#my favourite genre is crazy scientists!!! | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

cursedvibes · 1 year ago

Note

Hi..... Can I ask your top 5 (or top 3) favorite characters from JJK? And why you loved them? And your top 5 favorite moments from the series (until now)? Thanks....

No problem. It gives me a great excuse to whip out this image of my top 9 jjk faves

They're not in order here, but compared to other categories, I don't actually have such a hard time ranking characters.

Kenjaku

I've talked about them a bunch, most recently on the last ask about my favourite characters, so I'll just summarize what I love about them: mad scientist + family drama + trans + chill & genre-savvy + Japanese history + body snatcher

2. Yuuji

Also like him for how he's a pretty unusual shonen protagonist. He's not overpowered, he doesn't want to become the jujutsu king/kage/president and almost every shonen mc trope he does exhibit gets punished or beaten out of him. He nontheless doesn't lose his base compassion for people. That compassion is also what will drive him to kill if he has to, something for the few people he actually hates. He's selfless to the point of suicidal. His whole character arc(s) revolves around him finding a satisfying way to die and now being forced to also find a satisfying reason to live (with how jjk is going, I don't think he'll find that but he's not able to die either). His conflicts with the villains are deeply personal, he doesn't just challenge them on the basis of them breaking the law or being some nebulous depiction of a bad person. That's how it starts out, but he can't beat them on that basis alone. He was only able to really hurt Mahito and defeat him after he accepted their personal connection and similarities.

3. Tengen

Problematic conservative grandma. She's really the root of all of the problems in jujutsu society, she's the one who build up the entire basis of the series from world building to the antagonists. Without her Kenjaku wouldn't be who they are right now, they would likely not try to challenge the system and forcefully advance humanity in the way they do and might even be dead for hundreds of years. Gojo wouldn't exist without her either. Riko wouldn't either and she also wouldn't have died the way she did. Same for Yuki. Sukuna might largely be influenced by her as well. She's responsible for so much of what's happening in the series, but gets all too easily overlooked both in-universe and outside. Her whole backstory is so fascinating, her relationship to Kenjaku drives me crazy and I do find her stubborn, kinda grumpy personality quite charming. Also gnc as fuck.

4. Uraume

While in Sukuna's case I really care more about his backstory than him as a person and find his personality not that exciting, it's the opposite for Uraume. I do want that Heian flashback and also see where Uraume came from and how they met Sukuna, but what I really like about them is their personality. At first glance they appear so calm and collected, just a loyal servant without much autonomy, but they're actually so much more. There's so much passion in them, they are so easy to tick off and always ready for violence. Especially in combination with Kenjaku they are so entertaining. I need to see them cook more often. Preferably human. That brief glimpse we got when they prepared Sukuna's bath was so good. The way they pinned down and sliced up those curses without destroying them...I want to see them do the same with humans.

5. Angel

Heian era's craziest paladin. I just love how hypocritical and bloodthirsty she is. She has her sense of justice and right and wrong, she doesn't pretend like everyone has to agree with it, but she will still mercilessly kill everyone in her way or who she just doesn't like for one reason or another. If Kenjaku is a social butterfly, she's a social caterpillar. I miss her just blatently telling the protagonists that she doesn't care about their goals or innocent people dying. She must have been wonderful to witness in politics. I'm really curious how her relationship to the Abe clan looked liked. It's such a shame that all that got toned down, so Sukuna didn't get one-shotted and Gojo could be freed. The volume 24 extra show though that Gege does care about her or at least her technique, giving me some hope that she will actually get something to do again soon. Once we get her backstory, she could easily rank above Uraume. Btw, I want more panels where Angel is just a mouth. No Hana, just that mouth with a monotone background and overly detailed teeth. It looks so fantastically creepy.

Favourite Moments

1. Kenjaku talking to Kogane

It's just such a good moment that does a lot for Kenjaku's characterization, their goals and relationship to Tengen (and arguably also Yuuji). Still feeling pretty ambivalent about ch222, but this was undeniably a highlight. It has had a tight grip on my mind ever since. I could write whole essays about it, starting with the scenary of it all. Kenjaku sitting alone, the only one in focus and the only one in the light, while being in front of a game console with two controllers that remain untouched and without a game running while talking to someone/something that/who can't hear them or can't understand them. Kogane is basically just a computer. It can't give insightful answers or challenge Kenjaku's beliefs, while Tengen has also lost all autonomy and most of her personality I assume. She also can't talk back, probably can't hear them and isn't even there, but Kenjaku still directs their musings at her, knowing she won't/can't answer, but still asking for her input, challenging her and leaving space for what would be her own words. They hate her, but also want her to do better and this scene really shows that while Kenjaku's plans my succeed, they probably won't get what they really want.

2. Yuuji chasing Mahito

Pretty easy pick. I'm really looking forward to seeing this animated soon. It's not just the beautiful imagery or how their roles have now reversed, but also what leads up to it. Yuuji accepts who he is, how he is not so different from Mahito. He discards any pretence of high and mighty reasons for why Mahito should die and embraces his hate. He's not pretending to be any better than Mahito, no "I'm not gonna kill you because I'm not like you", he says with absolute senserity that he will kill Mahito as many times as it takes. He's gonna hunt him down just like Mahito did. It's also the start of Yuuji giving into the role jujutsu society has put him in and starts thinking of himself as a cog, a mere object that serves others and blindly obeys its function (killing curses). I think getting Sukuna out of his body was the start to him evolving past that thinking, but this was a very necessary step. He needs to be broken down before being build back up. It was a great end for Mahito as a character as well.

3. Kenjaku & Tengen get Sukuna's body

This whole scene is so interesting. Like in the first moment it's basically just Kenjaku talking to their hand puppets again, but this time there's a bit more outside input. Ngl, the mere fact that Kenjaku and Tengen are together, talking to each other and working with each other excites me already. There's not much of Tengen's consciousness left and she can't actually refuse anything Kenjaku does, but their interactions were still very fascinating. What's also interesting is how they (both of them) treat Sukuna's corpse. They stroll up to it so casually, as if they have done it in the past. Kenjaku asks Tengen if they can take it and she says yes, but neither of them consider Sukuna and his wishes in all this. Kenjaku even jokes that it's their souvenir for him. It makes me so curious about how they are connected to him and what kind of relationship the three used to have. It gets even better now that we know that Tengen was the one who prepared his corpse (without his knowledge) and Kenjaku was the one who turned Sukuna into a cursed object. These two have clearly passed around Sukuna's corpse between them before. "Do you mind if I take his fingers?" "No, go ahead, I don't need them" This scene gets better and better as the story progresses.

4. MCs meeting Tengen

Speaking of scenes that get better with time, ch145 and 146 have been one of my favourites for a long time. They have to be on this list for how many times I've reread them alone. The more information and backstory we get, the more interesting this whole info dump becomes. There are always little phrases and moments that become a lot more meaning full on a reread. We also got so many hints. Tengen's connection to the Star Plasma Vessels and Six Eyes, Yuki being able to hear the other SPVs, Tengen and Kenjaku's relationship (many hcs were spawned by Tengen casually calling Kenjaku a child and I'm happy to see that many of them are turning out to be true), the first hints at Kenjaku's plan, even though a lot of depth was missing of course and Tengen underestimates some of their reasoning and end goals, and Tengen's utter failure to understand Kenjaku as a person (they aren't even that shy to talk about their reasons, especially to her! grandma please...).

5. Noritoshi preparing to die/visiting his mother

It's this scene of Noritoshi finding his mother again plus the context of her side of the story at the end of the Sakurajima colony and Maki's advice re matricide that really moves me. Probably Noritoshi's best scene so far. I really hope the reason he isn't with the others is because he went back to his mother to finally talk to her openly. I swear, these two are so horrible at communicating. It's so heartbreaking to see Noritoshi lose all will to live and being ready to die in battle to do at least something useful with his life. He dedicated everything to changing the Kamo from within for his mother, only to get kicked out of the clan and find out that his mother has moved on. Everything he has done so far becomes meaningless. However, it is what comes afterwards that makes it even more clear how toxic his mindset was. Noritoshi thinks poetic words about how he's gonna die for his friends, only to be interrupted by Daido and Miyo. It shows that this way of thinking is entirely unnecessary and something he has to break out of. It's what sets him on the right path to reunite with his mother. Kenjaku forced him out of the clan and gave him no way to return. His mother showed him that there is a way to live a happy life despite the abuse both of them suffered from the Kamo clan, it is possible to move on. Daido & Miyo disrupted his suicidal thoughts and took over the fight for him aka he has to rely on others and accept their "help" without giving anythign in return. Maki taught him that there might be a way to reconnect with his mother and that he should ask all the questions he has for her regarding his purpose and name openly. I really didn't care much for Noritoshi before, but this whole arc elevated him so much for me.

#asks #jujutsu kaisen #kenjaku #tengen #itadori yuuji #kamo noritoshi

51 notes · View notes

sentientgopro · 11 months ago

Text

Fellow Aspecs who can't stand songs about love or sex: What is your favourite theme for a song?

For me, it's gotta be Carrying On, especially where my favourie genre is rock/ metal so it's Carrying On but Agressively. Most pop songs about not giving up feel more "you're a little sad right now, cheer up, things get better :)" and rock songs with this theme are more "It's a fucking mystery how you haven't given up yet with all this shit but I guess you're just unstoppable".

Even if its just a few lines with that theme, it sells the whole song for me. Ones that come to mind are, suprise suprise, Carry On by Avenged Sevenfold, Not Ready To Die by Avenged Sevenfold (ignoring what that song is actually about, that one crazy German scientist who kinda tried to kill a little girl and accidentally turned her into essentially a God. CODZ lore is wild).

Honestly any time the exact words "Carry On" are in a song it immediately catches my attention.

Alot of the music I listen to is late 90s/ early 00s rock/ metal so the lyrics are always a mixed bag with alot of unnecessary romance and sex references, so its always nice to hear other themes, even if they aren't exactly what I like. I'll take "What fills your pride will make you fall, I am the end, A FUCKING ARCHANGEL" over those bullshit love lyrics any day of the week.

#asexuality #asexual #aro #aromantic #aromantism #aspec

9 notes · View notes

aspiring-holistic-otaku · 1 year ago

Text

Season 2 Ramble#5 - Mystery, Madness & Mayhem ver. 2

This episode is about mystery, madness and mayhem. And I love this stuff regardless of medium so I pretty much assumed I was gonna be enjoying this month's reads, and even though there weren't as much of certain tastes I was looking forward to there was still much to be enjoyed.

Anyways as I said I love this stuff, definitely the earliest thing I thought I'd want to make a little mini series out of and do continuously, definitely something i’ll be consuming podcast or no podcast. manga or no manga..

Now the setup last time was me giving some definitions of mystery, madness and mayhem then sharing my top 1 manga read in each of those three categories + a grab bag of titles at the end which you can check out below..

This time is pretty much the same but skipping the Google definitions and giving my own "definitions", which you can completely disregard if you so choose tbh, like i know words mean stuff but all stuff is bound to change anyways yk so,,,yh,,, also this time instead of one big grab bag with everything I'm gonna try and split them into their respective categories, loosely ordered from least to most enjoyed. the reads are split the usual way of stuff read this month first then older stuff after.

So definitions quickly:

mystery - the why?

madness - the what?

usually has cast vs some largely unseen thing. can be normal everyday stuff like trying to get a functional ac remote to the paranormal escapades of a microwave scientist fighting assassins through spacetime

usually has cast vs some seen but unbelievable thing. And again can go from normal everyday society™ to the paranormal blood bending psychic mass murderer

mayhem - the everything, everywhere, all at once. To lean on the google definition a bit, chaos.

Just to be clear these aren’t some clear cut genre borders or anything just some themes/motifs i like in my media. and in fact i tend to find where there’s one at least one other follows, so these splits are based on which of each seemed to be the primary focus in the manga.

Getting into it now,, top mystery madness and mayhem read this month go!

Top Mystery:

The decagon house murders (Original Book Author - Yukito Ayatsuji, Manga Adaptation - Hiro Kiyohara | 31 chapters)

This is a mystery story revolving around a club for people who enjoy mystery stories,, visiting an island where a house recently burned down and people died under mysterious circumstances… surprise surprise, play stupid games, win stupid prizes,, but even though it was a classic whodunnit, the cast being all mystery buffs meant they pretty much knew all the dos and don'ts and yet… life comes at you fast…

The title alone was a pull because sacred geometry is really cool to look at and see,, if you don't know what that is don't get sucked in just hail the helix and move on + sacred geometry didn't play any obvious role in this anyways. art was nice, really easy on the eyes, pretty cool cast and as I said they were all mystery buffs so that created this almost cast vs plot situation which was really cool. watching them go back and forth amongst each other trying to figure it all out and avoid tragedy was nice, and it didn't take too long to get started or wrap things up. just 31 chapters as I said.

Didn't see the end coming at all and it's actually really crazy how simple it was,, almost cheating and bordering on cheap… but it was something that the original book author admitted relied heavily on being in a written medium and so was still a challenge to pull off in manga.. all that being said I clearly still dug it as it was my top mystery read this month.

mystery grab bag:

the night fish, another , dead man's questions and thus spoke Rohan kishibe

Top Madness:

Memories of her… (Katsuhiro Otomo | 16 chapters )

This is actually the basis for my favourite Otomo animated work called Memories, a three piece anthology that I will continually highly highly recommend. if the name Katsuhiro Otomo doesn't mean anything to you he's the guy that did Akira… if the name Akira doesn't mean anything to you then check that out and thank him for the bike slide.

This work is also an anthology but with about 10 pieces of varying lengths. manga anthology pieces tend to be short and usually surprisingly good, even when I’m accounting for how good I tend to find them and even though I went in with extra heightened expectations, because Otomo, they were thankfully pretty well met.

Individual anthology pieces tend to be short and impactful in some way. Having now been through a bunch more Otomo stuff since starting this podcast I can honestly say his stuff generally does have that punch, does have that impact and that was thankfully present here. again they're all super short so it doesn't make sense to go into them too much more than that, but what I will say is that the impact of otomo's works, at least for me, comes out of a great balance of dramatic environmental storytelling and thoughtful natural dialogue that makes you look more critically at the world,, even if they're usually packaged with a healthy dash of humour. for the record, Akira is my least favourite animated work by him and though i’ll definitely admit it’s the most famous for its impact in terms of art direction for a reason fr, I still highly recommend checking out his other stuff to really see the range of his greatness outside just the one movie, Akira.

Anyways this had great art nonetheless, pretty much expected from him tbh, pretty much every story held my attention, the only thing is that it was a milder madness so to speak rather than the spicier types I tend to prefer.

Quick examples of each so I'm not just saying words that don't connect, a spicier madness would be like Berserk, Elfen Lied, Tokyo Ghoul, Deadman Wonderland, etc., usually based on some set of perpetually unfortunate events, that drives the cast to take extreme actions.. though I also like when the mc and world is already just like that, like in Dorohedoro how extreme absurdities were just everyday routine. lots of messy spaghetti situations in the spicier types…. a milder madness would be like Goodnight Punpun, Welcome to the NHK or even Serial Experiments Lain The Nightmare of Fabrication, where it's almost as if the existential mundanity of life is deafeningly scratching on a whiteboard and slowly pushing the cast to the brink.

madness grab bag: MPD Psycho, smiley, 6000, world apartment horror, Usuzumi no Hate, denjin n, tekkonkinkreet

Top Mayhem:

As the gods will 2 (Muneyuki Kaneshiro on story and Akeji Fujimura on art | 186 chapters)

This is the sequel which is pretty much death games, death games and more death games. since reading part 1 last year I'd been told that it fell off in part 2 which I definitely agree with but maybe even because of my lowered expectations it held up better than I thought it would.

I read part 1 last year and it was my top 1 new manga l read that combined mystery, madness and mayhem, 21 chapters, I definitely highly recommend.

I say it all the time but survival/death games are simple. what you see is what you get. they're all pretty similar, group of folks find themselves in some inexplicable situations that they can't get out of without completing some usually wild challenges. what really defines one from the other is the nature of the challenges, the more unique and roundabout, usually the better. see squid games hype and the saw series somehow still running to this day, 10th one is dropping this year apparently,, Google it if you think I'm messing with you.

In any case the games were definitely unique, I think I really dug it because the game setups were very whimsical and almost childlike in nature but then it turns out the reason the chicken crossed the road was to kill you… the art was okay, the cast was really enjoyable and felt pretty real and not too contrived for the situation like "oh I'm the smartest guy in the galaxy" or "I'm the girl with a horribly timed bad attitude" etc, it was just folks trying to survive and getting wrecked randomly, such is life and that's what I was there for.

Admittedly the end was weak, and it was petering off a little before but yh the end was definitely weak but not to the point of regretting the read. we finally got an up close look at the mastermind behind the whole thing,, though they themselves were also a little disappointing but again not enough to make me really regret reading,, the final face off was close tho… especially after they went on for so long. like I said last season, part of part 1's charm was hitting the nail on the head with story length and not overstaying its welcome, part 2 only got away because the games were so wacky as obvious as the deadly outcomes were…

mayhem grab bag: as the gods say 0, after god, shibatarian

that's it for stuff this month

now older stuff, a lot of the same names as last time but some shifts in order + the grab bags have a bit more stuff and ofc it's split this time

Old Top Mystery:

Soil vs Billy Bat (really tough call I'm sorry)

spoke on soil properly in season 1 ramble 1, it was my top read for the year of 2021, the closest thing to a pure mystery I think I'll ever read vs the real world paradigm shifting conspiracies of Billy Bat, spoke on for the first time at length in season 1 ramble 11 where I focused on Naoki Urasawa, all I'm saying is Naoki Urasawa is a living legend and the moon landing is dubious at best

Old Mystery grab bag:

20th century boys, pluto, monster (Urasawa in general tbh), acca 13, Eden: it’s an endless world, liar game, junji ito works in general, butterfly storage, toilet bound hanako kun, ptsd radio and the ihon series which tied last episode, summer time rendering

Old Top Madness:

Fire punch

chainsaw man is soft. enough said.

Old Madness grab bag:

homunculus, welcome to the nhk, soul eater, made in abyss, cigarette anthology, hellsing, Alice in borderlands, dolly kill kill, junji ito works in general, shuzo oshimi works in general, inio asano stuff ,shigahime, deadman wonderland, takopi’s original sin, believers, gogo monster, alien 9, tokyo ghoul series, to my dearest self with malice aforethought

Old Top Mayhem

JJBA vs Omniscient Reader

I dare any Jojo fan to deny it's chaotic, I want any non fans to do a double take on that title and this young man's figure and tell me you think there are any normal events in this story (spoiler alert, there are none)

Omniscient reader is actually from just this year season 2 ramble 1 new year new worlds,, an isekai,,, manhwa even,, but my first top new read of this year nonetheless, def got v crazy, for less ramble and more words check out the ramble but also trust and just go read lol

Old Mayhem grab bag:

Chainsaw man, Berserk(rip Miura one time every time), parasyte, jujutsu kaisen, as the gods say pt1,terra formars blood lad,inuyashiki, jackals, junji ito works in general, choujin x ,ajin, magical girl apocalypse, bokurano, tougen anki, jagaaaan, origin, raqiya, ddddd(anime), akumetsu top for last seasons

The peak of all this in my mind though is still dorohedoro…

this is literally the first panel of the manga

and yh... that's the ramble 😅😅, thanks for checking it out this far, hope you find a good read o/

#just another day #mm..manga #writeup #the decagon house murders #memories of her...#as the gods will 2 #as the gods say 2 #ps: if you're not into all this podcast stuff the link in my bio has transcripts for every ramble I've ever done #can't believe it was so late but man people sure do love watching tv huh?

3 notes · View notes

strayclown101 · 2 years ago

Text

2022 kpop recap

in light of the new year I've decided to talk all by favourite releases/groups that either came out this year ( I've also included songs i discovered this year), i won’t be including any releases I've already reviewed. in no particular order.

catch & release-H1 KEY: i found this song like a couple months ago and i love it so much, the only way i can describe is if ITZY released flip a coin by BILLIE, it’s so good.

shakalaka - dal shabat: this song is sooo good i love the instrumental it sounds glittery. i wish there were performance videos because i really wanna see the choreography.

forever 1 - SNSD: this song is so amazing, i already have a soft spot for group reunions but this song slaps, i feel like if you enjoyed queendom by red velvet or scientist and TTT by twice this song is right up your alley. also whoever was responsible for the final chorus deserves a raise for the pure amount of emotion in her voice.

designer nct 127: i love this song so much it’s so nice, i love R&B so much anyway but SM’s producers really understand the genre.

copycat - APINK CHOBOM: the vibes this song have are immaculate, there's something so nostalgic about it.

AOA: I've listened to AOA casually but i recently decided to check out their Bsides and they have so many good ones, my recommendations are: cherry pop, super duper, 10 seconds and short hair(which isn’t a b side but still bangs)

F(X): similar to aoa I've always enjoyed their music but i’ve never really dived into their discography besides title tracks my recommendations are: love, chu ♡ , mr boogie, when i’m alone and every bside off the pink tape album.

lovelyz: my recommendations are: obliviate, my little lover, babydoll and dream in a dream.

chesire - itzy: this song slapped so hard in fact the entire album was fire.

baby i miss you - 2NE1:this song is so pretty, for some reason it reminds me of new jeans like if this song was released now it would go to new jeans.

tell me- wonder girls: she bangs idk what to tell you, i’ve started listening to this song every time i do my makeup and honestly it’s changed my world view.

onlyoneof:yeah so i just realised i haven’t mentioned how much i love onlyoneof on this blog yet which is crazy because out of all the 4th gen boy groups i keep up with onlyoneof have one of my favourite discographies, they remind of NCT and stray kids because people kinda shit on them because they have experimental title tracks which is so sad because they have some of the most back arching,toe curling, eye rolling Bsides known to mankind. anyway my recommendations are: coy, fragile, Dora maar, PicassO, instinct, tear of gOd, night flight, seamless mind, gaslighting, skinz, suit dance, sage, onlyoneof you, blossom, libido and savanna.

onf:nothing but bangers, i need all of tou to stop sleeping on them immediatley, my recommendations are: dry ice, beautiful beautiful, my genesis, belle epoque, we must love, summer poem, summer rain, the dreamer and the realist (the trabsition from the dreamer to the realist legit made my draw drop)

sf9: are you are hardcore fan of taemin ? have you been missing his music since his deptare to the milatery? are you a fan of wonho? do you love spider by hoshi, limbo by jun and pose by kino? then i have just the boy group for you, my recommendations are: fire, savour, trauma, good guy, scenario, now or never, summer breeze, tear drop(it sounds like a boy group version of panorama) and their cover of taemins move.

ciipher:are you a stay? are your favourite stray kid songs awkward silence,gone days and get cool? THEN STAN CIIPHER my recommendations are: i like you, solo, fire, blind, moon night, fame, you and stay.

mirae: DO IT FOR DONGPYO but for real my recommendations are: drip drop,juice, killa, snow prince and marvelous.

bae173:please their so good, song recommendations : crush on you, loved you, jaws, DaSH, GET HIM ugh.

TAN:if you like exo or seventeen then stan tan immediately my recimindations are: du du du: beautiful lie, walking on the moon, sing with you and midnight.

tfn: atp i feel like nugupromoter but for boygroups if you like cravity or treasure my recommendations are: asuabalbalta, edelwiess, run up and when the sun goes down.

Anyway I’m gonna end it here, wow this really got away from me, I might start doing this monthly or something anyway I hope you enjoyed this, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! :) bye

#h1 key #dal shabet #snsd #girl generation #nct 127 #apink #apink chobom #aoa #f(x)#lovelyz #itzy #2ne1 #onlyoneof #onf #wonder girls #sf9 #ciipher #mirae #bae173 #tan #tfn

1 note · View note

pastryvroom · 6 months ago

Text

get to know me!!

thank you for tagging me bestie @masonreds 🫶🏻🫶🏻

1. do you make your bed?

yes! the perfectionist in me would be on edge all day knowing i didn’t make it!!

2. favourite number?

3. what’s your job?

currently nothing unemployed life ✌🏻but very soon i think i will be working as a SEND teaching assistant which i cant wait for tbh.

4. if you could go back to school, would you?

no!! i mean a part of me misses how carefree everything was i didn’t have to worry about a thing but i do not miss being depressed! so hard pass. plus i was that depressed i only just passed my GCSE’s which was fun, not.

5. can you parallel park?

i still don’t drive and get my mum to drive me everywhere 💀

6. do you think aliens are real?

i definitely believe somethings out there because you can not tell me we are the only living people and if we are fuck me because we’ve screwed the earth. but if aliens are out there scientists need to leave them alone

7. can you drive a manual car?

i cannot drive, but when i do pass i’ve always said id like to try and learn manual just because if you pass in a manual you can drive both a manual and automatic. but i would never buy a manual car idc if people say your lazy there’s not a chance im faffing around with a gearstick

8. guilty pleasure?

trashy reality tv its just hilarious!!

9. tattoos?

none and i dont think id ever get one either

10. favourite colour?

cherry/wine red. ifykyk

11. favourite music?

idk what the actual genre is but the playlist on spotify that i saved songs from is called sad indie and all i know is artists on the playlist where the likes of lana del rey, mazzy star, lizzy mcalpine, sufjan stevens, joji, cigarettes after sex, boygenius

12. do you like puzzles?

yes, yes and yes!!! give me a puzzle i will have the time of my life! they are so relaxing

13. any phobias?

i mean i dont like spiders but i wouldn’t say its a phobia i just dont like them. but a massive phobia is the sea i am actually petrified of it like if i cant see into the water where my feet are and what they are touching i start to panic like crazy

14. favourite childhood sport?

rounders all day everyday if you didn’t enjoy rounders there’s something wrong with you

15. do you talk to yourself?

yes of course! i literally go to myself ‘get dressed, do my hair etc’ like its actually bad

16. tea or coffee?

see this is a very conflicting thing for me that many people dont get, but anyways i probably am a tea girl because i drink it all day everyday but if im out and its a hot day i will get iced coffee and its the only type of coffee i like i cannot drink hot coffee for the life of me!!

17. first thing you wanted to be when growing up?

a singer 🧍🏻‍♀️

18. what movies do you adore?

any 2000s romcom (because they’re the best romcoms) , horrors and im also partial to a documentary!! fun fact about scary movies i watched IT when it came out back in 2017 and i laughed whenever the clown on screen 😂

0 notes

chicoriii · 3 years ago

Text

Season 4, Episode 17 - Larme Ultime (Rocketear)

So this is a DjiWifi episode from which comes a screenshot I've seen over a month ago (I think). It's good they got it, before season 4 started I really wanted it to happen and to see a kiss between Nino and Alya in it (but that didn't happen and I don't get why, only the main pairing is allowed to kiss in this show or what?), but now I could not be excited about it anymore, because I'm sick of Alya and I'm not able to hide it. Yes, I'm biased, but I'm just a normal viewer and I have right to dislike her favouritism.

My the biggest thought after watching this is that it looks like since Optigami, Alya is not only a deuteragonist, like I said in my post about Sentibubbler, she's actually more like a co-protagonist now. That was an extremely Alya-centric episode (even more than Lie was was about Adrien, as it was mostly Ladybug who saved the world like almost always, also because Chat sacrificed himself again), while in Optigami and this one she has screentime comparable to Marinette. I'm still trying to avoid spoilers (so please, don't tell what's going to happen in the next episodes, I don't want to know), but I'm sure that either 15 or 16 is also highly about her, because we've seen the new Rena's suit in this episode and it looked like it wasn't the first episode with it. But really, I won't be surprised if Alya has lots of screentime in both episodes and all others to the end of the show as well. I don't think Adrien is ever going to get as much special treatment like Alya. :/ The creators have never been as nice to him.

Didn't the writes have enough ideas for another story arcs? And thanks to it they were able to save money, because then creators could just reuse old models of villains more than before. Have anyone noticed that S4 has even fewer number of completely new characters than previous seasons? The scientist seen at the start of the episode has detailed model, so she had to be akumatised in any of the previous unreleased episodes (or one of the next ones). And why she looks a lot like Alya, is she her relative? If yes, you know what that means? Another excuse to make an episode full of the fox wielder, because, you know, it’s not like she already got enough occasions to shine in S4.

Speaking of Rena Rouge's new suit. What a waste, it would be great for a potential chameleon Miraculous, so it seems it won't be ever created for canon. So bad, I think it's one of the coolest animal, so a Miraculous based on it would be awesome. It could one from an African Miracle Box which should appear, since they are planning making an African special. The suit is good and all, but I still feel disappointed that it's not the superpower of a chameleon Miraculous. :(

Why is Nino acting over the top out of nowhere? I like film noir atmosphere, fedoras and especially jazz music full of saxophones (my favourite music genre and instrument), but it looks totally ridiculous when he's like that. I thought it's Marinette's speciality, and he beat her in that category. I'm not trying to say it's a a bad thing, it just feels weird seeing Nino like that. And since I love jazz, I would like to listen to that film noir-esque music more once I got 5.1 audio, since it was hardly heard in the episode. It didn't sound much interesting, but it's too early to judge it seriously.

Too bad they had written the main conflict in the episode using one of the biggest romantic cliche - misunderstanding in which one character see and\or hear something, but not the whole thing, so said character interprets it wrong. Motifs like that are rather annoying, so it's good something similar haven't happened in the Love Square's arc (yet at least). Though I have a big issue with how they write it this season and I'm going to make a post about it (is anyone interested?).

The akuma is one the ugliest and has one of the most laziest power ever. Really? He shoots using tear bullets and does nothing more? I know many people hate Bubbler's design, but no matter how silly it looks, it was much more creative than this.

And of course the whole thing with Alya remembering the whole conversation with Chat Noir was extremely far-fetched. The could think about something more believable, but I'm not surprised it happened, since I think this season is generally more lazy written than previous ones.

On the other hand, I'm surprised that Marinette is actually aware that Shadow Moth should not know that Alya is still Rena Rouge. It seems that the whole episode 15 (or 16) is about they trying to figure out what to do with that problem. I won't be surprised if Alya would do it all by herself like it happened with protecting charms in Mr Pigeon 72, because it's completely normal that a random person who has never met Fu is better at decrypting the grimoire than someone who has been trained to be a guardian to some extend :/ Still I think they should not be sure that camouflage mode would solve the problem completely. From what I understand the new suit doesn’t make her completely invisible to others. Rena could be seen by anyone who takes a photo of her and then post in on the internet (it won't be believable that she's the only one crazy about superheroes in Paris). But at least they tried to do something and Marinette sees the danger to some extend. It’s something new.

It's not like Alya is careful, she's completely reckless (and they think she's a good reporter material? Don't make me laugh) and she still thinks more about her own fun in being the superheroine than safety of herself or the world. But of course, it's not gonna happen, because plot armor is very strong in this show. I really had a feeling that she acted like a little child in the first minutes of the episode. She's unable to see that her situation is not a joke. She should be all happy that Marinette still lets her to keep the fox Miraculous. She really lacks humility and I see it clearly since Optigami at least. Besides, Marinette ignores another red flags, that Alya is taking pictures of herself in the new suit no one is supposed to see and thinking about posting them on Ladyblog (was Bunnix right that Alya is able to reveal Miraculous secrets on her blog because of her overenthusiasm and lack of ability of seeing consequences of her actions?).

By the way, now I think, if Alya can't keep in secret that she's still Rena Rouge from Nino (which happens because it's needed for the plot), so how could she be all fine with keeping in secret other facts like that Ladybug gave her the fox permanently and she knows her identity (which isn't happening because the plot doesn't require it)? She still has to lie on Nino because of these secrets.

They are making Marinette a big hypocrite this season. Since she revealed herself to Alya, it's been shown that secret identities rule was bullshit from the start, but Marinette is still saying that heroes can't reveal their identities to anyone. What? What has she done before like not revealing herself to someone, so how she dares keep saying about how crucial is keeping secrets from everyone? Sorry writers, I can't take that rule seriously anymore since Alya knows and no one should. Because Marinette told Alya, she could tell it to other persons she trust as well. What's the difference between her best friend and the rest of the people in the world? Is Alya the only person she trusts? In fact, revealing herself to Sabine, for example, would be much better choice. She's actually wise and mature unlike Alya and her secrets would be much more safe with her mother.

I've seen Chat Blanc again on TV recently and I remembered one thing Ladybug told to Bunnix there: "The best-kept secrets are the ones you never share." (Google Translate says that the line is exactly the same in the French original). Some episodes later, she isn't thinking twice if she should tell all the guardian secrets to Alya. Okay, she revealed her identity because of being too emotional in that exact moment, but then when she calmed down, she should be able to think if telling all the Miraculous secrets is a good idea. The other hypocritical thing is telling Chloé "you can't be Queen Bee anymore, because Hawk Moth knows your identity" but still calling the other heroes whose identities have been exposed.

So I can't even blame Alya for telling Nino the truth if the guardian herself is not following her own rules. Not to mention, Marinette doesn't address wrong things Alya is doing at all, so no wonder she feels she could do anything, she won't get punished, no matter what. After all, it's not the first moment in which she does something her best friend forbid her.

And we can say the show has been confirmed that Nino is even worse at keeping secrets, especially in crisis situations, so why people wanted to see Adrien revealing himself to Nino? It's obvious that he would tell Adrien's secret to Alya and maybe some other people as well.

I thought that since S3 finale Adrien is supposed to know identities of every backup hero from seasons 2 and 3 and I was ready to be salty about that as well. But yes, actually after purification of Miracle Queen's akuma, brainwashed heroes didn't detransform. They were forgotten completely and we don't even know what happened with them exactly. I suppose Ladybug took their Miraculous when Chat Noir wasn't there anymore.

Adrien has every right to be angry at Ladybug, she treats him so badly, since Alya knows her own secrets and she doesn't even have the guts to admit that. But I'm going to say about my the biggest issue in the Chat Noir and Ladybug's situation in another post, I hope I would write before the next episode airs.

#miraculous ladybug #ml rocketear #ml season 4 #ml spoilers #ml spoiler #ml season 4 spoilers #chicoriii about S4 episodes #chicoriii #original post

64 notes · View notes

nokaru · 3 years ago

Text

I got inspired by all the amazing playlists everyone's been sharing (bangers all around, I've found some of my new favorite songs this way ty ty), so I threw together my own ^^

Of course Torou & Obi inspired!

LOST CAUSE

Just bunch of songs that fit well with their love-hate relationship. It's a bit longer for my first AnS playlist, containing 26 songs with mostly platonic theme, but occasionally borderline romantic (intended or not lol). Overall genre is very Indie rock/pop, so hope everyone can find some song that suits their taste :)

!!Lyrics and stuff under the cut!! OH BOY ITS A LONG ONE

Not all songs, picked my favourites with the best lines

Crazy = Genius - Panic! At The Disco

She said at night in my dreams You dance on a tightrope of weird Oh but when I wake up you're so normal that you just disappear

.... If crazy equals genius Then I'm a fucking arsonist (hey) I'm a rocket scientist (hey hey)

I've Been Dead All Day - Bayside

Well I've been dead all day Could you tell? This is where I leave here and I save myself If there's a God in hell let us pray, let us pray To be cleansed of everything that we've said When I fall asleep can this fade away?

Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked - Cage the Elephant

I said, "You're such a sweet young thing Why'd you do this to yourself?" She looked at me and this is what she said "Oh, there ain't no rest for the wicked Money don't grow on trees, I got bills to pay, I got mouths to feed There ain't nothing in this world for free

.... I know I can't slow down I can't hold back, Though you know, I wish I could Oh, no there ain't no rest for the wicked Until we close our eyes for good"

I Don't Like You - The Wrecks

I don't like you, not your face, Not the things that you say Said I really hate the things that you do No, I don't like you

... Come on why don't you come dance with meYou're out of control Don't wanna see my lose my mind Cause every time I do I make a fool of you

Fvck Somebody - The Wrecks

what do you want my god i just wanna go somewhere without you what do you want my god i just wanna love someone who’s not ya

.... i wish you’d fuck somebody steal my money break my heart say you never ever ever ever ever ever loved me could i be so lucky?

It's All Futile! It's All Pointless! - Lovejoy

You'll never get rid of me Oh, I'm like a fucking disease I'll make a home in your gut 'Cause it's somewhere warm to sleep

All My Friends - The Revivalists

I'm in my twenties, living reckless So turn the hourglass over and let's wreck this It's a brand new world, I got a brand new heart And everyday I make a brand new start

Don't Look Back in Anger - Oasis

And so Sally can wait She knows it's too late As we're walking on by Her soul slides away But don't look back in anger I heard you say

Like A Dog - Ferry

Pity is never a factor When mercy is a sign of a talentless actor

..... And even if it takes you decades, I know that You will come running BACK LIKE A DOG A WOUNDED DOG

Let's Go To Hell - Tai Verdes

Let's go to hell together We can burn forever I got nothing better to do You know that I'm not a rebel I just know the Devil Can't be much worse than me and you

Saint Bernard - Lincoln

Saint Calvin told me not to worry about you But he's got his own things to deal with There's really just one thing that we have in common Neither of us will be missed

Not Your Summer - The Academic

I wanna go, I wanna leave I need some time away from me And this is not an apology Apologies aren't necessary

.... Maybe it's not your summer Maybe it's not your year Maybe it's not as easy for you to walk away and disappear

Wine Red - The Hush Sound

Who shot that arrow in your throat? Who missed the crimson apple? It hung heavy on the tree above your headThis chaos, this calamity, this garden once was perfect Give your immortality to me; I'll set you up against the stars

~ thank you for your attention ~

#akagami no shirayukihime #snow white with the red hair #ans #Torou #Obi #Torou & Obi #playlist #HELLO HI IM LOVINGLY FORCING YOU TO LISTEN TO MY FAV SONGS PLS AND TY #maybe ive over done it with 26 songs xd #i just couldnt leave any out they are so good aw man #I absolutely adore batgirlsays playlists so its like my gift to you that you didnt ask for #everyones playlists are great i deffo recommend checking other ans playlist #making this for myself mainly #Torou my beloved #im again on my bullshit headcanons #disclaimer this is heavely based around my own headcanons about Torou's and Obi's past relationship so dont be suprised #patting myself on the back for these manga screens i found when rereading Torou's debut #ans playlist #wow maybe i do overdo it lol

17 notes · View notes

mst3kproject · 3 years ago

Photo

Santo and Blue Demon vs the Monsters

When I started this blog way back in ancient times, before 'ad 1 of 2' was even a twinkle in YouTube's baleful eye, I really planned to watch more Luchador movies. When I look at my catalogue, however, I've only done three: Samson vs the Vampire Women, Curse of the Aztec Mummy, and Night of the Bloody Apes. Why is that, when I've managed to watch fourteen fucking fishman films? Honestly, I think it's because two out of three were so abysmally bad that I subconsciously wrote off the entire genre. Can't be having that. Time to give Mexico's favourite sport another chance.

Neurologist Dr. Bruno Hadler has died, leaving unfulfilled a promise of revenge on El Santo and Blue Demon, the wrestlers-slash-superheroes who destroyed his career. Shortly after the scientist's funeral, his body is stolen by four zombies and a bald hunchback midget named Waldo, and taken to a secluded castle, where they use equipment straight out of a Gamera film to bring him back to life! With his castle full of monsters and an evil clone of Blue Demon, Hadler sets out to kill not only the wrestlers, but his brother Otto and niece Gloria, who I guess their Mom always liked better or something.

If anybody wants to know, El Santo's name was Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta, and he earned that cameo in Coco. Imagine if Dwayne Johnson only ever played himself, in over fifty movies that were called things like The Rock vs the Strangler's Ghost and The Rock vs the Invaders from Mars, and also had his own line of comic books and became a cultural symbol of justice. El Santo did all that without ever showing his face in public. As far as I can tell only two photographs of him without the mask actually exist, one of which is from his retirement announcement and the other his actor's union card. The guy is a legend. Too bad his movies suck.

Santo and Blue Demon vs the Monsters is basically just a series of ass-kickings, strung together with the barest possible minimum of plot. Before the story even starts, we get ten minutes of wrestling. First it's some women wrestlers we don't know anything about, then it's Blue Demon (Alejandro Muñoz Moreno, almost as much of a legend as El Santo) and three other guys tossing each other around while El Santo just stands in the audience watching. The wrestling looks like a playground fight, lacking any sort of choreography and is filmed like it's meant to be shown on the six o'clock news. The director doesn't even try to make it interesting to someone who doesn't already follow the sport... but then, since wrestling fans are the film's explicit target audience, maybe it never occurred to him to try.

We then move on to the two luchadors discussing the death of Dr. Hadler, in which we learn that they've encountered him previously and thwarted some evil plan, and that as well as hating Santo and Blue Demon, Hadler also hates his relatives. This is all the backstory we ever get. Gloria asks her father why Hadler hates them so much, but gets no answer – later the mad scientist tells Otto, “you said I was crazy!” but goes into no further detail. Whatever prior encounter Santo and Blue Demon had with Hadler, we never hear about it. Is this supposed to be a sequel to some previous El Santo movie I haven't seen? IMDB doesn't say and I am sure as hell not watching them all just to find out.

Because all the time that could have been spent setting up the story was wasted on guys in speedos grappling, we never get a sense of El Santo and Blue Demon being rivals in the ring but best friends outside it. We're told about it, but that's not enough when the whole movie is supposed to revolve around this relationship. Hadler decides to send a clone of Blue Demon to assassinate El Santo because he thinks doing so will destroy Santo emotionally as well as physically, and there is a brief discussion of Blue Demon's 'betrayal', but none of this has any impact because we have never been shown their friendship. I suppose this is another thing that wrestling fans would already know coming into the theatre, so the film-makers figured they needn't bother.

The other reason Hadler needs a clone of Blue Demon is because the titular monsters of the film are a truly pathetic lot. There's a mouth-breathing mummy with a visible zipper in the back of his costume. There's a wolfman and a Frankenstein monster (amusingly, the Spanish spelling of this is apparently 'Franquestain'), both of which look like they bought costume kits at Party City. There's the same terrible cyclops costume from The Ship of Monsters, which looks very much as if it had simply been sitting in a prop warehouse for ten years before these people dragged it out and gave it a quick coat of paint. Hadler has an army of zombie slaves represented by guys in green makeup that doesn't even reach their hairlines. It comes off over the course of fight scenes and sometimes the makeup people didn't bother to do the actors' arms and hands. There's a creature with an exposed brain that hangs around the evil lab and never does anything. And then there are the vampires.

There are three of these – the main dracula-esque guy and two women in lingerie that he attacked and vampirized on the streets. One of these attempts a seduce-and-destroy on El Santo, which he almost falls for despite the movie having established that he's dating Otto's daughter Gloria. The male vampire is a skinny little dude in the traditional tux and cape, who astonishingly manages to turn into an even faker fake bat than the one in The Devil Bat. The fact that the vampire is easily the least threatening out of this entire monster mash makes it downright hilarious that he's the one who tries to take on El Santo in the wrestling ring. Once he puts on his own mask, it's painfully obvious that it's a completely different actor, and the wrestling itself is once again interesting only to those who like wrestling – the rest of us are too distracted by the guy in the crowd who looks strikingly like OJ Simpson.

At least, unlike Samson vs the Vampire Women, Santo and Blue Demon vs the Monsters keeps its creatures straight, and doesn't have the vampire wrestler transform into a werewolf when he gets unmasked.

The rest of the fight scenes are actually even worse. At least the Santo-vs-Vampire fight had some focus. In other parts of the movie, the monsters and the Blue Demon clone just rush into a room and start brawling. The only evidence of fight choreography is the fact that the goons are considerate enough to take turns rather than dogpiling El Santo all at once. The camerawork is no more interesting than in the ring scenes and there's never a sense of a 'story' to the fights. At any one moment we have no idea who's winning or why.

In between the fight scenes, a lot of what we see is just killing time. The monsters wander around and kill a few random extras for no particular reason – doing so doesn't seem to further any part of Halder's diabolical plan, they just do it because they're monsters. El Santo and Gloria go for a drive and make out a little, which is just barely entertaining because Santo is of course still wearing his mask. In Samson vs the Vampire Women we never saw the title character outside of the context of wresting and/or superheroing... in Santo and Blue Demon vs the Monsters we get to see the luchadors being people, but they have to maintain the mystery of their identities. Thus we get ridiculous scenes of Blue Demon hanging out backstage in a t-shirt and slacks with his mask still on. I think we're meant to believe that even El Santo's girlfriend doesn't know his real name.

Nobody in the movie acts like this is weird, by the way, even when El Santo dines at a restaurant with his mask on. Is this something that goes on in Mexico, Luchadors just wandering around in their masks when they don't feel like going incognito, like the exact opposite of Dolly Parton?

There appear to be two different types of Luchador movies – there are the kind like Night of the Bloody Apes that have Luchador characters, and there are the type like this that have actual Luchadors playing fictionalized versions of themselves. Neither actually have to be bad, but I'm guessing that the ones with real Luchadors are far more likely to be, because of the flaws I've discussed above. The fact that these characters come with lore that their fans will be familiar with is a gateway wide open to lazy writing. The need to maintain the mystique makes it difficult to present the characters as people the audience can connect with. Luchador films are for wrestling fans, and wrestling fans only.

Honestly I would much rather have had the prequel to this movie – the one in which El Santo and Blue Demon ruin Hadler's previous evil plan, and which would explain why Hadler hates his family and how El Santo and Gloria ended up dating without him revealing his identity to her. But if I have to have this film, I wish we'd seen more of Hadler's midget hunchback assistant, Waldo. He's not just the Igor to Hadler's Frankenstein, he has mad science ambitions of his own. Waldo wants to experiment on the captive Blue Demon, but Hadler won't let him, which I hoped would eventually lead to Waldo turning against his master and possibly even out-evilling him to become the Big Bad. Sadly, it was not to be, and we barely even see him again. I haven't spent this much time wondering where Waldo is since... well, Where's Waldo.

#mst3k #reviews #episodes that never were #el santo and blue demon vs the monsters #70s #royally lame crummy mummies #you is a warwelf

25 notes · View notes

merakiclosed · 4 years ago

Text

Taehyung - Bunny love

》Pairing: Hybrid!Reader x Single Parent!Taehyung

》Summary: Moving around and trying to find your home that your animal side craved for, you find your love of teaching kids art. Being a rare, albino bunny hybrid, you have to hid your appearance with baggy clothes and hats. What happens when a certain little girl takes a liking to you and what happens when that little girls very single, very hot dad also takes a liking to you?

》Genre: Fluff, a little bit of angst (tiny)

》Word count: 5k

》Notes/Warnings: Fem reader, choking (not sexual), slight harassment for a very short period.

Ah this took me a long time, I couldn't think of a proper ending but I quite like the ending and how it ties it together. Enjoy ! <3

Masterlist | All messages and requests are open <3

Moving around to new cities wasn’t new to you but moving to an entirely different country is. You never felt like you was home, even when you was living with your parents, it never felt right. It never felt like you belonged in your little town, you never felt that warmth of finally finding comfort. Your parents said that it was because of your genetics, that when you find that warmth feeling, don’t let go because that will be your home. It will be the place where you belong.

You are now living in Seoul and you were slowly but surely getting more comfortable. The language wasn’t hard to learn, you are a fast learner after all. You found the perfect job as an art teacher for a primary school and found that your classroom was where your heart and soul was. The walls were covered in splatters of paint, the children’s artwork splayed across the three walls that didn’t occupy the interactive whiteboard. Cut outs and spiral hung across the ceiling like Christmas decorations. Luckily for you, you were only small, so you didn’t get tangled with the hanging artwork. However, trying to get them on the ceiling was hard as you were scared of heights and being at the very top of a ladder was scary.

Being an art teacher meant that you could be quite laid back as you didn’t have to worry about students not understanding nor worry about teaching them about certain words. It also didn’t require the kids to fully think as you often promoted that they should create whatever their hearts desire. Because of this, you found that the kids were a lot more happier and open to you than the other teachers causing you to get side eyed sometimes by other teachers. You just shrugged at them, kids didn’t like to learn and listen all the time, they wanted to be free for a while. You were also good with smelling emotions that the kids felt, causing you to be good with kids in general. If they were sad? Juice box and fruit. If they were angry? Give them some paint and a blank canvas, let them express what they are feeling.

The headmaster liked your teaching style and the way that you were ‘talented with children’ - their words not yours. You also really liked the headmaster for allowing you to wear whatever clothes you wanted, which was good because of your situation. The situation was the big, white, fluffy flops on top of your head and the white fuzzball that was at your lower back.

Yes, you were an albino rabbit hybrid.

Hybrids are extremely rare. Hybrids came about when some crazy scientists thought that they could create a superior race where they were stronger and smarter than humans but were more obedient. The government and animal control was involved with taking it down and not much was said on the news about the whole situation. The government made up an organisation called The Hybrid Move. They basically take care of anything to do with hybrids and make sure to keep track of them so that none of them get taken and get experimented on by other crazy scientists. They were a lovely bunch of people; you knew quite a lot of the employees as you have to keep in contact with them.

Your parents were a part of the experiment, they never talked about it much and you can’t imagine how awful the conditions were. Once they were free, they ended up having you and moved to a small town, outside of the city. Seeing as they were both hybrids, it was inevitable that you were too.

From a young age, they told you that you always had to hide your tail and ears so that nothing bad happens to you. This meant that you had to wear baggy clothes and hats in every public setting and because of this, you had very little friends as they didn’t understand why you wore hats in summer, or why you couldn’t go swimming or go to sleepovers. Many people talked about you behind your back, name-calling was common. It seemed that even if you did hide your animal features, you were still a freak. A group of boys once took it so far, that they cornered you and tried to take your hat off. This then resulted in parents coming in and you being supervised by at least one teacher at every single hour of the day.

At first, you was confused at why there wasn’t anyone else that had ears or tails. You were also confused because, “Why do I have to hide something that I can’t help, it’s my nature?”

This, in turn, led to a conversation about the hybrid experiments that your parents went through and how they are in contact with The Hybrid Move organisation.

It hurt to bend your ears into a beanie at first, but after a while you got used to it, but now, from the years of fitting your ears into your beanie, they both bent outwards permanently at the top. Your tail hurt when you snatched it on somethings, and it killed when it snagged on your clothes. You always wear flowy, long skirts and baggy pants, making sure to cut a hole in your pants and that your top was always long enough to hide the cut. You have a very, artsy aesthetic, neutral and earth colours are your thing.

You live in a little bungalow, the large backyard was filled with flowers, plants, and vegetables. At the very back of your garden, you had a small selection of overgrown trees so that if you do shift, you have your own little hideout where you can properly connect with nature without being chased by a predator. You have a little cut in the middle of your right ear because of a fox. You had to shift at least once every month, otherwise, you get extremely uncomfortable and can cause you to shift in places where you really shouldn’t.

The only downside to your job, other than the snarky teachers was that you couldn’t go to any events that they held. You couldn’t exactly go to a posh event because you would end up wearing a beanie, very classy. And, you couldn’t wear fitted clothing.

You did have two teacher friends, first being Namjoon. He teaches English and has an incredibly beautiful husband, Jin who teaches history. How lovely the both of them are, they are so in love. Jin is so nice, he likes to look after both you and Joon. He often brings in food, of course they were vegan friendly for you. As much as you love Namjoon, he is clumsy and because of this clumsiness, they found out about you being a hybrid shifter.

What happened was, after school one day, you were on the ladders, hanging up some artwork when a loud crash came behind you as Namjoon dropped his mug of coffee. You are scared of loud noises because of your sensitive ears and the mug dropping caused you to shift. They had no words when one minute you were climbing the ladder and the next there’s a white bunny on the floor. Jin went to scream but Namjoon shoved his hand over his lovers’ mouth, causing the scream to be muffled. Joon is as clumsy as he is smart, so he connected the dots fairly fast and quickly went to shut the classroom door and pick the shaking bunny up in his arms. It only took 5 minutes of Joon and Jin stroking and whispering sweet words for you to shift back- Luckily with clothes. After that fiasco and explaining everything, they were very understanding and you three became very close friends, with you often feeling like you were third wheeling.

It was coming up to the end of summer, which meant that you could no longer just sit in the sunny spots of your living room and stay up to watch the sunset. You were excited nonetheless as you got to meet a new set of students that were coming up to their last years of primary. The whole process went smoothly and after a few months, they were well on their way with their current projects.

A little girl named Sujin became particularly close to you, sometimes choosing to stay in your classroom for lunch if she noticed that you wasn’t busy. Sujin had chubby cheeks and short, black hair with a wide, boxy smile. She was incredibly talented and was always excited about coming to art class, always skipping, singing, and dancing. Sujin was also a very curious child, always asking questions. You don’t mind answering them and you don’t even mind answering the ones about your personal life because, who on earth is she going to tell that your favourite snack is strawberries? One day after school she even asked if you had found your ‘prince or princess’. It took you a while to register what she was talking about, but you answered with a big, fat nope, ‘I haven’t found my prince’. After you answered, she just ran off and giggled, a cheeky smile painting her face. You shrugged, not minding her curiosity.

December comes and it’s time for parents evening. You have talked to multiple parents, a few have you scowling as they say how you ‘don’t dress like a teacher’ or that you ‘look too unprofessional’. Whilst you’re waiting for your last appointment with Sujin, you go around the classroom and pick up the swirl cut-outs that parents hadn’t notice where hanging from ceiling, causing them to waft their arms around and destroy some of them.

You stand in the frame of the door once you are done when you hear a very distinct laugh. Sujin comes bounding in, dragging a very, very tall and very, very handsome man down the hall. You can tell straight away that this is her father, his boxy smile unmistakably the same as Sujin’s.

Your mind buffers looking at him and your animal inside goes feral, ‘He could easily protect you; he looks strong and he’s so tall, he could defend you without much energy’. You blink rapidly, trying to stop yourself from jumping on top of him asking him to be your buck. Stupid animal instincts.

You look down when you notice that the man has stopped smiling and is now starring at your feet, to find that your right foot is slightly thumbing the ground. You try to stop yourself but you’re leg ends up twitching and shaking. Ignoring it the best you can, you smile awkwardly but in Taehyungs mind, you look annoyed; you’re leg stomping with a very forced smile. He looks sheepish, rubbing the back of his neck with the hand that isn’t holding Sujin’s

“I’m sorry I’m late, the traffic was worse than I thought”

Once again, your mind malfunctions at the deepness of his voice, ‘please, earth swallow me now’ you thought. You shake your head and mumble to him that it’s fine and you wasn’t waiting that long.

You lead them into the classroom and turn around when you hear Sujin giggle as the man almost runs straight into one of the swirls from the ceiling. You really should have asked Joon if he could have taken them down beforehand. You cover your mouth when you chuckle, his sharp, dark eyes finding yours when he hears you and coughs, his cheeks blushing slightly. You stop laughing and sit down at your desk, gesturing them to do the same.

Throughout the meeting, you say various praises for Sujin as she is a literal angel and is extremely talented. You question the man, that you now know as Taehyung, if there has been artistic people in the family.

“Um, no not really, I mean, I do. I only do art as a hobby though. One day she came home and asked if she could get some art supplies because she really enjoyed your lessons and loved how she could express herself” Your heart hammers in your chest at the thought of inspiring someone, even if it is a child, it’s a massive compliment for a teacher.

The meeting doesn’t last long but you do notice that the entire time, you had a very warm feeling in your heart. You felt comfort. You ignored your thoughts, deeming it to be from the warm classroom.

Just as you’re about to turn back into your classroom, his voice echoes in the, now empty, hallway, “Are you going to Parent-child Christmas dance?”

You pause in your tracks and stare wide-eyed at hm, “Uh-I-Uh”

‘Omg WORDS Y/N’ you thought

Quickly gathering your thoughts, you reply “I don’t usually go”

You see his shoulders sag as his smile falters and quickly add “I might go this time though”

You inwardly freak at your words, what were you thinking??

His boxy smile once again makes an appearance “I’ll see you there than, Ms L/N” His voice showing his excitement

Without a second thought you run to Joon’s room to get help. Oh gosh, what have you gotten yourself into?

On the night of the dance, you’re wearing an A-line dress so that it doesn’t catch your tail and your ears are free as you stand next to Namjoon and Jin who have fake bunny ear headbands on their heads. When you freaked out about going to the dance wearing a hat, they proposed that you just went without a hat. Immediately, you shot the idea down, but they suggested that if you went without a hat, they went with a headband so that you wasn’t alone.

You’re a bunch of nerves as you’re dart across the many parents and children that fill the decorated gym hall. You have to restrain your ears from moving towards every sound that they hear, not used to being uncovered. Lucky for you, many teachers were dressed up in a Christmas themes as you see many antler headbands and Santa costumes.

“Hey, you good?” Namjoon’s voice breaks you out of your trance as you look up at him with your wide eyes.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. Totally fine” You nod your head so many times, Jin thinks that your head might pop off.

“Your ears are twitching, darling” Jin says, going to rub your ears to soothe them, your body visibly relaxing at the administration.

Your eyes briefly flutter at the calming motion but soon shoot open when you hear the gym door opening. He walks in, once again, being tugged by Sujin who ditches him as soon as she sees her friends on the dance floor.

He makes eye contact with you and you can feel your face heat up. You see him take big steps towards you, not seeming to notice Jin or Namjoon who look at the both of you curiously. They step away when Taehyung gets close enough, wanting to watch the interaction from the side-lines.

You both stand side by side in silence until it’s broken by Taehyung, “I’m going to get a drink, do you want anything?”

You shake your head, too nervous to speak, your ears almost twitching.

He walks off as you stare at his broad back. He looked amazing tonight as he wore a flowery coat with a black tuxedo underneath it, his hair fluffy and curly, you want to run your hands through it. His jawline is sharp, and his eyes are a deep shade of brown, you could get lost in them.

Your lost in your head by the time he comes back to you, jumping when he appears in front of you, bending his back to look into your eyes because of the height difference. Even in heels, you only just reach his shoulders.

“I bought you some strawberries, Sujin says that they are your favourite”

Your big eyes stare into his, he remembered? You told Sujin that like 2 months ago. You don’t dwell on it too long as you look at the plastic plate in his hand that is full of strawberries and snatch one so quick that Taehyung didn’t think he’s seen anyone move so fast.

His chuckle causes you to strain your head upwards to look at him with your cheeks full of strawberries. With your cheeks still full you smile shyly, some strawberry juice escaping but Taehyung just grabs a napkin and softly grabs your chin with his other hand and gently wipes it away. All you can do is look at his face, noticing that he has one monolid and one double lid, as well as having a little mole on the tip of his nose.

He doesn’t move when he is finished and just looks you in the eye, his eyes filled with curiosity of wanting to know you more and adoration because he thinks, that he might have just fallen, even if you don’t know each other fully.

Throughout the rest of the night, it’s filled with random questions and you learn a lot about this man. When your both looking at the kids dancing, you see him look at the kids with adoration and care, a smile always present on his face, you wonder why he isn’t a teacher.

However, when you think that everything is going well, it goes downhill, fast.

The music seems to be getting louder and your ears twitch slightly, you feel a whimper wanting to leave your throat at the discomfort. You turn to face Taehyung when you find that he is already looking at you, specifically, your ears.

“I’m going to get some space” you whisper to him, your voice small. You see Taehyung nod at you, still fascinated by your ears.

You walk into the hallway outside of the gym and lean against the wall, breathing heavily. You closed your eyes to try and focus on relaxing your ears from all of the sounds that surrounded you, the music booming, the sound of the AC, footsteps. Footsteps.

You looked up frantically, looking at the man that was staring at you intently, the disgusting smell he gave off showed his intentions. Frozen in place, he came up to you and slammed his hands next to your head. His lips contorted into a smirk as he dragged his hands down to your face and stroked your cheek, “I’ve been looking for you, I knew I would find you eventually”

Your throat hurt felt tight as you gulped. His hand that wasn’t on your cheek slowly caressed your figure, going down to your waist, his grip tight. You let out a whimper when he pulled your right bunny ear, your eyes filling with tears. Your animal instincts of submitting made you shake, both of your ears dropping to the back of your head.

“Aren’t you a sight, little bunny” he stated, his breath smelled like smoke, making you want to gag. Your breathing became heavier as he started to pull you closer to his taller and more muscular frame.

“Hey, what do you think you’re doing” a voice growled, surrounding the empty hallway.

The man that held you turned you around to face Taehyung, one of his arms going towards your neck and the other wrapping around your waist. Your arms go up to his arm around your neck as your nails dig into his skin.

“Aw, the boyfriend has come to rescue the doe” the man snarled at Taehyung, anger radiating off him.

Taehyung’s eyes are sharp, his jaw clenched as he looked at the arms around your neck and waist but softening as he saw the tears running down your face. Taehyung saw red when the man tightens his grip on your throat, he lunges towards the both of you when the man holding you speaks.

“Did you know these pretty things are real?”

Taehyung stops, his face void of showing emotion. The man that held you pulled your ear once again as you whimpered in pain, tears finally making their way down your face. You start to cough when the lack of oxygen gets too much.

The noises and the stress of situation was getting too much for you and it was like Taehyung knew as he made eye contact with you as your ears started to twitch on their own, your tail feeling fuzzy.

The arms around you slip as you shift into your bunny form, the man stumbling slightly which gives Taehyung the perfect advantage as he runs to the man, punching him square in the face. The man hits the floor with all of his weight, his eyes shutting. You don’t have much time to think about how strong Taehyung must be to knock him out with one punch as you sprint down the hall, your small legs jumping as fast as they can to find somewhere to hide.

“Y/N wait” You hear Taehyung cry out as he runs after you.

You’re fast, but Taehyung is faster with his longer legs as he scoops you up in his arms. You kick him with your back feet, trying to get out of his grip but not with all of your force so that you don’t injure him.

“Shh, shh, it’s fine, it’s just me. You’re fine” He shushes and coes at you, calming you down, one of his hands rubs against your fur.

Taehyung slowly slumps down against the wall of the hallway, not too far away from the gym but not close enough that someone will walk down. He is still holding you as you calm down, whispering soothing words into your ears and rubbing your back. You look up at him and all you see is love in his eyes. You sit up a bit more on your back feet, your front paws going onto his chest for stability as you nudge his nose with yours. His laugh rings out down the hallway as you start to lick his cheek.

Taehyung feels a significantly heavier weight on his lap as you shift back into your human form, your legs over his sideways, your right side leaning into his chest and your hands resting near his collarbone. There are still tear tracks on your face as you look up to him with your big eyes.

“I knew these bunny ears looked scarily realistic” he chuckles, no disgust in his voice.

You stay seated in Tae’s lap when you call the hybrid organisation, as he occasionally kisses you head when you choke on your words, encouraging and supporting you. You both sat there for a while afterwards, with his left hand wrapped around your waist and his right brushing your bunny ears. Your teeth clicking together in contentment as no words where said, none were needed.

Taehyung is nearly tackled to the floor when you both walk into the gym hall as Sujin jumps on him and wraps her arms around his neck. She babbles at how she had such a good time dancing and that one of the other girls, Yuna, showed her some dance moves. You and Taehyung laugh as she talk animatedly about it. You move your hands to brush your hands through her hair, gathering it all so that you can redo her ponytail, whilst Taehyung looks at both of you with fond eyes.

“you know, there’s a job opening for another art teacher, the other one left” your voice was soft as you glanced at Tae. His eyes looking straight at you, excitement evident. Sujin joins in, encouraging her dad to start working here. You knew that he would love the job, he is great with kids, and for your own selfish reasons, you really want him to teach by your side. When Taehyung says that he will apply, you feel warmth start to spread in your chest, a wide smile making its way onto your face.

“Daddy, look it’s a slow song, go dance with Ms. L/N” Sujin whispers into Taehyungs ear. She noticed that her daddy was looking at you when you was talking to Namjoon and Jin about something across the hall. Your ears pick up the words she spoke as you weren't fully paying attention to what Joon or Jin was talking about. You didn’t mean to, but with Tae stood there, you couldn’t help but savour every moment that you were near each other.

Taehyung puts Sujin down and walks over to you in wide strides, confidence oozing out of him. A sly smirk makes its way onto your face when you make eye contact with each other, making Tae falter in his steps.

“May I have this dance?” His voice cuts through the convocation Jin and Joon was having, both of them looking at Tae with their mouths open.

“You may” You say shyly, taking his hand.

The both of you make it to the dance floor as other parents fill up the space. You put your arms around his shoulders as he puts his on your waist, the warmth once again coming back and filling up your chest.

“I’m sorry about what happened earlier” you said in a low voice, not making eye contact with him.

Taehyungs heart cracks a little at how small you sounded, “It’s completely fine, I should have gone out with you” his voice equally as low.

You look up at him and your heart beats a little bit faster. You shake your head side to side to disagree with him, neither of you could have predicted what happened.

“Ever since I met you at parents evening, I thought about you ever day. Every time I see you my heart beats erratically and there’s a warmth in my chest that I can’t explain” Tae mumbled, only for you to hear.

You place your head on his chest as you both sway to the music and whisper “I’m the same. But I have, um, something to tell you”

“My parents said that whenever I find warmth, this warmth, it’s where my home will be” you pause, “Tae, I think you’re my home”

Taehyung stops dancing, causing you both to be stood in the middle of the gym, the parents around you still swaying past both of you. You don’t separate from him nor look at him, scared of what he may say. The palpitations in your heart, the closeness and the heat in your chest have your feelings soaring, so much so, that a tear escapes your eye at the thought of him being disgusted by the words you spoke.

He raises his hand to life your chin up to meet his eyes, he briefly looks down at your lips, then back to your eyes, looking for permission. You nod slowly, standing on your tip toes as he leans down, his hand now cupping your cheek. The dim lights casted shadows onto his face, though you could see him perfectly. You can feel the hand that lays on your cheek softly, contrasting with the strong grip around your waist. Leaning closer, your lips met in a sweet kiss, all of your emotions coming to the surface. You clutches his shirt into your hands, tears now fully coating your cheeks. He pulled away slightly, his breath danced across my lips as he whispered, “I don’t think you’re my home, I know you are my home”.

You smile to brightly that it hurts your cheeks, he brings a hand up to wipe away your tears. Even with mascara smudging at the bottom of your eyes, tear stains on your cheeks and bloodshot eyes, Taehyung hasn’t something more beautiful.

3 years later

Explaining what you were to Taehyung was easy, but explaining it to a young girl, was interesting to say the least. It sent her imagination wild when she asked you to shift, she loved to give you kisses and hug you close to her.

You now lived in Taehyung’s house with Sujin, who has recently started to call you mummy. She first said it when you tucked her in bed when one day, your ears stood up to attention, eyes stinging to avoid from crying with happiness. As soon as you got to your shared bedroom with Tae, you flopped onto your side in front of him, instantly shifting to your bunny form. Tae laughed at you as he rubbed your fur and asked, once you shifted back, what caused that reaction. When you told him, he seemed to be as happy as you were.

Both of you are art teachers at the primary school. When you first properly introduced him to Namjoon and Jin, they interrogated him for a least an hour. But nonetheless, the four of you created an amazing friendship group, you could finally be yourself, your tail and all.

You smile at the thought of the four of you having a sleepover this Saturday as you pack your Taehyungs bag. You’re so happy that you get up and run to Taehyung, only to run away from him, giggling like a mad woman, “be careful love” he calls. You turn around and come back towards him at full speed and once you’re a few centimetres away from him, you start to circle his standing figure, your socks slipping on the hardwood floor. His laugh is deep as he catches you around the waist and flops you both backwards on to the sofa, cradling you in his lap. His eyes soften as you start to rub your chin on his shoulder. You relax against his body as you now start to nibble his shoulder. After being together for 3 years, Taehyung is used to this display of affection as he knows what it means – you’re happy and in love.

Taehyung kisses the top of your head once you’ve finished scenting him and pulls you closer together when Sujin bounces on top of the sofa next to you, joining in on the hug.

Your little family was perfect, and you loved it.

494 notes · View notes

newmusickarl · 3 years ago

Video

youtube

Album & EP Recommendations

Is this the biggest, most stacked week for new music releases in 2021? Quite possibly! Here’s everything worth checking out (spoiler it’s a lot!):

The Shimmer by Oscar & The Wolf (Indie/Pop)

Belgium’s Max Colombie has long been Europe’s best kept secret. Now on his third album, the indie-pop sensation has long been selling out arenas across the continent whilst over in the UK and US he barely gets much radio play at all. This is crazy and massively unjustified, as for me Oscar & The Wolf is one of the best pop acts anywhere on the planet right now – and new album The Shimmer is the perfect example of what sets Colombie apart from the horde of generic, commercially-driven artists dominating western airwaves.

If you want to know what makes Oscar & The Wolf so special, then look no further than opening track James – a track I called one of the songs of the year back in March and has remained as such. The story goes the arrangement for the track appeared to Max Colombie in a dream, with him rushing to the studio as soon as he woke up to quickly lay it down before it got lost forever. Now considering how deep and richly textured every inch of this song is, it’s quite amazing it arose from subconscious inspiration. With dazzling harmonies, stunning vocal ad-libs, pounding drums and a shimmering central guitar riff, that eventually transcends into a dreamy, psychedelic guitar solo in the song’s epic climax - it is just pure perfection and easily one of his most accomplished songs to date.

James aside, this album is simply littered with incredible moments, such as the fluttering folky guitar plucks and haunting vocals of Ghost of You which provides another early highlight – it’s just absolutely stunning from beginning to end and certainly one for any Justin Vernon fans. Livestream was the last single released before the album’s release and it’s another gem, offering up hypnotic end-of-summer vibes. Nostalgic Bitch is then probably the album’s most pure pop moment, glistening with 80s synths, funky guitar riffs and a mightily contagious groove right from the outset. The title track is then the most tender song on the whole album, bringing the record to a beautiful and heartfelt conclusion in a hazy mist of flutes, synths, piano and acoustic guitar.

Of all the incredible albums released this week, this is the one I find myself returning to the most, which says an awful lot as you read my thoughts on the other releases below. If you are looking for multi-layered instrumentation, heartfelt songwriting and an album so versatile it works as both chill background music and as a pre-party playlist, then The Shimmer is definitely one to spin this week.

Listen here

Amazing Things by Don Broco (Rock/Metal/Pop/Punk/R&B)

Bedfordshire genre-benders Don Broco have had a bit of a tough time in recent weeks, with news that the physical release of their new album, Amazing Things, will now be delayed till January next year. Thankfully though, they unselfishly decided to sacrifice their chances of charting by giving fans the digital release of their fourth album on schedule, as planned – and it’s as brilliantly bonkers as expected.

With each passing record, Broco seemingly become harder and harder to pigeonhole into a specific genre, with their rock/metal roots expanding out into pop, punk, R&B, dance and just about everything in-between. Amazing Things feels like their most daring, cohesive and masterfully produced record to date, building on the sound they had started to pull together on 2018’s Technology and refining it even further.

From the outset Amazing Things offers up a mind-melting display of genre-defying wizardry, with seismic opener Gumshield seemingly put together by a bunch of mad musical scientists. Driven by an addictive little horn melody, the track bounces around wildly knocking your eardrums for six with its variety of sounds and influences. Lead single Manchester Super Reds No.1 Fan remains a heavy favourite, boasting incredible vocal acrobatics, thunderous riffs and brutal, acid-drenched electronics, making it reminiscent of The Prodigy in places.

Don Broco have been known to call out casual racism in their music and on Uber they do just that, this time turning their attention to taxi driver bigotry. With more neon-soaked synths and scathing metal riffs, the energy, aggression and whole sonic aesthetic perfectly matches that of a foggy, and frustrating, cab ride home. Anaheim is probably the most subdued track on the record but also one of the finest, with bluesy guitars and soulful vocals throughout. Bruce Willis is then just utterly batshit (see video link below) in the best way possible, with a menacing central beat and some proper tongue-in-cheek lyricism.

Although the album tails off a bit towards the end with the final few tracks, by that point Broco have already given you your money’s worth so it’s easier to forgive a few duds. All in all, this one is just an absolute blast of fun and it’s great to see Broco continue to expand their horizons whilst still being able to deliver the goods.

Watch the “utterly batshit” video for Bruce Willis here

Listen to the album here

Blue Banisters by Lana Del Rey (Pop/Country/Alternative)

Having already delivered one of the finest albums of the year in the form of Chemtrails Over The Country Club, singer-songwriter Lizzie Grant, AKA Lana Del Rey, wasn’t quite content it seems. Much like Taylor did in 2020 with folklore and evermore, Lana has gone for a double header in 2021, this week delivering her second album of the year in the form of Blue Banisters. And while overall it may not quite match up to Chemtrails… or Norman Fucking Rockwell (NFR) before that, by anyone else’s standards Blue Banisters is still a pretty decent record.

Firstly, there’s the opening trilogy of tracks that arguably makes up the best three track run of the whole album. Text Book opens the record on a wave of blissful vocals and stripped-back instrumentation, with Lana singing of first loves and BLM marches. The title track is then one of Lana’s best recent songs, an almost acapella track driven by a gorgeous melody and a really stunning, restrained vocal performance. Arcadia then sees her on typically vintage form as the song sounds as if it was pulled from another time, with distant horns and just a gentle piano backing. The trilogy is then brought to a cinematic conclusion with an Ennio Morricone like composition contrasted with a trap-style beat on interlude The Trio – it sounds a bit out of place in the context of the rest of the album but taken as the finale to the initially trilogy of tracks it oddly kind of works.

After this the album still has its moments such as the Miles Kane collaborations Thunder and Dealer, along with Beautiful, Wildflower Wildfire and Nectar of the Gods also having some interesting passages. However, the biggest problem with Blue Banisters in comparison to Chemtrails… and NFR is that it’s all kind of one speed, with Lana mostly sticking to the magic formula that’s made up the bulk of her back catalogue. At 16 minutes longer than Chemtrails… with less fascinating instrumentals and melodies, it does start to feel like a drag at times, certainly towards the back end.

Overall, Lana fans will certainly find plenty of moments in here to enjoy, but ultimately not enough to stack Blue Banisters up against her best work.

Listen here

The Myth of the Happily Ever After by Biffy Clyro (Rock/Alternative)

Needing no introduction at this point, Scottish rockers Biffy Clyro also delivered their ninth studio album The Myth of the Happily Ever After (TMOTHEA) this week. Coming just over a year on from their brilliant eighth studio album A Celebration of Endings, the band have described this as “a reaction” and sister piece to that album, which dealt with the end of life, the end of the world and ultimately the end of all things. By comparison, the band have said that TMOTHEA offers "a fairly positive outlook” but with “bone marrow nihilism” at its core and "a rapid emotional response to the turmoil of the past year.” Where a Celebration of Endings felt like an acceptance of the apocalypse, TMOTHEA is filled with anger and defiance – this is Biffy fighting back but also at times revelling in the chaos.

This is made clear on opener DumDum where Simon Neil aims his razor-sharp tongue squarely at the powers that be through the lens of pandemic failings. Featuring lyrics like “I will ignore, all of the bodies piled up at my door” and “Everything's fake, they're all under pressure, to lie and report, the truth would upset us” along with the most damning “This is how we fuck it from the start.” It’s quite the dramatic curtain raiser that’s followed by the seismic riffs and shouty punk vocals of A Hunger In Your Heart that acts as the shot in the arm to properly kick the record into gear.

From that point on the album doesn’t really let up, with the jittering synths and soaring bluesy guitars of Separate Missions, along with the subdued groove and string-tinged positivity of Haru Urara both standing out in particular. Unknown Male 01 however remains the album’s undisputed highlight, a beautifully melancholic track that combines every aspect of Biffy’s arena-ready sound – guitar loops, piano, big riffs and jittering melodies – into a stunning work of art. It’s a gut-punch of a track, tackling the hefty subject of depression and male suicide, inspired by the tragic passing of Scott Hutchison from Frightened Rabbit, with whom the band were close friends. It makes for a sombre but also triumphant moment, marking quite possibly one of the band’s best tracks to date.

Overall, this isn’t a Biffy album that boasts big singles and huge singalong anthems, so if you go in expecting that you may come away disappointed. However, give it the time and what you will find is one of the most consistent and cohesive records of their career to date, offering the most-rewarding front-to-back listening experience I can remember from them since 2007’s Puzzle.

Listen here

Prioritise Pleasure by Self Esteem (Experimental Pop)

From a band nine albums into their career to an artist on only their second solo album, experimental pop artist Rebecca Lucy Taylor returned with her incredible new album this week under her Self Esteem stage name. Already receiving widespread critical acclaim, the aim for Prioritise Pleasure was quite simple – build on her debut album, Compliments Please. In her own words, Taylor wanted everything to be “bigger and bolder” in the production of this new record, turning strings into orchestras and back-up singers into choirs. The result? One of the finest pop records of 2021, a year where there has already been plenty of great ones.

Whilst I may not be quite as enamoured as some critics, there is no doubting this is a mightily impressive and intoxicating listen, with Taylor exploring themes of love, sexuality, misogyny and toxic relationships across the album’s grand 13 tracks. The lyrics are meaningful, the instrumentation is extravagant and most importantly the songs are just downright excellent.

Hobbies 2 provides a strong early highlight, with its playful drums, groovy synths and wonderful gospel-like chorus. The title track is then probably the finest song on the album, and in fact probably one of the finest of the year. Boasting a euphoria of distorted synths, some stunning string arrangements and more gospel-like vocals yelling the liberating chorus of “I’m free”, it’s an addictive track that will have you immediately pressing the repeat button. Recent single I Do This All The Time is also fantastic, a spoken-word R&B groove where Taylor acts as an Agony Aunt to the listener, offering inspiring advice and words of wisdom. By contrast, the string-drenched majesty of ballad John Elton then sees Taylor describe her struggles with loved ones coming in and out of her life at different stages, showing a slightly more melancholic and vulnerable side of herself.

All in all, there is no doubt this is a towering work and I fully expect this to clean up in the Album of the Year polls over the next couple of months. With Prioritise Pleasure, Taylor has crafted a daring and exciting pop record that has plenty of wit and, most importantly, something worthwhile to say.

Listen here

B-Sides & Rarities by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (Alternative)

Nick Cave & Warren Ellis also delivered their brilliant new rarities collection this week, which pulls together all their best lost gems and B-Sides from 2006 through to 2020. For Cave fans there’s masses of great stuff to be unearthed here, including the stunning Ghosteen off-cut Earthlings with its gentle tribal chanting and transcendent synths, along with Debbie Harry collaboration Free to Walk and the utterly spectacular live performance of Push The Sky Away with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

Listen here

Also out, also great: Tread by Ross From Friends (Electronic) and Sympathy For Life by Parquet Courts (Indie/Alternative)

Tracks of the Week

ALYGATYR by Kasabian

Not only is this the Leicester band’s first single in 4 years, but it also marks their first piece of new music since the departure of long-time frontman, Tom Meighan. With buzzy guitars, distorted auto-tuned vocal lines and a typically anthemic chorus, it may not be the band’s finest track to date, but it does signify a solid return that shows there is life for Kasabian yet.

Listen here

Moth To A Flame by Swedish House Mafia & The Weeknd

Also making their return this week was superstar DJ trio Swedish House Mafia, who have teamed up with global pop sensation The Weeknd as they carry on their recent reunion following almost 10 years away from the spotlight. Carried by Abel’s typically great vocal performance and some glossy production, it’s a fun, chart-friendly collaboration.

Listen here

Electricity by Ibibio Sound Machine

If you’re after a more leftfield collaboration however, then look no further than Ibibio Sound Machine’s new single, featuring production from none other than Hot Chip. With a soulful groove and a funky electronic beat, it will have you up and dancing away in no time.

Listen here

The Drum by Josef Salvat

And finally this week, singer-songwriter Josef Salvat delivered the second single from his forthcoming third studio album, expected in early 2022. With a pulsating synth-driven melody, a neon-soaked 80s tinge and a catchy chorus, Salvat continues his recent hot streak with this latest banger.

Listen here

2 notes · View notes

bi-guy-filmbuff · 6 years ago

Text

My Top 10 favourite movie's of all time...

(The post that no one asked for, but you're getting anyway)

10. Barbarella (1968)

A cult classic staring Jane Fonda as the sexy traveller from earth, on a mission to find the scientist known as Durand Durand. Honestly this film is amazing and so before it's time. It has a blind Angel, a sexy evil queen, and a death sex machine! Its so 80s...yet in the late 60s! Seriously Jane Fonda is such an amazing human whether it's in this or something current like Grace and frankie. She's reason enough to watch this crazy film.

9. To wong foo (1995)

Okay but Patrick Swayze and Wesley Snipes in Drag? Yes please. It's unlike any other drag film I know, especially with straight male leads. It deals with so many serious issues such as homophobia, domestic abuse, transphobia and sexism. It's hilarious and drag is shown in such a true and positive light. Swayze, Snipes and Leguizamo did their research and portrayed the role of a drag queen perfectly. (Rupaul, Miss Coco Peru, Lady Bunny, Candis Cayne and Quentin Crisp all make an appearance)

8. Death Becomes Her (1992)

This film is another cult classic (you'll hear that a lot, sorry) staring Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn and Bruce Willis (with hair wow) Who wouldn't want to stay young forever? It's campy, creepy and hilarious. There's so many iconic scenes filled with superb acting, and the love hate relationship between Madeline (Meryl) and Helen (Goldie) is amazing.

7. The Lost Boys (1987)

This film is everything I love combined into one. 80s punk vampires? Yes. It's so 80s filled with the music, the fashion the hair it's wonderful. A badass gang of punk vampires lead by the gorgeous Kiefer Sutherland vs Corey Haim and Corey Feldman (the two Corey's of the 80s) it's just an absolute masterpiece.

6. Beetlejuice (1988)

Tim Burton is by far my Favourite Director and Writer for film. His movies are what shaped me as a human (human?) Beetlejuice will always have a place in my heart, it's dark funny and so twisted, Tim Burton creates this other world not unlike our own. Just exaggerated. I think everyone loves Winona Ryder as a melodramatic edgy teen yearning to be apart of the land of those who are recently deceased. The use of the Banana boat song is still one of the best scenes in cinema history.

5. Treasure Planet (2002)

Okay yes, don't judge me for having an animated film on the list because this film was literally my childhood. Treasure island...but in space! How is that not amazing? Emma Thompson is a humanoid British Cat captain...again another reason it's the best Disney film of all time. It's so heartwarming and features some really serious stuff, it's classic Disney. I highly recommend this no matter your age.

4. Labyrinth (1986)

David Bowie and his glittery crotch of doom. Another 80s masterpiece (can you tell it's my favourite era?) The music in this movie is superb and the characters created by Jim Henson are amazing. Everything about this movie is magical from the puppetry to David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly's performance. The ballroom scene takes my breath away every single time, it's so romantic yet dark since Jareth is trying to distract Sarah so he may keep her as his queen (Honestly seems like a good deal) My heart does ache a little more since Bowie's passing but atleast he has such a large legacy left behind.

3. The Rocky horror picture show (1975)

A real cult classic, and huge staple for the LGBTQ+ community. I first watched this film at 10 or 11 (probably too young oops) and it immediately became an obsession. This film is part of the reason I'm proud to be who I am today, it gave me so much confidence and pride in being weird or different. Tim Curry is utterly amazing, he is sexy, crazy and talented. Don't even get me started on it's soundtrack, Richard O'Brien is so clever. Using references from other classics such as forbidden planet, king Kong and flash Gordon. Honestly this film started my love of musical theatre and Drag.

2. Sweeney Todd (2007)

Tim Burton appears once again. This film combines my two favourite genre's, horror and musicals. It takes the story from an old Victorian Penny Dreadful of the barber who kills his clients and the baker, who's desperately inlove with him. Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter bounce off eachother so well in every film they do together, Sweeney Todd is no exception. It's dark, funny and poetically tragic. The score by Stephen Sondheim is amazing and so well written it makes the film what it is.

1. The Silence of the lambs (1991)

A true cinematic masterpiece. Everything about this movie is perfection, not only is it my favourite film, it is also my favourite book. The casting of Sir Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter and Jodie foster as Clarice Starling was pure genius. The chemistry between them is almost frightening as if we are truly watching an interview of a well educated killer, by a green southern FBI agent in training. The camera work, the soundtrack, the lighting, everything was so well thought out throughout the entire film. It's one I could watch over and over again.

If anybody actually read this then thank you...

#film #movies #80s #barbarella #to wong foo thanks for everything julie newmar #death becomes her #the lost boys #beetlejuice #tim burton #treasure planet #Labyrinth #david bowie #the rocky horror picture show #sweeney todd #the silence of the lambs #musicals

3K notes · View notes

lily-blue · 5 years ago

Text

CODE Z3RO | CODE 06

characters: BTS & Red Velvet genre: thriller, futuristic au warning: death summary: The twelve most ambitious and promising university students are welcomed in Choego, the world’s first entirely artificial intelligence-driven city, to compete for five job contracts that could change their life. But what if something goes wrong? What if they get trapped? What if the city suddenly turns against them? Can they find a way out before the countdown reaches zero? words: 4,3K tagged: @philosopher-of-fandoms

➼ Chapter Index

In the blinding light of the rising Sun, Park Jimin and Jung Hoseok were walking towards the bridge that separated Choego from the nearest city along South-Korea’s western coast, the one and only exit route from the artificial funhouse where they had been trapped inside. They were tamed lions roaring on a deep red podium, animals that meant nothing in the human eye and it made the younger man’s blood boil hence even without Kim Taehyung being around, the atmosphere that embraced them was cold and kind of suffocating.

‘Aish!’ Jimin mumbled under his nose when the recorded voice on the other side of the call once again informed him about the weak or nonexistent signal and the fact that he was unable to reach the other party until it stayed unstable. His long fingers clenched around the useless device with anger as his knuckles changed their colours from tanned to pale white. The young heir hated nothing more than to be powerless therefore he refused to give up. Taking a deep breath, he dialed his father’s number for the fifth time within the last twenty minutes.

‘What’s wrong?’ Hoseok asked when the engineer let out a frustrated sigh, swallowing back an inappropriate scream that truly scratched his throat now that even his battery was ready to laugh at his face, a few percents from the verge of ultimate death. When the older’s worried question eventually reached the back of his mind, he wanted to kick into his phone, throwing it onto the ground or simply drop it into the first trash can, they might have found in their way to the port. For a passing moment, he wanted to get rid of it so badly to show his superiority over the tool that he almost did throw it metres away but he yearned for the outer world and his mobile data way too desperately therefore he shoved it into his pocket instead. He was willing to give it another try once he managed to calm his tense nerves down.

‘There’s no signal therefore I can’t reach my father nor Miss Raina. This shit really drives me crazy,’ he admitted, not wasting his energy on turning towards the Sociology major who walked a few steps behind him with his gaze fixed on the back of his head.

As it usually happened when people didn’t share common interests nor significant personal traits, the boys were stuck in silence and spent the next twenty minutes with their own thoughts, awkward and wordless.

‘Is he…’ a weak voice spoke up, slowly fading into nothingness as its owner had lost his initial confidence. Park Jimin cleared his throat then stopped and forced his company to do the same as he lifted up his left arm, stretching his fingers wide and putting his palm onto Hoseok’s chest. For a few seconds, they looked at each other firmly, on Hoseok’s part, a slightly confused, before Jimin would have opened his mouth. ‘Well, you know. Is Seokjin really dead? Are you sure, it wasn’t just a cheap trick or something? Maybe they knew it all along. Maybe they assumed that we’ll try to hack the cameras and they prepared for it in advance with believable footages,’ he said and Hoseok had to admit that regardless of the desperation in his voice, the boy’s reasoning sounded pretty logical. The scientists, who had been working on the breadth and depth of this research for long months if not years, were ones of the smartest brains in the world. They must have known how risky the human variable could be. They must have been prepared for everything.

Yet, all he could force through his lips was ‘It did seem believable… those bloody tears and his body frozen in agony.’

Swallowing an unpleasant remark, Jimin let go of the Sociology major and fished his phone out of his pocket to keep his mind busy before it could have gone into overdrive. He didn’t want to think of the possibility of Seokjin being dead. It was too awful and frightening.

So they took the remaining distance without talking which meant another ten minutes in utter silence. The only sound that filled the atmosphere was the younger’s frustrated sigh that left his mouth whenever he failed to reach his father or his decorated secretary. As he clenched his teeth, he couldn’t wait to leave this awful place behind and complain about this simulation to his friends via social media. He had an enormous follower base - handsome chaebols like him were the newest sensation in the industry because young and poor people liked them almost as much as they liked talented actors and idols - and he was so ready to use them, the public to expose how poorly this company treated their candidates. They had clearly no idea whom they had been picking on.

‘What do you think, what happens when someone tries to invade a zone that had been already shut down entirely?’ Hoseok asked seemingly out of the blue although as soon as Jimin lifted his head, he could see the older staring at a thick, white panel on the concrete. It was nothing dangerous, but it did make them halt a few centimetres from the transparent border.

‘Dunno,’ he answered honestly, scratching his nape. According to that not-so-useful map they had found in the computer room with Yoongi, the bridge was on the opposite side of the city which they planned to reach by following the river and then the seashore. Since this damned, artificial city wasn’t on any available online map nor their phones were functioning to begin with, they could have gotten lost in Choego easily in any other way. It was time-consuming but rational. It was their best shot.

Therefore Jimin took the first step towards the abandoned zone and looked at his company from above his shoulder with a smug smile, showing off his bravery.

‘Let’s find out,’ he said and made his features look firmer as he clenched his lips and speeded up his pace. The younger boy walked with confidence regardless of his jittery heart that crashed into his rib cage screaming, begging him to think it over one last time. Because deep down he wasn’t entirely sure that the researchers were indeed clever enough to think about every possible hardship that their project might have faced with in the final phase. Though, he wasn’t a coward and didn’t intend to reveal his fear to someone as lame as Hoseok. He had pride, he was better than that.

‘Be careful,’ the Sociology major asked him quietly but Jimin just shushed him with a scoff and kept going.

The closer his feet got to the panel, the more uneven his breathing became and it was insane, he knew it, but he couldn’t help. He didn’t want to share the same fate as Seokjin if he had indeed died. On the other hand, even the idea of a bunch of creepy scientists in their stupid white coats watching them bleed out in a gas cabin was absurd. Killing a man in daylight during a live stream. How insane it was.

With his heart in his throat, he stepped on the thick line. Nothing happened.

‘See? Everything is just fine. I told you,’ he said with a victorious smile as he waved with his right hand, encouraging Hoseok to follow him towards the sea. Truth to tell, he couldn’t have recalled another time when he’d felt this relieved before and suddenly he felt stupid to feel uneasy and think about death in a city like Choego. Although there were lots of things the researchers needed to upgrade like the shitty signal, this place was the future. ‘Damn. I bet, Seokjin’s already drinking his consolation morning coffee with the researchers somewhere in the headquarter. Dead bodies, my as—’

With the next careless step, Jimin fell on the ground mid-sentence.

‘Hey! What’s wrong? Jimin, what’s happening?’ Hoseok screamed at him as the first wave of shock had washed over him and his frozen body. He ran to the guy paying attention at the white panel then sat on his heels within an inch from the boy whose body was slightly shaking and whose skin seemed surprisingly red like roasted meat. The characteristic smell of his favourite bacon burger made him feel queasy hence he had to lift his hand and held back his breath.

He looked at the occasionally trembling body for long minutes before he dared to touch him with the sleeve of his jacket. He felt hot even through the thick material.

‘Dude, it’s not funny. Open your eyes, you hear me?’ he begged fighting his tears but his voice was faint, barely audible as he stood up and took a few unsteady steps backwards. When the realization finally hit him - that Jimin was dead and there was no way out -, he stumbled and fell. He wished, the physical pain had been the only thing he could have felt. But the dread was stronger and almost unbearable.

‘Shit…’

By the time Hoseok got back to the hospital, the rest of the team was nowhere to be found therefore he ran across the park that separated the abandoned building from the research centre and rushed inside, not caring about the cap that fell out of his pocket due to his hasty movements. He looked for familiar faces on every floor but fifteen minutes later when he eventually gave up and walked out of the electrical door, he was still on his own.

Lungs burning because of overexertion, the Sociology major was on the verge of fainting when a few corners from the green area his gaze shifted from the enormous buildings to a small group of moving shadows. The boy was panting heavily, his clothes soaked in sweat, but he scolded his tired limbs and kept going.

‘Guys, wait! Please, slow down!’ he shouted as soon as he was close enough to be heard, relief invading his aching body as a few people halted upon his plea.

Hoseok almost fell onto his knees when his shaky legs stopped a few inches from Wendy, tears brimming his puffy eyes. Scanning all the remaining members of the team, a part of him couldn’t believe that he had indeed managed to find them before another tragical accident would have taken place in the monstrous city, though they were all alive. Thankful, he gave in to the growing pain and kneeled on the ground.

‘What are you doing here, dumbass? I thought that you’re too noble to team up with a jerk like me. Did you finally realize that you’re nothing better than a dog on your own? All bark, no bite,’ Taehyung asked with his arms crossed in front of his chest, looking down on the grown up crybaby both literally and in a figurative sense as he took a firm step forwards.

Hoseok snapped his head at the boy, lips clenched and palms in trembling fists by his sides. No one said a word.

‘Shut up, you asshole or else…’ he started angrily, eyes boring deep into the other boy’s spiteful eyes. He wanted to prove him and everyone else wrong so bad yet his weak threat got cut off by a mocking retort that had meant to be provocative.

‘Or else?’ Taehyung asked with his left brow in the middle of his forehead, words being cruel on purpose, malice clinging onto them tightly the same way leeches would have clung onto a lively human body. The lopsided smile that took shape on his attractive mouth sent a jolt down Hoseok’s spine. It was cold and terrifying.

A few ephemeral seconds later it was Namjoon who first noticed the young chaebol’s obvious absence or who had enough guts to voice out the question that had invaded everyone’s mind.

‘Where’s Jimin?’ he asked as his long fingers found his girlfriend’s sweaty palm and taking a firm step ahead, his body shielded Wendy from the upcoming storm. Rationally thinking, he knew that he wasn’t strong enough to protect the girl if all hell had broken loose but it didn’t meant that he couldn’t have tried. He was ready to take a few punches if needed thus he absolutely refused to let the girl go even though he was aware of her independent strength. Aish. How much he hated the heated tension between Taehyung and everyone with actual thoughts.

‘Considering this one’s low IQ level and serious lack of essential social skills such as humour, he might bored him to death,’ Taehyung mused out, poking at the said boy who rocked himself back and forth on the ground, murmuring incoherent words under his nose. He seemed so out of it as if he had been in a completely different place and those who were familiar with the common patterns of human behaviour knew that something terrible must have happened. Otherwise Hoseok would have stood up and have screamed at Taehyung’s face for being so annoyingly cocky.

‘He died but it wasn’t my fault. I swear, it wasn’t me,’ he cried out when the silence became too suffocating and vivid memories of Jimin’s roasted body came back to haunt the one and only witness of the accident. Looking at his own shoes, Hoseok couldn’t stop his warm tears from running down his crimson cheeks.

‘See?’ Taehyung asked, mocking, when to his biggest surprise, the Sociology major’s words were followed by nothing but barely audible whispers and a few frustrated sighs. Walking beside Hoseok, he sat on his heels, wondering whether the others had truly believed his story. Had they really thought that this shaking idiot was innocent regardless of his claim about Jimin being dead? Were they really stupid and naive enough to let him stay? It was utterly ridiculous.

The Marketing major was about to voice out his opinion when Yoongi elbowed his way through the mass.

‘Okay, everybody, calm down!’ he said and his steps made a halt a few inches from Taehyung who looked up at him with a frown. To his mishap, the IT guy seemed unbothered by his behaviour. He kept his eyes strictly on Hoseok. ‘What happened?’

The addressed boy snuffed and wiped his tears off his cheeks.

‘In one minute, we walked towards the bridge, more than ready to leave this hell behind for good. In the other, he walked across a transparent field and died. His whole body was shaking due to the electricity and that smell. He smelled like roasted beef,’ he told the older weakly with slightly shaking hands, gaze fixed on the concrete because he couldn’t look neither of his teammates in the eye. Thinking of the chaebol felt painful even though they hadn’t been friends just unlucky acquaintances and the fact that he had to enlighten them didn’t make his life easier. He had long regretted not rejecting this opportunity when his girlfriend hadn’t been accepted by the company. He should have stayed with her and then now he would have melted in her gentle arms instead of him wrapping his own around his figure.

‘Splendid! Who the hell thought that it’s a good idea to set up an electric fencing system in the middle of the city? Are they completely nuts?’ Taehyung snorted as he stood up and turned around. He was pretty disappointed when he scanned everyone yet failed to find someone who could have shared his anger.

‘At least their security system is well-designed and lethal. Choego is promised to be the safest place on Earth for a reason,’ the boy with the dark brown locks said, earning another snort with his irritating comment. Jungkook hid behind Wendy and scratched his nape out of uneasiness when his gaze met Taehyung’s. Obviously, he hadn’t meant that building deadly electrical systems was right but blaming the scientist for everything might have been a bit too much. If someone had attacked the city, these fences would have been useful. They hadn’t been set up to mean harm, not for them at least.

‘Safest place, my butt! I need to take a breather,’ the Marketing major said and turned on his heels walking towards the fountain in the middle of the park with markedly furious steps. He didn’t give a damn when Yoongi raised his voice, giving him a brief time limit for everybody’s sake. He didn’t want to take unnecessary risks just because of some cocky idiot who couldn’t keep his emotions - especially his anger - in control. At this point, he would have turned his back on him and kept searching for a possible way out without guilt.

‘Sure but be quick. According to the pattern, they shut down a zone in every hour which means we have to reach the main computer as soon as possible since we don’t know the order. This zone might be the next.’

Regardless of the distance between them Taehyung couldn’t let the opportunity go and looked back at the bunch of losers from above his shoulder with a smug smile on his lips.

‘Or the one we plan to run into, completely blind,’ he said eager to see their reaction, a pinch of anxiety that could have eased his heart. His gaze shifted from Yoongi to Hoseok then to Yerim who had a hard time finding her balance without his overprotecting brother, shoulder leaning against Wendy desperately. Taehyung smirked. Hell, this was the response he had been waiting for ever since the Sociology major’s sudden appearance. Something alive, something human under the seemingly balanced surface.

‘Could you shut up for once?’ the redhead girl asked with anger although the boy didn’t bother with an answer. He shrugged and walked away.

Wendy pulled the youngest closer and fondled her left arm to soothe her nerves at least a little after the enormous amount of shock that she had received during the last few hours. Truth to tell, the med student wasn’t sure that Yerim would be able to process the pain in the near future or ever. If Namjoon had been the one who stuck in the lab and she’d had to watch him bleed out, she wouldn’t have been able to move on not to mention dealing with the hardships, Taehyung constantly maintained with his pessimistic attitude.

‘Although, he’s not wrong,’ Yoongi had to admit, his statement pushing Hoseok to his limits. The Sociology major’s gaze became blurry while his skin shifted to an unhealthy shade of light green.

‘I think, I’ll throw up,’ he said and not long after he indeed puked a few inches from the IT guy’s boots. After a while, when he vomited enough for his stomach to be empty, all he was doing is retching and spitting up bile.

‘Don’t worry. We’re safe for now,’ Seulgi said quietly earning a confused glance from Yoongi when Wendy pushed him farther and vehemently sat on her heels by the trembling boy’s side with a bottle of lukewarm water in her hands.

Joohyun leaned against a pole, muscles tense and mind in pain from overthinking, while her gaze shifted to Jungkook who sat next to the sobbing Yerim quietly. As far as she could remember, this was the first time the boy acted considerate in the young girl’s presence ever since they had crossed the border of Choego, offering her a tissue and a bottle of water that she accepted with a forced smile and a quiet thank you. They looked lovely but watching them felt surreal and out of place all of a sudden considering the loss their team had suffered. Slowly but surely she had to accept that it wasn’t a silly game anymore. It was very much real, the death, even if some of them still believed in fairytales.

‘Don’t you think that his story is too good to be true?’ an amused voice asked her a bit mockingly and her shoulders jumped at the suggesting question. There was no need for her to turn towards its owner, by now she would have recognised Taehyung’s raspy tone out of a dozen of other voices since he talked too much and never once held back his opinion.

The girl raised a brow.

‘What’s so good about it? That Jimin is dead?’ she asked back as she crossed her arms in front of her chest, trying to keep her nonexistent cool as she refused to look at the disturber. Yet, it didn’t restrain the boy from taking a step forwards, his chest fitting close to the girl’s back. Taehyung leaned near Joohyun’s ear and whispered into it while he looked at the same direction, letting his warm breath to fondle the girl’s smooth skin on purpose. He wanted to make her feel uncomfortable because people in general were weaker and easier to manipulate when they were pushed out of their comfort zone.

‘That he’s out of the game,’ he stated with a content smile and stepped next to the girl, remaining within a close proximity. He chose his words carefully just in case someone had been watching them from the shadows although he doubted, anyone would have had enough time to kill with such an act. The smartass IT guy was busy with taking Seokjin’s place, Hoseok was still throwing up with Wendy by his side and her monkey at her heels while the little girl cried her eyes out like a pathetic child and Golden Boy gave in for his guilt, comforting her after pushing her brother into a grim reaper’s welcoming arms. Oh, and Miss Invisible stuck with being a ghost.

‘What do you want to say with this? That Hoseok killed him on purpose just to get one of those freaking contracts?’ Joohyun asked facing the boy with the devilish smile. He looked handsome in some ways she had to give it to him but his attitude was the one that pecked the girl’s interest. He acted like an annoying douchebag, a cruel one without an actual human soul from chlicé, young adult bestsellers who didn’t care about anyone except for himself and of course the mysteriously innocent love of his life. Yet, he had taken the energy to talk to her dropping the smug attitude and the offensive act. If she hadn’t taken the topic they had been discussing into consideration, he would have sounded friendly as if he had had enough of being the only person in their group without an ally. As an excellent psychology major, she could understand his reasons. People couldn’t be without company for long. It was against their nature. Everyone needed someone, something to talk to.

‘Why not? Do you really believe his story about that accident? The Rich Guy wouldn’t have been so stupid to walk into a dead zone carelessly,’ he stated with confidence and for a sheer moment, he sounded persuasive enough for the girl to keep her mouth shut. She raised a brow and shifted her gaze to Hoseok in the distance still shaking from the huge amount of bile he had splitted on the concrete. He looked harmless like a big crybaby who was too weak to even survive on his own. The assumption that he had killed someone was ridiculous. But weren’t the most innocent looking people the most dangerous ones? They had the ability to hurt others because in their company no one expected to get hurt.

Joohyun shook her head. No, it was still nonsense. She couldn’t let Taehyung to conquer her thoughts.

‘We’re not murderers. You’re insane,’ she said firmly, a part of her ready to turn her back on the boy yet his firm grab stopped her from doing anything hasty. She looked at him, eyes boring deep into his, and clenched her lips, the rosy flesh slowly fading into a single, white line.

‘Don’t talk to me so mighty. I saw you smiling with pure satisfaction after you got that lamp out of the door’s way. You walked away with Sooyoung’s bracelet in your hand,’ Taehyung claimed before he let go of the girl’s wrist and took a step closer. He stood in front of Joohyun within such a small proximity, the girl’s heart skipped a beat when his breath fondled her cheek. The boy tilted his head towards the youngsters and smirked like a wild animal, a predator eyeing his prey. ‘You also let everyone put the blame on Golden Boy when in reality, it was you who killed that annoying girl.’

Joohyun’s legs trembled and became wobbly when she tried to stretch the distance between herself and the boy and also between herself and the crime, she had indeed committed. But back then she hadn’t known that her selfish actions would have caused the mentioned girl’s death. She hadn’t have the slightest clue. She wouldn’t have done it if she had known. She wasn’t a murderer, was she?

With panic in her eyes and fear clinging onto her voice, her shoulder crashed into the pole, chest bouncing like crazy. She hadn’t put the blame on Jungkook intentionally, it had just happened. Why would have she corrected the others when the boy himself thought that it had been all his fault? Why would have given a reason for the others to despise her? Why? It made no sense, all she had done was thinking rationally. It didn’t matter who had left the rich girl behind, she had been already dead. Honesty wouldn’t have brought her back.

‘What do you want?’ she asked, weak, on the verge of a panic attack. Taehyung took a step backwards to let her breathe. Such a nuisance.

‘The same as you. One of those freaking contracts as you said,’ he informed the girl with his gaze on her fragile figure. Well, he obviously hadn’t assumed that his words would push her towards the edge. Yet, he kept going. ‘And darling, there is no such thing as too high price for it.’

With that, he walked away, not giving a damn about Joohyun who had to hold onto the pole and go on her knees to set herself free from the burdens of suffocation. She counted to ten, to thirty, to one hundred. She counted until her breathing became even and Yoongi’s well-calculated plans put an end to their compulsive break.

➼ VII. chapter

#code zero #bts scenario #red velvet scenarios #ssbyme #thriller #futuristic au #taehyung's attitude is so annoying that i could punch him in the face whenever he speaks up #but he has a strangely alluring personality #like i enjoy both the writing and the reading part quite much when he speaks up #i don't say that he is my favourite character but he is in the top 3 #give this story a lot of love #it's so good #it amazes me everytime

3 notes · View notes

madamewriterofwrongs · 5 years ago

Text

Rules: Answer ten questions, come up with ten questions of your own, and tag ten people.

I was tagged by @letmetellyouaboutmyfeels and I need some creative stimulus so here we go.

1. If you were an ice cream flavor, what flavor would you be and why?

Tiger! Orange and Licorice. An acquired taste with some common and yet sharp flavours.

2. What is your favorite mashup of genres? Like space cowboys, or a musical sitcom set in fantasy Medieval times (yes, I’m referencing two TV shows, bonus points for guessing what they are).

I mean Galavant will forever be a masterpiece. It was clever, creative, entertaining. The consistent output of bops. Alan Menkin is one of my favourites because of his simple yet memorable tunes. Plus the actors were spot on. Amazing!

3. You get to solve a mystery as the partner of a fictional detective of your choosing. Who is it and why?

My gut says Nancy Drew. She’s not overly dramatic. She solves every crime. One of us would have to change our ages otherwise I’m that weird adult who’s hanging out with the cool teenagers. (I refuse to acknowledge the new series).

My runners-up would be Jessica Fletcher or Phyrne Fisher. They would both take me under their wing as the poor naive lamb and I would hold their bags while they solved crimes and not panic when I got kidnapped because I’m the detective’s sidekick.

4. There are a bunch of wacky chocolate combinations out there. Chocolate bacon, etc. What outrageous chocolate-and-other-item combination is inexplicably delicious to you?

Chocolate and dried cranberries. Not that crazy. HOWEVER. Goldfish and Nutella is delicious. Sweet and salty, baby!

5. You are thrust back in time and are now in the Golden Age of Piracy! Choose which pirate captain’s crew to join. Who do you pick and why?

Gotta go with Black Sam Bellamy. Robin Hood of Pirates. Beloved by his crew. I could happily sail the seas in disguise for a few years. Take his gold when he dies. Got bills to pay.

Which god or goddess of ancient times is your patron? And why?

Not my patron but I do adore the goddess Nike and her gorgeous wings.

Actually, the house I follow is Vesta, the roman goddess of the hearth and home. A devout virgin, her priestesses were famous in their time. She is the representation of domesticity and tranquility. There’s also deep-rooted tradition and routine involved. She also loved fire so...

Congratulations, you are now a siren! You can lure people to their deaths by singing. What is your song of choice?

Come to me. I’m a great listener. I know you have something on your mind. Tell me all about it.

A movie of your choice gets remade to your specifications or gets a sequel. Tell us all about it!

The Court Jester. An updated production with the same style of comedy. To see a brilliant group of contemporary actors execute golden age timing and physicality would introduce a whole generation to that style. The verbal sparring with hardly a moment to breathe. The completely ridiculous slapstick but it feels so smooth and natural. Danny Kaye swinging in to Angela Lansbury’s room with a rose in his mouth. The vessel with the pessel! The snaps! I don’t even know who could do it off the top of my head but I would love for more people to appreciate this movie.

Apparently turning movies into musicals is a goddam thing now. So are ‘jukebox musicals’ where you take the works of a singer and use them to make a musical. To add to this plague upon earth, you get to pick a movie to turn into a musical or make a jukebox musical using one singer’s songs. What movie/singer are you picking?

Hear me out: Burlesque the Musical. It’s already got a bunch of songs but make it a full two-act musical. Has the feel of fosse but with a contemporary setting. Strong, mostly female cast.

I may or may not have gotten drunk with my friends once and designed this whole show.

Two-story scaffold set (the dressing rooms are up top and the “stage” is on the bottom). And everything is climbable. Otherwise, you need a bar, a bed, and a couch for set. The rest is chairs and handheld props. The costumes are fairly simple to construct though there are quite a few costume changes. Add a few more burlesque numbers. Add a few dramatic ballads. One or two more dance montages and you’re golden.

I REALLY WANT THIS TO HAPPEN!

You’re getting your portrait painted because you are Tres Fancy. Which famous artist are you choosing to paint your portrait? You can pick anyone throughout history.

Jan Van Eyck. Loved the details but not so much that I couldn’t be painted in a favourable light to show my neighbours and please the church. Plus I love the muted colours and I could sit on my knees the whole time - would hate to stand for that long).

AND NOW MY QUESTIONS!

You are being held by mad scientists because of your one unique knowledge-base. What do they need your help on?

You are a deity and a devout follower uses three objects to summon you. What are those three objects?

What flavour (I am Canadian, this is the correct spelling) of M&M are you?

What one historical figure would you live with for a year?

What book kept you up at night as a child (in whatever context that means to you)?

Your life is suddenly a musical. What band/singer is your jukebox style?

What is the most realistic dream you’ve ever had?

You save a faerie and they grant you one wish. What is it?

You find and open Pandora’s Jar but at the bottom is not Hope. It is...

How would you fake your death?

And I am tagging… @captainofthefallen @regardingourlifechoices @aglimpsofthestars @letmetellyouaboutmyfeels @acting-nerdy @ellkat23 @wingedkiare @cynditefft @caffeinewitchcraft @gelbmantrees. If you want, of course!

#cj answers things #about me #10 questions

2 notes · View notes