#was going to post the actually nice apollo i drew

[legayllyblonde]

average post-trial dinner

[daisychains111]

incorrect chb camper quotes but it's actually just my sister's quotebook from Twitter

Disclaimer: This post is gonna be LONG AF

Percy: "Ahh, die quieter"

Clarisse to Silena: "Do I look majestic?"

Will: "I live in America. Cultures?... casserole"

Nico: "At-home lobotomy"

Baby Nico to Clarisse: "You look like Harry Potter, You just need a scar black hair, different clothes, and to be a boy. "

Annabeth:"I don't know if I have enough sanity for 2 Holy books"

Leo: "I've seen titties before....not really in person, but yk"

Annabeth: "Do you have ears?"

Jason: "I kinda wanna work at Taco Bell"

Piper: "I've never been passive-aggressive in my life"

Will to Apollo: "There's no batteries in my butt Dad I'm not a robot"

Clarisse: "I'm not upset I don't hold grudges"

Ares to Clarisse: "I don't like your clothes it forces me to look at you"

Frank to Leo: "It's not 'drip' it's stupid"

Travis to the whole Hermes Cabin: "I'm the Rizzington bear... like Paddington bear but Rizz" (after his 1st date with Katie)

Nico: "I love Olive Garden, I wish Italians were real"

Rachel: "Come on, you guys stop trying to cockblock the view"

Katie: "If people can smoke weed in the middle of the day, then I can drink chamomile tea"

Rachel: "You don't want to piss me off I'm witewally a werewolf"

Piper about Jason: "All my friends are boys, and one just died... he would have made a great bridesmaid"

Frank: "I was doing a silly but the funny didn’t land"

Jason: "Why am I white"

Rachel: "I am not a whore, I am a celibate queen!"

Drew: "It's not the fashion statement that you think it is"

Nico about the Ares Cabin: "They're gonna call you a slur, but they're gonna be really nice about it"

Piper to Annabeth: "If we both think it, it's not bitchy"

Grover: "I'm just gonna write a paragraph or two about global warming"

Annabeth"I have like a 7th-grade reading level!!! (this is impressive when you're dyslexic)

Jason: "Dude I love yoga"

Will: "They say that Utah is the promise land"

Kayla: *explains what a text-fic is to grandparents (Apollo)*

Clarisse: "Put that on your Twitter!" *points knife at me*

Travis: "Do you eat?"

Katie: "...um yes?"

Travis: "Oh, I mean do you want to eat." (when he asked Katie out the first time)

Hazel: "That's not gonna change my heart. That's just gonna make me cry!"

Alabaster: "I wanna find someone somewhere to impregnate and then steal the baby......Where's your Twitter, that was kinda funny"

Percy about Leo: "I would spoon that man so hard"

Frank: "The closer I get to nature, the closer I get to being a werewolf"

Apollo: "I feel like Jaba the Hut"

Rachel: "It's because you ate girl dinner"

Apollo (same convo^)"I fell asleep, and I woke up, and I ate a girl dinner, and I didn't feel that good"

Percy: Don't mind me just cleaning the ocean" *hand angrily on hip*

Will to the Stolls: "Although my bellybutton was once my mouth I don't want soda in it!!"

Connor: "Look at how majestic I am"

Clarisse: *gasps* *throws uno cards* "This is communism at its finest, and I hate your life." *Is losing* "All I'm doing is humoring you now. There is no reason for me to play anymore." *throws cards* *again*

Nico: *passes out*

Will: "We need to take you to the doctor like right now."

Nico: "No fireworks are more important than my health"

Leo about Percy: "That's a pretty boy right there... if we were in prison, it's over."

Kayla when Will came out to her: "Slay motherfucker"

Annabeth: "I hope to not run over any old ladies...old men are fair game tho."

Percy: "Main characters get bullied, Jesus....yep!"

Leo: "What if I was an astronaut!!!!"

Travis: "Banana, Banana, Meatball"

Clarisse: "I am going to break your toe shut the hell up"

Katie to Connor: "I hope you get bullied in high school."

Clarisse about Leo: "This guy's a fuckin goober"

Clarisse: "What did you do to your sweatshirt? Did you get hungry?"-Grover: *sighs*

Nyssa (Hephaestus kid) to Leo: "Dont hurt me. I'm Batman!.... You better not tweet that"

Kayla to Apollo: "It's called multi-tasking Apollo! "

Apollo: "It's mother to you"

Clarisse: "I could fight God and win"

Percy: "So you wanna fight rn"

Clarisse: "No, I'm good"

Jason; "You look gang"

Leo: "What? I look gay!?!?!"

Jason: "You look straight, but nice"

Leo: "Oh... thanks!"

Apollo to Rachel"Lie, deny, cry, and for good measure be a raging slut."

Silena: "There's all kinds of nature out here"

Katie: "Live, laugh, love, low iron"

Annabeth to Piper: "Keep backing up...Cuz you have a fear of commitment

Lou Ellen to Katie: "Does your knee affect your shoe size... or are your feet just that small??"

Travis: "The amount of testosterone in me, peanuts are allergic to me!"

Leo: "I'm cracked up on feeling sexy"

Connor to the whole Hermes Cabin: "The "10" of us? our parents sp*rm pets"

Apollo about Athena: "OH gods, a single mom"

Apollo about Kayla's dad: "I cheated on myself with a man"

Malcolm about Athena: "She's a mom boogie woogie woogie"

Nico: "I cried at Chick-fil-A the other day"

Nico: "Live, laugh, lobotomy."

Drew about Thalia: "She has no friends and a dead brother."

Katie: "I wrote fanfiction on my i-pod touch"

Lacy to Leo: "Was it a tech? or was it a human?"

Will: "Live, laugh, love, tampons"

Kayla: "Die, cry, hate, condoms"

Aphrodite to Clarisse: "Do you like being a girl? You just always wear pants"

Percy: "Chill I know how to make conversations I have Rizz"

Will: "What! no! cow!"

Frank: "Fvcking knock it off seriously you guys are acting like children!!"

Travis to Lou Ellen: "Yesss pussy-pop you slayed"

Ashlyn (Hermes kid): "Chick-fil-A is mid, Taco bell is where it's at"

Percy during tlt: "You couldn't even buy a gumball with that shit (drachmas)"

Percy (same convo ^): "A quarter? You could buy a gumball with that shit"

Nico: "Your soul and your money!"

Tyson: "You've seen fishes, fishes move fast"

Leo to Frank: "What the fvck is a kilometer"

Leo making fun of Frank: "Mua ha ha ha I'm Canadian"

Percy: "Jesus didn't give up his life he gave up his weekend"

*as seen at 2am in the Apollo Cabin*

Gracie: "You're discriminating against me"

April (the token straight): "It's cuz she's gay"

Will: "We're all gay."

Nico: You don't have any slurs about you."

Leo: "No because I'm perfect"

this was fun to make lol....there will probably be a part 2 but like far in the future. if you made it this far I love you....also if you don't recognize names it's bc I deep-dived Wiki to find canon names for each cabin.

If y'all want one-shots based on these TELL ME I NEED STUFF TO WRITE ABOUT

[wowowwild]

Thank you so much for not despising Nahyuta they're so special to me, could you do them for the character ask? (I also love that you're a Nahyuta nb truther.)

I just think they're interesting.

Character Ask

Favorite thing about them: 

Least favorite thing about them: I think they were done dirty by the writing tbh. (explanation)

Favorite line: Look, ik it's basic, but "A business card…? Ah, yes. I read about this custom among businessmen in this country. I have even familiarized myself with the various replies. "How do you do, good sir?" or, "What's crack-a-lackin', homie?" for example." Who told them that? Who told them that was an acceptable response to a business card? Bc that person is def in my top 10 favs.

brOTP: They should be bros with Athena methinks. They would be menaces together.

OTP: Blackmadhi is so good for me. I can also get behind Skyemadhi, and could even potentially see... idk what it's called. xKlavier. You know the one. It intrigues me as a concept, I would have to explore it further. Also, also, the one where Ema is dating Nahyuta and Maya but Nahyuta and Maya are just silly pals by @u3pxx. I think that's nice.

nOTP: Idk who they even get shipped with outside of those. I know in the Japanese version Apollo and Nahyuta are stated to be childhood friends rather than siblings but I don't know the rest of the context through out the game so I can't really say one way or the other, but in the English version this ship would definitely squick me, however I'm not sure how many/if any people who have played only the English version actually ship this, I've only seen it from people who have played the Japanese version.

Random headcanon: This right here. And also they take learning American slang very seriously, and then also British slang to figure out what Blackquill is saying. Except they learned the really old stuff too and part of their self imposed homework was watching Twitch streamers and now they're really into mcyt. This is going to be so funny when my own post crosses my dash and is filtered out for having mcyt in it (I don't dislike it, I'm just not interested and the posts tend to be long so I can scroll past quicker like this.)

Unpopular opinion: I don't even know. Apparently liking them? I mean if you take them as they are in canon, I mean being and active participant in everything that was going is, uh... bad. But I don't really treat anything from 5+6 as strictly canon anyway so it doesn't matter.

Song I associate with them: I don't have one for them specifically really. I feel bad I have to keep not having anything for this question. Rec me all your songs, I want them.

Favorite picture of them: There's one where someone drew them with a sideways baseball cap on at burger barn. The hat is red. idk where it is. I may find it. Edit: I found it and 100% misremembered most of it but here. Also basically any art by @ministarfruit or @kuranne88.

I also love this concept art fit:

[solangelover]

Could you do Solangelo cuddling (Fluff), but one of them has really weird mid-night thoughts?

A/N: This has been done forever ago, idk why I didn’t post it, my bad (^_^; )

Read on AO3 or FF.Net

“Ugh, I’m tired.”

“That’s why we’re going to sleep, Ghosty.”

Nico hummed noncommittally as he flopped down onto his bed. It was late, nearly midnight, and he was more than ready to be dead to the world. They had had a busy day of classes, training (for Nico), working (for Will), and dealing with the general chaos that came with living at Camp Half-Blood.

Will’s siblings let the head counselor sneak off to the Hades cabin for the night. While they all teased their older brother about having a “fun night,” they all really just wanted him to get a good night’s sleep, and cuddling with his boyfriend almost always did the trick.

After doing the minimal to get ready for bed, the boys hit the lights and shuffled beneath the covers. Immediately, their hands found each other, and they tangled their limbs together. It was easy, a comfortable routine they developed over the course of their relationship. They were hardly cuddly in public, so their private time together had to make up for that. And it was really just that—cuddling and sleeping together—and nothing more.

“Good night, Neeks.”

“Good night, Sunshine.”

Will shifted onto his back, giving Nico the space to move even closer so that his head rested on the blonde’s chest.

It was nice and cozy. Perfect for sleeping.

And yet.

Will laid there for a solid fifteen minutes, not thinking anything in particular as he stared off into the darkness. He tried not to shift restlessly so as not to disturb his boyfriend, but that just made him stiff and less than comfortable.

He tried to focus on Nico’s breathing for the next fifteen minutes. The boy’s breaths had evened out, but Will had a feeling that he wasn’t quite asleep yet either.

Why couldn’t he sleep? Was something bothering him? Normally, he’d have his to do list for the next day on his mind. When that kept him up, he simply got up, wrote it down, then climbed back in bed and was out like a light. But that’s not what was happening now. He squared away his to do list earlier, on a small note that sat on his desk in the infirmary.

What was on the list? Maybe if Will recounted it to himself, he’d fall asleep out of boredom.

Cut bandages. Well, that was a daily task, but sometimes it was nice just to check it off at the end of the day.

Check inventory. A weekly task, but sometimes Will would compulsively check it, just in case, or when there was nothing else to do.

Practice nutrition plans. Since the son of Apollo hoped to be a real doctor someday, he’d been exploring different medical fields to see how he liked them. He was currently exploring the nutritionist route, which could help as a family physician or pediatrician anyway. He would ask the Demeter kids about different vegetables, herbs, grains, all that stuff, and practice writing up specific diets for hypothetical needs. It was kind of interesting so far, but not Will’s favorite.

I wonder what kind of plan a child of Hypnos might need. If you consider the narcolepsy, possible lack of sunlight, there’s bound to be some nutritional deficiency going on, he thought to himself. Hmm, deficiency. De-fi-shi-en-see. That’s how you spell it, right? D-E-F-I—she-en-see—C-I-E—defishy—um where was I? Okay, wait, D-E—honestly, who spelled this word this way? It’s confusing. Why is C-I-E pronounced “she”? What—

“Will,” a stern voice pulled Will from his musings. He turned his head down to see his boyfriend squinting up at him in the dark, his eyes having adjusted long ago. “You’re thinking too loud. You’re practically yelling.”

“Wha—that doesn’t even make sense,” Will responded, his voice sounding loud in the quiet of the cabin.

“It does. It’s loud. You’re loud.” Nico shifted so he was more even with Will and could look him in the eyes properly. “What are you thinking about that’s making your head wrinkle?” He poked Will directly in the forehead to punctuate his point.

Will swatted his hand away. Nico kept looking at him and he sighed. Whatever. “Why are words words?” He looked back up at the ceiling, confusion clear on his face.

Not hearing an immediate response, he turned to see his boyfriend staring at him, his expression a mix of perplexity, incredulity, and amusement. The son of Hades simply raised an eyebrow, apparently not planning on giving Will the answer he so desperately needed.

So, he continued. “You know, like, words. Why are they what they are? Why is the word ‘word’ a word? Why is it spelled like it is? And why does it mean word? Actually, how do you even define ‘word’?” He tapped his chin in thought, once again staring at the ceiling. He saw Nico glance up at the ceiling out of the corner of his eye, probably mocking Will. But the son of Apollo was too preoccupied to comment.

“A word is a word,” Nico replied, like it was that easy.

“You can’t use the word being defined in the definition,” he rolled his eyes, like Nico should’ve obviously thought about this before and know that that’s not an acceptable answer.

Will took a breath to begin another senseless rant about language when his boyfriend cut him off. “Words are words, letters are letters, languages are way they are because people decided that’s how they wanted to communicate. Nothing more to it. Please sleep.” His deadpan words were probably meant to be patronizing or flippant in some way, but Will actually felt like that answered his wonderings quite well.

“Huh,” Will said, mostly to himself. He paused as the words processed in his brain. “That makes sense.”

“Oh my gods,” is all Nico said before he rolled over, his back to Will. “Go to sleep, idiota.”

Will beamed, throwing his arms around the dark-haired boy to hug him from behind. “I’m so lucky my boyfriend is a genius.”

“You’re dumb, now sleep.”

“Okayyy,” Will drew out. But now that his mind was satisfied, he remembered that he had an exhausting day and that he really really wanted to sleep.

He settled in further before whispering a “good night” to the air, the boy next to him already breathing deeply.

[anthonyravencrow]

No disbarment au

Elaborating on no disbarment au because you guys seem to like the idea.

If you hadn't notice this contains major spoilers for AJ so you might want to skip this one if you haven't completed it.

I came up with it because I don't like sad time skips when the character is fine and then we come back few years later to see that their life was awful when we weren't looking. So Phoenix's life is a bit happier in this. :)

It's gonna be a long post so I'm putting rest under the cut

So back to the au

The starting difference from canon is that Zak Gramarye pulls his dissapearing act earlier so Phoenix doesn't have a chance to present forged evidence.

He doesn't get disbared but his reputation still sufferes becasuse of it and from this moment other attorneys start to consider him as kinda corrupted and theorize that he helped his client dissapear because he knew that he was loosing.

Because Zak is gone Phoenix still decides to adopt Trucy. <333 She still practices her magic acts but she also gets to be Phoenix's co-counsel (we all wanted this to happen)

So Phoenix doesn't have a good reputation but he still gets some cases and he's happy with his daughter

On the other hand Kristoph is pissed. He flunked all that money for nothing. He decides to keep a close eye on Phoenix as he plans revenge.

I really liked his character and his weird "friendship" with Phoenix in the game and I was kinda dissapointed that we've seen him in only two cases. Also Klavier deserves to have more scenes with him too.

So Phoenix still hangs out with Kristoph so he can financialy support Trucy and her magic hobby as a lawyer. But he's careful and tries to keep her away from Kristoph.

In this au Kristoph is more involved. He still becomes "friends" with Phoenix and he seems to be an only attorney around who trusts him after the Gramarye trial. It's still weird between them though and Phoenix senses that Kristoph is up to no good but he needs his support in court and Kristoph also helps him to actually get some cases and clients.

Phoenix still is a very good lawyer but he now has more obstacles to get through in court so he gets a little more jaded and has to always keep a few tricks up his sleeve. He kinda acts like Edgeworth in his demon prosecutor days.

Now enters Apollo - he's the main character in all of this <3

He starts working at Gavin's law office. He often sees Phoenix there because of his relationship with Kristoph. At this point Apollo already heard some rumors about Phoenix and his questionable cases, also Kristoph is really passive-agressive about him to the point where Apollo wonders why these two are still friends.

So Phoenix gets to be all ambiguous and mysterious as Apollo tries to form his opinion on him.

At some point Trucy in typical girl assistant fashion gets involved in a murder case she's a suspect and gets arrested. Phoenix doesn't have a good opinion in court and he doesn't want that to ruin his chances to prove his daughter's innocence. He also doesn't trust Kristoph with this at all. So Phoenix decides to request Apollos help.

Apollo agrees :). If it was a game this would be the first trial so Payne would be a prosecutor in this. Apollo with little help and pep-talk from Phoenix during recess obviously wins :)

Aftter that he hangs out around Wirght law offices more often and he gets to develop a friendship with Trucy. He also gets to talk to Phoenix and is really impressed by his previous cases. He tries to ask about what happened to his reputation but doesn't get obvious answers. Phoenix still is ambiguous and throws some off-hand comments about Kristoph from time to time.

So now Apollo is kinda thorn between two lawyers who constantly trash-talk each other. Except Kristoph is more ominous about this.

When Apollo is around Wright's office, Phoenix points his attention to cases he doesn't want to take because of his reputation so Apollo agrees to help and takes them himself.

And Trucy gets to be his assistant. <333

During this Apollo talks with his mentor Kristoph from time to time and also gets some helpful advices from him.

I'd like to see more of their relationship and more of Kristop being a mentor to Apollo. I think it would be cool and interesting to see this other side of him. The side which seems to be kind and understanding, the reason why Apollo has his opinions in good regard.

So Kristoph tries to act all supportive about Apollo taking cases from Wright but he lets Apollo notice that he's not too happy about it. Kristoph is this kind of ominous presence during those "filler" cases and he says things about Phoenix that make Apollo doubt him a little.

Also Klavier's here. He's a prosecutor in Apollo's cases. And he's just as sweet as in canon.

Apollo at first is suprised to learn that Kristoph even has a brother because Kristoph didn't even mention him much to Apollo. Apollo also gets to see Klavier when he goes to talk with Kristop. So we can see more of Klavier's relationship with his brother.

Klavier If asked, I think would say some nice stuff about his bro and he kinda looks up to him a litte as an attorney. Kristop on the other hand, not so much. He ridicules Klavier's rock star persona when Apollo talks to him about his bro.

Ema is still a detective in this. <333. Because Phoenix didn't get disbared she got to work on some cases with him in the past <33

She's nicer to Klavier because he didn't ruin her friend's career in this. But they constantly get into a playful banter. She also knows Trucy really well because of her being Phoenix's co-counsel in the past cases.

Ema is great and she seems happier in this even thou she didn't want to be detective that much.

Now I'm getting closer to the finish line.

For the last case I envision something similar to Turnabout Goodbyes and Rise from the ashes.

OH NO! Phoenix get's framed for murder! I think Drew Misham would be a good victim in this to tie this nicely to the Zak Gramarye case.

Obviously Kristoph's behind all of this and Phoenix knows this. But he still remains ambiguous and doesn't tell the whole truth about his involvement. Kristoph is free to walk around and is very dangerous so Phoenix worries about Trucy's safety and doesn't want her to get involved in this. He is very careful about what he reveals to Apollo so he doesn't get Kristoph's attention. He is worried what Kristoph might do to Trucy if he puts to much focus on him.

So Apollo and Phoenix's friends try to save him. Apollo does really in depth research and he slowly finds out the truth behind this case and also the Gramarye case and unused forged evidence.

As he's closer to the truth he starts to suspect Kristoph more and more. It's really hard for him to accept because Kristoph was always a good mentor to him. During all of this he still talks with Kristoph who with every conversation seems more and more ominous.

Klavier was chosen as a prosecutor for this trial. He and Apollo face in court but Klavier was also present during investigation parts so he's also torn about his brothers presence in all of this.

Finally everything gets revealed. They confron't Kristoph in court. Apollo wins, Kristoph gets arrested and Phoenix is declared innocent. His reputation is also cleared beacuse everyone found out about what really happened behind the scenes of the Gramarye trial.

Apollo and Klavier are also happy but they both have mixed feelings about Kristoph. He was Apollo's mentor and Klavier's brother. They both held him in high regard and are both shocked that he was able to do something like this. They need some time to deal with it but they have each other and together they are going to work through this. (Yeah, Klapollo <3)

So everyone gets together. Apollo continues working as a lawyer under Phoenix with Trucy often accompanying him as his co-counsel.

And that is the end!

I'd like to thank @digitalstowaway because your response motivated me to write this down. <3

[davidmann95]

*sighs* Modern times are weird. Thoughts on *that* Morrison announcement today?

Anonymous said: Thoughts on Superman and The Authority by Morrison, Janin and Bellaire? Its in the Penguin Random House catalogue as a hardcover coming in November this year

Anonymous said: Thoughts on the news about Morrison doing Superman and the Authority?

Anonymous said: So uhhh, Morrison is doing a surprise Superman & Authority book?

Anonymous said: how do you feel about the upcoming Grant Morrison-penned Superman and the Authority

Anonymous said: Morrison writing Superman & The Authority?!?!? MORRISON WRITING MANCHESTER BLACK?!?!?! Fuck yes, now you’ll have to admit Manchester Black is awesome.

Anonymous said: Superman and the Authority???

Anonymous said: Authority/Superman book being written by Morrison?

jcogginsa said: So Grant Morrison's not done with Superman it seems.

Anonymous said: So, Superman and the Authority? Thoughts on Morrison staying at DC?

Anonymous said: You’ve probably already been asked by thoughts on the Superman and The Authority announcement?

adudewholikescomicsandotherstuff said: So, there’s a new grant Morrison Superman comic. Thoughts?

oh look someone took a video of me this morning

...actually not really, because I was tipped off a couple weeks ago as to this being a rumor in certain non-public circles, so I was left to mull on the notion in private for awhile. I had in fact assumed that it wasn’t real, and that while Superman & The Authority was in fact happening it had probably only been offered to Morrison as a courtesy and really someone else would be doing it.

Lots of thoughts between what I had on my own and from talking with Ritesh Babu/seeing his own responses, let’s get to it. Obviously the main reason this is happening is because Jim Lee wants it to be happening - he can’t let his baby die on the vine with Ellis, and he needs a BIG name to wash the taste out of everyone’s mouth. The question then is why Morrison would go for it when The Green Lantern and Wonder Woman: Earth One were such pointed goodbyes to Big Two comics, Klaus remains as an outlet for any cape stories they want to tell, and they’re making TV money now. I’d say the answer is that while Wonder Woman is a tale about clearing away the old ways of things to make room for the new, and Green Lantern is about what’s cleared away getting one last bow...Clark Kent can’t gracefully exit stage left the way Hal Jordan can. Even if most of the rest of pop culture will be supplanted by the tide of time we’re not going to stop getting Superman stories anytime soon. But while in Batman and The Just the big question was “What son could ever live up to the eternal, glorious father who will never fade?”, now the question is “Oh shit, wait, Jon Kent is on the CW and probably taking over the Superman book proper, and that Coates/Abrams movie might not even be about Clark one way or another. What’s the *old* guy supposed to do if he’s gonna keep hanging around?” That’s why it has to be a ‘proper’ DC book - it asks whether the old things we won’t shake can ever truly be new again, or at least find a new role for themselves. And that role involves the team from the last moment mainstream superhero comics really felt like the future to Morrison, the team that represented the next step past their own breakout work in JLA and that their onetime protege’s career would later springboard off of, that was the template for 21st century superhero aesthetics in general. I want the first words of the first interview for this to be “I swear to god this time I’m really done afterwards”, but however crassly commercial the origins, I can see how Morrison would be convinced to do this as a trilogy-capper conclusion to their post-Multiversity DC work (especially with how Pax Americana and Wonder Woman were both in conversation with that whole Mills/Ellis/Ennis/Millar mode of superhero comics). What role can the old archetypes serve in a brave new world?

Additional thoughts:

* According to the Penguin listing this while filling out a 139 page trade will only be two issues, so it seems they’ll both be massively oversized (wonder if there’ll be backups?) and released as a whole pretty much immediately. In line with the Klaus format, and pretty close to the original plan for Superman Beyond.

* Guess Morrison was consulting on the Superman stuff in Future State as more than a gesture of goodwill. This does seem to potentially be set in that period given Clark’s graying at the temples, and since Superman & The Authority was a 5G rumor from way back (notably the same month as the Ellis allegations coming out) there’s an additional question of how long ago this was written. Not long enough ago or standalone enough that they put it in Future State itself, but even so.

* Really glad Janin’s here - not only is he a perfect choice and tied into Superman right now, he’s the guy who drew Midnighter in Grayson, out of which we got Orlando and ACO’s Midnighter, so he’s at the root of the Wildstorm resurgence. Also curious to see how far Morrison can push him.

* Ritesh pointed this out: Clark’s fully Tom Strong. The hair, the short sleeves, the gloves, the science hero vibe. And a thread of PKJ’s run is Superman’s power is beginning to fade, so he’ll probably be in that territory physically too and therefore needing to rely on help from other heavy-hitters.

* The roster mostly makes sense: Midnighter and Apollo are the givens, a new speedster (Lightray?), they like Steel so Natasha Irons being here isn’t surprising, and of course they’d include OMAC. But Manchester? And a Manchester who looks like Peter Capaldi? A Manchester who as you note I’ll be forced to like now? Wild. And...Enchantress? Okay?

* As far as cameos go I’m curious if we’ll see Jon, since he’s the guy who needs to have replaced Superman for the story to make thematic sense as I’m assuming it is, or the Superman Squad for similar reasons + then this can be an avenue for Morrison to tell that big Squad story they had in mind.

* It’s curious that the cover isn’t on a surface level aggressively provocative, because there’s so much about this that is. Not even the obvious fact of a Superman & The Authority book with Manchester Black on it (itself a hilarious fuck you to What’s So Funny), but that it’s the Superman shield from Kingdom Come - the iconography of that version of that guy hanging out with the 90s ass-kicker team in excelsis isn’t inconsequential. And while Action Comics and its socialist strongman was playing as nice as it could with its New 52 surroundings, this as a Grant Morrison future for Superman that isn’t All-Star is itself a pretty plain statement of intent that hey, THIS is what they think about what Superman's potential now, not what they did 15 years ago. Will that be a condemnation alongside Blackstars and the Hyperman story in TGL, or a testament to Superman’s ability to change with the times and continue serving as the man of tomorrow? If this is being collected in November, I imagine we’ll see this summer.

[astrologista]

Gavin Bros. Analysis

here be spoilers for apollo justice (aa4)

There are already a bunch of posts all about AA:AJ and just what the heck was behind Kristoph Gavin’s Psychelocks. What were his motivations? Why did he do what he did? As fragmented as the story is surrounding the Gavin brothers, and as much as I wish the source material had rounded out their characters a little more, I believe the game actually tells you pretty much everything there is to know about this case rather succinctly. Don’t worry as I will use evidence to back up my claims...

It is notably interesting that Kristoph’s Psychelocks only come up when Phoenix asks him point blank why he killed Zak Gramarye. This is the one question that Kristoph consistently refuses to answer directly, both in Solitary Cell 13 and in his testimony at his trial. Coincidentally, this is also the main question that he ever gets asked that speaks to his emotions or state of mind. Kristoph has a really good logical answer for basically all of the evidence-based questions. But, it’s also not a coincidence that Apollo has the presence of mind to note - “why not bring up the motive from the start? unless it was a battle he thought he might lose...”

This establishes pretty clearly that Kristoph is going to have a vested interest in keeping all questioning solidly focused on the material evidence at hand such as the postage stamp, the nail polish, and reasons why he cannot be directly connected to those objects. The law provides plenty of escape hatches and loopholes for Kristoph to exploit, which he does, providing him with the legal basis to be able to escape punishment due to the inability for anyone to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. This is not surprising as being a very successful defense attorney is literally his job and he happens to be extremely competent at it.

This kind of person is scary if you meet them in real life because they can always seem to wriggle out of anything you try to pin on them. Kristoph is a grand master at doing this, quite possibly as good as they come in the AA universe.

Here’s the rub. Apollo brings up that Kristoph wants to avoid bringing the conversation into motives and state of mind questions, why? Because “it’s a battle he thinks he might lose”. Every single time this topic comes up, Kristoph deflects the question. This also is indicated by the five black Psychelocks that come up when Phoenix asks him point blank why he killed Zak. So from this we can gather that the game is drilling it in pretty well that Kristoph’s motivations are a sore spot for him and possibly the one chink in his armor.

Because the material evidence cannot prove anything for or against Kristoph’s guilt, in a typical case like this the police would hope for the holy grail - a full confession and admission of guilt. Kristoph is much too cool of a customer to fall into any traps, no doubt he was questioned very rigorously after being arrested, but all he even had to do was invoke his right to remain silent regarding his motives or simply claim that he killed Zak just ‘cause y’know, being evil is fun. Once he confessed to killing Zak, though, the police probably didn’t care all that much to probe into his thoughts and motivations really, if he did it, he did it and he’s going to spend a stint in jail either way.

Phoenix sees through this, however. In Solitary Cell 13 he does NOT allow Kristoph to drop or evade the question. That is why we get as far as even seeing the black Psychelocks at all. If we can’t know the motive, why bother to have this scene in the game?

Quite simply we can now understand that Kristoph’s motive for killing is something emotional. It is not something that he’s going to divulge casually, but it is also probably something that he is worried about divulging UNCONSCIOUSLY which is why he constantly tries to steer conversations away from it, instead deflecting to discuss the evidence or the emotional state of other people in the room. Consider that Kristoph’s reputation is PREDICATED on him being “the Coolest Defense in the West”. His identity is based on his successful suppression of emotions in court. This is not to say he shows no emotion or is some kind of monotone emotionless husk. He has a rather dry sense of humor. He banters with Apollo. He banters with Phoenix. He isn’t as uptight as some portrayals would have you believe (”life is to be taken easy”). When it comes to surface topics, Kristoph is an open book. He’s not as terse as you would believe, but rather kind of poetic and loquacious and conversational (to his downfall in 4-1). You get the feeling that he would be a very good conversationalist. But only for surface topics. Try to dig a little deeper and he will very neatly deflect your efforts. 

How can we hope to understand a character who by definition does not have any interest in talking about his innermost neuroses? The reason why people still discuss the Gavin brothers and Turnabout Succession so much is that, while a very satisfying and intense case, it is unlike a lot of other AA cases in that you come away from it with a LOT of open ended questions. You don’t feel the same feeling of closure as you would get from the DL-6 case, where it feels like you finally understand all the facts of the case and all of the character motivations come to light making you go “oh! THAT MAKES SENSE!” you understand why von karma killed gregory, and everything comes together nicely in the end. Turnabout Succession is kind of a rarity in that it does not do that. By the end, you feel like you clearly understand the case, but you do not have a crystal clear view of the root cause of the motivations behind it.

In Kristoph’s final testimony he does shed a little bit of light on his motivations for his crimes. The issue that he has is mainly centered around his dismissal by Zak Gramarye as his representation. And, his subsequent replacement with Phoenix Wright, an attorney he perceives to be low-class and sub-par. Kristoph then states “these men shamed me, and I could not forgive that.” This is as close to an answer as to why he went to such lengths to get Phoenix disbarred as we are likely to get. Disproportionate retribution is the name of the game. It seems as if, if there’s one thing Kristoph cannot tolerate, it’s being looked down upon by someone that he perceives as inferior to him. Kristoph has extremely polarized notions of who should get to practice law, who is acceptable and who is categorized under “ignorant swine soiling the courts”. He makes very, very clear that he has nothing but disdain for common people, common wisdom, and any use of emotion or feelings in deciding verdicts.

So the particular manner in which Phoenix sought to bring him down with the jury system was a very deliberate masterstroke to Kristoph’s pride. That much we can establish. But again, motive. The game goes out of its way to tell you that whomever defended Zak would be “famous beyond belief” and, presumably also, rich. They would get a lot of very high-profile clients and cases sent their way after successfully defending the uber-famous magician Zak Gramarye. 

Taking all of this into account, right. Is it possible that everything Kristoph did has its roots in one very simple source, the root of all evil?

Money.

Taking a step back for a moment, consider Klavier. Why does Klavier perform in a rock band? “Because I want Frauleins to look at me when I walk down the street.” I feel like people really want to believe that both Kristoph and Klavier are super deep characters and have all this deep lore and hidden backstory. Maybe they do. Most AA characters do. But consider this. What if they’re both so deep, they’re actually just shallow? Yes, that shallow?

Given how much AA:AJ focuses on the Gavins, which is really not that much, this concept seems difficult to swallow. Is there really more to the story based on what the game gives us? If there is, how would we piece it together?

One major hint the game gives you about Kristoph (and, if this is insignificant, then you have to really wonder why they bother to bring it up at all) takes place directly after seeing Kristoph’s black Psychelocks in Solitary Cell 13. He starts doing his nails. Phoenix says “I know appearances are a big thing with you”. Kristoph says “You know what I say? One cannot live a beautiful life without beautiful nails.”

I feel that this statement is important because it is probably about as deep of a look as we are ever going to get at how shallow Kristoph Gavin really is. He hopes you will believe that he’s playing 12-dimensional chess with some kind of fucked up backstory and motive going, but the truth is, he’s no chessmaster. Based on what the game gives you, there’s really only one motivation for everything that makes sense.

Kristoph killed Zak, Drew and attempted to kill Vera to cover his tracks. He had to do everything he could to make sure no one talked about the forgery. He had to stalk people like Spark and keep Phoenix very close (the epitome of keep your friends close keep your enemies closer). There’s nothing really debatable about those facts because they are all discussed in the game.

What about the root cause? Revenge, of course, for Phoenix stealing away the chance for Kristoph to defend Zak.

Why was defending Zak so important to Kristoph? To become rich and famous.

So wait. Why does Kristoph need to be rich and famous?

As it is, Kristoph appears to be very affluent and well off. There is no real reason directly given in the game as to why he would need such prestige and fame other than that it feeds his massive ego and superiority complex. So that’s a big part of it, no debate there.

But why would the excessive monetary gains that would be secured off of the Gramarye case be so appealing to Kristoph? We’ll re-examine this in a little bit.

In Daryan Crescend’s case, Phoenix tells Apollo “every man has an igniter. find his and set it off”. 

What is Kristoph’s igniter?

I mean some people would say Phoenix Wright is Kristoph’s igniter based on his breakdown. But, I think more of that trial was contrived by Phoenix than we tend to notice.

I think Klavier is Kristoph’s igniter.

The final trial in Turnabout Succession would not have been able to succeed without Lamiroir, without the jury system, without Phoenix pulling the strings, without Trucy, without Apollo, and most especially without Klavier. Removing any of these elements from the scenario would immediately give Kristoph a massive advantage in allowing him to manipulate the courtroom. Can you imagine Payne trying to prosecute Kristoph?

No. Klavier was the only one who could confront Kristoph successfully.

The final trial had to be contrived in such a way as to put maximal pressure on Kristoph to increase the chances that he would slip up or, more likely, that an element of randomness and/or emotion would become introduced. Phoenix sets up Klavier as the prosecutor for this trial for a good reason - remember, Phoenix tells Apollo point blank that he (Phoenix) is pulling all of the strings for the Misham trial, so whatever happens is entirely his responsibility.

It must have been difficult for Phoenix to entrust Klavier, the person who sealed his fate, with such an important task. But realistically, he didn’t really have a choice. Klavier’s disclosure of Kristoph’s visit to the prosecutor’s office is the glue that holds together the entire case against Kristoph Gavin. Notice that Kristoph never really does anything to keep Klavier out of the public eye or otherwise silence him (up until the very end at least). If I knew there was someone walking around giving press interviews and practicing as a prosecutor who knew something really incriminating about me, I would want them swept away or snuffed out asap - I mean, Kristoph has already poisoned Drew and Vera who were unlikely to tattle on him at best; Drew couldn’t even identify him! What Klavier has on him is much, much more damning dirt. Either Kristoph really loves and trusts his brother or is convinced that he can control Klavier to the point where Klavier would never dare tell anyone about that visit or wouldn’t want to. Probably both are true.

The interesting thing about this dynamic is that this is really the only time where we see both Gavin brothers together in one room, as well. Something about being in proximity changes both of their behaviors. Klavier becomes hyper-alert and nervous in Kristoph’s presence, a marked change from his usually easy demeanor. Klavier’s presence causes Kristoph to make several mistakes, which end up costing him the case.

So all of these things needed to happen, and they needed to happen simultaneously for Phoenix to succeed. Getting back to my theory on Kristoph, we can see from what’s said in the game a few things - he really, REALLY wanted to be the one to benefit from defending Zak Gramarye (a trial he knew he would win against his brother using forged evidence), the presence of Klavier is his undoing in court, and his appearances are very, very important to him. 

I honestly think the real reason Kristoph was so salty about losing out on the Gramarye trial fame and money is that he didn’t just want to be affluent or well-to-do. He wanted to be excessively, filthy rich.

If you look at Solitary Cell 13 you will see that Kristoph likes very much to surround himself with many nice things. He likes tasteful decorations and furniture. He enjoys literature, music, art, that weird rose he keeps in a vase, and he has a dog named Vongole. “First rate in all things, accept nothing less.”

To have such top of the line items, Kristoph must not only be rich, he must be like top 1% rich. He has to have the absolute best of everything. This is why he needs money. Without these things, what separates him from the ignorant swine he so despises? This is why Kristoph needed money.

Nowhere is this highlighted more than with the Ariadoney nail polish. I think it’s mentioned a couple of times that the Ariadoney is absolutely the best possible nail polish that you can buy. It’s very, very expensive and is manufactured in extremely limited quantities (this is discussed during Kristoph’s testimony). If Kristoph is this fixated on something as simple as a bottle of nail polish, you can almost imagine the absolutely ludicrous costs of every other item that he uses or owns, not limited to his home, his car, fine foods and wine, his expensive hobbies, possibly traveling etc etc etc etc. I just know this fool shops at Whole Foods, because I can’t see him buying groceries at the Costco. It makes a lot of sense as to why he is single as well. Kristoph Gavin would end up being an expensive habit to any partner who would have him - I wouldn’t want to share a bank account or credit line with him. He needs Gucci to keep him happy. No bootlegs here.

Point is, Kristoph Gavin has an addiction to the finer things in life and he will NOT settle for second rate products. He will have what he wants and he will do basically anything to maintain his lifestyle at its current elite level at the expense of his own morality and soul. Sadly enough I feel like that might be as deep as it gets with him. That’s a really pathetic motive to have and makes me hate him a lot more, but it’s so fucked up I can’t look away.

Consider also the most important thing to Kristoph of all - his appearance. It costs money to keep yourself up and this seems to be the one area that Kristoph might end up pouring the most money into. The top of the line suit, the white shoes, the perfect tan, the platinum blonde hair so immaculately coiffed, the fact that his skin is virtually perfect and the fact that his face is near-identical to Klavier’s despite being some 8 or 9 years older. Most normal people would have some kind of facial imperfection pop up at some point, a wrinkle, a pock mark, something. And that’s when you realize... that Kristoph Gavin has most likely had work done. Like, on his face to make it stay youthful. He’s just that vain and probably also despises watching Klavier stay young and pretty while he’s just aging. Fillers? Botox? Collagen treaments? Something more invasive? No one knows, but all I’m saying is that Klavier’s character description goes out of its way to describe Klavier as “the spitting image of Kristoph Gavin”. Vera notices the extreme resemblance right away. There can certainly be genetic basis for two brothers looking alike, but compare that to how Mia and Maya look “alike”, or Lana and Ema, both of whom have a similar age gap to Kristoph and Klavier. You would realize that Kristoph and Klavier seem to have somewhat of a more obvious resemblance despite the age difference. So this isn’t just possible anymore, this is actually likely. I don’t think the game implies that Kristoph has undergone plastic surgery or anything, so I’m keeping this in the realms of headcanon for now. But it would make perfect sense as yet another reason as to why Kristoph Gavin needs cold cash. He needs to look flawless and he needs access to the absolutely most top of the line treatments and practitioners, continually. And as he continues to age, he needs to get more and more aggressive, more and more products, more and more retouching with those age reversal creams and foundations and stabilizers. That adds up, cost-wise, very very fast, especially if you want top of the line EVERYTHING, and Kristoph does indeed. It is very clear that settling for any less would be completely unacceptable to him.

All of this money, it has to come from somewhere. Being a posh defense lawyer will bring in some money, sure, but nothing near what Kristoph is going to need to live his beautiful life. Winning the Gramarye trial would have probably bought him enough prestige, clients and monetary gains to support himself off of law for the rest of his life. It does make a lot of sense that he would be incensed after losing that chance.

There is one more unexplored possibility as to why Kristoph had to be the one to win the Gramarye trial, though, and it ties into the money issue as well. This was supposed to be a fair match, after all, brother to brother. Klavier’s first case, in fact. It was supposed to be Kristoph vs. Klavier, and Kristoph wanted to make sure that he would be the one to win. Only Zak and Phoenix ruined that chance - a once in a lifetime chance, actually, for Kristoph to go up against his brother on Klavier’s very first day.

Klavier was the prosecutor of the Gramarye trial. It was his very first case. What could Kristoph have to gain by being the one to trounce 17-year-old Klavier in court on his first day on the job?

Well, not much, other than it would have been a huge crushing blow to Klavier psychologically.

There’s a comic floating around by someone, I think zarla-s, where Kristoph wins the Gramarye trial and is discussing his win with Klavier afterwards. Kristoph is smug and hopes Klavier will be humbled by his impressive win, but Klavier is unperturbed by his loss, happy for his brother and insists he’ll win next time.

As cute as this is, somehow I don’t think that’s exactly how it would go down.

Klavier has actively shown how nervous / anxious / upset Kristoph’s mere presence makes him in a courtroom setting. Based on this, it’s not unfair to say that losing to Kristoph IN PARTICULAR on Klavier’s very first case would have been a devastating psychological blow that could technically end Klavier’s prosecutor career before it even began. There is a lot on the line with the Gramarye trial, don’t forget the praise and adulation that Klavier gained by winning it. So other than all of the fame, adulation, money and pride Kristoph would have gained by rigging and winning the Gramarye trial, there is another dimension that he was also robbed of - the ability to ruin his brother’s law career. Losing to another attorney like Phoenix or anyone else would not be enough to do the job. It would have to and could only be Kristoph’s doing.

What reason could Kristoph have for wanting Klavier’s law career to come to an end?

Well, Klavier does have another job. As a rock star.

Wildly popular rock stars make a lot of money, many many many times more than even a celebrity defense attorney could dream to make.

The Gavinners had multiple albums go platinum. They sold out shows all over the country, I believe, possibly all over the world. They are a brand. They are profitable. Klavier is profitable.

With how much Kristoph depends on and uses Klavier, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Kristoph gets to take a big cut of Klavier’s earnings from his music career. For all we know, Kristoph could have been responsible for assembling and filing many of the Gavinners’ early contracts and legal paperwork. The rights to songs, record deals, merchandising - this is a lot of stuff. I’d say it’d be pretty hard to believe that Kristoph did not have his hooks into the Gavinners from day one. If he handled contracts, he could have written in loopholes that would give him a huge cut of any earnings resulting from Klavier’s band, the Gavinners.

Now I know what you’re thinking, Klavier himself is a legal prodigy. He could have easily read through anything Kristoph prepared and refused to sign on the dotted line if he found anything amiss or hidden in the fine print. What if Kristoph’s legal control of Klavier started much earlier than that? Depending on when Klavier started in the entertainment business, which could have been a very early age, Kristoph could have had plenty of time and opportunity to secure access to any of Klavier’s future earnings, especially if their parents were out of the picture.

 If you think Kristoph has nothing to do with the Gavinners, think about it. One of their songs is literally called “Atroquinine, My Love”. They are a brand. They are marketed specifically to teeny boppers. They’re not squeaky clean mainstream pop like the Jonas Brothers or anything, but they are marketable. The advertising, the way they dress, the way Klavier says he’s tired of the youthful angst scene, the fact that Klavier only gives Apollo and Trucy a 20% discount on concert tickets. I’m just saying a lot of it could end up being contrived, perhaps by a certain someone with an ulterior motive. It seems really, really weird and coincidental that the band broke up right after AA4 too. Klavier seems like he’s really dedicated to his art, and to music. This much is clear in the way he reverently talks about Lamiroir, how he teared up at her song, even the Guitars’ Serenade seems like a very different song than what the Gavinners would typically do, and it only debuts after Kristoph is already in jail.

It makes you wonder if there might be a little something more going on here. If Kristoph had it set up to where he could get access to Klavier’s assets, which almost certainly dwarf his own by several times, then he had every reason to want to crush Klavier in court. He had to be the one to face Klavier in the Gramarye trial and win, causing Klavier to end his prosecutor dreams - and do what?

Go back on the road, put everything into his music career and become a workhorse for Kristoph’s ambitions.

Putting Klavier full time on the Gavinners would have solved all of Kristoph’s monetary worries for good. He could skim everything off the top and finally live the beautiful life of his dreams, the life he needed to have and couldn’t do without. Most importantly, he could keep up appearances and always look continually young and attractive.

Until we learn otherwise, I think that that is really all that was behind Kristoph’s black Psychelocks. Just a narcissistic, vain, preening loser masquerading as some mastermind villain when, in the end, that’s not really what he cared about being. He cared about painting his nails in a luxurious mansion surrounded by piles of money in a big Scrooge McDuck money vault, and laughing maniacally at anyone who ever thought that there was anything more to it.

[aaimagine]

Can I request headcanon for Apollo hearing his crush sing along to Lamoires music when it comes on the radio ? They're not even that good of a singer. But it does something to him knowing his crush is a fan of someone he knows that isn't Gavin? Cause he would get jealous if they sang along to Gavin Like come on Polly figure it out that's your mother and Trudy is your sister

Aww this sounds really cute! And honestly! I'm sad that we get all this backstory about Apollo in later games and yet he still doesn't know the truth 😣 oh well!

Also, thanks for the ask! I had a little motivation to give writing a scenario a try, so I hope that was okay!

❤ Apollo Hearing his Crush Sing to Lamiroir ❤

Honestly, the amount of times Apollo had to be subjected to hearing the Gavineers was getting old. Fast. Despite how he acts towards their band, it's not like he outright despises them! If anything, he respects Gavin and his talent. However, having to hear these loud, headache inducing songs wherever he goes- including in stores from the radio and even at the own agency courtesy of Trucy's vocal skills- was enough to drive him up a wall.

Except for one song: The Guitar's Serenade. Even if it featured Apollo's rival, he could let it slide. The soft strums of Gavin's guitar combined with the humming tone of Machi's piano elevated the angelic voice of Lamiroir. There was something about her voice that drew him to that song. Music had never moved him in such a way. Even the blind songstress herself ignited something indescribable to Apollo. It was a shame he would never be able to hear it live ever again.

On the topic of people causing Apollo to feel confused, there was another, more pressing person making him feel this way. At the Wright Anything Agency, along with himself, Trucy, and Mr. Wright, there was (Y/N). Her talent was ...

"OH! The most important, next to my bread winning magic gift! No one can beat her talent at keeping the house clean, cooking, helping me with my homework, letting me practice on-" Before Trucy could go any further, Apollo interrupted her.

"Come on Trucy! I know you did not hire a maid with Mr. Wright's budget, let alone afford one!"

Trucy honestly couldn't answer him. It's been so long since they had any work relating to law that she never realized why you were really there.

Apollo never really found out until he asked. You had applied for the job as a legal document assistant. Except.. the agency had not had work since Mr. Wright's disbarment, so you have been making money similar to the way Apollo had done for his first case with Mr. Wright: pseudo-detective work.

Apollo was ... well, surprised wasn't a big enough word! You could have easily applied somewhere else.

"I see that look on your face," you smiled. "But being hired by the Wright Anything Agency was one of the best decisions of my life. I hope you will understand what I mean someday."

You always make sure to tell Apollo how thankful you were that he gave you a chance to work in law again! You promised you would back him up as an assistant 100%. Everytime you earnestly complimented him and boosted his motivation, he felt his face heat up.

---

It was a typical work day that Apollo arrived in the agency. He was a little late, but it should not have been a problem as Mr. Wright was in Europe for business and Trucy had school. Though he texted you, there was so much traffic that even on his bike it seemed that it would be forever until he arrived.

Locking his bike to the front post of the agency, he hurried into the door. Before his hand touched the handle, he stopped.

He heard off key humming coming from the other side of the door. Even while muffled, he distinctly could make it out as someone singing. His face began heating up as he realized that it was you, and not the radio by itself accompanying that tune.

Oh. It was THAT tune. Even he could not deny that he felt a bit flustered. Both things making his chest feel tight were being presented at once, and he did not know how to react without embarrassing himself.

'Come on Justice! Open the door! You're already late. I'm fine!' He thought to himself as he quietly eased the door open.

You had been in the back room bringing out papers while singing, not noticing he had entered. You continued to sing the song, and it was driving the poor Apollo crazy. On one hand, it was so beautiful. Even though your voice was obviously not one of a professional's, hearing it from your lips in particular was breathtaking.

On the other hand, he did not want to scare, or possibly embarrass you so he waited until you set the papers down before he softly rapped on the door.

Your head whipped to the sound and all singing stopped. Your face was dusted pink, and thanks to Apollo's gift, he could see sweat forming on your brow and your eyes shift. He felt really guilty knowing he should have waited outside, and even more disappointed that you had stopped.

You had been staring into each other's eyes for what felt like an eternity- but not in the cheesy, romantic way like in those novels. The seranade audibly continued to play in the background. You could hear the clock ticking amplified in your erratic state.

Not wanting to prolong this further, you embarrassingly chuckle, however before you can brush it off you're interrupted by the loudest voice you've ever heard.

"WHEN YOU STOLE.. AWAY THE KEYSS ... MY HEART HELD ON TO SO TIIIIGHT"

Apollo had started singing. Your face was begunning to grow as red as hid suit. His face did not look any better, and he didn't look like he was going to stop anytime soon. If anything, it looked like he did not want to stop out of embarrassment. As his voice wavered slightly, you began to shout along with him.

"AND NOW, THROUGH THE AIR, I FLYYYYY"

---

As the serenade came to an end, there was a pause, and then you both began laughing. What else could you have done? You were so embarrassed, but his voice actually sounded pretty good. Who's genes did he inherit to have such a lovely sounding voice? Even slightly raspy from shouting, you could tell how nice it was. Oh, how you wanted to hear it again.

Before he could say anything further the phone began ringing. It seemed that your day was going to be even busier. Along with filling in for Apollo's tardiness, you had to file noise complaints from every single surrounding building.

[vedj-f-bekuesu]

So I’ve made a few posts analysing Rex Dangervest. That’s all fine and good because he does have a lot to analyse (it’s a very good film with a lot of emphasis on theming, it comes with the package). 

However, I don’t think I’ve done any in-depth stuff with the other LEGO Rex most people know after that, and my PFP, Rex Fury. It’s a shame because I think between Chase Begins and LCU, there is a nice arc to analyse with Rex, but because way more focus is given to Chase’s arc (because protagonist and all), Rex is often seen as this pretty flat brute. So, I’m going to be tracking his characterisation between Chase Begins and LCU and showing that he too had a shift in character, and one for the darker at that. 

Merry Little Troublemaker

In my last post related to Rex Fury, I drew comparison to Emmet in where his arc goes. That being said, I want to make clear that Rex and Emmet have very different start points; Emmet is a run-of-the-mill worker who ends up becoming a hero due to his inherent qualities prior to his turn. Rex Fury is a bad apple from the very beginning. LCU even explicitly states that Rex’s criminal career started when he was just six years old (although we’re only shown him winding up kid cops by taking their doughnuts). 

All we know after that is that Rex eventually worked his way up the criminal chain to be considered the biggest criminal in LEGO City, and he has been arrested at least once before the events of Chase Begins. Then again, is being top of the chain really that much of a big deal if the competition isn’t that threatening. As we’ll see later, most of the crime he actually commits is closer to the standard of a very persistent above average criminal. The best comparison I can think of right now is Daisy Kaboom from LEGO City Adventures; she’s certainly the main criminal figure but she’s only got a bit more competence on her side compared to her colleagues. 

A really important point I should cover at this point is Rex’s actual personality in Chase Begins. For a start, he’s very cocky and joyful, for lack of a better word. When he gets to meet Chase for the first time, it’s via a sneak attack when Chase shows up in the middle of Rex getting explosives for the main heist. But for most of it, he’s got an adorable happy little manner throughout. He’s even jokingly thanking Chase by the end of the conversation!

The notable exception to this is when Chase accidentally reveals that Natalia has been freed from her frozen state, which Rex presumably thought would be able to hold her until the heist was over. 

Him taking the information in and rethinking the plan over is the first bit of vulnerability Rex shows, and it’s right in front of Chase’s face as well.

Second of all, Rex displays implicit but still very-much-present altruism. For example, the escape from Albatross Island he does involves freeing pretty much every prisoner, and not all of them end up working on his plan later either. Amongst them were four other major criminals considered comparable in rank to Rex himself. Out of those, it’s not clear who was working on the plan with him for sure, but we know at least Flash Johnson must have been since he was part of the Apollo Island distraction efforts. On top of all this, he later entrusts the abduction of Natalia (the only instance in the series where Rex abducts Natalia himself) and the Mayor to Snake and Bruiser (lower goons) respectively, while he sorts out something else. Compared to later conduct, that’s a high level of respect. 

Finally, there’s the heist itself. The contentious and lethal part of Rex’s entire plan in the game is the use of dynamite on buildings. While in the real world that would be classed as a terrorist act probably, in LEGO terms that’s a pretty standard higher-level criminal thing (Daisy Kaboom, as hinted by the name, even specialises in it). Plus, as Deputy Dunby (yes, Dunby) realises, all of his actions (both the fires and the kidnapping) were intentional diversions, so if Rex banked on the police showing up to these places and saving the people trapped long enough to pull off the heist, he probably wasn’t intending for there to be loss of life. It’s a reckless plan, but not that malicious. 

The Snapping Point

So as the big heist goes on, Chase eventually manages to work past the distractions and reach Rex Fury himself as he’s robbing the bank. Here is where his trademark anger really starts to flare, but even in this angered state he’s not that terrible. He gets a chance to show off his strength when he goads Chase to approach him (although he doesn’t throw him that far, so I’d say at this point his strength was merely above average and not super strength), he sets a fire behind him to put a barrier between him and Chase (which is more dangerous to him than Chase), he uses his dynamite to destroy property and not directly on Chase, and he even gets a bit of a casual word in with his goons. 

After this, he is rightfully frustrated, which only heightens when Chase insults his education. They get into a fisticuffs on the stairs of the bank, which leads up to the only other bit of vulnerability Rex shows while coherent; 

He’s recovering from the blows to his body (because he definitely is much weaker than in LCU), and as a result he decides to flee, taking a nearby rubbish truck. When that gets stopped, he does another runner, but when you get on the same vehicle, he resorts to hiding behind a shield while his goons try to attack you and fire with a water cannon (his only form of retaliation being to shunt the shield). 

Chase manages to throw him off the truck in one throw, and upon landing he gets completely dazed, ending his plan once and for all. Dunby makes an easy arrest, Chase accidentally reveals Natalia is willing to testify against Rex while Rex looks on dazed still, all ends happy...according to Chase Begins. 

LCU recounts this moment a little longer, but what is clear is that somewhere in that moment, when the humiliation, the anger and the failure against a complete rookie finally seemed to sink in, something in Rex Fury just...snapped, and he was no longer the run-of-the-mill criminal who was content with reckless distractions. Presumably while Dunby was seeing Chase off, Rex tried to do another getaway. His first showing of the change wasn’t exactly the greatest, granted (a lawnmower, really? Must have still been a smidge dazed), but what is notable is that the subsequent final arrest for that incident had him able to hold against six officers. If he was only a bit stronger in Chase Begins, how did he achieve that? Simple; the same way Emmet was able to achieve momentary feats of great strength, by channelling his heightened anger.

The Monster of LEGO City

After this point, Rex changed in a variety of ways, even if he still kept his position as top baddie. For a start, instead of being held in the regular part of the prison, he was given his own cell secluded in the warden’s office, effectively acting as a permanent solitary confinement. Over time, Warden Stonewall took the position from Warden Fielding. Unlike Fielding, Stonewall was corrupt, so to make his time easier with Rex he allowed concessions to Rex (basically anything he wanted if he was able to negotiate for it, and even allowing him to have the tools for escape, although he couldn’t just let him free as this would compromise his position). This meant two things happened; 

1. He was able to build his strength. Much like Rex Dangervest, there’s solid evidence he had been following a kind of exercise regime with a punching bag and numerous dumbbells. This made the momentary burst of strength a permanent feature. 

2, The altruism was practically gone. Instead of letting all of the other prisoners out in a grand scheme, his escape was only for himself, leaving everyone else to stay rotting in the prison. In addition, during his stay he had started to manipulate others into sourcing certainly luxuries, only to renege on the deal and stiff them. This is a tactic he’d eventually play to Vinnie with practically all the stuff Vinnie retrieved, when sometime after his escape from Albatross Island he agreed to work for Forrest.

It’s important to note how differently he does his plan in regards to others even once he’s freed. Instead of speaking directly to his goons, most of the communication is done through walkie talkies and is very impersonal (the exception is right at the very end, but even then his talk to them is very direct, not playful). He’s more willing to speak in person to those more equal to his station, but with Vinnie this was to continue “negotiations” and reveal a new tool in his arsenal; coercion by force. As for Forrest, this was probably the lightest he behaved, but it was still very matter-of-fact...mostly. 

The third change, the one that had built up silently, is probably the most fundamental one of all; his mischievous, angry and reckless but ultimately still tame personality had been replaced with malice, hatred, cruelty and a thirst for revenge. Compare how he confronted Chase in Bluebell Mines in Chase Begins compared to the same confrontation in LCU. 

There is no sneak attack here, he confronts him to his face in the open. And when Chase tries to retaliate, he responds in kind with a punch to the face. It also leads to the only moment what can be considered straight-forward glee he has; being told about the truck that’s been secured from the LCPD (a feed to his need for revenge). This is cut short when he loses his temper with the goons on hand with the ice cream truck, a much lower tolerance for their antics here than in Chase Begins. 

Much later on, after Vinnie decides to (unwittingly) cross Rex’s boss, Rex begins to display how deplorable he’s really become when he orders his men to put Vinnie on ice, ironically being more outright gangster than mafia don Vinnie. Unlike with Natalia, there would be no way for Vinnie to eventually thaw out, so this was an explicit murder attempt (even if it may have been under orders from Forrest higher up). 

This borders on depravity when Chase infiltrates Rex’s secret base to find Rex detaining and torturing Henrik Kowalski. It’s true that Rex was not the only one guilty of torture in LCU, but when Chan did it, it was in response to Natalia trespassing to find his secrets, and for the utilitarian purpose of extracting information about why she was there and what she had found out, before keeping her restrained up a crane once he’d got what he wanted. Forrest told Rex in the scene prior that he’s already secured the leverage that would get Henrik to talk (aka Natalia), but not only is this in response to Rex being keen to do this by physically beating him, he still goes ahead with a different form of torture when it served no purpose to the scheme. At that point it was for his sick pleasure. Again, not too dissimilar to Rex Dangervest, who had Emmet to rights under the dryer already but went along to gloat and eventually torture him to twist the knife in. 

Also note that Rex had to be aware of what Forrest’s ultimate plan was when he was granted his own spacesuit and would have need to travel to Blackwell Tower right after the torture scene. Given his eye roll when Henrik explains that the original proposal would have caused the animals to die (he was shown to be somewhat of an animal lover in Chase Begins), his sneer in anticipation of Henrik being threatened with his daughter’s life and complete lack of response to Forrest concluding his message (to take Natalia to the ship), Rex is 100% complicit in homicide on a mass scale.

Way up in space, Rex shows off the only other time he shows more of his old spirit; bragging to Chase about how he was the one who got him the robot T-Rex (the one Rex was now going to use to try and kill Chase). After this point though, between Chase besting the robot and Forrest stabbing him in the back, he becomes consumed with anger. He doesn’t show vulnerability this time, he just rages in response to Forrest. Even after the unit explodes and he barely survives on the ruins, his only goal is to kill Chase. While he does elect to use a shield for a bit, when the thing comes down he tries to run Chase down, choke him and throw him off the edge, he doesn’t hide. Throwing bodies at him only dazes him, which would have ended his scheme in Chase Begins but is merely a minor setback here. Only when the unit is broken completely and Rex is left to fall to the planet does his plan come to a stop. For reference, even Rex Dangervest shows vulnerability right up until Emmet makes it clear that he refuses to go along with his plan after learning all the hurt he caused, making him go insane. It’s implied the same has effectively happened here (”Are you mad?! We’re plummeting to out doom!”).

He gets humiliated further when he lands in a toilet, but even with the toilet on his head and with handcuffs on, after falling through space, he had enough resistance left to give the two officers moving him a hard time. It’s unknown how his future would pan out from that point.

The last thing I want to cover is how this is symbolised by his clothing ware. The beginning of Chase Begins and LCU imply that Rex isn’t a stranger to being bare-chested, but it’s always been very temporary. When he first appears in person in Chase Begins, he wears full clothing; a vest and a domino mask. When Chase has angered Rex outside of the bank, he’s not wearing his domino mask, stripping a layer from his self. In the ending, he wears the domino mask again but it slips off, and the domino mask is never seen again. LCU then shows the vest for only a brief time before he spends the rest of the game (up to the space suit) bare-chested, this time making the exposure to his more raw side a permanent fixture. 

So there we go, an (over)analysis of Rex Fury and what elements make him so interesting to me. I think it helps he was given two games to work across. Plus, outside of all this, he’s entertaining as heck. 

[ladyadalicialove]

Me, says I will be on hiatus and probs won’t post anything cus exams and essays

Also me: procrastinating very hard

Don't mind me just salty about the new episode and what not...also I don’t want to finish my essay.

Anyway since Chat Blanc was basically fanservice that served no significant purpose to the plot of the show other than "what if" scenarios. I've decided to share some AUs to put some good wholesome content back into the fandom. 

Also I need to write these things down before I forget....

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Previous Holder is now your Babysistter AU

(I don’t have an actual name for it lmao suggestions?)

I’ve had this one in head for a couple of months now. The premise of this AU is the miraculous doesn't just come with the Kwami but a ghost/apparition of the previous holder. Unlike the kwami's they aren't what makes the suit or have any magical abilities. Rather they are just glorified babysitters, looking after and guiding the new holder the best they can. Some are some magical rules with them though:

Only the miraculous holder and thier Kwami can see them, when they are still in their civilian forms.

 They don’t disappear when the holder transform.

When other miraculous holders are transformed they can see other holder’s apparition, but when they undo the transformation they can no longer see them. 

The holders and kwamis can touch them as if they were real, but they phase through everything and everyone else.

I liked the idea of the holders prior to Marinette and Adrien being a pirate and a sailor who fell madly in love. They unfortunately died together and never had kids so when they came back as “mentors” for two lovesick teens they adopt them so quickly.

Adrien gets Captain Noir, the most ferocious and seductive pirate of the seven seas! And she absolutely adores Adrien and quickly assumes a motherly role in his life. The captain doesn’t like that he is alone in the mansion and gives every second of her attention to him. She calls him her "big kitten" and tries to ruin Gabriel's day every second she can. She also despises Nathalie but tolerates Gorilla.

Marinette gets Commander Bug, a stoic and ever so suave solider of his majesty's Royal Navy. He is very chill and helps Marinette to calm down when she starts acting up. Since he is a high ranking soldier, he often assists Marinette in creating strategies to defeat villains in both her hero and civilian life. Tbh he is a very reliable guy and very sweet. 

Honestly the two of them basically become parents to the two lovesick teens... and I imagine the story would literally be them ready to throw hands with Gabriel and Lila. Commander bug though ever so serious, meets Lila and immediately takes on the Captain Noir’s more... vulgar traits. 

Commander Bug: Hey Marinette *nudges her* Dead men tell no tales. 😎 *makes obscene gesture towards Lila*

Marinette: FOR THE LAST TIME IM NOT MURDERING LILA

Tikki: no wait maybe he has a point

Captain Noir: Ye really need to scupper that deadbeat father of yours off the side of this building. Hey Plagg, do ye think I can take custody of Adrien??

Adrien: I’m not throwing my father off the building!! He can be nice!!

Captain Noir: Oh no ye have Stockholm syndrome... maybe I can cure it with some rum?? That always helped the new sailors who were home sick! 😱

Adrien: oh my god I’m only fourteen 😦

Plagg: *laughing hysterically* at least you can drink your woes away!!! 😂🤣

And yes they both like the Couffaines mainly because they live on a boat. 

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The Mythical Miraculous AU:

I wrote and planned this one before it was revealed there are multiple miraculous boxes. So in this universe let’s just say that the events of feast never happened. Prior to the “episode” Fu relinquishes guardianship and loses his memories. Let’s say there is no sentimonster that caused the downfall of the monks but rather Fu causing the temple to burn down another way. How? Maybe he left a torch unsupervised and burned the place down. Why? Idk that’s just how it’s happening now.

Anyway this AU stemmed from doing so many OC drawing requests in January. And I created seven miraculous OC's whose kwamis/concept are based on the seven virtues. They are also all based on mythical creatures.

In the story I imagined that Marinette is 17 and was giving guardianship over the miracle box some time ago. One day while messing around with it, she discovers that underneath the ying and yang centre piece there was cyclinder compartment that contained a parchment. Unrolling it had printed on it six locations along with the name of the miraculous associated.

Tikki informs her of the seven miraculous that were created as backups if the the miracle box or miraculous’ were ever stolen, lost, destroyed etc. Basically the last resort. Thus they needed to be kept out of the miracle box and in the world and always ready to defend. Hence they were given to families across Europe/Asia who promised their loyalties to the miraculous cause. 

Marinette decides since it’s summer break and she isn’t busy, to find each of them and get them to help in the fight against Hawkmoth. Tikki just rolls with it.

In no particular order these are the mythical miraculous and their holders:

London, UK ~ The Unicorn and Pegasus Miraculous of Kindness and Humility: They are currently owned by 12 year old British Twins, Iris and Ivy. They come from a rich family and only recently acquired the miraculous from their father and uncle. Ivy is all about sports and is extremely athletic, Iris prefers to read and paint. Apollo is Ivy’s kwami and he is a white unicorn, and Artemis is Iris’ kwami and is a black pegasus. The miraculous are anklets. 

Sovana - Tuscany, Italy ~ The Ogre Miraculous of Charity: Currently owned by Raphael, a 21 year old Italian guy studying Archaeology. He lives out in the Italian countryside with his parents and many siblings, he has a big family who owns a huge block of farmland. He is super kind and very charitable and received his miraculous from his Nonna. Orc is Raphael’s kwami and he is a selfish little bastard but he is huggable. The miraculous is a belt buckle.

Nice, Paris ~ The Pooka Miraculous of Diligence: Currently owned by Colette, a 25 year old French girl who is busy teaching six year olds, she doesn’t have any family as she was orphaned as an infant. She has always had her miraculous as she was left at the orphanage with it. She was unfortunately never adopted out, but she is extremely motivated individual with big dreams. Cinna is Colette’s kwami, she is quite lazy and often called Cinna-bun. The miraculous is a hair clip.

Kazan, Russia ~ The Phoenix Miraculous of Chastity/Abstinence: Currently owned by Orion, a flamboyant and arrogant 30 year old. He is extremely beautiful and a very proud man, and most would think he is a bit of a f*ckboi but nope. He is just saving himself for the right person. His father gifted him the miraculous when he was 15. Newborn is Orion’s kwami, and she is little b*tch and very stuck up. The miraculous is an armband.

Nazareth, Israel ~ The Griffin Miraculous of Patience: Currently owned by Nevaeh, a 16 year old revolutionist and active feminist. She has big ideas and big dreams that she hopes with enough dedication and patience she can achieve. Unlike the others, she received the miraculous from her dying neighbour, who was an old man in his nineties who had no children. Nevaeh may not be an intended holder but she is a brilliant one! Constance is Navaeh’s kwami, she is extremely wise and a soft speaker. The miraculous is a thumb ring. 

Seoul, Korea ~ The Sea Serpent Miraculous of Temperance: Currently owned by 19 year old aspiring pop singer Levi. Levi is extremely shy and laid back, he tends to be soft-spoken and polite.Often he dreams of being an Idol but his shy personality isn’t doing him any favours. His older brother was originally the miraculous holder but instead of accepting any potential responsibility he dumped it onto him. It was originally gifted to his brother by their mother. Sai is Levi’s kwami, he is extremely skittish and is just riddled with anxiety over the belief of the world ending. He is a bit of a conspiracy theorist. The miraculous is a fin pendant necklace.

Of course Marinette in three months convinces them all to go to Paris and stay there until the defeat of Hawkmoth. 

During her travels and time with them, she unravels the mysterious of these seven miraculous and their history. What are their abilities? Why do they specifically correlate with the seven virtues? How powerful are they? 

Ivy and Iris stemming from a rich family, rent out a lovely penthouse for the seven of them in Paris. Colette decides to be the legal guardian of the minors since she actually is French. Orion decides he is gonna be a dick. The rest are there for a good time and to kick a buterrfly's butt. And thus ensue chaos, pranks, romance and a whole lotta arguing. 

I can only imagine all the kwami’s and Marinette sitting, drinking green tea while watching these seven holders become absolute hooligans.

I already drew up concept art of them but they are not good sketches so yeah maybe I will show you guys another time.

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Idk why I think this but I just figured everyone would hate AUs like this so I don’t bother posting these ideas especially if they are not fleshed out. I have so many but these are my most promising ones. 

The previous holder AU is one of my favourites because I had Captain Noir and Commander Bug’s story in my head forever. I love me some pirates. I know their whole miraculous story, like how they fell in love and why she became a pirate etc. The part where they become ghost mentors is a fairly new addition, been rolling it around for a month now and it is 100% caused by the shitty parenting via la agreste.  

The mythical miraculous one is extremely fun for me, but it was one of those AUs were I believed no one would like it so....yeah enjoy it?

If you wanna know more about each one send me an ask or send names suggestions!!

[hazyheel]

WWE Summerslam 2019 Review

So before I get into the show, I am going to try something new on some of these reviews. Sometimes I watch the big shows with my girlfriend, who will now be referred to as HazyHannah, and she wanted me to throw in some of her comments. So at the end of each grade section, imma write down some things that she said during the match. If you want to check out her blog, it is @hanster36. 

Drew Gulak vs. Oney Lorcan for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship: This was the first match of the kickoff show, which was disappointing to see, but something had to be in this spot. Gulak started out with a vicious shotgun dropkick, but the two mat technicians naturally went hold for hold right after that. Lorcan was actually keeping up with Gulak, so he issued a vicious slam right afterwards, then moving back into some holds. Lorcan didn’t actually regain the advantage until he took things to the outside for a hard hitting brawl. Lorcan then rolled Gulak back into the ring, only for Gulak to lock in the Gulock for a quick submission sequence. They then started with a striking contest, which Gulak won with a vicious series of slaps, finishing off by locking in the Gulock, but Lorcan rolled through for a very near fall. Lorcan then picked up Gulak and dealt several slaps and European uppercuts. Lorcan tried to hit the Half and Half Suplex, but Gulak held onto the ring skirt. As the ref went to put it back in place, Gulak nailed Lorcan with a right to the throat, and then a Cyclone Crash for the win. 

Grade: B-. Pretty good match. They are very similar wrestlers so they blended together quite well. The two ripped into each other with vicious strikes, and Lorcan only got madder and madder as the match went on, as he usually does. He was overwhelming Gulak, so Gulak had to bend the rules a bit to get the win. He didn’t outright cheat, but this was far from an honest victory. Interesting to see where this goes. 

Apollo Crews vs. Buddy Murphy: finally, Murphy’s debut match. This should have happened months ago, on TV. Murphy started with an awesome high knee for a near fall right out of the gate. He continued to follow up with various stiff kicks and strikes to a grounded Crews. Crews fought back a bit and they had some back and forth. At one point, Murphy went for a crossbody off the middle rope, but Crews countered with a samoan drop, followed by a moonsault for a near fall. The two continued to fight, and Murphy was able to nail a cheeky nandos kick in the corner, followed by a powerbomb for a near fall. The two then continued to fight on the outside. Murphy then threw Crews into the barricade and followed up with a tope con hilo. After Murphy threw Crews back into the ring, Rowan ran in from behind and started to beat Murphy down. Murphy won the match by disqualification. 

Rowan threw Murphy all around ringside, and wiped him out with a running crossbody. He finished it off with a powerbomb into the ring post. 

Grade: C+. The two were actually having a pretty good match here. Crews is a great striker just like Murphy, with just enough flying between the two of them to have an exciting contest for the pre show. However, the finish was not good. Yes, Murphy won, but he looked weak in his victory. And in his first match, he was beaten down ridiculously afterwards. He was not able to really get over because of it, and I really didn’t like that booking. But I won’t lower it too much because their match was decent. More time would have done them good. 

Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross vs. The IIconics for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships: I’m glad that these belts actually got on the card. They deserve better than the pre-show, but they need to be built up a bit more before they can hit the main show. Bliss was dressed as Buzz Lightyear ring gear, which for some reason pissed off Corey Graves to no end. It seems like Bliss is going face after winning these belts, which is certainly interesting. Saxton was defending Cross too, this is an odd switch of character. At one point, Bliss was yelling at Peyton Royce on the outside, and then turned right around into a big boot from Billy Cay for a near fall. Royce followed it up with a really nice shinbreaker for a near fall, and threw a tantrum after. She went to continue the assault, but Bliss floored her with a strike to the jaw. She went up for Twisted Bliss, only for Cay to try and pull her off the top rope. Cross yanked Cay off the apron, and Bliss hit Twisted Bliss to retain. 

Grade: D. This sucked. The IIconics are just bad. I’m glad they lost the belts. Bliss and Cross have yet to really impress me, but they were not what I disliked about this. The IIconics aren’t very good, and the sudden change in opinion from the commentators was very odd. It was about half way through the match when Graves started to talk about how he hates that Bliss went soft. That makes sense, but her liking Disney is no reason to start hating her. 

Becky Lynch vs. Natalya in a submission match for the Raw Women’s Championship: Nattie came out second because she is from Canada, which is more important than the belt. Naturally, they started with a couple slaps to the face, but Lynch quickly unloaded on her in the corner. Lynch locked in a triangle quickly, but Nattie rolled them to the outside and started to assault the legs. Nattie then gave her a snap vertical suplex, which her leg snapping into the ropes. At one point, Natalya wrapped Lynch’s legs in a sharpshooter on the top rope for a great visual. The only way that Lynch could escape was by falling to the outside. At first I didn’t like that a submission match didn’t have countouts or DQ’s, but it certainly improved the match. At one point, Lynch caught Nattie out of a basement dropkick, and Lynch locked in a sharpshooter of her own. After escaping, Nattie locked in a disarmer, turning the tables and dragging Lynch back into the middle of the ring. As Lynch tried to reverse into her own hold, Nattie had a great reversal into a sharpshooter for an intense submission sequence, where Lynch had to slide out of the ring to escape. Lynch slid back in and locked in the Disarmer for the win.

Grade: B. Pretty good technical exchange to open up the card. Meticulous holds, some nice limb work, just a solid match. The finish was not very dramatic, especially after a much better submission sequence with Nattie in control, but it was certainly the right outcome. The crowd was behind Natalya a lot during this match, so there was a hot atmosphere. It got everyone pumped up, so there was certainly nothing to complain about. HazyHannah (my girlfriend) says: Nattie is a dumb nickname. 

Backstage, Trish Stratus was interviewed, and she said that although she is feeling the pressure, that is when she thrives. She said that tonight, she will prove that those who paved the way for the women’s evolution are just as good as the women of today. Stratus declared herself the Queen of Queens, and left. 

Dolph Ziggler vs. Goldberg: Ziggler cut a promo, saying that he is the best thing in pro wrestling today. He said that Goldberg fears Ziggler, and Goldberg’s music cut him off. He did not whack his head on the door this time around. The two squared off right away, and Ziggler hit a quick superkick, but Goldberg kicked out at one. Ziggler nailed another, and another kickout at one. Goldberg speared Ziggler out of his shoes, and gave him the jackhammer for the win.

After the match, Ziggler got on the mic and called Goldberg a dipshit and said that he hits like a baby. He told Goldberg to fight him like a man. Golderg walked back to the ring, before Ziggler even got back to his feet. He gave him another spear, and another great sell. Ziggler got on the mic again after Goldberg left, and said that anyone can get lucky twice, and said that he didn’t have balls. He called Goldberg a laughingstock, and said that he will never stay down. When Goldberg got in the ring, he threw the mic away, helped him up, and gave him another wicked spear. 

Grade: B+. Everything I wanted it to be. Less than a minute. Wonderful. Above average squash match and Ziggler sold like he was a limp corpse. The extra attacks where what bumped this up to a B+. This was really really fun to see, and even though a legend shouldn’t beat a full time guy, this was an exception. Just some fun stuff. I loved it. HazyHannah says: match of the night. This could have gone on for the rest of the night and I would have been fine with it. “Anyone can get lucky THREE times.”

Before the next match, they showed the international commentators, and they showed the british announce team. It was Carmella and R-Truth, trying to hide. They had an awful accent and it was awesome. Drake Maverick showed up to try to get the pin, but they ran before he got there. Funny stuff, it was nice to see. 

AJ Styles vs. Ricochet for the WWE United States Championship: Ricochet was out in a full jumpsuit, looking like a biker Batman. Ricochet quickly used the OC out at ringside to his advantage, jumping off of them to hit Styles with a flying hurricanrana. Styles quickly got the advantage, and started to take out Ricochet’s base. Ricochet sold the leg like really well, even selling it when he hit his offense. At one point, Ricochet went for a springboard forearm, but only used one leg and got a near fall out of it. Several times as Ricochet went for his high impact offense, his knee buckled out from under him and he couldn’t continue. Styles capitalized on this and locked it a Calf Crusher, but Ricochet quickly transitioned into an Anaconda Vice. Ricochet took the advantage, and he had to fight off Anderson and Gallows on the outside, and Ricochet went for a twisting 450 splash, but Styles caught him in the air and transitioned into a Styles Clash for the win. It was an awesome finish. 

After the match, the OC hit Ricochet with a Magic Killer and gave a Too Sweet. 

Grade: B+. Good stuff from these two, good selling from Ricochet. They had a nice strike based match that was interlaid with some great leg work. Still probably not the best that they can do, but it was fun. That finishing spot was badass too. Really good stuff, but still not as good as I expected. HazyHannah says: Ricochet looked like a robot, and they hid his gorgeous muscles. When a man has that much muscles, you let ‘em pop.

Backstage again, we saw the Street Profits putting over Summerslam and Toronto. As they were talking, Ric Flair came up and they started to dance around with him and wooed a whole bunch. It was cute. 

Bayley vs. Ember Moon for the Smackdown Women’s Championship. The two started with a bit of grappling before getting into some nice striking. Bayley worked over Moon’s neck and back with various suplexes. Bayley even locked in a weird reverse boston crab, which looked painful but odd. Moon was able to fight back with some of her very interesting offense, kipping up for a hurricanrana and then a superkick. But when she went for a suicide dive, Bayley countered with a stiff strike to the face. Bayley tried to capitalize with a superplex, but Moon nailed a super hurricanrana, and then a spinout codebreaker for a near fall. Bayley won a bit out of nowhere, with a Bayley to belly off the top for the win.

Grade: B-. They had some good interactions, but it felt like they just started to go from move to move randomly, without much story or reason. Moon looked good though, and got a big pop during one of her near falls. So people like her a lot, she could be big. But it makes sense that Bayley won, this isn’t quite the match where it is her place to lose. I hope they do more with moon in the future, because she is great. HazyHannah says: Ember Moon looks like someone’s first D&D character. 

Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon, if Owens loses then he quits: Before the match started, Shane got on the mic and called out Elias as the special guest enforcer. Shane rolled out of the ring right away, and Elias prevented Owens from attacking him. Eventually Shane got the first hit, and the two teed off on each other in the corner. At one point, Owens went to attack Shane on the outside, but Elias distracted him and allowed Shane to chuck him off and into the barricade. At one point, Shane tried to go for a Sharpshooter, but Owens pushed him away and nailed a pop up powerbomb, but Elias hopped on the apron and made sure the ref couldn’t count. Elias then threw a chair in the ring, which Owens nearly used, but opted not to. Shane then accidentally nailed Elias with a forearm, so Owens nailed a superkick, aa swanton bomb and a frog splash, but Elias pulled the ref out of the ring and stopped the count. Owens then gave Elias a cannonball off the apron, hitting both Elias and the ref. Owens opted to beat down Elias with a chair while the ref was down, taking him out of the equation. The ref got back in the ring and threw the chair away, so Owens gave Shane a low blow and a stunner for the win.

Grade: C. The overbooking of this match made it better than expected, but it still wasn’t very good. Fun to see some comeuppance. The low blow was satisfying. But this was just fun enough to be okay. HazyHannah says: I just don’t really care about this one. 

Charlotte Flair vs. Trish Stratus: the two started with a classic staredown, but Trish came out swinging with a Thesz press. Charlotte quickly gained control by throwing her into the apron. Stratus was very much overwhelmed in this match. at one point she was hit with a big boot off the apron. Charlotte then held the ring ropes open, and then ambushed her as she entered. She was constantly jaw jacking with Stratus, who would constantly get too frustrated and get a couple shots in. At one point, the two battled on the top rope, and Charlotte nearly landed a super powerbomb, but Stratus countered with a hurricanrana for a near fall. Flair targeted the leg afterwards, giving Stratus a bit more respect. Stratus then locked in a figure four of her own to a huge pop. She even bridged into the figure 8, prompting Corey Graves to say “it’s not fair to flair.” Stratus then hit Stratusfaction, but Charlotte still kicked out. Stratus then tried to keep fighting, but Charlotte put her down with a big boot, and locked in the figure 8 for the win.

Grade: B+. This was quite a solid match. Stratus delivered a much better match than a lot of people expected, and I think that she could have another run in WWE if she wanted to. Charlotte was awesome here, playing up the “legend not good enough” angle. Her trash talking was great, and the second that she realized that Stratus was dangerous, Charlotte got serious and put her down. Good story and a good match. HazyHannah says: why do they have to wear extensions? Just let them put their hair up. Vince is a disgusting old man who loves blondes.

Backstage, Bret Hart gave Seth Rollins some encouragement. 

Kofi Kingston vs. Randy Orton for the WWE Championship: As the match started Orton tried to give Kingston a pancake, but Kofi was not having the disrespect. Orton tried to push the champion, but Kingston was not just going to take that. He pushed right back and stood up to his old enemy. Early on, Orton pushed Kingston off the top and sent him flying into the barricade. Orton then slowed the pace down attacked each limb. Kofi fought back, giving Orton a boom drop and calling him stupid a bunch. Kingston then tried for trouble in paradise, but Orton caught him and gave him a brutal neckbreaker. on the outside, Kingston gave Orton an awesome flying clothesline to the outside, but he didn’t keep control for long. Orton gave him a hangman’s DDT, and tried for an RKO, but Kofi fought out. Kingston pushed him away and went for a splash, but Orton caught him with an RKO, but Kingston rolled to the outside. Orton then followed him to the outside and went to embarrass him in front of his kids, but Kofi fought back with a flurry of strikes. Then ref called for the bell for a double countout, ending the match in a stupid and BS way, which the crowd definitely agreed with. 

Kingston destroyed him with kendo stick shots to the back. He shattered the stick, and every time he hit Orton, the crowd chanted stupid. 

Grade: D+. This wasn’t too exciting. The action was slow, they didn’t incorporate the story into the match at all, and the ending was dumb and unnecessary.  Kingston should have won and just finished the feud. Summerslam is a place to cap things off, not start new things. This feud didn’t need to continue, but now it well. Not a good match. HazyHannah says: I fucking hate Orton. He is so boring. When they called him a brick wall, it is only because he has no personality or charisma. He has cool tattoos though. 

Finn Balor vs. The Fiend: Wyatt’s entrance was awesome, it was creepy as all hell. He had a lantern in a severed head, and a remixed version of his music. It started with the firefly funhouse but slowly morphed into the darker fiend color scheme, with “Let Me In” showing up word by word on the titantron. He was getting Holy Shit chants the second that he got in the ring. The Fiend changed up his mannerisms to be creepier and more sadistic, and was powering him all around the ring. He delivered wicked strikes to his head, neck and back. He nearly hit sister abigail, but Balor fought out of it with some quick strikes and attacks. Finn went to the top for the Coup de Gras, but the Fiend caught him in the mandible claw and got the pin.

After the match, the lights went out and The Fiend was illuminated with strobe lights, and then he was gone, leaving Balor alone in the ring. 

Grade: B-. A perfectly cool squash match. Exactly what it needed to be. It was creepy, showcased a new cool character, and got over with the crowd right away. Now we just need to see how the book the Fiend from here. I hope he isn’t wrestling every week on TV, because he needs a mystique around him. Keep up the firefly funhouse stuff, and let him be cool for a while, at least until he has a story that he needs to lose in. HazyHannah says: Finn looks like he is wearing a diaper. It is really distracting. But it’s a good thing he is wearing one, cuz the Fiend probably made him piss his pants. 

Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins for the WWE Universal Championship: Rollins came out with his ribs taped up. Lesnar targeted the ribs, and Rollins sold like he was shot every time. Early on Lesnar went for a German suplex, but Rollins flipped out of it and nailed the curb stomp for a near fall. Rollins then nailed a flying knee, a pair of superkicks, but was caught in an F5 when he went for the curb stomp. Lesnar then picked Rollins up by the wrapping on his ribs and threw him across the ring. Lesnar kept control for a long time, delivering loads of German suplexes. He tried to give Rollins an F5 into the ring post, but Rollins slipped out and shoved him into it. Rollins tried to keep it up, but Lesnar continued with the German suplexes. He even busted out a bear hug to continue the attack on the ribs. Rollins fought back into it and delivered a pair of suicide dives, but Brock caught him on the third and ran him into the ringpost. Lesnar then went for a move through the table, but Seth countered and got him on the table with a superkick, giving him a huge frog splash through it. He and Lesnar got back in the ring, so Lesnar nailed him with another frog splash, and hit a Curb Stomp for yet another near fall. Rollins then went for the curb stomp again, but Lesnar got him up for an F5. Rollins slipped out and nailed another superkick, finishing the match with a Curb Stomp. 

Grade: A-. This was a really good match. They had a lot of big spots that were mixed in with working over Rollins’ ribs, and they did a really good job of convincing us that Rollins couldn’t win this. He was doing a great job of being in peril, and it made for a great match. Awesome selling from both guys, and Rollins once again overcame the odds. Match of the night. HazyHannah says: this is the best match of the night and it’s only been 5 minutes. 

Overall Grade: B-

Predictions: 9/10. Although the finish of the WWE Championship was dumb.

Pros: Nattie vs. Lynch; goldberg squash; style vs. ricochet; charlotte vs. stratus; fiend debut; main event

Cons: owens vs. shane; kingston vs. orton

[saccarinepasserine]

life with ossa 1/27/18

i know that it’s not the 27th, but i wanted to chronicle the happenings of yesterday.

upon discovering generalwitchery’s blog and posts on godphoning, i felt a strong tug in my heart and decided i wanted to do it. so, i pulled out pendragon and my pendulum board and began to ask things like “are there any gods who want to speak with me?” and “can i talk to apollo?”, things like that. in retrospect, the first question is probably what brought this all about. anyway, things were okay for a few minutes until pen started getting kinks in his chain repeatedly, which never happens. maybe once or twice, but rarely so often that it actually hinders him and confuses what he’s trying to tell me. so, since i’m very attached to pen and can feel his spirit and personality, i began to get very worried for him. he’s usually very cut and dry, rarely gives me problems or unclear answers, so this was really strange and distressing.

eventually, i decided to give him a break and close him in my grimoire (where my pendulum board is) and let him rest there while i ask around for advice. people told me that by trying to communicate with deities, i also basically left the spiritual door open for negative things to wander into my room. when pen started acting up, i felt a certain... energy. i’d felt it before, when there had been a malevolent spirit in my room, so i was a little stressed out. after talking to a few people, we all agreed that i needed to be far more careful than i had been, and i decided to try and talk to pen. however, he was still being erratic and unclear with his answers, his chain didn’t kink as much but it still kinked an abnormal amount. so, i decided to let him rest and i hung up back up in his spot above my bed.

with pendragon acting up and my accidentally opening a spiritual door, i knew there was some spirit in my room. i texted my friend (who’s not a witch, but his mother practices santeria and he’s supportive of my pagan endeavours etc) and i told him that i felt strange, uneasy as i had when there was a spirit in my room a few weeks ago. i decided that i would use another pendulum i made a little while ago to see if there really was something unwelcome in my space. the pendulum i used is named penelope, and she’s a cute little clear quartz beauty with an olive green string. first and foremost, i asked if there was a spirit in my room. she gave a strong yes, which only further confirmed my suspicions. although, when i asked her if it was a bad spirit, she said no, and i shouldn’t get rid of it. i asked her again, just to be sure, and she gave me a different answer. she said it was bad, but i shouldn’t get rid of it still.

this, clearly, was very confusing. it’s good and bad? ambivalent? will it hurt me? i discovered there and then that penelope, sweet as she is, is quite the airhead. i asked what letter the spirit’s name started with, and she said the letter o. i told my friend, and he suggested i ask penelope if o was greek, considering i had attempted to contact apollo not long before. so, i asked if the spirit was hellenistic. penelope swung at a strange angle that didn’t actually mean anything both times that i asked if the spirit was hellenistic. i dumbed it down for her and asked if the spirit was greek, and she immediately gave me a strong yes. i relayed this information to my friend, and he said that it may be the spirit of rumours and gossip, ossa. so, i asked! ask and ye shall receive, right? and much to my confusion, it was ossa.

i could feel her mischievous air before i even knew it was her. i saw her with black hair, impish features, pale skin, and a blue tank top. i didn’t see see her, not with my eyes, but an image appeared in my mind. she was smirking at me, staring me down when i wasn’t asking her questions. it was unnerving, having an ancient spirit just... looking at you. i could feel her staring at me when i wasn’t talking to her, she wanted my attention very badly. i asked her if she preferred ossa to her other name, pheme, and she said yes, so that’s what i decided to call her. she said she wanted something from me, and that’s where i hit a roadblock. at that point, we’d been communicating through pendulum, so i didn’t know how to ask her what she wanted. i usually only use my playing cards as a last resort, but... that’s what it was! a last resort! i had no other way to communicate with her in detail. before i got out my cards, i asked if zeus had anything for me since she’s a messanger of his, but she said no.

so i pulled out that pack of red bicycle cards and shuffled. the first card i pulled was a four of hearts, which indicates a change in home or business, or travel. this, admittedly, didn’t make sense to me at first, considering i had asked what she wanted from me. i thought she wanted me to change my home or business, or travel somewhere. so i pulled again, this time pulling the queen of hearts. i pull from the heart suit a lot when speaking to ossa, and i feel like that’s a good sign that she actually likes me, since that suit is a very gentle and loving sort of suit. queen of hearts indicates helpful advice, affection, things like that. most importantly, though, it indicates a maternal figure. when reading over my notes, as soon as i read those words, it was almost like a flash bang of emotion, as if that’s exactly what ossa had been trying to convey. i then realised that she didn’t want me to travel or change my home, but she wanted to travel or change her home herself. as of today, the day after all of this, i’m still unsure as to whether or not she’s actually living in my room now or just stopping by.

immediately i jumped back to my pendulum and asked for clarification. she said yes, she really did want to be my mother. i was... flattered, but mostly dumbfounded. why me? what drew her to me? was this the thing she’d wanted from me? i pulled another card, the 6 of clubs, when i asked why she had chosen me. financial aid or success? she wants me to be successful? that’s maternal if i’d ever heard it! i asked around once more, and someone told me she may be asking me to worship her. i considered it, but the feelings i got from her were different than what i had from apollo, so i disregarded the idea.

this was around the time i posted about everything on here. i spent hours talking to her yesterday, trying to figure out what was going on. the lovely witchy-shastastaffor offered me a tarot reading, which was extremely helpful! i’m pretty confident in my pendulum skills, but not so confident in my cartomancy. right before she gave me the reading, i asked ossa why she was in my room. i pulled the eight of hearts... an unexpected visit. great, very helpful ossa. however, witchy-shastastaffor’s reading confirmed everything i thought i knew, but wasn’t sure about. our relationship, mine and ossa’s i mean, is mother/son, and my success will benefit her as much as it will benefit me. so it’s nice to know she has a genuine interest in me! i’m excited to get to know her better.

that’s the long and short of it, really! if anything happens today, i’m sure the post won’t be so lengthy lmao

[placetobenation]

What better way to celebrate Valentine’s Day than with a little vengeance, right?

NXT takes over the PPV landscape Sunday night with its latest edition of TakeOver: Vengeance Day, highlighted by the NXT Championship match between Finn Balor and Pete Dunne. That alone should be worth the price of admission and maybe we’ll get Edge standing by as an interested bystander. But, in addition, they’ll crown the winners of both men’s and women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic plus Johnny Gargano defending his North American Championship against KUSHIDA which could steal the show. That is of course, unless Io Shirai doesn’t steal it first!

We know the card will deliver as it always does! Less is always more as far as the number of matches when it comes to NXT. Gives it room to breathe.

Just think about it, it’s a card that’s without Karrion Kross, The Undisputed Era, Tommaso Ciampa, Timothy Thatcher, Candice LeRae and the tag team champions, Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan, among others.

NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day – Updated Card

Dusty Rhodes Men’s Tag Team Classic Finals: Grizzled Young Veterans vs. MSK

Dusty Rhodes Women’s Tag Team Classic Finals: Ember Moon & Shotzi Blackheart vs. Dakota Kai & Raquel Gonzalez

NXT North American Championship Match: Johnny Gargano vs. KUSHIDA

NXT Championship Match: Finn Balor vs. Pete Dunne

NXT Women’s Championship Triple Threat Match: Io Shirai vs. Toni Storm vs. Mercedes Martinez

Star of the week:

WWE's Nia Jax trends on Twitter after screaming 'my hole!' during match https://t.co/15cdcHNT9H pic.twitter.com/Q4fMI6T4h4

— New York Post (@nypost) February 9, 2021

Nia Jax – No, not for being the best, but for being one of the best moments on WWE television this week. It was a moment more memorable than anything Jax has done in the ring in months.

RAW

RESULTS

AJ Styles defeated Jeff Hardy

The New Day defeated RETRIBUTION (T-BAR & SLAPJACK)

Lacey Evans defeated Charlotte Flair by DQ to win RAW Women’s Championship Match vs. Asuka

Damian Priest defeated Angel Garza

Keith Lee defeated Riddle

Tables Match: Lana defeated Nia Jax

Naomi defeated Shayna Baszler

Non-title WWE Championship Match: Drew McIntyre vs. Randy Orton ended in no-contest

Welcome to the WHY edition of Monday night RAW.

Why did we need Shane McMahon out to help Adam Pearce announce that Drew McIntyre would defend his WWE Championship inside the Elimination Chamber against Sheamus, AJ Styles, Jeff Hardy, Randy Orton and The Miz?

"I think at a different level than you. You're content with being awesome? I'm not. Did that 20 years ago … I NEED to be champion!" – @EdgeRatedR to @mikethemiz #WWERaw pic.twitter.com/aqqyFRmjeJ

— WWE (@WWE) February 9, 2021

Why is Edge so damn good? Rhetorical question as he now waits until after Elimination Chamber to make his WrestleMania decision. Edge schooling The Miz was priceless and on point!

The Queen has SNAPPED, forcing this match into a DQ!#WWERaw @MsCharlotteWWE @LaceyEvansWWE @RicFlairNatrBoy pic.twitter.com/rov45KVOkz

— WWE (@WWE) February 9, 2021

Why did we need another DQ finish? This time with Charlotte Flair beating up Lacey Evans, giving Evans a title shot against Asuka. Not sure that helped anyone out there.

Why is Angel Garza being wasted in a squash match against Damian Priest? And why does Priest need Bad Bunny with the distraction to beat him? That of course, is another rhetorical question. Excellent piece of business right there for sport entertainment.

Dialing 1-800-HURT BIZ!#WWERaw @fightbobby @RealKeithLee pic.twitter.com/uwUlceEFJV

— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) February 9, 2021

Why is the WWE so transparent putting Keith Lee up against Riddle when we know it’s only going to lead to a triple threat match against Bobby Lashley for the US Title? Storyline aside, Lee vs. Riddle was very good.

Why did we get no build-up to a tables match between Lana and Nia Jax? Yes, they should’ve had the match, but give me at least some time to make it worthwhile.

Why haven’t we been giving a “Oh, my hole!” t-shirt from Nia Jax and why does the WWE feel the need to edit that amazing moment, trending Worldwide, out of the RAW replays? Use it my friends! It actually made Jax entertaining for a moment and made her our star for the week. At least they made amends Friday night!

Payback!

#WWERaw @DMcIntyreWWE @RandyOrton @WWESheamus pic.twitter.com/NGR5b6Qwd7

— WWE (@WWE) February 9, 2021

Why do we need yet another no-contest in a RAW main event? This time McIntyre vs. Orton goes nowhere with Sheamus’ predictable interference.

Why is there no Miss Alexa Bliss?

In the end, RAW could’ve been a very entertaining show if not for some missteps.

NXT

RESULTS

Dusty Rhodes Men’s Tag Team Classic Semifinals: MSK defeated Legado del Fantasma

Xia Li defeated Kora Jade

Dusty Rhodes Women’s Tag Team Classic Semifinals: Ember Moon & Shotzi Blackheart defeated Candice LeRae & Indi Hartwell

KUSHIDA defeated Austin Theory by DQ

Dusty Rhodes Men’s Tag Team Classic Semifinals: The Grizzled Young Veterans defeated Tommaso Ciampa & Timothy Thatcher

Our favorite move is back, y'all… and this time it's off the ring apron!!!

#WWENXT #DustyClassic @joaquinwilde_ @NashCarterWWE @RaulMendozaWWE @WesLee_WWE pic.twitter.com/9yNx7LXdhu

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) February 11, 2021

Is it time for MSK to make their way to the top of the NXT tag team title scene? They’re just one step away now with a Dusty Rhodes Classic finals appearance!

Talk about The WAY to NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day!

IT'S A MIRACLE!!! …or not. Tough break, Johnny Wheelchair. #WWENXT @KUSHIDA_0904 @JohnnyGargano pic.twitter.com/5Q4GbkcLDv

— WWE (@WWE) February 11, 2021

Johnny Gargano first tried to weasel his way out of the NXT North American Championship Match with a fake broken arm diagnosis that William Regal saw right there. With Candice LeRae, Indi Hartwell, Austin Theory and of course, KUSHIDA, the segment was pure gold! Then, Gargano tried to payback KUSHIDA with a cheap shot in his match with Theory, only to be held at bay in an armbar by KUSHIDA and Dexter Lumis.

As for LeRae, she and Hartwell fell short to Ember Moon & Shotzi Blackheart in getting to the Dusty Rhodes Women’s Tag Team Classic Finals. Now, it’s Blackheart & Moon taking on Dakota Kai & Raquel Gonzalez for the Dusty Cup and a future WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship match.

Do not disobey Tian Sha. #WWENXT @Bigboawwe pic.twitter.com/vE8x5Ir93Q

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) February 11, 2021

The aura surrounding Xia Li, Boa and Tian Sha has Kacy Catanzaro & Kayden Carter as interested bystanders. Supportive friends are now turned into foes. A curious angle gets better and better with Li becoming more of a badass. Great makeover!

Tick tock…….@WWEKarrionKross & @LadyScarlett_13 await @EscobarWWE on #WWENXT this coming Wednesday! pic.twitter.com/6bgJBGw84d

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) February 12, 2021

Next week, we get Karrion Kross against Santos Escobar with Scarlett ringside. Sounds delicious! Joaquin Wilde and Raul Mendoza have already felt the wrath. It’s only a matter of time. Tick. Tock.

Loved the build-up to this Sunday’s PPV especially the vignettes for the triple threat match for Io Shirai’s NXT Women’s Championship against Toni Storm and Mercedes Martinez. Plus, the face-offs on each match at the end of the night was a nice touch! NXT does such an outstanding job of matching it feel big time for their TakeOver events.

Cameron Grimes. Kiss My Grits. Oh my! Maybe he’s the new Million Dollar Man!

For the second straight week, we get a quality tag team main event with an upset. This time, Tommaso Ciampa and Timothy Thatcher see their run come to an unexpected end at the hands of The Grizzled Young Veterans. So, it’ll be Wes Lee and Nash Carter taking on Zack Gibson & James Drake, as the GYV make it to the Finals for the second straight year.

SMACKDOWN

RESULTS

Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match: King Corbin & Sami Zayn defeated Dominik & Rey Mysterio

Intercontinental Championship Match: Big E defeated Shinsuke Nakamura by DQ

Bayley defeated Liv Morgan

The Street Profits defeated Otis and Chad Gable

Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match: Daniel Bryan & Cesaro defeated Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode

There’s no disputing the fact that Roman Reigns is the top dog, the head of the table, the number one performer right now in WWE. What I do find disconcerting though is the repeated open each week’s Friday night SmackDown. Having Reigns walk to the ring for a 10-minute promo with all talk week after week isn’t maximizing his greatness. It gets old quick. I did love that it quickly turned into Reigns turning down Adam Pearce’s request to defend the Universal Title in the Chamber just like Drew McIntyre’s WWE Championship. No need to have the same match twice. Plus, by having Kevin Owens and Jey Uso join those who qualify for the match face-off inside the demonic structure before having to face Reigns the very same night ultimately gives the Big Dog the upper hand to walk out of the PPV still the Champ heading to WrestleMania. It should also give Edge one fun night of watching.

.@SamiZayn & King @BaronCorbinWWE have punched their tickets to the #SmackDown Elimination Chamber Match at #WWEChamber! pic.twitter.com/378R8tLuZw

— WWE (@WWE) February 13, 2021

I did like Sonya Deville giving us tag team matches as a way of qualifying for the Chamber Contender match. Sami Zayn and King Corbin taking out the Mysterios was fun although I did fear for Dominik’s safety when he almost cracked his head against the announce table flying through the ropes and over Zayn. The right team went over and both should show strong inside the Chamber.

@DomMysterio35 #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/hANUFd7JP0

— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) February 13, 2021

Big E vs. Shinsuke Nakamura put on a show, albeit too short for me with Apollo Crews predictable match. Shinsuke gets the DQ victory but robs us of a better match. Maybe down the road as the Big E vs. Crews feud continues.

"YOU WILL NEVER LIVE UP TO YOUR POTENTIAL WITHOUT ME!!"

#SmackDown @WWERollins @WWECesaro pic.twitter.com/vVDSGOUEfU

— WWE (@WWE) February 13, 2021

Welcome back Seth Rollins! I thought you were going down the right path. A new road. Fatherhood and positivity. It would’ve been the right path for him and the WWE. Instead, all of the SmackDown superstars surrounding the ring left him high and dry standing alone in the ring until a vicious attack on Cesaro.

Another week and another misstep by Billie Kay costs The Riott Squad a victory over Bayley. Last week, it was Ruby Riott and this time, it’s Liv Morgan going down to defeat. At what point, do Billie get the buh-bye?!

After a bit of momentum at the start, it looks like Otis and Chad Gable have leveled off a bit. This week, it’s a loss to the former tag team champion The Street Profits.

Anyone else find it odd that Montez Ford is dancing with Sasha Banks in a bit of a runway crossover? After all, Ford is married to Bianca Belair, who just may be choosing Banks as a WrestleMania opponent.

Oh no, NOT AGAIN!!

#SmackDown @NiaJaxWWE @SashaBanksWWE @BiancaBelairWWE pic.twitter.com/UtBMqFEjl5

— WWE (@WWE) February 13, 2021

As for Belair and Banks, they made interesting short work of the tag team champs. First, mocking Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler for their losses on RAW this week. Then, they actually do play the “oh my hole” line from Jax which is hilarious! Finally, they get physical with the champs. You wonder if we’ll get an Asuka/Charlotte Flair redux with Banks and Belair, champ and cohort, getting a title match soon.

#WWEChamber can't get here soon enough! #SmackDown @BaronCorbinWWE @SamiZayn @WWEDanielBryan @WWECesaro @FightOwensFight @WWEUsos pic.twitter.com/kGWylfzNve

— WWE (@WWE) February 13, 2021

Instead of fighting each other, Daniel Bryan and Cesaro teamed up to win a shot in the Chamber match which is a plus for all of us as anytime you can put those two inside the wretched structure along with Kevin Owens, Jey Uso, King Corbin and Sami Zayn, you’ve got yourselves some moments to remember coming! No disrespect to Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode, but Cesaro and Bryan deserved the spot and will absolutely shine. Even despite Cesaro being less than 100% thanks to Rollins, he still gets Ziggler to tap out! Give me Cesaro vs. Reigns please! Nice little brawl with all six Chamber members to end the show as Owens reminds us that he’s not going away.

Parting Shots:

During halftime of Saturday’s Celebrity Flag Football Game on ESPNews, Heisman Trophy-winning professional quarterback @DougFlutie pinned @RonKillings to become the new #247Champion!!!! #AndNew #CelebSweat @CelebritySweat1 pic.twitter.com/2YqwNzFOHU

— WWE (@WWE) February 6, 2021

Congratulations Doug Flutie! You’re in the record books as a former WWE 24/7 Champion! Flutie beat R-Truth at the Celebrity Flag Football Game during Super Bowl LV weekend. Sure, it only lasted for a few brief, fleeting moments as R-Truth won it back for his 49th title reign, but it’s more mainstream attention for the WWE, which never hurts.

Coming up this week:

RAW: Gauntlet Match – Winner gets last pod open at Elimination Chamber: Drew McIntyre vs. The Miz vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Sheamus vs. Randy Orton vs. AJ Styles MizTV with Drew McIntyre

NXT: Karrion Kross vs. Santos Escobar NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day fallout

SMACKDOWN: TBD – Go Home Show for Elimination Chamber

Thanks for letting us share our thoughts! Shoot me an email at jcrowe567@gmail.com. We’d love to hear your comments and suggestions! You can also check out my blog, The Crowe’s Nest as we delve into more pro wrestling, sports entertainment and the World of Sports. My apologies ahead of time – I AM a Patriots, Red Sox, Celtics and Bruins fan! If you’re not down with that, I’ve got TWO WORDS for you… NEW ENGLAND

[monochrome-dust]

9 with Beltza, Erri, and Korone if thats not too much to ask :3c

Oh boy buckle up, friends, it’s a wordy one (even without the bonus question we discussed oops):

9: Their theme

For all three of them, I’ve tried to use the stories they’re based off of to inform their themes (with Erri’s as a bit of cheat as I’ll describe below).

BELTZA

I knew from the beginning that every member of BKBD would be inspired by stories involving corvids, and for Bel, I absolutely knew he was going to be a raven faunus who would have wings, and then those wings would be taken away. Basically he was always going to be a sad raven boy.

Now I’m sure the story I used for him (Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven) has been used thousands of times for OCs, but I think it ended up fitting him really well. Specifically, I drew from the following lines: “And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor / Shall be lifted - nevermore,” which can be seen quite literally in the state of his Semblance upon joining Beacon (shadow-based, forms into hands and used mainly for hindering targets).

It’s also in line with this general feeling he has that he’s hit a really low point in his life and he thinks he’s never going to get out of it. But of course he does because I want him to, even though I do have a Bad End for him that I like to think about sometimes (read: a lot). So if I had to give him a sort of theme, it would be “The bird will fly again” because, ironies aside, dammit if no one else is on my side of things at least Bel is going to be happy.

ERRI

I call Erri’s inspiration a bit of a cheat because I’m using The Raven King, a story I have absolutely made up, as his basis. I actually wrote a version of it for a French writing assignment, so one day I’ll post a more polished and relevant iteration. But it’s basically a commentary on how its first tellers felt monarchs should rule and on the social issues they wanted to draw attention to disguised as a children’s story. Of course, over the years numerous versions of the story have sprung up (sometimes the Raven King is an actual raven, other times the king is a person, etc.), but the way Erri tells it (and I’m sure many before him), the theme is “A king will protect their people” and this I would say fits him nicely as well. 

He perhaps embodies this sometimes in a more underhanded way than most would like, but it’s clear in the measures he’s taken to protect his family that he will do whatever is necessary to make sure they aren’t hurt, and he extends this to anyone he comes to call his own. He takes them under his wing and says to the world, If you hurt them, you will deal with me. I think some might attribute this to arrogance (the audacity to think that he could threaten them), and maybe he is walking that thin line between arrogant and not. But considering his winning streak in fights and as someone who went against a Wendigo Grimm alone and did a real fuckin’ good number on it, he has a certain confidence in himself for good reason. I think he understands he isn’t all powerful, and he isn’t this way because he thinks he’s above anyone. It’s more of an understanding that, Hey, I’m actually pretty strong and I feel good about that.

Even though he doesn’t necessarily think of himself as a king, or kingly, or even noble, he takes the protection of his own so seriously and it just devastates him when he fails (see anguish at being unable to stop Bel from being poisoned, see anguish at being unable to prevent his kingdom from being taken over which I may have not yet talked about in detail in Royalty AU, see anguish at being unable to protect his followers or to stop Feu’s death in Deity AU).

I think there’s also a downside in that, because he’s already decided to take on the burden of being this “king,” he’s reluctant to express his worries and fears to certain people (especially to Beltza). And it’s not that he thinks there’s anything wrong with expressing these things, it’s just that—he thinks that by only presenting his confidence, what have you, he shows those around him that yes, he is someone they can rely on, yes, he can and will protect them, and he wants to be that for them. And this is interesting to me because when people see Erri, they see this confident, fearless man, but he actually isn’t without his own fears and insecurities. I think that it stresses him out when he doesn’t talk about them for long enough, and every now and then it really gets to him. When it does, he doesn’t necessarily handle it all that well when left to his own devices. 

This is also really interesting to me when thinking about it in the context of Erri’s relationship with Bel growing up because Erri made sure Bel knew it was okay to cry, to feel sad all while never crying (in front of Bel) himself; it was okay to be afraid of things, while never showing Bel his own fears; it was okay to ask for help, etc. And I think this actually really skewed what Beltza thought “being okay” meant and what strength was. Bel of course will realize that these things are different for everybody, but I think for a time he struggled with wishing he was more like this idealized image of Erri that he (and probably many others) had.

TL;DR: Erri is an irl rogue-ish Raven King (in the context of this universe), and he isn’t without his flaws. Let us all hope he doesn’t meet a tragic end (I say, as the one with the power to make it so he doesn’t meet a tragic end).

KORONE

For Korone, I’m using the story of Coronis, a lover of Apollo who had an affair with Ischys. Specifically, I’ve taken inspiration from the white crow Apollo tasked with guarding Coronis, who was cursed by the god in a fit of rage because the crow, having learned of her affair decided to inform Apollo first instead of gouging Ischys’s eyes out immediately. The curse was so strong that it burned the crow’s feathers black. As a note, I’ve seen some versions refer to the bird as a raven instead of crow, so I’m not quite sure how interchangeable the words for crow and raven are in this context (or if there’s a differentiation in the original language in the first place, I haven’t researched much).

In line with this whole idea of curses, her theme is probably “A curse can be overcome.” I still haven’t talked much about her backstory yet, and honestly I don’t know if/when I ever will because it makes me think of some Bad Things, but there were things that happened that resulted in her having this general idea of, I am a blemish upon the world. This additionally goes along with something I set from the beginning that every member of BKBD has gone through misfortune while at the same time are seen as bringing misfortune to others (whether that be they did bring, are bringing, or will bring). 

So far I’ve only hinted at this theme (partially because I just haven’t talked about my quiet crow very much) in her Semblance and some design choices. When she overexerts her Aura, her hair starts to turn white (and her Aura, which is typically black, might do the same, I haven’t decided). Whenever in the timeline she gets this outfit (which I want to update), her hair is completely white. And I honestly don’t have a logical explanation of why this happens right now, but I like the symbolism because it means Korone is healing, too. It means that she is overcoming this “curse” by her own power. 

BONUS for Erri from the other one: 9. Humiliating memories

I’m going to focus on one memory in particular here, because I think it captures this very interesting image of Erri, of all people, feeling humiliated really well. I feel like Erri’s the type of person who is shamed by little. He’s confident in his body, his abilities, his existence in general and he wouldn’t be adverse to showing either of them off (he doesn’t do it to be flashy, per se, but if the opportunity presents itself, he’ll certainly take it). And while he may act flippant, he conducts himself with dignity. And I think this is what humiliates him most, to have his dignity trampled on. Erri does not kneel for anyone. If he does, it is coming from a place of complete reverence and adoration. He is at their feet, at their mercy because he believes them worthy of that privilege.

So I think this is where the memory starts: He relishes in the power he was born with, in having autonomy and being able to move of his own volition. But after the Wendigo Grimm, after having his body stitched back together and taken to recover by a certain individual, he loses a lot of this independence.

At first it’s because he just cannot move—it comes with having limbs severed and having nerves and veins and muscle and bone forcibly being held together by another’s Aura. It’s excruciating (though over time, as his body adapts, it turns into more of a constant, dull soreness), but he knows, god he knows he should be dead, so the pain is something he can deal with. What he can’t is when someone constantly and purposely reminds him who saved him, the limitations now placed on him, and what that means for Erri’s abilities to accomplish his own goals.

To explain (and I may have discussed this in a previous post, I can’t recall), Erri’s fight with the Wendigo Grimm was…terrible. I posted a scar guide a bit ago, and basically where those magenta stitches are indicates the worst of his injuries. These are the injuries that would have never healed on their own, and frankly, they still aren’t healing even after he’s put back together. One day I’m going to make a proper post on how this Semblance works (maybe after I actually design the character oops), but for now I’ll say that these stitches can be taken out at the whim of the one who made them, or they’ll start to fade if Erri is too far away from the source (though, again as he adapts, he’s able to go farther and farther away without this consequence). What this means is Erri will fall apart. The pain starts first, then the bleeding, then he starts breaking into pieces—his hand falls off, an arm, his leg, etc. in whatever order. And this is what’s used against him, to get Erri to listen, I have your life in my hands and you will do what I say. And usually Erri complies because he knows that the missions given to him will, in the long run, help keep his brother safe. But this is where the disconnect comes in: Erri’s primary motivations are to keep Bel safe, while the motivations of his savior (though he hates to call them that) and the organization behind them are to, in a sense, maintain a certain balance. 

And I think this memory was the first time Erri tried to defy them, the first time he said, No, I will accomplish my own goals first. Maybe it’s something that involves Bel, maybe Erri just wants to be in someone else’s company for a bit. I haven’t fully fleshed out this scene, but I imagine Erri is about to leave whatever base of operations these two have set up. He makes one final check on his knives, a small supply of Dust, and is halfway to the door when a voice behind him asks, And where are you going? 

The figure is long and ghostly (certainly taller than Erri), voice not necessarily quiet, but with a soft quality and a lilt suggesting either amusement or thinly veiled annoyance. Erri knows what could happen here, but he doesn’t care. He’s very, very tired of following orders right now. And so he says, tacitly, Out. He knows immediately this is the wrong answer but hell, he’s in the mood to fight and he wants to know how far this bastard will go.

That’s not an explanation, Erri. They say it with a smile, one that’s curved and unsettling. It’s not impish like Erri’s, but there’s an implied threat to it, and it’s clear that they are displeased.

You didn’t ask for one, darling. He says the term sarcastically, darling, fully aware of the strange state of cohabitation by necessity he’s found himself in.

Sit down. The smile stays, but the voice gets a little quieter, a lot sharper, to which Erri replies, Thank you, but no.

Sit.I will not.Then you will kneel.

It all happens so quickly. The pain, the bleeding, and then—then his leg is the first to go. He’s forced to one knee, with almost the entirety of his other leg dangling by threads. He braces himself with an arm, they let that arm fall as well. It jolts Erri forward, forcing him to bow his head. And the figure knows, they know that this is what Erri will hate. He will hate being so conspicuously reminded of what he can and cannot do and he will hate being reminded that, in the end, he has no power here, and that is exactly why they made him do it. 

And Erri does hate it, so much that his face burns, so much that something vengeful claws inside him. He hates having his will taken away, he hates that he can’t even attempt to fight this. He is in so much pain, but he doesn’t scream or swear. He only lifts his head as much as he can and glares up at them to say, I will remember this.

[aceprosecuties]

So, Simon can draw (basing off that thing you did with Nahyuta being good with music and Simon with drawing) and Klavier is still good with music. While he may not be doing anything official, I can see him still writing songs in his free time. Imagine him learning about Simon's skills, and jokingly/seriously asking if he could do an album cover. (He does it). :3

(Original

post is here

for interested parties!)

Listen

I am all about Simon-Klavier brotp fo real

So

like, Klavier sometimes doesn’t even take a real lunch break because he is too

busy writing and practicing songs in his office.  (He’s gotten in trouble a few times for being

too loud, but it has never really stopped him, so he just continues, trying to

keep mental notes of how loud he is being so that he doesn’t get an angry Payne

or Edgeworth barging through his door.)

It’s been a while since he released any sort of album, and the last one

was still when The Gavinners were still together…he’s been thinking about

releasing a solo album for a while.  It

is just taking some time because Edgeworth has him swamped with cases, leaving

less time for him to practice and write songs.

Somewhere

along the way, Simon became Klavier’s go-to when it came to…almost everything

around the office.  At first, Simon found

it kind of irritating, but he never put a stop to it, and Klavier was one of

the few people who did not find him as intimidating as others.  Plus, deep down, Simon knew that Klavier was

lonely, given that he had lost his brother and so many friends within the past

year or two.  

As

time went on though, Simon found himself enjoying Klavier’s presence more and

more.  Really, he didn’t quite understand

why Klavier would come to him with music questions and to make Simon listen to

his newest songs in the hopes of some constructive criticism…Simon was not

really great with music, especially the type that Klavier enjoyed the most.

Regardless,

Simon sometimes found himself sketching Klavier’s figure in his book – people whom

he liked would often end up there, and Klavier was actually a nice study.  He was objectively attractive and had a nice

smile; Simon tried a few times to truly capture it in his sketches, but never really

felt like he was doing his friend and co-worker much justice.  

Really,

it was his eyes; Klavier’s eyes often showed the truth of his mind that the

rest of his face tried to hide, and Simon found it challenging to capture that

sort of depth.  

He would

get lost in thought when he would draw Klavier, as he did when he drew other

compelling subjects, and so he did not hear Klavier enter his office.

“Woah!  Is that me?”

Simon

almost jumped out of his seat when Klavier spoke next to his ear, and he

scrambled to cover up his book – he normally didn’t just show people his drawings.  

“Klavier,”

he growled; the two of them had been on a first-name basis for some time

now.  “Don’t you knock?”

“Ja, I did, but you wouldn’t look up from your desk, so I just invited

himself in.  I didn’t know you could

draw,” Klavier quickly added, wanting to change the subject quickly.

“��Yeah,

it was something I began while I was in prison.

It’s not great, but it was a

way to kill time while I was wasting away in my cell.”

“Don’t

sell yourself short, Simon; it is wonderful!

Though, I must ask: do you draw anyone, or am I just special?”  Klavier looked smug and Simon wanted to smack

that insufferable grin off of his face.

“Did

you want something, Klavier?”

“Ah, ja!”

Klavier let the question he asked go unanswered, for which Simon was

internally grateful.  “I wanted to run

this new song by you!”  He went to the

other side of the desk and sat down, pulling out a sheet of paper with lyrics.  “I don’t have the guitar part complete yet so

I figured I could just go without it right now.”

“Once

again, I’ll tell you that I’m probably not the best person to ask, but sure, go

ahead.”

And

he listened as Klavier’s smooth voice filled his office – he wouldn’t outright

say it, but Klavier had a beautiful voice.

Sometimes it was comforting, and other times – like right now – it was

somewhat…haunting.  The type of voice

that releases loneliness and pain in its notes, but it is captivating.

Klavier’s

song was different from all his other ones.

Usually he had images of law and justice and love throughout his

lyrics.  But this one was filled with

darker metaphors and laments – it was a song that clearly expressed how he was

feeling underneath all the smiles and the pleasantries.  Simply put, he was sad.  Sad about his band and his brother and Apollo’s

abandonment (perhaps harshly put, but it felt right, Simon believed)…and music

was the only way he could express such sadness.

Even

without the guitar part, Simon found it to be Klavier’s best piece yet.

“So…?”

Klavier

finished with a hopeful but small smile on his face as he sought Simon’s

approval.  

“I

think…it is very real.  And expressive,”

Simon said, not sure what buzzwords Klavier might be looking for.  “Truthfully, I think it can easily be one of

your best songs.”

“Really?”

“Ja,” Simon said, using German to

emphasize his point.  Klavier stood and

thanked him, but before leaving, he turned to look at Simon one last time.

“You

know, I should get you to design my album’s cover art, since you draw so well!”  He laughed as he left; Simon knew he was

joking about getting him to draw the art…probably because Klavier didn’t think

Simon would actually do it.  

A

week later, Klavier saw a manila envelope in the mailbox outside his office

door.  He waited until he was sitting

down to open it.

Inside

there was a sketch: he was sitting on an elegant chair with his guitar,

partially turned away.  He seemed to be

looking out the large window next to him, and it appeared to be raining.  Scattered on the floor around him were some

papers and photos – Klavier could make out a figure that looked like Apollo in

at least one of them.  And although

Klavier was smiling in this sketch…he didn’t look necessarily happy.

His eyes expressed a grief that his mouth was trying to hide.

It

was…beautiful, actually.  And true.

Along

with the sketch was a note.

Let me know if you want to

change it.  For the album.  – S

And

Klavier felt the urge to finish the song he was working on.

[marshmallow-fireside-keith]

Kissing Booth AU

Someone made a post about wanting more Kissing Booth AUs, so I figured why not? I’m severely heat intolerant and it’s already 13°C/ 60°F here. People can pry winter and Christmas from my cold, dead hands, as far as I’m concerned.

The next morning Nico would join the Apollo kids in their daily jog, and they would, eventually, be able to convince him that the camp needed this party and it may help him make some more friends if he went through with it. Nico would not admit it outloud but, he really did want others to stop fearing him, and to see him as a normal teenager, just like them. As uncomfortable as this made him, it actually was a chance to interact with people outside of the Apollo cabin. And the smile Will sent his way helped. A lot.

The day of the event had everyone running about. Some of the Hermes kids and a Hecate kid were placing up mistletoe, for what Nico could be sure was something more devious than kissing. Whatever sort of magic waited for the two unlucky enough to walk under it, Nico was not willing to test it out. The Aphrodite kids were setting Ugly Sweater Selfie booths, which, was exactly what it sounded like. The Athena cabin was intermingled with everyone, jotting down notes in their notebooks, as they made last minute coordinations for the event. The Hepaestus kids milled about with various ornaments and trinkets. Demter kids were tending to the Christmas trees. Nico, who decided the Hades cabin itself would not individually contribute, was hanging up special lights and decorations with the Apollo cabin.

Much to his chargrin, he was the only needing to bring the ladder to put things up. Reaching so far above his head also made the sleeves of his sweater slide down and bunch around his forearm. He was so painfully short. The sweater was a cheerful yellow one that he had needed to borrow from Will, as the Hades cabin (he really liked to call it that, because it made him feel like he had a whole group of brothers and sisters at camp, and less like he was the only child of the highly stigmatized god) had not been made holiday sweaters yet. He had begged to borrow one that was more his size, he knew he already would look ridiculous wearing yellow, but Will gave everyone else a stink eye and so he had no choice but to wear the one made for Will. Nico grumbled about stupid, tall blondes and damn Northern Europeans and their freakish height.

The rest of the day passed by in a blur.

Kissing the girls wasn’t as bad Nico thought it would be. Having no attraction to them whatsoever helped to take the pressure off.

Just when the line had dwindled down to nothing, and his booth had been vacated for the other festivities, Nico noticed Will jogging up to him with a token held up in his raised fist. He had a large grin on his face.

“Will, you dumbass, did you get lost? Wrong line, stupid.” Nico was glad for the artifical lighting that cast shadows which made his expression had to decern. He’d been kissing girls all night, no problem. Some would giggle at him, no, at the situation he was in; the Hades kid, moodiest camper around, stuck behind a booth kissing girls, it was funny. Some girls may have actually found him attractive, judging by their nervousness. All of the girls in camp had already been through and were out visiting other cabin’s booths. Clearly Will was just taking advtange of the situation. Nico felt both butterflies in his stomach and bitterness at the prospect of getting kiss Will; it was a funny joke, one that he didn’t find funny.

“Take the token, loser. There’s no rule saying which line I have to go to.” Nico rolled his eyes and took the token from Will’s outstreched hand. He placed it on his table and carefully surveyed his surroundings. The immediate vacinity, tha nfully, was empty. Will stepped closer and Nico’s fingers began to tremble.

“Aww, c'mon Neeks, it’s just my lips, gods. If I say no homo will you get over it?”

Nico snorted.

“Solace, you’re dumb.”

Will placed a hand over his chest and dramatically tossed his head. “Oh Nico, you hurt me when you question my intelligence. My self worth is crumbling right now. I just came here to have a good time, and, honestly, I’m feeling so attacked right now.”

“OH MY GODS SOLACE! Just get your dumb face over here and get this over with. I’m tired and I want to go to be-”

Well, the good news was he listened. The bad news was he listened. Nico’s shirt had been fisted in Will’s hand, and he used it to yank Nico forward. He stumbled but Will used his free hand to steady him by placing it at the small of his back. Nico scrunched the fabric on Will’s shoulders to keep his balance. Nico could feel his heart beat wildly from the sudden movement, which made it all the more difficult to slow his breathing as Will paused very close to his face.

The lighting couldn’t shield his face from this close up. Nico didn’t mean to but his eyelashes had automatically lowered over half his vision. At least he could blame his flushed face on the adrenaline from almost falling. And damnit his head had turned on its own and his mouth had opened, and now his lips were shaping themselves to accept Will’s. But Will, damnit, was taking his time. His eyes drawing to every part of Nico’s face. When they landed on his lips, the courner of his own drew up. Nico’s breath was visible in the cold, which meant Will could see it was coming out in short and quick puffs. Here Nico was, pretty much melting around him, and Will retained his calm, lazy expression.

Wills hand worked its way under Nico’s shirt, and he gasped at how warm and strong it felt against his back.

“Oops.” He said with a smirk, not bothering to pretend it was a slip of his hand.

Nico’s breath shuddered and he kept leaning more and more forward, until their chest were against each other. His licked his lips and closed his eyes, his brows furrowing, knotting on his forehead, to vulernable to continue watching Will make a mess of him.

Then he felt it.

Did Will have lightning powers too? Was that only a Zeus kid thing? Because he felt tingling all through his body as the pair of warm lips settled in between his. He let out another sharp gasp. The lips kept mostly where they were, save for gently, almost imperceptively, kneading around his. Fucking damnit, Nico moaned. Will pulled back and chuckled breathlessly, before reclaiming Nico’s lips with fervor.

A floodgate had opened inside Nico and then their kisses became heavy and needy. This time Will moaned.

Before he knew how it happened, or even when, a tongue that was not his own was in his mouth. “Mmmm, fuck, Will…” He groaned when they parted for air.

The sound of a throat clearing made the two jump away from each other like magnets that were repelling.

“Uh, ok. First, wow. Second, wow. Third? Uh. Probably also wow. Fourth, I’m fairly certain that is not the type of kissing that was kosher.” Lou Ellen was looking anywhere but them. “So, uh. Uh. Uh… I came over to help you take down your table, I noticed everyone else has gone down to the campfire. They’re making cocoa and roasting marshmallows.”

“Thanks, Lou. Meetcha down there.” Will chuckled heartily. Bless.

“Uh…,” Lou’s vocabulary was catchy. “Will, that. That wasn’t, was it? I mean, you know. I. Well…”

“That wasn’t a joke, Neeks. I would never play a trick on you like that.” Will looked sad.

“Oh, oh. Ok. That’s good. Yeah. Nice. Good.” Nico bobbed his head in repetitive nods.

“That was… amazing, Neeks. I-i think you enjoyed it too? So. Can I ask you something?” Proud, confident Will was nervous? Nico affirmed.

“Would you like to be my boyfriend?”

“Idiot.” Nico punched his shoulder and then gave him a quick peck on the lips.

“But I’m your idiot.”

“Damn straight!”

———— Sorry for not editing. I’m swamped with college work and life, and I wanted to mark this off my to-do list.