#promo *ੈ everybody wants to change the world

[j4nedoes]

Tag Drop

[psshaw]

More than that, you’ve got to actually spend your time doing this stuff on the off chance that the algorithm picks it up and people care about what you have to say. You’ve got to spend your time doing this even though it’s corny and cringe and your friends from high school or college will probably laugh as you “try to become an influencer.” You’ve got to do it even when you feel like you have absolutely nothing to say, because the algorithm demands you post anyway. You have to do it even if you’re from a culture where doing any self-promotion is looked upon as inherently negative, or if you’re a woman for whom bragging carries an even greater social stigma than it already does. You’ve got to do it even though the coolest thing you can do is not have to. You’ve got to offer your content to the hellish, overstuffed, harassment-laden, uber-competitive attention economy because otherwise no one will know who you are. In a recent interview with the Guardian, the author Naomi Klein said the biggest change in the world since No Logo, her 1999 book on consumerism and inescapable branding, came out was that “neoliberalism has created so much precarity that the commodification of the self is now seen as the only route to any kind of economic security. Plus social media has given us the tools to market ourselves nonstop.”

Oh hell yes. An article that supports my half-joke that a corporate app's demand for constant self-promo is technically classist.

[millennialsarecoolkidz]

I'm sorry I've lost an ask and it was my first one 😳 so Anon if you recognize yourself you can send it again or comment? :/ basically that ask was about how Shondaland had pushed the pr too far and how you can see Nicola and Luke backtracking at the end of the wt.

First I wanna say that I totally agree with you about the backtracking at the end of the world tour. Nicola has addressed it a few times and you can see Luke's body language changing at the London stop. They can't help themselves so there are still a few WTF moments (you can ask Golda) but the vibes were different.

It's my first fandom and it's the first time I'm so invested in the love life of two celebrities (and please let it be my one and only, I can't handle more self awareness about my weirdness). So I've asked a few times to more experienced fans if that kind of pr is usual but I've never gotten a proper answer so if someone has an opinion or factual information let me know!

So what I'm gonna say is really just a barely informed opinion. The only time I've read criticism about shondaland being a toxic employer is when Ruby Barker has spoken about her experience. I won't talk too much about it, as speculating about someone's mental health doesn't feel right to me. But what I've felt about this story and about what I've witnessed is that Shondaland tries to not be toxic in itself, to provide a safe environment when they are shooting but they don't care about the outcomes when it's over. It's really just a guessing and a feeling.

Now about the wt and how the shipping has been fueled, I'm also really confused. I'm an assumed Lukola so I think that the bond and attraction between them are real, that's my biggest bias in what I'm gonna say. I think they have faced a lot of criticism before the wt, especially a lot of body shaming, and also at the time a lot of Bridgerton's fans, not the Polin ones oc, were pointing at their lack of chemistry (yes it sounds crazy now but you had to be there). So I can understand why they wanted to play into their unsettling chemistry at the beginning and showcase it and rub it in our faces. But between the valentine's day event, the live (on that giant and barely used couch) and the Australian stop, they had time to adjust their pr, as the reactions were already unhinged... they didn't. The only ones who tried to calm it down a bit were Luke and Nicola and it was at the end of the promo tour. Luke ended up to acknowledge a little Antonia, Nicola has said a few times that things were quoted out of context (or that the hair touch meant nothing and she was always doing it to everybody, yeah girl the problem is that his hair was fine and that it turned him into a purring kitten).

From Nicola and Luke's perspectives, I'm a Lukola so I think that they've hidden behind PR and polin to allow themselves to act as they would have wanted to act in their "real life" (yes call me delulu, I know what I've seen ;) ). If I'm really honest I'm not even sure they didn't behave that way of cam too and that it's the public reaction that made them aware of their behavior. I also think that when the shipping became unhinged, it was a little too late. First they seem to be people pleasers so I think they didn't want to disappoint the fans and oc they wanted to sell the show. Second, the Sweeney/Powell backlash had just happened and they probably didn't want to be perceived as dishonest. Especially as they were selling a narrative about themselves as being nice authentic people, as a gentleman and a sweet woman. And, again it's my Lukola heart that is speaking, I think they were a little confused about their relationship/feelings and I think they didn't have the envy to shut down the shipping.

Now from Shondaland, coworkers, teams, interviewers' perspectives, it's obvious that Lukola gives positive engagement. But sometimes it feels like an overkill. I mean look at the first release in the advent calendar, that cute video was enough, why liking and interacting with Lukola's comment? Why do some people from their team interact with Lukola content? They could stick to Polin, right? Plus I understand why they were doing it around the release but now? I guess it's to keep the engagement until they have benophie content. But I don't know it feels so weird that the public pages of Netflix and Shondaland imply that there is something between them or that they are shippers too. Don't take it the wrong way, I don't think they're implying that Nicola and Luke are in a relationship, but they're clearly implying that the feelings and the attraction are real. Of course my delulu would like that it is because they really think that but I think it's more about the engagement than about the truth. But I don't know, it's still really tasteless I think as we know that it leads to a lot of toxicity toward Nicola, Luke and their "loved ones". Honestly I thought that they would have let it dry quietly, that they would just have used the same content, letting shippers calm down by themselves as you can't say indefinitely how they stare at each other is crazy and how something happened in Brazil. But it seems like they want to release new content (they have hinted at bloopers and maybe BTS) and they keep interacting with Lukola's comments so I don't know anymore what their strategy is. Even Nicola and Luke keep fueling the shipping, obviously not as much as before, but it's still a part of their sm activity. Of course, again, the Lukola's content gives engagement but I don't know if the Lukolas are still so important. I know, we love to point out that part 1 of Nicola's dump has been liked a lot more than part 2, but let's be honest the first reel is probably the biggest part of the buzz. I think Polin content and Lukola content, but without implying anything, would do the job. Even if there were a difference, I feel like it wouldn't be a lot and that it would be a fair price for less toxicity on their sm.

So for now my guess is that Shondaland and other content creators are still acting this way because they're going to use polin and Lukola to boost s4 promo and because Nicola and Luke are ok with it (as they couldn't wait for intimacy scene in S4 when they were building that table, they can't wait to be sent to sell their chemistry and be allowed to pinch their butt in public again). Or it's a long term strategy and they will calm it down slowly because the fandom becomes more toxic when you don't provide positive content.

What do you think?

[dalekofchaos]

Dwayne Johnson is a narcissist and an idiot

So Dwayne's stooge Brian Gewirtz says that Cody Rhodes was supposed to react differently when giving up his WM40 Main Event spot to The Rock:

“The idea was supposed to be, it’s like the Nixon-Kenedy debate a little bit where you read the transcript, you’re like ‘Nixon kicked his ass.’ If you watch the actual footage, ‘Oh, he was a sweaty terrible mess.’

Cody, it was supposed to be, in some form, ‘Yeah, Fuckin A! Go get em Rock! You’re going to get your ass kicked, Roman! Let’s do this!’ and this uplifting promo. Instead, he looked like someone shot his dog in the face in the parking lot. —

That, I don’t think, helped matters. It might not have changed or affected anything. Certainly, on paper, and I don’t blame Cody for that, he’s real and one of the realest people I’ve ever met.”

You fucking idiots.

Isn't it scary how Dwyane and the people are around him are always expecting other people to just react with smiles at anything he does just because he's The Rock.

In what fucking world would a man who won the Rumble react the way you wanted to giving up his spot to the Rock.

Dwayne and Brian are still mad that everyone rejected their dogshit fuckin plan for WrestleMania.

You want me to believe Cody was suppose to be cheesing to give up a spot he won? fuck outta there man Was Gewirtz on his knees when he said this?

Taking accountability is a crime in the wrestling business. Just accept that the idea was shit and be glad that the things went the way they went. Cody would've looked like the biggest idiot on the planet (he still did) if he acted the way Brian is describing here.

The pivot after this by Dwayne and team was some of the best television WWE had produced in a minute. So everybody came out better after the change of plans.

Blaming Cody instead of taking responsibility for shitty booking is certainly a choice…..

Him celebrating Rock taking his place would have made him look pathetic.

Him staring daggers at him worked so much better, because why would he be happy for the Rock swooping in & taking what Cody fought hard for?

Dwayne & Brian, you dumbasses.

[imtheiliad]

YOU WERE LIGHTING FLARES [1.3K | alternate universe| bmtb fic] {ao3}

a/n: she's hereee everybody!! i know we are generally losing our collective shit over promo and cast content-- but let me take you to another universe for just a moment. for @buddieau i know thigs didnt go as planned really, but without signing up for this i wouldnt have finished this and i love you both so much <3 both titles are from waking up slow by gabrielle aplin. this will be about 7 chapters i believe, all about this length each capturing a different moment in their relationship in this universe. enjoy <3

CHAPTER ONE: I COULD BE YOUR FRIEND Buck wasn’t one to often get deeply invested in their patients. He would connect with them deeply, leaving him emotionally wrought, but not in a way that was investment. 

Bobby had told him that their jobs stopped at the glass doors. Athena chewing him out. But it just had been something about how tiny the baby had been. Is. He had cradled her all the way to the hospital, feeling some sort of kindred spirit in her. 

He understands why they don’t go past the glass doors. He really does. There’s just something aching. 

“You know, I  have a friend up in the NICU. I could ask him about her?” Maddie offers over the takeout containers that Buck brought to the hospital with him after his shift. 

Buck just shrugs as he sips his coffee, “I don’t know Mads, Bobby made it pretty clear-“ 

“Well, what if you were to happen to be here, and happen on the floor… it’s 4 by the way," she smiles as her pager beeps and she takes a last gulp of coffee before taking off back to the ED, calling “See ya at home Ev!” Before she’s gone. And Buck is alone in the nurse break room. He pushes his last few bites of breakfast around in the container before eating them and throwing everything away and leaving the room, weighing the idea in his head. 

He stands in front of the bank of elevators trying to decide if he wants to go up or down. With a rush he pushes the up button before he can change his mind for a tenth time. 

He carefully follows the arrows and signs pointing him toward the NICU. He feels far too big and clumsy to be in this wing. Where fragile beings are just learning what it’s like to be in the world. Surrounded by such innocence. He didn’t quite fit in with his raucous and reckless life. 

He's finally standing in front of the window, carefully looking to see if he can see her. 

His eyes land on her in the incubator, and she seems even tinier than he remembers, even though it was only a few hours ago really. An eternity, and twice her lifetime for her and a blink of an eye for him. she has a hat now which settles something within the aching, but the myriad of wires and tubes add a new sense of worry. he’s never felt like this before. 

He just watches her chest rise and fall. Hands shoved in his jeans pockets. He still feels out of place, being six foot two, and all muscle. But there is a part of him that is truly and fully invested in everything about her. Wants to make sure that she finds her people, that she’s happy and loved. That she has someone to love her like Maddie loved him. 

The nurse comes by to check her vitals and Buck watches him closely, knowing the nurse can do his job but wants to see if he can read his expression as he checks her over. He catches Buck watching and after he makes some final notes on her chart, he exits the room and comes face to face with Buck. 

His arms are crossed, the sleeves of his soft gray shirt pushed up his forearms underneath his light purple scrub top. The tiny stethoscope hanging around his neck, a tiny monkey holding tight.

“Are you her father?” he questions, skepticism already lacing every word. 

And Buck nearly jumps out of his skin even though he saw the other man coming and even suspected that he woul be spoken to. That question wasn’t what he expected. The notion of it even, “Oh god no! I- I’m just-“ 

The nurse’s right eyebrow starts expertly climbing his brow as Buck stumbles.  

“I'm um, I'm a firefighter-'' he shucks the left side of his jacket a little to reveal the emblem, “I’m on the team that brought her in yesterday?” Buck tries, “I’m the one who held her all the way here.” 

The nurse softens, “And my sister, she- she’s the one who said it would be okay for me to come by- Maddie, she’s a nurse down in the ED-  I’ll leave if it’s not, I have pretty much gotten what I came for anyway, I am so sorry.” Buck rambles, fidgeting and looking over his shoulder. 

The nurse starts smiling, and Buck had never seen anything like it. 

“You’re Evan!” There’s a sparkle in his eye that could rival stars in rural Montana. 

A blush creeps across his cheeks, “You know Maddie,” he states, ducking his head and digging a toe into the linoleum. 

“I'm Eddie by the way, I'm guessing she’s never mentioned me by name?” 

“No,” he shakes his head, but then snaps his fingers, “but she did mention a NICU nurse friend!” 

Eddie laughs again resting his hands on his hips casually. 

“She’s tried to convince me to let her give me her cute firefighter brother’s number, I don’t know how many times.” 

“You can have it if you want,” Buck blurts, then covers his mouth, “Oh my god I’m sorry.” 

“It's okay.” Eddie runs a hand over the back of his neck, “You can have it. I just- I’m not ready to date yet?” 

“You can call me Buck by the way, Maddie’s the only one that calls me Evan. Well she does and my parents but-“ 

“We don’t talk about the parents,” Eddie says in the same tone that Maddie does and Buck laughs. It all feels like a breath of fresh air after the shift he had. 

It feels like Eddie is waiting for Buck to deny him something because of what he said, but Buck just takes his phone from his back pocket, opens a new contact and holds it out to him. Eddie smiles a little as he carefully takes it and enters the number. 

“Text me so I have yours okay? I gotta get back in there.” 

“I will. Bye!” 

“Bye Evan.” 

He looks into the nursery again just to make sure her chest is still rising and falling steadily and waves at Eddie one more time before rocking on his heels, and smiling like an idiot all the way to the elevators. 

Maddie is barely in the door before Buck launches into a rant, “Maddie how could you not tell me you’re “NICU nurse friend” is possibly the hottest man I  have ever seen but you have also offered him my number, on more than one occasion, unbeknownst to me. You had ulterior motives!” 

“So I see you met Eddie,” she says, dropping her bag on the floor and toeing off her shoes. “He needed it to be on his terms, or at least think it was.” 

“Yeah, he uh mentioned not being ready to date, what’s that all about?” 

“Not my story to tell. but I hear you have his  number so you can ask him yourself.” she just grins and opens the fridge to grab a glass of juice before she crawls into bed. 

Buck is laying in bed staring at the ceiling when his phone buzzes;

From: Eddie 🩺 Hi. 

A blush creeps across his cheeks and he smiles. He quickly schools himself because he just met the man. But there had been something about him that made Buck want to crawl into a warm bubble and live there with him.

To : eddie 🩺

shouldn’t you be sleeping 🤨

From : eddie 🩺

Couldn’t you say the same for yourself?

To: eddie 🩺

Oh no

R u someone that like uses actual grammar while texting

From: Eddie 🩺

Is that an actual question?

To: Eddie 🩺

Uhh yeah

From : Eddie 🩺

Yes. And if only there was punctuation for you to indicate that you were asking me a question…

To: Eddie 🩺

Oh. my. God. 🙄

good night

[for-yoongi0309]

BTS’ Suga Returns as Agust D to Tackle Loneliness, Humanity & Being Acknowledged

Most famously known as Suga from BTS — but also by the solo moniker Agust D, as well as birth name Min Yoongi — the artist who works as a rapper, singer, producer, dancer, fashion muse and NBA ambassador wants to remind listeners that, above all, he is a human.

“In the past — and I’ve always said this in my interviews — personally, I think loneliness is being together in modern society. I always talk about loneliness in my interviews, but regretfully, it isn’t always in the final interview. Not only me, everyone has this loneliness inside them until the moment they die. However deep you are in a relationship, how much you engage with other people, how many friends you meet, or how often you meet with your family, you always have the loneliness inside.

So, I started with this keyword of “loneliness” three years ago, and I wouldn’t say there’s much difference in that everybody can feel pain and agonized. It’s the same with me. Whether it’s me from BTS, SUGA, Min Yoongi, or Agust D, I always have that inside me too. People might see me as someone who wouldn’t have any concerns or worries or that I don’t feel any agony, but I feel those emotions too. I’m trying to find a way to fight those and overcome those too.”

Today, April 7, marks the return of Agust D, the name Suga uses when releasing solo projects away from BTS, with the new single “People Pt.2” featuring K-pop superstar IU. Not only does it mark the duo’s latest collaboration after teaming for the No. 1 hit on Billboard‘s World Digital Song Sales chart “Eight” from May 2020, it also acts as an extension from “People,” a fan-favorite cut from Agust D’s D-2 mixtape released that same month. While the original “People” saw Suga reflecting on himself and meditating on how others judge and change, Part 2 longs for connection with others. As multifaceted as Suga’s world is, loneliness is a permanent source of inspiration and intrigue for the 30-year-old. Hours before “People Pt.2” drops worldwide, his call with Billboard occurs alongside multiple international teams who work around the clock for Suga and BIGHIT MUSIC artists. Some are beside him physically, others via Zoom connection virtually — but loneliness remains a muse for the star, assisting him in searching within and speaking to listeners in larger, universal ways. Since its debut, BTS’ musical appeal has reached globally largely through the septet’s extended metaphors and imagery, translating into accessible storytelling alongside boundary-pushing compositions and choreography. Suga’s range of material is vast, after producing on essentially every BTS album, not to mention scoring high-profile collaborations with everyone from Halsey and Juice WRLD to Epik High and Japan’s ØMI. But now, he’s emphasizing the topics that move him personally — and ensuring he’s properly heard.

Despite an already packed spring and summer with album promo, his solo world tour, ambassadorship duties and a YouTube series, Suga cheekily closes out our chat “Yeah, it’s fuking busy,” he says with a wink since he has no time to waste. Read on as he narrows in on the release of “People Pt.2” and all that’s led up to this reflective pop/hip-hop collaboration.

We’re hours away from the release of “People Pt.2,” your official return as Agust D for your D-Day album. Is there a different mindset when you prepare music as Agust D versus solo or as SUGA alongside BTS?

SUGA: They’re all music made by the person called Min Yoongi. So, I don’t actually have a very different mindset for each moniker — but I would say that the purposes could be somewhat different. Ultimately, the goal of releasing this music is for as many people to listen to my music as possible. So, “People Pt.2” was made thinking about how people will receive Agust D’s music, which is why we also featured IU. It’s kind of a trial to release this music under the name Agust D. I’m actually a little bit worried.

“People Pt.2” (featuring IU) of course follows up “People” from the D-2 mixtape. What was important about continuing this story with IU?

SUGA: This is a story that you’ll personally love: The title wasn’t originally “People Pt.2.” Actually, “People” from D-2 is personally my favorite song — and we actually worked on “People Pt.2” three years ago. When I was releasing my pictorial [Photo-Folio Wholly or Whole Me] photo shoot, the company actually revealed the guide [demo] version and gave a glimpse of it to the public. But anyway, it was already finished when we were working on D-2 so I was thinking, “Oh, I should release this, I should release this.” But we had to get on with “Butter” and “Dynamite” so we didn’t get the chance. Originally, the title was “Sara (사라),” without the “M (ㅁ)” consonant in Korean — because that’s, like, one consonant less than the word “saram (사람),” which is Korean for “people.” Depending on whichever consonant you put at the end of the word sara (사라), it can become “saram (사람)” and “people,” or it can become “sarang 사랑,” or “love” in Korean. So, it’s the listener’s choice to put which consonant you want at the end of “sara” (사라). But I had my friend listen to this song and people heard it as “sal-ah (살아)” which kind of means “live” in Korean and I was like, “This is not going to work.” So, we finalized the title to be “People” in the end. And some people call me August D, some people call me Ah-gust D, but I’m actually Agust D. So, you know, people take my name differently and we had to sync the person SUGA and Agust D. This is a song that kind of matches that sync. We need that bridge and sync between my mixtape and this official solo album. In order to put that sync together, I had to make this a very pop song. We didn’t try to make the music video that intense — and, in that sense, IU really played an important role in doing that. I also think this is a genre that I can do best, this pop-focused song.

There’s this sync between songs, but the themes and lyrics are very different, right? “People” was self-reflective and examined other people’s judgments, but “People Pt.2” seems more about connection and fighting loneliness. What most differentiates the two in your mind?

SUGA: In the past — and I’ve always said this in my interviews — personally, I think loneliness is being together in modern society. I always talk about loneliness in my interviews, but regretfully, it isn’t always in the final interview. Not only me, everyone has this loneliness inside them until the moment they die. However deep you are in a relationship, how much you engage with other people, how many friends you meet, or how often you meet with your family, you always have the loneliness inside. So, I started with this keyword of “loneliness” three years ago, and I wouldn’t say there’s much difference in that everybody can feel pain and agonized. It’s the same with me. Whether it’s me from BTS, SUGA, Min Yoongi, or Agust D, I always have that inside me too. People might see me as someone who wouldn’t have any concerns or worries or that I don’t feel any agony, but I feel those emotions too. I’m trying to find a way to fight those and overcome those too. This album doesn’t really finalize everything in its message either. So, there might be a possibility there could be a “Part 3” later on. For now, we’re just trying to say, “Let’s not hate each other. Let’s find a way.”

I like that — because even in the Road to D-Day documentary trailer, there’s a moment you say you frequently consider quitting music. But when people come together, it makes you realize you can do it and have fun. Does this tie into themes of “People Pt.2”?

SUGA: This is kind of a difficult topic, because I started making music and writing lyrics [when] I was 11 or 12 years old. I’ve been making music for all these years, and now I’m 30. It wasn’t easy writing “People Pt.2,” and the album overall, but people really don’t know the whole process of that. Even though I’d been making music more than half of my life — and I’m just saying this because you understand this, Jeff — when we first started in the K-pop scene, we were in this ambiguous position of not being accepted as musicians and not being accepted as idols either. But the musicians close to me know that I’m very serious and sincere in music and that I’m a very natural person. So, the documentary started as I just wanted to capture and show this process. It started with the purpose of showing SUGA as a producer and songwriter, but it kind of ended up having the worldview of an album-making process. I tried to show the normal, individual side of me as much as possible, but as I am a Korean idol, or K-idol, a lot of scenes were edited out; there were more of those natural scenes and some very good scenes that couldn’t make it in the final version. The documentary and “People Pt.2” try to reveal the natural side of the human Min Yoongi. I just wanted to show that I am this humane person. I am just a human.

You need to release your “Director’s Cut” one day. While D-Day and the documentary are coming, I want to congratulate you on the worldwide release of D-2 and Agust D this week. My favorite song, “Agust D” with the sample of “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World,” was finally added to streaming too. You shared how J. Cole approved BTS’ “Born Singer” sample, what can you share about the process with James Brown‘s estate?

SUGA: I released Agust D when I was still very young, so, even as I listen to it now, it kind of sounds immature — if you listen to the tone, the rap itself wasn’t very organized, I wanted to do a lot of things at that time. It just kind of keeps going very tightly and quickly. But after doing so much various and diverse music, I think that people love the songs that have been released more recently than the songs that were released back then. So, I kind of dare say that people are starting to recognize and acknowledge these songs now. Since the musician actually passed away, I think it was the family who decided to acknowledge it. Same thing with [clearing] “Born Sinner” — and I don’t know what the path was for the musician themselves, but it was clear. And I take it as that I, as BTS, and Min Yoongi, and SUGA, and Agust D, was acknowledged as a musician. I’m really not thinking that broader consumers or audiences will accept it, because it’s not really popular music. Still, I would dare assume that it’s getting cleared because we’re finally getting recognized as musicians.

Interviewer: Jeff Benjamin at billboard

[theliterarywolf]

Have you ever called out anybody who's even says peep about the Harry Potter game? I just saw that post you made 4 days ago and I can't help but feel like I blame everybody continuously talking about it like it's a world-changing big deal that is somehow even more important than the Ukraine Russia stuff.

Like there's a part of me that really wants to blame a certain Tumblr blogger can I just kind of don't care if it makes me not that much different from the idiots who are attacking each other. They are being a dumbass and they gave attention to the game thus if we're being extremely harsh about this they technically supported JK by having more people buy it and and I think they should be blocked not be in front of this bullshit

When the initial promos for the game started coming out, I was already disinterested because I've never been the biggest HP fan.

And, no, that's not the facetious 'Lol, HP was never good; grow up' sentiment that people give to those who acknowledge JKR as a shitty person but still enjoy the books.

Then the trailers and promo footage came out and I was like 'Huh, this looks... Not great.' But, again, it wasn't for me so I minded my own business. Though I did start seeing the rumblings of 'Boycott'/'No, disavow JKR but support the Devs!'

And then the game launched and all hell broke loose into our current situation: me seeing both sides of the equation shit themselves in the name of being pro or against this game, people in the middle or just not wanting to give the game attention being forced to endure the constant barrage of people treating the dumb wizard game like it's the second coming of the Third Reich (which would technically be the first coming of the Fourth Reich, but let's not be pedantic) or that it's a precious, sacred babby that needs championing. Not to mention the 'the game is antisemitic/wait, it's actually not/nevermind, it is' constant flip-flop ping.

Me answering that ask was actually the first and, before this ask, only posting I had made on here about the whole situation because I wanted the game to just be relevant for two weeks and then fade into obscurity. But the constant shitshow surrounding it keeps letting it stay relevant!

[wrestlingisfake]

Supercard of Honor preview

Claudio Castagnoli vs. Eddie Kingston - Castagonli is the defending ROH men's world champion. Kingston has had it in for him since...well, look, Eddie has it in for everybody, one way or another. So I could look up their whole history in CHIKARA or whatever but that isn't going to make it make more sense. They really hate each other, ladies and gentlemen.

Kingston dramatically "quit" AEW earlier this month to get away from all the snakes and liars. Then he showed up at the ROH tapings (okay technically him showing up was taped before he quit) to bitch about how Claudio is a snake and a liar or whatever. Listen, Eddie is hella cool but his decisions don't make a lot of sense to me. "I do me, partna"--yeah, you sure do, my guy.

Conveniently, Castagnoli has quietly turned heel to support Jon Moxley's heel turn in AEW, so he can actually be the asshole Kingston makes him out to be. Unfortunately, the storyline amounts to Claudio attacking Eddie for blaming everyone but himself for his problems, which...actually yeah, he's right. The story isn't great. I mean, it's better than Edge vs. The Judgment Day, but that's a low bar to clear.

In spite of everything I'm rooting for Eddie, and he did a great go-home promo on March 30. But I just can't convince myself he's going to beat Castagnoli right now, at the peak of the Blackpool Combat Club's heel run. Something tells me this match won't settle anything, and we'll be seeing it again before long...

El Hijo del Vikingo vs. Komander - Vikingo is defending the AAA mega championship. From 2016 to 2021, Ring of Honor was part of a tight alliance with CMLL, which made it impractical for ROH to work with other Mexican promotions, or really any Mexican wrestlers that had heat with CMLL. So even hearing "Triple A" on an ROH show is weird enough, let alone seeing a AAA title match.

AEW/ROH fans will mainly know Vikingo from the big dream match with Kenny Omega on March 22. It's been notoriously difficult to get dates on him in the US, which has added to the allure of seeing him on an American broadcast. For example, AEW wanted Vikingo for the big ladder match on March 1, but they couldn't get him. Instead they brought in Komander from KAOZ, who proceeded to put himself on the map for people who don't watch lucha libre. People who do follow lucha went nuts the second this match was announced, so expect a lot of hype for this. Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman may both pass out just from calling the action.

In a funny twist that probably won't get mentioned on this show, these two already had a AAA title bout yesterday, at Wrestlecon's Mark Hitchcock Memorial Supershow. It was a three-way with Taurus, and I haven't watched it yet but I bet Taurus took the pin. That's the kind of wacky situations you get during Wrestlemania weekend.

I believe AAA and KAOZ have a working relationship, so it wouldn't be totally implausible to see a title change here. But AAA knows they've got a golden goose with Vikingo, and I don't think they're going to let Tony Khan job him out twice in one month.

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Daniel Garcia - Garcia was penciled in to face Will Ospreay here, but Ospreay is on the shelf and it looks like Tana has been sent in to fulfill his commitments. Garcia is probably still stinging from his big loss to Adam Cole on March 29, followed by a weird angle where Jericho helped him to the back and seemed protective but also weirdly bothered about something. I don't know if this match will play into that or not. Either way, Garcia has something to prove.

I suppose Garcia has a slightly better chance of beating Tanahashi than I thought Mike Bailey had last night. If Garcia was a New Japan regular in line for a push, he might score a huge upset win in a situation like this. But New Japan is more careful about who they send to do a job in an interpromotional match against a midcarder. If the plan was for Garcia to beat a New Japan veteran, they probably would've sent Tomohiro Ishii or Satoshi Kojima. Like Bailey, Garcia will have to make do with Tanahashi making him look good in defeat.

Wheeler YUTA vs. Katsuyori Shibata - Yuta's ROH pure title is at stake, which means "pure rules" are in effect. The rules are designed to discourage outside interference, closed-fist punches to the face, and going to the ropes to escape a hold. The championship can change hands on a disqualification or count-out. In the event of a 60-minute draw, the decision will be awarded by a panel of judges.

Shibata is the head trainer for New Japan's LA Dojo, but more importantly he was a key NJPW guy until he suffered subdural hematoma during a 2017 match. He shockingly returned to action in 2021 for an exhibition match, but after a second exhibition in 2022 New Japan evidently grew wary of letting him compete. He later faced Orange Cassidy in AEW and Tom Lawlor at an Antonio Inoki tribute show. I still get scared when I see him wrestle.

In terms of star power, Yuta really has no business beating Shibata, particularly for a "just very good at grappling" belt. But you can't have Shibata win the title without a plan for him to return and defend it, which is probably not going to be easy. So I have to assume this match is going to be about Shibata passing the torch, which is a little awkward since Yuta recently turned heel and he's being a huge prick about stuff like that.

Reach For The Sky ladder match - This is a five-way tag team ladder match, with the ROH tag team championship at stake. Jay & Mark Briscoe won the title in December, but Jay was killed in a car accident back in January, so Mark announced this as sort of a Jay Briscoe memorial match. Both tag belts will be suspended above the ring, and ladders will be placed around ringside for the competitors to use. Whoever is first to climb up and retrieve either belt will win the championship for his team.

The announced participants are: the Lucha Bros. (Penta El 0 Miedo & Rey Fenix), Top Flight (Dante Martin & Darius Martin), the Kingdom (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett), Aussie Open (Mark Davis & Kyle Fletcher), and Rush & Dralistico. The Kingdom and Top Flight have been feuding for a while, so for all we know this may be their blowoff match.

Anyone could win this, really. If this was for the AEW tag belts, I'd lean towards putting them on the hottest team under contract, and that'd be the Lucha Bros. But for all we know the plan is for the ROH tag champs to be a lesser team that primarily works ROH tapings, which favors the Kingdom or Top Flight. It could work to put the belts on Aussie Open or Rush/Dralistico, but it's harder to see what the plan would be. Guess I'll just have to sit back and take in the chaos.

Samoa Joe vs. Mark Briscoe - Briscoe is challenging Joe for the ROH television title. They've played up the idea that Mark has always wanted this championship, but has never held it. Normally I'd say he's a huge underdog against Joe. But Mark isn't going back to tag team wrestling after the death of his brother, and he'll never have as much fan support as he does right now. Also, Joe never made a lot of sense as the TV champion; now that they've got a weekly ROH show, I think he should move up to chasing the world title. So Tony Khan has a zillion reasons to just give us the feel-good moment and give Mark the title.

Athena vs. Yuka Sakazaki - Athena, the ROH women's world champion, called out Sakazaki for this title match. Athena's heel run has been great but I've kinda lost the plot with her complaining that all the other women are "porcelain" or whatever. Sakazaki would probably work as champion but I honestly forgot she was even still with the AEW, so I don't know if that kind of commitment is feasible. Athena should probably retain.

Brian Cage & Bishop Kaun & Toa Liona vs. AR Fox & Blake Christian & Metalik - Cage and the Gates of Agony are defending the ROH trios championship. Fox's team has been little more than jobbers in AEW/ROH thus far, so I wouldn't normally give them much of a chance here. But Cage's contract reportedly expired, and he's supposed to be on a handshake deal to finish up at this show. So unless something really wild happens, I think we'll see a title change. Just as well, I think Kaun and Liona work better as a duo anyway.

[thatrandomartistjavi]

So I’m someone who doesn’t really like this movie and I’m gonna like try and explain as best as possible why I don’t like the movie all that much.

This is all coming from the perspective of someone who really likes the Alice stories so you have to keep that in mind but a lot of like Wonderland has just been like sucked of it’s whimsy. Most everything are these ugly colors of grey and blue with only really a few moments of greenery which is very important when it comes to Wonderland. It sucks too cause in promos we see that the shots had more color and it still gave off the vibe of a dying Wonderland and then they just didn’t use them??? Also them changing the name from Wonderland to Underland is unnecessary as all hell and more seems like Tim and his writers thought that a place called Wonderland was “Too childish for their very mature movie” and decided to make fun of the people who think that Wonderland is a good name.

Underland is also such a boring name like holy hell

The opening party is way too long because they’re trying to give you parallels for the Wonderlandians is just ugh to me. Since there’s a whole thing about Alice realizing that this world and it’s people are real and in very real danger, and that she needs to start actually giving a shit. And then try to make that point mute by trying really hard to still keep the parallels up and try to convince that it was “Actually a dream”

Alice’s arc is also like kinda paradoxical because it’s about how she needs to follow her own path and not let other people decide what she should be doing and how she shows this ability to choose is to do exactly want her to do and slay the Jabberwock. Which like isn’t a good way to show her autonomy because she really has no choice, she either does what everybody wanted her to do in the first place or let these people be enslaved and murdered by a dictator. It would’ve been much better if the Oraculum had prophesied that they needed her as a sort of sacrifice for the Jabberwock and then spat in its stupid pages by being the one to slay it.

This one is more personal cause Cheshire is my favorite Alice character but I LOATHE how they portrayed him here. Chessur, as a character, is fine. He was kinda the only character I really cared about. What I DONT like is how adamant they are to portraying him as like an asshole when like he has done nothing of the sort?? Like the scene where Tarrant screams at Chessur for not saving his clan on Horunvendush Day is so stupid because 1. Nobody has anticipated that day it literally came out of nowhere and 2. He is not noted to be someone in a position to protect Wonderlandian citizens so he ran just like everyone else on that day. Like he wasn’t even shown in the flashback(none of the animals were) so why is HE being held responsible for a tragedy that NOBODY SAW COMING!!! The first draft had a way better version of this scene where it’s more talking about how Chessur doesn’t care what’s happening with Iracebeth’s rule because Well I don’t know those people and she doesn’t affect me all that much so why should I care which would actually make him an asshole!! But nooooooo he has to be the one to be screamed at because the world is falling apart and he would rather not here about Iracebeth while having tea with his friends. And Tarrant never apologized or makes up for hos years of yelling in either movie and it’s Chessur who has to redeem himself like gtfo of here

Also none of the animals characters really have much development other than their relationship with the human characters. Like the most we get is Bayard who has a wife and kids but that isn’t much. Like we never get to really see their perspectives on things or history for them unlike Tarrant who gets a whole flashback and shit. Like these guys are being hunted down and enslaved and you’re telling me they have NO THOUGHTS ON THIS??? Ok man

So yeah this movie isn’t horrible but like at least for me, it isn’t that good either. One of its biggest crimes is that it gets really boring a lot of the times

I just watched the Alice in Wonderland live action movie (the 2010 one) because I remember watching it when I was younger and it was a very important memory to me, so I looked for it and rewatched it

But apparently it's very hated??? And bad?? Why? I was looking for some reasons in Google and most of the stuff I saw could he easily disproven, at least from this one specific thing I found (I haven't been looking that much but the reasons seem pretty stupid ngl)

Can someone give me good reasons why it's bad?? Without the whole "Alice looks bored the entire time besides the scene where she was falling down a hole" she thought she was dreaming so I can understand that one

[stray-itallian-greyhound]

tag dump 2

[mitchtheficus]

A Golden Lovers Timeline

PART 12: THE AMERICAN NIGHTMARE

[ID: gif of Cody leaning forward and saying: “Is the world ready for the American Nightmare?” End ID LINK]

Cody Rhodes joins Bullet Club December 10th, 2016 under the ring name: “the American Nightmare”

Kenny introduces him to us as a monster and oh boy is he right

[ID: two gifs of Kenny doing a promo in the ring, talking to the camera. He says: “The next member of the Bullet Club is a monster. Rest assured, things round here will change.” End ID LINK]

Cody is wrestling royalty, recently escaped from under the thumb of Vince McMahon, striking out on his own for the first time, and the bucks have kind of adopted him and taken him under their wing. he starts showing up in BTE and their hotel Q&As in February 2017, part of the gang already

[ID: gif of Matt hugging Cody while Nick (who is holding the camera) gives them a Too Sweet gesture. End ID LINK]

in his first njpw interview he gets asked about tension within the bullet club and he assures us that the BC is like Camelot, a round table of equals 

[ID: picture of Cody in a blue suit. he has brown hair and his left eye has an American flag contact that makes him look just slightly off. He’s saying: “Think of it this way: it’s Camelot, if that makes any sense. It’s a round table. Everybody’s an equal.” End ID LINK]

(the fact that camelot famously had a king seems to slip his mind)

But the cracks in Cody’s Team Player facade start to show pretty quickly

Cody is the one who ties to throw in the towel on Kenny’s behalf at Dominion (June 11, 2017) claiming he’s worried about Kenny’s well-being. but the bucks stop him. After the match Cody shows up at Okada’s post-match comments, calls him “stud” and issues his own title challenge [LINK]

[ID: picture of Cody leaning towards a sweaty and tired looking Okada and yelling: “You’re AFRAID to measure yourself against a goddamn SUPERSTAR like myself!” Okada looks unimpressed. End ID]

He gets his chance at the G1 Special (July 1-2, 2017), but no one seems to take his challenge particularly seriously (it’s clear from Kenny’s OnTheRoad videos from this time, that he assumes Cody will lose)

During Cody’s match, Kenny mirrors Cody’s actions at Dominion with his own towel and is also stopped by the bucks. and after the match their conflict almost becomes physical

[ID: gif of Kenny yelling at an irate Cody while the bucks push the two apart. end ID LINK]

but once again the bucks keep the pot from boiling over

Kenny and Cody promise that it’s water under the bridge, but neither is being particularly honest

The thing you need to know about Cody is that he’s a snake. In some ways he and Kenny are alike, both are incredibly ambitious and neither is interested in being second to anyone. but they’re ambitious in different ways. Kenny’s ambition has a goal, he’s ambitious because he wants to be a legend, he wants to change the world, he wants to be loved, he wants to be worthy. Cody is ambitious because there is no other way of existing that has meaning to him.

[ID: Cody with blond hair in backstage comments, clearly upset. He says: “He said I’m not the leader. Great. Great. Then who am I? Then who am I?” End ID LINK]

If you took away his *personal* ambition, there would still be things inside Kenny. he would still have motivations and desires. If you pulled out Cody’s ambition, rooted deep into the earth of his very soul like a weed, it would kill him dead. it would transform him utterly. The best you can hope for with Cody are some strong fcking breaks.

But unlike the recently murdered Adam Cole, Cody is smart enough to see that direct confrontation with Kenny won’t get him what he wants, at least not yet, not while the bucks are still resolutely in Kenny’s corner.

So he bides his time. He observes.

he doesn’t get anywhere right away but he keeps his eyes open, and it doesn’t take him long to notices something that no one else in the bullet club seems to:

Kota Ibushi

Kenny’s open wound. the way Kenny is always, always talking about Kota Ibushi but barely able to hear his name or look him in the face. The guilt and hurt and love that Kenny is just bleeding out everywhere he goes, where anyone can see but no one seems to look. And when Cody makes some innocuous comment about looking for a Wrestle Kingdom opponent, Kenny tells him he can pick anyone he wants, but to stay away from Kota Ibushi. And Cody tastes blood in the water.

So he starts poking.

When Kota loses his emotional IC title match against Tanahashi (Nov. 5, 2017 - LINK), Cody comes to his post-match comments and issues a challenge.

[ID: two gifs of Kota sitting on the ground in post-match comments, and Cody standing above him in a red suit, holding the ROH title. Cody says: “Kenny told me to leave you alone. Kenny told me to leave you alone, but I just couldn’t resist.” End ID.]

“Kenny told me to leave you alone but I just couldn’t resist. And I know you wanted that one! I know you wanted it, [faux sympathetic voice] so close! but it's not always about what we want. Sometimes, it's about what we need, right? See, I- I need you. I need you to stand across from me at the Tokyo Dome. I need you to be my opponent at Wrestle Kingdom. What do they say, always pick a fight that's big enough to matter but small enough for you to win? I'm already the biggest box office in the industry, and you- you're the small part. So get ready to kiss the ring and get ready to get down on your knees when you do it! Sleep on it, stud.”

- Cody Rhodes [LINK]

(i super did not clock the ‘get down on your knees’ bit back then lmao)

Kota doesn’t respond immediately but it’s announced later that he accepted the challenge

(one has to assume he was interested in Cody’s mention of Kenny if nothing else. Here Cody is after all, giving him a sliver of hope that maybe Kenny does still care about him, despite their failed touch in the hallway)

In their tag match leading up to WK12 [Dec 11, 2017 - LINK] Cody displays…

[ID: two gifs. in the first Cody holds up his hand with a ring on it, asking Kota to kiss the ring. Kota shoves his hand out of his face. In the second Cody holds Kota’s hand and showily kisses it, looking Kota in the eyes. End ID]

let’s call it a decidedly malicious, subtly amorous interest in Kota (that will become much less subtle pretty much immediately)

Because you see, Cody knows about the golden lovers.

He’s trying to get to Kenny through Kota, and these aren’t the taunts one would use to get to an old tag partner. Cody knows they’re not just old tag partners. He knows that “lovers” is not just a name.

He’s the only one in the bullet club who seems to.

And with this knowledge he is perfectly placed to cause maximum damage, to hurt Kenny and Kota like no one else knows how

and at WK12 he gets his first shot

[PART 13] [ALL PARTS]

[peregrintook]

would you recommend trop now? 👀

Listen.... LISTEN ANON!!!!! 😭

Do you want the short or the long answer?

The short one is yes.

The long one is .... under the cut. 😂

The long one I think is still basically yes but it depends so strongly on what you want from it!

Do you want a faithful to canon lore accurate Silmarillion (first/second age) adaption? And is that the only thing you want and will you be upset fi it is anything different? Then probably don't watch it.

But. BUT!

If you're open to some changes and some creativity then give it a CHANCE.

Because I was so sceptical and so critical and pretty much convinced I wasn't going to like it and I'd only watch the first episode just so I'd be able to complain about it later.

And don't get me wrong there are still a bunch of things in there that I'm not really happy with but.. honestly the things they did right make up for it.

First of all it's absolutely visually stunning. The costumes, the locations, it's GORGEOUS. Lindon especially, and Khazad Dum, and Numenor, and if middle-earth means as much to you as it does to me then you will WEEP seeing these locations on screen.

And then the characters!! Sure, I can't say I'm a big fan of rop Galadriel (yet) but - listen, this is only season 1, she may yet get a whole lot of character development. BUT THERE ARE SO MANY OTHERS.

You all know I'm absolutely obsessed with rop Elrond. Even though when they released the promo pictures of the cast first I was like ??? Who this ??? This not Elrond ??? BUT YES HE IS. This Elrond is so wise and so good and so noble and so calm and just so COMFORTING. KIND AS SUMMER INDEED!!! Seriously, give Robert Aramayo one minute of your time to convince you of his acting skills and you'll never doubt him again. This man knows what he's doing.

But moving on to less obvious opinions - Durin!!! He has a huge heart like. Pats him on the head this short man can fit so much love. He's just so GENUINE and soft and good and loyal and brave and mischievous and WONDERFUL. and so is Disa! Am I still annoyed that she doesn't have a beard? Yes, a bit, but look she has a LITTLE bit of a beard, and anyway she doesn't need one. She's amazing. She's wonderful and lovely and wise and kind and good and fiery and passionate and supportive and accepting and she's a mother and a princess and a resonator and a friend and a mediator and I just love her SO MUCH.

And Arondir is wonderful too, I'm SO annoyed that his character (and actor!) are getting so much hate just for his skin color and because he's an original character, like ??? It doesn't MATTER, he's LOVELY. Sure he doesn't look like your generic white skinned long haired PJ movies elf but he doesn't have to! He's BEAUTIFUL and he's an elf and he's a wonderful character with so much love and compassion and goodness in his heart, he just wants to save as much of the world as he possibly can, he just wants to do GOOD.

Which reminds me - Nori!!! Nori is very similar to Arondir actually, I think, just more innocent and naive - understandably because she is MUCH younger, but still - all she wants to do it do something good, something that matters.

If you haven't noticed a theme by now, let me point it out to you: there is so much goodness in this show. And I find that so fucking refreshing. Because after GoT and all the "ThE nExT GoT" we got over the last few years I have been getting seriously tired of grimdark pessimistic "blabla this is realistic because everything sucks and nobody is actually good everybody is ultimately selfish" bullcrap. No offense to GoT fans, I know that's not ALL got is and I'm sure the books are better about it (I haven't read past the first one because I don't do well with too many POVs!), but there's just been this increase of demand or expectation for violence and cynicism and bitterness (and also lots and lots of sex for some reason) in high fantasy lately - and ROP doesn't do that. ROP says we're here to be good to each other. We're here to treat each other kindly. We don't want to give the darkness even a chance, not out there, and not in ourselves. We care about each other and we work together and that is how we win, ultimately.

I think this theme is strongest in the arcs of Durin and Elrond, and Nori, and Arondir so far - which is why they're my favorites - it's less apparent in Galadriel and Halbrand and Miriel's part of the story yet, but I have a feeling it will be eventually. Galadriel is already learning, she's already changed from episode 1. She'll get there. And look at the Harfoots - going from "you're going to the end of the caravan and if you can't keep up that's goodbye then i guess" to "what's the point of living if we can't live good"?? FUCK, MAN. SHE'S RIGHT. What WOULD be the point??

GOD I could go on but I have to get something to eat so I'll stop here but feel free to comment because I'd LOVE to discuss rop with you all!! <33

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 307: The One With Shindou

Previously on BnHA: Endeavor and Hawks (and Jeanist too, although he didn’t really do anything, but BY GOD, WHAT IS UP WITH HIS NECK) held a press conference and were all, “everything you’ve heard is true, so we would just like to say, from the bottom of our hearts... our bad.” U.A. opened its doors to the public as an evacuation shelter. Deku and All Might told basically EVERYBODY about OFA, which is absolutely wild, and yet somehow we hardly paid any attention to this at all. Mostly because the chapter ended with Deku being all “I WALK A LONELY ROAD, THE ONLY ONE THAT I HAVE EVER KNOWN” and peacing out of U.A. to embark on a solo journey of angst. So this is either gonna be the best or the worst thing that ever happened to this series, so TIME TO FIND OUT WHICH IT IS.

Today on BnHA: Horikoshi is all “so who do you guys want to see next? Deku? Bakugou?? Well how about SHINDOU?” Shindou is all “hi :) I’m Shindou :) :) remember me :) :) :)?” Horikoshi is all “I’m so sorry for depriving you guys of Shindou for so fucking long, how about an ENTIRE CHAPTER ALL OF HIM” and then he REALLY FUCKING DOES IT because, I don’t know?? Did we make him mad?? Am I being punished for something I did in a past life?? It really is, honest to god, seventeen whole goddamn pages of Shindou, punctuated by a few pages of Muscular, and topped off with one (1) whole appearance by Deku at THE VERY END. And we don’t even get to see his face. I am beside myself lmao I’m sorry you guys, you can skip this recap if you want. Or just skip straight to the end, because movie 3 promo.

“long time no see” now what could this mean?? can’t think of too many characters this phrase would apply to right now. although I can think of one big one, and I know that fandom has been trying to manifest his deadbeat ass to finally show itself for years now. could it finally be that time? if Hisashi shows up and debunks DFO a big chunk of the fandom is probably going to riot lol

(ETA: why oh why did I get my hopes up like that lmao. I’m pretty sure Hisashi doesn’t actually exist and Deku was either immaculately conceived, or the stork really did bring Inko a lil green baby from the cabbage patch.)

anyway, so the chapter is opening on this random scene of CRIME and DISARRAY

was this all done by that big villain from the previous chapter? utility poles knocked down, random holes in the sides of buildings, and it looks like this one car pulled over in a hurry and the driver just hopped out and ran

who are these people talking

OH NO, OH GOD

I am immediately struck by the urge to push Shindou off of this ledge. is that mean? probably that is mean, but also fuck this guy lmao. every year you cheat someone out of their well-deserved spot in the popularity poll, and every year I want to punch you in your stupid face for it

bah. and how are you doing, Tatami. love that hero name even if you do have arguably the dumbest superpower in the entire series

listen, though. here I am shitting on these Ketsubutsu kids for no good reason, and I’m sorry about that, and truthfully it’s mostly because I just want to see Deku and/or Kacchan and so it’s hard to give a fuck about anything else right now. BUT, I will immediately cease and desist ALL of my complaining if this means we also get to see my best girl Ms. Joke, omg. Horikoshi please

sdlkfjlskalk

FUCK YOU SHINDOU OMG. I’M SORRY GUYS I CAN’T HELP IT, EVERYTHING ABOUT HIM IS SO EMINENTLY PUNCHABLE AND DETESTIBLE. IT’S LIKE SOMEONE COMBINED WESLEY CRUSHER WITH JEAN RALPHIO

but LSKJFLEK at this random reminder that Bakugou refused to shake his fucking hand. like, that’s his “fun fact” apparently lol. it’s what he deserves

also living for this “cringe” here, too. fuck you Shindou. I am so, so sorry to any Shindou fans out there you guys because I’m just going to be like this the entire time he’s here. the hate is flowing through me

how has it been three whole pages and I still have to look at his stupid face

anyway so it seems like the kids are having to pick up the slack for Old Man Samurai and all those other assholes who retired. I’m guessing the U.A. kids will be seeing a lot more action as well

but in the meantime let’s hope no villains attack here all of a sudden, because all Tatami can do is make herself shorter while Shindou creates an earthquake to bring the entire building down around them dflkjslk

these guys don’t particularly want to go with them and I can’t say I blame them

so now Shindou is saying that yeah, they can probably handle the looters and such by themselves, but it’s a different story when it comes to the Noumu and the escaped Tartarus prisoners. Shindou how dare you make a reasonable point that I can’t immediately argue with

he says that one of the escapees was sighted in the area, so that’s why they’re trying to evacuate everyone

and the guy disagrees and says he doesn’t trust the heroes and thinks they’re pompous

fdskljk. fucking...

ME: Horikoshi can we please stop and get Deku HORIKOSHI: we have Deku at home THE DEKU AT HOME: 

Horikoshi. please. we get it, the civilians don’t trust the heroes anymore. I UNDERSTAND. I COMPREHEND THIS. so unless there is some other point to this scene I respectfully ask that you hurry things along because omg

did Tatami always have this habit of speaking in meme language and such? I thought that was Camie’s thing but hey

listen, I’m here for anyone who’s willing to drag this man down into the depths of the earth. I would just also rather not spend the entire fucking chapter on this oh my god. Horikoshi do you have any more of those chapters where things happen in them?? those are good, I like those

YESSSSSS FINALLY

so whoever’s on the other end of the call (ETA: it’s that rock-looking guy who can harden anything that he touches. why does BnHA have so many hardening powers) is telling them to run because there’s apparently a villain heading right for them, oh my

WHO IS HE

depending on who it is I can’t promise I won’t be rooting for them over you, buddy

ohhhhhh shit

huh. well that’s... hmm... but on the other hand...

okay lol no, I know it’s bad. Muscular fucking LOVES murdering kids. not even Shindou deserves that. I’m sure he has a family that loves him and stuff. and Tatami seems like a sweet girl. they don’t deserve to be murdered

that is the question isn’t it? are we really going to spend the entire chapter with Limbs-Retracting-Girl and her boyfriend, Joseph Gordon-Levitt from (500) Days of Summer??

YES OMG

YES PLEASE CALL YOUR SENSEI. my god do you know what I would give to see Ms. Joke take down an S-class villain??

(ETA: all I’ll say is that we were robbed here, you guys.)

now Tatami is running away while Shindou stays behind omg

Horikoshi I know I said I hate the guy, and I do, but my god. seems I don’t hate him half as much as you do you. been nice knowing you Shindou my man

are you serious Tatami really ran all the way back up here to try and evacuate these guys one more time

SHE’S SUCH A GOOD PERSON omg if you assholes don’t listen to her you deserve to get murdered

BRO

HORIKOSHI DID YOU REALLY FUCKING DO IT I CAN’T BELIEVE IT

LOL OKAY NO, SO FAR HE’S ONLY MESSED UP HIS FACE

WHAT A SHAME WHAT A TRAGEDY. THE WORLD MOURNS

okay but seriously, now he has to be dead

r.i.p. Shindou. he died doing what he loved, talking a lot and being utterly useless

then again, damn Shindou are you really gonna come out here and be a badass?? gonna make me eat my words there kiddo?

I have absolutely no idea if I should expect this to work or not. all I know is that this is page 14, and so it would seem we really are going to spend the entire fucking chapter on fucking Shindou. this beautiful chapter had so much potential, Horikoshi. and now look at it. I hope you’re happy

nope it didn’t fucking work at all lmao

IT’S JUST LIKE I SAID. r.i.p. you pretentious handsome lump

OHHHHHH SNAP

DEKU YOU DIDN’T HAVE TO LOL. anyway but it’s good to see you!! it’s good to see ANYONE other than these guys sob but especially you

FINALLY SOMETHING COOL OMG

somehow Horikoshi actually made the bunny mask look badass?? I don’t think this is sustainable, but I am here for it while it lasts

Shindou should by all rights be nothing but A HANDSOME PASTE at this point lol but WHATEVER. it’s BnHA; getting smashed into walls and cliffs has more or less the same consequences as being set on fire. slap a band-aid on it and you’re good to go

we are REALLY ENDING IT HERE huh

well. and that’s it. I just did not care about any of that lmao. a rare dud of a chapter. well, but we’ve had something like ten in a row that ranged from “pretty good” to “amazing”, so I guess that’s fair

anyway I feel like I owe you guys something other than endless bitching and moaning, so! BONUS:

now this is more like it

first of all, I’m absolutely living for this promo’s “YEET THE CHILDREN OUT OF A HELICOPTER” vibes. FUCK YEAH WE’RE HEROES BITCH

is Deku wearing a jetpack/parachute?? let’s hope he is because I’m assuming he doesn’t have Float yet, so if that’s not a jetpack then it is a LONG WAY DOWN kiddo

these maniacs actually got Deku to wear something other than his red shoes holy fuck. I’m speechless. are we sure that’s not an imposter??

Shouto has the funniest falling position I’ve ever seen. I’m assuming his left arm is not in fact tucked under his leg like it appeared to be at first glance?? like, wtf is the outline of your body right now Shouto

this is what I think it is after careful analysis, but at first I thought this kid had some hidden contortionist abilities

and then there’s this guy

I MISSED YOU YOU BIG GOON. loving the new gauntlets!! and he’s changed up his impractical metal neck thingy into arm thingies! but most importantly, ARE THESE WHAT I THINK THEY ARE

ARE THOSE WEENIES. KACCHAN. KACCHAN HAVE YOU GONE NATIVE OMFG

and meanwhile, look who’s with them! Endeavor makes perfect sense of course, but Hawks is a very welcome surprise. does this mean we can expect to see Tokoyami too? because I would fucking love that

lastly, so this confirms the whole “world heroes” thing! which we all pretty much guessed anyway lol. I wonder if this movie will take place in another country (fingers crossed). the city in the background doesn’t look particularly familiar, but this image probably wasn’t meant to be analyzed in that way lol. anyways, looking forward to this so much, PLEASE GIVE US A TRAILER SOON omg

[liam-93-productions]

Liam’s full interview with Tings Magazine - Part 1

Note: the interview was recorded in may 2020.

Justin Campbell: What is the weirdest YouTube/Instagram trend hole that you’ve fallen into? Liam: One that always gets me is putting Mentos in Pepsi or Coke. We all know what happens, but we have to watch the ending. I’ve seen it about fifty times, and it doesn’t change. But it’s weird finding out what things are interesting when you’re stuck inside. It’s a crazy ride watching the world react to this. It’s almost like everybody’s become a street performer. You see these people on the street who have a special skill like magic and the internet is now the place for that and everybody does it. 

Do you feel pressured to participate? Is there currency in that? Does that keep you relevant? I think artists have had to change a lot to fit in. There used to be mystery where you didn’t know too much about their lives, whereas we are in my living room now for all the world to see. I think that’s the biggest change of these newer platforms. I think you have to join in if you want to stay relevant. If you look at someone like Jason Derulo, he has 19 million followers on TikTok and he just started. His old songs are re-charting because of the TikTok chart. So, you can’t just make music and expect it to go well anymore. There has to be a personality and a story. It’s not quite the same anymore. 

There’s so many differente avenues to keep up with. There’s Instagram, YouTube, TikTok. It used to be you did radio, tours and late-night television. Now there seem to be a dozen things to do.  It’s crazy, this last promo schedule for me, having to do it indoors. I had to learn how to do a bunch of different jobs for the people that couldn’t be here. We put up a green screen in my lounge. We moved all the sofas, me and the camera guy that is staying with me set up the green screen and then you have to film it as well. It’s just crazy the amount of different things that you have to get involved in right now to stay relevant. And that’s all it is. The majority of the stuff isn’t really doing anything, but it’s doing loads at the same time if that makes sense. It’s a difficult thing to get used. And also, things have gotten jovial. So, you have to learn to make fun of ourselves. You can’t be Mr. Serious pop-star anymore. People aren’t really attracted to that anymore. People like the fun side of you, your personality and your humor come through on these things. It’s crazy. I thought about when I joined TikTok the other week, there’s a pressure to film something fun. But then if you are not having fun filming it, you’re not going to film a fun video. And I didn’t want to live my life every day thinking I got to film a video or nobody is going to care. I spent an hour trying to think of stuff and I don’t want to live my life like this. I enjoy then. I like going on TikTok and getting lost in a little TikTok rabbit hole, we all do, but I don’t know if I’m that way inclined mentally. 

With the need to share more, to share a comedic side or a vulnerable side, where do you draw the line? When do you stop sharing? How much of it is constructed sharing and how much of it is authentic sharing? It’s difficult. I’m very prone to enjoy a moment rather than take my camera out and film it. I’m always one of those people who take a picture of a sunset and then never look at it and say why did I bother taking the picture. I’d rather enjoy the moment. We live in a day and age where the camera phone is people’s first thought for things. And I’m just not one of those people. Humorous stuff will happen and it will be off the cuff, but we didn’t film it. And it will be like “aw, should we recreate it?” But we don’t want to recreate it. It just feels stupid. It always feels forced in that sense. So for me, I definitely struggle with sharing moments.  And you have those people out there, who are literally willing to do anything. There’s a trend for people who are shaving their eyebrows off at the moment. I’m not going to shave my eyebrows off so people will care a little more. That just doesn’t register with me. You have Jake and Logan Paul, who do a lot of crazy, crazy things to get noticed. And it’s like where do you draw the line. 

These platforms make it challenging to carve out a private life. People expect more and more of celebrities’ lives to be shared. They feel they have ownership of every aspect of people’s lives. What are your thoughts on that? From the start of this lockdown, the first James Corden TV performance was filmed in the lounge and we went through my whole house. I can remember back in the day when a newspaper sent out the photos of my house. I don’t like people knowing where I sleep because it’s a security problem for me. I had a big complaint about that. Now fast forward 5-6 years and the world has changed to where nothing is really a private or intimate moment. It’s strange. As One Direction, we were in an era on the rise of Twitter. I think Twitter helped us a lot. It was the way we trended on Twitter that actually made us famous. But being on the cusp of that internet stardom, we didn’t really care about how many followers [we had].  Now, it’s become a currency. I just struggle to take those things seriously, that it is part of the job because it feels so foreign. When we had apps as kids, there was no way to becoming MSN famous. Now kids want to be an Instagrammer or a TikTokker. It’s crazy. We never had that. 

You said something about people chasing the currency of liked and follows. Kids are thinking about that validation when they are creating content. How much of that are you thinking about it when you create music or social media/video content? I think, for me, I don’t often pay attention to how many likes thing gets. As a pop star, you have to have an average amount per post. We have to have meetings now where people will go through posts, and tell you why this works. Which for me, it seems insane, but you have this persona that you have to keep up online. And definitely, when posting certain things, you are gauging whether it’s going to get a reaction or there’s no point in posting it. And that’s always been the problem for me. I’m hoping for a big reaction for stuff which limits the amount you post because you think there’s no point posting this.  Often the people who do the best in these scenarios are the people that didn’t mean for it to happen. Someone makes a little challenge like The Ice Bucket Challenge. Someone thought I’ll do this. It will be fun for us to film and because they are having fun, everyone is like we will get involved. If you think about it too much, it will overtake you. For the longest time, I didn’t post a lot. I got off of Twitter because of the backlash and the fact that you are always going to annoy someone with a post. I was like, I can’t deal with it. I might as well keep it to myself. There’s no disappointment. 

I think that’s part of the condition of being an artist. You crave a certain amount of validation.  When it’s work, you can take that some people won’t get it. But because everything has become so personal now like it’s about you. You sell your personality to people. It’s like if someone asks you “what five things do you want people to know about you”. And everyone goes, well, I’d like to be... You suddenly think, what we are doing every day online is trying to sell ourselves.  It’s a difficult balance. You have to have the right amount of humor and humility and the right amount of this. It’s so difficult to find that person. And you see people who become caricatures of themselves online. They overdo it. You don’t know what works any why it works. The internet is such an untested experiment. The public decides. It’s so crazy.

You just said that it can feel so personal, which I think is such an honest statement because when you are putting yourself out there, it is hard to celebrate the work and you. When people don’t like something, it can feel like they are personally attacking you.  It genuinely scares me sometimes. Even to post a selfie, because you just don’t know what the recipe is. I’m not trying to impress anyone. I’m just trying to stay around if that makes sense. I don’t know, it’s difficult. The fact that you just let it go and it’s gone and people either take it or leave it. It’s like jumping on stage every time you post, which scares me anyway. 

You’ve spoken pretty openly about dealing with depression and anxiety. How does this level of exposure impact your ability to manage your anxiety? Before all of this started, the first day of school would probably be when you are your most anxious. Or it’s your own clothes day and you don’t know what to wear. That feels like what everyone is going through every single day online. It’s like the teen generation has so many more questions to answer that we had. I know as a kid I was quite stressed. I can’t imagine how these kids feel these days.  The only way I can relate is by how I feel in this scenario. Obviously, being a little bit older, you are a little wiser with it. I thinks it’s a different kind of pressure these days. It’s a worldwide pressure. The fact that anyone can become a superstar overnight or also the most embarrassing thing in the world and the line is that thin. I can’t imagine what is like for kids growing up in that scenario. For me, it’s raised a lot of questions about my mental health and having to deal with these things. I’ve been running a pilot with someone for people in my position, people who struggle with fame, with the position that they get themselves. You don’t really realize the playbook you’re pressing. Once you’re in it, you’re in it.  I started from 14-16, were my two start years. And the only answer that people had for you was that you’ve got have thick skin. But I don’t think that’s really the point because once you are here, you have to find out if your skin is thick enough. You have to learn. For the longest time, if somebody wrote something about me in the press, I’d rise back up and bring back up. I didn’t realize they were trying to bait me out because they knew I’d do that. Then they’d write three more articles about the scenario that I didn’t want them to write about. You can only know that with years of experience. If something comes out now, I just leave it to die and go away and that’s it. I just think it’s difficult when people say the only answer is that you have to have thick skin to do this. 

That’s not really a solution. That’s just saying you asked for this. This is just part of it, which I don’t think is fair. Is fame something that you struggle with a lot? For me, there’s different periods, severe highs with different things and a lot of questions about stuff. I’ve been going at this now for ten years, which seems insane. I’m only 26 as well, which is quite a long time to be doing anything. And to be in this pressure cooker for that long is quite difficult, but I say I’ve learned to deal with it better now. Age and time are wonderful things. And we were buffered as teens. We had each other in the band. When I look at someone like Justin Bieber, I think no wonder he went completely mental at some point because there is no one in the world that knows what is like to be Justin Bieber, but Justin Bieber. He had no one to share it with. We had each other to share it with, to remember it with and be reminded how to behave, how to act. You shouldn’t do that. It was tough at some points, but for the most part it was helpful growing up in that team exercise rather than be let off on your own and you’re the most famous person in the world. It must have been pretty crazy for him. 

[all-my-love-for-harry]

u should do one for little shy boy where harry is on tour and is singing golden, his lil boy comes out on stage dancing, yn comes running after him yelling but they end up dancing all together 🥺

Hi! I had to change this request a little because i couldn't imagine our boy artemis, the epitome of shyness, running to the stage on his own but i still hope you like this!! also, let me know if the timeline confuses you, i'd be happy to answer any questions!

you can find more of my shy little boy here

December 19, 2019.

Harry had a concert in London tonight. It has been almost a week after his second album dropped, and he's been spending a lot of time doing promo for it.

Fortunately, both Artemis and Y/N were on their winter breaks and were able to join him. But as much as they loved traveling, it was good to be home again.

Tomorrow Artemis would celebrate his sixth birthday. A pretty fucking big deal if you asked Harry. This would be the first birthday he'd spend with his boy as his official daddy, and he wanted to make it as special as possible.

So he ordered the biggest cake he could find, asking the shop to make the cake in a shape of a robot.

Perhaps he was being a little bold, but lately he felt the need to shout it to the rooftops, he had a son, he was in love, he had a family of his own and wanted to show them off.

He told Y/N his plan to get her and Artemis onstage so everyone could sing happy birthday to their boy, and although she had her doubts, she couldn't overlook the way Harry's eyes lit up, his voice giving away how excited he was for it.

So she agreed.

Artemis isn't very acquainted with the whole concert world. The only concerts he's ever gone to are Harry's (oh, and to a Little Mix one because he's the biggest stan out there).

Gemma, Y/N, Artemis and Anne would be watching Harry from the side of the stage, he did not tell her when the staff would bring the cake onstage, claiming it would be a surprise.

Before he went onstage, he lifted Artemis and planted an obnoxious kiss on his cheek and off he went to entertain all the fans that came to see him.

The first few songs went smoothly. He'd occasionally would see from the corner of his eye how his mum would hold Artemis hand, swaying back and forth along with the music.

Halfway through the concert Harry stopped to talk for a moment. "So... tomorrow is a special day for me. you'll see, my boy turns six years old tomorrow" the crowd went wild, a mix between screams and 'aws'. "And i thought you could help me wish him a happy early birthday, what do you think?!" again, the room filled with screams, everyone letting out a collectively 'yes'

He turned his face to where his loves were standing and motioned for them to come onstage with him. Artemis looked up at Y/N with his eyes wide open, but she only smiled at him, nodding to make him know it was okay.

The three women let Artemis run towards Harry first, who as soon as he saw him run, kneeled down to receive him with his arms open.

The fans awed when Artemis much smaller body crashed into Harry's. He proceeded to lift him, balancing his microphone in one hand and his boy in the other. "Say hi, baby"

Artemis hesitated but still leaned towards the microphone. "Hi" as soon as his tiny voice filled the room, he hid his face in the crock of Harry's neck.

He then motioned again to his mum, sister and girlfriend to come as well. They walked on stage and, if it was even possible, the screams grew louder.

A crew member walked in strolling the cake on a little trolley. The mic caught Artemis little 'wow' and the fans laughed.

"Are you ready?" Harry asked the crowd. The band started to play the happy birthday song and everybody started singing.

When the song ended, Harry leaned his body over the cake so Artemis could blow the candles. The fans, the band and his family started clapping.

"So... this next song... is actually this lad's favorite from the album" He pointed at the boy in his arms. "What do you say all these lovely people here join us for it?" He asked, referring to the three woman on his left.

After a wave of sounds of approval came, he smiled. "This is adore you"

Harry placed his son on his feet but grabbed his hand right after. Y/N, Anne and Gemma were dancing on their places, singing the lyrics at the top of their lungs.

Surprisingly, Artemis was dancing too. Harry's presence has always given him confidence on himself, and he imagined as it was only his daddy and him dancing in the kitchen to his songs.

When the guitar solo reached, Harry crunched down to Artemis' level and started dancing with him. Artemis would try to copy Harry's hands and head movements, making everyone go wild because not only they were wearing matching suits, but they looked exactly the same while dancing.

Harry leaned his microphone towards his boy and he sang the little 'walk through fire for you, just let me adore you' before shying away.

After he sang the last lyrics, he pressed a kiss on Artemis' cheek.

As if the fans haven't received enough content yet, the microphone caught one last thing from Artemis...

'i love you daddy'

☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁

taglist!!

@myfavfanficsever @odetostep

@la-cey @cock-a-doodely-doo @awkwardbullfrog @mellamolayla @moorgannn @bagtan-serendipity @awesomebooklover17 @finelineribs @sunnybusiness @beanholland

[animeyanderelover]

Hey can you write yandere Tooru with promo 21

Who would have thought that Tooru would be so beloved?

Warnings: Yandere themes, mental unstableness, killing, blood, violence, split personality

Prompt 21: “I don’t care if I’ll go to hell as long as I drag everybody who dares to touch you, talk to you and look at you with me!”

“I don’t care if I’ll go to hell as long as I drag everybody who dares to touch you, talk to you and look at you with me!” They had just snapped, you knew it from the way the whole atmosphere around them had just changed. It was the way all shyness had suddenly disappeared from them, the normal blush they always had on their face being completely gone. Instead this weird grin was on their face, and being put together with their quivering pupils and not even to mention the blood that was splattered all over their face and clothes made them look like a complete psychopath. The person under them, a ghoul who had tried to attack you, was by now long dead, the bloody puddle in which Mutsuki was sitting leaving no doubt about it. But that didn’t make it less shocking for you. You were used to killing ghouls, it was part of your job. But what shaken you to your bones was the way Mutsuki had killed her. You had chased after her for a while now, she had been A-rated and known under the name “Mistress”, telling everyone already what they could have imagined her like. She lured her victims with her body and looks away, flirting with them only to devour them, didn’t matter whether it was a man or a woman. She had been damn close to your district which had been the reason why you had wanted this case, fearing that your friends might get in contact with her.

So if you tried to look at it from the perspective of an investigator, you shouldn’t be angry at all. Mutsuki wouldn’t be the first crazy fellow the CCG had, you thought about a special stitched up boy who currently led his own squad, not to mention the legendary Mr. Mado. And sometimes a few crazy fellows were needed in a messed up world like this. But those two were a different kind of crazy, a good kind of crazy. But Mutsuki...You didn’t know what to think about this. You hadn’t even known that they had followed you in the first place. Weeks of tracking Misstress down, weeks of planning and taking her down had proved unnecessary. Not only that, but Mutsuki had just taken down an A-rated ghoul on their own. Sure, they had catched you both off-guard, but still. The sheer violence they had used together with the repeatedly chanted phrase they had murmured every time they had stepped her still being way too present in your way, even though it had happened just a few moments ago. “Stay away from (y/n)-sama. Stay away from (y/n)-sama. Stay away from (y/n)-sama.” And you, you had just stood there horrified, not being able to move. You-you had been afraid of one of your one people! This shouldn’t have happened, especially not since you had always supported Mutsuki since the day you had first bumped into them. But on the other hand, was this really the Mutsuki you had once known?

“(y/n)-sama.” You tensed up the moment they addressed you directly, their intense stare burning right into your heart and soul. You were afraid, you knew that from the way your heart started beating fastly against your chest and you felt sweat coating your forehead. Nothing new as a ghoul investigator, but this was a new kind of fear, a new kind of nerve wrecking situation. One with which you were faced for the first time, meaning that you didn’t know how to act and you doubted that even if you would have someone older with you, they wouldn’t have known how to handle this either. Ah yes, the fear of the unknown. “(y/n)-sama. Why are you looking so scared? I killed her. You don’t have to be afraid anymore.” They slowly stood up from the corpse, revealing a bit pretty sight and you guessed that every other person would have broken out in tears, vomited or fainted by now. But as sad as it may have sounded, you were faced with this kind of view on a daily base. “Bitch.”, Mutsuki mumbled, glaring heavily at the ghoul and kicking her dead body, in your opinion completely unnecessary, but you didn’t dare to say anything. How could you when Mutsuki was clearly not in their right set of mind?

It took everything inside of you to not suddenly pull your Quinke out and hold it against them. That would be too much of a risky move and right now you didn’t want to do anything to trigger them even more. You also hoped somewhere in the back of your mind that they wouldn’t hurt you because of their undeniable crush on you. Everyone in the CCG knew, Mutsuki being a bit too obvious with it. And no matter from which perspective you tried to look at it, you also couldn’t deny that they had done this to save you. You would have never guessed how far they would really go nor how unhealthy their love really seemed to be. For them to become a completely new person...It made more the impression on you that this was an obsession. You had successfully let yourself get fooled by their timid and shy appearance, a mistake no one who killed ghouls should make. Appearance didn’t matter, damn it! Even the tiniest girl could prove to be your worst and last enemy! But you had gotten carried away, had closed your eyes because they were one of your kind, they were on your side! So why...Were they even realizing how they were acting? Probably not. The only thing on their mind now was you, you could tell from the way they were staring at you as if you would be someone higher than them, someone to admire.

With slow and somewhat wobbly steps they moved closer to you, the two knifes in their hand which they had used to kill the ghoul off still dripping with blood. They looked like a butcher. But you didn’t run, you simply couldn’t. Mutsuki was a precious person to you, someone you had sworn to keep an eye out. You had always been there for them, always encouraged them, had always cheered them up and had shown them kindness. This was your fault, you had to fix this. Their eyes never left you for once, glazing with a worrisome and also eerily amount of obsession at you. “(y/n)-sama.” They straightened up a bit when in front of you, still keeping in mind that you were a special class investigator, a job you had hardly worked for. You didn’t doubt that in this condition they could easily take that title too, but even then they would still show you the same amount of respect. You would always be higher for them. “How did I do? I did alright, right?” “...” You couldn’t believe it. Did they seriously just asked you whether they had done a good job or not? And their voice...It had shaken a bit! Not only that, but there was a certain glance of insecurity which seemed to grow with every passing second you gave them the silent treatment. Oh god, they wanted your approval. They had killed for you and now asked for your approval, for your opinion whether they did good or not.

But your shocked state where you couldn’t form any kind of words seemed to discourage them. They hunched over, pale-green hair covering their face and suddenly they bowed. “I-I’m sorry, (y/n)-sama. It was bold from me to assume that my skills would ever be able to compare to yours. Y-you’re the greatest. I apologize for interrupting your investigation. I didn’t think clearly. But I would never doubt your abilities! I know that you could handle this on your own and that I had no right to-“ Before they could continue their apology speech from which you had the feeling that it would take a while you placed a hand on their shoulder. “Tooru, stop it.” Calling them by their first name was always a good way to calm them down, they loved it when you called them by their first name. They had already tensed up the moment your hand had touched their shoulder, but the moment you called them by their first name they instantly jolted up, looking shocked, but also touched at you. You sighed a bit, looking with a somewhat conflicted expression at them. You had to make a judgement call in here. And you guessed you had already decided. “There’s no need to apologize. You just took a raising threat for this district down so don’t even think about apologizing. You did great today. I knew you had potential. So stop doubting yourself.”

Hearing you complimenting them like this caused a furious blush to form on their face, trying desperately to stutter something out in response. You chuckled a bit upon seeing this, noticing with relief that the Mutsuki you knew was back once again. You quickly took your phone out of your pocket, starting to dial the number of one of your friends in. “Would you eventually do me a favor and tell my friend here that we caught Misstress? I’m sure we can make a very useful Quinke out of her Kagune.” You handed them your phone, number already on display. By now Mutsuki couldn’t even manage to look you into your eyes for longer than a few seconds, grabbing with shaking hands your phone. “Y-yes (y/n)-sama.” Whilst they nervously started to call your friends in the CCG, you took the time to observe the dead woman closer. And you couldn’t help, but press your lips into a thin line when seeing everything from close-up. Countless stabs were visible on her, the eyes being gouged out and the lips being cut that it reminded you almost of the way Joker in Batman looked like. It didn’t throw you out of your calm, you yourself had often made quite made the mess during missions. But all of this had been done by Mutsuki...

You glanced shortly at them, the way they fumbled over their own words whilst trying desperately to make sense on the phone, explaining what had just happened. They looked like they would suffer a heart attack at any moment, making you almost feel like that you had just hallucinated all of this. But you hadn’t, one look at the ghoul being enough to tell you that all of this had been real. And that could mean problems. You bit nervously on your bottom lip, glancing again at the green-haired investigator. It would be probably a wise decision to stay away from them or report this, that would tell everyone you right now. But you didn’t. You wanted to observe this for a bit before deciding what to do. And you also knew that trying to distance yourself now from Mutsuki would be dangerous, not being able to anticipate their reaction to this. You had to stay close. Because as much as you dearly hoped that Mutsuki would never go that far, you couldn’t deny a very possible reaction that could happen one day when they would snap again. And then the next victim wouldn’t be a ghoul. No, then they would have the blood of a human on their hands and it would also be your fault. “I have to watch them. I have to keep an eye on them. Or else...”