#you are an absolute legend we stan forever

[akiwuff]

[mythalism]

ok im going to try and parse through my feelings on the entire game in the hopes that expelling these thoughts from my brain will allow me to actually sleep because i am running on about 3 hours right now

i will start positive with the things i absolutely loved:

solas. whos suprised

just kidding i will elaborate further of course. genuinely, from a (mostly) objective writing perspective, he is the best part of this game. like hands down. his writing is bonkers insane. he has the best lines and the most complexity out of any character in the game (besides mythal perhaps). i was so so so afraid they were going to completely woobify him into someone who was right all along and never did anything wrong in his life blah blah to make him sympathetic to a new audience. they did not give a fuck however and i could not be more glad. he is exactly the dread wolf and bringer of nightmares of legend. he is so wonderfully in character, even if that character is not someone we saw in inquisition (we saw solas, not the dread wolf!). there are moments that solas shines through, like in his mentions of varric in the very beginning, when he mentions his love for the inquisitor, his convo with a rook he respects (which i do believe was genuine, even if he betrays them anyway. we know that he regularly betrays people that he likes and respects lol), the way he helps the shadow dragons and saves the dalish, and of course in his final scene with the inquisitor. he manages to retain that perfect back and forth, mask on and mask off, solas vs. fen'harel dichotomy with a different balance than the one we saw in inquisition. in inquisition, we saw solas with hints of the dread wolf peeking through. in veilguard, we see the dread wolf with hints of solas peeking through. ok i need to move on or i will talk about him forever. but they nailed the moral ambiguity with him. they nailed the theme of forgiveness being hard. i loved when harding said something along the lines of "there is no one who doesnt deserve forgiveness" this is one of the few consistent themes that this game was successful in exploring. ok ok moving on now i promise

i also loved mythal (fragment mythal, not morrigan mythal who was a flop). admittedly i am a mythal stan, but her integration into this story was a highlight for me. she haunted the narrative in such a great way. it added so much complexity to solas. hearing him GROWL at elgar'nan in rage "you have lost the right to say her name" made me scream in glee. i loved talking to her and having to prove my worth to her. i love that it was hard and she would kill you without hesitation if she found you unworthy. i love that if she does find you worthy she is instrumental in changing solas's mind. i loved her dragon appearance even if she was useless in the damn fight lol. morrigan mythal sucked tho but thats for later

similar vein but the main quests were fantastic, with a few caveats. but overall every main quest had me hooked, having so much fun, at the edge of my seat and screaming and flailing in my chair. weisshaupt was incredible, BLOOD OF ARLATHAN WAS INSANE (the solas elgarnan bitch fight will go down in history as a moment of all time for me) and of course the finale was some of the best writing ive seen from bioware. the way suspense was built was well done, the stakes felt high, and the twists were interesting.

choice and consequence was absolutely banger. i gasped when i went back to dock town after leaving minrathous to fend for itself and saw a gallows with bodies hanging from nooses and piles of bodies in the streets. i gasped when harding died. i gasped when bellara got blighted. definitely the best choice and consequence in the entire franchise and it was very satisfying. i feel motivated to play again to see different options play out.

the environments are fucking insane. genuinely insane giga brained genius. i have never been so gagged by a video game like this. not only were they beautiful but they were well-designed, interesting and diverse. i rarely got bored anywhere (except treviso lol) and i was regularly picking my jaw up off the floor. some highlights for me were the anderfels area where you first meet davrin with that amazing vista, kal sharok, the docktown catacombs, pretty much anything in arlathan, the deep roads, and honestly so much. absolutely beautiful.

this game felt incredibly cinematic and the direction was fantastic. the cutscenes were so well done and they transitioned so smoothly into gameplay. the animation was fantastic, and everything was so engaging to watch. my favorite cutscene has to be when solas is about to switch places with rook and you see him in the background out of the corner of your eye twice, though rook doesnt know. i was literally screaming it was so fucking cool. it genuinely felt like watching a movie a lot of the time

i genuinely enjoyed the gameplay loop of exploration. i had a lot of fun just exploring around docktown and arlathan, there was always something new to find, i loved the puzzles, and i loved finding codex entries. this is a crazy thing to say but it actually reminded me a lot of genshin impact LMFAO. which i know a lot of people would probably consider to be a negative but i thought it was engaging and fun.

combat fucks. it got a little repetitive by the end, mostly because i think i just wanted to find out the end of the story and fucking darkspawn were in my way, but it was a huge step up from previous games and i think action combat was a good choice.

this game has an incredible amount of genuine heart and soul put into it and you can feel it in every facet of the game. i can tell that the devs were passionate and their creativity was genuine. i could feel their love for the characters and the world. this game is unflinchingly sincere and not afraid of being cringe (though it definitely is cringe at times, i respect the commitment to it so i dont mind it). it genuinely does not feel like an EA cash grab, which is a huge win considering how likely it was for years that a cash grab was exactly what we were going to get.

i enjoyed the varric ghost twist. i knew something was up with him but i didnt fully call him being dead until right before the reveal. i get why people are going to be upset about it, its a pretty fucking crazy decision, but i think what saves it is the quote he gives rook in the fade about his choices being his own and still encouraging rook to try to get through to solas despite being KILLED BY HIM.... fucking crazy. it ties in enough to the overall theme of regret and forgiveness that i think it works.

ok time for the negatives

its hard to pick my biggest issue but i definitely have a top 3: the lore flopped majorly, much of the writing felt juvenile, and there was an overall lack of nuance to everything about the game except for solas's storyline that did feel very not-dragon age to me

i actually dont give a fuck about lore retcons, especially if they are explained well. i think they are often necessary and can be pulled off. but this game literally just pretended to answer decades long questions about the lore and then does not. which would be fine if we didnt have someone who knows all the answers to those questions hanging out in our brains and willing to answer them. we did not learn what exactly a titan was. we did not learn what they were like when they were alive and before they were blighted. mythal called them monsters. harding suggests they might have been violent like the elves. we literally dont know anything about them except for what solas and mythal did to them. i dont think anyone even actually gave a clear answer on what the blight is. ok it was the titan's severed dreams but what the fuck does that mean? it was their rage and pain? then why does harding say the red lyrium manifested by her rage and pain was not blighted, just red? if blight equals titan nightmares then that lyrium should have been blighted? so what the fuck is the blight that ghilan'nain cooked with? red lyrium? how did the original darkspawn get made? did she start injecting people with red lyrium? but we know what that does to people because we saw it in inquisition. it makes them red lyrium freaks but it doesnt make them darskpawn. WHAT ARE DARKSPAWN? WHAT IS THE BLIGHT? did i miss this in a codex entry or something guys im so serious. how did we play this whole game and not actually learn what the blight is. we also learned almost nothing about the forgotten ones, which is fine except we literally met one and all they really had to say about it was "evil spirit" ? ok. also um. where are the rest of the evanuris. ok they are gone but where did they go. we know where their archdemons went, but where did they go? ghilan'nain exists separate from her archdemon so its not like killing an archdemon kills the evanuris, it just makes them vulnerable. should they not all be still alive in that prison together, just mortal and archdemon-less? they literally just say "they're gone" and expect us to be like ok! WHAT THE FUCK??? WHERE ARE THEY?? WHERE ARE THEIR BODIES??? WHAT??????? also the explanation for archdemons was boring. it felt like the team literally did not know the answers themselves (and didnt feel like calling up david gaider) so they just gave us vague non-answers hoping we wouldnt notice. I NOTICED.

similar vein; we learned nearly nothing about elgar'nan and ghilan'nain, and they overall felt cartoonishly evil and one-dimensional. and this is a greater problem that ill talk about next, but they were afforded none of the nuance that solas and mythal were given, and it feels glaring in comparison. why was elgarn'nan evil? was he just born fucking evil? we know thats not true. he originated as a spirit, what kind of spirit? what was his relationship with mythal like? what was his relationship to the other evanuris like? he calls ghilan'nain "sister", were they always close? did they become close in their prison? what are his goals beyond tyranny? or do you actually want me to believe he is just full stop evil? if he was one of the original spirit born elvhen what virtue did he embody and what polluted him into something so terrible? why does ghilan'nain love the blight? why is she obsessed with creation? we only get a single codex about she and andruil (that i found). what was her and solas's relationship like before she ascended to godhood? he calls her "the best of them" but we never see anything about their relationship. neither of them has any nuance. they are just pure evil, corrupted by ???? something ??? power??? i guess. and we are supposed to just be fine with it lol. what are even their motivations? why do they want to cover the world in blight? what is their emotional connection to this pursuit??????? we get such an exploration of this for solas and just NOTHING for them. they feel so one-dimensional in comparison, literal comic book cartoon character villains.

similarly, this game lacks nuance overall. bioware is known for its exploration of grey morality on both personal and sociopolitical levels. this game has that only for solas and literally no one else. qunari antaam? evil (super fucking racist depiction as well). venatori? evil minions. elven gods? evil. forgotten ones? evil. meanwhile, crows? suddenly good. its okay. just forget the MURDER, child slavery and abuse. seriously its fine. caterina dellamorte is a sweet old lady :) dont worry about it :). every faction is good and every antagonist is bad. its genuinely insane coming from the studio who gave us dragon age 2 to now give us something so fucking boring and black and white. they got SO CLOSE with the wardens and isseya and in the end davrin still kills her. why does solas get a chance at redemption and no one else does? here we are with an entire story centered around this morally grey character, interrogating whether or not his actions are justified, whether his intentions matter, whether his abuse informed his atrocities, asking ourselves if he deserves forgiveness asking if he deserves to be saved, where do we draw the line? what is the point of no return? why do people do the things they do? its fantastic. and then you go and do a faction or companion quest and its just like, these are the good guys and these are the bad guys. dont ask questions. have fun! WHAT???? FROM BIOWARE??????????

this issue bleeds over into the companions as well. i genuinely liked all of them. they are likable. but holy shit they have no flaws. all of them are genuinely good people and their problems center around others rather than themselves. there is little to no complexity, to the point where honestly they did not feel like real people to me. harding is sweet and perfect and her worst trait is being *checks notes* TOO AGREEABLE? davrin's worst flaw is raising his voice at his pet too much. emmrich's only flaw is FEARING DEATH LIKE A NORMAL HUMAN BEING? neve is kind of cold. thats it. bellara never does anything wrong. lucanis doesnt sleep enough? taash is the closes they come to any sort of complexity and i did genuinely enjoy their identity struggle and i loved seeing their complex relationship with their mother. but none of those are flaws. like these characters are cookie-cutter perfect. we used to have companions who committed acts of terror and blood mages and mean jealous little brothers and did horrible things and said horrible things to each other and struggled with things like internalized racism and complacency in violent corrupt institutions and addiction and facing your fucking war crimes and they are some of the most beloved of the franchise because they feel SO REAL. like genuinely going from characters like anders and blackwall to these companions was so jarring and disappointng. i LIKE them all, dont get me wrong. but they do not act like real, complex fully fleshed out people, and the writing overall suffers greatly for it.

again connected, the writing in terms of literal dialogue but also what i mentioned above comes together to feel incredibly juvenile. i know some big reviewers beforehand said that the game feels like a pixar movie at times, and unfortunately i dont think thats inaccurate. a little harsh maybe, but there are moments that are truly written in such a way that it feels like the audience is children. and that doesnt mean its bad, because i am a lover of childrens media and most of my favorite media of all time is actually for kids (avatar the last airbender, fullmetal alchemist, etc), but this game oscillates back and forth so violently it will give you literal whiplash. it reminded me a lot of the way young adult fiction is written. GOOD young adult fiction, where its well-done, but its deliberately written to be simpler in both diction and theme and focuses on concepts that young people can identify with. this is how i felt during much of the companion quests during this game. again, it was GOOD young adult fiction, but it had the narrative styling and lack of nuance and complexity that is characteristic of such things, and that is just literally not what the game is supposed to be like. and there are great writing moments that do feel appropriately mature and complex, but they are mostly in the main quest and their presence makes the lack of maturity in the rest of the writing feel even more jarring. i have no idea why they wrote it this way.

morrigan's mythal flopped and was out of character. i missed flemeth's crazy ass. they literally nerfed her. i think this is connected to everyone being nice and good and perfect (no abusive mothers allowed!) which is crazy because the other mythal fragment got to be a crazy bitch. so what the hell

the lack of world states is still a major L. it felt like things were missing that should have been present and had no reason not to be other than just no worldstates. well of sorrows needed to be there ESPECIALLY considering the solas/mythal/lavellan dynamic.

this one is self-indulgence but solavellan could have benefited from better pacing. packing so much into act 3 made it feel rushed. i loved the scenes themselves, but there could have easily been more build-up with a few codex entries.

no fenris. i will never forgive

ok im running out of steam and actually feeling more able to sleep now (thank god). i know i said a lot of negatives but i actually believe this game is very, very good, especially within the context of its development. i think a lot of the issues likely do stem from their fraught development cycle, and overall they did a great job of identifying their priorities and pursuing them to the fullest. i dont necessarily agree with what they prioritized or what their vision was at all points, but i respect the clear direction that this game had. i do not believe it will stick with me the way the previous games did, and while playing i often found myself just missing the characters from 2 and inquisition that i love, and the writing that so often had me screaming crying throwing up and/or giggling and twirling my hair. however, this game gave me the #1 thing i wanted which was a satisfying solavellan conclusion, and though yes it could have been done a bit more... artfully, i think its incredible considering where we were just a few years ago with this game. i will play it again a few times, and the fact that it has sold well enough to guarantee bioware gets to stick around and make new games is a major win. 7.5/10 thank u for listening

[willowisapillow]

🐉 Next Time On South Park Z 🐉

The couple of all time 💝

Here it is, the true (super belated) Valentine’s Day picture. Yet another cringe crossover absolutely nobody asked for yet I deliver because I can. Apologies if I’ve been posting way too much South Park stuff, it’s yet another franchise that I’m currently unhealthily hyper-fixated on. Enjoy some more Randy and Sharon appreciation art from me, because these two dorks are just everything to me <3

This was also made as a small tribute to Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball after I found out that he passed away earlier this month on March 1st. Even though I’m a casual fan of the series, still makes me sad that he’s no longer and that we lost another anime/manga legend.

This whole art became a thing based on a phone call between me and one of my older brothers. We were just talking about random dumb stuff and he jokingly asked me to draw Cartman as Naruto and Kyle as Saskue (which is an art project that y’all know damn well I’ll be drawing in the future so look out for that lmao). I just started laughing to myself, but then I thought to myself, “What other anime could I cross over with South Park?” then Dragon Ball popped up in my head all of a sudden, and that’s how this cringefest came to be.

I can kinda see some connections with it, tbh. Both Goku and Randy are dumbass but funny as hell dads (they also have black hair), and both Chichi and Sharon are no-nonsense moms who are often exasperated by their hubbies’ idiotic actions, but do love them deep down and have shared some wholesome cute moments together with them. Both series also feature a lot of fighting and deaths too lol

And since it is the year of the dragon, this pic is pretty fitting :>

I thought I would take forever with this picture because a. I’m total garbage at drawing realistic-ish, non-animal guy characters, and b. I don’t draw side-view faces that much, but surprisingly it wasn’t too hard. I did get kinda lazy with the lower half of Randy’s body and didn’t draw it, but besides that, the whole art was pretty easy. Minus drawing the hands. Because Jesus tap dancing Christ, the hands took me lightyears to get right 🙃

All in all, this might be one of my favorite 2024 pieces of art I’ve drawn so far. Again, these two are special to me, and I finally got the chance to cross over some of my favorite things, cartoons and anime. Maybe I might draw Stan and Wendy as Gohan and Videl in the future as a little follow-up ^^

Also, the mental image of Randy going Super Saiyan is just the funniest shit to me, istg someone needs to make fanart, an animation, or some other sort of meme of that 💀

That’s all that I have for now. Hope you guys have a great day or night, and make sure to stay safe out there.

Farewell, Toriyama. May your memory and legacy live on 😇

[greypetrel]

10 Characters, 10 Fandoms more

Oh no @pinayelf has tagged me again so I'll have to do another set! :"(

(thank you Ellie! I already did one and I was crying because I left out characters, here it is if you or anyone wants to read it)

Tagging: @aimee-maroux @everythingispoetry @owlask @raflesia65 @morgandarcyarts @sapphireangelbunny @idolsgf @zenstrike @rowanisawriter and YOU!

1. Sir Gawain

We stan a bi king (in the poem he kisses the Lord THRICE. Out of his own will. In another he kisses Lancelot. On his lips.). I love Gawain in any declination, Arthurian cycle, medieval poems, Merlin and the latest movie. I put Dave Patel because visually it's the one that I like the most, but give me a Gawain and I'll like him.

2. Boromir - Lord of the Rings

I spent half my life hating him, then I REALISED. And now he's my sweet pea the apple of my eyes I love him and I'll defend him. Movie kinda did him dirty, but AAAAAH.

3. Beatrice - Much Ado About Nothing

Fiercely loyal sarcastic queen who can and will stand up to herself. I love her. Absolutely flawless.

4. Chrisjen Avasarala - The Expanse

She's everything and I love her more than words can say. Old professional lady cursing like a sailor and speaking her mind clearly. Was very torn between putting her or Ripley in the first batch, but Ripley got precedence out of seniority of my obsession. I couldn't suggest you (anyone you are reading) this show enough, and she is one of the big reasons (she and Bobbie. I love Bobbie <3).

5. Evie Carnahan - the Mummy

She's everything and I will fight for her.

6. Kronk - Emperor's New Groove

I quote this movie more than it would be healthy to do. Yzma comes a close second but it's him.

7. Madalena - Galavant

I stood there 10 minutes trying to decide whether to put her or King Richard. But this single scene was the one that made me fall in love with the show and how it turns tropes around and so yeah. This list was short of villains, furthermore and she is everything, go slay, queen.

8. Jasper Fahey - Grishaverse

As previously stated, you give me a chaotic blorbo with a flair for theatrics and I'm yours forever.

(another fave is Nikolaj, but here goes Jasper because you know. Less tsarism involved.)

9. Martha Jones - Doctor Who

Martha deserved so much better than what the show and the fandom gave her. She's a great character, she's strong and compassionate and kind and honestly she did it right in leaving the Doctor (here's a video essay of a person better informed than me). I am so sorry, but I don't like Rose all that much, particularly in the season with Tennant and I'm on the Justice for Martha squad.

10. Korra - Avatar: the Legend of Korra

I know her show has flaws. But her as a character IS NOT.

Again, I needed to have figures to deconstruct the trope of "strong girl" and she's it. I love her arc and how she needs to deconstruct herself to proceed.

(I love also Tenzin, Tenzin is my favourite and my love, but his character arc is to me slightly less compelling)

(don't ask me to choose just ONE character from ATLA, I can't, I'll stay stuck for two hours trying to decide whom I like best and end up running away screaming because I can't.)

On a book level I must add: Margarita from Master and Margarita. That book is my obsession and the reason I ended up studying russian literature and language. -even if Bulgakov was actually Ukrainian but guess how many people told me so and I won't start here on the subject)

[whitegownsandflowercrowns]

The Characters of 2023

It’s time to talk about…The Characters™️. They shall be graded on a scale of “get behind me” to “I’m getting behind you”

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Belinda (The White Lotus)

The only unambiguously decent person at the resort (who stayed longer than an episode, sorry Lani) and just the absolute best who deserved better. GIVE HER HER OWN WELLNESS CENTER GODDAMMIT. Scale: GET BEHIND ME

Ellie Williams (The Last Of Us)

Precious, hilarious and ferocious.

SCALE: While I could technically get behind her, I’ll have her get behind me in order to spare her trauma.

Misty Quigley (Yellowjackets)

She has never done anything wrong in her entire life (she has committed multiple murders and was a horrible person even before the plane crashed). But it’s fine, we love her anyways.

SCALE: I’m getting behind her 100%.

TOP 10

10. Quinni Gallagher-Jones (Heartbreak High)

Deserves better, the sweetest, I love her so much.

SCALE: GET BEHIND ME

9. Peter Gordon (The Power Of The Dog)

The second that Tumblr discovers this movie (highly recommend by the way) it’s all over. I need people to join me in understanding the power of Peter Gordon.

SCALE: I’m getting behind him. Easy.

8. Laura Palmer (Twin Peaks)

Absolutely tragic, could have been saved by listening to Preacher’s Daughter, has the best theme. Of course I love her.

SCALE: GET. BEHIND. ME.

7. Dale Cooper (Twin Peaks)

Fictional husband. Absolute king. Get this man a cup of coffee immediately.

SCALE: He’s an FBI agent, so I should probably get behind him.

6. Armond (The White Lotus)

An icon, a legend, and the moment. No one is doing it like him, and no one will ever do it like him again.

SCALE: Honestly we’re probably on the same level. We’ll fight Shane together.

5. Mrs. Lovett (Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street)

Served (both literally and figuratively) at unprecedented levels. Absolutely horrendous in the most amazing way. I am a stan forever.

SCALE: Probably getting behind her.

4. India Stoker (Stoker)

She has the best fashion sense and was always true to herself (even if true to herself meant…well, the movie). Love her.

SCALE: I’m getting behind her.

3. Laura Lee (Yellowjackets)

The human embodiment of Sun Bleached Flies. Sweet sweet girl, was not built to survive Yellowjackets and deserved better.

SCALE: GET BEHIND ME. DON’T GO ON THE PLANE.

2. Alicent Hightower (House of the Dragon)

Come season 2, everyone has their (genuinely awful) character that they will be defending to the death. She is mine. Do not come to me with Alicent slander; I will justify it.

SCALE: Young her needs to get behind me, older her and I are probably on the same level.

Helaena Targaryen

Who else? Love absolutely everything about her. I’m dreading Season 2, but in my mind she’s away from King’s Landing, happy and safe with her babies. She is The Character.

SCALE: GET BEHIND ME, I WILL BE SEEING THE REST OF THE CAST IN COURT

[tweltchy]

Well, hello. I haven't been tagged in one of these things for literal years! Was tagged by @c-n-i-d-a-r-i-a-n to fill out a sort of "get to know me" meme. Thanks so much!! To keep this going, I'll tag some beloved mutuals.

@rye-satchel, @kaykayfranco, @lottafuckingshit

3 ships:

Not much of a shipper and the ones I do like are kinda strange, but I got a few that hold a place in my heart. It's not three, tho. Ye get two.

Rarity x Applejack (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic)

The MLP Resurgence on this website is a gift from above. I get it now........... they are so cute and we stan gay horses. Iconic butch/femme couple....... I don't think I need to say more than that.

Sam Winchester x Castiel (Supernatural)

Feel like i need to justify myself here.

Listen........... i know the show is dumb and stupid and it's over now, but I still think about it. Tbh, I shipped it out of spite at first, but then I kinda started to see potential in it, and now it's one of my OTPs. They are both queer in some way and i will die on that hill. Big sucker for the Friends to Lovers trope, and and and...... idk I just think they're sweet, especially given their growth together in the show. plus Sam doesn't abuse Cass like Dean does so that's a plus lolololololol

IDK. I just think if Cass confessed to Sam, Sam would have at least shown strong emotion. Probably would have tried to sacrifice everything to try and get him back.

first ship:

Zack Fair x Aerith Gainsborough (Final Fantasy VII)

Again, not really much of a shipper, but I remember the first ship that I reeeeeaaally got into was this one. They are just...so perfect for each other.... it's hard not to love them.

last song:

The most underrated as well as the darkest song the band ever made. I think about it constantly and adore it.

last film:

Ginger Snaps (2000)

It's one of my absolute favorite movies of all time. I saw it was free to watch on YouTube and watched it twice in a row. It's so good and a unique take on werewolf stories. I recommend it if you have an interest in werewolves. It is free to watch in English on YouTube, but it's only available to watch in the USA for some reason. It's blocked everywhere else, INCLUDING Canada. ??? That's dumb as hell. Snag a VPN and watch it.

Regardless!! Good movie.

currently reading:

-Lots of TTRPG corebooks/rulebooks.

I love tabletop RPGs!!!!

-Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica.

Jules Dapper on YouTube sold me on this book, and it's one of my new favorites. Very dark and depressing, but also very compelling!

currently craving:

A BIG sandwich with every vegetable ever.

fav color:

All shades of purple!

relationship status:

Not single.

last google search:

"halifax glove guy"

The fact that this dude is actually real and not some weird urban legend fascinates me more than it should. Stay safe out there, guys.

current obsessions:

-TTRPGs

-BIRDS!!!!

-Kingdom Hearts (my forever fandom and favorite game series ever)

-Final Fantasy series

-Animation and art

Thanks for tagging me!! :D

[izzythefox]

aftg x barbie (hear me out)

in honor of the barbie 2023 movie i’ve been marathoning the early/mid 2000’s classics (swan lake, princess & the pauper, iykyk) and naturally i started thinking, what if we made it aftg? O_o

now i cannot write for the life of me so this is just a collection of ideas and headcanons - if there are any other early barbie turned aftg fans, this one's for you

Magic of Pegasus AU

MoP is such an underrated film, its one of the only ones where the main couple doesn’t immediately fall for each other so all the banter and the sass is -immaculate-

the hardest part in casting this one was figuring out who’s gonna be the horse… like someone’s gotta do it. first i thought andrew & aaron as annika & brietta for the twinyard solidarity but neil gives me such annika vibes - i will elaborate - so kevin, sweet prince, its time for u to sprout some wings

So we have Neil as the prince, master figure skater that i’ve now decided he is, goes into town where he’s propositioned by Riko, evil/bastard sorcerer, that if he doesn’t marry him in 3 days everyone in the kingdom is forever turned to stone. alas, he’s rescued by the mysterious stallion that is kevin (im so sorry to the kevin stans out there) to bring him to Cloud Kingdom as a refuge. like in the movie, we find out kevin was once offered the same deal from riko, only when he refused, he was turned into a horse :/

idk if allison or dan would be the cloud queen, they both could fit the role tbh, and maybe matt & renee are their knights? (i’m imagining renee as this valkyrie-type warrior, she’s just so cool)

Cloud Queen, let's say Allison, tells Neil about building the wand of light to break the spell and I can just imagine his face

Allison: Yeah, there’s this legend of a wand, we don’t know if it’s real, and you just have to find a measure of courage, ring of love, and gem of ice lit by hopes eternal flame :D

Neil: you want me to do what

but at his core, he wants to protect his people so ofc he’s gonna do it. Neil & Kevin set off for the Forbidden Forest where in comes Andrew as Aidan. when i tell you annika and aidan are so andreil-coded, like the script literally writes itself!!!

*for context, Neil & Kevin got caught in a rope trap*

Andrew: Tell me, who’s bright idea was it to come to here? Only fools come to the Forbidden Forest.

Neil: And yet, you’re here. :)))))

LIKE CMONNNN neil would absolutely antagonize the very person who clearly has the advantage, it just works.

the whole scene with neil in the giant’s hut outsmarting ollie by taunting him to chain himself to a tree and break free, it fits so well and just to see andrew’s reaction at the end, (”you’re braver than i thought…”) yessir

they recruit andrew, as he’s a blacksmith, to later put the wand together and the parallels in their relationship, the whole thing about needing a second chance to set things right - chef’s kiss.

we can skip over some of the middle plot, there’s a lot of traveling and banter that i could probably talk about all day but cut to the scene where they finally assemble the wand and reverse the spell on Kevin, can u picture for me:

Andrew: That looks good on you, Kevin.

Kevin: Shut up.

thank you.

it gets real juicy from here, once Neil & Kevin and Andrew dramatically part ways (he really doesn’t want to leave them on their own) Riko comes back around for the attack. they fall into the ravine, neil is fucking -pissed- bc no one hurts Kevin like that again and orders the wand to destroy Riko but, gasp, it doesnt work?? neil is desperate at this point, he says fine Riko i’ll marry you but Riko is all bitch you just tried to kill me, how about I just kill you…and buries him under an avalanche

the angst, the beautiful angst of Andrew coming back in on Kevin alone in the ravine because where is neil? this snarky prince who gets under his skin but is also so smart and understands him? they dig neil out from where riko trapped him under an avalanche and just.. “I never should’ve left you”. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

when they’re back in the cloud kingdom and neil is still unconscious:

Andrew, internally: Please wake up, please. I need you.

check me into the ward rn bc i am unheathily obsessed with this.

Neil wakes up, but lo and behold its sunset on the third day. Renee, matt, and dan try to prolong the sunset for neil bc now these are also his people and they’re not gonna let him suffer. We get a fun scene with neil and andrew ice skating their way through Riko’s big mountain, palace, thing.. even in the movie they just love one-upping each other.

we get to the climax where neil has recovered the ‘broken’ wand from Riko’s lair but the gem falls off the cliff (neil would never fumble like that but for the sake of plot, i digress). enter andrew with the second gem he secretly took earlier!! because he’s willing to give up his second chance to make sure neil gets his!!! they undo all of Riko’s spells and cue the very barbie-esque speech that the wand can only work out of love, never hate <3

Neil returns the wand to the Cloud Kingdom for safe keeping and u know, that blacksmith from earlier seems to be real fond of forever staying by his side~

This has gotten pretty long now that i go back thru it lol and this may be for a very niche audience- i’m not sure if i’ve seen any aftg MoP au’s but i just love the concept and merging my old hyperfixations with new ones has been super fun

i would share more of these with other barbie movies but i’m also kinda new to this so lmk which ones were ur favorite or what u think!

[quillsmora]

Hopefully it's okay to ask you a question because I'm wondering do you know why Gamora hasn't been included in the vol 3 merch? I ran across some stuff a while ago and when she wasn't included I assumed it was just a one off incident. But I just ran across some other merch and she's still absent. So I'm not sure if they are waiting for the movie to create merch for her or what

Firstly, it's always okay to ask me questions about this stuff! I love talking about film marketing (I did study this stuff for 2 years after all). Always feel free to send me asks about anything!

As for your question here's my honest answer: I'm not entirely sure. There are a few logical conclusions though.

Spoilers. Historically the first wave of MCU merch is very clean when it comes to the events of the movie, only featuring characters we know will be in it and vague aesthetics that align with the plot. So far the main advertisements and merch for Vol 3 have featured the Guardians in their comic-accurate group suits, which we haven't seen Gamora in. She might end up getting that suit in the movie, but we have no idea and that would be a major spoiler, so it's easier to leave her out of cereal box promotions and toy box art to keep that unified aesthetic.

Along the same lines as spoilers but deserving of their own point is the LEGO sets. LEGO sets are 50/50 when it comes to being accurate to the events of the movie because again, spoilers. The Endgame sets they released to go along with the movie had absolutely nothing to do with the actual plot because sets get leaked so often and Disney didn't want the plot of their biggest superhero movie ever to be ruined. The Wakanda Forever and Multiverse of Madness sets were also pretty vague if I remember correctly. It's easiest to leave Gamora out of sets like the Guardians HQ or the Bowie because while she might actually be in those scenes, we won't know until the movie comes out (we can assume she'll be on the Bowie at one point based on that shot of her pulling out a knife but it's not official). Since the LEGO sets and toy lines release weeks before the movies, it's again easier to exclude Gamora from these first waves of merch.

The historically bad representation of Gamora on merch already. Outside of figures like Funko Pops and Marvel Legends, it's always been nearly impossible to find officially licensed merch of just Gamora, especially cute good looking merch. This has also been an issue with most of the MCU's female heroes but it's definitely gotten better these past few years. Unfortunately due to Gamora's role in Vol 3 being pretty secretive, that positive change doesn't get to apply to her this first wave.

So basically TL;DR, don't stress about this too much. We're still 2 months out from the movie's release and a month away from promo and press starting. Yes, it sucks that so far Gamora isn't being featured in anything outside of posters and trailers, and yes it's valid to be upset and frustrated with that. But remember that there's still a whole other wave of merch to come after the movie's release, and Zoe Saldaña is still second-billed. She and Chris Pratt were the last two (humans) to wrap the movie. James Gunn wouldn't have brought Gamora back if he didn't want to. If you're still feeling uneasy or worried (which I totally get!) @enigma731 has some great posts about why Gamora will be fine.

Sorry this is so damn long, I kinda got carried away lol. But yeah I do wish there was at least like a Funko Pop or something and find it ridiculous that Kraglin of all people is getting more merch than the female lead, but I'm personally not getting too worried right now because we still have two months until the movie. It's not looking completely terrible right now. (Trust me, I was a Star Wars sequels stan during 2019 TROS press. That movie's plot was leaked via an official German Burger King ad. If it ever gets that bad for Vol 3 you will definitely hear about it from me lol).

[obsessioncollector]

hi!! I wanted to thank you for all the notes on my little book blog, your vibes are excellent and I'm honored that you're following me <3 would you like to tell me about some of your favorite books, or recent reads that you really enjoyed?

hi! this is so sweet omg, also i just saw your post about the sparrow--i've been meaning to read it and now i really have to!!

I recently did a post with my faves from this year so far (here), so I won't repeat the books I mentioned there but I have lots of favorites so I'm happy to have the chance to mention more! I added a little about each book for context but my blurbs do not give them justice at all, I just didn't want to throw a bunch of titles with no explanation at you :) Under the cut bc it's a long list w/ the blurbs.

EDIT WAIT IM SO DUMB I FORGOT TO SAY THAT MY GOATS ARE NABOKOV, DOSTOEVSKY, [TONI] MORRISON. I didn't want to mention all the books I loved by them bc that would take forever but yeah they are the best <3

FICTION:

The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston: Just re-read this one after several years and it’s even better than I remembered. Comprised of several shorter stories based on stories the Kingston’s mother told her about her relatives in China growing up, with Kingston imagining her own version of these family legends. The final story captures the fear and anxiety and shame of childhood so well &lt;3

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson: An old favorite. Centered on 18-year-old Mary Katherine Blackwood, who lives with her older sister Constance and sickly uncle Julian after the mysterious deaths of the rest of her family. Oddly tender considering that premise :)

Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih: Read this one in a single day—among its many wonderful qualities, it’s a page-turner! Reminds me of psychological thriller movies. It’s narrated by a Sudanese man who has recently returned to his hometown after spending time in Europe. Back home, he meets a mysterious stranger who’s also been to Europe and becomes obsessed with him.

The Lover by Marguerite Duras: Based on Duras’s relationship with an adult Chinese man when she was a teenager growing up in colonial Vietnam, but despite the title, it’s clearly focused on the teen girl character. Reflective and haunting.

The Moor's Last Sigh by Salman Rushdie: Better than Midnight’s Children imo. Rushdie’s books are always tough to summarize I think, the plots are often convoluted and yet they’re also more than the sum of their parts. This one is about the son of a wealthy Indian family divided by a conflict between the businessman father and pioneering artist mother.

The Setting Sun by Osamu Dazai: Dazai is one of those male artists who captures young women surprisingly well. This short novel is centered on a woman from a fading aristocratic Japanese family. So emotional and quietly eloquent.

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood: Absolute classic of the stories-about-stories subgenre. The protagonist’s sister was a writer who died young with a devoted feminist following, and the protagonist resents others’ attempts to capture her sister’s legacy. Coming-of-age as she recounts growing up with her sister, but also intersperses the sister’s work.

Trieste by Daša Drndić: Centered on an elderly Italian Jewish woman haunted by her family’s complicity in the fascist order around them. Drndić’s body of work often focuses on characters obsessed with historical atrocities and is consistently fascinating, but this is my favorite of hers.

The Complete Stories by Clarice Lispector: For the longest time I felt like everyone was telling me to read Clarice Lispector and I did and yet her novels did not click for me! These stories finally made me a Lispector stan—gotta reread her novels now :) Hard to sum up since it’s a long collection, but completely worth it.

Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung: I’m biased bc I saw Bora Chung speak and she seems like such a sweet and modest and offbeat-in-a-good-way person—would be a good tumblr mutual :) But I loved this collection even before then, it’s surreal and haunting and most of the stories don’t sound like they’d work on paper but they absolutely do.

NONFICTION (I am actually a fraud when it comes to nonfiction bc I’m a novel girl at heart but some books I love…):

Twelve Who Ruled by R.R. Palmer: I just started re-reading this after a couple of years, it’s so fascinating! It’s history centered on the twelve members of the Committee of Public Safety during the French Revolution. Super interesting period in history IMO and the book is also a great study of personalities, it makes me want to write my own (fictional) characters lol.

Literature and Evil by Georges Bataille: A collection of essays on the works of a variety of writers—Blake, Kafka, Proust, etc., all the good guys.

A Little Devil in America by Hanif Abdurraqib: THE music book. It’s a collection of essays around the theme of Black music in the US. Abdurraqib’s writing is so eloquent and touching, and whether I knew the musicians’ work well or not, I loved all the essays. He does a great job of interspersing the musicians’ stories and their significance with his own perspective and experiences.

Black Reconstruction in America by W.E.B. Du Bois: Extremely important from a historical perspective--Du Bois eviscerated the dominant racist + neo-Confederate school of historiography regarding Reconstruction in the U.S. Also just incredibly well-written--since it's a technical work, it can be tedious with the statistics etc at points, but Du Bois's prose is so stunning. The chapter “Transubstantiation of a Poor White,” focused on Andrew Johnson, is absolutely brutal (complimentary.)

Fear and Trembling by Søren Kierkegaard: Kierkegaard is so fascinating, this is a daunting read (at least to me) but totally worth it. You do not have to be Christian to be a Kierkegaard enjoyer :) It’s focused on the Biblical story of Abraham almost sacrificing his son Isaac, but also tackles much more.

[evren-d]

Yes! What I've always liked so much about her character is that she's just stone cold brave.

She did the most radical thing her background allowed her to conceive of, joined the enforcers because the only person in her life prioritizing service above prestige, the only one showing a way out of pageantry and a life of paying money for first place prizes that you'll never be confident you deserve, was Grayson (I don’t Stan Grayson, she benefited from holding the line of oppression and tyrannical government with the best of them).

It says a ton that the most moral person in Caitlyn's line of site was an -enforcer-, but Caitlyn's view of enforcers as a teenager was so naive, it was her utmost to hold onto the one glimmer of integrity she had found and follow it, try to embody it.

So she joined the enforcers, was relegated to only insipid and useless work, ignored everyone, stayed super kind, and basically became a PI on the government's dime. Legend.

She's looking out for the undercity way before the attack on the square, despite people in her life disapproving/punishing/mocking her for it ("the great conspiracy," She was freaking right, Jayce can go suck old car tires) she's not happy to leave people there to suffer even when it was seemingly safely contained below her, and this is while having zero concept of what it's actually like there.

She follows the thread of systemic abuse literally back to her own parlor and never backs down, never shields herself from the truths that she finds, never values retaining her privilege above doing what she thinks is right.

Anyone willing to shoot their own two-faced mother (not sorry to speak ill of the [presumed] dead) in the foot to stand against greed has my absolute attention.

Sharing the council archives below cause it took me forever to learn that these were online, some of this stuff is sensationalized/I don't really trust that it was written by someone who can actually speak to show canon, but I enjoy seeing an idea of what her investigations looked like before we see her after the time skip. She's fully confident in her ability to productively question Lock when she finds him wounded on the airship, and it's fun to see her actually do detective work in these files.

Although Caitlyn Kirraman does kinda fit the trope of the "good cop" (aka 'guys even though they're a cop they're one of the good ones I swear 🥺') trope a bit, I personally think she's kind of the opposite in a way? Caitlyn is a Bad Enforcer, which is what makes her such a compelling character.

Think of it this way, What is an Enforcer's job in piltover? To enforce. To make the citizens of Zaun complacent through fear, and to make non-ruling citizens of Piltover complacent through a manufactured sense of safety. They don't serve the people, they serve the council. Their job isn't to do what's right- it's to follow orders.

Caitlyn doesn't do any of these things. The events of the show kick off in the first place because she wasn't following orders. She gets in trouble with Marcus because why? She left her post to investigate the ship and she actually helped a man who was wounded by Jinx. She used Jayce's new position in the council to directly go against both her parents and Marcus's orders and she gets Vi out of prison in order to find Silco, who she intends to track down because he's actively hurting the people. She does things for the sole reason that they're the right thing to do.

Caitlyn is a bad Enforcer, and that's a good thing because the Enforcers aren't a good thing to be apart of.

I feel like a lot of the "good cop" trope boils down to "this cop is good because they serve their community by following orders" and the "bad cop" boils down to "this cop is bad because they do illegal things. they arrest people unfairly, and they disobey orders." When cops are meant to fit arrest quotas that are often filled through unfair arrests. A narrative that wrongly assumes that the system is irrelevant, and that there's only a few bad apples out there abusing their power, and if only we could just get rid of those bad apples, everything would be fine, right?

"if only there were more enforcers like Caitlyn" isn't a sentiment that anyone watching the show should be having, that's like saying "If only there were more members of the sith like (insert name of someone who betrayed the sith here)"

Tldr: Caitlyn isn't a good enforcer, and that's a good thing because Enforcers are awful, and they're supposed to be awful, because it's their job to be awful. God I hope this makes sense and isn't just a ton of word salad.

[maniacpixiedreamgirl]

recently rewatched jurrassic park and jurrassic world bc i honestly very much like the franchise and some thoughts:

i think jurrassic world generally kinda slays. really kept the conversation of the initial one going, not only in the science terms but how claire parallels alan.

i. fucking. love. claire. cinemasins and company loved to shit on her high heel run from the trex. me? i stan. absolute fucking legend. absolute fucking moment in history.

roberta? number one girl to ever be on the big screen. everything she did for feminism. my absolute goddess. she is soooo cuntyyyyyyyyy

no but fr i find it very funny to watch those movies thinking that all the dinossaurs (except maybe i think the trex in jurrassic world is in canon roberta's son? not 100% sure i havent seen the sequels in forever) and technically... all their scenes pass the bechadel test <333 my little freak lab girlie talking to her little new raptor bffs?? yes. little blue and roberta teaming up to slay the freak lab girlie dyno??? passed the fucking bechadel test. my gracious baby sea monster coming in x fucking machina style to finish it off??? feminism was never the fucking same.

seeing roberta's fucking growth in cinema history <333 from major fucking villain to hero of the day.......... my absolute slay fucking queen. i am her n1 fan. if the world has 1000 roberta fans i am one of the etc.

i love the character of hammond. its very clear why we dont get characters like him anymore but honestly? he was fun. excentric gradpa decides to use his infinite fortune to birth life to dinossaurs and spear no expense etc. its interesting. he likeable to watch still like yea man dude got a childhood dream and was like why the fuck not. but at the same time like. dude. many why the fuck nots. he is fucking batshit for messing up with the balance of life etc like its such a interesting proposition coming from a guy u kinda really wanna like but u are caught like. what a nasty piece of shit why the fuck would u think this would work bitch.

there is probably people who say this much better than i can but the sub arcs or claire and alan going from disliking or struggling with kids to being ready to accept them in their lives (which sequels fucked up in alan's story but lets overlook that) something something something life finds a way. idk like this story of rich people bending the world over to breath life into something unnatural vs a protagonist getting ready to breath life themselves through children. i think it slays. the presence of kids very much assists the movie in selling you in the childlike wonder of what it is to see a fUCKING DINOSSAUR but also. of what it means to be responsible for another life. to make sure its safe and ok. idk man its such a good choice for the protagonists arc to involve that i love it.

that's it. thanks for coming to my ted talk. i love those movies.

[lordofhunger47]

Is Mabel responsible for Weirdmaggedon?

Yes and No:

I mean, yes, its' true that Mabel isn't the only one to blame for causing Weirdmaggedon, that would go to Bill, who created it, Ford for creating the portal (being manipulated and lied to) and Stan for opening it ignoring Ford's warnings. I can't blame Dipper tho because he was just doing what his grunkle was telling him to do and, let's be honest, after Mabel was willing to give the journal to Bill knowing fully well that her brother's life was at stake, and the fact that Mabel had trusted Stan over Dipper, Dipper really had good valid reasons to trust Ford's word and follow.

But on the other hand, we can't deny that Mabel played a big part in it: is she alone to blame and the most to blame? No, of course not, but she had a big part in it. And these are the major problems:

* What she does to cause Weirdmaggedon is bad enough on it's own. Yes, you can claim that:

1. She doesn't know about the rift...except Blendin tells her clearly it belongs to Ford and Mabel states that she's looking through Dipper's bag, a bag she claimed she had prepared for a "mission to saving the world or whatever", meaning that she KNEW the rift belonged to her grunkle and brother and that it was important to the mission they had just gotten to.

2. She doesn't know it's Bill, true, but the point is, she knows it's Blendin, you know, the guy that tried to kill her twice just a couple of weeks ago, like, I think those are facts big enough to NOT to trust him right away.

3. She doesn't know that she's causing Weirdmaggedon...but she KNOWS she's trapping the entire town against their will in an endless time bubble so that she gets her summer last forever.

* After she causes Weirdmaggedon, she doesn't show remorse or guilt over what she did, and she doesn't try to stop it, in fact she knows what's happening, that her family and friends are in danger due to the situation she helped to create. And what does she do? She replaces her brother with a fricking walking insult towards him because apparently, he's not "supportive enough" for once taking something he wanted for himself, and guilts and threats him with a trial where, if he doesn't convince her to come back (aka giving up the apprenticeship, which is what upset her in the first place), she will kick him out in the apocalypse where he'll probably die, and only agrees once he promises to give it up for her.

* She never pays consequences or growth after what she did: Ford got tortured for days by being electroshocked, Stan sacrificed himself and Dipper suffered by surviving on his own in the apocalypse for 3 days straight trying to get his sister back. Mabel meanwhile had a blast in her bubble, replaced her twin and called it a day. And even after that, Mabel NEVER gets called out for causing Weirdmaggedon, and very less exposed, unlike Ford who Stan decides to play the blame game with, and Bill never reveals what Mabel had caused. In fact, she gets away with it.

Is Mabel 100% to blame for Weirdmaggedon? No, in fact, for me the problem isn't that she caused Weirdmaggedon, is that, after what she accidentally caused through clear bad actions, she absolutely didn't care about it and did nothing to solve it until she got what she wanted. THAT is what makes her responsible for it. You're not to blame for being lied and tricked, but if once you do reallize what you did wrong you shrug it off and you don't care, then THAT makes you to blame for ignoring your responsabilities. And yes, I know Mabel is 12...but so is Dipper, yet the show doesn't hesitate to force him to be more mature than his two grunkles combined, but Mabel gets spared for being the funny immature one, when both of them are co-protagonists.

Hence why I like CodyLabs's and Milky Boy Blue's works because it neither cuddles her up with a repeative lesson like Lost Legends or give her a curse luck to make needless edgyness like a CERTAIN AU, instead she is treated the same way other characters are without any special treatment.

[thestalkerbunny]

What are your favorite twilight zone episodes?

Oh god you get me; you aBSOLUTELY get me. So fun fact about me, I LOVE the Twilight Zone. I doubt any series of horror has enthralled me in such a captivating way as the ‘Zone’ did as a kid. The Horror in that show is just so real and authentic because of the time period. So I”m gonna do you what I think is the personal best episodes for me-pictures included!

So let’s get to Stalky’s Top Ten ZONE EPISODES

10: The Masks

A dying wealthy man is down to his last few hours of life on the eve of Mardi Gras and his spoiled selfish heirs are there to watch him die and get what is theirs-with the catch, until midnight they must wear hideous masks that compliment their awful personalities. This one always stuck with me because The sheer anticipation of what will happen in the end and the fact that all their heirs are just so very unlikable, it’s very much like the movie ‘Knives Out’ but much more tame-nobody gets murdered, but just the ending thrilled me the first time I saw it

9: The Monsters are Due on Maple Street

A Street full of neighbors experiencing a black out turn on each other in violent mob mentality of the blame game. This is a CLASSIC, This is true pure and realistic horror because it really asks the question ‘how well do you know your neighbors and do you trust them’ it also was very much a product of it’s time in the era of the Cold War were even in your own neighborhood, even your neighbors could be a ‘communist’ in disguise. The Ending was a real rug jerker for me. For those of you who haven’t seen the ending-you gotta go watch it. Just less than 15 minutes of your time. Iconic. They did a remake of it once but it didn’t HIT the way it did the first time.

8. Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?

A Bus making a stop realizes that there is one extra person among them is not accounted for and they may not be of this world. Now THIS is the originally ‘Among Us’ There is one more person on the manifesto and we gotta find out who the imposter is. This one just felt so witty and just the energy of the Moustache guy really stole the show for me as well as the diner chef. The twist was GREAT and I still catch myself thinking about it sometimes when I’m in a ‘ZONE’ mood

7. The Midnight Sun

The Earth is slowly falling into the Sun. We watch as a woman falls apart as the whole world around her burns. Now being a southern girl with a house whose ac loves to just BITE it in the DEAD of summer I FEEL this episode with all my soul. If you’re ever the littlest bit chilly, you watch ‘Midnight Sun’ and you can FEEL yourself melting along with this poor suffering woman in this apartment complex. Just watching these poor people just lose their minds to the heat is so real because just slight temperature changes just make people irrational and insane.

6. I sing the Body Electric

Children get a New Grandma! A ROBOT GRANDMA! This one is such a heart warming episode and concept, like if you don’t like scary stuff but still wanna know the Twilight Zone, you watch ‘Body Electric’ It’s very much a ‘Mary Poppins’ sort of story and it’s sweet and the way it explains what happens to the Grandmother once her job is done should be applied to all robots concepts of the afterlife. Plus the store the family goes to in order to make their custom grandma is kinda spooky. Like build a bear. But for Grandmas.

5. Number 12 looks JUST like you

In  Future, You can be anyone you want to be, because the cosmetic surgery is Mandatory. One girl protests it. This one breaks my heart because for some people, this is reality, they’re pressured into changing even though they’re happy with their looks but society refuses to accept them. You know how in cartoons there’s the trope of the popular girls being surrounded by identical clones. That. It’s that. It’s often confused with another iconic episode that talks about how beauty is about perspective and what people will go thru to try and be the standard for society.

4. Night of the Living Doll

A little girl’s doll decides to teach an abusive Step Father a lesson. TALKY TINA WALKED. SHE FUCKING STRUTTED THAT RUNWAY MAMA. SO CHUCKY/TIFFANY/BRAHMNS/ANNABELLE COULD FUCKING RUN. She was the ORGINAL Doll that is up to NO GOOD. We are ROOTING for Talky Tina. She is a QUEEN. WE STAN A LEGEND. The Dad is such a douche bag I do not feel bad at ALL for what happens to him.

3. One for the Angels

A sidewalk sales man stalls for time to save another’s life from Death himself. This one is a sweet one, the salesman-Marky-is just so genuine and the ‘bumbling type that’s loved by kids’ and he’s a clever character, if you like the cheating of death story-you’ll love ‘One for the Angels’. And even if it ends a bit sad-it’s a happy kind of sad, a sad where you know that this is the good happy ending even if it’s a little bitter.

2. The Hunt.

An Old man and his Hound explore the trail to the afterlife. This one speaks to my backwoods southern heart-because there are dudes who are just that passionate and affectionate about their hounds. It also does the whole thing where the path to hell looks just as pretty as the one that lead to heaven. It feels like it’d be the kind of bluegrass song I’d hear about a guy narrowly missing ending up in Hell because he doesn’t want to be apart from his beloved dog.

HONORABLE MENTION: The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtle

A Young man dies....and comes back to life? Again another southern themed episode that speaks to me, mainly because Wake Culture is a thing where you have to sit up with the body to make sure they’re REALLY dead. Just the whole set up to the ending really just fools you. It’s the kind of story I feel like I would set up. I think I HAVE set up that kind of story with ‘The Diver Boy’ Comic

1. The Obsolete Man

Nothing I can say can compare to the perfection and the dark statement that The Obsolete Man makes. Nothing hits home that hard in that way. A horrible future where people get to decide what is obsolete and once it’s obsolete, it must go away forever.

[mermaidsirennikita]

This just popped up in my activity feed and made me realize that I never gave a post-series ranking of the girls!!!!

So, until Kresley releases the next book, which I assume will be m/f (FURIE AND KRISTOFF PLSTHX tho I will accept Kosmina and Heath if that's to be... a thing, because Lothaire and Lachlain should be in-laws), my IAD heroine ranking goes like:

Neomi Laress, Dark Needs at Night's Edge. For all the reasons mentioned before. She's feminine and nurturing and soft, while also being unabashedly sexual and a bit vampy. She's clever but also deeply bird-brained at times--gets re-embodied, has unprotected sex with Conrad like 5x a day for a week, and THEN asks Mariketa if she can get pregnant. God bless. My queen.

Elizabeth Peirce, Lothaire. Just. A fucking goddess of a girl, and someone people would HATE today; a subversion of NLOG who knows her own worth the entire time. Tough as nails, never gives up, and is still deeply vulnerable. The scene where Ellie like, bursts into tears after this INSANE sexual encounter because she realizes she's going to die anyway? My baaaaby. And she wins everything in the end and has Lothaire's metaphorical balls in her front coat pocket. Incredible.

Mariketa the Awaited/Awakened, Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night. Still a fucking forever girl. Has unlimited power; is also a cheerleader and FOR SURE wears that uniform in the bedroom. Her post-book cameos are probably my favorites because it's largely her getting into mortal peril while Bowen has a heart attack, or Bowen's relatives asking her for spells and her refusing them a family discount.

Lucia the Huntress, Pleasure of a Dark Prince. I love a cold as ice girl who has to deal with FEEEEEELINGS, and Lucia is that. Calm, cool, and collected until she is most definitely not, reluctantly unable to resist Garreth worming his way into her heart.

Sabine, Queen of Illusions, Kiss of a Demon King. A complicated, controversial, absolute BITCH of a heroine which is why I love her. The rare true villainess heroine, and honestly still pretty bad at the end of her book. Also? A true brat. Her having a meltdown because she's tired and hot and her boobs are sore because Rydstrom keeps at 'em is a highlight of the series.

Kaderin the Coldhearted, No Rest for the Wicked. She rose in the ranks after I re-read her book and realized that it was actually great. Kaderin has the kind of journey heroes usually have. She's super cold, a bit mean, and even flirts with someone else in front of her hero. She also is facing certain death and booty calls Sebastian for mid-air plane sex. I love her.

Chloe Todd, MacRieve. Chloe is such a perfect girl--snarky yet innocent, vulnerable yet tough, deserving a lot better than MacRieve and his ISSUES, but also seeing like... the potential in their relationship. She's such a fucking good person, and her like capacity for forgiveness without just... letting go of bad behavior, is great.

Emmaline Troy, A Hunger Like No Other. I remain an Emma defender to the death, and her attempts to baby trap Lachlain in later books only make me like her more. Vampire queen of the werewolves who needs her nails done!!!

Josie, Sweet Ruin. ONE OF THE CRAZIEST BITCHES I'VE EVER READ ABOUT. Gets torture-edged for hours??? Days??? Responds with "I like you so much". Queen. Icon. Legend. Broke Rune down like a motherfucker.

Regin the Radiant, Dreams of a Dark Warrior. Kind of annoying in books leading up to her own, but much easier to understand after. It's all a facade, she's actually very damaged, she has a softer heart than anyone realizes, and she's honestly pretty fucking funny.

Myst the Coveted, The Warlord Wants Forever. We love a VAMP. Myst is allowed to be sexy and problematic and alluring. She needs it to COPE. Also, 10/10 gets caught having rough sex outdoors by her sisters and her first instinct is to cover Nikolai's giant dick so that they don't get any ideas.

Daniela the Ice Maiden, Untouchable. I stan sexy Elsa. The fact that this girl had an icicle up her vag in an effort to make sex work with her hot vampire guy... an icon.

Holly Ashwin, Dark Desires After Dusk. A math professor who goes on a roadtrip with a hot demon and makes him jealous by flirting with other hot demons at a bar. Also didn't even have to be told to use the demon horns to steer his head to where it needed to go. We love a nerd.

Melanthe, Queen of Persuasion, Dark Skye. Met a virgin God warrior and ruined his life. Is unashamed about her sexual history AND a fun, trustworthy sister. Was okay with having sex with Thronos for the first time through a weird sheet thing. Respects cultural traditions of angel demons, we respect it.

Kereny Codrina, Munro. I actually love that Kereny basically exists to dunk on Munro for much of their book. I also loved her "BITCHES, RIGHT?" girl talk with Ellie and the fact that she made out with Munro in front of a man she'd just married.

Lila Barbot, Wicked Abyss. I liked Lila a lot. Turned the tables on Sian, didn't put up with any of his bullshit, and ultimately? Turned out to be a monster-fucker. good for her.

Bettina, Shadow's Claim. I actually am a Bettina defender, though she admittedly was a bit of an idiot at points. Like, my dude, this man is so fucking hot, don't waste a good thing. But still, I loved her being a horny princess classic who designs weapons.

Carrow the Incarcerated, Demon from the Dark. I liked Carrow. I liked the kid she chose to be a stepmom to and her entire "finding motherhood" arc less, but it was solid. Still, her teaching a Tarzan-esque vampire/demon guy to bathe was real cool.

Would you rank the IAD heroines?

I mean, I've only gotten to know four out of like... 17ish? Not sure, I know there are 2-3 novellas and like 16-17 full length books, but I believe one of those novellas is m/m (sadly it is far down the line because I reeeeeeeally wanna read it).

But thus far, I think my heroine ranking is pretty reflective of the hero rating, and how I'd rank their books. Sometimes I'll really enjoy a hero or heroine and their story is less than idea.

But anyway, on to the ladies.

Neomi Laress, ghost/phantom, Dark Needs at Night's Edge. I absolutely adore Neomi. She may be my favorite romance heroine EVER. Neomi sees a crazy virgin vampire and goes "I can break that pony in right". She does a striptease with the immortal line, "Still not stimulating enough? Maybe Conrad wants to see my panties instead?" in order to PROVE TO HERSELF THAT HE CAN SEE HER LMAO. But she's also soooo sex positive, genuinely. She loves sex, she has no shame about being a burlesque dancer in the past, she takes such joy in not only being pleased but pleasing, and she wants him to have a full life, which, for him, will include sex. So breaking him in is basically charity, except she falls in love. I also love that Neomi became a ghost, basically, because she was so fucking angry that her horrible ex killed her right when she bought her own house that she just wasn't able to leave this earth. I love her, I love her.

Mariketa the Awaited/Awakened, witch, Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night. Another forever girl, who I love almost as much as Neomi. A woman who got a college cheerleading scholarship and then dropped out of college. Has a hot pink bedroom with pom poms. Is also a witch of immense potential power. I knew I was gone for Mariketa after it was revealed that she brought a vibrator with her to the jungle while on a mystical quest for a time travel key thing, and I'm fairly certain that's when Bowen knew he was gone for Mariketa. When that moron called her the wrong name when he came and she dramatically left him a fuck you note in the mud and ran off to make a point before he stole her away to a private island? My GIRL. I love how blithe and fun Mariketa is. I love that her husband is her "beast familiar" and her parents know this, so her parents know she gets fucked doggy style in the dirt all night at least once a month. Good for Mariketa, I love all this for her.

Emmaline Troy, vampire/valkyrie hybrid, A Hunger Like No Other. A lot of people shit on Emma because she's so timid, but I actually find her to be really fun. Understandably, she's terrified when this giant wolf man takes off with her. She grows into her boldness, her new role as the werewolf queen--she fucking kills the vampire king, for fuck's sake (who is her father!!!). And as problematic as A Hunger Like No Other was... I enjoyed the old school romance style sexual awakening of Emma. It's not what I want taught to kids lmao, but it was a good story. Also, she summons lightning when she comes hard, and I think that's fun.

Kaderin the Coldhearted, valkyrie, No Rest for the Wicked. I like Kaderin a lot, but I don't know that I looove Kaderin. So many people do, I'm sure. She's a total badass. I love that she wears vampire fangs as trophies and then falls in love with one. I relate to her fear of emotional intimacy (maybe too much). I wish she'd been like... a little more accepting of Sebastian's love, but I get that this was the plot, so on, so on. I feel like Emma's rejection of Lachlain and Mariketa's rejection of Bowen felt more... authentic, though? Because Lachlain and Bowen were literal beasts, whereas Sebastian was honestly pretty accommodating. Even if he was a vampire.

[wooahaes]

Ahh we all have that one professor who makes u go ??? The fuck ??? At least 5 times in 20 mins lol I get you

Also the nct thing was purely by accident lol aksnsksms I initially listened to boom by nct dream, thought I’d listen to a couple more songs, fell down the rabbit hole and now I actively Stan 20+ men 💀 yeah I did that to myself lol but fr nct has some weird shit but a LOT of bops like if you like slow ballad type of stuff I recommend from home and my everything but nct u or if u like smth cute Touch by NCT 127 is p well liked by most people I introduce that song to! And most of nct dreams older songs are p cute too! I feel like you’ve made a grave mistake letting me talk ab NCT because I could go on FOREVER aksnsksms also I totally get the mark + Haechan duo lol I have a particular fondness for mark because we share the same birthday lol plus he’s so cute I just wanna fucking SQUISH

I would LOVE to hear you talk about Shinee!! All of their music fuckin SLAPS I’ve been obsessed with Body Rhythm every since it came out and like I got into the fandom p late so I don’t know much but I think taemin is fucking hilarious like he is very much my pathetic lil meow meow

-Baby Teume

literally i love her but the way she runs her classes... headache inducing. im probably going to scrape past with a C unless she decides to drop our lowest grade (highly unlikely but very welcome)

... my confession is that i actually enjoy sticker lmao like ik its not great ig? but i can still vibe with it

i have made NO mistake asking u to talk abt nct!!! pls talk to me about nct whenever u feel like it lmao i love hearing abt other ppls groups and the stuff they get passionate about!! literally i love when ppl give me song recs even if i dont end up getting into them bc its a lil 'hey i thought u might enjoy this' and i think thats sweet <3

i learned that marks emojis are a tiger and a lion and im like omg... tiger... another tiger boy to add to my collection. AND lions too??? mark nct ill give u a kiss omg /j

omg... u will regret asking me abt shinee i love them SO much. im ignoring the fact taemin just showed up on my playlist (highly recommend all of the shinee members solo stuff!!! i can absolutely give recs for my fave from each member even tho minho has like two songs to him rn but theyre both good fdkhdshf)

i always say taemin is my bias (hes adorable AND funny like... king stop my expectations are too high-) but i think im truly ot5 because all of them are so important to me. they were the first kpop group i ever listened to forever ago (sherlock (clue + note) is a legend and i love her so much), and i think dropping off shortly after getting into them (which would have been around 2015 because it was the time view came out) and then picking them a little over a year ago was genuinely like... something that really helped me out of a shitty place + hurt because i had missed the news about jonghyun entirely. but even then, i think its made me appreciate him and everything he's done so, so much. i won't get sappy but i truly love jonghyun so much and i'm glad he's no longer hurting. it'll always piss me off when people reduce him down to his death and nothing else because he was such a good person.

moving on from that before i get too emotional... i genuinely just love shinee a lot. i watched one of the shinee world concerts (IV i think?) earlier this year and its amazing how talented they were and still are. shinee truly helped pave the way and inspired so many idols and i adore them. its also fun to just watch them interact, tbh. i don't genuinely ship anyone because i find that weird, but minkey as a (platonic) pair are my faves lmao they always bicker like an old married couple but you can tell that they do love each other and are genuinely close friends.

and jinki!!! onew my beloved!!! i love him so much. he has such a warm presence and GOD his vocals... i die every time... coincidentally love phobia just came up on my playlist lmao but still!! highly recommend listening to DICE if u haven't!! the entire album itself is good but the title track is soo good <3 i always feel like i forget he's the leader of shinee because they're all so close-knit, it feels like they're all on completely equal footing even if jinki is the one leading them.

i didnt rly get into my love for taemin but genuinely i adore him. he's so, so talented both vocally and dance-wise, i love to see the difference between his stage persona (typically his solo persona lmao taemin and his slutty slutty music... <3) when he's really just this very sweet catholic man who apparently only really interacts with his group mates and a few others outside of that. he's so funny and i honestly admire every live he did where he spoke english and messed up and accepted his mistakes? like. learning a language is hard enough, especially one as fucking weird as english, but he just seems to eager to try speaking english and accepts his mistakes. i think he definitely has a very good support network both in the people helping him learn english (job-wise) and in having someone like key there to correct him (and maybe rib him a little bit--but it's all out of love). also i still think its really funny he broke into keys place to leave him a birthday cake and then proceeded to steal one of his jackets. stole my heart at the same time smh

i will stop here bc i still have two questions left on my final but !!! i will absolutely give u shinee recs if you want!! shinee has SUCH a good discography with only a few songs that are... not good at all lmao. but every group puts out some bad songs sometimes, especially when they've been around for a long time! nothing wrong w that! + i'll probs throw in recs from each member's solo career because i genuinely love a lot of their solo stuff as well <3

[unmaskedagain]

Over This (Over you)

        Quick one-shot. Class salt ahead. this about the fall of Lila getting exposed. Kind of cliche at this point. Enjoy.

   Surprisingly, it was Mylene who found out the truth first. Lila had told a lie about a famous performer who taught her all about filmmaking.

           The issue?

           The guy had died three years before Lila was born.

           It all snowballed from there.

           She told Ivan who told Nathanial.

           Nathanial just shrugged it off because Lila knew a lot of people, maybe she just got confused. Then he overheard Lila brag about her weekend, then she casually thrown in that Stan Lee had dropped in. And his heart stopped.

           Because Nathanial didn’t care who you were: Stan lee was not a name you confused for anyone else’s. He had been a legend. Stan Lee had been a god to comic book lovers everywhere. Stan Lee was dead.

           Nathanial told Nino first.

           Nino had thought it was an honest mistake; a lapse in memory on Lila’s part. Still the suspicious didn’t just go away.

           And when he heard her bragging about working with the famous DJ Marshmallow; that she helped him compose his biggest hit.

           Nino paled when he remembered that he had played nearly all of Marshmallow’s jams to Lila and she hadn’t known a single one. Even asked if it was Nino’s own work.

           That was when he got Alya involved. It had been Saturday, date night, but they were stuck babysitting their little siblings. They tended to find themselves babysitting a lot. They couldn’t find anyone willing to cover for them.

           Nino carefully brought up the Lila situation.

           Alya at first came to Lila’s defense. She had already dealt with Marinette’s jealousy and determination to call Lila a liar. Lila had been bullied by Marinette for months. It got to the point where the whole class had no choice but to ostracize the Bluenette like they did Chloe until she changed her evil way. Even Adrien gave the girl the cold shoulder. A few of them even went out of their way to show Marinette what it was like to be bullied; a trip here or there, torn up school notes, an “accidently” spilled drink on something Marinette had been designing. When Marinette didn’t change, and seemingly became friends with Chloe, Kagami, and kids from other classes; Alya had to put her foot down, and the rest of the class followed suit. They would not be friends with Marinette anymore.

After that, Alya refused to let anyone talk bad about her new bestie. Even if that person was her boyfriend. However, before she could get angry, Nino talked her down. And Alya quickly conceded that two was a coincidence, three times was a pattern.

“Fine,” Alya huffed and pulled out her phone to research Lila Rossi. It would be easy show the entire class just how amazing her best friends was, and then the nasty rumors of her being a liar would stop once and for all.

           However as Alya searched for information on her new friend, she found google to be lacking. Slowly but surely as Alya tried several different search methods, the righteous feeling she had started with faded away as desperation filled her.

No, she thought with growing horror, Lila was telling the truth. She had to be.

           Alya had supported her. She had filled the Ladyblog of interviews from Lila. She had-She had! Lila couldn’t be lying.

           But no matter how long Alya searched. There was no evidence to support anything Lila had ever said.

           Alya held her phone is her hands tightly and just stared at it. Tears burned in her eyes. She looked up at Nino and gasped, “Lila is a liar!”

           The entire class knew within the hour.

           The group chat was filled with remorse and anger. (Three akumas came out of it. Ladybug saved the day.) No one knew how to react. How should they confront Lila? How could they make her pay?

           But then Rose, sweet Rose had texted something that made all their hearts stop

Rosebud: What about Marinette?

Shit, one by one they all thought, Marinette!

           They had all hurt the girl, their ‘everyday Ladybug’. So much so that they had snatched the title away from her and given it to Lila, who they thought deserved it more.

           Quickly, they all tried to text and call their dearest friend with apologies ready on their lips, only to hear “This number has been disconnected.”

           Marinette had changed her number.

           Alya and Nino had raced to the bakery as soon as their parents came from. Only for Sabine and Tom, the nicest people on the entire planet, apart from Marinette, had given them the coldest glares possible, and told them Mariette had gone a weekend trip. And that they were no longer welcome in their establishment or in their home.

           By the time Monday morning rolled around, emotions were high. Adrien had tried to calm the class down, convince them that what Lila did wasn’t so bad, but they wouldn’t hear it. Most of the class waited silently as their desks, lost in their thoughts.

           Until Lila strolled into class, a big smile on her face, “Wait till I tell you what I did this weekend,” And went on to talk about the celebrity she had been with.

“Liar!” Alix roared, and Kim had to hold her back from throttling Lila.

           That was all spark needed for the class to start ripping into her.

           Alya screamed about her ruining the Ladyblog and destroying her career; her friendship with Marinette. Nino yelled about promised connections and missed opportunities. Everyone had something to scream.

           Lila tried to defend herself. However, it became increasingly clear that the game was up. There was nothing she could do to save it. She looked around helpless.

           That was the scene, Marinette, Kagami, and Chloe walked in on. Marinette and Chloe had spent the entire weekend at a fashion show; models for Audrey Bourgeois, walking the runway. And when they weren’t doing that, they were at photoshoots. Kagami had tagged along for support, and the beach house they had stayed in. When the girls weren’t working, they had a blast just hanging out.

           Marinette eyed the teary Lila and the angry faces of her classmates, her ex-friends, and just snorted, “Took long enough.”

           Kagami just held out her hand.

           Chloe huffed and handed money, “Two weeks. Just two more weeks, and I would’ve won the bet.” She stumped her foot. “Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. These morons spent over a year hanging of Lie-la’s every word and they couldn’t give me two more weeks.”

           Marinette giggled at her friends antics. “I told you not to bet against her.” She said as the three walked to their desks in the back. Ignoring all the eyes on them. “Kagami doesn’t lose.”

           Said girl in question smirked, “As if there was ever a chance.”

“…Marinette?” Rose said, her eyes still red from all the crying. “I’m so sorry. We should’ve listened. We should’ve believed you.”

“Yeah,” Alya cried. “Girl, I can’t believe I got fooled. I’m so sorry.”

           More apologies came. Each one more sorrow filled the last. Lila watched with anger in her eyes.

           When the last one was done, Marinette shrugged, “Whatever,” And went back to talking with Chloe and Kagami.

“Whatever?” Alya asked confused. “What do you mean: whatever?” She had expected an emotion reconciliation. With promise of future girls’ night and being best friends forever.

           Even Lila was caught off guard, and stopped her escape from the room to watch.

“It means an American localism,” Marinette explained. “It’s mean it’s doesn’t matter; I don’t care; sure, okay. Sometimes, just to end a conversation if there’s nothing more to say.”

           Nino frowned, “How can you say that? We’re really sorry!”

“And that means what?” Kagami asked, coldly.

           The question caught most of the room off guard.

“This has nothing to do with you!” Alix hissed. “We’re talking with Marinette.”

           Marinette crossed her arms, and leaned back in her seat, “Answer the question.” She said. “What exactly did you expect to happen? What do you even think apologizing would mean?”

           Kim scratched his head, “Its means everything’s okay again; that we’re friends again.”

           The three stared at him. He shifted uneasily.

“Ridiculous,” Chloe muttered.

“No,” Marinette said slowly to them. “That’s what it means. Saying sorry just implies you know what you did was wrong and that you feel bad and want to make it clear to the offended party that you are remorseful. It doesn’t actually do anything.”

           Lila smirked. She was glad she stayed. The fools thought everyone would go back to the way it was. Unfortunately, Marinette had different plans.

“We are remorseful, though,” Rose pleaded. “We feel really, really bad about what we did.”

           Marinette nodded, “I understand. But that doesn’t change what you did,” She explained. “You hurt me. You bullied me. You accused me of awful things. You ended our friendships. I understand that you are sorry. I accept your apology,” The other students visibly brighten with hope on their faces. “I do not forgive you. I don’t have to forgive to you. It’s not okay,” Marinette said this part directly to Kim, who used to be her oldest friend in the room. “I will not say “It’s okay”, to your apology. Because you’ll just think it okay to do it again. And it’s not. What you did was not okay. And I do not have to forgive you.”

“But we’re friends,” Juleka sobbed, “Friends forgive. Best Friends forgive.” To that Alya nodded earnestly.

“We are not friends,” Marinette said bluntly. “We haven’t been friends in a long time. I only have two friends in classroom, my best friends,” The two girls next to her preened. “Kagami and Chloe. All my other friends are in different classes.” She paused. “And before you ask, I don’t think we can be friends again. I do not want to be friends again because I can only be friends with people I trust and like. None of you meet those requirements.”

           Ouch. The other students flinched back as if slapped.

           Adrien stepped forward, “You’re being mean, Marinette. They’re sorry. Just let them make it up to you.” He smiled wide, hope in his eyes. “Then we can go back to the way it was before.”

Chloe raised an eyebrow, “Just how hard did you hit the ground when you fell out of that tree when we were five?”

Marinette snorted a laugh. “This isn’t a movie, Adrien,” She told him. “Life doesn’t work like that. And what about you? How sorry are you? You knew Lila was lying the entire time, and did nothing.”

Nino let out a strangled cry, “What? Bro?”

Angry glares turned toward the blond.

“No,” Marinette slammed her hands on her desk. “You don’t get to be mad at him. I do. He didn’t have to tell you Lila was lying because I already did. Me! Someone most of you have known since we were toddlers. You just met Adrien less than two years ago, there was no reason for him to think you would’ve believed him over me.  It’s not like you believed Kagami when she came to class and pointed out hole in Lila’s stories. Adrien’s only crime was that he never had my back like he promised he would. Not once. And I don’t forgive him for that either,” She added to her former crush; during her speech his face had gone from scared, to relieved, to devastated.

“Sorry doesn’t fix everything,” Kagami said simply. “To think otherwise, is the same childish behavior that got you into this mess.”

           Chloe nodded, “And thinking everything can just go back to the way it was, after everything, all the hurt, is just stupid,” She stated let looked over every student in class to let them know she was speaking with them too before resting her eyes on Adrien. “There’s too much damage now. This isn’t like the fights we had as kids. We can’t just share cookies and forget a second later that we we’re fight. It’s a burned bridged; scooping up the ashes and hoping for the best doesn’t change the fact that the bridge is gone. It’s just gone.”

“She’s friends with you,” Alya snapped.

“We were never friends before now,” Chloe defended, anger raging in her eyes. “We hated each other. I made her life. Never once did Marinette trust me, relied on me, thought of me as friend.”

“Nothing Chloe did actually hurt me,” Marinette shrugged. “At least not in way that matter. Because she was just a mean girl who didn’t care about me and I didn’t care about. When we became friends, it became different. Now there’s an emotional connection, trust. Now she could actually hurt me.”

“Not that I would,” The blonde quickly added. “But it’s different for you. I hurt my enemy. You hurt your friend. She expected me. She never saw you coming.”

           Miss Bustier walked into class. The bell rang. Everyone went back to their. Mourning their friendships and berating their own actions.

           As the days went on, some of ex-friends tried to pretend everything was alright between Marinette and them again.

           Rose would try to draw her into the latest gossip. Alya would just sit down at her lunch table and just launch into a conversation but would leave once it was clear that the three girls were ignoring her.

           Kim tried to joke around with her but was met with stone cold silence. Alix tried baiting her into an argument.

           Those like Nino, Juleka and Max just left her alone. They knew they had done wrong and accepted the consequences.

           A month later, another blow up happened.

           Alya stomped into the lunchroom, right to Marinette’s table, and slammed a magazine on it, “This this why you don’t want to be friends?” She yelled gaining the attention of the entire cafeteria. “You’re too good for us now?”

           Marinette glanced at the magazine; teen vogue. On the cover was Marinette wearing the latest from Audrey Bourgeois’ new line.

           Alya picked up the magazine and showed her class. There were gasps. Students from the other classes just gave impressed looks when they recognized the sweet girl from Bustier’s class.

Alya sneered at Marinette, “You think better than us?”

“How could you not tell us?” Alix snapped.

           Adrien nodded in agreement. He couldn’t believe Marinette wouldn’t tell him. She had to know how lonely those photoshoots got. Didn’t she care? “I would have liked to model with you. It would be nice to have a real friend on set.”

“You’re not even that good at it,” Alya said with jealousy having filled her heart since she saw magazine in the store. Her friend had her foot in the door to her fashion dreams a while Alya’s dream of being a great journalist had gone up in smoke. The Ladyblog was ruined. Her fans had been flocking for months and Alya couldn’t figure out why until the truth about Lila was revealed. Now no one trusted Alya would have the scoop. The Ladyblog was replaced by Bugout managed by Aurore. “You probably begged Chloe’s mom for the job. And she took mercy on her brat’s only friend.”

           Kagami narrowed her eyes, “I am Chloe’s friend too. Luka is Chloe’s friend. Aurore is Chloe’s friend. Marc, Claude, Ondine; are all Chloe’s friends. Once again you failed to check the facts.”

“Ooohs,” Were heard from various students around the cafeteria. Nearly everyone knew by now that the Ladyblog had fallen into infamous category. It had been blacklisted as a credible resource by a majority of local news.

           Not to mentions the rumors cease and desist orders from various celebrities.

“I’ve been modeling for over almost two years,” Marinette said, frost in her eyes, as she looked at her class. “Never once have I brought it up. And I’ve been on the covers of Seventeen, Elle girl, Sassy, Vogue Paris, and Cosmogirl. I was featured, along with Chloe, in a spread in Vanity Fair. And another one in W with Gigi Hadid. I walked the runways during fashion weeks for New York, London, and Paris. Never once did I brag. Never once did I think it made me better than you. Or anyone for that matter.”

           The tone was far different than any they had ever heard Marinette use before. It was cold, unfeeling, and sent shivers through them. Alya, in particularly, unconsciously took a step back.

“I didn’t tell you,” She said mockingly to Alix who reddened. “Because we’re not friends. I don’t owe you anything. I don’t have to tell you anything. You’re no one to me.” Marinette glared at Alya. “No one at all. Just some wannabe journalist who ruined her own life’s work because she couldn’t remember that a good reporter checks her resources.”

“Damn,” Aurore chuckled, she sat next to Kagami and was enjoying the fireworks.

           Alya opened her mouth to yell but stopped when Nino placed at hand on her shoulder and motioned around the room. All eyes were on her. She flushed.

“I don’t know what your problem is, Alya.” Marinette shrugged. “Half the time you’re blaming Lila.  The other half you’ve been acting like you’ve didn’t do anything wrong. Now you’re looking for some excuse to make me the bad guy again. Just stop. You’re not a victim. You need to stop acting like you are. Hell, I’m not even the victim anymore because I moved on with my life. I have better things to do than be hurt and angry for the rest time.”

“Lila lied,” Alya repeated for the thousandth time. “I didn’t. It’s not my fault.”

“Seriously?” Marc asked from where he sat at Marinette’s lunch table. “Is she serious?” He asked Ondine who had a bewildered look on her face.

           Marinette just pinched her nose. “Oh grow up! You tripped me class. Sent horrible texts that could easily been considered harassment in a court of law. Destroyed weeks of designs when you ‘accidently’ spilled your coffee on my desk. You didn’t talk to me for months. You reported false information for over a year; dragging multiple celebrities into it. When you weren’t doing that, your blog focused more on the supposed relationship between Ladybug and Chat noir than it did on actual news. Any information you actually reported was half-assed at best. I’ve seen more accurate information on Tumblr. That was Lila. That was you.”

           Fire raged in Alya’s eyes, hurt clear on her face. She looked like she was going to explode.

Akuma alert anyone, Marinette thought.

“You screwed up. It happens. Let it go.” Marinette stood up, grabbed her bag. “This whole confrontation of yours was just childish. And I’m over it. I’m over you.”

“I was over you first,” Alya lunged at Marinette, with tears in her eyes, but Nino pulled her back.

Marinette rolled her eyes and moved to leave but just before she did, Marinette looked at Alya and then at the Class. “You’re ill-tempered, rash, and prone to immature behavior better suited on your little sisters. Besides the obvious, you want to know the real reason, we can’t be friends? You’re a child.”

And with a shake of her head, Marinette said. “And I’ve outgrown you.”

There was applause as Marinette left the lunch room to go transform. A smirk was on her face.

She really was over it.