#some of you just need to know that it's okay to not chase trends and do something that makes you happy.

[james-stark-the-writer]

Riverdale-posting through the anger and disappointment of how many people don't actually get what the show is doing. that's why you've been seeing me do all that.

[fukutomichi]

It’s review ramble rant tiiiiime! Decided to go on and post about my thoughts as the iron is still hot and my braincells are still firing. Lots of spoilers are gonna be in there and it’s looong as hell so you’ve been warned! Grab a cup of coffee or tea. Here we go!

Okay, the general feel about Season 2 is that it is slightly better than Season 1 for sure, better at some parts, but has shortcomings on others, BUT STILL, we got what we got and I think it was overall positive.

The first 3 episodes being aired was a direct response from the previous backlash that they had about Season 1 starting slow. And yes, those first 2 episodes were shaaaky as hell, but they found their feet in Episode 4 and then the series picked up with full steam ahead. This time to avoid this, they wanted to get the set up out of the way as soon as possible and then release at a weekly schedule. Was it a smart idea? It would have been. If the series was longer than 8 episodes? 

This latest trend of overblown streaming series with such small number of episodes, between A HUGE waiting period for each season, needs to stop. I get that the RoP crew would need more time, schedules with other actors, filming locations, building locations, writing, filming huge battle sequences, CGI. But I feel everyone is still chasing The Game of Thrones type of hype, and the studios need to realize that it ain’t happening anymore, not for a while. Just focus on making good stories with interesting complex characters and the viewers will come. Stop trying to make series be movies. I caught one of the directors in one of the BTS clips for Episode 7 saying “We’re not making series, we’re making movies” AND THAT’S THE BIGGEST PROBLEM. STOP DOING THAT. 

I would sacrifice all the big budget CGI sequences and wide beautiful shots for just a minute of conversation between Gil-galad and Cirdan. I don’t want “the Balrog shot that was 5 years in the minds of the showrunners”, I wanted people to see why Gil-galad respects Cirdan so much, instead of my non-reading Silmarillion friends asking me what’s his deal with him, and me having to explain that Cirdan is as close to a family member to the high king, that’s his adoptive dad. The series is very non-reading Silm friendly, but they somehow fail to explain some of the crucial relationships between characters. I KNOW there’s next season maybe they’ll expand on it, but some things like that need to be established IMMEDIATELY.

But with 8 episodes, what can you really focus on to adapt and show on the screen? This is why, AGAIN, stop making movies, we want a series. The biggest strength that a series has is CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT AND PACING. A series will always have the upper hand in that, and they are still trying to make a movie, cut in 8 parts. Please, arrange the pace for 10 episodes, so it doesn’t feel like one episode is laid back, and then the next one is rushing to the finish line. MAKE A SERIES, NOT MOVIES.

The thing that made Game of Thrones great those 4 first seasons was not the big battles or the CGI dragons. It was people talking in rooms. Their history and relationship with each other. Actors giving their A++ game with dialog which was moving the story. THAT made Game of Thrones worth the hype.

Learning about the fact that they have a change in the writers room can either be a good thing, with some storylines now being over and concluded so they might be preparing to change gears for Season 3, or with my mind going always in work corporate mode, writers not being payed as they should for their work so why stay…

The series did get a brush with the writer’s strike, which I will always support. YOU CAN’T HAVE A STORY WITHOUT GOOD WRITING! PAY YOUR WRITERS!! 

I think Episode 8 is where I felt some stuff were cut off and rushed, probably during the strike, that were set up in Episode 7, didn't land well. But I’ll get to that.

I started this in rant mode, but had to get it out of the way cause it bothered me the most. The series has SO much potential and it sometimes pains me to see fail on the most basic stuff. 

Okay, moving on with the juicy stuff now!

This season was The Charlies™ season, hands down. Absolute rollercoaster with Celebrimbor and Annatar/Sauron playing off each other on the screen. From the moment Sauron enters Eregion, to the final shot of him stealing Fëanor’s hammer. The showrunners were fully concentrated to that side of the story and, holy hell did they outdo themselves there. Charles Edwards as Celebrimbor needs to get some push for awards, or somehow ship one to him. I remember being a little a skeptic at first about his portrayal, since we got so little of him is Season 1, but as you rewatch it, you can see the foundations being set for his character. Season 2 is where he’s fully unleashed and, he is truly THE Celebrimbor. A sweet, sensitive soul that just strives to get out of his family’s shadow, by creating something unique that would be his legacy. A perfect victim for Sauron that finds his connection with Celebrimbor through that. I loved the fact that they filmed their scenes in order of the episodes and it shows the slow descent of both of their characters, helplessness and paranoia for Celebrimbor and Sauron barely managing his uncanny elf mask while trying to withhold annoyance and rage. Masterful acting by both. The last scene with them was MUCH more impactful than if we would have gotten the banner scene in the book. They started their pact alone in the forge, and they ended their manipulative partnership, alone in that same forge. With Celebrimbor getting the upper hand in death. Sauron AGAIN getting a knife straight into the heart, but with words instead of a pointy crown. Only this time, he won’t be able to get pay back for the insult. Because Celebrimbor in death, went where Sauron CAN NEVER go. The slow realization that he’s always gonna be a prisoner in his own cycle of violence. He has many names…And the cycle begins again.

Bless you Charles Edwards, thank you for being our Celebrimbor.

Charlie, be seeing ya next season you giggly perfect casting of Sauron’s messy character person you!

I was most excited to see were the elvish side of the story is gonna go after the end of Season 1, with the making of the three rings. And I think they did well! Robert Aramayo, I once again put myself on blast for ever doubting you as Elrond. My hubris must follow me till the end of this series. You have a shitty old phone, don’t know what a Brat Edit is and will never read this, but the universe will know of my foolishness. 

Elrond's feud with Galadriel HURT to watch. Those are two besties that want their best for each other and will protect each other no matter what. The rift that was going on between them and mending it in the last episode was so sweet, kudos to Morfydd as well for always bringing her A++ acting game. FINALLY we have a bit more of Gil-galad this season and IS STILL not enough. I ranted before about not a single blip of a Gil-Cirdan convo happening, but getting FREAKING BEN DANIELS for just a few scenes IS CRIMINAL!!! Also, still sad about that beard of his, he was already perfect damn iiiit.

I’m glad that we had this push and pull with the elvish rings, are they good are they bad, they are a new invention and the elves have no idea how to deal with them at first. Gil-galad and Galadriel’s visions were a nice representation of that. What are their power levels, what are they truly capable off. What I like to believe though, is that while Sauron had his hands on crafting the seven and the nine…guess who’s hands last touched the mithril that made the three. It was Elrond. With all his hopes and need to help his kind survive when he threw that nugget into the melting pot in the last episode in Season 1. And guess who wears those rings now? His closest family and the people he cares the most. When he finally decides to give Nenya a chance, we get to see the result of all his hopes and desire to protect those he loves the most in the last scene of this season. Rivendell. ELROND’S KINDNESS is the reason the elvish rings remain untouched by Sauron’s evil.

Galadriel vs Sauron. Oh! OH! I can only imagine Lúthien smiling and pointing at Galadriel, Sparta kicking him over the boulder. “That’s my girl! THAT’S MY GIRL! Wipe the floor with that bozo!!” If I’m being honest, spoiling myself with Bear Mccreary’s Season 2 soundtrack, listening to the track “The Last Temptation” gave soooo many vibes that something might happen to Galadriel that will leave me SHOOK, aka taking Sauron’s offer and Elrond being there to witness it, but Bear tricked meeee!!! She just fell through a tree! The clash was *chef’s kiss* though, Sauron constantly shapeshifting trying to mess with Galadriel’s feelings and even pulling the Halbrand puppy eyes card. But she wasn’t having it. Sauron gets denied, AGAIN.

Alexa, play Drive by The Cars for one dark lord. And conjure some of that sad rain again while you go waddle your way home to Mordor, you absolute clown.

HEAL YOURSELF. QUEEN.

We got more of the dwarves as well and the creation of the seven rings. I was a little disappointed that we got robbed of the Narvi and Celebrimbor friendship happening while making the Doors of Durin, but what can you choose to put in just 8 episodes, right? Sophia and Owain truly are such an amazing combo to watch as Disa and Durin, they did amazingly this season. I’m gonna miss Peter Mullan as King Durin, every scene with him and Owain was just beautiful and heart breaking. “Forgive me my son, King Durin”. I was choking in tears not even 5 minutes into the last episode. And will you look at that, forgiveness is the theme that starts off the episode, huh? 

The Uruk storyline…where do I even begin jfc. I went from Season 1 and loving Adar as an interesting unique character, to loving the entire Uruk story with its sad tragic end. Whoever was responsible for that, amazing job. 

I was sad when Jospeh Malwe left and his role was recasted. But HOLY SHIT, enter Sam Hazeldine and he just took that character to a new height. Adding more complexity, adding more black speech to his dialog, and being a representative of my favorite theme that I speculated is central to this season. Forgiveness.

The orcs being humanized was a great move imo. Because how else would we see the tragedy that is their entire kind being slaves to their own violent nature, that Adar sees past it, and Sauron can’t wait to exploit it. When Sauron tells Celebrimbor about the fall of Gondolin and the orcish blood rage I was FEASTING. THIS is how you introduce lore and expand on the history of the characters. They are a tragic invention of Morgoth, and yet are still sentient beings with names and feelings, that have been drilled and brainwashed about the fact that they’ll never be accepted by anyone, ever. Adar doing everything possibly wrong just to protect them, only to serve them right at Sauron’s feet as his new army. 

I’m sad that we couldn’t have had more of Adar’s character and he was absolutely full with potential, but he was doomed by the narrative from Season 1 and his actions had led to have little wiggle room for him to be left alive in the end. His last moments with Galadriel were beautiful. The very opposite of Sauron and Celebrimbor. He breaks from his cycle of violence and chooses forgiveness and peace. What happened after that though, was what we were supposed to be expecting about Adar's fate from the very first episode. Sauron never forgives and never lets a debt of insult go unpaid.

But what I DIDN’T like is the fact we never had a resolution between him and Arondir. Them stabbing each other and both of them still walking it off?? This is where the disconnect between episode 7 and 8 begins. Cause when they face off on the battlefield, you can see Arondir mouthing some words to Adar, but it must have been cut in the editing room. Adar was Arondir’s main reason why he lost everything and we will never have an appropriate closure between them I guess. Adar and Galadriel forgave each other, but he never asked Arondir for forgiveness. And we should have seen that. Instead, as one of my friends put it while we were gossiping about the last episode “And they just left Adar laying on that hill, huh?”

I want to believe he was Maglor, but hey, even with his elvish identity remaining a mystery, he still wanted the name he earned. I think that was nicely done.  They didn’t have the rights to the lore after all lol.

Sam Hazedine, I hope you get a huge bump up in your CV for playing such an amazing character and may you get other amazing acting roles in the future.

For now, what me and my friends group came up as a batshit “How do we still keep him in the series somehow” plan in 1am in the cafe drinking americanos, we figured he should apply to play as Glorfindel, but with a shaggy beard! Glorfindel is already half-maia at that point. He can get the wizard/elf vibes! Go with the grizzled dad look, no one will notice!! SEND YOUR CV, SAM!!

NÚMENOR!!! We’re slowly, but surely getting to the “and the island goes boom” storyline and ooooohhh I can’t wait. We’re getting hints of Isildur being the messy character that he is. As we slowly go through episode 3, we are hit with the biggest foreshadowing shot in the season, him basically seeing his own ending in the water. And what does he do there?? He steals from a dead man. He then meets and falls for a girl that’s already spoken for. What does he do? Tries to steal her too. Still riddled with guilt for the death of his mother, and using that to try to at least make up for it and cover his guilt with it. But this is Isildur we are talking about. Name a better combo than Isildur and bad decisions. But I love the fact that he was paired up this season with Theo. Similar experiences, both connecting through their loss. And I LOVE Theo’s arc so far, probably the character I’m most interested to see how his story will unfold. 

See, a friend of mine had an interesting theory that, while everyone is still going about Theo being either the Witch King or the King of the Dead…he might have another direction. What If Theo is Aragorn’s other side of the bloodline? Okay. Bronwyn falling for Arondir, human in love with an elf. Can you guess who has the same taste as well? Theo’s unknown lineage on his father’s side. It is almost as an open door to introduce the Dúnedain still living in Middle-Earth, and what better way to introduce them, then through Theo. A mainland Númenor vs. Númenor storyline? The paring of Isldir and him this season is also a hint. “The king’s hands are the hands of a healer”. And guess who’s the ONLY healer in Pelargir now? Theo ALWAYS choosing to stay with his people regardless if he’s been given a way out with either Arondir or Isildur…

Are we’re on to the showrunners or are they just throwing hints like this to lead people in one direction while they figure out his story? 

Back on the island, things are heating up for the Faithful vs. The Kings Men, and I’m here for the doomed story that is Miriel and Elendil. I’M HERE FOR IIIT!!! Pharazôn using both Kemen and Eärien as his tools to set himself on the throne was nicely done too. I was a little disappointed to see some Eärien hate going on though? Pharazôn, used her grief and anger for HIS means. After everything that her family goes through, she has the right to be angry and look for someone to blame. Why would she blame her father? He was under the queen’s orders, right? Grief makes you do terrible things and makes you blind, her respect for Pharazôn as the “smart” leader, falls right into Pharazôn’s hands in the right moment. And he uses it. He tries to turn her against her father too. BUT what does she do? SHE TRUSTS her father and goes AGAINST HERSELF to call the queen to help her save her Elendil, SHE KNOWS about their feelings for each other at that point, even if she doesn’t agree with it. Her love and loyalty to her family is stronger then everything Pharazôn threw at her. I never wanna see Eärien hate in the tags, as Galadriel says it best, heal yourself pls.

Kemen’s development on the other hand, I find really interesting. I get that he’s everyone’s favourite to hate right now, and Leon Wadham does an incredible job if people have such strong reactions to his character. Please don't be weird and don't harass him, he seems incredibly sweet compared to his RoP character. But there’s something really sad about him, you have this númenorian nepo baby that has everything on a golden platter, but the only thing he craves for is his father approval. And his father happens to be the worst person ever. He doesn’t want the scepter, he wants his father to have it. The moment he mentions to Pharazôn “us” he IMMEDIATELY cuts him off with a look and starts telling his own son how his dead mother had an ill prophecy about him. Cruel to the bone. And he blackmails him into telling it IF he does his bidding well. Of course, Kemen does a shit job at it, and we lost Valandil in the process, WHICH I DIDN’T EXPECT!!…BUT, I’m gonna take his death into advancing Kemen’s arc into a more villainous path, him arriving at Pelargir and seeing Isildur alive was such a moment, I had to cackle! The SINGLE PERSON RESPONSIBLE for the start of the domino effect of Númenor slowly going towards its downfall, turns up alive and is headed back home. Where Kemen killed his best friend, imprisoned his father, helped banishing his father, helped imprisoning Miriel and his sister is now target number one of Pharazôn. And Isildur saved Kemen’s life. Name a better combo than Isildur and bad decisions. 

Now, mentioning Valandil, I gotta rant about something else. And it’s about character deaths, especially for POC characters. Valandil dying, while not liking it, thinking it would happen much later when Númenor finally goes boom, it makes kinda sense for him to loose his life to Kemen, WHILE IN THE TEMPLE OF NIENNA. Lady of forgiveness, mercy and grief. Kemen even breaks her statue, which we should take as Kemen being beyond forgiveness. Advancing his character into a darker path. And then Nienna would be the first to forgive him lol.

But Rian?? Dying in the battle for Eregion like that? I get that her death represents a visual queue of the sheer evil and misery that is war. But, Vorohil surviving Boromor levels of arrows in his back, but not Rian? They couldn’t have switched their roles for that?? Rian being the messenger and Vorohil dying to protect his commander?? I’m kinda relieved that at least he survived from Elrond’s little party group, and Camnir is godknows where, but come on man. COME ON MAAAAN! Do better next time please, showrunners. If you introduce cool characters, at least don’t take them away like that, especially when they are POC.

And lastly…the Harfoot storyline. Oh boy. I don’t know if I’m in the minority, but for me this is probably this season's weakest point, A STARK difference from the previous season where I was invested the most. AND WE FINALLY GOT THE CONFIRMATION THAT HE’S GANDALF!! And it felt like, eh. We been knew.

This probably was the most cut storyline and felt like so many moments were missing. HAVING CIARÁN HINDS ONLY FOR A FEW SCENES!?! CRIMINAL!!! At least we got to see some Rhún scenery and got to see another clan of halflings. But the transition to the last episode felt like it lasted like 3 minutes, and then compare the previous season finale where everyone was still buttclenching if Halbrand or The Stanger was Sauron, right until the last conflict with the cultists! THAT was a nice ending of a climax. This season felt like they really didn’t want to bother with it anymore and now we have Gandalf going to Tom Bombadil, which is another perfect cast with Rory Kinnear, and Nori and Poppy leading the remaining Stoors, west. The gang is split. And it felt like a blip, compared to the goodbyes from the previous finale where emotions were high and you felt crushed and hopeful at the same time. But this storyline is now over, so that’s that.

I think that’s the overall general feelings for this season! Not going TOO much into detail, cause this will probably be a BEYOND long post lol.

Previous Personal MVP from Season 1 for me was definitively Daniel Weyman as GANDALF, having so little dialog, but using body language and emotions to act his way into the story. Season 2 MVP goes to Sam Hazeldine’s Adar. The dude swooped in and made the character his own and added so much more. To make me ROOT for the orcs? BLACK SPEECH making me emotional?! Unheard of!! Rest easy Uruk goth king, may you live in other people’s fanfics and be an inspiration for other amazing complex characters.

So…what do we expect now from Season 3 coming up?

Rivendell is coming up baybeeeeh!!! The first defensive bastion of the elves before the war with Sauron starts to heat up! Oh, that last shot was just beyond beautiful, BUT LIKE I SAID!! I would have had Ben Daniels just coming over and saying a few words than having that CGI shot. 

SO MORE CIRDAN NEXT SEASON, PLEASE!!!

I honestly have no idea where Galadriel’s arc is gonna be headed, but her connection to Sauron will always be there, now that she’s sort of marked? by his crown and the evil it’s made off, I wonder if it’s gonna come into play like Frodo when being stabbed by the Witch King’s blade. 

We didn’t get Celeborn as a surprise, and looking back, it was just impossible to get that. Season 1 and 2 are almost glued to one another and if you look at it from another side, it’s a full 16 episode season. This was basically Part 1….of The Rings of Power The Movie.

Hopefully more of the golden boi Gil-galad, give the man more twirling Aeglos moments, come on!! AND MORE GOLDEN FAM MOMENTS TOGETHER!! PLEASE. Some people still don’t know that Galadriel is Gil-galad’s auntie!! 

Sauron snatching Fëanor’s Hammer from Celebrimbor was VILE. And I loved it. He killed the only person talented enough to use it, and now he is left on his own to craft the final ring, by probably a) melting the hammer b) using it half-assedly and in the process messing up the One Ring so that’s why he ends up binding his entire life force to the Ring. BUT before he does that, he has the Nine Rings and he needs Nine Kings. So we’re on our way to seeing more Kingdoms of Men and that means we’re getting more casting announcements as the months go by. 

Pelargir!!! Theo being stuck with Kemen? Recipe for trouble. Hopefully Estrid gets some character development there, cause what we got so far from her was not enough imo. We’re already on our way to seeing the Ent’s promise getting broken. UGHH!! I don’t wanna see that, not when Episode 4 made me so emotional and is probably one of my favourites so far. We’re gonna get a clash with the Low Men vs Númenor for sure and this is where it starts.

We’re getting Khazad-Dum’s Game of Thrones!! NOOOOOO!! I don’t want them clashing with each other uughhh, especially family, but their fate is already written and it’s not gonna be a happy one. We will see if Durin will be tempted to use his father's ring as well. He did leave it to his son. So hoping they go for the emotions in that storyline. And in the mix there’s also the rift being open again between Durin and Elrond. And is it gonna get wider, or are we gonna see it mended next season? QUEEN DISA PLEASE PULL THROUGH!!

NÚMENOOOOR AGAAAAIN!! GOD there’s gonna be a lot of pain in there. And I was off with my prediction, we’re not getting Anárion this season, but we’re DEFINITIVELY getting Anárion next season!! Isildur coming home is gonna cause some chaos I’m sure, finding out pretty much like the pizza burning meme gif that A LOT of shit has happened during his absence. Are we gonna see a rift between Eärien and Isildur though? Her actions pretty much stem from his “death”, so it will be interning to see if the siblings clash or try to settle things first and find their dad and other brother. Pharazôn slowly setting himself up for the arrival of someone special AKA Sauron. We’re maybe still too far off from that plot, but as much as I enjoyed The Charlies™ and their scenes together, I CAN’T WAIT to see Charlie and Trystan being a combo act on screen. I LOVE Trystan’s portrayal as Pharazôn, he just oozes those charming but menacing vibes when he’s in his act. And to pair that up with Charlie? Which mask will he choose to manipulate him with? OH! CAN’T WAAAAIT!!

And then again lastly, as each season and episode, the Harfoots and Gandalf. It was nice to see that we’re getting the lore about how the halflings find The Shire, so we’ll probably gonna follow them on their travels to the west, and hopefully they meet some of the other key characters from the series. At some point, most of the characters HAVE TO HAVE A BRIDGE to meet up, instead of getting multiple separate stories. Hopefully Season 3 is that. Gandalf being mentored by Tom Bombadil in Rhún while the other wizard is still on the loose. The showrunners did confirm that Cirian is not Saruman, so that makes him one of the blues that failed their mission. They can go aaaanywhere with this storyline, but they better bring it up closer to Sauron and Galadriel. If they wanna show us the connection between Galadriel and Gandalf, and why Gandalf fears Sauron so much, I think Season 3 is the best point to start.

And that's pretty much it I guess.

Now the painful wait of TWO FREAKING YEARS begins for Season 3.

I'm gonna try to stay as active as possible with my gifs and plan out some sets, maybe including some of the other acting gigs of the other RoP actors, like my "Hazeldine cope mechanism for Thursday" sets, if my time allows it. But time is all we have now.

September flew by for me with this series. Like, 28th of August was two weeks ago, right?

So what are we doing next Thursday?

[lookninjas]

Pick a Cure song from a bad description! You do not have to recognize the song to choose it. Go with whichever description tickles your fancy. Maybe you like it when Robert sings about his Bad Domme Experiences (kind of a Cure subgenre, tbh). Maybe you still fucking hate Bush and Blair. Maybe you just want to set something on fire and make out with someone.

At the end of a week, I will make a playlist out of the results of the poll, going from the song with the least amount of votes to the song with the highest amount of votes. If you would like to hear the playlist, let me know in the comments or in the tags on your reblog, and I will tag you at the end.

And please reblog the post! I mean, we're all listening to the Cure this week to prep for the new album, right? Why not listen to a curated list of some weirdo's favorite semi-deep cuts?

(new album this week you guys oh my god oh my god I never thought this day would come)

[hoonieyun]

if the request is open, could you write nct 127/dream reaction to this prank? (hugging them but tell them you need a space) i think it would be cute hehe https://vt.tiktok.com/ZS29yfMN8/

warnings: mmm not really lol besides like some suggestive stuff and profanity but as always all my work will be tagged 18+

notes: i’m not gonna lie i’m actually on vacation right now hahaaha and i just forgot to turn off my requests but i thought this was cute especially after seeing the tiktok so thank you for requesting <3333 also idk if i have to disclaim this but all my work is an alternate universe unless i state that they are in the idol-verse LOL anyways thank u for requestiiiing !! as always... not proofread hehe

taeyong:

he had been at work all day, spending countless hours working hard so he could fund your cute plushie addition while you spent all day laying in his bed scrolling on tiktok. well before he had come home, you scrolled upon a tiktok of a new trend couple’s were doing. one of them would approach the other in an embrace and when the other would say something, the person who initiated the hug would abruptly say, “i need space”. you thought it was quite funny and knowing how sulky taeyong gets when you playfully tease him, it was the perfect prank to pull on him. 

it was around midnight when he finally got home. you left your shared bedroom and made your way to him. he stood at the front door, taking his shoes off and you figured this would be the perfect opportunity to pull your prank. 

you skipped towards him and hugged him so hard that the both of you were knocked off balance for a second. when taeyong stops the two of you from falling by setting his hand to the wall behind him he says, “woah, someone missed me!” in a teasing voice before he kissed your forehead. you smiled to yourself before you made your next move. 

you separated yourself from him and wiped the kiss off your forehead, “babe i need some space!” you said while putting your hands in front of you to almost stop him from hugging you again. taeyong has a confused look on his face, “huh??” he says as he grabs your hands and you quickly snatch your hands out of his. “i need space… okay?” you say and before taeyong even responds, the guilt eats at you, feeling too bad of how you were talking and treating him for the prank. 

“oh my gosh it’s just a prank i’m sorry baby” you say while quickly running into his arms, wrapping your arms around his torso. you hear him chuckle and he wraps his arms around you. “scared me for a second, thought i was in trouble again.” he says while rubbing your back. 

“again? what do you mean again??” you say, the confused look now on your face. taeyong has a sheepish expression, “oh… yeah. haha” he says while scratching the back of his head. “i may or may not have forgotten to water your plant before i leave for work… for the last week.” he says with a cheesy smile, trying to use his cuteness to get out of trouble. your eyes widen at the news and when you whip your head around to look at the plant that’s slightly hidden by the tv, you see that it’s once bright and vibrant green color has started to transition into a beige. “babe!” you say pouting and walking away. taeyong tries to grab your hand but you pick up your pace and so does he. ending the night with the two of you chasing the other around and giggling to try and get a hug from the other. 

johnny: 

hugs were your favorite thing to receive from johnny. no matter how expensive or beautiful a gift he may give you, his hugs were your absolute favorite. his strong and tall stature combined with his defined arms, you not only felt safe in his embrace but also giddy because it made you feel like you had your own very teddy bear despite his muscular build. so when your friends convinced you to pull this prank on johnny, you definitely knew you were going to struggle with it. 

johnny had just come back from the gym so you thought that maybe you can use him being sweaty as leverage in the prank, but you were wrong. when he walked in the front door, you were a bit speechless at how good he looked. his toned and muscular arms were looking extra big after his pump at the gym but you had to snap yourself out of it. 

you went up to him on your tippy toes, wrapped your arms around his neck and gave him a small peck on the lips. when johnny wrapped his arms around your waist, you almost melted into his touch but for the sake of a funny joke you needed to continue your plan. you quickly retracted your arms from his neck and grabbed his arms that were snaked around your waist. you dusted yourself off to make it seem like you were bothered by him, “what’s wrong honey?” johnny asks and you just look up at him with a stoic face. without another word, you turn around and sit on the couch and grab the remote. afraid that if you talk you might ruin the prank so you busied yourself by surfing through the channels on the tv. 

johnny, confused, walks over to you and in front of the tv. almost completely blocking your video. all he does is cock his head to the side and stare at you. “what? i just need some space.” you say, trying your best to keep a straight face. johnny scoffs and approaches you. he softly grabs your chin between his index finger and thumb. “space… really?” he says, staring straight into your eyes. it’s silent for a few minutes, as if the two of you are waiting for the other to crack. 

“okay fine! it was a prank!!” you say while grabbing a pillow on the couch and covering your face. johnny falls to the floor laughing. “why are you laughing so much! i should be laughing at you!” you say with a pout. “baby, you suck at pranks. i could tell you were fighting a smile the whole time.” johnny says while getting up from the floor. “plus, i know you can’t resist these arms. come on.” he says while flexing his arms and you can’t help but laugh and jump at him. “yeah you’re right!” you say while wrapping his arms around you. “i’ll get you one of these days though.” and johnny laughs in response. “what? i will you just watch!” you say while peeking out from your hug. “yeah, okay honey.” he says before placing a kiss on your forehead and tightening your embrace. 

yuta:

yuta was really big into physical touch. it was one of his biggest, if not his biggest, love language. you had only been dating for a few weeks and you thought the prank would be something funny to pull on him because he had a habit of scaring you by popping out from random corners or rooms whenever you were together, so it only felt right that you got him back. 

you were chilling around his apartment when you came across the prank on tiktok and decided to do it right then and there. you walked over to yuta who was grabbing something from his freezer, you approached him and gave him a back hug. resting your head on the space inbetween his shoulder blade. “hi baby, do you need something?” he asks and a devilish smile creeps onto your space. “um… yeah.” you say, trying your best to sound sad. “i… i need some space…” you say while looking down and fiddling with your fingers. 

yuta immediately notices the fast change in your mood and sets the frozen meat down on the counter. he reaches for your hands but you retract them and put them behind your back. you swallow and clear your throat before you say something but he cuts you off, “is something wrong? did i do something? are you okay?” he says while grabbing your hands that you were trying to hide but you give in as he envelopes your hands in his. 

“i just-” you begin to say but you yuta quickly pulls you into a hug. “i’m sorry. i don’t know what i did but i’m really sorry. please let’s talk before you decide that we need to have a break.” he says while your face is buried into his chest. you start laughing and yuta can feel your body move from the laughter. “are you cry-” he says when he pulls you off to look at you but stops halfway through, “LAUGHING? YOU’RE LAUGHING RIGHT NOW?” he says with a shocked expression on his face. you laugh for a few more moments, so much that you even wipe tears from your eyes. “i can’t believe you wanted to break up with me and you’re laughing about it.” he says taking a few steps back and crossing his arms. “you even hugged me into a false sense of comfort then tried to breakup with me!” he says while throwing his arms in the air like a child. 

once you had finished laughing, you explained to him the prank. “wow…seriously..?” he says with a straight face. “yeah! that’s what you get for always scaring me!” you say while sticking out your tongue and sliding your arms under his to give him another hug. yuta follows, wrapping his arms around you. “yeah? well you know what you get?” he asks while looking at you. you look up at him, “what?” you respond. “you get no dinner!” yuta says while laughing and tightening his hug, shaking you around a bit like you were a little stuffed animal. “hey!!” you respond but he ignores your response and opts out by tickling you instead, holding you in one of his arms so that you couldn’t run away while he tickled you with the other. 

doyoung:

you and doyoung were inseparable. you spent a lot of time together and ever since moving together you were practically glued at the hip. it just so happened that doyoung got up to use the bathroom when the tiktok prank appeared on your phone. you thought to yourself it was a good idea so when he returned you would pull the prank on him. 

little did you know, that doyoung watched you from the small crack of the bedroom door. he saw you scheming your little prank when he heard the tiktok play from your phone while you giggled. he thought to himself that it would only be fair to get you back if you were going to prank him. he entered your shared bedroom and went to your dresser, pretending to grab something. you sprung up from the bed and approached him, hugging him from the back. 

what you didn’t expect was doyoung to grab your arms and pull you off of him. “y/n… please, i just need some space.” and his words automatically hit you. a string of pain struck your heart and you suddenly were in no mood to pull a prank on him after his words. he even used your name instead of “love” or “honey”. 

“what’s wrong?” you said with a pout and after a few moments doyoung’s signature gummy smile appeared on his face. “hah! got you, i knew you were gonna pull that prank on me.” doyoung said, puffing his chest with pride. “hey! that was mean…” you say while turning away, sulking that your prank backfired and you ended up being the one that got pranked. you stomped away to your bed and hid under the covers. 

“oh come on, don’t be like that honey.” doyoung said while tugging on the blankets until you were revealed from underneath the plush fabric. “how did you even know?” you ask and he explained that he had saw you watching the tiktok before he returned from the bathroom. 

“ugh. whatever.” you said while stretching your arms out, waiting for him to hug you. “better luck next time honey.” he said while embracing you. he pulls you up so you’re now both standing, “by the way, i could never need space from you. i need you like oxygen.” he says softly, causing you to laugh, “oh my gosh you’re so dramatic.” you say teasingly, as if you didn’t feel the same exact way. 

jaehyun:

whenever jaehyun got home from work, the two of you had a little routine. he would approach you, hugged you, gave you a kiss, and he would ask if you had eaten already. after seeing the prank on tiktok you giggled to yourself thinking it would be the perfect prank to pull on your sweet husband. 

you were sat in the living room when you heard his car pull into the drive. you quickly got yourself ready to pull the best prank of the century, preparing yourself to put on an award winning performance. when jaehyun unlocked the door and entered your home, you skipped towards him and engulfed him in a hug. he hadn’t even said anything and you were already attached to his figure. 

“woah, haha hi there my beautiful wife.” he says with a smile showing off his dimples you loved so much. the word “wife” gives you butterflies in your stomach even after 2 years into your marriage. he was about to give you a kiss and ask if you had eaten when you suddenly detached yourself from him with a soft scoff, not too loud but loud enough that he would hear it. you begin to walk away from your now confused husband, “hey, whats wrong?” he askes while removing his shoes. “nothing…” you mumble, only making him more worried. 

he approaches your sitting figure on the living room couch. kneeling in front of you and putting his hands softly on your thighs. “nothing?” he says with a questioning look. “i just want some space.” you say while bringing your legs away from his touch and up to your chest. jaehyun sighs and gets up without saying anything. seeming as if he didn’t have the energy to deal with whatever this was. “you’re not even gonna say anything?” you ask as he’s walking away.

“well, what do you want me to say darling?” he says turning around while throwing his hands in the air. “you approach me all lovey dovey with a hug then all of a sudden you’re ignoring me and saying you need space.” he said, a part of you feeling extremely guilty that you’ve started to make your husband feel a bit crazy with your little prank but you decided to keep going. 

“if you need space, that’s fine, i bought this house with so many rooms so you can spend your time in any of them if you need space but you’re not leaving me okay?” he said, his head now slightly to the side. “and look if you want space just say that, i don’t need your attitude, especially when i’ve had a long day at work and i just wanted to come home to my beautiful wife.” he was now going on a tangent, afraid that if you didn’t tell him it was a prank soon he may pass out. 

you suddenly run up to him, catching him by surprise he slightly flinches but when he sees you jump he automatically catches you. you wrap your legs around his torso and shower him with kisses as you lock your arms around his neck. “sorry, yoonoh… it was just a prank.” you say in between kisses. jaehyun always loved it when you used his traditional name. he sighs, legs slightly giving out from underneath him when you clarify that you weren’t actually mad at him. “oh thank god. i was afraid you were starting to regret our marriage.” he says. 

“never!” you say while burying your face into his neck. “yeah?” he asks and you nod in response. you don’t notice for second but jaehyun had begun walking to your bedroom. “where are you taking me?” you ask. “our room, to show you what you’ll miss if you ever decide you needed space from me.” he says with a sly smile as he kicks your bedroom door closed. 

jungwoo:

jungwoo, your boyfriend of 3 years, was the sweetest and softest guy ever. so when johnny and mark had convinced you to pull a prank on him, you knew that you wouldn’t be able to handle his reaction. 

jungwoo was in the kitchen making ramen when you chose to pull your prank. you walked towards him and as he was tending to the ramen so they wouldn’t overcook, you hugged him from the back. surprised but pleased by your actions, he goes to turn around so he can hug you properly but you pull yourself away. “whats wrong?” he asks. 

“i think… i need some space woo…” you say, trying your best to keep a straight face. “space?” he asks, confused by your actions not necessarily matching your words. “you just hugged me?” he continues. 

“i need space okay? please respect that.” you say while wrapping your hands around yourself. “did i do something?” he says while quickly turning off the burner to make sure that nothing burns while you guys have this conversation. jungwoo naturally had puppy eyes but in the seriousness of this moment, his puppy eyes seemed to be turned to the extreme. before you could even continue, you rush towards him in an embrace. 

“imsosorryitwasjustaprankjohnnyandmarkmademedoitdontbemadatmebemadatthem.” you say very quickly, jungwoo barely understood you so he asks you to explain again. 

after explaining the prank to him and showing him your texts with mark and johnny, the two of you decide to come up with your own prank. jungwoo would text his groupchat with johnny and mark, alongside the rest of the group of his friends, that the two of you got into a huge fight because you wanted space while you would text johnny and mark that jungwoo didn’t understand the prank and got upset at you for wanting space. 

needless to say, when the two of you had sent those text, mark and johnny left various missed calls and texts while you and jungwoo laughed at them scrambling to “fix” what they did. 

mark:

mark, your sweet boyfriend who wouldn’t even hurt a fly, would be the next victim of your tiktok pranks. you had grown quite a following on tiktok for lifestyle content but the most popular of your content being whenever you pulled silly pranks on your boyfriend. after being tagged in the tiktok many times, you decided that you would pull the prank on mark. you noticed he was washing dishes in the kitchen so you subtly set your phone up on the table. 

you walked up to him and gave him a hug from behind while slightly rocking him back and forth. “hi baby, what’s up?” he asks. as hard as it was to let the hug go, you pulled yourself off with a sigh and sat in front of your phone on the table. thankfully he was too busy washing dishes so he didn’t notice your phone just sitting up next to the table centerpiece. 

“baby? you hear me? whats wrong?” he asks, slightly turning down the water so he could hear you better. “mark, i need space. is that ok?” you say with a slight attitude, luckily you had your back turned away so he didn’t see your face mouthing “ohmygosh im terrible” to the camera. 

the faucet suddenly turns off and mark quickly dries his hands on a rag. he kneels next to you as you’re sat at the dinner table, haven’t yet noticed the camera. “baby, of course you can have your space, but please don’t speak to me like that okay? even when we have hard days we shouldn’t raise our voice at each other or speak with anger okay?” he says so softly and kindly that your heart instantly melts. 

you pull him into a hug and tug him towards you, causing him to stumble forward a bit. “woah, is everything ok? haha” he says a bit confused. “yeah, can you just say that again for the camera?” you say sweetly with a smile on your face as you pointed at your phone with a nod of your head. mark averts his gaze to the direction your pointing and shock spreads across his face when he realizes you had been recording, “yo! what? is this a prank again?” he says while standing up and putting his hands on his hips. 

“yes!” you say with a laugh while locking your arms around his waist and settling your head on his stomach. he softly wraps his arms around your head while rubbing your crown. “so you don’t need space..?” he asks and you just laugh. “i could never!! i need you too much. you’re too sweet and nice to me.” you say while looking up at him. he cups your cheeks into his hands and gives you a kiss. “see everyone! if you have a boyfriend who is nice and sweet and cute and handsome and sweet you won’t ever need space.” you say into the camera while mark just shakes his head and smiles. admiring your silliness that he could never get tired of. 

haechan:

your boyfriend haechan was known to get sulky and pouty pretty quickly, so this prank would definitely be a fun one. he was in the pantry sifting through your various snacks, looking for one he can munch on while playing games with his best friends. you waited until he had found one and returned to his desk to continue playing games with jaehyun and mark. 

“alright boys, i’m back!” he says and the three continue their game. you approach haechan and slide yourself onto his lap and in between his arms as he plays games. you just stared at him before deciding what to do next. he reached for a chip and offered it to you. you shook your head and got off his lap, he shrugs and puts the chip into his mouth. “hyuck i need some space.” you say softly but he doesn’t respond. too immersed in his game. “hyuck did you even hear m-” you say but you're cut off by him yelling at mark for not paying attention to the enemy team. 

“canada! come on man. focus, you know how much i hate losing.” he says while slightly leaning forward, closer to his monitor. “bro how about you focus on your girl i think she’s gonna breakup with you.” mark says and haechan whips his head instantly to you. he tugs one side of his headphones off and averts his gaze back to his game. “whats up baby, what you need?” he asks, still too deep into his game. 

“i need space…” you say and you can hear jaehyun and mark release a collective “ooh” as the words leave your mouth. haechan just scoffs and continues his game. “i can’t believe you don’t even care!” you say, now unsure if you were still pulling a prank or if you were genuinely offended he didn’t care that you wanted space. “please, babe. you know you can’t stay away from all of this.”you expected him to be sulky and pout that you wanted space from him but you were met with his smug face instead. 

you weren’t sure what to do next so you quickly snatch his headset off his head and start babbling embarrassing stories to jaehyun and mark, like the time haechan ran to you like a baby when his finger got stung by a bee and asked you to put a teletubby bandaid on it. the boys got a kick out of the two of you as they listened to you both chase each other around the house, you spilling silly stories about haechan while he yelled for you to stop embarrassing him because he was a “big strong man”. his words, not yours. 

copyright 2024 - present © hoonieyun fka jjhyn all rights reserved

all writing here is fiction & not in any association with characters mentioned.

[s-seishiro]

࿐STREET RACER AU! shidou ryusei

summary: pretty explanatory. just some ideas inspired by that one oikawa street racer fanfic and @asxte.ria on tiktok

— headcannons+

— no warnings!

Shidou is FAMOUS in underground street races. Everybody knows his name, everybody knows his game and everybody knows to stay out of his lane.

He drives a modified Toyota Supra. The body paint of the car being a magenta-ish pink. It’s decorated in decals and other miscellaneous stickers.

Everyone knows he arrived based on the sound of his 2JZ-GTE engine.

Most of the racers tend to stay clear of Shidou because of his anger issues and eagerness to throw hands with anything or anyone who inconveniences him.

He is a brash driver. He doesn’t really care if he has to play dirty to win—as long as he’s number one.

Shidou just loves living life on edge. Wether it’s speeding through the city in a high speed chase, or riding dangerously fast just to feel the wind in his hair. All of it is for the thrills.

This carefree, idgaf attitude of his has landed him in the underworld hall of fame. Causing him to be one of the most sought after racer in all the competitions. Everyone is itching to see who will be the one to dethrone the king.

He is VERY competitive. He LOVES the adrenaline he gets during and after a race. But because of this rush he tends to get pretty violent and angry at times. It during those moments when people fear him and know to stay clear of his path.

Surprisingly, Shidou is VERY popular with the spectators. Many people enjoy betting on him to see him trash his opponents—or vice versa. And of course there are those who think he is extremely attractive. Women would often flock over to him to compliment him, hoping for at least one chance. And he doesn’t really mind the attention.

He NEVER lets anyone else handle his car. He doesn’t trust the street. If it’s not him fixing his car then nobody is.

Okay so let’s be real, he has tattoos. I’m thinking a dragon tattoo that’s kinda in the same position as Kaiser’s rose tattoo. And for some reason he’d probably have those Japanese back tattoo of the tiger and the dragon.

Is known for his odd relationship with the Itoshi brothers.

Everyone in the underground community even public community knows of Shidou and Rin’s rivalry. The first time the met was at a underground race—one that Rin accidentally stumbled upon. And Shidou, of course wanted to prove that he was better than the “official” racers. This whole ordeal was trending on Twitter and every time they have a rematch, the event is sold out.

Itoshi Sae was more interested in Shidou’s speed—and at one point you can see that Shidou’s was on a official team. But he quit because he had tons of restrictions placed on him to “save face.”

“If it isn’t baby eyelashes? I see you switched out your car for something a bit more modest!” Shidou pulled up beside Rin’s car, smirking once he saw the clear disdain on his face. The two of them just happened to be stopped by a red light on the same intersection. And Shidou, despite Rin not using his official race car, STILL spotted him.

Rin didn’t even need to glance in Shidou’s direction to know it was him. His brightly colored car instantly gave him away. “When will you ever stop being an public eyesore?”

“Your life is an eyesore.” Rin gave Shidou the deadliest side eye known to mankind, twitching in annoyance at his words. Shidou however was having the time of his life! Bothering the little Itoshi brother was his favorite pastime.

“Shut up, you antenna ass freak.” Rin spat, winding his windows up to block anything else Shidou had to say. It was still early in the morning and he was already getting pissed off.

“Hey hey hey language! Does your brother know you talk like that? Oh wait! You two aren’t on speaking terms are you?”

“You—”

Before Rin could get a word in Shidou zoomed off, leaving a trail of skid marks and exhaust. Shidou finally got the perfect reaction out of Rin, and so there was no reason to wait at the red light anymore.

Once again he had successfully left Rin without the last word. And he knew Rin wouldn’t dare run the red to catch up to him. He had a professional career to worry about—a restriction Shidou was glad to not have over him.

Now if Shidou has a lover…things get a bit interesting.

I can just see him always inviting you to watch his races. And most of the times you can’t attend because it’s late at night and the two of you are still college students.

But there are special instances where you watch his races—and it’s then he makes sure to show out.

After you get used to the run down of how things go—he drags you into the race into the passenger seat. Leaving you with no wanting except:

“Buckle up angel~!”

He loves hearing your screams of fear and excitement as he drives dangerously fast. He would tease and laugh at the way you clutch onto the seat for dear life.

[whatifyoulivelikethat]

Desire you? Fantasize about you? Interesting. Ive always wondered what it’s like to have high self esteem and think of yourself that way. :/ Do you consider yourself conventionally attractive?

My opinion of myself is irrelevant, because even if you directed this question at me, that's not what this ask is really about. So, instead, let me ask you in return: What do you gain from constructing your worth from the fragile, fluctuating social norms that deliberately prey on dissatisfaction? What standards do you want to live by, someone else's or your own? If you know what you want, then, what if you live like that?

The definition of conventionally attractive has changed in the last ten years. In the last twenty. In the last hundred, thousand, so on. The definition changes across continents, countries, groups of people within cities, socioeconomic classes, trends. It is an idea that is moreso used as a weapon for comparison and rarely for anything good. Comparison is the thief of happiness. The idea of "conventionally attractive" is decided by companies to make them money. Nothing sells product like making you feel shitty about yourself and feeling like you need to change something to be worthy to the general public.

I don't need to think people desire me or fantasize about me. They've told me themselves, solicited and unsolicited. People have insulted me to me as well. If I believed what they say or didn't, does that change what is? The truth is that I cannot control how other people think about me. I am the enemy in someone's story. I am meaningless to some. I am one of the reasons for few to keep going. I hold myself in high regard in relation to me, not to others, because an opinion of me can change in an instant, usually with very little relation to myself and mostly due to projection of another's own internalized ideals that they feel they don't live up to. The standards others impose on you are born from their own discomfort within themselves. I have learned that can't sustain my existence based on someone else's blueprint. I don't have to. I don't want to. Some people like that about me. Some people don't. I chose that, and I'll live with that.

Life is a gamble, true. But it is random, not rigged. People around you will try to rig the game in their own way, believing winning is a contest among each other. It's not. Yes, others will do their best to distract you, either through validation or violation, but the game of life is not about them. It is about you and the dealer. There are actually endless possibilities available as long as the game progresses. You are dealt circumstances. You can choose how to feel about them, you can find ways to turn them into opportunities, and you can beat the odds. You know that's possible because you witness it in others. But those are their circumstances and the answers they found for themselves. Just like how there is a vast variety in fulfillment, there are many winning hands. The answer for you must be determined and chased for on your own.

You can think of yourself however you want. You might not think that because you have been tricked to believe that you're incapable.

When you believe a lie, it will become truth for you.

I won't change your mind because I cannot. Only you can do that. It's very likely that you'll dismiss all this. That's understandable given what you know at this moment. So, think. How many of your thoughts are seeds other people planted? Are those flowers truly for you or are they the parasitic weeds you need to pluck out? There are many ways a garden can be beautiful but the garden needs to be tended to by the owner, you.

눈물이 터져 나오면, 그대 울어도 돼 당신은 사랑받기에도 이미 충분한데 if you can't hold it back, it's okay to cry you are already more than enough to be loved people pt.2 by agust d ft. iu

[marymary-diva17]

Fall family photo

There had been so many cute actives to do during the season of fall, that can make precious memories and some cute photo opportunitys as well. Now that opportunity has come up and there was no turning it down, as it was going to be a very cute fall active to do. Along with being ones that had been seen in the past, and now comes up as chance to happen now.

y/n " ......" you have been scrolling on social media look at a trend, that had gained your interest for a while and now the time has come. It was autumn and you had been planing on taking some photos of your kids and the family together.

neytiro " what are you all smiles about"

y/n " something I plan on doing with the kids it all be fun"

Jake " it another family photo isn't it"

y/n " yes it will be perfect"

neytiro & jake " ......."

y/n " are you saying you don't love our family photos with me and the kids'

Jake " no we love them honey"

neytiro " yes they are wonderful we will never say we hate something you love to do"

y/n " thank you and it will be good as family have been asking for another picture of the kids...and it will be good for us to have another picture on the wall"

Jake & neytiri " okay" you had smiled and kissed your husband making them smile as well.

Jake " whatever you need us to wear we will do it"

y/n " this is why I love the both of you such amazing husbands"

Jake " well I hope you remember that whenever someone else, question if we are perfect for you"

y/n " I promise"

neytiro " so how are you going to get the kids to agree to this"

y/n " oh I already talked with them I promise them cookies, and they wanted to do it if it meant they got to spend time with their dads ... and we don't wish to make them sad do we"

Jake " no"

neytiro " okay whenever you need us we will be there for you and the kids"

y/n " good I love you too"

Jake " we love you as well now join us for hot behavior and time of the couch, before the munchkins wake up"

y/n " that sounds like a fair deal" the couple had made their way downstairs and had some of the morning, together before the kids had woken up. After the family had breakfast together which was fun and messy, they had soon picked out some clothes for the family fall photos.

Jake " okay you are right this is fun"

y/n " see I told you" you and your husbands are making a pile for leaves with the kids.

lo'ak " frog frog dada look a frog"

Jake " I know buddy wait come back" lo'ak had started chasing after the frog but he was soon stop by Jake.

Jake " you can't leave yet buddy boy we need the pictures"

y/n " hey where are ...."

neytiri " I got the other three comes on kiddos let take a picture"

Jake " don't forget tuk" you had seen tuk was still in the stroller as you soon grabbed her and smiled at her.

y/n " don't we just have some very beautiful and handsome kids"

Jake " well do get it from their beautiful mama" Jake had kissed your forehead making you smile and laugh.

neytiro " yes they do" neytiro had soon kissed you making you smile brightly. The laugher from the kids had made everything better for you.

Jake "now come on let get this pictures taken as we all know these kids, will not last long enough for more" you had nodded your heads, as the family photos time had began. The kids near or in the leaf pile in some pictures and other with their parents. The boys with their fathers with bright smiles on their faces, and lo'ak making one attempt to escape the hold of Jake. The girls in a pictures with you once again all smiles and everyone very happy. There are some pictures of the kids acting goofy because they wanted to, it had all turn out very well.

y/n " see I love these pictures of my cute babies"

Jake " you love any pictures of them you love that one when, they are covered in a mess"

y/n " a mess they made on your guys watch remember that"

neytiro " oh yes we remember that we had to wipe off the jelly on the floor and them"

y/n " still had enough time to take a picture for me"

Jake " as evidence for when you came home"

y/n " keep telling yourself that" Jake and scoffed but soon kissed your forehead as you chuckle.

neytiro " I have to agree these are the moments we will remember about them, when they become older"

y/n " yes we will"

neteyam " mama"

y/n " yes buddy"

neteyam " we are hungry"

Jake " okay buddy we can handle that come on let make some tasty lunch"

kids " yeah" the kids had cheered loud after hearing the words food making you and neytiro laugh. The photos would later sent out to family next week, and everyone seem very happy about the pictures.

Jake " hey sweetie do we have any Frames laying around here"

y/n " oh yes in the cabinet over there"

Jake " good I need to frame these pictures for my desk at work, as I need to show off my beautiful wide and cute kids"

y/n " oh do you"

Jake " yes I do"

neytiro " I came looking for one as well for my desk as well, need a new photo for my desk of what I have waiting at home for me" you had laughed as your help your mates find some frames for their desk.

neytiro " thank you"

y/n " your welcome these frames will be the best for your desk"

neytiro " yes thank you for that but also thank you for staying with us, and making a whole life here with us"

y/n " well thank you for being with me as well and having this family as well"

Jake " we do have a perfect family and life here don't we"

y/n " yes we do" the couples had looked at each other as they began to scan over the family photos, that had been taken. All of them with bright smiles on their faces, as they looked at the beautiful family and life they had made. It seems like the season always had it ways of bringing people closer.

[dream-this-nightmare-over]

Joe Cole imagine

This one is for @shelundeadxxxx (i see you bestie), and @fckyeahjoecole (wake up bestie wherever you are, its been 5 years since we heard from you yet your posts are curing my new obsession), and @moonlit-void-to-the-far-unknown cause you are hoe for this man just like me.

You can find more of my imagines in my book Imagines on wattpad.

Hope you enjoy as much as I enjoyed getting lost in this daydream and eventually sitting down to write it.

Text came on 21st of July out of nowhere when y/n already thought it will be another cold summer.

'You me 9pm screening'

Joe never forgot his friend and deal they made on one of Ed's dinner parties or was it on some other occasion they gravitated almost always toward each other naturally pulled through people who's attention never brought peace like that of a friend in mischief. They would find each other and leave the crowd or stick to each other making rounds settling in corner with champagne and micro cupcakes making up what they taste like cause trends all seem to be tasteless left to one's interpretation, making fun of pumpered faces who only knew to call them out for being themselves.

They were going to see Oppenheimer together, on opening day. It was pinky promise sealed with smiles that even from shadows put candlelight to shame.

They meet outside, under glow of newly installed Barbenheimer titles at entrance, when heat died down a bit, and dusk rushed to its paintbrushes coloring hastily sky in purples and blues, overneeded relief in scenery. 'Hey you!' Joe excitedly greets coming toward y/n. As she was watching him come closer, mental image appeared and it grew bigger until he was in his full John attire walking John walk spreading his arms sassy and coy, feisty edges softened to gentleness and consideration irl. Perhaps this is why its so easy to fall for actors: they can be anybody they can play into any role we think of in our heads, its easy to imagine them following another script, no one knows who they really are, a mold for imaginative minds, perhaps even they don't recognize the reflection without all the makeup and pretence, it's easier to look at world through anyone's eyes but your own. They share their significant handshake, he doesn't part but pulls her in quick hug and they fall in easy chatter of laughs and jokes. It was hard to believe y/n will see any of the movie cause his eyes held her whole world and attention and thoughts captive. No imagination could compete with real thing. Drown me in you, for i am sinner.

In one incredibly brave moment during movie, Joe looked over at his friend, in darkness he can let go of his shyness social restraints loose it's okay to give air to your feelings and appreciate the moment indulge in secret admiration he will mask with smile when caught; from blue shadows playing on her face thought arose flickered into wonder what would cillian think of them together, if maybe he had it already figured out, he wondered if it's possible to love without flexing about it, if anything can survive without going through ordeal of condemnation, and he was pained to conclude this friendship is too sacred for world to touch it with their critical prejudicial opinions. But then she smiled at him quizzically and he knew he thinks too much. Love finds a way. It curves like river changes environment reshapes the world until it finds its freedom.

Neither wished for night to end. It was too late to chase one masterpiece with another, so they decided to meet tomorrow at same time to see Barbie.

They walked from cinema aimlessly wandering through town, hoping they never run out of pathways that lead to merging point from where no goodbye needs to be said again.

He held her hand never letting go laughing as she laughed at stars, pulled her back and spun her around in the middle of street under street lamp, slow danced night away, until sudden rain sent them running opera reaching its crescendo. They stood under his jacket he kept overhead covered stage them main characters , everything is funny if company is non judgemental, pitter-patter matching musical of hearts clock ticking midnight, y/n was lost in haze from when he put his arm around her in the dark and kept it there through breaks and credits as she showed him reaction memes that were already pouring Internet and they compared their experience with 'same. Omg so true. He killed it. Omg yes that part was something else'

She stayed the night, on his couch. He left the door open so they never feel too far away, he didn't want to keep walls when around her, he was tired of feeling forced separation from what he wants, forced pretence forced silencing of hapiness found.

On brink of slipping away, he realised he didn't kiss her. There will come time for that. Right words aren't born yet. But it's all in the making.

They went to show love for their friend Cillian but it was all masterly planned and excuted excuse to show love for each other.

In the morning, they checked the earliest showtime for barbie and went cause they were too excited to wait and there was no real reason to, since yesterday turned into tomorrow, friends turned to I never want you to go, time was theirs to make or break but they were way ahead of doubt it can't catch them now. Joe only smirked when y/n pulled bright shade of pink lipstick form her bag and offered it to him with innocent mischief written in her eye, he smirked cause her knew he will love her for the rest of the time they have together. He wouldnt check even if he had chance. Destiny can't be manipulated, so what's the point of knowing the outcome, you can't enjoy the ride if you only worry about the the end. End comes whether we try to fight the current or go with the flow. So why not relax and enjoy?

It was y/n's couch from then on.

[tea-cake-and-sarcasm]

Man, if I'm gonna be honest, I dropped out of college  Found myself a whole new realm of knowledge  Down the forest, foraging for sounds that I can  Rhyme with orange (whoo)  Look, I'm a simple gatherer among a world of hunters  Not about chasing clout, I'd rather gaze at clouds  And feel the comforts

Uh-oh, on the trending tab, hope this won't be ending bad  Checking analytics is like working in a forensic lab  Oh Lord, life's getting hard, I'm too young for a credit card  And I crashed the very first time I drove my parents' car

Teardrops, we've made friends between screens  And deep seas, steal hearts while teens scream our ears off  You mightn't believe it, a life full of streaming is real tough  It feels rough sometimes, but that's the real stuff (whoo)

Day by day, putting on a brave face (hey)  Playing games, taking pain straight away (yay)  Maybe made mistakes, but it's a-okay (wait)  We all need to take a break

If I'm gonna be honest  I need a little space to breathe  And I'm living, and loving  My life by the sea

If I'm gonna be honest  I need a little bit of a breeze  And I'm living and loving  My life by the sea

I'm just tryna keep my life afloat, but never quite coping  I feel the heat beneath my collar whenever I'm joking  Know most people aren't evil, though some really just wanna watch you burn  So you're on edge and sweating, dreading making wrong turns (whoo)

Treading on eggshells, laying on a bed of nails  D-d-d-don't you take a wrong step, or else you'll get impaled (get impaled)  I'm just a happy guy, paddling through the angry tide  Online emotions amplify, I tried to let it pass me by

Can't keep everybody pacified, satisfied appetites  My frazzled and distracted mind is acting like a satellite  So many transmissions, every day I'm twitching  Wishing that things were just an itty-bit different  I know I shouldn't complain, at the end of the day  But it's a British tradition

Day by day, putting on a brave face (hey)  Playing games, taking pain straight away (whoo)  Maybe made mistakes, but it's a-okay (wait)  We all need to take a break (hey)

If I'm gonna be honest  I need a little space to breathe  And I'm living and loving  My life by the sea

If I'm gonna be honest  I need a little bit of a breeze  And I'm living and loving  My life by the sea

Day by day, putting on a brave face  Playing games, taking pain straight away  Maybe made mistakes, but it's a-okay  We all need to take a break

So I'll be chilling when the tide is low (oh-whoa-oh)  'Cause I wanna take it slow (oh-whoa-oh)  And I can't sing the next note  But I brought a bro (oh)

If I'm gonna be honest  I need a little space to breathe  And I'm living and loving  My life by the sea

If I'm gonna be honest (like a little energy)  I need a little bit of a breeze  And I'm living and loving  My life by the sea

Life by the sea  Life by the sea  Life by the sea

THERE ARE TWO POSSIBILITIES FOR WHO THIS MIGHT BE (MOST LIKELY RONNIE) AND I CAN AND WILL HUNT DOWN AND EXECUTE YOU

[raayllum]

So for some reason this ask isn’t showing up in my tumblr inbox but I was luckily alerted to it through my email soo

@nothingmorethanageminiboar 

Behold, you have stumbled upon what is probably my favourite Rayllum dynamic pattern and definitely one of my favourite parallels / arcs in the series. Which is to say: Callum and Rayla are defined by the choice to leave or stay, specifically in their relationship with each other, more than arguably any other characters in the series. While Ezran’s choice to leave and go home to be king is noble, and Claudia’s choice to stay is tragic, for most of the characters (with the exception of Soren and Claudia’s splintering) their choice to either physically stay or go doesn’t affect their relationships, and doesn’t continually affect them. Soren chose to leave once in 3x07, thus being one big ‘leaving’. When Claudia and Soren go their separate ways again in S4 after a brief reunion (although him chasing her down definitely does factor in) there’s not a lot of focus. 

Rayllum gets this focus constantly.

From their first episode

to their last

In fact, one of the first Rayllum metas I ever wrote was about the trend of Callum running after Rayla throughout season one, and how each scene reveals a new facet of their dynamic, as well as progresses their bond. 

Which, their pattern of chasing, leaving, or staying typically goes like this. Rayla, for various reasons, leaves first. Callum either watches her go, chases after her, or both. Rarely, if Rayla leaves, does she approach him after the fact; normally it’s a full on ‘pursuit’ if you will. (Which makes sense, as Rayla usually leaves out of nobility or shame or both, and Callum usually leaves out of anger. This is why her coming back at all of her own fruition, although we don’t know why, is a massive step forward.)

Or, if Callum is leaving first, Rayla chases then watches him go, and then typically waits for him to come back to her. 

This also tends to very much entangled with their reaching motif, as well. It’s present in their dialogue too, with lines such as “It’s okay, Callum, I’m not asking you to come with me” and “But I’m not going with you” (3x08) and “Callum, please, come back! You’ve got to stay with me, I can’t lose you like this!” Rayla is more verbally connected to the theme, while Callum tends to be more action oriented (hence him regularly chasing after her, perhaps), flipping how they usually express love (but not need, which one of my favourite meta followups here). The Book 2 novelization has also commented on this, with a quote from when Callum watches Rayla leave for patrol in early 2x01 (something the show didn’t give the same weight to, I suppose) with: “Callum stared after her. He wished she didn’t have to keep risking her life for them like this” even perhaps paralleling Rayla’s own sentiment in Dear Callum: “I wish I could stay and eat fake cake and sing songs with you. I wish I could show you the Moonshadow Birthday Dance, and kiss you one more time.” 

Season four, as with many things, takes this facet of their dynamic from the first three arcs (mostly Callum running after her / choosing to stay, but plenty of Rayla seeking him out as well) and giving it even more overt dialogue, bringing it to the forefront, albeit in accordingly modified ways. For Rayla, once again, it’s more verbal. 

Soren: You can’t just go off alone. Rayla: Alright, fine. Callum and I can go look for the entrance. Callum: No, I’ll stay with Ezran. Soren, you go with Rayla. 

Dear Callum: But I can’t let you stop me, Callum. No matter how much I want to.I have to be strong. No matter what. And if you said even one word to me, I wouldn’t be—couldn’t be. If I stay even until your eyes open and you yawn your silly morning yawn, I’ll break. I’ll still be here when the sun rises today, and the next day, and the next…I should go. I have to go.

Dear Callum: Oh, Callum… I have to go. I have to. I want to give you one last kiss, but I can’t risk your waking up. I have to go.

But let’s back track and break this down a bit.

Rayla returns in 4x03 (”She was still gone, and Callum didn’t know if she’d ever come back” —Inheritance). Callum, almost immediately, tries to leave. Rayla chases and asks him not to. Callum cannot bring himself to leave the way she did; he stays, even if he’s angry, unable to bring himself to disappoint her or to bring himself to go. When he shuts her out again, Rayla asks if she can stay. (Callum, at this point, has never asked to stay, only if he can come with.) Callum agrees. She leaves silently the next morning and is unsure about sticking around to go with them to Xadia precisely because of Callum, but luckily Ezran insists.

Then in the Uncharted Forest, Rayla tries to go off on her own (again) and tries to bring Callum along with her. He refuses and she leaves, and for the first time, Callum does not (or cannot / will not) watch her leave. 

We get a smaller inversion of this in 4x07 when he at least partially watches her go back into the air sphere and when he runs to her in 4x08 

but we get a proper fulfilment in 4x09, at least in terms of watching her leave and letting her leave, but also in running after her. (If you want the “looking away” motif version of this pattern across the series, and particularly in S4, check out this post here.) Specifically, in the way that Callum is the first to say/identify that they need to leave Umber Tor, but he’s actually the last to leave, staying behind to watch Rayla go until a boulder nearly crushes him, and then running after her (once again) to pull her from the rubble and to embrace her afterwards, walking up to her sword beforehand, etc.

“And it was the night I met—” It was impossible to say her name out loud. Rayla. It still hurt. She was still gone, and Callum had no idea if she’d ever come back.

Each time Runaan leaves, it is with the weight of knowing he may not come back. That to fulfil his duty, he may have to sacrifice everything. Himself, and all that we have here. 

Remember how I said that usually when Rayla leaves, she doesn’t come back on her own? S4 gives as a repeated turning point, in that Rayla is starting to make choices (although we don’t entirely know why) to prioritize coming back rather than finishing things to the brutal end. We don’t know why she came back in 4x03 (but given that Callum asks three times and the show doesn’t let it go into detail on purpose, I’m sure we will) and in 4x09, we can possibly read it as her deciding to get out with the coins > following Viren further over prioritizing her family (over a notion of prioritizing herself) but we shall have to wait and see.

So they have their cycle. So what? Well...

Breaking The Cycle

For example, Dear Callum and then S4 in show is the first time that Rayla expresses that she wishes she could stay. That she wants to stay, deep down. Compare and contrast to Ezran in 2x09 (“I wish I could go with you, but I can’t”), Rayla has stayed far more silent on the matter: “But I’m not going with you [...] You and Ezran should take Zym, but I can’t leave. I have to stay and defend the dragon queen” (3x08) in which Callum rightly points out that this is mostly out of guilt and not a mistake that she should have to pay the price for. 

And we also know that learning to take things together is where both of them are headed. Not only because it’s crucial for a relationship to operate as a team, and that Callum needs to learn how to express himself again and that Rayla needs to learn she deserves help, but also because we see this be evident with both sets of parents she’s emulating. Lain and Tiadrin both left to fulfil their duty together, and Runaan and Ethari know that they work as a team, fundamentally, too: “Ethari-” “I’m coming with you.” “As I assumed you would.” 

So we’re making progress, but Rayla is still prone to go off on her own (and Callum currently hasn’t given her an incentive to change, given that he listened to her and therefore kept himself safe, and can now accept this is a part of her that hasn’t changed, even if it hurts and breaks his heart). Thus, I expect S5 to give them enjoying the fact that they’re sharing space again, but fracturing due to these unresolved issues. He still missed and mourned her for two years, and she’s still completely liable to put him through that again, even if she really doesn’t want to. 

This is where more plot stuff comes in. I think Rayla guiding Callum out of the possession from Aaravos, if/when it happens again, and asking him to stay with her (call backs to 2x09) and promising to stay with him and not leave would do the trick in terms of reaffirming a lot of what they need. But as noted above, Rayla has asked Callum to stay before. 

He’s never asked her. I’ve written a larger meta about this (which you can read here) but Callum tends to express his devotion through verbal admiration and deep seated “I’m here for you what do you need” in action and in emotional support. “We’re in this together” / “I don’t care if you’re crying, I’m here with you” / “You know I’m always here for you, right?” Running after her, checking up on her, trying to get her to open up, accepting whatever she says whenever she does, etc. He’s just as devoted, but he expresses it differently in speech, and mostly through action. 

But think of how Rayla’s big speeches and statements almost always revolve around wanting to keep him safe/with her:

You’ve got to stay with me. Callum, please come back. I can’t lose you like this, you mean too much to me. 

He’s smart and kind and brave and he’s… My friend. My best friend. So please, allow him to pass into Xadia and help me take the Dragon Prince home. Because I don’t think I can do it without him.

But I became so obsessed with revenge, that I risked losing the best thing I ever had: you.

Callum. I’m glad we can be here together, looking at the stars. 

Beyond his heartbreaking “I couldn’t lose you” and “I let you go into the Nexus alone and I knew right away I made the biggest mistake of my life - I could have lost you” Callum doesn’t express in the same way, and not so consistently. He’s only ever asked to come with her, not for her to stay with him. We come close, very close, in S4 when he says that he needs her (to kill him) and Rayla is very surprised at first. 

[Rayla jerks back a bit, surprised]

But I am leaning more and more towards one of their turning points being Callum making it clear just how much he needs her, just how much he wants her to stay, just how much she’s important to him, and this actually getting through to her in her thick skull for once, being a significant jump forward in terms of her “I sacrifice and protect for you, but I can’t let you do the same for me” hurdle. 

Which is also why they have a pattern of Rayla putting herself on the line first (with the smoke wolves, saving Bait, the dragon, Sol Regem, saving Zym) and Callum putting himself on the line to save her in turn. She saves everyone - she saves him - and he saves her, and that’s the way it is. Callum giving her unconditional love and acceptance with this pattern is important, especially since Rayla has faced a lot more conditional feeling love in her life, and it allows her to grow and change not based on a relationship ultimatum, but because she wants to, for herself. However, her realizing that she really is just as important - and just as worthy of love and protection and being saved - to her friends as they are to her is also something that Callum can absolutely help with and affect. 

So yeah I’m fully banking on a “I lost her once, I can’t lose her again” from Callum in S5 and even more sentiments of staying and leaving and chasing in S5, possibly even to fruition. After all going into the Moon Nexus is the watershed that split them apart, so going back down into the water would be very full circle. 

[chicknparm]

I’m sorry and everyone’s struggles are hashtag valid blah blah blah you know the drill

But I just cannot have patience for people who are like, paralyzed by fear about aging, especially like. Anything shy of 40 lmao.

“Oh noooooo I’m turning 30 I’m so ancient and old and decrepit” okay then perish I guess? Maybe it’s that I genuinely never expected/wanted/prepared to live past 25 but like…the possibility of living to see my 30s rules, actually. With each passing year I relish being older and not being bothered by stupid fucking bullshit lmao. Like I discourse abt shit like this way less than I used to, and I’m sure that will continue to trend downward as I embrace one of God’s Greatest Gifts: privately bitching to my friends when something pisses me off.

Anyway to further kick the hornet’s nest (Mog talking about rent-lowering gunshots inspired me lol) I feel like The Millennials made some progress from like, the 2000s to the 2010s in like, the smallest fucking shred of “Body Positivity.” Mostly as a response to the “heroin-chic” era we grew up in where anyone who wasn’t literally dangerously thin was called Fat in the tabloids. At the very least we had *some* women who weren’t *completely* rail-thin who were allowed to be famous and successful.

I bring that up bc I feel like Gen Z really needs to have that come to Jesus moment but with aging. They all seem fucking petrified by it and seeking trend after trend to fight it the way that women my age grew up chasing diet after diet and pill after pill to avoid being fat. Like I want to be sympathetic bc I want all people to find peace and happiness and love wins and all that. But also maybe you shouldn’t stake so much of your identity on being Younger and Cooler than the people 5 years older than you? Just a thought? Oh and also while you were making fun of the jeans that 32 year old women wear you backslid into worshipping extremely thin bodies and made “body positivity” about how actually, it’s okay to be skinny! Good job, kids.

Anyway this has been Old Woman Yelling At Clouds. Maybe you won’t be as grumpy about Clouds as me, but you will (hopefully!) get old. Get over it.

[wanderinghedgehog]

Okay, so Javert is dead. Time to do a line-by-line commentary/analysis of Javert’s Suicide in the musical with some book comparisons. Yippee!

“Who is this man?

What sort of devil is he?”

I think this line would feel more appropriate right after Valjean frees him at the barricade. This will begin a trend of Javert’s suicide being very focused on Valjean here. Also, in the book, this is the chapter where Javert compares Valjean to an angel, so it’s interesting that he is called a devil here instead.

“To have me caught in a trap

And choose to let me go free?”

This was Valjean’s choice. He didn’t really have much to gain from freeing Javert. In fact, it’s potentially detrimental to him. This is an act that you can’t see for anything but what it is, kindness.

“It was his hour at last

To put a seal on my fate,”

Javert truly believes that Valjean could have killed him. For an audience who is aware of Valjean’s nature, it’s a bit strange to imagine.

“Wipe out the past,

And watch me clean off the slate.”

Valjean literally gives you his address so you can arrest him. I don’t think he’s looking to just get away.

“All it would take was a flick of his knife.

Vengeance was his and he gave me back my life!”

He’s not happy to not be killed. It kinda ruined his day :(

“Damned if I'll live in the debt of a thief”

I don’t know if the musical gives this context really, but I interpret this line as a rejection of his changed opinion of Valjean. At this point in the book, he’s started referring to Valjean more respectfully. But here, he denies any semblance of that.

“Damned if I'll yield at the end of the chase”

This deserves a quote from the book. “Enormities such as this can happen and nobody should be punished? Jean Valjean, stronger than the entire social order, should be free and he, Javert, continue to eat the bread of the government!”

“I am the Law and the Law is not mocked”

This line will be relevant again later.

“I'll spit his pity right back in his face”

The oddest thing about this is Javert is meant to be pitiful. The book literally describes him this way, but in a moment when he is very sure of himself, when he goes to arrest Valjean in M-sur-M. Javert is pitiful because he is horribly wrong and oblivious, not because he is helpless. Valjean helping him when he is in need of help is not the sort of pity you’d expect to be shown to a man like Javert.

“There is nothing on earth that we share”

On the one hand, are you sure about that? On the other hand, this really speaks to how Javert’s worldview allows for two types of people: superiors and inferiors. When Valjean is seen as a criminal, he is nothing like Javert because Javert couldn’t possibly have something in common with a convict. oBvIOusLy. But when Valjean has proven he’s a good man, he is nothing like Javert because he’s better.

“It is either Valjean or Javert!”

I told y’all the “I am the Law” thing would come back. This is Javert’s ultimatum that he’s given himself. He must choose between Valjean (the reality of humanity) and himself (the reality of the law). He doesn’t give himself the option to become something other than the law.

“How can I now allow this man

To hold dominion over me?”

The musical speaks much more of debt than the book. In the book, Javert doesn’t worry about the debt he owes Valjean for saving him because he’s already been repaid. Javert showed him mercy in turn.

“This desperate man that I have hunted”

I think this is an oddly sympathetic way for him to talk about Valjean.

“He gave me my life. He gave me freedom.”

The key word here is “gave.” There was no trade or deal as Javert had initially assumed.

“I should have perished by his hand”

He was too willing to die then. That’s not noble sacrifice, buddy. You just don’t value your own life very much.

“It was his right.”

It was also his right to not kill you.

“It was my right to die as well.”

Time for another book quote. “To have called the other insurgents to his aid against Jean Valjean, to have forced them to shoot him, that would have been better.”

“Instead I live -- but live in hell.”

Yeah, I bet suddenly having to think about things when you’ve gone the rest of your life with your mind as blank as printer paper isn’t exactly a fun time.

“And my thoughts fly apart.”

Same

“Can this man be believed?”

Javert in the musical is much more confused than Javert in the book. In fact, in the book, sudden clarity is arguably part of the issue.

“Shall his sins be forgiven?

Shall his crimes be reprieved?”

I will once again refer you to the line “nearer angels than men.”

“And must I now begin to doubt,

Who never doubted all those years?”

This is my favorite line in the song. It’s similar to my favorite line from this chapter in the book, “to be granite and to doubt.” Both lines really express the scale of this emotion so well.

“My heart is stone and still it trembles.”

This reminds me of a misconception I’ve seen a lot. For whatever reason, some people think that Javert intends to be emotionless. I think that referring to his heart as stone is not to say that he doesn’t feel, but that he is unshakeable. Hence the line “and still it trembles.”

“The world I have known is lost in shadow.”

Well, what exactly is the world he has known? That seems to be a difference between the musical and the book. I’m sure a lot of other people have explained that difference better than I could.

“Is he from heaven or from hell?”

And another quote. “…this monster, this infamous angel, this hideous hero, who made him almost as indignant as astounded.”

“And does he know

That, granting me my life today,

This man has killed me even so?”

I’ve found that this song has trouble really communicating why Javert would want to kill himself, but this line brings up a certain sentiment from the book that I think explains it pretty simply. While it can’t be said that Javert had only one reason for committing suicide, the book does say, “He felt that he was emptied, useless, broken off from his past life, destitute, dissolved. Authority was dead in him. He had no further reason for being.” He kinda thinks of himself as already dead.

“I am reaching but I fall”

Despite the fact that this song already had the same melody as Valjean’s Soliloquy as well as some similar lyrics, this is where I notice this parallel the most, at the moment when the two narratives really begin to differ. In Valjean’s Soliloquy, this verse is where he talks about the death of his former self and how this will allow him to start again. This verse is far more literal in Javert’s Suicide. He does not intend to start again and redeem himself.

“And the stars are black and cold”

Stars callback! Yippee!

“As I stare into the void”

Another line shared with Valjean. It’s really interesting to hear these shared lines sung so differently in the same show.

“Of a world that cannot hold”

I think I like this line for a similar reason as “and must I now begin to doubt.” I’d have trouble explaining it though.

“I'll escape now from that world”

Often, antagonists are given the chance to redeem themselves through death. Javert does not do this. He doesn’t ignore these revelations and be wrong knowingly, but he certainly doesn’t become a better person outside of his own head. By taking himself out of the equation, he has remained static, something he’s been doing his entire life.

“From the world of Jean Valjean.”

I’m not sure how I feel about this one. This isn’t Valjean’s world. Valjean just lives here.

“There is nowhere I can turn”

Not the line itself, but the music. Maybe the chaos of it does work well for the musical. I don’t know. But I always preferred the quiet of the scene in the book. You get so used to hearing his really noisy thoughts, but then he’s just some guy standing on a bridge in the middle of the night.

“There is no way to go on...”

I want a portrayal of this but that isn’t silly. This isn’t the line’s fault though. “There is no way to go on” had nothing to do with some of the goofy staging I’ve seen.

[azumasoroshi]

minidura chapter 11 react

ok i found chapter 11 translated by amnemonie on tumblr (thank you thank you thank you and if you want me to take this down i will!!) but there's no guarantee ill be able to find the rest lmAOo we'll see

HOT MAN!!! HOT MAN

i mean what no pathetic sopping wet man

cat face izaya i thought id never see you again

man after realizing there's a minidura tag i saw a post that was like "i wish minidura got animated like bsd wan" and like. YEAH. PLEASE

it would be the perfect revival of the durarara fandom pleaseeeeeee do it for meeeeeeee we could revive durarara like we revived trigun

and i need shizuo izaya and shinra cooking together being animated. please

anyway izaya looks like he really doesnt wanna be here in that last panel and i mildly spoiled myself on the comments/reblogs saying this one is really mean to izaya which you know i live for. [cracks knuckles] i hope he gets hit by a truck but like an emotional one because that's the only one he'd really react to

oh god he's more pathetic than i thought he'd be

they're really looking at him like "damn bitch you good" which is fair

bro summoned up all his courage to ask 😭rip bozo

??????????? THEY TOLD YOU HE'D BE WITH THEM

izaya simultaneously has the best social skills known to man and the WORST social skills known to man

ill never stop bringing this up but. now presenting orihara "i love humans because they're so unpredictable" izaya getting fucked by humans' predictability everybody

and here we see izaya walking awkwardly in his natural habitat, trying to eat cake with high schoolers /j

kadota casually calling out izaya on his bullshit bkgjdSGKHDSHds

he just wants to eat cakeeeee someone go with him

not me though i wouldnt be caught dead with that man

i swear walker's face gets longer every time i see him and it tickles me so much

aaaand cue shizuo on stage right

god bless erika for suggesting that he invite shizuo cuz id have done it myself

also "just today". are you implying that you want to see shizuo every other day. izaya.

WAIT

WAIT IS TODAY IZAYA'S BIRTHDAY

OH

oh my god thats actually sad okay

id say to ask namie but namie probably rejected him already without even letting him finish the question bkfdgjhgf

shinra keeping up the stupid anniversaries trend from that other chapter we love a consistent malewife

man shiki he wasnt even here for work 😭 at least he got some food although karasumi does not look that good if im being honest

at least compared to cake

shinraaaa you FORGOTTTT

may 4th is the date of my statistics exam but i swear ill celebrate it for you izaya. ill even mark it down on my calendar

oh 💀 namie is as delusional as i am. love that for her

he's even singing to himself ohhhhh poor baby...(i say this as if i'm not grinning wildly to myself in my room rn)

i swear i feel bad for him but he's so fun to bully

man i remember those fics where shizuo was the only one to remember izaya's birthday bgkjhfdgfd i guess those were founded from somewhere (even if his gifts were things like 'not chasing him today' or sending him black roses)

oh my god 😭 he's so desperate at this point i didnt think he'd actually be happy to see shizu-chan

even grabbing him by the arms bkgdssdkahdskjhgsdsd

this is gonna end badly though if the comments/reblogs i read have anything to say about it

😭yep the izaya bullying is real

SHIZUO NOOOOOOOOOOOO THATS BASICALLY THE WHOLE CAKE

izaya's conscious too 💀 MAN

part of me feels like this is narita's personal revenge against the shizaya fans in his fanbase askdbgskjhsdhgsd shizuo needs to be extra cruel to prove he's not gay

he's so happy to just get birthday textssssss this is so sad

[noahtally-famous]

td 2023 s2 ep1 spoilers below the cut

(okay so I have not finished s1 but I know the general gist of what happens through mutuals posts and just the td tag lmaoo. maybe later I will actually sit down and watch the whole thing, but that time is not now.)

moving onto my thoughts of s2...

AHHHHHHHH idk how else to explain it but I absolutely LOVED the episode, and honestly I have a feeling I'll love this season, simply bc everyone is so great!!

heck even ripper and chase were tolerable, like, there weren't any fart jokes or anything, it was great!

MKULIA SWEEP???? HELL FREAKING YEAH idc if it's a friendship/alliance, I'm living in my world where they're toxic yuri

Caleb getting some much-needed character development??? I'm SO here for it, and the stuff mentioned during the episode def fits the kinda vibe I have going for him, so that's even better!! (potential caleb & emma friendship??? they can bond over kittens and of caleb being emotionally mature)

also his reactions to the team choosing was gold, I can't wait to see what A-Game he's gonna bring. I'm hoping he doesn't become a version of justin--I just want him to want to be a useful teammate and person for his team/friends/competitors and want to win as well. no overly crazy 'tda justin' villanry pls?? (I mean, I won't be averse to it if it does end up happening, but it'd be cool if things changed up this time around)

CHEMMA BROKE UP THANK FRICKING GOD, our prayers have been answered!! please please PLEASE have them stay broken up

raj & wayne on the same team again!! I was not expecting that tbh, but I'm curious to see where this goes

rajbow is so adorable, like bowie not even letting chris finish before he immediately picks raj first for his team is so 🥹

ngl chase is still a dumbass but now that chemma is out of the way, I mean it affectionately, I can't bring myself to hate any of the characters and that trend isn't going to stop here. that moment when he ran at granny hatchet and bowie was like "I don't believe it, I think he's gonna make it" like that scene was insane

damien is amazing as always, no words need to be said. manifesting a final two involving him

NICHELLE. FUCKING NICHELLE. GOD I CANNOT ARTICULATE HOW MUCH I ADORE HER HERE!! saving the best for last goddammit, I love her so so so so much, omfg the way she slayed the challenge, pls I'm so hyped for her character development this season, I can't wait for the other contestants to eat their words abt her

axel trying to 'be nice' ("i'm a work in progress" yes you are but you're doing amazing) but acting like an ass to ripper is something I live for. "I'm not following you, we're running in the same direction!" LMAOOOO

the fact that priya doesn't hold any resentment toward her parents still irks me, but I still love her character and I'm excited to see what's in store for her

GRANNY HATCHET SLAYED, 'NUFF SAID

I'm still hoping for some axelle content, but I'm more than happy with the mkulia servings we got

I'm lowkey interested in scary girl's change of character. I feel like this wont be the last we see of her--will she be like an amy and swim back to the island to enact revenge? or will she be like ezekiel and live on the island in secret? or will she be a secret third thing? I sure as heck don't know but I can't wait to find out!! her parting words def seem ominous enough to imply something

speaking of, scary girl's change of character and when she talked abt how she became "normal" everyone's reactions were sending me lmaooo

bowie going "you're never right" to chase but is the one to choose chase on his team, like yes dude frrr that frenemy whiplash was wack lmaoo I love it

same with bowie choosing julia, like yes we love to see two manipulative competitive strategists banding together

on a different note, I wonder what will come of bowie and emma's friendship from s1 and how that broke apart. maybe they could rekindle it in s2? hmmm

zee and their suitcase of sodas 😭

"she's an animal" OKAY MK TONE IT DOWN (pls don't, actually pls continue doing it) YOU'RE NOT HELPING MY MKULIA CASE HERE

millie being priya's first pick >>>

"what strategy? you just stop and run, it's not rocket surgery" 😭 I used to dislike ripper, but if he continues on like this, that opinion will def change. it's only been the first episode and I already don't dislike him anymore so-

MORE MKULIA P L E A S E IM HOPING

chris is still 'tdi chris' aka the b e s t chris imo, and I'm here for it!! also chef and chris's dynamic is still spot-on

in conclusion, im so very excited for what this season will bring!! in case you didn't realize, I LOVED the first episode!

[phoenixkaptain]

The prequel and original trilogies’ trio of protagonists are interesting to compare.

Like, two boys and one girl.

The girl is/was referred to by some royal title (Queen and Princess respectively) and is a major figurehead in changing the galaxy, but politically. They’re both leaders. They both fall in love with one of the guys but likes the other guy enough that the first guy mistakes their friendship for a romance. Etc, etc.

The two guys: at least one Jedi. Older and younger. Desert boy and someone from a planet we know the name of but never actually see (in the movies! I know Corellia comes up later, but we never see the planet in the movies! Just go with it!) The older is something of a mentor-type until the final movie, when desert boy has outgrown the need for a mentor.

But, there’s a problem with the idea of Luke = Anakin, Han = Obi-Wan, Leia = Padme. While the characters are similar on paper, and even resemble each other quite a bit, they don’t have the same roles. They don’t fit quite right, because they aren’t narratively the same.

(And really it’s incredibly basic and a bit convoluted to compare the characters in a 1:1 format like this, because all six of these characters are incredibly different and do different things and act differently from each other, and one could view this as diminishing the effect of one or the other, but I would argue that viewing either as a watering down or some such nonsense of the other is incredibly silly, and this is less of a “look at how the prequels steal from the original” and more of a “look at how the story rhymes, look at the matching hues, look at how the story beats are so complimentary and interesting.”

Don’t take this as criticism of either movie. This is my joy and praise and nothing more or less.)

I would present to the court that Luke = Obi-Wan, Leia = Anakin, Han = Padme. Because their roles in the narrative are functionally similar.

Luke and Han begin the story by meeting, largely due to coincidence but also because Obi-Wan told Luke they needed a pilot and Han was what they found. Luke, Han, and Obi-Wan rescue Leia from the Death Star. Obi-Wan dies to Darth Vader. His death leaves a major impact on Luke.

Obi-Wan and Padme begin the story by meeting, largely due to coincidence but also because Qui-Gon decided “Yeah, okay, I’ll help out this child queen whatevs.” Obi-Wan, Padme, and Qui-Gon manage to get Anakin off of Tatooine (functionally rescuing him from a life of slavery) Qui-Gon dies to Darth Maul. His death leavds a major impact on Obi-Wan.

Of course, writing the movies this way leaves out a lot of details and nuance, but that’s kind if sort of the point. If you look too closely at the characters then they aren’t very similar to each other beyond a base level, but if you pull back and look at the narrative as a whole, then you can see the way the chess pieces move in similar patterns. This trend continues as the movies go on, but I feel like it’s the clearest here.

Obi-Wan and Padme, alongside Obi-Wan’s mentor, “save Anakin.” (They weren’t technically asked to or anything, marking this as a big difference between the og and prequels, but the motives of the characters don’t matter as much as the actions, in this comparison.) Luke and Han, alongside Luke’s mentor, save Leia. In this comparison the parallels are 1:1 and very clear, but have the added benefit of putting Obi-Wan into Qui-Gon’s role, and I honestly believe that nothing would make Obi-Wan happier and that it’s what he deserves and-

In the remaining movies, the storybeats separate but the roles remain clear.

There are two driving forces for the story, Luke and Leia. Luke goes off and does his own thing while Leia and Han do something else. They separate near the very beginning of the story, after a chase sequence (I am being generous in calling the opening of The Empire Strikes Back “a chase sequence” because that’s really only a technicality. Technically speaking, they are being chased off of Hoth, so it technically counts. Yes I am stretching the comparison a little, but who cares?) Luke and Leia ultimately meet up after some shenanigans, but Han gets lost on the way. There’s a big fight between Luke and Darth Vader that Luke loses. Leia and Luke meet back up and everyone is kind of depressed because the whole movie was a big loss.

There are two driving forces of the story. Obi-Wan and Anakin. Obi-Wan goes off and does his own thing while Anakin and Padme do something else. They separate near the very beginning of the story, after a chase sequence. Obi-Wan and Anakin ultimately meet up after some shenanigans, but they end up losing Padme (she tumbles off the ship, it counts, shh, just go with it). There’s a big fight between Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Dooku that Anakin and Obi-Wan both lose. They think they’ve won, because they drove off the Separatists , but they did start a war, so it’s a big loss.

As I mentioned, the storybeats separate, but the roles remain fundamentally the same. Also, while very different, this is when I’ll bring up the romances. The romances in Star Wars are very important to the plot, and they follow a basic outline: Jedi x being a Jedi and older x younger powerhouse. You can see this romance clearly in both cases. Luke x being a Jedi and Han x Leia, who has obscene amounts of power within the Rebellion (and, presumably, the Force, but she doesn’t know that yet). Obi-Wan x being a Jedi and Padme x Anakin, who has obscene amounts of power in the Force. The romances don’t play out exactly the same, but they are fundamentally similar. Also: Luke 🤝 Obi-Wan - I don’t need romance I need answers!

The last movie of each trilogy is where the character roles remain debatably the closest, yet split apart. Because the conclusion is so different in either case, but… well.

The movie begins with a convoluted plan to save Han. A plan that Artoo is a big part of. The big bad of this part is Jabba the Hutt, and he is ultimately killed by Leia.

The movie begins with a convoluted plan to save Palpatine. A plan that Artoo is a big part of. The big bad of this part is Dooku, and he is ultimately killed by Anakin.

You see, the main driving forces keep their roles, but Han gets a bit confused in there. However, both have a conclusion of sorts with Leia hugging Han and Anakin hugging Padme, which is an interesting comparison.

The biggest differences go from there. Luke is more similar to Anakin than ever in these final scenes, where an ominous Sith Lord tries to bait him to the Dark Side. Leia becomes the Obi-Wan, leading troops into battle. Han and Padme are there, hanging out, doing stuff… But the stories separate majorly from here. Anakin does turn to the Dark Side, Luke refuses to. Leia wins her battle, Obi-Wan does not. Padme dies, Han lives.

However! There are still similarities to be made. Han and Anakin both think Leia and Padme is in love with someone else. This is a fair comparison of the two. They both think that “other man” is Luke / Obi-Wan. The difference, the key difference between Han and Anakin that make them impossible to compare beyond this, is that Anakin is furious and Han is just like “yeah, okay. That’s fine.”

Han and Anakin just aren’t very comparable. Leia has Anakin’s rage-filled passion, his drive to do whatever she can and his desire to stop literally everything to save the one she loves. Han and Padme are both the odd ones out of the trio. Padme isn’t a Jedi. Han isn’t a Jedi and also isn’t really all the into politics. But somehow, Han and Padme fulfill the most similar roles to each other, despite the fact that they are so different.

The roles of Luke, Leia, Obi-Wan, and Anakin are very blurred here. Like they suddenly remembered “Oh shit, we said that Luke was like his dad, didn’t we?? We gotta make him more like his dad!!!” That’s why Luke’s connection to Leia is a key moment. She’s Luke’s sister. And Anakin’s connection to Obi-Wan is stated explicitly by Obi-Wan. “You were my brother.”

The lines are blurred because, just like Obi-Wan, Luke doesn’t kill the sith lord at the end. They have different reasoning, but still similar. Luke doesn’t want to turn to the Dark Side. Luke can’t kill Vader because Vader is his father and he still has hope that Vader will do the right thing. Obi-Wan doesn’t want to kill Anakin and he can’t kill Anakin because he loves Anakin and he can’t watch him die. That’s why Obi-Wan leaves. He doesn’t want to watch Anakin die, he can’t watch Anakin die.

Luke retains Obi-Wan levels of confidence (“Anakin has never let me down and never will” matches very well with Luke’s plan of: go up to Father and convince him not to kill me or give me to the Emperor) Luke is also ultimately disappointed by Anakin (Anakin does, indeed, “let Obi-Wan down.” And he does, indeed, give his son to the Emperor) But Luke retains Padme-like faith that there’s still good in Anakin. Luke fights a sith lord and defeats him, but doesn’t kill him, just like Obi-Wan. The difference is between Anakin and Leia, because Leia is still chilling in the Light Side, Anakin, suck it-

The roles are very funny to look at, especially if you ignore the main three entirely and look at the others. Old Man Obi-Wan fills Qui-Gon’s and Yoda’s roles of guiding; Qui-Gon and Yoda guided Obi-Wan and Obi-Wan guides Luke. Yoda fills his own role as “I think this is a bad idea, but nobody is listening to me, so I guess I don’t really have a choice.”

The villain roles are the funniest. The biggest bad of the series continues to be Palpatine. The guy we actually see being evil and shit is Darth Vader, who is replaced narratively with two separate Sith Lords. It take two Sith Lords to match one Darth Vader (it’s what he deserves). But, top of the third movie, Dooku and Jabba parallel each other in that they are both killed by an extremely angry Skywalker, Anakin or Leia. (Sucks to be Dooku. A Vader and Jabba stand in? Couldn’t be me)

This is a disjointed, rambly mess, but what I’m really trying to say here is that Luke is the Obi-Wan of the group. The lone Jedi exploring the galaxy and managing to stay out of trouble as long as they aren’t within ten hundred feet of Anakin/Leia. Leia is the Anakin. Responding with anger, getting into trouble, making enemies, falling in love with an older person, doing stupid stuff for the sake of that older person, and causing the most mischief when in the direct eyeline of Luke/Obi-Wan. Han is the Padme. The third party who doesn’t have much of a role in the third movie aside from damsel. Shocked to find out Luke and Leia are twins (Padme didn’t even know she was having twins, that must’ve been a moment). Doing stupid stuff with the love of their life. Wondering “why did I do that stupid stuff for the love of my life?”

[kierreras]

i have 6+ hours to waste at the railway station cause guess what? my train got delayed and it’s so lame

well, so this amazing post by @hepaidattention made me think about how i would want pogues to look like after the time jump. it’s pretty obvious that most teen dramas use time jumps as an option to somehow evolve their characters’ styles. so i think that there’re pretty good chances that the same thing might happen with obx. 

okay, we’ll, so what would i want to see for pogues post time jump:

john b. i can actually see them going for something less chaotic with john b’s hair. like maybe something that’s similar to his season one hair, not as blond as it’s now definitely. maybe lighter that chase’s natural color, but not blond [please don’t make him blonder that he is 🤡]. 

as for his style, i actually see him still wearing his hawaiian shirts, but with calmer prints. like stripes or dots. also i definitely see john b wearing more denim. he’s the only pogue i can see being excited about the denim trends.

jj. well, i’m actually pretty excited to see what jj’s going to wear post time jump cause previously we saw him wearing shirts from places where he worked mostly, so i think him going shopping after they got el dorado money would’ve been top tier comedy, really. anyway, i think jj’s style evolves to something edgy. i’m pretty sure that obx’s weather doesn’t allow him wear his leather jacket often, but i’d be down to see more of it. also, him having so many white t-shirts is something i’ll fight for. i can see jj coming from cloth store with ten white t-shirts explaining that laundry sucks and he’ll just wear new shirt every day. going full kook, right? also i think he also is going to wear more jeans and denim shorts, but i can totally see him still wearing his signature cargo shorts as often as possible. AND CUTOFFS. i’ll never forgive obx wardrobe department if they’ll remove cutoffs. maybe some merch of his favorite bands also?

as for hairstyle i really think that they’ll leave rudy’s regular hairstyle this time. it’s not chaotic as jj’s and now jj really has money to  go to barber, sooo 

pope. okay, post time jump pope was the easiest for me. it’s pretty clear that in the third season pope’s looks were influenced by jd himself. and i can see the same thing happening in the next season. actually, pope looked so great, i wouldn’t change anything about him.

sarah. where to sign a petition for sarah’s hair to not be so blond? i love how her hair looked in season one, and i absolutely love madelyn’s hiatus hair. the cut, the color – those things suit her so much! still, i’d want them to keep the color and give madelyn the extensions cause i think sarah would wear long hair, you know. and also i love her wavy hairstyles! i need more of them! 

as for her style, i can see them trying something more chic. i loved how they gave her flowery tops in third season, so i think she’ll wear something like this after the time jump as well. also, i can’t see girls wearing any dresses in that show cause they’re also on the run, but i would absolutely be on board for them to stop putting those poor girls into those extremely short shorts! i know that it’s how teenagers dress now, but i can only imagine how uncomfortable those things are. maybe put sarah in more denim middle length shorts? 

kie. i want them to bring back dark hair for her! it’s something i’ll never stop saying cause bleaching curly hair can totally ruin hair in the first place. and madison has such a great hair color now, so i really hope that they’ll not make her bleach it again. it’s the only thing that i’d change in kie’s hairstyle. everything else is just perfect 

as for her style, i think that i’d want to see more of madison’s style for her. like her cloth is still comfy and all, but a little bit more mature? the costume department can totally use bailey’s insta for inspiration. her regular fits are gorgeous! also, there’s a thing in my wardrobe that i absolutely adore, so i would definitely want kie to wear some jumpsuits! i just love jumpsuits, sorryyyy

cleo. i’m really excited to see how they are going to play with cleo’s looks after the time jump. cause this whole season we don’t see cleo wearing any accessories at all, her only accessory is one bracelet on her hand. however, after the time jump she looks so chic and fabulous, that i don’t know what they’re planning to do with her style. maybe she goes for something more chic? 

what i would like to see is cleo being the fashion killa, you know. like i can totally see her wearing trendy cargo pants or even parachute pants with some crop tops. idk, she just has rihanna vibes for me, so i would totally want her to be the trendiest one here! 

also, i absolutely adore her post time jump hairstyle, so i’d leave it like that. 

anyway, if you read to that part, thank you! again, i’m so interested in fashion nowadays,