#poison was also a certified banger

[not-usually-deranged]

watching all of the hype and love for huskerdust w/the new episodes got me feeling like that one scene in trolls like-

“the clue board- you mean MY clue board?? The clue board that *I* made??? We like the clue board now”

i was waiting for the huskerdust musical number since the pilot and episode 4 has inspired brainrot within me I didn’t think possible like… AAAH

[aviel-the-trans-bucket]

Ok on this walk down emo nostalgia lane we’re doing fucking Danger days : The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys, and also The Mad Gear and Missile Kid EP! And these are my thoughts

So I haven’t listened to the full album through but similar to revenge I’ve heard a few songs. I haven’t listened to the EP yet tho. I’m excited because the killjoy vibes are immaculate. Let’s see if this butters my buns.

Look Alive, Sunshine: ok I’ve heard this before and while this is sick as hell we all know this is just the lead up to Na Na Na. Shit fucks hard, let’s kick it.

Na Na Na: A certified banger in every way and it fucks so god damn hard! Love the song to death, one of my all time favorites. Shit makes you feel like you can fight god! Everybody wants to change the world, but no one wants to die! And then the guitar goes apeshit!

Bulletproof Heart: Another I’ve heard before and one that’s just so so good. Gravity don’t meaaan too much to meeee! God I love this one so much, I actually haven’t listened to it much recently but god I’ve missed it. It’s like seeing an old friend again and going skating. Man this one fucks so severely!

SING: Ah yes, the one where they all die. Another I listen to all the time, potentially the source of my first tattoo if I get around to it. Moody vibes, the power of an unbreaking will. It radiates cold hard stamina to persist on, the vibes fucking bang. KEEP RUNNING!!

Planetary (GO!): Ah another I listen to a lot because I love the vibes. This is a song that fucks, it fucks yknow. It’s dancy af and I love it, a bop. The vibes slap, makes you want to move. Anti-capitalist dance anthem, I love it to death.

Jet-Star and the Kobra Kid/Traffic Report: so from here on we’re into shit I haven’t listened to before. And the gateway into said new music is Mikey dying again and he took ray with him 🫡.

Party Poison: ok let’s see what we’re dealing with. Ok this does kinda fuck. Oh shit this bangs. This fucking Bangs tho! God damn, i really like this one shit!

Save Yourself, I’ll Hold Them Back: oooooh tasty guitar! Oh shit this fucks too! Oh damn oh fuck yeeeesss! Shit bangs, and fucks! Oh Hot Damn that Guitar! This is doing shit to my brain, I love love love this!

S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W: oooo nice pulse to it. Oh this is moody and really pretty. I really like this, its feels like something else I’ve listened to before in terms of vibes but I have the memory of a fucking hamster. It’s really good tho, oh hello fucking tasty ass guitar bit! This didn’t wreck my shit but I did enjoy it quite a bit.

Summertime: good beat, got a good pulse going. God this album is so good. Man this feels wistful and I love that. Oh I love this 😭. Man this is so pretty I love this. Wistful feelings of love make my chest ache man, I’m so damn lonely.

DESTROYA: time for what I’m assuming is a tonal shift, I’ve heard shit about this one 👀. Oh there’s the bongos. Tasty ass guitar comes in. Oh this does kinda fuck, I love this vibe! Oh shit this actually bangs unbelievable hard! And it like fucks fucks! Hell yeah! Shit that one I definitely need to listen to more now that I’m prepared for it!

The Kids From Yesterday: synthey, and don’t fear the reaper needs more cowbell. Oh damn, this might be an in my feels song. A very melancholy vibe but it’s so good. This is like so my vibe and I love this but also ow. Yea ok that gave me some tears shit.

Goodnite, Dr. Death: ok let’s see what this one brings while I’m in my feelings. Yea that was the breather I needed ooof.

Vampire Money: ok I’ve hears mixed things about this song so no idea what to expect here we go. Oh shit it’s this song, that’s where that’s from! good beat, and it slams hell yea! Oh shit fuck yea this FUCKS! Oh shit this bangs I love this! This is a good fucking time! Guitar is loosing it hell yes!

We Don’t Need Another Song About California: oh shit banger guitar right out the gate. Oh this is a bop. Not an awful lot of thoughts, song good, guitar slaps as always. Not melting my face off but I enjoy it :3

Zero Percent: more synth Noice. Oh shit this bangs out the gate! Not a lot of thoughts, brain empty but this slaps. O k last song of dangerdays out of the way, time for the ep before my brain melts and runs out of my ears from both over and understimulation.

The Mad Gear and Missile Kid

F.T.W.W.W.: not sure what I should expect but here we go, I’ve cleansed my pallet by listening to the bloodborne soundtrack so I don’t get too bogged down on bangin guitar. Ok yea this does kinda slap. This does bang. Is good, but I’m pretty neutral on it.

Mastas of Ravenkroft: banging guitar as always, god this feels like my stream of consciousness. Punk rock equivalent of my unmediated adhd.

Black Dragon Fighting Society: ok last song of the night, I’m exhausted but this has been a tit blasting experience for sure. Let’s close her out lads. No bad, they’ve all had a good pulse to them. Good fucking guitar! A fun time but isn’t like wrecking my shit, but I like.

This has been a fucking insane ride, I regret not listening to the full album sooner because this one rocked my shit the whole way down and it may unironically be my favorite mcr album. I heard someone describe dangerdays as being like crack to their 13 year old brain and like I think I get it now, even at 21. Now I loved quite a lot of the songs so this might be the hardest top 5 ranking yet, but my top 5 of the album are…

1: look Alive, Sunshine/ Na Na Na (basic but she deserves it)

2: SING

3: Planetary (GO!)

4: DESTROYA

5: Vampire Money

That was a hog wild fucking time, I loved every second of it. I’m tired and satisfied and the next post will about conventional weapons. Only 2 more lads before I start on the solo stuff. As always send me asks if I missed any songs. I’ll see ya madlads, I need a nap.

[aryasage]

can i get a uhhhhhh "façades are beautiful–but what happens when they crack?" my god i am so curious

and maybe a "how to intimidate a showmaker 101" if it isn't too bothersome, i would like to know how to intimidate a showmaker too

those titles are certified bangers

btw, big fan of your (and livikattt's, but apparently you're the same entity™) works!!!

façades are beautiful–but what happens when they crack?

heh. for this one, we're going to have to go a while back—to before the first ppau fic was even published. i'm honestly curious how many ppau readers even saw ssash—and looking back on it now, it's certainly not my best work (and wow past tense looks weird) but i do still like some of the lines i got in there. anyway, at the end of ssash, i promised that some mikyx angst would be coming soon. then, by hcihelyd, it had been indefinitely shelved. what happened to it?

well, the most obvious answer is loss of motivation. that's the reason for almost all of my wips staying wips, after all. and it's certainly applicable here, but the more important thing that happened is, well…ppau happened.

i've mentioned before how "pure canon" in rpf can get messy very quickly if you're not careful, and this definitely got messy. i'm not going to go into the specifics of why, but let's just say there was a lot of projection going on, whether intentional or not. it wasn't an au, not really, and i'm not really comfortable writing that, especially not with where it was heading. i didn't really have a plot, either. the only thing resembling a plot was just…well. watching xl get reverse swept to get knocked from worlds contention was incredibly depressing, not to mention the loser's interview miky gave after. but eventually i found a different team to write angst about after their loss, and i'm much more proud of that fic :)

so this is never going to get finished, let alone published, but you can have a bit that didn't age too poorly~

“Hey, at least we’re not Vitality,”  he joked halfheartedly, resulting in a small and hollow laugh from his teammates. The tension was palpable, the heat of the summer air only a small factor of the thickness that permeated the room. No one wanted to be the first to speak up about their complete and utter failure.

how to intimidate a showmaker 101

in a complete tone shift, this one is complete crack. that is, until it switches povs, but i was too lazy to write more than a few paragraphs of that part seeing as i knew i was never going to be able to publish the full thing (thank you for that, lolrpf! i love having to censor everything i write just so it won't be interpreted as shipping), and i also didn't really have a set ending. i had written pretty much everything i planned out~

i do still love it, though. maybe i could change the sensitive part at some point so i can post it here or something. who knows. we'll see.

anyway, as for the actual plot…well. if you read wtua (and if you didn't what are you doing, it's right here), then you might have noticed showmaker mentioning viper putting a knife to his throat the last time scout made him ask viper for help. it's also brought up in dfwydk how showmaker teleported straight to his location and, again, got a blade to his throat. there are also a couple more references in unpublished (for now) things. these are all referring to this…incident.

before showmaker drags scout to jiejie in order to save his life, scout mentions the person who is still talking to him. viper. unfortunately, before he can contact viper himself, he has a sliiight sleep paralysis episode. enter showmaker, who is Definitely Not Concerned At All For Scout's Wellbeing, and who is also being ghosted by scout. as we see in wtua, showmaker's teleportation is…very handy.

here's the most important bit. or, well, the part that i had the most fun writing~

“I asked you a question,” Viper says, stalking towards Showmaker, and gods, speaking of that poison, Showmaker can’t help but recoil at the pain that blossoms in his mind with every word that Viper speaks. He’s all too aware of the gun still trained on his head, but his words are stuck in his throat as he tries to answer Viper.

Viper suddenly moves too quickly for Showmaker to react, and now, as well as a gun digging into his back, there’s a blade at his throat. “I won’t ask it again, Heosu.” The shadows all around the room press in, and though Showmaker knows they’re intangible, he can’t help but feel horribly claustrophobic.

Finally, Showmaker manages to conjure up his magic, frantically throwing out an explanation as quickly as he can. “It’s about Scout!”

Viper’s blade only digs deeper, and Showmaker can feel blood welling up. “What did you do to him?” Viper snarls. It takes all of Showmaker’s willpower not to thrash against the pain from the poison of Viper’s voice and slice his own throat open in the process.

“Nothing, I swear! He needs your help! He said you’d understand,” Showmaker pleads.

“Since when do you care about helping Scout?” Viper spits out. “Last I heard you two weren’t the best of friends.”

it's incredibly self-indulgent, as you can tell, but protective viper is just too much fun. i regret nothing.

we are not the same! but we are two halves of a whole :)

twin shadows, if you will~

but thank you! glad you enjoy them as much as we do, and hope you enjoyed this little sneak peek~

[leastparanoidandroid]

- i need a little flashing neon sign that says “RELEVANT TO THEME” to hold up every time harry goodsir speaks

- i need another neon sign that says “RELEVANT MOTIF” to hold up whenever the idea of hunger or eating is mentioned in episode 7

- self-immolation makes for some banger cinematography

- update yes this is certified gothic now

- i also need a “lead poisoning” sign maybe

- the one dude that’s just been in a coma with his entire brain exposed for like three episodes yet will not die is the funniest shit ever to me. he just occasionally gets mentioned again like oh this poor bastard is still here

- cinematography continues to be incredible

- part of me wishes that the creature was obscured even more, left as a vague unknown as it was in the first half of the series. i do appreciate the horror that came with finally getting a good look at it, though — its distinctly human eyes haunt me

- this show knows how to use extended silence

- final verdict: good series, 8/10 probably, some things i would have preferred to be executed differently but overall worth it

liveposting the terror, episode one updates

- this surely has nothing to say about colonialism

- incredible tension building, especially with some of these long sustained shots and extended periods without dialogue

- on a similar topic, my one real problem is that the sound mixing is fucking atrocious — the dialogue is way too quiet and gets lost very often. normally not a complaint but i am pirating it so i don’t have the privilege of subtitles

- sweet ass 1840s fits

- i love a good bad time on a cold boat (this is a known fact)

- i will look into historical accuracy later but at this point i do not particularly care. yes, i know, that’s wild and out of character, but considering the introduction of supernatural elements and general weird uncanny shit i have realized (as i am not entirely stupid) that accuracy is not the intent

- and either way it’s speculative

- is this gothic?

- i also love a good autopsy and the juxtaposition of the diving scene and the autopsy was the strongest part of this episode imo

- seriously the sound mixing is so bad

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

The gang on their wedding days

[Been meaning to post this one for a while — since I’m applying to get married today, now seems like the time.]

Jake steps into the room like a child wandering into his parents’ dinner party.  His bow tie is askew, seams of his jacket misaligned for all that it’s a custom-tailored tuxedo.  If the buttons of his shirt aren’t one hole off from their intended placement, they still manage to convey that impression from across the room.

Rachel feels a rush of affection for him, her first best friend.  The boy who’d run and fought and splashed through mud with her, back before adults started telling her to be careful of her dress and him to be careful of her.  Only he could show up to his own wedding looking like he’s ready to be expelled at any moment.  Only Jake.

And yes, she gets mushy at weddings.  Sue her.

Tom steps up next to Jake, far more elegant in an off-the-rack suit.  Some people actually got the fashionable genes in this family.

Rachel surges across the room.  Tom gets a quick hug, and then she turns all her attention on Jake.

“You only have to look nice for the next three hours,” she tells him briskly.

“Three.  Hours,” Jake repeats.

With expert motions she realigns his… everything, until at the very least the clothes are sitting the way the tailor intended.  She tries to finger-comb his hair, thankful for the heels that put her at an inch above his height, but it’s obvious that he has also been running his hands through it and the style is hopelessly deformed.

“You can survive anything for three hours,” Rachel says as she does all this.  “I’ve seen you do it.”

“But if I mess it up—”

“Then stop, go back, and do whatever it is over.  We’re not exactly on a time pressure, here.  Nobody’s gonna die if you trip at the altar or forget your lines.”

“Okay.”  He stuffs his hands in his pockets, deforming his jacket again.  “Okay.”

She can see him starting to relax as he glances around, shoulders coming down.  Cassie’s place isn’t quite like they remember — it’s been repaired since the war, the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic expanded to nearly five times its original size — but it still feels as close to home as any place does.

“Have a glass of water,” Rachel says.

“But what if I have to pee during the ceremony?”

She rolls her eyes.  “Babysit him,” she mouths at Tom.

Tom gives her a gesture in response that approximates What do you think I’ve BEEN doing?  Whether he means the last four hours or the last twenty-six years is, really, a moot point.

Rachel leaves him to it, and charges off to go check on the others.

************

Marco leans against a tent pole, trying to roll one of the rings across his fingers the way Vegas poker players do with chips.  So far it’s not going well.

“Canapé,” Ax is saying carefully.  He attempts to lean next to Marco, nearly going all the way over.  “Can-nap-peee?”

“Uh, no.”  Marco catches the ring as it makes its third or fourth bid for freedom, stuffing it back into his pocket.  “That…”  He tilts his champagne flute to point.  “…is a canopy.  Or a chuppah, I guess.  Canopee.  Canapay is the little pastry thing you’ve already filched in bulk, don’t think I didn’t notice.”

“Ah,” Ax says.  And then, “This temperature and rate of precipitation is within optimal survival parameters for humans, is it not?”

“Nuh-uh, Ax-Man, I will not be pulled in by your smooth small-talk skills.”

“Did you not wish to make conversation?”  Ax frowns.  And then he stuffs another canapé in his mouth.  “This is making conversation,” he adds through the mouthful.

Marco squints.  “Is it, though?”

“It is indeed.  Did you know that the rotating-wheel can opener was patented in 1870?”

Marco’s response to that one gets cut off when Rachel comes charging across the open tent space like a small freight train.  Tobias is balanced on her shoulder, flaring slightly as she runs.  She yanks the champagne flute out of his hand.  Marco makes a squeak of protest, but Rachel just sets it firmly on a bussing tray and turns back to glare at him.

“What did we agree?” she asks sternly.

Marco rolls his eyes.  “That I’d stay sober-ish for the toast, and not do anything too embarrassing.”

“You’re the best man.  You have one job, Marco.”

“Excuse you, the best man’s one job was that banger of a bachelor-slash-ette party we did Wednesday night.  Did you like the part where we all dived out of a helicopter and flew clear through the lower atmosphere to that rooftop bar?  Because—”

“So you got the drinking out of your system.  You promised.”

“Sober-ish, come on, it’s just one wine-spritzer-thing!”

Rachel turns away from him, looking Ax over.  “You realize you’re going to have to demorph and remorph at some point before the ceremony, right?” she asks.  “And that when you do, someone’s going to have to go through the whole kit and caboodle of getting you into that tux all over again?”

“Yes,” Ax says.  “Yes, I do.”

She stares at him.  He stares back, looking as innocent as it is possible to look while also chewing three jalapeño pastries at the same time.

«You should probably just listen to her,» Tobias suggests.  «By the way, where’s your date?  Not that I quake in fear for the wedding cake or anything, but, uh…»

“Menderash has been instructed not to eat anything on a human plate without seeking my opinion first,” Ax says, somewhat stiffly.

“Yeah,” Marco says.  “So far he’s only eaten two earthworms, a candle, some decorative sand, and part of Collette’s bouquet.  You two have nothing to worry about.”

“Part of Collette’s bouquet?” Rachel demands.  “We can’t send a bridesmaid up the aisle without—”

“Already replaced it, I am on top of this.”  Marco flips his hair back from his face.  “I am a flower master.”

«So where is Menderash now?» Tobias asks.

“Helping Cassie’s mom,” Marco explains.

«And Cassie’s mom is…?»

“Delivering a baby cow.”

Rachel makes a noise like she’s choking on air.  “Doesn’t Michelle have vet techs for that kind of thing?  She’s supposed to be getting ready, not, not…”

“It’s cool,” Marco says.  “She’s got her makeup on, her hair is done perfectly, she’s got an apron-thing to keep her dress nice and gloves over her nails, it was a breech birth so they needed a real doctor and Walter was busy supervising the caterers, she’s got Menderash and Steve helping her out—”

“She kidnapped Jake’s dad?” Rachel demands overtop the continuing babble.

“He said he had never delivered an offspring outside of his own species before, and expressed deep curiosity on the subject,” Ax offers.  “Menderash is a certified medic with andalite training, so they should be well-equipped to assist.”

Marco makes jazz hands in the air.  “It’s a free pre-dinner show!  Cow birth.  Better than icebreakers.”

There’s a very long pause.  Rather than dignify that with a response, Rachel turns and stalks away.

Marco watches her go, halfway awed at her ability to navigate an open yard so well while not only wearing six-inch heels and a multi-layer floor-length dress, but also balancing an enormous updo on top of her head and a red-tailed hawk on her left shoulder.

“Is it just me, or did Jake and Cassie make a monster when they asked her to be maid of honor?” Marco says.

«You wanna take over her responsibilities, then?»

Of course Tobias heard that.  Stupid hawk hearing.

“No thank you!” Marco yells after them.

Cassie, meanwhile, is currently picking her way across the open space under the tent, bunches of dress hiked up to above her knees.  This last is, of course, the source of Rachel’s consternation.

“Here.”  Rachel attempts to pull the wads of skirt out of Cassie’s hands and drop them back to the ground.  “You’re going to wrinkle it.”

Cassie stubbornly refuses to let go.  “You told me not to let it drag on the ground.  If I let it down, it’ll drag.”

“Cassie, Cassie.  That is a hand-tailored Christian Dior gown that I commissioned to be custom-fitted to your measurements.  There is no way that it is too long if you let it…”

Cassie drops the bunches of tulle.  The end of the skirt falls all the way down, where the bottom two inches rest, unmistakably, on the muddy ground.

Rachel somehow manages to wince with her entire body while also not moving at all.

«It’s a look,» Tobias suggests, by way of consolation.  «Kind of.»

“How…?”  Rachel peers closer at Cassie.  “Wait, where are your shoes?”

Cassie shrugs, embarrassed.  “Uh, inside somewhere.  I was having trouble balancing in them.”

“Well that’s why!”  Rachel’s emphatic gesture almost dislodges Tobias.  With years’ experience, he dodges her waving arm and retains his perch.  “The dress was tailored to fit you with shoes on.”

“They were getting stuck in the grass—”

“They’re kitten heels!”

“Yeah, and they’re still heels.”  Cassie looks stuck somewhere between amusement and embarrassment.  “I don’t really do heels.  Sorry.”

“Hey Tobias?” Rachel says, as if to thin air.

«Nuh-uh, leave me out, I want no part in—»

“Remember me telling Cassie that we should really try the whole outfit on before the wedding?”

«Uh.  Yes?»

“Do you also remember Cassie agreeing to it, and then the day of, haring off to go try and save a bunch of vultures instead?  Remember how we tried to reschedule, and there was that ALF mission on the same day so she never showed?  Remember that?”

Cassie clears her throat loudly.  “I think it’s a very nice dress.  It’s fluffy and also comfortable, and look!”  She tucks her hands away.  “It has pockets.”

«Vultures are actually fundamental for waste disposal in ecosystems all over the world, and the poisons used on livestock—»

“Do you think you could at least wear the shoes long enough to go up the aisle?” Rachel asks.  “And maybe even for a few photos as well?”

 “Uh.  I’ll try.”  Cassie hikes her skirt back up (Rachel full-body winces again) and starts picking her way across the lawn back toward the house.

“There’s no way I’m going to be able to un-wrinkle it in time,” Rachel mutters.

«Yep.  So you’re just going to have to live with it.»

“I hate living with it.”

«Wanna go check on whatever monstrosity of a replacement bouquet Marco probably inflicted on Collette?»

“Fine, fine.”

**************

Cassie walks up the aisle in a custom-tailored gown, an edelweiss and valerian flower crown, and slightly muddy Timberland work boots.  The sole on the boots is apparently tall enough that the skirt does, not, in fact, drag on the ground or get tangled in her feet.

«Somewhere out there,» Tobias comments, «Christian Dior is crying into an overpriced silk handkerchief and doesn’t even know why.»

Marco has never more deeply felt the utter unfairness of Tobias being able to use thought-speak while human, because they’re currently standing at the front of the aisle and he can’t even respond.

But Rachel should still count this one as a win.  The gown looks stunning on Cassie, lacy and princess-ruffled while also having the kind of practical cut that allows her freedom of movement.  And, Marco notes with a smirk, freedom to wear her morphing leotard underneath; the purple spandex is just visible peeking out from underneath the white silk neckline.  He’s got morphing clothes under his own tux — never leaves home without ‘em — so really, he can’t judge.

Plus, Michelle’s got her dress and just her dress on by now, and her locs are still tucked into their silver-beaded updo.  Really, the cow birth was just a momentary inconvenience.

“Hi,” Jake whispers, when Cassie reaches him.

She grabs his hand.  Then she stuffs her bouquet into one of his jacket pockets, and grabs his other hand.  “Hi,” she whispers back.

“This is pretty exciting, huh?”

“Yep.”

Ax clears his throat delicately, and they stop talking.

“There is an Earth tradition,” Ax says to the entire assembly, “that the captain of any ship may perform a wedding ceremony at will.”

In the front row of seats, Michelle laces her fingers through Walter’s.

“Although there is no legal precedent for this custom,” Ax continues, “it is nevertheless possible to become ordained as a wedding officiant if one just completes the proper applications.”

One of Jake’s great-aunts mutters something loudly about the lack of rabbi.  Sarah leans over and kicks her in the ankle.  Rachel beams her approval.

“Therefore, I am here to make official through human custom that which has already been forged through affection and respect.”  Ax looks from Jake to Cassie and back.  “The bond between warriors who have fought and faced death together can be neither lessened nor improved upon by mere ceremony.  The honor shared between two such beings who have chosen to risk loving each other in spite of knowing the reality of loss is one that we recognize today.  We can recognize it, but not sanctify it beyond the sanctity of what these two humans have already shared.”

Rachel lets out an audible sniffle.  Marco does his best not to smirk at her.  It’s not that sappy a speech.

“I have been assured that the bond between two humans who like each other far exceeds the bond between those who merely enjoy each other’s company,” Ax says.

And now Marco has to fight the urge to bang his head against the nearest support pole.

“I have witnessed this myself.”  Ax stares around the room.  “I have witnessed compromise and forgiveness, compassion and challenge between these two.  I therefore believe it is correct and proper that this bond be formally recognized by the State of California.  Is there anything you would wish to add?” he says to Jake and Cassie.

Cassie leans up on tip-toe.  Jake bends to meet her.

She whispers her vows into his ear, not bothering to share with the rest of the gathering.  After a moment, tears on his face, he leans in and whispers back.

Recognizing his cue, Marco grabs the rings and passes them over.  They’re boring-looking, in his opinion, plain silicon bands without anything shiny.  But they’re also easy to morph, easy to shovel manure while wearing, easy to wear without catching on anything.  Very Cassie.  Very Jake.

Speaking of which, the Timberlands prove to be a good call.  When the time comes, Cassie stomps the shit out of that ceremonial glass.

**********

In a slight break with tradition, Rachel and Tobias are actually the first ones to go back down the aisle.  Then Marco wheels Collette out, followed by Tom and Melissa, then Jake and Cassie go.  That way, Rachel’s got time to sprint back over to the main tent and check on the banquet.

Most of the tables are arranged correctly, the centerpieces in place and the cards arrayed.  Rachel does a mad sprint of the room, straightening decorations and confirming with the caterers that they got all the instructions about who needs what in their diet.  Between the number of kosher eaters on Jake’s side and the number of vegetarians on Cassie’s, Rachel made the call to go all the way to a fully vegan buffet.  That’s probably going to get some of the relatives complaining about kids these days and rabbit food, but there’s no pleasing everyone.

Rachel deftly switches a few of the placecards, thereby putting Jordan on point to deal with their great-aunt and grandmother who have both already overindulged at the open bar, muttering an apology as she does.  She puts Tobias to work making sure the bows on the backs of chairs are straight, and rushes up to the long table at the front to confirm that the armless chair meant to accommodate Cassie’s bulky skirt is in the correct place.

D.J. is here, playlist at the ready.  Dance floor is clear of grass.  Weather’s holding, but tent covers are on standby.

Slightly sweaty, she rushes back out with a chair under each arm just in time to catch the guests coming across the lawn.

“Everyone except the parents, head off to the cocktail hour!” she calls.  “Jake, Cassie, moms and dads, with me.”

While Marco’s date (a photographer named Dakota) sets up the camera, Rachel goes into a flurry of motion straightening bowties, adjusting hairdos, and touching up makeup.  Steve’s got a spot of cow blood on his forehead, she discovers to her horror, and by the time she’s done scrubbing that off Jake’s managed to get his tuxedo jacket misaligned again.  Finally she steps back, breathing hard, and nods to Dakota.

Everyone smiles.  The camera goes off.

“Okay.”  Rachel claps her hands loudly, because Jake and Cassie are looking ready to stand up and go join the reception.  “That’s one down, just twenty-three to go.”

********

Rather than tossing her whole bouquet all at once, Cassie picks it apart and gives a single flower to every single guest she can find.  When the bouquet itself runs out, she disassembles her flower crown and hands that out piece by piece until everyone’s got at least one blossom.  It just seems fairer that way, she says when Rachel asks.

Several of the traditions, Rachel reflects, seem to be lost on Jake and Cassie.  They cut the first piece of cake… and immediately hand it to Ax.  And then they cut the second piece, and the third piece, and keep right on cutting slices of cake and handing them out to people until Rachel has to step in and wrest the knife away.  She’s grateful that they refrain from any of the food-fighting nonsense, since both their wedding outfits are headed to a charity auction first thing tomorrow morning, but honestly.  They’re supposed to eat the first two slices, not drop half a tier of cake into the black hole of hungry andalite.

Cake served, Marco clinks a fork against a glass.  “Ladies, gentlemen, and proletariats!”

There’s a general murmur as people look around, trying to spot who’s speaking.

With a hand from Jake, Marco climbs bodily onto the banquet table.  “Everyone!” he shouts, and now they’re all looking at him.  At him, and at the champagne flute in his hand.  “Jake and Cassie!”

It gets a polite round of applause.

“Gotta start at the beginning, right?”  Marco looks around the room, grinning.  “So there I am, some snot-nosed three-year-old, minding my own business.  And this chubby, dorky-looking little white kid comes running up to me and is like…”  He leans in.  “‘You wanna be my best friend?’”

He grins at Jake, who is flushing bright red.

“I shit you not, that was his opening line.  ‘You wanna be my best friend?’  So I’m like…”  Marco pantomimes reeling back in shock.  “I dunno man, seems like a lot of commitment to make to a total stranger.  You want explore our options first, maybe get a prenup, see if we’re compatible?  I mean, for all I know five years from now you’re gonna find some younger, hotter best friend and then there I’ll be out on my ear with nothing to show for it.”

There’s a smattering of laughter throughout the room.  Marco visibly draws strength from it.

“But you know what?”  Marco leans down to look around, smiling like he’s got a secret.  “Little dork kept right on showing up to my house and letting me use his television and getting his mom to give me fluffer nutters, and next thing I know it turns out he really is my best friend.  I think he was onto something.

“Anyway, you think that one was bad…”  He raises his eyebrows.  “Couple years later, there we are in first grade, and this girl in teeny-tiny first-grader overalls comes into the room like…”  

Marco claps one hand over the top of his champagne flute and clamps the other under the base, and actually walks a few steps down the table with the determined air of a very small and klutzy version of Cassie.

“And her opening line is…”  Marco raises the flute to his mouth like it’s a microphone, dropping his voice.  “‘You wanna see my moth?’”

Again, there’s a smattering of laughter.  Cassie has a hand over her mouth, halfway doubled over in giggles at the memory.

“Now, us being minuscule and all, I’m like ninety-nine percent sure that there was no double entendre going on here,” Marco says.  “And I have to admit, no one has used that line on me since.  So I say ‘sure,’ because I’m like six years old and this seems like a reasonable question.  She lifts her hand up…”

Marco accompanies this with a pantomime of peering through his own fingers into his champagne.

He looks up.  “And it’s not even a freaking moth!” he cries out.  “Turns out, it’s just some little worm thing.  So I tell her.”  He puts on a snotty voice, mocking his younger self.  “‘That’s not a moth, that’s just some little worm thing.’”

There’s a pause.  Marco glances around the room.  “See if you can tell where this story’s going.”

Marco and Cassie glance at each other.  Cassie’s grinning smugly.

“She puts it in the classroom’s terrarium,” Marco drawls.  “It turns into a rock.  Two weeks later, rock cracks open and out pops a moth.”

The room cracks up again.

“So fast forward another few years, and she’s standing there holding this eight-eyed, venom-fanged thing.  And she’s all like ‘just touch the spider, Marco.  Don’t you want to be a spider, Marco?  Isn’t it cute and fuzzy?’  As if she is completely unaware that she’s holding a giant-ass eight-legged freak.”  Marco takes a sip for strength.  “And right then, I look at Jake.  And I’m thinking Jake, don’t ever let this girl go.  Because if she doesn’t even think wolf spiders are ugly, then she’s got no idea about you.  So here’s to Jake and Cassie.  Made for each other, because no one else will have ‘em.”

Jake pokes Marco in the ankle, but he’s laughing as he does it.

“All right,” Marco says, “brace yourselves, and someone get some more tissues for my second mama, because I’m about to get sappy.  I love you, Jean!” he calls.  “I know we all gotta cry it out sometimes.”

She laughs and flaps a dismissive hand at him, but she’s also misty-eyed already.

“Dudes, I gotta be honest.”  Marco is looking at Jake and Cassie.  “I didn’t think we’d get here.  I honestly did not believe, for a good long while there, that there were gonna be any weddings or graduations or driver’s licenses in any of our futures.  Just seemed like a good idea not to bet on any of us having any futures, you know?  Seemed like it might be the surest option.”

Cassie laces her fingers through Jake’s.  Silently, her mouth pressed into a line, she nods.

“So, uh.”  Marco sniffs, spinning back around and thrusting his champagne flute into the air.  “Here’s to me being wrong, yeah?”

“To Marco being wrong!” Jake echoes, and tosses back his glass.

“To Marco being wrong!” the entire room calls back.

Marco jumps back down, Cassie and Jake catching him as he lands.

**********

After everyone but Menderash and Ax has finished eating, it’s Tom who becomes the next one to tink a fork against a glass for attention.

“In the spirit of full disclosure,” he tells the room, strolling slowly toward the head table.  “I promised my brother there wouldn’t be a horah.”  Tom stops, directly next to Cassie.  “But what he didn’t know is that I’d already made a promise to my new sister-in-law that there would be.  So what’s a guy to do?”

He snaps his fingers.

At this cue, several things happen at once.  The DJ switches to “Hava Nagila.”  Several people mob Jake at once.  Tom grabs Cassie and lifts her bodily over his head, carrying her chair and all to the middle of the dance floor.

With a squeak of laughter, Cassie grabs the top of Tom’s head for balance.  Jake is being hauled out next to her on a chair of his own, supported by Tobias and Menderash and Rachel and James.  Marco and Ax are herding the rest of the gathering, shoving people into a circle and linking arms together as they go.

“I hate you!” Jake calls over the sound of the music and his own fit of giggles.

“Gotta keep the in-laws happy!” Tom yells back, unrepentant.

*********

“You sure you’ve got everything you need?” Rachel asks.

Cheyenne, the head caterer, gives her a double thumbs-up.  The staff are tipped and most are ready to go, having divvied up the several extra schaeffers’ worth of falafel and butternut squash puree and other entrees that Rachel’d set aside for them.  Melissa is set to take over tending bar from here, as planned, and she’s going to keep the groomsmen after for a few minutes for cleanup duty.

“Okay.”  Rachel glances around at where the last of the countertops are getting a quick once-over with disinfectant.  “Okay.  If anything comes up…”

“I have your number.”  Cheyenne smiles and nods.

Pushing back out of the room, Rachel heads for the gift table.  Everything looks like it’s in good order, but she wants to make sure it all gets packed up properly and that none of the cards get lost in the kerfuffle.  It’s mostly donation receipts, at Jake and Cassie’s request, but some of the traditionalists on both sides came with soup tureens or the like —

“Hey.”  Jake catches her by the arm.

Rachel turns to look at him.  “What’s wrong?  Is it the great-aunts?”

“Nothing’s wrong.  It’s all perfect.”  He’s smiling shyly.  “Thanks.”

“I need to check on the gifts,” Rachel says, because she’s a coward who doesn’t know how to do mushy conversations, especially not with Jake.

“The gifts are fine,” he says.  “It’s all fine.  Because you made it that way.  So… thanks.”

When he pulls her into a hug, Rachel can’t resist straightening his hair one last time even as she returns the embrace.  “You realize I do this for fun, right?” she asks, holding him at arm’s length and looking him in the eye.  “Like, I could’ve hired a wedding planner, but honestly why bother?”

He shrugs.  “Doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate everything.  All of it.  Without you, Cassie and I wouldn’t even…”

Then, because this is all getting too honest, Rachel links her arm through his and drags him onto the dance floor for, he’s about to realize, their middle school gym class’s favorite godawful square dance.

*********

When she has do-si-doed Jake within an inch of his life, Rachel tosses him at Cassie.  She pivots around and gives Tobias a flourishing courtesy; he returns it with an equally ridiculous bow.

“It is marvelous, how well they have adapted their balance to compensate for their lack of legs,” Menderash comments to Ax.

“Very true.”  Ax leans next to him against the bar.  They are currently sharing a delicious beverage Melissa has made for them, simply by unscrewing the lid from a nearly-empty jar of olives and handing over the remaining liquid.

It is true, some of the dancers are more talented than others.  Michelle and Walter are synchronized with each other and the beat of the music, even if their choice of moves is not nearly as audacious as the spinning thing Marco and Dakota are doing.  The bride and groom, meanwhile, are looking at their own feet and keep bumping into each other as they move.  Between their relative unconcern with anyone but each other and the broad hem of Cassie’s dress, the other couples are giving them a wide berth.

“Do you wish to attempt such feats?” Ax asks, glancing at Menderash.

Menderash gives a full-body shudder.  He flaps one hand in an andalite gesture that, if translated to English, would approximate fuck that.

Ax grins, drinking more olive juice.

“Have you done such a thing?” Menderash asks.

“Never for very long,” Ax says.

Jake and Cassie have given up on dancing entirely, descending into a giggle fit in the middle of the dance floor as they both attempt to disentangle Jake’s cuff link from the lace of Cassie’s hem.  Rachel swirls by, briefly blocking their view.  She’s switched partners.  Dakota is doing their best to teach Tobias how to waltz while Marco and Rachel are now swing-dancing their way across the dance floor.

As both andalites watch in awe, Rachel spins Marco in a circle, swinging him out and then drawing him back close to her body.  Marco pirouettes, throwing his head back so that his hair flares around his face, and then throws himself backwards.  Rachel catches him neatly around the waist, dipping him nearly to the floor.  Marco braces on her shoulders and she flings him upward with her whole body so that she actually lifts him off the floor for a second before gracefully sweeping him back down.  They separate until just the tips of their fingers are touching, and then spin back together until Marco suddenly swoops under Rachel’s arm, coming up on the far side as she pivots around in time fro him to fall back against her.

Ax is reminded of the way they fight.  There’s something almost joyful in their ferocity on the battlefield.  There’s something almost frightening in their enthusiasm on the dancefloor.  Neither of them seems to know how to do anything by half measure.

One by one the other clusters of dancers have stopped to watch as well.  Jake and Cassie, now sitting hopelessly tangled up in each other, seem quite happy to have the spotlight stolen.

Rachel swoops an arm around Marco’s waist and slides into a back-and-forth tango step.  Within two beats he’s caught on, falling into the same rhythm as her.  When the tempo of the song changes he grabs her shoulder and nudges her into a circular waltz.  They’re unrehearsed, and inexpert, but moving with such force and communicating so rapidly that it doesn’t really matter.

“Yes,” Menderash says softly, “I very much do not wish to attempt to dance.”

Ax smiles at him over the rim of the olive jar.  It’s empty, and in the time it takes him to set it back on the bar and catch her eye, Melissa has replaced it with maraschino cherry liquid.

The song crescendos; Marco leans his full weight back as Rachel flings him into a long spiraling turn that ends with him sliding on his knees clear between her legs, popping up behind her just in time to brace as she tips backward into him.  She spins once, twice, four times, then swings him into a dip so low that his hair brushes the floor.

As the song ends they freeze like that, chests heaving, hair damp with sweat.

They both seem to become aware at once that the whole room’s watching them.  Marco opens his mouth to say something, when Rachel’s smile turns wicked.  That’s the only warning he gets before she opens her arms and lets him drop.  Marco squawks indignantly, throwing out both elbows to catch himself.  He gets ahold of Rachel’s arm and tries to yank her down as well, but ends up pulling himself to his feet as well.

The whole room breaks out into clapping.  Marco sweeps into a low bow.  Rachel visibly considers pushing him over again before deciding against it.  Instead she runs to try and rescue Cassie’s hand-sewn lace hem and Jake’s antique silver cufflinks from their respective owners’ incompetence.

*********

“Hey Tobias?” Rachel says around a yawn.

«Uh-huh?»

Idly they watch as Tom waltzes Cassie’s grandmother around the dance floor.  She’s 4’11” to his 6’4”, so it’s pretty hilarious to witness.  But at least they’re not totally mismatched: each has a single sprig of valerian from Cassie’s bouquet tucked behind one ear.

She and Tobias are sitting on the ground at one corner of the dance floor.  Rachel’s got her shoes off to massage her aching ankles, and Tobias is perched back on her shoulder.  With clever motions of his beak he’s fishing the pins out of her hair one by one, dropping them into her hand as he slowly disassembles her updo.

“How do you feel about never, ever getting married?” Rachel asks.

Tobias drops another bobby pin into her hand.  «Best idea you’ve had all year.»

[omahasnakes]

2015: Ladies and gentlemen, finally some songs by The Weeknd (am I doing it right?)

Gosh, I really like The Weeknd. He comes out of nowhere (Toronto, specifically) to have three songs and a featuring in 2015: “The Hills”, “Can’t Feel My Face”, “Earned it” from the 50 Shades of Grey soundtrack, and featured on “Love Me Harder” by Ariana Grande. I was going to make a sarcastic remark about the 50 Shades of Grey books/films, but I’ve never experienced any of them, so who am I to judge. I really like The Weeknd.

Song of the Year: “Bitch Better Have My Money” Rihanna. Please, friends, watch the hard-R-rated short film that accompanies this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3eAMGXFw1o This is the original song that Amy is mortified to think that I might be serious about it being my silks music.

Song of the Year at the time, despite it being the sonic equivalent of chewing plastic: “Uptown Funk” Mark Ronson, Bruno Mars. I’m a fan of Pharrell Williams, even though he’s probably responsible for worse musical junk food than this. I’m not sure what the difference is. I just feel like this song was written to be in the TV spot for a network’s Thursday night lineup.

“Worth It” Fifth Harmony, Kid Ink. I heard this song the other week in the silks gym, and I was like, which year in the late 90s was this from? I think it’s the saxophone.

Tied for “song that is a cultural touchstone I could have answered a trivia question about without having ever heard in its entirety”: “Take Me to Church” Hozier/ “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)” Silentó

There’s a Major Lazer song on the chart this year! It’s “Lean On” featuring M∅ and DJ Snake- not one of my top five Major Lazer songs, but beggars can’t be choosers. For your running playlist, and a callback to Eddie Haskell Pharrell Williams and what he’s like when your parents aren’t around, here’s “Aerosol Can”: https://open.spotify.com/track/4Hzw3TO3mvTDgA8yRtStkE?si=6228fe456521475e

Taylor Swift update, on account of not wanting my wife to pour poison in my ear while I sleep: five big hits on the chart in 2015, including certified bangers “Blank Space”, “Shake it Off”, and “Bad Blood” (featuring Kendrick Lamar.) Suggested quarantine watches:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcIy9NiNbmo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-ORhEE9VVg

“Hotline Bling” Drake. Yes, this is the source of that meme. No, you should think about finding an alternative format, because Drake is a sex pest. Try this one?

Country Music barometer: 4%- am I counting this correctly? It’s still out there, but people with bad taste also have the option to listen to Meghan Trainor.

[the-resurrection-3d]

so what was ever good about acotar anyway?

For some reason, I’ve been very tempted to reread ACOTAR lately, and so I’m going to just make a quick list of what I remember specifically endearing the book to me back when I first read it in 2016 so we can compare notes later. This will, however, also include some retroactive criticisms now that we’re four years on from ACOWAR ruining everything forever. 

Twigger warnings for discussions of abuse, csa and neglect, as well as me using my complimentary R Slur Pass.

For some context: 

>Be 18yr me in 2016. 

>Be in your first semester at college. 

>Be so fed up with YA romance that you avoid books just for hinting at them in the summary. 

>Be also brainstorming a series with your roommate called The Cuckmaster Saga. 

This is probably going to sound embarrassing, but I’m being completely sincere when I say that part of why this book excited me was simply the novelty of finding a YA romance book that I liked. 

I’d fallen out hard with YA in general by this point in my life, partially because of a string of fairy tale “retellings” that clearly gave zero fucks about the source material beyond using the iconography in its marketing. Folklore had been my special interest for a while, and my excitement for the series and all its little extra niche references coincided with finally getting to study folklore in a true academic setting.

Which leads me to point one:

I love the idea of combining BatB and the Tam Lin ballad. I know some people have complained about this, but honestly, I enjoyed finding a retelling that mimicked the mix-and-match structuring of a lot of folktales. ACOTAR isn’t even the messiest or least coherent mash-up by a huge margin. Unfortunately, this aspect of the series severely lessened as it went along — remember when we all thought ACOWAR was going to be a Snow White retelling and then there was just one scene with poisoned apples? Lmao.

[If anyone wants an author who does YA mash-ups that are actually YA, I’d recommend Rosamund Hodge, whose books are always interesting in their sheer weirdness even when the story itself slightly falters. I mean, I wrote a whole 20-page thesis on her Red Riding Hood/Maiden Without Hands retelling and still didn’t cover everything I had thoughts on. (Tragically, however, I must inform you all that she is a Catholic Reylo. Rest in pepperoni.)]

It is fucking hilarious in retrospect that SJM clearly knows a bunch of different folktales and folkloric creatures but thinks it’s believable for shadowsinger powers to have no theorized origin “even [in] the rich lore of the warrior-people” (ACOFAS 65). Bro fuck outta here. 

But this leads into point two — Feyre and her family. It’s very obvious that SJM based Nesta and Elain’s dynamic with Feyre off the common folktale trope of having the youngest sibling be the only competent person in the room (and Katniss Everdeen). I thought it was honestly a lot of fun to see this trope done with some interiority; you can practically hear Feyre seethe about what useless hoes her sisters are between every line. I genuinely giggled through these parts on my initial readthrough. 

I’ve seen some people complain that Nesta and Elain’s behaviors aren’t realistic in this situation, but au contraire! Nesta and Elain’s actions in book one are (...almost) perfectly realistic. Without revealing too much, my grandmother grew up in poverty with a few older sisters, and yet my great-grandmother would make her do all the work and constantly force her to give up her possessions (like her car) to the older sisters whenever they wanted them. Even to this day, when they’re all in their 70s and 80s, one of these sisters still relies on my grandma to do basic shit like balancing her checkbooks. I’ve also observed similar dynamics play out plenty of times between an adult child and an overindulgent parent, with people literally ruining their lives and bodies all for the sake of sitting at home all day buying furry porn off the internet. 

Nesta and Elain are basically the psychology of this type of person split in two — Elain the soft, delicate, perpetually victimized front they put on for the world, and Nesta the ice-cold, bitter, and aggressive bitch they truly are. 

Honestly, the only thing I would change about this set-up is either keep Ma Archeron alive or give Papa Archeron more personality than a plank of damp wood. What’s truly missing here is a parental figure enforcing this fucked up dynamic — I don’t remember it being clear that Feyre’s always had this role, just that she took it on after her mom’s death. Making it clear that Feyre’s always been forced to be this way — alongside giving the mom more characterization — would have gone a long way towards making this dynamic feel more realized and less like the narrative using trauma and pity as a shortcut towards reader engagement. 

Then again, that would require SJM to have a female villain in this series who isn’t a rapist, and quotes I’ve seen floating around from ACOSF make it pretty clear SJM doesn’t know same-gender sexual abuse even exists. 

Anyway. 

Point Three (or rather 2B): Feyre realizing she doesn’t have to hang around her family just because she feels obligated to love them was a fucking banger. I loved it so much; having a story, especially a YA story, that showed you aren’t obligated to love a family that treats you like shit was so special to me. Especially since I was also leaving my family for the first time, and going home to visit them every other weekend felt like being hit point-blank with a Psyduck blast. 

Thankfully, my relationship with my family has gotten a lot better, but I’m still really disappointed that Nesta and Elain were forced back into the story, rather than them reaching out to Feyre and making amends because they wanted to do better.  The closest we got to this was the revelation that Nesta almost made it to the Border by herself after Feyre was taken, which was definitely badass, but also unfortunately the only Nesta scene I’ve liked in this entire fucking series. If SJM was going to force Feyre to regress into being Nesta and Elain’s tardwrangler again, then she should have followed up on Amren’s line in ACOWAR that Feyre treats Nesta and Elain the way Tamlin treated her. 

“I asked them to help once—and look what happened. I won’t risk them again.”

Amren snorted. “You sound exactly like Tamlin.”

[. . .] and I said, “She’s right.”  (169-170). 

But I’m sure everyone who’s read ACOSF knows how well that’s going. 

Point Four: the femindhjdfhfdh I can’t even write that with a straight face. I mean let’s be real, I too enjoy seeing female characters I like become queens and all that other stuff, but it was clear to me even on my initial reading of ACOMAF that it was all shallow and designed to help delineate good guys from bad guys without much in the way of nuance. It certainly took me out of the experience a little, but at least it ties into the books’ themes of recovering from abuse and shacking up with a Certified Women Respecter. 

My actual point four: Truthfully I only bought this series for the meme of having the first shitty love interest getting cucked in the second book. ACOWAR gave me some complicated feelings on Tamlin, and I honestly think he should have just stopped appearing in the series after that — BUT, having him be dragged back in once per book just to call him a cuck and cockslap him around a little bit is fucking hilarious. Pointless! But hilarious.

I also think that this kind of arc is a great critique of the standard “happily ever after,” acknowledging that in real life, you’re much more likely to just pass from one abusive household to another because you don’t know what healthy love, communication, and boundaries are. (Arguably many folktales are the fantasies of women who are well aware of this reality but want to imagine a world that’s otherwise). I definitely have a lot of problems with SJM’s claims of “sex positivity,” but acknowledging that Feylin used sex as a means of avoiding communication was another great touch.

I wish that this whole King of Hybern shit was completely cut just to focus on these themes more; it’s very clear SJM only included it because fantasy series = BIG EPIC WORLD-ENDING STAKES!! I've read maybe ten pages of Throne of Glass, so I can't speak for how she handles epic fantasy there, but I know for me and a lot of other stans, the Hybern plot had licherally nothing to do with what we liked and connected to in these books. 

But I must soften here, because I totally empathize with feeling like big stakes are “necessary” for a fantasy story and that no one would want to read your books without them. YA fantasy is the reason why TV Tropes coined the term “romantic plot tumor,” after all. (Source: I’m making shit up.) 

What else… what else… uhhhhh. I think that might be it, at least for substantial things I don’t have to qualify too much. I of course have plenty of little things I used to like but have now been tainted because ACOWAR ruined everything forever and ACOFAS danced on the graves (such as how I liked Lucien but everyone in the books shits on him now to the point it’s stopped being funny). But this post is too long anyway.

[yonghoontual]

ah wth lets do best b-sides of 2021 too bc i'm bored and wanna show yall great songs. I limited this to one song per artist like i did with the other post. this time with commentary. Enjoy!

1. Cosmos by Onewe (this was real hard bc every song on that album is 10/10 but what can ya do bc cosmos is the loml 💕💕💕)

2. Who am I by Weki Meki (should have been the title)

3. All-kill by T-ara (they day by day print. Yes)

4. Moon by G-idle (also a 10/10 album)

5. Heaven by Taemin (it really does sound like that)

6. Bewitched by Pixy (the way all of their bsides are crazy good)

7. I can't breathe by GWSN (its just so good)

8. Scandal by Twice (a literal obsession)

9. Don't speak by Everglow (get those lines onda! 😍)

10. Airplane Mode by fromis_9 (and who else does it like them?)

11. Anti-Romantic by txt (txt honestly has such a good discography)

12. Sunny by Sunmi (pls be my sunmi, sunmi 🌞)

13. Kiss your lips by WJSN the black (looking at seola 👁️👁️ i am tryiiing 💋💋💋)

14. Watermelon by Somi (no bc she did sth with this 🍉)

15. Pose by Red Velvet (finally another good weird song from them)

16. Flying on faith by Chungha (atrocious title track, banger bsides. Stay tonight should have been the actual cb)

17. Runaway by EXO (whenever yixings voice comes in..yeah. just yeah 😩)

18. Poison Love by Dreamcatcher (they never miss ever)

19. Lion Heart by Oneus (thx for the snsd shoutout besties 🦁)

20. Take me home by Ateez (might be the only song of theirs ive listened to more than once)

21. Lucid Dream by aespa (they are being very hit or miss for me but this one is certified hit)

22. Believer by SF9 (i sure am. Sure am)

23. Who comes who knows by Oh my girl (i know theyre kinda canceled a bit but the materiaaal)

24. Lucky by Weeekly (i am lucky to be able to listen to weeekly 🍀)

25. Love fool by StayC (i love singers who can sing)