#the amount of support for a barely there relationship does give me a weird vibe

[peggingeddiediaz]

That line about Buck's happiness is such a cop out answer from them, because how is Buck jumping into another relationship any different than what he's been doing before? Just because it's with a man now? That's what was wrong with Buck's love life, the women?

Trust me op, I am an Eddie stan, but fanon buddie and now bucktommy, it also feels like they don't really care about Buck that much either. It's just that they can completely ignore Eddie now while writing volumes of headcanons for a ship with 3 minutes of a storyline.

At times it just feels like some Buck stans and BT stans just wanted to have an mlm ship to obsess over and now they have a canon ship to do so.

being a buddie stan with eddie as your favorite character is realizing that it feels like nobody ever really cared about buddie, only buck's happiness. despite it being buck and eddie, deep down people only ever really wanted it because it benefited buck, and now that tommy's there, eddie doesn't matter. its going back in fics and realizing that it was only ever really about buck. eddie atoning for his sins and chasing after buck, eddie taking care of buck, eddie getting the shovel talks to never hurt buck, and it was barely the other way around.

idk i like buck and i like this fandom but it just feels like no one ever really cared about eddie. bucktommy (i refuse to call it tevan and bummy is rude) is fine and all that, but its nothing exceptional and regardless of it i still ship buddie and always will. i just wish people care for eddie just a fraction of the way they cared about buck, or that they viewed buddie as an equal relationship (if they even still care about it) but it just doesn't seem that way. it feels like as long as buck is benefited, who he's shipped with doesnt matter, eddie be damned.

this is just my opinion, you don't have to agree, and the opinion might be skewed from the perspective of an eddie stan, it just feels weird now idk. i just wish the appreciation for both characters was more equal but i know that's not how it works. just some thoughts i wanted to share.

[beepboop358]

Elmax Thoughts

(reposting b/c I found some more images and for some reason I can’t edit the original)

I am convinced neither Max or Eleven are straight. These are my own opinions since none of it is confirmed.

Max = bi

I think Max is bi because even though she and Lucas are always 'on again off again', she seems genuinely interested in him, she's just not willing to deal with his shit LMAO. But there is nooo wayyyy Max is straight. Max just gives off majorly queer vibes. Max is the only other character in the show associated with rainbow imagery/rainbow details, besides Mike and Will, (that isn’t related to the rainbow room in the lab). Not even Robin is associated with rainbows in s3 (probably because of her scoops troop uniform, and that it was decided during filming Robin was a lesbian). Max is seen wearing clothing with rainbow patterns several times in the show. Besides occasionally Will, none of the other characters really have rainbow patterns in their clothes.

Max also has rainbow bed sheets. When El and Max have a sleepover, they both sleep in Max’s bed with the rainbow sheets, which can be seen the next morning when the phone rings. Both El and Max are pictured in shots with the rainbow pattern.

So...Max has rainbow bed sheets. Interesting. Who else in the show also has a rainbow pattern in their bed sheets? MIKE.

Mike is one of the gayest characters of all time

Max = not straight, confirmed.

El = pan

Eleven definitely gives me major pan vibes. It just doesn't make sense to me for El to be straight. She was raised in a lab, away from society, so she has virtually no concept of what society deems right or wrong or acceptable around sexuality. She won't understand labels, or why people would be teased and tormented for liking someone of the same sex/gender as them. She has no reason to think it's weird, or wrong, or to stigmatize it, because she has never been exposed to any of the prejudices of society surrounding lgbtq+ people. El would have no idea why anyone identifying as lgbtq+ would be mistreated, it would not make sense to her. And since she never learned any of societies biases or stigmas, she can easily see through the bullshit of homophobia and debunk it. She has had no opportunities to internalize homophobia since she has never experienced any because she has never been in society before, which will make her extremely open and excepting of her own sexuality and of others. El also has no reason to have a specific gender preference, she can just like whoever she likes!

Eleven probably has a limited knowledge of what sexuality and preference even is. It doesn't make sense for her to have it all figured out at this stage in her life. When Max and El go shopping in s3, Eleven asks Max, "How do I know what I like?" Since we know the stranger things writers and the duffer brothers LOVE to throw in little clues and hidden messages EVERYWHERE in the show, this line obviously references more than just picking out clothes -and it's completely valid. She is still a kid after all, and she's barely had a fraction of the social development and real life experience other kids her age have. When Will is homphobically bullied in his and El's new school in s4, she will not understand what the words they use mean, or why they are even teasing him about it. She won't understand why being gay is considered "bad". While I don't think either Max or El are straight, I don't think a romantic Elmax relationship will ever be canon in the show unfortunately (although I would love if it would!). Unlike Byler, Elmax does not have the same amount of overwhelming evidence that proves they romantically like each other. I do think El and Max love each other and deeply care for each other, but as best friends. Unless we get an overwhelming amount of romantic development between the two in the upcoming seasons, I doubt they will ever be romantically canon. Max helped humanize Eleven, and showed her how to become herself. Eleven and Max were each others first real "bff". Neither of them had a true best friend in the show before they become friends, they just have their boyfriends. I think Max and El bonding was exactly what each of their characters needed: a real best friend that allows them to grow and develop as a person, but also be there to support each other. I'm sure they will miss each other greatly now that they live far away from each other, and are kind of alone again. They clearly mean a lot to each other. Max even gave El her green scrunchie at the end of s3 before El moves away, and Eleven wears it in the final scenes.

<3 Love them both. This is such a cute moment

[carynsilver]

Favorite Fics: Darcy Edition

It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these. Things started going on that hurt my soul, and I just felt like, who cares about some fic recs when people are getting hurt? But… I don’t know. I still find solace and comfort in reading stories, even when things are hard—especially when things are hard. So, I finally felt like maybe it was time for another. If the fic writers out there are giving me escape, warm fuzzies, and enjoyment during these weird times, then they deserve some love directed back at them.

So far, I’ve listed my top 10 favorite Stucky, Drarry, and Stony fics. I love them all, but… that is a lot of dudes. I decided it was time for a little girl power in my fanfic recs. One of my favorite BAMF female characters is Darcy Lewis—one of the best and most under-rated, under-explored characters in the MCU.

I love Darcy as the every-girl who has the moxie and chutzpa to hold her own in a life full of superheroes. The girl tased the God of Thunder because he was freaking her out, for goodness sake! I love her being BFFs with Jane, being Thor’s lightening sister, and creating a found family. I love her living in the tower and caring for all the superheroes and science geniuses like they won’t care for themselves. There’s enough leeway in her backstory for fun twists, too, like being Jewish, or—one of my absolute faves—secretly being the daughter of Tony Stark.

There are a ton of good Darcy fics out there, but these are my top 10. Thank you, writers, for sharing these amazing stories with us!

Casa de Island Avengers by @inkbert

I clicked on this story because of WinterShock (Darcy/Bucky), which is a favorite ship of mine (I feel my love of Bucky has been previously discussed at length, lol), but it has become one of my favorite fics of all time. Not even just in the MCU—if I were listed my top five fanfics ever read, this one is on the list.

The concept is simple—post-Ultron, the Avengers started falling apart as a team, so Steve spearheads the effort to get them all on a two-week vacation to Tony’s private island in a last-ditch bonding effort. Every character (except Thor, but he does get some good screen time) has his or her own point of view for at least a chapter or two. Sometimes, this leads to characters sounding the same, but @inkbert really grounds each character in their own backstory and makes their inner monologues sound unique. Then, so many wacky hijinks ensue—camping, drinking, movie nights, girl bonding, sailing, pranks, and the most competitive game nights and challenges you’ve ever seen.

The ships included are Darcy/Bucky, Steve/Natasha, Pepper/Tony, and Clint/Wanda, but this story isn’t only about the ships. It’s about all these crazy characters bonding—found family at its finest. This is probably my favorite Darcy/Jane BFFs story ever, and the Bruce/Tony science bro connection is classic. The story is fully seated in cannon (up through Ultron and moving to the ccmpound), except no Clint/secret family and Pietro lives. Read it. Read it now! And if you enjoy it, there are several one-shots that follow, including a Wanda-centric one that shouldn’t be missed.

Best Supporting Soulmate by Valeris

I love a good soulmate fic, and this is an excellent one. The first thing your soulmate says to you is written on your skin, and there are both romantic and platonic soulmates. Darcy has Jane as a platonic soulmate, but it’s her other soulmate who made her life crazy before she even met them. What are you supposed to do when your soulmate’s first words to you are to let them die? 

The two primary ships in this fic are Wintershock and Stony, which work well together, but the story delves into a lot more relationships. I don’t love the whole amnesia trope in a Stucky fic because losing all that history and friendship hurts so much, but in a WinterShock fic, I have a real soft spot for Darcy being able to help post-HYDRA Bucky learn how to person again, and she does that in spades in this one. She also cultivates friendships with just about everyone in Avengers Tower and beyond. Darcy/Johnny Storm BFFs are amazing, and the deep friendship Darcy develops with Tony in this story gives me all the feels. This is a great version of BAMF Darcy who can see what the tortured characters need and is able to help them get there. And there is some interesting conflict with the Fantastic Four, as well.

This was one of the first, if not the first, WinterShock stories I ever read. I had been trying TaserHawk, but it wasn’t really my cuppa, and then somehow found this one and got hooked.

Road Trip of Champions by @leftennant

Natasha and Steve are going on a road trip. Steve wants Bucky to come with, but they feel like they need a fourth to make things even. Natasha bribes Darcy into coming with, and over the course of the trip, we get a lovely WinterShock romance. The road trip concept is fun, and Darcy and Bucky have a light enemies to friends to lovers vibe going on. Bucky is recovering, Darcy isn’t going to take anyone’s crap, and Natasha and Steve really just want a little private time along the way. And the bit at the end of the main story when they play paintball—classic and a scene that has stuck in my mind long after reading many other fics. The protective vibe Bucky has for Darcy after all this and how it even affects paintball is adorable. There are other one-shots in this ’verse as well that should not be missed. You might never think of lemons the same again.

Daybreak by @anogete

Anogete has a really good touch with snarky, caretaker Darcy. I love all her WinterShock stories, but this is the one that’s stuck with me the most. The concept of Darcy trying to help dismantle Bucky’s trigger words by creating new memories for each one was so compelling. The therapy aspect did give me pause (a personal thing; it is dealt with as respectfully as possible in the story), but it all works out in the end. The fact that I loved it so much despite a mild personal ping with the concept speaks to how well it’s written, honestly. :-) And, if this one isn’t to your taste, Anogete has plenty of great WinterShock to read, so definitely try one of them instead!

The Run ’Verse by themonkeycabal

Though it eventually becomes a WinterShock story, my favorite thing about this universe is the Tony-Stark-is-Darcy’s-father trope. This is probably my absolute favorite version of that relationship. There is also time travel, and BAMF Peggy Carter. And even though I don’t love the Darcy-becomes-a-Shield-agent thing as much as Darcy the Scientist Wrangler, this story has a great, cannon-compliant reason for why Tony, Clint, etc., weren’t able to come help Steve, Natasha, Sam, and Maria in CA:tWS. There are a ton of stories in this ’verse, and I enjoyed every single one. My favorite, though, is the one where Darcy and Tony go visit Howard’s forgotten secret bunker and have three generation’s-worth of overdue conversations.

A Morbid Taste for Ice by sitehound

This is probably my favorite TaserTricks story, though I haven’t read nearly as much Darcy/Loki as I have other Darcy ships. I think it’s because writing Loki in character and making it believable to me that Darcy would fall in love with him, especially post-Avengers 1, is a fine line. If the fic apologizes too much for Loki’s wrongdoing without enough repentance/reformation, I don’t buy that she would legit be able to fall for him, but, go too far on the redemption and Loki gets OOC.

This story hits all those beats pretty perfectly and combines them with the whole Darcy/Jane/Thor (and now Loki) found family thing, Thor/Loki brother angst, Jane/Darcy BFFs, and a really compelling murder mystery to boot. There is also an interesting subplot with Loki being what basically amounts to a magical mechanic that I found really interesting amidst the snark, romance, and mystery solving. I’m sad this writer only has the one story up because it is so good!

Bygone by @inkbert

This story is Shieldshock (Steve/Darcy), not WinterShock, so even though I do try to only choose one fic per author (mostly), I’m totally fine having two by @inkbert on this list. Besides, this fic is amazing, and it’s not like there are anyone’s rules to follow on these fic rec lists but my own, lol! This is hands down my favorite ShieldShock story ever. 

Jane’s experiment goes awry and sends Darcy into the past—specifically after Bucky left for basic but before he shipped out and Steve got tapped for Project Rebirth. Darcy ends up living with Rebecca and Mrs. Barnes, and she falls head over heels in love with tiny Steve, so much so that they get married despite not knowing what the future holds for her. Then, the night before Steve is going to report to basic, Darcy blips out again, and when she blips back in, Steve is dead. The rest of the story has Darcy blipping her way through time, making friends with Howard, Peggy, and the Howling Commandos. Ultimately, though, it’s her brother/sister relationship with Tony that is the most poignant, especially by the time they catch up to the present again. And Darcy is a complete BAMF the whole time—going on missions, learning to fly anything with wings, doing anything and everything to keep her found family together. This story also gave me a plan for what I would do if I were ever shot back into a timeline like this where I couldn’t sew or cook or make a living—become a typist… genius, Darce!

Their Hearts Said by @anogete

Another Anogete story because I just can’t resist. All her stories are really good, be they WinterShock, ShieldShock, or even her really good Loki/OC fic. I would definitely suggest giving all of them a try.

This ShieldShock story is my favorite post-Infinity War tale. It picks up a few weeks after the snap, with everyone grieving and trying to figure out what to do next. Steve is barely holding it together while the remaining Avengers try to figure out what they can do. After Jane and her family disappear, Darcy heads to Avengers Tower, hoping against hope that maybe Thor knows what’s going on. Darcy and Steve start sleeping together as more of an escape from the awfulness around them than anything else, but as the team works on a plan to save the day and bring everyone back, they develop real feelings for each other. There is also time travel and I really loved the minimalist way she wrote how the day was saved in this. It balanced well with the character stuff. This story is much preferable to End Game—too bad cannon didn’t go like this!

Good Madness by Em_Jaye

Normally, I prefer my Darcy embedded within the MCU cannon. I adore that every girl keeping up with superheroes thing. But, I do enjoy a good AU on occasion, and this is one of my faves. It’s ShieldShock and kid!fic. Darcy runs a bakery that was left to her by her mother (real You’ve Got Mail tones there, but no creepy identity porn), and Steve comes in for treats on occasion. One day, he brings his daughter, and the rest is history. I love the Steve/Darcy romance in this one, and Steve’s daughter is a sweet character. I love the Full House thing Steve has going on co-raising his daughter with Bucky and Sam. And there is a nice Bucky/Natasha subplot and some really good Tony, which I would say more about except that I don’t want to spoil the surprise. My favorite story in the series is the five rules one at the end, so definitely keep going long enough for that. And if you like Em_Jaye’s writing, you should check out The Long Way Around—a Shieldshock, time travel, Endgame fix-it WIP that is excellent, as well.

One Year by @steeleholtingon

This story is WinterShieldShock. OT3s aren’t my favorite trope, but somehow with Bucky/Darcy/Steve, it works. Maybe it’s something about the boys’ history and Darcy dragging them into the future. Kind of what she does for each of them individually in WinterShock and ShieldShock, but with even more oomph. I haven’t read the whole tag, but One Year is my favorite.

Bucky’s Winter Soldier recovery has pushed both Steve and Bucky to the edge. Steve ends up leaving (at Bucky’s demand, but also because the team is afraid he’s going to do some kind of suicide via superhero duty if he doesn’t get his head on straight). The wrinkle—the night before he left, Darcy and Steve had a comforting one-night stand that resulted in two pinks lines on the test. The resulting story takes place one month at a time. Steve tries to piece himself back together and put his feelings for Bucky in the past whilst falling for Darcy over text messages. Bucky, on the other hand, realizes how he fucked it all up and vows to be there for Darcy and Steve’s baby while Steve is gone. Darcy navigates the waters of an unplanned (but wanted) pregnancy while balancing her feelings for both of them. And all the rest of the Avengers, science crew, and other Avengers-adjacent peeps support all three of them through it all. Angst, recovery, and a happy ending. So good!

So, after all that, what are you guys waiting for? Get to reading all this Darcy goodness! :-)

And now I need to figure out what fic rec list to work on next. I have a Stranger Things one (Harringrove and Mileven) almost ready to go, and then I need to decide what to do with the ships and characters that I don’t have a full top ten for. Group them together, perhaps? Bughead and LoVe might be a good combination, lol. And WinterHawk and WinterIron.

[truerequitedlove]

Dan and Phil Versus The World

pff bingo: interactive introverts & glass closet

Genre: fluff, hurt/comfort, introspection, reality/non-au

Word Count: 3k

“I mean...we’re not in the closet. Not really,” Phil says.

“Phil, this is the closet.”

read on ao3

~•~•~ 

The idea had started simply enough. 

“We should go on another tour.”

That had been the start, one night, far too soon after their last tour’s end. It had come after a long night of drinking, and of talking, and of planning. 

The night had been filled with plans, but they weren’t the sort of plans that Dan and Phil would write down. These plans were softly spoken plans filled with taboo words whispered through a veil of liquid courage. Words like ‘branding’ and ‘coming out’ and ‘privacy’ and ‘us’ and ‘them.’

‘Them.’ 

This particular word had become taboo quite a long time ago. It always sounded just a bit wrong. Like talking about someone behind their back. Like generalizing a group of diverse individuals. A few years prior, they would have been fine with doing so, but it felt strange then. It was early-2017, and they were still riding the leftover waves of TATINOF’s massive success.

Dan and Phil were just finishing their first-ever world tour, and they’d seen these people. These millions of faces that supported them. They’d hugged hundreds of them. They’d heard their stories. Stories of finding happiness in silly gaming banter and finding courage in quotes from videos that Dan barely remembers scripting. They had read through letters. They’d watched smiles and tears spring to the faces of audience members. They’d moved closer, closer, and closer to them.

And “them” was just a less taboo replacement for an even worse word. “Fans.”

Neither Dan nor Phil quite liked the word “fan” in the context of their audience’s relationship to them. It felt weird, uncomfortable, inauthentic. It felt like Dan and Phil were sat on a pedestal, and the faces of their audience were far, far, away in the nosebleed seats. Their audience didn’t deserve to be there, be put down, and Dan and Phil didn’t deserve to be idolized past the point of their own humanity. 

Dan and Phil wanted to move closer to them. They wanted to find the right distance. They wanted to explore the idea of “them and us.” Of audience and entertainer. Of how close would become too close.

So, that thoughtful night in 2017, Dan said, “We should go on another world tour.”

And Phil--just the same amount buzzed and just the same amount lost in messy thoughts--agreed.

Then there was Interactive Introverts, and it was everything. It was ambitious and entirely different than their last stage show. It was authentic, real, laid on the solid foundations of a theme that Dan and Phil both cared so much about.

Before either of them could blink it was happening. 

~

Dan recounts the messiness of the months before the tour began where he sits in the back of the tour bus.

He blinks.

He must be giving off ‘don’t talk to me’ vibes today, because he has the entire back of the bus to himself. The rest of the crew seem to be either napping or chatting quietly in the front area of the bus as they pass by the endless American pastures outside.

The American leg of the tour has been odd. It’s not stressful flights and cramped cars and booking dozens of hotel rooms, but it is a lot of one environment and one crew for an extended period. Dan loves the crew. In fact, they’re honestly the closest friends he and Phil have right about now. Still, it’s difficult to be around people all day every day in such a confined space. Luckily, they’re all human, so when one of them is giving off fierce ‘don’t talk to me’ vibes the others understand. It’s just Dan’s turn today, he supposes.

Sometimes, most of the time even, Dan doesn’t mind the closet. The doors are glass, and he can pretend they aren’t there. Other times he slams face-first into the glass doors. Today’s one of those days.

It’s the weekend of gay pride back in London. He sees it all across Twitter and Instagram. It makes his chest ache in an odd way.

So, he sits and gazes out the window at the plain countryside. He thinks about the video he failed to finish and all of the mess that had taken up his time this year. He lets himself emit the ‘don’t talk to me’ vibes. He doesn’t really have to energy to speak when he’s using it all to mope instead.

Of course, there is one person who’s immune to Dan’s ‘don’t talk to me’ vibes.

This person collapses against the couch beside him, carrying his pillow as he always does. Dan teases him about security blankets, but he’d be a liar if he said it wasn’t precious. He props his pillow up against Dan’s shoulder before leaning against it and sighing.

Dan looks over at him. “Hello,” he says softly. Dan can speak to Phil. Phil doesn’t drain Dan’s energy the way that others do.

“Mm,” Phil hums in reply. He’s wearing his glasses. “You’re bein’ loud,” he grumbles.

Dan’s lips turn up despite his less than jovial mood. “Shut up,” he says, amused. He’s had that same complaint spoken into silence enough to understand what Phil means. It means something like ‘you’re being too quiet, you’re thinking too much, and it’s noticeable’ in sleepy Phil language. 

“It’s your fault,” Dan teases. “Shouldn’t be listening in on my private thoughts.”

“Oh,” Phil says. “I thought we shared a consciousness.”

“I fucking hope not,” Dan says, lighter. “I don’t know if I want to see the innermost workings of this mind, Phil Lester.” He taps Phil’s forehead to make his point.

“Please,” Phil says, obviously a bit too tired to properly give his all to the banter. “You’d be honored.”

“Mm,” Dan hums, neither agreeing or disagreeing.

“Mhm,” Phil replies, agreeing. “So, since I can’t read your mind, tragically,” he says. “What’re you thinking about?”

Dan shifts a bit on the couch, and Phil whines a bit, resituating himself against Dan.

“We have a hotel tonight, yeah?” he asks.

“Yeah,” Phil answers, raising an eyebrow. “Is that what you’re thinking about, then?”

Dan rolls his eyes. “Shut up.”

“I didn’t say anything,” Phil says, grinning.

“Well that is decidedly not what I was thinking about,” Dan says.

“That’s sad for you,” Phil says.

Dan properly giggles this time. “Shut up,” he says again, a bit loud. “I’m just thinking about...us.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I’m just glad we get to be together tonight,” he says.

Phil could reply with a joking comment on their inability to be separated for even the length of a night’s sleep, but he doesn’t. He’s glad they get to be together, too. It’s been quite a few nights without Dan, and Phil knows what he means. It’s not just being together, it’s being alone together.

“Me too,” Phil agrees softly. He glances at the hallway and confirms that no one is within the range of seeing. So, Phil presses a kiss to Dan’s lips and grins a little.

Dan grins a bit as well.

~

Phil assumes too much. He expects nonverbal communication. He expects public secrets and common knowledge of things that haven’t been discussed. 

It’s only gotten worse since he’s been with Dan because Dan is good at unspoken truths. He’s good at communication that dances around a topic without looking it in the face. It’s gotten them in trouble before, certainly, and Dan has figured out when to drop the pretenses. He knows when to look an issue straight-on.

Phil still likes to dance around things. He likes to avoid conflict and confrontation, especially when he or someone else stands to get hurt. He justifies this to himself by assuming that everyone else understands whatever it is that he doesn’t want to explain. He expects mind-readers.

He recognizes these analytic thoughts, as he thinks them. It’s therapy talk, repeating itself. Phil’s fear of confrontation is something that’s often brought up with his therapist. As Phil sits, staring out the window of the tour bus and feeling mildly sick, he misses her. He won’t be able to see his therapist again until they return home, and he’s sure he’ll have endless things to bring up with her.

There’s a funny thing about a fear of confrontation, Phil finds. Recovery consists of confronting the fear of confrontation. While it’s oxymoronic, at least Phil’s done one of the steps.

Confrontation is an easy thing to fear, but Phil can’t help feeling like he has good reason to fear it. He grew up gay. He spent so long actively avoiding confrontation about his sexuality. It feels almost second nature now. He’s not sure he knows how to confront it. He doesn’t want it to be a big deal.

Phil never came out to his parents. He was never into the pretty girls at his school, he never talked about them, and he brought around male friends who would stay the night and leave the pull-out couch bed untouched. It was obvious that Phil was seeing men, and that he had no real intention to see women.

Or so he had thought.

The memory still brings about anxiety, even though his family couldn’t be more accepting these days. He remembers his mum confronting him after it became too obvious. He remembers thinking that it all had been silently acknowledged and that he would never have to talk about it. It was stupid, in hindsight. Obviously, his sexuality would be a big deal to his family, whether he wanted it to be or not.

Phil still falls back into those habits.

Sometimes he’s too careless with Dan. He thinks it’s obvious that they’re in love. He convinces himself that everyone knows, they just don’t talk about it. He wants to kiss Dan when people can see. He wants to book one hotel room with one king-sized bed for both of them and let it slip by without mention.

People like to mention things, though. They like to talk about things.

Phil thinks he and Dan are obvious, and maybe they are. Still, he knows that if he were to kiss Dan square on the mouth in front of their crew, questions would be unavoidable. 

Phil doesn’t really know how to be in the closet, but he knows that he wants to protect this beautiful, perfect, and private thing between him and Dan at all costs.

He stops himself there, turning away from the window. He doesn’t want to think any longer.

“How much further?” he asks, sounding just a bit impatient.

“Just over an hour,” someone replies.

~

Just over an hour later, Dan’s coming up with an excuse for him and Phil to go immediately to the hotel. It’s only one in the afternoon, and there are things to see in this city, but they need to be alone. Alone together. Dan says something about filming a video, and Phil holds back a sigh because they do have to film, and he’d forgotten.

They can film tomorrow. They enjoy filming, anyways. They get an excuse to hang out alone together. And the gaming channel is so easy compared to everything else they want to work on for youtube. The editing's a bitch, but it gives them something to do while traveling these long American roads.

The crew talks with each other about plans, and Dan and Phil slip into the hotel. They check in to separate rooms in the lobby, but they go to the same room with all of their things. Later, they’ll compare rooms and decide which is better to stay the night in. They’ll order room service and laugh and maybe film something. For now, they just need a moment. 

The hotel room’s door closes, they put their things down on the floor, and Dan sighs.

Phil’s not sure exactly what’s bothering Dan, but it makes perfect sense as soon as he says it.

“I want to come out, Phil,” he says, standing by the door of the hotel. He stares inward, blankly. He’s not looking at the room or anything at all. He’s thinking so much that it seems he can do little else.

Phil sighs, walking back to where Dan stands. It’s definitely not an unfamiliar conversation topic between them. It’s much the opposite. Dan had plans to officially come out this year. He has plans to come out, but things keep getting messy and scary and confusing. 

“I know,” Phil says softly. “You will. We will.”

“I know,” Dan says. He’s still not looking at anything, and his eyes are unfocused.

“I mean...we’re not in the closet. Not really,” Phil says, perhaps in an attempt to cheer Dan up. They’ve never been ‘in the closet,’ really. At least, not in a long while. They just keep certain things private. It’s been a long time since either of them have pretended to be someone they aren’t.

Dan sighs. “Phil, this is the closet.”

Phil frowns. “How do you mean?”

Dan shrugs, walking into the room. “Just, like, the whole Dan and Phil ‘brand’ or whatever.” He uses finger quotes around the term ‘brand.’ His voice is tinged with irritation. “Like, this tour, and the last tour, and our YouTube channels. We’ve, like, put ourselves in this, like, glass box. Like, yeah, people know, but they don’t know. And if--and when we come out, all of that...that glass is going to shatter.”

“Is that a good thing?” Phil asks. He gets what Dan means, but his brain is so slow today. He doesn’t want to talk about glass closets and sexuality and how the hell they’re going to navigate their relationship if they keep it in the spotlight. If they talk about that then questions will come up that Phil doesn’t have the ability to answer.

All he wants is to lie next to Dan and be unseen for a little while. There’s the possibility here for a fight, but Phil’s not sure that either of them has the energy.

“It’s just this tour, trying to be authentic, Dan and Phil…” Dan trials off and sniffles, and it catches Phil off guard. He goes to say more, but tears start slipping down his cheeks instead and he looks away from Phil.

“Dan, whoa whoa, hey,” Phil’s voice is suddenly much softer. “Why are you crying?”

Dan shrugs, sitting down on the bed. A dam seems to have broken, and he chokes a bit. “It’s a lot, Phil,” he cries.

“It is,” Phil answers. “But it’s good, isn’t it?”

Dan shrugs again. “I--I don’t know.”

“Oh,” Phil says softly. He stands and kicks off his shoes. He then strips off his jeans and t-shirt. He desperately needs a shower, but it can wait. He kneels down and unzips Dan’s shoes. Dan lets him pull them off and toss them messily aside. As he watches Phil, his tears pick up. Phil tugs his jeans off next, and by the time his t-shirt is gone Dan is properly bawling.

Phil sits beside Dan, both of them stripped of their dirty, uncomfortable, tour bus clothes. He lays back on the bed, and he holds his arms open. Dan reaches up to futilely wipe his eyes and lets go of one more sob before falling into Phil.

Phil wraps his arms around Dan, and they lay there. 

Phil strokes his hand up and down Dan’s shoulder, and Dan buries his face between the duvet and Phil’s shoulder. He cries for a while, saying nothing. Phil just holds him and hushes him softly. 

It is a lot. The tour, their careers, the closet. It’s all quite a lot, and Dan needs to cry about it. Phil’s sure that he will too, once he has the energy.

“Phil,” Dan says quietly. “Sometimes I wish we could just run away together.”

“Yeah?” Phil asks, smiling sadly.

Dan nods. “Mhm. Find a tiny little house somewhere to live in and, just, start over. Just like, buy a fuckin’ cafe in France and live out our lives as old gay baristas.”

Phil giggles softly. “Sounds nice,” he says.

“Doesn’t sound ungrateful?”

“Not to me, but I might be biased.”

Dan smiles a bit at this. They look at each other. Phil reaches to brush away some of the tears that continue to slip down Dan’s cheeks.

“Isn’t it...isn’t it weird that tomorrow night you and I are going to get up on stage and play out this, like, version of us and then we’re going to come back here and be...us?”

“I mean, isn’t that the entire point we’re making here?” Phil asked, smirking.

Dan smiled the slightest bit. “Shut up.”

“Plot twist.” Phil giggles. “Dan blows his own mind.”

Dan grins properly this time, pushing Phil away by the shoulder. “Phil?”

Phil grins, rolling back to his spot just against Dan. “Yeah?”

“Did we just make an entire stage show about the glass closet?”

Phil bites his lip, moving his eyes over Dan’s face. “No,” he says.

Dan grins. “Oh? Okay, good. Was worried there for a sec.”

Phil leans in and kisses Dan on the lips. “You think too much,” he says when he pulls back. “We’re us, you know? No matter how many people are watching. That’s what the show’s about.”

Dan’s eyes flick back up from Phil’s lips to his eyes. “I like us best when we’re alone.”

“I like us wherever we are.”

“Sap.”

“Maybe.”

They have the night to themselves and they make the most of it, even if it means missing the sight-seeing available outside. They end up staying in Dan’s room, ordering room service and getting a little more than tipsy. They mess around a bit, press kisses to hot flesh, and drag it out for as long as they can. The next hotel stay is a while away, and they have to make up for the lost time. When they’re done they fall asleep a bit too early.

Dan wakes up at the annoying hour of two am. Unable to fall back asleep, he grabs his laptop and turns on the lamp. Phil remains fast asleep beside him, and his soft snores are comforting. Dan pulls up a word document entitled: “Basically, I’m Gay.”

Soon, he hopes.

[purpledragon57]

Dragon Reviews: Tokyo Mew Mew

I recently finished watching the magical girl anime Tokyo Mew Mew. I’ve been meaning to get into the habit of writing reviews for things I watch, and I had quite a lot to say about this show, so it seemed like a good place to start. Full review under the cut. Apologies in advance for any misspellings - the subs were incredibly inconsistent.

I’m going to break my thoughts up into categories, starting with the characters and ending with the overall plot and themes:

The Magical Girls

I like the overall visuals of the magical girls. The outfits, transformations and attacks are all good looking and mostly well animated. The outfits hit a good balance between uniformity and individuality, which I like.

Personally I didn’t enjoy the girls very much as a group? The best magical girl teams are fun to watch even when they’re just hanging out, but the Mew Mews’ dynamic just didn’t click with me. Most group interactions consisted of arguments and running jokes - they barely seem like friends half the time. This also made it hard to feel invested when things get emotional or during battles

On to the girls as individuals:

Ichigo was a perfectly fine magical girl protagonist. I liked the focus on how her magical girl and regular identities affect each other, and how this wove into her romance plot.

Minto was my favourite initially because I love Tsunderes, but ultimately she was more annoying than anything else and her arc wasn’t particularly interesting to me. She still has the best transformation though.

Retasu is the Shy Nerdy One, which made me like her initially, but there wasn’t anything that really stood out about her most of the time. I think maybe she was supposed to be a ‘straight man’ to the others’ wackiness (esp. Bu Ling), but her demeanour is too reserved to really pull this off in an entertaining way. I liked that she provided a side romance, but it never really went anywhere, which was disappointing.

Bu Ling is best girl. Her childish behaviour and Wacky Antics can get a bit annoying, but she’s cute and genuine enough to avoid being grating. I like her incredibly friendly and determined attitude. Also her focus episode was great and made me cry a little bit.

Zakuro is great just for having punched Kish in the face. 10/10 most satisfying scene in the whole series. On a more serious note, I think Zakuro was the most unique character on the team, but I’m not really sure what to make of her. She’s kind of cold and distant with high standards but occasionally soft, but I don’t really understand why she is this way. There’s hints that she has some kind of tragic backstory and possibly ulterior motives but I feel like this is never properly explained??? Maybe it’s something that didn’t translate well from manga to anime. It’s weird.

The Villains

This segment is gonna get spoilery so skip it if you care about that. The tl;dr is that the villains just kinda suck.

I just have to say it, this show had the ugliest villain designs I have ever seen in a magical girl series. I hate their outfits and the massive ears just look weird.

The Aliens have the theoretically sympathetic desire to return Earth to it’s old state now that their race is dying out on another planet - though doing so will wipe out humanity. This could be an interesting motivation, but unfortunately they are way too self-righteous and hypocritical about this and it just gets annoying. It’s possible this was the point but it’s still tiresome.

The most grating example of this is when Kish gets wounded in a fight and the other Aliens have the audacity to get angry at the Mew Mews for hurting their ‘friend’, even though neither of them showed anything but dislike for Kish, and they’ve been hurting the Mew Mews all the time.

Thoughts on the villains individually:

Kish is the most complete character of the lot - he at least succeeded in getting me to hate him with a burning passion. When he’s not busy being disturbingly possessive of Ichigo, he’s an obnoxious brat but largely a fairly competent villain. He also has the most braincells in the group, being able to come up with almost successful plans and figure out the big bad’s true intentions before the others. I think if his arc had been better paced he’d be a pretty solid MG villain over all.

Tart is just the ‘bratty child’ villain archetype, which I always hate. His relationship with Bu Ling is cute and actually has a satisfying payoff though.

Pie is just confusing. He has a ‘priorities orders over morality’ thing going on but it isn’t made very clear why he’s like this, and his last minute redemption-by-'death’ comes out of basically nowhere. The other villains are annoying but Pie is boring, which is even worse.

Deep Blue is just a generic pure evil villain once he actually becomes a character and not a voice in a void. He also had a possession plot line, which is a trope I like, but they didn’t do anything particularly interesting with it.

The Supporting Cast

Quick shout out to the Blue Knight for being the first time I’ve seen a mysterious ally character get introduced without their secret identity being immediately obvious. It’s fun to try and figure out what’s going on alongside the protagonists instead of knowing straight away.

Masaya was my favourite secondary character. His relationship with Ichigo felt a bit flat at first but after we find out what it is specifically that they like about each other I was sold. Cute and wholesome.

Ryou was an ok character. I feel like his story lines were kind of underutilised?? Feels similar to Zakuro in that he had hints at being a deeper character but couldn’t get me to connect to him.

The other guy felt like barely more than a background character. I can’t even remember his name and most of what I remember about him was ‘makes cake’ and ‘gives exposition’

Presentation

Besides the magical girl designs, I didn’t really like the visual aesthetic of this show. The colours are mostly either too saturated or too bland and the way the characters are drawn is not appealing to me.

The animation mostly ranges from passable to janky, besides the transformations. I remember some of the late-series fight scenes just consisted of awkward loops and quickly cut together stills and it looked more hilarious than intense. Intense facial expressions are sometimes so exaggerated they become laughable.

The voice acting is mostly fine, and sometimes really good, but sometimes it gets really overwrought. The amount of screeching in the last few episodes made me want to slam my head against a wall.

Plot & Themes

I thought it was interesting how much emphasis they put into the puberty metaphor. The Mew Mew powers come with a bunch of uncomfortable side effects (acting more like an animal, sprouting animal parts at inconvenient times, etc.) and the show spends a lot of time focusing on Ichigo’s emotional reactions to her body changing. I haven’t really seen other magical girl shows explore this aspect as much.

Obviously one of the biggest themes in the series is the environmentalist message. This theme gets pretty heavy handed at times but since it’s a children’s show I’m willing to give them a bit of a pass. I think it would have added a bit to show the girls being more environmentally conscious in their day to day lives or something but it’s fine.

Like I mentioned in the character sections, some character arcs and story lines are just kind of left hanging and it’s weird.

The plot about the aliens’ families back home is just flat out ignored at the end????? This was the most bizarre to me because they spent the whole show trying to reshape the Earth into somewhere they could live but then at the end they just leave. You can’t just ignore the plight of a slowly dying alien race like that, what the heck.

For some reason at the end they pull out of their bittersweet ‘powers are gone forever’ ending and have the girls randomly transform and leave to fight some unspecified enemy. I don’t know if this was supposed to be sequel set up or the staff decided it would be too sad or what but it was weird and dumb.

Conclusion

Tokyo Mew Mew is a weird mixed bag of genuinely good ideas but unsatisfying execution. I will say it isn’t really bad, it’s just that I’ve seen most of what it does done better in other series, so it doesn’t really stand out to me for the most part. My experience may also have been skewed by the long breaks I took between episodes at times - perhaps the pacing just seems worse to me because of this. Though on the other hand the fact that I had so little motivation to watch it quickly is a bad sign in itself. If I’d watched this show when I was younger perhaps I would have enjoyed it more.

Overall Rating: 6/10

PS - I get a vague impression that some of it’s flaws may be adaption problems - perhaps I’m wrong but it sometimes gives that ‘weak adaption of good source material’ vibe.

Have you seen Tokyo Mew Mew? What did you think of it? And if you have read the manga, do you think it’s better than the anime?

[cloudybookash-blog]

Just finished the first season of She-Ra and I only have a small amount of complaints that I think fall more into my personal opinion on characterizations and story lines than anything else. 

Love that the princesses that are there from the beginning are cute, gay and happy. Love that for them.

Love the diversity. Glimmer is body divergent but it never addressed as something inherently bad, or as a flaw - homegirl just look like that. Beau (Bo?) being part of the princesses because he is, and all his little background mannerisms where he’s seen cleaning and keeping things neat. 

Scorpia’s entire personality is the greatest, she’s such a realistic character who belongs to a family that gave their allegiance and power source to the horde willingly and she prides herself in her role by taking care of her troops and running a tight ship whilst also being one of the bad guys because well, she was never welcome with any of the other princesses. Her story is so believable and truly underrated. Plus, she’s just very nice. 

The other princesses having such a wide array of personalities (albeit without many complexities, I’ll admit) is refreshing. 

I’m a fan of the art-style, love all the pretty colors (and kind of reminds me of Steven Universe, ngl). Each setting has its own beautiful color palette, which is always helpful in identifying new places and remembering them when there are about 10.

My only problems really came in three (maybe four) people.

1. Adora. If anything I would’ve thought she’d make the perfect villain. First in everything, the favorite, constantly better than her peers with the emotional range of a teaspoon. Yes, yes, she’s fantastic with her new friends but we’ve seen better characters. She’s given multiple occasions to coerce her old crew into joining the rebellion but she never takes them, and when she does it’s done without heart, like I questioned her integrity a couple of times she just didn’t seem all that willing to help her old friends.

Yes, with Bow (apparently that’s how his name is spelled) and Glimmer she’s loyal and caring, thoughtful even. But none of that loyalty and thoughtfulness is present in her previous relationships. Upon finding out that the Horde is evil and that she more than likely was kidnapped as a young child (insinuating that almost EVERY horde soldier was stolen from their families) she doesn’t, not once, speak to her entire old crew and show them what she knows in a way that isn’t overtly condescending.

There’s a moment where I think Catra is going to join Adora, but even then, Adora is only bargaining, and asking Catra to join her because Catra is literally about to kill her. And EVEN THEN she barely tried, rather than apologising for not being aware enough when they were kids to stand up for Catra in a way that would’ve mattered to her, she just goes on about how Catra doesn’t have to do this. This forces Catra to give up her grounds has someone who’s been wronged because the wrong-does refuses to admit fault.

Like I said, my problems are probably all to do with personal preferences of characters. People probably view this as a unique flaw never really had in an MC before. Except, it’s pretty common in male MC’s in high fantasy’s. And I not only read a lot of those, but also hate them specifically because the characters have minimal self awareness and almost 0% integrity anytime they’re genuinely confronted with their flaws.

2. Catra. Listen, she would’ve been a GREAT She-Ra. You can’t deny it. She’s always coming in second best, she can never get ahead, she’s not only hated but has been actively tortured because of her ties to Adora. She’s been told the only reason she’s kept around is because Adora seems to like her. She’s literally alive because some six year old wanted a pet. She would be the first one to have zero (0) reasons to stay with the horde.

Her entire life has been spent in the shadow and to be able to be She-Ra, with enough support could bring her the confidence in her person she so sorely needs. We’ve seen she’s a great leader, although as a villain in a serial she’s obviously going to be beaten time and time again but she does actually have good plans and she has a flare for the dramatic. 

This isn’t Loki-style fanning over a ‘morally-grey’ character this is sadness at the fact people may interpret her character as, ‘people who are ambitious are evil, people who don’t conform to society, or aren’t very charming socially are evil’. Rather than we (the audience) should try being a little more aware of the people around us and how our actions can deeply effect them.

Catra’s personality and in the end her resolve is formed by the actions of Shadow Weaver, Adora, and her team. They bully, ostracize and abuse her (some, unknowingly of course) but that’ s the point. Her ‘evilness’ is brought on by years of people not being self-aware enough to understand the damage they were causing. She’s a great sympathetic villain, I don’t think I’ve ever even felt sympathy for a fictional ‘bad guy’ before so don’t get me wrong she’s fine in her role. I just, personally, would’ve enjoyed seeing her at the forefront of the rebellion rather than Adora.

With a personality that would’ve been open to an underdog scenario, and her persistent attitude (especially if this was fueled by people supporting and relying on her) she could’ve been a great She-Ra.

3. Entrapta. Again this is solely the whole how she’s going to perceived thing, ‘geeks and freaks are weird and societal outcasts are evil.’ It keeps up this narrative of only certain types of people are allowed to be good, there’s a check list of traits you have to have that are unrelated to your ideologies that decide which side you fight for.

Entrapta, like Catra, is treated like an outcast and always (in sinisterly subtle ways that are usually used as comedic relief) made to feel bad for who she is. She’s curious on top of everything else but the lesson we get about her story ark is curiosity killed the rebellion. It’s like saying ‘don’t be too curious’, otherwise you’ll end up with no morals and will be easily manipulated into joining the ‘evil people’.

When, again, the meaning should be that we REALLY need to put more effort into making those in our society who are different know and understand that they’re important. No, this doesn’t mean baby school shooter, incel type people or people who legitimately go out of their way to hurt others for no reason. But, we shouldn’t treat neuro-divergent people with such hostilities (subtle or otherwise) because then WE create the monster. Just as with Catra, Entrapta was created through the actions of her peers towards her person.

I can’t blame either of these villains for choosing the dark side, who wasn't to be good when the people on the good side don’t want you to be, well, YOU.

4. Decidedly, four things that bug me. Bow and Glimmers (already mentioned Adora’s part in this) and extendedly the other Princesses’ treatment of those in the horde they meet. One specific scene got me MAD. Bow is imprisoned and one of Adora’s ex-crew mates begins betraying his own just because Bow is the first person to actual listen and all this kid wants is to have friends, real friends that would do anything for one another and this poor kid is TRYING. Bow’s reaction was abysmal to say the least. At first, he cracks a joke that he doesn’t really have a choice as he’s imprisoned, we get it, funny ha-ha. But, he genuinely appears to believe that the only reason he’s listening is because he’s imprisoned, that he (who gave Adora her chance before even really getting to know her) wouldn’t give the exact same to this kid actively risking his life to relay information about Glimmer. 

Bow’s the puppy-love character whose flaw is (supposed to be) that he loves/trusts too easy. So why is he suddenly not listening to this kid just trying to have a friend who is actively helping Bow and is (possibly) the sole reason they find Glimmer in the end. Without his help there wouldn’t have been enough time to hack into the horde’s tech again to search for her. But, Bow doesn’t say anything when his rescue arrives AND THROWS THIS KID OFF A CLIFF MID-SENTENCE. I don’t know, that felt so wildly out of character.

Glimmer I understand more, she’s hotheaded and originally was VERY against Adora. It took a lot of life threatening situations for her to finally begin trusting Adora. Still, upon getting to know Adora, learning how horribly she was raised, the trauma it’s left her with, Glimmer (not for one seconds) questions whether they should MAYBE check on other horde members, no one should be kidnapped and raised in such an environment only to die for a regime that’s been lying to them. Yet, that’s exactly what happened.

Don’t get me wrong, these are four things that I pretty much understand have more to do with my preferences with characters and story-lines than anything else and like I said, the list (though detailed because I love being negative) is small in comparison to list of things that I like so far about the show. 

Just wanted to get that out there.

Also, does the Voltron fandom follow She-Ra because this ECHOES Voltron vibes and I honestly don’t see a reason why they shouldn’t also vehemently back this show (other than the straights that watch Voltron are too busy getting off on gay men to care or give any ground to a just as diverse, funny, cast that just so happens to have gender flipped the story.)

[wereverine]

combining these because one of y’all absolute mad lads wanted me to do the whole thing,, these are from the unusual asks (found here) now on to the questions !!!

1: Do you ever wish you were someone else?

~ tbh yeah,, like I wanna be the person I am on the inside,, I want my outsides to mirror my insides and just let everyone know who I am no hiding or making excuses any more,, I want people to look at me and be inspired to be themselves,, to love themselves,, and to just love me (if that’s the kind of relationship that specific person has with me)

2: What is your full name?

~ Nikita “Magnus” Nickerson (Magnus is a placeholder middle name for now,, I like it but also I think I might wanna change it to something else I dunno yet)

3: How old are you and how old do you get mistaken for?

~ I’m 19 currently and I get mistaken for either 16 or 21/22 with no in between

4: Have you ever dyed your hair?

~ finally I can answer yes to a question like this !!! it was semi-perm but omg I dyed it teal and my mom’s gonna let me do a mystery color sometime soon (it’s a surprise what color :3)

5: What’s your eye color?

~ deep brown,, like deeeeeppppp brown omg ppl used to make fun of me because I had “black,, demon eyes” and I was really good at staring contests when I was younger

6: Your opinion about your body and how comfortable you are with it?

~ honestly it varies sometimes I’m super indifferent to the body I have and other times I’m super insecure and want to get rid of my body,, but I am doing better about it and I’m glad my body gets me from place to place

7: Do you have any tattoos or piercings?

~ I don’t currently have any tattoos (but watch tf out when I have money I have So many planned lol) and I’ve had my earlobes pierced since I was 6 months old and I’m planning to get some more piercings

8: What would you say is your best quality?

~ my ability to be there for ppl when they really need it,, like I drop stuff so quick when ppl indicate they need me

9: What are you really bad at?

~ math,, expressing my feelings,, talking about my feelings,, letting myself feel my feelings,, taking time for myself BEFORE I break down,, working myself into a breakdown,, asking for help

10: What talent do you wish you had?

~ honestly I wish I had the talent to actually know when to stop blaming myself

11: Are you nice to everyone?

~ nope,, but I try to be as polite as possible,, and I’ve gotten better about being nicer to people

12: What do you think about the most?

~ I mainly think about missed opportunities and how to let my friends know I care about them deeply and love them without weirding them out

13: Things you like/dislike about yourself?

~ hoo boy I’m gonna limit this to 3 things each otherwise we’d be here all day; likes: ability to listen,, creative,, intuitive; dislikes: bottling up emotions,, stubborn,, low self-esteem

14: What is your least favorite word?

~ moist

15: What is your favorite word?

~ petrichor

16: Are you more like your mom or your dad?

~ tbh,, I’m a fairly even mix,, but a lot of times I don’t act like either one of them

17: Would you ever smile at a stranger?

~ honestly,, I do that weird lil half smile that ppl get when another person is looking at them to do something lol

18: A reason you’ve lied to someone?

~ to stay out of trouble

19: Are you lying about anything right now?

~ the only thing I’m lying about is my emotional state when ppl ask how I’m doing

20: Have you kissed someone older than you?

~ romantically? nah,, but platonically? definitely

21: Do you believe in love at first sight?

~ not really,, not for me at least

22: Do you believe in soulmates?

~ of a sort,, like there are just some people that you vibe with in a very special way and it’s not always romantic either

23: Are looks important?

~ to me,, looks aren’t the most important thing,, I feel like personality goes beyond looks and can even enhance how your brain sees people

24: Opinion on relationship age differences?

~ after a certain amount of years I don’t particularly agree with them,, like if you have a 20+ year age gap I don’t really get it,, like if the ppl get together when one is like 20 and the other is like 40,, there’s such a gap in the understanding the 2 (or more) ppl will have,, but also it’s not my life and not really my business what grown adults do

25: Would you date someone off the internet?

~ I’d be willing to try but tbh it’s hard enough trying to date someone you met in person

26: Have you ever cried over a boy/girl?

~ yes,, many times

27: Have you ever wanted someone you couldn’t have?

~ yeah,, I had a crush on one of my friends while they were in a relationship and I felt so Bad,, like I didn’t want to ruin their relationship or lose their friendship so I just kept my mouth shut lol

28: Anyone you’re giving up on right now?

~ not really,, I’ve either given up on them a while ago or I still have a small shred of hope

29: Have you ever liked someone who your friends hated?

~ not really ??? (unless they just didn’t tell me lmao)

30: Have you ever like your best friend?

~ actually yeah I have skskdddkdk

31: How does someone win your heart?

~ honestly,, I get crushes ridiculously easy if you’re nice to me for a while and show affection in an exuberant way,, and that typically deepens until one day I’m sitting there looking at that person when they’re telling me something they are So excited over and they have stars in their eyes and my face goes soft and I look at them like they hung the sun,, moon,, and stars just for me and it hits me like a freight train that I might just love this person and it doesn’t have to be romantically or sexually,, I just feel for people I’m close to very deeply and it might be pathetically easy to win my heart but goddamnit I’m soft and love a lot ❤❤

32: What turns you on?

~ a lot of different things actually,, like sometimes if the person I like is physically bigger than me and they need me to stand or sit a certain way and they position me just the way they need,, that’s umm,, Hot af,, although I act mad at the manhandling lol,, and oh god if they’re Big and they pin me with an intense stare and like loom over me (maybe with me against the wall aksksk 😍),, also my neck is like Very sensitive like to the point that if you lightly blow against it I full body shudder,, y’all don’t know how distracting it is when your crush is hugging you and telling you something important but you can’t listen because every word is a puff of air against your neck so you just close your eyes and hope to god your subconscious is actually retaining the info (oh god I just had a Thought,, if someone pinned me to the wall by my throat and then kissed me breathless while pressing close enough my gasping brushes our chests together and then kissed my neck with either tenderness or ferocity I’d probably fucking self combust on the spot),, to go along with that I Love Love Love neck kisses so much (y’all probably know too much about that by now lol),, y’all I’m just really into mouths,, lips,, teeth,, tongues are all just very top teir,, oh fuck,, flexing muscles get to me so much,, like cross your arms in front of me and I won’t look at your eyes because mine will be glued to those fucking arms,, god fuck thigh riding is the dream here 😍😍,, okay I’m gonna stop myself here but it’s easy to turn me on sometimes and hard other times (that greyasexual life)

33: What turns you off?

~ okay let me honest here,, as much as I like tongues and all they can do ;),, I don’t really enjoy french kissing (maybe that’s my last ex’s fault,, his kisses were just so Wet) like I much prefer those open-mouthed kisses with minimal tongue,, and people who are rude and assholes for no reason are like huge turn-offs no matter how attractive they are,, also I hate those people who like desperately want to be doms but they just become like overbearing,, lowkey abusive,, and highly annoying,, tbh most of this list is gonna be shit my ex did because it was all so Unsexy in hindsight

34: Do you get jealous easily?

~ imo not really,, like I might be jealous after a while if the person like after telling me that we would be spending time together alone and they didn’t really follow through like bringing another person along and focusing on them the whole time or focusing on a stranger overly much but I don’t really like feeling jealous because I don’t like forcing myself on people if it seems they are happier doing what they’re doing and I can’t control people only myself so I typically try and redirect any jealous thoughts,, if its like a constant thing tho I’d definitely talk to that person

35: What is your definition of cheating?

~ well for starters,, I don’t consider hugging other people or spending time with them cheating,, I guess I would define cheating for me personally is if the person knowingly hides a deep emotional/physical relationship with another person,, like say I was dating a person and then I found out they were spilling their fears and dreams with another person and telling me nothing or barely anything I’d be a little upset,, but also you can’t expect your s/o to talk to you and only you,, everybody needs and deserves a support system,, or if I found out they were having sex or taking another person out on dates without my knowledge,, like if they just talked to me and explained everything before they started anything they might find I’m open to accommodating them

36: Do you forgive betrayal?

~ for me,, this varies from person to person,, but there comes a point no matter the person that I will drop their ass (that’s what I get for having 7 earth signs with 5 of them being Taurus in my birth chart)

37: Have you ever been cheated on?

~ yes

38: Have you ever cheated on someone?

~ to my knowledge,, no,, but everyone has different definitions of cheating,, but I abhor cheating so like god I hope not

39: How often do you listen to music?

~ every fucking day,, mainly all day every day no joke,, I spent my entire senior year of hs with at least one headphone in blasting music to keep myself calm (I’m baby from baby driver essentially),, music is everything to me truly

40: First concert you attended?

~ the first concert I ever attended was a Goody Grace concert (y’all check my boy out I love him) it was lovely and it really woke something up in me in regards to frantically trying to plan visits to concerts now lol

41: Last movie you watched?

~ honestly,, I’m pretty sure I’ve watched at least one movie after this one,, but the last movie I remember watching is Aquaman a few weeks ago

42: Favorite type of movie?

~ Action/Adventure or Sci-Fi

43: Is there something that happened in your past that you hate talking about?

~ I went through a period of self-harm for 9 years and I still struggle with craving those feelings a lot and when I relapse I feel like shit,, I’m better about talking about it through like texts or whatever it’s really hard for me to talk about it out loud,, I get really fucking choked up and kinda teary sometimes

44: Are you good at hiding your feelings?

~ for the most part,, yeah,, I’ve bottled up my feelings and problems for so long I’ve gotten quite good at not showing everything I’m feeling,, but lately,, I’ve been trying to go against that and show what I’m feeling when around people that care for me

45: Do you fall in love easily?

~ love? I don’t know about that but I get infatuated really easily,, I have a hard time identifying love and how it feels to me so I don’t realize I love someone until it smacks me in the face

46: Do you think people say “I love you” too much?

~ fuck no,, say I love you to the people you love damnit !!! I say I love you to my friends AND my family,, like omg sometimes I have to just shut up because I’m bursting with love for people,, and if I’m drunk I say I love you like every five seconds ❤😍😘

47: What’s your favorite holiday?

~ very basic of me,, but Halloween/All Hallow’s Eve,, it’s really one of the only widely celebrated holidays I like

48: Are you a forgiving person? Do you like being that way?

~ this depends on what the person is asking for forgiveness for,, but there comes a point where nothing they say or do could possibly get me to forgive them,, like sometimes you just have cut ppl off

49: Where’s the most magical place on earth?

~ (disney land/world ??? I’m jk lol) on god,, it’s sitting with someone you vibe with and sharing bits and pieces of your souls between each other (and if that devolves into being wrapped up in each other until the stars come out then that’s magical babey 😍)

50: What’s your “type”?

~ nice,, funny,, passionate,, ??? it’s surprisingly hard to put into words,, rest assured I intimately know I do have a type,, it’s just very broad lol

Okay,, that’s the 50 questions !!! thank you darlin’ much for asking me to do this lol,, sorry it took me a while,, love you ❤❤ !!!

[emiliios]

TW: DRUGS, ADDICTION, DEATH.

- ̗̀✰ •【 CHRIS WOOD / CISMALE / 29 】announcing the arrival of his royal highness, ( EMILIO DE COIMBRA ), the ( PRINCE ) of ( PORTUGAL ). I’ve heard that he is ( STUBBORN ) & ( FACETIOUS ) but can also be ( PASSIONATE ) & ( LOYAL ). ( EMILIO ) is arranged to marry ( TATIANA ROMANOV ). Rumor has it ( HE IS ADDICTED TO COCAINE ). We hope you enjoy your stay at London!

sup bbys it’s riley again ( i also play christian and tomás ) and we r back w yet ANOTHER sad boy ™ , emilio AKA MILO, however this one is on a REDEMPTION ARC. MARK MY WORDS. we r in for a wild ride. as always. a pretty damn lengthy intro post underneath the cut. and as always, GIVE THIS POST A LIKE or slide into my tumblr ims / discord dms for some plot ho™ action thnx

BACKSTORY ! tw: drugs, addiction, death.

( read more  about the de coimbras here !! elle did such a fanfabtastic job )

long story short, milo was close with his family, but not super close. he loved his parents and his siblings a lot, but never really showed it; would protect his siblings at all costs but never told them everything. sort of like a semi-close but not too-close kind of vibe there. 

he was very close with his father, though -- despite their arguments about staying out late or getting in with the wrong people sometimes, he really looked up to his father. he respected the shit out of him for marrying out of love and not for political reasons, and always thought that just maybe he could do the same. but ofc, that future was not for him (OR WAS IT ....... stay tuned).

being the second oldest, he was expected to have responsibilities, but he never had the burden of knowing that he would have to lead a country ( that is, until now ). he had a weird relationship with his duties before pedro fell into his coma; knowing his status as a member of the royal family, he had things he had to do, but sort of skirted by and did the bare minimum. he’d attend galas, meet other royals, uphold a certain standard of himself, but other than that, he felt as though he had free reigns over what else he wanted to do with his life. that typically meant going out with his friends, traveling to the south of france for a weekend with his friends, etc. he wasn’t too rowdy as a teenager, but he dabbled in some drugs here and there. nothing too serious.

TW: DEATH. BUT THEN his father died when he was 23 and out of college, working as a manager for some international nonprofit, he spiraled out of control for a while.

and by that i meant he would go out and go like sicko mode version of his old life, like full send on drugs and partying and completely neglecting his duties as a royal. he got shit from his family and his siblings but he found even more that there was no reason to worry that much about his duties n shit.

the one bright spot in his life from age 23-present day was tatiana. o boy did he fall hard when he met her at age 26, almost got control of his life again with her in it. he was seriously in love w her but of course, his whole mindset of not giving a shit wasn’t really cutting it and he was probably not the best boyfriend LET ALONE someone that another royal should be betrothed to / associated with, so they broke it off after about two years.

TW: DRUGS, ADDICTION. the six months between his break-up with tatiana and pedro’s accident that put him in a coma was probably milo’s all time low. he went through a phase where he’d sleep around trying to get over her, this was also the time when he really got hooked on cocaine. he’d do it to try and feel something, and really spiraled to his absolute lowest. royal family negligence was at an all time high. real low point for my dude right here.

flash-forward to pedro’s accident, about six months ago -- it turned milo’s entire life upside-down. he was now the crowned prince, the one who would have to rule a country. he realized how much responsibility he would have to carry, without either of his parents or his older brother to help him. he started to turn things around -- cut out the partying, the sleeping around, the excessive drinking. he started to realize how vulnerable a human life was, realizing that his father’s passing and his brother’s accident were real, not just flukes, and his entire outlook on life changed.

he wanted to be good. he wanted to be good enough to be a role model for his younger siblings just like pedro had been for him; he wanted to be a leader that the portuguese people would stand behind and support, but he knew he had a long way to go. 

TW: ADDICTION. he continues to put in a lot of good work to improve his character, his habits, his relationship with his family, and his royal duties. however, there still exist a few flaws: the fact that milo never wanted to be king or ever rule a country still weighs down in his heart, and he still harbors a bit of resentment toward carlotta for indirectly pushing this life on him, but also, deep down, he knows that without this push, he would still be in a very dark hole. second, due to the immense amount of sudden pressure pushed onto him, milo still frequently uses cocaine and needs it to relieve himself of pressures.

PERSONALITY !

milo is definitely outgoing and has a witty sense of humor. the fact that he was sort of a black sheep made him have a bit of a self-deprecating of humor at times in his life, but it shows that he is actually pretty self-aware as well. 

milo is friendly; despite not really wanting to have a royal title, especially not that of ‘crown prince’, he does like getting to know people, and in a lot of cases, that means other royals. however, get on his bad side or annoy him, and he’ll be cold or aggressive.

milo is emotional, but doesn’t really show it. he bottles up a lot of his emotions and lets them out by himself, but we’ll all be damned if he ever cried in front of maybe more than like 1 person. while he is self-aware about a lot of things, he doesn’t know how to deal with his emotions sometimes.

milo was a bit cynical, but has been wanting to change. he used to think that every man was out for himself, but having come into a leadership role, he sees different perspectives better now.

milo is a little impatient, but he’s working on it. he’s really working on it 1!!!!!!!!!

TIDBITS !

milo is called milo only by his close friends and family; he still goes by emilio regularly.

milo is really into astronomy; often times while drunk / high / neglecting responsibilities, he’d find himself staring at the stars in the garden. he likes studying constellations. it’s cool and it’s his little nerdy thing.

milo is pansexual; doesn’t really care for gender or sex and probably discovered this during college or something.

milo really is into action movies. like fast and the furious or something. i don’t really know other action movies.

milo learned how to play guitar, probably when he was really high or something. he’s actually pretty good. probably used it to woo women at some point, but deep down it’s one of very few things that can calm him down.

AESTHETIC ! tw: alcohol.

well-fitted sweaters, headphones around his neck, expensive watches, pen ink stains, a neat desk, rock music, star maps, spearmint gum, speaking three languages in the same sentence, old cartoons, faded tanlines, smokey cologne, dark chocolate.

POTENTIAL PLOTS ! tw: drugs, alcohol, addiction.

previous friends / party buddies, people who milo used to hang around in some of his more crazy points of his life -- people who could do lines with him, who would travel recklessly around the world with him, who probably fed into his ‘fuck royal duties’ kind of thing. he probably cut ties eventually when he realized how stupid it was to be doing all these things ( about six months ago ); things could be tense now.

childhood friends, people who maybe were of similar age and who attended different royal gatherings together. preferably friends who grew up together and sort of got up to shenanigans.

former friends, probably someone of similar age and take their royal duties more seriously. when milo began to fall into a more carefree lifestyle, perhaps they didn’t agree with his life choices and their friendship fell through. 

exes / flings, probably a handful of them. given that he’s charismatic and outgoing, he’s likely to charm his way to a person’s heart if he takes interest in them / they take interest in him. him being facetious and not taking things as seriously as he should, things probably ended if / when it was expected for the relationship to be long-term or serious.

good influence, someone who sees the potential in milo’s turn in perspective and may tutor him in royal tricks, or is trying to help him get off the rails finally ( bonus: they’ve seen him do coke and are subtley trying to him him get his shit together there )

literally ? anything ? hit me the fuck up once again LIKE THIS or dm me on tumblr/discord and lets get some P L O T S goin my dudes

[pixelgrotto]

The horrific Resident Evil playthrough, part ten

Resident Evil 6 is the big one that I was anticipating when I started this series playthrough in March. It’s the one that seems to have split the fanbase like no other, the one that some folks love and others abhor, and the one that took Resident Evil so far into the realm of explosions on top of zombies on top of exploding zombies that the franchise had no choice but to dial the entire thing back in Resident Evil 7 in order to give everyone’s minds a break before those exploded too. There is, in fact, a particular sort of enemy in this game that represents it well - called the Whopper, it’s a giant Fat Albert-looking thing that charges at you in a truly grotesque example of fun character design. It’s a bioweapon to be reckoned with, and when you see one coming your way, all you can say is “OH SHIT” as you try to blast its head apart before it barrages you into a wall.

RE6 is a whopper of a game. It’s chock full of so many different gameplay styles, so many plot threads, so many bits and pieces barely holding together at the seams in a mad effort to appease all sectors of the fan base - the people who preferred Resident Evil when it was eerie and quiet, the fans who fell in love with the series when Resident Evil 4 introduced an emphasis on action and the shippers who just love the characters and want to see them press the trigger of a Magnum at the same time and let loose with a bullet that will send the remains of a hulking Serbian mutation go stumbling backwards into the flames of a burning wind tunnel. 

The only way to properly assess RE6 in the midst of all this madness is to look at its four campaigns one-by-one, which took me 33 hours in total to complete, a staggering number for this series. 

Leon’s campaign - Everyone’s favorite Resident Evil protagonist who is still rocking Leonardo DiCaprio 90s hair (even though he’s aging in real-time and is apparently in his late 30s now) is BACK in this campaign, which seems to be the one that the game wants you to play first. It’s a rollicking adventure which I personally thought was the best of the bunch, though I wouldn’t blame you if you found Chris’ campaign better. I think I was won over by the fan service, since Leon’s opening chapter immediately channels Resident Evil 2 by forcing you to escape Tall Oaks, an American metropolitan area that’s essentially Raccoon City 2.0. Zombies will be lurching at you from the darkness like the old games, you’ve gotta run through subway cars just like in RE2 and RE3, and the whole vibe actually approaches scary at a few moments, which is something that the rest of this game has absolutely no time for. Partnered with Leon is Helena, a new character who’s also a US government agent but frankly kind of boring, and the pair quickly find themselves wrapped up in a conspiracy engineered by a politician named Derek Simmons. To figure out the extent of his conspiracy, you’ve gotta play Ada’s campaign (all the characters’ stories intersect at various points, which is one of this game’s best ideas), but let’s just say that Leon’s party ends in a wild rush to a made-up Chinese city named Lanshiang - which, from the POV of someone who lived in Hong Kong for six years, is clearly HK under another name. Half of Lanshiang gets blown up, Simmons transforms into what looks like a T-Rex and then a giant insect kaiju, and the general tone is deliciously batshit, though if you don’t like batshit then your mileage will vary. Leon gets music that I like to call "Funky Zombie Porno Breakbeats” for his ending theme, and I feel like this phrase can summarize the tone of the entire Resident Evil franchise perfectly. 

Chris’ campaign - If Leon’s adventure was the cheesy-but-occasionally-spooky “LET’S TAKE THESE ZOMBIES TO SUPLEX CITY, CHUMS” vibe of Resident Evil 4 on acid, then Chris’ campaign is the “MILITARY ESPIONAGE ACTION AGAINST BIOWEAPONS, BRUH” vibe of Resident Evil 5 on acid. It begins with Chris suffering from a bout of PTSD after losing a contingent of his men in a made-up country that’s supposed to be Serbia, then moves to Lanshiang after ace sniper Piers recruits Chris for one last mission. Instead of zombies, you fight mostly J’avo, a breed of terrorists using viruses to give themselves horrific limbs, and everything resembles a Call of Duty or SOCOM game, with Chris hearing instructions from his squad leader through his headpiece, ducking behind cover to shoot J’avos apart and generally being a weathered, grumpy soldier. The main theme of Chris’ campaign is actually removed from the overarching tale involving Simmons, and the focus is instead on the quieter, MANLY subplot about how all these years of fighting monstrosities has worn Mr. Redfield down. He needs to learn how to be a soldier once more, and Piers - a guy who I was initially suspicious of because he’s a pretty boy with nicely groomed hair, and those sorts are usually lame in Japanese video games - comes through as one of the most likable additions to Resident Evil lore in a long time to offer Chris much-needed support. The entire campaign might actually be better if played as Piers instead of Chris, especially due to a touching ending scene which is probably the one moment where the game’s plot transcends crazy horror action and enters the realm of something actually thought-provoking. Chris’ campaign, in general, is also where RE6 seems the most focused and confident, though the cover shooting mechanics are clunky when compared to titles that actually specialize in cover shooting, like Gears of War. Chris also doesn’t have Funky Zombie Porno Breakbeats for his ending music, so Leon gets a tiny point ahead of him in my book, but not by much. 

Jake’s campaign - I’ve read a few reviews that call this campaign the “experimental” one, and...yeaaaaah, it is. Jake, who’s the son of former Resident Evil baddie Albert Wesker, was presumably designed to serve as a bold new protagonist for future games, but he’s kind of an emo douchebag, so I played through the entirety of his missions as his partner Sherry Birkin. Sherry’s the little girl from Resident Evil 2 all grown up, which I think is genius, because she serves as a tangible example of this franchise’s progression over the years. You could probably show her picture to anyone unfamiliar with Resident Evil and be like, “That’s a formerly 10-year-old side character from the second game grown up into a secret agent” and get a response of "Woah, cool,” so yeah, I like Sherry a lot. In fact, her presence made this whole campaign tolerable, because Jake is an edgelord and his missions run the confused gamut from shoot ‘em up sections to weird exploration bits that seem to want to channel the spirit of the old games but don’t succeed. Then there are the stealth and chase sequences against Ustanak, the “hulking Serbian mutation” that I mentioned a few paragraphs ago. This fellow was clearly created to remind Resident Evil veterans of Mr. X and Nemesis from RE2 and RE3, but while those guys would break down walls and pop outta nowhere to put a lump in your throat, Ustanak’s every impending arrival is advertised from a mile away, to the point where he’s not really frightening - just redundant. And the stealth bits against him seem like B-tier ripoffs of sequences in Metal Gear Solid, because RE6′s engine is really not engineered for sneakiness. At one point, Sherry and Jake have to hide in garbage dumpsters as Ustanak sniffs around, and that serves as an accurate representation of what large portions of their campaign are. These two kiddies do get a cheesy love ballad for their ending song, though, because the game really wants you to ship ‘em. Sherry, ya deserve better. 

Ada’s campaign - As messy as Jake’s campaign is, however, it’s nothing compared to Ada’s, which was originally an unlockable extra in the original release of RE6 and designed to tie up loose story threads. It does do that, though the resulting plot - where Simmons got so obsessed with Ada Wong that he whipped up an entirely new virus to re-create her and then lost track of it - is pretty meh, though it could perhaps be an intriguing exploration of the depths of male entitlement in the hands of a better writer. Aside from these pieces of so-so story, Ada’s adventure offers aggravation in the form of bad level design and a truly horrid slew of Quicktime Events and wretched stealth sections, which, once again, this game just doesn’t do well. It opens with her investigating a sub filled with guards that she’s encouraged to sneak past, except you can’t really sneak in RE6 and eventually they all notice and decide to gangbang you, and then the sub floods and there’s dizzying shaky cam everywhere that made me feel sick. You’re given a minimal amount of seconds to succeed on the Quicktime Events to escape the rising floodwaters, and I felt like I was playing a game of Dragon’s Lair, where you need to press right or left immediately or risk seeing yourself die over and over again. That sums up the frustration of Ada’s campaign, which also made me realize one important thing - I really don’t find Ada Wong to be much of an interesting character. She’s little more than a walking femme fatale trope, and even people who insist on shipping her with Leon will probably have to admit that those two’s “relationship,” if you can even call it that, is little more than quick winks and five minute interactions that have amounted to nothing over the span of nearly twenty years. The pair of them get ONE good scene on a bridge in this game, but that’s it, and honestly, their cornball kiss near the end of RE2 is still a more genuine character interaction. Oh yeah, and on the topic of ending music, since I seem to be coming back to that a lot in this post, Ada gets generic filler tunes for her credit roll. How appropriate. 

As you can see in the impressions above, in its own special way, Resident Evil 6 has something for everyone, ranging from a quality tale about battle-hardened men shooting biomutations to terrible levels that feel like they came out of a 2005 PS2 game that was quickly relegated to the bargain bin at Gamestop. Reviews were all over the place when this sucker came out, and still are today, with just as many people insisting that this game is the shit as there are people emphasizing that it is shit. My verdict? It’s BOTH, with some truly excellent parts and some truly abhorrent ones. It could have done with some trimming, for sure, and at the end of the day, Leon’s and Chris’ campaigns feel like the only real important ones here. A streamlined and likely better-received version of Resident Evil 6 would’ve only focused on those two guys - since one pivotal scene where the pair meet for a few minutes, briefly scuffle and POINT THEIR GUNS AT EACH OTHER YEAAA FAN SERVICE - seems to have been written first. That would’ve given Resident Evil 6 a better balance, with Leon’s missions possibly focusing on old school survival horror and pulp while Chris’ missions would lean hard on the military action stuff. 

But we didn’t get that. Instead, what we got is a shambling whopper of a game - at times as unwieldy and ridiculous as the enemy bearing the same name, at other times just as satisfying as a real-life beef whopper. Resident Evil 6 is both good and bad, the video game equivalent of an excessive and expensive comic book crossover, and shit, I think I’ve just written the most about it than any of its predecessors.

That, at the very least, has to count for something.

All screenshots taken by me. For more, check out this Twitter thread showing my step-by-step progress through the game.

[icecreambat]

Story time: Dating everyone in P5 turned Joker into a sociopath

The first time I ended up dating more than one girl in a Persona game, it was an honest accident. I’d already imprinted on Chie in Persona 4, and had no idea comforting Yukiko during her social link would turn me into a two-timing douche. A quick save-state reload rectified this mistake, but it taught me an important lesson: in Persona games, monogamy is not the limit of your teenage life.

As Persona 5 rolled around, I grew fond of Makoto on my first playthrough. With her on my side I experienced the Phantom Thief thrill ride, maxing my social links while gently turning other girls down. It wasn’t until the NewGame+ that I wondered: wouldn’t it be interesting to try the multi-dating thing? That way I could fast-forward all romance scenarios and not watch them on Youtube later like a loser, duh. If this game was intentionally giving me the opportunity to be Tokyo’s biggest Don Juan, then by Mona, I’d do it!

Little did I know, though, that as I embarked on a quest to bag all the single ladies* the whole atmosphere of the game changed. What had been a more or less generic adventure about truth and justice took on some… rather disturbing undertones, ones that went beyond the actual dating scenarios. In fact, the game turned out to be such an interesting social experiment that I wanted to write about it, so here I am. So, this is a recap of how dating multiple people in Persona 5 turned my Joker into a sociopath.

* except for Makoto, because a) I already romanced her before and b)��. it didn’t feel right, her being my first and all. SO SUE ME I’M A LOSER AFTER ALL

So. Here we are again, moving to Tokyo, whoop de doo. NewGame+ means not having to waste days on working out the ropes, so you can focus on the stuff that matters: getting as overpowered as you can in the least amount of time possible. For me, this meant maxing out Kawakami’s social link as fast as I could, because her bonuses are pretty swank – I really could have used the post-Mementos or post-palace massages during my first playthrough too, but kinda forgot about her right after Operation Maidwatch. Well, no more! I was bringing that teacher home left and right at every possible instance, so obviously I ended up maxing her link first. Ergo, we entered a relationship. 

I’m not gonna lie: the Kawakami romance is some weird (and arguably illegal) shit. Maybe that kinda set the tone of this adventure from the start, giving me an mc who was 100% ok with romancing his homeroom teacher slash part time maid. Uh… huh. Given that my suspension of disbelief went out of the window right about there, it was easy to pick the “omg i totally like, care about you and stuff” dialogue options that went with it; I mean, I was doing this for science and stuff, no big deal.

That’s why it surprised me that when it was time to romance the next (un)lucky girl, I felt like shit about it. Not because of Kawakami, but because Ann wasn’t some ludicrous dating option pulled out of the “lol what if we let the players date everyone!!” shitpost book. Instead, Ann and the mc had already been through Some Shit together, best friend suicide attempts and sexually abusive PE teachers included, and she was a teenage girl looking for her place in the world. So when Ann confided in me about her feelings and told the mc she loved him, “returning” her feelings –while knowing I was already dating my…. uhh, homeroom teacher slash part time maid– genuinely made me feel like the absolute scum of the earth.

“I can’t do this,” I thought at this point, “Even if these are fictional characters in a fictional game, I feel like shit lying to these girls that I care about them, because obviously that’s not true if I’m so callously dating someone else behind their back. How can people do that in real life if I can’t even do it in a video game? Oh, naïve me! Because my lesson in the callousness of man had only just begun.

Anyway, so. Here I am, dating Kawakami and Ann. I think I figured that lying to my teammates didn’t Feel Very Good so headlining for randos seemed like the better choice to make next: Ohya the reporter ended up being the third girl I romanced, and it was relieving she seemed to understand the unlikely nature of our relationship. “I get that we probably won’t stay together forever,” she was telling me, almost like she knew she was only the third wheel in my extended trailer truck, headed to nowhere fast; the same kinda goes for Tae, the punk rock doctor, whose reservedness somehow made it easier to ignore the serial cheater vibes in the dynamic.

Chihaya, on the other hand, was different. Seemingly a little younger than the other grown-ups, she was already a lot more straightforward about her interest in the mc, and harbored all sorts of weird fantasies about them staying together forever. Which is exactly what I told her would happen. Not! Funny that for a fortune teller she couldn’t see I was also spouting this same shit to four other girls, huh? Chihaya reminded me of Ann, in a way, which is why the Bad Feels actually started to resurface here – it’s one thing to lie boldly in the face of girls (women) who aren’t really that invested in you to begin with, but when it’s people who actually believe said lies… well.

Now, I know, I know. There’s no actual reason to feel guilty, because these choices don’t affect the gameplay in any way. Whether or not the mc is an asshole in some ways will still result in everyone loving the shit out of him, and being sad when he leaves. Sure, there’s the scene after Valentine’s Day where you get beat up for being a cheater and the girls kind of call him out on it, but that’s about it; this isn’t Mass Effect, you can’t go full renegade, etc. etc. But even if the game barely acknowledges the clear disparity in the mc’s words and actions, it’s really hard to overlook as the player, and as I said, it kinda changes the tone of the whole game.

You see, during the course of the story the mc ends up establishing a whole bunch of social links: Ryuji, Yusuke, Mishima and even Sojiro are but few of the guys you end up making heartfelt bonds with too. Only problem is, once you go the Lie Route with the girls, the mc hardly comes across as any more honest with the guys – and this is what really puts a spin on his reliability. Everyone’s always going on about what a great guy he is, but none of them know what a quadruple-timing, lying asshole he is at the same time. And why would they? All he does is tell people what they want to hear!

Apparently the devs of Dream Daddy wanted to challenge the notion that this kind of behaviour automatically leads to “good endings” in visual novels, because it only makes the mc seem a little sociopathic. Sure enough, that’s exactly the word I would use to describe how my mc started to come across in all his social interactions in P5. Well, not all, actually; there was one character whose exchanges with the mc came across as genuine even when virtually nothing else did. Yeah, you guessed it: Akechi.

I’m taking a brief interlude here to talk about Akechi, because my social experiment with the mc’s romances actually ended up underlining how similar he and Akechi are as people. It’s what the game hints at continuously with the whole ~two sides of the same coin stuff anyway, but the point really gets hammered home when you repeatedly watch the mc fake his way through life just like Akechi puts on his own double persona (pun not intended). In that sense, it’s only natural that the two would recognize each other as equals, and that their interactions ring more sincere than any other discussion they have in the game.

But back to serial dating, if you will. After Chihaya, I started dating Hifumi the shogi girl, but to be completely honest I sort of mentally fazed her out; with every new girl I tricked into dating me, the initial unease seemed to diminish until I couldn’t remember what had made me feel so disgusted in the first place. I mean, I was already lying to so many people, what did it matter if I lied to one more, right? It’s not like I actually hung out with anyone ever again after I “entered a relationship” with them, and it’s not like my actions carried over to pre-scripted cutscenes, so who cares, right? Nobody (well, apart from a physical game engine) was forcing these girls to believe my bullshit, so really, the fault was theirs for being so gullible, right!!11

…Well, I might have been able to go along with that type of douchebag logic if I’d only kept dating randos. Since I skipped Makoto, the next girl I got cozy with was Futaba… and this is where the skeezy-ville started to nag on my consciousness again, because like with Ann, you know that Futaba’s been through A Lot: she basically spent the past couple of years as a hikikomori, convinced that her mother committed suicide because of her. Trust is a really big thing for her, so throwing a cheating mc into that equation gets really ugly when you think about how he gains that trust just to betray it. When you add in Sojiro, you’re essentially screwing both of them over while pretending to be a happy little family. If you take these events at face value, it kinda makes you wonder: seriously dude, what on earth is your damage?!

If that wasn’t disturbing enough, we finish with Haru. She is also running from one abuser but, if dating a cheating mc, kind of ends up in the arms of another. Although she enters the story fairly late in the game, it’s no less shitty to listen to her be so grateful for your “support”, knowing you’ve sat through variations of this scene with half a dozen other girls already. I just kind of kept staring at the mc’s poker face (pun not intended, again) while wondering how much worse it seems that none of these choices affect anything tangible in the game, even when the whole theme is helping other people (and shitty authority figures, sure, but mainly helping people).

And you know, it’s really that endless poker face that gives the whole thing such a weird ass vibe: this is a 17-year-old kid who’s moved to Tokyo for a year, and ends up constructing a meticulously crafted fake personality that has everyone treating him like the greatest guy on earth. If you perceive this as the intended story (as opposed to the mismatch of a fixed script and optional gameplay choices that it actually is), Persona 5 suddenly becomes a story much darker than its original premise. Who is the real mc, and why is he doing any of this? What is his actual sense of truth and justice, if he spins it so grotesquely to suit his given situation? How troubled does he have to be for this kind of behaviour to emerge, and what caused it?

I know getting busted on Valentine’s Day is played mainly for laughs, but when you put all this together it’s obvious just getting dumped doesn’t even begin to cover the actual consequences of the mc’s actions should have. For the 100% fake personality he’s clearly constructed up until this point, how anyone can still follow him into the depths of Mementos is beyond me. But hey, I know we’re not operating on earth logic here.

Still, as I mentioned, this levels the mc with Akechi a lot – suddenly it’s very hard to condemn Akechi, even in theory, for the route he ended up taking in life, because isn’t the mc basically doing the same thing? Taking advantage of as many people he can to advance his own ends, with the only difference that he ended up on the winning side? Not only that, but it makes it harder to root for the “good guys”, knowing that you’re not a good guy – you’re just some guy with a big enough charm stat to make people follow your fake ideals, whatever those might in reality be.

Personally, I was also surprised at how easy it was to go from “this is horrible I hate this I can’t lie to these girls” to the “eh whatever, I’ve done this long enough that I’ve distanced myself from giving a shit”, then back to “oh shit oh shit this is so wrong” over the course of a single game. I know this sounds like a hyperbole, but in that sense I’m… actually not that surprised at how people find themselves ignoring those same patterns in real life. Which is why it’s so disheartening there’s only one scene dedicated to the consequences; it would be so interesting if there was something more tangible to remind the player that yeah, you’re entitled to picking these options, but it does turn the mc into someone pretty damn messed up.

I mean, damn – by December I’d maxed out all my social links, and suddenly had shit all to do, and because I couldn’t sit through a single fake date with one of my fake ass girlfriends again, I ended up making my mc train every day and night just so I had something to occupy my time between going out and murdering things in Mementos and/or a palace. Watching him do shirtless pull-ups in his room I sorta realized: Oh my god, I turned my mc into a high school version of Patrick Bateman. This game sure took a turn.

So I suppose the point of this story time is that while dating anyone in P5 (and most Persona games, I’d assume) is ultimately only a gameplay element meant for the player’s extra entertainment, sometimes those seemingly superfluous gameplay elements can turn into unintentional story elements – in this case, an experiment of how easily lying to one person turns into lying to everyone, and how sometimes it’s not that easy to tell at what point you stop being genuine at all. Wow, them video games, huh? Always a source of profound inspiration.... or something.

[talkgreasytome]

Do You Want to Play?

Ship(s): Ponyboy x Sodapop Character(s): Sodapop ; Ponyboy ; Darry ; Mary ; Darrel ; Words: 1884 Warning(s): Incest ; Self Harm Mention ; Death (of parents) ;  A/N: I got the inspiration for this from “Do You Want to Build a Snowman” in Frozen because i suddenly remembered the song and it just. Gave me strong Ponypop vibes. So enjoy!

Ten years old.

Ten years old.

Sodapop Curtis was hitting puberty too fast. Along with the pimples, random erections, and times of embarrassment, came romantic feelings for people. What he knew was that those feelings were supposed to go towards girls, not a boy who was related to him. He was too young to feel things like depression or anxiety, but every time he thought of his younger brother, he couldn’t help but want to just hide away.

And so he did.

He confined himself to his room, not ever coming out unless he had to or was forced to by his parents. Sure, everyone worried and tried getting him to talk to them, but Soda wouldn’t open up. He was too scared and disgusted with himself. He knew that wanting to spend an excessive amount of time with his younger brother wasn’t normal, and though it hurt, he wanted to tear himself away so he wasn’t seen as ‘weird’.

One morning, the young boy woke up feeling exhausted like he always did. He couldn’t barely open his eyes without the need to shut them again. It was winter break and he and his brothers were off of school for about two weeks. He shivered thinking about his brothers. They were always so kind and patient with him, and so were his parents. He felt bad, and to make them happy for their efforts, he gave them all smiles when he could muster one up.

Sighing deeply despite the slight pain in his lungs, he pushed himself up and turned to look out the window. The glass was frosted over and he could see it snowing slowly outside. The ground was blanketed in that white dreaminess and it looked beautiful outside. Soda used to take the first opportunity he could to run outside and make tracks in the snow before his parents could reprimand him and warn him of getting a cold, but now all he wanted to do was stay curled in bed and sleep the day away like he always longed to do.

Before Soda had the chance to fall asleep again, there was a light rapping at his door, and he opened his eyes just enough to see his father walking in with a tired, gentle smile on his face.

“Mornin’ Pepsi-Cola, how are you feeling?” Darrel treaded over to Soda’s bedside and sat on the edge of the bed near his stomach, looking down at his exhausted son with those clear oceanic eyes. Sodapop gave his father a small smile back.

“I’m okay…”

“Your mom made some pancakes, why don’t you join us for breakfast, huh?” Soda gulped, then nodded, pushing himself back up to give his father a hug. Darrel hugged Soda back, placing a kiss on the top of his head before standing and swooping him up in his arms. Lucky for him, he wasn’t exactly too old to be carried yet.

When the two made it into the kitchen, Mary was putting pancakes on plates and setting them in front of Darry and Ponyboy. The young seven-year-old Ponyboy was happily pouring syrup onto his plate with the help of his mother, and Soda smiled gently and tiredly as his dad set him down in the chair next to his. When his mom set a plate in front of him, she, too, pressed a kiss to his head.

“Good morning, baby,” she hummed, and Soda smiled up at her.

“Mornin’, mama.”

“How’d you sleep?”

“I slept okay,” he lied as he reached for a fork to dig into his meal with. His stomach was starting to rumble and the sweet smell of his mother's cooking was too enticing for him to fight. As he ate, the only thing on his mind was how good his food was and wanting to go back to bed. He felt like he could sleep for a million years. He could feel himself start to fall asleep as he ate, but when he heard the few keywords ‘depression’ and ‘therapy’, he began listening to his parents talk to the best of his abilities.

“It’s only been a few months…”

“Ten year-olds should want to go out and play, not stay in a dark room all day, Darrel!”

“Give him some time, honey, he’ll be feeling better in no time.”

“Guys, I don’t think you should be talking about this right now...” Soda heard Darry mumble, and suddenly all attention was on Soda. Soda was looking at his parents with wide, observing eyes, and when their eyes were on him, he could feel his heartbeat start to speed up. Before anyone knew it, Sodapop was up and running back down the hall, tears springing into his eyes as he slammed the door shut to his bedroom. As he ran, his youngest brother watched him with sad eyes. When the door shut, Ponyboy was hopping down from his chair and scurrying down the hall to Soda’s door. He knocked softly, and when all he heard was sniffles, he huffed.

“Soda?”

No response.

“Do you wanna go outside and play?”

“Go away, Ponyboy…” Pony sighed and looked down, turning on his heel to do as his brother asked. Meanwhile, Sodapop was feeling pretty rotten and tired. “I’m not crazy…” he muttered to himself, wiping his eyes free of tears though more continued spilling from his voids, “I’m not crazy…”

*****

“Sodapop!” Mary called from the hallway, “Darrel, Ponyboy! Wake up! It’s time for school!”

“It’s the last day before winter break… Can’t we please stay home?” Soda asked miserably and tiredly as he exited his bedroom, still in pajamas. Mary looked down at her fourteen-year-old son and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek and ruffled up his bed head some more.

“It’s just one more day, baby. Then you can sit in the living room by the fireplace and warm up with some cocoa when you get home, how does that sound?” Soda gave his mother another pleading look before sighing and shrugging.

“I guess,” he muttered in response before backing into his room to find a new pair of clothes to wear. He had been wearing the same shirt for three days and he was starting to stink. Meanwhile, Ponyboy and Darry were trudging tiredly out of their rooms already dressed in their attire and going to eat cereal at the table.

Soda felt like his fourteen year-old mind couldn’t handle waking up at six in the morning every morning just to go to school and learn nothing. He hated middle school. All he did was learn to fail an assignment because he couldn’t grasp the subjects. The teachers always taught too fast and he didn’t care to learn it. He just wanted to be home with Ponyboy, that eleven year-old kid who was still in elementary school and still too young to even know what being in a relationship even is. Whatever the case, he still kept himself from his youngest brother to avoid any temptations. Even the thought of that made him feel disgusting and perverted.

Finally, when the boys were all finished eating and getting cleaned up for school, Mr. and Mrs. Curtis kissed their sons on the head and sent them off in their winter coats to the bus stop. On their walk, Soda walked behind Darry, and Pony walked behind Soda. While lost in thought, Pony started tapping on Soda’s arm, then began pulling on it to get his brother’s attention.

“Soda?” Soda tensed.

“Yeah..?”

“Do you wanna play in the snow..?” Pony asked carefully, giving his brother a hopeful look. Soda felt like his heart was tearing in his chest upon seeing that  false glimmer of hope in his brother’s green eyes, and it made his stomach turn when he shook his head.

“I don’t want to play.”

“Oh… Okay…”

*****

Christmas Eve. Sodapop has been sixteen for only over two months and he was as miserable and sick as ever. All the Curtis boys and their friends were. It had only been two weeks since the deaths of Mary and Darrel, and though the guys were getting better at keeping themselves from bursting into tears every five minutes, they still weren’t handling it too well.

It especially hurt Soda since his parents weren’t there to hug him tightly and tell them that whether he was sad or happy, or no matter what happened, they’d always be there for him.

Tonight, Soda was sitting on the edge of his bed, his head in his hands and elbows on his knees as he tried to clear his thoughts of negativity. The only things coming to his mind, though, were that his parents should be there, and now he’s truly all alone. He knew that wasn’t true, though- at least that second part wasn’t- but without the love and support of his parents, what was he supposed to do about his little problem with Ponyboy?

Sure, they didn’t know the kind of feelings he harbored toward his brother of now thirteen years-old, but every time they would hear him sobbing and ripping his heart out through tears and screams into his pillow, they’d always be- or try to be- there for him when they could be. That was the greatest thing Soda could ask for in his time of need, but now they’re gone.

He could feel his heart start to ache at the thought of his parents. They’re gone.

They’re gone.

They’re gone.

Suddenly, throwing him off of his train of thought, was a light rapping at his bedroom door. He looked over toward it to see light slowly spilling in from the hallway and living room, and to see a boy with brown hair and soft, sad green eyes. Of course he didn’t knock.

“Soda..?”

“What?” Soda snapped coldly, narrowing his eyes. They were glossy, puffy, and red from crying so much. So were Pony’s, and it hurt Soda like the dickens to see Pony so torn up. Pony flinched slightly, now unsure if he should come in or really be talking to Soda at all. He was convinced Soda hated him from the years of being ignored.

“I-I know…” Pony gulped, shutting his eyes and taking a breath, “I know you’re sad… A-and y-you pro-... p-probably don’t wanna talk to me… But I was wondering…” Soda looked away and rose his hand to stop him from talking. The shakiness in Pony’s voice indicated he was probably about to cry or was scared to be talking to him, and Soda hated hearing it.

“Breathe, Ponyboy,” Soda said carefully and quietly, “It’s okay.” Pony opened his eyes, blinked away some tears, then looked at Soda again. Soda looked like nothing more than a ghost.

“Do you… Do you wanna play outside? J-just us?” Soda lowered his hand and bit his lip, giving Pony a helpless look. He wanted to shake his head no and make Pony leave him alone, but his heart was yearning painfully as if he were cutting his heart rather than his arm. So for Christmas- and for Christmas only- he stood up and walked over to his little brother, wiping the tears from his own eyes. He then gave Pony a small, quavering smile, and caressed his cheek with a shaking hand.

“Sure… Let’s go play…”

[distant-rose-archive-blog]

LOVED your fic recs! You mentioned that you had runner-ups, what are they? I'm curious because we have similar fic tastes and I've read most on your list.

Thanks mate! I’m glad you appreciated that and yes, I was originally going to post 15 fics, but I cut it down to 10 because I’m a lazy bastard. The following are honorable mentions to my treasure trove (or part two, view it anyway you want.)

Make a Wish by AcrobatElle

Rated: E

Noted Features: Wish Realm!AU, Canon Divergence (Season 6), Wish Realm Fix It, Older!Killian, Porn with Feelings

Author’s Description: Stuck in the Enchanted Forest after her wish was granted, Emma seeks out Killian. She doesn’t expect what she finds. 

Rose’s Review: If I were a bigger cunt than I already am, I would just download this fic and sent it to A&E and be like “See this? This is what you should have done you bloody fucking wankers instead of going for the laugh!” (I’m not bitter I promise.) This isn’t just amazingly crafted Captain Swan smut, it’s amazingly crafted Captain Swan smut that rips out your heart and makes you weep for Wish!Hook because he’s just so unhappy but so gracious and in love with Emma (all Killians are in love with all Emma’s, let’s just face it). He really could have been bitter but he’s just so accepting and encouraging of Emma and his main verse self that it makes you want to curl in a corner with a bottle of rosé and weep to “White Flag” by Dido. It doesn’t make you cry because it’s angsty, it makes you cry because they just fucking love each other so much and Wish!Hook kinda gets the raw deal because he has no Emma of his own. He arguably doesn’t really exist but you still feel bad because despite the fact he was unhappy that doesn’t mean he didn’t have a good heart. Ugh. Just read it and have feels. 

Put me in coach, I’m ready to play by killians-dimples

Rated: T

Noted Features: Modern!AU, PR!Emma, Athlete!Killian, Baseball & Killian

Author’s Description: PR Director Emma Swan moves to Pittsburgh intent on restarting her life. But playboy shortstop Killian Jones is making her job a hell of a lot harder with his antics.

Rose’s Review: Guys, baseball and Killian is my absolute weakness. I’m completely gaga for baseball player Killian. I honestly got a lot of Bull Durham and For the Love of the Game vibes from this (I don’t know if the author watches Kevin Costner baseball movies, but I sure as hell do because those are the only good Kevin Costner movies there are) with a twist of Trouble With the Curve (I love baseball movies, shut up!). This is unfinished and I seriously want to see where BK goes with it because I love it so and the tension between Killian and Emma is just getting started. As for usual, Killian is a hot mess with a heart of gold and Emma is the hard ass who is working to put him in line. There’s only a few chapters to this (and a super awesome smutty one-shot here: [LINK]) but I do love the tenderness displayed between them when they’re just hanging out and watching the Home Shopping Network. BK does an actually incredible job of giving Killian an air of loneliness without bluntly saying he’s a lonely guy during a scene where he’s having a conversation with a telemarketer he’s on friendly terms with. Before you even read Emma’s thoughts on the subject, it really just strikes you that this version of Killian has no meaningful relationships outside of David and Robin. I really hope she revisits it but it’s only five chapters in and I fucking love it.

Walking in a Straight Line by msgenevieve

Rated: M

Noted Features: Modern!AU, Drunk Kiss, UST, Slow Burn-ish (because they’re idiots), Roommates!Captain Swan, Lawyer!Killian

Author’s Description: It’s one of the oldest stories in the book. Two old friends have a few too many drinks, two old friends share a kiss. Happens all the time, right? But what happens when only one of them actually remembers it?

Rose’s Review: Technically this isn’t finished but where the author left off makes for a decent enough ending. This fic really pulls at you with the sexual tension and angst between Killian and Emma to the point where when they finally happened, I literally cheered in my seat and basically made a scene on the bus I was on. They’re so frustrating in this story and the rest of the cast (especially Mary Margaret and David) are notably agitated by it as well, which makes the ending result very satisfying. I am actually amazed that David and MM were friends with them for so long and just didn’t lock them in a room one day so they would finally just break all the damn tension. Walsh is positively wicked in this fic, knows all of Emma’s weaknesses and plays on them so well that you can’t help but flinch when he all but metaphorically stabs her and twists the knife. Killian is almost as much as an emotional mess as Emma is and the weight of his emotions is crushing, but not to the point where you start to hate Emma (which has happened to me with some fics.) All and all, the ending is worth the amount of emotional torture this fic puts you through.

Stardust in Your Skin by midwestwind

Rated: T

Noted Features: Soulmates!AU, One Shot

Author’s Description: Emma Swan may believe in magic and curses and fairy tales but she absolutely does not believe in soulmates.

Rose’s Review: I don’t usually read Soulmates!AU, but honestly this barely constitutes as an AU and the soulmates aspect is subtle, which is why I love it so much. The soulmates aspect is not overly played and I would argue meshes well with the whole OUAT True Love mythos. I love the constellation element to the soul marks and the added element of different constellations from different realms. Emma’s reluctance to buy into the soulmates thing is so characteristically her, and her mixed emotions of curiosity, anxiety and reluctance towards Killian’s soul stars is very palpable without being entirely in your face. The tenderness and vulnerability displayed in the final scene between Emma and Killian when she reveals her soul stars is so powerful and well written that it gave this one-shot a real place in my heart and a place among my favorite fics.

The Worst by alchemystique

Rated: T

Noted Features: Henry Centric, One Shot, Future!Fic, College!Henry, StepDad!Killian

Author’s Description: His life is so weird, weird weird weird, he used to think it was so cool but who the hell would believe him if he told them David Nolan was his grandfather - oh and also Prince Charming, no, seriously, like, the actual, real life husband of Snow White - and his mom is around here somewhere, probably figuring out the amount of time it takes to break in and sneak past security, or cataloging every emergency exit on campus. Weird.

Rose’s Review: I love everything about this one-shot here. It makes me laugh every time I read it because though it’s a much older Henry which we haven’t seen yet, the voice the author has chosen feels very organic and realistic. His exasperation with everyone, especially with Killian and David, is hilarious. Though Captain Swan is not the real focus here, I really love the depiction of Emma and Killian in this. They seem so comfortable with their relationship and I really love the lack of jealousy on Emma’s end towards all the co-eds and college moms ogling Killian. The ease and comfortability is just so refreshing because it’s Captain Swan and there’s always drama, and the lack of serious drama is a breath of fresh air. The banter is just so natural and loving and Henry’s lack of surprise/what-took-you-so-long-Killian reaction to their engagement is incredibly amusing. The best line: “Oh my god, my mom and Killian are literally True Loves, you actually can’t get any closer to it than those two unless you’re, like, Snow White and Prince Charming, and my mom could kill you with a toothpick for even having dirty thoughts about him”

The Dark Horizon by qqueenofhades

Rated: M

Noted Features: Black Sails!AU, Black Sails/OUAT Crossover, Pirate!Emma, Lieutenant!Killian, Pregnancy, Angst, Jones Family Dysfunction

Author’s Description: The Caribbean, 1715: Royal Navy Lieutenant Killian Jones and his brother, Captain Liam Jones, have just arrived to help pacify the notorious “pirates’ republic” of New Providence. But they have dangerous allies, deadly enemies, and no idea what they’re getting into when they agree to hunt the pirate ship Blackbird and the mysterious Captain Swan.

Rose’s Review: I’m going to admit it, it took me awhile to get into this fic and that’s mainly because I’m a terribly shallow bitch and for some reason huge paragraphs bug me (this is such a minor thing and something that is definitely easy to get over), but regardless I pushed through my bitchiness and actual read it because I love both OUAT and Black Sails, and goddamn. It’s very good fusion of the two worlds and it was fascinating to see a Captain Swan variation where Emma is more of the “moral corruptor” than Killian is and I do love the twist on that. I have to say the character I loved the most is Black Sam, who is just the unsung hero and moral support for everyone in this story. I was like “goddamn, I need this guy on the legit Black Sails show.” I’m more a Vane fan and he isn’t featured as much as Flint and Miranda are, but I could live with that. You really don’t need to watch Black Sails or have that much knowledge of it to fully enjoy this fic, which you definitely will because it’s so action packed. This fic is unfinished and I eagerly await to see what the author does with it.