#this is a rat grinders hate account

[operationslipperypuppet]

imagine calling out other students for getting an unfair advantage and recognition in school when they’re saving the fucking world and you’re. killing rats and twig blights in the woods behind the school. you’re traveling 40 feet for your adventures. get real

[onlineearningfree100]

Best Movie Series

[stone-stars]

imagine taking pride in cheating the system. imagine making that your literal whole deal. i hate them so much

[alastryona]

his helping the bad kids has never been favoritism, it's just because they're his charges. He's their principal and he has a responsibility to help them when they ask for it. The bad kids just need more of that help, pribably related to the world saving and constant mortal peril

the funniest thing about kipperlilly copperkettle cracking down on the bad kids for getting special treatment for being aguefort’s favorites is that no they’re fucking not!! kipperlilly you’re thinking of the seven aguefort fucking hates the bad kids

[velvetvexations]

The thing about comparing Kipperlilly's grudge to hating DEI and affirmative action is that those things are exactly what she's advocating for. The Bad Kids are not receiving accommodation for anything - and in fact Aguefort seems like the type to despise things like accommodations and would tell disabled people to pick themselves up by their bootstraps, but I digress -rather, they have direct connections to massive save-the-world plots three years in a row now that puts them way ahead of everyone else. Though they put in hard work, that doesn't change the fact that no one else working as hard as they can will ever equal being told to go stop a god from coming back and coincidentally your dad (a) worked directly with that dead god's primary agent in the past and (b) is now a super cool angel secret agent who will directly assist you in the task. Oh, and also, your teammate's parents are the dead god's primary mortal agents. And also they kidnapped your other teammate's dad because he's a powerful demon lord so now she's involved too. And you all happen to end up on Leviathan, where Fabian is an instant celebrity who immediately gets a cult worshiping the planks he walks on because they all work for his rich undead infernal dad.

The issue is that people keep mapping it to the real world and seeing "tragic backstory" like it would be IRL, which is a mistake. It's not a disability. They don't go to normal school to become accountants or NASA engineers, they are there to be doing exactly that shit that their backstories rope them into. Like, this isn't Buffy, they aren't saving the world incidentally, this is school for saving the world to pursue a career in saving the world. Spyre functions so differently from IRL that everyone is dramatically failing to comprehend the actual situation everyone is in.

And the thing about hating affirmative action is that it presumes someone only got into whatever not because they have skill, but because of their race or something like that. That's manifestly different from what's going on here. Kipperlilly has no doubt the Bad Kids are incredibly powerful and skilled - but their backstories gave them opportunities to use that power and skill that no one else will ever have regardless of effort or even luck. The Bad Kids can't go five seconds without tripping over the revelation that the BBEG for the year is one of their second cousins. That just doesn't happen to other people, period. The world revolves around the BK's in ways it will never revolve around anyone else so the Bad Kids will always get the massive adventures to save the world and be the top of their class because they're personally connected to the narrative.

Remember, Brennan has confirmed that other AA students do not do shit like that. They do exactly the sort of missions you'd expect them to - go in dungeon, fight monsters, come back. It's not "uh, the Rat Grinders should have just gone out and saved the world too", that's not how it works. AA students are not usually expected to, their rat grinding is just a more tedious and efficient version of what they would be doing otherwise. The BK's don't get involved with these plots simply because they're the most heroic heroes ever who seek wrongs to right, they do it because every single time everyone but Gorgug (who is for the most part absent major narrative stakes) was born someone that would get those in's, feats reproducible by no one else.

"Ah, but the Seven-"

The Seven prove the tragedy of it. Because Kipperlilly is right, but she's also wrong. The brilliance of BLeeM this season is that he's crafted a narrative inseparable from the meta of how the game works. In a very real way this is like the Dungeons & Dragons versions of Tron. The fact that it's a series of fictional TTRPG sessions is essential to the universe and it's story, in a Twin Peaks-ian way.

Because, see, it's not actually, technically magical trauma that gives out those narrative advantages. Magical trauma is just the most obviously visible side-effect. What the issue actually is is that, as everyone has noted over and over again, the Rat Grinders are NPCs, and it is therefore impossible for the world to ever bend itself around them the way it does for the PCs. Except, most are just saying that as a funny haha joke.

No, like, literally, that's the issue. They will always be in the shadow of the handful of people that the people constructing their world, their timeline, their very existence, has decided matter. They are doomed by narrative causality to be "boring". And I'm going to take a moment to say here, isn't it crazy no one is talking about this when we just got done with Neverafter which was all about this exact thing????? Like, literally the BBEG was the Authors. That is the situation here, more or less.

Anyway, there will never be a demon attacking that due to a curse is only vulnerable to hot licks from Ruben's guitar passed down from the first gnomish rocker. Mary Ann will never be the prophesized liberator of kobolds enslaved in dragon dens. Ivy will never find out her father was secretly a super-soldier for the Council of Chosen who before he was assassinated left her notes detailing a sinister plot within the government of Solace.

People keep having a hard time with this because it intuitively doesn't feel right to ever classify something like losing a father in any context to have some kind of bright side. But if you take nothing else away from this post, let it be this: Adventuring as it's done in Spyre is not something done in the real world. Adventuring is something everyone chose to go to AA to learn and put into practice as their long-term career. And in that, absolutely these things give the PCs a completely one hundred percent insurmountable leg-up on the thing they're all in competition for.

And it being completely insurmountable in that way further goes to show the difference between hating that situation and hating affirmative action. Even AA is not a guarantee that a specific member of the majority will lose out on something and a specific member of the minority will get it instead. As soon as the character sheets were rolled everyone else at Aguefort may as well have just gone home and started studying to be accountants because the main characters had been chosen. Or they could keep going and hope they get a spin-off, I guess.

But Kipperlilly does keep trying, for she doesn't really comprehend the true eldritch horror beyond her existence shackled to the bits of a bunch of comedians, and her solution is to adjust for those unfair advantages.

Which is affirmative action.

How is that not obvious.

[t4tozier]

in the hot for teacher verse do you have a desc doc for what you think the rat grinders look all human? :)

i don't have a specific doc for it because the first chapter was truly just vibes and i didn't expect to be writing more about them, but i do have some ideas in mind! the humanoids are pretty generally the same so for fun i'll give you some facts about all of them in the verse as well! putting this under the cut because it got quite long.

oisin: i was originally picturing him as black w locs, skinny teen who beefed up over the previous summer (lowkey wendell from nsbu before wendell existed) but i was mulling it over earlier and i actually really love the idea of samoan oisin?? he comes back from visiting his family over the summer and has gained so much muscle and fat and got some pe'a and everyone thinks he's so cool for it. he's got long hair that is usually up in a bun. probably also shoots up to 6'2, 6'3".

he's into manga. people who don't know him think he's really intimidating but he's the sweetest guy ever. ivy brings out the bitch in him lbr but for the most part he's just a really buff nerd. am i just describing ify nwadiwe. i swear it's not intentional.

ivy: i don't have a specific race for her but described her in got it bad as olive-skinned, brown hair with blonde highlights. i think she gets the chunky bleach highlights that were popular in like 2020-21. oisin is definitely the tallest of all of them, lucy the tallest of the girls, but ivy's probably second/third-tallest at around 5'8, 5'9.

she runs an anonymous aguefort confessions blog and has a viral tiktok account that mainly went viral as a result of the jace (and porter) videos. jace always says she's gotta quit with the gossip but will still ask her about it he's the worst enabler. she does archery and rides horses at aguefort! she transferred in middle school and everyone was very intrigued by her because she's british. they kept asking her if she's met the queen. she just started saying yes eventually.

lucy: since i made porter a white southern guy lucy is also white and southern by default. i think that she doesn't have the accent her uncle has because her dad married a new englander, so instead she's got this southern/new england mix that leaves her pronouncing certain words very oddly. she still has vitiligo--instead of gray hair she's got light brown with patches of white, and maybe a port wine stain on her face. she's about 5'11" - both of her parents are very tall so she inherited her height from them.

she got bullied pretty badly in elementary school and middle school. she is very sensitive and cries with basically every emotion so it can be hard to determine why she's actually crying if it's not obvious. she's not good at standing up for herself but her friends will hunt a bitch down for her. she will cry if you kill a bug instead of letting it outside. grew up knowing porter's best friend jace bc he gets brought to all the family events and was very grateful when he didn't make anyone call him mr stardiamond when they started his class because that would've been a weird switch to make.

mary ann: shortest one of the group at just around 5 feet. black, box braids with little charms on the ends, braces. her favorite outfit is overalls and her pink hoodie that she's been wearing for years on end because it's been washed so many times it's the perfect texture. between her height, her clothes, and being quiet and autistic, she gets infantilized a ton and she hates it so she will sometimes overcompensate by making dirty jokes at inappropriate times.

she's usually of the mindset that if someone isn't speaking directly to her or talking about something she's interested in she probably doesn't really need to join in the conversation. she was one of those toddlers who didn't speak until she could say a full sentence. she's the first girl on the football team--nobody thinks that she's gonna be any good but she's small enough that she just kind of darts between all the players and can hold her own more than people think.

buddy: truly just the same. sorry buddy i have nothing special for you. he's like 5'7". his grandpa runs the town's megachurch and he keeps trying to get everyone to come with him. he sort of latched onto their group but he genuinely is nice he's just also brainwashed so they haven't like actively tried to kick him out. i think that after spending enough time with them all he gets more chill especially because they call him out when he says something outright fucked up and he likes being friends with them so he wants to not offend them--it's just that he genuinely doesn't think he's saying anything wrong.

kipperlilly: also looks relatively the same but slightly taller, probably like 5'3". she and jace bond over having the same clothing organization app. she doesn't wear the prep-school kind of stuff she wears in canon but it's definitely still very clean, she probably irons everything. type a but not as much Like That.

jawbone realizes the conflict of interest when she starts talking about her anger issues and hating the others and actually has a parent teacher conference to recommend external therapy. can often be found with her journal after that. she and riz are in competition to see how many more ap credits they can gain than each other. rarely seen without lucy by her side. they have a homoerotic relationship for years because neither of them realize that they're more than girl best friends (and lucy's uncle porter always has his best friend everywhere, that's how adults are!)

ruben: i'm thinking he's maybe mixed, black and hispanic? he's got frizzy curls because he's much more invested in writing songs on his ukulele than paying attention to the right products for his curl pattern. he also has braces and mourns when his tooth gap closes because he can't whistle as well. 5'4".

he thinks it's the coolest thing to have his uncle work at the school and he and lucy bond over it even though he doesn't actually take his uncle henry's classes. he's part of the school band and plays in the orchestra for the theatre department - in addition to the ukulele he also plays acoustic guitar and piano.

[bruqh]

seeing a lot of disappointment that the rat grinders aren’t getting any sort of redemption arc which i understand because i think it would make a more interesting and complex story but yall are not taking into account that this is a dnd show and the best part about dnd is killing people u hate without having to go to jail or face repercussions soooooo

[vonschweetz]

Even though we dont know their backstory or what happened, I dont find it too hard to believe that the Rat Grinders hate the Bad Kids for whatever reason. I know they are our protagonist and stuff and a lot of the time it's played for jokes but like from freshman year until now, the Bad Kids have been kinda assholes to everyone including each other in the group. Would the reasons be justified? Of course not. I'm just saying as a character motivation, I would see practically everyone in that town having something against the Bad Kids at one point or anther because like they are just shithead (affectionate) teens who are gonna do stupid things all the time because that's who they are. Ally said themselves this season that Kristen was learning that being chaotic isnt as cute anymore. This is also not even taking into account that Porter and Jace have been manipulating them for awhile now and they are also just stupid teens who are looking at their teachers on what to do (Jace I dont feel good).

[certifiedwerewolf]

It is very funny that it's like "The Rat Grinders are KIDS you have to be NICE to them" like the Bad Kids were pretty nice to Ivy and Oisin and Buddy and even explicitly invited Mary Ann to hang out with them from minute one but I notice that the Rad Grinders are still trying to murder them. The Bad Kids mostly just ignored the Rat Grinders for the entire year, they even for the most part left Kipperlilly alone and even saved Ruben's life to their own detriment, and the Rat Grinders are still trying to murder them.

Like I think any analysis of the Bad Kids vs the Rat Grinders has to take into account that they're PEERS. The Bad Kids aren't authority figures who have power over the Rat Grinders, they're not adults who have an inherent advantage over the Rat Grinders in terms of maturity, they're not people abusing their positions. They're just classmates, who never even knew the Rat Grinders existed while the Rat Grinders apparently famously hated them for years, and after finding this out they still mostly left the Rat Grinders alone until the Rat Grinders actively tried to murder them.

Or are we all forgetting Kipperlilly stealing all of their revivify diamonds before attempting to murder the exam proctor (person with the ability to stop the wave of monsters) and then getting caught and murdering the exam cleric (person with the ability to get them out of the exam)? Like isn't it a little obvious that was a mass murder attempt?

[piratecrew]

spoilers below cuz i know some of my mutuals are watching fantasy high from the beginning

tbh im really sad at how the rat grinders story has turned out. i mean i know technically it’s not over yet but based on the last episode i dont think the bad kids plan on sparing any of them T_T

idk, i guess its hard for me to hate them when they were all manipulated by weird adults into becoming evil. yeah they gave up their principles by choosing to be revivified but also theyre literally 17. its a big decision to choose to die and lucy frostblade is an anomaly imo. shes admirable and made a noble sacrifice but shes not an example that teenagers should be held to.

also yeah, the rat grinders are rude, annoying, and dont understand the spirit of adventuring. but besides kipperlily, its impossible to know if they were actually like that the whole time or if they were being influenced by rage. and even if they were mean before being revivified, that doesnt mean they deserve to die T_T theyre kids. they should be held accountable for what theyve done but i dont think they should all die. i guess now that im older than them its hard for me to cheer on the bad kids beating them up when they could have easily ended up in the same position if, perhaps, kalina had been more successful in manipulating them. theyre all vulnerable teenagers being taken advantage of by their teachers, its just that some are being taken advantage of by teachers aligned with good and others are taken advantage of by teachers aligned with evil.

[localteleportingtoaster]

Madness Combat Head-canons (SFW)

*Deimos has accidentally lit cereal boxes on fire. Whenever he has an anxiety attack, his hands might light up... or his face, or burn off all of his fabulous hair for the poor guy... (or burn all his puebes off as a bonus without pain of shaving.)

*Because of their constant life-on-the-run, Sanford has been found to sleep on Doc in the truck while Hank usually drives without major injuries, asleep in Docs lap like a baby. Because Deimos will usually take the front seats, staying alongside Hank to make sure he doesn’t “mess up”, the backseats can be turned into a sort of couch to sleep in. Lucky them.

*2bDamned might seem like a grumpy old man, but that’s because he’s a grumpy old man. …Who has to deal with reviving the dead and being a workaholic to keep his skin on Hanks side of this little Nevadan war.

*2bDamned owns many rats, that he trains to steal anything they need from food, to money and such. One of the many tricks Doc has imprinted onto his rats is to come to their own name callings! Hanks favorite is when the baby rats learn new tricks like dragging Deimos’s cigarettes into the trash, earning baby food. 

*Sadly, they cannot afford, nor feed any other pets other than a giant mountain of rats that can feed themselves. 2b will always spare food, treats, water if he has anything. He will ensure the babies grow properly if they have to evacuate, keeping the rats in his trunk, or  around a building space.

*The Auditor can be found crying every Monday at his desk because he hates paperwork. His fire crackling is how he cries, so they say that his fiery periods are every certain weekday. To counteract this negativity, he looks for therapists to talk about happy things... not much good has happened, really. This causes him to look into the little things in life, from trying new soda drinks and looking into new color shades of red. He likes to try on new suits, even enjoying putting his enemies into cool clothes that would work for them. 2bDamned actually talks to him, both enjoying fashion, and even discovering long lots crossdressing! (Of course, 2bDamned was tired of being captured, but talking instead of torturing was nice, so he went along. Very supportive of an anti-pessimist.)

*Phobos’s traumatized fight/flight/freeze brain will freak out and catch-up on little tone changes, along with increases in volume or any small signs of violent behavioral change. Due to this, he will snap around whenever something knocks over, looking like a menacing villain with a red glowing eye; when he’s a little mess in his own brain. He feels a lot of complicated emotions as a side platter along his god complex, so he’s really fidgety.

*Most grunts who dedicate themselves to the internet to get away from their reality have seen a rat account of cute photos of rats and updates on tricks they can do! It’s a really nice addition to their lives, since cats and dogs don’t exist in Nevada. Many dream subjects besides a rich fantasy is fluffy grunts, experiments and technology advancing, and art! 

*Since pigment is harder to come across, some will resort to painting in unsanitary sources... but others like to grind up black rocks, or look for charcoal, et cetera and do as much as possible! There’s probably deep in the web a secret art club that barely anyone can find out about, but many attend, including Sanford. Sanford likes to find more sanitary ways, and has a grinder to murder materials in, experimenting until he finds the right chalk he wants to find some bases for.

*Other places and countries outside of Nevada have blocked them out, and ran away, heavily containing the chaos in Nevada. The word “Nevadan” is the same as referring to a devil spawn in the outside world, looking at Nevada's crazy shit other than Florida. Many have voted to put all Floridians in Nevada to contain the crackheads chaos dimension... Unfortunately, Nevadan grunts are terrified of any normal humans, which are either killed on sight and hunted down due to humans terrific looks to grunts, etc.

*Grunts put human skulls on their walls as great achievements, like dragon skulls. Phobos does the same with many skulls, bones and items.

*Phobos is obsessed with Dragons, still looking into invading the outside world they know nothing about due to isolation in search of these beings. He wants to achieve godhood. That just needs a dragon!

[solecize]

le printemps

𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘. a conversation. high school graduation is coming up and the future is looking uncertain for you and donghyuck. 𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆. donghyuck x reader 𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒. mature language, recreational marijuana use, mentions of underage drinking 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓. 2.5k 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐒. just some stuff i needed to hear and some stuff i’m sure someone out there needs to here too? also lmao not proofread as per usual

spring was the season of new beginnings. there was a feeling of hope floating through the air, a feeling of quiet excitement for what was to come. long gone were the days of your footprints imprinted on layers of frost upon the sidewalk and the taste of hot cocoa everyday after school. the warmer weather called for cooler drinks. flowers began to bloom beautifully from the ground—and now, it was your turn.

you were excited for whatever was going to happen in your life within the next few months. never more than now were you ready to let go of the past few years in the same school, passing by the same faces in the halls, and skipping the same teachers’ classes. well, perhaps not so much so when it came to the last part: you found yourself taking a “detour” out of the cafeteria with your boyfriend hyuck after lunch, only to never come back for your next class.

lee donghyuck was that guy. he was the class clown with a headstrong attitude that everyone loved and admittedly, that included you. it started last year, when he transferred in from across the country. with his infectious charms and smile, you were drawn in almost immediately. he was in your classes and hung around the same group of friends, always teasing you in flirtatious ways and doing nice things for you without any reason from the beginning. the two of you started dating after you boldly confessed to him at a house party, albeit after having a few drinks, and the rest was history.

“there’s like two weeks of school left, what’s mr. kim gonna do? fail you?” donghyuck chuckled, as the two of you dashed out the back exit of the gymnasium.

sure, he was a bad influence at times. your parents warned you themselves on the matter after meeting them for the first time, but you didn’t mind. donghyuck was exactly what you needed at times, letting you get a taste of the “wilder” side of life. late night sneaking out of your bedroom window, trying new food, taking up new hobbies together, the works. he was the little nudge you needed to enjoy life at times. 

you scrunched your nose up at him. “hey, i have to leave a good impression on him before i leave!” the two of you found yourselves outside and with hyuck gently gripping your hand as he led the way, you knew exactly where he was headed. 

“look at these bad kids go!” hollered a familiar voice and your head snapped to your left, where you saw his friends jeno, jaemin, and renjun whistling at the two of you. donghyuck only grinned at them, mouthing words that you could only guess were ones of threats in case they decided to rat the two of you out. the other three hooligans continued teasing from a distance, as they made their own way back inside the building.

the soft breeze blew against his slightly unbuttoned uniform shirt and against your skirt, causing it to slightly lift. donghyuck immediately pushed it down when he saw that, while continuing to lead the way down the street. his light brown hair shone bewitchingly underneath the sunlight and your eyes trailed down to his mouth. the male had a permanent smile attached to his lips when he was with you, unlike his usual playful smirk or the scowl that he wore whilst in school.

there was not a trace of surprise in you when you two ended up at the place dubbed as your and hyuck’s rooftop. not the man who owned the barbershop below’s rooftop, but it belonged to the two of you. just a block or two away from your school, you only felt like it was right to claim the rooftop as your own after the two of you shared your first kiss here. after the time you ran out here after failing your math test—donghyuck trailing right after you—and throwing up all over the concrete. after all the countless memories spent here without getting caught, you felt that the carving with the two of your names validated your ownership.

“there really is just two weeks left, huh. . .” you trailed off, letting the thought sink it.

the end of the school year had a different vibe. every student felt the weight of final exams or simply relieved at the thought of finally getting out for a two month or so vacation period. plans for the break were made, ranging from going out with friends or even more lessons to drown in during what was intended to be time away from school. the constant between all points on the spectrum was the anticipation. like the spring time, there was a feeling of hope. however, between the graduating upperclassmen, some of them knew they were faking it.

“everyone thinks they’re going to be alright and they keep saying it over and over again because they think if they do, it’ll come true,” donghyuck explained. “almost of all of us don’t know what the hell we’re doing now, why would we know shit about what we’re going to do after the cap and gown?”

you leaned against the edge of the rooftop, elbows propped up, while hyuck stood behind you with his arms wrapped around your waist. 

you replied, “do you know what you’re doing?” it was a dumb question, you realized that when he immediately laughed, but you wanted to hear what he was going to say.

“hell no. otherwise, i’d be going straight to school like everyone else.” he’d been clear on his plan to take a gap year and spend his time travelling and working, all while giving himself more time to think about exactly what the hell was the direction he was planning to go.

“you think you’re going to be alright?”

donghyuck slowly tore his arms away from your body and by the shuffling of his backpack, he was probably searching for his grinder and rolling papers.  “eventually, yeah.” 

you already knew, since from the moment that you two met, it seemed like he had a craving to be high all the time. that was just him, typical rebellious hyuck. you’d experimented with your friends before meeting him and after becoming a couple, you didn’t mind the free weed. it made conversations far more interesting.

“do you?”

the question caused an unsettling knot to form at the bottom of your stomach. you wanted to say something optimistic, but trying to force it out of your throat tasted bitter. you weren’t sure at all. biting your tongue, you simply shrugged in response. 

“i mean, you’re going to a good school and everything. you’re pretty set,” he pointed out from behind you.

you said, “but everything’s moving so fast that i don’t know if i’m doing the right things or doing what i really want to do. i feel like i’m making decisions on the fast lane with half open eyes.” it was a confession that you’d iterated over and over again to your friends and sometimes your parents, though the latter would never quite understand what you were getting it. it was always you being overdramatic about your perfectly fine future or that you were—

“—thinking too much about it. the fastlane is always the best ride, isn’t it?” 

there was a part of you that wanted to listen to hyuck and what he was saying, but everything felt so conflicting. you had hope for your future, yet thinking about it made your insides flip and turn at every possible outcome. taking a glance back at donghyuck, you saw it in him, too. he said he was going to “eventually” be alright, but even though he wouldn’t admit it, there was a mutual feeling of anxiety.

his eyes softened when they met yours and he gave you a small smile. “princess, you’ll be okay. you damn well know how bright  you are and you have a plan.” 

you hated being that person who rambled on and on, dumping all of their worries onto another person. you much preferred to keep anything inside to refrain from burdening others with your anxieties, but it was different with hyuck. it was comfortable with him. he genuinely listened and cared.

he said, “i can’t see you as anything but successful. i hope you realize that.” hyuck was having a troubling time rolling his joint atop his accounting textbook, which made you chuckle a bit. “you’ve worked too hard these past few years. have you seen the way you stay up late to finish your work? sure, you don’t start until the very last minute, but you put a hell lot of effort into your stuff.” you snorted at his mention of your procrastination, as honest as ever.

you responded, “alright.” looking out past the buildings was the skyline of the city, seemingly limitless. “and i know you’re worried, too. you just won’t say it aloud, hyuck.”

he made a noise of lax, sounding like an “ehh. . . .” as if he wanted to argue, but didn’t open his mouth to actually do so.

“it’ll work out for you,” you attempted to convince.

there was the drawing of a long sigh. “fine. i feel like i have no answers to what i’m doing right now. every choice i make scares me now.” donghyuck paused, looking at the ground. “but, i don’t want to feel like i’m going to regret anything, you know?”

you turned around and your back was now facing the edge of the rooftop. he finished rolling the joint, licking it close and his eyes were on yours as he did so. they were piercing. above the two of you,  the velvet clouds crawled across the sky. you embraced the faint scent of street food being fried on the sidewalk and marijuana and as donghyuck edged closer, the smell of musk and rosewood. it was exactly what you wanted to remember when you looked back on these memories as a future you.

“and spending too much time about your possible regrets is something you’ll regret in the future.” you grinned at his stunned expression, which transitioned into a mirror of yours when he processed what you said. 

“you get it,” he breathed, snaking his arms around your waist once again, but this time, his face was inches away from yours. “i know i shouldn’t have asked you earlier. .  .but i want you to know that you’ll be alright.”

all you could do was nod in silence, losing yourself in his eyes. just like the first time. they shone and he tightened his grip around your waist, as he closed the distance between the two of you. it was sweet and soft, full of comfort. the two of you remained like that for what seemed like forever.

there was nothing that made you feel warm inside like the way hyuck kissed you.

the moment, unfortunately, came to an end. a loud bang could be heard from below and the two of you jumped, thinking that someone was about to climb up the stairs and catch you on private property. donghyuck took the initiative to peek from behind the pillar blocking your view of the staircase.

“just a raccoon,” he announced, chuckling a little bit. hyuck began walking back towards you, the joint still in between his right index and middle fingers.

you felt a lift of relief—this was not going to be a good day to be caught trespassing and skipping class.

donghyuck shoved his hand inside his pants pocket and pulled out a lighter, pointing it your direction. “m’lady, would you care to do the honours?” in no universe would you ever be able to resist his cheeky little grin and rolling your eyes, you snatched the lighter out of his hand and clicked it. he held out the joint and you let the tip burn.

“hey?” you said all of a sudden and hyuck looked at you inquisitively. “one more question.”

he shrugged. “yeah, shoot.” the male pulled the joint away from the flame and brought it up to his lips first, inhaling from the other end.

something about the question made you feel silly, just like the first one did, but you didn’t mind in front of him. “do you think we are going to be okay?”

at that, an uncomfortable kind of silence developed. you only found it so at the way hyuck scrunched his eyebrows together, clearly trying to string together a response, but the only words that managed to come out were “well . . .” 

“did you have plans to break up after graduation?” you blunted, folding your arms around your chest and leaning back on the edge. “be honest, i won’t be upset.”

“of course not!” donghyuck scoffed, smoke coming from his mouth as he spoke. “when i said i wanted to stick it out with you a year ago, i meant that.”

he passed the joint to you after that. you didn’t hesitate bringing it up to your lips, letting the feeling overtake your being. the question even plagued you at times, wondering if it was worth it to continue a seemingly temporary high school relationship past what was supposed to be the expiry date. with donghyuck, it didn’t feel right to just give up because of what everyone else said. 

you simply replied, “okay.” and you believed your boyfriend. over the period of time that the two of you dated, his friends often remarked that they’d never seen him so serious about a girl until you. you saw the way the panic emerged in his muscles after your question. 

“you’re being too serious. don’t be.” hyuck insisted, cupping your cheek, and you wished that you held as much assurance in yourself that he did.

“i’m just scared.” you shook your head, looking out again past the city skyline. everything seemed so much smaller from up at that rooftop, but you knew that once you were out those doors with your cap and gown, you were going to feel as tiny as an ant in the real world.

winter was just as beautiful of a season as spring. the season of spring was one of new beginnings, but that also meant new endings. looking at hyuck, you didn’t want him to be a page you had to turn over to move on. it was stupid, it was reckless, it was what young people did. it was love. fake hope repeated over and over again in the head to make themselves believe that it were to come true.

donghyuck ran his fingers through his hair. “no matter what happens, i’m going to be here. i know i can tell you all day that your future is going to be fine, but i show you at any waking second that i’m at your side.” 

the two of you spend the rest of your time finishing the joint, talking, giggling about how jeno ruined the last lacrosse game of the school year by hijacking it as the mascot, and eating potato chips that hyuck brought. you fell asleep for half an hour on his lap. he gave you a piggyback ride home in the wrong direction. everything seemed alright, like you’d been worried about, but that was all for now. your love for hyuck was now, just as you realized you should have focused on.

[comic-movieheroesranked]

Cinematic Comic Characters Ranked! (Year 2008) Part Two

Wow, I just want to say that 2008 really stepped it up when it came to comic movies released. Granted, a couple weren’t the best but overall this year was one of the best out of the bunch. The Dark Knight and Hellboy II: The Golden Army are the only sequels this year, while The Punisher: War Zone and The Incredible Hulk serve as reboots. Star Wars: The Clone Wars serves as a prequel and we also see the debut of Iron Man, Speed Racer, The Spirit and Wanted! Lets start off our largest list yet! Here’s #60-41!

*SPOILERS FOR THE MOVIES HIGHLIGHTED ABOVE*

60. Tom Manning (Hellboy II: The Golden Army)

"God, I hate Youtube!"

Tom is back as the director of the department Hellboy works for, and he still tries miserably to keep it secret. This, of course, doesn't work out when you got a group consisting of a hellspawn, an aquatic man, and a girl who can blow up entire blocks. He tries to maintain order by adding Krauss to the group but in the end they all end up quitting on him, leaving him with no more agents to help stop otherworldly creatures.

59. Jabba the Hutt and T3-70 (Star Wars: The Clone Wars)

"You will be executed immediately."

The only thing Jabba the Hutt seems to care about is his newborn son. When he's kidnapped, Jabba doesn't know who to trust. He gets played by Count Dooku into thinking the Jedi were the ones responsible and had, in fact, killed his son and were now going to kill him. But in the end Ahsoka, Anakin and Padme are able to return his son to him and reveal that it was his uncle who helped Count Dooku with his plan. Grateful, he agrees to sign a treaty with the Republic. T3-70 is the robot who does all of his translating.

58. Mr. Wink (Hellboy II: The Golden Army)

*growls*

Mr. Wink was a giant troll-like creature that seemed to be Prince Nuada's personal bodyguard, even though the prince is more than capable of defending himself. He helps Nuada gain control of the first two crown pieces by attacking a bunch of humans and then helping Nuada kill his father and his royal guard. When he goes out by himself to get the last crown piece from Nuala, he ends up going up against Hellboy, himself. And, well, Hellboy doesn't lose so Mr. Wink ends up getting crushed in some type of grinder thing.

57. Christine Everhart (Iron Man)

"That's a great line coming from the guy selling the sticks."

I couldn't decide on whether or not I liked Christine. Like it's clear she's very passionate about her job but I couldn't tell if it's because she truly didn't approve of what Stark Industries represented or because Tony slept with her once and moved on. And then there was her unnecessary bitchiness towards Pepper the morning after, but Pepper handled her very well like the boss she is.

56. Spritle Racer, Sparky, and Chim Chim (Speed Racer)

"Go, Speed, go!"

I get these three were supposed to bring the humor to the movie, but they annoyed me the most...except for the monkey. Sparky is Speed's best friend and mechanic who can't fight to save his life. Like he literally loses every fight he's in during the movie. Spirtle is Speed's little brother who always disobeys what he's told and gets in all kinds of mischief with his pet monkey, Chim Chim. I will give him props for giving Mr. Royalton the middle finger, I was definitely not expecting that to happen.

55. Agent Coulson (Iron Man)

"Just call us S.H.I.E.L.D."

Agent Coulson stays in the background the entire movie not really explaining what it is his department does. He does prove his worth when Pepper discovers Obadiah's betrayal and sends his men after him, but it's too late and Obadiah takes them down in his Iron Monger suit.

54. Morgenstern (The Spirit)

"No, sir. We're just equipped."

The enthusiastic rookie cop who idolizes The Spirit, Morgenstern proves that her detective skills are on point as she helps The Spirit figure out what Octopus is up to. She also has great aim with a badass gun that she shows up with during the final conflict. She's the first one to do real damage to the Octopus, blasting off one of his hands. Her admiring The Spirit could be because she's crushing on him like every other girl in the film, but she's one of the few he doesn't get his lips on.

53. Samuel Sterns (The Incredible Hulk)

"Why are you always hitting people?"

This quirky professor turns out to be the Mr. Blue that's been in communication with Bruce while he was in isolation. Yes, he was able to make a temporary cure that may have helped Bruce control his anger, and therefore his Hulk persona, but he was starting to show me red flags early on. Any scientist with a hunger to gain glory for a discovery is potentially dangerous in superhero films because they're willing to put people at risk to get their break through. It's proven when he creates more samples of Bruce's blood without his consent and then helps Emil become Abomination. The last we see him, Bruce's blood manages to get inside a wound on his head and he starts to mutate as well.

52. Billy Russotti/Jigsaw & James Russotti/Looney Bin Jim (Punisher: War Zone)

"Would you also like to swear on an imaginary friend?"

These two really pinned the tail on the donkey when it comes to obnoxious brothers in the mob. They both try to appear really menacing but it just came off as comical for me. Like Looney Bin Jim throwing himself at every mirror he sees was one of the dumbest things I think I saw throughout the movie. Still, the two are able to cause some serious mayhem killing cops, crooks, and Castle's allies alike. In the end they're taken down fairly easily by the Punisher, Jim gets a bullet in the head and Jigsaw gets roasted.

51. Captain Rex (Star Wars: The Clone Wars)

"In my book, experience outranks everything."

Rex is a clone in charge of the clone armies. He appears to be the most capable out of all the clones as he's the one that's seen working closely with Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker. He leads his men to help them in every mission they are given and mostly succeeds with his assistance.

50. Raza (Iron Man)

"Tony Stark has created the ultimate weapon: a masterpiece of death."

The leader of the terrorist group, Ten Rings, Raza is hired by Obadiah to kill Tony Stark. Instead he kidnaps the millionaire genius and tries to force him to create weapons for his faction. He ends up getting half his face burned when Tony escapes and then gets paralyzed when he confronts Obadiah about it. It's left unknown if he lives or dies but I like to think Obadiah's men took care of him.

49. Lau, Sal Maroni, Chechen, and Gambol (The Dark Knight)

"Enough from the clown!"

Maroni, Chechen, and Gambol are the crime lords of Gotham and Lau is their criminal accountant who handles all their money. For months Batman has been clearing the streets of their business to the point that they get desperate enough to hire The Joker, except for Gambol. He's the first crime lord to go down after he tries to put a bounty on the clown, who shows up and kills him himself. Lau and Chechen go down next. After Lau gets caught by Batman, he rats out everyone which puts a target on his back. Joker captures him for Chechen but when the crime lord refuses to serve the Joker, the clown has him taken away to be fed to his own dogs, just after setting Lau on fire on top of millions of dollars. Sal Maroni gets roughed up by everyone else. He gets his legs broken by Batman and then gets taken down by Two Face when the former lawyer kills his driver.

48. Taejo Togokahn (Speed Racer)

"I'll see you at Fuji."

A rookie racer who we first see almost get his hand eaten by a bunch of piranhas. He teams up with Speed and Racer X to help him win the Casa Cristo 5000 in exchange for his proof of Mr. Royalton's corruption. However, he goes back on his word, deciding instead to profit with his father on the money Mr. Royalton gives them when he buys their company.

47. Yoda (Star Wars: The Clone Wars)

"To let go of his pupil, a greater challenge it will be."

Yoda and Obi-Wan somehow came up with a plan to give Anakin a young jedi to train. As one of the strongest jedi, Yoda is constantly leading Republic armies to help battle the forces of Count Dooku and the Separatists.

46. The Gunsmith, The Repairman, and The Butcher (Wanted)

"Fuck that! You are a pussy!"

These three assassins help shape Wesley into the assassin he's meant to be. The Gunsmith is there to help him curve a bullet, The Repairman beats the shit out of him so he loses his bad habits from his normal life, and The Butcher shows him everything about knives. It was nice to see they actually cared about each other during The Executioner's death before Wesley killed The Repairman and The Butcher. The Gunsmith was taken out by Fox after he tried to ignore the code.

45. Count Dooku (Star Wars: The Clone Wars)

"I sense your strong feelings. Pain, fear..."

Count Dooku is back as one of our main villains and he ends up developing a plan to gain the Hutts as allies for the Separatists. To do so, he stages the jedi kidnapping Jubba the Hutt's son and convinces the ruler that the Republic is trying to kill him. His plans fail when Anakin and Ahsoka return the newborn but he manages to put a lot of doubt into Anakin before he flees.

44. Eustace Dolan (The Spirit)

"You watch what you say about cops!"

Commissioner of Central City, Eustace is the only one to know Denny came back to life before he resurfaced as The Spirit. They agreed Denny could serve as the perfect spy to help bring down The Octopus under a persona with no attachments. Of course, the no attachments rule becomes a problem when The Spirit starts dating Eustace's daughter and when Denny starts doing things on his own without the help of the police department. But even though he's annoyed, Eustace still backs The Spirit up and even puts six bullets into the Octopus's head during the final gunfight.

43. The Exterminator (Wanted)

"A thousand..."

Wesley's first friend in the Fraternity and kinda his only friend. The Exterminator usually keeps Wesley company as he heals in the healing chambers. His special talent is feeding rats explosive peanut butter and then detonating them, which ends up helping Wesley in the end. He's accidentally killed by Wesley, who mistakes him for Cross.

42. Trixie (Speed Racer)

"Cool beans."

You know a girl is loyal when she punches another girl in the face for talking shit about her boy, even when she's never even talked to said boy. And you know a boy is in love when he, a race driving protege, crashes because he can't take his eyes off her. That's the relationship between Trixie and Speed and Trixie shows that she's one of the most supportive people in Speed's adult career. She also flies a really stylish helicopter that she uses to help Speed and his teammate when they're racing and when it's time to rough it up with some thugs, Trixie's there to karate chop everyone in her path.

41. Johann Krauss (Hellboy II: The Golden Army)

"Suck my ectoplasmic schwanzstucker!"

With Meyers gone, the group was in need of a fourth member, at least according to Tom Manning. In comes Johann Krauss, a man who's ectoplasm is trapped inside a robot. He's very much all about the rules when he first starts leading the team, quickly getting on Hellboy's nerves. One of my favorite moments is Hellboy smashing his glass head during their confrontation. In the end though Johann ends up bonding with the team so much, he also quits after they defeat the Golden Army.