#the fact you have to do her little mini game (aka my least favorite one) like 6 times

[partnersatfazbear]

Midnight Motorist - An Essay

I promised this awhile ago, but my thoughts on Midnight Motorist... This mini-game has literally kept me awake for hours on two separate occasions trying to figure it out, lol! So, reading the Updated Freddy Files *suggests, not confirms* that Toy Chica: The High School Years may be how William lured each child. I made notes on this, of course.

Although I listed who was used as a stand in for each, it has no bearing on the actual child killed.

The first, represented by Foxy, is already dead. I assumed this was a stand in for Norman/CC.

Second, represented by Freddy, was lured away with promises to help with homework.

Third, represented by Wolf. Run over their dog. We all know this is referring to Susie/Chica.

Fourth, represented by Toy Bonnie. It was suggested that their house be set on fire and then Chica uses her body to put out the flames. Best I could settle for this one was perhaps pulling a fire alarm at the restaraunt, or something similar.

Fifth, Funtime Foxy. Live hostages. Presumably luring a child away with promises that their friend / missing friend is in the back room.

Sixth, the Puppet. This one is the most interesting and why I'm including it here. Chica says "I'll come over to their house later, maybe break through a window, or set the house on fire and smoke them out [IIRC, I am paraphrasing a little]" The window, in my honest opinion, has to refer to Midnight Motorist. Scott has made a point of adding things in a following game to clarify the game before (starting at least since Sister Location). With the other one referencing Susie and Fruity Maze, I think this theory holds up, although it doesn't really help solve Midnight Motorist I think it's very important to note. (William has as much of an obsession with fire as Henry, huh?)

Lastly, there is Pigpatch. It's implied William would have knocked out a child and told them he rescued them after being "kidnapped". I really like this one.

The number of victims adds up to the number of children: BV, Freddy, Foxy, Bonnie, Chica, Golden Freddy, and Puppet.

Now that that's out of the way, I feel this heavily implies the footprints outside the window in MM are William's. The feet match the Glitchtrap suit, which most of us assume is a prototype for Spring Bonnie. Not only that, but obviously the springlock suits wouldn't work in the rain. Second, if you take some logic to it and see Charlotte as the first victim (no suit, no hiding the body, developing MO) then this killing would be the start of his MO--kind of an "in-between" point where he's evolving. Now, as to who the people in the house are...

In my fic, I kept the general idea that it was William as mustard man (thank you MatPat, this is my fav name for our mysterious fellow). Mostly because despite the evidence listed there is still a ton of evidence supporting it:

Later That Night - this is the name of the game file for MM.

Rain - Due to the in-game rain and this title its heavily implied to be just after Charlotte's death.

Grey Text - Michael is the only one to have the grey text and has similarities to Chair Person. (Note: I think Matpat did point out the color is slightly different, but it's still grey.)

Purple Car - William is the only one seen with a Purple Car back in one of the mini-games (FNAF 2, IIRC). To further support this, the car is also seen as an easter egg in the Dreadbear DLC of Help Wanted (with purple headlights). This is probably the most damning evidence that Mustard Man is William, in my opinion... but then how do the footprints make sense?

In my fic, I explained it away as footprints from the evening before (it was the best I could muster at the time) but this is super weak :V So this kind of brings us to alternative theories. If it is William, the supporting evidence is... good evidence of that. So, the other options are:

A Child Victim's Family - This is my second favorite theory because I think it could possibly work for, say, TOYSNHK [The One You Should Not Have Killed, hereby pronounced Toy-Shnuck] (who I made Cassidy). The problem with this is the child's gender is referred to as male. And there's a huge debate on Cassidy being female in game lore and TOYSNHK/GF being male. It IS a gender neutral name and wouldn't be the first time Scott changed a gender (see: Puppet), BUT it's pretty weak since all the info we have on TOYSNHK is recent. It could be another child that isn't Susie, though, but why show some random child as opposed to an important one? PizzaSim's games all revolve around specifics like Puppet (the first to die overall) and Susie (the first to die of the main five).

Henry is Mustard Man - This is the theory my wife likes. I can sort of see it and I even considered it at one point, but there isn't much evidence to go on. Why is the car purple is the biggest wrench for me. I also have problems with Mustard Man's attitude ("This is MY house", "He'll be sorry") Even if Henry was torn up about Charlotte, I can't see him treating his kids this way. This would also heavily imply the missing window kid to be Sammy, which hasn't been referenced in the game lore at all. He was barely mentioned in the novel trilogy, even. This also makes Gray Text either Aunt Jen or Henry's wife. There's just not enough to support this, in my opinion.

UPDATE 5/28/21 - Please see this post analyzing Fazbear Fright’s story “What We Found” for a more detailed look at what I’m about to explain that supports the Henry theory: Also from the books, CC / Norman is now referred to as Evan.

For this to work, we must assume Henry is an alcoholic after Charlotte’s death. I think the “later that night” evidence becomes somewhat irrelevant, because if this was the night of Charlotte’s death it wouldn’t really make sense. Part of me wondered if it took place after FNAF 2′s Springtrap cutscene, but the footprints don’t match. It has to be Spring Bonnie or Glitchtrap. Also, Evan and Elizabeth have also died by this point because neither are seen in the mini-game in this theory. You also must assume, based on the story evidence, that Henry married / stayed with Mrs. Afton after William either “died” or they divorced--they had to have been together for an x amount of time as for Mrs. Afton to be living with Henry but also the fact that Mrs. Afton kept Michael and the purple car. Henry using William’s car wouldn’t be unheard of if Mrs. Afton kept the car and the house, I just don’t feel Henry would use it unless he had been using the vehicle awhile. This also explains the Bonnie-esque footprints outside since William would want to come get / visit his kid he’s [most likely] no longer allowed to see. He may even be taking Michael back to the FNAF 4 house (implying that the house we see in MM is Henry’s). Speaking of, if we assume William’s intentions are [likely] bad, he’s probably taking Michael back to experiment with the Funtime-Nightmares, if you believe this theory. I think this theory is probably true considering the random grave (which, in this context has no answer except a Twisted animatronic aka a Nightmare) AND because the blueprints in Sister Location SHOW the Nightmares on the display during Funtime Freddy’s repair, implying they are real and not imagined. This is also assumed to be punishment for Michael killing Evan. I think Michael goes WITH William because of his tumultuous relationship with a now mentally ill and drunkard Henry. Henry probably knows that William killed Charlotte and a common theme in some works is a parent seeing their child (or a murderer) in a child aka Michael reminds Henry of William, so he neglects him (which in itself wouldn’t be out of place for Henry, since he already wasn’t a very attentive parent).

The main issue with this theory is that it sort of assumes that CC was Michael and not Evan. I don’t think that’s the case, though.

While we're on this version, I also want to discuss evidence for the MM driver being drunk. Not only are you driving on the opposite side of traffic, the Files book explicitly states "crashing" into the secret road for the mini-game. Not that Henry couldn't be drunk, especially if he just found Charlotte dead, but... for me personally it seems a stretch. And I already mentioned the car.

William's Father - This is an interesting idea, but the foot prints kind of rule it out. At least there's an explanation for the car, though, right? Still, it doesn't explain the foot prints unless you assume maybe his father was more alike Afton than we thought. But then why bother showing us background on our killer so late with no pay off? I easily dismiss this theory.

A new theory, at least one I haven't seen posed yet:

Vanny - That's right. Vanny. What if she survived/lived? Some leaks even suggest she may be related to the Aftons. Mustard Man's color is similar to Princess Quest's heroine. It explains the footprints, but doesn't explain the car. This would make for a nice foreshadowing of Vanny, IMO, but it’s weak at best.

You know when Matpat discusses "that one puzzle peice that we're missing"? That's this entire mess of a mini-game. Don't get me wrong, the music is bawlin and it's fun to talk about, otherwise I wouldn't write about it, but it is undoubtedly FRUSTRATING.

What are your opinions?

I also wanted to point out some other interesting things from the Files book I haven't seen discussed: There is confirmation of two sets of gold suits. Not only is there the FNAF 2 phone call, but the text specifies between Spring Bonnie/Springtrap and Fredbear/Golden Freddy. IE: FNAF 4 suit is Springtrap but the one from Stage 01 is Spring Bonnie. This could be oversight, but... I don't think it is. I'm sure most of the fandom does ASSUME this anyway, but I felt it was worth noting. (In my fic, they are the same suit, but the second sets are upgraded after the original failures).

The poster behind Scraptrap. Nothing really interesting here, but there is an image of a building with two gargoyle (lion?) statues behind him. Presumably this would be a police station or Fazbear Fright. I just thought it was cool since I never noticed this in the image. My initial thought was this might be a reference to the hospital in Man in 1280, but that’s a stretch.

Jr's. This is the random building in Midnight Motorist in which Green Man says "gtfo" to our Mustard Man. I should mention I feel that is good evidence to it being William or Henry, depending what the building is. We can 100% say it is NOT a bar (in my fic, that's what I used, even though it doesn't make sense. I don't see a drunk person driving to a second bar so close to their home when they could have gone there initially, BUT then I am a home-drinker when I do drink, so I don't know the night life). The Files refer to it as simply "a restaraunt". Whether this IS a FNAF location (also referred to as restaraunts) or just some random eatery, it's something to contemplate. I am in the camp that it isn't FNAF 2, at least.

I have some other things from Fazbear Frights' Blackbird I wanna discuss, too, but I'll wait until the book is out to help you all avoid spoilers.

Now, this is all just my thoughts on it. Please don't take anything too seriously (as Scott says don't rack your brain on this, it's not worth it). I just think these are some points that haven't been discussed before.

Also, if you wanna read my theory on why Scraptrap is partly the Golden Freddy suit, I have that theory here.

Thanks for coming to my ted talk? <-- is that a dated reference? Probably.

[talesofafangirlwithadvr]

**SPOILERS** Featuring Netflix’s Cursed

SPOILER FREE REVIEW:

When I first heard about this show coming to Netflix I was excited. As someone who loves watching King Arthur inspired shows/movies, I was interested to see how the story would change by following Nimue aka the Lady of the Lake. I was surprised at how few Arthurian references were made. Mainly just focusing on characters names (like Arthur) and re-inventing them. This is more inspired by Arthurian legend than a full re-telling (or at least for this first season). From what I’m familiar with, there isn’t a whole lot of similarities with the King Arthur legend. When I first heard about the focus on Nimue, I thought the story would have followed a time long before Uther. Instead it’s more like an alternative story. 

There are a lots of characters and plots that can feel info dumpy at times, but you kind of roll with it and see how important they are as you go. Due to having SO many characters, it makes it easier to watch and doesn’t make me want to read the book. I think fans of Game of Thrones will like it because it feels like it’s trying to bank on filling the fantasy void that GOT left. (Especially with all of the characters involved and mini story-lines.) Disclaimer: There is A LOT of blood and gore. Sometimes it feels unnecessary and that they had a blood quota. So watch out for that if you’re squeamish or don’t like gory things. (There were a few parts I had to look away from.) 

Despite all of this negativity, once I understood this was a show that’s loosely based in the lore, I actually grew to like it. Of course, there’s things I would be okay without, but overall if/when a season 2 comes out I would watch it. 

SPOILER REVIEW:

Two things that I think made this watch even more enjoyable/fun was 1) Watching it with someone 2) Watching it with the captions on. [Mystical Twinkling]--Every time the sword made a noise. 

Like I said before, there were A LOT of characters and for some of them I really didn’t care. As the show went on, it made more sense, but still had a lot going on. At times, I wished I could see more of the characters I liked (ie: The Weeping Monk) compared to the Raiders.  

I definitely made a lot of Game of Thrones references and surprisingly The 100 too. Also, naming people other names. When the Widow showed up to Merlin we were joking around that it was his Mom. Also, thought Squirrel was Nimue’s brother for the longest time. 

Villains: 

SISTER IRIS!!! She needs to stop and I hate that she survived at the end of the show. For a small moment it looked like she might have changed her mind about killing the Fey Queen, but after that creepy scene of psyching herself into it, I knew she was a lost cause. Her and the paladins were very creepy and eerie. All the red just felt uncomfortable. So, that made them a chilling villain. I’m just frustrated that won’t be the last time we see Iris as now she’s been truly welcomed into the fold. 

“Born in the Dawn to walk in the Twilight”

MERLIN!!! I really enjoyed this incarnation of him and the direction they decided to take. Basically every scene he was in I enjoyed. The idea of him losing his powers to the sword and then the SWORD BEING INSIDE OF HIM!! AND THAT ENDING!! Such an epic scene when he used the sword. (I kept making Thor references with all the lightning.)

1x06 was probably my favorite episode because of his backstory/flashbacks with Lenore. They easily are one of my top ships of the show (very close to Pym and Dof). I GUESSED he was Nimue’s Dad (because it made a lot of sense) and was SO HAPPY when he was revealed as her dad. I really loved their dynamic. Gustaf did a fantastic acting job showing how much Merlin cares for Nimue. His watery eyes in so many scenes! And that the last one when she called him father and he couldn’t hold onto her! No wonder why he decided to use the sword again. I’m very excited to see what happens to him in season 2 (if/when there is one). I’m also interested to see what happens with him and Morgana. In Arthurian legend they are adversaries, but can have a very complicated relationship. Despite all of the changes in the show, I’m sure they’ll keep that in (or something close). 

Speaking of Morgana.... I really loved her character from when we first met her. I thought it was an interesting choice that she went under the name Igraine as she was Arthur’s sister and that’s his mother’s name. And then when the reveal happened with her actual name I got excited. When she was talking to Celia (when she was dead) I kept shouting NOOO and wanted to run into the TV. I like that they are going to explore her sorceress side. Now that she became the widow it should be interesting to see how powerful she will be. (We don’t know much about that character.) So happy she stayed loyal to Nimue at the end. 

I’m a HUGE fan of Daniel Sharman and after watching Medici earlier this year, I was very excited to see him back on Netflix with another show. Even though he was a villain in the show I kept holding out hope that he could be turned. (Probably because of my love for the actor.) Very early on I felt he was Fey. This was mainly due to the fact he could smell them out. This isn’t a trait that any other man blood had. There was also the fact he didn’t harm kids that sent a red flag to me that something probably happened in his childhood. I was pretty accurate when his backstory (or some of it) was revealed in 1x10. My one major complaint about this season is that we didn’t get more of him/more of his story sooner. Because if there isn’t a second season than we won’t be able to see this transformation happen. That is one of my favorite tropes in TV shows and books. 

While the Weeping Monk’s relationship with Squirrel was only a little part of this season, I really enjoyed them together. So I was very excited that they ended up together at the end, which will probably have them together for a good amount of another season. Their dynamics will be interesting to see. Definitely get an Arya and The Hound vibe. 

AND THAT NAME REVEAL! I can’t believe I didn’t piece it together!! Squirrel as Perceval makes so much sense! I read the romance of Perceval and the Story of the Holy Grail when I was studying in college and Preceval starts out as this young kid who longs to be a knight and is very hot-tempered and innocent. He will jump into anything without thinking about it first. That’s squirrel! So when Gawain named him before knighting him a knight of the Fey it was just perfect! I am very excited to see how his character develops. I just hope he doesn’t age too much before the next season. AND LANCELOT! I can’t believe I didn’t see that one coming! But it also makes sense as Lancelot is a skilled fighter and so is the Weeping Monk. With a name like Lancelot, he has a lot to live up to. I am very ready to witness this transformation. 

While watching the show I was doing my best to avoid all spoilers, yet in my YouTube feed I came across a few videos shipping the Weeping Monk and Nimue. This made me believe the two would have a true scene together, but no. I was very shocked that they did not and that the fandom already loves them so much. I can understand it because there are a lot of similarities between the two characters. From both in a way being cursed and the parallels with them having scars (specifically on their backs). He’s fire and she’s water and we know the connection there. Plus, the whole enemies to lovers trope feels strong. I also know about the lore of Lancelot and the Lady of the Lake which they have to explore. So, I can definitely see myself getting aboard this ship. 

For me Arthur’s character started out very wishy washy. I’m not a big fan of love at first sight ships just because I feel they’re not realistic. (I guess that’s the unromantic in me.) And then the fact that he backstabbed Nimue by stealing the sword all to try and restore his honor (which he failed). Now I know this was all within the first few episodes but when he tells her he doesn’t want to be saved yet they still love each other...idk. It felt like it was contradicted the female queen power being showcased. For me their relationship overall just felt rushed. Perhaps if it wasn’t so fast then maybe I could have gotten on board with it. I think time apart will help me like Arthur’s character more.

..

.....

Definitely watch Cursed on Netflix if you’re a fan of medieval fantasy and don’t mind keeping up with a ton of characters and gore. Then you’ll hope for a second season as much as me!    

[su8arandspite]

thoughts on st3 steve

For those of you who feel cheated by steve’s character regression in st3, i wrote an episode-by-episode outline of what the real steve would be up to during the summer of 1985.. As much as I liked season 3, I can’t shake the feeling that there’s at least a little bit growth to Steve that’s missing. Warning: contains major spoilers for season 3

Chapter One: Suzie, Do You Copy?

Steve took the job at Scoops Ahoy because he doesn’t want to rely on his asshat of a father, not because he took a college rejection as a sign that he has no future. It's just a summer job

Sure, it crushed him a bit. But instead of resigning to a life of mediocrity and self-pity, Steve Harrington decides that he rather likes helping other people. We know that he’s more than willing to put his life on the line if it means saving someone else.

It’s actually Dustin who first gives Steve the idea of joining the Hawkins PD. Steve isn’t going to Purdue or to Tech- he’s headed to the Indiana Police Academy. And he’s damn proud of it, too

Forget that whole “Steve Harrington has no game after getting dumped once” bit where he returns to his old playboy ways (and failed seven+ times to get a date)! 

Steve and Robin still have a running bet, sure, but instead of going for countless pointless dates with girls he hardly knows, they both compete to see which one of them gets a night off and who works the extra shift, minus tips

She just never mentions that she has 0 interest in actually going on dates with any of those guys, because she really wants that night off

You know DAMN WELL that Steve has 10/10 mentioned Dustin to Robin. He’s proud of him. I like to think that their relationship has grown past shitty, misguided dating advice to Steve really being there for Dustin- and vice versa. As I’ve mentioned earlier, I firmly believe that Dustin is invested in Steve’s future. He wants his friends to do better than resigning to a life he hates in a nowhere town. Because he knows Steve can.

Maybe he was stuck at work while the kids threw his official coming home party, but you know that our affectionate little Steve planned a mini ice cream party and knew exactly when Dustin was coming home. He’s just playing it cool. The level of excitement at 10:20ish is more accurate and it melts my heart.

Steve is not dumb. I know for a fact he wouldn’t be pacing around; Steve would at least crack open the dictionary to help translate it.

Chapter Two: The Mall Rats

We do see more of the Steve shown in past seasons here, in that he is shown to be both loyal and clever

For example, the scene at 43:10 when he connects the tune from the horse to the one from Dustin’s recording.

Chapter Three: The Case of the Missing Lifeguard

In that little spy scene with Steve and Dustin, he isn’t distracted by Anna Jacobi and Mark Lewinski out of petty jealousy; hell, it isn’t even really about them at all. Nancy did a real number on Steve’s heart and because she gave him the first real form of love and affection that he’s ever known, he carries around some pretty serious chips on his shoulder and cracks in his little heart for a good while. Steve envies their relationship in general. He misses feeling that wrapped up in someone else. No, he isn’t chasing tail simply for the hell of it. Steve genuinely wants to find love again.  His comment wouldn’t belittle Mark, then, but instead scoff at the level of  pda in the mall

He wouldn’t insult Robin for being in drama or band. He’d merely insist she was just a friend & not his type. End of story.

nO way would he throw his own advice back in Dustin’s face like that! He treads lightly on the Suzie subject with Dustin. The idea that this girl is shrugging off Dustin- and very possibly about to break his little heart, as far as he knows- does not sit well with Papa Steve

Again, he isn’t dumb. He probably would have noticed that a tall man carrying a duffel bag was just too suspicious to be their spy, but would follow him anyways. To be safe.

Chapter Four: The Sauna Test

The scene around 9:20 on, where Steve suggests that he is both stealthy and capable of winning a fight is precious and brutal. Poor Steve. But I do think that his plan likely would be a bit more sound than that

I think he probably would have at least wanted to leave Erica out as much as possible. After all, she is only 10. Dustin’s a veteran fighter and at least (barely) a teenager.  Plus, he knows that’s a losing fight

Chapter Five: The Flayed

Not much to add here. We see more glimpses into the sacrificial Steve st2 left us with.

Chapter Six: E Pluribus Unum

Can we not beat up his pretty face for oNe season I just- :((

Steve “the Hair” Harrington

The scene where Robin and Steve discuss Mrs. Click ‘s class grazes his character arc. He acknowledges his mistakes here, at least. I regained some of my confidence here, minus Steve’s acceptance that he has no future. He’s more than that.

Chapter Seven: The Bite

The scene of drugged!Robin and Steve in the bathroom warms my heart. It does give us more signs to how his breakup with Nancy affected Steve, that he’s forgiven her, and wants to find love again.

Steve would not bash Nancy simply because they are broken up. THank god they remembered that much.

“I guess I found somebody who’s better for me” sdlkfhsdlkfdl this soft boy

Robin is a lovely addition and I actually love her character. And that she doesn’t exist simply as a love interest for Steve.

Speaking of love interests, I imagine that he’d actually meet someone through Robin. Maybe one of her band or drama friends; just a nice girl who meets his level of neediness and challenges him to be better. And refuses to let him give up on himself

I could list off a few of my own ocs here but that’s a story for another time

Chapter Eight: The Battle of Starcourt

There 10/10 is a scene where Hopper encourages Steve for his interest in looking after Hawkins

“It’ll be an honor to have you on my squad, kid” (okay, that one hurt)

“Screw Todd, Steve’s our daddy now!” you’re goddamn right he is.

I refuse to believe that Steve would sit by and not even try to help fight. Fuck that. Steve would hightail it back to Starcourt the second he knew Erica and Dustin were far enough away to be safe with a fucking flamethrower and the bat, partially from nostalgia

You know damn well that Steve has favorite movies, okay?? I refuse to believe in a universe where Dustin and Steve don’t at least occasionally have movie nights. That's just a lie

Bonus: Hopper didn’t die under Starcourt mall, but instead an enemy of the state being held in Russia (aka “the American” referenced at 1:12:49

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh S2 Ep 33:  ᵇˡᶦᵐᵖ ʙʟɪᴍᴘ  BLIMP ԀꟽI⅂ꓭ

I usually don’t really do these during weekdays but lets just say today was a day where I felt the need for a healthy distraction.

Ah, it is episode 33. There are...so many episodes in a Yugioh season, guys. I was just not aware. But, here we are at episode 33 and we are finally going to start the finals.

For reals this time, no one’s going to get engaged, no one’s going to randomly murder a bunch of people. We are officially starting the finals this episode.

Sort of.

Man, Kaiba and his butterfly-wing shoulderpads. Sometimes it just looks like he’s just going to gently flutter away.

Also in this stadium with Kaiba and Mokuba is Marik and Odion, who is just as confused as to where the hell everyone went and why the hell Mai just flew by being carried off by a ninja in a jet pack. The hours it must have taken to wait for Yugi’s crew to walk 2 single blocks was enough time for Marik to formulate yet another back-up plan. I want to say this is plan #9.

It’s a good thing Pharaoh can’t read anymore, considering that Marik’s just walking around in a crop hoodie with a tattoo that just reads “SEASON 2 SPOILERS, PHARAOH, DO NOT READ” in hieroglyphs.

But if you wait long enough, even Yugi and his friends will accidentally wander the correct direction and actually show up.

(read more under the cut)

Not a joke, this is actually an unfinished public works project, congratulations, Kaiba Corps, there is nothing that Kaiba won’t try and then fail at, at least once.

Anyways, this shady-as-hell unfinished stadium seems kind of like a good place to get murdered and then tossed into a cement slab. Which honestly, would have been a very likely end to this season, considering what we have been through so far.

Marik decides to sneak around the bleachers, probably on all fours so no one would spot him, jump out a window, and then come in through the front door like he’s not been here this entire time. As he did, apparently he made everything very, very windy. In fact, everyone with a millennium item brought with them a spooooooky gust of wind except I think Yugi, who is probably too short to pull that one off.

Yugi did manage to get the vibe of “something bad is coming” before Marik entered the field, but like...there’s so many bad things at this point, Yugi. So many people that could be. It feels like that might be half the cast. You could say that at any given moment in this season and be absolutely right.

So, after possessing Tea for a second, for...some reason? Did she need threatening? Anyway, after doing that, Namu is in with the gang because literally nothing will prevent Yugi from becoming a friend with you, especially if you are trying to hide the fact that you just tried to kill him by drowning him in the ocean.

Funny how instead of them asking how the hell Namu got away from cultists, they have to fixate on the mystery of “is Bakura good at cards!?” because, and I kinda forgot about this, I guess they don’t remember the last time they saw Bakura play. How far up their own ass is Yugi and Joey to assume that just because Bakura doesn’t brag about cards all day, that Bakura hasn’t been equally good at cards? They kind of deserve this.

Yeah and PS Kaiba absolutely did not check the satellite to get the DL on why the hell Bakura got so many cards. Dayjob Saruman I guess went home for the evening so...although that shadow game was definitely being recorded on a computer, we’ll never know what that mess looked like on Kaiba’s end. Like there’s just three duel disks covered in ectoplasm hanging out in the cemetery and no one seems to have noticed?

Like for a competition that was huge about security and tech, they only seemed to watch the God Cards players and then Mokuba randomly monitored Joey Wheeler for some reason. That was it. That was all the people the Kaiba’s cared about.

So although Marik and Odion and Bakura could probably take on everyone right now. Like riiiight now. They decide not to because, well, I nearly forgot about someone that I was really looking forward to seeing again, that’s right, my favorite boy!

AW THERE HE IS!

to quote one of my actual favorite earworms,

Where has this big boy been hiding!? He’s freakin ginormous, but apparently he was just hiding behind a soft cloud or something, in anticipation of this grand reveal in a very sketch unfinished stadium that’s probably being used to bet on bum fights.

Mokuba gets excited for the first time since...I don’t remember if Mokuba’s ever actually been excited before. Like I’m digging through my memories here and no, Mokuba’s been mostly abducted, angry, bored, or scared, this is the first time he’s exuded that pure pre-teen energy.

PS a blimp’s max flying height is 1500 ft, and what surprised me the most about this was realizing that this entire time we’ve been watching this show, we’ve been getting measurements in US metrics. Didn’t realize that before today.

Also, on my wikipedia deep dive into blimps, I found out that like...this is probably not a “blimp,” but actually a semi-rigid airship but...I’m gonna keep calling it a blimp. Don’t @ me, blimp fandom on tumblr.

It’s so good to see more Blimp. Even though...probably the worst place to throw a tourney? Like...how many people are you even gonna fit in there? Like...is this televised? I mean I don’t know how Kaiba’s marketing works for this, honestly, he took over every TV in the city to get people to join this tourney, and now that it’s in full swing no one can watch it?

Whatever, it’s a blimp.

Duke Devlin is still here, despite the fact that I don’t think he’s going to do anything for the rest of this season. I guess they had to promote that gameboy game so his face will just be in the background always although as a dice player he um...he has no purpose here.

In fact it makes no sense, he works with Pegasus who straight up killed Mokuba and Kaiba like a month ago, why are they just letting him on their airship? Whatever.

I dunno, maybe there’s more that Duke will do eventually, but he just seemed like a replacement for Bakura at first--and Bakura’s back now, so why’s he still here?

Ishizu is here, and while every other time we’ve seen Ishizu, she’s been talking our ears off, the one time she should probably say something, she instead decides to lock herself inside her bedroom and avoid everyone.

I guess she was mostly avoiding Marik so they don’t have a sibling laser fight in the hull of a Blimp. That would have made things so awkward for Yugi and Bakura. Especially Yugi, who still doesn’t know that thing around his neck shoots freakin lasers.

Props the background artists who had to draw billions of small little buildings AKA the worst background in the world to draw. I will go through hoops to avoid drawing even a single building, but to have to sit down and paint just a whole page of buildings that someone’s going to smack a foreground on anyway? Mad respect. If you look closely you’ll see that this artist had to use a ruler and perspective and other annoying tools that take up time and energy. Even using editing tools like using blocks of black color to imitate the look of rooftops and crowded structures, it probably took them a few hours to make the background that went in a .2 second scene.

They’ll probably reuse these buildings later, don’t get me wrong, but oi, I feel for them in my carpel tunnel bones.

Seto keeps telling Yugi that they’re rivals but I don’t think anyone on this show other than Joey thinks of Seto as much of a rival at all. You almost feel a little bad for him, like he’s in a weird...hate triangle, but very much on the loosing end of it.

Next we get a good look at Kaiba’s interior design decisions, and much like his mansions, it’s a lot of very unexpected soothing pastels. Like this is a lot of seafoam blue. How can someone so angry make something so grandma-zen? Is it actually Kaiba’s grandmother who is just slapping down all these paint chips when he’s not looking? I mean it’s got muted pink stools even, with a makeup station.

Tea, Tristan, and Duke have no rooms to go to because they aren’t actually part of this competition, so they’re just squatting around until they’ll probably all end up crashing with Mokuba, the only other person who is not dueling in this competition. Reminds me a lot of the first week of college, where everyone is just coasting dorm room to dorm room and there’s like 10 people there who actually don’t actually go there but want to hang out with their high school friends and they just end up sleeping in your room for 7 days until they read your other friend’s diary, get hella indignant, and then storm off back to California. My apologies to my Freshman year roommate who had to put up with all that girl drama.

And because it’s this show, the men and their bottomless stomachs decide to raid the smallest little mini fridge and you wouldn’t believe what takes up about 1/4 of it

There is so many cheese wheels in this Japanese show, guys. So, I felt like doing a quick google search of Japan and Cheese and it’s just a bunch of ex-pats talking about how the European cheeses most of us are familiar with is harder to find in Japan. So, maybe that’s why? It's a status symbol that he can find round cheeses?

But even if you can only get your hands on a 30$ Swiss wheel every so often (because that really is just Swiss cheese, like lets be real.) how much Swiss cheese can one man eat??? Especially since, looking closely, there is not a single baguette here. No man can eat that much cheese without a bread!

Sorry, stuffing your face full of free cheese you pulled out of your friend’s mini-fridge is also giving me vivid flashbacks to my Freshman year of college.

Also little edit--just realized that flag is flipped 90 degrees from French so that’s probably a Holland flag? Although I looked up European flags and there is...none that have that color order so I don’t know which country they were originally going for.

YO I just realized there’s no curtains on any of these pelvis-height level windows. So, you can’t sleep because of the lights, and you can’t change into pajamas because like--the whole city will see.

Kaiba does seem like the type that would on purpose not install any curtains on any of the windows he’s ever owned, though.

Keto is gone, and now we just have Roland, who is probably too terrified to ever abduct the Kaibas by picking them up by the neck with one arm.

Anyway, in case you were wondering--since the show has decided to make a huge fuss over card prep time--how can they prep for a card game if they only have the cards they brought with them and they don’t know what the other people are even playing or which person they’re playing first?

Kaiba did nothing. He sat there and thought “If Yugi doesn’t even put that God Card in his deck this entire tourney will be absolutely pointless.”

Mai took little sips of milk. Probably paired it with Swiss cheese. Just a huge bite out of a wheel of Swiss cheese.

Odion never found the refrigerator.

Marik took a nap on this bed that looks like it’s just made of foam. Why is this the only one on the show who’s like “Youknow, I should sleep at some point.”

And Yugi’s prep involved talking to himself a whole lot, which explains why none of his friends wanted to stay here for that. I doubt very much Yugi kicked him out of the room. He was probably like “no, stay, stay” in that high pitched-low pitched voice combo until they were like “nooooo I don’t want to be present for your daily seance checkup byeeee.” while slowly backing out of the room.

Yo remember that time we were worried about Bandit Keith stealing the puzzle?

Apparently...Pharaoh could have just sort of done that dizzolving thingy and appeared right back on Yugi’s neck.

And remember that time Yugi handed that puzzle to Joey?

Apparently...Pharaoh could have just sneezed and then bam--right back around Yugi’s neck.

Like remember any time this season that we’ve been like “Oh no, the puzzle! We’re gonna lose it!” no that...that was never a problem.

I mean to be fair when it’s dismantled it might not work but um--apparently you can’t lose an item after it’s decided it likes you. At all. Which is kind of weird because Pegasus totally lost that eyeball, and aren’t all these items property of Pharaoh anyway?

I’ll try not to think about it as this rule seems to only really apply to Bakura. 

Anyway, next week--I’m pretty sure the finals are indeed actually starting next week. I could be wrong as I have been every single episode but maybe--probably--the finals are actually going to start. We shall see.

[professortennant]

Sam/Jack Rec List, Pt. 1

This is mostly for me in case my bookmarks are lost but yeah! I’ve gone through like 90% of AO3, a good chunk of ff.net, and I just dived into LJ. But since I have 103 fics already bookmarked, I’m just gonna put this list up first and then add to it later. 

Plz read the tags of each fic to avoid stuff you don’t wanna read. If you read something and love it, GO TELL THE AUTHOR SO THEY WRITE MORE.

Absolute Fucking Favorites (aka I have read these more times than I feel comfortable admitting)

We Made It Series: A series of connected episode tags beginning with Forever in a Day. Sam shows up on Jack's doorstep with a six pack of beer, a bottle of cheap wine and a package of chicken breasts. Jack's confused. They cook dinner.

Taking Christmas Off: How Sam and Jack end up spending Christmas alone together every single year, accidentally at first, and then very much on purpose. A fluffy/shippy Christmas fic in eight parts, with spoilers through season 8.

The Dreams We Left Behind: The day Sam Carter marries Pete Shanahan is not the worst day of Jack’s life; he’s already lived that day. But that doesn't make it easy.

Like Kissing a Stranger: There is not one day he spends on this planet, or any other, that his mouth doesn't get him into trouble.(An episode tag for Point Of View.)

Retrospective: Sam doesn’t give it a name, this feeling. She doesn’t even think about it much, preferring to glimpse it obliquely from the corner of her eye. It’s a secret delight that she shares with no one, scarcely even herself.One story in eight parts charting Sam and Jack’s relationship from the start of S1 to the end of S8.

The Short Straw: She hadn't set out to cheat, certainly, but had thought that she'd at least be able to interpret her own work in a way that would lead to victory. (Tag for Shades of Grey)

Post-Eps/Episode Tags (except for Threads, which is its own category)

The Price of Edora: Sam suffers the consequences of pushing herself too hard in order to bring Jack back from Edora. 

For Just One Taste of This: After that, though, things got tricky and dangerous because they pushed a little more and went a little (a lot) further off that deep end, and soon it was the two of them alone in the empty barracks and this wasn’t wrong, was it, just sitting side by side in the darkness? (Post Divide and Conquer)

Let Your Demons Run: (here can't be that many eyes in the building that haven't noticed her. Post-ep for Entity.

Midnight at the Oasis: What if Abydos wasn't destroyed, and Jack and Sam really did go to Skaara's wedding? A short AU based on the wonderful (!) exchange among the three at the beginning of Full Circle.

Thyself, Unknown: And then they were strangers again and their world was brand new with signs of aging. Beneath the Surface 

Unlearn your Stars: Thera turned her eyes toward the ceiling, as if she could see through the miles of earth and snow to the sky beyond. Something about her seemed to yearn, and for reasons he could not fathom Jonah felt like Thera belonged there. Among the stars. (Beneath the Surface)

Transcendental: Alternate Sam and Jack who got stranded in the alternate timeline in Moebius. 

The Fundamental Theorem of Samantha Carter: Samantha Carter knew precisely what she wanted. And then she didn’t. S.8 Full Alert through Threads with references to Gemini.

The Rainy Season: Tag for The Light. Their arguing was beginning to grate on her nerves.

Icarus Ascending: What if Jack and Sam didn't keep it in the room after all? A/U tag to Divide and Conquer. 

The Space Between: There's a little space between them on the bed. Small enough to be close, but enough space to remind them where the line should be. (tag for Death Knell.)

Mimesis: Jack tries to help Carter deal with her time spent with Fifth and the Replicators.

A Rush of Blood to the Head: "You volunteering to come with me, Carter?" Sam and Jack deal (or don't) with the creation of mini!Jack.

The Breaking Point: Daniel’s ‘death’ in Meridian forces Sam Carter to reevaluate her life and what really matters to her.

Window on a Room: The first time around, Sam had found that face the Colonel was making to be endearing, in the increasingly problematic way she found pretty much everything he did to be endearing. The second time, she had found it alarming - not the Colonel specifically, of course, just the fact that she’d already experienced that exact moment not ten hours earlier. She went from being alarmed on the second loop to being frustrated, baffled and discouraged in subsequent loops as their attempts to stop the looping had all failed. And now that they had settled into this routine, with Sam and Teal��c, loop after loop, learning to translate the altar text themselves, well now she was just tired. Not even the Colonel’s problematically endearing face was helping.Another loop, she thought to herself. Here we go again.

black holes and revelations: It’s late and dark and as far as she’s concerned, the world has stopped for them (they’d done the Earth a few favors, it's time one was returned).

Lifelines: Everyone expects her to be so resilient--but beneath her calm exterior seethe emotions beyond her control and understanding. Months post "Beneath the Surface", Sam finally has to face it all, and find a way to accept the way things have to be.

Reflections on a Broken Surface: Episode tag to Beneath the Surface. How Sam and Jack became a couple in the ep. 

Tilting at Windmills: Jack's struggling to deal with the events of Euronda and Alar's people. Angry, depressed, and alone, he needs Sam's help to find his way home, literally, and figuratively.

untitled: Sam/Jack, word prompt- 'never' Episode tag to Death Knell

the art of reincarnation: Detoxing in a Goa’uld palace, Jack struggles with something he can't let go, and Sam struggles with everything.

Cracks in the Glass: Doctor Carter has stepped through the mirror-seeking refuge from her ravaged world. Her presence forces Sam and Jack to question their own decisions. Sam and Jack focused episode enhancement to "Point of View".

Before the Invitation: A chance meeting in the commissary leads to some unintended revelations. (Set just prior to 'Nemesis')

Threads

Full Disclosure: She looks at him with that complex expression that’s punctuated their relationship ever since Pete barged onto the scene. The one that looks like a question, or a plea – the one he’s never really understood and has never dared pursue.

Down to the Bone: She knows now, what’s essential.

Sooner: Some bonus scenes for "Threads," because a lot went on in and around that episode that we just didn't get to see.

an angel came down: The first Christmas after her father dies is rough. The second Christmas after her father dies is better.

Breathe In: It wasn’t an immediate thing, despite what people thought. They didn’t jump each other the second SG1 was on vacation, with her emotionally vulnerable after her father’s death and no longer engaged, or him now free of SG Command and DC-bound.

Sam or Jack are Tortured/Abused (but it ends happily)

Primary Emotion: After seventeen weeks of torture in a Goa'uld prison, Samantha Carter is rescued by SG-1. In the time that follows she must relearn how to relate to her team, reassess her relationships with both herself and others, and decide whether or not she'll continue to step through the Stargate. Luckily she's got the benefit of a good psychologist and the love of a great man.

Character: SG1 is kidnapped by an alien king who needs Sam to perpetuate his bloodline & will do anything to possess her. The team must find a way to escape before she pays the ultimate price for her defiance. 

Compos Mentis: After Colonel O'Neill is stranded on a seemingly friendly planet, it's up to his team to rescue him. Who they find, though, isn't the man they left behind.

Crawl from the Chasm: After Jack's experiences in Ba'al's Abyss, he struggles to find peace. Angsty Jack/Sam Ship.

After All: They’d been trapped for a month. He’d been tortured within an inch of her life. And then their roles had been reversed.

All We Need of Hell: Jack is captured and tortured and when he returns, he just doesn’t see the point in following the regs anymore--Sam is essential. And he convinces her to forget the regs, too. (Dark fic). (chap 2)

Aliens Made Them Do It

Auctions and Consequences: Slavery has been abolished for good reason, but apparently not everyone got the memo… landing Sam and Jack in hot water.

Auction and Reaction (sequel to the above): Jack manages to get himself captured and Sam is sent to negotiate for his freedom. Unfortunately, the matriarch in charge of the male slaves is unconvinced of her claim and threatens to keep Jack as her personal slave.

Relief: How they'd managed to gate to a planet right in the middle of their annual fertility festival was beyond him.

in doorways and dreams i run to you: They had stepped through the gate together. They were looking for something.Light.There had been a blinding light and then nothing. Nothing but the heat and the taste of his skin on her lips. And now he was on his knees and she wasn't stopping him from sliding a hand underneath her.

Beautiful Far Away: While on a routine exploratory mission, Colonel Jack O'Neill and Captain Samantha Carter get caught up in a children's game that turns out to be the beginning of Rorilian marriage rites. When seismic activity starts to rock the village, the local leaders demand the ritual be seen through to its natural conclusion to avoid further angering their gods. Sam's equipment suggests the tremors are caused by an unidentifiable metal, but her science seems to be a point of contention amongst the leaders. She's convinced she needs just a little more time to figure out what is happening on the planet. Unfortunately, that means she's jumping into a ritual marriage with her new commanding officer. What could possibly go wrong?

Xanadu: The team travels offworld to take care of some mining negotiations, only to meet with an unanticipated challenge on P3X-427.

5 Times Fic

Five Times Jack Sees Sam Out of Uniform

The Nature We Leave Behind Us: 5 Times Daniel (and Teal’c) find out or suspect about Sam and Jack

Five Times Jack Came Close to Breaking the Frat Regs with Sam

Desperation: 5 times Jack kisses Sam

Ambient: 3 morning-afters that they miss and 1 they don’t.

5 missing ship scenes from s9/s10

5 times jack asked sam out and 1 time he didn’t have to

Stranded/Retired/Moved Off-World

My Scars Healed (aka the Cottage AU): Abandoned off-world, living is about more than just survival.

In Media Res: When Sam and Jack are taken captive and put to work in a mining camp, that turns out to be the least of their troubles. Forced by circumstance to live in close proximity, their time as captives has consequences neither one foresees.

Compliance: The end comes fast. One moment it’s a normal day with paperwork and bad coffee and the next it’s a scramble for the event horizon as the Mountain comes down around them. The base empties out with surprising efficiency, and by the time Jack hangs up the red phone on the last conversation he’ll ever have with the President, only Carter and Daniel and a couple techs are still in the gate room, the last of the supplies being sent through to their fall back site.

I Love It When a Plan Comes Together: Dear Airline, I was marooned on an alien planet…

And then I dreamt of yes: The universe has really bad timing, but neither Sam or Jack is ready to give it the last word. 

The Final Straw: Sam's injured and trapped off-world. 

Twilight: General O'Neill gets ansty to do some Gate travel, but a natural phenomenon on another world causes problems and changes things

Bird Stealing Bread: Jack had actually imagined being stranded off-world quite a few times. But he really, really, really hadn't counted on being stranded off-world with Sam. And Pete.

Under the Sun: ABANDONED FIC BUT IT’S SO GOOD. When lightning strikes the DHD and strands Sam and Jack alone on a planet, they must rely on one another to get through until help can arrive. Soon, though, they discover they're not alone on the planet and things change. Suddenly they're thrust into local politics and Sam is drafted to help save the locals' lives. Perhaps, if they play their cards right, all of it can help them get home.

Total AU

String Theory: Dr. Samantha Carter joins the SGC and discovers a life she never expected.

Imprimatura: Even in a completely different reality, where a strictly enforced color-based caste system stands between them, some things remain the same.

How to Start a Fire: She denies it's physical attraction. He denies it's anything but. Sam/Jack. Changeling Universe.

Convergence Series: Jack O’Neill is a man waiting to die, and she’s the only one brave enough not to look away.

Right as rain: Jack never went on the Abydos mission. Charlie never died. But when Jack accidentally activates a device that Kawalsky brings by the Academy, he catches the interest of a certain Major Carter. Soon he finds himself in for one hell of a ride, and if aliens and space travel and weird DNA weren't crazy enough, he might actually be falling in love with a theoretical astrophysicist...

The Dating Game: Catherine Langford had been instrumental in getting AU Sam/Jack together in There But For The Grace of God

Defining Family: Set after "Ripple Effect". What happens to Janet and the rest of the alternate SG-1 team after the episode? How does it affect our reality?

Worlds Apart: An Ancient device sends Jack and Sam to a world where everything is just a little bit... wrong. Why? Can they cope with the differences? And, most importantly, can they find their way back?

I don’t know what to categorize these as but they’re amazing

Deep City Lights: He picks her up in a blue convertible. (Road trip fic where they say ‘fuck the regs’ and then remember the regs)

we build then we break (and build up again): Sam’s last mission on SG-1, and the life that follows.

the slow revelation of self: In the beginning there was sex. And it was good.

untitled: on a mission, sam and jack are painting their mark on a wall.

things not dreamed: Daniel doesn't understand their need to fly. 

Cultural Drift: Six days before the shit hit the fan and nothing was ever the same again, Daniel fell over a tablet on P3X-324. That was two years ago.

Concentric Unto Thee: Her attempts at normality have never worked before, and Jack won't stand for any attempts to apply the logic of command to their relationship.

the lesson: Jack and Sam haven’t wasted the three years they’ve been cut off from Earth…and though the price is high, they manage to teach that lesson to another couple who badly needed to learn it. 

Escape Pod: "I just need," shift, "to move," shift, "a little." (Accidental Stimulation fic) Tonight: It's been too many years of it, the death, the resurrection, the sheer and aching loneliness, the hurt that comes from walking away.

Rocket Fuel: Sam and Jack get together after Heroes but also AU + Christmas.

Home Economics:  He would never have imagined that the biggest problem Sam Carter would have with his house would be his toaster.

Atlantis/Continuum

Gravity Always Wins in the End: After Sam is held hostage, Jack takes an impromptu trip to Atlantis.

Backlit:  Carter turns 43 years old on day 6 of a 14-day run to P98-007 aboard the General Hammond. The only events that mark the occasion are the little note Daniel must have stuffed into her pack before she left, a cheerful "Happy Birthday, Ma'am" from her second over a morning cup of coffee, and a long stare at herself in the mirror after she washes her face before bed. It's not like she expected more.

Yesterday’s Life: She feels frayed and faded, like a scrap of fabric accidentally discarded and forced to weather the elements. S/J, spoilers for Stargate: Continuum.

Distance: Sam contemplates the difficulties of a long distance relationship with Jack on Valentine's Day...

Post-Series

Look Again Into Your Heart: It's not that cold, not by the standard of some of the places she's been in the last decade or so of her life, but then again, she's not used to braving the weather in heels and an evening dress.

Follow the Star of the North: When Jack talked about losing himself in Minnesota, Sam never really understood the appeal.

Radio Silence: “It’s Mitchell.”He grabbed the phone out of her hand, smiling at the horrified expression on her face when he flicked it open and held it to his ear.“This is General O’Neill. Is the world ending?”

Rainy Days: Sam and Jack spend a rainy day at the cabin

The Lies You Feed Yourself: They simply aren’t part of each other’s worlds anymore. They haven’t been for years. Jack and Sam three years after they leave the SGC.

Bygones: He's a man of few words. Sam, however, wants to hear a couple of specific ones - at least once. It takes another woman to help her understand just how her husband communicates. 

Twelve Years Two Weeks: She had finally 'switched off'. It had taken her a few days to rid herself of the itch that she was neglecting a to-do list the size of her arm.

DC Series: SG-1 is moving on, but Sam is standing still.

Interlude: Jack turns up unexpectedly, and he and Sam make an important decision.

fly me to the moon: Jack is baffled. What do you do for a woman's 40th birthday when she routinely explores alien planets, has blown up a sun, and raced in the Loop of Kon Garat? Give her the moon of course. 

Folding a Map: Distance makes Jack an unhappy camper.

Taur’i Whispers: "He likes her throaty laugh. He likes that her voice has dropped and softened in the years he's known her." - Sam/Jack, romance and a bit of angst and hurt/comfort

Blue Dark: The sun’s barely peeking above the horizon and already she’s up, perched on a stool at the breakfast bar in his kitchen, her index finger circling the rim of her coffee cup.“And we have to go to this?” she asks, taking a sip of the hot beverage.

Un-fish: “Caught any un-fish?” she asked softly.Their lives would never be normal because of little things like fish that were or were not there and sometimes he wondered who had done what exactly to his pond to drive the fish away. He knew better than to ask, unwilling to listen to her explain to him the various possibilities of… whatever.

Real Life: This was what she'd been waiting for, held out for all those years. Someone -- him -- to come home with every night, to sink into after saving the world or spending three days dug in on an alien planet with fifty-odd Jaffa between her team and the 'gate, someone who knew just how she liked to be touched... She rolled onto her back, offering sleepy kisses when his lips crossed hers, sighing when his wandering hands brushed across her belly... 

[popculturespiritwow]

THE WICKED + THE DIVINE #27: OB-SESSION

After many months, I’m back! Sorry for the long silence. Life=Crazy=Sorry.

I’m planning over the next couple weeks to post summaries of the rest of Imperial Phase I & II and then hopefully I’ll catch up soon after that. It’s hard to believe there’s only a few more issues left. (Nooooooooooo.)

I’ve actually held off reading the most recent couples issues until I’ve gotten back onto this, so if as we go you’re wondering how it is I don’t already know this or that, that is how. I think the last issue I read had all kinds of crazy reveals about Baal. Speaking of which...

BAALER (I Hate Myself for this Title But There You Are)

The big reveal of issue 27 is that Baal has some kind of magic super secret voodoo he can use to stop the Great Darkness. It builds on last issue, where we learned he’d not only been previously briefed on the GD by Ananke but seen his father murdered by it. It’s also the beginning of another shoe dropping, except we don’t really know what gets squished beneath it for another eight issues and two specials and like a year of reading time so it doesn’t seem like a shoe so much as a hmm, that’s mysterious, I’m sure it’s fine, shall we rave then?

I love the visual structure of this page, the way it uses repetition to express the passage of time and also distance to simultaneously demonstrate our own distance as readers from whatever horrible nightmare things are going on and to minimize those events. (It’s so small; whatever it is, it couldn’t be that bad, could it?)

(Baal, what have you done...)

I also like how Baal’s “reassurance” to Mini repeats his mother’s words from last issue--“It is what it is,” but then adds on in a way that sounds like the sort of ‘steel yourself for nightmares’ mantra learned from everyone’s favorite grandmonster. Even as it gives Baal an adult-sounding stoicism, it also makes him sound like a little boy. 

And speaking of Baal’s complicated relationships with children: Had we been told before now that Mini ascended just a month after him? It strikes me as a brilliant move on Ananke’s part. Right from the start she’s set up her replacement self as a little sister for Baal to protect.

Two issues in a row we’ve got Mini as the seeming target of the Great Darkness bug fiesta. Is that because it knows who she really is/will be? Is the GD somehow in league with Ananke, and the attacks on Mini are just another way of keeping everyone thinking of her as Everybody’s Favorite Divine Lil Sis? Or does this, too, have something to do with Baal? Could it be that it’s actually Baal and not Laura that is well and truly cursed?

TOPOGRAPHICAL FLUIDITY

The heart of issue 27 is the five double-page spreads in which the standard left to right, up to down of Western comic storytelling slowly breaks down. On the first splash we’ve got a Laura/Sakhmet story riding the top, then the lower three quarters of each page telling their own stories (though really it’s the continuation of Baal’s story from page one to two). The second spread flips the structural arrangement, but now the left and the runner are continuing a story while on the right page we’re with Laura and Baph and Laura’s sister and ow oh God that hurts to read. 

The pages continue to shift and change from there, with one section always following Laura, at least one following Dio/Cass at the rave, and the other one or two checking in on what other characters are up to.

The thing I love about the approach is how it speaks to the disintegration within the group that Laura ordained with her choice of “Anarchy” last issue.  We’re not in complete collapse by any means, we can definitely follow the narratives, but the idea that these characters are starting to go in different directions is literally demonstrated in the structure of the page.

And also in the way the pages alter the visual language of Dio’s earlier rave (from issue 8). We’ve got the same 16 block grid structure, but it’s twice as dense; now every block contains an actual story panel, as compared to half for most of 8, with the other half used for the ongoing rave 1-2-3-4 countdowns.

Whereas issue 8′s dance pages had a sort of expansiveness, a sense of the rave as the overriding context that the story panels are just a part of, in 27 we’ve lost all that. In fact the rave is only one small part of what’s going on, even as its grid and color frames remain. (It’s interesting to see the rave visual style used as well for what precedes and follows it; it’s like the energy of the rave is starting to bleed out beyond the confines in which it makes sense.)

It’s also worth noting the rave in issue 8 ends with different members of the Pantheon one after another finishing Dionysius’ sentence, as though all one person. Another great contrast with the never-united narratives of issue 27.

But you know, even seeing how issue 27 offers an intensifying deterioration of the rave joy feel of issue 8, I still easily get lost in the visual dance of its two page spreads. I think it’s those bright frames; they just read to me as “fun”. (Apparently I’d be all good living in a prison camp as long it was decorated with Christmas lights.)

One moment does really snap me out of it, though:

No matter how bad things have gotten, Drunk Child Star Mini feels very unexpected. Plus who is she talking to? The camera team? Herself? Ananke Within?

(Actually, going back to issue 8 I realize we get a similar moment where out of the blue the story cuts to Minerva, talking directly to the camera with that same combination of ‘Don’t mind me.” and “Life sucks.”

So she’s almost certainly talking to their documentary squad.)

Mini drinking is not the worst thing we see in these pages by any means.

Ow. Ow. Oh God, Oh God it hurts.

But somehow that Mini moment (that mini Mini?) (#sorrynotsorry) is the moment I find most off key.

ONE MORE ONE MORE TIME

Hmm. That comparison between the two Mini moments has got me thinking...

You know, give me a second...

*time passes*

So hey, I’m back. I just went back through the rave in issue 8. Here are some of its major beats:

Dio tries to help Laura let go.

Laura becomes a part of everything going on.

Laura talks about her family and sketches them in light.

Cassandra cannot connect. 

Sakhmet and Laura look each over and then start dancing together.

Woden watches.

Mini is left out.

The Morrigan warns Laura about getting too into Baphomet.

Everyone unites around Dio’s thought of making people’s lives better, because the end is coming soon.

Each of those beats is returned to issue 27.

Dio tries to help Cassandra let go.

Laura tries to disconnect from everything that’s happened.

Laura thinks about when she got Baphomet to create an illusion of her family.

Cassandra finally connects, saying “You’re full of stars”, which is what Laura said to her at the rave in issue 8. But then she rejects the connection.

Laura, now with Sakhmet, wonders what’s the worst thing she could do to her.

Woden watches. (Jamie uses the very same image.)

Mini is still left out, and now drinking. 

Laura gets too into Baphomet, and now Baphomet is locked away with the Morrigan.

Cassandra rejects the connection.

There’s a little more in each rave than that (Woden plotting, Woden calling for a hook up, Baal and Inanna), but you gotta love the way the parallels show those stories having progressed (and not for the better).

(Also, I know Dio is on life support at this point, but man it feels like there should be one more cast rave, doesn’t it? Jonesing for my rule of threes.)

LOCK STEP

In the final pages we shift to two pages of a sort of call and response; on the left side we get David telling us what’s “really going on”, aka in year two the gods lose it, and on the right we cut back to each god in their own version of doing that, and ending on the punch line of Cassandra.

She’s the one god who seems to have her head well and truly on straight, the adult in the room, but here she is just staring silently at what has been her white whale the whole issue, Ananke’s Murderous Mystery Machine.

Gillen’s notes on this moment are familiar, chilling and wonderful:

Comrade Rossignol, my old partner in crime, game developer and co-writer on The Ludocrats, and I have a line we tend to quote to one another. It’s a paraphrase of a quote from Ballard: ‘My advice to anyone in any field is to be faithful to your obsessions. Identify them and be faithful to them, let them guide you like a sleepwalker.’

We quote it as: ‘Stay true to your obsessions and your obsessions will be true to you.’

It’s basically been our respective careers’ magnetic north, but there’s certainly times when I wonder how good it’s proved for us as human beings.

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE

You could easily go from Cassandra staring silently up to the spooky final full page spread of her white whale itself. But instead Gillen gives us an extra six panel page first. It seems puzzling; we don’t really need to have David ask “Are you okay?” We already know that Cass isn’t, and that she doesn’t know it.

But for me what makes that page so important is that it gives the other Norns the chance to ask David about their own fate. Imperial Phase I has taken Skuld and Verdandi from silent back-up singers to real emotional partners with Cass, indeed the dominants to her submissive. By presenting us with the question of their fate we’re reminded of the fullness of their humanity; their lives are just as valuable as that of Cass.

Their question also plays very much to Gillen’s comment about the destructive impacts of artistic obsession. These gods don’t just hurt themselves; they put their families, their fans, their friends at risk. What will Skuld and Verdandi do when those dangers come for them, one wonders...?

[felicityb-reviews]

Experimental SHINee - Feature Spotlight

Hello babies, and welcome to the next Feature Spotlight in the SHINee Spotlight series!! My name is Jace (aka Felicity B), and today we're gonna be taking a slow drive through SHINee's more experimental era. This era in SHINee's career actually features my first SHINee comeback (Dream Girl, dahlings), so I am The Most Excited™ for this FSL!! It feels like Dream Girl dropped ten years ago, rather than just five, but I guess that's what K-Pop does to you.

And in case anyone is wondering why I'm going in reverse chronological order, it's because 1of1 and Misconceptions of Me are my favorite SHINee albums.

Era Spotlight

So, I cheated. I really should have featured from DxDxD in this list instead of ones from FIVE, but I don't really like DxDxD!?!??! It's literally my least favorite SHINee album, sis. FIVE, to be frank with you all, fit more in line with the '90s 5HINee era, but it also fits in this experimental era pretty well.

The name of the game here is experimental, folks. SHINee must have gotten a little bored after they decided to go RnB again after LUCIFER. The bulk of the songs on this list were released in 2013, a year that SHINee really pushed the boundaries of who they were as a group, and I almost kind of miss it. Granted, I loved the maturity in sound they came back with on Odd and 1of1 (the former more than the latter, tbh), but this experimental phase was just a fun time to be a SHINee fan. This list includes songs from both Misconceptions albums, the Everybody mini album, and the previously mentioned Japanese album FIVE.

Spoiler (Misconceptions of You ~Dream Girl~)

Gurl... SHINee was not fuckin' around with us with Spoiler.

Spoiler is a song that Jonghyun wrote incorporating all the song titles from the Misconceptions series in the lyrics. And sis, I was like, "This is cute, or whatevahs!!" when he spoiled the tracklisting for Misconceptions of You, but when Misconceptions of Me dropped and we found out he spoiled that too?!?!?! My wig wasn't just lopsided, she was free floating in space.

SHINee really fucking Did That™ with Spoiler, sis.

Spoiler sounds like someone took Sherlock, and turned her into a vampire. Spoiler is Sherlock's darker and more seductive older sister. It's kind of interesting how they kicked off the Misconceptions series with Spoiler, a song that starts out like their previous title track, but with a dark twist. It's almost like they were making a statement, sis. This SHINee is New and Improved™ SHINee. This SHINee is Upgraded™ SHINee. SHINee 2.0, if you will. We snatched you with RnB/Funk, we snatched you with EDM, and now we're gonna snatch you with both. Enjoy!!

Symptoms (Everybody)

I imagine sex feels like what listening to this song feels like.

Symptoms is an eletro-RnB song that sounds like it was snatched right from the Billboard Top 40. Which doesn't surprise me, because it was produced by the Underdogs (who also produced EXO's Overdose, another song that's dripping in that Top 40 sound from the time). Symptoms is a song that starts out loud and proud; it gives you Drama™, and it gives zero fucks about it. She looks at you without a care in the world and says, "My name is Symptoms, what did you expect!?!?! A cutesy pop track?!?!?! Boi, if you don't get!!"

And mind you, that's what I love about ha.

I fucking love a SHINee song that gives us all the bells and whistles, because they really don't have to. Look at Odd Eye - she's as stripped back as it gets for RnB midtempos, but SHINee still Shine Bright Like A Diamond!! But here's the thing - these dramatic ass niggas love songs like these. You can't tell me these SHINee boys don't love a beat with all the bells and whistles; the way they always come correct on songs like these says it all.

Become Undone (FIVE)

Speaking of songs that lack bells and whistles, Become Undone is not one of them. You'd have to be a Fool™ to think a song titled Become Undone on a Japanese record could be a toned down track.

These types of songs are usually the most dramatic.

Become Undone is an angsty song. She's a song I can see playing during a scene where an anime protagonist has to make an extremely hard decision. Like, intentionally stepping into a trap to save your friends, or deciding between saving your loved ones or the world (don't look at me like that, you guys have seen Sailor Moon).

The main star of the show here is the chorus. That's true of most pop songs, but especially so for Become Undone. She features The SHINee Specialty™ (their ridiculous ability to blend their harmonies together like fuckin' buttah), the trap beats presented in the verse kicked up 10,000 for Maximum Drama™, and orchestral stabs that tie everything together. Become Undone has one of the most emotionally satisfying choruses I've heard in a pop song. Sis, I'm literally the INTENSIFIES meme listening to this song, it's just so good.

I'm really glad that groups like SHINee have had the pleasure of working with a Japanese team to release music in Japan, because it allows them to play with their sound in a way that they can't in Korea. And that's not to say that SHINee haven't played with their sound in Korea (this FSL is literally on the era they experimented with their sound the most), but there's certain sounds and textures that are specifically J-Pop in feel, and it's really cool to see a group like SHINee tap into that.

Orgel (Misconceptions of Me ~Why So Serious~)

Okay sis, now we're actually bringing it down a notch. Not for long, but I figured y'all could use a break, even if it's short lived.

Orgel is a song that's quite similar to Odd Eye in the fact that it's SHINee driving the song with their vocal performance, and the beat is going along for the ride. Orgel also features a melody that sounds like a something you'd hear in a music box, and while that motif is quite overused in pop music, it doesn't make Orgel feel played out. It's just a really pretty song from five really pretty boys.

Orgel is a really neat song, because even though SHINee are driving the song with their voice, they're really not doing a whole lot on the beat. Their vocal performance on Orgel is subtle in the same way the beat is (or rather, as subtle as these boys get), but they still stand out. It's an interesting experience, sis.

Queen of New York (Everybody)

Now this is A Song™, sis.

Queen of New York feels very lounge cafe, sis; she's very "let me sip my expensive coffee drink while I read the latest copy of Cosmo or OK! Magazine". Queen of New York is also very much something the drag queens are voguing to at the local gay club. Miss Queen of New York is a woman of many moods, okay?!?!?!

Queen of New York was a very fun surprise, because I don't think anyone was expecting a song quite like this on the Everbody mini album. She's very edgy, but in a way that you don't expect songs described as "edgy" to sound. Queen of New York has a very polished feel to her, but there's a dirtiness to her that you can't tame. She's a proper Upper Middle Side woman, but she's not afraid to take a walk on the wild side. She's not afraid to show you how to get down, and I just love that so much.

One Minute Back (Everybody)

This is also A Song™, babes.

One Minute Back is grungy, sis. She's not a proper Upper Middle Side woman, she's a punk rock/biker girl with a flair for the dramatic. Ain't nothin' polished here, ladies!! Well, SHINee's vocals are pretty polished, but that's a given. I've never heard a SHINee song where the vocals weren't produced to a T.

But despite that, Ms One Minute Back and Ms Queen of New York are happily married!!

One Minute Back, like Queen of New York, was a song I was pleasantly surprised to hear on Everybody. One Minute back has such grungy verses, but then the chorus and the bridge are so Funky and so SHINee. BUT THE TWO DIFFERENT VIBES BLEND TOGETHER LIKE IT'S NOTHING!! It's such an aurally pleasing experience, you guys!! The reason I compared One Minute Back to Queen of New Year is that they're both marry these two moods to amazing results. I mean, Queen of New York doesn't fully commit to the grunginess, but there's enough of it lying below the surface that it's worth mentioning.

ABOAB (FIVE)

Ms ABOAB is a Bad Bitch™. She's a Boss Bitch™. She has no time for your games, boo. Ms ABOAB is a brazen ElectroFunk number that makes no apologizes.

If SHINee wanted to make a record like Everybody for the Japanese market, ABOAB would have been the title track/lead single. Miss ABOAB is spicy. She's seductive. Miss ABOAB is full on club bounce, and I McFucking L O V E when SHINee do those kinds of songs. There's just something so sexy about them working that club vibe, sis. I lowkey wasn't ready for ABOAB, but she really didn't care. She mesmerizes with the way she flits between emphasizing her Funk and Electro elements.

And that damn drop with the horn line... BITCH!! My wig has been compromised.

Runaway (Misconceptions of You ~Dream Girl~)

Runaway is another ElectroFunk track, but brighter and poppier in a way that contrasts ABOAB quite nicely. It's no less fun and club ready, tho.

Runaway is mainly driven by a punchy synth stab and SHINee's very fun usage of their vocal harmonies. While Miss ABOAB would whip ha weave in ya face if you ever tried to talk to her, Miss Runaway would make silly faces at you and coax you into doing silly dances. I, always and forever, wanna see SHINee in concert, but I especially wanna see Runaway and ABOAB performed live, because they always do these types of club ready tracks Just Right™.

Hitchhiker (Misconceptions of You ~Dream Girl~)

Because God Knows^™ these boys can't not give us a track that channels the very essence of MJ and his weave.

If Spoiler was too gimmicky of a sequel to Sherlock for you, then Hitchhiker is your song. Hitchhiker, to me, sounds like the perfect representation of this era in SHINee's discography - let's take what we already do well and marry it to a whole new palette of song styles/textures, and see what sticks.

And lemme tell you somethin' - Hitchhiker sticks like fucking glue. Remember what I said about SHINee loving the bells and whistles that comes with doing over the top songs?!?!?! That's in full effect here, sis. Hitchhiker is anthemic as all fuck, and these boys ride that beat like they were made for it. And to be completely, I have no doubt in my mind that they were.

Nothing to Lose (FIVE)

So who else was expecting to get something hella grungy like Natalia Kills' Break You Hard or Seventeen's Clap with how hard that guitar was filtered?!?!?! I can't be the only one here.

Nothing to Lose bait and switches us with that dark n grungy guitar riff, because the majority of the song is rather bright n poppy. But I really can't be mad, because I rather liked the way they transitioned the darker sections into the brighter ones. And Nothing to Lose is pure octane fun. It's kind of a hard song to hate, because it gives zero fucks about how cutesy and cheesy it is.

There's also a rather nice helping of Funk thrown into the mix, but I'm gonna pretend that that had nothing to do with much I like this song. Even though it's what makes me like it the most.

Punch Drunk Love (Misconceptions of You ~Dream Girl~)

Punch Drunk Love channels Love Like Oxygen like SHINee's producers were in the studio intentionally trying to produce a sequel to the song. And if you know anything about me, you know that Love Like Oxygen is literal auditory C R A C K for my black ass. Punch Drunk Love also sounds like SHINee's writers held a seance and channeled MJ's spirit when they were writing the song for the boys.

And y'all already K N O W I'm here for that shit.

Punch Drunk Love is the SHINee Five™ on autopilot, sis. SHINee will never not know how to come correct with a Funk song, and it warms my heart. The attitude, the harmonies (THE BUMBACLOT HARMONIES), the overall feel of the song; SHINee gets it right. If you ever needed a pickmeup, then put on SHINee's Punch Drunk Love, and thank me later. This is another song that is unabashedly cheesy, but gives absolutely zero fucks about it.

Isn't it beautiful!?!?!?

Evil (Misconceptions of Me ~Why So Serious~)

Evil can be summed by in two words - Drama and Killer Harmonies.

That's technically three, but you know what the fuck I meant.

Evil is SHINee at their most dramatic. I remember Shawols losing their collective minds at the fancams from the concert performances where they wore blindfolds.

Yes, you read that correctly. These dramatic ass motherfuckers were performing on stage with blindfolds on. They were, more than likely, see through blindfolds, but never doubt SHINee's collective love of the Drama™. They absolutely would dance completely blindfolded.

Evil starts out slow, but I very much doubt that many of us thought the song was gonna stay that way; SHINee were just building the atmosphere (read - creating the perfect environment to torch our weaves). Evil has an almost musical theater vibe to it, except not nearly as cheesy. Evil is honestly a one of a kind experience that we all need in our lives at some point.

Especially because SHINee were on their harmonic A game the day they recorded Evil. When the drums drop out and it's just the orchestral stabs with their voices?!?!? Fuckin' magic, ladies.

Like A Fire (Misconceptions of Me ~Why So Serious~)

We all Know™ Like A Fire, because of that one performance where Jonghyun, Kibum, and Jinki were having a contest to see whom tf could be the most extra (to be honest, I'd say Kibum won, based purely on the fact that I didn't even know he could wail like that). But Like A Fire stands firm on her own by being a wickedly good Funk song.

(Sidenote - I'm about 90% this list has more Funk tracks than my '90s 5HINee FSL, and I want you all know that that was not on purpose. I wont be changing it, but I swear it wasn't done purposefully!!)

Like A Fire, like Punch Drunk Love, is SHINee on autopilot. I don't know what else to say about this song. It's just so Classic SHINee™, sis!! The verses have a more somber, minor tone to them, but the choruses transition (maybe that's a modulation, I'm not Musically Advanced™ enough to make that call) into a killer major groove that is just so beautiful to listen to. I don't know anyone who doesn't like this song. Liking Like A Fire is a requirement for being a Shawol (especially a Shawol of color). If you don't like Like A Fire, you're invalid.

I need to say something about these harmonies and ad libs, tho. Did the producer of Like A Fire tell the SHINee Boys™ to go HAM the day they were laying down tracks for Like A Fire?!?!?! Did they mean for the harmonies and ad libs to get this over the top!?!?! I'm not complaining, I just wanna know. Because the harmonies and ad libs, especially, are so ridiculous!! I love every second of it, but sometimes it K I L L S how extra this song is!!

Diamond Sky (FIVE)

The first time I ever listened to this song, I cackled like a banshee at how extra that intro was, because it's so SHINee. It's so dramatic, and it suits SHINee to a T. I was expecting the verses to be some Final Dragon type shit, or somethin'!!!

Diamond Sky is pretty standard fare for a J-Pop song, imo. It doesn't stop me from loving SHINee's take on it (and it shouldn't stop you), but it's worth mentioning; SHINee + J-Pop = Love. Like I mentioned above, I'm glad that SHINee were able to continue releasing music in Japan, because this is a style of music that suits them well, but would not do well in Korea at all.

Diamond Sky feels like the theme song for a magical girl anime. The twinkly pianos, complemented by the strings and electric guitar give it an air of grandiosity that would have made it a perfect theme or insert song for Sailor Moon. If they had added a modulation at the end for Maximum Drama™, I'd have lost my shit.

Close the Door (Everybody)

Firstly, if you haven't watched the SHINee World IV performance where Jinki tap dances to Close the Door, I'm judging you. Our sweet dubu leader did not bless us with such beauty and grace for you to ignore it!!

Secondly, Close the Door is the cheesiest love song I've ever encountered in K-Pop. It's got the romantic sounding keys, the strings, it's in 6/8 time (perfect for a waltz, babies), the lyrics are so sugary sweet, and the chord progressions utilize mostly major chords. And you know what, I absolutely fucking love it. I'm a cheesy Romantic Gay™, and I fucking love this cheesy ass love song. It's just so aurally pleasing, especially since these SHINee boys all have voices that blend together amazingly when they harmonize. Sue me.

Sleepless Night (Misconceptions of Me ~Why So Serious~)

SHINee ballads are a wonderful, amazing thing, you know?!?!? Especially when they don't give us the typical classical ballad, but go a little left field into something jazzy or RnB. Which is what they do with Sleepless Night.

This week's playlist features a lot of songs that are extremely over the top, sis. And I mean, we've discussed this; these SHINee boys love the drama of it all. But they also love lowkey songs like Sleepless Night. You'd be able to tell if they didn't with a song this stripped back and bare. Sleepless Night is literally the SHINee boys (and their amazing harmonies), a piano, and some strings. And it's fucking amazing. There are quite a few songs from SHINee that I want to experience live, but I think Sleepless Night tops the list. Well, that and Wish Upon A Star, but I'm sure I'd cry my fucking eyes out listening to that. I mean, I might cry my eyes out to Sleepless Night, but there's less of a chance there.

I've accepted that I'm a boring bitch who lives for a good ballad (the amount of ballads I've had to listen to for my RRUs has definitely proven this), but there's nothing quite like a good SHINee ballad, sis. There ain't never been a SHINee ballad that I didn't like.

And that's all for this week's list, loves!! Please tune in next week for the next era in my SHINee Spotlight series, Contemporary SHINee ver.2!! And don't forget to tune in Wednesday for my next Review Roundup, featuring songs released this week!!

Love you, guys!!

[dangitgrandpav3imagines]

Ndrv3 boys getting their baby to stop crying? It can be tough if their s/o has to step in Welcome btw!

OH YE S 

this is gunna be hard because some boys are hard to write… For me its Korekiyo, sorta Rantaro, and maybe Kaito in this specific situation. And uh, i sorta took this more as “the boys trying to stop their baby from crying but it *usually* doesn’t work so s/o has to step in” Also I will specify baby genders. Also thanks, i’m new to this and have no idea what i’m doing. - Mod Himiko

Shuichi Saihara

* oh geez

* what does he do

* he tries to cradle the baby which usually works but this time it doesn’t even help

* he is very scared for himself and this baby right now because he can’t even make himself stop crying, how is he supposed to help this poor baby

* his s/o steps in, and sings the baby a beautiful lullaby, putting him to sleep. takes a couple of tries though.

* how

* why

* What is this black magic?

* where can i find it

Rantaro Amami

* he’s pretty calm about this situation actually

* his baby girl cries pretty often after all

* for some reason, this kid likes to be pat on the head or kissed when they are crying

* so he just kisses his precious child’s forehead

* if nothing works, his s/o has to calm the baby with her favorite toy

Kokichi Ouma

* ohohohoho

* he probably scares and amuses his baby at the same time

* she is a very loud crier, like her dad (except, his cries are usually not genuine)

* so, in typical Kokichi fashion, he tries to play games, and make his child laugh away the tears

* so this time he tried peek-a-boo

* it failed miserably

* he didn’t know why

* when his S/O came in, there was a crying Ouma and a crying child

* this man is a mess and so is his child by the age of 7

* his s/o had to make funny faces in order to make the child cheer up, and Kokichi was pretty damn pissed because he was basically doing the same thing

* “no more peek-a-boo for this week” kokichi reminded himself

Keebo/Kiibo/K1-B0

* he researched a lot about babies when Prof. Idabashi was creating his babies AI.

* he was very scared for having this baby

* but oh gee, the first time his child cried no matter how much he researched he wasn’t finding any good answers

* unlike him, his baby had a crying function so he was very… “unused” to this.

* he tries to say its going to be ok and such

* he also pokes the babies nose, but to no avail

* what do?

* his s/o saved the day, realizing his baby was crying because they were hungry

* yes they have a hunger system, and a way to eat

* idabashi really outdid himself

Korekiyo Shinguji Aka I cannot write this character: the imagine

* Korekiyo knew a lot about babies and how to take care of them

* but oh boy

* he never realized how hard it was to calm a baby down

* he thinks “what would my sister do?”

* no, not that

* what would s/o do?

* he told the baby bedtime stories

* it uh

* it worked a little, he supposed?

* when his S/O asked why his baby was crying he simply responded

* “i have no idea”

* just his s/o’s presence calmed the baby. ouch.

true gentleman 

Gonta Gokuhara

* Gonta did not know anything about how to raise a child

* he just assumed they would do it the way his wolf family did

* but S/O quickly shot that idea down

* so when his child started crying

* FULL GENTLEMAN MODE ACTIVATE

* he gives his baby girl flowers and pretty things

* it actually calmed her down without needing his s/o

funny how the one who knows the least calmed his baby down without S/O

Kaito Momota

* his boy was usually pretty silent and didn’t even cry coming out of the puss

* so when he started crying

* he knew something was wrong

* he tried to sing, cradle, and praise the baby as his mini-luminary, and best Kaito jr.

* it didn’t work

* his s/o was shocked even more about how their baby was crying

* his s/o later found out that the baby had a cut in their leg from tripping, and he got immediate bandages, kisses, and playtime to make up for it

Ryoma Hoshi

* hey the other character i can’t write well

* His baby girl didn’t cry all too much, but, oddly enough, cried over more small things than things like injuries, hunger, etc.

* He was just eating when suddenly a wail broke through the house

* “well shit” he thought to himself

* he went to his babies room, only to find a very sad and scared child

* you see, ryoma’s kid got really scared without her teddy bear or any plush toy really

* and it got lost

* shit

* it was later found behind the couch by his S/O

* his s/o’s a life saver, really

I HOPE I GOT ALL OF EM

I HOPE I AT LEAST GOT THEM SOMEWHAT IN CHARACTER

i’m very bad at writing

fun fact I actually really REALLY hate children under like, 8

especially babies

which is why this was a bit hard to write with the limited knowledge of a teenager - Mod Himiko

[tessatechaitea]

DC House of Horror #1, Part Two (AKA A Review of Netflix’s The Mist)

It looks like Batman is fucking Flash while Flash fucks Green Lantern while Green Lantern, covered in semen, jerks off a candle.

Here, a woman smells her fingers for some mysterious and sexy reason.

I'm sorry for that previous caption! The only reason I said it was probably sexy was because she is a woman and I'm objectifying her. I smell my fingers for decidedly non-sexy reasons all the time! If anybody is interested in my life away from my blog, you can visit me intellectually debating the guys at the weird science comic book review blog on their review of Deadman #1. I'd forgotten that they were supposed to be my nemeses! But I remembered! Oh how I remembered! The woman smelling her fingers has been possessed by Wonder Woman because she took part in a Milton Bradly sponsored seance.

See?! You probably thought I was being facetious about the chewing testicles part! It's a known fact!

It's too bad I just scanned two images so closely together because the next page contains a nipple and a bare butt! The nipple is in shadow but you can still see the shape of it! I don't know why I'm using an exclamation point for that revelation. Back in the pre-Internet days, it would have been a glorious find for a young kid. But now, it's as tame as if the panel depicted a basket of kittens. The girl possessed by Wonder Woman kills all of her friends and everybody she meets before getting home and killing her abusive father. She also says a bunch of stuff in Greek. I bet she's saying things like, "I'm here to kick ass and chew testicles! Mmm! So good!" Nope. I was wrong. The first thing Wonder Woman says after possessing the girl is "Where am I, witches?" Then she kills the witches. Later after her killing the girl's dad, she says, "The world of man is Hell. It is going to be a glorious war." Man's World Rating: Are these stories horrific? I guess so. Imagine if Superman were a confused toddler scared out of his wits when he arrived on Earth? He probably would kill everybody by accident in his fits of terror. And Wonder Woman suddenly coming to man's world without any context except what she's been told about why the Amazons can't leave the island? She'd be ready for some serious clean up! And she only killed the women at the beginning because they were obviously witches. Some women, you just can't trust. So you get what we had here in this story. I don't like it any more than you women.

[singingunderthecurtain]

Together For Real (ChanyeolxYOUxKris) Mini Series 1

Mini Masterlist

Picture not mine, found everything on Google

Author: @julietsoddeye AU: Canon/EXO Universe Genre: Angst | Fluff Pairing: Chanyeol x Reader x Kris Trigger Warning: Distrust, Feeling of Betrayal, basically some angsty stuff. Word Count: 2,036

Plot: You, an EXO manager, developed a dangerous relationship with Kris and one day he suddenly left EXO and it left you devastated. For some reason, you found yourself being in a relationship again with one of the boys. And it’s Park Chanyeol.You set boundaries with him, but he shamelessly breaks all the rules making you want to run away.

A/N: So like IDK if I should mark this as Mature. It has a bit of suggestive topics, but no smut at all. And this was supposed to be just a freaking oneshot but then I just keep writing and writing and ideas flow and I didn’t notice that it’s getting longer and longer lmfao. I wanted this to be just a 5K words one shot, but I’m already passed 5K and I’m still not in the climax of the stroy lmfaoooo. So yeah, here goes a mini series.Also a little back story: I intended for this fic to be another Threesome piece, but then I got tired of smut and lately I’ve been really obsessed with Angsty fics, so I turned it into Angst with a little bit of Fluff. hahahaha. hope you like it. XD Plus I think all Chanyeol did in this fic is cry, if you don’t like it then I’m sorry (no I’m not) lol

It wasn’t a strange thing that Idols and staff to hook up, as a matter of fact, it is kind of a thing that happens a lot since they are together almost 24/7 for days, weeks and even months on end. It was bound to happen because literally, their lives revolve around in the same business and each other. You just have to be discreet about it.

That’s why when Kris decided to leave EXO and SM finally; it was both good and bad news for you.

Good news because he was finally free from his misery. Mainly the reason why your relationship started was that because he needed someone to talk to. Sure, he was close friends with all of EXO, but he can’t complain to any of them about how the management mistreated him, not even the Chinese members. Especially not Tao, whom he was really close with. That kid was just naïve and happy. Among the Chinese members, he was spoiled, he was treated well because he was very young.

You found him one late evening, drinking and smoking alone while crying on the balcony of their dorm. You only went back because you forgot the documents you needed for the next day’s meeting. You were one of the managers for EXO and you left your document bag when you took them home. You were responsible for getting the boys of EXO home, along with a driver.

You wanted to scold him that day but you stopped yourself because he was still a year older than you are. It felt weird and you have no exact grip on him since you manage Jongdae. He still panicked though when he saw that you saw him and he begged you not to tell anyone.

Ever since then you both formed a friendship and eventually turned into something else. You weren’t official per se, but he treats you good. He treats you how a real man should. He treats you better than the last asshole you dated. The conversation and the sex were the best you’ve had in your life.

Bad news because it meant it was the end for the both of you. He didn’t even say anything to you when he left. Everyone, especially the EXO members were hurt when he decided to leave. But they didn’t know you were hurting the most. Because you were his emotional rock when he was struggling. You were patient with him and you were by his side always, listening to him when he can’t talk to his members.

The last time you both spoke to each other was a few months after he left. He kept apologizing and saying that he misses you a lot. You were silent most of the phone call, only answering a few ‘hmms’ or ‘yeahs’ while he talked. You know he only said those words to appease your silent strife. He knew you were upset but you chose not to speak up since you know the unspoken boundaries you both set for each other.

You understand why he left, but you never understood why he didn’t let you know of him leaving. You thought all those years of conversations out and in between the sheets, he would at least tell you of his plan. You knew this would happen; you were a witness when the three members of TVXQ and Han Geng left. You were just new to the company that time, and everyone was shaken because of it.

After Kris hangs up, you cried and didn’t notice that Chanyeol was just behind you all throughout the phone call and he heard everything clearly. From whom it was you were talking with and to the relationship you shared with Kris. At first, he was angry. Angry because you get to at least talk to Kris while the members didn’t even get a simple text message from him.

And that night was the start of the shitstorm that is Park Chanyeol.

Chanyeol’s demeanor towards you changed dramatically overnight. He was the playful and teasing kind, but with you, not anymore. From being friendly, he started being civil and professional around you. Nobody seemed to notice except you and it bothered you to a point where you have to confront him.

But when you did, he just scoffed and brushed you off as if you’re just nothing. He told you everything was fine and that you both should forget what happened.

So you did, you tried to mirror his attitude, which only took you a few weeks to succeed. But then you notice that he also started to look at you longingly, and sometimes judgingly. He seemed to always be in some kind of spell whenever you walk into a room he was in. But then he’ll snap back to life when he notices you’re looking back. He was hot and cold.

“What happened to Chanyeol?” Jae suddenly asks you, interrupting you from your intense focus on your shared TV. You and your roommate were catching up on your favorite TV show because you missed three weeks of it since you just got back from Europe. The EXO boys filmed in different places for their comeback.

“What happened to him?” You replied nonchalantly. You tried to ignore that she mentioned Chanyeol again.

“Like, why is he so mad at you? You were not the only one Kris called after leaving. “ Jae said as she puffed air to blow away a strand of hair on her face. Her right hand was greased with butter and popcorn bits, the other holding a can of beer.

The two of you finally get a well-deserved break after working non-stop for five weeks straight.

“What do you mean I wasn’t the only one who Kris called?” You scrunch your forehead and finally faced her with a big question mark forming on your face.

“After Kris called you, he called Luhan. I guess I forgot to tell you.” She shrugged her shoulders and grabbed a handful of her snack and popped it one by one inside her mouth. Luhan left SM 6 months after Kris did, but the difference between them was that Luhan told every one of his plans and most of the EXO boys supported his decisions.

You sighed, feeling tired all of a sudden and lazily focused your eyes back to the television, ignoring the fact that your friend forgot to tell you that one important detail. After a while, Game of Thrones suddenly seems uninteresting, you yawned and excused yourself, telling Jae you’re sleepy. She greets you good night as she promised you she will never spoil anything to you.

You smiled at her tiredly, convincing her that you’re sleepy. But the truth was, you just wanted to go to your room so you could wallow in self-pity while thinking about Kris again. It has been a year already, but you still can’t shake him off your head.

Soon enough sleep finally found your brain. You slackly stood up from your slump on the bed when your phone’s ringtone suddenly blares out. You jump up in surprise but moved on almost immediately after. You eye your phone and it was Youngjun, your team leader, aka the head of all EXO managers calling.

“Hello?” You answered attentively.

“Oh my gosh finally, somebody answered!” Youngjun groaned in triumph when he heard your voice. The alert in his tone suddenly wakes your mind up.

“What happened?” You replied immediately with concern.

“I know you’re on your day off, but I need you to go to the boys’ dorm. Chanyeol is home alone and very sick. Check if he needs to go to the hospital or not. I can’t go right now because I’m with Kyungsoo on the set. You were the first to answer the call!” Youngjun said in one long breath, explaining the situation.

“Okay, I will be there ASAP!” Your eyes widen when he said that Chanyeol is very sick. You dislike him for ignoring you but it’s still your job to cater to his needs. The moment Youngjun ended the call; you rapidly grab your messenger bag and hoodie from a corner in your room. You check the contents of the bag and were satisfied when all your necessary items are in there and stuff your phone inside.

When you got out of your room, Jae, the main person who was responsible for Chanyeol, is peacefully snoring on the sofa while the TV show continues to play. Her phone is always off whenever she’s on break, that’s probably why Youngjun cannot reach her. You sigh in defeat and decided to let her sleep for now and kick her ass later.

The boys’ dorm, thankfully was just a building away from your apartment. All the staff and artists live near each other so that when they need you, you’ll just cross the bridge that connects from building to building.

When you opened the door, you were met with silence. Where were they all could be, you think to yourself? Why did they leave Chanyeol alone, sick?

Chanyeol’s room was slightly ajar and dark. You pushed it silently and flicked the lights on. You saw him on his bed with his eyes closed, wearing nothing but a thin shirt and sweatpants. You closed the door behind you and dropped your bag on the floor as you make your way to him.

“Chanyeol…” You say as you shake his shoulders gently. His warm palms suddenly caged your wrist and you let out a slight shriek of surprise.

“Oh my God you scared me!” You say as you try to shake away from his strong grip.

Chanyeol unanticipatedly pulls you, making you lose your balance. He caught you just in time and his arm clenches tight around your waist. You are on top of him with your legs hanging off the edge of the bed.

“Chanyeol!” You said as you prop yourself up on the side with the hand that Chanyeol wasn’t holding.

“I knew Jae noona will not answer the call, I knew you’d come instead,” Chanyeol whispers, his warm breath blowing a lulling breeze on your face and you suddenly feel your cheeks heat up.

Without warning, Chanyeol twirls your body around, your back resting on the soft bed. He was pinning you down, his arms still around your waist with his legs in between your spread ones. You felt your middle suddenly enflames as his body blankets over you.

“What are you doing?” You question him silently, your voice weirdly sounded weak and small.

Chanyeol finally lets go of your wrist and his hand reach out to brush the strands of hair away from your face. The touch of his hand left a burning feeling on your skin as he trails your jaws and cup your neck with his warm palms.

You closed your eyes preparing for the pain that you thought he will inflict on you, but his hand suddenly slid on the nape of your neck and you felt his moist lips softly touch yours in a gentle kiss. He didn’t move for what felt like hours testing the waters, waiting if you will protest. When you didn’t shift at all, he finally moves his head to the side and presses harder on you to deepen the kiss.

Your skin started quivering when you felt his tongue brush delicately on your upper lip, asking for entrance. For some reason, you slightly open your mouth to respond and his tongue gracefully slithers its way to meet yours.

Chanyeol lets out a small moan from the back of his throat when you reach up your hand to run your fingers through his soft and silky hair. His hips start to gyrate skillfully, his boner growing and a wave of desire radiate through his hip movement straight to your core.

“Is this why you keep ignoring me?” You ask after you both pull away from each other’s kiss. Chanyeol inhales and exhales a deep breath before answering.

“Yes,” Chanyeol said, his eyes never leaving his gaze on you.

“You know you’re so unfair, I always blamed myself on why you hated me.” You closed your eyes and felt the strange pang in your chest grow as you breathe in and out through your mouth.

“I’m sorry I don’t know how to deal with my feelings for you. Kris Hyung always knew that I liked you, but he still came for you.” Chanyeol’s confession made you open your eyes to see water pooling around his tear ducts, threatening to fall. You can see the hurt in his eyes and your heart melted immediately.

“Chanyeol I—“ You struggle with your words as he closes his eyes and his tears trickles down his face and dripped on your cheeks, rolling down your neck.

[shirtlesssammy]

All Along the Watchtower: Just Stab Me with an Angel Blade Recap

Then:

Just as Cas has faith in the nephilim, we have faith this season was worth it. Carry on….

Now:

Our beautiful, blue-eyed angelic wavelength of celestial intent stares wondrously at Chuck’s mighty creation. It’s a sight to behold, and the mountains aren’t bad either. (I’ll be here all night!)

He turns from nature’s great view and heads towards a little run-down house, where Kelly Kline is inside struggling with her latest Ikea purchase, a new bed for her angelbaby. Cas finds her and reminds her that he said he’d put it together. “I’m very good at following instructions.” Lolz. Kelly is having pre-baby -Oh, right, this thing is going to kill me- jitters.  Cas reassures her that he will do whatever it takes to raise this baby.

Meanwhile, at Casa Bunker, Dean, Sam, and Mary are all reeling from the fact that Lucifer walks the Earth. They thought they almost had it all, but then got renewed for season 13. They blame Crowley (justly) for this current mess, but Crowley is dead. Dean will believe that cockroach is dead when he sees the body (crying small tears in the corner). Cue Night of the Living Dead hand and our favorite King of Hell emerging from his grave! Our strong predictions that Crowley smoked out to the nearby rat was spot-on. 

RAGE ALERT

JFC, show. Like will you ever fucking learn how to kill your women correctly (or maybe stop)? Boris is firmly in the camp that Rowena is not dead….or at least is 10 steps ahead of the game. Because this was a load of bullshit how she died. Rowena (and Ruthie!) deserved better than an off-screen death. Tl;dr: Lucifer killed Rowena, burned her to a crisp, and kept a lock of her hair. The boys call her and get Luci on the line instead. Sammy, I’m sorry you had to talk to that monster.

Cas and Kelly are back from a Target run. Cas, after learning that Everybody Poops, bought the store out of diapers. 

Classic dialog Alert:

Kelly:I’m just saying, the checkout guy looked at us like we were super weird.

Cas:You get used to it.

CAS!

Kelly then has a mini-contraction and while Cas helps her back to the house, she brushes the side of the truck leaving some babygrace behind.

At the bunker, Dean points out that they can’t kill or imprison Lucifer. Sam suggests finding Cas and Kelly, and keep them on the move before the baby is born. Mary wonders how they track Cas and Kelly. Sam exposits that anytime a nephilim is born, things get weird.

Cut to Cas heading to his backyard, and a glowing crack in space and time. He reaches out to touch it (WHY CAS WHY?), and gets sucked into an alternate world, where the sky flashes red, the wind blows grey dust, and the world is a barren wasteland of impaled bodies on spikes and ominous distant mountains. 

Cas is almost taken out by a horned demon, before he’s rescued by a familiar face.

Kelly records a video for her unborn child. More contractions!

At the bunker, research is slow. Sam makes it clear that “whatever this thing is going to be, it’s going to be big and bad.” In pops Crowley! “You rang? Hello boys.”

POW! Dean pops Crowley, knocking him out of his chair. Dean wants to kill him for letting Luci go, but Sam interjects. He might know the cage spell. It’s then then they not so ceremoniously break the bad news to Crowley that his dead mum is not dead. It’s here that Crowley admits some -only people who are going to die soon- truths. “I wanted to win. I perverted Mother’s spell, put Lucifer in a vessel of my own making because I wanted to win.” He was tired of others vying for his throne. One problem though: He hates it. He’ll always bet on the Winchesters though, and wants to make a deal: He’ll seal the gates of Hell, provided he stays Earth-side.

You know Kelly’s in serious contraction mode when she calls out for Cas using “Castiel.”

Sam locates a house in the Pacific Northwest rented out to one “James Novak”. Ah, I see Cas didn’t stick with his super smooth aliases then. The Winchesters are on the trail!

Meanwhile, Doula Castiel is coaching his expectant patient through the still very far apart pressure waves. (Ngl, I’m here for all the doula Cas AU fics. I need something fluffy this summer, damnit!) He took the class online, guys! 

Kelly asks Cas again when the nephilim showed him. He saw a world without pain or hunger or want (kind of like the world Amara wanted? Hmm.) It is a world without fear or suffering or hate. He saw paradise.

The throaty rumble of the Impala sounds outside and Castiel rushes downstairs to greet Dean, Sam, and Mary. (Boris notes: Cas only greets Dean.) “Is this place warded?” Dean demands. It’s gotta be strong enough to hold off Lucifer.

Dean’s pissed and promises to work out their issues later (sobs). Cas warns them that Kelly can’t be moved; she’s having the baby RIGHT NOW DUDES. Mary rushes off to check on her, for she is also a member of the childbirth sucks club.

They run through their options. Cas likely can’t channel the child’s powers to toast Lucifer. Dean grumbles at his bum knee and Cas rolls his eyes, stretches out his hand, and heals him.

There’s a crackling yellow flare to Dean’s healing cut that is so minute…but I fervently believe it will factor into Castiel’s resurrection in Season 13. Nephilim power, baby! I have faith, my friends, and I am like THIS close to writing the Gospel of Cas this summer, you have no idea.

The Winchesters and Cas head outside and spot the “tear in space and time” - so named and identified thanks to The Doctor Castiel. “Like Narnia?” Dean asks. No, Dean. (You can’t stop me from picturing Dean and Mr. Tumnus having tea.) The nephilim’s power, Cas explains, punctured the fabric of the universe. Cas leads them through the tear to Dark!Verse. He identifies it as a horrific reality where Earth is in the latter years of a grinding apocalypse - demons and angels fighting each other and humanity all but extinguished. Sam’s curious how Cas figured out all of the fine print out and Cas says, mysteriously, “a friend told me.”

Castiel assures them that the nephilim will close the gap when he is born. “I have faith,” he tells them. (Me: rubs hands at Castiel’s even more firmly entrenched faith once that nephilim gets him resurrected amirite?)

“Well then you’re a dumbass,” Dean says, like a dumbass.

The Mysterious Figure approaches and whips off his scarf. It’s Darkverse!Bobby! While I wish it’d been a long dead female character, it is nice to see Jim Beaver again. (Boris interjects: Jim Beaver has been in every season of Supernatural. I’m glad we get to see him again!)

Bobby doesn’t know Dean and Sam because those two crazy kids were never born in that reality - and therefore never stopped the apocalypse. Bobby mentions hearing the Winchester name from a dead hunter he knew, Mary Campbell, who often went on about her dead lover when drunk. (If Mary hadn’t made the deal, you guys, we’d be looking at DEATH SPIKES. I’d like to personally shake Andrew Dabb’s hand for this move. Mary, may you learn to accept your mistakes and move on.)

Back at the house Kelly’s getting close to giving birth. She mourns her impending death but excuses it by saying she would die for her son. Kelly, I’m so glad you developed some agency at the end, even though you’re toast. Mary and Kelly bond over martyrdom and motherhood, which is definitely healthy and normal.

Back in Dark!verse, Bobby boasts that he “usually guns down flyboys on sight” with his angel blade bullets. Dean’s eyes light up at a new toy only to have Cas throw him the most exasperated OH MY GOD DEAN look. Oh Cas, we’ll take care of you. (By lassoing writers and forcing them to resurrect you and give you a cat.)

TFW blasts through the tear again only to be confronted by Crowley, who has managed to wriggle out of the (rather feeble) demon blade trap. He offers to help.

Up at the house, childbirth is shitty. Cas knocks at the door and asks to speak to Kelly alone. He reassures Kelly, reminding her of his paradise vision (which I’m really not sure whether I can believe or if he’s just lying to her to ease her through death). 

“Cas has faith in this kid,” Dean notes to Sam but as for himself, “I have faith in us. You, me, mom, Cas, and Crowley…sometimes.” They walk outside to face Lucifer.

“Chuck will stop you,” Sam says. (Oh, honey, no he won’t.)

“Every time I look at this sad trash fire of a world, you know what I keep thinking?” Lucifer asks. “I could do so much better.” (<– Me: breathlessly parallels this to Cas’s “sad, doomed little world” speech and how Cas is SO GOOD and also the nephilim’s inevitable journey towards embracing free will)

The rumble starts, Cas gets knocked aside immediately, and Sam and Dean run off. The Winchesters lead Lucifer to the universe tear and Lucifer happily follows them through. Lucifer gets cornered by Sam and Dean, who levels Darkverse!Bobby’s angel killing machine gun at him. “Say hello to my little friend,” Dean actually, literally says.

It…doesn’t work. But it does hold him off for a while so Sam and Crowley can work the spell to lock Lucifer in the Mad Max wasteland. While Dean is getting the snot beaten out of him, Crowley heads off to grab a life sacrifice to heal the rift. Specifically, Crowley is going to use his own life to seal the rift. 

And…Crowley sparks out with a final, “Bye, boys.” Dean and Sam hesitate at the portal when Cas bursts through and runs after Lucifer with his angel blade drawn. Oh, Castiel, you didn’t get the memo? (bites nails)

Back at the house, Kelly screams and then begins to glow as the nephilim, aka “baby cannon” as someone hilariously termed it, is born.

Dean and Sam emerge back into their own universe and the tear begins to close as Castiel, on the other side, knifes Lucifer in the gut.

Cas burst through the portal. WHEW just in time, right? Only…

^^^ Fandom right now ^^^

Fucking Lucifer knifes Cas in the back (in the same way Billie was killed by Cas earlier in the season…More disconcerting parallels).

I mean, this hurts so bad that I had to stop this recap. Just. CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS!

Cas falls to the ground. Solidly.

“Points for trying, super impressed,” Lucifer says. Mary approaches, slips on two sets of Enochian warded brass knuckles, and cracks Lucifer in the face. 

Mary. Fucking. Winchester everyone.

She punches Lucifer to the tear and then pushes him through it, pulled in by him at the last minute. The tear heals. Mary is trapped in Dark!Verse with Lucifer. (Reminding everyone that a whole legion of angels is about to descend on that area. An injured Lucifer scampers off and Mary is ushered to safety by Bobby. Right? Right. We’ll do a reality-jumping spell next season to go save her.)

“No no no no no,” says Dean, one hand held up to where his mother disappeared and the other towards the ground at the prone body of Castiel. No no no no no is right, Dean.

Sam looks at Castiel then back at the flickering lights of the house. Sam runs inside to the nephilim, leaving Dean to kneel at the side of his best friend (and the love of his life). Dean looks up to Heaven where I SWEAR TO GOD he is going to pray to Chuck for the first time ever and my heart is going to break again. (As positive as I am at Castiel’s resurrection this scene actually makes me a little nauseous.)

Sam heads inside and finds Kelly dead on the bed. He hears a noise from the other room and finds, in the baby’s room near the apple tree mural, a young man huddled in the corner. His eyes glow golden in the gloom.

*Flails*

And for those following along, I’d like to close with these cherry-picked lines from T.S. Eliot’s “Little Gidding”

We die with the dying:

See, they depart, and we go with them.

We are born with the dead:

See, they return, and bring us with them.

What we call the beginning is often the end

And to make an end is to make a beginning.

The end is where we start from.

Quotes from Bizarro World:

If you ask me if I have the quarter inch allen wrench one more time I am going to come down there and burn your giant Viking junk yard of a store to the ground.

I’m very good at following instructions.

Everybody poops.

This is what you do when I’m not here? Type?

Can you flame on again?

It’s a bizarro world.

Supernatural wasn’t real. And you were Polish.

Wait, angel killing bullets? Awesome.

You big, beautiful, lumbering piles of flannel.

[lady-nevermore]

Tag you’re it! ^_^

Umm.....I’m pretty sure I’ve already done this survey/questionnaire before; ah well, I’ll try to make my answers vary a bit from last time, but I’m pretty sure that I’ll probably just copy and paste my answers from the last one (feeling sorta lazy atm, sorry). lol ^^;

But anyways, yeah, I don’t mind doing this a second time around, they’re actually pretty damn fun, so let’s get started! :D

Rules: Answer these questions, and tag 20 amazing followers that you would like to get to know better.

Tagged by: @blueteamproblem​ (Cool - Thanks for the Tag). ^_^

Name: *sigh* I’m hesitant/reluctant when it comes to revealing my name, cuz I’m paranoid/anxious, that people I knew from my past will end up finding me again......and tbh, I’m not quite ready for that reunion/confrontation just yet.....But here’s a hint: (My name means Soul in Spanish). ^-^

Nickname: Ama (by my dad, my little cousins, and one of my fave Aunties), hmmm....A few of my old-friends back in my high school days used to refer to me as: “Almy, Almita, Soulzzz, etc”. Do these count? lol ^^;

Zodiac sign: Leo (Western Zodiac) and Sheep/Ram (Chinese Zodiac).

Hogwarts House: When Pottermore first started becoming a “thing” around 2010-2011 (I remember cuz I was one of the beta-testers), I was sorted and placed in Slytherin. .....But I believe that, that was due to the fact that I was in a really really really depressed, bitter and dark place at the time (those who have read my first entry of my “therapy blog”, and will end up reading more in greater detail later down the line, will know why); but as of right now: I’m happy to say that I’m a Proud Pottermore Ravenclaw. ^_^

Height: 5′3” (yeah, I know i’m pretty smol). heh ^^;

Orientation: Bisexual (I know that I’m attracted to women at the very least, as well as men....but it’s sorta on a 70/30 sometimes 60/40 on the spectrum/scale), but as of late, I feel like I could also very possibly be ace, maybe even possibly demisexual (Let’s just say that It’s safe to say I’m still questioning/trying to figure myself out, and leave it at that). ^^;

Ethnicity: Hispanic/Mexican-American

Favorite fruit: Cantaloupe, Gala/Fuji Apples, Granny Smith Green Apples, Mango, Strawberries, etc. 

Favorite season: Fall/Autumn and Winter Seasons 

Favorite book series: The Harry Potter Series The Inheritance Cycle / Eragon Book Series The Unexpected Dragon by Mary Brown The Hobbit/ Lord of the Rings The Hunger Games Trilogy The Giver Book Series The Time Traveler's Wife Shakespeare Edgar Allen Poe Grimm Fairy Tales 

Manga wise: Rurouni Kenshin by Nobuhiro Watsuki His and Her Circumstances aka Kare Kano Yu Yu Hakusho, Hunter x Hunter, Level E, and Ookami nante Kowakunai all by my all-time fave mangaka (infamous for his long-ass Hiatuses, but damn it I still think they're worth it): Yoshihiro Togashi.

Favorite fictional characters:  Waaaaay too many for me to list here, but currently as of right now, as I’m sure some of you may have noticed, I’m crushing/fangirling rather hard over Soi Fon at the moment. lol xD

Favorite flower: I love most flowers (like for example: a classic single stem Rose) but I do have a soft spot for Small flowers, like: Morning Glories and White Clovers.

Favorite scents: Petrichor aka the smell of the earth/soil after it rains, though the smell of coffee, the smoky scent of firewood during a cold night, the crisp cold scent of an early morning/early evening/late night, the smell of freshly mowed or cut grass, the fresh smell of laundry, and the scent of sandalwood are all pretty damn nice too. ^_^

Favorite color:  Purple, Lavender, Orchid Purple, Wine Red/Red-Violet, Magenta, Sapphire Blue, Cerulean Blue, Light Blue, Red, Maroon, Teal, Emerald Green, Turquoise Green, Seafoam green, Gray, Black, Silver, Gold, Neon Colors, basically any type of bright / vibrant colors, though pastels colors are pretty nice too....I find most hues/shades of colors beautiful in their own right.....So let’s just say everything! lol ^^;

Favorite animal:  I’m real fond of the whole Trickster-archetype when it comes to animals, so it’s safe to say that I really do have a soft spot for Corvids (Crows and Ravens), and Foxes; though I also really like Wolves, and Owls. But above all else, I really really really fucking love felines/cats (big and small); ie Grey Tabby Cats, Maine Coons, Norwegian Forest Cats, Lions, Leopards, Jaguars, but especially Snow Leopards! =^.^=

Favorite artist/band:  

 Musical Scores:

- John Williams's Scores in the Harry Potter Films - Murray Gold's Scores in Doctor Who - Trevor Jones's Scores in The 1998 Merlin/Merlin's Apprentice mini series (aka the one with Sam Neill). - ATLA/Legend of Korra Scores by Jeremy Zuckerman - Pirates of the Caribbean Scores by Hans Zimmer - The Anime Scores in both Rurouni Kenshin and in Yu Yu Hakusho respectively. - Oh! And the anything by Jeff and Casey Lee Williams (like the RWBY and RVB OST for example) Oh! and the Scores in Harvest Moon and Legend of Zelda Soundtrack (Song of Storms anyone?). ^_^  And probably several other scores in anime and videogames that I just can't recall at the moment. But music-wise: Just like with anime, books, and tv-shows I tend to be a pretty open-minded and am into several types of genres (from J-pop/J-rock/anime theme and ending songs, anything by Megumi Ogata, punk rock, alternative rock, 80's and 90's pop/rock music, electronic, pop, hip-hop, r&b, jazz, anime jazz covers, classical music, modern classical music with a modern twist aka pop/rock covers via a classical musical sense, scores in anime and in some of my fave nerdy fandoms, basically anything and everything even country....all except for like "pure rap or purely screamo heavy metal".... like, I don't mind if there's a little bit in like r&b/pop or rock respectfully, but yeah, just no). ^^; My Fave bands/musicians: - Green Day - Death Cab For Cutie - Daft Punk - Owl City - Etc.

Coffee, tea, or hot cocoa?: Tea; I used to be quite the coffee drinker, but not anymore mostly due to my anxiety (trust me I still really miss it, especially the taste & the smell of coffee.....Hmmm, I’ve been thinking that maybe I should try decaf), but anyways, yeah, over the years I’ve stuck and grew to really love tea....tho cocoa is nice every once in awhile (especially during the colder seasons). ^^;

Average sleep hours: *sigh* I have insomnia, so my sleep cycle is pretty much wack and all over the place; I’m lucky if I get 5-6 hours of sleep. -___-;

Number of blankets you sleep with: As of right now: one; I really really really hate humid/warm/hot weather....makes it soo damn uncomfortable to get a good night’s sleep (but that’s what I get for living in California, I suppose). ugh. >_<;

Dream trip: Japan would be pretty cool! ^_^

Last thing Googled: Butterflies and their symbolism with souls/afterlife.

Blog created: Since 2011

How many blogs do I follow: Dunno, I never really checked. o.o

Number of followers: 697

What do I usually post about: Usually, I tend to just reblog a lot of fan art, gif edits, or posts pertaining to some of my fave fandoms; right now it’s: Bleach (Soi Fon), RWBY, Yu Yu Hakusho, etc. But I will be posting about my therapy sessions in my “therapy blog” in the future, so look out for that I guess. ^^;

Do you get asks regularly: Not a whole lot, but when I do, they never fail to make me smile. :)

What is your aesthetic: Damned if I know...Um, 90′s aesthetic? idk! lol ^^;

Tagging (don’t feel obligated to do this if you don’t want to): @angelotics , @theamazingflyinglion , @tdk-blog, @doctordearie , @youko-fairy , @nightjasmine10 , @luckystarchild , @tifa-the-bacon-goddess , @boserwulf , @ravenhull , @fionaandcake27 , @hirusekidragon , @weissrose , @rwby-fan , @yangsmash , @bizarrolord , @blue-eyed-korra , @hellfire47 , @yyhlove , @yyhaesthetics

[papersandkeyboards]

4/11-17: The Spring Break Series; Part 3: Repentance in Sin City (aka ‘Taubatan Nasuha di Kota Dosa’)

WEDNESDAY-THURSDAY, APR 13-14, 2016.

We were on a schedule. We had to arrive in Las Vegas, exactly in this hotel Treasure Island, before 7 because Eric and Karen had booked three tickets to the most famous and the largest theatrical production in the world: Cirque du Soleil.

Cirque du Soleil is a theatrical production based in Quebec, Canada. The word ‘Cirque du Soleil’ itself means ‘Circus of the Sun’ in French. It is, well, I guess you can say a circus—a contemporary circus—but boy, it is much MUCH more than just a circus.

It’s the mega-ultimate shit of all circuses.

I, for one, had heard about Cirque du Soleil somewhere in an episode of America’s Next Top Model, and now knowing that I will be watching it live thrilled me. For another, I have no hatred for circus—in fact, I think I do like circus, but can’t say a lot about it because I’ve only watched a live circus show once back in elementary.

This particular show I was watching was called ‘Mystère’, which in French means mystery. I guess Cirque du Soleil have this odd, short, unfathomable titles to most of its shows.

The show, as many circuses are, was incredibly strange. Except that this one from Cirque du Soleil was probably fifty times more strange than a regular circus. In an awesome, amazing, out-of-this-world way.

The plot and perhaps the real meaning behind the whole show itself was a mystery indeed, at least to me. Before the real stage show started, there was this man in an odd Willy Wonka-ish costume (from which we all assumed he was part of the show) just mingled and grabbed buckets of popcorn from places, talked to the audience and dumped them with a bucket full of popcorn, got pushed away by ‘security’ but came back eventually, and basically causing laughs before the stage performers took over (he did come around once in a while on the stage during the show, being an important character, I guess).

I’m not gonna spoil you the whole plot, but I can assure you with all my heart that the entire show was a mix-up of men and women in loud-colored spandex (and some in fancy dresses), different kinds of gravity-defying stunts, uniquely arranged music, and a giant baby.

Overall, the extremely strange sequence had taken breaths and pleased the eyes. Bravo.

Aside from me being an amateur circus critic for the first part of this entry, we enjoyed the performance, then enjoyed a buffet dinner, classic all-you-can-eat Las Vegas style. I shit you not, just about everything was there. Meat, vegetarian food, pasta, Japanese, soups, dessert—the buffet really lived up the name of ‘all-you-can-eat’ to more than just a budget reference.

We stayed for two nights in this Sin City, in a hotel downtown (which was not solely the center of attraction and tourists). Though the hotel was much simpler than those humongous fancy hotels along The Strip, I assume just about every hotel in Las Vegas has a casino in it. I got into my room and was surprised to found a pair of earplugs on the bedside table. Suddenly I was much more conscious of the noise outside: faint yet blaring sound of rock music and faint crowd cheering once in a while. Judging from the earplugs, the noise ain’t gonna come down anytime soon.

As what tourists do in the city of Las Vegas, the next morning we hit the blackjack table took a tour of the city—no, cross that—we took a tour of the Strip, specifically.

Las Vegas Strip, is a—well—strip, a long street of hotels and casinos and malls and all sorts of big extravagant places, most of which you should’ve seen somewhere on TV. The big hotel with the huge fountain in front of it? That’s Bellagio. The one that partly looks like an old-school Cinderella castle? That’s Excalibur. The one that looks like a big black pyramid and a Sphinx? That’s called Luxor (the Vegas version of Luxor, by the way). The one that looks like the Lady Liberty? I swear you better not believe that the real Lady Liberty is in Las Vegas.

(I wonder what might trigger this particular rule)

The Strip was absolutely crazy. Crazier even than Times Square, with all the crowd and commute and everything. The Strip was this huge area of pure extravagance and glitter sitting right smack in the middle of The Desert, the District of Nowhere, State of Nevada. Meanwhile, downtown Las Vegas was only a little bit less crazy. Las Vegas is the only city where small neon-signed chapels are spread all over the place like sprinkles, through which you can drag a stranger you meet in some hotel or casino and marry them right away.

You see, some people prefer to have their whole wedding ceremony planned for years to make everything perfect with the right place, right time, right flowers, right music, right loved ones, and of course, the right spouse; and there are people who get married in a chapel in Las Vegas that claimed Elvis Presley got married there. (feat. yer favorite liqueur)

Anyway, we hopped in one of these hop-on-hop-off double-decker tour buses that takes you around the city, not just the Strip. We had a good overview of the Strip, seeing those big malls, a humongous ferris wheel, a mini Venice, and a large statue of an M&M, among others.

After the tour, we were dropped off by the hotel and casino Circus Circus, so we walked some distance to one of the malls to get lunch.

(ps: walking almost a mile on a hot dry desert weather wasn’t so fun. but then again, Karen and Eric were so used to walking long distance I seemed like a grandma)

Then we headed to a place called The Grand Canal Shoppes, which is just another big luxurious mall in the Strip, no biggie. I remembered of this banner I saw on this very mall that resembled Venice with all its fake blue water and huge fake Roman statues, and a story from my friend, Lili, whom I met in the New York Trip.

I was telling her how excited I was to go to Georgetown Cupcake store firsthand, and there was also this bakery I saw somewhere from the bus in New York, called Carlo’s Bakery, which, if you haven’t known, also has its own reality TV show.

So she told me she went to Las Vegas for her spring break and saw this same Carlo’s Bakery somewhere there. And so, when I told her I was gonna go to LV for my spring break, she told me to go there.

And damn right I did. I dragged Karen and Eric through the mall and put us in line with many people who are also there for the same purpose, while watching a baker making sugar fondant through the bakery window.

The delicacies they offer are of course different from that of Georgetown Cupcake. I ended up buying only one pastry, hahaha. It was great.

We originally walked to the Grand Canal Shoppes with intention to go to another place, though, that went by the name of Madame Tussauds.

Let me just say that I haven’t been to such an interactive wax museum... or maybe wax museum in general.

(gpp bermimpi itu boleh y)

We continued walking forward, specifically to New York-New York. I suppose it still was a hotel and casino, essentially, but it was packed with restaurants, stores, and games around the first floor, outdoor and indoor.

(now that I think about it, if you imagine the indoor Paris area of Museum Angkut Batu, Malang, then you pretty much get the idea of what I was seeing here) (either that, or this really cool family entertainment center called KidZania that lets  kids play grown-up jobs and basically living like adults)

I spiritually dragged my host parents here because I saw a structure of roller coaster snaking around the fake statue of Lady Liberty, and I did tell them at some point that I missed riding roller coaster. Eric was on board right away, but Karen hadn’t experienced a roller coaster ride before, but she decided to join in anyway.

Needless to say, it was the first and last roller coaster ride Karen had ever taken. At least her aftermath reaction said so. As for me, I enjoyed it. Hehe. Hehehe. Maaf buk. Maap.

It was getting late, and my legs were about to be more muscular than my whole muscleless body, so we took a bus back to the hotel.

Just next to our hotel was another big attraction of Las Vegas, the second biggest street in the city: Fremont Street. Fremont St. was no less than another crazy part of the city in which multiple famous casinos and numbers of gift shops lined up under a high canopy along the street itself. It was almost like an enclosed place by itself—with the canopy effect—and high up to the ceiling was a series of ziplines.

In the day, the street looked almost like a regular premium outlet. But at night, the buildings had come as alive as the humans, as diverse as the costumes worn every night, and as bright as everyone’s spirit. The ceiling lit up its millions of LEDs, making its own attraction above the activities on the ground, and the people flying down the ziplines, making the street itself a whole different set of Las Vegas night life.

Aside from the blaring sound of bass and people singing from one end of the street, and bunches of highly creative street attraction, and some almost-naked people here and there, I went there to find what I desired the most, my passion and ambition for this whole spring break trip: cheap souvenirs.

It’s arguable that the standards of ‘cheap souvenirs’ stand differently here than in Indonesia, but I still managed to buy some cheap keychains that fit above the ‘tacky’ line but under the ‘fancy’ line with a pretty reasonable price. In a way, Fremont Street resembled the legendary street of Malioboro in the city of Yogyakarta, but with a lot more bling and a lot less horse carts.

Around the same area of the Fremont Street was another section of entertainment district called Fremont East, which was a regular street lined up with big neon signs of different shapes. It also had a whole yard of neon signs, and a big neon sculpture of a grasshopper that occasionally breathed fire.

And, oh, I guess I forgot to tell you that before we hit the street, we had dinner in this pizza place across the street from the hotel, and the place has TV screens that plays old music videos, kind of like Hard Rock Cafe, and at one point the whole cafe got Rickrolled.

.

-continues

.

[a/n]

Having the fact that I own this blog to myself, without any association to any institutions that might affect my writing one way or another, I can’t help but pitch in a few personal comments on the Sin City, as the city has left quite a distinct impression to me. However, if you wish not to meddle into my rant through the following paragraphs, feel free not to scroll down and read.

Look, I’ve been growing up in a small town. My small town is quite bland, as I’m used to it, nothing new happening and to explore each day, unlike Seattle. Needless to say, I don’t have an experience on doing things that are out of this world, but I can vouch for the fact that Las Vegas is definitely the craziest place I’ve been in.

“I thought you like big cities!” Karen or Eric might say (and they did).

Sure, I like big cities, with tall towers and busy crowd crossing the street every now and then, I like the neatness of it and various things people might sell or do to support a living or simply have fun, but sorry for all who might want to say otherwise, but I don’t like the Las Vegas way of big city.

I woke up in the morning and went down to the lobby with Eric, trying to find a place to have breakfast, which means I had to automatically go through the hotel casino which devoured pretty much the entire lobby. I surely am the type of person who would love to wake up in the morning and enjoy my free morning leisurely with a cup of milk tea or something, but instead, the view I got was the bright flickering lights and various dings and dongs from dozens of slot machines. Some had people in front of them, fixing their eyes on the numbers displayed in bright colors and tempting value. People who were there, I assume, either woke up early to dig up the slot machines or had been there all night, doing the exact same thing. And I think that’s kind of depressing.

Even in the airports. Casinos and slot machines in Las Vegas are like the equivalent of Indonesian street food vendors: where there are empty space, they will be there. McCarran International Airport LV might be quiet in the middle of the night, where there are almost no people and all the stores are closed, but the occasional ding and the everlasting bright flickering neons and rolling number display will always be there. If you scout the whole airport, I doubt you will find less than one person sitting in front of one of the machines, any day, any time.

Las Vegas was, well, loud. New York might be as loud and bright, but NYC had a different vibe to it. Las Vegas was just not the place that I would want to spend my free time in. I don’t gamble, I don’t drink, I don’t strip, I don’t have the ability to flex my body in such a way that would make me hired for Cirque du Soleil. Las Vegas was hot and deserted, not much great view besides the distinct buildings. But even those are too much it seemed overwhelming.

But then again, it’s nice to have variations of big cities in this country, isn’t it? You have New York where people go to with hopeful hearts, which is a giant melting pot like no other cities can compare to. You have San Fransicso where most people are oriented to have fun with friends or family in a nice, joyous but also calming way. You have Seattle where most people eat organic food (haha), where people can hustle and bustle in the main mall shopping area and, at the same time, having family-ish kind of fun down below in the waterfront or up north in the calming and unique neighborhoods with their dozens of funny statues and farmers’ markets. Or probably Orlando, where you can have as much fun as an adult as you are a little kid. And of course, when your interests don’t coincide with what those cities offer you, you can always go to Las Vegas. Patung Liberty dan Menara Eiffel KW super.

What I’m trying to say is, each person have a different idea of having fun and spending their free time, and this country has offered a wide range of options to do so.

But seriously, guys, Seattle is like the best city you can have. My bias stands strong on this one.

[hoopyhitchhiker]

Okay, after a day of processing, I’m ready to talk about my thoughts on The Final Problem. It’s pretty long so I’m putting a cut here.

I definitely agree with those who were convinced that the leak looked weird - some parts of the episode were edited in a bizarre way. Plus, there were almost no visual effects that we usually have (text showing up to show deductions, text messages, etc). Parts did look weird. But a lot of it looked just as stunning as ever.

The beginning was super weird and un-Sherlock-y. They didn’t explain what happened between the end of TLD and the beginning of TFP except for John mentioning offhandedly that Eurus shot him with a tranquilizer dart. So... what happened after that, John? How much time did they spend on constructing that prank, seriously. Because it was super weird and unnecessary. TBH it seemed to me that the only reason for it was to show that Mycroft has that weapon - and don’t get me wrong, I’m glad they showed it because it was fucking kickass.

Sherlock referring to John as family gave me so much life - I screamed and gave the TV two thumbs up at that lol

I was sad to have been wrong about Sherlock and Eurus being twins :( I’m a fraternal twin (plus my twin is the opposite sex) and it would’ve been exciting to find out that I had that in common with one of my favorite characters ever. But seeing them as kids was amazing so I can live with it.

I don’t know how much time passed between the explosion and the boat, so this may be nothing, but it seems like all three of them weren’t injured at all. Definitely weird considering John & Sherlock jumped out the second floor windows (or first floor, depending on where you’re from), which would lead to a broken leg at the least, not to mention burns on their backs.

MORIARTY’S. FUCKING. ENTRANCE. This was a mini-masterpiece within the episode. As soon as Queen - aka one of the most iconic and talented rock bands of all time (plus the band I believe to be the best band EVER) - started playing, and I saw Moriarty get off that ‘copter, I was totally on board. I’ve been convinced since TRF that he was really dead, so it was definitely confusing to see him 2 seasons later, but in that moment I was there for it. I could buy that he was alive, because his entrance was that fucking epic. Of course, it was just a flashback, which I had predicted when I saw the setlock images of him.

They did a good job of making me - the viewer - scared of Eurus pretty quickly. When they were at Sherrinford showing interview tapes and talking about how she manipulates people, I was legit scared.

Eurus’s question “Oh my God, have you had sex?!” when Sherlock started playing The Woman’s theme was unsettling. I have nothing against Irene, but hinting that he had sex with her didn’t make any sense. There is a mountain of evidence that Sherlock is not straight. It seemed like a jab at Johnlockers to me.

I liked the setup and execution of the ‘game’ she makes them play; it reminded me both of the movie Saw and also video games like Portal (and Portal 2 is my favorite video game ever), where you have to solve the puzzle before you can progress to the next one. It was grisly and heart-wrenching. Also, all three characters (Sherlock, John, Mycroft) reacted exactly as I would have expected to watching a man kill himself. Well done all around.

The scene with Molly hurt a lot. I’ve always loved her and wanted good things for her. I hated watching her go through that, and the worst part was that when Sherlock told her what to say, she thought it was a prank. It makes you wonder just how frequently Sherlock took advantage of her love for his own purposes. Luckily, we know he wouldn’t do that anymore. I just hope she knows that.

I legit thought Mycroft was going to die in the choose-one-to-kill scene. As soon as it was made clear a few rooms before that he’d have to make this decision, I knew he’d pick John to live - of course he would! I was literally on the edge of my seat as this scene crescendoed, my heart beating in my throat while I watched it unfold. The thing that was weird about it, though, was that Sherlock would choose to shoot himself instead of them. He literally just watched someone make the same choice, and he saw that Eurus simply killed his wife after the fact since they didn’t follow the rules. Wouldn’t he assume Eurus would do the same if Sherlock shot himself? He could have done it because he anticipated that she’d intervene, but if that’s the case, it wasn’t made clear at all.

The way Sherlock spoke to the girl on the phone was beautiful. His tone of voice changed, he was patient and calm with her despite the desperate situation he was in. He was soft and comforting and sweet and it made it obvious that he’d be good at taking care of a child.

When Sherlock found out the truth about Redbeard, I cried. I predicted that Eurus killed Redbeard and that it was the reason Sherlock spent so much of his life closed off from emotion and others, but I never expected a plot twist like that! Ugh. It ripped out my heart. Although I did think it was a little odd that Eurus talking about ‘drowned Redbeard’ as a child and that wasn’t enough for her parents to send her away. I mean, that was a child that went missing! And she basically confessed to killing him!

I liked the deduction scene when Sherlock was trying to solve the mystery with the headstones, but it was ruined by that weird-ass reveal that Eurus was the girl on the phone. I knew from the start that the thing with the girl in the plane was not what it seemed, and I honestly did think it was going to turn out to be Eurus when in the earlier scene the audio of the call kept switching between her and the girl. But the resolution of it was really rushed and didn’t make any sense. We saw Eurus talking to Sherlock via webcam, but when he went into the room it was nowhere to be found.

I’ve seen a lot of people complain about John climbing the rope out of the well despite being chained to the floor, but I think it’s more likely that someone climbed down first and freed him with bolt cutters. They just didn’t show it.

When Lestrade said that Sherlock “is a good man,” it felt like I got punched in the stomach. I just watched the pilot a few nights ago and the quote “Maybe someday, if we’re very lucky, he might even be a good [man],” was still fresh in my mind. It was what cemented the episode as the very final finale for me. That’s what you do when you end a show, you bring things full circle.

The little Mystrade moment was pretty great, not gonna lie. It’s not a big ship for me and I’ve only read a couple fics; to be honest, it’s more of a just-for-kicks ship for me, one I never expected to become canon. But now there’s a chance for it and that’s awesome. P.S. Sherlock actually got Lestrade’s name right! :3

That scene with Sherlock and Mycroft’s parents! God, I felt so conflicted; I totally felt like the parents were understandably upset, but at the same time I knew that Mycroft honestly did what he thought was best. And Sherlock sticking up for him was fantastic.

Mary’s final message to the boys was bittersweet for me. It just solidified my feeling that it was really the end, but it was so goddamn beautiful. I’m glad they showed Molly bounding into the room looking happy, otherwise I really would have been worried about her. And it showed them working cases again which was sublime too. But the best was that moment where Sherlock hands Rosie to John and they both look so happy. To me, Johnlock is 100% canon now. I know they could have shown a kiss or confession of love, but they did it their way and it worked.

This episode featured some of the greatest performances we’ve seen yet on this show, particularly from Benedict and Sian (Eurus). They both deserve all the awards for this.

There are a lot of things about this episode that make it great, but because of the extremely rocky beginning and questions left unanswered (I’ll probably make another post for those), it doesn’t make it into my top 5 eps. I still highly enjoyed in though, and while I’d be sad if it was truly the end, I’d be content with the way they left our Baker Street Boys.

[stretchearsnotvaginas]

Before I eventually end up starting the new year with resolutions and realistically set goals, I need to wrap up 2018. Last year was one for the books; no pun intended. All along the way, I finished 30 books in total, and 27 of them are in the slideshow at the bottom of my screen (I left out the three for school). While 30 might not seem like a lot to those of you that can finish a book in a day, after looking at my stats, I’ve found out that I can too! Most of these took under 10 hours for me to read, so while it is possible… I just don’t have the time to sit for that amount of time every day. However, I will continue on my reading streak, and I’ll set the bar even higher for this year!

After reviewing the stats, I’ve noticed that surprisingly, most of these books received five stars from me! Unfortunately, that’s not as realistic as I’d like it to be. So, in this recap of my 2018 reads, I’m going to… in a way… re-rate all of my books (besides the three for school). So, let’s dig in!

(I’m also going to tie in Goodreads reviews to each of the book titles in the mini reviews I provide.)

1. A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A Game of Thrones exceeded my expectations. The show is eerily similar to the book… almost word-for-word, and I really enjoyed it. The relationship between Khal Drogo and Daenarys was revealed more in the book than it was in the movie, and it took me a bit to get through, but it was definitely good enough for me to snag the second book.

2. Fight Club and 3. Fight Club 2 by Chuck Palahniuk

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Fight Club was one of those books that made me squirm a little, but I can’t talk about it (see: Chucklehead101). So you’ll just have to read this yourself!

Fight Club 2 was unexpected honestly. It’s a graphic novel, and the narrator’s name was finally revealed as Sebastian. Also, Chuck made quite a few cameos! They gave the book more depth and “broke the fourth wall” in literature. I loved the overall feel of this book and finished it a little less than two hours. I can’t wait for Fight Club 3‘s release this January!

4. Invisible Monsters Remix by Chuck Palahniuk

Invisible Monsters Remix is going to have it’s own review here shortly!

5. Phoenix by Chuck Palahniuk

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I distinctly remember reading Phoenix in a hotel room in Golden, Colorado. Phoenix was only around 50-pages long, but it stood out enough for me to give it five stars. Even though Palahniuk is one of my favorite authors, I still choose to review his novels without being biased. Phoenix was a quick read, but it was resolved really quickly. The book discussed showed a broken marriage pretty accurately, and even though I’m a cat person… I couldn’t put it down.

6. Choke by Chuck Palahniuk

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Whenever I go to pick up any Palahniuk book, I always have semi-high expectations. So, giving this book 3-stars isn’t unusual. Choke was one of those books that seemed to try too hard. I love Palahniuk, but this just wasn’t… it. The narrator was prude and he just seemed like a fuckboy. As someone who doesn’t mind reading things “out of the norm,” Victor Mancini was just too much. He was just frustrating to read about, and while I appreciated his storyline, I just didn’t care for him. However, if you don’t mind reading things about a mans’ “dog” every other page/paragraph, then take a shot at it!

7. every day by David Levithan

⭐️⭐️⭐️

I’m not one to read Young Adult books as much anymore, but every day really stood out. While it’s only receiving around 3-stars from me, it was still a unique plot line. However, I just didn’t like the ending as much as I hoped I would’ve. I love the concept behind a non-binary character such as the narrator, but the ending is honestly what ruined it for me. I’m still going to buy the next book to see if it’ll redeem itself, but as for just this one? I don’t think it should standalone as much as it does.

8. the woman in the window by AJ Finn

the woman in the window was my all-time favorite book of 2018. I can’t really put more of what I want to say into words, so check out Review: “the woman in the window” by AJ Finn (2018) for my review!

9. The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory

⭐️⭐️⭐️

I’m not one to read romances like this, but it was a book I received from a book subscription I used to have called PageHabit. They’re no longer in commission, but I still have quite a few books that I have to read from them.

The Wedding Date, in particular, wasn’t one that I’d find myself reading again. It was a cute story, but it was definitely a cliche right from the beginning… which is why I don’t tend to read romances anyway. The characters in the book were cute and charming, but Alexa Monroe (the main character), was a little short-tempered. However, after reading more and more about Drew Nichols, I realize why she is. He is more than just a quirky guy in an elevator, but the more she finds out, the more shady he seems to become.

10. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by J.K. Rowling

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Before I start in on this one, I’ll admit that I’m not a huge fan of JK Rowling anymore. After following her on Twitter, and after I’ve seen her decide to bring to light new things about old characters just to stay relevant… I’ve decided to no longer support her. I’ll always ALWAYS love Harry Potter (proud Ravenclaw here), but she’s become another author that only discusses her characters if they can create a shock factor. So, even though I’ve come to dislike JK Rowling, I’ve decided to separate her from her work. Just because I’m in love with the world she created, doesn’t mean I have to like her as a person. Similarly to how I’ve decided to buy Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King, just because his son wrote it with him (and we all know how much I love him).

Anyway, I devoured Fantastic Beasts in one day. I found myself falling in love with Newt and his creatures fairly quickly, but there’s just one thing I would’ve changed. The dark side of this novel, should’ve been darker. After watching the movie, the book just seemed light compared to how devious the creature came to be. I loved the entire concept of creating a world before our beloved Hogwarts, I loved the snippet of Grindewald, but since this isn’t technically a YA novel like the Harry Potter series… it just should’ve been darker, which is why it got 4-stars from me.

11. Simon vs. the Homo sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

⭐️⭐️⭐️

I have to be one of the only people on the internet so far (from what I’ve seen) that didn’t 100% love this book in its entirety. I’m glad that it brought a few LGBT issues to light, but I just can’t do the cutesy romance books at all apparently. This was another Young Adult novel that flopped in my reading conquests, but I will say one thing… the movie adaptation was really cute. Even though Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda wasn’t my favorite, I still appreciate how everyone came together and read it upon its release.

12. the curious incident of the dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

the curious incident of the dog in the night-time was so unique. So, so unique. It’s from the perspective of Christopher Boone, a fifteen-year-old boy on the autistic spectrum, which only made it more significant. In the book, it shows how Christopher lives by patterns, rules, and the diagram that he keeps in his pocket. The way he moves throughout the world, and how he acts whenever he finds a dead dog across the street. While the entire book is filled with Christopher’s quirks and the way he solves and unseen mystery, I still found myself struggling to get through it on its own. So, I downloaded the audiobook, which led me to a reading by someone who gave Christopher his own unique voice; Jeff Woodman. He managed to create a character with even more depth than Haddon intended. Now, I’m not one to listen to audiobooks all the time, but I’m glad I did with this one. So, if you have Audible, I highly suggest it.

13. Adjustment Day by Chuck Palahniuk

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I’ll admit, Adjustment Day was not my favorite Palahniuk book at all. While it was still better than Choke, it just didn’t feel right. I love that Palahniuk is back in the world of fiction after four years, but this book just gave me a 1984 vibe with a transgressive fiction twist. Honestly, that’s all I can say about it, other than the fact that the idea behind this was pretty ingenious and it could very well happen with the way society is going. I also find it hilarious that in my logo for my blog, I’m reading Adjustment Day. The cover was too great to ignore, and I found myself reading it for hours on end… unfortunately, it just wasn’t… enough.

14. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

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Gone Girl was an enigma in itself. Not that it was too puzzling to figure out, but the whole plot line is really what hooked me. From the beginning, the first paragraph stood out for me; when Nick describes the back of Amy’s head. So, even before all of the crazy twists and turns, this book already starts out on a rather, unusual note.

I oddly found myself rationalizing with Amy Dunne, and realizing that what she did really did have a reasoning behind it. Plus, her whole plan was just ingenious. The plot twist in this book was seriously unexpected, and the fact that it has the potential to be so realistic is really what brought this book to life.

15. The Merciless IV by Danielle Vega

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Ahhh, The Merciless IV. The fourth novel in The Merciless series by Danielle Vega… aka a candy-coated horror novel. Honestly, this series has been hit-or-miss with me. I loved the first two, but I needed more insight on a few of the characters. I really liked how this was set in Italy, and it was just as stomach-churning as the rest of them.

Now, I’m not sure if there’s going to be another installment in this series because it’s called Last Rites, but I’m going to stay hopeful that there is going to be at least one more so Vega can round it off more with Sofia.

16. Providence by Caroline Kepnes

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Providence was a very unusual take on a monster story similar to Frankenstein. This book was equally terrifying as it was mind-bending. It left me wanting more throughout the whole thing, and I was filled with hope that Jon would find justice in the end. Kepnes seriously created a masterpiece filled with illusion, self-destruction, love and obsession. I found myself reading it outdoors in my hammock, falling more and more in love with the relationship between Chloe and Jon, but I just wish it could’ve ended in a better place. To prevent spoiling this piece of art, I won’t go any further, just know that if you haven’t read ANY Caroline Kepnes books. You should pick up this one, and then continue onto YOU and Hidden Bodies (there’ll also be a review on these soon!).

17. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

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Sharp Objects was definitely not a favorite. Going into a Gillian Flynn novel after Gone Girl, I was hoping for it to just have more depth to it. instead, I stumbled in upon characters who were tricky and a little cringy. Honestly, the whole idea behind Camille visiting her hometown, definitely reminded me of whenever I’d visit mine. The quaint little town, the drama, the family, it was all surreal how Flynn captured it in this. Yet, I still wasn’t drawn to it. I ended up taking a while to finish it, and I couldn’t focus on it for too long before I got annoyed. However, I did love the show adaptation of it, even though I’m a little biased towards Amy Adams. I just couldn’t grasp onto reading about the characters that were brought to life. The plot twist at the end wasn’t enough for me to grab her books The Grownup and Dark Places, but I know I’ll inevitably end up buying it on one of my bookstore conquests.

18. I Could Pee On This by Francesco Marciuliano

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I Could Pee On This was one of those books that only a true cat lover would love. It felt as though my cats actually wrote each one of these poems, and I found myself actually laughing at the thought. Throughout the whole book, it shows pictures of the “authors,” so not only do you get cute, quirky poems, but you also get cute, quirky photos of the cats themselves. Even though this was an extremely quick read, it still made quite the impact, and instead of having it reside on my “finished” shelf, it now has a place on my desk among a few others.

19. Talking As Fast As I Can by Lauren Graham

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Talking As Fast As I Can was such a hilarious autobiography. While I read it, I heard Lauren Graham’s voice, and shortly after I ended up watching Parenthood and Gilmore Girls. This book really brought to life how difficult it can be to get to where Lauren Graham has gotten. She created a quirky novel that came off as though Lauren Graham was Lorelai Gilmore while she was writing. I got through this autobiography as quickly as she talks, and I’d recommend this to anyone who loves her. Even though there are spoilers to the Gilmore Girls reboot, she does warn about them. So, if you haven’t seen it yet, go watch it! Then check out this book! As someone who doesn’t read very many autobiographies, I found myself so attached to this one that I finished it fairly quickly.

20. Coraline by Neil Gaiman

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Even though Coraline is a children’s book, it was still written very well. I only gave it 4-stars because I didn’t finish it. Before you jump on me for this though, I only didn’t finish it because it was TOO close to the movie. Even though it would’ve been a quick read, I couldn’t imagine my own characters. I love the movie adaptation, but once I already know what the characters look like… the books are almost ruined for me. However, if you like creepy stories, or if your kids like creepy stories, I highly recommend this. Neil Gaiman is an amazing writer, so only you can use your better judgment on this one.

21. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is going to have it’s own review here shortly!

22. Tell Me Lies by Carola Lovering

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Tell Me Lies was extraordinary and filled with a ton of relationship issues that many authors don’t tend to discuss. Written from both the perspectives of the relationship; the gas-lighter and the “gas-lightee,” this book is unique on its own. I actually found myself uncovering more about Stephen in the beginning chapters than I realized. As someone who’s been a victim of gas-lighting, I was surprised I was able to catch the signs so soon. Stephen was an expert in his craft, and it was frustrating to read about Lucy falling for it over and over again, but I couldn’t put it down. Overall, it was a great read, and definitely one of my top five of 2018.

23. Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin

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First thing first, if you’re going to read Rosemary’s Baby – don’t; LISTEN TO IT. Like I said before, I don’t really love copping out of “manually” reading a book, but this one was worth it. Mia Farrow herself reads this and incorporates all of the screams and different voices. It really created a world that was just as intense as this was 50-years-ago. Dare I say, it was scarier in the audiobook version than it was in the film adaption or the book itself? Next is Son of Rosemary, and one can only hope she recorded that one as well (update: I just looked it up and it turns out she doesn’t… which is unfortunate).

24. Saving Red by Sonya Sones

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Even though Sonya Sones is a YA writer, Saving Red was a great story. It was unique on its own, and I can say I’ve never read a story like this before. In this story, a 14-year-old named Molly decides to help a homeless woman named Red. She had to have been only a few years older than Molly, but she ended up on the streets. I read this around Christmastime, and surprisingly it was set around the same time. This book was really cute and heartwarming and, even though I don’t read YA novels, I’ve always found that Sonya Sones’ books will always have a special place on my shelves.

25. A Simple Favor by Darcey Bell

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Eerily similar to Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, A Simple Favor just wasn’t as appealing to me as I hoped it to be. While I think it was a good standalone book on its own, without comparing it to another book, I think the rating I gave this book was pretty accurate. A Simple Favor, was filled with just the right amount of plot twists, but it was still predictable. Although, as someone who reads thrillers frequently, I’ve found that this is the case for most thrillers at this point anyway. I loved the unique point-of-views, but I still wish it was a little more intense. However, I think this would be a great book for people who are new to the thriller genre. I’ve talked to several people who have loved it, and several who didn’t think it was the best, but if you’re just starting out with thrillers, try this!

26. Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Machado

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Her Body and Other Parties received the lowest review of the year, not only because it was a schoolbook… but because it seemed as though it was written purely for shock factor. I couldn’t even make it through some of the chapters, but I had to for school. This book was another that I needed to download the audiobook, and while a few of the chapters were clever, they weren’t good enough for me to rate this any higher.

27. Bait by Chuck Palahniuk

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It’s not unusual that Palahniuk has presented us with a collection of short stories. It certainly isn’t his first collection, and it won’t be his last. However, what makes Bait unique is that there are photos you can color along with.

While I was reading it, I couldn’t put this book down at all. A few of my favorite stories were: Conspiracy, Let’s See What Happens, and Bait. Even though they were all unique, those three really stood out among the eight in the whole book. Plus, the illustrations really rounded it off.

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      Danielle’s 2018 Reads Before I eventually end up starting the new year with resolutions and realistically set goals, I need to wrap up 2018.