#not shaming theorizing at all there's some cool ideas going around

[bugsbenefit]

ngl seeing everyone clutch onto one(1) photo and then "speculate" on it is hilarious because everyone is coming to "conclusions" and they're all contradicting each other asdfajas. just with the Finn pic today alone, i've seen people say he looks "older"? (not shit they didn't film for a year) so it has to be a time skip past 1987? (no idea what the reasoning for that is supposed to be other than that the actors look different than 1 year ago), i've seen people explain it could be a flashback to pre s4, i've seen people say it's a "byler win" for some reason?? and so on and on

not shaming at all but also holy shit i need everyone who's feeling "we lost" about something to shut up right now, no one can even agree on what they're seeing in a photo, i Assure you whatever you're upset about happening has a less than 5% chance of actually happening, it's a still image my man

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

Top 5 Missed Opportunities in 400 Days

Hey, remember when TWDG Season One ended and we were a group of emotional messes? Remember when Season Two was announced and we were gonna get a DLC to bridge S1 and S2 together and we were extra excited for everything to come? Because I do. 

To be fair, I truly did enjoy 400 Days when it first came out years ago, and it’s not like I hate it now or anything... I just can’t help but look at it and see wasted potential on every level-- the characters and their development, the stories, the impact our choices made for the future...

The concept of 400 Days-- a collection of stories that follow different protagonists and the situations they find themselves in within the zombie apocalypse that eventually connect to one another-- is a great one. I love the idea of mini-episodes that are all connected, and one choice you made in one episode affects the next episode you play... so what happened? Why does it fall flat now when we look back on it?

Well, a major reason for me is the fact that all four seasons of the main game are complete. When 400 Days came out, we didn’t have S2, so we didn’t know what our choices meant. That lead to us theorizing about what would happen if we got everyone to go with Tavia, or what would happen if no one but Bonnie went. Why was Bonnie the only one who agrees no matter what? What could that mean?

And we have those answers now, and it’s a let down... especially when it could’ve been so much better. That’s what I wanna talk about today. I wanna talk about what I think are the biggest missed opportunities in 400 Days. 

5. Giving Shel and her dumb sister actual personalities

Of all the stories you can play in 400 Days, Shel’s episode is probably the worst due to the fact that she and her dumb sister lack any memorable qualities or personalities.... which is such a shame because this story also has one of the more interesting moral dilemma’s. 

In this story, you play as Shel who is surviving in the diner/gas station with a group that consists of some of the cancer patients from S1. Remember them? They were with Vernon and helped him steal out boat? Yeah, they got away and apparently Vernon died and the group feel apart over the damn boat, but you don’t get much more than that. 

Shel has this dumb sister who I can’t be bothered to remember her name because she’s that bland. Her sister is basically Shel’s personality. Take away her sister, and you’re left with nothing. 

They’re going for the “Oh man, I don’t know what this world is doing to my dumb sister, it’s changing her, I don’t want her to have to do things like murder, I want her to have a normal childhood,” but that falls flat when they don’t give me a reason to care about them in the first place. 

Like I said, the moral dilemma for this one IS interesting-- They catch someone who tried to steal from them. The man is injured pretty bad, and he can’t speak English, so there is no way for them to communicate with him. Roman, the dude who acts as the leader of our group, says that they can’t keep him here but they can’t send him back out there... and that means killing him. 

So what do you do? Do you risk it by giving this man a second chance, give him some food and send him on his way and hope he doesn’t come back and do more harm? Or do you kill this man so that there is no risk in him coming back to do harm? 

And you as Shel are the swing vote. That’s not an easy choice to make, plus you gotta think about how that choice is gonna affect your dumb sister?

Except it doesn’t really matter.... at all. No matter what you do, Roman still cracks down and wants to murder another member of the group who tries to escape, Shel’s dumb sister is still a brat who talks big but never does anything, and Shel is still a stale piece of white bread. 

If they wanted us to care, then give Shel something other than her sister. Maybe they could’ve had her be someone who doesn’t really have a backbone, she tries to avoid conflict and is intimidated by Roman, she doesn’t speak up even when she should, and then her dumb sister could be the opposite-- Loud, take charge, wants to get more involved with protecting the group, isn’t afraid to stand up to Roman which causes him to take her under his wing and wanna turn her into a murder baby... which Shel definitely doesn’t want so what could she do to keep her dumb sister away from him? 

If they wanted to tell the story of a woman worried her sister is going to grow up cold and ruthless because of the world around her, then tell that story. Show us that story, show us what happens when you agree to kill the man and now her dumb sister genuinely believes that murder is an easy solution to their problems, so when it comes to the woman who escaped, the dumb sister volunteers to kill her and Roman lets her... and you as Shel gotta decide if you wanna fight that by running away or just let it happen. 

I dunno man, but Shel’s story is my least favorite of the bunch because I have no reason to care about either of them, and that’s a waste. 

4. Nate’s a shithead so they should’ve used him more

Well, hello again, Nate... we meet once more here on T5F. 

So yeah, I’ve talked about this crazy bastard on a previous list about characters no one likes, so you’re probably wondering why I’m saying that he should’ve been around more.

That’s the thing, I hate Nate. He’s gross, he’s brutal, and he’s uncomfortable with those crazy eyes of his... but he would’ve made for a fun antagonist in more of 400 Days, as well as in S2. 

Depending on what episode you play first, Nate can either first appear in Wyatt’s story, or Russell’s. In Wyatt’s story, Nate is chasing down him and Eddie after Eddie accidentally killed a guy who was with Nate, and Nate here is chasing them down for some revenge. He eventually finds them, and who ever is left in the car as no choice but to flee, leaving the other behind. 

Nate plays a more active part in Russell’s story, picking him off the highway and chatting with him on the way to the diner/gas station, and y’know how Shel has no personality? Well, I think I know where all the personality went because Nate’s got quite a bit of it. He’s one of the more memorable parts of 400 Days for a reason. He has a weird charisma about him, but then he starts talkin’ gross and almost gets Russell’s face eaten off by a walker and you get the idea that this man isn’t quite right, y’know?

Then we make it to the diner/gas station where they get shot at, and Nate insists on finishing this... as in, let’s go in and shoot whoever is shooting us. They sneak in, and the old man there says Nate is back to finish the job... which isn’t great. Nate acts like he doesn’t know what he’s talking about, but then suggests they kill the old couple using a line from the story Russell told her.... y’know, the story that’s kinda triggering for Russell. 

At this point, Russell can either tell Nate off and leave, or he can stay where Nate will kill the couple right in front of him and claim that Russell is his boy and it is not great.

We know that either way, Russell gets away from Nate. We never see him again so he could be dead, turned, or alive. All I can think about is the fact that they created the beginnings of a compelling antagonist who could’ve bled over into S2 at Howe’s or even afterward. Like if we showed up at Howe’s and were locked up, only to find Nate locked up with us. Or maybe instead of Arvo, Nate could’ve been the one who stumbled upon Clementine and Jane and was overpowered and threatened by them... only for him to stalk them and confront them about what happened. 

Either way, there was a missed opportunity to do more with Nate. 

3. Focusing on the wrong things within Bonnie’s story

Alright, everyone’s favorite: Bonnie. 

Bonnie is the only character in 400 Days who actually matters in terms of S2... and even then, her story doesn’t matter too much...which is dumb. 

For me, Bonnie’s story is such a waste... like okay, right from the start they establish that Bonnie is a recovering addict, and I’m intrigued. The idea of an addict surviving in the apocalypse while trying to kick the stuff is interesting as hell.... but the story kinda just glosses over it unless Dee is insulting Bonnie by calling her a junkie. 

No, the story we got was Bonnie breaking up a marriage. Great. 

There’s this dude Leland who has a wife, Dee, but he and Bonnie are getting awfully snug with one another... so that’s real nice. Dee eventually finds them giving each other the look and breaks it up in a passive aggressive way before revealing she found a bag of supplies. This happens to be a bag that she “found” at the diner/gas station where Shel’s group is currently staying. 

An argument breaks out between Leland and Dee with Bonnie in the middle and it’s not compelling at all. You can just sit there and do nothing and it doesn’t matter, they continue to fight until Shel’s group spots them and they gotta run. 

Bonnie ends up shot and falls behind, and we do get a cool scene where she has to make her way through this cornfield without getting caught. I do like that bit, it’s fun. 

But then she gets away, grabs a weapon, and hits someone walking up on her... that someone happened to be Dee. Whoops. Dee calls her a junkie, saying she killed her, and then dies.

Now comes the big choice: Do you tell Leland the truth or lie to cover your ass?

While this is an interesting choice on paper, it doesn’t matter. Leland isn’t with Bonnie in the end no matter what, and Bonnie will always agree to go with Tavia. 

Personally, I wanted the fact that she was a recovering addict to be more front and center. Throw Leland and Dee away, have Bonnie travelling on her own. Have her going through withdrawals, show us her struggle of still being hooked on drugs while surviving in the zombie apocalypse... have her stumble across Shel’s group and from a distance, she sees they have medical supplies. She’s so desperate that she sneaks in at night and steals as much as she can, but gets caught. 

We could still have her running away through the cornfield with the drugs, she can still get shot and everything... but maybe she’s so desperate for them that she ends up killing one of Shel’s group members, and she sees just what she’s willing to do in order to get these drugs, and you can make a choice of abandoning the drugs and quitting, or taking the drugs and running away... and it could actually affect Bonnie in the ending and into S2. 

Plus, her killing one of Shel’s group would help add to the debate in her episode, y’know?

I just... I wanted that story... not what we got. 

2. The past is more interesting than the present

This goes hand in hand with #3, but applies to almost everyone else. 

All of these characters that we get to play as have more interesting backstories that I was more compelled by than what they’re actually going through in their stories. 

The first time we meet Vince, he straight up murders a dude who is pleading for his life, saying he doesn’t even know Vince’s brother. Like... okay, what the hell happened here? What happened to Vince’s brother that made her commit murder like that? 

How about Wyatt and Eddie? They’re running from Nate after Eddie killed the guy he was with. They’re panicking, Eddie is covered in the dude’s blood, Wyatt doesn’t know if Eddie meant to shoot or not. You can tell they’re known each other a long time, too. They’re a couple of stoners who got themselves into hot water. 

Oh and Russell? His story is interesting as hell! He was in a group where the main guy kept going on about how seven if the perfect number for a group, ya can’t break seven, and this group eventually started killing so they could steal, so Russell got away and is now on his way to find his grandmother’s place. 

Once again... Bonnie is a recovering drug addict in the apocalypse. 

The only one without an interesting backstory is Shel... which I guess is fitting. The boring character doesn’t even get a fun backstory, she just exists. 

It’s not a good sign when I’m more interested in the past, y’know? Vince’s I can give a bit of a pass to because he killed that guy before the apocalypse broke out, and his dilemma takes place right at the start, and it’s done pretty well. 

Everyone else though? I already explained Bonnie’s, but what about Russell and his seven group? We could’ve gotten that story of a group that starts out good, the guys gives his philosophy on the dumber seven, Russell meets that one girl... but then things start to grow dark when the group starts to become desperate enough to murder and steal, the guy keeps going on about the number seven so they can’t invite anyone in, and they can’t let anyone go... so Russell has to sneak away or something. 

Wyatt and Eddie? Show ‘em there when Nate and his buddy show up. Give us the tension of “are these guys chill or are they planning something?” when Eddie gets into a fight with the other dude and ends up shooting him, Nate gets pissed, and they gotta flee. Wyatt doesn’t know if Eddie shot him intentionally or not, it’s a whole, thing and they can still hit the cop and do that whole thing, too. 

I just... I think problem is the stories were a bit too compact and short, not giving the characters a chance to develop or the stories enough compel to them. 

1. It doesn’t matter who goes to Howe’s or not and that’s dumb

Sigh..... so yeah, obviously this is #1. 

My biggest problem with 400 Days is that is doesn’t affect much. Even Bonnie’s story doesn’t affect what she does in S2.

As for the rest, if you only got Bonnie at Howe’s, then the rest and their fate’s are unknown. But if you do manage to get everyone to go with Tavia, they are at Howe’s... the problem is, they show up in small cameos that literally do nothing. 

Ya got Wyatt who walks past Clementine like “Dude you better hurry, Bill doesn’t like to wait” like.... what, am I just supposed to get excited and point at him like “oooohhh I know him! I know him! That Wyatt! Hehehehe!” because I didn’t do that...

Or Vince randomly showing up to catch Tavia smoking, or Shel and her dumb sister making a comment about Sarah, it’s just dumb. 

And then Howe’s falls and their fates are left unknown anyway.... so it didn’t matter. 

I’ll just say what most of us were thinking.... Why weren’t they the cabin group? No, seriously, why weren’t the 400 Day’s crew the cabin group? Because it was too hard given the fact that there are so many combos? That’s fair, but if that’s the case, then what was the point of 400 Days?

Did they just want to tell a bunch of smaller stories within this world but never actually planned on using them outside of fun cameos in S2, with the exception of Bonnie? That probably is the case... and I think my disappointment in 400 Days does stem from being in the fandom at the time and getting hyped to see what they would do with these characters, only for it to be this. 

Not only that, but then I started to think about how they could’ve done with game but with the actual cabin group from S2. Luke, Nick, Pete could’ve had their own story dealing with Nick’s mom getting bit after they took in a bite victim. 

Rebecca and Alvin could’ve had a story about their marriage kinda falling apart despite them trying hard, and this could help make her affair with Carver make more sense. 

Carlos and Sarah could have a story that explains Carlos’ over protectiveness and as well as explore Sarah as a character. 

Hell, give Mike a story. 

Give JANE a story about her and Jaime so that her appearing outta no where isn’t jarring, and develops her and the reasons she treats survival the way she does.

There was so much they could’ve done with this idea... and to be honest, if we ever get another game in this series, I would love it in this style but expanded into a season where each episode follows a different character and tells a different story, but in the end they all end up connecting. There is SO MUCH you can do with that!

But alas..... 400 Days for me is full of missed opportunities and I wish it wasn’t. 

---

Honorable Mentions

-Eddie only appeared in Wyatt’s episode and then disappeared until his death in S4.... Eddie’s great, should’ve been around more. -Would’ve been nice if the cancer group from S1 was expanded on, give more context to what the hell happened to Vernon and the boat, y’know? -a bit more development for Tavia would’ve been nice, as well... she just kinda shows up at the end and recruits who she can. 

---

So what are your thoughts on 400 Days? Do you agree with these missed opportunities, or have any to add? Lemme know, it’s always fun to chat.

Have any suggestions for future T5F’s? Feel free to send ‘em in! :D

Next week’s T5F Top 5 Reasons Gabe’s Pretty Great, Y’all Are Just Mean

[fizzingwizard]

Episode 46! Battle-heavy, but pretty good. You could feel the stakes, and we got a pretty big reveal about one of the characters. It’s one I think a lot of us had already theorized about 30 episodes ago ^^; and I think it’s kind of a shame more hints weren’t seeded along the way... but that’s the way this show works. However, it’s pretty cool to have it confirmed finally.

Pic of the day:

Though he’s not the main character this episode, I’m a sucker for Taichi using his telescope.

More below!

We continue to aimlessly travel. Alright, we have an aim: destroy Millenniumon’s fragments. It just feels a bit aimless :P

Curtain opens with Jou getting carsick. The girls loudly egret the seating arrangement.

Turns out these Vademon cult members of Millennumon’s are still in the picture. Totally forgot about them. They’re still mega creepy

Jou goes to get some fresh air and Gomamon adorably rubs his back for him ;_; As someone who also tends to get a bit nauseous on bumpy car trips, I’m actually very much on Jou’s side right now :P it sucks. Of course, living in Japan, I pretty much never have to travel by car anymore. Big plus.

Jou sees a straight “green moon” (really, Jou?) and the kids go out to investigate. The huge green ball in the sky then abducts half the team in a ray of light.

“Oniichan! This is why mama tells us not to open the door for strangers!”

Taichi, Yamato, Koushirou, and Takeru wind up inside the ball, which turns out to be Sephirothmon. Another old Frontier fav!

Sephirothmon reads their data one by one and sends clones of Digimon whose data he’s absorbed to attack them. He can apparently materialize as many Digimon as he wants and the group are soon outnumbered.

This is a pretty cool battle setup, however, you can forget about everyone besides Takeru after this point. The battle is just a backdrop. A bit disappointing, since a Taichi/Yamato/Koushirou team-up is high on the list of Things I’d Like To See. But Sephirothmon looks like he’ll continue to be important later on, so the fact that half the team were absorbed in this episode probably does matter to the plot.

Put on yer fight face! Grr!

Pictured: Takeru’s fight face

Angemon under his helmet: -___-;

When Sephirothmon reads the other Digimon’s data, their reflection appears dark and shadowy in the green stone. But Angemon’s reflection is full color. It fluctuates and suddenly morphs into...

Devimon!

Takeru and Angemon figure out quickly that this Devimon is different than the other Digimon clones (which is expressed, I’m sure, by the difference in Angemon’s reflection as well). Rather than being a clone, he seems to be too much like the real thing.

Outside, the others try to rescue their friends, but are hit with attacks from MetalGreymon and WereGarurumon through Sephirothmon.

Devimon taunts Angemon, calling the Chosen Children a “curse” because their evolution and their mission is tied to them. Angemon argues back that Takeru is not a curse, but Devimon’s words seem to have more of an effect than you’d think. Then Angemon reveals that Devimon is actually a part of himself, the darkness and depression he fell into after the great war.

So... yeah. We had a few ideas about Devimon in relation to Angemon, but it wasn’t clear if the show would really take it that far or not. They did something similar with Tailmon and SkullKnightmon, so it’s no surprise that they’ve circled back around to reveal this about Angemon and Devimon as well. At this time, I’m not totally sure how I feel - I do like that they’re complicating what had been a typical “Good vs Evil” type crisis very much though. We can say that our enemies are also our friends, to a degree. It’s somewhat less poignant because Millenniumon is still the mastermind behind all of it and so far he appears to be pure evil. On the other hand! We’ve seen very little of Millenniumon. He’s more an elusive shadow, like Sauron. The way Devimon and SkullKnightmon are connected to the Holy Digimon may indicate there’s more to the story of Millenniumon this season than meets the eye.

Devimon multiplies over and over, until he’s able to drag Angemon down and submerge him in darkness.

Despite his resistance, Angemon starts to transform into Devimon... and then Devimon’s evolutions. My one thought at this time was that Takeru didn’t seem quite freaked out enough :P I mean, look at all those eyes:

Takeru gets a lovely moment where he says that he believes in Angemon, which I honestly liked. His belief rejuvenated Angemon enough to break from Devimon’s hold.

He’s quickly able to destroy the copies and appears to absorb Devimon’s essence into his fist. He then evolves to HolyAngemon and makes short work of breaking everyone out of Sephirothmo xP Deus ex machina Holy Digimon should be no surprise and yet I’m always disappointed by it.

Pictured: Beauty pageant winner who drank too much at the afterparty

Sephirothmon is not totally defeated, though. He first reproduces by dividing into two and then flies off to join the rest of his cells in the sky.

Everyone is mega impressed by HolyAngemon. Tailmon’s like, how come no one gets this excited when *I* evolve?

I mean, he is pretty impressive though.

It’s implied that Devimon is indeed still with HolyAngemon - in his hand - but HolyAngemon ensures Takeru that he can handle it. The metaphor for the lifelong battle with our inner demons is strong with this one.

So, yeah, pretty straightforward episode. I’m really glad to have the Devimon connection with Angemon finally explained and curious to see what it could mean in the future.

Next episode:

Taichi plays Legolas with a scare crow whose face is へのへのもへじ! I instantly like him. Idk what it is but I love scarecrow characters with patches all over their clothes. I hope he’s a good guy.

Super stoked for a Taichi episode!! We had so many for so long that even I, a huge Taichi fan, was glad for a change of pace when we started paying more attention to the other characters. Now I���m ready to see my boy show his cool side again!

[chaerrie-on-top]

The Stars Aligned For Us

chapter 2

That night, Dahyun comes back to the apartment and finds her roommate on the couch. As Dahyun kicks her shoes off at the cubby at the entrance of the living room, she curiously glances over to the couch where Chaeyoung sits. Her legs are pulled up to her chest, with an intense stare casted at the cellphone in her small hands. An untouched box of Korean takeout food sits on the coffee table in front of her. Chaeyoung's face is as pale as a ghost as she looks at her phone, her lips jutted out a bit.

"Everything okay?" Dahyun asks as she slowly approaches her roommate. Chaeyoung shakes her head, and a silent tear rolls down her face. Dahyun sits beside her. "What happened?"

"Jisoo and I are in another fight," Chaeyoung explains. "He never understands my feelings; I feel like I'm talking to a wall half the time." Chaeyoung sighs and wipes her teary cheeks. "He invites me to his apartment, then plays games while I just sit there. I'm never his first thought..."

Dahyun frowns. "You deserve better, Chaeyoung."

"I know but... We've been dating for so long-- over two years. He was never like this before..."

Chaeyoung gives Dahyun a small smile, "Ah, I'm sorry for crying so suddenly." "Don't worry about it," Dahyun tells her. "Tell him how you feel. If he doesn't respect your feelings, then you need to move on. He isn't the right one for you."

Chaeyoung nods, "You're right. I'm gonna go call him," and with that she grabs her takeout container, stands up, then heads for the short hallway leading to her room.  Chaeyoung turns and faces Dahyun for a brief moment, "I ordered some chicken and noodles for us to share. It's in the fridge if you're hungry."

"Oh, he's calling me!" with that, Chaeyoung turns and disappears down the hallway.

Dahyun calls over her shoulder, "Thank you!"

***

The next morning, Dahyun wakes up a bit earlier for her morning class to put some extra effort into her appearance. Miss Celestia gave her the gemstone to take home with her, the amethyst, and Dahyun had left it on her bedside table over night. Sitting up right in her bed, Dahyun picks up the pink stone and holds it in her hands. She glides her thumb over the smooth, shiny surface. She hopes that her wish comes true today (if it comes true at all).

After a quick shower and some coffee, Dahyun picks her outfit: high-waisted blue jeans with a few rips along the front of her legs, a cream colored silky puffy-sleeved shirt, and white tennis shoes. For her makeup, which she tends to skip whenever she has class, she goes for simple orangey eyeshadow and some mascara. She stands at the full-length mirror in her room, turning round and round as she critiques her outfit. Dahyun frowns as she starts to feel uglier the more she looks at herself. Finally, since she was going to a science lab today, she switches the pretty silk shirt for a cropped sweatshirt. This was a bit more in her comfort zone; she wouldn't stick out too much wearing this. She slings her bookbag onto her shoulders, plugs her earbuds into her phone, and starts out her way to class.

The weather is nice today; the rain stopped overnight and the clouds made way for the warm sun to shine over Seoul. Despite it being almost mid-fall, the weather significantly warmed up today. The ten minute walk to Dahyun's class was filled with a confusing mix of peace and anxiousness. Despite feeling pretty happy and excited for the day; she found herself scanning the students walking by, scanning for The One. No one stuck out to Dahyun, and she began to feel silly for ever thinking the wish actually came true. However, a small part of her still felt hopeful.

A few minutes later and Dahyun is in the classroom, approaching her table with a fast-beating heart. Her palms grow sweaty, which she wipes on her jeans. The way her science lab class was structured was that most of the work was done with your assigned tablemates. See, Dahyun didn't mind her tablemates, they were all fine.

Then Dahyun sees her; sitting there with her long silky brown hair and bright, fake smile on her face. You see, all of Dahyun's tablemates were fine except for Im Nayeon. She was really nice to everyone <i>but</i> Dahyun. Well, actually, Dahyun theorized that she was nice to people's faces but terrible behind their backs. Dahyun just happened to be an exception. Dahyun takes a seat in between Nayeon and one of the tablemates, Jihee. Across from the three girls sits Mina, Nayeon's best friend, and Jihoon, the only male in the group. Jihee smiles and greets Dahyun.

"Did you guys hear about the new exchange student?" Jihee asks. "She's from Japan. I heard she was joining our class."

"Ah, Mina you should see if you guys can communicate," Nayeon snorted. "Maybe you know her."

Mina rolls her eyes, "Nice try, Nayeon."

The weird thing about Nayeon was that Mina was completely harmless, a total sweetheart, so Dahyun had no idea why Mina chose to be friends with such a spiteful person. This area of Seoul, including the schools, was a really small, tightknit community. Everyone knew, or knew of, everyone. Dahyun had knew Nayeon and Mina since elementary school, when Mina had moved to Seoul from Japan with her parents. The three girls became really close, as Dahyun and Nayeon were the only students kind enough to stick around and play with Mina despite the language barrier. However, once high school came along a rift occurred between Dahyun and the two others. Nothing was ever the same.

Mina and Nayeon giggled among themselves, meanwhile Jihee turned to look at Dahyun. "Cute jeans," she said. "Where are they from?

"I dunno," Dahyun confessed. "My mom got them for me."

"Aw that's cute," Nayeon butts in. "I think it's really sweet that your mom still shops for you. Mine stopped doing that in middle school, but I guess you don't mind."

Mina giggles. "Leave her alone, Nayeon. I wear clothes my mom gifts me too."

Nayeon opens her mouth to say something, but the professor walks in with a girl following closely behind him. Dahyun turns her head to watch as the professor stands in the middle of the classroom, leading the girl with him. "Good morning everyone! We have a new student joining us today. She comes all the way from Japan to join our lovely school." He pauses, looks at the girl expectedly.

"Hi, my name is Sana. I look forward to being here: the campus is beautiful," She greets the class with a small bow. Her eyes brush over Dahyun, and the two find each other holding each other's gaze for a split extra second. Dahyun can't take her eyes off her, watching the way she confidently approaches her table after the professor tells her to join Dahyun's group. She takes a seat next to Mina, who now sits between Jihoon and Sana.

"Mina, speak in Japanese," Nayeon tells her as the table gathers their supplies to continue the experiment they had been working on last class.

"Nayeon, stop!" Mina laughs, her cheeks tinting pink from her best friend's embarrassing comments.

"Oh, you're Japanese? Where in Japan are you from?" Sana turns to Mina, smiling at her kindly. Sana nonchalantly gathers her chestnut brown hair and flips it over her shoulder, so that the long soft curls cascade down her back.

"Hair up ladies, we're dealing with chemicals here," the professor says as he walks by the table.

Nayeon groans, ties hers into a low bun and pulls out long strands to frame her face. However, obedient students Dahyun, Mina and Sana tie theirs back with no issue. "I'm from Kobe. I moved to Korea when I was a kid."

"Oh that's cool! I'm from Osaka."

"Nayeon, can you pour the vinegar?" Jihoon asks, pushing the glass beaker towards Nayeon. Nayeon reaches her hand towards the beaker, "So, Sana, your Korean is really good."

"Mhm!" Sana agrees. "My aunt lives her, so I speak Japanese and Korean fluently. I'm not perfect at Korean, but I've gotten better since living with my aunt."

nayeon nods along, listens to Sana talks as she goes to wrap her slim fingers around the beaker. However, Nayeon accidentally knocks the beaker over and right into Dahyun's lap. The entire table gasps aloud, with Nayeon already blubbering out a pathetic apology. The ruckus makes everyone turn and watch, the professor scrambling over to the table to make sure everything was okay. Nayeon bites her lip, an obvious smirk tugging at the corners of her mouth as she lies through her teeth. "Dahyun-ah, I'm so sorry."

"It was just vinegar," Jihoon tells the professor as he checks to make sure the acids and more dangerous liquids hadn't spilled.

Nayeon waves at her face and plugs her nose. "That's gonna smell."

Dahyun's cheeks burn red and she dismisses herself to go clean up. She speed walks out of the classroom and down the hall, cringing at the liquid seeping through her jeans. The uncomfortable fabric sticks to her thighs, making her walk with an awkward limp at the icky feeling. "Dahyun, wait!" Sana's voice calls from behind her, the girl running down the hall to catch up with her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Dahyun avoids her pretty eyes, feeling embarrassed under her gaze. She keeps her eyes on the floor in shame. Sana follows behind her like a lost puppy as the girls duck into the bathroom. Sana leans against the sink, watching Dahyun wipe her thighs off with a damp paper towel.

"Do I look okay?" Dahyun asks, turns in front of the mirror. "Even though it looks like I peed."

Sana giggles, digs her hand around in the bag she brought with her. She pulls out a small electrical fan and holds it towards Dahyun, who scoffs in both disbelief and amazement. "Yes, you do. Your pretty face distracts from anything else," Sana tells her as Dahyun takes ahold of the fan. Dahyun blushes even more, her neck, forehead, and cheeks feel hot to the touch. Sana and Dahyun giggle to themselves as Dahyun turns the fan on, aiming it towards her thighs.

A girl comes out from one of the stalls, Dahyun and Sana stepping to the side as she uses the sink. Dahyun keeps the fan blowing on her thighs, her eyes diverted to the floor as she feels the girls look at them strangely. "It's vinegar," Sana tells her, as if it makes it any better. The girl blinks at them for a moment, Dahyun and Sana purse their lips as they hold in their laughter. After a moment, the girl starts to giggle a bit. She rushes to dry her hands, then exits the bathroom without another moment to spare. Dahyun and Sana burst into a fit of laughter, the girls laughing so hard they lean onto the sink for support.

"I'm sure I looked so dumb to her," Dahyun tells her between a fit of giggles.

"We," Sana corrects. "I mean, we didn't know she was in here. I wouldn't have been so bold if I knew it wasn't just us." Dahyun chuckles, finding the situation bearable with Sana there to experience it also.

"Wanna go get lunch after class?" Sana asks. "Maybe show me around..." Dahyun's eyes open wide as she stares at the brash girl before her for a moment, before she breaks into a smile and nods in agreement. The girls stand there for a few more minutes, patiently waiting for the spot on Dahyun's pants to dry. Sana takes the fan back and drops it into her bag before propping the door open. "Let's go back and get this class over with."

Chapter three

[zanguntsu]

what are ur thoughts on each bleach arc o: like quality wise!

oh boy this got longer than expected. Whoops.

substitute arc: i rlly like this arc! its short but i love how it sets up the characters and i adore the integration between ichigos human life vs shinigami life And i like the monster of the week set up its a fun and its a lot more character focused in the beginning. the fights were very character driven, like with grand fisher, sora, the hollow that went to hell. all the fights felt like they had a meaning that had a strong impact on a character, like ichigo having closure after defeating (he should have killed him tbh) grand fisher.

soul society: one of the best if not the best arcs imo. theres a good amount of development, the fights are good and have emotional weight (ichigo v byakuya, uryu v mayuri, chad v shunsui, yoruichi v soi fon) and the newly introduced characters are interesting! very iconic and cool! there was a lot of character arc conclusions? Closure? like with uryu and yoruichi as well as rukia. the characters are a strong point here too and the introduction of soul society brought in world building and it was something we really needed to see. soul society as the villains was pretty good and it did show them as a threat. its a good arc and had a good cliffhanger ending to the next arc

arrancar arc: its a pretty good arc but this is where i feel like bleach was starting to fall off in quality since kubo didnt plan for the series to go past ss. like the plot was a little repetitive with the rescue arc the placing was pretty bad and its where the kubos problem of having too many characters started forming. there are some pretty good moments though, i really love the ichigo vs grimmjow and ichigo vs ulquiorra fights along with rukia vs aaroniero (rukia development time,,). the arc just felt pretty slow at times ig? But there are some very good moments

fake karakura arc/deicide: i like this arc even though i know half of it was bullshit. there are some good fights, soi fon vs barragan is one of my faves bc her bankai and it was just interesting to see the captains more involved even though i wish they didnt just stand there. like cmon the fate of the world is at stake gang up on ppl u have numbers. i do think its bullshit to have aizen be That powerful (i will excuse the hogyoku use bc thats his trump card and was set up) but having him take down everyone like that was eh. like i know it was meant to show how powerful aizen was but honestly i wish there was a better way. maybe make them all fight amongst each other like with momo but its all mind games and shit i feel like that was a better way of showing how strong aizen was. also speaking of aizen i wish there was more character to him like take away his manipulative badass thing and its just nothing. what drives him to kill the soul king and why? was it loneliness (which is a poor motive tbh), injustice? what brought him on this path? i feel like tousens goals had more to it then aizen tbh

the deicide arc was pretty okay i love mugetsu but im sorry there was absolutely no lead up to him. i love that form but its pretty bullshit that it didnt get as much as a mention in the past and i wish it did bc that would have made mugetsu have a lot more impact. i remember how ppl theorized that it was how isshin lost his powers even though it was proven otherwise but i wish they went with that. but i did like seeing zangetsu again and that touching moment with him and ichigo was good also the rukia and ichigo goodbye was very emotional. was it a good arc? maybe not plot wise but its pretty beloved

fullbringer: oh this is where the quality definitely dropped which sucks because i feel like this arc had a very interesting premise and plot set up. i know that i havent watched/read all of the fb arc but i do know enough of it just not much in between the beginning and end. i wish that the fullbringers had more focus bc they were all forgettable except maybe riruka and they should have had more screentime and the concept of fullbringers is genuinely interesting?? humans with hollow powers is a good concept and its a shame kubo didnt expand upon this more

oh and i have some beef with the villains bc its a fucking tragedy of wasted potential. ginjo is like. almost there to be considered a good villain. hes the previous substitute shinigami and u only bring it up at the end?? thats such a huge chunk of information and it sets up a connection between ichigo and ginjo. idc about tsukishima he can be whatever but i do think ginjo could have been a pretty good villain if he wasnt as blatantly evil. like i know the betrayal schtick is getting old but i would have preferred him as a villain with good intentions, like having him against soul society is a good motive bc ss commits war crimes but it was never clear in this arc (aside from ss monitering the substitutes) but it just didnt feel as strong as a motive to make him do what he did.

one good thing i do have to say about this arc was i do like ichigo in this arc and how much conflict he experiences and we get to see him commit murder although i do wish this had repercussions on him. i feel like soul society’s intervention was unnecessary but thats just me. the fullbringer arc being centered around humans was a good idea, bringing the series back to its roots and i just wish we spent more developmemt with the humans before jumping back to soul society, like more time on the aftermath of the last arc. also this arc should have been the chad arc im dying on this hill.

tybw: wow! this was a trainwreck of an arc! i have. So Many issues with tybw and its where kubos writing weaknesses truly shine. the biggest issues are its pacing which is absolutely abhorrent and it takes up at least a third of the entire series (literally. tybw had 206 chapters out of 686 since tybw officially starts on 480). we had periods where the main cast dont show up for like. 50 chapters. the other biggest problem were the characters. why did kubo think it was a good idea to introduce 26+ characters. why. there is absolutely no time to develop them and while some may receive screentime the majority have no impact to the plot beyond their fights with the characters we actually care about. there is no reason for people to give a shit about them. i can barely remember their names, much less their backstories

and one of the bigger problems was the antagonists themselves. they have a motive and while i understand hatred towards soul society. yhwach’s motives were the worst out of all the villains. i cannot fathom what motivates him because it went fucking everywhere. did he have beef with ss? was he waging war out of self preservation? did he want to end death? like the narrative hints at all of these but it just feels like a mess of a character! i never liked yhwach to begin with since his very concept is awful (seriously? giving a previously thought group of people who experienced genocide a nazi motif? what the fuck kubo). hes a villain but theres no substance. his powers could have been cool but it was on the point of needing a deus ex machina to take him down.

and the fights are forgettable with the occasional good ones (shunsui v that one fuck, rukia v that other fuck) but there are some bad fights (askin v yoruichi, the quincy thor guy). there are some good moments, like all the bankai reveals, it adds more to the characters but it also causes so much jumping around in the plot and this is what happens when u have this many characters and some will be forgotten (so sorry chad). it sucks. some of the fights dragged on longer than necessary and it was just. so much. all of these issues really downgraded the arc and thats what made it the mess it was.

and a lot of the ideas brought in to tybw are criminally underused. ichigo being a quincy may have been wack but i did like the idea but it really only had some sparse moments like masaki and zangetsu development, creating a connection between ichigo and yhwach but that was really it. it was not like his hollow powers which coexisted with the plot and had huge moments and was just a constant presence. you could forget that ichigo was a quincy tbh and we needed more quincy moments. and the soul king was horribly underused because it did have set up from the arrancar arc, it was aizens entire goal! but kubo never really explores the ideas of the soul king and only in cfyow do we really get more info about it and thats no good because the soul king is a vital piece of bleach lore and worldbuilding.

anyways thats my two cents sorry this was rlly long

[hall-of-merlin2]

Magic, Monsters and Merthur - 1x02 - (Magic)

Episode 2! Whoop!

It’s a shame that the magic is my favorite subject in this “analysis”. It doesn’t get interesting until much, much later. But I do rant a bit, so a warning for that ahead of time.

Short version of what we know already - two prophecies for the world, we got the bad timeline. Magic is a living being that blessed humans, but humans didn’t like that it didn’t give them god-like powers, so they made their own blessings and then fought something that shouldn’t even be fight-able, and won.

Somehow.

And... Immediately I’m making more changes to what I put in certain sections... Merthur is not only Merthur, it is also all characters, the Monsters isn’t just the magical creatures, it’s also the villains, and the Magic isn’t just the magic, but also about the history of Camelot, and certain tidbits about universe-expanding.

It’s either this or I make yet another post after all of the “original” ones, just called “Random Observations”, which I don’t think is necessary.

<_><_><_>

<_><_><_:>

09:11

This guy always intrigued me. The Knights of Camelot have a very limited fighting style, usually one sword and one shield, no shield if it’s not available and very minimal theatrics or hand-to-hand combat. Also not very good with several opponents, they’re best against a single strong enemy that they can clash with endlessly. They’re quick, but not incredibly, they’re durable, but still have limits, they’re strong, but flawed in certain areas. Versatile, but at so many things that they end up just being average at everything.

This guy, on the other hand, is officially a knight. And his fighting style – his armor and weapons too – are from a completely different continent. My question is how he adopted this style, where he adopted it from, how he ended up close enough to Camelot to hear of the tournament and then enter it, and how the fuck he got himself knighted. We don’t see many people like this in the future, and it’s not because Uther doesn’t allow them, he’s clearly rooting for this guy to win, but there’s still an abundance of knights that fight like Camelot’s – versatile, but average.

I just want to know why we didn’t get more different styles, why Gwaine or even Lancelot, Percival too, ELYAN, people who first fought with what they had, not the fancy swords Camelot provided them with, didn’t have their own styles of fighting independent from what knighthood had forced upon them. I know Gwaine still has some of his brawler instincts, using words more than fists to win a fight with wit, I’m not sure that Lancelot had professional knight training, but he should have picked up a few cheeky tactics from his time traveling around the whole island, I dunno where Percival came from but… Have you seen him hold a sword? He looks so awkward with it, it’s so small in his hands! He definitely needed a giant mace or a club that he could bash people over the head with. And Elyan! He was a blacksmith, you cannot tell me that while he wasn’t in Camelot he didn’t pick up even the tiniest wind of swords being made differently – with curves, sharp or dull edges – and didn’t try to make and practice with one himself! Maybe he knew of the “quota”, of how swords are generally made, and maybe he was taught to make swords in this specific way and he didn’t want to deviate…

But do all of these travelers, while traveling through places that have never even heard of the name Camelot, always found the perfect run-of-the-mill Camelot knight sword to fight with?

I just don’t believe it.

More variety in sword fights dammit.

<_><_><_>

39:36

So… There’s a spell that can… Revive stone?

Surely the dog wasn’t made into stone to make that statue, that would be magic and you know how the big bad thinks of it. That’s just literal stone, and there’s a whole spell that just… Makes stone into a living being? How the hell does that work.

…the afanc uses the same principle.

So making living things out of dead material seems to be a trend, with several different spells usable. Which is cool, it’s probably just an exchange of life-force between the summoner and the summoned, would be simple if not for the “a life for a life” thing that the Cup of Life is based on.

To create a life a life must be taken – but it only applies to humans?

I think I go more indepth into the Cup of Life in… Oh fuck in another season. But yeah, it’s life-force exchange, so… it’s either only humans are considered “lives” which is just bullshit and I don’t accept it or it’s literally taking ANYTHING to create that life and the “a life for a life” thing is absolute ridiculousness thought up by somebody.

It’s just taking anything, anything at all, and using the life-force in that object, paired with the one that the summoner has to create literal life.

Clay? Usable.

Stone? Usable.

Another human? That’s going overboard for a bit of drama.

So Arthur could have lived if there was like a flower used to revive him.

The anthill theory is valid! Merlin needs to chuck one into Avalon as soon as possible.

(The anthill theory is… again, something that someone more clever than me thought up. There was a talk about Avalon and the equivalent exchange of lives that it proposes, how a beetle is worth a worm and three worms makes a cat and four cats makes a prat, or something along those lines. Then it was suggested that ANY life works, which then spiraled into an idea that if Merlin would just throw a whole anthill into Avalon, he could bring back Balinor, Will, Lancelot, Gwaine, Elyan, and anyone else he wanted. It was a fun little idea, but it seems to have more value than I originally thought.)

Also… Quite of a rant incoming.

This scene makes me sad – because Merlin is losing his instinctive magical abilities. He has enough wit to understand that this is possible and this is how the shield works, but not confident enough in himself to just… Force the stone to turn into what he wants it to. He’s confined himself to spells and that makes me sad because he could actually probably revive more than stone, more than plants or wildlife when they die, but probably even people. (This is yet another idea proposed by someone more intelligent than me, I just took it and ran.) And it wouldn’t even be considered necromancy, Merlin would literally be a human Cup of Life but without needing to take anything from anything because there’s just so much power within him already.

This is why I wanted to study and document and theorize about the Magic of Merlin. Not because there wasn’t enough told, not because it was barely used, not because it’s lame and I want it to be cool. It’s the direct opposite of all those things – these was so much shit told about the past and the Old Religion and the Faction Wars and so many amulets and necklaces and spells were used it’s actually incredible how fleshed out it is! And it being a key point of nearly episode did not make me miss it when there were pure dramatic episodes. Magic in Merlin is cool, what isn’t cool is that they didn’t do anything with it. I don’t mean that it wasn’t used for plot points and fun episodes, I mean that that was it – just a running gag, a convenient way to think of new ideas and keep the episodes going, it was never Magic just for the sake of being Magic. There wasn’t a magic reveal until the very end, where it didn’t matter what happened after, we weren’t going to see it. There wasn’t a kingdom that just accepted magic and didn’t kill people for having it, Merlin never went to such a kingdom for reprieve, there wasn’t a secret sorcerer underground that Merlin and other sorcerers could consult to help on various tasks or just talk and be happy that there’s so many of them despite everything. Magic wasn’t the wondrous and mystical and amazing thing that the show made it out to be, it was incantations pronounced correctly and rituals that could kill you if you messed up one thing and magical items that weren’t even that magical, the most mysticism that’s come out of them being “You don’t know what we will actually do if you use us, beware the consequences” which is bullshit and not magical at all. Magic was made out to be this scary and dangerous thing, and seen by people as something evil in a world where royals could literally cut off food for their people during a plague – that was seen as more normal than someone probably not magical talking to possibly magical people once.

It’s just… Why are people so afraid to make magic this overpowered, convenient plot point that’s just fun to see without putting a thousand limitations and incantations and rituals and complications and consequences on top of it just so it’s “used sparingly” and “not for messing around” and “for a greater purpose” rather than just being something you can fill 5 pages of a book that’s lacking action with?

Let Magic be fun. Let it be mystical, understandable but still something that people question the legitimacy of in real life terms.

Let it be the genre it was supposed to be – pure, colorful, tooth-rotting fluff fantasy.

But if no one else is gonna do it, I will.

<_><_><_>

The Monsters

The Merthur

[oh-theatre]

Sycamore High: Quick Time (Chapter 35)

A/N: Ok so there was a giant time skip, nothing much happened but im here to answer questions. I just really needed to skip ahead and decided thats how I'm gonna do it. I hate this fucking chapter so much

summary: Things happen (I don't freaking know)

words: 3,323

warnings: Swearing, sadness, crying, negative thoughts, kissing, loopy acting, abuse, violence

Ao3 Link

“If you keep tapping your foot, Tommy…” Eric warned Tommy swallowed stopping. He stared out the window of the plane, waiting for them to land. The flight had been awful, spending almost 8 hours next to his father. They did get to sit in first class and Tommy absolutely loved it, he was devastated to leave France. It would have been one of the best trips if he could just remove his parents from the equation. They would constantly bring him around, or stay at home, leaving him to wander. His least favorite part? The churches, he loved the architecture but he knew why they were there which ruined it for him. He was excited to see Ted, he had offered to meet them at the airport but was quickly shut down by Tommy not wanting him to be harassed by his parents. He had barely spoken to Ted, every time he even glanced at his phone his parents would whisk him away to something. He’d either have to stay up really late or just not talk to him. He’d hoped his gift had arrived. The plane landed smoothly, and from then on things moved quickly. They went through everything being promptly picked up by the limo once more.

“Tommy, sit up straight” Teagan ordered, Tommy sighed. He was exhausted and just wanted to lean and sleep. But he did as she said, sitting up straight staring right ahead. The car ride was...boring. His parents sat in the front discussing who knows what and Tommy tried to keep his eyes open in the back. His phone had run out of battery so there was no texting anyone. Once they arrived at home Tommy raced upstairs plugging it in and unpacking. He knew his parents wouldn't let him leave the house unless everything was perfect, and the sun was still up so he was going to do his best. Once everything settled he gathered some things in his bag, taking his phone with a portable charger and going back downstairs. His parents stared at him, ready to grill him.

“Suitcase?” Teagan asked

“Unpacked”

“Dirty clothes”

“In the washer, ready to be cleaned”

“Clean clothes?”

“Folded and/or hung back up neatly”

“Room?”

“Tidy, and I changed the sheets on my bed”

“Did you-

“Take a shower? Yes, I did” Tommy answered, he’d done this enough times. Teagan stared at him almost impressed. She sighed clearly disappointed.

“Be back before nine pm, understood?” She declared, He squealed hugging her quickly. He ran outside grabbing his bike and riding away. He arrived pretty quickly, only missing a few directions, in his defense it had been awhile. He parked the bike, locking it up. He went up the stairs skipping one at a time until finally reaching the apartment. He was buzzing out of his shoes as he rung the doorbell. It was quiet for a moment but soon enough soft yapping could be heard through the door and a firm voice telling them to hush. The door opened.

“Tommy!” Chad exclaimed Tommy smiled it had been so long. He jumped into Chad's arm, receiving an immediate embrace. “Good to see you too” Chad laughed. He pulled away grinning so wide. Suddenly a frantic shuffling of small feet came running at him. He kneeled down embracing the white fluffball.

“Bonnie!” He squeals snuggling the creature in his arms, noticing a small Clyde following behind. He released his dog allowing her to circle his feet excitedly as he stands. Henry emerges from the archway, he's talking to someone.

“I'm sure it's just your father...” He trails off spotting Tommy, he smirks knowingly. Ted follows soon after meeting his dad's gaze. Tommy bounces, Ted grins extremely wide. The professors share a knowing glance before leaving the room.

“Ted!” Tommy squeals moving towards him

“Gumdrop!” He responds picking up the smaller boy, hugging him. He spins him around kissing him lightly. “I missed you so much!” Clyde bounces at Ted's feet wanting a piece of the action. He chuckles picking up the beagle, petting him softly. Tommy does the same with Bonnie as the couple makes their way to the couch. “How was France?” Ted asks Tommy smiles. He feels safe sitting here, Bonnie in his arms, Ted right next to him. France was awful, but right now, it was wonderful.

“Oh besides my parents it was beautiful Ted!” He shares, he wasn't lying. The time he got to spend on his own or with his grandmother was delightful. “I went to so many places! We were in Paris for a while, and then we traveled to Normandy, well me and Grammy did. My parents refused, but it was lovely Ted.” Tommy swooned, he kind of missed it. “The war sights were so sad but interesting” Tommy could go on for ages, and Ted would listen. “Oh! I do hope you got my gift, I realized we hadn't talked much since before Christmas”

“I did, I really loved it,” he expressed, the gift had been one of his favorites from the holiday. Tommy had made a wonderful scrapbook of all of their time together, with pictures, momentums, and silly things. Ted had looked it almost every night, each time discovering something new. It put Ted's gift to shame, he hadn't been able to send it to Tommy but he had it wrapped up and ready to go for this exact moment. “I'll be right back, I'm going to get your gift,” he said, kissing Tommy's cheek. He stood making his way towards his room. Tommy sat with Bonnie on his lap waiting eagerly, Clyde had followed Ted into the room. Clearly, the dog had become attached. The room looked the same except for a few small new things. The tree was still up, Tommy's heart ached at the sight. Wishing he could have spent Christmas with an actual tree. The fire was lit, the smell of cookies wafting from the kitchen. Everything was so...Christmassy. Ted returned holding a box, it was wrapped in a red paper, with little trees over it. He returned to his place handing Tommy the box. He opened it excited for the contents, knowing no matter what, he would love it.

And he did

~~~

“No!”

“Yes!”

“Aw man! Creeper!” Everyone paused turning to Ted, he pursed his lips shrugging. Tommy shook his head, signaling now was not the time.

“I'm not going over this with you again Paul” Emma returned her focus to Paul. Ted decided he was going to fall back a bit as they walked to school. He and Tommy fell in line by Bill and Charlotte as the arguing couple walked ahead. They continued this way during the entire walk to school.

“I need to talk to Jackie, see you guys later” Charlotte informed, waving goodbye to her friends. Tommy, Ted, and Bill pushed past the squabbling teens making their way to the locker.

“What is up with them?” Tommy asks leaning against the locker next to Teds. Ted opens his locker stuffing some things in, allowing Bill to do the same. “What happened over winter break”

“It's been like this for a week now,” Ted moans pulling out his lawn chair. He sets his up, Bill follows. “They won't stop fighting and we don't even know what it's about” He complains, Tommy nods. Bill yawns squirming in his chair. Ted grabs Pauls chair setting it up for Tommy to use, they sit. Tommy positions the chair next to Ted for the sole purpose of wanting to lean on him. Ted pulls out his laptop and begins working on an assignment allowing Tommy to lean on him. They were all exhausted, Emma had held a ‘Last Day of Winter Break’ party the night before. It was a great idea until they all woke up two hours later and it was time for school.

“I theorize that they are fighting because…” Bill pauses yawning, his glasses droop on his nose. Ted leans over adjusting them, gesturing for him to continue. “Thank you...I wonder if it's because of their chemistry project?” He inquires, Ted, bites his lip.

“Mmm I don't think so, last time I talk to Paul he said it was going fine” Ted recalls, Bill shrugs leaning back in his chair. He pulls out a book opening it to a bookmarked page. Ted eyes it “Is that the book for the book club?” He asks, Bill nods showing him the cover. “Cool, how is that goin-”

“I'm going to blow my fucking brains out” Paul interjects fuming. Ted shoots him a smile, waving hello.

“Good morning to you too Paul” He greets, Paul glares rolling his eyes. He shoves Ted's chair out of the way, causing Tommy to sit up blinking. “You could've just asked me to move..” Ted mumbles. Tommy stretches his arms out, kissing Ted lightly on the cheek. He stands grabbing his bag, Ted pouts taking his boyfriend's hand “Mmm where you going?” He asks, Tommy giggles softly

“Gotta talk to teachers before class” He informs lovingly, he releases Tommy waving a small goodbye. Paul gags sitting in his chair. Ted eyes him, raising an eyebrow.

“Ok, what is going on with you?” He gives in, Bill shuts his book interested. Paul glances between them, groaning.

“Ugh fine I'll tell you..” And so he does…

~~~

“So that's a yes?” Jackie asks unsure. Charlotte bites her lip nervously. She fidgets with her hands, wringing them. Jackie takes them, looking her in the eyes. “You don't have to if you don't want to, or if your not sure” She assures.

“No no I do...I really liked our kiss” She muttered the last part. “But I'm scared to break up with Sam, I've never broken up with anyone…” Jackie smiles affectionately at Charlotte. She was tempted to kiss her again, in this small corner of the school/

“I know, I liked our kiss too” She smirks, Charlotte chuckles. “But take all the time you need, really, breaking up with people is hard and who knows how Sams going to react” Jackie goes, Charlotte nods gratefully.

“You're planning on breaking up with me?” A sudden voice appears, Charlotte turns her eyes widen horrified. Sam stands angrily at the opening, his nostrils flare. “What kind of bullshit is this Charlotte?” He takes a step forward, Jackie moves Charlotte back a bit shielding her.

“No! Sam… I didn't... I..” Charlotte tries but what was she supposed to say. Her insides turn, she can't feel her mouth. She can't speak.

“This is all that guy Teds fault isn't it?” Charlotte became aware that he didn't hear about the kiss. But now she was worried about her friend. “I told him to stay away from you…” He cracks his knuckles “Oh.. he's going to regret this” Charlotte realizes what he means a second too late as he storms away, fire practically marking his steps.

“Charlotte are yo-” Jackie tries

“We have to go! We have to follow him, he's going to hurt someone!” She cries, Jackie nods as the girl's race down the hall. Following as best they can. They bump into students and teachers finally reaching a clearing of lockers and Sam. They see him approaching someone sitting in a chair. “Its Ted” She scrambled, Jackie holds her back out of fear she’ll get hurt. “Jackie!” But she's stronger.

~~~

“Hey!” Ted turns in his seat pulling away from the conversation. He spots Sam walking towards them, angrily. He eyes Paul and Bill who shrugs.

“Oh hey, Sam” Ted greets. “What i-” He was unfortunately interrupted by a fist flying at his face. His eyes immediately begin to water as he clasps a hand to his face. Paul and Bill stand, glaring at Sam. Paul creates a barrier between Ted and Sam, while Bill checks on his friend. Paul's first mistake was doing anything.

“You want some too?” Sam asked he shoves Paul backward, landing another punch.

“Hey!” A voice shouts, the students that had gathered turn to the voice. Henry emerges with their principal. “What is going on here?” he questions firm, his eyes widen when he sees Bill crouching helping Ted. He glares at Sam “Main office, now” He seethes. Sam grunts but follows the principal. Henry turns to the crowd, who all scatter upon his fiery eyes. He moves towards Paul helping him up “You alright?” Paul rubs his head nodding.

“Oh my god! Are you both ok? I'm so sorry!” Charlotte sobs running up to them, followed by a frantic Jackie. Ted winces looking up at her, he tries his best to give her a reassuring smile.

“Ok, you both need to get to the nurse” Jackie states, no duh.

“Agreed,” Henry says kneeling in front of Ted, Bill goes to check on Paul. Henry examines his injuries. He blinks at his father, feeling very woozy. Henry shakes his head helping Ted up. Bill and Jackie help Paul. They walk towards the nurse with a very worried and caring Charlotte following behind.

~~~

“Well, I'm sure he deserved it” Emma huffs, Bill exhales sharply.

“Emma I'm not kidding, Paul got seriously hurt” He informs, she turns pursing her lips. Her face, unreadable.

“He actually got punched?”

“Yes now, will you please come to the nurse's office?” She nods following Bill down the hall. He leads her into one of the rooms where Paul lays on the nurse's bed. “I gotta go find Tommy” He mumbles ushering her inside, briskly leaving. She moves towards the bed smiling sadly at him, she can't tell if he's awake.

“Hey Matthews, heard you got punched” She whispers softly, sitting next to him on a stool. He gives her a goofy grin, holding an ice pack to his face.

“I did, are you proud of me?” He asks, she chuckles softly. She leans in kissing him softly on the lips. Taking his hand as they pull away.

“No, you're a fucking idiot” She responds, he laughs instantly seizing in pain. “You're my idiot though…” She says rubbing his hand comfortingly. He nods clearly proud. He begins poking her softly

“Hey, hey, hey you know what we should do?” he giggles asking her, is he high? “We should stop fighting...it makes me sad” He pouts, Emma kisses his hand softly.

“Hmm...I guess…” She smirks, He smiles giggly “but only cause you got punched” He gives her a proud thumbs up. She chuckles lightly, the conversation dulls as he falls asleep. She sits there until his mom comes to pick him up promptly returning to class.

~~~

“So he's under anesthesia?” Henry asked doubtfully, the nurse thought for a moment.

“Sort of, it's just something to ease the pain but it makes them woozy” She explains, he nods understanding. She leaves the room excusing herself, Henry turns back to his son who sits on the bed trying very hard to keep his eyes open. Henry wishes he could drive the boy home but unfortunately he has a full day of classes. He’s waiting for Chad, who had a day off, to come to pick him up. After a very long calming down session. Ted set his eyes on Henry, he smiled and waved. Henry chuckled at him, he waved back.

“Punched!? You got punched?!” The door swings open revealing a very distraught Tommy. He rushes over to Ted taking his face carefully, moving it around to see his injuries. Ted smiles widely, pointing at Tommy.

“It's my boyfriend!” he exclaims excited, Bill sighs. “Hi” He smiles, Tommy shuts his eyes smiling. An absolute dork. He turns to face henry.

“Is he ok? Does it hurt a lot?” He figures he should ask someone whos conscious.

“It's fine… I'm used to it” Ted slurs, Tommy turns back to him sadly “My dads were so much worse” He laughs. Tommy feels a tug at his heart, he will forever hate how casually Ted will reference his past. Henry hates it just as much, clenching his jaw at the thought of Ted's old father. Bill sighs used to these comments, Teds usually a lot more careful about it. Tommy cups his face kissing his forehead lightly. “Mmm am sleepy” He responds, Henry nods.

“Get some rest dearest” Tommy suggests, helping Henry lie Ted down. Bill grabs him another ice pack holding it on his face.

“I love you guys!” Ted squeals “Bills my best friend! Tommys my boyfriend! Dad is my dad!” He sighs happily, Tommy smiles sweetly caressing his forehead carefully. “Nighty night, call me when Pops arrives” and that's that, he falls asleep after a moment. Watched intently by Bill, Henry, and Tommy. They swear they can hear him mumble a few words here and there, including ‘Gumdrop’, ‘Tall child’, and Bills personal favorite ‘fucking useless’

~~~

5 months later….

The group walked all involved in their own conversations. Arriving at the theatre the group said goodbye to Tommy and Jackie. Charlotte gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before waving goodbye. Emma couldn't help but smile, they were so happy. They had waited around a month after the incident before getting together. They sat in their respective seats in the theatre. Paul felt a buzz from his phone.

Thing 1 and Thing 2

Thing 1: Hey nerd, heads up I'm driving us home after school today

Thing 2: Noice, why?

Thing 1: Debs coming over, so car

Thing 2: ;)

Thing 1: Fuck off dweeb

Thing 2: I won't be the one fucking tonight

Thing 1:

Thing 1: I'm going to block you now

Alice didn't but she didn't respond so Paul, naturally, assumed she was dead. Chad entered calling attention to himself clearing his throat. The class went on as scheduled, it was boring, no offense to Chad. They went their separate ways to their next class before rejoicing for lunch.

“Sup fuckers!” Ted greets plopping himself onto the table. Tommy looks up.

“Languag- What am I doing I don't care” Tommy grumbles returning his attention to his homework. Ted glances at him but ignores it.

“So what's up,” He asks opening his sacked lunch, Charlotte joins followed by Jackie. They greet her, answering Ted's question.

“Nothing much, I mean studying for finals, registering for classes next year, summer plans” Emma informs, Ted nods stuffing his face full of food. “You?”

“About the same! I'm thinking of not taking ceramics next year” He admits, Tommy glances up but doesn't say anything. “Paul?” Paul yawns nodding, Charlotte feeds Jackie a cookie.

“Um the same thing, Im...really tired” He tries, Ted nods agreeing. “Ok I'm sorry but I gotta ask” he turns to Jackie “What the fuck is up Jackie!” He yells, the group chuckles. She smiles biting her lip.

“Nothing much Matthews, what's up with you?” She chuckles, Emma rolls her eyes. Paul bounces in his seat flipping her off. She returns the favor, getting a glare from Charlotte. Ted shakes his head, he turns to Tommy who hasn't looked up from his paper. He nudges him softly, causing him to sit up.

“What?” He asks irritated, Ted holds up his hands defensively.

“Nevermind than… sorry” He turns back to his friends, Tommy focuses back on his paper. Ted's heart drops a little. He looks to where Bill usually sits. Bills been attending book club regularly. He seems to enjoy it but Ted misses him on days he's not there. Lunch passes quickly, and so does the rest of the day. Emma says farewell to Paul, walking home. Charlotte and Jackie walking with her, the trio having a study session. Ted waits by his locker for Tommy, instead being met with Bill. He says farewell, waiting a little longer but ultimately his boyfriend never shows. He heads home alone, his parents needing to stay after school. Paul catches a ride with Alice, teasing his sister all the way home. In five months not much has changed, but it was about to.

[alcida-auka]

Rey Killed Her Parents

Rey Killed Her Parents — Just One of My Crazy Star Wars Theories

Hey everybody, I don’t do this too often, but I love the new Star Wars movies so much that I’m coming up with all kinds of crazy speculations for the trilogy and 9th movie, much like I did with X-files back in the 90s. Now I’m not the first person to have theorized that Rey killed her parents — which I find oddly reassuring–but I’d like to add my own process as to how I came to this fun little tinfoil theory with some visual cues from the films.

So how did I come to the theory that Rey is responsible for her nobody parents never coming back?

The Force Awakens

Well, it goes back to something I first noticed back on my second viewing of The Force Awakens a few years ago. I would not really come to the conclusion that Rey destroyed her parents at that time, but I did notice something that seemed too significant to ignore.

Namely it’s this:

In Rey’s force vision, in which she sees scenes from the past and future, she stands outside of herself as a young girl, arm held tightly by Unkar Plutt [likely why she has an aversion to having her hand held by the way]. As her family’s craft leaves her behind, ascending to the sky, she cries out pleading with them to come back.

But this particular vision of the craft ends strangely. As the ship ascends, the sky turns an ominous red. And take note of that, because in Star Wars red lighting is often used to denote something evil or dark afoot.

Later towards the end of the film, we will see this darkening of the sky and subsequent red lighting again.  We will see it  when Kylo Ren kills his father immediately after the Star Killer base planet begins to implode. From Abram’s commentary on this scene, Kylo Ren is entirely conflicted just prior to this darkening of the sky, and up untill that point he is truly thinking of leaving with his father. When the sky darkens, the lighting on Kylo Ren’s face changes from blue to red, and it signifies an abrupt change to evil/darkness. He immediately kills his father, an act he regrets intensely upon its conclusion.

Now, at the time, I only noted that the darkening sky in Rey’s vision was a parallel to the darkening sky above Star Killer base. I knew it was intended to be significant, but I was unclear as to how. It could have meant nothing more in Rey’s vision than a foreshadowing of Kylo’s patricidal act, a blending of timelines. But why cast that dark red shadow on both scenes? A dark red shadow that is specifically intended to symbolize the dark side?

This is where the Last Jedi comes in, and where I started drawing my theory.

The Last Jedi

In the throne room of the recently deceased Snoke, Kylo Ren makes his famous plea to Rey to join him in creating a New Order. Desperate to get her on his side, to “let go of the past”, he encourages her to remember her parents, something that she has been actively repressing for years.

Rey admits they were nobody. Kylo Ren, who so far has never been deceitful to Rey (and Rian Johnson the director backs this up), clarifies further her own memories that he saw back during their force bond in the hut. They were drunks, junk traders, who sold her for drinking money. Rey does not deny this and her face shows an unhappy acceptance.

But where it gets interesting is this: Kylo also says her parents are dead, buried in a pauper’s grave in the desert.

Now many fans have thought this a discrepancy from what Rey’s vision in the Force Awakens showed us.

But I don’t think that it is, and I certainly did not think it was in the movie as I watched it.

It’s entirely possible that Rey’s vision of her parents leaving were a fabrication in her mind. After all, Rey is an unreliable narrator of her own life, and created the fiction of her parents coming back as a way to rationalize her abandonment and the notion her parents did not want her. If she believed her parents were “somebody”, a great Jedi hero, a warrior, she could fantasize that they HAD to leave her for heroic reasons, and thus it would mean she was loved, and they would come back.

However, I find the idea that her vision of the abandoning ship being a fabrication to be unlikely. The Force does not create deceitful visions.

Thus, Rey’s parents did leave her.

But how did they wind up dead in graves on Jakku? Why are we told this?

This is where the Force Awakens vision and red sky comes back into play.

Just as the darkening sky and red light immediately preceded the violent action of Kylo Ren killing his father–a sudden, impulsive act–this image of the same red light symbolizes a dark act immediately after the ship’s ascension into the sky.

That act is Rey, a child powerful in the Force, unintentionally killing her parents by bringing down their ship, in a naive attempt to bring them back to her.

This is why she remembers being abandoned, and why Kylo Ren has seen their graves in her mind. Rey’s parents never got to leave, and furthermore, she remembers them being dead. I can imagine that this would be such a traumatic act that she blocks it out, and over time creates her comforting myth that someday they’ll return for her, that she was never a bad girl who hurts people, a girl that gets abandoned for being bad.

Now, obviously, this is just a theory of mine, and some other folks on Reddit and Tumblr. But it’s cool to see others have arrived at the same minor theory on their own as well.

There’s no telling if it is remotely true until the 9th movie comes out December 2019, but if it is, it has some interesting implications for her character.

It becomes yet another parallel to Kylo Ren. These characters are both mirrors of one another in several ways–they feel abandoned by everyone around them, they are intensely lonely (even Rey, when surrounded by her new Resistance friends, comes off to me as standing a part from them), and possibly, they have both killed parents.

Ben Solo is a character that has been described as “coming from the light [eg, has good, heroic parents]” but is putting on the dark persona of Kylo Ren.  Nonetheless, he is drawn to the light, both in himself, and in the person of Rey.

If Rey is a mirror of Ben Solo/Kylo Ren, we can surmise that she “comes from the dark” but wears a persona of light. She is drawn to the dark side, something that Luke Skywalker points out repeatedly. Of course, she is also drawn to the darkness of Kylo Ren/Ben Solo.

How is Rey “from the dark”? Possibly this references her parents being good-for-nothing drunks, happy to sell their child. Going with my theory, though, it could also be that the “dark” is her darkside powers that she used to kill her parents.

Again, as much as Kylo/Ben is dark and light, so is Rey, their approaches to it are simply reversed.

And it’s not talked about much, but Rey wears a mask as much as Kylo Ren wears his metal one. It’s simply that Rey’s mask takes on the form of her la-di-dah, Pollyanna unbridled optimism. It’s a shame that people feel Rey is a dull character, because in reality she is as complex as he is, and is also fighting conflicts within herself. Through the Force bond conversations with Kylo Ren, the Last Jedi film was showing us the growing cracks in her ever-happy facade.

If Rey has killed her parents, not only will it bring about further conflict within her character for the last film, it may help to shatter some of her Jedi-like self righteousness that she tends to have. Granted, killing your parents when you are 5 years old cannot be compared to a young man in his 20s killing his father, but she will realize how intense the darkness in her can be. So far she has chosen the Light side of things easily, but I envision her having a crisis of faith in the next movie.

Ultimately, whether this theory is just tinfoil over-analyzation or something that could actually be realized, I suspect that the next film will have both Kylo Ren/Ben Solo and Rey achieving balance of Light and Dark within themselves and between each other.

Side observation–one does wonder if Kylo Ren saw in Rey’s memory that she killed her parents and not just the graves on Jakku. If he did, it would mean he chose not to tell her, either hoping she remembers on her own, or not wanting to hurt her in that moment any more than she already is.

I could see the latter being a possibility–much of his suffering has been in the perception that people think he is a monster, and he is just stepping into the role he thinks everyone has driven him into.

While Kylo Ren certainly wants Rey to stop pining after her parents in the hopes that she’ll rely only on him and no one else (he is desperate not to be alone in this scene), he doesn’t exactly want her to become so utterly despondent to believe she is a monster incapable of being loved. Hence the “You’re nothing but not to me”, but no “And you’re a murderer just like me!”

Also, Unkar Plutt must know some shit, he’s the last guy aside from Rey to have seen her parents. I get that Rey hates Plutt and does not want to talk with him any more than she has to, but I wonder if she will ever consider asking him about that deal her parents made.

Anyways, that’s my crazy tinfoil Star Wars theory. I have no idea if Rey actually killed her parents, but it’ll be interesting to see if this one pans out or not! Have you got any zany wild Star Wars speculations or theories? Post them below!

[creator-zee]

32

       I leaned casually against the stone wall despite the cuffs around my wrists and the chains attaching me to the wall. I watched as two guards argued.

      The one on the right poked the other guard in the chest. “What the hell were you thinking bringing someone like her here?”

        The one on the left grabbed Right’s wrist and shoved their hand away. “She’s one of those hunters who have been raiding our towns. Of course I brought her to jail once I took her down.”

         Right crossed their arms. “You took her down? Really? You?”

         Left nodded vigorously. “Yes, me. What’s that supposed to mean?”

          Right pointed at me. “It’s supposed to mean that she is one of them. No one except royal vamps can take one down.”

         “One of them?”

         I shook my head. Poor innocent little Left. 

           “A freak. A beast. A monster. You know?” Right prompted. 

          Left stepped back from the bars of my cell. “Fuck, really?”

         “Uh, yeah.” Right goraned. “Ugh. You’re such an idiot. What are we supposed to do with her now? She obviously let you capture her. Since there’s no way you could over power her.” 

       Right glanced at me. I smirked. Better for them to think I had a secret agenda and that Left didn’t just actually capture me because I was poisoned. I just had to fool them into thinking that I was at full power and could kill them until I actually could. 

        “We could put silver on her then find a royal to take care of her.” Left suggested, nervously. 

       Right sighed. “Get silver on her and I will ask the Boss lady about contacting a royal.”

         They walked away, and I cursed internally. Fuck. I needed to get out before a royal came. I wouldn’t be able to get out of silver especially not in my weakened state. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Fucking R and her stupid territory qualms. We couldn’t be fighting over land amongst ourselves when Vamps were still ruling most of the world. But, noooo. R and her stupid ass decided let’s poison this rogue werewolf that happened upon our land. She definitely won’t need to fight Vamps or anything because she just raided a town. 

       I heard Left’s footsteps returning and I erased all signs of panic from my face, opting instead for a look of cool indifference. Left came back into view holding an armful of silver. I could smell the distinctive metallic odor from down the hall. 

       Left pulled open the door the my cell and shut them behind them, dropping the silver on the ground. “Just behave and this will go easier.”

       I shrugged. “Like I care.” I resisted the urge to flinch as she began wrapping the chains around my arms. I forced a laugh. “Hate to disillusion you, but silver is actually weaker than the steel. It doesn’t hurt us, it’s a scam we made up to escape easier from you.”

         Left paused. “Really? But-“

        I cut her off. “But nothing. Go ahead and wrap me up and silver. I don’t mind it will make it easier to escape. Do you want that in your head. How many mistakes do you need on your record?” I started counting on my fingers. “First you bring me here endangering everyone, and now, second, you’re going to fail to lock me up securely. What happens to you when I escape here?” I smirked. “I suppose you end up on the streets.” I held my arms out to her. “Your choice.”

        Left began unwrapping the chains from my arms. I resisted breathing a sigh of relief as the burning left. My ruse had worked. The silver chains fell away, and Left picked them up.

      They opened the door and left. “Good luck escaping now.” They laughed. “You may be strong, but you’re not very smart. You shouldn’t have told me that. Now you’re doomed to fight the Royal.”

          I feigned fear. “Crap. My big mouth is going to get me killed.”

        I heard them laugh. “You should learn how to keep quiet.”

       I sunk to the floor in feigned defeat. Once I heard their footsteps fade, I began pulling at the chains. Ugh, I couldn’t break them. Stupid poison. I couldn’t shift, my strength was gone, and everything hurt. Stupid fucking R. I was going to die because if her, unless this Royal took several days to show up. Without food, water, or medicine, it would take several days for the poison o leave my system. 

          Maybe my defeat wasn’t so feigned after all. I was doomed.

32.1

        I wasn’t sure how long I had been in the cell. I had no way to tell time. The only reassurance that I had that time was moving was that the guards would change shifts. How often, I had no clue, but so far the shift had changed twice. All the vamp guards wore the same metal armor that covered them from head to toe so I had no way of knowing which guard was which. Was there only two switching off or more? Not that that would help. Whatever R had poisoned me with I had underestimated. I was only growing weaker by the hour. Whereas before I had only been cut off from wolf and thus my extra strength left still with the strength of a normal human, albeit a strong one, now I was steadily going down hill. I would struggle to fight off a normal vamp in my current condition. I had no hope of escape or surviving this fight. Urgh. Fuck R. Fuck her and her stupid territorial claims. I wasn’t even part of a pack. I wasn’t a threat to her or her territory, and now I’m going to die because of her. 

        At some point I had fallen unconscious, either asleep or front he poison I wasn’t sure. Either way I woke to voices outside my cell. 

        “Did you use silver on it?” A powerful voice asked. 

        “No. I was told not to by one of the other guards.” The muffled voice of a guard responded. 

         “Then, why is it so weak?”

         “We are not sure, but some of the guards theorize that it’s an act to lower our guard so it can attack, although it was acting quite cocky when we first brought it in.” The guard mused. “Since a regular Vamp captured it, some guards thought that it allowed itself to be captured for some reason. They are concerned that it may be a trap.”

         “Someone get some silver chains on it so I can have a closer look, but I doubt that it’s faking. It looks seriously unwell.”

        “Yes, Royal.” The guard saluted and left. 

        The Royal Vamp grabbed the bars peering through. “You really are in a sorry state. What happened to you? I’ve never seen anything like this before. Taken down without a single injury.” She shook her head. “So much for a beast. You’re more pathetic than a human.”

        I pushed myself up into a standing position glaring at the Royal Vamp. “Fuck you.”

         They laughed. “Fiesty one, aren’t you?” They paused. “Huh, strange I don’t recognize your scent. You’re not from a pack, are you?”

         I simple glared at her, despite the fact the I was forced to use the wall to stay standing.

         “A lone wolf. That’s a dangerous path.” They laughed to themselves. “Although I guess you know that now.”

        The guard returned with the silver, opening the door for the Royal. The Royal Vamp grabbed the chains and walked towards me. I heard the door clank shut although the Royal blocked my view. They were taller than me by a few inches and were wearing an elegant gown. Their long black hair fell beautifully down their back.

      I focused back on the silver cuffs. No was not the time to admire how beautiful Royal Vamps were. 

       They grabbed my arms roughly and pulled them in front of me causing me to stumble forward. I swayed slightly, as my vision spun. The burn of silver in my wrists gave me something to focus on other than the constant pain throughout my body. I managed to stand straight despite my entire body wanting to collapse.

       The Royal grabbed my face and peered at it. Then opened my mouth peering inside. I couldn’t fight even this. I really was pathetic. I struggled to even stand as the Royal looked all over my body. I was only wearing a cloth wrapping around my chest and a pair of loose pants. The idea was that transforming was easy, although that wasn’t a problem for me right now, seeing as I was completely cut off from my wolf, because of that damn poison.

       The Royal finally finished their inspection. “Let me offer you a deal.” I didn’t respond so the vamp continued. “I’m assuming you’re going to die whether I fight you or not, and I don’t really want to fight you because it wouldn’t even last a second. So,

I have a proposition. A way for you to live.”

       I stared up at her in confusion. What the hell are they talking about?

        “I will have my doctors try and heal you, but in return you have to be my slave.”

         “No.” I didn’t hesitate. There was no way in hell that I was becoming a Vamp’s slave. Especially, not a Royal. 

        “Are you sure? I can tell that you are strong, but just sick right now. I would love to have a fighter like you under my command. It would be a shame for someone as strong as you to just die.”

       Who is this Royal trying to convince? Like I would be swayed by the prospect of fighting for the people I had been fighting against. But... maybe I could get something out of this if she really want me that badly. 

        “If you let your human slaves go.” I offered. 

        “You’re not in a position to barter.”

       I shrugged. “Either I die now or I die later. I am still going to try and free these humans from your tyranny. They deserve better than being forced to live in hiding or to live as slaves.”

          “Why do you care about them? They are less than both of us.” The Royal pushed. 

        “Because, they are my family, and you Vamps took them away from me.” I spat. 

        The Royal sighed. “Okay, I’ll let the humans free. You will fight for me then?”

      I nodded. “If I survive.”

       “Perfect. We have a deal.” She turned to the guard. “This wolf is coming with me. Can you please come undo her chains.”

        “Yes, Royal.” The guard dutifully complied.

32.2

         I woke up on a bed. That was wrong. I hadn’t slept on a bed in years. I panicked sitting up quickly looking around. I found myself in a blank room. It only contained the bed I was on. The door was a simple wooden one with a round door handle. I slid off the military cot and took stock of the situation. I was healed, back to full strength. I reached for my wolf and felt the familiar connection. 

        I was in new clothes, different clothes. For one I was actually wearing a shirt. Someone, presumably the doctors had dressed me in a tight fitting athletic long sleeve shirt and pants. I grabbed the fabric in distaste. How the hell was i supposed to transform easily in this? I wasn’t a Vamp who wore armor. I needed to be able to take my clothes on and off easily. 

       Ugh, it didn’t matter. If the stupid Royal wanted to pay for me to have new clothes every time I shifted and ripped them then that was her choice. I headed to the door and twisted the handle. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t budge. I was a slave after all. I guess it was too much to hope for freedom to roam around the house or castle or wherever I was. I sat back in the bed. I could knock down the door, but that wouldn’t get me anywhere.

      I stood back up. To hell with it. I didn’t give a rats ass about follow any Vamp’s orders especially not a Royal’s. I grabbed the handle again to see if maybe it had suddenly become unlocked. Big surprise, it hadn’t. I punched through the wood next to the handle and reached through to turn the handle from the other side. The door swung open and I stepped into the hallway. Narrow with stone on both sides. I began walking down the hall when I hurried footsteps. To fast to be human. I spun to face the Royal. 

        They reached to grab my shoulder but I dodged the hit grabbing their arm and using their momentum to swing her over my shoulder. I spun to face them and they were already up on their feet. I prepared for the next attack, but it never came. 

          “I will not fight with you. A master doesn’t fight with their slave, only punish them.” They glared at me. “Best keep that in mind. We had an agreement. You are my slave. You listen to me. Any disobedience will be punished.”

           I smirked. “Never said I would be an obedient slave.” I began stepping back from her. They lunged forward and grabbed for my neck, missing. I was yanked forwards. What the fuck? She was gripping a chain in her hand. The chain of a necklace. A necklace that was around my neck. 

      They pulled me towards them and growled in my ear. “You know what this is? This is a collar. Loose enough to fit around your wolf. This marks that I own you. Don’t forget that.” She paused. “And, If you don’t start listening I will get human slaves again. Do you submit to me?”

         “I submit.” I whispered out.

       They let go of the collar. “Good, now come with me. You’re going to help train some vamps.”

          I gestured to my clothes. “Not in this I won’t.”

        They sighed. “Am I supposed to let you go walking around half naked?”

       “Yes, if you don’t want me to shred my clothes.” I pulled at the long sleeves. “This takes too long to take off. There’s a reason I wore what I did.”

         “Fine, I’ll get you different clothes.” They relented.

        “Thanks, Vamp.”

         “You can call me by my rank, Royal or my name, Vanessa, but not Vamp.” They demanded.

        I shrugged. “Okay, V.”

       They sighed. “Whatever, close enough. Now what is your name.”

        I paused. “Umm, I forgot.”

       They growled in irritation. “You, forgot?”

       I shrugged. “Uh, Yeah?”

       She paused. “You’re not lying?”

       “I wish I was.” I admitted. “I haven’t been called by a name since I was little, I don’t remember what it was. It never seemed important.”

         “You’ve been alone for that long?” She asked, with what might have been pity. 

       I shrugged. “Yeah, I guess you can just call me whatever.” Distaste entered my voice. “You’re my, ugh, Master, so it’s not like what I say matters.”

       They paused at a door. “We’re here Wolf. Shred those clothes for now, I’ll have a different pair for when we’re done.” They opened the door exposing a large outdoor training field. “Shift. Then we’ll begin.”

        I growled at the command but complied, shifting into my wolf form. The necklace was now snug around my neck, but not too tight. My gray fur contrasted the brown dirt of the training grounds.

      They pointed at me and while walking away towards another building. “Stay. I will return in armor and with some other Warriors.”

         I growled, hating being ordered around, but I listened. I enjoyed being back in this form. I stretched out as I waited for the Vamps to return. Finally, the door of the building opened and out came V followed by several other Vamps. They were all wearing armor, lighter than the guards, consisting of just a chestplate, boots and gauntlets. 

         V strode towards me. “This is a rare opportunity to train against a beast without being in danger of dying because Wolf here will not be killing anyone.” She gave me a pointed glare. “But, they’re still allowed to hurt you and will fight without holding back.” She looked at me making sure I understood. I nodded and began circling the group of Vamps. 

        They charged at me in a group but I easily dodged the attack grabbing the last Vamp by the leg and swinging them around the be slammed into the ground. I tore my paw across their chest growling in their face. I latched my jaws around their neck but just left several imprints, instead of ripping it out. The others had surrounded me slowly closing in. I charged straight for the one in front of me. They grabbed my neck holding my mouth back from their face, but I kicked my back paws clawing them in the stomach, my claws easily cutting through the metal. They dropped me in surprise and the other vampires closed in on me. I jumped off the bloody Vamp and escaped their circle. I ran around the field circling them, slowly closing in. One began chasing after me and I stopped, spinning around to catch the speeding vamp by surprise. I latched my teeth into their leg and pulled them to a harsh stop. I followed up by pouncing on their back and closing my jaws around their necks. I left red dots of blood as a souvenir before turning to deal with the remaining few. 

        I dispatched them with relative ease, and turned to V. She nodded. “Good job Wolf. The rest of you get healed up, but wait and watch. I’m going to fight them now.”

          We circled around them, waiting for the other to move. V shot forwards hoping to grab me. They were much faster than the other Vamps, but not fast enough. I dodged the grab and instead latched my teeth into one of her arms. Her coppery blood filled my mouth, as I tugged. She brought her other hand down, punching me in the back. I released her arm and jumped back. Blood was dripping from my mouth, as I prepared to lunge. I leaned for her face, she grabbed my under my front arms, but I used my back feet to claw through her armor and to her stomach. She grunted in pain but ignored the blood, squeezing me. I howled in pain, as I struggled in their grasp. I managed to twist my head and latch my teeth into their arm, ripping the flesh out with a yank. She was forced to let me go with that arm and I twisted out of her other grasp landing on my paws. 

         She was bleeding from multiple areas and I was barely injured, so what was her plan. I began circling again breaking into a sprint as my circle grew wider. I built up speed until I was going as fast as I could while turning. V was spinning in place following my movement carefully. Suddenly, I clawed the ground and turned quickly charging straight at V at full speed. She crouched ready to catch me, but at the last second I threw myself down to the ground sliding under her reaching hands and knocking her off her feet. I pounced on her back and closed my jaws around her neck. I tightened just enough to draw blood letting them know I could kill her. I stood back as V brushed herself off. 

     She addressed the other Vamps angrily. “Leave.” When they hesitated V shouted. “Now!”

        She pointed to me. “Come with me. I have clothes for you to put on, then I need to drink your blood.”

       I growled. What the fuck? Drink my blood? Why mine?

        She scowled. “Don’t act so surprised. You made me get rid of my humans, so I have no humans to drink blood from, so I have to drink yours. How else will I heal from this beating you gave me?”

        I sighed and reluctantly followed her into the building. 

        We entered into a locker room of some sort, and she gestured to a pile of clothes. “Those are yours.”

         I sniffed them with my nose, inspecting them. It was a pair of sweatpants and a cloth wrap for my chest. I shifted and tugged in the paints then began wrapping my chest with quick, practiced movements. I turned around and V was right there. 

       She grinned, baring her fangs. “Ready?”

        I shrugged. “Like I have a choice.”

       She just grinned grabbing me and pulling me closer. I could feel her hot breathe on my neck. Then pain as her fangs pierced my skin. I cried out in pain, but the pain was quickly replaced by a numbness as her venom entered my system. I was forced to lean on them for support as my body grew weak from the venom. She finally pulled her fangs out and the effects of the venom went away.

       I pushed them away and stood up. “Ugh.” I groaned. 

       She just grinned, licking their lips. “You taste delicious, .”

        I scowled stepping back. My hand instinctively shooting up to my neck where the bite mark had healed into a scar. I rubbed it uncertainly while stepping back. I hated how much control this Royal had over me. Being forced to let my sworn enemy drink my blood was the biggest insult to my goal of taking down the Vampire regime. 

         “Come with me Wolf. I have work and I need you to work so I’m assigning you to work for one of the other Vamps. I will still need you for training so I will use you some days but otherwise you will be reporting to Ira.”  She commanded stalking out of the room. I followed her obediently despite feeling several bruises developing around my rib cage from where they grabbed me. 

         She led me across the field and around the building then to a different building, also stone, bigger than the barracks but smaller than the main castle. She pushed open the large wooden, calling out. “Ira, I got you a replacement slave. I’ll need to borrow them from time to time, but otherwise they’re yours.”

         I entered the building as V shoved me. Large stalls lined the walls so I must be in a barn. A vampire wearing jeans and a shirt came around the corner of the stalls, carrying a hay bale easily with one hand. 

          “Hey, there. I’m Ira.” She nodded at me. “Come with me and I’ll get you settled.”

         I followed her down the hall and she set the hay bale down.

      She turned to me brushing off her hands holding one out to me. “What’s your name?”

         I stared questioningly at her hand before hesitantly shaking it. “I don’t have one.” I paused before adding. “But, V has been calling me Wolf.”

          “V, eh?” She laughed, turning to walk down the hall. “Guessing she doesn’t like that.”

         I shook my head. “No, but I’ll be damned if I have to listen to everything that Vamp says.”

          She paused. “Don’t like us much?”

          “Nope.” I growled, my anger growing at the mention.

        She pushed open a door. “Well not all of us are bad. Anyways, this is where you will be staying.” 

        I glanced in the room. It had a small bed and a chair in it. It was maybe twice the size of the bed. Some clothes were stacked on the chair, and boots were next to it. 

       She glanced at my outfit. “I suggest putting on something more covering, but it’s your choice. At least put the boots on though.”

         I walked into the room looking at the clothes, jeans a t-shirt and a jacket, as well as underwear, a bra, and socks. I slipped off my pants and replaced them with the jeans, slipping on the socks and boots. 

        I glanced at Ira who had averted her eyes. “I would prefer not to wear a shirt. I’m not used to it.”

       She shook her head laughing. “Okay, no shame I guess. Just don’t get complained when things poke you.” She gestured to the hall. “Come on, horses to train, stalls to clean, and water and food to be filled.”

         I nodded following her.

         She walked quickly down the hall. “I’ve already giving morning rations and filled water buckets this morning, so for now we just have to train. Well take care of the stalls with the night feeding.” She turned into a tack room, grabbing halters. “Have you ever ridden Wolf?”

          I shook my head. “No.”

        She tossed a halter at me, which I caught. “Well, time to learn.”

         She exited the barn and started down a path that led to a large pasture. “First step: catching the horse. You want to be slow and not spook them. These horses are not regular horses and are much faster than either of us. Approach slowly from the side to not spook them. I want you to catch the bay mare, that’s a female with a brown body and black man.”

       I nodded. “Okay.”

         “Just slip the halter over her head. Princess is a good girl and shouldn’t give you trouble.” She instructed. 

          I spotted the bay mare across the paddock. And began walking towards her, when I got closer I slowed and approached from the side. Sure enough, as Ira said, the mare did not move. I grabbed the halter and slid it over her head buckling the strap behind her ears. I grabbed the lead rope and led her to where Ira was waiting at the gate with a black gelding. When Ira opened the gate, the gelding shot out and I was impressed by the strength she used to rein him back in. Nervously I copied her actions and led the mare out the gate, but princess just obediently followed, a stark contrast to the black gelding who was still tugging at the lead rope. 

         Ira held firm on the lead rope and waited until he came to a standstill before patting his neck and starting to walk again. We walked back to the barn and led the horses into the hall where Ira grabbed ropes from the walls and clipped them to the geldings halter. 

       She pointed to the hall on the other side of the door. “Do the same thing with princess over there.”

       I nodded and copied her actions. She then guided me through putting the tack on and leading princess out to the arena. She then carefully taught me how to get on and ride. She left me with the warning to be careful before taking the geldin to a fenced off ring and working with him. 

        It felt so strange to be mounted upon a horse. Princess responded to my commands easily, but I was too nervous to go faster than a walk. Ira has promised to teach me more over the following months. Both how to train and how to ride, so that I could be more help. 

         As the sun set, I found myself back in the barn mucking out stalls while Ira gave the food. When we were finally done, I sighed gratefully and began heading back to my room.

          “Where are you going?” Ira asked. 

         “Uh, to my room?”

          Ira laughed. “Come on Silly. You need to get food first. You did good work today.”

        I turned and followed back out of the barn, passing several horses who stared at us curiously. “Why are some horses outside, and others in stalls?” I wondered out loud, not expecting a response. 

         “Oh, that’s because the ones in stalls need to be fresh in case the Royal or her men need horses quickly. They are our war horses. The ones outside are for training.” Ira answered.

        “Thanks.”

[forever-more-never-again]

Green and Purple (An Imagine)

Requested: Anonymous

Word Count: 1527

Pairings: None

Warnings: None

Request: Hello! I'm not sure if this is a kind of thing that's up your alley. But how about a My Hero Academia Platonic fic focusing on Midoriya and Shinsou, where Shinsou partially figures out the secret behind Midoriya's quirk (you can decide which part he figures out and how he reacts). Knowledge of recent manga events is preferred but not required.

a/n: That nasty grape boy does not exist. he was YEETED! Into the sun alongside Endowhore! :) 

Masterlist

The insomniac stared through half lidded eyes at the bubble of joy that was on Midoriya Izuku.

The infinity girl and robot were with him at the front of the class, being loud and cheerful.

Groaning, Shinsou put his head down in his arms on his desk, craving the dark after staring at the brightness of their smiles for so long.

“Hey, Shinsou-Kun! We’re all doing out for ice cream after class today, we were hoping you would come with!”

Speak of the Angel.

Shinsou raised his head once more and tried to look disinterested,

Midoriya was practically vibrating in nerves as he gave an anxious smile at the purple boy.

“Yeah! It would be good bonding!” Uraraka pumped a fist in the air, smiling down at him.

“I can agree to the idea that this class could all benefit to a bonding exercise, one that is not directly related to a villian attack.” Iida pushed his glasses further up his face.

“Why me.” It wasn’t phrased like a question, and Shinsou knew he was being kinda short and rude, but he never understood why Midoriya was always so nice to him. The kid with the Villain Quirk.

Midoriya jolted and frowned, “What do you mean? You’re our friend.”

Shinsou’s eyebrows rose a little at that, but his mouth stayed in a disinterested frown.

“Really.”

Iida glowered down at where he sat, “That is highly rude.”

Midoriya jumped again and began frantically waving his hands, “ He doesn’t have to come if he doesn’t want to, Iida! After all, there is the test in Present Mic’s and the test in Hero fundamentals and maybe he has to study but then he might want to talk to Yaoyorozu about the study group she is putting together for this weekend but then maybe he wants to study alone and-”

Shinsou raised a hand and slapped it over Midoriya’s mouth. The boy flushed a deep red, making him look like a watermelon, with his green hair, as he realized he had been rambling again.

When Shinsou cautiously raise his hand, Midoriya squeaked out a sheepish, “Oops.”

“I’ll think about your offer Midoriya.” And that’s all that he was going to say about it.

Shinsou couldn’t deny that Midoriya was interesting. His feud with Bakugou, although a bit one sided, had never been fully explained, but Shinsou could see the little starburst scars when Midoriya was changing and he had a pretty good idea of their relationship before UA.

And then there was his odd relationship with All Might. Shinsou and Todoroki had bonded a little over their shared conspiracy that Midoriya was All Might’s secret Love child.

There was just too much evidence.

The costumes, the whispers, the favoritism, and the quirks.

“You’re all too loud. Pipe down.”

The class grew deadly still and quiet as a giant yellow caterpillar rose from the ground behind the teacher’s podium.

Shinsou put his hand over his mouth to hide his smirk, ‘Nice Dad.’

“Today we’re going to be analyzing hero’s lives. I’ve assigned you each a different hero and I want you to research everything you can from birth to their rise in the hero ranks and write up a five page essay about how they did it and what they could have done instead of heroing based off their quirks. Get to it and stay quiet. You have until tomorrow.”

After tossing out a stack of paper, which students madly scrambled to find their names on, Aizawa fell back to the ground and rolled over so his face was to the wall.

Shinsou strolled to the few papers left on the ground, listening to his classmates as they exclaimed over their heroes.

“Aww Man! Crimson Riot! He’s so Manly!”

“Hmm. Gang Orca. Ribbit.”

“Midoriya! I got Present Mic Sensei Who did you get?”

“That’s so cool Ochakun! I had hoped for All Might, but I got Nighteye.”

Shinshou picked up his paper and stared at the name he had been given.

He got All Might.

Huh.

Walking back to his seat, he pulled up article after article of All Might’s rise to the Number one Hero.

And after an hour, he realized something. All Might rose through the ranks after graduating UA, but there were no records of him before that.

Searching deeper and deeper into the web, Shinsou pulled up forums of fellow conspiracy theorists and read through some of their thoughts.

And then he read one by ‘IcanDab666’ that theorized that All Might had been given his quirk.

Given!

And if he could be given it...then.

Shinsou snuck a look over to where Midoriya was muttering writing in a notebook, ignoring the hate filled glower of Bakugou in front of him.

Once class was over, Shinsou walked over to where Midoriya was packing up, Uraraka and Iida standing nearby.

“I’ll take you up on your offer.”

Midoriya practically beamed. His smile putting the sun to shame.

“Alright Hitochan!”

Shinsou sighed, feeling a headache coming on top of the lack of sleep, “Stop that.”

And he walked away, hearing Midoriya run after him.

The conversation flowed easily between the class, Shinsou keeping to himself. As the class walked into the ice cream store, Shinsou grabbed the back of Midoriya’s shirt and pulled him back out into the street.

“Wha! Hitochan? Is there something wrong?”

Shinsou ran a hand down his face, and fixed Midoriya with his best Aizawa glare, “Tell me the truth Midoriya...Did All Might give you his quirk?”

All the blood rushed out of Midoriya’s face and his mouth began opening and closing but no words came out. That was all the confirmation Shinsou needed.

What he was not expecting was for Midoriya to activate his quirk, grab Shinsou and throw him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and run.

When they stopped and he put Shinsou down, he felt nauseous from the sudden speed and stop. Looking around, he saw that they were at Dagobah Beach. Which had been cleaned a few months ago by an unnamed citizen.

“What was that about Midoriya?”

Midoriya surprised Shinsou at that moment as he glared, the sunshine Cinnamon roll, bunny of Class I-A, Glared! At Shinsou.

“Who told you!? Are you the traitor?”

Shinsou blinked rapidly, “Traitor? What? No..” He shook his head to get back on track, “Midoriya, did All Might give you his quirk or not? I was doing the assignment that Aizawa gave us and found that I could find nothing on All Might from before he became a hero and there was this conspiractest who thought All Might was Given his power. Which means he theoretically could Give it to someone else. You reacted pretty harsh and confirmed it. But what was with the running and threats? I wouldn’t tell anyone.”

That was the most Shinsou had ever said to one person and it showed on Midoriya’s shocked face.

“You don’t know about One for All?”

Shinsou took the whisper to mean he wasn’t supposed to hear, so he stayed quiet as Midoriya mumbled to himself, pacing in front of him in the sand.

Finally he sighed and looked straight at Shinsou, “Alright. I guess I’ll tell you since you pretty much already figured it out. But you have to swear to never repeat a word of this to anyone.”

Shinsou raised one eyebrow, “You would take my word?”

Midoriya nodded.

“The word of someone with a Villain's Quirk?” Shinsou stressed. Not understanding why Midoriya trusted him.

Midoriya gasped, “Hitochan! You do not have a Villain Quirk! Your quirk is awesome! A quirk does not make a Villain or Hero! It’s the person who decides who they are! And you are not a Villain! Plus!” Midoriya beamed, “You’re my friend!”

Shinsou couldn’t say anything.

Thankfully Midoriya didn’t seem to expect an answer as he began talking again.

And All Shinsou could do was stand and stare down at the green talking Bunny about All Might, Bakugou, A slime Villain, and the power of One for All.

“So you’re telling me that you do have All Might’s quirk. You really are kind of his child. I knew it.”

Midoriya froze, looked at Shinsou, and then broke down laughing.

“You and Todoroki...” Shinsou felt his lips twitch, traitorously close to a smile.

“Come on Izukun. Our friends are probably wondering where we are.”

Midoriya panicked, “Oh my god! We just ran off and didn’t tell them and I panicked and what if they think a villain or the league took us they are probably worried sick and-” Midoriya froze, and Shinsou froze as well, a smile frozen as he had been smiling listening to Midoriya mutter., wondering what got the greenette’s attention.

Midoriya slowly looked up at Shinsou and then squealed, “You called me Izukun! And you said ‘Our friends’! I knew you cared for us!”

And Shinsou couldn’t find it in himself to care. Keeping the smile on his face as he walked beside Midoriya back to the ice cream store and listen to Uraraka and Iida chastise the both of them for running off, he found that maybe having friends wasn’t so bad.

FOREVER Taglist:

@sxph-t @mialeelavellan @rainydaysrnevergrey @platonic-plots @sociallyawkwardcircus-freak-hi @ayyidkeither @queenbbarnes @mythixmagic @chas-z @thefridgeismybestie @strangersstranger @princess-evans-addict

[all-the-kookies-fall]

A THEORY: Linear Timeline of reputation

This is going to be a very long read; but it may just include unlocking the 15 Taylor's from the LWYMMD MV so read on if you dare…

 (OK it totally includes the theory, please read and tell me what you think!)

An Introduction:

I've been a casual fan of Taylor Swift since she started. Loved all her radio singles, listened to her albums (at my leisure upon release), and admired her platform and brand image. I guess I became a huge fan after 1989, but around the release of reputation, I realized just how much this woman's music has been there throughout my life and decided to fully stan her. As I fell down the rabbit hole of  learning everything I could about TS as an artist, I became completely enamored with her wits & charms. However, the more I learned to love about her, the more I could feel just a slight inauthenticity; I was constantly thinking of the hypocrisy of how she "never names who her songs about" yet she created this scavenger hunt with her liner notes that seemed to point in an obvious direction of one of her "ex-boyfriends." It didn't align with how she presented herself in every other aspect. Then, I felldowntherabbithole for real and found all of the incredibly documented and organized realm of the Kaylor's, and everything was literally in screaming color.

reputation made even more sense with fresh Kaylor eyes and once I read this Taylor Swift quote: 

reputation, in my mind, is an album that is very linear in it’s timeline. Meaning that it kind of starts out where I was when I first started making the record. The album ends more where I am now in my life. So this is more towards the end of the album, it’s called ‘Call It What You Want.’

my mind became OBSESSED with cracking this code. I had combed through all the kaylor blogs and while I had read everything I could, I still couldn't place it within any timeline. Then, Delicate came out and the code started to crack; I could peek inside and make sense of something, but was still unsure what it was. I put together a loose concept which had some plot holes, but it was when I remembered to revisit the 15 Taylor theory that everything completely revealed itself.

  I would like to start with a disclaimer: I have never, ever actively participated more than lurking or even posted anything on Tumblr. I would like to fully acknowledge that there is a huge, fat chance none of this makes sense to anyone but me, but my husband was really getting fed up with me talking about it and I just needed to share. THANK YOUS to the Kaylor blogs I frequented with incredible analysis and POV of Tay in the media and her music-  @all-my-possessions​ @howyougetthenerd​  @jennyboom21 @karlitakloss​ @kaydar​ @kaylorrepdetective​ @larrienation​ @out-of-the-klosset​ @paradisekisses  @tallcurlygirl​ @taytaysbeard​ @that-curly-haired-lesbian @thoseflashinggreeneyes​ @whaler13bg​ to name a few. (Sorry, tumblr is not letting me tag a few of you.)

 A lot of the information I am providing is not new and connects the dots from the amazing posts from this community. I tried as best as I could to cite all relevant posts - you can definitely let me know if I've made any errors. Please feel free to edit//contribute//comment because I have a feeling that a more seasoned eye would be able to expound on so many more clues and easter eggs!

Let the Games Begin!

Overall Concept/Themes

There are truly some insightful analysis of the overarching themes and concepts of the album already. Secrecy, partners in crime, forbidden love… In general there's a complex theme of Duality to the album; conflicting feelings, Brand vs Self, bad vs good, truth vs reputation etc. I think it's most important to note is that any analysis that views these tracks differently than listed below, can still be correct. Our Queen is a lyrical master plus there's that added layer of intentional dualities in her story telling; there's always at least 3 different meanings to her songs and that's one of the reasons we admire her wordsmith ways.

 The Timeline!!!

 …Ready For It?  - So It Goes… 2012* - 2014

This has long been inferred in every side of the fandom to indicate this is Part 1 of the Story, implied by the ellipses as the beginning and end of the track names. All the timelines I've previously read started at either the introduction of  1989 or even later beginning with 2016/2017 events, but it didn't make sense applied to the album as a whole. Once Delicate MV came out, I began to notice that all of the nods to RED in all these MV's were not just for nostalgia. She is literally telling us that this part of the story was about the end of RED era leading into 1989 - not quite 1989 era just yet. ;)

*2012 is an estimate based on the beginning of the Delicate video; it's possible that TS & KK met before Swiftgron was officially over but who will ever know? Karlie's buzz cut was December 2011 (x). The first half of the album is difficult to theorize specific dates within this period because we really have no idea when KK & TS met.

LWYMMD - New Year's Day 2014 - 2017 (NYD)

I gotta tell you - immediately after reading this, go watch LWYMMD. It was (is?) literally hiding there in plain sight; it's a GENIUS video walking you through EXACTLY what she did (you could say from a satirical standpoint more how the media/GP thought she did) to prepare for this era! When she refers to the "Old Taylor," she's using the term in the exact way her fans have been using: to refer to Country Taylor. She is officially Pop; Look What We Made Her Do when RED, a pop-country album, "a patchwork of songs," didn't win the Grammy. She went full POP princess. This post in particular helped me remember that these songs are not fresh in regards to her life even though they are brand new to us. Part 2 of the story more clearly follows the events of the 1989 era through just before rep's release.

Track by Track // 15 Taylors

…Ready For It?  Intro

I believe this is an introduction of what's to come, an overview of the story. Yes, she's definitely asking herself if she's ready to come out of the closet (x/x), if Karlie is ready to glass closet (x), is her beard ready for the consequences(x), and most specifically, are we, her fans, the GP, are we ready for her to come out and live her truth unapologetically? It's her laying the groundwork to prepare for 1989; her literally coming up with the concept for the whole era which is why we see the references to her 1989 MV's in the glass room. This post  cites the connection to the Dykes on Bikes; are we ready to accept Taylor to not only come out, but be a strong voice and activist of the LGBTQ+ community?

End Game April 2013 - June 2014

I KNOW Taylor is singing to KK about them first meeting - and I KNOW we think they just met before VSFS 2013 (even though there are rumors that say they met sooner…) But, hear me out because this lines up way too easily with the information we get from the MV (x/x). Remind yourself… Who opened for Taylor's RED tour? That’s right, our favorite ginger. It's a nice additional nod with the callback of Everything Has Changed duet with Ed Sheeran. Miami (shoutout to my hometown even though I have no inkling to its significance) tour dates were 04/10/13, London was  02/01/14 (Did she really show us their first  NYE together?!), and Tokyo was 06/01/14.

Irrelevant now but important for later (LWYMMD): And I bury hatchets, but I keep maps of where I put ‘em. This post highlights a cool interpretation of the line that applies to this whole post!

I’ve been doing some digging to try and somehow link Miami in this mix, and this is pure speculation but I feel like Future represents her bearding with Harry Styles. Karlie’s “buzz cut” was in December 2012, and shortly thereafter she was in Miami for a photo shoot. 1/4/12 marks the official break up of Haylor in the US Virgin Islands… it’s a stretch and I’m totally grasping at straws but they are geographically close and it’s all I got for now.

   "Me, I was a robber first time that (s)he saw me…"

I Did Something Bad early 2013

So, I have to admit… IDSB and DBM were the two songs I was having the most trouble placing within the linear timeline; my initial thought was this must have been a metaphor for her confessing her "sins" a.k.a. bearding, to Karlie when they first started dating. This was the song that clicked once I looked through the lenses of the 15 Taylors and reaffirmed my thoughts with the visuals of this Taylor on the cross in LWYMMD. In digging a little deeper, I found a Vanity Fair article - one of the only cover stories found online about TS during 2013. I'm not as confident about my perspective on the linear timeline with this track, however I feel like it's a good start especially considering the next holy church track.

In regards to the "light me up" lyric, and clear visual reference in the …RFI MV as well as the crucifixion of Taylor in LWYMMD, I thought this answer she gave the   73 Questions With Taylor Swift | Vogue video was also interesting to note. The question was what is the one thing she wishes she would have known at age 19 (8:03)?

"Hey, you're going to date just like a normal 20-something should be allowed to, but you're going to be a national lightning rod for slut-shaming."

I'll leave this quote from the April 2013 Vanity Fair interview right here:

"But nobody calls them the kinds of names that get thrown at Swift. “They’re ‘playboys,’ ” Swift says wryly. “They’re ‘having fun.’ ”

By the way, in the Vanity Fair article there's an "authorized source" giving insight to what "really happened" to Haylor aka probably lies.

 Every lie I tell them, they tell me three

Don't Blame Me early - mid 2014

I can really only hypothesize through the lyrics and the Taylor line up that this may be a reference to how the RED "media" circus (as quoted from the VF article cited above) literally made her do crazy things - maybe how her past experiences had caused her to react a certain way in an undefined relationship, maybe how the media circus in general had her guarding her heart, and of course the religious context of the song leads me to believe of course it is connected in that aspect to the confessing of her actions in the previous track. Big Sur trip also falls within this timeline. (x/x/x) 

I once was poison ivy, but now I'm your daisy…

Delicate 2013 - 2014

I think this one has so many beautiful analysis with the music video that syncs perfectly with this time line with no need for additional explanation, and I think it's especially apparent why this Taylor represents TraKK 5 in the line up. (x/x)

It's interesting that Fearless Taylor and Red Taylor were the ones actually fighting on Taylor Mountain in the LWYMMD MV; this may be a reference to her insecurities and headspace during the RED media circus//break up anxieties fighting contrasting to her want to just dance in her best dress Fearless with KK with no inhibitions.

Dancing in my best dress, fearless 

LWYMMD End of 2014

Has anyone noticed the crows in the beginning? It literally hit me as I was finishing this post - a group of crows is called a murder.

We see her Driving a new Maserati (well, car with significant meaning) down a dead end street and then crashes into the pole. (x) She literally killed the "Old Taylor" to get the Grammy - as well as set up clever disguises as red herrings* so that we missed the most obvious clue that this is about the release of 1989. I think even cleverer, how she walks away from the crash unscathed at the end of the MV to imply she rose up from the dead, she does it all the time (with each era release). (x/x/x/x)

*Red herring: something, especially a clue, that is or is intended to be misleading or distracting. In reference to the post regarding hatchets in End Game, she's definitely sending us on the hunt… remember that post above I asked you to note?

 Then of course another hint to the timeline is in the lyrics and MV (look at the date of the tweet...)

I've got a list of names and yours is in red underlined 

So It Goes… October/November 2014

This was definitely the most challenging to figure out, but there's definitely two clear ideas that are represented here - the linear timeline alludes to the HOT KINKY SEX our girls probably had after VSFS '14 (x/x/x) and the death of her 'innocence.' Coincidentally, I had read Slaughterhouse Five for the first time earlier last year and lurking around the Reddit TS  community where they spent so much time trying to figure out how they could circle this back to Vonnegut. Unluckily for them, it is the most heteronormative//homophobic community where even Kaylor posts are censored/deleted/ridiculed etc so they weren't ever going to get it. This song represents a toxic relationship with CH in their eyes, and I can see that perspective… another Salute to the American Queen of Wordplay.

 Anyway, here is a quote from a NY Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/18/books/review/and-so-it-goes.html)

That is, the constant repetition of “So it goes” makes readers ask themselves about the meaning of death (or its lack of meaning) and the incalculable human costs of war.

The 2009 VMA's Taylor is the epitome of everything her art, brand and music spoke to prior to 1989; and with the Pop princess she was no longer the relatable girl next door. She had gone full big-city, celebrity friends, glitz and glam - feeling so Gatsby for that whole year. With 1989, represented by the LWYMMD music video, that image was shattered, it was the death of her reputation but the true beginning of laying the groundwork for her and KK's future and she truly felt alive. 

Not to mention a song about kinky sex is a huge step away from that image.

So it goes...

And so it goes, now Part 1 of our story is done.

Gorgeous Met Ball 2015

Part 2 moves into the 1989 era starting with the Met Gala. (x/x) I read a great analysis using the lyrics to prove why this song is not about someone you just met because of the intense conflicting feelings. (I have scoured Tumblr to find it and link it but can't rediscover it… sorry I explained I've been a noob and a lurker and I never liked or reblogged anything, I'll update with a link if I ever find it again!) That made me reevaluate my original thoughts of this track being Enchanted 2.0 and representing her meeting Karlie for the first time. This was the first public event Kaylor attended together; it must have been strong conflicting feelings of joy & giddiness of the relationship quickly overtaken by nerves, fear, and anger that she would be found out and/or couldn’t show any outward PDA towards KK at the event. I would imagine there was a lot of drinking that night to cope, thus the “drunk” perspective.

 PS she probably didn’t go home alone that night (DING)😉

 'Cause you're so gorgeous it actually hurts

Getaway Car May - August 2016

There are great analysis looking at this song from two main POV's- 1. the bearding CH-TH circus(x/x) and 2. a reflection of Swiftgron in hindsight (x). For the sake of the timeline/15 taylor line up, it was too coincidental that this was the Taylor snapping at the beards in I <3 TS shirts and  from that perspective, fits perfectly into the linear timeline. It is suspect  that TS went against her management in anger of how the "break up" with CH unfolded, and so it would make sense to be a little apologetic towards TH -- the one beard aftermath she may have regretted but that is just pure speculation.

And a circus ain't a love story, and now we're both sorry

  *I JUST NOTICED! She POPS HER LEG for the 7th boyfriend in line - AKA CH. She is SO EXTRA!

King of My Heart August 2016

The below quote and Taylor line up don't need further explanation. 

"I think it’s very interesting when people talk about their love stories. Like when you guys blog about, “my and my husband, me and my boyfriend” or just anyone talking about how they fell in love. 

There seem to be these very definitive phases. It doesn’t matter how long that phase lasts. There seems to be a moment where you know it transitioned to the next phase. People will be like, “Oh my God, we were friends for six years and there was this moment and we knew and then it changed. Then there was a moment and it got even deeper. Then there was a moment and we knew” or like “I saw this person and there was this moment and we knew.” Everyone has a different story with how they connect with someone else and what i find interesting is the moment where it switches. You always hope that switch is going to move forward and not backwards because it can happen either way. I always wanted to structure the song where each individual section of the song sounded like a move forward in the relationship but still being listenable. So I wanted the verse to seem like it’s own phase of a relationship, the pre-chorus to sound like it’s own phase of a relationship, and the chorus to sound like it’s own phase of a relationship. I wanted them to all have their own identity but seem like they were getting deeper and more fast paced as the song went on. So finally I was able to achieve that in a song.”

 Here’s a couple of my favorite analysis regarding this song. (x/x)

 Up on the roof with a school girl crush

 Dancing With Our Hands Tied Mid - End 2016

This analysis  really explains the lyrics and matches the allusion of the Zombie Taylor to make it seem like it is a hindsight song about Swiftgron; however Out of the Woods is the last MV of 1989 era released the end of 2015 (aside from New Romantics your video) and this can perhaps be expressing the death of Taylor’s 1989 reputation after the slew of public feuds. It can also be interpreted as a hindsight song in regards to Kissgate in 12/2014(x/x); how she had found herself coming into 1989, but was a zombie version of that because she had to beard with CH and TH and it perhaps made her feel dead inside. Maybe she’s implying that she would have just taken the fall from grace then put herself through another (particularly long and grueling) fake relationship.

I had a bad feeling

Dress October 2016

Not only is Dress pretty frequently analysed, it's also the most obvious and blatant within the theory.  I thought it was very cute that this was represented by the Ballerina in the line up as a not so subtle nod to Karlie. October 2016 was the infamous Golden Tattoos at Drake's birthday party. (x/x/x)  

Made your mark on me, a golden tattoo. 

Sorry I couldn’t help myself with this gif :P

TIWWCHNT November 2016

Originally, I thought this was the easiest one- yes, the Snake Queen is sipping and serving tea on her infamous feuds however it just didn't fit in the more transparent timeline of the second half. There's been a few posts that hint the track may be a slight diss to her fans. Once it hit me she was alluding to herself as our (the fans) American *dream* Queen, I realized: this song is not a slight diss - it is harshly directed to us, all of us. Hear me out: Just like KOMH is about a love that reflects back on different periods in life, this track also calls to a couple different conflicts with the relationship of TS and her fans. She's never enough for either aspect of the fandom.

I thought it was curious that she would have the "ET TU BRUTE" (x)  as a reference to Kanye because let's be honest, she probably never trusted him after 2009 and rightfully so. "Et tu, Brute?" is a Shakespeare reference and a phrase that is now used to describe a friend stabbing you in the back. This would be more applicable to us, her fans. V1:

It was so nice throwing big parties

Jumping to the pool from the balcony

Everyone swimming in a champagne sea

And there are no rules when you show up here

Bass beat rattling the chandelier

Feeling so Gatsby for that whole year

This easily refers to 12/2014 - Kissgate. Feeling so gatsby for that whole year; throwing big parties. She had to close the gate before she was outed prematurely by the fans watching her during the concert.  We were the last ones she ever expected having to protect herself from; she had been so open, glass-closeting, but the fans took it too far and crossed the line of her privacy. She was surprised by the network that had expanded to track her every move. A couple years pass, V2:

It was so nice being friends again

There I was giving you a second chance

Think back to the election of 2016; Taylor being back in the media and more open again with her life wasn't enough at this point. America had reached a boiling point and everyone had to pick a side; even Taylor's most dedicated fans were constantly expressing their disappointment at her so she changed her priorities and went into hiding.

 As @paradisekisses once posted, “Not everything is about Kanye.”

 Salute to you, our American Queen of Red Herrings

 Because you break them, I had to take them away.

Call It What You Want End of 2016

The lyrics all harken to 1989 (x) and this is when her reputation has never been worse (again), but she’s stronger this time and it didn’t break her as much as post RED era. Not to mention, she’s madly in love and found her end game so nothing else really matters to her; her priorities have been shifted and she knows what truly matters in her life. 

Call her what you want, she is Karlie's Partner in Crime.  it's an obvious call to the gold cage, hostage to my feelings; she will jail herself once more with this ((hopefully)) last beard and that will be the official death of  (2.0? 6.0?) Old Taylor. The best part is the BTS video showing how much fun she was actually having in the gold cage. There are beautiful analysis of this song (x/x/x/x/x)   , and to me it's just the most real/pure love song. Love isn't just about all the good times, it's how your partner and you navigate the bad. Sometimes the worst moments in life show us just how strong our relationships are and bring us closer together.

Karlie what you want, call her what you want to (I can't unhear this in the background now <3)

New Year's Day January 1, 2017

This Taylor is hidden from us because she will probably never be as open with the GP, media, or her fans ever again. Who knows what to come in the future, but she actively tells us "don't read the last page" and to "hold onto the memories." Ugh, this is making me tear up --  I just officially joined the fandom!! Don’t tell me this is it already... (x/x/x) 

This post highlighted the importance of the sunshine necklace with Taylor's obvious sarcasm in the BTS in saying “It’s really important to wear subtle jewelry in music videos, I’ve learned.” (If anyone can forward the gif I’d love to add it to the post :))

Sidenote: technically, isn't this another closet she's in during the rep era?

Wear you like a necklace…

And I will hold on to you...

I had so much fun putting this together and being inspired by all the amazing perspectives the Kaylor fandom has been churning! Hope you like it :) Let me know your thoughts!

[squeemcsquee]

HPLD Nerd Con 2018

So, this past weekend, on Sat 6/16/18, @lechevaliermalfet attended the HPLD Nerd Con in Havana, IL. It’s a free, small-scale con hosted by the Havana Public Library District. We heard about it through Facebook, thanks to La Vie Cosplay’s facebook posts and decided, “why not?” Havana isn’t too far from home, really. We had fun, got some free stuff, and @lechevaliermalfet won a door prize, too! It’s a great event for first-timers, younger con-goers, or those who want a relaxed atmosphere. Click that “Keep Reading” link if you are curious and wanna know more.

Since I found myself getting scattered as I wrote this, I’m putting little headlines over each relevant portion of this review. 

Size

I want to be up front and clear that when I say this is small-scale, I do mean it. Everything happened in one room in a Havana Park District facility. I stood on one wall and took the following three photos, which show the size of the room pretty well (I hope).

As you can see, they had a decent number of vendors for the size, some gaming, a panel area, and crafting / reading to kill time. Board games were also available for check-out from the registration table. Honestly, I thought the space was really used pretty well. I think I only noticed one issue from it. It wasn’t a deal-breaker for me, but it definitely was something that I think could be improved for next year.

The panel/Q&A area should be partitioned off from the rest of the room.

That’s it.  See, the panel area are those chairs off to the right in that final photo. It isn’t a big area, and panelists did have microphones. BUT, sometimes the wall of sound from the rest of the room would overwhelm the sound of one voice coming through a mic. @lechevaliermalfet and I theorized that maybe some temporary partitions would help with the noise. Panels Speaking of panels, I admittedly only took one photo (I know, shame on me!).

There were 3 panels on that schedule, but I would argue that the General Cosplay Q & A that La Vie Cosplay held was actually a 4th panel. As such, I think it would have been nicer to have it running in its own time slot, instead of concurrent with the Robotics panel. I think it would have created a nice line-up too, with 2 cosplay panels and 2 non-cosplay panels alternating through the day. But that’s my opinion and I’m also selfish, because I love learning more about both cosplay and robots.

We attended two of the three panels: the Robots panel, which was interesting but ran very short, and a panel on wigs for cosplay that La Vie Cosplay presented. Both were definitely interesting. 

Merch

Besides panels, there were obviously talented dealers to look at and potentially buy from. We did walk away with some stuff, too:

Honestly, I hadn’t even expected to see much I wanted to buy, let alone walk away with what we did (along with a small thing each for @someoldmemory and @el-draco-bizarro)

Giveaways (Scavenger Hunt, Swag Bag, Raffles)

If you still had time to kill (and we did), the con was running a nerdy scavenger hunt. I’ve got a photo of my card below. Please excuse the crappy quality - I took some of these photos after the con, once I was at home, when I realized I wanted to document some of this.

The scavenger hunt didn’t take @lechevaliermalfet and I long: I think for each of us, it was under 10 minutes. But it wasn’t really aimed at us, you know? I think younger con goers probably got more of a kick out of it. What entertained me was seeing where the images were placed - I saw a few of them before I even actually made the connection with the scavenger hunt. 

Once you completed it, you could draw a prize from the giveaway table (that’s why there are 2 little aliens in that photo - we got them as prizes).

They were well stocked! And if you take note of that Slytherin printout, you’ll see the ‘L’ was bolded - that was one of the clue cards for the scavenger hunt!

I loved that giveaway table. You see, you could choose one free item whether you won a thing or not. Just because you were attending the con! 

For a first con, especially to a kid who may not have money to spend on dealers, the idea of getting a free item from the table (and more, if you won the scavenger hunt or an hourly raffle) is pretty cool. I mean, I’m 32 and my inner 8-year-old was going nuts.

Actually when we registered, we got a little swag bag with our badge:

Again, I had expected to walk away from this con empty-handed or maybe with a print, at best. So getting a swag bag when i walked in the door was a win for me!

The con also ran raffles every hour. @lechevaliermalfet won one of the first drawings and got to choose from the small handful of 18+ prizes.

I also walked away with a comic, though I don’t think mine was quite as epic. Still, it turned out to be an interesting read anyway.

Cosplay

I did show up as Twilight Sparkle. And yes, my Spike was with me, though he was in my bag (which wasn’t with me) when I took this photo.

There were other cosplayers - the event page on Facebook has a nice group photo. But since many were (or at least appeared) to be under 18, and because of the relaxed atmosphere, I wasn’t running around snapping photos like I might have at a larger con.

There was a cosplay contest scheduled at the end of the day, but we opted to skip it. 

Badges

The badge was a little big, but I like it. Assuming I ever get around to putting badges in an album, I’m not sure this one will fit. I also noticed they didn’t date the badge, which means they can probably re-use any leftovers for next year.

The lanyard is some cut-up Spiderman-patterned cloth. I love the simplicity of it, and it’s still so much cooler than a generic cord lanyard. 

Pokemon Go

This was the same day as the Tyranitar Community Day. But given where I was, I only managed to get one Tyranitar, since I only lured in a handful of Larvitars with incense. Tbh, if I hadn’t had a crapton of candy, I wouldn’t have even gotten my one. Also, Central IL was under a Heat Advisory, so I really wasn’t inclined to leave the building to go walk around - or at least lounge on the nearby playground while waiting for Pokemon to show.

The experience as a whole

It was fun. It was relaxed. It’s definitely not aimed at me, and that’s perfectly okay, because it was still done well enough to be enjoyed by all. This is perfect for kids dipping their toes into the convention waters or for parents who want to know what the fuss is about. It’s a great introduction to the con atmosphere and community. 

Would I do it again? Maybe. For me, driving just under an hour to kill three to four hours is definitely something I’d consider. I don’t know that I would recommend it to anyone who’s got farther to go, unless they’re stopping by while en route somewhere. 

[tumblunni]

ANOTHER REPETITIVE POST! I love Spectacularverse Doc Ock like I love breathing oxygen, ok bye

I mean seriously WHAT a good character design and backstory and personality and just seriously rescuing a critically underrated character concept that’s been varying degrees of camp in EVERY OTHER ADAPTATION EVER and seriously this time he looks even more goofy and cute than ever before yet is also the most genuinely intimidating?? and this dude has had plots about being like an uplaoded conciousness separated from his graphically depicted mutant cancer-ridden body and possessing spiderman, and shit like that, and IT ALWAYS COMES OFF AS CAMP AND BADLY WRITTEN and then they can friggin make me terrified of a four foot tall middle aged office worker with a world’s best evil boss mug. And like FOR ONCE he’s actually shown as being remotely smart, geez, its not just He Can Invent Literally Anything The Plot Requires but he never does any form of badass master planner shit even though he should be able to. THE MASTER PLANNER EPISODE WAS THE FUCKIN BEST. They somehow made the sinister six actually sinister! THEY RESCUED THAT CONCEPT TOO!!

but seriously just fuckin LOOK AT HIM

he’s THE MOST ADORABLE he like.. ACTUALLY looks like a normal nerdy mid 30s or 40s science dude who stumbled into evil by accident. he isn’t just some abnormally ripped generic superhero in skintight spandex with just glasses and a generic bowl cut or curly hair doodled on top I actually REALLY like the redesign of his villain outfit, seriously! Its the least actual ‘villain outfit’ villain outfit. He just pulls on a vaguely practical jumpsuit and swaps out his work labcoat for a comfortable cardigan overcoat thing. HE LOOKS LIKE MY GRANDMA! It works a lot better to have the crazy robot limbs be shooting out from some disarmingly normal guy, and seriously why did he ever NEED to be fuckin buff when he has robot limbs?? seriously this version is like a miniscule adorable uncle being dragged along entirely by the limbs yet he somehow managed to be the most physically orientated incarnation of doc ock because WHY WOULD HIS NORMAL ARMS NEED TO BE BUFF, SERIOUSLY IT WILL NEVER STOP BEING DISTRACTING TO ME And like, the reimi movies were one of the earliest successful attempts at making him sympathetic, but man it was Also Distracting how he was again really kinda ripped but also like supermodel handsome?? he looked like some rich heiress to a french duchy or something. and his costume was all Trying Too Hard To Be Badass with the Fashion Trenchcoat (tm) and like seriously i do like how this version is like a colourscheme tribute to that one while also changing stuff to fit with this version of him and just seriously man i love all the doc ocks even if i’m a critical bastard oh and also underrated but good is how many costume changes he makes, and how they succeed at never changing the way he’s meant to be perceived because of it. Some of his most serious scary moments are with him topless aside from the robo harness, and we don’t get a bunch of ~ha ha fat man~ jokes, seriously this is his INTRODUCTION and as much as spidey quips around its still hella intimidating and really tragic sad. And its happening to this random half-naked Old Dadman wearing nothing but a vest and shorts. oh and the episode where he wore a cool tuxedo!! that was!! really good!! why did it even take place in fancytown if not to give us an excuse for Dapper Ock Day. When your defining concept is being basically a flesh suit dragged along by a robot thing slowly taking over your personality, I dont see why anyone needs to follow ANY ‘rules’ or cliches about what that flesh suit looks like. THE INTIMIDATING THING IS NOT THE PEOPLE PART. Yet somehow in this show it IS, I’m more scared by Nice Dadman’s loss of his humanity than I am of getting stabbed in half by his Nice Dadman Robo Hands

MAN I JUST FUCKIN REALLY ADORE THIS DOC OCK

like just LOOK AT HIM he wins the sympathetic plotline thing way more instantly just because this time HIS DESIGN is also made with that in mind right from the beginning him being a super normal relateable huggable shy nerd with a sad office life and a lil bowtie is all deliberately engineered to NOT ONLY make him relateable and sad but ALSO make him more intimidating?? like, its planned ahead of time to give you this established personality for his pre-transformation self that cameos in a few episodes before it actually happens. So the huge change in his personality is shocking and terrifying and you still know there’s some normal guy stuck inside it all, and really this could have happened to anyone, it could have happened to you! and its just like ONE EXTRA CHUNK OF BADASS ON THE BADASS CAKE that like.. his design.. doesnt change?? he doesnt stop being short + round + cute + traditional shyman design even when the shyman personality pretty much evaporates into eternal rage. You’re still getting your ass kicked by Someone’s Embarassing Dad At The Christmas Party. Its a total abandoning of all ideas of who can and can’t be a superhero/villain and seriously i know its such a minor detail but this is why i love how Spectacular diversified everyone’s body build and stuff. Also, having way more distinct silhouettes makes them more memorable, and makes the characters who’re supposed to be defined by being buff actually look it! but seriously imagine being fuckin rolled in an alleyway by The Most Harmless Dad weilding a giant bioweapon and an interlinked criminal empire of other villains under his control because even in his deranged state he keeps his massive intellect that was never recognised back when he was good ITS SO FUCKIN TRAGIC BUT SO FUCKIN COOL

and seriously HIS PLOT his PLOT his personality, his backstory, his very brief yet really well developed foreshadowing before his origin story AAAA its SO GOOD

I think the best part of it in my opinion is like.. he’s sympathetic but he’s NOT redeemable? Well, he might be redeemable but he never gets a redemption plot, he ignores all his damn epiphanies, and like.. Spidey doesnt even know the poor sod’s backstory so he never even tries, and its REALLY FRUSTRATING but also realistic too He was 100% The Nicest most innocent good natured guy and now he is 100% a villain who never even remotely tries to go down that redemption plotline yet the show keeps it hanging over our head forever as a goddamn tragic thing He was just... a really good guy who did nothing?? He didnt deserve anything?? He just got turned into a monster against his own will after tHE WORST DAY IN HIS LIFE and basically broke and decided to abandon all that goodness in one big moment. And man, I say ‘decided’ like it isnt an intriguingly ambiguous theorizeable constant question of how much of his old self is actually left in there and how much is the arms talking. I kinda like to interpret it as like Spidey and the black suit? Its a shame they didnt take the opportunity to use any parallels when it happened. but like ok SERIOUSLY like.. even the sympathetic Ocks of times past weren’t THIS pure

he wasnt JUST a good guy, he was a really shy chronic doormat who’d been ordered around by assholes all his life and had all his accomplishments stolen and just fuckin DIDNT DO ANYTHING WRONG EVER and manifested his super doom powers not through any normal accident even but from his asshole employer trying to murder him and he would have legit died in the most horrible horrible way. the last we get to see of Good!Ock is his ‘oh umm, sir, I think the door lock is broken’ turning into a horrific realization, and then him fuckin... CURLING UP IN A FETAL POSITION CRYING and “this can’t happen, I’ve been good’ THATS LITERALLY THE LINE like HOW MANY OTHER TIMES have people betrayed this man in his life?? he’s so fuckin buried in respectability politics that its no wonder he went COMPLETELY NUTS as soon as he got powers. he’s spent his WHOLE LIFE being good for NO REWARD, being TOO GOOD and having villains take advantage of him again and again, like no fucking wonder he’d give up on the whole concept of virtue being his own reward when LITERALLY IT NEVER WAS like seriously aside from the part about him inventing a magic super arms suit and his boss trying to murder him this is JUST AN ORDINARY STORY OF CORPORATE AMERICA this is the kind of ‘tragic backstory’ thats completely fuckin normalized in our society all his suffering was just cos of money and academic elitism and terrible employers n shit, his grand reason for becoming a villain is just because HIS JOB IS BAD and its not even SUPERNATURALLY bad until the point where it tries to kill him. its a supernatural sci fi corporation whose worst points are its SUPER REALISTIC BEAUROCRATIC BULLSHIT. And seriously this could have even ended the same way in real life, it’d just be more likely the mistreated employee would become homeless and die on the streets, or collapse from overwork, or something... so seriously this fuckin CINNAMON ROLL WHO DID NOTHING WRONG whose intro episode is ENTIRELY JUST DEVOTED TO CONVINCING US HE’S GOOD AND NOT LIKE ANY OTHER OCK EVER, this fuckin SHY DADMAN THE HUGS with his TINY BOWTIE he gets fuckin destroyed and killed offscreen before spiderman ever even meets him, and we get to see it but he doesnt, and then we enter in at already the point of no return where ock’s decided to never trust anyone ever again except The Machine, and NOBODY IN-UNIVERSE even gets to find out that he was once good!

and i love how the show actually explores the underappreciated flaw of spiderman, that sometimes the people he’s quipping against aren’t really The Mook of The Day but a sympathetic human being who might have been able to be talked down instead. Early on in this show he gets a bit carried away in having fun with his hero job, and makes a few mistakes like this. As well as just times that he did know the villain before they turned, and he’s REALLY trying to help them, but he still fails for other reasons and its just like AAAAA maybe if he had a bit more experience he could have figured out what to do but you know he’s not gonna realize that, he’s just gonna blame himself forever. Spiderman is allowed to have Kind of A Douche Move flaws, yet also be sympathetic and good at the same time?? So good! Its more clearly shown with the Electro episode, I think? Just look at how much more serious he gets when he realizes this isnt like Electro, The Guy Who Donned A Super Suit One Day And Decided To Commit Crime, but Literally Max You Just Met The Other Day, Who Escaped From The Hospital And Is Having A Mental Breakdown In A Public Coffee Shop. Seriously Electro here is really underrated! We don’t get as much time with pre-villainy him and he’s a bit snippy and such, but he was still just a normal good person who fell into bad luck, and he still has this scary loss of personality afterwards. He’s possibly even more tragic than Doc Ock cos there isn’t even any deniability ~ooh but maybe he’s controlled by the arms or maybe not~ and he didnt have a really long backstory that convinced him to change his perspective in life after one big bad day. His change comes out of NOWHERE after that one big bad day, and even he seems really scared and confused about it! Its like whatever the fuck is going on with this magic electricity infection has amplified all his emotions to a point where they physically pain him, he’s suddenly really obsessed with minor jealousy things and seems unable to rationally process them like he was seen doing just five minutes ago. He’s even kinda LESS snippy than he was before, he’s like he can’t even string together a complex enough train of thought to manage it. He goes from a pretty world-weary and down-to-earth electrical worker to like.. uncomfortably childlike, and the series uncomfortably making fun of him for it. I found it very relateable as an autistic person, even though it was 99% likely unintentional, and like.. if it was intentional it would be pretty bad representation anyway cos its like some guy being turned autistic by magic science, but yknow Whatever. Still goddamn coffee shop scene was literally Several Days of My Life laid bare on the screen for all to see, poor goddamn relateavle Electro AND LIKE Not to mention the sensory deprivation body horror aspect, like HOLY SHIT imagine how scary it must be to have to wear this full body armour thing and NEVER TOUCH ANYTHING EVER AGAIN because you’re MADE OF DEATH NOW. Seriously his fuckin turning point was after a day of slowly discovering all the different ways he was Completely Fucked, he just wanted a damn cup of coffee and ended up crying in the starbucks, and then spiderman comes in assuming he’s a villain cos well he looks like a weird electro creature and seriously HE JUST WANTED HIS COFFEE. its like an uncomfortably realistic depiction of a panic attack that some poor guy is having after developing a major disability in an accident. Amplified by crazy lightning powers ruining his brain, and some dumb spider kid punching him while he’s trying to figure it all out. I think this is kinda why I really like the subtle hints of a fatherly relationship between doc ock and him? He’s surprisingly patient with him compared to the other sinister six members, and Electro treats him with a huge amount of respect and admiration he isn’t shown giving ANYONE else! like seriously, his brain meltdown made him think all his old friends were conspiring against him at the slightest misinterpreted evidence, so it says a LOT that Ock is able to actually keep this status as a trustable person in Super Paranoia Man’s brain across two whole seasons. And its kinda adorable how he’s like ‘wow, electro just jumped the gun and misunderstood my plan YET AGAIN’ but at most he just chastises the dude and actually explains what he did wrong. And electro actually does change slightly over the series, developing from this mentorly treatment when nothing else ever seemed to work for him. Tho I mean, its never made clear whether Ock really sees him that way or if its just like ‘well this guy is easy to manipulate if you offer him the most minimal kindness’ which is SAD IN ITS OWN RIGHT! thatd be so depressing cos it’d mean ock is becoming like how osborne used to treat his old self. i prefer to hope its just a shred of his old good guy self relating to Electro’s situation.

and MAN the question of whether doc ock is in control, or the arms! ITS HANDLED REALLY WELL!!! the one thing that bugged me about the reimi movie ock is that its always a bad ‘redemption story’ when the guy never even chose to turn evil, he’s just being mind controlled or something. they made it too clear that he was 100% mind controlled by the evil arms and yet tried to blame him 100% for his actions and then he dies in the end. And seriously, why was he even able to regain control of his senses in the end if he couldnt before? it would make so much more sense if he was a guy who actually made a bad choice in life, saw the consequences, and took the decision to change. THIS IS THE BEST PART OF REDEMPTION PLOTS and like.. the interesting part about Spectacular Ock is how he’s just gone 100% full hog into his evil and expresses no interest in taking any offers of redemption plot. He isnt all divided and doubting because of his old goodness, he legit went from 100% good to 100% evil in one scene. ‘I should sacrifice my own health and confidence and life just to be useful to other people’ to ‘EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING FOR ME. NEVER TRUST ANYONE EVER. GIVE ME THE RECOGNITION I WAS DENIED!’ It sounds like it SHOULD be a jarring change but they wrote it so well that it COMPLETELY works! we dont see the entirety of his life beforehand but we see enough to know that this was his absolute despair horizon and he’s emerged on the other side as someone tragically unrecogniseable. And every single thing about this wildly different new evil personality is ABSOLUTELY derived by something that was already evidenced in his old good one. Its dark reflections of personality traits that were one some of his greatest virtues. And its like.. a deliberate decision on his part to become the kind of villain who’s the opposite of the weak things he despised in himself, cos as much as he’s all ‘dont trust anyone’ now he still blames himself for not being good enough, as if he somehow deserved what happened and could have avoided it if he acted differently. Its a very performative kind of ego that’s critically fragile deep down. And also HOLY SHIT I love how well developed that was as a flaw!! They gave us an actual reason for why Ock could be ‘a genius’ yet still make mistakes when necessary to allow our hero an opening to defeat him. They make him WAY more competant than he ever was before, and now his mistakes stem from an established character flaw so its far less obvious deus ex machina. Its not ‘stupid moments’ anymore, even if its still a genius at some things showing a lack of basic common sense at others. Now its because he loses rationality when angered or insulted, due to the circumstances of his depressing backstory. Just act like mr osborne and all ock’s cool composure falls away. Heartlessly weaponize those memories of his abuser, our hero! (SERIOUSLY THIS SHOW DOES MORAL AMBIGUITY SO WELL)

ok ok ok okay WHERE WAS I oh yeah THE ARMS QUESTION cos seriously it is SO GOOD and its one of the biggest reasons i’m sad the show got cancelled before reaching a resolution. i wanted to have the question answered!! or at least give us enough evidence to draw a conclusion one way or another! Ok so like.. its left TANTALIZINGLY vague whether Ock’s vast change in personality was JUST due to snapping after one terrible day, or if the accident with the arms actually affected his brain somehow. like, we know from other continuities that ‘the arms’s AI is fused with my personality’ is a thing that can potentially happen to a doc ock, but did it happen to this one? Honestly its so vague we dont even know if ANYTHING happened to them in the accident really. Could he have actually taken them off at any time? is his story less about ‘oh god im stuck as a cyborg freak forever, i will take it out on humanity’ and just a guy who stole this bioweapon tech when he decided to become a villain, and is using it normally as intended? Cos seriously when you briefly see him in prison like.. how did they remove the arms? And how did they so easily attatch again afterwards? it doesnt seem like they were stabbing into his flesh like in the reimi movie, just however the spinal attatchment was normally intended to function. Also: another underrated moment! Its a great interpretation to have the arms be something he invented himself as a morally neutral laboratory aide, and never intended them to be a weapon at all. they do seem weirdly battle equipped for simple prosthetic limbs, so it feels like maybe osborne modified his original design because He Is Evil Fuckface In Every Possible Way. Then again you could probably say that stuff like the saw functionality might be necessary when you’re working with building complex robotics n stuff. Anyway, it was cute and creepy and creepycute to see good!Ock just casually using the same Death Arms for ordinary lab work way before he gets his origin story. it was kinda endearing how he seemed to not even realise how unintentionally creepy their design was, he was just super proud and affectionate about this cool invention of his. The awkward handshake with the robo arms!! that was cute!! But then like THE MOMENT. Th e DAMN MOMENT. That was SUCH GOOD WRITING but in light of there NEVER BEING AN ANSWER I kinda wanna spitefully call it bad writing, lol They have that One Scene of (apparantly) prologue good guy ock finally coming back for like 15 seconds?? I was so excited and happy and proud of him?? You see him going through prison therapy and.. ITS HIM!! I cant even BELIEVE how much I mourned this poor guy until they really drew attention to it. He changed so much you legit outright MOURN all the good guy potential he had, and how much he didnt deserve what happened. And then the Fiendish Writers bit is what happens next, you see the cyborg arms acting independantly of him and breaking free of their restraints to return to their master. And then YOU SEE HIM NOT WANTING TO GO. You see him SCREAMING. You see him dragged out a fucking window horror style. And then you see him perfectly calm five seconds later. You get post-reattatchment Ock saying ‘haha i was just pretending to be redeemed, I was just hiding my true intentions while I waited for my robo arms to come back’. But like.. like.. why did he keep the act up even when his plan was complete, then?? He would have no reason to act afraid when the arms showed up! He could just reveal his deception with a fancy flourish and ride his train to freedom. Why did he keep screaming even as he was already out the window and around the corner, with nobody there to be fooled? its just SO tantalizingly vague and seriously FUCKING HELL I wish the creators at least gave the answer in interviews or something after the show got cancelled before the final season. Tho personally my headcanon is kinda somewhere in the middle and fitting with the comparisons to the symbiote and such. i think maybe there is indeed something going on with the arms gaining some degree of sentience after the accident, and fusing with their host to influence them into making decisions they might not have. Tho I also think that this hypothetical machine hivemind isn’t really like the symbiote where it has an active sense of self and is shown being sneaky and manipulating its host actively, with a huge amount of awareness. I just feel like this form of sentience is a pure instinct mess of malfunctioning programming that amplifies people’s obsessions in like.. an eternally expanding feedback loop with no limit and no end goal in mind. Its just ‘PROTECT HOST = ??? = PROTECT HOST MORE’ and ‘UPGRADE UPGRADE UPGRADE’. i think if the arms actually were acting independantly of him then they also actually were trying to rescue him, that would kinda explain why the reinstituted dual conciousness thinks of it that way. i mean, if it’s not outright a sign that doc ock is completely dead and thats the arms talking through him and lying. Cos that would be the more boring option, like I said I prefer sympathetic villains who arent brainwashed and actually made bad choices so they can actually be redeemed of them later. So like, I’m seeing this as like ‘what if you got stuck with a good-natured genie who grants your every wish entirely wrong and will NEVER LEAVE’. His arms AI only intends to serve him, it just... Goes Very Wrong. JOIN THE SINGULARITY, MASTER. You should totally upgrade me very much so I can protect you more. I WILL KILL ALL THE PEOPLE WHO MADE FUN OF YOU And then its similar to the symbiote as like a metaphor for drug abuse, when the drug is ‘power’. Or like.. the potential to have success at the cost of other things. Its not inherantly evil and its not like it takes control of you outright, its just like a thing that amplifies your worst vices and at the same time does damage to your health and is Generally A Bad Decision. Its a temptation to do bad stuff you already had the potential to do on your own. I think if either the arms or the symbiote possessed a genuine 100% flawless good person, they would have no effect on them. But like.. not many people like that really exist, and its not like people who have flaws are any less good. So its tragic that we’ve seen these definately good people who’ve fallen apart under the influence of The Magic Superpower Drugs Metaphor, and like.. Doc Ock and Venom are the tragic story of people who couldnt manage to escape from it and develop out of their flaws like spidey did. And I think maybe Doc Ock is somehow even more tragic because he DOESNT HAVE A CHOICE TO LEAVE. this has just shown that like.. his one decision to metaphorically take the one cocaine has already doomed him. Even though he said no to it the second time, the arms still forcibly reattatched to him, and probably will keep doing that until either one of them ends up dead. Like, its so tragic that he actually seemed completely normal when they were removed?? He seemed to have come to his senses and be working past his issues that caused the whole freakout, with that prison therapy. But NOPE! Tho on the other hand it was also REALLY DEPRESSING in its own way that poor Eddie was still irrecoverably broken even after he lost the symbiote, and then actively sought it out to be reinfected no matter how many times it shows it has no damn loyalty to him and just wants to eat his damn soul and fuck off to the next host. Another reason for good comparative metaphors! It could be a really epic battle between him and venom cos the show could actually clarify a lot of stuff about how on earth each respective symbiosis works, and maybe have like a battle of The Good One vs The Bad One even though both are bad? Like, neutral not-entirely-sentient arms thing that just wants to give its inventor the power he needs to get what he wants, inadvertantly exploding his damn brain into evils. Then we have creepy manipulative love-em-and-leave-em alien with an actual voice and personality and stuff. Yet both equally harmful to their hosts! Comparison time: FIGHT!!

god i have like SO many fuckin ideas of where the story could have gone, i wish i knew what the creators had planned if it wasnt cancelld, god i wish we could have had some damn sweet funky cool resolution for Badass Cute Bowtie Dad and his Doom Squiggles Also electro! give electro more sympathy and development! give him a dad! why did u make me care so much about these villains aaa

[feralbangtan]

Paranoid: Part 6{Final}

Member: Jeon Jungkook(BTS) Genre: Angst AU: Witch/Soulmate Warnings: Major character death/slight slut shaming Word count: 1.9k Series Masterlist 

Jungkook

Sleeping on the dirty floor was uneventful, dirt was clinging to our clothes and our faces. It didn’t help that we had been in the stupid cell for three days, which I guess confused Y/N because she said that they normally would have burned us already, but something is delaying them I guess. Taehyung has a theory that they’re getting my parents to come here and shame me, which honestly wouldn’t be surprising, but the hold off is giving me more time to work things out with Y/N, which is pretty great, mainly because of the whole lying to her thing, it’s understandable on why she was angry, but I’m sure it still hurts her that I lied to her.

Today the three of us spent the morning laughing at Namjoon because we’re us and our powers weren’t necessarily gone, so we just kept moving his stuff when he turned around, he found us out when we actually started making him do stupid things, like pick his nose or just you know, punch Jin in the face, that one was the best moments because it actually started a fight between the two men, which was broken up by Yoongi because he didn’t want any more violence.

After the fight Namjoon got a sadistic smile on his face and walked to the entrance of the headquarters and when he came back, as Taehyung had theorized, there were my parents with disgusted looks on their faces. I just rolled my eyes and put my arm around Y/N, as if they could hurt her from here.

“When?” My father asked in a booming voice.

“What do you mean when?” I replied.

“When did that little Satan slut turn you into one of her kind?” He asked angrily.

“It wasn’t her.” I replied.

“It was that Yuri girl, I told you not to get close to her.” He said.

“I’m sorry to interrupt this, but I don’t appreciate that name you called me.” Y/N chimed in.

“Oh I’m sorry… I don’t care.” He said.

“Don’t tempt her, she will bite off your fingers.” Hoseok said as he walked passed.

“Oh yeah… hey Namjoon, what’s it like not having a pinky?” Y/N asked with a laugh.

“Shut up.” Namjoon sighed out.

“So you lied to us, you became a witch, and you decided to run away?” My mother said.

“Well yeah, I didn’t feel like having my parents actually murder me for being something they kill on almost a daily basis.” I answered.

“He has a point.” Y/N said.

“I didn’t ask you, hey you in the sweater, why haven’t you said anything?” My dad asked, while pointing at Taehyung.

“This is business between you four, I’m only her brother and I don’t need to be included in this conversation.” Taehyung answered sternly.

“The four of us?” My mom asked.

“Yeah the four of you, Y/N is involved because she’s dating Jungkook and she has say in some of the things you’re asking, and to chime in on the earlier comment, that name isn’t cool.” Taehyung answered.

My parents both rolled their eyes at the last statement and they started leaving, only to be stopped by Namjoon.

“Are you not staying to watch them burn?” Namjoon asked.

“No, we’re not staying, I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to watch my son die in front of me.” My mom said.

“Yet you’re okay with him dying when you’re not here, that’s still pretty fucked up.” Y/N said.

“How exactly is that fucked up, he’s scum now, he can die, but it doesn’t change that I’m his mom.” She said.

Y/N sighs at my mother. I look at her as she walked away, the words she said hurt, I no longer matter because I was turned into a witch, I was bound to start crying, but of course because Y/N was right next to me she just hugged me closer to her body and kissed my cheeks to make me feel better.

“Get a room you two.” Yoongi complained.

“Fine, then let us out and we will.” Y/N retorted.

“I’m not letting you two out, you’re insane.” He said.

“Then I guess you just have to deal with us being love birds, so suck it up buttercup.” She said.

“I’m so lucky that this is the last day we have to deal with your asses.” Jin said as he walked passed us.

We all stayed quiet after he walked by and I looked right at Y/N.

“How will I know if we come back?” I asked.

“I normally just see a bunch of colored lights and stuff, that’s how I’ve known.” She answered.

“So if there’s no colors, assume I’m gone forever?” I asked.

“Yeah, assume you’re dead.” She replied.

I sighed and watched as Namjoon walked passed with multiple sets of heavy rope, and now is when I’m getting scared. It’s going to happen, we’re goners, I have a feeling that none of us are coming back after this.

“Hey worry wart, can you chill with the negativity for like five minutes, I can hear you all the way over here.” Taehyung said.

“Wait what, he didn’t say anything.” Yoongi said in a confused tone.

“You don’t know how witches work dummy.” Y/N said.

“How can I not, I catch and kill them.” He said.

“If you want to learn, come in here and we’ll teach you a bit before we just you know die.” Y/N said with a soft smile.

“No, you’re trying to trick me.” Yoongi replied.

“No I’m not, although you are a witch hunter and I am a witch, it doesn’t mean I can’t teach you the truth.” She explained.

Yoongi hesitantly walked towards the cell, he unlocked the door and came in. He shut the door behind him and sat down in front of the two of us.

“Before I say anything, I’m sorry I hit you with a curtain rod.” Y/N said as she scratched the back of her neck.

“Your fine kid, don’t worry about it.” He said.

“So what exactly do you want to know?” Y/N asked.

“Anything you think I wouldn’t know.” He answered.

“Oh so basically everything.” Y/N said with slight chuckle.

“I guess?” He said in a confused tone.

“To start off, with how Taehyung could hear Jungkook thinking, we can hear thoughts, Taehyung is just really sensitive to it so he can just hear the thoughts without trying.” Y/N said as she got more comfortable in my arms.

“So can you hear what I’m thinking?” Yoongi asked as his eyes widened.

“If I wanted to, yes, but I don’t want to because I’m sure it doesn’t matter to me.” Y/N says.

“Fair enough.” He said.

“You obviously know about the sulfur thing, but to witches we have different scents. I smell like lavender, Jungkook and Taehyung smell like peppermint. If Jimin was alive he’d smell like vanilla.” Y/N explained.

“Why is it like that?” He asked.

“It’s power level, Jungkook and Taehyung are one stage of power higher than me, I have the second most powerful scent.” She answered.

“I won’t make you talk about Jimin because what Namjoon was brutal.” Yoongi said.

“I’m just going to put multiple things together now. We don’t have demonic animals and we have nothing to do with Satan. Only about 12% of witches are evil, the other 80% struggle because of this, and finally, witches actually have soul mates, Jungkook just so happens to be mine, you know they’re your soul mate when your eyes flash amber whenever you do something intimate or a large rush of their scent is sent your way.” Y/N said.

“Wait, you two are soul mates?” He asked.

“Yeah, the universe decided it should happen, I was a bit shocked myself when I found out Jungkook was my soul mate, he’s technically an artificial witch because his ex-girlfriend turned him into a witch, his ex was a part of the 12% that ruin everything, but it’s okay, Jungkook is great in my eyes.” Y/N said with a smile.

“I feel like I should apologize for killing your parents on the behave of all of Syndicate because I can only imagine that was painful for you and Taehyung.” Yoongi said.

“I accept the apology!” Taehyung said happily.

“I accept it, but it was bound to happen sooner or later.” Y/N said.

“Are we really that scary now?” I asked.

“You guys aren’t, well aside Y/N when she’s angry.” Yoongi said.

“I did bite off two of your member’s fingers, so that’s understandable, but you haven’t made me angry so you’re good.” Y/N said.

“I’m going to go talk to Namjoon, I’ll see if he can let you guys go, you’ve made me change my mind about this, you guys have a soft spot in my heart, you guys are just humans with powers, there’s no need to be scared of you.” Yoongi said as he got up from the ground.

Yoongi walked out of the cell, and he didn’t lock the door when he left and it made me confused. What is he trying to do, is he trying to help us escape now?

“Jungkook, did we just talk a witch hunter out of being a witch hunter?” Y/N asked.

“I think we did,” I said with a smile.

Yoongi came running back to the cell and looked right at us with an apologetic face, and that’s when Namjoon, Hoseok, and Jin came in. Namjoon ripped Y/N off of me and put her over his shoulder. Jin picked me up by my arms and dragged me out of the cell, as we passed Yoongi, he mouthed he was sorry to me and I just hung my head, there was nothing we could do now. The three men took us outside and tied us to stakes, I was so scared, I didn’t know what to do anymore. Yoongi ran up to them quickly and I had no idea what he was doing.

“Please don’t do this, guys they’re good people, they don’t need to die, please don’t do this.” Yoongi pleaded.

“What has gotten into you, they’re scum, they need to die, they hurt humans and they don’t deserve to live,” Namjoon said.

“You’re an asshole you know,” I said angrily.

“Whatever,” Namjoon said coldly.

I rolled my eyes and scoffed at him. Jin had containers of gasoline and Hoseok had multiple lighters, now I’m a lot more scared and I’m not okay with it at all. I watched as Jin poured the gasoline on the wood below us, and well after that Hoseok lit the lighters and threw them on the gasoline-soaked wood and it burst into flames immediately. It was high already, it was just barely up to my shoes before I looked over to Y/N who was screaming in pain because her feet were already on fire. It only took a few more seconds before it hit me, I wasn’t screaming but I was thrashing because well fire hurts.

“I’d recommend getting your last words out now before you’re dead.” Namjoon said.

I looked over to Y/N again. “Y-Y/N, I-I love you!”

“I know!” She screamed.

“Do pigeons have feelings?!” Taehyung screamed.

I didn’t have time to react to his stupid question because by the time he had finished, I was completely engulfed in flames, I was screaming, I’m sure I was crying too, but I couldn’t tell because of the burning of my face and body.

Suddenly everything was dark, there was no colors, there wasn’t anything. There was just darkness.

[signutai]

Ayyyy how about the Sword Saints Council?

YES THE SWORDNERDSOkay, like, we don’t know much about them so far so most of this is gonna be pure conjecture and headcanons.Nichiringeneral opinion: fall in a hole and die | don’t like them | eh | they’re fine I guess | like them! | love them | actual love of my life hotness level: get away from me | meh | neutral | theoretically hot but not my type | pretty hot | gorgeous! | 10/10 would banghogwarts house: gryffindor | slytherin | ravenclaw | hufflepuffbest quality: He seems like a reasonable enough guy, I suppose?worst quality: “And why do you think we should care?” Dude I get you don’t have that high an opinion of heroes but come on.ship them with: Maybe Bang or Bomb?brotp them with: The rest of the Council. Bang. Bomb.needs to stay away from: idk he looks like he can handle himselfmisc. thoughts: Apathetic outlook about the thought of helping heroes aside, he seems like a decent enough guy, at least in this setting. I’m kind of wary of making any kind of solid judgement until I see how he interacts with people who aren’t his equals–he appears to be the most stereotypically traditional one of this group (not caring much about the struggles of people outside of his personal circle of peers and theorizing that Bang dismissed Charanko and dropped off the face of the planet out of shame). On the other hand, more badass older characters is always great, and I’ve seen people suggesting he’s based off of Zatoichi, which is cool. He looks like he might use a sword cane or something similar, too? I don’t know, you only see part of his sword in one panel so I can’t say for sure. I like how fucking ready he was to throw down with Haragiri.Amaharegeneral opinion: fall in a hole and die | don’t like them | eh | they’re fine I guess | like them! | love them | actual love of my life hotness level: get away from me | meh | neutral | theoretically hot but not my type | pretty hot | gorgeous! | 10/10 would banghogwarts house: gryffindor | slytherin | ravenclaw | hufflepuffbest quality: Easily the most reasonable and empathetic new character here.worst quality: Not a gripe with the character himself, per se, but when the chapter first went up the OPM Wiki had him listed as being female and I was super-excited that we got a badass older woman swordsman…only to have my dreams cruelly ripped away. Ah well, I’ve seen some people suggesting he’s based off of Takashi Shimura, so I guess that makes up for it a little.ship them with: No one, really? Not yet anyway. I kinda like the idea of him having a loving wifey or husbando.brotp them with: Rest of the Council, again. I feel he’d really get along with Okamaitachi, too. They’re both so fashionable. Grandpa Amahare doting on his lovely adopted granddaughter. They both use swords with standard crossguards instead of circular ones as well.needs to stay away from: I don’t know??? Bad things I guess??misc. thoughts: Amahare seems great, tbh, and I’m really excited to see him in color at some point because his outfit just screams that it’ll be wonderfully vibrant. And he was the first to agree to help Kamikaze track down Garou. He’s clearly the most cautious member of the group, and is obviously the most easily-intimidated as well–perhaps he’s not as strong as the others, or at least isn’t quite as confident in his skills. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.Zanbaigeneral opinion: fall in a hole and die | don’t like them | eh | they’re fine I guess | like them! | love them | actual love of my life hotness level: get away from me | meh | neutral | theoretically hot but not my type | pretty hot | gorgeous! | 10/10 would banghogwarts house: gryffindor | slytherin | ravenclaw | hufflepuffbest quality: His whole “battered old warrior” aesthetic is pretty great. That and the fact that he sits with his arms tucked inside his kimono like a burrito the whole chapter.worst quality: I don’t know?? There’s not a lot to go on here honestly.ship them with: Occasionally Kamikaze.brotp them with: Again, the rest of the Council.needs to stay away from: Look, friends, I would not want to get in the way of someone whose name is “wrathful” on the warpath. Perhaps a better question is who and what should stay away from him.misc. thoughts: I don’t have a whole lot of thoughts about him. He seems like an okay guy. Out of all of them, I want to see how he fights the most, since if his style fits his name at all I’m sure it’s spectacularly devastating. Also, who hurt you, man. What’s the story behind your scars.Haragirigeneral opinion: fall in a hole and die | don’t like them | eh | they’re fine I guess | like them! | love them | actual love of my life hotness level: get away from me | meh | neutral | theoretically hot but not my type | pretty hot | gorgeous! | 10/10 would banghogwarts house: gryffindor | slytherin | ravenclaw | hufflepuffbest quality: I’m going to operate under the assumption that he doesn’t have any and also didn’t have any even before he became a monster.worst quality: Where do I even start.ship them with: No one, but it’s kind of a moot point since he’s dead now anyway lol.brotp them with: Is there anyone outside of the Council who actually willingly endured his company? Probably not.needs to stay away from: Well, I’d say Kamikaze’s sword but it’s a little too late there.misc. thoughts: I don’t know, I find Haragiri kind of funny in the sense that he honestly expected to walk into that dojo, kill Class-S, Rank 4 hero Atomic Samurai, turn the rest of the Council into monsters, and come out of that alive. Arrogance at its finest, honestly. He clearly wasn’t paying attention during any of the Council meetings prior to this because he very obviously did not know the extent of Kamikaze’s abilities, which is humorous given his insistence that the Council exists for its members to compete with each other and sharpen their skills.That said, it’s also a little sad how he got so wrapped up in trying to be stronger that he willingly and readily turned on people who still considered him a friend, despite that he has probably never been pleasant to be around, in exchange for more power. Maybe the real strength was the friendships we made along the way, man. Ever consider that?

[darkcloud-kcalifornia]

Alright, the newest episode of pony is called “Non-Compete Clause”.  The TV isn’t showing even so much as a full sentence of synopsis here, so I have no idea what’s coming.  The title might lead one to believe it’s about business contract drama, but I kinda doubt that.  Well, time to see just what’s happening here.

* Oh hey, school episode. I was wondering when they were going to get around to another one of these.

* Hmm… that office being used for the meeting has 9 indistinct portraits on the wall.  I wonder who they’re supposed to be?  Can’t be previous principals or something like that as, well, new school.  Let’s see, 6 for the mane 6, plus one for Starlight, and another for Spike possibly… still leaves an extra.  Maybe various heads of state?  Let’s see, 4 for the ponies, one for the Dragon Lord, one for the Changeling King, one for the Griffon, um, authority (no idea), one for the Yak Prince, one for the Hippogriff Queen… yeah, that works.

* Oh, it’s Teacher of the Month photos.  And they’re all Fluttershy.  Wait, the school’s been open for 9 months already?

* Also, hate to break it to you Spike, but if you’re taking photos of a former professional model and they’re all that bad, the problem is probably you.

* AJ and Dash hate to see a trophy go to somepony who ain’t them.

* One second, gotta rewind and check Pinkie’s math, which means getting the section numbers.  OK, so section 147 paragraph 2 and section 229 paragraph 9.  Assuming the paragraphs are decimals in this case would get you… 377.1  while Pinkie’s answer was 387.  OK, taking those as 4 whole numbers instead would then get… 387. OK, looks like the math checks out. Carry on.

* Yeah, pretty sure Twilight’s idea was for Fluttershy here.  Though rather than let the episode explain things it’s time for me to go on ludicrous theorizing as to where the field trip could possibly go.  While it’s likely some sane option with a few trust building exercises and manufactured bonding moments, part of me would really like to see them take the students into the Everfree to show them the path they took to stop Nightmare Moon.  Not just for bragging rights and all that, but to explain what happened along the way and how that developed friendship, and then having the students do the hokey activities at each place of an event.

* Ooh, burned by Pinkie.  Slink away, girls.  Slink away. Also, I will now be officially disappointed if Professor Flowerpot isn’t the next Teacher of the Month.

* Oh Twilight, how silly of you to assume that they learned the moral of a previous episode.

* Funny how this field trip is only for 6 students out of the entire school.  …Though to be fair those are the students who make up the foreign dignitaries and thus are all VIPs.  Except Sandbar.

* Yeah, Twilight can already tell this is going south in a hurry.  Good job not coordinating at all on this one.

* Why is the pro athlete doubting the ability of working up a sweat together to build teamwork?  Oh right, she’s in the Wonderbolts.

* It must feel weird for Yona to use her yak stomping powers to do the opposite of destruction.

* Thank you, Smoulder.

* You girls are confusing and disappointing the cuddle bug.  For shame!

* Yona’s aquaphobic?  Well, I guess they don’t swim much in the frozen mountains?  Hot springs I could see though.  Or maybe it’s just her.

* “Biteacuda”?  Did you really need to make up a fish for this one? Also, way to show why a ship needs only one captain.

* And Yona just lost her life jacket.  That’s not good.  Nice touch with her trying to calm herself with Ocellus’ whistling trick though.

* Nice work on the save with Ocellus and Silverstream.  Also kinda interesting that Ocellus decided to take the same species as Silverstream for that one.

* Also also, I kinda wonder now if yaks can swim in real life.

* Honestly?  Twilight made the right move here.  Those two needed slapped down for this and she is the headmare.

* Good job with that “Nice try, not buying it” expression.

* And ya jinxed it.  I take back my compliment Twilight.

* Yeah, I don’t think they’re fooling anybody with that competition to be the most agreeable.

* You know it’s bad when even Yona gets tired of your crap.

* Heh, Yona’s probably been wanting to do that for a while now.

* And Smoulder gets extra credit for her use of common sense use of aerial surveillance.  Not sure how they’re gonna get back to the school admittedly, but at least they know where it is.

* OK, don’t think they need to worry about Dash to be honest.  Not unless she hurts a wing or something when the “bridge” goes. Honestly I’d be more worried is she was the one on the vines as those might entangle her.

* Oh, there’s a river down there.  Well I guess that would explain why they didn’t focus on finding a way safely down. Also, this looks like a job for Pirates scene reenactments.

* Gallus!  Not cool!

* Not sure if the kids are covering for those two or thought AJ and Dash were so crazy there had to be another explanation.

* And the teachers missed the moral.  Yeah. So, guess who’s getting the award 10 months straight!

 So that was the episode. While the kids and Twilight were perfectly fine in this one and had some funny moments between them, Rainbow Dash and Applejack both need an appointment with Doctor Clue-By-Four.  Speaking as an Applejack fan, I am disappointed.  I know these two can be both stubborn and competitive, but this was just ridiculous.