to change it but he said no (even though dream pays him LMAO)

the video referenced in the padilla’s video is still in the works, it might be handed over to sapnap though !

he has no idea if he will be in MCC pride yet

padilla got dream’s input for the video, dream found him to be a very nice guy ! :) it’s the first interview that dream did that wasn’t by a person with a negative opinion of dream

dream felt relaxed doing the interview with padilla 

?????? he’s blaming callahan for his “dnfisreal” nickname in bedwars 

he’s blaming callahan for a lot of dnf-related stuff

callahan runs the dream fanart account thus the liking of dnf content

he’s so insistent that it was callahan

dream admits that he was lying about the twitter and other stuff but for sure callahan did code the splash text in LOL

dream liking that tweet “the chances of george doing a hot tub stream is the same of dnf dating” was “funny” he wasnt trying to do any commentary...

the inside joke of “oh it’s all just a joke to you” originates from george and sapnap actually always fighting (like them yelling and shouting at each other) and george said something really mean and sapnap was hurt then geroge said “it was just a joke” and sapnap replied with that line and ever since then it’s been a meme LOL

he says that everyone does the hand-on-the-passenger-seat-while-reversing thing

dream is offline raiding with his chat with 6k people

dream appreciates us and will talk to us soon! 

[youarejesting]

My fics in 2020

I am proud of this year. I worked hard until the end. 2020 was my year of finishing my stories. I have done so much and next year I want to do more. So keep an eye out Jester will take over.

Fandom(s): BTS, mentions of NCT, BLACKPINK, MONSTA X.

Networks:@btscreatorscorner @castlebangtan

Total Fics: 34

Total chapters: 404

Total Words: 565,587 Total vids and fake subs: 13 

Best and Worst Title?

Best: ‘Music is the spark that sets my soul on fire’ and its sequel ‘Dance is the celebration of the flame’

Worst: The Check Up

Best and Worst first line?

Best: Yoongi never understood why people would say one's blood is important. (Mania)

Worst: It all started in Mykonos. (Steal my sunshine)

Best and Worst ending line?

Best: “I got you this pretty dress” Seokjin grinned showing you the dress before hugging you and giving your forehead a kiss, “Let’s go burn it” (Me & the ghost in number 23)

Worst: But all you got was a sharp-toothed smile. (Pandemonium)

Looking back, did you write more fics than you thought you would this year, less than, or about what was expected?

I think I wrote what I expected, but I think I could have definitely finished more. Which is a bit upsetting.

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted last year? 

I don’t have limitations to my writing so nothing is deemed unpredictable.

I am however generally surprised by my love of throwing in twists and also gore, I love gore.

What’s your favorite story this year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you the happiest.

Wild space: it is strange because I am not particularly a fan of space and scifi, but I am really into writing world building things and having the ability to create a whole planet was amazing.

Most popular story? 

Tumblr:

Seoulmates

Femme

Quarantine

AO3: 

Quarantine

BTS365

Love Listening

Story most underappreciated by the universe? 

Tiny Tan: Limited Edition

Story that could have been better? 

All

Sexiest story?

 Love Listening

Saddest story? 

 Me & the ghost in number 23

Fluffiest story? 

Mall Santa

Most fun story? 

BTS Among Us 

Hardest story to write? 

Kisaeng

Daylight (i'm still writing it haha)

Easiest/most fun story to write? 

Light it up

What story took the longest?

365 lol took all year

Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them? 

The biggest risk I took all year was posting my work. Living life on the edge.

What are your fic writing goals for next year? 

To double my writing

Fics that you wrote in 2020:

BTS365: 365 mini stories ✓ fluff, comedy, angst, romance, mature, action, adventure, smut. This has it all. Find your birthday and read your story. I wanted to give something unique to people.

Quarantine: 100 Chapters ✓ Something to accompany you while you are alone during quarantine and the pandemic. I was lonely and I figured so was everyone else. So, I decided to have BTS help us all go on an adventure that didn’t focus on the covid virus but on some other aspects around it.

Femme: 50 Chapters ✓ A futuristic world where women are rare. This was an indulgement fic that gave circumstances for the reader to be in a polyamorous relationship with the boys and live a glamorous life. Ending was a bit rushed.

Seoulmates: 29 (ongoing) Each member of BTS has a unique soulmate bond. I love the idea of this, another indulgent fic but you aren’t alone with the boys you have friends and you can play different parts.

Witching: 11 Chapter ✓ When your brother goes missing trying to find them gets you in a turf war between two covens. This fic was actually a way for me to vent for a project I wanted to complete but the project is so big that I wrote this instead.

Herb: 2 Parts ✓ mature, smut. Jimin claims he has everything you need, he doesn’t disappoint. I came across this idea within the 365’s and extended it because I liked the idea so much. Jimin has everything from casseroles to scarfes, cat food to cell phone chargers and the reader just wants to be loved and relieve stress.

Limited Edition: 10 Chapters ✓ BTS boys are sold as limited edition figurines. This was originally me venting about not having any merch and then became a daydream that what if the merch came alive. And the story was born.

BTS Among Us: 7 Chapters ✓ gore, action, adventure, scifi, angst, death of main characters. This one was so funny for me, I had my friend pick a colour and that was the imposter from the start. I was amazed that no one figured it out in the end. I want to play again soon.

Light it up: 13 Chapters ✓ fluff, comedy, angst, romance, mature, action, adventure. This was inspired by the dynamite trailer, I loved it so much that I began writing, I had no clear direction but as I wrote it started to shape and someone said it was like stranger things and I credited Stranger things cause it did indeed have a similar premise and I don’t want to pretend I came up with something that has already been done.

Love listening: 2 Parts ✓ SMUT, comedy, fluff, angst, romance, mature. This was inspired by a strange video that came up on the internet, I was searching for BTS misheard lyrics and the video I clicked had some funny ones but after that the next suggested video was bts moans and auto play was on and well this fic was born.

Me & the ghost in Number 23: 11 ✓ fluff, comedy, scifi, supernatural, romance, angst, mature, smut, death of main character. This was inspired by many of the ghost text au’s I had read but many of them were like the show oh my ghost where the main ghost character isn’t actually dead just in a coma and I thought the opposite way instead of them waking up, I wanted things to shape the other way. This one was so difficult to write and I cried a lot due to the loneliness Jimin was facing and the mourning from Yoongi.

Hope in the sheets: 4 chapters (so far) fluff, comedy, smut, adventure, slice of life, romance, angst, mature, growing up. This one is a fic that targets my childish desires. I have grown up so much and this fic is a visual representation of that. 

Asks: 77 (ongoing) where the bts boys answer the readers questions and concerns.

Reactions: 15 (ongoing) 

Prompts: 18 (ongoing)

One shots:

Kisaeng: This was a reverse fic project, the idea that instead of Mulan pretending to be a man and going off to war, it was BTS dressing as women to stay home from war. I loved writing about fictional history. 

Steal my Sunshine: This was a summer project. I wanted to write something that felt like a very bad spy movie, like Mellissa Mccarthy and Mr Bean-esque. I formed this one and it made me laugh the whole time writing it.

Blue Side: This was talking to myself about being sad and admitting that I could be sad but I should learn to split the happy and sad into two worlds and limit my time in them both, it was about equal balance and finding the good in the sad and the sad in the good. I don’t know how hard to explain.

Temptation: I had fun writing but it is pure SMUT. not even good SMUT.

Pandemonium: This was really fun. The premise is dark and the ending is left ambiguous, in the original, Namjoon kills the reader but I left it open so you can imagine them continuing their relationship or not.

Mall santa: A fluffy christmas piece. A secret santa I wrote that I felt needed to be soft and quirky and have just all the hallmark moments.

Mad: This one is finished, but I have it published privately at the moment waiting to unveil it as it is well SMUTTY. I don’t know what it is about Taehyung but he is always so dark and I guess that's what people find appealing. I had this idea from a 365prompt and well I had to write it.

One wish: This was a birthday fic that I wrote for a friend. I wanted people to read it on their birthdays or imagine their birthdays and themselves in this position if they made the same wish.

The Check Up: I wrote for this for a friend going through a personal procedure, they were nervous so I took their bias and made something I hoped they could think about while in the procedure and I even explained the steps and what might happen over the next few days hoping the whole thing wouldn’t seem as scary because technically her mind had already been through it when reading the story.

Sparks of the heart: Robots developing human feeling. It was a cute universe and Yoongi’s story will be a series within 2021.

Dance machine 3000

Digital Art

Electronic Tonic

Circuit chef

Random Access Memory

Kookies Trojans and Malware

Feel Better: Another fic written for a author who was sick, I wanted them to endulge in some escapism whilst they were sick.

Music is the spark that sets my soul on fire & Dance is the celebration of the flame: These two were requests that I loved dearly.

Horror movies: Cheesy damsel in distress meets boys will be boys.

I will wait (somesay): This song wouldn’t get out of my head so I had to write it.

Wild Space: When I wanted to write a hybrid AU but I already have a hybrid AU being edited. So hybrid werewolves meets space.

The Bomb: This one is compete and ready to post I had to talk myself out of writing this as a series but I love the story line. I love the end.

Lost Boys: This has been stuck in my head since i had a dream about it and I finally wrote it into the new year. I hope you like it.

Mania: Not my favourite work, love ABO universe I just haven’t got an actually story line so it is on hold.

Incaceration: The story that never was, I really need to get around to this one.

Tagging: @moccahobi I know you wanted to tag me... but I am finished so I am tagging you.

[lunawings]

My history with King of Prism and worries for the future

Poor Nikkanen. They made us wait TWO YEARS for the release of the full version of his ONLY song. I don’t think Prism Rush was supposed to end when it did, and the unreleased songs are more or less proof of that. (I mean what were they saving them for? I doubt the “Best Of” collection was what they originally had in mind.) I had always assumed that some time after SSS ended we’d start getting new songs on Prism Rush again and get another Prism Rush compilation CD. But that did not happen. 

Did SSS not do well? I mean... having been in a sold-out theater many a time I had assumed that it did quite well. But maybe the TV ratings and/or DVD sales weren’t what they should have been. (Then again, if we’re just talking about Prism Rush, it wouldn’t matter how well SSS did or didn’t do if people didn’t spend enough money on the app to warrant releasing new songs for it.) 

But that aside... it is a bit concerning to not only have Prism Rush ending, but over a year after SSS, to have nothing on the horizon in the future except for some “Best Of” discs... Maybe they’ll announce something at the Zoom show? Maybe they won’t. 

It may be too early to start mourning the King of Prism series as a whole, but...

But I can’t help but feel myself starting to mourn at least my own future with it.  With no new Prism Rush content and without ability to go to in-person cheering shows, I... I just I... I feel like I may find it hard to keep as passionate as I have been in the past. And to make matters worse, I’m not going to be able to work on my translations as much as before either. When I was translating 2-3 events a month on my Prism Rush translation blog, I had no job and then like... half a job. To make a long story short recently that first job not only got upgraded to full time, but I got another job as well. So now I have a job and a half and... a lot less free time. 

For a long time my main fandom has been split something like 49%/51% Love Live/King of Prism, but with the constant stream of accessible new Love Live content and lack of much of anything King of Prism I think that percentage will soon change...

And so, while feeling emotional about all this, I started mentally revisiting my favorite moments from my time in the King of Prism fandom. (It’s all stuff I’ve talked about before, but if you’d like me to dig up the post or explain the details, do let me know...)

(In somewhat chronological order-ish)

*Stepping out of Toho Cinemas and into the Bay City Nagoya Mall in early January 2016 not knowing how to process what had just happened. I’d heard people talk about how exiting to the parking lot after seeing Star Wars the first time in the 1970s was a bizarre experience. They didn’t know how to tell people the world was different now. I thought to myself that this was probably the same feeling. How could I tell people the world was sparkling now?

*Three weeks and three showings later, realizing I did not want to trade after I opened up my Shin filmstrip bonus. “I think I like him.” 

*Hanging up said filmstrip and my other original theater bonuses on the wall of my apartment. “King of Prism won’t be in theaters much longer”, I thought to myself. “It was fun while it lasted.”

*The radiance exploding from me as I talked to OTHER PEOPLE who had seen King of Prism for the fIRsT tIME (a thing that did not happen for several months). 

*Tokyo cheering shows back in the heyday. Looking around a giant, screaming, sold-out theater in Ikebukuro after many months had passed and realizing I was a part of something much bigger than I had realized. 

*The first Animate Cafe in Kyoto. Everyone gleefully answering “Naaaani” while listening to the explanation of how the cafe worked. The miracle of getting my first, and still favorite, cafe Shin badge.

*Screaming at the Over the Rainbow event live viewing when they announced Pride the Hero. We did it. We really did it. We were actually getting the sequel I once thought was impossible.

*The midnight showing of Pride the Hero. People crying before it even started and the thunderous applause after it finished that I thought would never end. (People in Japan usually never clap after movies.) 

*Music Ready Sparking. (The first concert.) The feeling of seeing SePTENTRION (long before they were called that) rising up to the stage to perform live for the first time. 

*The realization that I knew all the words to Dramatic Love, despite having never sang it before. (The instrumental began during the credits at the concert and we all... just... started singing. Japanese fandoms usually never sing at concerts unless directed to.) This is probably still my favorite moment of all time in the King of Prism fandom.

*The announcement of the Prism Rush app and the golden age of the game. Biting my nails with anticipation over what would happen next in the White Day event.

*Screaming in the theater during the Rose Party 2018 event live viewing when they announced SSS. We did it. We REALLY did it this time. We got an actual anime. We reached the mainstream.

*The adventure that was reading Road to SSS for the first time on Prism Rush and trying to predict what all the duos would be only to be blindsided by completely new characters. Going from “the heck are these guys” to “MY SONS” regarding the Amamoto twins over the course of about an hour.  

*Listening to everyone (not so) silently laughing, screaming, crying, and otherwise sUfFeRiNg during the non-cheering midnight premiere of SSS Part 1 and realizing I had never felt so emotionally connected to any such other large group of complete strangers before. 

*Going from the Nagoya premiere straight to the SSS greeting show in Tokyo where Junta Terashima looked at me... maybe. (I’d like to think he did.)

*When the OP played for the first time during our very first SSS livestream on Rabbit and seeing y’all just typing “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA” into the chat.

*In Tokyo, walking out of KFC in the POURING rain and stumbling upon SePTENTRION’s shopping street despite having completely missed it the first time. IT WAS REAL. 

*Glancing over at my TV screen during our very last SSS livestream on Rabbit and having the color drain from my face when I saw Shin in his Daisuki Refrain outfit (which was not shown in theaters) for the very first time two minutes before you guys in the chat would see it, and having no idea how to contain this emotion. 

*Clicking to another tab after our last SSS livestream to type my commentary post and then clicking back to see you guys collectively making the Wiki page for SePTENTRION on Rabbit.

*Prism dolphin show.

*The CLOUD of real (fake) money flying through the air during Kakeru’s prism show on the during all-night Prism Shower showing of SSS. (Also people offering to pay for young Alexander to go to the Prism King Cup.)

*The miracle moment when I finally got the livestream for the Rose Party 2019 on Stage to work on Kast despite a typhoon and an earthquake. THE PRISM SPARKLE PREVAILED. Dangerously walking back to my hostel in said typhoon and sleeping for about an hour and not even caring because I was convinced more than ever that the prism sparkle is real.  

*Seeing Shota Aoi live for the first time, realizing I was looking at a literal angel, and not knowing how to contain this emotion. 

*The chills during an orchestral Dramatic Love.

*A very overdue performance by my favorite boy during the Best Ten movie. It was worth the wait. Feeling I may actually be able to leave Japan with no regrets thanks to Daisuki Refrain.

*The Best Ten greeting show in Nagoya where Masashi Igarashi jumped an original Nagoya-themed prism jump. 

*Finally telling Junta Terashima and Masashi Igarashi my feelings in the letters I spent days writing to put in their present boxes at the SSS live. 

*Dropping all my luggage when I stumbled upon the very place, the very scaffolding under which Minato met Kouji for the first time in Shizuoka. IT WAS REAL.

*Masashi Igarashi waved to me at the end of the 2nd performance of the SSS live... maybe. (I’d like to think he did.) 

*Hearing the “Naaaani” response to anything ringing through the Makuhari Messe hall before the SSS live and just thinking about how far we’ve come as a fandom and yet how much has stayed the same. 

Like I mentioned earlier, I had a moment in early 2016 when I hung up all the King of Prism stuff I had on my wall and thought “It was fun while it lasted.” 

It looked like this:

Nowadays I have two FULL photo albums filled with concert tickets, theater bonuses, post cards, coasters, stickers... (Not to mention an entire drawer filled with my collection of Shin merch.)

Everything inside is a memory of some event I went to, something I ate at a cafe, some kind of experience I had such as the ones I talked about in this post... It’s always been pretty disorganized because I was constantly getting new things all the time.

But now that I have no idea when (...or if) it will be added to, I can finally take it all out and organize it by character or something. 

But I’ve been avoiding it. 

Because I know when I do, there will probably be a moment where I close the cover and think to myself “It was fun while it lasted.”

[written-on-the-trees]

Emerson Barrett Fan Fiction - Beautiful Things Come One Stitch At A Time

Prompt: Enemies to Lovers (or rather exes to still-exes-but-one-of-them-wants-to-get-back-together)

Word-count: 1825 words

Warnings: none

Description: Tia dumped Emerson because he wasn't good for her. She never expected to see him at work four years later - and now she doesn't know what to do.

Sequel to Not Enough Stitches To Put Us Back Together!

Tia sighed and ran her hand through her hair.

 This was not how she had wanted to spend her day.

 After getting fired, she’d started looking for jobs that would take her away from Las Vegas. It had only been a few months since she’d dumped her ex-boyfriend, Emerson, and it had seemed like the universe was telling her it had been time for a change. She’d applied for a few various positions, and ended up taking a job on Los Angeles, at Sumerian Records. At the time, Palaye Royale had been an unsigned band, and Tia had taken a job as a personal assistant in the record label’s legal department, figuring that even if Palaye Royale were signed to Sumerian, it was unlikely Tia would ever have any reason to deal with them.

 However, two very significant things had changed since she’d first started working for Sumerian.

 Firstly: she’d become a tour manager. Apparently she had an undiscovered talent for wrangling people and organisation. The last bit hadn’t really been undiscovered to her, but the people wrangling bit had been a pleasant surprise.

 Secondly - something that was a much less pleasant surprise - Palaye Royale got signed to Sumerian Records.

 Tia hadn’t been pleased. She’d gone straight to her boss, Kayley, and explained everything: that Emerson was an ex-boyfriend, that they hadn’t parted on the best of terms, and that Sebastian and Remington despised her. Kayley had taken it in stride, and made notes in all the relevant places that Tia wasn’t to be TM on any tour Palaye Royale were on. It was a system that worked for years; she never saw any of the three men, and since she’d blocked them all on all of her social media accounts, along with anyone she knew they were close with, she wasn’t even sure she worked for the label they were signed to.

 It was the perfect arrangement, as far as she was concerned.

 But then the world had gone to shit. That had been rough for everyone, not least Tia, who had been lucky to be put on paid leave through the worst of it, getting 75 percent of her monthly salary each month. Between that, using the extra time to spend on her crafting hobbies that allowed her open up an Etsy store, and her savings, Tia had been lucky enough to wait the virus out. Some of her colleagues hadn’t been so lucky, and had had to move on, but as much as Tia’s heart had hurt for them, she hadn’t really thought of what that meant for her.

 Like the fact Sumerian were now dealing with the world opening back up for concerts while they had a lack of tour managers.

 Which was how Tia had ended up being named TM for the second leg of Palaye Royale’s The Bastards Tour.

   Just kill me now.

   Kayley had been apologetic, and Tia honestly believed there was nothing her boss could’ve done, but in some respects that just made things more frustrating. There was no-one to blame for these circumstances but a shitty universe fucking with her, and so Tia just had to put on her big girl knickers and get on with it. Starting with introducing herself to the boys as their new TM.

 It wasn’t going to be fun. In fact, Tia was pretty sure it was going to be the worst day she’d had since she’d dumped Emerson.

 Despite that, though, Tia squared her shoulders, took a deep breath, and walked onto the tour bus that was going to be her new home - and the home of her ex-boyfriend and his brothers - for the next few months. The sudden silence that fell across the three men sitting in the main living area was deafening, but Tia didn’t let it intimidate her. She was going to have to face a lot worse than just silence, and she wasn’t going to be beaten so early on.

   So, instead, she just put a blandly professional smile on her face, and introduced herself before any of those idiots could speak: “Good morning. I’m Tatia, and I’m going to be the TM for this tour.”

 “We know who you are.” Sebastian glared at Tia: “It’s not like we’d forget the bitch who dumped our brother on the way back from the hospital.”

 Remington nodded: “We’re not awful people.”

   Tia would like to argue that point, specifically about Sebastian and Remington, but she was determined to remain professional.

 Even if Emerson was staring at her as if she was some sort of literal angel: like he couldn’t quite believe he was actually seeing her. It was weird, and Tia really hoped that he stopped doing it soon, but in the name of remaining professional she ignored it.

   “Of course you’re not.” Tia agreed with Remington, keeping her tone light and friendly, despite how bad his attitude was: “And irrespective of any previous relationships, we’re going to have to work together for the next three months, so I believe it’s in all out interests to be civil.”

 “Or we could just tell the label that you’re a ex and we don’t want to work with you.” Remington smirked.

 Tia just smiled at him: “Sumerian Records have been aware of the fact Emerson is my ex-boyfriend since you signed with them. Normally I would not have been your TM, but there’s a bit of a shortage of us around at the moment, and I’m the only one available for this tour. If you would still like to take it up with the record, then you can, but in terms of TMs, it’s me or no-one.”

   Silence reigned again.

   “Shall we get on the road, then?”

   The silence continued, and Tia took that as a win.

      A month into the tour, and Tia was ready to tear her hair out.

 Remington and Sebastian were dicks. Andrew, their touring guitarist, took his lead from them, even if he wasn’t as bad: and their merch girl Hope did the same. All the roadies, some of whom she’d worked with before, were on her side, seeing Remington, Sebastian, and Andrew as arrogant and rude because…well, they were arrogant and rude, snapping demands during set up and ignoring everyone the rest of the time. The driver hated them because he was constantly annoyed by their antics on the bus, so he was on Tia’s side too

 The bus was divided, and it was not conductive to a good environment.

 And then there was Emerson.

 Emerson, when he wasn’t busy on stage or doing media, followed Tia around like a lost puppy. The roadies had found it really creepy to begin with - and even when Tia had filled them in on the fact he was her ex, they still weren’t too happy about him. She was rarely left on her own, and she grateful for that - because apparently Emerson was not over her.

 He started with constantly trying to make eye contact whenever they were in the same room. When that didn’t work, he moved onto texting her, since she’d unblocked him for work, but she ignored all messages from him that weren’t work related. Once he’d realised he wasn’t getting anywhere with the texts, he’d moved onto gifts and cares. A lot of gifts and cards. Stuffed toy cats, expensive treats like fancy baked goods and chocolates, interesting sounding books, even jewelry.

 Tia ignored all of it, but she knew it was only a matter of time before he would stop letting her do that.

 Eventually, he managed to corner her while she was talking to Hope about how much stock the merch table needed and if they needed to look at getting more. With Hope being firmly on the band’s side, and probably assuming Emerson was going to chew her out like Remington and Sebastian constantly tried to, she disappeared the moment he gestured for her to give him and Tia a moment.

   He didn’t waste a moment once he had her trapped between himself, the merch table, and a wall, immediately launching into what he wanted to say: “Tia, I’m so sorry. Past me was awful - ”

 “I hate to break it to you, Emerson, but present you is also pretty terrible.” Tia rolled her eyes.

 “ - but I have changed.” Emerson continued, before his expression turned regretful when he registered what she’d said: “Even if I haven’t necessarily shown you that.”

 Tia rolled her eyes again: “Pretty much the opposite. You and your brothers are exactly the same as I remember you: aggressive, cocky, or just plain apathetic. Your brothers have gone out of their way to make life difficult to me, and you’ve sat back and let it happen, just like the three of you used to drive me to the urge of panic attacks, and you did nothing about it. So, yeah, I wouldn’t exactly say that you’ve shown you’ve changed.”

 Emerson had the good sense to look ashamed: “You’re right, I haven’t. I’m sorry.”

   Tia remained resolute when Emerson’s face dropped.

 She wasn’t sucked in by the act - and on the off chance it was genuine, it was nothing compared to the upset he’d caused her. The fact was, dating Emerson had been terrible for Tia’s mental health. It had driven her to therapy after the relationship ended, which had in time allowed her to see that although her issues were absolutely not Emerson’s fault, he exacerbated them so much that if she hadn’t dumped him when she had there would have been issues that he was to blame for.

 Had she missed him? Yes. Did she still miss him? That was harder to say.

 Emerson was a unique soul, and Tia had truly felt they had gotten along amazingly…he just never listened to her when she explained that there was something wrong. She had loved him, even though they’d been together for just six months, but that had been over four years ago now, and even though sometimes it made something in her chest clench when she looked at him, she honestly wasn’t sure if it was love or just an echo of the pain he’d caused her.

   “I want to show you that I have, though.” Emerson suddenly continued: his forlorn look being overtaken by one of determination: “I will show you that I have.”

 Tia wasn’t sure she believed him…but she found that, deep down, she wanted him to, even though she wasn’t going to admit it, so she just sighed: “I’m sure you’ll try, Emerson.”

 “I will.”

 “Okay, then.” Tia shrugged, still acting like she didn’t believe him - because she honestly didn’t, no matter what she wanted: “I’ve got work to do. You do what you want.”

   She walked away, leaving Emerson to plan whatever he was going to do to try and convince her that he was a better person that he used to be.

   I wonder if it will work…

[welllpthisishappening]

Welllp This is...Sports Fic

Oh hai there, internet. I hope you all are staying safe and healthy and there’s plenty of your favorite drink in your cabinets. If you, like me, miss sports, I have a vaguely shameless self-promotion for you because I have written just...a copious amount of sports-type fanfiction. Mostly Captain Swan, but I’ve started to tread into Bellarke and now arrive with this almost well-organized list. 

We run the gamut here, so there’s everything from hockey to lacrosse to soccer and basketball. And, you know, if there’s something else you want to see or read about, I’m running out of features to write in the real world. 

----

Tripping Over the Blue Line Rating: Mature Chapters: 40

It's a transition. That's what Emma's calling it. She's transitioning from one team to another, from one coast to another and she's definitely not worried. Nope. She's fine. Really. She's promised Mary Margaret ten times already. So she got fired. Whatever. She's fine, ready to settle into life with the New York Rangers. She's got a job to do. And she doesn't care about Killian Jones, captain of the New York Rangers. At all.

He's done. One more season and he's a free agent and he's out. It's win or nothing for Killian. He's going to win a Stanley Cup and then he's going to stop being the face of the franchise and he's going to go play for some other garbage team where his name won't be used as puns in New York Post headlines. That's the plan. And Emma Swan, director of New York Rangers community relations isn't going to change that. At all.

They are both horrible liars.

More under the cut, because seriously there’s a lot

More in the Tripping Over the Blue Line Universe

We'll Take a Cup (defense) of Kindness Rating: Mature Chapters: 2

It's one night. New Year's Eve. And a whole list of rules. Because Regina might have actually lost her mind. Or maybe that's just Emma. Because they've played a million games in two days, or it's at least felt that way, and planning an outdoor practice a few weeks before the Olympics seemed like a good idea at one point. Now it just seems insane. So she's going to wear this dress and kiss her boyfriend. A lot.

He's good. Better than good. Great. The greatest. It's New Year's Day and, yeah, sure it's freezing, but Killian hasn't actually tried to push Scarlet on the Subway tracks yet so that seems like a step in the right direction. So he's a little distracted a few weeks before the Olympics, but that's fine. It's good. Or it'll be good. Eventually. Soon. In the meantime he's probably just going to kiss his girlfriend. A lot.

The PyeongChang Triple  Rating: Mature Chapters 15

It’s the Olympics. The. Olympics. And Emma’s running out of post-it notes to write schedules and plans on and there are more games and more expectations and not enough time for any of it. She’s fine. Totally. Absolutely. If she could just sleep. Or stop feeling as if her knees are going to give out every time she stands up. Or get Ruby to stop staring at her like that. It’s fine. After all Killian Jones, captain of Team USA, keeps promising it will be.

He’s going to win. Again. At the Olympics. And Killian’s not nervous. Not about that. It’s hockey. He could play hockey in his sleep. Probably. He’s never tried that. But he probably could. And, sure, there are expectations and games and schedules and barely any time for what he wants to actually be doing, but winning a Gold medal isn’t bad. After all, Emma Swan, temporary New York Rangers Olympics team social media manager, keeps promising it will be.

They’re fine. They’re going to win. Together.

Going Top Shelf  Rating: Mature Chapters: 20

It's more than just one season.

It's hits and goals and being the face of the franchise and events and family and road trip facts. It's on-ice injuries and off-ice dramas and weddings and cross-country flights and shouting in the stands. It's games and holidays and traditions and athletic-based superstition.

It's life and it's not just hockey and as far as Emma and Killian are concerned, that makes it even better.

A collection of 'Tripping Over the Blue Line' one shots from before, during and after the original story.

A Biscuit in the Basket

Or: the AU of the AU where Will and Belle adopt a kid

Also Blue Line one shots are under 4K stories that only get posted to Tumblr. 

OTHER HOCKEY STORIES

Whistled for Icing  Canon One Shot

Elsa leaves a bit of magic in the forest just outside of Storybrooke and it’s reason enough for the town to investigate. Or start up a game of hockey. 

What Used to Be Limes Rating: Teen  One Shot

Killian Jones is only a little worried that he’s not going to survive his first season in the NHL. With a snarky roommate and a fridge that’s barely boasting a few limes, it’s going to be a close call. At least he’s got one thing going for him: his best friend Emma Swan. 

Who he just happens to be in love with. 

A Rooting Interest Rating: Teen One Shot

This is all Ruby’s fault. Emma doesn’t normally work behind the bar, but Ruby’s sick and there’s something happening at the Garden this weekend and she knows she can help. 

She gets behind the bar and starts making drinks and it isn’t so bad when some guy who only wants water shows up. 

Or when he leaves a pretty good tip. Two tickets to the hockey game. She assumes that’s what’s happening at the Garden. 

BELLARKE HOCKEY Connecting on the Wraparound Rating: Mature Chapters: 15, WIP

Bellamy Blake is exhausted.

Sick of the game that’s been at the center of his life for as long as he can remember, and the reputation he’s garnered because of it, Bellamy is desperate to get away from the ice during the NHL All-Star break. So, without much thought to what he’s doing or why he’s doing it, Bellamy heads home, to the place he thought he could never come back to.

It’s a stupid idea, really, or so Octavia has told him seventy-six times, but then Clarke Griffin is standing in front of him and her daughter is an even better skater than Bellamy is and, all of the sudden, Arkadia seems like the most important place in the world.

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BASEBALL

You Play Ball Like a Girl Rating: Mature Chapters: 47 

Emma Swan had a plan. Get the story. Get the byline. Up her Twitter follower count. It was simple – she was going to take over the New York City journalism world. And she was going to do it from the sideline with a credential around her neck and a pen stuffed in her hair and a fierce determination no one was going to be able to put a dent in.It was the perfect plan.That plan just failed to factor in Killian Jones.

Sliding Down the Hill Rating: General

Emma Swan's phone rings and she makes a quick, split second decision. She keeps doing that. She makes choice after choice and change after change and, suddenly, she's crying on ESPN. That's probably the last thing she expects.

Or: A not-quite a Little League World Series AU.

Back in the Swing of Things Rating: General

The Sliding Down the Hill sequel. 

Safe Upon Review Rating: General One Shot

Henry won’t stop crying. And Emma can’t sleep. Or stop worrying. And it’s snowing. Of course it’s snowing. She’s not sure what she thinks Mary Margaret can do, but she’s certain she can fix it and the drive across campus should only take ten minutes and….Mary Margaret isn’t there.

It’s the anniversary of something. And Killian is in the room by himself. With a questionable amount of takeout food. And it’s snowing. Of course it’s snowing. He’s not sure when David will get back, but he’s certain it’s too early when he hears the noise in the hall and…David isn’t there.

Step Right Up and Greet the Mets Rating: General One Shot 

Emma doesn’t want to go.

It’s going to be a goddamn disaster because the Mets really aren’t that great and no one on that team will give Jacob deGrom any run support and she doesn’t want Killian to freak out when he sees Mary Margaret live and in action at Citi Field. Mary Margaret is not actually playing the game.

Mary Margaret doesn’t know that.

But none of those things seem to matter and Killian agreed to the invitation and now, a few months into a relationship that sees Emma thinking all kinds of things, they’re going to Queens. Batter up, or whatever.

Start Spreading the News Rating: Teen One Shot 

Emma Swan is just looking for something that’s hers. She’s fairly certain she’s found it in New York, with a group of friends and a good job and picture frames on her apartment walls. But then the past she’s spent so long trying to ignore shows up where she least expects to find it – wearing pinstripes in right field at Yankee Stadium. 

More Famous Than a Yankee Can Rating: Teen One Shot

The sequel to Start Spreading the News from Killian’s POV

Batting a Thousand Rating: Teen One Shot

If asked, Emma would promise she doesn’t mean to start dating her brother’s sworn baseball enemy. But she also knows David didn’t mean to hit Killian that one time in college and, well, you can’t predict baseball. 

and it’s subsequent Tumblr-only one shot sequels

Puppy Love The Yankees host an adoption event. Killian wants to adopt a puppy. 

The One Where They Elope Basically what’s on the tin.

Pace of Play

She can’t believe she’s never noticed it before. Because, honestly, Emma can’t even come up with a number to try and calculate how often she’s watched Killian step into the batters box. And that’s the thing. He never really steps out, either. It’s a weird approach, but that could be the subheadline for their lives at this point and she’s mostly concerned with the power behind that swing.

A Long-Standing Rivalry Killian and David start buying the other’s kid merch for the opposing team. It’s absurd. 

Hitting Against the Shift Rating: Teen One Shot

She has no idea how this works. She doesn’t know what’s a hit or what’s an error or how, exactly, to cope with the way he looks in those pants. Seriously, they’re good pants.

But when Killian showed up at her door that morning, promising “we just need someone to play, love,” Emma couldn’t figure out a reason to say no. So, here she is, playing the game on the field and off it, with half a hope and, honestly, far too many thoughts about his pants.

She’s a mess, really.

-----

LACROSSE

Playing Man Down Rating: Teen Chapters: Two

Emma’s boyfriend, ex-boyfriend, thank you very much, makes the incredibly large mistake of telling she shouldn’t want to coach at the prestigious lacrosse camp he’s working at this summer. So, she sets out to prove girls can check just as well as guys. 

Even if she’s not admitting she’s a girl. 

Or: a “She’s the Man” AU, but with lacrosse

Marking Up Rating: Teen One Shot

Killian had no expectations going in. 

Mostly, he’s just made his teammates stole his phone. But then that leads to this and a date and Emma Swan and...she doesn’t know anything about lacrosse. He can work with that. 

-----

ESPORTS

Where You Can Still Remember Dreaming  Rating: Mature Chapters: 35 

Killian Jones, former crime reporter, was not happy to be home. It hadn’t been home in a very long time, after all. Home was an abstract construct that existed for people who didn’t know as many adjectives for blood as he did. Home wasn’t New York City, but it certainly wasn’t Boston or New Orleans either and he’d always gone where the story was. And he was positive Emma Swan was one hell of a story.

Emma Swan, pro video game player, desperately wanted to find home. She thought she had, a million years ago in the back corner of a barn and a town and faces she trusted. But that had all blown up in her face and it didn’t take long for her to decide she was going to control the pyrotechnics from here on out. So now she was in New York City and a different corner and she kind of wanted to trust Killian Jones.

Neither one of them expected a year of of video games and feature stories to dredge up old enemies and even older feelings, but, together, they made a pretty good team.

-----

BASKETBALL

A Touch of (March) Madness  Rating: Teen Chapters: Two

Emma can't quite remember how it started or why it happened, just that it did and she wants to win. Desperately. To prove something. Probably.

Or just to beat Killian. Either or. It doesn't matter.

She's picked her teams and her upsets and she's got a string of trash talk ready for any potential on-court situation. They're not playing the game, but they're playing a game and this one might change everything.

Or: The March Madness AU about questionably competitive friends and very strong college basketball opinions.

-----

SOCCER

It's a Funny Old Game  Rating: Teen Chapters: Two

Killian's not sure why he agreed to this. Well, no, that's not true. He does. Because Henry asked. And, well, maybe they're some kind of family now.

Emma's not sure why she hasn't said anything. Well, no, that's not true. She does. Because she's not supposed to. And, well, things were pretty good already.

Or: A quasi Out of the Frying Pan sequel with soccer.

-----

THE OLYMPICS

Holding the Edge  Rating: Teen One Shot

Killian Jones does not want the questions. He doesn't want the interviews or the spotlight or the sky-high expectations.

The world, however, does not seem to care. The world, after all, loves a good comeback story.

And Killian Jones is one heck of a comeback story. With his eyes on gold. And maybe slightly gold'ish hair and green eyes and, yeah, maybe he's got some questions of his own.

Almost Believing, This One's Not Pretend Rating: Teen Chapters: Two

They don’t grow up skating together.

They don’t even want to start skating together.

But then life happens and they kind of need each other and maybe that sentence means a lot more than either one of them are willing to admit at first. Or ever. So they keep skating and, sometimes, winning and, always, ignoring the questions. There are a lot of questions.

Because how could two people have so much chemistry on the ice when they’re just partners?

-----

BOXING

Pulling Your Punches Rating: Teen One Shot

It’s not meant to be a secret relationship. But Emma can’t help that her and Killian’s friends are incredibly unobservant. And then it becomes something of a game, waiting to see how long they notice. Until Killian gets hurt. Emma can’t help anything after that. 

[samsonet]

Mum said we have to play outside

Sequel to Mum said it’s my turn on the Switch.

~

He wants to show Hop around Wyndon.

Going out in public takes preparation, though. When fans see Champion Leon, they rush to him, and they’re not always socially appropriate, either. He does not want to risk exposing Hop to any of the particular touchy ones.

So he’s not wearing his uniform today. Instead, he picks a black sweatshirt and trousers. He can’t keep his hair loose, so he ties it in a bun to hide its length. He can’t wear the crown snapback, so he’ll have to go bare-headed —

Oh, who is he kidding. He picks a different cap — this one white — and puts it on.

He steps into the living room, setting the champion cap on his brother’s head. “Hey. Have you ever been on a monorail?”

*

It turns out Hop expects the monorail to be just like the train from Wedgehurst. He gasps in surprise when the car rises and the city comes into view below them, and Leon has to laugh.

Hop’s sitting backwards, face almost pressed to the window. Leon is too big for that, so he’s sort of twisted halfway so he can watch the scenery and keep an eye on the digital display. It’s his job to make sure they stay in the safe side of the city, after all.

“Lee?”

“Yeah?”

“You really live here?”

“Hop, we literally just left my flat.”

“But how do you not get lost?”

“Oh, come on! I’m not that hopeless.”

The car passes over the dead-end street that Leon often finds himself in.

“...Charizard usually gets me where I need to go.”

Hop laughs, fogging up the glass.

As the rail goes, Leon points out landmarks. There’s the Hondew Building, there’s Sleet Street, there’s Rose Tower. And there…

“The stadium! That’s the stadium! You battle there, right?”

“Yep!”

“We gotta go see it!”

Leon forces a smile. He knew Hop would be excited to see Wyndon stadium for himself, but he had been hoping he could avoid actually going there. This was supposed to be a day off; he didn’t want to spend it at his workplace.

But Hop is giving him those big pleading eyes…

“Okay. We have to get off in three stops, then. Pay attention or we’ll miss it.”

Three stops later, Hop grabs his hand and pulls him out.

Leon spends the walk thinking about how he wants to play this. The public isn’t allowed to enter the stadium when there’s no match, and he’s not sure he wants to use his position to bend the rules. On the other hand, Hop did come all the way out here, and he should probably get to see something that most fans can’t.

Would bringing him into the locker room be cool enough? He could get to experience what Leon does before a match, sit on the benches, maybe let Wooloo out to chew on things.

But as they enter the stadium, Hop doesn’t ask about any of that. Instead, he heads right into the gift shop.

Why? He has to know that Leon would give him any merch he wanted, if he asked.

Leon follows, curious, until Hop turns around and holds up a hand. “I don’t want you to see this. It’s a secret.”

“...okay, then.”

He stands by the doorway, pretending to look at his phone. Hop disappears behind the racks.

Minutes pass. A staff member comes up and asks if he needs help, but when they recognize him, they apologize and back off.

It’s incredibly awkward, but he supposed that’s just what happens when you’re the older brother of a tween.

“Hey! Give him back!”

That’s Hop’s voice. It strikes Leon like a knife to the chest.

“‘ey,” an older boy’s voice mocks. “Gib ‘im back!”

Leon rushes toward the voices.

He finds them in the back, by a rack of posters. Hop has his fists curled and his face scrunched, like he’s about to cry. There are two teenage boys standing in front of him. One of them is holding a pokeball just out of Hop’s reach.

“You’re the one who dropped the ball, mate. If you want your Wooloo back, you gotta ask nicely.”

“I — I — please, give me back my Pokémon.”

The other boy laughs. “Dude. He looks so much like Leon.”

“He does! Do you think Leon looks like this when he begs?”

“At least Leon can talk right, though. But hey, you’re cute, too, kid.”

Alright, that’s enough.

Leon steps forward, plucking Wooloo’s ball out of the boy’s hand. He hands it to Hop, putting an arm around his shoulder.

“You okay?”

“Y-yeah, I’m fine…”

“Good.” He turns to the boys, glaring at them. “You two had better go. Now. And don’t come back.”

They stare at him. Leon can pinpoint the moment where they put two and two together and realize that the reason “this kid” looks so much like Leon is because he’s Leon’s little brother.

“Oh shit.”

And they run like hell.

“I’m sorry about that, Hop,” he says. “Most people here are nice, I promise. I’m sorry about the bad ones.”

Hop holds his Wooloo close to his heart. “Thanks for helping me, Lee.”

“Of course! That’s what big brothers are for, right?” He glances at the rack, noting that a couple tubes have been half-pulled out. “Now. You wanted to get something, right? Is it okay if I help you look for it?”

“Yeah… I wanted… I wanted to find a poster for number twenty-one.”

Twenty-one? Who would that be… Raihan is number 241, but if he’s who Hop meant, he would’ve just called him by name. And there aren’t any major leaguers who have two-digit uniform numbers...

“Um… who’s number twenty-one?”

“Soledad. From the minor league.”

“Ah.” Soledad is… a normal-type specialist, if he remembers right. “You’re a fan of her, then?”

“Gloria is.”

“Ooooh.” He wiggles his eyebrows, letting the motion do the teasing.

“Lee!”

“Sorry! You’re so cute.”

With that, he starts searching methodically. The minor league is nowhere near as popular as the majors, but there’s gotta be some merch for them…

As it turns out, there is one singular poster with the number 21 on it. Hop smiles when he finds it, the trouble from earlier seemingly forgotten.

“How much is it?” Leon asks, pulling out his wallet.

“It’s okay. I’m gonna pay for it myself.”

“You have money?”

“Mum gave me some on my birthday.”

Hop’s birthday was months ago. Had he been saving it all this time, for this?

“Alright, I’m impressed. Go buy your friend her present. I’m sure she’ll love it.”

*

Hop does not ask to walk on the pitch. He’s not even interested in checking out the locker room. Instead, he darts about the lobby, taking deep breaths like the air itself is different. He reads every sign, looks at every screen.

Leon walks behind him, carrying the bag with the poster.

Eventually, his brother returns to his side. “I’m hungry.”

“Hello, Hungry. I’m Leon.”

Hop makes a noise that can only be described as verbal keysmashing.

“Ha! Sorry, sorry! Come on, let’s get something to eat. I know a place. Here, pull up ‘Z-Noodles’ on your phone.”

*

Z-Noodles is theoretically a fifteen-minute walk from the stadium, but Leon forgot that he has a much longer stride than Hop does. It’s okay. It just gives them more time together.

He keeps his arm around his brother’s shoulders. They don’t talk, but the silence is comfortable. If Leon had to guess, he’d say Hop is looking forward to the meal as much as he is himself.

“Lee?”

“Yeah?”

“Those guys, back in the store…”

“Oh, don’t think about them. They won’t bother you again, got it? Not as long as I’m around.”

“It’s not about that.” Hop’s face is pinched. He wrings his hands. “They were making fun of how I talk.”

“They’re just stupid, Hopscotch. They don’t like seeing anyone happy, so they’ll do whatever they can to pull you down. Don’t let them win.”

“But, Lee… you don’t talk like I talk.”

Leon bites the inside of his cheek. He does not want to explain to Hop about Wyndon’s classism problem; it had been painful enough to grow up around it. Learning the quirks the Wyndon natives had, losing his Postwick accent…

“I mean… I dinnae ken abou’ tha’. It’s all fer show, you know? I turn it on an’ off.”

Hop stares up at him, eyes wide and unblinking.

Then he breaks down laughing.

“Dinnae— dinnae ken! Oh, Lee! Can you imagine talking like that during a match? Nobody would know what you were saying!”

“I guess I’d need you to translate, then!”

Hop is smiling again. That’s all Leon wants, really — all he can ask for. He’d do anything for that smile.

*

They’re digging into some delicious ramen when Leon asks, “So, did you have fun today?”

“I did! It was lots of fun!”

“I’m glad.” Sluuuurp. “You know, if you lived here, you could see everything. You could come with me every day, and you’d get to do whatever you want.”

Hop looks down at his bowl. “Yeah.”

“I mean… I’m not trying to pressure you. It’s just… I miss you a lot, you know? And we never really have enough time to just… hang out.”

Hop sighs and mumbles something under his breath.

“What?”

“I wish I was Gloria’s brother.”

What.

Leon goes back through everything that’s happened since his family arrived. Has he done something to hurt him? He didn’t mean to. He doesn’t even know what it would be. Or is this something Hop has been thinking about for a while, something that grew out of the years Leon was away?

Or...

“Hop… Is this about those boys picking on you because you look like me? I’m sorry about that—”

But Hop is shaking his head. “No, it’s not that. It’s— actually, I wish Gloria was our sister. That would make everything so much easier.”

“What do you mean?”

“Then I wouldn’t have to choose between you.”

Is… is that how Hop thinks of it? Having to choose between his brother and his best friend, not being able to be there for both of them at once? In that case, it’s clear why he clings to Gloria. She’s a small girl with no family besides her mum, and she’s not even a trainer. There’s no way she can compete with Galar’s undefeated, beloved champion.

Hop must pity her.

“Hey,” Leon says, reaching over and taking Hop’s hands in his own. (Hop is so small, so delicate.) “You’re not choosing between us. You have us both. I’m going to be your brother no matter what. And I’m sure… I’m sure that Gloria will always be your friend, no matter what. It might be hard to keep up with both of us, but you can do it. I know you can.”

There. There’s that smile again. “Thank you.”

“It’s no problem.” He squeezes Hop’s hands, then lets him go.

“But, you know, Lee…”

“Yeah?”

“If you endorsed us both for the gym challenge, then me and Gloria could come to Wyndon together.”

Leon laughs, ruffling his brother’s hair. “I’ll consider it. Now, finish your food. There’s so much more I want to show you.”

[dragracereviews]

My Ultimate Top 10 Favorite Drag Race Queens

#10 - Kameron Michaels: NGL, Kameron is partially on this list because I would fuck her in a heartbeat. I actually plan on making a list later of queens I would sleep with in and/or out of drag and you will definitely find Miss Michaels high on there. I’ve seen her live on the Werq the World tour and I 100% regret not getting Meet and Greet though I probably would’ve just drooled on her and made a fool of myself so maybe it’s better that I didn’t. It’s a known fact that Kameron is an incredible lip syncer (if you haven’t watched season 10, please do so just to see her in action because honestly, she’s one of the few good things about that season) and she did NOT disappoint. Her dancing was only beat out by Vanjie who you may or may not see later on this list. Kameron if you’re out there reading this (LOL, we all know she isn’t) and you ever feel like experimenting with an actual biological woman, hit me up!

#9 - Sharon Needles: And here we have another attractive man out of drag! Sharon was the OG underdog and while I’m not going to sit here and bash Phi Phi O’Hara because she’s actually talented AF (checkout her Harry Potter cosplay, it’s soooo good), Sharon definitely didn’t deserve all the shade thrown at her on season 4. Her drag aesthetic has always been equals parts spooky and equal parts fabulous, but she’s actually improved over the years and it’s made me love her even more. My favorite Sharon moment ever is during a “Queens Reading Mean Comments” video on WOWPresents’ Youtube channel where someone said they liked her old teeth better and she just goes, “Well my old teeth just looked ridiculous with my new lips!” Get ‘em, girl.

#8 - Jinkx Monsoon: I want Jinkx to be my mom. There, I said it. Also, if you don’t get that reference, get your shit together and subscribe to WOW Presents on Youtube you fucking bumpkin. Jinkx was the loveable weirdo on her season and received a lot of hate from her fellow queens but I loved her from the start. I have since forgiven Roxxxy Andrews for her cattiness because of her rudemption on All Stars 2 (insert her Read U Wrote U verse here) but nothing was more satisfying than watching Jinkx go from the underdog to America’s Next Drag Superstar. I don’t know what’s more iconic; her tendency to fall asleep at inopportune times, her laugh, or all the jokes about her being a full blown swamp witch. Either way, it will always be Monsoon season in my eyes.

#7 - Nina West: Hands down, the DEFINITION of Miss Congeniality! This choice was so obvious, I don’t even know why they took a vote. I think that even if they left it up to the fans, it would’ve been her. I fucking LOVE Nina. I’ve actually met her IRL and my first thoughts were 1: she’s HUGE (hello, she’s a six foot tall man in like 6 inch heels and I’m barely over five feet) and 2. she just radiates happiness! She is the only queen I’ve met that asked me my name (though shout out to Plastique Tiara for calling me gorgeous as if she’s not the most beautiful creature on the planet) and she didn’t make me feel like an idiot when I just stared at her adoringly and just word vomited “you’remyfavoriteiloveyousomuch”. Class act people!

#6 - Bianca del Rio: Do I even need an explanation for this one? Hands down, the undisputed winner of season 6, and that’s coming from a die-hard ***** fan (see entry #2). Did she wear the same silhouette 10+ times? Yes. Can she kind of be a bitch sometimes? Definitely. But is she the funniest fucking person alive? Probably! My love for Bianca is infinite but I still wouldn’t want her to read me, at least not in person. Actually, scratch that, I’ve seen her Twitter feed and getting read online is almost worse. I fucking love Hurricane Bianca and the sequel even though it’s one of those so-bad-it’s-good type of film series. I sadly missed her last tour because it was the same night as Sasha Velour’s Smoke & Mirrors show and as amazing as Sasha was, my heart was broken that I couldn’t go to both. But you better believe the next time she’s in town, I’m forking out lots of $$ for VIP and I may or may not faint at Bianca’s feet #noregrets

#5 - Vanessa Vanjie Matteo: Mother. Fucking. Vanjie. OKAY, I’ve met this bitch IRL and let me tell you, she is the cutest fucking thing. Like Nina, it shocked me how apparent it is that she’s a man (square jaw, hello?) but she can still paint for filth and look fishy AF even with her boyish features. Also, AMAZING performer! I waited 3 hours after the M&G for her to actually come on stage and perform only two songs (that’s a story for another day) but let me tell you, it was worth the fucking wait. I showered that bitch with Canadian monopoly money and I would’ve given her more if I wasn’t such a broke millennial. And to top the whole night off, I got woken up at 5 am to my friend screaming because Vanjie had reposted my photo in her story so I was essentially Instagram famous for all of like, a day. Thanks girl xo

#4 - Bendelacreme: I love me some Dela. This queen proved in both her regular season and All Stars that she is a force to be reckoned with. Season 6 wouldn’t have been the same without her and did I want to yell at Darienne Lake for being a bitch to her? Absolutely! (Gia Gunn pun intended) And I honestly think that if she hadn’t eliminated herself, she would’ve won AS3 (though if you read my #1 entry, I am 100% satisfied with who did win). She completely deserved her Miss Congeniality title, and while I see where the others AS3 queens were coming from when they suspected she was trying a little too hard to keep up that image, I did appreciate her trying to play the game with some class, because we don’t see that often on Drag Race. I also love her friendship with Jinkx and it’s definitely on my bucket list to see one of their shows one day. You know what they say, the Creme always rises to the top!

#3 - Brooke Lynn Hytes: Full disclosure, I’m Canadian but that’s not the only reason why I love Brooke (she is the Queen in the North though, and I’ll fight you if you say otherwise). This queen is fucking TALENTED! Season 11 would have failed without her, IMHO. She can design and sow a complete outfit, read people to filth, sort of sing (I still listen to Queens Everywhere daily, especially her verse), dance circles around ANYBODY, and lip sync like her mother fucking life depends on it. Did she, by the end of the season, forget that’s there’s more to a lip sync than being on pointe? Yes, absolutely. But that doesn’t change the fact that she is literal perfection and I think that’s why Ru gave Yvie the crown instead of her (though I love Yvie so don’t come for me). Brooke’s biggest downfall was the fact that she wasn’t relatable and I am 100% okay with that. Sometimes you just have to worship the unattainable. The only issue I have with Brooke is her and Vanjie not being officially together anymore because yes, I am one of those fans that ship queens together, especially queens that have actually dated. I will never get over #Branjie, just saying.

#2 - Adore Delano: "I'm a fucking Libra!" As soon as these words left her mouth, I knew I was in love with Adore Delano. Season 6 is by far my favorite season (spoiler alert if I decide to make a Top 10 Best Seasons list) and if it weren't for my #1 pick, she would 100% have the top spot. Hell, before I discovered WOW Presents, she WAS my #1 pick (read my next entry to understand what I mean). Adore is simultaneously adorable (pun intended) and fierce AF. She's beautiful, hilarious, and did I mention beautiful?! She is the reason I say "party" at inappropriate times. She is the reason I wish I was a Libra instead of a fucking Scorpio. She is the reason I insist everybody start their first Drag Race binge with season 6 because I know they’ll fall in love with her as much as I have. Adore, if you’re reading this, I fucking adore you.

#1 - Trixie Mattel & Katya Zamolodchikova: Of course these two are tied as my number one spot. Individually, these queens are fucking fierce and extremely talented (go download Trixie's country albums if you don't believe me), but together they are pure gold. If you've only ever watched their run on season 7, you probably don't understand why I love them so much, so do yourself a favor and go watch All Stars 2 & 3, as well as their web shows "UnHhhh", "The Trixie & Katya Show", and “Queens Who Like To Watch”. I can even give you a list of other stand alone videos of them to watch (ex. "Besties for Cash", "Fashion Photo Review", compilation videos of the pair in Palm Springs... I think you get the gist). Truth be told, I'm absolutely obsessed with these two, so much so that I may or may not have indulged in some online fan fiction about them from time to time...don’t judge me, okay?! I love a friends-turned-lovers love story, and I know I’m not the only one wishing #Trixya would happen IRL. I've also shelled out so much money to Trixie alone on her merch and makeup, and I'm waiting very impatiently for them to go on tour together so I can go full Futurama and just scream "take my money" as I buy the most VIP package they have. Trixie and Katya are the ultimate definition of All Stars and I'll fight anyone who says otherwise.

[brianna-lei]

Anonymous Butterfly Soup asks, batch 6

IT’S RIGHT NEXT TO THE BIG TOBLERONE I’M ALIVE

Being covered by a big gaming news site was one of my fantasies, so I’m elated this happened. The article is here, for anyone curious! 

More asks under the cut!! 

A note before I start -- if you submitted a bug, I saw it!! Thank you for reporting them!

Yes, she did! Her Facebook profile pic is her posing in front of a store at the mall, and you can see Jun’s reflection taking the pic in the store window

Akarsha didn’t realize, but Noelle totally heard it. Noelle kind of had a sense of what was up already, but actually hearing it worried her. She was debating whether or not to intervene when Min showed up. 

On a small note, Min trying to cheer Akarsha up slightly improved Noelle’s opinion of Min (even though Min and Akarsha almost end up fist fighting again afterward).  

Min plays video games too, imagine them playing Team Fortress 2 and later Overwatch together... Diya, Min, and Noelle have all seen some basic anime like Pokemon, Digimon, and Yugioh, but Akarsha’s the only real hardcore anime fan. I’m glad she met “Sakura”, “Yuki”, and Ester through the baseball club, because now she has weeb friends to talk about that stuff too. 

(Ester is less obvious about liking anime than “Sakura” and “Yuki”, but you can still tell by her outfit’s style. Lowkey but not lowkey enough)

I can totally relate to all of them, but I’d say Diya!

Yes, they grow close over the course of the year and Noelle has to try really hard not to cry LMAO They still keep in touch afterward. 

Yep, they both feel this huge gulf between themselves and their parents due to cultural differences. Many Asian immigrant parents are extremely conservative so it feels like they’re on a completely different wavelength from you, and at the same time they have complete power over you. It’s kind of a bad feeling.  

...Also, shadowing their faces saved me the work of drawing their different facial expressions. 

Min was actually out of town when the fire happened, so Diya had to call her and tell her what happened :( Diya (and eventually Min) sleeps on Noelle’s couch for a bit. Noelle and Akarsha aren’t living together at the time and Noelle has the nicer/cleaner apartment  

It sounds really miserable, but they’re ok in the end

Noelle's passion is math and science, so she definitely ends up doing something in STEM that she likes, just not what her parents were expecting. Akarsha is similar and becomes a software engineer -- They’re actually both naturally interested in those subjects, which says a lot about how bad the parental pressure really is.  

I like to think Diya and Min actually manage to break into minor league baseball and eventually MLB

Most of my outfit inspiration comes from my tumblr/twitter feeds. I wish I could recommend you fashion blogs, but I’m not following any?! They’re all just fandom mutuals who randomly reblog cool clothes sometimes. 

I used to have trouble deciding what clothes characters should wear, so every time I see an image of a cool outfit I save it for reference. After doing this since high school I now have...uh...

And those are just the unorganized ones, the ones i have in folders are like...

Now if I’m stumped for what a character should wear, I just browse these massive folders for inspiration. I can actually pinpoint the omocat jacket that gave me the idea for Min’s:

I thought, “it should be a warning: high voltage sign on the back!”, and then I just went on Google images and looked them up. 

Sorry if this isn’t helpful! 

I don’t think Min really minds, but The Squad is even better! Deke squad

Yeah, Akarsha’s parents wouldn’t approve either. Out of the main four, Diya is actually the only one whose parents are fine with it 

Ooh thank you this is an awesome compliment to receive!! 

I REALLY want to make merch some day! I’ve never made physical merch before and I’m a bit intimidated not knowing where to start/how to handle shipping, so it may take a while, though :( 

I didn’t give anyone last names and I doubt I ever will, sorry! Feel free to give them your own if you want 

This was intentional, but at the same time I can’t believe everyone IMMEDIATELY noticed. You guys are so in tune with 4/20

Diya and Akarsha are Indian, Min-seo is Korean, Noelle is Taiwanese, Chryssa is black, Liz is…mostly Irish, I think? “Sakura” is Pakistani, “Yuki” is Filipino. I’ve heard a lot of guesses for Ester, but she’s half black and half Chinese!

i got u son!!

Thank you, I really love hearing this because the feeling that this narrative was missing was what made me want to make this game in the first place! 

you might feel a bit more sympathetic to min when you reach her part of the story! Your mileage may vary, though

If you want to make a game like Butterfly Soup, try the program Renpy! It doesn’t require programming experience to use and there’s a lot of guides online on how to use it.  My NUMBER ONE BIG ADVICE IS MAKE A REALLY, REALLY SMALL GAME FIRST. My first game, Pom Gets Wi-Fi, was only 30-45 minutes long. If you make it any bigger than that, you almost guaranteed will never finish it. The dream game that you want to make is probably longer than that, so don’t make your dream game first! That’s kind of why I was so alarmed when Pom Gets Wi-Fi took off -- I’m very proud of that game and still love it, but it was like my test for the games I dreamed of making like Butterfly Soup. (Also, 17 is a great age to start making games, good for you!) Other stuff I’ve learned:  Programming: I mostly learned super specific things that can’t be easily applied to other situations. If you want to know how I did a specific thing in Renpy, message me! 

Writing: If you’re struggling to write something, it might be for a good reason. Maybe the scene is unnecessary or boring, your mental image of the scene doesn’t translate well to the format of your work, or the character motivations aren’t convincing enough. Deleting a scene altogether isn’t defeat, sometimes it’s the best path forward! Give up more! 

Artwise: Drawing for non-pixel art games takes FOREVER. The sheer amount of time it’d take to draw all the characters and backgrounds was so demoralizing that I found myself procrastinating because I didn’t want to tackle it. Not only did I have a large cast of characters (9 in the baseball club alone), but because of flashbacks, I had to draw half of them again as kids!

To anyone thinking about making a game by themselves, SERIOUSLY consider making it a pixel art game. If you’re that set on making a non-pixel art game, SEVERELY limit the number of characters and backgrounds you have to draw!! I’m begging u...learn from my mistakes... 

You’re welcome!!! :> 

I loved USC! The Interactive Media major was cool and fun -- I met a lot of good friends through the program! It was probably the best few years of my life. 

Unfortunately...I felt like it did nothing to prepare me for finding a job. There are very few classes for aspiring game artists and game writers. There wasn’t a single professor who worked as an artist at a triple A studio while I was there, and only one who was a major writer. I get that you gotta be self motivated, but I wish I had someone in the faculty I felt comfortable discussing my career path with. Some of the professors had clear favorite students and if you weren’t one of them, they’d make very little effort to reach out to you or interact with you. I know I'm introverted, but I never got this feeling with my general elective classes -- I had plenty of chances to talk to my writing professor, architecture lab professor, art teacher, etc., yet I came out of a lot of my Interactive Media classes wondering if my professors even remembered me.  

If you want to be a game designer or maybe a writer, and are really focused/outgoing with your professors, it could be the major for you, but if you want to be a game artist I’m not sure it’s the best place to be. 

I was actually crazy stressed out when it came out, so nope! It’s happening this weekend  

I was super nervous right after it came out because I was worried people wouldn’t like it! I put a lot into it, and actually teared up writing parts of it, so it was a ridiculous relief to see that people were touched by it. I’m really happy now and really want to make a sequel.  Also, I’m beyond grateful to my friends/mutuals/fans spreading the word and tweeting/posting about the game and making fancontent ;~; I really owe everything to them!  A few people wondered about how I was holding up attention-wise, and actually...as a fanartist I sort of thrive on this, haha. Also, this is much less intense than when I released Pom Gets Wi-Fi. For perspective, it took Butterfly Soup a week to reach the number of downloads Pom got in one day. 

Good!!! You’re welcome! 

you’re welcome!!! 

[josephohduh]

TEW2: a semi-rant because it’s been a few days and I forget things

I went into TEW2 completely blind, aside from knowing that Stefano and Obscura were of some importance in the game because of the trailers.

And I know that some people were rather disappointed with the outcome, whereas a lot of major gaming news outlets that I follow stated that TEW2 was extremely good and the way horror games sequels should be.

So, naturally, I wanted to remain open.

SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT, DO NOT CONTINUE IF YOU PLAN ON PLAYING/WATCHING TEW2 YOURSELF

I'm a bit disappointed that the entire voice cast was different. The very second Sebastian started speaking I knew one of two things: that it had been a long time since I played the first game, or that wasn't the same Sebastian I'm used to hearing. So when I looked into it I realized not only was Seb's VA different, everyone else from the previous game had different VAs as well. I don't know if this had anything to do with the VA strike that happened some time ago that affected a lot of VAs (such as Chloe from Life is Strange)

That aside, I wanted to know if TEW2 was going to fill in the gaps and answer questions I had that rose from the previous game.

But first, some highlights from my playthrough with my partner:

- belting the Kingdom Hearts theme during the opening - “man I can’t wait to have to choose between a sword, wand, and shield. and gun” - “holy shit I’m going to be SO COMFORTABLE cosplaying Sebastian again” - hewwo? HEWWO??? - "MYRA IS THE MILK MONSTER?" - "You know, for every god damn time I was asked ‘but is it art?’, I’d probably become a serial killer too” - at Obscura’s appearance: “I DON’T LIKE IT” - “how the fuck does it walk, it’s a fucking tripod” “yes” - at Stefano’s first appearance: “okay but can I just fucking snipe Stefano from here” *does it anyway* “yeah that would’ve been too easy” - “YOU KNOW WHAT, YOU CAN HAVE THE CHILD” - *low pitched baby crying* - “You’re a solid dude” - Sebastian’s not here right now, please leave a message

The first chapter was fantastic. We know that the start of Seb’s trauma was the fire that took away his house and daughter and eventually caused a rift in his marriage, and that Beacon was sorting the tipping point to his mental health. It was also a good way of getting into the controls of the game again. When Seb was approached by Kidman at the bar, hoo boy was he an absolute mess.

Once again, this is probably because it’s been so long since I played TEW1 and its DLCs, but I originally thought the face of the Administrator was a mystery? You could imagine my surprise when I saw his face and was like whoa he’s got a nice looking face that’s weird.

Also I was convinced one of his bodyguards was Joseph, or at least a Joseph look-alike. But I guess they wouldn’t have put him out in the open that easily.

So, I didn’t really mind the whole open world concept much. Honestly, I kinda liked it? The shift into a more action-y horror though? Been there, done that with the ResEvil series :/

However, with the game being open world there was A LOT of stuff I ended up missing. I apparently missed a couple of photographic slides which, I ended up having to look this up, were the key the unlocking the Joseph slide. I ALSO missed the chance to run into TEW1 Seb’s body?? I know there’s a scene where you encounter TEW1 Seb as a reflection in a mirror, but I didn’t know you can also find him as a straight up physical body that you could destroy. 

ANIMA WAS WHAT MAKES SURVIVIAL HORROR A SURVIVAL HORROR. Who was she? What did she want with me? Why wouldn’t she leave me alone??? I especially loved the scene where you had to go through a certain series of doors to avoid her. WHY DID IT STOP AFTER JUST TWO DOORS, LET ME BE CHASED BY THIS GHOSTLY LADY. 

I get that she was supposed to be some manifestation of Seb’s (and Union civilian NPCs’) guilt and fears, but if he was supposed to have to fight it LET 👏 ME 👏 FIGHT 👏 IT 👏

Speaking of antagonists with potential: what HAPPENED WITH STEFANO?

He had such good potential, an excellent backstory, and was given the most anti-climactic boss fight ever made. 

Same with Father Theodore. There was this whole huge buildup and then when it came to the boss fight, it was...disappointing. And it all seemed too easy? Maybe I didn’t have my difficulty high enough? I did die plenty of times but that’s cause I generally can’t go through a game without dying at least ten times within one chapter. And that’s usually cause at some point I get bored of waiting and try to gun through it.

And then Myra was just...weird. Like, in the end she was an Actual Boss Battle. But just everything after that went too fast in such little time. 

“We can be a family again!” “No I have to finish The Plan!!!”

*cue the TLOU scenes where you have to run with a child in your arms*

And can we talk about the side characters for a moment. 

Liam “I’m never leaving my safe house but does anyway” O’Neal. I honestly thought he would have lived through the whole thing. I mean, he flat out refused to leave his safe house. But boy howdy did Father Theodore whisper some sweet things into his ear and convinced him otherwise. And if you think I’m gonna willingly fight more Harbingers for parts to fix his flamethrower boy do I have news for you. I said screw that noise. 

Yukiko “walking textbook” Hoffman. I hated her at first. I really did. All her dialogue was very textbook and “you can tell I’m really smart cause I’m the team psychologist” and also “we need an asian character but not Joseph so”. I’m pretty sure at some point I stopped listening to her. I’M A LITTLE DISAPPOINTED IN HER DEATH. I saw it coming the moment the scene started but she COULD HAVE potentially be saved. STRETCH OUT YOUR ARMS MORE, SEB.

Esmeralda “please for the love of god don’t be a love interest” Torres. YOU INTRODUCE US A BADASS CHARACTER. AND THEN YOU KILL HER AT THE END OF THE SAME CHAPTER SHE APPEARS IN??

Partner: “she was just put in to be fuel for Man Pain” BLEUGH

But then you find out, she was the operative that took Lily during the fire. And then that was that?? THAT’S IT. THAT WAS HER ONLY CONNECTION TO THIS WHOLE SITUATION. She was ‘someone who had a lot of regrets and wanted to redeem herself in some way’. And also ‘yeah she was the one you was tasked to take your daughter’. 

???? JOHANAS. EXPLAIN. 

Partner: “did they like.. switch writers in the middle of all this. cause that’s what this seems like”

Julian “you’re a solid dude” Sykes. DID HE MAKE IT?? I know it was supposed to be a 25% chance through STEM and that he said he was going to remove his brain chip immediately when he got out but. DID. HE. MAKE. IT. 

Partner: “you can tell it was an american director cause all the poc were killed off” Me, a poc: “OMG”

And let’s not forget everyone’s biggest concern: WHERE IS JOSEPH. 

I knew that Joseph had a photographic slide. But what I didn’t know was that you had to collect all the previous slides in order to unlock that slide. GUESS WHO’S MISSING SLIDES AND DIDN’T GET IT. 

So I ended up having to look it up and just 

“It’s a long story”

Oh okay *finishes the game and has it never brought up again*

UH????

So essentially, regardless of whether or not you get all the photographic slides, Joseph was completely written out of the game. 

And like everyone else, I’m annoyed. You establish that he was never killed and that’s he’s alive and kicking somewhere. But WHERE IS HE, JOHANAS. 

I feel like some time after Stefano the game was just. Rushed. 

But that ending. Is it implying that we’re gonna be getting another sequel?? Or at least a DLC?? Please let it be a DLC I don’t want this game to get dragged like the ResEvil series (don’t get me wrong, I love the ResEvil series, but there were some good games and there were some bad games)

I do intend on replaying TEW2 because there was clearly a lot that I missed in my first run-through. 

And like, while I didn’t hate TEW2 I do believe some parts could have been executed better. 

This is probably gonna be one of those things where I replay it a few times or sit on it for a while or look up more info and just have an “OH that makes more sense” moment.

Was it worth the wait? I suppose? There’s still things where I’m like “??” and now I have even more “??” but I tend to be a bit slow with realizing things. 

Would I tell people to absolutely go and get it? That part’s up to you. If you want to play it yourself, then definitely go ahead. But if you feel like you can’t justify the ~$60 for something you might end up being disappointed in, then definitely check up on some playthroughs/let’s plays. 

I’m still gonna purchase merch (despite all the good stuff only being available in the european store >:( I’ll figure something out)

And I’m still gonna make art and cosplay from the game. 

And if it wasn’t for TEW to begin with, I wouldn’t have met some pretty cool people

[zefive]

Animated Webseries Recommendations

a (hopefully) consistently updated rec post for animated webseries. rec index here. if you know of a series that’s not on here, please feel free to rec it to me!

criteria: • no live-action/real life humans, except, if it’s for a bit. (example: south park s16e6) • no abridged series, or fananimations. (which is an animation featuring already existing characters, like Sonic or Mario) • no one shot shorts. has to be part of a series (or planned to be) • no cartoons, i.e, animations that is also airing on TV, or is made by a big name company. • has to be completely free!

edit (sept): added 3 new recommendations!

and so, onto the recs:

No Evil by Betsy Lee (on-going) follows a group of spirits, as they fight back against an evil known as The Black Tezcatlipoca, that has mysteriously returned after being sealed away fifteen years ago.

a wonderful and unique series, there’s nothing quite like No Evil out there. the story is inspired by mythology and folklore, specifically American, and is, seriously, something special. i highly recommend it, both for it’s story, characters, animation, and music. starts off slow, so please stick with it up to episode 10.

Khonjin House by Khonjin (completed) follows Khonjin, the son of a powerful mob guy, and his antics as his father, and associate Gino, try to teach him the ropes.

a random and dumb series, that manages to be completely hilarious. fair warning for Loud Noises, a ton of yelling, and just.. really dumb humour. however, the whole series is 113 minutes, so it’s definitely worth checking out! the story starts out seeming very self-contained, but it eventually reveals a complex lore, and a story arc. currently, the creator is working on two sequel series: Khonjin, and Supermental.

Eddsworld by Edd Gould (completed/hiatus) follows Edd, his friends, and their adventures through supernatural events, real life taken to the extreme, and Christmas perils.

an older series that will, without a doubt, remind you of the early days of the internet. while that might sound like a bad thing, the ‘classic’ Eddsworld episodes are nostalgia at its finest, with early internet humour that still manages to make, at least me, laugh. the creator, Edd Gould, sadly passed away, but after a while the series returned with ‘Eddsworld Legacy’, which has since then finished. currently on-going with a comic, though it’s been stated the animated series will return.

Mystery Skulls Animated by MysteryBen (on-going) follows a trio of supernatural investigators, and their run in with a ghost, and the fallout of that encounter.

an animated music video that became such a big hit, it became it’s own series. currently slated to be five parts, all animated to Mystery Skulls songs. while there’s no dialogue, the animations still manages to tell a story, and while it’s still in it’s early stages, it’s shaping up to be a downright treat. the characters are interesting, the animation is wonderful, and, of course, the music is catchy. definitely worth checking it out!

Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared by Becky & Joe (completed) follows a trio of puppet children as they learn about the wonder of STUFF.

a weird and surreal series that is, at times, horribly disturbing, and at others, really dang funny. while it’s not actually animated, it still fits all of the criteria, with cool hand-puppets (and a guy in a puppet suit), and ordinary objects given life. fair warning though, it is a rather... horror-esque series, with the trio of puppets getting hurt and traumatized. also there’s gore.

TOME by Chris Niosi (completed/hiatus)

follows Alpha and his friends, as they deal with a hacker problem in their MMORPG, Terrain of Magical Expertise

a series set in a made-up MMORPG, vaguely reminiscence of .hack. i’m currently still watching this myself, but so far it’s BRILLIANT. (i’ll expand on this when i’ve actually finished the series!)

Bloody Bunny: the first blood by 2spot studio (completed) follows the Bloody Bunny, as they try to take down an evil organization. (i. think?)

a collection of 15 shorts, made to advertise this series of (very cute) merch. however, it’s really gorgeous animated, with some nicely done gore and action sequences. it’s also just 11 minutes long, so. 

Animator vs. Animation by Alan Becker (completed/on-going) follows an Animator, as he fights against his own creation.

if you haven’t already seen these, you’re kind of missing out. an old internet classic, Animator vs. Animation is a gorgeously animated series of shorts, all of which are just, kind of really fucking neat. they’re a fun little thing to watch, and has some really clever scenes.

Law of Talos: Karl by Unknown-person follows the living statue Karl, as he enters into a tournament called the ‘Law of Talos’

if you’ve ever been on DA back in the day, you’ve probably seen at least one of these animations. unknown-person’s entries into the artist vs artist tournament ‘Law of Talos’ was one of the coolest animations i had ever watched as a kid. the story around Karl was interesting, the animation was so cool, and to this day, i’ll forever have a huge soft spot for Karl and his borderline evil hijinks. it’s just pure, undiluted fun.

by Roosterteeth here’s something to break the mold: a general warning about RT, and the shit they’ve done (link is down). personally, i have a lot of issues with RT, and even though i enjoy their series a lot, i’m still well-aware that they’re kind of awful, and i personally don’t support them in any way, except the bare minimum. (which is watching the series on youtube)

• Camp Camp (on-going) follows ten year old Max as he tries to escape the Summer Camp he’s stuck at.

a comedy series that’s pretty damn good. it’s kind of in the style of Rick and Morty, in that it’s not actually for kids- more adult humour than anything. most of the humour is wrapped up in the characters, and all of them are pretty unique! fair warning that one of them is, basically, a Hitler joke. the finale of both seasons get more serious, and while there is actual character beneath the jokes, it’s not the focus.

• RWBY (on-going) follows a team of four girls as they become Hunters, and eventually ends up fighting a threat much bigger than themselves.

an ‘epic’ series that is seriously popular, and is also seen as an anime by some people. while the writing is... shaky at best, the characters are all interesting (if under-developed) and it’s very easy to get attached. it starts of as a light-hearted show, but eventually gets darker. there’s also a side-series called World of Remnant that expands on the world building.

• Red vs. Blue (on-going) two teams, one canyon, and a lot of twists.

a series that starts of hilarious, but eventually develops a serious plot, while still keeping its humour. while i haven’t seen beyond season 6 (because i’m too heartbroken) i’ve heard they’re pretty good, so.

[vortexofemotions]

Mandalorian questions game

Here’s my answers for the Mandalorian questions game made by @ spoiler4you on Twitter! I’m doing them over here on Tumblr so I don’t have to worry about the character count. If you’d like to play along here is the original Twitter thread and go make sure to give Ly a follow: https://twitter.com/spoiler4you/status/1401578764660707330

1: How and when did you become a fan of the show? I’ve been a fan of Star Wars since 2015, but despite this I was really sceptical on whether or not I’d actually like the Mandalorian when the first trailer dropped since I wasn’t really liking the direction the sequel trilogy was taking. But then Chapter 1 released and the entire internet exploded overnight over that Baby Yoda reveal. That’s when I knew that I had to check this show out for myself. I didn’t actually get to see season 1 until it was only a month away from season 2′s release date but it was well worth the wait. And now here I am with the show living rent free in my mind constantly.

2:  Who’s your favourite character? Is it a cop out if I say Grogu? But I also love Din, the Armorer and the return of Bo-Katan, Ahsoka and Boba Fett. (I actually didn’t get the appeal of Boba until his reintroduction in season 2 and now I can see why everybody likes him so much)

3: What’s your favourite season (so far)? Season 2! I know some people didn’t like how fan servicey it was, but I’m weak for that kind of shit. Season 1 is still just as good though.

4: What’s your favourite scene from each season? Season 1: I’d have to say the scene where Din earns his Mudhorn signet in chapter 8. Couldn’t tell you why, I just think it was a really neat moment. Season 2: The goodbye scene in chapter 16. Need I say more? (For real though, season 2 had so many great moments that it’ll be difficult for me to choose)

5: What’s your favourite episode (so far)? Chapter 15 The Believer! I was on the edge of my seat (well, my bed lol) the entire time that I’m honestly surprised I didn’t come crashing down onto the floor. I could honestly talk all day about the scene where Din has to remove his helmet in order for the machine to scan his face and just how well Pedro managed to portray the anxiety and sheer discomfort Din must have been feeling in that scene. Also, the little details of Din having to move his entire head to survey his surroundings or to glance at other people? Chiefs kiss 👌 Uggh this episode is so good!

6: FAVOURITE DIN AND GROGU MOMENT: Why must you make me choose? Apart from the obvious goodbye scene in chapter 16, I’m going to say the scene in chapter 12 The Siege where Grogu is trying to swap the two coloured wires and his tiny baby brain can’t comprehend what the hell he’s supposed to do, but Din is so patient with him? Makes me ugly laugh every single time.

7: FAVOURITE DIN MOMENT: I’m just going to say the entirety of chapter 15 The Believer and call it a day lol

8: FAVOURITE GROGU MOMENT: The blue cookie scene in chapter 12. Him begging the kid for the cookies and then taking it anyway, to him waving his hands in the air and throwing them back up. It doesn’t matter. Just Grogu with his blue cookies. A truly iconic moment.

9: The scene that made you cry the most: I think I speak for all of us when I say the goodbye scene. It’s the only time Star Wars has ever made me cry and I’ll never forgive Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni for that.

10: The scene that made you the most hyped: When Din tries to give Bo-Katan the Darksaber back and Moff Gideon’s just sat there with the biggest shit-eating grin on his face, taunting her. I was honestly waiting for her to slap the shit out of him right then and there.

11: Moment you’d like to see most in upcoming seasons: 👏 VILLIAN 👏 BO-KATAN  👏 That bitch is mad she hasn’t got her Darksaber back and the rights to the throne. I’d also like to see King Din of course. BUT, I’d like to see him struggle to fit into the role, none of this ‘he’s so good at his job and he’s only been King for half a day bullshit’ let’s see him not have a clue what he’s doing and watch him grow into a better king, just like with his father role to Grogu. This could also lead into the villain Bo-Katan subplot as this makes her even angrier that she isn’t Queen, and are now stuck with this pathetic King. And then a reunion scene with Din and Grogu, but only at the end of the season. Make it a cliff-hanger to lead into season 4 or something, let’s have their separation be meaningful to the audience as well.

12: Favourite camo role in season 2: Bo-Katan. Now that I’ve watched the Clone Wars and making my way through Rebels, her first appearance to live action has a much bigger impact on me now. Ahsoka’s too.

13: Star Wars movie character you’d like to see in season 3: Honestly? I guess Chewie, only for the fact that the Jawa’s said that Din’s Jawaese sounded like a Wookie and now I want to see Din talk Shyriiwook.

14: Animated character you’d like to see in live action for season 3: Any of the main cast of Rebels characters. I say any as I’ve only seen the first two seasons so far and I don’t know if any of them d-word’s at the end of the series. I know Ezra’s already been rumoured for supposedly the Ahsoka series so I think Sabine would be a nice fit here since I know she also once wielded the Darksaber.

15: What do you think is the most underrated episode? 👀 I’d say Sanctuary as I’ve heard lots of people calling it the weakest episode of the series. I personally really enjoyed it.

16: What do you think is the most overrated episode? 👀 Don’t crucify me for saying this but I’d say The Gunslinger. I often forget about it’s existence, I’m so sorry 😂 And it’s not even my least favourite episode!

17: Given the chance, what would you change from the previous seasons? I honestly have no idea lmao. I guess have some more random scenes of showing Din and Grogu bonding? Let’s have some cute father and son moments please.

18: Favourite Mandalorian/Grogu merch that you own? My Grogu plushie

Or my Din Funko Pop

Yes I keep my Funkos out of their box, I literally do not have the storage space to keep them in their boxes, sue me.

19: Favourite behind the scenes fact: It honestly boggles my mind that most of the scenery and environments are behind a green screen and needs to be drawn/animated in? Like, they all look gorgeous.

20: Favourite actor/actress from the cast: Pedro Pascal as Din Djarin and Katee Sackhoff as Bo-Katan Kryze.

21: Favourite fandom moment: Not sure what this means but I guess all of us losing our absolute shit because we were afraid something awful happened to Grogu in chapter 15 since we didn’t get to see him, not even as a prisoner. That was a terrifying week lol. (Despite us getting a banger of an episode)

22: SEASON 3 PREDICTIONS (I’m excited to know what y’all think!!) I think I’ve basically already answered this in question 11, but to save you guys the trouble of scrolling all the way back up here’s a very basic rundown of what I think will happen in season 3: Villain Bo-Katan A struggling King Djarin Din and Grogu reuniting at the end of the season as a cliff-hanger for the opening in season 4.

23: ((Take this time to appreciate and tag some of your fav Mando moots)) Not gonna tag anyone as I don’t know anyone over here lol, but I’d love to see some of your guys answers! A massive shout-out to all the fanfic writers, fan artists and video makers out there who create for this fandom. All of ya’ll are making the wait for season 3 a lot more bearable by giving us more content with our favourite clueless space dad and his adoptive son travelling around the galaxy.

This was a lot of fun to do, here’s a special thank you to Spoiler4you for creating this game for all of us to play. In case you missed it, the link to the original Twitter thread is at the top of this post.

Now if you’ll excuse me I’m off to write some more Din and Grogu fanfiction. Good night ya’ll!

[marciabrady]

For the Disney princess ask: Pocahontas.

Favorite thing about her?: When she sings, ♪ and we are all connected to each other, in a circle, in a hoop that never ends ♪ like YES give us vocals Miss Pocahontas!!!

Least favorite thing about her?: I feel like Belle began a trend where we never acknowledge any flaw in the female protagonist throughout the film, and it's continued to this day...but it's not that bad with Pocahontas. I'm mostly just mad she didn't end up with Nakoma honestly

Do I like her movie?: It's okay lol I don't love /love/ any movie outside the original four princess movies, but I have fond memories of it. I feel like there was a huge Pocahontas presence in merch when I was going up, so it is pretty nostalgic for me in that way. I also love how adult they went. I wish we could return to that type of film making instead of the infantilization we see in Tangled, Frozen, and Moana.

Favorite outfit she wears?: I actually think this getup is LIFE, but only in this clipart. I am in no way condoning any screencap produced for the sequel lol in my opinion, that red is SO rich and nice against her skintone and I love seeing her with shoes for a change.

Favorite song from her movie?: Her verse in Savages has me internally shaking for the rest of the week whenever I listen to it!!! Truly motivates me to run on concrete, which no other song can do.

Favorite animal (or human) friend she has?: FLIT! I LOVE Flit! I had a stuffed animal of him, and I wish I still had it...I also love Grandmother Willow and Nakoma!

Which trait of her personality do I most see in myself?: Uh. Uuuuuh. I would totally dive off cliffs like she does too? I think...but also THIS IS WHAT IT IS I love elderly people (read: women instead of people bc I'm not that wild about old men lol) and would totally ask Grandmother Willow to interrupt my dreams too!

How would I rate her prince?: OK I'M TOTALLY NOT SPEAKing to the content of John Smith's character but his BACK CURVE does things for me so

Where does she rank on my top 10 favorite princesses?: Mid-tier!

Put a Disney Princess in my ask and I'll answer!

[tnhorrornews-blog]

HEY DID YOU HEAR ABOUT…. By Yeti Instagram https://www.instagram.com/the.yeti.616/  So, I may have missed the bus on some cool news stories and I’m sure you’re all thinking, “This guy sucks at producing regular articles,” to which I reply “eat a dick”.  I kid! I kid! When you live the kind of life I do sometimes life just kind of happens and some things have to take a back seat. I give you my word, Dear Reader, that I am taking steps to actually produce regular content. That being said, I am currently in my underground bunker scouring the interwebs for interesting nuggets of information for you guys! So, without further adieu.. Hey, did you hear about…     How in-demand Guillermo del Toro is right now? He has a pretty fucking impressive resume already but with his recent Oscar win with “The Shape of Water” it looks like that resume is gonna keep getting better. He has already inked a deal with Fox Searchlight that lets him create a new label under the brand for live action movies that he writes, produces, and or directs which promises to be great news for fans of the genre. Notice the interesting distinction there? Live action films. That’s because he also signed a deal with DreamWorks animation to make animated films. DreamWorks Animation has put out some great films in the past and when you combine that talent with the mind of del Toro it seems like a deal that is just too damn good to fail.     How brutal the new “Susperia” remake is? In a time when the film world is saturated with nostalgic remakes, reboots, sequels, and so on it is hard to get excited about remakes of just about anything. The original “Susperia” has been hailed as a masterpiece and one of the most disturbing films ever and I’m sure many people are worried that the remake will cut the nuts off of the film and dumb it down for modern audiences. Here’s a little piece of news that helps to lay those worries to rest. Dakota Johnson, who plays the lead role in the film, said in an interview with “Elle” that she had to go to therapy after shooting the film. Any film that fucks up the lead bad enough for therapy is worth checking out.  According to Bloody Disgusting, post-production on the film has finished so we should see just how disturbing the “Susperia” remake is soon enough.     The first official poster for the new “Halloween” film? When it was announced that we were getting a new Halloween film starring Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie and with Nick Castle returning as The Shape and that it would completely retcon everything but the original “Halloween” it was cause for excitement.  Today, exactly six months before the October 19th release date, the first official poster for the film was released. It is bad ass. Michael’s mask looks like it has gone through forty years of hell and it would appear that the coat hanger wound to his eyeball that Laurie gave him originally hasn’t completely healed. Sure it’s a small detail but it shows a commitment to continuity that I’m sure we can all appreciate.     The new developments with Tennessee Horror News? Well let me tell you, Dear Reader, we have some pretty cool stuff going on here at TN Horror offices. We’re selling shirts now! Yup! Have you ever seen one of our team members rocking a fresh Tennessee Horror News shirt and wished you could get one yourself? If so then your wish has been granted! Hop on over to the merch page to get your very own, super sexy, reasonably priced, TN Horror shirt! But wait! There’s more!! Do you love fall? Are you counting the days til the leaves change, the air cools, and everything dies? Do you miss campfires? Well we have you covered! Tennessee Horror News has teamed up with Macabre Melts in order to bring you Tennessee Horror Nights candles! They deliver the scents of pumpkin and campfire with a crackling wick. Now you can have the scents of fall all year round! You think that’s all we got? Well you’re fucking WRONG!!! We have developed our own serum that turns the recently dead into highly intelligent, bulletproof, super strong, blood thirsty soldiers. Think Universal Soldier meets Night of the Living Dead. We already have about a dozen of these terrifying motherfuckers and once we have about fifty of them we plan to release them on the world…unless you wanna maybe donate to the Tennessee Horror News Patreon or buy some merch. So yeah, buy some merch, hit up the Patreon. Your financial contribution could well stop us from bringing about the end of the human race. Your move, Dear Reader, your move.

[tnhorrornews-blog]

​By Yeti Instagram https://www.instagram.com/the.yeti.616/ HEY DID YOU HEAR ABOUT….  So, I may have missed the bus on some cool news stories and I’m sure you’re all thinking, “This guy sucks at producing regular articles,” to which I reply “eat a dick”.  I kid! I kid! When you live the kind of life I do sometimes life just kind of happens and some things have to take a back seat. I give you my word, Dear Reader, that I am taking steps to actually produce regular content. That being said, I am currently in my underground bunker scouring the interwebs for interesting nuggets of information for you guys! So, without further adieu.. Hey, did you hear about…     How in-demand Guillermo del Toro is right now? He has a pretty fucking impressive resume already but with his recent Oscar win with “The Shape of Water” it looks like that resume is gonna keep getting better. He has already inked a deal with Fox Searchlight that lets him create a new label under the brand for live action movies that he writes, produces, and or directs which promises to be great news for fans of the genre. Notice the interesting distinction there? Live action films. That’s because he also signed a deal with DreamWorks animation to make animated films. DreamWorks Animation has put out some great films in the past and when you combine that talent with the mind of del Toro it seems like a deal that is just too damn good to fail.     How brutal the new “Susperia” remake is? In a time when the film world is saturated with nostalgic remakes, reboots, sequels, and so on it is hard to get excited about remakes of just about anything. The original “Susperia” has been hailed as a masterpiece and one of the most disturbing films ever and I’m sure many people are worried that the remake will cut the nuts off of the film and dumb it down for modern audiences. Here’s a little piece of news that helps to lay those worries to rest. Dakota Johnson, who plays the lead role in the film, said in an interview with “Elle” that she had to go to therapy after shooting the film. Any film that fucks up the lead bad enough for therapy is worth checking out.  According to Bloody Disgusting, post-production on the film has finished so we should see just how disturbing the “Susperia” remake is soon enough.     The first official poster for the new “Halloween” film? When it was announced that we were getting a new Halloween film starring Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie and with Nick Castle returning as The Shape and that it would completely retcon everything but the original “Halloween” it was cause for excitement.  Today, exactly six months before the October 19th release date, the first official poster for the film was released. It is bad ass. Michael’s mask looks like it has gone through forty years of hell and it would appear that the coat hanger wound to his eyeball that Laurie gave him originally hasn’t completely healed. Sure it’s a small detail but it shows a commitment to continuity that I’m sure we can all appreciate.     The new developments with Tennessee Horror News? Well let me tell you, Dear Reader, we have some pretty cool stuff going on here at TN Horror offices. We’re selling shirts now! Yup! Have you ever seen one of our team members rocking a fresh Tennessee Horror News shirt and wished you could get one yourself? If so then your wish has been granted! Hop on over to the merch page to get your very own, super sexy, reasonably priced, TN Horror shirt! But wait! There’s more!! Do you love fall? Are you counting the days til the leaves change, the air cools, and everything dies? Do you miss campfires? Well we have you covered! Tennessee Horror News has teamed up with Macabre Melts in order to bring you Tennessee Horror Nights candles! They deliver the scents of pumpkin and campfire with a crackling wick. Now you can have the scents of fall all year round! You think that’s all we got? Well you’re fucking WRONG!!! We have developed our own serum that turns the recently dead into highly intelligent, bulletproof, super strong, blood thirsty soldiers. Think Universal Soldier meets Night of the Living Dead. We already have about a dozen of these terrifying motherfuckers and once we have about fifty of them we plan to release them on the world…unless you wanna maybe donate to the Tennessee Horror News Patreon or buy some merch. So yeah, buy some merch, hit up the Patreon. Your financial contribution could well stop us from bringing about the end of the human race. Your move, Dear Reader, your move.