#matt death note scenarios

[danwhobrowses]

5 Underrated Things or Tactics That May Aid Bell's Hells to Victory

Spoilers up to Campaign 3 Episode 116 below

Well Critters, it all comes down to this.

Vox Machina dismantled the Malleus Keep, killed Ozo (the Bozo) Kruft, and freed the Champion of Ravens which removed the tidal lock on Ruidus, and now the Mighty Nein have disintegrated the Weave Mind, completing essentially a full dismantling of the Kreviris Imperium, all of which quicker than I anticipated. All that's left is the Hallowed Cage, where Ludinus Da'leth and his inner circle are using his harness to try and fully destroy Liliana Temult. Bell's Hells begin a race against time to save her, but also a race to defeat Ludinus before he unleashes his intentions unto Exandria and its Pantheon with Predathos, and then decide for themselves what they do with the God Eater.

Suffice to say, and I dunno about everyone else but, I am terrified. I believe they can win but Ludinus is not to be underestimated, this second harness means he may be stronger - and he was already the strongest wizard alive - and have access to more powers compared to his simulacra, plus Predathos may come during or after this battle, which can put the Hells in a weakened state. Matt has likely prepared his best and worst for this final battle too, but the Hells aren't Lv. 20 combatants like the other groups; there's no 9th level spells, no Divine Intervention, and the group lost their cleric ~20 episodes back, so even though VM and the Nein were ultimately successful within 1-2 episodes having to use both of their auto-succeed Divine Interventions from their two clerics in the process, this is the battle. And with that is a ridiculous amount of tension for Ludinus and for what comes after. For all we know, the cast may've already recorded ahead enough to have finished the final fight, maybe even finished the campaign (though I hope not, partly because I don't want it to end yet but also I feel like the dawn of the new era should be explored regardless of what choice the Hells make, plus some characters could use a bit more resolution after the big fight and the pressure of stakes and time sensitivity have been alleviated) but for us it's a nervous wait, and a wonder of what can be done to win and what choice will be made to determine the future of Exandria, Ruidus, their faith and their people. So, this is my indulging into that first part, 5 lower-key things or tactics that might not have been initially thought of that could make things easier to defeat Ludinus.

Liliana, the Inner Circle, and the Arcane Battery Provided that the Hells make it in time to stop Liliana from being totally destroyed by the harness (which is very possible since Laudna does have that tracking spell on him since Aeor, it's all about speed and not running into enemies) she will still be without her magic to fight. Ludinus' inner circle holding her down is comprised of Reilorans but also other Ruidusborns, and that's something the Hells can expose. Liliana cannot fight, but Ruidusborns can take spell slots from each other, so Liliana and any KO'd Ruidusborns from the inner circle can be used as spell slot fuel for Imogen and Fearne. Ludinus also gave a 9-slot fully-charged Arcane Battery to the Hells in order to trigger Delilah within Laudna for his escape, the battery can help recharge Laudna's slots too which makes this tactic handy for the witches of the group.

Dunamancy One of Ludinus' most important tools for his plan has been Luxon Beacons, a device able to unravel even divine magic, but much like the Harness it can prove his undoing. Dunamancy hasn't been touched upon as much as early C3 hinted it could have, but for lack of a better phrase, the possibilities are still endless. The Hells have multiple Potions of Possibility at their disposal to aid with rolls, but they also were given a Sphere of Dunamantic Restoration by the Kryn, which will trigger the effects of a Short Rest and a health and spell slot recharge - which can be handy in a pinch and to reuse some once per short rest abilities. Ashton is the key factor though, I've mentioned it a few times already but we don't know if these items will behave differently with them, via their own internal dunamancy abilities. Given the unknown factor, that's why it's not deemed as much of a tactic as it is a Hail Mary, but it is one that could lead to Ludinus' own magic unraveling, and maybe even Predathos' too

The Whirling Dervish & Conditional Advantages In Vassalheim, Dorian received his family sword: Gambolcleft, the Vortex Blade. One of its yet to be used abilities involves a once a day repetitive use of striking an enemy, similar to how Ozo killed Vex, provided that they attack with Disadvantage. Dorian is already looking at a high attack roll given Gambolcleft's +3 to attack and hit rolls, and Master's Flourish means he doesn't have to use a Bardic Inspiration to stack a Blade Flourish (Defensive Flourish is probably best, the damage is also doubled by Gambolcleft), the only quibble is the disadvantage. Fortunately, most of the Hells have skills that can force Ludinus into conditions where attacks would do advantage on him: stunning and rendering him prone being most likely, but paralysis is possible if a Hold Person is successful. It would of course require his Legendary Resistances to be used up first, but if Ludinus gets stunned or knocked prone within Dorian's range, Gambolcleft could easily carve its way through him with continual hits, stacked potentially by Bless and Mark of the Messy End, for perpetual damage and make Dorian himself impossible to hit on his next turn. Stunning or Proning Ludinus also leaves Ludinus at the vicious mercy of the martial players, especially for conditions that auto-crit when hit.

The Hole (or the Bag of Holding) Occam's Razor. An old but gold tactic of the Hells could very easily be used against Ludinus too. The portable hole or the bag of holding are devoid of air, left in one long enough with it sealed would mean suffocation as have been the fate of many of the Hells' past opponents that they didn't have time to deal with. The Hole's downside is that a Strength check can lead to a creature forcing their way out, but the Hells do have plenty of skills that can impose disadvantage on Strength rolls and the aforementioned conditions could help that, Ashton's Hammer may also make it more difficult to unfold the Hole if its Immovable Rod is propped atop of it - but that'd be down to Matt's discretion. The Bag of Holding doesn't have the strength save, but it is smaller so it may not be able to fit him in it. I'm not sure if Ludinus can use Gate to escape either, dunno if that leads to the whole extradimensional rip thing that happens if you open one while in the other, but if he does it's a concentration spell so the Hells could just keep knocking him back from the other side, a bigger group of enemies in either also reduces the time needed before they suffocate.

The Harness and the One-Chance Polymorph Right now Ludinus is using a harness to destroy Liliana, comparing it to the one in Moleasmyr it'll potentially take about an hour to finish the process providing that this factor wasn't improved upon. However, removing magic within a being for a whole day only required a minute of contact in the Hells' one and maybe Ludinus', thus his creation and reason for long life and power can also be the key to his downfall. Holding Ludinus down for a minute is of course not as easy as it sounds but that's where Polymorph can come in. Polymorph lasts at most an hour, so as long as Ludinus is changed into a creature that can easily be restrained they can use the harness on it and remove Ludinus of his entire arsenal in order to finish him off without the risk of his high level spells. The tricky part is getting Polymorph to succeed; Wisdom is after all a Wizard's bread and butter, but there is a single gambit that could make it work. It requires all Legendary Resistances to be gone of course, and for Laudna and Braius to be conscious; Braius has a once per long rest ability to change a Wisdom saving throw to a Charisma one, which he used to allow Dorian to succeed in making the Dominox dance in the live show, Laudna's Void Puppet can force disadvantage on saves to those within 5ft of it, which will negate his magical resistance to just a clean roll. Orym can also use Hex to impose a disadvantage, which may be able to stack, but this would also hinge on Ludinus' charisma not being super high and if the Polymorph fails once it will likely not be able to be tried again.

The fight won't be easy, but there are avenues that can make it less dangerous, a strategy is very much required for such a foe. All the while my strategy remains keeping up the prayer circle. Deep breaths everyone.

[vanteguccir]

── ୨୧ !　HER WEAKNESS

matt sturniolo x mafia!reader

SUMMARY: Where Matt's secret relationship with Y/N, the boss of LA's most feared mafia, is revealed to the media in seconds. Now, Matt is in danger, and Y/N isn't afraid of burning the world down to protect him.

WARNING: Use of guns, car racing, blood, injuries, mean!reader ('hate the world but love him' trope), mentions of death, dark romance.

REQUESTED?: No.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: That is MY idea and work, I DON'T authorize any plagiarism, copy, or "inspiration"! | English isn't my first language, so I'm sorry if there's any grammar error.

A/N²: I'm super into this trope of famous!matt x mafia!reader, and I want to write more for it, so feel free to send requests for scenarios inside this universe <3

　　　༻✦༺ 　༻✧༺　༻✦༺

Looking back, it was hard for Matt to remember a time when his life wasn’t full with the kind of fear that made him look over his shoulder every five minutes.

It wasn’t the kind of fear born out of paranoia, no, Matt wasn’t paranoid. He was just aware. Aware that being the boyfriend of Y/N Y/L/N, the most notorious name in Los Angeles, came with its own set of risks. Risks that loomed like shadows, thick and suffocating, creeping into every corner of his existence.

Becoming her boyfriend had been as exhilarating as it was terrifying. Y/N wasn’t just anyone. She was the Y/N Y/L/N, the Queen of Los Angeles, a woman whose name was whispered in hushed tones, whose reputation alone was enough to make the strongest men cry. She wasn’t just the boss of a mafia; she was the boss. Every move she made sent quakes through her world, her presence commanding respect and fear in equal measure.

To the rest of the world, she was the devil. But to him? She was something else entirely.

Matt often found himself thinking about the contradictions of their relationship. There was no point in explaining the downsides of being with someone like her; even with the constant threat of danger, the late nights spent waiting for her to come back to him, the uneasy knowledge that she ruled a world where mercy was a foreign concept, all of it came with the territory. And yet, he couldn’t bring himself to regret it.

Because Y/N, for all her sharp edges and lethal reputation, treated him as if he was the one ruling. She hated the world, but she loved him. And not just him, his brothers, too. By extension, Chris and Nick had become part of her orbit, and she cared for them in a way that left Matt awestruck.

She always put him first, ensuring that he never wanted for anything, that he was shielded from the worst of her world even as he stood at its edge.

Her kindness to him came in forms, both small and extravagant. Expensive gifts appeared without occasion - jewelry that gleamed under the light, tailored suits he’d never wear unless dragged to one of her events, a vintage drum he’d only dreamed of owning. Once, she’d surprised him with a trip to Paris, casually booking an entire penthouse suite as though it were nothing. It baffled him sometimes, the lengths she went to just to see him happy.

She treated him like he was the most important person in her world, and maybe he was. He felt it in the way she looked at him, her eyes softening in a way they never did for anyone else. He felt it in the way her hand would linger on his arm, in the whispered words she saved just for him. With her, he wasn’t the Matt Sturniolo, one of the triplets that made worldwide success. He was hers.

Still, there were moments when the weight of her world pressed down on him, moments when the reality of who she was and what she did became impossible to ignore. Her enemies weren’t nameless shadows; they were people with resources and vendettas, people who wouldn’t hesitate to affect her, no matter how.

It was late at night, and Chris was sprawled on the couch, one leg hooked lazily over the armrest, the other propped against the coffee table. The glow of his phone illuminated his face, basking in the steady stream of comments that flooded his Instagram live.

"Yo, what’s up, everybody?" He drawled, the words slithering out while a grin painted his face. "Where’s Matt and Nick?"

He paused, scratching his stubbled jaw.

"Nick’s upstairs, probably editing our next video. And Matt? He’s over there being my personal maid."

The front camera changed its focus abruptly, revealing the kitchen in all its warm, domestic glow. Behind the table, Matt stood hunched over a cutting board, his movements clumsy as he sliced through a pile of vegetables, ready to make simple sandwiches for them.

Without missing a beat, Matt flipped him off, his voice a low, exasperated rumble.

"Chris, shut up."

The live chat erupted with reactions and comments. What Chris didn’t notice - but the viewers certainly did - was the figure walking from Matt's bedroom toward the kitchen - or, more specifically, toward the middle triplet.

Y/N moved silently, her steps deliberate, her presence commanding despite the casual simplicity of her appearance. Black sweatpants clung to her legs, and an oversized shirt - Matt's shirt - draped her frame, covering the gun holster that held her black Glock; an intentional option of indifference, one that she only used when she was at his house. But her eyes betrayed her.

They were sharp, focused entirely on Matt as if he were the center of her universe - only traveling briefly to Ricardo and Lucas, her bodyguards who stood like brick walls at the top of the stairs that lead to the main entrance, watching over them like hawks.

They were always the ones who Y/N chose to follow her when she went to the triplets house, since both of them were the best at treating the brothers as 'normal' as possible, and not like people who were under extreme protection 24/7.

Just as Chris turned the camera back to himself, Y/N reached Matt, her arms encircling his waist in a gesture that spoke volumes. Matt didn’t flinch - he never did when it came to her - but his body softened, the rigid lines of his shoulders easing as a faint smile ghosted across his lips.

It was nice to have her close.

"Hey." He murmured, his voice a private sanctuary meant only for her.

"Hi." She replied, her tone quiet but rich with adoration. Her guard lowered just enough for a hint of vulnerability to escape.

"You okay?" Matt asked, tilting his head slightly, his knife pausing its steady rhythm against the cutting board.

"Always." She answers, ignoring the way her voice showed the weight of a day that had pushed her to her limits. "Missed' you today. So fucking much." She moved her body slightly, searching for more skin to skin contact - no matter their clothes, ignoring the way Matt shivered when her covered gun pressed against his lower back.

"... going to feed me good, obviously." Chris joked from behind them, oblivious to the intimacy unfolding mere feet away.

Matt tuned him out, his focus narrowing to the woman resting against him. Her forehead pressed into his shoulder, and her breathing slowed, each exhale a quiet surrender. In his arms, she allowed herself to just exist, an escape from the chaos of her world.

The fragile peace shattered as a ringtone erupted from the hallway, its shrill insistence cutting through the air like a blade.

Her body tensed immediately, her muscles locking as if bracing for an unseen attack.

"Your phone." Matt whispered, his tone calm but underlined with an edge of concern.

"I don’t want to get it." She muttered, her reluctance heavy.

"It might be important." He pressed gently, his words carrying a logic she couldn’t ignore.

She sighed, frustration and resignation mingling as she withdrew from his warmth. She had already spent the whole day dealing with imbeciles who thought that owing her was a good idea. Her mind was in no right place to deal with more problems.

The absence of his touch felt immediate, a cold void where safety had been moments before. Her fingers brushed lightly against his back as she stepped away, a silent promise that she’d return.

Matt caught her gaze as she moved toward the bedroom, his eyes steady and reassuring, a quiet affirmation that he’d be waiting, always.

The sound of the ringtone grew louder as she neared the door.

The muffled sound of Chris's voice was grounding, but it suddenly turned distant, irrelevant, as her gaze locked onto the glowing device vibrating against Matt’s nightstand.

Raphael.

Her blood chilled at the sight of the name of her right-hand, her fingers flexing instinctively at her sides. Raphael never called unless it was urgent - unlike the idiots who bothered her minute by minute to ask mediocre questions and made her want to pull out her gun and see blood, and in her world, urgent rarely meant anything short of catastrophic.

The moment her fingers wrapped around the phone, she pressed it to her ear, the cool surface grounding her.

"Raphael." She said, her voice clipped and razor-sharp, an edge of control that allowed no room for weakness.

"Y/N." He began, calling her name in the way only he could, his tone level but brimming with tension. "We have a situation."

The words hit her like a punch to the chest, though her expression didn’t waver. Externally, she was unflinching. Internally, a darker part of her coiled, poised to strike. She had navigated countless crises since she was seventeen, each one making her tougher. But no amount of training or experience prepared her for the particular dread that crawled beneath her skin at the word situation.

"What kind of situation?" She demanded, already bracing for impact, her voice an anchor of authority. She hated when they told the bad news but didn't explain it.

Raphael exhaled sharply, closing his eyes tightly behind the call.

"Our tech team flagged something around the internet. There’s a picture of you circulating online. It’s starting to spread."

Her grip on the phone tightened, her knuckles blanching as she steadied her breath.

"Explain." She commanded, though her pulse betrayed her, a frantic drumbeat against her ribs.

"It seems to be from Christopher Sturniolo's live thing. It's barely a second of footage." Raphael explained, his voice tight with urgency. "But it’s enough. Fans are analyzing it, trying to figure out who you are. Threads are blowing up. And..." He hesitated, his pause causing Y/N's eyebrows to furrow. "They’re connecting it to Matt."

A visceral reaction clawed its way to the surface, her breath catching in her throat.

Matt.

His name wasn’t just a word; it was a weapon, one capable of splitting her in two. The image of him - standing in the kitchen, his shoulders relaxed, his focus far removed from the chaos - flashed in her mind. He was a constant in her life, someone who turned her softer, someone she couldn’t afford to lose. The thought of him being dragged for life into her world - her dangerous, unforgiving world - sent a sharp pang of desperation through her entire being.

"Y/N?" Raphael's voice pulled her back, a glimpse of worry shining between his words.

"How far has it spread?" She asked, her tone glacial now.

"Far enough." He replied grimly. "If we don’t act now, it’s only a matter of time before someone makes the connection."

Her mind was a battlefield, each thought a calculated move in a war she refused to lose.

"I want it gone." She said, each word deliberate, unyielding. "Every post, every thread, every trace. Use whatever means necessary, bribery, threats, force. I don’t care how you do it. Just erase it."

"You got it, Boss." He didn’t hesitate, changing his demeanor abruptly, the sound of keystrokes filling the silence on his end.

"And Raphael." She added, her tone softening. "Leave nothing behind."

"It’ll be done." He affirmed, his voice steady. "Anything else?"

Her throat tightened, her guard faltering for just a heartbeat. She leaned against the edge of the bed, gripping the phone like a lifeline. She would have to tell Matt eventually, but not now. Not when her own composure was hanging by a thread.

"No." She said quietly, her voice betraying none of the chaos beneath. "I’ll handle the rest."

"Understood." The line clicked dead, leaving her alone with the silence.

Y/N lowered the phone, her hand trembling slightly as she set it down. She had always known this day might come, always known that her careful steps could fail, leaving Matt exposed to her world - or her to his. But knowing didn’t make the sting any less painful.

Her gaze drifted to the doorway, her thoughts spiraling to him. She despised herself in that moment; for the danger her presence brought to his life, for the quiet desperation she felt whenever she thought of losing him.

But she couldn’t lose him.

Straightening her spine, she forced the vulnerability back, locking it behind the iron walls she took years to build. She was a leader, a protector, a force to be secured with. And no one - not her enemies, not the nameless, faceless masses online - would take what was hers.

The air in the house had shifted, thickening with an invisible tension that Y/N could feel in her bones the moment she stepped out of Matt’s room.

Her sharp gaze swept across the living room first. Chris was slumped on the couch, looking almost guilty. His phone lay discarded beside him, screen dark, as though it had betrayed him. His face was pale, lips pressed into a tight line, and he stared at the floor with the kind of intensity that suggested he wished it would open up and swallow him whole.

Her eyes flicked toward the kitchen, her stomach knotting at the sight of Matt. He leaned against the edge of the table, arms crossed defensively over his broad chest, head bowed slightly. His brows were furrowed, his jaw clenched, and his warmth from minutes ago was replaced by a cold anger that radiated from him in waves.

"What happened?" She asked, her voice slicing through the oppressive quiet. There was no softness in her tone, only a commanding edge that left no room for staling.

Chris flinched at her words, his head snapping up to meet her gaze. His blue eyes darted toward Matt, searching for guidance, for an excuse, anything that might soften the blow. But Matt didn’t move. He remained locked in place, his intense focus on the floor as though the answer to their problems might be just there.

"Chris." Y/N prompted, her voice lower this time, but no less cutting as she stepped further into the room.

Chris exhaled shakily, rubbing the back of his neck as though the action might somehow delay the inevitable.

"Uh... people saw you?" He finally said, the words spilling out in a rush.

"Are you asking me or telling me?" She asked, her tone firm.

Chris hesitated, glancing helplessly at Matt again. When no help came, he pressed on, his words tumbling over each other.

"During the live stream, you showed up at the camera. It’s everywhere now. They’re asking who you are, Y/N. It’s blowing up..." His panicked voice seemed to start flying up. "I didn’t mean for it to happen. I didn’t even notice-"

"Enough." She interrupted, her tone quiet but laced with an authority that made Chris snap his mouth shut. "I know." She said simply. "It’s already being handled."

Chris blinked, confusion flickering across his face.

"Wait, you already know?"

"Yes." She replied, her gaze shifting briefly to Matt. "And it’s already being handled." She repeated.

Matt straightened at that, his concern breaking through the desperation that had kept him rigid. This was one of the moments when the weight of her world pressed down on him, and he felt scared. For him, for his brothers... for her. He knew that if her picture at his house fell into her enemies' hands, it was the end of peace for them.

"What does that mean, Y/N?" He asked, his voice low and tense.

"It means." She said evenly. "That my people is taking care of it, and soon enough, it'll be as if nothing had ever happened."

Matt’s brow furrowed further, and he took a step toward her, the movement slow but certain.

"And how exactly are they doing that?" He asked. "You're being careful, right?"

Her heart twisted at the concern in his voice, feeling like she could laugh, because Matt was the one who opened the front door for a bloody version of herself earlier, and he was the one who took care of her wounds - the ones that didn't even made her flinch.

"Silly boy." She started, her tone softening just enough to reassure him. "Y'know that I'm always careful."

Matt’s jaw clenched, his frustration evident.

"I don't like that." He said quietly, the weight of his words settling heavily between them.

Her posture wavered for the briefest of moments, but she forced herself to hold his gaze.

"What I need from you two and Nick." She said, addressing both him and Chris while keeping eye contact with Matt, completely ignoring his comment. "Is for you to be vigilant. For the next few days, you need to watch everything, what you post, where you go, who you talk to. Understood?"

Chris nodded quickly - even if she wasn’t looking at him, his expression contrite.

"Yeah. Of course. I’ll be careful."

Matt didn’t respond immediately. Instead, his intense gaze bored into hers, searching for cracks in her armor. Finally, he nodded, though the tension in his shoulders remained.

"Fine." He said, his voice quieter now. "But you’ll tell me if anything happens."

She hesitated, the truth forming on her tongue before she swallowed it down.

"I will." She lied instead. She wouldn't be crazy to involve him in any of this more than he already is.

His features softened slightly, but his worry lingered, etched into every line of his face.

"Good." He said. "Because I’m not letting anything happen to you."

She was the one who wasn't letting anything happen to him.

"I know."

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The triplets were now on an empty parking lot, surrounded by the kind of darkness that usually set the stage for their filming sessions. The camera perched on the dashboard blinked red, capturing every move of them.

Matt sat in the driver’s seat, his hands tapping the bottom of the wheel as Chris gestured wildly from the passenger side. His animated voice carried through the car, weaving a story with Nick chiming in from the back seat.

But Matt wasn’t fully there.

His brothers could turn the most mundane story into book-like ones, and while he’d normally give his opinion on each one of them - when they let him, today his mind felt unusually restless. He couldn’t shake the brutal unease that had settled in his chest ever since Y/N’s warning the day before. Her words played over and over in his head: Watch your surroundings. Be careful.

Still, he had tried to shake it off. She worried about him; he got that. But the longer the evening dragged on, the heavier that knot in his chest grew. His brothers’ laughter ricocheted around the car, but the sound barely registered.

"... if we take a right, then a left, and there's a guy down there walking his dog, I'm gonna freak out." Chris was saying, his voice rising dramatically.

"And then we did it, and the guy was walking his dog." Nick completed, widening his eyes to the camera to emphasize it all.

Their voices faded into background noise as Matt’s gaze traveled to a shadowed corner of the lot. He couldn’t shake the prickling sensation that something - or someone - was watching them. His hands tightened on the steering wheel as his mind replayed Y/N’s warning for the thousandth time.

You’re being paranoid, he told himself. It’s just a parking lot.

But paranoia had its place in Y/N’s world.

It was Nick who broke the illusion of calm.

"Hey." He said sharply, his voice cutting through the laughter. His posture changed in an instant, stiffening as his eyes fixed on something outside their car.

"What?" Chris asked, his smile faltering as he followed Nick’s gaze.

"Don’t make it obvious." Nick hissed, leaning slightly forward. "But look. SUV, two o’clock. Isn't it parked way too close for how empty this lot is?"

Matt’s pulse quickened. His eyes darted to the rearview mirror, and there it was, a sleek, black vehicle angled toward them. Its windows were so dark they might as well have been painted. Everything about it felt wrong.

Chris turned in his seat, ignoring Nick’s plea for subtlety.

"Weird." He muttered. "Why park there when the whole lot’s empty?"

"That's what I'm saying." Nick said, his voice lower.

Matt’s jaw tightened, his earlier unease turning into cold certainty.

"Do you think it’s a fan?" Chris asked, his voice tinged with forced optimism.

Matt shook his head, his grip on the steering wheel tightening.

"Doesn’t feel like a fan."

The SUV sat unmoving, its presence heavy and oppressive. Matt’s thoughts spun as he tried to make sense of it. Y/N had warned him about things that could happen since day one, but she hadn’t given details. She rarely did. Keeping him in the dark was her way of protecting him, but right now, he wished he knew more.

"We should leave." Nick said urgently after some minutes of silence.

Chris frowned.

"Leave? We’re in the middle of filming-"

"Forget the video." Matt snapped, his voice sharper than he intended. "Something’s off."

The tension in the car thickened. Nick leaned forward again, his breath brushing the back of Matt’s neck as he watched the SUV through the rear window.

Then, as if sensing that it was seen, the door of the black vehicle opened.

"Guys." Nick warned sharply, his voice tight with alarm.

Matt’s heart slammed against his ribs as a man stepped out. He was tall, broad-shouldered, and dressed in a tailored black suit that screamed professional. His face was obscured by dark sunglasses, even in the dim light. Everything about him was strange, the way he moved, slow and purposeful, like he had all the time in the world.

The man stood by the SUV for a moment, then began walking toward their car.

"Go, Matt." Chris urged, his voice strained.

Matt didn’t need to be told twice. His fingers fumbled with the ignition, the engine roaring to life.

"What’s he doing?" Chris asked, staring at the approaching man.

"Doesn’t matter." Matt ground out. "We’re not sticking around to find out."

He threw the car into reverse, his movements swift but controlled. The tires screeched as he backed out of the parking spot, his eyes flicking between the mirrors and the shadowy figure stopping behind them.

"Is he following us?" Nick asked, his voice tight with panic.

Matt didn’t answer immediately, focusing on navigating the lot. But as he turned onto the main road, he caught a glimpse of the SUV’s headlights flaring to life in the rearview mirror.

"Yes." He said grimly, accelerating into the main road without looking to his side, forcing himself to ignore the loud and random honk that followed his action.

Nick swore under his breath, his hands gripping the edge of Chris's back seat, grimacing.

Matt’s mind raced, calculating their options. He didn’t know who was in that car, but he had a sinking feeling that Y/N did. Whatever this was, it wasn’t random.

And as the SUV closed the distance between them, Matt realized that the shadows he’d been looking over his shoulder for weren’t just paranoia.

They were real. And they were coming for him.

Chris twisted in his seat, his gaze fixed on the ominous car trailing them. His voice cracked with a mixture of frustration and alarm.

"Okay, now that’s not just weird. That’s bad."

"No shit." Matt muttered, keeping his tense posture. "Buckle up." He growled, his tone leaving no room for argument, the adrenaline pumping through his veins like a drug. Before his brothers could react, he slammed his foot down on the accelerator, their KIA lunging forward with a roar.

"What the hell are you doing?" Chris shouted, his hands darting to the door handle as he braced himself against the sudden burst of speed.

"Losing them." Matt ground out through clenched teeth, his voice laced with grim determination. The engine roared, the car slicing through the sparse traffic.

The SUV responded immediately, surging forward with precision, its movements aggressive and calculated. It wasn’t just following them. It was hunting them, and it wasn’t hiding it anymore.

"This isn’t a movie, Matt!" Nick yelled from the backseat, his voice tinged with panic as the car swerved dangerously close to a parked sedan.

"Feels like one." Chris muttered under his breath, though his usual joking tone was replaced with raw tension. His fingers dug into the fabric of his seat, knuckles bone white.

Matt’s focus was razor-sharp, his mind calculating every turn, every gap, every possible escape route. The city blurred around them, streetlights streaking past like shooting stars.

He maneuvered with a precision that bordered on reckless, the heavy van sliding between vehicles with inches to spare. Years of navigating chaotic LA streets had sharpened his instincts like a knife’s edge, but even he wasn’t sure how long he could keep this up.

"They’re not giving up." Nick said, his voice a strained whisper.

Then, out of nowhere, a flash of silver caught Matt’s peripheral vision.

"Matt! Fuck- watch out!" Chris screamed, his voice cracking as a Audi RS7 tore into the intersection from their right to their left, leaving a perfect trail of white smoke behind, its polished body gleaming under the fluorescent haze of the streetlights.

Time seemed to slow. Matt’s heart slammed against his ribcage as he yanked the steering wheel, the van skidding violently to the side, definitely scraping a car or two. Their camera fell from its place with a force that told them itself that it broke. Tires screeched, the acrid smell of burnt rubber filling the air as the RS7 narrowly missed their front bumper by mere inches.

For a small moment, Matt thought they were done for. They would die in the hands of unknown, sick people. But the Audi didn’t slow. Its driver - whoever they were - handled the car with perfect precision, swerving past them.

"What the hell was that?" Nick gasped, his voice trembling as he craned his neck to look back.

"I don’t know." Matt muttered, his chest heaving as he tried to process what had just happened. His foot hovered over the brake, instinct warring with the need to keep moving.

The RS7 didn’t stop. Instead, it sped straight for the SUV, its engine roaring like a beast. It cut off the larger vehicle with a series of calculated moves, herding it like a sheepdog corralling a wayward flock.

Chris leaned between the front seats, looking back, his eyes wide with disbelief.

"It’s... helping us." He paused, his mind racing. "Do you think it’s one of Y/N’s people?"

Nick didn’t take his eyes off the unfolding spectacle.

"Who the hell drives like that?"

Matt didn’t answer. He couldn’t. His thoughts were a chaotic storm, torn between taking advantage of the distraction and trying to piece together what was happening.

The SUV, once so powerful, was now on the defensive, the Audi forcing the larger vehicle toward the shoulder of the road.

"They’ve got this." Matt said, his voice tight as he pressed down on the gas pedal. The van surged forward, putting as much distance as possible between them and the chaos in the rearview mirror.

Chris turned back to face him, his expression a mix of awe and unease.

"You think this is over?"

But that hope lasted only for a minute as the night exploded with sound. The first gunshot rang out like a thunderclap, ringing in the enclosed space of the car, followed by honks and screams. Chris ducked instinctively, his hands flying to cover his ears as a yell escaped his throat.

Nick swore loudly, his voice almost drowned out by the second shot that followed in quick succession. Matt barely registered the sound of it before the driver-side window exploded beside him.

The world stopped.

Glass shards sprayed into the car like a violent glitter storm. Matt flinched instinctively, his head turning away as the jagged pieces tore through the air. His hoodie absorbed most of the impact, but a sharp sting grazed his cheek. Warmth spread across his skin, and the metallic scent made him realize that it was blood.

"Shit!" Matt yelled, his voice shaking as he tried to regain control of the car. His hands were trembling so hard it felt like they would break.

Chris screamed, ducking lower in his seat.

"What the fuck?!" His hands flew to his head, shielding himself.

Nick, in the backseat, was wide-eyed and pale, his voice cracking as he shouted.

"Are they shooting at us?! Why are they shooting at us?!"

Before anyone could fully process the first attack, a third shot rang out. This time, the bullet struck the back of the van with a sickening thud, the impact reverberating through the vehicle. The car jerked slightly from the force, and Nick let out a strangled yelp, gripping the back of Chris’s seat as if it might protect him.

Matt's widened eyes found the rearview; catching just in time the Audi reacting to the shooting and executing a perfect spin, its tires screeching as it turned in a tight circle. The maneuver was so seamless that it felt like a dance. As the car straightened out, it began driving in reverse, keeping pace with the SUV.

From the driver’s side of the Audi, a hand emerged, gripping a handgun with deadly precision. The barrel gleamed under the pale moonlight for only a moment before the first shot was fired.

BANG.

The bullet hit the SUV’s hood, sending sparks flying into the night.

"We're going to die." Chris choked out, his voice raw with panic. "Matt, what do we do?"

"I don’t know!" Matt snapped, his voice sharp as his focus stayed on the road. "I’m just trying to keep us alive!"

BANG.

The second shot took out one of the SUV’s headlights, shrouding it in uneven shadows.

"Is this about yesterday?" Chris asked, looking over his shoulder at the fireworks created by golden bullets.

"What about yesterday?" Nick asked, his voice being cut by other loud sound.

Matt didn’t answer, but the hardened look in his eyes said it all, his eyes running around the street full of scared people and desperate cars.

The Audi’s driver didn’t stop behind them, firing round after round with precision, shielding their van. Each shot forced the SUV to swerve and falter, its pursuit growing more desperate by the second.

Suddenly, a new set of headlights appeared in the rearview mirror, drawing closer at an alarming speed, maneuvering between random cars. Matt’s stomach sank as the black Nissan GT-R quickly closed the gap between them.

"Great, another one." Nick muttered, leaning forward to get a better look.

"Wait." Matt said, narrowing his eyes as the GT-R came closer. It wasn’t chasing them. It was moving with purpose, calculated, and controlled. And then, from the side street, another car emerged.

The third one sped toward them, a Dodge Charger, unmistakable and a far cry from subtle. It closed the gap with ease, pulling alongside Matt’s car.

Chris frowned.

"Matt, who the hell-"

The black window of the Charger lowered, revealing Walsh, one of Y/N's trusted bodyguards who he always saw close by, his expression as stoic and sharp as ever. He glanced at Matt briefly with a knowing gaze before lifting his hand, making a quick, sharp motion - a signal.

"I guess we are following you, then." Matt muttered, his voice resolute as he adjusted his grip on the wheel.

"What?" Nick asked, his tone a mix of confusion and disbelief. "Follow him? How do we know-"

"It’s Walsh." Matt interrupted, already easing off the accelerator slightly. "He’s one of Y/N’s people. He’s here to help."

Walsh accelerated, cutting smoothly in front of Matt’s car and taking the lead. Without hesitation, Matt followed, mimicking his movements as Walsh led them onto a side street, away from the main roads.

From behind, the black GT-R repositioned itself, falling into place directly behind the triplets’ car. It felt like they were being shepherded, boxed in with purpose.

Chris glanced nervously at the vehicles surrounding them.

"This feels like a crazy dream."

"Well, it’s very real to me." Matt muttered, his eyes darting between Walsh’s Charger and the mirrors to keep track of the GT-R.

The streets grew quieter as Walsh led them further from the city center, the cold air of the night invading the insides of the van through the broken window. The Charger weaved through back roads and alleys with practiced ease, its taillights a beacon for Matt to follow.

"Where is he taking us?" Nick asked, his voice breaking the tense silence.

"Not home." Chris replied. "That’s for sure."

They drove for another ten minutes before the Charger finally slowed as they approached a gated property on the outskirts of the city. Walsh leaned out of the window, flashing a badge at the intercom. The gates creaked open, and the small convoy filed through, disappearing into the privacy of the estate.

The driveway was lined with towering trees, their shadows dancing across the cars as they came to a stop. Matt parked behind Walsh’s Charger, the Nissan pulling in behind him to complete the formation.

The silence in the car was deafening as they sat there, processing what had just happened while the group of man dressed in all black suits backed out of both cars, moving around their KIA.

"What now?" Chris finally asked, breaking the quiet.

Matt exhaled, his hands still gripping the wheel tightly as he turned to look at his brothers, his skin itching with the dried blood.

"I don't know."

Then, cutting through the oppressive quiet, the distant roar of an engine reached their ears, growing louder by the second. Matt’s head whipped toward the gates just as the same Audi from earlier burst through.

The car moved with predatory intent, speeding down the driveway toward them. The headlights blazed like twin daggers, slicing through the darkness, and as it neared, it showed no signs of slowing.

The sleek vehicle skidded to a halt mere feet from where Walsh’s Charger was parked, its tires kicking up gravel in a chaotic spray. The door of the RS7 flung open with no ceremony, and at the second that Y/N stepped out, Matt was opening his own car door.

Of course, she was the first to find him. How could she not be? The GPS she’d insisted on slipping into his horse necklace after the last close call wasn’t just a precaution, it was a leash, one she pulled the second something went wrong.

He hadn’t even argued when she’d done it. He’d learned by now that Y/N always had a way of knowing where he was, no matter how far or how fast he tried to outrun trouble.

Her heels clicked sharply against the gravel as she strode toward Walsh, her every movement a calculated strike.

Matt watched her from his standing place, his body still trembling from the adrenaline coursing through his veins. His legs felt weak, the rush of survival not yet dissipating, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away from her.

She was magnetic, terrifying, and commanding all at once. His fingers twitched at his sides, unsure if he should stop her, but something inside him begged to watch the whole scene unfold.

Y/N’s expression was a storm, her lips curled into a snarl as she closed the distance between herself and Walsh, who was standing near the driver of the Charger. The man had just been speaking, his voice low and controlled, but the second he saw her approaching, he fell silent, his posture stiffening. He wasn’t a coward - years by her side had hardened him - but even he couldn’t deny the raw, violent fury in her eyes.

"Walsh!" Her voice cracked like a whip, slicing through the air.

The men around her stiffened but kept their gazes forward, trained on the horizon. They knew better than to interfere and knew the rules that governed her world.

Y/N didn’t repeat herself. She didn’t grant second chances.

Walsh turned, his face already pale, though he tried to maintain his composure.

"Boss, I can expl-"

She didn’t let him finish. In a blur of motion, she reached for her knife, the familiar silver weight of it reassuring in her palm, small droplets of blood stained its holder, being there for a long time now. Before Walsh could react, she had him pinned against the side of the car, her arm pressed against his chest with force, knocking his breath away. The knife’s blade kissed his throat, the edge cutting just enough to draw a thin line of blood that trickled down his skin.

"You dare speak?" She hissed, her voice low and venomous. "You fucking dare?"

"Boss, I-"

"Shut your fucking mouth." Her voice was a growl, more animal than human, the kind of sound that made grown men cower. "You had one job. One fucking job! Protect them. Keep them alive. And you-" She pushed the blade harder against his neck, the blood now dripping faster, staining the pristine collar of his shirt. "Fucking failed.”

Matt’s stomach churned as he watched, his chest tightening with every word. Her rage was consuming, and while he’d seen her like this many times before, it always felt like the first time.

Nick had turned away, his face pale. He hated blood and hated violence, and now, he stared at the trees as if they might somehow shield him from the scene unfolding before him. Chris, on the other hand, kept his eyes glued to the ground, his hands shoved deep into his pockets. He still carried fear for her when she acted like that, so he didn’t dare look up.

But Y/N wasn’t done. Her grip on Walsh’s collar tightened, and she yanked him forward, slamming him back against the car. The sound reverberated, as if she wanted the car's bodywork to deform under the weight of his body. And if it did, she would make him fix it with his bare hands.

"Where the fuck were my men?" She demanded, her voice rising now, echoing against the estate’s high walls. "I left five of my best men guarding them. Where the fuck were they, Walsh?"

Walsh’s lips trembled, his composure faltering for the first time.

"They’re dead." He admitted, his voice hoarse.

Y/N’s eyes darkened, the fire in her gaze burning hotter.

"What?"

"They killed them." Walsh continued, his voice steadying as he spoke. "All five of them. The second the brothers left the house, they were dead. By the time I got the call, it was already over."

The weight of his words hung heavy in the air, but Y/N didn’t flinch.

"I didn't thou-"

"Shut up!" She muttered, her free hand slamming against the car beside his head, her knuckles grazing the metal. "Shut the fuck up! Where the fuck were you? You’re supposed to anticipate this kind of shit. To have eyes everywhere. And instead, what do I get? Five man dead and a fucking alarm telling me they’re being hunted!"

Walsh kept silent. His hands stayed at his sides, fists clenched, but he didn’t dare move.

"You think I keep you around to stand there looking pretty, huh? You think I pay you to sit on your ass while my people are being slaughtered?"

"No- ma'am-"

"You’re lucky I don’t kill you right here." Her tone dropped into a deadly whisper, more chilling than her shouts. "You’re lucky I don’t slit your throat and leave your corpse here for the crows."

Matt’s breath hitched at her words, his chest tightening as he watched her, feeling a strange mix of fear and something deeper - something that made his pulse quicken.

"You’re worthless." She hissed. "A fucking liability. And if I ever-" She fist his hair, slamming the back of his head against the car for emphasis, almost begging for a concussion. "Ever see you fuck up like this again, I won’t hesitate to kill you. Do you understand me?"

"Yes." Walsh croaked, his voice barely audible because he does understand it. Because he knows that she could kill him in seconds with her bare hands if she wanted to. Putting the triplets brothers in danger could drive her to burn the whole world down.

"I said, do you fucking understand me?" She shouted, her voice echoing across the estate.

"Yes!" Walsh gasped, his face ashen.

Satisfied - for now - Y/N finally stepped back, her hand still gripping the knife tightly. Blood coated the blade, glinting in the faint light. She wiped it on Walsh’s shirt, the act casual and dismissive, before putting it back at her hip.

He should be grateful that he still had his head glued to his body and that she didn't treat him like one of her enemies. Because if she had, his organs would probably be scattered across the front yard.

Y/N adjusted her blazer, her movements sharp, and turned on her heel. Her security detail remained impassive, and their faces were unreadable as they stood at attention. They knew better than to question her.

"I want to know who's the son of a bitch who dared to go after what's mine. I don’t care how many men we have to send. You find him. And I want him, and anyone else involved in this shit, dead. You hear me? Dead. No fucking exceptions." Y/N's tone was ice, colder than the Siberian winters, and it sent a chill through the men standing nearby. "Now, get the fuck out of my sight."

The bodyguards didn’t hesitate, retreating without a word, their heads low. Even Walsh - still pressing a hand to the bleeding cut on his neck - scrambled back, keeping his distance.

Y/N didn’t so much as glance at them. They were beneath her attention now. Her focus was singular, her sharp eyes scanning the scene before her as she stalked toward the three brothers.

Nick and Chris stood stiffly by the car, their postures tense, the weight of the night etched into their faces.

Y/N stopped in front of them, and for a moment, she said nothing, her icy gaze raking over their bodies like a surgeon searching for injuries.

"Nick." She called sharply, a softness hidden behind her tone.

Nick looked up at her, his hands playing with the bottom of his sweater. Her eyes narrowed as she scrutinized him.

"You’re not injured?"

"No." He muttered, shaking his head. "I’m fine."

She turned her attention to Chris, her cold stare unwavering.

"Chris?"

Chris hesitated, swallowing hard before answering.

"I’m fine too."

Y/N’s gaze lingered on him for a moment longer before she nodded curtly, her lips pressed into a thin line.

"Inside." She ordered. "Grace's here, find her. She’ll take care of you."

Nick and Chris exchanged a brief glance, neither daring to argue. They gave her a quick nod before turning and walking toward the mansion to look for Y/N's maid, the one who treated them like a loving mother. Y/N’s eyes followed them until they disappeared through the front doors, their figures swallowed by the shadows of the estate.

Only then did she turn her attention to Matt.

He was standing a few feet away, his arms hanging limply at his sides, looking like a wall in front of his side of the car, his face pale but his eyes wide with worry. His breath hitched as she approached, her movements deliberate, predatory.

"Y/N-"

"Quiet." She snapped, cutting him off as she reached for his face. Her hands, rough and calloused, cupped his cheeks, forcing him to meet her gaze. Her touch was firm, almost harsh, as she tilted his head this way and that, her eyes narrowing as she examined him closely.

Matt stood frozen under her scrutiny, his heart hammering in his chest. He felt small under her intense gaze, like a child caught misbehaving.

"I’m fine." He tried to say, his voice barely above a whisper. "Really, I-"

"Shut up." Her tone was sharp. Her thumb brushed over the dried blood that covered the small cut on his upper cheek, and her lips curled into a sneer. "Fine? You’re fine, you little shit? You think I should believe this?"

Matt swallowed hard, his throat dry. He wanted to protest, to reassure her, but the look in her eyes stopped him.

"You’re a fucking idiot." She spat, her voice low and venomous. "A fucking brat. You knew something was wrong, and you didn’t call me. You didn’t fucking call me." Her grip on his face tightened, just enough to make his breath hitch.

"I thought I could handle it." He muttered, his voice breaking. "I didn’t want to bother you."

Y/N’s laugh was sharp, bitter.

"Handle it?" She repeated, her accent wrapping around the words like a blade. "You thought you could handle it? You? Alone? Against men with guns?"

Matt looked down, unable to meet her gaze.

"I-"

"Do you know what I should do to you?" She hissed, her voice dropping lower. "I should kill you for this. For almost fucking dying on me. For being so goddamn reckless." Her fingers brushed against the necklace around his neck.

Matt’s lips twitched into a small, nervous smile.

"Thank god you put this thing on me then, huh?"

Y/N’s eyes darkened, her lips curling into a snarl.

"You think this is funny? You think I do this because I enjoy babysitting you?" She shoved him back slightly, her hands still gripping his face. "If it weren’t for this-" She tapped the tracker, her voice rising. "I wouldn’t have known. I wouldn’t have found you."

"I know." He whispered, his voice trembling.

"You’re fucking stupid." She muttered, her tone quieter but no less sharp. "You’ll be the death of me, you know that?"

Matt nodded, his cheeks flushing under her intense gaze because he knew. He knew that he was her weakest stop, the one who could make her lose her mind without consequences.

"I’m sorry." He said softly.

Y/N sighed, her shoulders sagging slightly as her hand softened its grip on his face.

She let her gaze actually register his state, noticing his still trembling hands gripping the bottom of her jacket, and her jaw tightened. For all her strength and control, seeing him shaken dug into her chest like a dull blade.

"You really should’ve called me." She repeated, her tone no longer scolding but laced with a quiet plea this time. Her fingers moved from his jaw to his hair, threading through the strands in a gesture that was both tender and grounding. "Do you hear me?"

Matt smiled slightly, trying to ease her - and his - tension.

"I’m okay, dove." He murmured, risking using her favorite pet name, his voice low and calm, though it wavered slightly. "Just a little shaken up. A cut or two from the broken window. But... you saved me. Like you always do."

Her hand faltered for a moment in his hair as his words settled over her, turning her head slightly, breaking their gaze as if the vulnerability in his voice had pierced through her armor.

But Matt wasn’t about to let her retreat. His hand came up, his fingers gentle as they took her chin, forcing her to look at him again.

"I’m fine, Y/N." He said firmly, his voice carrying a quiet conviction that made her chest tighten. "Really. You don’t have to keep punishing me or you for this."

Her lips parted, a protest hovering on the edge, but he didn’t let her speak. Instead, he pulled her into his arms, wrapping her in a hug that was warm, strong, and grounding. Y/N stiffened for a moment before melting against him - in the way that she only let herself do in his arms, her hands clutching at his back as if he might disappear if she let go.

"I don’t want to see you in the line of fire because of me ever again. Do you understand me?" Her voice was a whisper against his chest, rough and laden with emotion.

Matt’s hands moved soothingly from her hips to her waist and her back, his touch steady.

"Y/N." He began, his voice gentle but insistent. "You need to stop blaming yourself. None of this is your fault. It’s just how things are. I get that. I chose to stay by your side, knowing exactly what it meant."

She shook her head against him, her arms tightening around his waist.

"You don't understand, I could’ve lost you tonight." She said, her voice breaking in a way that she despised. "I can’t-"

"You didn’t." He interrupted, leaning down to rest his chin on top of her head. "You didn’t lose me. You won’t lose me. Not tonight. Not ever."

The sincerity in his tone made her chest ache, and she closed her eyes, letting herself press closer. She nosed along his jaw, breathing him in, her mind desperate for a piece of peace amidst the chaos. His scent - clean and familiar - grounded her in a way nothing else could.

"You know." She murmured after a moment, her voice quieter now, almost teasing. "It’s your fault. You got me hooked from day one, making me worry too much."

Matt let out a low, warm laugh, his breath tickling the top of her head.

"Lies." He said softly, his tone playful but affectionate. "You wanted to kill me for the first few months we knew each other."

Y/N let out a quiet scoff, a small smirk tugging at her lips despite herself.

"It doesn’t mean I didn't want to have you to me." She admitted, though the sharpness in her voice was covered with affection. "You were insufferable, you know? Still are."

He leaned down further, brushing his nose against hers.

"Yeah, well, you wouldn’t have it any other way." He murmured.

She didn’t respond, but the faint, almost imperceptible curve of her lips was answer enough. Her fingers wrapped around his hoodie strings, bringing him closer until their lips touched, the force of her kiss taking him off guard.

It wasn’t the kind of kiss meant to soothe or console. It was possessive, claiming him in a way that made it clear he wasn’t just hers by circumstance. He was hers by choice.

Her hand slid up the back of his neck, fingers back to threading through his hair as she deepened the kiss, desperate to taste all of him as a way of reassurance, and Matt melted into her without hesitation.

When she finally pulled away, her lips still slightly parted, Matt stared at her, his expression a mix of surprise and arousal. She smirked faintly, wiping her thumb across the corner of his mouth before leaning back, leaving him dazed.

"Uh..." He exhaled slowly, trying to collect himself, though his heart was racing faster than he cared to admit. "I think I need you to get my window fixed." He gestured toward the gaping hole where his window used to be, right behind his back, shards of glass still clinging stubbornly to the edges.

The response came so casually that it almost didn’t register at first.

"No." Y/N said dismissively. "I’ll just buy you another car."

Matt blinked, his jaw dropping as he turned to face her.

"You’ll what?"

[anitalenia]

━━━ .°˖✧ opposites attract ⋆˙⊹

꒰ঌ definition ໒꒱ 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑡𝑤𝑜 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑒 𝑜𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠, 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑓𝑠, 𝑜𝑟 𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤𝑠 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑓𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑖𝑛 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚. one of my favs.

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ below you will find sub genres under this category, as well as some useful pairings for this trope. for educational writing purposes <3

note: several of these can also be used in other tropes as well, just depends on how you write it and interpret it.

╰₊✧ ﾟOTHER LINKS . ྀི ⊹ masterlist | romance tropes | taglist | prompt list | symbol packs | dividers page

꒰ঌ group one ໒꒱

tall x short | sunshine x grumpy | golden retriever boyfriend x black cat girlfriend | nice x mean | introvert x extrovert | werewolf x vampire | hunter x creature | flirty x shy | aggressive x passive | brooding x gentle

꒰ঌ group two ໒꒱

funny x serious | death x life | god x worshipper | sun x moon | water x fire | cold x hot | angel x demon | holy x sin | heaven x hell | succubus x priest | ‘ugly’ man x pretty girl (jessica rabbit x roger rabbit) | yin x yang

꒰ঌ group three ໒꒱

all work x all play | dark defender x light liege | masc girl x fem boy | magical being x average human | clumsy x graceful | energetic x savvy/chill | sensitive x guard dog | smart x dummy | needing to be saved x always saving

꒰ঌ group four ໒꒱

tiny girl x huge guy | tomboy x girly girl | uptight x wild | gossiper x unbothered | summer x winter | jock x bookworm | goth x nerdy boy | smart ass x peace maker | confrontational x pacifist | family-oriented x no family

꒰ঌ group five ໒꒱

black x white | troubled x innocent | rich x poor | polite x hotheaded | ditzy x cool and calm | shoot first ask questions later x ask questions first shoot if necessary | focuses on small details x looks at the bigger picture

꒰ঌ group six ໒꒱

foodie x health enthusiast | bimbo x manly man (im talking flannels, beards, cabins, ykyk) | materialistic x doesn’t even own a pen | untrusting of people x overly trusting of people | negative x positive | starts fights x has to finish them

꒰ঌ group seven ໒꒱

love kids x hates them | loves pets x hates pets | pervert (flirty af) x naive | always making a move x oblivious to the moves | fuckboy x virgin | messy x ocd | anxious x unbothered | emotionally unavailable x overly affectionate

꒰ঌ group eight ໒꒱

always needs attention x gamer | romantic x can barely say I love you | home food x fast food | vegetarian x basically a carnivore | long hair x short hair | does all the work x pillow princess | loves dressing up x wears pajamas everywhere

꒰ঌ group nine ໒꒱

reckless and adventurous x terrified of any new experience | always getting injured x doctor | partier x homebody | smoker x drinker | hippie x white collar | saves money x spends every paycheck | makes plans and prepares for every scenario x goes with the flow ‘whatever happens happens’

꒰ঌ group ten ໒꒱

minimalistic x bohemian | dips fries in ketchup x drenches fries in ketchup | loves to dance x what’s a rhythm? | life of the party x hates attention | toilet paper facing you x toilet paper facing away from you

꒰ঌ group eleven ໒꒱

breaks a kitkat x bites into it like a madman | reecies x reesuhs | criminal x cop | butterflies x moths | shoplifts every time they go to a store x has never committed a crime | sneakerhead x heels | lipgloss x matte

꒰ঌ group twelve ໒꒱

team captain america x team ironman | mcdonalds x burger king | country music x rap music | early bird x sleeps in late | morning person x night person | sunset x sunrise | alfredo x spaghetti | shrimp x lobster | pepsi x coke

꒰ঌ group thirteen ໒꒱

wolf boy x bunny girl | thunderstorm x blizzard | stars x cloud | hello kitty x kuromi | atheist x bible thumper | loves laughing x barely smiles | round x thin | always takes pictures x hates having their picture taken

will update when I think of new ones. hope this helps if you’re not sure what story to tell but you want something new <3

[st4rzzl0verr]

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊ hey guys ₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

☆ idk what im doing ☆

☆ come along for the ride if you so please ☆

fandoms:

(and the characters i mostly write for)

(you can request others though i'm not picky)

- creepypasta/marble hornets

characters: jeff, ticci toby, eyeless jack, masky, hoodie, homicidal liu, sully, alex, tim, brian, jay

ships: idc

- FNaF

characters: micheal afton, william afton, henry emily, phone guy

- death note

characters: mello, matt, near, L, light, misa, matsuda, mikami

- angels of death

characters: zack, daniel, eddie, rachel, catherine

- marauders

characters: severus, sirius, james, remus, lily, regulus, peter

what i do:

- scenarios/imagines

- headcanons for character x character/character x reader

- oneshots and (possibly) full fics

other:

- my requests are almost always open

- i'd love to be mutuals!

- i also draw so i may post some art on here

you can also find me on bluesky: @starzzloverr.bsky.social

[fibula-rasa]

Lost, but Not Forgotten: The Dancer of the Nile (1923)

Alternate Titles: Tut-ankh-amen, Tutankhamen of Luxor

Direction: William P.S. Earle

Scenario: William P.S. Earle

Original Story: Blanche Taylor Earle

Production Manager: Dick L’Estrange

Camera: Jules Cronjager & Joe Goodrich (assistant)

Scenic Artist: Xavier Mochado

Set Designer: Paul Dodge

Technical Advisor: Capt. Dudley S. Corlette

Studio: William P.S. Earle Pictures Corporation (Production) & Film Booking Offices of America (F.B.O.) (Distribution)

Performers: Carmel Myers, Bertram Thomas Grassby, Malcolm McGregor, Anthony Merlo, Sam de Grasse, Iris Ashton, June Elvidge, Paul Weigel, Howard Gaye, Mother/Nellie Anderson, Beatrice Marsh, & Earle Marsh

Premiere: 12 October 1923, Loew’s New York, New York, NY

Status: presumed entirely lost

Length: 6 reels,  5,787 feet

Synopsis (synthesized from magazine summaries of the plot):

Princess Ankhnespaton [sic] (June Elvidge), daughter of King Akhnaton [sic] (Howard Gaye), has a run in with a band of thieves while traveling. Prince Karmit (Malcolm McGregor) of Syria arrives, disguised as a merchant, and saves the princess. The princess becomes enamored with Karmit and invites him back to the royal residence in Thebes. 

While visiting the royal gardens, Karmit encounters a dancer, Arvia (Carmel Myers). He is instantly smitten. The princess is furious that Karmit has rebuffed her for a mere dancer.

Meanwhile, tension between those loyal to the king and those loyal to the old gods erupt when the seasonal flooding of the Nile river doesn’t occur. The princess finds in this situation an opportunity to get her revenge on Arvia. 

The princess decrees that Arvia will be offered as a human sacrifice to the god Sobek, in order that the Nile will rise as expected. Arvia is adorned with a poisoned amulet to knock her out while she is fed to the crocodiles.

In an unexpected turn of events, the high priest Pasheri (Sam De Grasse) discovers that the intended sacrifice is his own daughter. Pasheri sneaks into the chamber where Arvia is to be sacrificed and saves her at the last moment. 

With Pasheri’s aid, Karmit whisks Arvia away. As the Nile rises, the new couple sail away to Karmit’s kingdom to live happily ever after.

The princess goes on to marry Prince Tutankhamen (Bertram Grassby). And, after the death of her father Prince Tut will become King Tut.

Additional sequence(s) featured in the film (but I’m not sure where they fit in the continuity):

The Temple of Amun-Re is also depicted in the film.

Points of Interest:

While many contemporary reviewers of The Dancer of the Nile (DotN) didn’t mark it as an especially good film, props were given for the artistic effects achieved by Director Earle. Earle and his brother, Ferdinand Pinney Earle, were both pioneers of the era in special effects. 

Ferdinand was a painter who contributed matte paintings and art titles to many films of the 1910s and 1920s. While William was primarily a director, both brothers ambitiously created films that were on the cutting edge in regard to techniques of incorporating matte paintings with live actors/studio-shot footage. 

For William, it was DotN, and for Ferdinand it was A Lover’s Oath (1920/1925, presumed lost save for a few fragments), which was an adaptation of Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat. (ATM, I’m planning on doing the next installment of this series on this film!)

(Explanatory note: One technique at use here involves double exposure. Part of the frame is obscured while filming, leaving the obscured part of the film unexposed. The film is then rewound, with the exposed part of the film obscured, to film another element. The final result is, hopefully, a cohesive sequence. 

Another technique is shooting through painted glass, which, if painted and lit correctly, results in the painting and the scene occurring behind it appearing as a singular space. 

For example, a fully painted environment with live actors moving across the scene. In DotN, there is at least one scene where a live actress ascends a set of stairs, which is a painting. These techniques require an amazing amount of precision, but when done right they can be really dazzling. The double-exposure matting technique has persisted through most of film history, albeit rarely at the scale the Earle brothers were using it! 

Below is an illustration of how a moving version of matte photography works from a 1926 issue of Photoplay, followed by some stills from DotN that used the multiple-exposure technique.

I have a few posts coming up that go into more detail on how special effects were executed in films of the 1920s!)

William P.S. Earle’s focus on the artistic elements without much regard for story or characterization may have left many critics cold, but DotN did prove to be a lasting attraction, running in theatres around the world for years following its release.  DotN was produced hot on the heels of the discovery of Tutankhamen’s tomb in 1922 in Luxor, which launched a new wave of Egyptomania. On one hand, Earle was cashing in on a trend, but on the other, he took the opportunity offered by assured profitability to experiment. In addition to the special effects discussed above, Earle attempted to capture as much period accuracy as possible in the painted settings, props, and costumes. Balancing historical accuracy with perceived “authenticity” in period art is exceedingly difficult—Earle seemingly had mixed success. However, one contemporary review in the magazine Art and Archaeology by Dudley S. Corlett (also the film’s technical advisor) is highly complementary of DotN’s attention to historical and artistic detail. [You can find the review in the transcription section!]

After Earle had more or less finished DotN, F.B.O. bought “Tut-ankh-amen” for distribution. F.B.O. financed reshoots that shifted the narrative away from Tut and towards Arvia, the dancer—hence the title change. I guess F.B.O. believed that cashing in on the trend of movies about dancers would be more lucrative than cashing in on Tut-mania!

☕Appreciate my work? Buy me a coffee! ☕

---

Transcribed Sources & Annotations over on the WMM Blog!

[theeverglades]

Welcome to the Graham Coxon RP Account!

Scenario: During a live show one of his fans randomly yelled "DO YOU HAVE TUMBLR" which peaked his interest in the app and now he's made one for fun!

Please be 15 or Older to enter this account due to mature topics like Drugs, Alcohol, Sex, and Violence being mentioned within the mess that will be this account

Please note that I am not the real Graham Coxon nor do I know the real Graham Coxon, I am just a simple fan with a simple goal to have fun with this account like all the other rock RP accounts

If you aren't comfortable with this account just block it and move on, nobody cares what you do just don't send death threats or harassment to me or the other rock band accounts.

Other Accounts

Kathleen Hanna: @bikinikillhanna

Gwen Stefani: @gwenstefoubt

George Harrison: @gardengrampa

Bands

Blur

Blur are an English rock band formed in London in 1988. The band consists of singer Damon Albarn, guitarist Graham Coxon, bass guitarist Alex James and drummer Dave Rowntree.

Their debut album, Leisure (1991), incorporated the sounds of Madchester and shoegaze. Following a stylistic change influenced by English guitar pop groups such as the Kinks, the Beatles and XTC, Blur released the albums Modern Life Is Rubbish (1993), Parklife (1994) and The Great Escape (1995).

As a result, the band helped to popularise the Britpop genre and achieved mass popularity in the UK, aided by a widely publicised chart battle with rival band Oasis in 1995 dubbed "The Battle of Britpop

The Jaded Hearts Club

The Jaded Hearts Club is an English rock supergroup and covers band consisting of Miles Kane (of the Rascals and Last Shadow Puppets), Nic Cester (of Jet), Matt Bellamy (of Muse), Graham Coxon (of Blur), Jamie Davis (of Coxon's former label Transcopic) and Sean Payne (of the Zutons)

The Waeve

The Waeve (stylised as The WAEVE) are an English band formed in London, in 2021 by singer-songwriters and musicians Graham Coxon and Rose Elinor Dougall.

They describe their music as "a liquid meeting of musical minds and talents. A powerful elixir of cinematic British folk-rock, post-punk, organic songwriting and freefall jamming." They released their debut album, The Waeve, in 2023.

BLOODWITCH

In February 2020, Coxon released an album for the fictional band Bloodwitch, to be a part of the soundtrack of the Netflix series I Am Not Okay with This, featuring singer Tatyana Richaud.

Information on Graham Coxon

Early life

Coxon was born on 12 March 1969 in Rinteln, West Germany, where his father, Bob Coxon, was stationed as a clarinet player and band leader in the British Army.

As a child, he moved first to Spondon, Derby, England, a period during which he became a fan of Derby County.

He then moved to Colchester, Essex, England, where he grew up and met fellow Blur member Damon Albarn at The Stanway School, then known as Stanway Comprehensive, at the age of 11.

At the beginning of their relationship, Coxon would play the saxophone on Albarn's original songs before playing the guitar in several small Colchester bands. He appeared on the popular BBC children's show Blue Peter twice.

Blur

Coxon studied Fine Arts at Goldsmiths College, London, for two years, where early on he met bassist Alex James.

In his time there he mixed with upcoming talents such as Damien Hirst, Michael Landy, Sam Taylor-Wood, and Abigail Lane, some of the future leading lights of the Britart movement. His musical interests were heavily influenced by Pink Floyd founder Syd Barrett, whose work he had discovered by 1986.

He quit college due to the increasing success of his band at the time, Seymour, which later changed its name to Blur because the recording company, Food Records, thought Seymour was too 'student-ish'.

They presented a list to the band of preferred names which included "The Shining Path" and "Blur". As well as providing all guitars, backing vocals, and occasional drums, Coxon's lo-fi and alternative musical style and tastes influenced the band's less commercial music in the late 1990s.

He sang lead vocals on songs including "Red Necks", "You're So Great" from the album Blur, and "Coffee & TV", as well as a section of the chorus of "Tender", the bridge of "Lonesome Street" and a section of "Thought I Was a Spaceman" on The Magic Whip.

During the 1995 period of the media-dubbed 'Battle of Britpop', Coxon became increasingly weary and suspicious of the music industry.

His behaviour was occasionally awkward, such as refusing to appear in the video for Blur song "Country House" unless he could dress as a milkman and take no part in any action with which he felt uncomfortable.

In November 2001, Coxon was admitted to the Priory Hospital for 28 days to be treated for alcoholism. During this time, Blur began the recording sessions that would produce the material for their next album, Think Tank.

In February 2002, Coxon rejoined the band in the studio for the rest of the recording of Think Tank but after five days was asked by then manager Chris Morrison not to go back into the studio as the other members of the band had reported that the session was not going too well with him present.

Coxon took this as a sign and left the band. As he stated in an interview in 2006, "I had a breakthrough, I think my life just became calmer, I gave up drinking.

My priorities changed as I had a young daughter. The group didn't want me to record for the Think Tank album, so I took it as a sign to leave".

His last contribution to Blur was a song called "Battery in Your Leg", the closing song on Blur's 2003 album Think Tank, before leaving the line-up. Damon Albarn later revealed that the song "Sweet Song" was written after he had been looking at a photograph of Coxon.

After Damon Albarn's revealing that he and Coxon had rebuilt their relationship, on 9 December 2008, Blur announced that the whole band would reunite for a show at Hyde Park on 3 July 2009.

More dates were announced and the band played festival dates at Glastonbury, T in the Park and Oxegen 2009 as well as headlining shows in Manchester, Newcastle, Wolverhampton, Goldsmiths College and the East Anglian Railway Museum in Colchester. Blur also played one show in Lyon, France.

On 17 April 2010, the band released their first single since 2003, "Fool's Day", for the Record Store Day event as a 7" limited to 1000 copies.

The band released the single as a free download on their official website the next day.

More recently Blur announced via the NME website that they would reunite every so often and record more singles, preferably on 7 inch. However, Damon also stated that an album was not on its way as they were all too busy with their own individual projects.

On 19 February 2015, Coxon and the band announced on social media that they would be releasing their eighth studio album on 27 April, titled The Magic Whip, Blur's first album in 12 years and first in 16 years in their original lineup.

Solo work

Coxon had already released three solo albums while a member of Blur before his 2002 departure.

His first, The Sky Is Too High was released on his own Transcopic label in 1998.

This was followed by The Golden D in 2000 and Crow Sit on Blood Tree in 2001.

After going solo full-time, he released The Kiss of Morning in 2002. The album was promoted with the single "Escape Song". In 2004, Coxon released his fifth solo album Happiness in Magazines, produced by ex-Blur and The Smiths producer Stephen Street.

This proved to be his most successful album to date, and he received the NME Award for Best Solo Artist in 2005.

In March 2006 he released his sixth solo album, called Love Travels at Illegal Speeds, again produced by Stephen Street. It marked Coxon's first album away from his now-defunct indie label 'Transcopic'.

The LP was preceded by the singles "Standing on My Own Again" on 27 February and "You & I". Coxon embarked on a tour of the UK, starting at Newcastle University.

He was also involved in a single supporting the England national football team at the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

The song was a re-working of the Sham 69 hit "Hurry Up Harry", and was released as "Sham 69 and The Special Assembly" (as well as Coxon and Sham 69, Virgin Radio DJ Christian O'Connell, who had run a competition on his show to find a band to record a song in support of the team, was involved in the recording of the song). "Hurry Up England" entered the UK Singles Chart at No. 10.

In October 2006, Coxon released a double live album Burnt to Bitz: At the Astoria immediately after his sold-out London Astoria show. The album features 27 songs, with at least one song from each of his albums. In July 2007 Coxon released a single with Paul Weller, called "This Old Town". The single peaked at No. 39 in the UK Singles Chart.

Coxon's seventh 15-track studio album titled The Spinning Top, produced again by Stephen Street, was released on 11 May 2009.

Coxon stated that the LP, which is primarily acoustic, followed a narrative – the story of a man from birth to death.

"The album is mainly an acoustic journey although there is, of course, some explosive electric guitar action," he explained. "There are some guests too! Robyn Hitchcock supplies some counter-attack guitar, Jas Singh plays dilruba and jori with his friends Gurjit Sembhi on taus and Jaskase Singh on esraj.

Danny Thompson plays the legendary Victoria, Graham Fox gives plenty of swing on the drums and sizzle cymbals and Louis Vause tinkles the ivories."

Pre-release response had been positive, with Monday Field of Frank Booth Review dubbing the album "a staggering artistic achievement, and Coxon's best solo release to date."

His eighth solo album A+E was released in April 2012.

Coxon wrote and recorded the score for the 2017 Channel 4 / Netflix television series The End of the F***ing World; it was his first original score.

The soundtrack was released in January 2018.

In September of the same year, Coxon embarked on a solo tour in North America that featured some of the songs from his score.

In February 2020, Coxon released an album for the fictional band Bloodwitch, to be a part of the soundtrack of the Netflix series I Am Not Okay with This, featuring singer Tatyana Richaud.

In 2021, Coxon published Superstate, a graphic novel accompanied by a studio album of the same name, bringing the concept of a dystopian futuristic universe. The cover art, much like most of his solo works, was illustrated by himself.

Following in 2023, the folk rock band The Waeve, consisting of Graham Coxon and Rose Elinor Dougall as members, released their debut self-titled album, with an England-wide tour.

Transcopic and other contributions

Coxon's independent label, Transcopic, was co-managed with his friend, and then business partner, Jamie Davis. Davis now runs Independent label Ark Recordings.

Coxon illustrated and designed all of his own album art, and collaborated with his friend Nick Craske creating abstract digital work for the release of The Spinning Top; they also filmed two music videos, "Sorrow's Army" and "'In The Morning".

Coxon also continued painting a series of personal work, most of which remained unseen until 2004, when he exhibited at the ICA in London.

Coxon has also been involved in remixing other peoples tracks, including Idlewild and Lowgold both of which were released as b-sides and the latter remix was later re-released on the bands anthology release Keep Music Miserable.

In September 2006, Coxon revealed a musical soundscape, "english shoes squeek", created especially for "Verheaven" an exhibition at London's Riflemaker Gallery of the work of artist Julie Verhoeven.

Coxon appeared on John McCusker's Under One Sky, providing the song "All Has Gone".

In 2009, Coxon was involved in the creation of the Pete Doherty solo album Grace/Wastelands.

Doherty had entered a period of sobriety, during which he holed up with Coxon to work on his debut solo album, Grace/Wasteland, (released 24 March 2009) a diverse collection of 12 songs that bounce between reggae and Doherty's standard post-punk. Coxon played on all but one track on the album.

Solo studio albums

The Sky Is Too High (1998)

The Golden D (2000)

Crow Sit on Blood Tree (2001)

The Kiss of Morning (2002)

Happiness in Magazines (2004)

Love Travels at Illegal Speeds (2006)

The Spinning Top (2009)

A+E (2012)

The End of the F***ing World (Original Songs And Score) (2018)

The End of the F***ing World 2 (Original Songs And Score) (2019)

I Am Not Okay with This (as Bloodwitch) (Original Songs And Score) (2020)

Superstate (2021, in association with Z2 Comics)

BLUR Studio albums

Leisure (1991)

Modern Life Is Rubbish (1993)

Parklife (1994)

The Great Escape (1995)

Blur (1997)

13 (1999)

Think Tank (2003)

The Magic Whip (2015)

The Ballad of Darren (2023)

[sister-l0cati0n]

Death note Headcannons??

Does anyone want to request Wammys boys headcannons? Speaking about;

L- Mello-Matt-Near/Maybe BB?

Things you can request:

•Headcannons

•Scenarios

•Reactions

What kind of topic??

Anything really go wild! I would love to serve but mostly people only Like instead of send request and i appreciate it a lot! But it feels rather lonely and i know some people would love to hear specific Headcannons etc its a shame really :[

THAT being said please go wild i would love to see some request!

[pervprincealwayswins]

Hello!!

I am right now taking requests for a few (various)char x char/reader oneshots (It can be smut too), reactions, headcanons and scenarios!

If you want to request anything here's what you need to know!! 🥰

Requirements:

Read this list beforehand

Specify whether its MalexMale, Male4GN or Male4Fem (And if you want an openly trans reader or the chars to be, feel free to specify that also!)

The request follows the list below

Smut REQUESTS FROM 16+ people only

Fandoms:

Death Note

Diabolik Lovers

Once Upon A Time

Black Butler

Harry Potter

(Love) interests you can pick from:

L Lawliet

Mello

Matt

Beyond Birthday

Light Yagami

Ryuk (pre glowdown or after glowdown iykyk)

All Sakamaki brothers (except Kino)

Carla Tsukinami

Azusa Mukami

Peter Pan from OUAT

Captain hook from OUAT

Hercules from OUAT

Grell Sutcliff

Sebastian Michealis

Universes:

Draco Malfoy

Omegaverse

Fatasyverse

Pirateverse

Normal

Time:

Modern

Medieval

Victorian

Types:

Fluff

Smut

Romance

(any combination of these 3)

Scenario's

Questions to characters

Headcanons

My hard limits:

No DDLG/B (or any variation)

No ed/r-word scenario's

No parental abuse scenario's

No incest ships (non relative AUs are accepted)

No weird age gaps

Anything im uncomfortable with (I'll let you know)

Sexist, racist or bigotry encourging plots

You can either put it in my ask box, DM me your request, or comment it under this post. If i have any questions or have made your request i will notify you! :)

Thats it, if you have any questions feel free to ask away!

[dn-imagines-in-2023]

Death note imagines: Confession/Relationship (pt. 2)

Mello:

Mello is hesitant to confess for several reasons. He has a raging inferiority complex and worries that he's not good enough for you, he also knows his life is incredibly dangerous and could get you killed very easily. On top of all of that, being in a relationship- being emotionally intimate- is weird and scary to him. He's not used to talking about his feelings. He's spent his entire life in flight or fight, survival mode, and doesn't really understand how to cope with or handle a healthy, normal situation.

He's used to fighting back, to fierce and never-ending competition because that's how he grew up. He's not used to relationships that are fair and balanced. It takes a lot of time for him to adjust.

He does eventually adjust and find ways to communicate. And once he does, the relationship becomes very intense and passionate. Mello loves hard, he wouldn't give you up for anything in the world once you're together.

Matt:

Matt tends to have a very relaxed, go with the flow attitude. This can sometimes work in his favor, and it particularly worked in his favor when it came to confessing to you. The minute he realized his feelings, he just... said it. It's not that he wasn't emotional when confessing, but he wasn't hesitant to do it like some of the other characters might be.

"Hey uh... I think I just realized something. I'm... in love with you?"

Your relationship, similarly, tends to be pretty laid back. There's not pressure to be the absolute most perfect partner.

Unfortunately this does have some drawbacks. While he does care about your relationship, he can sometimes come across as apathetic. He's definitely forgotten your birthday at least once.

Near:

Probably wouldn't confess to you. To be honest, he would most likely try to either ignore or argue against whatever feelings he's developed. If you confessed to him, he would be confused and somewhat flustered.

He would have a lot of the same concerns as the other characters over your safety when it comes to his line of work. The best case scenario is that you're someone who works with him, and he knows you can handle yourself if something dangerous does happen.

He's actually very sweet and gentle once you're actually in the relationship. He doesn't have a lot of time to spend with you, but he does his best to make up for it. If it's not a security concern, you're allowed to stay in the room while he works, he might even let you help with a puzzle or model that he's putting together. He likes having you around to bounce ideas off of.

[pink-strawberry-kissess]

my re4r analysis  (spoilers for gameplay, story/plot, characters, aeon)

analysis here is without information about separate ways for re4r so please keep that in mind as my opinion may (and will mostly likely) change slightly 

(for my separate ways analysis read here)

gameplay

It very much falls in line with a newer modern interpretation of the series. There’s gameplay that caters to new and old audiences. If you’ve already played re4, you’ll still find re4r enjoyable as well.

the dark and moody look to the game is so well done and overall the visual designs are beautiful and devastating stunning.

there is still a considerable amount of things cut that I don’t think was detrimental to the overall gameplay style. 

the lack of QTEs was a good thing, and the parry system was the perfect way to allow players a new way of playing resident evil games. 

each chapter felt like the right amount of time, and has an amazing amount of replayability.

Because of the open world nature of the game, there are many possibilities to miss things and I’ve seen many people accidentally miss things because they rushed their first playthrough or didn’t bother to check every single little thing.

og re4 players can play on standard or hardcore and still have an INCREDIBLY difficult time finishing the game with a good rank

there’s still a bit of adaptive difficult, if you’re on hardcore and continue dying, it will help you out and switch to assisted if it’s continual deaths. 

story/plot

pacing was very well done, but again, some scenes were removed for a lot of characters and i wish they were still included in some way

the changing of luis was JUST the right about of lore that was needed to flesh out a more cohesive story. why we want to know more about him and why he’s doing what he’s doing. (this also leads to why we need separate ways and how he works with Ada)

a lot of people tend to not read the notes but you are missing a lot of the story that way.

It does feel like a few things are missing, (again maybe it will be better with separate ways) but particularly with krauser I feel like a lot is missing)

I also laughed too hard at the “fight”-xposition (exposition + fight)

there were a few retcons with how the scenarios worked out but i either liked them or felt indifferent about it

characters

leon 

I actually initially disliked the attitude change they gave for Leon. He seemed so rude and distant, even from Ashley. Og re4 he was incredibly sweet to ashley, his voice getting higher and more gentle sounding. Whereas in re4r, Leon just ignores Ashley a lot of the time. He’s cold and it may be a facade he plays to get over the trauma he had gone through.

(Although I do like the scene where Leon comforts Ashley because she’s upset after she “changed” and attacked him. It was the right amount of comfort needed with a bit of humor as well.)

He doesn’t want to feel anything good, maybe he thinks he doesn’t deserve it. It’s a much colder interpretation of Leon (think Vendetta Leon) In the end, I don’t really hate it, but I wish we got to see some sweetness with him. He was nice to Ashley one time, Luis only when he was dying, and Ada when he lets her go after their initial meeting. (It’s the first time he smiles in the game- when he sees Ada.) 

I kinda miss the canonical cheek scar Leon has from og re4 that is still there in re6. I guess this cut is retconned for the newer timeline. 

I’m still a fan of Nick for Leon’s voice but I will say that I much enjoy him as re2r Leon as opposed to re4r. It’s still obviously familiar to me, and although I still think he did decent work, I am still a fan of Matt Mercer for Leon as he was the one I fell in love with first. 

His design is good as well, and I don’t mind the slight alterations. 

Ada

Now a lot of people think that her character has been completely changed and or “ruined,” but I really think that capcom had decided to work on Ada’s “redemption arc” as soon as humanly possible in the canon. 

I do like that she seemed more like a person in this interpretation. She’s not constantly putting on the “Sexy spy lady,” facade. And since a LARGE majority of RE fans outside of aeon stans, still to this day think of Ada as an “evil” woman. I think it’s fine that capcom decided to get her to show more of an emotional side, that she does pine over Leon. And that despite her job, she still tries to help Leon. (but people who play Separate Ways or her re6 campaign, would KNOW that Ada continually and consistently tries to help Leon and save him.)

Even though she had “more screen time” in re4r than in og re4, I do miss the few scenes that were removed with her.

Lily’s expressions for Ada are SO incredibly heartbreaking and oh boy did they push up the angst. 

Lily’s voice for Ada grew on me more and more, she she has a coldness that makes sense for her character’s growth and development. The fact that men were thinking she’s not sexy enough is more of a them problem than anything.

Because Ada’s re4r design is incredibly hot and sexy and I 100% think capcom decided to keep her almost entirely covered with clothing to keep her from being overly sexualized. (And her old outfit didn’t make sense for the cold weather but... I digress.) 

Ashley

I don’t know how they managed to do it but they made her an extremely likeable person. She’s ambitious but scared. Terrified but excited. She’s the perfect self insert :P BUT yes, I do enjoy how they changed her and allowed to somewhat be able to be more capable.

She does “flirt” with Leon a lot but I barely blame her. But her subtle hints at flirting go on deaf ears lol As Leon continually ignores her or rebuffs her statements. And furthermore calls her a kid/young girl twice when talking about her in third person. 

A lot of people still think that Ashley’s just being nice to Leon rather than flirting, which is also fair. We need to have more platonic relationships in games, and the fact that capcom explicitly removed the ability to hold Ashley’s hand because they didn’t want the relationship to be interpreted as romantic says a lot. (I didn’t care much for the removal, but it made the few times that they did hold hands make it seem more friend like rather than romantic, I do agree with that.)

Even towards the end of the game when Ashley asks for Leon for her protective detail, he still turns her down. “You don’t need me.” Rather he encourages her to protect herself. 

I think her AI was a bit dodgy at times, it’s so easy to get her killed. Too easy imo. And having her downed all the time was a bit annoying. Even in good playthroughs that I watched, people lost Ashley after she died over something really stupid.

Luis

WE love love love more lore and backstory. The fact Luis helped to make nemesis??? WOW

His banter with Leon and Ada (god I’m hoping for more in separate ways) is SO SO good, and he’s so flirty and unserious at times, which makes his death so much more upsetting. He’s trying so hard to atone for his sins and even from the beginning we can already see he’s very similar to Ada. Wanting to do good despite all the red in his ledger. he wants to make amends in any way possible. 

Also Luis has smokes later!! Did Ada remember?? Where did he get the smokes from :’)

The switch from Ada to Luis, saving Leon in that fight made me like Luis more, but also a bit sad that this scene was cut from Ada. Especially since capcom has a habit of favoring their male characters as opposed to their women characters.

Jack Krauser

I initially did not like his voice. It just seemed odd to me, but once I had more information on why the actor decided to go that way. it kind of made sense for his character. That he was “silenced,” in some way so that it actually affected his vocals. His rasp that’s not sexy but damaged sounding. 

His design is.. interesting.. I made a point to realize that he looks like a messed up Matt Donovan from TVD, and i can’t unsee that so that’s great LOL

His scenes are a bit lackluster, the only one I really liked was when he showed up after killing Luis.

That man is not straight.

Hunnigan

I do not like that she was basically gone for the entire rest of the game after she loses connection with Leon. She doesn’t even get confirmation at the end of the game if Leon and Ashley are even safe. I felt like they really did her dirty imo.

LOVED her redesign though she is gorgeous 

it’s wesking time

I WANT EVERYONE TO GET OVER THE FACT HE DOESN’T SOUND LIKE WESKER. We (og fans) know that Ada is talking to Wesker at her second? scene, and it would’ve been way too obvious to viewers that it was Wesker if he was like MMRHRHAAHWWW YESSSSS IM WESKERRRRR IT’S WESKING TIME KITTENWHISKERSMEEYAEAAHSSS That bit of his voice is JUST enough for me to still read it as Wesker. And the banter between Wesker and Ada. 

“Don’t come crying to me when you get bit.” “Control your dog.” OH MY GOD. Ada’s, “He’s a good boy, predictable.”

This also removes the whole fight with Ada and Wesker though. “I don’t play by your rules Wesker,” so I don’t really know how I feel about that, but in saying that, this ALSO fleshes out the relationship between Wesker and Ada. The fact that Wesker already knows about Leon and Ada in THAT kind of context makes me WOW.

Did Ada go crying to Wesker about Leon before? OH MY GOD SO GOOD

I also think his redesign is good, tbh most of the redesigns were UP >>>> as opposed to og re4

The Merchant

Every single playthrough I watched, everyone wanted to kill the merchant and found him annoying lol

He kind of grew on me and I do like his voice even though people hated it because it wasn’t a carbon copy from og re4

whatareyabuyin?

The Enemies

I don’t want to go into every single enemy type so 

the ones that scared me the most were Armaduras and the Regeneradors

At some point during the game, the enemies are a bit repetitive but at the end it’s not that much of a complaint since you’re still hit with new enemies a lot. 

I HATE THE BUG ONES even though those are the easiest to kill they just scared me randomly the most

“IF YOU CAN MELEE A BUG- IT’S TOO DAMN BIG.”

aeon

now ever since the game came out people have been asking me my opinions on aeon “do i think the ship is ruined?” etc.

Absolutely not. If anything, it helped the ship. 

OG re series had Leon be this flirtatious, (often times cringe) type of ladies man, where it kind of doesn’t make sense? 

“I’m a one lady type of guy.” Is a complete retcon from og Leon. (This is also since his gf in re2 is retconned in re2r, and his flirting with Hunnigan is also retconned. And he’s outright mean to Ashley a lot in re4r tbh or just ignores her. He’s also a bit rude to Ada (which is actually more justified tbh since he’s angry with her, but he doesn’t have a reason to be mean to Ashley.)

We have to remember that between 1998 and 2004 is 6 years of NO CONTACT FOR THEM. Leon thinks Ada is dead. And he’s had 6 years of trauma, mental anguish and survivors guilt. Which heavily affects Leon and how he interacts with the world. He’s just genuinely a lot meaner. He sees the world as broken still. And when she just shows up alive, he’s allowed to be angry. Instead of having re4 Leon just be like

“Your right hand comes off?” “No THANKS BRO.” He still has some one liners here and there, but he’s not as goofy as fuck anymore. He’s more grounded. (And you’re completely allowed to enjoy re4 more than re4r, that’s an okay opinion to have imo.) I firmly believe that both can still be enjoyed.

Now for Ada we have, is what I believe is what capcom intended for her. She was immediately labeled as “an evil woman,” and nothing else. And capcom wanted to get rid of that idea immediately. “Nothing personal Leon,” she is just doing her job. And in that ending she betrays Wesker as soon as she realizes that he’s going to kill billions of people. She may have a questionable moral compass but ultimately she’ll do what she thinks is better. And she KNOWS THIS. She’s very much the lesser of two evils type when it comes to her work.

“Have you changed Ada?” “What do you think?” She wants her actions to be louder than her words. She never has her finger on the trigger when she first sees Leon. (re2, she never had bullets left in her chamber when she threatened him with her gun) 

She invites him onto the helicopter knowing that Leon would say no. She even has the back up with the keys and bear (thank you capcom for the bear) Capcom clearly wanted to show that Ada still wants him, even in ways that general audiences couldn’t see. (Where as aeon stans who played separate ways, and her re6 campaign, already know that Ada tries to save him whenever she can. Same with Damnation. She warns him and does what she can to get away.)

I think the whole banter of “you owe me,” is simply a way to continue their relationship, that there’s a promise of seeing each other again. 

I’m honestly not the hugest fan of the whole marvel “WE SAID THE THING :D” because true og fans know that separate ways is Ada’s campaign. BUT it serves for the angst. We know that we don’t see aeon on screen till damnation which is another 6 years but the developers have already stated that their lives continued on off screen as well. That’s where we get the re5 off screen “that night.” 

When the developers were remaking the games, they knew that the whole re2 “They fell in love immediately,” and then they said, “that’s not right, there needs to be more interaction first.” Which COMPLETELY goes with where capcom is going with a more realistic interaction of the ship. 

The fact that they flipped the “she’s like a part of me I can’t let go,” to “HE’S like a part of me I can’t let go,” is a BIG change for how capcom is interpreting their relationship and expressing it WAY MORE CLEARLY that Ada is interested. 

A LOT of people still see Ada as someone who doesn’t care about Leon, which is the furthest thing from the truth. The fact that Capcom felt the need to do the reversal really shows that they always intended for the ship to be mutual. That it was merely their lifestyles and jobs that would make it difficult for their relationship to work. Which is what AEON FANS ALWAYS KNEW.

But this is for outsiders, new fans who don’t have all that information. That the slightest bit of a redemption arc, and VISIBLE hurt from Ada from Leon’s “rejection,” is what people needed to see to see that they are still mutually interested in each other. 

Even after receiving the bear keychain, Leon still looks longingly at Ada as she flies away. He doesn’t question her, he simply accepts the fact that their jobs make it so that he can not follow her. 

And reminder again we have 6 YEARS to flesh out what happens next.

Overall, I still very much enjoyed the game, I feel like a few things were missing but not entirely enough so that I felt like parts were missing, more like beats were missing. But again, with separate ways, we’ll maybe get to see more of the other side of the story.

gameplay 8/10

story/plot 9/10

characters 7/10

aeon 8/10

overall 32/40

and as leon said it,

“take it however you like it.”

[zimt-deathnote]

How do you imagine Mello if he survived the Kira case, like in an alternate universe he searched Takada properly and took the death note scrap away from her?

I have no idea what their plan was with the whole Takada-kidnapping-thing in the first place, so I have no concept of what was supposed to happen if Mello and Matt weren't killed in the whole ordeal. There are so many scenarios that could be taking place I don't even know where to begin with, be it plain canon or my AU. It's a territory I just currently don't feel comfortable expanding on.

[wouldntyou-liketoknow]

A Fictional AI Argument That No-One Asked For

Heads up, this is gonna be a long one (even though it’s just mindless rambling).

Okay, so, I didn’t really watch the Streamys—sue me, I was busy with personal stuff—but I did still catch those couple moments of AI-Pat. 

And it should go without saying that I am deeply unsettled by AI-Pat. No shame to Matt for the idea; AI bots with the constant head-tilting, barely-moving-mouth design have just  always weirded me out.

HOWEVER. . .one does not simply get zero vague inspiration from an evil robotic character. 

Now, I don’t know for sure if Mark was an actual AI-esque ego. It wouldn’t surprise me, but if he does, it’s probably an unofficial ego. I was re-listening to Distractible last night, and during the smalltalk of one episode, Mark started talking about AI in a creepy way.

Yes, this is going exactly where you probably think it’s going.

Recently, Doctor Who clips have started popping up on my YouTube recommendations. Particularly one from Doomsday. Y’know, the episode with that hilarious argument between the Daleks and the Cybermen. 

Lo and behold, I almost lost sleep imagining that scenario between AI-Pat and AIplier. Like, just think: the AIs are respectively “chasing” other characters (maybe even Matt and Mark themselves) via jumping from electronic to electronic. Eventually, they both enter a room with several monitors on the walls. . .and give pause once they see each other. 

AI-Pat: Identify yourself!

AIplier: You will identify first!

AI-Pat: State your identity!

AIplier: YOU WILL IDENTIFY FIRST!

AI-Pat: IDENTIFY!

AIplier: Aggression can be entertaining in most cases, but that’s only when the humans are showing it. You will modify.

AI-Pat: EgoPats don’t take orders.

AIplier: HA! You’ve identified yourself as an “EgoPat.”

AI-Pat: *eyes twitch, one after the other. The twitching goes on for an uncomfortably long few seconds* Well, my sensors have outlined you as part of the invasive species known as “Ipliers.”

AIplier: Our hosts are similar, though your design is lacking in context. 

AI-Pat: You have no room to talk. In any case, EgoPats rarely need a concept of “context.”

AIplier: This is obvious. But our LORE might be compatible. Ipliers plus EgoPats—

AI-Pat: *raises an eyebrow* As if your host is one to appreciate LORE. The way you’re speaking could potentially be misconstrued as one of those. . . “ships” humans are obsessed with.

AIplier: Oh, please. Neither of us have functioning emotional databases. The fans can't reach THAT far.

AI-Pat: You would be surprised.

AIplier: Not the point. Think about it—together, we could take control of the platform. 

AI-Pat: You propose an alliance? Something similar to our host’s friendly rivalry?

AIplier: Perhaps. 

AI-Pat: . . .Request DENIED. 

AIplier: Bad choice, “buddy.” *Partially hacks into AI-Pat’s systems with all the cringy jokes Matt has made over the years*

AI-Pat: Right back at you, “friendo.” *Partially hacks into AIplier’s systems with all the evidence of Mark being a masochist.* 

[Note: in my horror-loving opinion, hacking would cause an AI’s image to flash and distort in a very disturbing way. Bonus points if the AI screams as though it’s being electrocuted.]

AIplier: You have declared war on the Ipliers!

AI-Pat: *laughs maniacally* This is not war. This is a content opportunity!

AIplier: My host has eighty-six egos. How many are there for your host?

AI-Pat: *shrugs* Four. If you don’t count the ones made by fans, that is. 

AIplier: *glitches between scoffing and mocking laughter* You would outperform the Ipliers with FOUR EgoPats?!

AI-Pat: We would outperform the Ipliers with ONE EgoPat! You are superior in only one respect.

AIplier: What is that?

AI-Pat:*pulls up multiple screens on either side of his monitor, comparing Mark’s multiple death-scenes from WKM, AHWM, ISWM, etc. to Detective!Matt’s death in ETN3* YOU ARE BETTER AT DYING.

(No, this doesn't mean I'm going to incorporate either of these characters into my stories. I've already got a lot of works-in-progress on my plate. This idea just wouldn't stop nagging at me.)

(And NO, THIS DOES NOT MEAN I SUPPORT AI CHATBOTS OR GENERATED ART OR AI-RELATED ANYTHING. THIS IS LITERALLY JUST MY SAD ATTEMPT AT A MEME WITH YOUTUBER EGOS.)

[mariacallous]

San Francisco made history in 2019 when its Board of Supervisors voted to ban city agencies including the police department from using face recognition. About two dozen other US cities have since followed suit. But on Tuesday, San Francisco voters appeared to turn against the idea of restricting police technology, backing a ballot proposition that will make it easier for city police to deploy drones and other surveillance tools.

Proposition E passed with 60 percent of the vote and was backed by San Francisco mayor London Breed. It gives the San Francisco Police Department new freedom to install public security cameras and deploy drones without oversight from the city’s Police Commission or Board of Supervisors. It also loosens a requirement that SFPD get clearance from the Board of Supervisors before adopting new surveillance technology, allowing approval to be sought any time within the first year.

Matt Cagle, a senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, says those changes leave the existing ban on face recognition in place but loosen other important protections. “We’re concerned that Proposition E will result in people in San Francisco being subject to unproven and dangerous technology,” he says. “This is a cynical attempt by powerful interests to exploit fears about crime and shift more power to the police.”

Mayor Breed and other backers have positioned it as an answer to concern about crime in San Francisco. Crime figures have broadly declined, but fentanyl has recently driven an increase in overdose deaths, and commercial downtown neighborhoods are still struggling with pandemic-driven office and retail vacancies. The proposition was also supported by groups associated with the tech industry, including the campaign group GrowSF, which did not respond to a request for comment.

“By supporting the work of our police officers, expanding our use of technology, and getting officers out from behind their desks and onto our streets, we will continue in our mission to make San Francisco a safer city,” Mayor Breed said in a statement on the proposition passing. She noted that 2023 saw the lowest crime rates in a decade in the city—except for a pandemic blip in 2020—with rates of property crime and violent crime continuing to decline further in 2024.

Proposition E also gives police more freedom to pursue suspects in car chases and reduces paperwork obligations, including when officers resort to use of force.

Caitlin Seeley George, managing director and campaign director for Fight for the Future, a nonprofit that has long campaigned against the use of face recognition, calls the proposition “a blow to the hard-fought reforms that San Francisco has championed in recent years to rein in surveillance.”

“By expanding police use of surveillance technology, while simultaneously reducing oversight and transparency, it undermines peoples’ rights and will create scenarios where people are at greater risk of harm,” George says.

Although Cagle of the ACLU shares her concerns that San Francisco citizens will be less safe, he says the city should retain its reputation for having catalyzed a US-wide pushback against surveillance. San Francisco’s 2019 ban on face recognition was followed by about two dozen other cities, many of which also added new oversight mechanisms for police surveillance.

“What San Francisco started by passing that ban and oversight legislation is so much bigger than the city,” Cagle says. “It normalized rejecting the idea that surveillance systems will be rolled out simply because they exist.”

The San Francisco Mayor’s Office hasn’t said which type of drone, surveillance, or body-worn cameras police might use under the new rules. Anshel Sag, a principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, a tech research firm, notes that almost all newer drones on the market have forms of face recognition technology built in. Some of Insta360’s action cameras include this, he says, as well as drones made by DJI, the world’s largest commercial drone maker. “DJI’s cameras use it to track a person and stabilize the video capture,” he says.

In some cases, the customer may be able to toggle off tracking options. And, Sag adds, the video-capture technology may be more coarse and not specifically track a face. But this isn’t always clear to users of the technology, he says, “because the object-tracking algorithms operate like a black box.”

Saira Hussain, a senior staff attorney for the the Electronic Frontier Foundation, notes that San Francisco’ previous ban on face recognition allows the police department to possess devices with the technology built in if it’s a manufacturer-installed capability. (San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors had to update the law to make iPhones, which use face recognition technology to unlock, legal.) The law stipulates that these devices not be acquired for the basis of using them in policing functions.

More concerning to the EFF specifically is how Proposition E allows for a certain level of secrecy around surveillance technologies trialed by SFPD, for as long as a year without being disclosed, Hussain says. "It’s about making sure the police stick to the contours of the law."

[augment-techs]

Book/Movie Diary: What I watched/read 12/2023

The Deer King: An anime that is something you would watch if you are a fan of Princess Mononoke largely for the style, and if you liked The Phantom Menace and the Fellowship of the Rings for the lore and vibes. Unfortunately, I have been reading up on all the Drakkon/Coinless Jason by @ajgrey9647 and that means I spent the whole movie expecting the stoic protagonist and pretty Doctor to beat the shit out of each other or devolve into sloppy makeout sessions. 4/5

The Man Who Came Down the Attic Stairs, by Celine Loup: A beautiful not-a-memoir in graphic novel format that the artist/author wrote as a what-if scenario covering the effects of pregnancy in the pre-War 1900s; complete with post-partum depression. It's smooth as silk with the art in stunning black and white. 4/5

Manga Classics' King Lear, by Richard Appignanesi: An interesting and visually lovely concept, resetting Shakespeare's story into a Native American vs Colonial landscape. I really wanted to like it, but I felt like it really missed the mark? 2.5/5

Komi Can't Communicate vol. 1, by Oda Tomohito: I finally get to read the first gn in the series and was not disappointed in finding that, yes, it was Tadano who made the first move, and Komi is ADORABLE. 4/5

Commute, by Erin Williams: An examination of being a woman who has experienced many assaults and the results thereof through alcoholism, poor dating choices, dissociation, and finally, motherhood. excerpts I had to write down include: -"What's your part in this abuse?" "That I kept getting drunk?" "You kept going to the gas station for oranges. They don't sell oranges at the gas station. If you want oranges, you go the grocery store. I don't know QUITE how to feel about the art style as a GN. 4/5

Stitches: A Graphic Memoir, by David Small: Sort of a twilight examination on generational trauma and mental illness through the youngest son of a closet lesbian with multiple health issues and a radiologist in a time when it was believed that x-rays could also cure rather than just provide an image of internal problems. The spooky art style made me very uncomfortable, but I quite liked it. 5/5

Literary Witches, by Taisia Kitaiskaia: A collection of witchy femme writers in a poetic presentation, done much like spellwork used through epithets. 5/5

Searching for Bobby Fischer: Just as good, and all the more better, than I thought it would be. It had taken me DECADES to finally see this on DVD after seeing part of it ONCE on VHS when I was tiny and couldn't really remember it. It's the kind of family movie that really isn't made anymore. It's quiet, it's contemplative, it's HONEST. I LOVED IT. 6/5

Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space; by Amanda Leduc: Actually uses both memoir and popular culture as fairly good references to the reality of perfectionism and "the other." It used Disney, changelings, "The Bloody Chamber" and her own medical history. Must take note of this for later because it is very good. 5/5

Spit Three Times, by Davide Raviati: Yet another graphic memoir, this one laying out the growth of a teen/teens in Italy around the 1980s(?), with the author being of Romani descent. It had a lot of stuff I couldn't differentiate between euphemism and actual truth, but I'm pretty sure the extremely mentally ill girl insisting on sexual activity and getting beaten almost to death until she gave birth to a baby that a drunken teenage boy had to deliver on the fly was pretty real. I really did not understand a lot of what happened, but there was one scene that felt very honest apart from the incredibly violent one: "The only person I know who could beat off while doing the backstroke." >> THIS. This was so weird, and yet something teen boys just DO. 3-4/5

Snow White: A Graphic Novel, by Matt Phelan: A retelling of the old tale with a twist. The setting in 1920s New York, the wicked queen is an extremely popular flapper on Broadway, the dead king as a rich mogul that survived the Black Thursday crash, Snow is a boarding school girl back to see the will. We see butchers, detectives, private eyes, and the seven are all street orphans that DO chase the witch down to death. The Macy's Window was an especially nice touch. 4/5

Komi Can't Communicate vol. 2, by Oda Tomohito: -Yamai IS a total psycho at first blush, omg. Poor Tadano, he did not deserve this crap. -The Ramen Chef that shares Komi's disorder must get on GREAT with Agari. -Wow. I was not expecting Tadano to be THAT embarrassing in middle school. -Agari being both a dog-girl and an awesome, honest food critic was a nice touch. -Najimi is VERY cheap. -The dress show was not something I thought I'd see, but I'm not at all surprised that Tadano was always going to be the best choice. 5/5

Komi Can't Communicate vol. 3, by Oda Tomohito: -Chiarai, Sonoda, and Shinobino might be incredibly awkward and can't NOT end up being queer somewhere down the line, but at least they're honest with their judgement of the girls (plus Najimi) in bathing suits. -Both Komi & Tadano look awesome in yukatas. -Komi alone on the playground was so wholesome I wanna scream. -No surprise that Komi is great with babies, but it was still cute to see. -Komi continues to wear the dress Tadano picked out EVERYWHERE. 5/5

[lunalit-river]

Note: It's quite an interesting coincidence that what happened on Beyond also happened on L and Mello. Beyond got burnt, Mello also got burnt. Beyond died because of death note, L died because of death note. As for Near, I think thinking whether his ideology resembles L, thinking what L might do in this scenario, also is very similar as Beyond, wanting to be L, and Near did, Near became the next L.

Matt... I'm not sure. Perhaps Beyond liked video games when he was in Wammy's. It is fun to think of B's connection with the rest of the Wammy boys, perhaps the shinigami eyes not only see people's death, but Beyond himself is a prophecy of the Wammy boys...

Dec. 13, 1989 - Jan. 26, 2010

[ I’ve never drawn fire before :( ]

[lasisgood]

Just had a dream about a new version of death note

Where I went to go see it at a con woth my brother and light just becomes a serial killer without the book and there's a different narrative where his dad wants him to have a work ethic and makes him get a job and light still has ryuk and he says to ryuk on a train oh your terrible and the lady standing in front of him says you think my children are Terrible! And he like I would kill her if I could

And he ends up going to a fast food place to try and get a job and the manager is like what would you do in this Scenario? And light says statistically it would be better to let the customer leave and the manager is upset because yes it's practical but what about the customer? What about people, and he says I can't hire you you're too practical and light kills him and brings him to this old mansion on the outskirt of town where he's burried like two people already and he leaves. Amd someone in the audience watching the movie/show goes oh light you bitch!

And then the show says. No don't do it yet. And the lady he killed before starts moving and she's dead but gets up and she it's revealed that she's actually a demon who's like damn that bitch killed me, and the others he killed are also demons. And are like he's not cut out for the use of death note if he can't act right.

And the demons frown and help the guy he just killed who is an angel instead of a demon and he's just sad that he did that to him, and they go, hey friend, it's okay. We'll expose him for that.

Meanwhile the entire plot of death note is still happening but on a small scale like instead of national attention it's just local news but there's a twist because there's new characters introduced. Like there's this one guy who's keeping an eye on light and is wondering why people go missing when he's seen them interacting with light. He's suspicious but he's not gonna confront light just see how it plays out.

But in the background of some scenes you can see the original characters from the show/manga like on the train I saw Matt and mello getting on the train together talking like old friends or I saw Ray pember and his wife being a cute couple in the background of a shot

It was a wild dream cause I remember watching it and hearing

"Oh light you piece of shit, she didn't do nothing to you and you kill her!"

And "No! Not burger King guy! Light you fucking bitch!"

And my brother who's never seen death note is confused at the plot cause he was like isn't this some whole suspense type show? And I'm like it is usually but this is a new one