#and he has a playing card theme which is also like something I always fall for

[seagull-scribbles]

☔️ It’s time to loose your self loathing, excuse yourself, let hope in ♥️

[azen13]

CW: Yandere Themes, Slight Spoilers for Penacony's Story Quest

I keep thinking about this one dialogue option somewhere in the Penacony Quest, where if you ask Aventurine to give you more money, he immediately sends you more, which led me to think about how Yandere!Aventurine would most definitely love to spend as much money on you as he can as a way of convincing you to stay with him, which led to this little drabble. Enjoy!

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆

Aventurine loves to take you shopping.

Whether it's the gilded streets of Oti Mall or the luxury departments of Pier Point, as long as the price tags are exorbitant and the clothes are high quality, Aventurine loves to take you on shopping sprees. Together, the two of you peruse store after store, boutique after boutique, shop after shop. Try and ask the gambler why and he’ll only flash you a casual smirk, drawing you closer to him and interlacing one of his hands with yours. “Do I need a reason why, love?” He questions, pulling you towards him gently and guiding you to the elevator of his penthouse. 

He can still recall the look in your eyes when he first invited you out to dinner in Pier Point. Aventurine had planned the date perfectly by getting a reservation to some state-of-the-art interactive dining experience that would surely impress you. However, once the two of you had been seated at your table, he saw you looking at your menu, eyes full of fear at the long trains of zeros preceding every item. It was a sight he’d never forget. Instantly, he told you he would pay for it all, and despite your best protests, nothing could stop him from giving the server his card

Tonight you and him are back in Pier Point, revisiting some of your favorite shops. Or rather, the shops that garnered the most wide-eyed reactions from you after entering them for the first time. You were never forthright about the shops and brands you liked, as if you didn’t want to return and buy more from them. No matter. Aventurine is always careful to gauge your reactions, a smile falling on his lips every time he sees that starstruck innocence in your gaze.

Your pure soul is so fragile. He could shatter it with a single breath. A flick of a finger. A silent stare. He knows firsthand how quickly that golden glow can fade away. So can’t he just have this? Him and you attached at the hip, the perfect image of lovers in every passing stranger’s eyes; completely in sync, moving to rhythms and melodies only he and you can hear.

He’s well aware that his grasp on you in this dance may be too tight and controlling as he forces you along with him in this spiritual tango, but he has good intentions. He knows it. You know it. It’s why you let him care for you, let him pick out your outfits and take care of your finances. Aventurine knows best. After all, he’s seen the worst parts of the world and climbed out of his own personal slice of hell. The universe is a cruel place and all he wants to do is shield you from it all by protecting the gold in your heart and the stars in your eyes. The boutiques are all devoid of anything befitting of your beauty, not that Aventurine cares. It just means he gets to go order something custom-made, tailored to fit you and match him perfectly, arguably even better than going out and buying something from a store. While it pleases him enough to know he’s paying for you, when he sees you all dressed up and matching him to a T in shades of green and gold–well, that’s an entirely different level of satisfaction.

As you begin the walk back to Aventurine’s penthouse apartment, the gambler is already looking online for new designers to contact. You ask him why he’s doing this. Once again, a soft smirk plays on Aventurine’s lips. “For starters, you look gorgeous in them,” he says, squeezing your hand a little tighter as the two of you fight your way through boulevards bustling with people. “It also makes it easier to find you in crowds when you’re all dressed up,” he adds, pausing for a moment. “And I don’t want to lose you, my love.” Aventurine lifts your hand up, softly whispering his words against the skin of your knuckles before he presses a chaste kiss to the back of your hand.

For a moment, there’s a slight tremor in his voice, his hand clenching even tighter around your own. It’s as though he’s afraid that if he relinquishes his hold on your hand, he won’t just lose you in the crowd, but forever.

The unspoken reason–that he likes to make sure everyone knows you��re his lover–lingers in the air around you like arms around your shoulders.

[v1olent-l1ttle-th1ng]

Weekly Empyrean/Onyx Storm Theories Week 3: Who turned?

WHO TURNED AT THE END????

Ok so when I read it for the very first time, my initial thought was Garrick. He’s one of the missing riders at the end, which definitely makes it likely. I also think Xaden would have been more upset if it was Bodhi. He seemed fairly chill with the whole thing in my opinion. Especially with the whole ‘you need to be my replacement’ theme throughout the book. Garrick also told Imogen, “I’d better find some fucking way to do something” once he brings her back after Quinn’s death. Getting more power by turning venin is definitely doing something.

The more I re-read, the more Bodhi also fits. I mean he’s ‘overlooked’, ‘next in line’ and told to ‘stay behind.’ In Imogen’s POV, we even see him “on his hands and knees, retching” which I think easily could have been him drawing from the earth instead.

I honestly think this could go either way. Rebecca said on one of her tour stops to “pay attention to who is missing at the end” and to “someone who didn’t feel like they are enough.” To me, Garrick fits the first one more but Bodhi fits the second one.

I’m still leaning SLIGHTLY more towards Garrick. Mainly because Xaden says, “How could he do this? Choose this after watching me stumble and fall over the last five months.” Garrick is really the only person who has been with him for almost the entire time. I mean Bodhi isn’t in quest squad, so there’s no way he’d see ‘Xaden struggle’ as much as Garrick.

Other points that support it being Garrick:

-On Hedotis Mira says, “Garrick has stood by Xaden’s side no matter the cost”. Standing by his side by turning venin so his best friend doesn’t have to go it alone seems likely.

-“I’d better find some fucking way to do something” seems like something someone who ‘didn’t think they were enough’ might say.

BUT if we wanna say it’s Bodhi who turned, he is fairly overlooked throughout the book. Xaden constantly telling him to stay behind and protect the throne. Their conversion in Onyx Storm when Bodhi wants to fight for Aretia with the rest of them, Xaden tells him, “You’re staying with the first years.” Bodhi argues with him and asks, “Because I’m not a weapon like you are?” Which draws on the ‘feeling inadequate’ point and then Xaden plays the whole, “Because you’re first in line” card.

ALSO, jumping back to Iron Flame, let’s take a look at the dreams Violet was having. Up until now, we were assuming it was Violet’s dream, however we now know that she was actually in Xaden’s dream. In the dream, Berwyn tells, who we now know was Xaden, “You’ll turn for love, but he’ll turn for power.” Could the ‘he’ be referencing Bodhi? Especially after Theophanie asked him, “Do you not grow tired of being a less-powerful version of your cousin?”

Other points that support it being Bodhi:

-Bodhi tells Violet “I’d kill to go, but you need to take Garrick with you”. Helping to solidify his feeling lesser than.

-While Bodhi’s demonstrating his running landing Violet thinks, “No one thought of him during Battle Brief yesterday, and he should have been the first name that came to mind.” Soliciting the whole ‘overlooked’ vibe.

-The same conversation when Theophanie asked Bodhi about ‘being a less powerful version of Xaden’, Bodhi finds out his signet can’t counter hers. Cue feeling like not enough. Bodhi says, “My signet is always the balance”, but it’s clearly not in this situation, which could leave him feeling less than.

Anyways, I honestly still don’t know which one of them it was, these are just my reasons for each!

[femmeroi]

You SHOULD talk about Manjoume Jun's queerness, he's an icon and that's an essay I'd love to read

I SHOULD !!! Jun is my (4th) favourite nasty dude hes so hes so hes o so so so. His gender game is so immaculate and he is only maybe a he/they on a good day. He’s playing 5d gender chess in a uno world. He has so many layers even he isn’t ready to pull them all back yet. His he/him pronouns are an unanswered prayer. He pays child support for masculine terms, they're all he has left after the divorce. I think he always has one foot in the closet, I don’t think he ever really got over his brother's abuse, and if he didn't have friends like Fubuki he’d never accept himself. Even when he accepts himself it's in a very limited way. He's flamboyant, he's unapologetic, he's afraid. To ME he is a nonbinary trans woman gay man, he's a faggot woman, and I think that's beautiful. 

GX as a whole can be read in a very queer way when you consider the ties between familial relationships, duel spirit relationships, and personal acceptance. This tie is most obvious in Jun, who has a solid and obvious arc centering these three aspects. Even then, I feel like people often misinterpret or waterdown his. Everything.

Under the read more is a very long breakdown of my thoughts. If something doesn't make sense, sorry, I have divine madness and a fever.

I’m going to start off with his family, everyone knows them, everyone hates them, and everyone misunderstands them. People often fall into the belief that after his duel with Chosaku, Jun obtained some kind of absolute freedom from his family, often even saying he cut them off. I don’t believe this is entirely correct or incorrect, it’s a belief that's in the right direction while missing the nuance of his situation. Jun’s familial arc isn't about severing ties or escaping abusive structures, it’s about easing the pain by gaining respect. Jun still has a role within the Manjoume Group after his duel with Chosaku, the difference is that after their duel he got their trust. It’s with that trust he got a semblance of freedom, and I believe people often conflate that freedom with absolute liberation.

Jun still works for his family, he is still under their influence, they are just more hands off about it now than before. I say this because his role in the Manjoume Group clearly means a lot to Jun, this is seen through his displays of wealth and his insistence to be called “Manjoume” long after everyone is on a first name basis. He's even seen using the Manjoume Groups money and name to renovate facilities within the school, and if you think that's something an estranged family would allow I have. Serious questions. Like what's your estranged parents credit card number. His connection to the Manjoume Group is only reinforced in season four, where his intention isn’t to get away from his family rather it is to prove himself worthy to his family. His role in the Manjoume Group is also recognized by other characters, which shows that even publicly he is affiliated with them.

All that said, Jun’s brothers are still extremely controlling and abusive people. My dearest mutual (also the very person to send the ask. Hi friend <3) Ren Krakenshaped said one of the minor themes of GX is, “[The] negative influences in your childhood [and how they] can affect you liberating yourself from those negative influences.” I absolutely love the way they worded it and I can’t agree more. I’m putting this here not just to hype her up but also to expand on it in relation to Jun. While I believe Jun's familial arc isn't about absolute liberation, he still gets a semblance of freedom as I mentioned before. He's able to use the cards he wants and he has less pressure to be absolutely perfect, but he still acts as a representative for his family.

The pressure he's under is still present, showing itself in a lesser way through his self-deprecating comments, inferiority complex, and his fear of failure. I think it's important for people to recognize the presence and control that the Manjoume Group still has on him even after his moment of “liberation” against Chosaku. Not everyone can and not everyone will escape the negative influences in their life. There's a lot that can be done with the balance Jun has achieved with his family, but he still does have to play by their rules. 

Now that I got the familial situation outlined, it’s time to talk about his duel spirits ! And I promise I WILL bring this all around to his queerness. I prommy. Hold on with me for another couple hundred words. Unlike Johan, Yusuke, and Judai, Jun didn't have some innate connection to duel spirits. His ability to see and interact with the spirits appeared later in life, more specifically during the worst part of his life up to that point. Jun was under pressure to be the perfect child, and then he got demoted from the Obelisk Blue dorms, and then he got stranded at sea, and then his deck got stolen. And at some point in all of that, he started seeing duel spirits.

I think two things were integral to his awakening, the first was his need to grow as a duelist, and the second was isolation. His need for growth comes from him failing to live up to his family's name, but the growth itself happens when his family is absent. After getting stranded at sea, Jun had no line of communication with his brothers, and he didn’t regain communication with them until he went back to the Central Duel Academia campus. On top of that the people in North Academy seem not to know- or care in case of the headmaster- about Jun’s family name. With this Jun is temporarily freed from the expectations his family and peers place onto him- and instead he is able to focus on growing in his own way. It’s at the North Academy Jun is able to solidify his persona, and it’s at the North Academy he is able to start building his own deck instead of using whatever his family provides.

His individualism and desperation leads him to Ojama Yellow, his need to keep his family life and dueling life separate leads him to the other two Ojama brothers, and his first steps in the professional field created the card Pride Shout. His growth as a duelist, and his relationship with his spirit partners, is linked to the distance he has from his family. His communication with duel spirits, while a physical reality in the show, also functions as a device to show Juns road to self actualization as he comes to terms with his own identity.

And then we get to the actual treatment of his duel spirits. It's made clear through the anime that he does like his duel spirits, and that they know it. He has several decks, not because he's some great duelist like Daichi, but because he cares for the spirits attached to them. And if a card has no purpose he will make them one- either through strategy or by making a whole new card out of pure will.

Despite all this, hes a fucking asshole to his duel spirits. He writes on their cards, he yells at them, he hits them, he throws them in the dirt. While a lot of this behavior is easy to write off as “typical tsundere Jun” or as a gag, I can't help but wonder what's so different between Fubuki, for example, and Ojama Yellow. They're both flamboyant, loud, and annoying. Maybe it's because Ojama Yellow is pathetic. Then what's the difference between Fubuki and the Dark Scorpions ? As a duelist, the decks function as an extension of his character, and his fate more often than not relies on their performance. All things considered, he should be treating them with respect.

I think, specifically for his deck, his distaste comes from the fact that they are an extension of him. Not because he has a horrifying inferiority complex, but because the spirits then function as a part of his identity that he can not control. He can choose the cards in his deck, for the most part, but he can not make the cards act in any specific way. And I don't necessarily think he wants to control how the spirits act, instead he happened to meet them during a time he had no semblance of control after spending years of his life curating a very specific image for himself and he had a hard time coping with the fact that everything he worked for may very well disappear soon if he doesnt start acting in a specific way once again. This is also why he starts being nicer to his cards in season four, the moment he gets his identity back, the moment he has a direction in life, he calls Ojama Yellow his ace. Love !

So like. Why did I say all of that ? Well, I feel like outlining how his familial relationship actually works and how he manages things like duel spirits is really important to understanding how he’d approach a queer identity- and thanks to bandit Keith homophobia is ambiguously cannon and I’m going to accept all the baggage that comes with. I see a lot of queer readings of Jun’s journey begin and end with Chosaku’s duel, or be reduced to “well the card's name is Pride Shout.” And that’s. Not it. To me, Jun’s queer journey never did begin. Not on the outside at least. The duality between his flashy attire and self image issues, the contrast between his free going deck and his need to uphold the family name, the lingering control that the Manjoume group has on him through Chosaku and through public perception, it all just feels so closeted to me. I love that Jun was able to find a part of himself, but he was never able to fully embrace it out of shame until the very last duel of his. I love how he holds onto fear even after that moment. I love how much Jun does without actually doing, I love how he found a way to be himself despite living under his family's expectations, I love how genuinely stifling it is for him, I love how he never stops trying anyway. I think his character is best served in the closet, I think he needs to leave his family, but I dont think it's that easy for him. It's really hard to grow past the negative influences in your life when you set them as your goal.

Anyway nonbinary trans woman gay man Manjoume Jun realness !

[mayobleachigosns5eva]

Enstars awesome crazy bass

somebody in enstars songs always goes crazy on the b

bass crazy on the bass I’m glad they’re there.. whoever plays it does a really good job like on Undead songs and also Crazy:B I think i kinda forgor now…, I’m really hearing it on the Yami no Mermaid or whatever 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍 LISTEN TO THAT SOONGGGGGG THE INTRO IS SO GOOD I ASCEND EVERY TIME AND REI SOUNDS SOOOOOO GOOD IVE NEVER FELT AFFECTE BY HIS VOICE BEFOR BUT HIS SINGING IS REALLY GREAT HERE….. saying this as someone who is almost a Rei anti..(sorry to nice And pleasant Rei fans)

I feel like there is lots of focus on Kaoeu too …. He won WE WON how happy was he getting to have their album theme and big exclusive song for the it be mermaid/ocean themed… how wonderful….. HappyEle was liek Cater 2 U Destiny’s Child to him last year, he got SO MANY cards!!!!! Nobody else noticed… but I noticed . *slams hand on chest like defensive if u know what I mean liek proclaiming, hand on heart*

ok now I’m going to listen to Nightless World in ful for the first time I’ve never liked it cuz the chorus falls suuuuuuuper flat to me , I will update when finished ….. anyway the event IH THE BASS OK.. anyway the event associated with this song was the first one I ever grinded and worked hard for … I was doing calculations and stuff in my agendaboom LOLLLLLLLL to figure out how much BP, diamonds, and time I would need to be able to obtain Kaoru 😭😭 it was super easy.. duh lol. He was just the 4* KAORU SOLO LINE😍🥰🥰🗣🎶 he sang so clearly *gone to heaven* ok song over now it’s better in full but not superb still

I mean it was either Nogthless Workd Kaoru or Midnight Butker HiMERU that were the first event I ever worked for. Now, well no because I haven’t been playing but even before that I was falling off pretty severely… just not feeling like playing the actual game lol.. :/ or I’d save up entry passes and forget to use them all uo UGHHHHHH or MIXING UP THE TIME AT WHICH EVEENTS END DUE TO DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME CHANGESSSSSSSSS so many cards lost … so many diamonds that could have been redeemed with event ribbbons… so many possible memorial coins ….. so much L$… *sighs and droops head….. * but anyway for a LONG TIME! I would always reach 1M points in each event just from like. Doing stuff hrm…

Okk ell anyway that’s it I wanted to draw something blub while I was thinking of how to write that I forgot and reremembered it again but it’s a surplise so I can’t say it here hehe .. 😸 also the interlude for UNDEAD trip album is so nice, called No one knows… I could totally sleep to it and I think I will tonite.. 💜 ok but first I draw Natsumw and yes oi pk BYE!

last thing I love Kaoru’s “are you ready?” In Forbidden Rain, he sounds like a girl but my sister hates that about him 😢😢😢😢 she thinks he has a weird inconsistent voice which is .. sigh.. it’s true… BUT I LIKE THAT ABIUT HIMMMMM when he sounds cool or normal or like a girl lol . She doesn’t get it she doesn’t get it she would like him more if not for his voice 😭😭😭😭😭 HATERRRR I HATE HER FOR HATING HIM no i dont but I can’t be too 😍😍🤩🤩 about him or like anything toooooo much or else she won’t like it it’s like reverse psychology to herself,

I like it: it’s probably cool and good unless it’s onvisousky something not aligning of interest with her

I hate or dislike it: if she didn’t like it before, she will also have a negative bias against it. If she like sit she will be offended and/or forcibly converted against her will (case in point: project sekai)

I like it too much: if it’s not something that we directly share, such as a favorite character (i.e. Kaoru and Kanata) or something that we both like it but she isn’t into it at the time (happens a lot with Baruto cuz I will be bugging her to watch it which makes her want tot not watch it. I tink) then she will form her own hate bias against it … sad world, sinssnt it? Where loving something too much makes those around you not like it? :( h

but anyway she doesn’t hate Kaoeu or even dislike him, I thought she was eh on him but she put him on “like” on a tier list so ., 😌😊 ! She doesn’t like Kanata tho which makes me sad also she says that I’m a lot like him so this worries me 😔 and says we’re both stupid and absent minded and clueless and stuff and liek marine life (tho I already love & loved animals my specific interest in marine life predominantly stemmed from him (& Kaoru) even tho my mom wants to believe it’s because of Jotaro … I don’t want to lie to her or let her down so whenever she asked and joked that I should study dolphins I would say yes… she doesn’t know that his research was actually on starfirsj… or maybe i mixing it up with my online friend who was working on his thesis to get a doctorate or something lol) but me and Kanata we are… MECCHA KAWAIIIIIIII ∩^ω^∩ >* ))))>< !!!!! ☆彡･.＊｡“♪♡

Also I really love Kaoru second solo song, Surf on Smile because he is soooo happy and cute I cried a lot when I first heard it and listened to it over and over… #GoneCrazy? Yes but Feather Heartache was mg most played song last year 🤫🤫🔛🔝

GOODBYE TUMBLR!!!!

[7ndipity]

Dating Taehyung headcanons

Taehyung x Reader

Warnings: swearing, lil suggestive

A/N: I was planning on posting Hobi's hc list tonight, but then I got an ask for Tae's, so I figured screw it, why not post both!

Masterlist

Requests are open

°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•

Oh boy...

First off, he's the living personification of a love song.

Falls hard and fast, and tells you as soon as he realizes it. Like, no warning, no lead up, just "I love you" while you're in the middle of setting up dinner or smth.

He's a classicalist when it comes to romance. I'm talking slow dancing in the kitchen, midnight picnics, the works.

But he's also the King of randomness, and his style of flirting very much reflects that. Like when he complimented Yumi on 'Jinny's Kitchen' for her socks?

Which is, I mean, is kinda nice, cause it shows how he notices the little things, but still what?

Calls you things like 'Darling', 'Babe', 'Soulmate'(yes, Jimin got huffy when he found out)

Y'all are that Instagram art couple. He calls you his muse and everything.

Takes pictures of you constantly. If you don't like having your photo taken(me), he'll find 'your angle', even if it's literally just half your hand in the shot.

Dates with him go one of two ways.

1. Absolutely nothing has been planned out at all, and you just end up driving around till you come up with something, like his solo vlog from last summer.

Or 2. Elaborately themed dates where he takes you to some jazz club he's found, just so he can show off and dance with you.

Really random forms of affection. Like biting and watching you sleep.(sounds vampire-y, I know, but it's sweet I swear?)

Tries to play the shy and humble card, but you know damn well he's just fishing for praise. (Pls just brag on this boy, I beg you!)

If you're not into skinship, I'm so sorry...

But, he is the CLINGIEST MF to ever have clinged!

Comes home and literally just flops on top on you.

Always wants to be touching you, not even in a suggestive way, he just feels better with you near.

And almost none of that changes when it comes to pda.

Like, if he wants a kiss, he's going for a kiss, he doesn't give a fuck if someone sees.

Has to hold you to sleep(you've seen the clip of him whining cause Namjoon wouldn't let him cuddle)

Pouty bby🥺

Gets so fucking jealous.

Wants to give off 'bad boys vibe, but he ain't fooling anyone. He's a puppy.

Fights with him are brief but harsh, but you always reconcile quickly cause he can't stand that tension.

MENACE

Loves to tease and rile you up, but call him Baby, and he'll fold immediately.

(He has a Noona/Hyung thing, no I will not elaborate)

Having full conversations in Tete speak, that no one else can understand.

Introduces you to Yeontan as his new mom/dad(I'm not emotional, shut up)

All in all, can I have a Taehyung, please? I feel like it would help sm. (See you in pt.2!)

[daffodildelight]

Enemies (Part Three) | Shuntarō Chishiya x Reader

Title: Enemies (Part Three)

Pairing: Shuntarō Chishiya x fem!reader

Summary: Time to start The Jack of Hearts game but how can the reader cope under pressure?

Themes/Warnings: bad writing, fluff, angst, all that jazz

Word count: 5000ish

A/N: I didn't write Ōki Ippei in this because I kinda needed to put the reader somewhere.... also not edited hehe

I moved away from Chishiya and towards the other side of the lobby before the tension between us becomes too powerful. I look around the room to get a vibe with the other players and to see if any feel ‘off’ to me.

In any of these games, you will get the scared players who let their emotions take the best of them which is bad in so many ways and unfortunately for Chishiya and I most people in this room are like this, apart from a selected few.

A beautiful woman stood next to me, her hair half pinned up in such an elegant way with the rest falling at shoulder length. Her dress is a light shade of blue fitting her body impeccably, everything about her screams perfection which is extremely dangerous in these types of games. Because if she has any confidence everyone will try and follow her, and kiss her ass this could make her the ‘leader’ and if your views don’t match hers things could end badly. But that’s if she plays her cards right.

Another person who stands out to me is the last man who entered the game, his face seems very familiar to you but you can’t put your finger on it. His aura is off-putting. It feels like if you cross him something bad will happen, his outfit goes with this as well. Plain dark blue shirt and black dress pants, normal on anyone else but for him, it screams ‘stay away’. The person next to this man is less intimating, with scruffy hair and sitting but remaining silent. That doesn’t mean I should take my eye off him because it’s always the quiet ones and especially if these two will be partnering up.

And of course, the couple in the corner I have to be aware of. Partners who trust each other in this game can be ideal for the Jack to hide in. The man in this relationship is the dominating type while the woman is the sub. This confirms my theory in one of two ways, the first way is what I witnessed in the cell during their ‘alone time’ and how the male was manhandling the female and the second is how they’re talking to each other right now. Him standing over her and enclosing themselves into the wall behind them discussing ways how to win the game. Both are wearing business casual suits giving them a ‘don’t fuck with us’ vibe, best leave them be for now.

After briefly analysing everyone those 5 are my main priority. I also need to focus on having a partner that I can trust. Don’t get me wrong Chishiya would be a great partner but I’ve seen him in multiple games backstabbing people and I don’t wanna be in that position unless I really have to. It looks like I have no other choice though because he’s the only one I know and I can’t build trust with a random stranger in these games. I’m brought back to attention when two men in the middle of the lobby discuss giving each other the answer, but stop when the man in the business suit talks sternly.

“So, the 20 of us need to eliminate each other until we somehow find who the Jack of Hearts is. What makes you think that anyone is trustworthy?” The man in the suit gives them a judging stare. He’s already trying to insert dominance into everyone by showing how smart he is, and it’s working. Because his words now make some people not want to trust each other. But this works in Chishiya and I’s favour because the more people who kill themselves the closer we are to figure out who the Jack of Hearts is. You make eye contact with Chishiya once again asking with your eyes if we were gonna team, he nods knowing exactly what I was thinking with my eyes.

The beautiful woman next to me pipes up in a sweet voice. “How about we get together and make teams to tell each other? So that way nobody can lie.” And there it is, she’s playing her cards right. Making herself confident so she can be the leader and everyone can follow her around. “Good idea” some says next to me, lots of others agree with her. What a load of ass-kissers, sometimes I hate being right. A quarter of the people in the lobby make their way over to her and beg to join her group. I make my way back to Chishiya because I’m now focused on the game instead of his sexy sly smirk.

“Now what’s happening in that pretty head of yours? I see you examining people, who must we keep an eye on?” Chishiya speaks in a whisper so nobody can hear.

“Lady in the blue dress, her influence with the group can turn nasty quickly, we don’t want to be put against a group of people. The man and woman in the business suits seem to be intelligent and the trust in one another is gonna be hard to break. Then lastly the quiet pair in the back, something feels off about the guy with the dark blue shirt it’s like I've seen him somewhere before and the guy next to him is quiet. I don’t trust quiet people. Plus it looks like they might team up sooner or later.” You finish your little monologue, feeling accomplished.

Chishiya smirks “you are definitely smarter than you look, and you are right about the man in the dark blue shirt. He was getting increasingly popular in the other world” Chishiya chuckles.

“Was he a singer or something? Come on Chishiya just tell me I thought we were working together” you wined hoping that this would give you the answer but before Chishiya could you, you were interrupted by the beautiful girl in the blue dress followed by her new possy. “Hey, do you wanna join our team? No pressure or anything” she asks nicely. Before you could tell her to fuck off Chishiya speaks up “Okay we’ll join the group”. The woman in the blue dress smiles and walks away.

You turn to Chishiya and give him a death stare. “What the hell was that for? We don’t need to be in a group with little miss perfect over there. We can trust each other to give the answer.” Chishiya slyly smirks before saying “This is all part of the plan, remember that old saying (Y/N)? ‘Keep your friends close but your enemies closer’? This is our way to watch that group destroy itself and get closer to the Jack without tackling one of the bigger obstacles”. Chishiya replies smugly.

You watched Chishiya follow the group over to a more open space, you learnt that little Miss Perfects' name was Urumi and she was the first person for everyone to tell her suit to. “So I’m gonna go first okay? I hope you’ll ALL give me the right answer” Urumi infixes the word to make herself look and feel cooler. You never wanted to punch someone more in the face.

The group replies back with her chosen suit, heart, and then cycles through everyone else in the group. You noticed a man, getting dragged around by a tall beefy guy behind the group and they head towards the downstairs area. Very interesting.

It’s Chishiya and I’s turn to get our suits from the group, and they happily give them to us. I pull Chishiya away from the group just to double-check. Grabbing him by the sleeve of his iconic white windbreaker and moving us to a separate corridor. “I didn’t know you were this frisky (Y/N), to have our fun time in the middle of the corridor when people are around” He smiles seductively.

“You know that’s not what I’m here to do” You reply with a monotone voice. Chishiya drops a little bit but is still interested in what you’re gonna say. You still needed to find out what Chishiya was gonna say about that familiar guy and you wanted to double-check what suit is behind your ear. “Where is that guy from?” You subtly pointed in his direction then continue “and I want you to double-check my suit”.

“Nobodies gonna kill anyone this round (Y/N) you should know that.” He moves his hands to my waist and turns me around so that my ass is very close to his crouch. Chishiya moves in even closer, he takes my hair into a ponytail and moves it to the left side of my shoulder. You can feel this breath on your neck and for sure your whole body just erupted in goosebumps. Chishiya lightly grazes your neck with his nose in an intimate action before coming up to your ear. “You’re a diamond, just like what everyone said in the group” he steps back so you could turn round. You take a few seconds to collect yourself before turning back around.

“Do you want me to check yours?” you spoke quickly in a whisper.

“Nah I trust the group, for the meantime” Chishiya smirks. Chishiya looks around the game area before finding the pantry. “We have lots of time to kill, let's eat some food or I can think of other ways to pass it” Chishiya raises his eyebrows.

You walk past Chishiya and muttered a “You wish” just loud enough for him to hear. Silently wishing it would happen. But you mustn't let yourself fall for easy tactics, you needed to focus back on the game. Sitting where the food is was quite entertaining, you watched all the players interact with one another to try and spot anything out of the ordinary but nothing has popped up yet. Chishiya sits next to you on the floor eating biscuits from a yellow packet.

“You want some?” Chishiya asks politely holding out the packet. Never have I seen Chishiya share anything, and for some reason, it’s been happening a lot recently. The bomb and now his biscuits. Originally I thought it was because he wanted to get close to Hatter and steal the cards, but Hatters is dead and there's nothing he can get out of me unless he wants to use me in a game. Hence why I need to focus on myself. Emotions can be very dangerous. “No, I don’t want your crusty biscuits” I laughed.

“Excuse you!” he lets out a small laugh. “These just aren’t any crusty biscuits, these are the best biscuits in the world. Seriously try one” Chishiya grabs one and shoves it to your face. You feel apprehensive, but you go for it anyway. Taking the biscuit from his hands with your mouth you bite it in one go. You will never doubt Chishiya again because they were the best biscuits you’ve ever tasted. “Okay you might be right” you say with a whole lot of biscuits in your mouth. I move closer to Chishiya to grab more of the biscuits but he’s quick to move away. “I already gave you one princess, there is still some left in the pantry go get your own” he laughs. You slowly make your way to the pantry and come back with a packet, by the time you did that it was time to enter your cell.

“It is time to give your answer” the PA chimes and then continues “Please enter a solitary confinement cell of your choosing”. Making your way upstairs with the packet of biscuits you just acquired. You find an empty cell and Chishiya finds one right next to you. Its doors open at the same, waiting for you to go inside. You give one last longing look to Chishiya before heading in. The cell was very small and grotty. It smells of mould and you couldn’t wait to get out of there. You continue to eat biscuits before the cell door slams behind you and locks, leaving you jumping in fright.

“Please give your answer” the PA demanded into the empty cell. I speak clearly into the cell because I don’t know where the mic is “Diamond”. It’s fairly quiet for a second, you can hear the countdown from outside which does not put your nerves at ease. Suddenly a bell rings which gives you a bigger fright and the cell door unlocks itself. You step out before Chishiya and wait patiently for him. He exits his cell but not before making another sly comment.

“You waited for me? Oh, that’s cute” Chishiya chuckles. You huff in response and walk towards Urumi’s group. During the walk you contemplated your friendship with Chishiya, maybe this was all one-sided and he was doing this for jokes? Or maybe he was buttering you up to use you in a game? Chishiya only does things to benefit himself so the latter would be the most viable option, which leaves you stuck in a game like this. Because you can’t trust Chishiya or the group. “I know what you’re thinking princess” Chishiya speaks up next to you. “I would never use you in a game unless for this instance you’re the Jack”. You walk up faster and join Usumi.

“Round two begins now” Chimes the PA system. You can feel the suit changing in your collar when it finishes its chimes.

The group is looking more anxious than I participated. All members are thankful to be alive but Usumi doesn’t give any input and just stares at her nails waiting to know what her next suit is. The group continues to express thankfulness but your attention was turned to a man yelling at another player demanding what his new suit is. Funny enough it was the same man who dragged a player last round. A voice speaks up next to you, “I keep wondering how long this is going to go for.” The player with the shaggy hair states and his partner the one that looks familiar to you continues. “Either the Jack will start to kill, or someone who’s afraid of the Jack will start to kill. Until either or both of those things happen, this will never end.” Chishiya makes himself known to the pair by agreeing with them, “Exactly”.

“What the fuck!” suddenly a player gets pushed to the ground right next to the four of us. “I told you to give me the answer!” shouts the man who was aggressive to other players last round. The player who was pushed to the ground stays there with shaky arms and legs. Suddenly the familiar man stands up and walks to the player on the ground. “Are you alright?” you hear him say to the other player, the man responded with a nod. I few seconds pass when you see the familiar man whisper something into his ear that you can’t pick up on. Both Chishiya and I pick up on this and look at each other. The moment is ruined when the aggressive player speaks again “Looks to me you want another beating. Huh?” he grabs the player from the ground and grabs their hair to get them to stand up. Before landing a blow which sends him back down again. This argument gains the attention of Usumi’s group and now has everyone watching.

“Give me the answer!” the aggressive player has his fist in the air one more time before the player gives in. “C--c” he stutters a bit before saying “Club”. The aggressive man laughs and speaks in a cocky voice “Don’t wait so long next time.” He gets up to walk away and leaves the other player on the floor. I turn to look at his collar and notice that he does not have clubs displayed but diamonds.

Chishiya picks up on this as well. It must have been something to do with what the familiar man whispered in his ear. It doesn’t take you long to figure out what it is, only because you know the player on the ground. You’ve played games with him before and he isn’t the type to do things like this unless provoked by others. Now you really need to know who this man is and the only person who knows is Chishiya but we keep on getting interpreted or I keep forgetting because our sexual tension is making me lose focus.

Usumi strolls over to the player on the floor but not forgetting to put on her best smile “Are you alright?” she asks in a sickly sweet tone. “How would you like to join up with our group instead?” Ah yes, it's all about the game with her. “Thank you” the player says and walks over to the group.

You sigh becoming slightly bored in this place, the group continues to give everyone the right answers and overall the group feels more relaxed. Once you get your answer you pull Chishiya away to get him to double-check the collar then you do the same for him. Chishiya still gets very close to me when telling my suit but not that I care, I love the feeling of his strong hands on my waist and his hot breath in my ear. You’re not gonna let your horniness for this man get to you. You need to know where you know the guy in the dark blue shirt. After telling Chishiya his suit I ask sternly to get my point across. “So who is that guy in the dark blue shirt?”

“You don’t remember much of the real world, do you? He was everywhere, on the radio and TV. He was practically famous” Chishiya uses his signature smirk. Confused you push for more answers. “Was he a famous singer or something?” You laugh hoping to get the answer sooner or later because quite frankly it’s killing you not knowing. “You could say he is famous in a special way, you know what I’ll tell you if you give me something in return” Chishiya grins deeper, you could tell he was planning something. Curiosity killed the cat and unfortunately you’re itching to find out who this guy is that you’re willing to compromise yourself for. “What do you want?” you ask in a questioning tone.

Chishiya looks pleased that you were willing to trade information “An I owe you, you have to do anything I tell you to”. You gasp in disbelief “That is a horrible trade, I need more terms and conditions than that” standing your ground. Chishiya sighs “Okay how about an ‘I owe you’ but I can’t use it in any games or use it that could lead you to die”. You seriously think about this offer, maybe this information could be quite useful and help you catch the Jack. Surely his ‘I owe you’ won't be too bad on me. You accept with a nod because It’s too good to pass up information.

Chishiya reaches for your hand to shake. His hands feel so strong and warm wrapped around yours for a handshake, you seriously need to snap out of it. Stopping the handshake you wait patiently for Chishiya to tell you who the dark blue player is. “His name is Sunato Banda, he killed 4 women which makes him a serial killer” Chishiya speaks up while eating another biscuit. “I suspect he told the player on the ground to lie to the other one for fun or to begin the game somehow” you agree with him by nodding along to his statement.

Time seemed to pass by slowly in the prison but you did find ways of keeping entertained. Standing next to Chishiya waiting for time to pass is quite fun especially when you can get to annoy him. Trying to steal his biscuits is becoming a fun game for you or commenting on how short he is just to get a rise out of him. Sometimes it works other times he’s too focused on at staring players making their way in and out of the pantry.

An hour is almost up and it was time for Chishiya ad I to head towards the cells. I repeat the same process as before, looking longingly at Chishiya before entering my cell and disclosing my answer. The answer was right and I could move on to the next round but not before hearing an explosion from down the hall. The aggressive man’s picture on the TV darkens and with the first death underway many are starting to feel the stress.

Walking up to Urumi you wait for the rest of the group. You both give each other looks and you can tell she doesn’t like you either. I could see this going badly. Chishiya arrives seconds later with everyone else. “That guy must be the Jack” Urumi states while looking towards the player who lied to the aggressive man. Urumi continues smiling “He lied to that big bully and killed him. I think we better kill him next turn”. The group is shocked at this statement. “Are you saying we should lie to him?” Someone pipes up, hoping Urumi drops it but she keeps pushing. “Of course. He’s definitely the Jack. And if not he's still dangerous. We should eliminate him while we have the chance”. Now everyone looks at each other apprehensively but no one speaks up.

Turning to Chishiya you raise an eyebrow and make your way over to him. “I have a feeling Urumi is gonna chuck me under the bus soon” you whisper into his ear. Chishiya hums in agreement. “Good thing you have me” Chishiya whispers back. You move your eyes towards the wall in front of you and see Banda giving Chishiya a stare that could make anyone stop. “Oh, would you look at that Chishiya you have a secret admirer, that's so cute” Never not gonna tease Chishiya. Chishiya makes eye contact with Banda for a very long time and then looks away. “Let's go to the pantry” Chishiya mumbles because he notices Urumi and the others moving there.

The group stood in a circle taking turns telling each other the answer, Chishiya and I both get our answers before stepping back and watching the drama unfold. Urumi steps up and everyone reveals her symbol as a diamond before she turns around and does the answer for the man she has her prey on. “Looks like your symbol’s a spade” Urumi starts the conversation with the group hesitantly agreeing behind her. “Thank you very much” the man now sighs in relief. Chishiya and I watch from the bench what his true symbol is. A heart. If you were in the real world and nobody would get hurt in these games you would tell him his real symbol, but it isn't like that anymore. You had to be tough to live out here and for you the more people that die the closer you are to catching the Jack.

Chishiya continues to eat his biscuits while you try and focus on who the Jack might be. Time goes by really fast when you use your brain. You start walking to the cells not feeling sure about the answer you got from the group. “Chishiya can you please tell me what my symbol is” Chishiya laughs.

“What am I gonna get in return” Chishiya smiles. You start to feel very nervous, hands start to shake. “Why does there have to be anything? Please just tell me, I don’t trust Urumi and I think she's out to get me” you whisper so the group can’t hear you. “You need to stop being so anxious (Y/N) because you will spile out of control then you’ll stop trusting everyone and that’ll end badly” Chishiya turns me around pulling my hair to the side before saying “You’re a spade, just like the group said. ”

Huffing in announce your state in an annoyed tone “Trust is earned Chishiya, I don’t trust anyone here.” You instantly regret your choice of words because this has compromised the relationship you have with Chishiya,

“Including me?” Chishiya asks. Huge tension is present when his comment is spoken. Looking at Chishiya you can tell he’s serious. Deep down you know you can trust him but the games you've seen him play and his actions at The Beach stop you from speaking the truth. “I’ve seen you ‘make friends’ with people and then use them as sacrifices in games.” You begin and then continue with a shaky breath, “This might be the game getting to my head but I’m pretty sure I can’t trust anyone including you.”. Now you really need to shut your mouth before it’s too late.

“Wow okay” Chishiya's demeanour doesn’t change but you can see something switch in his eyes. “But you trusted me when I was patching up your wounds? Wow, very manipulator of you (Y/N)”. You both arrive at the cells stepping into different ones this time not looking at Chishiya before entering. I speak my answer into the P.A., I’m not feeling nervous because I know that if Chishiya will betray me it won't be this early in the game. I live, thankfully, and continue to step out of the cell at the same time as Chishiya but things feel cold. He doesn’t walk side by side with you anymore but a few steps in front of you with a blank face.

Making your way towards the centre of the lobby you see the group discussing how the man they just killed turned out not to be the Jack. Each group member is really feeling the stress now but Urumi stands back and eats her food. Chishiya and I stand to the side while he talks to me with no emotion and his only intent is to focus on the game. “People are starting to get nervous like you. I know they said there was no time limit… except that people are actually starting to die now. I’m not sure we’ll even find the Jack for sure.” Chishiya states with a jab towards you.

Sighing, needing to fix the awkward tension between you too because if you don’t your risking yourself and Chishiya in the long run. Turning to face him you speak up in a firm tone but quickly enough so no one else can hear “Look, what I meant to say back there was trusting people is hard in a world like this. I used to have a friend who came into this world with me, we were friends for 10 years before all this and she stabbed me in the back during a game and I nearly died. I won’t go through that again, so I’m not taking back my statement. I don’t trust anyone here fully, but I do trust you the most and the more time we spend together the more I can trust you. But for now, I trust you enough for this game” You finish your monologue feeling apprehensive about how Chishiya will react. Chishiya laughs stepping forward with his signature smirk “At least I got something, but don’t worry princess I’ll earn your trust soon enough”.

You’re feeling happy to know that you and Chishiya are back on good terms but the awkward tension is still lurking there at times. Hanging out in the pantry part of the prison is quite fun only because you and Chishiya sit very close together because of the bench seats you’re sitting at. Shoulder to shoulder again, you never want to leave. It gives you a sense of comfort and stability knowing that Chishiya is right next to you but for now you are focused on the group because Urumi has now singled out yet another person. This time because the woman wasn’t “on our side when we tried to get our stories straight earlier” what surprises you most is that Urumi asks for everyone’s opinion on killing her. Of course, everyone followed the ring leader and it was decided that she was the one to be killed next.

Chishiya was eating his way through another pack of cookies and you couldn’t help but notice the tension in Urumi’s group, you need to figure out a plan with Chishiya before it’s too late. “Hey Chishiya” you whisper into his ear to avoid others listening in. “I know we had a fight about this earlier but I’ve decided I’m not gonna trust the group anymore and put my life in your hands. So from now on, I want to know my symbol from you. But I will be keeping appearances with the group just in case I need to get the upper advantage if anything happens.” looking him in the eyes so he knows that I mean it.

“That’s what I was gonna suggest with you” Chishiya says slyly. Leaning forward onto the table to collect more biscuits from his packaging. “I have a plan forming in my head, so just hold back from doing anything until I tell you otherwise. My plan will only work if you follow my rules. Understand?” he says nonchalantly in a way that doesn’t draw attention to our conversation. “Understood, sir” you gave him a joking salute to ease up the pressure. The group decided to start telling everyone’s symbols now. There we go again everyone steps into the circle to tell each other their symbol. Up comes the lady everyone wants to kill, Urumi tells her she has a club instead of a heart then comes the chorus of group members agreeing with her. If there’s one thing I know, I want to get my revenge on this bitch.

Apparently my symbol this round is a diamond and Chishiya’s is a spade. But of course, you go to each other afterwards to double-check. This happens for a while, round after round and your start to get really tired. At one point you fall asleep on the pantry table, Chishiya takes off his white Nike jacket and bundles it into a pillow for you. You make eye contact before your pulled away to sleep and in his eyes, you see a lot of emotion that isn’t shown on his face. Which emotions? I don’t know but you do want to take a dive at it at some point.

Urumi group has suddenly lost a few more members and everyone’s on edge, people are starting to lose it. One of the members is starting to pull his hair out and it’s giving me really bad vibes.

Round nine begins now

Chishiya whispers into my ear “This is where shit goes down, I really need you to trust me now if you want to survive.” Judging by the way of his calm exterior you guess he’s already figured it out. “Whatever you need Chishiya” you reply back hoping this wouldn’t end up with you being killed.

[silentcrowsilentravens]

Hey hey, how you doing? Can I request Chris, Carlos, Billy, Richard, Brad, Joseph, Forest and Edward with a female s/o cuddling headcannons? Who initiates them? Them or you? Kisses, nuzzling and lots of fluff please. I starve for headcannons for these men. 🥺

I'm alright, thanks for asking :) I can do that for you. I have already posted a few cuddling HCs about Billy and Richard (which you can find here) but I'll try to expand on them a bit.

(Also, I feel like there's a bit of theme forming between some of the asks I've answered most recently...)

Cuddling headcanons about Carlos Oliveira, Billy Coen, Chris Redfield, Richard Aiken, Brad Vickers, Joseph Frost, Forest Speyer, and Edward Dewey.

(Fem reader).

Warnings: n/a

Masterlists here!

Carlos Oliveira

Carlos is a super cuddly guy. He loves to hold you. So much.

His favorite kind of cuddles are sleepy cuddles. When he’s on the verge of falling asleep and holds you like a teddy bear, then he gets to wake up to you in his arms? That’s one of his favorite things. 

With the way he often holds you, you’re in the optimum position to press your face into his chest. 

He can and will rest his chin on top of your head. But, not before giving you a lil’ forehead kiss. 

Billy Coen

Billy is the sort of guy you hardly ever have to ask about cuddling. The answer is usually yes, he does want to cuddle his girlfriend. He’s more touch-starved than he’s willing to admit. 

Speaking of, he kind of has a hard time asking at first. What you frequently end up getting is a gruff “c’mere?” and him holding his arms out. 

As time goes on, Billy becomes the one that initiates most frequently.

He’s so tense most of the time. Nearly always on guard. But when Billy holds you, he completely relaxes. You’re one of very few people that he feels comfortable being vulnerable around.  

The likelihood of him falling asleep during cuddling is high. 

Chris Redfield

Chris doesn’t often initiate, but he’ll gladly hold you if you want. 

Generally, he prefers positions where he gets to be sitting up.

Like, when Chris is sitting and gets to have your back pressed against his front, his arms around your waist, and chin resting on your shoulder/the top of your head? That's his favorite.

Also enjoys it when he gets to have you half laying on his chest.

His hands often sneak up under your shirt to rest on the bare skin of your waist.

He has cold hands, though. And feet, while we're kind of on the topic. Hope you’re prepared for that <3

Richard Aiken

When Richard wants to cuddle, you'll often hear something along the lines of "Can I hold you, Sunshine?"

If he could have it his way, you'd pretty much always be in Richard's arms.

He often hums when he's cuddling with you.

If he's able to, he'll card his fingers through your hair.

Also, scalp massages. Richard likes to give those.

Brad Vickers

Brad is almost never not in the mood to cuddle with his girlfriend.

He's a little shy when he asks at first, but both of you manage to be pretty 50/50 about initiating.

When you both end up holding hands or even simply placing one on top of the other, Brad likes to give you a kiss on the back of your hand.

He generally prefers to be the one that's being held, and he also likes to be facing you. 

A lot of leg tangling happens when you cuddle with him.

Joseph Frost

Joey is a very physically affectionate guy and often the initiator. 

He tends to cuddle you like a sloth, wrapping both his arms and legs around you.

If you let him get away with it, he’ll occasionally interrupt what you’re doing, start cuddling you, and be like “pretend I’m not even here”. 

He likes to nuzzle your shoulder and neck. 

If he falls asleep and you want to get up, good luck managing to free yourself. It's like you're both covered in velcro.

Forest Speyer

Cuddling with Forest is like cuddling with a hot water bottle. He is warm.

He shifts around a lot during cuddle sessions. It’s hard for him to be still for long. He’ll play with your hair (if he can), fiddle with the hem of your top, etc.

If you’re standing when the question of cuddling pops up, Forest will pick you up and carry you over his shoulder to the bed or couch. 

Loves when you bury your face in the crook of his neck. 

Edward Dewey

Edward... 

Big Man Edward is a gentle cuddler. Unless you request otherwise, he holds you rather loosely.

He enjoys absentmindedly tracing patterns onto your skin and stroking his thumb over your knuckles while cuddling.

Also likes to press feather-light kisses against your shoulder, jaw, and temple.

Pretty 50/50 when it comes to initiating. He does it about as much as you do.

His favorite position is simply having his chest pressed against your back.

[hail-dondus]

I’ll be honest, I debated not making this post because I don’t want people to just assume I’m making every single of my favourite characters autistic (although why shouldn’t I lmfao who’s gonna stop me) and also because I know some of the stuff I saw as being autistic traits could actually be in fact due to the fact he’s a serial killer. I also know that people might complain because “saying the psycho serial killer is autistic is bad for the autistic community” but Dano!Riddler is my favourite character in the film so… yeah. It’s autism acceptance month so why the hell not! I know some of the points are probably a far reach but I still wanted to put them anyway because fuck it!

Edward Nashton (The Riddler) is autistic and here’s why I think so:

Ummm, his OBSESSION WITH PUZZLES, for a start! It’s the most obvious one! In the scene with Colson, he says, “Now ever since I was a child, I always loved little puzzles - for me, they’re a retreat from the horrors of our world”. Dude literally has a special interest in puzzles and riddles, using them to escape how awful the world is

His other special interest is probably Batman, maybe the Waynes as a whole? (He did a lot of research on them and their family history) Idk, but man is obsessed with them

That man is super socially awkward - and yeah, I guess you could say that’s because he’s an incel, etc., but still. It’s obvious he has no idea how to make friends in his day to day life.

A rather black and white view on the world/the city: he thinks his murdering is justified because it’s payback for how badly he was treated. Also he has a strong sense of justice!

Attention to detail: he created a whole cipher alphabet, wraps his head in cling film because he knows he can’t shed hairs on a crime scene, has this whole carefully thought out plan etc.

Speaking of attention to detail, can we talk about the perfect map he did on his floor of Gotham??? Like it’s literally an exactly perfect overhead map of the entire city, from what the roads look like to the top of the buildings.

He has a thing about Ave Maria and I’m sorry but his love of that song to the point where it’s in his theme on the soundtrack, he was listening to it at the funeral and then he started randomly singing it is definitely pointing to an obsession with the song??? Maybe just me???

^ you just know he went to the funeral not only to a) see Bruce Wayne, b) see the result of his murder of the mayor, and c) see the calamity of him having Colson’s car crash the funeral, but also because he was 100% vibing with the choir singing Ave Maria. Literally all of the above are correct.

When he’s getting arrested and they first order him to turn around, he doesn’t and has to be asked again - which, you know, arguably could be more of an assured , “I’m unbothered and playing it cool” psychopath thing but whatever. Could be partly because of an auditory processing disorder or something that means it takes him longer to understand and do things?

Also when he’s getting arrested, the first thing he says is that he’s ordered a slice of pumpkin pie which… ???

Flat speech???? Kind of??? There’s definitely moments his speech tone is a little flat. And I know this ain’t a fail on the actor’s part because Paul Dano is one of the best actors of his generation, every part he plays is well thought out and extremely well done.

Sometimes autistic people struggle with eye contact in that they can’t often make it - but also sometimes autistic people make intensely eye contact to the point that it makes people uncomfortable??? Because we’ve been forced and conditioned to make eye contact but we’re not sure how long. And I think he falls in that category

When Batman rebuffs him and says “you’re sick”, he just starts yelling the word “No” and general yelling.

He thought he and Batman were friends before they met because he was sending him greeting cards and he viewed what Batman was doing as “helping” him - again, they didn’t meet until after they were arrested, their only communications was through Riddler leaving riddles/his videos and then they briefly spoke on video call before Riddler killed Colson. Eddie was straight up like “oh, we must be friends now! I have a friend! :)”

^Honestly I don’t think he knows how to make friends, he’s definitely lonely and very much keeps to himself, which is a huge reason I think he may be autistic

When his plan fails, he’s just crying and yelling and banging the walls of his cell and moving about restlessly :(

In general he has some… interesting reactions to things (like full on smiling while getting arrested, sudden bursts of unrestrained anger, laughing when asked which ID is his…) Sometimes mood swings can be an autistic thing, as can inappropriate reactions in social situations

When watching his bombs go off from Arkham, he’s straight up mouthing the “BOOM”s to himself and loving it

Sometimes disorganisation can be a trait of autism and his apartment is, honestly, a fucking dive. It’s disgusting. I love that.

Poor posture

He tells Batman that his strength is “up here” (meaning his mind, because he’s extremely smart) but physically he’s not adept at all and that’s why he needed Batman to bring the rat into the light for him

He does a LOT of vocal stimming both in his streaming scenes and in Arkham. And I do mean a LOT.

I’ve probably missed some but that’s just what I thought when watching the film - would be interested to know if anyone else thought the same!

[respectthepetty]

609 Bedtime Story: Ep. 1 - Kimlock Holmes Edition

Golf is smart. The Eclipse’s final episode aired October 28 in between a solar eclipse (Oct. 25) and a lunar eclipse (Nov. 7).

609 Bedtime Story's first episode begins on November 1, and the series "began" airing on November 25.

I think the end date of the show’s timeline will be the 25th as well, and our beginning is actually the end, so we, as well as Mum, are seeing the events in reverse.

Before the title card appears, the very first shot we get is a mirror image of Mum’s world, letting us know we are in the parallel world instead of the main one.

This mirror image happens again when Mum makes out with a woman reinforcing the parallel-ness of this world.

Theories listed in order of most logical to “it’s a vibe”

Theory #0 – There is an unedited version

This episode was short. There has to be an uncut version that shows them having sex or will air later giving more details that are vital to knowing who the killer is.

Theory #1 – Mum is dying

The second image we get in the show is Mum’s discarded cigarette. Mum later develops a cough. Is he dying or sick? Possibly from lung cancer (big leap…but something is up).

After being sent home, he takes the medication, and while he is falling on the bed, memories appear on the screen in reverse order.

He sees Mint crying (possibly after he is dead?), her hugging him (because he is dying?), the jellyfish that he stands in front of with Dew in the trailer, and Mint telling him to get rest from earlier that day. The next scene we will play out in the series from these memories is the jellyfish one.

The parents are already dead, so this would hurt the sister even more to know Mum is dying or sick.

Theory #2 – Dew is Mint’s boyfriend

Dew received white lilies, which she took with her to the cemetery. She probably ordered them herself, or someone bought them for her.

Mint mentioned to Mum that she was “getting close to having a boyfriend" when he was teasing her. In the trailer, we see Dew hold red lilies at the bar, which he might be handing to Mint, with Mum in the background looking shy or upset. Mint also asks Mum if he can help “him” in the trailer.

Games talked to Mum about how he always dated girls but found himself liking Vee. This could be Dew's bisexual awakening story as well.

Theory #3 – Games knows something

Games cursed Mum, and it was a very specific curse that Mum fall in love with "a pretty boy".

When Games was with Vee, he seemed upset about Vee getting a call from “A,” but Vee was also talking to him about how the financial records that Games is in charge of don’t match.

And Games was the most insistent that Mum go home that night from the club.

Theory #4 – They exist in each other’s world but are different

We see Mum and Dew in the trailer together outside of the fantasy world, but those are not the Dew and Mum they know IN the fantasy world.

Black is Dew’s color, so the hourglass represents him. If Dew gets shot on November 25th, we are working in reverse. Mum has time on his side since it’s only the 1st.

However, Mum has wasted a few nights with several different women, and the records being played indicate the situation -   Was (Not Was)’s “Robot Girl” and “Earth to Doris” are about getting superficial love from women, Jumpin’ Man’s ”Fuck Me” is exactly what it seems it would be about, and James Bond’s Original Themes is, of course, the epitome of a womanizer. All are also highlighted by Mum's colors.

When Mum gets up to grab his medication the night he meets Dew, it’s 11:56.

When he enters Dew’s fantasy world, it’s midnight, and once they are done having sex, it’s 12:30.

Dew will die on the 25th at 12:30 am, but Mum might die before that.

Dew knew Mum when he saw him, so he has been seeing Mum in chronological order (1st-ish -> 25). However, Dew, upon seeing Mum, told him he missed him, so Mum might already be sick or dead in Dew’s world. Mum must have told Dew he was going to die at this time and day because once they are done having sex, Dew seems to realize what is about to happen, and spits out that he loves Mum.

The song that Mum sings in the bar indicates that they can’t stop what is going to happen:

There is nothing that means so much right now. It is worthless. If we can reverse back in time there is nothing to replace the dream we used to share. It is worthless. The beauty when we were chasing…

But the sign from the very beginning indicates that double-guessing themselves will be the issue. They must trust their initial instincts for everything to end up alright. or maybe a sign to the audience to not worry about the ending, PLEASE!

If Triage taught me anything, it’s that in order to save the other person, they will die in the process. They are also working in opposite of each other, so maybe the timelines will match in the middle. Finally, Russian Doll taught me that sometimes they are using their skills not to save the parallel person who knows everything, but their world’s person who knows nothing. This Dew and Mum might not end up together, but the lessons they learn will help them save their world’s Dew and Mum.

Warning: I plan on watching the next episode two days before the next one airs in hopes of not spoiling the plot for those who are watching an episode behind, so I'll watch episode two in four days since I have access to it already.

[ineffably-poetic]

Songs 4 - 6

Welcome to the second round of which song should be the Ineffable Husband's theme song!

In this post I'll be talking about From Eden, Nobody, and I'll See Your Heart and Raise You Mine.

(find all previous posts under the tag "good omens theme song" on my blog, and don't forget to vote!)

From Eden

Babe There's something tragic about you Something so magic about you Don't you agree?

This could be perceived as the singer in love with someone who is double-sided. Not just good, not just evil, just both. Aka Aziraphale, who is "just enough of a bastard to be worth knowing".

Honey, you're familiar, like my mirror years ago Idealism sits in prison, chivalry fell on his sword Innocence died screaming; honey, ask me, I should know I slithered here from Eden just to sit outside your door

I take this as the singer (who I'm once again going to pretend is Crowley) has seen a lot of evil. He knows how terrible people, angels and demons can be. Also, Crowley is the snake from Eden. So. It's a conflict between good and evil, once again.

Babe There's something wretched about this Something so precious about this Where to begin? Babe There's something broken about this But I might be hoping about this Oh, what a sin

Their relationship could be considered a 'sin' by heaven and hell. Throughout the series there's also a conflict over whether or not they should even be helping each other (mostly by AZ)

To the strand, a picnic planned For you and me

AZ proposed that they go on a picnic one time. (I think the holy water/you go too fast for me scene?)

7 points!

Nobody

You know when it's twelve o'clock in Soho, baby It's gin o'clock where I wake up, I don't know And I think about you though, everywhere I go And I've done everythin' and I've been everywhere, you know

AZ bookshop and Crowley's flat are in Soho. 2. they drink together. a lot. 3. as mentioned in the last post: they miss each other :( 4. they're immortal. they've definitely done almost everything.

But I've had no love like your love, ooh, from nobody I'd be appalled if I saw you ever try to be a saint I wouldn't fall for someone I thought couldn't misbehave

Crowley is once again going to be the 'I' here. I'm gonna reference the line "Enough of a bastard to be worth knowing" again. Crowley knows that Aziraphale isn't perfect, and he loves him because of that.

And on the other side, why should we deny the truth? We could have less to worry about, honey, I won't lie to you

They're on their own side now!!!

6 points

I'll See Your Heart and Raise You Mine

What's with the angel And what's with the devil They keep swapping shoulders And I can't tell which from which "Will you be my Kris Kindle? Will you be my better nature?" Says one to the other But I think they're only showing off

This is directly about an angel and a demon. 2. They're talking even though they shouldn't be. 3. "Will you be my better nature" could be about how they always sees the best in each other. 4. Crowley wants to be confident and cool, and he tries to be that person around Aziraphale. 5. We know from the body-swap scene that Aziraphale thinks Crowley is cool and charismatic, because that's how he portrays him.

I caught them playing poker And I think it was the devil who said "I'll see your heart and I'll raise you mine"

An offer of love?? Also, later on in the song, 'devil' switches to 'angel', showing that, like in Good Omens, the angel has become more comfortable with the fact that he loves a demon.

I think there's something going on "Will you be my sweet pea? Will you be the card up my sleeve?" Says one to the other And this time they hold their gaze For too long

"We could run off together!' 2. Micheal Sheen's Look (TM), aka heart eyes.

This is the story of the angel Who played poker with the devil In the Garden of Eden Before it all went pear-shaped

Good Omens is a story about a demon and an angel who 'play poker' by taking the risk to work together. 2. Crowley asks for holy water as insurance, in case "it all goes pear-shaped." In response, AZ says "I like pears." As Bob Ross would say, that was a happy accident on the songwriter's part. :)

11 points for this one??? Now, points don't really matter, they're more just to help visualize how accurate the song is, but this is pretty impressive, ngl.

Alright! Now it's up to YOU. Which song do you think is the best? Go to the tag 'Good Omens Theme Song', or visit my blog, to vote!

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

Ineffable Con 2020 Fun Facts

Fun facts from the Ineffable Con 2 (2020) guest panels :): 

Neil Gaiman, Douglas Mackinnon and Rob Wilkins

David G. Arnold (the music composer)

Claire Anderson (the costume designer)

Peter Anderson (Peter Anderson Studio created the opening title animation and in-show graphics)

Paul Adeyefa (Disposable Demon)

Jeremy Marshall-Roberts (the owner of Mary the Bentley)

1. Neil Gaiman, Douglas Mackinnon and Rob Wilkins

What do they have from Good Omens:

Rob has the statue from St. Beryls, all four motorbikes from the four horsemen, Crowley’s Devon watch, box signed by David Tennant with Crowley’s sunglasses and Aziraphale’s cocoa mug with Michael Sheen’s DNA :).

Douglas has the playing cards from Episode 1 and heavily annotated Good Omens book they used for filming with inscription by Neil: ‘For Douglas, make us love, make us cry, 3rd August 2017’.

Neil has Aziraphale’s chair from the bookshop that he bought from the BBC and he uses it for Zoom meetings.

What is their favourite thing that was not in the book and was added to the TV show:

Neil: all of the first half of Episode 3 - an absolute joy.

Rob: also the beginning of Episode 3.

Douglas: David Arnold’s music and Peter Anderson’s front titles.

Could Aziraphale get out of the Bastille easily if he wanted to?

Neil: if he could: absolutely. Did he have any conception of the mess he was in: probably not. It’s one of Neil’s favourite pieces of acting - the absolute delight on Aziraphale’s face when he realizes that Crowley’s there and then he turns around and rather petulantly, grumpily goes oh it’s you - that moment of joy on Aziraphale’s face when he realizes that he’s been rescued is one of Neil’s favourite things. 

Neil and yoghurt starter: I had this slightly mad thing where I would explain to everybody that fans were yoghurt starter. And I said, ‘Basically you start out with yoghurt starter and you put it into your warm milk and you leave it, and the yoghurt starter goes off and turns the entire thing into yoghurt. 

Neil realized that there was a cat in his house (Neil doesn’t have a cat :)). After the panel Neil said that he was going to look for the cat with a can of sardines and Douglas joked that he would find Michael Sheen in a cat costume.

What was the best and worst about making the series:

Douglas: the best - the camaraderie, getting to know the people, the cast and crew. 

Rob: the best - realizing that the book could be translated to the screen and watching it happen. The worst - coming to the end of the shoot and saying goodbye to everybody.

Neil: the best - the amount of love from everybody, the worst - fighting budget battles (producers wanted gone all of the cold opening and the death of Agnes Nutter).

Did they expect that Good Omens would attract so many LBGTQ+ people and how they feel about that:

Neil: Yes, absolutely. There are definitely people out there who seem to think that I accidentally wrote a love story with all of the beats of a love story including a break-up halfway through, without somehow noticing that I’d written a love story. And I may not be the brightest candle on the candelabra, but as an author who’s been doing it for a long time, I’m very well aware of when I’m writing a love story, thank you very much. And so from my perspective I knew that the love story would be one of the driving things that would get us from the beginning to the end. And I also made a bunch of decisions about our angels and our demons in terms of casting, in terms of gender that everybody backed me up on, which I loved. You know, the idea that the archangel Michael is played by Doon [Mackichan] is something that is... or Beelzebub is Anna Maxwell Martin, whatever, there’s... it’s not like we are going: these are women, there are men, we are going: these are demons, these are angels. They... this is not a thing. And also doing something like Pollution, where you go in and go: okay  well if we were doing this in... if 1989 was now, if there were they pronouns, we probably would have done that. We didn’t think of it at the time but that’s no reason why we can’t do it now. And we did and I remember having a... not exactly a battle, but a... my very tiny skirmish with one of our execs who was very nice and very bright and was like: ‘Why are you saying they?’, and I’m like... and I... explaining, and he’s like: ‘Well I’ve never heard of that before.’, and I’m like: ‘Oh, okay, but trust me, just trust me, it’s all fine, just trust me.’

Douglas: And you know I have to say, just following on what Neil’s saying, I’ve been directing for quite a while, and I tend to notice if characters are falling in love, I tend to notice a love story happening in front of me, and I think it’s there, and everything is meant, guys, everything is meant.

Neil added: I would just say, there are some things that you do while you’re writing a script intentionally. The fact that... I wanted to do this, well, it was a thing I did that I really enjoyed doing... where whenever people accuse them of being a couple: they don’t deny it, they don’t argue, there’s no flustering on their part. They absolutely… you know, everybody… what I’m trying to say is:  yes, other people in the story are perceiving them as a couple too. And here is Uriel perceiving them as a couple, here is wonderful Dan [Starkey, playing the passerby] …and you know, you do scenes like that because that’s... you are trying to make a point here and you’re trying to make a point on how people are perceived.

Season 2, yes or no [fiends, all three of them!]:

Douglas: What’s that?

Neil: Of what?

Rob: Is it muted for me as is for everyone else?

Neil confirmed that they are going to be Funko Pops. [yay!]

2. David G. Arnold (the music composer)

He didn’t read the book before he was approached to do the music. He was asked to do it by Douglas Mackinnon he knew from the Victorian episode of Sherlock and he said yes before even knowing what it was about because he wanted to work with Douglas again.  

The first piece of music he wrote for the show was the brass band doing the Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon [Episode 6, in the park before the kidnapping].

The second piece of music he wrote was the lullaby that Crowley sings to Warlock. He always liked the lullabies like in Mary Poppins so he said to Neil: Why don’t we do it like Walt Disney, but if Walt Disney was possessed by Satan? That was about 7 months before he needed to write anything again while they were shooting and it kept going round his head the whole time - the melody stuck with him and when it came to the Opening Title of the show, this became the middle bit.

The original opening title was Everyday by Buddy Holly and each episode was supposed to be closed with a different version of it: a death metal version, an angelic choir version, a carmina burana version... and he actually made all those. But he likes to find the musical identity of the show and put it in the opening titles because it’s important and it tells you: ‘This is the word you’re going to experience’, so he wrote his own opening title with the lullaby in the middle and played it to them [probably Neil and Douglas] with Buddy Holly as the backup and: Neil just turned around in his chair and said, ‘That’s Good Omens.’. From that point the instructions were with no rules, just to create whatever he wanted: the further you can go the better, the weirder and the stranger you can think the better. It’s a rare thing to be shown a world like Good Omens and be let free to run around in it. 

His favourite ending title is the Queen one in Episode 1.

One of the reasons he didn’t do a theme for Crowley and a theme for Aziraphale is that the theme of the show is theirs - it’s theirs and they share it and it’s both of theirs and there is no separating in that regard. 

About Aziraphale and Crowley’s relationship reflected in the music score: It’s interesting isn’t it, because the relationship changed in a way slightly frequently and majorly infrequently. It seemed right from the start that their relationship was somehow seeded and planted and had begun by the time we saw them even though they may not have realised it themselves, you know, with the pair of them on the wall, considering one is a demon in the Garden of Eden and one is an angel. They act very charitably towards each other and they act with a lot of things you might not expect. And underneath that there is a sort of sense of togetherness and support even though they both know that their paths are going to diverge and they have different responsibilities. So I always felt like, right from that moment, when the wing came up on the wall, that there was something special about their relationship. Three moments that stuck with him: in Episode 3 saving the books in the church when they completely rely on the other for survival in the way that they were very open about, one in the car outside the nightclub in 60s Soho - the Holy Water, you go too fast for me, that genuinely tearing, that there was reluctance in those words that he spoke and that sort of things as a composer is gold, it’s about making those moments more, and in the last episode in a scene they’re not event in when we see Adam and Dog in the fields and Anathema that music there which celebrates Crowley and Aziraphale’s music which is the theme of the show - their shadow has passed over everyone’s emotional journey, and everyone’s emotional journey is theirs as well. The argument in the bandstand was important as well.

His favourite leitmotif from the series is the lullaby.

About the scene in the car in episode 2 when Thomas Tallis changes into Queen: Terry’s favourite piece of classical music was the Thomas Tallis piece [Spem in Alium] so Neil asked if they can go from Thomas Tallis - a choral piece from 16th century - to We Will Rock You, and: ‘You never say no. You don’t say that you can’t do it. What you have to do is to be the first person who solves the problem.’ In the end it was a two-days work just for this little bit and he mentioned that he never had these sorts of challenges anywhere else before.

His favourite non-musical detail in the show - the crucifixion, how the scene was shot, how it was upsetting, and how it was made more effective by Aziraphale and Crowley’s inability to stop it, that they had to observe and watch it, that it had to happen. I remember seeing that at the time and thinking, I wasn’t expecting that level of brutal honesty, in terms of the pictures that I was looking at and what they chose to show. And I think all the more effective for it. 

3. Claire Anderson (the costume designer)

When creating the costumes for the characters she started with mood boards. 

Aziraphale - she knew that he needed to have something winglike in his collar so that’s why there are sweeping lapels very often. Using velvet [for the waistcoat] because that was nice and soft and had all the appropriate qualities. His watch and fob that has little gold wings hanging from it and other tiny bits of symbolism. Tartan bow tie. Beautiful cashmere checkered trousers - not quite tartan but a nod to it. A mid to late Victorian coat, Michael only made his decision on the coat a couple of days before the filming. Aziraphale in the present settled on a ring with angelic symbol and harp cufflinks, earlier his ring in ancient times has got a much more roughly hewn set of wings on it, so before jewellery making became sophisticated he modernised slightly - he magicked it up to be a bit more modern, more gentleman signet type of ring, but he never modernises entirely. His heart is much more in the past.

After they began to define Aziraphale they started to look at how the Heaven army of angels might look - the element of tartan came sort of from Aziraphale and the angels have a not-tartan kilt with a semi military type jacket and a military band across that might hold arms or not, because they are not really violent. She used spats to make them look quite neutral and genderless so hiding fastenings and concealing little details like that seemed a way to do that.

Gabriel doesn’t wear spats because he’s on Earth such a lot. His shoe has a cover with two buckles on the side giving the same neutral element. He wears a cashmere light-as-air suit.

The other angels are all in bastardized versions of what era they may have died in, so they could have died in the 1930s or the 1800s and the costume would have an element of that era about it - though of course as an angel you can change things.

The Quartermaster Angel - the costume is a combination of slightly Indian type military, maharaja pants, longer spats from another era, all combined pieces of military tailored to be magical and slightly nonsensical, as Heaven might be.

Crowley - she felt that he wrapped around like a snake sheds its skin so she wanted something double breasted because that seemed to envelope his snakey charm. David wanted to be more casual than wearing a suit. Under his collar he always has a flash of red like the snake that he comes from - the red belly. They put a red seam into the sole of his boots so always there is a hint of where he came from. The red tie in the blitz. He was more rock and roll than Aziraphale and modernised more to a snakehipped rock and roll star really. His present jacket - the fabric there is quilted, they found an 80s jacket that had elements of things they enjoyed - part of that was that it had a slightly quilted quality to the fabric which was like a textured snakeskin. It took quite a long time to create the fabric and then to make the jacket from that - they quilted some fabric and washed and whooshed it repeatedly to create a bit of puckering in it. He has a snakey scarf around his neck like a chain mail linked scales of skin scarf that he wore that complemented his neck chain. The trousers he wore in Victorian times are the same he wore in the 60s when he meets young Shadwell. His present trousers - slightly waxy denim - we just were looking for a slithery finish. Crowley’s neck chain - there is only one in the world - her tailor has a Gothic church full of interesting stuff like busts and drapes with old things, this chain mail scarf was there and David was looking for something to complete his costume and liked it. 

Hastur and Ligur are her favourite characters - they were so enjoyable to create. She had an amazing book of 1920s and 30s criminals and they used that as a starting point, because they were all quite worn out and bedraggled and poverty stricken and like hell might be ideally. They burnt and decayed the bottom of them as if they were rotting from the Earth and rotting back into the ground - all demons have sort of gators as if they were rotting from the ground up.

One of the most difficult things was the demons - when they realized they had a few days to create hundreds of demons in South Africa (4-5 days for almost 200 demons). It was as if I had been dissolved in holy water when they asked me for another 150 costumes.

The sleeves of Anathema’s coat have been inspired by a Victorian cycling coat. 

The historical costume that Newt’s ancestor wore influenced his and Shadwell’s costumes - they used elements of the historical costume to put a little cape on Newt and Shadwell and their wax coats to give them the quality of that look. Newt's costume has a lot of mustard to make him feel a bit awkward and uncomfortable - it's not the most flattering colour on a northern European complexion.

The nuns’ headdress needed to look a little bit demonic - she bought a whole book on nuns’ headdresses for research. They also used the V in the nurse's apron because that was nicely demonic. The nurses' watch has got this Satanic symbol at the top - a little take on the medical since old nurses’ uniforms used to have watches.

For Madame Tracy she went back into the 70s, slightly Biba-esque makeup and a cape. They had only one pair of her goggles so it was always a nightmare to find them.

Which part of the cold opening is her favourite: I love ancient Rome because there is at least 6 to 12 metre of fabric in a toga and that was quite fun wrapping that around the boys and creating those., and her favourite was the Globe.

The lapels represent wings in every way and every shape and every form. Wings are very important.

4. Peter Anderson (Peter Anderson Studio created the opening title animation and in-show graphics)

The first thing that the director Douglas Mackinnon (with whom he worked on Doctor Who and Sherlock) said to him was: for all the graphics, for all the title sequence, for everything, I want you to promise me one thing, and that is very, very simple, promise that you send me emails that say: ‘this might be absolutely nuts, but my idea is...’.

The opening title it’s full of easter eggs - it’s a type of sequence that’s been designed to watch a thousand times, for example: on the escalator down to Hell there is one character running up deciding that he doesn’t want to go to Hell or the sea is full of plastic bags because we don’t look after the planet.

Every single face in the title sequence is either Crowley’s or Azriphale’s, they are repeated all the way through - inspired by Neil saying that there’s good and evil in all of us, so there is a grand procession of people of all the characters from the story - marching towards Armageddon - but all the characters have been taken over by good or evil. And along the way our two heroes are kind of playing tricks on each other, doing good, doing evil

The opening title combines multiple elements - two dimensional animation elements, three dimensional animation elements, CGI and live action (the people in the procession were created by live action on a travelator). So the result is a kind of strangeness - such as 3D figures with 2D animated tracked heads - which makes it unique.

Their first idea and version of the opening title was based on tapestries of old, subverting them, but then they wanted something more new and fresh.

Both Douglas and Neil were an important part of the opening title creation process.

The opening title sequence took about a year to make from the creative start with four intensive months towards the end.

One of things that inspired him was a Bauhaus theatre image from 1930s.

Question if the hand-drawn font for the graphics will be a purchasable font: no, because it was original and it’s unique and it was created just for this - it was for the love of the show and the story and it will be kept there.

In the scene where there are three photos of witchfinders - Neil and Douglas revealed in the DVD commentaries that two of them are their grandfathers - the third one is Peter’s great uncle.

Originally the signs telling us things like ‘Thursday’ or ‘Mesopotamia’ - were done as if somebody (who was living inside the television screen) ran up close to the screen and showed us the sign. In the end they simplified it, only showing the signs. The one time that it was sort of left in the show was when in Episode 5 a little demon in the video game shows a sign ‘GAME OVER’.

Outside of his work on it, what was his favourite thing on Good Omens: spending time with Douglas and Neil, and also working with Milk VFX - I think I can honestly say it's the best job I've ever worked on with the nicest people. 

5. Paul Adeyefa (Disposable Demon)

He first read the book when preparing for the audition - the character wasn’t in the book but he got into it, loved it and couldn’t put it down.

He didn’t know about the name Eric until the script was published and people started calling the demon that, he really likes the name and thinks it fits.

There was a version of the script where the demon was going to be dressed in different costumes each time he was discorporated (for example one in long hair wearing a dress) - they would be all the same but different incarnations, in one version they had different accents. 

The first scene he shot was the one where the demon goes to Heaven to deliver the Hellfire (and also wants to hit ‘Aziraphale’ which was cut). That first day was also his favourite moment of shooting because there was an immediate welcoming atmosphere and everyone was lovely and in love with the production.

Disposable Demon is like a permanent intern, running errands for the higher ups in Hell.

His favourite part of the costume were the eyelashes (though he loved the whole costume).

If he could change anything about the costume he would also want cool contact lenses - some brightly coloured ones.

Question what animal (like other demons have on their heads) comes to mind when we see the Disposable Demon: he didn’t think about it at the time, but later he saw people talking about his horns as bunny ears and found it interesting, and also the facts that there are so many of him and that he is quite happy and friendly for a demon so the bunny makes sense, so he might be a sort of a rabbit. Or perhaps something goat type because of the horns.

Question if there is another role in Good Omens he would have liked to have played: he always thought that the four horsemen were very cool and Pollution was his favourite so probably Pollution (also was the most jealous of Pollution’s contact lenses). 

If there were a season 2, he would be there in a heartbeat.

Question about Eric’s feelings on Crowley, if he’s a bit of a Crowley fan: I think he might be. There is something about Crowley and how he is somehow a little bit different from the rest of the demons. - and the Disposable Demon has, much like Crowley, interest in the human world. He could well be 6,000 how many years old, the same as everyone else, but he seems to have this younger vibe and I think he thinks that Crowley is quite cool.

Good Omens fandom is his first experience with a fandom of this scale. It speaks a lot, the fact that this kind of very, this minor character, a character who is only on screen for a very short amount of time gets any kind of attention at all, it's quite amazing really, it goes to show how big and enthusiastic the fans are. I never experienced anything like that.

6. Jeremy Marshall-Roberts (the owner of Mary the Bentley)

When Crowley used a miracle to switch off the Bentley lights in Episode 1 at nuns manor it was done by: there was actually a very small guy called Louis turning on and off the switches quickly.

David Tennant was allowed to wear the snake eye contacts for only 3 hours a day otherwise they could damage his eyesight.

For Mary, the Bentley, it was the second time she was ‘blown up’ on film - first being in the Endeavour with Inspector Morse about three years earlier.

He was a bit nervous during filming the bookshop fire scene because the Bentley was so close to a real fire - not wanting the paint to blister. The car was moved off after a few minutes of filming but still.

About the damage to Mary: Unfortunately, we overran, and Rob my stunt driver had already booked a holiday and off he went and so when he returned in January, on the 10th of January, I had this new driver who really had no clue how to drive old cars, so I showed him around, I showed him to go around corners. He came around the corner, the door was not closed properly for some reason and the door flew open as he went around. And instead of slamming on the brakes which is extremely efficient and would stop him straight away he kept on going, hit another car and really smashed the door quite badly. It did take the car off the roads for 10 months. The door was completely remade because of this accident and it cost the total of  £24 000 to rebuild the car to get it back to running as it is today.

The Bentley’s part most difficult to maintain and service is the engine. 

Would Mary be available for a potential season 2: definitely!

[sigmadolos]

5 SONGS THAT REMIND YOU OF YOUR MUSE. 

you guys didn’t ask for explanations but its me so of course I’m giving explanations anyways. they’re not strictly in order, just some of the top ones.

Gambling Man by Overtones Not because its ABOUT Sigma but the heavy casino vibes & theme obviously make me think of our favorite manager just by association. But also Luck is a heavy theme with Sigma, especially as the manager when people don’t know he’s in the Decay of Angels and think he’s innocent.

Casuality by Hidden Citizens Especially in light of the recent events? The themes of being another casualty in the ongoing power struggle and wars between factions. Sigma was wholeheartedly going to accept being a casualty when trying to take down the Hunting Dogs, and then with Atsushi scene, and now in meursault? ESPECIALLY FOR THE LINE ‘Know I’ve been here before’ because Nikolai saved him to use his ability just like other people used him for his ability. Here’s the difference. Fyodor offered a DEAL. Nikolai is like you WILL do this :) I cannot state enough how much of a difference this is, especially to Sigma who has been treated like a tool his whole life. A DEAL means a lot to him.

Watch Me Now -  The Phantoms This one might come as a surprise. But I LOVE this one for how Sigma presents himself as the casino manager, and how he’s really blossomed. Sigma telling everyone to watch him, watch what he can do. He went from being a nameless person being trafficked and used all the time to owning the aerial casino, which people would never think he was capable. Sigma lifting his chin to the world and telling it to WATCH HIM. Watch how he gets up and fights despite how the world has kicked him over and over again and tried to break him. Watch him THRIVE. 

Shape of my Heart by Sting  Again, card themes play a lot here for the association. But the song places emphasis of the heart suits over the spades, clubs, or diamonds, because the heart is about EMOTION. The casino isn’t about glamor for sigma. It’s about his HEART, of having a place to belong. The song discusses gambling to FIND something. For Sigma, it’s finding himself, or rather, trying to figure out how he fits into this world he feels alienated from 

Fall from the Sky by Arilena Ara I love love love the themes of flying and falling in this song. It fits SO well for early Sigma, both when he was still captured but also when he was taken in by Fyodor and Nikolai and he was learning how to ‘fly’. Because before that, his wings were held back, words hurt him bad, but he kept it all inside, he STILL keeps his suffering inside tbh. But even though he falls time and time again, he always ends up reaching to the sky because he’s destined to fly. Even when he’s beaten down again, when he has to question everything, even when he’s close to breaking, he keeps going. His HEART survives, battered and bruised but still there.

 Also just as a joke can I say poker face and gimme more. there were so many jokes / edits in the beginning when he was first dropped in 2019, i can find them for you guys if you want but it crosses my mind honestly. There’s a few greek songs too but those are more for ships than individual.

TAGGED BY: @bitterseadrop​ & @kiingsroar​ ( Thank you both !! ) TAGGING: i think everyone’s done this, i was fashionably late. but if not, please feel free to say i tagged you!

[leviskitten]

hello, could you make a jotaro alphabet nsfw hc, please?

𝑵𝑺𝑭𝑾 𝒂𝒍𝒑𝒉𝒂𝒃𝒆𝒕 ♡

Jotaro Kujo x reader(gn!)

Warnings: general NSFW themes,

A/n: hiya! Of course I can, hope you enjoy!

♡彡 A = Aftercare : What are they like after sex?

• Naturally, he’s gonna soften down after y’all finish. He’s aware of his size *ahem* and that he can be a little too harsh sometimes without realizing, so he’s gonna be making sure you’re alright and stuff, running you a warm bath and making you drink water cuz yknow, you gotta stay hydrated. (He might even carry you bridal style to the bathtub and wash your hair, but you didn’t hear that from me oop)

♡彡 B = Body : What’s their favorite body part of theirs? And yours?

• He probably doesn’t even have a favorite body part of neither his or your body, because he really couldn’t care less about that (he’s def a personality>looks kinda guy and you cannot tell me otherwise). However he secretly enjoys when you hold onto his arm, whether it is when you’re outside walking or when you need the ~support~ because he’s just pounding into you that hard. So I guess we’re gonna go with his arms for this one.

♡彡 C = Cum : Anything to do with cum basically.

• Homeboy has some thick white cum, I just know it. Another massive load fella, however he can (or prefers rather) only cum once.

Don’t get me wrong, he will make you cum multiple times if you want, but he’s fine with one thanks. Also, he probably isn’t that much into messy sloppy sex, so he cums either inside you or in your mouth, nowhere else (there are some exceptions to this but they’re oddly specific and rare so).

♡彡 D = Dirty Secret : Share a dirty secret of theirs.

• If he knows he’s gonna go on a long trip because of his job, he’s going to ~borrow some of your panties to masturbate with.

He usually borrows two, one that has your scent all over it, and another one to wrap around his cock as he jerks off. Sometimes (if you guys happen to be on a call), he might forget to pull it away before he cums, which ends up putting him in a bad mood because now he has to wash it and it won’t smell like you anymore :(

♡彡 E = Experience : How experienced are they? Do they know what they’re doing?

• He’s not very experienced to be honest, I feel like he may had had some hookups here and there but they were probably kinda shitty and awkward. So you’re going to have to guide him a little bit the first couple of times, good thing he’s a quick learner lol.

♡彡 F = Favorite Position : Self explanatory

• Boring man probably doesn’t have one istg 🙄🙄

Jk he isn’t boring, but yeah he probably doesn’t have one, as long as he can get a good look of your face while you’re at it it’s fine with him.

♡彡 G = Goofy : How serious are they during the moment? Do they like to joke around?

• He literally looks like this 😐🧍like 98% of the time, do you really think he’s gonna start acting up now?????

If you laugh at something doing the deed with him he’s gonna look at you dead in the eyes until you stop laughing so he can continue, and it’s kinda scary ngl (or even more funny depending on the situation).

♡彡 H = Hair : How well groomed are they? Does the carpet matches the drapes?

• I kinda headcannon that he’s more on the thick hairy side, however he always trims himself down there, he doesn’t like to look unkept in some way (or at least that’s what he thinks idk). And yeah of course it matches, actually I feel like it’ll be curlier than his actual hair (but you’ll probably never get to see that lol).

♡彡 I = Intimacy : How are they during the moment? The romantic aspect.

• His love language is acts of service, that’s literally canon. So he probably won’t be too romantic or intimate per se, but he will definitely make sure you’re having the time of you life when you’re with him. He might even care more about getting you off rather than himself.

♡彡 J = Jack off : Masturbation headcannon.

• I feel like he probably didn’t really masturbate that often until you guys got together. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not that he doesn’t enjoy the sex, he does, a lot. Actually, I feel like his sex drive might have increased after the first couple of rounds of actually enjoyable sex with you. However, he probably has to go on trips a lot because of his job, and that’s where he finds himself missing you in many ways, including in bed.

♡彡 K = Kink : One or more of their kink.

• Surprisingly enough, he isn’t that kinky, but there are a couple of things that he does enjoy, like:

— praise (both ways), scratching and biting (receiving), edging (both ways), and he probably has a mild size and breeding kink. Oh, and he also kinda likes when you suck on his fingers.

♡彡 L = Location : Favorite place to do it.

• The bedroom. Easy, comfortable and private, pretty much perfect in his opinion.

♡彡 M = Motivation : What turns them on/keep them going?

• Your praise, and when he can tell that you’re enjoying yourself.

He has sub tendencies (*ahem* might actually sub if asked nicely) so tell him that he’s doing so well or that he’s making you feel so good and he might cum right there and then.

♡彡 N = No : Something that they wouldn’t do/turn off’s

• Anything public, extreme degradation and extreme impact play or something like that.

I don’t think I really have to go in depth as in to why not, but let’s just say that he’s a reserved guy who’s very aware of his size and strength and how mean he can get if he wants to.

♡彡 O = Oral : Preference on giving/receiving, skill, etc.

• Being completely honest, he might prefer receiving a little more, but he also loves getting you off multiple times only with his mouth so...

He wasn’t very skilled tbh (he was pretty bad actually let’s be real here), but with some practice and your guidance he got pretty damn good ngl. You trained him well >:)

♡彡 P = Pace : Are they fast and rough? Slow and sensual? Etc

• Fast and rough by nature baby.

However he will slow down if asked, and during the first few times.

♡彡 Q = Quickie : Their opinion on quickies, how often, etc.

• Not the biggest fan really, but still enjoys a casual quick blowjob/handjob every once in a while.

♡彡 R = Risk : Are they game to experiment? Do they take risks? Etc.

• If you happen to have a kink that he either never heard about before, or didn’t really pay attention to, than he might be more open to experiment it with you and indulge you in it. However if they’re way too extreme he might hesitate and hold back a bit. He enjoys a couple of risks, as long as it’s between his and your boundaries.

♡彡 S = Stamina : How many rounds can they go for? How long do they last?

• Are you kidding he can almost literally go on forever if you wanted to. He lasts pretty long actually, he has good self control after all ;)

♡彡 T = Toys : Do they own toys? Do they use them? On themselves or his partner?

• Probably wouldn’t really think about buying some unless you bring it up. You guys probably own a couple of basics (bullet vibrators and maybe a dildo), so he can use them on you. Wouldn’t mind if you use them on him when he subs tho.

♡彡 U = Unfair : How much do they like to tease?

• He doesn’t tease often because it’s not really his thing, HOWEVER, when he does tease... let’s just say that you’re in for a ride.

His way of teasing it’s almost torture tbh, and it’s mainly touches, or some warning of what he’ll do to you if you’re the one teasing too much. He mainly does it to stop you from teasing him, but this doesn’t mean that you won’t feel a hand going up your thighs randomly every once in a while.

♡彡 V = Volume : How loud are they? What sounds do they make? Etc.

• He isn’t really that loud, and he doesn’t make much sound sadly. It’s mainly deep grunts and gasps, might moan when he cums after a while.

♡彡 W = Wild card : A random headcannon for the character.

• He only subs when he’s feeling particularly vulnerable, and subconsciously needs for someone to take care of him. Or if he knows that that’s what you like and he wants to make you happy lol.

♡彡 X = X-Ray : Let’s see what’s going on under those clothes

• He’s a proud member of the thicc cock gang and you cannot tell me otherwise.

No but fr, he’s t h i c k, barely above average length, but thick. I feel like it might be a little darker than the rest of his skin, and the tip gets pretty red easily. Pretty veiny too, and he’s uncut.

♡彡 Y = Yearning : How high it their sex drive?

• It wasn’t too high before, but it kinda is now. He kinda became addicted to how you feel around him ngl, and also he likes how it helps him relax~

♡彡 Z = Zzz : How quickly do they fall asleep afterwards.

• He gets less tense after it for sure, but he doesn’t really get sleepy. He can do it and than carry on with his day (after making sure you’re alright of course) if needed, or he can also let you cuddle against him and get some rest if he wanted to.

[new-sandrafilter]

How Timothée Chalamet Channeled The Blockbuster Pressure of Leading Denis Villeneuve’s ‘Dune’ Back Into His Role – Venice Q&A

DEADLINE: In a few days Dune will premiere at the Venice Film Festival. You first met Denis Villeneuve about the role in May 2018 and started shooting in the early half of 2019. It was always going to be a long journey, but the pandemic stretched it even further. How does it feel to have finally arrived at this moment?

TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET: You know, I like to think that with every film I’ve done, whether it’s Call Me by Your Name or Beautiful Boy, The King, or Little Women, the character you play is almost a piece of your flesh. And that’s always true, but simply from the perspective of how long the shoot for Dune was, and also the arc that Paul Atreides is on, as well as the huge love and almost biblical connection that so many people have for the book and the original film, it really felt… tectonic, if that’s the right word for it. Just getting to this finish line feels like: phew.

And independent of what the film is now, and what it has become, the experience of making it was I was put in such a safe environment, which you can never take for granted as a human, as an actor, but especially when you’re just starting your career, and when this is the first film of this size you’ve ever done.

To get to work with Denis on it, to get to work with someone of his caliber, let alone on a book that he considers the book of his youth and one of the things he has connected to the most… When he would have it in his hands on set, his body language would become that of a fan; of a kid who had fallen in love with the book at home in Montreal. And when all the kids around him were wearing hockey jerseys with their favorite players’ names on the back, this was a kid wearing a jersey that said ‘Spielberg’ on the back.

For it all to come together, especially with the added challenge of the pandemic, it has all combined to make this moment feel especially spicy [laughs].

DEADLINE: The entire ensemble will show up in Venice.

CHALAMET: Right. And I just can’t believe it; Jason Momoa has the number one film on Netflix right now with Sweet Girl, which I just watched. And since we shot, Zendaya has had all this success with Euphoria and Malcolm & Marie. Just to be part of this cast, period, let alone as one of the title characters, it’s really the shit you dream of.

And let me not forget, too—and I know I’ve told you this before—that The Dark Knight was the movie that made me want to act. That movie had a score by Hans Zimmer, and he has done the score for Dune. And it’s almost not what you’d think. It’s totally appropriate and excellent for the movie, but he has somehow managed to do something subversive, in my opinion. It’s a pinch-me moment all over.

DEADLINE: So, take me back to the start. Is it true you had a Google alert set up to track the latest news on this project before you were ever cast?

CHALAMET: Yeah, it’s true [laughs]. Not right away—Legendary had the rights and was developing it—but as soon as Denis got involved, I set up a Google alert and that’s when I got the book.

In total honesty, I think my understanding of Dune at that point was from a graphic novel I’d seen at Midtown Comics when I was shopping for Yu-Gi-Oh! cards when I was about 10. The year you and I first met, when I was there at Deadline Contenders with Call Me by Your Name, that would have been 2017 or early 2018, and Denis was there with Blade Runner. I remember I was trying to put myself in front of him as much as possible and set up a meeting with him. We had a night at the BAFTA where one of my good friends, Stéphane Bak—who’s also an actor—saw Denis across the room and was like, “Hey buddy, he’s right over there.” So, we went over to talk to him. I kept trying to put myself in front of him, but I didn’t really get a sense of the possibility [of working with him].

I was about halfway through the book when I got the call that he was going to be the president of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival, and I was in London prepping The King. He asked me if I could come out there, so I quickly busted through the second half of the book as best I could. So, like, the first half of my copy is properly annotated and full of my thoughts, and then the second half I just raced through. And then I had that meeting with him, and it was such a joy.

I’m struggling with this even now, as I’m working with Paul King [on Wonka], because he’s another guy I have huge respect and admiration for, and it’s hard to feel on a level. Not that you ever are, because as an actor you’re a cog in the machine, and you’ve got to be humble to the vision of the director. But with Denis, he was pacing around the room, throwing ideas around, in some fancy suite in Cannes, and all I could think was that a year before I was just sat on a stoop on 9th Street in the East Village or something.

DEADLINE: Was that your first time in Cannes?

CHALAMET: Yeah. Well, bizarrely, my sister would do dance camps growing up. Ballet intensive programs in a town called Mougins, which is nearby Cannes, so I spent a lot of time there growing up, but never during the festival, and not on the Riviera. To get to be there for the festival was just nuts. I went to see the Romain Gavras movie, I think, and it was just a huge joy.

I got attached [to the role in Dune] a couple of months after that, and it was nerve-wracking from the announcement, because like I said before, the fans of the book, and the fans of David Lynch version, the computer game, and everything, there’s so much love and strength of feeling. And so much of our pop culture and films and books have been derived from Dune, and all the philosophy the book. I’ve been shocked to learn how many people have a next-level connection to the book. I compare it to how our generation grew up with Harry Potter, and that one makes sense to me. But it’s cool to see with Dune also, when you actually sit down and read it… It’s not that it’s a quote-unquote “hard read” or anything, but it’s not made to be consumed easily, I think that’s fair to say.

So, I was grateful to be working on something of this size not only with Denis Villeneuve leading it, who between Polytechnique, Incendies and Prisoners had nailed the smaller indie film across languages, and then had nailed Arrival and Blade Runner, but who, in his own words, he didn’t feel he’d made his greatest film yet. But also, to be working with this cast. I don’t know if there’s some nightmare version of a film where a young lead is not supported by the rest of his cast, where every one of them had been the leads in their own huge projects. But on this, everyone was there to support, and I think it’s because we all wanted to be foot soldiers for Denis, and I think we understood the potential, based on the script by Eric Roth, Jon Spaihts and Denis, that this could be something really special.

DEADLINE: I don’t have a connection to Dune; this movie is really my first experience of the story. What strikes me is this is clearly an enormous universe—a broad canvas being painted with various families and factions and politics and mythos—but that ultimately it comes down to very elemental, human themes, and we feel them through this character you play, Paul Atreides. Did those themes help ground the experience for you?

CHALAMET: Yes, and I would give the credit entirely to Denis. He would constantly say on set that he had some opposing drumbeat or something. In my diminished intellectual standing, I didn’t understand it, but it was like some vision for the movie based on how biblical the book is that tries to tackle so much that it doesn’t tackle anything. I think he felt the need to be close to a character in it, and Paul is that guy in the book. He’s a character that is still in formation, like a lump of clay, which makes him a great figure for the audience to mirror off.

It speaks, I think, to Denis’ premonition and his directing ability that there were times when we’d move on from a shot or move on from a scene, and I swear, literally, we’d go back because Denis wanted to get something over my shoulder, or push in on my reaction, just to make sure [it stayed on Paul].

And again, it’s something where I’m pinching myself. I had the best time on Interstellar, and that was one of my favorite films I’ve ever worked on, but it was very much something where I was aware of when I had the opportunity to do real acting. And on a movie like Dune, again, one could think it would get lost in the scale and scope. But I felt every day like my plate was full.

DEADLINE: One of those themes is fear, and Paul must overcome his to become the person he needs to be. When you are number one on the call sheet on a project of this scale, and the cast list reads like an address book of Hollywood in the 21st century, and Legendary has injected hundreds of millions of dollars into this production, and it’s all falling on your shoulders, I have to imagine fear is a theme you can readily relate to.

CHALAMET: Oh yeah, and they can bleed into each other for sure—not to diminish the other work that goes in. It’s great when your life experience can inform the role. That’s not at all to say I’m on some crusade in the universe or anything, but definitely… And I had that same good fortune with The King I think. My life is not nearly as significant or as exciting as Paul or Prince Hal, but we all share an unwitting needle in the haystack feeling. On The King that feeling was because I was so new to having a career. On Dune it’s because of, as you say, just feeling the pressure of the hugeness of the project in all those different ways. Those things can absolutely inform each other.

And then there are the moments of glee that come, too, like seeing Jason Momoa running at you at a hundred miles an hour, or just getting to shoot the shit with Josh Brolin, or getting to do a scene with Oscar Isaac. I felt so supported, whether it was Rebecca Fergusson or Charlotte Rampling. When Zendaya came, it was a total breath of fresh air, and she’s one of my favorite parts of the movie. I just got really lucky, and I can’t wait to see them all in Venice.

Denis split the book in half, and the hope is a second movie will get a greenlight. That’d expand Zendaya’s role in the story.

CHALAMET: Definitely, Chani will play a huge role in the next film. I don’t know if there’s a script yet, but just based on the book, along with Lady Jessica [Rebecca Fergusson], they have a lot to do together, let’s put it like that. And Zendaya was incredible in this movie; the moment she pulls the mask down, it felt properly showstopping and powerful. I was hiding behind the camera, counting my lucky starts, because I was there in month two of the shoot and here was a total powerhouse just coming in for the first time.

And as I said before, this was before I’d seen Euphoria and Malcolm & Marie. She’s doing such incredible work and is just trailblazing her own path, and she’s so, so cool. She also happens to be in the most-watched trailer of the moment, too, for Spider-Man: No Way Home. I cannot wait for that movie, and I was there, by the way, with everybody else, clicking through the trailer frame by frame looking for clues [laughs].

[ialwaysknewyouwerepunk]

fine line - a close reading

gonna cry bc i’m at the end, gonna cry bc it’s fine line.

(x x x)

want to give the same disclaimer as with lights up: this song is so layered, so multi-faceted, that i could never hope to give an exhaustive analysis. due to its vagueness and openness for interpretation, i assume that everyone, just like me, has their own ideas about it and has attached importance to it in ways that no one else’s words can or should alter. this song means the world to me for reasons that aren’t necessarily in this post, and that’s how it is with art that touches us deeply. i’ve tried my best to pull it apart, lay it bare, spread it open, if you will, so it’s almost as free as it can be for you all to form your own opinion on it. in the synthesis i will make my own conclusions, but feel free to ignore that if yours are totally different. i’m just one set of brain and heart taking in fine line and projecting whatever i think is right onto it. alright, let’s go

fine line, track 12

sung in falsetto

live version at the form: first verse not sung in falsetto - after first chorus goes into falsetto - like “thinking of her” has summoned her

live version at the form: first verse not sung in falsetto - after first chorus goes into falsetto - like “thinking of her” has summoned her

Put a price on emotion

pouring emotions into the art you create: how much is genuine / how much do you show - line between being authentic to your audience and giving away too much, wanting to keep things to yourself and not feeling truthful with what you’ve written

exploits of the industry: lay your soul bare - or the exact opposite, some pretend emotion - to score that hit

I'm looking for something to buy

cynical. emotions aren’t genuine, right? where can i go buy some?

～ lights up themes. fake life, industry, being a sell-out

You've got my devotion

But man, I can hate you sometimes

“you” = career, music, Harry Styles™. devoted to the craft, to the job, all the ups and downs of it, despite the hardships it brings 

“man” is deliberate: can be seen as an offhand interjection, like “man, that’s rough”, but nothing is casually placed in this song. “man” is: The Man, the heads in the industry, the people pulling the strings. The man in Harry, the man he’s been in the media all these years, the part he’s played/had to play, the man that’s in him

⟶ “hate you”: hate for industry shit, self-hate created by having to play pretend (～ only angel analysis, the persona of the Bukowski womaniser)

“sometimes” - it’s not fucked up all the time

“you” could also be a lover, but the sudden “hate” there then would be for that person, which is absent in any other song about them, doesn’t make any sense

I don't want to fight you

And I don't want to sleep in the dirt

like there’s a choice to me made, but he doesn’t want to make it: either I fight this “you” or I sleep in the dirt

“you” as the industry: if he doesn’t fight them, he might end up being a beggar, lose all his self-worth bc he gave in to everything they asked/told him to do

“you” as himself: fight your instincts, part of who you are/the persona. if he doesn’t fight to figure himself out, though, he fears he’ll also lose

“sleep in the dirt” as a sense of rejection, as well

We'll get the drinks in

So I'll get to thinking of her

drinks to cope - falling, only angel, from the dining table - or to be braver and confront emotions better - tbsl

who is “we”? who is “her”?

narrative of “you” as “lover” further disproven: if “I” and the lover get together over drinks and “I” starts thinking of “her”?

⟷ “her” could be the lover, but then who is “you”? the industry? some other person, besides that lover, harry is devoted to? multiple lovers, all of a sudden? no.

⟶ “I” and “you” are all harry, that get to thinking of “her” because she is in daydreams with him. the narrative that harry is fighting a part of him, the persona he has (had) to play bc of industry limits, makes most sense. that persona is within him now, and part of his work, but all of him, “we”, is begging to come into the light - of which she is a huge part

We'll be a fine line

balancing act. let everything coexist but pay attention that those lines don’t get crossed the wrong way. what we are, what i am, is a fine line between what makes us go under and what lets us thrive

we will be: determination to fulfil this prophecy, statement of fact “we always will be”

“we’ll be a fine line”: other way of interpreting it is that on both sides of that line is what entails “we”, all that is harry. what merges on that fine line is where it’s just right, when harry is fully himself in every way

“fine line” can also be an echo of criticism, bigotry, in the style of: it’s a fine line between being simply flamboyant and queer, between dressing like that and people thinking you’re a transvestite or summat (cause we wouldn’t want that, now, would we) - “we’ll be a fine line” could be owning all of it. putting himself in the middle of all those messy lines, as someone queer without a category

Test of my patience

patience with himself - kindness to self - took a long time to figure shit out and it was a challenge

waiting for change: industry and its allowances/openness

There's things that we'll never know

my favorite line

“we” = harry / harry and company / us in general, all of us listening 

～ tpwk “i don’t need all the answers”: deep sense of acceptance

peace to be found in accepting this!!

You sunshine, you temptress

“sunshine” - as in all the love songs (blue skies, sunflowers, summer days…): lover - possible that there are multiple “you”s in this song?

sunshine could ofc also be directed at the temptress, still

female “temptress” - “i’ll get to thinking of her” - she - it’s tempting for harry to think of her all the time, to lose himself in the “her” in him

other interpretation for “temptress”: woman he knows with negative influence in his life - resemblance to woman “you flower, you feast”, so echo of Bukowski ～ only angel, kiwi (my sunshine, my love, who is involved with this temptress…)

My hand’s at risk, I fold

⟷ tpwk “dropping into the deep end”

not showing his cards just yet / forfeits

anxious to show all of him, to take the chance, with all the risks and consequences involved

Crisp trepidation

I’ll try to shake this soon

nervousness, anxiety - about (not) taking (enough) chances, (not) laying himself bare (release of the album that reveals much more than before)

“crisp” fresh, this feeling is unfamiliar - change is coming “soon”

sense of agency: I can get rid of this feeling by my own volition and make these changes - hesitant, insecure: “try”

wants to be braver. he’s not going back, but still needs to calmly coax himself further and further into the light, out into the open (“we’ll be alright”)

Spreading you open

Is the only way of knowing you

(can anyone else hear “spread thin” like a whisper under “spreading”? or am i imagining things.)

“you” is back - the only way of knowing “you” is to spread them open - the physical

to spread someone open - very literal, don’t need to paint the picture, or to lay bare, to lay it all out 

⟶ “you” as himself - the only way of knowing who i am is by doing this: writing this album, performing these songs, letting others listen in and form their own interpretations, let this world grow where i’m laid bare and OPEN and exist as this person who has issues, who is angry, who doesn’t know who he is a lot of the time, but is still so happy to be here - let it spread and let it all circle back to me so i can grow deeper into myself

We'll be a fine line

We'll be alright

“we” = h & self, h & lover, h & fans

collectiveness from tpwk

(notes on a piano sounding like drops, like he’s emerged from the water and dripping dry)

SYNTHESIS

Everything about this song is plural. Personal pronouns are all over the place. I, you, her, we. The sound is incredibly layered, with Harry’s own voice echoing through its verses like he’s singing to himself in an empty cave. Meanings can be attached to every word like it’s a wax tablet used too many times. What Harry has said in interviews for once holds pretty true to the actual meaning, in my opinion. 

“It felt like it described to me the process of making it and how the album felt in terms of the different kinds of songs on it.” (Capital FM)

This can mean a lot of things, and I think it means all of the things, of course. It means Fine Line is a summary of all of his emotions he visited on the album, of the things he’s laid bare. And it means that the actual process was also described, as one that can be frustrating and challenging, with added industry shit. 

Harry has expressed straightforward gratefulness to his label for "leaving (him) alone” while making the album and that speaks volumes. This time, he had the chance to make his art without the constant interference of a label, which meant he could weave in criticism as well. “Put a price on emotion” is first and foremost a critique on the industry. It’s the first line of the song, setting the tone for the interpretation of this song is about the risks I took while making this album. It involves criticism on an industry that creates such an atmosphere that only a certain type of music and artist breaks through or can be successful, that limits people in their personal expression. Convinces them that it’s better that way. That it’s better to hide who they love because the general public won’t accept them. That it’s better to create a song about a fake emotion than be honest. Harry loves writing songs and being on stage, but it’s taken a while for him to be fully comfortable there as a solo artist and bloom into the person that could make Fine Line. He loves his career, but it’s also limited his freedom in ways beyond our comprehension, and it’s exploited him to the point where he didn’t know who he was, in ways that have clearly taken a toll on his mental wellbeing. To a point where he finishes this album reassuring himself, most of all, that everything will be alright.

That process of making Fine Line obviously includes Harry confronting emotions he hadn’t before. He has stated that he experienced the highest highs and the lowest lows while making it. There are things he hates, he was fighting but doesn’t want to (anymore), uncertainties he was trying to figure out but had to accept he couldn’t, risks he still doesn’t know he can take without shaking. At the centre of it all is this sense of “knowing you.” The different personal pronouns in the song paint a fractured picture, which is ultimately deliberate. That the “you” Harry is devoted to and can hate sometimes doesn’t line up with “her,” that the end focus does seem to be this “you” that is mentioned in the same breath as “man” and “temptress,” forming the “we” together with “I”. 

After having songs like Lights Up, She, Falling and even TPWK, one of the central themes on the album has undoubtedly been self-discovery, in all its pain and glory. There are no female pronouns on the album besides, obviously, in She, and then here, in Fine Line. She is about a man living with a woman “just in his head”, who “sleeps in his bed while he plays pretend.” It is very clearly a trans narrative, the story of someone struggling to put into words what they’re experiencing in terms of gender. To a point that they fantasise about running away. Fine Line brings the ideas of knowing what it all means, which Lights Up kicks off (“do you know who you are?”), Falling deepens (“what am I now?”) and Treat People With Kindness turns on its head (“I don’t need all the answers”), together. Harry is still doubtful, and the questions asked earlier in the album haven’t disappeared, but he has accepted that “some things we’ll never know.” His aim, however, is still “knowing you.” 

To have Fine Line, as the summary of these emotions of self-growth and self-discovery, echo that one female pronoun, speaks volumes. It is a direct reference to She, to that story about gender. “Her” in this song refers to “she (who) lives in daydreams with (him).” The one who still only fully comes out when they’ve had a drink. The one he’s still working to include in who he is, as he tries to figure out who he is, all of it. The song where he sings in falsetto, just like on Fine Line. Of which he sang the first verse an octave lower live at the forum, switching between those voices, those perspectives. That’s also why “you” in this song is also Harry to me. We get this fractured sense of self, this “I” and “you” conversing over a drink, this “you” Harry is devoted to and wants to figure out. “You” and “I” form “we” and all of them are Harry. The lines are blurry on purpose, there is no way to figure out where “you” ends and “I” begins. 

“You sunshine, you temptress” is the most enigmatic line in that respect, and to me blurs those lines even more between the pronouns. “You” is suddenly also identified by a female noun. And no this isn’t about some kind of love triangle. “Sunshine” aligns with all the odes to his lover in the rest of the album. So what does that mean? That there are multiple “you”s in this song, meaning that Harry is addressing both his lover and a temptress? So “her” he’ll get to thinking of, the only other female pronoun used in the song, is identified as a temptress, but tempting to do what? To take risks? And no I won’t forget the “man, I can hate you sometimes,” where "man” is not a casual interjection but an identifier of “you.” 

Or is it an echo of “the light” from Golden’s “bring me back to the light” and Light’s Up’s “step into the light”? So that the “sunshine” symbolises being in the clear, being out of the darkness running through his heart, the darkness caused by not knowing who you are. “You sunshine,” you beacon of light. “You temptress,” risk-taker and source of anxiety. You, one I need to spread open to figure out, to know about, source of happiness and despair, one I’m devoted to but also hate. You, man, you, temptress. You there, in the mirror looking back at me. 

All of you, and myself included, we’ll be a fine line. And we’ll be alright.

This song is about all of that. The self in art, the self on its own, the other, the journey, the chances, the fears, the passion. Hope. Reassurance. Confidence. And, most importantly, that everything will be alright in the end.

x

read all my lyric analyses here