#with some background hannah and emily!

[midnightdemonhunter]

canary in a coal mine.

[ruewrote]

𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑠𝑜 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑠.

PAIRING: josh washington x fem!reader WARNINGS: teasing, no use of y/n GENRE: bestfriends to lovers, fluff SONG INSPIRATION: location by khalid WORD COUNT: 2.5k REQUESTED: yes

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the snow crunched beneath your boots as you walked up the path toward the washington lodge, a cozy warmth settling in your chest despite the chill in the mountain air. it was the annual winter getaway, the weekend all of you had looked forward to for months. mike, emily, matt, jess, sam, beth, hannah, josh… and you.

you were all gathering at the washingtons’ family lodge again, tucked away in the mountains and far from the bustle of everyday life. it was supposed to be a few days of skiing, relaxing, and rekindling old friendships.

but this year, you had more than just a weekend of fun ahead of you. you had a secret.

a secret that wore a mischievous smile, cracked endless jokes. josh washington, the boy you had grown up with, the one who had always been the most unserious out of the group, always at the center of everything, had somehow, unexpectedly, become more than just a friend to you.

it started over the summer. the two of you had stayed behind after one of his many house parties, helping him clean up the aftermath of yet another wild night. everyone had gone home, the house had grown quiet, except for the low hum of music still playing in the background.

you had shared a drink on his back porch, watching the stars while talking about nothing and everything. something had very obviously changed between the two of you that night. the way he had looked at you, the way your laughter had slowed into something softer, more intimate. by the end of the evening, the two of you had shared a kiss that had left your head spinning.

that was months ago, and since then, you and josh had been sneaking around, keeping whatever this was under wraps. it had been fun, the secrecy giving everything an added thrill. stolen glances, secret texts, hurried kisses when no one was looking. but now, with everyone gathering at the lodge for a weekend of fun, things were bound to get complicated.

you hadn’t told anyone yet. not sam, not beth or hannah, none of the people who knew both of you inside and out. it wasn’t that you didn’t trust them, or that you didn’t want them to know. you just… didn’t know how to tell them.

what would they think? and what was this thing with josh, really? it wasn’t like the two of you had talked about being official. it was a whirlwind, exciting and new, but it wasn’t defined. at least not yet.

the snow already beginning to fall lightly around you, your mind drifted to josh. the thought of spending it together, sneaking off for moments alone in the middle of all the chaos, excited you but it also made you nervous. how long could the two of you keep this up before someone noticed?

the lodge came into view, the wooden structure stood tall and inviting, smoke curling from the chimney, the lights already glowing in the windows. a small smile spread across your lips as you saw sam waving to you from the front porch, bundled up in her bright colored beanie and jacket. 

“hey!” she called out, her breath clouding in the cold air as you made your way up the steps. “i was starting to think that you’d gotten lost in the snow or something. it’s freezing!”

“wouldn’t miss this for the world,” you replied, pulling her into a quick hug. you took a moment to glance around, “is everyone already here?”

“yeah,” sam said, grinning. “inside, warming up with some hot cocoa. josh is trying to convince mike to try one of his weird marshmallow experiments again.”

you couldn’t help but laugh. of course josh would already be up to something. “sounds about right,” you said, trying to keep your tone light even though you were getting flustered just at the mention of his name.

as the two of you walked inside, the familiar warmth of the lodge washed over you. the smell of cinnamon and the crackling of the fireplace filled the air. voices and laughter echoed from the living room, and you smiled as you saw the group sprawled out across the couches. josh was in the middle of it all, perched on the edge of the coffee table, arguing with mike about the “proper” way to toast marshmallows.

he caught your eye as you stepped in, and for a split second, his face softened in a way that made you melt a little. it was subtle, but you saw it, his eyes lingering on you just a little longer than necessary, the corner of his mouth twitching into a smile he tried to hide. you gave him a small, knowing smile in return, but quickly looked away before anyone could notice.

“finally!” josh said loudly, standing up and making his way toward you. “i thought you’d bailed on us. couldn’t handle the cold?”

you rolled your eyes, trying to play it cool. “please, i grew up here too, remember? i can handle a little snow.”

“yeah, sure you can,” he teased, his eyes twinkling as he bumped your shoulder lightly. it was such a small gesture, one that no one else would think twice about, but you hadn’t realised how much you’d been missing his slight touches, even if it had only been a week.

the rest of the group greeted you with their usual warmth. beth pulling you into a tight hug, jess chirping on about how she couldn’t wait for the campfires to begin, emily making some comment about how you were late. everything felt familiar and comfortable, except for the subtle tension that hummed between you and josh. you were hyper aware of every glance, every fleeting touch, every moment you were near him, wondering if anyone else could pick up on it.

“alright, let’s get this party started!” mike called out, standing up with a grin. “i say we hit the hot tub before the snow really starts coming down.”

the group started to disperse, everyone heading upstairs to change, and you slipped into the hallway, trying to sneak off to your room before anyone could stop you. but just as you rounded the corner, you felt a hand wrap gently around your wrist, tugging you towards them.

your breath catching as you found josh standing behind you, his expression teasing but his voice low. “you trying to avoid me already?”

you glanced around to make sure no one was nearby before giving him a playful shove. “i’m not avoiding you,” you whispered back, though the smile on your face gave you away. “i’m just trying to keep a low profile. you know… not let everyone figure us out.”

josh raised an eyebrow, a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. “and here i thought you liked the whole sneaking around thing. adds a little excitement, don’t you think?”

you rolled your eyes but couldn’t suppress the smile that broke through. “maybe,” you admitted, getting a little giddy when he looked at you like that.

“well, i don’t know how long we can keep this up,” he said, his voice dropping even lower as he took a step closer. “it’s getting harder and harder to keep my hands off you, you know.”

you felt heat creep up your neck, and you had to force yourself not to look down the hall to make sure no one was watching. instead, you met his gaze and smirked. “well, you’re just going to have to try, aren’t you?”

he grinned, leaning in just enough that you could feel his breath on your skin. “mm…we’ll see how long that lasts,” he murmured before pulling away, leaving you with your heart pounding in your chest as he disappeared back into the living room.

you stood there for a moment, catching your breath and trying to compose yourself. it was getting harder to act normal around him, especially now that you were surrounded by your friends. you weren’t ready for them to know yet. you didn’t even know what this was yet. this thing between you and josh. it was exciting and fun, but it was also confusing and new.

the weekend continued, and for the most part, you and josh had managed to keep things under wraps. there were close calls, of course. like the time you had slipped out of the hot tub early, claiming you were too cold, only for josh to mysteriously leave five minutes later. you had barely found a moment alone in the hallway before mike and matt came stomping up the stairs, laughing loudly about something ridiculous and forcing you both to pretend nothing had been happening. 

then there were the little touches that lingered a bit too long, the private smiles exchanged when you thought no one was looking. you weren’t sure how much longer you could keep it together. josh, of course, seemed to be having the time of his life, teasing you whenever he got the chance, whispering suggestive comments in your ear just to make you hot and bothered when no one was paying attention. he was enjoying the secrecy, the thrill of it all. 

but by the second day, you started to feel like someone might be onto you.

it was subtle, just small things, like how jess would raise an eyebrow when she caught you and josh talking a bit too close in the corner of the living room, or the way hannah seemed to linger whenever she entered a room the two of you were in together. you couldn’t help but feel like they were noticing things, and it was only a matter of time before someone said something.

then the slip up happened…

it was late, after dinner, and most of the group had retreated to their rooms or were hanging out in the living room playing games. you and josh had slipped away, managing to steal a moment alone in the back hallway near the kitchen. you had been talking, laughing quietly about something that had happened earlier when josh had suddenly leaned in and kissed you, quick, soft.

you didn’t hear the footsteps until it was too late.

beth’s voice cut through the quiet like a knife. “uh… am i interrupting something?”

your heart dropped into your stomach as you and josh sprang apart, turning to see beth standing in the hallway, her arms crossed and an amused look on her face.

you opened your mouth to say something, anything, but josh beat you to it, running a hand through his hair and laughing in that easy, carefree way he always did when he was caught off guard.

“well, uh, this is awkward,” he said, shooting you a quick glance before turning back to his sister. “beth, hey, what’s up?”

beth raised an eyebrow, her lips twitching into a smirk. “what’s up? really? i think i should be asking you two that.”

you felt your face heat up, your mind searching for an explanation, but josh just shrugged, clearly not as rattled as you were. “i mean, it’s not what it looks like.”

beth laughed. “oh, come on, josh. don’t even try to play that card.”

josh grinned, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. “alright, fine. you caught us. but, you know, could you maybe… not say anything? for now, at least?”

beth gave him a look, her expression softening a bit. “you know i won’t tell anyone. but you’re going to have a hard time keeping this a secret for long. especially with the way you two keep sneaking around.”

josh winked at her. “that’s half the fun, right?”

“ugh gross!”

beth nodded, giving you both a small smile before turning to leave. “alright. but seriously, josh, be smart about this.”

as she disappeared down the hall, you let out a breath you hadn’t realised you were holding. josh turned to you, his expression a mix of amusement and something more serious.

“well,” he said, leaning against the wall with a lopsided grin. “that could’ve gone worse.”

you laughed nervously, your heart still racing. “yeah, could’ve gone better too.”

josh’s grin softened, and he stepped closer, brushing a strand of hair from your face. “don’t worry. we’ll figure this out, okay?”

you nodded, feeling a little more at ease. “yeah. we will.”

it didn’t take long for beth’s discovery to spread. it wasn’t that she told anyone, but secrets like yours had a way of coming out, especially when the whole group was crammed together for a prolonged amount of time. by the time the third day rolled around, there was a noticeable shift in the air. people were starting to know, little comments from mike, knowing smiles from sam, and more than one snarky comment from emily.

but the final straw came that evening.

the group was gathered around the fire, playing a round of truth or dare. it was a harmless enough game, until it wasn’t. 

it started with silly dares, like mike having to shotgun a beer in one go, or jess being dared to dive into the snow in just her underwear. but when it was sam’s turn to ask you, she gave you a look that had you nervous.

“alright,” sam said, leaning back in her chair, her eyes twinkling with mischief. “truth or dare?”

you hesitated for a second, knowing that whatever you chose, you were in for it. “truth.”

sam grinned. “okay… is there something going on between you and josh?”

the room went silent.

your blood ran cold, and you could feel every single pair of eyes on you. josh, who was sitting across from you, stiffened slightly but didn’t say anything. his eyes met yours for a split second before flicking away.

you swallowed hard, trying to think of a way out, but there was no escaping this. everyone was waiting, and you could practically feel the anticipation hanging in the air.

finally, you sighed, feeling your face flush with heat. “okay, fine,” you said, glancing at josh before looking back at the group. “you caught us..”

the room erupted into a mix of laughter, cheers, and surprised exclamations. mike nearly fell off his chair, jess clapped her hands together with excitement, and sam just grinned triumphantly.

“i knew it!” mike shouted, pointing at you and josh. “i knew something was up!”

jess leaned forward, her eyes wide with excitement. “how long has this been going on? how did we not notice?!”

you laughed, feeling both embarrassed and relieved at the same time. “a few months, actually. we’ve, uh, been trying to keep it quiet.”

“clearly,” emily said with a smirk, crossing her arms. “not that quiet though.”

josh finally spoke up, his usual easygoing grin back on his face. “what can i say? we’re just really good at sneaking around.”

sam laughed, shaking her head. “well, the cat’s out of the bag now.”

you couldn’t help but smile as the group continued to tease and ask questions, the initial tension fading as the atmosphere became lighter and more playful. it was a relief, in a way, to have the secret out in the open. no more sneaking around, no more pretending. 

just you and josh, together, in front of the people who mattered to you most.

comments and reblogs are appreciated

[untildawnss]

until dawn characters overhearing their partner saying something negative about them/their relationship

just a few short drabbles about the characters' weaknesses or worse traits and how they might react to hearing a partner talking about it. and wow, this actually took a while.

kind of angsty, but the endings of most of these are kind of open for interpretation

ashley

"i don't know, i just feel like we're stuck sometimes. we're not really doing anything. it's getting kind of boring."

ashley stopped dead in front of the door to your living room. she had wanted to spend a quiet evening at home with you, like you usually did on fridays but evidently you'd had other plans. and you obviously hadn't expected her to get home early. she flexed her hands, once, twice, and opened the door. the room went quiet, you and your friends looked at ashley. "babe, you're home." you smiled, not sure whether or not ashley had heard you. "sit down, i'm gonna get you a glass of wine." you patted the couch next to you. "no thanks. i think i'd rather go and be boring," ashley grabbed her laptop from the coffee table, "in the bedroom. alone."

beth

"seriously, her sister is over all the time. i know, i know they're twins and they're close and everything but i feel like aoutsider in my own relationship sometimes because she never says no to her family and i get the short end of the stick."

beth heard your voice drifting through the open window. you were on the patio, on the phone with your best friend while hanging out the laundry. beth was in your bedroom on the floor above, changing the sheets. are you fucking kidding me? beth sucked her teeth. she knew that you knew that she'd always been the most mature and stable of the washington siblings and that they were super close. "you know," she leaned out of the window. you looked up at her, startled. "you're my family, too. and i never say no to you." - "you heard that?" you groaned. "uh, yeah, me and like the entire neighbourhood. so what's wrong with me and hannah hanging out? it's only once a week." - "nothing, it'd just be nice to be included every once in a while." beth smiled widely at you. "aw, i didn't know you wanted to hang out with us. you should have told me."

chris

"he's always doing something on his phone, sending josh some stupid video or planning another dumbass prank with him. sometimes i think he stopped maturing past the age of 16."

you heard the front door close. apparently you had missed the jingling of chris' keys while you were busy looking for a salad bowl in the kitchen. "cool, didn't know you thought that way about me." chris dropped a plastic bag on your kitchen counter. "i brought dinner, got your favourite. thought i'd come over and we could hang out, maybe watch a movie or something. but it seems like you're busy." you had turned around to face him. "chris, i didn't mean it like that. i'm sorry." he was already on his way to the door. "no, you did." - "fine, maybe i did. but it doesn't mean that i don't love you. where are you going?" he was standing in the doorway, doing fingerguns at you. "josh's place. because i'm immature like that." the door closed and you pulled out your phone. can we talk about this? you walked back to the kitchen, the smell of your favourite food filling the room. thank you for dinner. - let's talk tomorrow, like adults?

emily

"emily wants this, emily wants that. emily gets what she wants, whenever she wants. it's all about her. i think she's her own favourite person in the world and everyone else are background characters for her enjoyment."

emily's phone pinged when she received the voice message. it was intended for your best friend but you had misclicked when opening the chat without realising it. she smiled when she saw your name on the screen and eagerly tapped on the little arrow to play the message. oh. the message wasn't for her. but you had thought of her alright. was she really that bad? her phone pinged again. don't listen to that. too late, she thought. i'm sorry, i didn't mean that. but you did, she knew. because she knew she was a bitch sometimes. because she knew that she had been selfish. no, you're right. she texted back. can i have a second chance?

hannah

"can you believe it? we had a fight and now she's packing her stuff to go sleep at her sister's place. she's blowing it out of proportion. talk about overreacting. everything is drama with her."

hannah had texted her siblings to come pick her up while she was throwing clothes and toiletries into a bag. whatever you were fighting about had escalated, both of you were to blame for that. but now you couldn't even wait until she was out of the house to talk shit about her? absolutely not. she knew she was sensitive but calling her dramatic was unfair. if she stayed, neither of you would sleep tonight. both of you needed to calm down. so naturally, hannah had called her twin sister and asked if she could stay with her for a few days. and naturally, beth had gotten in her car. the place was just too small for both of you to try to avoid each other after an argument. hannah was trying to give you space but sure, she was the one overreacting, not you in the living room, knowing full well that she could hear you. "you know what? if everything's drama with me, maybe i'll do you a favour and move out." hannah zipped up her bag and made her way to the front door. she heard a clatter as you dropped your phone. "what?" hannah was putting on her shoes now. "i said," she removed the butterfly keychain from her set of keys before putting them back. "i'm moving out. we're done." she walked out of the apartment and got into beth's car.

jess

"ugh, sometimes a part of me wants to shake her and ask her to just act like a normal human being. she's not perfect, so why does she pretend to be?"

last you checked jess was in the shower for her "self care day" ritual. that usually took a while, so you put in your earphones and called a friend while you were in the kitchen preparing dinner. you had jokingly complained that her long showers would drive up the water bill because she just had to keep up that image, that she was driving herself crazy competing with no one but her own ego. you hung up when you put the dish in the oven to clean up, maybe see if jess was done in the shower and have a pre-dinner glass of wine. you walked out of the kitchen and stepped right into a small puddle in the hall. ew, wet sock. "jess, can you leave the water in the shower next time?" you walked towards the bathroom and opened the door. jess was standing there in her underwear, a towel wrapped around her head and staring at her reflection. "hey. dinner's almost ready. you want a glass of wine?" she turned around to look at you. "do you think i'm vain?" her question took you by surprise. "what?" - "do you think i'm vain? i heard you talking about me and i want to know if you think i'm vain." she looked like she was about to cry. "jess, babe, no that wasn't what i meant. it's just- you try so hard all the time but you don't even need to. i love you just the way you are. you can be a little high maintenance, though." she sighed. "i know i'm not perfect-" - "you don't need to be." - "but can i still have that glass of wine?"

josh

"i feel like his caretaker sometimes. take your meds, take care of yourself, go to bed at a reasonable hour, don't drink too much, blah blah blah. i'm so over it. at one point he has to start living for himself and not just because everyone else bends over backwards for him."

you hung up the phone and turned up the TV's volume. when you went into the kitchen to get a drink, josh was there. "hey, when did you get home?" - "while ago," he shrugged. "why didn't you say anything?" you opened the fridge, looking for something you're in the mood for. water, or maybe some wine. "heard the TV, wasn't really in the mood for that." josh tapped his heel against the cupboard behind him. "okay. you want anything?" you pointed at the contents of the fridge. "wouldn't want to be a burden." he turned his head to look at you. "wouldn't want you bending over backwards to take care of me." he clenched his teeth. "yeah, i heard that, too." you let go of the fridge door and it closed slowly. "josh, i-" you started, trying to find something to say. "it's okay. i know i'm not always the easiest person to be around. but i'm trying, i'm getting better." you reached out to touch his hand but he pulled back. "i called chris. he's coming to pick me up." - "oh, okay. when are you coming back?" - "i don't think i should."

matt

"it's like matt doesn't even have any opinions of his own. he always just agrees with me. i don't think he has made a single decision in his life, ever."

it had been a week since matt had read your message. he had been using your laptop because he had forgotten his at home and your devices were connected. he hadn't planned on reading it but saw that it was about him. he hadn't even told his sisters or ashley about it and they were usually his go to people. maybe he was bad at making decisions. he hadn't decided how to handle this situation, anyway. yeah, you'd noticed that he had pulled away and asked him if something was wrong but he had made up an excuse about an assignment he had to turn in. he was still thinking about whether to ignore that he had seen the message or try to talk to you about it when you, once again, made a decision for him. his doorbell rang and when he opened the door, there you were, smiling at him. "hey, thought i'd come over. you're done with that assignment, right? can i come in?" maybe he'd finally make a decision. "actually, no. i don't think we should see each other anymore." your face dropped. "what? why? what happened?" - "guess i'm just making a decision for the first time in my life, ever. we're over."

mike

"he's such a fucking macho sometimes. i can literally not do anything without him swooping in and taking over because he thinks he's god's gift to humanity or something. right now he's putting up a shelf because he didn't think i could handle it. it's my place."

you were in your bedroom, sending a voice message to one of your friends. mike had finished putting up the shelf and was about to knock on your bedroom door to ask you if you wanted to grab something to eat when he realised you were talking about him. wow. guess you really needed to get that off your chest. he'd always thought he was just being helpful by offering to do stuff for you. was he really that overbearing? was he a macho? mike had always thought you were grateful when you accepted his help but maybe he'd misinterpreted the way you smiled at him earlier. it did look forced but he thought it was just the stress of moving. before he could move the door opened and you were face to face with him. "mike! were you eavesdropping?" - "not on purpose! but you were kind of yelling." he shrugged. "didn't realise you thought that i was such an ass. didn't realise i was being an ass." - "you're not an ass, just-" you started. "god's gift to humanity?" he said, pretending to fix an invisible halo. "i'm sorry, i promise i will stop swooping in and taking over and wait until you ask me for help. if you still want me."

sam

"we barely spend any time together. she's always doing something, hanging out with her friends, going climbing, running or swimming. are we even in a relationship anymore or just roommates? i don't even know where she is right now."

sam was right above you, watering the plants at the top of the stairs when you walked in. you were probably talking to a family member or a friend. about her. she wasn't sure if she should say something or not. she had continued watering the same plant while listening to your conversation and the water was overflowing now. it reached her feet and soaked through her sock. "crap." downstairs she heard you mutter a quick goodbye before you called through the house. "sam? are you home?" - "yeah, i'm here." she called back from the bathroom, looking for one of the ratty towels you used for spills. you had kicked off your shoes and were walking up the stairs. "don't move, i accidentally drowned gilbert." all the plants had names. sam emerged from the bathroom and threw the towel on the ground, swiping it around with her foot to wipe up the spill. "i didn't know you were home. did you, uh, hear me just now?" sam was staring at you. "yeah," she admitted. "i don't want us to be over. but i don't want to give up who i am, either." you nodded. "i know. compromise?" sam nodded back at you. "we can try."

[not-your-bro]

things i didn't like about the until dawn remake prologue (in no particular order)

the note change

the original note to hannah is overtly sexual - "you look so damn hot in that shirt, but i bet you're even hotter out of it." the new one is a substantial tone change - "it's been fun hanging out with you... no one gets me like you do. come find me later." the vibe is shifting from "i want to hook up with you" to "i might want to confess my feelings to you," and hannah basically says as much in her new diary entry: "is it too much to hope that he'll confess his feelings about me?" but the prologue does NOT change hannah taking her shirt off asap, which now feels ridiculous. there's no reason for her to do that when the note is so low-key. we're feeding the "hannah reacts too strongly" people and i'm not into it.

the prank setup montage

my initial guess with the note change was that they wanted to make the prank seem more like a bad, insensitive joke that escalates too quickly, rather than a group of people intending to film someone taking their clothes off (which is absolutely the vibe of the original). but if that was the intent, it's completely undercut by this prolonged prank setup. it literally has the energy of people prepping for a cool heist or something. pop song bopping in the background, dramatic shots as everyone gets into position. they're all relishing in it, particularly emily, whose mocap actor gives her some evil fucking gestures and expressions. all of this totally contrasts the new note and makes everyone look seriously diabolical.

sam's passivity

while i definitely joked about how sam couldn't seem to find hannah in the original, man, at least she tried! she voiced her concern and then immediately acted on it - a very sam move, imo. in the remake, the extra padding sees her sitting in silence for too long. and even after everyone leaves her on her own, she STILL just sits there and gives this irritated eye-roll - like she's annoyed with them, but not particularly concerned for hannah. and then her searching for hannah is cut. like. homegirl does not care, apparently! imo these changes are so out of character for sam, and i can't figure why they did this. is it to ""answer"" the question of why josh targets sam - by making her more culpable now? idk, but none of it works for me.

beth's dialogue makes less sense

in the original, she glimpsed flamethrower guy, made her "did you see that?" comment, then said "josh?", THEN we see that josh is passed out.

now the order of dialogue is nonsensical. she doesn't even see flamethrower guy, first of all - we the audience get a glimpse of him while she's taking out the trash, and there's a fake-out where you think she saw him, too. but what she actually sees is a deer. so she notices nothing amiss, goes inside, sees josh passed out, and moves him to the couch. then, later, she can go to the window, see NOTHING but snow falling off a branch...and say her usual, "did you see that? i thought dad said it'd just be us this weekend." HUH? GIRL? IT WAS NOTHING? and then she still goes "josh??" as though she didn't just haul his ass to the couch without him waking up. like, he is CONKED out and you know this. why are you saying his name like you're surprised he isn't answering you?

i don't mean to nitpick, but to demonstrate that they should've been more careful about how they changed the prologue, given they couldn't change the dialogue. and speaking of that...

the pacing

i understand that they couldn't add new dialogue because of logistical or budgetary reasons or both, but extending the prologue without being able to add dialogue leads to long stretches where the characters are noticeably not talking. it's awkward to watch, despite the music trying to cover for it, and it makes the pacing really uneven.

-

in general, i appreciate the desire to add a little extra for the existing fanbase, but if ballistic moon had their hands tied and couldn't do it properly, i kind of wish they hadn't done it at all, especially because i think they're doing more harm than good here. i love hannah and beth and it's nice to just see them for a bit longer, but it comes at a cost, and at the end of the day i much prefer the original prologue.

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🦇 It Happened One Summer Book Review 🦇

❓ #QOTD What's your go-to summer read?❓ 🦇 Hollywood's It-Girl Piper Bellinger is the paparazzi's beloved wild child. There's always the promise she'll go a bit too far for the Gram, including hosting a rooftop party that lands her in jail after a bad breakup. Hoping she'll learn some sense of responsibility, her wealthy step-father ships her off to her late father's dive bar in the small town of Westport. She's not there for five minutes before she meets grumpy sea captain Brendan, and the two instantly clash. Will Piper reconnect with her past (charting a course for a new future in the process) or can she get back to LA before the end of her three-month sentence?

💜 Despite how much my beloved Booksta girlies adore her writing, I honestly didn't know what to expect from Tessa Bailey (and I'm glad, because I love shaping my own opinions). From chapter one, there's this instantly familiar yet distinct voice that SCREAMS chick-flick rom-com (with Kesha playing at full volume in the background). Piper is Alexis from Schitt's Creek meets Elle Woods ala Legally Blonde. She's vibrant and bubbly and yes, a little ditzy, but after a few chapters, you start to love her for the heart behind it. Brendan is all salt water and deep grumbles, strong yet stuck in his ways. My latest concern with rom-coms lately has been a lack of chemistry. Too many books rush to the smut, forcing two characters to fit when they just don't. Chemistry sparks off the page pretty quickly between these two, though--not in lingering glances, but in actions. Brendan has memory foam installed over a bunkbed so Piper can stop bruising herself. He changes her locks because everyone in Westport has a key to her building. It's not insta-love (but once things progress, these two burn HOT), and I'm grateful for that.

💜 It's the underlying messages that bumped this up to a rare 3.5 stars. People have been putting Piper into a box for too long, telling her she's just like every other girl in LA, that she won't amount to more. Brendan shows her she has so much more to give than she realizes. We start adoring Piper through Brendan, and that's a powerful thing. Meanwhile, Piper recognizes her worth and accomplishes far more than she thought herself capable. There's an underlying theme of guilt and grief from both sides, too; Piper for her late father, and Brendan for his late wife. They heal together and end up stronger for it.

💙 It's the third act that made my star rating falter. Piper clinging to pieces of her past, that lingering what-if of falling back into her comfort zone and old ways--Brendan shouldn't have faulted her for that, turning it into a blowout fight when Piper admitted EARLIER that she didn't know what to do. After that, it's a number of conveniently placed obstacles that keep them apart. Piper's sudden decision to go back to LA felt out of place given her character development, too. Though it wasn't a full third-act breakup, it was enough to feel exhausting.

🦇 Recommended for fans of Emily Henry, Ali Hazelwood, and Hannah Grace.

✨ The Vibes ✨ ⚓ Small Town Romance ⚓ Contemporary Romance ⚓ Schitt's Creek Inspired ⚓ Grumpy/Sunshine ⚓ Opposites Attract ⚓ First in a Duology ⚓ He Falls First

💬 Quotes ❝ I can be in a room full of people that I know & still not feel like I belong. ❞ ❝ This girl. He'd be keeping her. There was no way around it. ❞ ❝ Apparently he enjoyed that now. Being confused & charmed & pulled apart over this woman. ❞ ❝ "I like the things that make you Piper. Don't go changing them now. ❞

[britt-kageryuu]

A video uploaded to the VTurtles! Channel, titled 'Edited Until Dawn Play Through'

---------------------

The video starts with Donnie, Mikey, and Leos models seated, in that order, on a couch, all dressed in color coded swim trunks, Hawaiian Shirts, and crocs. Shelldon in a bipedal body and River are seated on the arms rests. The game screen is above and to the left of them.

"Hey Balemates! Welcome to something a bit different! And if you didn't read the title, we're playing Until Dawn today!" Leo greets loudly, "We were originally going to stream this game, but them we hit a few snags. Stupid TOS, and Monetization based snags."

Donnie picks up from there, "Blue and I have played this before, and forgot that a number of elements are not really 'Family Friendly'. Like the very graphic death scenes, the 'bad language', the brief sexual implications and near nudity. So we have to prerecord this, and edit over a lot of the stuff that might trigger some TOS, or whatever." Donnie does air quotes, and sounds very exasperated and annoyed.

Mikey doesn't seem like he wants to be there, but is putting on a brave face, "And while I don't really like scary games, the Disaster Twins said there was a number of psychological elements to this game I might like. Though I think they just want me to be scared." He gives Donnie and Leo glares. The two are attempting to give innocent looks.

"Anyway, we are going for the Save Everyone route with Good Matt/Emily for a bit more difficulty, so this might take a while, and praying we don't mess up a QTE." Leo explains as he gets the game started.

~~~~

Mikey watches the opening scene in confusion, "What are they doing? Why play this kind of prank on their friend?"

"Because they're lead by a stereotypical mean girl who doesn't like the fact a female friend likes her boyfriend." Donnie answers in a deadpan tone.

Leo nods in agreement, "It's so hard to resist purposefully killing Emily, and annoying to get the full relationship end between her and Matt. Which we will also get for this run." He passes a notepad to Mikey, "Here's the route."

Mikey reads it over turning pages, and looking confused, "The butterfly effect stuff is kinda pretentious, and why is there a note that says 'Don't go that way you Dumb Dumb!', and nothing else for this one point?"

"Because Blue kept going the wrong way, and getting stuck in a bad end for one of the characters. Every! Time!" Donnie slightly glares at Leo.

"It's tough not to follow that direction!" Leo glares back at Donnie, "Are we getting the Death Totem again, or leaving it?"

"Leaving it. You collected it last time."

~~~~~

Mikey was clinging to Donnie during the entire part where Leo was playing Beth who's searching for Hannah in the woods. At least partly because Leo is purposefully going the opposite way to what Mikey is shouting.

Then when they get to the cliff scene, Mikey is freaked out by everything happening in the background, especially when they get to the cliff and the shadowy figure was approaching the girls. Then they fall, and it's time to choose.

Mikey is confused and panicked, "Why are those the choices?! Drop your sister, or let go?! Why?!"

Donnie very flatly answered, "It's not an actual choice."

"What?"

"Dropping Her."

"WHAT!?" Mikey watches as the scene plays, and Beth dies anyway. "What was the point of the choice if you kill both girls anyway?!"

"Moral pondery." "To mess with the player."

-------

The scene switches to a fancy looking office. Mikey had Leo pause so they didn't miss the dialogue.

"Is this a therapist office? One of the characters is in therapy?" He askes.

"Yup." "Affirmative."

"Is this why you wanted me to watch you play this game?"

"Yeah. Though these moments do effect minimal parts of the rest of the story." Leo answers.

"Okay. Continue please."

They, but mostly Mikey listen to the dialogue, "Really laying it on thick with the 'your choices will have a big impact' thing, huh? Also A gloved hand to hide who's in therapy, and how does this picture make me feel? This is kinda generic cliche therapy stuff!"

"And we're saying, happy, peaceful, yes, and scared. Right?" Leo asked Donnie.

"Yeah, those are theoretically the better choices for the scene." Donnie answers.

Then they watched the title sequence.

---------

"Isn't he the brother of the girls who died?"

"Yeah."

"He looks tired, and unhinged."

"Like Dee a week ago."

"L-Blue!"

"And now the first of probably many interesting edits!"

In the middle of Josh's final lines there was a set of deep chirps that sounded like Raph growling, and the subtitles were blurred.

--------

"These are some weird QTEs." Mikey says during the second part of the tutorial. Apparently!

"And the introduction to the 'Don't Move' events. And the totem collectables." Leo comments as he moves Sam to the next point, to meet Chris.

"Don't forget to Close the bag this time! Don't snoop. And don't shoot the Squirrel!" Donnie shouts at Leo.

"Yeah, yeah. I remember... you mess up a choice enough, and get yelled at about it forever." Leo muttered loud enough for the mic to pick up.

---------

"Mike's new girlfriend? What a title to have." Leo snarked.

"And quite the change, too." Mikey replied.

--------

"And this is likely why they broke up." 💙

"We need to keep these two is good standing for one of the good endings right?" 🧡

"Yes, disgusting isn't it?" 💜

--------

"How old is this game, and why are they using such dated slang?" Mikey askes.

"It was originally released in 2015, and while I can't remember these phrases being that popular then during that time, it's at least because of whoever wrote those lines." Donnie explains while Leo plays through the snowball fight.

"Wait! Do we need to kiss him, or can I just hit him with a snowball?" Leo asked after quickly pausing the game to grab the notes, and flip through them.

"Wait, why would this count towards the ending? It doesn't seem like that big of a choice." Mikey asked in confusion.

"Because the game devs really wanted to make you feel like every little choice could lead to a bad end, for sometimes the most stupid reasons. They said in frustration." Donnie replied with an annoyed tone to his voice.

Mikey looks even more confused, "What happened to make you this annoyed?" He asked while looking back and forth between his brothers.

Leo looks up from the Notes with an odd look, "Like I said. You make one supposedly wrong choice, and you get yelled at forever." He then goes through with the choice and continues the scene.

Mikey looked at the timer on the recording real quick, "How have we already spent an hour on this game? And how long is it?" He asked with a slight raise in his voice.

"If we keep a good pace. It should take about 7 hours, but it might be longer if we have to keep checking the notes." Donnie replies in exasperation. "Speaking of we're going to cut the recording here for the first episode at least!"

Leo goes to the title screen, and then joins in. "So stay tuned, and thanks for basking in the warmth of our presence."

"See you next time Balemates!" They all say at once waving bye to the camera. Then the screen then switches to the end card.

--------------

Masterpost

I decided to stop before the second therapy scene. It made sense, and really that is roughly 40 minutes into the game!!! Longer if you stop to go over notes, and judge if they are actually the right choices to make.

[thefluffyrailway-official]

Question: So we all know that hit threw continuity out the window with the show and all of us have at one point or another tried to make it work with a headcannon (Don't lie to yourself). Now my question is, is there any crazy stupid retcon, detail, or any of the such from any point in the series you've worked into the floof au?

Well, at the moment, as i'm still not working so much on the situations before, between and after the infection, i could say just some comments or dialogues that the engines do could remind about the original series (Both model and CGI eras it doesn't matter)

Or i could also use some little references. Like in a scene i usually imagine animated in my mind, where Hannah says that she would love to be an express coach. And then in the background and for just a few seconds, Gordon appears pulling the express and Thomas with it too. (Ref to "Thomas Gets Tricked")

Or the already usual headcannon of Henry being the most cat-like engine towards water.

Still, yk i'm still not a professional at adding details and good references. I must rewatch the whole series (At least what i can find because in Spain is very hard to watch the series without paying).

Y'know. I started this AU when i discovered the monster engines verse, shortly after i joined the fandom at the beggining of this year.

I couldn't find the complete model era at that time, so i started at the Brenner era, mostly with episodes like "Signals Crossed", "Emily in the Middle", " Hasty Hannah", or "The railcar and the coaches". Which aren't of course the best ones, but were the only ones i could remember from my last TTTE era (2017-2021).

So. Now that i finally found the Model, Miller and Brenner eras in spanish at Tiktok i'm able to rewatch them.

So. Apologies for not being so EXP on the real lore and stuff. I will some day, but for now i will just stay in the brenner era and with some details and refs to the miller and model era.

<3

[umholy]

hey guys. here are some plots that have been heavy on my mind and i would love to write them out. please, before you reach out to me/like this post, make sure you read my guidelines under the read more in the pinned post. the bolded muse is the one want to play.

havana rose liu x opp — camp counselors but make it slasher, or the quarry inspired.

muse a lives in a rural town and odd shit starts happening to her — stigmata, she starts healing people with a touch, she starts having visions of the immediate future — and the setting of the town is southern gothic vibes, which means that she is ruled as a freak by some and as an immaculate miracle by other religious freaks. enter muse b, who is a journalist or priest sent by the vatican to investigate. — stigmata and the unholy inspired.

emma d'arcy x opp — muse a is the lead singer of a rock band who is touring the united states when they meet muse b (can be their fan, they can meet by chance at a festival, can also be an actress) and their connection is immediate and undeniable. this plot is meant to navigate the ups and downs of their relationship filled with angst, jealousy and love. we can make them toxic and intense, all wrapped in fame background that puts them under a microscope.

hallmark-inspired plots with plenty of smut.

mxwxw ship where a married couple pays especial interest in their best friend's daughter, or a couple who goes out and hooks up with a woman but they are both so infatuated with her the next morning they end up sending a text to make sure she got home okay.

muse a is a billionaire stuck in a loveless marriage and as he and his wife try to make one last effort to save their marriage they decide to have a baby via surrogacy. enter muse b, who will be their live-in surrogate and surprise, surprise, they end up falling in love. plenty of sneaking around, and angst, not to mention the baby.

anything with stepcest where we can develop a good plot surrounding it. the angst & sneaking around being real.

muse a is married to muse b's brother, but she is the portrait of a neglected housewife. it all changes when muse a and muse b start spending more and more time together until they develop enough feelings for one another to start an affair behind the brother's and entire family's back.

roommates with feelings but add a lot of drama.

dad's best friend x opp, that's it.

anything forbidden.

i really need historical plots, too.

son's girlfriend x boyfriend's mom/stepmother.

muse a comes into muse b's kingdom and seizes it ruthlessly bringing muse b back to his land as his future queen. when time passes, what feels like a prison starts feeling like freedom and his bruteness melts around her softness. — would love to play either hannah dodd, anna sawai or emily bader.

muse a and muse b are star-crossed lovers, but it just happens that fate recycles over and over again and muse b always dies before they can have their forever. muse a is the immortal being fated to search for muse b in just about every reincarnation and tries to love her from afar but always ends up coming closer.

[cataschism]

indulge me, if you will ... any beth headcanons to share? i'd love to read some if you have any :'))

I’ll link as we go along to posts that you, Hal, made, and that I’m referencing when I describe Beth!

Less of a headcanon, more of an observation: I’ve noticed in Beth’s dialogue she doesn’t often use people’s names; in contrast, she uses their descriptors. Older brother, naive sister. She only uses Josh when he’s not awake, as if she doesn’t want to be heard. I am however connecting this with your post about Beth being called the perfect one - &. am using this for the fact that she derives characteristics from people and then identifies them that way.

As a continuation, I don’t think Beth cares that much about the way she voices her opinions. In our thread, specifically this reply: (xxx) Beth asks Josh: “did you even like me at all?” which, while a PTSD dream, I think Beth would have asked if given a chance post-death. I think Beth is a very verbally abrasive person, but you don’t see it much. ( This also doesn’t mean that she doesn’t feel guilt for being this way, but rather, she can’t stop herself from saying her mind. )

These now are like, not headcanons based in observations or game easter eggs etc, but rather what I have felt intuitively writing Beth, and building her outwards. 

I don’t think she wanted to be an actress, partially due to the family’s director / fame / movie background. (Hal post about the family biz, xxx) I think she probably wanted to be in some stem field, going down the route of being the “perfect one,” (xxx) by going into an extremely competitive field. Additionally, she didn’t wanna be a doctor / lawyer, but a researcher. Had she lived, she might have specifically gone down the route of exploring medication effects. ( If not for Josh, xxx, related meta ) Officially maybe a psychiatrist, if she had to do clinical work, but she liked research the best.

She smells like vanilla perfume, because it’s easy to find &. usually fairly cheap ( just something she can find easily ) but she also really liked the scent of pineapples. Perfume was pretty common for Beth.

Beth relates a lot of her life in the twin mentality, as in she thinks of things in twos. Her parents, Chris+Josh, her+Hannah. Things are often doubled up in Beth’s mind, and it takes a lot of work to unravel those people to be singles. I think that’s why she likes for people to have descriptors, so she can easily define each person solo, rather than just thinking about people together. ( I also don’t think she supported Hannah’s crush on Mike for this reason, that their descriptors “didn’t match” to Beth and therefore they were incompatible. Right before her death, she was vindicated in this aspect. )

I also think Beth’s way of describing Josh was “resilient,” Hannah was obviously “naive.” I think Beth called herself either “stubborn” or “honest,” both not necessarily positive or negative. Naive & honest worked because Beth could tell her like it was and she wouldn’t be tricked, as well as stubborn & resilient worked because they would do something to the end, together.  Personally, Emily is seen as the “bitchy” archetype, but I think she saw Mike that way. Emily was probably “opinionated,” if not “insightful.”

[kenora-pizza]

Edward strikes out

Google translate edition

Here you go! Sorry it took so long.

Enjoy!

Eduardo, who stood up

Since Edward spends so much time on the tracks, Soder Locomotives is pleased to offer track maintenance services in Fat Bay. He knows everything, everyone does it. The next day Edward came on board. Some large tumors require removal. Gordon and Thomas were there. Tomasz was surprised. A new crane has arrived on the island. “You are so strong. I know Gordon can handle you.” Gordon thinks this is crazy and Thomas immediately leaves. "The valve is great, but I wouldn't buy another one if I didn't have a car." Edward looked at his hands. Gordon was right. "I wasn't very happy." "You look like Edward." He soon arrived in Persia. I also hope for a new China. "It doesn't help much." "He's coming." "Open a new tab. Gordon, he and I fight and fight." "Edward, is something wrong?" "Percy is still young. She is young and delicate." Edward's car is parked next to the new crane. "My name is Loki." "My name is Edward." “Can you come with me? Can you help me with this long pipe?” "I don't need your help anymore, idiot." The material was removed and dried. Edward walked up to the sign. Loki recalled in his mind. The screen immediately went black. Edward stopped the car, but the windshield was damaged. A metal pipe can be seen in the background. "My key is broken." I saw a large canal. I was wondering what I should do. “Rocky has a lot of energy.” said Thomas. "Open a new tab." He tells the sergeant to call Harvey. Harvey said with a smile. Harvey started using the hose, but he worked hard. Only 1v1. "Incredible." Thomas and Emily will arrive soon. He found his way. “Let's go. Why don't you stay with Rocky?” Hannah: "Hey, Harvey, calm down." "I'm a failure, I have to do something good." Then he heard Gordon's voice. I stood up immediately. Then there's the question. Gordon kicks him in the head. They got off the plane. I was frightened. "I've been looking for Gordon for a long time." “We need Edward Logie.” Gordon hit him hard. "Open a new tab." But Edward couldn't fix Harvey Gordon because he knew he was in trouble. There is only one there. "I met Loki." Run fast. Edward comes on board. "Loki, I need your help." "I'm sorry, Edward." So Edward takes Rocky to the store. "Sure," Edward said. Edward leads Rocky through the hills and valleys. Everyone was crying and laughing. Edward introduces the new recruits to Sodor. Edward meets Rocky. "I can fix it." Rocky uses heavy equipment to get Gordon out of the van. Gordon was stunned. “Thank you, Loki. Thank you!" Rocky lost all his cigarettes in the pub. The work was completed quickly. Gordon and Edward were stunned. "It's crazy to think you sent me. You may be young, but it matters." That's why everyone knew and respected Rocky.

[bornforastorm]

ok hannah, explain the saw thing to me (curious, not combative)

hooboy ben, good luck to me!!

first off, I think the appeal of Saw (and it's nine sequels lol) is partially and simply the appeal of all horror: it allows us to watch horrible things and think about horrible things from a safe, distanced place. It allows us to feel repulsion and horror and terror without any real risk. It's fiction, so however nasty it is, it's fake so it's fine, but the outlet for yuck and yikes still remains and can be cathartic. I think this is especially true in long running horror franchises, where after the first couple you know what you're getting into and can just enjoy the ride.

Now, for Saw in particular, yes there's the catharsis of the Scare and the Ick, the shiver and the shudder and then the laugh to release tension. Now, I understand not being into the Ick. I am not particularly into the Ick. I initially stopped watching the franchise after 3 because it was too icky for me! Eventually I went back and watched them all, but it took a long time and even now as someone less sensitive to Ick, I still look away from some parts. When I rewatch them, I tend to scrub through the ickiest parts (which makes each of these 90 minute movies only about 50 minutes long, natch).

So if not the traps and the Ick (which is the main appeal for some and certainly what my mother thinks the appeal is and is why she is therefore worried for me), what is the appeal? What makes Saw so compelling? What about these movies has driven me to madness? I can't speak for everyone, but for me--

(this may get long and it may not make any sense at all)

partially it's that I saw the first one when I was 14 and it changed me, and I'll always love it for that, and by extension I love what it spawned. It gave me the gift of horror movies! I had no idea a movie could do what Saw (2004) does, and suddenly the word of horror opened up for me. If a horror movie could be that, what else could horror be? That first movie made me insane. I watched it non-stop for months. It's a good little thriller starring Cary Elwes and a cute boy I had never seen before but was captivated by, and I was obsessed by this cheap little picture that's mostly playing in the sandbox of interpersonal dynamics against a backdrop of the Worst Day Of Your Life. "What would I do in this situation" is part of the fun mental game the audience plays when watching a Saw movie, and that first one engages with that question in such a small scale, almost sweet way and I love it. What would you do if you woke up in a crusty bathroom, chained to the wall, and your only instruction was to kill the other guy in the room with you? Well, you'd talk to him for eight hours and in the end you would hold his face and tell him everything was going to be okay. Love!!

After Saw 1, the movies get campier and goofier and, yes, ickier. 2 and 3 are pretty good! Icky! Then 4-7 are pure melodrama and camp and I looove the melodrama and camp. I recently bemoaned to dear friend Emily boasamishipper that it's a shame it's essentially impossible to watch these movies and experience the silly melodrama if you can't handle gore. So many good melodrama/plot scenes take place in locations where, like, there's a rotting corpse in the background. If you skip the gore completely, you will miss key information. It's unavoidable. And the traps are nasty. They're gross. I get it. It's undeniable.

BUT if you can handle gore enough to at least to close your eyes while it's happening, then tune back in, what you get is a really bonkers series with an insanely complicated timeline and even more complicated lore, populated by characters who are both complicated and complex and sometimes embarrassingly simple. Which is fun as hell. To me.

Mr Jigsaw himself is a very old man. He has 14 motivations that are constantly changing depending on what the movie feels would be most useful. Literally his motivations for doing torture crimes are: he has cancer, no wait and he's divorced, no wait and he and his wife lost a baby (the creepy doll was FOR the baby), no wait and he got denied health insurance coverage, no wait and he resents liars, no wait and-- and it just keeps going. He DIES in Saw 3, but they keep doing flashbacks so he can keep being in the movies, which complicates his history So much. These movies are dropping new Jigsaw lore constantly. This man claims to have never committed a murder, and in fact says he hates murderers, when he is personally responsible for dozens and dozens of gnarly deaths. Hypocrite king of all time. He's a civil engineer so he obviously knows how to design and build torture machines. Of course.

His main apprentice is a feral nightmare woman who also dies in 3 and largely appears in flashbacks after that. She's insane. We all love her. Mr Jigsaw keeps putting her in traps. She hates the other apprentices because she is daddy's favorite. It's the interpersonal dynamics, babyyy.

In 4, we're given another guy (Mark Hoffman! lame man of all time!) and are told he has always been in on the crimes, he was there the whole time we promise, and, oh right, he's a cop AND while on paper his backstory and motivation is pretty interesting, in practice he's weirdly boring AND he's honestly pretty bad at being the Jigsaw killer and other cops keep telling him that to his face. By movie 7 he's totally given up on the Jigsaw Killer thing and is just stabbing people. It's very funny. (and he's my favorite guy and I love him and he's in a total of 6 of these movies even though 99% of audience members can't stand him) (also when I say what in these movies drove me to madness? the true answer is this man's burly chest and bad acting)

Cops come and go and the movies can't decide how much cop drama they want to engage in. Luke Danes from Gilmore Girls is in 2 of these as the bitchiest cop I've ever seen. He weeps, he screams, he threatens witnesses, he's angry and suspicious and annoyed the entire time. He is part of two of the series' best traps. If the series brought him back tomorrow, I would cheer. Would it make sense? I don't care.

Characters who appeared in one scene two movies ago are now the main character because the other main characters keep getting Saw trapped. Sometimes characters essentially come back from the dead because they ran out of characters and needed someone to fill a certain kind of role in the story.

We never check in with Cary Elwes again, not even obliquely, until movie 7, and then we don't learn almost anything about what he's been up to.

Some people get put in traps for smoking or being depressed or engaging in light insurance fraud. Some people get put in traps for being rapists or murderers or Neo Nazis. Their crimes are in no way related to the severity of their traps. Does a private health insurance ceo who denies coverage sometimes (his job!) deserve to be melted in half by acid? Saw trap! Does a judge who shortened a manslaughter sentence deserve to drown in pig guts? Feels extreme! Saw trap! also there's a pig motif and nobody knows why! What's up with the pigs!!?? we may never truly know and that's part of the fun.

Movies 3 and 4 take place concurrently and that's a twist!! Movies 4-7 are so full of flashbacks it's sometimes hard to keep track of where in time you're supposed to be, and the question of "when did this series altering event actually occur?" can be hard to decipher. Movies fold in on each other at an alarming rate. Trying to explain the timeline of the Saw franchise is so bugnuts insane that my rl friend and podcast co-host made a game for me that was "Which Saw Event Happens First?" and honestly, it was hard!

So!!! I really love the goofy characters and the goofy plot machinations and the goofy lore-- and the movies take all these things so seriously, as they should. Any wink would ruin the magic, and how seriously 8 movies treat Mr Jigsaw and his very fucked up concept of morality and fairness is vital and delightful (I say 8 to mean 1-7+10, bc movies 8 and 9 are a little coy and smug about the whole thing in ways that rubbed me the wrong way. But then 10 is so We're Back Baby)

Then there's the general vibe and look of these things. The first one was made on one location with a budget of 1 million dollars. It's cheap as shit. It's so cheap they couldn't afford gore. Because the first one set the visual style for the series, they're all cheap as shit and they look it. They all look like shit. That's very comforting to me as a lover of the first one. It feels a little like being 14 again. The blue/green color timing, the frenetic editing, the grimy nasty sets (literally when a Saw movie has a true outdoor scene, it feels wrong), the at best c-list actors giving truly c-list performances, the goofy reveals set to a remix of the same song over and over again-- it all feels familiar and cozy, like cuddling up in bed during a thunderstorm.

It's a little bit nostalgia and a little bit the movie viewer I've become with age. I like to have fun. I like to be scared, but not too much. I like silliness. Saw is silly to me. I love it dearly. I love it's cast of nobody, not great, not that hot actors. These aren't hot teens getting murdered! I love it's heightened world where the cops never clean up a crime scene so if you want to revisit a trap from three movies ago, you can. It's outlandish and absurd and great.

I get why it isn't for everyone. It either clicks for you or it doesn't, you can either handle the gore or you can't, you either vibe with the silliness or you don't. Most people I know who like them, like them for that silly, camp quality and the ever increasing intricacy of the world, which one simply has to grin and bear and go, "yeah sure, this might as well be true." None of them are objectively five star films. Not even close. Their badness is beloved to me, their silliness, even their gross out traps and goops of gore. I've become someone who likes all that.

So in conclusion: It's silly!!!! it's so dang silly. If you can giggle and laugh at an icky movie, the Saw movies will make you giggle and laugh. There's much to laugh at. They're a roller-coaster ride of silly plot and gooey gore and weird characters and confusing, beautiful lore. It's the rules!!

The Saw Thing, for me, is that they're good, silly fun soaked in globs of corn syrup blood 🙏 they're all 93 minutes long 🙏 they're really fun to goof on with your friends 🙏 they gave me a crush for 14 year old me (leigh whannell, cutie) and a crush for 33 year old me (costas mandylor, burly brickhouse) 🙏 they gave me horror movies 🙏 they're the gift that keeps on giving and I can't explain it any more than that

[lastcompact]

There's been a lot of crap happening lately. I feel like I'm putting out fires both in and out of school.

There's the incident with Lils. Some bullies tried to isolate her and physically attack her. She brought us just in case, but her friend Aeria wanted to keep things going just a little more to have evidence; that particular brat "just happened" to be carrying button cameras and recording devices on her person in that moment.

Only reason why I agreed on it is that Lils could always take a hit; she's as durable as a BC. I've seen her fall out of a building without a scratch on her. Getting knocked in the face by an ordinary 15 year old wouldn't phase her.

Her other friend Hannah didn't really know that and almost got physical with me when she saw the group restrain Lils and that Emily girl start punching her.

We stepped in after they started to try and strip her and leaving her in the track's shed to be found. I laid them out after Aeria made her dramatic reveal about recording them the entire time.

Blackmail isn't good enough for me though.

In any case, the reason why they did all this was stupid. Apparently, Emily and Hannah have beef with each other, something along the lines of being 2nd and 1st of their grade as well as their rich and poor backgrounds respectively. And Emily wanted Lils to sabotage Hannah by threatening to reveal my "superhero" identity.

Kryffin hell. If I get outed, it'll be a good thing. Only reason why I'm still here is cause Sato insisted it'll be helpful down the line, but if something happens to kick me out, I can't be held responsible. I hate being here. And if getting "unmasked" brings me more enemies, even better, I could always use more people to beat up. Pickings have been slim. They just run now, even though I haven't actually inflicted grevious harm on anyone cause of my power.

Anyway, as I was saying, blackmail wasn't good enough. They really needed to be taught a lesson. Particularly that there's some people in this world who didn't care about their status.

SoI knocked Emily and company out, and then I went to the Subway Station that had the portal to the broken bridge within a desert wasteland - and showed them how to fly without a parachute.

Of course, I caught them with Kinesis before they went splat. But I was very tempted not to. Pretty sure all of them pissed themselves in the end, especially since I didn't actually show them that the others were alive after Sparta-ing them one by one off the bridge.

Had they been adults, I would've just let them go splat. I'm only giving them a chance because they're 14-15, Lils's age.

But let's face it; they probably won't change. But maybe they'll think twice about inflicting harm on others.

And if they start thinking about touching Lils again, well... they must really want their Darwin award.

[untildawnss]

hungover

just having a bit of fun. i will make up background characters to join the main 10 (names inspired by roles the actors played in other universes).

characters are in college (over 21, so no US underage drinking), it's summer break (idk how college in the US works exactly) and they're having a house party week at one of the washington properties. au in which the original prank and josh prank didn't happen, emily and mike are still together.

wc: 2.1k

ct: drinking, drugs, smoking, mentions of nudity

he woke up, his head feeling like it might explode at any second. his hands were clammy and his cheek was resting against something cold and rough. he rolled over onto his back, hard, the movement sent a wave of pain through his joints. his right arm had fallen asleep and the tingling, buzzing sensation was unbearable. he waited until it subsided to push himself into a sitting position, groaning. his mouth and throat were so dry that swallowing felt like trying to eat sand. he raised his hands, feeling for his glasses that were hanging off the tip of his nose and pushed them back up.

chris immediately regretted opening his eyes. the bright lights and white walls made his head pound. he squeezed his eyes shut again for a few seconds and took a deep breath. when he opened them again the room seemed to spin and shift in and out of focus. he gagged, just barely managing to gulp back the vomit but the vile taste remained on the back of his tongue and his throat was burning now. his eyes were stinging and teary from the sensation, he felt uncomfortably sweaty and sticky. his vision was still blurry and he realised that his glasses were smudged and greasy, so he cleaned them with the hem of his shirt.

he could see clearer now, though there were still streaks on the lenses that irritated his tired eyes and made him squint and blink rapidly. he fought back against his body's urge to vomit once more and looked around the bleak room. it was a small room, the floor concrete, the walls white tile and there was a door with some kind of cutout or flap. and there was... another person?

"josh? hey, josh!" chris shook his sleeping, snoring best friend's shoulder. "josh, wake up! where the hell are we?" - "stop it, stop, i'm up, i'm awake", josh mumbled while slapping his hands away. josh sat up and rested his back against the wall. his eyes were half shut and he looked at chris, grinning. "cochise, my man, what's up?" he was slurring his words and looked tired but seemed to be in a good mood, seemingly not having noticed the situation they were in. "what's up? what's up?", chris sputtered. "i have no idea where we are. i have no idea when we are and this is not your house. what happened last night? i don't- i think i remember, uh, that guy, y'know the one who was your roommate last year..", chris trailed off. "oh yeah, dan, he's still my roommate", josh added. "yeah, that guy, yeah, he, uh, he tried to hit on jess, right? and he was, like, super bummed out when she said no." josh started laughing. "ooh yeah, i forgot about that. i told him if he could get her to make out with him i'd do his chores for two months, if not he has to do mine. buuuuut i know for a fact that jess has been hooking up with his cousin since they met during spring break." chris had gotten up and tumbled and teetered towards the door. "good for her but what happened after and where are we?" he tried the handle but the door wouldn't budge. "i think we're locked in, josh." - " uh yeah, i think we were arrested." - "we were what?"

chris was pacing, trying to ignore the sloshing feeling in his stomach. he hadn't eaten since, since, he didn't even know since when. at some point last night, or he hoped it was last night, for all he knew it might've been longer than a day, he'd shared a pizza with hannah, ashley and some guy called aaron or something. he felt, heard his blood pulsing. it was agony. "what do you mean we were arrested? what for, how, when, WHY?" josh was still on the floor, his elbows resting on his knees, hands gripping the sides of his head. "oh my god, chris, stop yelling, my head's killing me." chris turned to look at him, the effort of trying to remember what happened after josh had tricked this guy daniel into asking out jess had him seeing stars. he could barely think, let alone think coherently. "sorry, man, i'm just.. freaking out. i've never been arrested before." - "neither have i. i just- i just don't think that freaking out is helping us right now." - "then what are we supposed to do?" chris looked around the room again. tilting his head back to look at the ceiling hurt and he barely managed to stay upright while his head felt this heavy. there were no cameras. he didn't know if he was pissed off or tired or annoyed or just everything. but he was thirsty and starving. he knocked on the door. "hey, hello? is anyone out there? we've been in here for ages and we'd really appreciate some water and maybe something to eat."

someone had opened the flap in the door and dumped two small plastic bottles of water into the cell. chris and josh had drained every last drop in record time. no one had talked to them. josh had fallen asleep again but chris was wide awake. anxiety was gnawing at him, taking bites out of the small part of coherency he had managed to put together after the water bottles were dumped in. but that had been, what, an hour ago and since then there had been no other sign of life from the other side of that door. he started pounding his fists on the door again. "hey, HEY! don't we have the right to like a lawyer or something? or just basic human rights like water and food?" there was no answer. he kicked the door. "assholes", he muttered.

he had fallen asleep again. thinking about what ashley or his parents would say when they found out he'd been arrested was exhausting. or maybe ashley already knew. had she been there? maybe she was trying to bail them out. he had tried to count the seconds to have some semblance of an idea of how long he'd been in this cell but he was too tired to stay awake.

chris woke up to the creaking of the door's hinges. the sound sent another bout of stabbing pain through his head, making it feel like his brain was pulsing painfully against his skull. he opened his eyes slowly and saw three shadowy silhouettes walking through the door towards him and josh. "ash?", he croaked at the figure with reddish hair. "hey, chris. it's me. come on, get up." she grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet, slowly. he stumbled a little before leaning on her shoulder. the other two, beth and hannah probably, pulled josh to his feet. "heyyy, it's my baby sisterssss", he warbled, gleefully. yeah, hannah and beth, okay. "are- are we criminals now?" chris was mumbling, inclining his head towards ashley who groaned under the added weight. "n-no, chris, you're fine, everything's okay", she huffed, straining to keep him upright. "sorry", chris shifted, getting his weight off of ashley's shoulder. "i'm fine, i can walk." - "okay, good." ashley smiled at him.

they walked out of the cell, entering a dimly lit corridor. might've been a creepy murder basement straight out of a horror movie if he didn't know this was a police station. josh, beth and hannah were right behind them, the twins whisper-yelling at their brother to move his own damn feet. they reached a staircase and started climbing upstairs. "ash, am-am i a criminal now?" chris' voice was quaking but he was determined to get an answer. "are-are my parents here? what about josh?" ashley glanced at him. "chris, i'm sorry. you're gonna find out soon enough. i can't tell you anything right now." he stopped and turned back to look at beth, josh and hannah. "do you know anything? please, please, tell us! i don't want to go to prison, guys." beth and hannah shrugged and shook their heads. beth reached out to squeeze his hand. "sorry, chris, we don't really know anything. all we know is that we were allowed to come and get you guys from your cell. you might be under house arrest for a while until your trial." josh's eyes fluttered open. "trial? what trial?" his voice was slightly higher than usual. "i'm sorry josh", hannah muttered, her mouth twitching and tears in her eyes. "i'm so sorry. i don't know if there's anything we can do after what happened last night." josh stopped dead in his tracks, almost tumbling backwards down the stairs if the twins hadn't held their firm grip. chris and ashley were now turned around, face to face with the washington siblings. "what do you mean? what the hell happened last night?" chris looked at josh, eyes wide. josh stared right back, just as horrified. they looked at ashley, beth and hannah. all three were looking at each other, avoiding their eyes. "we- we're- we can't really tell you anything", beth blurted out after a minute, maybe five. "you'll just... have to deal with it", hannah added. ashley nodded. "you can't delay this, anyway."

when all five of them reached the top of the stairs, chris and josh did a double take. ashley, beth and hannah were still supporting chris and josh. but they were in the living room of the washington's vacation home. not a police station. not a court room. nothing like that. chris looked back at josh, thoroughly rattled, and josh looked back at him, just as wide-eyed. emily and mike were holding a banner that read 'surprise, bitches', sam and matt were pouring out shots. jess and that guy, daniel, were in the process of lighting candles on an elaborate cake. there were a few more people, who chris met through josh and jess, he thought he remembered the names simon, grant and nina, who were holding and arranging cool bottles of champagne and beer on the table. ashley, beth and hannah led chris and josh towards two chairs facing the table and banner. everyone, apart from emily and mike who were still holding the banner and ashley, beth and hannah who ducked behind them, grabbed, shook and popped a bottle of champagne, aiming them at chris and josh.

chris and josh shielded their faces with their hands for the three, four, five seconds until it was over, barely ready to comprehend what was happening. when the foamy liquid had ceased to spurt from the bottles the others were still holding, josh coughed and sputtered. "what the fuck is going on?" chris wiped his face with his sleeve. "yeah, what josh said." mike erupted in a fit of laughter, almost pulling emily down with him, wheezing. "you should see the look on your faces!" chris and josh looked at each other, slightly uneasy. "no, seriously, what the fuck is happening?", josh's voice still sounded hoarse and croaky from the hours of not speaking. chris was beyond speaking and just looking around wildly at everyone present. "you've been", whispered hannah between their ears. "pranked", muttered sam. "BITCHES!" shouted beth, clapping their shoulders, hard. "GOTCHA!" - "can you please stop yelling?", josh pleaded. "hmm, we could but we still have, like, four more parent and/or supervision free days until we have to go back to being normal young adults/college students." matt was almost cackling at mike's sass. "we just," sam was wheezing, coughing and trying to compose herself "we just want you to know that-", she broke off again, leaning on the table to support herself. "that", emily added, "you're being pranked." chris and josh looked around, both more or less bewildered, at their friends who were doubled over, crying with laughter and still pouring out drinks for everyone.

"i'm so sorry, but", sam giggled, "you honestly deserved this." hannah sidled over. "oh, they definitely did."

josh and chris looked at each other, faces slightly scrunched up, beers in their hands, more than a few shots into this next evening. josh was grabbing chris' shoulder, almost shaking him. "yeah, maybe we deserved it. but what if we pulled an even better prank on them? ever thought about it like that? bet you that i have better ideas than beth and hannah with that drunk tank prank. we're gonna put the fear of god into them all." josh was grinning at chris, mischievously. and you know chris would never say no to a good prank, especially after falling victim to one.

[just-some-random-blogger]

omg oh you got my first part?? im shocked, never seen it. so its ANOTHER part 2!! what about it? yeye this gif is so perfectly looped TT i hope the kitten is more taken aback by the unknown smell rather than the awful, absolutely terrible pain this ball gives him. but hes so cute TT 'its weird someone else has my name' ekaterina I, ekaterina II and me: *_*, *_*, *_* well.. hm.. sorry for stealing your names babygirls... yk, im proud. like hannah montana is hannah, you should be proud too! omg there IS a cat called PRINCE and you can TALK to him!!!!! omg im crying TT HES SO PRETTY TT omg you can CHALLENGE him TT he may scratch me to death 'shes not a minimum viable product' lol it was the first thing ive seen when i searched for the meaning of mvp. i dont understand your gamer slang >:( ok yes i learnt what mvp really meant but i needed to mention this mvp too. 'i aint ever reading that its too long' LOL i've read 'war and peace' and 'And Quiet Flows the Don' (tha fact they translated it like this... smart but so unfamiliar...) which is probably 3000 of pages in total... and oh.. 'The Master and Margarita' also represents hell in a way and ive read it so.. you cant mock me like this catmom TT im sorry i talk about russian literature so much but i dont really read smth else... well beside the all tumblr shit... 'i hope you only mean in the show' you never know..... 'less anxious about sending asks!!😤' YES GIRL!! i love this mood!! youre gonna do it and do it in the best way bc youre the best!! i believe in you!! no one can stand against your hot person presence!! go and talk to them! 'my body is like is this a threat CLOG THE NOSTRILS' ghdjs its kinda funny how you talk about your body as a castle which was attacked TT its kina true but still hilarious. hope you breath well lol. 'to be fair i have an electric fan open and when its night it gets colder' and i've got an opened window... youre really lucky i cant slap people. how was the movie? and what movie TT 'YOUVE ALWAYS BEEN SWEET IM LUV U SO MUCH' yk what? i take after my catmom. meomeow!! love you too<з SO listen the daemon idea..... 'BUT THIS SCENE WAS SO INTENSE' YES its also so true!! i love how alicent is the loving (lol to aemond) mother and a fair (LOL in her own way) woman, a majestic queen (lol sorry i want to say shes great but...). she said there was not enough information about alicent in the books so they kinda created some of her character and background? i think thats why alicent is so great in hotd. actresses really feel her. and emily!! i was amazed by her acting in the scene where she was like 'supporting' king in his chambers? her voice was really trembling and she looked so lost. wow. omg i havent seen tom and ewan in youtube so i absolutely forgot about them TT rip TT i like tom too. from what ive seen in tumblr and his insta i (as a judgemental person lol) think hes sweet. and im sorry but TT i used to (actually i still do) find it funny how ewan purses his lips TT IDK WHY but it makes me laugh so bad TT he seems quiet to me. 'WHICH WAS SHOCKING' lol hes got a puppy face... no his acting is good but... my judgements... theyre rarely mistaken yk.... you can love emma and can love olivia separately but their duet?? divine! theyre so ?? a match?? i even thought they may be a couple for a moment. so hope you've got a good day! and a good week!! love you! take care<З

ok i gave up on my homework and passed it /alsfhlasfhasf HAHAHAHHA

i hope i didnt do so badly HAHAHHA

anyway let me start by talking about that movie i had to watch for one of my classes. it was boring but then i made it halfway through the film and i was like wait its not that boring and part of me wanted to watch it but i decided not to continue cos i got all my answers HHAHHAHAHH

it was this movie, october sky, its about a kid who wants to make rocket ships and its based on a true story so HAHAHAHA i kinda might go back to it but i prolly wont AHAHHAHAHAHAHAH

omg oh you got my first part?? im shocked, never seen it. so its ANOTHER part 2!! what about it?

T_T this was so dry i was like ??? wait did MY reply not send ? HAHHAHH /:

yeye this gif is so perfectly looped TT i hope the kitten is more taken aback by the unknown smell rather than the awful, absolutely terrible pain this ball gives him. but hes so cute TT

HAHHAHAAH its probably more of the contact the kitty had with the ball spring thing thing

'its weird someone else has my name' ekaterina I, ekaterina II and me: *_*, *_*, *_* well.. hm.. sorry for stealing your names babygirls... yk, im proud.

HAHHAHAHAH im more like PLS its YOU who stole MY name even though *I* stole Hannah's name in the bible because she's who i was named after lol HAHAHAHAH

like hannah montana is hannah, you should be proud too!

i was!!! i was like OMG IM FAMOUS HAHAHHHAHAHAHH i love hannah montana

i have no idea what his episode it but AWW THATS OS CUTE I LOVE IT WHEN GIRLS GIVE BOYS FLOWERS T_T

omg there IS a cat called PRINCE and you can TALK to him!!!!! omg im crying TT HES SO PRETTY TT omg you can CHALLENGE him TT he may scratch me to death

YES YOU CAN CHALLENGE HIM but its like??? this card game HAHHAHAAH its like a game within the game and the cat is a player in the card game

'shes not a minimum viable product' lol it was the first thing ive seen when i searched for the meaning of mvp. i dont understand your gamer slang >:( ok yes i learnt what mvp really meant but i needed to mention this mvp too.

IM SO SORRY I DIDNT MEANT TO CONFUSE YOU mvp isnt gamer slang actually it originated from sports specifically basketball i think and it trickled to mainstream media. MVP means most valuable player! T_T i thought you gathered i meant she was a minimum viable product from what i was telling you. i forgot i even said mvp T_T im so sorry my love

'i aint ever reading that its too long' LOL i've read 'war and peace' and 'And Quiet Flows the Don' (tha fact they translated it like this... smart but so unfamiliar...) which is probably 3000 of pages in total... and oh.. 'The Master and Margarita' also represents hell in a way and ive read it so.. you cant mock me like this catmom TT im sorry i talk about russian literature so much but i dont really read smth else... well beside the all tumblr shit...

its fine you can talk about russian literature all you want! idk i find it scary to read like 'classical' books, especially the ones you learn about in class, cos idk it feels like ???? a chore????? idk idk

'i hope you only mean in the show' you never know.....

T_T T_T PLEASE

'less anxious about sending asks!!😤' YES GIRL!! i love this mood!! youre gonna do it and do it in the best way bc youre the best!! i believe in you!! no one can stand against your hot person presence!! go and talk to them!

me @ my brain demons

'my body is like is this a threat CLOG THE NOSTRILS' ghdjs its kinda funny how you talk about your body as a castle which was attacked TT its kina true but still hilarious. hope you breath well lol.

HAHAHAAHAH I FIND IT EASIER TO EXPLAIN THINGS LIKE THIS NOT SO FORMAL BECAUSE IT MAKES MORE SENSE

'to be fair i have an electric fan open and when its night it gets colder' and i've got an opened window... youre really lucky i cant slap people.

HAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHA IM RONNIN 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️

how was the movie? and what movie TT

HA i already answered that HAHHAHAHA

'YOUVE ALWAYS BEEN SWEET IM LUV U SO MUCH' yk what? i take after my catmom. meomeow!! love you too<з SO

<3 <3

listen the daemon idea..... 'BUT THIS SCENE WAS SO INTENSE' YES its also so true!! i love how alicent is the loving (lol to aemond) mother and a fair (LOL in her own way) woman, a majestic queen (lol sorry i want to say shes great but...). she said there was not enough information about alicent in the books so they kinda created some of her character and background? i think thats why alicent is so great in hotd. actresses really feel her.

HAHAHHHAHAH the parts in the parenthesis HAHAHHAAH. also ive seen people say that the show is basically and interpretation of the book because its so... ??? incomplete cos its a bunch of outside accounts ??? so as interesting as that is, imma just enjoy the story as a tv show so yeah AHHAHAAH. alicent crazy (theyre all crazy) but she can choke me

and emily!! i was amazed by her acting in the scene where she was like 'supporting' king in his chambers? her voice was really trembling and she looked so lost. wow.

i felt so bad for young alicent. her dad an ugly rat L. OMG by the way when i say L that means loser AHAHAHAHH and W but i dont think ive used it is winner HAHAAHH T_T stuff i learn from my younger sister HAHHAHAH

omg i havent seen tom and ewan in youtube so i absolutely forgot about them TT rip TT i like tom too. from what ive seen in tumblr and his insta i (as a judgemental person lol) think hes sweet.

HE DOES LOOK SO SWEET MY WIDDLE TOM HES SO BABY I SQUISH I KISS IM LUV LUV LUV

and im sorry but TT i used to (actually i still do) find it funny how ewan purses his lips TT IDK WHY but it makes me laugh so bad TT he seems quiet to me.

he seems quiet to me too! I ALSO THOUGHT IT WAS FUNNY HOW HE PURSES HIS LIPS BUT ESPECIALLY WITH ALL THE TIKTOK MEMES AND MEMES IN GENERAL I SAW OF HIM HOLLUP LEMME LOOK FOR SOME

THIS HAHAAAA

and then this tiktok

i bawled laughing when i saw this (though tbh im not sure if this is the original one [i feel like the door was brown in the one i watched and the dude's lips were SUPER curved. that or i have bad memory])

'WHICH WAS SHOCKING' lol hes got a puppy face... no his acting is good but... my judgements... theyre rarely mistaken yk....

HAHAHHAHAHAHH UR SO RIGHT SO PUPPY IM LUV HIM MY PUP PUP

you can love emma and can love olivia separately but their duet?? divine! theyre so ?? a match?? i even thought they may be a couple for a moment.

T_T ur so right they compliment each other so well [BREATHES FIRE]

so hope you've got a good day! and a good week!! love you! take care<З

i hope you have a good day too! i have class tomorrow and im going to go to school so i might reply late.

i love you <3 <3 <3 do well <3 <3 im proud of you always

xxx

[thedreadvampy]

Ok so I watched It's A Sin, Russell T Davies drama about the AIDS crisis, and first of all genuinely so good. it's funny it's warm it's angry it's touching I cried a lot. and Jill's monologue at the end was. fucking beautiful.

but it has awakened an old question in me about the excellent moving AIDS stories I've seen in TV and film. I'm thinking Pride, Angels In America, Pose, this...

where are the lesbians?

because like. ok. lesbians and bisexual women made up so much of the political and social queer scene at the time. and were very often the people running the hotlines and visiting the hospitals and organising the funerals and doing the things that those with the illness couldn't. brought food. washed clothes. organised protests. pulled together mutual aid.

and I get that the important thing is to centre those most affected, who were by and large people who fuck men. I do understand that. but the thing is all of these stories feature lesbians and bisexual women. in the background. as pillars of strength and as side characters.

you know there's clearly queer nurses and doctors in It's A Sin, and Pose has Nurse Judy and Angels has Nurse Emily.

and they have lesbian friends. usually in the background at parties without names or much in the way of lines. Pride has the two lesbians in LGSM, who I'm not sure if they're named on screen? they get some lines but not a lot of plot other than showing the Welsh ladies dildoes. Hannah in Angels discovers her queerness at the end of the play, which is beautiful but happens late enough that we really only see one scene of her post-revelation and that's her hanging out with the boys.

and there are women in the core cast of all these stories - not so much Pride, where it's mostly just the combined force of the Older Welsh Ladies, but obviously most of Pose's cast are women, Jill I would say is the main character of It's A Sin, and Harper is one of the 5 mains in Angels.

but the women in core cast in all 5 (except Hannah in Angels) are all either explicitly straight or have no romantic interests and their plots are built around the men in their lives and they might be implied to be uninterested in men, or implied to be in love with a gay man.

the closest I can come to thinking of wlw characters who actually get screen time for their same gender attraction in their own right in any of these shows are like. in Pose Candy and Lulu are secondary mains, and so is Judy. but none of them in any of these stories get the screentime or the space to really talk about their sexuality and attraction. I think that we meet Judy's girlfriend once or twice, although she doesn't get much screentime, and iirc we only really talk about Candy and Lulu's relationship in any meaningful way after Candy dies.

and I just. do not get me wrong. I literally adore every one of these stories, they live right by my bones. I'm not trying to downplay the importance of telling these kinds of queer stories (especially stories like Pose and It's A Sin which touch on non cis white experiences of a pleasure which has largely affected trans people and people of colour).

but in these stories there's so much room for love and sex and attraction. and we see sex and romance between men and sex and romance between men and women. and we see solidarity and love between queer men and between queer men and straight women and between queer men and trans women (in Pose specifically - otherwise less than I'd like). but I cannot think of a time I've seen something that touched on the pain and love in queer community in the 80s and 90s that featured wlw as anything other than backdrop or support or fully attached to men's stories.

Judy I think comes the closest, followed by Hannah. but Judy features primarily as Pray's best friend, and Hannah comes into the story as Joe's mum then Prior's friend and has very little space to herself other than the moment of revelation, which is still kind of secondary to Prior's whole prophet thing. and neither have relationship storylines. the closest thing to a wlw romantic storyline I can think of in these stories is Candy and Lulu and that's never foregrounded, and even in the funeral episode it's kind of ambiguous. all of these shows spend a lot of time emphasising queer culture, queer love, queer sex, and yet I think the sum total of kisses between women in all five is a single figure number (esp if you don't count nameless background extras in party scenes)

and it gives this impression that like. straight women were more part of the queer community in the 80s and 90s than gay women. like that gay communities were fully segregated. and that's just not true because like I said queer women and queer men and nonbinary people were moving in the same spaces and hanging out together. and during that time, you know, women were also fucking and falling in love. and I really think it's a shame and I do think it's symptomatic of the fact that most of these stories are written or cowritten by gay men. there's very often in queer media a total lack of interest in sexuality that doesn't involve men In My Considered Opinion.

[thepringlesofblood]

i been listening and re-listening and re-listening to that pretty little liars plot recap as like background noise for work and calming down from panic attacks (don’t judge the guy has a kinda comforting voice cadence) and i just realized

murderbot would fucking love pll.

it’s so messy and stupid and ridiculous. the girls being less than experts on security might be annoying for it, especially the galactic level threats that are ezra and ian and wren and wilden and the bajillion older men being predators, but like it would love some of the iconic shenanigans

like (minor spoilers) *takes a BIG breath* the walk-in kiln and turning a guy into a diamond and call off your techno boytoy or I tell the cops what your mom keeps in the lasagna box and a guy tripping over an axe and decapitating himself and Miss Aria You’re A Killer, Not Ezra’s Wife and tippi the fuckin bird singing a phone number dialtone and the allison di laurentis masks and the doll hospital and the note shoved in hannah’s tooth and vivian darkbloom and aria flying a plane and trying to shoot your former classmates in an abandoned blind school but not hitting any of them bc you are also blind and emily getting her eggs stolen and multiple secret twins and secret siblings and the dollhouse and the board game and RAVENSWOOD

like this is exactly the kind of bullshit that’s mentioned on sanctuary moon i bet it would eat. it. up. i don’t see ART liking it bc no spaceship but its just the kind of weird soap opera shit mb would love.