#surface level way and it was like VERY out of nowhere???? and now this other kid who ive been casual surface level friends for yrs (like we’

[a-scary-lack-of-common-sense]

Part 2/2

By the time Stanley had realized he wasn't as alone as he believed himself to be entrapped in this ravenous abyss; he had honestly begun to suspect that he was finally starting to properly lose his mind.

In all the ceaseless miles that Stanley had journeyed during his apparent permanent residence within the dark devouring void, not once had he encountered another conscious, walking, talking being similar to himself. Every other formerly living creature that he had crossed paths with had been so... silent. Empty. Dead, in every sense of the word. It was as though the very essence of life itself had been sucked out of their bodies with a straw, their forms slowly falling apart piece by piece under the vicious gluttony of the darkness that surrounded them. They looked like they actually were supposed to be there, unmoving and comatose, unlike him.

So, when Stanley first began to encounter the twins, all of a sudden, he wasn't the only one in the dark.

When meeting the first pair of them, he found himself standing in a lake.

He hadn't even noticed the changes at first. It felt as though he had been walking for weeks on end, his body moving purely on autopilot and his aching legs leading him towards a destination only it knew. A thick fog of forgetfulness and flickering memories had descended upon his brain like a heavy blanket of numbing static as he had traveled. In this absentminded state, he hadn't even realized that the ever-present undulating, buzzing darkness surrounding him had begun to gradually shift and morph to form a horizon line; stretching into tall looming cliffsides that almost seemed to close in on him. Once the nonexistent floor beneath his soles abruptly began to ripple and warp, like the disturbed surface of a shallow puddle; only then did he finally notice his transformed environment.

The transition was seamless, almost dream-like. One moment, he was still surrounded by that filthy, overwhelming abyss; and the next, his boots were suddenly plunged deep into the cold, dark lake water.

The silence didn't leave, however. It still choked and stuffed its way into Stanley's ears to clog up his mind with thick cotton; the eerie quiet not quite matching the calm, almost serene scenery the void seemed to have abruptly transformed itself into. Like a movie with its sound cut off; leaving only the unsettling hum of the projector to fill the empty air.

It was odd. The lake was surely incredibly deep. He could obviously tell from how thin and pathetically small the shores appeared all the way from where he now unceremoniously stood in the middle of the lake. Stan could look down and see the darkness below his feet swallow what meager light that managed to break through the murky waters. The overwhelming black almost seemed to beckon him, gaping and haunting; a bottomless underwater pit of pitch black that never seemed to end.

And yet, he didn't sink. Stanley remained perfectly level, the almost ink like waters stopping just at ankle level, as though he were held up just above the surface by some invisible force. Even the writhing waves seemed small and low, as though the waters were shy to climb up his legs further than that. It was odd, so very odd.

However, it wasn't nowhere near as odd as the sight that greeted him when he finally lifted his eyes from the waters.

Stanley had crossed paths with truly unbelievable sights in this strange somewhere; from bursting, collapsing stars; to the imploding heat death of entire universes, but none of them seemed to hold the candle to what he saw then when he lifted his eyes:

Children.

Two, to be exact. Two, nearly identical looking children stood motionless before him; completely soaked through to the bone as though they had taken a plunge into the frigid water that pooled around their ankles. It was a girl and a boy, both adorned with twin expressions utterly devoid of emotion, their wide eyed stare seeming to burn holes into his thin jacket. Their drenched clothes sagged off of their scrawny frames; thin rivulets of water dirpping off of them and disturbing the glassy surface of the water at their feet. The little girl's hair had messily stuck to her face in thin sodden strands, her cheeks still full and round with youth just like the boy's. They looked young. Too young to be in a place such as this.

Oh, but their eyes; their eyes.

They burned with such anger; such injustice, brighter than any dying star or galaxies he had ever seen. Anger towards the world, to fate, to whatever cruel deity that had deemed them fit to be sent to this wretched place so prematurely. They were too young to be here; to be entrapped like he was amongst this hungry darkness. And yet, here they were, sheer denial against their own untimely deaths being the only thing keeping them awake and conscious amongst the dead and rotting. A show of juvenile defiance to nature itself so vehement even the all-consumign darkness seemed hesitant to devour them whole just yet.

It saddened him. It saddened him to know that they belonged there, that they were supposed to be there. He could see it, he could feel it; they were dead. No amount of determination could deny that universal fact.

When they spoke, Stanley could hear anger:

Stan chuckled in a futile attempt to lighten the suddenly heavy atmosphere that threatened to crush him whole. "A lake monster? You kids and your imagination," he teased, hoping to somehow rid the poor kids of the haunted look that seemed to whirl in their glares. No child should have been burdened with such a knowing look; such eyes that looked like they had seen everything there was to see about the world, the horrid and the good.

Clearly, it had been the wrong thing to say, and Stanley's faux pas was rewarded with a scowl from the little boy. A world's worth of sour contempt etched into every contorted groove that his grimace seemed to dig into his much too young face. Stan suddenly felt guilt squeeze at his weary bones for having caused that.

"That's what they all said," the boy spat out, eyes shining with a sheen of wetness Stan wasn't sure he was prepared to deal with.

Stan left that first interaction with the twins with the feeling of guilt and sorrow still clining to him.

He couldn't have known, at the time. He couldn't have known that this wouldn't be anywhere near the last time that he would meet the pair. He hadn't realised just how many of them there were. After that first pair, his endless journeying within the Abyss was hardly be spent alone anymore. Countless more times, he came face to face with the exact same two young and impossibly worn faces; forced to meet one pair of beaten and bruised kids after another.

Not one pair had died the same death as another. Some had gotten lost, prey to whatever threat that had snatched them up out in the open; some had fallen from high up; some had been crushed under an incredible weight; some had burned; some eaten alive; some zombified. Some didn't even seem physically harmed at all, body perfectly intact, and yet that same faraway, distrubed look in their eyes remained.

He thought the worst ones were the ones he found alone. A little girl or a little boy, left all lonesome without their other half there. Twins, he remembered a pair of them telling him once.

Once, he had come across a town full of silent, stone statues. It was a rustic, shabby, almost nostalgic looking town- odd and strangely familiar. The sight of it had tugged at an aged memory that had long since wasted away in the back of his mind. It was serene, almost deceptively so. The sun shone; the air smelled crisp and fresh; numerous waterfalls continued to crash down from the tall cliffsides; and a soft nonexistent breeze whistled through the thicket of pine trees that blanketed the outskirts of the town. None of it seemed to match the gruesome scene of the hundred wailing statues that littered every inch of the town.

He had found the boy's statue on the other side of town, deep within the green forest and toppled over the gnarled roots of a towering tree. Like the rest of the townsfolk, he too, was frozen mid-shriek; his stone face twisted and contorted into a mock impression of a silent scream as his body lay paused in a writhing struggle. He made sure to be gentle when he carried the boy's statue over to place it beside the girl's, whose statue stood far deeper into the forest, sporting the same rictus grimace of terror as her brother's. It somehow felt wrong for them to have been so far apart from one another, even in death.

He had come to dread meeting of the twins. He hated every second he had to confront yet another pair of dead children that did not belong here, but fate had decided they did. He despised having to listen to their tales of woe as they wept about the injustice of the world, of having died young; he despised himself for being unable to do more than weep with them.

"We don't belong here, Grunkle Stan," he would listen to the little girl weep, calling him a title he didn't recognize. He never remembered if they had ever told him their name, but they all seem to know his, without a fail. "If we're dead, then what about you? What about Grunkle Ford? Mom? Dad? What about them? We can't be dead, we can't be," they would say, confusion and frustration written all over their faces. They didn't understand. They didn't understand why they had come to the darkness so early, so unfairly.

He never knew what to say, he'd never been good with words.

All he could do was kneel down to their levels and engulf them in his arms, hoping he could somehow squeeze the pain straight out of their bodies in his embrace. He hugged them, because what else could he do?

[helloilikepurple]

DC X DP - Mirrors

Did Danny want to live in Gotham? No, of course not. Did he have a choice? Nope. When does he ever?

Now, he may be technically homeless, but he's also technically dead, so human laws technically don't apply to him. So, naturally, he pics out an empty mansion so big even if the owners were to come home, the chances they'd run into each other would be really low, and settles in.

This 'mansion' happens to be Drake Manor. Look, Danny lived in nowhere Illinois and kinda had his hands full dealing with ghosts, a double life, bullies, and being actively hunted. He doesn’t know much about celebrities. If you tell him the name of someone super famous, it might sound vaguely familiar, but that's about it. What he knew was superheroes and vigilantes (some of them, okay, give him a break). That's about it.

So the name Drake in connection with Gotham didn't ring any alarm bells. He did some surface level research: the Drakes are dead, survived by their only child, Timothy Drake-Wayne, who now owns their house but was adopted by some other super rich guy called Bruce Wayne and doesn't live in it, leaving it empty for the foreseeable future.

It was the perfect place!

Danny didn't explore much, partly because he didn't care to and partly because he was too tired to from healing. He cleaned up after himself, used only his bedroom (chosen for being tucked way back and out of the way), the attached bathroom, and the theatre occasionally as a treat. He lived off of the provisions packed for him, ectoplasm and water from the sink.

Cut to, few weeks in.

Danny's got a new routine, he's taken his stitches out, and is still super fucked up, but a lot better than when he arrived. He hasn't been outside since he arrived, but ghosts don't need Vitamin D anyway. Is he slightly depressed? Maybe. But he's also dead, so, bigger priorities.

Tim is looking through his stuff for something or other, and it occurs to him he probably left it next door. He hasn't been to Drake Manor in months, but he sort of really needs this thing, so he sucks it up and borrows a car because like hell is he walking the several miles from this front door to that one.

He goes to his old bedroom, opens the door, and comes face-to-face with himself.

And Danny doesn't know what he's supposed to do in this situation.

Listen, Danny doesn't always make the best decision in the moment. It's a very normal flaw to have! So he tells who can only be Timothy Drake-Wayne himself when asked, that his name is Timothy Drake, and this is his house, and, actually, who are you and how did you get in?

This causes Tim to assume Danny is himself from another dimension who he accidentally dragged to his dimension by messing with the Time Stream to get Bruce back. Danny continues to accidently fuel this misunderstanding without meaning to.

(This is not helped by the fact that a DNA test doesn't disprove this. Danny's DNA is corrupted, but what Tim does get is identical to himself. This is how Danny finds out he was adopted, and how Tim, much later when misunderstandings are cleared, meets the identical twin brother he never knew he had.)

[shark0zu]

Guitarist! Fushiguro Megumi x GN! reader

context: Megumi is part of a band named “Joint Jinx Keystone” (JJK) alongside Satoru, Suguru and Yuji. Suguru is 22, Satoru is 21, and both Megumi and Yuji are 19. It took you a while to get inside the heart of this boy, but you managed.

content: Semi-Emo and Shy Gumi (best Gumi). CUDDLES!

warning: none. an: This Band! AU is made by sketchyysummer on Instagram! (link to their Tumblr). I made Satoru, Suguru and Yuji’s already (link to it below). It's Megumi’s turn now, and after this one, I’ll work on my Sukuna one… maybe… I don't know yet though (probably not whoops). Sorry in advance if this one lacks or is TOO slow burny..

Idol! Gojo Satoru HC Drummer! Geto Suguru HC Bassist! Itadori Yuji HC w/c: 1.4k

art: Summer's Band! AU Character Design

likes and reblogs are appreciated!

Guitarist! Megumi, who wanted nothing to do with anything that related to love, relationships or trust for that matter. He didn’t see a reason to be in a relationship (outside of his band)- even more since he had the band to worry about.

Guitarist! Megumi, who meets you and immediately places you in the “friendzone” spot in his head. Not caring enough to put you anywhere else (for now). Kept to himself and didn’t bother with learning tiny details or anything under surface level about you. Guitarist! Megumi, who definitely was not expecting to see you everyday. You would visit him while he was practicing with his guitar. You would wait for him at cafes and even get to be friends with his friends (specially Yuji). Guitarist! Megumi, who now finds himself confused about his own feelings. He's never felt that way. Does he like someone? Do you like someone? Was that someone him? Is this just him trying to not feel lonely? He was confused, truly.

Guitarist! Megumi, who started to ask you to hang out with him instead of you appearing out of nowhere to see him. He definitely tries to play it off… “I need you to help me with some song ideas.” he tells you while looking away.

Guitarist! Megumi, who now is so obvious but no one says anything or brings it up. His friends wanting to know how far he can take his obliviousness. Mostly Satoru (and Yuji) bothering him about it in subtle ways.

Guitarist! Megumi, who definitely asks for advice on how to ask you out. He asked Satoru for help first and surprisingly, helps him. He does look up to Satoru a lot, so he took his advice. Satoru actually decided to help him, not making fun of him or bothering him while giving him advice (like a good father figure).

Guitarist! Megumi, who is grateful for Satoru, he always will be. He did help Megumi get better and find a good life playing in the band alongside him and the others. He does not show it but he is very grateful for the white-hair man’s help since they met.

Guitarist! Megumi, who gathers the courage to ask you out… it went… alright. It went great but he didn’t think so. He asked you to meet him in front of his apartment. You went- of course. He was pretty nervous, almost embarrassed. He saw you and smiled. He smiled. You almost stopped in your tracks from the shock of seeing his smile. Guitarist! Megumi, who finally speaks, “Hey, so…I’ve been confused with my feelings-” he was struggling to say the least. He sighs, “Alright. Do you want to go on a date with me?” Finally, he said it. This time, you smiled ear to ear. You were waiting so long for him to ask you out. He finally did it. You never asked him because you were not sure if he liked you back.

Guitarist! Megumi, who for you guys' first date, takes you to a restaurant close to the beach. Light breeze makes you shiver under the moonlight. After a few seconds you feel a leather jacket on your shoulders. You look back and see Megumi looking at you and his hands over your shoulders. The view was beautiful. You sit down to have dinner, chat and overall enjoy the time you were passing with him.

Guitarist! Megumi, who paid for dinner, refused to let you pay even half. He took you by the hand and left the restaurant. You both walked by the beach aimlessly until you found a little table with two chairs that was ‘conveniently’ just… there? He definitely planned this. You didn't bring it up, not wanting to embarrass him. Guitarist! Megumi, who was definitely smiling like a little boy when he saw you sitting on the chair staring at the horizon. He felt lost in your view. His mind went blank. When you felt his gaze on you, you turned your head and smiled at him. Safe to say he melted right there and then. Guitarist! Megumi, who couldn't be more happy to be there with you at that moment. After almost an hour of talking about various topics. He asks, “Do you… want to be my partner?” With that you were lost in his blue eyes. Trying to find the words took you a while but you were able to speak. “Of course, I would love to be your partner Gumi!” Uh-oh… nicknames already? Red. This man is so happy it hurts his face from smiling way more than he ever has. Guitarist! Megumi, who the next day saw his bandmates, was smiling like a little kid. Yuji was… scared. He has never seen Megumi so happy in his entire life. Nonetheless he asked Megumi what made him all happy. “I asked someone out yesterday…” he pauses to create some type of suspense. “And????” Yuji asks, almost desperate. “...and they said yes.” he said happily.

Guitarist! Megumi, who saw Yuji’s face turn from suspense to utter astonishment. By the looks of it, Satoru and Suguru also overheard the conversation and the three men congratulated Megumi for his new relationship. They decided to commemorate this moment with dinner, which (of course) you were invited to. Guitarist! Megumi, who introduces you proudly as ‘his partner’. You smile and wave a ‘hello’ to his band mates. All three, Yuji, Suguru and Satoru were shocked Megumi was not lying (my poor boy, they never thought he would bag someone lol). They waved ‘hello’ back and welcomed you. Yuji hugged you, you hugged him back of course. Megumi didn't look so pleased but it was Yuji so he let it be.

Guitarist! Megumi, who after the dinner took you home, making sure you were safe. “Can I stay with you tonight…?” he softly asked. “Yeah, come in!” you said letting him in. You both took off your shoes at the door, hanging jackets on the hooks. “You wanna do something specific or…?” you asked, getting his attention. “You wanna watch a movie?” he said the first thing that came to mind. “Alright, what genre?” you said sitting on the couch in front of the TV and signaling him to sit beside you.

Guitarist! Megumi, who was definitely paying attention to the movie (he was, just not 100% of his attention). He sheepishly placed his arm over the headrest of the couch. You sat closer to him and placed your head on his chest while watching the movie. The movie was still going but you could feel his gaze on you, “Gumi?”, you catch him off guard. “Huh? Oh- sorry… was I staring too much?” he asks awkwardly. “No… just wanted to know if you were tired, cus I am.” a yawn escapes your mouth as soon as you finish that sentence.

Guitarist! Megumi, who nods and gets up from the couch, waiting for you to lead him to your room. You both arrive and you lend him some clothes that did not fit you anymore but thankfully fit him well. He changed in the bathroom, coming out when he was done to you already in bed under the covers. He slips under the covers, he does not know what to do. Still body, sleeping like a plank. You sigh and giggle, bringing him to your chest. Hugging him and snuggling closer.

Guitarist! Megumi, who freezes at the sudden contact but does not pull away, instead he wraps his arms around you and closes the distance even more. His head resting on your neck, light breathes tickling your soft skin. You can feel him smiling against you, which makes you smile in return. He starts some random conversation, so he could hear your voice. He ultimately ended up falling asleep to it.

Guitarist! Megumi, who after a whole year of being your partner, he still treats you the same (nothing was going to change). He takes you out on strolls, calls you to help him with his guitar, you guys go on dates- he loves you so much and you love him as much back. He wants to spend as much time as possible with you, and takes you everywhere. He does not show you off to people though, he likes his private life well- private.

Guitarist! Megumi, who definitely misses you when he goes out on tour. He will show he misses you by sending you voice messages, he is not really the type to call, he prefers to see your face in real life, not on a screen. Which you appreciate, even though you ask him to at least facetime once every blue moon.

Masterlist

[steddieas-shegoes]

deep penetration up the field

for @steddieholidaydrabbles prompt 'sports au' rated e wc: 992 tags: secret relationship, football player steve, musician eddie, dirty talk, phone sex (in the loosest sense of the term), masturbation

first, a huge shout out to @thefreakandthehair for basically coming up with the commentator's lines at the beginning of this drabble. and for encouraging me when it comes to a sport that isn't hockey. hope this is a very tasty meal for you 💖

and a thank you to the love of my life in another life @wormdebut, who may or may not have written a part two to this already because neither of us were satisfied with the level of tendernasty kinky shit they got up to here.

“Why are you watching the game? We are anti-football in this home,” Eddie crossed his arms over his chest as he took in what Gareth and Jeff had put on the tv.

“As if you don’t have the world’s most embarrassing crush on Harrington,” Gareth snorted.

“I don’t, actually,” Eddie said, distracted as he watched the man himself on the screen.

“Those tight ends, especially Harrington, they’re skilled at finding the holes and getting that deep penetration up the field,” an announcer said.

“Exactly, Mark. You need a tight end that can play both ways confidently, that’s what sets this team apart,” another announcer said.

Eddie barely bit back a laugh as they focused in on Steve’s face before the snap.

Eddie could just barely see the edge of a hickey on his neck and felt his heart stop.

“Looks like Harrington has no trouble finding willing women,” Jeff nudged Eddie as he left the room to get another beer from the fridge.

He secretly liked football, and probably worshiped the ground Steve walked on as he was most of the reason the Colts had been having an undefeated season so far.

Gareth, however, couldn’t stand any event with a ball, and would judge the hell out of Jeff if he found out he was watching for any other reason than to make fun.

Eddie watched as Steve got a touchdown, something he’d been doing in almost every game this season, doing his stupid dance in the end zone. 

Eddie hid a fond smile when he pretended to play air guitar and pointed at the camera that was focused in on him.

He could feel the heat on his face, knew he needed to get out of the room, but just as he turned to go, Jeff came back in and saw him.

“Are you getting sick, Ed?” He asked, genuinely concerned.

“Nope. Just gonna go finish packing!”

He rushed to his bedroom, closing the door and sliding down until he was sitting on the floor with his head against his knees.

They talked about telling the guys when they meet up in Chicago in two weeks. The Colts play the Bears and Eddie plays The Riviera.

But the more Eddie thought about what that would mean, that it would make it real, the more he wanted to wait.

Not because he wasn’t sure about Steve. Never because he wasn’t head over heels in love with him.

Because Steve came out of nowhere, a stereotypical jock in every way on the surface, an overwhelmingly adoring and adorable sweetheart the moment he was alone with Eddie. It was easy to fall in love with him.

And it happened fast.

One moment they were making it out backstage in a closet, the next Steve was whispering how much he loved him in their shared hotel bed the night before pre-season started.

Now, they secretly met up when they could until they could figure out how to tell the people that mattered.

Eddie would have to be more careful about the hickeys he left, though.

He managed to pick himself up and actually work on packing for Corroded Coffin’s Midwest tour, but couldn’t help smiling to himself when he heard Jeff yelling excitedly about Steve managing to block three guys for his team to get another touchdown.

When his cell phone rang an hour later, he rushed to pick it up, already knowing who it would be before checking the screen.

“Hey, sweetheart,” he sat on the edge of his bed as he spoke.

“Hey, baby. Doing okay?” Steve’s voice was still slightly out of breath, like he’d just ran off the field and called Eddie before anything else.

“I’m good. Are you?”

“Great. We won. I think if we keep it up, we’ll be favored to make the Super Bowl.”

Eddie’s brows raised.

He didn’t really like football, but everyone knew how big of a deal the Super Bowl was. 

“That’s great, Stevie. You heading back to the hotel now or going out with the guys?” 

“I’m hiding in the bathroom, we just got off the field. Think I’m gonna head to the hotel, though. Don’t really feel like going out.”

Eddie smiled to himself.

“Call me when you get settled?”

“Just to hear my voice or for other reasons?” 

Eddie could hear the smirk in Steve’s voice, felt himself start to smirk at the thought of what they could do on the phone later.

“You know I love hearing your voice, but I also love hearing you whine and beg,” Eddie’s voice dropped lower, more of a growl.

“Eddie.”

Steve sounded breathless, almost like when he…

“Are you touching yourself? In uniform?” He told Eddie he didn’t like to risk messing up the uniform, it was sacred, blah blah blah. But Eddie knew exactly where his hand was right now.

“Mhm,” Steve whimpered.

“Jesus Christ, Stevie. Can’t even wait until you get to the hotel? What if someone walks in?” Eddie knew what would happen if he kept talking like this, especially when he could hear the faint movements of Steve’s hand working his cock.

“Don’t care. Need you,” Steve gasped out, ending his words on a groan.

Eddie was hard, but refused to touch himself now, knew he’d be miserable if Steve had to suddenly stop and he didn’t get off.

“What do you think I’d do? You think I’d get on my knees in the locker room, suck you off in front of everyone?” Eddie shook his head when he heard Steve’s breath catch, slick noises getting louder. “Or would you wanna wait until everyone leaves so no one sees you begging to suck me off before I’ve even gotten your cum down my throat?” 

“Please,” Steve begged.

Eddie smirked.

“Go ahead, sweet boy. Make a mess.”

Steve bit back a loud moan as he came, panting into the phone as Eddie talked him through it.

“Later?” Steve asked.

“You’re insatiable.”

[darkdemeter]

I keep thinking about hate sex between Wanda and wolf!R

Just an absolutely vicious battle for dominance with no real victor lol (in the morning they both look like they fought an army of feral cats, the whole room looks like a bomb went off, and the bed is just torn to shreds)

LIKE ANIMALS

◤✘WANDA MAXIMOFF COLUMN | Wanda Maximoff x Werewolf! GN/Female/Male Reader

WARNINGS! ↳ Depictions of (aggressive) SMUT, minors DNI — hate sex — marking — enemies (with benefits) — angst — dominance and power struggle — profanity — minor monster fucking — undisclosed smut variants — overstim — I think that's it?

✎ 1.2k ────────────────┘

  Hate is a very strong word. But it’s the most accurate depiction of yours and Wanda’s relationship. No, you weren’t a couple. Not by a long shot. You hate each other too much to let anything else intervene with what you have. 

  For starters, Wanda hates how much you bite. It gets to a level that she’s beginning to run out of excuses and ways to hide the many, many marks. At first, it started small with a few here and there, but now it’s grown into a full possessive display. 

  She hates how smug you are the following morning when she stumbles into the common area, no less with an audience, she has to make her way about as normal as she can; all the while, you adorn the largest, triumphant smirk. 

   She moans louder, the friction of your mound rubbing against her clit elicits a dirty sound passed her lips. Her legs wrap around your waist tighter as she pulls you closer, her fingers rake through the length of your hair and pull on your roots, whispering in your ear each and every little thing she hates about you. All the while, you mark her skin with darkened bites that fester with your conquest. 

  Your body pins her against the wall with nowhere to go, your claws tear streaks into the once unscathed wall, flakes of creamy white paint and drywall are discarded in a trail that follows you as you each bear into the other. 

  It’s an entertaining fight. It always is. You push and she pushes back, and the rhythm of that never vanishes. She shoves her shoulder up to keep you from laying another victory bite on her, and you in kind don’t take a liking to that, your teeth bare into a snarl.

  “You asked for this,” you growl. 

  She ignores the flare of amber in your eyes as she uses her magic against you, pushing you away. 

  You hate how she expects you to be something you’re not. Never can be. She tries to force submission into you, to train you into her little pet, when that is not what you intend to be. You’ve had enough of someone being the dictator. You’re done with letting someone else be the one in control. 

  You hate how she uses her magic to strip you down, hold you down, and have her fun with you. The games she plays with the scarlet figment dancing at her fingertips, tendrils of tainted unfairness that go against any law of nature, that take away any inhibition to fight back. 

  When she tries to storm away from you, your hand moves forward and latches hold of her, entangling your fingers in her hair. She cries out, back and neck arching, and you sweep in close to mark the column along her neck. 

  You chuckle at her resolve to fight back. Your other hand loops around her, trapping her to your front and grinding your hips into the curve of her arse that fits oh so right against you. 

  “Not so fun when you’re trapped, is it?” you rasp to the shell of her ear, breath hot and laced with the wolf’s longing hunger. 

  “Not really,” she admits, “but it is when you are.”

  She catches you off your guard, turning herself, she forces you backwards some feet away. Before you can close distance, her hands articulate just how she wants you; on your knees.

  She hates the way you hold her down on any surface and make her scream and writhe in pleasure. Everything gets destroyed the moment you both become engrossed in winning this game. The couch is torn to bits, the coffee table is tilted off its even axis and supporting one unbroken leg. The walls never mend completely from their scars, and the trail of destruction follows you into the bedroom. 

  You’re ruthless at this point. Your skin is clawed up, the angry paths of her nails leave red streaks like tattoos, only the fur can hide them when you let the wolf go. Her body grows hot with each orgasm you pull from her. In your hatred for each other, there is a give and take. One that you don’t particularly acknowledge or thank. 

  It’s a muted exchange. 

  You hate the challenge in her voice. “Is that all you got, Dog? I thought wolves were feral animals in the bed—”

  The unhinged roll of your hips against hers catches the rest of her words before she has a chance to bury herself six feet under. 

  Not that such a remark should faze you. She begs for more and then cries she can’t give you another one. That it’s too much. You hate the way she lies through her bliss, her clenched teeth biting down those moans you want to hear her scream until the compound’s foundations quiver and shake. 

  The headboard of the bed raps fast and hard, the wall behind it bleeding with crumbling drywall and the sheets are shorn into threads of fabric, bodies melded together, slapping in combined unison. 

  “Right there, Wolf,” she mewls, hands flying to grasp the bars of the headboard the moment she has you on your back. She hates how you try to lay claim to her time in control and you fucking hate how she moves like a goddess. Her hair sticks to her forehead and down the bend of her back, her skin riddled coldly with sweat that is only curable with the heat of your body and being close to you. 

  “Come on, baby, cum for me,” you groan, right on the precipice of your high. Her knuckles turn white from her hold on the headboard but its stripped away from her at the moment you flip her over, pinning her on her stomach and pulling her hips to you and her legs open. 

  “Y-you’re selfish!” she shrieks into the mauled pillow, panting with each motion. You pay little to the way she squirms beneath you, to get away from you. “So are you.”

  With a bellowing cry of your name, she cums. She’s been exhausted but even you don’t let your own exertions end things just there. The list is endless. 

  In the morning, the room still lingers with the scent of sex. She moans softly, lulled by the relaxation of sleep, unknowing of the thoughts that race through your mind. The only time your mind is safe from her is when she’s asleep. 

  Her skin is sinfully warm as it rubs against you, muscles contracting at the intimate contact. 

  Far too intimate. And you hate it. 

  Nothing more can come of this arrangement. It would ruin everything. You shuffle back, leaving her naked back as a lovely sight as you dress, your clothes tinged by the smell of last night’s affair. But it’s either to suffer with that or have everyone see the still present traces of Wanda’s handiwork marked into your skin. 

  Maybe you spare a final glance at Wanda before you promptly leave.

  By no time long after, Wanda stirs and finds the ruined bed vacant of you. Only the memory of last night to be her company as she assesses the damage, mind able to still envision what transpired. 

  She can still feel what you’ve done to her. Slipping into a pair of shorts and an oversized top, she slumps against the couch’s arm with a dreaded sigh.    There are a plethora of reasons from day one you and Wanda can both count on. But one recent addition is that you both hate that you’re falling in love with each other.

[h3artach3]

TLDR AT THE END!

Ignoring how Vivizepop is SUCH a bad person, racism, homophobia, transphobia and all that. I want to talk about how much I dislike the entirety of helluva boss/hazbin hotel.

This is less about the writing of the shows, it is obivous that its just pure ass. There's nothing good about how the writing is. The animation is mid etc etc. I want to go into the characters themselves. Specifically Mammon.

My BIGGEST issue with Mammon is why is he GREEN. I get creative freedom but it makes no sense to my brain. Especially since he's supposed to represent Greed. The sin that is mostly associated with gold, and just money in general. And YELLOW. Yellow.

Yellow has always been Greed's color. Even far back into the 6th century A.D. one of the Popes, Pope Gregory the Great(not really great in my opinion but nevertheless), stated the base work of the sins. Quote ;

Greed (treachery, covetousness) — A strong desire to gain, especially in money or power. Disloyalty, deliberate betrayal, or treason, especially for personal gain or when compensated. Scavenging and hoarding of materials or objects. Theft and robbery by violence. Simony is the evolution of avarice because it fills you with the urge to make money by selling things within the confines of the church. This sin is abhorred by the Catholic Church and is seen as a sin of malice; Dante included this sin in the first poem of the Divine Comedy (the Inferno). Simony can be viewed as betrayal. Thomas Aquinas on greed: “it is a sin against God, just as all mortal sins, in as much as man condemns things eternal for the sake of temporal things.” Greed is represented by the frog and the color yellow. faust.com, seven deadly sins.

Even without Pope Gregory's input, it is commonly accepted within the Christian community/mythology that the colors of the sins are as follows ;

Pride ; Violet - Purple

Lust ; Blue

Greed ; Yellow

Sloth ; Light Blue

Gluttony ; Orange

Envy ; Green

Wrath ; Red.

It makes absolutely no sense for Mammon to be green.

"But what if she used a different classification for the sins?" You may ask.

Mammon would STILL be Yellow. Plus it is stated in Helluva Boss/implied that Mammon is Greed. (not only that but there is no classifaction of the sins where Mammon is NOT Greed so that throws that out of the window).

In both The Lanterne Of Light and Binsfeld Classifactions of the Sins nowhere Mammon is anything OTHER than Greed. It is also clear that she is using the Binsfeld Classifications since Beezlebub is Gluttony. So that also disproves the different classification theory.

Also there's way more to Greed than just MONEY MONEY MONEY. Greed is being wealthy in anything not just cold hard cash. Any material object.

Greed is defined as the immoderate love or desire for riches and earthly possessions. A person can also be greedy for fame, attention, power, or anything else that feeds one’s selfishness. As a deadly sin, greed is believed to spur other sins and further immoral behavior. The Britannica, Greed.

Using strictly the Money aspect (I acknowledge I might be wrong for this but from what I can find, that is his entire character other than being a misogynist), he is such a bland and boring character. Vivzie could've done so much more with his character, its honestly disappointing with how he is.

You can say he also has fame as one of his Greedy traits, but it's so surface level to the point where it is steamrolled by him wanting money.

BEEZLEBUB!

EDIT ; Due to some points that were brought up in the notes of this post, I understand where Vivzie was coming from with the Bee theming and Honey mentioning. That's actually interesting.

Also if Vivzie is using the Biblical meaning of Gluttony, Beezlebub's character would make more sense. I just wish that there was more to the character and she went more into it. Right now(and most likely in the future), Beezlebub seems like still a very bland character. There's little to no personality other than the drugs, partying and binge-eating (side note ; this might be me looking too much into things but since Vivziepop is well known to be extremely fatphobic, the ability to manipulate her body to get rid of the weight she might gain from eating, just gives me off vibes. this is mostly just my opinion so take it with a grain of salt.)

THIS STILL DOESN'T MEAN I ENJOY HOW SHE IS CHARACTERISED ! I still believe there could've been way more to her than the base form of gluttony. Though I acknowledge that Vivzie could be sticking to the Biblical version of Gluttony.

END OF EDIT.

She makes no sense whatsoever to me. It's like Vivzie just saw the BEE in her name and just ran with it without even looking into her. None of her ANYTHING even represents Gluttony. Other than binge-eating, which seems to be the only thing that actually represents Gluttony. (though Gluttony is WAY MORE than just "oh food and eating alot.") Hell, she seems more like PRIDE than anything else. Her not liking when people insult her, having a very high view of herself. Even with the aspects of her that do scream Gluttony, its such a Base Interpretation of Gluttony. Gluttony is indugunce of ANYTHING. Not just drugs, food, drinking, etc. The way she is written just screams "I searched Gluttony on google and used the first results." There's no depth into her Sin whatsoever. Side note ; Her not liking when her guests indugle for self destructive reasons is SUCH a contridiction to Gluttony. Self Destructive induglence is what Gluttony is. That is what the sin IS. Again this makes no sense to me at all.

Her design is also like a unicorn threw up on her in all the wrong ways but that's not what I'm here to talk about.

ASMODEUS! Asmodeus is from my opinion the more well-written of the sins. Then again Lust is such an easy sin to write. I don't have much to say about this guy since Lust is a such a well known and obvious sin. I really wish I could say more about this guy but I truly can't. His character is almost strictly sex related. (hey! maybe the reason he's seemingly more well-written than the others is that the whole show is pretty much sex jokes.)

LUCIFER!

I don't know much about this guy so I'm not going to say anything but once I learn more I'll add onto this post with how I feel about him.

TLDR ; I don't like how the Sins are interpreted in the show due to them being such a surface level version of the Sins, and they could've done much more with them. Maybe this'll change in the future but I doubt it.

Also if I got anything wrong do tell, I'd like to correct myself on things if I am wrong. Provide proof if possible.

[saurongorthaur9]

ROP S2E7 Spoilers

So...the stupid kiss did indeed happen, and as promised yesterday, I need to vent and get it out of my system. It was every bit as stupid and unnecessary as I feared it would be; somehow, I was hoping if that was what happened, that somehow it wouldn't be as bad as it sounded? But yeah...it was. This is probably going to be a pretty long post, as I've been thinking a lot about what bothers me so much about it as a concept and I have a lot of Thoughts.

A disclaimer to begin with: yeah, part of me is disappointed that it wasn't the kiss I hoped it would be, but I knew from the start that a Sauron kiss would be very, very unlikely. If it had happened, it would have been less about a ship for me, and more about the validation for me of getting an onscreen Sauron kiss in a huge, professional production as I've written about in other posts. I would have loved a Sauron kiss, but that's not what is really bothering me on more than a surface level. So with that disclaimer aside...

I think I can break what bothers me down into two basic categories.

The first is more straightforward: it was SO unnecessary. Yes, there needed to be some way for Galadriel to get free, but there are so many ways it could have been set up without a weird, incredibly uncomfortable kiss that came out of absolute nowhere being necessary. He could have gently stroked her hair and slipped it behind her ear or into her hair itself (I used to have very long hair, and a pin like that would definitely get stuck if you tucked it in.) If they wanted to go the humorous, cliché route, they could have had him sneak it to her in a pie (that's a joke, I'm also glad they didn't do that, but my point is, they had options).

They could have set up the scene with a different tone and gone the Frodo-and-Sam-as-orcs route and had them fake a fight. I actually would have loved this. It could have been a culmination of the resentment and tension that's been building between the two of them all season to let off some steam at each other. It could have been one of those "we're fake fighting, but we're also real fighting at the same time" sort of scenes (which are delicious when pulled off right) where we could have gotten some real interesting character development and relationship development between the two of them before the orcs pulled them apart (but not before Elrond slipped the pin into her hand or tunic while pretending to push her or something).

The kiss however did nothing. Per my last two paragraphs, it being a kiss wasn't necessary for the plot. It didn't do anything to reveal anything about Elrond and Galadriel's relationship or develop it in any way. It didn't develop either Elrond or Galadriel's character in any way. It was purely and utterly for shock value.

And that's the first big thing: I really hate things used for shock value. It's a personal pet peeve of mine. And to make it clear, there's a different between using something for shock value and doing something shocking. Mirdania's death was pretty shocking, but it served the purposes of both showing how utterly ruthless Sauron is and solidified the elven soldiers' doubt in Celebrimbor's sanity. But using something for mere cheap shock value is so disappointing of the show. The writing had been SO good, everything had been so deliberate and intentional, that it made the sudden breach of that even more jarring and unpleasant.

And it makes me super worried for the future of the show. This show isn't Game of Thrones; it doesn't need shock value. But now they've set the precedent that adding pure shock value is okay for this show. It makes me afraid what else down the road will be thrown in the audience faces just to illicit an unpleasant reaction.

The second major thing that is bugging me about that scene is a little more insidious and subtle. I've seen people saying "it wasn't romantic", but the thing is, whether or not it was intended, romantic tension has now been introduced to Elrond and Galadriel's dynamic. Let me explain.

That scene was a pretty clear example of the Forced Proximity Trope. For anyone who doesn't know what that means, it's the trope of forcing two characters into a circumstance where they share space or physical intimacy that they wouldn't otherwise share. The most infamous version of it is the There Was Only One Bed trope. And the thing is, it's an incredibly romantic-coded trope. It's almost always used between two characters who have suppressed feelings for one another as a way to force them to confront said suppressed feelings. Even if it's used in a not explicitly romantic way, it still sends a subconscious message of romantic tension because that is what that trope is almost exclusively used for.

So yes, there is now romantic tension between Elrond and Galadriel, and I have a feeling they don't plan on doing anything about it.

At this point, I'd almost feel better if they went all the way and went ahead with the subconscious romantic tension. Like, putting Elrond and Galadriel in a romantic relationship wouldn't be my thing personally, but at least it would provide a sense that the writers had a purpose for the scene and for creating that tension. Dropping that and then not going anywhere else with it, and letting that tension fester for the rest of the series without acknowledging it or doing anything about it would be so disappointing and insulting to the audience.

But again, I'll be very surprised if they ever bring it up again.

And I'm sure the writers knew what they were doing. The only two options are that they were oblivious to the connotations of using that trope or that they knew full well, and used it anyway. And I suspect it's the latter. As good as the overall writing for this season has been, I just can't imagine the writers aren't aware of what they were doing in using that trope. I mean, they've deliberately used a number of romantic-coded tropes to build up the Galadriel/Sauron tension. They aren't oblivious, which means they used the Forced Proximity Trope deliberately and fully aware of it's implications.

It just really seriously damaged my faith in the writing of the show, just when I'd been building it up after some big disappointments from Season 1. Again, they've set a precedent, and I'm really worried this isn't the last time they'll pull something ridiculous like this.

Maybe somehow they'll turn it around. Maybe they'll have Galadriel and Elrond bring it up again and deal with the tension, maybe they do plan to have a romantic subplot between the two of them, or maybe they have something planned down the road that will put that moment in a light that shows it as something other than shock value. But I'm currently pretty pessimistic about that happening.

And it's extra disappointing, because the rest of that episode was absolutely amazing. That one bad moment stands out like a wine stain on a white dress because the rest of the episode was so good.

Anyway, that's my rant. I just had to vent and get my thoughts out of my head where they've been swirling. If anyone is feeling the same way and wants to vent with me, my inbox and messages are open.

[utilitycaster]

Question; as far as we know was Imogen raised particularly conservative or overly religious?

I didn’t think that this was the case, and I know that a lot of people are projecting unresolved feelings and trauma onto her and her story. But I also feel like that having this background would make more sense than not? I dunno, some of the god stuff with Imogen feels almost like it’s come out of nowhere.

(Possibly that’s just born of my frustration with Imogen’s ambivalence to them once again being framed with “what have the romans ever done for us?”

More and more it seems less like Imogen is a well-meaning but flawed individual who struggles with trust and selfishness and more that Imogen just has a shit memory and has forgotten things - like who murdered her girlfriend, for example)

We do not know. I agree with you that this is a very common projection onto her, which is understandable - she's queer, she's got a southern accent, and she's from a small town, so I think a lot of queer people from small southern towns project their own religious trauma onto her. However, in canon there has been zero mention of a religious upbringing in her backstory until now. In fact, from episode 3x77, 2:43:40:

MATT (as Mother Brazilda at the temple to the Dawnfather in Whitestone): "Have you ever prayed before?"

LAURA Officially? No. I did try to talk to some moon goddess or something once, but I don't think-- she didn't respond or nothing.

So either Imogen's lying here at the Dawnfather temple (which seems weird), or she's lying in the Feywild about having prayed (feels more likely) or she's exaggerating (even more likely) or interpreting "I yelled at the Moonweaver once and I prayed to Pelor two days ago and NOTHING HAPPENED" as the gods not loving her (ditto), or she's interpreting the general unfortunate circumstances of her life as the gods not loving her (ditto again).

As for conservativism, I do think Gelvaan, and Relvin, are best described as "limited". Like, projecting queerphobia onto Exandria is deeply ignorant of canon and I've spoken at length about why using legitimately dangerous and invasive superpowers as a stand-in for marginalized identities is a deeply broken metaphor, but I do think she was a girl with weird and invasive powers that made her act strangely, and her mother left under odd circumstances when she was very young, and people in small towns do talk, and even if they don't talk, they think, and she can hear those thoughts.

Personally, and this is only my interpretation, what happened is first, Imogen would get headaches or feel overwhelmed from being around too many people so she frequently isolated herself or spent time only around horses, and her social skills are as a result kind of limited. I don't think she plays well with others! I think she is very impatient and judgmental in a way that tracks very well with being someone who didn't really have to share and compromise because she withdrew and did things on her own instead, and now she suddenly (Bells Hells has been together for under three months) has to consider the feelings of five other people instead of just her and Laudna, and Laudna's always been something of a doormat to her anyway, and she's not handling it that well!

Second, here's how I understand how Imogen thinks about other people's thoughts. I think she takes other people's surface level thoughts at face value; and I think she is, understandably, more generous with her own surface thoughts because she automatically knows what's underneath. To give an easy example: we all have brief intrusive thoughts and a really common one is like, if you hold a big kitchen knife, it's pretty normal to think "oh huh I could really stab someone with this." You're not going to do it, but you do think it.

I think Imogen hears that thought and goes "oh they think about stabbing people". I think that when she has that thought, she goes "oh but I would never stab someone." And that's the problem. I get why she thinks this way but it's deeply hypocritical. Because she can hear people's thoughts she thinks she's getting a sense of who they are; but she really isn't. She's getting their surface thoughts at the time and making a judgment on them that has nothing to do with their morality or choices, but because she does have a sense of self, she judges herself as a whole person. I mean we all do this to an extent - we get mad at the person who cuts us off on the highway because we know nothing about them and it's a very patient person who says "oh, maybe there's someone in labor in the backseat, maybe they just got really bad news, it's okay" - but that sort of "I'm fully realized and everyone else is judged on the last thing they thought" seems to drive Imogen's interactions even with people she knows and should be trying to build trust with.

I said it at the time but it bears repeating: I don't think Imogen forgot that Otohan killed half the party. I think Imogen genuinely believes hypocrisy isn't "rules for thee and not for me" - which as the above paragraph states, she does all the time. I think she considers hypocrisy having a thought and not being honest about it. I think Imogen would genuinely think customer service voice and statements were the sign of being a shitty person, because in you're head you're like "oh my god I want to stab this customer" and to their face you're like "I'm sorry to hear that, I'll get the manager." And so because she had that thought, she thinks the right thing to do is to bring it up, and that plus her atrophied social skills means she doesn't realize how incredibly hurtful this is to someone like Orym. I think her thought process is "maybe if we sided with Otohan this wouldn't be a problem, and because I think this, I should, in the interest of not thinking one thing and saying another, bring it up."

In the end I think Imogen is just a deeply broken and self-centered person who does not even realize this is the case; in that regard she's very much like Ashton, but Ashton just got an unmissable wake up call that she hasn't yet received.

[fairytale-poll]

ROUND 1D, MATCH 3 OUT OF 16!

Propaganda Under the Cut:

Carrie:

Cinderella’s ball goes badly and she kills a town. What is there not to love?

Carrie is a horror retelling of Cinderella, look it up it's true

Cinder:

She killed her evil stepmother and stepsisters (technically they "adopted" her as slave labor and the narrative treats her as the villain for this but tbh out of all the things Cinder has done, this was the most justified)

She's my wife and I love her and she's also evil but it's okay

She does cool fire stuff and murders people but I think that can be forgiven

I love her. Jkjk uhm she's really cool and while a lot of people say she's an evil Cinderella she's more like a Cinderella who never gets saved and has to save herself. And she's so super cool and charming and a genius. And she kills people sometimes but it's okay because she's very very sad and I think more people should care about her.

Cinderella as a villainess! What if Cinderella wasn't saved by her fairy godmother and instead murdered her step-family and joined an evil witch terrorizing the world? Cinder Fall is a dangerous villainess who has helped topple kingdoms and will do anything to gain power.

This propaganda is just going to be me listing all the ways she fits her Cinderella allusion. Like all of the characters in RWBY, Cinder is an allusion to a character from fairy tales/legend/etc. In her case, CINDERella. She's one of the earliest and most important antagonists, although at first there wasn't a whole lot to connect her to the Cinderella story besides some surface-level references(her name, her superpower being the ability to create glass objects, that one part of the dance arc where she infiltrates a communication tower and has to be back to the dance by midnight when she transforms into a dress), but in the later volumes the Cinderella aspects to her character become way more clear. (spoilers for later parts of the show here on out) People have summarized this way better than I am about to, but basically: She came from an orphanage and was adopted by a wealthy family from from another kingdom(a mom and her two daughters), but was really only adopted so that she could do servant work at the prestigious hotel they owned. The "prince charming" in her story wasn't a romantic interest, but a huntsman(someone who fights the monsters in the world, a career all the main characters go to school to become) who frequents the restaurant in the hotel. He sees her being mistreated and secretly trains her so that when she's 17 she can apply to one of the combat schools and leave her "stepmother and stepsisters." Like all the villains, though, she's like a version of her allusion where things went wrong, so instead of being whisked away by "prince charming" to his world, she ends up in a position where she kills the "stepmom" and "stepsisters," "prince charming" tries to bring her in for murder bc it's his job, and she kills him too. Now a child with nowhere to go, she gets picked up by the main villain, Salem, who acts in the Cinderella allegory as the "fairy godmother" who uses magic to give her "freedom." Except the magic is a parasite monster that gives her certain abilities, most importantly the ability to take the powers of a very select kind of person that Salem needs. This "magic" also has a time limit like the dress and the carriage, except it's the fact that it's a parasite that's slowly consuming her. Cinder thinks she wants these powers because if she's powerful, she can secure her freedom, but has yet to see that Salem is just using her, making her the new "stepmother" in her story(she came close to realizing this, mentally comparing Salem to her "stepmother," but then turned around and threw herself into her quest for power even more). Some people also compare the other characters in Salem's inner circle to a new set of "stepsisters," especially with how none of them like Cinder and wished her good riddance during the period of time she was missing and possibly dead, and that there's subtle competition between all of them for Salem's approval, similar to how siblings can be with a parent. Some people have also said it's possible that Neopolitan played the new "fairy godmother" role during said time where Cinder was on her own, because Neo was able to help Cinder a lot with her illusion powers, including using them on an airbus("carriage"), which was also the scene where Cinder got her outfit change for the new arc. There is also a part in the Atlas arc where she lets the General know she was in his office by leaving a glass chess piece on his desk(like the glass slipper that Prince Charming identifies her with), when she fucked him over earlier in the show with a computer virus with a chess piece logo.

Literally explicitly based off cinderella yet somehow people were shocked when her backstory involved basically being a child slave to her "stepmother" and abused by her "stepsisters". She put up with their abuse for years until they finally crossed the line then she snapped and killed them. But now she's still being manipulated by another stepmother figure. She seeks power because she thinks it will give her freedom. She can shoot fireballs. She has the most outfit changes of anyone in the whole show. She's a poor little meow meow and a girlboss.

Hot

[chase-ingjackson]

A few reasons I like and dislike the the new Percy Jackson show (and why I think the musical is better) - initial reaction

To start, I think this new PJO show is a million times better than that dumpster fire of a movie (though I love logan lerman <3). I like that it is quite faithful to the overall arcs and major plot lines of the book. I love the diversity and high caliber of actors (though I def have some Viria-art inspired character images in my head that are god-tier). I love some of the characterizations/portrayals, especially when it comes to making the character more complex (I really appreciate TV Sally for being a real person with complex emotion, though of course book Sally is my fav). And I love that it's so high budget and hgihly-anticipated (great marketing) that it is bringing this beloved story to a greater audience, especially the younger generation and older generation (as parents/grandparents) than those of us who grew up with the series.

I can boil down all of my dislikes of this show into one overarching but very essential part of the show: I don't like that it is a drama. The characters are way too serious and too every-other-moment-we-need-an-instense-heart-to-heart. What I think this show should have been is a comedy adventure with drama/melodrama sprinkled in. In the books, it's all about the banter. And the TV show does some good one-liners, but it's always so serious. I think the best part of the book is that the characters can stay light-hearted and fun despite the horrors and terrors they face. In the show, the gods spoon feed the trio most of the answers, so when they do have a good realization (SPOILER: e.g. Kronos being the orchestrating force) it kind of comes out of nowhere. TV Annabeth is so serious (I know in the first book she is her most serious, but not to this degree) and a lot of the moments when she has time to use her smarts are gone or approached differently. Percy, too. He's not just self-sacrificing (which they really lean into in the show) but he's also incredibly smart and silly. In the books he's kind of a surface-level himbo with great critical thinking, but in the show he's kind of left in the dark and doesn't get opportunities to make his own plans (also, he doesn't seem to know how to control his power (by the 7th episode); whereas in the book he def did at this point. Then there are just dumb changes to make the show more "serious" like not mentioning that cell phones attract monsters or that monsters just smell demigods and not have a 6th sense for them. I'm finding that by trying to change these small details to make it something more exciting or interesting, it's distancing us existing fans by not letting us relate to the small details that really don't matter. For the cellphones, they still use Iris messages rather than getting a payphone or something, so that's kind of a plot hole in the show that is answered by the book.

Anyways, those are my main takeaways. Now, when I say "the musical" I refer to The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical by Joe Tracz and Rick Rokicki which first premiered in 2014 but got revamped and redebued in 2017 (which is when it came into my life). I got to see it live in Toronto in 2019 with my middle school best friend, but have been an avid listener of the soundtrack since 2017 (the day it came out on streaming platforms).

The musical in my eyes is a nearly-perfect adaptation of the book. It's soo funny - def the action comedy I'm after, but does have the meaningful emotional moments (ballads, which are essential in musicals). The show itself if the full package; however, even just listening to the soundtrack gives you the whole gist. Here's a link to hte soundtrack on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFwX6FWeUFQ&list=PL0hK1fYMaqXbtZ0Fhm48TYcLJl7ikNX7Q&ab_channel=TheLightningThief%3AOriginalCastAlbum

Anyways, I want to hear more thoughts and pls tell me what you think of the show (and the musical!!)

[thestupidhelmet]

A(nother) Difference Between That '70s Show and That '90s Show.

I've written about depth of characterization before, but I realized today by looking at the T7S circle .gifs by @tht70sblog that the life issues the T9S kids face (save Oz) are nowhere on the same level as those from T7S (S1-S5, at least). This might add to the Disney show feeling people have expressed about T9S.

T7S has very realistic parental neglect and abuse issues and the emotional effects of that childhood wounding. Parents who don't set proper boundaries with their kid, which creates a different cluster of emotional wounding that affects the kid's worldview and behavior. And gives specific details (or the whys) to make all this characterization abundantly clear.

The threat of homelessness at seventeen (several times) and fears of a bleak future. Significant betrayal in teen relationships. A son whose more sensitive nature doesn't fit with his father's idea of masculinity, which has a breadth of consequences (some good, some damaging). A pregnancy scare for a high school sophomore. Teen girls whose gender expression and interests don't fit stereotypes.

The list goes on.

This depth, seriousness, and kind of issues facing the characters of T7S resonates very much with my time as a teenager in high school (long after the '70s 😅). For instance: a friend with an emotionally and physically abusive mother who kicked her out of home in the middle of the night (not for the first time), and that friend showing up at my home for shelter.

That's only one specific example with the most basic of details (because privacy 😁), but T7S reflects so much of my serious teen experiences in its stories (not necessarily autobiographically but in spirit). Also the fun and great times (and burns, which we didn't call burns) during those years, too -- just like the T7S characters. It was a mixture. Both harrowing in a lot of ways and fulfilling.

T9S isn't there. Maybe it won't ever be because it's not the same show as T7S and isn't intended to go that deeply or realistically into teen life.

But T7S does while still capturing the humor that exists during all the crap teens have to go through or get themselves into.

That being said, the T9S teens are a little younger than the T7S teens (talking about the characters, not actors). Leia fretting over having a first kiss with Jay is sweet, and it's definitely a dilemma fifteen-year-olds have.

But when I was fifteen, friends were often fretting about a lot more than a kiss. Jackie and Kelso's sexual relationship when she's a sophomore and he's a junior is closer to my specific experience (with a few first kisses sprinkled in).

I find myself and parts of my life in T7S. I connect to the characters, their connections to one another, and what they go through.

I love Red and Kitty in T9S and enjoy the teens' antics and personalities. Even if the show remains more surface with its depiction of teen life in the '90s, I hope it goes deeper with the characters and builds the connections / friendships among them so we understand*why* they care about one another and hang out (with Leia and Gwen's friendship as the exception since that gets good development in S1).

Give me a "Class Picture" (T7S, S4) type of flashback like how Fez became part of the group that shows why Oz chose the other T9S kids as friends and vice versa. Right now, I have no idea.

Gwen's brother, Nate, is Jay's best friend. Nate is dating Nikki, and Leia is Gwen and Nate's neighbor during the summer. That explains the *why* of their interactions. It doesn't explain or illustrate the deeper connections among them, however. With sixteen episodes for S2, I hope the writers use that space for episodes like T7S's "Hyde Moves In," "Sleepover," "Cat Fight Club," "Grandma's Dead," "Eric's False Alarm," "The Pill," and so on that showcase and develop the relationships among the characters.

---

Side note: If I knew had to add a *read more (under the cut)* on mobile, I would. 🫣

[mimikoolover]

So I watched the Minimoni video just now, and 2 things:

1. I am sad that Namjoon prefers MUSE over Face. Mostly because imo Face is more interesting in concept, execution and lyrics. Oh well. Personal preference.

2. The concept for MUSE is, if I understood correctly, that all the emotions of happiness and excitement JM feels are somewhat temporary. Like a crush that just goes nowhere, it's built more on how your brain romanticises a person and less on who that person actually is. We get crushes on people based on a few minutes of interactions, but at some point that feeling fades. And to Jimin, that's kinda what his entire life feels like. As a GenZ (98), I relate soooooo hard to that. There's these moments of elation, when you do something fun, but soon enough real life kinda drags you down again. The future isn't that exciting to look at and hope kinda flies out the window. To be fair, for most of my generation that's based a lot in feelings of economic fear - sth Jimin doesn't experience- but I think he experiences a lot of other emotions that equate to sth similar. Especially since SK, like many other countries tbh, kind of seems to not take enough steps forward socially to combat all the issues created by the ruling classes of the last decades (aka Baepsae). Anyway.

These feelings of good moments and happiness being fleeting doesn't mean the moments or emotions in that moment were faked. But since it comes and goes, and the lows tend to get very low (also mental illness is a big part that doesn't get mentioned directly in MMM though Jimin has touched on it before), you tend to catastrophise a lot. It's like imposter syndrome for feelings of happiness.

As a separate closing thought: a lot has been made about Who as a song and how you'd fit it into Jikook. Or how it disproves Jimin being in a happy potentially queer relationship, but imo the MMM really highlights how the whole love and crush narrative of MUSE is just a big metaphor. It's not even about JK specifically, but I think it would do Jimin a huge disservice to assume that this album he has worked on for over a year just contains very surface level songs. Yeah, they are about love and yearning, but just like "Fake Love" or any song on the Love Yourself trilogy are about loving someone else on the surface, it essentially is an album about self-reflection. It can be both. Similarly, I find it insulting of people that they assume the "she" was forced on Jimin because he isn't in the credits of the song. As if they wouldn't have re-written the whole thing if it didn't fit Jimin's vision. Don't infantilize him just because it doesn't fit with our (yes, I'm a shipper) view of who Jimin loves.

"She" is a concept, a dream and not real. In that sense, "she" reminds me of Marlena - a female stand-in for inspiration and music as used by the Italian band Maneskin. But that's a reach. And I don't want to discount the literal layer of the song either. I personally don't believe Who is this big red stamp of "hey, I'm here, I'm not queer and looking for a woman to love, please call hit me up" others see it as. But that doesn't mean that it doesn't actually reflect how much Jimin is yearning for someone to love him how he wants to be loved.

I think Jikook is real because of how they behave around each other, and from how they talk about each other. Even the latest mention in MMM, how they (and Yoongi, poor 3rd wheel) spend hours talking about music and singing screams "and they spend the rest of their lives living together, historians call them very good friends" to me. But I won't be upset if it turns out, they did have relationships for years with other people. I won't make up theories and stories to invalidate whoever they end up spending the rest of their life with - we're not larries. Even if I find GCF Tokyo and Saipan, Rosebowl, the regular carrying and the 7000 other instances very hard to contextualise in a hetero way.

Sorry for the essay but I was kind of getting sick of all the sides currently out and about, both the antis and shippers need to chill out.

I really enjoyed reading your thoughts so thank you for sharing!

see I think for jimin muse as an album perhaps was more about his journey going through creating it, it was a labour of love and something he made from scratch with a team of people. it was probably a real challenge too and it seems like he went through a lot of growth creating this album. I think it's quite hard to judge the 'real' meaning of songs to jimin and everyone having their opinions is valid but as you said we would all do well chilling out😂for me this time it almost seems like the 'concepts' behind the songs are not as deep as maybe face was but the entire process of creating muse was more meaningful to jimin.

[thesporkidentity]

an incomplete list of texts i sent as i slowly lost my mind over the second book of rivers of london, because i fully intend to drag at least one more person into this pit with me. come read with me i promise you're gonna feel so good and normal over this book, come closer

wow okay peter remains the absolute horniest bastard ever. is he a tits or an ass man? yes

oh we are just getting the surface levels hints of nightingales MOUNTAIN of unresolved PTSD and i am very ��

you ever feel like a character was written specifically to appeal to you? i'm getting so many tantalizing hints and i KNOW he's going to destroy because he's catnip. he is bait specifically designed to hurt my feelings

also his description makes me think of lee pace or like, 90s/00s paul mcgann and that's just Very Good and i'm being deeply not normal about it

also nightingale reads as SO queer to me, and the potential in fic to explore what that means insofar as how he has navigated the changing landscape of queerness from 1900 to present day is so tantalizing. i don't care that the author says he's not, in this case the author is wrong lol

i must say, i do not care for simone. if we absolutely MUST have hetersexual nonsense in this book i would like beverly back please. she was cool and not a cheating homewrecking jazz groupie lol

still not impressed with simone. i mean, far be it from me to judge a woman's grieving process and all, but she doesn't seem very broken up over her within-the-week dead lover. i mean, i LOVE peter and all and he's hot shit, but immediately falling into bed with him? sus

in conclusion bring 👏 bev 👏 back 👏

also peter, buddy, WHAT ARE YOU DOING

he's a disaster so even though i'm screaming DON'T DO THAT i am unsurprised he is being led around by his dick by a beautiful woman throwing herself at him

but i just. i Don't Trust Her. she doesn't make sense, and i can't tell if this is a case of male author writing wish fulfillment and thus not giving the hot girl adequate motivation of her own

or whether i AM supposed to find it suspicious the way she basically doesn't mourn the man she homewrecked who died very suddenly and then IMMEDIATELY jumps into bed with the magic cop investigating his very probable murder

and i REALIZE the only way to find out is to keep reading, it's just frustrating that women are written poorly so often that, even if he's written good women before, i still have to debate with this is a subtle clue or just Male Author Syndrome

oh my god he finally twigs that this may be weird behavior. peter. bud.

at least he got it before trying to sneak her past folly wards?

side note: god lesley really got the short end of the stick. like, her face fell off, her teeth are a fucking mess, and she probably has brain damage. she got royally shafted

peter "i'm totally straight" grant, talking about how he wants to take a muscly guy by the shoulders and kiss his cheeks and making sure to mention how many phone numbers her got while canvasing the gay bar.

hmm sure, jan

look i KNOW peter is Incredibly Horny All The Time when near any attractive woman, but simone appears from NOWHERE half dressed while he's canvassing for the jazz vampire and he just skives off like that? while looking for a potential killer? that doesn't seem like him he's not that irresponsible. that smells like conspiracy and glamour and i don't trust herrrrrrr

like, peter was already horny wanting to motorboat mama thames (lol don't think i didn't catch that pun) last book. but this book has been a whole new level of horny, and peter may be distractible but not THAT distractible surely

another side note. i love molly and nightingale's weird friendship they've developed living basically with just each other for decades.

oh jesus that's fucked up

oh the severed head is talking

oh. oh no. it got worse

peter, darling, beloved, is now REALLY the time to be talking about how hot your boss is? like i appreciate your dedication to the thirst but time and place, bud

oh never mind i forgive you nightingale is so fucking cool, i get it, i love him

he's so good. the most tragic backstory and perfect stiff upper lip old fashioned english gentleman on the outside, and then just below the surface he's a daredevil and a bit of a bitch and he fucking CARES just SO MUCH and have i mentioned how much the casterbrook wall HURTS ME?? this was revealed in the last book but i just remembered it and it stabbed me again

okay i'm done

i feel like peter has miscalculated making a deal with his cousin to teach her if she aces latin. that's gonna come back to bite lol hope you like teaching too smart for their own good teenagers cuz that's gonna be your life now

"but sir, what do we do if you die??!" "well, that doesn't seem like it will be my problem at that point :)" he's such a bitch sometimes and i LOVE him, mother

ohhhhh. oh no. the pale lady looked like molly and now molly is obviously not okay after she died, that resemblance wasn't just coincidence she definitely knew her 😢

and this is the first person peter has killed, no matter how accidentally. and nightingale is back in the hospital with his chest infection. wow everyone is just having a terrible time right now

okay. i realize that as a memory for him this probably isn't a GOOD one, it's from the war and probably much scarier and MUCH more traumatizing than he makes it sound with his dry narration of it. but god. nightingale knocked out two TANKS. by himself. with his mind. fucking sexy lol

oh damn it why can't they just let me be horny about how powerful he is instead of immediately following it with the fact that he was rear guard and making emotional that it means he was the one trusted to watch over and protect the rest of his men while they retreated as that one final shield between them and enemy fire

hhhhhhhholy shit what did simone DO to mama grant???!!!!

she just bitch slapped her!

OH MY GOD SHE TRIED TO HOMEWRECK HIS PARENTS TOO???

she's PLAUSIBLY IMMORTAL???

fuck i was right she was sketchy as hell!!

she's a fucking jazz vampire and she's been glamouring and sucking him dry! buddy, get to dr walid STAT for a brain scan and make sure she's not turning you into cauliflower!

peter don't you make excuses for her you KNOW it's possible, stop lying about your mum and trying to make her feel better you need to take her in she's a m u r d e r e r

i mean, glamour yes i realize but god, frustrating

good lad peter, i see you fighting it 💪🏾

ohhhhhhhh. oh fuck. she didn't KNOW. she didn't know she was from the 40s and killing people. oh this is bad

nightingale, attempting to show concern: "that was not the most intelligent thing you've done" xD 10/10 nailed it buddy

umm, nightingale? this may not be the black and white moral situation you think it is to go in guns blazing...

it's both funny and little sad how militant both molly and dr walid are when nightingale is injured like. i do LOVE when the person who is SUPPOSEDLY in charge gets lovingly bullied, but it hurts because that's also probably the ONLY way to make him take care of himself is if they FORCE him. and peter's not any better, he's gonna need bullying too

i do love when they team up though. molly and nightingale ganging up against peter like. nightingale gets the special treatment and a hot cocoa from molly, but peter gets the dog's leash and smug little "i'm on bedrest :)" or nightingale foisting the rest of his kidney pie on peter while molly is out of the room then grabbing his empty plate back to pretend he ate it all himself when she returns xD

the cases are interesting and all, but i think it's the core characters that are really the standout of the novel and the reason i keep reading even while i'm asking myself things like, but WHY is she killing via vagina dentata instead of literally any other assassination method? i think it's also why simone stood out so much. she HAD no background that we were told (until now) aside from being sexy. which of course i now know was intentional

"this is your brain, which is not only clean and unsullied by thought..." i love dr walid. it probably says something about me that my favorite characters all have to be at least a little bit of a bitch

oh no i'm having feeeeeelings about both nightingale and peter trying to keep the other out of the vampire raid to shield them from the emotional effects of it, just from opposite ends. nightingale doesn't want peter to have the pain of ANOTHER death on his hands, this one purposeful as opposed to the accidental death of the pale lady, so he's trying to just cut him out of it. and then peter ALSO doesn't want NIGHTINGALE to have the weight of more deaths on his soul and wants to protect him from what he sees as the unfortunate necessity of having to off someone who isn't intentionally hurting someone but still may be too dangerous to live. nightingale trying to save peter from his bleeding heart and peter saving nightingale from his practicality overriding his morality 😭 i just love when characters try to take care of each other in mirrored ways

uh...uh oh peter...no i don't think those are the police OR nightingale's paratrooper buddies

okay the audiobook is fucking excellent though, his infomercial voice while extolling the virtues of doc martins is KILLING me

oh this posh wanker. "oh what is feeding on people but another form of exploitation, and we all know there's nothing wrong with exploiting workers, equality is morally bankrupt anyway" god i hate you already you're insufferable

like of COURSE a dining club oxford nose wipe would think that way. he thinks he's sooooo slick and original with his chimeras they're such exciting new COL crimes but it all just boils down the the exact same rich white bullshit mentality

he would hate it if he realized how dull and banal his villainy is once you strip back the shock value of the trappings. just another entitled prick who views people as things, fuck this dude

i'd be tempted to say the faceless man's signare smelling like pork was a dig at david cameron and piggate if i didn't know it was written a few years too early for that lol

peter: oh no nightingale is going to give me SUCH a bollocking nightingale, obviously so relieved he's alive: very much does NOT give him a bollocking and instead tells him how impressive it is that he didn't just immediately die against the faceless man

"for a terrifying moment i thought he was going to huge me, but fortunately we both remembered we were english just in time. still, it was a close call" 🤣🤣🤣

oh ouch peter. just use all his dead friends against him. effective but also, low blow

god he wants so badly for peter to be right, too, that they and HE doesn't have to kill anyone anymore, that how that it's not Just Him ALl Alone they might have the support structure for other options. oh no i want this to work so badly so that hope is validated, but i just know something is gonna go wrong

welp

i didn't like her but i didn't want her fuckin DEAD you know?

and now the ones left standing have to deal with the trauma and the fallout

oh lesley :( they're both trying so hard to be normal about it and they're such good friends 🥺

LESLEY DO MAGIC?

LESLEY JOIN TEAM FOLLY???!!

also don't think you've been sneaky there and that i haven't noticed SOME sort of thematic symmetry of lesley struggling with having lost her face involuntarily from magic, and the faceless man having voluntarily masked himself. involuntary vs voluntary loss of identity. i'm sure there will be more parallels in the next book but like. i see you. i see you setting up face themes with these two

hopefully with lesley regaining her face somehow and thus reclaiming identity while the faceless man is unmasked thus losing the identity he built for himself and revealing the true one he hid. maybe hopefully? i want good things for lesley and bad things for the faceless one.

[draconicfool]

@crimsononiarataki asked: "Ya know, teasin' someone like that ain't very nice," The Oni would be grinning while he looked down at the face of Shoi-Ming. The considerably taller male had slowly advanced on the other, likely leading him to have his back pressed against something solid. A clawed hand would move to gently grip one hip, the other hand likely holding the other's face firmly, yet not too tightly at the same time. His sunset eyes would meet the amethyst of the other, and his pierced tongue would slip out from between his lips for the briefest of moments. He'd effortlessly lift the other, pressing him a bit more solidly into the surface he had initially been pressed against. Due to lifting the other up, their faces would be much closer. Still, he'd lean down a bit while chuckling slightly. "Somethin' tells me that ya wanted this to happen. Ya get me to chase ya so much, it was only a matter of time before I pinned ya to somethin'." He had the urge to close the gap between the two of them, but refrained for the time being he wanted to hear what Shoi-Ming wanted. If it was to be let down, that was fine, he'd put the other down and step back. Since he'd not done anything remotely intimate, short of gripping the other's chin and hip, their friendship would remain intact. Or so he hoped. "For some reason I'm drawn to ya, and it has nothin' to do with Geo." Their faces were close enough that either of them could close the gap and simply kiss. Being that neither of them were mortal, it was likely to be a somewhat instinctual response, too. The hand on the other's hip would tighten a bit, not trying to cause pain to any extent, and the Oni would be using his own strong frame to keep the smaller pinned to whatever surface he'd managed to get the other against, as well. The way he had Shoi-Ming held, would likely allow the other to feel more of his strong body. He knew the other didn't lack strength of his own, but the thought of the differences in their levels of power were nowhere on his mind at the moment. All he was thinking about was how badly he wanted to kiss the smaller male.

Now this...certainly wasn't the position that he thought he would be in. His previous bubbling laughter stopping the moment that Itto had him pinned against the cliff face. At first he had thought he'd done something wrong. After all, to his mind he'd just bitten Itto and ran off like their usual games seemed to go. Though, perhaps the placement of that bite to anyone else would be seen as an indication of want. Of need.

And when the other's hand gripped his hip- and the his chin- how flustered he became. Opening his mouth to speak but finding he didn't really have an answer. A response. It was only a matter of time before I pinned ya to somethin'.

"Have-- I overstepped--?"

It was, after all the first thing that came to mind. Even as he was picked up by the other. His own dark-tinted limbs wrapped around the other, as if being let go meant falling. Even if it didn't. Even if part of him merely wanted to hold tightly only Itto. His heart thumping desperately in his chest. As if it wanted to leap out. As if it could do such a thing.

That flicker of worry seemed so quickly to vanish with the other's words. I'm drawn ta ya. And there it was. That familiar warmth that he found himself feeling every time the other was near him. There was, for a moment, the thrumming of the earth behind him. His own nerves showing in the way his own element resonated. Trying to find the proper words.

And then- perhaps on instinct. Perhaps on something more-- he would close that gap between them. Their lips pressed together as his eyes closed and the earth fell silent. Still.

And then how red he was, pulling away as he covered his mouth now.

"I- I am so very sorry-! I did not ask for permission at all, that is-- unbecoming of me-!"

[ckret2]

Wait what's up with Dr. Horrible?? (I never watched it I just know of the song Brand New Day and that's it)

Okay so short plot summary: the main character is a mad scientist/aspiring supervillain who's presented as an earnest, nerdy, likable guy. We're intended to find him sympathetic; his villainous goals are comically cliché and he has some moral standards he sticks to, like we mainly see him commit property crimes but he refuses to kill people.

He has a crush on a very nice idealistic girl who wants to feed the homeless.

His nemesis is a smug handsome dudebro superhero whose collateral damage from his fights is arguably worse than what the villain himself would have done. The superhero ends up dating the idealistic girl after saving her from a near-death experience he himself caused by breaking the villain's machinery.

The superhero says some douchey misogynistic things about his new girlfriend to Dr. Horrible in private, so, naturally, he decides to compromise his values and murder the superhero. Through no fault of Dr. H's own (the narrative would like us to believe), the superhero makes the weapon malfunction in a way that, instead, kills the girl. Dr. H is broken-hearted and despondent but finally recognized by society as a true supervillain.

So, good nerd "villain" VS bad jock "hero" and the nice girl takes the douchebag with muscles.

This was several years before the "incel vs chad" meme took off—but it's hauntingly familiar in hindsight.

The thing is, even though the main character does have his "villain" moments, the way it's written makes it pretty clear the audience is supposed to be on his side. His evil is cartoonish and funny rather than things that actually tend to bother viewers, we're supposed to want to see him win over the girl and be mad that she went for the jock. Not only is HE your typical "nice guy (who isn't nice)" who doesn't understand why he skeeves out girls—but the STORY thinks he's genuinely a nice guy, too*.

(*This is the part that's controversial. Some people think "nah, Joss Whedon knew exactly what he was doing, we ARE supposed to recognize that he's really just a creep in defiance of how the narrative frames him, it's an unreliable narrator thing" and other people think "Joss really thinks Dr. Horrible is a tragic underdog who deserved to get the girl." Personally, I think the truth is somewhere in between, but it's closest to "tragic underdog.")

Except, Dr. Horrible is a supervillain! That's what makes the whole thing extra interesting. On a surface level, this is your basic role-reversal type story, "the supervillain is actually the hero and the superhero is actually the villain"—but once you recognize Dr. Horrible isn't quite as much a decent guy as the narrative paints him, the role reversal reverses: "the villain really is villainous, he's your typical vengeful entitled incel, but seeing the story through his eyes he can't see himself that way."

It's really a masterfully done unreliable narrator story breaking down the toxic incel "girls only don't like me because I'm nerdy" "they go for bad boys with muscles" "if I can't get a girl it's my right to lash out at the world" viewpoint, done convincingly enough that you can totally buy into the narrator's skewed perspective. (Like, it took years before I started seeing this "it's a breakdown of nerd culture toxic masculinity" interpretation of Dr. H in mainstream discussions. Some people might've been saying it at the time but it was nowhere near as widespread as it is now; when it first came out, just about every discussion I saw took it for granted that the narrative considers Dr. H the "good guy.")

But, on the other hand, it's only an okay trope role reversal story. Like it's pretty good? It's all right. It's fine.

The story is better if you look at it saying "Dr. H really is the bad guy here, but is so deep in his head neither he nor the narrative sees that" and worse if you look at it saying "Dr. H is a misguided good guy stuck in a tragedy."

And yet, I'm pretty confident "misguided good guy" was the authorial intent. For other folks who believe that was the intent, in order to let the narrative truly flourish, they have to interpret it in a way that directly defies what they assume the author wants; in order to say "the main character is blind to his true nature" they also have to say "the author is blind to the main character's true nature." And I think that's fascinating.

[aemiron-main]

Some ST3 Opinions & Thoughts On ST3’s Use of Foreshadowing

Something that I really liked about S3 was the absence of Brenner & how the lab overall is less present, but those lab-created horrors are even more grotesque and in-your-face and present, alongside the lab foreshadowing/parallels (such as what I talked about here regarding the S3 hospital vs 1979 lab parallels).

Like, I don’t mean this in a “Brenner is BAD and i HATE HIM so im GLAD he wasnt in S3 way,” i mean it in a “even when Brenner is nowhere to be found, even when the lab is ‘shut down’ and dormant, the impacts of what the lab has done continue to ramp up,” way.

IMO, the absence of the lab and of Brenner (and therefore the absence of a single person/entity to easily pin the blame onto) does a great job at demonstrating the way that unethical science becomes a monster of its own & how even shutting down the lab & keeping Brenner at bay wasn’t enough to stop everything that’s happening.

I think it’s a great way to emphasize the way that the consequences of the lab’s experiments continue to echo and continue to impact people.

And jumping back to what I talked about in the beginning regarding the ST3 vs ST4 parallels and foreshadowing, I actually think that it’s partially that use of foreshadowing that makes it feel different/“”””out of place”””” compared to other seasons (although i do think that ST3 often being a contrast to prior seasons is exactly why it fits in place because S1 and S2’s vibes wouldnt be as noticeable/memorable if Every Season Was Like That & ST3 gives something to contrast ST1 and ST2 with), and the reason why I think that use of foreshadowing makes it feel different is because while EVERY season of ST has tons of foreshadowing, ST2 also has tons of direct connections to ST1 (even connections as subtle as spending a lot of shots in the Byers house, specifically in that hallway which was key to Will’s vanishing in S1), whereas while ST3 ABSOLUTELY has connections to previous seasons, we’re now moving into new locations etc etc, so those connections arent as constant as they were in S2. And so, as a result, the season becomes more future and foreshadowing-focused, but we dont recognize that when we watch S3 initially/for the first tike because we havent seen S4 yet.

Like, it’s very easy now to go back and see the absolutely insane number of highly specific parallels to S4 that exist in S3, but without the context of S4, a lot of those S3 scenes almost feel “useless”/emptier than they should.

And ST3 has so much time imagery and specifically “future” references that really just hammer home ST3’s use of foreshadowing/its focus on foreshadowing.

So, my main point here is that I think that while its totally fair to have a favourite season/prefer diff vibes/this isnt a criticism of that, I also think that approaching every single season of ST as if they’re entirely self-contained is where criticism of ST (and specifically S3) tends to be less effective- because S3 really is much, much better with the context of S4, like with the context of S4, S3 is absolutely rich with intricate foreshadowing (you can even foreshadow very specific things and names things from the S4 newspapers back in S3, such as what I talked about in this post), but that context and those intricacies are lost when you isolate every season and try to look at each season as a standalone story.

The Creel foreshadowing alone in S3 is absolutely constant- Heather Holloway is literally IN the Creel tub when she’s in the void!! But you’d have no way of knowing that on your first S3 watch through/without the context of S4.

I actually think it’s really neat that ST3, on the surface, is a very flashy and “obvious” and seemingly “surface level,” season, but then, when you dig deeper with the context of S4, it’s actually a season with an absolute ton of depth and foreshadowing and intricate connections.