#they’re so silly I Lurv them

[lazywriter-artist]

Doodle timeeee

Ocs here are two amazing AdMechs (mostly) from this amazing person who’s blog you should check out and send much love 🫶

Some MagosDominus doodles—

Then some Galileo + a baby storvis w/ baby Gali :0

Then finally my lil chaos spawn 🥰

[myrfing]

of the present day relevant ocs I have for xiv in groups it’s like:

strike & gourd: met post-sb, they’re travelling buddies. kind of just happened gourd thought they’d split once he got his body back (which is what gourd initially was onboard for) but strike was just like Where next lol & he was like. okay

nyja & sol: strike’s rava childhood friends from the golmore, left after he did, part of lente’s tears before they were captured and escaped to eorzea. they’re best friends and nyja is in love with sol and sol probably loves her back but isn’t erm. thinking about it cause she’s. they go through a lot. They reunite with strike post-shb and get along a lot like they did as children somehow despite how changed all three of them are/diverging paths pretty sharply early on due to le viera gender seperation

zu & saran: zu (moonkeeper) dated gourd while they were kind of both in the drifting phases of life at 17-18. before the start of ARR she left overseas to go to the far east to learn how to make different kinds of wood instruments & met saran (xaela) on the steppe, who is basically one of the best morin khuur players known to reunion. She’s very shy and considerate compared to zu who is cool and laidback. they fell in lurve as she helped her make one and they’re honestly kind of on their own little happy bubble of the universe. zu would stay on the steppe for her but saran wants to travel a little bit before they settle down so they do set out late post-sb and zu reunites with Gourd (& meets Strike) while none other than chilling at the hotsprings at bokairo inn. they have their little hot springs episode together

jin, musumi, towa, lianhua: in order: gourd’s blood mom (raen), her friend (doman hyur), musumi’s son (doman-hingan hyur), towa’s childhood friend (xaela-raen). jin met the rest on her Nemo Have You Seen My Son journey; musumi & towa were saved from being kidnapped by imperials by gourd 16 years ago. which was when he was 7. he was very dense.

….(cont) uhhh obviously they did not find gourd but they went through a lot together, finding out that her shrimp son was wanted by the garleans and jin becoming a target as well, etc. Musumi is a painter who was married off to a very rich hingan merchant, and gradually became blind. Her husband died without a grown heir so she became a wealthy widow. Jin and Musumi are kind of each other’s first true friends after a very long life of general isolation and pulled some crazy gambits trying to outwit the imperials together. Jin’s like..ankles…? were severed though in the process and she lost the ability to walk with ease. When she realized it was impossible for her find her son, they remained friends and took care of each other. Jin is…a very VERY evidently just tired as hell woman with a lot of bitterness and a smoldering rage honestly but she just keeps her head down and works. She was very resillient and bright and spunky in her youth, if not a bit rebellious. She rediscovers that part of her through her determination to find her son & her friendship with Musumi. Musumi comes off as very wise and mysterious, and she is very sharp and introspective, but really has simple wants and has a silly streak that most people dont pick up on. Kind of got more eccentric with the passing of her husband, whom she neither loved nor hated.

….(cont) Towa, Musumi’s son who is Gourd’s age, kind of sees Jin as a mom as well and as he got older got gradually VERY angry at gourd for erm. vanishing and causing jin so much pain and never coming to find her. when he’s 22 he vows to find his ass and drag him back home. no he does not know he’s looking for the warrior of light. He wears glasses. He’s stronger than most but like…gourd could probably one hit him. He has a good heart, is (a tiny bit too) empathetic, and a strong sense of responsibility. Lianhua is a fisherwoman who is childhood friends with Towa; her mom and dad died pretty early so they kind of looked out for her. She’s very -_- (calm, serene) compared to towa who gets wrapped up in shit easily. Jin & Musumi ask her to accompany towa on his uhhh little adventure and she’s like ok. & towa is like You should help me & she was like ….well im just here & like. upon landing in limsa she signs up to work as a retainer & gets hired by NONE OTHER than gourd & is like. Oh okay. she does tell towa but shes like im not telling you where he is lol you’re going to get yourself killed & also he’s not the bad guy you think he is hes like wtf wtf wtf -_- but settles down and asks her to “keep an eye on him” and she’s like ? ok. she gets paid pretty good though to fish as his retainer so.

…(cont.) obviously gourd does meet his mom in postsb after hearing teqs’ last wish, and meets the other two as well. they all kind of reconcile and gourd does take care of jin until her passing. Musumi’s a bit like his godmother now? Towa never admits to liking him but when Gourd gets curious about his mom as a person, he cannot help but indulge him.

Kabocha & Kareli: Duskwight & Hellsguard respectively. Both around Gourd’s age, but they only met in their early 20s when both signed up to be retainers to pay for their respective educations. Kabocha’s a gridanian orphan, born in prison, and is none other than theee niece of Yulie, the spire’s duskwight drk pillar. Yulie didn’t want to involve herself in her life directly as by the time she learned of her existence, she ws already a BIIIGGGG TIME outlaw in multiple citystates and had already chosen the path. She did secretly pay for all her living and school costs; and on her birthday, would always leave an anonymous present. To Kabocha, she’s this mysterious angel who was the only one who looked out for her, so she tries to find out as much about her as possible. She found a passion in geology & is currently working to fund her education at the studium in hopes of becoming a gleaner. She’s very practical and astute and is a gets-shit-done person but often gets underestimated because she’s kind of short for an elezen and cute-faced.

….(cont.) She meets Kareli who is a Hellsguard arcanist (and later summoner) and NONE OTHER than the nephew of Determined Sun, the astrosage pillar of the spires. He’s also fascinated by his uncle who is considered a traitor & paraiah to Sharlayan & the forum, especially after he finds out he was considered a genius up to be one of the youngest people to inhereit a position on the forum prior to his exile & (unofficial but unchallenged) bibliothec death warrant. Finding out more about his uncle is a great interest of his; his other is the history of Aerslaent & Roegaedyn in general. He meets Kabocha & she helps him get accustomed to Eorzea & to get a job with her as retainers. They both kind of use their work in tandem for opportunities to study their respective majors; Gourd honestly kind of just pays them to do whatever and tell him about their findings, and occasionally get crafting materials for him. Kareli is very shy and meek and prone to overthinking and has a tendency to come off as overly rigid/polite as a result.

….(cont.) They both like Gourd but have never been close to him as they want, because they’re burning with curiosity about the two members of the spires. who are dead. They find this out when they do eventually approach him to talk about it and are understandably crushed, but they also see Gourd as just a normal, decent dude and opted to continue working for him. Kabocha admits openly to him that she’s envious that he got to be raised by Yulie and not her, but it’s not a resentment that compels her and she pretty easily lets go of it after getting to know him. They trade stories sometimes, and remain amicable. Also he forgot to tell them he’s the WoL and they find out sometime during heavensward and are like …

[bisluthq]

Bruh i think they’re nice bois but like none of them are shaking and crying because lesbians on twt think the girl they stuck their dick in is actually ~in lurve~ with her Hot Friend™️ lmao. Its just hilarious.

I think that’s the thing like it’s just SO silly. That thing about like Cara x ATJ shippers sending Malcolm crap lmao like what the fuck do they think he’s gonna do? Cry because his girlfriend isn’t a homophobic cunt to her gay friend? Like nah he’s gonna laugh lmao.

[thegirlwholied]

How about Loki/Stephen Strange from Marvel? I always consider it more of a rivals to lovers ship (especially in the MCU, the comics are kind of a different story) but I've definitely seen people call it enemies to lovers.

The way enemies-to-lovers is used as such a blanket term is what inspired This Dumb Chart, which will/should encompass rivals-to-lovers! i.e., Pride & Prejudice is often grouped as enemies-to-lovers and sometimes as THE initiating enemies-to-lovers novel & while its influence cannot be underestimated, imho it’s more dislike-to-lovers and the dislike is mostly one-sided following a Bad First Impression. Now, thrown into Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, they're more zombie-killing competitors: so rivals>l that go-round! 

But I find enemies-lovers still effective in terms of pitching that P&P-esque, I-despise-you to I-adore-you turn, and so many more obvious e>l stories are very P&P influenced. So The Chart will cover the blanket version... which is a long way of saying it should fit either the E>L or R>L version of this ship!

Which brings me to my other key This Dumb Chart explain-y point:

Within a ship, every fic *could* fall under a different subtype ~ especially as specific as I’m getting.

 By which I mean... oh no do I even want to risk using this example? And yet it’s so obvious: Rey & Kylo Ren from Star Wars are going to be a very different subtype if you follow my silly chart for their canon selves than if you do in a fic where a) he goes full redemption arc or b) she joins him, dark queen style. (I am confident assuming fics of both type exist but yes this is a case of ‘she doesn’t even go here!) 

You’re generally still going to be safely within enemies-to-lovers if the canon ship is enemies-to-lovers (or if they’re downright canon enemies) but- outside canon, variety!

So this may help me find flaws in my draft-system so far as I don't know Loki/Strange well (only via following you! I am as usual in my own little corner of fandom) but to take a crack at it:

we’re looking at different paths if you think they’d group more properly under “PERSONAL” or just “Opposing Sides” (which leads pretty quickly to ‘YOU’RE JUST STARCROSSED’ in cases where characters connect/respect/lurve each other pretty darn immediately despite the opposing sides of it all!)

But my read on Loki/Strange is, essentially, Both, right? 

Even when Loki is teamed up with the Avengers, and he is working with Thor/not directly in opposition to Strange when they meant in MCU canon, in comic book terms, we’ve got the classic comic-book villain/hero dichotomy in play, and I think definitely the Immediately Capable of Grating On Each Others’ Nerves personal aspect? 

...and of course my ‘Both’ section is the most Very-Much-In-Early-Draft-Stage section while the other two paths are fairly together, feedback very welcome and trying to fit ships in will likely help me find major flaws in my paths-so-far... but anyway away we go!

next question once we’re in BOTH will be “is the enmity mutual” (because sometimes it is only one-sided! Darcy influence abounds!). Loki/Strange I’m thinking that is a yes which should then should send us to:

...here. Which is a dilemma.

I think Loki might probably put *himself* more ‘in the certain POV’ & yet I would, thinking of him at the end of Thor & Avengers one & his attitude in general lean more toward “and proud of it”. Mileage may wildly & widely vary but...

...yeah I’m going with ‘and proud of it’.

(there’s only 2 options for the split here because I’m letting the ‘opposing sides’ do some heavy lifting in terms of them already being in clear-enough opposition and the choices ‘only from a certain POV’ will have backtrack options for the ‘neither is ‘bad’ actually’ types that have wandered down this path) 

But if we’re going ‘and proud of it’ my next question (option variety currently so wide I need to narrow it down or this is going to get out of control) is what changes? and  

that is then going to vary by fic.

but means we’re on track for this zone generally... which I think tracks? Or maybe Loki’s getting his Redemption Song on but... this zone seems his vibe.

[preserving-ferretbrain]

Golden Girls and Lost Boys

Shimmin considers a Disney film much too seriously for anyone's good.~

Spoiler warning for Tangled.

Recently, I went to watch Tangled (in 3D! not that it matters, and because there wasn't an alternative, but there you are), the new Disney Rapunzel film. I'm not planning to do yer'actual review of it, and I'm not that interested in getting into heavy analysis of the plot or logic or of a Disney film based on a fairy tale, because that would be silly. It was fun, it was more-or-less for children, it was funny, it was sweet if a bit saccharine, it had an awesome horse. Their version also seemed quite original, which is something I tend to forget about Disney films. Anyway, this article is not about that. It brought up some vaguely interesting issues that I thought might be worth waffling about in case anyone else also found them interesting.

Synopsis

The Disney plot is rather different, and people might not be over-familiar with the details of Rapunzel anyway, so here's the gist. A drop of sunlight falls to earth and grows into a magical flower (just go with it, okay?). An old woman finds the flower, and discovers that if she sings a particular magical song to it, it glows with healing light that temporarily restores her youth (ditto). She hides it and uses it to stay young and beautiful for an unspecified but long time. The Queen becomes ill while pregnant, so they send the army to find the fabled flower. They make a healing potion from it, which works, and the child is born as a beautiful golden-haired daughter (it wasn't entirely clear when the mop of hair appeared, but stick with me here). One night, the old woman sneaks into the palace to steal a lock of hair, believing it'll have the same healing properties. But when she cuts it, the hair loses its power. In desperation, she steals the baby. Nobody knows what happened to the princess, and they never find her. Every year on her birthday, they release Chinese lanterns to remember her.

Eighteen years later, thieves break in and steal the princess' crown (presumably a traditional item from the treasury) which is handily kept on a cushion beneath a skylight with all the guards facing away. They're pursued, and one (Flynn) splits off from the others with the crown, escaping the guards but still followed by an angry horse. He finds a tower in a hidden valley, which seems like an ideal hiding place. Sadly, he's beaten unconscious by an 18-year-old Rapunzel with a pan, and stuffed in a cupboard. Rapunzel wants to go and see the floating lights she's spotted every year on her birthday, but her mother won't let her. After yet another argument, which dissuades her from revealing her prisoner to her mother, she decides to make the man take her instead while her mother's away. Wacky adventures and angst and excitement ensue. The two fall in love, and are followed by the old woman, who uses Flynn's betrayed partners to set an ambush, and sets it up to look like he's abandoned Rapunzel so she'll accept her mother's advice and won't try to leave the tower again. He escapes, comes to see her, is mortally wounded, and has a pointless heroic moment of sacrifice that is negated by Lurve. Old woman crumbles to dust, Rapunzel is reunited with her family, and all live happily ever after. Except the old woman, and presumably the now-imprisoned Stabbington Brothers.

Family Matters

One of the things that was vaguely interesting about the film was the family issues it brought up. The thing that really got my attention was right at the end, during the reuinion, when the narrator (i.e. Flynn) says something like: "...Rapunzel finally had a real family..."

Let's leave aside the likely problems for a girl brought up by a single parent in humble surroundings in a small tower, who's barely met a handful of people in her life, joining two unknown biological parents of immense wealth and power who live in a massive castle and incidentally becoming the biggest celebrity of all time. I'm sure there will be no issues whatsoever getting accustomed to that. Or long-term trauma associated with the violent death of the woman who brought her up and whom she sincerely loved. This is a fairy tale. However, it does get me thinking about families.

The old woman is never named in the story. I do wonder why; perhaps to stop us having any sympathy with her, though villains in other stories are named, or perhaps they simply couldn't be bothered inventing a name. It does dehumanize her a bit. Anyway, I'm going to call her Agnes. So Agnes has, indeed, kidnapped Rapunzel to use her supernatural power so she can live forever. This is Not Okay. And she keeps her trapped in the tower so she won't either leave her, or be found by anyone. The thing is, apart from that, she treats her as a daughter.

Now, I am not going to claim she's a great mother. She's controlling and emotionally manipulative, which I suppose isn't that surprising when she's keeping Rapunzel there basically by force of will. She's only tepidly affectionate. On the other hand, Rapunzel's very comfortable and, apart from a desire to see the outside world, she's pretty happy. She has nice furniture and playthings, nice clothes, and an apparently endless supply of hobby materials. They don't seem to have a luxurious diet, but neither do most peasants; and Agnes makes a point of cooking Rapunzel's favourite food when she visits. She's also educated her brilliantly: although a tad naive, she knows everything an ordinary, non-imprisoned girl would know. She recognises Flynn as a man, knows what birthdays mean, how drowning works, and when she's in danger. The outside world doesn't really phase her, so she must know about nature and geography, and she seems to have a decent grasp of society and normal behaviour too. She's articulate, intelligent and very pleasant. In fact, given the difficulties of the situation, Agnes is one of the most successful child-raisers I've ever heard of. It's very clear that, right until the end, Rapunzel is very fond of her mother. Regardless of Agnes' ultimate feelings towards the girl, she treats her extremely well so far as the situation allows. Compare, say, Cinderella or Snow White. Agnes may not be a great mother, but she's actually not a terrible one.

I was talking about this to Dan, and he summed up my argument here as basically: "Apart from kidnapping a baby, pretending to be her mother, bringing her up alone in a tower for eighteen years and deceiving her for her own selfish ends, she's not a particularly bad mother". The thing is, ridiculous as it sounds, I think that's about right. The things she's done wrong aren't really about how she raised Rapunzel, but more general wrongs that intertwine with that. The problem is that Agnes' dual status as adoptive mother and kidnapper rather complicates the issue.

As far as Rapunzel is concerned, at least, Agnes is her family. The thing that changes that is not really a shift in their relationship, or anything Agnes does; it's seeing a picture of the baby princess and then seeing herself in the mirror wearing the crown. It's a revelation of Objective Truth ('you are Really the Princess, the Queen and King are your Real Family'), rather than anything about the family itself - right until that moment, Rapunzel thinks of Agnes as her mother and loves her.

There's a decent argument that it's not a good family, because it's built on a tissue of lies. It's also possible that Agnes has no real affection for Rapunzel - she doesn't show any active affection in the film. On the other hand, she's brought the girl up for 18 years, and in that time, I'd have expected things to crystallise one way or the other. The first option is to view and treat her as a useful tool or a pet, in which case I wouldn't expect Rapunzel to be so well educated or comfortable; that's extra effort and liable to encourage further trouble, when you could bring her up cowed and ignorant so she won't get ideas. If, on the other hand, Agnes brings her up as though she was her daughter and treats her kindly, you'd expect some affection to arise on both sides.

Now, I don't think Disney thought much about this one throwaway line and I'm not that interested in decrying them. A fairly normative and slightly old-fashioned way of thinking is par for the course. I suppose the "real family" reference means one with honesty and love, rather than manipulation, deceit and using your daughter selfishly. It means the parents who wanted you and loved you unconditionally, rather than someone who stole you for selfish reasons, whether or not they've got fond of you. In context, though, it had a faint whiff of narrow-mindedness: that what really matters isn't who brought you up or how you felt about them, but your genes (and incidentally having two parents, not just one). The fact is though, Rapunzel actually had a pretty happy family life before all this kicked off.

From My Point of View, the Jedi are Arguably Morally Ambiguous

Although the story glosses over her, I was also quite interested in Agnes and her actions. We don't ever find out anything about her, other than her use of the flower and her relationship with Rapunzel. We don't know her background, her history, or what she does when she's not visiting Rapunzel. Why should we? Rapunzel doesn't either. She's presented pretty much exclusively as a manipulative, selfish woman, whose use of the flower is immoral, and who commits a string of selfish acts to keep herself young and live forever. I'm not sure how convinced I am by that portrayal, or the way morality is defined in this story as a whole.

Agnes is lucky enough to find the flower and discover its powers. She keeps it hidden and uses it to stay young (and therefore alive) for, well, a long time. She chooses to keep it to herself, which is selfish, but I wonder how long she'd get to keep it if people found out about it? She could legitimately have all kinds of worries about that, so keeping it hidden isn't that unreasonable. As it turns out, the first thing that happens when the flower's discovered is it gets taken - so her hypothetical suspicions are vindicated.

Now for a look at the Castle. When the Queen is ill, the Castle mount a frantic last-chance search for the rumoured magical flower, and due to carelessness on Agnes' part, find it. Under her very eyes, they carefully dig it up and take it away to the castle. Someone makes it into a magic potion, which heals the Queen and (probably) saves her daughter's life too.

The issue here is the magic flower. Who has the right to use it, and what uses are acceptable?

The flower just appears. There's no reason it belongs to anyone, but Agnes has as much claim to it as anyone. Agnes uses it to save her own life; the Castle use it to save the Queen's life (and her unborn daughter). While Agnes keeps the flower to herself, nobody else benefits; once the Castle destroy the flower, nobody else can ever benefit. There's a touch of criticism in the film's portrayal of Agnes' actions, as though it were a crime to seek immortality. I don't know much about ethics, but I suspect issues like immortality are much more complicated than "it's bad to try and live forever". The Castle's actions are presented straightforwardly as a good thing. To be honest, I can't really see much difference. From a purely practical perspective, the first is a much more efficient use of the flower. The only real difference I can see between them is that Agnes chooses to save herself, whereas someone else (the King?) chooses to save the Queen. The first is more obviously selfish; but the second involves destroying an item of fantastic potential benefit to the world, which doesn't actually belong to the King any more than it does to anyone else, to extend the life of his wife. Not entirely unselfish.

Once the flower is destroyed, Agnes is doomed. Having and then losing immortality is more of a blow than never having it. She works out that Rapunzel's hair could do the same job, and plans to steal a lock. It's a bit skeevy, and involves burglary; on the other hand, the Castle are responsible for her plight, and taking a lock of hair shouldn't actually harm anyone. I can't really see the Castle giving her one, so theft or death is pretty much the choice. It all goes downhill from there.

In a sense, the story is a series of choices that Agnes has to make, each one more morally questionable. Initially, she chooses to keep the flower's benefits for herself, rather than risk sharing it. Then she chooses to try and steal a lock of hair to regain her lost immortality, rather than dying to avoid a relatively minor crime that harms nobody. She's cheated of that option by the way the magic works. The real problem starts when, panicking, she chooses to steal the baby rather than die. Then she chooses to deceive and manipulate her stolen daughter rather than risk her running away. Then she chooses to genuinely betray her (by acting against Rapunzel's interests) to get Rapunzel and her own immortality back. Finally, when the truth comes out, she chooses to resort to force rather than lose Rapunzel and die. Agnes is stuck on a slippery slope, where each decision makes it harder to give up the immortality for which she's done so much, and makes it easier to take the next and wronger step. What she ends up doing, and her treatment of Rapunzel, is clearly wrong, but it's not nearly as simple as her being a wicked old woman.

One of my friends suggested that one reason why Agnes and the Queen are portrayed differently is that people find it creepy for old people to want to be young and live forever; but saving and extending the lives of young, beautiful people is fine. There might be something in that.

A Bit of a Lad

The other thing I found a bit off about Tangled was its hero. Aladdin had a thief hero, but it was a little different. He was clearly a destitute beggar who stole food to live. Flynn Rider, the hero of Tangled, is also from a humble background, but he's more of a professional thief - all we know is that he's conspiring to steal a crown from the palace.

Now, thieves as heroes are a well-established trope in literature. However, Flynn is clearly not only a thief, but an untrustworthy thief. In the film, he's sort of contrasted against the Stabbington Brothers, his partners, in a way that is clearly supposed to show him in a good light. However, if you look at the details, it's rather murkier. He is willingly engaged in the robbery at the palace, and makes it very clear that it's a chance to live in luxury rather than a matter of need. All three are chased by the soldiers and trapped in a dead-end gully. Flynn offers to climb up and help them after him; they don't trust him and insist he leaves the bag with the crown with them. However, once he gets to the top they clearly believe he'll help them escape too. Instead, he reveals the bag he's somehow managed to steal back, mocks them, and runs off to save his own hide. In other words, he betrays his partners and leaves them trapped in a gully to die at the hands of the soldiers. That is not the act of a hero, not even a thief. That is not being a rough diamond, or a rogue. That is being a treacherous backstabbing git. As it happens, the soldiers spot him and chase after him instead, but that's clearly not the intention.

Rather surprisingly, he does behave mostly honourably towards Rapunzel. He does try to deter her from going through with the plan, but since he's a wanted outlaw liable to be killed if he gets spotted in the kingdom, it's not that unreasonable. He's not doing it just to get the crown back. When she does offer him the crown later, he's in love with her and tries to give it to the Stabbington Brothers. To be honest, though, that came across more as a way to weasel out of any comeuppance for his betrayal and get them off his back, rather than a genuine attempt to face up to his actions or any real remorse. Unsurprisingly, they prefer to exact some revenge.

There's also a scene in the middle where they visit a dive. As part of his attempt to persuade Rapunzel to give up the excursion, he takes her to a wretched hive of etc. This being Disney, a bit of eyelid fluttering and a song show up all the murderous thugs as sweethearts deep down. The fact is, though, if it's even remotely as bad at it appears, he has no business taking her there. All the men there are clearly villainous and criminal, and there are no women there at all. Taking a naive 18-year old girl there, while (as we soon find out) not having the ability to protect either of you if there's trouble, is not only utterly stupid but an unforgivable failure of responsibility.

Despite all this, it's the Stabbingtons who are treated as the real criminals, who deserve only to be locked up. They're also the only characters, other than Agnes, who don't get a happy ending: the last we see of them, they're locked in the castle dungeon. Given that Flynn was about to be hanged for stealing the crown, I don't fancy their chances much.

In a way, neither the Stabbingtons or Agnes are villains, any more than Flynn is really a hero. They're all people who are faced with decisions, and sometimes choose the wrong ones. Agnes does wrong to avoid dying, the Stabbingtons and Flynn do wrong for profit, and the Queen does no obvious wrong. The reason they come across differently is that everyone has different choices to make. Agnes has to choose between crime and death; the Queen doesn't have to make that choice. The Stabbingtons and Flynn all choose to steal the crown, but Flynn's the one who chooses to betray them to death. The Stabbingtons choose to seek revenge when it's offered, but Flynn doesn't have any revenge to seek. Flynn is kind to Rapunzel and falls in love with her, but the Stabbingtons don't get the opportunity. The Stabbingtons plan to capture Rapunzel and profit from her powers; Flynn doesn't find out about them until he's already her friend, she's saved his life and they're well on their way to falling in love. It's not that surprising that, treacherous git as he is, he doesn't take that option. Whether he would have or not, we don't know. But while falling in love might redeem people to one another, simply falling in love with Rapunzel doesn't turn Flynn from a thieving, untrustworthy scoundrel into a noble hero.

Fundamentally, though, I'm thinking far too much about a very fun and nicely-executed children's film that I really enjoyed watching. Let's not take it too seriously.

[the-truth-will-light-the-sky]

Music Headcanon Part One

The Chocobros listening to music feat. Insomnia and Leide Crew

The Chocobros feat. Veritas (OC)

Music would be something like: Ice Ice Baby, Manolo and U Can’t Touch This, No Sleep ’til Brooklyn, WTF, Sabotage, etc.

All the bros would bob their heads to and fro to the sound of the beat.

Their feet would tap and stomp to the music unconsciously and quite uncontrollably so.

Noctis would sometimes do the ‘bad boy’ pout accidentally to which the bros would tease him incessantly, much to his embarrassment, but does it anyway.

Prompto would unashamedly sing to the music with Noct as his back up singer. He can actually sing, this dude. But he’d rather just blend in.

Gladio would look out into the distance as they’re driving in the car, pretending that they were making a music video of his ‘bad-assery’.

The bros and V would lip sync to No Sleep ’til Brooklyn. Every one is assigned their own parts and would try their best to sing in character. Ignis got carried away as he drummed his hands on the steering wheel. Prompto and Noctis would even stand on the car as they sang the lyrics to one another, both in their rocker state.

Ignis would deny it, but he absolutely love music like these that always get his blood pumping as effectively as Ebony can. He’d sip a can of it while chilling to the beats yoh

When in their own private company, the bros would goof around with dance moves they see from music videos. Noct would goof around but deep inside he really wanted to dance like a cool back street guy.

Prompto would be the most competitive — he’d do really sick moves and would even pose at the right moment in the song, entertaining the whole gang up to the late hours of the night.

Gladio would criticize Noct’s trying hard moves and would often tease Ignis to drop the act and just let loose; of course he doesn’t.

Ignis would be in the kitchen baking or cooking to his heart’s desire, only to sing to the lyrics all by his lonesome and ultimately busting some moves of his own while holding his spatula. V walks in and walks back out again once she sees Ignis shaking them hips as the kitchen smelled of vanilla. *I found a silly gif of Iggy dancing...but I suppose I’d leave the vision of him dancing to our imaginations. Haha!*

V likes some of the old music from ancient Eos and would often revel in the music as it was being played all around Lucis. She would dance the traditional steps and would often take Ignis’ hands and dance with him, their arms hooked around each other’s, his feet shuffling as best as he can. He let loose for a bit. It’s the wine, he’d say. But we drank root beer, Noctis said to which Prompto snickered and took a shot of a rather competitive Iggy.

Gladio’s playlist includes not just ‘bad-ass’ music but also love songs, like tons of it. He’d be bursting his lungs out, complete with emotions nobody thought they’d see on Gladio’s eyes. Then after a particularly sappy song he’d pipe down and keep to himself, just absorbing the raw emotions. Iggy sheds a tear in secret.

Noct would HATE it once V puts in her OLD MAN playlist. She likes to listen to lots of genre, but when she’s particularly vexed or just missing Ravus, she’d sneak in a short valse in the completely varied playlist. Ignis approves of this.

Hammerhead

In Hammerhead, Cid would listen to his so-called ‘ swamp and cowboy tunes’ all day, erryday as Noctis would say. Sometimes he’d sing the wrong lines or miss the timing in the lyrics and would speed his singing up once he realizes he was out of sync. Noctis and the bros would hide beside the garage, laughing their brains out as Ignis records Cid’s singing. They would replay it every damn time as the opportunity arises. Even a stick in the mud like Cor would *giggle* each time he hears this.

Cor Leonis finds out in Leide that Dave the hunter shares the same damn good taste in music. So every night, they’d light up the camp fire and tune those guitars and blow on those harmonicas so they’d commence their good ol’ dirt road singing. Nothing like two deep voices singing gritty music while chugging a cold mug of liquor.

Cid’s playlist: Anything from Hank Williams. Hands down his favorite.

Cor’s playlist would have a variety of genre, but these songs pop into my head each time I see the marshal : Old Before Your Time by Ray LaMontagne, Sitting on the Dock of The Bay by Otis Redding,  Universal Soldier by Donovan, Sheena-Na-Gig by PJ Harvey, Capsize by Black Delta, Through the Valley by Shawn James, etc. Basically anything that has that vintage old vibes and missing home feels and some moody ones as well.

Insomnia

If back in Insomnia, Cor would open the door and ask them all to keep it down. Back in his room he’d take up his guitar and sing some of his ‘cowboy’ music. Shh nobody knows.

The hall in Insomnia is vast and music echoed all over the walls each time there was a celebration or a performance by the Royal Symphony. One day, completely bored to death, Prompto and Noctis used a small audio system to start rapping in the hall, the amplifier making their voices ring all around. They sang in the silliest way possible or would imitate any person’s voice and would comment on any topic like radio DJs. Monica wasn’t pleased when she heard how Prompto imitated her voice — he got an especially grueling training in firearms the next day.

King Regis would ask any close female friend to dance with him during a celebration and would be rather dashing. Veritas noted that he’s still quite the dancer thirty years ago, much to his satisfaction.

As a young man, King Regis loves to listen to instrumental compositions. He’s not into the whole modern music of his age, moreover the ones his son loves to blast out during the mornings and midnights. He prefers the calm he gets when he listens to instrumental music and yet, despite the fast beats, he likes to listen to samba music, too. Oh dear, Queen Aulea used to tease him about it. And it was only her who got the killjoy prince to dance to it…and his lover was only too pleased with herself for coaxing him to uhh, shake those hips. If only she had taken a photo of him!

After seeing Lunafreya on television and newspaper coverage as well as hearing about her on the radio, Nyx Ulric finds himself absolutely smitten with the Oracle. Of course he denies it. There’s no way he can crush on the most loved woman of Eos. She’s way up there and he’s like, a dude who lives in a slightly shabby apartment in a not-so flashy neighborhood in Insomnia, a guy who likes dirt roads and road trips while she’s probably into posh Altissian dinners, high end hotel rooms and a mansion that smells like sylleblossoms that probably practically grows in every corner. His list goes on and on. His friends, particularly Libertus and Crowe both find it hilarious that the hero and not so innocent friend of theirs is in ‘lurve’ with the purest human being. Of course it’s a contradiction, but what’s not to love about such a tragic infatuation story? They’d tease him during their breaks or whenever she appears on the media. Their go to song to push their lovestruck friend’s buttons is ‘Uptown Girl’ from a vintage band. And boy would Nyx’s ears turn red as the two would sing along, pushing an article of newspaper with Lunafreya’s face. The song stuck and unfortunately for Nyx, it’ll play in his head even until the moment he suddenly meets the Oracle herself. Poor guy.

[thefallenlilith]

TURNING TO THE MOON (2/?)

Kamilah x MC (Millie)

Part 1

....

For four days in a row Kamilah had fallen asleep while she had been working, which in itself was unusual, but each day she’d had dreams of her future; of these snippets of a contented life with a young woman she had only known for barely a month.

The logical part of her brain had to constantly remind herself that she still didn't fully know Millie, because the emotional side remembered exactly what it was like to be entirely in love with her.

It was hard to ignore.

Now was probably the time to admit that these were not just dreams, because they were far too vivid and specific for there not to be something else at work.

The previous three dreams she'd had, Millie had turned into the sun at the moment that Kamilah had felt her most content, and then she'd felt herself turn to dust. This was the first time something had spoken to her though.

Or maybe it really was just her subconscious telling her that she should accept that happiness, for her, was only ever going to be an illusion. Especially with a human.

The chirp of her intercom interrupted her thoughts.

"Ms Sayeed, your lunch has arrived."

Kamilah rolled her neck, mostly to try and remove the thoughts from her mind. "Yes, Evie, send her in."

A young auburn haired woman was ushered into her office by her smirking secretary.

She would admonish Evie for her behaviour, but she was the rarest of vampires, in that she actually enjoyed menial tasks, and she was very good at them. So Kamilah forgave the few, small, unprofessional moments she had.

As the door shut, the young woman took several hesitant steps before coming to a sudden stop halfway between the desk and the exit.

"Would you like something to drink?" Kamilah asked as she stood and walked towards the redhead.

"No thank you." The woman shook her head; her eyes trained on her as she moved closer. "I'm Leigh."

Kamilah pursed her lips. She didn't like it when her food had a name. Evie should've informed the young woman of this.

"Oh, wait, sorry! I shouldn't have said that! I blurt when I'm nervous or excited."

Kamilah really didn't care which one of those she was. "It's fine. Are you ready?"

The young woman nodded and tilted her head to the side.

At least her food had managed to get something right, she thought as she sunk her teeth into a clean, unfragranced neck, and began to drink. A second later her approval disappeared when the redhead's hands went straight onto Kamilah's hips.

Carefully, so she wouldn't spook her, she took hold of the woman’s wrists and held them firmly by her side; but then the inappropriate noises began, and she had to pull away.

She pricked her finger with her fang and healed her bite marks. "Thank you." She said as she turned back towards her desk. "Evie, will compensate you for your trouble."

"That was... Uh... Quicker than I thought it would be."

"Yes, well, it seems as though I was not as hungry as I thought."

"Oh. Eyes bigger than your belly, as my mom says." She chuckled as she patted her stomach.

Kamilah forced her face to be as neutral as she could. "Indeed."

The woman thanked her unnecessarily, and spun on her heel towards the exit. As soon as she opened the door, all annoyance left Kamilah as she saw Millie standing in the adjoining office; her gaze following the young woman leaving, and then to Kamilah. Her eyebrow quirked and she had an amused smile.

"Millie's here!" Evie shouted.

"Yes. I can see. Thank you."

Her girlfriend snorted a laugh as she crossed the threshold and slammed the door behind her. "You know, I'm beginning to think that you have a type." She walked straight up to Kamilah and perched herself on the desk next to her.

"Which is?"

"Young, redhead and, perky."

"I... Hadn't actually considered that." She was surprised by the revelation. And thinking about it, this was only a recent taste. "Does it bother you?"

"Why would it?"

"As you just pointed out, I apparently have a type."

Millie shrugged and gave her wicked smile before she leaned down to kiss her. It reminded Kamilah of her dream.

"That wasn't an answer."

Millie let out a sigh. "Am I bothered you have a type? No."

Kamilah spun in her chair to face Millie, and pulled her onto her lap. "I sense a 'but'."

Millie snorted loudly. "Butt sense!"

Kamilah didn't know why it was funny, but she was amused by her girlfriend's reaction.

It was these silly moments that made her feelings grow for this young woman; which was strange, because before meeting her, she found this behaviour immature and tiresome.

"Sorry." Millie said, wrapping her arms around Kamilah's neck, and snuggled into her. "I'm not bothered exactly. Just, a little jealous I guess."

"Of what?"

"It's stupid."

"Perhaps. Perhaps not. Tell me anyway."

"Okay." Millie blew out a breath. "I just get bummed thinking that I have to share you. And before you say anything, I know that they're just, a snack, to you, but it's still super intimate. I've only been fed on once, and -"

Kamilah straightened up abruptly, and growled. "Who fed on you?"

She wasn't blind. Practically every vampire she'd seen while Millie was around drooled over her. Adrian, Lily and Jax included.

"Whoa!" Millie tightened her grip on Kamilah so she didn't fall on her ass. "It was Lily! She'd just had some hangry frenzied blood lust thing. She needed to eat!"

"Did she attack you?"

"No! I, offered."

"That was extremely dangerous. She could have killed you if she had lost control. Don't do that again."

Millie's brows shot up, and leaned back to fully look at her. "Is that an order?"

Kamilah noted the incredulous tone in her voice, and studied her face for a few moments. "No. I'm sorry. Think of it more as a request, rather than an command. I'm quite attached to you, and I'd rather nothing happened to you."

The command, it seemed, would have to be directed at the baby vampire instead.

"Awww! You lurve me." Millie grinned as she manoeuvred herself so that she was straddling her.

"I wouldn't go that far." Kamilah deadpanned, hoping Millie couldn't tell she was lying.

"Sure. Whatever you say, My Queen." Her girlfriend cupped her face and brushed her thumbs over Kamilah's lips before pulling her in for a long, slow passionate kiss.

Kamilah closed her eyes, and her hands found their way under Millie's shirt, following the trail up her stomach until she reached the lacy bra. She'd been admonished more than once for ruining the other woman's underwear - which had been replaced - but she had kept her impatience in check after she was told that a strong breeze had given some construction workers a free show. Annoyingly, Millie had refused to tell her where these construction workers were located.

So now she removed the bothersome underwear the old fashioned way. While they were in her office at least. Although it took a great deal restraint, especially like now while Millie was moaning into her mouth, and her hips were undulating against her own.

"Ms Sayeed. It's six o'clock."

She let out an irritated grunt, and begrudgingly pulled away from the kiss. "We should get home."

Millie cocked her head and raised an eyebrow in a silent question.

"What?”

"Nothing!" She looked like the proverbial cat that got the cream, and gave Kamilah a quick peck on the lips before extracting herself from her lap. "What is this thing that's happening tonight?"

"Officially, it's a conclave of various clans from other cities in the United States. It is meant as a platform to discuss local and national issues. In reality it's an excuse for a party."

"Sounds like any other government to me. You sure you want me there? Last time that many vampires were all in one place, all hell broke loose."

"Well, with Vega no longer being an issue and Nicole incarcerated, the clanless are now Clan Matsuo; and the decreased number of ferals in the city now, I think it's safe to say that won't happen again."

"So the only thing I have to be worried about is a large group of drunken vampires being super creepy around me. That sounds like oodles of fun."

"I'll make sure that doesn't happen. They'll know that you're mine." Kamilah paused, then corrected herself. "That you're with me. Not that you belong to me."

"Not a great save, but kudos for trying." Millie gave her a thumbs up. "What time is this shindig happening?"

"In three hours."

"Is that why we have to go, home, so we can get gussied up?"

"Yes. Why did you emphasize the word 'home' like that?"

"I didn't. Let's go!" Millie turned and marched out of the office; only remembering to straighten her clothes after she had passed Evie's desk.

Kamilah rolled her eyes and followed after her.

Her designer and hair stylist were waiting for them in the lobby of her building, and they snapped to attention as she walked by, towards the elevator.

"Did you bring all the dresses I asked for, Samantha?"

"Yes, Ms Sayeed." The tall brunette nodded.

"Esteban, I need you to focus on Miss Taylor's hair."

"Hey, what's wrong with how it is now?" Millie sulked.

"It's... Unruly."

"Yeah? So's your face!" She stared at Kamilah defiantly for a second and then sagged. "No it's not. Your face is very lovely."

"Hmm." Kamilah smirked. "Thank you for saying so."

"You're very welcome. So what you going to do with my mane then, Esteban?"

"That would be Ms Sayeed's decision." The blonde, sun-kissed man answered with a Spanish accent that Kamilah had noticed was wildly inconsistent. Probably because his name was actually Steve, and he was from Queens.

She suppressed a smile as she watched Millie's face contort in annoyance at her stylist.

"I think what Esteban means is that he will show you his portfolio, and you can decide yourself."

The man's eyes went wide and nodded. "Yes, that is exactly what I meant."

Her girlfriend narrowed her gaze at the man. "Good! I think your going to have to work real hard to build up the rapport we built up Esteban; you know, those precious moments between us getting in the car, and you talking." She pointed a finger at him, and he looked like he was about to have a panic attack.

The ding of the doors opening interrupted the scene, and Kamilah took hold of Millie's hand and headed towards the main entrance of her penthouse.

"Not everyone appreciates your sense of humour, Miss Taylor."

"They can suck it."

Kamilah laughed as she pulled out the ring of keys, and hesitated. Before she could even think about it, she touched the part of the door that she had cracked in her dream.

"Hey?" Millie asked quietly. "Are you... Are you okay?"

"Yes. Of course. Let's prepare for the evening shall we?"

Once inside, she showed the three humans into one of the spare rooms she had, and made her way to the kitchen. After scanning the area for any sign of the mess she knew would be there ten years from now, she pulled out her phone.

As much as she didn't like the idea, she needed counsel from someone who would be able to determine whether these were dreams, or visions. Unfortunately, witches were not known for cooperating with vampires, but she felt it was worth the risk.

Millie was worth the risk.

(A/N: So my writing style is basically dumb, slow burn fluff with a plot that you need a humorously large magnifying glass, and a deerstalker hat to spot. Just fair warning :))

[eisforeidolon]

I love seeing posts where hellers admit that if Cass became a human, they would stop shipping it because they're in it for "a hunter throwing away the way he was raised and falling in love with a supernatural being." it clearly illustrates how the ship isn't about the characters in it, it's about a shallow trope, and why so much of it is OOC in relation to Dean specifically - they ship a headcanon version of Dean with a less embarrassing and useless headcanon version of Cass.

If they just wanted to hang around fandom and fantasize about nonexistent versions of the characters that would actually fit the generic romance tropes they’re so obsessed with, that’d be fine.  Sure, it’d still be some level of annoying because it has about as much to do with the show as any other random ripe-for-a-hilarious-Fabio-cover type tropefest does, but whatever.  It’s not like it’d be the only bizarre OOC silliness going on in fandom, right?  Tropes become tropes because they have a certain pull to them for at least some people.

It’s all the taking it to the next level and demanding that their fantasies obviously must exist in the show that’s completely OTT and weirdly fascinating.  The so-called Dean and Cas in their fevered imaginings bear no resemblance to the canon characters - and you have to wonder if even they recognize that on some level.  Why else would there be so many examples of hilaribad meta interpreting shirt colors/reflections/random signs/pastry/graffiti/wallpaper/counted seconds of eye contact or declaring weird and utterly arbitrary headcanons obvs trufacts like a tape of one band’s hits = mixtape = always twue lurve or Dean and/or Cas are suddenly Jewish?  There’s not even a reasonable shadow of there there in the vast majority of the characters’ actual behavior without all that reaching. 

Yet they have the nerve to caterwaul that the show is deceiving them and Jensen doesn’t understaaaaand his own character ... because neither is willing to flatten and pretzel the characters and story into their bad harlequin romance of choice.  Effectively admitting they have no interest in the actual characters by saying they only care about the trope is about par for the course on their self-awareness scale.

[kegisaroused]

The Last Jedi

I have a lot of thoughts. A lot of them are not good. Thoughts are under the cut in no particular order. Probably a little rambling/incomplete maybe I’ll write something more put together later IDK

MAJOR HUGE SPOILERS OBVIOUSLY

Okay so first, stuff I actually liked:

-Luke seeing the two suns in his last moments. One of the few moments with Luke’s character that didn’t feel totally off. 

-Luke handing Leia the bauble from the falcon and the old love theme stabbing me right through the goddamn heart.

-Finn and Poe having very few actual interactions and still managing to be gay as hell.

-I love the Porgs and the Crait foxes fuck all y’all. 

-I also liked Rose a lot and would love to see her actually get better character development. Her tasering Finn was fantastic.

-Rose and Finn’s little side jaunt has me so torn because despite it being totally out of place and gimmicky it also had some of the better character interactions/development in the whole movie? Not that that’s saying much

-Luke basically trying to get Rey to leave by purposefully being as much of a creepy old weirdo as possible. 

-R2 playing Leia’s original message. MY HEART.

-Laura Dern ramming the cruiser into the First Order at hyperspeed was really fucking cool. 

-Yoda being Yoda (when he WAS Yoda, but that’s for the next section)

-Leia using the force FOR ONCE (though the how was real stupid, but again... next section)

-Rey being happy to see Finn having a bond with Rose and smiling at it rather than being jealous or something stupid like that.

-Rey NOT giving Kylo another chance at the end. Like... mmkay buddy I tried but you made the wrong choice I’m shutting the door in your face now BYE.

-That said, I was really afraid of the stuff between Rey and Kylo because the shippers with spoilers had been making it seem like the romance angle was REALLY played up but... it wasn’t? At all? Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t shut down that angle but the nature of their connection felt ambiguous. The music cues did not indicate a romance, and Snoke straight up SAYS that Kylo’s conflict and draw to Rey was something he was putting into his head so that he’d bring Rey to him. I also feel like Daisy and Adams acting choices were emphatically NOT hinting at a romantic dynamic. I was afraid the shirtless scene was gonna be some sort of awkward flustered Rey and instead it was her just being genuinely annoyed like STFU and put a fucking shirt on.

Now... on to THE BAD:

-The pacing. HOOOOLY HELL THE PACING. This movie was paced so badly. It felt simultaneously like it went on forever, but also moved so fast there was never breathing room. It felt manic and confused. Also the whole movie seems to take place over the course of like... a day. 

-EVERYONE was out of character at least half the time. Everyone either pulled shit that didn’t make sense for them to drive the plot or they completely rolled back their character development to rehash shit. TFA already dealt with Finn needing to stop running from his problems, why is he immediately trying to run away again? His attempted heroic sacrifice at the end would have been a good character moment... if we hadn’t already HAD that moment in the last movie. Poe was reduced to the “reckless hothead” archetype and not only had to learn a lesson that not only didn’t make sense for him, but he had to learn it twice. In the same movie. 

-The CGI gimmicks. It was treading pretty damn far into prequel territory with the unnecessary CGI animals where practical effects would have not only sufficed but felt much more organic. 

-I’m so happy they finally let Leia use the force but her floating herself back into the ship was SO STUPID LOOKING. I wanted to laugh and I am 100% sure that was not the intent. Carrie Fisher did not die for this. 

-Fake Luke at the end was stupid because it was immediately obvious. He was digitally edited to look younger, he was using a lightsaber that WE JUST SAW GET DESTROYED instead of the lightsaber he actually HAS, it was just... dumb. 

-Speaking of dumb: Luke’s entire motivation was stupid and made absolutely zero sense if you know anything about Luke Skywalker. You’re talking about the only person in the galaxy who believed Darth Vader could be redeemed. Like... that’s literally the WHOLE POINT OF HIS STORY IN THE ORIGINAL TRILOGY. You’re gonna have me believe that Luke Fucking Skywalker was so easily scared by the dark side that he (even for a SECOND) contemplated killing a teenager? No, no, no fuck right off with that shit. If anything it should have been REY who thought Kylo was an irredeemable monster and Luke convincing her to give him a chance. Even if in the end he throws away that chance. You can still make the point of “maybe not everyone can be saved” without committing character assassination on Luke. Like what the hell even was that.

-The dialogue was so clunky a lot of the time. Yoda for example: there were moments where he was perfect (him smacking Luke in the face and being like YEP FUCK IT BURN THE TREE WHO NEEDS IT were very in character actions) but a lot of his dialogue felt like someone doing a bad Yoda impression (important note: I’m referring here to his actual written lines, not the voice acting). Also his puppet was really weird looking I don’t know why but it did not look right at all. 

-Some of the jokes also felt very forced and unnecessary. Star Wars needs levity, but the tonal balance was just off and there were a lot of jokes that felt very shoved into scenes that did not need jokes.

-I didn’t buy the Finn/Rose romance. I don’t actually have a problem with that ship at all. Finn/Poe is obviously my preference but lets be real I’m not holding my breath and I’d be 100% fine if Finn/Rose is where they went. But it wasn’t developed at all? They had a couple bonding moments yeah and were definitely becoming good friends, but not nearly enough to make me believe THEY’RE IN LURVE. It was like they somehow thought her sacrifice couldn’t be meaningful if it was just about saving a friend instead of saving GUY I WANNA MACK ON which is kinda bullshit. 

-There was a continuous trend of showing HEY LOOK WE HAVE FEMALE CHARACTERS. LOOK AT ALL THESE LADY PILOTS AND GUNNERS only to kill them off immediately. Paige’s death I didn’t overly have a problem with as there was at least a reason and a point to it with her being Rose’s sister, and she was given a moment to shine and a heroic sacrifice at least, but with all the background characters it felt like they were so determined to be all LOOK WE HAVE GIRLS that we saw more girls die than guys.

-Also are Poe’s whole squad from the last movie just supposed to be dead now? Like... they got their own comic and everything and are fairly popular side characters. Are you really going to just say they’re all dead? 

-The fight choreography was really lacking. Luke fighting Kylo at the end could have been so cool but it was 90% stupid CGI and just felt silly. Especially comparing it to the Rey and Kylo (I refuse to type their names with a slash because seriously MISS ME WITH THAT SHIT) fight from the end of TFA which was so well done and just... ugh. Also Finn’s fight with Phasma was very anticlimactic and she was so underused.

-Finn and Rose’s side trip was completely pointless. Which is annoying because like I mentioned before it had some of the better character moments in a character-less movie, but it was literally pointless. I get that they wanted to set up some sort moral ambiguity or juxtaposition (OOOH THE ARMS DEALERS SELL TO BOTH SIDES SO IT’S A GREY AREA. OOOH THE POOR PEOPLE AND THE ANIMALS SUFFER FOR RICH PEOPLE’S ENTERTAINMENT. AM I DOING THIS RIGHT? IS THIS HEAVY HANDED ENOUGH?), but even if they had their hearts set on doing that (despite not needing to at all) there are a million other ways they could have done it without completely derailing the plot. Especially since in the end the plan didn’t even WORK an actually made things worse because if they never brought the stupid slicer on board the original plan would have worked and most of the resistance would have gotten away just fine. The slicer character himself was pointless and one dimensional.

-What is the First Order doing? They made sense in TFA because they were a fringe group who had been laying low and underselling their strength while they prepared to attack and overthrow the New Republic. But what are they doing now? Did they seize control and establish a new capital planet? Did they install a new governing body since they literally KILLED ALL OF THEM? What is their end goal? What is their motivation? There’s nothing there and there needs to be. 

-Why on god’s green earth didn’t Laura Dern just TELL POE THE PLAN? Why was she being needlessly cryptic and withholding? She wasn’t protecting anyone by withholding information and was actually making herself look really bad and incompetant for no reason? She didn’t even say she HAD a plan. It was so stupid and made no sense.

-Which leads me to a larger overall problem: the characters were not driving the story, the story was driving the characters. The characters did things because they had to to make the plot happen, rather than the plot happening because the characters did what they would naturally do. As a result almost all the characters felt incredibly stiff and there was pretty much no meaningful character development. 

-The movie wrote its self into a corner. I get that they wanted to push it into a more unsure ending ESB type situation but they went too far. The rebellion was in an unsteady place at the end of ESB but they still had, you know... a fleet? More than 10 people? They were also extremely inconsistent scene to scene with the number of resistance fighters left alive. They act like they’ve got almost nobody left, but then they have enough people to man the trenches on Crait? And a lot of those people clearly escaped back into the base but then when they’re escaping to the Falcon there’s like 5 of them? Am I supposed to believe that the 8 year old Rose gave a ring too is the savior of the resistance? None of it seemed to be done with any forethought to the future of the story.

-Where the hell is the rest of the Galaxy? I’ve never watched a Star Wars film that felt so isolated. Even with Rose and Finn’s B plot the galaxy felt empty and unpopulated. 

Overall the whole thing felt like a bunch of unfinished thoughts slapped together into a story without a proper narrating structure. The whole movie seemed confused about where it was going and what it was doing.

I’m hoping JJ Abrams can reel it back in with Episode 9 because it’s really gonna upset me if TFA was a fluke and the rest of this is just gonna be Prequel Trilogy 2.0

[muthaz-rapapa]

Screenshot comparison!

I was struck down with a cold over the weekend and didn’t want to work on another long post I have planned so I decided to kill time by doing this instead.

Because yes, I just lurve wasting my days away with silly, pointless things.

The idea came to me ever since Kira Puri did their first group attack (that has an actual name to it). I was like “Hmmm, if dramatic posture dies, so will magical girl shows, I guess” and then “Oh yea, we started out with five Cures this season, didn’t we?” which then escalated to “I wonder which group would look better posing with their weapons”...

Which resulted in this. *gestures to image above* And it’s only the first half. Second half includes all the seasons I’ve watched so far. Just waiting on Cure Parfait’s debut to include her Rainbow Ribbon into the chart.

Anyways, more comments under the cut. Cuz it’s too fucking long, aiyayayayayaa. And Tumblr resized this but oh well. :P

Mmkay, I originally wanted to cover only groups of five (not including later additions) but the more I thought about how every season after Splash had at least two Cures that used handheld devices to perform their attacks (usually finishers but doesn’t necessarily have to be), the more eager I became at wanting to see them stacked up against each other in their most flattering shots.

So here’s the list of criteria I followed:

Has to be taken from stock footage (therefore, excludes anyone who’s not a main Cure).

Every Cure should have their own personal item, if applicable.

Item used must be handheld. Therefore, accessories = no. Also, personal preference really but anything that does not remotely resemble a “weapon” in my book (like Doki Doki’s Magical Lovely Pad) is excluded. 

Item needs to produce an actual attack or some form of defense from it (ex. the makeup pens from HaCha do not count b/c they only applied power and were not used as an active weapon).

Character’s face should be seen alongside the item they’re holding and/or should not be obscured by item too much. Close-ups preferred.

Entirety of the item, or at least the central part of it, should fit within the screenshot.

Try to find the frame that shows both Cure and item at their most dynamic. Things to take into consideration: pose, lighting, camera angle, any intricate designs to display, etc.

...this is too wordy, yea, and I have way too much free time, yea...and that’s it. I have no excuse. <P

Anyways, I don’t go exactly word for word so the list of criteria is more of a guideline than anything.

Moving on...

Comparison by Group:

Yes! Precure 5 - Couldn’t make myself just go with one set of screenshots when they look so badass in their first pose so decided to include both. I mean Kira Puri came out with three columns, so it’s only fair. And they’ll end up being cut from the complete chart anyway so mind as well put them up somewhere.

Anywho, Precure 5 definitely comes out on top for me for a number of reasons. First column has the posing, obviously. Second column close-ups shows how srs bzns they are, adding to the heroic dynamics.

But the biggest winning factor is the Cure Fluerets. C’mon, how can the weapons that came after light sabers even begin to compare?

Granted, we don’t get to see them being used that way much but still! No other group’s ever gotten sword-like weapons so no competition there!

Smile Precure - Lighting’s the best for this group. It’s very bright but it works in their favor. Pose is not bad either and I’m very fond of how balanced everything feels when I look at their individual shots.

Kira Precure - Given how lengthy group attacks can be, it shouldn’t be a surprise why there are three sets here because half the time, they’re doing nothing but excessively spinning and posing for the camera.

Though the colors are pleasant on the eyes. Similar to Smile’s except Kira proves you don’t need any extra lights to show off the vibrancy of the group.

Also, just noticed this but love the way they alternate the hands they use in holding the Candy Rod. Bonus points for that little detail. ;)

And while I’m ultimately going to go with the last column for the complete chart, I find that I like how the first column looks better? I dunno, but the girls appear less static than they do their their sub-attack footage. Especially Gelato, who’s got some wind effects in her hair so that’s pretty nice. And Whip, who simply looks normal compared to whatever they did to her twintails for Whip Decoration. D:

Bottom Row Group Shot - Did this on a whim but I feel that earlier seasons have a better and closer sense of unity than Kira Puri does.

Then again, that just might be the screenshots’ influence so I dunno. I’ll save any further comment I have on this topic for other posts in the future.

Alright then, so...

Not taking weapons into account: Y!P5 = Smile > Kira Kira

Taking weapons into account: Y!P5 > Smile > Kira Kira

Yea. :3

[seriestrash]

London’s Calling

1 || 2 || 3 || 4 || 

Chapter Five: The Honeymoon Period 

Word Count: 2262

☏ ☏ ☏ ☏

(Picks right up where the last chapter finished, on the phone to Lucas) 

☼ 3:34pm ☼  NYC          ||          LND ☽ 8:34pm ☾

“Now tell me about London...” Lucas insists through the phone.

“Well, it’s not New York..” Riley laughs nervously.

“It isn’t?” Lucas teases with a gasp, “I had no idea.”

Riley giggles in response, “It’s so weird.”

“Weird how?” Lucas continues to press.

“Weird-good I guess,” Riley relaxes into their conversation. “It’s strange having learnt about places like this and knowing of all the things like red telephone boxes and Big Ben it’s just so..”

“Weird seeing it all in real life?” Lucas finishes her sentence.

“Exactly!” Riley exclaims.

“I totally understand,” Lucas nods, “I felt the same way when I came to New York. I’d only ever seen things in pictures but suddenly I’m standing right in front of The Empire State Building. It’s surreal.”

“Exactly,” Riley says excited again, “You understand.”

“Yeah,” Lucas smiles to himself, “So tell me about them, surreal or not,” he chuckles, “Did you take lots of pictures?”

“Yeah I did, I’ll send them through to you,” Riley gets him to wait a moment while she sends him all the photos she’s taken. She would eventually start documenting her escapades via her instagram but for now she just wanted to tell Lucas about it.

“Got em,” Lucas says and he begins to scroll through the various pictures. Chuckling at a few of her goofy tourist shots. 

Riley begins to tell him about everything she saw in great detail. Including her ride on the London Eye - which she forgot the name of and described as the big wheel thing by the river- to which Lucas chuckles and reminds her of it’s correct name. She describes her early dinner in Trafalgar Square and they laugh over her failed attempt to climb the lion.

“It wouldn’t be a trip for you unless you actually tripped, would it?” He chuckles and Riley laughs along with him.

“Where’s your mom? Lucas asks. 

“I think she’s in the kitchen,” Riley answers. 

“Not now,” Lucas laughs, “In the photos, she’s not in any of them.” 

“Oh,” Riley laughs nervously but deflates quickly, “She had to go to her new office for paperwork or something..” 

“You bummed she missed sightseeing?” Lucas asks delicately after assessing her mood change. 

“Kinda,” Riley shrugs knowing Lucas can’t see it, “But we live here now so what’s the rush?” 

“Right,” Lucas tries to sound positive but the reminder that this wasn’t a ‘trip’ like he put it earlier dampened his mood as well. 

☏ ☏ ☏ ☏

The following day Riley begins to share her travels with the world. Lucas watches Riley’s trip unfold through her social media accounts but he always got sent the special photos. No nothing dirty, just the extra photos like purposely ‘ugly’ selfies taken in places. The kind you try to look as silly as possible in. The kind that has Lucas in fits of laughter every time she sends one. 

☏ ☏ ☏ ☏

A week passes and Riley continues to document her escapades... 

Both Lucas and Maya were right in saying things would get easier for Riley. In the weeks that passed since the American landed on foreign soil, things certainly have gotten easier for her in regards to communication with her friends.

Riley would text constantly with her friends, that, she managed to juggle quite easily with her constant exploring and actual phone calls she managed to swing at least three times a week. 

Luckily for Riley, since it’s summer vacation back home her friends have an abundance of time and are more frequently than not, together. So those group calls that Lucas mentioned were easier to come by.

Lucas continues to follow Riley through her social medias and continues to receive the odd extra photos that didn’t make the cut. Through watching the ones that did make the cut though, Lucas notices when Riley removes his name from her bio. He knew such a thing was so juvenile but he couldn’t help but feel sad when he realised. Just another reminder of what distance took away from them. 

Although distance did him dirty Lucas still feels close to Riley in an emotional connection sense. Riley feels the same way. Over the days that have passed they find themselves texting one another, even when they know the other is asleep or occupied elsewhere, just a little text to send a thought they had and wanted to share. 

☼ 5:23am ☼  NYC          ||          LND ☽ 10:23am ☾

☏ ☏ ☏ ☏

☼ 12:11pm ☼  NYC          ||          LND ☽ 5:11pm ☾

Riley had been gone for a little over three weeks now and the entire time she’d been in and out of her hotel exploring the new city. Riley was comfortable with her surroundings now, in a way that she didn’t feel so lost trying to get from one place to the next. Having grown up in a big city she found adapting to a new one quite easy. 

Riley is sitting on the floral sofa watching her little brother play on his handheld video game. Riley had just ended a lengthy call with Maya and thought now would be a good time to try and FaceTime with Lucas. 

Back in New York, Lucas and Zay have been at the batting cages all morning. They’re sitting for a breather when Riley's goofy selfie appears on the screen requesting to FaceTime.

“Hey, Riley,” Lucas answers, holding his phone out to show himself. 

“Tell her I’m here,” Zay tugs at Lucas’ arm. “Hi Riley!” He says loudly putting his face close to Lucas’ cheek so he could be seen too. 

“Hi Zay!” Riley replies back excitedly. “Two for the price of one. Lucky me!” Riley giggles.

“I think I’m the lucky one,” Zay makes a joking bashful sway in his seat which earns him a shove in the arm from Lucas. The pair chuckle amongst themselves.

“Did I catch you guys at a bad time?” Riley asks laughing along.

“No, we are just taking a break at the batting cages.” Lucas assures her.

“Got to practice if you want to keep up with Zay this year,” Riley teases.

“Man, I like her!” Zay chuckles and pokes Lucas arm repeatedly to agitate him.

Lucas rolls his eyes and shrugs Zay off. “So how was your day, it’s still pretty early in the evening there isn’t it?”

“Almost dinner,” Riley nods, “had a spare few minutes so I thought I’d call.”

“What did you get up to?” Zay asks.

“Auggie and I spent all afternoon at Hyde park whilst mom and dad went to look at apartments.” Riley says facing the camera to Auggie for a moment, he manages a slight wave before returning his focus back to the game. “It was so lovely, even if he looks less than excited!”

“Oh yeah, I saw the photo you posted,” Lucas nods, “Looks very picturesque.”

The door unlocking causes Riley to turn her head back for a moment, “Gotta go, my parents are back with take out I hope!”

“Bye, Riley!!!” Zay says in a goofy tone, “Lurve you.” 

Riley giggles at his goofiness, “Lurve you too, Zay.” 

“Have a good night, Riley, talk soon,” Lucas says sweetly. 

“Tell her you lurve her,” Zay gives Lucas a knowing look and Lucas glares at him, eying him with a ‘shut up look’ and Zay mocks back silently with funny faces.

“You know FaceTime means I can see you right?” Riley laughs nervously. 

Both Texans return their gazes back to the screen with looks of embarrassment and end the call. 

“Why didn’t you say it?” Zay continues to tease his best friend. 

“It would be weird if I said it,” Lucas avoids his gaze. 

“Because you mean it?” Zay smirks. 

“Shut up,” Lucas huffs and folds his arms. 

“You loveeee Riley,” Zay chuckles. 

“Riley lives 3459 miles away,” Lucas says bluntly and Zay’s laughter tapers off. All feelings aside there was still that small detail of distance.  

☏ ☏ ☏ ☏

A few days later... 

☼ 6:41pm ☼  NYC          ||          LND ☽ 11:41pm ☾

☏ ☏ ☏ ☏

A week later...

☼ 1:02pm ☼  NYC          ||          LND ☽ 6:02pm ☾

☏ ☏ ☏ ☏

Three Weeks Later... 

☼ 2:33pm ☼  NYC          ||          LND ☽ 7:33pm ☾

Riley sits at the desk in her new apartment and video chats with Lucas from her laptop. They haven't found time to do anything but text in the past week so both teens were really looking forward to this. 

“Riley!” Lucas beams when her laggy self comes into view. 

“Hi,” Riley smiles sweetly, “How are you?” 

“Bored actually,” Lucas lets out a quiet laugh, “Well not anymore now that I’m talking to you.” 

“What have you been up to today?” Riley asks. 

“I spent the morning with my mom, we went shopping for school supplies,” Lucas lets out a little groan. 

“Already?” Riley shrieks. 

“School starts in less than two weeks,” Lucas frowns. 

“Wow, really?” Riley creases her brows, “I guess I’ve lost track of time..” 

“Doesn’t surprise me, your life is so jam packed with adventure!” Lucas remains upbeat, “You’ve been going on day trips, daily!” 

Riley giggles at his use of words, “With dad being off work we’ve really been making the most of it.” 

“I’ve seen! Brighton, and where’s that place you just got back from?” Lucas asks, “The one from your last Instagram pictures.” 

“It’s this place called Castle Comb,” Riley explains, “Some call it ‘The prettiest village in England’ and I’m going to have to agree.” 

“The couple of pictures you sent do look pretty,” Lucas nods. 

“Oh Lucas, you have no idea,” Riley gushes, “I mean you grew up in an extremely beautiful countryside so I’m sure you probably do have an idea..” 

“Texas and English villages would be quite different I imagine,” Lucas chuckles. 

“You’re probably right,” Riley laughs too, “But it’s so beautiful and everywhere, not just in the country town, anywhere where there’s grass really there are just patches of daisies and it’s so.. magical.” 

“Magical, huh?” Lucas coaxes his head, in awe of how cute she looks gushing about everything. 

“Yeah,” Riley softens, looking up from her hands to the screen. 

“Tell me more,” Lucas smiles back at her. 

☏ ☏ ☏ ☏

Two Weeks Later... 

☼ 3:45pm ☼  NYC          ||          LND ☽ 8:45pm ☾

Riley calls Lucas that evening to find out how his first day as a sophomore was. Riley wasn’t set to start school the following week but still wanted to check in on her friends. Lucas tries to give her a watered down version of his day, he didn’t want to make her upset that she wasn’t apart of it to which she’s thankful for because her heart was aching hearing each of her friends talk about getting back to the life she left behind. 

Lucas throws the attention off himself and presses Riley for details on her day. 

“So what magnificent day trip did you partake in today?” Lucas asks, “You said your dad was planning a surprise.” 

“Right!” Riley bounces in her seat like she almost forgot. “We went to Windsor Castle. I know we’ve seen Buckingham Palace already but Windsor Castle is like a proper castle that you’d imagine princess and dragons and...” Riley was getting lost in her excitement. 

“The whole fairytale experience,” Lucas bites down on his lip trying not to laugh. 

“Yes,” Riley nods quickly to herself and begins to go into detail about her day. Lucas asks for photos and she takes a moment to send him some through. 

Lucas admires them for a moment. 

“Maybe I should call you Princess Dancing Sunshine,” Lucas jokes. 

“Hey can I steal that?” Riley giggles, “I’ve been trying to think of a caption to post with it on Instagram.” 

“I stole it from you, so go ahead,” Lucas says. 

Riley is obviously distracted for a moment as she posts her new photo. 

Quickly, the pair get back to talking. 

“You know Paris is just an hours flight away?” Riley asks. 

“Hmm?” Lucas is confused. 

“Today we met a family from France and they were saying how it takes just a little over an hour to fly from Paris, they come to England for weekend trips,” Riley explains, “How strange is it that a whole different country is so close but we have states that take hours to get to- days if you’re driving.”

“You're not thinking of going to Paris without me are you?” Lucas shrieks.

“I would never!” Riley giggles, “Even if my family does go I’ll refuse to go until you come and visit so we can go to Paris together.”

“When I come and visit?” Lucas pricks up a brow.

“You will come visit wont you?” Riley asks almost worried that he seemed so surprised, “If I have to live here and come home to visit surely you’ll make the-“

“Of course I’ll come visit,” Lucas gently cuts her off but states firmly.

“Good, because I’ve been holding on to that Paris thing since the seventh grade.”

“Moi aussi,” Lucas says without a single struggle and Riley blanks on the other end of the line. (google translate says that means me too sorry if it doesn’t)

“Bonjour, Lucas,” Riley nervously chuckles like she had all those years ago and Lucas laughs along too at the memory.

The pair return to regular conversation until Riley gasps when she notices the time and how they got carried away. 

“Lucas, I’m so sorry I promised I’d call Maya,” Riley realises she’s more then forty minutes late to call her. 

“It’s fine, I understand,” Lucas says calmly. 

“Talk soon, okay?” Riley says still not hanging up. 

“Absolutely,” Lucas nods. 

“Okay, enjoy the rest of your night.. Maddog,” With a giggle she hangs up. 

End Note: I hope this was easy to follow along with. I think this goes without saying because I tried to make it clear but Lucas and Riley are obviously still text flirty with each other. Those feelings don’t just go away because of distance. This is important to the story. 

The title of this chapter is referring to how exciting everything is while it’s all new and Riley’s on vacation. She’s also managed to keep up with regular contact with her friends. Next chapter: The Honeymoon is over. School starts. Things change. 

PLEASE MAKE SURE TO REVIEW THE STORY!! Tell me how you’re liking it so far and if you want me!  Again, I’m sorry I took so long to post this! Trying to structure the chapter as time passing with visual aids was a lot harder than I thought. 

!!!!!!!!!!!! Much love xxx