#maybe that's the explanation how he's SO influential

[too-much-tma-stuff]

Finally getting help (pt 2)

This one actually is edited thanks to @basementqueercock! Thank you friend!

part 1 | Masterpost

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Vlad had been making a stink at the Gala about the Wayne brats taking his godson from him without his permission when the music suddenly cut out. Bruce Wayne himself stalked towards Vlad with an expression that was honestly a little intimidating, even if Vlad obviously wasn’t scared of such an empty headed pretty boy even if he was one of the richest and most influential people on the planet. He was Plasmius! He could take a rich pretty boy is he had to!

“Ah! Mr. Wayne, thank goodness! Your children have taken my Godson off somewhere! I’m sure it’s just a harmless prank but he’s a bit fragile and unpredictable so I really think that it would be best if-“

“Is he fragile and unpredictable because he’s pregnant and you knew?” Bruce asked low and dangerous. Silence spread out around them, even though there’s no way they could have heard they saw the look on Brucie’s face. He rarely got angry but when he did it was serious, when he did it usually meant someone had hurt a kid.

Vlad blanched for a moment, Danny had been so tight lipped about it, so unwilling to tell even those he trusted how did These people know?! “What? What on earth are you talking about? Of course he’s not pregnant, I mean he’s a boy!” Vlad huffed and Bruce’s jaw tightened even more somehow.

“He’s not leaving with you. Get out.” He said low and menacing, then raised his voice. “Sorry to cut the party short everyone but something has come up, a situation that really needs my attention so I’m going to have to put an end to the party early.”

“What do you mean!? He’s MY God son! MY heir! You can’t just keep him from me!” Vlad said, he knew that his eyes were starting to glow a little red but he couldn’t help it. “He’s MINE! Return him to me or you will regret it I swear!”

“See him out.” Bruce said dismissively to a handful of guards who had approached at the start of the commotion A lot of the socialites were already starting to see themselves out, now was not the time to argue, or even stick around when it looked like this might get physical.

“I will be back! I will be back with lawyers and police and the brat’s parents,” Vlad vowed but couldn’t risk fighting the guards any more than a usual old man would on the way out with so many eyes on him. Well he just needed to find a place alone. Then he could transform and come back, possess Bruce Wayne and make him do something heinous in public to ruin him for this.. this- this INDIGNITY!

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Bruce was having a hard time keeping his Batman expressions off his face as he saw that everyone was out of his house and he knew his children were having the same trouble. Dick looked like he was ready to bash someone’s head in and Steph wasn’t that much better. Damian was standing by the door, seeing everyone out with frosty politeness that no one would mistake as genuine. Bruce felt just a little bad, it wasn’t anyone’s fault what they had found tonight. No one else knew about the clearly abused teen they were currently harbouring, but none of the family could help it either. Bruce would send all the guests gift baskets once they could announce what was going on.

Alfred was on the phone with Bruce’s lawyers, sending them the mildly distorted audio from Danny’s earlier conversation with Cas and Dick, and the footage from Vlad Master’s outburst. That had the same sort of distortion over it too which was odd, he’d have to look into it. Cas had already informed him she thought Danny was a meta of some sort, maybe it was connected to that? Or maybe they were aliens? Though Danny being trans was currently the most plausible explanation for his pregnancy. They’d find out more later. What mattered was the footage of both of those would be enough for Bruce to get emergency custody while the family was investigated. 

Tim was with Danny in the room Alfred had fixed for him, helping him settle in and lending him some clothes. Tim was the closest to Danny’s age and also one of the calmer ones right now so he was in charge of trying to make Danny feel safe and comfortable while the family took up battle stations to deal with the legal and logistical elements of this.

Bruce made sure everyone was out, the perimeter was secure, and Oracle was at her computer watching the security feed for anything suspicious including the pattern of distortion Vlad and Danny seemed to emit. He wasn’t sure how paranoid he should be about all this, but he’d seen the way Vlad’s eyes sparked red when he was angry and Batman was sure he was a lot more dangerous then he first seemed. And not just in the way that he was apparently willing to impregnate a boy young enough to be his son.

Finally he couldn’t avoid going to check on Danny anymore. Not that he was Really avoiding it, just that he knew this was going to be an exhausting and difficult conversation and he needed to brace himself for it. With every step towards Danny’s new room he felt the weight gather on his shoulders of what this child must have been through.

He knocked, and let himself in. Immediately clocking the way Danny tensed at the sight of him. Of course a rich older man would set off his alarm bells. Bruce gave the softest smile he could and went to pull out the desk chair across from the bed Danny was sitting on, well out of arms reach so he wouldn’t seem like a threat as he sat down. He glanced at Tim who nodded and went and sat on the bed next to Danny. Solidarity, willing to stand up against Bruce if Danny needed it, safety.

“Hello Danny, it’s nice to meet you. My children told me a bit about.. your situation,” Bruce said with a small grimace. “Would you mind if I ask you some questions? I promise I won’t judge you whatever you say, and I promise I am on your side. No matter what I will try to keep you safe okay? Just tell me the truth, it’ll help me do what needs to be done.”

“Alright Mr. Wayne,” Danny said, though he was still wary.

“Thank you, please call me Bruce. So first, what’s your full name?” he asked deciding to start super easy.

“Daniel James Fenton,” Danny replied softly.

“Your parents names?”

“Doctors Madeline and Jack Fenton,” Huh the fact that he called his parents doctor like it was part of their name seemed to be significant though Bruce wasn’t sure exactly what it meant.

“How old are you?”

“I’m 16,” He said. A little older than he looked but still no where near old enough to have the weight of the world on his shoulders like he did.

“And you’re pregnant?” Bruce asked as gently as he could, Danny nodded. “And you’re sure?”

“Yes,” Danny said softly and Bruce nodded, licking his lips a little.

“Did you take a test then?” He asked and Danny grimaced making a so so motion.

“It’s not… that simple,” He said softly.

“Can you explain it to me please?” Bruce asked softly.

Danny took a deep breath and licked his lips, hesitating, opening his mouth to stat, hesitating again and biting his lip. Bruce stayed quiet as he watched the conflict on Danny’s face. “You work with the justice league right?” Danny asked suddenly which seemed like a bit of a non sequitur to Bruce but he needed. “A bunch of the members aren’t human right?” Ah, Bruce nodded again. “And you’re okay with that?”

“Of course I am Danny,” Bruce promised, soft and reassuring. “People don’t have to be human or from earth to be people. Whatever is going on with you you’re still a person, and a kid, and deserve to be protected.”

“Okay,” Danny said as he scrutinized Bruce’s body language for any sign that he was lying. “Okay. I’ve never been able to trust any adults with this shit but I can’t keep doing this on my own so okay. I’m not human, not fully anyway, not anymore. These are..” He touched his stomach. “Like if you did an ultrasound you wouldn’t see embryos more like… Hang on Here.”

Bruce blinked as Danny suddenly, reached Inside himself, and before he could panic Danny had pulled out a perfectly round object that filled his palm. It shimmered with light from within, cold and sparkling with stars. “Our kind is more energy and light then anything else. This is Us, the mind, heart, everything we are is stored in our core the rest is formed around that. I mean for most of my kind, I’m still half human.” Danny said before replacing the orb inside him. “I have two other little cores inside me right now, feeding on my energy to develop properly, you could see them on an Xray. I don’t know how long they’ll take honestly.” He sighed caressing his stomach again.

 “But I can feel them inside me, I can feel their worry when I’m scared, and their joy when I’m happy, and their love. They’re my babies.” He said with the softest most paternal smile on his lips. The bags under his eyes were awful, he was clearly exhausted and stressed, but his expression told Bruce Danny thought it was all going to be worth it for his children. It brought a lump to his throat he had to clear before he could speak again.

“Okay, do you have access to healthcare appropriate for your.. species?” He asked and Danny nodded. Though he was tight lipped still.

“There are protections for non-human species in America you know,” Tim said.

Bruce and Tim exchanged a confused look as Danny barked a laugh. “Not for MY kind, we were specifically excluded,” He said with a wry curl to his lips. “The shadow or echo left behind when a proper human dies, not sentient or sapient they say. Malicious and dangerous they say. To be captured or exterminated on sight. They would take me, experiment on me, probably put my babies in jars or something.”

Oh, oh fuck, he was shaking, eyes blank and glassy like he was heading towards a panic attack. “Danny! Danny look at me,” Bruce said as he leaned forward and Danny’s gaze flicked up to his face. “I don’t know who ‘they’ are but I promise I will do everything in my power to make sure they don’t get you. You’re clearly not what they say, and anyone who would hurt a child is not the good guy in this story.”

“Who are they?” Tim asked with an expression that promised swift and vicious retribution.

Danny took another deep breath. “The GIW, the Ghost Investigation Ward. They’re a government agency, they’ve been hunting in my hometown for a while. Early on we tried to call the Justice Legue, but I think they were jamming the lines or something,” Danny said looking down and biting his lip.

Fuck this poor kid really couldn’t catch a break! Bruce was sure that the ‘ghosts’ these idiots were hunting weren’t really anything of the sort, but he would look into this and see what he could find. Tim was clearly itching to as well bad he wasn’t willing to leave Danny alone with Bruce, good lad.

“And what about your parents? Do you think you could be safely returned to their home?” Bruce asked, as much as he wanted to keep Danny reunification was supposed to be the goal of fostering.

“No!” Danny nearly yelped sitting up straight. “No! They work for the GIW! They design most of their weapons. If they ever found I’d been contaminated- I don’t want to think the worst of them but even if they still recognized me as their son the babies-“ He cut off, wrapping both his arms around his stomach and curling in on himself.

“Okay, we’ll call child protective services, my lawyer, and the Justice League. We’ll get to the bottom of this,” Bruce promised Danny. “And you can stay here as long as you need to. Is there any other family you would want to go to?” Bruce asked, just to be sure, but he wasn’t surprised when Danny shook his head and grabbed a pillow to hug.

“And I know Oracle and Red Robin will be itching to find out more about this ‘government agency’,” Tim said. “I want to go tell them Danny, if Bruce and I go will you be okay on your own or do you want me to ask Cas to come stay with you?”

“Cas please? If she’s not busy?” Danny asked uncertainly and Tim nodded. Bruce was getting up before Danny spoke up again. “I have a sister, Jazz. She knows about me not being fully human, but not about the babies. She’s a good person, and she’s almost an adult. I don’t know, I just need you to know she’s good, and I don’t want to mess things up for her,” Danny said worriedly.

“Of course Danny, thanks for letting me know,” Bruce said with a smile already making plans to get her out as well. “We’ll let you know as soon as there are developments.” He promised before both he and Tim ducked out. They split up, Tim going to find Cas and ask her to go back to Danny before they reconvened in the bat cave, they had a lot of research to do.

next>

[yuesya]

“The Zenins finally named an heir?”

“Yup, seems like they finally got around to it,” Satoru laughs. “Or maybe their clan head just did it on a whim?”

It’s an amusing thought. The current head of the Zenin Clan is an extraordinarily difficult person to pressure into doing anything –as this sort of thing tends to be, when the person in question is apparently of the opinion that ‘murder’ is an excellent solution to most of her problems. For all that the Gojo elders are constantly grumbling over how the Zenins’ clan head should technically belong to them and not the Zenins, Satoru doesn’t doubt that there are a number of them who are also quietly relieved by not having to deal with someone who has no qualms about killing and isn’t afraid to make her stance obvious. Or act on it, for that matter.

Suguru tilts his head. “The Zenin clan head… oh, I think I remember her. She came around the Tokyo campus once before, didn’t she?”

“Yeah,” Satoru grins at the other boy. “You asked me if she was one of my clansmen, remember?”

Suguru flushes slightly in embarrassment as he snaps, “Well how was I supposed to know? The two of you really do look alike, I can’t be the only one who thinks that!”

“Mhm. You’re definitely not the only one.” Zenin Shiki has what’s considered the ‘classic’ Gojo look, all silvery-white hair and light coloration, instead of the Zenin appearance. Ebony hair and eyes, as dark as the shadows that the Zenins pride themselves in.

That still doesn’t change the fact that she’s a Zenin and not a Gojo, though.

“Sorcery clans tend to intermarry with each other,” is all he offers in explanation to his civilian-born friend. Usually, when there are such unions between well-established bloodlines of equal standing and prestige, there are certain vows in place –such as children being returned to the mother’s clan should they turn out to have inherited signature techniques from the mother’s side of the family.

In the case of Zenin Shiki, however, the Gojo Clan discovered that there was a loophole. She possessed cursed eyes, yes, but they were unprecedented in the long history of the Gojo Clan. Therefore, as the Gojo Clan had not demanded that all children possessing cursed eyes be relinquished to them as part of the vow, it stood to reason that new abilities born of the union would be considered as belonging to the Zenin Clan.

To be fair, cursed eyes were rare, and the only real case that still existed among sorcerers in this day and age was the Six Eyes. Which were rare enough already, and usually only found in the Gojo Clan’s main family.

No one had thought that there would be a Zenin granddaughter of a Gojo-Zenin union resulting in a pair of new cursed eyes.

The Zenin elders had probably been unbearably smug about the whole thing, up until they’d been slaughtered by the girl when she ascended her position over her former clan head’s cooling corpse. After which it had probably been the Gojo elders’ turn to wipe their brows and be thanking their lucky stars over having narrowly dodged a bullet there.

Or not, as the case may be; there were still some old fogeys laboring under the impression that the Zenin Clan had simply ‘raised the child wrong’ and that she would’ve turned out to be so much better had the Zenins admitted their own inadequacies and surrendered custody of the girl to them.

Pfft.

Well, it wasn’t as if any of them could turn back time. What’s done was done, and now they had to live with the consequences of their decisions.

Interesting choice for Zenin Shiki to name Zenin Naoya as her heir, though.

Ordinarily, a new clan head who’d supplanted their predecessor through force would want to establish their own bloodline as the new ruling family, but clearly Zenin Shiki had foregone picking one of her close cousins to be her heir. None of them had been specifically elevated to positions of power, either. She herself also had not chosen to marry into one of the more influential Zenin bloodlines as part of an alliance through marriage.

The only strength I need is my own, was the message that Satoru was seeing here.

… Or perhaps not? After all, the unexpected choice of Naoya as heir was definitely going to give people thoughts. Especially those who’d been very unhappy when Zenin Naobito, the previous head of the Zenin Clan, had been killed by a small slip of a girl. A girl who was distinctly Gojo-looking in appearance, despite her Zenin blood –the Zenins likely still had hang-ups about their clan head being killed by a Gojo, given the… historical precedent behind such a thing.

Hmm.

… Well, whatever game Zenin Shiki was playing here, it didn’t have anything to do with Satoru. And hey, maybe she wasn’t playing any games at all –maybe Zenin Naoya was just the strongest Zenin in the younger generation, and she’d made her decision based on that?

Who knows?

[acupofinkedblood]

Pre-disaster Medkit x reader x Subspace

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝

• Having been spawned in Blackrock is certainly a conflicting experience for said Inphernals. On the one hand, they were introduced to the pride of their region at such young age, were nurtured by the promise of a better future when Blackrock had achieved its influential glory that spread all across Inpherno. They were the tomorrow of which Blackrock had entrusted, especially those who were taken in by the government personally. Yet on the other hand, everyone knows the deed about Blackrock’s dullness as well as how distant the Inphernals there are. Blackrock does not believe in tears, everyone knows that. And you do too. Ever since the day you came into this world, you were taken by the authorities to be able to educate your ‘promising talents’ so that you can serve this region. It’s your fate at this point

• It’s not that much of a surprise when you met other fellow children when the caretakers took you to the kindergarten facility. After all, the more young talented one they have control over, the better for the sake of Blackrock’s future. None of them looked like they were keen on starting a conversation, and by that time, you probably felt the same too. Slightly dumbfounded, maybe a hint of uncertainty in such strange environment. After all, when you just spawned, you were already dragged away to this place with little explanation - something about your purpose and continuing legacy and so on. Your time at Blackrock has started like that, a dull color of the walls and pile of books of advanced knowledge. Nothing more, nothing less

• The said children need to go through a test after a good while of being provided with proper education, mostly to choose some worthy ones to pay attention too. Fortunately enough, you have passed the exam with little room for error! It was definitely something worth celebrating about, especially when you have managed to prove your worth to the higher ups. As for the other? Who knows anyway. The authorities might have some other trivial tasks to assign to them. Personnels are a great source of Blackrock at this time after all. It’s best to not waste them. On the other hand, your faith has been paved to another direction, away from them. You were chosen as one of their bright stars, as well as some other bright students of the facility who will soon be trained by the superiors themselves - what an honor!

• Though you didn’t really mind any of them much, since you know that most of them have better things to attend to rather than socializing too much for the sake of friendship or whatsoever. They have always been like that, Blackrock folks have always been like that in their nature. Sure, casual interaction did happen from time to time, but it wasn’t enough to form a mutual friendship. A bit uneasy, that was understandable for you to feel so. But at some point, you will miss this moment of solitude that you used to have control over because you might have lost that little privilege of feeling the inner peace within your mind when a certain pink-horned Inphernal spotted you during the training program. Trust me, you will miss your peace, I’m not pulling your leg

• Your first meeting with Subspace wasn’t actually the most pleasant experience. Definitely not the worst, but you have seen better examples of good manner — even those with poor excuse of a glorified oxygen tank is more pleasant than that somewhat — which at least it’s more than enough for you to make a face toward Subspace’s behavior. Who in their right mind would come up to someone out of the blue then demand them to fix their own project because they were doing it ‘wrong’? You didn’t know who the hell was this guy. Before you could protest, Subspace already explained in details on why your project was a miserable waste of potential. He kept going on and on for who knew how long. This dude was the example of an obnoxious know-it-all, especially now. Though Subspace did make sense actually. He had good observations, it was just that he had quite the peculiar way to shove it into someone’s mouth whether they like it or not

• After that endless lecture, he glanced at you as if he was expecting you to start praising him. Subspace had always been the mentor’s favorite investment due to his outstanding performance both in thinking and execution. He was the center of attention, so it was understandable how he was waiting for you to compliment his analysis as he was technically doing you a huge favor by offering you a chance to be heard by the ‘great Subspace’ himself. If you didn’t have enough brain cell to proceed the situation quick enough, it’s guaranteed that he will definitely make a fuss about it. Weren’t you impressed by him? Then he would prove you wrong! Think of it as a narcissistic speech that calling you out for being arrogant. I’m serious, that’s Subspace for you - he has always been like that much to everyone’s distress

• It wasn’t until you were fished out of the situation by a fellow Inphernal who seemed to be just as fed up as you when it came to Subspace. Medkit might not be the best when it came to being a peacemaker, but is the one of the few people that could drag Subspace back to save other’s peace? Probably. And here Medkit was wondering where did his nuisance of a partner just ran off to, just to find out he was out here terrorizing you much to his own amusement. The two of them went back and forth about leaving you in peace. Subspace didn’t feel like stopping, which Medkit had to take your side to shoo him off to his place. It was comical, being stuck between them arguing as if they were a moment away from biting each other’s head. In the end, Subspace finally left because he ‘had something more important than dealing with stubborn amateurs’ thanks to Medkit’s efforts. But did he give up on pestering you? Oh you wish

• Though when you looked back, you realized that Medkit was giving you this apologetic look before saying sorry on the behalf of his partner. Pre-disaster Medkit was definitely not as uptight as the current version of his. He was more opened somewhat, and showed that he cared about others without the need to hold himself back. Stress hadn’t dragged his man’s smile down into a frown just yet. One could even describe Medkit during that moment as a relaxed individual with that unspoken charm he carried when he wasn’t being buried under a pile of reports. Before he followed Subspace, he decided to take a bit of time to check up on you. A friendly conversation, you could think of it as such. Before he left, he even made a jest about if Subspace kept bothering you, you could always come to him for help

• After that encounter with Subspace and Medkit, you might get this odd feeling of your peace slowly getting turned upside down even when the day was just as normal as ever. Just a head up: Your intuition wasn’t wrong. You weren’t overthinking it up because within no time, your normal dull life will bid you a farewell before it packs everything up to leave and leave the chaos tending you instead. Because as if those deities from above wanted to make a joke out of your life, you have became a crush of, not just one, but two people at the same time period. To make it worse, those two hated each other as if they were like sliver nitrate and sodium chloride - in which came into contact would form a displacement reaction of precipitation, simply cannot harmonize together. Before you realized it, things already went south

• You still thought of them as your friends since what could possibly happen? It felt nice to have company of two person who, funny enough, were like yin and yang. You found it to be amusing, which was probably why you didn’t mind Subspace’s questionable behavior or didn’t think too much of Medkit’s nice gesture. The three of you were like a trio, much to everyone’s surprise. But in reality, things were a bit different than you imagined

• Ever since that interaction, Subspace just kept appearing in pure ‘coincidences’ as he claimed it to be whenever you were around. Even when he didn’t care for the not-so-positive first impression hae had made, he simply gave himself the right to think that it wasn’t that bad anyway. Mainly he wanted to get under your skin for the fun of it, but also wanted your attention as much as possible. Whenever he feels the urge to, he will just seek you out and drag you into indulging in some of his research even when it wasn’t even your field. But that was even better because he could ramble on and on about what he was doing if you question him. He enjoyed being looked up, especially by you. Even his way of pursuance was rather…obnoxious

• Subspace is arrogant as hell. It wasn’t that much of a secret on how he thought he was better than anyone else. But that way of thinking had its reasons. He was the brightest star of the facility who was greedy for achievements of his own, he knew he was better as he never stopped learning and trying, and those praises were what got him going until now. Through trials and errors, he received their approval with the promise of the next big shot. That mindset gave him the confidence to know exactly what was he doing. Being around people who wasn’t insecure was actually quite the fresh air, if you knew what I meant. If you had any uncertainty, he would be more than willing to give you a piece of his mind to set you on the correct path. The thing here was that Subspace had the ability to determine which theory could have worked regarding the current circumstances, so he knew exactly what he was doing when provided insight to you - who he wholeheartedly adored

• Sometimes Subspace would just following you around when he had nothing better to do. Pre-disaster Subspace wasn’t as busy as a bee compared to the current time. He wasn’t promoted to a higher position just yet, but was just a candidate for it. Of course, that gave him plenty of break time with how quickly he finished all of his reports in normal days. Usually he would drag you to stay by him while he was doing some research, but if you declined just in time he was getting bored of his little project, then congratulations - you just got yourself a little tail that definitely made his presence known with how lousy he was. He was like a magnet to you. Though it wasn’t in a cute puppy way, but rather a goddamn sticky flytrap that insists on not letting you go as long as he was in his break time

• If you were the type to not enjoy blank moment of silence in a conversation, then it was never a dull moment around Subspace. He was such a yapper, it felt as if there was no way that you could make him stop being such a smartass. Whether it was about his project, himself, his accomplishments or anything — yes, he mainly talked about himself unless you have something more interesting to drag him into — he could never shut up as long as he was still awake. Though a funny thing about that was Subspace could be such an interesting gossip partner. Observant might not sit in the same sentence with Subspace for the majority of the time, but when it comes with ‘to prove that he is better’? Buckle up buttercup, you just got a free ticket to the hottest tea you could ever imagine

• Though of course, his default wasn’t sugar, spice and everything nice. He was mean, whether it was his nature or he simply didn’t want to acknowledge the other way around. Subspace was the prime example of a menace. Fortunately enough, this menace adored you. If someone picked on you — like a co-worker of yours or some other low-ranking idiot — he wouldn’t just sit there patting your back to comfort you, oh no no. Subspace would drag those who had wronged you down to the mud, even got them out of your way forever if he felt the need to. He did that behind your back because he knew that you wouldn’t approve of his way of sweeping trash out of your feet. If you ever questioned about why someone was fired in your department, Subspace would just grin before dragging you away to clear your mind instead

• Subspace’s love language consists of physical touch and gift giving. Gift giving was pretty self-explanatory, since he did want you to look at the present he got you so that you can be reminded of him. As absurd as the sound, it used to be all handmade by him from scrapped materials that he didn’t need in his main work anymore. Before he even came up with the idea of making a Biograft, he used to gift you a little toy which resembled a mini version of himself with moveable limbs. It did look cute though, you gotta give him credit for that. As for physical touch, do I have to explain how much of a leech that bastard could be? He could literally be glued to your hip if work didn’t come first. Him touching each other wasn’t a big deal, sure. But Subspace only let others touch him if they were someone he tolerated, and well - he liked you. Therefore, he tolerated you

• Then again, there was someone out there that could be quite the rival for Subspace to look out for. He simply lost count how many times Medkit had managed to scoop you out of his company under the excuse of needing some help in the lab. Subspace wasn’t the only one who had taken a liking to you. If he wanted to file a complaint against Medkit, then the engineer himself would simply clicked his tongue in annoyance. He wouldn’t dare, as Medkit would roll his eyes while putting a hand behind your back like a habit

• Unlike Subspace’s intensity, Medkit provided you a nice little comfort zone so that you could have some peace of mind. It felt good to take a quiet moment to yourself after your ears have been tortured by the relentless speech of a certain someone, wasn’t it? Medkit’s company was a pill to soothe your worries in this cold facility. Sometimes you even joked about him being a doctor with how well he handled wounds or other’s wellbeing so effortlessly, and he simply scoffed at it lightheartedly. You didn’t know that he only did it for you. Medkit could never imagine him being a doctor, but hearing you thought so kinda caught his interest somewhat. Not gonna happen soon though, as he thought

• He was a nice guy. For someone who had to be stuck with Subspace for the majority of the time, it was surprised to see that they were like two different sides of a coin. If Subspace only wanted what benefited him, then Medkit used to want to ensure people’s wellbeing before his own needs first. He simply wanted to make the world a better place where everyone could live without pain or suffering. That was admirable of him, on how much he cared, how much he wished to achieve his goal and how much he wanted it. Medkit prioritized caring for others first, that included you. Altruism might not be the best word to describe him during that time, but he was definitely anything but selfish. Which how much Medkit loved you, he just wanted to make his dream come true quicker just for your sake

• Medkit was definitely a gentleman when he was in love. All he wanted to do was to keep you safe. He cared, and he wasn’t afraid to show it to you when he felt like the right moment had arrived. Tending to your general health at any possible moment, doting on you when he realized you were tired, going back and forth just to get you something…Maybe he would call himself out for being so cringey, yet when he looked at you, he simply forgot about how embarrassing it would be for someone like him to be so hopeless within your palm. If Subspace was a fever dream, then Medkit was the serenity of a future domestic partner. He was so gentle with you, even when he was being playful. One thing for sure was that Medkit definitely smiled more when he was around you, which made some of his friends like Grav or Wrap teased him nonstop about it

• If you don’t want to go to Subspace for any questions you had in mind at the moment or he was nowhere to be seem, you knew exactly who would he there to entertain your curiosity. Medkit was such a yapper, if you allowed him to. He took pride in his studies after all. His research didn’t just stop at what Blackrock had originally assigned him to do because of his own interest in matters revolving around life itself. You would be surprised to hear the logic behind his theory about the connection between an Inphernal’s gear and the deity that was supposed to be in charge of that region. Or some mechanical matter that you needed some advice on performing correctly. Trust me, he would geek out immediately. Though at some point he would realized how much he was rambling and stopped midway. That flustered awkward smile was definitely a cute sight of his

• There was something he kept away from you though. Like you already knew, Medkit was a scientist, though his field leaning more to engineering. With that being said, you could believe that he had quite the keen eye to sketch the blueprint out of his mind. But did you know that inside that little notebook he always kept by his side, blueprints weren’t the only thing that he sketched inside? You sure had taken quite the spot on the pages with how Medkit just kept daydreaming about you while zoning out. He wouldn’t say that he was the artistic type. Maybe he could be familiar with gears and machines, but you? Hell, he kept drawing you over and over again, yet he didn’t have the guts to show you. Mainly was that he felt embarrassed, but also because he felt like his skill wasn’t that impressive to begin with. Maybe one day in the near future, if the book wasn’t left behind for unknown reasons, of course

• Don’t think that this guy would be just your average nerd who was just so happen to be pretty handsome himself. If you thought Medkit was just all uptight and no-nonsense during this time, then he would gladly prove you wrong. This man was serious for most of the time because he had something better to pay his mind to — you, for example — rather than bothering himself with unnecessary trivia. But that didn’t mean he didn’t know how to have fun. His humor might be a tad dry, though it was pretty entertaining to see him used his sarcasm on you in a lighthearted manner. If he wasn’t the one that trying to crack a joke to cheer you up, then he would be the one who was caught off guard with your little tease then proceeded to stiffen his laughter. And you already knew the drill: Medkit’s laughter worth every little silly thing you did to make him less tense

• His love language when it came to you was act of service and quality time. He mesmerized your schedule, your reference to your coffee, picking up a little thing about your quirk to analyze on how should he be at your services in an appropriate sense. From the little thing such as caring the equipment for you, to personally heal you if you got injured in an experiment. would be the type to quietly put a blanket over your shoulders if you dozed off on your desk, then carefully tidied it up while occasionally stealing a glance over your peaceful state. When you woke up, he would be sure to put a hot coffee near you to help you freshen up. Since Subspace kept taking most of your time, Medkit couldn’t help but wanting to kick that rascal in the face so he could have some quality time with you. After all, you both need a bit of escapism to relax together, right? Just you and him, maybe a glass of coffee or a pack of cigarettes, together

• The two of them were smitten by you, but they hated each other enough to quietly made it a competition on who could win your favor first rather than telling you right away. It was like an endless game of tug and war. If only just knew just how stubborn the both of them were, the things they tried to do to win your heart. Medkit could try and deal with Subspace by dragging him away from you as much as he could for your sake, while Subspace wouldn’t hesitate to sabotage the other just to make his image looked better in your eyes. They kept throwing dirt into each other’s place years after years. Would things be better if they just told you right away without this stupid waiting period? Maybe. Would they do it? Hell no. If they had to keep this up until the three of you got into a nursing home, then they would without a second doubt. How childish

• It was funny how you remained a neutral ground with them when they were an inch away from taking each other’s eye out. If you failed to acknowledge any of their feelings, then you were guilty of accidentally dragging this whole drama out for a ridiculous amount of time. Even your fellow co-workers just wanted to beg you to choose between one of them already. But then again, would that be a good idea? If you chose Medkit, then would Subspace actually leave the two of you in peace? If you chose Subspace, then would Medkit still playing nice? Honestly, you got yourself in quite the tight mess. Good luck with dealing with them, no one can fish you out of this situation now. But then again, they wouldn’t try to do anything drastic to each other soon, right?

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝

Note: Should I cut down on the details of my headcanons? I feel like it’s too detailed (｡•́︿•̀｡) Though I usually want to make the setting clear- What should I do?

Note 2: I used past tense in this specific work for a reason, not just out of the blue (・∀・)

[artsyhamster]

Part 3!

And oh boy, this one definitely needs explanation, so see you down in the ramblings.

(1) THE FOOL / THE MAGICIAN / THE HIGH PRIESTESS  | (2) THE EMPRESS / THE EMPEROR / THE HIEROPHANT | (3) THE LOVERS / THE CHARIOT / STRENGTH | (4) THE HERMIT / WHEEL OF FORTUNE / JUSTICE | (5) THE HANGED MAND | DEATH | TEMPERANCE | (6) THE DEVIL / THE TOWER / THE STAR | (7) THE MOON / THE SUN / JUDGMENT / THE WORLD         

I gotta be real, this is my least favorite set so far. I was very unsure about the characters I chose for these and it also shows in the compositions. I might redo them at some point but I want to finish the major arcana as a whole first, before I lose myself in revisions. Maybe I shouldn’t be too harsh on myself anyway, because this is just a fun project but, ah, perfectionism.

Anyway, citations from here, as always.

THE LOVERS - Actually means that the protag feels sexual urge or need for relationship. Harry basically flirts with everyone and is still hung up on his broken relationship, that he doesn’t even remember, so the meaning here is pretty warped. So I just chose some lover figures. But who to choose? Klaasje and Lely? Well their relationship gets known pretty late, and didn’t end very nicely. Also I do not know how Lely looks like as not-a-corpse so-- Klaasje and Ruby? Seemed to me more like a fling, and didn’t interest Harry much except for some lecherous line he dropped. So I chose Sylvie and Garte, because Harry actively gets involved in their business. He can help them get together or ultimately break their relationship before it could ever bloom (Shoutout to the cock carousel) so I chose them because Harry is the most involved here.

THE CHARIOT - I’m just gonna quote for a bit “The Chariot represents the vigorous ego that is the Fool's crowning achievement so far. (...) we see a proud, commanding figure riding victoriously through his world. He is in visible control of himself and all he surveys.” Not many people with horses around there in Martinaise, only people driving cars. None of the lorry drivers fir the description for me though. The chariot is also described as commandeering and rigid, and René fit the description for me the most. He is definitely a proud person, commandeering and strict, and also surveying the world around him from his booth up at the harbour. Otherwise, yeah I got nothing. This one was just hard lol

STRENGTH - “[The fool] is pressed to develop his courage and resolve and find the heart to keep going despite setbacks.” was a line that made me very desperately want to choose Kim here, but I had other plans for him already. Strength is part of the Virtues trio, and spoiler spoiler, Kim will get his place as one of the three Virtues, but this one goes to Cuno, because I feel he is also very influential on Harry. Another quote for the card is “The Fool also discovers the quiet attributes of patience and tolerance.“ which I think fits Cuno quiet well. Because boy do you need a lot of patience and tolerance with him to make him trust and help you. But ultimately he is also there in the end if you need him (and Kim is unfortunately not present) All in all, what could make you want to get your shit together more than escaping the mocking words of a potty-mouthed kid. Horrifying lol

I tried really hard okay. I’m sure there are other interpretations but that’s the best I could come up with.Meanwhile I also bought an art book of a really pretty tarot set I saw at the last convention I was at, and there were so many lovely compositions that almost made me question what I am doing here. But again, I’m doing these for fun [*self prep talk*]. Still, take a look at this magnificient tarot deck (Instagram Link) I’m so sad they were sold out, but at least I got the art book.

Uhhh anyway enjoy. Next set will be better I promise. I like the upcoming one a lot : )

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

Couple of things about seeing Nish Kumar in Canada, related to the fact that he was in Canada:

An audience member said they'd driven four hours to be there, and Amy Annette pointed out that where she comes from, that's all way across the country. Which got a big laugh from the crowd, full of people who know a 4-hour drive as a relatively short road trip. Reminding me, once again, of why I need to remember to be unimpressed when British comedians brag that they've been travelling "all over the country".

Nish Kumar brought up the fact that we're still technically ruled by the British monarchy. That's disappointing, because I really hope everyone will just forget about that, so I can continue feeling superior to those other places that have monarchies. Nish said that Britain shouldn't even have a monarchy, so Canada definitely shouldn't, which is the exact line that I've said to my parents before, when the regular Canadian debate comes up about whether it's worth opening up our constitution to take royalty out of it. I've told my dad before that of course I don't think Canada should be ruled by the British monarchy, I don't even think Britain should be ruled by the British monarchy.

Nish did some jokes about Donald Trump declaring trade war on us/threatening to buy us, and then added "But at least you won the hockey game," and that got an absolutely massive cheer from the crowd. By far the biggest cheer that happened all night. To people who don't live in Canada, I really don't think I can explain to you how fucking seriously everyone in Canada took that hockey team. When I said last week that it feels like everyone is celebrating because winning the hockey game means we won't be annexed now, I wasn't kidding. This was treated like the closest thing in my lifetime to the Miracle On Ice event.

Nish Kumar made a lot of jokes about Montreal being full of French people, considering the fact that I bet there wasn't a Francophone in that entire crowd. Montreal's a city that's split between its Francophone and Anglophone populations, but that theatre was clearly a mostly Anglo establishment with mostly Anglo staff and mostly Anglo patrons, and many people at that gig would have travelled from Anglophone Ontario anyway. And yet, Nish decided that his "bit of local" would be a whole bunch of jokes about French speakers. Which we all found quite funny. But definitely not because we were Franco.

When Amy Annette does her Kate Moss routine in Britain, she never stops to wonder whether the audience will know who she's talking about. In Canada, she sounded more hesitant, saying she wasn't sure if her and her terrible diet culture slogans would have travelled widely to Canada. Fortunately for Amy, everyone was only too aware of the fucked up subject matter of the joke.

Nish Kumar has a routine that references Jordan Peterson, and when he does that routine in the UK, he first explains a bit about who Jordan Peterson is. I'd always thought that was odd, because surely everyone already knows far more than they'd like about Jordan Peterson. But in Canada, Nish introduced the Jordan Peterson stuff by saying that we're Canadians, of course all of us already know who this guy is, he needs no explanation. I remembered that Jordan Peterson is Canada, and maybe he's not quite as famous in the UK? Is that true? He's very, very famous and influential here. I suppose that's a slightly positive thing, if his international reach isn't quite as strong as I'd thought.

Amy Annette made a joke about a "toonie" falling out of her bra after a night out clubbing as a teenager. When she does this joke in the UK, that toonie is a 20-pence piece. I think Amy might have made that change without looking up how large or heavy a toonie is.

In the UK, Nish Kumar puts a joke in the middle of this show that people could complain about, so at the end of it, he says "My name is Romesh Ranganathan" (the joke being that people are always mixing him up with Romesh, and in this case he wants them to do that so they won't blame him for what he just said). In Canada, Nish did the same joke, but earlier in the show, he added to a different joke, a line that complained that people can't tell him apart from his fellow comedians Romesh Ranganathan, even though Romesh is Sri Lanken and wears glasses. It occurred to me after the show that he might have added that line in case some people in the Canadian crowd don't know who Romesh is.

Thing that is not related to Canada but it occurred to me literally right now and I'm going to write it down before posting:

Nish Kumar has now established a pattern in which when I see him live, he updates me on what he was doing offstage during the last event where I saw him live.

In May 2022, I travelled to New York City to see Nish Kumar do Your Power Your Control live. In that show, he said he dislikes comedians who use Netflix specials to punch down, and he shouted, "Fuck you Dave Chapelle, fuck you Ricky Gervais!" In July 2022, I travelled to Montreal to see him do the same show at the Just For Laughs festival, because I have something wrong with me made the completely correct decision, actually, that was worth seeing twice. The show at Just For Laughs was almost the same as the NYC version, but with a few little changes. For example, he ended that routine with "Fuck you Dave Chapelle, fuck you Ricky Gervais, fuck you Jimmy Carr!" Later in the show, he talked shit about the Off Menu guys for a while, and then said, "I don't really mean any of that, obviously, those guys are my friends. I meant what I said about Carr and Gervais, though." Then he called Jimmy Carr a "giggling ghost".

I noted that addition at the time, and wondered what had happened between May 2022 and June 2022 to get Jimmy Carr added to that list (there was that whole Holocaust joke scandal at the time, but that scandal was in the news far earlier in the year, before the NYC show). I was quite surprised, however, when I first heard Nish Kumar's current show, as it gives me an answer.

I've realized as I'm writing this that I can't explain the answer without a major spoiler for Nish's show, which I think is fair game to post, because he's done that specific joke/punchline on NextUp twice now, while streaming and then it was on catch-up for ages, someone even cut out the video clip of him doing that joke and it got shared all over Tumblr last year, so I'm pretty sure it's not meant to be a secret anymore. But I'm adding a spoiler cut in case anyone reading this is planning to see this show and doesn't already know the punchline - don't click on this link, because it's worth hearing this joke unspoiled.

Nish's 2024 show has a story about how he was at the Just For Laughs comedy festival, in Montreal Canada, in 2022. And at that festival, he was chatting with his buddy James Acaster (I know that Acaster was at JFL 2022, I saw James' show there the night after I saw Nish's). During that conversation, Jimmy Carr came by (I know Jimmy Carr was at that festival too, I intentionally chose not to buy tickets to see him), and Nish confronted him about how he'd recently appeared on Jordan Peterson's podcast. Nish said this was unethical, Jimmy Carr said that boycotting someone's podcast would be cancel culture, and apparently they got into a big argument that James Acaster described as "a frenzied attack" (of Nish shouting at Jimmy for upholding misogynist systems by playing nice with Peterson).

So, I guess that's what happened. Nish Kumar was only in Montreal for about four days at JFL 2022, so the night that I was in a room and saw him shout "Fuck you Jimmy Carr" could not have been more than a few days after they had this fight. And apparently, his way of taking out his anger about that fight was to start talking shit about Jimmy in his show that week. (Note: that entire routine - the stuff about Carr, but also about Gervais and Chapelle, was unsurprisingly cut from the filmed version of that show.)

In 2024, I saw Nish's show, once in July in London and once in August in Edinburgh, in which he explained about the fight with Jimmy Carr.

The day I saw him in Edinburgh was immediately after the race riots in London. Fairly early into the show, Nish just stopped after a particular sentence and said, "Elephant in the room, there's race riots." Then he spent around two minutes going off on a rant that I'd not heard him do before (obviously not before, since the riots had only just happened) or since, about how the riots made him so angry and so upset, and this has been coming for a long time and everyone who pretends it hasn't is wrong, and to be honest, he said a few things that were edgy even for Nish. He's usually very careful and precise in his targets, but he let that go during that particular rant. I call it a "rant" because it clearly wasn't a pre-written routine, it wasn't funny, it shouldn't be funny. And yet I thought he was 100% justified in dedicating two minutes of his hour to what sounded like just genuine expression of furious emotion. Because he was right, it was an elephant in the room, with all of us watching a Nish Kumar show at a time like that.

In February 2025, I saw Nish Kumar in Montreal, where the show had a few new parts. In one of those new parts, Nish mentioned that last year, there were race riots in England, and on August 5, he had a panic attack from watching all the news about it. After I got home, I remembered that the date I saw him in Edinburgh last year was August 5.

So I assume, the next time I'm in a room with Nish Kumar, he'll let me know what he did while in Montreal for a tour show in February 2025.

[clarissaweasley-10]

Here's my analasis on the character of Fitz Vacker aka Wonderboy(even tho no one asked)He's sadly one of the most disliked characters in the entire series and though l get why you guys may hate him,let's try to understand...

The fact that Fitz was born into one of the if not THE most influential family in the lost cities has a LOT to do with his character.Plus,he was the golden child of the family.His parents obviously favoured him from the start.He was perfect...or so he hoped.Growing up the way he did,he HAS to be perfect.Be the perfect child,the perfect student carry the family's legacy and make his family proud.That was what mattered the most to him it was part of how he was raised as the golden child.Now,in Stellarlune during the Cognate Inquisition,Fitz himself has admitted to Sophie about how he often feels a little jealous of her.Well not exactly "jealous"but yk he used to be the best in everything before Sophie came and now she is always better than him and he is left to be the second best.Like imagine being the best in everything,with everybody looking up to you and then suddenly it all just goes down especially after Alvar's betrayal.That would suck so hard.There are two events which are the turning points of his character development:Alden's mind breaking,and Alvar's betrayal.You may ask why l put Alden's mind breaking here(the other one is obvious),the answer is, it was the beginning of events leading to total chaos in Fitz's life.His father who he looked upto,the one who shaped him and has a lot to do with who he is,one of the strongest people he ever knew..broke.lmagine how that would feel,especially to elves who are just not in terms with the idea of loosing someone close to you,and Fitz just lost his father all of a sudden with no prior explanation.And the explanation is his father had gone to Exile with a girl he knew for a few months at most(tho he and Sophie were very close)without taking his own son with him,and the guilt of seeing the son of a guy he had helped arrest and whose life he had virtually destroyed,finally broke his mind.Imagine how incapable,unworthy and angry this would have made Fitz feel.So he took out his anger on Sophie,though he had no right to and blamed her when HE WAS IN FACT BLAMING HIMSELF.Yes.If only his father had trusted him enough to share this information with him,then maybe Fitz would have made him understand or he and Sophie together could have saved him.But now Alden was gone and who was to blame?But Fitz also knew the consequences of the guilt he was feeling,saw it in the form of his father.If he lets the guilt of not being there get to him then,soon he too would be in Alden's position imagine how hard it would hit Della,Biana and....Alvar(strictly Fitz's pov.)So he did what he could and used his anger as a shield to protect himself and the rest of his family.

I also want to talk about the whole matchmaking thing because that's one of the most controversial aspects of Fitz's character.As l've said the fact that Fitz was born into one of the most influential families of the lost cities has a lot to do with his character.He was trained to uphold his families reputation.And we've all seen how bad matches are treated in the Lost Cities.Sophie who has literally spent her whole life outside the Lost Cities couldn't completely accept the fact that she was unmatchable,so what do you expect from Fitz who has spent his entire life being treated like royalty.Ofc he would be upset.Now l am not justifying all the rude and jerky things he said to Sophie l want to give him a solid shake for that,but he is only human(well no but yeah figuratively yk)and his perfect family was basically a broken sandcastle now so let's try to be a bit kind to Fitz too yeah?Now you may say that,Keefe also spent his entire life in the Lost Cities but had no problem from the start about Sophie being unmatchable.Well for this(and a lot of other things)Keefe deserves a LOT of extra points for the whole Sokeefe vs Sophitz thingie but he and Fitz had very different upbringings and characters.Keefe doesn't give a f abt what others think,the only thing he cares about is how Sophie feels,so get yourself a man like him...He had raised himself to be a rebel and went against common norms.And hence has no regards for what the society thinks.He only wants Sophie and if people scorn upon them for being a bad match then they should remind themselves that they would never get a relationship as good as Sokeefe.And he is THE man for this.

[randomly--accessed--memories]

Sir Pentious has... complicated feelings about his relationship with Vox. He used to idolize him– Pen tended to idolize all overlords, but Vox in particular was one of his favorites due to the tech empire he built for himself and how he seemed amenable to partnerships. Hearing he'd died was... disappointing, but this is Hell after all and maybe Vox being gone would leave an opening for him to finally begin his career as an overlord (it did not).

When he got the call from the Vees, recruiting him for a secret mission to rescue Vox from the Radio Demon himself, Pen was astounded. Vox was alive? And he'd seen him at the hotel but had either not recognized him or been too focused on Alastor to register his presence? The Vees gave him a vague idea of the state Vox was in, but he was shocked once he finally met him (literally: Vox zapped Pentious by mistake while shaking his hand). He didn't know Vox any more than any of his former customers would, but it was still jarring to see a man who'd always presented to the public as so powerful and in control act in such a high-strung, disorganized way.

Pentious managed to keep his cool around Vox and not instantly give the game away. It was weird, living at the hotel, slowly figuring out the finer details of the situation that the Vees had left out. Pen found himself surprisingly grateful that Alastor never took him even remotely seriously as a rival if this is what he does to people who do get his attention. Vox now followed Alastor around like a lost puppy and just could not stop breaking things. Pentious found himself being called upon to attempt to fix technology outside of his area of expertise more and more frequently. Vox was always frantic to fix his mistakes (when he could remember that he made them), so the two of them worked together; Vox explained how the technology functioned and Pen did the physical work of repairing the item, as well as the mental work of trying to make sense of Vox's rather disjointed explanations.

They talked while they worked. In group settings, Vox found Pen entertaining– he was dramatic and bombastic and could hold Vox's attention fairly easily as a result. Despite the circumstances of the situation, Pentious couldn't help but receive a bit of an ego boost from such a formerly powerful overlord treating him like he was someone worth paying attention to. But when they were alone– working to repair whatever new household appliance Vox had fried that day– was when Pen found himself actually getting attached to Vox. He could see glimpses of the intelligent, diligent, ambitious man trapped beneath all the noise. Vox still had actual, meaningful things to say, they just tended to go unnoticed in the rush of constant speech. Vox would occasionally become incredibly frustrated, feeling as though no one around him took him seriously or wanted to listen to his input on things. Pentious could relate to that.

Pen would listen though. He'd adjust the dial and try to tune into what Vox was actually trying to communicate. This wasn’t some stupid Egg Boi, after all; it was one of the most influential people in the whole Pride Ring, even if that part of his life was clearly, permanently over. Pentious was surprised at how patient he was capable of being and how much of a difference it made. Other than Niffty, most of the hotel residents had learned to sort of tune out most of Vox's chatter (either intentionally or unintentionally) and only tune back in when he said or did something that was obviously important or completely un-ignorable. It was so gratifying for Vox to finally have someone who was paying full attention to everything he was saying, as well as making a concerted effort to understand which parts were an attempt at a point and which parts were just absentminded rambling.

Once Vox and Pen felt as though they (mostly) understood each other, they were able to make progress. Vox started getting a better hold on his electricity and Pentious learned which strategies for keeping Vox on-task worked best. Instead of constantly fixing stuff, they started building things together. It was surprising for Pen to realize that he no longer only cared about Vox as a former overlord, but as a friend. They had fun together, both with and without the other hotel residents.

On some level, Pentious knew that if Vox weren't in the mental state that he was, he never would've given Pen a second glance. That thought made him uncomfortable; he couldn't help but feel like he was taking advantage in some way. But on the other hand, Pentious recognized that he was helping Vox (and Niffty too, eventually). Where did that leave him, morally? He mostly tried to tune those thoughts out though and just enjoy the present moment. It became very easy for him to forget why he was at the hotel in the first place, especially as he grew closer with the other residents too.

Eventually, approximately four months into his stay, Pentious was on a call with the Vees, reporting back about whatever was going on that week. Val casually mentioned how he and Velvette were going to kill everyone in the hotel once they got Vox back; they all needed to be punished for their complicity in this situation, not just Alastor. Pentious was shocked, especially when Velvette confirmed that, yes, that had been the plan all along, obviously. Pen had grown deeply attached to his life at the hotel and his new village of friends; he couldn't let them all die for something that wasn't even their fault. It was a hard choice, but as soon as he got off the call, he went straight to Charlie and came clean about how he'd been sent by the Vees to spy on the hotel and get Vox back. He didn't tell her the truth about Vox's situation though. Pen was desperate to preserve what he had at the hotel and he knew that if he revealed why the Vees wanted Vox back, everything would come crashing down (and that Alastor would probably kill him in retaliation almost instantly). Charlie forgave Pen, of course, and he was free to continue with the life and friendships he'd come to treasure at the hotel. Pentious wasn't sure if that was the right thing to do, morally. But he did it anyway.

[frankendykes-monster]

Man of Steel arguably belongs to a wave of pseudo-religious epics from around this time, including Noah, Godzilla, Prometheus and Exodus: Gods and Kings. Central to these movies is the idea that maybe God does exist, but He is at best indifferent to human suffering and at worst actively delights in it. Man plans, and God laughs. Praying to a man in the sky is going to get you killed.

I know Skull Island set up the “hollow earth” thing, but it’s weird how casual everybody is about this stuff. I’m more impressed by a new flavour of pop tart than these people are by discovering that their entire understanding of how the world works is wrong. To be fair, this is just a side effect of the modern franchise age. Audiences have seen dozens of these things, so what’s the point in even pretending any of this obviously impossible stuff is even unusual? It’s just another day at the office for everybody. To be fair, I suspect this is how a lot of fans view the media that they consume. People obsess about “spoilers”, as if they are waiting to be surprised by this experience. In truth, they don’t want to be awed. If anything happens that they don’t expect, they are horrified.

[...]

It’s worth just writing down some of the stuff that happens in King of the Monsters. The characters discover that one of the monsters is also an alien. They then discover that Atlantis is real. Then Washington is flooded. None of this is given any room to breathe. The characters never get to sit with any of this, or process it. At the very least, the world should look like the third act of Independence Day, but there’s just so much stuff happening non-stop. It could be argued that this is ultimately what makes King of the Monsters a very 2019 movie, in contrast to Godzilla as a very 2014 movie. In 2014, the idea that God cared not for us mere mortals was horrifying. By 2019, the prevailing mood is, “look, the apocalypse is happening, just roll with it.”

I made my own variation of the statement of "shit has gotten so bad that people want to go back to a decade ago" upon seeing appraisal for Clash of The Titans (2011) in the context of more recent blockbusters, and people may recall any number of variations of my sentiment that you are an absolute lunatic if you think Jurassic Park (1993) or The Lord of The Rings represents the height of artistry in filmmaking, buuuuuut I am a bit surprised looking back at the transition from the likes of Transformers (2007) to Transformers: Rise of The Beasts (2022) or Man of Steel (2013) to The Flash (2023), in the sense that there was a relatively recent time where IP tentpole films were still nominally expected to be "about something" and carry some sense of thematic and physical weight to their proceedings.

Personally speaking it'd be very easy for me to blame The Avengers (2012), the most important and influential film of the 2010's, with how it functionally perfected the model of how to maximize profits with existing IP and ensure brand loyalty amongst audiences to return for the same thing next year, but I'm not sure that's satisfactory explanation for me.

[appleflavoredkitkats]

i watched a white man review here lies love and the way he summarizes the plot makes me hate the musical. when he describes imelda as a politician who started out as a "poor girl" who grew up into the rich political villain she is, it's wrong. when he says that governments like hers have been as evil as it was from before her and after, it's wrong. the way ppl argue for hll saying they become informed and when they summarize it they're Not lol

making the marcoses the topic of here lies love is not a bad idea, dont get me wrong. i think a lot of haters hate it for the wrong things, so i'm gonna explain why i hate it: since hll is described to be a lot of filipino theatre fans and celebrities' first exposure to filipino culture and history, it is dangerous because the nuances and true horrors of the marcos regime cannot be fully portrayed. due to its nature of being a narrative + it being presented in mostly imelda's perspective already removes the opportunity to showcase how Bad it was for the people in martial law, because she was not physically present within places where people were murdered, assaulted, ethnically cleansed, etc.

people tell me that this musical is there first exposure to filipino history, but they will "research more after because of it". what a pity to make a simplification of filipino to be your first exposure. you acknowledge you're going to read more resources after, but why didn't you do that first? i've already complained about many historical portrayals of this musical.

i admit i need to watch the musical through a bootleg or something just so i can get a full review, but from the songs i've listened to and the way they advertise it, i don't think they still get the political nuance of the marcoses LOL. i could get more into it, but the reason the marcoses are a spectacle is for how much Bad Political Shit (eg., new line of political dynasties, the INTENSE crony capitalism, indigenous genocides etc.) they've initiated, and hmm so far no person i've seen who's watched this musical Know Any Of That. why do they need to know that if this is a "historical" musical? well because it ain't history for me at least. it's happening, and thorough explanations of the political sphere is Needed to explain how bad it was and how bad it still is. and even if i personally didn't watch the musical yet, i've read native filipino reviewers review the show and they express the same concern of diminishing the political weight of the marcoses.

maybe in an older historical musical, you can make your little fanfiction storylines where everything's happy and lovely, but i guess, for me personally, if you portray the most awful politician i know who is still Alive and Influential, you have the responsibility of not bastardizing viewers' perception of her reign.

remember when i said the musical is factually incorrect for portraying imelda as poor? yeah well that small "mistake" is actually a big propaganda tool used by imelda to garner sympathy. btw, followers of imelda are so fucking cult-like to the point that my cousin says her relatives were kicked out of ilocos (the place marcos is from) for supporting leni. if the musical is able to make this mistake, then i'm sorry if i have to assume the musical gets other shit wrong.

i am so tired of americans try to explain to me why this musical is so good. like thanks, it's closing now so bye sister

[highfantasy-soul]

NATLA - Episode 1: Aang (2/4)

[Masterlist of my NATLA thoughts]

An explanation of what I'm doing here and my history with ATLA. Of course, full spoilers ahead. <previous/next>

A core theme is introduced right off with Gyatzo talking to the council about how young Aang is: He makes the point that Aang doesn't even know who he is yet, and if he's going to have all this power, it's important that he knows who he is before everyone starts telling him who he should be.

We see this come up with the various incarnations of the Avatar telling Aang what they had to be, with the leaders at the Northern Water Tribe expecting him to lead the assault for them, etc

And we see the toll this takes on other children who are forced into expectations before they solidify who they are - namely Zuko, Aang's mirror in the series

The concept that power without understanding core moral foundations is again, seen through the series as children are forced to bear the burden of the war - we see it with Jet, Sokka, Azula, Zuko, etc

They are who they are because their identity was formed by the war, not a safe environment where they could grow and learn in a healthy manner - this is what Gyatzo doesn't want to deprive Aang of - especially since the power of the Avatar can easily overcome the individual core of a person (as we see in the very final battle of the animated series) - Aang needs to be strong in who he is or else the Avatar power could overwhelm him.

On a side note, I think this is why I struggled with Korra so much - her entire identity was being the Avatar - she had no other character purpose. All her self-worth was tied up in being the most powerful, the most influential, the most popular and that all stemmed (I believe) from her finding out she was the Avatar at like, 3 years old. It warped her sense of self so innately that, I believe, it turned her into a really, really bad Avatar

We see Aang verbalize his intentions: he doesn't want power, he doesn't want to be special, he just wants to have fun, hang out with his friends, and be a kid - he's a free spirit.

This carries over from the animated series (and later scenes) with Aang just running off to join other kids playing, pretending he's just like them and not special at all - he never invokes his Avatar status to be over the other children - he just wants to play.

Honestly, I like monologues - characters telling someone else exactly what they're feeling/why they're doing things - they're some of my favorite parts of the Daredevil tv show and who can forget Sam's monologue to Frodo in The Two Towers? - so I love Aang pouring out his fears to Appa. I love his little quip about 'The monks won't even trust me to feed the baby bison, how am I supposed to save the world?' - it really shows the stakes Aang used to have, and the stakes that are now forced on him.

Aang's reason for leaving the temple is slightly altered from the cartoon, but I think the effects on him remain the same: He jumped on Appa because he was afraid and he wanted to clear his head, but he did fly off pretty far - far enough that he didn’t even realize the temple was being attacked. Maybe he was just headed to a surrounding island to cruise around before heading back, but the end result is the same: he wasn't there because he was afraid and looking for some level of escape, so he couldn't help defend the temple against the fire nation.

He does deny his responsibility as the Avatar, but I do think something is lost in that Aang didn't make the conscious decision to fully run away from the role of Avatar, specifically, but his guilt at leaving remains because of the effect it had - guilt that is a constant for him through the animated series as well. (also, a 12 year old running away from home is pretty common and they come back like, the same day, so even if teh animated Aang doesn't realize it at the time, it's likely he would have gone back quickly just to be surrounded by people who cared about his well being - even though that would be all over the world during his training)

Aang is constantly emotionally hurt by the fact that he wasn't there to help the Air Nomads, nor the people of the world for 100 years and how long he intended to stay away when he flew off on Appa doesn't really change that.

Bookending the episode with the Air Nomads - first when they're flourishing, then after the genocide, was a great way to hammer home those stakes: the fire nation isn't just a looming threat, they've already accomplished so much violence and oppression.

I already posted a bit about why I specifically loved the live action starting off with the Air Nomads before the genocide, so here it is if you wanted to read it.

[hellshire-harlot]

Hi, I wanted to ask if you think that Wesker preyed on Rebecca given the existence of her easter egg and RE0 Wesker Mode? I came across different opinions from he's a creep to they are only non canon goofs and I am still uncertain about it. Personally I really hope that they have no deeper canon meaning because Wesker being attracted to a 18 year old would be very creepy.

Sorry for bothering you!

heya! Thanks for the question :)

My short answer is no, I don’t think Wesker was being creepy or preying on Rebecca. Rebecca is also almost certainly over the age of 20, given she’s a licensed police officer, medic, and member of STARS.

My personal interpretation of the photo of Rebecca hidden in Wesker’s desk is that, given the pose Rebecca made for the picture, it was less of Wesker creeping on her and more him crushing on her.

Rebecca’s countenance in the photo, and the fact that she’s intentionally posing, implies that she was fully aware and consenting to the shoot. If anything, the pose she’s in could imply she’s aware of the suggestiveness of the picture, and is playfully leaning into it. I’m not familiar with Rebecca’s past before STARS, but there’s plenty of explanations for why the photo exists.

Maybe it was a promotional thing for STARS. Maybe Rebecca used to be part of a sports team. Maybe it was a personal photo of hers that she and a few friends were just having fun with. Maybe she did some kind of modeling gig for a magazine or something. If Wesker had truly been creeping on her, even stalking her, I’m certain the photograph would have looked a bit more candid. He’s more than capable of sneaking his way, say, into her house and taking pictures of her while she sleeps, but this isn’t a candid photo. It’s Rebecca posing and smiling for the camera.

As for why it’s in Wesker’s desk? Any number of reasons. My personal headcanon is that Wesker has a crush on Rebecca and came upon this photo one way or another, and hid it in his desk as a guilty pleasure. The fact that it’s so well hidden (in both versions of Re2, Leon has to search the desk 50 times before the undeveloped photo is found) implies either that Wesker was worried about being caught by someone going through his things (unlikely, given his status and reputation that would scare off anyone snooping in his office) or that he’s embarrassed about his crush and is intentionally squirreling it away from himself.

Some other little tidbits I know of that may point to Wesker crushing on Rebecca (and it maybe even being mutual) are even present in the games. Wesker very intentionally shoots Rebecca directly in the chest, where he likely knew she would be wearing a bulletproof vest and would remain relatively unharmed. The amount of admiration STARS has for him implies that he’s a diligent captain, so he probably would have double checked before the mission began to make sure Rebecca was wearing her gear, including said bulletproof vest. The fact that he very deliberately shot her in a way he knew wouldn’t be fatal or even leave a lasting wound when he could have easily killed her on the spot implies that for whatever reason, Wesker didn’t want Rebecca dead. He spares people in RE1 pretty much exclusively if they’re useful to him; Barry because he’s the one Wesker’s blackmailing, Chris because he genuinely admires him and seemingly wants to recruit him to his side, and Jill because she was just to resilient for him to kill. But why else would he spare Rebecca, someone relatively unassuming when compared to Chris, unless he had a soft spot for her?

I could go on for hours about how Rebecca’s career path post-Arklay and her choice to become an influential scientist may have been her way of dealing with the grief of her crush, Wesker, being a traitor, or how the admiration she holds for him could be more than just strictly platonic, but this is already a long post. Hopefully this answered your question!

[felixravinstills]

volumnia for the ask game!!!

Ask Game

Thanks, anon! Always happy to talk about my favorite wire mother!

My first impression

Haha, Silly Mad Scientist Lady! I always thought she was kind of interesting, but I always need some sort of visual to help kickstart my obsessions and I wasn't really in the fandom after reading the book so I wasn't seeing any fanart (is there pre-movie Gaul fanart?)

My impression now

Viola Davis' portrayal really dominates my mind even though it's probably not exactly how Gaul was supposed to look at all. She is wire mother to me. I love her. I need her to look me in my eyes and scare me so bad I have a heart attack.

Favorite thing about that character

Just her whole vibe. She's the worst and I love her

Least favorite thing

That everything about her and Max (Pres. Ravinstill) is made up/a joint hallucination with El.

Favorite line/scene

When she's talking about being and obstetrician and sharing her world view with Coriolanus. That's her little creature <3 Or he's trying to make him that!

Favorite interaction that character has with another

See above

A character that I wish that character would interact with more

I-is President Ravinstill too much of a cop out at this point? Because he's a man who barely exists? Well, the other answer is Felix, so RIP.

Another character from another fandom that reminds me of that character

Renee Branvillier Parmedes from B! and Adora Crellin from Gillian Flynn's Sharp Objects. I don't know how well those comparisons hold up to close scrutiny, but they have the certain vibes... Also maybe Jenova from FFVII. Alien mother... just corrupting some guy raised in a lab.

A headcanon about that character

She's not really a part of the oldest and most influential families, and her home life was pretty standard before the usual Capitol intrigues probably killed her parents. But she was already strange and off-putting. I don't think she's born into who she becomes, but rather her worldview is the easiest explanation for why she is the way she is and she excepted it with no nuance. Her just adopting that worldview snowballs her into who she becomes. <- I'm explaining this badly.

A song that reminds of that character

Someone put me out of my misery. I don't know! Actually wait!

The Most Unwanted Song Ever by Dave Soldier and Komar and Melamid???? Because forced to listen to that song on loop while playing board games at 3am in a classroom during University was insane and maddening, and it was definitely a surreal Volumnia worthy experience. The operatic rap portion... The soprano juxtaposed with the children's choir jingles. I think about it often. (don't click this)

An unpopular opinion about that character

I never want to see a prequel about her origins. The mystery of it is part of the appeal. I love hearing what other fans think is going on, but I don't think Suzanne Collins should ever give us something concrete (idk if this is unpopular? very few people talk about her...)

Favorite picture

[sillypiratelife]

pacific rim au

Just thought that I can give Ace the role Yancy had on the original. What a fucked up thing to do.

I'm reluctant to do so because I would have to assign someone to drop with Ace, meaning that his partner felt Ace die while still in the drift and kept piloting the Jaeger until the battle was over. Who can I even give that burden to?

If I give it to Luffy, I need to find an explanation on why Luffy was dropping with his brother... There's also the fact that I see Ace more as a solo fighter, so maybe instead of making him a Yancy, can I make him a Luna Pentecost?

Maybe he was piloting a jet during K-Day and the Kaiju took him down? Sounds better. I can even make Ace take off without permission, wanting to protect the city and delay the monster so that his family could evacuate on time... Luffy wanting to join the jaeger program because those bastards killed his brother? Chef kiss.

I don't want to change Zoro's past with Kuina tho. He would still be a young boy dreaming of being the best kendo fighter in the world. Post K-Day, Zoro trained even harder and started travelling to help people around. That's how he got lost and met Luffy, who convinced him to join the jaeger program with him.

Lol I can see Garp insisting that Luffy joined the strike troops, saying that the jaeger program is pure madness and it'd never work. Koby can be in the strike troops then!

Bell-Mere could have also died trying to evacuate the village. Nami could have initially joined one of those kaiju cults and made a deal to buy back her home. Kuro could have blamed Kaya's sickness on kaiju blue, when in fact he was poisoning her. It'd give Usopp a reason to fight the kaijus so no one else would die of it. Judge could be an influential military man that Sanji escaped from as a kid and now Sanji only joined the jaeger program because his jaeger team is impossibly rebellious— and also he dreams of not contaminated oceans :( cooking fish have been almost impossible! Fuck the kaijus!

Man, there's soooooooooooo much to plan here...

[icarus-suraki]

Classic, owl, skeleton for the spoopy asks :D

Spoopy ask game ooooooh~

Classic: What’s your favorite classic spooky movie? I could get really pedantic here like "But what do we consider a 'classic' and what is a 'spooky' movie? Indeed, what is a 'movie'?" But I'm not gonna.

I'm gonna go way back to a true classic: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari from 1920.

The German Expressionism turned up to 11, the irrational and disproportional sets, the establishment of a buncha tropes, the influence it had and still has, the visual elements, the twist ending, Conrad Veidt in a black leotard and a lot of eye makeup…!

I like a lot of spooky movies, some more spooky than others, and I could just sit here and list them, but Dr. Caligari is just so iconic and influential in so many ways.

The art museum here had a showing some years ago accompanied by a live string quartet and I desperately wish I could have gone. Alas!

Owl: What creature would you have as a familiar? This is tough! I mean, I can always fall back on the classics: cat, crow, raven, owl.

Whatever, I'm kind of basic: cat. But it would be interesting to have a hairless cat. I worked with a guy who once said that I seemed like the kind of person who'd have a hairless cat. Maybe he's right. My hairless cat familiar and me, practicing experimental chaos magic in a minimalist house all done in black and white. That's the dream.

Now, speaking of, I did have a dream about a skinny black-and-white cat (more black than white, but he had white toes) named Honk who I saw in the bay window of an old bookstore next to a sign that read "Honk is not for sale!" So if I ever find Honk (who will be adoptable, I'm sure, but not for sale), maybe he's my familiar?

Skeleton: What never fails to send a shiver down your spine?

A lack of context!!!!!!!!

Let me explain: the less context or explanation there is around an image, a sound, a video, &c, the creepier or stranger it is (to me).

This is why I get disappointed partway through basically, um, every analog horror series or internet horror creation: sooner or later, there's too much context and/or too much explanation and it destroys the mystery. It puts too much of a frame around the concept. It solidifies it. And it immediately defangs it.

Once there was all this lore that evolved around The Backrooms, they immediately stopped being interesting to me. Do I like that The Backrooms are this collaborative storytelling project? Absolutely. And I enjoy some of the things people have made in that whole concept. But they've ceased to be as eerie to me because there's all these explanations now.

One of my favorite(?) examples of no-context-horror is from just before the US-made version of The Ring came out, the "cursed video" was posted online--and it was just the cursed video. There was no context, just a series of unnerving and (seemingly) disconnected images. (It was 2002 and I remember watching it on my friend's desktop in her dorm room. We were all scaring each other with it. If you had a cell phone, you'd call your friend's dorm number right after she'd seen it lol.)

And, yes, a lot of the images are gross or disgusting unto themselves--twitching severed fingers in a box is gross. But not knowing how everything connected together made even benign images like a plain wooden chair all the more horrifying. As in, if the images will go as far as a finger jammed onto a nail, the implications of the plain wooden chair are even more horrifying.

But then you see the whole movie and it's like seriously? That's it? It was a real letdown for me. The suggestions were scarier than the facts.

And, honestly, anything that you do show can't be as horrifying as what might be shown. I don't even mean Cloverfield-style where you don't really see the monster but you know a monster is there. I mean leaving the whole thing open-ended enough that the benign becomes the terrifying. Why are weird sounds in the dark scary? Because you don't know what's out there; you can only imagine it. Or worse, you can only half-imagine it.

I think The Blair Witch Project (1999) just about managed this because they never showed the witch. You got no satisfying explanation. That made it scarier (to say nothing about the "is it real or isn't it?" marketing, as Cannibal Holocaust did back in the 70s).

Nowadays, it feels like all the found footage stuff explains too much. It's like the creators think of something for the backstory so therefore they must include it in the main plot. No, don't do that. Stop that. You have to hold some things back.

Same thing with most modern "real ghost videos." It's Too Much.

Back in the early 2000s on YouTube there were actually decent "real ghost videos" that had no context, no explanation. Some of my favorites were compilations of ghost videos and photographs from Japanese horror/ghost televsion shows--I remember the photos giving me the absolute creeps in particular. And it was because I had very little context. The language and culture barriers made everything scarier--to say nothing of the time distance, since most of the clips I was watching were from the early-mid 90s. So it was all low-quality VHS tapes and film cameras, which made it just that much harder to really parse out what you were seeing. And then when you see it, you will shit bricks.

And I think this lack of explanation is what makes Tool's video for "Sober" by Fred Stuhr so fucking disturbing. Humans like narrative and explanation right? And, yes, there's some kind of narrative here but it doesn't entirely align. There seems to be a story here but it's not clear. At one point, this human-like figure the camera has been following opens up a pipe and there's raw meat flowing through it. What does it mean? What's going on? Why is this happening? We want an explanation, in part because the raw meat is distressing unto itself, but we get nothing, which makes it more distressing than just gross-out images. (The video always reminds me vaguely of Kafka's writing, and he understood this too. See: The Trial and The Penal Colony.)

I could talk about this for hours because I really think "showing the monster" is both the escape hatch or the release valve of horror but it's also the weak point of horror. Stephen King loves to show the monster eventually in his books and I don't usually find his books all that horrifying. But Revival actually almost got me because of the creepy visions the main character experiences and the whole "Mother is behind the paper sky" line. There's not much explanation in the plot/text about this, but it's not totally unexplained. But I can tell you, the first time I hit it in the book it actually got me. And that's rare.

I think that lack of context is very hard in the, well, context of a narrative. I mean, narrative demands context. Narrative is context. So the things that get me are the rare things without much of that: the cursed video from The Ring, music videos (like "Sober"), certain kinds of visual art (Francis Bacon's early work, especially), butoh dance, early internet stories and some urban legends, ghost videos/photos that don't try too hard… Lose the context, gain the fear.

(I think this is why I like the smeared, almost-but-not-quite look of older AI art, like Midjourney v3. It's in that other uncanny valley: it should be recognizable and yet it isn't entirely right.)

Oh my gaw this went on longer than it should haaaaave...

[catch-me-hello]

I-Land, Episode 1: Welcome to K-pop Supermax!

Hello, Enhypen fans! Before we start, let’s get something out of the way. Yes, The I-Land is also the name of a wonderfully bad show on Netflix. It comes up every time I try to Google information about the K-pop reality show. The Netflix show was clearly trying to be the next LOST and failed on a bewildering level. Check it out if you like so-bad-it’s-good shows. Alex Pettyfer from Magic Mike is in it.

Moving on. I mentioned that the name of the YouTube channel bringing us this show is “Enhypen ❤ Engene.” Engene is Enhypen’s fandom name. There’s more than one overly detailed explanation of the meaning, so common to K-pop, that I won’t get into right now. Also, a quick apology for the quality of the screen shots we’ll be getting. I’ll try to find screen grabs elsewhere if I can, but we’re working with a YouTube upload here. I’ll do my best to clean them up.

On with the show! We open on scenes of lush green forests and onscreen text about a bird fighting its way out of an egg and having to destroy the egg before joining the world. We then see a huge building in the middle of all this greenery and a man walking inside. His voiceover welcomes us to I-Land, an unknown place completely isolated from the world.

Our host’s name is Namgoong Min. I looked him up – he has an impressive resume. He’s a South Korean actor, director, and screenwriter. He’s been on a long list of shows, won an equally long list of awards for acting and directing, and even hosted SNL Korea in 2016. The K-pop group TVXQ sang at his wedding.

Mr. Namgoong tells us those on the I-Land who dream of being an idol can grow on their own and break out of their eggs. “It’s a perfectly evolved space for survival competition that has been designed for a long time,” he says. We get a screen full of camera views of this place, and wow. I see a gym, a fully-stocked kitchen, lounges, sleeping rooms, and practice rooms. The décor is a bit too cold and sci-fi, though. Maybe install some bright carpet here and there, or put up an accent wall.

The I-Land camera system

Our host tells us there are only two rules in I-Land. Limited time, and one’s own choices. Their own choices will determine their fate. I’m pretty sure that’s true for all humans, but go on. He then says it’s time to meet our coaches. Yes! Let’s see who’s on the celebrity team whipping these trainees into shape.

First up is Bang Si Hyuk. He’s the global producer credited with creating BTS. At first, I think it’s going to be tough to find another coach to match his stature, but then we get introduced to the next one. It’s Rain.

I’ve mentioned Rain before in these recaps. He’s a huge deal. He’s one of the biggest artists in South Korea and has legendary status, kind of like how Prince was and still is to Americans. He’s a singer, songwriter, dancer, actor, and producer who has sold millions of albums, won lots of awards, and was named one of Time’s 100 most influential people in the world in both 2006 and 2011. This show is going hardcore with its celebrity coaches.

Our final coach is Zico, a big name in Korean hip-hop. He debuted as part of the K-pop group Block B, whose songs we’ve seen covered on other survival shows I’ve recapped. He runs his own label, KOZ Entertainment. It looks like this is the last show he filmed before starting his military service.

This is a really impressive trio of coaches, which will probably be intimidating for the 23 trainees we’re about to meet. We get a screen in front of a huge stone egg showing their pictures unfurling on banners. The whole thing looks like something out of The Hunger Games.

May the odds be ever in your favor.

With the introductions and setup over, our show officially begins. The coaches gather in a dark control room with its cold, angular décor. They greet each other and talk excitedly about the days ahead. Their conversation is then interrupted as 37 monitors flicker to life in front of them, showing all the rooms in the I-Land. Our trainees will be monitored from this control room. This is really kind of creepy, but then again, trainees are filmed 24/7 on all the other shows as well. We’ve just never seen those control rooms.

It does gets a little uncomfortable when Bang Si Hyuk says the trainees don’t know about the control room. Given Korea’s laws about filming people, the trainees must have had to sign a mountain of release forms. He tells Rain and Zico that while they’re watching these guys eat, sleep, do laundry, and exercise, they should focus on the guys not as they are now, but on their potential.

The main screen in the center shows them the beautiful pathways outside that cut through the woods, and I just want to flee this room and go out there. Our first unit of trainees are approaching the I-Land. They are very nervous. We get onscreen cards showing their names, but they aren’t translated. The coaches identify one of them as Jake, and we know he is one of the eventual members of Enhypen.

Bang Si Hyuk says he found this Korean-Australian trainee in a worldwide audition. I Googled Jake. He was born in South Korea, but his family moved to Australia when he was nine. He’s only been a trainee for nine months.

Jake and the other two are overwhelmed by the I-Land when they see it, but it looks computer-generated to me. I went to Reddit and found that this building does physically exist. One user found it on Google Earth. It was NOT built for the show, despite what the coaches are telling us. It’s part of CJENM Contents World, part of a huge theme park that was still under construction when this aired. A fan in Korea posted pictures of himself on Instagram standing next to the huge structure. So it’s real, even if it looks fake on the show. In fact, since the Google Earth image shows that the surrounding area was also under construction, it could be the trees that are computer-generated.

Our three trainees enter through the huge rotating door and walk down a hallway that looks like it’s made of steel and mirrors. The coaches watch them approach on the monitors and tell us that all three of them have had the shortest amount of training time. Zico chimes in that early in the training process is when the trainees are the most passionate and less jaded. The unintended implication is, “Just wait ‘til we’re done with them!”

Jake and his teammates reach the end of the hallway and see a huge strange room in front of them.  This doesn’t look like a reality show. It looks like they’re about to have their organs harvested. I’m sorry, but I do not like this building. It feels like a prison.

The glowing floor panels move around in front of them and assemble into a path. The boys make their way across the room, repeating “daebek” (awesome) over and over. They get to the end and sit in the middle of one of the long benches. Large digital counters on the wall click up to three.

Back outside, which feels like a huge breath of fresh air every time we cut to it, we see three more trainees approaching. The coaches watching them on the monitors tell us this is the multicultural unit. Enhypen has a Japanese member, so I wonder if Ni-Ki is part of this unit.

We see Nicholas from Taiwan, Hanbin from Vietnam, and yes, there’s Ni-Ki from Japan. We learn that Ni-Ki has been dancing since he was a child. He’s sixteen years old on this show. He will go on to be the maknae of Enhypen, as well as the main dancer.

This second unit makes its way to the huge room, where the first unit has to squint to see them when they enter. This place is a cavern. The first unit is a bit nervous because they don’t know what honorifics to use. They’re anxiously discussing if they should sit or stand or bow. Jake asks, “Should we shake hands with them?” His teammate Youngbin says, “No, that’s too much.” The social rules in Korea sound like a LOT.

Now we learn that the third member of Jake’s unit is Sunoo, and he’s also in Enhypen! Okay, so we have eyes on Jake, Sunoo, and Ni-Ki so far. The digital counter on the wall jumps to six.

Jake, who’s been raised in Australia, is making every effort to reach out to the second unit. They say hello to each other several times but don’t really know how to get past that, so they start laughing. For all of Korea’s social rules, I don’t think there’s any specific procedure for “K-pop trainees meeting on a survival reality show.” By now, there really should be.

We hear another unit approaching in the hallway. We meet Jaebeom, a songwriter who’s been training for six months. Next is Jimin, who’s been training for eleven months and is currently in a band. Finally, we have 18 year-old Sungchul, a soccer player who’s been training for eight months. It’s tough to realize that they’re all so young and about to experience the heartbreak of being eliminated, since none of them are in Enhypen. They take their seats, and the digital counter goes up to nine.

We’re picking up the pace. The fourth unit approaches. There are just two this time. One is Daniel, the youngest trainee on this show, at age fifteen. He’s been training for a year. He’s Korean American and absolutely adorable when he compares this setup to the Avengers. His sweet nature reminds me of Takuto from Boys Planet.

With him is 19 year-old trainee EJ, who’s been training for eighteen months and was a competitive fencer in middle school. Neither of these boys is in Enhypen, although the show is putting a lot of focus on Daniel. They sit with the others, and the counter goes up to eleven. The floor starts moving again. Instead of just forming a path, it’s now turning into gliding platforms to carry the new arrivals over to the other side of the room. Our fifth unit has arrived. First up is 17 year-old Jungwon, the future Leader of Enhypen. He’s been training for sixteen months and competed in taekwondo for four years. He has a great smile. Back in the control room, Bang Si Hyuk tells Rain and Zico to pay close attention when Jungwon sings later on because he has an amazing voice.

Next is Taeyong, who is seventeen years old and was a child actor for eight years. Finally, we have Yoonwan, age sixteen, who’s been a street performer for two years. They take their seats, and everyone waits for the digital number to go up to fourteen. But it doesn’t. It only goes up to twelve and then stops. The trainees are puzzled. The coaches pretend to be puzzled. (Bang Si Hyuk is the executive producer of this show.) The trainees guess that twelve must be the number of idols that will be in the final group, and given how large some K-pop groups are, that’s a fair assumption.

The sixth unit arrives. We’ve met four future members of Enhypen so far, and I’m eager to meet Heesung, Jay, and Sunghoon. But we’re not meeting them just yet. This group consists of Geonu, Kyungmin, and Jaeho. Jaeho is the first one we’re told has experience in a survival show. Geonu dropped out of high school for his dream but got his GED.

Now we have the 7th unit, consisting of just one person. He’s Japanese, 24 years old, and a marathon athlete who’s been a trainee for two years and eight months. He goes simply by the initial K. When he arrives, the other trainees exclaim at how handsome he is. He has an innocence about him and still looks like a teenager.

Our 8th unit comes in, consisting of two trainees. They were both with Big Hit Entertainment for two years, which is BTS’ label. Here is where we meet future Enhypen members Sunghoon and Jay.

Sunghoon is 19 years old and a 2-year trainee who was a figure skater for eleven years. We see clips of him skating, and he’s graceful and athletic. I can’t wait to see him in the dance competitions.

Jay was born in Seattle and moved to Korea at age nine. (His future bandmate Jake moved from Korea to Australia at the same age. Those two will have a lot to talk about.) Jay is also 19 years old and has been training for almost three years. Now the only future bandmate we have left to meet is main vocalist and center Heeseung.

Sunghoon and Jay sit with the others, and right away we learn that Jay is a nervous talker. “We may not look like it, but we’re very trustworthy people. You’ll see,” he says as soon as his butt hits the bench. While the others are processing that, he looks around and says, “It feels like I’ve eaten a hundred sweet potatoes and then drank a glass of soda.”

Unfortunately, with so many trainees currently seated, there’s not a lot of room to move away from him on the bench. “You talk well,” Jaebeom finally manages in response. Koreans are nothing if not polite.

At least Jay’s gotten the conversation going. They start introducing themselves, and we learn that Youngbin’s been playing basketball for his school team since fourth grade. In the control room, Bang Si Hyuk notices that each unit has an athlete in it. He was the recruitor for this show and didn’t realize it until now.

Unit 9 is just one guy, and now we finally meet Heeseung. He’s 20 years old, also a former Big Hit trainee, and he’s been a trainee for three years and one month. That’s a long time. I’m so glad he makes it into the final group.

We get a confessional with Heeseung, who tells us when he joined Big Hit, the very successful group TXT was just about to debut. He actually trained with them for a while, so it wasn’t easy for him to see them go on to debut without him. It’s a story we’ve been hearing from so many trainees on every single one of these shows, from Shownu on No Mercy to Hyunyeop on Wild Idol and many others after them. I can’t imagine the crushing blow of training with a group and watching them go on to worldwide success without you.

Heeseung tells us his goal here is to debut, and he’ll put his everything into it. We have the advantage of knowing he’ll finally succeed this time. Most trainees say the same thing, and it still doesn’t work out for them.

When Heeseung arrives, his former Big Hit labelmates (and future bandmates) Jay and Sunghoon are excited to see him. The others are in awe because apparently he’s made a name for himself among the trainees. He’s been one of them long enough to have earned a reputation. They are excited to see him in person.

Back in the control room, Bang Si Hyuk tells Rain and Zico that Heeseung can do it all. In K-pop, that’s called an All-Rounder Idol – one who can sing, dance, and rap. I’ve lost count of how many trainees have arrived, but we have at least one more. Our tenth unit is one person. His name is Seon. He’s 22 and has been training the longest out of all the trainees on this show, at four years and ten months. Oof. My stomach hurts knowing he’s not going to make it this time either. Seon tells us that out of all the participants, he’s probably the most desperate one. I can only imagine. As he joins the other trainees, he tells us, “Until we debut, I see them as my competitors.”

We have another single arrival, and everyone is cooing over how adorable he is. Meet 16 year-old Japanese trainee Ta-Ki, who’s been training for ten months. The translation says he’s been doing “locking dancing” for three years. I think it means popping and locking, a style of breakdancing. When the camera zooms in on him, all I can think is, “He’s just a baby.”

In a confessional, we learn that his idol is Suga from BTS. He shows us a picture of him meeting Suga, and I hope he gets to meet him again on this show. Back in the gathering area, the other trainees laugh that he looks like he’s going on a field trip. I really, REALLY hope Ta-Ki gets to prove himself to them before being eliminated.

As the floor moves Ta-Ki closer to the rest of the group, he’s relieved to see fellow Japanese teenage trainee Ni-Ki. They’ve practiced together often and are good friends. OH GREAT. On top of not getting chosen for Enhypen, Ta-Ki will watch his friend to on to debut successfully without him. I need all the Pepto-Bismol.

Finally, all 23 trainees are present and accounted for. The room suddenly glows red, and an alarm sounds. Even the ouside of the building lights up. Lasers form a design on the wall of an egg in a cube. They’re just going to hammer this metaphor into the ground, aren’t they.

An authoritative male voice booms over the PA system. “Dear twenty-three applicants,” it says. “Welcome. This is the stage of I-Land, and this will be the place for you to prove your ability. After the gate opens, you will see the unknown place called I-Land that only existed in our imaginations.”

A wall panel slides open, but we can’t really see anything beyond it. Which is just as well, as the PA voice tells them that all 23 of them can’t go in there. The I-Land only holds twelve people, and who those twelve people are is up to them. The Entry Test is about to begin with the performances these trainees have prepared.

They will assess each other’s performances and vote to decide who gets to stay here in the I-Land. This isn’t an elimination. The other eleven trainees will just have to stay somewhere else, presumably less nice. Honestly, I’d ask to see the other place first. This place creeps me out. I’d happily stay in a tent in the woods instead. We’re already getting a glimpse into where Enhypen’s dark, goth vibe comes from.

The announcer orders the first participant to report to the stage. For all the creepiness of the building, I’m excited to see these performances. It’s up to the group to decide who goes first. After some discussion, a few of them start to stand up, but someone beats them to it, striding confidently to the stage. It’s Seon, the self-described most desperate trainee. He steps onto the moving platform that rises, lifting him above the others.

When the stage is in place, he introduces himself, saying his strengths are Chinese, English, and songwriting. The room goes dark. A spotlight shines on him. The announcer says in English, “Stand by.”

Seon is performing “Lullaby” by GOT7. I will always remember GOT7 as Shownu’s friends from No Mercy who went on to debut without him. They’ve remained friends with him and the rest of Monsta X ever since, even performing together occasionally.

We FINALLY see some happy colors in this place when the stage lights up in beams of blue and purple. Seon is clearly nervous, and I wish he hadn’t gone first. His dance moves are a bit stiff. Nothing flows. I do like his singing, but the dancing is just off.

The other trainees look uncomfortable. No one wants to start the Entry Test by downvoting the guy brave enough to go first. They applaud for him, and then the announcer tells them it’s time to vote. Jimin mutters, “What should we do?” Youngbin agrees, “This is very hard.” Usually there are celebrity judges to do this. Most of these guys have just met, and now they have to deal the blow.

The announcer tells them there’s just one standard for voting. “If Choi Seon deserves to go into the I-Land, then raise your hands.”

This is agonizing. He’s going to see who votes for him and who doesn’t. No one wants to embarrass Seon with no votes. So Geonu raises his hand first, and a few others follow. I didn’t think everyone would vote for him, but that’s what happens. He gets 22 votes because no one wants to embarrass him. He’s voted into the I-Land, even though his performance wasn’t good enough and it takes a spot away from the rest of them.

In the control room, the coaches are caught off guard. They shouldn’t be. Most of these trainees are young and idealistic enough that they don’t want to shoot each other down.

The trainees are aware of the problem. Sungchul says to his teammates, “I think the voting got influenced by each other. It shouldn’t be like this.” Youngbin agrees, saying “Everyone is looking around and raising their hands.” They’re learning a tough lesson. They’re not here to be nice or go with the crowd. They have to vote honestly, no matter what anyone else says.

We’re down to eleven spots left in the I-Land. The impact of that taken spot is really hitting the trainees. Not only is that spot gone, it’s taken by someone who shouldn’t have it. I started off thinking that having the trainees vote was a bad idea. I’ve changed my mind. This is on them. They have to take accountability.

The announcer tells the next performer to approach, and now there’s a mad rush for the stage. Everyone wants to be next before all the spots are gone. They play Rock Paper Scissors for it, and Sunghoon and Jay win. This is the unit of two future Enhypen members, so this should be good.

In the control room, Bang Si Hyuk is also looking forward to this performance. He knows these two and Heeseung well, since they all trained with his label. He affectionately calls Jay opinionated and says his stubbornness can come out on stage sometimes. I wonder how much of that can be chalked up to the American in Jay.

The English words come over the PA: “Stand by.”

The song is “The 7th Sense” by NCT U. And in the split second before they begin, I remember that these votes are for each individual. In units with more than one person, not all of them may get voted in.

Sunghoon and Jay give an incredible performance. It’s passionate and dramatic. I don’t think they’re doing the vocals, but the focus is on the dance. It’s modern dance set to a dark rap song, and they move separately but like two parts of one being. It’s stunning.

The applause this time is way more enthusiastic. In the control room, Rain says, “I can understand why you said Jay is stubborn. Because of his stubbornness, he can have that body line and feel when he dances.” I’m not sure “stubborn” is the correct translation for what he’s trying to say, but I still feel like I get it.

Now it’s time for the trainees to vote, and they have an even bigger problem than before. Youngbin says, “They are better than me. How can I vote?” His fellow trainees know the pain. If they vote honestly, they have to give away two more spots in the I-Land.

The first vote is for Sunghoon. He gets all 21 votes. Now for Jay. Seon doesn’t vote for Jay, which is interesting. Jay still gets enough votes to get in. We’re down to nine spots left.

I’m wondering why the voting isn’t anonymous. It’s clear that several hands are going up after the first two or three hands go up. If the voting had been anonymous, it might have kept Seon from getting in.

Up next, it’s Nicholas from Taiwan, Hanbin from Vietnam, and future Enhypen member Ni-Ki from Japan. They speak to each other in English and to the rest of the trainees in Korean. They will perform “Jopping” by SuperM.

I really wish I could get better screenshots, but the footage starts blurry and just gets worse in action scenes. I can tell you they’re electrifying. They do all of the song – rap, dance, and vocals. I have to wonder how Seon feels watching this. He has to know his performance didn’t measure up to this.

They get enthusiastic applause. Jay and Sunghoon put their heads together and agree that Ni-Ki is the one who stood out. The coaches agree he was the best in the group. When the voting starts, Ni-Ki is the first one up, and the ones who raise their hands do so without hesitation. “Everyone has the same eyes,” says Bang Si Hyuk in the control room, and I know exactly what he means. Ni-Ki makes it into the I-Land by a landslide. Eight spots left.

Now Nicholas is up for the vote. Heeseung raises his hand. For several long, painful seconds, he’s the only one. Trainees start exchanging looks as time is running out. Peer pressure is at work again. Just before time runs out, several other hands go up. Nicholas gets in by only twelve votes. Several trainees do not look happy. We’re down to seven spots.

Now for Hanbin. I have a bad feeling about this. Seven hands go up, but it’s not enough. He’s the first one not to get in and the only one on his team to get this rejection. My heart breaks for him. He looks crushed. And it gets worse. After the performers go back to their seats, white lights go up under the seats of the ones who get voted in. Hanbin’s seat gets lit up in red. Those lights stay on for the rest of the Entry Test. The trainees don’t know the rules yet and think this means he’s being eliminated.

Hanbin is disqualified.

Time for the next performer, and it’s 24 year-old Japanese trainee K. He’s the oldest one on the show, even though he’s only been training half as long as Seon, who’s been training the longest.

Then something weird happens. We don’t get to see K’s performance just yet. We jump ahead to future Enhypen member Heeseung taking the stage, and this performance is really being built up. The coaches start the chatter, saying he’s the one they’re expecting a lot from, especially since he was a Big Hit trainee. In the stage area, Jay and Sunghoon are talking him up to the other trainees. They want him to join them in the I-Land. Other trainees describe him as “legendary,” and Kyungmin says, “He’s definitely going to win the I-Land.”

Heeseung is perfoming “BOSS” by NCT U. He already looks like a star. He’s mesmerizing. At one point, he jumps high, lands, and does a turn so quickly I almost miss it. Human beings shouldn’t be able to move that fast. And he’s singing a demanding vocal part, keeping his voice strong and steady the whole time.

The vote is immediate and nearly unanimous. Even though it costs the rest of them another spot, most of them vote him in. Geonu is one of the holdouts. He says he expected better. I suspect he’s just trying desperately to save as many spots as possible. When Heeseung happily goes back to his seat, Geonu looks away. I think there’s going to be some tension between these two.

We’re down to six spots. Now, suddenly, we’re back to K’s performance. I have no idea why it was edited this way. He’s performing “Danger” by Taemin. I can tell he’s a talented dancer, but I think he’s suffering from the same nerves as Seon. He’s moving so fast, he’s off the beat in places. In the control room, Bang Si Hyuk says, “He’s nervous. He’s actually a much better dancer."

The stage area is silent when K finishes. I think he knows he messed up. Still, hands slowly go up, one by one, and he gets in with sixteen votes.

Five spots left. Good thing this isn’t an elimination ceremony, or I’d be fuming. K is very aware this wasn’t a deserved outcome. He takes his seat and hangs his head.

This is really intense. We have fifteen trainees left fighting for five spots. There may be blood on that stage by the end of this episode.

The next performances are Daniel and EJ. They are going to do a song by Zico. I don’t know if they know he’s one of the coaches. Also, the translators don’t put quotes around the song titles, so instead of being told we’re going to hear “Any Song” by Zico, we’re told they’re doing any song by Zico, which I found surprisingly disrespectful until they were halfway through and I figured it out.

I love this song. It’s a playful dancehall hip hop song, and Daniel and EJ capture its vibe perfectly. As much as I love these two, I don’t want them to get in because we’re still waiting on performances by three future members of Enhypen. I know those three are going to win anyway, but that’s the weird thing about watching these shows even when I know the outcome. They’re still stressful. My neighbors are still side-eyeing me after that whole Wild Idol Stolen Points Screaming Incident.

Daniel and EJ get well-deserved applause. In the control room, Rain isn’t so impressed, saying their performance wasn’t as strong as the others, but he sees potential in EJ. Zico agrees.

The trainees vote. Daniel is up first. He gets voted in, which surprises the coaches. I think the trainees are still feeling badly about not voting Hanbin in, so they’re going to keep voting for people until all the spots are taken. Now for EJ. He also gets voted in. This is getting nuts. Everyone is being way too nice. We’re down to three spots left, and twelve more performers to go. Are they just going to stop the performances when all the spots are taken? The twelve who haven’t performed yet are looking very stressed.

We have three performers up next. Sungchul, Jaebeom, and Jimin. None of whom are in Enhypen. But they could still take those three remaining spots, especially since they’re performing a great song – “Shoot Out” by Monsta X.

They start with one of them high-jumping over the other two. Great visual. But I have particularly high standards when it comes to Monsta X songs. These trainees’ vocals are too weak for this song. They also don’t bring the energy to the choreography. The original dance moves are aggressive, with arm movements like punching the air. The “walker walker walker” movements look threatening when Monsta X does them, like zombies are actually coming at you. These trainees can’t do any of this. They’re just going through the motions.

The performance ends on a limp note, and I’m disheartened by the applause, because it sounds like they’re going to take the last three spots.

The voting begins. Hands start going up. But not enough for Jaebeom and Jimin. Neither one of them gets in. When it comes to Sungchul, the votes are more hesitant, with hands going up and down. But he gets enough votes. We’re down to two spots. At least one future member of Enhypen is not getting in. Everyone is looking anxious, but they keep giving away slots to not-great performances. They only have themselves to blame. All survival reality shows are brutal, but wow.

Our next three are Geonu, Kyungmin, and Jaeho. None are in Enhypen, but I’m ready to see Geonu put his money where his mouth is. He didn’t vote for Heeseung’s amazing performance because he said his standards were higher. Okay, Geonu. Let’s see you meet your own standards. This group is performing “Chained Up” by VIXX.

I’ll give them this – they are really good. The singing is a little weak, but the rapping and dancing are both strong. All three trainees deserve to be voted in, but there are only two spots left, so things are about to get interesting.

Jaeho goes up for the vote first, and his own teammate Geonu raises his hand right there onstage. I will not criticize Geonu anymore. He has my respect. But it’s not enough to get Jaeho into the I-Land. In the end, Kyungmin doesn’t get in either. Only Geonu gets in. And he feels badly about it. He was willing to sacrifice his spot by voting for his own teammates, and in the end, he was the only one who got in. He’s clearly upset, especially since he still thinks this is an elimination ceremony.

One spot left. Our sixteen year-old Japanese trainee Ta-Ki steps up. He’s the one who’s besties with future Enhypen member Ni-Ki. We get a confessional in which he tells us he wanted to be a K-pop star instead of J-pop after seeing a Monsta X video. He wants to debut with Ni-Ki.

Ta-Ki

The song he’s about to perform is one of my absolute favorites – “Monster” by EXO. Already I’m worried. This is a full-on beast idol song, and Ta-Ki is so young and has a sweet, boyish face. It’s not a good sign that when our coaches find out what song he’ll be doing, they burst out laughing. “He’s so cute!” Bang Si Hyuk howls. This is going to be painful.

It’s so cringe. This is a sexually aggressive song with lyrics like “I’ll give you a hidden thrill” and “I’ll flip you over, break you down, and swallow you up.” And it’s being sung by a babyfaced teenager.

The other trainees look uncomfortable. Heeseung tells us, “He’s cute and charming, but in terms of his performance, I think he must improve more.” That’s a very diplomatic way to put it.

Let me put it another way. Baekhyun, the lead vocalist of EXO, changed his appearance drastically in the official music video to match the tone of the song. Baekhyun is in his thirties but looks half his age and has a boyish appearance, so the costume and makeup teams had to transform him so he could credibly sing lyrics like “I’m gonna mess you up.”

I’m bracing myself for this vote. For some reason, he’s being given a chance to state his case first. They play another song called “Funkastic James” by Common Ground, and he demonstrates his locking moves. This is MUCH better and what he should have done in the first place. He’s truly in his element here. The other trainees are dancing along in their seats.

It’s time for the vote, and I can hardly bear to look. The other trainees look anguished. One of them mutters, “I want to raise my hand, but I can’t.”

Then Ni-Ki raises his hand for his friend. I know it’s a bad decision in terms of strategy, but that is a true friend right there. Once his hand goes up, others start raising their hands as well. And then all hands go up. He gets 22 votes. That second chance saved him. I actually get misty-eyed when I see him bow in gratitude and relief.

All the spots are now taken, but the performances go on. Next, we have a team of three: future Enhypen Leader Jungwon and his teammates, Yoonwan and Taeyong. They’re performing “All I Wanna Do” by Jay Park. It’s a smooth-flowing R&B jam, and they dance in perfect synch. They’re confident and energetic. It’s a great performance.

They deserve to go to the I-Land, but all the spots are gone. Again, for some reason, they get to state their case before the voting starts. Yoonwan sings solo song, “Don’t Know You,” by Heize. And he’s completely off key. He’s clearly overcome by nerves. He stops mid-song to clear his throat, but that doesn’t get him back on track. He’s only sixteen. This poor kid. Back in the control room, Rain says Yoonwan chose the wrong song and can’t get the pitch right.

When the song mercifully ends, he gets applause, but he knows. When the voting starts his two teammates raise their hands. A few other hands go up, but he only gets nine votes. He does’t make it in. Neither does Taeyong.

Now Jungwon is up for the vote. He makes it in with 21 votes, but all the spots are gone, so I don’t know how this is going to work. The digital counter on the wall shows negative one. Is someone else going to get kicked out?

We don’t get an answer right now. It’s time for our last three performers. We have future Enhypen members Jake and Sunoo and their teammate Youngbin. They’re performing “Crown” by TXT.

They’re clearly having fun up there, more than any of the performers so far. I guess they figure this early in their trainee careers, and with all the spots already gone, they’ve got nothing to lose. They radiate happiness through the screen. I’m smiling just watching them. The coaches are smiling too.

Time for the vote. They don’t get to appeal, but they don’t need to. It was a performance they can be proud of. But hands aren’t going up at first. Now that we are at negative one slots, trainees who got in are afraid of being eliminated. The ones who got in despite performing poorly are especially nervous.

Heeseung is the first to raise his hand. He may risk losing his spot in the I-Land, but he has to give credit where it’s due. Now I know why one of the comments under this video says, “When Heeseung arrives, bro came to get his members.”

In the end, all three get voted in. Jake gets 13 votes, Sunoo gets 20, and Youngbin 12. We are now down to negative four slots.

The announcer says the Entry Test is over. Those who have the votes may enter through the gate and proceed to the I-Land. A huge panel opens behind them. Are they going to let all sixteen in?

The qualified ones are hesitant to move, not wanting to leave their friends behind. But those friends encourage them to go and hug them goodbye. They still think they’re being eliminated. This looks like the end of most elimination ceremonies we see on these shows.

Geonu, the only one on his team to get voted in, is in tears. Jaeho and Kyungmin practically shove him towards the gate, wishing him luck.

As all sixteen trainees move to the other side of the gate, text on the screen asks, “What will happen to the extra four?” We cut to the coaches, who seem as mystified as we are. (Again, Bang Si Hyuk, executive producer.) Survivial reality shows are NEVER this nice. There’s ALWAYS a catch.

Back in the main stage area, the seven who didn’t make it wait to be sent home. There’s a quiet resignation about them.

We go back to our sixteen I-Landers, who are getting their first glimpse of their new living quarters. Banners unfurl with trainee silhouettes on them. I count only twelve. I have a bad feeling about this. The trainees step into the main room and notice that there are only twelve chairs. Still, they are excited. They must be in denial. They clearly haven’t seen as many of these shows as I have.

The announcer voice tells them the I-Land will provide everything they need. Group and personal practice rooms, a recording studio, a fitness center, a huge kitchen, and bedrooms. All decorated with the warmth and charm of an automobile showroom. Seriously. I hate this place.

Now we get to the ominous part. The announcer tells them the facility is customized only for twelve people, which is the capacity of I-Land. This could not be more clear. The place only holds twelve people. There are sixteen of them. We. Have. A. Problem. The realization is slowly starting to dawn on their faces. Then the announcer says, “Starting now, in order to match the capacity of I-Land, we will execute the next stage.”

The voice tells them if they are sent out of here, they will be “released to the Ground, the space of dropouts.” The trainees don’t like the sound of this, but I have questions. Does the Ground facility have more color? Some plants? Windows? Natural sunlight? Can I go look at it before we execute the next stage?

It looks like we’re about to get answers as we cut to the seven dropouts who are going to the Ground. Right away, they arrive at a place with blue walls, which is already an improvement. They walk down a hallway, telling us they’re sad to be going home. A gate opens at the end of the hallway. My heart leaps to see grass and trees.

They enter another facility. It’s dark but it has windows, greenery, and natural light. The boys tell us it looks like a prison, and from the outside at night it kind of does, but I have to wonder what they’d think if they saw the I-Land.

A screen on the wall lights up, and they see instructions in several languages, clearly meant to set a tone of impending doom. “Dear I-Land dropouts, this is the Ground. Ground is the place where dropouts from I-Land gather, and there is no opportunity to debut while you are in here.”

Right away, even after realizing they haven’t been eliminated after all, these seven are ungrateful little twerps. “This isn’t much better than going home,” says Jimin. Really, Jimin? Seriously? Do you get to remain on this show at your home? Jesus.

He’s not the only one. In voiceovers and confessionals, the others bitch and moan, literally minutes after finding out they get to stay on the show and still maybe have a shot at debuting. I mean, we know they actually DON’T have a shot since none of them are in Enhypen, but STILL.

We cut back to the cold, sterile I-Land. The voice tells them they will have to vote to kick four trainees out and send them to the Ground. They will have two hours to talk among themselves before voting for “dropouts.” They keep using that word like it’s a bad thing. The countdown clock begins.

Now we return to our host, Mr. Namgoong. He tells us that all decisions on this show will be decided by trainee vote. He says that this is a privilege that will help them vote for their own future teammates. We’ll have to wait until next time to find out who gets to stay in the same desolate space that looks like it was decorated by the same team that did the judges’ room on Boys Planet, and who gets to breathe fresh air.

We get one last scene on the I-Land with besties Ni-Ki and Ta-Ki, grabbing drinks in the laboratory masquarading as a kitchen. They practice some dance moves and encourage each other ot keep their spirits up, but Ni-Ki tells us he’s worried that Ta-Ki will be voted out.

We also get to see one of the bedrooms in better detail, and this one doesn’t look so bad. It’s got some purple accent pieces.

But then we suddenly cut to two hours later, in the decision room. The trainees actually get to vote individually and privately instead of in front of everyone else.

And we get a truly surprising moment. Ni-Ki votes to remove his friend Ta-Ki from the I-Land.

I truly did not see that coming. I knew Ta-Ki wouldn’t make it to Enhypen with Ni-Ki, but I didn’t anticipate this betrayal. Especially when there were other candidates who could be voted out with a clean conscience.

Will Ta-Ki find out about this? I  mean, before the show airs? Will he forgive Ni-Ki when he sees the Ground facility offers sunlight-provided Vitamin D and an increased will to live?

We’ll find out next time. See you then!

[fatratinatrenchcoat]

Sims 4: Mayo Family

June is Dead....

Sooooo, this is like, a massive time skip since my last post but I can't wait. This is everything that happened since the last post:

The Mayo Family Moved into a bigger home after finding out June was pregnant

They welcomed a little girl into the world. Little Theodosia Mayo

Zechariah became a teen and was doing rebellious teen things. He's also a cheerleader

Quincy develops a crush on Z. It's unreciprocated?

Z meets a new boy named Wren Grove and immediately they hit it off. Z has a crush on him.

Wallace meets a boy named Jerry and becomes friends with him

Gilbert meets a little boy and little girl (who I TOTALLY remeber the names of, it's just a secret...) and they become friends

Blah Blah Blah

Well, I decide that it's time for Wallace, Gilbert, and Theodosia to age up. So I age the baby up first. As I do that, I get this pop-up with the grim reaper on it. JUNE HAS DIED. I am flabbergasted, how? How is she dead? I click "no I don't want a ghost in my household" and she just disappears. No urn, no grave, no explanation. No nothing. Like... excuse me?

June Mayo, my matriarch, is dead.

UPDATE: So I got her into CAS and found out she died of hunger.

Here's the real update with the pictures.

Theodosia is a cutie, isn't she? A lot of her clothes were hand-me-downs form her brothers because a baby doesn't really had a sense of style does it?

Here are the potential love interest for Z.

Up first, we have Quincy Landgrabb! That's right, Landgrabb. One of the most influential families in the game. Quincy has had a crush on Z since they were 13 and now that they're getting older feelings just keep growing! It doesn't help that his best friend keeps "jokingly" flirting with him.

Up next: Wren Grove.

He's the new kid in town who Z is smitten for. How couldn't he be? He's just so sweet and in tune with his emotions. The kind of guy to sit by a campfire and strum a guitar. Cheesy, but Z loves cheese.

BUT! Prom came unexpectedly and no one invited him. Ouch. Now, he and Quincy have a better sentiment towards each other because they assumed the other would as. Wren has a similar sentiment towards Z but Z doesn't have it towards him.

And like I said before Theodosia, Wallace, and Gilbert aged up. June literally died in the middle of it so I sorta maybe forgot to take a screenshot of what they look like now. Oopsie daisy.

Psst, hey you! Are you loosing track of who's who in this world? Me too, whoever writes this stuff does a bad job at presenting it. Luckily for you, she's made a family tree on that simstree app. Don't expect much! She's a cheapskate and ain't paying for anything, but she'll do the bare minimum if it means not having to remember who's who. Just click this link it's totally not a virus, why would I do that to you? Heh, sucker