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wordsofelie · 21 days ago

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Chapter 8

🌅Don’t you dare run away (A Phoenix and Ashes Sequel)

Miya Osamu x f!reader

Summary: Miya Osamu thinks some things will never change— Atsumu will always be annoying; his Ma’s food will always be the best and you will always be his favourite sunrise.

Content Warnings: Timeskip Setting, Manga Spoilers, ex!Suna, Swearing

Words count: 5k

chapter 1 - chapter 2 - chapter 3 - chapter 4 - chapter 5 - chapter 6 - chapter 7

Osamu doesn’t talk about what happened.

The main reason is that he wants to believe it was only a one-time thing. You were simply surprised to see your ex after who knows how many months or years; your relationship with Osamu is only starting even though you’ve known each other for a long time. Osamu wants to respect your boundaries; he wants to give you the time you need to get used to this new life. He’ll be patient (for once, his mother would say).

But that one-time thing lasts longer than expected.

Four months pass, you’re well settled in Tokyo, well integrated into your new team and Osamu has become a regular on the Omiya-Shin Osaka shinkansen line. He alternates between his shop in Osaka, where he has taken on a new full-time manager (Sato and Nagisa love her), and his new premises in Tokyo, which are still in the restoration phase. Osamu opted for a smaller place close to a university and a business district (strangely close to Akaashi's offices), the goal being to focus on takeaway food rather than a familial restaurant. Kita is getting ready to supply twice more rice and he’s just waiting for his former teammate to open the new shop.

By the time the Olympics end, everyone is aware that you’re dating. Bokuto couldn’t help but tell Hinata and Akaashi, Hinata couldn’t resist sharing the news with Kageyama during their game against Argentina, claiming it just slipped. And, from there, the secret practically ran itself through the team. By the time it got to Atsumu, he’d almost passed out from shock. The setter had cornered Osamu one evening. “Are ya serious? My own twin, my own flesh ‘n blood, and ya didn’t even tell me?”

But as soon as he finished his tirade, he sighed heavily and clasped Osamu on the shoulder. “Ya know, ‘Samu, I’m glad it’s ya though. She deserves it. Just... don’t mess it up, alright?”

And Osamu promised he wouldn’t. They went out to have dinner that night and Atsumu’s eyes got wet when the waiter served the plates.

“Yer leavin’ me again,” he whines to his twin.

Osamu groaned, “Stop bein’ such a crybaby for fuck’s sake. How am I supposed to beat ya if I get stuck in the same place? It’s like we're runnin’ a race but with our shoelaces tied together. One of us has to get past the other.” Because it sounded too serious, or maybe because his eyes also got wet, Osamu stretched out his arm on the chair and his voice turned to tease mode again, “and I guess, I'm just better with women than ya.”

Atsumu got mad and they acted like themselves again, as if nothing happened, as if they weren't on the verge of tears at the idea of being away from each other.

His mother, of course, was over the moon. She’d even sent a few of your favourite treats because according to her, this announcement warranted a full family celebration. “We always hoped, ya know,” she’d told Osamu with a soft smile, “that you’d end up with someone just like her. Maybe even her, actually.” She winked, and before Osamu could stop her, she was already planning the next family gathering (and a wedding.)

No need to mention Umi who was the first to know. Osamu received a text from her early one morning, saying how happy she was for you and hinting at his potential murder if he ever broke your heart. He didn’t know whether to laugh or hide.

The only person still completely out of the loop remains Suna.

For some reason, the thought doesn’t worry Osamu. Wordlessly, you both agreed to let things settle naturally. It’s only a matter of time before you tell him, or at least, that’s what Osamu believes.

But it’s now almost November and the guys from Inarizaki High have organised a team reunion in Tokyo when Osamu officially opens his new restaurant. Your boyfriend tries to ignore the feeling, but it does sting when you seem to avoid his gaze whenever Suna is nearby. At some point in the night, Gin—who’s the only other person not aware of your situation—wraps his arm around Osamu’s shoulder and asks him, “So, what about you, man? Got anyone special?”

Osamu pauses, his hand lingers just a little too long on his glass. He catches your eye across the table, but you look away. Something twists in his chest.

That evening, you fight for the time.

When you return home, Osamu is quieter than usual, barely meeting your eyes.

“Are you mad?” you ask, watching him from the doorway as he sits on the edge of the bed, hands in his lap.

But he doesn’t look up. “That you acted as if I didn’t exist in front of yer ex, again? Huh, nah.”

You move closer to him. “Osamu…”

“Look, it’s fine,” he replies, and it breaks his heart not to look at your face. You’re probably hurt right now, but if he lands his eyes on you, he will probably just want to apologise and kiss your lips and your eyes and your cheeks to make the sadness go away, “I’m just tired.”

“Let’s talk about it.”

He huffs a sigh through his nose, “I said it’s fine.”

Then he gets up, his back is facing you now. Osamu feels his blood rushing through his veins, both out of frustration and guilt, “I get it if yer disappointed in this relationship.”

The words cut deeper than either of you expected, and for a second, you stay silent. A bitter laugh leaves your mouth.

“Disappointed? You’re not the one who’s felt neglected these past few weeks,” you reply, and your voice raises just slightly higher. “Whether you’re in Osaka or here, it’s like I barely exist to you. I mean, at least when we were just friends, I felt like I had some part of you. Now… I don’t know, Osamu...”

Your shoulders slouch and your brows furrow. When he takes a glimpse at you, the frustration is fully replaced by guilt.

“My love…” he begins, reaching for you, but you cover your stomach as if to shield yourself from him.

“No, I… I guess I should’ve seen it coming. Maybe it was a stupid idea to let you follow me to Tokyo. I was selfish. And if you want to leave me, I understand-”

Miya Osamu has heard some stupid things in the past (especially coming out of his brother’s mouth), but leaving you has to be the craziest one. How in the world could he want someone else other than you? Now that he had a taste of what it’s like to be by your side, how could he ever think of leaving?

It’s been a decade, ten full years, that Osamu has been watching you from the sidelines. He saw you being almost chosen, half-loved by Suna. He watched you break and then pick yourself up before falling into the arms of your good-for-nothing ex again. It was unfair, it was infuriating to see you look at him with stars in your eyes when you obviously deserved so much more—the whole universe even. And then, without trying, he fell head over heels for you. He started yearning after you, desired to be the one you go home to every day, the one who makes your heart flip in your chest.

Now, in all modesty, Osamu can say he is no longer on the sidelines; he’s with you and he’s yours.

But words aren’t enough thus, he moves toward you, so quickly that it startles you. His hands find your neck delicately, his fingers get tangled in your hair and before you can pull away, he says, “Hey, I’m not goin’ anywhere. Ya understand? Yer it for me.”

You can’t help the tears that well up in your eyes. “But I don’t want to be a burden,” you respond in a murmur. “You work so hard, and I’m so proud of you. I don’t want to be just one more thing you have to worry about.”

“But that’s exactly my role.” His forehead meets yours, “listen here, sweetheart, I would burn down the restaurant for ya.”

“But I don’t want that.” He makes you smile wide through your tears.

“No, me neither.” He chuckles but after, his voice softens, “What I mean is that startin’ today and for all the days that come, yer the one I’ll choose over everything. If I had to relive my life, I’d choose ya again and again, I’d probably choose ya earlier. Please, now tell me when something is wrong because nothing could ever make me fall outta love for ya. I’m not him.”

You put your hand over his, and squeeze tightly, “And I don’t want anything else, Osamu. Just you.”

“Then that’s what ya got. And promise me one thing.”

You nod and he brushes a tear from your cheek. “Anything.”

“Let’s just tell each other when something’s wrong. It’s shit to argue like that. I’m sorry if ya felt like I wasn’t here enough, I’ll make it up ya, okay?”

Your arms wrap around him tightly, as if letting go would make all of this disappear. “You don’t have to, I didn’t mean what I said… I was just hurt, and I guess, I just miss you. We don’t see each other as much those days, but I know it’s for the better. As for Rin,” you look up at him and Osamu realises he forgot what the argument was about in the first place. He gulps loudly. “I’ll tell him, soon. But I just need a bit more time. I guess I'm just worry it'll make things awkward between you too...”

He presses a gentle kiss to your forehead. “Take all the time ya need. And ya know, we're grown men, okay? No one’s gonna punch the other... he’d get hurt anyway.”

You laugh, (and avoid reminding him that Suna Rintarou is a professional athlete, probably for the sake of his ego) and only hug him more.

Feeling your skin against his as you slip under the sheets, is the only thing that matters now. You chose him, not Suna, and the thought is enough to make his whole body shiver.

You fall asleep first and Osamu, in an unusual moment of gratitude, wants to thank the gods for being able to see your pretty face everyday. Make it last forever, he wishes to ask them. When he closes his eyes later, he is convinced that they heard him.

The gods are funny entities. Maybe they did hear him and maybe they’re trying to impulse your relationship on the right path.

At least, that’s the conclusion your boyfriend comes up with when on a calm Saturday morning, as he is making breakfast while you’re taking a shower, someone knocks at the door.

Osamu sets down the bowl of batter he is holding, turns off the stove to prevent the baking pancakes from burning, and walks to the door.

The door swings open, and he has to take a step back in surprise when one Suna Rintarou appears in front of him.

“My mum wanted to give you – Osamu?”

Both men seem to be equally surprised. Osamu tries to hide his displeasure. He just wanted to spend a quiet morning with you, eating breakfast and cuddling, so why the hell is your ex in front of him right now?

“Oh Suna, hi… hm…”

“Dearest are you-” your voice chimes in but stops as fast. “Rin?”

Osamu widens his eyes and looks at you, he scratches the back of his neck nervously. “I’m- hm- thank you for letting me sleep here yesterday. I’ll leave now.”

His excuse doesn’t seem to ease Suna’s doubts as the man with his usual sharp-eyed self, throws Osamu a side-eye. But soon enough, his attention falls on you and he crosses his arms, waiting for an explanation.

Osamu’s face swings from you to him a few times. It’s clear that you’re speaking to each other without words. Whatever space he takes in your heart now, Suna has been here before and the string that once led you to him could never truly be severed.

“Osamu lives here.” You take his hand, “we are dating.”

There’s a long silence. It’s awkward and heavy. Osamu suddenly wants to pinch his arm, hoping none of this is happening. The man understands why you kept putting this moment off for so long.

But you’re brave enough to continue, “Did you come here for something?”

“My mum found that bracelet you lost.” He takes the jewellery out of his pocket. It’s discreet but Osamu and Suna gazes meet, probably to prove to your boyfriend that he didn’t just come to see you out of the blue.

You take the bracelet from his hand, thanking him a several times and claiming you were still hoping to find it, even after all those years.

“Please Rin, enter.”

Suna is quick to take his shoes off and step into your living room, “She also baked you this.”

Your eyes shine when you see the box he is handing you, “Auntie’s cookies? Gosh, they’re the best. I’ll warm them up.”

You turn to your boyfriend with a smile. “I can’t wait for you to try them.”

Osamu clears his throat, “Yeah, me too…D’ya want a cup of coffee or-”

“I’m fine,” Suna replies with nonchalance as he passes past Osamu to follow you in the kitchen. The latter has to hold back a groan. It’s a good thing he started meditation because right now, he really needs to keep his calm.

Suna only looks at you as the three of you stand in the kitchen, waiting for the cookies to be savoured, “my mum didn’t put any peanuts in the cookies, you still think it tastes like soap, right?”

Osamu raises an eyebrow.

“Yes, I do, it’s so considerate of her.” You give Suna a cup of tea.

“Lemon tea, my favourite, you remember.”

You smile gently at him in response, but Osamu can see that your lips tug into a thin line after. Suna is acting out of character, and it’s confusing you as well as your boyfriend.

“Angel,” Osamu starts and from the corner of his eyes, he can see Suna’s shoulders tense. “I also made pancakes; we can share it together if ya want. I went to the market this morning to buy raspberries. I’m sorry, I know ya love blueberries more but- ”

“She prefers strawberries.” The middle blocker mumbles, though it’s unmistakably aimed at reaching Osamu’s ears.

“Wait, wait, guys, what are you doing?”

The boys look at each other and just when they both open their mouths, ready to justify their actions, your phone rings.

“I have to take this, it’s for work – Hi Kuroo-senpai.” You say as you escape to your bedroom.

Osamu wishes he could follow you, but instead, he sighs. He, who waited all week to spend this morning with you, now wants it to be over.

He turns to Suna, but your ex doesn’t move even with those two eyes staring at him, as if deadpan. He’s not going to talk first and Osamu summons up all its courage to start the conversation.

“Listen man I-”

“I’m not really surprised.”

Osamu blinks a few times.

“You guys always had that weird relationship. Ever since high school, I tried to keep her away from you, when we used to walk home together, she wanted to wait for you, but I often said you wanted to stay to practice more. I never told her that but when I moved to Hiroshima and she started spending all her days with you, I hated it. I tried hanging out with girls to make her jealous-”

“That’s a shitty move.”

“Oh, shut up, we were nineteen.” Suna’s voice sounds frustrated, it’s a first, Osamu thinks. He never saw that look on his face before, even when they shared defeats together. Maybe, he did truly love you? “And I regretted acting like that… anyway, she dumped me in the end. I guess that’s what you call karma.”

“Yer the one who dumped her first.”

He rolls his eyes in response, “I know. Biggest mistake of my life. But I’ve moved on now. I’ll go.”

Osamu is taken aback by his last words but realises he heard it right when Suna makes his way to the genkan again.

“Dontcha wanna wait til her call is finished?”

“You want me to stay?”

Osamu hesitates and it makes Suna chuckle.

Once he’s done putting his shoes on, he looks behind his shoulder at his former teammate.

“You’re a lucky man, don’t you dare run away.”

A warm feeling spreads through his stomach, and something clicks in his brain as if he just remembered a happy memory from his childhood. He has no idea when and where, but Osamu feels like he heard those words before. Maybe from a dream.

“I won’t. I really love her.”

“The first match of the season is next week, I’m playing against Atsumu, if you guys want to come.”

“We will.”

“Don’t be jealous if she supports me though,” Suna smirks slightly and it pisses off the other man who can’t help but grin wider.

“Ya? Against the team she works for. When her brother-in-law is playin’, I didn’t know ya were so delusional dude.”

“Brother-in-law.” Suna laughs, but it’s scornful this time, “Don’t act like you’re engaged man. I’m going now, see you.”

This is the last thing Suna says before he gets out of your shared apartment.

Engaged?

For the second time, a warm feeling hits him. It feels good, even if the thought sends a rush of nerves along with it. He doesn’t have the time to analyse it because you go out of the bedroom and scan the kitchen.

“He left,” Osamu explains as he wraps his arms around your waist. His nose finds your neck, breathing in your scent as if you’d been gone far too long—as if he’d been waiting for ages to feel you again.

“What was that about?”

He knows exactly how you’re looking at him right now, he doesn’t even need to meet your eyes. That's why, instead, he stays nestled in the crook of your neck, pretending to be oblivious.

“Hm?”

“With Rin?”

“Suna.”

“Rin.”

He clicks his tongue and finally looks at you, “Rintarou.”

“Alright, with Rintarou.” You’re holding back your laughter at his childish jealousy, “Why were you acting all ‘I know her more’ like two prepubescent teens?”

Your impression of him only makes you look cuter. His fingers trace light circles against your waist and with a side smile, he replies, “What can I do? I’m a weak man sweetheart, I love ya so much.”

“I love you too.” You kiss his cheek and just when you’re about to get away from his grip, he pulls you closer, “I have to work a little bit.”

“But it’s Saturday.” He pouts.

“Kuroo needs me for a project,” your phone rings again. Before you can reach it, Osamu puts his hands under the back of your thighs and lifts you.

“Osamu, put me down, I need to take this call.”

“Mister bedhair can wait.”

“That’s rude.”

“But I wanna take care of ya.”

He starts kissing your neck once you’re sat on the counter. You don’t stop him.

You spend your first Christmas as a couple at his parents’ house. You insist on helping his mother prepare dinner, pushing Osamu away every time he dares sneaking into the kitchen to ensure everything is going fine. “It’s better to fry the chicken like that,” he says, or “I’d recommend a pinch more salt in those mashed potatoes.”

Finally, his mother sighs and shoos him away. “Osamu, let her breathe, for gods' sake!”

You can’t help but grin as you catch his eye, pleased to have his Ma’ on your side.

The dinner is great. Your relationship with his mother is clearly turning into an effortless connection. So, when dessert is served, and she starts telling you awkward moments of his childhood, that Osamu would rather leave forgotten, the man eventually excuses himself to “go to the restroom.” (Even if you both know he’s just escaping the spotlight.)

As he wanders down the hallway, Osamu glances into his old bedroom and spots Atsumu fiddling with an old suit. “Ya don’t want dessert?”

“Am on a diet,” his twin says.

“What’re ya doin’?”

“Am tryin’ on one of Pa’s suits. Got Meian’s wedding next week.” He gives the blazer a tug to smooth it out.

Osamu leans against the doorframe, “Didn’t ya just buy a new one like a month ago?”

“Yeah but…” The blond grins as his gaze meets his brother’s reflection in the mirror, “I’d rather keep the new one for yer wedding.”

Osamu is left speechless; he doesn’t even try to contradict the setter—why would he anyway? Wedding isn’t something the man even thought about in the past, but when it comes to you, it seems evident, right—like something he didn’t know he’d wanted all along blossoms in him. He can’t pinpoint why, but loving you always feels new, like he’s constantly discovering pieces of his heart he hadn’t known were there. He’s so in love, and maybe this love does deserve a proper ceremony.

The idea doesn’t leave his mind, even as you’re on the doorstep, ready to go home. You’re bidding goodbye to Atsumu when his mother tells him to drive safely.

“Ma’?” He tries to pipe up with confidence, but his mother discerns his discomfort with ease, “Would ya…I mean- d’ya still have yer mother’s ring?”

A smile blooms on her lips, it’s almost as wide as when she congratulated them for winning the Nationals a few years back. In a subtle move, she disappears inside and comes back with a bag.

“She would have adored her,” she simply declares in a murmur and it’s enough to create a wave of emotions in the man’s heart—sadness, nostalgia, pride, and above everything else, happiness.

So he takes the bag claiming later that inside his mother put “her favourite cooking book”, when you ask what she gave him. He’s not lying though, the older lady did put a cooking book in the bag, to avoid arousing suspicion, but what you don’t know is that it is accompanied by a small, black box tucked discreetly at the bottom, and that it contains a delicate gold ring. Later that night, before going to bed, Osamu opens the box in the soft light of your bedroom lamp. The ring is beautiful, but it’s also intimidating, even for a guy who has never shied away from a challenge. He’ll ask you one day, but it’ll take courage, more than he’s ready to muster right now (a little voice inside of his brain also wonders what he’ll do if you reject him).

For now, he’ll keep it safe, hiding in his nightstand, under an Onigiri Miya cap (you never asked questions on why there was a cap in there, much to Osamu's relief), so it’s close enough to reach whenever he finds himself ready to shut down the little voice. It's easier said than done, but someday—he hopes—he’ll find the right time to make it real.

And just like that a year passes and the box remains hidden.

It’s winter again when Osamu decides that if he doesn’t do it now, he’ll just keep on delaying the moment. He’s in Osaka for work when he calls to ask you to spend the weekend with him in Hyogo. You are quick to say yes and buy the train ticket.

The cogs can be set in motion and the first knot in his stomach releases.

You arrive the next morning with a packet full of cannelés to offer Sato, Nagisa and Tano, their new manager. Everyone’s excited at trying the pastries but Osamu refuses to try one.

“We should go,” he informs you and takes your hand. You’re confused but follow him inside the car anyway.

The three other employees’ wave at you with wide smiles, it’s a good thing that their enthusiasm to see you leave doesn’t alarm you. Only Osamu knows why they’re so eager to see their boss get out of here, after all, they know what he’s about to do since they have been his trusted confidants this past week. In truth, Osamu has been practising his speech for days, first with Tano, the calmest of the three, who listened quietly as Osamu stumbled through his words. And then with the other two, who were more than happy to help him prepare for the big moment, his private rehearsal quickly turned into a bit of a group affair. They even spent the entire morning insisting that never in a million years you will refuse his proposal.

You spend the first twenty minutes of the ride trying to guess where you are going.

“Kobe?” You first ask, “Or Kyoto? Oh, that would be so nice, I’ve not been in Kyoto in ages.”

You seem convinced that it will be a city, but instead, he drives you to the countryside.

The road becomes familiar, Osamu can see in your eyes that you’re starting to recognize the landscapes; the fields of rice or matcha or flowers (he still doesn’t know which one it is, even in the daylight).

“Are we going to Kita’s farm?” You finally figure. “Don't tell me, I know it is Kita's farm. See, told you I’d guessed.”

You look so sure of yourself, cute, he thinks, and it makes him want to leave kisses on your grin and all over your face.

But the surprise only begins and when he pulls over to the side of the road, near a cliff, you start assaulting him with questions again. Osamu doesn’t answer, he just gets out, opens the passenger door and gently leads you out of the car.

“D' ya know where we are?” He says a few minutes later.

You glance around to look at the view and open your month, but he trails you off.

“This is where I feel in love with ya. Well- I guess I feel in love before, though I was very slow, but this is where I realised I was in love. Since then, I’ve not stopped falling for ya and for … well, everything about ya.”

“Osamu?”

He keeps going even though his heart threatens to explode in his chest, “I’m kinda nervous, but I really wanna do this. Yer the one for me, and I know I don’t always give ya the time ya deserve and I’m jealous sometimes… but I love ya and I’d like to laugh with ya for the rest of my life. So…”

He takes a little box from his pocket and gets on one knee (a little bit too harshly, he'll probably get a bruise tomorrow). The look of surprise—or rather shock, to be completely honest— on your face tells him you hadn’t realised what was happening until this moment.

“I’ve been thinkin’ about this for like a long time, and I really hope ya would accept to become my fiancé and perhaps my wife someday… if you’ll have me.”

You jump into his arms and Osamu fears he’ll fall down—not that he would mind. He would drown in oceans with you, get into a tornado, jump off a cliff, just to feel you against him.

“Dummy, idiot, argh you-”

“Why’re ya insultin’ me woman?”

He looks at you, there’s tears in your eyes, in this light, they look like stardust.

“I really want to be your fiancé and your wife and your everything.”

You already are, he wants to say but you shut him up with a kiss and he thinks you’ve never tasted so good. All the knots in his stomach can relax (because you said yes!)

The colour of the ring on your finger, golden, suits you. It reminds him of the sunrise and of the promise that you’ll be here next morning, and the one after, and the one after.

For the rest of his life, Osamu can fall asleep at peace because he knows you’ll always be the first thing he’ll see when he wakes up.

The wedding is planned for the following summer. You opt for something small and intimate, with family and close friends. His mother and yours help with the preparations, Umi chooses your dress, Bokuto does his bit too by ordering a cake from the patisserie that's just opened next door to Onigiri Miya (this is entirely out of friendship for you, and not because he has a huge crush on the shop's owner), and finally Atsumu helps his brother find the wedding venue.

Everything is perfect, except for…

“You said you wanted to invite the guys from high school.”

A sigh escapes from his nose and he avoids your gaze, “I know but-“

“The guys from high school that also means Rin.” He raises an eyebrow and his jaw clenches, “-tarou.”

“Alright, alright… Let’s invite Suna. It’s just, ya know, I want a very small weddin’, I’m not like ‘Tsumu.”

You cup his cheeks, “My love, I’d feel bad if I invited your team and not him. Don’t tell me you’re afraid I’ll leave with Rintarou just before the wedding, huh?”

His ears suddenly feel warm, and he tries to hide the shade of red that invaded his face by lowering his cap, you burst into laughter.

“Oi!” he barks, offended, “stop makin’ fun of me or ya'll never hear my vows.”

Your teasing smile turns into a pout, and you look at him with puppy eyes. With that face, Osamu knows he’s screwed. “I’m goin’ to bed now,” he informs.

But before he can run away, you grab his arm and with your other hand, you trace a line from his cheekbone to his jaw. He can feel the coldness of the golden ring against his skin. He closes his eyes for a second and lets you whisper a few sweet words in his ear.

"You make me happy,” you tell him in the end.

“So do ya,” he breathes. His lips find yours; you quiver helplessly beneath the touch. He smiles, “And it’s only the beginnin'.”

a/n: I may or may not have shed a tear haha

I hope you guys are happy with this ending, if you're interrested to read more I can always write some short extra stories about them

thank you for reading, liking and commenting, it means a lot to me <3

taglist: @wolffmaiden, @teyvatsunsets, @obibiwan, @sugacor3, @sunahsvt, @iluv-ace, @cinnamonruts

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thebroccolination · 5 months ago

Note

hey key! since things are so tense rn could i ask you to tell me your favorite things about singto and gawin? like as people, as actors, as friends... i would love that! thanks 🙏🏻

Hey Anon. :')

So I obviously got this when things were still tense, and it's been a big comfort for the past week to know that someone did this for me. So first of all, I want to acknowledge how kind this was and thank you. <3

I wanted to wait until things died down a bit before I answered because I was so wrapped up in the thread I was making that I couldn't focus on anything else. SO! Now I can just have fun answering. :D

MY 5 FAVORITE THINGS ABOUT SINGTO AND GAWIN

OKAY starting with Singto. :D

1. First is, hands down, his relationship with his father. For anyone who doesn't know, Singto lost his mother to cancer while he was in university, so ever since, he's been making a concerted effort to spend as much time as possible with his father before he passes. Singto's said he felt guilty for the time he missed out on with his mother, and he doesn't want to regret it twice. He goes out to eat with his father, hangs out with him, built a house with the intention of living with him (that his father turned down), and just generally seems to adore his dad.

2. His struggle tweets. 90% of the time this man tweets anything, it's because he's complaining about some minor catastrophe: he put his clothes out to dry and it rained, the soup bag in his delivery order burst, the delivery guy never showed, etc. etc. etc. I just think it's a very clever way for an introverted actor to use social media in a way that gets him engagement. He made being inconvenienced a brand, and that's super cute to me.

3. His love for Linkin Park. Because I also love them. That's it. I love that he loves one of my favorite groups, and in another life before Chester passed, I would've loved to go with him to a concert as concert buddies.

4. The mood lighting in his room. It's ridiculous and pretty and I love it.

5. That he's been very open about his mental health issues. Even knowing that some people would use it against him, he still shared extremely private experiences with the public, and especially considering how closed most of Asia can be regarding depression and conditions like it, I admire him (and Krist) for speaking openly about how he's been affected and he lives with it.

And now Gawin!

1. That he threw shade at Pennsylvania in the funniest way I've ever heard. ("What do you miss about Pennsylvania?" "I can tell you what I don't miss about Pennsylvania.") I just love that Gawin's been such a recluse for years that very few had any indication outside his acting that he's funny.

2. His singing, dear god. When he dropped his Maroon 5 cover during the early days of the pandemic I genuinely thought he'd gone out and quietly gotten himself a record deal. I love his acting but I genuinely hope he makes more of a move toward singing. He's just too talented and passionate about music to keep doing OSTs forever. (GMMTV I'm scaling the side of your building.)

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3. That he's historically been averse to social media in all forms but he threw himself into promotion for Be My Favorite. When Off teased him at Livehouse last autumn and Gawin teased him back, there was a beat of genuine surprise where Off didn't react, and then he said, "At least you talk now," with affection. It reminded me how much work Gawin had done with some big names and yet he'd been so reticent and shy in the promotional materials, very few had gotten to know him on a deeper level. Last year was really special. I'd already been fond of him, but to find out he's even sweeter than I thought was lovely.

4. Getting to chat with him during the fan benefit for the Be My Favorite finale and finding out how sincerely humble he is. He's genuinely just happy to be here. I don't think he knows he's famous. Someone should have told him the cameras were on.

5. He fucking took Nong Kawi (the turtle plush from Be My Favorite) on the plane with him for his first trip to Japan. T___T

I love them both. They have very different introverted energies, but they're similar enough that I am genuinely curious what they're like one-on-one. I hope they have opportunities to interact with each other publicly in the future. <3

Thank you again for the question, Anon. :') It felt nice to talk about this.

#kiranokira answers #singto prachaya #gawin caskey #gmmtv actors #thai actors

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neptunevasilias · 2 years ago

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Why you should vote for Seamonkeys

(The poll in question)

First of all

Second of all

They actually genuinely have one of the most interesting dynamics, or at least my favorite. I'll be talking about things from the books here

Sun has taken off without his team to go to another kingdom not once, but twice (the first time was when he left early to go to the Vytal festival)

The other members of the team, Sage and Scarlet, are rightfully angry at him after the second time and try to separate themselves from him, but Neptune does NOT. This is even remarked upon a few times by other narrating characters such as Velvet.

It’s implied he is angry, though, he’s just not saying it because he wants to be around Sun again

Between the fact that he hides his "nerdier" interests, the whole thing with not being able to dance, and most importantly the fact that he avoids his semblance and is even afraid of it, it is easy to say that he is someone who has troubles expressing himself, to say the least

Therefore, his refusal to be outwardly angry at Sun to "keep things normal" could be seen as part of his problem expressing himself

In the flashback near the start of the book about the glowing golden tree, Sun is shown wanting him and his cousin to be able to find a place to stay, and then he sees the tree and thinks that it would be the perfect place to make a home. The memory of that tree is what he thinks of to center himself every time he uses his semblance. Therefore, Sun deep down wants to be able to find a place to call home. The fact that he's always moving from place to place means the he, also, is avoiding his real self. They're twinning ^_^

Then there’s this

This random, oddly cinematic shot that lasts like five seconds, that uses probably the most important bit of imagery in rwby(the sun and moon), which specifically has a romantic context in the show(bumbleby, ozpin and salem, and arkos). I wonder what that could mean.

Other things:

There's just like..... some kinda poetic things that happened in general. Like Sun leaving both times on a boat, which means Neptune wouldn't have been able to go with him even if he'd had the chance to.

Sun had black(/gray?) eyes in volumes 1-3, matching Blake, but from volume 4 onward he has blue eyes, which match Neptune. Neptune's goggles are yellow, matching Sun. And just like yellow and purple are opposites on a red/yellow/blue color wheel, yellow and blue are opposites on a red/green/blue color wheel.

Neptune's introduction includes Sun taking a long look at him from the legs up, after which he basically admits Neptune is good-looking (so he checked Neptune out)

Tbh, if Neptune was a girl it'd be pretty obvious the show was going in the direction of seamonkeys. It's that trope where the girl waits for the lead guy to stop chasing after the girl that isn't right for him and they get together at the end.

Look at how Neptune smiled when Sun said "it was never about that, brainiac"

Please just consider what volumes 4 and 5 would have been like from Neptune's perspective. Please.

Lastly, there's just the fact that like half their bits in rwby chibi have to do with making fun of how gay they act, and/or neptune specifically(things like him liking musicals, using moisturizing cream, etc)

ALL OF THIS IS TO SAY that Seamonkeys DEFINITELY deserves to win this round. They have at LEAST as much going for them as the other ship in the poll(name omitted to keep this out of their tag), they'll almost definitely be in volume 10, and also they are my special guys. So vote for them if you love me.

#rwby #seamonkeys #sun wukong #neptune vasilias #best rwby ship poll #chris post #☀️#pleaseplease do it for me do it for them #also this ISN'T a 'seamonkeys will be canon' post i'm not saying that

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lilysparda · 26 days ago

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Second Yakuza OC:

(Picrew link: https://picrew.me/en/image_maker/2141620) Maehara Shuri (Last name, First name). Shuri is nonbinary (them/them), pansexual, and I had them show up later in the series (Yakuza 5) when they were 25. Syphas and Shuri are roommates (oh my god, they were roommates). Shuri is a civilian and works at a Hostess Cabaret. They are somewhat religious and visit their nearby temple at least twice a week. Despite their best attempts, they still cannot get Syphas out of bed early enough to go with them- Syphas: "Fucks sake, ya think ya will get extra points with yer ancestors fer prayin' at 5am? Yer a nutcase, Shuri-chan." Shuri: "The Gods do not care for your hangover, Sy-San. They only care for prayers. Get up or I won't bring you back some Okonomiyaki for supper" Syphas: "Yeah, yeah, get lost, kid. Leave me ta rot fer today..."

(Forgot to mention that Syphas has a Kansai accent in the last post). Despite their soft threats to not bring Syphas' favourite foods back if he doesn't get up early or come to pray, Shuri always does anyway. They see him as an older brother, so they're quite fond, even when he acts like an asshole. (Keep in mind in Yakuza 5, he's 40 years old and they're 25 so there's that 15 years age gap he's a big big brother lol) Yakuza 5 (set in 2012) to Yakuza 6 (set in 2016)= 4 years pass, making Shuri 29 Yakuza 6 (2016) to Yakuza Gaiden (around 2019/2020) (current game i'm playing)= 3/4 years pass, Shuri is around 32/33. Shuri can fight, but prefers not to. They like to think they're a Pacifist as they see violence as unneeded and a waste of time, values words instead. Shuri was Syphas' first friend away from the whole mess of the Yakuza world. He has a few friends outside of that like Kiryu (sees him very much as a best friend) and Akiyama, along with Majima (is more amused by how he acts), but when he just wants to hang out with someone 'normal', someone he doesn't need to talk about fighting with, he goes back home to Shuri and can nerd out or hell, even join them on a trip to the temple to pray. Shuri has more online friends than IRL friends due to how accepting more people are elsewhere about their gender and sexuality. Their parents disowned them and their previous friends stopped hanging out with them because their parents too saw them as weird and even a bad omen for 'daring to be different'. -Also oc!ship them with Kiryu or Majima, sometimes even Akiyama (HAVE YOU HEARD HIM SING 'PURE LOVE IN KAMUROCHO'?! IT'S FUCKING GORGEOUS) but again, if were to go down a canon! route, I think they would probably continue to live with Syphas even in his new humble abode and take care of the adopted kids together. They could be Papa Syphas and Nommy Shuri. (THERE'S A NONBINARY TERM FOR PARENT OTHER THAN PARENT? Wow, i'm learning things and i'm nonbinary myself). Like they both want to be parents but they're just roommate parents. How funny that would be to explain to a school or something like: "Papa and Nommy aren't married, they're just roommates! But they both wanted to be parents so they adopted together" -I made Shuri whilst playing Yakuza 5 which was around 2021 so a few years after Syphas was made so they are more developed and recent but still, I wanna explore expanding their character more.

#yakuza oc #like a dragon #yakuza 5 #ryu ga gotoku

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thesinglesjukebox · 9 months ago

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TWICE - "ONE SPARK"

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Needs more (less?) ska…

[5.82]

Kayla Beardslee: It’s a convenient microcosm of Twice’s recent career arc that their three English-language singles have been better than the Korean title tracks of their respective albums. “One Spark” is nice, but its English companion song “I Got You” bursts open with an “OOOOooooOOoooh” hook that’s simple and sweet in its immediacy, whereas “One Spark” delays its best melody to the back end of the chorus. Just on the strength of the hooks, I prefer “I Got You,” but this is still more engaging than Twice's last Korean title track, which was an overly serious take on ’70s retro that arrived years too late to the trend. There’s been a sea change with JYP girl groups recently: after a few years of muddled artistic direction, Twice, Itzy, and NMIXX are all barreling ahead with some of their most assured releases ever. “One Spark” isn’t even close to the best track on Twice’s most recent EP, but for once, it fits right in and lifts the whole project up. [7]

Wayne Weizhen Zhang: The instrumental sounds like a yassified version of royalty-free music. Elsewhere the spark catches but develops into more of a clumsy ember than a roaring flame. [5]

Alfred Soto: More like two sparks. This track never stops poppin'. [0]

Leah Isobel: Late-period Twice is so poised and professional, their songs gorgeous and modern; in their hands, the explosive breakbeats on this chorus come off like a tasteful accent pillow, the ascending synth counterpoint like a classy credenza. But what is that dry-ass Disney-ass guitar supposed to be? A cheap Ikea rug? [5]

Katherine St. Asaph: Boyfriend: Is this Pale Waves? Me: Is this ska? [5]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: Sadly not the ska revival track the opening guitar strums imply — but this is almost as good, a pop song like a perpetual motion machine. Every hook has another, slightly catchier hook it wears as a hat, every slowdown is accompanied by a speed-up, everything is calibrated just so. [8]

Michael Hong: Maturing in the West often means shedding some of the things you grew up with, whereas the opposite rings true in K-pop, where codependency in a group is its own form of currency. Songwriters Sim Eunjee and Melanie Fontana do an admirable job of balancing these incongruities, but there are traces of awkwardness in the ambiguity with which an “endless flame” can be an object of passionate and a lifelong friend. Despite some of the more awkward shoe-horned line readings, Twice inflect a sense of rush into the drum 'n' bass. It’s a way of turning the trends set by their younger cohort into an act of maturity, of transforming “One Spark” into a passionate dance, even if their lyrics aren’t forthright about it. [6]

Nortey Dowuona: Pauline Cerrada, a songwriter on this absolute bop, has only one solo song, while Twice, assembled by the TV show Sixteen, have seven albums — three in Korean and four in Japanese, and this is a part of their thirteenth EP called With You-th. That’s the power of the K-pop industry: scooping up talent and cranking out fizzy pop bangers that the assembled musicians have to connect with, that the group members have to connect to. When it works, it produces this simpatico concept for each singer/rapper to link together, from intro verse to hook to trap breakdown to lily-white pre-chorus to nu-disco crank to drum 'n' bass and back again. It’s an electrifying mix. [10]

Ian Mathers: We have covered Twice over a dozen times, and I have either missed every single one of them, or I simply haven't retained a memory of any of those songs. Based on the perfectly fine "One Spark," it could easily be the latter. [5]

Joshua Minsoo Kim: An instructive K-pop single: the Atlanta bass and freestyle influence that informed Twice’s early work arrives alongside modish drum 'n' bass & stuttering club beats (their millionth trap breakdown is here too, but at least it’s subtle). The result is a song that’s effortlessly stylish to a fault, in constant search of a hook that can match the seamless genre blending. When they sing the chorus, it sounds like they’re losing their breath, chasing a high instead of delivering one. They finally get there when they bring in the handclaps. It’s only here that “my heart is burning” is delivered with the right balance of confidence and resignation. The production isn’t dizzying enough to conjure something epic, and so Twice are much more convincing when the passion is contained, like desire is swirling internally. [6]

Taylor Alatorre: On a per-second basis, the most effective use of handclaps in a song so far this year. [7]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox]

#twice #one spark #music #k-pop #pop #pop music #music writing #music reviews #music criticism #the singles jukebox #Youtube

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goosetrainer · 1 year ago

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Mari's Last Minute Tera Raid Guide #4 - Delphox

HI I'm back and this time it's not even that last minute!

Ngl this Delphox would probably be 300% easier if you used a flash fire Heatran, but not everyone has access to other games/people who will trust them with legendaries so I'm keeping this post common-pokémon friendly.

The best non-transfer solo here is Armarouge, with Ceruledge coming in a close second. This means that violet players with no access to internet/scarlet playing friends are at a disadvantage, but it's not impossible! You just have less wiggle room and need more tera shards(/sheer luck in tera raids).

That said, ANNOUNCEMENT:

now that scarvio have Home compatibility, I can let people temporarily borrow my own pokémon. I have a steel tera Armarouge you can use to defeat your Delphox, the only thing I ask for is that you keep it just the time strictly necessary for the fight, then return it. Just in case someone else needs it. (Home software on Switch and Home app on mobile necessary - sorry I still won't pay Nintendo for the privilege of using my own internet)

It's common knowledge that axes are super effective against mages :3c hehe

Foreword, since there are effectively 3 builds, let me give you a summary of Delphox's moves so that I don't have to repeat myself. She'll steal your tera charge every x turns starting from turn 4 (this is important for Ceruledge). She has an early, fairly long shield (appears either after you got her life down a bit, or after 2-3 turns); she wipes her own stat changes towards the middle of the shield and then never again; uses Nasty Plot once around the same time (I don't think on the same turn, I've seen it happen 2 turns after her stat wipe); right after her shield is broken, wipes your own stat changes and uses Magic Room, just once. After the Nasty Plot she may act twice in some turns.

She's got a timid nature (268 speed) and high special attack and special defense, offensive moves are only special. Her Will-O-Wisp and Fire Blast are effectively useless because of the following options having Flash Fire (which should be neutralized at the end of the shield but for some reason the AI never made her use her fire moves in that turns, when I went? Meh), Dazzling Gleam is by far her least dangerous move, with Psychic being the more dangerous one, because of the chance of lowering your special defense.

Magic Room renders held items useless for 5 turns, but by the time it happens you should be ready to kill in 3. Just be mindful of the Shell Bell healing not working.

NPC allies don't do much, the best you can hope for are probably the ones that can paralyze her (dudunsparce, umbreon... bellibolt I think?).

Delphox's hidden ability does not work in raids, so treat it as if it didn't exist :3

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Armarouge lv.100

Tera Type: Steel (preferred) or Fire (cheaper)

Ability: Flash Fire

Nature: Modest/Mild (Quiet could work too if you don't wanna waste a mint)

Held Item: Shell Bell

IVs: max in HP, sp. atk., sp. def., maybe speed

EVs: 252 sp. atk., 252 sp. def., 4 HP

Moveset:

-Calm Mind (level up)

-Mystical Fire (move reminder)

-Acid Spray (TM)

-Flash Cannon (TM) (only with steel tera type) OR Flamethrower (level up) (only with fire tera type)

Usage:

Two options here because tera shards are hard to find, if you don't already have enough. Steel tera works better both offensively (super effective stab) and defensively (with Flash Fire, terastallized Armarouge resists the fairy and psychic moves, and is immune to the fire ones). Fire type is just easier to find, any Charcadet you meet in the wild will have that. I would have kept that one if I hadn't caught a steel one in the event, some time ago (don't worry I still tried a fire one without saving, just to be sure it's doable). A bit more difficult because you lose some fire power (heh) and the psychic resistance, but it worked. Strategy: Calm Mind x6, some random offensive moves until Delphox nullifies her stat debuffs, then you can use one or two Mystical Fires to make her special attack drop before the Nasty Plot, so she ends up neutral at best (optional for steel tera, recommended for fire tera - because of Psychic, and especially if she already debuffed your sp. def. once or twice), then 3x Acid Spray, then Flamethrower or Flash Cannon. Important: make sure you use the 1-2 Mystical Fires and all 3 Acid Sprays AFTER she nullifies her own stat changes, or you'll have to reapply them. Use Y to check her status if you lost count, she should have at least the 6 red downward arrows on special defense before you break her shield. Also important: on terastallizing. You can terastallize as soon as it's available if your Armarouge is a steel tera, but if it's a fire tera wait until after you're done debuffing her (making it a pure fire type will make it lose its innate psychic resistance, exposing it to more frequent Psychic the move, which will hit harder). ONLY after you're done setting up and terastallizing, break the shield with Flamethrower/Flash Cannon (or Mystical Fire if you're scared), watch her wipe all your Calm Mind boosts :') but don't bother reapplying those since her weakened special defense should still be there. You won't be able to heal now, so focus on spamming your Flamethrower/Flash Cannon until the end. Flash Cannon kills in 1-3 turns depending on randomness, Flamethrower takes a bit more. A fire tera Armarouge may benefit from using Mystical Fire in the first turns just to make sure it doesn't die, but Flamethrower hits harder - just make your calculations based on how your defenses are looking. You COULD go KO once while still having enough time to win, actually it's better for the fire tera (you get your psychic resist back!). Worst case scenario you try again~

TL;DR: Calm Mind x6, random attacks until enemy's stat wipe, then:

-fire tera: 1-2 Mystical Fires for survivability, Acid Spray x3, terastallize, Flamethrower until broken shield, then Flamethrower or Mystical Fire until death. May die once, don't worry, keep attacking.

-steel tera: (Mystical Fire optional) Acid Spray x3, terastallize as soon as you can, then Flash Cannon till the end.

PROS:

-somewhat common pokémon (appears mostly in set locations)

-can use the default tera type

-only one regular ability so you can't get it wrong (unless you caught it in a tera den and got the hidden one)

-innately resists the entire moveset of the opponent and has options to improve own survivability

CONS:

-functionally Scarlet exclusive

-no healing at all during Magic Room :(

(Hard to tell, but the Armarouge on the right is a once-dead fire tera)

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Ceruledge lv.100

Tera Type: Steel (this time it's mandatory! I tried with Fire but I kept dying)

Ability: Flash Fire

Nature: Adamant/Lonely (I wanna say Brave too but speed actually helps a bit here. I wouldn't risk it)

Held Item: Shell Bell

IVs: max in HP, atk., sp. def., speed

EVs: 252 atk., 252 sp. def., 4 HP

Moveset:

-Swords Dance (level up)

-Bitter Blade (level up)

-Clear Smog (level up)

-Iron Head (TM)

Usage:

SO. I had to tinker with this one a bit and it lowkey sucks when compared to its redder cousin, did it just out of love for the violet peeps. You deserve good things too Ceruledge has a couple of big drawbacks against this particular opponent: no way to boost its own special defense at all, and no psychic resistance. Bitter Blade's healing kind of offsets these, but the fact that the only move it doesn't resist at the start of the battle is Psychic means that Delphox will keep using THAT, dealing quite some damage AND almost certainly lowering Ceruledge's special defense at least once. For this reason, your number one priority is TERASTALLIZE INTO STEEL ASAP You have no choice but use 3 offensive moves in the first 3 turns. If you wste just one turn you're getting your tera charge stolen and need to use one more turn to recharge while you get mercilessly Psychiced and probably die. At least 2 of the starting moves will probably need to be Bitter Blades, to keep your health up and out of KO zone. Better do that before the shield goes up, as it'll make your recovery worse. When you're safe behind your newly acquired steel-with-fire-immunity type, you can take a breath and set up your attack with 3 Swords Dances - watch your HP, especially if you saw your special defense drop, use a Bitter Blade to heal in between the Swords Dancing if necessary. You don't have stat-lowering moves so the opponents mid-shield wipe doesn't affect you, but keep an eye on it nonetheless because shortly after that she'll use Nasty Plot and that does affect you - if your health is low use Bitter Blade to heal and then Clear Smog, if not do Clear Smog right away. When you're not healing or keeping that fox's special attack at bay, and after you've used your 3 Swords Dance, use Iron Head to break the shield. Once the shield is broken you're: -back at square one with your attack boosts -technically with no Shell Bell. This is where you alternate Swords Dance and Bitter Blade and Iron Head - 2 Swords Dances in total should be enough, Bitter Blade to heal if needed, Iron Head when your attack is at least at 4+ (4 green upwards arrows on the status menu, equivalent to 2 Swords Dances) and not in immediate KO danger. Remember that Iron Head won't heal you at this point. You have the option to use Hang Tough cheers to help with the defenses I guess - but never before you terastallized, don't waste time. Also in my limited experience focusing on Swords Dance is better, more attack means more absorbed HP with Bitter Blade.

TL;DR: 3x offensive moves (Bitter Blade preferred) right away, terastallize ASAP, 3x Swords Dance with Bitter Blade in the middle to keep HP up, Clear Smog ASAP after Delphox's Nasty Plot, Iron Head when safe until shield broken. Then max 2x Sword Dance with Bitter Blades to heal when necessary, again Iron Head(s) when safe. Be aware of the possibility of having to try again if you get your special defense lowered too much.

PROS:

-somewhat common pokémon (appears mostly in set locations)

-only one regular ability so you can't get it wrong (unless you caught it in a tera den and got the hidden one)

-innately resists fairy and fire

-actually has a recovery option during Magic Room

-fast attack boosting

CONS:

-special defense can only go down :(

-no psychic resist until terastallized

-non-default tera type needed

-attack boosts needs to be reapplied

-functionally Violet exclusive

#pokemon #pkmn #tera raids #guides #gen 9 #pokemon scarlet violet #pokemon sv #delphox #it seems counterintuitive that ceruledge is worse since it hits the enemy's lower defense but holy hell was it a chore to keep it alive #reminder that the event returns July 14-16th - or you can still do it if you didn't connect to the internet after getting it last time #ah ps steel armarouge and ceruledge can also use tera blast in place of flash cannon and iron head #but iron head has an extra chance of making the opponent flinch so I'd prefer that one.

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officerjennie · 1 year ago

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tagged by @the-evil-stick - thank!!

List 5 favourite shows (in no particular order) and answer questions accordingly.

I don't watch shows? So uh

The Witcher

The Last of Us

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Fucken, idk, Spongebob?

I have about 20 anime I could put here but I don't remember more than like. One character from any of the ones I've watched

1. Who is your favourite character in 2?

Joel. I love that old man so much

I couldn't fix him and actually I don't want to

2. Who is your least favourite character in 1?

Of the main characters? Yennefer. Mainly because of how some in the fandom treat her character, refusing to see any flaws, calling her perfect, acting like any slight to her character in canon or fanon is toxic. She is inherently flawed like all good characters should be and people acting like that makes me want nothing to do with her.

If it weren't for that, she'd be fine, even if her and Geralt are truly awful for each other.

3. What's your favourite episode of 4?

The campfire episode ig

...I'm taking this opportunity to rant about TLOU cause it's my post and I can THE FIRST EPISODE IS AMAZING OKAY. The character introductions, the reintroduction to Joel, the world building, the slogan of the fireflies matching Joel's journey, Joel searching for Tommy because protecting his people has become his whole purpose, just. Someday I'd like to write an essay.

4. What is your favourite season of 5?

The ones where boys kiss boys

5. What's your favourite relationship in 3?

I wasn't really a fan of most of the canon ships honestly, but since it's Relationship and not Ship then Iroh and Zuko. I love that Iroh shows Zuko how he can be a non-toxic man in a world where they were both taught just toxic, power hungry and angry masculinity.

6. Who is your anti relationship in 2?

what does that even mean. like... the ship I hate? the NOTP?

fucken idk man. I just ship old man Joel with an OC. everyone can fuck everyone for all I care

7. How long have you watched 1?

Early 2021 probably?

8. How did you become interested in 3?

It was on TV. That's about it.

9. Who is your favourite actor in 4?

The talking sponge?

10. Which show do you prefer 1, 2 or 5?

It will come as a surprise to No One that has talked to me in the past month that I'm gonna say The Last of Us, considering I'm on watch through like...9.

11. Which show have you seen more episodes of 1 or 3?

I think ATLA has more episodes?

12. If you could be anyone from 4, who would you be?

David Hasselhoff

13. How would you kill off your favourite character in 5?

This question list is really thrown off when you haven't watched 5 shows in recent memory

14. Would a 3/4 crossover work?

If they can crossover uncle grandpa and steven universe, any crossover can "work".

15. Pair two characters in 1 that would make an unlikely, but strangely okay couple.

Ciri and Eskel, and if anyone comes at me all "EW GROSS THAT'S HER UNCLE" I'm going to smack you with a dildo. They interact like twice in book canon, 0 times in show canon, and game canon makes it perfectly clear that it would be NORMAL AND PERFECTLY ACCEPTABLE for fucking GERALT to be in a relationship with her. Get your fanon out of my canon

also it's fiction so anything goes

16. Overall, which show has the better cast, 3 or 5?

oh huh I guess I could have put game of thrones on the list, that would've made this easier. too invested now. anyway the voice actors for ATLA were great

tagging no one because the kitten is making it hard to type, if you wanna say I tagged you go for it

#this brought to you by 'i have a problem and that old man could fix me'

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udon-udon · 1 year ago

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haven’t had the time to sit down and kinda recap the mamamoo concert trip so here we go, i’ll try to keep it short!

Landed in SF and had a friend take me around San Jose for a lil bit! Went to Trader Joe’s for the first time ever LOL and then got to the place I was staying at. Unpacked and got ready for the next day which was concert #1 day. Went to a really cute cafe that had some local artist stuff for sale, I bought some stickers hehe. We then headed to a mall to kill some time before heading to In N Out with our other friends. Had my first In N Out experience and laksjdflskjd im in love. We headed to the concert at about 5pm ish and the merch line was long af alksjdflaksjdf but managed to snag a sweatshirt, and 2 tshirts, i really splurged. The concert was amazing, I’m still shellshocked, cause I’m so used to seeing them via a video or something buT THEY WERE THERE IN PERSON!!! Anyway I’m still shook. I also lost my hat that I’ve only ever worn once so I’m sad about that... Got home at around 12am ish and we ate in n out yet again cause it was the only thing opened around LOL. In N Out twice in a day? Would do again honestly. That night my travel friend and I only had like 2 hours of sleep though cause we had to get up at 5am for our Lyft to the airport alskdjsalskdf We made it on time though!

Our flight to LA was 7am to 9am, and once we landed, we got picked up by another friend who showed us around Little Tokyo and Koreatown! I loved Little Tokyo so much aaah. Bought Mamamoo’s Purple album (blue vers.) and Mamamoo+’s Act 1 Scene 1 at a kpop store. Got dropped off at our airbnb at around 3pm and met up with the airbnb gang in which i didn’t know half of, but they were chill people! Always nice to meet more fellow moomoos. We went to a well known gopchang restaurant for dinner that night, and apparently a ton of kpop artists went there too cause they had their autographs etc. Good stuff. First time trying gopchang and it’s definitely an acquired taste. I’ve heard it doesn’t all taste the same so maybe I should try some more if i ever go to korea again. That night we slept very well haha

The next day was concert #2 day! Travel friend and I managed to sleep in while the others went to do their own things. 3/8 of us regrouped at the airbnb and walked to the restaurant that we wanted to eat at (which was kinda full so we ended up going to another nearby restaurant). We ate coco curry and then headed to the concert venue! lasklaskd A friend of ours made a poster that for some reason wasn’t allowed in so she snuck it through and I had to be the one receiving it LKJASLDKJF mission impossible shit right there. The concert was just as amazing and aaaahhhhhhh I have no words to describe IT STILL FEELS SURREAL. We tried waiting after the concert for Mamamoo’s cars to come out and THEY DID. but they didn’t roll down their windows like they usually do and they went the other way we were standing LMAOOO twas a good effort i guess. At least their car passed by us HAHA. I got a video of it. We then got home at like 12-1am and then ordered tacos and drank til 5am cause they bought way too much alcohol;;;

Next day was our last day here, in which I split with the airbnb gang to hang with some other friends. I heard that the airbnb gang’s adventure was very stressful and i wish i was there to witness the chaos but thankful i didn’t have to experience it LOL. hung around another area of Little Tokyo I didn’t go last time, and then went to Nucleus, a local artist gallery BUT IT WAS CLOSED AND I WAS SAD. It looked super cool too which makes it even sadder :( Oh well. Then got dropped off at the airport at about 3pm (which was really early), but my airbnb gang were there shortly after cause some of them had their flight at 5:30pm. My flight buddies just sat there and chatted til 8pm, our flight aaaand on the flight we went. Got home at about 11:30pm ish and the end : )

#adventures with udon #i never thought i'd be able to use the moobong in my life after i bought it #BUT HERE WE ARE #udon sees mamamoo

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grumpygreenwitch · 2 years ago

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The Fairy and the Prince #9 + #10

Part 1 - Part 2 - Parts 3 & 4 - Part 5 - Part 6, 7 & 8 - Part 9 & 10 - Part 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 & 16 - Part 17, 18, & 19 - Part 20, 21 & 22 - Part 23, 24, 25 & 26 - Part 27, 28, 29 & 30 - Part 31, 32, 33 & 34 - Part 35, 36 & 37 - Part 38, 39, 40 & 41 - Part 42 & 43 - Part 44 & 45 - Part 46 & 47 - Part 48, 49, 50 & 51 - Part, 52, 53 & 54 - Part 55 & 56 - Part 57, 58, 59 & 60 - Part 61, 62, 63, 64 & 65 - Part 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71 & 72

Originally posted 10/26/2022

On a rainy day of early spring, Prince Rickard accused Prince Ulster of stealing a favorite book. The book, of course, was found in Ulster’s room; he claimed it had been loaned to him, a gift between friends. The argument came down to the only solution available where every wronged party had only words, not witnesses.

Rickard ran Ulster through, and all the Queen’s physicians could do was stabilize him long enough to make the trip home and die with his family. Prince Alexander formally abandoned his claim to the throne and rode away on that day. Adam watched the train leave, perched on his windowsill. They wouldn’t be the last, he was sure; Rickard had opened a door the older princes would be too eager to troop through.

Meanwhile Adam found himself having to sneak away again. Aware that the youngest prince had, for some reason, caught the Dowager’s eye, master Leminy stuffed Adam’s schedule full without so much as the prince’s by-your-leave. Adam retaliated by beginning his disappearing act once again. No amount of shouting at Beli or Dane would make them chase after the young prince when he took to the rooftops, and when the Master of Scions tried his temper against Arditty, he discovered himself at the receiving end of someone who could, and did, out-shout, out-shriek, out-talk and out-curse him. He beat a hasty retreat, not wishing attention brought to his faults, gritted his teeth, and tried every other trick in the book to figure out where the foul little urchin was going off to.

It couldn’t be a girl. The disappearing had started long before Adam’s interest in the fair sex had been roused, and he seemed about as interested in the lovely Arditty and her occasional companions as he was in his jousting lessons.

It couldn’t be extra classes. Every teacher in the palace accounted for their time down to the last minute, the last tick and turn of a toothed wheel, and Leminy’s careful investigations had revealed no other source of education, noble or plebeian.

No, the boy was larking off, and gods only knew where. In all honesty, if he’d known Adam kept going into the woods to wait for Linden, master Leminy would have likely backed off and waited gleefully for him to disappear. He would have taken away the prince’s friends, his horse, his hawk, his books, everything, but the Queen Dowager thought it utterly adorable that the youngest of her potential heirs was organizing a tidsy-bitsy court around himself. If they were to suddenly vanish, she would want to know why.

So Leminy raged impotently and Adam waited impatiently. Wary of the woods, where the fog might creep up on him from ambush, he waited at the very edge, on the roof of a water mill in the newly finished Royal Gardens, or climbing up the trees that had been moved into them. It was there that he saw Boul, creeping out of the woods by small measures, squinting at the bring afternoon sunlight, shading his face with an upraised hand and looking at least twice as big as he’d been when Adam had last seen him.

“Boul!” he cried out gladly, forgot he was nearly twenty feet off the ground, and stepped on a too-thin branch that snapped right out from under his boot.

A strong, nut-brown hand caught his, and the wild and merry laugh he knew so well made his heart soar. “You’re never getting good at this, are you?”

“Why should I?” He grinned up at Linden, his grip around their wrist as strong as his friend’s around his. “You’re always there to catch me.”

Linden laughed again, pulling him up, and they slid together down the tree and into a hug as soon as they hit the ground. The young troll had indeed grown, and he rumbled in flustered surprise when Adam hugged him as well, long arms coming around the prince and very carefully patting him in welcome. They exchanged leaving-and-returning and staying-and-waiting presents, and Adam watched in fascination as Boul pressed the stone arrow-head to his arm, where it sank seamlessly into the pebbled gray skin, only to reappear a moment later, point up, between the young troll’s knuckle. Boul looked incredibly pleased. Linden wove the striped, long feather of a hawk into their hair, and then helped secure around Adam’s neck a grass necklace with a shell that had long ago turned to shimmering stone.

They ran wild through the woods and crept along the raw new edges of the Royal Gardens. They spied on the late afternoon classes in the inner and outer yards. Adam tried to teach Boul to fight and gave up when he realized he was only bruising his knuckles against the pebbly gray skin of the troll. He tried his luck against Linden, but his friend with their shattered eyes and the wild mop of their fine white hair was as fast as the swift-traveling clouds. The young prince tried to practice his wrestling on Boul, too, but even their weight combined was still not enough to even budge the young troll, who took to racing wild and gleeful through the woods with both his friends dangling off his neck like the twin ends of a scarf, all of them laughing.

They met the kelpie right in the middle of summer’s highest heat, when the air was still and full of motes, the leaves at their darkest green, the light golden. Boul could only come by once a week at that point, and they both missed him terribly. Linden was flopped on one immense, exposed root from the linden tree, half-drowsed and whistling back to the birds in the canopy, who found the conversation both invigorating and maddening, if their enthusiastic replies were anything to go by. Adam, having shed everything but his pants and shirt, was lying with his back on the sweet green grass and his feet propped up on the tree of the trunk, the bark a pleasant scratchy feeling against his heels. He was bouncing a piece of Linden’s sunlight, bright and warm, from one hand to another, and he was nearly asleep.

The scream that cut through the woods sent every bird on the wing in perfect, panicked silence, as if a hawk had swooped at them from the empty blue sky. Adam rolled and scrabbled to his feet and nearly got trampled by a deer that had been grazing startlingly close to the children. Linden fell right off the root with a squawk, coming back up on their knees behind it, eyes wide on a face so pale their green freckles were starkly visible.

“What was -” The scream repeated, louder, full of madness and fury and agony, and Adam felt the nearly uncontrollable urge to join the deer in its heedless flight. “Linden.”

“Oh, no,” his friend whispered.

“Linden, what is that.”

“Adam, we should -”

“Linden.”

“We should go -”

The scream came again, rising to a shrieking note that rang against Adam’s bones and rattled in his teeth, making every inch of him clench in pain. All he could think at the moment was that, if that was how the sound of it made him feel, what sort of torture was the creature screaming feeling? A moment later he was running, barefoot, panting, through the woods.

“Adam!” Linden was just a breath behind him. All around them the trees whispered, and for all that he could never fully hear them, the prince felt their concern, their worry and their fear. He raced on. They passed the great fallen giant that had once been their fortress, their ship, their dragon, until decay had sent it back to join the rich ground from whence it had once sprung. They passed a low, ruined wall of tumbled stones and roses gone to briars. They ran until the ground under their feet went muddy and soft and Adam nearly fell and was forced to check his speed, breathing hard, shoving cattails and wild irises out of his way.

“Adam, we can’t be here!” Linden whispered, trying to catch his breath.

A new scream deafened them, and they both dropped to a crouch on the soggy ground, curled up, trying to escape what couldn’t be fled, driven by instinct to make themselves small. Adam recovered first, inching forward, but he could feel the sun-warm presence of Linden at his back after a moment, and then the clinging hands of his friend clutching the back of his shirt.

The ground opened up to a pond. There were rotten stumps of wood off to one side that said once it had been a tame place, but that had been a long time ago, long enough that the stumps were soft and rounded, covered in moss and barely peeking out of the water. It was a beautiful place. There were two willows and several cherry trees growing by the water, gnarled with age and the passage of the wind. The shores were screened here and there with cattails and wild irises, with wort and mint, but for the most part there was a vast ribbon of clear, soft and short green grass all around the water, as if inviting anyone who passed by to sit, to rest and enjoy the cool breeze and the pretty sights.

It was a very well crafted trap.

The water, normally clean and with a delicate embroidery of wild water lilies, had been churned to a muddy frot, thrashed to chaos by the heavy links of a chain. One end of it disappeared into the depths of the water, and Adam knew instantly what it was: a storm chain. At some point the pond had been part of a river’s sluice system, likely the same river that had been partially diverted to cavort and twist in artificially wild whorls and cascades through the Royal Gardens. The gate and its mechanism had likely gone to ruin eventually; when they’d done so, the chain that controlled both had grown loose.

And the pond’s master had, somehow, got caught in it.

The kelpie was running in narrow, maddened arcs at the other end of the chain. It wasn’t disguised; this was no beautiful white horse, no magnificent stallion, no sweet mare. Adam could count every bone under the sagging, mold-splotched white hide. Its eyes were a poisonous green and most of its face was bare bone, a few scarce strands of rotting flesh holding together its jaws, jaws full of teeth even a dragon would have envied. Froth and spittle flew from those jaws as it bucked and twisted and writhed, but the chain, the iron chain, had tangled up around a foreleg and, in trying to get free, the fairy horse had somehow ended up with both leg and neck caught in a loop. The broken end of the chain ended in a hook that no longer attached to anything, and that hook kept slamming into the side of the kelpie’s neck, which was slowly oozing a black, sickly slime from a dozen wounds.

It would have fled into the water, Adam was certain, if it weren’t because the chain was coming from the water, and likely the kelpie thought there was an enemy, a predator, on the other end, instead of whatever hundredweight counterweight stone had been placed there an unknown age ago.

The kelpie paused in its frantic struggles, sniffing the breeze. Adam felt Linden gasp tinily.

The monster lunged at them, its scream fury and hunger. Linden yanked at Adam’s shirt.

“Wait,” Adam caught Linden’s hand. His math was nowhere near Beli’s level, but his archery was excellent.

He wasn’t wrong. The chain yanked taut and the kelpie crashed down a good four body lengths or more from them, shrieking impotent fury. It fought itself to its feet with tremendous effort, the chain’s hook now embedded into a shoulder, faced them, and hissed.

“Adam,” Linden whispered urgently, “we should go.”

“But it’s hurt. It’s caught.”

“It’s caught in iron, Adam, we can’t help it, and even if we could, it’s a kelpie!”

“And?” Adam turned to face those beautiful many-colored eyes. “That’s his nature, not his fault. That’s like blaming me for being a prince when I never wanted to be.”

“Adam, I can’t make you not a prince,” Linden declared impatiently, “but I hope I can keep you from getting chewed up to bits!”

Adam looked away. Linden was right, of course. The kelpie didn’t care. It wouldn’t care if they tried to help it, it wouldn’t care if they had good intentions. It was a kelpie. It hunted, it drowned, it ate. As fairies went, it was one of the simplest, for all that it also was one of the most dangerous.

“It’s just wrong, to leave anything to die like that,” Adam said quietly.

“Yes, it is,” Linden agreed after a moment. And then, because they had been friends for so long, they added, “I would help you, but I won’t risk you. You’re my friend, the kelpie’s not.”

Adam couldn’t help but grin. “I don’t think he’s anyone’s friend, Linden.”

“Do you really think we can help it?”

“I don’t know. Let me think.” Adam chewed restlessly on his lips. In the distance he heard horns from the castle, saw the kelpie’s head come up, ears pricked. “Oh, butter and burrs,” he muttered, Culli’s favorite non-swear.

“What is it, what’s happened?”

“They heard him screaming at the palace. They’re calling for everyone to go indoors.” Adam blew a low breath. “I’m going to be in so much trouble.”

Linden made no comment, but from their expression Adam had a sudden, unexpected insight into his friend’s life. “Are you going to be in trouble for helping it, Linden?”

“Not for helping it,” his friend replied. It would have probably worked on any other twelve-year-old.

“For helping me?”

“No!” Linden blew out a sharp sigh. “For getting this close to it at all.” When Adam looked faintly frustrated, they pointed both hands dramatically at the monstrous creature. “It’s a kelpie, Adam,” they pointed out tartly.

“Ugh!” Adam tugged impatiently at his hair, as if by doing so he could tug out some miraculous fix to the problem at hand. “Can you get us some rope?”

“You can’t trap a kelpie with rope.”

“It’s not for him, it’s for me.”

***

Adam had meant to use himself as bait but Linden wouldn’t have it, and they were, the prince had to admit, the quicker and more agile of the two. He waited and watched, chewing restlessly on his nails and nursing a near-painful pit in his stomach, as Linden slipped out of the cover the wild irises had given them both. The kelpie turned immediately, one side lathered in its black, oozing blood.

Linden bowed, graceful and polite, never taking their eyes off the creature. With an awkward hobble, the kelpie bowed back, and lunged.

Linden ran, fleet as a stray breeze, and the kelpie’s teeth closed on nothing. The fairy predator twisted around with preternatural grace, but Linden was better and the false horse nearly went down trying to keep up. They ran for the willow trees and the kelpie surged forward on the straight sprint.

Linden twisted away and slid on the mud, and from his spot among the irises Adam winced as he heard the kelpie’s fangs snap shut. Like thistle down, a few white hairs flew away in the breeze and the monstrous horse howled fury, leaping to re-orient itself, stumbling. Linden was halfway to the gnarled cherry trees when the kelpie surged finally after them.

Adam, watching with his heart in his mouth and drowning in preemptive regrets, saw it at last, saw it as clearly as he’d never seen it before: a branch swung low, covered in glossy green leaves, like a gnarled hand. With the kelpie’s hungry breath washing over the back of their fragile neck, Linden caught that hand and twisted around the cherry tree, turning right back the way they’d come. The false horse slid, crashed down, scrabbled to its feet and launched after its prey, blind with hunger, all its cunning drowned in rage. Linden whipped around another cherry tree, the ground under their feet impossibly free of gnarled, jutting roots, and the kelpie followed, neck stretched out after the promise of warm flesh and hot blood to sate its hunger -

The chain it was trailing abruptly drew up short; the kelpie went flying ass over teakettle in a crash that would have absolutely killed a normal horse. It righted itself, legs flailing at angles nothing alive should have been able to exhibit without immense pain, and simply rested there, on the ground, looking absolutely perplexed. It looked behind itself, as if to confirm the obvious, and snorted in absolute disbelief: the chain was a knot of twists and loops and turns.

Adam rushed over to where Linden had stopped, hands on their knees, breathing hard. “You did it!”

“Uh-huh,” was all Linden could wheeze. “Your turn.”

“Right.” Adam looked at the kelpie; it had fixed its venomous, alien gaze on the two of them, ears as flat to its bare skull as any real horse’s, and likely for the same reason. It took every ounce of courage the prince had never known he had to take the first step forward toward the monster.

The kelpie awkwardly surged to its hooves and growled, a low and burbling sound. Adam faltered, and then stepped forward slowly again. “Wait until I call, Linden,” he cried out over his shoulder, never taking his eyes from the fairy.

“I don’t want to, but I will!” his friend replied, already climbing up one of the ancient willows.

Adam drew a deep, shaking breath. He had a stick in one hand, a good long one that had many times served as both spear and flagpole, and every now again as an impromptu fishing rod. It was sturdy oak, polished by his years of favoring it. Around his shoulders and waist were the knots of a slender, golden rope, as thin around as his littlest finger. He knew better than to look at it too closely; like Linden’s many-colored, shattered eyes, he might see the truth of it if he did, and it’d be useless as a rope then.

He grew as close to the kelpie as he dared, and bowed as he’d seen Linden do, though nowhere near as gracefully. The kelpie’s ears came up in surprise and, after a moment, it bowed back.

Adam blew out a long breath, steeled himself, and reached out with the stick, blowing sweat and sticky hair out of his eyes as he worked to keep it steady. Carefully, so carefully, he slid the tip of the stick under the hook where it had shallowly buried itself into the predator’s shoulder. The white, mottled and sickly skin gave way as he pushed with a sickening squelching sound, but when Adam pulled the stick away to try again, it came free without issue. The kelpie watched him with feral intensity, and its growl never abated.

He slipped the pole under the hook on the third try, and realized gentleness would not avail him. He yanked, hard and sudden with a grunt, and the iron hook slipped free, black slimy droplets flying through the heated air. He staggered back and the kelpie lunged forward with a shrill cry, only to nearly go down face-first, checked by the chain still wrapped around its foreleg.

“Adam!”

“It’s fine, it’s fine!” It was so many things far beyond fine that it had come right back around to it, Adam thought as he picked himself up. He paced back and forth a bit, squinting at the sight of the chain and trying to figure out how to untangle it, the water horse’s predatory gaze never wavering from him.

The easy part was dragging the chain off the kelpie’s neck. It left a ragged, oozing path of rotting gray and murky black as it went, and the horse shook itself from nose to tail as it did, just as the real animal would have. Adam had to get far too close to catch the first loop tangled around the predator’s leg, and when he looked up from his work it was to find that the kelpie had stretched its neck as far as it could, a long tongue like a mud eel writhing between its fangs trying to latch onto any part of the young prince it could reach. It was barely three inches away, but they were three inches it couldn’t ford.

Adam swallowed the stone in his throat and sent it to join the one sitting heavily in his stomach. “Linden, get ready!”

“Ready!”

He caught the hook and lifted it with the tip of his stick, unwinding the chain by slow measures. He struck the kelpie’s chest once and the horse hissed at him like a goose, but it didn’t otherwise react. The leg was a blackened, sorry mess.

Moving as quick as he could, Adam swung the hook aside. Almost before he knew if he’d done it right he was scrabbling back and away, yanking the pole up like a shield. “Linden!”

The kelpie leapt forward, free, and its head struck like a viper’s, aimed for Adam’s throat. Instead its jaws found that faithful length of weathered oak. Its fangs closed like a cleaver striking a carcass, and the pole splintered with a terrible crack.

Adam went down on his butt, but he was already flying back, back and away, sliding over the mud and grass as if he were a leaf and a strong wind had caught him, Linden pulling on the rope as fast as their hands could move. The kelpie, bad leg or not, screamed a challenge and lunged after prey that kept denying him. It tripped, the leg unwilling to fully hold it upright, and it tried to snap instead at one of the prince’s bare feet. Adam threw one of the stick halves at it and it reared in shock, its whinny almost a horse’s if not for the note of utter disbelief in it. As if it couldn’t fathom having a stick thrown at its face as a defense mechanism.

And then Adam was at the willow, and he scrabbled for branches that were simply there, where his hands would find them. He climbed, in panic and desperation, trying to catch a breath terror would not let him have. Strong hands found his and yanked him up even as he kicked himself away from the ground. The kelpie’s teeth snapped shut one last time, just below him. Under the willow, the fairy horse dropped from its rear and spun, squealing in fury, cow-kicking at the willow’s trunk. It paced and trotted underneath, head cocked so it could stare at the two children, first with one eye, then the other, snarling openly.

Adam and Linden climbed a little higher.

The kelpie chewed on the willow’s bark, likely out of spite more than any thought that it could actually take the venerable tree down. It yanked on the trailing boughs, brought several down and grew incensed all over again when they draped over the wounds on its back. It crow-hopped and kicked and circled the tree like a prowling wolf. And finally, after pawing at the ground restlessly with its bad leg and bending down to sniff at it, it hobbled away, proud and slow, tail held up like a banner. By the time it disappeared beyond the cherry trees, it was a magnificent white stallion with bright blue eyes and a leg bathed in crimson blood.

The children fought to catch their breath, harried and ragged, Adam’s head nearly at the top of the willow, Linden halfway out of the canopy.

The willow creaked in the breeze.

The cherry trees sighed.

“It’s gone,” Linden whispered. “Adam…”

Slowly, unexpected, laughter bubbled up from them both. They looked at each other and for some reason that made them laugh even harder, the sight of them, the knowledge of what they had achieved, with a weathered oak pole and a rope made of woven dandelions and the two of them and nothing else.

Linden tumbled off the willow, laughing like the ringing of crystal bells, and landed sprawled on the soft grass beneath the willow. Adam scrambled down and dropped on his stomach, and they could do little but laugh until they couldn’t breathe, next to the beautiful pond and in the shade of the whispering willow boughs. In the end, Adam rose to his feet and offered Linden a hand. “Come on!”

They raced through the woods, laughing still, whooping gladly into the golden, still air. Occasionally in the distance they would hear the palace knights shouting, calling out to one another as they tried to find the source of the screaming, bereft of guidance now that it had stopped. None of the searchers found the two friends as they sprinted beneath the trees, none of them saw them pass, or heard their merry sounds, or the whisper of their footsteps. They ran out of the woods and through the primly manicured lawns of the palace, across empty courtyards and over low hedges. Linden took the lead, leaping gracefully as a hart atop a low wall, Adam following, fearless in the wake of his best and first friend. They raced over the ledges and roofs and narrow heights of the palace as wildly as they had run through the woods, unafraid and unfaltering, calling out greetings to the water spouts and the nesting swallows.

Culli-maid was sitting next to the cold heart in Adam’s rooms when she heard the rapid tapping on one of the windows. At first she’d thought it was herself; she had a terribly unladylike habit of tapping her foot rapidly when she came under stress. But a quick look down reminded her that she was wearing soft leather slippers and, anyway, they would have made no sound on the thick pile of the rug before the empty hearth.

She thought it might be the boys, but the last time she’d checked on them Beli had had his nose buried in one of Adam’s homework journals, checking against it his own work, and Dane had been asleep, snoring faintly, on a couch. Neither had reason to draw attention to themselves, least of all at that moment.

Eventually, she realized where the sound came from, and gasped hugely. The mending she’d hardly been tending to tumbled from her lap to the ground and she rushed to the window; there, on the other side, Adam pointed at the locks.

“Oh, tree-father and night-mother!” the maid whispered, flapping a hand at the prince. “Alright, well, step away so I don’t shove you off whatever it is you’re standing on!” she hissed at him before throwing the window open. “Your Highness, where’ve you been!”

Adam grinned at her and leaned back some, and Culli’s breath caught very sharply. The prince was clinging by his fingertips to the graven stone windowsill, filthy and unafraid, the bright blue of his royal-blood eyes alive in a way she had never seen. There were green smears on his shirt, flecks of mud and dirt everywhere on him, and his hair would have made rats a proud nest. He was standing, as far as she could tell, on the slippery clay of a rain sluice pipe, unconcerned at the fact that only his toes had room to perch on it, or that he was four stories above a rose garden.

“Having fun,” Adam replied, releasing one hand to rub it against his shirt. As his weight shifted, Culli lost her ability to breathe altogether.

Linden, inhuman and beautiful, graceful and wild, blinked at the maid with their shattered, many-colored eyes, and the maid blinked back.

“Culli, this is Linden. Linden, this is Culli-maid; she’s good.”

“Pleasure to make your acquaintance,” Culli wheezed out, manners kicking in where everything else she’d ever learned in life was failing her. She even offered a little curtsy, though it came out stiff and trembling. The motion forced her to let go of the window, and Adam scrabbled in like a squirrel.

“Pleasure to make yours, Culli-maid,” Linden replied, their voice lilting and their eyes the most astonishing shade of green Culli had ever seen in a face as sharp and brown as finely carved and polished wood. She would never remember what she’d glimpsed before, buried in that green.

“Are you…” Culli swallowed to try and get her voice to work anywhere near properly. “Are you coming in?”

“Me? No! What good would it do me, what good would I do?” Linden laughed. “Adam?”

“Have they been by to check on me, Culli?”

“No, highness. But they’ll be here soon, I heard them pass on the way to the other wing.”

“I’ll be fine, then, Linden. Will you?”

“I don’t know,” Linden admitted, shifting restlessly on the sluice until they noticed the Culli-maid was beginning to be more terrified of them falling than of their presence. “I’ll send Boul if I get in trouble!” And with that warning Adam had to be satisfied as Linden bolted down the clay pipe, swift and light and out of sight a moment later, a leap up taking them to the roofs and beyond anyone’s reach.

#the fairy and the prince #linden and adam #linden the fairy #adam the prince #fantasy #fantasy horror #writing #fantasy writing #my writing #original writing #boul the troll #boulders-for-brains

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richardsphere · 2 years ago

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A Breakup letter to a comfort show

So i guess this might be it for me,

To summarise my history with RWBY. I watched the first 2 or so seasons on-or-around launch i think. Enjoyed the fights, was indiferent to a lot of the characters tbh (Yang and Blake didnt really grab me, like i didnt "dislike" them, i was just largely indiferent. Weiss meanwhile was just infuriating with the blatant racism and entitlement issues. Like i knew they were going to make her grow as a character, but also i just couldnt stand her.) There were 5 characters i really enjoyed. -Nora -Pyrrha -Jaune -Penny. -and last but not least, Ruby I basically came into this series for the fun powers, interesting weapons, great fight-choreography and light humerous tone. It became my comfortshow during a quite stressfull time in my life. The early seasons were kitchy, but in a fun way. Then the tournament arc ended with 2/5 dead, one of which in a horrifically graphic manner and I decided i needed a minor break for my mental health. Couple of years later, Picked up where i left off and I fell out at the "weiss gets impaled through the heart" episode. Which to me really cemented the whole "the villains will just always win, the heroes might sometimes almost not lose"-tone for me. A tone that got me down into “I dont care who wins, as long as the suffering ends”-mode, and triggered my ideation issues badly. That as well as Salem's reveal doing the whole "female victim of tragedy holds authorities accountable for the injustice faced-> Inevitably gets turned into an inhuman monster that must be killed for the benefit of civilisation as a whole because women speaking up about their place in the world=bad" trope that i just absolutely despise. (it's one of my 3 most loathed tropes) So i drop out again. Swearing not to return unless the show got out of deconstruction-city and into “There Is Still Hope”-opolis. When the current season started airing, word on the wind came to me that the show had gotten past the dark story-arc now, the darkest hour had passed and the show is going to go into the rebuilding arc/reconstruction arc/the third act. So I decide to give it a shot again, not enough to buy a crunchyroll subscription (to prevent sunk-cost fallacy forcing my hand in an emergency) but enough to grab out binoculars and look at the fandom from what felt like a safe distance. Current status of my 5 comfort characters that made the show comfortable for me: -I dont know her status. Presumeably alive? -Probably Still Dead (theorised by some to be amnesiac as statue-woman, which isnt that much better imo,) -Old, will probably consign himself to a painful-firey death before the season is over for reasons of name and season Intro. -Died twice, second time less graphic but more gruesome then the first. (possibly dead thrice if the little theories are true) -Tortured into committing Suicide on screen. I guess it was nice getting to see 4/5 in one episode again before the end, but i am starting to struggle to believe a “safe distance” even exists for me anymore, I think that, unless the last 2 episodes perform amiracle somehow, it'd probably be best for me to block all the tags and never look back. I'll miss my old comfort show, but i guess it might finally be time to say goodbye.

#rwby volume 9 #rwby #rwby spoiler tag #rwby speculation #rwby spoilers #rwby v9 #rwby vol 9 #rwby vol9 #rwby 9 spoilers #Rwby V9 Spoilers #Rwby vol 9 spoilers #I think that should be all permutations of the tags?#Suicide mention #Suicidal ideation #Mental health #Suicide #TW suicide #TW suicidal Ideation #Might be overtagging but at least im better then RT/Crunchyroll

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liugeaux · 2 years ago

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I’m Sure Ben is Broken By Now

Living in MS has a lot of disadvantages. Residents will tell you the trade off is reasonable property value, but it makes sense that its cheap to live where no one wants to be. I don’t know if that’s true for me, but that’s not what this is about. This is about one of my favorite Butt Rock bands and my nearly accidental attendance of over half a dozen Breaking Benjamin (henceforth referred to as BB) shows.

BB has a propensity to play concerts incredibly close to where I’m living. Of the 7 times I’ve see them, only twice have I driven more than 15 minutes, and I’ve never driven more than 3 hours. I don’t know what it is, but of the big 00s butt rock bands, BB found a second home in the Jackson area. I’d say Seether is probably a close 2nd since I recall them playing here at least 5 times.

Let’s talk about each of my concert experiences, or at least what I can remember of them. I’ve never done a post like this, so I hope this is as much fun as I think its going to be.

(Photo taken from Google images, It’s supposed to be the band circa 2003)

Hal & Mal’s w/Saliva - 1/14/2003

In 2003 BB were nobodies. I had never heard of them, and their attempt at a radio hit, “Polyamorous”, was limp, at best. That’s not a condemnation of the Saturate album (I adore that release), they just hadn’t hit it big yet. They were opening for Saliva at Hal & Mal’s an institution of a venue in downtown Jackson. I’d hesitate to name it the premiere Bar/Venue in town (because its neighbor Martin’s would put together a great argument), but by 2003 H&Ms had become an the go-to concert venue for rock bands in the area. I don’t remember most of the fine details of the show, but I do remember being absolutely impressed with the entire performance. So much so, that I immediately went and bought Saturate the following week. I also remember the band’s equipment acting up. “We’ll come back when our shit isn’t fucked up.” exclaimed Ben Burnley about halfway through their troublesome set. Burnley and the band seemed shy the entire show, almost unsure of what to do with the attention they were getting. Showmen, they were not. They were raw and green, but even with Burnley’s obviously timid demeanor, they played those early songs like each one was a smash hit. As for their stage presence, there’s more to come on that.

CPR Fest - 5/4/2003

The farthest I’ve ever driven to see BB is Biloxi, MS. Well, I guess I technically didn’t drive down to just see BB. It was CPRfest and I was mainly there to see a Godsmack, Theory of a Deadman, Saliva, Trapt and Smile Empty Soul. Yes, a murders-row of cheesy early-aughts post-grunge Mainstream Rock. BB had the prime spot of playing directly before the closer, Godsmack. So, instead of the slumming it outside in the “preshow heat” BB played in the MS Coast Coliseum-proper. Just like the Jackson show 4 months earlier, the band was solid, if not a little stiff. They sounded great, but Brunley in-particular seemed very nervous. It was a much bigger show than the H&M’s show and it felt like he just wanted to get to the end. This was the first BB show I saw as a “fan” and since seeing them earlier in the year, they felt significant in the rock scene.

105 Capitol - 10/1/2004

I 2004 BB were touring in support of their hit album We Are Not Alone. They were headlining and played a show in downtown Jackson. The venue, 105 Capital, didn’t last very long, but this show was great. Thornley (The band Ian Thornley built following the break-up of Big Wreck) opened for them and put on quite a memorable show. I remember being on the second or third row for the entire concert. Burnley had clearly learned a lot about performing live and overall, he felt more like a showman. It was a visceral show, that I’d say, is the best BB concert I’ve ever seen. I got a couple picks a the setlist from the show (pictured below) and I vividly remember the band being very taken aback by how familiar the audience was with their material. They had a real “this rock-star stuff might actually be working” vibe to them. I was 21 at the time, so it sits squarely into my psyche as one the most formative concerts I ever attended.

Hal & Mal’s - 8/22/2006

As promised in 2003, BB returned to Hal & Mal’s when “their shit wasn’t fucked up.” This time, they were the headliner and demanded a much larger crowd/presence. Sadly, I don’t remember much from this show. Since I’m a blogging weirdo I have an old Myspace post I can point to for an overview of that night. If you can get past the terrible writing and clearly un-checked grammar, it’ll give you an idea of what went down.

In retrospect, the biggest takeaway from the show was Dropping Daylight. I love Dropping Daylight’s debut album and I would have never checked them out if not for that BB show. The similarity of me discovering Dropping Daylight the same way I discovered BB is not lost on me. Sadly, Dropping Daylight didn’t have the career that BB has had, but the parallel, seemed significant for years.

Jubilee Jam XX - 6/16/2007

A year later, a block away from Hal & Mal’s, Ben and the (original) boys played Jubilee Jam XX, a now defunct Jackson music festival. Like the previous show, I wrote up a Myspace post reviewing the whole thing. Technically, BB opened for Three Days Grace, but in practice, it was more of a co-headlining show.

I mentioned this in the link above, but footage of one of the coolest parts of that concert is actually available on Youtube. Adam from Three Days Grace helped perform “Dance With the Devil” and somebody with a pre-smartphone camera, captured it. This was the last time I saw the original BB line-up and consequently, the last time I saw them pre-hiatus.

City Hall Live - 10/12/2017

A cool 10 years later, after the 4 year hiatus and the complete overhaul of Ben’s bandmates, BB returned to the Jackson area. This time, they played in my backyard, at City Hall Live, a venue that’s quite literally walking distance (if you consider 38 mins, walking distance) from my house. I wrote about this show in my 2017:The Year of the Concert post. It was quite weird. Billed as an acoustic show (years before they released their acoustic album), it had no opener, and was in an ultra small market. The fact that it even happened is still a shock.

Most of what I want to say about the show is said in the original post, but what I didn’t mention is that my lovely wife, as usual, got the setlist. This isn’t big news. What IS big news, is that she actually got 2 setlists (1 for me and 1 for her sister) and this was at a show where they were selling setlists at the merch table. She is clearly wielding a witchcraft most wouldn’t understand.

Brandon Amphitheater - 5/18/2022

The most recent BB adventure also happened in my backyard. Ben and the boys played the Brandon Amphitheater. Ever since the Amphitheater opened, I wondered what type of artists they would be able to book. Brandon, better yet, central MS, isn’t a haven of popular music. Jackson has some dynamite local artist, but none of them are big enough to headline in Brandon, and to be honest, our radio stations are Olympic-level trash. So, when BB booked the big-boy venue, I was shook. At this point, I’m pretty familiar with what a BB show consists of and the Amphitheater show was EXACTLY what I was expecting. Not that its a bad thing, its just very ... on-brand. Ironically, they were sort-of supporting their acoustic album Aurora and even though they played an acoustic show around-the-corner 5 years earlier, this show was fully electric. The openers were solid; Lacey Sturm and Seether. The coolest moment of the entire night had nothing to do with BB. It was Sturm singing the Flyleaf-classic “I’m So Sick” with Seether during their set. BB put on a predictable and reliable show. Unfortunately nothing too special can really be said about it.

Ever since I saw them as a clumsy opener for a second rate nu-metal act, BB have grown and changed into a modern-rock hit factory, with a tried and true method to sell tickets and entertain audiences. So, many formative memories are tied to BB and my love of their music. I’ll likely be a fan for the rest of my days, however, I think I’m done seeing them live. Or, let me re-phrase that, they would have to make it incredibly convenient for me to see them again. Sure, the last two times have fit that bill, but going forward, I’m not going out of my way to attend a BB concert. Hell, they played Biloxi (a short 3 hour drive) this past week and I didn’t even flinch. Take from this what you will, but it’s definitely not me shitting on the the the band or their live show, its more of a “I’d rather see something new” situation. Who knows? Maybe their next album will be great, and my hunger to see them live will be re-ignited. Until then, Breaking Benjamin ... we good.

EDIT: The above phrase “They would have to make it incredibly convenient for me to see them again.” actually happened. See Below.

City Hall Live - 1/26/2024

They did it again, BB played in my backyard. 6 and a half years after playing City Hall in my hometown, they again played another “stripped down” acoustic show in the same venue. This show was the first time I left a BB show thinking, I might have wasted my time and money. The whole vibe was weird as hell. Burnley hit the stage very talkative and sounding extremely high. Like, two-edibles-deep high. However, since the music sounded great, I’m not going to hold that against him. With a lot of chatting between each songs, the show had 3 less songs than the last time they played City Hall Live and there was no encore. What made the show super weird was Burnley brought his 9 year old son on the stage, as kind of a mini-me, and let him sing and play guitar for THE DURATION OF THE SHOW. He mimicked everything his dad did and even became a key part of Burnley’s banter with the crowd. All of this was done under the guise of “we like to keep it cool and laid back for our unplugged shows, we’re just havin’ fun.” It gave the show a real bootleg feel to it, and the rest of the band didn’t seem thrilled that lil-Ben was getting to tag along. Keep in mind, this was a Friday night show during the school year, and it sounded like mini-Ben had joined them for all their shows. Is Ben Burnley homeschooling his 9 year old so he can bring him on tour? I’m not necessarily shaming his parenting decisions, the whole thing is just exceedingly weird. To add another layer to this, his bandmates may not even feel comfortable speaking out against being Mini-Ben’s backup band, as Burnley has a history of firing bandmates for overstepping.

Quirks aside, as I said, they still sounded great, but twice during the show Burnley asked the audience permission to play deep cuts, with the results being “Away” and “Firefly”, both from their second album We Are Not Alone, and cuts that aren’t that deep. The bigger crime is again not properly capitalizing on the Unplugged format. As I noted in the linked post above, BB have yet to understand what “stripped down” actually means. There shouldn’t be screaming, 3 acoustic guitars is too much, and the drums should be subtle. Everything should be low-key, not just a normal performance with acoustic instruments. Shows like this are a golden opportunity to highlight some of the softer deeper cuts in the BB library. A few that quickly come to mind are “Dear Agony”, “Here We Are”, “Rain” and “Next to Nothing” the last of which notably features an acoustic guitar. With all these factors in mind, I really don’t know if I’ll attend another BB show. At this point, it might just be to further document Ben Burnley’s ever-increasing journey into weirdness.

#breaking benjamin #concert #butt rock #modern rock

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suethesocks · 5 months ago

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Do ya watched the new Spider-man across the spider-verse's cartoon?

Hello person who asked me a question all the way back in november of last year, im so sorry for making you wait so long for such a basic answer 😭😭

hopefully to make up for this, if i yap enough itll be like a years worth of answer, so strap in

To answer the question though yup!! I watched ATSV around a month after it came out. At first i wanted to watch it asap in cinemas but unfortunately it was banned here in egypt because of the fricking. Trans pride flag that appears for 2 seconds in gwens room in the blurry obscured background so that sucked

After waiting a long time for it to have a digital release eventually i gave in because the spoilers were getting too unavoidable and just watched a camrip with my friends in their house. Which was very unfortunate but i still enjoyed it. And i definitely enjoyed rewatching it like 5 times since then when the digital release was out

I think the movie visually innovates even more than the first one did. Theres nothing i feel was lacking they really did build up on everything from ITSV and then some. Everything was so beautiful and full of life and all the designs be it new characters or old are just so good and the animation and aesthetics are top notch. Its the kind of movie you watch frame by frame on purpose

I do think the movie was hurt by being a half movie though, as it does very much feel like half a story. I do like that gwen goes through something of an arc in this movie so at least *something* gets concluded. And its nice to have an implied transfem character take center stage!

I enjoyed a lot how grown up miles feels in this movie, especially when you contrast it with some early production deleted scenes and the teaser clip they released a long while ago. There he felt like he was still his ITSV self still sort of needing to prove himself, but in this movie he really does feel like he has grown. And for that im thankful i wouldnt want the movie to basically just repeat his arc twice

I mean it kind of is the same arc but its from different perspectives (which i dont think is ideal tbh and i wouldve appreciated a third direction but oh well) in the first movie he felt the need to prove himself and that theres a chance he could be Spider-Man. He wanted the other spiders' approval and to get to be just like them. But in this movie hes more confident and knows his place, this is a kid that knows he's Spider-Man, and he dont give a fuck what you say. Hes got the whole world telling him he doesnt have it figured out and maybe even his brain is saying that to him too but hes still gonna be like "no, im right youre wrong. debate over"

And at the same time it doesnt feel like stubbornness. He takes the time to understand the situation, assessed it smartly, comes up with his own conclusions, and acts accordingly. This miles is definitely not just a kid anymore (so much so that to this day im actually still suspicious that miles was meant to be 17 or 18 but they decided last minute they didnt wanna have that big of a timeskip)

Spot was pretty great in this movie too. I knew from the start that despite being sort of a nothing-villain in the comics spiderverse was gonna have a looot of fun with him, especially ever since i saw that one piece of art they released way back before even the teaser i believe, which had spot with sketch lines above him like the shapes guidelines you draw when doing a rough sketch. And they certainly did not disappoint there hes definitely reality warping with a capital R W. Really i got no complaints about spot i think hes a fantastic villain, though i wish the movie took him a little more seriously. Just removing that "i think he kicked his own butt haha!!!!" scene wouldve made all the difference in the world imo

miss cheng cameo goes hard

Miguel is probably the most conflicting thing for me in this movie, i cannot decide if i like this adaptation of him or not, though im leaning towards not i think. I will say im glad to finally have a piece of media where Spider-Man 2099 is like the main focus finally, hes the main character next to miles and gwen. Ive been a fan of his 90s comics for as long as ive been a fan of comics, and other than SM Edge of Time he never got his moment to shine really. Now this absolute unit of a man is coming in and absolutely stealing the show whenever hes onscreen. It was nice, as a longtime SM2099 fan to see now in 2023 just miguel fanart and miguels ass n titties everywhere on my timeline

They do get a lot of stuff right with this adaptation, even small stuff i wouldnt expect just anyone to get. Like his talons!! Most people draw them like long nails like typical claws but they actually extend from under his finger like a hook, and i was so glad to see the movie get that right haha. He also has.... a cape. He doesnt really use it which like i hate but maybe capes are too much trouble to animate idfk. He has his fangs and was gonna use them on vulture (loved vultures design so fucking much btw) so clearly they remembered he can inject paralyzing venom so that gets huge thumbsup from me even if he doesnt get to actually use it

This movie also gets miguel so right in terms of characterization. Nothing will ever beat Chris Daniel Barnes' take on miggy but Oscar Isaac does a great job in his own right as well and is definitely a take i can accept, im just probably too used to hearing chris barnes' voice playing EoT so many times over the years. And its great to have a hispanic actor doing the voice this time!! In general i love the fact that he has darker skin and speaks a bit of spanish in this movie, atsv rememberes miguel is half hispanic more than the comics themselves seem to sometimes haha

This miguel talks like how comic miguel talks he quips how he quips he has the same sarcastic deadpan humor hes funny and snarky and talks like hes smarter but not in an arrogant way because he can kind of back it up. He also fights how i imagine miguel would fight he uses his claws he gets brutal, shits AWESOME. When it comes to dialogue and interactions, this miguel definitely lives up to how i imagine Peter David wouldve written him

Whats really bothering me about miguel is how, despite them nailing the characters personality so so well, the movie also seems not that interested in him and his lore and world at all. He just doesnt have the love and care and history that Peter B Parker seemed to have

I mean, if its still in the year 2099 then wheres Alchemax? The whole point of SM 2099's comics is that Alchemax is a megacorporation thats infected most corners of life. It should have a looming presence EVERYWHERE, but its not even here as an easter egg. Which i have to say is quite bizarre considering Alchemax ALREADY exists in this universe front and center so why not even a reference. I think this is such a crucial part of SM2099's mythos that removing it is genuinely a problem for adapting Nueva York. Not to mention the complete lack of any sort of cops or security at all, again a looming presence that should definitely exist in 2099. Without those aspects Uptown becomes just like any generic futuristic city (when it should, at least, be a generic DYSTOPIAN futuristic city, lmao)

Also the movie's lack of interest in having any references to Gabriel or Conchata or Dana what so ever. I get that this is bordering on fan service but idk, at the very least Dana right??? I mean she dies in the comics, surely part of what miguel longed for in that alternate universe he went to was that Dana still lived there so why not nudge to the fans a little. At least through the form of having miguel comic scenes show in the slideshow thing he made for miles (though i get not having any miguel scenes there, since miguel probably wouldnt intentionally reveal his past to someone just like that)

I mean come on this movies so uninterested in any fan service in general when it comes to miggy. No references to comic covers or something no calling miguel S-Man he says shock ONCE, i feel like its the little bits of fanservice like that that dont like overbear on the story but really add a lot by nodding to the fans and showing that you did a lot of homework

Theres also the weird way they revise his powers here, seemingly working in the form of regular doses he takes to give himself powers rather than be powers he has like the comics, and the lack of organic webbing. Theres also no reference to his enhanced vision as far as i remember. And i have NEVER been a fan of miguels suit having advanced tech built into it. The watch is one thing, the holographic cape and nanomachine esque suit which uses energy and the laser webs and energy spikes he uses to latch onto stuff its all just ehhhh i never vibed with that in the comics and i definitely dont like it here (save that shit for the white suit at least if youre gonna go that route)

This lack of interest in his powers also means, if theres no alchemax looming existence in the world, and the movie intentionally REFUSES to give us a "my name is miguel o'hara" moment to go over his origin, then we are left with actually nothing to imply alchemax even exists in this world

Just no real interest in what made Spider-Man 2099 work so well in his world, as a privileged man who went down and saw the real world and realized how wrong he was about just everything and that he must rebel against those privileged like him and more. Who works with a suit made of fabric just like any ol human against super cops armed with armor and guns

Instead he runs a whole society himself (ironically, the only thing to imply alchemax's existence now. maybe this movie is a miguel from after the point in the comics where he takes over alchemax, which would mean alchemax's only implication in this world is that miguel runs a multibillion dollar corporation and uses its resources how he wants. not good...), hes not aggressively anti corpo anymore, he has a teched up suit, and he just ACTS like a ceo. This guy is basically spider-punk before spider-punk was a thing, and yet here he is being in the exact opposite side to hobie!

Honestly if it werent for a few factors like the powers thing id have actually said "wait let them cook" because i wouldve then thought that miguel being so wrong is the POINT of this whole thing like miguel is a sellout and theyre gonna call him out and reference how he USED to be in flashbacks, but i honestly do not believe that was actually their intention despite it actually fitting so well in an almost genius way if it WAS on purpose

It comes off a bit MCU-ish how they almost dont have faith in how cool 2099 is and think the only thing worth "salvageing" is miguel and his attitude, when the world is pretty rich with things fans like me wouldve loved to see either recreated in the spiderverse style or innovated on and made into something completely new and interesting; and also non-fans wouldve loved to see to learn more about SM2099 and his world. I mean half the fandom thought Miguel is a vampire because he has fangs, thats how much this movie doesnt do anything for the world of 2099

Wew that was a doozy, sorry for rambling so much about miguel when talking about movie-not-about-miguel, its just between Miles Gwen and Miguel he was the one i was most starved for content for and he was the one im most educated on and on what i would want to see when i see him onscreen haha

hope this longass post full of insane ramblings of a mad woman was worth the yearlong wait in my tumblr asks shdsjhdsdhs again sorry it took me so long to look at my asks

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