#now she has a segment of time where she messes w EVERYTHING to get my attention

[bloodsbane]

my cat has developed a new fun habit of becoming crazy and insufferable at like 5-6am for no apparent reason

[deadnightcoffeetime]

The Monster Of Willow Creek (Tales Of Horror Segment 2) (COPY RIGHT) Page 28

The next morning, we decided to leave, and get the hell out of here as fast as we could. Things got worse for us, that thing slashed all of our tires. Now, we had no car. We were stuck here. Then out of nowhere, that thing struck Mathew out cold. I tried to wake hi,m up, but the next thing I know, I’m hit by that thing. That thing must’ve dragged us, because we both woke up in a mineshaft, hanged by our arms. We gotten free, and saw we were in a den, a den filled with corpses. Corpses that are half and fully eaten. I was lucky to escape, unfortunately Mathew wasn’t. He got taken by that thing. These past few days, I’ve been on my own, looking for anyone, food, and shelter. And that’s when I bumped into these guys. That’s my whole story.”, said Tanya. “You said you saw a humanoid figure with antlers on its head?”, Alyana. “You saw it too, didn’t you?!”, said Tanya. “I thought it was just my imagination.”, said Alyana. “Saw what? What are you two talking about?”, said Eric. Unexpectedly a familiar voice screams out for help from outside the cabin. “ANYBODY!!! HELP ME, PLEASE!!!”. “That’s…Thats Mathew!”, said Tanya. She runs out the cabin in a heartbeat. “Wait, it’s dangerous out there!”, said Alyana. “Aly, Becky, Michelle, you girls stay here. The guys and I, will bring her back.”, said Eric. The girls stayed inside the cabin, as the guys goes on after Tanya. Before exiting the cabin, Leon grabs the flashlight from the table. Tanya enters in the woods, listening to the sound of Mathew’s voice. “HELP ME!!!”, said Mathew’s voice. Tanya replies, as she’s still running to the direction. “Mathew, I’m coming! Where are you?!”. She continues to head towards the direction. The guys are running in the woods, following her. “TANYA!!”, said Eric. “TANYA!!”, said Isaac. The guys continues to venture on. Tanya arrives at the destination where Mathew is calling from. The area is nothing but trees and thick bushes. She circles around, looking, but sees no one. “MATHEW!!”, said Tanya. From behind a tree, the monster strikes Tanya on her back. She screams in agony pain, then falls to the ground. The scream was so loud, that it caught the attention of the guys. “This way!”, said Isaac. The guys are heading towards where the scream came from. Tanya crawls on ground, as the monster grabs her leg, trying to drag her. She kicks the monster hard as she could, lucky the monster loses its grip. The monster only has her shoe on it’s hand. Pissed off now, the monster throws the shoe, and stabs Tanya in the back with its sharp nails. She screams again. This time, the monster successfully drags her. The guys arrives at the destination, but they don’t see Tanya anymore. Leon moves the light around, and finds her shoe. “Guys, is that her shoe?”, said Leon. “Yes. But, where is she?”, said Eric. “TANYA!!”, said Isaac. “What the hell do w do now?!”, said Steven. “Well, we wan do is go to the receptionist and explain everything, and call the police.”, said Eric. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”, said Isaac. The guys returns to the cabin. The girls are waiting for the guys to return. The door opens, it’s the guys. “Did you find her?”, said Alyana. “Only her shoe.”, said Eric. “Now what?”, said Michelle. “I’m going to the receptionist, and tell her what happened, and call the police.”, said Eric. “I’ll go with you.”, said Isaac. “You guys stay put. Me and Isaac will be back.”, said Eric. Eric grabs the keys from the table and leaves. Isaac follows behind, and closes the door. Outside the cabin, the gang hears the car being opened and closed, then turned on. The guys leaves, heading to the receptionist cabin.

Eric and Isaac arrives outside the register cabin, parking the truck. The lights are on and the cabin door is busted open. Both exits out the truck and runs towards the cabin. Inside the cabin, it’s a mess, a disarray, with papers and books scattered all over, lamp tables flipped over, and both computer and phone are disconnected. The guys looks around, wondering what the hell happened. Outside the cabin. “What the hell?!”, said Eric. Is anyone here?!”, said Isaac. Eric walks up to the counter, and sees something dreadful. “What the fuck!”, said Eric. Isaac replies, as he walks up to the counter as well. “What?”. Isaac sees the inn keeper on the ground, dead. His upper torso is ripped open, with his innards pulled out and eaten, and missing skin on his head. “Ah, Jesus,”, said Isaac. “Let’s go back, and get the others and get the hell out of here!”, said Eric. “Agreed!”, said Isaac. The guys exits out the cabin, and runs back to the truck. Both has entered the truck, Eric starts up the car, but the truck isn’t moving. “What the hell now!”, said Eric. The guys exits out the truck, tosee that all of the tires are slashed. “Ah, this isn’t happening! Please tell me, this isn’t happening!”, said Isaac. “I guess, we have to run back.”, said Eric. “Fine! Let’s go! I don’t want to stay here any longer!”, said said Isaac. Eric sees the tall humanoid figure with antlers on its head across the cabin, standing behind a tree. “Wait, do you see that?”, said Eric. “See what?”, said Isaac. Eric replies, as he points to the humanoid figure. “That tall humanoid figure with antlers!”. Isaac sees the humanoid figure as well. “Oh, shit!”, said Isaac. The monster roars, making the guys run back to the cabin. It chases after them. The gang are waiting for the guys to return. “Guys, do you think, whatever happened to them, is happening to us? Obviously, they were here before we arrived, and had the same disturbances that we experienced for three days. We’re going through the same problem that they went through.”, said Michelle. “We better not suffer the same fate as them! We came here to help fun, get away from stress, relax, and now it’s ruined! All because whatever is out there, is fucking with us!”, said Becky. “Calm down, Becky, calm down.”, said Steven. “We’ll figure something out.”, said Alyana. The door bursts opens, scaring the gang. Eric and Isaac quickly closes the door, as the monster bumps in the door hard, trying to get in. Eric and Isaac are doing their best to not let the monster in. “Are you guys just goons stand there, or help!”, said Isaac. Leon and Steven , helps the guys barricading the door, as the girls goes to the kitchen. “I have an idea! Girls, help me look for bug spray!”, said Alyana. The girls are looking for a can of bug spray on each cabinet as fast as they can. Michelle finds the bug spray. “I found it!”, said Michelle. “Quick, throw it to me!”, said Alyana. Michelle grabs and throws the bug spray to Alyana. Alyana catches it, and quickly rubs a piece of a paper towel, along with matches. The girls are running back to the living room. The guys are having a difficult time barricading the door, as the monster slips it’s skinny, lengthy arm inside. Trying to grab Steven. “Shit! This fucker is strong!”, said Eric. The girls arrive to help. Alyana has the bug spray, and paper towel ready. “Michelle, I need you to light up he towel!”, said Alyana. Alyana gives the matches to Michelle. She lights up the towel, as Alyana sprays out the liquid towards the monster. The monster pulls back its arm, after getting a bit burnt. The guys are able to now close the door, barricade it with furniture. Alyana peeks out the window. “Is it still out there?!”, said Eric. Alyana replies, as she sees nothing out in the porch. The monster has quickly vanished. “What happened? Where’s the truck?”, said Alyana. “That thing fucking slashed all of the wheels!”, said Isaac. “And the inn keeper is dead! That thing must’ve killed and eaten him!”, said Eric. “So, what, we’re stuck here?!”, said Becky. “I’m afraid so..”, said Isaac.

[just-asks-and-beats]

Let’s Set Sail

Lycan woke up slowly, stretching as he continue to lay on the soft grass. He sat up and looked over to Gray, who was lying unmoving beneath the tree. A flash of worry shot through him as he realised just how still Gray looked. He crawled over and pocked at him, no response was given. They panicked a little more as they shook Gray, then practically shoved him into the trunk of the tree.

“WAKE UP PLEASE DONT BE DEAD!��� he shouted. This finally got a reaction out of the sleepy gray shape, who groaned and looked around in a half-conscious panic. His movements were sluggish, as if all his energy had been drained, but he still found it in him to sit up… He somehow managed to feel even worse than yesterday, maybe because all the adrenaline keeping him going was gone. Hopefully he’d find some spite within him sooner or later to give him a reason to keep moving. Lycan let out a sigh of relief as Gray finally moved and sat up.

“Hey, I know you’re still tired, and I have no idea what time it is, but we should get goin’. No offense but if you looked bad yesterday, then you look horrible today. We really gotta get you to the volcano.” Lycan looked worriedly at Gray, the dark circles beneath his eyes seeming even more pronounced. Gray simply grunted and leaned on the trunk of the tree, taking a while to stand up. Lycan crouched on the ground and signalled for Gray to get on his shoulders, the beach wasn’t very far away, and with the bridge being closed because of some issues Lycan had hardly heard or cared to find out more about, finding Ship was their only option. Gray climbed onto Lycan’s shoulders, slouching a bit, and the two were on their way again.

(this is a kinda long story segment sorry lmao)

The beach was either a lively place, or a desolate one, not much of an in-between. The two could only hope it would be quiet today. As they approached the beach hey heard the hustle and bustle of many other shapes, just their luck. They tried to stay on the sidelines and as nonchalant as possible, with little to no cover out on the open sand. Lycan opened the cloak just a bit, enough so they could see but not be seen. It took a little while of walking and almost bumping into a few shapes, but they eventually saw Ship discussing something with some other sailor.

“Ok, I know you’re, like, exhausted so just let me do the talking, all you gotta do is move your mouth. I’ll try to talk a little slowly so you can try to sync up your movements to the words. Kinda stupid but just do your best.” Lycan instructed. All Gray let out was a small “mhm”, spending all other energy and brainpower on keeping himself upright so he won’t bring Lycan down with him. They walked over to Ship, keeping a little distance so he couldn’t immediately tell the voice was coming from lower than Gray’s face.

“Um, hello. Sorry to bother you but w- I’ve come to request a ride on one of your fine vessels. A short trip, nothing too treacherous whatsoever, simply someone who will take me from point A to point B. If you would be so kind it would make me most gratuitous.” Lycan tried to make his voice sound deeper and more mature, and use weird sophisticated words like he’d heard Barracuda use every now and then. He thought it made him sound stupid though, and made a mental note to never say “gratuitous” again. Gray was too tired and awkward to really pay attention to what was going on, other than the fact that shapes were looking at him. He didn’t like that. He especially didn’t like it when Ship looked at him, finding it hard to keep his cool. However, Lycan’s change in attitude and word use reminded him of someone, he smiled a little bit while loosely mouthing what Lycan was saying. Ship took a moment to look the stranger up and down. Gray head, blue legs and tail. Looks like some strange plant species they’d never seen before. They adjusted their eye patch and seemed to think for a moment before shrugging.

“Well I’m not much one for ferryin’, but I s’ppose a short favor really can’t be too bad. Where can I take ye, lad? Wherever it is I’d be willin to bring ye there for a small price and a short trip.” They spoke with a slight accent, peering at the stranger before them. Lycan’s tail wagged slightly, happy his plan was already going so well.

“The volcano please, and I do apologise if this is causing any inconvenience, I saw the bridge was out so you’re really my only option.” Lycan and Gray both felt a drop in optimism as a look of surprise overtook Ship’s face.

“The volcano!? Well.. y’see.. shapes have been stayin’ away from ‘ere for a little while now… There’s been rumours o’ some leftovers of the corruption there or somethin’ like that. Not sure what’s true and what isn’t, but I believe the resident grump’s been makin’ things a bit hard on those who want to visit. We’re working’ on getting the lad to come ‘round, but he hasn’t budged yet. I really don’t recommend going there lest yer ready if he tells ye to piss off, and his warnins ain’t always been verbal.” As Ship explained the reasons why going to the volcano would be a bad idea, Lycan and Gray realized at once who that “resident grump” must be… Barracuda. Gray felt that pit of guilt forming in his stomach once again. Lycan felt worried about if he would be welcome back. He and Barracuda had already butted heads for the time he was staying there, if Barracuda was now even more irritable, he might take one look at Lycan and pelt him with rocks until he leaves. He gulped before responding.

“Ah… It‘s certainly unfortunate to hear that, but you see getting to the volcano is very important to me. I… uh… left my wedding ring there! I simply cant leave it behind, my wife has been berating me about being such a clutz for months!” It was a terribly lie, but it was the first that came to mind so they just went with it. Ship gave a look of surprise, then understanding.

“Aye… I can see how important of a trip that would be. Ok, I’ll take ye, but just be sure to find it and leave as soon as you can, I’ll leave my vessel waiting around the outskirts of the island and come in with ye, I don’t want ye dealing with ol’ Grumps alone.”

“Wait, n-no!” Lycan realised how much of an idiot he was, retrieving an item was more of a short term in-and-out visit, and that certainly wasn’t what either him or Gray needed. He sighed then thought up another story, feeling nervous and pressured by Ship’s confused look. He could only imagine how scared he was making Gray right now.

“Uh, look… I may have lied to you about that previous story. You see, I’m actually an old friend of Barracuda’s family, though over the years we sort of lost touch. I heard about this… incident he was involved in and felt it would be only right to come out and check on him. Please, I just need someone to discretely take me there so I can stay with him and make sure everything will be ok.” Lycan hoped desperately that this new story would be convincing enough for Ship. Gray, on the other hand had to deal with that knot of guilt in his stomach worsening. This whole situation was so draining, and that look of pity which formed onto Ship’s face certainly didn’t help. He usually hated looks like that, but maybe this time it was a good thing, it might mean Ship was buying Lycan’s story.

“…Alright I understand. I’ll take ye there free of charge, just… please do what you can to calm him. We only want peace, and to move on from all that mess.” Ship sighed and walked over to the dock, a sky blue sailboat tied up there.

“This certainly ain’t my most impressive vessel, but she does the job just fine for quick errands!” They hopped on and motioned for the stranger to follow. Lycan and Gray let a wave of relief wash over them, though the journey was only just beginning, they had to get through the trip to the volcano and dealing with Barracuda first before they could really rest. Lycan boarded and sat down slowly, doing his best to stay steady so Gray wouldn’t be jostled and fall.

“Thank you very much, it really means a lot to me.” Despite the previous lies, Lycan meant every word of this. Ship just smiled at them as they prepped everything for sailing. Once the boat was in order and undocked, beginning to venture away from the shore, they turned back to the stranger in their boat.

“Ye know, ye never did tell me yer name, and I’m not sure I told ye mine either! Well Ye can call me Ship! A fitting name for a sea captain, I know. I’m proud of it.” Thye puffed their chest out then offered a hand to the stranger, awaiting a response. Lycan froze. They thought and thought and thought, but nothing good came to them. He had done so well with everything else, why was this what was giving him trouble!? They silently panicked until he felt Gray sort of reluctantly tap them on the head and try to make some sort of gesture without moving too much. It was a little hard to understand but Lycan thought he got the picture, reaching his pink-free hand out to shake Ship’s.

“Call me Gray.”

[dreamii-yume]

I feel Yandere ace should get some attention so how about ace not knowing how to express his feeling to his darling bullies for their attention eventually the darling has enough and starts avoiding him

I agree! Ace is one of my favorite characters and writing him as a Yandere is very fun! Furthermore, he sounds like an interesting friend to have honestly. (΄◉◞౪◟◉｀) You know, the one friend that gets you into stupid, troublesome shit but at least it was fun, am I right?

♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎

It’s not his fault, you know? If ever, he should be blaming Darling! He thought that the two of them could get along as friends, but she ruined everything...

Darling just have to make him feel like this and act like she did nothing wrong.

♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎

“You look like a chipmunk with all those food in your mouth.” Ace said, raising his eyebrows in amusement before pulling on your round cheeks with a smirk. You squeaked, whining at the pain of getting your flesh stretched out but the guy just laughed at you. “Eat properly, dork.”

He let go of your reddening cheeks and you just glared at him out of spite. Your mouth wasn’t even that full but still, you huffed as you chewed your lunch a lot more thoroughly. Ace just stared at you with the same smirk that never left his face. He pursed his lips together, trying to keep his hand from twitching. The lingering feeling of your soft skin was still faint on his hand, he wanted to feel more but decided against it for your own sake.

Ace himself didn’t know exactly when he started feeling this way about you.

Last time he checked, you weren’t all that special, weren’t worth taking a double look at. Sure, you were from a world that no one knows about and can’t use magic, but that’s basically the only thing different about you and nothing more. Honestly, it was all boring stuff that doesn’t interest him at all. But first impressions really change the more you spent time with that person, Ace seemed to have found this out the hard way.

“Ow!” You gasped softly to not attract attention from anyone in your current class and quietly glanced behind you, rubbing on the slightly burning part of your scalp. Ace had pulled on a segment of your hair hard and even had the audacity to sneer at you with a mischievous look on his face. “W-What was that for!?”

“Nothing, really. Just wanted to mess with you~” He said in a low voice to not get caught by the current teacher in front. You glared at him with puffed up cheeks as you turned your head back to the board in front. This just caused Ace to snicker, almost choking himself on how much he’s trying to hold his laughter in. “You should be thankful, dummy. I can see you nodding off from here, I bet you were making such an ugly yawning face just earlier. So, Because I’m nice, I just have to wake you up before the teacher notice those yawns.”

Ace heard you muttering something under your breath that he couldn’t quite hear, but he’s pretty sure that you were cursing him. He doesn’t mind though, you tried your best to not fall asleep in the majority of the class because of it anyway. Ace kept his focus at you though, wishing how much he wanted to be seated beside you instead of being stuck staring at your back this whole time. His mind drifted off to your sleepy-looking face, imagining how adorable it must’ve been.

He himself began to doze off and of course, they were all thoughts revolving around you. Your voice calling out his name, the way you pout when things don’t get your way, the way your eyes would lit up like a kid receiving a gift during Christmas. Ace began to see those little traits in a different way as time goes by. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what was happening to him, he wasn’t naive enough to believe that it’s just something you feel whilst growing up. It’s far more than that, more intense, more serious, something that makes his heart beat irregularly whenever you’re near.

Ace was in love with you.

...Saying it like that sounded too cheesy and uncool for Ace’s taste, but it was true. It started out as a little crush that he hid so well but unfortunately grew bigger and bigger without him even realizing so. He heard how love was supposed to feel good, life-changing even, but all this time, Ace was feeling nothing but annoyance. It felt like a burden in his heart that just won’t leave him alone at whatever he does. But no matter how troublesome it gets, he could not build up the courage to just go and confess to you.

It took a long time to become this close to you after all, he didn’t want to ruin the bond you both worked hard on. Friendship wasn’t enough for Ace, but it was literally the only thing that holds the two of you together right now. He can’t risk the possibility of you getting weirded out and avoiding him, he doesn’t have enough will power to stand that. Ace wouldn’t admit it in real life but for the first time in a while, he does not feel too confident in carrying out something so risky.

“Thank you, Ace!” You exclaimed happily as you wiped away tears that almost fell from your eyes. You hugged the notebook that you thought you lost tight, giving Ace a big, grateful smile. “You’re a real-life saver!”

The side of his lips twitched slightly, but he made sure to never let you notice those subtle movements. Instead, he went with it, chuckling as he ruffled your hair. “Yeah, yeah...” He said but gave you another one of his cruel smirk. Suddenly, all the relief you felt just faded away, just to be replaced with dread. You paled as a bad feeling began piling up on your stomach, you gulped. “I’m in charge of taking care of the flamingos in Heartslabyul tomorrow. I expect you to be there too, okay~?”

Of course, Ace just returned something so important to you, it’s just expected that he would want something in return. “Also, the limited-edition sandwich in the cafeteria looks pretty good, don’t you think? Won’t you get that for me too?” Ace said, giving you a toothy grin while your eye twitched, unable to have a say in his demands. “What~? I’m the type of guy who doesn’t do anything unless there’s a reward in the end, you know?”

Once again, you puffed up your cheeks, irritation building up inside but sighed anyway and hesitantly agreed to his terms and conditions, despite the fact that you knew it was going to strain both your time and wallet. Ace’s eyes remained mischievous however, as you eventually just brushed him off and excused yourself to go to your next class before headed out with a wave. Ace stared at your retreating figure, waiting for the moment where he was sure you were gone. When that moment arrived though, the first thing he did was to let out a sigh.

You were too easy, thanks to that whole ordeal, he’s sure as hell going to be looking forward to do the flamingo duty now that he roped you in there to help him. Not to mention the deluxe lunch that you’ll be getting for him later too. But still, you really have to be careful not to get caught up in situations like this with other people, you’re lucky that he only asks for minor things. Seriously, you were too careless...

...To not even notice that it was him who stole that precious notebook of yours to begin with.

The panic was enough to nearly bring you to tears but whatever. At the end of the day, all Ace really wanted to do was to hoard your attention all to himself, resulting in these pathetic attempts.

That’s right, Ace doesn’t intend to hurt you at all. He just wanted to mess with you until his image would be the one floating in your mind all day, every day. Just like you would always be in his, it’s just fair, don’t you think so too?

It’s scummy, but what else was he supposed to do? Gaining your affection in a fair manner just feels like he’s ready for a rejection to come by, like he’s bound to get rejected. God only knows if Ace’s heart could accept such a half-ass conclusion like that. If he’ll have to use deceit, lies, and cruelty to capture your heart, then so be it.

It’s all for the sake of love, isn’t it?

♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎

...At least, it was all supposed to be for the sake of love.

“You’re always yapping about wanting to go home and all that stuff, but don’t you think you’re being a little too selfish here?” Ace said one day when you made the mistake of shifting the conversation about your world. “Everyone in here accepted you already, you know? Even if you can’t go home, I’m sure there’s someone out here willing to take you in!”

“The dorm leaders are so fond of you now, the headmaster is kind so I’m sure he wouldn’t throw you out, and hell, I’ll probably be cursed for life if I don’t make even the slightest bit of effort on making you feel at home!” Ace complained, keeping his eyes close as he ignored the abnormal beating of his heart. He wondered if you noticed how the last part of his dialogue obviously points a clue to how he truly felt towards you. “...And even with all of those possibilities, you still want to go home? Come on, aren’t you being a little ungrateful here, Princess?”

Ace was genuinely upset, but for reasons you weren’t aware of nor reasons you even thought of. It was a disappointment that you didn’t notice just how much he meant what he said, that he’ll do anything to make you feel at home in his world. That he’ll be the one to take you when no one else would. You weren’t being selfish just by wanting to go home, Ace was just the one who’s most terrified of the thought of you leaving. But of course, ruthless words were the only way he could do to prevent you for doing just that.

“Besides, you’re not even sure if people in your world wants you back in the first place.” It felt like an arrow had pierced your heart just by seeing your expression but that’s what Ace wanted you to feel. He wanted his words to hit too close to home for you while he laughs without a single care in the world. “I mean, a clumsy, stupid girl like you? I can’t imagine anyone waiting for someone like that! Must’ve been a relief for everyone in your world to finally realize that you were gone!”

Things would’ve been fine as it is with Ace constantly catching you off-guard with his petty little tricks. It was just what most friends do, be mean and brutally honest with each other just for the laughs and then, make up soon after. It would’ve been fun, it would’ve been hilarious, but all things had their own limits. And When someone crosses that line without respecting its boundary, that’s when things would transcend for the worst.

The way your eyes looked like they were about to tear up, Ace had to ignore that. He wouldn’t let you escape either, he needed to drill that fact into your head. That feeling that no one else but him would want and accept someone like you. He needed to make you feel worthless, just so he could be the knight to sweep you off your feet.

Unbeknownst to him though, Ace didn’t realize that it was that particular moment where he had cross that forbidden boundary. He slowly lost the general idea of control now that he discovered another, much brutal side he could go. All he cared about now is how much your attention was on him, that you wouldn’t even dare think of anyone else.

Teasing comments became downright insulting, jokes became too real, and physical impacts became way too abusive.

You wouldn’t be able to defend yourself when a hot bowl of soup would ‘accidentally’ fall in your lap. You would never be prepared when you would get pushed down the stairs and strain something. You wouldn’t be able to blame anyone if your notes would disappear and come back to you with aggressive scribbles all over the words. So naturally, you wouldn’t be able to move once his hands had wrapped themselves around your neck, threatening to injure you one way or another if you dare do anything.

...And throughout of it all, Ace would be smirking, laughing at your misery. You could see it in his eyes on how much he was enjoying himself, he was enjoying the feeling of being able to trample on you like this. Even if he believes that he wasn’t.

It had driven you into a corner, his actions had quickly shifted into something far worse than teasing. The glint of satisfaction in his eyes whenever you would end up tearing up like it was the highlight of his day. Your increasing number of bruises had been getting a lot of questions lately. It’s not easy to answer them honestly without Ace’s piercing eyes in the background, he just seems to follow you everywhere. Eventually, you finally decided to put your foot down, it wasn’t funny anymore.

But although you’ve had enough, it’s not like you could just fight back against him. No, Ace was far more tricky and cunning as you, trying before had already resulted into a scar that never truly disappeared. So, you did what you could only do the best.

Stay away from his line of sight and hope for the best; Survive.

You started avoiding him, ignoring his gestures during class and not answering his messages or calls. You didn’t let him have an alone time with you anymore, running away towards where people would gather so he couldn’t act. You wouldn't allow him anywhere close to your dorm without another soul accompanying him, hiding until you could no longer hear his voice. Ace was one of the first few friends that you’ve gained after coming into this world, possibly the first. But as important as he is, you felt as if he needed some time to recollect his thoughts, to realize what he was doing wrong.

You had no clue on why he's suddenly like this, he was troublesome before but he was still an overall good friend. You just want him to go back to the way he used to be and this was the only possible way you could think of. If his abusive treatment of you continues, you were afraid that you might just end up seeing him as a villain, a relentless bully and not the Ace that you spent time with.

...This was supposed to be for his own good, yet why does it still feel like you had just pressed the wrong buttons?

♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎

Continue the Spice~? 

Something different about this Dream Sinfic, huh? Well, that’s because Yume’s using a laptop to post! ＼(￣▽￣)／I personally feel like this style feel more organized and neat but what do you think, sweetheart?

Anyway, Yume has started her online class now as expected, it sucks and I’m sad to say that you may expect slow updates from now on, Darling~ o(TヘTo) But I’ll still write, don’t worry~ (´,,•ω•,,)♡ Nothing can keep me apart from making the hornii dreams come true

[stray-tori]

TPN S02E09 - Initial Thoughts (anime-only)

[ Reaction video w/ captions/subs ] we collectively have a breakdown about the pen, please enjoy it pff-

.

... hmmm... yeah I... ain’t feeling it. I think my tpn feelings overall are carrying this more than anything pff. I didn’t hate it, it was just...... mediocre... like if this wasn’t tpn, I probably would have dropped it at this point.

BUT IT IS TPN SO LET’S GIVE SOME THOUGHTS.

.

. Random thoughts I don’t want to re-arrange

when Emma was like “share your pain with us!!”, I liked how Norman turned to Ray like “Ray. help. tell her I’m right” kind of like Ray did in s1 pfff-

Norman cried the words he didn’t allow himself to say in s1 :( I’M EMOTIONAL. it might not be the icing on the cake execution wise but GOD MY HEART. And knowing he’s going to die to it’s just- (well not if the pen has something to say about it but more about that later)

where- wheres my trio hug :((( RAY HUG THE CHILD NOW

it’s interesting that while Emma got the entire emotional speech spotlight, only Ray got a reaction shot to “I won’t live long”?? equivalent.... exchange...?

I thought Norman had a seizure when he broke down in front of Emma and Ray and I kinda wish he had because while it’s good to have him say it outright (a win for communicationnn), imagine THE ANGST. “I want to live with yo- *coughs up fountains of blood*”.

So. yknow that hideout Cislo or Vincent referenced when talking to Emma and Ray. Yknow where Norman hid the children they stole from farms, making it look like demons did it? ... w-what about them? will we see them? Are they getting left behind? it would have worked for Norman’s plan, since all they had to do was stay put and wait for demons to be yeeted. But now... he’d have to take them all too. But... I doubt we’re gonna introduce a bunch of new designs and characters? Or are we? Who knows. I don’t. I have unreasonably amount of protecc feelings for those children I’ve never even seen haha- WHERE ARE THEY. I mean... the plan rn is to immediately use the gate right? or is the plan to eradicte the GF farm staff and higher ups? I guess if thats the plan it might work. Or I guess the plan is to save Phil for now???

the idea of Sonju just... slicing his arm and throwing it at demons in a loop sounds so funny to me please someone make that.

I liked that Mujika turned to the lambda kids after giving a cup to the demon children but then we didn’t see their reaction or anything and then it cuts to the temple??? that was weird. was there sth missing there? confusion.

I also like Isabella remarking "[a radio] was supposed to be there" regarding the shelter, because it further heavily implies they know of the shelters and just let them be. Which further confirms that they should have just reframed the shelter and had the kids escape from it quickly but oH WELL.

I really liked demon Emma apologizing and Norman's reaction to that. it was a sweet little moment and like, the realization of apologizing for something that she didn't do but is aware of and all that. Cycle of hatred and all that shiz hell ye. Ik the anime won't rly delve into that but I kind of relish in the angst potential of the village - sure it was undone but some were still eaten and died and transforming people back won't bring those back. So, that’s some hella terrifying implications for families; and I'm assuming Norman is aware of those so. guilt time! not that he wasn't aware it was bad but yeah- I teared up at that moment :<<

I feel like this season really does its best when it’s doing the whole two worlds/species angle. Mujika and Sonju, the village, demon and human Emma... all that stuff.

I wish we had gotten more time (god this is really the season’s downfall) thought to see Vylk talk to the GF kids more often. it’s implied he told them not to hang out there before but I would have liked to have him show up a few more times before that but yeah. Runtime very RIP.

I also feel like CW is bending over backwards to put cliffhangers at the end of episodes. that was already a problem in s1 when they had Phil come in when Don and Gilda were in Isabella's room. it was obvious it'd be a copout but they still did it. I'm just wondering why we had to have Vincent disagree with the group to this extend (and if the shock value might play a part in that). we have 2 more episodes, why are they introducing more plot threads? Just streamline it you dofuses. I just don't know what good can come of it unless it's like an ultra big brain move to help them?? (and then we're back with the forcing cliffhangers thing) - if it's actual conflict, this'll just make things more confusing and clustered, and we don't have time for that right now imo. But who knows maybe it plays into something I just don't understand yet and it'll work out somehow

.

. Animation flow kinda dead.

I felt like this episode was kind of... awkwardly executed whenever something that was a slightly dynamic movement happened?

The whole bit while Emma is walking up to Norman could have been better, but it’s passable, except that a lot is spelled out for us.

But then she takes his hand really weirdly in a far away shot with bad inbetween timing?? what is that haha-

Or him collapsing is cut really weirdly. you barely really see it, you just kinda piece it together from Emma’s reaction and her catching him.

Most facial expressions are good though, which is arguably the more important part in this scene. I feel like a better execution just would have elevated it even more.

The only one I felt was really awkward in its entirety is Barbara’s scene with the children demons. I felt like that was in particular kind of stiff and the cut between the child and her was too sudden and felt jarring. TPN anime doesn’t really do that sort of stuff a lot, so imo it’s kind of “??” when they do it. With Norman it was too, but that at least had a good transition over to it (with bg and fg panning) and nice animation. Barbara’s just kind of switched. Tbh don’t switch it out, and as the child screams, switch over to her facial expression as her own voice fades into the scream? I think that would have done it too and also be low effort.

I think it’s moreso the flow of the shots than the actual shots though? it’s a bit too fast paced and sometimes missing inbetweens (like the wild demon eating sonju’s hand is literally just 2 frames) - it’s very weird. It’s jarring, but I can’t really explain why.

I’m sorry for the staff, I’m sure the production hasn’t been easy. maybe with the bluray release we’ll get some updated animations/inbetweens.

Some appreciation though:

as mentioned, most of the facial expressions, even if the body language was a bit stiff.

the cut from the trio talking to the eye-transition of the demon and the following breath animation looked nice. Also his arm regenerating!

Sonju smirking as he cuts his arm off, what a bastard

they didn’t have to show Vylk’s arm regenerating casually while they’re talking but they did.

.

. the lambda crew

If only I cared about you guys. Hahhh it’s just... introducing characters so close to the end is just. A mess. A recipe for disaster.

Where has the anime’s “show off the younger kids” angle gone? I thought they were always pretty good at that. but they haven’t really contributed anything since the whole tidbit about the older children always eating less for them. And even then it was just Lani and Thoma.

Potentially, what segments we saw in the shelter will come back for the GF raid thematically but I’m just... EH?

.

. the cure pen

at this point, just stick a syringe part at the end of the stick and just inject it and it’s gonna solve everything probably.

I just don’t understand why that needed to happen. Assuming they go to the human world, it’d be perfectly acceptable for me for medicine to be so advanced that it’d be able to like, lessen their symptoms and significantly improve their lifespan.

Don’t just... REMOVE their struggles. It’s okay to not be normal and cured. it’s okay for their lives to be impacted by it going forward. In fact, I’d much prefer that.

(added in later) OH wait they literally spell out why the cure being in the pen is meaningful - because it opens up a path where they can live through not having annihilated all the demons - it's essentially the moral "reward" for not killing them. Since they probably wouldn't have gotten it if they did that. I still think it wasn't needed and the blueprint on its own would suffice for another pen-convinience moment but I kind of get what they're going for, I just don't think it's worth it . In their case, going to the human world (while they don't know it) means having more medical expertise at their disposal which they can then use to survive. UNLESS they're actually not welcome over there and have to hide or something, in that case... that might be hard, true. I guess I'll come back to think about this once it's over. For now, it feels kind of unearned and it wouldn’t even have to be this way in my eyes which makes it somewhat worse.

But good, let’s say in-universe you need it NOW, then at least don’t put??? the medicine??? recipe??? INTO the hologram.

What if they just checked the GF blueprint and Norman goes “hey, Vincent... do you think this [database/archive room] could have some data on our experiments?” - Norman said he tried to develop a drug to help them but the supporters who had that data were purged. but... they had Smee to help them too. But SOMEHOW, a dude from 15 years ago just HAS the cure??? (at least let Norman develop it himself and have the data be just THE DATA and not the recipe).

It might still check out somewhat??

15+ years ago, James Ratri was assumingly still the gatekeeper since the switch to Peter seems somewhat recent considering his big "era of James has ended" speech.

I guess the implication is that just like Smee => Krone => Norman, a supporter all that time ago gave random person the pen when they escaped.

When Vylk found him, he also had just the data medium of the pen (not the entire pen), so maybe the farm thought they eliminated it and that’s why they didn’t change their methods to not work with those drugs anymore? It's still a bit curious that their experimentation hasn't changed at all in 15 years but maybe that's because they keep killing the smart people instead of making them scientists to research for them :D

Somewhere since those 15 years, Smee gave Krone the pen (probably a few years before she got to GF?), which means that at that point the gate the keyword "future" sent them to, was still in tact when Smee gave Krone the pen. Maybe WM wasn't discovered yet at that point?

then WM got discovered, James was chased. He made that phonecall update and was probably eventually killed, along with the human location (and likely bunkers since they knew a radio was supposed to be there, begs the question why they didn't remove it) being discovered (the one with the future keyword) and the gate there being destroyed.

The problem is just that it can make sense when you think about it for way too long and assume things in good-faith, but it still feels unearned.

Maybe I would care more or this would feel a little more earned if we knew ANYTHING about that person? They seemed fairly young, so it’s probably not Minerva/James Ratri. The “hope” talk reminded me of the book in the shelter, but I’m not sure if that checks out either? The cookies were rotten but not completely. I know cookies hold out relatively long, but would they rly not be completely rotten after 15 years? I MEAN. Maybe not. Who knows. I tried to google it but didn’t find anything. 

But anyway. That tidbit is going into my “shelter kids OC project” I guess.

But even if the worldbuilding makes sense, I think the data set in itself makes little sense?? How did they find that pen part? Did a supporter give it to them? Why do they have the cure? Clearly their group of escapees wasn’t doing too hot (#help) and they seemed relatively young too so they probably couldn’t have worked in the farm.

Were the shelter escapees lambda escapees? but if that was the case, wouldn’t the WM group have secured the cure information more properly than in just one pen (maybe it was and those were just destroyed, to be fair) - it’s just WEIRD to put the cure for Lambda experiments on the same blueprint as the GF layout??? that makes so little sense.

Plus, why would you send them to GF, when it’s so secured and all that, and not just send them to the human support place our GF kids were sent with the “future” keyword, which had a gate. Maybe it didn’t exist 15 years ago (that the humans had control over it, that is), but even then it seems weird to me to imply to send them to GF instead of one of the other gates that existed. I mean. The “future” location’s gate wasn’t destroyed when Krone got the pen right?

I’m guessing maybe it was meant as help for escaping? But then again, why the cure? I guess if they met lambda experiments? I’m just confused.

Also: do we just accept that the layout of GUARDS and SECURITY MEASURES has not changed in 15 years???

.

*sigh* welp. Still looking forward to seeing some stuff with Isabella hopefully. Time... is not on their side and it shows. Neither run-time wise nor production wise.

[mars-the-4th-planet]

Ivy Munger plays Project Libitina (creepy fic for Halloween for my friend, might be disturbing)

(part one of two)

The episode begins with Jukebox herself wrapped cozily in a blanket, which is how all the episodes should start. She was playing a mod for doki doki literature club called Doki Doki: New Horizons on her GBA. She had little else to do what with quarantine and all. Spookbox watched mischievously out the window, silently giggling and rubber her hands together. She slipped through the window and crept into the kitchen, somehow unheard by Jukebox who stayed focused on her game. Spookbox was visibly transparent to the audience the whole time, representing that she is invisible to the characters in TIMS. (the ivy munger show)

Just then, Trolli and Sakura comes strolling and trolling in. Sakura sits perched atop of Trolli's shoulders. Trolli leans over to look at Jukebox's GBA screen. Currently, Jukebox is making Natsuki Island. In the shape of a trans flag, because of the common Natsuki headcanon. Trolli sees it and chuckles. "Hehehehe, a rectangle island Jukebox? I haven't seen such creative talent since Sakura tied her shoes together. Without laces!"

"H-Hey... I told you, I didn't do it! There was an imposter and they sabotaged me!" protested Sakura helplessly. "Sure, Saki. But seriously, a plain rectangle for an island? I know you can do better than that Jukebox. Especially for Natsuki."

"It's in the shape of a trans flag for the trans natsuki headcanon! No need to tease me Trolli."

"Ahahahahaa, trans natsuki? I love trans rights as much as you do Jukebox, but natsuki has been proven many times to be cis." Trolli pointed out.

"Aren't trans flags just the same shape as-" Sakura began, but was cut off by YouTube personified marching in and throwing a throw pillow at Trolli. "DEMONITIZED! Slurs are not allowed on this platform."

Jukebox sighed and rested her head against her hand. Trolli shot back: "What, cis? Cis isn't a slur!" only to get another throw pillow thrown at him. "Okay, okay... I won't say it anymore, happy?"

"Can I just play my game please? Actually you know what I'm getting a snack. You all need to stop this bizarre drama before a fight breaks out in our comment section."

It was too late for that. Already an argument had begun between people saying "cis is a slur" and "cissy lives don't matter" but that wasn't the main problem Jukebox would have to worry about...

She walked into the kitchen, and got an unopened box of cereal out of the cupboard. Jukebox opened up the top, and with a crinkle she opened the plastic bag inside...

Immediately after it was opened, an arm reached out of the box and grabbed Jukebox by the collar prompting a surprised yelp from her. A second hand reached out too, holding a handgun and pointing it at Jukebox's face. She struggled but to no avail. "Mwahahaha... I just caught an imposter~" a voice said behind her. Jukebox heard sound of something phasing out of invisibility right afterward. "What the- Who are you?! Let me go! TROLLI! SAKURA! HELP!" She shouted, panicky.

Trolli and Sakura rushed in. "Oh no! Jukebox! Jukebox? W-Which is the real Jukebox?"

Behind Jukebox was Spookbox, except she wasn't wearing her usual demonic makeup and had clothes on that matched Jukebox. She just looked like an eviller Jukebox with her hands behind her back. Of course, her hands were not really behind her back at all, they were coming out of the cereal box. "I caught an imposter trying to steal our cereal!!"

"What?? Why would you do this imposter--are you the same one who tied my shoes together!? Hmph!" Sakura jumped up and down while asking this. "No! I'm not an imposter! Who is behind me, I can't see them! Stop being weird and help me! >_<"

"It's... You. Is this some kind of prank?" Trolli asked, looking quizzical.

"For real guys, it's me." Said Spookbox. "I think this is M. M stands for Me, so it makes sense that M would take the appearance of Me."

"What are you talking about??" Jukebox replied, still panicky. "I'm not M! I don't even know who M is! What do you WANT?"

"Hmm..." Sakura looked skeptically at the both of them. "Both of my senpais seem kind of sus... How can we tell?"

"It's simple. I'm good at games, so this imposter should have to play a game to prove it!" Spookbox suggested.

"Which game?"

"Project Libitina! It's scary, perfect for a Halloween special! And it fits with our theme, with our DDLC let's play being one of our flagship series!"

"Why didn't you think of that, other Jukebox?"

"To be honest I wasn't thinking about my channel's content at the moment, probably because I have a gun in my face..." Jukebox pointed out.

"Fair enough." Snarled Spookbox.

"So... I just have to play Project Libitina then? That's good I thought you were gonna take my money or something..."

"I'm also taking your money. Or should I say, MY money. Since you're pretending to be me."

Trolli and Sakura giggled at that remark.

"...Dammit"

"DEMONITIZED!" YouTube shouted from another room.

Suddenly, the screen went to black and white and froze in place. A rantsona appeared on screen, although it didn't resemble any real animal. It looked sort of like if you mashed a zubat from pokemon together with a teddy bear, made the resulting fusion really fuzzy and put a green cap with a red star on it. "ACTUALLY!" he said, although his mouth (which took up the whole face) only cut to a frame where it was open instead of having lip syncing. "Spookbox should not have been portrayed as the villain in this episode! She is a working class hero taking DIRECT ACTION against the bougie youtuber who makes millions off of playing video games! She was right to aim for recollecting Jukebox's wealth as a goal."

Sakura spoke up, since she was also a 2D character she could still perceive what was happening. Although she didn't move at all while speaking. "This is OUR video! Kindly bug off! No one wants to hear your deranged and incorrect-"

The odd rantsona shook violently for a split second, and the video cut to black.

Once the video flickered back on, Jukebox was jumping onto the couch, ready to play Project Libitina. "Wow, it feels like this video has been going on for a while! And we haven't even gotten to the game yet! So I'll keep it's introduction brief. Project Libitina was meant to come out in 2018, but Dan Salvado had several delays. Not this was in any way his fault, he claimed that after working on the game his health would rapidly decline and would receive death threats that made him scared to continue work. Eventually though, he was able to finish and now we finally get to play DDLC's sequel! Or... Prequel if Matpat is right."

Jukebox started up the game and watched as the intro played. A warning flickered on the screen, saying that the game was far too disturbing to be played by people without adaquete mental training and preparation.

"Wow can you imagine having that much motivation. Sick, scared, and he still finished the game? If only certain people could work with that much determination."

Jukebox looked indignant. "What, you mean me?"

"No." Trolli looked directly into the camera. This made everyone watching uncomfortable.

Spookbox swatted Trolli. "Cut that out! I'm supposed to be the creepy one."

"But-

"No fighting, I need to hurry up and film the gameplay segment." Jukebox interrupted.

"All right, with that out of the way, the beginning of the game gives you a nice recap on the portrait of Markov. You get to choose between playing as "Mister Jones" or someone just named "Squid". Squid looks kind of depressing, probably because there was pretty clearly an accident involved with her? I'm pretty sure the researchers tried to give her a powerful tentacle arm, but as you can see... It doesn't look like it worked very well."

"Sure this game isn't too much for you Jukebox?" Trolli asked, voice hinting towards actual concern. "Maybe the other box should have to play it first since it was her idea..."

"Nah don't worry, I'm a brave girl!" Jukebox reassured Trolli.

"So, we're playing as Mister Jones. He's a single father, his wife apparently died but it's not that important to the game really. He honestly seems over it, as mean as that sounds to say. But you see a lot of his internal dialouge and he doesn't seem too fazed."

"Right now we're doing an experiment to try and increase control over Libitina. She kept attacking researchers until we gave her a real bedroom. So my task is to watch her through the window until she gets so uncomfortable that she agrees to go back in her sleeping box instead."

Jukebox took a deep breath and swallowed.

"In fact, most of the game seems to be doing experiments on this kid. The catch is that she has mind powers and can mess with you and other characters in all sorts of ways. For example, since she can sense you coming to the window, by the time you look through it she's already staring at the window. As you can see she's pretty clearly scared of us, so she's going to try all sorts of things to get us to stop watching her. But if we can stay firm, she will become so distressed by being spied on that the only way she can feel any privacy is to go into her ventilated steel container we call her sleeping box. The goal is basically to make her wish she never demanded to have a real bedroom like a normal child."

Jukebox said this clearly, but her voice quivered a little midway through. "She will try everything to get you to stop watching her like I said. Right now I'm hearing things in my headphones like something is behind me in the game. Like an animal growling, someone breathing in my ear, twigs snapping from being stepped on. It's tempting to look behind yourself but if you do it reaffirms her power over you and she will get closer to the window when you're not looking. If she gets emboldened enough to reach you, you get a game over screen. But if you keep your eyes on her, it makes her feel powerless. See? She's trying to hide under her blanket. If she does that it gives you an opportunity to tap her window for giving her extra fear. Don't tap her window when she is looking at you though!"

"What happens then?" Spookbox asked, intrigued.

"I don't really want to talk about that, haha. You get a special game over, basically." Jukebox giggled nervously.

"Now, since she has the ability to draw nearby threats to you, you need to learn how to tell what noises are just her trying to trick you and what are actually dangerous. She won't approach the window when things are outside besides just you. So you can shoot whatever's threatening you. For being a chapter of the game where you just watch Libitina through her bedroom window, it's surprisingly unsettling for me- AAAA!"

A ghoulish person wielding a tool so bloody it was hard to tell what it was supposed to be used for yanked Mister Jones around in the game and swung the tool repeatedly at him. It moved with strangely few frames, like a rushed stop motion project. Jukebox was too late in reacting to the attack, and got a game over screen. The game over screen had Squid holding Libitina by her hand and leading her along a road in the middle of nowhere. They both seemed very happy about it.

"Ohh! Oh my god- that-- not going to lie, this game kind of gets to me. But I'm no imposter or a quitter so I'll just cut until after I find out how to beat this part! And that's just one of several things that can kill you in this part of the gsme!"

The camera cut to black just as Trolli started saying something. When it reappeared, Jukebox looked sweaty and Trolli and Spookbox were no longer in the room. "Okay, so, I finally got the win screen. It took a while, but we finally got Libitina to start shaking under her blanket, and at this point she can't or won't pull any more psychic nonsense on us. We still have to be careful about wandering enemies but we can freely look away from the window now. Any second now... Ah there we go."

A distant alarm went off in the game and a win screen popped up. "Success!" it displayed, over a background of research papers that were heavily scribbled on. A 2D anime style clip played of Libitina begrudgingly asking a researcher to please let her sleep in her sleeping box again instead of a bedroom.

"Now we can go on to the next task! Our need experiment is optional, and apparently is important to the lore according to literally the one post I could find online about the mechanics of Project Libitina. Seems like only a couple people have played it counting me, weird. The reason it's optional though is because it's "the main reason for the warning at the start of the game" but I'm a brave girl so we're doing it!"

Text scrolled on the screen as jukebox selected the chapter. "Knife Conditioning: to-"

Jukebox shuddered and turned off the game. "Yeah, no, not a brave enough girl for this. It's one thing to see disturbing stuff, another entirely to be the one causing it. I can see why this is a psychological horror game. It's just too much for me. Right you two?"

Jukebox turned around, and looked confused. "Trolli? Other Jukebox? Where did everyone go? Wasn't someone else here too?"

She shrugged. "Guess they got bored and left. Oh well! I'm Ivy Munger, and thank you all for a wonderful time!" Jukebox thought it over. "Well, maybe not wonderful but thank you for watching! And don't play Project Libitina unless you are REALLY sure you can handle the darker stuff. Apparently the game has a happy ending and I might get to that later in a future episode but I'm not doing the optional chapters I can tell you that much."

[strvwberryblcnde]

👫 teddy/lana

send a 👫 and I’ll write four headcanons i have about our muses’ relationship.

ok so. lana has a habit of sharing food as one of her many love languages i think. she jst likes.... giving ppl things even if it means she’ll have less. she’d let a wolf make a meal out of her n eat every last piece if she loved him n she knew he’d feel full. bt of everyone i feel like teddy hs always been the one she does this w most.... like even when they first met in the cafeteria she gave him spoonfuls of her greek yogurt n honey. whenever she’s eating fruit (which is a lot she’s obsessed w strawberries n peaches n grapes n tangerines n oranges) she’ll ALWAYS give him half whether tht’s segmenting up pieces or dividing bites evenly between them n Without Fail it’ll always b half tht she gives him whereas she might give other ppl like.... a bite or a piece or two bt......... it’s rly specific each time tht she gives teddy half. it isn’t even intentional it’s jst like a subconscious thing bt if we were to slide on spectacles n analyse this in an english class fr it’s Meaning then. looks at u then looks away. i think this represents the way tht teddy hs always felt like another half of her. they’re one in the same. in a lot of ways they’re very similar mayb even................ TOO similar n that’s why it’s been sch a fking.... bastard of trying to work things out ever bc they very much hv the same rampant commitment issues n bad timing n fears of never being gd enough. i feel like in the past a guy she ws dating (noncommittally as lana tended to do these things) wld have even noticed this n it would have bugged him a lot just like... how close she was w teddy in general............. n he would’ve one day brought it up in the middle of a fight he’d picked jst cutting away from what they were talking abt to be like. u only ever give me one bite but u would give teddy all of it if he asked u to. tell me i’m wrong. n she’d scoff out a laugh in disbelief looking around like omg...... all this over a fruit...... what are u even sa-- n he’d cut her off n be like. literally tell me i’m wrong lana. n she wouldn’t even b able to after going quiet n rly realising what it was he was actually Saying. he’d storm out. relationship over. icons of always being a little bit in love w each other n not even noticing it until someone else points it out <3

god. sighs dramatically at the idea i jst had. i cn imagine in la verse lana being rly drunk getting bk from a date one time n inevitably it was just some random loser since she’s back to dating Trash in this era bc she just truly cbas trying after her breakup w dom n............. it would be like a parallel to tht one time they’d fallen out over him sleeping w imogen when she ws upset w him bt crawled into his bed drunk at a party just to lie w him for a little while despite everything...... she wld have gone to his instead of hers on some drunken automatic pilot n somehow got into his room n..... she’d clamber in n flop nxt to him n maybe it wld be funny at first if he woke up n was like lana what the fk...... are u doing here.... so disorientated n confused.......... n she’d just be joking initially bt very clearly drunk like making fun of her date talking abt how he kept complimenting his own hair n calling himself a tesla in a sea of prius’ n checking himself out in every window they passed n then the laughter wld slowly trickle off n she’d go kind of quiet fr a moment n maybe teddy wld assume she ws passing out bc she’d drank sm bt after a short silence she’d perk up with a mumble out of nowhere n, barely conscious of what she’s saying, b like “why didn’t u wait for me like u said u would”. n if he was like.............. huh? she’d have her eyes shut n just b murmuring half awake then open them sleepily to look at him n rly quietly be like........ “u promised”. mayb she’d even reach out to gingerly trace his face bt then her wrist wld go slack bc she was rly tired n she’d just wriggle closer n tuck her head to get comfy n be like “warm” then promptly fall asleep. JSGSFKGHFHGKHGSFKH. literally jst jolting him awake w this rarely serious n genuine conversation then passing out. jst the worst fk teddy’s life bet he lay there staring at the ceiling fr so long after tht one <3 lana wouldn’t remember this in the morning either she’d wake up like why am i here........ did we meet up last night............ teddy jst like >_> u crashed here it was nbd.

i picture the first week they moved to LA lana wldn’t have admitted it bt she wld be feeling rly homesick............ radcliffe was very much like the first place she truly felt was her home n she’d miss all of the ppl there n just the general area A Lot............. one night i can see her jst wanting to spend with teddy to have like a sense of familiarity in an unfamiliar city (even if she’s spent a decent amt of time there over the yrs bc of jameson records hving studios etc bt still) n i’m imagining them like. breaking into an indoor swimming complex that her n her friends in high skl used to break into in the summers when they vacationed yrs ago.... maybe lana still has a key cut tht works from a connection she made bk then idk <3 it doesn’t matter <3 n they’d inevitably be drunk n just messing around n splashing each other n doing handstand competitions n all the typical..... fun frivolous childish antics lana n teddy tend to get into whenever they’re around each other.... truly jst transformed into big kids whenever they’re in the other’s company..... inspired a little by this gifset jst in terms of the playing around underwater vibe. anyway. mayb they mostly dry off bt they end up climbing up onto the rooftop after n it’s a baking summer night anyway so it isn’t like they’ll catch a cold being damp bt they share a big fluffy towel n bottle of rum between them huddled overlooking the lights of the city. n maybe somehow it gets onto lana admitting how much she misses home n how it’s kind of weird being here especially bc she’s further from caleb. she’s never been this far from him since he was away in the army n we all kno hw tht turned out. mayb she’d go a bit quiet after saying this bt then i think she’d take his hand w their fingers laced together n she’d rest her head on his shoulder n be like. at least i’ll always have u. it’s like i took a piece of home w me. we’ve always had each other like that. then she’d perk up n lift her head n be like let’s make a deal. i’ll be ur home if u’ll be mine. ok? n make him pinky promise. i dnt think she’d quite consider the sentimentality in tht bt 😔 she nvr rly does she jst says what feels natural without attention paid to the deeper meaning tht motivated it n.... sighs. looks at u then looks away....

this is inspired by tht scene in don’t trust the b in apartment 23 where she’s like “look. that video of me getting rawed by my best friend means the world to me.” KJGFGJKSFHKGHKSFGHKFSHKGSHGK god. inevitably in lana n teddy’s prime when they were literally hooking up 24/7 in earlier college yrs they made.............. a few videos. i mean it’s jst realistic. it’s jst common sense. probably even a feature length film at one point. n i had this idea where bc teddy’s trying to get into acting etc mayb if he gets an agent his agent is like.... do u have any dirt u need to take care of? loose ends to tie up? incriminating files to delete? sex tapes? n if he was like... ya..... mayb his agent wld have asked him to delete them if he still had them on his computer or w.e i mean i kno lana wld n wouldn’t have deleted them she wld have been proud of their work of art...... bt maybe he told lana abt this just laughing abt it n the atmosphere ws lighthearted at first bc she’d find it rly funny too like ommmmggggggg i’m a skeleton in ur closet tht is so fun if u get famous i cld be blasted all over perez hilton that’s kind of sexy..... bt............... mayb she’d as a joke be like. mayb we shld watch it one last time before u delete it. kind of like a funeral service. a goodbye party. sailing out the flaming viking raft n paying our respects u know??? n they were joking bk n forth bt then she’d be like. seriously tho mayb we should? growing more accustomed to the idea actually being a genuine one even tho tht is fking. the WORST idea i have EVER heard in the world like i do NOT know how lana wld think she has the self control to do that bt in her head she’s like. teddy n i are jst best friends now... it’s fine........... we’re open w each other it’s just a bit of fun.......... n then i can imagine if he went along w this it’s like a game of chicken they’re playing w each other where they’re both like fking hell shd we do this.... dnt wna seem like I’M the one tht thinks i can’t handle it........ n it’s some back n forth like nick n jess in new girl where they’re daring each other to have the threeway w the landlord. bt then like not even.... a minute into watching it as they’re both silently holding their breath n crunching popcorn they mde for the occasion (insisting on acting like it ws just a normal movie night) lana wld literally have to be like. slams laptop shut. UMMMM i forgot.... i....... have a very important meeting......... n teddy’s just like. meeting? u don’t have a job... what are u ta-- n she’s like A MEETING A VERY IMPORTANT MEETING...... very blatantly squirming around as she slowly gets up n tries to head fr the door... n teddy’s like.... taking the excuse without much question too like... ya i have to run lines actually i jst remembered gt an audition coming up..... n they’re both like ya haha... maybe some other time.... or maybe just delete it it’s whatever.... anyway we gtg haha... bye.... ttyl...... lana wld literally hv to SPRINT out of there to go home n. deal w how flustered this made her i won’t lie. she bumps into parker n is all flushed in the face n is just like CAN’T TALK BYE n takes off sprinting again like some kind of freak. it’d b a train wreck. i jst think that’d b rly funny tho n dare i say it? it’s canon. 

[adventure-hearts]

tri. Chapter 5 - Recap, Analysis, Review [part one]

This is me trying to make sense of of a dense, multilayered chapter that for once brough us more answers than questions. My notes got very long and I ended up taking dozens of screen-caps, so I decided to split this post into four segments (one for each part of the movie). You can expect the others soon, over the next few days.

I hope you survive this!

Chapter 5 (Kyousei - Coexistence or Symbiosis, depending on who you ask) starts where we were left off last time: Mystery Man torturing Meiko in order to make Meicoomon snap, and telling her she should not have been born.

At once, we get another flashback from Meiko's childhood - this time, with a very specific date: Autumn 1999 -- that is, shortly after the events of Digimon Adventure. This has ties with a previous flashback (set in the summer) of Meiko finding Meicoomon in the woods. While the exact time when Meicoomon met Meiko in the human world is still unclear, everything in this chapter points to this meeting happening shortly after August 1-3, that is, after the defeat of Apocalymon.

This flashback shows us two incidents of Meicoomon's past. In the first one, she attacks a group of birds, resulting in loose feathers and a pool of blood, and she soils Meiko's shirt with it. Symbolism aside, it’s unclear what caused the blood: was she hunting or defending herself? Did she “snap” because she was scared, after finding herself away from Meiko? Anyway, this was the first time Meicoomon shown she was capable of being violent.

The second incident is much more serious.

Meiko's father is taking  Meicoomon to the lab to be examined by some Tokyo people. This happens in 1999, when human authorities were trying to make sense of what had happened with the Digimon that summer. Significantly, this seems to suggest that Meiko's father isn't exactly keeping Meicoomon's existence a secret from the authorities; nor does it seem that he’s using his daughter’s Digimon to conduct scientific experiences or anything suspicious.

However, Meicoomon snaps and destroys the lab, injuring Meiko’s father in the process.

We also learn that Himekawa was one of the people who came from Tokyo to see Meicoomon, and her connection to this digimon starts here. This gives us some clues about Maki's age; if in 1999 she was already done with her studies and working for the Agency, so she was at least in her early 20s then. You can do the math yourself, but basically Maki is at least 27 in tri., perhaps older.

Meiko witnesses the incident, in shock. But as soon as shes there, Meicoomon goes back to normal; she’s confused at first, but quickly becomes happy to see Meiko, as if nothing had happened. Maki watches everything with interest. Is this the moment when she realises Meicoomon could play a role in her plans for the Reboot?

Back in the present time, Mystery Man’s plan worked. Meicoomon has gone berserk and is wreaking havoc. The flashback serves to contextualise and explain what’s happening: It seems that what triggers Meicoomon’s transformation is being scared and/or being separated from Meiko -- in other words, Meiko's presence keeps Meicoomon calm and controlled... until now. All this will be explained later in the movie.

Anyway, it’s clear that the distortions Meicoomon is causing are making Mystery Man extremely happy. Digimon start invading the real world, a repetition of both Vamdemon’s invasion and Demon’s invasion.

Meiko calls the transtorned Meicoomon and there’s a tense moment when it seems that she can get Meicoomon to break away from her trance, just like before. Instead, it utterly fails: Meicoomon is confused, screams and agony and finally attacks Meiko. 

Meiko is paralysed and apparently has given up, as she realises that she can no longer reach Meicoomon when she’s in her evil form. As she’s about to get murdered by her own partner, Meiko remembers happy moments they spent together… but fortunately Taichi plays the gallant hero and saves her at the last moment. 

There’s another tense exchange of looks, but it appears that Meicoomon changes her mind about killing her and runs off.

The conclusion from this scene is simple: Meicoomon has snapped so deeply that Meiko can no longer reach her and bring her back to normal; yet, it seems that there’s still something inside her that keeps her from killing Meiko.

Does she? This is the first indication that Meiko’s will to live is perhaps being challenged in Kyousei.  

Takeru recalls Mystery Man’s words about Meicoomon is “the key to destroying” the world - which seems fitting as they’re seeing the Digital World go crazy under her powers. Meanwhile, Meiko is closer to accepting the truth that Meicoomon may be beyond saving at this point.

* 

Speaking of trauma, we find out what’s going on with Maki. After her reunion with Bakumon went wrong, she wanders around with a gun as she watches the destruction and fantasises that this time she will be chosen. 

What does this mean? Now that the Reboot (the plan she spent years working on) has failed, has Maki lost her sanity? Or is she revealing her new plan, a fantasy that a new crisis will give her and Bakumon a second chance to be “chosen”? 

Either way, it doesn’t seem that Maki is acting out of evil intentions or a desire to cause destruction. Raving, she wanders after her partner....

*

Back in the human world, Digimon are causing major problems. Taichi and Hikari’s mother is watching the news on TV and worrying about her kids. She decides to prepare a huge meal for them, her own little contribution to the cause. It seems that tri. Has picked Yuuko as the representative of the children’s families, and her perspective is an important one - especially in a Chapter that focuses so much on the Yagami siblings.

*

With Himekawa missing, nobody is listening to Daigo, who’s worried about the kids being stranded in the Digital World. He decides to take matters into his own hands and meets with Professor Mochizuki, who apparently is no longer invited to speak at the table during important meetings where decisions are being made. You have to wonder if Homeostasis is also behind this - don’t forget Meiko’s father has an emotional investment in this, meaning he’s probably biased towards Meicoomon (if anything, for his daughter’s sake).

Hackmon joins the conversation and finally drops some important answers. 

Homeostasis only agenda is to protect stability. Libra (Meicoomon) is no longer fulfilling her role in that balance and has become to unstable. This was why she was banished (was this why she ended up on the Real World, perhaps after Apocalymon’s demise?).

Finally, with Meiko no longer acting as a balancing force to Meicoomon’s incredible destructive power, the latter is a loose canon and it must be destroyed.

This seems a pretty heartless decision from Homeostasis, but at least it’s consistent with their role in this universe. If you see things from the perspective of “keeping the balance at all costs” this is a reasonable conclusion. Sentiment has no place in Homeostasis’ job.

*

Meanwhile, the Digital World is trying to kill the Chosen Children (and failing miserably at it; but then, after Sora’s improbable survival last Chapter, maybe they’ve all developed inhuman invulnerability). They seek refuge in a cave and try to make sense of what’s happening.

Hikari is the most intuitive member of the team and the one who has a deeper connection with the Digital World, so it’s fitting that she is the first one to sense this and to convey it to the others. Again, this is a side of Hikari’s personality that plays a big role in this movie.

*

Back in the office, Homeostasis has spoken its sentence. Without Meiko’s protection, there’s no hope for Meicoomon.

*

Then we get the scene by the fire, where we get some very subtle, and some very interesting character moments. Everyone’s core personality gets to shine through. For instance, there’s the funny contrast between Mimi’s childlike comment that they could be seeing shooting stars, and Jou’s deadpan pragmatism:

(You can go really meta and pretend this is a reference to “I wish!) 

Yamato has made his decision and is as determined as possible. Remember that he means just that - “stopping”. After all, they all realise that Meicoomon is the source of this mess and she’s causing all these troubles in the real world. But no one is considering destruction at this point. Taichi is asking Koushirou to find a way to get them home, and he’s trying.

The scene then focuses on Meiko, who’s blaming herself because this time she couldn’t stop Meicoomon. The group tries to cheer her up.

There’s a very nice sentiment there. But, remember, at this point the kids aren’t seeing the bigger picture and they still don’t know what we know. They have no idea that this trouble with Meicoomon can’t be solved with good ol’ fashioned friendship, “believing” in each other, or “accepting each other’s faults”.

Still, this scene beautifully explains the wonderful relationship between the partners, from Meiko’s point of view - specificially how they balance each other perfectly and how each duo has its own dynamic. She’s been paying attention to this. Comparing.

But Meiko is reasonably questioning their assumptions. If Meicoomon is so different, how can their relationship compare? Moreover, the partner bonds seem to have been broken beyond repair. Sora reminds Meiko that she’s stopped running and has accepted responsibility for being Meicoomon’s partner.

But now Meiko’s starting to wonder if the fault is actually on her side - she has interpreted these last events as Meicoomon snapping because of her. She’s feeling powerless, thinking that if she was a different type of partner - a different person - this wouldn’t be happening.

This sentence sums a big theme through out this episode (and throughout this series), as multiple characters come back to this difficult question, again and again.

Consider Meiko’s position at this moment: She knows something is wrong with Meicoomon (she’s always had a “problem”) but now she can no longer do anything to make her stop.  Meiko did everything right: She faced the truth, she believed in her partner, she came back for her -- and Meicoomon just tried to murder her. What if she's the problem? What if a more capable partner could have stopped this?

The main point here is this: Meiko’s right to have doubts and to be scared. This isn’t a repetition of her conflict in the previous chapters, because there has been a definit breaking point in her bond with Meicoomon. Meiko isn’t being cowardly or weak, she’s being reasonable before the facts.

[buttersbots]

Council

Word count: 3,803 deviantART | Archive of Our Own | FanFiction

Breaking Point Council (you are here) Confession

When the doorbell rang, Fletcher was already there to answer it. Evening had just fallen. The porch light flickered, and it must have made him look even more frantic than he felt ‒ the two women standing on the porch practically jumped back at the sight of him.

“Asteri! Amanda!” his smile felt too tight, making his sing-song tone all the worse.  “What took you so long?” “What do you mean?” Amanda crossed her arms, “It’s only been an hour since we got off work!” “You only work thirty minutes away! What were you doing the other half hour?” “Getting dressed, you moron, did you want us to show up covered in sugar and flour?” “I don’t care about that, we have pressing matters to attend!” “Alright, let’s go. Good to see you by the way,” Asteri laughed. She stepped inside, punching Fletcher in the shoulder as she went. Fletcher and Amanda shared one more scowl before following Asteri to the kitchen. It was dark outside, but almost no lights were turned on indoors ‒ Nos and Two were out of town, and Fletcher was either too distracted or bothered for bright light. A single bulb shone above the kitchen sink as the only beacon of warmth, everything else dappled in strange shadows by the automatic lights in the garden. It was just enough to see by. Amanda went straight to the island, plopping down in one of the barstools, while Asteri went to the fridge, opening it to start pulling out ingredients. As jumbled as Fletcher had been all day, he’d at least remembered to keep up his part of their usual arrangement: whenever he invited the girls over around dinner time, he bought the food. “Fletcher, oh my god ‒ it’s like the entire market in here!” “I need... a lot of advice. I wanted you to have options,” Fletcher shrugged, walking into the kitchen. His arms were crossed and he picked at a dent on his elbow, pacing through to the dining room to stay out of the way. Amanda craned her neck to look past Asteri at the fully stocked shelves. “Did you get any frozen pizza?” “No way, Mandy, check it out!” Asteri grabbed a package of ground beef and dug into the produce drawer, shuffling through the vegetables. “Let’s make stir-fry!” “But cutting all that up is so much work...” Amanda groaned. “Fine, you stay there and I’ll cook,” Asteri rolled her eyes. “If he bought all this food, we might as well use it.” “You can take whatever you don’t use home with you, too. If I forget food in here again and let it rot Mom’ll have my head.” “If you insist,” Amanda beamed, spinning her stool so she could prop her legs up on the one next to her. “You really don’t cheap out, bat-boy. If you had a crisis like this on a weekly basis you’d cover our grocery bill.” “I didn’t even look at the prices...” Fletcher winced as the thought occurred to him. He tried to remember if he’d kept the receipt, but he quickly shook his concern. It was a small price to pay if it meant they’d help him figure things out. Amanda clicked her tongue. “Rich boy...” He threw her a look before resuming his pacing. “PhD.” “Yeah, yeah, whatever. You know, you look like you haven’t slept in a week,” Asteri observed as she put the vegetables next to the sink and pulled out the cutting board. “...How are you supposed to tell? I don’t need sleep, I can keep draining batteries indefinitely.” “You may not need it, but it helps you run better. You look dull and you’re all fidgety and distracted. Did you wear that outfit into town today?” Fletcher looked down at himself. “Why?” “Your shirt’s on backwards.” Amanda laughed, her eyes softening. “You’re really falling apart over this. Will you tell us what’s the matter already? We haven’t seen you in so long, and now that you finally call, you’re all stressed. If it’s such a pressing matter, why don’t you just spill it?” Fletcher stopped by the counter, eyeing the knife that Asteri had just taken from one of the drawers. “I’d rather start talking about it after we’re done with the cutlery.” Asteri and Amanda glared at him in unison, “What did you do?” “Seriously? Guys, come on, I didn’t do anything! I just know you’re going to freak out about it. You know what... Quinn?” “Yes, sir?” the home system responded. “Would you mind helping Asteri cut the vegetables?” “So now you ask for my assistance?” Fletcher shook his head and rubbed his temples. “Oh, hello Quinn! What’s this all about?” Asteri grinned. It wasn’t often that Quinn emoted clearly, and that was if they emoted at all. “Nothing much,” Quinn hummed as they extended a thin, segmented arm with three short fingers from a hatch in the wall to take the knife from Asteri. Another arm came out to hold a cabbage in place. “This conundrum he’s called you about has been troubling him for weeks, and he’s given me nothing but lip when I offer advice.” “Quinn, I’m sorry, but you giving romantic advice makes about as much sense as Dad wanting another cat.” For a moment, everything fell silent. Fletcher realized what he’d said and bit his tongue, prickling with static, holding still as Quinn began a rhythmical chopping and radiated an infuriating aura of satisfaction. “Romantic advice?” Asteri almost whispered. Fletcher looked over his shoulder at Amanda, hoping that she would kick in as Asteri’s anchor, but she stared back at him with lips parted in awe. “See,” Fletcher gave a shaky laugh, “this is what I was worried about. You probably would have dropped that knife straight through your foot.” Asteri stepped closer to Fletcher, taking his shoulders in her hands and looking him dead in the visor. “Are you having feelings for Darwin?” Fletcher reeled, his whole body tensing as he choked out, “What?” “Oh my god...” Amanda gasped, a light going on in her eyes, “You haven’t slept with anyone in months, you’ve been acting weird even longer than that, and every time we’ve seen Darwin lately, he talks about how distant you’ve gotten, almost like you’ve been avoiding him. Two weeks ago you completely fall off the face of the Earth, and now that we finally hear from you again you’re all messed up about something... that needs romantic advice.” He looked back at Amanda again. Her dark eyes dared him to say she was wrong. “Guys...” his voice cracked. He had to think for a while before he spoke again. “This isn’t how I planned on telling you, but ‒ okay, you know how much Darwin means to me, and you know I wouldn’t ever want to cheapen our relationship! I’ve been thinking about it for a long time, and I... I just really need your help.” The next thing Fletcher knew, he was between two crushing hugs. “Come on,” he warbled to no effect, “I thought you might be mad... I just want some impartial advice from the only people who know the ins and outs of our situation!” “What?” Amanda laughed, her forehead pressed between his shoulder blades, “We can’t give you impartial advice!” “We love you, we’re as partial as it gets! And Darwin!” Asteri beamed, “Oh my god, this is perfect! Why would we be mad?” “W-why is this perfect?” Fletcher spluttered. Asteri backed away first, though she still held on to his shoulders. “You’re made for each other! You’ve been two parts of a matching set since you were kids!” “You nerds make each other so happy, I just never imagined you’d want anything romantic!” Fletcher let out something almost like a laugh. “Me neither. When I first thought I might feel this way, it seemed like I didn’t have a chance. I... I was expecting you guys to at least be confused, if anything, not excited!” “It’s definitely a surprise, but it makes perfect sense to me! Sit down, man, tell us about it!” Amanda dragged him back and pushed him onto one of the stools at the island, sitting down next to him. He rubbed his hands over his face and split into a smile. “This is so embarrassing. I don’t know how it happened, whether this was building up and I didn’t notice or if I woke up one day and realized, but...” he laughed a strange, defeated laugh, “here I am!” “How long have you known?” Asteri asked, thumbing through the drawers for another knife. “I don’t know. I really... can’t tell? I’ve always loved him. I never feel like I need to act when I’m with him, we’ve practically lived together for years, we know everything there is to know about each other. I didn’t think there was anything else left, he’s a part of me, but one day ‒ ” Fletcher gestured in a crazy combination of energy and exhaustion, slumping into his barstool so that he hung precariously over the edge. He rolled his head onto his shoulder and looked over toward Amanda. “I was scared at first that something was wrong with me.” “What d’you mean?” “Like, it doesn’t make sense that after all this time I’m just feeling this now. I was worried that some wires had crossed and it was just sexual, some sort of glitch. That’s why I started avoiding him. I mean, it’s not like I hadn’t thought about it before ‒ hell, we’ve talked about it before! But there was something in that moment that I couldn’t really appreciate at the time, mostly because I was freaking out about the whole thing. We were at his place, and I woke up in his bed because we’d fallen asleep while watching videos the night before, and when I saw him... listen, you guys know me. I love where I live, I love my family, but looking back on it now, I had never felt so at home in my entire life as I did in that moment.” Asteri had stopped chopping half way through a carrot to clasp her hands to her chest, eyes shining. “If you didn’t even realize it then, what happened? How did you figure it out?” “...Don’t laugh, but I was in our repair room. Quinn was running detailed diagnostics and Mom came up to see what I was doing. I was almost too embarrassed to tell her. Since I thought it was just physical and everything else was panic, I didn’t want her to think I was feeling something shallow for Darwin. When she finally got me to crack, we ended up talking for hours. She wasn’t trying to convince me to do anything, she talked to me about what it was like when she fell in love with Dad and tried to help me work through everything and really think about what I was feeling instead of dismissing it as an error. The diagnostic came up clean.” “Leave it to Fletcher to assume falling in love is an illness,” Amanda chuckled. The hybrid rolled his eyeforms and shook his head. “This has probably been a long time coming. Maybe even since we realized that the venom had never properly merged with Mom’s OS.” “What does that have to do with anything? I hadn’t even been born then,” Amanda said, picking at the sliced vegetables as Quinn and Asteri worked. Fletcher smiled, but his visor was dark. “It wasn’t a great time to be alive. None of us knew if Mom was going to make it, and for months, everyone on Darickson’s team was totally dedicated to rewriting so much corrupt programming, it took over our lives. Dad was with her constantly, and I’d never seen him so stressed. I saw him cry once. It wasn’t just tears, either, like... sobbing. Weeping. I don’t think he knows even now that I saw him. I was a wreck too, but he was going through something different. I couldn’t believe it when he was back by her bedside a few minutes later like it was nothing, and suddenly he was trying to comfort me. Going through all that and seeing what he went through, I haven’t been the same since. That was the first time I think I understood the concept of romantic love. It’s not like I didn’t believe in it before, I just never got how deep it was.” “Are you saying you might have had feelings for Darwin for that long?” “...I kind of hope not. I’ve been with so many people since then, I’d hate to think that it was all while I was suppressing something or because I wanted to avoid it. Things just changed for me after that. I know you didn’t know me before, but hooking up with people was kinda the only thing I used to do.” “Yeah, but what’s the plan now? You’re throwing around phrases like ‘life changing’ and ‘true love.’ You actually gonna try to start something with him?” Everything about Fletcher seemed to tense up. Asteri watched him as she pulled out a frying pan. “That’s why I need your help. I have no idea how to break it to him. I really don’t want to screw things up!” “I get why you’re nervous, but I really can’t imagine anything would get between you two.” “What if it weirds him out though? If he doesn’t want to try dating, what if we can’t recover? What if I don’t move on and we can’t be friends any more?” “Hold on! There’s nothing to move on from yet, you haven’t even talked to him!” Asteri pointed out. “Besides, I’ve never seen you back down from asking someone out. You’ve gotten shot down like it was nothing, I remember turning you away myself.” Amanda cocked an eyebrow, sitting straight to hear more about this rarely referenced event. Fletcher didn’t even flinch. “That’s all different though, this isn’t about sex. When you get down to it, I only really have one reliable line, and I can’t risk using it for this.” “Wait,” Asteri narrowed her eyes, “you don’t mean...?” Fletcher nodded sagely. “What’s the line?” Amanda asked, leaning forward. “Well, I ask a person if they’ve ever slept with a robot. If they say ‘yes,’ I say, ‘You won’t believe how much better it is with an Energy Vampire.’ If they say ‘no,’ I say, ‘then you’ll never be satisfied after you’ve done it with an Energy Vampire.’” “You’re telling me that’s reliable?” “Well I don’t use it if I don’t think it’ll work, but for humans, yeah, about seven out of ten times. Eight out of ten if they’ve had a few drinks. The key is playing up the vampire thing, it checks off a lot of different kinks. Vampire alone sells it for some people, others are into teeth, some like the idea of dominating a ‒ ” “I get it!” Amanda waved her hands, “Honestly, why not use that on him? He’d probably laugh.” “But I’m not trying to sleep with him! Those are the only tactics I know, that’s the problem! This isn’t about sex. We were already going to spend our lives together, but... this is different. I never thought anyone could mean as much to me romantically as he does to me platonically. I didn’t think I’d ever settle down. I’ve only ever had a few romantic relationships, and every time, I would realize I just didn’t trust them as much as I needed to. Darwin, though... I trust him with everything!” “Listen, Fletcher, he knows that,” Amanda pointed at him with a slice of bell pepper she’d snatched from the counter, “He’s crazy about you too! When you guys aren’t around each other, you’re pretty much the only thing either of you talks about. I really don’t know how you manage to get anyone to bed like that.” “He used to be into you when you were kids, right?” Asteri asked. “That was decades ago,” Fletcher muttered, waving his hand. “We’re completely different people now.” “Yeah, that’s a good thing,” Amanda scoffed, “You sounded like you were a real brat.” Fletcher huffed. Amanda put her arm around his shoulders and brought him closer. “But seriously, what can we do for you? It sounds like you’ve given this a lot of thought on your own.” “Just... how? How do I sit him down and say, ‘Sorry I’ve been acting so weird, I just want to keep doing the same stuff we always do but now we kiss and call each other boyfriends?’” “Well, maybe a little less blunt, but that’s really all there is to it,” Asteri shrugged, oiling the frying pan. “I think you’re freaking out about it because you’re too in your own head. It’ll probably seem a lot easier once you’re with him! Like you said, you trust him. He’ll have the decency to hear you out, and even if he doesn’t feel the same way, you’ll feel better having told him.” “That’s the thing, though,” Fletcher tapped his head, “I know he doesn’t feel the same way. We’re not kids any more, and I’ve learned a lot about reading wavelengths. Sure, there are robots out there who are good at suppressing certain feelings or who are naturally resistant to Energy Vampire sensors, but Darwin is an open book to me. I’m afraid of how he’ll feel when I tell him.” “What’s the alternative though? Wait for these feelings to pass and never mention it?” Fletcher crossed his arms over his head and sank out of Amanda’s grasp, letting out a stuffy groan. “I just want it to be easy! I’m so sick of the back and forth, and I know you guys only just found out, but I need answers fast! I called you this morning because I knew I would do something stupid if you weren’t here to set me right, and I know I’m asking too much. This is just... torture.” The kitchen was quiet for a while next to the sound of the oil starting to sizzle in the pan. Fletcher kept his arms over his head, the frustration building up again and making his visor sting. Maybe he’d rather not deal with it after all. Things would be easier if they stayed as they were, and if he ever thought about Darwin that way again... about the way his smile was sunshine that warmed him from head to toe, the way he made Fletcher’s core suddenly swoop like he was in free fall whenever he saw him lately... He was so distracted that he didn’t notice the sound of a mobile communicator dialing out until it was answered by a muffled, distant, “Hello?” Fletcher jumped from his seat, looking at Asteri in disbelief. “Hi Darwin! You busy?” Fletcher launched at her without thinking, grabbing wildly, but she managed to keep her phone out of his reach. “I guess not. What are you guys up to on this wild Tuesday night?” “We’re actually just having dinner at Fletcher’s. I know this is short notice ‒ cut that out! ‒ but how fast do you think you could get here?” Fletcher swiped at her, hissing frantically through his teeth, “Stop!” “I’m actually at my folks’ for the week, so I could be there in fifteen, but, uh... are you alright?” “Yeah, everything’s fine. Fletcher’s schedule opened up out of the blue and ‒ ow!” The Energy Vampire was clinging to her now, scrabbling at her hand, but she just put it on speaker and held it out at arm’s length. “What was that?” “Sorry, I just pet S’mores the wrong way and she swiped at me. So can you come over?” “Stop this!” Fletcher snarled as quietly as he could, “Stop it, fix it!” “Well, I don’t see why not. I’m kinda just glad to hear the hermit is allowing visitors again. I’ll see you soon.” Asteri hung up and Fletcher fell to the ground. Amanda finally let go and started laughing. “What the hell are you thinking?! Call him back!” Fletcher yelled, scrambling to his feet. “And tell him what? You said you were afraid of doing something stupid, but how could you be any more stupid than wallowing in your own confusion instead of doing something about it?” “CALLING YOU GUYS WAS THE SOMETHING I WAS DOING ABOUT IT!” “We can’t talk to Darwin for you!” Asteri was smiling, but Fletcher had never seen anything more infuriating, and Amanda’s continuing laughter grated his nerves even more. “You expect me to do this NOW? I’m not ready! What is wrong with you, this is the worst thing you’ve ever done to me! I’m going up to my room, this is all your own damn fault, you’re going to have to deal with telling him that you invited him without asking me!” “No I’m not,” Asteri scoffed, gathering all the sliced vegetables on the counter onto the cutting board. Fletcher fumed, gritting his teeth. “What is that supposed to mean?” “You’re right about me not being able to make you talk to him, and maybe after all these weeks, there’s some chance that you aren’t ready. That’s fine. I can’t force you to bring it up,” Asteri picked up the cutting board and tilted it so that all the vegetables fell into the pan and began to sizzle, “But I can show you how much better you’ll feel once you’re with him. You haven’t seen each other in ages and that’s no way to deal with this! I can also make an excuse for us to leave so you can catch up in private.” Fletcher could hardly bring himself to speak, staring daggers at the back of Asteri’s blonde head while she started to stir. He finally threw his arm toward Amanda, pointing with all his might. “You!” “What?!” “I hate you the least right now! Come help me get dressed, I can’t look like this when Darwin gets here!” Amanda snorted and stood up as Fletcher stalked out to the front hall and toward the bedrooms. “This is the craziest thing you’ve ever pulled, A. If it turns out, they’d better make you Maid of Honor.” “I will throw you both out of my house and lock the door, but if you don’t help me clean up before Darwin comes in I’ll never forgive you!” “Alright, I’m coming you big baby!” Amanda sauntered after him, following his indignant shrieks through the house. It wasn’t until she caught up to him on the stairs that she noticed how light his steps were and the quivering anticipation in his eyeforms. She quietly hoped to herself that Asteri knew what she was doing.

Fletcher's been having a breakdown for a while, but now it's for real. 👍 So... I didn't know that Asteri was going to call Darwin out of the blue until I wrote it last night? I really had no idea how this story was going to end when I started it, I was worried I'd end up writing 40 pages of conversation. Also, I don't know if I've addressed this before, but Asteri has olfactory senses and is capable of processing food. She was made to be as close to a human as possible, and though she doesn't actually gain energy from eating, it all adds to the illusion. Also eating is great and delicious and she's really good at cooking.

[fly-pow-bye]

Powerpuff Girls 2016 - “Power Of Four (Parts 1-2)”

Written by: Jake Goldman, Haley Mancini

Written & Storyboarded by: Kyle Neswald, Benjamin P. Carow, Julia Vickerman, Cheyenne Curtis, Alicia Chan, Grace Craft (sic), Jaydeep Hasrajani, Leticia Abreu Silva

Directed by: Nick Jennings, Bob Boyle

The first ratings stunt special! Might not be the only one.

(I know, I promised one review. I'll just say I really should have learned my lesson with the hour long DuckTales episode. Parts 3-5 will be up tomorrow.)

Before we start, some explanation about how I split this review up: While this episode aired as a 1.25 hour special in the US, this episode will air in at least one other country as five separate episodes, all with the word Bliss in the title. Cartoon Network's app has it both ways, just in case you want your pain piece-meal. Or is it pain? Let's just get this "bliss" over with.

Part 1 - Find Your Bliss

Written & Storyboarded by: Alicia Chan, Grace Kraft

The special starts with Blossom and Buttercup accusing Bubbles of breaking an award and melting a Candle Man action figure, respectively. Bubbles says it's not her, it's Bliss, a teenager who can't control her emotions!

Blossom and Buttercup don't believe her, because, as a montage shows, she has a habit with making up imaginary friends. But there's no time to worry about Bubbles breaking random things thanks to her "imagination", they got a Space Tow Truck movie to go to! Basically, the writers think 6 year old girls would be into Star Trek. Before they can do that, the Professor tells them to do chores.

While Blossom and Buttercup are able to finish their chores easily, Bubbles can't help but be found with a bunch of broken plates. This time, she blames Bliss's elephant friend, named, according to the captions, Mee! Yes, that will turn into several "Who's On First?" gags, none of which are particularly bad. After a little "pow-wow", Blossom and Buttercup decide to do some drastic measures.

See, as this reboot has proven time and time again, the Powerpuff Girls can easily be stopped by tying them up like Penelope Pitstop. Even the Powerpuff Girls knew this, as all we needed to keep someone who can fly and lift buildings full of people at the same time from causing trouble is a tiny hand truck and some green ribbons. Not the silliest thing that stopped them, by a long shot.

Blossom runs out of popcorn immediately before the movie, and the Professor tries to use his new invention: a pen that could fire lasers, immobilize people, scratch your back, and maybe write! After accidently immobilizing a few kids in the audience, he realizes it's stuck on the immobilization option, and decides to just get some popcorn. This will be important later. Mostly the pen, though the popcorn does lead to a smirk-worthy joke.

Earth Plow, an old-time radio character that the Professor used to like that is somehow real, bursts through the screen, and because this is a 3D movie, we get the obvious joke. Of course, Earth Plow is not too happy about other vehicles that are not of this Earth, and wants to show off that he's still got it by doing a Mark Twain impression. He also has a problem with getting criticized, as he starts attacking with his lasers as soon as everyone starts booing. The Powerpuff Girls intervene, but will they prevail?

Not really, Blossom and Buttercup just can't seem to handle this guy, as he almost instantly traps them with a claw. What's worse is that Bubbles is still stuck on that hand truck and green ribbon of doom. Clearly, someone else has to appear out of nowhere and help them, and that's not something unique to this special. As Earth Plow attempts to run Bubbles over while she yells for Bliss, we get a flash of light, and we finally get the reveal everyone's been waiting for.

Well, that's a slight lie considering a certain Cartoon Network division jumping the gun, but we'll just keep it to ourselves.

It’s Bliss! She has blue hair, because natural hair colors are not cool enough! She has long legs, and yet she essentially has the same body design as her 10-years-younger sisters! And she’s totally not an overpowered fan-character, because just this flash of light was able to blow a villain that easily took care of two Powerpuff Girls out of the theater. Okay, that’s a bad example. I have a feeling this special is going to be full of them.

The Professor comes back with his trashcan full of popcorn that he was, a result of said smirk-worthy popcorn joke, and he finds Bliss. The first thing he does when he finds this new Powerpuff Girl? He calls her "Blisstina", tells her sorry, and zaps her with the immobilization pen. I'll admit, this was a legitimately shocking scene, and a great ending for this part.

By reboot standards, this was a great opening, and it actually intrigued me for future parts. That's something I didn't expect from watching more than 40 episodes of this show, and certainly not something I expected when I watched the initial promos. Where did this Powerpuff Girl come from? What are her special powers? Why did the Professor decide to immobilize her daughter the first time he saw her for years?

All of this will be answered, and I'll say this: if you are thinking this quality is throughout this entire special, this must be your first episode.

Part 2 - Bliss Reminiscence

Written & Storyboarded by: Kyle Neswald, Benjamin P. Carow

It turns out, the Professor put her in a stasis bubble, protecting her from the rest of the world, and protecting the rest of the world from her. This part is all about Bliss's origin story, as told by three different people, including herself. We start with the Professor, and from the first sentence, we can tell that they’re not going to pay any respect to the original. It all started ten years ago...

Envious of "bitter"-never-before-mentioned-"rival" Professor Neutronium’s perfect little boy, who looks like Astro Boy and apparently saves Tokyo on a regular basis, he wanted to make the perfect little girl. So instead of wanting to make the world a better place and/or wanting to have a family, Professor Utonium made the Powerpuff Girls out of envy. Is this the Professor, or Dick Hardly from the original's Knock it Off?

Other than that, it is the all familiar story, complete with animation similar to the original's opening: the Professor mixes together sugar, spice, and everything nice, and somehow manages to knock into a vial of Chemical...W? That does explain why she seems to have powers the Powerpuff Girls don't have, besides "we gotta make her special", but we’re supposed to believe he messed up twice? It gets even worse. Not only did he bumble twice...

...he bumbled 22 other times with 22 other chemicals! This scene raises far too many questions that, unlike previously, will never be answered, as I don’t think they thought further than "Chemical X? Whatever happened to Chemical A through W? Wakka wakka!" There's a slight implication that it might have made at least one monster, but that's all we get.

We also learn that her name isn't just Bliss, but Blisstina Franchesca Francis Mariam Alicia Utonium. At least it's not Blisstina Powerpuff. The father of the year that he is, he even tells the girls we're familar with that Blisstina was his favorite little girl. Buttercup calls him out on this, and he just immediately denies it. Not funny.

Her powers began to evolve, as she starts teleporting around the room. Is this her unique power? Not really, this is just one of her normal powers. It's because she's made of Chemical W, you see. It's not just because "we got to make her special!" That's not the only power she gets, either.

Even as a preschooler, even in the original they're all born preschoolers, roll with it, she can't control her emotions. Literally! Whenever she feels a strong emotion, any of them, she causes a large blue explosion that destroys the house. It all ends with Bliss getting fustrated over not having any milk for her cereal, and causing the whole house to explode. When the Professor woke up, she was gone, and he assumed death. For those in the know, they never mention Bunny. Are you really that surprised?

After the Professor leaves for a reward for "best ham" after promising never to leave Bliss, father of the year, Bliss suddenly wakes up from her immobilization. This stasis bubble being able to prevent her from teleporting, She tells her side of the story, starting with the Professor creating her before the Powerpuff Girls immediately stop her. Bliss actually left the Professor while he was knocked out. She goes to a island because, despite being so powerful, she causes problems!

Specifically, she goes to Bird Poop Island. It's here that she meets Mee, her magical pet friend that will surprisingly have more of a reason to exist other than "we got to make her special!" Even when he demonstrated her ability to self-destruct, Mee didn't care. After 10 years, she finally got homesick, decided to teleport back to her old home, and she found Bubbles and started her "pretend I'm your imaginary friend" game.

As Bliss begs to be let go, it's Reboot Jojo's has to make his appearance in this special, as he posed as the "ham award" giver for the Professor to leave the room. Unfortunately, he is the "ham". No, not really, Jojo, not even if you make this face for no reason:

Sweet dreams, kids.

He decides to tell his side of the story, starting with the time he pushed the Professor right into the chemicals. Actually, they never even get to this, as the Powerpuff Girls immediately tell him to skip to his friendship with Bliss. Judging by this and the extended opening, I’m not convinced they’re even aware of that plot point. Now, I know this is supposed to be a reboot...

...though I'm not convinced the writers know this, but it's one of the biggest aspects that made Mojo Jojo significant as an arch-villain. It's a part that seperates him from being just a silly monkey with a silly hat; he was involved in their creation. To have it pushed aside is just...a stab in the heart.

The silly monkey explains that Bliss was his best friend when he was still an ordinary baby monkey. When Bliss went bye-bye, he was so sad. The end. You know, I would have accepted that the Professor actually bumbled with the Chemical W, and that he missed Bliss so much that he intentionally bumped the Professor when he was mixing the Chemical X. That would have been an okay retcon. Instead, we got...

...that. Reboot Jojo uses this backstory as a reason for Bliss to join him. He hits the lever, accidently opening the garage door. Finally, a decent joke, and it took them this long. He then hits the other lever, freeing Bliss.

The Powerpuff Girls and Jojo try to convince her at the same time, and Bliss feels that's she's about to explode again. She uses her telekinesis for the first time to flip back the lever to use the bubble to protect the house from a huge explosion that makes her disappear again. They don't cry this time, as if they knew she didn't actually die.

To make a long story short, she didn't. She wants to start this family thing, and maybe this will help her control her powers. The part ends with her accidently making the house explode again. Oops.

There wasn't a lot to like about this part besides the garage door gag. While the last part ended with a great twist, the twists and retcons they put with this one just feel like bad jokes at worst, and misguided at best. I can't even respect that this is the first time they even mentioned Chemical X. If there's any good news, it's all uphill from here. A very, very slight one.

See you tomorrow for parts 3 through 5, and my final rating!

← Bridezilla ☆ Power of Four (Part 3-5) →

[sarapii-peachy]

Paparazzi / Admit One

Pairing: Leo, Ravi/Reader (separated per character)

Request: [anon] falling for a girl despite the scandal it would cause

Word Count: 1,635

Notes: First request, whoo! Starting off strong and tackling both a Leo and Ravi scenario. I don’t really write VIXX as musical artists (if that makes any sense, like I tend to write them in different genres) so this was a little out of my comfort zone, but I think it went well! This is what this blog is for anyway, practice, so thank you for that ^^ It was a bit shorter than I would have liked, but I hope you still enjoy it, anon! For other readers, please don’t be afraid to request away!

// T A E K W O O N ☀

The air was humid and heavy. The kind of summer heat that suffocated your lungs and stuck your hair to your neck in a sticky mess. She wished for a cool breeze, anything to soothe her burning skin as she fanned herself impatiently with the now crumpled university pamphlet in her hand.

She was on her way home from orientation, enrolled in a prestigious liberal arts school in the heart of Seoul just a few months prior. There was a certain allure about the country, the creative aesthetic that drew her to studying here. Trading her hometown on the other side of the world for the far east. Towering buildings and glittering skylines, beautiful oceans, and rolling plains, even if she changed her mind and decided to move out of the bustling metropolis, she wouldn’t have a problem finding another home here.

Meeting others had been a challenge since the move. A foreigner like her stood out in a nation of raven hair, porcelain skin, and slim figures. She was tall with fawn locks and eyes the color of water, rich golden bronze skin. Piercing side glances were a feeling she was used to. Out of disgust or curiosity, she had no idea.

An audible sigh escapes her lips as she’s greeted with a refreshing wave of air conditioning, stepping into a coffee shop just a short walk away from the train station. Several others seem to have a similar idea of cooling down with a cold drink and she takes her place in line.

Her number is called the same time as the barista finishes up another order. Scrolling through the news of her home country when she collides into a firm body and sends her drink tumbling to the floor.

Iced coffee catches the young man’s white t-shirt and he hisses through his teeth. He instinctively steadies her by the crook of her forearm and she doesn’t miss how hot his hand feels on her skin. Must be the summer heat.

She makes the mistake of looking up.

Breathtaking. Lean and tall, taller than her by a full head and that alone is enough to make her swoon. Tousled onyx hair and piercing eyes blown wide in surprise.

And then she sees the coffee stains on his clothes and her cheeks burn crimson.

“I’m s-so sorry,” she stammers out. She can hear unkind murmurs left and right and she wants to melt into a puddle right there.

Don’t they teach manners where she’s from?

She wasn’t even looking.

Stupid foreigner.

She moves to grab some napkins from the countertop but he stops her with another gentle touch to her arm.

“You spilled yours too,” he smiles, his voice breathy and kind. She doesn’t even notice until he motions with his gaze.

Her white shoes, now splashed orange, are now sticking to the floor with her fluttering movements.

“Who even gets a smoothie from a coffee shop?” he teases. Her unease disappears and she can’t help but laugh along with him.

**

He buys her a new drink and they take a window seat nestled in the back of the shop. He tells her his name is Taekwoon and his accent when he tries to pronounce hers makes her smile so wide that her cheeks ache.

She notices the stares rather quickly, rather indiscreet looks cast over shoulders of customers towards them. She feels her mood sour as she picks up more impolite whispers. Of course she would stand out, even more so with such an exceptionally attractive young man sitting in front of her.

He notices her discomfort. “We can go somewhere else if you like?” he offers. She wants nothing more than to spend more time with this new acquaintance but that familiar sinking feeling in her stomach sets in and she shakes her head. “It’s alright, I should head home anyway.” she says. His eyes fall slightly in disappointment.

“When can I see you again?” he asks her.

The question pulls the corners of her lips into a smile. “Sorry?”

“Next weekend. I’ll meet you here, okay?”

He pulls her hand in his and pens down a phone number on the back of a napkin.

(“I’ll write it here in case you spill anything again.”)

**

Their dates slowly progress from coffee outings once he finds out she doesn’t take caffeine well in that form. (“No wonder you ordered a smoothie.”) It’s their seventh night out together, an evening dinner at one of her favorite restaurants when she notices his phone light up on the tabletop. He moves to click it off before his notifications are illuminated but she doesn’t miss the plethora of messages.

She doesn’t think anything of it until out of the corner of her eye, she sees someone gesture in their direction, followed by the muffled snap of a cell phone shutter. Taekwoon pays no mind and looks up from his meal to ask her about dessert when their gazes lock and everything falls into place.

She remembers seeing that face somewhere before, buried within her subconscious. An early morning segment on the news of a music group coming back with a new album, the main vocalist’s serenade filling her kitchen as she fixed breakfast.

Leo, she remembers. She nearly drops her fork.

“This is..this is such a bad idea…” she murmurs to no one in particular.

He stops chewing. “What did you say, sweetheart?”

That does nothing to stop her pulse from skyrocketing at the fact that she’s currently dining with a pop star.

“I don’t think we should do this anymore..” she says. He definitely heard that.

“What?”

She bites her lip but the words still tumble out.

“This,” she gestures to the two of them, “a-and me. Someone like you shouldn’t be with me. I’m too different, I draw attention. You deserve someone more..” her words trail off and she hides her face. She feels that same gentle touch on her arm.

“Don’t you think I went into this business for attention? I’m used to it.” he says behind a kind smile. She’s about to interject but he continues. “And you’re not just a publicity stunt, you’re so much more than that.”

Again, he takes her hand in his like that blistering hot day not so long ago. “It’s not a crime.” he whispers and the camera shutters fire off like bullets, “Let them see,”

// ☽ W O N SH I K

Cozy mornings like this is what she loved about Sundays. The traffic had been light to the bookstore despite the rain, but that did little to spoil her mood. Her paycheck had come in the week prior and she was dead set on treating herself to some new reads, thank you very much.

The Classics section was one of her favorites, if she had to choose of course. With the mint chamomile tea she had sipped with breakfast this morning having cleared her mind, she begins her process of thumbing through pages and covers for a taste.

Another figure joins her just a few shelves down. Sporting silver hair and a button down plaid shirt paired with dark jeans, a Brontë book in hand. She studies him as he studies his novel, his fingers ghosting over the text.

“Jane Eyre? I haven’t seen many people here pick that up.”

He looks up from his page and flashes her a grin. “Yeah, I have this soft spot for romance novels.”

“The English edition you’re reading, can you understand it?”

“No,” he laughs, “but I’m learning. I’ve heard there’s some gothic elements and I wanted to give it a shot.”

“If that’s what you’re reading it for, I wouldn’t recommend that one,” she says. And just like that, she’s bonding with a complete stranger over literary devices. “Try this,” she hands him a copy of Frankenstein and mentally thanks her high school English teacher for those boring lectures on 19th century literature. More mystery and rustic for obvious reasons.

He lets out a low whistle and skims the excerpt on the back.

“I think I’ll really enjoy this, thank you.”

She mirrors his smile and goes back to the shelf in front of her before there’s a tap on her shoulder.

“Have you read this?” he asks. It’s a hefty hardcover. War & Peace.

She chuckles. “I can’t say that I have.” She flips through it and finds something wedged between the pages. A phone number scrawled on notebook paper.

“And you can use that as a bookmark.”

**

Wonshik takes her to record stores and music concerts, fitting places for two intellectual minds as he liked to call it. She learns that he has a thing for music and composing, something she hadn’t expected from his cool exterior.

They go to the museum one rainy afternoon. She likes seeing him babble with childlike excitement about the Roman and Greek exhibits, staying respectfully quiet while she studies romantic paintings.

He insists on paying for their lunch at the museum restaurant on the first floor despite how expensive it is. They giggle over a shared meal of overpriced sandwiches and bottled juice.

**

She finds out about his musical career that weekend. After the museum, he had spent quite a bit of time jotting down in a notebook, to which her quick eyes had spotted lyrics and sketches.

She had gotten up to leave then, worried about his future as an artist and the scandal it would cause, how a relationship would hinder his creativity with distractions.

“I don’t want you to feel like you’re the problem. You’re the complete opposite of that,” he says after her and stops her in the doorway, “You’re my muse. You inspire me.”

Her blood roars in her ears. “Still,” she whispers, “If your company finds out..”

He shakes his head with a chuckle. “Then they’ll only know what their music came from.”

[outpostzeta]

Segment from: Battle of Midnight - Starfleet Academy

Commander T'Sala

By the time they were passing the ENG lecture hall, Mrs Lisa Whitley had had -enough-. "Michael Murphy Whitley you are going to get on that shuttle and come -home-. You can NOT die out here in this gawd blessed MESS!! So help me if I have to---- LOOK OUT!" There was an odd sound and a flash of light, this exploded into a din that entirely took over Whit's senses. He felt hands on his back push him foward before he ate pavement and any light at all went black for a moment. When he came too there is only a hand poking out of the rubble behind him with a ring he's known since he was in infant on her left finger.

LTJG Michael Whitley

Groaning quietly as he raises a hand to his head, Whit would blink a couple times, trying to get those damn black spots to fuck off. Somewhat righting himself, Whit would look around, blinking more as the sudden shift screws his vision over more. His eyes would narrow in on the hand and, by extension, the ring. Frozen for an instant, the engineer would suddenly jump up, running over and digging futilely at the pile of concrete and metal. "Nononono mom mom mom MOM!!!" A few minutes later, Whitley would still be there, digging with bloody hands through the seemingly insurmountable wall of rock.

Commander T'Sala

When he finally gets the last part of concrete off her, it pulls a wicked metal chunk out of her chest and balances precariously aside. Mom spazums and reaches up to him, blood pouring from her mouth and chest. "W--hit?" her eyes are fulls of tears. Around them things are abuzz as others are pulled from the rubble by the emergancy teams calling for them to move since the rest of the building was about to go.

LTJG Michael Whitley

"M-mom! C'mon, get up, we've..." He'd stop then, analyzing the wound in her chest. "Shit, puncture, wider than an inch... Through..." The man would sit there mumbling to himself, trying desperately to remember the brief amount of medical training he got. He'd try to wave over an emergency team, but they'd all be too distracted by the other casualties in the area.

Commander T'Sala

They were yelling at people to clear the area now and dust was shifting from the shaky building overhead. Lisa pulls her wedding band and engagement ring off and presses it into his hand, closing it around them before placing a hand gently on the side of his face. "L-live." she says with a stream of blood from her lips and her hand falls away... as the light fades from her eyes, forever locked on his face. Letting that be the last thing she sees before passing on.(

LTJG Michael Whitley

Whit would sit there for a long moment, shock written plainly across his face as he stares between the rings and the face of his mother. "M-mom? Mom... No... Please..." Whit would crawl forward a bit, cradling his mother's body. Uncaring of blood or dirt, the cadet would remain there, either unaware or uncaring of the evac crews in the area.

Commander T'Sala

Lisa was still pinned by the legs under something unbelievably large. Her body doesn't even move much. But the shift does loosen the piece he had somehow moved a moment ago. It starts to lean towards him. "Whit!" A voice cuts through the din and catches the shifting piece. It is one normally calm and cool, but sometimes chiding. "Whit... we -have- to move. The building is about to fall." T'Sala kneels down and grabs his face. "Whit. Stand up or her death will be in vein if you are killed too."

LTJG Michael Whitley

Blank eyes would stare back at the instructor, uncomprehending. "Professor... My mom. She needs help." The man would seem either unable to process, or flat out refusing to admit that his mother was, in fact, dead in his arms.

Commander T'Sala

T'Sala checks up as more pieces of the building start to fall, they had 90 seconds at best. Still, for his sanity she checks the pulse. "She is gone, Whit. We -need- to -more-." she urges, pulling his arm in one last warning to move on is own.

LTJG Michael Whitley

"I... But... My mom...." The man would look down at her again, checking her pulse for his own sake. "Mom..." Then the man's eyes would glaze over, and he'd slump forward, unconscious.

Commander T'Sala (Laura)

Whit feels himself caught before everything goes dark. --- Hours later --- He had overhead things in his fitful sleep of the next couple of hours. “You! Commander! You’ve coordinated defense through coms before, correct?” he said, pointing at T’Sala’s nose. “You you can handle several coms and instructions at once and keep the straight?” “Yes, Sir.” She nodded as he thrust an earpiece at her. “Go into my office and be my eyes and ears from the Acadmey to Command and Spacedock. I will tell you how to respond if necessary. I will be here coordinating the grounds and everything else. Just keep us all in contact.”

--------------------

Whitley was set down in the office on one of the benches. A little girl crawled into his lap and hugged him. "He has blood on him. He is sad...."

---------------------

<C> "This is Jupiter station they're warping in some kind of massive infrastructure.” Even from the blurry image, it had a very distinctive appearance.

“Admiral… we may have a situation.” she reported calmly. “You should see this with your own eyes.”

“Commander?” Kyle asked in such a tone that it caused her to turn, seeing every pair of eyes on either her or the screen. “Commander… please, be honest with us. Is that a planet killer?”

T’Sala paused for only a moment before just offering a single nod and a single phrase. “Most likely.”

--------------------------

What eventually woke him was not the din.... but as a dead quiet started to fall over the Acadmey and the sun started peeking up over the bay, cutting through the mist. He was indeed in an office with a little girl sleeping next to him. T'Sala moved over beside him and just... sat. As he stirred she looks over.

LTJG Michael Whitley

Letting out another low groan as he opens his eyes, shutting them immediately after because of the light, Whit would fumble his way back to consciousness. Actually opening his eyes and getting a proper look at his surroundings, Whit would fix his gaze on T'Sala. "Professor? Wha... What happened?" Whit would then freeze still as his memories start flooding back. "The call... The hallway... My mom... MY MOM!" Whit would snap his gaze back to the commander. "Professor, my mom, she... What happened?"

Commander T'Sala

"I am not a Pro--" T'Sala stops short as he powers on and catches herself being pedantic and the worst time. She turns to face him on the bench and just reaches out and puts a hand on his shoulder. In the silent gaze and the blood on his uniform it is apparent that he recalled everything correctly. His pockets feel odd from the wedding rings against his thigh.

LTJG Michael Whitley

Letting out something that sounded like a strangled cough, Whit would close his eyes for a long moment, hand reaching into his pocket for the rings. Running a thumb over them, Whit would remain silent for a minute or two. "My family doesn't know, do they?"

Commander T'Sala

T'Sala stands and grabs a cloth and some water for him to clean the blood off and sits back down. "No, the battle only just finished. Coms are still emergency only."

LTJG Michael Whitley

"Right, communication lockdown... Standard protocol for large scale. Non-essential systems default to low-power settings, if not full deactivation on a case by case basis." Whit would continue mumbling about standards and protocol for a moment, before looking up again. "When's the lockdown supposed to end?"

Commander T'Sala

"We lost a 10th of our fleet. It will be a long while, Whit." T'Sala answers gently.

LTJG Michael Whitley

"Right... Allocation of force and all that..." Whit would trail off, obviously searching for something, anything else to focus on.

Commander T'Sala

T'Sala is quiet for a long moment and looks around before eyes falling on his state. "We need to get you cleaned up and changed." She stands before gently ordering. "Unzip your jacket."

LTJG Michael Whitley

Complying without a word, Whit would remove his jacket, throwing it across a chair. Taking care to follow regulation, the cadet would unclip his comm-badge from his jacket, placing it on his undershirt instead.

Commander T'Sala

T'Sala gestures for him to look at the painting on the wall. "Im going to clean the cuts on your face. I'm worried about you going into shock; can you name me some of the Starfleet Oaths that we take?" she asks, starting with cleaning gauze to get the blood off of his face, which is her main concern.

LTJG Michael Whitley

Almost mechanically, Whit would start reciting off the keypoints of the Federation oath of enlistment. "To uphold the ideals and, by extension, follow the laws of the Federation. To seek out new life. To keep to the principle of non-interference. To uphold the truth, whether it be personal, scientific, or historical."

Commander T'Sala

She works quickly, remembering how blood all over her after own loss would effect her for years to come. She silently hoped she could get it off him before it was forever imprinted in his mind. She starts on his hands, trying to work around the rings and on the sly clean them as much as possible. Again, she hurries to get it all off him him. Halfway through she realizes that a good portion of the blood is his own.

"Whit. Im going to set these -right- beside you, but I need to fix your hands. Look at me. You mention the oath of truth." Her eyes meet his a moment before going back to his hands, gently moving the rings aside and working on his hands. "Me, not your hands." she chides if his eyes wander. "Starfleet Medical need help with triage. I need your help but you need to be honest with yourself. I either need you to watch Lami here, or you can work with me in the center. But the center will be bloody and be gruesome, but it is work and will keep your mind busy. Where do you think is best for you right now? Calm or in the busy but bloody?"

LTJG Michael Whitley

Summoning up some degree of his usual attitude, the cadet would flash a half-hearted grin, "C'mon, professor. I'm trying to be an engineer, yeah? Don't we work best after shit's hit the fan? I'll go wherever you need me."

Commander T'Sala

"I need you in A or B. Where will be best for you. Personal Truth." she says, finishing up with his hands.

LTJG Michael Whitley

"I'll go to the center. I'd rather be helping people than being useless..." I'd glance around, eyes settling on the passed out kid. "So uh, professor... Who's the kid?"

Commander T'Sala

"I am till not a professor, I do not have my doctorates yet." she says. "She's the child of the Tactical department head. I've been staying with them. There are a lot of misplaced children right now. Helping watch them is far from useless."

LTJG Michael Whitley

"Still. I'd rather be actively saving lives than playing glorified babysitter, if it's all the same to you, professor." The ghost of a grin would widen a bit as he says the title.

Commander T'Sala

T'Sala nods, scrutinizing him. "Very well." And with that... they make their way to starfleet medical where hours pass until sunset. Artist: HunnBunn

[reatrea]

Segment from: Battle of Midnight - Starfleet Academy

Commander T'Sala

By the time they were passing the ENG lecture hall, Mrs Lisa Whitley had had -enough-. "Michael Murphy Whitley you are going to get on that shuttle and come -home-. You can NOT die out here in this gawd blessed MESS!! So help me if I have to---- LOOK OUT!" There was an odd sound and a flash of light, this exploded into a din that entirely took over Whit's senses. He felt hands on his back push him foward before he ate pavement and any light at all went black for a moment. When he came too there is only a hand poking out of the rubble behind him with a ring he's known since he was in infant on her left finger.

LTJG Michael Whitley

Groaning quietly as he raises a hand to his head, Whit would blink a couple times, trying to get those damn black spots to fuck off. Somewhat righting himself, Whit would look around, blinking more as the sudden shift screws his vision over more. His eyes would narrow in on the hand and, by extension, the ring. Frozen for an instant, the engineer would suddenly jump up, running over and digging futilely at the pile of concrete and metal. "Nononono mom mom mom MOM!!!" A few minutes later, Whitley would still be there, digging with bloody hands through the seemingly insurmountable wall of rock.

Commander T'Sala

When he finally gets the last part of concrete off her, it pulls a wicked metal chunk out of her chest and balances precariously aside. Mom spazums and reaches up to him, blood pouring from her mouth and chest. "W--hit?" her eyes are fulls of tears. Around them things are abuzz as others are pulled from the rubble by the emergancy teams calling for them to move since the rest of the building was about to go.

LTJG Michael Whitley

"M-mom! C'mon, get up, we've..." He'd stop then, analyzing the wound in her chest. "Shit, puncture, wider than an inch... Through..." The man would sit there mumbling to himself, trying desperately to remember the brief amount of medical training he got. He'd try to wave over an emergency team, but they'd all be too distracted by the other casualties in the area.

Commander T'Sala

They were yelling at people to clear the area now and dust was shifting from the shaky building overhead. Lisa pulls her wedding band and engagement ring off and presses it into his hand, closing it around them before placing a hand gently on the side of his face. "L-live." she says with a stream of blood from her lips and her hand falls away... as the light fades from her eyes, forever locked on his face. Letting that be the last thing she sees before passing on.(

LTJG Michael Whitley

Whit would sit there for a long moment, shock written plainly across his face as he stares between the rings and the face of his mother. "M-mom? Mom... No... Please..." Whit would crawl forward a bit, cradling his mother's body. Uncaring of blood or dirt, the cadet would remain there, either unaware or uncaring of the evac crews in the area.

Commander T'Sala

Lisa was still pinned by the legs under something unbelievably large. Her body doesn't even move much. But the shift does loosen the piece he had somehow moved a moment ago. It starts to lean towards him. "Whit!" A voice cuts through the din and catches the shifting piece. It is one normally calm and cool, but sometimes chiding. "Whit... we -have- to move. The building is about to fall." T'Sala kneels down and grabs his face. "Whit. Stand up or her death will be in vein if you are killed too."

LTJG Michael Whitley

Blank eyes would stare back at the instructor, uncomprehending. "Professor... My mom. She needs help." The man would seem either unable to process, or flat out refusing to admit that his mother was, in fact, dead in his arms.

Commander T'Sala

T'Sala checks up as more pieces of the building start to fall, they had 90 seconds at best. Still, for his sanity she checks the pulse. "She is gone, Whit. We -need- to -more-." she urges, pulling his arm in one last warning to move on is own.

LTJG Michael Whitley

"I... But... My mom...." The man would look down at her again, checking her pulse for his own sake. "Mom..." Then the man's eyes would glaze over, and he'd slump forward, unconscious.

Commander T'Sala (Laura)

Whit feels himself caught before everything goes dark. --- Hours later --- He had overhead things in his fitful sleep of the next couple of hours. “You! Commander! You’ve coordinated defense through coms before, correct?” he said, pointing at T’Sala’s nose. “You you can handle several coms and instructions at once and keep the straight?” “Yes, Sir.” She nodded as he thrust an earpiece at her. “Go into my office and be my eyes and ears from the Acadmey to Command and Spacedock. I will tell you how to respond if necessary. I will be here coordinating the grounds and everything else. Just keep us all in contact.”

--------------------

Whitley was set down in the office on one of the benches. A little girl crawled into his lap and hugged him. "He has blood on him. He is sad...."

---------------------

<C> "This is Jupiter station they're warping in some kind of massive infrastructure.” Even from the blurry image, it had a very distinctive appearance.

“Admiral… we may have a situation.” she reported calmly. “You should see this with your own eyes.”

“Commander?” Kyle asked in such a tone that it caused her to turn, seeing every pair of eyes on either her or the screen. “Commander… please, be honest with us. Is that a planet killer?”

T’Sala paused for only a moment before just offering a single nod and a single phrase. “Most likely.”

--------------------------

What eventually woke him was not the din.... but as a dead quiet started to fall over the Acadmey and the sun started peeking up over the bay, cutting through the mist. He was indeed in an office with a little girl sleeping next to him. T'Sala moved over beside him and just... sat. As he stirred she looks over.

LTJG Michael Whitley

Letting out another low groan as he opens his eyes, shutting them immediately after because of the light, Whit would fumble his way back to consciousness. Actually opening his eyes and getting a proper look at his surroundings, Whit would fix his gaze on T'Sala. "Professor? Wha... What happened?" Whit would then freeze still as his memories start flooding back. "The call... The hallway... My mom... MY MOM!" Whit would snap his gaze back to the commander. "Professor, my mom, she... What happened?"

Commander T'Sala

"I am not a Pro--" T'Sala stops short as he powers on and catches herself being pedantic and the worst time. She turns to face him on the bench and just reaches out and puts a hand on his shoulder. In the silent gaze and the blood on his uniform it is apparent that he recalled everything correctly. His pockets feel odd from the wedding rings against his thigh.

LTJG Michael Whitley

Letting out something that sounded like a strangled cough, Whit would close his eyes for a long moment, hand reaching into his pocket for the rings. Running a thumb over them, Whit would remain silent for a minute or two. "My family doesn't know, do they?"

Commander T'Sala

T'Sala stands and grabs a cloth and some water for him to clean the blood off and sits back down. "No, the battle only just finished. Coms are still emergency only."

LTJG Michael Whitley

"Right, communication lockdown... Standard protocol for large scale. Non-essential systems default to low-power settings, if not full deactivation on a case by case basis." Whit would continue mumbling about standards and protocol for a moment, before looking up again. "When's the lockdown supposed to end?"

Commander T'Sala

"We lost a 10th of our fleet. It will be a long while, Whit." T'Sala answers gently.

LTJG Michael Whitley

"Right... Allocation of force and all that..." Whit would trail off, obviously searching for something, anything else to focus on.

Commander T'Sala

T'Sala is quiet for a long moment and looks around before eyes falling on his state. "We need to get you cleaned up and changed." She stands before gently ordering. "Unzip your jacket."

LTJG Michael Whitley

Complying without a word, Whit would remove his jacket, throwing it across a chair. Taking care to follow regulation, the cadet would unclip his comm-badge from his jacket, placing it on his undershirt instead.

Commander T'Sala

T'Sala gestures for him to look at the painting on the wall. "Im going to clean the cuts on your face. I'm worried about you going into shock; can you name me some of the Starfleet Oaths that we take?" she asks, starting with cleaning gauze to get the blood off of his face, which is her main concern.

LTJG Michael Whitley

Almost mechanically, Whit would start reciting off the keypoints of the Federation oath of enlistment. "To uphold the ideals and, by extension, follow the laws of the Federation. To seek out new life. To keep to the principle of non-interference. To uphold the truth, whether it be personal, scientific, or historical."

Commander T'Sala

She works quickly, remembering how blood all over her after own loss would effect her for years to come. She silently hoped she could get it off him before it was forever imprinted in his mind. She starts on his hands, trying to work around the rings and on the sly clean them as much as possible. Again, she hurries to get it all off him him. Halfway through she realizes that a good portion of the blood is his own.

"Whit. Im going to set these -right- beside you, but I need to fix your hands. Look at me. You mention the oath of truth." Her eyes meet his a moment before going back to his hands, gently moving the rings aside and working on his hands. "Me, not your hands." she chides if his eyes wander. "Starfleet Medical need help with triage. I need your help but you need to be honest with yourself. I either need you to watch Lami here, or you can work with me in the center. But the center will be bloody and be gruesome, but it is work and will keep your mind busy. Where do you think is best for you right now? Calm or in the busy but bloody?"

LTJG Michael Whitley

Summoning up some degree of his usual attitude, the cadet would flash a half-hearted grin, "C'mon, professor. I'm trying to be an engineer, yeah? Don't we work best after shit's hit the fan? I'll go wherever you need me."

Commander T'Sala

"I need you in A or B. Where will be best for you. Personal Truth." she says, finishing up with his hands.

LTJG Michael Whitley

"I'll go to the center. I'd rather be helping people than being useless..." I'd glance around, eyes settling on the passed out kid. "So uh, professor... Who's the kid?"

Commander T'Sala

"I am till not a professor, I do not have my doctorates yet." she says. "She's the child of the Tactical department head. I've been staying with them. There are a lot of misplaced children right now. Helping watch them is far from useless."

LTJG Michael Whitley

"Still. I'd rather be actively saving lives than playing glorified babysitter, if it's all the same to you, professor." The ghost of a grin would widen a bit as he says the title.

Commander T'Sala

T'Sala nods, scrutinizing him. "Very well." And with that... they make their way to starfleet medical where hours pass until sunset. Artist: HunnBunn

[aureus-ignis]

When I was young, I fell in love with the Pokemon series. I loved the RBY and GSC games, I watched the anime on TV every weekend, bought the movies, played the TCG, and collected the PokeSpe manga zealously. But as the years went by, the newer Pokemon games failed to hold my interest, and I soon stopped following Pokemon entirely. Last year, the generation of Alola was announced, and after watching a few trailers, I found myself drawn to the music. The adorable Rowlet also caught my eye, and on top of that, it seemed like the story was going to be interesting. A conservation society full of nice people dressed in white that looked strangely sinister at times? Hell yesssss. So I decided to buy the game... and then I fell deeply in love. Once again I was in Pokemon heaven (or hell).

So when Mei asked me if there was any series we could cos together that'd be fun and simple to do, I suggested Gladion and Lillie, since their costumes are fairly simple (c o u g h). She agreed, and that was the beginning of it all.

I started working on stuff around mid-June this year. People who know me know that accuracy is pretty high on my list of priorities, and I was determined to get the not-very-logical hair of Lillie and Gladion as good as I possibly could. Lillie's problem, of course, was the thickness. She has two insanely fat braids that had to be made up of almost all the hair on a normal human head, yet somehow still has a thick wide mane of loose hair behind her. So I had to spend time wefting as many extra rows of fibre into the wig, and then crafting removable bases for the braids from batting and more wefts.

Testing!

Batting base WIP HAHAHA

And the final result was worth it <3 <3

Next was Gladion. When it comes to the subject of pulled back hair, I've gotten to the point where I can ONLY accept lacefront. Anything else is too fake for me. For me, cosplay has always been about portraying the characters as if they were real, no matter how zany and strange their designs may be. I wanted the hair to look almost as though it grew on me. I ripped out almost the whole front to get rid of the fringe, and sewed in longer wefts, adjusting the direction of the hair to the left so that they would comb back naturally. Then ventilating hell began

Darkness, my old friend, we meet again. ;___; My hooking skills have improved since I first started ventilating, but it's still a long, tedious process. School started before I could finish, and I had to work on everything else too...

The realization that his uncut wig looks like Mercy from Overwatch HAHAHA

But as with Lillie, the final result was worth it <3 <3 <3

With regards to his costume, I'd actually had the hoodie and pants tailored because I ran out of time. I'd wanted just the base made so I can do the rest of the details myself, but the tailor forgot and did everything for me... and ended up messing up the accuracy. It was a disappointment, so much so that after STGCC was over, and we planned to have a shoot at the end of the year... I decided to remake everything from scratch. I'm terrible at patterning, really, and Gladion's biggest problem was THE STUPID GRAVITY DEFYING HOOD. Ultimately I couldn't get it to look exactly like the original (because I didn't want extra seams and all, but it was close enough. And the second time round, all of the holes were in the correct areas HAHAHA.

I'd made his first waistpouch myself, but for some reason, despite my careful measurements, the size turned out far too large the first time. So I had to remake the whole thing a second time. The hardest part is sewing the damn thing together, because I'd had to put two layers of hard inferfacing for each piece and sometimes the needle just wouldn't. Go. Through. OTL In version 2, I had more time, so I paid more attention to getting the shape accurate. The stupid thing tapers towards the bottom and has a curved side. Even more stupid, the strap goes from FAT TO THIN TO FAT for some reason. But I succeeded!

New VS Old

Next was the Z-ring. Gladion's official art doesn't have one, but he obviously wears one in-game. I felt that it was important, because Nanu gave it to him. So I had to dig out references from the game screenshots 8D;;

This is how a lot of my prop drafts look like. ALGEBRA IS MY FRIEND.

Also crafted the Z-crystal thanks to Pythagoras' theorem 8D; I used liquid quartz to glue the clear acrylic sheet together without leaving traces.

Final result! I'm pretty happy with it =>

Before STGCC, there was one more segment that I worked really hard on. After we'd decided to do SuMo together, I thought of making a Nebby plushie for Mei to carry. Yes, Pokemon Center had already released their Nebby plush by then, but... For one, it's smaller than life-size. For another, the shape looks more like a sunflower than a starry cloud. I didn't want it to look like Lillie was just carrying a toy; I wanted to give the impression that Mei had an adorable, soft, beautiful real-life Cosmog. But how on earth would someone with very terrible patterning skills make a 3D cloud plushie that could be dyed for Nebby's distinctive gradient colouring, and still be nice and soft to hug?

The answer is, I struggled.

Set up a spraying booth to airbrush the gradient on. Due to a problem with shipping, I couldn't get my compressor in time, so I ended up having to splurge on compressed air cans, which were horrendously expensive oTL.

BUT LOOK AT THE FINAL RESULT. LOOK AT HIM. <3 <3 <3

Let it also be known that I tested to make sure he could fit inside Mei's bag the moment I finished the base HAHAHAHAHAHAHA-----

So that was part 1 of Project Alola! We went to STGCC together and met lots of Pokemon fans (quite a lot of people were very happy to see Nebby, in particular XD), and Laki offered to come shoot with us as Moon since she already had the costume. We then planned to have our shoot at the end of the year during my holidays.

As mentioned, I'd already planned to remake my entire costume and waistpouch, but aside from that... I had the mad idea that I wanted to make a Silvally prop. It's something I'd considered for STGCC too, but I was really short on time then, and Mei told me to FINISH EVERYTHING ELSE FIRST THEN DO IT IF YOU HAVE TIME.

The problem is... Silvally's official size in the Pokedex is 2.4m. That's 80cm taller than myself. )o) Sure, I could scale him down, make a tiny lap plushie like all the other cosplayers, but what would be the point? Although I'd never cosplayed from the Pokemon series before, I'd always thought that if I were to do so, I'd want to make life-size Pokemon so that it'd look like I actually have a Pokemon partner, and not just a Pokemon toy. But I'd thought then that my projects would be starters like Pikachu or Charmander or Cyndaquil, or maybe one of the Eeveelutions. Not a giant horse-dog like Silvally ^^;;;

I had to consider the fact that my house isn't very big and I'd have barely any space to keep him. I had to consider how I'd be able to transport him, and how to construct him so that I could take him apart. I also had to consider the amount of money I'd be spending on him, because honestly, cosplay is not a cheap hobby. Materials in Singapore are especially expensive. As an unemployed student, I'd be splurging a lot if I decided to go ahead with this crazy project. When I told this to Mei during one of our dinners out, she suggested just making his head and taking halfbody shots so no one can tell that he has nobody. Like a hobby horse, except it's a hobby Silvally.

Good idea.

So when school finished, I started drafting him out, and the basic paper draft itself took like three giant sheets of patterning paper taped together HAHAHA.

The base

Honestly, even though I had an idea of how I'd make him, I wasn't completely sure if it would work. As I've said repeatedly I really, really suck at patterning. I can never seem to envision where to cut darts in a piece of EVA foam to get the shape I want, so half the time I was just taping drafting paper on and folding and taping excess parts off, then that that up for a trial-and-error pattern.

With paper mache and paper draft pattern for the mouth.

That's how large the whole thing is 8D'

Apart from the making of Silvally, I'd also spent time searching for reference pictures and sketching storyboard ideas for our shoot. I went to check out the our shoot location (Sentosa Island) a few weekends back, so that we could decide where exactly we wanted to shoot. In hindsight, there were a lot more shots I could have planned to bring out the personality of our characters more, but oh well ;w;

The shoot itself went pretty well, for the sun was quite kind to us, and hid under clouds for most of the day. Sei's working style is quite different from mine, but she was very gracious and did everything I asked of her. Sakami and Greg were wonderful helpers, and some of my best memories from the day include our hilarious videos, and the shenanigans with the Pokemon.

I've already thanked my wonderful team mates, helpers and photographer in another post, so I won't go into details here. But everyone was very kind and obliging, and listened to all my ambitious plans, allowing me to be a bossy director. I'm very, very grateful to all of them.  

So now, a bit of reflection on Silvally, and the whole project.

The patterns for Silvally weren't perfect, and I messed up a lot. The final result was definitely far from what I had hoped for. Most noticeably, the top of the head is bumpy holey because I ran out of gesso to fill and sand. But the proportions also came out a bit off, and the neck piece patterning failed on the right side. But when I finished painting... I felt very, very happy. I'd gotten some small bouts of joy when I finished each stage of the crafting process, when I looked at what I'd done, but looking at the final product was just.... incredible. It wasn't as beautiful as it could have been, and I still regret all the imperfections that are so obvious to my eyes, but....I was so excited. I couldn't wait for the shoot.

Perhaps it was partly because I hadn't really been sure if I'd be able to make things work, so the success tastes that much sweeter. Some of my friends had told me I was crazy. I kept asking myself if I were crazy. All that money and time and pain sunk into a project that I'm not even getting paid for, with a success rate that seemed really low. My mom telling me straight out that I was 'too ambitious'. Was it worth it? Would it have been better to make a smaller, much more perfect prop, than an actual sized, flawed one, with half the effort and money? Cosplay is already an indulgence, but had I crossed the line into foolish waste zone?

When I looked at my completed Silvally, the answer didn't hit me like Mjolnir. I still don't know if it was the right thing to do, or if I was an irresponsible child wasting the money that could have gone into feeding me better food.

But it made me happy. So happy. I nearly cried as I stood there for a few minutes staring at him. He was truly a labour of love. I spent hours spraying gesso and paint because I love Silvally. I spent days sanding until my arms want to fall off and my eyes are dying from dust because I love Gladion. I spent hours cortorted in weird positions with a paintbrush trying desperately to stay within the pencil lines, sweat dripping into my eyes, because I love this art. Sure, the process itself was often painful; I suffered multiple burns from hot glue and a hot iron and cut my fingers open way too many times. I still hate hand-sanding with a burning passion because it's tiring as hell and I get blisters on my oversensitive skin. But the thought that all of the suffering helps to build the final piece of art that I envision makes me grit my teeth and soldier on.

Cosplay is my art, something that I would put 500% of me into. Whether the crafting of insanely large props, or the preparations for the shoot, or the styling of my entire team's wigs, or the endless sewing adventures on plushies.

Because I love it.

[placetobenation]

SmackDown on Fox Episode #5 SmackDown Episode # 1,054 Buffalo, NY – Keybank Arena 11/1/19 I have returned once again with another installment of the SmackDown Report after having to miss last week due to being in the hospital, thankfully I didn’t miss anything special during last week’s SmackDown that would’ve been worth writing about, unlike tonight. At least WWE (or more appropriately the plane that the guys over in Saudi Arabia were supposed to take) did throw me a bone and give me a really fun episode of SmackDown to review for my return to the SmackDown Report. The big non-kayfabe story hanging over this episode of SmackDown was that the majority of superstars and crew were still stuck in Saudi Arabia due to their plane having to undergo maintenance, so for this show they had to rely on the few that decided not to go over to Saudi Arabia to collect their share of the blood money (as well as the women and the NXT crew). The difference in this show would become apparent immediately as we hear the voice of Tom Phillips welcoming us to the show as he will be on commentary alongside Renee Young and for the time being Aiden English.  The show opens with Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman coming to the ring and despite Lesnar beating Cain Velasquez at Crown Jewel in quick fashion (we are shown the entire match from Crown Jewel) Lesnar is still pissed due to the fact that Rey Mysterio attacked him after the match with a steel chair. Heyman lets us know that he went to Vince McMahon to inform him that Lesnar wants to get his hands on Mysterio, however, McMahon told him there was nothing he could do since Lesnar was contracted to SmackDown and Mysterio was contracted to Raw and the wild card rule was no longer in effect. Heyman states that as of now Lesnar has quit SmackDown on Fox and that he will be on Raw this Monday and he will find Rey Mysterio. We then see Lesnar and Heyman leaving the arena and as the camera pans back it shows that Triple H and Shawn Michaels are in the building, which would be an omen of what was to come tonight. This was a good promo as usual and more importantly, it gave a sensible explanation of how it will be possible for the USA Network to pick up Lesnar to be apart of the Raw roster as their world champion. I personally would have rather had Lesnar stay on SmackDown and Bray Wyatt go over to Raw as I feel there is less chance for the Fiend character to fail (more than it already has) if there is more creative input from someone like Paul Heyman who has a lot of pull over on Raw rather than Bruce Prichard who is the main guy in charge over on SmackDown. I also have to question Fox’s decision to allow WWE to put Lesnar back on Raw as I feel like they would want the guy with a more legit sports background and who has more of a chance to get mainstream attention as he is a far bigger star than Bray Wyatt is. I am bummed that Wyatt isn’t going over to Raw as it ruins my fantasy booking idea of having Liv Morgan as The Fiend’s version of Harley Quinn.  Match #1: Bayley © w/ Sasha Banks vs Nikki Cross (SmackDown Women’s Championship) Bayley tries to take control early but Nikki rolls her up for a quick two count before Bayley slams her back down to the mat. Nikki hits a flying head scissors that takes Bayley out of the ring and then she follows up with a wrecking ball dropkick and a tornado DDT on the floor. Nikki rolls Bayley in the ring for a 2 count as we go to commercial. We come back to Nikki fighting her way out of a chin lock and getting a quick 2 count off a roll-up. Nikki hits a series of forearms that send Bayley out of the ring and then tries for another wrecking ball dropkick, but Bayley catches her and sends Nikki into the steps. Bayley rolls Nikki back in for a 2 count and then delivers a series of shoulder thrusts into the corner before Nikki is able to move sending Bayley crashing into the corner. Nikki blocks some forearms and delivers some of her own before taking Bayley down with a running crossbody. Nikki hits an avalanche in the corner followed by a bulldog, Nikki is fired up as she goes up top and delivers another crossbody that gets her a two count. Nikki tries to go for the twisting neckbreaker off the ropes, but Sasha gets on the apron to provide a distraction only to get knocked off by Nikki. Bayley knees Nikki in the head and then goes up top to hit the elbow which only gets a 2 count. 

Bayley sets Nikki up in the corner looking for a superplex but Nikki fights her off and tries for a tornado DDT, but Bayley blocks it and sends Nikki down to the mat. Nikki rolls outside and Bayley tries for a baseball slide, but Nikki wraps her up in the ring apron and hits her with more forearms and even hits one on Sasha for good measure. Nikki goes back up top but this time Sasha pushes her off which allows Bayley to hit some kind of move that sends Nikki to the mat face-first to pick up the win.  Winner: Bayley    Match Rating: **¼ This match was fine but nothing to write home about as it was just an average TV match. I do like how Bayley is the main focus during this run while Sasha plays the role of the cheerleader as it has usually been the other way around. I didn’t care for whatever that move was that ended the match as it looked really weak and I hope it’s not Bayley’s new finisher. I wasn’t sure how well heel Bayley was going to play out as I always thought she would be someone who stays babyface her entire career like Ricky Steamboat, but so far I am enjoying it as it has really been refreshing and I thought last week she was really good on commentary in the heel role. I love how Sasha and Bayley are two heels that are teaming together, but yet they are completely different styles of heel as Bayley is the “woe is me” emo type of heel while Sasha is more flashy and all about money, fame, and luxuries, this is what it would’ve looked like if Raven and MVP had ever teamed together.  After the match as Bayley is celebrating her win, NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler comes out of nowhere and sends Sasha into the ring post and then delivers a step-up knee to the face on Bayley. Shayna sends Bayley shoulder first into the ring post and then delivers a gut-wrench slam on Bayley. Shayna goes to put her jacket back on but sees Bayley trying to get to her feet so Shayna hits her with another knee and then leaves through the crowd as the fans chant NXT. This was a great way to properly start off the NXT invasion that would happen throughout the show and Shayna looked like a million bucks as she carried herself like a star and even if some people in the crowd didn’t know who she was they had to know that she was not someone you would want to mess with.  As we come back from commercial we see that Aiden English has been replaced on commentary by “Mr. Casual Friday” Pat McAfee who is in all his casual wear glory with a cut off t-shirt and shorts. McAfee would call the rest of the show alongside Tom and Renee, he would serve as the head NXT cheerleader for the rest of the evening.  Cathy Kelley is in the back interviewing Sami Zayn about everything that has happened tonight and he says that there seems to be a pattern happening and it looks like NXT has taken over, he then warns NXT to be careful with who they mess with. Keith Lee and Matt Riddle show up and Sami tries to talk his way out of what he just said and tries to plead with them even reminding them that he used to be called the heart and soul of NXT. Zayn then goes to reveal he has an NXT shirt on but turns out it’s just a plain black shirt, he says he left his NXT shirt in his car and he was going to go get it so Riddle and Lee follow him despite Zayn pleading for them to stay and he will be right back, eventually Zayn takes off running which leads Riddle and Lee to chase him throughout the arena and into the ring. Riddle hits Zayn with the Final Flash knee strike followed by the Bro Derrick and then Lee delivers a moonsault off the middle rope before both men pose over the prone body of Zayn. 

This was a fun segment to introduce Riddle and Lee to the mainstream crowd that most likely don’t watch NXT. The only issue I had with the entire segment was the black t-shirt part as that just didn’t sit right after all the controversy earlier in the week with Jordan Myles putting WWE on blast for the shirt they had made for him, to me, it just felt like an unnecessary jab at Myles. I could be wrong and it’s just a harmless segment where those in charge gave no second thoughts on using a black t-shirt in the segment, I mean, after all, they didn’t give it a second, third, or fourth thought when they made the Myles shirt in the first place.

There was a recap of the absolute shit match that was Braun Strowman vs Tyson Fury that made me hope that Fury doesn’t step into a wrestling ring ever again because everything he did in that match looked like shit and the fact that he popped right up after getting hit with Strowman’s Powerslam was the cherry on top of that shit sundae.  It’s time for Miz TV and The Miz plans on interviewing himself since his original guest Bray Wyatt was still stuck in Saudi Arabia. We get a recap of The Fiend vs Seth Rollins match at Crown Jewel that saw The Fiend walk out as new Universal Champion. The Miz then turns his focus on what has happened so far on SmackDown with the NXT invasion and this leads to him being interrupted by Tommaso Ciampa. Ciampa says that Miz is everything that is wrong with Raw and SmackDown and also says that while Miz plays the part he is the part. Miz talks about how good Ciampa is but says that if NXT wants to make a statement then they need to stop sitting back and make one, this leads to a match between Ciampa and The Miz. Match #2: The Miz vs Tommaso Ciampa They trade headlocks to start out with Miz getting the advantage briefly before Ciampa turns it around and throws Miz out onto the apron. Miz slides under the legs of Ciampa and then returns the favor by throwing him over the top to the floor. Ciampa moves out of the way of a wrecking ball dropkick and sends Miz into the barricade and the steps before giving himself a round of applause and a pat on the back. Ciampa rolls Miz back into the ring and locks in a chin lock that Miz tries to fight out of but Ciampa forces him back down to the mat. Miz finally makes a comeback and hits Ciampa with a kitchen sink, a knee lift, and then his backbreaker into a neckbreaker combo that gets a 2 count. Miz kicks Ciampa repeatedly in the corner and then hits him with a couple of flying knees in the corner,  just as Miz has all the momentum behind him he is taken down with a discus clothesline out of nowhere followed by a running knee strike that gets a 2 count.  Ciampa goes for the Fairy Tale Ending but Miz counters and tries for the Figure Four only to be kicked off, both men are countering each other until The Miz connects with a chop block on the knee that Ciampa has had trouble with in the past, Miz looks to go to work on the leg, but Ciampa kicks him off and tries for a powerbomb, but can’t lift Miz due to the bad knee and this allows Miz to kick the leg and hit his snap DDT for a 2 count. Miz finally locks in the Figure Four but after struggling for a while Ciampa reverses the pressure which allows him to finally get to the ropes. Miz goes for the Figure Four again but Ciampa rolls him up only for Miz to kick out and try for a PK but Ciampa ducks and goes for another rollup but Miz kicks out so Ciampa transitions into a half crab. Miz then rolls up Ciampa but Ciampa kicks out this time. Miz and Ciampa exchange chops until Miz hits his clothesline in the corner and then goes up top, Miz comes off with an axe handle but Ciampa catches him with a knee and then hits the Fairy Tale Ending to pick up the win. Winner: Tommaso Ciampa via Pinfall    Rating: **¾ Not too much to say about this match other than it was pretty good. I thought the Miz TV segment was also really good and showed that Ciampa can hang on the mic with one of the best talkers in WWE. We go to the back where Bryan walks up to confront Triple H and Shawn Michaels about what has happened tonight and then challenges Triple H which leads to a staredown, but Triple H isn’t prepared to compete but he does have someone else Bryan can face which leads to Michaels teasing that it’s going to be him by taking off his jacket but then puts it right back on, Triple H says that he is talking about Adam Cole (Bay! Bay!). Bryan is fine with facing Cole, but he wants the NXT Title on the line, Cole and Triple H agree and we have a dream match set for tonight’s main event.  Fire & Desire come to the ring for the next match but their opponents never come out, we cut to the back and see that Bianca Belair has single-handedly laid out both Carmella and Dana Brooke, she presses Carmella above her head and throws her over a stack of equipment cases which looked quite impressive.  Although I have been watching Bianca for over two years now it still surprises me at times just how strong she is. I love Carmella to death but the way she sold the initial beating that was unaired was terrible, the way she was sitting looked less like someone who had just gotten the crap beaten out of them and more like someone who was just stressed out after having a bad day and even after Bianca lifts her up she doesn’t sell it at all. Match #3: Fire & Desire vs Rhea Ripley & Tegan Nox Rhea and Tegan attack Fire & Desire right as the bell rings. Tegan and Sonya are fighting on the outside until Sonya sends Tegan into the barricade. Mandy tries to make a comeback on Rhea but is cut off with a dropkick, meanwhile back on the outside Tegan sends Sonya over the announce desk and in the process Sonya’s foot hit Renee Young square in the face and gave her a bloody nose. Tegan in the ring and hits Mandy with the Shiniest Wizard and then Rhea gets the win for her team by making Mandy tap out to the inverted Cloverleaf lock. Winners: Rhea Ripley & Tegan Nox via Submission   Rating: *¾

This was a great squash by the NXT women and just like earlier, it showed the mainstream audience that the women down in NXT can definitely hang with the women on Raw or SmackDown and they are not to be taken lightly in this “war” against Raw and SmackDown. It was nice to see a new heelish side of Tegan as up until now she had only been the cute white meat babyface. It’s interesting that both tonight and in the upcoming WarGames match she will be teaming with Rhea who just happens to be the woman she was facing when she suffered her most recent knee injury during the second annual Mae Young Classic, in that match Rhea showed her no pity after she got injured, so if we look at this from a kayfabe standpoint why would Tegan even want to team with Rhea?  Triple H and Shawn Michaels come out to ringside for our main event match which is coming up next, but first Stephanie McMahon comes out and talks about Natalya and Lacey Evans making history by having the first-ever women’s match in Saudi Arabia before cutting to a video package that showed highlights of the match as well as Twitter reactions to the match.  Match #4: Adam Cole © vs Daniel Bryan (NXT Championship) There is some nice chain wrestling early on neither man gaining an advantage. Bryan backs Cole into the corner and cleanly backs away from Cole before smacking him on the chest and then giving him an arrogant slap to the face, this fires Cole up as he comes out of the corner with some forearms only to be taken down again by Bryan. Bryan delivers a couple of chops in the corner before Cole makes a comeback and takes Bryan down with a headlock takeover. Bryan makes his way back to his feet and we get a drop-down and leapfrog spot that ends with Cole going down courtesy of a big kick to the chest by Bryan. Bryan yells to Triple H that Cole doesn’t belong in the ring with him. Bryan stomps on the back of Cole’s arm and then locks him in a Mexican Surfboard which he transitions into a Dragon Sleeper. Bryan is on a roll until Cole stops Bryan’s momentum with one big boot to the face that gets him a 2 count. Cole keeps trying for a suplex on Bryan but Bryan blocks it and then delivers one of his own which sends both men tumbling over the top rope and to the floor as we go to commercial.

As we come back from commercial both men are trying to get a backslide on the other until Cole hits a jumping neckbreaker on Bryan for 2. Cole hits some elbow and knee drops that get him a 2 count before locking in a head scissors on the mat which Bryan gets out of by easily rolling to the ropes. Cole and Bryan trade strikes which Bryan gets the best of and then Cole sends Bryan into the corner only for Bryan to backflip off the top and connect with a running clothesline. Bryan backdrops Cole to the floor and then dives off the apron with a flying knee. Bryan rolls Cole back in the ring and hits a missile dropkick off the top. Bryan hits a running dropkick in the corner and then looks to hit a top rope hurricanrana but Cole rolls through into a pin which gets a 2 count. Bryan delivers some uppercuts only to once again be taken down with a big boot. Both men are spent as the crowd is chanting for both men. Bryan and Cole trade waist locks before Bryan sends Cole out of the ring, Bryan hits Cole with a tope suicida and then tries for another one but this time he is caught with a kick to the head as both men are laid out at ringside as we go to commercial.  Back from commercial and Cole has Bryan up on the top looking for a superplex, but Bryan slips out the back and crotches Cole before delivering a spider suplex off the top. Triple H is looking on with a worried look on his face as Bryan goes for the diving headbutt, but Cole moves and Bryan hits nothing but canvas. Cole hits his signature brainbuster onto the knee which only gets him a 2 count. Cole pulls down the knee pad as he looks to hit the Last Shot but Bryan turns it into a half crab only to transition it into the heel hook before Cole is able to get to the ropes. Bryan delivers kicks to the back of Cole’s leg and then picks him up looking for some kind of slam but before he can pull it off Cole counters into a backstabber for 2. Bryan locks in the LeBelle lock, Cole looks like he is going to get out of the hold but when he does Bryan grabs Cole’s arms and repeatedly stomps and the head and face of Cole. Bryan locks in the LeBelle lock once again and this time when Cole tries to reach the ropes Bryan grabs his arm and bends it back but thankfully Cole is able to get his foot on the rope. Bryan hits the Yes Kicks but as he goes for the kick to the head Cole ducks and they then trade O’Connor Roll pinfall attempts until Bryan connects with the Buzzsaw Kick. Bryan goes for the flying knee, but gets caught with a superkick and Cole immediately follows that up with the Panama Sunrise and the Last Shot to pick up a clean win on Daniel Bryan. Winner: Adam Cole via Pinfall  Match Rating: ****  Adam Cole vs Daniel Bryan wasn’t a match that immediately came to mind when I think of dream matches that could be really great, but now that I have just watched this match I want to see more are these two put on a great match.  After the match members of the NXT roster came out and got in the ring along with Shawn Michaels and Triple H. Triple H stated that this was his army for Survivor Series and he considers them family, NXT has fired the first shot and look forward to what Raw and SmackDown have in store for them.  The addition of NXT to Survivor Series has definitely got me intrigued. According to Triple H at the end of the show he made it seem like it’s going to be Raw & SmackDown vs NXT instead of all three brands battling it out on their own and I think that would be the best way to go since it’s hard enough to make people care about the Raw vs SmackDown brand warfare, to begin with, so the fact that they have only been separate brands for only a month would make it near impossible to get the fans to care, having them team up to take on NXT would at least bring a different element into the show that we haven’t seen before.  It will be interesting to see how NXT balances the fact that they have NXT Takeover: WarGames the night before Survivor Series, how do they build the feuds between members of the NXT roster for Takeover, while at the same time building somewhat of a sense of unity for Survivor Series? I think the first thing they need to do is have Triple H come out and say that they better get all of their frustrations and anger with each other out on Saturday because if one of them turns on their fellow NXT brother or sister at Survivor Series they are looking at a suspension without pay and furthermore if NXT is successful at Survivor Series they can all expect a significant raise in pay. One last thing I want to mention about NXT at Survivor Series is the fact that it was announced that NXT UK talent will be featured on 205 Live next week which hopefully means that NXT UK roster members will also be involved on Team NXT, this would help even out the sides because NXT on their own would be severely outnumbered by Raw and SmackDown talent.  This episode of SmackDown was really good and a lot of fun and was a very quick two hours to watch. The show had two good matches and one great match and also did a good job of explaining how and why Brock Lesnar is jumping back over to Raw. I wish all weeks of SmackDown were as fun as this one was. 

[placetobenation]

Later today the 2018 Mae Young Classic will be getting underway at Full Sail. There’s a lot of hype and excitement about this year’s edition and the smorgasbord of talent involved, but personally I am most excited to witness the comeback of former WWE Diva Kaitlyn.

Now that may sound pretty on brand for me, but let me tell you, three months ago I would not have been able to fathom saying such a thing.

Out of all the women of the Divas Era, Kaitlyn is the wrestler whom I have completely turned around on the most. I was never much of a fan when she was active, and rewatching her early years now, she was actually even worse than I remembered for a good while.

Now, I don’t blame Kaitlyn AT ALL for not being any good in the beginning, she was one of those girls who was thrown in the deep end and had to learn how to wrestle on live television. Who could possibly know what they were doing in their first ever match? It’s not her fault but still, I mean, at times you’ve almost never seen someone look so clueless in a wrestling ring. I say all this just to stress how down on her I was. By the time I sat through the eighth interminable Kaitlyn vs. Maxine match on NXT Redemption (which was about nine Kaitlyn vs. Maxine matches too many) I was at my wits’ end with this woman.

Fast forward a little and I’m sending out distress signals like this:

“Three days ago I would have stabbed my eyes out before I watched another six minute Kaitlyn match and now Kaitlyn is my favourite wrestler on the entire earth what is going on send help.”

It was a hell of a three days.

What I watched in those three days completely turned me around on Kaitlyn and I am more than happy to eat my words. She got RIDICULOUSLY good. Her improvement coincides with her push towards the Divas Title, in a storyline I like to call The Saga of the Blonde Wig, so gather ’round children, it’s story time.

First, some context.

The Divas Division for most of 2012 is a wasteland. Not because it’s bad per se, but because it is practically non-existent. It disappears. As soon as the New Year hits WWE forgets everything they were doing in 2011, just get complete amnesia about the whole women’s roster.

I mean, Tamina gets a title shot at Elimination Chamber and the storyline is that Beth Phoenix is excited to have a challenger because she’s so bored being champion of a dead division. That is the actual storyline! And it is a SHOOT. By the fall their biggest female stars – Kelly Kelly and the Bella Twins – had gone, and Beth had one foot out the door as well.

What was happening is that they were too busy putting women in prominent non-wrestling roles instead. Eve Torres does the thing with Zack Ryder, turns heel and ends up as Middle Management Eve with glasses. And of course AJ Lee goes from being Daniel Bryan’s abused girlfriend to being Crazy AJ in a love… well not exactly a love triangle (A love square? A love rhombus?) with Bryan, CM Punk and Kane. AJ is pretty ubiquitous on Raw over the summer of 2012, she’s all over the show in a lot of main event segments, and ends up as the Raw GM.

Apparently this stuff filled their quota of hot women on TV so they couldn’t be bothered booking the actual women’s division once they did AJ’s stuff. There are times where we go a month at a time without even having a women’s match on Raw or Smackdown. Because of all this, I was at my lowest point of interest in the entire project.

And then.

I don’t know if it was because WWE moved to three hour Raws full time and needed more content, or that the AJ stuff was winding down and the token women’s spot opened up, but after the summer they suddenly remembered that they had a women’s division! It begins when Kaitlyn wins a No. 1 Contender’s Battle Royal and is set to face Divas Champion Layla at Night of Champions. (Layla, by the way, hadn’t even defended the title in two months. They did not give a shit.)

But at Night of Champions, Kaitlyn is MYSTERIOUSLY ATTACKED backstage before her match by an UNKNOWN ASSAILANT. Oh no! Eve, the Smackdown Assistant GM, who currently has a fake nice girl act going on, is the one who finds her. She brings the news to Smackdown GM Booker T and, I guess because he doesn’t realise there’s a women’s division either, he just puts Eve in the match instead.

So Eve faces Layla, beats her and wins the Divas Title. Naturally, every sane person on earth thinks that Eve took out Kaitlyn to get her spot and her nice girl act is a façade. But Eve sticks to her nice girl persona and denies everything vociferously, so we have a bit of a mystery on our hands.

Kaitlyn comes back a couple weeks later on crutches and says she’s seen the security footage from the Boston Garden, and her MYSTERY ATTACKER was in fact, a blonde woman. Ooooh! Obviously this rules out Eve, a known brunette, and Eve immediately points the finger at Beth Phoenix, who happens to be standing next to her at the time and who is, in fact, a known blonde woman. But Beth had nothing to do with it either, and the mystery remains.

A couple of weeks later on Smackdown, there’s a backstage conversation where Teddy Long is trying to tell Booker T, that Kaitlyn and Layla are trying to tell him, that Aksana had told them… that she found a BLONDE WIG in Eve’s bag! Oooooh! Eve sticks to her denial and says it was planted there by Aksana. Then the babyfaces figure out that if Aksana had the wig then she’s probably the one who attacked Kaitlyn. So Kaitlyn and Layla end up with a working theory that Aksana was hired as a hitwoman by Eve, but no proof.

Then finally during the week before the Hell in a Cell PPV the whole thing unravels. Kaitlyn finds Eve’s iPad and reads the emails Eve sent to Aksana planning the attack (and takes pictures for proof because she’s not stupid) and even though Eve STILL hilariously tries to proclaim her innocence, the jig is well and truly up.

But at Hell in a Cell, Eve defends against both Kaitlyn and Layla in a triple threat, and escapes with the title in true heel fashion. In fact, all of this blonde wig nonsense is just the beginning of Kaitlyn’s long and arduous road to the Divas Title.

She gets a one-on-one title shot at Survivor Series and Eve fair dinkum TRIES THE SAME THING by having Aksana attack her backstage before the match (in a blonde wig and everything!) but this time Kaitlyn sees it coming. During the title match she beats the crap out of Eve for some much needed revenge, and honestly it turns into a damn good match, but Eve squeaks out another win.

At this point it’s clear that Eve does not want to fuck with Kaitlyn in a fair fight ever again, and does everything she can to stave off what feels like her inevitable reckoning at this woman’s hands.

At TLC Eve screws Kaitlyn out of winning a No. 1 Contender’s Battle Royal and defends against Naomi instead. Kaitlyn does get a shot on the live Smackdown special in December, and it’s another great title match that escalates to a point where you think Kaitlyn will SURELY win the title here, this is it… and then Eve just grabs the referee’s ankles and holds onto him until he disqualifies her. Like a complete ASSHOLE. I was so impressed with Kaitlyn’s performances and so invested in her title chase by this point that I HATED THIS. What a dick.

So because of that heel chicanery Kaitlyn is granted yet another chance at the title on a Monday Night Raw, now in January 2013. They have ANOTHER great title match and Kaitlyn is AGAIN surely about to finally win here… and then Eve just grabs the belt, hauls ass and gets counted out. Just when you think Eve has run out of ways to escape with this damn title. I have absolutely had it with this piece of shit right now.

But then finally, finally, FINALLY, the fates align. Next week is the 20th Anniversary of Raw special, and it is in Houston, Texas, which just happens to be Kaitlyn’s hometown. She has one final shot against Eve, and this time Eve can’t get disqualified or counted out or she’ll lose the title.

So Eve is cornered. Kaitlyn’s shirt says “Don’t Mess With Texas”. Her family is in the crowd. The stage is set.

Eve sells the hell out of all this and doesn’t even want to hand the title over before it starts. She can sense that once again, the jig is up. So they have their most epic match yet, the hometown crowd is behind Kaitlyn, they kick out of each other’s finishers, everything is happening… and then at the death Eve tosses Kaitlyn over the barricade and into the timekeeper’s area, trying to get her counted out. Oh come on, not MORE bullshit!?

But wait! As Eve gets back in the ring, she doesn’t see that Kaitlyn has recovered and snuck back in on the other side, she turns around into an ALMIGHTY SPEAR that kills her the fuck dead and finally, finally, FINALLY Kaitlyn pins Eve Torres in the middle of the ring and wins the Divas Championship of the World.

Kaitlyn cries her eyes out when that bell rings but trust me it ain’t half as much as I’m crying. I am a MESS. Who knew I could feel so many damn things for Kaitlyn?

Seriously, it is so rare in WWE for a storyline to go from A to B to C and be paid off this well in the end. Especially a women’s storyline. This was a beautiful, cathartic moment. (She also gave a sweet backstage interview after winning and I lost it all over again. Sometimes things are just nice.)

To bring it back to Kaitlyn the worker, I’m not even sure how to explain it but she seemed to just grow into this push week after week, getting better and better. I enjoyed her performances during the injury/whodunit storyline (she was always good in skits, going back to her soap opera days on NXT Redemption), and when she returned to the ring she was just a completely different Kaitlyn. That Survivor Series match was the moment it truly hit me, because it was a fantastic match and I didn’t feel like Eve carried her in any way. They had insane chemistry and all of their matches were really good.

Kaitlyn herself was working out of her skin. Suddenly she was chain wrestling and busting out holds and counters like a maestro. Suddenly her selling was off the charts good and she carried this entire title chase with her babyface fire. Suddenly she developed a great arsenal of impact moves that she would just kill people with – not just the Spear but all of her stuff got really stiff and awesome, like she finally figured out her own strength. It is deadset ridiculous just how good a wrestler Kaitlyn became in such a short space of time.

In mid-2012 I was dreading her every appearance – by the end of the year she was basically the best woman on the roster and carrying the likes of Aksana to good matches.

A hell of a three days, I tell ya.

This isn’t the last time I was mesmerised by a soap opera storyline involving Kaitlyn either, so stay tuned for the next Kaitlyn saga. I will also get around to Eve Torres herself, who was similarly working out of her skin in 2012 and went out a hell of a wrestler.

For now though, I hope Kaitlyn does put in a good showing at the Mae Young Classic, and I hope you’ll join me next week as I compose yet another love letter, this time to the woman who really started this whole thing for me.

Check It Out: Eve vs. Kaitlyn – Divas Title (Raw, October 8th 2012) Kaitlyn vs. Beth Phoenix (Superstars, October 18th 2012) Eve vs. Kaitlyn vs. Layla – Divas Title (Hell in a Cell 2012) Eve vs. Kaitlyn – Divas Title (Survivor Series 2012) Kaitlyn vs. Aksana (Smackdown, December 14th 2012) Eve vs. Kaitlyn – Divas Title (Smackdown, December 18th 2012) Eve vs. Kaitlyn – Divas Title (Raw, January 7th 2013) Eve vs. Kaitlyn – Divas Title (Raw, January 14th 2013)